Love and Obedience OR, Christ's Precept and Promise.  
Being a Sermon Preached on Whitsunday last, 28. of May, 1637. in Guildhall chapel, before the right Honourable the Lord Major of this City of London.  
By William Freak Minister of the Word of God.  1 Samuel, 15.22. 
Behold, to Obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken is better than the fat of Rams.  
LONDON: Printed by john Okes dwelling in little-Saint Bartholomew's. 1637.   

To the Right Honourable Sir Edward Bromfield Knight, Lord Major of this honourable City; and to the rest of the right Worshipful Court of Aldermen, with the right Worshipful William Abel, and james Garrard, Esquires, Shreive's of this Honourable City for this year.  
William Freak Minister of God's Word, wisheth in the Dedication of this his service, all real happiness, conducing to this life and a better.  
Right honourable and right Worshipful:  
TO show reasons for my Dedication of this Sermon, and my service therein to your Honour, and to this City, may be expected by some that have not known me and my course; but they are well known almost to all that know me, to be such, and of that Nature, that if I should neglect this duty, the World might well cry shame upon me. I have been above thirty four years employed here wholly, and within the Verge of this City: I have received the greatest good that I enjoy in my present course from the reverend Ministry of this City. I have had my first encouragement in this way, from a worshipful Society of this City. What I hope to enjoy during life, hath been the free gift of this honourable Court of Aldermen, and of this City. All which are just incentives to a respective thankfulness from me.  
But I must add one reason more, in respect of you my much honoured Lord, your Honour's free goodness to me at my first coming to Saint George's in Southwark, now five years since complete. The free continuation of your love in some distresses fall'n upon me in the interim. And lately your Honours undeserved favour in appointing me to this Service. All these have enjoined me to this Dedication; which I humbly beseech your Honour to accept of, as proceeding from him, whose daily prayers, and constant endeavours, in the way of all thankfulness and dutiful observance are, and shall be during life, ever yours, as obliged,  
Your Honours, and the City's Chaplain, to be commanded, William Freak.   

Love and Obedience.  JOHN 14. vers. 15.16. 
If ye love me, keep my Commandments: and I will pray unto the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.  
Our Text is Verbum Dei, and Verbum diei, as a Father sometimes said in the like case; as the Word of God, so a Word in season, even a word for the very day; being the first words of that portion of sacred Scripture, which the pious care of our Church hath selected to be read unto you, as the Gospel for this day. In which without any dilatory Preambles, we have only these 2. generals propounded to our consideration: 

1. A Precept.  
2. A Promise.   The precept seeming to be propounded conditionally, as a man would collect from the words at the first sight thereof, Si me diligatis, If ye love me: But being indeed (as Ferus hath observed) a charge enforced by way of Argument drawn Ex concessis, from the general and frequent confession of all the Apostles in their professed love to Christ, as their Lord and Master, If ye love me, keep my Commandments: As if our blessed Lord had said, Ye all profess to love me, and that ye are desirous to endear your service by some real testimonies thereof unto me: If then ye love me as ye profess, ye can no way better show it than by keeping my Commandments; If ye love me, keep my Commandments.  
As touching the second general, it is a promise of the sending down of the Holy Ghost, whose descending gave occasion to this Festival which now we celebrate; this being the day, by the Church's account, whereon the Holy Ghost came down in the form of cloven tongues of fire, and sat upon the Apostles at Jerusalem, as ye have it delivered in the second of the Acts. A Day to be celebrated with a religious observance in a double respect:  
First, as it is the day (if we understand things aright) whereon the Law was delivered to the Israelites from Mount Sinai, the fiftieth day after their departure out of Egypt, which gave name to the Feast of Pentecost, Levit. 23.15, 16. Deut. 16.9. Exod. 13.4.  
Secondly, as it is the day upon which the Gospel proceeded from Mount Zion, by the coming down of the Holy Ghost, the third person in Trinity, according to the promise of the second person in Trinity, our blessed Lord here in my Text, If ye love me, etc. Et ego rogabo Patrem, & ille dabit vobis alium paracletum.  
