;j5js^rorppi/^ '-)/ :^^ OF ?niK :-.^-^"^" '-^d: 18 1932 THE ^^, .2^3GI3ALStl .<^ GREAT EXEMPLAR: OR, THE LIFE OF OUR EVER-BLESSED SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST. JEREMY TAYLOR, D.D., BISBOP OF DOWN AXD CONNOR. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. NEW YORK: ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, 53 0 BROADWAY. 18 5 9. THB HISTORY OF THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THE HOLY JESUS, BEQINNINQ AT THE TIME OF HIS FIRST AHRAOLH, UNTIL THE SECOND TEAR OP HIS PRKACHINQ. PART n. CONTENTS. Pa«« THE LIFE OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR. PART II. Sf.ct. X.— The Manifestation of Jesus by the Testi- niony of St. John .... 2 Considerations touching the Vocation of five Disciples, and of the first jMiracle of Jesun 8 Discourse VII.— Of Faith . . 20 Sect. XI. — Of Christ's going to Jerusalem . 42 Considerations thereupon . . . 47 Discourse VIII — Of the Religion of Holy Places . . . . .33 Sect. XII. — Of Jesus's Departure into Galilee ; his man- ner of Life ; his calling of Disciples, &c. 76 Considerations upon the intercourse between Jesus and the Woman of Samaria . 92 Considerations upon Christ's first Preaching 105 Discourse IX. — Of Repentance . 117 CONTENTS. Pae* Sect XII. continued. Considerations upon Christ's Sermon on the ]\Iountj and of the Eight Beatitudes . 183 Discourse X. — Upon the Decalogue . 213 Discourse XI. — Of the three additional Precepts which Christ superinduced, and made parts of the Christian Law. Part I. — Of I'orgiveness . . 273 Part II.— Of Alms . . .201 Part III.— Of not Judging . .297 Discourse XII. — Of the second addition.al Precept, viz. Of Prayer . . . 299 Discourse XIII. — Of the third additional Precept, viz. Of the Planner of Fasting . 330 Discourse XIV. — Of the IMiracles which Jesus wrought for confirmation of his Doctrine ...*.. 341 PART III. Sect. XII I.— Of the Second Year of the Preaching of Jesus ...... 5 Discourse XV.— Of the Excellency and Advantages of bearing Christ's Yoke, and living according to his Institution . 19 Discourse XVI.— Of Certainty of Salva- tion ...... 72 Sect. XIV.— Of the Third Year of the Preaching cf Jesus 90 Discourse XVII. — Of rfcaudal; or giv- ing and taking Offence . . .117 DiscounsE XVIII. — f)f the Causes and Planner of the Divint Judgments . I'AQ Sect. XV. — Of the Accidents ha))peninu; from the Death of Lazarus, until the Death and Burial of Jesus . . . . . IC4 cox TF. NTS. Hag* Sect. XV.-— continued. Considerations of some Preparatory Acci- dents before the Entrance of Jesus into his Passion 198 Considerations upon the Washing of hi; Disciples" Feet by Jesus, and his Sermon of Humility 213 DtscoURSE XIX. — Of the Institution and Reception of the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper ..... 229 Considerations upon the Accidents happen- ing on the Vespers of the Passion . 2G9 Considerations upon the Accidents happen- ing from the Apprehension till the Cruci- fixion of Jesus ..... 285 Discourse XX. — Of Death, and the due Manner of Preparation to it . . 303 Considerations upon the Crucifixion of the Holy Jesus ..... 339 Sect. XVI. — Of the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus 356 Considerations upon the Accidenf happen- ing in the interval after the Death of t'.ie Holy Jesus, until his Resurrection . 363 T II E LIFE OK <)i'H ni.y.^SKn LORD AM) SAVIOUR JKSL'S C II R I.ST. PAliT 11. SECTION I. Of the first Afuiilfi'sfdtion ofJu.sKf!, hi/ lliii Tcslimont/ of St.Jolui, and a Mirodc. 1. After tliattlie Baptist, by a sign from heaven, was confirmed in spirit and understanding that Jesus was the Messias, he immediately published to the Jews what God had manifested to him: and first to the priests and licvites sent in legation from the Sanhedrim, he professed indefinitely, in an- swer to their question, that himself was 'not tlie Christ,'' nor 'Elias,' nor 'that prophet' whom they, by a special tradition, did expect to be re- vealed, they knew not when. And concerning him- self definitely he said nothing, but that he was ' the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord.'* " He it was who was then 'amongst them,'^ but 'not known;' a » John, i. 20,21. ' Ibid, verse 23. ^ Ibid, verse 2C 4 HISTORY OF person of great dignity, to wiiom the Bupli.st v. as ' not worthy' to do the office of the lowest ministry ;' ' who coniin magnify God's free mercy, so it removes every such exalted person from being an object of envy to others, or from pleasing himself in vainer opinions : for God hath made him of such an employment as freely and voluntary as he hath made him a man, and he no more co-operated to this grace than to his own creation; and may as well admire himself for being born in Italy, or from rich parents, or for having two hands or two feet, as for liaving received such a designation extraordinary. But these things are never instruments ol reputation among severe IIIE VufAI'ioN Of riVL J>iS( lI'l.KiS. 13 u!i(lei>.taii(lin<4s, ami nt'ver but in the sottish and iir.iiKuily :ip|»rili(jnsl<)iis ol' the vulL,Mr. Only this, wiifU Cioil iialh in)i)iinle(i an authority upon a per- son, although the man halh nothing to please him- self M ithal but God's grace, yet others are to pay the duty which that impression demands : which duty, because it rapports to God, and touches not the man, but as it passes through him to the fountain of authority and grace, it extinguishes all pretences of opinion and pride. 6. When Jesus espied Nathanael (who also had been called by the first disciples) coming towards liim, he gave him an excellent character, calling him ' a true Israelite, in whom was no guile,' and admitted him amongst the first disciples of the insti- tution : by this ci)aracter in one of the first of his scholars liallowing simplicity of spiiit, and re- ceiving it into his discipline, thai it might now be- come a virtue and duty evangelical. For although it concerns us as a Cluistian duty to be prudent, yet the prudence of Ciiristianity is a duty of s|)iri- tual efi'ect, and in instances of religion with no other purposes tlian to avoid giving oft'ence to those that are w ithout and within ; that we cause no dis- reputation to Christianity ; that we do nothing that may encourage enemies to religion ; and that those thut are within the communion and obedience of the church, may not sutler as great inconveniences by the indiscreet conduct of religious actions, as by direct temptations to a sin. These are the pur- poses of j)rivate prudence, to which in a greater measure, and upon more variety of rules the go- vernors of churches are obligecl. But that which Christian simplicity j)rohibils is, the mixing arts und unhandsome means for the purchase of our \\ COM«IDr.UATIONS ON ends; witly coun?els tlitit are underminings of our neighbour, destroying' liis just interest to serve our own, stratagems to deceive, infinite and insignifi- cant answers with fraudulent design, unjust and unlawful concealment of our purposes, fallacious promises and false pretences, flaltery, and unjust and unreasonable praise, saying one thing and meaning the contrary, pretending religion to secu- lar designs, breaking faith, taking false oaths, and such other instruments of human purposes framed by the devil, and sent into the world to he perfected by man. Christian simplicity speaks nothing but its thoughts; and when it concerns prudence that a thought or purpose should be concealed, it con- cerns simplicity that silence be its cover, and not a false vizor; it rather suffers inconvenience than a lie: it destroys no man's right, tiiough it be incon- sistent with my advantages ; it reproves freely, pal- liates no man's wickedness ; it intends what it ought, and does what is bidden, and uses courses regular and just, sneaks not in corners, and walks always in the eye of Cod, and the face of the world. 7. Jesus told Nathanael that he knew him, when he saw him under the fig-tree: and Nathanael took that to be proliation sufficient that he was the Messias ; and believed rightly upon an insufficient motive. Wiiich because Jesus did accept, it gives testimony to us, tiiat however faith lae produced, by means regular or by arguments incompetent, whether it be proved or not proved, whether by chance or deliberation, whether wisely or by occa- sion, so that faith be produced by the instrument, and love by faith, Cod's work is done, and so is ours. For if St. Paul rejoiced that Christ was preached, though by the envy of peevish persons. rUF. VOCATION OF FIVE niSJCIPLF.S, 15 certainly God will not reject an excellent ])rocUict because it came from a weak and sickly parent. And lie that brings good out of evil, and rejoices in that good, having first triumphed upon the evil, vill certainly take delight in the faith of the most ignorant persons, which his own grace hath pro- duced out of innocent, though insufficient, begin- nings. It was folly in Naaman to refuse to be cured, because he was to recover only by washing in Jordan. The more incompetent the means is, the greater is the glory of God, who hath produced waters from a rock, and fire from the collision of a sponge and wool: and it is certain the end, un- less it be in products merely natural, does not take its estimate and degrees from the external means. Grace docs miracles, and the productions of the Spirit, in respect of its instruments, are equi- vocal, extraordinary, and supernatural ; and igno- rant persons believe as strongly, though they know not why, nnd love God as heartily as greater spi- rits and more excellent understandings: and when God pleases, or if he sees it expedient, he will do to others as to Nathanael, give them greater argu- ments and Ijetter instruments for the confirmation and heightening of their faith, tlian they had for the first production. 8. \Vhen Jesus had chosen these fnw discij)les to be witnesses of succeeding accidents, every one of which was to be a probation of his mission and divinity, he entered into the theatre of the world at a marriage-feast, which he now first hallowed to a sacramental signification, and made to become mysterious. He now began to choose his spouse out from the communities of the world, and did mean to endear her by unions ineffable and glori« IG CONSIDr.K VTIONS ON ous, and conisign the sacrament by liis blood, wliich he first gave in a secret rejMesentment, and after- wards in letter and apparent eftusion. And although the holy Jesus did in his own person consecrate celibacy, and abstinence and chastity in his mo- ther's; yet by his presence he also hallowed mar- riage, and made it honourable, not only in civil accounts and rites of heraldry, but in a spiritual sense, he having- new sublimed it, by making- it a sacramental representment of the union of Christ and his spouse, the church. And all married per- sons should do well to remember what tlie conju- gal society does represent, and not break the ma- trimonial bond, which is a mysterious ligament of Christ and his church ; for whoever dissolves the sacredness of the mystery, and unhallovvs the vow by violence and impurity, he dissolves his relation to Clirist. To break faith with a wife or husband is a divorce from Jesus, and that is a separation from all possibilities of i'elicity. In the time of the Mosaical statutes, to violate marriage was to do injustice and dishonour, and a breach to the sanc- tions of nature, or the (irst constitutions: but two bands more are added in the gospel, to make mar- riage more sacred. For now our bodies are made ' temples of the Holy Ghost,' and the rite of mar- riage is made significant and sacramental, and every act of adultery is profanation and irreligion ; it desecrates a temple, and deflours a myster)'. 9. The married pair w ere holy, but poor, and they wanted w ine ; and the blessed virgin-mother, pitying the affront of the young man, complained to Jesus of the w ant ; and Jesus gave her an an- swer which promised no satisfaction to her pur- poses. For now that Jt-sus had lived thirty years, TUi: MUST MIKACLi:. j7 and (lone in jierson notliinp^ answerable to his glori- ous birth, and tiie miraculous accidenis of his per- son, she lon^fed till the time came in w Inch he was to manifest himself by actions as miraculous as the star of his birth. She knew, b}'^ the rejecting' of his trade, and his going abroad, and probably by his own discourse to her, that the time was near; and the forwardness of her love and holy desires possi- bly niiglit go some minutes before his own j)recise limit. However, Jesus answered to this purpose, to show that the work he was to do was done not to satisfy her importunity, which is not occasion enough ior a miracle, but to prosecute the great work of divine designation: for in works spiritual and religious all exterior relation ceases. The world's order, and the manner of our nature, and the infirmities of our person, have produced so- cieties, and they have been the parents of relation ; and God hath tied them fast by the knots of duty, and made the duty the occasion and opportunities of reward : but in actions spiritual, in which we relate to God, our relations are founded upon the spirit; and therefore we must do our duties upon considerations sej)arate and spiritual, but never suffer temporal relations to impede our religious duties. Christian charity is a higher thing than to be confined within the terms of dependence and correlation ; and those endearments w hicli leagues, or nature, or society have made, pass into spiritual, and, like stars in the presence of the sini, appear not when the heights of the sjnrit are in place.' Where duty liath prepared special instances, there we must, lor religion's sake, promote thenj ; but ' Si'yyti'iia yaf> oiictio-fna »'/ ttooc tiKctiO'Tvyiiv K) Tvarrav aWtp' aoiT))]' (>//(\(ff. Philo. in cxposit. general, vol.. II. 2 18 c'JN^iJd'.iMrioNs ON even to our jjarents or our children the charities of religion ought to be greater than the air'eclions of society. And though we are bound in all offices exterior to prefer our relatives before others, be- cause that is made a duty ; yet to purposes spi- ritual, all j)ersons eminently holy put on the effi- cacy of the same relations, and pass a duty upon us of religious affections. lO. At the command of Jesus the water-pots were filled with water, and the water was by his divine power turned into wine; where the dif- ferent economy of God and the world is higlily observable : ' Hvery man sets forth good wine at first, and then the woise ;" but God not only turns the water into wine, but into such wine tiuit the last draugiit is most pleasant. The world presents us with fair language, {)romising hopes, convenient i'orlunes, pompous honours; and these are the outsides of tlse bole: but when it is swallowed, these dissolve in tlie instant, and there remains bitterness, and the malignity of coloquintida. PiVery sin smiles in the first address, and carries light in the face, and honey in the lip ; but ' wiien we have ^ell drunk, then conies that which is worse;' a whip with six strings, fears and terrors of conscience, and shame and displeasure, and a cai- tive disposition, and diffidence in the day of death. jjiit when, after the manner of the purifying of the Christians, we fill our water-pots with water, watering our couch with our tears, and moistening (lur cheeks with the perpetual distillations of re- pentance, then Christ turns our water into wine: iir>t [)enitcuts, and then communicants; first waters of sorrow, and then the wine of the chalice; first ihr jiislifi cation of correction and then the rr.i: niisr miracle. ill Baiictificalions of the siicrameiit, ami the tOeots of the divine power, joy, and peace, and serenity, hopes full of confidence, and confidence uitiiout shame, and boldness without presumption. For Jesus * keeps the be*;t wine till the last ;' not only because of the direct reservations of the highest joys till the nearer approaches of ^lory; but also because our relishes are higher after along fruition than at the first essays: such being the nature of grace, that it increases in relish as it does in fru- ition, every part of grace being new duty and new reward. THE PRAYKR. O etenial and ever-blessed .Jesu, who didst choose discijiles to ?je witnesses of thy life and miracles, so adopting man into a parti- cipation of thy great employment of bringing us to heaven by the means of a holy doctrine, be pleased to give me thy grace, that I may love and revere their persons whom tliou hast set over me, aid follow their faith, and imitate their lives, while they imitate thee ; and that I alsM, in my capacity and proportion, may do some of the meaner offices of spiritual building, by prayers, and by holy discourses, and fraternal correpticn, and friendly exhortations, doing advantages to such souls witli whom I shall converse. And since thou wert pleased to enter upon the stage of the world with tlie connncncement of mercy and a miracle, be pleased to visit my soul with thy miraculous grace, turn mjr water into wine, my natural desires into supernatural perfections, and let my sorrows be turned into joys, my sir.s into virtuous habits, the weaknesses of humanity into communications of the divine nature ; that since thou keepest the best unto the last, I may, by thy assistance, grow from grace to grace, till thy gifts be lunied to reward, and thy graces to participation of thy glory, O eternal and ever-blessed Jesu. Amen. 20 ot IAHH. DISCOURSE VII. Of FaillK 1. Natiianael's faith was produced by an ar- gument not demonstrative, not certainly conclud- m^\ Christ knew him when he saw him first, and he believed him to be tlie Messias. His faith was excellent, whatever the argument was. And I be- lieve a God, because the sun is a glorious body ; or because of the vr,riety of plants, or the fabric and rare contexture of a man's eye : I may as full}' as- sent to the conclusion, as if my belief dwelt upon the demonstrations made by the prince of philoso- ■ hers in the eight of his physics and twelve of his metaphysics. This I premise as an inlet into the consideration concerning the faith of ignorant per- sons: for if we consider upon what easy terms most of us now are Christians, we may possibly suspect that either faith hath but little excellence in it, or we but little faith, or that we are mistaken generally in its definition. For we are born of Christian parents, made Christians at teti days old, interrogated concerning the articles of our faitli by way of anticipation, even then when we understand not tlie difference between the sun and a tallow-candle : from thence we are taught to say our catechism, as we are taught to speak, when we have no reason to judge, no discourse to discern, no arg-uments to contest against a proposition, in case we be catechized into false doctrine ; and all that is put to us we believe infinitely, and without choice, as children use not to choose their lan- jiuage. And as our children are made Christians, just so are thousand others made Maliomclans, with or r.UTH 21 llie same neces.sily, llie same facility. So that llius far there is little thanks due to us for believing the Christian creed : it was iiiditiercnt to lis at first, and at last our education had so possessed us, and our interest, and our no teni|itation to the contrary, that as we were disposed into this condition by Providence, so we remain in it without praise or f xcellency. For as our beginnings are inevitable, so our progress is imperfect and insufficient; and what we begun by education, we retain only by custom. x\nd if we be instructed in some slighter arguments to maintain the sect or faction of our country religion, as it disturbs the unity of Chris- tendom ; yet if we examine and consider the ac- count upon what slight arguments we have taken up Christianity itself", (as that it is tlie religion of our country, or that our fathers before us were of the same faith, or because the priest bids us, and he is a good man, or for something else, but we know not what,) we must needs conclude it the good providence of God, not our choice, that made us Christians. '2. iJutifthe question be, whether such a faith be in itself good and acceptable, that relies upon insufficient and unconvincing grounds; I suppose this case of Natlianael will determine us: and when we consider that faith is an inlosed grace, if (iod pleases to behold his own glovy in our weak- ness of understanding, it is but the same thing he cloes in the instances of his otlier graces. For as (iod enkindles charity upon variety of means and instruments, by a thouglit, by a chance, by a text of Scripture, by a natural tenderness, by the sight of u dying or a tormented beast; so also he may 22 OF FAITII. produce faith by arguments of a different quality, and by issues of his providence he may engage us in such conditions, in which as our understanding is not great enough to choose the best, so neither is it furnished with powers to reject any proposition; and to believe well is an effect of a singular pre- destination, and is a gift in order to a grace, as that grace is in order to salvation. But tlie in- sufficiency of an argument or disability to prove our religion is so far from disabling the goodness of an ignorant man's faith, that as it may be as Strong as the faith of the greatest scholar, sc it hath full as much excellency, not of nature, but, in order to divine acceptance. For as he who be- lieves only upon the stock of education made no election of his faith ; so he who believes what is demonstrably proved, is forced by the demonstra- tion to his choice. Neither of them did choose, and both of them may equally love the article. 3. So that, since a small argument in a weak understanding does the same work that a strong argument in a more sober and learned, that is, it convinces and makes faith, and yet neither of them is matter of choice; if the thing believed be good, and matter of duty or necessity, the faith is not rejected by God upon the weakness of the first, r .r accepted upon the strength, of the latter prin- ciples. When we are once in, it will not be en- qviired by what entrance we passed thither: whe- ther God leads us or drives us in, whether we come by discourse or by inspiration, by tlie guide of an angel or the conduct of Moses, whether vv.be born or made Christians, it is indifferent, so we be there where we should be ; for this is but the gate of OF FAITH. 23 duty, and the entrance to felicity. For thus far faith is but an act of the understanding', which is a natu- ral faculty, servinjT indeed as an instrument to [god- liness, but of itself no part of it ; and it is just like fire, producintjits act inevitably, and burning- as long as it can, without power to interrupt or suspend its action; and therefore we cannot be more pleasing to God for understanding riglitly, than the fire is for burning clearly: which puts us evidently upon this consideration, tiiat Christian faith, that glorious duty which gives to Christians a great de- gree of approximation to God by Jesus Christ, must have a great proportion of that ingredient which makes actions good or bad; that is, of choice and effect. 4. For the faith of a Christian hath more in it of the will than of the understanding. Faith is that {jreat mark of distinction which separates and gives Ibrmality to the covenant of the gospel, which is a law of faith. Tlie faith of a Christian is his re- ligion ; that is, it is that whole conformity to the institution or dicipline of Jesus Christ whicli dis- tinguishes him from the believers of false religions. And to be one of the faithful signifies the same with being a disciple; and that contains obedi- ence as well as believing: for to tlie same sense are all those appellatives in Scripture; 'the faithful, brethren, believers, the saints, disciples;' all re- presenting the duty of a Christian. A believer and a saint, or a holy person, is the same thing : brethren signifies charity, and believers, faith in the intellectual sense: the faithful and disciples signify both ; for besides the consent to the propo- sition, the first of them is also used for perseve- rant'c and sanctity, and the greatest of charity 2\ or FAITH. inixed will) a confident faith, up to llie height ofniar- tyrdom. ' Be fiiithfLil unto the death,' said tlie Holy Spirit, ' and I will give thee the crown of'life.' ' And when the apostles, by way of abbreviation, ex|)ress all the body of Christian reli<^ion, they call it ' faith worling by love ;"^ which also St. Paul, in a parallel place, calls 'a new creature:'^ it i> * a keepint^ the commandments of God.'* That is the faith of a Christian, into whose definition cha- rity is ingredient, whose sense is the same with keeping of God's commandments : so that if we de- fine faith, we must first distinguish it. The faith of a natural person, or the faith of devils, is a mere believing a certain number of propositions upon :i conviction of the understanding; but the faith of a Christian, the faith that justifies and saves him, is ' I'aith working by charity,' or * faith keeping the commandments of God.' ' They are distinct faiths in order to difterent ends, and therefore of differ- ent constitution; and the instrument of distinction is charity or obedience. 6. And this great truth is clear in the perpetual testimony of holy Scripture. For Abraham is called the ' father of the faithful;' and yet our blessed Saviour told the Jews, that if they had been ' the sons of Abraham, they would have done tlie work of Abraham;'' and therefore good works are by the apostle called the ' footsteps of the fuilh of our father Abraham.'^ For faith in every of its stages, at its first beginning, at its increment, at its greatest perfections, is a duty made uj) of ihe concurrence of the will and the understanding, ' Rev. ii. 10. -^ Gal. v. G. ^ lb. vi. 15. ♦ 1 Cor. vii. m. * Gal. v. C. " John, viii. 39. ' Rom. iv. 12. OF FAITH. 25 wlicn it protends to the divine acceptance: — faith und re|)cni;uico hcijin the Christian course. ' lie- pent and believe the gospel' was the sum of the apostles' sermons; and all the way after it is, ' liiith workinfj by love.' Repentance puts the first s})irit and life into faith, and charity preserves it, and fi^ives it nourishment and increase; itself also growing; by ;i mutual supply of spirits and nutriment from faith. Whoever does heartily be- lieve a resurrection and life eternal upon certain conditions, will certainly endeavour to acquire the promises by the purchase of obedience and obser- vation of the conditions : for it is not in the nature or power of man directly to despise and reject so in- finite a ijood. So that faith supplies charity with argument and maintenance, and charity supplies faith witli life and motion : faith makes charity reasonable, and charity makes faith living; and effectual. Jiud therefore the old Greeks called faith and charity " a miraculous chariot,"' or yoke; they bear the burden of tiie Lord wilh an equal confederation : these are like Hippocrates* twins, they live and die together. Indeed faith is the first-born of the twins; but they must come both at a birth, or else they die, being- strangled at the gates of the womb. But if charity, like Jacob, lays hold upon his elder brother's heel, it makes a timely and a prosperous birth, and gives certain title to the eternal promises. For let us give the right of |)rimogeniture to faith, yet the blessing, yea, and the inheritance too, will at last fall to charity. Not that faith is di>inherited, but that charity only enters into the possession. The na- ' Qavf-iaTi'iv '(vvoiQioa, •26 OF FAirii. ture of faith passes into tlie excellency of clia- ilty before they can be rewarded : and that both may have their estimate, that wjiich justifies and saves us, keeps the name of faith, but doth not do the deed till it hath the nature of charity. For to think well, or to have a g-ood opinion, or an excel- lent or a fortunate understanding-, entitles us not to the love of Cod, and the consequent inheritance ;' but to choose the ways of the Spirit, and to relin- quish the paths of darkness, this is the way of the kingdom, and the purpose of the gospel, and the ])roper work of faith. 6. And if we consider upon what stock faith itself is instrumental and o})erative of salvation, we shall find it is in itself acceptable, because it is a duty and commanded : and therefore it is an act of obedience, a work of the gospel, a submitting the understanding, a denying the affections, a laying aside all interests, and a bringing our thoughts under the obedience of Christ. This the apostle calls 'the obedience of faith:'* and it is of tlie same condition and constitution with other graces, all which equally relate to Christ, and are as firm in- struments of union, and are washed by the blood of Christ, and are sanctified by his deatii, and ap- j)reliend him in their capacity and degrees, some higher and some not so high. But hope and cha- rity apprehend Christ in a measure and propor- tion greater than failii, when it distinguishes from ' To ayaOnt; fiti' ilvai i'liiciij ?/ KaKHC;, 6 Btbr hk ti> rij yrw- irn iOijKi yifojcncnfitinoi', c'lWd h' tij aioirti Ttof utpHfiii'MV. Just. ]\I. Kcsp. r,d ortliod. — " God does not regard us as good or evil by our knowledge of things to be known; but by our ciioice of things whidi ought to be chosen " hHv Ktcicoc i''yi«c ■jrirfojCf td}*; TTdXircKff inBaoninriir. Chry. 1. 1 de Saccrd. ^ lloui. xvi. 2- ti^race, and hath influence and causality in tiie production of the other, therefore all the other, as they are united in duty, are also united in their title and appellative : they are all called by the name of faith, because they are parts of faith, as faith is taken in the larger sense: and when it is taken in the strictest and distinguishino" sense, they are effects and proper products by way of natural ema- nation. 7. That a good life is the genuine and true-born issue of failh, no man questions that knows him- self the disciple of the holy .Jesus ; but that obedi- ence is the same thing with faith,' and that all Christian graces are parts of its bulk and constitu- tion, is also the doctrine of the Holy (ihost, and tiie grammar of Scripture, making faith and obe- tlience to be terms coincident and expressive of ' Fides (autliore (Ucerone) est finna opinio, et est fida man- datoriini exccutio. Dicta est auteni fides (ut ait idem Cicero de Officiis);'! fio, quod id fieri debeat quod dictuin et promissuni est. — " ' Faith,' says Cicero, ' is a firm opinion, and it is the faitli- fiil execution of conunands. The word,' he says, in his Offices, ' is derived from ./n', to become, because that ought to be done whicli li:is been said and promised.' " 28 or lAiTH. each otlier: for (ailli is not a sinfj;le star, but a constellation, a diain of graces, called by St. Paul 'the power of God unto salvation to every believer;" tliat is, faith is all that great instrument by wiiich God intends to bring' us to heaven ; and he give this reason : ' In the gospel the righteous- ness of God is revealed from faith to faith,' for * it is written, the just shall live by faith/ Which dis- course makes faith to be a course of sanctity and holy habits, a continuation of a Christian's duty, sucii a duty as not only giv3S the first breach, but by which a man lives tlie life of grace. 'The just shall live by faith ;' that is, such a faith as grows from step to step, till the whole righteousness of God be (ultilled in it. 'From faith to faith,' saith the apostle; which St. Austin expounds, from faith l)elieving, to faith obeying; i'rom imperfect faith, to faith made perfect by the animation of charity ; 'that he who is justified may be justified still.' "^ For as there are several degrees and parts of justification, so there are several degrees of faith answerable to it; that in all senses it may be true, that 'by faith we are justified,' and 'by faith we live,' and ' by faith we are saved.' For if we pro- ceed ' from faith to faith,' from believing to obey- ing, from fixith in the understanding to faith in the will, from faith barely assenting to the revelations of God to faith obeying the commandments of God, from the body of faith to the soul of faith ; that is, to faith formed and made alive by charity ; then we shall proceed from justification to justifica- ' Rom. i. IG, 17. ' Ex fide annunciantium evangelium in lidcm obedieiitiuni evangelio. S. Aug. — " From the faith of those announcing the gospel to the faith of those obeying the gospeL" OF lAlTH. 29 tion ; Ihal is, from remission of sins to become tlie Kons of God ; and at last lo an actual possession of those priories to wliicli we were here consigned by the fruits of the Holy Ghost. 8. And in this sense the holy .Tesus is called by the apostle ' tlie author and finisher of our faith.'' He is the principle, and he is the promoter; he begins our faith in revelations, and perfects it in commandments; he leads us by the assent of our understandinu^, and finishes the work of his grace by a iioly life : which 8t. Paul there exjiresses by its several constituent parts; as, 'laying aside every weight and the sin that so easily ijesets us,'* and ' running witii patience the race that is set be- fore us, resisting unto blood, striving against sin :" for in these things Jesus is therefore made our ex- ample, because he is the author and finisher of our faith : without these faith is imperfect. But the tiling is something plainer yet, for St. .Tames sailh.that faith lives not but by charity;'' and the life or essence of a thing is certainly the better part of its constitution, as the soul is to a man. And it we mark the manner of his probation, it w ill come liome to the main j)oint; for he proves tliat Abraham's faith was tlierefore imputed to liim for righteousness, because ' he wiis justified by \^ orl;s :'* ' Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up his son?'' and 'the Scrip- ture was fulfilled, saying, Abraham believed (iod, and it was imputed to him for righteousness;'^ for ' faith wrougiit with his works, and made his faith perfect.' It was a dead and imperfect faith, unless ' Hebrews, xii. 2. " Ibid, verse I. ' Il)!(1, verse 4. •* Jam. ii. 20, -Jlj. ' Itiid, verse '2-2. '' Ibid, verse 23. ' Ibid, verse '22. 30 OF FAITH obedience gave it being-, and all its integral or essential parts. So that faith and charity, in the sense of a Christian, are but one duty, as the un- derstanding and the will are but one reasonable soul ; only they produce several actions in order to one another, which are but divers operations, and the same spirit. 9. Thus St. Paul, describing the faith of the Thessalonians, calls it that whereby they turned from idols, and wherel)y they served the living God :' and the faith of the patriarchs believed the world's creation, received the promises, did miracles, wrought righteousness, and did and suffered so many things as make up the integrity of a holy life.* And therefore disobedience and unrighte- ousness is called want of faith ;^ and heresy, which is opposed to faitli, is a work of the flesh,'' because faith itself is a work of righteousness. And that I may enumerate no more particulars, the thing is so known, that the word aireideia,^ which in pro- priety of language signifies mispersuasion or in- fidelity, is rendered disobedience ; and the not pro- viding for our families is an act of infidelity ; i)y the same reason and analogy that obedience or charity and a holy life are the duties of a Chris- tian, of a justifying faith. And although, in the natural or philosophical sense, faith and charity are distinct habits; yet in the sense of a Christian and the signification of duly they are the same: for we cannot believe aright, as believing is in the commandment, unless we live aright; for our faith is put upon the account just as it is made precious ' ] Thc'js. i. 8, 0. '^ lleh. xi. per totiini. 3 Col. iii. 6 ; 2 Thess. iii. 2. •• (Jal. v. 2(>. ^ Epli. ii. 2, and v. G ; 1 Tim. v. U. OF FAITH. ai l»y cliarily ; accordiiio" to that rare saying of St. Karlholoniow, recorded by the supposed St. Denys, ' Cluirity is the j^reatest and the least theolost us, but it is like a mute person, talked of only, while ambition and rebellion, pride and scorn, self-seeking- and proud undertakin;;s, transact most of the ij;reat a flairs of Christendom ; when the custody olour senses is to no other ])ur- poses but t!iat no opportunity of pleasing' tliem j.ass away ; when our oatiis are like the fringes of our discourses, {J^oing round about them, as if they were ornaments and trimmings; when our blas- phemies, profanation, sacrilege, and irreligion are become scandalous to the very Turks and Jews; while our lusts are always ha]>itual, some- times unnatural,' will any wise man think, that we believe those doctrines of humility and obedi- ence, of chastity and charity, of temperance and justice, w hich the Saviour of the \\ orld made sacred by his sermon and examj)le, or indeed any thiufr he either said or did, promised or threatened ? Fo is it possible, a man with his wits about him, anc believing that he should certainly be damned (that is, be eternally tormented in body and soul, with torments greater than can be in this world) if he be a swearer, or liar, or drunkard, or cheats his neigi)l)our, that this man should dare to do these things, to which the temptations are so small, in ' To cnriTtlv ralQ tVToXaig Ik r« ttooc ti)v ticTrXijixtxru' iK}.i\v(T^(n tUji' ti'-oXwi' yii'tTai. St. Chrysosl. ad Denietr. — " Dibb'.licf in the coniniandmeiUs is generally the consequence of .1 resistance to the couaii;uu'mcnl«." 34 OF KAITU. wliidi Uie tlt^lij^lit is inconsiderable, and tlie satis- faction so none at all. 13. We see by tlie experience of the whole world that the belief of an honest man in a matter of a tem()oral advautuoe makes us do actions of such dang^er and difficulty, that half so n)uch industry unci snfl'erance would ascertain us into a possession of all the promises evano^elical. Now let any man be asked, whether he had rather be rich or be saved, he will tell you, without all doubt, heaven is tlie better option by infinite de^'rees ; for it cannot be that riches, or reveno;e, or lust should be directly preferred, that is, be thought more elij^ible than the glories of immortality. That therefore men neg- lect so ^Yuat salvation, and so greedily run after the satisfaction of their baser apj)etites, can be attri- buted to nothing but want of faith : they do not heartily believe that Heaven is wortii so much; there is upon them a stupidity of spirit, and their faith is dull, and its actions suspended, most commonly, and often interrupted, and it never enters into the w ill ; so that the propositions are considered nakedly and precisely in themselves, but not as referring to us or our interests : there is nothing of faith in it, but so much as is the first and direct act of understanding; there is no considera- tion nor reflection upon the act, or upon the per- son, or upon the subject. So that even as it is seated in the understanding, our fiiith is commonly lame, mutilous, and imperfect; and therefore much more is it culpable, because it is destitute of all co- operation of the rational appetite. 14. But let us consider tlie power and efficacy of worldly belief. If a man believes that there is gold tc be had in Peru for fetching, or pearls or rich OF rvirn. 3.5 jo\v« \s ill Tiidiii (or the excluiii'^o of trifles, he in- sian.ly, if lie lie in cupacity, leiives the wife 01 ins bosom, and the pretty (ie'.iirhts of children, and ins owr. security, and ventures into the dangers of Maters and unknown seas, and freezina^s and calen- tires, thirst and hunjjer, pirates and shipwrecks, anfl hath witliin him a principle stronti- enou'gh to answer all olijections, because he believes that relies are desirable, and by such means likely to be had. Our blessed Saviour, comparing- the gospel to ' a merchant-man that I'ound a pearl of great price, and sold all to buy i'.,' hath brought this in- s-lance home to the present discourse: for if we f rvi in. 80 abstemious in his driiikings, or the Helvetian so valiant in liis flight, or so true to the prince that employs liim, but that they believe it to be noble so to be ? 1\' they believed the same, and had the same honourable thoughts of other virtues, they also would be as national as these ; for faith will do its proper work. And when the understanding- is peremptorily and fully determined upon the per- suasion of a proposition, if the will should then dis- sent and choose the contrary, it were unnatural and monstrous, and possibly no man ever does so : for that men do things without reason and against their conscience, is, because they Isave j)ut out their light, and discourse their wills into the election of a sensible good, and want faith to btlieve truly all circumstances which are necessary by way of pre- disposition for choice of tlie intellectual. 15. But when men's faith is confident, their resolu- tion and actions are in proportion. For thus the faith of Mahometans makes them to abstain from «ine for ever: and therefore, if we had the Christian faith, we should much rather abstain from drunken- ness forever; it being an express rule apostolical, * Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess.' ' The faith of the Circumcellians made them to run greedily to violent and horrid deaths as willingly as to a crown ; for they thought it was the King's high- way to martyrdom. And there was never any man zealous for his religion, and of an imperious bohl faith, but he was also willing to die for it; and therefore also, by as much reason, to live in it, and to be a strict observer of its prescriptions. And the stories of the strict sanctity, and prodigious suffer- ings, and severe disciplines, and expensive religion, ' Kphes. V. la. oi I AiiM. 37 ftnnij)liunt and l-.iltdriuiis rliarit} >>C lliC primi- tive Cliiislians, is abundant ait;nnient to convince us, lliut the failli oC Christians is infinitely more fruitful and i)rocluctive of" its univocal and pro- per issues than the faitli oC heretics, or the false re- Ii<;ions of misbelievers, or tiie jjersuasions of secular jiersons, or tlie s])irit of antichrii^t. And therefore, when we see men serving' their jjrince >vith such difficult and aml)itious services, because they be- lieve him able to reward them, though of his will they are not so certain, and yet so supinely neg^li- ffent and incurious of tlieir services to God, of whose power and will to reward us infinitely there is cer- tainty absolute and irrespective, it is certain ])ro- bation tiiat we believe it not; for if we believe there is such a thing as heaven, and that every single man's portion of" heaven is far better than all tiie wealth in the world, it is morally impossible we Bliould j)refer so little before so jireat profit. 1(). 1 instance but once more, Tlie faith of Abra- ham was instanced in the matter of confidence or trust in the divine promises ; and lie i)einsj; the • father of the faithful," we must iniilate his faith by a clear dereliction of ourselves and our own inte- rests, and an entire confident relyintj; ui)on the di- vine loudness in all cases of" our needs or danoer. Now this also is a trial of the verity of our faith, tlie excellency of our condition, and what title we have to the glorious names of Chris/iaiis, ixndj'aith- /«/, and believen. If our fathers, when we were in juijiilage and minority, or a true and an able friend when we were in need, had made promises to sup- ply our necessities, our confidence was so great that our care determined. It were also well that we were as confident of Cod, and as secure of the 38 or lAiTif. event, ".shen ue liud disposecl ourselves to i-t'cej>lion of the blessing', us we were oi'our (Viend or parents. We all profess that God is alniij^hty, that all liis promises are certain; and yet, when it conies to a pinch, we find that man to l)e more confident that hath ten thousand pounds in his j)urse, than he that reads God's promises over ten thousand times. " Men of a common spirit, (saith St. Chryscstom.) of an ordinary sanctity, will not steal, or kill, or lie, or commit adultery ; but it requires a rare faith, and a sublimity of pious affections, to believe that God will work a deliverance which to me seems impos- sible.' And indeed St. Chrysostom hit upon the right. He had need be a good man, and love God well, that jmts his trust in him : for those we love we are most apt to trust. And althoush trust anil confidence is sometniics; founded upor; experience, yet It is also begotten and increased by love, as often as liy reason and discourse. And to this purpose it was excellently said by St. Basil, " that the knowledge v\hicli one man learneth of another is made perfect by continual use and exercise ; but that which through the grace of CJod is ingrafted in the mind of man, is made absolute by justice, gentleness, and charity." So that if you are willing even in death not only to confess the articles, but in affliction and death to trust the promises; if in the lowest nakedness of poverty you can cherish yourselves with the expectation of God's promises and dispensation, being as confident of food and raiment, and deliverance or support, when all is in God's hand, as you are when it is in your own ; if you can be cheerful in a storm, smile when the world frowns, be content in the midst of spiritual desertions and anguish of spirit, expecting uii oi r\ir!i. 39 bIiouIiI u )rk lot^i-tliLT lor tin; best, ac;-orj to make you confi- dent; then, and then only you liave faith, w'.iich in conjunction with its other parts is able to save your Bouls. For in this precise duty of truslinis member;-." * 2 Cor. xiii. 5. Horn. viii. \'J. 40 OF lAITH. racterlstic of a true believer ; a ' death unto sin,' and 'a liviriL,'- unto righieousness ;' ' a mortified body/ and ' a quickened spirit.' This is phiin enough, and by this we see what we must trust to. A man of a wicked life does in vain hope to be saved by his faith ; for indeed his faith is but equivocal and dead, which as to liis purpose is just none at all: and therefore let him no more deceive himself; for (that I may still use the words of St. Paul) ' this is a fuithlul saying, and these things I will that thou atlirni constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works:' for such, and such only, in the great scrutiny for failh in the day of doom, shall have their portion in tlie bosom of' faithl'ul Abrahani.' THE PRAYER. I. () eternal God, fountain of all truth and holiness, in whom to believe is life eternal, let thy grace descend wiih a mighty power into my soul, beating down every strong hold and vainer ia;agi- nation, and bringing every proud tliought and my confident and ignorant understanding into the obedience of Jesus. Take from me all disobedience and refractoriness of spirit, all ambition, and private and baser interests : remove from me all prejudice and Vireakness of persuasion ; that I nuiy wholly resign my under- standing to the persuasions of Christianity, acknowledging thee to be the principle of truth, and thy word the measure of knowledge; and thy laws the rule of my life, and thy promises tlie satisfac- tion of my hopes, and an union with thee to be the consunmia- tion of charity in the fruition of glorj'. Amen. ' Titus, ill. OF FAUH. 41 II. Holy Jcsiis, mahc nic to acknowledge thee to be my liord and Waster, and myself a servant -and disciple of thy holy discipline and institution : let nie love to sit at thy feet, and suck in v/ith my ears and heart the sweetness of thy holy sermons. Let my soul be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, with a peaceable and docile disposition. iii\e mc great boldness in the public confession of thy name and the truth of thy gospel, in de- spite of all hostilities and teniptations. And grant I may always remember that thy name is called upon me, and I may so behave myself, that I neither give scandal to others, nor cause disreputation to the honour of religion ; but that thou mayest be glorified in mc, ai-.d I by thy mercies, after a strict observance oil' all thy holy laws of Christianity. Amen. III. O holy and ever-blessed Spirit, let thy gracious influences be the perpetual guide of my rational faculties. Inspire me with wisdom and knowledge, spiritual understanding, and a holy faith ; and sanctify my faith, that it may rise up to the con- fidence of hope, and the adherences of charity, and be fruitful in a holy conversation. Mortify in me all peevishness and pride of spirit, all lieTctical disj;ositions, and whatsoever is contrary to sound doctrine; that v;hen the eternal Son of God, the author and Mnisl'.er of our faith, shall come to make scrutiny and an in- quest for faiih, I may receive the promise.i laid up for them that believe in the Lord Jesus, and wait for his c:imlng in holiness s.Md purity : to whom with the Father and Thee, () blessed lSj)irit, be ull honour and eternal adoration paid, with all saRCtitji aiid joy ai:d ciicl-.arit'., now luid for ever. xVniSii. 42 SECTION XL Cf Christ's going to Jerusalem to the Passover ike ^first time after his Manifestation, and what fol- lovied till the e.vpiraliou of the ojjice of John the Baptist. 1. Immf.diatcly after this miracle, Jesus abode a few days in Capernaum, but because of tlie aj)- proach of the great feast of passover he ascended lo Jerusalem. And the first public act of record that he did was, an act of lioly zeal and relig'ion in behalf of the honour of the temple. For divers merchants and exchangers of money made the tem|)le to be the market and the bank, and lirouglit beasts tliitner to be sold lor sacrifice ag;iinst tne great paschal solemnity. At the sight of whici), Jesus, being moved vvitli zeal and indignation, ' made a whip of cords, and drave the beasts out of the temple, overthrew the accounting tables, and commanded them that sold the doves to take them from thence.' For his anger was holy, and he would mingle no injury with it; and therefore the doves, which if let loose would be detriinental to the owners, he caused to be fairly removed : and published the religion of holy places, estab- lishing their sacredness for ever by his first gospel- sermon that he made at Jerusalem. 'Take these things hence : make not my Father's house a house of merclumdise;' for ' it shall be called a iiouse of prayer to all nations.' And being required to give a ' sign' of his vocation, (for this, being an action i;ke tlie religion of tiie zealots among the Jews, if it were not attested by something extraordinary, nuglit be abused into an excess of liberty, he only (iiiiisi (..(iiN<; r<) nil. I'v-sdviit. 43 fontold the rt'siuroclion of liis hody, alier three days' death, but he expressed it in the iiietii])hor of the temple: ' Destroy tliis temple, and I will l)uild it again in three days. He spake of the temple of his body,' and they understood him of the temple of Jerusalem: and it was never ri»htly construed, till it was accomplished '2. At this public convention of the Jewish nation Jesus did many miracles, published himselftobe tiie Messias, and persuaded many disciples, amongst whom was Nicodemus, a doctor of the law, and a ruler of the nation. He ' came by night to Jesus,' and aHirmed himself to be convinced by the mi- racles which he had seen; for 'no man could do those miracles, except God be with him.' When Jesus perceived his understanding to be so far dis- posed, he began to instruct him in the great secret and mysteriousness of regeneration, telling him, •' that every ])roduction is of the same nature and condition with its parent, ' from flesh comes flesh' und corruption, ' from the Spirit comes spirit' and lifL- and immortality ; and nothing from a principle of nature could arrive to a supernatural end ; and therelbre the only door to enter into the kingdom of God was 'water,' by the manuduction of 'the Spirit;" and by this re;:eneralion we are put into a new capacity, of living a spiritual life in order to a spiritual anil supernatural end." I?. This was strange philosophy to Nicodemus; but Jesus bade him ' not to wonder;' " for this is not a work of humanity, but a fruit of God's Spirit, and an issue of pretlestinalion. For ' the Spirit bloweth where it linteth,' and is as the wind, certain and notorious in the effects, but secret in the principle and in the manner of production. And therelbre 41 ruttisi- i;i>i\(i To iHli !'ASs(»vi;i!. tills doctrine was not to be estimated hy ;iny pro- poilions to uatLiiiil princijjles or experiments of sense, but to the secrets of a new nietuphysic, and abstracted, separate speculations. Then Christ proceeds in liis sermon, tellinjT;- Iiim there are yet higher tilings for liim to apprehe ul and believe; for tins, in respect of some other mysteriousness of of his gospel, was but as eartli in comparison of heaven. Tlien he tells of liis own descent from heaven, foretells his death and ascension, and tiie blessing- of redemption wliicii lie came to work (or manlcind : he preaclies of tlie love of liie Fatlier, the mission of tiie Son, the rewards of faitli, and llie glories of eternity : lie upbraids the unbelieving and imjjenitent, and declares the differences of a holy and corrupt conscience, the sliameand fears of the one, the confidence and serenity of the other." And this is the sum of his sermon to Nicodemus, which was the fullest of mystery and speculation and abstracted senses of any tliat he ever made, except that which he made immediately before his passion ; all his other sermons being more practical. 4. From Jerusalem Jesus goeth into the country of Judea, attended by divers discijiles, whose un- derstandings were brought into subjection and obedience toChrist upon confidence of the divinity of his miracles. There his disciples did receive all comers, and baptized them, (as John at the same time did,) aiul by that ceremony admitted them to the discipline and institution ; according to the custom of the doctors and great prophets among the Jews, whose baptizing their scholars was the ceremony of their admission. As soon as John heard it, he acquitted himself in public by CHRIST GOING TO IIIE PASSOVER. 4>5 rene\vin|[f liis former testimony concerning Jesus, afiirminL; him to be the INIessias ; and now the time was come that Christ must increase, and the Baptist suffer diminution : ' for Christ came from above, was above all;' and the sum of his doctrine was, ' that whicli he had hoard and seen' from the Father; 'whom God sent,' to tliat purpose; to whom God ' had set his seal, that he was true;' who • spake the words of God ;' whom the ' Father loved, to whom he f;ave the Spirit without measure, and into whose hands God had delivered all thinp^s:* this was lie, whose * testimony the world received not.' And that they minht know not only what person they slighted, but how tj^reat salvation also they ne;i:lecteci, he sums up all his sermons and finishes his mission with tliis saying-,* He that be- lieveth on the Son hath everlastini>- life; and he that believeth not on the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God al)ideth on him.' ' 5. For now that the Baptist had fulfilled his office of bearinfj^ witness unto Jesus, (rod was pleased to f^ive him his writ of ease, and brm^ him to his reward upon this occasion. Jol>n, who had so learned to despise the workl and all its exterior vanities and impertinent relations, did his duty justly, and so without respect of persons, that as he rt^irovfd the peo])le for their prevarications, so he spared not Ilerod for his, but abstaininj^ from all expresses of the spirit of scorn and asperity, minj^linjT no discontents, interests, nor mutinous in- timations with his sermons, he told Herod ' it was not lawful for hini to have his brother's wife:* for which sermon he fell the furies and malice of ' JohUj iii. '6G. 46 chiunt r,<)VN« TO I'lii'; passuver. a woman's spleen, was cast into prison, and abovit a year after was sacrificed to tlie scorn and pride of a iustfid woman and her immodest daughter, being, at the end of tl)e second year of Christ's preaching, beheaded by Herod's command ; who would not retract his promise, because of his honour, and a rash vow he made in the gaiety of his lust and com- placencies of his riotous dancings. His head was brought up in a dish, and made a festival-present to the young girl, (who gave it to her mother). A cruelty that was not known among the barbarisms of the worst of people, to mingle banquettings with blood and sights of death. An insolency and in- humanity for which the Roman orators accused Q. Fiaminiusof treason, because, to satisfy the wanton cruelty of Placentia, he caused a condemned slave to be kdled at supper: and which had no prece- dent but in the furies of Marius, who caused the head of the consul Antonius to be brought up to him in his feasts, which he handled wiih much j)leasure and insolency.' 