FOUR SERMONS, PREACHED By the Right Reverend FATHER in GOD, JOHN TOWERS, D. D. L. Bishop of Peterburgh.  

1. At the Funeral of the Right Honourable, William Earl of Northampton.  
2. At the Baptism of the Right Honourable, James Earl of Northampton.  
3. Before King JAMES, in Defence of The Material Church.  
4. Before K. CHARLES at White-Hall in time of Lent.   
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches. Rev. 2.7.  
London, Printed for Thomas Rooks, and are to be sold at the sign of the Lamb, at the East end of S. Paul's, near the School. 1660.   

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE JAMES, Earl of NORTHAMPTON: And to his Excellent Lady, ISABELLA, The Right Honourable Countess of NORTHAMPTON.  
Right Honourable, my singular good Lord,  
IT is now more than time that these holy Sermons should come to light, into the light of this World, to be themselves a Light to the World, after so many years since the departure of the Reverend and Religious Author of them into the light of God.  
When they first come abroad, whom ought they earlier to greet than your noble Lordship? that his Posthume Papers might crave protection from the same Family which gave Patronage to his living Person.  
From the service of the Earldom, he went up to wait upon the Throne, and yet did never forget Your Castle-Ashby, after his arrive to the King's White-Hall; though he was found to have merit enough to entitle his attendance upon the two best Peers, in Chaplainry to your Grandfather who deserved to be (in respect of the Earldom, though there was a deserved, and much more ancient rise of the noble name of the Comptons') Ortus Domus suae (a fairer commendation than which, the quickest best-tongued Orator could not invent for himself) and in Tutorage to your Father, whose fall was so valiant, that he chose to pay a magnanimous Death, rather than to owe a bestowed Life; though from thence, the same merit carried him on to do yearly homage to the two choicest Kings, James the wise, and Charles the Religious; yet he had also humble Gratitude enough, to confess aloud, it was Northampton's Arm, more than his own hand and Pen, that raised him.  
My good Lord, you see already your just Title to the whole: But you have still a more peculiar Interest in these selected four. One of them was Preached at that Parish which was, all, your Ancestors, and the Authors; Nine parts yours, and the Tithes his; and Tither, of duty, it ought to return: Another, at your own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the second, the Baptismal Birth of your Noble self: A third, at the third Birth of the most munificent, your Father's Father, when he had passed over the life of Nature, and the life of Grace, and was received up into the life of Glory. A fourth is added, to expiate the delay in payment of the three former.  
Nay, my most noble Lord, all this will not suffice, that you should have title to these Composures, from your Progenitors, from yourself, from the Author, unless I humbly acknowledge the right you have in my Transcription too, from the claim which your Honour may lay to my very self also, your interest in me, your jurisdiction over me, your purchase of me.  
Your Honour had interest in me, before I was so happy as to see your Lordship, or so wise as to know my , even whilst I was yet in Lumbis; for sure our Birth is not so wholly wretched, as to have nothing else entailed upon us at our coming into the world, besides original sin: we are even born with respects, and duties, and devotions to original Benefactors too.  
Your jurisdiction over me shall never be disowned by me whilst I have breath, Dum spiritus hos regit Artus, in that, since I had breath, your Lordship was the first Master I ever had.  
Master, and Father too, by your purchase of me, in that I did eat of your Lordship's bread, when, by the common calamities of the Times, and the deserved one's of my own, I had no bread of my own to eat, but went abroad to Preach the Gospel like the Gospel's first Disciples without P●rse or Scrip. 
Luk. 22.35.   
And now, my most excellently vorivous and meek Lady, is not your right the same with my Noble Lords: and has not your own goodness bought a like interest in me? I have nothing to return to either of your Honours, but my prayers that You both may enjoy the whole benefit of this which is a dedication upon design, that as you are regenerate by Baptism (the discourse of one of these Homilies,) you may so love to serve God in his own House, (the subject of another;) that when your Bodies are interred in the Church (the matter of a third,) your souls may be conveyed to that place which Christ is gone up to prepare for you (the subject-matter of a fourth) there to enjoy honour and bliss eternal. 'Tis really the Prayer of,  
My Noble Lord, and my Religious Lady, Your Honours most Faithful, most obliged Servant, William Towers.   

A SERMON Preached at the FUNERALS of the Right Honourable WILLIAM EARL of Northampton.  Rev. 14.13. 
Beati Mortui, qui in Domino moriuntur.  
Blessed are the Dead, that die in the Lord.  
FOR the Authority of this Book of the Revelation of S. John, 
Occasio Operis.  I should not need to plead, but that for the honourable memory of the Person of Honour, whose Body we now inter; and because of the morenesse of Time since his death, it will misbecome such an obliged Chaplain of such a bountiful Patron, not to take pains somewhat more than ordinary, and to exceed the hour in this last Public Service which he performs, for the most liberal of Masters to the meanest of God's Household Servants: Let this short Apology bear me out in my prolixnesse after, since, by his own example, I desire to do much of good, at his Death, (to those who are come hither to remember him, and to mourn their own loss, though in his blessedness) the business of whose Life was, to do all good to all.  
The joint consent of the Ancient and Modern Church, 
Authoritus Libri.  hath, with an easy refutation of some weak objections to the contrary, and with a constant and unanimous submission of their Faith and Obedience to the Contents of it, by the direction of the Holy Spirit, received this Book into, and by the special Providence of the same Spirit, preserved it in the Canon of the Scripture.  
That the blessed Apostle and Evangelist S. John was the Author of it by writing we doubt not; and that, being the Apostle of Christ, he wrote this, (as he did his Gospels and Epistles) being inspired by the Holy Ghost, to remain in the Church of Christ as Apostolical Scripture: for confirmation whereof, 
Verse 1.  He calls it also in the beginning, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, and tells us, that God gave it unto him, and that he sent, and signified it by his Angel unto his servant John.  
'Tis a slight cavil, that some have made against it, The place which it holds amongst the other Books of Canonical Scripture; because forsooth it stands the last, and was written some time after the other, and therefore (say they) was added and foisted in, after the whole body of the Canon was perfected: Where there are many several Books, must not some one be the last? And if this had not been added, (added, but not foisted; for God and not Man, put it in) would they have made the same exception against the Epistle of S. Judas, which was the last before this? or against any other, which instead of this, Themselves call the last? They cannot, for they own it: Or would they have God Date all his Letters, Epistles, Writings to Man at the same time? what man does so?  
But, as for the Order of it, that it stands last in place, it is so far from diminishing the Authority of it, that, indeed it adds unto it, and does exceedingly commend it to us; for, it is, intruth, as the Signet of God, with which the Holy Spirit would seal up, and conclude the whole Canon, both Old and New of Divine Scripture; in regard whereof we have it more extraordinarily approved unto us, both in the beginning of it, with a Blessing upon him that readeth, and upon them that hear the words of this Prophecy, and keep those things that are written therein, vers. 3. And in the end of it, with the same Blessing upon him that keeps the say of the Prophecy of this Book, 22.7. and with a dreadful curse upon him, who shall either add unto these things, God shall add unto him the Plagues that are written in this Book, or, shall take away from the words of the book of this Prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, c. 22. v. 18, 19 he shall have no part nor lot in it. Beloved, What could be spoken more throughly, to ratify the authority of it? If we may add nothing to it, 'tis already every way absolute and perfect, the word of God without question; the only word to which we may not add our own inventions without great offence: If we may take nothing from it, again 'tis a forcible Argument of the sacred in violablenesse of it, (for what bold foisting man would ever dare to speak so arrogantly of the most Holy his own Endeavours? He that could write all the rest so holily, could never be guilty of such a pride, nor ever able to counterfeit so exact a Holiness) and that it is indeed the Holy Scripture; for it is the Scripture of which Christ says John 10. that It cannot be broken, v. 35.  
This is a main point observable, in which this Book stands equalled to the sacred unquestioned Writings of Moses himself, the first and chief of all the Prophets, and Penmen of God's Book; For, as those Books of his, because they usher in, and are, as it were, the Fore-door, the entrance into the rest of the whole Scripture, are therefore in several places, strengthened and fenced with such a seal as this, Deut. 4.2. Ye shall not add unto the Word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it. And again, c. 12. v. 32. Thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it: So, this Book standing in the rear, and, as it were, shutting up the back-Gate of the same Canonical Scripture, is likewise furnished and stamped with the same Authentic Seal of God's Holy Spirit, to signify how perfect, how inviolable it is, that nothing must be put to, no Postscript; or taken from it, no Deleatur, no Index expurgatorius neither; that, as Moses was a main Coryphaeus, to lead on the Vanguard, in God's Spiritual Warfare; so was S. John another Coryphaeus of special Note, to bring up the Rear in the same Battle.  
Why it was ordered by the Church (which took care to gather together the Writings of the Apostles & Evangelists) to be placed the last of all the Books, there is a manifest reason; not that it is behind the rest in worth and excellence, but in regard of the Time wherein it was written. 
In vita Johannis.  S. Jerome reports, that in the time of the second great Persecution of the Christians under Domitian the Roman Emperor, (the first Tyranny they tasted of was under Nero) in the 14. year of his Reign did S. 
Lib. 3. cap. 25. Vid. Euseb. Hist. Ecclesias. L. 3. c. 18.  John writ this Book in the Island Pathmos: And Irenaeus (a Father in the Church far more ancient than St. Jerome) affirms as much that it was not (then) long, since St. John wrote his Revelation, Sed pene sub nostro saeculo, says he, almost about our time, toward the end of Domitian's Reign; so that, An. Dom. 96. it was written, after all, both Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament; for he outlived all the Apostles, even to the third year of Traian the 14th Roman Emperor, says Sophronius, and that was 102 after the birth of Christ, and the 68 from his passion, by St. Jerom's computation, and 25 years after the Destruction of Jerusalem: Therefore 'tis placed last, because written last, not because least in Dignity and Divine Authority; no, 'tis truth which Beza speaks of it, in his Preface to it, that the Holy Ghost did set down in this precious Book, whatsoever Predictions of the former Prophets did remain, to be fulfilled after Christ's coming; and therefore Ocolampadius, in his Preface to Daniel's Prophecy, calls this Book the best Paraphrase upon all the other Prophets.  
The Argument of this whole Book is, 
Argum. Libri.  principally Prophetical; though there be Doctrinal, Exhortative, and Instructive passages sprinkled here and there among the Prophecies; but Prophetical, for the most part, it is; whence St. John, in the beginning, calls it the words of this Prophecy, a Prophecy of things that should come to pass, even from the time that he wrote, to the end of the world; of some Occurrents that should befall the Church of God (then) presently, in St. John's time; and of other Trials that the Church should endure continually, through the whole course of her warfare here on earth; first, from the Roman Tyrants; afterward, from divers Heretics; and lastly, from Antichrist himself; of their several oppositions and insultings against her, wherewith they should grievously vex her, (seeming in a manner to be forsaken of Christ her Head) and almost utterly oppress her: But withal, of those sweet consolations which the Elect of God should have under their cross; and that those Tempests of Afflictions which they underwent, were not carnal, blown upon them with every wind, or merely from the rage and malice of their Enemies; but that God (that Wind, 
Joh. 3.8.  that Spirit which bloweth where it will) had the chief hand in them; and that, by his providence, things were so ordered for the exercise of the faithful; and that they should not always continue, no, not too long a time; and that they should, in his good and appointed time, be changed up into the glory of Heaven; and that all the Enemies of the Church should at length, by the power of Christ their victorious Captain, be thrown into the ever burning Lake of fire and brimstone.  
We may divide the whole Book (briefly, 
Partitio libri.  for I must not stand long upon this Discourse; Divide it I may; I come not to expound the whole Book; and the Text itself affords matter enough for this short time, though I eke it out with a borrowed part of another hour) into a Preface, 
Paraeus.  to the ninth verse of the first Chapter; the Prophecy itself, from thence to the sixteenth verse of the last Chapter; and from thence to the end, the Epilogue, or Conclusion.  
We are now in the midst of the Prophecy, and the whole Prophecy may be distinguished into 7 several visions notoriously distinct asunder to them that read them with careful observation; which Christ was pleased for the future good of his Church to show to his beloved St. John, whilst he lived a banished man in the Isle of Pathmos.  
I may not stand now to show you these 7 Visions, with the subject-matter of them: I read not a Lecture upon them all, nor upon any one, entirely: This Text is a small part of the fourth Vision, which takes up three whole Chapters, the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth: It is of the Woman travelling in birth, and the Dragon gaping to devour the fruit of her womb; of her flight into the Wilderness, and his pursuit after her, resisted by Michael and his Angels; then of the two Beasts, one with seven heads and ten horns, the other with two horns like a Lamb, which spoke as a Dragon; both persecuting the Saints: then of the victorious Lamb, upon that Mount Zion, and of the three Angels, one preaching the Gospel, another proclaiming the fall of Babylon; a third denouncing punishment to them that worship the Beast: Lastly, of Christ upon the Cloud, with a sharp sickle in his hand, and the Angel proclaiming the last Harvest of the World; and the Vintage, and Winepress of the Wrath of God: All this is the subject of the fourth Vision; in which the future estate of God's Church in this World, even from the Infancy of it, under the Ministry of Christ's Apostles, unto the end of the World, is far more clearly shadowed out unto us, than in the former Visions.  
The third Angel gins at the 9 verse of this Chapter, and continues to the end of the 11. Then, in the 12. and 13. verses (part of the last whereof I read unto you) follows an Epiphonema of exhortation and consolation to the Saints of God, that in all these vexations with which Antichrist shall grate them, they persevere with patience and constancy in the faith of Christ, and obedience to his Gospel; that they faint not under their tribulations, but hold out to the end, being held up with the hope of eternal felicity in Heaven, which is here propounded.  
The Exhortation to perseverance is in the 12. verse; the Argument for it is taken from that Tragical end, that miserable and woeful event which must befall Antichrist, and his unsound followers; that seeing they shall (at last) drink of the Wine of the Wrath of God, and drink it off, the very dregs of it; that they shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, and shall have no rest day and night; here is the patience of the Saints, v. 12. Here is an Argument for their perseverance, that the Holy ones of God, who keep the Commandments of God, and the saith of Jesus, that they suffer manfully under the bitterest Tyranny of their Adversaries, as knowing, that it shall at last be guerdoned to them with the fearful endlessness of insufferable torments in Hell fire.  
Then follows the Consolation in this verse of my Text, And I heard a voice from Heaven, saying, Writ, blessed are the Dead that die in the Lord: The Argument which the Holy Ghost here useth, to strengthen and comfort them, ready now to droop under the weight of their sufferings, is drawn from the assurance of (the most inestimable Reward) eternal bessednesse in Heaven; and that Death itself (the last and greatest evil, with which the faithful can be afflicted by their most despiting enemies) is no evil at all, for it is the ready, though strait, and narrow, and severe Way, to the certain joy and glory of the Heavenly Kingdom.  
I heard a voice from Heaven: from thence we see (though through a cloud, through the water of that, and the tears of our own eyes) our comfort comes; 'Tis most certain, most true; were it the voice of God himself, or of one of his Angels at his command, St. John says not whether; but, the voice of Christ himself his Sheep are sure it is, they know his voice; the same in effect which we have heard from him before, in his holy Gospel more than once, Joh. 5.24. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that hears my Words, and believes on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation: There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ, (Rom. 8.1.) and there is no condemnation too to them, in the ears of whose Souls are the words of Christ; and in John 8.51. (not without another and another) a double Verily, I say unto you (to cast off all doubt) If a man keep my saying, he shall neutr see death, the eternal, the cursed death: The very same, to all purposes that this Voice says here; Writ, blessed are the dead, etc.  
There are three things observable in this Voice from Heaven; 
Divisio Versus.  first, the command to Write. Christ will not put his Church to trust to the uncertainty, the deceivableness of unwritten Traditions: but, as in the beginning, there was a general command for the writing of this whole Prophecy, Writ, says Christ to the Prophet St. John chap. 1. v. 19 Writ the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter,: so has he, here again, a special command for the writing of this heavenly voice, concerning the blessedness of them who die in the Lord; he will have our comfort confirmed to us here, as the devil's several suggestions were rejected and confuted by himself, 
Matt. 4.  with a Scriptum est; the Scripture, the written Word of God, shall be the ground, as of our Faith, so of our Hope, our encouragement and consolation through that Faith. Secondly, the Argument, the substance of what he is commanded to deliver to the Church by writing, blessedness. And thirdly, the assurance and proof of this blessedness by two strong Reasons; one, that they are now gotten to the end of their Race, that they enjoy a perpetual rest from all the labours and sufferings which they have sustained under the Sun, they rest from their labours; and the other, that they have so run as to obtain; 
1 Cor. 9.24.  that having finished their course, they have not rest only, but their Brabium, their Crown also, which was laid up for them, 
2 Tim. 4.7, 8.  their Crown of righteousness, their works do follow them; 'Tis a Metalepsis, a figurative speech, as much as to say, the fruit of their Works, the Reward, the Crown of their Righteousness, which was laid up in Heaven, is given to them by the Lord the righteous Judge at that day, the day of their death, as S. Paul speaks, 2 Tim. 4.8.  
That which is the Argument of this Scripture, is now our Text, and must be anon the Argument of our Discourse, Blessed are the dead, a most sweet and comfortable Argument, a Theme (beloved) full of gracious solace, wherewith to arm the faithful against the evil day, that of death, that it is not, as the Epicurean Sect of Philosophers taught, Extrema linea rerum, the end of all our being; that when the body returns to the earth as it was made, the spirit does not so too, but unto God who gave it, Eccles. 12.7. that we are not born at all adventure, and shall be hereafter as though we had never been, as those ungodly fools dreamed, Wisd. 2.2. that the breath of our nostrils are not as smoak, and a little spark in the moving of our heart, which being extinguished our body shall be turned into ashes, and our spirit shall vanish as the soft air: They taught ill, and their Disciples, the Sadduces learned as ill from them, that there is no Resurrection, Act. 23.8. No, if Christ be preached that he risen from the dead, we may ask S. Paul's question, How say some among you, that there is no resurrection of the dead? 1 Cor. 15.12. And. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable, v. 19 but we are therefore miserable in this life, that at our death we may be blessed, as my Text hath it, Blessed are the dead.  
In the handling of which, to fit you to the more profitable hearing of what shall be delivered, let me put you in mind of the Wise man's counsel, Eeclus. 7.36. Remember the end, (the last things) and thou shalt not do amiss: There are Quatuor novissima, four things, which do, last, befall the state of man, Death, Judgement, Blessedness in Heaven, and Torments in Hell: These would be often thought on, and duly considered by us, as a most sovereign Antidote against the Infections of this world, a precious preservative against Sin; Death, which must bring us to Judgement; Judgement, which must either convey us to Heavenly Bliss, or condemn us to eternal restless misery; there is the blessedness of the Saints in Heaven, to inflame our hearts with a holy desire after it; and the wretched state of the damned in Hell, to make us wise and wary for the avoiding of it: 'Tis a rule of St. Chrysostom's that we should be so, and a promise thereupon to escape it, Non sinet in Gehennam incidere, Gehennae meminisse, the awful thinking of it, will keep us from falling into it. These are the Quatuor novissima, the four last things, which the Wise man would have engraven in our memories, with a Pen of Iron, and with the point of a Diamond, to keep us from doing anisse; Memorare novissima, Remember the end, and thou shalt not do amiss.  
Within the compass of this short Text, 
Divisio Textus.  we have two of these four last things to employ our thoughts upon, Death and Blessedness; Death, which all men by nature fear; Blessedness, which all men by that same instinct, desire; and therefore no man living, but this Text concerns him; no man, but may reap profit from the Doctrine it affords: That's twofold; in the unfolding and applying of which, I entreat your attention and devotion.  
1. That Death, though in itself it be bitter and terrible, yet, to God's children, it is so sweetened by Christ, that, in them, 'tis made the way to blessedness; 
Psal. 118.80.  This is the Gate of Heaven, and the Righteous shall enter in thereby: The Dead are blessed that die in the Lord.  
2. That Blessedness, though it be so sweet a thing, the object of all men's desires, so generally aimed at by all men in their several endeavours, yet, all our life time here we come short of it, we attain it not till our death; Dicique beatus antiobitum nemo; nemo, before that; and not omnes after, not all of us then, but they only, who die in the Lord: Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.  
I desire first to fasten your considerations upon Death, which is the way to blessedness; and (to keep the best wine till the last) in the second place, to refresh you with the Meditation of Blessedness which ensueth upon death.  
Nor will this former discourse, 
Praefatio ad partem primam.  as it is pertinent to the business we are now upon, the death of that Worthy and Right Honourable Patriot of his Country (for whom wise men religiously mourn in a Sermon, as witty men used to lament for Heathens in an Elegy) be needless and superfluous to those that live; since the often taking occasion (as it is now most unhappily for us, and most blessedly for him whom we remember, offered by that God who hath taken him from us to himself) to six the eyes of our mind upon the end of our life, is so behooveful, that even Plato, the Heathen Philosopher, but admirable for wit and learning, found such a benefit of it, that he defined Wisdom to be the Meditation of death; and though, in that, he aimed not, as we do, to persuade men to the often thinking upon it, (for, difinitions are the Common-Place of one sort of Learning, the speculative and persuasions of another, the practical) yet, in this respect especially, may we more truly affirm it than he did, that it is a great part of wisdom to accustom ourselves often to the meditation of death: and howsoever the Devil, that great enemy of Mankind, does, for his own ends, and the readier advancement and enlarging of his Kingdom, labour by all means, to lull us into security, by the pleasures of this World, and to steal out of our thoughts the remembrance of our death, that so our death may steal upon us at unawares, Luke 21.34. and take us unprovided; to make us, ducere in bonis dies nostros, to spend our days in jollity, that we may go down to the Grave in a moment, Job 21.13. yet the Spirit of God directs us a safer course, Eccles. 11.8. If a man live many years and rejoice in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness: There is danger when death steals upon us (Oh than we have lost that blessing of our Text, which the soul of this our dear Father departed, hath found! 'Tis a Curse, let death come hastily; and sure 'tis lawful to pray as we do in our Litany, against a Curse, from sudden death good Lord deliver us) when we have not made ourselves acquainted with it, and digested in our thoughts, the worst that it can do; then is it true indeed that S. Paul hath forewarned us, 1 Thess. 5.2. that the day of the Lord cometh as a Thief in the night: Then, as the Fishes that are taken in an evil Net, and as the Birds, 
Eccles. 9.12.  that are caught in a snare, so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.  
First therefore we consider, how bitter, how fearful, and terrible a thing death is in itself to all mankind, and how grievous it continues to the Natural man. Secondly, How the bitterness, of it is taken away by Christ to the Faithful, and that, to them, it is made a way to blessedness.  
How unpleasing death is, in itself, Part. 1 to man's Nature, appears, 
Mors terribilis.  in that it is so contrary to Nature, that it destroys our being in Nature, which every thing that hath a being does, by an instinct of Nature, labour to preserve; but those things that have life, especially, and so a sense and knowledge of their being; nothing is so irrecoverably hurtful to them as death, which takes away their being; the very Beast trembles at it; But Man above all, who is endued with understanding, to know (more than by a sensitive knowledge) the benefit of his Being, how does he, even by Nature, shrink at the fear of it! Behold Saul the King of Israel, the stout and valiant man, so trained up and exercised in war, who had slain many men, and been so conversant with the face of death in its cruelest and most ugly shapes! yet, when it came to concern himself, when he heard from that spirit which the Witch of Endor had raised, in the likeness of Samuel, that to morrow, he and his Sons should be with him, his courage failed him, and his heart fainted, he was so stricken with a sudden fear of amazement, that (halfdead already with the news of death) he fell all along on the earth, 1 Sam. 28.20. I, even the best of mere men, Gods holy Servant David, by the dictate of Nature apprehended this fear, and fled from Saul, 1 Sam. 26.13. and Eliah feared and fled from the threats of Jezabel, 1 King 19 and those holy men, those hundred Prophets of the Lord together thrust themselves into Caves for fear of her raging, 1 Kings 18. I, beyond all these, our Saviour Christ himself, that holy one, God's Righteous Servant, 
Is. 53.11.  that had done no wickedness, 
1 Pet. 2.22.  nor was there any deceit in his mouth; he, as he was Man, yielding to the power, to the very weakest of humane nature in himself, did not free himself from this fear of death; I speak not of his quitting his place, and departing by ship into a desert upon the beheading of John, Matth. 14. but, when the treason of Judas grew close upon him, when he was at hand that betrayed him, than did he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Matth. 26.37. The word is two significant for our English phrase; it signifies such a deadly grief and astonishment with fear, as makes all the spirits faint within, being utterly forsaken of help; now do the sorrows of the grave compass him, the snares of death overtake him, 
Ps. 116.3.18.4.  and the floods of wickedness make him afraid.  