You have the second general propounded: the precept of our blessed Lord, and his gracious promise, which together with the particulars therein considerable, are like to be the subject of my discourse, and your attention at this time: Wherein that our joint endeavours may tend to the glory of our good God, and our mutual comforts both here and hereafter, may it please our heavenly Father to assist me in speaking, and you in hearing, and to second our weak and worthless undertake by the sacred influence and holy operation of his gracious Spirit, the Comforter in our Text, even for his sake, who in this Text hath promised to pray for us, saying, Ego rogabo Patrem, &c If ye love me, keep my Commandments; and I will pray, etc. and of these two Generals in their order, beginning with the first, the Precept, Si me me diligatis, etc.  
Many Observations may be made from this first General, profitable for instruction, for direction comfortable, which I will run over with what brevity I can: As first, from the scope and main intention of the words, I observe with Ferus, Probatio dilectionis est exhibitio operis. The best testimony of man's love to Almighty God is collected from the sincerity of man's obedience to Gods revealed Will.  
God is faithful, (saith Moses) keeping covenant and mercy with them that love him, and keep his Commandments, Deut. 7.9. as intimating that no profession of love to Almighty God is acceptable in his sight, where there wanteth a pious respect to his holy Commandments. For what is it (saith he) o Israel that God requireth of thee, but to love the Lord thy God, and to serve him with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and that thou keep the Commandments of the Lord, and his Ordinances which I command thee this day? Deut. 10.12, 13. As if he should say, God requireth nothing of thee but Love, and Obedience. Therefore in the 11. Chap. of the same Book, ver. 22. he comprehendeth the whole sum of Religion in these two branches, Love and Obedience; where having said, Keep diligently all the Commandments which I command you to do, he explaineth his meaning in the words following, that is, To love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways. Deut. 11.22. Whereunto agreeth that speech of the beloved Disciple to the full, I john 5.3. This is the love of God, that we keep his Commandments: Plainly showing the truth of this assertion, observed from the scope of the words, that the best Testimony of man's love to God, is the sincerity of man's obedience to Gods revealed Word.  
Which if it be so, then wretched is that error of multitudes of men and women, who contenting themselves in this case with a verbal profession, take liberty to shame the same by a disorderly conversation: whose Religion can not better be expressed, than by comparing it to that language which the Jewish children spoke in the days of Nehemia, Nehem. 13. ver. 24. For as they spoke their Hebrew in a broken manner, half the speech of Ashdod, and half of Ammon, and half of Moab, and could not speak in the jews Language, but according to the language of each people: So too many amongst us, when they are put to it, to speak out their Religion in their practice, utter it in such a broken manner, so mingled with the practice of a profane life, that they appear to be merely Hybridae, of a mixed race, as were jewish children; half Christian, half worldling; whose profession and practice being laid together, miserably shame each other.  
Should a man demand this question of the veriest Epicure and dissolute liver, of the griping oppressor, or profane Sabbath-breaker, of the blasphemous swearer, or time-serving Atheist, if he love God, or not? he will answer, that it were pity of his life else: I would then gladly know, what evidence such a person can have in his heart, what testimony he can give unto the world, that there is any love of God in him at all, while so contemptuously and wilfully he continueth to break God's Commandments. Assuredly men do not gather Grapes off Thorns, nor Figs off Thistles, saith our blessed Redeemer, Math. 7.6. The tree is known by his fruit, and by their fruits ye shall know them. ibid. ver. 20.  
men's love to God is best discerned by their lives and if they love God truly, they will keep his Commandments conscionably. It is a good note of Musculus in his Comment upon my Text: Observatio preveptorum Dei, omnibus Christi fidelibus eo loco habenda est, ut si illa desit, in ipsam Christi dilectionem peccasse convincamur. The conscionable observance of God's Commandments, is so material and absolute a mark of a true Christian, as that, where this is wanting, the lives of men convince them to their faces, that the love of Christ dwelleth not in them. I will conclude this observation therefore with that saying of St. John 1. joh. 2.4. He that sayeth, I know him, and keepeth not his Commandments, the same is a liar, and the truth is not in him. Testify therefore, my beloved, I humbly beseech you, your love to our blessed Lord and Redeemer, by yielding a careful and quick obedience to his holy Commandemen: for he loveth me not, that keeps not my word, saith our Saviour in this chap. ver. 24. But if any man love me he will keep my word, ibid. v. 23. and he that hath my Commandments and keepeth them, is he that loveth me. ibid. v. 21.  