6. But CJod's judgments, which sleep not long, found out HeroiI,and marked him for a curse. For the wife of Herod, who was the daughter of Aretas, a king of Arabia Petraea, being repudiated by pac- tion with Herodias, provoked her fatlier to com- mence a war with Herod ; who prevailed against Herod in a great battle, defeating his whole army, and forcing him to an inglorious flight. AViiich the Jews generally exiJounded to be a judgment on him for the unworthy and barbarous execution and murder of John the Baptist. God in his wisdom and severity making one sin tobe the punishment of • ifeuec. com. lib. v. Livius, lib xxxix. I'lut. in Marcio. ciiRisi cdjNc :() rii;. r'Assoviu, 47 another, and neillior of them Ijotli to pass without tlie sip^nuture of u curse. And Xicepliorus reports, that the(h\ncin<^ daughter of Ilerodias passing over a frozen lake, the ice broke, and she fell up to the neck in water, and Iier head was parted from her l)ody by llie violence of tlie fragments shook by the water, and its own fall, and so perished, (iod having fitted a judiiuient to the analogy and rej^resentment of iier sin. IferodiasherselfjWith her adulterous para- mour, Herod, were banished to Lyons, in France, by decree of the Roman senate, where they lived inglcMiously. and died miserably;' so paying dearly for her triumphal scorn superadded to her crime of murdtr; for when she saw the head of the Baptist, which her (buighter Salome had presented to her in a charger, she thrust the tongue through with a needle, as Fulvia had formerly done to Cicero. But herself paid the charges of her triumph. Ad. sect. xr. CoHSuleialioiis vpoii Ihe first JoHnicij of (he holy JesKs lo Jenisalein, ichcii he whijijied llie incrchanfs out of I he Tcviplc. I. N\ iii.N the feast came, and .lesus was ascended up to .Jerusalem, the first place ue (ind him in is the tem|)le, where not only was the area and court of religion, but, by occasion of public conventions, the most opportune scene for transaction of his (onimission and his Father's business. And those Christians v\ho have been religious and aflectionate Jo!> Ant. lib will. c. vii. lib. i. hist. c. 2Q. 48 CONSIDERATIONS UPON even in tlie circumslances of piety, liiive taken this for a precedent, anil accounted it a I'talm I\.\viii. 33. ' Rom. ii. 22. THE PURGING THE TF-MPLK. 53 case there is no amendment, only one sin resigns to another, and the pei-son slill remains under its power and the same dominion. THE PRAYER. O eternal Jesu, thou bright image of thy Father's glories, whose light did shine to all the world, when thy lieart was in- flamed with zeal and love of God and of religion, let a coal from thine altar, fanned with the wings of the holy dove, kindle in my soul such holy flames, that I may be zealous of thy honour and glory, forward in religious duties, earnest in their pursuit, prudent in their managing, ingenuous in my purposes, making my religion to serve no end but of thy glories, and the obtaining of thy promises : and so sanctify my soul and my body, that I may be a holy temple, fit and prepared for the in- habitation of thy ever-blessed Spirit; wliom grant that I maj never grieve by admitting any impure thing to desecrate the place, and unhallow the courts of his abcde ; but give me a pure soul in a cha-itc and healthful body, a spirit full of holy simpli- city, and designs of great ingenuity, and ])erfect religion, that I may intend what thou commandest, and may with proper instru- ments prosecute what I so intend, and by thy aidsmay obtain the end of my libours, the rewards of obedience and holy living, even the socie'y and inheritance of Jesus in the participation of the j:)ys of thy temple, where thou dwellcst and reignest with the Father and the Holy (ihcst, () eternal Jesu. Amen. DISCOURSE VIII. Of Ihe liclitjhni of Holy Places. 1. Tfik holy .Tosiis])roiifjht a divine warrant for his zeal. The scllinp: sacrifices, and the exchange of 54 OF THE RELIGION OF money, :nul every l;iy employment, did violence and dislionour to the temple, which was hallowed to ecclesiastical ministeries, and set apart for offices oficlinion, for the use of holy thing's; for it was God's house: and so is every house by public de- Rii,'^nalion separate for prayer or other uses of reli- jj^ion, it is (lod's house. [' My house :'] God hail ii propriety in it, and had set his mark on it, even his own name. And therefore it was, in the Jews idiom of speech, called ' the mountain of the Lord's house,' and ' the house of the Lord,' by David fre- quently. God had put his name into all places ap- ])ointefl for solemn worship. ' In all places where 1 record my name, I will come unto thee, and bless thee.'' For God, who was never visible to mortal eye, was pleased to make himself presential by sub- stitution of his name ; that is, in certain places he hath appointed that his name shall be called upon, and by promising- and imparting such blessings which he hath made consequent to the invocation of his name, hath made such places to be a certain determination of some special manner of his pre- sence. For God's name isnot a distinct thing from himself, not an idea, ynd it cannot be put into a place in literal signification ; the expression is to be resolved into some otlier sense. God's name is that whereby he is known, by which he is invo- cated, that which is the most immediate publication of his essence, nearer than which we cannot go unto liim : and because God is essentially present in all places, when he makes himself present in one place more than another, it cannot be understood to any other purpose, but that in such places he ' Exod. XX. 24. HDl.Y PLACT.S. gives special bles.siiii;s and i^races, or ilial in tlir so places lie aji[)oints his name, that is, himself, spe- cially to he invocatetl. 2. So that wlieu God puts his name in any- place by a special manner, it signifies tliat there himself is in that manner; but in separate and hal- lowed places God hath expressed that he puts his name with a purpose it sliould l)e called upon: therefore, in plain sijjnification it is thus; in conse- crate places God himself is present to be invoked ; that is, tliere he is most deliglited to hear the prayers we make to him. For all the expressions of Scripture, of ' God's house,' ' the tabernacle of God,' ' God's dwelling-, putting- his name tliere," ' his sanctuary,' are resolved into that saying of God to Solomon, who prayed that he would hear the prayers of necessitous people in that place ; Ciod granting the request expressed it thus, ' 1 have sanctified the house which thou hast built;'' that is, the house which thou hast designed for my wor- ship, I have designed for your blessing; "what you have dedicated, 1 have accepted ; what you have consecrated, I have hallowed ; I have taken it to the same purpose to which your desires and desig- nation pretended it in your first purposes and ex- pense. So that since the purpose of man in sepa- rating places of worship is, that thither, by order and with convenience and in communities of men, God may be worshipped and prayed unto. God having declared that he accepts of such separate places to the same jiurpose, says, that there he will be called upon, that such places shall be places of ' 1 Kings, ix. 3. gfi 01 THE RELIGION OF atlvantajje to our devotions, in respect of human order, and div-ne acceptance and benediction. 3. Now, these are therefore God's houses, because they were given by men, and accepted by God, for the' service of God and the offices of religion. And this is not the effect or result of any distinct cove- nant God hath made with man in any period of the world, but it is merely a favour of God, either hear- ing- the prayer of dedication, or eomplyinpr with human order or necessities. For ihere is nothing in the covenant of Moses's law tliat, by virtue of special stipulation, makes the assignment of a house for the service of God to be proper to Moses's rite. Not only because God had memorials and determi- nations of this manner of his presence before Moses's law, as at Bethel, where Jacob laid the first stone of the church, (nothing but a stone was God's memorial,) and the beginning and first rudiments of a temple ; but also because, after Moses's law was given, as long as the nation was ambulatory, so were their places and instruments of religion. And although the ark was not confined to a place till Solomon's time, yet God was pleased in this manner to confine himself to the ark ; and in all places wherever liis name was put, even in syna- gogues, and oratories, and threshing-floors, when they were hallowed with an altar and religion, thither God came; that is, there he heard them pray, and answered and blessed accordingly, still in proportion to that degree of religion v\hich was jjut upon them. And those places, when they had once entertained religion, grew separate and sacred for ever. For therefore David bought the threshing-floor of Araunah, that it might never ry- iioi.v iM.vcr.s. 67 turn to common use uny more: for it liad l>een no trouble or inconvenience to Aruunah to have used liis floor for one solemnity ; but he offered to give it, and David resolved to buy it, because it must of necessity be aliened from common uses, to which it could never return any more when once it had been the instrument of a religious solemnity. And yet this was no part of Moses's law, that every place of Ji temporary sacrifice should be ' holy for ever.' David had no guide in tiiis but right reason and the religion of all the world. For such things which wore groat instruments of public ends, and things of highest use, were also in all societies of men of greatest honour, and immured by reverence and the security of laws. For honour and reputa- tion is not a ihing- inherent in any creature, but de- pends upon the estimate of God or men, who either in diffusion or representation become fountains of a derivative honour. Thus some men are honour- able ; that is, those who are fountains of honoiit in civil account have commanded that they should be honoured. And so places and things are made honourable ; that as honourable persons are to be distinguished from others by honourable usag'es and circumstances proper to them, so also should places and things (upon special reason separate) have a usage proper to them, when by a public instru- ment or minister they are so separated. No common usage then ; something proper to tell what they are, and to what purj)oses they are de- signed, and to signify their separation and extraor- dinariness. Such are the person of the prince, the archives and records of a kingdom, the walls and great defences of the imperial city, the eagles and 58 OF THE lir.LlfifON OF ensigns of war amonj^st llie Romans, and aoove all things, though not above all persons, the temples and altars, and all the instruments of religion. And there is much reason in it ; for thus a servant of a king, though his employment be naturally mean, yet is more honourable, because he relates to the most excellent person ; and therefore much more those things which relate to God. And though this be the reason why it should be so, yet for this and otiier reasons they that have power, that is, they who are acknowledged to be the fountains and the channels of honour, I mean the supreme power and public fame, have made it actually to be so; for whatsoever all wise men, and all good men, and all public societies, and all supreme authority hatli commanded to be honoured or revered, that is honourable and reverend ; and this honour and reverence is to be expressed according to the cus- toms of the nation, and instruments of honour pro- jier to the nature of the thing or person respectively. Whatsoever is esteemed so, is so ; because honour and noble separations are relative actions and terms, creatures and productions of fame, and the voice of princes, and the sense of people : and they who will not honour those things or those persons which are thus decreed to be honouraijle, have no commu- nications with the civilities of humanity, or the guises of wise nations ; they do not ' give honour to whom honour belongs.' Now that which in civil account we call honourable the same in religious account we call sacred : for by both these words we mean things or persons made separate and retired from common opinion and vulgar usages, by reason of some excellency really inherent in them; (such Hoi.Y r'l.ACts. 59 as are (^xcelUiit men ;) or for their relation to ex- cellent persons, or for God, (icKl's liouses. Ami thai our lile'ised S:i- vionr discourses of places oi" public worsliip to the ■woman of Samaria is notorious, because the whole question was concernino^ the great addresses of Mo- ses's rites, whether at Jerusalem or mount Cierizini, V, hich were the places of the right and the schis- matical temple, the confinements of" the whole reli- gion : and in antithesis Jesus said, not here nor there shall be the solemnities of address to God, but in all places you may build a temple, and God will dwell in it. •5. And this hath descended from the first bejjin- ning of relinion down to the consummation of it in the perfections of the i^ospel : for the ajwstles of our Lord carried the offices of the gospel into the temple of Jerusalem; there they preached and prayed, and j)aid vows, but never, that we read of, offered sacrifice : which shows that the offices j)urely evangelical were proper to be done in any of God's j)roper places, and that thither they went not in com])]iance with Moses's rites, but merely for gospel duties, or for such offices which were com- mon to Moses and Christ, such as were prayers anct vows. While the temple was yet standing, they had peculiar places for the assemblies of tiie (ailh- ful, where either by accident, or observation, or re- ligion, or choice, they met regularly. And I in- stance in the house of John, surnamed Mark, whicii, as Alexander reports in the life of St. Barnabas Avas consecrated by many actions of religion — by our blessed Saviour's eating the passover, his institution of the holy eucharist, his farewell sermon; ami the :ipostles met there in the octaves of Raster, whither Christ came, and hallowed it with his j)resence ; and there, to make up the relative sanctificatioii 62 or THE RELIGION OF complete, tlie Holy Ghost descenfled upon their heads in the feast of pentecosf. And this was erected into a fair fabric, and is mentioned as a fa- mous church by St. Jerome, and Venerable Bede;' in which, as Adricomius adds, St. Peter preached that sermon which was miraculously prosperous in the conversion of three thousand : there St. James, brother of our Lord, was consecrated first bishop of Jerusalem ; St. Stephen and Ihe other six were there ordained deacons; there the apostles kept their first council, and compiled their creed: by these actions and their frequent conventions show- ing-the same reason, order, and prudence of religion in assignation of special places of divine service, which were ever observed by all the nations, and religions, and wise men of the world. And it were a strange imagination to fancy, that in Christian re- ligion there is any principle contrary to that wisdom of God and all the world, which for order, for neces- sity, for convenience, for the solemnity of worship, hath set apart places for God and for religion. Private prayer had always an unlimited residence and relation, even under Moses's law ; but the pub- lic solemn prayer of sacrifice in the law of Moses was restrained to one temple. In the law of na- ture it was not confined to one, but yet determined to public and solemn places. And when the holy Jesus disparked the inciosures of INloses, we all re- turned to the permissions and liberty of the natu- ral la:v, in which, although the public and solemn prayers were confined to a temple, yet the temple was not confined to a place; but they might be any where, so they were at all, instruments of or- ' Epist. xxvii. T)e locis Sanctis, cap. iii. In descrip, Hienw. n. G. HOl.Y PI.VCES. 63 der, conveniences of assembling, residences of reli- gion. And God, who always loved order, and was a|)t to hear all holy and prudent prayers, (and therefore also the prayers of consecration,) hath often declared that he loves such places, tliat he will dwell in tliem : not that they are advantages to him, but that lie is pleased to make them so to us. And therefore all nations of the world built public houses for religion : and since all ages of the church did so too, it had need be a strong and a convincing argument that must show they \\ ere deceived. And ' if any man list to be contentious,' he must be an- swered with St. Paul's reproof, ' We have no such custom, nor the churches of God.' 6. Thus St. Paul reproved the Corinthians for 'despising the ciiurch of God'' by such uses, which were therefore unfit for God's, because they were proper for their own, that is for common houses. And altiiough they were at first, and in the descend- ing ages so ufllicled by the tyrainiy of enemies, that they could not build many cliurches ; yet some they did, and the churches themselves suft'ered part of the persecution. For so Eusebius reports, that when, under Severus and (xordianus, Philip and Galienus, the Christian aft'airs were in a tolerable condition, they built churches in great number and expense. But \\hen the persecution waxed hot under Diocletian, down went the churches, upon a design to extinguish, or disadvantage the religion. Maximinus gave leave to rebuild them. Upon which rescript (saith the story) the Christians were overjoyed, and raised them up to an incredible height and incomparable beauty. This was Chii»- ' I Cor. xi. 22. 64 OF THE RELIGION 6F tian religion then, and so it hatli continued ever since ; and unless we should have new reason and new revelation, it must continue so till our churches are exchanged for thrones, and our chapels for seats placed before the Lamb, in the eternal temple ofthe celestial Jerusalem. 7. And to this purpose it is observed, that the lioly Jesus first ejected the beasts of sacrifice out of the temple, and then proclaimed the j)lace holy, and the scene of representing prayers; which in type intimates tlie same thing which is involved in the expression of the next words, ' My house shall be called the house of prayer to all nations :' now and for ever to the Jews and to the Gentiles, in all circumstances and variety of time and nation. God's houses are holy in order to holy uses ; the time as unlimited as the nations were indefinite and universal. Which is the more observable, because it was ofthe outward courts, not u hilher Moses's rites alone were admitted, but the natural devotion of Jews and Gentile proselytes, that Christ atTirmed it to be holy, to be the house of God, and the place of prayer. So that tlse religion of public places of prayer is not a rite of Levi, but a natural and pru- dent circumstance and advantage of religion, in which all wise men agree ; \\ho therefore must have some common principle with influence upon all the world, which must be the univocal cause of the con- sent of all men ; which coiinnon principle must either be a dictate of natural or prime reason, or else some tradition from the first parents of man- kind ; which because it had order in it, beauty, re- ligion, and confirmation from Heavc-n, and no rea- son to contest against it, it hath surprised the un- derstanding and practices of all nations. And in- jioi.Y rn.Acrs. 05 deed we find that even in paradise God had lliat which is analoi^icid to u ohuroh, a distinct ))hu'e where he manifested hiniselt" present in i)roper manner. For Adam and Kve, when tliey had sin- ned, ' hid themselves from the presence ot' the Lord :' and this was the word in all descents of the church, for the l>ein^ of God in holy places, 'the presence of the Lord was there.' /* nd probaVily when Adam, from tiiis intimation, or a cjreater direction, had tani^ht Cain and Abel to offer sacrifices to God m u certain place, where they were observed of each in their several offerings, it became one of the rules of religion which was derived to their posterity by tradition, the only way they had to communicate the dictates of divine commandment. 8. There is no more necessary to be added in behalf of holy places, and to assert them into the family and relatives of religion : our estimate and deportment towards them is matter of practice, and therefore of proper consideration. To which l)urpose I consider, that holy places being the resi- dence of God's name upon earth, there where he hath put it, that by fiction of law it may be the sanctuary and the last resort in all calamities and need,' God hath sent his agents to |)ossess them in j)erson for him. Churches and oratories are re- gions and courts of angels, and they are there not only to minister to the saints, but also they possess , theuj in the right of Ciod. There they are ; so the greatest and Prince of spirits tells us, the Holy (ihost: ' I saw the Ijord sitting upon his throne, and his train filled the temple ; above it stood the seraphim :'* that was God's train. And therefor*; ' I'salm xxvii. 4, :>, G. * Isa. vi. 1, 2. VOL. 11 ;"> 66 OF tllK IIM.IGIUN OF holy D.ivid knew that liis addresses to God were in the presence of angels: ' I will praise thee with my whole heart, before the sfods will I sing praise unto thee :' ' before the a??^^/s,'soit is in the Septuagint.* And ihat we might know where or how the kingly worshipper would pay this adoration, he adds, ' I will worship towards thy holy temple.' And this was so known by him, that it became expressive of (tocI's manner of presence in heaven : ' the chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of an- gels ; and the Lord is among them as in Sinai, in the holy place.' ^ God in the midst of angels, and the angels in the midst of the holy place; and God in heaven in the midst of that holy circle, as sure as he is amongst angels in the recesses of his sanctuary. Were the rudiments of the law worthy of an attendance of angels ? and are tlie memorials of the gospel destitute of so brave a retinue ? Did the beatified spirits wait upon the types ? and do they decline the office at the ministration of the substance ? Is the nature of man made worse since the incarnation of the Son of God ? and have the angels purchased an exemption from their ministry since Christ became our brother ? We have little reason to think so. And therefore St. Paul still makes use of the argument to press women to mo- desty and humility in churches, ' because of the an- gels.' And upon the same stock St. Chrysostom chides the people of liis diocess for walking, and laughing, and prating in cliurches : " The church is not a shop of manufactures or merchandise, but ' Psalm cxxxviii. 1, 2. ■■' Evut'Tior c'(yy'c\io)', LXX. Orat Agrip, apud Joseph, lib. ii. c. 10, cle Bello Judaic. •* I'saim Ixiii. 17. HOLY PI.ACKS. C7 the place of anp^els jvnd of arcliang;els, llie c(.urt of God, and the image or represenlment of heaven it- self."' 9. For if we consider that Christianity is some- thing more than ordinary, that there are mysteries in our religion, and in none else; that God's an- gels are ministering spirits for our good, and espe- cially about the conveyances of our prayers, either we must think very low of Christianity, or that greater things are in it than the presence of angels in ourchurclies : and yet, if there were no more, we should do well to behave ourselves there with the thoughts and apprehensions of heaven about us; always remembering that our business there is an errand of religion, and God is the object of our wor- shippings. And therefore, although by our weak- ness we are fixed in the lowness of men, yet be- cause God's infinity is our object, it were very happy if our actions did bear some i'ew degrees of a proportionable and commensurate address. 10. Now that the angels are there in the right of God, and are a manner and an exhibition of the Divine presence is therefore certain, because when- ever it is said in the Old Testament that God ap- peared, it was by an angel : and the law itself, in the midst of all the glorious terrors of its manifes- tation, ' was ordained by angels," and ' a word spoken by angels,' and yet God is said to have de- scended upon the mount. And in the greatest glory that ever shall be revealed till the consum- mation of all things, the instrument of the Divine splendour is the apparition of angels: for when the ' Ifomil. xvi. in 1 Cor. et de Saccrd. Tore the richest oblation is the best in an equal power and the same person, because it is the best of things mate- rial : and although it hath not the excellency of the spirit, it hath an excellency that a cheap oblation hath not; and besides the advantage of the natural value, it can no otherwise be spoiled than a meaner offering may, it is always capable of the same com- mendation from the piety of the presenter's spirit, and may be as much purified and made holy as the cheaper or more contemptible. God hath not any where expressed, that he accepts of a cheaper offering, but when we are not able to give him a better. When the people brought offerings more than enough for the tabernacle, Moses restrained their forwardness, by saying ' it was enough;' but yet commended the disposition highly, and wished it might be perpetual. But God chid the people HiiI.V I'l,\< KS. 71 when tlioy let liis house lie wnsle without reparation of its clecayini:^ beauty ; and therefore sent famines upon tlie land, and a curse into their estate, because they would not, by skiving a portion to religion, sanctify and secure all the rest. For the way for a man to be a saver by his religion is, to deposit one part of his estate in the temple, and one in the hands of the poor; for these areCJod's treasury and stewards respectively. And this is ' laying up treasures in heaven :' and besides that it uill pro- cure blessing to other parts, it will help to save our souls; and that is good husbandry, that is worth the saving. 13. For I consider that those riches and I)eauties in churches and religious solemnities, whicli add nothing to God, add much devotion to us, and much honour and efficacy to devotion. For since impression is made upon the soul by the interven- ing of corporal things, our religion and devotion of the soul receives the addition of many degrees by such instruments ; insomuch that we see persons of the greatest fancy, and such who are most jileased with outward fairnesses, are most religious, (ireat understandings make religion lasting and reasonable; but great fancies make it more scru- pulous, strict, operative, and effectual : and there- fore it is strange, that we sliall bestow such great expenses to make our own houses convenient and delectable, that we may entertain ourselves Avith complacency and a[)petite, and yet think that reli- gion is not worth the ornament, nor our fancies fit to be carried into the choice and prosecution of re- ligious actions with sweetness, entertainments, and fair propositions. If we say that God is not the better for a rich house or a costly service, we may 72 OF TIli; UELIGION OF also remember that neither are we the belter for rich clothes; and the sheep will keep us as modest, as warm, and as clean as the silkworm ; and a gold chain or a carktnet ol" pearl does no more con- tribute to our happiness than it does to the service of religion : for if we reply, that they help to the esteem and reputation of our persons, and the dis- tinction of them from the vulfjar, from the servants of the lot of Issachar, and add reverence and vene- ration to us; how great a shame is it, if we study by great expenses to get reputation and accidental ndvantagesto ourselves, and not by the same means to purchase reverence and esteem to religion; since we see that religion, amongst persons of ordinary understandings, receives as much external and acci- dental advantages by the accession of exterior orna- ments and accommodation, as we ourselves can by rich clothes and garments of wealth, ceremony, «ind distinction ! and as in princes' courts the re- verence to princes is cjuickened and increased by 5in outward state and glory, so also it is in the service of God. Although the understandings of men are no more satisfied by a pompous mag- nificence than by a cheap plainness, yet the eye is, and the fancy, and the affections, and the senses: that is, many of our faculties are more |)leased with religion, when religion by such in- struments and conveyances pleases them. And it was noted by Sosomen concerning Valens the Arian emperor, that when he came to Caisarea in Cappu- docia, he praised St. Basil their bishop, and upon more easy terms revoked his banishment, because he was a grave per.-on, and did his holy offices with reverent and decent addresses, and kept liis church «sserablies with niiuli ornunieul and solemnity. IIOI.Y l'I.A( F.S. 73 M. 1)111 whtiu I consicler tliat sayinij of St. Gregory, " tlmt llie church is heaven within the tabernacle, heaven dwelling among the sons of men," and remember that God hath studded all tlie firmament and paved it with stars, because he loves to have his house beauteous, and highly r« presentative of iiis glory, I see no reason we shouUl not do, as Apollinaris says God does, " in earth do the works of heaven ;" for he is the God of beauties and perfections, and every excellency in the crea- ture is a portion of influence from the divinity, and therefore is the best instrument of conveying iionour to him, w ho made them for no other end but for his own honour, as the last resort of all other ends for w hich they were created. 15. But the best manner to reverence the sanc- tuary is, by the continuation of such actions which gave it the first title of holiness. 'Holiness b«- cometh thine house for ever,' said David. Sancfa sanc/is, holy persons and holy riles in holy places. That as it had tlie first relation of sanctity by the consecration of a holy and reverend minister and jM'esident of religion, so it may be perpetuated in holy offices, and receive the daily consecration by the assistance of sanctified and religious persons. Foris canes, dogs and criminal persons are unfit for churches : the best ornament and beauty of a church is a holy priest and a sanctified people. For since angels dwell in churches, and God hath made his name to dwell there too, if there also be a holy people, that there be saints as well as angels, it is a holy fellowship and a blessed communion : but to see a devil there, would scare the most con- fident and bold fancy, and disturb the good meet- ing ; and huih is r\rry w irkrd and graceless per- 74 OF THE KLLIGION (iF son. ' Have not I chosen twelve of you ? and one of yon is a devil.' An evil soul is an evil spirit; and such are no good ornaments for temples. And it is a shame that a gootlly Christian thiircb should be like an Egyptian temple; without, goodly buildings — within, a dog or a cat for the deity they adore. It is worse, if in our addresses to holy j)laces and offices, we bear our lusts under our gar- inenls; for dogs and cats are of God's making, but onr lusts are not, but are God's enemies ; and therefore, besides the unholiness, it is an affront to God to bring them along, and it defiles the place in a great degree. 16. For there is a defiling of a temple by insinu- ation of impurities, and another by direct and posi- tive profanation, and a third by express sacrilege : tl)is defiles a temple to the ground. Every small sin is an unwelcome guest, and is a spot in tliose feasts of charity which entertain us often in God's houses : but there are some (and all great crimes are such) which desecrate the place, unhallow the ground, as to our particulars, stop the ascent of our prayers, obstruct the current of God's blessings, turn religion into bitterness, and devotion into gall ; sucli as are marked in Scripture with a dis- tinguishing character, as enemies to tl)e j>eculiar dispositions of religion : and such are unchastity, which defiles the temples of our bodies; covetous- ness, vvhich sets up an idol instead of God; and unmercifulness, which is a direct enemy to the mercies of God, and the fair return of our prayers. JTe that sliows not the mercies of alms, of forgive- ness, and comfort, is forbid to hope for comfort, re- lief, or forgiveness from the hands of God. A pure mind is the I'cst manner of \\or>hij>, and the HOLY TLALKS. 75 impurity of a crime is the greatest contra iction to the honour and religion of holy j)laces. And tliereibre, let us imitate the j)recedent of the most religious of kings : ' I will wash my hands in inno- cency, O Ijord, and so will I go to thine altar:*' always remembering those decretory and final words of St. Paul, 'He that defiles a temple, him will God destroy.'" THE PRAYER. O etenuil God, who dwellestnot in temples made with hands, flic heaven of heavens is not able to contain thee, and yet thou art pleased to manifest thy presence amongst the sons of men by ^pecial issues of thy favour and benediction. IMake my body and soul to be a temple pure and holy, apt for the entertainments of the Holy Jesus, and for the habitation of the Holy bpirit. Lord, be ple:.svd, with thy rod of paternal discipline, to cast out all impure lusts, all worldly afFeciions, all covetous desires, from this thy temple ; that it may be a place of prayer and meditation, of holy appetites and chaste thoughts, of pure intentions and zea- lous desires of pleasing thee ; that I may become also a sacrifice as w ell as a temple, eaten up with the zeal of thy glory, and con- sumed with the fire of love ; that not one thought may be enter- tained by me but such as may be like perfume breathing from the altar of in.ensc, and iiot a word may pass from me but may have the accent of heaven upon it, and sound pleasantly in thy cars. O dearest God, fill every faculty of my soul with im- presses, dispositions, capacities, and aptnesses of religion : and do Uiou haUow my soul, that I may be possessed with zeal and re- ligious affectiom;, loving thee above all things in the world, worship'ping thee with the humblest adorations and frequent ad- dresses, continually feeding upon the apprehensions of the di- vine sweetness, and considerations of thy infinite excellencies, and observations of thy righteous connnandments, and the feast of a holy Conscience, as an antej)ast of eternity, and consignation to the joys rf iieaven, through Jrsus Christ our liord. Amen. ' Psalm xxvi. 0". ' I Cor. iii. I7. SECTION XII. of Jesiis's departure into Galilee ; his manner of Life, Miracles, and Preaching ; his calling of Disciples ; and ivhat happened until the Second Passover. 1. When 'Jesus understood tliiit John was cast into prison,'' and that the Pharisees were envious at him for the great multitudes of people that resorted to his baptism, which he ministered, not in his own person, but by the deputation of his disciples, they finishing' the ministration which himself be- gan, (who, as Euodius bishop of Antioch reports, baptized the blessed virgin, his mother, and Peter only, and Peter baptized Andrew, James, and John, and they others,*) he left Judea, and came into Galilee : and in his passage he must toucli Sychar, a city of Samaria, where, in the heat of the day and the weariness of his journey, he sat himself down upon the margin of Jacob's well ; whither, when ' his disciples were gone to buy meat, a Samaritan woman cometh to draw water,' of whom Jesus asked some to cool his thirst, and refresh his weariness. 2. Little knew the woman the excellency of the person that asked so small a charity ; neither had she been taught, that ' a cup of cold water given to a disciple should be rewarded,' and much rather such a present to the Lord himself. But slie pro- secuted the spite of her nation, and the interest and quarrel of the schism ; and instead of washing ' Matt. iv. 12. • Euthytn. r.'i. in Joan, apud Niceph. lib. ii. c. 3. Hi«t, WHAI HAPPENED INTIf. THE PASSflVEfl. 77 Jesus's feet, and J-iviiif^ liiiu drink, dematnlecl, ' why he, bein^ a Jew, should ask water of a Sama- ritan : f(ir the Jews have no intercourse with the Samaritans.' 3. The ground of tlie quarrel was this : — In the sixth year of llezekiah, Salmanasar. kin"^ of As- syria, sacked Samaria, transported the Israelites to Assyria, and j)lanted an Assyrian colony in the town and country, who, by divine vens^eance, were ileslroyed by lions, which no power of man could restrain or lessen. The kin<^ thought the cause was, their not serving the God of Israel according to the rites of Moses ; and therefore sent a Jewish captive priest to instruct tlie remanent inhabitants in the Jewish religion; who so learneND PAS.SOVER. 8o Jiicoh ilrave from tlieir inheiilance, there were two citit.'s ; Ciiulara, from the tribe of Gad, to whom it fell by lot in the division of the land ; (which, having been destroyed by the Jews, was rebuilt by Poinpey at the request of Demetrius Gadarensis, Ponipey's freed man;) and near to it was Gerasa, as Josephus reports.' Which diversity of towns and names is the cause of the various recitation of this story by the evangelists. Near the city of Gadara tliere were many sepulchres in the hoDow- nesses of rocks, where the dead were buried, and where many superstitious persons used INIemphitic andTliessalic rites,invocating evil spirits; insomuch that at the instant of our Saviour's arrival in the country, there met him two possessed with devils from these tombs, exceeding fierce, and so iiad been long, insomuch tiiat no man durst pass that way. 16. Jesus commanded the devils out of the pos- se.ssed pei"son. But there were certain men feed- ing swine, wliich, though extremely abominated by the Jewish religion, yet for tiie use of the Roman armies and quarterings of soldiers they were permitted, and divers privileges granted to the nKistei"s of such herds;* and because Gadara was a (Jreek city, and the company mingled of Greeks, Syrians, and Jews ; these last in all likeli- hood not making tlie greatest number. The devils therefore besought .lesus, he would not send them inlo the abyss, but ' permit them to enter into the K«ine.* lie gave them leave: 'and the swine ran violently down a steep place' into the hot baths, ' Joseph, de Be]. Jud. lib. i. c. 5, and lib. iii. c. 2, and lib. v. c. 3; Epiph. contra Kb. Ha-res. 30. " Cod. Theod. de SuariU. Joseph, lib. ii. de Bel. Jud. c. 33. 80 tllSTOItV OF WHAT n.APrENr.D which were at the foot of the hill on which G:id;ir:\ was built, wliich smaller congregation of waters the Jews used to call ' sea,' or else, as others think, into the lake of Gennesaret, and perished in the waters. But this accident so troubled the inha- bitants, that they came and entreated Jesus to de- part out of their coasts: and he did so. Leaving Galilee of the Gentiles, he came to the Lesser Ga- lilee, and so again to the city of Capernaum. 17. But when he was come thither, he was met by divers Scribes and Pharisees, who came from Jerusalem, and doctors of the law from Galilee: and while they were sitting in a house, which was compassed with multitudes, that no business or necessity could be admitted to the door, a poor paralytic was brought to be cured, and they were fain to uncover the tiles of the house, and let him down in his bed with cords in the midst, before Jesus sitting in conference with the doctors. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, ' Man, thy sins be forgiven thee.' At which saying the Pharisees being troubled, thinking it to be blasphemy, and that none l)ut God could forgive sins, Jesus was })ut to verify his absolution ; which lie did in u just satisfaction and proportion to their under- standings : for the Jews did believe that all afflic- tions were punishments for sin; ('Who sinner', this man or his father, that he was born blind ?') and that removing of the punishment was forgiving of the sin : and therefore Jesus, to prove that his sins were forgiven, removed that which they sup- posed to be tlie effect of his sin, and by curing the palsy prevented their further murmur about the pardon: 'that ye might know the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he sailh to UNTIL THE SECOND PASSdVl-R. S7 le sick of the palsy,) arise, take up thy bed and *alk : and the man arose, was healed, and glorified jrod.' 18. Awhile after, Jesus went aj^ain towards the •sea; and on his way, seeing Matthew the publican sitting: at the receipt of custom, he bade him follow him. Matthew first feasted Jesus, and then be- :ame his disciple. But the Pharisees that were with him hejjan to be troubled that he ate with publicans and sinners : for the office of publican, thougi) among the Romans it was honest and of great account, and " the flower of the Roman knights, the ornament of the city, the security of the common wealtli, was accounted to consist in the society of publicans;'" yet amongst both the Jews and Greeks tlie name was odious, and the persons were accursed;* not only because they were strangers that were the chief of them, who took in to them some of the nation where they were employed ; but because the Jews especially stood upon the charter of liieir nation, and tlie pri- vilege of tiieir relii^ion, that none of them should pay tri!)iite ; :ind also because they exercised great injustices anti oppressions,' having a power un- ' Cicero Ep. Faniil. lib. xiii. et in Orat. pro Plancio* * Idem ad Quint. Fraireiii de rcginiint; prajfectura; Asian. ^ Vita publitanormii aperta est violentia, impunita rapina, negotiatio nulla ratione can.slans, invcrtcunda mercatura. Suidas. V. Publicaniis, Trdfriij Ti\o)i'cti —dt'rii; itnit/ «'jj7r«y£<,'- — "The lite of the publican is open violence; unpunished rapine; business without rules; traffic without shame. 'I'hc publicans arc, without exception, plunderers." Apud HcbrsEuni tcxtuni D. i\Iatth.-Ei, Publican! dicti Pari- ini, nomine proprio latroiiibus qui sepes et niacetiani diriniiint, licet proprie dicti (labaim ; undc fortasse (Jabella. — '-In the Hebrew text of D. iMattha;us, publicans iire called I'arisim, the proper name of robbers, who tear down fences; although pro- perly called ('•abaiin, from which, perhaps, Gubflln.^' 88 HISTORY OF WHAT HAPPENED limited, and a covetousness wide as hell, and jrreedy as the fire or the grave. But Jesus gave so fair an account concerning his converse with these persons, that the objection turned to be his apology ; for therefore he conversed with them, because they were sinners : and it was as if a physician should be reproved for having so much to do witii sick persons : for therefore was he sent, not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, to advance the reputation of mercy above the rites of sacrifice. 19. But as the little bubbling.and gentle mur- murs of the water, are presages of a storm, and are more troublesome in their prediction than their violence; so were the arguings of the Pharisees symptoms of a secret displeasure, and an ensuing war: though at first represented in the civilities of questions and scholastical discourses, yet they diil but forerun vigorous objections and bold calumnies, which were the fruits of the next summer. But as yet they discoursed fairly, asking him ' why John'.s tlisciples fasted often, but the disciples of Jesus did not fast.' Jesus told them, it was because these were the days in which the bridegroom was come in person to espouse the church into himself; and therefore for ' the children of tlie bride-cham- ber to fast' then, was like the bringing of a dead corpse to the joys of a bride, or the pomp of coro- nation : ' the days should come that the bridegroom should retire' into his chamber, and draw the cur- tains ; ' and then they should fast in those days.' 20. While Jesus was discoursing with the Phari- sees. 'Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came to him,' desiring he would help his daughter, who lay in tlie confines of death, ready to depart. Whi- ther as he was goin", ' u woman met him who had UNTIL Tin SECONIJ I'ASSOVr/l. K'> been diseased wiih un issue of blood twelve years-,* without lioj)e of remedy from art or nature; and therefore she runs to Jesus, thinkiiiij, without ))re- cedent, upon the confident persuasions of a holy faith, ' that if the did but touch the hem of his <;ar- ment, sJie sliould be w hole.' 5She came Iremblitif^-, and full of hope and reverence, and ' touched his •Jarnieni ; and immediately the fountain of her un- natural emanation was stopped,' and reverted to its natural course and offices. St. Ambrose says that this woman was JNIarlha. But it is not likely that she was a .Jewess, but a Gentile, because of that return which she made in memory of her cure and honour of Jesus accord in<{ to I he Gentile rites. J^or f^usebius reports tliat himself saw, at Ca^sarea Philippi, a statue of brass, representinjj a woman kneeling- at the feet of a goodly personagu, who held his iiand out to her in a posture of grant- ing her request, and doing favour to her ; and the inhabitants said it was erected by the care and cost of this woman ; adding, (whether out of truth or easiness is not certain,) that at the pedestal of this statue an usual plant did grow, which when it was come up to that maturity ami height as to arrive at the fringes of the brass monument, it was medi- cinal in many dangerous diseases.' So far Eust*- bius. Concerning whicli story I shall make no censure but this, that since St. ^lark and St. Luke ' Lib. vii. Hist. c. 14. 'K7rf(T)//UltJ\. P5 ('erinlhus in llie ruins. IJut such acts of uversji- tion as these are not easily by us to be drawn into example, unless in tlie same or the parallel con- course of equally conduclinir accidents. We must not quickly, nor upon slij^ht j^ronnds, nor un- worthy instances, call heretic : there had need be a long process, and a hii^h conviction, and a compe- tent judj^e, and a necessary article, that must be inj^redients into so sad and decretory definitions, and condemnation of a person or opinion. But if Kuci) instances occur, come not near the danger nor the scandal. And this advice St. Cy])rian gave to the lay jieople of his diocess: " Let ihcm decline tlieir discourses, whose sermons creep and corrode like a cancer; let there be no colloquies, no ban- quets, no commerce with such who are excommu- nicate and justly driven from the communion of the church."' "For such persons (as St. Leo descants u|)on the apostle's expression of heretical discourses) creej) in humbly, and with small and modest beginnings ; they catch with flattery, they l)ind gently, and kill privily."* Let, therefore, all persons who are in danger, secure their persons and persuasions by removing far from the infection. And for the scandal, St. Ilerminigilda gave an he- roic example, which in her persuasion, and the cir- cumstances of the age anil action, deserved the higlx^st testimony of zeal, I'eligious passion, and confident j)ersuasion. l*'or she rather chose to die by the mandate of her tyrant father, Leonigildus the Goth, than she would, at the paschal solemnity receive the blessed sacrament at the hand of an Arian bishop.^ ' Lib. i. Kp. '.i. " .Scnii. v. dc Jcjun. tlccimi mcnsw. ' Grcgor. lib. ii-. Dial. iii. i:{. !J() JESUS'S CONFIiRENCi: WITH 3. But exceptinj^ tiiese cases, which are not to lt€ judg-ed with forwardness, nor rashly taken mea- sure of, we find that conversing charitably with persons of differing persuasions hath been instru- mental to their conversion and God's glory. ' The lielieving wife mat/ sanctify the unbelieving hus- band ;' and we find it verified in church story. St. Cecily converted her husband, Valerianus ; St. Theodora converted Sisinius; St. Monica converted Patricius, and Tlieodelinda, Agilulphus ; St. Clo- tilda persuaded king Clodoveus to be a Christian ; and St. Natolia persuaded Adrianus to be a martyr. For they, having their conversation honest and holy amongst the unbelievers, shined like virgin- tapers in the midst of an impure prison, and amused the eyes of the sons of darkness with the brightness of the flame ; for the excellency of a holy life is the best argument of the inhabitation of God within the soul : and who will not offer up his understanding upon that altar, where a deity is placed as the president and author of religion ? And this very intercourse of the holy Jesus with the woman, is abundant argument that it were well we were not so forward to refuse communion with dis- senting persons upon the easy and confident mis- takes of a too forward zeal. Tliey that call heretic may themselves be the mistaken persons; and by refusing to communicate the civilities of hospitable entertainment, may shut their doors upon truth, and their windows against light, and refuse to let salvation in. For sometimes ignorance is the only parent of our persuasions; and many times inte- rest hath made an impure commixture with it, and so produced the issue. 4. The holv .Jt'sus jjentlv insinuates hi? dis- THt WOMAN OF SAMARIA. 97 courses. ' If thou liudst known who it is that tosks thee water, thou wouldst have asked water of him.' Oftentimes we know not tlie person tiiat speaks, .ind we usualh' clioose our doctrine by our affec- tions to the man ; but then, if we are uncivil upon the stock of prejudice, we do not know tiiat it is Clirist tliat calls our understandings to obedience, And our affections to duty and compliances. Tlie woman little tliought of the glories which stood right against her. He that sat upon the well, had a throne placed above the heads of cherubims. In his arms wlio there rested himself was the sanc- tuary of rest and peace, where wearied souls were to lay their heads, and dispose their cares, and there to turn them into joys, and to gild their thorns with glory. That holy tongue which was parched «ilh heat, streamed forth rivulets of holy doctrine, which were to water all the world, to turn our de- serts into j)aradise. And though he begged water at .lacob's well, yet Jacob drank at his: for at his charge allJacob's flocks and family were sustained, and by him Jacob's posterity were made honour- able and redeemed. But because this ' well was deep," and the woman ' had nothing to draw water with,' and of herself could not fathom so great a depth, tl.erefore she refused him; just as we do, when we refuse to give drink to a thirsty disciple. Christ comes in that humble manner of address, under the veil of jwverty or contempt ; and we can- not see Christ from under that robe, and we send him away without an alms: little considering, that when he begs an alms of us, in the instance of any of his poor relatives, he asks of us but to give him occasion to give a blessing for an alms. Thus do thp ministers ff religion ask support ; but ^^hen llje VOL. II. 7 OS JtSl >>'.s COMEKKNlIi WITH hiwsare not more just than many of the j)eople are tharitable, they shall fare as their Master did : they hhall preach, but unless they can draw water them- selves, they shall not drink. But, si scirenf, if men did but know who it is that asks them, that it is Christ, either in his ministers, or Christ in his poor servants, certainly they could not be so obstructed in tiie issues of their justice and charity ; but would remember, that no honour could be greater, no love more fortunate, than to meet with an opportunity to be expressed in so noble a manner, that God himself is pleased to call his own relief. 5. When the disciples had returned from the lown, whither they went to buy provision, they wondered to see the Master talking alone with tlie woman. They knew he never did so before ; they had observed him to be of a reserved deport- ment, and not only innocent, but secure from the dangers of malice and susj)icion, in the matter Oi incontinence. The Jews were a jealous and i'ro- ward people; and as nothing will more blast the reputation of a prophet tlian effeminacy anil wan- ton affections, so lie knew no crime was sooner ob- jected or harder cleared than that: of which, be- cause commonly it is acted in privacy, men look for no probation, but pregnant circumstances and arguments of suspect; so nothing can wash it oft", until a man can prove a negative : and if he could, yet he is guilty enough in the estimate of the vulgar for having been accused. But then, because no- thing is so destructive of the reputation of a gover- nor, so contradictory to the authority and dignity of iiis person, as the low and baser appetites of un- cleanness, and tiie consequent shame and scorn ; finsonuuh Uitit l)a\id, having fallen into it, prayed Tin. WOMAN OF BAMARU. 99 God to confirm or establish him spirifii principali, witli the spirit of a prince, the spirit of lust being uninj^eniious and shivish ;) the holy Jesus, who was to establish a new law in tiie authority of his per- son, was highly curious so to demean himself, that he might be a j)erson incapable of any such sus- picions, and of a temper apt not only to answer the calumny, but also to prevent the jealousy. But yet, now he had a great design in hand, he meant to reveal to the Samaritans the coming of the Mes- bias ; and to this his discourse with the woman was instrumental. And in imitation of our great Mas- ter, spiritual persons, and the guides of othei*s have been very prudent and reserved in their societies and intercourse with women. Heretics have served tiieir ends upon ihe impotency of the sex, and having ' led captive silly women,' led them about as triumphs of lust; and knew no scandal greater than the scandal of heresy, and therefore sought not to decline any, but were infamous in their unwary and lustful mixtures. Simon Magus had his Helena partner of his lust and heresy ; the autlior of the sect of the Nicolaitans (if St. .Jerome was not misinformed) had troops of women; Mar- cion sent a woman as his emissary to Home ; Apelles had his Philomene ; Montanus, Prisca and Maximilla; Donatus was served by liucilla ; Elpi- dius by Agape, Priscillian byCJalUi; and Arius spreads his nets by opportunity of his conversation with the prince's sister, and first he corrupted her, then he seduced tiie world. 6. But holy persons, preachers of true religion and holy doctrines, although they were careful by public homilies to instruct the female disciples that they wijo aie heirs together with us of the same 100 JESUS'S CONFERENCE WITH hope, may be servants in the same discipline and institution ; yet they remitted them to their hus- bands and guardians, to be taught at home.' And when any personal transactions concerning the needs of their spirit were of necessity to intervene between the priest and a woman, the action was done most commonly under public test, or if in private, yet with much caution and observation of circumstance, which might as well prevent sus- picion, as preserve their innocence. Conversation and frequent and familiar address does too much rille the ligaments and reverence of spiritual au- thority, and amongst the best persons is matter of danger. When the cedars ofliibanus have been ob- served to fall, when David and Solomon have been dishonoured, he is a bold man that will venture lurther than he is sent in an errand bj^ necessity, or invited by charity, or warranted by prudence. I deny not but some persons have made holy friend- ships with women : St. Athanasius with a devout and religious virgin, St. Chrysostom with Olympia, St. Jerome with Paula Romana, St. John with the elect lady, St. Peter and St. Paul with Petronilla and Thecia. And therefore it were a jejtlousy be- yond the suspicion of monks and eunuchs, to think it impossible to have a chaste conversation with a dis- tinct sex. 1, A pure and right intention; 2, an inter- course not extended beyond necessity or holy ends; 3, a short stay ; 4, great modesty ; o, and tiie business of religion, will by God's grace hallow the visit, and preserve the friendship in its being spiritual, that it may not degenerate into carnal affection. And yet these are only advices useful when there i« • ' Cor. xiv, 35. rut; w.iMvN OF s\M'.nn. \0[ danj^er in either of the pei-sons, or some scamhil incident to the profession, that to somo persons and in the conjunction of many circumstances are often- times not considerable. 