SIX SERMONS: 1. Of CHRISTIAN CHARITY, Preached before the Judges of Assize at Bury S. edmond's. 2. Of TRUE FELICITY, at S. Peter's in the City of Norwich. 3. Of the World's vanity, and Souls excellency, at S. Paul's, LONDON. 4. Of an humble Conversion, and an holy Conversation, at Great Bealing, Suff. 5. & 6. Of S. PAUL'S Concrucifixion, at Hoxne, Suff. By Edw: Willan, M. A. C. C. C. in Camb. and Vicar of Hoxne. Basil. Mag. Enar. in Cap. 1. Isaiae. Sunt Sermones isti, quos Propheta vidit, spectabiles. LONDON, Printed for R. Royston, at the Angel in Ivy-lane. M DC LI. May 8. 1651. Imprimatur, John Downame. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE, HENRY, Earl of MONMOUTH, Lord CARY, Baron of Lepington, and Knight of the Honourable Order of the BATH. My very good Lord, IT is commonly charged upon these Times, that they are Times of many Evils; And it is a main Evil wherewith the Times are charged, that the many Charges of the Times do hinder Men from paying of Debts. I dare not call that Evil, that hath hindered me from paying mine. But sure I am, that Occupationes quibus indies distincor maximae, aliquid Excusationis ab aequis, ut spero, rerum aestimatoribus impetrabunt. Armacha. in Praef. ad Britan. Eccl. Antiquitat. the constant Charges, and frequent Discharges of many Deuce unto the People from the Pulpit, have hindered me from paying any Deuce unto your Honour from the Press; And forced me, as you may see, to borrow bacl those driblet Debts, here tendered unto other Friends, for the making up of one small Sum, for my chiefest Creditor. There were many Marii in one Sueton. in vita Jul. Caes. Caesar; And many Worshipfuls, and Right Worshipfuls may be in one Right Honourable: Yet many and many Respects are due from me unto those worthy Names perfixed to these Sermons; But your Lordship's due is all, yea more than all that I am, and more than all that I am able to do. All this that I have done, is but the least part of that all, which I should have done. I cannot do all that I would, but I will do all that I can to attest my desires to do all; The very seems of Negligence in other Pens are even shamed by seeing the Diligence of your Lordships. I know not whether there be such a thing as Scandalum Magnatum in these Times; But this I know, that ignobile vulgus hath commonly accused Nobility of Idleness; And sure I am, that the many Reams of Paper, which your happiest Pen hath filled, and fitted for the Press, are enough to stuff their Throats, and to stop their Mouths, that have been opened to speak evil of such Dignities. I Judas 8. confess, I should have wondered at the Excellent and Abundant fruit of your Labours more than now I need, (though still I cannot but admire them) had I not known your constant course of watering them, by your kneeling down, and praying in your Bene precasse est bene studuisse. M. Luther. Closet before your putting of Pen to Paper. The Power of Godliness in that your Honour's Example did even enforce As there is Treason, and Petty-Treason; So there is Sacrilege and Petty-Sacrilege; and Petty Sacrilege is to rob Princes, and great Persons of their due Praises. Dr. Donne Serm. 27. me to imitation in my adjacent Lodging at More-Park, and ever since hath engaged me to pray daily for your Honour, for my very good Lady, for all the younger Ladies, and for all belonging to your Noble Family, as the bounden Duty of My Lord The humblest of Your Chaplains, WILLAN. TO THE CHRISTIAN READER. READER, THere are many in these Times that will needs be spreading of their Napkins before the People, and yet have never a Talon in them; And others there are, that have many Talents in their Napkins, yet will not spread them before the People of these Times: And for my part, I would have hid that piece of a Talon, entrusted to myself, still from the Press, as willingly as any, if I might; And from the Pulpit too, if I durst; But necessity is laid upon me, 1 Cor. 9 16. and woe be to me, if I Preach not the Gospel. I was even enforced to send three of these Sermons to the Press; And for their sakes, I forced the other three to go along for company; And had sent as many more made ready with them, could I have met with Tutelar Names, like Tobies Guardian Angel, Tobit. 5. 6. to go before them. I must confess, that six are enough, and more then enough for such a Mean Beginner to adventure in one Bottom; Yet so many I have adventured; And if this first Adventure prove successful, I shall soon double the Number in another fleet, and advance it after them. I have put these Sermons together, as Plinius Secundus Plin. Secun. Epist. 1. ad Septit. did his Epistles, non servato temporis ordine, sed ut in manus venerant; As he told his friend Septitius. And I was the rather persuaded to print them, for that I knew, it would be but little profit to me, to keep them by me as a Private stock for the Pulpit; But I made conjecture, that it might be more benefit to others, to have them put into their hands, as a Public stock from the Press. They were never likely again to have any Plus homines oculis quam auribus credunt. Seneca. Epist 70. Hearers; But it may be thus they may gain some Readers; And if any Readers gain by them, it shall be reckoned as the greatest gains that may be to Thine EDW. WILLAN. Errata. PAge 22. l. 32. r. Aegeria. p. 39 l. 19 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. p. 52. l. 6. r. called. p. 59 l. 1. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. p. 63. l. 24. r. if we may preach it. p. 79. l. 1. r. be universal. p. 111. in marg. r. Vedelius. p. 133. l. 3. r. be less. p. 138. l. ult. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. p. 156. l. 5. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. p. 162. l. 1. r. of Sympathy. p. 164. l. 9 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. p. 165. l. 29. r. he ye●lds. Reader there are some misplaced Annotations, whose reducements I must leave to thy discretion as thou readest, Vale. Ipse Bernardus non videt omnia. A SERMON OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY, PREACHED AT BURY St. edmond's, Before the JUDGES, MARCH, 18. 1649. It is the Work of Charity to build up Christians. And it should not be the Work of Christians to beat down Charity. LONDON, Printed for R. Royston, at the Angel in Ivy-lane, 1651. TO THE WORSHIPFUL, Wiseman Bokenham, Esq. SIR, THese N●tes belong unto your Worship by a manifold right. Indeed they can of right belong so properly to none as to your Worship. For First it was by your command that this Sermon was composed of them, for the Pulpit. And then by your command it was, that this Sermon of them was thus disposed into a Pamphlet. It troubled me very much to hear myself so entreated as I was, to Pen this Sermon for your perusal; But it troubled me fare more to see myself enforced as I have been, to request it back again to send it to the Press. You cannot but remember, that when you did so hearty desire my Notes, I did as humbly as I could desire that they might never be made public. I only thought upon the Pulpit in my studying for them; And I thought but only of your private perusal in transcribing of them. I would they might have rested in your hands perpetually. But they are even enforced thus to come abroad, and appear in public, and your Worship knows from whence the violence was offered to them. I must follow after the Sermon, as the Sermon does Qui non diligit fratrem, manet in morte. 1 Johan. 2. Nemo adultus potest salvari, fine Charitate in Deum, & proximum. Zanch. Miscellaneorum lib. 2. follow after the Text; And so must follow after Charity to such as have enforced me to do what I had no mind to. I know it was the love of Charity in your Worship, that caused you to like the Matter of this Sermon, when it was preached; And that it was the Charity of your love unto the Preacher, that persuaded you to accept the Manner of it, as it was penned. And I hope that Charity will never fail you towards, Charitas nunquam excidit. 1 Cor. 13. 8. Sir, Your poor Servant EDW. WILLAN. AN EXHORTATION TO Christian Charity. 1 COR. 14. 1. Fellow after Charity. THis Text is for this Time. It is a Text of Charity in a Time that wants it. It was a Prov. 15. 23. word in due season, when written first to those of Corinth; It is no less in season to be spoken now to us of England. Corinth 1 Cor. 6. 7. was not disturbed more, when this was written, than England is by suits; Nor is England less distracted now, then Corinth was by Schisms. Corinthus then was crumbled into emulous, into envious, into 1 Cor. 1. 10, 11. factious Parties, all out of Charity between themselves, by being without all Charity within themselves: Some for Paul, some for 1 Cor. 1. 12. 1 Cor. 3. 4, 5. Apollo, some for Cephas, and so but some for Christ. This Text did sutie with Corinth then, in that condition; it suits with England now, conditioned as Corinth was. Our English Church is Schismatized now into a second Corinth; Some for Luther, some for Calvin, some for Erastus, and some for they know not whom, for they care not what, to the breach of Charity, to the bane of Christianity. If ever therefore Christian Charity were a subject fit for every Pulpit, it is now: for now is almost every Subject out of Charity; yea almost quite out of Charity with the Pulpit. Indeed the Pulpit should never cease to sound of Charity to the people, when ever sound Charity indeed is ceased amongst the people. The Anticellencies of some Gifted-men in Corinth did make them famous; their fame did make them proud; their pride did make them factious; and their factions made Confusion. That fatal Tragedy of Corinth is Acting now upon our English Theatre. These times have famed some for Gifted-men in England; and the Breath of Fame hath puffed them up with pride; and pride hath put them into factions; and what can we now expect (without reunion) but Corinth's fate, Confusion? Had those of Corinth coveted the Grace of Charity to make them humble, as impensely, as they did some other Gifts of Grace to make them admirable, their Church had been less transient, but they much more transcendent. But, alas for it! Corinth was soon unchurched through the want of Charity in her Zealous Schismatics; and the want of Charity in other Schismatizing Zealots, hath unkingdomed many Churches, and may too soon unchurch as many Kingdoms. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, There is one Holy Spirit, saith holy Athanasius; Symbol. san. Athanas. And by that one Spirit there are diversities of Gifts, saith this Inspired Secretary of that Holy Spirit. The same Spirit of Gifts was given to some of Corinth; and divers gifts of the Spirit were given to divers: For some were Gratiae gratis datae, Graces freely given to some few, for the good 1 Cor. 12. 4. of many others; and others were Gratiae gratos facientes, Graces given to divers, for the good of those, to whom they were given. The First did make men far more famous, than the Second: But the Second did make men fare more gracious, than the First. The first did make men great. The second did make men good; All were not great by the first, that were good by the second. Nor were all good by the second, that were great by the first. Some leading men of Corinth were very famous amongst their followers, for having the first: But very factious amongst themselves, for wanting the second. Both first, and second were very considerable, but the second most desirable. The first did make men eminent in the Church: the second did make men excellent in themselves. This Grace of Charity in the Text, is of the second sort of Gifts, and as excellent a Gift it is, as any of that sort. Fare more excellent it is, than any of the first sort; yea then all that sort without it. So Aquinas. And he speaks the meaning of S. Paul D. Tho. in loc. Chap. 12. ver. ult. Where the Apostle styles it viam excellentiorem; 1 Cor. 12. 31. A way more excellent than that by all those others, though never so excellent in their way. It is the most eminent of all the Gifts of Grace; saith Irenaeus. And Theophylact commends it, as the way unto them all. Theophyl. ad locum. It is iter ad excellentiam, as Beza has it in his translation of it: that is, the way to Excellency, as it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, by way of Excellency. It is a Grace, that is a grace to all those other Gifts of Grace. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Indeed those others are but Gifts of Grace; But this is the Grace of all those other gifts. It is a Grace with which those others are not altogether to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. be compared. It is a Grace without which they are not all at all to be computed. They all stand but as mere cyphers in S. Paul's Arithmetic until the figure of Charity be set before them to bring them into reckoning. The Apostle makes no reckoning of them all without it. Nor of himself, if he wants it, though he has them all. As in the foregoing Chap. the first three verses. 1. Though I speak with the tongues of men, and of Angels, and have not Charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling Cymbal. 2. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove Mountains, and have no Charity, I am nothing. 3. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not Charity, it profiteth me nothing. As if he should have said, that all that can be said, with all that can be known, with all that can be done, with all that can be undergone, can do a man no good at all, without true Charity, for the obtaining of the chiefest good of all. In that foregoing Chapter, this learned Doctor of the Gentiles, prelate's the Grace of Charity unto all other Gifts, in three Respects. 1. In respect of the Necessity of it. 2. Utility 3. Stability First, he gives the Prelation to it, for the Necessity of it, in the three first, or first three verses. Secondly, he gives the Prelation to it, for the Utility of it, in the four next verses. Thirdly, he gives the Prelation to it, for the Stability of it, in the six last verses. And so that Chapter gins, and ends with the Commendation of it; But the Commendation of it ends not with that Chapter: for this Chapter also echoes with the Praises of it, and is fronted with an Exhortation to it. In that Chapter St. Paul commendeth Charity to us; In this he commandeth us to Charity. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Fellow after Charity. The Subject of the Text is Charity. And the Charity in the Text is quite against divisions. The Nature of it is conjunctive, rather than divisive. It useth to make up divisions, rather than to make them. And should I offer to make many, and many divisions, and subdivisions of this little Text of Charity; I should offer more than a little wrong unto the Charity of the Text. The Text doth offer itself entirely to us all, as an Exhortation useful for us; and so ought we all to take it, and to take it all, without any curious mincing of it▪ Yet for Order sake, (which is a thing that Charity allows of, though it likes not of Divisions) I must needs Methodise the chief considerables of the Text, into this connatural disposition. The Text, for form, is mandatory, or at least commendatory; And so commendatory it is, that it is even mandatory; for that which is commended in it, is little less than commanded by it. And from this Text, as the Substance of it, I must recommend these two Observables to you; Namely, 1. The Duty commended in it to be done. 2. The Persons commanded by it to do the Duty. The Duty is expressed to the Persons in the Text, that they may know it; And the Persons are employed in the Duty of the Text, that they may know themselves, and do it. The following after Charity is the Duty. And Ye the Persons that are to follow after Charity. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, follow ye, even all ye, follow after Charity. The Command is indefinitely given, and therefore universally to be taken, according to S. chrysostom, and to the learned Schoolmen. I shall begin with the Duty charged upon the Persons; and end with the Persons to discharge the Duty. In the Duty there are two Remarkables. The 1. is the Act. The 2. is the Object. The Act, follow after. The Object, Charity. They that follow they know not what, may lose themselves, they know not where. Many have lost themselves already they know not where; yet still are ready to follow they know not What. It is wisdom for men to know whither they be going, before they be gone they know not whither. Let us be so wise, as to follow the Apostles Direction in the Text, for in the Text the Apostle directs us what to follow. It is Charity, that we are all directed in the Text to follow after; And we, even all we, are directed by the Text to follow after Charity. Here therefore, let us put Charity before, and follow after it, follow after Charity. Surely that must needs be first, that we are all to follow after; and we are all to follow after Charity. Charity then must lead the way, both in the shorter Life of my Discourse about it, and in the longer Course of each man's life, that is to follow after it. And who can choose but love to follow such a Leader? The Leader chosen for us all to follow after is love itself. The Word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. A theme very pregnant in itself, and very significant in its several uses. Thucydides, Thucyd. de Bello. Pelopon. l. 6. Theophr. de cause. Plant. lib 3. L●cian in Timone. and Theophrastes, with divers others have applied it to divers uses, yet never did they use it in a larger, or a better sense, than the Inspired Pen Man of this sacred Letter. There are divers Words for Love, but none like this. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to love, but not like 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. That is to love like a friend; but this like a Christian. That is for love to one, or two; but this for love to all. That is but for a time; but this for ever. For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith the Apostle. This 1 Cor. 13. 8. love, which is Charity never fails. It is for every Man. And it is for ever in a Man. It looks at foes, as well as friends, and it looketh like itself on both. It carries the kindness of true Affections towards both; And it is carried in the expressions of true kindness unto both. It shows itself in expressions verbal; And it shows itself in expressions real too. It is always cordial, rather than complemental. It is in cord, in over, in opere. In the Heart, in the Tongue, in the Hands. In thoughts, in Words, in Deeds. It is in the Inward Man, and in the Outward too; It is in both towards God, and it is in both towards Man. The whole Duty of Man, both unto God, and unto Man, requires no more for both, but true, and perfect love to both. He that loves one perfectly, loves both truly. And he that loves not both truly, loves neither of both perfectly. Ne● D●us fine proximo, nec proxim●s sin● Deo dilig● potest, Saith Peter Lo●bard, Neither God without Man, nor Man without God, can Pet. Lomb. l. 3. Dis. 27. be truly loved. When the Moral Law was first promulged upon Mount Sinai, it was given to Moses in ten Commandments, and those ten were so compendious, that M●s●s in Holy Language called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Decem verba. S. Hieron. them ten words. Yet lest these ten might seem too many, our Saviour did co●pondiate all in two upon Mount Si●n. And that these two might never be sundered, this Inspired Apostle hath spoken both in One. Yea, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In one word. Galatians 5. 14. This Text contains that One of Paul. That One of Paul contains those two of Christ. Those two of Christ contain those ten of Moses. Those ten of Moses were all delivered in two Tables, to distinguish the Duty of Man to God, from Deut. 5. 22. the Duty of Man to Man. And those two Tables were at first delivered both together, that the Duties of both Tables might never go asunder. And it is rightly to be observed, that he who is a good First-table-Man, is ever a good Second-table-Man too. But he who is an ill Second-table-Man, is ever an ill First-table-Man also. That crafty Questionest in the Gospel, that asked our Saviour, which was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; The great Commandment Mat. 22. 36. in the Law? Would feign have seemed a very good First-table-Man, by the Question, which he asked: But he shown himself a very bad Second-table-Man, and so by consequence no good First-table-Man, by his design in ask of the Question: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 22. 35. for he asked the Question, but only to tempt our Saviour. And so he sinned against the Second table, in seeming zealous for the First. In his greatest seems of love to God, he wanted love to Man; yea to that good Man, to that God-Man, Christ Jesus. Our Saviour was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith holy Athanasius, God-Man. Symbol. sanct. Athan. Mat. 22. 39 Charity is as it were a summary of all the law and especially of the second Table. Diod●●. Annot. Rom. 3. 1 John 4. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Perfect God, and perfect Man, to make a perfect reconciliation between God and Man: And as such a Christ, he checked those seems of love unto his Godhead, which were without true love unto his Manhood. Indeed he could not love the one, without the other. He that says he loveth God, and hateth his Brother, says that which is not true; yea, in plain● terms, saith S. John 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, he is a Liar. For how can he love God, whom he hath not seen, when he cannot love the likeness of God in his Brother whom he hath seen? And this Commandment we have from him, that he 21. who loveth God, should love his Brother also, 1 John 4. 20, 21. Where love to God does go before, there love to Man (as saith S. Austin) does ever follow after: But where this does not follow after, there that does not go before. We must love both, or we can love neither. First, we must love God for his own sake; And then, we Pe. Lomb. l. 3. d. 27. must love Man for God's sake, as the Master of the Sentences very well. We must love God above ourselves; And we must love our Levit. 19 18. Neighbour as ourselves. The sum of all our Duty is but love; And the best of all our Luke 10. 27. love, is our love unto the best of all. Deus optimus maximus, God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Pittic. the best, and biggest of all, and we must love him with the biggest, and best of all our love. 1. We must love God above all: because God is good above all, the greatest good of all. 2. We must love God above all: because God does good unto all, and the good he does, is the greatest good of all. 3. We must love God above all, because it is above all the good, that we can do unto him so to love him. God is love; And God is infinite; And we must love him as he 1 John 4. 8. Ezech. 10. 5. Psal. 147. 5. Revel. 16. 17. S. Bern. In tract. de diligend. Deum. is. His love to us is like himself; And our love to him, must be like his to us. The Measure of our love to him, (as saith S. Bernard) must be without all measure: for so is his to us. And in loving of him so, there can be no love lost between us. Never did any Man lose by loving him; Nor was ever any Judas 21. Man lost, that he did love. If we make sure to keep his love unto us, we may be sure, that his Love to us will keep us. Great is God's Love in caring for us; And great should our care 1 Peter 5. 7. be, to keep his Love unto us; If God be for us, who can be against us? for what cannot he do, where he will? And where he loves, Rom. 8. 31. what will he not do? God's Love to us, is not the love of formality; And our love to God must never be the formality of love. It is Amat Deus ut ametur. S. Aug. Manuel. for our good, more than his own, that he loves us; And it should be more for his sake, than our own, that we love Him. Whom he loveth, he loveth to the end. Yet there is no John 13. 1. end of his loving of them. His end in loving us, is our Glory Jerem. 31. 3. with him, without all end; And our end in loving him should be 1 Cor. 10. 31. the endless Glory of that his love to us. There is no sinister end in sincere love: such is God's Love to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; S. Chrysost. Hom. 3. us; And such should ours be to him. If ours be sincere unto him, it will surely make us ready to serve him; yet not so to serve him, as to serve our own turns of him, and to turn him off, so soon as they be served by him. Indeed there are some kinds of Men, that are very kind to others, when they expect some kindness from them. They will have their hands at the Ground in their Saluting of them, when the Ground of their Saluting of them, is to have a hand at them in some benefit be them: But no sooner are all their ends obtained from them, than all their seems of love are ended towards them. And strange it may seem to others, to see how strange they presently seem to these. But thus we must not deal with God. We must not Court him with mere seems of love. We must love God sincerely, i. e. with our hearts, and we must love him entirely, i. e. with all our hearts. The love of Man to God must be, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Mark. 12. 30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. With all the Heart. With all the Soul. With all the Mind. And it must also be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, with all the strength. But how can this be? If we love God thus, with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our minds, and with all our mights, how can we love ourselves, as we ought? Or our Neighbour, as ourselves? This quere at the first proposing seems a Riddle, but may be Minus Domine te amat, qui aliquid tecum amat, quod propter t● non amat. S. August. Confess. Lombar. l. 3. d. 27. thus unriddled with ease. Minus amat, he loves the Lord the less, that loves any thing with the Lord, which he loves not for the Lord: so S. Augustine. But he that loves his Neighbour in the Lord, what loves he, but the Lord in his Neighbour? so Peter Lombard. Now he that loves the Lord in his Neighbour, and his Neighbour in the Lord, loves neither of both the less, but both the more, for loving of both. He does not forsake the God of love, to love his Neighbour, that loves his Neighbour but only for 2 Cor. 13. 11. God's sake. All is but love to God; and so he takes it. Although Mat. 25. 40. this last be a bearing of love unto him the furthest way about. This Duty of Man to Man, is a Duty of Man to God. By this he affirms his love to God, and firmes God's love to himself. Now these two, the love of Man to God, and the love of God to Man, are points of Catholic concernment. That is the Point of greatest concernment in all the Law. This is the Point of greatest concernment in all the Gospel. It is the greatest Commandment in the Law that is, that we love God. And it is the greatest Article in the Gospel that is, that God loves us. On these two hang all the Law, and the Gospel. The whole Law is fulfilled in that; The whole Gospel in this. And these two mutually depend upon each other to be fulfilled. Sine fide non diligitur, & sine dilectione non creditur. Leo. Serm 7. de Quadr. 1 John 4. 10. He that does not love God truly, cannot truly believe that God loves him. But he that truly believes that God loves him, cannot but love God truly again for loving of him. We love God, (saith S. John) because he loved us first. Our love towards him is but the Reflection of his love towards us. We believe in him, because we love him. And we love him, as we believe in him. By believing in him, we increase our love unto him. And by greatning of our love unto him, our belief is greatned in him. Galat. 5. 6. Jam. 2. 22. Faith worketh by love: so S. Paul. And by works it is made perfect, saith S. James. It is by love to God, that Faith does work assurance in us, Fides esse potest, prodesse non potest. S. Augu. de Trin. l. 15. c. 18. Jam. 2. 14. of God's love unto us: But fine amore, saith S. Austin●, without this love of God be in us, that faith in God, which is professed by us, can bring no profit to us; for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith S. James, what does it profit, my Brethren, though a Man says he hath faith, and hath not works? can faith save him? By saying, can it save him? he says as much, as it cannot save him. Works of love are fruits of faith; but faith is fruitless, where love works not. The love of works, with the works of love, is the surest attestation of true faith. Works without faith are no good works, and faith without works is no good faith. They then are both good, when they are both together. Faith never worketh any good for him that has it, but when it worketh by love. No more does love, but when it worketh by faith. It is by love, that we fulfil the law of faith; and it is by faith, Rom. 3. 27. that we fulfil the law of love. We must love, as well as believe: indeed we cannot believe unless we love. The Old Commandment of the Law, and the New Commandment of the Gospel are both for love; and by true love they are both fulfilled: for love is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the fulfilling of the Law, Rom. 13. 10. and by love is the law fulfilled divers ways. First, Love fulfils the Law, as the Efficient Cause, by moving of Effective. us Physically to the Observance of it. Secondly, Love fulfils the Law, as the Final Cause, by moving Reductiv●. of us Morally to a willing Obedience to it. Thirdly, Love fulfils the Law, as the Formal Cause, by making Formaliter. Finis in moralibus habet rationem formae. Quodlibet agens propter amorem agit, quode●nque agit. Aquin. ●. 2. q. 28. ar. 6. our willing Obedience to it, to be accepted, as the full performance of it. For love it is that we observe it; and by love it is that we fulfil it. There is no keeping of it by us, without the love of God be in us; and there is no love of God within us, without the keeping of it by us. If ye love me, keep my Commandments, saith our Saviour, John 14. 15. Love is the end of the Law. It was God's end in giving it; and it is our end in keeping it. It is finis Moralis, the end of Intention; 1 Tim. 1. 5. and it is finis perficient too, the end of Perfection, or the perfecting End of our Obedience to it: and is therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The bond of Perfectness. Colos. 3 14. It gives the form of Perfection, and the perfection of Form to our Obedience. It perfects all our doing according to the Law; and it perfects all our Believing according to the Gospel. But without this love, our faith is said to be informis, a mere uncouth deformity, in some sense. It is only then formata, a perfect Gal. 5. 6. faith, or perfectly form, when it worketh by love; For it is by works of love, that it is made perfect. Jam. 2. 22. It is very true, that Charitas non est forma fidei, Charity is not P. Mart. in 1 Cor. 13. 3. Charitas non est forma fidei intrins●ca, d●citur forma quatenus per illam actus sidei formatur, & persicitur. Aquin. 2. 2. q. 4. ar. 3. the form of faith: That is, it is not forma fidei constitutiva, but fidei forma consecutiva it is. It is not that Intrinsical form of faith, that gives the very esse, or being of faith unto it; but that extrinsecall form that adds the bene-esse, or well-being to it: For faith may be without it, but not well. Some kinds of faith may be without true Charity; but not a justifying, not a saving faith. There may be an Historical faith without it. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith S. James, The Devils believe. They have an Historical Jam. 2. 19 Mat. 4. 7. 8. 19 Mar. 1. 7. Act. 16. 7. 17. 19 14. Ansel. in. Gal. c. 5. S. Bern. Serm. ad Synod. faith, but they have no Charity. They are Believers by such a faith, and yet are Devils for all they believe by such a faith. Still Devils, and still Believers. And they that have no better faith than this of Devils, (as our Anselmus calls it, with S. Bernard) may perish with unbelievers, and be punished in Hell with Devils, for all their faith. And a Miraculous faith may be without it too; for so the Apostle speaketh of it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and have no charity, 1 Cor. 13. 2. He supposeth here, that the one Totam fidem. Beza. Totan illam fidem. Piscator. might be without the other, that he might have had the whole of that faith of Miracles, that faith to remove Mountains, without true charity. Indeed he speaketh only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, by way of supposition; yet it is asserted generally, that what he did but Chrysost. Basil. Ambrose. Austin. Oecumenius. Leo, etc. Fulk. Downam, etc. S. Chrys. de fide & lege. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. l. 5. storm. suppose, may be indeed. So S. Jerome, and so Gennadius, and divers others amongst the Ancients. So Pet. Mart. with Piscator also, and Diodate, with others amongst the Moderns. But it were a Miracle beyond belief, for a man to have a justifying faith without Charity: for it is the nature of such a faith to be full of the works of Charity. Such a faith, saith S. chrysostom, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, even of itself is full of good works. It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith Clemens Alexandrinus, a doer of that which is good. It is but fides ficta, say the learned of the Schools, a mere counterfeit of faith. But umbra fidei, the shadow of faith, saith Master Calvin. But the dead corpse of faith, saith Peter Martyr. Mortua fides cadaver est fidei. Pet. Mart. 1 Cor. 13. Rom 1. 17. Jam. 2. 17. It is very true, that the just shall live by faith, for so saith Saint Paul; but than it is as true also, that the just man's faith must live by works of love, for faith without works is dead, so saith S. James, Mortua est per se, it is dead when it is by itself alone; And what can a dead faith do? Quod e●●icit tale, illud magis est tale, It must be a living faith in Man, by which a Man must live. He that would live by his own Faith, must give others leave to live by his Charity. A living faith is ever a loving faith, and a loving faith is ever Charitas nunquam o●iosa est, semper in alterum porrigit, vel in proximum, vel in Deum. S. August. Jam. 2. 18. a doing faith. He therefore that says he does believe, and does not show it by his do, do not believe him. Show me thy faith by thy works, and show me thy works with thy faith. He that shows nothing but a faith alone, had as good show nothing, for he showeth nothing that is good. Such a faith does make him nothing in God's account. He that hath no Charity in his Cribbage, must needs be bilked at his last account, for all that faith which he turneth up in his outward Profession of Christianity. Some well-skilled in Heraldry, and in Blazoning of Coat-Armory, Such bearing is to be accounted false Arms, not worthy to be received, except in some special cases. Sir John Ferne. White Shields were accustomed to be bestowed upon Novices in Martial affairs, (such as we call Freshwater Soldiers) to the end they might in future time merit to have them garnished with the titles, and testimonies of their valorous deserts; till such time they were accounted of as inglorious. Guillims' Display of Heraldry, Section 2. have deemed it a dishonour for a man to give a Field without a Charge. The Romans ever deemed it a disgrace for a man to bear an empty Shield, i. e. a Shield without any Pourtraicture on it. And can it be any other than a disgrace in Christian Heraldry, for a great Professor, to bear the empty Shield of Faith, without any charge of Works, or any Pourtraicture of the Grace of Charity on it? It is a shame for Faith to Schismatize from Love. True Faith was never yet a Separatist from Christian Charity. The language of Faith to Charity is like that of Ruth to Naomi, Ruth 1. 16. Where thou livest, I will live, and where thou diest, I will die, and thy God shall be my God. Faith lives but where it loves, and only whilst it loves. Now abide Faith, Hope, Charity, these three, but the greatest of these is Charity, saith the Apostle. Now that is in 1 Cor 13. 13. this life, saith Diodate, and so Primasins, with divers of our Fulke upon the Rhemish Testa. Downhame of Justification. own. Now in this life they abide together, and cannot abide to to be asunder; He that hath one, hath all, and he wanteth all, that wanteth any one. So S. Ambrose, and so S. chrysostom. And according to the measure of the one, such is the measure of both the other. Quantum credimus, tantum amamus, saith S. Gregory; By how Et tantu● speramus. S Gegor. super Ezech. Hom. 22. much we believe, by so much we love, & vice versa, by how much we love, by so much we believe. Where there is a great deal of faith, there is a great deal of love; But where there is but a little love, there is ever but a little faith; And where there is no love, there is no faith. It is our love to God, for his own sake, that makes us to believe that God loves us; and it is our love to others, for God's sake, that maketh others to believe that we love God. It is that belief, that justifyes us in ourselves, and this belief, that justifyes us amongst others. It is Faith that justifies a Man in foro Conscientia, In the judgement of his own Conscience; And it is Charity that testifies the the truth of that justifying Faith unto others, and so justifiies him in foro Mundi, in the judgement of the Word: But it is neither faith, nor Charity; nor faith, and Charity; not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not any gift, or gifts of grace in Man, that justifies Gratiam justificantem, quae est Dei in Christo misericordia, non in nobis, sed in Dco solo collocamus. Whitaker. Tom. pri. lib. 8. Pag. 177. him in foro Caeli, in the Court of Heaven, in the sight of God; But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, That free grace of God in himself towards Man, that first moves him not to impute Man's own unrighteousness, but to impute the Righteousness of Christ unto him. It is the mere Mercy of God that persuades him to justify a sinner; It is Faith that persuades that sinner in his very soul, that he is justified with God, and of him; And it is the Charity of his Works, by the Works of his Charity, that testifies the Truth of that his Faith, and proves it to himself, and others, and persuades them to be confident that he is so justified. Now this Charity it is, that we are here exhorted to follow after. And this Charity we must follow after, totis viribus, with all our mights. The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which says as much, as follow it hard, Phil. 3. 12, 13, 14. and follow it home, follow after it, until ye overtake it. With Xenophon it signifies to prosecute; With Lucian to persecute. It is taken both ways in the Text, by several Expositors. It is S. Chrysost. Theophyl. P. Mart. Wilson Christian Dictionary. Rom. 12. 14. well observed by some to refer two ways in holy Writ; Sometimes to a Person, and sometimes to a Thing. When it refers unto a Person, it is put in the worse part, and signifies to persecute with a desire to hurt him; When it refers unto a Thing, it is put in the better part, and signifies an earnest desire, and endeavour to obtain. Thus S. chrysostom takes it in Rom. 9 30, 31. the Text. And this Exhortatory Text was first Epistolized to the Church of Corinth. All they of that Church were then exhorted thus to follow after Charity; but they of that Church were not all that were thus exhorted to follow after it; for all we, in them, were exhorted also to it. They were not all exhorted then unto it, as Corinthians, but as Christians; and so in them all Christians, as they are Christians, are exhorted to it. Ye Christians then, ye as Christians even all ye, follow after Charity. Ye Christian Magistrates follow after Charity. Ye Christian Ministers Ye Multitudes of Christians First, ye Christian Magistrates, follow after Charity. After Charity towards Ministers, After Charity to Multitudes, that both Multitudes and Ministers may follow after you in Charity. The true Charity of a chief Commander, is a chief Commander of true Charity; Love in a Leader of the Multitude, is a Leader of the Multitude to Love. What a Magistrate does, he commands by doing. When Marcus Julius Philippus became a follower of Christianity, many friends, and servants, and others became his followers in Christianity. There were many Marii in one Caesar, said Silvius in Suetonius; And there Sueton. in vit. Jul. Coes. Aristot. Eth. l. 5. cap. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Nazia. Orat. 20. are many Men, many of the Multitude in one Magistrate. The Magistrate's example is a Law unto the Multitude; Yea the Magistrate himself (saith Aristotle) is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a living Law; a Christian Magistrate should be this Law of Love, and the life of this Law. When they that are Great will do good, it is not to be spoken, what a great good it is that they do. It goes well with all, when God makes good Men to be great, and great Men to be good. They then are good, when they are like to God. And they are then most like to God; when they do most good; And they are ever best liked of him, that are most like unto him. Greatness does well with goodness, and goodness does best with greatness. Be then as good as great; and by your greatness lead the way unto this Christian goodness. By the Christian Charity of your goodness, set the way unto the goodness of this Christian Charity. We are all to follow after Charity; and after you it is, that we must follow after it. In the first place therefore ye Christian Magistrates follow after Charity. 2. In the next place, ye Christian Ministers follow after Charity. After Charity to those within; After Charity to those without. First, to those within, for Charity must begin at home: And so must this Exhortation unto Charity; it must include this Pulpit also to incline us all to Charity. To Charity in our Doctrines. To Charity in our Do. In both to one another. In both to all others. To all Magistrates above. To all Multitudes beneath. The time will not permit my Discourse to single out these severals by themselves; Only in the general, I must tell you, that the Charity we are to follow after, should rather be in ourselves towards others, then in others towards ourselves. Let us then follow the grace of Charity, rather than the gift of Charity; Let the grace of Charity in us towards others lead us, rather than the gifts of Charity by others unto us. Those gifts of Charity to us by others, may hap to lead us wrong; But the grace of Charity in us towards others, may help to lead them right. Let us progue less for the profit of gifts, and pray more for the Gifts of the Prophets; And let not Covetousness make us, to make a prey of Jerusalem, now in her adversity; But let Christian Charity now make us, to make our Psal. 122. 6. Prayers for Jerusalem; and let us labour by all means to make peace in Jerusalem. It is said of holy Athanasius, that he was dissidentibus Magnes, Nazian. Orat. 21. A Load stone to draw dissentients to agreement. Oh that all our Tongues were now such Load stones to contract the Iron hearts of these times to a Christian Monaccord. It is 2 Cor. 5. 