2. Which thing we might the rather be induced to do, if we would but duly consider the force of Christ's argument, as it is couched in that form of elocution which he is pleased here to use: si me diligatis, for he saith not, si in me credatis; if ye believe in me that I am the Son of God, and Redeemer of the World, then keep my Commandaments: He saith not, quoniam mihi serviatis, because ye here professed yourselves my servants and Disciples, seeing ye call me Lord and Master, therefore keep my command ments: he saith not, quoniam potestatem meam cognoscatis, because ye know I have power to kill, and power to make alive, therefore keep my Commandments; though any of these had been an argument strong enough to have convinced them: but si me diligatis, if ye love me, etc. as if he had said: ye have seen what love I have expressed to all of you, how freely I have chosen you, how tenderly respected you, and what care I have to instruct you in the knowledge of the things that belong to your salvation; and I shall shortly give you a full and unanswerable demonstration of my unparaleld love, in giving my life for you, if then ye love me, as ye profess to do, by that love ye profess to bear me, I adjure and charge ye, thatye keep my Commandments: An argument (I confess) of small force and validity to a base and servile nature; but to a freeborn and ingenuous disposition, to a sanctified soul, it is an argument of that force, that none can be more persuasive, none so fully prevailent, Dilectio fortis ut mors, saith the Spouse in the Canticles 8.6. and where that is the object of our respect, it draweth us most effectually; I lead them with the cords of a man, even with the bonds of love, saith the Lord, concerning Israel, Hos. 11.4. as intimating plainly unto us, that as nothing but death can divert that soul which truly loveth God from a cheerful and conscionable obedience to his revealed will. So, no obligation in this world tieth the soul of a true Christian to so strict an obedience, as the serious considerations of Gods undeserved love: when a man shall consider truly, (as St. Bernard expresseth it) that Prior Deus dilexit nos, antus, tantum & gratis, tantillos & tales: That God should love mankind, and love him first; so infinite a Majesty, such abject creatures, so freely, so exceedingly, with such large expression thereof, to those who are every way so unworthy, so undeserving of the least jot, if considered in ourselves. And seeing it is true, that nulla major ad amorem provocatio quam praevenire amando, as saith holy St. Augustine divinely, There is no more kindly attracting of love, than in loving to prevent. We must needs acknowledge this argument of our blessed Lord to be most forcible, if rightly understood: si me diligatis, if ye love me, keep my Commandments: And conclude with Augustine in his own words in the same place, Nimis durus est qui amorem etiamsi nolebat impendere, nolit rependere, That man is composed of too hard a mettle, who though he like not to love first, will not requite it and love again, either first or second.  
3. And yet it were some diminution to the strength of this argument; if our Blessed Lord in this his love to mankind should any way appear to respect his own benefit. But see the freedom of his love, and thence observe yet a further force in Christ's argument: Christus non sibi utilitatem quaerit, sed nobis: nos illi non incommodamus praecepta ejus negligendo, sed nobis ipsts, saith Musculus upon this place: As our blessed Lord in backing this precept by an argument drawn from his love, doth no way aim at his own benefit, but at ours: So we, by detracting our obedience from his commandment, can no way disadvantage him, but ourselves only, and theharme that grows thereof reflects upon us, and the loss will, undoubtedly, be set upon our score. That which moved our blessed Lord to take our nature upon him, to fulfil the Law for us, and yet to suffer as a transgressor of the Law, was nothing else (as Bishop Anselm well observed) but amor & sitis salutis humanae, Christ jesus, his loving and thirsty desire to rescue falling mankind from eternal perdition: Which occasioned that Father thus to express his admiration: O charitas divina, quam magnum est tuum vinoulum, O most blessed and loving Lord, how strict was that bond wherewith thy divine love did voluntarily oblige thee in the redemption of perishing mankind: Tu Deum ad terram traxisti, tu aed columnan ligasti, tu cruci afixisti, tu in sepulchro claeusisti, tu ad inferos detrusisti. It was thy love oh blessed Lord, that drew thee the Son of God to come down from heaven to earth, that tied thee to the Pillar, that nailed thee to the Cross, that shut thee for a while into the grave, that exposed thee to suffer the pains of hell for us in thy drooping agony. That the love of Christ, whereby he purchased us to himself might appear in all respects to be free and spontaneous, and become an indissoluble tie and obligation upon us for a constant and conscionable retribution of love to him in keeping his Commandments. Give me leave then so fare as I can, to strike this nail to the head in the words of the same Father. O long graviores saxon & plumbo, quos tanti amoris vinculum, non trahit sursum ad Deum, ex quo prius traxit Deum deorsum ad homines. Those souls are undoubtedly, more senseless than stones, more ponderous than lead, whom the tie of so free and unparaleld a love, cannot lift upwards to God, which formerly drew God downwards to man. Those 〈◊〉 strangely frozen in their dregs Zeph. 1.12. upon whom this mo●ived●●h not work, whom the consideration of Christ's love, so amply demonstrated, doth not persuade to a full resolution of soul to testify a full retribution of love to him, by a 〈◊〉 observance of his holy will.  