7. When Jesus had resolved to reveal himself to the woman, he first gives her occasion to reveal herself to him, fairly insinuating an opportunity to confess her sins, that having ])urged herself from her impurity, she might be apt to entertain the article of the revelation of the Messias. And in- deed a crime in our manners is the greatest indis- position of our understanding to entertain the truth and doctrine of the gospel ; especially when the revelation contests against the sin, and professes open hostility to the lust : for faith being the gift of God and an illumination, the Spirit of God will not give this light to them that prefer their darkness before it; either the will must open the windows, or the light of faith will not shine into the chamber of the soul. ' How can ye believe, (said our blessed Saviour) that receive honour one of another?' Ambition and faith, believing God and seeking of ourselves, are incompetent and to- tally incompossible. And therefore Serapion, bi- shop ofThmuis, spake like an angel, (saith Socrates,) saying, " That the mind w hich feedeth upon spi- ritual knowledge must thoroughly be cleansed. The irascible faculty must first be cured with bro- therly love and charity, and the concu|)iscil.le must be suppressed with contineiicy and mortificalion."* Then may the understanding ajtprehenil the mys- teriousness of Christianity : for since Christianity u* a holy doctrine, if there be any remanent affec- ' John, V. 41. I. 1 . . Ilisu ». xxiii. 102 JF.SUS'S CONFP.RF.NCE WITH *ions to a sin, there is in tlie soul a party disaffected '^o the entertainment of the institution, and we usually believe what we have a mind to. Our un- derstanding's, if a crime be Iodised in the will, beinI.VN (»P SAMARIA. 103 ond appetites of this world from the desires and complacencies spiritual. Here we labour, but re- ceive no benefit; we sow many times, and reap not; or reap, and do not g'ather in ; or ejather in, and do not possess; or possess, but do not enjoy; or if we enjoy we are still unsatisfcjd, it is with anguish of spirit and circumstances of vexation. A oreat heap of riches makes neithet cur clothes warm, nor our meat more nutritive, r.or our beve- rage more pleasant ; and it feeds the eye, but never fills it, but, like drink to an hydropic person, increases the thirst, and promotes the torment. But the grace of God, though but like a grain ot mustard-seed, fills the furrows of the heart; and as the capacity increases, itself grows up in equal de- grees, and never suffers any emptiness or dissatis- faction, but carries content and fulness all the way : and the degrees of augmentation are not steps and near approaches to satisfaction, but increasings ot the capacity : the soul is satisfied all the way, and receives more, not because it wanted any, but that it can now hold more, is more receptive of felici- ties. And in every minute of sanctification there is so excellent a condition of joy and high satisfac- tion, that the very calamities, the afflictions and persecutions of the world are turned into felicities by the activity of the prevailing ingredient; like a drop of water falling into a tun of wine, it is as- cribed into a new family, losing its own nature by a conversion into the more noble : for now that all passionate desires are dead, and there is nothing remanent ihat is vexatious, the peace, the serenity, the quiet slee|>s, the evenness of spirit, and contempt of tilings below, remove the soul from all neigh- bourhood of displeasure, and place itatthe footofthe 104 THE PRAYER. ihrone, wliilher when it is ascended, it is possessed of felicities eternal. These were the waters which were given us to drink, when with the rod of God the rock Christ Jesus was smitten. The Spirit of God moves for ever upon these waters : and when the angel of the covenant hath stirred the pool, whoever descends hither shall find health and peace, joys spiritual, and the satisfactions of eter- nity. THE PRAYER. O holy .Tesus, fountain of eternal life, thou spring of joy and jpiritual satisfactions, let the holy stream of blood and water issuing from thy sacred side cool the thirst, soften the hardness, ind refresh the barrenness of my desert soul ; that I, thirsting ifter thee, as the wearied hart after the cool stream, may despise ill the vainer complacencies of this world, refuse all societies Dut such as are safe, pious, and charitable, mortify all sottish ippetites, and may desire nothing but thee, seek none but thee, md rest in thee with entire dereliction of my own caiiive inclina- .ions ; that the desires of nature may pass into desires of grace, ind my thirst and my hunger may be spiritual, and my hopes placed in thee, and the expresses of my charity upon thy rela- :ives, and all the parts of my life may speak my love and obe- .lience to thy commandments : that thou possessing my soul and ill its faculties during my whole life, I may possess thy glories .n the fruition of a blessed eternity ; by the light of thy gospel lere and the streams of thy grace being guided to thee, the foun- tain of life and glory, there to be inebriated with the waters of ['aradise, with joy, and love, and contemplation, adoring and ulmiring the beauties of the Lord for ever and ever. Amen. CHRlSl's FIRST PREACHINO. 10.5 Considerations upon Christ's first Preaching, and the Accidents happening about that time. 1. When John was cast into prison, then bef!;an Jt'sus to preach ; not only because the ministry of John, by. order of divine designation, was to pre- cede the publication of Jesus, but also upon pru- tk'iil considerations and designs of Providence, lest two greut personages at once upon the theatre of I'.destine might have been occasion of divided thoughts, and these have determined upon a schism, some professing themselves to be of Christ, some of John; for once an offer was made of a dividing question, by the s[)ite of the Pharisees: ' Why do the disciples of John fast often, and thy disciples fust not ?' But when John went off from the scene, then Jesus appeared like the sun in succession to the morning star; and there were no divided inter- ests upon mistake, or the fond adherences of the followers. And although the holy Jesus would certainly have cured all accidental inconveniences which might have happened in such accidents, yet this may become a precedent to all prelates, to he ])rudent in avoiding all occasions of a schism, and rather than divide a people, submit and relinquish an opportunity o'" preaching to their inferiors, as knowing that God is better served by charity than a homily; and if my modesty made me resign to my inferior, the advantages of honour to God by the cessions of humility are of greater consideration than the smaller and accidental advantages of bet- ter-penned auii more accurate discourses. But our bles>ed Lord, designing to gather disciples, did It in tl'.e manner of the more extraordinary persou* 106 CONSIDERATIONS UPON and (lociors of tlie Jews, and particularly of the Baptist: he initiated tliem into llie institution by the solemnity of a baptism ; but yet he was pleased not to minister it in his own person. His apos- tles were baptized in John's baptism, said Tertul lian ; ' or else St. Peter only was baptized by his Lord, and he baptized the rest. However, the Lord was pleased to depute the ministry of his servants, that so he might constitute a ministry ; that he might reserve it to himself as a speciality to bap- tize with the Spirit, as his servants did with water; that he might declare that the efficacy of tlie rite did not depend upon the dignity of the minister, but his own institution and the holy covenant ; and lastly, lest they who were baptized by him in per- son might please themselves above their brethren, whose needs were served by a lower ministry. •2. The holy Jesus, the great physician of our souls, now entering upon his cure and the diocess of Palestine, which was afterwards enlarged to the pale of the catholic church, was curious to observe all advantages of prudence for the benefit of souls, by the choice of place ; by quilting the place of his education, which, because it had been poor and humble, was apt to procure contempt to his doc- trine, and despite to his person; by fixing in Caper- naum, which had the advantage of popularity, and the opportunity (f extending the benefit, yet had not the honour and ambition of Jerusalem ; that the ministers of religion might be taught to seek and desire employment in such circumstances which may serve the end of God, but not of ambi- tion ; to promote the interest of souls, but not tha ' liib. de Baptism. ( hristN rrRST pi!FAcm\(i. 107 Inonlinalion <>(' lower appetites. Jesus quitted his natural and civil interests, wlien they were less consistent with the end of Ciod and his prophetical office ; and considered not his mother's house and the vicinage in the accounts of relip^ion, beyonrl iho.'.e other places in which he miLjIit better do his Father's work. In which a forward piety mi grht lie- hold llie insinuation of a duty to such persons, who by rii^ivts of law and custom were so far instru- mental to the cure of souls, as to desi'^n the per- sons ; they might do but duty if they first consi- dered the interests of souls before the advantaj^es of their kindred and relatives. And althouifli, if all thinfjs else l)e alike, they may in equal dispo- sitions prefer their own before strangers, yet it were but reason that they should first consider sadly if the men be equal, before they remember that they are of their kindred, and not let this consideration be an ini^^redient into the former judgment. And another degree of liberty yet there is : if our kin- dred be persons apt and holy, and without excep- tions eitiier of law, or prudence, or religion, we may do them advantages before others who have some degrees of learning and im))rovement beyond the other: or else no man might lawfully prefer his kindred, unless they were absolutely the alilest in a diocess or kingdom ; which doctrine were a snare; apt to produce scruples to the consciences rather than advantages to the cure. But then also pa- trons should be careful that they do not account their clerks by an estimate taken from comparison with unworthy candidates, set up on purpose, that when we choose our kindred, we may abuse our consciences, by saying, we have fulfilled our trust, and made election of the more worthy. In these H>S CONSIDFKATION'S I PON and the Jike cases, let every man who is concerned deal with justice, nobleness, and sincerity, with the simplicity of a Christian, and the wisdom of a man; without tricks and stratagen)s, to disadvantage the church by doing temj)oral advantages to his friend or family. 3. The blessed Master began his office with a ser- mon of repentance, as his decessor, John the Bap- tist, did in his ministration ; to tell the world that the new covenant, which was to be established by the mediation and office of the holy Jesus, was a covenant of grace and favour, not established upon works, but upon promises, and remission of right on God's part, and remission of sins on our part. The law was a covenant of works; and whoever prevaricated any of its sanctions in a considerable degree, he stood sentenced by it without any hopes of restitution supplied by the law. And therefore it was the covenant of works, not because good works were then required more than now, or be- cause they had more efficacy than now ; but be- cause all our hopes did rely upon the perfection of works and innocence, without the suppletories of grace, pardon, and repentance. But the gospel is therefore a covenant of grace, not that works are excluded from our duty, or iVom co-operating to heaven, l)ut that, because there is in it so much mercy, the imperfections of the works are made up by the grace of Jesus, and the defects of innocence are supplied by the substitution of repentance. Abatements are made for the infirmities and mise- ries of liumanity ; and if we do our endeavour now, after the manner of men, the faith of Jesus Christ, that is, conformity to his laws, and submission to tiis doctrine, entitles us to the grace he hath pur- CIIRISI'S FJR^T l'Ri;\(HISQ. lUy chnseil foi' ns ; that is, our sins fur his sake shull be pardoneil. So that the law ami the tjospel are not opposed barely upon the title of failh and works, but as the covenant of failh and the covenant of works. In tht faith of a Christian works are the j;reat inj;redient anil the chief of the constitution ; but the gospel is not a covenant of works ; that is, it is not an agreement upon the stock of innocence without allowances of repentance, requiring obe- dience in rigour and strictest estimate. But the gospel requires the holiness of a Christian, and yet after the manner of a man : for, always provided that we tlo not allow to ourselves a liberty, but en- deavour with all our strength, and love with all our soul, that which, if it were upon our allowance, would be required at our hands, now that it is against our will, and liighly contested against, is put upon the stock of Christ, and allowed to us by God in the accounts of pardon by the merits ol Jesus, by the covenant of the gospel. And this is the repentance and remission of sins which John first preached upon the approximation of the king- dom, and Christ at the first manifestation of it, and the apostles afterward in the name of Jesus. 4. Jesus now having begun his preaching, began also to gather iiis family ; and first calletl Simon and Andrew, then James and John ; at whose vo- cation he wrought a miracle, which was a signifi- cation of their ofVue, and the success of it; a draught of fishes so great and prodigious, that it convinced them that he was a person very extraor- dinary, whose voice the fishes heard, and came at his call : and since he designed them to become fishers of men, although themselves were as un- likely instruments to persuade men as the voice of 110 CONSIDERATIONS L PoN (lie Son of man to command fishes, yet they felioiild prevail in so threat numbers, tliat the whole world should run after them, and upon their summons come into the net of the gospel, l)ecoming disciples of the glorious Nazarene. St. Peter, the first time that he threw his net, at the descent of the Holy Ghost in Pentecost, catched tliree tliousand men ; and at one sermon sometimes the princes of a na- tion have been converted, and the whole land |)re- sently baptized; and the multitudes so great, that the apostles were forced to design some men to the ministration of baptism, by way of peculiar office; and it grew to be work enougii, the easiness of the ministry being made bus)'^ and full of em- ployment where a whole nation became disciples And indeed the doctrine is so holy, the principle so divine, the instruments so supernatural, the pro- mises so glorious, the revelation so admirable, the rites so mysterious, the whole fabric of the disci- pline so full of wisdom, persuasion, and ene gy, that the infinite numliers of the first conversions were not so great a wonder, as that there are so few now : every man calling himself Christian, but few having that power of godliness which dis- tinguishes Christian from a word and an empty name. And the word is now the same, and the arguments greater, (for some have been growing ever since, as the j)rophecies have been fulfilled,) and the sermons more, and the spirit the same; and yet such diversity of operations, that we hear and read the sermons and dictates evangelical, as we do a romance, but that it is with less passion, but altogetlier as much unconcerned as with a story of Salmanasur or Ibrahim Bassa. For we do not leave one vice, nor reject one lust, nor deny Christ's first preachi.mj. Ill one impetuous temptation the more for the four gospels' sake, and all St. Paul's epistles ming^led in the argument. And yet all think themselves fishes within Christ's net, and the prey of the gospel. And it is true they are so ; for ' the king- dom is like unto a net, which inclosed fislies good and bad:' but this shall be of small advantage, when the net shall be drawn to tiie shore, and the separation made. 5. When Jesus called those disciples, they had been ' fishing all night and caught nothing;' but when Christ bade them ' let down the net,' they took multitudes: to show to us that the success of our endeavours is not in proportion to our labours, but the divine assistance and benediction. It is not the excellency of the instrument, but the capacity of tlie subject, nor yet this alone, but the aptness of the application, nor that without an influence from heaven, can produce the fruits of a lioly per- suasion and conversion. ' Paul may plant, and ApoUos may water; but God gives the increase.' Indeed, when we let down the nets at the divine aj)pointment, the success is the more [)robable, and certainly God will bring benefit to the place, or honour to himself, or salvation to them that will obey, or conviction to them tliat will not : but whatever the fruit be in respect of others, the re- ward shall be great to themselves. And therefore St. Paul did not say he had j)rofited, but, ' he had labouretl more than they all,' as knowing the di- vine acceptance would take its account in propor- tion to our endeavours and intendments ; not by commensu ration to the eflecl, which being without us, depencMng upon (iod's blessing and the co-ope- ration of the recipients, can be no ingredient into 112 CUNSIDFHATIONS UPo" our account. But this also may hel|) to support the weariness of our hopes, and the protraction and deferring of our expectation, if a laborious prelate and an assiduous preacher have but few returns to his many cares and greater labours. A whole niglit a man may labour, (the longest life is no other,) and yet catch nothing; and then the Lord may visit us with his special presence, and more forward assistance, and the harvest may grow up with the swiftness of a gourd, and the fruitful- ness of olives, and the plaisance of the vine, and the strength of wheat ; and whole troops of peni- tents may arise from the darkness of their graves at the call of one sermon, even when he pleases : and till then we must be content that we do our duty, and lay the consideration of the effect at the feet of Jesus. (>. In the days of the patriarchs, the governors of the Lord's people were called shepherds ; so was Moses, and so was David. In the days of the gospel they are shepherds still, but with ihe addi- tion of a new ap|)ellative, for now they are called fishers. Both the callings were honest, humble and laborious, watchful and full of trouble ; but now that both the titles are conjunct, we may ob- serve the symbol of an implicit and folded duty. There is much simplicity and care in the shep- herd's trade ; there is much craft and labour in the fisher's : and a prelate is to be both full of piety to his flock, and careful of their welfare; and, because in the political and spiritual sense too, feeding and governing are the same duty, it con- cerns them that have cure of souls to be discreet and wary, observant of advantages, laying such baits for the people as may entice them into the CUIUS IS IlR^l rREAtlllNQ. 113 nets of Jesus's (liiici|jliue. 'But being crallj' I c:iuf2^ht you,' sailh ist. Paul, for he was a fisher too. And so must spiritual persons be fishers to all spi- ritual senses of watchfulness, anil care, and pru- dence: only ihey must not fish for preferment and ambitious purposes, but must say with the king of Sodom, Date nobis animus, eastern ros toHUe ; \\ hich St. Paul renders, ' We seek not yours, but you.' And in order to such acquist, the purchase of souls, let tliem have the diligence and the ciaft of the fisliers, tlie \v ate! i fulness and tare of shepherds, the prudence of politics, the tenderness of parents, the bj)iiit of j;overnment, the wariness ol' observation, great knowledge of the dispositions of their people, and experience of such advantages by means of which they may serve the ends of God and of sal- vation upon their souls. 7. When Peter liad received the fruits of a rich miracle, in the prodigious and prosperous thaught of fishes, he instantly 'falls down at the feet of Jesus,' and confesses himself a sinner, and unworthy the presence of Christ. In which con- fession I not only consider the conviction of his understanding by the testimony of the miracle, but the modesty of his spirit, who in his exalta- tion, and the joy of a sudden and happy success, retired into humility and consideration of his own nn worthiness ; lest, as it happens in sudden joys, the lavishness of his spirit shouUl transport him to intemperance, to looser affections, to vanity and '-arishness, less becoming the severity and govern- ment c>f a disciple of so great a master. For in 8ucli great and sudden accidents, men usually are dissolved and melted into joy and inconsideration, and let fly all their severe principles and discipline v t»F RErENTANCE. to • take upon liim (not tlie natnre of angels, but) the seed of Abraham,' ' and to propound salvation upon such terms as were possible; that is, upon such a piety which relies upon experience, and trial of good and evil ; and hath given us leave, if we choose amiss at first, to choose again, and choose better; Christ having undertaken to pay for the issues of our first follies, to make up the breach made by our first weaknesses and abused under- standings. 3. JJut as God gave us this mercy by Christ, so he also revealed it by him. He first used the au- thority of a lord, and a creator, and a lawgiver; he required obedience indeed upon reasonable terms, upon the instanc:^ of but a few command uients at first, which, when he afterwards multi* plied, he also a])pointed ways to expiate the smaller irregularities ; but left them eternally bound with-> out remedy who should do any great violence or crime. But then he bound them but to a tempo- ral death. Only this, as an eternal death was also tacitly implied, so also a remedy was secretly mi- nistered, and repentance particularly preached by liomilies distinct from the covenant of Moses's law. The law allowed no repentance for greater crimes ; ' he that was convicted of adultery was to die with- out mercy :'* but God pitied the miseries of man. and the inconveniences of the law, and sent Christ to suffer for the one, and remedy the other. ' For so it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations.'* ' Heb. ii. 16. ' Lev. ix. 10. • Luke, xxiv. 46, 47 UF REPENTANCE. 121 Ami now this is the last and only hope of man, who in his natural condition is imperfect, in his customs vicious, in his habits impotent and crimi- nal. Because man did not remain innocent, it be- came necessary he should be penitent, and that this penitence should by some means be made ac- ceptable; tliat is, become the instrument of his pardon, and restitution of his hope. Which, be- cause it is an act of favour, and depends wholly upon the divine dignation, and was revealed to us by Jesus Christ, who was made not only the pro- phet and preacher, but the Mediator of this new covenant and mercy ; it was necessary we should become disciples of the holy Jesus, and servants of his institution ; that is, run to him, to be made par- takers of the mercies of this new covenant, and ac- cept of liim such conditions as he should require of us. 4. This covenant is then consigned to us when we first come to Christ ; that is, when we first pro- fess ourselves his disciples and his servants, dis- ciples of his doctrine, and servants of his institution ; that is, in baptism, in which Christ who died for our sins makes us partakers of his death. I < r ' we are buried by baptism into his death,'' saith St. Paul. Which w as also represented in ceremony, by tlie im- mersion appointed to be the rite of that sacrament : and then it is that God pours forth, together with the sacramental waters, a salutary and holy foun- tain of gr.ue, to wash tlie soul from all its stain , and impure adherences: and therefore this first access to ( hrist is in the style of Scripture called ' regeneration,' llu; * new birth,' ' redemption,' ' re- novation,' * exiiialion," or 'atonement with God,* ' Kom. vi, 4 )22 OF REPENTANCE. and 'justification.'' And these words iii the New Testament relate principally and properly to the aV)olition of sins committed before baptism : for we are 'justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past : to declare, I say, at this time his righteous- ness :'* and this is that which St. Paul calls 'justi- fication by faith,'* that 'boasting might be ex- cluded,'^ and the grace of God by Jesus made ex- ceeding glorious: for this being the proper work of Christ, the first entertainment of a disciple, and manifestation of that state which is first given him as a favour, and next intended as a duty, is a total abolition of the precedent guilt of sin, and leaves nothing remaining that can condemn : we then freely receive the entire and perfect effect of that atone- ment which Christ made for us, we are put into a condition of innocence and favour. And this, I say, is done regularly in baptism ; and St. Paul expresses it to this sense : after he had enumerated a series of vices subjected in many, he adds, ' and such were some of you ; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified.'^ There is nothing of the old guilt remanent: when ' ye were washed, ye were sancti- fied ;' or, as the Scripture calls it in another place, •ye were redeemed from your vain conversation.'" 5. For this grace was the formality of the cove- nant: 'Repent, and believe the gospel.''' 'Re- pent, and be converted,' (so it is in St. Peter's sermon,) 'and your sins shall be done away ;"^ that ' 1 Pet. iii. 21 ; Rom. v. i ; Tit. iii. 5, 7; Rom. iii. 2fi; Oal. ii. Hj. ■^ Horn. iii. 24, 2o, 2C. = Ibitl. verse 211. * Ibid. vtTHc27. •' I Cir, vi. 11. M I'ct. i. \l). ' jMar. i. 15. " .Acts, iii. i:.t. OF REPENTANCE. 123 was the covenant. But that Christ chose baptism for its signature appears in the parallel, ' Repent, and be baptized, and wash away your sins.'' ' For Christ loved his church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word ; that he might pre- sent it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy, and without blemish.'* The sanc- tification is integral, the pardon is universal and immediate. 6. But here the process is short, no more at first but this, ' Repent, and be baptized, and wash away your sins.' Which baptism, because it was speedily administered, and yet not without the preparatives of faith and repentance, it is certain tiiose predis- positions were but instruments of reception, actions of great facility, of small employment, and such as, supposing the person not unapt, did confess the infiniteness of the divine mercy, and fulness of the redemption.^ and is called by the apostle, ' a being justified freely.'^ 7. Upon this ground it is, that by the doctrine oC the church heathen persons, ' strangers from the covenant of grace,' were inviled to a confession of faith, and dereliction of false religions, with a pro- mise that at the very first resignation of their per- sons to the service of Jesus, they should obtain full pardon. It was St. Cyprian's counsel to old De- nietrianus, " Now, in the evening of thy days, when thy soul is almost expiring, repent of ti)y sins, be- lieve in Jesus, and turn Ciiristian ; and although ' Acts, ii. .3»; Mar. xvi. IG. "■ Kph. v. 25, 2<;, 27. ■* .lustin Mart. Dial. cum. Tryjih. Act. vii. 37 ; x. 47 ; xyL lb, 33. * Rom. iii. 24. 124 OF aKI'ENTANCE. thou art almost in the embraces ofdeatli, yet thou shall becomprehended of immortality." Baptizalus ad horam sccurus hinc exit, saith Austin, " a bap- tized person dying immediately shall live eternally and gloriously." And this was the case of the thief upon the cross : he confessed Christ, and repented of his sins, and begged pardon, and did acts enough to (acilitate his first access to Christ, and but to remove the hinderances of God's favour : then he was redeemed and reconciled to God by the death of Jesus; that is, lie was pardoned with a full, instantaneous, integral and clear pardon ; w ith such pardon which declared the glory of God's mercies, and the infiniteness of Christ's merits, and such as required a mere reception and entertainment on man's part. 8. But then we, having received so great a favour, enter into a covenant to correspond with a propor- tionable endeavour ; the benefit of absolute pardon, that is, salvation of our souls, being not to be re- ceived till ' the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of tlie Lord ;'' all tiie interval we have promised to live a holy life, in obedience to the whole discipline of Jesus, That is the condition on our part; and if we prevaricate that the mercy shown to the blessed thief is no argument of hope to us, because he was saved by the mercies of the first access, which corresponds to tiie remission of sins we receive in baptism ; and we shall perish by breaking our own promises and obligations which Christ passed upon us, when he made with us the covenant of an entire and gracious pardon. 9. For in the precise covenant there is nothing else described but pardon so given and ascertained ' Acts, iji. 19. or RriM'NTANcn 12 > upon an obedience |)t'rsevering to the end. And this is clear in all those places of Scripture which express a holy and innocent life to have been the purpose and desiy;n of Christ's death for us, and re- demption of us from the former estate. ' Christ bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, beino^dead unto sin, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye are healed.' ' [E.vhule] from our being ' healed,' from our 'dying unto sin,' from our being ' buried with Christ,' from our being ' bap- tized into his death;' the end of Christ's dying for us is, ' that we should live unto righteousness.' Which was also highly and prophetically ex- pressed by St. Zachary in his divine ecstacy : — • This was the oath which he svvare to our forefather Abraham, that he would grant unto us, that we, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righ- teousness before him, all the days of our life.' * And St. Paul discourses to this purpose pertinently and largely : ' For the grace of God that bringelh salva- tion hath appeared to all men, teaching us, that de- nying ungodliness and worldly lusts,' [/// sunt antjcli quihiis in laiacro renunciavimus, sailh Ter- tuUiiin, " Those are the evil angels, the devil and his works, which we deny or renounce in baptism, '] ' we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world ;'' — that is, lead a whole life in the pursuit of universal ' holiness.' (Sobriety, jus- tice, and godliness being tiie proper language to signify our religion and respects to God, to our neighbours, and to ourselves.) And that this was ' \'ide part iii. Consiil. of ('rucifix. of Jesus, ] Pet. ii. 4. ' Luke, i. 7;», iS.c. ' Tit. ii. 11, 12. 126 Ol liKl'LN lANC K. the very end of our dyini; in baptism, and tlie tie- sign of Christ's manil'estalion of our redemption, he adds, ' Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Sa- viour Jesus, who gave himself for us to this very purpose, that he miglit redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.' ' Purifying a peoj)le peculiar to himself is cleansing it in the laver of regeneration, and appropriating it to himself in the rites of ad- mission and profession. Whicli plainly designs the first consignation of our redemption to be in bap- tism ; and that Christ there ' cleansing' his church ' from every spot or wrinkle,' made a covenant with us, that we should renounce all our sins, and he should cleanse them all, and then that we should abide in that state. Which is also very explicitly set down by the same apostle in that divine and mysterious epistle to the Romans: ' How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein ? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death ?' * Well, what then ? ' Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into his death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.' That is the end and mysteriousness of bap- tism, it is a consignation into the death of Christ, and we die with him that once ; that is,die to sin, that we may for ever after live the life of righteousness. ' Knowing this, that our old man is crucified vvilh him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin;'' that is, ' Tit. ii. 13, 14. ' Rom. vi. 2, 3, 4. ^ lb. vi. 6. OK RErENTA.VCE. 127 from tlie clay of our baptism lo the day of our death. And, tlierefore, God, wlio knows the weak- nesses on our part, and yet the strictness and ne- cessity ofconservin;^ baptismal grace by the cove- nant evangelical, hath appointed the auxiliaries of the Holy Spirit to be ministered to all baptized people in the holy rite of confirmation, that it might be made possible to be done by divine aids, which is necessary to be done by the divine com- mandments. 10. And 'this might not be improperly said to be the meaning of those words of our blessed Saviour, ' He that speaks a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but he that speaks a word against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven iiim :' that is, those sins which were committed in infidelity, before we became disciples of the Holy Jesus, are to be remitted in baptism and our fust profession of the religion ; but the sins committed after baptism and confirmation, in which we receive the Holy Ghost, and by which the Holy Spirit is grieved, are to be accounted for with more severity. And, therefore, the primitive church, understanding our obligations according to this discourse,admitted not any to holy orders who had lapsed and fallen into any sin of which she could take cognizance, that is, such who had not kept the integrity of tiieir baptism; but sins committed before baptism, were no impediments to the susception of orders, because they were absolutely extinguished in baptisn). This is the nature of the covenant we made in bap- tism, that is, the grace of the gospel, and the effect of faith anil repentance; and it is expected we should so remain. For it is nowhere expressed to 128 of RtPfNTANCE. })e the mercy and intention of the covenant evan- gelical, that this redemption should be any more than once ; or that repentance, which is in order to it, can be renewed to the same or so great purposes and present effects. ] 1. But after we are once reconciled in baptism, and put entirely into God's favour, when we have once been redeemed, if we then fall away into sin, we must expect God's dealing with us in another manner and to other purposes. Never must we expect to be so again justified, and upon such terms as formerly ; the best days of our repentance are interrupted. Not that God will never forgive them that sin after baptism, and recover by repent- ance ; but that restitution by repentance after bap- tism is another thing than the first redemption. No such entire, clear, and integral, determinate, and presential effects of repentance ; but an imperfect, little, growing, uncertain, and hazardous reconcilia- tion ; a repentance that is always in produ tion, a renovation by parts, a pardon that is revocable, a salvation to be wrought by fear and trembling : all our remanent life must be in bitterness, our hopes alloyed with fears, our meat attempered with colo- quintida, and death is in the pot. As our best ac- tions are imperfect, so our greatest graces are but possibilities and aptnesses to a reconcilement, and all our life we are working ourselves into that con dition we had in baptism, and lost by our relapse. As the habit lessens, so does the guilt ; as our vir- tues are imperfect, so is the pardon : and because our piety may be interrupted, our state is uncer- tain, till our possibilities of sin are ceased, till our fight is finished, and the victory therefore made «)K RhPI-NTANtF.. 129 •ire, because lliere is no more fij^lit. And it is emark;i!)K', tli:it St. Peter jj^ives counsel to live holily in pursuance of our redemption, of our calling-, and of our escapinc^ from tiiat corruption that is in the world through lust, lest we lose the benefit of our purgation,' to whicli, by way of anti- thesis, he opposes this : * Wherefore the rather give diligence to make your calling' and election sure;'* and, 'if ye do these tilings, ye shall never fall.'* Meaning, by the perpetuating our state of baptism and first repentance we shall never fall, but be in a sure estate ; our calling and election shall be sure. But not if we fall ; ' if we forget we were purged from our old sins:'* if we forfeit our calling, we have also made our election unsure, movable, and disputable. 12. So that now the liopes of lapsed sinners rely upon another bottom. And as in Moses's law there was no revelation ofrepentance, but yet the Jews had hopes in God, and were taught the succours of re- pentance, by the homilies of the prophets and other accessory notices : so in the gospel the covenant was established upon faith and repentance,but it was con- signed in bai)tism, and was verifiable only in the in- tegrity of a following holy life, according to the mea- sures of a man ; not perfect, but sincere ; not fault- l(!ss, but heartily endeavoured : but yet the mercy of of Ood in pardoningsinners lapsed after baptism was declared to us by collateral and indirect occasions; by the sermons of the apostles, and the commenta- ries of aj)ostolical persons, who understood tiie meaning of the spirit, and the purposes of the ' 2 Pet. i. 4. « Ibiil. i. 10. ^ Vide cti:in) Col. i. 21, 22, 2:1. « 2 Pet. i. 9. ▼ «>U II. 9 130 OF RKPENTANCE. divine mercy, iind those other significations of his will, which the blessed Jesus left upon record in other parts of his Testament, as in codicils annexed, besides the precise Testament itself. And it is certain, if in the covenant of grace there be the same involution of an after repentance as there is of present pardon upon past repentance and future sanctity, it is impossible to justify that a holy life and a persevering sanctity is enjoined by the cove- nant of the gospel : if, I say, in its first intention it be declared that we may as well, and upon the same terms, hope for pardon upon a recovery hereafter, as upon the perseverance in the present condition. 13. From these premises, we may soon under- stand what is the duty of a Christian in all his life, even to pursue his own undertaking made in bap- tism, or his first access to Christ, and redemption of his person from the guilt and punishment of sins. The state of a Christian is called in Scrip- ture ' regeneration, spiritual life, walking after the spirit, walking in newness of life,' that is, ' a bring- ing forth fruits meet for repentance.' Tiiat re- pentance which, tied up in the same ligament with faith, was the disposition of a Christian to his rege- neration and atonement, must have holy life in perpetual succession ; for that is the apt and proper fruit of the first repentance, which John the Baptist preached as an introduction to Christianity, and as an entertaining the redemption by the blood of the covenant. And all that is spoken in the New Testament is nothing but a calling upon us to do what we promised in our regeneration, to perform that which was the design of Christ, who therefore redeemed us, and ' bare our sins in his OF Rtl'ENTANfF. 131 own body, lliut we might die unto sin, and live unto rit^hteousness.' 14. This is that sayinjr of St. Paul, 'Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord : looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you.' ' Plainly saying, that unless we pursue the state of holiness and Christian communion into which we were bap- tized when we received the 'grace of God,'* we shall fail of the state of grace, and never come to see the glories of the Lord. And a little before : ' Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.' That is the first state of our redt'mption, that is ' the covenant God made wilh us, to remember our sins no more, and to put his laws in our hearts and minds.''' And this was done, 'when our bodies were washed with water, and our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience;' that is, in baptism. It remains then that we persist in the condition, that we may continue our title to the covenant; for so it follows : ' liet us hold fust the profession of our faith without wavering ; for if we sin wilfully after the profession, there remains no more sacrifice:'* that is, if we hold not fast the profession of our faith, and continue not the condition of the cove- nant, but fall into a contrary state, we have for- leited the mercies of the covenant. So that all our hopes of blessedness, relying upon the covenant made with (iod in Christ Jesus, are ascertained ' Ueb.xii. 14, I.-.. » Ibid. x. 22. ^ Ibid. X. I«J, 17. * Ibid. x. 23, 26. 132 OF ni-HES lANcn upon U.S, by hoidinLf fast tliat profession, by retain- in"^ our hearts still sprinkled from an evil con- science, by following- peace with all men and holi- ness : for by not failing of the grace of God, we ehall not fail of our hopes, the mighty price of Dur high calling ; but without all this we shall never see the face of God. 15. To the same purpose are all those places of Scripture, which entitle us to Christ and the Spirit upon no other condition but a holy life, and a pre- vailing, habitual, victorious grace. ' Kno v you not your ownselves, brethren, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates ?'' There are but two states of being in order to eternity, either a state of the inhabitation of Christ, or the state of reprobation : either Christ is in us, or we are reprobates. But what does that signify, to have ' Christ dwelling in us ?' That also we leani at the feet of the same doctor: 'If Christ be in you, the body is dead by reason of sin, but the Spirit is life, because of righteousness.'^ The body of sin is mortified, and the life of grace is active, busy, and spiritual, in all them who are not in the state of reprobation. The parallel with that other expression of his, ' They that are tJhrist's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.' ^ If sin be vigorous, if it be habitual, if it be beloved, if it be not dead or dying in us, we are not of Christ's portion, we belong not to him, nor no to us : ' For whoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him ; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God :'* that is. ' 2 Or. xiii. '). * Rom. viii. 10. * Gal. V. 24. * 1 John, iii. 1). ut nijiMAMC. l|89l cviMV rriidicialc person is in u tondition whose very l)ein!:j^ is a contradiction and an opposite desija^n to sin. "Wlien fie was rej^enerate and born anew of water and the Spirit, tlie seed of God, the original of piety, was put into him, and bidden to increase and multiply. The seed of God (in St. John) is the same with the word of God (in St. James) ' by which he begat us ;" and as long Jis this remains, a regenerate person cannot be given up to sin ; for when he is, he quits his bap- tism, he renounces the covenant, he alters his rela- tion to God in the same degree as lie enters into a state of sin. 16. And yet this discourse is no otherwise to be understood than according to the design of the thing itself, and the purj)Ose of God ; that is, that it be a deep engagement and an efl'ectual consideration for the necessity of a holy life: but at no hand let it be made an instrument of despair, nor an argument to lessen the influences of the divine mercy. For although the nicety and limits of the covenant being consigned in liaptism, are fixed upon the condition of a holy and persevering uninterupted sanctity ; and our redemption is wrought but once, completed but once, we are but once absolutely, entirely, and presentially forgiven, and reconciled to God, this reconciliation being in virtue of tlie sacrifice, and this sacrifice applied in baptism is one, as baptism is one, and as the sacrifice is one ; yet the mercy of God, besides this great feast, iiath fragments, which the apostles and ministers spiritual are to gather up in baskets, and minister to the after-needs of indigent and necessi- tous disciples. ' James, i. 18. 134 OF llF.t'FN PANCE. 17. And this we pfatlier, as fragments are ga- thered, by lespersed sayings, instances and exam- ples of the Divine mercy recorded in holy Scrip- ture. The holy Jesus commands us to * forgive our brother seventy times seven times,' when he asks our pardon and implores our mercy. And since the Divine mercy is the pattern of ours, and is also procured by ours, the one being made the measure of the other, by way of precedent and by way oi reward, God will certainly forgive us, as we forgive our brother. And it cannot be imagined God should oblige us to give pardon oftener than he will give it himself, especially since he hath ex- pressed ours to be a title of a proportionable recep- tion of his ; and hath also commanded us to ask pardon all days of our life, even in our daily offi- ces, and to beg it in the measure and rule of our own charity and forgiveness to our brother. And therefore God, in his infinite wisdom foresee- ing our frequent relapses, and considering our infi- nite infirmities, appointed in his cliurch an ordinary ministry of pardon, designing the minister to pray for sinners, and promising to accept him in that his advocation, or that he would open or shut heaven respectively to his act on earth ; that is, he would hear his prayers, and verify his ministry, to whom he hath ' committed the word of reconcili- ation.' This became a duty to Christian ministers, spiritual persons, that they should ' restore a person overtaken in a fault,' ' that is, reduce him to the condition he begins to lose : that they should ' pray over sick persons,'* who are also commanded to confess their sins; and God hath promised that ' GaL vi. 1. ' James, v. 14. t>F Rr.l'F.NT^NCK. 13i^ the sins they have committed shall be forgiven them. Thus St. Paul absolved the incestuous excom- municate Corinthian; in the person of Christ he forgave him.' And this also is the confidence St. John taught the Christian church upon the stock of the excellent mercy of God and propitiation of Jesus: ' If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.'* Which discourse he directs to them who were Christians, already initiated into the institution of Jesus. And the epistles which the Spirit sent to the seven Asian churches, and were particularly addressed to the bishops, the an- gels of those churches, are exhortations, some to perseverance, some to repentance, that ' they may return from whence they are fallen.'^ And the case is so with us, that it is impossible we should be actually and perpetually free from sin in the long succession of a busy, and impotent, and a tempted conversation. And without these reserves of the Divine grace and after-emanations from the mercy- seat, no man could be saved ; and the death of Christ would become inconsiderable to most of his greatest purposes ; for none should have received advantages but newly-baptized persons, whose albs of l)aptism served them also for a winding-sheet. And therefore our l)aj)tisni, although it does con- sign tlie work of God presently to the baptized ' E( Ttr tiriffKoiroc »/ irpiirtvrfnog rbv f rrcrpf^oi'ra airo d/iia(jrio<; « TrpocrckxtTai, aXXt the appa- rent malignity of it by his present rej)entance, nor make atonement in the day of expiation, nor wash the stains away by chastising of himself ; but during ' Rom. vi. 7 OF Rr.ri'NTANCE. \6'i his life it remains wholly in suspense, and before death is not exlini^uished ; accordinsf to the saying of the propliet Isaiah : ' 'I'his iniquity shall not be blotted oui till ye die, saith the L'^rd of Hosts.'' And some wise persons have affirmed, that Jacob related to this in his exj)ression and appellatives of God, whom he called ' the God of Abraham, and the fear of his father Isaac:'* because (as the doctors of the Jews tell us) Abraham bein^^ dead, was ascribed into tlie final condition of God's family ; but Isaac, beinji^ livin;^, had apjirehensions of (iod not only of a pious, but also of a tremulous fear : he was not sure of his own condition, much less of the degrees of his reconciliation, how far God liad forgiven his sins, and how far he had re- lainrd them. And it is certain, tliat if every degree of the divine favour be not assured by a holy life, those sins of whose pardon we were most hopeful, return in as full vigour and clamorous importunity as ever, and are made more vocal by the appendant ingratitude, and other accidental degrees. And ihis Christ taught us by a parable : for as the Lord made his uncliaritable servant pay all that debt which lie liad formerly forgiven him, even 'so will (iod do to us, if we from our hearts forgive not one another their trespasses.'^ ' Behold the goodness and severity of God,'* saith St. Paul, ' on them which fell severity ; but on thee good- ness, if thou continue in that goodness ; otherw ise thou shalt be cut off: for this is my covenant, which I shall make witli them, when I shall take awav their sins.'* And if this be true in tliose sins ' Isaiah, xxii. II. ' Gen. xxxi. 42. ' Matth. xviii. :{.">. ' Roni. xi. 22, ^ Ibid, verse 27- 151 OF RF.PK.NTANCE. vvhicli God certainly hath forgotten, sucli as were all those which were committed before our illumi- nation, much rather is it true in those which we committed after, concerning whose actual and full jiardon we cannot be certain without a revelation. So that our pardon of sins, when it is granted after the breach of our covenant, is just so secure as our perseverance is : concerning which, because we must ascertain it as well as we can, but ever with fear and trembling, so also is the estate of our pardon, hazardous, conditional, revocable, and un- certain. And therefore, the best of men do all their lives ask pardon even of those sins for which they have wept bitterly, and done the sharpest and severest penance. And if it be necessary, we pray that we may not enter into temptation, l)ecause temptation is full of danger, and the danger may bring a sin, and the sin may ruin us ; it is also ne- cessary that we understand the condition of our pardon to be, as is the condition of our person, va- riable as will, sudden as affections, alterable as our pur[)oses, revocable as our own good intentions, and then made as ineffective as our inclinations to good actions. And there is no way to secure our confidence and our hope but by being perfect, and holy, and pure, as our heavenly Father is; that is, in the sense of human capacity, free from the habits, of all sin, and active and industrious, and continu- ing in the ways of godliness : for upon this only the promise is built, and by our proportion to this state we must projJortion our confidence; we have no other revelation. Christ reconciled us to his Father upon no other conditions, and made the covenant upon no other articles but of a holy life, in obedience universal and perpetual : and the abate- OV lU-PKNTANCT. 155 menls of the rigorous sense of the words, as they are such us may infinitely testify and prove liis mercy, so they are such as must secure our duty and habitual g;races ; an industry, manly, constant, and Christian. And because these have so great latitude, (and to what dej^rees (iod will accept our returns he hath nowhere punctually described,) he that is most severe in his determination does best secure himself, and by exacting the strictest ac- count of himself, shall obtain the easier scrutiny at the hands of Cud. The use I make of this consider- ation is to tlie same purpose vvitii the former. For if every (hiy of sin, and every criminal act is a de- gree of recess from the possibilities of heaven, it would be considered at how great distance a death- bed penitent, after a vicious life, miiy apprehend himself to stand lor mercy and pardon : and since the terms of restitution must, in labour and in ex- tension of time, or intension of degrees, be of value great enougli to restore him to some propor- tion or equivalence with that state of grace from whence he is fallen, and upon which the covenant was made with him ; how impossible, or how near to impossible, it will appear to him to go S3 far, and do so much in that state, and in those circum- stances of disability ! 3'2. Concerning the third particular, I consider that repentance, as it is described in Scripture, is a system of holy duties, not of one kind, not pro- j)erly consisting of parts, as if it were a single grace ; but it is the reparation of that estate into which Christ first put us; 'a renewing us in the spirit of our mind,' so the apostle calls it: and the Holy (iliost lialh taught this truth to us by the im- plication of many appellatives, and also by express lOfi OF RKPENTANCE. discourses : for there is in Scripture, ' a repent- ance to be repented of,' ' and ' a repentance never to be repented of.'^ The first is mere sorrow for what is past, an ineffective trouble producing no- thing' good : such as was the repentance of Judas ; he repented, and hanged himself; and such was that of Esau, when it was too late ; and so was the repentance of the five foolish virgins : which ex- amples tell us also when ours is an impertinent and ineffectual repentance. To this repentance pardon is nowhere promised in Scripture. But there is a repentance which is called conversion, or amendment of life; a repentance productive of holy fruits, such as the Baptist and our blessed Saviour preached, such as himself also propounded in the example of the Ninevites; they 'repented at the preaching of Jonah ;'^ that is, ' they fasted, the}' covered them in sackcloth, they cried migiitily unto God; yea, they turned every one from his evil way, and from the violence that was in their hands.' And this was it that appeased God in that instance. ' God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way ; and God repented of the evil, and did it not." 33. The same character of repentance we find in the prophet Ezekiel : ' When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doth that whicli is lawful and right ;'^ 'If the wicked restore the pledge, give * MtTajxiXeia. ' 'MsTcit'oia. 'MerafitXrjOtig tTrfTpfips, cui in Act. Apost. opponitur usTcn'otjeraTi hv k, iTTiTpEvl/ars, Act. iii. 19. Huic enim promittitur petcatorum remissio in seq. ti'f to i'(aX£i- 9ijvaL viiwi' TUQ ufiapriaQ. '■> Mat. xii. 4. ' ■• Jonah, iii. 7, 8, 10. • Ezek. xviii. 27. Of lU.l'KNTXNCR. 10/ aprain that he had r()})h('(1, walk in the statutes of life without conimiltiiiL,'' iuicjiiity, lie hath done that which is lawful and rii^lit; he shall surely live, he shall not die.'' And in the gospel repentance is described with as full and entire comprehensions as in the old prophets ; for faith and repentance are the whole duty of the gospel. Faith, when it is in conjunction w ith a practical grace, signifies an intellectual. Faith signifies the submission of the understanding to the institution ; and repentance includes all that whole practice which is the entire duty of a Christian, after he hath been overtaken in a fault. And therefore reixzntance first includes a renunciation and abolition of all evil, and then also enjoins a pursuit of every virtue ; and that till they arrive at an habitual confin«ation.