Beloved, if he suffered the force of Nature to prevail so far, to be so strong in him, what can the strongest of weak men hope to meet with in his encounter with death, if left to himself, and that help which Humane Nature can afford him, but faintness of heart, and dejectedness of spirit, and a trembling of his best blood through every joint?  
'Tis a strong and violent breach of one of the goodliest Frames of Nature, (for I speak still of the Natural man) when the Soul is enforced from the body; we hear not without a secret compassion the forsaken Ox bemoaning his own loss, with his lowing, when his Fellow, that had long drawn with him in the same yoke, is haled from him to the slaughter. The Turtle does more, upon the loss of her Mate, mourns in solitariness, and pines away: When two friends who have conversed together in amity for some years' space, are now to be parted and removed into several places far distant, where they shall no more enjoy the pleasure of each others familiarity (I speak it feelingly, and I even weep it; he whose remove we now grieve, though I always reverenced him as my Lord, yet he vouchsafed even to love me as his Friend) what sadness is this to them? and how pensively do they brook it!  
Think, when a man and wife who have spent much time together in that near tie of love and mutual society, shall at last be parted by that violent necessity, and unkind stroke of death, what a heart-breaking it must be to the Husband, to have the wife of his bosom, whom his soul loved so tenderly, to be rend from his side by that Iron-hand of dissolution; now all his joys leave him, and he refuseth to be comforted, because she is not: And then, think withal what a sad divorce this muct needs prove betwixt the soul and the body, who have lived long together in a strict nearness of affection, as greater cannot be; when the soul must leave the body, his so dear Consort, to which he gave life, and formed a better being; when he must be forced to take into his consideration the miserable condition that then attends either of them: first for the body, that it must, after a few hours, be shut up in a dark and loathsome Grave, and be made food for Worms and Toads; that body which now lives and breathes, and sees, and speaks, and hears, and stretches itself upon a bed of Down, presently to be laid forth upon the cold earth, blind and deaf and dumb, without sense, without speech, without life; that body which was so lately cherished with such variety of food, whose belly and palate was courted and served with the riches of Sea and Land, which was clothed with Silks and Purple, and was lodged in a Couch of Ivory, decked with Cover of Tapestry, with carved works about it, and fine linen upon it, and perfumed with Myrrh, Aloes, and Cinnamon, and was defended from heat and cold, and the least unpleasing Air, with a thousand divised curiosities, which lived in stately Palaces of magnificent structure and costly furniture; that delicate body to be so soon clapped up with a Habeas Corpus into so narrow a Prison, into a loathsome stinking Grave of dead Carcases, full of bones and rottenness, noisomeness and Vermin, and it more noisome than they; What a thought of horror must this be to the afflicted soul in behalf of the body, when he contemplates that sad change! Instead of his lofty Palace, the homliness of a Sepulchre; of his soft bed, the harshness of the earth; of his delicate Garments, the baseness of the Winding-sheet; for his former neatness nothing but putrefaction; for his perfumes, a stinking savour, (and for his savour itself, deadness;) for his Servants and attendants, the company of crawling worms at the best, which will more really destroy him, than (when alive) the most unfaithful of his servants could: How must he be tormented with extremity of grief, for that which shall befall his body!  
But then, to imagine the state of the Soul which has not hope in Christ (for we are in Nature yet) to think of that Incognita, that new Region, unknown to any living Wight, whither it must now travel naked and unaccompanied, save with the horror of his gnawing Conscience, to labour to conceive those unconceivable woes of that other world, and to comprehend that incomprehensible eternity of them, 'tis wonder he can live a moment to digest that indigestible thought; 'tis a wonder that the terror of it does not prevent the hand and sith of his approaching death, that it does not anticipate his fate, and prove more quick to dead him, more nimble than his disease to strike and slay his soul: For one to be taken from his wealth, pleasure, honour, friends, wife, children; to leave these outward contentful things makes death bitter to him; 'tis another death, This O mors quàm amara est memoria tuis! 'tis the Wiseman's exclamation, Ecclus. 41.1. O death, how bitter is the remembrance of thee, to a man that liveth at rest in his possessions, that hath nothing to vex him, that hath prospepity in all things! The separation that is made betwixt him and his world, afflicts him; but the separation betwixt him and himself (his soul and his body) is intolerable; how loathly it leaves that old companion? how loathly it goes out of that beloved dwelling! St. Hierome writes the life of Hilarion, a good Christian, a devout and holy man, one that feared God, and in most of his life so little feared death, that he desired nothing more, than to be dissolved, and to be with Christ: 
Phil. 1.23  and yet, when death began to seize upon him, when he was now in his last agony, his soul had a strong touch of this fear, and was loath to go, insomuch that he was fain to have recourse to his faith, and, by the help of it to encourage his fainting soul in his journey to Heaven; Egredere, go out my soul, what fearest thou? go out valiantly; hast thou served God these seventy years, and dost thou now fear to leave thy body? Beloved, 
Eratenim eremita; & moriebaturoctoginta annos natus.  if this Holy man, who had, from ten years' age, dedicated his whole life to the service of God, found yet the natural man so strong in him, that he was put to his plunge, in which he might have stuck, had he not awakened his faith (awake, awake, why sleepest thou, O my faith?) and called that to his help, how terrible must this dissolution needs appear to them who have lived in their sins, and not yet cast off those sins by repentance! who, when they should grapple with death, and conquer it by their faith in Christ, alas! they lie under the weight of their sins and cannot rise; they struggle in vain; that load oppresses them; their sin, 
1 Cor. 15.56.  which is the sting of death is fastened in their hearts and slays them; their death is a slaughter, the worst death of all, Mors peccatorum pessima, Psal. 34.21. Evil misfortune shall slay the ungodly; Siccine separas, amara mors? may be their complaint, in the bitterness of their spirit they may well call it the darkness of death, as Agag did, 1 Sam. 15.32.  
Beloved, have you looked enough upon death in his worst shape? and can ye collect how terrible he must needs appear to the wicked, over whom he hath full power? since, even to God's holy servants, out of a natural desire to preserve their being, since, even to God's beloved Son, when to show himself truly man, he was content to yield so sar to the sway of humane nature within himself, he seemed so odious, that in the presence of some of his Apostles, he did not let to discover his passion, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, Matt. 26.38. 
Mat. 26.44.  to pray to his Father thrice against it; and, but that the will of his Father was in the midst of his bowels, and his obedience stronger than death, he would have begged three times more, that the Cup might have passed from him; so odious, that for the comfort of the Elect, 'tis one of the greatest blessings betrothed to them in the New Jerusalem, that, there shall be no more death, Rev. 21.4. Then now cheer up your thoughts again by faith in Christ, and with that eye of faith, behold death vanquished by that Christ, behold him trampled under those victorious feet, so languishing, so dead himself, that he cannot hurt you, he cannot scare you.  
This is the second consideration of death, 
Mors Porta Coeli.  that how evil soever it be in itself, even the way to Hell, yet, by God's goodness it is become a Portal to the Children of Grace, by which the soul passeth out of the miseries of this life into the joys of Heaven; even the dead are blessed, that die in the Lord.  
God made not Death, Wisdom 1.13. through the envy of the Devil it came into the world, Wisd. 2.24. 'tis he that was the Murderer from the beginning, Joh. 8.44. Murderer of our bodies and of our souls too, death of both is his work, 'tis he that has the power of death; 
Heb. 2.14  and if only the body died, he would soon disown the name, and disvalue all the power he had: Now wherefore came Christ into the world? wherefore was he manifested in the flesh? why, for this purpose says S. John, ut dissolvat opera, that he might destroy the works of the Devil, 1 John 3.8. He took part of our flesh and blood; why? that he might die; without that he could not die; the Godhead is immortal, and why die? but, that through his death he might destroy him that had the power of death, the Devil, Heb. 2.14. So truly might he say of himself, John 10.10. I am come, that they might have life.  
This was it which was prophesied so long since, Hos. 13.14. O mors, ero mors tua: O death, I will be thy death, thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction; the Prophecy is not yet fulfilled, if we read that place as the Vulgar Edition hath it, I will be thy death; Death shall be destroyed indeed, but not yet, 'tis the last enemy, 
1 Cor. 15.26.  that must be destroyed; but if we read it, as we have well translated it, O death, I will be thy plagues, 'tis every day fulfilled in that glorious victory, with which so many of the Saints of God, at their dissolution, do triumph over it; Christ does not take away death, but the evil of death; not the being, but the sting of it; as, whilom he suffered Esau to meet his Jacob, but first he drove all enmity out of the heart of that Esau, Gen. 33.4.  
This is one degree of the change, which Christ has wrought in the nature of death to his Servants, that it hath no power over them to hurt them; they shall not be hurt of this second death, Revel. 2.11. who overcome the first, that of the soul by sin; conquer that by Faith, and thou subduest the fear of this, He that believeth in me, though he were dead yet shall he live, John 11 25. he shall chant out S. Paul's triumph, 1 Cor. 15. O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy victory?  
This is one degree, but this is not all; 'tis not enough to make us blessed, that death hurts us not; it must be forced against the own nature of it, to help us; it is a part, as being a means, of our happiness, that we die; Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die, 1 Cor. 15.36. so that the very blow we receive from this hard hand, is healing; that which our sin made to be our last enemy, the goodness of God hath made the first friend that we meet with in our passage to another world.  
When a child sees a goodly cluster of ripe Grapes, he thinks it pity to put them into the press, and to deface them; but the skilful man knows, that this hard usage preserves the liquor of them from corruption: we are sometimes these ignorant children; we think it pity that such a holy, devout, religious good man should die; alas, he can be ill spared, yet God in his wisdom, makes this man, thus ripe for heaven, the more happy by death itself; he falls into the ground, that he may bring forth much fruit, Jo. 12.24.  
This is the true ground, beloved, of all our spiritual rejoicing upon our Deathbed, that we know we leave this, for an infinitely better life, that we can say with the Apostle, 
Phil. 1.21  Mori mihi lucrum, we gain by this change: That we receive no hurt by death; that it is, at the worst, but a sleep, in which we rest from our labours, this is much; but that we should reap profit and honour, that the Crown of Righteousness is laid up for us, that the reward of our works doth follow us: this is all; this is the very blessedness of the dead that die in the Lord.  
The former is sufficient to enforce the Apostles Exhortation, 1 Thess. 4.13. concerning them who are asleep, that we sorrow not for them; but this is able to make us so affected toward our Brethren, when they go before us to our heavenly Father, as our Saviour Christ would have his Disciples affected towards him upon the like occasion, If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said I go unto the Father, John 14.28. Be not sorry, not only so, but rejoice rather, because (as Solomon taught long since) the day of death, is not so sad, is better, more joyous, than the day of our birth, Eccl. 7.1. If any man could have found a life worthy to be preferred unto death, so wise, great, and glorious a King must needs have done it; and yet he, in his very Throne, commends his Coffin above his Sceptre, and would rather choose to be a subject for worms to feed upon, than a Prince of men: This makes us no more to marvel at those Heathens, who mourned at the birth, and feasted at the death of their children; and yet alas, they had not half the cause, that we have, of rejoicing; they knew some of the miseries that accompanied this life, what troubles, and cares, and anxieties, and wants men passed through, what crosses and calamities they endure here, which are the punishments of sin; but sin itself, the greatest burden of this life, the sorest evil that waits upon, and makes it most wearisome, this malum culpae, this evil of sin, they were not, as they ought, ware of; and yet they were so affected with the feeling of those other ills, that they made merry at the death of their friends, out of a miserable conceit they had, that they then ceased to be miserable.  
We know what they did, and more; we understand the wretchedness of living in this vale of tears; and we understand what causes it, the snares of sin, from which we are loosed, when we are freed out of the prison of this body, he that is dead, 
Rom. 6.7  is free from sin: We understand the Happiness of dying, that it not only unfetters us from these chains of sin an shame, but conveys us to an eternity of holiness and glory: How should we cheer ourselves in this expectation, yea, assurance of being so happy? How should we say, out of choice and faith, what the Prophet Jonah said out of bitter passion? It is better for me to die, 
Jon. 4.3.  than to live, to die in the Lord, for such, when they are dead, are blessed.  
It is time for us to have done with this first discourse, Part. 2 which the Text ministers unto us concerning death, and the bitterness of it, in itself, to the natural man; and the sweetness which Christ, by his death, hath infused into it, to all that die in him.  
Now turn your thoughts with patience ('tis high time to beg that) upon the other subject-matter of the Text, Blessedness.  
A subject, that we shall find of as great importance, and as nearly to concern every of us, as the other: If that were needful to us, for the weaning our affection from the vanities of this world, this is as useful for the inflaming those affections toward the glory of another World; Forget not the former, but afford this also some time of meditation: by no means lose the memory of death; Be as wise in this point, as those wise men, Philosophers of India, who were called Brachmanae; they would have open Sepulchers placed before the doors of their houses, that as they went out and in, they might think of that place, whether they must go at last; that was a bridle to them with which they held themselves in awe; and let us still place our graves before the door of our minds, and imagine we hear God speaking to us, as to his Prophet Jeremy, Descend in domum figuli, Go down to the Potter's house, 
Jer. 18.2.  and there I will cause thee to hear my words: God could have spoken with his Prophet in any other place, as well as that, where men were busied about clay; but he would thereby admonish us, that the Tombs of dead men, where all humane clay, all the carcases of men, that were made of clay, (and of which clay is made) are gathered together, as in a Potter's house, that these are the fittest Schools of wisdom to us; there God usually expounds unto his Auditors, the most deep and hidden mysteries of wisdom; there not with logical Sophisms, but by evident undeniable demonstration, he lays before our eyes, the frailty of our flesh, the shortness of our life, the deceitfulness of the world, the vanity of all things under the Sun; and what becomes, at last, of all the strength of Man, and beauty of Woman, and pride of both, and of the glory of all the world, that all of it is vainglory.  
And, indeed, from this inconsideration spring so many errors of our life, so much arrogancy and ambition, and covetousness; such immoderate desire, to join Title to Title, and House to House, and Field to Field, till we forget that title of Dust which is due unto us, and the House of the Grave, and the Field of the Potter; that we look not often enough into the Monuments of dead men, and read this lesson in them, that they might have been before now, and very shortly may be, must be, our own habitation; how many of us now sin with great ease, and so little remorse, as if we had a God of wood and stone, or at best, but a breaden God (such as they have in every Church, and at every Altar, within the Pope's great Bishopric) who saw us not, nor could take vengeance of our sins, unless when superstitious man takes his unprovok'd God, and throws him at our head; yet, when death appoaches, and affrights our wakened consciences with remembrance of our former abasing of God's mercies, and the sight of his angry countenance against us for it, how would we wish a thousand times, it were undone! how would we buy it off, were it in our power, with thousands of Rams, and ten thousands of rivers of Oil! 
Mic. 6.7.   
Well, If the consideration of this be so behooveful to us for the withdrawing of our Souls from sin (for which purpose I have thus long chafed your memories to the due meditation of it) the consideration of the other can be no less behooveful for the enkindling our souls after glory; for which purpose I must entreat a new attention and devotion in you.  
I will not be still presuming upon so much time, 
Beatitudo  as I shall need to speak of blessedness at large, and to discourse, as the true nature of it, so the manifold errors of others about it; nor does my Text require it: There is no man but has, by nature, some kind of knowledge of it, that it is the best and choicest thing that can be, and as Boetius defines it, an estate made perfect by the enjoying of all good things; which, who so has obtained, he is fully satisfied; he seeks, he desires, he wishes nothing more: But what that is, in the possession whereof this happiness consists, and which endoweth a man with this perfect estate, that has ever been a thing so difficult and obscure to the most learned ages of old Heathenism, that there is no one question has bred such perplexity and differenee in opinions amongst the ancient Philosophers; some placing it in knowledge, some, in virtue, some, in plenty, some, in pleasure; I cannot, I list not, I need not name them all: St. Austin tells us, 
De Civit. l. 19 c. 1.  the learned Varro has observed, that Philosophers have wrangled about this point, to the number of 288 different opinions; not to trouble you with the relation of them.  
That which I propound to be observed, briefly, is that,  
1. True blessedness is a thing generally desired of all men.  
2. That notwithstanding this so general desire, it is never fully obtained by any man till his death.  
3. And then, not by all men, but by those only who die in the Lord, Blessed are the dead, who die in the Lord.  
That every one man does, 
Votum omnium.  in his desire, aim at blessedness, no one man will deny; so little need there is to prove it; ask every man by the poll, if he would be blessed? ye know his answer beforehand; we are all alike born with that desire in us; nor is there any thing which we do at any time, in which we have not a close purpose to bless ourselves; in every humane action there is an end propounded for which we work; not the finis cujus, the end of the action; as, when a man giveth over to work; but the finis cui, the end, for which he worketh: as, he that studieth, he studieth to this end, that he may attain knowledge; and the Merchant that traffics, he trade's to this end, that he may grow rich; and the ambitious, that serves and flatters, he does it to this end, that he may get into some place; this end is the beginning in every of our actions; 'tis primum in intention, as the Philosopher speaks, the first thing in our intentions; that which sets us at work: and when we have propounded to ourselves, that we will achieve knowledge, or riches, or honour, than we betake ourselves to such actions as we think to be the means for procuring them, as study, or merchandise, or servile flattery, the practice of the undeserving Parasite, as, of the ingenuous mind, to high actions of virtue.  
Now that which is the finis ultimus, the last end of all, that which all men, in their several projects aim at, as their Master-prize, and upshot of all their endeavours, is agreed on by all sides, to be blessedness: He that studies to be such, either he falsely places true happiness in that, or else by that he thinks to compass some higher degree of being happy: He that labours for a quiet and retired life, either he believes that to be the only happy estate, or else hopes by that to make way to a settled happiness: Men may diversely err in their opinions, either concerning what is true happiness, or concerning what is the true way to it; but happily, blessed they would be; they know, to be blessed, is to be best; therefore they desire nothing so earnestly as that; no, nothing at all, but what they think to be a means to that; but that they desire only for its own sake, as being the most perfect good, in respect whereto, all other good is imperfect, and subordinate; and that being purchased, nothing can be wanted or wished for by the boundless thoughts of Man.  
Not unfitly therefore does David the Father countenance his whole Book of Psalms, 
Psal. v. ●.  with such a blessed Introit, Beatus qui non abiit in consilio impiorum, Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly: a very omen and presage of blessedness to him that shall take delight to read and meditate on that book of Psalms, as it was his own encouragement for his entrance into so holy a work: And most comfortably does our Saviour Christ, his Son, commend unto us his most excellent Sermon upon the Mount, with that gracious assurance, in the very beginning of the same, blessedness, upon several holy endeavours, 
Mat. 5.  of Poverty in spirit, of Mourning, of Meekness, etc. Beati pauperes; Beati qui lugent, etc. Blessed are the poor in spirit; Blessed are they that mourn; Blessed are the meek; the merciful; the peacemakers, and the rest: as knowing, there was not so ordinary ready way to win a reverend respect in his new Auditors to that unheard of doctrine he was to deliver, as, at first, to open unto them a door of hope concerning that which every one of them, in their several studies and practices, and wishes, and endeavours, did propound as the utmost end, and best good of all, to be blessed.  
All men seek it in this life; 
Non ante obitum.  but no man can enjoy it till another life: That is the second Consideration; which will the better appear unto us, when we shall, first, in some measure, as our weakness is capable of it, apprehend what it is, to be truly blessed: And that is, in itself, of such an excellent high nature, as it can better be declared and conceived by the negative, than by the affirmative; that, as it is truly said of God himself, who is the Fountain of blessedness, in regard of the sublime and transcendent glory of his being, that we can better be taught to know what he is not, than what he is; so this which does so immediately proceed from his so glorious essence, can better be shadowed out to the darkness of our understanding, in saying, wherein it does not consist, than in venturing upon the inaccessible brightness of it.  
The Prophet Isaias told us, 64.4. and the Apostle St. Paul has quoted it from him, 1 Cor. 2.9. that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him: If no man hath seen or heard, nor conceived in his heart (which, yet, can conceive more than it can express) those admirable perfections with which the Heavenly Jerusalem is enriched, he cannot possibly declare it to another: we can say with the Evangelist, S. John in his Revelation, 22.3. that there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God, and of the Lamb shall be in it; that there shall be no night; they shall need no candle, nor the light of the Sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, v. 5. We can descend lower to these transitory good things, in which the Worldling makes himself believe that he can find happiness; and affirm boldly against all the strength of reason which humane wisdom has devised, that it is not to be found in Humane knowledge, since the wisest of natural men has confessed, 
Socrates.  after all his greedy search for an extraordinary measure of it, he knew but this one thing, that he knew nothing: and another of their greatest Clerks has set it down under his hand, 
Seneca.  that the greatest part of those things we know, is the least part of those things whereof we are ignorant; And a third, more learned than they both, even then, 
Aristotle.  when he laboured most certainly and demonstratively to know, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, we know not, we do but think we know: That it is not to be had in Riches, which could never yet give satisfaction to man's extensive covetousness; nor ever any man, who drank the deepest draught of this bewitching cup of Fortune, could slake his excessive thirst of having more, Quo plus sunt pota, plus sitiuntur opes, which break our sleep, and disquiet our thoughts; we cannot enrich one man, but by impoverishing another, (a rude Art which true blessedness was never yet ware of) which the greater they grow, the more care, and watch, and keeping they require: True blessedness keeps the man, and not the man it; he that once has it, can never fear to lose it: That Might and Power affords it not, since the most commanding Emperors cannot safeguard themselves and their Countries without the assistance of servants and Soldiers, and abundance of warlike provision: whereas none is truly happy who cannot stand of himself, who has not an assurance of all provision within himself, though all without him should fail him: That worldly honour comes far short on't, which is so oft exposed to the scorn of Fortune, which can never be free from hatred and envy, and suspicion, which ever shows men in their own colours, looked upon quite through their purple to their very selves, and most while, to the making of them ridiculous; for, as he who is set to view upon an open stage, is not therefore favoured, because all men's eyes are upon him, but does more clearly appear to all men, how fair or foul he is in his person or action; 
Aristot. ex Biante  so, Magistratus virum (non facit, sed) indicat: High places of honour do not make men wiser, or better, but make lower men see, how wise, or how foolish, how good, or how bad they are: That the pleasures of this life have nothing in them to make us happy, which hinder the use of our Reason, darken the light of our understanding dull the edge of our best wits, and are accompanied with nothing more, than their own contraries, Grief, and Repentance.  
Yea, admit this were not so, that our knowledge were not stark ignorance; our riches miserable poverty; our power manifest weakness; our honour mere shadowy titles; our pleasure bitterness of spirit; but that all the good things of this world were fair, and real, and substantial, yet, the short continuance of them, that they are not eternal; eternal! not durable, not lasting; so fading, so momentary, so soon lost by him that holds them longest, this alone is enough to prove, that they are so far from affording true blessedness, that they are no pieces, no fragment, no, not worthy to be counted shadows of it,  
If none of these, which by unlgar men, and wise men too, are rated for the best things of this life, what is it can settle us here in a state of bliss?  
If any thing can possibly do it, 'tis, without all question, Religion that has the pre-eminence, that will bring this mighty thing to pass, and if any man be capable of it in this life, 'tis only the good Christian that may glory in it; Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, Psal. 1. Blessed are they that are undefiled in the way, and walk in the Law of the Lord, Psal. 119. Blessed are all they that fear the Lord, and walk in his ways, Psal. 128. Blessed is he that considereth the poor and needy, Psal. 41. Blessed are they that hear the word of God, 
Lu. 11.28  and keep it: So that, here, if any where, appears some contradiction to our doctrine; these may challenge an enjoying of blessedness while they live in this world of wretchedness.  
And enjoy it, indeed, they do, in some measure, though far short of what they shall do; there is Beatitudo viae, such a blessedness which may be had whilst they are on their way (undefiledness in the way, walking in God's ways, are but the way, and ways, to that which is the end, even the salvation of their souls, 1 Pet. 1.9.) that they truly and indeed are possessed of in this life; Haec est vita aeterna, says our Saviour, John 17.3. This is life eternal to know thee and Jesus. He that hears my words, and believeth on him, hath eternal life, John 5.24. he hath it in that degree as, here, he is capable of it: But Beatitudo patriae, the perfection of bliss; the sight and fruition of God in Heaven; that entire union with him, when we shall be like unto himself, for we shall see him as he is, 1 John 3.2. This is for another life; this is the crown laid up, which the righteous Judge shall give at that day: 
2 Tim. 4.8.  Vltima semper Expectando dies homini est; Dicique beatus Antiobitum nemo, supremaque funera debet: 
Ovid.  This expect not till death; for, thus, only the dead are blessed.  