4. And that so much the rather too, because (as a grave Expositor upon this place well observeth) our Saviour Christ saith not, si timeatis, if ye fear me, but si diligatis, if ye love me, keep my Commandments. Talem enim Christus exigit observantiam non quae a timore servili extorqueatur sed ab amore filiali ultrò nascatur, saith the same Expositor: for our blessed Saviour exacts no such an obedience to his Laws, as hath need to be extorted from a servile fear; such an obedience as the Spanish Clergy forceth from their people by the power of their inquisition, but such an obedience as floweth freely and spontaneously from the fountain of a filial and son-like fear. Christus non probat obedientiam coactam, saith Musculus upon this place very well to our purpose: Christ never approved of any constrained obedience, which had need to be wrested from the unwilling hand of the performer: he hath done enough to win the world, and to draw all men to him by love, if he had not to do with a stiffnecked people, and a stonyhearted generation. His word and Gospel where it is truly and powerfully preached in the liberty thereof, hath no need of any jesuitical insinuations, or rules drawn from Matchievel for the establishing of his kingdom: If therefore that disloyal brood of Inigo Loiola that lame Spanish Soldier, which in this last Century of years hath so much troubled all Christendom, and almost the whole world about the erecting of a fift Monarchy, covering all their lawless designs under the most sacred name of jesus, shall in God's good time, find the all-ruling providence to turn their Counsels into foolishness, as as he sometimes did Achitophel's, because as he would have set up a rebellious Absolom against David; so they would plant a politic Hierarchy, under the name of jesus, but in flat opposition to Christ the Son of David and our blessed Lord; let it appear no strange thing to those that fear God, however it seem improbable to flesh and blood: Our blessed Lord never warranted nor approved of such a course to fetch in all Nations to a formal profession of Christianity only, without the lively practice of it, or to force men to an approbation of that Religion outwardly, which inwardly they abhor, if they durst but to dispute the same, or could be admitted to receive better instruction without loss of life and goods: Fieri non potest ut mandatis divinis ritè obsecundetur, nisi animo spontaneo ex spirita dilectionis obtemporetur. Man's obedience to God's command can never be sincere, except it proceed freely from the spirit of love; and where this motive of our blessed Saviour will not work, the power and policy of all the world will prove but lost labour. Our Saviour, without all question, knew what would draw his chosen people to the obedience of his blessed will, and that is a sad and due consideration of his unparaleld love to mankind; and therefore he said not, si timeatis, but si diligatis, if ye love me, keep my commandments.  
5. But here again, it is not unworthy your consideration, that our blessed Saviour saith not servate praecepta hominum, if ye love me, keep the commandments of men; but if ye love me, keep my Commandments: For, in vain do they worship God, saith our Saviour, who teach for Doctrines the traditions of men. It was that, for which God complained of the jewish Nation in the days of Jsaiah, Isaiah 29.13. That their fear towards him was taught by the precepts of men; which practice, what fruit it produced in that people, the Lord tells us plainly in the former verses of that Chapter: For vision becometh in a short time, to such, among whom this course is taken as the words of a book that is sealed up, which they deliver to one that can read saying, Read this I pray thee, verse 11. who makes answer, I cannot read, because it is sealed. So in a while it cometh to pass, that the book is delivered to one that cannot read, saying, Read this I pray thee, and he shall answer plainly, I cannot read. ver. 12. An entermingling of 〈◊〉 mane precepts with divine truths, breeds a neglect of the sacred Scripture, and then grows up quickly superstition and will-worship, which produceth in time palpable and gross ignorance, not in the people only, but also in the Priests: So that the complaint may be taken up, which the same Prophet maketh in the same chapter, touching their teachers; Stay yourselves and wonder, they are blind and make you blind; they are drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink, for the Lord hath covered them with the spirit of slumber. vers. 10. And as concerning both Priests and people together, that word may be pronounced which follows, chapter 13. They come near unto God with their mouths, but their hearts are fare from him, mere formality eating out all reality in the course of religion, where humane inventions are taught for doctrines, and men's fear towards God is taught by the precepts of men: Therefore our blessed Lord saith not, seruate praecepta hominum, but if ye love me, keep my Commandments.  