- 34. Of the first sense are all those expressions of Scripture which imply repentance to be the dele- tery of sins. 'Repentance from dead works," St. Paul uflirms to be tlie prime fundamental of reli- gion ; that is, conversion or returning from dead works; for, unless repentance be so construed, it is not good sense. And this is therefore highly veri- fied, because repentance is intended to set us into the condition of our first undertaking, and articles covenanted with God. And therefore it is 'a re- demption of the time ;' that is, a recovering what we lost, and making it up by our doubled industry. 'Ilcmember whence thou art fallen, repent;'^ that is, return, ' and do thy first works,' said the Spirit ' Ezek. xxxiii. 15. ' Vide Clem. Alex. Stiom. lib. ii. ubi ad eundem sensum definit pocnitentiam. •* Mt-ch'oia c'nru twv viicpu/v tjjywr. Heb, vi. 1. * Apocal. ii. 5. 158 or RF.rENTANCF. to the angel of the churcli of Ephesus; or else ' I will remove thy candlestick, except thou repent.' It is a restitution: ' If a man be overtaken in a fault, restore such a one;' that is, put him where he was. And then, that repentance also implies a doing all good, is certain by the sermon of the Baptist: 'Bring forth fruits meet for repentance.'* 'Do thy first works,' was the sermon of the Spirit. ' Laying aside every weight, and the sin that easily encircles us, let us run with patience the race that is set before us;' so St. Paul taught. And St. Peter gives charge, that when we ' have escaped the corruptions of the world and of lust ;'^ besides this, we give all diligence to acquire the rosary and conjugation of Christian virtues : and they are proper effects, or rather constituent parts, of a holy repentance : ' for godly sorrow worketli re- pentance,' saith St. Paul, ' not to be repented of:"* and that ye may know what is signified by repent- ance, behold, the product was carefulness, clearing themselves, indignation, fear, vehement desires, zeal, and revenge; to which, if we add the epithet of holy, (for these were the results of a godly sor- row, and the members of a repentance not to be re- pented of,) we are taught that repentance, besides the purging out the malice of iniquity, is also a sanctification of the whole man, a turning nature into grace, passions into reason, and the flesh into spirit. 35. To this purpose I reckon those jjlirases of Scripture, calling it a ' renewing of our minds;'' a ' renewing of the Holy Ghost;''' a ' cleansing of ' Gal. vi. 1. « Matth. iii. 8. ^ 2 Pet. i. 4, 5. ♦ 2 Cor. vii. 10. * l{om. xii. 2. « Tit. iii. 6. OF REPENTANCK. 159 our hands and purifying our hearts;*' that is, a be- comin<^ holy in our affections, and righteous in our actions; a transformation or ulterchange; * a cru- cifying the flesh witli the affections and lusts;'* a 'mortified state ;'^ a * purging out the old leaven, and becoming a new conspersion ;'* a ' waking out of sleep,' * and ' walking honestly as in the day ;'® a ' being born again,' ^ and * being born from above ;' a * new life.' And I consider that these prepara- tive actions of repentance, such as are sorrow, and confession of sins, and fasting, and exterior morti- fications and severities, are but forerunners of re- pentance, some of the retinue, and tliey are of the family ; but they no more complete the duty of re- pentance than the harbingers are the whole court, or than the fingers are all the body. There ' is more joy in heaven,' said our blessed Saviour, ' over one sinner that repenteth, than over ninety- nine just persons who need no repentance.' There is no man but needs a tear and a sorrow even for his daily weaknesses, and possibly they are the instru- mental expiations of our sudden, and frequent, and lesser surprises of imperfection : but the 'just per- sons need no repentance ; that is, need no inversion of state, no transformation from condition to condition, but from the less to the more perfect the best man hath. And therefore those are vain persons who, when they owe God a hundred, will write four- score; or a thousand, will write fifty. It was the saving of an excellent person, that "Repentance is the beginning of philosophy, a flight and renunci- ' .lames, iv. 8. ' Gal. v. 24. ' Col. iii. 5. * 1 Cor. v. 7- » Kph. V. 14; Rom. xiii. H. " Rom. xiii. 13. ' John, iii. 3. IGO OF REPENTANCE. ation of evil works and words, and the first prepar- ation and entrance into a life which is never to be repented of. And therefore a penitent is not taken with umbrages and appearances, nor quits a real good for an imaginary, nor chooses evil for fear of enemies and adverse accidents; but peremptorily conforms his sentence to the divine laws, and sub- mits his whole life in a conformity with them." ' He that said those excellent words, had not been taught the Christian institution ; but it was admira- ble reason and deep philosophy, and most conso- nant to the reasonablenesss of virtue, and the pro- portions and designs of repentance, and no other than the doctrine of Christian philosophy. 30. And it is considerable, since in Scripture there is a repentance mentioned which is imperti- nent and itiefli'ectual as to the obtaining pardon, a repentance implied which is to be repented of, and another expressed which is ' never to be repented of,' and this is described to be new state of life, a whole conversion and transformation of the man; it follows, that whatsoever in any sense can be called repentance, and yet is less than this new life, must be that inefl'ective repentance. A sorrow is a repentance, and all the acts of dolorous expression are but the same sorrow in other characters ; and they are good when they are parts or instruments of the true repentance : but when they are the whole repentance, that repentance is no better than ' 'H ^£ fxeTcn'oia ctvri) (pi\o(ro(ptaQ ajJX') yivtTai, k, Ta>i' a\'o{]Tb)v tjiydij/ Tt Kf \6yiov (pvyi), k/ ri/c a^ifrnfitKliTti ZoiiiC ■I] TTuioTi] TrnnaaKiv)}. Hierod. in Pythag. — " This repentance is the beginning of philosophy, the avoiding of evil words and works, and the first preparation of a life not to be repented of." I)F RKPENTANCE. 1(51 lliat of Judas, nor more prosperous than that of Esau. Every sorrow is not a gotlly sorrow ; and that which is, is but instrumental and in order to repentance : * Codly sorrow workelh repentance, saith St. Paul ; that is, it does its share towards it, as every jjrace does towards the ))ardon, as every degree of ])ardon does toward heaven. By ' godly sorrow* it is probable St. Paul means the same thiii;y wiiich the school hath since calleil contrition; a t,Mief proceedings Irom a holy principle, from our love of God, and anger that we have offended him : and yet this is a great way off from tliat repentance, without tlie performance of w hich we shall certainly perish. But no contrition alone is remissive of sins, but as it co-operates towards the integrity of our duty. Ciimconversus ingemucril, in the prophet's expression ; wiien a man * mourns and turns from all his evil way,'' that is a godly sorrow, and that is repentance too. But the tears of a dolorous person, though running over with great effusions, and shed in great bitterness, and expressed in actions of puni- tive justice, all being but the same sense in louder langiuige, being nothing but the expressions of sor- row, are good only as they tend further ; and it lliey do, they may by degrees bring us to repent- ance, and that repentance will bring us to heaven : but of themselves they may as well make the sea swell beyond its margin, or water and refresh the sun-burnt earth, as move God to mercy and pierce llie heavens. But then to this consideration we may ' AItrni'0);(T«rf i?, {TiTOfj/'nrf, Acts, iii. 19. ;/(£i'()i<;, iravoyrat tT/c oo-yT/v, Arist. ii. Rhetor. 'AyaOoi dpiSuKoviQ drcoici Horn. O ixirarDtov « ^<('iPr;> rdu tvuvTiitiV rt'iv tS kuk^ irna^iy aip»j(Tfrai. Ilierocl. vol.. II. 11 1(52 OF REPENTANCE. add, tliat a sorrow upon a deatli-bed, after a vicious life, is such as cannot easily be understood to be ordinarily so much as the beginning of virtue, or the first instance towards a holy life. For he that till then retained his sins, and now, when he is cer- tain and believes he shall die, or is fearful lest he should, is sorrowful that he hath sinned, is only sorrowful because he is like to perish : and such a sorrow may perfectly consist with as great an affec- tion to sin as ever the man had in the highest ca- resses and invitation of his lust. For even then, in certain circumstances, he would have refused to have acted his greatest temptation. The boldest and most pungent lust would refuse to be satisfied in the market-place, or with a dagger at his heart ; and the greatest intemperance would refuse a pleasant meal, if he believed the meat to be mixed with poison : and yet this restraint of appetite is no abatement of the affection, any more than the vio- lent fears which, by being incumbent upon the death-bed penitent, make him grieve for the evil consequents more than to hate the malice and irre- gularity. He that does not grieve till his greatest fear presses him hard, and damnation treads upon his heels, feels indeed the effects of fear, but can have no present benefit of his sorrow ; because it had no natural principle, but a violent, unnatural, and intolerable cause, inconsistent with a free, pla- cid, and moral election. But this I speak only by way of caution ; for God's mercy is infinite, and can, if he please, make it otherwise. But it is not good to venture, unless you have a promise. 37. The same also I consider concerning the pur- pose of a new life; which that any man shoiHd iudge to be repentance, that duty which restoras OF REPENTANCE. 16 US, is more unreasonable than to think sorrow will do it. For as man may sorrow, and yet never be restored ; (and he may sorrow so much the more, because he sliall never be restored, as Esau did, as the five foolish virgins did, and as many more do;) so he that purposes to lead a new life, hath con- vinced himself that the duty is undone, and there- fore his pardon not j^ranted, nor his condition re- stored. As a letter is not a word, nor a word an action ; as an embryo is not a man, nor the seed the fruit; so is a purpose of obedience but the element of repentance, the first imaj^inations of it differing from the grace itself, as a disposition from a habit, or (because itself will best express itself) as the purpose does from the act. For either a holy life is necessary, or it is not necessary. If it be not, why does any man hope to ' escape the wrath to come,' by resolving to do an unnecessary thing ? or if he does not purpose it, when he pretends he does, that is a mocking of God, and that is a great way from being an instrument of his restitution. But if a holy life be necessary, as it is certain by infinite tes- timonies of Scriptures, it is the unum necessarium, the one great necessary ; it cannot reasonably be thought that any thing less than doing it shall serve our turns. Tliat which is only in purpose is not yet done ; and yet it is necessary it should be done, because it is necessary we should purpose it. And in this we are sufficiently concluded by that ingeminate expression used by St. Paul : 'In Jesus Christ nothing can avail but a new creature;'' no- thing but ' faith working by charity;' nothing but ' a keeping the c )nunantlments of God. ' And as » Gal. vl. 15, and v, G. 1 Cor. vii. 19. IGI (»F UF.Pr.NTANCE. many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy ; they are the Israel of God.' ' 38. This consideration I intended to oppose against the carnal security of death-bed penitents, who have (it is to be feared) s])ent a vicious life; who have therefore mocked tiiemselves, because they meant to mock God ; they would reap what tliey sowed not. But ' be not deceived,' saith the apostle; ' he that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesli reap corruption : but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting-.' • Only this, * Jjet us not be weary of well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.'^ JNIeaning that by a persevering indus- try, and a long work, and a succession of religious times, we must sow to the Spirit : a work of such length, that the greatest danger is of fainting and inlercision ; but he that sows to the Spirit, not being weary of well-doing, not fainting in tiie long process, he, and he only, shall reap life everlasting. But a purpose is none of all this. If it comes to act, and be productive of a holy life, tlien it is useful ; and it was like the eve of a holiday, festival in the midst of its abstinence and vigils — it was the beginnings of repentance : but if it never come to act, it was to no purpose, a mocking of God, an act of direct hypocrisy, a provocation of God and a deceiving our ownselves. You are unhappy you began not early, or that your earlier days return not together with your good purposes. 39. And neither can this have any other sen- tence, though the purpose be made upon our death- bed. For God hatli made no covenant with us on • lial. vi. 1(). ' Ibid, verse 7, » ' Ibid, verse ;». OF KEPENTANCE. 165 oar dcatli-lied disliiict from tliat lie niiule with us in our life iiiul iieallli. And since in our life and present abilities, f^ood purposes, and resolutions, and vows (for they are but the same thin^ in dif- ferin. Ol RLI'I.M ANtE. 169 aiul win mecl willi tenipliilions, difficulties, and iuipediiuenls ; uiul an honest heart is not sure to remain so, but may split upon a rock of a violent invitation. A j)romise is made to be faithful ex post fac(o by the event ; but it was sincere or in- sincere in the principle, only if the person promis- ing did or did not respectively at that time mean what he said. A sincere promise many times is not truly j)erformed. 42. Concerning all the other acts which it is to be supposed a dying person can do, I have only this consideration: If they can make up a new creature, become a new state, be in any sense a holy life, a keeping- the commandments of God, a following of peace and holiness, a becoming holy in all conversation ; if they can arrive to the lowest sense of that excellent condition Christ intended to all his disciples, when he made keeping the com- mandments to be the condition of entering into life, and not crying, Lord, Lord, but doing the will of Cod •■, if he that hath served the lusts of the flesh, and taken pay under all God's enemies during a long ant! malicious lile, can, for any thing a dying person can do, be said in any sense to have lived liolily, then his hopes are fairly built. If not, they rely U|)on a sand, and the storm of death and the divine displeasure will beat too violently upon them. There are no suppletories of the evangelical covenant. If we walk according to the rule, then shall peace anil righteousness kiss each other : if we have sinned and prevaricated the rule, re- pentance must bring us into the ways of righteous- ness, and then we must go on upon the old stock : but the deeds of the flesh must be mortified, and Christ must dwell in us, and the Spirit must reign in us, and virtue niu-t be lKil)ilual, and the 170 OF REl'ENTANCE. habits must be confirmed. And this ns we do by the S[)iiit of Christ, so it is hallowed and accepted hy the grace of God, and we put into a condition of favour, and redeemed from sin, and reconciled to God. But this will not be put off with single acts, nor divided parts, nor newly com- menced purposes, nor fruitless sorrow. It is a great folly to venture eternity upon dreams. So that now let me represent the condition of a dying person after a vicious life. 43. First, He that considers the frailty of human bodies, their incidences and aptness to sickness, casualties, death sudden or expected, the condition of several diseases, that some are of too quick a sense and are intolerable, some are dull, stupid, and lethargical; then adds the prodigious judgments which fall upon many sinners in the act of sin, and are marks of our dangers and God's essential jus- tice and severity ; and that security which possesses such persons whose lives are vicious, and that ha- bitual carelessness and groundless confidence, or an absolute inconsideration, which is generally the condition and constitution of such minds, every one whereof is likely enough to confound a persevering sinner in miseries eternal, will soon apprehend the tlanger of a delayed repentance to be infinite and unmeasural>le. 44. Secondly, But suppose such a person, hav- ing escaped the antecedent circumstances of the danger, is set fairly upon his deatli-bed, with the just apprehension of his sins al)Out him and his addresses to repentance; consider then t!ie strength of his lusts, that the sins ho is to mortify are inve- terate, habitual, and confirmed, liaving had the growth and slalnlity of a whole life; tiiat the liberty of his will i^^ inij)aircd ; (ilie Scripture OF RKPKXTANCE. 171 8ayin<^ of such persons,' whose eyes tire full of lust, and that cannot cease from sin; and tlwit his ser- vants they are whom they obey;'' that they are slaves to sin, and so not .siii juris, not at their own dispose;) that his understandings is blinded, his appetite is nuilinous, and of a long time used to rebel and prevail; that ail the inferior faculties are in disorder; tliat he wants the helps of i^race pro- portionable to his necessilies; (for the longer he liath continued in sin, the weaker the grace of God is in him; so that in effect, at that time, the more need he hath, the less he shall receive, it being God's rule to ' give to him tiiat hath, and from him that hath not, to take even what he hath;') then add the innumerable parts and great burdens of re j)en lance, that it is not a sorrow, nor a j)urpose, because both these supj)ose that to be undone which is the only necessary support of all our hopes in Christ when it is done; the innumerable difficult cases of conscience that may occur, particularly in the point of restitution; (which, among many other necessary parts of repentance, is indis|)ensably re- quired of all persons that are able, and in every degree in which they are able;) tlie many tempta- tions of the devil, tlie strength of passions, the im- potency of the flesli, the illusions of the spirits of darkness,' the liemblings of tlie heart, the incngi- tancy of tlie mind, the implication and entanglings of ten thousand thougiits, and the impertinencies ' 2 Pet. ii. 14. ^ ' ^F.-irnCc'tv rif tyyi'C y t*^ o'ii(r!^at Tt\fVTi) Bernard, in parvis Serm. ser. xxxviii. OF REPENTANCE. 17& hridegrooni's comings, and begfjed oil, and went out to buy oil, and yet for want of some more time and an early dili^^ence, came too late, and were shut out for ever; that it is nowhere revealed that such late endeavours and imperfect practices shall be accepted ; that God hath made hut one covenant with us in Jesus Christ, wl)ich is faith and repent- ance consisjned in baptism; and the signification of them and the purpose of Christ is, ' that we Bhouhl henceforth no more serve sin,' but mortify and kill him perpetually, and destroy his kingdom, and extinguish, as mucii as in us lies, his very title; that we should ' live holily, justly, and soberly in this present world, in all holy conversation and godliness;' and that either we must be continued in, or reduced to this state of holy living and ha- bitual sanctity, or we have no title to the j)romises; that every degree of recession from the state Christ first put us in, is a recession from our hopes, and an insecuring our condition, and we add to our confidence only as our obedience is restored. All this is but a sad story to a dying person, who sold himself to work wickedness in an habitual iniquity, and aversation from the conditions of the holy covenant in which he was sanctified. 40. And certainly it is unreasonable to plant all our hopes of heaven ui)on a doctrine that is de- structive of all piety; wiiich supposes us in such a condition that(iod hath been offended at us all our life long, and yet that we can never return our duties to him, unless he will unravel the purposes of his predestination, or call back time again and begin a new computation of years for us; and if he did, it would be still as uncertain. For what 174 OF REPKNTANCE. hope is there to that man who hath fulfilled all ini- quity, and liath not fulfilled righteousness? Can a man live to the devil, and die to God ? ' sow to tiie flesh and reap to the Spirit?' hope God will in mercy reward him who hath served his enemy ? Sure it is, the doctrine of the avail of a death-bed repentance cannot easily be reconciled with God's purposes and intentions to have us live a good life; for it would reconcile us to the hopes of heaven for a few thoughts, or words, or single actions, when our life is done : it takes away the benefit of many graces, and the use of more, and the necessity of all. 47. For let it be seriously weighed, to what pur- pose is the variety of God's grace ? what use is there of preventing, restraining, concomitant, sub- sequent, and persevering grace, unless it be in order to a religious conversation ? And by defer- ring repentance to the last we despoil our souls, and rob the Holy Ghost of the glory of many rays and holy influences with which the church is watered and refreshed, that it may ' grow from grace to grace,' till it be consummate in glory. It takes away the very being of chastity and temper- ance ; no such virtues, according to this doctrine, need to be named among Christians. For the dying person is not in capacity to exercise these : and then either they are troublesome, without which we may do well enough ; or else the condition of the unchaste and intemperate clinic is sad and de- plorable. For how can he eject those devils of lusts and drunkenness and gluttony, from whom the disease hath taken all powers of election and variety of choice; unless it be possible to root out long-contracted habits in a moment, or acquire the OF UEI'EMANCK. 173 habits of cluistity, sobriety and leiuperance, those Belf-denyin^ and lul)orious "graces, without doing u sinp^le act of tlie respective virtues in order to ob- tainining the instruments of the church, such as she hath appointed ; of private, such as by experience, or by reason, or by the counsel we can get, we shall learn to be most effective of our penitential pur- poses. And yet it is a great argument that the ex- terior expressions of corporeal severities are of good benefit, because in all ages wise men and se- vere penitents have chosen them for their instru- ments. THE PRAYER. O eternal God, who wert pleased in mercy to look upon us when we were in our blood, to reconcile us when we were ene- mies, to forgive us in the midst of our provocations of thy in- finite and ettmal 3Iajesty, finding out a remedy for us which mankind could never ask, even making an atonement for us by the death of thy !?on, sanctifying us by the blood of tlie everlast- ing covenant, and thy all-hallowing and divine t>pirit ; let thy graces so perpetually assist and encourage my endeavours, con- duct my will, and fortify my intentions, that I niay persevere in that holy condition which thou hast put me in by the grace of the covenant, and the mercies of the Holy Jesus. O let me never fall into those sins, and retire to that vain conversation, from which the eternal and merciful Saviour of the world haih redeemed me : but let me grow in grace, adding virtue to virtue, ' Vide Disc, of Mortification, Part. I ; and Disc, of Fasting. Part II. ON IHF. I-IGUT BLATiri DES. 183 reducing injr purposes to acts, and increasing my acts till they grow into habits, and my habits till they be confimied, and still confirming them till they be consummate in a blessed and holy perseverance. Let thy preventing grate dash all temptations in their approach ; let thy concomitant grace enable me to resist them in the assault, and overcome them in the fight : that my hopes be never discomposed, nor my faith weakened, nor my confidence made remiss, nor my title and portion in the covenant be lessened. Or if thou permittest me at any time to fall, (which, holy Jesu, avert for thy mercy and compassion sake,) yet let me not sleep in sin, but recall me instantly by the clamours of a nice and tender conscience, and the quickening sermons of the Spirit, that I may never pass from sin to sin, from one degree to another ; lest sin should get the dominion over me, lest thou be angry with me, and reject me froni the covenant, and I perish. Purify me from all unclcanness, sanctify my spirit, that I maybe holy as thou art: and lei me never provoke tliy jealousy, nnr presume upon thy goodness, nor distrust thy mercies, nor defer my repentance, nor rely upon vain con- fidence ; but let me, by a constant, sedulous, and timely endea- vour, nnake my calling and election sure, living to thee and dying to tliee ; that having sowed to the Spirit, I may, from thy mercies, reap in the Spirit bliss, and eternal sanctity, and ever- lasting life, through Jesus Christ our Saviour, our hope, and our mighty and ever-glorious Redeemer. Amen. Considerations upon Christ's Sermon on the Mount and of the Tliijlit Beatitudes. 1. The holy Jesus l»ein<; enteied upon his prophe- tical office, in the first solemn sermon ^ave testi- mony that he «as not only an interpreter of" laws then in bein}^, but also a lawjriver, and an an^el of the new and everlasting covenant: which because God meant to establish with mankind by the medi- ation of his Son, by his .Son also he now bej^an to publish the conditions of it. AntI that the pubJi- 194 CONSIDFIMIIONS ON HIE cation of the Cliristian low mi^ilit retain some pro- portion at lea5;t and analo^^^y of circumstance witli the promulgation of the law of Moses, Christ went up into a mountain, and from thence gave the oracle. And here he taught all the disciples ; for what he was now to speak was to become a law, a part of the condition on which he established the covenant, and founded our hopes of heaven. Our excellent and gracious Lawgiver, knowing that tlie great argument in all practical disciplines is the proposal of the end, which is their crown and their reward, begins his sermon, as David began his most divine collection of hymns, with blessedness. And having enumerated eight duties, which are the rule of the spirits of Christians, he begins every .NSIDr.UAIU)NS (»N' IHE most frequent accidents; not leg^ularly, but very im- probable to be otherwise. For if we consider our vocation, St. Paul informs vis, that ' not many niig^hty, not many noble, are called ;' but 'God hath chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith.' And how ' hard it is for a rich man to enter into heaven,' our g-reut Master hath taught us, by saying, ' it is more easy for a camel to pass through a needle's eye.' ' And the reason is, because of the infinite temptation which riches minister to our spirits; it being such an opportunity of vices, that nothing remains to countermand the act but a strong, reso- lute, unaltered, and habitual purpose, and pure love of virtue : riches in the meantime offering to us occasions of lust, fuel for revenge, instruments of pride, entertainment of our desires, engaging them in low, worldly, and sottish appetites ; inviting us to show our power in oppression, our greatness in vanities, our wealth in prodigal expenses, and to answer the importunity of our lusts, not by a denial, f)ut by a correspondence and satisfaction, till they ' Xulli fonunae miniis bene quilm optimee crediUir. Alii felicitate ad tuendam felicitatem est opus. Sen. — ''There vs no kind of fortune so dangerous to be trusted as the best for- tune. A second felicity is required to defend felicity." 'Q^tXfc, uj TVpXk ttXhti, fit)r^ tv yij, f-u)'' tt' ^aXavTij, filir' iv ii7riipi[i 0a)'ij)'rtt, aXXd Tanrapoj' n vdni' ic,- 'A\Epoi'r«r hti ci yao Trdvrn tv c'u'OoojTroic icaKU. Tiniocr. Lyr. — " Thou oughtst, blind Pluto, neither in the land, nor in the sea, nor in any part of the universe to dwell, but in Tartarus and Acheron, for thou art the author of all ill to rnan." '() ck TrXurog >//("<;, KaOdvfp larobf; Kaicbg rr0X«?, (/3Xs7roi'r(T(.' 77of)«X«Cwi') rrdi'Tag 7rot£(. Antiphanes. — " lliches, likea bad physician, finds us in possession of our sight and sends us away blind." VaXiiicToijdywy c'l^iioi' -£, ^u-aiprarojv at'GpwTTwv, dixit IIo- merus de IMysis et Hippomol'!;is, lib. xiii. II. Justissiiuos ej long;rvos dixit qui vesccbantur lacte et cibo modesto. tlUHT UF.ATITUDES. 197 become our mistresses, imperious, arrogant, tyran- nical, and vain. But poverty is the sister of a good mind ; it ministers aid to wisdom, industry to our spirit, severity to our tlioughts, soberness to our counsels, modesty to our desires ; it restrains extra- vagancy and dissolution of appetites; the next thing above our present condition, which is com- monly the object of our wishes, being temperate and little, proportionable enough to nature, not wandering beyond the limits of necessity or a mo- derate conveniency, or at farthest but to a free re- freshment and recreation. And the cares of po- verty are single and mean ; rather a fit employment to correct our levities, than a business lo impede our better thoughts : since a little thing supplies the needs of nature, and the earth and the fountain, with little trouble, minister food to us, and God's common providence and daily dispensation eases the cares, and makes them portable. But the cares and business of rich men are violences to our whole man ; they are loads of memory, business for the understanding, work for two or three arts and sci- ences, employment for many servants to assist in, increase the appetite, and heighten the thirst; and, by making their dropsy bigger, and their capacities large, they destroy all those opportunities and pos- sibilities of charity in which only riclies can be useful. 4. But it is not a mere poverty of possession which entitles us to the blessing, but a poverty of spirit; that is, a contentedness in every state, an aptness to renounce all, when we are obliged in duty; a refusing to continue a possession, when we for it must quit a virtue or a noble action ; a divorce of our affections from those gilded vanities; a gene- 188 t'(>NS|Di:ii A TIONS ON lilt rous contempt of the world; and at no hand heap- ing riches, either with injustice or with avarice, either with wrong or impotency of action or affec- tion. Not like Laberius, described by the poet, who thought nothing so criminal as poverty, and every spending of a sesterce was the loss of a moral virtue, and every gaining of a talent was an action glorious and heroical. But poverty of spirit ac- counts riches to be the servants of God first, and then of ourselves; being sent by God, and to re- turn when he ])leases, and all the while they are with us, to do his business. It is a looking upon riches and things of the earth, as they do look upon it from heaven, to whom it appears little and un- profitable. And because the residence of this blessed poverty is in the mind, and follows that it be here understood, that all that exinanition and renunciation, abjection and humility of mind, which depauperates the spirit, making it less worldly and more spiritual, is the duty here en- joined. For if a man throws away his gold, as did Crates the Theban, or the proud philoso})her Dio- genes, and yet leaves a spirit, high, airy, fantas- tical, and vain, pleasing himself, and witli compla- cency reflecting upon his own act; his poverty is but a circumstance of pride, and the opportunity of an imaginary and secular greatness. Ananias and Sapphira renounced the world by selling their possessions; but because they were not ' poor in spirit,' but still retained the affections to the world, therefore they ' kept back part of the price,' and lost their hopes. The church of Laodicea was pos- sessed with a spirit of pride, and flattered them- selves in imaginary riches : they were not poor in spirit, but they w ere poor in possession and condi- riiinr utAxrruDES, M© tion. These wanted humility, the other wanted a. generous contempt of worldly things; and both were destitute of this grace. 5. Ti)e acts of this grace are, 1, to cast off all inordinate affection to riches. 2, In heart and spirit, that is, preparation of mind, to quit the l»ossession of all riches; and actually so to do when Ciod requires it: that is, when the retaining riches loses a virtue. 3, To be well pleased with the whole economy of God, his providence and dis- pensation of all things, being contented in all estates. 4, To employ that wealth God hath given us in actions of justice and religion. 6, To be thankful to God in all temporal losses. 6, Not to distrust God, or to be solicitous and fearful of want in the future. 7, To put off the spirit of vanity, pride, and fantastic com- placency in ourselves, thinking lowly or meanly of whatsoever we are to do, 8, To prefer others before ourselves, doing honour and prelation to them ; and either contentedly receiving affronts done to us, or modestly undervaluing ourselves. 9, Not to praise ourselves but wiien God's glory and the edification of our neighbour is con- cerned in it ; nor willingly to hear others praise us. 1(1, To despoil ourselves of all interior pro- priely, denying our will in all instances of subordi- nation to our superiors, and our own judgment in matters of diflicuJty and questions; permitting our- selves and our affairs to the advice of wiser men, and the decision of those who are trusted with the cure of souls. 11, Emptying ourselves of our- selves, and throwing ourselves wholly upon God. relying upon his providence, trusting his pro- mises, craving his grace, and depending upon his 190 CONSlDUKATIO.Ns ON THE strength for all our actions, and deliverances, and duties. 6. The rcH ard promised is the kingdom of hea- ven. ' Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's pleasure to give you a kingdom.' To be little in our own eyes is to be great in God's: the poverty of the spirit shall be rewarded with the riches of the kingdoms, of both kingdoms — that of heaven is ex- pressed. Poverty is the highway of eternity. But, therefore, the kingdom of grace is taken in the way, the way to our country ; and it being the forerun- ner of glory, and nothing else but an antedated eternity, is part of the reward as well as of our duty. And, therefore, whatsoever is signified by kingdom in the appropriate evangelical sense, is there intended as a recompence. For the kingdom of the gospel is a congregation and society of Christ's poor, of his little ones; they are the communion of saints, and their present entertainment is knowledge of the truth, remission of sins, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and what else in Scripture is signified to be a part or grace or condition of the kingdom. For ' to the poor the gospel is preached ;" that is, to the poor the kingdom is promised and ministered. 7. Secondly, 'Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.' This duty of Christian mourning is commanded, not for itself, but in order to many good ends. 1, It is in order to patience: tribulation worketli patience;'* and, therefore, * we glory in them,' sailh St. Paul. And St. .James : * My brethren, count it all joy when ye enter into divers temptations, knowing that the trial of your faith (viz. by afflictions) worketh patience.' * ' Matt xi. r>. • Rom. v. 3. Gaudet patientia duris. ^ Jamesj i. 2, 3. rifjnr imatitldes. 191 2, It is in order to repentance : ' (ioclly sorrow worketli repentance.' 3, By consequence it is in order to pardon: for 'a contrite heart God will not reject.' 4, And after all this it leads to joy. And, therefore, St. James preached a homily of sorrow : ' He afflicted, and mourn, and Mcep,' ' tJKit is, in j)enitential mourning; for he adds, 'Humble yourselves in tlie slight of tiie Lord, and lie sliall lift you u\).'* The acts of this duty are : I , To bewail our own sins. 2, To lament our in- firmities, as tliey are princi[)les of sin, and recessions from our first state. 3, To weep for our own evils and sad accidents, as they are issues of the divine anfjer. 4, To be sad for tlie miseries and calamities of the church, or of any member of it, and indeed, to ' weep with every one that weeps ;' that is, not to rejoice in his evil, but to be compassionate, and pitiful, and apt to bear another's burthen. 5, To avoid all loose and immoderate laughter, all disso- lution of spirit and manners, uncomely jestings, free revellings, carnivals, and balls, which are the })erdition of precious hours, (allowed us for repent- ance and possibilities of heaven,) which are tlie in- struments of infinite vanity, idle taliiing, imperti- nency, and lust, and very much below the severity and retiredness of a Christian spirit. Of this Christ became to us the great example; for St. IJasil re- ports a tradition of him, that he never laughed, but wept often. And if wo mourn with him, we shall also rejoice in the joys of eternity. 8. Thirdly, ' Blessinl are the meek ; for tliey shall possess the earth :* that is, the gentle and softer spirits, persons not turbulent or unquiet, not ' 2 Lot. vii. 10. ' Janici, iv. 9. 10 192 CONSlUERAllOcsS ON THE clamorous or impatient, not over bold or impudent^ not querulous or discontented ; not nice or curious; but men who submit to God, and know no choice of fortune, or employment, or success, but what God chooses for them ; having peace at home, be- cause nothing from without does discompose their spirit. In sum, meekness is an indifFerency to any exterior accident, a being reconciled to all condi- tions and instances of providence, a reducing our- selves to such an evenness and interior satisfaction, that there is the same conformity of spirit and for- tune by complying with my fortune, as if my for- tune did comply with my spirit. And therefore in the order of beatitudes, meekness is set between mourning and desire, that it might balance and attemper those actions by indifferency, which by season of their abode are apt to the transportation of passion. The reward expressed is a possession of the earth, that is, a possession of all winch is excellent here below, to consign him to a future glory, as Canaan was a type of heaven. ' For meekness is the best cement and combining of friendships, it is a great endearment of us to our company. It is an ornament to have a meek and quiet spirit, a prevention of quarrels, and pacifier of wrath ; it purchaseth peace, and is itself a quiet- ness of spirit. It is the greatest affront to all inju- ries in the world ; for it returns them upon the injurious, and makes them useless, ineffective, and innocent ; and is an antidote againt all the evil consequents of anger and adversity, and tramj)les upon the usurping passions of the irascible faculty. 9. But the greatest part of this passage and ' M»nsuetus ctsqu us secundum A-Tistot. est tvrvx 104 rONSIOF.RATIONS ON THE land of promise was but a transition and an alle* jrorj^ to a greater and more noble, that it was but a type of heaven, we shall not see cause to wonder why the holy Jesus, intending' heaven for the reward of this grace also, together with the rest, did call it 'the inheritance of the earth.' For now is revealed to us * a new heaven and a new earth ; an habitation made without hands, eternal in the heavens.' And he understands nothing of tlie ex- cellency of Christian religion, whose afftc'.ions roper object of our desires: that is the reward of God s grace, that is ' the crown of rigiiteousness.' ' As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness ; and when I awake up after thy likeness, I shall be satisfied witli it.'' The acts of this virtue are mul- tiplied according to its object; for they are only, 1, to desire; and, 2, pray for; and, 3, labour for all - Pgalm xvii. lo. 5>00 coNsiuEm iioNs on the that which is righteousness in any sense. 1. For the pardon of our sins ; 2, for the graces and sanc- tification of the Spirit; 3, for the advancement of Christ's kingdom ; 4, for the reception of the holy sacrament, and all the instruments, ordinances, and ministries of grace ; 5, for the grace of persever- ance ; 6, and finally, for the crown of righteous- ness. 13. Fifthly, ' Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.' Mercy is the greatest mark and token of the holy, elect, and predestinate per- sons in the world. ' Put ye on, (my beloved,) as the elect of God, the bowels of mercy, holy and pre- cious.'' For mercy is an attribute, in the mani- festation of which as all our happiness consists, so God takes greatest complacency, and delights in it above all his other works. He ' punishes to the third and fourth generation,' but ' shows mercy unto thousands.^ Therefore the Jews say tliat Michael flies with one wing, and Gabriel with two; meaning, that the pacifying angel, the minister of mercy, flies swift ; but the exterminating angel, the messenger of wrath, is slow. And we are called to our approximation to God by the practice of this grace ; for we are made ' partakers of the divine nature,' by being ' merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful.' This mercy consists in the affections, and in the effects and actions: in both which the excellency of this Christian precept is eminent, above the goodness of the moral precept of the old philosophers, and the piety and cliarity of the Jews, by virtue of the Mosaic law. The stoic philoso- > Col. iii. 12. EIGHT BEATITUDES. 201 phers affirm it to be the duty of a wise man to succour and help the necessities of indigent and miserable persons; but at no hand to pity them, or suffer any trouble or compassion in our affections : for they intended that a wise person should be dis- passionate, unmoved, and without disturbance in every accident and object and concernment. But the blessed Jesus, who came to reconcile us to his Father, and purchase us an entire possession, did intend to redeem us from sin, and make our pas- sions obedient and apt to be commanded; even and moderate in temporal affairs, but high and active in some instances of spiritual concernment ; and in all instances, that the affection go along with the grace ; that we must be as merciful in our com- passion, as compassionate in our exterior expres- sions and actions. The Jews, by the prescript of their law, were to be merciful to all their nation and confederates in religion ; and this their mercy was called justice: ' He hath dispersed abroad and given to the poor: his righteousness [or justice] re- maineth for ever.' But the mercies of a Christian are to extend to all : ' Do good to all men, espe- cially to the household of faith.' ' And this diffusion of a mercy, not only to brethren, but to aliens and enemies, is that which St. Paul calls goodness, sliil retaining the old appellative for Judaical mercy, [righteousness :] ' For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet peradventure for a good man some will even dare to die.'* So that the Christian mercy must be a mercy of the whole man; the heart must ' Gal. vi. 10. ' Itom. V. 7> Syrus interpres non legit {nrip liKaiu, sed iliKu, injusto. 202 CONSIDKKATIONS ON THE be merciful, and the hand operating- in the labour of love: and it must be extended to all persons of all capacities, according as their necessity requires, and our ability permits, and our endearments and other obligations dispose of and determine the order. 14. The acts of this grace are, 1. To pity the miseries of all persons, and all calamities spiritual or temporal, having a fellow-feeling in their afflic- tions. 2. To be afflicted and sad in the public judgments imminent or incumbent upon a church, or state, or family. 3. To pray to God for remedy for all afflicted persons. 4. To do all acts of bodily assistance to all miserable and distressed people; to relieve the poor, to redeem captives, to forgive debts to disabled persons, to pay debts for them, to lend them money, to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, to rescue persons from dangers, to de- fend and relieve the oppressed, to comfort widows and fatherless children, to help them to right that suffer wrong; and, in brief, to do any thing of re- lief, support, succour, and comfort. 5. To do all acts of spiritual mercy ; to counsel the doubtful, to admonish the erring, to strengthen the weak, to resolve the scrupulous, to teach the ignorant, and do any thing else which may be instrumental to his conversion, perseverance, restitution, and salva- tion, or may rescue him from spiritual dangers, or supply him in any ghostly necessity. The reward of this virtue is symbolical to the virtue itself: the grace and glory differing in nothing but de- grees, and every virtue being a I'eward to itself. ' The merciful shall receive mercy:' mercy to help them in time of need ; mercy from God, who will not only g^ive them the great mercies of pardon and eternity, but also dispose the hearts of others to pity and supply their needs, as they have done to others. For the present, there is nothing more noble than to be beneficial to others, and to ' lift up the poor out of tlie mire," and rescue them from misery; it is to do the work of God: and for the future, nothing is a greater title to a mercy at the day of judgment, than to have showed mercy to our necessitous brother; it being expressed to be the only rule and instance in which Christ means to judge the world, in their mercy and charity or their unmercilulness resjiectively : ' I was hungry, and ye fed me,' or, ' ye fed me not:' and so we stand or fall in the great and eternal scrutiny. And it was the prayer of St. Paul, (Onesiphorus showed kindness to the great aj)oslle,) ' the Lord show him a mercy in that day.' For a cup of charity, though but full of cold water, shall not lose its reward. 16. Sixthly, ' Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.* This purity of heart includes purity of hands. ' Lord, who shall dwell in thy tabernable ? even he that is of clean hands and a pure heart ;' that is, ' he that hath not given his mind unto vanity, nor sworn to deceive his neigh- bour.'' It signifies justice of action and candour of spirit, innocence of manners, and sincerity of purpose : it is one of those great circumstances that consummates charity ; for ' the end of the com- mandment is charity, out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and faith unfeigned.'* ' A pure heart ;' that is, a heart free from all carnal atiec- • Psalm xxiv. 3, 4. » 1 Tim. 1, 5. *^0i CONSIDER V I luNS ON THE lions, not only in the matter of natural impurit\', but also spiritual and immaterial ; such as are here- sies, (which are therefore impurities, because they mingle secular interest or prejudice with persua- sions in religion,) seditions, hurtful and impious stratagems, and all those which St. Paul enumerates to be works or fruits of the flesh. A ' good con- science;' that is, a Qopscience either innocent or penitent, a state of grace, either a not having pre- varicated, or a being restored to our baptismal pu- rity. * Faith unfeigned ;' that also is the purity of sincerity, and excludes hypocrisy, timorous and half persuasions, neutrality and indifFerency in matters of salvation. And all these do integrate the whole duty of charity. But ' purity,' as it is a special grace, signifies only Ijonesty and up- rightness of soul, without hypocrisy to God and dissimulation towards men ; and tlien a free- dom from all carnal desires, so as not to be go- verned or led by them. Chastity is the purity of the body, simplicity is the purity of the spirit, both are the sanctification of the whole man, for the en- tertainment of the spirit of purity and the spirit of truth. 16. The acts of this virtue are, I. To quit all lustful thoughts, not to take delight in them, not to retain them or invite them; but as objects of dis- pleasure to avert them from us. 2. To resist all lustful desires, and extinguish them by their pro- per correctories and remedies. 3. To refuse all oc- casions, opportunities, and temptations to impurity; denying to please a wanton eye, or to use a lasci- vious gesture, or to go into a danger, or to convei'se with an improper, unsafe object : ' hating the gar- KKiiiT ur vrirtUK-j. 20) meiit spotted with the flesh,' so St. Jude calls it; and ' not to look upon a maid,' so Job ; ' not to sit with a woman that is a singer,' so the son of Siracb. 4. To be of a liberal soul, not minglinjj with affec- tions of money and inclinations of covetousness; not doinf'' any act of violence, rapine, or injustice. 5. To be ingenuous in our thoughts, purposes, and professions, speaking nothing contrary to our inten- tions, but being really wliat we seem. ('. To give all our faculties and affections to God, without di- viding interests between God and his enemies, without entertaining of any one crime in society with our pretences for God.' 7. Not to lie in sin, but instantly to repent of it and return, 'purifying our conscience from dead works.' 8. Not to dis- semble our faith or belief, when we are required to its confession, pretending a persuasion complying with those from whom secretly we differ. Lust, covetousness, and hypocrisy are the three great enemies of this grace : they are the motes of our eyes, and the spots of our souls. The reward of purity is the vision l)eatifical. If we are ' pure as God is pure, we shall' also ' see him as he is : when we awake up after his likeness, we shall behold his presence." To which in this world we are consigned by freedom from the cares of covetousness, the shame of lust, the fear of discovery, and the stings of an evil conscience ; which are the |X)rtion of the several impurities here forbidden. 17. Seventhly, 'Blessed are the peace-makers; for they shall be called the children of God.' 'The wisdom of God is first pure,and then peaceable;'* that is the order of the beatitudes. As soon as ' Plato vocat puritatein ('nrvKoiatp ^(^f^f>vvwy arrv fUXnovuy, ' Jameii iii. ij- 206 CONSIDERATIONS ON THK Jesus was born, the ansj;e]s ^an^ a liynin : ' Glory be to God on liigli, and on earth peace, good will towards men :' sicfnifying" the two great errands upon which Christ was dispatched in his legation from heaven to earth. He is ' the Prince of Peace.' ' Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall ever see God.' The acts of lliis grace are, 1. To mortify our anger, peevishness, and fiery dispositions, apt to enkindle upon every slight accident, inadvertency, or misfortune of a IViend or servant. 2. Not to be hasty, rash, provoca- tive,or upbraiding in our language. 3. Tolive quietly and serenely in our families and neighbourhoods. 4. Not to backbite, slander, misi*eport, or under- value any man, carrying tales, or sowing dissension between brethren. 5. Not to interest ourselves in the quarrels of others, by abetting either part, ex- cept where charity calls us to rescue the oppressed ; and then also to do a work of charity without mix- tures of uncharitableness. 6. To avoid all suits of law as much as is possible, without entrenching upon any other collateral obligation towards a third in- terest, or a necessary support for ourselves, or great conveniency for our families ; or if we be en- gaged in law, to pursue our just interests with just means and charitable maintenance. 7. To endea- vour by all means to reconcile disagreeing persons. 8. To endeavour by affability and fair deportment, to win the love of our neighbours. 9. To offer sa- tisfaction to all whom we have wronged or slan- dered, and to remit the offences of others ; and in trials of right to find out the most charitable expe- dient to determine it, as by indifferent arbitration, or something like it. 10. To be open, free, and ingenuous in reprehensions and fair expostulations with persons whom wti conceive to have wronged F.IOHT BEATITUDES. 207 US, liiat no seed of malice or rancour may be latent in us, and upon the breath of a new displeasure break out into a flame. 11. To be modest in our arjjuinjifs, disputings, and demands, not laying }i;reat interest upon trifles. 12. To moderate, ba- lance, and temper our zeal by the rules of pru- dence and the allay of charity, that we quarrel not for opinions, nor entitle God in our impotent and mistaken fancies, nor lose charity for a pretence of an article of faith. 13. To pray heartily for our enemies, real or imaginary, always loving and being apt to benefit tiieir persons, and to cure theii faults by charitable remedies 14. To abstain from doing all affronts, disgraces, slighlings, and un- comely jeerings and mockings of our neighbour,, not giving him appellatives of scorn or irrision. 16. To submit to all our superiors in all things, either doing what they command, or suffering what tiiey impose ; at no band lifting our heel against those upon whom tiie characters of God and the marks of Jesus are imprinted in signal and eminent authority : such as are, principally, the king and then the bishops, whom (iod hath set to ' watch over our souls,' !(!. Not to invade tlie possessions of our neighbours, or commence war, but when we are bound by justice and legal trust to defend tiie rights of others, or our own, in order to our duty. 17. Not to speak evil of dignities, or undervalue their persons, or publish their faults, or upbraid the levities of our governors; knowing that they also are «lesigned by God, to be converted to us lor castigation and amendment of us. 18. Not to be busy in other men's affairs ; and then ' the peace of God will rest upon us.' ' The reward ' Phil. iv. 9; 1 Thes v. 2:» ; 2 Then. iii. 1«.; Ileb. xiii.20. 208 CONSIDF.ftATIONS ON THE is no less than the adoption and inheritance of sons; for ' he hath given unto us power to be called the sons of God:' for he is the father of peace, and the sons of peace are the sons of God, and there- fore have a title to the inheritance of sons, to be heirs with God, and co-heirs with Christ'' in the kingdom of peace, and essential and never-failing charity. 18. Eighthly, 'Blessed are they which are per- secuted for righteousness' sake ; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.' This being the hardest com- mand in the whole discipline of Jesus, is fortified with a double blessedness; for it follows imme- diately, ' Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you :' meaning, that all perse- cution for a cause of righteousness, though the affliction be instanced only in reproachful language, shall be a title to the blessedness. Any suffering for any good or harmless action is a degree of martyrdom. It being the greatest testimony in the world of the greatest love, to quit that for God which lialh possessed our most natural, regular, and orderly affections. It is a preferring God's cause before our own interest; it is a loving of virtue without secular ends. It is the noble, the most resigned, ingenuous, valiant act in the world, to die for God, whom we never have seen ; it is the crown of faith, the confidence of hope, and our greatest charity. The primitive churches, living under persecution, commented many pretty opinions concerning the state and special dignity of martyrs, apportioning to them one of the three coronets which themselves did knit, and supposed as pen- > Rom. viiL 17. dants to tUe {i;reat crown of riijliteousness. Tliey made it suppletory of baptism, expiatory of sin, sa- tisfactory of })uhlic penances : they placed tliem in bliss immediately, declared them to need no after- prayer, sue!) as the devotion of those times used to pour upon tlie {graves of the faitliful. With g;reat pru- dence they did endeavour to alleviate this burden, and sweeten the bitter chalice ; and they did it by 8uch doctrines which did only remonstrate this great truth, that since no love was j^reater than to lay down our lives, nothing- could be so sfieat but God would indulge to them. And indeed, whatso- ever they said in this, had no inconvenience; nor would it now, unless men should think mere suf- fering- to be sufficient to excuse a wicked life, or that they be invited to dishonour an excellent pa- tience w ith the mixture of an impure action. There are many who would die for Christ if they were put to it, and yet will not quit a lust for him. Those are hardly to be esteemed Christ's martyrs : unless they be dead unto sin, their dying for an article or a good action will not pass the great scrutiny. And it may be boldness of spirit, or suUenness, or an honourable gallantry of mind, or something that is excellent in civil and political estimate, moves the person, and endears the suffering ; but that love only which keeps the commandments will teach us to die for love, and from love to pass to blessedness through the red sea of blood. And, inears evi- dently in the following instances. For if all tlie excellency of Cijristianity had consisted in the mere command of sincerity, and prohibition of hy- pocrisy, it had nothing in it proportionable to those excellent promises and clearest revelations of eternity there expressed, nor of a fit employment for the designation of a special and a new lawgiver, whose laws were to last for ever, and were estab- lished u{)on foundations stronger than the pillars of heaven and earth. M. But St. Paul, calling tlie law of Moses ' a law of works,'' did well insinuate wlat the doctrine of tlie .lews was concerning tlie degrees and obliga- tions of justice. I'or besides that it was a law of Morks in opjjositioii to the law of faith, (and so the (sense of it is formerly explicated,*) it is also a law < Rom. iii. 27- » Vidf Coiisiderat. of ( hrist's nrst preaching, n. 3. 