To take away all scruple, 'tis an observable truth, that S. Gregory Nyscen hath in his book De Beatitud. that God in himself is Verè Beatus, most properly blessed, as having it in, and from him-himselfe; and that from him, as from a Fountain, it issues forth upon Angels and Men, who are blessed in the participation of it, which they receive from him: Such as is the difference between the face of man which God made, and his Picture drawn by an earthly skilful hand; though this be too distant to express it, yet 'tis the best we can light upon; there the prime and true beauty is in the living face; and the second, the resemblance, the counterfeit of it in his image: so here, the most excelling blessedness is in the Deity itself, and the next from him, upon those creatures of his, who were facti ad similitudinem ejus, made after his likeness, and are his Image.  
He is true Blessedness, in himself, and to us; but to us, how? no otherwise than as he is applied unto us, and we conjoined unto him, which act of joining us unto him, and applying him unto us, is that which is called Fruitio, or Visio Dei, when we perfectly enjoy him by our sight of him, and see him as he is: This is that act, which is our formal blessedness; For God, though he be blessedness, yet he is not formally in us, but objectiuè, as the School speaks, or effectiuè: That which makes us formally blessed, is the sight of his glorious countenance; that which makes us, thus like to him, is, that we see him as he is; His servants shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads, Revel. 22.3, 4, 5.  
Now can this be the portion of any living man, to see his face? this which was denied to Moses, his so beloved Servant, to whom he had said, I know thee by name, and thou hast found grace in my sight, Exod. 33.12. (grace in it, but not the sight itself) yet to him, Thou canst not see my face; no, no man shall see me and live, v. 20. if not see his face and live, then, not that true blessedness which consists in that sight while we live: There is a measure of seeing God in this life; and so a measure of happiness; but neither full; we see God in his works; O come hither, and behold the works of the Lord, Psal. 46.8. And, These see the works of the Lord, Psal. 107.24. And, Behold the goodness and severity of God, Rom. 11.22. This is, with Moses, to see the back parts of Jehovah, Exod. 33.23. to behold him in his works, of Power, and Justice, and Goodness.  
So then, there is a clear and open seeing of our Creator, that true beatifical Vision, which the blessed Saints and Angels in Heaven only enjoy; and there is a weaker sight, a more obscure glimpse of the Deity, which only the servants of God have here by faith; they, and none else; neither Heathen, who are not called to the knowledge of God, nor wicked men, who resist the Grace of God calling them, who do not open to him when he knocks, nor yield obedience to the good motions of his Spirit; these see him not at all; They have eyes, but see not; 
Matth. 13.14.  at most, seeing they see, but do not perceive; the eye of their mind is so wholly darkened, that it is, and they are, darkness itself, as S. Paul tells the Ephesians before they were called to the light of grace, Eph. 5.8. Now, if the eye of thy wind, if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness? Matth. 6.23. And, can darkness itself see? so great a darkness, see God himself! him whom eye hath not seen! 
Isa. 64.4.  He is seen, but by one of these two ways; clearly, by them in heaven, and sub-obscurely, by his on earth; we have ground for them both in one verse of St. Paul's, 1 Cor. 13.12. Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then, face to face: just the same that I told you from 1 John 3.2. We shall see him as he is.  
In a word, we are blessed here, only in that we hope we shall be blessed hereafter; and that hope of blessedness is grounded upon the hope we have, that we shall see God face to face: Blessed are the pure in heart, says Christ, Matth. 5.8. why? they shall see God; they are blessed because they shall be blessed: This was the ground of Job's happiness while he lived, in regard whereto, death and destruction could not hurt him; Though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, Job 19.26. This was it that made David blessed here, and was such a preservative to him against fainting in the midst of all his troubles; I should utterly have fainted, but that I believe verily to see the goodness of the Lord: where? in the land of the living, Psal. 27.15. So that the blessedness which we have here, consists in the hope, that we shall be blessed in Heaven.  
Without salvation no perfect blessedness, that's sure; but, we are saved by hope, Rom. 8.24. and we are blessed only by hope, whilst here we live; neither is revealed yet, the glory that shall be revealed; so the Apostle calls it, Rom. 8.8. for, what a man seethe, why doth he yet hope for? v. 24.  
I hope we may now conclude this point with that saying of the wiseman, Ecclesiasticus 11.28. Judge no man blessed before his death; for, before blessed he shall be, die he must says our Text; Blessedness is first, in the order of the words; but, in the order of nature, death; and with that exhortation of the Prophet David, which follows upon the confidence he had that he should see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, Psal. 27. that, for blessedness sake we would not rush upon death, as some Heathens, being taught the immortality of the soul, cast themselves and their souls away, that they might be immortal; but rather, Tarry the Lords leisure; be strong, and he shall comfort thy heart; and put thy trust (thy hope) in the Lord: Let none, by their impatience to bear a less misery, rid themselves into a greater; whoever he be that can speak with that Emphasis, I am the man that have seen affliction, Lam. 3.1. and does therefore with Job abandon the day of his birth, 
Job. 3.3.  and importune for the hour of death, would this man have death be good unto him, and save him! O then, let him apply the counsel of the 26. verse as a remedy against the complaint of the first, It is good that a man should both hope, and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.  
Well, 
Non omnes post obitum.  the last part remains yet to be handled; no man can obtain true blessedness till he leaves this world; that we have done with; nor then all men, but morientes in Domino; they who so cease to live, as that they die in the Lord; these are they who are blessed.  
Beza renders it, propter Dominum, who die for the Lord; who in their fervent love to him, lay down their life for his sake, as his Son did for theirs, and lose it, or rather give it, or rather yet, sell it, in his quarrel, and for the defence of his truth; true this; but not all; for, thus to expound it, ties this promised blessedness, only upon the Martyrs of God, those valiant and faithful Servants of his (as if his many many promises to the faithful became void, if they were not valiant too, or, though valiant, if they had not a cruel occasion to try their valour) who patiently underwent the torments of a violent death at the hands of persecutors, for the witness-bearing to the truth of his Gospel: These, no doubt, are blessed in Heaven; He that loses his life for my sake shall find it, Matth. 10.39. blessed with a double crown, both as they regarded the glory of God, and the good of their Christian brethren, by their example of constancy; the blood of the Martyrs having ever been the seed of the Church, and that which is fire to their flesh and bones, water to the Gospel to make it flourish; a good confession witnessed before the wicked Tyrants of the world, doth good service to God and his truth; so it fell out in that martyrdom of S. Paul which he suffered in his life time, (for they are Martyrs too, which for God's cause stoutly endure any kind of misery besides death; and yet, to humour some rigid Interpreters, who will not be brought to allow of a living Martyr, let us for once call every affliction a death too, not only by the example of Pharaoh, who persecuted the Church of God; Take away this death, Exod. 10.17. but especially, by that of S. Paul, who, in this afflicted sense, suffered many, yea, daily deaths for the Church; he was in deaths often, 2 Cor. 11.23. he did die daily, 1 Cor. 15.31.) The things which bappened unto him in his persecution at Rome, they fell out unto the furtherance of the Gospel, insomuch, that many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by his bonds, were much emboldened to speak the word without fear, Phil. 1.12, 14. This is it that has made many of God's righteous servants not sparing of themselves, that Christ might be magnified in their bodies, whether it be by life or by death, by life I say, and S. Paul says so too, as well as by death, v. 20. and that they might be blessed after this life and death, as those Martyrs the Apostle speaks of, Heb. 11.35. who were tortured, and cared not to be delivered, that they might obtain a better resurrection.  
But we must not restrain this blessedness to those only who thus die for the Lord, since the Lord bestows this crown of bliss upon them also, who are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, so the Text, who die in the Lord.  
If we will know what this is, 
Mori in Domino  to die in the Lord, and who they be that so do, we must first understand what it is, to be in the Lord while we live; for, even then this happiness gins in us, when we begin to be in Christ; There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ, Rom. 8.1. If no condemnation, than no wrath of God; if not that, than Grace and Love, and Favour; and consequently, salvation, and eternal life; Man is no indifferent thing to his Maker; if he does not hate, he loves; nay, the very earth upon which Man is, God does either bless it with increase, or curse it with barrenness; and the Lord of the earth (under the Lord of Heaven) Man, much more: and no less than this is the effect of God's love to Mankind; God so loved the World, John 3.16. So, how? even to everlasting life, v. the same. Now what it is, thus uncondemnedly, to be in Christ? we have it explained, John 3.18. He that believes on him is not condemned: so, in the verse before, Whosoever believeth in him, shall not perish, 16. Not be condemned! not perish! what them! he shall have life everlasting: that's the effect of God's love; that's the consequent of Gods not condeming: So then, to be in Christ, is to be in the love of God, and faith of Christ, to cleave unto him, and rely upon him; then are we, by his Holy Spirit, engrafted into him; made his members, spiritually joined unto him, and live in him.  
There is a general conjunction, which all men living have with the Son of God, in that he took upon him our humane nature; not the flesh of man, but of mankind; Forasmuch as the Children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, Heb. 2.14. But this conjunction which is so general with all men, does not therefore make all men to be in him; we are thus conjoined with him, as I may say, only in regard of the matter; and to say sooth, all this notwithstanding, there is a great disjunction betwixt him and us, and the nature of men, as of men, does much differ from that nature which the Son of God took upon him; that Humane Nature of his (now with him in Heaven) is of itself immortal, without spot or slain, free from all sin, adorned with all holiness, and purity, and the fullness of all excellent graces; ours is impure and unholy, and woefully subject to corruption, because miserably defiled with sin; we are conceived in sin, 
Psa. 51.5.  says holy David; we are by nature the sons of wrath, says S. Paul, Ephes. 2.3. our natural, our first birth in the flesh separates us from him, keeps us out of him; but our second, our spiritual birth, our regeneration, when we are born again, 
Joh. 3.5.  of water and the spirit; when we are endued with the spirit of Christ, to believe in him, to live according to the direction of his Holy Spirit; then is our nature so repaired, so renewed, that we come near to his nature; we are thereby conformed to the image of the Son of God, Rom. 8.29. so conformed, that we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones, Ephes. 5.20. 'tis an Hebrew phrase; they were wont to say of their Brothers and kindred, Os meum est, & caro mea; he is my bone, and my flesh, as having received from the same loins, and womb, the same matter of flesh and bones common between them.  
I, beyond all this, besides the fleshly substance which Brothers receive from the same Parents, they do most what agree in the likeness of disposition, which they draw from the same common birth: 'Tis so with the Sons of God, when they are made the Brethren of Christ, being born of the Spirit of God; besides that, they partake of the same nature, they are of the same mind with him; which token of Brotherhood the Apostle requires in us, Phil. 2.5. Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus, they are of the same spirit, and mind; they are pure, even as he is pure, 1 John 3.3. 'Tis his quickening and sanctifying spirit, that puts life into them, and makes them his members; that puts holiness into them, and makes them his Brethren; The Sanctifier and the sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them Brethren, Hebr. 2.11.  
This our so near conjunction with Christ, and being in him, the Apostle hath fitly expressed (Rom. 11.) by a Graft grafted into a Plant, by which resemblance is fully made good what I have said concerning the nearness of a Christian to Christ by faith, and his spiritual living in him; in as much as the Graft, and the Plant are now made both one thing; not only one and the same matter, which before was different, and two, the one a good Olive-tree, the other wild; but further, that the same sap also does nourish all, and the same spirit gives life and growth to all, and all this by faith, as v. 20. because of unbelief, they were broken off, the natural branches, the Jews, Tu vero fide, but thou standest by faith; thou standest, as he that tells thee so, S. Paul lived, by the faith of the Son of God, Gal. 2.20.  
'Tis the same in effect with that which the Son of God had taught before, John 15. I am the Vine, ye are the branches, v. 5. Now the branch (who knows not) lives in the Vine, has the same life common with it, sprouts and springs forth from the same power within; and we, as that, must bring forth the fruits of the same spirit: For, deceive we not ourselves, beloved, 'tis not enough to profess Christ outwardly, to say we believe in him; this does not prove us to be engrafted into him, no more than the bramble was therefore King, because it said unto the Trees, If in truth ye anoint me King, Judg. 9.15. this was only said; there was no truth in it, therefore there was no truth in it, because of that other truth which Christ hath said, that of a Bramble-bush men do not gather Grapes, Luke 6.44. because it is altogether fruitless: But if we do indeed and in truth cleave unto Christ, by a true and lively faith, an effectual and operative faith, a faith working by love, and bringing forth the fruits of good Works, then be sure we are in him; The branch cannot bear of itself, except it abide in the Vine, no more can ye (says Christ) except ye abide in me, John 15.4. And therefore when S. Paul had comforted the faithful with an assurance of freedom from condemnation, to them that are in Christ, Rom. 8. because our being in him by faith, is an internal note, and cannot so easily be discerned, he adds presently, v. 1. another, an external, a practical note of God's children, whereby they may be known, even by the fruit of their Faith, who walk, says he, not after the flesh, but after the spirit: All men carry their flesh about them, with the infirmities of it, and do often feel the force of sin within themselves; but, 
Rom. 6.13. Vers. 12.  so they yield not to it; so they suffer it not to reign in their mortal bodies; so they do not obey it in the lusts thereof, 
Rom. 8.13. Rom. 6.4  but daily strive to mortify, by the Spirit, the deeds of the body; so they walk in newness of life, and not after, the old man, the flesh; this is to them a token of the spirit of God in them; that spirit is a pledge of their faith; and both an assurance that they are in Christ, so, as not to be condemned when they are judged; so, as to have begun their state of blessedness.  
Now if they be thus happy who are in him, as in that Text of the Apostle, and thus in him, as in our exposition upon it; then surely, they who abide in him, as in that other Text of S. John, holding fast that which they have, that no man take away their crown; abide in him, till they have passed through Epistle and Gospel, and come to this Text here in the Revelation, that they die in the Lord; holding fast the same faith unto the end; and by the force of it, recommending their spirit, 
Lu. 23.46  in the end, into the hands of him that gave it; they must not doubt to partake of this blessedness, pronounced by a voice from Heaven, Blessed are the dead that thus die.  
They are blessed who live in the Lord, by the faith of Christ, who believe in him; Beata quae credidit, says Elizabeth to the blessed Virgin, Luke 1.45. thou are blessed in that thou hast believed; but in a far lower degree; according to the measure of our knowledge, such is our happiness; but that knowledge which we have of God by faith, is but a beginning of that we shall have by sight: we know him now but in part, 1 Cor. 13.9. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away: Then we shall know even as we are known, v. 12. than shall we enjoy that perfect bliss which only can give us satisfaction; satiabor, cum evigelavero, says holy David, Psal. 17.16. I shall behold thy face in righteousness, and when I awake up after thy likeness, I shall be satisfied with it.  
Beloved, ye have seen, in part, wherein this blessedness consists, which is the greatest, and most absolute good to man that he can desire; and who they be that shall obtain it. To exhort you to the desire of so great a good, were needless, since every man does, by nature, long after it, with the strongest bent of his affection; 'tis a thing born with us, and we cannot choose but covet earnestly this best gift, to be happy: but, 
1 Cor. 12.21.  because we often fail in our judgement of the right way to it; and now that this voice from Heaven has made known unto us the only certain entrance that must convey us thither, yield we willingly to this persuasion for our own good, that we apply our hearts unto it; labour we, by being in Christ, as born of God, by living in Christ, as abiding in him, that at length we may also die in the Lord.  
If, to die in the Lord were all, perhaps to persuade that also, will not need much ●●●●ur; there is no man, but with half 〈◊〉 Exhortation will be easily induced to 〈◊〉 of the Prophet Ba●●am's mind, consent to die the death of the righteous, and that his last end might le like his, Num. 23.10. but will they consider, that to effect this they must first be as well content to live the life of the righteous, and let their beginning and continuance be like his? If we would die in the Lord at the last, and so be blessed, we must, in the mean, holily endeavour to live in the Lord, by Faith and Repentance, 
Acts 24.16.  and a good conscience both before God, and towards men: If we spend the time of our life upon our own lusts; if we now live unto ourselves, little hope we have to die in him: Live we not then, and live we too; do we both as S. Paul counsels, 2 Cor. 5.15. not henceforth to ourselves, but to him who died for us. Be we in Christ, and abide we in him, only this way we shall surely di● in Christ, and be blessed by him, and with him.  
Beatus qui vigilat, Revel. 16.15. Blessed is he that watcheth: To watch, in holy Scripture, is to live the life of fifth (as on the other side, sin is 〈…〉 the sleep of the soul) Watch ye, stan● 〈◊〉 in the faith, 1 Cor. 16.13. and Awake, thou that sleepest, Ep●. 5.14. (i.e.) Rouse up thyself, shake off the sleep of sin, and lead the life of righteousness; now, this watch must continue till the Bridegroom comes; this holiness of life must hold out, till Christ calls fo●●●●y d●ath; we must watch till we shall never sleep; we must be holy till we shall never sin; we must do the one, and be the other, till we get up to Heaven: Bratiquos cum venerit, Luke 12.37. Blessed indeed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching: to have watched before, will be but a drowsy excuse, if then we sleep in sin: to have done many good things, 
Mat. 7.22  even to the casting out of Devils, will not avail us, if we be not then found doing; Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he comineth shall find doing; as he hath lived to, so shall he die in the Lord; of a truth, the Lord will make him Ruler over all that he hath, Luke 12.44.  
What an encouragement is this, 
Consolatio.  beloved, to the servants of God, against the fear of death? that, as Christ, when he began to give his Law, which contained many Precepts, that seemed strict and difficult for our ability to perform, that he might draw us the more willingly to an obedience to them, does severally prefix before them this blessedness, whereto at last they bring us, Mat. 5. so because death had been made by fin, so terrible to the Natural man, therefore Christ, who died to overcome death, and to take away sin, which is the sting of it; as, by this means he has made it easy and sweet to them that die in him, so he would make it appear so also, by this assurance of blessedness upon it, Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.  
Be we not therefore afraid of Death, which must be the means to convey us unto bliss: Be we not loath (when God shall call us) to leave the miseries of this life, this warfare upon earth for the crown in Heaven; nay, be we careful, by a life to him, that we may die in the Lord, and we shall find that such a certain remedy against the fear of death, that we shall rather, with S. Paul's cheerfulness, make choice of S. 
Phil. 1.23  Paul's Cupio dissolvi, even desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ the Lord; we shall not pitch our thoughts upon that false shadow of blessedness, which the few and evil days of this life can afford, but look toward our Country, our Home, to that green Pasture, 
Psa. 23.2.  and those waters of comfort, whither the Shepherd of our Souls shall conduct those Sheep which belong unto his Fold; we shall resolve to fight the good fight here, 
2 Tim. 4.7.  and expect to triumph in peace there; we shall set up our rest to sow in tears here, 
Ps. 126.5.  and comfort ourselves with the assured hope of reaping in joy there: In a word, we shall not look for true bliss in this wretched world, which cannot give it, but stay our time with patience; all our time wait with joy, all the days of our appointed time, till our change cometh, 14.14. not hasten to gather our Grapes in the Spring, before they be ripe, sour Grapes to edge our teeth here, 
Eze. 18.2 Lu. 13.28  and give us gnashing of teeth in the other World, but constantly bear the heat of the Summer here, and stay for the sweetness of Autumn, and the delight of the Vintage in Heaven, where we may gather o● full Clusters, full ripe, and drink of the fruit of the Vine, even new, with our Christ, in his Father's Kingdom.  
This grant, good Christ, unto us all, that we may live in thee, by a true faith and holy life, and die in thee, by our constancy in that faith, which we have here possessed, and inherit that blessedness which thou hast promised, even for thy Names-sake, and for thy great Mercies-sake.  
To thee, etc.   

A SERMON Preached at the BAPTISM of the Right Honourable JAMES, EARL of Northampton.  Matth. 19.14. 
Suffer little Children, and forbidden them not, to come unto me; for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.  
THe whole History of this business is not long to be read unto you, that you may better conceive the occasion of these words: 'Tis recorded by three of the Evangelists; so worthy a passage it was thought by them not to be omitted; but in fewest words by S. Matthew: he concludes it in three short verses, almost as short as sweet; please you hear it.  
Vers. 13. Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray; and the Disciples rebuked them.  
Vers. 14. But Jesus said, Suffer little Children, and forbidden them not, to come unto me; for, of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.  
Vers. 15. And he laid his hands on them.  
In which short History there are three several parts acted: The first, by them who brought the children, the Parents, in all probability: Christ had, now, for the space of three years, traveled about that Country of Palestine, helping and healing; he went about, says S. Peter, doing good, and healing all, Acts 10.38. For this the people magnified him, and followed him: but the Priests and the Pharisees (they especially of Jerusalem) were mad with anger and indignation, to see a stranger so go in strength of Authority and Repute amongst them, and the esteem which the people had of them, daily to decrease: This drives them to a consultation (what pity it is, so wholesome a word should be infected by their conspiracy!) for to make him away, and to censure whosoever should acknowledge him to be the Messiah. The Messiah, in the mean while, bestirs himself (he knows he has not much time,) through Judea and Galilee, to bid a farewell to his Auditors, whom he had lately foretold of his passion and death: They, poor souls, hearing they were like to lose him, and having had good trial of his miraculous power, and what good they had received from him, by the imposition of his hands, and by his prayer, now therefore as Joseph, when he hears his old Father Jacob is sick, makes haste to bring his young sons unto him, that he may lay his hands on them, and they may partake of his blessing, ere he leaves them, Gen. 48.1. so these here come, with their babes i'their arms, that they also may receive some benediction from him before his last departure, that he should lay his hands on them, says the Text, and pray: That was their part.  
The next part was acted by the Disciples; but not so well; they were out i'their part, nothing like the Disciples of such a Master; we cannot here say of them as he of Theophrastus his Scholar,  Christi Discipulos possis agnoscere: They whom he had entertained for that service sake specially; to be Fishers of men: to get all into their nets; to draw all to him; they must be the forwardest to make them stand back, to forbid their approach; I, to rebuke them that brought them; who did, in this, perform the duty of Disciples better than they?  
But now enters the best Actor in'is Scene; he spoke, Never man spoke like this man, John 7.46. he put life and spirit into his words; the words that I spoke unto you, says himself, they are spirit, and they are life, 6.63. and his speech was not without action, they go together in this story; a comfortable speech, a charitable action; Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbidden them not, etc. there is his speech; he laid his hands on them: S. Mark tells what he did more; he took them up in his arms, put his hands on them, and blessed them, Mark 10.16. that's his action.  
Of all these we have only the last and best Actor to intent at this time; and in him, if we can make good use of his speech alone, 'twill be an hour well spent; so much was the Text read at first, Suffer little children to come, etc.  
It is Christ's general command, 
Division.  concerning the Children of believing Parents (for such were these, and of such he speaks) that they be admitted to him.  
An absolute command, and a reasonable one, and shown to be so; he gives a Reason of it, as a righteous Lord, who does not though his least word might bind us to strict obedience) enforce any thing by his absolute and mere authority, but deals reasonably and justly with us; he gives an account, of whom no man wisely durst ask, What dost thou? why dost thou this?  
So, there is not only a command in the Text, Suffer them to come; but a reason of it also, for, of such is, etc. Two general parts.  
And the command itself is not lightly given, lest so they should slight it; 
Sub-division.  but to show the importance of it, and the necessity of the duty, he charges it upon them a second time; he commands affirmatively, and he commands negatively; there is Sinite, and there is, Ne prohibit: Suffer them, that is once; and again I say unto you, Forbidden them not: So there be two points in the first part.  
And in the Reason too there is an Observation that scarce any Expositor misses, whom I have read upon the place, that in the Original it is not, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; not illorum, theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven; but talium, of such is, etc. So in all the three Evangelists; and that, says Musculus, (and indeed, who not?) is much more than if he had said theirs; to give notice, that, not only those little ones did belong to Heaven, but also, that they did so belong to it, that whosoever were not like them, were not such a one as they, he must have no entrance there.  
And this observation will require also a twofold discourse in the second part; one for Illorum, and another for Talium: the first for these children, their right to this Kingdom, for they are included; the second for those that are like them, and that whosoever is not such is excluded.  
We begin with the Command, and first with the affirmative part of it; Sinite parvulos, Suffer little children to come unto me.  
Christ therefore came to us, 
Sinite.  that he might make us able to come to him: And as his coming to us was general; not to some one man; not to some one Family; not to some one People, but in Mundum, into the whole World; Jesus Christ came into the World to save sinners, 1 Tim. 1.15. As he came to all, so he invites all to come to him; Venite omnes, Matth. 11.28. Come unto me all: If the Jew may come, the Greek may come also; if the free may come, the bond may come also; if the Male may come, the Female may come also; and, as S. Paul speaks there, Gal. 3.27. concerning Nations, and Sexes, and Conditions of life, that there is no difference, they are all alike, in this respect; There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither Male nor Female, ye are all one in Christ Jesus: So may we go further upon the same ground, to all estates, all fortunes, all ages; there is neither noble nor ignoble, there is neither rich nor poor, there is neither old nor young, there is neither man nor child; but as both of them are Homo, so all of them are unum, Omnes unum, ye are all one in Christ Jesus.  