6. And as Musculus observes further; Servate praecepta mea non disputate tantum, Make not religion the subject of your discourse and dispute only, but of your life and practice, not the fuel only of faction by way of argument and controversy, but the rule and square of your religious and Christian performances. It was sometimes the complaint of a reverend Divine of Germany, concerning the Prelates of his time: Hodie praelati multa disputant de authoritate & potestate Ecclesiae, parum de obedientia Deo praestanda solliciti: His meaning was, that many of their greatest Churchmen, spent their time almost wholly in acute and subtle disputations touching the power and authority of the Church, but seldom, or never, took care to instruct their people in their obedience to Almighty God. Brethren, I could wish our own times had not a touch of this fault, wherein we have too many, who too much trusting to their own acuteness, make a practice to broach nice and disputable questions, that therein they may imbroile men's faith and religion, and in troubled waters fish out their own ends, with their Lapwing cries calling men away from keeping Christ's Commandments in their lives and actions, to a fruitless jangling, that serves to no other end, but to stir up passion without edification. For the stopping of which unnecessary and unprofitable disputes, our blessed Lord saith not, if ye love me, obey my will: for than saith Musculus, the Disciples might have replied, quae tua voluntas Domine? Lord what is thy will? but Servate praeceptamea, keep my Commandments, show yourselves my Disciples by your obedience to the revealed will of my Father: therein taking away all pretences of doubting, all occasions of of dispute concerning his will and pleasure: so that whosoever shall raise any controversy touching that obedience which our Saviour requireth in this divine charge, hath his mouth fully stopped by that answer which our blessed Lord sometimes gave to the young man. Matth. 10.18. Nôsti praecepta, Thou knowest the Commandments: And if ye love me, keep my Commandments. I will end therefore all that I have to say of this first General, with that of the acute French man Ardentius, Effectus verae dilectionis Dei, est observatio mandatorum: The most infallible effect of the love of God in the heart of man, is a conscionable observance of God's Commandments; proceeding from love not forced by any politic compulsion, arising merely from a sense and acknowledgement of the unspeakable love which God hath showed to us first, and expressed in a religious observation not of humane traditions, but of Gods revealed Will; not disputing thereof only, but expressing the power of it in our lives and conversations. And this is that love which our blessed Lord requireth, when he saith in our Text, If ye love me, etc. And so from the first general the Precept, I proceed to the second, the Promise, Et ego rogabo Patrem.  
The substance whereof is the promise of our blessed Lord to his Disciples, touching the mission or sending of the Holy Ghost, which as upon this day being performed, occasioneth this Festival. Wherein are sundry particulars considerable, which I will touch briefly, lest the time outstrip me. And first of all these two words Rogabo, and Dabit, that Christ will pray, and his Father will give, do apparently evince to each understanding soul, that the Apostles were short in their condition, as no way able to have pleaded the promise jure meriti, upon the reality of their own performance; for so they might have fallen short of their expectations.  
It is the free gift of God the Father to give another Comforter, no due debt upon performance of the propounded condition; and therefore saith our blessed Lord Dabit, He shall give it; and Dabit roganti, He shall give it to Christ's prayer, rather for his rogation and intercession in this case, than for any work or merit in them. Our best love and services are not able to weigh it down pondere meriti, in the weight of desert: it must come Rogatu Christi, at Christ's entreaty, or it cannot come at all. Lean not then upon merits; Christ it is, and his intercession that we must stand unto in this our condition and covenant. And not understand this Text thus: (be not mistaken) as if the sense were, You shall love me, and keep my Commandments, and then my Father shall be bound to give you his holy Spirit: But you shall love me, and keep my Commandments, and then I will pray, and the Father shall give when I pray: None otherwise; let the Synagogue of Rome gloss upon it as they can, the words can bear no other sense. But here is a doubt cast by some: How can a man love Christ, and keep his Commandments, before he hath received the Holy Ghost, without whom first had, certainly we can do neither. It is God that worketh in us both the will and the deed, Phil. 2.13. and that of his own good pleasure.  