19, 20 our calling to Preach peace by Jesus Christ to others: Now let us follow our calling, and preach him in peace amongst Consul Vedelium de prudentia veteris Ecc. lib. 3. cap. 2, 3, 5, 6. Prolegom. cap. 6. ourselves. The love of life should make us study to be quiet; And the life of love should make us quiet, that so we might study: And our study should not be by curiosity to make quarrels, but by Christian Charity to make quiet. When the question was asked, how many Angels might stand upon a needle's point at once? The Answer was, that it was but a needless point to stand upon. Let not us stand upon such needless points of curiosity, to the breach of Christian Charity. A fraction makes an uneven Reckoning in Arithmetic, and he that makes a fraction in the Church, will hardly ever make an even Reckoning with God, when he comes to audite his account unto him. Erostratus would needs do something Carol. Stephan. to be spoken of when he was dead, And what was it, but the firing of Diana's Temple at Ephesus with his own hands? Let us choose rather to be talked of whilst we live, for doing nothing in the Church of England, then to be talked of when we shall be dead, for doing so much evil to the Church, as the making a combustion in it. S. Paul would have us follow after Charity in the Church; let us follow after his example of Charity towards the Church. Never did Pompey the Great, nor Codrus, nor Curtius, nor Brutus, nor Decius, nor Caelius Balbinus, nor any other love their country better, than this Apostle did the Church; for he was content, that his own eternal Phil. 1. 23, 24. good in Heaven should give way for a time, to the Temporal good of the Church. Let not us make the eternal good of the Church give way to our Temporal good in it. Let us follow after Charity in the Church, and let us follow after Charity towards it too. Dives propter pauperem, & pauper propter divitem factus est. S. August. 3. And ye Multitudes follow after Charity. Fellow after Charity in giving to each other. And follow after Charity in forgiving of each other. Ye Rich follow after both these kinds of Charity towards the Poor; And ye Poor follow after both these kinds of Charity towards the Rich. First, ye Rich follow after Charity towards the Poor, the Poor want givers in these Times. Alas for them, these Times are too hard for the Poor. Be not ye that are rich too hard for the Times. Be not Getters from the Poor, when ye should be givers to them; Such Gettings may be great, but they cannot be good. Yet the best, and biggest gains are such as are gotten by the Poor, in such hard Times as these, I say such as are gotten by them, not such as are gotten from them. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Pho●ylid. Phocylides thought it unlawful for the Rich to be Usurers towards the Poor. And yet there can be no Usury more gainful, or more lawful than that, which the Rich may practise towards the Poor. But the way is not by getting from them, but by giving to them: for he that giveth to the Poor dareth Prover. 19 17. to the Lord, and he that dareth to him shall again receive his own with usury. The Lord himself is the poor Man's surety, and he that hath his suretyship is sure. Give then, and it shall be given to Luke 6. 38. you; He that hath given you a Precept for the one, hath given you also a promise of the other. The Poor follow after you for Charity: do ye follow after Charity towards the Poor. And ye Poor follow after Charity towards the Rich: for ye may give to them also. Ye may give good words; ye● may speak charitably of them; ye may pray in Charity for them; ye may bestow the tears of sorrow on them for the hardness of their Hearts, in that they will bestow nothing of Charity on you. And Tears (as saith S. chrysostom) are the best Almsdeeds that can be done; yet such they are as ye may do. Charity is of that which a man hath, and not of that which a Acts 3. 6. man hath not. S. Peter was poor, yet charitable; He had neither Gold nor Silver to give, but such as he had, he gave; He give a blessing in the Name of Christ unto the Cripple. And 1 Tim. 2. 1. such as are as poor as that cripple, may bestow the Charity of their Prayers for a blessing upon the Rich. In some Parishes all must be either Givers or Receivers. In Christ's Church all may be both; All Receivers, All Givers, and all Forgivers too. Ye then, even all ye, follow after Charity in forgiving others, and in forgiving all, even all offenders, and all offences, For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses, saith our Saviour Mat. 6. 14, 15. He freely forgave his mortal enemies, and Luke 23. 34. Acts 7. 60. prayed for their forgiveness. So did the Prot●. Martyr, S. Steven. And so did our famous Cranmer. But most men are Dr. Fox Act Mon. defective in this kind of Charity in these Times. The very Heathen will rise up in judgement with the men of this Generation, and condemn them; for many of them were very ready to forgive offences. The Time would fail me to tell you the stories of Antisthenes, and Plato, and Aristotle, and Aristippus, of Photion, and of Socrates famed by Apollo's Oracle for the wisest man in the World, and of many others, that were easily entreated, yea without any entreaties, that were ready to pass by indignities. When Calvus the Orator, and Catullus the Poet, had inveighed bitterly against Julius Caesar, he freely forgave them once and again. Antigonus, and Alexander, and Augustus Caesar are all renowned to Posterity for their forwardness to forgive offences. Great Tamburlaine was wont to call himself, the wrath of God: But good Titus the Son of Vespasian, was wont to be called by others, the love of men. Amor, et deliciae humani generic. It is better to be a Titus, than a Tamburlaine; more honourable to be kind, then cruel. And many Pagans were more worthy of honour for it, than many Christians. But shall the Law of Nature do more with Heathens, than the Law of Grace can with Christians? Let us also practise this forgiving Charity. Forgiving Charity is most suitable to this Assembly. It maketh most for making Peace, and that's the end of this assembly, as I conjecture. Give me leave to repeat this Exhortation unto those that are especially concerned in the Occasion of this Assembly, and I shall conclude. In the first place, Ye Right Reverend, that are Commissioned for the Seat of Judgement, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, follow after charity. Ye are now in this Court of the Lords house to hear of Charity, and of Mercy; But ye are presently to remove unto that other house of the Lords Court, to do justice, and to denounce judgement. Let this Christian Charity follow your Honours from this Court of the Lords house, unto that house of the Lords Court, that your Honours may follow after Charity there, remembering Mercy in the midst of Judgement. And Ye, that are in Commission for this County 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, follow after Charity. Fellow after it in the County, and follow after it towards the County. Be Plato's Commonwealths men, for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. the Commonwealth. Fellow after Charity towards the Public: & remember, as concerning the Private of any, that Charity does no wrong; It oppresses none; It packs not the heaviest burdens upon the weakest backs. It does not as Authority does sometimes. Now whether it were Authority, rather than Charity, thus to charge this public office of Preaching upon the weakest abilities to discharge it, ye may be Judges: For my part, I will not, may not judge, what it was that did first charge that Public Authority where it is, so full of other Charges. But for this, which concerns my charge, I may say, that it was for a man to Mat. 7. 12. Luke 6. 31. do as he was done to, not as a man would have been done to. But now this Charge is even done, and that with Charity. There are but some few others, to whom I must leave this Exhortation, and so discharge myself. Amongst those others, Ye Jurors, follow after Charity. And first, Ye Jurors of the Great Inquests, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, follow after Charity. Let no private interest be indulged, to the prejudice of the Public; as the trusties of the County, follow after Charity towards it, and show your love unto it. And in private concernments also follow after Charity. Consider well amongst yourselves, whether Charity in an Ignoramus, grounded upon this Exhortation, be not better than Extremity in Billa vera, grounded upon bare presumptions. And Ye Jurors of Life and Death, follow after Charity. I speak not this in favour of the Tacian Heresy, or the Manichean, but in love to true Christianity, which proves its self by all 1 Cor 7. 15. 1 Pet. 3. 11. the parts of Charity, and that tells us, that it is better to save life then to destroy it, when it may be done without injustice. And then Ye Jurors of Nisi Prius, follow after Charity. Your calling to Christianity, and your calling in Christianity, are both to Peace. Your general calling, as Ye are Christians, is to seek peace for yourselves. And your special calling, as ye are Jurors, is to make peace for others. Let that Peace of God Coloss. 3. 15. then rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one Body. It is the business of honest Juries to end differences, and to make peace; and so it is of holy Christians; There is nothing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Jam. 3. 18. more proper to a Christian, saith S. Basil, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, then to pacify Dissentients. The fruit of Righteousness is sown in peace, of them which make peace, saith S. James, And blessed are the Peacemakers, saith our Saviour, for they shall be called the Sons of God, Mat. 5. 9 If they be the Sons of God that make peace, certainly saith, S. Gregory, they are the Sons of the Devil, that mar peace, or that hinder it from making. That ye may be sure to make it, ye must be sure to follow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the things that make for peace; follow Rom. 14. 19 after Charity, that makes for peace, and that, if any thing will make it; follow after it towards Plaintiffs, and follow after it towards Defendants; And ye Plaintiffs, and ye Defendants, leave following of one another in vexatious Suits, and follow after Charity. It was a strange thing to Salvian, in his days, to see One place his greatest Happiness, in the great Unhappiness of an other. Why should it be a thing so common as it is, in these days? The Inhabitants of Japan would needs salute by pulling Hey'yns' Geograp. Oriental Islands. off their Shoes, because that they of China did use to salute by pulling of their Hats. Thus many love to live in opposition; And to be like mere Antipodes, in all their ways, to their next Neighbours. They are easy to be provoked, and hard to be entreated, which is quite contrary to Christian Charity; for Charity is not easily provoked, it suffereth long, 1 Cor. 13. 4, 5. Jam. 3. 17. 1 Cor. 13. 7. and is kind, saith S. Paul; But it is easily entreated, saith S. James. It beareth all things, it endureth all things, saith S. Paul. It envieth not, it seeketh not her own: not usque ad apicem juris; To the utmost punctilio of right; for summum jus summa discordia, says Martin Luther, The extremity of Right, causeth the extremity of Wrangling. Ye Plaintiffs than be persuaded to remit something of right for Charity sake, and for Quiet sake which follows after Charity. And ye Defendants, follow after Charity, and if it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all Men. Rom 12. 18, 19, 21. Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith S. Paul; follow after peace, when the Plaintiff Heb. 12. 14. hath taken it from you, do ye follow after it, until ye have overtaken it, follow after it with the Plaintiff, and follow after it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, even with all Men, and follow after it, with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, if it be possible to overtake it, and follow after it, with a quantum in vobis est, as much as lieth in you to recover it. Be of one mind, and live in peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you. 2 Cor. 13. 11. And Ye, that are Juris periti, ye, that follow the practice of the Laws of this Kingdom, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, follow the practice of this Law of Christ's Kingdom, follow after Charity; follow after it towards your Clients, and follow after it towards their Antagonists. Plead this Law of Christ's Kingdom to them, as well as the Laws of this Kingdom for them. Persuade them to value the Authority of this Law of Christ's Kingdom, by the credit of the Author. The greatest Lawyers, and Lawgivers amongst the Heathen, did ever father their Laws upon the Gods of greatest credit amongst them, that men might give the greater reverence to them. Those Laws which Lycurgus made for the Lacedæmonians Plutar. in vit. ●y●ur. Diodorus S●culus. were fathered upon Apollo; Those Laws which Minos made for the Cretians were fathered upon Jupiter; And those which were made by Anacharsis for the Scythians were fathered Herodot in Melpo●. Ludovi●. Vives in S. Aug. de civ. Dei Plutar. in vit. Num. Po●p. upon Zamolxis; And those that had no Fathers for their Laws did find out Mothers for them. Numa Pompilius that made Laws for the Romans ascribed them to the Goddess Egeria; And Zaleucus that made Laws for the Locrians ascribed them unto Minerva. These Gods and Goddesses had all been Men and Women amongst the Heathens. But the Author of this Law of Love is none other but the great God of Heaven and Earth; The God of Gods, and Lord of all Lords. And it is he himself that urges the practice of it; For his sake men ought to follow it, and in special manner towards himself. That Noble Arimathean, that played the Mat. 27. 57, 58, 59, 60. Sexton's part to engrave our Saviour's Body in a Stone, was one of your profession, a worthy Counsellor; Be ye of his Mark. 15. 43, 46. profession towards Christ. He shown Charity towards the humane Body of Christ, when it was crucified; Do ye show Charity towards the mystical body of Christ, the Church, which is almost crucified. He did his best to take that Body of our Saviour from the Cross, and he did it. Do but ye Luke 23. 53. your best, to take the Cross from this Body of our Saviour, it may be ye may do it; do something towards it. The Law of Charity was from our Saviour; And the Charity of this Law should be chiefly for him; For his sake then follow after Charity. And ye, that undertake for others in their Lawcases, undertake also in this Gospell-case for Christ, be his Attorneyes. He is the Prince of Peace, be ye all for the Peace of this Prince. Be Isaia. 9 6. ye for Christ, that Christ may be for you; Labour to make peace on Earth for your Christian Clients, that Christ as your Advocate, may make peace for you with God in Heaven. Let 1 John 2. 1. no one here of your Profession be a Lachesis, to spin out the thread of controversy, when the Judge would be an Atropos, to cut it off. And when the Judge would be an Oedipus, to untie the knots of doubt between Party and Party; Let no one be a Sphinx, to entangle them more, and more. When the Judge hath put the old, and tired quarrels to their Squatts, let no one start them again, to be hunted from Court to Court. Let nothing Philip. 2. 3. be done through strife, or vain glory. But let all your things be done with Charity. And so let the things of all. 1 Cor. 16. 14. I have done with you; I have done with all. What I say to you, I say to all, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: Fellow after Chrarity. * ⁎ * FINIS. THE CONSUMMATION OF FELICITY. A SERMON PREACHED AT St. PETER'S Church in the City of Norwich, JUNE, 15. 1645. St. Chrysost. Hom. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Chassanaeus Catalogi Gloriae Mundi ter. par. Dabit Deus gloriam omnibus illis, qui moriuntur in statu bonitatis, virtutis, & veritatis, & qui ipsum diligunt, & suam gloriam sperant. LONDON, Printed for R. Royston, at the Angel in Ivy-lane, 1651. TO THE WORSHIPFUL, JOHN HOBART, Esq. The fullness of joy in the presence of God, and pleasures at his right hand, for evermore. SIR, YOur desires intimated by your Proxy, and iterated by yourself, were as they seemed very reasonable, so that an utter denial of them must needs have been, and seemed, most unreasonable; Indeed they were so just, that my devoir could not but be just according to them. This Sermon, which ere while, (such as it is) was publicly presented to your ears, is now (such as it was) represented privately unto your eyes. And surely these are the Organs of a Doctrinal sense as well as those. And your Piety, I hope, will employ them only as such, whilst that my Pen does thus repeat this Sermon to them. My Charity compels me to believe so of them, or otherwise my Pen should never have preached to them; For I confess ingenuously, that I please myself but only in pleasuring you by penning of this uncouth Sermon. Many things delivered viuâ voce, and passing by the Habet nescio quid l●eutis energiae vox viva. S. Hieron. Epist. 36. Ears but once, may pass for tolerable, yea and may be deemed acceptable: But if once they be turned into Dead Letters, and laid forth in Sheets, their life is gone, and it were well for them, if they might Solet acceptior esse Sermo vivus quàm scriptus. S. Bernar. be buried. But alas! then they lie open to more exceptions under a sense more curious, and more critical than that of Hearing, having an advantage to view, and review its object as often as it pleaseth, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, S. Chrysost. Hom. 9 as long at once. It is therefore the Care, and Policy of many, that they may keep the credit which they get amongst their Auditors by Preaching, to keep themselves from penning of their Sermons, lest they lose it by critical Readers. But for my part I Preached this Sermon to many others with yourself, that you, and they might have an higher estimate of the Matter of it than you had, and have now Penned it that you may have a lower estimate of the Manner of it than you have. Indeed I ever intended 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in composing of this Sermon for the Pulpit, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, I never studied, never intended, and therefore cannot but admire, that any in that Auditory should admire it for Technologie. Surely the common abuses of the Pulpit in these Times beneath the Majesty of it, have caused those Sermons to be Christened Neat, which are not too too slovenly. With me to Preach honestly is to Preach elegantly; Yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 differ as much in sense as sound. But call it now even what you please, it is now yours a second time, and by a second way. Denomination is one Privilege belonging to Dominion. S. Chrysost. In cap. 2. Genes. Hom. 14. It was yours when desired by you, being made yours when first delivered over the Cushion to you. There could be no injustice then in your Worship in demanding of your own, but in me there would, had I persisted longer to deny the private use of that unto you, which I so publicly delivered to you to make use of. I could have wished that it might, like the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, have died that very day that it came up, and died mine; But seeing it must be transplanted Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 25. 13. that it may live, I am very glad that it shall live yours, and shall be more glad if this performance proves not so unacceptable, but that some further employment may be commanded him, that by his second endeavours would most willingly prove himself, Sir, Your most humble Servant, EDW. WILLAN. TO THE Worshippfull John Hobart, Esq. SIR, THis Sermon hath been questioned once, and may again be questioned. It hath been questioned by others before now: And now it may be questioned by yourself. You may now question it for being public: But others have thought their questioning of it the more pertinent for being thus long private; For their Question was not about the Matter of it, but the Author. No Tittle in it, that I know of; but the Title to it was in Question. Had it been one of Smyths, or Pembles, one of Heirons, or Wheatelys Sermons, questionless the Questionaries had been so lectured, and preached in it, that they needed not have been so absonous in public, as to my face to Question, whether it were mine own? I can but wonder at the Question: for I never borrowed other men's stilts to hid the lameness of my fantasy before the poorest halting Cripples. I confess, I ever thought it lawful to steal a Sentence in a Sermon; but not so to steal a whole Sermon. Nor was it any One, but many Authors that afforded help unto me in composing this. My Purse was never able as yet to purchase Books enough to make a complete Library: But such Books as I have, I love to read, and such Books as I read, I love to make use of; Yet is it not my use to take all the Principal of any instead of the use. The Prophet David 2 Sam. 24. 24. would not sacrifice unto the God of Israel, of that which cost him nothing. Nor do I use to offer that before the same God unto his people, which cost me nothing but a Groat, or Teston at the Stationer's shop. Such as it is it has been offered once, and again unto the people from the Pulpit; And now, such as it was; it is to be offered to them from the Press, for I cannot but own it every where, and desire your Worship to own the humblest of your servants in it EDWARD WILLAN. REader, the former Epistle was prefixed when these Notes were first desired by Mr. Hobart for his private use. This second Epistle is now affixed also to hint the occasion of my Printing them. THE CONSUMMATION OF FELICITY. PSAL. 16. 12. In thy Presence is the fullness of joy: and at thy right Hand there is pleasure for evermore. THE fairest way (though it be the furthest way) into the City of the Text is thorough the Suburbs of the verse before it. And by that Way we may observe, that Christ's way to Heaven was by the Gates of Hell. In the verse before the Text the Prophet foretells the Bitterness of Christ's Passion; In the Text itself he tells the Blessedness of Christ's Glorification. In that we may behold him in his lowest Humiliation; In this we may behold him in his highest Exaltation. In that we may observe him sustaining the fullness of sorrow in his Father's absence; In this we may observe him regaining the fullness of joy in his Father's Presence. In that we may see how he felt the heavy Hand of God's displeasure for a time; In this we may see how he found the pleasure at Gods right Hand for evermore. And thus in both togerher we may observe how Christ passed by the Cross of ignominy, and the ignominy of the Cross, unto the Crown of Glory, and the Glory of that Crown. Indeed, the whole life of Christ from his Cradle to his Cross Tota Christi vita fuit continua passio. Brent. was nothing but a bearing of the Cross; for no sooner did he begin to cross this troublesome World, but he himself was troubled with a World of crosses, crossed with a World of troubles. But the greatest Cross that ever he suffered in the World was his suffering upon the Cross to save the World. That Cross that did bear Christ was the heaviest Cross that ever Christ did bear. And therefore though his daily sufferings were increased with his Days of suffering; yet the Sufferings of his last Day have caused that Day of his last Sufferings to be Christened his Passion-Day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. For than was his Soul in a very Hell of Sufferings; And then were the very Sufferings of Hell in his Soul. But his Soul was not left in that Hell of Horror; Nor was that Horror of Hell left in his Soul. His Soul and Body too were both right-soone felicified with the fullness of joy in the presence of God, and with pleasure at his right Hand for evermore. Our Lord and Saviour suffered for a time on Earth for us, that we might not suffer for ourselves in Hell for ever. Yea he suffered willingly upon the Cross for our sakes, that we might be willing to suffer under the Cross for his sake; and we must be willing to suffer with him here, or he will never be willing that we should reign with him hereafter. We must take 2 Tim. 2. 12. up our Cross, and follow him, if ever with him we would enjoy Mat. 10. 38. 16. 24. Mark 8. 34. the fullness of joy in the presence of God, and pleasure at his right Hand for evermore. It was his pleasure to begin an Health to us in the bitter cup of sufferings; and we must pledge him in the same cup of sufferings, if we would be sharers with him of the Health. It was his intent, when he took his own Cup off, to have the Health go round, Ye shall indeed drink of the same cup that I drink of, saith he, Mat. 20. 22. And good reason: for why Mat. 10. 24, 25. Luke 6. 40. John 13. 16. 15. 20. should any Servant look to far better than his Lord and Master? It is enough that the Disciple be as his Master, and the Servant as his Lord, saith the Lord our Master. He was the Lily of the Valleys which Solomon sung of; and Song of Sol. 2. 1, 2. as a Lily amongst Thorns he was whilst he grew in this earthly Valley. Encompassed he was with Thorns even all the time he was growing here; yea he was quite covered with them at the last. He was crowned with Thorns; and by wearing of Mat. 27. 29. them was worn up by them. But he wore them only as the Head of the Church. And must not the Body be conformed to Ephes. 5. 23. Isaia. 53. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. the Head? Must not the Church be thorned with tribulations as well as Christ? Yes surely; And every mystical Member of the Church must be conformed to the Body of it: For tribulation is every true Disciples Portion. Christ's Servants must all be sufferers. He that would wait upon our Saviour in the height of Glory must be content to follow him thorough the depth of Misery. The way to Heaven is by weeping Cross. It Acts 14. 12. is through much tribulation, yea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, through many tribulations, that we must pass to the Kingdom of Heaven, if ever we look to enter into it. Temporal sufferings are the Legacies which our Lord bequeathed to all his faithful followers as an annuity unto them. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith he unto them, John 16. 33. In the World you shall have tribulation; For if they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you, saith he, John 15. 20. and therefore marvel not (saith he) though the World hate you; for it hated me first. If ye were of the World, the World would love his own: But because ye are not of the World, but I have chosen you out of the World, therefore the World hateth you, John 15. 19 In this World therefore they that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution, as saith that inspired secretary of the Holy Ghost, St. Paul. 2 Tim. 3. 12. And well may we say with him, 1 Cor. 15. 19 If in this life only we had hope in Christ, we were of all men most miserable. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Miserable are all men in this life; But we, the servants of Christ, were the most miserable of all men, if in this life only we had hope in Christ. It cannot be therefore but there must needs be an other life, and that life must needs be better than this present; for it cannot be that Christ our Lord, the Lord of Life, a righteous Lord, Jerem. 12. 1. should serve them always worst that in all their lives do serve him best; And them ever best that serve him ever worst. It is a Bargain of Gods own making to honour them that honour him. And God will surely make those Bargains good 1 Sam. 2. 30. that are of his own making. Can He say it, and never do John 14. 6. it? Can Truth itself prove false? It cannot be; Never did God suffer any Man to lose by doing for him; Nor was ever any Man lost by suffering for him. He will infallibly save all them that do unfeignedly serve him. Yea truly, they do even serve themselves that do truly serve the Lord. And they do save themselves too most surely that lose themselves for serving him most seriously. Indeed it is a Paradox, yet is it Orthodox indeed; for it is an Oracle from the mouth of Truth itself, Mat. 16. 25. That whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for Christ's sake shall save it. It seems that it is the loss of life to save it, by forsaking Christ the Lord of Life; And that it is the saving of life to lose it for his sake, who is life itself, and the giver of it. He that does not lose Christ with his life, or in it, shall save his life in Christ, and with him; And he that lays down his life for Christ his Saviour's sake, shall take it up again for his own with immortality added to it. Let no Man therefore either think, or say that sufferings are the only Salaries, or the sole rewards that our Saviour Christ vouchsafeth to bestow upon his Soldiers, and upon his Servants: For never did any Soldier bear arms under the commands of a more Noble Captain, or more excellent General; Nor can any man serve a better or more generous Master. The Proto-Martyr was S. Steven. He was the first that ever Dorotheus. warred under the Banner of Christ's Cross to the loss of life. The vanguard was led on by him; and he himself did march in the very front to bid the enemy battle; and was he no way rewarded, think ye? Had he nothing bestowed upon him, but only a volley of stones? Did he lose all salaries Acts 7. 59 with himself? Oh no! Did he not rather win that life which is eternal by losing of his temporal life in that Bed of Honour? And has he not ever since been invested with the Crown of Martyrdom? And has not that been ever deemed As soon as he was ordained (as though he were appointed for this purpose) stoned to death by them that slew the Lord, and for this cause as the first triumphing Martyr of Christ, according to his Name, he beareth a Crown. Eusebius l. 2. 1. Acts 7. 55, 56. a Crown of Glory? Who ever called that first Brigade of holy Martyrs a forlornehope, that was carried on by his Christian Gallantry, and valiant Christianity? Yet it was the first Party that faced the foe, and gave the Onset. Did not the very Heavens open to give Quarter to his Soul, when it was beaten from the littler Garrison of his Body by a charge of stones? They are happy losers that are so beat into Heaven. S. Paul was an other valiant Champion for the Lord of Hosts. He fought with Beasts at Ephesus after the manner of Men, and 1 Cor. 15. 32. Linus Epis. de Passione Pauli. Dorotheus, Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. l. 2. c. 22. overcame them. And was there no reward bestowed upon him for fight his good fight, but only the Roman Axe sharpened with Neronian cruelty? Yes, he knew there was laid up for him a Crown of Righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge would give unto him. Or had Gods humble servant, holy Job, no better wages than a Dunghill, and a Potsherd for serving in such Pains to such Job 2. 7, 8. Poverty with such Patience? Pained he was in his flesh till pined unto skin and bones; And poor he was to a very Proverb; Job. 2. 10. yet patiented to a Miracle; And had he no remuneration? Ye shall find he had, and that a large one too, if ye shall consult the vouchee of his sacred, and authentic story towards the Job 42. 10, 12. conclusion of it. God was as free to him, as he had been faithful to God. Job was not long in Misery, before the Lord did manifest his bounty to him, through the abundant riches of his Mercy. The Crown of Thorns was put upon our Saviour's Head, but was soon pulled off again. And his tender Limbs were fastened to the Cross, but could not be made so fast unto it, but that they were soon loosed from it. The Misery of the Cross was quickly changed into the Majesty of a Crown, And the Pain of the Thorns into the Pleasure of a Throne. The Soul of our Saviour was not left in the Hell of Sufferings; Nor shall the Sufferings of Hell be left in any Soul that is our Saviour's. His Soul was soon translated with His Body unto Bliss, and Acts 1. 9 Glory, and so shall all the Souls and Bodies that belong to him. He hath Coronets of Happiness to Nobilitate the Heads of all his faithful followers. And he hath Palms of Victory to Honestate the Hands of all (I do not say) the Martyred Army of Nobles; But the Noble Army of Martyrs; and hath stoles of Holiness to complete even all the Host of Heaven Cap. asp. The Saints on Earth are all but Viatores, way-faring-Men, wandering Pilgrims fare from home: But the Saints in Heaven are Comprehensores, safely arrived at the end of their journey. All we here present for the present are but mere strangers in the midst of danger, we are losing ourselves, and losing our lives in the Land of the dying: But ere long we may find our lives, and ourselves again in Heaven with the Lord of life, being found of him in the Land of the Living. If when we die we be in the Lord of Life, our souls are sure to be bound up in the bundle of Life, that so when we live again we may be sure to find them in the life of the Lord. Now we have but a dram, but a scruple, but a grain of happiness, to an ounce, to a pound, to a thousand weight of heaviness; Now we have but a drop of joy to an Ocean of sorrow; But a moment of ease to an Age of S. August. l. solil. cap. 35. Pain: But then (as S. Austin very sweetly in his Soliloquies) we shall have endless ease without any pain, true happiness without any heaviness, the greatest measure of felicity without the least of misery, the fullest measure of joy that may be without any mixture of grief. Here therefore (as S. Gregory the Nazianz. in funere patris. Divine adviseth us) let us ease our heaviest loads of sufferings, and sweeten our bitterest cups of sorrows with the continual Meditation, and constant expectation of the fullness of joy in the presence of God, and of the pleasure at his right Hand for evermore. And thus by this vast circumference of the Suburbs, ye may easily guess that this Text is a City of more than one whole days journey. Yet can I make but half one Sabbath-dayes-journey into the Parts, and thorough the Passages of the same. And therefore I cannot stand, as otherwise I should, to show you all the Remarkables in it, I shall only point at the chiefest. When that ancient Pillar of the Church S. Augustine, the Ornament of Hippo, had enlarged his City of God into 22 Books, he then confessed that all that he had written was but stilla de mari, scintilla de f●co; as a drop to the Ocean, or the smallest sparkle to the heap of fire upon the Hearth. What an unequal proportion than must one Sermon needs hold with such a copious subject as this? Ezechiel the Prophet drew forth a lively Portraiture Ezech. 4. 1. of the Earthly Jerusalem within the small compass of a Tile. But this Prophetic Swan of Jordan, this unfabled Muse of Zion, this Hebrew Siren, holy David, a Musical Prophet, a Prophetical Musician, an inspired Songster, the sweet singer of Israel, yea Israel's sweetest Orpheus, hath both sung the Praises, and penned the Portraiture of the Heavenly Jerusalem within the smaller compass of my Text. For this Text is a very true Map of Heaven, though it be a very small one. It is a very full description of that endless, that boundless Kingdom. A very lively representation of that holy Land of Promise, that promised Land of true holiness, whereof the Earthly Canaan was but an Adumbration. That great favourite to the God of Israel, meek spirited Moses, the first Governor of all the Israel of God, before his departure out of this life, which was before the Host of Israel had marched thorough the Wilderness into the promised Land, was vouchsafed Deut. 34. 1, 2, 3, 4. a view of it from the top of Pisga; And that his view of Palestina at that distance was to show unto us, that a spiritual Israelite may sometimes obtain a Pisga sight, or Glimpse of Heaven before his entrance there, or that he hath quite passed thorough the Wilderness of this transitory World. Here therefore, if the Worldly cares of this Earthly Kingdom of England, deemed by many to be a second Palestina, have not wholly possessed your minds, and left no room for any Contemplations of the Kingdom of Heaven, give me leave, for a little time to remove this Earthly Kingdom from your Minds, by removing your Minds from this Earthly Kingdom; And let me carry your souls to the Heaven of joys by bringing the joys of Heaven to your souls. Surely there cannot be a more pleasing way, nor a nearer to bring men's souls to the fullness of joy in the Presence of God, then to bring the fullness of joy in the Presence of God unto men's souls. If there be any Heaven to be enjoyed upon Earth, it is in the Contemplations Speculatio veritatis est ipsa Felicitas. Aristot. l. 10. Ethic. of the joys of Heaven. And they that open their Souls to let the Pleasures of Heaven into them by meditating of them, What do they but open Heaven itself to let in their souls unto those Pleasures? If there be any true Pleasures to be expected in this life of sorrows they must needs be in the constant Expectation of the fullness of joy in the Presence of God, and of the Pleasure at his right Hand for evermore. In thy Presence is the fullness of joy, and at thy right Hand there is, etc. In the Text, upon the first view of the words, we may discoverer two Remarkables; 1 The Consummation of true felicity. 2 Continuation In thy Presence is the fullness of joy, there's the Consummation of true Felicity. And a● thy right Hand there is Pleasure for evermore, there's the Continuation of that true Felicity to all Eternity. First of the Consummation of true Felicity; And if we but review the words as they do discover the same unto us, we may plainly see how true Felicity ascendeth as it were by steps unto its Consummation. The first step is joy. The second fullness of joy. The third the fullness of joy. The fourth the fullness of joy in the Presence of God. The fifth the Present, constant, and incessant Emanation of the fullness of joy in the Presence of God from the Presence of God, In thy Presence is, etc. there it is, not there it was, nor there it may be, nor there it will be, but there it is, there it is without cessation, or intercision, there it always hath been, and is, and must be. It is an assertion ●tern● veritatis, that is always true, it may at any time be said that there it is. In thy presence is the fullness of joy; And herein consists the Consummation of Felicity: For what does any Man here present wish for more than joy? And what measure of joy can any Man wish for more than fullness of joy? And what kind of fullness would any Man wish for rather than thi● fullness, the fullness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉? And where would any Man wish to enjoy this fullness of joy rather than in the presence of God, which is the ever-flowing, and the overflowing Fountain of joy? And when would any Man wish for this enjoyment of the fullness of joy in the very Fountain of joy rather then presently, constantly, and incessantly? Now all these desirables are encircled within the compass of the first Remarkable to make up the Consummation of true Felicity. In thy Presence is the fullness of joy. The second Remarkable was the Continuation of true Felicity to all Eternity, In these words, At thy right Hand there is pleasure for evermore; ● And if we bestow a serious Review upon these words, we may find these four Considerables in them, which are as so many Retainers to true Felicity. The first is Pleasure, which is indeed the second self of Heaven's Happiness. The second is a Variety of Pleasures, as it is in our last, and best translation, Pleasures, in the Plural Number. Delectatio●●s, so St. Jerome, Jocunditates, so Montanus, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, so the Original; All plurals. And this Plurality, or Variety of Pleasures must needs add much pleasure to every one of all those Pleasures whereof there is Variety. The third is the Height of all those several Pleasures; D●lectationes in dextrâ tuâ, Pleasures at thy right Hand, i. e. Pleasures at the height, for that's the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the apex, the very Commencement, or accomplishment of the highest Degree of Pleasure. The fourth is the Length of all those Pleasures at that height, for evermore. Now what can be thought of to be added more? Can any Degree of Pleasure be higher, then that at God's right Hand? Or can any pleasures be more lasting than those that are for everlasting, or lasting for evermore? What c●● any Man wish for more? Can any man desire any more than to enjoy as complete a fullness of joy as it is possible for any to desire to enjoy, and to enjoy that fullness of joy as long as it is possible for any Man to desire to enjoy it? Now this Text asserteth, and ascertaineth all this to be in the Heavenly presence of God, In thy Presence is the fullness, etc. There is pleasure; so the former translation. There are pleasures; so the latter. The latter is the better, but both are best together. We may observe them both to speak that fully, which either of both speaketh truly. Here on Earth Men seem sometimes to take great pleasure in things, that neither are true pleasures in themselves, nor have true pleasure in them; And they have true pleasures sometimes offered to them, and they take no pleasure in them. But in the presence of God there are true pleasures, and there is true pleasure in them to the enjoyers of them. True pleasures in themselves they are, and so shall be for evermore. And they are true pleasures also unto those that have them, and unto them they shall for evermore be so. The longest Duration of them shall not diminish their Delectation in them; pleasures at the height they are, and shall be in themselves. And there shall be the Height of pleasure in them to those that shall enjoy them for evermore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at thy right Hand, Phrasis Metaphorica, It is a figurative expression; A phrase borrowed (as I suppose) from that fashion amongst Men whereby they show their Respects unto those of place and dignity; for by giving the right Hand is signified the giving of Honour to them. But God is a Spirit, as our Saviour telleth us, John 4. 24. And a Spirit hath no such hands as Man hath; A Spirit hath neither a left hand, nor yet a right. Here therefore the word must not be understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, after the Manner of Men. Indeed it is spoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Schools are wont to speak, ad captum nostrum, to our humane apprehension. But it must be understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in a Diviner sense, as spoken of God. That caveat therefore with which S. John concludes his first Epistle may here be very opportune, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, little Children beware, and beware of that here whereof he warns you there, beware of Idols. There were some Heretics of old, which were called Anthr●p●morphites, as Theodoret stories it of them, because they Theodor. l. 4. cap. 10. Faber Stapulen. in canon adversus Hareticos & H●reses. ascribed an humane shape to God himself. And they did so think of God, because the Scriptures do make frequent mentions of the Eyes, and Ears, of the Face and Mouth, of the Heart and Bowels, of the Back parts, and Feet, of the Arms and Hands of the Almighty. And when some ignorant People read, or hear such Expressions in the Scriptures they may soon set up an Idol in their Heads, or in their Hearts. A Man may sooner fancy an Idol than he can fashion one. His head can work a great deal faster than his hands to make a Representation of God. The Text ascribeth an hand to God, and with a distinction, a right hand; yet may we not think that God hath an Humane Shape, or Bodily Parts. Nullis S. August lib. de essentia Divinitat. See Rogers upon the first of the 39 Articles of Religion. membrorum lineamentis compositus est, saith S. Austin, He is without all kinds of composition. He is neither Physically, nor yet Metaphysically compounded. In Deo nihil est, quod non est Deus. There is nothing in God which is not God himself, so the Schools. He is ens primum, the first Being; And those are but figurative speeches saith S. Austin, that ascribe either Parts or Passions to God Almighty. And by the right hand of God in the Mystical Dialect of the Holy Ghost divers things are signified. Sometimes the Power of God; and sometimes the excellent Works of God wrought by that power, so Eucher. Intellig. spiritualis formul●. Eucherius, and so S. Austin too. Again sometimes by the right Hand of God is meant the incarnate Son of God, by whom he doth whatsoever he pleaseth in the World; and sometimes by the right Hand of God is meant that height of Nominal and of Real Honour, which the incarnate Son of Vid. Barth. Chassa●ae. Catalogue. Glor. Mund. 3. par. God, as he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God-man, hath received in his Father's Presence; as also that height of Glory, which the Adopted Sons of God shall all receive in the same blessefull presence, so Dionysius Carthusianus, and Bruno, and so S. Austin Ad locum. and Nicholaus de Lyra, and divers others; Sessio Christi ad dextram Dei, The sitting of Christ at God's right Hand, doth Ad locum. signify his eternal settlement in that height of Majesty, and Glory, and Dominion which our Saviour is invested with in Wendol. Divin. Thes. Perkins upon the Creed. P. Ramus in Symb. Heaven; So that holy David here speaketh not only in nomine Domini, In the Name of Christ our Lord; But in Persona Christi too, in the Person of Christ. And doth fore speak the fullest Measure of joy, and the highest Degree of Pleasure that can be, In thy presence is the fullness of joy, and at thy right Hand there are pleasures for evermore. And thus this Review of the Words hath found out three Considerables, namely: First, The Fountain of Felicity, the Presence of God; In thy Cum vultu tuo: S Hieron. Cum faciebus tuis: Ari. Montan. In Deo est gloria, & ipse est gloria: Chassanaeus in tertia parte catalogi gloriae mundi. Presence. Secondly, The Felicity of the Fountain, the fullness of joy; In thy Presence is the fullness of joy. Thirdly, The Consistents of Felicity in that Fountain, which we may very fitly call the integrals, and Dimensions of it. 1 ●he Breadth of it. 2 Height 3 Length First, the Breadth, in the Extensions of it both to Joy, and Pleasure: Yea, to Joys and Pleasures, for both are plurals in the holy Language. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secondly, the Height of it, at God's right Hand. Thirdly, the Length of it, for evermore, In thy Presence is, etc. It would require no less than Eternity itself fully to set forth the fullness of joy in the Presence of God, according to these Acquiri quidem potest, aestimari non potest. S. Zeged in. loc. Commun. Dimensions of it. But alas! My time doth shorten apace, and I fear your Patience does so too; I shall therefore, as briefly as I can, lay open this Fountain of Felicity unto you. And my way to do it shall be by moving and removing these two Queries. 1. What Presence of God it is in which there is the fullness of joy? 2. What it is that causeth the fullness of joy in that Presence of God? There is a twofold Presence of God, a General Presence, and a Special Presence. First, there is a General Presence; The Eyes of the Lord are in every place; beholding the evil, and the good, saith the Wiseman, Prov. 15. 3. And the Lord himself is in all places as well as his allseeing Eyes; Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or Whither shall I flee from thy Prescence? saith the Psalmist. If I ascend up to Heaven, thou art there; If I make my Bed in Hell, behold thou art there; If I take the wings of the Morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the Sea, even there shall thine hand lead me, and thy right Hand shall hold me, Psal. 139. 7, 8, 9, 10. Cujus non est Deus? saith S. Augustine; Who may not call God his? And whom may not God call his? God indeed hath Being in himself, and of himself; Yea, he himself is Being itself; so that all Being is from him Fontalitèr, in him Formalitèr, by him Causalitèr, to him Finalitèr; for of him, and through him, and to him are all things, Rom. 11. 36. Other things have all their Martin. Metaphys. Verum e●t dicere de quavis creatura, quod quamdiu est, creature à Deo. Durand Manutenentiâ divinâ conservantur. Deus est ubique essentia, sed non suo tam singulari favore quo in Judaea, sic etiam dicitur esse ubique, sed habitaro in sanctis. Pet. Baron in Jonam Praelect. 7. Being's by participation. And the Universal Presence of his uncreated Being does continually create their Being's; for his conserving of them constantly, is a creating of them continually. His being present at all times, in all places, does give being to all men, and to all things; Do not I fill Heaven, and Earth? saith the Lord, Jerem. 23. 24. Both are filled with his Presence; But not both alike. Nor is he alike in all the places of the Earth. He is present with those that are in joyful Prosperity, and so he is with those in sorrowful Adversity: But not alike with both, not so with these as he is with those. His being present with both doth give being unto both, but not true joy, much less the fullness of joy. It must be his special Presence that must do that, and that special Presence of his is twofold. 1. Gracious. 2. Glorious. The Militant Saints enjoy the first; The Saints Triumphant enjoy the second. Those have the Presence of his Grace; and the Grace of his See Dr. Donnes 3. Sermon on the Nativity, upon, Gal 4. 4. Presence, filling them as full of joy as their estate Militant does render them capable in this valley of Tears. But alas! their greatest measure of joy here must needs fall short of the fullness of joy. But these have the Presence of his Glory, and the glory of that Presence, glorifying of them to the fullness of joy, and gracing of them with the Perfection of all Glory, and the glory of all Perfection. The Inchoation of glory is here in the Kingdom of grace; And the Consummation of grace is there in the Kingdom of glory. Grace is the beginning of glory, and glory the perfection of grace. The joy of the Saints begins with their glory, and the glory of the Saints is the fullness of their joy. No joy without glory, and no glory without grace. The Temple of Honour, and the Temple of Virtue ● ivi. lib. 27. Plutarch. in vit. Marcelli. V●ler. Max. l. 1. c. 1. Rosin. Antiquit. Roman l. 2. 18. Gloria virtutem sequitur, ut corpus umbra. Beroaldus in Tusculan. Qu●st. were so situated at Rome of old, that no man could enter the Temple of Honour unless he passed thorough the Temple of Virtue, to signify unto the Romans that the way to Honour was only by Virtue. In like manner, the Kingdom of Grace, and the Kingdom of Glory are so Ordered, that no Man can enter into the kingdom of glory, but first he must pass thorough the kingdom of grace. By grace man comes to glory; And by glory to the fullness of Joy. When the Lord of glory shall appear to us in Mat. 13. 43. Felix qui potuit boni fontem visere lucidum. Boetius de consolat. Philosoph. lib. 3. Met. 12. Quanta erit selicitas? ubi nullum erit malum, null● deerit bonum? S. August. l. 22. de Civit. Dei Equidem beatos existimo, qui ●int in bonis nullo adjuncto malo, Cicero, l 5. Tusc. Quaest. glory, and make us appear in glory to himself, and cause that glory of the Lord to appear in us amongst the glorious Saints and Angels in Heaven, then, (saith S. Jerome) and not till then, shall we enjoy the fullness of Joy; It is his glorious presence only that affords the fullness of joy; And this fullness of joy consisteth in two things. 1. In the Absence of all detestable things. 2. In the Presence of all delectable things. In a perfect freedom from all evil things; And in a perfect freedom in all good things. First, a perfect freedom from all evil things. Now evil things are of two sorts. 1. Sinful. 2. Sorrowful. Mala turpia, and Mala tristia; as the Moralists call them, or Mala culpae, and Mala paenae, as the School Divines and others. Evils of Sin: And evils of suffering for sin. These evils are both amongst Men on Earth, but both are excluded from amongst the Saints in Heaven, there is neither wickedness, nor yet wretchedness amongst them. Those that enjoy the glorious presence of God can neither meet with wickedness, nor be met with by any wretchedness; They can neither find the evil of sin, nor can they be found by the evil of sufferings; But shall be for ever freed from both. First, they shall for ever be free from sin; free from the condemning power, and free from the commanding power of it; free from all guilt of sin, and free from every Act of sin. There is a freedom in the glorious presence of God both à peccato regnante, from sin reigning, and à peccato habitante too, from sin dwelling. In this present World sin reigneth over the worst, and remaineth in the best: But in Heaven there is neither any dominion of sin, nor dwelling for sin. There is an absolute Immunity from all sin, and from all occasions of it, and temptations to it. And as there is a freedom from all sin; so from all suffering for sin; All Tears are there wiped quite away from all Revel. 7. 17. 21. 4. eyes. They that enjoy the glorious presence of God shall weep no more, unless it be for joy, that they shall weep no more for grief. All cause of grief is fare removed from Non est ibi mors, non est ibi luctus, non est ibi lassitudo, non est infirmitas, non est same's, milla sitis, nullus aestus, nulla corruptio, nulla indigentia, u●lla maestitia, nulla tristitia. A●gust lib. 3. de Symbol. that presence. They that enjoy it enjoy with it an absolute enfranchisment from all encumbrances, and inconveniences. They are free from want; And free from War. And free from death; And free from Devils. They are free from want; They can want nothing there, unless it be want itself. They may find the want of evil, but never feel the evil of want. Evil is but the want of good, and the want of evil is but the absence of want. God is good, and no want of good can be in God. What want then can be endured in that presence of God, where no evil is, but all good that the fullness of joy may be enjoyed? Here some Men eat their meat without any hunger, whilst others hunger without any meat to eat; And some Men drink extremely without any thirst, whilst others thirst extremely without any drink: But in the glorious presence of God not any one can be pampered with too much, nor any one be pined with too little. They that gather much of the Heavenly Manna have nothing ●ver: And they that gather little have no lack. They that are once possessed of that presence of God are so possessed with it, that they can never feel the misery of thirst or hunger. And as they are free from want, so are they free from wars, with all the mischiefs that are concomitant, and all the miseries that are consequent. The Kingdom of glory can never be turned into an Aceldama; The field of Blood, Mat. 27. 8. John 6. 70, 71. Mat. 26. 15. Mat. 26. 3, 4. 27. 1. Numb. 16. 1, 2, 3. No foreign enemy can invade it; Nor home bred enemy infest the happiness of it; No bedevilled Judas can come there to betray his Lord and Master, the King of Kings, for half a Crown. Nor can any Jewish Elders assemble there to condemn him, or conspire against him. Moses and Aaron shall never be confronted there by any gainsaying Corahs', or mutinous abiram's, or complying Dathans, or any of their confederates; and good King David shall there be free from the 2 Sam. 15. 2, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12. 16. 5, 6, 7, 23. pride of all ambitious Absalon's, from the presumption of all seditious Shebas, and from the wicked counsels of all contriving Achitophel's. No cursing Shimeiss, Nor railing Rabshakehs shall come there to belch infectious gorges forth, to poison the Hearts of any subjects in that Kingdom of glory, to confound the glory of that Kingdom into an Anarchy. No Polupragmaticall Machiavelians, Nor crafty Boutefewes, shall interrupt that Kingdom's endless peace. No bold Sejanus can insinuate into that glorious Presence to corrupt it. No malcontented Catiline can lurk there, either to traduce the glorious Majesty of the King of Kings, or to seduce inferior Officers. Nor is there any Warlike Ammunition Magazined there. No Civil Warrings can destroy that glorious Kingdom, nor can any factious jarrings deface that glorious Church. No New-fangled Athenians, nor Schismatical Corinthians can disturb the unity, or destroy the uniformity of that Church. No overmastering Pope, nor under-mining Jesuit; No New-Church-making Familist, nor No-Church-making Atheist, can gain such favour, or get such footing there, as to eject the settled Saints, and work the ruin of all that Church. No ravenous Wolves in Sheep's clothing can creep by any Posterns gates into that fold to flea or fleece the flock, and mistake feeding on them, for feeding of them. That ancient Hierarchy of Archippus Angels, and Angels, and other Ministering spirits can never be deemed so superstitious as to demerit an utter Extirpation. The Militant Church may be infested with some of these destructive Pests at all times, and with all of them at some times; But the Church Triumphant is at all times freed from all these. Nothing that worketh any abomination can come there, and therefore every thing that tendeth towards the grand Abomination of Desolation must needs be for ever exiled thence. The glory of all there must last for ever; And all in that glory must live for ever. Being free from sin, they shall be free from Death; from Death spiritual in it, from Death temporal by it, and from Death eternal for it. That presence of the Everliving God doth set them free from all for ever. Here we begin to die so soon as we begin to live; All here are borne to die, and many are but borne, and die. Nascentes morimur, finisque ab origine pendet; Being born we die, as saith Manilius, & the last of our days does pend upon the first. Our Death does hang about us from our Birth. We all are bound towards the Womb of ourgreat grandmother the Earth, so soon as we be loosed from our Mother's Womb. He that is borne to day is borne to die, and is not sure to live an other day: But in the glorious presence of God, there is no dying, they that are there are sure to live for ever, free from the sting of Death, and from the stroke; free from all tendencies unto Death, and from all fears of dying. When the Natural Body of a Saint comes there, it does become a spiritual Body; It is there spiritualised in the manner of subsistence, though not in the Nature of the substance. It is still a Body, though it be spiritual, and it is said to be spiritual, saith S. Augustine, because it there lives the life of a spirit. For first, like a spirit, there it liveth without any hunger, without any thirst, without feeling pinching cold, or parching heat. It needs no meat, it needs no drink, it needs no summer's stuff, nor winter's cloth. Again, it liveth like a spirit there, free from sickness, free from Aches, free from all sorts of Diseases; It cannot be distempered into a Fever, nor dissolved into a Flux, nor corrupted into Ulcers. Again, like a spirit it liveth there without decaying by living long. No time can dim the Eyes, or dull the Ears, or lame the Legs, or feeble the Hands, or cripple the Feet, or crook the Back, or furrow the Face, or disfigure the feature. Though it lives Mathusalems' age a thousand times over, yet it never grows crazy, or decrepit, or Shrinks into a Skeleton. And lastly, like a spirit, it is immortal, Death can have no more Dominion over it. This life it but the shadow of that; 〈◊〉. Suig●i. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Psal. This is but a dying Life, a kind of living Death, but that is vera non interitura vita; A Life indeed never to end in Death, as Victorinus Strigelius very truly. Now tell me, who would not gladly live in such a privileged place, where that boldest Sergeant, Death, cannot come to arrest? such is the Sanctuary of God's glorious Presence. A Liberty indeed, free from all kinds of Death, and free from unkind Devils too; from Devil's infernal, and Devils incarnate ●ullus ibi Diaboli metus, nullae in●idi● daemonum, Terror gebennae procul. Mors neque corporis neque animae sed immortalitatis munere uterque solutus, S. Chrysost. de reparatione lapsi. too. No evil Angels can ascend from the bottomless pit into that presence to tempt any there to sin. Nor hellish furies to torment for sinning in times past. No Devil of the lower Hell, nor any of this wicked World above it, can find any entrance thither. There is indeed free quarter for Saints, but none for Sinners; The free Men of that City, and all the Denizens of that Kingdom, are always freed from all unwellcome troublesome intruders. The spirit of Debate and Strife can never thrust the Devil's mysterious cloven foot into that presence, to set Divisions, to cause distractions, to bring Seditionum popularium author est Diabolus, Vedelius de pruden. veter. Ecc. lib. 1. c. 2. destruction. No carnal pride can ever beget fond fashionists in the streets of that most holy City; Nor spiritual Pride breed up fantastical factionists in the Houses. No hideous Blasphemies, nor filthy obscenities, nor thumping Oaths, nor hellish curse, nor peevish censurings, are used by any in that presence; All profane, and blackmouthed Monsters of Men are exiled for ever from that Society of Saints; And so are all insinuating Sycophants, and false hearted Pharisees. The Devil is never more mischievous, then when he is most cunningly transformed into an Angel of Light. There is 2 Cor. 11. 14. none to the white Devil for malignant Devillismes. The Honour of the Gospel hath ever been more impeached by sinful Professors then by professed sinners. And therefore he who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Searcher of Hearts, will never suffer Revel. 2. 2●. any to come into his presence, that practice impiety under the pretence of Piety. That grand Devillisme of Hypocrisy can never deceive the Allseeing Eyes of God Omniscient; No malignant designs can there be advanced by the seems of Religion. There are none but those that are truly religious. Glory of the Times. pag. 207. None but such as are, as Ephrem Syrus desired to be, That are indeed, as they are in seem, and are in seem even as they should. It is one degree of Happiness for a Man to be himself even as he should be; But an other, a greater, to be with none but such as he is himself. How happy then are they that can converse with none but those that are truly good? And are truly good like those they converse with? Who then can choose but wish the enjoyment of that Presence of God, where none but such have entertainment? Who would not be there for ever, were there no greater good to be found then this, that no kind of evil can there be found? No evil company; No evil by company; No company of evil; No Devils, nor bedevilled Men; No tempters, No tormentors, nor any other infernals; No Devils incarnate either white or black; No kind of Death, either temporal, or eternal; No kind of Wars, No kind of woes, No kind of sufferings, No kind of Sinne. Happy surely are the people that be in such case. Yet let me tell you, that it is not the absence of evil alone that can make a Man truly and fully happy; It may cause some joy, but not the fullness of joy till the affluence of all good things be enjoyed with it. Now in the glorious Presence of God, there is not only the absence of all evil, but the presence of all good; A perfect freedom from all evil. There is abundantia cumulatissima, saith Master Calvin, A In locum. full abundance, or an abundant fullness of all delectables. Omne genus jucunditatis, omne laetitiarum genus, saith he, there are all kinds of joys, all sorts of Pleasures. There are profitable pleasures, and pleasurable profits. Things inconsistent here are all coincident there. Those Gifts that go not here together, are all united there. Those comforts which are divided here in several Streams, do meet all there as in their fountain, or rather in the Ocean. No one here may ever look to enjoy all good things; but all there do ever so. There are the precious Merchandise of all Cities: for that's the City of all precious Merchandise. There are the true delights of all Countries: for that's the true Country of all delights. There are all the real Honours of the Court, that can never be lost; And that's the right Court of Honour, that can never be put down. There are all the true pleasures of Paradise: for that's the true Paradise of all pleasures. What does any of your souls take most delight in? What do you most of all desire? There may you have it in the fullest measure, and there enjoy it in the finest manner. Do you desire, or delight in Gold? Or precious Stones? Or costly Gems? or stately Palaces? There's a City of pure Divitiae si diliguntur, ibi serventur, ubi perire non possunt. Honour si diligi tur, illic habcatur, ubi nemo i dignus honoretur, etc. S. August. Sup. Johan. Gold, clear as Crystal, walled, and gated, and garnished with jasper's, and Saphires, and all sots of Pearls, and precious Stones, as S. John describes it, Revel. 21. 18, 19 Or do you delight in glorious Triumphs, and pompous shows? There are Triumphs Everlasting. And the Glory of all Nations shall flow into that City in triumphant manner, as saith Saint John, Revel. 21. 26. Or do you delight (as Massinissa did, and Dioclesian too) in curious Gardens? In fruitful Orchards? In healthful walks? In pleasant fountains? There is the Celestial Paradise, wherein a Man, had he an hundred times as many Eyes as Argus, might employ them all at once with various Curiosities, transcendent rarities. All those admired Gardens of Adonis, and Alcinous, of Po, and Tantalus, and the Hesperides, could never boast (no not in any fiction of the Poets) of such a living fountain as that which floweth in the middle of this Garden of Heaven, and affords the water of life. Nor yet of such a Tree, as that of life, which bears twelve kinds of fruit, and brings forth every month, as S. John writeth of it Revel. 22. 1, 2. Or do you delight in, and desire Peace? There can you never want it. That new Jerusalem is the true Jerusalem, the blessefull vision of Peace. A City at Peace, and Unity in itself. There endless Triumphs of Peace are solemnised by all the Citizens. That's the place of peace. There's the Prince of peace, the Author of peace, the maker, the Creator of it. There's the full enjoyment of that mother-Blessing and all other blessings with it. The true God of peace is there, and the true peace of God which passeth all understanding. And do you desire Truth with Peace. There are both together. The God of Peace is the God of Truth; And the truth of God is there revealed fully: The true worship of the most holy God is there established, and the true God is worshipped there in the beauty of holiness. Or do you delight in the melody of consort Music? There are soul-ravishing Anthems chanted, and warbled by the sweetest of all the Heavenly Choir in that mother Church, that Glorious Temple Christ's Church Triumphant. There are Choreall Doxologies Echoed forth by all sorts of Celestial Songsters in Harmonious Diapasons. Hosanna in the highest is here the highest strain that we can reach in any of the songs of Zion: But in that Glorious presence of God, every saint can rear his hallelujah above our Ela without hoarsing of his voice. Or do you delight in Ease and rest from wearisome labours? Hoc accepimus ab antiquis, Beatitudinis quictom sociam essc. Jul. Caesar Scal. de subtilit. exercit. 358. There the true Christian Sabbath is kept holy; Whereof our Sunday Sabbath is but an Adumbration, or preparatory Euc. Jerusalem below hath six Days for working for one sabbath Day for rest: But Jerusalem above is free to sanctify an endless sabbath from all sin, and from all servile labour. Or do you delight in mirthful feasts and palate-pleasing Banquets? There the Marriage supper of the Lamb is celebrat with wine of gladness. It was no small favour, which our Gracious Saviour once vouchsafed to the Twelve, when as he sent both Peter and John to make ready the guest-Chamber Luk. 22. 8, 11. (which was an upper room in the holy City) that he might eat his last supper with them all: But it is a fare greater favour which he shown to them all with many others, in going himself in person to prepare a place, an upper room in the holy City of John 14. 2, 3. Heaven for them. A Guest Chamber furnished well indeed, where they and we may Eat our last and everlasting supper with him. A supper it may right well be call indeed; for after that we shall need no following Meal, but may lay us down in peace, and take our rest for ever, and for ever. Or do you delight in the presence of great personages? There is the Mighty, and Almighty Monarch of Heaven and Earth, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords; And there is his Second self, his only begotten son, the son of his love, in whom he is well pleased, his Right-hand favourite, his Christ, our Lord and jesus in the height of his Honour, invested with power to unlock the Exchequer of his father's richest favours with the key of his Eternal merits; and to deal them forth at his own good pleasurer amongst his servants, and such as have been followers of his Grace. It was a great Honour, which that Lord of all men paramount did freely bestow upon S. Paul in creating of him Doctor of the Gentiles, and in appointing of him to be as his Attorney General to follow his business for him; and to defend the right of his Cause in all the Courts of the Gentiles, even to the utmost parts of the Earth: Yet this Great Deputy, this Chieftain of trusties, accounted all the Honour of his Trust, but a cipher, or a shadow in comparing it with that of the Saints in the presence of God. When he had once but seen the glory of his Master Christ at the right hand of God, and the felicity of his fellow Servants in that Glorious presence, he sighed out the residue of his days with panting desires to be dissolved, and to be with Christ; deeming it to be best of all, to be with him who is all in all, for Christ is the Salvation of all Souls there, and the very soul of all their Salvations. The Happiness of all their lives, and the very life of all their Happiness. The Crown of all their Glory, and the Glory of all their Crowns. Their Every-thing, their All in all. And what can men wish for more than all? Can there be any desirable above this All in all? And if to all this, to this all, this All in all, you wish for Courteous fellow servants in your following Intuere coetum non solum ex hominibus, sed ex Angelis, atque Arch-Angelis, Thronis, & Dominationibus, principibus, ac potestatibus convocatum. De Rege a●tem qui borum medius residet dicere vox nulla sufficiet. Effuget omnem Sermonem, atque omnem sensum humanae mentis excedit decus illud, illa pulchritudo, illa virtus, illa gloria, illa magnisicentia. S. Chrysoft. de repara lapsi. of that Court, you may be sure to have your wishes; for there are none but such, none that are not truly courteous. There are none so ill as the best of us. There are no meaner fellow-waiters than Cherubs, and Seraphs, than Principalities, and Powers, then Arch Angels, and Angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect. But do we all intent that Court indeed? Do we seek for places of preferment there? Then let us learn and understand the fashions of that Court, let us observe the Manners and Demeaners of all sorts of Courtiers there, before we presume to thrust into that Presence-Chamber, lest we be thrust back, when we presume to enter, for want of Courtship, and good manners. There every one loves all very truly, and all as truly every one. They know one an other perfectly, and therefore love one an other so; For quanto notiores tanto cariores, saith S. Augustine; By how much the clearer light they have into each others breasts, by so much the dearer love they have unto each other in their own. When the Lady Italica vailed her saddest self in Cypress for the loss of her second self, S. S. Aug. Epist. 6 Augustine told her in Consolatory Letters to her, that she should enjoy the sight of him again in the fullness of joy, and then should love him better than she did, or could do here, because she should know him better. Here men's heads are not filled with certainties, and therefore Cum ●nim ad illam lucem Patris luminum veniemus, nihil in creaturis erit quod nesciamus. Erit & perfecta invicem agnitio. Zegedin. de aeternâ beatitud. their Hearts are often filled with Jealousies; And Jealousies are wont to nullify Affections, and multiply Dissensions: But in the Court and Kingdom of Heaven, there is not any one, but hath a certainty of every one's sincerity; and therefore no affections there are lessened by suspicions. There every one does unfeignedly love every one, for that he does infallibly know himself to be unfeignedly beloved of every one. There are no false Hearts, no false Faces, no dissemblers in that Court or Kingdom. They are all real there in all their tendryes of Courtesies. O the happiness of all in that society! Which of us would not willingly be there, amongst so many thousands that would sincerely love us, and should be as sincerely beloved of us? Not one can there be found to hate us, or to be hated by us. The Favourites in that Court are never divided into factions; Nor are there any factious Subjects in that whole Kingdom. There are no Envyings, no Emulations, they that are best beloved by the King of Glory, are beloved best by all the Court, and all the Kingdom too. The greater love and favour that any one receiveth from that King, the greater is the outward joy, and inward gladness of all the fellow Courtiers, and fellow-Subjects. The Joy and Happiness of any one in that presence is a Joy and Happiness to every one. There every one does cordially rejoice with every one that does rejoice; And that with so much the greater joy, by how much the greater cause any other has for to rejoice. How exceeding great then must the rejoicing be of each Saint triumphant, when as the number of triumphing Saints is so exceedingly great, and the joy of any one does add unto the joy of every one? They all there love themselves as they ought to do, And they love each other as themselves; And therefore do they all triumph at an others honour as at their own. They bear true loyalty to the Giver of Honours there, and they bear true Charity to all Receivers; And therefore do they mutually congratulate one an other in their Honours, without any secret repining, or any close combining to undo, or undermine any special Favourite. When but one penitent Sinner enters the Externall Court of Heaven, the Church Militant, the glorious Saints and Angels do rejoice in Heaven for it; There is joy in Heaven, saith our Saviour, ever one sinner that repenteth, Luke 15. 7. What joy then is there in Heaven think ye, when that penitent with thousands more come all into the inward Court of Heaven, the Church triumphant, where they shall be passed all fears of julianizing or back sliding? We read indeed of an Host of Angels, that sung a Christmas Caroll from the windows of Heaven, when Christ was borne into the World, to restore mankind unto God's love, and favour; But who ever heard so much as one good Angel, or heard of any one that rejoiced at the fall of any Man, or any Angel? they all are fare from seeking to dishonour or disgrace any Favourite in that Court, or any fellow Subject in that Kingdom. But ready they are to rejoice when any exiles are recalled home, or any Aliens received into Grace and Favour. There are none that are not willing to let that Ocean of Honour and Glory flow which way it pleaseth, and how fare it pleaseth; There are none that seek to obstruct any streams of Honour derived from that Fountain. Not one that desires to lessen the greater Channels, because that more is streamed into them, then into smaller Rivulets. Nor are there any Patentees of Favours in that Presence; None that would monopolise the whole Felicity of that Glorious Presence to themselves. There is no Haman there, not one S●janus. There are no Courtiers that are puffed up with Pride, for those Honours that are conferred on them already by the King of Glory; Nor any that ambitiously desire to climb higher than they are. Nulla honoris, aut potestatis ambitio pulsat, saith Saint Austin. No aspiring minds are there, to progue for higher places of Command and Honour than they have. Every Courtier there is a consort free for any, hateful to none, hurtful to as few, but helpful unto all. The lowest there is not despised by the highest; Nor the highest spited by the lowest. The highest Ambition there is, who shall be most lowly of all; And the greatest Emulation is, who shall be most lowly of all; And the greatest Emulation is, who shall be most loving unto all. They never grow weary of one another's Company. They sue not there for Writ● of Election. Nor do they there petition for any new Elections. They arrest not one another there for Actions of the Case, or Trespass. There are no Quarrels, no Distractions through hateful Scrambling about meum, and tuum, for the Titular Proprieties of mine, and thine, or I know not whose, till all Propriety be lost. All things there are done with liking unto all, they have all one will, all one mind, all one desire, one delight; Their love is one, they live as one. And what's the Cause of all this love, the Cause of all this joy in the presence of God? It is nothing else but the presence of God. He that is one in himself and amongst them all, does make them all to be as one in him and amongst themselves. The true love of God in them all doth make them all to be as one in that true God of love. Great joy there is in the sweet society of the Saints in Gods glorious presence, by reason of that sweet society in his presence. But the fullness of joy amongst them in that presence is that presence amongst them. Heaven were no Heaven were not his Glorious presence there; And Hell were not Hell were but his Glory present there. This valley of Tears may be a Paradise, or as a third Heaven to S. Paul, if God vouchsafes a Revelation 2 Cor. 12. 2, 4. of his glorious presence to him here. God's glorious presence maketh Heaven. It giveth Happiness. Happy are all they, yea thrice happy, and for ever happy, that enjoy it. They that are without God, or out of him, can never be in the fullness of joy, nor have the fullness of joy in themselves. They must be in him, and he in them, before they can be full of joy. But when he, in whom all fullness dwells, doth dwell in them, and they with him, when they are full of him, who is both joy itself, and fullness itself, then do they enjoy the fullness of joy, and not till then. O blessefull sight! it is the beatifical vision, videre deum in seipso, videre in nobis, & nos in co, faelici jucunditate, jucundâ faelicitate, saith S. Bernard. S. Bern. Meditat. cap. 4. Hug. Card. In loc. Ipse est finis omnium d●sideriorum, qui sine fine videbitur, fine fatigatione laudabitur. S. Aug. de Civitate Dei. l. 22. Infinitatemununquodque ens appetit. Jul. Caes. Scal. de subtle. When we shall see God in himself, and see him in ourselves, and ourselves in him, then shall we be filled with blissful joy, and joyful bliss, fully happy. The fullness of joy consists in impletione desideriorum, saith Hugo Cardinalis, in the fullfilling the desires of the Soul. And there is nothing that can fill them full but God himself. Good is the object of all desires; And infinite are the desires of all Souls, so that nothing can fit any Souls desires but that which is good, nor any thing fill the desires of any Soul, but that which is infinite. And therefore nothing can cause true joy in the soul, or cause the joy of the soul to be full, but the infinite goodness of God's glorious presence. There is nothing good indeed but God, nor any goodness infinite In loc. but his. And his is so, he is bonum infinitum, summum bonum, saith Nichol. de Lyra. The Chiefest Good, infinitely good. They In loc. that are filled with the goodness of his presence seek no further for felicity, Nihil amplius est quod desiderari queat, saith Jacobus Perez de Valentia; There is nothing more to be desired. In him they have all that can be desired. Till all our souls enjoy that infinite goodness of God's glorious presence, which is all in all, or all in every one, and yet but one in all, they will always be coveting those good things which others have, and they have not, rather than Contenting of themselves with those good things they have, and others have not. But when they shall enjoy that blissful presence, they shall not wish for any thing else. That presence is to every soul that does enjoy it, what ever good it does desire to Erit omne bonum & non erit aliquod malum: erit quicquid voles, non erit quicquid-noles. S. August Soliloqu. enjoy. It is the fullness and perfection of all good Every soul shall be best contented with that very good it draweth from that presence, because that presence affords to every soul that very good wherewith it shall be best contented. Every Soul shall there enjoy an infinite Happiness, because it shall enjoy an infinite Goodness. And it shall be for ever enjoyed, without disliking of it, or losing of it, or lacking any of it. Every soul shall enjoy as much good Quicquid enim amabile aderit, nec desiderabitur quod non aderit. S. Zegedin. loc. Commun. In caelesti beatitudine veraciter sine sine gaudium est, sine aliquo taedio manens aeternitas, & inspectio sola divinitatis efficia ut beatius nil esse possit. Cassio. epist. lib. 2. in that presence, by the presence of that good, as it shall be able to receive or to desire to receive. As much as shall make it fully happy. Every one shall be filled so proportionably full; And every desire in any soul shall be fulfiled so perfectly in that presence of glory, with the glory of that presence, that no one shall ever wish for any more, or ever be weary of that it has, or be willing to change it for any other. Indeed the fullness of any evil is an evil fullness, for it ever causeth weariness, and bringeth wish of exchanges: But the fullness of joy in the presence of God, does never create any weariness, nor any beginnings of discontentedness. There is a fullness unto loathing, And there is a fullness unto liking. A fullness that causeth dislike; And a fullness that causeth delight. The lustful desires of any sinners are quickly satiate unto nothing. But the longing desires of every saint in the presence of God are for ever satisfied unto liking, and delight. All the desires of the Saints, and Angels, in the presence of God, are satisfied by their enjoying of his presence, yet are they never satisfied with the enjoying of his presence, as Dionysius Carthusianus very wittily. They are always satisfied Dionys. Carthu. de quat. hom. Nou. Art. 65. Quid enim aliud est Dei Opt. Max. cognitio, atque amor ex ea, quam inexplebilis appetitus ad haer●ndi illius infinitati. Jul. Caes. Scalig. de subtle. with it according to their own desires, and always have desires to be satisfied with it as they are: They ever enjoy it, without any loathing of it, and they desire ever to enjoy it, without any languishing of it. Indeed they can never be wearied with having of it; but you by this time may with hearing of it. It is better by fare to have it, then hear of it. This discourse about the fullness of joy in the presence of God, and the pleasures of his right hand for evermore, may not be like them here, it may not be for evermore. The Course of all those pleasures may not, cannot be cut off; but this discourse about them may, and must. Yet here lest all this long contexture should unravel at this end by being thus cut off; I cannot but presume to turn it in, and make an hem, or overcast it at the least, that you may make some further uses of it. And in the first place, because there is the fullness of joy in the presence of God, and pleasure at his right hand for evermore; therefore let us deem it rightly as it is, a mere madness in any man to dote upon these empty Shadows of Earthly joys, and these vanishing Seems of worldly pleasure which are but for the present. None but the merest Natural lack-wits will prefer a worthless pebble to a matchless Pearl. And surely they can be no other but mere Naturals which postpone the fullness or joy in the glorious presence of God, and the pleasures at his right hand for evermore unto the joys and pleasures of this present world. He that swops away Heaven for Earth makes a worse bargain for himself, than Glaucus made with Diomedes when he exchanged. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, As the Prince of poets Homer. Iliad writes it, Golden weapons for weapons of brass; Arms worth an hundred Oxen fit for Sacrifices, for Arms not worth more than nine. What are the Joys, and pleasures of his present world, unto the fullness of joy in the presence of God, and the pleasures at Gods right hand for evermore? Alas they are all as nothing. How firm and fair so ever they are in seem, yet indeed they are but like the Joseph. de Bell. Judaic. lib. 5. Apples (which Josephus writes of) near unto the lake Asphaltites, which perish if they be but touched. I have seen a witty fancy portrayed on a Table, where Justice was Seated holding a pair of Scales to weigh the Religions of the Protestants, and of the Papists one against the other. The Protestants put nothing but verbum dei scriptum, the written word of God into the Scale; But the Papists add, and heap their Trentals and all their decretals, the Papal Chair, and the Triple Crown, their Beads and all their Bead-rolls of Tradition, Their Holy-waterpots, and all their Magazines of holy relics, with all their Trinkets, Trash, and Trumpery into their Scale, and under neath their scale that grande Impostor, the Devil, is portrayed hanging, and adding all the weight he can unto that fide, yet all will not do, all cannot counterpoise the weight and worth of the written word of God alone. And should we take the Balance of the Sanctuary, and put the joys and pleasures of this present World into one Scale, and the joys of Heaven or the fullness of joy in the presence of God, and the pleasures at his right hand for evermore, into the other, and weigh them one against the other, we should find all worldly joys and pleasures to be but as the dust Isaiah 40. 15. Psal. 62. 9 of the Balance, yea, lighter than vanity itself. Solomon was as wise as any Man of this World, yet could 1 Kings 4. 29. 30. Eccles. 2. he never find out any real joys, or pleasures in this World. Only by his wisdom he could find, that there are none here to be found; let not us be so unwise then, as to seek them here, where Solomon himself could never find them. He could not find them under the sun, let us then seek above it S. Chrys. Hom. 151 for them. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith S. Chrysostom, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, let us not let our thoughts fall downwards to the Earth, but fly to Heaven upwards. Let us seek those things Colos. 3. 1. which are above. Let us seek the fullness of joy in the presence of God, and the pleasures at his right hand for evermore. And in the second place, because there is the fullness of joy in the presence of God, and pleasure, etc. Therefore let us seriously consider, what they lose, that are excluded, and exiled from that glorious presence of God for ever. Alas for them! their loss is beyond expression & beyond imagination. No mortal man can either fathom the depth, or measure the greatness of their miseries, that are for ever deprived of that felicity. The miseries of this world are a world of miseries, yet are they all as nothing to the miseries of hell; for hell is nothing else but miseries; And the miseries of hell are either in poena damni, or in poena sensus, In the punishment of Loss, or in the punishment of Sense, or rather in both; The loss of all pleasures, and the sense of all pains together do meet in hell, and make it to be hell; And the least part of that punishment that is in hell is very great, but the other grievous beyond comparison. The last is thought the least; The punishment of Sense is less than that of Loss. Denominatio sumitur à principaliori, The chiefest Godfather does use to name the child, and the principal part of the punishment does name the whole. It is not called Sensation from poena sensus, but Damnation from poena damni; to intimate unto us, that the loss of all the happiness in heaven is a greater unhappiness, than all the wretchedness besides. There may be many now in Hell enduring exquisite tortures, that would gladly have them doubled for ten thousand years, upon condition, then to enjoy the fullness of joy in the presence of God, and the refreshing pleasures at his right hand for evermore. But alas ● It must not be. When once the righteous Judge hath said, Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire, that their accursed Psal. 7. 