But yet, lest Generalities should not take enough deep impression in men's minds; and that these little children, who are not able to plead their own cause, nor to urge the strength of this Grant, which they have as largely from God, as any others, lest they should lie neglected, as not contained in the Roll of them that are invited, as if Christ had not room and entertainment for their children, as well as themselves, when they come to his House; therefore upon the sight of these Children, he does from them, as from thender flowers, gather the sweet comfort of this more particular Doctrine, to feed his Disciples with; add after this general invitation, Matth. 11. he claps down this as a Postscript, that they be not left out, Sinite parvulos, bring them with you too; he that provides for Pulli Corvorum, Job 38.41. the young ones of the Ravens, and is still a Helper of the friendless, as the Prophet styles him, Psal. 10.16. he will also be a Father even of the fatherless, Ps. 68.5. and take special order for the children's coming; a command in particular for them: Suffer little children to come unto me.  
'Tis worth the while to consider, how fully Christ does express his love to children upon any occasion: once, besides this time, we read in the Gospel, that he had to do with a child, that child whom he propounded to his Disciples imitation, Mark 9 and both him at that time, and these at this time, he took up in his arms, 
Vers. 36.  that we may believe they were dear to him.  
And indeed, very easily may we be induced to believe it, when we consider the nature of God, and the condition of Children; God is a God of pity and compassion, as he styles himself; nay, as he proclaims himself (so well he is pleased with it) Deus, Deus misericors, & clemens: The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, Exod. 34.6. And no so fit an object of pity; nothing so like to move compassion, as the very fight of tender children: Jacob knew this well enough when he was to meet his enraged Brother Esau, of whom he was greatly afraid, says the Text, Gen. 32.7. (for indeed the rage of a Brother is rage indeed, as Tacitus has noted, Quae apud concordes vincula charitatis, incitamenta irarum, apud infensos sunt. Annal. 1. That which binds men together in love, whilst they are at concord, puts them farther at variance, being once enemies) when he was to meet the wrath of this Brother, so incensed against him; and therefore bethought himself of the best means to appease him, sending Present after Present (great and rich ones) to win upon his favour, before he durst come near him: All this notwithstanding, when he drew near him, when Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and beheld Esau come, and his Army with him, four hundred men, he mistrusted the strength of all his presents; he doubts he is not reconciled enough, he is driven to his utmost shift for the effecting it, to that which surely will (if any thing can) make his fury fall, and his heart even melt within him; he takes the children, and divides them to their several Mothers; he puts the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and her Joseph after; this, this prevailed against all his Brother's praeconceived malice; Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, says the Text, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept, Gen. 33.4.  
May we not think, Jacob learned this way from the story of his Uncle Ishmael? who, when he was a child, being in distress, with his Mother Hagar in the Wilderness, so near death, that the Mother left him, as not able to endure to see the death of the child, but went a good way off, and wept, and cried, lift up her voice and wept; yet, that place tells us not, that God heard her loud cry, but that he was moved to compassion with the voice of the child, which yet was so soft a cry, that we hear nothing of it in the story; Hagar cried aloud, but God heard the voice of the Lad, and for his sake sent her comfort, Genes. 21.17.  
We cannot easily conceive it; the compassionate love which God bears to little children, he loves the very name of them, and gives it to them he loves most; and that then, when he most desires to make them know he loves them; what name did Christ call his beloved Disciples by, when he was, now, shortly to leave them, and was newly entered the lists of his conflict with death, when Judas had taken the Sop, and Satan was entered into him, and had set him on working (not the works of God, but of his Father the Devil) that he went out immediately, when the plot was now laying, that must anon take effect upon his life? 
John. 13.33.  Then, then Filioli, little little children; filii will not serve to speak the extent of his affection: all children are beloved of their Parents; but filioli, their little, their darling children are tenderly doted on; he takes any occasion to do them reputation among men; Their Angels, Matt. 18.10. Though the Angels that guard all men do continually behold the face of God, yet Angeli corum, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, by way of excellence, 'tis published of them, that their Angels; nor is it published by the voice of any Prophet or Apostle, but Audivi vocem de coelo, by a voice from Heaven; and thence too, 'tis not the voice either of Saint of God, or of Angel of child, but of Christ himself, to show his love to them; his pusille, his little ones, he would have none be their Herald but himself, himself in person; Non alienae vocis ergano sed oraculo suae, from none other, but from his own mouth, as here, to give the charge for their coming to him, so in the chapter before, for not despising one of them; for, I say unto you, that in Heaven their Angels do always behold the face of my Father who is in Heaven, v. 10.  
Such was his liking to them, that he would be made one of them, and would be prophesied unto us under that title, above all other; Parvulus natus nobis, Isa. 9.6. Unto us a child is born: And those happy Babes, those Innocents' that were his Coaetanes, he honoured them with the first crown of martyrdom in his Church, and for his sake, through whose tender sides his own more precious life was aimed at: And ever since, and before, did, and does, God take special care of children, as those who being destitute of all help in themselves, have most need of his; insomuch, that as truly as David did, may all men living in a thankful acknowledgement of his mercy, sing it of themselves, Thou art he that took me out of my Mother's womb; thou wast my hope when I hanged yet upon my Mother's breast, I have been left unto thee ever since I was born; thou art my God even from my Mother's womb, Ps. 22.9.  
So great care argues as great love; and so great love loves to enjoy the thing that's loved, that as wise Solomon brings in this wisdom of the Father, the Son of God, speaking of himself, Pro. 8.31. Deliciae meae, esse cum filiis hominum, My delight is to be with the sons of men, so will it not offend him to be spoken in his name, Deliciae meae, esse cum Filiolis hominum, My delight is to be with the Children of men: and therefore, if not for their sakes, yet for his sake, Sinite Parvulos, Suffer little Children to come unto him.  
But, 
Nolite prohibere.  is it enough once said? if not, you must hear it again, for come they must; if not with Sinite venire, then with Nolite prohibere; for now, as if the former were not enough, another is added to signify, though not a different command, yet the same, because the second time uttered, with a more intensive, and forcible affection: Many, with me, do observe here, that the repetition of the Injunction does argue the earnestness of Christ's Will and Law, to have it take place; for, ever, commonly an ingemination either of one and the same word again repeated, or of sundry words bearing the same sense, gives, as 'twere, a double strength to the declaration of what is delivered, 
Noct. Att. 13.23.  as Phavorinus in A. Gellius,  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, War not any longer beloved young men, nor fight together: where both the words signify the same thing, saith yet, that the addition of the second word, though adding nothing in signification to the former, is not to make up the verse, but as they continued in their strife, so, duplex eadem compellatio admonitionem facit instantiorem, his second time urging the same manner of speech, did give the more earnestness to his advice; and though they were the same words in sense, yet one might very well think them to be others, quia aures & animum saepius feriunt, because they beat upon the ears and mind of a man more often; therefore Suffer them to come; I, and beside that, Forbidden them not.  
A repetition that one of us, at first, would think needless, and that none would be so hardhearted, to repel such Innocents'; yet something sure there was that ministered occasion to this, which seems so needless a behest, and we need not look far for it; the last words before the Text tell us, that the Disciples rebuked them: why they should do so would be enquired, and it will be no hard matter to guess at it; for, the best do no more than as probability of Reason leads them, seeing it is not expressed in the Text; of one thing they are all agreed (they will not, and we must not be too harsh in our censure upon the Disciples) what was not the cause; not envy in them, or ill will toward the children, or their friends that brought them: And for what was the cause, in the general, there is no great difference; a wrong-grounded zeal that they bore towards their Master (such a one as S. Paul discovered to be in Israel, Rom. 10.2. that they had a zeal, but not according to knowledge) S. chrysostom says, 'twas zeal of his Honour, for they ran regardlessly to him, and almost upon him; and so Theophylact conjectures, that the women came in disordered heaps, thronging about him with their children for a blessing, and this they thought some disparagement to the dignity and authority of his Doctrine, that he should have any thing to do with Children; S. Jerome is of opinion, that they had regard to his ease in so doing, that he should not be pressed too much, and wearied with the throng, and he there-hence argues the imperfection of their faith; and with him agrees S. Ambrose in his Comment upon S. Luke, that it was their observance toward their Master, to avoid the trouble of the crowd. Again, whereas the common causes of men's coming to him, were either to receive the benefit of instruction from his Doctrine, or the ease from some infirmity, by the power of his Miracles; these were not sick, might the Disciples think, and so, not in need of the one; they were Children, and therefore not capable of the other.  
But these were the thoughts of men, who judged of Christ, by their carnal sense, and according to his outward appearance; and yet not unlikely to be the Disciples errors; especially the first of them, which men are prone to run upon; they are needlessly afraid to think too meanly of Christ, and that has been the cause of too many superstitions in the Church; this one amongst the rest, that men become Suitors to the Saints in Heaven, to mediate their Prayers to God, because they think it dishonourable to Christ, to be the common Advocate; as also, to fear to think too honourably of him, and to deal too bountifully with him, in his House and Household, has been the cause of profanations more than enough; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, betwixt both, the Mean would do well.  
Whatever was the ground, Use. let us make this use of it, to consider, how God still order every evil action to some good end; how all things work together for good, 
Rom. 8.28.  to them that love God; how from this very slip of his Disciples, which he suffered them to fall into, he is pleased to take occasion the more, to manifest his love to little Children, and to leave this sweet and comfortable saying, amongst the rest of his Monuments, as a Testimony of it to all posterity, Suffer little Children to come unto me; so much the rather, forbidden them not.  
But is there no more required on our part? 
Baptism.  only to suffer them? not to forbid them? Yes: That was specially directed to those whom it chief concerns to admit them to him, his Disciples, and their Successors, the Ministers of his Word and Sacraments; the rest must do more, help them forward, lend them feet to bring them; when they cannot run with their own feet (says S. 
Serm. 10. De verbis Apostoli.  Austin) they run by the help of others; Accommodat illis Mater Ecclesia, aliorum pedes, ut veniant: And 'tis no more than that which was so long since foretold by the Prophet Isaiah, in his Prophecy of the ample Restauration of the Church, chap. 49.22. They shall bring thy Sons in their arms, and thy Daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.  
But whither so fast with these Sons and these Daughters that are carried? why, to Christ no question; thither the Text calls them: True, but the way to him? No other left us by his direction, for our first entrance, but Baptism; to that our Church Liturgy applies this Text: nor is there any of our Ancient Writers, but does so; yea, in a manner appropriate it thereto; and wheresoever they treat of Baptism, ever this verse comes in; that has made some of them call Baptism, Introitum ad Regnum Coelorum, Heaven's entry: Some, the Sacrament of Initiation; Some, the Door; Some, the Gate of Heaven.  
For, whereas no man can come to Christ, except he be a New man, and we are all born with the corruption of the Old man upon us, Quod natum ex carne, caro, John 3.6. That which is born of the flesh, is flesh: Conceived in sin, and born in iniquity, Psal. 51.5. and therefore, Natura, filii irae, S. Paul assures us, Sons of wrath by nature, Eph. 2.3. Not filioli here; grown Sons of great wrath: Therefore of necessity we must be renewed, regenerate, born once again; Nisi quis Renatus fuerit, John 3.3. Except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God; born of the spirit, if we will leave to be flesh, Quod natum ex spiritu, spiritus; That which is born of the spirit, is spirit; he is the only Author, the principal efficient cause of our new Birth.  
The Principal, I say; for, he does not use to work Regeneration in the heart of any man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as the Enthusiasts will have it, immediately; but by such ordinary means as he has appointed, both for himself to offer, and for us to apprehend, eternal Salvation: The means allotted to us in this behalf, who are Receivers, is Faith, the only Hand he has given us, to reach out, and lay hold on, and apply unto ourselves the Grace of God offered, the merit of Christ, with the consequents thereof, Forgiveness of our sins, justification and eternal salvation: By faith of Jesus Christ the righteousness of God is unto all, and upon all that believe, Rom. 3.22.  
But then in respect of God, who is the Donor, the means by which he does usually bestow these Graces upon us, and convey them unto us, are two; his Word, his Sacraments.  
Of the efficacy of his Word no Christian doubteth; By hearing comes faith, Rom. 10.17. and by the hearing of faith is the spirit received, Gal. 3.2.  
And, for the Sacraments, they have as little reason to trouble themselves, and the Church of God with seruples of doubt, as if they were but bare signs and no more: Do not the Fathers call the Sacraments, Verbum visibile, a visihle Word? Are they not, as it were, an Epitome of the Gospel? Receive they not all their worth and virtue, and operation, not only from the present Grace, but from the ancient Appointment and Ordinance of God, and from the Word of God, which, by Divine, as well as Ecclesiastical Ordination, is joined to the outward Elements?  
But, to make it good against them, in this one Sacrament, which we have now in hand. If he, and he only, shall be saved, in an ordinary course, who believes and is baptised, Mark 16.16. may we not well reckon Baptism an ordinary means of this salvation? If of salvation, than also of those other graces which are the way unto it, regeneration, remission of sins, righteousness, and renewing of the mind; Except a man be born of water and the spirit, John 3.5. there's regeneration by it: John Baptist preached the Baptism of Repentance for the remission of sins, Luk. 3.3. Repent, says S. Peter, and be baptised for the remission of sins, Act. 2.28. and, Arise, says Ananias to Paul upon his conversion, and be baptised, and wash away thy sins, Act. 22.16. there's remission: Ye are washed, says St. Paul, 1 Cor. 5. then presently follows upon that, Ye are sanctified, ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, v. 11. there be two other graces: As many of you as have been baptised into Christ, have put on Christ, Gal. 3.27. and having Christ upon us, we have his obedience, his merits, his righteousness; how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Rom. 8.32.  
So that, as S. James, in the case of our regeneration, does join together the Spirit and the Word, which is one of the means he uses to that purpose; Of his own will begat he us, with the Word of Truth, Jam. 1.18. so our Saviour Christ does join the Holy Ghost and Baptism, which is another effectual means; Except a man be born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God, Joh. 3.5. And S. Paul couples both these means together, makes them march hand in hand, as equally useful to sanctification in the Church of God; Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify it and cleanse it, with the washing of water by the Word, Eph. 5.26. what shall I say more? This will I say, that,  
A cause, therefore we need not fear to call it, of our regeneration and salvation, though not the principal; that's God himself; yet, the instrumental, as we speak in Schools, or medium; He saved us, says the Apostle; God, Tit. 3. there's the principal cause, by the washing of regeneration, there's the instrumental, v. 5.  
We have the steps of all the ancient Fathers of the Church walking in this Track, a warrant to us for this confidence: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we find it called, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a second Birth, and a Divine Generation by Dionysius; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a being born again, by Greg. Nazianz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Bath by which we wash away our sins, Clem. Alexandr. Peccatorum omnium remissionem, the forgiveness of all our sins, by S. Ambrose; Fons Divinus, quo Fideles in Creaturam novam regenerantur, by Cassiodorus, the Divine Fountain by which the Faithful are made up into a New Creature; and by every one, the Door of Heaven, the Sacrament of Initiation, the first admission into God's Kingdom.  
Not, that all that are baptised, are thereby necessarily admitted into the Kingdom of Heaven; or, that all do receive the Grace of God, who receive the Sacrament of his Grace: for, as not the Bread and Wine in the Eucharist, so neither the water in Baptism, does contain, in itself, any vital force or efficacy: That Grace which is a consequent of the Sacraments, it doth accompany them as their end, the benefit whereof whoso partakes, he receives it from God himself, the Author of Sacraments, and not from any other natural or supernatural quality in them: And therefore their manner of necessity to life supernatural, is not in all respects, as food unto natural life; they are not Physical, but Moral Instruments of Salvation; Duties of Service and Worship, which unless we perform, as the Author of them requireth, they are unprofitable: Hugoes Rule we acknowledge, and follow in this case, 
De Sacr. lib. 1. c. 3,  Fideles salutem ex istis elementis non quaerunt, etiamsi in istis quaerunt; though we seek for salvation in Baptism, yet not from Baptism, but from God; for, this is the instrument of God to that end and purpose, a Moral Instrument, the use whereof is in our hand, the effect in his; for the use, we have his express command; for the effect, his conditional promise: so that without our obedience to the one; there is of the other no apparent assurance: whereas on the other side, where the signs and Sacraments of his Grace are not either omitted, through contempt,, or received with contempt, we are not to doubt, but that they really give what they promise, and are what they signify: The same is true here, which Solomon's Wisdom observeth in the Brazen Serpent, He that turned himself to it was not healed by the thing he saw, but by thee, O Saviour of all, Wisd. 16.7.  
The necessity therefore that Ispake of, for the coming to Christ this way, for our being renewed by this second Birth, I hope appeareth: which necessity notwithstanding we do not preach unto you to be so absolute, as if God had never another door into Heaven; as if he had so tied his saving Grace to this means, as without it 'twere impossible to be attained by any: this is the highway, the common door, by which he hath appointed us to enter; and therefore, on our part, we are bound to this way, if we can get to it; but if there be an impossibility on our part, and that without our contempt, or neglect of his Ordinance, it shall please God we be prevented (I speak not of them that are born out of the Church, Qui foris sunt, Deus judicat, 1 Cor. 5.13. we leave them (with S. Paul) to be judged by God, but) for them who are born in fidere, in that league which God made with Abraham and his seed for ever; God forbidden such unmannerly, uncharitable thoughts in Christians, that because God binds our obedience to this ordinary means, we should likewise prescribe to him, and tie him to his own Ordinance; that we should think he has not other ways to let us into his Kingdom; that because he does not usually, therefore he cannot extraordinarily work saving Grace in the hearts of some, without this outward means.  
As therefore on the one side, we blame those men as too remiss, who have too mean a regard of this ordinary and immediate means of life, relying wholly upon the bare conceit of that eternal Election, which, notwithstanding includes a subordination of means, without which we are not actually brought to enjoy what God secretly did intent; and therefore to build upon God's Election, if we keep not ourselves to the ways which he hath appointed for men to walk in, is but a selfe-deceiving vanity: So on the other side, we may as little approve the too severe conceit of those who condemn the children of Christian Parents dying before Baptism, into a place in Hell, which their own fancies have built for them, and that of several fashions, according to their several conceits; a Limbus Infantum, wherein some are so mild, as to inflict no other punishment upon them, but the not seeing God, 
Vid. Bellarm. De Amissione Gratiae. Tom. 3. l. 6. c. 1.  which they call Poena damni: Some, more anstere, will have them suffer some grief also, for that loss; others cruelly award them the perpetual torment of Sense, added to the loss of God's presence (so well they agree amongst themselves, who are at discord in opinions, to the Church of England.)  
S. 
Tom. 7. De Bapt. l. 4. c. 22.  Austin tells us another tale, that the Sacrament of Baptism is, then, invisibly fulfilled, when not contempt of Religion, but the point of necessity does exclude it. And seeing that our Baptism under the Gospel, does succeed in the very stead of Circumcision under the Law, we ought not to set a harder censure upon the Babes of believing Parents, dying without Baptism, and without contempt of it; than all antiquity has done upon the sons of the Hebrews, whom either Infirmity of disease untimely cut off, or the cruelty of Pharaoh, Exod. 3. or of Antiochus, 1 Maccab. 1. suffered not to see the eighth day of their age, till when by the Law they might not be circumcised: In which case it hath ever been held the part of prudent and holy charity to hope; and to make men rather partial than cruel Judges, as having reason in a charitable presumption, to gather a great likelihood of their salvation, to whom the benefit of believing Parents being given, the rest that should follow is prevented by some such casualty, as man had in himself no power to avoid.  
One error more there is, 
Paedobaptismus  concerning this way of Children in Baptism coming to Christ, with which though I may not now trouble you long, yet unless I would betray my Text, I must needs discover it unto you; because it does so flatly bid defiance to my Text, and stands in such direct terms of opposition to it.  
The Disciples here may be suspected to be in a fair way to have turned Anabaptists; they liked not that Children should come to Christ: but Christ was displeased with them; and for fear the Devil (who is such a professed enemy to the Church of God, and to the increasing of his Kingdom) should, from this ill example of theirs, take advantage afterwards to establish such a Sect, he nips it in the bud; he takes the children of this Edom, and throws them against the stones; he sets down a Canon in his Church, for the direction of succeeding Ages, a Canon of such a Council as can never err, nor which shall ever be repealed, Suffer little Children, and forbidden them not, to come unto me.  
Can any man have thought, that so long as this Canon had been in force, it should not have been preservative strong enough against that poison, which the Devil hath since instilled into some men's brains, who have enacted a Statute in their Conventicle, as it were in spite of this, that till they come to years of discretion, to the use of reason, they come not to Baptism, that is to say (say Christ what he will) till they cease to be children, they shall in no wise come to Christ: They slept surely while the enemy sowed these Tares in their hearts! Is't possible they should be conversant in any of Christ's fields? that they should read any of his Gospels, and not light upon this Ear of good Wheat which grows in so many of them? Me thinks the Devils should have clapped these three Gospels into the Inquisition, or caused the Council of Trent to have taken them into their consideration, to have enlarged their Index expurgatorius, and expurged this sweet command of Christ out of all these three Evangelists, before he had gone about to make an Anabaptist.  
The very Reason that they give for their Fancy, is the same that is given by so many for the Disciples mistake here, because that for want of the use of Reason, they are not yet capable of such heavenly Mysteries; which, had it been of force, S. Peter had also long since, with his too much modesty, deprived himself of that mystical heavenly blessing of having his feet washed with our Saviour's own hands; Lord (says he) dost thou wash my feet? thou shalt never do it: but what Christ said then to him (who was but a Child in the knowledge of Heavenly Mysteries) the same may the Ministers of Christ, in his Name, pronounce to any of these Children, upon the like occasion, Quod ego facio, tu nescis modo, What I do thou knowest not yet, but thou shalt know hereafter, Jo. 13.7.  
Euntes, Docete, Baptizate; 'tis our Saviour's last charge to his Disciples, in the end of S Matthews Gospel, Go and teach all Nati●ns, baptising them; (not to ward this blow with the original Text, which does not signify to teach, but to make Disciples, but to try it out with their own translated weapon) See, (say they) The Word preached and the Sacrament must go together, & therefore they that are not capable Auditors of the one, are not fit Receivers of the other: And Qui crediderit, & baptizatus fuerit, Mark 16. He that believeth and is baptised, shall be saved: 
Vers. 16.  No Baptism therefore (say they) before a Profession of their Faith: S. 
Epist. 23.  Austin makes answer to Boniface, a Bishop in his time concerning this very difficulty, whether it may truly be said for Infants at the time of their Baptism, as we use by our Godfathers, that they do believe? and the effect of his Answer, is, Yea; but with this distinction; a present actual habit of faith there is not in them; but, that habit of faith, which afterward doth come with years, is but a farther building up of the same Edifice, the first foundation whereof was laid by the Sacrament of Baptism; for, that which then we professed, without any understanding, when we afterward come to acknowledge, do we any thing else, but only bring unto ripeness the very seed that was sown before? We are then Believers, because than we begin to be that, which more of God's Grace, in process of time, makes perfect: And till we come to actual belief, the very Sacrament of faith is a shield as strong as, after this, the faith of the Sacrament, against all contrary infernal Powers.  
But, not to trouble your patience too long with discussing these points, a thing fit for the Schools; and because there is more Pulpit-matter in the other part of the Text, let this, in one word, be the Church's Challenge to them; either let them make it appear unto us, that Baptism gives a greater blessing to our Children, than Christ gave to these; or, that the same reason applied to the seed of faithful Parentage, whom the Apostle avows to be holy from the very birth, 1 Cor. 7.14. will not make them also capable of an equal blessing; for, not illorum only, but talium; not only of these, says Christ, but of such is the Kingdom of Heaven; That's the Reason of the duty, and the second part.  
If of such, 
Illorum.  then of these also; for, horum must be the ground of talium: And if Heaven belongs unto them who are like the Children of Christian Parents, because they are like them; then surely they themselves have, by virtue of God's gracious Promise, an interest unto it; they, concerning whom he hath made his Covenant with the Father of them all, his Servant Abraham, the Father of the faithful, Ero Deus tuus, & Seminis tui post te, Gen. 17.7. I will be a God unto thee and to thy Seed after thee: not his seed according to the flesh only, but even vobis, & filiis. vestris, as S. Peter preached it generally to them, all of so many several Nations, Act. 2.39. The promise is to you, and to your Children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.  
No, says our Anabaptist (that loves to imbrue his hands, with Pharaoh and here in the spiritual death (as much as in him lies) of so many tender Sucklings) not illorum for all this; No Children are meant in this clause, but they who are like them: How? not in years, but in simplicity, in innocency, and in humility: A good Interpretation, I grant, and not of their own finding out; but that which the most reverend Interpreters of Scripture in the purest times (how little soever they regard their Elder Books) have laid before them, but with little purpose by their Allegorical Interpretation (which is also good and lawful) to afford them a hint for the avoiding the literal.  