I answer, this scruple is easily removed, if you take heed to what you read. Matth. 13.12. Whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have abundance. A promise may be made tam habenti, quam non habenti; Aswell to him that hath a thing already, as to him that hath it not at all. To him that hath it in a lower or lesser measure, it may be promised that he shall have it in a more ample and fuller degree than yet he hath: or to him that hath it in one kind, a promise may be made, that he shall have it in some other, or better kind. For the Spirit is given to all (excepting only Christ) according to measure: It was he only that was anointed with the oil of gladness above all his fellows. Psal. 45. It is he only, of whose fullness we all receive. John 1.16. And where there is measure, there are degrees; where there be degrees of more or less, the more may be well promised to him that hath the less: To him who as yet hath it but in a still warm breath, it may well be promised in cloven tongues of fire: To him who hath it as the first fruits which is an handful, it may well be promised in the whole sheaf, which filleth the bosom. And thus the holy Apostles had it from the time that Christ breathed on them, saying, Receive ye the holy Ghost, john 20.22. in some measure; and so they might well love him in some sort, and in some sort might keep his Commandments, and yet be capable of the promise of the Comforter in some more ample measure for all that: so that now the doubt is answered, and Christ may proceed to his Prayer, and we to the consideration of the further particulars therein comprised, Ego rogabo Patrem, & ille dabit, etc.  
In which words is a most material observation, touching our faith in the blessed Trinity: Here is the Article offered, and set down in the three Persons, 1. Ego, 2. Ille, 3. Altum.  
Ego rogabo, there is Christ the Son: Jlle dabit, He shall give there is God the Father personally named: Ego rogabo Patrem, & ille dabit: And alium Paracletum, another Comforter, a third person, the Holy Ghost. Here is then one Person praying, the other prayed unto, the third prayed for. Filius orans, Pater donans, Spiritus consolans: A most plain ground for the point of the holy Trinity, and a most evident distinction of the Persons. And here this prayer of Christ sets us to seek his other Nature: Here he entreats as inferior to his Father, which showeth him perfectly man: But in the 26. vers. of the next Chapter, as equal to his Father in the nature of God, he joineth in this giving with like Authority: Rogabo as Man, Dabo as God: when that Comforter shall come, whom I will send unto you from the Father: And thus finding the Father giving here, and the Son sending there, we have an infallible proof of the proceeding of the Holy Ghost from the Father, and from the Son.  
And lastly, the Deity of the Holy Ghost, and his equality to the Father, and to the Son, are herein plainly demonstrated. For our Saviour Christ in sending and procuring a Comforter in his absence, must needs send and procure them one equal to himself; one every way as good, or else they had changed for the worse, and so might well have prayed him to let his prayer alone; they were better as they were: and if he did not send them an equal Comforter, they were like to be at a loss. But our Saviour meant not so; therefore he saith Another Comforter, which shall abide with you for ever; an everlasting Comforter from the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace. Isaiah 9.6. These things thus cleared, I proceed to some doctrinal observations.  
1. That the Holy Ghost is not given but from the Father, whose absolute gift he is; for Ille dabit saith my Text, according to that Luke 11.13. It is our heavenly Father that giveth the holy Ghost to them that ask it of him. And therefore is he called, The promise of the Father. Luke 24.49. And that Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father John 15.26. And in this Chapter, ver. 26 our Saviour styles him The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father, saith he) will send in my Name.  
2. With a grave Expositor I here observe, Non dari Spiritum sanctum, nisi interventu Christi Mediatoris: That the Father giveth not the holy Spirit unto any, but through the intercession of our blessed Lord, the Son of the Father. For Ego rogabo Patrem, saith my Text, & ille dabit. Therefore doth he style himself the Door, beside whom there is no right entrance to the participation of this divine donation, joh. 10.9. and Mat. 11.29. the easer of those that are weary and heavy laden, who never find true rest but in this comforter promised in the words of this Text: therefore doth he style himself, the way, the truth, and the life, in this chapter verse the sixth, to show us that there is no way to true life eternal, but by this spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father and the Son, no way to attain this spirit, but by the Son's intercession to the Father.  