216 OF THE DECALOGUE. of works, ill opposition to the law of the spirit : and it is understood to be such a Imv which re- quired the exterior obedience ; such u Jaw accord- ing to which St. Paul so lived, that no man could reprove him ; that is, the judges could not tax him with prevarication ; such a law which, being in very many degrees carnal and material, did net with much severity exact the intention and pur- poses spiritual. Bat the gospel is * the law of the spirit.' If they failed in tl:e exterior work, it was accounted to them for sin ; but to Christians nothing becomes a sin, but a failing and prevari- cating spirit. For the outward act is such an ema- nation of the interior, that it enters into the ac- count for the relation sake, and for its parent. When God hath put a duty into our hands, if our spirits be right, the work will certainly follow : but the following work receives its acceptation, not from the value the Christian law hath precisely put upon it, but because the spirit from whence it came hath observed its rule. The law of charity is acted and expressed in works, but hath its esti- mate from the spirit. Which discourse is to be understood m a limited and rjualified signification For tiien also God required the heart, and inter dieted the very concupiscences of our irregular passions, at least in some instances-: but because mucli of their law consisted in the exterior, and the law appointed not, nor yet intimated any pe- nalty to evil thoughts, and because the expiation of such interior irregularities was easy, implicit, and involved in their daily sacrifices without spe- cial trouble, therefore the old law was ' a law of works;' that is, especially and in its first intention. But this V^ing less perfect, the holy Jesus inverted OF THE DECALOGUE. 217 tlie Older. 1. For very little of Christianity stands upon the outward action : (Christ having appointed but two sacraments immediately :) and, 2, a greater restraint is laid upon the passions, desires, and first motions of the spirit, than under the severity of Moses: and, 3, they are threatened with the same curses of a sad eternity, with the acts proceeding from them : and, 4, because the obedience of the spirit does in many things excuse the want of the outward act, God always requiring at our hands what he hath put in our power, and no more : and, 5, lastly, because the spirit is the principle of all actions moral and spiritual, and certainly produc- tive of them when they are not impeded from without; therefore the holy Jesus hath secured the fountain, as knowing that the current must needs be healthful and pure, if it proceeds through pure channels, from a limpid and unpolluted principle. 4. And certainly it is much for the glory of God, to worship him with a religion whose very design looks upon God as ' the searcher of our hearts,* and lord of our spirits ; who judges the purposes as a God, and does not only take his estimate from the outward action, as a man. And it is also a great reputation to the institution itself, that it pu- rifies the soul, and secures the secret cogitations of the mind. It punishes covetousness as it judges rapine ; it condemns a sacrilegious neait as soon i(*> fin irreligious hand ; it detests hating of our bro- ther by the same aversion wliich it expresses against doing him aft'ronts. He that curses in his heart shall die the death of an explicit and bold blasphemer: murmur and repining is against the laws of Christianity. But either by the remiosness of Moses's law, or the gentler (.xpcntion of it. or the 2t8 OF IHE DKCALOOUE. innovating or lessening glosses of the Pharisees, he was esteemed innocent whose actions were ac- cording to the letter, not whose spirit was con- formed to the intention and more secret sanctity of the law. So that our righteousness must therefore exceed the Pharisaical standard, because our spirits must be pure as our hands, and the heart as regular as the action ; our purposes must be sanctified, and our thoughts holy : we must love our neighbour, as well as relievehim, and choose justice with adhesion of the mind, as well as carry her upon the palms of our hands. And therefore the prophets, foretelling the kingdom of the gospel and the state of this reli- gion, call it ' a writing the laws of God in our hearts.' And St. Paul distinguishes the gospel from the law by this only measure : ' We are all Israelites, of the seed of Abraham, heirs of the same inheritance ; only now we are not to be ac- counted .lews for the outward conformity to the law, but for the inward consent and obedience to those purities which were secretly signified by the types of Moses.' They of the law were Jews out- wardly ; their ' circumcision was outward in the flesh, their praise was of men : we are .Jews in- wardly; our circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, and our praise is of God:'' that is, we are not judged l)y the out- ward act, but by the mind a,id the intention : and though the acts must follow ia all instances where we can and where they are reuuired ; yet it is the less principal, and rather significative, than by its own strength and energy operative and accepted. 6 St. Clement of Alexandria saith, the Phari- ' Rom. ii. 28, 2» OF THE DKCALOGl'E. 219 •ees ri}^liteousness consisted in the not doin<,' evil, and that Christ superadded this also, that we must do the contrary, fjood, and so exceed the Phari- saical measure. They would not wrong- a Jew, nor many times relieve him : they reckoned their inno- cence by not jjiving offence, by walking- blameless, by not being accused before the judg^es silting in the gates of their cities. But the balance in whicli the .Judge of" quick and dead weighs Chris- tians is, not only the avoiding evil, but doing good : the 'following peace with all men and holiness;* the proceeding from faith to faith ; the adding virtue to virtue; the persevering in all holy con- versation and godliness. And therefore St. I'aul, commending the grace of universal charily, says, that ' love worketh no ill to his neighbour, there- fore love is the fulfilling of the law;'' implying, that the prime intention of the law was, that every man's right be secured, that no man receive wrong. And indeed all the Decalogue consisting of prohi- bitions rather than [)recepts, saying that each table halh one positive commandment, does not obscurely verify the doctrine of St. Clement's interpretation. Now because the Christian charity abstains from doing all injury, therefore it is the fulfilling of the law ; and because it is also patient and liberal, that it suffers long and is kind, therefore the charity commanded in Christ's law exceeds that charity which the Scribes and Pharisees reckoned as part of their righteousness. But Jesus himself does, with great care in the particulars, instance in what he would have the disciples to be eminent above the most strict sect of the Jewish religion : 1, in practising the moral precepts of the Decalogue ' Rom. xili. 10. 220 OF THE DECALOr.UE. with a stricter interpretation ; 2, and in quitting the permissions and licenses, which for the hardness of their heart Moses gave them, as indulgencies to their persons, and securities against the contempt of too severe laws. 6. The severity of exposition was added but to three commandments, and in three indulgences the permission was taken away. But because our great Lawgiver repeated also other parts of the Decalogue in his after-sermons, I will represent in this one view all that he made to be Christian by adoption. ' 7. The first commandment Christ often repeated and enforced, as being the basis of all religion, and the first endearment of all that relation whereby we are capable of being the sons of God ; as being the great commandment of the law, and comprehensive of all that duty we owe to God in the relations ot the virtue of religion. ' Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord;' and 'thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment ;'* Uiat is, this comprehends all that which is moral and eternal in the first table of the Decalogue. 8. The duties of this commandment are, l,To worship God alone with actions proper to him ; and, 2, to love, and, 3, obey him with all our faculties. 1. Concerning worship. The actions proper to the honour of God, are to oft'er sacrifice, incense, and oblations, making vows to him, swear- ing by his name as the instrument of secret testi- mony, confessing his incommunicable attributes, and [)raying to him for those graces which are es- ' Luke, xviii.20; Mark,x. 10; Matt, xix. 18; Rom. xiii. 0. « Matt. sxii. a? ; ^Fark, xii. 30; I^okc, x. 27. UF THK DECALOOtU. <*21 Bentially annexed to his dispensation ; as remission of sins, gifts of the Spirit, and the grace of sancti- fication, and life eternal. Other acts of religion, such as are uncovering the head, howing the knee, falling upon our face, stooping to the ground, re- citing |)raises, are hy the consent of nations used lis testimonies of civil or religious veneration, and do not always j)ass for confessions of a divinity; and therefore may be without sin used to angels, or kings, or governors, or to persons in any sense more excellent than ourselves, provided they be in- tended to express an excellency no greater than is proper to their dignities and persons ; not in any sense given to an idol or false gods. But the first sort are such which all the world hath consented to be actions of divine and incommunicable adoration, and such which God also, in several religions, hath reserved as his own appropriate regalities, and are idolatry if given to any angel or man. 9. The next duties are, 2, love, 3, and obe- dience ; but they are united in the gospel : 'This is love, ihut we keep his commandments.' And since we are, for God's sake, bound also to love others, this love is appropriate to God by the ex- tension of parts, and the intention of degrees. The extension signifies that we must serve God with all our faculties; for all division of parts is hypocrisy, and a direct prevarication; our heart must think what our tongue speaks, our hands act what we promise or purpose ; and God's enemies must have no share so much as in appearance or dissimulation. Now no creature can challenge this: and if we do justice to our neighbour, though unwillingly, we have done him no injury ; for in that case he only who sees tlie irregularity of (>ur *--- Of THE DECALOGUE. thoughts is the person injured. And when we swear to him, our heart must swear as well as our tongue, and our hands must pay what our lips have promised ; or else we provoke him with an imper- fect sacrifice : we love him not with all our mind, with all our strength, and all our faculties. 10. But the difficulty and question of this com- mandment lies in the intention. For it is not enough to serve God with every capacity, passion, and fac Ity ; but it must be every degree of every faculty, all the latitude of our will, all the whole intention of our passions, all the possibility and energy of our senses and our understanding. Which, because it is to be understood according to that moderate sentence and account which God re- quires of us, set in the midst of such a condition, so attended, and depressed, and prejudiced, the full sense of it I shall express in several propositions. 11, First, tiie intention of the love to which we are obliged requires not the degree which is abso- lutely the greatest, and simply the most perfect. For there are degrees of grace, every one of which is pleasing to God, and is a state of reconciliation and atonement. And he that ' breaks not the bruised reed,' nor ' quenches the smoking flax,' loves to cherish tliose endeavours, which, beginning from small principles, pass through the variety of degrees, and give demonstration, that though it be our duty to contend for the best, yet this conten- tion is witli an enemy, and that enemy makes an abatement, and that abatement, being an imperfec- tion rather than a sin, is actually consistent with the state of grace, the endeavour being in our power, and not the success : the perfection is that w hicli shall be our reward, and therefore is not our pre- Ob IHt: Dt( ALUULE. 223 sent duty. And, indeed, if to do ibe best aclion, and to love God as we shall do in lieiiven, were a present ol)li;i;alion, it would have been clearly taught us what is simply the best action ; whereas now that which is of itself better, in certain circum- stances, is less perfect, and sometimes not lawful: and concerning' those circumstances we have no rules, nor any guide but prudence and probable in- ducements. So that it is certain, in our best en- deavours we should only increase our scruples, in- stead of doing actions of the highest perfections; we shouki erect a tyranny over our consciences, and no augmentation of any thing but the trouble. And therefore, in the law of Moses, when this com- mandment was given in the same words, jet that the sense of it might be clear, the analogy of tlie law declared that their duty had a latitude; and that God was not so strict a taskmaster, but that he left many instances of piety to the voluntary devo- tion of his servants, that they might receive the re- ward of free-will offerings. But if these words had obliged them to the greatest degree, that is, to all the degrees of our capacities in every instance, every act of religion had been duty and necessity. 12. And thus also it was in the gosjiel. Ana- nias and Saj)pliira were killed by sentence from heaven for not performing what was in their power at first not to have promised; but because they brought an obligation u])on themselves which (iod brought not, and then pnnaricated, they paid the forfeiture of their lives. St. Paul took no wages of the Corintliian cliurches,' but wrought night and day with his own hand; but himself says he had ' 2 Cor. xi. 7, 8. 'J\>4 Ol iUi- lilCALutiLK. power to do otherwise. There ' was Kiid upon him a necessity to })reach,' but no necessity to preach without wages and support. There is a good and a better in virginity and marriage; and yet there is no command in either, but that we abstain from sin ; we are left to our own election for tlie parti- cular, having ' no necessity, but power in our will.' ' David prayed seven times a day, and Daniel prayed three times; and both were beloved of God. The Christian masters were not bound to manumit their slaves, and yet were commended if they did so. Sometimes the Christians fled in persecution ; St. Paul did so, and St. Peter did so, and St. Cy- prian did so, and St. Athanasius, and many more: but time was, when some of these also chose to suffer death rather than to fly. And if to fly be a permission, and no duty, there is certainly a differ- ence of degrees in the choice : to fly is not so great a suffering as to die, and yet a man may innocently choose the easier. And our blessed Lord himself, who never failed of any degree of his obligations, yet at some time prayed with more zeal and fervour than at other times, as a little before his passion. Since then at all times he did not do actions of that degree which is absolutely the greatest ; it is evi- dent that God's goodness is so great, as to be con- tent with such a love which parts no share between him and sin ; and leaves all the rest under such a liberty, as is only encouraged by those extraordinary rewards and crowns proportioned to heroical en- deavours. It was a pretty question which was moved in the solitudes of Nitria, concerning two re- ligious brothers : the one gave all his goods to the ' 1 Cor. vii. 37. or THE UfiCALOQl'E. Q'26 poor at once; the other kept the inheritance, and gave all the revenue.' None of all the fathers knew which was absolutely the better — at once to re- nounce all, or by repetition of charitable acts to di- vide it into portions ; one act of charity in an hero- ical (le<,Mee, or an habitual charity in the iiegree of virtue. This instance is probation enoug-hjthat the opinion of such a necessity of doing- the best action simply and indefinitely is impossible to be safely acted, because it is impossible to be understood. Two talents shall be rewarded, and so shall five; both in their proportions: ' He that sows sparinj^ly shall reap sparingly,' but he shall reap: ' Every man as he purposes in his heart, so let him give.' The best action shall have the best reward : and though he is the happiest who rises highest, yet he is not safest that enters into the state of dispropor- tion to his person. I find in the lives of the later reputed saints that St. Teresa a Jesu made a vow to do every thing which she should judge to be the best. I will not judge the person, nor censure the action, because possibly her intention and desires were of greatest sanctity ; but whosoever considers the story of her life, and the strange repugnancies in tlie life of man to such tmdertakings, must needs fear to imitate an action of such danger and singu- larity. The advice which in this case is safest to be followed, is, that we employ our greatest indus- try that we fall not into sin and actions of forbidden nature ; and then strive, by parts and steps, and with much wariness in attempering our zeal, to superadd degrees of eminency, and observation of the more perfect instances of sanctity : that doing some excellencies which God hath not commanded, ' Hist. r. L.1USW. VOL. II. 16 ^26 OF THE DECALOGUE. he may be the rather moved to pardon our preva- ricating so many parts of our necessary duty. If love transport us, and carry us to actions sublime and heroical, let us follow so good a guide, and pass on with diligence, and zeal, and prudence, as far as love will carry us: but let us not be carried to actions of great eminence and strictness and unequal severities by scruple and pretence of duty; lest we charge our miscarriages upon God, and call the yoke of the gosj)el insupportable, and Christ a hard task-master. But ue shall pass from virtue to virtue with more safety, if a spiritual guide take us by the hand ; only remembering, that if the angels themselves and the beatified souls do now, and shall hereafter, differ in degrees of love and glory, it is impossible the state of perfection should be confined to the highes;t love, and the greatest degree, and such as admits no variety, no increment, or differ- ence of parts and stations. 13. Secondly, Our love to God consists not in any one determinate degree, but hath such a lati- tude as best agrees with the condition of men, who are of variable natures, different affections and capacities, changeable abilities, and which receive their heightenings and declensions according to a thousand accidents of mortality. For when a law is regularly prescribed to persons whose varieties and different constitutions cannot be regular or uniform, it is certain God gives a great latitude ot performance, and binds not to just atoms and points. The laws of God are like universal objects received into the faculty, partly by choice, partly by nature ; but the variety of perfection is by the variety of the instruments, and disposition to the recipient; and they are excelled by each other in several senses, and by themselves at several times. OF lui: uKCALOOL'i:. 227 And so is tlie practice of our obedience, and the entertainincuts of tlie divine commandments. For some are o( malleable natures, others are morose; some are of healiliful anil temperate constitutions, others are lustful, full of fancy, full of appetite ; some have excellent leisure and opportunities of retirement, others are busy in an active life, and cannot with advantage attend to the choice of ihv. better part; some are peaceable and timorous, and some are in all instances serene, others are of tumultuous and unquiet spirits : and these become opportunities of temptation on one side, and on the other occasions of virtue, iiut every change of faculty and variety of circumstance hath influence uj)on morality : and therefore their duties are per- sonally altered, and increase in obligation, or are slackened by necessities, according to the infinite alteration of exterior accidents and interior possi- bilities. 14, Thirdly, Our love to God must be totally exclusive of any aflection to sin, and engage us upon a great, assiduous and laborious care to resist all temptations, to subdue sin, to acquire the habits of virtues, and live holily ; as it is already expressed in the discourse of repentance. We must prefer God as the object of our hopes, we must choose to obey him rather than man, to please him rather than satisfy ourselves; and we must do violence to our strongest passions when they once contest against a divine commandment. If our passions are thus regulated, let tbem be fixed upon any lawful object whatsoever; if at the same time we prefer heaven and heavenly tilings, that is, would rather choose to lose our temporal love than our eternal hopes, (which we can best discern by our i2S OF THIi DCCALOaUK. refusing- to sin upon tlie solicitation or engagement of the temporal object,) then, although we feel the transportation of a sensual love towards a wife, or child, or friend, actually more pungent and sensible than passions of religion are, they are less perfect, but they are not criminal. Our love to God re- quires that we do his commandments, and that we do not sin : but in other things we are permitted, in the condition of our nature, to be more sensi- tively moved by visible than by invisible and spi- ritual objects. Only this, we must ever have a dis- position and a mind prepared to quit our sensitive and pleasant objects, rather than quit a grace or commit a sin. Every act of sin is against the love of God, and every man does many single actions of hostility and provocation against him : but the state of the love of God is that which we actually call the state of grace. When Christ reigns in us, and sin does not reign, but the spirit is quickened, and the lusts are mortified ; when we are habitu- ally virtuous, and do acts of piety, temperance, and justice, frequently, easily, cheerfully, and with a successive, constant, moral and human industry, according to the talent which God hath entrusted to us in the banks of nature and grace ; then we are in the love of God, then we ' love him with all our heart.' But if sin grows upon us, and is com- mitted more frequently, or gets a victory with less ditficulty, or is obeyed more readily, or entertained vvitli a freer complacency, then we love not God as he requires, we divide between him and sin, and God is not the Lord of all our faculties. But the instances of Scripture are the best exposition oi this commandment: ' for David followed God with all his heart, to do that which was right in his (»i' nil. i»Kt vLtMiLi:. 229 ejos;' aiRi ' Josiali turned lo the JjOuI nith all liis lieiirt, and with all his soul, and with all his miyht.' Both these kings did it: and yet there was some imperfection in David, and more violent recessions: lor so saith the Scripture of Josiah, ' liike unto him was there no king- before iiim ;' David was not so exact as he, and yet he followed God ' with all his heart,' From which these two corollaries are certainly deducible : That to love God with all our heart admits variety of degrees, and the lower de- gree is yet a love with all our heart ; and yet to love God requires a holy life, a diligent walking iu the commandments, either according to the sense of innocence or of penitents, either by first or second counsels, by the spirit ol' regeneration or the spirit of renovation and restitution. The sum is this, tiie sense of this precept is such as may be re- conciled with the inHrmities of our nature, but not with a vice in our manners; with the recession of single acts seldom done, and always disj>uted against, and long fought with, but not with an ha- bitual aversation, or a ready obedience to sin, or an easy victory. 15. This commandment, being the sum of the first table, had in Moses's law particular instances which Christ did not insert into his institution ; and he added no otiier particular, but that which we call the tiiird commandment concerning veneration an. I reverence to the name of God. The other two, viz., concerning images and the sabbath, have some special considerations. 1() 'J'he Jews receive daily offence against the culechisms of some churches, who, in the recitation ' 1 Kings, XIV. « ; 2 Kings, xxUu 25. 2;J(i or THH KFCAl.OOLE of the Decalogue, omit llie second com mane) ment, as supposin,"^ it to he a [)art of the first, accorditig as we account tliem ;' and their offence rises higher, because they observe that in the New Testament, where the Decalogue is six times repeated in special recitation and in summaries, there is no word pro- hibiting the making, retaining, or respect of images. Concerning whicli things Christians consider, that God forbade the Jews the very having and making images and representments, not only of the true God, or of fidse and imaginary deities, but of visible creatures:* which, because it was but of temporary reason, and relative consideration of their aptness to superstition, and their conversing with idolatrous nations, was a command proper to the nation, part of their covenant; not of essential, indispensable, and eternal reason, not of that which we usually call the law of nature. Of which also God gave testimony, because himself commanded the signs and representment of seraphim lobe set upon the mercy-seat, towards which the j)riest and the f)eop]e made their addresses in their religious adorations; and of the brazen serpent, to which they looked when they called to God for help against the sting of the venomous snakes. These instances tell us, that to make pictures or statues of creatures is not ' Vide Exod. xxxiv. 13; Deut. iv. K!; vii. 5; Numbers, XTCxiii. 52. s Imo et ccclesia 8 Novemb. celebrat Martyrium Claudii Ni« costrati et sociorum, qui, ciim peritissimi fuerant statuarii, mor- tem potius fcrre, qufsm Gentilibus simulachra facere, maluerunt. "AyaXjia h KanaKivcKn, cia rb fu) ro/u'^fo' ai'^nioTroftopiltov th'ai roj'Bjov, dixit Diodor. Sic de IMoj'se. — "The church ce- lebrates, on the 8th of November, the martyrdom of Claudius Ni- costratus and his companions, who, being most excellent sculptors, preferred death to making images for the Gentiles. Diod. Sicul. says, that Moses would allow no images for fear it might be supposed that God was in the form of man* OF THE DF.CAl.OGCE. 031 against a natural reason, and tliat they may have uses which are profitable, as well as be abused to danger and superstition. Now although the nature of that people Avas apt to the abuse, and their in- tercourse with the nations in tlieir confines was too great an invitation to entertain the danger ; yet Christianity hath so far removed that danger by the analogy and design of the religion, by clear doctrines, revelations, and infinite treasures of wis- dom, and demonstrations of tlie Spirit, that our blessed Lawgiver thought it not necessary to remove us from superstition by a prohibition of the use ot images and pictures; and therefore left us to the sense of the great commandment, and the dictates of right reason, to take care that we do not dis- honour the invisible God with visible representa- tions of what we never saw nor can understand, nor yet convey any of God's incommunicable wor- ship in the fore-named instances to any thing but liiniself. And for the matter of images we have no other rule left us in the New Testament : the rules of reason and nature, and the other parts of tlie institution, are almndantly sufficient for our security. And possibly St. Pai>l might relate to this, when he affirmed concerning the fillii, that it was ' the first commandment with promise.' For in the second commandment to the Jews, as there was a great threatening, so also a greater promise, of ' showing mercy to a thousand generations." But because the body of this commandment was not transcribed into the Christian law, the first of the Decalogue which we retain, and in which a promise is inserted, is the fifth commandment. And therefore the wisdom cf the church was re- markable in the varletv of sentences concerning the 232 OF THli l>£0ALOGtE. permission of images. At first, when they were blended in the danger and impure mixtures ol Gentilism, and men were newly recovered from the snare, and had the relics of a long custom to su- perstitious and false worshippings, they endured no images, but merely civil. But as the danger ceased, and Christianity prevailed, they found that pictures had a natural use of good concernment, to move less knowing people, by the representment and declaration of a story : and then they, know- ing themselves permitted to the liberties of Chris- tianity, and the restraints of nature and reason, and not being still weak, under prejudice and child- ish dangers, but fortified by the excellency of a wise religion, took them into lawful uses, doing honour to saints as unto the absent emperors, ac- cording to the custom of the empire ; they erected statues to their honour, and transcribed a history, and sometimes a precept, into a table, by figures, making more lasting impressions than words and sentences. While the church stood within these limits, she had natural reason for her warrant, and the custom of the several countries, and no precept of Christ to countermand it: they who went fur- ther were unreasonable, and according to the de- gree of that excess were superstitious. 17. The duties of this commandment are learned by the intents of it. For it was directed against the false religion of the nations, who believed the images of their gods to be filled with tht deity : and it was also a caution to prevent our low ima- ginations of God, lest we should come to think (jod to be like man. And thus far there was in- dispensable and eternal reason in the precept : and this was never lessened in any thing by tiie holy UF Tilt UKCALOOUt. '2'dli Jesus, and obliges us Chrisliuns to iiuike our ad- dresses and worsliippings to no j^od but tlie God of the Christians ; that is, of all the world ; and not to do this in or before an image of him, because he cannot be represented : for the images of Christ and his saints, they come not into either of the two considerations ; and we are to understand our duty by the proportions of our reverence to God, ex- pressed in the great commandment. Our fathers in Christianity, as I observed now, made no scruple of using the images and pictures of their princes and learned men ; which the Jews undei-stood to be forbidden to them in the commandment. Then they admitted even in tbe utensils of the church Home coelatures and engravings : such was that Ter- lullian speaks of, "the good shepherd in tlie chalice." Afterwards they admitted pictures, but not before the time of Constanline ; for in the council of Elibe- ris they were forbidden. And in succession of time the scruples lessened with the danger, and all the Way they signified their belief to be, that this commandment was only so far retained by Christ, as it relied upon natural reason, or was a particu- lar instance of the great commandment : tliat is, images were forbidden where they did dishonour God, or lessen his reputation, or estrange our duties, or become idols, or the direct matter of supersti- tious observances, charms, or senseless confidences ; but lliey were permitted to represent the humanity of Christ, to remember saints and martyrs, to re- count a story, to imprint a memory, to do honour and reputati(m to absent persons, and to be the in- struments of a relative civility and esteem. But in this j>articnlar, infinite care is to be taken of scandal und dan^^cr, of a forward and /eulous ignorance, or 234 OF THE DECALOGUE. of a mistaking and peevish confidence: and wViere a society hath such persons in it, the little good of images must not be violently retained with tiie greater danger and certain offence of such persons, of whom consideration is to be had in the cure of souls. I only add this, that the first Christians made no scruple of saluting the statues of their princes, and were confident it made no intrench- ment upon the natural prohibition contained in this commandment; because they had reserved, that exterior inclinations and addresses of the body, though in the lowest manner, were not proper to God, but in Scripture found also to be commu- nicated to creatures, to kings, to prophets, to parents, to religious persons;' and because they found it to be death to do affront to the pictures and statues of their emperors, they concluded in reason, (which they also saw verified by the prac- tice and opinion of all the world,) that the respect they did at the emperor's statue was accepted as a veneration to his person. But these things are but sjKiringly to be drawn into religion, because the customs of this world are altered, and their opinions new ; and many, who have not weak un- derstandings, have weak consciences : and tlie ne- cessity for the entertainment of them is not so great as the offence is or may he. 18. in. Com. * Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.' This our blessed Saviour repeating expresses it thus: 'It hath been said to them of old time, Tiiou shalt not forswear thyself;' to which Christ adds, out of Numb. xxx. 2, ' But thou shalt ])erform thy oaths unto the ' Geii. xlviii. 12; xxiii. 12; xxvii. 29; xlii. G ; ISam. xx. 41 ; 1 Kings, i. -IG. or THE UECALOGIE. 236 Lord.' The meaning of tlie one we are taught by the other. We must not invocate the name of God in any promise in vain ; that is, with a lie : which happens either out of levity, that we change our purpose, which at first we really intended ; or when our intention at that instant was fallacious, and contradictory to the undertaking. This is to take the name of God, — that is, to use it, to take it into our mouths, — for vanity ; that is, according to tlie perpetual style of Scripture, for a lie. ' Every one hath spoken vanity to his neighbour ;' that is, hath lied unto him ; for so it follows, ' with flattering lips, and with a double heart.'' And ' swearing deceitfully,' is, by the Psalmist, called •a lifting up his soul unto vanity.'- And Philo the Jew, who well understood the law and the language of his nation, renders the sense of this command- ment to be, "to call God to witness to a lie." And this is to 1)6 understood only in promises ; for so Christ explains it by the appendix out of the law, ' thou shalt perform thy oaths.' For lying in judg- ment, wliicii is also with an oath, or taking God's name for witness, is forl)idden in the ninth com- mandment. To this Christ added a further re- straint : for whereas, by the natural law, it was not unlawful to swear by any oath that implied not idolatry, or the belief of a false god; I say, any grave and prudent oath, when they spake a grave truth; and whereas, it was lawful for the .lews in ordinary intercourse to swear by God, so they did not swear to a lie, (to wliich, also, swear- ing to an impertinency might be reduced, by a proportion of reason, and was so accounted of in ' P»lm Kii. 2. ' Psalm XX iv. 4. 230 ()!• iHj; DECALOGLK. the practice of tlie Jews;) but else, aiid in other cases, tliey used to swear by God, or by a creature respectively: (lor, 'they that swear by him siiall be commended,' saith the Psalmist: and swear- infj to the Lord of Hosts, is called * speaking thf language of Canaan :' ') most of this was rescinded , Christ forbade all swearing ; not only swearing to a lie, but also swearing to a truth in common affairs, not only swearing commonly by the name of God, but swearing commonly by heaven and by the earth, by our head, or by any other oath : only let our speech be yea, or nay ; that is, plainly affirming or denying. In these, I say, Christ cor- rected the licence and vanities of the Jews and Gentiles. For the Jews accounted it religion to name God, and therefore would not swear by him but in the more solemn occasions of their life ; but in trittes they would swear by their fathers, or the light of heaven, or the ground they trod on : so the Greeks were also careful not to swear by the gods liglrfty, much less fallaciously ; but they would swear by any thing about them or near them upon an occasion as vain as their oath. But, be- cause these oaths are either indirectly to be re- ferred to God, (and Christ instances in divers,) or else they are but a vain testimony, or else they gave a divine honour to a creature, by making it a judge of truth and discerner of spirits ; therefore Christ seems to forbid all forms of swearing what- soever. In pursuance of which law, Basilides, being converted at the prayers of Potaniiretia, a virgin-martyr, and required by his fellow-soldierg to swear upening, an > Psalm Ixiii. 11 ; I Sam. xx. 17; Isiiiah, xix. 18 OF Tin; DrxAi.ooiE. 237 swerecl, it was not lawful for him to swear, for he was a Christian. Anrl many of the fathers have followed the words of Christ in so severe a sense, that their words seem to admit no exception. 19. But here a prain of salt must be taken, lest the letter destroy the spirit. 1. It is certain the holy Jesus forbade a custom of swearino^ ; it beinj; great irrelii^ion to despise and lessen the name of God, wiiicli is the instrument and conveyance of our adorations to him, by making it common and applicable to trifles and ordinary accidents of our life.' He that swears often, many times swears false; and, however, lays by that reverence which, being due to God, the Scripture determines to be due to his name: his name is to be loved and feared. And therefore Christ commands that our commu- nication be yea, yea, or nay, nay; that is, our ordi- nary discourses should be simply affirmative or negative. In order to this, Plutarch affirms, out of Phavorinus, that the reason why the Greeks forbade children who were about to swear by Hercules, to swear within doors, was, that by this delay and pre- })aration they might be taught not to be hasty or quick in swearing ; but all such invocations should be restrained and retarded by ceremony : and Hercules himself was observed never to have sworn in all iiis life-time but once. 2. Not only custo- mary swearing is forbidden, but all swearing upon :i slight cause. St. Hasil upbraids some Christians, ' Vide Kcclus. xxiii. 'J, 11, 13. Dominus et Jacobus ideo prohibuenint jusjurandum, iion ut illud prorsus e rebus huma- nis tollercnt, sed ijuia caverenius u perjuno, non facile juraiido. S. August, ser. 2K. dc verbis Apost. — " Our Lord and James so urohibited swearing, not that it might be altogether disused in human affairs, but that we might be prevented t'roni committing perjury, hv swearing too rr:iHiljr." 238 <»F rilK DEC A LOG CE, his conteniponuies, vvilh the example of Clineas the Pythagorean, vUio, rather than he would swear, suffered a mulct of three talents. And all the fol- lowers of Pythagoras admitted no oath, unless the matter were grave, necessary, and charitable : and the wisest and gravest persons among the heathens were very severe in their counsels concerning oaths. 3. But there are some cases in which the interests of kingdoms and bodies politic, peace, and con- federacies, require the sanction of promissory oaths : and they whom we are bound to obey, and who may kill us if we do not, require that their interests be secured by an oath. And that, in this case, and all that are equal, our blessed Saviour did not Ibrbid oaths, is certain, not only by the example of Christians, but of all the world before and sin-ce this prohibition, understanding it to be of the na- ture of such natural bands and securities, without which commonwealths in some cases are not easily combined, and therefore to be a thing necessary, and therefore not to be forbidden. Now, what is by Christiar.3 to be esteemed a slight cause, we may determine by the account we take of other things. The glory of God is certainly no light matter ; and therefore, when that is evidently and certainly concerned, not phantastically and by vain and imaginary consequences, but by prudent and true estimation, then we may lawfully swear. We have St. Paul's example, who well understood the precejjt of his Master, and is not to be supposed easily to have done any violence to it ; but yet we find religious affirmations, and God invoked for witness as a record upon his soul, in his epistles to the Romans, Galatians, and Corinthians.' But 1 Rom. i. y ; 2 Cor. xi. 31 ) Gal. i. 20. ur ritE otcALoiiLE. 239 these oaths were only assertory. TertuUian afiirin- eth, that Christians refused to swear by tlie genius of their prince, because it was a daemon ; but they sivare by his lieallh, and their solemn oath was by God, and Christ, and the Holy Spirit, and the majesty of the emperor. The fathers of the Eplie- sine council made Nestorius and Victor swear ; and the bishops at Chalcedon sware by the health of their princes. But as St. Paul did it extrajudi- cially, when the ijlory of God was concerned in it and the interests of souls; so tl)e Christians used to swear in a cause of piety and relinjion, in obedi- ence, and ujion public command, or for the ends of charity and justice, both with oaths promissory and assertory, as the matter required ; wilh this only diflference, that they never did swear in the causes of justice or charity, but when they were be- fore a may oath not to comn)it wickedness, robberies, sacrilege, not to deceive their trust, not to detain the pledg-e; which rather was an act of direct intercourse with God, than a solemn or religious obligation to man. Which very thing- Pliny also reports of the Chris- tians. 20. The sum is tins : since the whole subject matter of this precept is oaths promissory, or voms; all promises wilh oaths are regularly forbidden to Christians, unless they be made to (iod or God's vicegerent, in a matter not trilling:' for, in the first ' T<) N«f (?) TO Or iiKi(i, Iuch swearing w not B proof of truth but of falsehood, among evil men." 244 OF THE decalGgue. tlier security than their own faith and contract. The reason of this advice relies upon the strictness of the words of this precept against promissory oaths, and the reverence we owe to the name of God. Oaths of allegiance are fit to be imposed in a troubled state, or to a mutinous people. But it is not so fit to tie the people by oath to abstain from transportations of metal, or grain, or leather, from •which by penalties they are, with as much security, and less suspicion of iniquity, restrained. 23. Secondly, Concerning assertory oaths and depositions in judgment, although a greater liberty may be taken in the subject-matter of the oath, and we may, being required to it, swear in judg- ment, though the cause be a question of money, or our interest, or the rights of a society ; and St. Athanasius purged himself by oath before the emperor Constantius ; yet it were a great pursu- ance and security of this part of Christian religion, if in no case contrary oaths might be admitted, in which it is certain one part is perjured to the ruin of their souls, to the intricating of the judgment, to the dishonour of religion ; but that such rules of prudence and reasonable presumption be estab- lished, that upon the oath of that party which the law shall choose, and upon probable grounds shall pre>ume for, the sentence may be established. For by a small probability there may a surer judg- ment l)e given, than upon the confidence of contra- dictory oaths : and alter the sin the judge is left to the uncertainty of conjectures, as much as if but one part had sworn ; and to much more, because Buch an oath is, by the consent of all men, accepted as a rule to determine in judgment. By these dis- courses we understand the intention of our blessed OK THK DECAI-OOLE. 215 Master in tins precept : and I wish, by this or any- thing else, men would be restrained from that low, cheap, unreasonable and inexcusable vice of cus- tomary swearing, to which we have nothing to in- vite us that may lessen the iniquity, for which we cannot pretend temptation nor allege infirmity, but it begins by recklessness and a malicious carelessness, and is continued by the strength of habit and the greatest immensity of folly. And I consider tliat Christian religion, being so holy an institution, to which we are invited by so great promises, in whi^h we are instructed by so clear revelations, and to the performance of our duties compelled by the threatenings of a sad and unpro- fitable eternity, should more than sufficiently en- dear the performance of this duty to us. The name of a Christian is a high and potent antidote against all sin, if we consider aright the honour of the name, the undertaking of our covenant, and the reward of our duty. The Jews eat no swine's flesh, because they are of Moses; and the Turks drink no wine, because they are Mahometans; and yet we swear, for all we are Christians ; than which there is not in the world a greater convic- tion of our baseness and irreligion. Is the autho- rity of the holy Jesus so despicable ? Are his laws so unreasonable, his rewards so little, his threatenings so small, that we must needs, in contempt of all this, profane the great name of God, and trample under foot the laws of Jesus, and cast away the hopes of heaven, and enter into security to be possessed by hell torments for swearing ; that is, for speaking like a fool, without reason, without pleasure, without repu- tation, much to our disesteem, much to the 240 OF THE DEOALOGLE. trouble of civil and wise persons witlj whom we join in society and intercourse >* Certainly liell will be heated seven times hotter for a customary swearer; and every degree of his unreasonableness will give him a new degree of torment, when he shall find himself in flames for being a stupid, an atlieistical, an irreligious fool. This only I desire should be observed, that our blessed Master forbids not only swearing by God, but by any creature ; for every oath by a creature does involve and tacitly relate to God. And therefore '.-iaith Christ, ' Swear not by heaven, for it is the throne of God ;' and he that sweareth by the throne of God, ' swear- eth by it, and by him that sitteth thereon.' So that it is not a less matter to swear by a creature than to swear by God ; for a creature cannot be the instrument of testimony, but as it is a relative to God ; and it, by implication, calls the God of that creature to witness. So that although, in such cases in which it is permitted to swear by God, we may in those cases express our oath in the form of advocating and calling the creature ; (as did the primitive Christians, swearing by the health of their emperor, and as Joseph, swearing by the life of Pharaoh, and as Elisha, swearing by the life of Elias, and as did St. Paul, protesting ' by the re- joicing he had in Jesus Christ,' ' and as we, in our forms of swearing in courts of judicature, touch the gospels, saying, ' So help me God and the con- tents of this book;' and in a i'ew ages lately past bishops and priests sometimes swore upon the cross, sometimes upon tlie altar, sometimes by their holy order;) yet we must remember that this, in • 2 Kings, ii. 2 ; 1 Cor. xv. 31. OF THE DECALOOLE. 247 other words and ceremonies, is but a calling God for witness; and lie that swears by the cross, swears by tl)e holy crucifix; that is, Jesus crucified thereon. And therefore these and the like forms are therefore not to be used in ordinary communi- cation, because they relate to God ; they are as oblif;atory as the immediate invocation of his holi- ness and majesty : and it w as a Judaical vanity to think swearing: by creatures was less oblitrinpf. Tiiey are just witii the same restraints made to be relig-ious as the most solemn invocation of the holy and reverend name of God, lawful or unlawful as the other : unless the swearing' by a creature come to be si)oiled by some other intervening cir- cumstance ; that is, with a denying it to relate to God ; (or then it becomes superstition as well ns profanation, and it gives to a creature what is proper to God : or when the creature is contempti- ble, or less than the gravity of the matter ; as if a man should swear by a fly or the shadow of a tree: or when there is an indecorum in the thing, of something that does at too great distance relate to God. For that which with g'reatest vicinity refers to God in several religions is the best instrument of an oath, and nearest to God's honour; as in Christianity arc tlie holy sacrament, the cross, the altar, and the gospels : and therefore too great a distance may be an inch^cency next to a disparage- ment. This only may be added to this considera- tion, that altliough an oatli, w hich is properlycallin^:^ God or God's relative into testimony, is to he. underetood according to the former discourse; yet there may be great affirmations or negations re- ' Deut. XXX. 10 ; Isa. i. 2; Micah, 1. 2. 248 OK rm: i>kcaluuuf.. spectively, ami confirmed by forms of vehement asseveration, such as the customs of a nation or consent shall agree upon : and those do in some cases promote our belief or confirm our pretensions better than a plain yea or no ; because by such con- sent the person renders himself infamous if he breaks his word or trust. And although this will not come under the restraint of Christ's words, because they are not properly oaths, but circum- stances of earnest affirmation or negation ; yet these are human attestations, introduced by custom or consent ; and as they come not under the notion of swearing, so they are forms of testimony and collateral engagement of a more strict truth. 24. The Holy Jesus having specified the great commandment of ' loving God with all our heart,' in this one instance of hallowing and keeping his name sacred ; that is, from profane and common talk, and less prudent and unnecessary inter- courses ; instanced in no other commandment of Moses : but having frequent occasion to speak ol the sabbath, for ever expresses his own dominion over the day, and that he had dissolved the bands of Moses in this instance ; that now we were no more obliged to that rest w hich the Jews religiously observed by prescript of the law; and by divers acts against securities of the then received practices did desecrate the day, making it a broken yoke, and the first great instance of Christian liberty. And when the apostle gave instructions that ' no man should judge his brother in a holiday, or new moons, or the sabbath-days,' he declared all the Ju- daical feasts to be obliterated by the sponge which Jesus tasted on the cross; it was within the manu- script of ordinances, and there it was cancelled. Of iHK UKCAi.ocLi:. 249 And there was nothings moral in it, but llial we do honour to God for the creation, and to that and all otlier jiurposes of reli^non separate and hallow some portion of our time. Tlie primitive tluirch kept both the sabbath and the Lord's-day till the time of the Ijaodicean council, about three hun- dred years after Christ's nativity, and almost in every thing made them equal ; and therefore did not esteem the Lord's-day to be substituted in the place of the obliterated sabbath, but a feast cele- brated by great reason and perpetual consent, without precept or necessary divine injunction. But the liberty of the church was great; they found themselves disobliged from tliat strict and necessary rest which was one great part of the sab- batic rites, only they were glad of the occasion to meet often for offices of religion, and the day served well for the gaining and facilitating the convei-sion of the Jews, and for the honourable se- pulture of the synagogue, it being kept so long, like the forty days' mourning of Israel for the death of their father Jacob : but their liberty they im- j)roved not to license, but as an occasion of more frequent assemblies. And there is something in it for us to imitate, even to sanctify the name of God in the great work of the creation, reading iiis praises in the book of his creatures, and taking all occasions of religious acts and offices, thougii in none of the Jewish circumstances. 25. Concerning the observation of the Lord's- day, wliich now the church oV)serves, and ever did, in remembrance of the resurrection, because it is a day of positive and ecclesiastical institution, it is fit that the church, who instituted the day, should determine the manner of its ol)servation. It wua 2-50 OI Ilir. DFCALOOUE. set apart in lionoiir of llie resurrection ; and it were not ill i( all churches would, into the weekly offices, put some memorial of that mysterj^ that the reason of the festival might be remembered with the day, and God thanked with the renewing' of the offices. But because religion was the design of the feast, and leisure was necessary for religion, therefore to abstain from suits of law and servile works, but such works us are of necessity and charity, (which to observe are of themselves a very good religion,) is a necessary duty of the day ; and to do acts of public religion is the other part of it. So much is made matter of duty by the intervention of authority. And though the church hath made no more prescriptions in this, and God hath made none at all; yet he who keeps the day most strictly, most religiously, he keeps it best, and most consonant to the design of the »:hurch, and the ends of religion, and the opportu- nity of the present leisure, and the interests of his soul. The acts of religion proper for the day are prayers and public liturgies, preaching, catechis- ing, acts of charity, visiting sick persons, acts of eucharist to God, of hospitality to our poor neigh- bours, of friendliness and civility to all, reconciling differences ; and after the public assemblies are dissolved, any act of direct religion to God, or of ease and remission to servants, or whatsoever else is good in manners, or in piety, or in mercy. What is said of this great feast of the Christians, is to be understood to have a greater severity and obligation in the anniversary of the resurrection, of the ascen- sion, of the nativity of our blessed Saviour, and of the descent of the Holy Spirit in Pentecost. And aill days festival to the honour of God, in remem- brance of the holy apostles, and martyrs, and de- OF THE DECAI.OdLH. 261 parted suints, as they are with prudence to be chosen and retained ])y the church, so as not to be unnecessary, or burdensome, or useless; so they are to be observed by us as instances of our love of the communion of saints, and our thankfulness fur the blessing and the example. 