12. Math. 25. 41. departure must be for ever, as well as their extremest tortures in that fire. Men must beware before then, and that we may take heed in time, let us take it into our saddest thoughts, or rather let us think it far above all humane apprehension, rightly to think what it is to lose the fullness of joy in the presence of God, and the pleasures at his right hand for evermore. And in the third place, because there is the fullness of joy in the presence of God, and pleasures at his right hand for evermore, therefore let us use our best endeavours, that we may get into that presence. Summo labore summum bonum assequi necesse est, saith Lactan Institut. Divin. lib. 3. Maximum ens est maximu● bonum. Pau. Ferrius in Scholas. Orthodoxi specimine. c. 3. Cum forma Dei sit sua bonitas, r●linquitur ut cum Deus v●lt omnia propter se, vel ut quando agit propter se, ideo agat ut res bonitati suae assimulentur. Idem Ibid. Nostros migrantes non amisimus, sed praemisimus. S. August. Epist. ad Italicam. Lactantius. The greatest pains must be employed to obtain the greatest pleasure. Let us place our Summum bonum where of right we should, let us place our happiness in that presence, and let all our aims, all our desires, all our endeavours be to enter into it. Let the enjoyment of that presence be the ultimate end of all our wishes, and let us all be willing to purchase it at any rate. The price of it is, what the good man is, not what the great man has. God asks not goods, but goodness for it. He that hath so much of godliness or goodness in him as to give himself to God for it, shall not for ever go without it. Let us bestow ourselves and service upon the God of Heaven, that he may bestow the happiness of Heaven upon us. And in the fourth place, because there is the fullness of joy in the presence of God, and pleasure at his right hand for evermore, therefore let us never be cast down with Heaviness, when any of our dearest friends are lifted up with joy at that happiness, why should their fullness of joy fill us with grief? If ye loved me, ye would rejoice because I said, I go unto the Father, said our Saviour Christ to his Disciples, John 14. 28. as much as to say, that the felicity of a friend should make us to be merry, rather than to mourn. And in the fift place, because there is the fullness of joy, etc. Nam cum te aeque ac me diligam necesse, est ut summum bonu● assequi, te tanquam me alalterum cupian. Bucherius in Epist. Paraeneric. ad Valerian cognatum suum. 1 Kings 19 4. Let us never be unwilling to lay down this life of Sorrows ourselves for the taking up of that of joys. It is no great Happiness to live long here, nor great unhappiness to departed ere long from hence. Only they are happy in some measure here, that have lived long enough to die so well, that they may live in happiness for ever after death. This present life is no such desirable thing, but any man may find sufficient cause to make him willing with Elias to have it taken from him. When the Patriarch Jacob had lived here as long, and full as well as any here, and it may be longer than most, and better than any, he cast up his account by the help of his best Arithmetic, and found that the total sum would amount to no more than the short Bill of a few evil Days. Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been said he to Pharaoh, Gen. 47. 9 And which of all us here might not give in the same Reckoning if we would but audit our lives? The Summa Totalis of jacob's life was very small, so small indeed, that he thought it meetest to multiply the same by days. The Inches of Days are the fittest measures for the Hand-breadth of humane life. The length of Psal. 39 5. humane life is but one span, and every day does shorten that little length at least an Inch. jacob's life was but of Days, and the Days of jacob's life were in all but few; And all those few Days of jacob's life were evil, as he said himself, few and evil have Gen. 47. 9 they been. And whose life may not be measured by days as well as jacob's? And whose days of life are not few, as few as jacob's? Whose life of Days is not short, as short as his? And whose few Days of life are not all evil, as evil as jacob's? Who can look upon them and not say truly, few and evil have thy been? But are all our days evil? Why then do we all complain, that they are few? Are not a few evil Days enough? Will any wise man wish for many evil Days? And again, are all our evil Days but few? why do we then complain, that they are evil? Who may not bear with a few evil Days, that expects an Eternity of good Days, when these few evil Days are ended? In the last place therefore, if we do believe the Truth in the words of the Text, if we be persuaded, that there is the fullness of joy in the presence of God, and pleasure at his right hand for evermore, then let us never reckon any sufferings to be too many, or too great, or too long to be endured, for the obtaining of those joys and pleasures that shall endure for ever. But let us reckon with S. Paul, that the sufferings of this Rom. 8. 18. present world are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. Indeed no affliction seemeth joyous for the Heb. 12. 11. time, but grievous; And no time in affliction seemeth short, but tedious; unless with Paul we be persuaded, that our light 2 Cor. 4. 17. affliction lasting but a moment, shall work for us a fare more exceeding, and eternal weight of glory. The Lord does make the bitterness of this life of sorrows to seem the more embittered to his servants, that the sweetness of the life of joys may seem the sweeter to them when they come to the enjoyment of it. Yet that the bitterest sorrows of this life may be the better relished, the sweetest joys of life are promised to them that in their sorrows wait for joys with patience. And to persuade to patience in the midst of sorrows, we must observe them to be common. What Militant Saint did ever bear the Ensign of a Mortal life, without some Cross, or Crosselet in it? Who could ever blazon the Escocheon of his Militancy, or Mortality, and not find the Field of his life to be charged with Crosses Gules, or Crosses Sable? The first Adam could not; nor could the second. And who indeed can wish for the heaven of happiness, or the happiness of heaven here, where the King of heaven went through an hell of miseries? There can be no greater unhappiness Nihil infelicius co, cui nihil unquam evenit adversi. Seneca Fortuna quem nimium fovet, stultum facit. Prov. 1. 32. Vexatio dat intellectum. in this life, than never in this life to have unhappiness. Perpetual prosperity does make a fool; so says one that was no fool. And Prosperity perpetual does mar a fool; so says another, and he the wisest of wise men. Prosperity may sometimes fool a wise man unto folly; and Adversity may sometimes tutor a fool to wisdom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Many instructions are taught by afflictions; God sendeth Crosses in stead of Blessings unto those he hateth, but he often blesseth those with crosses which he loveth. It is well for them Psal. 119. 67. 71 that they are afflicted. It is very true that Oppression makes the wise man mad; for so says the wise man himself in his Book of the Preacher, Eccles. 7. 7. And it is as true if we Preach it, that oppression makes some mad men wise. But who is willing to be Schooled by so cursed a Pedagogue? But volenter nolenter, whether men will or no it must sometimes be so, and better so then worse for ever. Too much it is for one man to enjoy two Heavens; And as great pity it is that any one should endure two Hells. And therefore I may truly say, that God of his goodness, and his wisdom, hath appointed one of each for every man. There is not only an Heaven or an Hell for any one, but an Heaven and an Hell for every one. This present world is both, but unto several Men; It is the Sinners Heaven, but Hell it is unto the Saints on Earth. The sinful worldling takes his pleasure here, he hath all his happiness here that he is ever like to have; here are all his joys, and all his hopes of joy; He wishes for no other Heaven; he looks not after any other. He thinketh not of that to be enjoyed hereafter. Here would he live for ever if he might; But alas! It may not be. This world must not last always; and though it might, yet might not his life in it; his life is but of few days, It soon must have an end. What wise man than would wish to live his best life first, seeing that it must so soon be lost? Who would wish to have his heaven here, where he can stay but a few days? Yea where he cannot assure himself to stay one day, or hour? Again this present world is a kind of Hell to others, or in stead of Hell unto them; It is a Place of Trouble, a Place of Suffering. But their stay here is short. Now who would not rather endure the Hell of a few day's miseries here, and enjoy the Heaven of Eternal happiness hereafter, then enjoy the Heaven of a few day's pleasure here, and endure the Eternal miseries of Hell hereafter? Temporal Pleasures are dearly bought with the loss of Eternal; And temporal sufferings are well requited with eternal Pleasures. That is a miserable happiness that must end in such miseries as must never end; And those are happy miseries that shall soon end in endless happiness. This life is but a journey towards Death, and but a short one; And Death is yet a shorter passage to a longer, and a better life. Indeed no Mortal Pilgrim can be weary of the longest journey of life, if by the way he does but well remember the endless joys that he shall enjoy at his journey's end. But yet the shorter that his journey be, the sooner shall he be at home possessed of those joys. And who would wish a long and tedious journey to himself to keep him long from the enjoyment of them? That life of joys is worth the wishing, that shall never have an End; And that End of life is full as worthy of our wishes, that shall begin the Joys of that endless life. And that end Theophra. must be ere long; for Vita brevis, life is short. Man that is borne of a woman is but of a few days, and full of trouble, saith holy Job. Job 14. 1. He is of few days, that he may not live too long in trouble; And his days are full of trouble, that he may not long for more of them then a few. Man's days are full of trouble, that a few may serve his turn and make him weary of them; And his days of trouble are but few, that he may not be too much wearied with them. It is man's great Misery, that his few days are full of trouble; And it is Gods great Mercy, that man's days of trouble are but few: for if the Days of Man's life be full of trouble, it is well for Man, that his life of trouble is not full of Days. It is ill for Man that the troubles of his few days are so many; And it is well for Man that his days of trouble are so few. The few days of Man's life are full of trouble, that Man may daily be minded of his duty in seeking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. S. Chrysost. Hom. 6. Corcydas. for another life, better than this present; And Man's Days of Trouble are but few, that Man may not be wearied so as to leave seeking for that other life before that this doth leave him. Then let the Miseries which accompany Mortality wean us from all fondness towards this life present; And let the felicity of life eternal win us to long after that. The thoughts of the Elysian happiness did so encourage a poor Grecian, a mere Pagan, at the instant of his death, that he rejoiced much to think of going to Pythagoras, and other learned Philosophers; to Olympus, and other skilful Musicians; to Hecataeus, and other Hecataeus Misesius Historicus celeberrimus. Volateran. Anthropol. Homeri duo fuerunt. Volateran. Anthropol. l. 17. approved Historiographers; to Homer the Prince of Poets, and other famous Wits that were his followers. That Poetical Paradise, the Elysian Field, could make a Pagan give his longum vale to this present world with notable resolution: And shall not the real pleasures of the Celestial Paradise, the fullness of joy in the glorious presence of God, encourage a Christian at his death to departed as comfortably as a faithless Grecian? Why should Fantasy in a Heathen be more powerful, than Faith in a Christian? Is not that company as good, which we believe to be in the glorious presence of God, as that which he imagined to be in Elysio Campo? And are not the joys as many and as great? Why then should not every true Believer cheer up himself at his departure by thinking of his going to S. Peter, S. Paul, S. James, S. John, and to all that glorious Company of Apostles in that presence of God? And of his going to Elias, and Elisha, and Isaiah, and Ezechiel, and to Daniel, and all that goodly fellowship of the Prophets? And of his going to S. Steven the Proto-Martyr, and to Ignatius, and to Justinus, and to our Cranmer, and our Ridly, and our Hooper, and our Tailor, and all that Noble Army of Martyrs? And of his going to that Reverend Patriarch Abraham, the Father of the faithful, and to Isaac, and to Jacob, and to all the holy Patriarches in the Kingdom of God? And of his going to the holy Angels and Arch-Angels, and Thrones, and Powers, and Principalities, and to the Spirits of all just Men made perfect? Who can think of Hebr. 12. 23. being thus transported, and not be transported with the very thought of it? Surely it must needs be a very Consolatory Viaticum to the soul of a dying Christian to think of exchanging Earth for Heaven, and the sordid Company of Sinners for the sweet society of Saints. Who can think of Reigning with holy David, and good Quae dementia est amare pressuras & poenas, & lacrymas mundi? S. Cypr. the Mortal. Egredere anima m●a. S. Hieron. in vit. Hilar. Luke 2. 29. 30. Octogenarius ille ceci●it ●lor. Draxel. Zodiac. Christian. Josias, and with Christ Jesus himself in his Kingdom of Glory, and still desire to be subject to his own corruptions, and the corruptions of others? He that thinks upon the fullness of joy in the presence of God, and the pleasures at his right Hand for evermore, can never wonder that old Hilarion should entreat his own soul to be packing thither. When Swan like Simeon had but seen his Saviour in his state of Humiliation, he could not choose but sing his nunc Dimittis, Lord now lettest thou thy servant departed in peace according to thy word. When his Saviour and ours was come into this World, and he had taken him into his Arms, he desired leave then of the Lord to take his leave of the World, that so he might leave his soul in the Arms of his Saviour. And they that have seen their Saviour by the eye of Faith, as now he is to be seen in his state of Exaltation, and have embraced him in Augu. de Civit. Dei. l. 19 Psal. 39 12. Et ideo ●anquam peregrinus ad illam Sanctorum omnium patriam ●estinabat. S. Ambros. de ●on. Mort. the Arms of their afffections, can never be unwilling to departed in peace, that with the God of Peace, and Prince of Peace, they may have peace in life eternal, and eternal life in peace, as S. Augustine turns it very wittily. Are we not all Pilgrims here? and are we not almost lost in dangerous ways, and desperate Times? Who then can choose but wish himself at home? Caelum Patria, Christus via, & vita nostra deambulacrum, Heaven is our Home, Christ is our Way thither, and this life is our Walk; Our Home is pleasant, our Way perfect, but our Walk painful; Yet there is a necessity of our Walk, and there is Adversity in our Way, But there is Felicity at our Home. We are all here upon our Walk, And we all have heard of our only Way, and who does not John 14. 6. Heb. 10. 20. wish with all his heart that he were at home? I'll speak even all your Errands in a word, and send you homeward. Remember whither ye are going, and stay not by the way, for fear it be too late ere ye get home. Remember your Way, and stray not from it, for fear ye lose yourselves, and never come near home; But be sure to keep your Way, and be content to travel hard, and ye may be sure ere long ye shall reach home, and receive a welcome home by all the Saints in Glory, and a Crown of Glory by Christ our Saviour, and the fullness of joy in the Presence of God, and pleasures at his right Hand for evermore Amen, Amen. * ⁎ * FINIS. A SERMON OF THE WORLD'S VANITY AND THE SOULS' EXCELLENCY. Preached in the Cathedral Church of Saint Paul, in the forenoon, Octob. 9 1642. By Edw. Willan M. A. C. C. C. in Ca Homer. Iliad. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. LONDON Printed for RICHARD ROYSTON at the Angel in Ivy-lane 1651. TO The Worshipful Robert Style Esquire, his ever honoured Patron. AND To the Right Worshipful Robert Aylet Dr. of Law, and one of the Masters of the CHANCERY. Gentlemen, THis Sermon was appointed for the Cross; But I hope, there is no cross appointed for this Sermon. It came not at the Cross when it was preached; And I hope, no cross shall come at that when it is printed. It took sanctuary in the Choir, and so was delivered to an extraordinary multitude of Hearers. But i● now requires another kind of sanctuary, to be delivered from the multitude of ordinary Censurers. Your kinder countenances may prove such a sanctuary to it. It is a Sermon of Merchant-Adventurers; and it hath made me a Venturer, though no Merchant. And in this Paper-bottome I have made a twofold Adventure. The first is of this Tendry of Respect and Service to your Worships, for the gaining of your favours, for the Protection of the other. And that other is not an adventure of a Soul for the gaining of the World; but of a Sermon, about the World and the Soul, (into the World,) for the gaining of Souls. And your joint favours (as I conjecture) may prove a very safe Convoy to it thorough the World. Caeptis aspirate. It was the one of your good Worships which called it then unto the Pulpit, or caused it to be called thither: And it is the other that hath now called it unto the Press, or occasioned the Printing of it. And now, whose shall I call it? It might sometimes have been called mine: But it hath been miscalled, I know not whose. I remember well, I heard the Character of a Sermon (from a young Practitioner) so like unto it, that I might justly challenge it. I must confess the Title to it is not worth a quarrel; yet there may be right in a Penny as well as in a Pound. And the Poet Virgil would not lose his Title to a Distichon, by his perpetual silence. His Distichon was such as he might very well own: And therefore, when he saw that Augustus did approve it, and that Bathyllus (tacentibus aliis) did asselfe the praises of it, he did inscribe his lines again, which were these, Nocte pluit tota, redeunt spectacula mane: Ti. Claud. Do●at. de vita. P. Virgilii Maronis. Divisum imperium cum Jove Caesar habet. And then subscribed this claim unto them: Hos ego versiculos feci: tulit alter honores. Sic vos non vobis nidificat is aves. Sic vos non vobis vellera fertis oves. Sic vos non vobis mellificat is apes. Sic vos non vobis fertis aratra boves. I shall spare the Youngman's name: I would not have him to be as Bathyllus was, Romae fabula. But I have presumed to set both your Names before my Sermon, because I know it hath been had before both your Worships. Be pleased with it from the Press, as well as from the Pulpit; And let me call it Yours: And call me, Gentlemen, Your Worship's most Humble Servant Edward Willan. Of the World's Vanity, and the Souls Excellency. Matt. 16. 26. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole World, and lose his own Soul? Or, what shall a man give in exchange for his Soul? THe Coral, and the Crystal, are accounted precious stones, by skilful Lapidaries; And therefore, it is neither a fault nor yet a folly, for such as find them in their Travels to stoop down and take them up: Yet are they but minus pretiosi, of an inferior worth with the chief Philosophers; And therefore, it would not only be a folly but a fault too, for any Traveller to turmoil himself in gathering of an heavy burden of these together; and in the mean time to neglect, or, for their sakes to reject a richer booty of Jasper-stones, or Saphir-stones, or of Amethysts, or the like. We are all Travellers wand'ring through the wilderness of this transitory World, towards that City of pure Gold, ●●er as Crystal, the foundations of whose Walls are garnished with Berils, with Emeralds, with Chrysolites, and all manner of precious stones, as St. John describes that new Jerusalem, Revel. 21. Now in this our Pilgrimage we meet with Marbles, and we meet with Jacincts; with less pretious-stones, and with more precious Gems. I mean, the less worthy blessings of Gods lefthand, the more worthy blessings of Gods right-hand, Gen. 1. 29. 28, 29. 30, 31. Earthly Treasures, and Heavenly Treasures: And lawful it is to gather the meaner of these Treasures together, and to use the meanest of them: For God, who made them all, did make them good, and for the good of man it was, that he made them so. God made this present World for man, but man himself for another to come, fare better than this present; And man does fool himself extremely, when he sells the reversion of that to come for ever, for this present, which is but for the present. That other is without compare: this but a very nothing to it. Let no man therefore overvalue this, or postpone that unto it. Let every man be ware, that in stooping down to take up Earthly Things, he does not let fall Heavenly: Or, that for the gaining of this base World of drossy Earth, he doth not lose the refined substance of his most precious Soul: For, What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole World, and lose his own Soul? Or, what shall a man give in exchange for his Soul? The most Emphatical words in this Text are Metaphorical: For borrowed they are, either from that richer way of Merchandizing by Wholesale; or, from that poorer way of Peddling by Retail. I must needs follow the Metaphor in my discourse, and the rather because it is in this Place, A place Londinium senate Navale, vel Vrbs navium, etc. Vrbes plurimae à navibus nomina tulerunt: uti Naupactus, Naustathmos, Nauplia, etc. Sed ex his nulla meliori jure Navalis nomen sibi assumere possit, quam Londinium nostrum. Tamasi adposita, qui placidissimus rerum in orbe nascentium Mercator, statis horis Oceani aestibus superbus, alveo tuto, praealto, & navium quamlibet magnarum capacissimo, tantas Orientis, & Occidentis opes quotidie in vehit, ut cum Orbis Christiani Emporiis de secunda palma hodie contendat, etc. Camden in Brit. de Middlesex. of Commerce. The very Metropolis of this Kingdom, the chiefest place of Merchandise; and the place of the chiefest Merchants and other Traders, that labour to gain this present World, by the several ways of chaffering for it. Here therefore give me leave to deal with you in some of your own terms, that so I may trade the Commodity of this Text of Trading with the greater profit to you. In the Text there are two Questions proponed to you. The first in these Words. What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? The second in these, What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? The first seems to relate to your Trading by way of Commerce. The second, to your trading by way of Merchandizing Exchange. In both together, there are two Considerables, 1. The Mystery of Worldly Merchandise. 2. Misery by The first, in the first question; The second, in the second: Yea both may be observed in either of both. I shall discourse Ostenditur & quam inutile sit lucrum vitae temporalis im●totius mundi cum perditione animae, & quam irreparabile sit damnum perditionis animae. Jasen in come. in concor. of both, as they are both discovered in the first question, which refers to Trading by way of Commerce, In these words; What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own soul? In which words we may observe these Four particulars, I. A Merchant. II. His Wares. III. The Merchandise itself. iv The Balance of Trade. First, the Merchant, Man: What is a man profited? Secondly, the Wares, and they are of two sorts. The 1. Imported. The 2. Exported. The Ware imported; the whole World. The Ware exported; his own Soul. Concerning the first, two Circumstances are considerable. 1. A Variety. 2. A Monopoly. The Variety; the World. The Monopoly, the whole World. Concerning the second, three Circumstances are remarkable; 1. The Quality or Nature. 2. The Quantity, or Number. 3. The Propriety, or Relation. For Nature or Quality, it is a Man's Soul; For Number or Quantity, it is his One soul, his only soul, in the singular number; For Relation or Propriety, it is his own soul. And lose his own soul. Thirdly, the Merchandise itself, or the Negotiating o● the Trade, which is notably set forth unto us by a strange Paradox, of gaining, and losing by the same bargain; y●● of gaining the whole World, and losing by the bargain. gain the whole world, and lose his own soul. Fourthly, The Balance of Trade, which in the Dialect of Merchants, is nothing else but an exact Computation, o● the casting up of a just Account, thereby to know what i● S'r Ralph Madd●son, in his England's looking in and out. lost, or gained by the Merchandise. What is a man profited? as much as to say, Balance the Trade, compute the worth of the Ware exported, with that of the Ware imported, and then tell me, What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? These Minutes of the Text shall be the Measures of my Time, and your Patience. First of the Merchant, Man. What is a man profited? By ● man here, our Saviour meaneth any man whatever: He speaketh here not only of such as compass Sea and Land to gather the Riches of this World together, as Ferdinandus Magellanes did, Ferdin. Mag●llan. Portuga. rei nauticae peritissimus, impetrata class 5 navinm à Caesare, an. Dom. 1519. 10 die August. ex Hispali solvit, Canar●as adit, ab iis rectè Brasiliam navigavit. Navis ejus à sociis in Hispaniam ducitur, 6 Septem. 1524. Haec prima suit Navigatio. Drake Id. Decemb. 1577. ex Anglia solvit, toto terrarum orbe circumnavigato, domum redit 4 Kal. Octob. 1580. Tho. Cavendish ex Anglia solvit Jul. 21. 1586. totum terrae ambitum circumnavigavit, & rediit Sept. 15. 1588. and as our Drake, and Cavendish after him, with other Circum-Navigaters. Nor speaks he only of such as adventure to some special, or particular Ports or Places of Merchandise, such as Alexandria, and Aleppo, the Gra●● Cairo, and both the Indies are, as th●● Royal Merchant King Solomon did, who sent forth ships from Ezion-Geb● for the transfretation of Gold fro● Ophir. And as that neighbouring Prince of ours, that s●● 1 King. 9 26. 28 forth sumptuous Plate-Fleets, for the importation of h●● Perulania. But he speaks of any Man, that adventures th● loss of his Soul, by any way of Traffiquing for this present World. For thus an indefinite Interrogation may ve●● well the universal, in the Interpretation. And this French Title Merchant (as Ambrose Calepine asserteth) may be given Diction. Hexag. to any man, that any way deals or chaffers for any thing in this World, whether it be for his own use, or to trade away again to others. And surely such as adventure the loss of an Eternal estate in Heaven, for the gaining or the increasing of a Temporal one on Earth, are very Merchants indeed. Now of such, and unto such this Question is most fitly propounded: What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Thus we have found out the Merchant, Man, any man. Now let us look upon the Wares, and they are (as you have heard) of two sorts: The first, Imported; the second, Exported. First of the Ware imported, concerning which two Circumstances are to be considered. 1. A Variety. 2. A Monopoly. First of the Variety, The World. Now the World may be considered two ways. 1. Philosophically. 2. Theologically. First Philosophically, and so indeed the World is nothing Conimb●. lib. 1. de Coelo, cap. 1. else but a Variety of things in a beautiful Order. Th● 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or beautiful Order in that Variety hath given the Appe●●ations to it, both in Greek, and Latin. It is ordinata compages rer●● omnium, a well-disposed Pack of all kinds of War. s. Omnia Corpora simul sumpta dic●●tir Mundus: All Physical B●d●s taken and compact together are called the World: But there are no Merchants (as I conjecture) that trade for this World in this Philosophical sense. And therefore secondly, the World may be considered in a Theological sense; and so it must be in this place. In a Theological sense, by the World is meant the Honours, B●ll. de G●mit. Columbae, lib. 3. cap. 10. Riches, and Pleasures of this present World. He that gains a Variety of th●se, is sometimes said to gain a World of Riches, and Honours, and Pleasures: It is much for a man to gain all the●●; but it is more for him to gain as much as the Text doth speak of: For here's not only the Variety in the World, but the Monopoly of all these, and of all of all these, in the whole World:— gain the whole world. Can one Merchant but engross the Artificial Wares of Archb. Abbot's D●scription of the World. Dr. hay. Geogra. all Q●insaio, or all the Alexandrian Warcs, or all the rich Perfumes, or costly Drugs, or fragrant Spices of Arabia felix, it were enough, and more then enough to tympanize his heart with the proudest thoughts of the Wealthy. And yet, alas, all these Alls together can amount to no more than a little Packet or a worthless Fardel, in compare with that Ingrossment in the Text, the gaining of the whole World. Yet see, the Saviour of the World does question this great gain, whether it may be rightly called Profit or no: yea rather He puts it out of question, by putting forth of this question, What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Indeed these words are not only one, but two Questions: the first is Absolute, the second Hypothetical. The first is in these words: What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world? The second in these, added to the former by way of condition: And lose his own soul? First of the first. But first observe, that it is but a mere supposition, that is the foundation of both. Our Saviour speaketh only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, by way of supposition, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, If he shall gain the whole world, i. e. suppose it were possible for him so to do, and that he should do so: I say suppose it. But suppositio nihil ponit, The bare supposing of a thing to be, is no proving of that thing to be as it is supposed; That may be supposed to be, which never was, and that which never shall be, yea that which never can be. Such is this thing supposed by our Saviour, the gaining of all this present World. For alas! it is not all the plodding in the World, nor all the projecting for it, that can gain it all. Oh no! It is not all the griping Usury, nor all the pinching Misery, that can draw so much as ilia terrae, the Guts and Garbage of the Earth into one man's Coffers, no not so much as the white or yellow Entrails of the Indian-Earth. Suppose that a man could have a mind more covetous Ovid. metam. lib. 11. than Midas had, or be more dunghilly-minded than Crassus or Hortensius; And suppose that such a man were more ingenious Valer. Max. lib. 9 cap. 4. to invent new projects to gain the World, than the old Athenians were, which were the very Minters of Arts and Sciences; And suppose he could be more assiduous in It is nor improper that the I●elian (i. e. the Hollander) be compared to the Ant for his sedulity and labour. Vocal Forest. all his Negotiations, than the most industrious Hollander; and more deceitful in all his deal, than the most perfidious Carthaginian: yet could he never engross the whole World. Let this Merchant, Man, have never so great a Stock to begin the World with, and let him drive never so good a Trade to increase it, y●t must he never think to gain the whole World. Were he the only Son of a second Pyrrhus, and the only Nephew of another Croesus, Volateran in Anthropologia. and so had both their wealths to set up with; And were it possible for him to use a Conscience more cauterised than the worst of Jew's in the hardest ways of Usury; And could he have an Head-piece more crafty than that of Mahomet in the mysteries of Merchandise, and an Heart more Archb. Abbot, of Arabia, in his Descrip. of the World. greedy than his, and Hands more violent in robbing of other Merchants in their travels; And could he be more fortunate than Polycrates himself, that was the very Favourite of Fortune, as Herodotus hath storied it: yet would it still Herodot. in Thalia 78. be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a thing impossible for him to gain the whole World. Though Machiavels Policy, and Catiline's Activity, and Hector's Valour, with that Martial prowess of those two Thunderbolts of war, Menelaus' and Agamemnon, should all meet in one man: y●t could they never advance him to the absolute Command or Governance of the whole World. The greatest Monarchies of all, that ever were in the world, were never truly universal, of all the world. Indeed Nabuchadnezzar was a mighty Monarch in Syria and Chaldea; And Cyrus had vast Dominions, when he had joined the Kingdom of the Medes unto the Persians: yet both their Territories had their Frontiers. And though the prodigious Avarice, and boundless Ambition of Alexander the Great affected the Sovereignty of more than one whole World, (as Plutarch stories it of him) yet could he never reduce the whole of this one World unto his Grecian Monarchy. Nor could those Noble Victors, Caius Julius Caesar, and Octavian's Caesar Augustus, subjugate the whole unto the Roman Eagle, by all their notable Victories. And without all controversy, the sole Command of all the World, is too great a Sovereignty for any one Man in the World. It must needs seem a very mockery, for the sullen Donns of our neighbouring Nation to soothe their Sovereign up with the fondlyaffected Title of Catholic Majesty. Me thinks that ominous Ribellion of Catalonia, with that fatal Revolt of Portugal, without the thinking of others that led them the way, or that are like to follow them, might fully infeoff them with the apprehension of that dislike which the undoubted Monarch of Heaven and Earth hath often shown unto such general Claims. Though many and many Manarches be the Supreme Governors in their several Monarchies; yet may no Monarch in the World claim any title to the Manarchy of the whole World. It is an honour belonging to God alone: And mine honour (saith he) will I not give to any other. It is He that is clothed with Catholic Majesty. It is He that is King. The Lord reigneth (saith the Psalmist) and let the Earth rejoice, yea let the multitudes of the Isles be glad thereof, Ps. 97. 1. He reigns not only over one, but all the Isles; nor reigns He only over Isles, but over the Continent too; for He is King over all the Earth, Ps. 47. 7. It was but an Usurpation in Dari●s the Persian, to style himself The King of Kings. And it is no less presumption in Rex Regum & Consanguineus Deorum. Q. Curtius, l. 2. the Pope to aself that Title. It is a Title belonging to God alone, who is (as S. Paul proclaims him) the blessed and only Potentate, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. 1 Tim. 6. 15. And certain it is, He never made th● whole World for any one man. Yet when any one shall prove himself the sole Heir of the Protoplast, the World will give him leave to claim his Propriety in the whole. But for the present, the Possessions of Adam are parceled almost into as many Particles, as his Nature is into particular Persons; which numerous Progeny knows not how to acknowledge any Lord Paramo●nt amongst them, besides that only true God, whose Throne is in the highest Heavens. Nor may the Christian World acknowledge any Catholic Those that are learned know, that the government of the Church is neither Popular, nor Aristocratical, but a Monarchy. Of the Universal Church only Christ is the head and chief; and therefore the state of it is Monarchical, etc. Whitgi●ts D●f●nce of the Answer to the Admonision, tract. 17. Commander besides our Saviour Christ, who is Emmanuel, God with us: The God of Gods, as well as, Lord of Lords. Yea God of God, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, very God of very God, as the Nicene Council hath well explained the second Article of the Apostles Creed against the Arrian Heresy. It was into lerable Pride in that Roman Prelate, that first contended for the supreme Headship of the Christian World. Indeed, this very sin of that very Man, hath plainly proved him to be that very Man of Sin, that St. Paul forespoke of, 2 Thess. 2. 3. It must needs be deemed a most hateful enclosure, for any Subject in the Kingdom of Christ, to take in all the Commons of the Christian World: And y●t alas! the World Christian is a very little one, a small Manor; a ve●y little Lordship in compare with the vast dominions of the great Sultan, and grand Sophy, and other parts of the World not Christian. But suppose a man could gain the Monarchy of the World, not of the World Christian only, but of the whole World; yet still the Question may be asked, What is a man profited? For such sovereignty would neither make him the sole Possessor, nor yet the proper Owner of the whole World: For still the Subjects should not only have the Possession of, but a true, and just Right, and Title to, and Property in all their Goods Constitut. 1. made at the Convocation 1640. and Estates; yea, and perhaps some churlish Nabals might have full-Coffers, when such a Monarch might have au empty Exchequer. But to put the Supposition as high as our Saviour Christ here puts it in the Text: Suppose a man should gain, not only the empty Title to the World; but the full possession of the whole World; yet still the Question may be asked, What is a man profited? For what's the World, the whole World, but a Shop of vanities, a Storehouse of vexations, a Stall of toys and trifles, lighter than vanity itself? Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. And what profit hath a man of all the labour which he taketh under the sun. Eccles. 1. vers. 2, 3. Man disquieteth himself in vain to gain the World: and what is it that he gaineth by it, but a world of disquiet? Suppose he gains the World and all of Vanities, even all the Vanities of the World; what profit is there in such gain? What profit can it be to gain a World full of nothing else but emptiness, a World empty of every thing but nothingness? This World's every-thing is the Wiseman's nothing: Omnia nihil, All is nothing: yea, the nothingness of nothing. Omnia vanitas, all is vanity; not vain only in the Concrete, but Vanity in the Abstract: Yea, Vanitas vanitatum; in the Abstract of that Abstract, Vanity of vanities, i. e. vanissima, most vain, saith Hugo Cardinalis. What are the chiefest seeming somethings of this World? Pleasurers and Honours, and Riches, they are. And what are they? Are Nihil aliud sunt quam merae nugae. Jo. Fran. Pi. Miran. lib. 2. de Mort. Christi. they not all vain? altogether vanity? Solomon the wisest of Kings and of men, that did know as much as any man, or King of them; for he knew them by Inspiration, by Speculation, and by Experience; and upon his certain knowledge of them he gives this Character, that they are all Vanity. They are all but vanity in respect of their Instability or mutability; so Hugo de Sancto Victore. And they are all but vanity, in respect of their insufficiency, and mere vacuity; so Hugo Cardinalis. They cannot continue Hugo de Sancto Victore in Et●l. Hugo Cardin. in Eccles. with man when he has them; nor can they content him whilst he has them, though he has them all. But let's consider them severally; And first let us consider seriously of Worldly Pleasures. What are they? Indeed they are miscalled Pleasures; but alas! they are not Pleasures indeed, but the shad●w●s of them. The joys of the World have a world of sorrows waiting on them, and the sweets of content in them are embittered with more discontents adhering to them. Alas for them! The Brooks of worldly Pleasures are very shallow and soon dried up. The very Sources of them are like broken Cisterns that can hold no water. The Flowers of worldly Pleasures are all Ephemerons, or like to Ephemerion, a Plant of one day's continuance. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 25. 13. Jonah 4. 6, 7. Jonahs' Gourd, growing speedily, and gone as suddenly. The fairest Nosegays of them are but for a show, and that show but for a moment; yet the greatest part of the World are taken with such shows. The seems of pleasures are the greatest Witches in the world, and the greatest of the world are bewitched with them. Indeed like Witches they can do mischief to many, but little or no good to any: And like Witches, they use to do most hurt to those, that are most inward with them. The life of worldly Pleasures, like that of Witches, is very wicked; and their end, like that of Witches, is very wretched: for these Pleasures of sin for a season, must end in those sufferings of punishment which must have no end. Let us then beware of these most fatal Enchantments of the Flesh, these grand Impostures of the World, worldly Pleasures; let us overcome these sins of Pleasures, lest the pleasures of these sins do overcome us. And here let's leave these vain pleasures, that we may come to Honours. And what are they? In the Second place then, let us seriously consider of Worldly Honours: Are they also all but Vanity? Yes, they are more than vanity, but yet they are Vanity; They are vanity and vexation of spirit. They are Vanity when they are gotten, but vexation of spirit ingetting, and vexation of spirit in losing: they are hardly gotten, but easily lost. The Bubble of Worldly Honour is hardly blown up to any bigness by the breath of many friends; but easily broken by the blast of a few enemies: yea, it is often broke by their breath that blow it up, and sometimes whilst they are blowing of it. It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the vapour of vapours, and Airy thinness, and the very thinness of the Air, it vanisheth whilst it vapoureth: It turns to nothing when it seems the greatest something: It is a vexatious vanity, depending upon that which is lighter than vanity itself: The lightest Plumes of Worldly Honours are tossed up and down, and up and down by the lighter puffs of Popular humours. Vulgus Proteus est ipsissimus. The respects of the Protean many, are more changeable than the Aspects of the Moon herself. The salve●es and valetes, the embracements, and the ba●ishments, the applauses and disgraces, which the four Scipios met amongst the Romans, may sufficiently attest the Mutability and Lunacy of the Bedlan many Yea the Histories of Socrates, of Pho●ion, of Demosthenes, and Plu●ar. P●●n. S●c. Valeran. Erasm. Apoph. Valeri. Maxi. of Demetrius Phalerius, are approved Testimonies of the World's Athenian Inconstancy. But we need not beat the wadest fields of Humanity for single Instances; we may spring & retrieve whole Covies in the Authentic Histories. Our Saviour Christ with his Disciples are cried up and down by the mutable many. The same fountain cannot send forth sweet water, and bitter, at the same place; yet the same men at the same mouths did send forth the sweetest language of Commendation, and the sourest language of Condemnation of the same Objects of their violent love, and violent hatred. That filly multitude that cried out Hosanna to the Son of David, Hosanna in the highest, in honour of our Saviour, Matth. 21. 9 did presently cry out in fury against him, Let him ●● crucified, let him be crucified. Mat. 27. 22, 23. St Paul and Barnab●s were one while greatly admired by those fond Zealots, or zealous Foundlings, the Lystra●●a●● Act. 14. 