3. It is worth your noting to whom this comforter is promised; it is only those who love jesus Christ, and keep his Commandments, for so much the connexion of the two generals in my Text doth evidently demonstrate: If ye love me, etc. I will pray. Therefore saith our Saviour in the verses after my Text: If any man love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come in unto him, and dwell with him. How? my Father will love him, and we will come, etc. O quanta dignitas, quantus honor Deum diligentibus & mandata ejus observantibus, saith an ancient Father of the Church: What a dignity, what an honour doth accuree to those who love God truly and keep his Commandments? What sweetness of comfort can be comparable to this, by retaining the true love of God, as a resident guest in the heart, to have the blessed Comforter in my Text, to have the blessed Trinity itself dwelling within us? saith Arden acutely. This is to have God the Father, by the grace of our Lord jesus Christ, and the sacred influence of his sanctifiing Spirit ruling, and reigning, and residing in our hearts. This is truly to make our souls and bodies Temples of the holy Ghost, as St. Paul speak, 1. Cor. 6.19. This is to acquire an infallible testimony to our own souls, that we are in Christ, and Christ in us; that the benefit of our Saviour's prayer is extended to us, as touching the comforter promised in my Text: For, he that keepeth his Commandments (saith St. johu) dwelleth in him, and he in him, and and hereby shall we know that he abideth in us, even by that spirit of love and obedience; even by that spirit which he hath given us. 1. joh. 3.24.  
4. We may not omit to take notice, that this blessed Spirit is called, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a comforter, to intimate Christ's intention in sending him. In the world ye shall have affliction, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the World, joh. 16.33. and in the mean while I will pray unto the Father, and he shall give you another comforter. Indeed the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in the original, as the learned in the Greek Language well understand, doth in the genuine etymology thereof signify, an advocate, qui accusatis & in necessitate constitutis adsit, & opem ferat proijs loquendo, saith the Etymologist: one that may assist, and plead for such as are accused before a judge, and stand in danger of a censure. Therefore doth our Saviour exhort his Disciples, when after his death they should be called before Kings and Princes for his name sake, to fly to the advice and assistance of this holy Advocate, for it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of God which speaketh in you, saith our Saviour, Mat. 10.18, 19, 20. That we might learn thence, when in our supplications to almighty God, we shall find our hearts to be straighted, and our tongs defective in expression of our desires, to fly for assistance to this heavenly advocate, and to invocate him, for he it is alone that helpeth our infirmities, he maketh requests for the Saints according to the will of God, saith St. Paul, Rom. 8.26, 27. And in this case, doubtless, shall the faithful soul, find the benefit of this promise of our blessed Lord in my Text, Ego rogabo patrem, when the blustering storms of adversity, or affront of temptation shall winnow us as wheat, as our blessed Lord told St. Peter, Luke 22.31. Let us adhere in faith and obedience to this heavenly advocate; as remembering that he which prayed for St. Peter, hath prayed also for us, and this his holy advocate shall speak in us, and with us, and for us, & fides non deficiet, & our faith shall not fail: when that accuser of the brethren, which is cast down into the earth, shall serve thee with a subpoena in the court of thy own conscience, and shall set all thy sins in order before thee thereby raising within thee those tempestates mentis, as Nazianzen styles them, those tempests in thy soul, which shall shake the very foundation of thy faith & religion: cast out this shoot anchor, & thou mayst ride out this storm, have recourse to this heavenly advocate the comforter in my Text, and thou shalt overcome all oppositions by the blood of the Lamb, Rev. 12.10, 11. He that said rogabo patrem, I will pray unto the Father; even he shall send thee help by this holy comforter, whose presence shall appease all storms; as it was said of our blessed Saviour, Mark. 4.39. He shall rebuke the wind, and say unto the waves peace and be still, and the storm shall cease, and a great calm shall follow, Et ille dabit alium paracletum, and he shall give thee another comforter, that he might abide with thee for ever. But may some man say, quare aliuu● paracletum, why another comforter; for is not this the same Spirit of God whereby the Patriarches were taught to believe, the Prophets were inspired, and the Apostles guided in their Ministry while our Saviour lived amongst them? I answer, he is doubtless the very same: for He is the Lord that changeth not. Mal. 3.6.  