If these here whom Christ blessed had not a right to the Kingdom of Heaven, surely our Saviour gave a very improper Reason for his action, which even themselves will not be so impious to affirm: and these here are Children, and that little ones; if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will not serve, they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; if Parvi be not small enough, they are Parvuli, the diminutive little children; lap-childrens S. Mark makes them, for he reports, Christ took them in his arms when he blessed them, 10.26. as we do little children when we baptise them; and S. Luke he has a less word for them than either S. Matthew or S. Mark, less than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, than ordinary little ones, that can newly go, or speak, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he calls them; and that's properly Infants; so we have translated it.  
But we take this for granted of all but them, whom we labour not much to satisfy in so manifest a truth; and therefore hasten to the last particular in the Text; that, as of them, so, of such as they are, Talium (says Christ) est Regnum coelorum, of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.  
And in it, 
Talium.  having first acknowledged the simplicity of the Truth in the literal sense, we will follow the Fathers in this Allegory, seeing the Scripture does often abound in several senses, all agreeing to the Analogy of faith.  
And indeed it must needs be so, when we consider, that not only such are admitted, but that whosoever is not such, is excluded; so S. Mark and S. Luke too in setting down this Story, Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein: Are we driven then here to Nicodemus his question? 
Joh. 3.4.  How can a man be a child when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his Mother's womb? No, 'tis not the age of a child that Christ requires, but that that innocency and humility which does naturally appear in them, should, by Education and Grace, be practised in as many of us as would find the way to Heaven; so S. Paul expounds it for the former, Be children in malice, 1 Cor. 14.20. (i. e.) be harmless, be innocent; and our Saviour Christ expounds it for the later, Whoso shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, Matt. 18.4.  
So that every childish quality is not to be imitated by us; S. Paul forbids that in that place to the Corinthians, Be not childish in understanding, and (perhaps he too) chides those men, Heb. 5.12. who were so childishly ignorant, that they had yet need of milk, and not of strong meat: Solomon is weary of enduring them, Quousque parvuli diligitis Infantiam? Prov. 1.22. How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? But they are propounded to our imitation, in regard of those good qualities, in which God is specially delighted; those, amongst the rest, are chief, the two I named unto you, Innocency and Humility: of each of which very briefly, and we have done.  
This Innocency we must not so understand, as I find some of the Papists, 
Innocentia. Darrad, etc.  in expounding this place, are willing to do, who think that children, upon their Baptism, are so clear from sin, that, now, they have not the least spot or slain left in them, and would have us be so: They are indeed in that Wellspring of New Birth, so throughly washed from the guilt of Original sin which they brought with them into the world, that it is not laid to their charge to condemn them; No, no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, Rom. 8.1. But yet the seeds of that concupiscence, which does deprave our whole nature, are not so done away, but that we have still need to crucify the Old man within us all the days of our life; Mendaces sumus, says S. John, 'tis a bold lie, to say we have no sin in us, 1 John 1.8. Take heed of this Plea; if we once plead it, 
Vide Cassiani Collationem 22. c. 13.  we shall set God on pleading too: I will plead with thee, says God, because thou sayest, I have not sinned, Jer. 2.35.  
Innocent we may be, as Job was, who, maugre the Devil's malice, yet held fast his innocency, Job 2.3. Such innocency we may attain to, as David washed his hands in when he went up to the Altar of God, Psal. 26. we may, and must, strive to be like Zachary and Elizabeth his wife, righteous before God (i. e. without hypocrisy) walking in the Commandments of God: But that walking is an argument, that we are not yet come to the mark; I, In all the Commandments and Ordinances of God, without reproof, Luke 1.6. but how without reproof? S. Austin does interpret it to Innocentius, sine querela, non sine peccato; not without sin, but without grievance, quarrel, just complaint, or exception to be made against them; he does often distinguish betwixt peccatum and querela; the one sin in general, which no man is freed from (for 'tis an absolute Sentence, and needeth no exposition, 
Gal. 3.22  God hath concluded all under sin) the other, some great offence (as David calleth it) some malicious wickedness, some heinous, notorious scandalous sin, culpable in the eyes of men, and worthy of censure and crimination: An Innocency we may, and must aim at, for the model and capacity of this life, for the state of Passengers and Wayfaring men; but to magnify the arm of flesh, and the nature of man, more than reason admits (as the Pelagians of our Time do) and by a sophistical and deceitful conclusion, to seek to obscure the Truth, and to overreach the World in this point, that because they find in the Scripture often mention of the Innocency, Justice, Righteousness, Perfection of the Children of God, (dissembling, or not rightly weighing the drift of the place) they should infer hereupon, that a man may in this life attain to such a Saintlike Innocency, as to be clear from all sin, is a conceit which savours not of that Humility commended in these Children.  
And therefore, 
Humilitas  if we mark it, our Savour Christ, where he expounds himself, c. 18. insists more upon that other childlike quality, and commends it unto us for the best way to Christ, and to Heaven, Humility; Not whosoever shall be without sin, as this little child, but, Whosoever shall humble himself as this little Child, 
Vers. 4.  the same is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Now, Humility may be, and aught most to be in him who is subject to sin; and 'tis the want of it only that puts that same Non sum sicut caeteri in the mouth of our Pharisee; 'Twas to the sinful, but humble Publican, Luke 18. that Christ applies this very speech to in effect, Matt. 18. not he that is without sin, but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted, there in S. Luke; exalted indeed, for he shall be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, here in S. Matthew.  
Of this in few words, and I'll tyre your patience no longer.  
Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven: Of such little ones, of such humble ones: see the Pattern first, and the humility that is in them. What child, though never so Nobly born, though the Son of a Prince, taketh advantage from the greatness of his birth, to lessen his Humility? Who ever saw spark of pride in Swathing-clouts? or the least show of disdain for any usage, though he were laid in a Crib, in a Manger, as the best Child was? The Heir of the House, as long as he is a Child, (S. Paul tells us) differs nothing from a Servant, though he be Lord of all, Gal. 4.1. The Heir of the Kingdom took upon him the form of a Servant, Phil. 2.7. I, as he would come to us by the name of a Child, Ecce, Parvulus natus, so he propounds himself the Pattern of nothing so expressly, as of this virtue; Discite ex me, Matth. 11. Learn of me: what? I am meek and lowly in heart, v. 29. Learn of him that, and then we may learn any thing, all that this Book of his can teach us; we shall be nourished and grow strong by the sweetness in it, if we come to it as S. Peter bids us, and as new born Babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that we may grow thereby, 1 Pet. 2.2.  
We see the Pattern; consider what need there is that we imitate it; that as our children are so, so God's Children must be so: We must know therefore, that the way to Heaven is directly contrary to the way of this world; that as Seneca bids his Wise man go against the Crowd, march the contrary way to the multitude; so in things appertaining to salvation, we must omnino diversa via incedere, says one, For they proceed in such a course, as in the eyes of worldly men seems most unlikely; here, If any seems to be wise, let him become a fool, that he may be wise, 1 Cor. 3.18. Here, He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it, Matth. 10.39. Here, Whosoever will be great, let him be your Minister, and whosoever will be chief, let him be your servant, Matth. 20.26. Here, he that became obedient to death, even the death of the Cross, God highly exalted him, and gave him a Name above every Name, Phil. 2.9. and even therefore, says S. Paul; and here, Whosoever shall humble himself as this little Child, the same is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, Matth. 18.4. so truly said the Lord by the Prophet Isaias, My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, 55.8.  
From this consideration the devoutest Fathers of the Church of Christ have trod this uncouth path, and because it is so hard to light on, have chalked it out to us. S. Gregory, Ep. 39 Humiliemur in ment, si ad solidam conamur pervenire celsitudinem, Let's be lowly in mind, if we think of rising to the true height: S. Austin, Serm. 10. De Verbis Domini, Magnus esse vis? à minimo incipe. Wilt thou be great? begin to be so at being little: No safe erecting a stately structure for magnificence, without first digging deep to lay the foundation in Humility; that thou mayest be great in God's eyes, (says he in another place, Serm. 11. De Temp. be small in thine own eyes; just so said Samuel to Saul, When thou wast little in thine own sight, than wast thou not made the Head of the Tribes? then the Lord anointed thee King over Israel, 1 Sam. 15.17. God looks upon us, as we look upon things through a Perspective-Glasse; to see great things we use it not, but with it we look at small things; for this Glass makes such as them great in our eyes; so these men that are great, I wis, in their own thoughts, that say with the Church of Laodicea, Rev. 3.17. that they are rich, and increased with goods, etc. when they are poor and miserable, they that thus belie themselves with a false conceit of Greatness, God looks not on them at all, He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight, Psal. 101. But behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, that are so little as to be afraid, and so humble as to mistrust themselves, and to put their trust in his mercy, Psal. 33.17. Those that do with the ten Lepers in S. 
17.12. & 18.13.  Luke, and with the humble Publican, stare à long, stand a far off: To us they seem small, and of no reputation, but the Perspective eye of his wisdom makes them great; when they are little in their own sight, then does he make them as the Heads of their Tribes.  
He is not like these Children, that brags, with the Pharisee, Luke 18.11. he is not like other men; (yes, like men, like natural men he is, but not like Children, like these Children) and he makes himself most unworthy of this Kingdom who says of himself, as the Jews of the Centurion, Luke 7.4. that he is worthy for whom the Lord should do this: Non, Non sum dignus, we learn from one that was worthier than any of us, a greater than whom was not among the sons of women, Matth. 11.11. I am not worthy to lose the latchet of his shoe, Luke 3.16. Quis ego sum, Domine? was the question of a great King, Lord, who am I? says David, 1 Chron. 29.14. and minor sum, was the answer of a holy Patriarch, I am less than the least of thy mercies, says Jacob, Gen. 32.10. Like those Plutarch writes of, that sailed to Athens to get Philosophy, first they were called Sophistae, wise men; after that, Philosophi, but Lovers of wisdom; than Rhetores, only Reasoners, and Discoursers; last of all, Idiotae, simple, unlettered men; still the more they profited in learning, the less they acknowledged it: so these holy men, like Circles, the nearer they came to their Centre, Christ Jesus, upon whom they rest, the less still they made themselves: And so must we in spiritual graces, study to be great, but not know it; as the stars in the firmament, though they exceed the earth in bigness, yet seem much less, and the higher and bigger of them, less than the least; In alto, non altum sapere, not to be highminded in high deserts, is the way to high preferment.  
The preferment in my Text, 
Regnum. Joh. 14.2  the Kingdom of Heaven, it has many Mansions, says Christ; but it has not one for a highminded, for a proud man, no, not for a proud Angel; they, when they lost their humility, lost their place there; and shall Man, by getting pride, get in thither? Pride has once already sorely shaken the walls of Heaven, and cast down the (too big spirited) spiritual Inhabitants; and therefore a sure guard there is against the reentry of such an enemy; he had need be a strong man to recover that place which Angels could not hold, freed by God's grace in Christ, from all sins, but especially from that daring sin Angusta Porta; though this Kingdom within be spacious and glorious, 
Mat. 7.14  yet the gate is straight that leads unto life: as they be few, so those few are little ones, humble ones, Tales, says my Text, such as these little Children that enter in thereat.  
This grace of all other, (I know not how, whether for the excellency of it in itself, or for the necessity of it in regard of us) there's more to be said of it than of any other, and a man has more to do to hold a mean; it is both a Grace itself, and a Vessel to comprehend other Graces; and this is the nature of it, the more it receiveth of the blessings of God, the more it may, for it ever emptieth itself by a modest estimation of its own gifts, that God may always fill it; it wrestleth, and striveth with God, according to the policy of Jacob; that is, winneth by yielding, and the lower it stoops to the ground, the more advantage it gets to obtain the blessing: O quam excelsus es, 
Austin Confess.  Domine? & humiles corde sunt domus tuae: O Lord, how high and sovereign art thou? and yet the humble of heart are thy houses to dwell in: Where is the house (says God) that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? To him will I look, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my words, Isa. 66.2. What was it in the blessed Virgin, (the Mother of God's Firstborn, the Glory and Flower of Womankind) that God regarded so much? she tells us in her Magnificat, He hath regarded the lowliness of his Handmaid; 
Lu. 1.48.  yea, the blood and juice of the whole Song is in praise of this one Grace; He hath scattered the proud, he hath put down the mighty, 
V 51, 52.  he hath exalted the humble and meck.  
I must end with this one Observation more, that ye may be assured 'tis this Grace of Humility is intended in the Talium of my Text, this especially in which we must be like these children, if we will gain the Kingdom of Heaven, because the very same blessing, in the very same words, is, in another place of the Gospel, by God's Charter, confirmed upon the very same Virtue, Blessed are the poor in spirit, Matt. 5.3. quoniam ipsorum est Regnum Coelorum, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven: And if we hope to enter this Kingdom, by the help of this humble Poverty in spirit, let none of us be so proud to refuse to learn and practise the Prayer of a King against Pride, Let not the foot of Pride come against me, Psal. 36.12. (Let not the proud man insult o'er me, and trample on me with his feet, so some expound it; I, let not the sin of Pride get any foothold in my heart, so the very Letter will warrant S. Austin's Exposition, Non veniat mihi pes superbiae) that so, we being like little Children, may be suffered to come to this Child that was born to us, that we may meek and lowly creep to him, who himself is meek and lowly in heart; to him, in whom the Father blesseth us with spiritual blessings in heavenly places, Ephes. 1.3. who himself was thus highly exalted, to this Kingdom, not without his Propter quod, even for this cause, that he humbled himself, and who will, with the Reward of the same Kingdom, make good his promise upon all his humble, his little Children, Suffer little Children, and forbidden them not to come unto me, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven: Come ye Children of my Father, receive the Kingdom. Amen.  
To him, even to him; etc.   

A SERMON Preached before the SACRED MAJESTY OF K. JAMES, When he was entertained at the Right Honourable, the Earl of Northampton's House, in Castle-Ashby.  Matth. 21.13. 
My House shall be called the House of Prayer.  
OUR Saviour Christ, a little before he humbled himself to death, the shameful death, would, by this extraordinary act of Power, proclaim to the World, that he did indeed humble himself; none else could do it; that Pilate was deceived in his imaginary Power he thought he had to crucify him, or to release him, John 19.10. that he was the good Shepherd, who gave his life for his Sheep, John 10.11. No man could take it from him, but he laid it down of himself, v. 18. Therefore he would ride in triumph into Jerusalem; and in the Temple, his Father's House, he would do an act (of Justice, true; but withal) of Majesty and Authority; one, the greatest that ever he vouchsafed to show while he lived among us: Such opinion S. Jerome had of it, though the giving sight to one born blind were a great Miracle; 
Jo. 9.6, 7.  and the restoring life to a Carcase putrified in the grave, 
Jo. 11.44  a greater; 
Mat. 17.2  and the showing his glory on the Mount in his Transfiguration, might exceed those, yet, Mihi inter omnia signa quae fecit, hoc videtur mirabilius, I account none like this (says he) that one Man, at that time grown contemptible amongst them, so far, that they had even marked him out for slaughter, should then (maugre the anger of the many Priests, of the Chief Priests, who were so potent in that place) play Rex among them (as Zachary's prophecy of him is applied to this one particular action) should overthrow their Tables and their Seats, and send them all packing, 
Zach. 9.9  
Mat. 21.5 21.12.  not any of them, not all of them daring to resist him: Sure there appeared more than humane Majesty in his face, and his eyes sparkled Divinity, thinks that holy Father; and who can think otherwise? As when in the Garden over Kedron, Captain Judas, and his Band of men came armed to take him he did, with a word (and his Aspect now, was as his language then) with an Ego sum, 
Joh. 18.6  I am (that dreadful name of his Deity, by which he would of old be made known to the Egyptians) cast them all upon their backs. 
Exo. 3.14   
And besides his power manifested in his Miracle, the story gives us a taste also of that care which he had of his Father's glory, and the just indignation which he had conceived against them that had dishonoured his House; soon as he was entered the City in State, whither goes he? not to David's Tower, not to the King's Palace; no, he sought not his own glory, he had told them plainly before, John 8.50. nay, he shunned it, when they would have taken him by force, to make him a King, John 6.15. His Kingdom was not of this world: 
Jo. 18.36  But I honour my Father, says he, John 8.49. He goes to his House, and all the honour he had received by the People's late acclamations, 
Mat. 21.9  he gives up to him; he intends an employment of great importance, that concerns the honour of his Father's House; 
Luk. 2.48  witted ye not, (so he satisfies his Mother's grief for his absence) Witted ye not that I must be about my Father's business? Luke 2.49. This in particular above all other businesses, he took special care of; when he began his Preaching, he began this Reformation; against the first Passeover that we read he shown himself at, 
Joh. 2.13  (that S. John only tells us of) He whipped them out of the Temple, 
Vers. 15.  and poured out the Money, and overthrew the Tables: And now he was to end his Preaching, and his life, he will end well as he began; he will to the Temple, and sweep it clean before he goes, and once again, cast out all that sold and bought there, 
Mark 11.15. Lu. 19.45  and overthrow the Tables, and the Seats; and this we have related by every of the other three Evangelists.  
And this we have followed by Christ, with the greatest measure of severity that ever was forced from him in any other of his actions that we read of in all the story of his life: Alas, he was in his own nature, 
Isa. 53.11  the Prophet's Sheep before the Shearers, the Prophets and the Evangelists Sheep, and Lamb too, 
Act. 8.32.  for the slaughter, dumb, 
Joh. 1.29  and not opening his mouth the Agnus Dei, not of Rome, but of the World; meekness was his Virtue, his exemplary Virtue, that he professed to teach, and set up his Bill for it, Matth. 11. Discite à me, quia mitis; Come to me, to my School, v. 28. If you will learn meekness Learn it of me, v. 29. He came not to condemn the World, but that, through him, it might be saved, John 3.17. He was the Instrument of God's mercy, the Peacemaker, 
Matt. 5.9.  (blessed Title for ever) the means of reconcilement betwixt God and the World; and yet when it comes to the point of Honour for his Father's House, than this Merciful and Peaceable, this mediating and reconciling Man, first falls upon himself, the very Peacemaker, and after, upon his Father's Enemies; then Zelus Domus tuae comedit me, Psal. 69.9. The zeal of thine House hath eaten me up; It hath even-eaten, and it hath eaten even-Me; and us Moses, to whom God himself gives testimony of being endowed with this Virtue of Christ's, that he was very meek, above all the men that were upon the face of the Earth, Num. 12.3. yet, when God's worship was at stake, I, lost, and the Golden Calf had got the better, and won upon the people's hearts, this meek man had anger for such a sin, anger that waxed hot against the Idol and Idolaters, Exod. 32.19. So this meeker than Moses, even than, when he comes according to that Prediction of the Prophet, Ecce! Rex tuus venit Metis, Behold! thy King cometh unto thee meek, Zach. 9.9. yet, when he sees the place appointed for his Father's worship converted to a petty Staple of Merchandise, God's House of Prayer made a Den of Thiefs, this was a height of Sin, to beget an anger in him who was made of mildness; and though he spared the Adulteress; 
Jo. 8.11.  pardoned an Extortioner, 
Luk. 19.9  Zachaeus; Ate with Publicans and sinners; 
Mat. 9.11 Luk. 5.27 Lu. 23.42  received one Publican into his Service, and one Thief into his favour, nay, into his very Paradise; suffered the Betrayer of him to dip in the dish with him; bear with great sins, 
Mat. 26.23.  and great Sinners in other kinds, yet, If any man defile the Temple of God, him shall God destroy 1 Cor. 3.17. he is more moved, expresses greater indignation at this, than in all his life besides; He seems here to forget his Office of Mercy which he came for (save that severity against Sacrilege, is favour to the Saints, in rescuing the place of their solemn Assemblies from rude and covetous profaneness) and to be wholly set upon execution of judgement.  
And yet, though he may seem so; and that he be sore displeased, he does not shut up his loving kindness in his sore displeasure, Psal. 77.9. It is not altogether S. James his Judicium sine Misericordia, 2.13. Judgement without Mercy: No, Deus diligit Misericordiam & Judicium, Psal. 33.5. He loveth Mercy and Judgement, the earth is full of his goodness: They who will sing unto the Lord as David did, their Song must be of Mercy and Judgement, as David's was, Psal. 101.1. even in this Judgement he remembers Mercy: 
Hab. 3.2.  He will not proceed in Justice against them, without a merciful inclining to give them a reason of this his proceeding; and though it be true which we find in Job, Who will (that is, who dare? who may?) say unto the Lord, what dost thou? or, why dost thou so? Job 9.12. yet there he denies them not, that as they see and feel what he does, so they should know, why he does it; let them hear his sweet words (for Reason is sweet, 
Ps. 142.6.  even to him that smarts under it, and Religion much more, even when it threats and shoots, to have us return to it, that we may get within the arrow, and without the danger) & they cannot mislike his deeds, not this, the very sharpest of them; to stay them from murmuring, he prevents with a scriptum est, so that if they will not know him to be the Lord, 
Ex. 16.8.  they shall not choose but know, if they do murmur, their murmuring is against the Lord; he preaches to them out of two of the Prophets; he shows them the right use and end, why, and for which that house was founded out of Isaias 56.7. My House shall be called the house of Prayer, and the intolerable abuse they had put upon it, out of Jer. 7.11. ye have made it a Den of Thiefs. The first part of his Sermon is our Text.  
In which we have, first, 
Divisio.  this House laid claim to on God's behalf, as his possession, My House, says God. Secondly, we have the Owner of this House (who best may do it) disposing of it to a certain use; it must be a House of Prayer: And thirdly, we have the Note of distinction, to know it from all other Houses of Prayer; the difference which God, in his Heraldry, sets upon the Elder House; it shall not only be so, but, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, by way of excellence, It shall he called. Domus Mea, Domus Orationis vocabitur, My House shall be called the House of Prayer. Part. 1  
My House. Here's first, 
Domus Mea.  this House appropriated to God, and his claim put in for his special title to it: Three common titles there are that God has to all things in the world, by which they become properly all his, his by all right: 1. the unquestionable right of Creation; Man, that cannot make a hair, not one hair white, or black, Matth. 5.36. and if not so small a thing, not so much as one, nothing; God is the Maker of all. 2. of Possession, he holds them all: Man is but Tenant at will of the very breath he draws; it is God, says David, who when he will, taketh away his breath, Psal. 104.29. God is Proprietary of him, and of all he has. 3. of Preservation; he saves them all, God, who giveth, taketh away too, Job 1.21. that chapter proves it by Induction, by enumeration of almost every thing, Servants, Oxen, and Asses, 15. Sheep, 16. Camels, 17. House too, and children also, v. 19 and those of both sorts, sons and daughters, as it is expressly set down, v. 13. Man cannot preserve himself, and his  much less; 'tis thou O God, that preservest Man and Beast, Psal. 36.6. 'Tis thou, O God, that sayest, the  upon a thousand hills are mine, at my keeping, Psal. 50.10. And thus to be his, is all no more than the very reference to nature in the things, and to the God of nature, as the Fashioner, the Owner, and Conserver of them.  
But yet, in particular, besides Nature, some other respect there is in God, as it were in a civil and moral kind, whereby things become yet further his; His by Use, when he specially employs them, and makes them his Instruments, above the ordinary course of nature; and then are they his by claim and challenge too, he calls them so, and himself sets his own name upon them; and that's here in this Domus mea, the subject of my Text, Gods own demand of it in particular to himself as his own, and for his more peculiar service, Domus mea, it's my House.  
The whole earth is the Lords, and all that therein is, Psal. 24.1. And therefore he might freely give it as a Patrimony to his Son, the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession, Psal. 2.8. yet the earth he hath given too to the children of men, Psal. 115.16. But still the Land of Canaan is Terra mea, my Land, 2 Chron. 7.20. the rest (as himself speaks of his Vineyard) he sets out, and let's out to Husbandmen at large, 
Mat. 21.33. Ps. 44.12.  (though he does not increase his wealth by their price) who Hold of him in Capite, in Christ their Head; but that he holds to himself as his own Demeans; All the Beasts of the Forest are mine, Psal. 50.10. But the Beasts that were offered up in sacrifice to him, they were his, after a more special manner; the  upon a thousand hills mine, and the City upon seven hills mine, mine by my general right I have to them, and belonging to my general care and providence over them; but cattle for  offerings mine by divine institution, and Cities wherein I am truly worshipped mine, as partaking of my special love and favour; all Israel, my People, but more peculiarly, the Tribe of Levi mine; Israel mine Inheritance, Deut. 9.26. but to the Priests and Levites, the Lord himself is their Inheritance, Deut. 18.2. O ye, the whole House of Israel, trust in the Lord, he is their Helper and Defender, Psal. 115.9. He shall bless the House of Israel; but shall he not also (and more especially) bless the House of Aaron, v. 12. All her Houses have need of succour and from him; In her Palaces God is well known for a sure Refuge, Psal. 48.2. And of every House, 'tis truly said, Except the Lord build the House, their labour is but lost that build it, Psal. 127.1. But Solomon shall build a House for my Name, says God, 1 Chron. 22.10. His Name is great in all Israel, Psal. 76.1. but here it dwells; Go to my Palace in Shilo, ubi habitavit Nomen meum a principio, Jer. 7.12. where my Name hath dwelled from the beginning.  