8, 9, 10 11, 12, etc. they cried out to one another in the Ly●aonean language, that the Gods were come down unto them in the likeness of Men. Th●y thought that Paul could be no less than Mercury, nor Barnabas then Jupiter, and ●uch they had to do to restrain them from offering sacrifices to th●m as Gods. But presently this Springtide of Popular applause abat●th to as low an Eb● of causeless, senseless, and masterless contempt; Oh how this Sea of Men does turn and return, and turn, and turn again. They defy them now, which even now they Deifie●. Those violent hands which even now could scarcely be ●●strained from offering Sacrifices to Paul a●d Barnabas, as unto gods, can scarcely be restrained now from offering th●● as sacrifices to the fury of Men. What Man then upon the serious consideration of this inconstancy of Worldly Honour, would once adventure the loss of his eternal weight 2 Cor. 4. 17. of Glory for it. Those that are now lifted up to the Excellency of Honour, and to the Honour of Excellency, by the men of voice, may soon have all their Honours laid in the dust by the voices of men. And yet that the voice of the Common-people Matth. 7. 13. is the voice of God, is the common voice of the people; and that the Multitude cannot err in judgement, is the judgement of the multitude, but a judgement full of error, for the greatest multi●udes are wont to wander in the broadest ways of Error, and they that run with the multitude to seek for Worldly Honours, may lose their Honours by the Multitudes in this World, and themselves with the Multitudes in the World to come. In the last place, let us see the vanity of Worldly Riches. When Solomon had viewed, and reviewed all the Works that he had wrought, and all the labours that he had laboured to do, he audited this account of them all, that they were all but vanity and vexation of spirit, and that there was no profit under the Sun, Eccles. 2. 11. Be then persuaded by St Paul, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. St Chrys. Hom. ●. trust not in uncertain Riches. There is nothing more uncertain, nothing more unfaithful, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith S. Chrisostome, to day with thee, to morrow against thee. Let us not make Riches our God, and Poverty our Devil, l●st our Riches do part us from God, and pack us to the Devil. The Devil is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The god of this World, as the Apostle calls him, 2 Cor. 4. 4. from Worldly Riches was he called Pluto, or from his name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Thus did the Greeks of old entitle him to Worldly Riches, and entail their Worldly Riches upon him. Let us not entitle ourselves to them by him, nor him unto ourselves by them. Let us never place our Heaven in them, seeing Hell itself is so near unto them: and seeing that we may not place our Happiness in them, let us never set our hearts upon them. Nothing should have Man's heart, but that which is his Heaven, or does relate unto it. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith Saint chrysostom. The Riches that are truly everlasting Chrysos. Hom. 2. are all in Heaven, and all the Riches that are in Heaven are truly everlasting. Let not us then seek for In comparatione aeternorum honorum vana sunt omnia etiam bona temporalia. S. Greg. Mag. in Prim. Sam. cap. 12. Riches here on Earth, as for our Heaven: But let us seek for Heaven, that may be more than Riches to us for ever hereafter. Alas! these Worldly riches, in compare with those of Heaven (as S. Gregory tells us) are altogether vain, yea vanity itself, as Solomon speaks them in the same sense. But here let us advance the Supposition one step higher: Let us suppose the Riches of the World to be neither vanity nor vain, but to have reality and worth in them, yet still the Question may be asked, What is a man profited? For what profit can it be to a man to gain such things, as he may not think his own when he has gained them, nor use them as his own? They that get these Worldly Riches by ungodly means, are by those means indebted to the God of this World for them: And he will be paid by all his Debtors; 2 Cor. 4. 4. They may all look to be arrested at his Suit, and cast into the prison of Hell, but may not look to get out thence. until they have paid the uttermost farthing. And as for such as use the lawfullest means to get them, they may not use them as they list or will themselves when they have got them: For why, they are but Servants, in receiving of them; but trusties, in keeping of them; and but as mere Stewards they must be, in accounting for them. Now it is very requisite in Stewards to be found faithful; Faithful in all Imbursements, 1 Cor. 4. 2. faithful in all Disbursements, faithful in all Intrustments. God himself was the Maker of all this World. And he himself is the Master of it. He is the Author of all good in the World. And he is the Owner of all the goods of all the World. Man must ever therefore have respect to him, and to his pleasure, in the using of his goods. There must at last be a general Audit, and man must reckon for all; And woe unto him, if he makes not an even Reckoning. An even Reckoning is hard to be made, though never so small, but the greatest Reckon are hardest to be made even. There is no Euge to be expected from the Master, without an even Reckoning from the Servant: Nor can the Servant make his Reckoning even then, unless he be now fidelis in minimis, faithful in the smallest driblets, faithful to the utmost farthing, careful not to waste the very minutes of his Master's goods, by mispending of them. He is said to waste his Master's goods, that does misspend those goods by riotous courses, which are entrusted in his hands. And for his wasting of them so, he is soon to be discarded from all Entrustments by his Master: Red rationem villicationis tuae, saith his Master to him, Luke 16. 1. Come, give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward. Durus est hic sermo: This is an hard saying: But it it said, and it must be so; There must an Account be given. And now doth not this great Rich Worldling begin to wish that he had ever been a Lazarus, rather than a Dives? That he had never Luk. 16. 19, etc. been entrusted with so much of this World's goods, that so he might not now have had so much to reckon for? But to whom much is given, of him there is much to be required. He Luk. 12. 48. must now answer for all. He had a great Trust committed to him, and now he distrusts his Reckoning the more. The Reckoning is so great that he is to make, that he makes no reckoning to save himself when he hath made it. By the Divitiarum acquisitio magni laboris est, possessio magni timoris, amissio magni doloris. Idiotae Contemplate. de amore divino. c. 33. very Summons to the Audit, he hears an Exauctoration decreed against him, He may be no longer Steward. For misspending that part which he had, he must now part with all that he hath. But all that will not serve the turn: For what he hath is none of his, but his Masters; and it will not satisfy for that he hath misspent of his Masters. And therefore what he is, Soul and Body, must be sold, that payment may be made. Now tell me, where is his profit? He willingly lost that other, that better World, for this; and now hath lost both this, and himself, with that other. But let us put the Supposition one step higher: Let us suppose a man to gain the World, and to use it as he ought. Yet still the Question may be asked, What is a man profited? For why, still he cannot keep it; He must be taken from Heb. 9 27. that by death, if that be not taken from him before. It is appointed for all men once to die. And there is no man that knoweth either how he shall die, or where he shall die, or when he shall die: But this every man may know, that when he doth die, he shall carry nothing with him of all that he gained when he lived. Naked came I out of my mother's womb, said holy Job, and naked shall I return thither. That great Sultan that conquered the Christians in the Job 1. 21. Eastern Countries, and gained the Holy Land from them by his Conquests, was conquered himself soon after by Death, and carried captive to another World, and so was forced to leave even all his Worldly pomp and riches here behind him. As it was expressed to the life at his Funeral-Solemnities: For than his shirt or shroud was put upon the point of a Lance (according to his fore-appointment) and so carried Knoll. Turk. Hist. Sabellic. E●. 9 l. 5. before his Hearse, whilst a plain Priest proclaimed with a loud voice, That Saladine the great Lord and Governor of Asia is dead, and of all his Worldly wealth he carried nothing with him, but left his very shirt or shroud behind him. It may be Saladine had gained more than he could well tell how to spend, yea much more than he could tell how to spend well. But what profit was it to him, when he was so quickly parted from it? His time to have it was but short, and it may be his enjoyment of it was not all that time he had it. But let us put the supposition higher yet. Let us suppose a man to gain the World, and to live longer in it then Saladine did: Yea let us suppose his years to be as many as Mathusalems' Genes. 5. 25, 26, 27. days were by appointment: Yea let us make him immortal by our supposes. Yet still the Question may be asked, What is a man profited? Ps. 102. 26, 27. Matth. 5. 18. 2 Pet. 3. 11. 12 Zanch. Miscellaneor. lib. 1. de fine seculi. Nihil ●nim est magnum re, quod parvum tempore nec longis dila●ur gaudiis quicquid arcto fine conditur. Eucher. ad Valerianum. For why, though his life should never have an end, yet there must be an end of the World. And that end of the World may be e'er a day to an end. How quickly might he see the conflagration of all, by that most fatal fire that must demolish all? This present World is momentary, but that to come for ever. Yet the great Gainers of this present World, are wont to look so much after this World, which they g●t, that they forget the World to come, which they should look after: And by the greatness of their gains in this World, they gain that Worldly greatness, which makes them too great to enter in at the straight gate of that better World; & so when this world must be burnt with fire, they must needs burn with it for want of entrance in at the straight gate. But let us put the Supposition as high as it can be put. Let us suppose a man to gain the World, and never to lose it again, either in whole, or in part, by being taken from that by Death, or by having of that to be taken from him by fire. Yet still the Question may be asked, What is he profited? For why, for all this he may be still a poor man, a discontented man, an unhappy man. Unhappy by being discontented, and discontented for being poor. Indeed he hath riches enough, that is contented with the riches that he Nihil potest animae sufficere praet●r summum bonum. St August. Manuel. c. 25. hath. But alas! it is not the whole World, nor a World of Worlds that can content a Worldly mind, or make it think it hath enough. The desires of Man's heart are infinite, and the World but finite, and therefore it cannot satisfy them to contentment. This present World was so small a thing in compare with Alexander's wishes, and the vastness of his desires, that he did even sweat to think how his Greatness was to be narrowed, and crowded up in it. Aestuat infaelix angusto limit mundi. Juvenal. Sat. As the the Poet fancies of him, that he was even stifled with the conceit, that he should not have elbow-room enough in this World. And again, as it is finite, so all the treasures of it are extrins●call, and so never enter into the Heart of Man to fulfil the desires of it. Though his Barns, and Granaries be never so full, and all his Bags and Coffers; yet his Heart and Soul are never the fuller, but it may be much the emptier, by having their desires more and more enlarged. Crescit amor nummi, quantum ipsa pecunia crescit, Juvenal. Saith the Poet. The love of Money creaseth as the Money creaseth or increaseth that is beloved. The more draughts of Non qui parum h●bet pauper est, sed qui plus cupi●. Seneca, gain be swallowed down, the more is the Hydropical Thirst of gain increased. The more that the covetous Worldling gain●th, the more he coveteth; and the more he coveteth, the more he wanteth; and the more he wanteth, the poorer h●e groweth: so that by consequence it clearly appeareth, that the more he gaineth, the poorer he groweth. Now what profit is it, for a man to gain that which makes him poor? He is not so poor that hath enough of a little, as he that hath much, and yet wanteth much more; and that is the condition of the Covetous worldling, He is ever in want. And therefore saith S. chrysostom, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: It is one thing to be a Covetous man, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Chrys. Hom. 2. another to be a Rich man: for the covetous man is never rich; He ever wanteth what he coveteth, and he ever wanteth what he covereth. He covereth what he hath, from himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Idem ibid. as well as others; and he coveteth what he hath not, whilst others have it. He wanteth all that others have, and he wanteth all that he hath himself. All that he hath, did I say? Alas for him! he hath nothing: but the goods which he hath gotten, have gotten him; He doth not possess them, but they possess him; He doth not command them, but they command him. According to that of chrysostom, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Avaro deest tam quod habet quam quod non habet. S. Hier. Valer. Max. lib. 9 cap. 4. The covetous man may be a keeper of money, but not a commander of it; a servant to it, not a master over it. As Valerius Maximus writes of that Ptolom●us which was King of Cyprus: Titulo Rex insulae, animo autem pecuniae miserabile mancipium: He was in title the King of the Cyprian-Isle; but in truth, he was a miserable Bondslave to his Pelf. Now what profit is it to gain and increase that money, which begetteth and increaseth misery? And if it be so little profit simply to gain the World, certainly there is less profit in the gaining of it, if a man must pay his own Soul for it. And this brings us to the second Querie, that Hypothetical Question, that includes the whole Text: What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole World, and lose his own Soul? And this Question sets us to consider of the second sort of Wares, the Ware Exported; concerning which three Circumstances were proposed to be considered. 1. The Nature or Quality. 2. The Number or Quantity. 3. The Relation or Propriety. First, for the Nature or Quality, we may observe, that it See Nemesius of the Nature of Man. is a Soul. Yet not a Vegitative Soul, such as is in the Plants; Nor yet a Sensitive Soul, such as is in Birds and Beasts; But a Reasonable Soul, such as is in Man, such a Soul as makes him to be a Man; It is is his Soul, his own Soul. I shall It is the soul of man that makes him to be a man. See Philip of Mornay's trueness of Christian Religion, translated by St Phil. Sidney chap. 14. not tell you what Aristotle says of the Soul of Man, nor yet how other Philosophers use to define it. But let me tell you thus much of it, that it is an Heavenly Jewel in a Cabinet of Earth, and a Jewel of that worth it is, that not all the Diamonds in the World, though never so curiously cut, and never so artificially set, in the richest Rings of the most refined gold, may be valued with it, though it be cabined in the most deformed lump of Red Earth. There be many Reasons in it to raise the estimate of it. I'll name some of them. As first, it is the Medal of the Almighty; The lively Image of the living God; Or the Tablet upon which that King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, hath drawn his own likeness. Now shall the Image of a Mortal King, stamped on the substance of the Earth, or the Earthly substance of Gold or Silver, make man so to esteem it as to become an Idolater towards it; and shall not the Image of the Immortal King of Kings imprinted in his own Workmanship upon the Heavenly substance of Man's soul, persuade him far more highly to value that? And a second reason, why this Merchant Man should enhance Dei insignita imagine, decorata similitudine. St Bern. Medita. de digni●. animae. Mens nostra Dei similis, etc. Gregor. Nyss. disputat. de anima & Resurr. the price of his Soul, may be this, because it is a spirit, an Immaterial substance. It is indeed within the substance of the body, but yet without a bodily substance. And the more that any substance be spiritualised, the more pu● and precious it is, and the more ennobled. And the further that any substance be distanced from the nature of a body, the nearer it draws to the Nature of God; For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; God is a Spirit. And the spirituality of the Soul does far exalt it above the body, as coming nearer to the purity of God who is a Spirit. And therefore it is well asserted by St Bernard, that the worst of souls in respect of substance, is far more excellent than the best of bodies, and aught to be valued far above them. A third Reason to persuade this Merchantman to value his Soul at a very d●ar rate, may be the Immortality of it: It is immortal as well as immaterial. Indeed man dies at See the Immortality of the soul discoursed of largely and very learnedly, by Philip of Mornay Lord of Pl●ssie, in the Trueness of Christ. Religion, c. 14. 15. his appointed time, but the soul of man does never die. By death the whole man is dissolved, but the whole of man is not destroyed by death: The soul of man doth live, when man is dead. The soul is doomed at the instant of death, either to enjoy everlasting felicity in Heaven, or to endure everlasting misery in Hell. And that endless misery is often called Mors secunda, the second death. Yet is it not so called, that we should think that the Soul doth cease to live in hell, but rather because it ceaseth to enjoy its life. The damned Non enim quia solvitur compositum, inde etiam necessariò consequitur una cum composito d●ssolvi id quod compositum non est. Greg. Nyssen. disput. de Anim. & Resurr. souls in Hell live not there to enjoy life, but to endure grief. And therefore their life there is said to be no life. Simplex vita non est vivere, sed valere: merely to live, is no life; but to live indeed, is to enjoy life. It is a kind of death, for one to live in pain, that hath lived at ease: It is a kind of death for one to live in prison, that hath lived at liberty; A kind of death for one to live in penury, that hath lived in plenty. Those damned Souls that lie imprisoned in Hell, do all live there in pain, for living here in pleasure: their joys are turned into pains, and their life now is worse than death. Their Damnation in Hell is like to Death in four respects; In damnatione novissima quamvis homo sentire non desina●, tamen quia sensus ipse nec voluptate suavis, nec quiete salubris, sed do●o●● poenalis est; non immeritò mors est potius appella●a quam vita. S. August. and for its likeness in each respect it is called Death. First, it is like it for Separation. In temporal d●ath, the Quamvis enim humana anima v●raciter immortalis perhib●tur, habet tamen etiam ipsa mortem suam. Soul which gave life to the Body, is separated from it: So in Damnation, the Lord of life, which gave life to the Soul, is separated from that. Mort●ae sunt animae, hoc est, à Deo deserts, saith S. Austin: The damned souls are dead, that is, forsaken of God. For, Sicut mors corporis est cum id deserit anim●, ita mors animae est cum eam deserit Deus: As it is the death of S. Aug. de Civ. Dei, l. 13. c. 2. the body when it is forsaken of the soul, so it is the death of the soul when it is forsaken of God. Sicut enim anima discedente moritur corpus, sic anima Deo d●s●rente mori credenda est. Secondly, Damnation is like to Death in respect of Place. Hell is a place of Darkness, a place that is very disconsolate: Primasius super Apocalyp. cap. 18. so is the Grave. And therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sheol with the Hebrews signifi●s both Hell and the Grave; and so doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Greeks. Thirdly, Damnation is like to Death, in respect of Pain Quid sacient intime familiares, quales sunt corpus & anima, quae ab ipso utero ita jucundissime vixerint? The spirit may be willing, but the flesh will be loath. Manchest. Al Mond● contempt. mortis. and Grief. Great are the pangs of Death, and great the grief of Man that's dying: and the grief and pains of Hell are full as great, and greater. Fourthly, and last, Damnation is like to Death in respect of Horror. Death is called the King of fears, the most terrible of terribles. Nature abhorreth nothing more than Death, there is nothing that is known to Man more terrible; and therefore is Damnation called Death. Indeed Damnation is beyond expression terrible, yea beyond all apprehension; we want words to express it by, we want things more hideous to resemble it unto. We miscall it Death, but it is not Death indeed. The Damned may wish for Death, but they must not die. The Damned souls are all immortal, they are sent to Hell to live in misery, yea to live in misery for ever, yea for ever and for ever. The expression is as useful, as it is usual: Mark it well, for ever and for ever. That which is but once for ever, can never have an end. But the living, and lasting Miseries of Hell are said to be for ever, and for ever, to make us the more seriously to consider of them. This Duplication intimateth thus much to us, that when the poor damned soul hath passed a thousand years, and ten thousands more, and as many thousands more as the nimblest imagination can conceive of, and more Millions of Ages more than the best Arithmetician can ever multiply, yet than he shall be as if he were newly to begin, he hath still and still another for ever to endure miseries. This it is that does so aggravate the Misery of Man by his Worldly Merchandise. If he must lose his Soul, for his gaining of the World, his loss is infinite, because the Damnation of his Soul is endless. It is for ever and ever. It was the thought of this, that caused that Right Reverend Parson of Bethlem Parish, devout St Hierome, to renounce this present World, and retire into a Cell or Cave, which he either found, or founded in Bethlem; lest he should lose his Soul for ever and ever in Hell, by gaining the World for a time. The fear of endless torments turned his Cell Dr Willans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Into a Jail, and made his Cave his Hell. Propter metum Gehennae tali me carceri emancipaveram, as he said himself to Heliodorus. That good old Father was wont to be portrayed with a young Lion by his side, partly to signify how fiercely he cried out against the Schisms and Heresies, and other sins of others in his time; and partly to signify that he sometimes roared out for the very disquietness of his own heart, at the sight of his own sin, knowing that if his soul must be lost by them, his loss would be intolerable, because it would be the loss of an immortal substance. A fourth Reason to raise the estimate of the Soul, may be taken from the Reason in it. It is a Reasonable Soul, an Intellectual It is chief in respect thereof that we are called Reasonable Creatures. Nemes. of the Nature of Man, cap. 14. Substance. The richest Treasure of any that Man as man is entrusted with. By this he comes to know himself. By this he comes to know the way to save himself. By this he comes to know the worth of this and other things. If he loseth this, he is but a lost man, yea without this he is no man at all: And therefore Man should value this above all. A fifth Reason may be this, that the losing or saving of the whole man depends upon the saving or losing of the soul. If the Soul of man be turned into Hell at the first Judgement, the whole man must be tumbled thither at the second Judgement. But if it be translated to Heaven at the Night of Death, the Body also shall have a removal thither at the Morning of the Resurrection. It is a preposterous Care in many Great ones in this Multus Corporum Curationi impenditur usus, multum huic operae in spem med●lae datur. Nunquid medicinam anima non m●retur? Etsi varia corpori auxiliae studio tuendae sanitatis adhibentur; sas non est tamen animam velut exclusam jacere, & quasi neglectam morbis suis intabescere atque unam à propriis remediis exulare: immo verè plura animae conserenda sunt, si corpori tanta praestantur. Nam si r●cte quidam carnem famulam, animam verò dominam esse dixerunt; non oportet post●ri●re l●co nos dominam ponere, ac famulam iniquo jure praeferre. Eucherius in Epist. Paraenet. ad Valerianum. World, to make great provision for their Bodies here before death, and also after it, but none at all, or very little for their Souls. Alas for them! Let them provide what Physicians they can to prevent the Death of their Bodies, yet are they mortal, and so must die. And let them prepare what Tombs they will to preserve them after Death: Yet if their souls be sent to Hell to be tormented for their sins done in their bodies, their bodies must be sure they also shall be sent to suffer with their souls: As they sinned together, so must they suffer. But whatever become of their Bodies after death, if their Souls be saved when they die, their Bodies also shall be saved at the second coming of our Saviour. As they have served him together, so shall they be saved together by him. The happiness or unhappiness of the whole man, depends upon the happiness or unhappiness of his Soul. The sixth and last Reason to persuade this Merchant, Totus quidem iste mundus ad unius animae pretium aestimari non potest; non enim pro tolo mundo Deus animam suam dare voluit, quam pro anima humanae dedit. Sublimius ergo animae pretium, quae non nisi sanguine Christi redimi potuit, etc. Agnosce homo, quam nobilis est anima tua, & quam gravia suerunt ejus vulnera, pro quibus necesse suit Christum Dominum vulnerari. Noli ergo vilipendere animae tuae passionem, cui à tanta Majestate tantam vides exhiberi compassionem. S. Bern. Medit. Man, to prise his Soul above the World, may be taken from the consideration of that price which our Saviour paid for the redemption of it. And was it not very considerable, think you, that the Son of God, the well-beloved Son of God, the only begotten Son of God, equal to the Father in goodness, and power, and glory, and majesty, should condescend so low as to become a Man, a Man of no reputation, the very scorn and derision of men, and the very Outcast of the people? That he should take upon him the form of a Servant, and vouchsafe to be a Servant of servants; To be mocked of many, to be hated of most, to be forsaken of all at last? Yea more, that he should asself the blame, and shame, and sufferings of all the sins of man; Of man that was his enemy, of man that hated him? That he should die for man; and die the worst of deaths too, the death of the Cross, a painful death, a shameful death, an hateful death, a cursed death? And more yet; That he should suffer as many Torments of Hell itself, as might save man from being tormented for ever? Can we think that he, the Son of God, begotten of the Father of Wisdom, yea begotten of the Wisdom of the Father, should dote on Man to very folly, and do and suffer this, even all this, for a toy, for a trifle, for a thing of nothing? Surely he did highly prise the Soul of man, or he would never have done and suffered so much to redeem it. Too many there be indeed, that make too little reckoning of their Souls: For, all they do so, that adventure the losing of them, for the gaining of the World. Indeed if man had many Souls, the loss of one were not so much, as it is now that he hath but one. The loss of one is the loss of all, of himself and all. And that is the second Circumstance concerning this Commodity Exported, to be considered; The Number or Quantity: His one Soul, in the singular number. When a cunning Merchant hath but a small quantity of some special Commodity, he knows than what he hath to do, he makes his price accordingly, or rather he knows not what price to make of it, he thinks he can never ask enough, especially if these five Circumstances be coincident with the smallness of the Quantity. First, if it be such a kind of Commodity, as that he may be sure he can get no more of the same kind, if he parts with that he hath. Secondly, if it be such a Commodity as he cannot be without, if he desires to have a being; such a Commodity as he can neither trade for the World, nor subsist in the World without it. Thirdly, if it be a Commodity received from a Friend, and Keep thy soul diligently, Deut. 4. 9 such a Friend as he ought to love above the World, and that Friend gave it to him to the end that he might keep it for his own endless good, and for his sake that gave it to him. Fourthly, if it be such a Commodity as doth exceed all For it cost more to redeem their souls; so that he must let that alone for ever. Psal. 49. 8. What shall he give in exchange? Intelligere oportet de anima perdita. Jansen. prices that can be given by this World for it. And lastly, if it be a Commodity that cannot be regained by any man that hath parted with it, although he would part with all back again that he took for it, and give even all that he had before to boot. Now all these Circumstances do concur with the Singularity of the Soul. For, 1. A man can never get another Soul, when his own is lost. 2. A man cannot subsist without his Soul, he could not be a Man but for his Soul, it is Soul that makes him so. 3. It was the Lord himself that gave his Soul unto him, and for his sake he ought to keep it; and he gave it him to keep, until that he should come and take it to himself again. 4. It is of worth above the World. And lastly, nothing in the World can ever redeem it, if it be lost or laid to pawn. The loss must needs be great: And how great soever it be, that man that hath lost it must bear all the loss; no man can be partner with him, because it was his own soul, and only his. That's the third Circumstance to be considered, and it is very considerable; It is his own Soul. Others can have no share with him in the substance of this Commodity thus exported, and therefore can they not be sharers with him in his loss of it. Others may have their hands in the loss of this Soul, and so may be punished with the loss of their own for it, yet will their losses no way lessen his. His soul was all his own before he parted with it, and all the loss must be his own for parting from it. A great loss it must needs be unto him: It is the loss of his greatest good, and with that the loss of all his goods. Yet for the gaining of worldly goods, too many adventure the loss of their souls. Some Merchants have adventured much, and have gained more; they have adventured with their goods, and have saved themselves: But others have lost both their goods and themselves by the like adventures. Some men have adventured far for the gaining of the World, and have come home again to themselves without losing their Souls: But others have lost them by adventuring of them. Some men lose their Souls by adventuring of them: Some others sell them, and so lose them. And so we are fallen upon the third particular, the Merchandise itself, or the Negotiating of the Trade. And in this negotiating of the Trade, there are both gaining & losing: Gaining of the World, and losing of the Soul. The gains are great; gain the whole World: But the loss is greater; and lose his own Soul. He that sells his Soul for the whole World, makes but an ill bargain for himself: He is a loser by the bargain, and such a loser, that his very soul may be said to be lost though he sells it, because he sells it so much under foot. There are two Ways to lose the Soul by selling of it. The first by Wholesale. The second by Retail. Men may be said to sell and lose their souls by Wholesale, when they take some great reward of iniquity for them, and so Iose them all at once. And they may be said to sell them by Retail, when they forfeit and lose them by little and little. There are Minuta peccata, saith S. Austin, peccadillios, little S. August. de de Cevit. Dei. l. 2. cap. 32. sins. And there are Peccata conscientiam vastantia, Conscience-wasting sins, great offences. The Soul may be lost by one of these, or it may be lost by a multitude of those. It is traded away by Wholesale, when it is lost for one grand offence; And it is traded away by Retail, when it is lost for many minute offences. St Bernard calls these Venialia, S. Bern. de praecep. & dispen. cap. 14. and those greater Criminalia: but these Venials are made Mortals, when a mortal man allows them in himself, and himself in them, and so multiplies them upon that stock of allowance. St Austin compares these smaller sins to the grains of Sand, and to the smallest drops of Water. The grains of Sand are very small, yet if many of them be put together into a Bag, or Sack, and laid upon the head, or shoulders of a man, they will press him down: And the drops of Rain are little by themselves, yet when many meet together they may cause an inundation. Many small sins may be as heavy as one great sin, saith S. Austin. S. August. Epistol. 108. ad Seleusian. And he fitly resembles the loss of a Soul to the loss of a Merchant's ship upon the Sea; Sometimes a Ship is lost by one great Wave that overwhelmes it, and sinks it right down; and sometimes a Ship is lost by the Water that leaks in by some breach or breaches in the sides or bottom. So some men's souls are lost by the sins that sue in through their leaking senses; and sometimes they are lost by some great sin that swells above them, and sinks them right down to the very bottom of perdition; such was that grand Rebellion of Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, and Num. 16. 1, 2. 4. 31, 32, 33. their factious Complices that risen up against Moses and Aaren to pull them down. It was so heinous and so heavy a sin, that it sunk them all to the pit of destruction, the very Earth was not able to bear them with that sin upon them. Some other trifled away theirs souls by little and little: But these traded theirs away by wholesale. But which way so ever they be sold, they are but lost. And in both these ways of selling them there are two things remarkable: First, the making of the Bargain. Secondly, the performing of the Bargain. First, the making of it. And it may be made two ways: Explicitly, or Implicitly; that is Formally, or by Consequence. First, Explicitely, or Formally, when both parties do capitulate the Conditions, and agree upon the Terms. Thus Witches, and Wizards, and all Confederates with the Devil, are said to sell their souls unto him. Secondly, Implicitly, or by consequence: and this is when the Devil, or his Factors come into the Mart of this World, and fall to chaffering for men's Souls by cheapening of them, and bidding like Chapmen for them. The Devil comes to the Covetous man, and asketh him the price of his Soul; He comes to the Voluptuous man, and asketh him the price of his; And he comes to the Ambitious man, and asketh him the price of his. The price of the Covetous man's is Wealth; the price of the Voluptuous man's is Pleasure; and the price of the Ambitious man's is Honour. The Devil knows their several prizes, but knows not how to pay them down: Yet like himself he offers all they ask, and promiseth in time to pay them all. Matth. 4 9 Haec omnia vobis dabo, all these things will I give unto you. And then for Earnest, or in part of payment he puts a penny or a Teston of unlawful gains into the hands of the Covetous man to conclude the Bargain with him: He procures an opportunity of unlawful Pleasure according to the Voluptuous man's desire, to conclude the Bargain with him: And by a small Bribe he sets the Ambitious man upon the first step to preferment, to conclude with him. These men cannot be ignorant of the Devils aims, they must needs know, that what he offers, is but in earnest or in part of payment for their souls; yet they take his offers, or rather are taken with his temptations: and what call you this, but a striking up of the bargain? Now the bargain being made, the performance is expected. But here men think to be too cunning for the Devil himself. They never intent to perform the bargain, they think to put him off by denying of it. They intent to put him to prove it by sufficient witnesses, which they think he cannot do, before the Judge at the great Assize. But alas for them! before it comes to that, they may be sure to be Arrested at the Devil's Suit, by that bold, that inexorable, that impartial Sergeant, Death. Executions will be granted out against them; and those not of goods only, nor yet of bodies and goods; but of goods and bodies and souls. And Death's Warrants run very high, Non omittas propter ullam libertatem: Attach them wherever thou findest them. There are no places in this world, that are privileged from the Arrests of Death. When once this Sergeant Death hath arrested their Bodies, their Souls must presently be sent to the Bar of Judgement for particular Sentences. Then actum erit, the matter will be past cure; the bargain will be proved against them by credible witnesses: For first, the Devils payments will be proved by that Coin of his, those pieces of Devillisme found in their possessions at the time of their attachments. Those sins which the Devil brought to them, or them unto, will all be witnesses against them. Secondly, the Day-book of their own Consciences will be produced as a thousand Witnesses against them: for there the Debt of Sin is scored up, and never can be crossed until it be expunged by repentance. And now, shall not the Judge of all the World do right? Yes surely, and he will give the Devil his due. There is no remedy now, the bargain must be performed: The Devil bought their Souls, and he must have them. The Devil is the Jailor of Hell, and thither the Judge commands them: Take them Jailor, saith the Judge; that is, take them Devil, and keep them fast till the general Judgement: They might have been wiser before, but now there is no help for them; It is now too late to repent, let Merchantmen beware in time then; let no man think to cheat the Devil, lest he cheats himself. Let no man think himself secure in the midst of danger. Think not yourselves by the African Promontory, the Cape of good Hope, when ye are very near the Magillanean straits. Mistake not those unfortunate Caput bou● sp●t. Abbot's description of the World. Islands near the Molucco's, for the very Canaries. If you be not yet arrived at Lucian's Island of Dreams, do not dream broad-waking; do not imagine your souls to be in safe habours when they are in the midst of Hellish Pirates. This World is like a Sea, a dangerous Sea; and that Arch-Pyrate the Deull, and many Scouts from Hell are coasting this Sea of the World; from place to place. And the Devil can play the Merchant as well as the Pirate, if he cannot take men in the World, he will try to take them by it: If he cannot surprise them in it, he'll offer it as a prize unto them, and many are taken by it: Many sell themselves unto him for it, and so undo themselves for ever; for they lose their Souls by the sale, which are more worth than all the World. And so much they must confess, if they balance the Trade. What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? i. e. Balance the Trade, compare and compute the worth of the wares, and then say, What profit is it for a man to gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? I may not stand to recapitulate the several circumstances of both these Wares, the whole World, and a man's own soul; and so compare them: Let your Meditations ease me of that labour, whilst I sum up the Uses that may be made of these Meditations. Yet for the Balancing of the Trade, let me make a tendry to you of three or four Considerables. 1. Consider, That the gaining of the whole World can never make the Gainer of it happy: But so will his saving of his own Soul. 2. Consider, that a man cannot be happy without his own Soul; but without the World he may 3. Consider, That a man must lose the World, or leave it before he can be happy; but if his Soul be lost, when it must leave him he can never be happy. 