But this distinction is added, (as the Fathers have well observed) as to distinguish the Persons in Trinity, so to prove the Deity of the Holy Ghost: He is Alius Paracletus, another Comforter, because he is not the Father, nor the Son, but the Holy Ghost, the third person in Trinity. And yet it is also added, to prove the Unity of the Deity, God, equal with the Father, and with the Son; therefore it is said in the last words of my Text, Manebit in aeternum, He shall abide for ever. But it is also said, Vobiscum manebit, He shall abide with you for ever; ut intelligant Discipuli, (saith Musculus upon this place) esse eum Consolatorem non temporarium, sed aeternum. That his Disciples might conceive of him as a Comforter not to abide with them for a while, but with the Church of Christ for ever. Ecce, ego sum vobiscum omnibus diebus usque ad consummationem saeculi, as Saint Jerome renders it: Behold, I am with you unto the end of the world. Matth. 28. last vers. What always art thou with us, even unto the end of the world blessed Saviour? Oh suffer us to speak unto thee, who are but dust and ashes. Thy Apostle St. Peter hath taught us, that the Heavens must contain thee until that all things be restored. Acts 3.21. It is true, Oh blessed jesus, as thy holy Apostle hath taught us, and Lord teach us ever to believe, and retain this truth, that the Heavens shall contain thy body till the restauration of all things, that so we may be preserved from that Antichristian error of adoring thy bodily presence in a Wafer-cake. But thou art still with us, we acknowledge it, and makest good thy promise until this day. For except thou (oh Lord) hadst been present with me, to inspire my weak meditations in the preparation of myself for the weighty employment of this day and hour, through the gracious influence of that blessed Comforter in our Text; neither had my heart been able to conceive, nor my tongue to utter any thing for the glory of thy great Name, the edification of thy people, or the discharge of my duty. And hadst not thou by thine especial providence and mercy assembled these thy people in thy Name, by the powerful persuasion of the same most blessed Comforter: Neither had they been hearers of thy Word at this time.  
We humbly praise thy holy Name for all thy mercies, and particularly for that of this day and hour, beseeching thee to add the operation of thy blessed Spirit to these outward means in such free favour afforded us, and to persuade all our hearts, that as we profess to love thee as thy Disciples, so we may ever be careful to express our love unto thee in a conscionable observance of thy holy Commandments, that so we may be partakers of the comforts of thy gracious promise, thy blessed Spirit of grace, which may abide with us for ever, Amen. Even so come Lord Jesus. And so I have done with the Text, one word only for the occasion of our meeting, and so an end.  
The memorial of the just shall be blessed, saith the wise man, 
Prov. 10.7  as whose good deeds deserve to be had in everlasting remembrance. I can not therefore in this grave and honoured assembly, without a sinful oversight and neglect of my duty, omit the memorial of that Honourable and worthy Citizen Sir Thomas Rowe, whose piety and religious care occasioned this Sermon, and this meeting this day. For in the Chronicles of this City I read lately, that in the year 1569. Sir Thomas Rowe, Citizen and Merchant-taylor, and at that time Lord Major of this honourable City in a pious care to accommodate a great number of Parishes, then in his government touching the decent and orderly burial of their dead, did of his own free charge and bounteous liberality, enclose a parcel of ground near the Hospital of Bethlem, and caused the same to be consecrated for a place of Burial for such Parishes as in that case were straitened. A motion, (doubtless) proceeding from the sacred direction of this heavenly Comforter.  
For seeing the men of jabesh Gilead have that pious act of theirs registered by the Pen of the Holy Ghost, in that they took with much danger the body of Saul, and the bodies of his Sons from the wall or street of Bethshan, and were careful to bury them in the land of Israel. 1. Sam. last Chap. 3. last verses. I see no reason but why this pious Act of this honourable Citizen should be yearly remembered as upon this day and occasion, by such as shall be called to the duty of this Day, to the glory of God, whose holy Spirit moved him to this work of mercy, for the honour of this City, and of this grave Senate, that among innumerable others hath been honoured with this religious example: and for the encouragement of others to follow his steps in good works of this nature: which that it may be so, it is, and shall be my daily prayer, as your unworthy Chaplain, that God will continue his mercies to this honourable City, in a happy succession of good, discreet, and religious Governors, under whose pious and godly care we may enjoy in succeeding times the comfort of a quiet and happy peace, and live thereby before him in all godliness and honesty: and that it may please our heavenly Father to bless the present Magistrates, and all that shall succeed them; giving them grace to execute Justice, and to maintain truth: and herein We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. And to this end let us pray as the Church hath piously instructed us, in the Collect for this day.  
Almighty God, which as upon this day hast taught the hearts of thy faithful people, by sending unto them the light of thy holy Spirit, grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgement in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort, through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the Unity of the same ever one God.  
Laus Deo.  
FINIS.