God, assoon as he had a People of his Own, whom he honoured above all the world with that denomination; when he had severed them from the Refuse, those of Egypt, though they were yet in the vast Wilderness, and had, themselves no seeled habitation, yet, there, a movable Tabernacle God would have them make for him; and, though it be after called, The Tabernacle of the Congrgation, Exod. 28.43. ('twas theirs to serve God in) yet it has an earlier Name, which must not be forgotten; Let them make me a Sanctuary, (a place to dwell in) that I may dwell amongst them, Exod. 25.8. a House of his own, when he had a People of his own. Some go further, and observe, that Mountains and Groves served instead of this, and for this same purpose, in the time of the Patriarches, that Abraham planted a Grove, and called there on the Name of the Lord, the everlasting God, Gen. 21.33. and that he had his Mountain in the land of Moria, whereon to appear before God with sacrifice, Gen. 22.2. and his Altar about Bethel, Gen. 13.4. and there he called on the Name of the Lord: That the first sons of Adam, Cain and Abel had whether to bring their Sacrifices, Gen. 4.3, 4. I, and that their Father (so soon) even during the space of his small continuance in Paradise, had where to present himself before the Lord, Gen. 3.8. But of that in the Wilderness, 
Exod. 25  we are sure they had their charge and direction from God for the framing of it; himself drew the model for his own House, being himself Architect-Generall (in the most general and inclusive sense of the word) for all the Princes and people too of the earth, and for the very God of them all, in appointing a place, (though a place loco-motive) and pointing out the pattern of it for his Worship: And against the time that they should come to settle themselves in the Land which he promised to their Fathers, he gives them a strict command concerning that House which should be built, Unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither shall you come, Deut. 12.5.  
The honour of building this House David did much desire to have, and Solomon did much rejoice to have: And after the overthrow of this, for the sins of the people, when the second was erected, though 'twas viewed with great grief, to see how short it came of the glory of the former, 
Ezra 3.12  yet the loud shouts for joy were equal to the voice of weeping, Ezra 3.13. And, being finished, 
Ezr. 6.16  'twas dedicated into God's possession with a general joy.  
Besides which Temple, there were, both in other parts of the Land, and even in Jerusalem, by process of time, no small number of Synagogues (Houses of God all) for men to resort unto for his public service; whose necessariness together with the Temple our Saviour himself, and after him the Apostles, confirmed with their frequent presence.  
So we see all along till Christ's time, God had his House, his Houses, besides the Temple, his main Mansion-house; which Christ here reduced to the purity of its first Institution.  
And presently after his time, though Temples, such as now, were not presently erected for the exercise of Christian Religion; it has been nevertheless, not unreasonably conceived, out of those the Apostles words, Have ye not houses to eat and drink in, or despise ye the Church of God? 1 Cor. 11.22. that he there teacheth what difference should be made betwixt House and House; what is fit for the dwelling place of God, and what for man's habitation: At the first, poverty was a hindrance to them, they could not provide Houses (such as they would for God and his worship; but as soon as he blessed them with favour in the eyes of Princes, and blessed Princes with his favour of Christianity, they were not well till they had expressed their thankfulness that way; Good Constantine presently finished one for him at Jerusalem, and gave it up into his hands with very solemn performance, the greatest part of the Bishops of Christendom meeting at it, each one setting forth that action to his power in Orations and Sermons, and the sacrifice of Prayer for the peace of the world, and safety of the Church, and the Emperors and his children's good, 
Euseb. De Vita Constantini, lib. 4. c. 4.  etc. Athanasius, in his Apology to Constantius, reports the like of a Bishop of Alexandria, in a work of the like magnificence: And after them the work went up apace throughout the coasts of Christendom, and they that hewed timber out of the thick trees, were known to bring it to an excellent work, Psal. 74.5.  
By this means God has given us a plentiful pledge of his presence amongst us, even ad satietatem usque: woe worth the while; we have enjoyed his mercy in this kind, as the Israelites in Quails, till we slight it. They were furious mad-brains, not to be remembered but with disdain (for, to be pitied would but have hardened them, and made them set their faces, not toward, but against the Temple) who, because these Houses had whilom, been stained with Idolatry, would have burned them to cleanse them, would have had them pulled down and levelled with the ground; who yet, I wis, had they some Papists dwelling-Houses, fair and stately bequeathed to them, would not fall a demolishing of them, though Saints had been prayed to in them more than once every day; no, Man will not (he is of a more thriving Religion) none but God shall be the loser: And we are still too near their sick humour in the mean esteem we have of them; we are afraid to place any holiness in a Temple, more than in a School-house, or a Barn: This is the House of the Lord God, would we have said so, with Solomon, 1 Chron. 22.1. of that Temple, had we seen it? If we would, yet that was but a Figure of Christ the Lamb, the true Temple, Rev. 21.22. and is gone; and we have learned now of Stephen (for we dare not Saint him, we must not allow him holy) that God dwells not now in Houses made with hands, Act. 7.48. (Houses say they, for Temples they are loath to call them, (though Stephen did so) even then when they deny them to be Gods) Solomon's people might have taken the like hint from his mouth, for their neglect of that holy place, Behold, the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this House which I have builded, 1 King 8.27. or, if that was modesty in him, they might have caught hold of an excuse from Gods own mouth; Thus saith the Lord, Isa. 66.1. Heaven is my Throne and Earth is my Footstool; where is the House that ye shall build unto me? And yet for all this, Solomon was not afraid to say, nor need we scruple to learn of him, I have surely built thee an House to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever, 1 Kings 8.13. Let them take, and stand to calvin's exposition of their misunderstood Text; that indeed God is not locked up in these Temples, nor fastened to the Pillars of them, as those whom they made their gods in the Church of Rome; his presence is not bounded here, nor his favour so cemented within these walls, that it no where else shines upon his people; but yet, here he is in a more extraordinary manner, in a larger and fuller manifestation of his presence than elsewhere: Our blessed Redeemer is every where; but where a few are gathered together in his name, (and this is the place for that) He will be in the midst of them, Mat. 18.20. more near to them by the special gifts and graces of his Holy Spirit, which he will pour out amongst them. Jacob was not such a Novice in Religion at seventy years of age, but that he knew God was present every where; notwithstanding when God vouchsafed him the Vision of himself, and his holy Angels, and that he had a more special enjoying of his presence in that place than elsewhere; O then, How dreadful is this place! this is Bethel; this is none other but the House of God, and the Gate of Heaven; surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not ware, Gen. 28.17.  
And we are not ware oft times, that the Lord is in this place; if we were, we would come into it as into his presence; we would demean ourselves in it as before God; Solomon should not lose the labour of his good Council, we would take heed to our feet (those of our body too, and especially to our affections, the feet of our soul) when we entered into the House of God, Eccles. 5.1. Ecclesiam, ut Coelum, 
Nilus.  ade; I have much esteemed that direction of an Ancient, and wish it engraven upon the Porch, that when we bring our bodies into the Church, we would (by the remembrance of the Church, whose House it is, of the very Door, the very Porch of it) send our Souls, our couversations up to Heaven; 'tis the Gate of Heaven, Jacob tells us, the very Door of it is so; and 'tis holy ground, God tells us where he shows himself, Exod. 3 5. and they, who put off the shoes from their feet, who lay aside all earthly respects and cogitations, and have their souls fitted for the entertaining the tender of of his gracious presence which he makes unto them in this place, they feel themselves, for the time, in Heaven, and the heavenly joy that thereby they conceive, does thenceforth fasten such an impression in their minds, as bre●ds an awful respect in them, and nourishes a reverend affection towards 〈◊〉 very place, wherein they were partaker of so great a benefit.  
O how the Priests of Dagon, and all t●● men of A●●ded shame us in their z●●●●! Their false Idol-God, fell in his ●o●●e, before the Ark of the Lord, with his 〈◊〉 and hands upon the Threshold; and a●●er that, so religious are their thoug●●● to the place once touched by any part of him? of It (so far from a God it was, that it was not a He) They never tread on the Threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day, 1 Sam. 5.5. How far●esse effect ●oes a far greater and better cause work with us in the Houses of our true God? we are so afraid to profane them, o●●● one side, with superstition and Idolatry and false worship, that we dash upon that other impious profanation of neglecting, contemning them, giving occasion to men that make a mock at Religion (men as false as Dagon was a false god) to account no more of them than as of an Out-room about their house, Dum vitant stulti vitia, 
Horat.  in contraria currunt: Is this the Holiness which becometh God's House for ever? 
Psa. 93.5.  I have seen (and my soul has grieved to see it) a pissing-Channel built up against a Church-wall; 
Jer. 5.30.  A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land: posuerunt offendicula, Jer. 7.30. they have set their abominations in my House which is called by my Name to pollute it. If we dare tell Rome of their too much superstition in this kind, to stop our mouth, they hit us in the teeth with our cold and careless regard; when they tell us of Pater Noster's building many Churches, and how much a do we have to mend up one, notwithstanding the great charge, and devout care of one of our Fathers, we shame and sorrow to hear, Et doci potuisse, 
Horat.  & non potuisse refelli. Sure God sees we use it not well, not this, and other his Houses as we should; else he would warm all our hearts with King David's affection, Quam dilecta Tabernacula! O how amiable, how beloved are thy dwellings! Psal. 84.1. The zeal of God's House, would, if not eat us, yet so affect us, that we would love the habitatation of it, decorem Domus tuae, in the Latin, the beauty, the comeliness, the decency of thine House, and the place where thine honour dwelleth, Psal. 26.8.  
I am too long in this first part, I hope I am; and that, verbum sapienti, one word to the wisest in this Auditory, in this Nation, in this World, would be enough; nor dare I now spend time in bootless complaint, that so many Houses of God in our Land are disinherited, like those of decayed Gentry, without Revenues, that his servants in them, being defrauded of their Master's allowance, do live on Alms, small, grudged Alms; that especially in the most populous places, where the Tradesman abounds, the Minister suffers want: Arise, O God, maintain thine own cause, 
Ps. 74.23.  Maintain those thy poor painful Servants who lack maintenance; 
Mat. 5.14  as thou hast called them the light of the World, so do thou pour Oil into their Lamps; pour thy grace into the hearts of thy people, to give earthly Oil to those from whom they expect heavenly light; not to account it a great thing if they, who sow unto them spiritual things, reap their carnal things, 1 Cor. 9.11. thus to buy the Gospel, is a lawful, a charitable, a holy Simony; holy, though a Heathen hath said it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
One word more from Domus mea; That this is God's House: I would fain have you tell them, who will not come into God's House to hear it from me; that they wrong the right Owner of it, by giving his possession to so many other Deities, for no less than Deities they make their Saints, 
Martial.  when they invoke them; Deos, qui colit, ille facit: and they do no less than give them possession, when they enshrine them in so many Temples built for, and dedicated to God alone: I cry them mercy; perhaps the blessed Virgin amongst them, and the several Apostles, have more Churches consecrated them, than God, the Holy Trinity, or Christ under his sundry Titles; We have our Churches called by those several names too, for distinction sake, but not, thereby, superstitiously meaning, either that those places which are denominated of Angels and Saints, should serve for the worship of so glorious Creatures, or else those glorified creatures, for defence, Protection, and patronage of such places; a thing which the Ancients do utterly disclaim; The Nations, says S. Austin, erected Temples to their gods; we to our Martyrs, not Temples, as unto Gods, but memorials, as unto dead men, whose spirits with God are still living; and therefore, besides that special name of distinction, by which we know one of these Houses from another, we keep still the general name, in which all these Houses agree together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Kirke, the Lords House; thereby acknowledging, that as it is his, and by him appointed for Prayer, so we must not give away the right of his Title to this House, by giving away the glory of his Worship in this House, either to Saint or Angel: Gloriam alteri non dabo; that which is the House of Prayer is my House; my House is that, 'tis the House of Prayer.  
That's the second thing in order to be taken into our consideration, the use of this House; what the first Founder intended, when he gave order for the building of it; to what purpose it should be employed, it must be a House of Prayer.  
Under the title of Prayer we understand, 
Part. 2. Domus Orationis.  and comprehend the whole worship of God, which he had commanded them to perform unto him in his Temple; Divers were their Sacrifices and Ceremonies in joined by God; but the Prophet would, in one word, instruct them to what scope all these must be referred, 
Joh. 4.24  even to that worship, which is in spirit, to that spiritual sacrifice of Prayer: Just as in the 50. Psalms, God does disclaim their Sacrifices &  offerings, and reduces all the services of piety to those two parts of Prayer, Thanksgiving, and Invocation; He will no Bullock out of their house, nor He-Goats out of their folds, v. 9 But offer unto God thanksgiving, v. 14. And call upon him in the day of trouble, v. 15. And therefore, when the Prophet Jeremy would (to aggravate the fault of their misbehaviour in this House) set down their proper description of it from the end of its institution, 'tis this of Prayer; What? this House become a den of Robbers? In qua invocatum est Nomen meum in oculis vestris? this House in which my Name is called upon? Jer. 7.11. Will not that respect check you? And he who was likeliest to know what was God's intention in it, who was instructed with the whole care of building it; when he had finished that goodly structure, and was to solemnize the dedication of it before the Elders of Israel, and all the heads of the Tribes, the chief of the Fathers, yea and all the men of Israel, with sacrifices of sheep and Oxen, that could not be told, nor numbered for multitude, 1 Kings 8. That they might not think there was no other, nor no excellenter employment for that place than that offering of bodily, I, and bruit-bodily sacrifice, when he comes to the blessing, the chief part of that Exercise, than all and some is, That God will bear the Prayer that shall be made in that place: Hearken to the supplication of thy Servant, and of thy People, when they shall PRAY in this place, and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, v. 30. And so all along to the end of his blessing: What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands in this place, then hear thou in Heaven, and forgive, and do, etc. almost in every verse of twenty in that Chapter.  
We heard what Solomon told God before, that he had built him an House to dwell in: and God had told Solomon before that, by Gods own Prophet, and his own Son, that there he would dwell, Psal. 132. Here will I dwell: Why? for I have a delight therein. 
Vers. 13.  'Tis meet in deed, that the House he dwells in should be so dressed up, so fitted to his mind, that he may desire it, delight in it: Now what is that Furniture of this House, that delights him? He that built it to him, can best direct us to furnish it for him; The Prayer of the upright is his delight, says Solomon, Prov. 15.8. Templa propter Sacrificia; Sacrifice of Beasts, before Christ, was the most usual, and most notable external Rite; and sacrifice of Prayer, since Christ has more than the same pre-eminence; This fills with Incense the golden Vials in the hands of the four and twenty Elders before the throne in Heaven, Rev. 5.8. And if with this Incense of Prayer, we mingle the Myrrh of our tears, and sighs, and groan, we not only sacrifice our Prayers, but we mortify, we kill, we offer up ourselves; that's the acceptable sacrifice, if we believe the Apostle, Rom. 12.1.  
'Tis then a House of Prayer, but not of Prayer only; we exclude not Preaching, as some hot spirits, who are all for Preaching, would allow no room for Prayer in this House of Prayer; or, if for Prayer also, most of all for the Pulpit-prayer, the very place helping to misperswade the People, that the Prayer is to be valued, not for its own, but for the Sermon sake; I wish that all such (who are content to be exceeding brief in their Desk-prayers, and as large as may be elsewhere) would hearty consider, whether we are not to come to, and go off from the very Word of God, with more reverence and devotion and supplication, than either the Notes, or the effusions of Man upon God's Word; does not this seem to magnify a short verse when it is called a Text, above whole Psalms and Chapters? Nay, let them give me leave to wish again, that they would hearty consider, whether such a practice, as it is begun with an esteeming of their own private wisdoms beyond that of the Church, is not continued also with a secret preferring of their own Meditations above that which they meditate upon, the Word of God; I would not wrong them in what they do; nay, I would rather rectify them, that they should not do amiss, so much as to a suspicion; and therefore I will, as excusingly as I may, say of them, Surely this sin is got into that high place, and they are not ware: If it be not so, why is it, that by degrees there is less & less of God's Word read amongst them, shorter praying before and after Gods own Word, and instead of more of both these, more and longer of their own Preaching: How would they have cried it up, if God had here christened this place Concionatorium, a House of Preaching, instead of Oratorium, a House of Prayer! We give unto each his place, and acknowledge, that in these two Ghostly exercises, we have verified unto us that continual intercourse of Angels, betwixt the throne of God in Heaven, and his Church here militant on earth; that the assembling of God's people to hear, is the receiving of Angels descended from above; that their meeting to pray, is the sending of Angels upwards; his heavenly inspirations, and our holy desires are as so many Angels, ascending and descending in intercourse and commerce betwixt God and man: Preaching brings us to know, that God is our supreme Truth, as praying testifies, that we acknowledge him our sovereign good: As concerning the people, we exhort, with David, to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, Psal. 96.9. So, with Solomon also, When thou goest to the House of God, appropinqua ut audias, Eccl. 5.1. be ready to hear: And concerning ourselves, as we say with Samuel, God forbidden that we should sin against the Lord, and cease to pray for you, 1 Sam. 12.23. So, with S. Paul, Vae mihi, si non Evangelizavero 1 Cor. 9.16. a woe befall us if we preach not the Gospel. We lessen not the necessity which is laid upon us to teach, and upon you to learn, God's holy will out of his Word; yet without prejudice to that, or any other duties out of this place, we would have no man think he is less bound to present himself to God in the Church, though in the Church, there be then no other Service than the Common-Prayer, which the more Common, by being common to more, by more praying together, the better. There, we are to be have ourselves as in the sight of God, and his holy Angels, the one sitting there to here, and the other attending to further our Suits; for so the gravest of the Ancient Fathers were seriously persuaded, 
Chryost. Hom. 15. ad Heb. & 24. in Act.  and do oft times plainly teach, that the House of Prayer is a Court beautified with the presence of Celestial powers; that there we pray, and praise God, having his Angels intermingled, as our Associates; with reference whereunto the Apostle requires so great care to be had of Decency, for the Angel's sake, 1 Cor. 11.16. They have their golden Censers, and in them they offer up the sweet odours of our Prayers; Incensa multa de orationibus sanctorum, says the Vulgate Edition, Rev. 8.3. O let them not in vain come hither with their Censers prepared, and either not find us here, or find us empty of any thing worthy their offering up to God; when they see us in these places full of neglect, or contempt, or drowsiness, or vain wand'ring thoughts, or idle unnecessary talk instead of Prayer, they leave the place and us, offended with that steam and ill scent that rises from us, where they might justly expect the sweet odours of our Prayers, grieved to see us commit Idolatry, and sacrifice the calves of our lips, the watchfulness of our eyes, the firstlings of our thoughts, and our whole mind also to him who has stolen away our hearts, and set them upon some service of his, instead of Gods.  
Nolite facere, says Christ, at his first cleansing of the Temple, do not ye make my Father's House a House of Merchandise; do not Ye make it so; as who should say, if such it be, 'tis of your making such: God ne'er intended it for such impertinent service; a House of spiritual Merchandise he hath made it, of traffic for our souls, where, in exchange for our Petitions, we shall have His favours, not a Lady's glance, or glove, or Ribbon favours; and Hers, do some of ye call such as these in this place? yea, I'll tell ye what, and whose they are; they are Baits, and Satan's; 'tis he who thus loosely makes this very place his Chapel to some, which to other stricter some, is indeed God's House, where he sells his Mercies, his Grace, his Glory, his Heaven, himself unto them, at that cheap rate, of their faithful, and humble, and earnest supplications.  
I would feign make as much haste as the time does; and that. I may do so, 
Last part.  must presently throw myself upon the last part, 
Vocabitur  that it shall not only be, but it shall be known to be; it shall have Gods special Note of difference upon it, it shall be called the House of Prayer: As Prayer, in itself, is the proper virtue of Christians, the Christian virtue, that by which God does distinguish his People from all the people of the world; the rest, who live on the earth, are earthly-minded, have the hearts and the thoughts of them fixed that way, grovelling downwards; but God's Children, a new selected kind of men, who have their life from Heaven, and expect all their happiness, every good and perfect gift from above; 
Jam. 1.17 Phil. 3.20  they have their conversation also in Heaven, their eyes, and hands and hearts heaved up, by daily and hearty Prayer: As Prayer does sever them from all other People, so this title, that it must be called so, does distinguish God's House of Prayer, from all other Houses, in which we ought also to pray to God.  
Every servant of his, whom he hath made Master of a House, ought (for the better testifying of his dutiful affection) to have his heavenly Exercise so frequent in His House, as to make it to be (in an especial, though not in an only sense) a House of Paayer, and that's the next way to make it God's House, and so to be called too; to be called so by Man, who remembers from whom he had it, Except the Lord build the House, (build and bestow it too) Man must dwell without doors, sub Deo; Coelo Tegitur, qui non habet Aedes, 
Lucan.  and therefore, by a principal designation, to make it a House of Prayer for the Family thereof, 
Gal. 6.10.  for the whole Household of the faithful, of Thanksgiving-Prayer for the House itself; but still to remember, and zealously to frequent that other House, which God hath made and called The House of Prayer, 
1 Cor. 11.22. Jo. 6.35. 1 Cor. 10.16.  a House not to eat and to drink in, unless the bread of life, and the Cup of blessing, a House only for Divine Worship. Many Sons did God vouchsafe to acknowledge, as a 'dopted in Christ, John 1.12. but of Christ himself, his natural Son, the Son of his Love, that holy thing which shall be born of thee, says the Angel to the Virgin Mary, shall be called the Son of God, Luk. 1.35. Many were the Prophets of the Lord at sundry times to declare his will to his people, but John Baptist Christ's forerunner, a Prophet? 
Mat. 11.9  yea, I say unto you, and more than a Prophet, thou shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest, Luk. 1.76. Many Houses in which it is lawful, I, necessary to pray; but of this, says God, and his Christ, It shall be CALLED the House of Prayer: Nay, not only the House of God's Servant, but his Field also, his Highway, his Street, his Prison may be a House of Prayer; the Dunghill shall serve Job, from whence to send up this sacrifice; and the Whale's belly can Jonah use for a Church; 
Jon. 2.1.  the Lion's den for Daniel; and the Furnace for the three Children, do not hinder their requests from ascending to the Mercy-seat; God heard Moses from the midst of the Sea; 
Isa. 38.2.  and Ezekias from his Bed; Jeremy from the Mire; and the Thief from the Cross, 
Lu. 23.42  when they called upon him: And therefore St. Paul willeth, that men pray every where, 1 Tim. 2.8. every where in their private Devotions; no place is a bar to one so holily affected, for the lifting up his soul, and pouring out his heart to God in his secret Meditations; for, surely the true worship of God is, to him in itself, acceptable, who not so much respects the place where, as the affection wherewith he is served: Yet, in regard of us, especially then, when we are to put up our public requests to God; when we are to join our forces together, 
Jon. 3.5.  as the Prince and people of Nineveh did, like a main Army of supplicants, that it shall not be in the power of God, (because God will not use his adverse power then) to withstand us, then sure there is great virtue, great force and efficacy in the very Majesty and holiness of the place where God's Name is called upon, if for nothing else, yet for that it serveth as a sensible help to stir up devotion, and in that respect, no doubt, bettereth even our best and holiest actions in this kind.  
Wherefore else is this called the Holy place? Levit. 16.3. but by way of excellence, in respect of all other? And why does S. Hierom translate it, Psal. 78.69. not Sanctum, but Sanctuarium? a place which is not only made holy by consecration, but that makes others holy, by God in it? For, Churches are not only made public by the solemn dedication of them, but that right also, which otherwise, their Founders might have in them, is thereby surrendered up to God, and he made owner of them; why the separate, and holy and religious use notified in the dedication of them, to which they shall be put a part from other secular and profane usages? why, but that it may be a dumb Instructor of piety, when ever we behold a Temple? what heart is there will pass by a Church-wall with the same carnal inconsideration of God and Heaven, as he walks a street in which he beholds no such reverend prospect? for this cause also at the consecration as well of the Tabernacle, Exo. 40. as of the Temple, 1 King. 8. it pleased the Almighty to give a manifest sign, that he took possession of both; in the one chapter, The Cloud covered the Tent of the Congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle, v. 34. In the other, a cloud filled the House of the Lord, v. 10. A Cloud, and Glory too, and that of the Lord himself, filled the Lords own House, v. 11. God made account his House was sufficiently born witness to already for all ages, and that he needed not such another Cloud for the place of Christian worship, 
Mat. 12.8  but only to bear record to the Lord of their Sabbath, Mat. 17.5.  