26. ' Honour thy father and thy mother.' This commandment Christ made also to be Christian hy his frequent repetition and mention of it in his ser- mons and laws; and so ordered it, that it should be the band of civil government and society. In the Decalogue God sets this precept immediately after the duties that concern himself, our duty to parents being in the confines with our duty to God ; the parents being in order of nature, next to God, the cause of our being and production, and the great almoners of eternity, conveying to us the essences of reasonable creatures, and the charities of heaven. And when our blessed Saviour, in a sermon to the Pharisees, spake of duty to parents, he rescued it from the imj)ediments of a vain tradition, and se- curt-d this duty, though against a jnetence of reli- gion towards God, telling us that God would not himself accept a gift which we took from our pa- rents' needs. Tliis duty to parents is the very fir- mament and band of commonwealths. He that lionours his parents will also love his brethren de- rived fiom the same loins; he will dearly account of all his relatives and per^^ons of the same cogna- tion; and so families are united, and of them cities and societies are framed. And because parents and }>atriarehs of families and of nations had regal ))ower, they, who bj' any change succeeded in tiie care and government of cities and kingdoms, suc- ceeded in the power and authority of fathers, and dS2 or IllK 1>KC\I.«»QIJE. became .so, in esliinale of law and true divinity, to all tlieir people. So that the duty here commanded is due to all our fathers in the sense of Scripture and laws ; not only to our natural, but to our civil fathers ; that is, tokings and governors. And the Scripture adds 'mothers;* for they also being in- struments of the blessing are the objects of the duty. The duty is, ' honour ;'that is, reverence and support, if they shall need it. And that which our blessed Saviour calls, ' not honouring our parents,' in St. Matthew," is called, in St. Mark, ' doing nothing for them ;' ^ and honour is expounded by St. Paul to be maintenance as well as reverence.^ Then we honour our parents, if with great readiness we mi- nister to their necessities, and communicate our estate, and attend them in sicknesses, and supply their wants, and as much as lies in us, give them support, who gave us being. 27. ' Thou shalt do no murder.'^ So it was said to them of old time: ' He that kills shall be guilty of judgment;' that is, he is to die by the sentence of the judge. To this Christ makes an appendix: * But T say unto you, he that is angry with his bro- ther without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment.' This addition of our blessed Saviour, as all the other which are severer explications of the law than the Jews admitted, was directed against the vain and imperfect opinion of the law- yers, who thought to be justified by their external works, supposing, if they were innocent in matter of fact, God would require no more of them than man did ; and what by custom or silence of the laws was not punishable by the judge, was harmless ' Matt. XV. 0. ■' Mark, vii. 12. 3 i xim. v. 17. * Lev. xxiv. 21 ; Numb. xxxv. IC, 17. of IHi: )»K.C VI.OOLE. ^1 before (iocl. And lliis luuue tUtm to trust in the letter, to neglect the duties of repentance, to omit asking pardon for their secret irregu- larities, and the obliquities and aversations of their spirits. And this St. Paul al.so complains of", that neglecting ' the righteousness of God, they sought to establish their own ;" ' that is, accord- ing to man's judgment. But our blessed Sa- viour tells them that such an innocence is not enough ; God requires more than conformity, and observation of the fact, and exterior piety ; placing justice, not in legal innocency, or not being con- demned in judgment of the law and human judica- ture, but in the righteousness of the spirit also; for the first acquits us before man, but by this we shall be held upright in judgment before the Judge of all the world. And, therefore, besides abstinence from murder or actual wounds, Christ forbids' all anger without cause against our brother;' that is, against any man. 28. By w Inch not the first motions are forbidden, the twinklings of the eye, as the philosophers call them ; the pro-passions and sudden and irresistible alterations ; for it is impossible to prevent them, unless we could give ourselves a new nature, any more than we can refuse to wink with our eye when a sudden blow is offered at it, or refuse to yawn when we see a yawning sleepy person : but by fre- quent and habitual mortification, and by continual watchfulness, and standing in readiness against all inadvertences, we shall lessen the inclination, and account fewer sudden irreplions. A wise and meek person shoulil not kindle at all, but after > Horn. X. a. 254 OF THE DECALOGUE. violent and great collision; and then, if like a flint he sends a spark out, it must as soon be extin- guished as it shows, and cool as soon as sparkle. But, however, the sin is not in the natural dispo- sition ; but when we entertain it, though it be, as Seneca expresses it, cum voluntate noii contumact, without a determination of revenge, then it begins to be a sin. Every indignation against the person oi the man, in us is pride and self-love, and towards otliers ungentleness, and an immorigerous spirit. Which is to be understood, when the cause is not .sufficient, or when the anger continues longer, or is excessive in the degrees of its proportion. 29. The causes of allowable anger are, when we see God dishonoured, or a sin committed, or any irregularity or fault in matter of government; a fault against the laws of a family or good manners, tlisobedienceor stubbornness; vvl)ich in all instances where they may be prudently judged such by the governor, yet possibly they are not all direct sins against God and religion. In such cases we maj' be angry. But then we may also sin, if we exceed in time, or measure of degree. 30. The proportion of time St. Paul expresses, by ' not letting the sun set upon our anger.' Leon- tius Patricius was one day extremely and unreason- ably angry with John, the patriarch of Alexandria; at evening the patriarch sent a servant to him with this message, " Sir, the sun is set:' upon which Patricius reflecting, and the grace of God making the impression deeji, visible, and permanent, he threw away his anger, and became wholly subject to the counsel and ghostly aids of the patriarch. This limit St. Paul borrowed from the Psalmist; OF THl. DIM Ai.ooir. 255 for ih:\\ wliicli in llu- fourth Psalm, verse 4, we read, ' Stand in awe, and sin not,' the Septuuijint reads, ' Be angary, hut sin not.' And this measure is taken tVom the analog^y of the law of the .lews, that a malefactor should not hanKCALOGUE. '26.y ferent in circumstances ; and if you he apt to be transported with such little thinjjs, do some great thing that shall cut otV their frequent intervening. 7. Do not multiply secular ciires, and trouljlesome negociations, which have variety of conversation nith several humours of men and accidents of things ; but frame to thyself a life simple as thou canst, and free from all affectations. 8. Sweeten thy temper and allay the violence of thy spirit witli some convenient, natnral, tempenite, and me- dicinal solaces; for some dispositions we have seen inflamed into anger, and often assaulted by peevish- ness, through immoderate fasting and inconvenient austerities. P. A gentle answer is an excellent remora to the progresses of anger, whether in thyself or others : for anger is like the waves of a troubletl sea ; when it is corrected with a soft reply, as w ith a little strand, it retires, and leaves nothing behind it but froth and shells, no permanent mischief. 10. Silence is an excellent art : and that was the advice which St. Isaac, an old religious person in the primitive church, is rejiorted to have followed, to suppress his anger vrithin his breast, and use what means he could there to strangle it; but never |>ermitting it to go forth in language: anger antl lust l>eing like fire, which if you enclose, suffering it to have no emission, it perishes and dies; but give it the smallest vent, and it rages to a con- sumption of all it readies. And this advice is co- incident with the general rule which is prescrilied in all temptations, that anger be suppressed in its cradle and first assaults. II. liastly, let every man be careful that in bis repentance or in his ;^eal, or his religion, he be as (b'spassionate and free from anger ••vs is possible; lest an'jrer pass ^64 OF THE DECALOGUE. upon him in a reflex act, whicli was rejectecl in the direct. Some mortifiers, in their contestation against ana^er, or any evil or troublesome |)rinciple, are like criers of assizes, who culling for silence make the greatest noise ; they are extremely angry when they are fighting against the habit or violent inclinations to anger. 36. But in the way of more strict religion it is advised, 1. That he who would cure his anger should pray often. It is St. Austin's counsel to the bishop Auxilius, that, like the apostles in a storm, we should awake Christ, and call to him for aid, lest we shipwreck in so violent passions and impetuous disturbances. 2. Propound to thyself tlie example of meek and patient persons : remem- bering always that there is a family of meek i»aints, of which Moses is the precedent, a family of patient saints, under the conduct of Job. Every one in the mountain of the Lord shall be gathered to his own tribe, to his own family, in the great day of jubilee : and the angry shall perish with the effects of anger; and peevish persons shall be vexed with the disquietness of an eternal worm and sting of u vexatious conscience, if they suffer here the transportations and saddest effects of an unmorti- fied, habitual, and prevailing anger. 3. Above all things endeavour to be humble, to think of thyself as thou deservest; that is, meanly and unworthily : and in reason it is to be presumed thou wilt be more patient of wrong, quiet under affronts and in- juries, susceptive of inconveniences, and apt to entertain all adversities, as instruments of humilia- tion, deleteries of vice, corrections of indecent jxis- feions, and instruments of virtue. 4. All the reason, and all the relations, and all tlie necessities of or Tin DKi \i.i>r.t E. 26-5 niuiikind are daily ar'j;;iinients ajiainst tlie violences and inonlinations of anjjjer. For lie that would not have his reason confounded, or his discourse use- less, or his family he a den of lions ; he that would not have his marriage a daily duel, or his society troulilesome, or his friendship formidable, or his feasts liitter ; he that delights not to liavc his dis- cipline cruel, or his government tyrannical, or his disputations violent, or his civilities unmannerly, or his charity be a rudeness, or himself brutish as a bear, or peevish as a fly, or miserable upon every accident, and in all the changes of his life, must mortify his anger. For it concerns us as much as peace, and wisdom, and nobleness, and charity, and felicity are worth, to be at peace in our breasts, and to be pleased with all God's providence, and to be in charity with every thing, and with every man. 37, ' Thou shalt not commit adultery.' These two commandments are immediate to each other, and of the greatest cognation : for anger and lust work upon one subject ; and the same fervours of blood which make men revengeful, will also make men unchaste. But the prohibition is repeated in the words of the old commandment ; so * it was said to them of old :' which was not only a prohibition of the violation of the rites of marriage, but was, even among the Jews, extended to signify all mix- ture of sexes not matrimonial. For adultery in Scripture is sometimes used to signify fornication, and fornication for adultery ; as it is expressed in the permissions of divorce in the case of fornica- tion : and by Moses's law fornication also was for- bidden, and it was hated also and reproved in the natural. But it is very probable that ihis precept 26'b OF THE DECALOGUE, was restrained only to the instance of adullerj in the proper sense ; that is, violation of marriaoe ; for Moses did, in other annexes of the law, forbid fornication. And as a blow or wound was not esteemed in Moses's law a breach of the sixth com- mandment, so neither was any thing but adultery esteemed a violation of the seventh by very many of their own doctors; of which I reckon this a suffi- cient probation, because they permitted stranger virgins and captives to fornicate ; only they be- lieved it sinful in the Hebrew maidens. And when two harlots pleaded before Solomon, for the bastard child, he gave sentence of their question, but nothing of their crime. Strangers with the Her brews signified many times harlots, because they were permitted to be such, and were entertained to such purposes. But these were tlie licences of a looser interpretation ; God having to all nations given sufficient testimony of his detestation of all coneubinate not hallowed by marriage : of which among the nations there was abundant testimony, in that the harlots were not permitted to abide in the cities, and wore veils in testimony of their shame and habitual indecencies ; which we observe in the story of Thamar,' and also in Chrysippus. 7Vnd although it passed without punishment, yet never without shame, and a note of turpitude. And the abstinence from fornication was one of the ])recepts of Noah, to which the Jews obliged the stranger-proselytes, who were only proselytes of tlie house : and the apostles enforced it upon the Gentiles in their first decree at Jerusalem, as re- ' (len, xxviii. tl- C»F IlIK DKCALOGt'E. 267 newing an old stock of precepts and obligations, in which all the converted and religious Gentiles did communicate witli the Jews. 38. To this Christ added, that the eyes must not be adulterous : his disciples must not only abstain from the act of unlawful concubinate, but from the impurer intuition of a wife of another man ; so, ac- cording to the design of his whole sermon, opposing the righteousness of the spirit to that of the law, or of works, in which the Jews confided. Christians must have chaste desires, not indulging to them- selves a liberty of looser thoughts ; keeping the threshold of their temples pure, that the Holy Ghost may observe nothing imclean in the entry of his habitiition. For he that lusts after a woman, wants nothing to the consummation of the act but some convenient circumstances; which, because they are not in our power, the act is impeded, but nothing of the malice abated. But so severe in this was our blessed Master, that he commanded us rather to put our eyes out, than to suffer them to become an offence to us ; that is, an inlet of sin, or an invitation or transmission of impurity : by putting our eyes out, meaning the extinction of all incentives of lust, the rejection of all opportu- nities and occasions, the quitting all conditions of advantage which ministers fuel to this hell-fire. And V)y this severity we must understand all be- ginnings, temptations, likenesses, and insinuations and minutes of lust and impurity to l»e forbifhlen to Christians; such as are all morose delectations in vanity, wanton words, gestures, balls, revellings, wanton diet, garish and lascivious dressings and trimmings of the body, looser banquetings ; all 268 OF THE DECALOGLE. 'making provisions for the flesh to fulfil the lust of it,' all lust of concupiscence, and all ' lust of the eye,' and all lust of the hand, unclean contacts, are to be rescinded ; all lust of the tongue and palate, all surfeiting and drunkenness. For it is impossi- ble to keep the spirit pure, if it be exposed to all the entertainment of enemies. And if Christ for- bade the wanton eye, and placed it under the prohi- bition of adultery, it is certain, whatsoever minis- ters to that vice, and invites to it, is within the same restraint ; it is the eye, or the hand, or the foot that is to be cut off. To this commandment fastings and severe abstinences are apt to be reduced, as being the proper abscission of the instruments and temptations of lust, to which Christ invites by the mixed proposition of threatening and reward ; for better it is to go to heaven w ith but one eye or one foot, that is, with a body half nourished, than with full meals and an active lust to enter into hell. And in this our blessed Lord is a physician rather than a lawgiver ; for abstinence from all impure, concubinate, and morose delectations, so much as in thought, being the commandment of God, that Christ bids us retrench the occasions and insinua- tions of lust; it is a facilitating the duty, not a new severity, but a security and caution of pru- dence. 39. ' Thou shalt not steal.' To this precept Christ added nothing, because God had already in the Decalogue fortified this precept with a restraint upon the desires ; for the tenth commandment forbids all coveting of our neighbour's goods. For the wife there reckoned, and forbidden to be de- sired from another man, is not a restraint of libidi- OF THE UECALOGfE. 269 nous appetite, but of the covetous ; it being ac- counted part of wealth to have a numerous family, many wives, and many servants. And this also God, by the prophet Nathan, upbraided to David, as an instance of David's wealth, and God's libe- rality. But yet this commandment Christ adopted into his law, it beinj; prohibited by the natural law, or the law of right reason ; commonwealths not being able to subsist without distinction of do- minion, nor industry to be encouraged but by pro- priety, nor families to be maintained but by de- fence of just rights and truly purchased possessions. And this prohibition extends to all injustice, whether done by force or fraud ; whether it be by ablation, or prevention, or detaining of rights; any thing in which injury is done directly or obliquely to our neighbour's fortune. 40. ' Thou shalt not bear false witness.' That is, thou shalt not answer in judgment against thy neighbour falsely; which testimony in the law was given soh^mnly and by oath, invoking the name of God. ' I adjure thee by God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ,' said the high-priest to the blessed Jesus; that is, speak upon thy oath: and then he told them fully, though they made it the pretence of murdering him, and he knew they would do so. Confessing and witnessing truth is giving glory to God ; but false witness is high in- justice, it is inhumanity and treason against the (juietness, or life, or possession of a just person ; it is in itself irregular and unreasonable, and there- fore is so forbidden to Christians, not only as it is unjust, but as it is fiilse. For a lie in communi- cation and private converse is also forl)idden, as well as unjust testimony. * Let every man speak 270 OF THE DEOALUOUE. truth with his neighbour ;' ' that is, in private so- ciety. And whether a lie be in jest or earnest, when the purpose is to deceive and abuse, though in the smallest instance, it is in that degree crimi- nal as it is injurious. I find not the same affinned in every deception of our neighbours, wherein no man is injured, and some are benefited ; the error of the affirmation being nothing but a natural irregu- laritj^ nothing malicious, but very charitable. I find no severity superadded by Christ to this com- mandment, prohilaiting such discourse, which, without injury to any man, deceives a man into piety or safety. But this is to be extended no further : in all things else we must be severe in our discourses, * neither lie in a great matter nor a small, for the custom thereof is not good,'saith the son of Sirach. I could add, concerning this pre- cept, that Christ having left it in that condition he found it in the Decalogue, without any change or alteration of circumstance, we are commanded to give true testimony in judgment; which because it was under an oath, there lies upon us no prohibi- tion, but a severity of injunction, to swear truth in judgment when we are required. The securing of testimonies was V)y the sanctity of an oath, and this remains unaltered in Christianity. 41. ' Thou shalt not covet.' This command- ment we find nowhere repeated in the gospel by our blessed Saviour ; but it is inserted in the re- petion of the second table, which St. Paul mentioned to the Romans. For it was so abundantly ex- pressed in the inclosure of other precepts, and the whole design of Christ's doctrines, that it was less needful specially to express that which is every » Kphes. iv. 25. Ul nil. OIK AlOC.tK 271 where adixecl to many precejils evana;elical. Par- ticularly it is inherent in the first heatitude, 'Bfessed are the poor in spirit:' and it means, that we should not wish ourneighbour's g(X)ds with a deli- berate entertained desire, but that u[)on the coni- inencenient of the motion it be disbanded in- stantly ; for he that does not at the first address and incitement of tlie passion suppress it, he hath given it that entertainment which, in every period of staying, is a dej^ree of morose delectation in the appetite: and to this I find not Christ added any thing; for the law itself, forbidding to entertain the desire, hath commanded the instant and pre- sent suppression : they are the same thing, and cannot reasonably be distinguished. Now that Christ, in the instance of adultery, hath commanded to abstain also from occasions and accesses towards the lust, in this is not the same severity ; because the vice of covetousness is not such a wild-fire as lust is, not inflamed by contact and neighbour- hood of all things in the world. Every thing may be instrumental to libidinous desires, but to covet- ous appetites there are not temptations of so dif- ferent natures. 42. Concerning the order of these command- ments, it is not unusefully observed, that, if v.e account from the first to the last, they are of great- est j)erfection which are last described ; and he who is arrived to tliat severity and dominion of himself as not to desire liis neigiibour's goods, is very far from actual injury, and so in proportion ; it being the least degree of religion to confess but One God. But, therefore, vices are to take their estimate in the contrary order : he that prevaricates the first commandment is the greatest sinner in the world; 272 '»*■ IHE UECALUOL'K. and the least is lie that only covets without an actual injustice. And there is no variety or objer tion in this, unless it be altered by the accidentii difference of degrees ; but in the kinds of sin th rule is true. This only ; the sixth and seventh are otherwise in the Hebrew Bibles than ours, and in the Greek otherwise in Exodus than in Deutero- nomy : and by this rule it is a greater sin to com- mit adultery than to kill ; concerning which we have no certainty, save that St. Paul, in one re- spect, makes the sin of uncleanness the greatest of any sin, whose scene lies in the body ; ' every sin is without the body ; but he that commits fornica- tion, sins against his own body.' THE PRAYER. O eternal Jesus, wisdom of thy Fatlier, thou light of Jews and Gentiles, and the great Master of the world, who, by thy holy sermons and clearest revelations of the mysteries of thy Father's kingdom, didst invite all the world to great degrees of justice, purity, and sanctity, instruct us all in a holy institution, give us understanding of thy laws ; that the light of thy celestial doctrine illuminating our darknesses, and making bright all the recesses of our spirits and understandings, we may direct our feet, all the lower man, the affections of the inferior appetite, to walk in the paths of thy commandments. Dearest God, make us to live a life of religion and justice, of love and duty ; that we may adore thy majesty, and reverence thy name, and love thy mercy, and admire thy infinite glories and perfections, and obey thy precepts. Alake us to love thee for thyself, and our neighbours for thee: make us to be .ill love and all duty ; that we may adorn the gospel of thee our Lord, walking worthy of our vocation ; that, as thou hast called us to be thy disciples, so we may walk therein, doing the work of faithful servants, and may receive the adop- tion of sons, and the gift of eternal glory, which thou hast re- served for all the disciples of thy holy institution. Make all the OF FuRGIVIN nem. Honor, et Theod. in Cod. Theodoi. ' Rom. xii. 19. OF ruIlGIVING INJLItlES. 27,"j wise obliged to provide for lliem, under the pain of the curse of infidelity. And indeed there is mucli reason our defences may be extended, when the injuries are too great for our sufferance; or that our defence bring no greater damage to the other than we divert from ourselves. But our blessed Saviour's prohibition is instanced in such small particulars, which are no limitations of the general precept, but particulars of common consideration. ' But I say unto you, resist not evil;' so our Eng- lish Testament reads it: but the word signifies, * avenge not evil;'' and it binds us to this only, that we be not avengers of the wrong, but ratiier suffer twice, than once to be avenged. He that is struck on the lace may run away, or may divert the blow, or bind the hand of his enemy; and he whose coat is snatched away may take it again, if without injury to the otlier he may do it. We are some- times bound to resist evil : every clearing of our innocence, refuting of calumnies, quitting ourselves of reproach, is a resisting evil ; but such which is hallowed to us by the example of our Lord him- self and his a])nstles. But this precept is clearly expounded by St. Paul, ' Render not evil for evil;'* that is, be not revenged. You may either secure or restore yourselves to the condition of your own possessions or fame, or preserve your life, provided that no evil be returned to him that offers the in- jury. For so sacred are the laws of Christ, so holy and great is his example, so much hath he endear- ed us who were his enemies, and so frequently and • M^ avTi'^Fivai ry novijpt^ sumitur sensu generali proomm retaliatione. * Rotn. xii, 17- 270 OY ll)liCilVl.Ne, and therefore ofttr was made of private and unchargeable arbitrators : and this be- ing refusotl, the charge and accidental evil, if it be less tlian the loss of my sufferance and injury. 288 or LAWSUITS. must be reckoned to the necessity of affairs, and put upon the stock oF liis injustice, and will not affix a guilt upon the actor. I say, this is true, when the actur hath used all means to accord it without charge, and when he is refused, manages it with as little as he can, and when it is nothing of his desire, but something of his trouble, that he cannot have his own without the lesser accidental evil to the offender, and that the question is great and weighty in its proportion, then a suit of law is of itself lawful. But then let it be remembered how many ways afterwards it may become unlavv- fal, and I have no more to add in this article, but the saying of the son of Sirach : ' He that loves danger shall perish in it.* And certainly he had need be an angel that manages a suit innocently : and he that hath so excellent a spirit as with inno- cence to run through the infinite temptations of a lawsuit, in all probability hath so much holiness as to suffer the injury, and so much prudence as to avoid the danger. And therefore nothing but a %'erj' great defalcation or ruin of a man's estate will, from the beginning to the end, justify such a con- troversy. When the man is put to it so that he cannot do some other duty without venturing in this, then the grace of God is sufficient for him : but he that enters lightly shall walk dangerously, and a thousand to one but he will fall foully. ' It is utterly a fault among you,' said St. Paul, ' be- cause ye go to law one with another." It is not always a crime, but even a fault and an irregularity, a recession from Christian perfection, and an enter- taining of a danger; which though we escape through, yet it was a fault to liave entered into it, ' Cor. vi. 7. '0,\«.iv i'l'rtjfiftf nol 7ra^0 OF LAWSUITS. acquit himself with meekness and Ssincerity : but this allows not him to be the actor, for then it is rather a design of revenge, than a proper deletery of his disgrace, and the purgative of the calumny. For if the accusation can be proved, it was no ca- lumny ; if it be not proved, the person is not al- ways innocent ; and to have been accused, leaves something foul in his reputation : and therefore he that by law makes it more public, propagates iiis own disgrace, and sends his shame further than his innocence, and the crime will go whither his abso- lution shall not arrive. 10. If it be yet further questioned, whether it be I'iwful to pray for a revenge, or a punishment upon the offender; (I reckon them all one : he that prays for punishment of him that did him j)ersonal in- jury, cannot easily be supposed to separate the j)unishment from his own revenge;) I answer, that jilthoiigh God be the avenger of all oar wrongs, yet it were fit for us to have the affections of brethren, not the designs and purposes of a judge, but leave them to him to whom they are proper. When in the bitterness of soul an oppressed person curses sadly, and prays for vengeance, the calamity of the man, and the violence of his enemy hasten a curse, and ascertain it. But whatever excuses the great- ness of the oppression may make 1 know not; but the bitterness of the spirit, besides that it is ])itiable as it is a passion, yet it is violent and less Christian, as it is active and sends forth j)rayers. ' Woe' is pronounced ' to them by whom the offence comelh;' yet we mu^t 'be- ware of offences,' because by them we are en- gaged in a sin : and he tiiat prays for a re- venge, halh a revengeful spirit, huwevcr it l)e re- OF ALMS. 291 strained by .aus and exterior tendernesses from ncting- such dire j)urposes. And he that prays for revenge, may indeed procure a justice to be done upon the injurious person; but oftentimes it hap- j)ens then to fall on him when we least wish it, when we also have a conjunct interest in tlie other's preservation and escape: God so punisiiing- the first wron;;, that we also may smart for our uncha- ritable wishes. For the ground of all this dis- course is, tiiat it is part of Christian charity to for- give injuries: which forgiveness of the injury, al- though it may reasonably enough stand with my fair and innocent requiring of my own, wliich goes no further tlian a fair repetition ; yet in no case can it stand with tlie acting and desiring revenge, which also, in the formality of revenge, can have no pretence of charity, because it is ineffective to my restitution. This discourse concerns private per- sons; whether it concern the question of war, and how far, is not proper for this consideration. P A R T I I. Of Aims. 1 But Christian charity hath its efiect also in benefits as well as geiitlcnt'ss and innocence. * Give to him that asketh, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away. But when tliou doest thine alms, let not thy left hand know w iiat thy right hand doeth." ' These are the precepts of the Lord, /or the sut)stancc and the manner of • Matt. V. 42 ; vi. 3. 292 OF ALMf*. alms, tor the quantity and freeness of the donative, and the simplicity of him that gives; to which add those other words of his, ' Sell your posses- sions, and give alms.'' This precept, with its cir- cumstances, was intended as a defensative against covetousness and prodigality, and a suppletory to make up the wants, and to make even the breaches of mankind : in which we shall best understand our obligation, if we consider in what proportion we must give alms, and to what persons, and in what manner. 2. First, For the quantity, we shall best take an estimate of it, if we remember the portion which God allows to Christians : ' Having food and rai- ment, let us be content with it :'* and our blessed Saviour, at the latter end of this sermon, stirs us up to confidence in God, and not to doubt our provi- sions, by telling that God ' feeds the ravens, and clothes the lilies, and he will much rather do it to us:' he will clothe us and feed us. No more is in the promise, no more is in our need : and therefore whatsoever is beside our needs natural and personal, that is, proportioning our needs to the condition of our life, and exigence of our calling, and quality of our person, all that can be spared from what we modestly and temperately spend in our support, and the supply of our fami- lies, and other necessary incidents, all that is to ha spent in charity or religion. " He defrauds the poor of their right who detains from them beyond his own necessary, prudent, and convenienl supplies,"' saith St. .Terome. And this is intended to be a retrenchment of all vain expenses, costly feasts, > Luke, xii. 33. ^ Tim. vi. 8. ' James, v. 2, 3, 4. OF ALMS. 293 rich clotlies, pompous retinue, and such excrescen- ces of expense, which, of themselves, serve no end of piety or just policy, but by wise and tem- perate persons are esteemed unnecessary, and without wliich the di^^nity aTid just value of the person may still be retained. Whatsoever is vainly spent is the portion of the poor; whatsoever we lose in idle ^amin^, revelling, and wantonness or prodigality, was designed by Christ to refresh his own bowels, to fill the bellies of the poor ; whatso- ever lies in our repository useless and superfluous, all that is the poor man's inheritance : and cer- tainly there is not any greater baseness than to suffer a man to perish, or be in extreme want of that which God gave me for him, and beyond my own needs. It is unlhankfulness to God, it is un- mercifulness to the poor, it is improvidence to our- selves, it is unfaithfulness in the dispensation of the money, of which God made him but the stew- ard, and his chest the bank for the exchange and issuing it to the indigent. And he that is unmer- ciful and unjust, is extremely unlike God. But in taking this estimate concerning our excrescences, we are to proceed according to the rules of pru- dence, not making determinations in grains and scruples, but in the greater actions and accountable j)roportions of our estates. And if any man, seeing great necessities of indigent and calamitous persons, shall give beyond his ability, he hath the Philip- j)ians fi)r his jjrecedent, and he hath God engaged for his payment, and a greater share in heaven for his reward. Only tiiis ; as we are to provide for ourselves, so also for our family, and tiie relatives of our cliarge and nearer endearments; not only with a provision of the present day's entertainment. S94 OF ALMS. but also for all nearer, probable, foreseen, and ex- pected events ; such as are portions for our children, dovveries (or daughters. But this must not be ex- tended to care and reservations for all possible and far distant events; but so much is to be permitted to the divine providence as our present dutj' gives leave. In which, although a prudent guide and a sober reason are to make application to practice ; yet the rule in general is, that by so much we are to relieve the poor, as we can deduct from such a portion of good things as God permits us to use for our own support, and reasonable and temporal conveniences of our person and condition : ever remembering, that if we increase in our estate, we also should increase in charity ; tliat in this also may be verified what is written : ' He that had much, had nothing over; and he that had little, had no lack.' There is in the quantity of these donatives some latitude : but if we sow sparinglj', or if we scatter plentifully, so we shall reap. Only we must be careful, that no extreme necessity or biting want lies upon any poor man, whom we can relieve without bringing such a want upon ourselves, which is less than the permissions of for- tune which the mercies of God have permitted to us; that is, food and raiment proper for us. Under food and raiment all the necessaries of our life are to be understood. Whatsoever is more than this, is counsel and perfection ; for which a propor- tionable reward is deposited in the treasures of eternity. 3. Secondly, If question be made concerning the persons who are to be the object of our alms, our rule is plain and easy ; for nothing is required in the person susci[)ient and capable of alms, but OF ALMS. 295 tluit he be in misery and want, and unable to relieve himself. This last clause I insert in pur- suance of tliat cautio i given to the church ofThes- salonica by St. Paul: 'If any one »iil rot work, neither let liim eat.'' For we must lie careful that our charity, which is intended to minister to poor men's needs, do not minister to idleness and the love of l)eary, and a wandering', useless, unpro- fitable life. But, abating this, there is no other con- sideration that can exempt any needy person from participation of your charity : not though he be your enemy; (for that is it which our blessed Saviour means in the appendix of this precept, • Love your enemies;' that is, according to the ex- jjosition of the apostle, ' If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink;') not though he be an unbeliever; not though he be a vicious person. Provided only that the vice be such to which your relief ministers no fuel, and adds no flame : and if the mere necessities of his nature be supplied, it will be a fair security against the danger. But if the vice be in the scene of the body, all free comforts are to be denied him, because they are but incentives of sin, and angels of darkness. This I the rather insert, that the jjride and supercilious austerities of some persons l)ecome not to them an instrument of excuse, from ministering to needy persons, upon pre- tence their own sins brougiit them into that con- dition. For though the causes of our calamities are many limes great secrets of providence; yet suppose the poverty of the man was tiie effect of Ills prodigality, or other baseness, it matters not as to our (hity iiow he came into it, but where he is; ' 'J Thes. ill. 10. 596 OF ALMS. lest we also be ilenied a visit in our sicknesses, and a comfort in our sorrow, or a counsel in our doubts, or aid in any distress, upon pretence that such sad- ness was procured by our sins : and ten to one but it was so. ' Do ^ood to all,' saith the apostle, ' but especially to the family of Aiith ;' for to them our charity is most proper and proportioned. To all, viz. who are in need, and cannot relieve them- selves; in which number persons that can work are not to be accounted. So that if it be necessary to observe an order in our charity, this is, when we cannot supply and suffice for all our opportunities of mercy, then 'let not the brethren of our Ijord j^o away ashamed.' And in other things observe the order and propriety of our own relations : and where there is otherwise no difference, the de- gree of the necessity is first to be considered. Thus also, if the necessity be final and extreme, whatever the man be, he is first to be relieved before the lesser necessities of the best persons or most holy poor. But the proper objects of our charity are old persons, sick or impotent, laborious and poor housekeepers, widows and orphans, people op- pressed or persecuted for the cause of righteousness, distressed strangers, captives and abused slaves, prisoners for debt. To these we must be liberal, whether they be holy or unholy ; remembering that we are sons of that P'atlier who makes the dew of heaven to drop upon the dwellings of the rigliteous and the fields of sinners. 4. Thirdly, The manner of giving alms is an office of Cliristian j)rudence; for in what instances we are to exemplify our charity, we must l»e determined by our own powers, and olliers needs The Scripture reckons entertaining slningers, vi- OV Nor JIM>GIN(!. 297 silino;- llie sick, t^oiiii^ to prisons, feeding antl cloth- in;^ the liiinLjry antl naked: to whicli, by the exi- jfence of the poor and the analoory of charily, many other are to be added. The holy Jesus in the very precept instanced in lendinor money to them that need to borrow ; and he adds, looking- for no- tliing again; that is,if they be unable to pay it. For- giving debts is a great instance of mercy, and a particular of excellent relief: but to imprison men for debt, when it is certain they are not able to pay it, and by that prison will be far more dis- abled, is an uncharitableness next to the cruelties of savages, and at infinite distance from the mercies of the holy Jesus. PART III. Of not Judging. Another instance of charity our great Master inserted in this sermon, ' not to judge our brother. And this is a charity so cheap and so reasonable, that it requires nothing of us but silence in our spirits. We may perrorm this duty at the charge of a negative : if we meddle not with other men's ufTaiis, we shall do ihem no wrong, and purchase to ourselves a peace, and be secured the rather from the unerring sentence of a severe judge. But this interdict forbids only such judging as is un- gentle and uncharitable. In criminal causes let us tind all the ways to alleviate the burden of the man by just excuses, by extenuating or lessening accidents, by abatement of incident circumstances, by gentle sentences, and whatsoever can do :-eliel 298 ' NOT JUDGING. to tlie person, that bis spirit be not exasperated, that the crime be not the parent of impudence, that he be not insulted on, that he be invited to repentance, and by such sweetnesses lie be led to his restitution. This also, in questions of doubts, obliges us to determine to the more favourable sense: and we also do need the same mercies, and therefore should do well, by our own rigour, not to disentitle ourselves to such possibilites and re- serves of charity. But it is foul and base, by de- traction and iniquity, to blast tlie reputation of an honourable action, and tlie fair name of virtue with a calumny. But this duty is also a part of the grace of justice and of humility, and by its relation and kindred to so many virtues, is furnisiied with so many arguments of amity and endearment. THE PRAYER. Holy and merciful Jesus, who art the great principle and the Instrument of conveying to us the charity and mercies of eternity, who didst love us when we were enemies, forgive us when we were debtors, recover us when we were dead, ransom us when we were slaves, relieve us when we were poor, and naked, and wandering, and full of sadness and necessities ; give us the grace of charity, that we may be pitiful and compassionate of the needs of our ne- cessitous brethren, that we may be apt to relieve them, and that according to cur duty and possibilities we may rescue them from their calamities. Give us courteous, affable, and liberal souls, liet us, by thy example, forgive our debtors, and love our ene- mies, and do to them offices of civility, and tenderness and re- lief ; always propounding thee for our pattern, and thy mercies for our precedent, and thy precepts for our rule, and thy Spirit fir our guide : that we, showing mercy here, may receive the mtrcies of eternity by thy merits, and by thy charities, and dis« pensation, O holy and merciful Jesus. Amen. or iRAVER. 199 DISCOURSE XII. Of the sfcond addilionnl Precept of Christ, viz. Of Prai/er. 1. 'I'uv. soul of a Cliristian is tlie house of God ; ' Vc are (iod's building,'' saitli St. Paul ; but the liouse of God is tlie house of prayer ; and therefore prayer is the work of the soul, whose organs are intended for instruments of the divine praises; and when every stop and pause of those instru- ments is but the conclusion of a collect, and every breathing is a prayer, then the body becomes a temple, and the soul is the sanctuary, and more private recess, and place of intercourse. Prayer is the great duty, and the greatest privilege of a Christian : it is his intercourse with God, his sanctuary in troubles, his remedy for sins, his cure of griefs ; and, as St. Gregory calls it, " It is the principal instrnme-nt whereby we minister to God, in execution of the decrees of eternal predestina- tion :" and those things which God intends for us, we bring to ourselves by the mediation of holy prayers. Prayer is the " ascent of the mind to God, and a petitioning for such things as we need lor our support and duty.''^ It is an abstract and summary of Christian religion. Prayer is an act (if religion and divine worship, confessing his power and his mercy: it celebrates his attributes, and confesses his glories, and reveres his person, ' 1 Cor. ill. 4. wana 6(M. Damasc. lib. iii. Orthodox, lid. IJOO OF PUAYER. and implores liis aid, and gives thanks for his blessia^s. It is an act of l)umility, condescension, and dependence, expressed in the prostration of our bodies, and humiliation of onr spirits. It is an act of charity, when we pray for others : it is an act of repentance, when it confesses and begs pardon for our sins; and exercises every grace, ac- cording to the fles^ign of the man and the matter of the prayer. So that there will be less need to amass arguments to invite us to this duty; every part is an excellence, and every end of it is a blessing, and every design is a motive, and every need is an impulsive to this holy office. Let us but remember how many needs we have, at how cheap a rate we may obtain their remedies, and yet how honourable the employment is to go to God with confidence, and to fetch our supplies Avith easiness and joy; and then, without further preface, we may address ourselves to the under- standing of that duty by which we imitate the em- ployn)ent of angels and beatified spirits, by which we ascend to God in spirit while we remain on earth, and God descends on earth while he yet resides in heaven, sitting there on the throne of his kingdom. '2. Our first inquiry must be concerning the matter of prayers : for our desires are not to be the rule of our prayers, unless reason and religion be the rule of our desires. The old heathens prayed to their gods for such things wiiich they were ashamed to name publicly before men ; and these were their private prayers which they durst not, for their indecency or inifjuity, make public. And, indeed, sometimes the best men ask of God things not unlawful in themselves, yet very hurtful to Ol IRWJR- 301 tlit-ni. And tlierefoie, as by tlie Spirit of God and riijlit reason we are taiiijlit in j^eneral what is lawful to be asked, so it is still to be submitted to God, wlieii we have asked lawful things, to grant to us in kindness, or to deny us in mercy : after all the rules that can be given us, we not being able, in many instances, to judge for ourselves, unless also we could certainly pronounce concern- ing future contingencies. But the Holy Ghost being now sent upon the church, and the rule ot' Christ being left to his church, together with his form of prayer taught and prescribed to his dis- ciples, we have sufficient instruction for the matter of our prayers, so far as concerns their lawfulness or unlawfulness: and the rule is easy, and of no variety. I. For we are bound to pray for all things that concern our duty, all that we are bound to labour for ; such as are glory and grace, necessary assistances of the Spirit, and rewards spirituai, heaven and heavenly things. 2. Concerning those things which we may with safety hope for, but are not matter of duty to us, we may lawfully testify our hope and express our desires by ])etition : but if in their particulars they are under no express promise, but only conveniences of our life and person, it is only lawful to pray for them under condition, that they may conform to God's will and our duty, as tliey are good, an Colos. i. 13; Rev. i. 9; Matt. xiii. 41; Luke. vi. 20 j Matt y-vi. 28. i.«»!tr)'> I'Kwru. :H>5 • the kin<,^(lom of heaven iswilliin us/saith the holy Scripture. And so it intimates our desires that the promise of the Father, and the prophecies of old, and the Holy Ghost, the comforter, may come upon us. lict that ' anointinuf from above' descend upon us, wliereby we may be anointed kin^^^s and j)riests, in a spiritual kingdom and priesthood, by a holy chrism. (). ' Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.' That is, the whole economy and dispensation of thy providence be the guide of the world, und the measure of our desire; that we be patient in all accidents, confora)able to God's will both in doin|::j and in suffering, sul)mitting to changes, and even to persecutions, and doing all God's will : w hicli because without God's aid we cannot do, therefore we beg it of him by prayer ; but by his aid we are confident we may do it in the maimer of angelical obedience ; that is, promptly, readily, cheerfully, and with all our faculties. Or thus : as the angels in heaven serve thee with harmony, concord, and peace, so let us all join in the service of thy Ma- jesty with peace and purity, and love unfeigned ; that as all the angels are in peace, and among them there is no persecutor and none persecuted, there is none afflicted, none assaulting or afflicting or jissaulted, but all in sweetness and peaceable se- renity glorifying thee ; so let thy will be done on earth, by all the world, in peace and unity, in cha- rity and tranquillity, that with one heart and one voice we may glorify thee, our universal Father, having in us nothing that may displease lliee, having quitted all our own desires and pretensions, living in angelic conformity, our souls subject to thee, and our passions to our souls ; that in earth vol.. II. 20 30(! r.XfosrrtoN t»r rur. also tiiy will may bo done as in the spirit and soul, which is a portion of the lieavenly substance. These three petitions are addressed to God by way of adoration. In the first, the sovil puts on the af- fections of a child, and divests itself of its oun in- terest, offering- itself up wholly to the designs and glorifications of (lod. In the second, it puts on the relation and duty of a subject to her legitimate prince, seeking the promotion of his regal interest. In the third, she puts on the affection of a spouse, loving the same love, and choosing the same object, and delighting in unions and conformities. The next part descends lower, and makes addresses to God in relation to our own necessities. 7. 'Give us this day our daily bread. '^ That is, give unto us all that is necessary for the support ot our lives, the bread of our necessity ; so the Syriac interpreter reads it ; * This day give us the por- tion of bread, which is day by day necessary.* Give us the bread, or support, which we shall need all our lives; only this day minister our present part : for we pray for the necessary bread or main- tenance, which God knows we shall need all our days: but that we ' be not careful for to-morrow,' we are taught to pray, not that it be all at once represented or deposited, but that God would mi- nister it as we need it,how he pleases ; but our needs are to be the measure of our desires, our desires must not make our needs; that we may be confi- dent of the divine providence, and not at all cove- tous. For therefore God feeds his people with ex- ' '".TTiHaioQ ab iTriiian, quod diem posterum significat. Nazare- nonim evangelium (referente S. Hieronymo) legit [panem crasti- num ;] S. I^ucas [panem diurnum,] sive indies necessarium, 70 t:aO' t'lfiinay rrASroij irt K-ijffir (r/'/i/ifrpof Tinoc tvcaiftoviav. LORDS PUVYKH. 307 temporary provisions, tliat by needing always tliey may learn to pray to him ; and by being still supplied they may learn to trust him for the future, and thank iiim for that is past, and rejoice in the pre- sent. So God rained down manna, giving them their daily portion ; and so all fathers and masters minister to their children and servants, giving them their proportion as they eat it, not the meat of a year at once; and yet no child or servant fears want, if his parent or lord be good, and wise, and rich. And it is necessary for all to pray this prayer. The poor, because they want the bread, and have it not deposited but in tlie hands of God ; ' mercy ploughing the fields of iieaven,' (as Job's expression is,) brings them corn ; and the cattle upon a thou- sand hills are God's, and they find the poor man meat. The rich also need this prayer, because although they have the bread, yet they need the blessing ; and what they have now may perish, or be taken from them : and as jjreservation is a perpe- tual creation, so the continuing to rich men what God hatli already bestowed is a continual giving it. Young men must pray, because their needs are like to be the longer; and old men, because they are present. But all these are to pray but for the pre- sent; that which in estimation of law is to be reckoned as imminent upon the present, and part of this state and condition. But it is great impro- vidence, and an unchristian spirit, for old men to heap up provisions, and load their sumpters still the more by how much their way is shorter. But there is also a bread which came down from heaven, a diviner nutriment of our souls, the food and wine of angels; Christ himself, as he ccmmuni- cates himself in the expresses of his word and sacra- 30S rxPosirioN of the merits : and if we be destitvite ofthis breud, mc nre miserable and perishing people. We must pray lliat our souls also may feed upon those celestial viands prepared for us in the antepasts of the gos- pel, till the great and fuller meal of the supper of the Lamb shall answer all our prayers, and satisfy every desire. 8. ' Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.' Not only those sins of infirmity, invasion, and sudden surprise, which, like excrescences of luxuriant trees, adhere to many actions by inadvertency, and either natural weak ness or accidental prejudice; but also all those great sins which were washed off from our souls, and the stain taken away in baptism; or when by choice and after the use of reason we gave up our names to Christ, when we first received the adop- tion of sons. For even those things were so par- doned, that we must for ever confess and glory in the divine mercy, and still ascertain it by perform- ing what we then promised, and which were the conditions of our covenant. For although Christ hath taken off the guilt, yet still there remains the disreputation. And St. Paul calls himself ' the chiefest of sinners,' not referring to his present con- dition, but to his former persecuting the church of God, which is one of the greatest crimes in the world, an I for ever he asked pardon for it; and so must we, knowing that they may return ; if we shake off the yoke of Christ, and break his cords from us, the bands of the covenant evangelical, the sins will return so as to undo us. And this we pray with a tacit obligation to forgive : for so only, and upon that condition we beg pardon to be given or continued respectively ; that is, as we from our LOUD ;> I'llAYLR. G( U lieails lorgive tliein lliaL did us injury in any kind, never enlerlainint; so niucli as a thou^lit o( reven<;t-, but contrariwise, loving tliem that did us wron^ ; for so we beg that God should do to us. Ami, therefore, it is but a lesser revenge to say, I will forgive, but I will never have to do with him: for if he become an object of charity, we must have to do with him to relieve him; because he needs prayers, we must have to do with him, and pray for him; and to refuse his society when it is reasonably and innocently oftered, is to deny that to him whicii Christians have been taught to deny only to persons excommunicate, to persons under punishment ; i. e. to i)ersons not yet forgiven. ^\nd we shall have but an evil j)ortion, if (iod should forgive our sins, and should not also love us, and do us grace, and bestow benefits upon us. So we must forgive others; so God forgives us. 9. ' And lead us not into temptation.' St. Cy- prian, out of an old Latin copy, reads it, ' Sufl'er us not to be led into temptation ;' that is, sufter us not to be overcome by temptation. And therefore we are bound to prevent our access to such tempta- tion whose very approximation is dangerous, and the contact is irregular and evil; such as are temp- tations of the flesh. Yet in other temptations the assault sometimes makes confident, and hardens a resolution. For some sj)irits, who are softened by fair usages, are steeled and emboldened by a perse- cution. But of w hat nature soever the temptations be, whether they be such whose approach a Chris- tian is bound to fear, or such which are the certain lot of Christians, (such are troubles and persecu- tions, into which when we enter we must count it joy,) yet we are to pr;iy that we enter not jjito the 310 JXPOSIIIUN OF THE possession of the temptation, that we be not over- come by it. 10. * But deliver us from evil.' From the assaults or violence of evil; from the wicked one, who not only presents us with objects, but heightens our con- cupiscence, and makes us imap^inative, fantastical, and passionate; setting on the temptation, making the lust active, and the man full of appetite, and the appetite full of energy and power : therefore deliver us from the evil one, who is interested as an enemy in every hostility and in every danger. Ijet not Satan have any power or advantage over ns; and let not evil men prevail upon us in our danger, mucli less to our ruin. Make us ' safe under the covering of thy wings' against all fraud and every violence, that no temptation destroy our hopes, or break our strength, or alter our stale, or overthrow our glories. In these last petitions, which concern ourselves, the soul hath affections proper to her own needs ; as in the former propor- tion, to God's glory. In the first of these, the affec- tion of a poor, indigent, and necessitous beggar ; in the second, of a delinquent and penitent servant; in the last, of a person in affliction or danger. And after all this the reason of our confidence is derived from God. 11. ' For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever.' That is, these things which we beg are for the honour of thy kingdom, for the ma- nifestation of thy power, and tlie glory of thy name and mercies. And it is an express doxology or adoration, which is apt and fit to conclude all our players and addresses to God. 12. These are the generals and great tiea>uris of matter to whicli all our prt'scut or suddi'ti needrj LOKDS i'KAVi:R. 31 I are reducible. And wlieii we niiike our j)rayers more minute and particular, if the instance be in mutter of duly and merely spiritual, there is no danger: but when our needs are tem|>oral,or we are transported with secular desires, all descending to particulars is a confining tiie divine j)rovidence, a judj^injj for ourselves, a begt^inij^ a temi>talioii oitentimes, sometimes a mischief; and to beg- be- yond the necessities of our life, is a mutiny against that providence which assigns to Christians no more but food and raiment for their own use ; all other excrescences of i)ossessions being entrusted to the rich man's dispensation only as to a steward, and he shall be accountable i'or the coat tiiat lies by him as the portion o( moths, and for the shoes whicli are the spoils of mouldiness, and the contumely of plenty. ' Grant me, O liord, not what I desire, but what is profitable for me.' l''or sometimes we desire that which in the suc- ceeding event of things will undo us. This rule is in all things that concern ourselves. There is some little dift'erence in the aflairs and necessities of other men : for, provided we submit to the divine ))rovidence, and pray for good things for others only with a tacit condition, so far as they are good and profitable in order to the l)est ends, though we be })ar- ticular, there is nocovelousness in it; there maybe in- discretion in the particular, but in the general, no fault, because it is a prayer and a design of charity. For kings, and all that are in authority, we may yet enlarge, and pray for a peaceable reign, true lieges, strong armies, victories and fair success in their just wars, health, long life, and riches; because they have a capacity which private persons have nut. And 3J2 OF PKAYEK. whatsoever is good for single persons, and what- soever is apt for their uses as public persons, all that we may and must pray for ; eitlier particularly, for so we may, or in general significations, (or so we must at least: ' That we may lead a godly, peace- able, and quiet life, in all godliness and honesty ;' that is St. Paul's rule, and tlie prescrii^ed measure and purpose of such prayers. And in this instance of kings, we may pray for defeating all the king's enemies, such as are truly such. And we have no other restraint upon us in this, but that we keep our desires confined within the limits of tlieend we are commanded ; tiiat is, so far to confound the king's enemies, that he may do his duty, and we do ours, and receive the blessing; ever as much as we can to distinguish the malice from the person. But if the enemies themselves will not also sepa- rate what our intentions distinguish, that is, if they will not return to their duty, then let the prayers operate as God pleases, we must be zealous for (he end of the king's authority and peaceable government. By enemies I mean rebels or in- vadei-s, tyrants and usurpers; for in other wars there are many other considerations not proper for this place. 13. The next consideration will be concerning the manner; I mean both the manner of our per- sons, and the manner of our prayers; that is, with what conditions we ought to approach to God, and with wliat circumstances the prayers may or ought to be performed. The conditions to make our prayers holy and certain to |)revail are, first. That we live good lives, endeavouring to conform by holy obedience to all the divine commandments UV lUAYlII. 313 Tliis toiidiliun is expressly recorded by St. John : ' Beloved, if our heurts condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God ; and whatsoever we ask ol" him, we shall obtain.' ' And St. James affirms, that • the eft'ectuul fervent prayer of a righteous man iivaileth much.'* And our blessed Saviour, limit- ing the confidence of our prayers for forgiveness to our charily and forgiving others, plainly tells us, that the uiicliarital)le and unrighteous person shall not be heard. And the blind man in the gospel understood well what lie said: 'Now we know that God heiireth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper, and doth his will, him he heareth." And it was so decreed and resolved a point in the doctrine of their religion, that it was a proverbial Siiying. And although this discourse of the blind man was of a restrained occasion, and signified, if Christ had been a false prophet, God would not have attested his sermons with the power of mira- cles ; yet in general also he had been taugiit by David, ' If I regard iniquity in my heart, theLoid will not hear my prayer.' And, therefore, when men * pray in every place, (for so they are com- manded,') let them lift up pure hands without an- ger and contention.'* And, indeed, although €very Siin entertained with a free choice and a full under- standing is an obstruction to our prayers, yet the special sin of uncharilableness makes the biggesi cloud, and is, in the proper matter of it, an indis- position for us to i"eceive mercy. For he who is softened with apprehension of his own needs of mercy, will be tender-hearted towards his brother; ' I John, iii. 21, 22. ' .Tames, v. I«. J John, ix. 31. • P«*l. Ixvi. IR; 1 Tim. ii. a ni4 OF PRAYtR. und llieiefore he that hath no bowels here, can have no aptness there to receive or heartily to hope for mercy. But this rule is to be understood of per- sons who persevere in the habit and remanent af- fections of sin : so I on ^2^ as they entertain sin witK Jove, complacency, and joy, they are in a state of enmity with God, and therefore in no fit disposi- tion to receive pardon and the entertainment of friends. But penitent sinners and returning souls, laden and grieved with their heavy pressures, are, next to holy innocents, the aptest [)ersons in the world to be heard in their prayers for pardon ; but they are in no further disposition to large favours, and more eminent charities. A sinner in the be- ginning of his penance will be heard for himself, and yet also he needs the prayers of holy persons more signally than others; for he hath but some very few degrees of dispositions to reconciliation; l)ut in prayers of intercession or mediation for others, only holy and very pious persons are fit to be interested. All men, as matter of duty, must pray for all men : but in the great necessities of a j)rince, of a church, or kingdom, or of a family, or in a great danger and calamity to a single person, only a Noah, a David, a Daniel, a Jeremiah, an Enoch, or Job are fit and proportioned advocates. God so requires holiness in us that our prayers may be accepted, that he entertains them in several degrees according to the degrees of our sanctity; to fiewer or more purposes, according as we are little «>r great in the kingdom of heaven. As for those irregular donations of good things which wicked ])ersons ask for and have, they are either no mer- cies, but instruments of cursing and crime ; or else they are designs of grace, intended to convince OF CHAYKR. 315 them of their unvvortliiness; and so, if they become not instnimenls of their conversion, they are aggra- vations of their ruin. 14. Secondly, The second condition I have al- ready explained in the description of the matter of our prayers. For although we may lawfully ask for whatsoever we need, and this leave is consigned to us in those words of our hlessed Saviour, ' Your heavenly Father knoweth what you have need of;' yet because God's providence walks in the great deep, that is, his footsteps are in the water, and leave no impression, no former act of grace be- comes a precedent that he will give us that in kind, which then he saw convenient, and therefore gave us; and now he sees to be inconvenient, and therefore does deny. Therefore in all things, but what are matter of necessary and mingled duty, we must send up our prayers ; but 1 umility mortification, and conformity to the divine will must attend for an answer, and bring back, not what the public embassy pretentis, but what they have in private instructions to desire ; accounting that for the best satisAiclion which God pleases, not what I have either unnecessarily, or vainly, or sinfully desired. 15. Thirdly, When our persons are disposed by siuictily, and the matter of our prayers is hallowed by prudence aiul relii;ions intendments, then we are bound to entertnin a full persuasion and confi- dent hope that God vnll hear us. ' What things so- ever ye desire wlien ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall obtain them,' said our l)lessed Sa\ ionr. And St. .Tames taught froiu that oracle. Mar. xi. 24. 3IG OF rRAYLR. ' If any ofyou lack wisdom, let him ask it of God: but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering ; for he that wavereth, is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind, and tossed to and fro.'' Meaning, that when there is no fault in the matter of our prayers, but that we ask things pleasing to God, and there is no indisposition and hostility in our persons and manners between God and us, then to doubt were 10 distrust God : for all being right on our parts, if we doubt the issue, the defailance must be on that part, which to suspect were infinite impiety. But after we have done all we can, if, out of humility and fear that we are not truly disposed, we doubt of the issue, it is a modesty whicii will not at all discommend our persons, nor impede the event; provided we at no hand suspect either God's power or veracity. Putting trust in God is an excellent advantage to our prayers: ' I will deliver him, saith God, ' because he hath put his trust in me. And yet distrusting ourselves, and suspecting our own dispositions, as it pulls us back in our actual confidence of the event, so, because it abates no- thing of our confidence in God, it prepares us to receive the reward of humility, and not to lose the praise of a holy trusting in the Almighty. 16. These conditions are essential: some other there are which are incidents and accessories, but at no hand to be neglected. And the first is actual or habitual attention to our prayers, which we are to procure with moral and severe endeavours, that we desire not God to hear us when we do not hear ourselves.* To which purpose we must avoid, as much as our duty will permit us, multiplicity of ' James. i..'», (i. ' Ecclus. xxxv. 1?; Psalm cii. I?. UK JMIAVKR. ;il7 cares and exterior eni|)loyments. For a river cut into many rivulets, divides also its strenfjlli, and grows contemptiMe and ajjt to l)e forded by a lanih, and drunk uj) by a suinnier-sun : so is the spirit of man, busied in variety and divided in itself; it abates its fervour, cools into indifl'erency, and be- comes triflin}^ by its dispersion and inadvertency. Aquinas was once asked, with what compendium a man mi^iit best become learned. He answered, '' By reading of one book : " meuninir, that an un- derstanding entertained with several objects is intent upon neither, and profits not. And so it is when we pray to God ; if the cares of the world intervene, they choke our desires into an indiffer- ency, and suppress the flame into a smoke, and strangle the spirit. But this being an habitual carelessness, an intemperance of spirit, is an enemy to an habitual attention, and therefore is nighly criminal, and makes our prayers to be but the labour of the lips, because our desires are les- sened by the remanent affections of the world. But besides an habitual attention in our prayers that is, a desire in general of all that our j)rayers pretend to in particular, there is also (or the accom- modation, and lo facilitate the access of our prayers, required, that we attend actually to the words, or sense of every collect or petition. To this we must contend with prayer, with actual dereliction and Reposition of all our other aftairs, though innocent and good in other kinds, by a present spirit. And the use of it is, that such attention is an actual conversing with God ; it occasions the exercise of many acts of virtue, it increases zeal and fervency, and by reflection enkindles love and holy desires. And although there is no rule to determine the MIS . Lastly, according to the degrees of our actual at- tention, so our prayers are more or less perfect : a present spirit being a great instrument and testi- mony of wisdom, and apt to many great purposes; and our continual abode with (iod being a great endearment of our persons by increasing the afVcc- tions. 17. Secondly, The second accessory is intention 3C'0 OF PRAYER. of spirit, or fervency ; such as wns that of orir Messed Saviour, who prayed to his Father with strong cries and loud petitions, not clamorous in language, but strong in spirit. St. Paul also, when l)e was pressed with a strong temptation, prayed thrice; that is, earnestly ; and St. James affirms this to be of great value and efficacy to the obtaining blessings: ' The effectual fervent prayer of a just pereon avails much ;' and Elias, though a man of like passions, yet by earnest prayer he ob- tained rain or drought, according as he desired. Now this is properly produced by the greatness of our desire of heavenly things, our true value and estimate of religion, our sense of present pres- sures, our fears; and it hath some accidental in- creases by the disposition of our body, the strength of fancy, and the tenderness of spirit, and assiduity of the dropping of religious discourses ; and in all men is necessary to be so great, as that we prefer heaven and religion before the world, and desire them rather, with the choice of our wills and un- derstanding. Though there cannot always be that degree of sensual, pungent, or delectable affections towards religion, as towards the desires of nature and sense ; yet ever we must prefer celestial ob- jects, restraining the appetites of the world, lest they be immoderate, and heightening the desires of grace and glory, lest they become indifferent, and the fire upon the altar of incense be extinct. But the greater zeal and fervour of desire we have in our prayers, the sooner and the greater will the return of the prayer be, if the prayer be for spiri- tual objects. For other things, our desires must be according to our needs, not by a value derived from the nature of the thing, but the usefulness it (ir I'HAYKR. 3-? I Is of to US in order to our g^reuter and better pur- poses. 18. Thirdly, Of the same consideration it is that we. •■ persevere and be importunate'' in our prayers, by repetition of our desires, and not remittinjj ei- ther our affections or our offices, till God, over- tome by our importunity, give a fjracious answer. Jacob wrestled with the angel all night, and would not dismiss him till he had given him a blessing. ' Let me alone,' saith God ; as if he felt a pressure and burden lying upon him by our prayers, or could not quit himself, nor depart, unless we give him leave. And since God is detained by our prayers, and we may keep him as long as we please, and that he will not go away till we leave speaking to him ; he that will dismiss him till he hath his blessing knows not the value of his bene- diction, or understands not the energy and power of a persevering prayer. And to this purpose Christ 'spake a parable, that men ought always to pray, and nc)t faint." ' Praying without ceasing,' St. Paul calls it; that is, with continual addresses, fre- quent interpolations, never ceasing the renewing the request till I obtain my desire. For it is not enough to recommend our desires to God with one hearty prayer, and then forget to ask him any more ; but so long as our needs continue, so long in all limes, and upon all occasions, to renew and repeat our desires: and this is praj ing continually. Just as the widow did to the unjust judge; she never left going to him, she troubled him every day with her clamorous suit; so must we pray always; that is, every day, and many times every ' Ty irpoaivxy irpotTKapripifTti; Rom. xii. 12. * Luke, xvi'i. I v«u.. II. -21 322 OF CRAVErt day, according to our occasions and necessities, or our devotion and zeal, or as we are determined by the customs and laws of a church ; never givinif over through weariness or distrust, often renewing our desires by a continual succession of devotions, returning at certain and determinate periods. For God's blessings, though they come infallibly, yet not always speedily. Saving only that it is a blessing to be delayed, that we may increase our desire, and renew our prayers, and do acts of con- fidence and patience, and ascertain and increase the blessing when it comes. For we do not more desire to be blessed, than God does to hear us im- portunate for blessing; and he weighs every sigh, and bottles up every tear, and records every prayer, and looks through the cloud with delight to see us upon our knees ; and when he sees his time, his light breaks through it, and shines upon us. Only we must not make our accounts for God according to the course of the sun, but th.e measures of eter- nity, lie measures us by our needs, and we must not measure him by our impatience. ' Ciod is not slack, as some men count slackness,' saith the apostle ; and we find it so, when we have waited long. All the elapsed time is no part of the te- diousness ; the trouble of it is passed wilh itself: and for the future, we know not how little it may be ; for aught we know we are already entered into the cloud that brings the blessing. However, pray till it comes ; for we shall never miss to receive our desire, if it be holy, or innocent, and safe , or else we are sure of a great reward of our prayers. 19. And in this so determined, there is no dan- ger of blasphemy or vain repetitions. For those repetitions are vain which repeat the words, not or iMiAYLu. 32.< the devotion; which renew the expression, and not the desire : and he that may pray the same prayer to-morrow which he said to-day, may pray the same at niglit which he said in tlie morning, anrl the same at noon wliich he said at night; and bo in all the hours of prayer, and in all the opportu- nities of devotion. Christ, in his agony, ' went thrice, and said tiie same words,' hut he had inter- vals for rej)etition ; and his need and his devotion pressed him forward. And whenever our needs do so, it is all one if we say the same words or others, so we express our desire, and tell our needs, and beg the remedy. In the same office and the same hour of prayer to rejieat the same things often liath but few excuses to make it reasonable, and fewer to make it pious. But to think that the prayer is better for such repetition, is the fault which the holy Jesus condemned in the Gentiles, who in their hymns woulil say a name over an Imndred timtfs. But in this we have no rule to determine us in numbers and proportion, but right reason. God loves not any words the more for being said often ; and those repetitions which are unreasonal>le in prudent estimation, cannot in any account be esteemed pious. But where a reason- nVile cause allows the repetition, the same cause that makes it reasonable, makes it also proper for devotion. He that speaks his needs, and ex- presses nothing but his fervour and greatness of desire, cannot be vain or long in his prayers. lie that speaks impertinently, that is, unreasonably und without desires, is long, though he speak but two syllables. He that thinks for speaking- much to be heard the sooner, thinks God is de- lighted in tlie labour of the lips. But when 324 OF PRAYEK. reason is the guide, and piety is the rule, and necessity is the measure, and desire gives the pro- portion, let the prayer be very long : he that shall blame it for its length, must proclaim his disrelish both of reason and religion, his despite of necessity, and contempt of'zeal. 20. As a part and instance of our importunity in prayer, it is usually reckoned and advised, that in cases of great, sudden, and violent need, we cor- roborate our prayers with a vow of doing some- thing holy and religious in an uncommanded in- stance, something to which God had not formerly bound our duty, though fairly invited our will : or else, if we choose a duty in which we were obliged, then to vow the doing of it in a more excellent manner, with a greater inclination of the nill, with a more fervent repetition of the acts, with some more noble circumstance, with a fuller assent of the understanding; or else adding a new promise to our old duty, to make it become more necessary to us, and to secure our duty. In this case, as it requires great prudence and caution in the susce])- tion, lest what we piously intend obtain a present blessing, and lay a lasting snare; so if it be pru- dent in the manner, holy in the matter, useful in the consequence, and safe in all the circumstances of the person, it is an endearing us and our prayer to God by the increase of duty and charity, and therefore a more probable way of making our prayers gracious and acceptable. And the reli- gion of vows was not only hallowed by the exam[)le of Jacob at Bethel, of Hannah praying for a child and God hearing her, of David vowing a temple to God, and made regular and safe by the rules and cautions in .Moses's law, Init left l>v f^ur blessed Saviour in the same constitution lie found it, he haviniT innovaled nolliintif in the matter of vows. And it was practised accorclinjjly in the instance oi St. Paul at Cenchrea; of Ananias and Saj)phira, who vowed tiieir possessions to the use of the church ; and of the widows in the apostolical age, who therefore vowed to remain in the state of wi- dowhood, because concerning tliem who married after the entry into religion St. Paul says, ' they have broken their first faitli.' And such were they of whom our blessed Saviour affirms, ' that some make themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of hea- ven ;' that is, such who promise to God a life of chastity. And concerning the success of prayer so seconded with a prudent and religious vow% besides the instances of Scripture," we have the perpetual experience and witness of all Christendom : and in particular our Saxon kings have been remarked for this part of importunity in their own chronicles, Oswy got a great victory with unlikely forces against Penda the Dane, after his earnest jirayer, and an appendant vow : and Ceadwalla obtained of God power to recover the Isle of Wight from the hands of infidels, after he had prayed, and pro- mised to return the fourtli part of it to be employed in the proper services of God and of religion. This can have no objection or suspicion in it among wise and disabused persons; for it can be nothing but an increasing and a renewed act of duty, or devotion, or zeal, or charity, and the im))ortunity of prayer acted in a more vital and real expression. 21. All else that is to be considered coneerning j)rayer is extrinsical and accidental to it. First, ■ Eccles. V. 4, 6 ; Psal. cxxxii. 1, 2 ; Dcut. \xiii. 21 ; Acta, xviii. 18. 3'?() or 1*11 AVER. prayer is puMic or private ; in the communion or society of saints, or in our closets : these prayen have less temptation to vanity; the other have more advantages of charity, example, fervour, and energy. In public offices we avoid singularity, in the private we avoid hypocrisy. Those are of more edification, tliese of great retiredness and silence of spirit: those serve the needs of all the world in the first intention, and our own by consequence ; these serve our own needs first, and the public only by a secondary intention : these have more pleasure, they more duty : these are the best instruments of repentance, where our confessions may be more particular, and our shame less scandalous; the other are better for eucharist and instruction, for edification of the church and glorification of God. 22. Secondly, The posture of bodies in prayer had as great variety as the ceremonies and civi- lities of several nations came to. The Jews most commonly prayed standing: so did the Pliarisee and the Publican in the temple;' so did the pri- mitive Cliristians in all their greater festivals and intervals of jubilee : in their penances they kneeled. The monks in Cassian sat when they sang the Psalter. And in every country, whatsoever by the ' Nehem. ix. 5; Mark. xi. 25; Luke, xviii. 11. Adoraturi sedeant, dixit Numa Pompilius apud Plutarch, id est, sint sedato animo. Et icnSi/o'^at TvpoaKvviiaovTa^ dictum proverbialiter ad eundem sensum. Vide S. Aug. lib. iii. c. 5, de Cura pro mortuis. Depositisque suis ornamcntis pretiosi?, Simplicis et tenuis fruitur vela:iiine vestis, Inter sacratos noctis venerabilis hyninos Intrans nudatis templi sacra limina plantis Et protio sacram vultu prostratus ad arani ; Corpus frigoreiB sociavit nobile terrae. S. Kosweid dc Hen. Imper. et de Othcn. OF PRAYER. 3^7 custom of the nation was a symbol of reverence and humility, of silence and attention, of gravity and modesty, that posture they translated to their prayers. But in all nations bowing the head, that is, a laying down our glory at the feet of God, was the manner of worshippers. And this was always the more humble and the lower, as their devotion was higher ; and w as very often expressed by prostration, or lying flat upon the ground : and this all nations did and all religions. Our de- portment ought to be grave, decent, humble, apt for adoration, apt to edify : and when we address ourselves to prayer, not instantly to leap into the office, as the judges of the Areopage into their sen- tence, without j)reface or preparatory afl'ections; but, considering in what |)resence we speak, and to what purposes, let us balance our fervour with reverential fear : and when we have tlone, not rise from the ground as if we vaulted, or were glad we had done ; but, as we begin with desires of assist- ance, so end with desires of pardon and acceptance, concluding our longer offices with a shorter mental prayer of more private reflection and reverence, designing to mend w hat we have done amiss, or to give thanks and proceed if we did well, and accord- ing to our powers. 23. Thirdly, In private prayers it is permitted to every man to speak his prayers, or only to think ihem, which is a speaking to God. Vocal or mental prayer is ad one to God, but in order to us they have tlieir several advantages. The sacrifice of the heart and the calves of the lips make up u holocaust to God. But words are the arrest of the desires, and keep the spirit fixed, and in less per- missions to wander from fancy to fancy : and 3?8 Of I'RAYKR. mental prayer is a|)t to make the greater fervour, if it wander not. Our office is more determined by words ; but we then actually think of God when our spirits only speak. Mental prayer, when our spirits wander, is like a watch standing still because the spring is down ; wind it up again, and it goes on regularly : but in vocal prayer,if the words run on and the spirit wanders, the clock strikes false, the hand points not to the right hour, because something is in disorder, and the striking is nothing but noise. In mental prayer we confess God's omniscience ; in vocal prayer we call the angels to witness. In the first, our spirits rejoice in God ; in the second, the angels rejoice in us. Mental prayer is the best remedy against lightness and indifferency of affections ; but vocal prayer is the aptest instrument of communion. That is more angelical, but yet fittest for the state of separation and glory ; this is but human, but it is apter for our present constitution They have their distinc* properties, and may be useci according to severai accidents, occasions, or dispositions. THE PRAYER. I. O holy and eternal God, who hast commanded us to pray unto thee in all our necessities, and to give thanks unto ihee for all our instances of joy and blessing, and to adore thee in all thy attributes and communications, thy own glories, and thy eternal mercies ; give unto me, thy servant, the spirit of prayer and sup- plication, that I may understand what is good for me, that I may desire regularly, and choose the best things, that I may conform to thy will, and submit to thy disposing, relinquishing my own nfleclions anJ iiiipiTJ'cot choice. Sanctity my hcr.rt and spirit, that I may sanctiFy tliy nanu-, and that I may be gracious an 1 accepted in thine eyes, (iive me the humility and obetlience of a servant, that I may also have the hope and confidence of a Son, making humble and confident addresses to the throne of grace; that in all my necessities I may come to thee for aids, and may trust in thee for a gracious answer, and may receive sa- tisfaction and supply. II. (ii\ e me a sober, diligent, and recollected spirit in my jjrayers* neither choked with cares, nor scattered by levity, nor discom_ posed by passion, nor estranged from thee by inadvertency, bu fixed fast to thee by the indissoluble bands of a great love and a pregnant devotion. And let the beams of thy Holy Spirit de- scending^from above enlighten and enkindle it with great fervours, and holy import\niity, and unwearied industry ; that I may serve thee, and obtain ihy blessing by the assiduity and ieal of perpetual religious offices. Let my prayers come before thy presence, and the lifting up of my hands be a daily sacrifice, and let the fires of zeal not go out by night or day ; but unite my prayers to the inter- cession of thy holy Jesus, and to a communion of those offices which angels and beatified souls do pay before the throne of the Lamb, and at the celestial altar : that my prayers, being hallowed by Uie merits of Christ, and being presented in the phial of the saints, may ascend thither where thy glory dwells, and from whence mercy and eternal benediction descends upon the church. III. hon], change my sins into penitential sorrow, my sorrow to petition, my petition to eucharist ; that my prayers may becori- tummate in the adorations of eternity, and the glorious partici- pation of the end of our hopes and prayers, the fulness of never- failing charity and fruition of thee, () holy and etcnial God, blessed Trinity, and mysterious Unity, to whom all honour, and worship, and thanks, and confession, and glory, be asctibed foi ever and ever. Ameiu 330 OF FASTING. DISCOURSE xrii. Of the third additional Precept of Christ, viz. Of the Manner ofFastint/. 1. Fasting being directed in order to other ends, as for mortifying the body, taking away that fuel which ministers to the flame of lust, or else relating to what is past, when it becomes an instrument of repentance, and a part of that revenge which St. Paul affirms to be tlie effect of godly sorrow, is to take its estimate for value, and its rules for prac- tice, by analogy and proportion to those ends to whicli it does co-operate. Fasting before the holy sacrament is a custom of the Christian church, and derived to us from great antiquity; and tiie use of it is, that we might express honour to the mystery, by suffering nothing to enter into our mouths before the symbols. Fasting to this pur- pose is not an act of mortification, but of reverence and venerable esteem of the instruments of reli- gion, and so is to be understood. And thus also, not to eat or drink before we have said our morn- ing devotions, is esteemed to be a religious decency, and preference of prayer and God"s honour before our temporal satisfaction, a symbolical attestation tliat we esteem the words of God's mouth more than our necessary food. It is like the zeal of Altraham's servant, who would not eat nor drink till he had done his errand : and in pursuance of this act of religion, by the tradition of their father il \ryew to be a custom of the Jewish nation, tliat they shouUl not eat bread upon tlieir solemn festi- OF FASTINQ. 331 vals before the sixth hour; that they mij^ht first celebrate the rites of their relio^ious solemnities, be- fore they orave satisfaction to the lesser desires of nature. And tlierefore it was a reasonable satis- faction of the objection made by the assembly against the inspired apostles in pentecost, ' These are not drunk, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day :' meaning-, that the day l»eii)g festival, they knew it was not lawful for any of the nation to break their fast before the sixtii hour ; for else they might easily have been drunk by the third hour, if they had taken their morn- ings drink in a freer proportion. And true it is that religion snatches even at little things ; and as it teaches us to observe all the great commandments and significations of duty, so it is not willing to pretermit any thing which, although by its great- ness it cannot of itself be considerable, yet by its smallness may become a testimony of the greatness of the affection, which would not omit the least minutes of love and duty. And therefore, when the .Tews were scandalized at the disciples of our liord for rubbing the ears of corn on the sabbath- day, as they walked through the fields early in the morning, they intended their reproof, not for break- ing the rest of the day, but the solemnity ; for eating before the public devotions were finished. Christ excused it by the necessity and charity of the act ; they were hungry, and therefore, having so great need, they might lawfully do it ; meaning, that such particles and circumstances of religion are not to be neglected, unless where greater cause of cijarity or necessities does supervene. 2. But when fasting is in order to greater and more concerning purpost>s, jt puts on more reli- 332 OF FASTINO. gion, and becomes a duty, accordiuf;- as it is iiere«- sary or hiii;lily couducins^ to such ends, to the \)ro- nioting of which we are bound to contribute all our skill and faculties. Fasting is principally ope- rative to mortification of cariial appetites, to which feasting- and full tables do minister aptness and power and inclinations. ' When I fed them to the full, then they committed adultery, and assembled by troops in the harlots' houses.' And if we observe all our own vanities, we shall find that upon every sudden joy, or a prosperous accident, or an opulent fortune, or a pampered body, and highly spirited and in- flamed, we are apt to rashness, levities, inconside- rate expressions, scorn, and pride, idleness, wanton- ness, curiosity, niceness, and impatience. But fasting is one of those afflictions which reduces our body to want, our spirits to soberness, our condi- tion to sufferance, our desires to abstinence and customs of denial ; and so, by taking off the inundations of sensuality, leaves the enemies with- in in a condition of being easilier subdued. Fast- ing directly advances towards chastity; and by consequence and indirect powers to patience, and humility, and indifferency. But then it is not the fast of a day that can do this; it is not an act, but a state of fasting, that operates u) mortification. A perpetual temperance and fre- quent abstinence may abate such proportions of strength and nutriment, as to procure a body mor- tified and lessened in desires. And thus St. Paul kept his body under, using severities to it for the taming its rebellions and distemperatures. And St. Jerome reports of St. Ililarion,' that when he had ' Hieron, in Vita S. Hilarion. OF FASTING. 333 fasted nuicli, and used coarse diet, and found his lust too stronjr for such austerities, he resolved to increase it to tlie degree of mastery, lessening his diet and increasinemctriad. 331 OF FASTINW. sires. And it utMe. well to help this exercise with the assistances of such austerities which teach pa- tience, and ingenerate a passive fortitude, and ac- custom us to a despite of pleasures, and which are consistent with our health : for if fasting be left to do the work alone, it may chance either to spoil the body or not to spoil the lust. Hard lodging, un- easy garments, laborious postures of prayer, .jour- neys on foot, sufferance of cold, paring away the use of ordinary solaces, denying every pleasant appe- tite, rejecting the most pleasant morsels; these are in the rank of bodily exercises, which though (as St. Paul says) of themselves ' they profit little,' yet they accustom us to acts of self-denial in exterior instances, and are not useless to the designs of mor- tifying carnal and sensual lusts. They have ' a proportion of wisdom'' with these cautions; viz. in will- worship ; that is, in voluntary susception, when they are not imposed as necessary religion :' in hu- mility; that is, without contempt of others that use them not : ' in neglecting of the body ;' that is, when they are done for discipline and mortification, that the flesh by such handlings and rough usages be- come less satisfied and more despised. ',i. As fasting hath respect to the future, so also to the present ; and so it operates in giving assistance to prayer. There is a kind of devil that is not to be ejected but by prayer and fasting ; that is, prayer elevated and made intense by a defecate and pure spirit, not laden with the burden of meat and va- ])ours. St. Basil affirms, that there are certain ' Colos. ii. 23. Aojov aofpiag. ' El Tit; ITiKJKOTrOC, &C. ya/lS, K/ KOtWV, K) oh'S H li dtTKIJtTtl'f Can. A post 50. OF FA>ri>o. 33ff aiigels deputed by God lo n)ini!.ler, and to de- scribe all such in every cliurch who mortify ihem- ticlves by fasting;' as if paleness and a meagre visage were that mark in the forehead which the angel observed, when he signed the saints in Jeru- salem to escape the judgment. Prayer is the wings of the soul, and fasting is the wings of prayer.* Tertullian calls it, the nourishment of prayer.* But this is a discourse of Christian philosophy; and he that chooses to do any act of sj)irit, or understand- ing, or attention after a full meal, will then per- ceive that abstinence had been the better disposi- tion to any intellectual and spiritual action. And therefore the church of God ever joined fasting to their more solemn offices of prayer. The apostles f;isted and prayeci 'when they laid hands,' and in- vocated the Holy Ghost upon Saul and Baniabas.* And these also, ' when tliey had prayed with fiisting, ordained elders in the churches of L3'stra and Ico- nium.'* And the vigils of every holiday tell us, that the devotion of the festival is promoted by the fast of the vigils, 4. But when fasting relates to what is past, it becomes an instrument ol" repentance, it is a puni- tive and an afflictive action, an effect of godly sor- row, a testimony of contrition, ' a judging of our- selves,' and chastening our bodies, ' that we be not ' Serm. v. de Jejun. ' Jejuniuni aninia; nostra; aliincntuni, leves ei penn&s produ- cens. !?. l?eni. J>cnn. in Vigil. S. .-Yndreae. 'AKoicnr iatiiofTa 'loiuvrtii; H, TTTifyofviiTavra ti)v 4'i'X')*'* dixit S Chrysost. ^ Jejiiniis precesalerc, lacryntari, et tnugire noctes dies oe ad l>ominum. Tertull. ' Act^i, xiii. H. • lliid. xiv. 2:i. J33t> OF FASriNG. jadged of the Lord,'' The fast of the Nineviles, and the fast the prophet Joel calls for, and Uie discipline of the Jews in the rites of expiation, pro- claim this usefulness of fasting' in order to repent- ance. And indeed it were a strange repentance that had no sorrow in it, and a stranger sorrow that had no affliction ; but it were the strangest scene of affliction in the world, when the sad and afflicted person shall eat freely, and delight himself, and lo the banquets of a full table serve up the chalice of tears and sorrow, and no bread of affliction. Cer- tainly he that makes much of himself, hath no great indignation against the sinner, when himiself is the man. And it is but a gentle revenge and an easy judgment, when the sad sinner shall do penance in good meals, and expiate his sin with sensual satis- faction. So that fasting relates to religion in all variety and difference of time; it is an antidote against the poison of sensual temptations, an ad- vantag-e to prayer, and an instrument of extinguish- ing the guilt and the affections of sin, by jutlging ourselves, and representing in a judicatory of our own, even ourselves being judges, that sin deserves condemnation, and the sinner merits a higii cala- mity. Which excellencies I repeat in the words o{ Baruch the scribe, he that was amanuensis to the prophet Jeremiah : 'The soul that is greatly vexed, which goeth stooping and feeble, and the eyes that fail, and the hungry soul, will give thee praise and righteousness, O Lord,' 5. But now as fasting hath divers ends, so also it hath divers laws. If fasting be intended as an in- strument of prayer, it is sufficient that it be of that ' Mtrdvoia xwp'C vtj'iuag apyr/. S. Ba«il. Joel, ii. 1ft j Lcvit. xxiii. 27. &.C.; Is«i xxii. 12, OF FASTING. 337 qnalily iu.d dej/ree thai the sj^irit be clear, and the head undislnrlied ; an ordinary act of Cast, an ab- stinence from a meal, or a deferring it, or a lessen- inpf it wiitru it comes, and the same abstinence re- peated acLorilin<;;'to the solemnity and intendment of llie olhces. And this is evident in reason, and the former instiinces, and the practice of the church, dissolvin'^- some of her fasts, which were in order only to prayer, by noon, and as soon as the great and first solemnity of the day is over. But if fast- ing be intended as a punitive act, and an instru- ment of repentance, it must be greater. St. Paul, at his conversion, continued three days without eat- ing or drinking. It must have in it so much afflic- tion as to express the indignation, and to condemn the sin, and to judge the person. And although the measure of this cannot be exactly determined, yet the general proportion is certain : for a greater sin there must be a greater sorrow, and a greater sorrow must be attested with a greater penalty. And Ezra declares his purpose thus : ' I proclaimed a fast, that we might afflict ourselves before God." Now this is no further required, nor is it in this sense furtiier useful, but that it be a trouble to the Ijody, an act of judging and severity ; and this is to be judged by proportion to the sorrow and indig- nation, as the sorrow is to the crime. But this afflic- tion needs not to leave any remanent effect upon the body ; but such transient sorrow whicli is con- sequent to tiie abstinence of certain times designed for the solemnity, is sufficient as to this ])urpose. Only it is to be renewed often, as our repentance must V)e habitual and lasting: but it maybe com- ' Ezra, viii. 21. Vid. Dan. x. 12; Psal. x\xv. I.'J; I.cvit, XTi. 2n. HO, 31 ; Isai. Iviii. 3. vol.. II. 22 338 OF FASTING. muted with other actions of severity and discipline, according to the customs of a church, or the capa- city of the persons, or the opportunity of circum- stances. But it the fasting be intende Nee monstravi! tantum, sed etiam prjEcessit, ne quis difficul- tatis gratia iter virtutis horreret. Lacfant. — " He not only pointed out the path, but traversed it himself, that no one might fear the ways of virtue on account of their difficulty."' "ATraj'TfC :'T/ifi' to vHOt-Ar (To^oi, Arroi ff o//n()rcn'(ij'rft' « yerwcfco/itr. — Menand. " AVe are all ready to admonish, but know not when we err ourselves." M'2 OF THE MIRACLES made a new sermon, teaching all prelates and spiri- tual persons to descend from their eminency of contemplation, and the authority and business of their discourses, to apply themselves to do more material and corporal mercies to afflicted persons, and tf) preach by example as well as by their ho- milies. For he that teaches others well, and prac- tises contrary, is like a fair candlestick bearing a goodly and bright taper, which sends forth light to all the house, but round about itself there is a shadow and circumstant darkness. The prelate should be the light consuming and spending itself to enlighten others, scattering his rays round about from the angles of contemplation and from the cor- ners of practice, but himself always tending up- wards, till at last he expires into the element of love and celestial fruition. 2. But the miracles which Jesus did were next to infinite; and every circumstance of action that passed from him, as it was intended for mercy, so also for doctrine ; and the impotent or diseased per- sons were not more cured than we instructed. But because there was nothing in the actions but what was a pursuance of the doctrines delivered in his sermons, in the sermon we must look after our duty, and look upon his practice as a verification of his doctrine, and instrumental also to other pur- poses. Therefore, in general, if we consider his mi- racles, we shall see that he did design them to be a compendium of faith and charity. For he chose to instance his miracles in actions of mercy, that all his powers might especially determine upon bounty and charity;' and yet his acts of charity ' Acts, X. .S8. WROLOHT UY JESL'S. 343 were so miraculous that t!iey became an argument of the divinity of his person and doctrine. Once he turned water into wine, which was a mutation by a supernatural power, in a natural suscipient, where a person was not the subject, but an elen)ent: and yet this was done to rescue the poor bridegroom from affront and trouble, and to do honour to tlic holy rite of marriaj^je All the rest, (unless we ex- cej)t his walking upon the waters,) during his na- tural life, were actions of relief and mercy, accord- ing to the design of God, manifesting his power most chiefly in showing mercy. 3. The great design of miracles was to prove his mission from God, to convince the world of sin, to demonstrate his power of forgiving sins, to endear iiis precepts, and that his disciples might believe in him, and tliat believing they might have life through his name.' For he to whom God, by doing miracles, gave testimony from heaven, mui^t needs be sent from God ; and he who had received power to restore nature, and to create new organs, and to extract from incapacities, and from priva- tions to reduce habits, was Lord of nature, and therefore of all the world ; and thus could not but create great confidences in his disciples, that him- self would verify those great promises upon which he established his law. But that the argument of miracles might be infallible, and not apt to be re- proved, we may observe itseminency by divers cir- cumstiinces of probability heightened up to the de- gree of moral demonstration. 4. First, The iioly Jesus ' did miracles which no man (before him, or at that time) ever did.'* Moses ' John, \x. 31 ; x l.H ; v. 30. John, xv. 24. 344 OF iiu: Miii'.r i.i;5 smote tlie rock and vkUct unshed out; but lie could not turn that water into uino. Closes cured no diseases by the emj)ire of his will, or the word of his mouth ; but Jesus ' healed all infirmities. Elisha raised a dead child to life ; but Jesus raised one who had been dead four days, and buried, and corrupted. Elias and Samuel, and all the prophetSj and the succession of the high-priests, in both the temples, put all together, never did so many or so great miracles as Jesus did. He cured ]ej)erous persons by his touch. He restored sight to the blind, who were such, not by any inter- vening- accident hindering the act of the organ, but by nature; who were born blind, and whose eyes had not any natural possibility to receive sight ; who could never see w ithout creating of new eyes for them, or some integral part co- operating to vision ; and therefore the miracle was wholly an effect of a divine power, for nature did not at all co-operate ; or, that I may use the elegant expression of Dante, it was such " a cui natura " Non scaldo ferro mai, nebatte ancude," for which nature never did heat the iron, nor beat the anvil. He made crooked limbs become straight, and the lame to walk ; and habitual diseases and inveterate, of eighteen years,' continuance, (and one of thirty-eight,) did disappear at his speaking, like darkness at the presence of the sun. He cast out devils, who by the majesty of his person were forced to confess and worsliip him ; and yet by his humility and restraints were commanded silence, or to go whither he pleased : and without his leave all the powers of hell were as infirm and impotent VRdtGlIT BY JKStS. 345 as a withered memher, and were not able to stir. He raised three dead persons to life: he fed thou- sands of f)eop]e with two small fishes and five little barley-cakes : and as a consummation of all power and all miracles, he foretold, and verified it, that himself would rise from the dead after three days' sepulture. But when himself had told them he did miracles which no man else ever did, they were not able to reprove his saying- with one single instance ; but the poor blind man found him out one instance to verify his assertion: 'It was yet never heard, that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.' 5. Secondly, The scene of his preaching and miracles was Judea, which was the pale of the church, and God's inclosed portion, 'of whom were the oracles and the fathers, and of whom, as con- cerning the flesh, Christ was to come,' and to w horn lie was promised. Now, since these miracles were for verification of his being the Christ, the pro- mised Messias, they were then to be esteemed a convincing argument, when all things else con- curring, as the predictions of the jjrophels, the synchronisms, and the capacity of his person, he brought miracles to attest himself to be the person 80 declared and signified. God would not suflTer his people to be abused by miracles, nor from heaven would speak so loud in testimony of any thing contrary to his own will and purposes. They to whom he gave the oracles, and the law, and the predictions of the Messias, and declared before- hand, that at the 'coming of the Messias the blind should see, the lame should walk, and the deaf should hear, the lepers should bo cleansed, and to 346 OF IHK MIRACLF.S the poor the gospel should be preached/' could not expect a greater conviction for acceptation of a person, than when that happened which God him- self by his prophets had consigned as his future testimony ; and if there could have been deception in this, it must needs have been culpable in the de- ceived person, to whose error a divine prophecy had been both nurse and parent. So that taking the miracles Jesus did in that conjunction of cir- cumstances, done to that people to whom all their oracles were transmitted by miraculous verifica- tions, miracles so many, so great, so accidentally, and yet so regularly, to all comers and necessitous persons tliat prayed for it, after such predictions and clearest prophecies, and these propliecies owned by himself, and sent by way of symbol and myste- rious answer to John the Baptist, to whom he described his office by recounting his miracles in the words of the prediction ; there cannot be any fallibility or weakness pretended to this instrument of probation, applied in such circumstances to such a people, who, being dear to God, would be preserved from invincible deceptions; and being commanded by him to expect the Messias in such an equipage of power and demonstration of mi- racles, were therefore not deceived, nor could they, because they were bound to accept it. 6. Thirdly, So that now we must not look upon these miracles as an argument primarily intended to convince the Gentiles, but the Jews. It was a high probability to them also, and so it was de- signed also in a secondary intention : but it could ' Isaiah, xxxv. 4, 5, 0; Alatth. xi. 5. wRoiour nv jf.sus. 347 not be an argument to them so certain, because it was destitute of two great supporters : for lliey neitlier believed the prophets foretellinir tlie Messias to be such, nor yet saw the miracles done. So that they had no testimony of God beforehand, and were to rely upon human testimony for the matter of fact ; which, because it was fallible, could not infer a necessary conclusion alone and of itself, but it put on dejfrees of persuasion, as the testimony had degrees of certainty or universality; that they also which see not, and yet have believed, might be blessed. And therefore Christ sent his apostles to convert the Gentiles, and supplied in their case what in his own could not be applicable, or so concerning them ; for he sent them to do mi- racles in the sight of the nations, that ihey might not doubt the matter of fact ; and prepared them also with a prophecy, foretelling' that they should do the same and greater miracles than he did. They had greater prejudices to contest against, and a more unequal distance from belief and apt- nesses to credit such things ; therefore it was ne- cessary that the apostles should do greater miracles to remove the greater mountains of objection. And they did so ; and by doing it in pursuance and testimony of the ends of Christ and Christianity, verified the fame and celebrity of their master's miracles, and represented to all the world his power, and his veracity, and his divinity. 7. Fourthly, For when the Holy Jesus appeared upon the stage of Palestine, all things were quiet and at rest from prodigy and wonder: nay, John the Baptist, who, by his excellent sanctity and austerities had got great reputation to his person and doctrines, yet did no miracle: and no man 343 ( r THE Mi!t.