4. Consider, That the Soul is infinite in duration, and the World but finite. This but temporal; but that eternal, àparte post, as some distinguish. The one a matchless treasure, the other a worthless trifle in comparison. Now balance these Considerables: What profit is it for a man to gain that, which can never make him happy, and lose that for it, which would make him so for ever, if he did not lose it? Or, what profit is it for a man to gain that, which he must lose again before he can be happy; and for his gaining of it, must lose that which can no more be gained, nor happiness without it? Or, what profit can it be to gain that which is but finite, and lose that which is infinite? Inter finitum, & infinitum nulla datur proportio. There is no proportion between a thing that is finite, and a thing that is infinite. Is it so then, that the whole World is not to be valued with one Soul? What folly then do those men show to the world, that adventure the loss of their Souls for the very Atoms of the world, or the smallest gains that can be in the World? for an Inch in an Ell, for an Ounce in a Pound? What lunacy, what madness to hazard a Soul Si ergo homines totum mundum spernere oportet ne animarum damna patiantur; & propter suam salutem debet quispiam etiam sua lucra contemnere; quàm infidelis est, quàm insipiens est, qui ut alium divitem faciat, animam suam ipse condemnat? Maximè cum & ille non multum adipiscitur, qui usum temporalium rerum accipit● & ille inaestimabilia damna praeferat, qui fructum beatae aeternitatis amittit. Salvianus ad Eccles. Cathol. lib. 3. for farthings, or the Minutes of the World? for a moment of Pleasure, or a Puff of applause? Many think they bring their Souls to very good Markets, if they can sell them with a Ziba for a Mephibosheths' inheritance; or with an Ahab for a Naboths Vineyard, or with an Achan for a wedge of gold. Many are willing to sell them as Esau did his Birthright, for a mess of Pottage; yea, for a piece of Bread some will transgress. Judas the Traitor valued his Master at thirty pence: But how many are there, that can be content to sell their Saviour, and give their Souls into the bargain, for the bare moiety of his reward of iniquity? Ananias and Sapphira sold themselves for part of that price, that should have been laid at the Apostles feet, Acts 5. A very inconsiderable price. But what if it had been all? And what if that all had been as much as all the world? what profit would it have been unto them, if they must have lost their own Sacrilego poena est neque ei soli qui è sacro abstulerit, sed etiam ei qui sacro commendatum quod & nunc multis sit fanis. Cicer. de leglb. lib. 1. Souls for it? Alas, no profit at all! For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole World, and lose his own Soul? And secondly, is it so that the gaining of the whole World is not to be balanced with the loss of one Soul? What answer or account can those Factors make to their Principal? What can such Malefactors answer unto God Almighty, that have caused the loss of a World of Souls, for the gaining of a little Worldly Pelf, or a little vain Applause, or a little vanishing Pleasure? Cicer. Parad. lib. 3. The Stoics thought (as Cicero telleth us) that all sins are equal. And some Heretics have thought that all sufferings shall be so in Hell. But dantur gradus in Gloria; there are degrees of Glory in Heaven amongst the Saints, and there shall be degrees of Misery in Hell amongst the Sinners. It hath been the judgement of many Orthodox Divines, that the Authors and the Abettors of the Arrian Heresies had their Torments in Hell increased daily, as the number of Souls increased which were daily lost by following of their Heresies. Yet for a little applause amongst some people, and for some small Benevolence from them, the old Heresies are unraked out of their ashes, and new ones are blown up daily into blazing-flames, to the great disturbance of Israel's peace, and to the destruction of Zions prosperity. The Pulpits are profaned, and the Presses are pestered, and Myriad of Souls are seduced with the daring fancies of desperate Opinionists. For small gains, some have written, and others have printed, and divers have vended dangerous Pamphlets, to corrupt men's judgements, and poison their affections, and undo their souls. Oh that the worth of Souls were better considered! It was a pious Resolve in an English Gentleman, an elegant Penman, neither to write, nor yet to read any profane Pasquil's. He would not write any such, lest his own condemnation should be increased by theirs that should be corrupted by his Pen: nor would he read any such, lest he should be corrupted, and increase their condemnation that wrote them. It is better to have a lame hand, saith he, than a lewd pen. Our Saviour paid very hearty to redeem men's souls; And must not those men pay very dearly for them, that thus adventure to ruin them? In the third place: Is it so, that our Saviour Christ the chief Pastor and Bishop of Souls, hath such an estimate of Souls, that he deems one Soul worth more than all the World? Then let all Bishops and Spiritual Pastors take the greater heed unto those Souls committed by him to their Charges. All others be Vicarii ejus, but his Curates or his Vicars, saith Omnes alii sunt Vicarii ejus, quia ipse pascit oves proprias, alii verò oves Christi. Aquin. in Ep. ad Heb. c. 13. Aquinas; and unto him they must answer for those entrusted to them. It is reported of S. Austin, that he wept when he entered into Holy Orders: And some have thought those Tears prognostics or forerunners of his following Troubles in his Office. But surely the sight of his Danger under that Charge did draw tears out of his eyes, as well as his foresight of those Troubles that he found in the Discharge of his Office. Indeed his pains in Preaching were like to prove Paraemian; his labours little better than the washing of the Black-Moore: His Cure consisted of Swarthy Africans See Eliah's wish, preached by Dr. Willan are the Funerals of the Lord Bayning. whose Souls were as tawny as their Hides. And those Labours of the Pulpit were likely to be made more difficult by multitudes of Gainsayers. He was likely to have perpetual Bicker with refractory Schismatics, and with obstinate Heretics, such as would oppose the Discipline, and such as would apostatise from the Doctrine of the Church. And likely he was by their means to meet many Atheists too, such as would neither believe the Truth of God, nor the God of Truth. For all Africa was full of such Monsters in Africa semper aliquid apportat novi. the time of S. Austin, as full as of other Monsters at other times. The first Part of S. Austin's polemics doth still attest what Diu. Aug. Tom. 6. bicker he had with Jews, and with Pagans; with Fortunatus, and Adimantus, and Faustus, and Felix, and Secundinus, and other Manichean Heretics; with Maximinus, and Felicianus, and other Arrians; with Priscilianists, and Originists, and Jovinian, and other Heretics. And the second Part of his polemics does abundantly show his troublesome Conflicts S. Aug. tom. 7. with Parmenian, and Petilian, and Cresconius, and Gaudentius, and Emeritus, and Fulgentius, and other malignant Donatists, and with that pestilent Heretic Pelagius and all his followers. Pelagius was born in Wales, about the time that S. Austin Pelagius Brito Monachus, An. Dom. 415. Bellar. Chron. par. altera. was born in Africa; and the infection of his Heresies as well as others, did spread as far as the Diocese of Hippo, when Father Austin was Bishop there; and it cost him no little pains to administer an Antidote against the poison. But S. Austin was Malleus Haereticorum, the Maul of Heretics: For the Heretical opinions of Pelagius, see Mer. Hanmers Eccl. Chron. and so he proved to Pelagius. It was by special Providence (as some have thought) that these two were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Contemporaneans, that so the Antidote might be contemporal to the Poison, and that the Truth might have an Austin to defend it, when it had a Pelagius to oppose it. They were born both in one day. Noah's Dove, by Dr. Valentine. S. Austin had work enough with him, and such as he. Yet his troubles were increased by composing of Quarrels between Dissentients in Civil things. But that which was most burdensome of all, was his Charge of Souls. He knew right well the worth of Souls; and he knew as well what a strict account would be required of them. Judah's engagement Gen. 43. 8, 9 for Benjamin was full of hazard: But a Pastors, or Bishop's engagement for the Souls in his Charge is far more hazardous; though few men think themselves beholding to them for engaging for them. But Ghostly Fathers are not the only men that must answer for Souls: for Natural Fathers are Curates too. The Souls of all their Children are committed to their trust, and scored upon their accounts: It is their Duty to bring Ephes. 6. 4. them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And if they perish for want of such admonition and nurture, the Souls of the Fathers must suffer for them. And Masters of Families are trusties too, they have Cures of Souls committed to them; The souls of their Servants are all upon their scores. And therefore Joshuah's care was not for a personal piety only, but a domestical too. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Jos. 25. 15. And the care of Philemon was to have his house like the house of Philem. 2. God. And such was the pious care of Aquila, and Priscilla. 1 Cor. 16. 19 The Apostle telleth us of Churches in their Houses: their Houses were like to Churches, for government and for godliness. Each master was as a Bishop in his own Diocese, respecting the Souls committed to his charge, as one that must answer for them. And Public Magistrates have Charges of Souls too, and such as are full of hazard. It belongs to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to 1. Reprimendos esse haereticos ab omnibus piis, secundum illam vocationem, & potestatem, quam acceperunt à Deo, satis apparet ex naturâ rei: quia omnes pii ad militiam Christianam vocantur ut in suis stationibus opponant sese singuli regno tenebrarum. 2. Magistratus locus, & officium postulant, ut reprimat improbos turbatores gladio, vel potestate publicâ, & externa si opus fuerit. 3. Si igitur Haeretici sint manifesti, & publicè noxii, debent à Magistratu publica potestate coerceri. Amesius de Conscien. lib. 4. cap. 4. qu. 6. oversee, or to watch over them. That first of Christian Emperors, Constantine the Great, did think so, when he told the Fathers of the Church at the Nicene Council, that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Bishop as well as they; he was to have a care of of Souls; yea, his office bound him to watch over their Souls as well as others, though his office did differ from theirs in administration of duty. The Minister hath one sword of God put into his hand, and he must not bear the same in vain; for he is the spiritual Magistrate of God to denounce the evil of Punishment against all the doers of the evil of Sin. And the Magistrate hath another sword of God in his hand, and he may not bear it in vain; for he is God's temporal Minister, to execute Vengeance upon them that do evil. All things do Rom. 13. 4. 1 Timoth. 2. 2. then go well in Commonwealth, when the mouth of God, the Minister, and the hand of God, the Magistrate go both together to beat down sin and schism, and blasphemy and heresy. Indeed, there may be some danger in such times as these, for either Magistrates of Ministers to Imperatorumest tollere schismata. Theodori●us de Nicen. displease the violent many, by discharging of their offices: But must there not needs be more danger to them, if they displease God Almighty by not discharging of them, to humour the Many. It is good sleeping in a whole skin; but better keeping of a whole Conscience. It is well when men can save themselves here; but better if they can save their souls hereafter. But this cannot be done by neglecting the Souls of trust. Magistrates are called Gods; yea, God himself Surely the Parliament was very sensible of this, when the Article for exterpation of Popery, Superstition, Heresy, Schism, profaneness, etc. was put into the Covenant, and when the Ordinance for that day of Humilition, March 10. 1646. for the suppressing of Errors, Heresies, and Blasphemies, was made: doth call them so, Psal. 82. 6. And God forbidden that they should be like to Idol gods, Which have eyes and see not, ears and hear not, and hands but strike not. I have both heard and read a story (related as from the See Archbishop Curls Sermon upon Hebr. 12. 14. Pen of Plutarch) of a certain Virgin that had many Suitors, and every one pretended an only right unto her: All could not have her, and therefore they resolved to pull her in pieces. Now me thinks Religion is like that Virgin: many pretend to be good-willers to it; and every mere pretender to it claims the whole right of it. The Papist says, Religion is his. The Brownists says, 'tis his. And so says every kind of Anabaptists. And every sort of Familists. All cannot have it, as they would; and therefore they endeavour to rend it all in pieces, that the true Protestant may not quietly enjoy it. Thus the life of Religion is in danger, and must needs be lost, unless the Magistrate, with the sword of Justice in his hand, will show the Justice of that sword, and do the Protestant right by defending his Religion. Tirannis non est impedire novationes in Ecclesia orthodoxa: Videlius dePruden. Ver. Eccles. l. 3. c. 4. 1 Kings 13. 16, etc. King Solomon could certainly conclude, that she was not the true Mother of the living Child, that was for the dividing of it. And any Magistrate may conclude as certainly, that they are neither Fathers, nor Mothers, nor Brothers, nor Sisters, nor any way allied to Religion, but mere aliens that are either for dividing of it, or dividing from it. You then that have the over sight of such a City as this, be not over-seen to lose your own Souls by conniving at Acts 18. 17. Sine zelo nec Religio conservari, & propagarii nec tentationes vel spei, vel metus superari possunt. Videlius de Prudent. Ver. Eccles. l. 1. c. 3. the loss of thousands. Be not Gallio's at such a time as this, in such as a case as this, in such a City as this. But be as zealous for the Truth, as any can be for Errors. Be as watchful for the Church as others are against it. Be for the Lord, and he will be for you. Zeal for the Lord does w●ll in any man, but better in the Magistrate. Qui non zelat, non amat. He that is not zealous for the City of God, and for the God of the City, loves neither as he should: Oh, love the Lord, and love the place where his honour dwelleth; love the worship of the Lord, and the place of his worship, and the time for worshipping of him in the place of worship. Love the Levit. 19 30. Psal. 93. 5. The Parliament hath done the Lord's Day right by that Ordinance April 6. 1644. for the strict observance of the Day. John 2. 14, etc. Si quis domum Dei contemptibilem esse, & conventus qui in ea c●lebrantur, Anathema sit. Carranza Concil. Gangr. Can. 5. Lords house, and the Lords day; holiness becometh both: let not profaneness come into either, lest it enter also into men's souls. If we have neither a set time, nor a settled place for solemn worship, we shall quickly have no worship. And if we lose the worship of God amongst us, must we not look to lose the Lord himself from amongst us? And if we lose him, can we save ourselves? Must not our souls be lost, if he be lost that should save them? Let us keep his Day, and keep his House, to keep him in his house amongst us. When our gracious Saviour was upon the earth, his pious zeal for the place of public worship, did even compel him to whip the profane Huckster's out of the Temple. And were he now upon the earth, his zealous Piety might be compelled to whip some Hucksters with other prophaners of his Sabbath, into his Temple: And yet it may be he would whip them out again, for coming profanely thither, or committing profaneness there. Many are so greedy of worldly gains, that they cannot forbear their Huckstering upon the Sabbath: they lose a greater good for the gaining of a little goods. They lose the Time and Means of gaining goodness, and gaining godliness. Godliness is great gain. But alas! their gains by hapering at home are small and inconsiderable. What if they Vbi salutis damnum est, illic utique jam lucrum nullum est. Eucher. Epist. ad Valerian. gain much? What if they gain as much as all the World, if they must lose their Souls, their gains can no way recompense them for their loss. There can be no profit in such gains; For, What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? FINIS. The Pious Convert. A FAST SERMON, As it was Preached at Great Bealing in SUFFOLK, By Edw. Willan, M. A. C. C. C. in Ca Luke 5. 32. I came not to call the Righteous, but Sinners to repentance. Matth. 3. 8. Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance. Seneca Tragaed. 8. Quem paenitet peccasse, pene est innocens. LONDON, Printed for RICHARD ROYSTON at the Angel in Ivy-lane, 1651. To the Worshipful, ALMOT CLENCH Esq; His very loving Friend and Kinsman. SIR, YOU cannot but know by whom this Text was given to me: But I cannot know to whom this Sermon may be given so rightly as to the Giver of the Text. Give me leave then to give that to you a second time, and by a second way, which hath been yours from the first. Why should it not be yours in your Hands, as well as yours in your Head, and yours in your Heart? The Text was very well taken from his hands that gave it: And I will hope that those hands which gave the Text, will take the Sermon so. Indeed I must needs say, the Text was very worthy to be accepted; But so I dare not say of the Sermon. But if you please to take it as it is, it is as it was. It was yours from the Pulpit at the first; And yours for ever it must be from the Press, by all the right that may be. I have minded you already of your Interest in the Argument: But I suppose I need not mind you of your Interest in the Author, Who is Sir, Your Worship's humble Servant, and poor Kinsman, Edw. Willan. The Pious Convert. Ezekiel 18. 32. Wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. IT was not I that chose this Text for this Time: nor was it this Time that chose this Text for me. Yet choice it was, not chance, that put me at this Time upon this Text, or this Text rather upon me. I cannot choose but like and love the choice from him that made it, and say, My lot is fallen to Psal. 16. 7. ●n a fair ground. It is a Text as fitly chosen for these ●es as may be. We cannot yet say, that the Times are tur●g; yet may we say, that they are turning Times: And ● Text is like them; a Text of Turning. I wish my Ser●n may be as suitable to the Text, as the Text is to the ●e; and then I am sure it cannot be unseasonable. Those Sermons are never out of Season, which season the ●rts of Sinners with godly sorrow for their Sins. And ●se Seasons, wherein the Hearts of Sinners are without ●h Sorrow, may not be without such Sermons. It were to wished that such Sermons were less suitable than they are ●o these Times. But alas! there can be no Sermons more ●hen Penitential, for the present Time: Nor any Time ●re fit then the Present, for Penitential Sermons. That inspired Secretary of the Holy Ghost St. Paul, did truly foretell of Evil Times. And truly these Times are as Evil, ● 2 Tim. 3. 1, 2. any that he did foretell of: Evil they are in respect of S●●ings; and worse they are in respect of Sins: And ther●● worse they will be also in respect of Sufferings, unless ●● do become less evil than they are in respect of Sins. ●●deed most men wonder to see these Times so evil as they ●● already: But we may rather wonder that we have not ●●ready seen them fare worse than they are indeed. The Itching Ears of these Times have made them very ill ●●ready: ● Tim. 4. 3. God forbidden that I should make them worse by cl●●ing of them: He that claws an itching Humour does b● make it spread the further. And truly too much clawi● of itching Ears on both sides hath already spread such ●●mours too too fare: for so invenomed they have been ●● such clawing, that no remedy but Phlebotomy could c●● the Malady. The folly of clawing hath fetched blood already on both sides: And it were to be wished, that the bl●● already drawn might serve the turn. It would, it may ●● if men would turn themselves. And there is no way to ●● away the Times of this most dangerous Phlebotomy, but ● turning away from the most damnable flatteries of t●● Times. These are Times indeed to break men's Hearts ●● serious Blames of their iniquity: No Times to break ●● Heads with the precious Balms of flattery. These are times ● Psal. 141. 6. Rev. 2, 16. 19, 15. Ephes. 6. 17. Hebr. 4. 12. incite men to shed Tears gladio oris, with that sword of ●● which proceedeth out of his mouth, the keen blade of ●● Word, sharper indeed than any twoedged Sword. No Times to ● men on to shed more blood still o'er gladii, with the mo●● or edge of that mortal Sword which eateth Flesh and drin● Blood. These are no Times to drive ill Humours in at m●● Ears, but to draw them out at their Eyes. Never were lamenting Jeremies, or relenting Jonahs, or● proving nathan's, or repenting David's more needful to any p●●ple: Nor ever any People less heedful unto such Prop●● then the English in these Times. No Times did ●ver aff●● more Preachers, or fewer Practisers of Repentance then ●● Present. Indeed, the sound of Repentance was never m●● affected by any People: But sound Repentance indeed ●● ●ver less effected by any Preachers. Those Prophets of the Lord do ever bring most profit to ●● People, which preach the People into Repentance, by ●●aching Repentance unto the People: And those People ●e ever return most profit to their Preachers, which do ●urn or repent at their preaching of Repentance to them. ●hat better office can a Preacher do to any People, then invert them from their Sins by speaking home unto their consciences? And what greater Honour can the People ●e to any Preacher, then to hear and believe, and turn at ●s preaching to them? 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith ●. chrysostom: What profit a crews to me from all these Chrysost. Hom. 2 ●●ie applauses? 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith he; And ●hat profit is there to me from all these popular praises, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, S. Choice. Hom. 2. ●d tumuls? My praise, and profit, and honour are rather ● your Works then in your Words. Then am I to be dee●ed happy, saith he, not when ye hear, but when ye do ●hat I deliver to you; or, when ye turn at my reproofs, and ●● amended at my exhortations. The Preachers greatest profit is in the People's: And certain it is, that no People of ●e Lord can do a better turn unto themselves, then to turn ●●mselves unto the Lord of all People. Wherefore turn your ●ves, and live ye. This Text concludes the Chapter, and as a rational Con●usion it is inferred from many Premises in the Chapter. ●●d in this Text we may observe the Use and Application of ● the whole Chapter: The Use is an Use of Exhortation. The ●●xt is Hortatory; two Exhortations are couched in it. ●he first, an Exhortation to Repentance: The second an Ex●rtation to Perseverance. Turn yourselves; there's the first. ●●ve ye; there's the second. The last is ushered in by the ●●st: And the first is ushered in by an Illation, or note of In●●●nce, which referreth unto both: Wherefore turn your ●●ves, and live ye. Or in the Text we may observe twice two Considerabl●s. Two Conjunctions, and Two Injunctions. First, two Conjunctions. The first to join the two Injections in the Text unto the former Parts of the Chap●● The second, to join the latter Injunction in the Text ●● the former. The two Conjunctions are both Copulated Et reverti sacite, & vive●is. Ar. Mont. according to Montanus: But according to our Eng●● Translation, the former is an Illative, the latter only Collative. The first brings both the Injunctions into the Ch●●ter; The second brings them both together. The first Injunction doth command an Humble Conversion, Turn yourselves. The second commands an Holy Conversation, Live ye. The performance of the first, prepareth for the second▪ And the performing of the second, is to the perfecting ● the first. The second cannot be without the first; And t●● first had as good not be, as be without the second. Both ●● be performed, and both in order: First turn, and then ●● Living is commanded, as well as Turning. The last Ve●b● as mandatory as the first; both are in the Commanding Mood, both Imperatives, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so they are bo●● translated by S. Hierome, and by our own Translators to● Revertimini, & vivite, saith he: Turn yourselves, and l●ve ●● say they. Revertimini per poenitentiam, saith Ni●. de Ly●● Nic. de Lyra in locum. Turn yourselves by repenting of your sins. Et vivite p●gratiam, quae ducit ad vitam glori● sempiternam: And live t●● life of Grace here, which leadeth to the Life of Glo●● hereafter. It is to no end or purpose to turn yourselves, unl●● Paenitentiam quippe agere, est & perpetrata mala plangere, & plang●nda non perp●trare. S. Gregor. in aesti. temp. you purpose to go on unto the end, when ye are turn●● Wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. Be Converts, and continued such: Live ye ever so, and so ye shall live for ev●● Living without Turning is impossible; and Turning without Living is unprofitable. Indeed there is no Living without Turning, nor any Turning indeed without Living He that would live, must turn himself: And he that do● turn himself, must live too: And he shall live, that so d●● turn himself. Wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. Re●● facite, & vivetis, saith Montanus: Do your endeavours to be Ari. Mont. Bibl. secund. Zanti● Pagnini interpretationem. turned, and ye shall live. And so Montanus seems to part the Text into a Precept, and a Promise. First, into a Precept of Turning. Secondly, into a Promise of Living. Turn, and Live. As much as to say; Repent, and so be reprieved; Forsake your sins, and so save your souls; Be but penitent, and ye shall be pardoned. The last is hinted as a Promise, to persuade men to the Performance of the first. The Promise commendeth the End; the Precept commandeth the Means. Life is offered in the Promise as the End; and Repentance is required in the Precept as the Means. He that would obtain the End, must use the Means; and he that doth use the Means, shall obtain the End. He that would live, must turn himself; and he that doth turn himself, shall live. Wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. Thus some have taken both parts of the Text as mandatory; And others have taken only the first part to be mandatory, and the second to be promissory. So that some have taken the last part as an Injunction, and some have taken it as an Invitation; Some as a Precept, and some as a Promise. Let us now take it as both; As a Precept, and as a Promise too. As a Precept to live. And, As a Promise of Life. First, as a precept of Living after turning; And secondly, Dr. Donne, Se●m. 7. on the Nativity. as a promise after both. As a Precept enjoining the Life of Grace; and as a Promise of enjoying the Life of Glory. As a Precept requiring a Spiritual life, which is the life of life; And as a Promise of requiting it with Life Eternal, which is (as One calls it) the Exaltation of Life Spiritual. Yea, the Promise is not only of enjoying the Life of Glory, with the Glory of Life hereafter; But of enjoying the Life of Grace here, with the Grace of Life here also. Turn yourselves, and live here: Turn yourselves, and live hereafter. The promise is of the less salvation as well as of the greater, and no less of the greater than of the less. Temporal life may be prolonged, and Eternal life may be procured, by that Turning here required. Eternal judgements may be prevented, and temporal judgements may be diverted or turned away, by turning here according to the Text. Wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. Wherefore] is a Note of Inference, and it doth refer the Text to that which goes before it. Now here to take in that before it which relateth chief to it, we must take our rist at the Verse before it: And in that we may note two things very considerable. 1. An Exhortation. 2. An Expostulation. The Exhortation is very passionate; The Expostulation very compassionate. The first in these words; Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed, and make you a a new heart and a new spirit. The second in these words; For why will ye die, O house of Israel? The first is moving, but the second urging. Expostulatio pungit: A zealous Exppostulation doth infuse the spirit of Compunction: it hath the quickest touch of any kind of speech, it often toucheth to the quick. And God himself doth here expostulate the cause with dying Sinners, to make them sensible of their dangers, and to quicken them in their seeking of deliverance. First he exhorts them to forsake their sins, to save their souls. And then (seeing his Exhortation to work but little upon them, though it were pathetical and paraenetical) He falls to expostulate the reason with them: For why will ye die? As if he should have said; If ye will but cast away your sins from you, ye shall not be cast away for your sins: But if ye will not, ye must: If ye will not leave them whilst ye live, ye must die for them, whether ye will or no, and they must leave you, when ye die. Why will ye die? Why will ye? As much as to say; I must needs demand the reason, or ask the cause of you, in whom the Provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands, and I will do you no hurt. Jer. 25. 6. cause of dying is. Ye die, because ye will die. Why will ye die? As much as to say, I would not have you die; it is not merely from my will that ye die, but from your own. Do not say then, that ye must needs die, because I will have ye die; and that I will have ye die, because I will. I have no such will: I would have you live; and therefore have exhorted you, and entreated you again and again to turn from your evil ways, the ways of sin, which are the ways of death. And I have promised to you, that if ye will repent, iniquity ver. 30. shall not be your ruin. And my meaning is very sincere and real: I will be as good as my promise, if ye will be but as good as I desire you. And because I see mine Exhortation to be neglected of you, therefore do I come thus home unto you with an Expostulation, to make you sensible of your fault, and folly, and to make you see, that the cause of death is in yourselves, in your own wills, or rather in your wilfulness. Ye will die. Why will ye die? Ye will do that for which ye must die: Ye will needs sinne, to die for it: Ye will not avoid it, by resisting the Temptation; nor make it void, by repenting of it; and therefore ye must die for it, For the wages of sin is death. I must needs say unto you, Why will ye die? Why will ye not return, and live? Why will ye not be persuaded? why not entreated? why not commanded? Why, can no means, no mercies, no promises, no threaten prevail with you? Will ye sin wilfully? will ye die sinfully? And yet will ye say, that it is my will that ye should so do, and so die? Ye do that which is quite against my mind, against my Word, which is my will. If ye die then, thank yourselves for all your sufferings, or rather blame yourselves for all your sins. Let this then serve as a Caveat to every Sinner, to admonish him to take good heed that he doth not charge God foolishly, and falsely with the impulsive and original cause of his eternal death. Nefas est Deo ascribere causas peccatorum, & ruinarum omnium, saith S. Austin. It is a funerious crime S. Aug. Resp. ad articulos sibi false impositos. to fasten the cause of all evils upon God himself. Let no man therefore say, that he must needs sin unto death, and die in sin, because it is Gods will and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or good Or, had I not rather that he should be converted from his evil ways, and live? Diodat. pleasure that it should be so: for God himself doth say the contrary, and that with a kind of indignation; For, saith he, have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die; and not that he should return from his ways, and live? v. 23. His Interrogation does import a vehement Negation. In saying, Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? He says as much as, I have no pleasure at all that the wicked should die? And so he says very positively in the words before the Text. For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dyeth. So far he is from taking Nolo mortem morientis, quantum ut convertatur, & vivat. Pamelius in Tertull. de Paeniten. pleasure in the death of Penitent sinners, that the death of Impenitent sinners is no pleasure to him. He hath no pleasure in the death of such as die naturally in their sins, or for their not repenting of their sins before they die. I have no pleasure in the death of him that dyeth. If ye die then, the fault's your own. It is your wilfulness in sinning: or your unwillingness to repent you of your sinning, Ye will not be persuaded to forsake your sins before ye die; and therefore ye must needs die, and suffer for their sakes. Perditio tua ex te: O Israel, thy destruction is of thyself: saith God, Hos. 13. 9 The same may be said to any damned soul, or dying sinner. The Lord is very desirous to clear himself from all aspersions in this particular; and therefore does not only say it, but swear it too, that he would not the death of the wicked. As I live, is an Oath, and a great one too: Yet God himself doth take it to attest this Truth; As I live, saith the scut verum est quod sum vita per essentiam, it a verum est quod nolo mortem impii, etc. Nicho. de Lyra ad locum. Psal. 89. 35. Gen. 17. 1. Luke 1. 73. Numb. 20. 12. Exod. 14. 11. Psal. 50. 21. Ezek. 18. 25, 29. Psal. 78. 19, 20 Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. But that the wicked turn from his evil way, and live. Ezek. 33. 11. For the Lord of life to say, As I live, is an oath by the life of the Lord. And that is as high an oath as can be invented. Had he sworn by his Truth, as he doth sometimes; or by his Holiness, as he did to David; or by his Omnipotency, as he did to Abraham, his engagement had been very great. But this by his Life is deemed greater: for his Truth hath been questioned by divers, and so hath his Holiness, and his Almighty Power hath been doubted of by as many: But who did ever question his Life? Now it is his very Life that he doth engage for the clearing of this Truth. As I live, saith the Lord, etc. He is the Living God. And he is the God of the Living, not of the Dead: And therefore would not have the wicked Die, Matth. 22. 32. Tertull. l. de Paenit. but Live. And this he sweareth by his Life, that we might believe him; Jurat Deus, cupit sibi credi, saith Tertullian; When God doth swear, we must believe him, for he swears to be believed. Ideirco jurat, saith St. Hierome, ut si non credimus Deo S. Hieron. To. 2. Epist. 46. promitte●●i, credamus saltem pro salute juranti. God therefore swears, that we may believe him upon his oath, when we Magnum est loqu● dom●num quanto magis jurare Deum? St. August. in Psal. 49. will not believe him upon his word. It is much for God to speak, but more to swear. By speaking a word, he made the World; for, he did but speak the word and it was made. But he that could create the World with a Word, could not be credited in the World upon his Word; and therefore was forced to bind it with an Oath. Now though we do not believe him upon his Word, yet let us believe him upon his Oath. We may believe his bare Word; for it is the God of Truth Deutr. 32. 4. Isai. 65. 16. that speaketh in his Word, and it is nothing but the Truth of God which is spoken: We will believe an honest man upon his word, and shall we not believe the most holy God. Durum est. It is very hard, if we shall not give as much credit to God, as we do to an honest man, as saith Vincentius very divinely. Gen. 3. 4. Durum est cum non tantum tribuamus Deo, quantum diabolo. Vincent. An non hac ratione Deum in animo tuo perstringis mendacii, qui verbo quidem dicat te velle servare, etc. interim tamen licet tu velis in Christum credere ipse tamen nolit. Zanch. de nature. Dei l. 5. Numb. 23. 19 Rom. 3. 4. 2 Cor. 1. 20. Hebr. 6. 18. 1 John. 3. 3. Our first Parents believed the father of lies, when he did but say, ye shall not surely die. And shall not we believe the father of mercies, the God of Truth, when he does not only say it, but swear it too, that he would not have us die: He swears that he would not the death of the wicked. And shall we still say that he would their death? Or that he would have them wicked, that so they might die? Absit, absit, God forbidden that we should harbour such a thought of our most holy God The truth is, God's Word in itself is as sure as his Oath; for he is not a man that he should lie: Let God be true, and every man a liar. All his promises are yea, and in him amen. Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but not one tittle of his word shall fail: So that for the certainty of what he speaketh, there needs no such religious Contestations: Yet for our sakes the Oath of God is added to his Word, that we might thereby have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, strong consolation. That we might believe a possibility of repenting; And a probability, yea an infallibility of Pardon upon our repentance. That we might have hopes of life, and purge ourselves upon our hopes, Debile fundamentum fallit opus. A weak foundation Nemo potest bene agere paenitentiam nisi qui speraverit indulgentiam St. Ambr. de Paenit. dist. 1. cap. Nem. fails the building: But here is a sure foundation for us to build our hopes upon as high as heaven. Dei juramentum e●● fide● nostrae fundamentum. God's oath may surely ground us in our holy faith: Doth he swear it? O then, let us believe it! O beatos nos quorum causa jurat Deus! O miserrimos, si nec juranti Deo credimus! O happy we, for whose sake the living God doth swear by his life, that he would not our death! O most wretched we, (saith Tertullian) if we Tertull. de Paeniten. will not believe him when he swears. He swears he would not our death, but have us live he would, and therefore would have us use the means. Now turning is the means of living; Wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. Turn yourselves. These words are altogether Mandatory. And the Precept in them hath these two Considerables. 1. Who are commanded. 2. What is commanded. First, Who. The word is Plural in the Text: And the Mandate in it is indefinite, and so must reach unto us all. Turn ye, even all ye. Turn yourselves, ye that are sinners; Ye that Deus definitionem non facit, qui misericordiam suam omnibus promisit. S. Ambros. de Paenit. dist. 1. must otherwise suffer eternally for your sins: Turn yourselves. We are all concerned in the duty here commanded. And in that we may consider three particulars, 1. The Act. 2. The Object. 3. The Time. The Act, Turn. The Object, Yourselves. The Time, Presently. For the word is in the Imperative Mood; and that admits of none but the Present Tense. And thus from these words we may infer these three Conclusions: 1. That we must all Turn. 2. That we must all Turn ourselves. 3. That we must all Turn ourselves without delay. Wherefore turn yourselves. First of the first, we must all turn. But what is it to turn? By Turning here is meant Repenting. In Sinning there is a turning from the Creator, and a turning to the Creature: And therefore in Repenting there must be a turning from the Creature, & a returning to the Creator. And this Turning is commonly called the Conversion of a Sinner. And in this Conversion there are many Turn. The first is the Sinners turning of al● sins out of himself, by a full and clear Confession of them. The second is, the Agite paenitentram det●stando peccatum. Nic. de Lyra in locum. S. Aug. Ser. 3. de Nat. Dom. Sinners turning from all sins so turned out, with an utter detestation of them. And the third is, the Sinners turning or returning unto God, with true compunction and contrition for his former turning from him. For, Paenitentiam certam non facit, nisi odium peccati, & amor Dei, saith S. Austin. A sinner can never be said to be a true Convert, until he turns his loving of sin into a loathing of it, and his hating of God into a loving of him. God hates an obstinate Sinner, God accounteth those to be haters of him, which continue sinners against him. Ex. 20. 5. but loves an humble Penitent. And we cannot but love him when we are Penitents, though we were haters of him whilst we were Sinners. When our repenting of our sins hath procured his love to pardon them, and his pardoning of our sins hath persuaded us to love him, than our love unto him must needs provoke us to abhor even all our sins, which provoked him to abhor us; and to set our hatred most against those Delilahs or delightful sins, on which we once most set our hearts. Our Hearts are most of Prov. 23. 26. all desired of God; And God (who is a (jealous God in this particular) is most jealous of those sins which have been our Darlings; for those are most likely to steal away our hearts and turn away our loves from him. He loves nothing like our Hearts, and woos us for nothing more than for our loves, and therefore hates nothing so much as those insinuating sins, which will needs be his Corrivals and Competitors in Courting of our Hearts. And therefore we, to attest the truth of our love to him, must from our very Hearts detest those sins, and scorn to entertain them as beloved Suitors. Yea, we must even hate them with a perfect battered, or we cannot love God with entire love: And unless we love him, we cannot hope for his love towards us: And without his love we cannot live, or not so as we would, not well, not in peace, either with him, or others, or with ourselves. Sin is a very , a common Barattor, the grand Boutefeu of Great-Britain, and of all the World. It is the partition-wall betwixt God and man, and betwixt man and man too. It is Sin that hath parted the Church and the Isa. 59 2. Jer. 5. 25. State: it is Sin that hath parted the Sovereign and the Subject, the Prince and the People. It is Sin that hath been the Impulsive cause of all our hurtful Combustions; Lam. 5. 16. and Sin it is that is the Impedimental cause of all our hopeful Accommodations. Oh, sin's the Remora of Reconcilement. What evil of Suffering is there now amongst us, which the evil of Sin hath not pulled down upon us? Isa. 48. 22. 57 21. It is Sin that hath been the Traitor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, both to the King and to the Kingdom; the Troubler of this our Israel. Sin is the grand Malignant, the great Delinquent: It is Sin that hurts, and hinders the Great and Gravest Council of the Kingdom. What evil hath been acted, but Sin hath had a finger in it? Sin is the all in all for mischief. It hath been thought by some Politicians, that malus Vir may be bonus Cives; An evil Man, and a good Commonwealths man. But believe it upon a plain demonstration, A great Sinner can never be a good Subject: His sins are ever doing of more evil in a Kingdom, than he himself is able to do good: Whilst the Sinner himself may be fight for it, his sins are fight against him and that. When a Kingdom quarrels with itself, it is a sign that God hath a quarrel with it. When the people of any Country do sin against God, they do but pick quarrels betwixt God and their Country; and God he fights them all, by making them to fight each other, whilst the sins of the divided Parties do ever fight against their own Parties. How many on both Parties swear to fight for their own Parties, to the best of their powers and policies; and drink deep Healths to the greatest Leaders of their Parties, with intentions and protestations to be faithful to them: whilst their Drink, and Swear, and other sins are very treacherous to themselves, and make them as ill as Traitors to their Causes, and to their Companions? The sins of each Party do take part with the other Party against the Sinners and their Parties. Yea indeed there would be no such Parties, nor any need of such parts-taking, but for the sins of both Parties. O that every Party and every person would look upon their own sins as the most malignant party, and as the worst of enemies. O that every man would take some speedy course to secure himself and all Parties, by seeking out of those most dangerous Malignants that are in his own bosom, and bringing them to their trials before the Bars of Self-examination, and Self-Conviction, and Self-condemnation! That every man would turn out his own sins, and turn them off, and return to the God of peace and mercy, that God might turn away his fierce anger from us all, and turn his displeasure into love, and his controversy with this Nation into a National peace. And this he might be persuaded to do for us, could we be persuaded by him to turn from all our sins, and return unto him. Wherefore turn yourselves. This brings the Act unto the Object, I would it might also bring the Object to the Act. It hath brought Turning unto you; I wish it might as well bring you to Turning. Many are busy in turning, but it is not of themselves. They are turning out and turning off, but it is not of their own sins. There are many and many ill turns done to others in these Times, but these are not the turn in the Text. Our turning must be of ourselves. Wherefore turn yourselves. Let us search and try our own ways, and turn again unto the Lord, saith the Prophet Jeremy, Lam. 3. 40. Let us turn ourselves; and let us all do so. A particular Person, by turning of BP. Davenant, Sermon before the House of Lords. Jer. 3. 22. himself unto the Lord, may turn away a particular Judgement from himself: But when the sin hath been general, and the suffering be as general almost as the sin, than the sorrowing for it must be general. There must be a general Turning at such a time, to turn away the Judgement. Clergy and Laity, Noble and Ignoble, all must turn at such a time. When that great Defection was in the Kingdom of Israel, and both parties had been sorely punished, the lamenting Prophet Jeremy, by inspiration bespoke both parties to return together. Let the Children of Israel, and the Children of Judah come together, and weeping seek the Lord their God, Jerem. 50. 4. And the Prophet Hosea's Exhortation return is general. Come let us return unto the Lord, for he hath spoilt us, and he will heal us, he hath wounded us, and he will bind us up again, Hos. 6. 1. Then our Turning may be to purpose indeed, when it is universal, when we all join hands hearts, and turn as one Man unto the Lord. When every Man turneth one, every one turns himself. When every wicked man forsakes his own ways, and every unrighteous man his own imaginations, and return unto the Lord. As the the Prophet Isaiah exhorteth, Isa. 55. 7. Great complaining there hath been by the Many, against all sorts of Magistrates, both Supreme, and Subordinate. Yea the greatest Council of the Kingdom hath been complained of by many: As if all evils were originally from miscarriages in Governors. But may not the Many err in this, Matth. 22. 29. not knowing the Scriptures? It was the Sin of David that caused the people to be numbered: And it was from David's numbering of the People, that seventy thousands of them were swept away in three day's space by the plague of Pestilence. Yet was it not David's 1 Chron. 21. 2. 7. 14. sin, but the sins of the People, that gave the first occasion of that punishment. As you may see 2 Sam. 24. 