The sensible increase of holiness from a sensible-holy object; this it was made David value at so high a rate, the liberty of worshipping God in his House and amongst his people; Blessed are they who dwell, where thou dost, in thine own House, Psal. 84.4. One day in thy Courts is better than a thousand otherwhere, v. 10. My soul longeth, yea, and faint●th for the Courts of the Lord, v. 2. 'twas his Vnum petii, his one, his great suit to God, that he might dwell in the House of the Lord, that he might there behold the beauty of the Lord, and visit his HOLY TEMPLE, Ps. 27.4. This favour did Hezekias obtain at God's hands, by his prayers and tears; when he had heard his prayers, and seen his tears, and was resolved to heal him, he does express the greatness of his favour to him, by adding his singular benefit to his health, (whereby the more to inhealthen his soul too) On the third day thou shalt go up unto the House of the Lord, 2 Kings 20.5.  
Justly therefore may the Church's censure of Excommunication, whereby men are, as Cain was, 
Gen. 4.16  cast out of that presence of God, which is enjoyed in holy Assemblies, it may justly be reputed so great a punishment, 
1 Cor. 5.5 1 Tim. 1.20.  as a giving over to Satan; it is like a man's being outlawed in matters of civil government; Outlawry is defined by the Lawyers, to be the loss or deprivation of the benefit belonging to a subject: i.e. of the King's protection and the Realm; Such is the nature of this censure rightly executed; it cuts a man off from the privileges of a Christian, I would they were even cut off which trouble you, Gal. 5.12. he is out of God's protection for the time, and reckoned as a Stranger and Forreigner, as a Heathen or a Publican, says our Saviour, Mat. 18.17.  
What they lose who are deprived of this liberty, and what we have by it who enjoy it, vouchsafe to hear in a word.  
Here is first, Gods more especial and gracious presence; When shall I come to appear before the presence of God, was David's moan? Psal. 42.2. when in his banishment under Saul or Absalon he was denied access to this presence-Chamber of his great King; and to be deprived of that comfort, which must needs come to a man's soul by such a presence, David knew what a loss it was, when he cried in the agony of his soul, upon the sight of his great sin, Psal. 51. O cast me not away from thy presence, v. 11. But consider withal further, what be the particular blessings we there enjoy through God's mercy, Blessings, of that worth in S. Peter's account, that the Angels do desire even to stoop down to behold, 1 Pet. 1.12. there is the Ministry of reconciliation, 
2 Co. 5.18 Act. 14.27 Rom. 10.14. Eph. 1.10 Psa. 50.5 Eph. 4.12 Lu. 10.17 18. 1 Co. 10.4 Act. 20.27. Rom. 4.11.  the precious Treasure of God's holy Word, the Word preached, which is the door of faith, the Ordinance of God, by which his Saints are gathered, and the body of Christ edified; the powerful means by which Satan is made to fall from Heaven like lightning, & his strongest holds beaten down; the Key of knowledge, by which is opened to us the whole counsel of God; there be the Sacraments, Seals of righteousness which is by faith; both of them, as Glasses, by which we see more clearly into the mystery of our Redemption, and as Monuments before our eyes of God's exceeding love to us in Christ Jesus; and besides all these, there is the exercise of Common-Prayer and joint praising, in a more peculiar respect whereto, it is termed, called, the House of Prayer; Prayer, and praise too, says the Psalmist, waiteth for God in Zions Praise waiteth for thee, O thou that hearest prayer, Psal. 65.1, 2. It cannot be small comfort to enjoy, (are such consolations of God, 
Vid. Hier. in Ps. 31. p. 306. ad finem.  as these, small with any, Job 15.11.) or small loss to be deprived of the fruition of these things. By the want of public Prayer (to omit the other inconveniencies) a man is destitute of that quickening which the children of God receive, by being provoked, edified, and inflamed with one another's forwardness, and hath less interest in that blessing, which the joint Prayers of more of the Faithful, with a united force, do bring down in a full measure upon those by whom they are offered up and presented to the Throne of Grace: And however a man in his own reason may imagine he does well enough with the private use of Prayer, though he enjoy not the public; yet, this alone, that there is no such promise of blessing to the single, as to the concurrent, (nay, none at all to the private, if the public be not waited upon and desired) this cuts off all solatary contentment and grounded satisfaction therein, and confirms the woe still upon those, 
Eccl. 4.10  who not only are alone, but will be sequestered from the presence of God in the holy Assemblies.  
Alas! we do not generally understand our own happiness herein, and as Christ said to the Woman of Samaria, John 4.10. we do not know the gift of God, else with what cheerfulness would men call upon themselves, and out-call the Bell! Come, let us go to the Mountain of the Lord, to the House of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, Isa. 2.3. How glad would they be, with David, when any should say unto them, we will go into the House of the Lord? Psal. 122.1. Up, let us go and pray to the Lord of Hosts; I will go also, Zach. 8.21. Thus would it be, if we had David's heart.  
Poor, woeful, miserable men they in the mean while, who do, even wilfully, excommunicate and banish themselves from God's House; so as do not only some Separatists, who (as if our Church, because perhaps she wants some beauty, and is certainly not altogether so fair here, as she shall be in Heaven, had therefore utterly lost her face) fly from our Congregations, as if they were so many Cages of unclean Birds, or else Market-Cages of men more unclean than they and our Recusants, who, because they see not their Breaden and Wooden gods amongst us, refuse all society with us in holy things; I must only say to the former, Can we not be holy at all, unless we are more holy than all, holy beyond the state of militarinesse? Nulla fides pietasque viris, 
Lucan.  qui castra sequuntur, they have no faith, no holiness, who delight in war in a secular war; 
Ps. 68.30.  and their holiness is but imperfect, their faith but a growing faith, who are banded in a spiritual warfare: and to the latter, Can we not be holy, unless we are unholy too? not serve God, unless him only, 
Mat. 4.10 Mat. 6.24 2 King. 5.18.  we do not serve? unless we serve Mammon as well as God? unless we bow in the House of Rimmon, as well as in God's House? unless we bow to the God of the King of Syria, as well as to Elisha's God, the God of Israel? unless we have our several sorts of holy waters, those of Abana and Pharpar, 
Vers. 12.  as well as holy Baptismal water, that one of Jordan? But too many others there are who will have no House, and in a manner no God too, who caring only for their purses, that they may not pay for their absence, and, a little for their reputation, that they may not be thought plain Atheists, do otherwise almost wholly cast themselves out of the presence of God, in their carnal laziness, (they cannot rise time enough) and lose profaneness (they have somewhat else to do than to take care for Heaven) passing over many of these days, wherein the service of God in these Houses can have no attendance from them; they have no love to the preaching of the Word, no respect nor appetite to the Sacraments, no delight to the duties of Invocation and Prayer.  
Not in this place; that's the point we stand upon from this Text; further we cannot judge: They will say they pray at home; perhaps they do so: but shall God appoint a House for the Prayer of the Church? and shall not the Church in gratitude as well as obedience, appoint Prayer for the House of God? Because no man hath hitherto been so impious, as plainly & directly to condemn Prayer; therefore the best stratagem Satan has (who knows his Kingdom to be no way more shaken, than by the public devout Prayers of God's Church, in God's Church) is, by traducing the dignity of the place (yea, 
Gen. 3.1.  has God said, that his House is a House of Prayer?) and the necessity of the number, to bring both of them into contempt, and so to slack the fervency of men's devotion towards them, he has made some, in this case, wiser in their generation than he could hope to make either David, 
Luk. 16.8  who, notwithstanding the one of his suggestions, would still worship God in the beauty of holiness, Psal. 96.9. or S. Paul, who should be likely to prevail with God as much as one; and yet he, not yielding to that other temptation, thought it much more both for God's glory, and his own good, if Prayers might be made, and thanks given in his behalf, by a number of men, by many persons, 2 Cor. 1.11.  
O the true judgement of the Ancient Church in this point, 
Lib. de Ponit.  delivered to us by the Fathers, by S. Ambrose, Multi minimi, dum congregantur sicut nives sunt magni & multorum preces impossibile est conteri, one's single prayer, like one feather of Snow, soon melts away, whereas many of both these littles grow to much, so much that God cannot slight the Prayers which come from the consent of his many: 
Apolog. 1.39.  by Tertullian, we come by troops to the place of Assembly, that being banded as it were together, we may be supplicants enough to besiege God with our Prayers; by more than these: but I am weary of this cavil, and your trouble. The Lord of his infinite mercy give us such a due respect to these public Devotions, that he may not in his wrath, 
Psal. 95. ult. Ps. 51.11.  take away both the place of his Rest, and his holy Spirit from us, that he may not leave us to our own Sties, to our own Spirits, to nothing else but a bare pretence to his Holy Ghost, 
Psal. 106.48.  and let all the most deluded of his People say, Amen.   

A SERMON Preached in the Lent, at White-Hall, before K. CHARLES.  John 14.2. 
Vado parare vobis locum.  
I goto prepare a place for you.  
PAlatum ejus dulcissimum, saith the Spouse, of Christ, Cant. 5.16. As we have well translated it, His mouth is most sweet; and that most sweet, because of that sweet doctrine, those sweet instructions, exhortations, consolations, those verba vitae aeternae acknowledged by Simon Peter, Jo. 6.68. those words of eternal life that distil from it. 
Jud. 14.14.  And if ever Sampsons' Riddle were a truth that out of the strong came sweet, than nevermore, than at this time, when this strong Lion of the Tribe of Judah was to be rend and torn, 
Rev. 5.5.  when all his strength was for a while, to be covered in weakness, when as St. Paul speaks, 2 Cor. 13.4. He was to be Crucified through weakness when he was to leave his sorrowful family, to go from them, his last farewell to them, the last song of this spotless swan, the Prologue to that direful Catastrophe, his death, the preparing his poor Disciples against it, is most full of sweet, to allay, to temper the bitterness of their sorrow for it.  
A miserable fear, a bitter sorrow was lately wrought in them; by that intimation of his departure in the end of the foregoing Chapter, that modicum vobiscum, 
V 33.  and non potestis venire, that he had but a little while to be with them, and (worse than so) whether he goes they cannot yet come, and (worse than that too) during that time of his absence from them, they should be sifted by Satan as wheat, Luk. 22.31. they should be continually subject to the violence of his persecuting instruments, and (that which makes all this so much worse) they, who had hitherto lived in peace, and in a competency of Estate, while they enjoyed his presence, should now, from that, fall into the malice of the world; they, whose memory he had newly rubded with the contemplation of their former settled estate, When I sent you without purse, or scrip, or shoes, lacked ye any thing? nothing, Lu. 22.35. Now to them, he that hath a purse let him take it, he shall have need of it, and he that hath no sword let him sell his garment rather than not buy one, v. 36. A severe a strict Lent, this was to them against his Passion; because I have said these things unto you, Tristitia implevit cor vestrum, Jo. 16.6. sorrow hath filled your heart; A strange nature of the little-great heart of man; so wide, so large it is, of such immense infinite extent for the receipt of joy; it so opens itself for that, that all the glad tidings which the world can afford are not able to fill it; for that it still cries give, give, till it finds that greatest joy of which it is not capable, that joy which cannot come into his heart, because his heart cannot contain it, but his heart and self must enter into it, intra in gaudium domini tui, Mat. 25.21. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord, thy Lord and thy God, 
1 Joh. 3.20.  who is, major cord, says S. John, God is greater than thy heart, but pour a drop or two of grief into it, 'tis soon filled, 'tis soon contracted into such a straight, the poor worm, that gladly stretches forth itself to the sunshine of the spring, does not more draw in his little body upon the sudden tread of a careless hoof, than man shrinks in his heart at the report of loss, or fear of smart; that as a thick cloud makes our sun to set at noon, so troubles our heart and presseth it to so narrow a context, that it may be soon said to us, tristitia in plevit cor, sorrow hath soon filled our hearts.  
And when can this Chapter begin more seasonably, then upon a cor contritum and tribulatum, upon a troubled heart? when his Disciples hearts are so confounded with grief and fear, in the last Chapter, 'tis high time to begin this, and to begin it with this cordial Non turbetur cor vestrum, 
Vers. 1.  let not your heart be troubled, the ingredients to this cordial are two, Faith and Hope; Faith in the first verse, ye believe in God, believe also in me; there must be a faith to lay hold on God in general, and a faith to apprehend Christ also as God, to believe him to be God of the substance of his Father, infinite Almighty, and so able to overcome this death; that though he goes from them, yet he goes not one step only to his death, but another step to his resurrection, and a third step to his ascension; and then comes in hope v. 2. a fit ingredient too for hearts-ease, but for which (we say in our Proverb) the heart would break, hope, whose object is some future good to ourselves, though hard, yet possible, so the School defines it, possible, though not by ourselves, yet by the help of this Christ, whom we believe in as God; the future good is the many mansions in his Father's house, and the possibility of our attaining them by his help is in my Text, Vado parare, I go to prepare a place for you.  
So then, as to his former speeches, it suited well, because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart; so to this, and that which follows, it will as well agree, which our Saviour has in the beginning of the 16. chapter, these things have I spoken to you, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that ye should not be offended; for that there was a Contristabimini, ye shall be sorrowful, and for this a Tristitia vestra vertitur in gaudium, Joh. 16.20. but your sorrow shall be turned into joy: His vado, which before was such cause of grief to them, expressed by Simon Peter's lamentable expostulation as well as question, Domine, quo vadis? Lord, 
Jo. 13.36  whither? and, Lord, why? to what end goest thou from us? that it may now refresh them with consolation, has an Expedit annexed to it, John 16.7. It is expedient for you that I go away; expedient, that so ye may receive the Holy Ghost, to lead you into all truth: If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you: And therefore is that, John. 7.39. The Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified: Expedient, for the weaning them from their Milk, that so he might ' begin to feed them with stronger meat, for the withdrawing them from that bodily knowledge they had of him, and that carnal affection they bore to him, to a more sublime knowledge of him as God, so as to know him is eternal life, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent, John 17.3. and to a more spiritual love of him, to love God, as S. John speaks, 
1 John 4.20.  whom they see not, that his absence from their sight might be an exercise of their faith, that they might be blessed in not seeing, and yet believing, as Christ speaks to Thomas, Joh. 20.29. for, 'tis not he that seethe, but, he that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life, John 3.36. and, Sicarni carnaliter adhaeseritis, S. Austin tells us, Capaces spiritus non eritis, we cannot receive the Holy Ghost, so long as we persist to know Christ, and to love him according to the flesh only; And lastly, expedient for this cause in my Text, to which both the former tend, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to prepare a place for you.  
So that these are (shortly) the two Parts of our Text; 
Divisio.  The Tristitia implevit cor vestrum, the sorrow which the Disciples of Christ conceived in their hearts, upon notice of his departure from them, in the first word, Vado, I go: And secondly, the Non conturbetur cor vestrum, the removing that sorrow from their hearts, by informing them of the expediency of his departure in regard of themselves, in the other words, Parare vobis locum, To prepare a place for you: First, he brings his Disciples and us into the Mount Calvary; there we see him going, departing from us by his death, Vado, I go; then he brings us into the Mount Thabor, where he shows himself unto us in his glory; He prepares a place for us, where we shall partake of his glory, I go to prepare a place for you.  
I go: 
Vado.  Here it would be considered, how Christ is said to go. And, for the better understanding it, it will be needful to answer Simon Peter's question, to calm his expostulation; Lord, whither? Lord, why? to what end dost thou go? And for that we have some light in this verse where my Text lies; I go to prepare a place; and that place is among those many Manfions in his Father's House, In my Father's House are many Mansions: And that thither he goes, it is most evident, by his own clear answer to the question, John 16.5. I go my way to him that sent me: or, if we be ignorant who that is, he gives it us in plainer terms yet, John 14.12. Vado ad Patrem, I go to my Father.  
Now this brings in the difficulty that would be cleared, 
Quomodo.  how Christ can be said to go to his Father, God to God; I will not take up time with that common objection, that God is every where, and fills all places, Heaven and Earth full of his glory; the answer is obvious; but for this particular, how Christ should go to the Father, who has told us before, that the Father is in him, and he in the Father, John 10.38. and that the Father, who dwelleth in him, he doth the works, John 14.10. how can he be said to go to him? shall we think that thought of blasphemy, that the Father was now gone from him? had forsaken him? No, Non derelinques, 
Ps. 16.10.  thou shalt not leave my soul when it is in Hell, not his Godhead only, which he had from the Father, but also his soul, and that humane nature which he took from the Virgin, Ego & Pater unum, John 10.30. I and my Father are one: The Father is with that, in that also; and yet for all this, relinquo mundum, & vado ad Patrem, says Christ, I leave the World, and go unto the Father: 
Jo. 16.28.  I leaven the World, and go; See, if this phrase will help any thing for our satisfaction in this doubt! we indeed do then go to God, when we leave the World; that is, 
Col. 3.2.  when we cease to set our affections on things which are below, when we give over to love the World, 
1 Jo. 2.15  and the things that are in the World; when by strength of faith we unintangle ourselves from the Birdlime, the baits and allurements of it; when, 
2 Pet. 2.20.  as speaks S. Peter, we get to escape the pollutions of the world; when having our minds enlightened by Faith, and our hearts encouraged with Hope, and our breasts inflamed with divine Love, we begin to know God, to contemplate his Goodness, to delight in his Testimonies, to trust in the Lord God, than we go to him, and we cleave fast to him, andhaerere bonum we cry with David, It is good for me to hold me fast by God: 
Ps. 73.28.  Thus we leave the World, and go to the Father: But Christ does not so, for he was never entangled, never polluted; he was that holy, Innocent, unpolluted; he had never set his affections on things below, that, by a change of them, he should go to the Father.  
But yet we too, go one step nearer than this; by this we but begin to go to God, we do not perfectly arrive at our journey's end; we but come to the threshold, the outward Court, God's House; we then enter into his Privy Chamber, 
Lu. 22.30  to eat and drink in his Kingdom, when after this life, instead of our faith, we shall obtain the light of God; instead of our Hope, we shall come into possession; instead of our weak imperfect charity here, we shall be most safe in that degree of perfect love which casteth out all fear, 
1 Jo. 4.18  when in the light of his glory we shall hear himself speaking to our souls, Euge, bone serve, Well done, 
Matt. 25.21.  good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord.  
But neither does this assoil the doubt; nor can Christ's going to the Father hold any proportion with this second step of ours; he, in the very beginning of his Conception in the womb, was thus forward; that blessed Soul of his, at the very instant of being created by God, and joined unto the Word, had in it the fullness of all Wisdom, Grace, Glory, eternal beatitude, and therefore could not, in this respect, to speak properly, pronounce his Vado ad Patrem, I go unto the Father.  
Proceed we then, yet, one step further in Man's journey, and see, if by that we can find out the way that Christ went; for, all this while we have drawn but one part of Man, his Soul, out of the world, and reduced it to its native home: But at the last day, when this Mortal body of ours shall put on immortality, 
1 Cor. 15 53.  this corruptible flesh shall put on incorruption; when it shall also be freed from those necessities, with which it is encumbered in this world, when it shall have no need to be refreshed with meat and drink and sleep, to be warmed with  and fire, or cooled with gentle blasts, or defended with house and harbour, then shall we go quite out of the world, finish the utmost of our journey, and the whole man come to the end of it, to his God in Heaven.  
This, beloved, is the third and last step, which Christ himself had not yet gone, and must go; his Body was not yet in Heaven: This was it he meant, when he said of himself, I came forth from the Father, and am come into the World; Again, I leave the World, and go unto my Father, John 16.28. What means he by the first, I came from my Father into the World? why I took upon me this humane body, subject to hunger and thirst, and cold and heat, and troubles and sorrows, and smart and death, such as the rest of men's bodies in this world, which are abased under the yoke and burden of mortality and corruption; what means he by the last, I leave the world, and go to my Father? Not that he leaves this humane body which he had once taken, and remains only that which before he was, God with the Father; but, I cast off all ensigns, all badges and tokens of mortality and corruptibility; I will still wear this humane body, but now by me made a glorified body, which shall still live; but free from the bondage of worldly griefs, of worldly necessities; in rest, in tranquillity, in joy, in glory: These are the words (says Christ to his Disciples after his resurrection, when his Body was glorified) These are the words which I spoke unto you while I was yet with you, Luke 24.46. What think we of this, while I was with you? Was not Christ now with them when he spoke thus unto them? while I was with you, while I was as you are in the world, subject to those miseries which the world imposeth, and in need of those supplies which the world affordeth; now I am not with you, I am with the Father, I live now even in respect of my body, that same life which the father lives; free from all trouble, from all change: and thus may Christ truly be said to go unto the Father.  
And why should this then breed so much grief to his Disciples? why should their hearts be so filled with sorrow for this? what should need our Saviour's non turbetur cor vestrum? any counsel, or comfort, where there is seeming so little cause of discontent: one would think they should rejoice rather; and so Christ tells them plainly, If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said I go unto the Father, v. 28. but poor souls, they were so wounded with the vado, it should seem they minded not the rest, so heart-stricken with the sad news of his going from them, that they ne'er thought of, to whom; their love was such to him, that they would not go from him to any, Domine ad quem ibimus? when Jesus asked them, will ye also go away Jo. 6.68. Lord to whom shall we go? and their weakness did haply expect a reciprocal affection in Christ suitable to their ignorant desires, Lord to whom shall we go from thee? Lord to whom will't thou go, from us?  
And in truth, beloved, let not the strongest amongst us, blame this distraction in their oppressed hearts; 'tis a word from Christ's mouth, I go, enough to fetch blood, not sighs alone, from the greatest heart of the best resolved Christian: Behold thy King cometh! 
Mat. 21.5.  O Hosanna for that, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest, Mat. 21.9. his coming was the expectation of Israel, I, and expectatio gentium, Gen. 49. the expectation of the world; 
Ver. 10.  Veniat dilectus, Cant. 4.6. let my Beloved come into his Garden; and, veni dilecte mi, 7.11. Come my Beloved, let us go forth into the field, 'tis rogans eum, ut veniret, Luke 7.3. the Centurion sent the Elder to him, beseeching him that they would come; the most comfortable word that ever flew to the ears of any Christian, ecce venio, behold I come quickly; then, 
Rev. 22.12. Vers. 20.  merces mea mecum, there is a reward to be looked for, even so, come Lord Jesus; hast thee unto us O Lord; come, though thou comest to visit our offences with thy rod, 
Psa. 89.32 Psa. 23.4.  and our sins with scourges; Thy rod and thy staff shall comfort us; come, though thou comest to chasten us, to rebuke us, only rebuke us not in thine anger, 
Psa. 6.1.  neither chasten us in thy heavy displeasure, only in anger, in displeasure come not Lord, that's a coming against us, not to us, but excepting that, come any way; this word venio of Christ I come, to his servants, should be as welcome as his venite will be at the last day, 
Mat. 25.34.  come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom; but, go from us, spoken to Christ, what man in his right wits can be so cruel to himself, as to send such a word from his heart to his lips? who but the besotted earthly-minded Gergesenes can beseech him to departed out of their coasts? yes, the Devils can too, and they are both as two rare examples, recorded together in the same passage of story at the latter end of the eighth chapter of St. Matthew, they can cry quid nobis tibi, Jesus? what have we to do with thee, Jesus thou Son of God? Indeed I read it once from St Peter, in his weakness, in the beginning of his conversion, Depart from me, 
Vers. 8.  Lord, for I am a sinful man, Lu. 5. But the Lord knew it was a speech of modest humility in him, when upon the first sight of his sins, he apprehended Christ as an angry Judge according to the desert of them, and was therefore so desirous afterward to redeem that fault, when he knew him better, with his loathness to leave him, with his readiness to go with him, both into prison and to death, Lu. 22.13. our discede to Christ now, our putting him from us, should be as irksome to every of his servants, as his discedite shall be, at the last day, to his enemies, 
Matt. 25.41  depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire. And as our discede to him cannot be spoken but with horror, so his vado, alone to us, his going from us cannot be heard but with extremity of grief, and therefore in one place where 'tis set down alone, it has a vae with it to the Author of it, Filius hominis vadit, ve autem, Matt. 24.26. the Son of Man goeth, but woe to that wretch, woe to that man, saith Christ, by whom he is betrayed; and therefore too, in so many other places where himself must give notice of it to his Disciples, he knew it would be so heavy news to them, if alone delivered, yet he seldom, throughout all the Gospels, utters the word, without another word of comfort to poise with it in the balance, vado I go, Jo. 14.12. that dejects them; but presently, ad patrem, I go to the Father, that to raise them up again; si abiero, if I depart, Jo. 16.7. there's the weight of grief; but presently, mittam eum, I will send the Comforter unto you, there's the ease of consolation: i'th' next verse to my Text, if I go, that confounds them with sorrow; but presently, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that to cheer them with unspeakable joy; and so here in my Text too, I go, enough to break their hearts; but presently, parare locum, I go to prepare a place for you; 
2 Cor. 4.9.  enough to make a dead man live; so, though they be cast down, they are not destroyed, for 'tis the Lord that killeth, 
1 Sam. 2.6.  and maketh alive, he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up again. I go,  
To prepare a place for you. 
Parare locum.  And this second general part of the Text will employ our Meditations about these three particulars: 1. The Place. 2. The Preparation of it. And 3. The parties for whom 'tis prepared: Vobis, for you.  
For the first, 'tis a Place; 
Locus.  one place for all; Locum vobis, A place for you: And, in the beginning of this same verse, 'tis Mansiones Multae, Many Mansions: And this has caused some Haesitancy, and variety of opinion among learned Writers, concerning the difference, or equality of the joy and glory which shall be in the Saints of God in Heaven; either opinion makes so fair a show, that, if in itself it be not probable enough, 'tis free from danger: I quarrel not those who see not with my eyes, and therefore say, that neither of them is clearly and convincingly deducible out of any place of holy Scripture, and therefore I quarrel them not, because 'tis no way determined by the Church; I love not breaches in things which are not of absolute necessity to salvation, nor perfectly fundamental; Vnusquisque suo sensu abundet (though his sensus be not mine) without breach of Charity.  
One side does urge those several places from the Word of God, 
Psal. 62. Matt. 17. Rom. 2. Rev. 22. etc.  where 'tis said, that God shall reward every man, how? according to his works; and from the inequality of our works on earth, infer a greater or less degree of reward in Heaven. The other side will understand that saying generally; in regard of glory to some, and condemnation to others, To them who by patiented continuance in well doing, seek for glory, eternal life; and to them who obey not the truth, Indignation and wrath, Rom. 2.7. The Sheep on the right hand, to the Kingdom prepared; and the Goats on the left hand, to everlasting fire: 'Tis every man's reward according to his works, say they; for, there is Merces iniquitatis too, 2 Pet. 2.15. The wages of unrighteousness; and that stipendium peccati, that wages of sin is death, Rom. 6.27. And again, they answer these places by opposing another for themselves, that in Mat. 20. the men that had differently laboured in the Vinyard, which was a representation of God's Church upon earth, some had born the burden and heat of the day, some wrought but one hour; yet, to all the same proportion of reward; they received every man a penny, v. 10. and the householder justifies himself against their murmuring, that he had done them no wrong, v. 13. again, they on that one side, argue for the contrary, there are degrees of punishment for the damned in Hell; It shall be easier for them of Tyre und Sidon, 
Matt. 11. v. 21, 22, 23.  than for them of Chorazin and Bethsaida; and for the men of Sodom, than for them of Capernaum, ergo, several measures of joy, for the Saints in Heaven: they on the other side, acknowledge that argument probable, but not necessary; 'tis a way of reasoning, that does not always hold; a man may kill himself but not do the contrary, not revive himself again: besides, they are differenced in suffering, because they draw it upon themselves, according to the several demerit of their offences here, so do not the elect their glory, that's only miserentis Dei; 'tis the gift of God, eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, Rom. 6.23. and then they oppose that of our Saviour, Mat. 13.43. fulgebunt justi sicut Sol, the Righteous shall shine as the Sun in the kingdom of their Father; all the righteous there as the Sun, as well as they, that turn many unto righteousness as the stars, Dan. 12.3 and there is no greater splendour to be compared to, than that of the Sun, and whosoever comes there, he must be righteous, he must exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, Mat. 5.20. many more places are brought on either side, & afterward by the other, I might spend the time of a Sermon, in but relating them, 
Luk. 20.36. Mat. 25.  we shall be like unto Angels; and they differ in their orders, the five Talents well employed, were rewarded more than the two, he that soweth sparingly, 
2 Cor. 9 6.  shall reap sparingly; and divers more, so for the other, as Christ promised to his Disciples, they should sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes, Mat. 19.28. So S. Paul would have the Corinthians know, that the Saints shall judge the world, 1 Cor. 6.2. and that we shall judge Angels, v. 3. that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us, Rom. 8.18. And if God, in giving glory, respects not any worth in our works, why (say they) should one man's work exceed another in the reward? Much more is contended by either party: But he that subscribes to neither's, when he has heard all they have hitherto said, without clearer evidence from the Word of God, may be a good Christian still, and notwithstanding this unfundamental incertainty, in the right way to Heaven, either to a different Mansion, if he so believe, or to an equal place, if he so surmise, which Christ is gone up to prepare for him: I not deny the probability; more than that, the Verisimilitude; more than that too, to him that will have more than that, the assurance of an unequal measure of joys and glory; that in coelestibus, Ephes. 1.3. in heavenly places; these many Mansions may be, are different Mansions: only, I do not peremptorily conclude every other man under my own faith; in this case, and in such like to this, the Apostles humble Rule is mine, I am content to have faith to myself before God, Rom. 14.22. and not to measure another man by my Bushel (in things indifferent, for want of ample Revelation, or large capacity, there is no standard-faith) and not to call his weights, divers from mine, either deceitful or abomination, 
Prov. 11.1.  because it does not exactly jump with my own Balance; and therefore with submission I believe, that every man may be persuaded in his own mind (as S. Paul speaks in another point of difference as unnecessary to salvation, Rom. 14.5.) and that without hazard of losing this place prepared for him: Once for all; I am sure, upon good ground, that there is a place prepared for God's Saints; and the meanest that is placed there, shall in that place receive a full reward, 2 Jo. 8. What would we more? that God shall be all in all, 1 Cor. 15.28. that in his presence is the fullness of joy, and they who are placed on his right hand shall have pleasures for evermore, Psal. 16.11.  
I shall have no time at all to speak of that, which all time, and all the tongues and pens of the most ready Writers, employed all that time, can never express the excellency and dignity of this place; so high seated, which we may, in some sort, measure by the stars, each of which being so huge a bulk, does therefore only seem so small to us, because it is so high above us: But this Holy City, far above them, so large in extent, that we can never name the height and largeness of it: S. John's twelve thousand furlongs, Rev. 21. and his hundred forty four cubits, by the Angel's measure, was but of that City which descended out of Heaven, a small Epitome of this. All the several Dominions of all the Princes in the world, put all together, are not so much as one star there; and yet how numberless to us are they! and what another infinite number of them could it contain? O Israel, how great is the House of God and how large is the place of his possession! Great, and hath no end, high, and unmeasurable, Baruch 3.24. we may a little guess, and but guess, at the surpassing beauty, and magnificent structure of it, by comparison with this place where we now dwell, this Stabulum Pecudum, as one calls it, this Oxstall in respect, this place of exile, this Vale of miseries and fears; yet this hath that great Workmaster builded of so famous a frame; such a goodly aspect to our sense has the large Theatre of this World, the roof of Heaven over us, so fairly adorned, gilded, enamelled; the Pavement of earth under us, so spread with Nature's Carpets, of all colours pleasing to the eye; such spacious Seas, such sweet Springs, and gliding Rivers; the Mountains so stately without pride; the Valleys so low without envy; the Woods so pleasant with their shade; the Fields and Meadows so delightsome and profitable; at this Spring time chief, when the clearness of the Sky, and the warmth of the Air, helps our old Grandam Earth to spin and wove her Tapestry, and all Trees to spread forth their Hang: not to speak of the erected Towns, the sumptuous Cities, and majestical Palaces, the artificial works of men's hands; if there be a mere Worldling that has mistaken his way, and is by chance got to Church, such a description as this is enough to make him mistake his Heaven too, and take this World for it, to make him wonder why Christ should ever go from such a Paradise of pleasure to prepare any other place; why he is so taken with the show of these, that he could be content to set up his rest here, to conclude with Peter, Bonum est esse hic: these delights do so possess his heart, that he sticks in the gay mire of them, lifts not up his thoughts above them: But, know, O thou man of this World, all this which is wealthy enough to be thy Heaven, is so poor and contemptible for Christ's sake, that it is scarce worthy to be the Christians Dunghill; however, 
Phil. 3.8.  one of the best of them, S. Paul will at best bestow no better a name upon it; we must learn by these, to meditate what far better cost, and more unmatchable work our God and Father has bestowed upon his own heavenly habitation, the Palace of the great King, the New Jerusalem; the outside of it we can see, and that we see bedecked with so many thousands of thousands of glittering spangles, of rich Gems; the inside of it, the blessed Saints only and Angels in Heaven behold with God, and we cannot imagine the beauty of it; Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man to conceive, the things that God hath prepared there for them that love him, 1 Cor. 2.9. 'Tis but Humanum loquor, that which man's Reason is capable of, the description which S. John gives of it, the Jasper and pure gold, those precious stones, the Saphire, and Emerald, and Sardonix, and Sardius, and Chrysolite, Rev. 21. O quam dilecta Tabernacula! O how amiable are thy Dwellings, thou Lord of hosts! Psal. 84.1. Blessed are they that dwell in thy House, they will be always praising thee, v. 4.  
And shall we, beloved, who know there is such a place there, whose excellency we cannot know here, shall we still so over-please ourselves with the Gauds of this lower World, as to keep back our Conversation from being in Heaven? Shall we spend our time in striving for place here? Matth. 23.6. for the uppermost Rooms at Feasts, and the chief Sears in Synagogues? till we shuffle ourselves out of this place, this uppermost room, and great Feast, the Supper of the Lamb, the Supper of the great God? Rev. 19.9, 17. This Kingdom, if that will inflame our hearts with a longing for it; I appoint unto you a Kingdom, Luke 22.29. not an earthly Kingdom, such as the Mother of Zebedees' children dreamed of, Matth. 20. No, his Kingdom is not of this World, v. 20, 21. but, such as his Father had appointed unto him, Joh. 18.36. so are all they who are washed from their sins in his blood, made Kings unto God, and to his Father, Rev. 1.5. not a temporary, but an everlasting Kingdom: of his Kingdom, says Daniel, shall be no end, Dan. 4.3. The word Mansion here intimates the durance, the perpetuity of it, a manendo, no fear, no danger of the loss of it, of trouble in it; such a glorious Kingdom, says Solomon, and such a beautiful crown is there to be received at the Lords hands, Wisd. 5.16. And if this will not, I know not what outward expression can make us pray hearty every day, Adveniat Regnum tuum, adveniat nobis; Let thy Kingdom come to us, that holy passionate desire which David had to enter into these courts of the Lord, Psal. 84.2. This place which Christ is gone to prepare for us.  
The Preparation of the place is another branch of this second General part, 
Vado parare.  Vado parare; he goes upon an Errand, for all his Disciples, to prepare this place for them.  
But if this be all the occasion to draw Christ from them, one would think he should not need to make such haste for them; for, if we remember, this place needs not now preparing; 'twas prepared long since; What says Christ to the Guests of it? Mat. 25.34. Come ye blessed, inherit the Kingdom, Paratum vobis à constitutione mundi, prepared for you; when? even from the beginning of the world: Surely Man was borne to no less than a Kingdom from the beginning: In the very beginning see it; Let us make Man, 
Gen. 1.26.  says God, in our Image, after our likeness: what then? why presently in the next words, Let them have dominion over the Fish of the Sea, and over the Fowl of the Air, and over all the Cattles, and over all the Earth: A Dominion, a Kingdom, at the first, in the beginning; and a large one too, but not permanent; he held it but a while; Man being in honour, had no understanding, Psal. 49.12. to hold what God had given him, to abide by it; he was soon dispossessed by his early sin, soon vanquished out of this Dominion: And therefore well was it with him, that God had prepared another, a better for him; this place, this Kingdom, Paratum à Constitutione mundi, from which he could not fall.  
But how will this hold? Paratum, and Vado parare? why, as S. Austin (Tract. 68 in Jo.) quotes that saying from the Prophet, Deus fecit quae futura sunt: 'Tis no unusual phrase in holy Scripture, when they speak of God's actions which are infinite, eternal as himself, to whom all things are continually present, which are, and which were, and which are to come, Creavi, & faciam illud, Isa. 46.11. So Tremelius translates it, as well as the Vulgat edition, I have created, and I will make it; just as in these two Texts, I have prepared a place for you, and I will prepare it: There is the like expression in the end of the two and twentieth Psalm, The Heaven shall declare his righteousness unto a People that shall be borne, whom the Lord hath made: He hath already made them, and yet they shall be borne, in their succession, to the end of the World; as David does acknowledge of himself, Psal. 139. that, before he was borne, All his members were written in God's Book, when as yet there was none of them.  
So this place was prepared, as Christ is said to be slain, ab origine mundi, from the foundation of the World; and yet he was slain after that, by the promise of God, The Serpent shall bruise his heel, Gen. 3.15. He was slain in the faith of the Father, before his incarnation; he was slain in the sacrifices of the Law, which were this Lamb sacramentally; he was slain in his several members, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Act. 9.4. He was slain in Abel; The death of innocent Abel, says Lyra, was a Figure of the death of this Lamb; And yet after all this, he was still to be slain upon the Cross. So, this place was prepared before, in God's eternal preordination; and yet Christ goes now to prepare it by his Death, and anon, by his Resurrection; and after that, by his Ascension into Heaven: By his Death he purchaseth it, and pays the great price of our Redemption, and opens the gates of Heaven to us: The High Priest went into the Sanctum Sanctorum, not without blood; and this High Priest of ours by his own blood must enter into the Holy place, and so obtain eternal redemption for us, Hebr. 9.12. so having conquered Death by his Resurrection, he than ascends to take possession of this Place for us; He is, Praecursor pro nobis, Hebr. 6. The forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, verse. 20. Initiavit nobis viam Novam, in the tenth of that Epistle; That New, that hitherto untrodden, way hath he consecrated for us, and is entered into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us, Heb. 9.24. That's the last particular.  
Vobis, for you, God, whatsoever he doth he doth it for some end; a wise man is not lightly so little master of his actions, but he still propounds to himself some end in every of them: now because the end intended must still be the most perfect good, and all meaner ends must conduce to that last end, that best good, and because God, in himself, is summum bonum, the greatest good that can be, and so could not possibly advance his actions to any end better than himself, therefore, for himself, hath he done all things whatsoever he hath done, universa propter semetipsum, Prov. 16.4. All things were created by him, and for him, Col. 1.16. for himself chief, but not for himself wholly: the first thing that he did for us, 'twas for himself too, for his own glory; his own glory is that finis ultimus, the main, the utmost, the principal end of all his actions, and should be of ours; his Election and Predestination of us before the faundation of the world; 'twas ad laudem gloriae, To the praise of the glory of his grace, Eph. 1.12. But there is a subordinate end too, by which his actions tend to the last end; and that's the benefit of that creature, which he made after his own image, the good of man: as in the first creation, whatsoever he made, was for man; and therefore he made the world and all the other creatures before he made man, that they might be ready for his use; so, in that great work of re-creation, of redemption, all that he did, was for man, the very birth of his son (to begin there) for that the song of the heavenly host was, Gloria in excelsis Deo, Glory to God in the highest; but not a minims rest in it, before they come to Peace on earth, and good will towards men, Luke 2.14. there's the Prophet's, natus nobis he was born for us Isa. 9.6. his whole life, it was chief, honoro patrem, Jo. 8.49. I seek not my own glory, v. 50. but I honour my Father; upon the man born blind, John 9 ver. 4. He must work the works of him that sent him, and 'twas ver. 3. That the works of God should be made manifest in him; and Lazarus sickness, Jo. 11. that he might die and be raised again by him, 'twas pro gloria Dei, v. 4. for the glory of God; but both these actions of his, were for both their good too; and so was all the rest of his life spent in that employment, the good of man, that one verse, Mat. 4.23. is a short true abstract of it all, He went about, teaching, and preaching, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people, there's his vixit nobis, he lived for us too: come to his death, he humbled himself, and became obedient, there was the glory of his Father in his obedience, he humbled himself to death, that death should have no more dominion over him, Ro. 6.9. that that last enemy, death might be destroyed, 1 Cor. 15.26. that, through death, he might destroy death, and him that had the power of death, that is, the Devil, Heb. 2.14. that death might be swallowed up in victory, ver. 54. There's his victory, his glory; but, pro nobis too, Christ died for us, Rom. 5.8. by his death are we reconciled to God, ver. 10. there is his mortuus pro nobis: his resurrection next, Christ was raised up from the dead, Rom. 6.4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
Paraeus.  some translate it, (and they may well, the word bears it home, In or propter gloriam) for the glory of the Father; and, propter nostrum justificationem, Rom. 4.25. He was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification; there's his resurrexit pro nobis: Lastly his ascension, that was all glorious, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, Eph. 4.8. having spoilt principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them, Col. 
1 Pet. 3.22.  2.15. He is gone to sit on the right hand of his Father, in height of majesty and glory, and all this, as all else for us, to appear in the presence of God for us, Heb. 9.24. to make intercession for us, Heb. 7.25. To prepare a place for us, here in my Text, here ascendit pro nobis, all for us, in every of his actions, an expedit vobis; and particularly in this, it is expedient for you, that I go, Jo. 16.7. for, I go to prepare a place for you.  
For you, who never cared to prepare a place for me, when in great humility I came to visit you, as he might object truly, if he would enter into judgement with us; a poor provision here made for him, a stable his presence-chamber, and a Cratch his Cradle, from thence driven into Egypt, and from place to place, I, to no place; This Son of Man, had not where to lay his hand, Mat. 8. ver. 20. Master where dwellest thou? Jo. 1. ver. 38. his Disciples might well ask, 'twas a hard question, that, no place prepared for him here, even when he was to eat the Passeover, not a place prepared for that; and those few poor Disciples, that would have prepared one for him, could not tell where without his help; prepare it! I, with all the heart we have; but, where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passeover? Mat. 26.17. Thus, we rewarded him evil for good, to the great discomfort of his soul, and sinful shame of ours, Psal. 35.12. yet he, we see here, loves his enemies, blesses them that curse him, does good to them that hate him, and would have us do so, in imitation of him, that, as he is, we may be, the children of our Father which is in Heaven, Mat. 5.44.  
We have but small time for the large extent of this Vobis, 
Verbum sapienti. sat.  who they be that are contained in it; of this, one word will suffice to all that are wise unto salvation: Not a man here but would gladly be one of those You's, and therefore would be loath to give it so narrow a Scantling, as to reach only to those few Disciples to whom Christ then spoke it; That other Paratum, Matth. 25. extends it further, to all those whom he shall, at the last day, place on his right hand; Paravi vobis, it is prepared for all you, for all those who, since the speaking of it, have been, and who, to the end of the world, will be his Disciples; God prepares both, Place and Inhabitants too, Place for Inhabitants, and Inhabitants for the Place, Those Vessels of Mercy whom he had before prepared unto glory, Rom. 9.23. In the Parable, Matt. 25. Those Virgins only, quae Paratae erant, who were Prepared, Ready, went in with him to the Marriage.  
Now, Use. though in preparing this Place for us, we must leave that to Christ alone; yet, in preparing ourselves for this Place, we must join with him; Non salvat te sine te, is a true Rule; 
Austin.  Entreat God first to prepare us by the working of his sanctifying Grace in our hearts; but when we have received that Talon of Grace, we must employ it also, and and work together with God, 1 Cor. 3.9. Who shall ascend into this Hill of the Lord? Psal. 24. He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart, in one place; 
Psal. 15.  He that leads an uncorrupt life, and doth the thing that is right, in another: Here is one way of preparing ourselves, by purifying the heart through faith, (Act. 15.9.) to an uncorrupt life, and cleansing the hands in innocency to good works; that which St. Paul prescribes, if we will be Vessels unto honour, we must be prepared unto every good work, 2 Tim. 2.29.  
We must be prepared to do good, and to suffer evil, if occasion requires, and it may conduce to his glory; that's one way more: When Christ speaks of this Kingdom Luke 22. he thus describes those for whom it is designed; first, Ye are they that have continued with me in my temptations, verse. 28. and then, I appoint unto you a Kingdom, verse. 29. This was the way which Christ himself went, Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? Luke 24.26. He entered this holy place by his own blood, Hebr. 9 Be we not sparing of our pains and labour, and sweat and blood, if need be, rather than not follow him; follow the Lamb whither soever, Revel. 14.4. and which way soever he goeth; even Agnum occisum, follow the Lamb which was slain, Rev. 5.12. Suffer with him, that's the way to reign with him, 2 Tim. 2.12. to have Kingdom and Glory too, to reign with him, and to be glorified with him, Rom. 8.17. Let us not grudge, beloved, to take pains, to suffer pain, in this place of our Preparation for that Place; we will not, if we look with faith to this Place which is set before us; if we look unto Jesus the Author, and Finisher of our faith, Heb. 12.2. 'Twas a course that himself took, to strengthen himself in his Combat here, as he was Man; He, for the joy that was set before him, 
Ibid.  endured the Cross, and despised the shame: The sufferings of this present time, in the worst of their nature, are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed, Rom. 8.18. though they were lasting; but they are momentary too, our Affliction is light, and but for a moment, 2 Cor. 4.17. When the Prophet Daniel had reckoned up many sore calamities upon the people, they are encouraged to the constant undergoing of them with this certain comfort, Vsque ad tempus, Daniel 11.24. 'tis but for a time: whatsoever the burden of worldly crosses be, which the faithful servants of God groan under; drown not yourselves in tears; faint not in your trial; make not your life more bitter with pensive thoughts, nor waste your spirits with impatient complaints; apply the Balsam, this sweet contemplation of the short continuance, Vsque ad tempus, 'tis but for a time; when ye are reviled and persecuted, Matth. 5.11. when ye have trial of cruel mockings and scourge (Heb. 11.36, 37.) yea, of Bonds and imprisonment, destitute, afflicted, and tormented; why, Vsque ad tempus, all this is but for a time: They are the damned in Hell, 
Drexelius De Aeternit.  that are more overwhelmed with the eternity, than with the extremity of their sufferings; no measuring of Time there; no hope of release, after thousands of millions of Ages; there is cause of, there is place for impatience; But these temporary woes, these short afflictions, lightened with an expectation of enlargement, endure we them, have we patience in them; Vsque in tempus, says the Son of Syrach too, Ecclesiasticus 1.23. Vsque in tempus sustinebit patience, A patiented man will bear for a time, and afterward joy shall spring up unto him.  
This is the Exhortation, that from hence, I desire to leave with you, Possess your souls with patience, 
Luk. 21.19.  notwithstanding the miseries of this life, though they were greater, and comfort yourselves with a hopeful looking for of this place prepared by Christ; Troubles here, and Crosses, and discontents, and perhaps great causes of them; to some, their whole time is a Lent, and their whole Lent a Passion-Friday; But, there is a Place prepared: To do good, and to suffer evil (the Christians virtue) is a hard task, not to plot and prosecute revenge of received wrongs; not to undermine others to a fall, and upon their necks step higher; to curb the irregularity of our affections, to wage a continual war with our own rebellious thoughts, ambition, and covetousness, and voluptuousness, and all the other Devils about us, exceeding difficult to flesh and blood; but here is a help from the Spirit, our LENT cannot last long; the Feast of CHRIST's, and of our Resurrection is not far. There is a Place prepared, a Place of Peace and Rest, and joy, and glory, fullness of joy, and pleasures for evermore. Thither, Lord, in thy good time, bring us, who art gone before to prepare it for us.  
To thee, O Christ, with the Father, and the Spirit, etc.   

These Books following, (being worth buying) are to be sold at the sign of the Lamb at the East end of St. Paul's near the School.  
CHristian Prayers and holy Meditations, as well for private as public Exercise.  
The True Catholic, collected out of the Oracles and Psalteries of the Holy Ghost, for Instruction and Devotion, by Tho. Parker, his Majesty's Servant.  
Godly Prayers and Meditations, by John Field D. D.  
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.  
Dr. Hewits' Sermons (the right) with his Prayer before and after Sermon.  
A New-years-gift for a Christian.  
Angel of Peace, by Causin.  
Thorndike's Learned Discourse on the Church and Service.  
Robinson's Birth of a Day.  
Dr. Hewit's Funeral Sermon, by Mr. Hardy.  
ALSO,  
Mr. Theophilus Buckworth's famous and approved Lozanges, which perfectly cures all sorts of Colds, Coughs, Consumptions, Catarrhs, Asthmaes, and all Infirmities of the Lungs; and is a sovereign Antidote against the Plague, and other infectious and contagious Diseases. Every Paper of Lozanges is sealed with his own Coat of Arms, to distinguish them from counterfeit.  
FINIS.