1. And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved Causa causae est causa causati. David against them to say, go number Israel and Judah. When God is angry with a people for their sins, he suffers their Ruler, or Rulers to do something amiss, that so upon the fault of the Magistrate he may take an occasion to punish the multitude. And it becomes the people to begin their Complaints, where the fault to be complained of began. See this point very excellently handled by Mr Rous in his Oil of Scorpions, Sect. 14. If the sufferings of Israel were occasioned by David's sinning, And David's sinning were occasioned by the sins of Israel, then surely the way for Israel to have turned away their sufferings, had been by turning from their fins. Let not us inferiors look above ourselves, or from ourselves: for the finding out of faults to be amended, but let us look into ourselves, and amend what there we find amiss. The Hearts of the Governors are in the hands of God, and he Prov. 21. 1. They are still in the hand of God's powerful providence, though he permits the Devil to have a hand and power over them. Dr Jermin Paraphrastick Meditations upon the Proverbs. turns them as he pleaseth which way he will himself. When he turns away their hearts from the People, it is a sign that Hearts of the People are turned away from him. He is the God of Gods, and Lord of Lords, He is the Over-ruler of all Rulers; and by his disposing it is that they rule, for the benefit, or for the detriment of the People. Now if there by any miscarriages in our Governors, the way to win the Lord to set them right unto us, is to set ourselves right to the Lord. Let us but turn with all our hearts unto the Lord, and he will surely turn the Hearts of all our Governors to us, and our welfare. He will make their Counsels prosperous, He will make their designs successful; He will turn our storm into a calm, our dangers into safety, our troubles into tranquillity. All things Rom. 8. 28. shall work together for good to those that love him. Many Men have many enemies in these times; And every Man's desires are to get the Victory over his enemies. Our greatest Enemies are in ourselves, our own sins are bosom Enemies; And homebred Enemies are ever most mischievous. Above any other Enemies let us therefore labour to get the Victory over ourselves. Let us never give over combating till we have conquered our own corruptions. These are the first, and worst of Enemies, the Makers and Jam. 4. 1. Pugna, ut sit in animo hominis paena peccati est, ex primo homine in omnes filios propagata: ut qui noluit cum Deo esse unitus, esset in semetipso divisus: & qui imperanti Domino noluit esse subjectus, sibi ipsirebellis atque contrarius esset. Isidorus de Summo bono, l. ●. cap. 26. Movers of all Enmities. From whence come Wars and fightings amongst you? Come they not hence, even of your Lusts which war in your Members? saith St. James. Our unruly affections make us all unruly. Our mutinous affections make us so amongst ourselves. There are Wars within us, and they are the incentives of the Wars without us. Let us labour to make a peace within us, and that's the way to have a peace without us. The way to get the Noblest Victory over all our Enemies, is for every Man to get the Victory over himselse. Caesar was more commended by Cicero for overcoming his own passions to the yielding of Pardon to Marcellus, then for his greatest Conquests over his other Enemies. It is a signal Conquest for a Man of a fiery Spirit to suppress his Anger; It is with Hercules to conquer one of the furies of Hell. It was but Inhumanely spoken by Vitellius upon the Death of Otho, as he viewed the Carcases on the place where they fought the Battle. O how sweet a perfume is a dead Enemy! But it may be Divinely spoken by one that hath Conquered himself, or Mortified his sinful affections: O what a savour of life unto life! is the Death of such a Mortal sin, Such a bosom Enemy! The Sins of every Man are every Man's greatest Enemies. And the Kingdom's greatest Enemies are the greatest sins of the Kingdom. I have been ever more afraid of the Sins of this our Nation, then of any Soldiers from foreign Nations. Great talking there hath been of Danish Fleets, and other Outlandish Forces But we have more cause to fear our Seaman's sins, and the sins of our own Land. If God be for us, who can be against us? And he will be for us, if our sins be not against him: but our Rom. 8. 31. sins are all against him, and for their sakes he is against us. Were it not for them, we need not fear any Danish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. St Chrysost. Nemo leditur nisi à seipso. Fleets, or Spanish Armadas, or Turkish Navies; nor all the Pirates and Powers of Hell. We have most cause then to be afraid of ourselves, to fear our own sins. Every Man may well pray as some of old were wont to do, Am Domine serva me: Lord save me from myself! In the Common Prayers; when the Minister said, Give peace in our time, O Lord! the People were wont to answer, Because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only thou, O. God. A very strange Reply, but not more strange than true; for true it is, that it is God alone that fighteth for us. The Devil, he fighteth against us. The World, that fighteth against us; And the Flesh as much as either of both. So that we ourselves are enemies Quo sugiam poenitendo, nisi ad ejus misericordiam cujus potestatem contempseram peccando? Tertul. to ourselves, and fight against ourselves. And so may fitly pray, Lord save us from ourselves. Now there is no way for us to save ourselves from ourselves, but by turning of ourselves to him that fighteth for us. Wherefore turn yourselves. But it is not every turning that will serve the turn There is ease indeed to be had by this turning, but this turning is not to be had with ease. It is not turning with the Time, nor turning to the Time, that can turn the Time: No, but our turning of ourselves in time from the sins of the Time. God himself will turn unto our side, and When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. Prov. 16. 7. make us all to turn unto one side, or rather turn away all this siding, would men on all sides but turn themselves to him. Wherefore turn yourselves. And how ever the Times turn this way, and that way; backward, and forward: Yet let not us turn mere Cameleons in Religion, as if we had no colour for it, but what we borrow of those which are nearest to us: Neither let us be turned about like Weathercocks, with every Wind of New Doctrine. Let us not turn, and turn, and turn with every Polypus, and every Proteus, and every fantastical Changeling, which turn to every new Religion, Proteo mutabilior. Eras. Adag. until they have no Religion left to turn unto. Turn not with them that are ever turning their old Religions out of themselves, until they have turned all Religion out of themselves, and themselves out of all Religion. There need but these two moving in our turning of ourselves. 1. Downwards. 2. Upwards. First, Downwards by Mortification. Secondly, Upwards by Vivification. Downwards by a Death unto sin; Upwards by a New Birth unto Righteousness. Downwards by an Humiliation; Upwards by a Reformation. And if we thus draw nigh to God, he will draw nigh to us. He will return to us with much Compassion towards our souls, if Jam. 4. 8. Zach. 1. 3. we will turn to him with true Compunction for our sins. He will be displeased with us for our sins, till we be displeased with ourselves for them. For he can never take pleasure in us so long as we take pleasure in that which is so displeasing as sin is unto him. But when we are displeased with sin in ourselves, than he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Menand. Hug. Cardin. l. 3 de Myster. Ecclesiast. pleased with us. When we condemn ourselves for sinning so against him, we save him a labour, we prevent him for condemning of us. Paenitentia, quasip●nientia, saith Hugo Cardinalis. True Penitency is a punishing of sin in ourselves, to save ourselves from God's punishments. For God will not for ever punish that which hath been once punished Poenitentia est quaedam doloris vindicta, puniens in se quod se dolet commisisse. St August. Poenitentia, quasi paenae tentio. Guido de Monte Rocherii in Manipulo Curatorum. . God hath promised Remission of sin to those that have Contrition for sin. At what time soever a sinner doth repent him of his sin from the bottom of his heart, I will put all his wickedness out of my remembrance, saith the Lord. But observe it well. He that hath promised to pardon a sinner at what time soever he doth turn himself, or truly repent him of his sins, doth not promise that he shall repent, or turn whensoever he will. We cannot repent when we would, therefore let us repent when we can. We are not sure of time hereafter, therefore let us take the present. Repentance is a due debt, and there is no longer day given in the Bond, and therefore the payment must be presently. And that's the third Conclusion. We must all turn ourselves without delay. Therefore also now, saith the Lord, Turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning, Joel 2. 12. As it is never too late to amend, so it is never N●m sera nunquam est ad bonos mores via. Seneca Tragaed. 8. too soon to be good. Better late than never; but the sooner the better. They do well that do amend, though it be at the very last: But they better, that amend sooner; And they best of all, that amend first of all. The sooner men be good, the easier it is unto them to grow better. And the later they amend, the harder it is unto them to grow better, or continue good. At this time there are many, who might by this time have been better than they are, had they been good but sooner than they were: And would by this time have been worse than ever they were, had they not grown better than they were until this time. The evil man's condition is made worse and worse, by his continuance in an evil condition. The deferring of his amendment doth make the difficulty of amending double. Qui non est hodie, cras minus aptus erit. He that is unfit to repent to day, will be more unfit to morrow, for he will have more sins to repent of, and will be hardened more in his sins: He will have a Day more to repent of, and a Day less to repent in. Every Day doth add a new Sum to the old Score; yea every hour doth score up many smaller Debts to increase the Totall Sum. So that he who is not able to dischage the debt of his Sins to Day, will the less able to unscore a longer sum to Morrow. The longer any sinner lets his scores run on, the greater will his quantum be, when it comes to be summed up. And they must needs become non-solvent, that score up sins too many days before they reckon. Often reckoning doth make long friends: And easy reckon are made by often reckoning. So it happens between man and man: And so it happens also between God and man. But many deal with God, as some evil Debtors deal with their Creditors; they study much how to get into debt, but not at all how to get out: They take great care to be trusted; but little care to pay. Whereas their first care should be to run as little as may be into God's Debt, by scoring up of Sins: And their next care should be to get out of Debt as soon as may be. It is the height of impiety, to be hardened with impenitency. To commit sin is to displease God; but to continue in sin, is to despise him, when he is displeased, or to slight his displeasure. And to go on in sin at such a time as this, when God hath taken his Rod into his hand, and such a Red as now he hath, can be no less than a bidding of utter defiance to him. It is a bidding of him to do his worst. They go fare that never return: fare be it from us to go on in sin so fare, or too fare to return. Some Mariners have sailed so far to the Arctick-Pole-wards, and stayed so long in those Northern parts, that their ships have been bewintered in the midst of congealed waters, and they bennumed in their frozen ships. Lot's wife was turned into a Pillar of Salt for turning back so soon; and they into Pillars of Ice for Gen. 19 26. not returning sooner: And many in the World are like such adventurous Mariners, they go on, and on, and on in the ways of sin, which are the ways of death, so far, that they can never return alive to the land of the living. They are benumbed by the winterly frosts of Icy Death before they be ware. O beware that ye be not so surprised. Repent speedily, ye may die suddenly: Take the counsel of Jesus the son of Sirach, And make no tarrying to turn to the Lord. Put Ecclus. 5. 7. not off from day to day: for suddenly shall the wrath of the Lord come forth, and in your security ye shall be destroyed, and perish in the day of vengeance. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; So Demosthenes to the Athenians, and so say Demosthen. Olynthiac. 3. I to you, What Time, or what opportunity do ye look for better than the present? 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, When will ye do what ye ought to do, if ye will not do it now? when will y● repent and turn yourselves, if ye will not now? 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: Do these things, saith he, whilst a propitious fortune leads the way. And Haec sacite, duce prospera fortuna. Vit. Amerpach. interpr. whilst a fair opportunity does invite you, do this thing which does so much concern you, Repent in time. They that defer their repentance till it be too late to repent, will repent when it is too late, that they did so long defer their repentance. True repentance is seldom late: and late repentance is seldom true. Indeed the Authentic story (as that famous Poet calls the Gospel) doth tell us of one true Convert, which returned Dubartas. as far homewards in a few hours, as he had wandered from home in many years. The penitent Thief was far gone in that broad way, which leadeth to destruction, before he returned into Luke 23. 40, 41, 42. Matt. 7. 13, 14. the narrow way, which leadeth unto life: He was gone to the very gate of Hell, and yet returned. But let no man presume to run on in his evil way in hope of his good return: for he had an advantage which no man else is like to have; for John 10. 7. the door of Heaven was next unto him, when he began to turn: Christ is the way, and the Gate, and the Door, and the 14. 6. Guide, and the Help to Heaven; and the All in all in Heaven, and he was as near to the Penitent Thief as he could wish, when he began to be a Penitent. And it was a good turn for him, that so it was, or he might have come short of Heaven as fare as some other Thiefs have done, who never thought of turning themselves to Heaven-wards, until they were even ready to be turned off the Ladder. O, what an happy turn was this for that Penitent Thief! This Turn did set him safe upon the Ladder of Life, the true Hebr. 10. 20. Joh. 1. 51. Genes. 28. 12. and living Ladder, which reacheth up from Earth to Heaven: The substance of jacob's Ladder, whose foot did stand upon the Earth, and whose top did reach up unto Heaven. That Symb. S. Athan. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. mystical vision was an adumbration of Christ: his Humane nature was as the foot, and his Divine nature was the top of the Ladder. The top and foot made but one Ladder, and God and Man make but one Christ, as the only Mediator between God and man; the new and living way between Heaven and Earth; the Ladder by which the penitent Thief Luk. 23. 42, 43 Non dicit in die judicii, cum justis ad dextram te locabo. Non ait, post aliquot annos Purgatorii ad refrigerium te perducan. Non post aliquot menses vel dies te consolabor; Sed hodie, etc. Bellar. de sept. verb. ● Christ. in cru. prolat. Si quis vel historias legate, vel cursus quotidianos observat, inveniet profecto rarissimos fuisse qui de hoc mundo exierint, cum per totum vitae suae cursum perdite vixerint. Bellar. de sept. verb. ● Christo in cruse prolat. lib. 5. cap. 5. Psal. 9 17. climbed up to Heaven. There is no way for a Thief to steal into Heaven. It was not by stealth that the penitent Thief got thither: It was by turning from his theft, that he got into the way; It was by repenting of his former ways of stealing, that he got into the favour of Christ; and by his favour it was, that the gates of Heaven were fairly opened to him. Upon his turning, Paradise was promised. Verily Isay unto thee, to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise, said our Saviour unto him. See what a sudden return was here! He does not say, after so many ages, or years, or months, or weeks, or days; but, hodie mecum, To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise: This day thou hast turned thyself from an heinous Peccant to an humble Penitent; and this very day thou shalt be turned from an humble Penitent to an heavenly Triumphant: This is the day of thy Conversion, and this shall be thy day of Coronation: This day thou art truly humbled, and this day thou shalt be highly exalted. But this one Swallow makes no Summer: This rare Example may not be made a general Rule to go by: This Phoenix had no Mate. A pair of Malefactors were concrucified with Christ, but both were not converted unto Christ. Christ was brought with both unto the Cross; but the Cross could not bring both of them unto Christ. They both came to the death of the Cross by the same way: but they went not both the same way after death from the Cross, for that they turned not themselves the same way upon the Cross before death: One turned unto the Lord upon the Cross before his death; but the other was cross, and would not turn. And therefore the Lord did turn to that one in mercy, and turned his Cross into a Crown: But the other was turned into Hell. And so shall all the ungodly that forget God. One of the two was saved, that none might despair: And but one, that none might presume. Our Saviour's accepting of the Penitent upon the Cross, may encourage us to repent, be it never so late: & his rejecting of the other bold impenitent Thief, may discourage us from sinning, be it never so soon. As it is therefore now with us, whether sooner, or later, Utendum est state, cito pede labitur aetas. Ovid. l. 3. de Art. amand. Let us apply ourselves to the season: Let us neither despair of time past, nor presume of time to come; but let us take the time present, and turn ourselves. Time is but a moment, and Eternity depends upon it: Ex hoc momento aeternitas, Eternity itself depends upon this moment; yea two Eternity's depend upon this one Article of Time; Eternity of Happiness in Heaven, and Eternity of Misery in Hell do both Erasmi Adag. Qui arripit occasionem rei conficiendae, dum illa sese offered, ille sapit; qui negligit, desipil. Cornel. à Lap. in Prov. c. 10. Psal. 95. 7. Heb. 3, 7. 8, 15. depend upon the very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Temporal life: & man hath no more of Life, or Time, but the very present. Post est occasio calva, Time is bald behind: Yesterday cannot be recalled, To morrow cannot be assured. Let this Present therefore be well employed. One To day is worth two To morrows, to turn yourselves in. To day therefore, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, but turn yourselves. Let impertinent mirth be turned into penitent mourning. Let laughing at sin be turned into lamenting of sin. He that hath not been a Prometheus in his life, let him be an Epimetheus before his death: He that hath not been fore-witted Do therefore the work of the day in die suo. No man can promise himself a morrow. Deferring as well as presuming makes many implicit Atheists. Manchest. Contempt. mortis & immortal. in his actions, let him show himself after-witted in examining and amending them. If the want of due advice hath occasioned any improvident act of Sin, let the betteradvised act of Sorrow prevent the final punishment of it. And if the fear of Hell cannot make us repent in Time, than Hell itself shall make us repent to all Eternity. They that will not give so much for the love of God as a few penitential Tears, shall have the hatred of Devils for nothing: And they that will not take so much pains to go to Heaven, as to turn themselves, may go to Hell with ease. Facilis est descensus averni: It is an easy matter to go to Hell, but not so easy to get out. Ab inferno nulla est redemptio. If a sinner be once but Sera nimis vita est crastina, vive hodie. turned into Hell, he can never return. Be persuaded therefore to turn yourselves, before you come there. Turn your selves, and ye shall never come there. Turn yourselves, and ye shall live. And live ye. Turn yourselves, and live here: Turn yourselves, and live hereafter. 2 Chron. 7. 14. Luk. 15. 20. Life temporal and life eternal are both promised to all those that turn themselves, or those that turn a natural life into a spiritual. But now I perceive my preaching upon this Text, to be like to most men's practising of it: They are so long in turning of themselves, that they leave themselves but a very little time to live in, when they are turned. And I have been so long in persuading you to turn yourselves, that I have left myself but a little time to speak of Living. I must now do, as the Time hath done: I must make haste to have done with the Time. The Evils of these Times do threaten every man with Death: yea Death itself does threaten every man a Mischief in these Times of Evil. And what way is there for any man to turn away these Times of Evil from himself, but by turning of himself from the Evils of these Times? Who is it, that doth not even long to see a return of better Times? And who can make any doubt but better Times would yet ere long return to men, would ●en but turn themselves to better the Times? The Times grow good, or bad to Men, as Men grow in their Times. The Times would soon be better, would Men be so; and Men must mend, or the Times will not. But evil Times can never amend, whilst evil Men grow worse and worse, Or whilst they sleep supinely in their Evil. No Times can make some Men to amend or turn themselves: But would they turn themselves, they might both turn the Times, and save themselves from ruin. See Jer. 3. 12. 13. 22. and see Joel 2. 12, 13. 18, 19, 20, etc. Ezek. Isa. 1. 16, etc. Promissa haec tua sunt; & quis falli timeat, cum promittit ipsa veritas. S. Aug. Jonah 3. 6, etc. 33. 12. 14, 15, 16, 19 At what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation, and concerning a Kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it: If that Nation against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them, saith God himself, Jer. 18. 7, 8. So he dealt with Niniveh; And so he hath often dealt with our Metropolis, and with this whole Nation. He is long-suffering to usward, Ego & ante mortem prae malis sum mortua. Eras. Some pleasant their lives, as if the world should always laugh upon them. Quamvis p●jor est mundus cum blanditur, quam cum indignatur. Manchest. All Mondo's Cont. Mortis & Jmmortal. Sueton. de vita Tiberii. Si salvabor salvabor. Si praedestinatus sum, nulla peccata poterunt mihi regnum coelorum auferr●: Si praescitus, nulla opera mihi illud valebunt confer. Heisterbach. l. 1. de memor. Hist. c. 27. We are instruments, though not causes of our own salvation. We bring nothing for it, but something to it; Nothing worth it, but something with it. Dr. Donne. not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, saith S. Peter, 2 Epist. c. 3. v. 9 Both perishing here, and perishing hereafter too, may be prevented by repenting here in time. Euripides brings in Hec●ba crying out amain, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 jam even dead with the very terrors of death's And many in these evil Times have even killed themselves with the fears of being killed. But others are still running nearer unto Death, and to Damnation ●oo, and yet are further every day than other from thinking of either. They think they shall not die as yet; and therefore as yet they think not of preparing themselves for death by turning of themselves. Yea, many live as if they thought they should ever live; and therefore never think of turning themselves that they might live for ever. Tiberius' thought that all things came by destiny; and therefore neglected all endeavours to prevent or alter any thing. And many are like Tiberius, at least in deportments, if not in judgements. They do not endeavour to turn themselves, to turn the times; to save their lives, either in this present world, or that to come. Yea some are ready to say, as that Italian Ludovicus did: If we shall be saved, we shall be saved. And as that Landgrave of Thuring did, which Heisterbachius writes of: If we be elected, no sins can keep us out of Heaven; but if we be reprobate, no sorrows can keep us out of Hell. This is a most irreligious kind of reasoning. This is not the way for men to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, This is not the way to persuade them to give all diligence to make their calling and election sure. True it is, that all that Man can do is but in vain, unless that God bestows his blessing on it: But all in vain it is for Man to expect a blessing from the hands of God, unless that he will do what God expecteth at his hands for the procuring of it. For God will not do all things all alone for them, that will do nothing for themselves with him, when he is doing for them. When God is working in men, and for them, than they in him must needs be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 workers together with God. In vain it is for men to call to In vain do men call to Heaven for help, when they withstand the help of Heaven. Many do invoke it, and yet do hinder it: They require help from others, and abandon themselves; and by their deeds, contrarying their words, they show, not to have desired what they have entreated; and to have entreated, that they might not be heard. Malvez. Romul. & Tarq. translated by the Earl of Monmouth. Heaven for help, if they will not use the help of Heaven which they call for. In vain it is for men to have any Talents of Grace, if they will not put them out to use: And they that have them, and will not improve them, deserve to have them taken away from them. By Nature indeed we are all dead in trespasses and sins, and cannot help ourselves. But when God by the Spirit of Life hath helped us unto the Life of the Spirit; then we, like men of spirit, must bestir ourselves to use his help. When God Dr. Love's Watchman's Watchword. hath begun with us, than we must go on with him: when he is turning of us, than we together with him must turn ourselves: And being turned, we must live too. Turn, & live. An early endeavour is then to purpose, when it is put on with an earnest endeavour to persevere. But it were better to begin late, and hold out unto the end, then to begin betimes, and be presently weary of well-doing. There is a Penny Ma●. 10. 22. Gal. 6. 9 promised to him that comes to labour in the Lord's vineyard at the eleventh hour of the day: But no Salary promised to him that ends his labour, before the day of his life be ended. We must go on then, as well as begin. It is Perseverance that crowns Repentance. Turning it is that prepares the way of Living; And Living it is that perfects the work of Turning. Optima paenitentia nova vita. Luther. We must do the last as well as the first. Indeed we can do neither well, unless we do both: But by doing both, we may do well. And that we may be sure to do so, let us both turn, and live. Wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. F●NIS. St. PAVL'S CONCRUCIFIXION. Preached in two Sermons at Hoxne in the County of SUFFOLK, By Edw. Willan, M. A. Vicar of Hoxne. Galat. 6. 14. God forbidden that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the World is crucified to me, and I unto the World. LONDON, Printed for RICHARD ROYSTON at the Angel in Ivy-lane, 1651. TO THE WORSHIPFUL, ROBERT STYLE, Esq. his very Generous and bountiful Patron AND TO THE WORSHIPFUL, NATHANEEL THRUSTON, Esq. his very Worthy Parishoner. WORTHY SIRS, IT was by both your Worships that I was placed in the Pulpit where these two Sermons were preached. By the one of you it was that I was persuaded, and by the other it was that I was presented to it; and therefore by both your Worships may both these Sermons be jointly and justly claimed. I shall not disclaim the right of either to them. They were both my Service in that pulpit long ago upon one of your Sabbaths, one of my Working days; But neither of your Worships (ni memini male) were that day near to hear them as they were presented to the care, be pleased to let them come so near unto your Worships now, that you may read them as they are represented to the eye. Mine Office doth bind me to live, not to myself, but others. It makes me a Servant to all by Common Duty: But my place to officiate doth make me by Special ties, and Service, Sirs, Your Worship's devoted beadsman and poor Vicar. EDW. WILLAN. S. PAUL'S CONCRUCIFIXION. GAL. 2. 20. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ that liveth in me. THat we are all alive, and here together this Day, we see: But how many Days we shall be here, Jam. 4. 13, 14. Psal. 89. 48. Heb. 9 27. Moriendum enim certum est, sed id incertum an ipso die. Cicero de Senectute. Mat. 28. 5, 6. Mark. 16. 6. Acts 2. 24, 25. Rev. 1. 18. Rom. 1. 1. or alive, we cannot say. And that we shall all die, we all know: But how many here amongst us all are now both dead, and alive together, God knows. Indeed S. Paul was so. He was both dead and alive indeed; and so may some here be: But it may be, all here are not so. Saint Paul's Condition was never Common. Our Lord, and Saviour died once, and lived again: But his Servant Paul was dead, and alive at once. The Lord of life, our Saviour Christ was crucified for Paul, and lost his life: But Paul the Servant of Christ was crucified with Christ his Lord, and lived nevertheless. Some men have lived here the less by being crucified for Gal. 2. 7. Linus Episcopus de passione Petri. Eusebius Pamphil. Ecclesi. Histor. lib. 2. 25. Christ: But others much the more for being crucified with Christ. The great Apostle of the Jews was crucified for Christ, and died: But the great Apostle of the Gentiles was crucified with Christ, and lived. The Cross of Christ did bring that one to death, but not this other. It brought Death to Saint Peter, but life unto Saint Paul. It can bring life as well as death; It giveth life sometimes, and sometimes it taketh life away. It taketh life away sometimes that it may give it. It taketh one away to give another. It taketh this away to give a better; And sometimes it kills, and saves alive together. It can do both at Several times, and it can do both at once. It can do both to several men, and it can do both to one. It can do both by several ways, and it can do both by one. sometimes it bringeth Life with Death, and sometimes after Death it bringeth Life. With the Death of sin it brings the Life of Grace; And after the Death of Nature it brings the Life of Glory. True it is, that the End of Life is ever by Death. And yet it is as true, that Death is not ever at the end of Life. The Apostle died before his life was ended. In the midst of Death a Man may be in Life; And in the midst Life a Man may be in Death. 1 Cor. 15. 31. I die daily said this Apostle, when as yet he lived. He had both Life and Death together in him. He was in Death and Life at once; A living dead man, vivus & crucifixus, Crucifi'd with Christ, and yet alive. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ, etc. This Text you see, is full of turn. The Apostles Conversion is the Subject of it; and well may it be the Subject of many conversions to quicken my discourse upon it. Would my discourse upon it might quicken as many Conversions by it. Now the Chief Considerables in it are these two. 1. A Contradiction in Seem. 2. A Reconciliation in Substance. In the first we have a Riddle Propounded. In the Second we have the Riddle Expounded. And in both together we may both Read the Riddle, and the Reading of the Riddle. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, there's the Riddle. Yet not I, but Christ that liveth in me, there's the Reading of the Riddle. In the Riddle there are two Remarkables. 1. The Mannr of it. 2. The Matter in it. It is the Manner of it that makes it seem so intricate a Riddle as indeed it is, for it is proposed in a seeming Contradiction. First the Apostle says, that he is crucified with Christ, and thereby seems to say as much, as that he is not living, but dead. For Christ was crucified to Death. And then he says, that he is nevertheless alive, and thereby seems to say, and says it in more than seems, that he is not dead, but living. Now thus to say it, and to unsay it, is to make a contradiction of it, at least in seem. It is to speak a Paradox in it. And all Paradoxes are admirable Propositions, saith the Roman Orator; And this Text for a Paradox is as admirable as any other. Every Riddle hath something mystical in it: But this Paradoxical Riddle is a very mystery. Yea, whole Armies of Mysteries do keep their Randezvous within the quarters of this grand Paradox, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. And for the Matter in it, it could not be more clearly expressed than it is by this very Manner of expression. The Subject matter of it is S. Paul's Regeneration, And that's a matter very Mysterious. It is mirabile magnum as Musculus calls it; a John 3. 1. great Wonder. When our Saviour first propounded the Doctrine of Regeneration to Master Nicodemus, that great Ruler of the 3. Jews, and Master in Israel, 10. it seemed a very Riddle to him, and such a Riddle, as he neither apprehended, nor believed; And therefore his Reply was not by unriddling, but rejecting of it with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; How can these things be? It did so 9 puzzle his Reason, and so perplex his Faith, that it seemed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a thing impossible, a thing incredible, though it were proposed by Truth itself, in the plainest Dialect of the Gospel. John 14. 6. What would it have done, if it had been lapped up in Enigmatical Language, like this of Saint Paul? How would Rationis humanae in mysteriis regni dei caecitas in Nicodemo apparet, cui omnia ista, quae de regeneratione proponuntur, absurda apparent. Theodoricus in Analys. Evangel. Domin. Trinit. 1 Cor. 15. 45. it have posed his Mastership, had it been proposed in the Wonderment of a Riddle, or seeming contradiction? Yet in this Seeming Contradiction, we may plainly see the parts of Saint Paul's Conversion, and in that, the parts of a perfect Regeneration. The first part is Mortification. The second is Vivification. The first is a Death unto Sin; The Second is a New Birth ●nto Sanctimony. The first is the kill of the first Adam; The Second is the Quickening of the Second in him. I am crucified with Christ, there's his Mortification, His Death unto sin, The kill of the first Adam in him. Nevertheless I live, there's his Vivification, His New Birth unto Righteousness, The quickening of the Second Adam. I an crucified with Christ, there's his putting off of the Old Man, which Ephes. 4. 22. is corrupt concerning the former Conversation. Nevertheless I live, there's the putting on of the Newman, which after God ●● Ephes. 4. 24. created in righteousness, and true holiness. I am crucified 〈◊〉 Christ, there's the Mortifying of the flesh, The members upon the Coloss. 3. 5. Rom. 8. 13. 4. Earth, The deeds of the Body. Nevertheless I live, there's the Quickening of the Spirit, The walking after the Spirit, The life of righteousness by the Spirit: for the spirit is life because of righteousness, Rom. 8. 10. I am crucified with Christ, and so broken for sin; nevertheless I live, and so am broken from sin. In the first, there is a true Humiliation, in the second, a real Reformation; In both together there is a present Change of the State of Nature into the State of Grace. Yea he is so Changed, that he is not himself any longer, not the man he was, but ● new man, a new Creature, and hence it is, that he saith, I liv●, 2 Cor. 5. 17. Galat. 6. 15. Yet not I, non amplius ego, not I any longer, not I the same man I was, but another. Not Saul now, but Paul; Not a persecutor of the Gospel, but a Preacher of it; Not an Enemy to the Phil. 3. 18. 2 Cor. 11. 30. Cross of Christ; But a friend unto it, A lover of it, one that glorieth in it. God forbidden that I should glory, save in the Cross of Christ, by whom the world is crucified in me, and I unto the World. Gal. 6. 14. I am crucified with Christ, that is, baptised into the death of Rom. 6. 3, 5, 6, 7. Christ, or planted in the likeness of his Death, which was by crucifixion, that the old Man might be crucified with him, that the sin of the body, and the Body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth I might not serve sin, for he that is dead is freed from sin. Nevertheless I live; not the less, but the more, Coloss. 2. 12, 13 by being quickened with Christ, and risen with him through the faith of the operation of God; Transplanted in the likeness of his Rom. 6. 4. 5. Resurrection, to walk with him in newness of life. Now the Rom. 7. 24. Body of Death being thus killed in this holy Apostle, and the spirit of his mind being thus renewed, he reckons himself to ●e dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Ephes. 4. 23. Rom. 6. 12. Uno verbo dici potect, concrucifixus. Faber Stapulensis in Examine. Lord, which in other terms he signifieth saying, Christo concrucifixus su●●, vivo autem, as Montanus has it, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, I am Crucified with Christ, there's his Mortification, or the first pat of his Regeneration, and in these words we may observe two Remarkables, 1 Exemplum, A Pattern, and 2 Exemplatum, A Parallel. The Pattern is our Saviour's Crucifixion; The Parallel in S. Paul's concrucifixion. Our Saviour's Crucifixion was in example to S. Paul's; And S. Paul's concrucifixion was in imitation of our Saviour's. Christ was crucified for Paul, and Paul was crucified with Christ; and we should all be crucified with both. The crucifixion of our Saviour's Body for sin was a pattern to every one of us as well as to S. Paul, that all we might learn to crucify the Body of sin in ourselves. His dying upon the Christus crucifixu● est idaea nostrae mortificationis. Climac. Cross for our sins, should teach us all the Apostles way of dying unto sin. Christ's crucifixion is the true Idea of out mortification, and a Christian truly mortified is to the life the likeness of Christ crucified; Christ was crucified for all true Christians, and all true Christians are, as Paul in this was, crucified with Christ. Our Saviour's crucifixion, and S. Paul's concrucifixion were both mysterious, both full of Paradoxes; and our Saviour's Person was as paradoxical as his Passion. They are both the subjects of many and many seeming contradictions. In his Person he was made a very contradiction for sinners, and at his Passion he endured the contradictions of sinners. In his Person he Heb. 12. 3. was the great Creator himself that form every creature; yet was a Creature form by that Creator. His Body was made of his Mother's substance: yet he it was that made the substance of his Mother's Body, of which he was made. He was made after the World was, what he was not before the World was made; yet was he still after he was made, what he was before the World was made, or he so in it. He was begotten before his Mother was borne; yet was he borne of his Mother before he was begotten of her. As old he was as Daniel. 7. 9 John 1. 14. 3. 16. the ancient of days, his Father, that begat him: and older he was then his Virgin Mother that gave birth unto him. Begotten he was of his Father, and borne he was of his Mother; yet was he not begotten by his Father as he was borne of his Mother; not yet borne of his Mother as he was begotten of his Father. He was the only begotten Son of his Father, and he was begotten of his Father only; His Father begat him without Virgo & Mater, utiq●e & admirabilis, & singularis, a seculo non est auditum quod virgo esset, quae p●perit: & Mater esset, quae virgo permanfit. S. Bernard. Ser. 10. Isaiah 9 6. the office of his Mother. And he was the only Son of his Virgin Mother, and the Son only of his Mother as he was her Son, and borne of her; His Mother, did bear him without the office of a Father. On his Father's side he was God, and not Man, and on his Mother's side he was Man, and not God; yet betwixt both he was both, God and Man, to mediate betwixt both, at his first coming, and to arbitrate betwixt both at his second. No wonder than it was, that his Name was called Wonderful: for every thing in him was full of Wonder, and his Passion was as wonderful as any thing. His coming into the world had a world of wonder in it; and so had his being in it, and his leaving of it did leave as many behind it. He was crucified, yet was not crucified; He suffered, yet did not suffer; He died, yet did not die; and he risen again saith S. Ambrose, yet did not rise again: And are not all these S. Ambros. de Spirit. sancto. seeming contradictions? Is not every period a very Paradox? yet all very orthodox, and easy to be unriddled? Two Natures were united in that one Person of Christ; And Christ endured that in one of his Natures which the other could not endure; As Man, or in his Manhood he suffered, was crucified, and died, and risen from Death: But as God, or in his Deity, he could do neither. Thus the Life and Death of Christ were very mysterious, full of mysteries, and so are the Life and Death of every mystical Member of Christ. Every true Christian is such a Member, and this Vessel of Election, our holy Apostle, was such a Christian. He was one that had the characters of Christ's sufferings in his mortified Body, I bear in my Body the marks of the Lord jesus, saith he, Galat. 6. 17. conformed to the mystical Head of the Church in sufferings, Christo concrucifixus, crucified with Christ; and his estate now was very Mysterious, he was both dead and alive at once, Crucified with Christ, and yet alive nevertheless. But why should we think it strange to hear of a Man alive and dead at the same time? Are not all Men living ever so? Is not every Man always dead and living so long as he is a Man, or living? Alive naturally, and dead spiritually; or Qui luxuriatur vivens mortuu● est. S. Hieron. ad matr. & filiam. dead mystically, and alive spiritually? Dead in sin, and alive in Nature? or dead unto sin, and alive in Grace? When Paul was in the state of Nature, he was both dead and alive, he was alive Naturally, but dead spiritually. But when he changed the state of Nature for the state of Grace, he changed the Natures of his life and death. He was dead in sin before, but now dead unto sin, or sin is dead in him; He lived as a Natural Man before, but now as a Spiritual; He lived in sin before, but now Grace lives in him. He is now dead to himself, dead to his sins, but alive to his Saviour, living to the Lord of life; Crucified with Christ, and living to him, alive in him. Now this his mystical death is very desirable. It is rather to be wished, than any kind of Death, that Augustus thought of. It is a Death that may be lawfully sought for: yea, it is a Death that men must pull upon themselves as soon as they can with a holy kind of violence, and the more earnest any man is in doing of it, the more he is to be praised for it; and more worthy of praise is he, that thus killeth the old Man in himself, than ever Cleombrotus was, or Cato, or Lucretia, for Plato in Phaedone. S. August. de Civitate Dei, l. 1. ca 19 23. killing, as they did, themselves; yea, he deserves no praise that does not thus crucify himself. This is an Euthanasy indeed, and there can be none without it; They never can die well, that do not die thus whilst they live; Nor can they ever live well, that are not thus dead. When Paul was crucified with Christ, than he reckoned himself to be alive indeed; Christo confixus sum cruci, vivo autem jam, saith he, as the vulgar translation has it, I am crucified with Christ, and now I live; Jam vive, now I live, as if he had not lived indeed till now that he was thus crucified with Christ. As he liveth after his crucifixion, so he liveth by it; He that lays down a Duplex hic est miraculum, & quòd mortuum vitae restituit, & quòd per mortem. Theophil. in locum. temporal life for Christ's sake, shall take up one eternal for it; and he that with Paul does part with an evil life, does gain a good one by it; yea he gains two good ones by it; one here, and one hereafter: for he shall reign with Christ, that is crucified with him, as well as he, that is crucified for him. I am crucified with Christ, saith our Apostle; Christ was crucified, and so was Paul, but several ways; Christ was crucified for Paul, but so was not Paul for Christ. Yet san● sensu, in some sense Paul was crucified for Christ; but not so as Christ for Paul. Paul was crucified for Christ's sake, and Christ for Paul's; But Christ was crucified for Paul's sins, so was not Paul for Christ's. Christ had no sins of his own to demerit any crucifixion in himself, or in any other for him, but so had Paul; And Paul's crucifixion was for himself rather then his Saviour; yet it was of the sins in himself, rather than of himself in his sins. It was a crucifying of sin●● in his mortal Body; Not a crucifying of his mortal Body in sin. Christ was crucified for Paul in Body, and Paul for Christ Per crucem Christi remotus est à me proprius affectus. Aquin. Commenta. in locum. 1 Cor. 9 27. in Mind. Mente orucifixus sum, As Theophilact expounds it, In mind I am crucified with Christ; In mind with him, not in person for him. It was not a corporal but a spiritual concrucifixion; Yet it was in Body as well as Mind, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, I beat my body down, saith he, and keep in subjection. And this subjection of the Body itself was spiritual. It was not a crucifixion of flesh, but of fleshly-mindednesse; It was the suppressing of the Rebellions of Nature, not the destroying of Nature itself. The Nature of his life was altered by it; But the Life of his Nature was not utterly abolished, for still he lived for all this kind of Death. This concrucifixion was not to Death, but Life. There are two kinds of concrucifixions. 1. Corporall. 2. Spiritual. Those two Malefactors that died when Christ did upon Luke 23. 33. the Cross, were both crucified with Christ; But not as Paul was in the Text; for one of the two was never the better for that corporal concrucifixion. He lost his temporal life upon the Cross with Christ himself: yet he got not Life eternal for it from the Cross of Christ. Alas for him! His was a Cross indeed, but none of Christ's. He suffered not for Christ's sake, but for his own sins, and there is seldom Life in such a Death. A Cross may be the Tree of Life unto a Penitent thief; But such Malefactors are seldom truly penitent. Indeed the Cross is vita justorum, life to the Righteous, but mors infidelium, Death to the Wicked, saith Cassiodorus. The true Believer lays hold of an other, a better Life than this present, 2 Cor. 5. 1, 2. Heb. 11. 35. as he parts with this; But the Infidel loseth this and gets no other for it. The wretched, and impenitent unbeliever, by the Cross of sufferings, or by his sufferings upon the Cross, does lose even all his stock of Life, and gaineth nothing; The believing penitent loseth little and gaineth much, he parteth with a bad life and receives a better for it. But our Apostle loseth nothing, and gaineth all: He gets a new life without giving the old away. But his concrucifixion was of an other kind, It was not corporal, but spiritual, and such concrucifixions are twofold. Primarie, and Secondary. Now the first of these is that which every true Believer suffered in the Person of Christ, when as Christ suffered in the Person of every true Believer: For as all that fell by the sin of the first Adam, did sin with that Adam in his person, and Rom. 5. 12. fell in his Person with him; So all that are saved by the sufferings of the second Adam, did suffer with him in his person, and are so saved with him. Christiani omnes unà cum Christo tanquam illius membra in cruse pependerunt; All Christians as the Musculus in locum. members of Christ did suffer with him upon the Cross. The catholic Head of the Church was fastened to the Cross, and suffered for the whole Mystical Body, and all the mystical Members that are fastened to the Body by love, and to the Head by faith, must needs be sensible of the sufferings of the 1 Cor. 12. 26, 27. Head; Whereas one member suffers, all the members suffer with it, by way or sympathy, and therefore surely, when as the Head suffers, which is the fountain of sense, there must needs be a Catholic Compassion in all the Members. Those are not living Members of Christ's Mystical Body that do not sympathise with him in the biterness of his passion. The very Remembrance of his grievous sufferings upon the Cross for their sakes does make make them grieve for his sake, And that's their first Concrucifixion; Now the second follows this, and is twofold. 1. Mystical. 2. Moral. And the first of these is in the Sacrament of Baptism. For that Christens a man, and makes him a member of Christ: So many as are baptised into Christ, they put on Christ. And they put Galat. 3. 27. on Christ crucified, that put him on by baptizme. It is into the Death of Christ, that they are Baptised; And the Death of Christ was upon the Cross, by crucifixion. And this laver of Signum est exhibitivum. Regeneration, the Sacrament of Baptism, does both sign and seal the Benefits of Christ's crucifixion to a Christian. And from this sacramental or mystical concrucifixion must we all derive that concrucifixion which is Moral. And the Moral Concrucifixion does Crown the Mystical. The Sacrament of Baptism does begin the life of Christianity, but it is the Christianity of life that does complete a Christian, and fits him for the Crown of life. Non quaeritur in Christianis S. Gregor. l. 28. Moral. initium, sed finis, saith S. Gregory, The initiation of Christianity in any man is nothing so remarkable as the consummation of it. Alas what is it to begin to be a Christian, unless a man goes on to the perfection of Christianity? I mean, what profit is it to be baptised into Christ, unless a man does live like a Christian? Quid enim tibi prodect, vocari quod non es, & nomen usurpare alienum? sed si Christianum te esse delectat, quae Christianitatis sunt gear. S. August. de doctrinâ Christianâ. What benefit can there be in putting on of Christ by Baptism, unless we keep him on in our lives, and wear him in our Conversations? Christiani nomen ille frustra sortitur qui Christum minimè imitatur, saith S. Austin, It's a frivolous thing to be a Nominal, and not a Real Christian, to have the Name of a Christian, and not be a follower of Christ. Christianus à Christo, A man is called a Christian from Christ, whose follower he professes himself to be, as those Disciples did which were first called so at Antioch, Act. 11. 26. But those men belly A Christo Christiani & ●umus & ●uncupamur. Athan. Orat. 2. contr. Arian. Gregor. Nyss. de profess. Christianor. S. Cypr. de 12. abusionib. Greg. Naz. in Orat. funebri de S. Basilio. the Name of Christ, saith Gregory Nyssen, that do nor make their practice of Christianity to answer their profession of it. Nemo Christianus verè dicitur, nisi qui Christo moribus, pro ut valet, coaequatur, saith S. Cyprian, No man is rightly called a Christian, unless he followeth Christ in his morals as near as he can. S. Basil the Great, and Gregory the Divine, that were like Twins of Devotion in the Service of the Church, did both rejoice that they both were, and were called Christians. The putting on of Christ by Baptism, does give the Name, but it is the keeping of him on in our morals that speaks us Christians indeed. It is not enough therefore to be crucified with Christ in Baptism only. Ecce baptizati sunt homines, See saith Saint S. Aug. Ser. 16. de verb. Apost. Austin, men are baptised, and thereby their sins be washed away, yet still something remains on their parts to be performed. Restat lucta cum carne, restat lucta cum diabolo, restat lucta cum mundo, still there remaineth many Combats to Revel. 2. 10. Mysterium hoc geritur in Christianis sacramentaliter, & efficaciter. Sacramentaliter in Baptismo, efficaciter in ipsa veteris nostri hominis mortificatione, & vitae novitate. Musculus. Dicendo, simul cum Christo crucifixus sum, Baptismum tecte significat, di●●do, Vivo autem jam non ego, sequemen vitae rationem significat, per quam mortificantur membra. S. Chrys. in loc. be maintained against our Ghostly Enemies the world the flesh and the Devil. And indeed every Christian is engaged by his Baptism, to bid defiance unto these, and to fight against them under the Banner of Christ's Cross, to the utmost of his life. We must be faithful unto Death, or never expect the Crown of life. Thus is this Mystery begun, and carried on in all true Christians, as Saint chrysostom hath observed, and after him Theophilact, and Musculus after both. It gins in Baptism, and must be carried on in our lives. It is this Moral concrucifixion, that God expecteth, and rewardeth. But this is not easily and quickly finished; Hic labour, hoc opus, it requires our greatest care and diligence to crucify ourselves with Christ in our lives. This part of Christianisme is the hardest task that our Master Christ hath imposed upon us as his Disciples. It is a work that must be done so long as we live, for that so long as we live we must never think we have done it. But what is it, that makes it so hard to be done? there are many things that do increase the difficulty of it. The first is, that innate power, or natural strength that the Body of sin hath in our Mortal Bodies. I delight in the law Semper in nobis, dum vivimus, peccati Adami nonnullae reliquiae manent. Si enim ista semina sic omnino clui possit, ut nullae in nobis restarent sordes vitiorum, nec Paulus de leg● membrorum mortisque corpore conquestus fuisset, nec nos assidua spiritus renovatione opus haberemus. Whitak. ●●. 1. li. 8. of God, after the inward man, saith this Apostle; But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into Captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members, Rom. 7. 22, 23. See, here was law against law, and members against mind, in Paul himself. The corrupted Principles of Nature opposing the reformed and refined Principles of Grace, and sometimes prevailing to the conquering, to the captivating of this great Apostle, and compelling him to cry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver ●● from the body of this death? Rom. 7. 24. Though man be renewed in his mind by the law of Grace, or the Grace of the New man, yet the Old man is still in him, and the old man in him hath the law of Nature, or the law of the Members on his side, and the Nature of that law is not easily overcome; so soon as we begin to kill or crucify the old man in our bodies, he presently lays the law to us, and pleads the law of Nature against us, and so makes us very remiss, and it may be lay aside our work of moral Concrucifixion. There was peccatum habitans, sin dwelling in Rom. 7. 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. Concupiscentia in renatis est peccatum. Daven. Determ. Quaest. pr. Paul himself, and that sin made him do the evil which he hated, and made him leave und one the good he greatly desired. Such sin there is in every man, though he be regenerate, and that sin in him does make his Concrucifixion very difficult. The Second thing that greatens the difficulty of it, is the Old man's easy Recovering, or his speedy Recruting of his forces, within us, when we think we have so fare worsted them, as that they must needs yield. It is storied of the Giant Antaeus, Antaeus' gigas ex terrae filiis cum Hercule congredi●●s ut deprehensus est ex telluris tactu vires excrescere Volatera. Paralipom. Nat. Comes Mytholog. l. 7. c. 1. 1 Cor. 15. 47. the son of Neptune by the Earth, that when ever his strength began to fail him, tactu terrae recreabatur, it was recruted, or renewed by his touching of the Earth. And this made it so hard for Hercules to overcome and kill him. Natales Comes seeks to verify this fable by other allusions, but it is most true of the Body of sin, which is indeed Terrae filius, The son of the Earthy part which is in Man. The Old man is of the Earth Earthy. And sin is the Son of the Old Man, and like the Giant Antaeus it reneweth strength by touching of Earth and Earthly things, which maketh it so hard a matter for the Body of sin to be Mortified by us, so long as we have our Conversations upon the Earth. I remember a story, which I have read in Neubrigensis, it is Q ippe ex Alienora quondam Francorum Regina susceptis 4 siliis, Henricum natu majorem Regni Anglici, & Ducatus Normanici, cum Andegavensi Comitatu successorem relinq●cre, Richardum vero Aquitaniae, & Galfridum Britanniae praesicere cogitabat: quartum natu minimum Joannem sine terra cognominans, etc. Gulielm. Neubrigen. lib. 2. c. 18. of King Henry the Second, who having bequeathed no Land of inheritance to John his fourth and youngest Son by Queen Elinor, surnamed him Johannem sine terra, John without Earth or Land to live upon. It was his Father's Pleasure so to deal with him, and so to miscall him. He wanted such a portion of Earth without him as was given by his Father to his other Brothers, but he wanted not his portion of Earth within him. He had the inheritance of an earthy part in his Mortal Body derived from the Old man in his Father. He was not Johannes sine terra, in respect of the body of sin; he was of the Earth Earthy, and so is every man living upon the Earth, and the Earth within us, doth strengthen sinagainst us, and makes it very hard for us to crucify it in us. A Third thing that makes our Mortification difficult, is the Time that the Old Man in us must have to die in. He must needs die a lingering death, for he must be dying all the days of our Natural life. Those two Malefactors, that were crucified corporally when Christ was, had lingering Deaths; yea so long they were in dying, that the Soldiers had Orders given them to break their legs, for the hastening of their Deaths. And he that gins to crucify the Old Man in himself, shall find him so loath to die, and so long in dying, that new violences must be offered to him to make him yield. The fastening of him to the Cross does make him sick, and the breaking of his legs does make him weak: Yet will he not die so long as the man does live, nor wholly yield to the spiritual man until that ye yields up his spirit. The nature of this mystical death does differ much from the death of Nature; this is mors sine morte, a death without death. That may be a lingering death sometimes, but this is ever a living death, a death in life. It is Martyrium vivum, as Tertullian phraseth it, a living Martyrdom, a kill of the flesh, and a leaving of the man alive. Martyrium sine sanguine, S. Bern. inter Sententias. saith S. Bernard; A Martyrdom without any Bloodshed, a Mortifying of the Body without killing of it. Other Martyrdoms Duo sunt Martyrii genera, unum in habitu, alterum in actu, etc. P●imasius in c. 7. & in c. 11. Apocalyp. Josua. 9 21. Carranza in Sum. Concilior. Apostolor. Canon. 23, 24. Concil. Nicaen. Can. 1. Concil. Arelaten. Can. 7. are either in Mind, or Body, this is in both, without the destruction of either. A man may Mortify his members with S. Paul, without cutting of them off with Origen. God's people, the Israelites, did not kill those enemies of theirs the Gibeonites, but brought them into subjection, and made them serviceable. And such as are godly people need not destroy their bodies, or their affections natural, but subdue them, and make them spiritual, and serviceable. Thus much the Apostle intimated to the Romans, in saying, As ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness, and to iniquity, unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness, unto holiness, Rom. 6. 19 Where observe, that they still be members, and still yours, your members, and still servants, but not still in servitude to the same masters. Their masters are newed, and so is the manner of their service. This Moral Concrucifixion may consist with Natural Conservation; This Mortification is not meant of the Common Death of Man, saith Saint chrysostom, and S. Chrys. Theophil. in locum. Quos Deus mortificat, & affligit, postea vivificat. Mendoza in lib. 1. Regum. Tom. 1. after him Theophilact, but of a Death unto sin. And with this Mortification of the Old man there must ever be the Vivification of the New man. I am Crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. There is life with Death, yea life by it. When the Natural Man begins to live, than he begins to die: and when the Spiritual Man begins to die, than he gins to live. Man's first Birth leads him unto Death, His second lets him into Life. He is borne at first to die; But borne again to live. It is the beginning of Misery to be borne once; But the beginning of Felicity to be borne again. The first Birth only lets man into Natural life, and into that but only for a time, and that time but a short one too; But the second Birth does let life into Man, and that a Spiritual life, and that's the Pledge, and Means of life eternal. It is the Nature of man's first life to give him only the life of Nature; But the second life, being the life of Grace, does give the Grace of life. And this life of Grace is the only way unto the life of Glory, and to the Glory of that life. But first a Man must be crucified, before he can be glorified; he must die before he can live: and this his dying too must be before his death. He must be as the Apostle was, Dead and alive together, Crucified with Christ and yet alive. Dead and yet not dead; Not dead in trespasses and sins, and alive in Nature: But dead unto sin, and alive in Grace and Nature. A live unto God, and dead unto the World. Like Simon Mat. 19 27. 2 Tim. 4. 10. Peter that forsook the World for Christ's sake; Not like to Demas that forsook S. Paul to embrace the present World. Like a dead man in the World, he must not dote upon it; But live in it as if he were departed from it. He must not be like that younger Widow that our Apostle wrote a warning of unto young Timothy, that liveth in pleasure, and is dead whilst 1 Tim. 5. 6. she liveth; But like our holy Apostle himself, that lived whilst he was dead. He must die unto sin before his Natural Climac. in scala Parad i. Death, that he may not die in sin, when he must needs die a Natural Death. If he suffereth sin to live in him until his Natural Death, he must suffer a Death Eternal for living so in sin. Man's first Birth brings him forth a Sinner, his second brings him forth a Saint: By his first Birth he is made what he was not before his Generation; By his Second he is made again what he was not by his First, and yet remaineth what he was. His Generation made him a Man, His Regeneration makes him more, it makes him a good Man, a Man of God, a Member of Christ. This is that, that this Apostle intended of himself in his state of Regeneration, when he said that he did live, and yet not he. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I Now this may set our thoughts to the second General of the Text, the Reading of the Riddle; but I must deal with you, as those are wont to do with others, that propose hard Riddles to them, I must give you a longer time to consider of it, then merely this time of your hearing of it; I must give you until our meeting next in this place, which must, (God willing) be in the afternoon, than I shall give you the reading of this Riddle; but thus much for this Time. S. PAUL'S CONCRUCIFIXION. SERMON Second. GAL. 2. 20. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ, etc. I Must begin this Afternoon, abruptly, as I ended in the Forenoon, lest I end this Afternoon abruptly, as I do begin; and I shall begin this Afternoon where I ended in the Forenoon, that this Afternoon I may end with this Text, where in the Forenoon I did begin. In the Text I observed two Remarkables. 1. The Propounding of a Riddle. 2. The Expounding of the Riddle. In the Forenoon you heard the Riddle propounded, This Afternoon you are to hear it expounded. The Riddle was propounded in these words, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Now it is to be expounded by these words, yet not I, but Christ that liveth in me. Not I, but how do these words Resolve, or Read the Riddle? They rather seem to make an other Riddle, or to make the Text like the Prophet's Mystical Vision of a Wheel within a Wheel. Here is one seeming contradiction upon an other, a Riddle upon a Riddle; for first he says, I live, and then he says, not I, and so seems to say, and unsay, or to contradict himself. Indeed, had he said no more but yet not I, he had not read the former, but made an other; But the clausile added in the close discloseth all, not I, but Christ that liveth in me. This like a Key unlocks the Cabinet of the mystery; This like an Oedipus unriddles all; Like a Clue it guides the Reader thorough the Labyrinth of the Riddle to the Reading of it. It shows what life it is, that now he liveth; It speaks the change of his life, from that of a Natural man, to that of a Christian; He liveth now the life of one that is in Christ, the Lord of life. The life of one that hath the Lord of life, Christ Jesus, and the life of the Lord now in him, not I now, but Christ in me. He cannot now say with the Heathenish Poet, Ille ego qui quondam, I the same Man, that in time past did so and so, but with the convert, Ego non sum ego, I am not I. I live, yet not I, Not I the same, but I an other. An other, and yet I. I an other Man, I a new Man, Non amplins ego, Not I a mere Man any longer, but now a Christian; Not I still contrary unto Christ, but I a Convert now unto him, and so I am not I, and yet I am; I am still, but not still what I was; I Acts 23. 6. Phil. 3. 5. Acts 9 1. 1 Tim. 1. 13. Virgil. Aeneid. l. 1. was a Pharisee, but now I am not; I was an enemy to the Cross of Christ, but now I am not; I was a Blasphemer of his most blessed Name, sed quantum mutatus ab illo? But now how much am I altered from what I was? So changed in myself I am, that I cannot say, I am myself; Yea so unlike I am myself, that I cannot but say, that I am not myself. It is not I Necesse est ut qui non vivit in se, vivat Christus in illo. Et hoc est quod ●it Apostolus vivo autem, ●am non ego. S. Bernard. that liveth in myself, But Christ my Saviour that liveth in me. He is not now the Man he was, and yet a Man he is even as he was; He is now a new Man by his second Birth, and yet he is the same Man he was by his first; He is a Man still as he was, and still the same Man that he was, and yet he is an other Man than he was, changed much from what he was. The same Man still in Person he is, and still the same in Parts: But in Passions or Affections he is now an other. The same he is in constitution of Body, and in Quantity, but in quality of Mind, and in conditions he is an other Man. A new Creature. It is the same Man that liveth still, but he now liveth as an other Man; He is not the same in Life, His manner of Life is not the same. A new Conversation does ever follow a true Conversion. This Mutation aims not at the Transformation of the Man, But at the Reformation of his Manners. It is not like the Poet's Metamorphoses, where Jupiter transforms Ovid Metamor. lib. 3. Lib. 3. Lib. 4. Lib. 5. Lib. 15. Lib. 1. Lib. 9 Lib. 10. Lib. 1. Lib. 6. Lib. 6. Lib. 11. Lib. 13. Lib. 10. Lib. 14. himself into a Bull, and Diana turns Actaeon into a Stagg; where the Theban Sisters, the Mineides, are metamorphosed into Batts, Ascalaphus into an Owl, and Aesculapius into a Serpent; Io into a Cow, and Ilithyia into an Heifer; Daedalion into a Falcon, Arachne into a Spider, and the Lycian Clowns into croaking Frogs; Lycaon into a Wolf, Hippomenes into a Lion, and Hecuba into a Dog. The Inhabitants of Cyprus into Oxen, and the Companions of Ulysses into Hogs. Men by the fictions of the Poets were transformed into Beasts and other Brutes; But by this Mystical Mutation in the Text, a Beast or Brute may be Reform into a Man, and a man Regenerated to a Saint; Such men as are degenerated into brutish manners may be restored to the Properties of men, and the Prerogatives of Saints. S. Paul was changed by his Regeneration into a new Creature, and yet was still the same in substance that he was by Generation. He was Reform in Morals, and yet remained what he was by his Natural form. I live, yet not I, but Christ that liveth in me, That is, saith Aquin. Comment. in loc. Aquinas, tantum Christum habeo in affectu, My love is wholly fixed upon Christ, My delight is only in him, Ad alia quidem omnia mortuus sum, as saith S. Bernard, to all other things I am as a man that is dead, I mind them not, I look not after them, I care not for them; Placet quod ad ejus honorem fieri video, displicent quae aliter fiunt, That which tendeth to the honour of Christ I like well, but I dislike things that have no tendency towards it. Nichol. de Gorr. Heming. Theophilac. Some there be that take the Apostles Mortification, or his Concrucifixion, to relate not only to the Law in the Members, ●ut to the Law of Moses. Or not more to the Law of sin, than ●o the Law of Ceremonies. And his vivification by Christ, or his spiritual Resurrection with Christ, not more to intent the Reformation of his Morals, than the Conformation both of his Opinion, and of his Practice according to the Doctrine of the Gospel. It may be taken both ways. In the words before the Text, he saith, he is dead unto the Law, but alive to God; Dixit se mortuum legi ut Deo vivat. Nunc quomodo Deo vivat exprimit. Ne quis s●spicetur illud intelligendum esse de vita naturae, quod de vita gratiae intelligi debet. Hemingius in Locum. Aquinas in Locum. And in the Text he tells the Manner how, that so we may not understand him of the life of Nature, but of the life of Grace, qua Christus in fidelibus vivit sua virtute, justitia, & vita, saith Hemingius, By which grace of life, or in which life of Grace, our Saviour Christ doth live in all Believers by his virtue, and justice and life. For fides in Christum est vita fidelium, saith he, The believing in Christ is the life of the Believer. Ipse Christus est vita mea, saith Aquinas, Christ himself is my life, for he is life itself, as he saith himself, John 14. 6. therefore might S. Paul most truly say, Mihi vivere Christus est, To me to live is Christ, Phil. 1. 21. And the life that I ●ow live, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me, as it is in the words immediately after the Text. And the Rule of this my life is not the law of Moses; But the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I was a Pharisee by my Education, and by my profession I was of the strictest sect of the Pharisees; I lived precisely Gal. 3. 11. Rom. 3. 28. Cermoniae legis ante Christum nec Mortuae e●ant, nec Mortiferae, post promulgationem Evangelii, & Mortuae, & Mortif●rae, inter passionem Christi, & promulgationem mortuae, sed non mortiferae. S. Aug. Epist. 19 Tom 2. Mat. 11. 13. Mark. 1 19 Luk. 3. 21. according to the Law, and hoped to live for ever by it: But I have now found my mistake, I have now found, that by the works of the Law, there shall no flesh living be justified. I have most happily found that life, and happiness, is not where to be found but only in Jesus Christ, that was crucified for me, to bring me unto life. And therefore now with him I am for ever Crucified to the Law, and to that life which I sought in myself by my observance of the Law. The Ceremonial Law before the Incarnation of Christ was neither dead nor deadly; But after the Crucifixion of Christ, and Promulgation of the Gospel, it was both dead and deadly. And betwixt both it was dead, but not deadly. The Baptist was Pr●cursor Christi, the forerunner of Christ to make way for his Gospel. And the law of Ceremonies was alive in Strength till John the Baptist, but with his Preaching of the Gospel it began to die. Yea dead it was when Christ was once Baptised of John in Jordan. Dead it was quoad necessitatem, in respect of any necessary observance of it, yet propter vinculum Charitatis Thom. Aquin. 1. 2. Quaes'. 103. ar. 4. & quoad Convenientiam, to avoid offence and Scandal, and for Conveniency sake, it was not presently cast out, nor did the Apostles deem the observation of it to be deadly, but for Charity sake they sought an honourable Burial for it, which could not be on the sudden; yet was it dead unto Saint Paul, Act. 13. 59 Rom. 7. 27. and he to that. It was not the Law of Moses, but the Law of Faith, that now was the Tutor of his life; It was not Moses the Servant of God, but Christ the son of God that lived in him. I live, yet not I, non ego qualis fui sub lege, not I, such as I was Nichol. de Lyra in Locu●. under the Law. But Christ now liveth in me, habitans in me per gratiam Vivificantem, dwelling in me by his quickening grace. So that the life which I now live is by the grace of Christ. It was neither a Ceremonial, nor yet merely a Moral life which the Apostle lived, but an Evangelicall, and this finished his Ceremonial, and furthered his Moral. By Christ's living in him, he did not mean the Person of Christ, but his power in him. Christ's living in us saith S. chrysostom is his working in S. Chrys. in loc. us, and his ruling over us, and overruling of us, to make us mend our Morals according to the way and purpose of the Gospel. For the Gospel does not utterly destroy the Moral law, nor make it absolutely void. Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the Prophets; I came not to destroy, saith Christ, but to fulfil, Math. 5. 17. Do we then make void the law through faith? saith our Apostle, God forbidden, ye we establish the Rom 3. 31. law. Indeed they that are in Christ, and have Christ living in them, are not under the law but under Grace. But how? Not Rom. 6. 14. under the law to seek for justification by it, but yet they are under it to increase their sanctification by it. They are not under the Curse of the law to Condemnation, but under the Course of the law they are for Commendation. Not under the Rigour of it, but under the Rule of it. And he can never be a true disciple of Christ that will not be ruled by it. He that would live with Christ in Heaven, must live with him on Earth first. He that would be like him in the life of Glory, must be like also in the life of Grace. And he that would be so, must labour to be like him in his Morals. He that is Crucified with Christ, must live like one that is so Crucified, like one that is dead to sin, like one that is dead unto himself, like one that hath Christ living in him, and that can never be, until the life of Christ be represented in his life, in the manner, or morality of it. It is this that our Apostle S. August. Serm. 13. de verb. Dom. chiefly points at in the Text, when he says Christ liveth in him. Vnumquodque secundùm hoc vivat, unde vivit, Saith Saint Austin, every thing ought to live according to that by which it liveth. The Body liveth of the Soul; And the Soul liveth of Christ: Let both then live according to those things that give them life; let the Body live so after the Soul, and the Soul so after Christ, that both soul and body may live together with Christ for ever hereafter. It is from this kind of life, that a man may have hope in death. And it is by this kind of life that a man may assure himself that he is dead. Death unto sin is best attested by the life of Grace. It was by this that Saint Paul could ascertain himself of his concrucifixion. By this it was that he knew himself to be a Mortified member of the mystical body of Christ. He found Christ living in him, and that made him say, that he was crucified with Christ. It is no easy matter for a man to be as this Apostle was, a Mortified Man, Crucified with Christ; But easy it is for a Man to know he is so, if he be so; yet many are mistaken in this matter, and take themselves to be so when they are not; but the reason is, they do not observe the Manners of a Man concrucified. They do not observe how it was with Christ, when he was crucified, or with Saint Paul when he was crucified with Christ. They do not inquire whether it be so with themselves. When Christ was crucified he was Patiented, and so was Paul Isal. 53. 7. in all his sufferings for Christ, when he was concrucified. Are all we so? Are we patiented in tribulations? Can we suffer our 1 Pet. 2. 23. losses, and crosses with patience? When our Saviour was reviled, he reulied not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but Committed himself to him that Judgeth righteously. Do we do so? So did S. Paul, Being reviled we bless, saith he, and being Persecuted we Suffer it, and being defamed we entreat, 1 Corinth. 4. 12, 13. Again when Christ was crucified he was very pious. Are we Luke 23. 34. so? He prayed for the pardon of his Persecutors; do we so? So did the Protomartyr Saint Steven, and so did Paul, and Acts 7. 60. so do all that are conformed to our Crucified Saviour. And if we do not so, it is a sign we are not crucified with our Saviour. Again, when Christ was crucified, he left the world; He neither reckoned of the Pomp, nor of the Glory of it. And so it was with Paul when he was crucified with Christ; The world Gal. 6. 14. was crucified to him, and he unto the world. Now is it so with us? If it be so, the world may fawn upon us, but we will not S. Aug. lib. de Salu. doc. cap. 16. fancy it, and it may frown upon us, but we will not fear it. If we be crucified to that, and that to us, we will not Court it for any Pleasure; nor Covet it for any Profit. We will not Chrysost. in Math. hom. 55. flatter it, nor yet be flattered by it. We will not seek to win, nor suffer ourselves to be won by the allurements of it. With Paul concrucified we will esteem all worldly things, as Phil. 3. 8. dung, and dross, in comparison of Christ. Again, when Christ was crucified, he was a dead Man, and Crucifixum esse est mortuum esse. Musculus. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Photius. Ephes. 4. 19 so was Paul, and a dead man does not sin; he that is crucified with Christ, as Paul was, is dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God. Though sin itself be not departed, yet the life of sin is gone. Sin is mortified in him. Now how is it with us? How is sin now committed by us? Do we still sin with greediness? Does sin still live in us? and we still love to live in sin? If so, we are not yet concrucified. True it is, that the old sins of Man, as well as the old man of sins, must have a time to die after they be crucified. There will be sin in any Regenerate Man as long as he liveth, though he be never so long concrucified before his death. For if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Yet if we be truly Crucified with Christ, the love of sin will abate in us, yea our loving will turn into a loathing of it, and though we carry sin every whither about with us, yet we will not be carried every whither about with sin. There will appear the power of godliness in us Counter-manding the Commanding power of sin, though it cannot always prevail. The flesh lusteth against the spirit, Gal. 5. 17. and the spirit against the flesh, and these two are so contrary that a man cannot do the things that he would. There is a continual See Perkins in his combat of the Flesh and Spirit. Combat between the Regenerate and the Unregenerate parts of any Regenerate Person. Such a Person is like that mystical purse that has both old and new coin in it. The first, and second Regenetatus duplici constat homine, interiore nimirum, ut ●xteriore. Zanch. Miscellan. lib. 3. adam's are both in the old new Man, a living dead man, a renewed man, crucified with Christ, and yet alive. Such a person was S. Paul, a person that had both sin and sanctity at once. A person crucified with Christ, and so dying daily unto sin, but not quitedead unto it; or dead it may be unto many sins, but not to all; or dead to all it may be in some degrees, but not in all. There were still peccata quotidianae incursionis, though not peccata prav● dispositionis, in him, sins of infirmity he had, and sins of inadvertensie, though not of high presumption, and deliberation. There are two degrees of Moral Concrucifixion, non servir● peccato, and mori peccato, not to serve sin, and to die unto sin. The first is possible in this life, saith Cajetan, but not the second. Nondun mortuus, sed fixus est noster vetus homo, Our old man is not Cajetan. in c. 6 Epist. ad Roman. yet dead, saith he, but fixed unto the Cross he is, and so made sure for serving Sin any longer. This inchoation of our concrucifixion is very feasible in this life; But not the consummation of it: for that is to be affected rather then effected here. From the service of sin we may be free, but not from sin itself, whilst here we live. It is one of the hardest things in the World to be truly crucified to the World. The practicals of Christianity are harder than the Theoreticalls; And of all the practicals this is one of the hardest. I would feign say with Paul, that I am crucified with Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world, but I cannot, saith S. chrysostom; And so said Saint Chrysost. in Math. Hom. 55 S. August. de docu. Spirit. S. Bernar. in in Cant. Serm. 72. Austin too; And so Saint Bernard: Yet these were holy Men, Concrucified, and such as did even Sequester themselves from this evil World. But so sensible they were of their own infirmities in it, that they seemed to themselves uncrucified to it. They wanted much of Paul's degree of Mortification, and wished as much for it; But it would not come with wishing. Yea Paul himself fell short of that Perfection of it, which he wished. Indeed he freed himself from Servitude to sin, though not without much Labour: But with that Labour and much more he could not free himself from Sinne. Yet nevertheless, but much the more, he strove to be as free as he could from sin. And so must we. He did, and suffered much to be Concrucified; He fasted, he prayed, he watched, he laboured, he was in weariness and painfulness, in watch often, in hunger, 2 Cor. 11. 27. and thirst, in fasting often, in cold, and nakedness. Yet all that he did, and suffered, would not do it alone; But it was 1 Cor. 15. 10. by the Grace of God, that he was what he was. All our Endeavours are but in vain, unless that God vouchsafes a blessing to them. And all in vain it is to expect a blessing at his hands, unless we endeavour with our own. It is by Grace Ephes. 2. 5. Phil. 2. 12. 2 Pet. 1. 10. that we may be saved; yet must we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling; And give all diligence to make our calling and Election sure; we must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, workers together with God in this most godly work of Moral Concrucifixion. We must endeavour the effecting of it, and pray the Father of Mercies to crown our endeavours with his blessing. And the Difficulty of the Work should make us double our diligence to perform it. Difficilia quae pulchra, the best things are ever dear purchased, and the best works hardly perfected. Facilis est descensus Averni, It is an easy matter to descend to Sanctitatis via ardua est. Franciscus de Mendoza in li. 1. Reg. cap. 4. Tom. 2. Mat. 7. 13, 14. Hell; But very hard to ascend to Heaven. Ardua est via virtutis. Men may pass in the Broad Way, and enter in at the Wide Gate without contending; But at the Straight Gate there is no entering without much striving. There must be vis impressa, a violent force impressed upon a stone, or any heavy Body, to make it ascend; And we must offer a kind of violence to our stony Hearts, heavy with loads of sin, or they will never ascend to Heaven-ward. It is very difficult indeed to be concrucified, but not impossible. Consider this Apostle, and be encouraged. This was as unlikely a man before his Conversion as any here. Of all men the Jews were most unlikely to be converted unto Christ, and crucified with him; And of all the Jews the most unlikely were the Rulers; And of all the Rulers the most unlikely were the Pharisees, Have any of the Rulers, or of the Pharisees believed on him? John 7. 48. It seems it was a thing unlikely, that any such should ever become his Proselytes; but unlikely things are brought to pass sometimes, and this very thing, as unlikely as it was, was more than once effected, for Nicodemus was converted, yet was he a Jew, a Ruler, a Pharisee, A man of the Pharisees a Ruler of the Jews. John 3. 1. Acts 22. 3, 4, 19, 20. And Paul was a Jew too, and a Pharisee too, and a kind of Ruler, at least an unkind Under-officer he was, and very pragmatical in his Office. A new commissioner he was made, with power Phil. 3. 5, 6. delegated to him, to inquire after all sorts of Christians, and to persecute them all whether they were men or women. A pestilent Acts 24. 5. fellow he was, as that Orator Tertullus called him, though not in his sense; And a mover of sedition amongst all the Jews, and a Ring, leader of tumults against the Church of Christ. He breathed out Acts 9 1, 2. Acts 8. 3. nothing but threaten and slaughters against the Disciples of the Lord; And fearful havoc it was that he made with the Church; yet Lupii ●xuit subito, induitque agnum. Geor Abbot. Cantua. Archie. de fuga in pierce. Linus de Passione Pauli. Mat. 3. 9 See Archb. Abbot in his six Questions determined at Oxford at the beginning of the 5. De sug ● in persecutione. Acts 13. 9 Saul, abutens, vel abusivum eorum. Philo. Interpr. Arquirius in Dictionario Theologico. Eucherius the Nomin. Hebraic. 1 Cor. 15. 9 Paulus, mirabilis, vel electus. S. Hieronim. Arquirius. Theolo. Dictio. John 22. 27. 1 Tim. 1. 15. Acts 9 15. Acts 8. 1. Philem. 9 Acts. 13. 7. S. Hieronim. de claris Scriptorib. this furious Persecutor of those Christians was soon turned to a zealous Preacher of Christianity. This Wolf was turned soon into a Lamb, yea this crucifier of others was himself even crucified with Christ in his Life, and suffered for Christ at his Death. Let no Man therefore here exclude himself from hopes of Heaven. Let none despair of his own conversion, or concrucifixion; God is able of stones to raise up children unto Abraham, of hard and stony hearted sinners, he can make most tender hearted Christians. He can make wheat of tares, corn of chaff, flower of bra●, good of evil, gold of dross, light of darkness, life of death, grace of nature, Quidlibet ex quolibet, A Paul of a Saul. This great Apostle was Saul at first, that is, Superbus, proud, and lofty, as Pharisees were wont to be; But he became a Paul at last, that is, humilis, humble and lowly; mirabilis, vel minimus, so Eucherius, Marvellous, or the meanest. Indeed he deemed himself the least of all the Apostles, as well as the last, not worthy to be an Apostle, forasmuch as he had so much opposed the truth of the Gospel. And it was marvellous indeed that ever he proved such an Apostle as he did. But see what God can do, Those things that ar● impossible with men, are possible with God, with him all things ar● possible, Mat. 19 ●6. Then be not faithless, but believing; Of the chiefest of sinners, see one of the choicest of Saints, of a Vessel of dishonour, see now a Vessel of honour, vas electionis, a chosen vessel. Of a young Saul that consented to the stoning of that holy Proto-Martyr S. Steven, see now an aged Paul, that converted S●rgius Paulus, Proconsul of Cyprus, and from that changing of him unto Christianity had his own name changed amongst the Christians, from Saul to Paul, as S. Jerome avoucheth. The Name of Paul in the oldest holy language soundeth wonderful, and full of wonder we may be, that ever the Man was changed so in Nam● and Nature. But let us more admire the Power of God, and godliness in Paul, that did so change him in himself, and yet so keep him in the change, that he might truly say, as he did, I am Crucified Buxtor. Etimol. with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ that liveth in me. FINIS.