\(.i.i:s else did any, save some few exorcissts among the Jews cured some demoniacs and distracted people. So tliat in this silence a prophet appearing with signs and wonders had nothing to lessen the argu- ments, no opposite of like power, or appearaticesof a contradictory design. And therefore it persuaded infinitely, and was certainly operative upon all persons, whose interest and love of the world did not destroy the piety of their wills, and put their understanding into fetters. And Nicodemns, a doctor of the law, being convinced, said, 'We know that thou art a doctor sent from God : for no man can do those things which thou doest, unless God be with him.'' But when the devil sau' what great affections and confidences these miracles of Christ had produced in all persons, he too late strives to lessen the argument by phiying an after- game; and weakly endeavours to abuse vicious persons (whose love to their sensual j)leasures was of power to make them take any thing for argument to retain them) by such low, few, inconsiderable, uncertain, and suspicious instances, that it grew to be the greatest confirmation and extrinsical argu- ment in behalf of religion, that eitiicr friend or foe upon his own industry could have represented. Such as were the making an image spciak, or fetcii- ing fire from the clouds ; and that the images of Diana, Cyndias, and Vesta, among the .Tasia?ans, would admit no rain to wet them, or cloud to darken them ; and that the bodies of them who en- tered into the temple of Jupiter in Arcadia would cast no shadow. Which things Polybius himself, one of their own superstition, laughs at as im- postures, and says they were no way to be excused, • John, iii. 2. UllOICMI l!V JLSLS. 319 unlt.'ss tlie jnous purpose of tlic invenlor.s did take olT (Voin the njalice of the lie.' But tlie niiiacles of Jesus were confessed, and wondered at by Jose- phus; were published to all the world by his own disciples, who never were accused, much less convicted of forwery ; they were acknowledj^ed by Celsus* and Julian,' the greatest enemies of Christ. 8. But further yet, themselves gave it out, tliat one Caius was cured of his blindness by vEscula- pius, and so was Valerius Aper ; and at Alexan- dria, Vespasian cured a man of the gout by tread- ing upon his toes, and a blind man with spittle. And when Adrian the emperor was sick of a fever, and would have killed himself, it is said, two blind persons were cured by touching him, wliereo one of them told him that he also should recover.* But, although Vespasian, by the help of Apollonius Tyaneus, vvlio was his familiar, who also had the devil to be his, might do any thing within tli power of nature, or by permission miijlit do nuich more: yet besides that this was of an uncertain and less credible re])ort, if it had been true, it was also infinitely short of what Christ did, and was a weak, silly innlation, and usurping of the argument uhich had already prevailed upon the persuasions of men, beyond all possibility of confutation, -^nd (or that of Achian, to have rejjorted it is enough to > liib. xvi. Hist. * 'J]i'o/iiff«rf nl'Tov t'tvni vihv OfH, tTZlt \io\in2 K) rtiXSt; iOfpaTTtrm, dixit Ce'.sus apud Origen. ■* Ki /(// rit: oUrtti TH<; KvWtsi; ti/ tv^\»<; ic'iTaa^ai, iif \uuo- viwi'TKi; tfpooki'^nf, 7uii> jityirio)' toyiov th'iii, &C Vtrb; Juliani apud Cyril, lib. vi. * Spanianus in Adriano ; qui addit .Mariuiu Afaxonit.". dixi&se, hiec facta fuissi* per siuiulatiuuem. 350 OF THF. MIRACLES make it lulicalous. And it had been a strange power to have cured two blind persons, and yet be so unable to help himself as to attempt to kill himself by reason of anguish, impatience, and de- sj)air. 9. Fifthly, When the Jews and Pharisees be- lieved not Christ for his miracles, and yet per- petually called for a sign, he refused to give them a sign which might be less than their prejudice, or the persuasions of their interest ; but gave them one which alone is greater than all the miracles which ever were done, or said to be done, by any antichrist, or the enemies of the religion put all together ; a miracle which could have no suspicion of imposture, a miracle without instance, or prece- dent, or imitation. And that is, Jesus's lying in the erave three days and three nights, and then rising again, and appearing to many, and convers- ing for forty days together; giving probation of his rising, of the verity of his body, making a glorious promise, which at pentecost was verified, and speaking such things which became precepts and parts of the law for ever after. 10. Sixthly, I add two things more to this con- sideration. First, that the apostles did such mira- cles, which were infinitely greater than the pre- tensions of any adversary, and inimitable by all the powers of man or darkness. They raised the dead ; they cured all diseases by their very shadow pass- ing by, and by tiie touch of garments ; they con- verted nations ; they foretold future events ; they themselves spake with tongues, and they gave the Holy Ghost by imposition of hands, which enabled others to speak languages which immediately be- fore they understood not, and to cure diseases, and wRtudiir BV jrst's. 331 to eject devils. Now supposinpf miracles to be done by Gentile philosophers and magicians after; yet when they Tall short of these in power, and yet teach a contrary doctrine, it is a demonslration that it is a lesser power, and therefore the doc- trine not of divine authority and sanction. And it is remarkable, that among- all the Gentiles none ever reasonably pretended to a power of casting out devils: for the devils could not get so much by it, as things then stood : and, besides, in whose name should they do it who worshipped none but devils and false gods ? which is too violent presumption, that the devil was the architect in all sucli buildings. And when the seven sons of Sceva, who was a Jew, (amongst whom it was sometimes granted to cure demoniacs,) offered to exorcise a possessed person, the devil would by no means endure it, but beat them for their pains.' And although it might have been for his purpose to have enervated the reputation of St. Paul, and by a voluntary cession equalled St. Paul's enemies to him ; yet either the devil could not go out but at the command of a Christian, or else to have gone out would have been a disservice and ruin to his kingdom : either of whicli declares that the power of casting out devils is a testimony of God, and a probation of the divinity of a doctrine, and a proper argument of Christianity. 1 1. Seventlily, But, besides this, I consider that the Holy Jesus, having first possessed upon just title all the reasonableness of human understanding by his demonstration of a miraculous power, in his infinite wisdom knew that the devil would attempt < Acta, xiz. 352 OF THK MJRACl.r!* to gain a party by the same instrument, and there- fore so ordered it, that the miracles which should be done, or jn-etended to, by the devil, or any of the enemies of the cross of Clirist, should he a con- firmation of Christianity, not do it disservice : for he foretold that antichrist and other enemies ' should come in prodigies and lyino; wonders and signs.' Concerning which, although it may be disputed whether they were truly miracles, or mere deceptions and magical pretences ; yet because they were such which the people could not discern from miracles really such, therefore it is all one, and in this consideration they are to be supposed such. But, certainly, he that could foretell such a future contingency, or such a secret of predestina- tion, was able also to know from what principle it came. And we have t!ie same reason to believe that antichrist shall do miracles to evil purposes, as that he shall do any at all : he that foretold us of the man, foretold us also of the imposture, and commanded us not to trust him. And it had been more likely for antichrist to prevail upon Christians by doing no miracles, than by doing any : for if he had done none, he might have escaped without dis- covery ; but by doing miracles, as he verified the wisdom and prescience of Jesus, so he declared to all the church, that he was the enemy of their Lord, and therefore less likely to deceive. For which reason it is said, that * he shall deceive, if it were possible, the very elect :' that is therefore not pos- sible, because that by which he insinuates himself to otliers, is by the elect, the church and chosen of God, understood to be his sign and mark of dis- covery, and a warning. And therefore, as the pro- phecies of Jesus uere an infinite verification of his \V!t(tn;iM iiY j[:srs. 353 miracles; so also tliis piopliecy of Christ concern- ing anticlirist disgraces tiie ie|JUtation and faitli of the miracles lie shall act. The old prophets fore- told of the ISIessias, and of his miracles of power and mercy, to prepare for his reception and enter- tainment: Christ alone, and his apostles from him, foretold of antichrist, and that he should come in all miracles of deception and lying ; that is, with true or false miracles to persuade a lie : and this was to prejudice his being accepted, according to ihe law of Moses. ' So that as all that spake of Christ hade us believe him for his miracles, so all tliat foretold of antichrist bade us disbelieve him the rather for his. And the reason of both is the same, because the mighty and ' surer word of pro- phecy ' (as St. Peter calls it) being tUe greatest testimony in the world of a divine principle, gives authority, or reprobates with the same power. 'I'iiey who are tiie predestinate of God, and they that are the prcescUi, the foreknown and marked people, must needs stand or fall to the divine sen- tence; and such must this be acknowledged; for no ' enemy of the cross,' not the devil himself, ever foretold such a contingency, or so rare, so personal, so voluntary, so unnatural an event, as this of the great antichrist. 12. And thus the holy Jesus, having ' showed forth the treasures of his Father's wisdom,' in reve- lations and holy precepts, and upon the stock of his Father's greatness having dispensed and demon- strated great power in miracles, and these being instanced in acts of mercy, he mingled the glories of heaven to transmit them to earth, to raise us up ' Deul. xiii. 1, 2. It. 354 OF T»F. MIRACLES to the participations of heaven. He was pleased, by healing the bodies of infirm jiersons, to invite their spirits to his discipline, and by his power to convey healing, and by that mercy to lead us into the treasures of revelation ; that both bodies and souls, our wills and understandings, by divine in- struments, might be brought to divine perfections in the participations of a divine nature. It was a miraculous mercy that God should look upon us in our blood, and a miraculous condescension that his Son should take our nature; and even this favour we could not believe without many miracles: and so contrary was our condition to all possibi- lities of happiness, that if salvation had not marched to us all the way in miracle, we had pe- rished in the ruins of a sad eternity. And now it would be but reasonable, that, since God for our sakes halh rescinded so many laws of natural esta- blishment, we also, for his and for our own, would be content to do violence to those natural in- clinations, which are also criminal when they de- rive into action. Every man living in the state of grace is a perpetual miracle ; and his passions are made reasonable, as his reason is turned into faith, and his soul to spirit, and his body to a temple, and earth to heaven ; and less than this will not dispose us to such glories, which being the portion of saints and angels, and the nearest communica- tions with God, are infinitely above what we see, or hear, or understand. WROUGHT HY JESl'S. 355 THE PRAYER. O eternal Jcsu, who didst receive great power, that by it thou mightest convey thy Father's mercies to us impotent and wretched people, give me grace to believe that heavenly doc- trine which thou didst ratify with arguments from above, that I may fully assent to all those mysterious truths which integrate that doctrine and discipline, in which the obligationsof my duty and the hopes of my felicity are deposited : and to all those glo- rious verifications of thy goodness and thy power add also this miracle, that I, who am stained with leprosy of sin, may be cleansed, and my eyes may be opened, that I may see the won- derful things of thy law : and raise thou me up from the death of sin to the life of righteousness, that 1 may for ever walk in the land of the living, abhorring the works of death and dark- ness. That as 1 am, by thy miraculous mercy, partaker of the first, 60 also I may be accounted worthy of the second resurrec- tion ; and as by faith, hope, charity, and obedience, I receive the fruit of thy miracles in this life ; so in the other 1 may partake of thy glories, which is a mercy above all miracles. I/ord, it' thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. Lord, I believe; help mine unbelief; and grant that no indisposition or incapacity of mine may hinder the wonderful operations of thy grace ; but let it be thy first miracle to turn my water into wine, my barren- ness into fruitfulness, my aversations from thee into unions and intimate adhesions to thy infinity, which is the fountain of mercy and power. Grant this for thy mercy's sake, and for the honour of those glorious attributes in which thou hast revealed thyself and thy Father's excellencies to the world, O holy and eternal Jesa. Amen. EM) OF PART II THE LIFE OF Ol:n BLESNED LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST PART Ilf. SECTION XIII. Of the Second Year of the Preaching of Jesus. 1. "When the first year of Jesus, the year of peace and undisturbed preachincj, was expired, ' there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem :' ' (this feast was the second pass- over he kept after he began to preach ; not the feast of pentecost or tabernacles, both which were passed before Jes-iis came last from Judeu : (whilher when he was now come, he finds an impotent per- son lying at the pool of Bethesda, waitinfi' till the angel should move the waters, after which, whoso- ever first stepped in was cured of his infirmity. The poor man had waited thirty-eight years, and still was prevented by some other of the hospital that needed a physician. But Jesus seeing him, haci pity on him, cured him, and bade biin ' tnko up his ' .John, V. 1, (kr. ; Iron. lib. ii. c. )0. 6 J HL sl.( UNO VI.AR <»F bed and walk.' Tliis cure happened to be wrought upon the sabbath-day; for whicli the Jews were so moved with indignation that they sought to slay him. And their anger was enraged by his calling nimself the Son of God, and making himself equal with God. 2. Upon occasion of this offence, which they t-natched at before it was ministered, Jesus dis- courses upon " his mission, and derivation of his authority from the Father ; of the union between them, and the excellent communications of power, participation of dignity, delegation of judicature, reciprocations and reflections of honour from the Father to the Son, and back again to the Father. He preaches of life and salvation to them that believe in him ; prophecies of the resurrection of the dead by the efficacy of the voice of the Son of God ; speaks of the day of judgment, the dif- fering conditions after, of salvation and damnation respectively ; confirms his words and mission by the testimony of John the Baptist, of Moses, and the other Scriptures, and of God himself" And still the scandal rises higher ; ' for in the second sabbath after the first,'* that is, in the first day of unleavened bread, which happened the next day after the weekly sabbath, the disciples of Jesus pull ripe ears of corn, rub them in their hands, and eat them to satisfy their hunger. For wliich he oflTered satisfaction to their scruples, convincing them, that works of necessity are to be permitted even to the breach of a positive temporary consti- tution ; and that works of mercy are best serving of God upon any day whatsoever, or any part of the ' John, V. I!), &c. 2 Suidasj Voc. 2aP/3arov. JEStSS PREACHING. 7 day that is vacant to other offices, and proper for a relijrious festival. 3. But when neither reaf^on nor religion would pfive them satisfaction ; hut that they went ahout to kill him, he withdrew himself from Jerusalem, and returned to Cialilee : v\ hither the Scrihes and Pha- risees followed him, ohserving his actions, and whether or no he viould prosecute that which they called profanalion of their sahhath, hy doings acts of mercy upon that day. Ha still did so : for en- tering- into one of the synagogues o( Galilee upon the sahhath, Jesus saw a man (whom St. Jerome reports to have heen a mason') coming to Tyre, and complaining that his hand was withered, and desiring help of him, that he might again he re- stored to the use of his hand, lest he should bft compelled, with misery and shame, to beg his bread. Jesus restored his hand as whole as the other in the midst of all those spies and enemies. Upon which act, being confirmed in their malice, the Pharisees went forth, and joined v\ith the Hero- dians, (a sect of people who said Herod was the Messias, because by the decree of the Roman senate, when the sceptre departed from Judah, he was declared king,*) and both together look coun- sel how they might kill him. 4. Jesus therefore departed again to the sea- coast, and his companies increased as his fame: for he was now followed bv new multitudes from • Evangel. Naz. quod S. Ilieron. ex Helir. in Greecuni trans- tulit. "H^iKTi" /(H Tiivt]K(, TO o' i'lfiiav Xtfiog iXiyxtf ^waov /Jt f3a(Tt\iv, fiHfriKl)V I'li-UTovov, ' Sic Tertullianus, Epiphanius, Chrysostomus, et Theophy- lactuti, et Hieron. Dialog, advers. liucif. uno ore affirmant. 8 THK Sr.COND YKAR OF Galilee, from Judea, from Jerusalem, from Fdumaea, from beyond Jordan, from about Tyre and Sidon ; who hearing the report of his miraculous power to cure all diseases by the word of his mouth, or the touch of his hand, or the handling- his s^arment, came with their ambulatory hospital of their sick and possessed ; and they pressed on him, but to touch him, and were all immediately cured. The devils confessing publicly, that he was the Son of God, till they were, upon all such occasions, re- strained and compelled to silence. 5. But now Jesus having commanded a ship to be in readiness against any inconvenience or troublesome pressures of the multitude, went up into a mountain to pray, and continued in prayer all night, intending to make the first ordination of apostles : which the next day he did, choosing out of the number of his disciples these twelve to b- apostles; Simon Peter and Andrew, James and John, the sons of thunder, Philip and Bartholo- mew, Matthew and Thomas, James, the son of Alphseus, and Simon the zelot, Judas, the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot. With these de- scending from the mountain to the plain, he re- peated tlie same sermon, or much of it, which he had before preached in the first beginning of his prophesyings ; that he might publish his gospel to these new auditore, and also more particularly in- form his apostles in the doctrine of the kingdom: for now, because he saw Israel scattered like sheep having no shepherd, he did purpose to send these twelve abroad to preach repentance and the ap- proximation of the kingdom; and therefore first instructed them in the mysterious parts of his holy JLSLJS.S PHEACIIING. .$ doctrine, and gave llieni also particular instruc- tions, tocrether with their temporary commission for that journey. 6. " For Jesus sent them out by two and two giving: them power over unclean spirits, and to heal all manner of sickness and diseases ; teHing: them they were the light, and the eyes, and the salt of the vvorld, so intimating their duties of diligence, holiness, and incorruption ; giving them in charge to preach the gospel; to dispense their power and miracles freely, as they had received it; to anoint sick persons with oil ; not to enter into any Sama- ritan town, but to go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel ; to provide no viaticum for their journeys, but to jjut themselves upon the religion and piety of their proselytes. He arms them against persecutions; gives them leave to fly the storm from city to city ; promises tliem the assist- ances of his Spirit; encourages them, by his own example of hing-sufferance, and by instances of divine Providence, expressed even to creatures of smallest value, and by promise of great rewards, to the confident confession of his name; and fur- nishes them with some propositions, which are like so many V)ills of exchange, upon the trust of which they might take u[) necessaries; promising great retributions, not only to them whoquit any thing of value for the sake of Jesus, but to them that offer a , cup of water to a thirsty disciple: and with these instructions they departed to preach in the cities." 7. And Jesus returning to Capernaum, received the address of a faithful centurion of the legion called " the iron legion,"' (which usually quartered ' Dio. IlisU Rom. lib. Iv. iO Tllli SECOND VEAK OF in Judea,) in behalf of his servant, vvliom he loved, and who was grievously afflicted with the palsy; and healed him, as a reward and honour to his faith : and from thence going to the city Nain. lie raised to life the only son of a widow, whom the mourners followed in the street, bearing the corpse sadly to his funeral. Upon the fame of these and •livers otlier miracles, John the Baptist, who was still in prison, (for he was not put to death till the latter end of this year,) sent two of his disciples to him by divine providence, or else by John's desig- nation, to minister occasions of his greater publica- tion, inquiring if he was the Messias. To whom Jesus returned no answer, but a demonstration taken from the nature of the thing, and the glory of the miracles; saying, Return to John, and tell him what you see; 'for the deaf hear, the blind see, the lame walk, the dead are raised, and the lepers are cleansed, and to the poor the gospel is preach- ed :'' which were the characteristic notes of the Messias, according to the predictions of the holy j)rophets. 8. When John's disciples were gone with this answer, Jesus began to speak concerning John, " of the austerity and holiness of his person, the greatness of his function, the divinity of his com- mission ; saying, that he was greater than a pro- phet, a burning and shining light, the Elias that was to come, and the consummation or ending of the old prophets. Adding withal, that the perverse- ness of that age was most notorious in the enter- tainment of himself and the Baptist : for neither could the Baptist, who came neither eating nor ' Isaiah, wxv. 1, .'>, 6. JESLs's I'RI;aCHIN(J. II drinkinp^, (that liy liis austerity and nioitifieil de- portment lie mig^lit invade the jud<;ment and affec- tions of the people,) nor Jesus, who came both eating' and drinking, (that by a moderate and an affable lift , framed to the compliance and common use of men, he might sweetly insinuate into the affections of the multitude,) obtain belief amongst them. They could object against every thing, but nothing could please them. But wisdom and righteousness had a theatre in its own family, and is justified of all her children. Then he pro- ceeds to a more applied reprehension of Caper- naum and Chorazin and Bethsaida, for being per- tinaci(»us in their sins and infidelity, in defiance and reproof of all the mighty works which had been wrought in them. But these things were not revealed to all dispositions; the wise and the mighty of the world were not subjects prepared for the simplicity and softer impresses of the gos- pel, and the downright severity of its sanctions. And therefore Jesus glorified God for the magni- fying of his mercy, in that these things, which were hid from the great ones, were revealed to babes ; and concludes this sermon with an invita- tion of all wearied and disconsolate persons, laden with sin and miserj, to come to him, promising ease to their burdens, and refreshment to their weariness, and to exchange their heavy pressures into an easy yoke, and a light burden." 9. When Jesus bad ended this sermon, one of the Pharisees named Simon, invited him to eat with him :' into whose house when he was entered, a certain woman that was a sinner, abiding there ' Luke, vil. 12 THE SECOND YEAH OF in the city, heard of it : her name was jVlary. She had been married to a noble personage, a native of the town and castle of ]Magdal, from whence she had her name of Magdalen, tliousi;h she herself was born in Bethany. A widow she was, and prompted by her wealth, liberty, and youth to an intemperate life and too free entertainments. She came to Jesus into the Pharisee's house ; not (as did the staring multitude) to glut her eyes with the sight of a miraculous and glorious |)erson ; nor (as did the centurion, or the Syro-()hcenician, or the ruler of the synagogue) for cure of her sickness, or in behalf of her friend, or cliild, or servant; but (the only example of so coming) slie came in remorse and regret for her sins. She came to Jesus to lay her burden at his feet, and to present him with a broken heart, and a weeping eye, and great affection, and a box of nard pislic, salutary and precious. For she came trembling, and fell down before him, weeping bitterly for her sins, pouring out a flood great enough to wash the feet of the blessed Jesus, and wiping them with the hairs of her head : after vvhicli she brake the box, and anointed his feet with ointment. Which ex- pression was so great an ecstasy of love, sorrow, and adoration, that to anoint the feet even of the greatest monarch was long unknown, and in all the pomps and greatnesses of the Roman prodi- gality, it was not used till Otho taught it to Nero, in whose instance it was by Pliny reckoned for a prodigy of unnecessary profusion : ' and in itself, without the circumstance of so free a dispensation, it was a present for a prince, and an alabaster box ' Plin. Natur. Hist. lib. xiii. c. .3. Vide Atlien. Deipnosoph. lib, xii. c. rtO. Herodotus in Thalia. JKSLS'b I'lUCACHlNa. 18 of naiil pislic was sent as a present from Cam- byses to the kini; of yEtliiopia. 10. When Simon observed this sinner so busy in the expresses of her religion and veneration to Jesus, he thought with himself that this was no propliet, that did not know her to be a sinner, or no just person, that would suffer her to touch liim. For although the Jews' religion did permit harlots of their own nation to live, and enjoy the privileges of tlieir nation, save that their oblations were re- fused ; yet the Pharisees, who pretended to a greater degree of sanctity than others, would not admit them to civil usages, or the benefits of ordi- nary society ; and thought religion itself, and the honour of a prophet, was concerned in the interests of the same superciliousness. And therefore Simon made an ol)jection within himself; which Jesus knowing (for he understood his thoughts as well as his words) made her apology and his own in a civil question, expressed in a parable of two debtors, to whom a greater and less debt n'sj)ec- tively was forgiven ; both of them concluding, that they would love their merciful creditor in propor- tion to his mercy and donative. And this was tiie case of Mary Magdalen, to whom, because mucli was forgiven, she loved much, and expressed it in characters so large, that the Pharisee might read his own incivilities and inhospitai)le entertainment of the Master, when it stood confronted with the magnificenc}^ of Mary Magdalen's penance and charity. 11. When Jesus had dined he was presented with the sad siglilof a poor demoniac, possessed with a blind and dumb devil ; in whose behalf his friends untreated Jesus tliat lie would cast the devil out : 14 THE SECOND YEAR OF which he did immediately; and the lilind man saw, and the dumb spake, so much to the amazement of the people, that they ran in so prodi;4ious com- panies after him, and so scandalized llie Pliaiisees, who thoujjht that by means of this prophet tlieir reputation would be lessened, and their schools empty, tiiat first a rumour was scattered up and down, from an uncertain principle, but communi- cated with tumult and apparent noises, that Jesus was beside himself. Upon which rumour his friends and kindred came together to see, and to make provisions accordingly; and the holy virgin- mother came herself, but without any apprehen- sions of any such horrid accident. The words and things she had from the beginning' laid up in her heart, would furnish her with principles exclusive of all apparitions of such fancies: but she came to see what that persecution was, which, under that colour, it was likely the Pharisees might com- mence. 12. When the mother of Jesus and his kindred came, they found him in a house encircled with people full of wonder and admiration. And there the holy virgin-mother might hear part of her own prophecy verified , That the generations of the earth should call her blessed : for a woman wor- ship[)ing Jesus cried out, 'Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps that gave thee suck.' To this Jesus replied, not denying her to be highly blessed who had received the honour of being the mother of the Messias, but advancing the dignities of spiritual excellencies far above this greatest temporal honour in the world; ' Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and do it.' For in respect of the issues of spiritual perfections JESIS'S PRnACniNG. 15 and their proportiontible benedictions, all immuni- ties and temporal honours are empty and hollow blessinp^s; and all relations of kindred disband and eniply themselves into the great channels and floods of divinity. i;3. For when Jesus being- in the house, they told him, ' his mother and his brethren staid for him without,' he told them those relations were less than the ties of duty and religion. For those dear names of mother and brethren, which are hal- lowed by tlie laws of God and tlie endearments of nature, are made far more sacred when a spiritual cognation does supervene, when the relations are subjected in persons religious and holy : but if they be abstract and separate, the conjunction of persons in spiritual bands, in the same faith, and the same hope, and the union of them in the same mystical head, is an adunation nearer to identity than tliose distances between parents and children, which are only cemented by the actions of nature, as it is of distinct consideration from the spirit. For Jesus, pointing to his disciples, said, ' Behold my mother and my brethren ; for whosoever doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven, he is my biother, and sister, and mother.' 14. But the Pharisees, upon tlie occasion of the miracles, renewed tiie old quarrel: 'He castetli outdevils by Bt;elzebub. Which senseless and illi- terate objection Christ having confuted, charged them highly upon the guilt of an unpardonable crime; telling them tiiat the so charging those ac- tions of his, done in tiie virtue of the divine Spirit, is a sin against the Holy Ghost : and however they might be bold with the Son of Man, ami prevarications against his words, or injuries to his 16 THE SECOND YEAR OF person miglit, upon repentance and baptism, fintl a pardon ; yet it was a matter of greater considera- tion to sin against the Holy Ghost ; that would find no pardon here nor hereafter. But taking? occasion upon this discourse, he, by an ingenious and mysterious parable, gives the world great cau- tion of recidivation and backsliding after repent- ance. For if the ' devil returns into an house once swept and garnished, lie briugeth seven spi- rits more impure than himself; and the last estate of that man is worse than the first.' 15. After this, Jesus went from tlie house of the Pharisee, and coming to the sea of Tiberias or Gen- nesaret, (for it was called the sea of Tiberias from a town on the banks of the lake,) taught the people upon the shore, himself sitting in the ship. But he taught them by parables, under which were hid mysterious senses, which shined through their veil, like a bright s-un through an eye closed with a thin eyelid ; it being light enough to show their infi- delity, but ml to dispel those thick Egyptian darknesses which they had contracted by their ha- bitual indispositions and pertinacious aversations. By the parable ' of the sower scattering his seed by the way-side,' and * some on stony, some on thorny, some on good ground,' he intimated the several capacities or indispositions of men's hearts; the carelessness of some, the frowardness and levity of others, the easiness and softness of a third, and how they are spoiled with worldliness and cares, and how many ways there are to miscarry ; and that but one sort of men receive the word, and bring forth the fruits of a holy life. By the para- ble of tares permitted to grow amongst the wheat, he intimated the toleration of dissenting opinions jr.SLSS I'KEACHJNO. 17 not destruclive of piety or civil societies. By the three parables of" tlie seed gio\vin<>; insensibly, of the grain of mustanl-seecl swellini;- up to a tree, ot a little levcn qualifyinj^ the whole lump, he siuni- fied llie increment of llie i^ospei, and the blessinos upon the apostolical sermons. lt>. Which j)arables when he had privately to his apostles rendered into their proper senses, he addcti to them two parables conccrnins^ the cii-,-- nity of the gospel; comparing it to ' treasure hid in a field,' and ' a jeuel of great price,' for the pur- chase of which every good merchant must quit all that lie hath rather than miss it: telling tliem withal, that however purity and spiritual perfec- tions were intfmded by the gospel, yet it would not be acquired by every person; but the public pro- fessors of Cliristianily should be a mixed multitude, ' like a net enclosing fislies ofood and l>ad.' After which discourses he retired from the sea-side, and went to his own city of Nazareth ; w here lie preached so excellently upon certain words of the prophet Isaiah,' that all the people wondered at the wistiom \\ Inch he expressed in his divine discourses. But the men of Nazareth did not do honour to the prophet, that was their countryman, because they knew him in all the disadvantages of youth, and kindred, and trade, and poverty ; still retaining in their minds the infirmities and humilities of his first years, and keeping the same a|)prehensious of hiui, a man, a glorious prophet, which ihey had to him a child in the shop of a carpenter. But when .Tesus, in his sermon, had reproved their infidelity, at which he wondered, and therefore did but lew mi- ' Isaiah, l\i. I vol-. II. -•! 18 THE SIXOND YKAR OF JE^L's's PRRACHINO. racles there in respect of what he had done at Ca- pernaum, and intimaled the prelation of that city before Nazareth, ' they thrust him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which the city was built,' intending ' to throw him down headlong.' But his work was not yet finished, therefore he, ' passing through the midst of them, went his way.' 17. Jesus therefore, departing from Nazareth, M'ent up and down to all the towns and castles of Galilee, attended by his disciples, and certain wo- men out of whom he had cast unclean spirits; such as were Mary iMagdalene; Johanna, wife to Chuza, Herod's steward ; Susanna, and some others, who did for him offices of provision, and ' ministered to him out of their own substance,' and became part of that holy college w hich about this time began to be full ; because now the apostles were returned irom their preaching, full of joy tliat the devils were inade subject to the word of their mouth, and the empire of their prayers, an J invocation of the holy name of Jesus. But their master gave them a leni- tive to assuage the tumour and excrescency, inti- mating that such privileges are not solid founda- tions of a holy joy, but so far as they co-operate toward the great end of God's glory and their own salvation ; to which when they are consigned, and ' their names written in heaven,' in the book of election and registers of predestination, then their joy is reasonable, holy, true, and perpetual.' 18. But when Herod had heard these things of Jesus, presently his apprehensions were such as derived from his guilt : he thought it was John the ' Vide Discourse of the Certainly of Salvatioti; Num. 'i. r.XCELl F.Nc V Ol- lilt tlllUSrUN RKLIGION. 19 Uaptist who was risen from Uie dead, and that these mi<;lity works were demonstrations of his power, increased by the sii[)eradditions of immorta- lity and diviner influences, made proportionable to the honour of a martyr and the state of separation : for a little before this time Herod had sent to the castle of INIacheruns, where John was prisoner, and caused him to be beheaded. His head Herodias buried in her own palace, thinkins? to secure it uy:ainst a reunion, lest it should again disturb her unlawful lusts, and disquiet Herod's conscience. But the body the disciples of John gathered up, and carried it, with honour and sorrow, and buried it in Sebaste, in the confines of Samaria, making his grave between the bodies of Elizeus and Abdias the prophets. And about tliis time was the pass- over of the Jews. DISCOURSE XV. Of the Excellency , Ease, Reasonableness, and Advan- iages of hearing Christ's Yoke, and living accord- ing to his Institution. I. The holy Jesus came to break from ort our necks two great yokes; the one of sin, by which we were fettered and imi)risoned in the condi- tion of slaves and miserable persons ; the other of Moses's law, by which we were kept in pu- pilage and minority, and a state of imperfection: and asserted us into ' the glorious liberty of tiie sons of God.' Tlie first was a despotic empire, and the government of a tyrant : the second was of u schoolmaster, severe, absolute, and imperious; 20 EXCI: I.LLVrV or IHE but it was in order to a further good, yet nothing pleasant in the sufferance and load. And now Christ, having taken off these two, hath put on a third. He quits us of our burden, but not of our duty ; and hath changed the former tyranny and the less perfect discipline into the sweetness of pa- ternal regiment, and the excellency of such an institution, whose every precept carries part of its reward in hand, and assurances of after glories. Moses's law was like sharp and unpleasant physic, certainly painful, but uncertainly healthful : for it was not then communicated to them !iy j)romise and universal revelations, that the e;:d of their obedience should be life eternal ; but they were full of hopes it might be so, as we are of health, when we have a learned and wise physician. But as yet the reward was in a cloud, and the hopes in fetters and confinement. But the law of Christ is like Christ's healing of diseases; he does it easily, and he does it infallibly. The event is certainly consequent, and the manner of cure is by a touch of his hand, or a word of his mouth, or an ajiproxi- mation to the hem of his garment, without pain and vexatious instruments. My meaning is, that Christianity is, by the assistance of Christ's Spirit, which he promised us, and gave us in the gospel, made very easy to us: and yet a reward so great is promised, as were enough to make a lame man to walk, and a broken arm endure the bur- den ; a reward great enough to make us willing to do violence to all our inclinations, passions, and desires. A hundred weight to a giant is a light burden, because his strength is disproportionably gieat, and niake:^ il a'< ea^y to liim as an ounce is U) a chiKl. And vet ii'ut; iii'.d i;<>l the strength of fniMsiiAN iii;lii.h>n. 21 giants, illliti liuiHhctl uei^lit wfie of gohi or jewels, a weaker person woukl think it no trouble to bear that burden, if it were the reward of his portai^e, and the hire olhis labours. The Spirit is given to us to enable us, and heaven is promised to encourage us: the iirst makes us able, and the second makes us willing-; and when we have power ant! affec- tions we cannot complain of pressure. And this is the meaning of our blessed Saviour's invitation : ' Come unto me, for my burden is light, my yoke is easy.'' Which St. John also observed: ' For this is the love of God, that we keep his com- mandments ; and his commandments are not grievous;' for ' w'hatsoever is born of God, over- comclli the world : and this is tlie victory that overcomelh, even our faith ;'* that is, our belief of God's promises, the promise of the Spirit for pre- sent aid, and of heaven for the future reward, is strong enough to overcome all the world. 2. But besides that God hath made Iiis yoke easy by exterior supports, more than ever was in any other religion, Christianity is of itself, accord- ing to human estimate, a religion more easy and desirable by our natural and reasonable appetites, than sin, in the midst of all its pleasures and ima- ginary felicities. Virtue hath more pleasure in it than sin, and hath all satisfactions to every desire of man in order to human and prudent ends; which I shall represent in the consideration of these ))arliculars : 1, To live according to the laws of .fesiis, is in some things most natural and propor- tionable to the desires and first intentions of nature. '2, There is in it less trouble than in sin. 3, It ' Mutt. xi. 2H, 30. '• John, v. 3, 4. 22 rxcFi.i.KNcv or the conduces infinitely to t!ie conlent of om- li" s, .•;•>'! natural and political satisfactions. 4, It is a means to preserve our temporal lives long^ and healthy. 5, It is most reasonable; and he only is prudent that does so, and he is a fool that does not. And all this besides the considerations of a glorious and happy eternity. 3. Concerning the first, I consider that we do very ill, when, instead of making our natural in- firmity an instrument of humility and of recourse to the grace of God, we pretend the sin of Adam to countenance our actual sins, natural infirmity to excuse our malice ; either laying Adam in fault, for deriving the disability upon us, or God, for putting us into the necessity. But the evils that we feel in this are from the rebellion of the inferior appe'ite against reason, or against any re- ligion that puts restraint upon our first desires: and therefore, in carnal and sensual instances, accidentally we find the more natural averseness, because God's laws have put our irascible and con- cupiscible faculties in fetters and restraints. Yft in matters of duty, which are of immaterial and spiritual concernment, all our natural reason is a per- fect enemy and contradiction to, and a law against vice. It is natural for us to love our parents, and they who do not are unnatural ; they do violence to those dispositions which God gave us to tiie constitution of our nature, and for the designs of virtue : and all those tendernesses of affection, tliose bowels and relenting dispositions, which are the endearments of parents and children, are also the bands of duty. Evei'y degree of love makes duty delectable; and therefore, either by nature we are inclined to hate our parents, \\hich is CHinSTIAN REI.IOION. !J3 anf.iin'^t all reason and experience, or else we are by nature inclined to do them all that which is tlie effect of love to such superiors, and principles of being and dependency : and every prevarication horn the rule, effects, and expresses of love is a contradiction to nature, and a mortification ; to which we cannot be invited by any thin<2^ from .vithin, but by somethinjj- from without, that is vio- lent and preternatural. There are also many other virtues, even in the matter of sensual appetite, which none can lose, but by altering in some de- gree the natural disposition : and I instance in the matter of carnality and uncleanness, to which pos- sibly some natures may think themselves apt and disposed : but yet (iod liath put into our mouths a bridle to curb the licentiousness of our speedy appetite, putting into our very natures a principle as strong to restrain it, as there is in us a disposi- tion apt to invite us: and this is also in persons who are most apt to the vice, women and young persons, to whom God hath given a modesty and shame of nature, that the entertainments of lust may become contradictions to our retreating and backward modesty, more than they are satisfactions to our too-forward appetites. It is as great a mor- tification and violence to nature to blush as to lose a desire : and we find it true, when persons are invited to confess tlieir sins, or to ask forgive- ness publicly, a secret smart is not so violent as a public shame; and therefore to do an action which brings shame all along, and opens the sanctuaries of nature, and makes all her retirements public, and dismantles her inclosure, as lust does; and the shame of carnality hath in it more asperity and abuse to nature, than llic short pleasure to which 24 KKCELLENCY OF IHE we are invited can repay. There are unnatural lusts, lusts which are sucli in their very condition and constitution, that a man must turn a woman, and a woman become a beast in acting- tliem : and all lusts that are not unnatural in theii own com- plexion, are unnatural by a consequent and acci- dental violence : and if lust hath in it dissonances to nature, there are but few apologies left to ex- cuse our sins upon nature's stock : and all that system of principles and reasonable inducements to virtue, wliich we call the law of nature, is nothing else but that firm ligature and incorpora- tion of virtue to our natural principles and disposi- tions, which whoso prevaricates does more against nature than lie that restrains his appetite : and, be- sides these particulars, liiere is not in our natural discourse any inclination, directly and by intention of itself, contrary to the love of God ; because by God we understand a fountain of being which is infinitely perfect in itself, and of great good to us; and whatsoever is so apprehended it is as natural for us to love as to love any thing in the world ; for we can love nothing but what we believe to be good in itself, or good to us.' And beyond this, there are in nature many principles and reasons to make an aptness to acknowledge and confess God ; and by the consent of nations, which they also have learned from the dictates of their nature, all men ' Eyw yd() 8k dv uSk dWo Trtpi BtH o, Ti uv ilvoijii tx^j 7/ on ayaQoQ ti Travrd -Kaan' thi, ki ^vfiiravra iv ry t^»ciif ry avTH t-^ii' Xtykrw ck wa-io yivioaKnv iKacroQ virko aiirGiv oltrai, K) 'iipiv<; icj idnoTi)t;. — Procop. Gothic, i. — ''This is all I would say concerning God, namely, that he is good, and all in all, and that he ruleth overall. Let every one speak of him. both priest and private man, according to his know- ledge." tHKISIIAN Rt.LIUtON. 2h in some manner or other worship God ; anti tlicre- fore, when this our nature is (fetermine^l in it< own indefinite ])rinciple to the manner of worship, all acts aijainst the love, the obedience, and the wor- ship of God, are also ao^ainst nature, and offer it some rudeness and violence: and I shall observe this, and refer it to every man's reason and expe- rience, that the fjreatest difficulties of virtue com- monly apprehended, commence not so much upon the stock of nature, as of education and evil habits.' Our virtues are difficult, because we at first get ill habits; and these habits must be unrooted before we do well, and that is our trouble. But, if by the .'>trictness of discipline and wholesome education, we begin at first in our duty and the practice of virtuous principles, we shall find virtue made as natural to us, while it is customary and haliitual, as we pretend infirmity to be and pro|)ensity to vicious practices. And this we are tauf^ht by that excellent Hebrew, who said, ' "Wisdom is easily seen of them that love her, and found of such as seek her. She preventeth them that desire her, in making herself first known unto them. ^Yhoso seeketh her early shall have no great travail; for he shall find her sitting at his doors." 4. Secondly, In the strict observances of the law of Christianity there is less trouble than in the habitual cnuisesof sin :' for if we consider the ge- ' Siquidein Lconidcs Alexandii pacdagogus quibubdain enni ritiis inibuit, qiue robustuiii (juoque et jam niaxinuim rej^em ;ib ilia instilutione jnurili sunt prosecuta. (Juintil HI), i. c. 1. — " Leon'ulas, the instructor of Alexander, imbued liim with some »ices. which thence infected him when lie was became a <;reat »nd powerful king. ' ' Wisdom, vi. 12, 13, U. * Multo difficilius CM fuctrt- ista qiue facili^. Quid cnini "SB EXCELLFNCY OF THE neral tlesif^n of Christianity, it ])ropnuiuls to us in tills world nothing that is of difficult purchase, no- thing beyond that God allots us by the ordinary and common providence; such things which we are to receive without care and solicitous vexation : so that the erds are not big, and the way is easy ; and this walked over with much simplicity and sweetness, and those obtained without difficulty. He that propounds to himself to live low, pious, humble, and retired, his main employment is no- thing but sitting quiet and undisturbed with variety of impertinent affairs : but he that loves the world and its acquisitions, entertains a thousand busi- nesses, and every business hath a world of em- ployment, and every employment is multiplied and made intricate by circumstances, and every circumstance is to be disputed, and he that dis- putes ever hath two sides in enmity and opposi- tion; and by this time there is a genealogy, a long descent and cognation of troubles, l)ranched into so many particulars that it is troublesome to un- derstand them, and much more to run through quiete otiosius est animi ? Quid ira laboriosius ? Quid de- mentia remissius ? Quid crudelitate negotiosius ? Vacat pu- dicitia, libido occupatissima est. Omnium denique virtutuiii tutpla facilior est; vitia magno coluntur. Seneca. — "The tilings which you do are much more difficult. For what is more easy than tranquillity of mind ? ^^'hat more laborious than anger ? What is more free than clemency, or more fully occupied tlian cruelty ? Hlodesty enjoys leisure ; lust is always occupied. The preservation, in short, of all the virtues is com- paratively easy ; the vices are cherished with danger and diffi- culty." In vitiis abit voluptas, manet lurpitudo ; cum in recte factis abeat labor, maneat honestas. I\Iuson. — " 'J'he pleasure con- ferred by vice soon vanishes : the turpitude remains. On the other hand, when the labour of good actions is over, the virtue and ils recompense still exist." CHUISTIAN RKLIUION. 27 them. The ways of virtue are very much upon the defensive, and the work one, uniform, and little : tliey are like watch within a stronp^ castle; if they stand upon their {^uard, tiiey seldom need to strike a stroke : but vice is like storming of a fort, full of noise, trouble, labour, danger, and disease. How easy a thing is it to restore the pledge ? but if a man means to defeat him that trusted him, what a world of arts must he use to make pre- tences ! to delay first, tlien to excuse, then to ob- ject, then to intricate the business; next to quar- rel, then to forswear it, and all the way to palliate his crime, and represent himself honest ! And if an oppressing and greedy person have a design to cozen a young heir, or to get his neighbour's land, the cares of every day, and the interruptions of every night's sleep are more than the purchase is worth : whereas, he might buy virtue at half that watching, and the less painful care of a fewer number of days. A plain story is soonest told, and best confutes an intricate lie. And wlien a per- son is examined in judgment, one false answer asks more wit for its support and maintenance than a liistory of truth. And such persons are put to so many shameful retreats, false colours, fucuses, and daubings with untempered mortar, to avoid con- tradiction or discovery, tiiat the labour of a false story seems in the order of things to be designed the beginning of its punishment: and if we consi- der how great a part of our religion consists in prayer, and how easy a thing God requires of us when he commands us to pray for blessings, the duty of a Christian cannot seem very trouble- some. 29 EXCHLF.NCY OF I HE 5. And indeed I can liurdly instanre in arty vice, but there is visibly more pain in the orrier of acting- and observing' it, than in the acquist or pro- motion of virtLip. I have seen drunken persons, in their seas of drink and talk, dread every cup as a blow ; and they have used devices and private arts to escape the punishment of a full draught; and the poor wretch, being- condemned by the laws of drinking to his measure, was forced and haled to execution ; and he suffered it, and thought himself engaged to that person, who with much kindness and importunity invited him to a fever : but cer- tainly there was more pain in it than the strictness of holy and severe temperance: and he that shall compare the troubles and dangers of an ambitious war, with the gentleness and easiness of peace, will soon perceive that every tyrant a"nd usurping prince that snatches at his neighbour's rights hath two armies, one of men and the other of cares. Peace sheds no blood, but of the pruned vine; and hath no business, but modest and quiet entertainments of the time, opportune for piety, and circled with reward. But God often punishes ambition and pride with lust; and he sent a thorn in the flesh as a corrective to the elevations and grandezza of St. Paul, growing up from the multitude of his revelations: and it is likely the punishment should have less trouble than the crime, whose pleasures and obliquity this was designed to punish. And indeed every experi- ence can verify, that an adulterer hath in him the impatience of desires, the burnings of lust, the fear of shame, the apprehensions of a jealous, abused, and an enraged husband. He endures affronts, CHRlsnVN RLI.KilON. 29 Boisliniinnjs, tedious waitings, the dulness of de- lay, the rcf^ret of interruption, the confusion tuid amazements of discovery, the scorn of a reproached vice, tlie dehusino^s of contempt upon it ; unless the man g^rows impudent, and then he is more miser- able upon another stock. But David was so put to it to attempt, to obtain, to enjoy Bathsheba, and to prevent the shame of it, that the difficulty was ijreater than all his wit and power ; and it drove him into base and unworthy arts, which discovered him the more, and multiplied his crime. But while he enjoyed the innocent pleasures of his lawful beil, he had no more trouble in it than there was in inclining his head upon his pillow. The ways of sin are crooked, desert, rocky, and un- even. They are 'broad'' indeed, and there is va- riety of ruins, and allurements to entice fools, and a lar^e theatre to act the bloody trafjedies of souls upon ; but they are nothing; smooth, or safe, or de- licate. The ways of virtue are strait, but not crooked ; narrow, but not unpleasant. There are two vices for one virtue; and therefore the way to hell must needs be of f^reater extent, latitude, and dissemination : but because virtue is but one way, therefore it is easy, regular, and apt to walk in without error or diversions. ' Narrow is the gate, and strait is the way ;' it is true, considering our evil customs and depraved natures, by which we liave made it so to us. But God hath made it more passable by his grace and present aids: and St. John Baptist receiving his commission to preach repentance, it was expressed in these words, ' Make plain the paths of the Lord.' Indeed repentance » M'isdom, V. 7. 30 KXC^M,t^cy oi the is ;i rough and ;i sharp virtue, and like a mattock and spade breaks away all the roughnesses of the passage, and hinderances of sin : but when we enter into the dispositions which Christ hath de- signed to us, the way is more plain and easy than the ways of death and hell. Labour it hath in it, just as all things that are excellent; but no con- i'usions, no distractions of thoughts, no amaze- ments, no labyrinths and intricacy of counsels: l>ut it is like the labours of agriculture, full of healtli and simplicity, plain and profitable, requir- ing diligence, but such in which crafts and painful stratagems are useless and impertinent. But vice hath oflentimes so troublesome a retinue, and so many objections in the event of things, is so entan- gled in difficult and contradictory circumstances, hath in it parts so opposite to each other, and so inconsistent with the present condition of the man, or some secret design of his, that those little plea- sures which are its fucus and pretence are less perceived and least enjoyed, while they begin in fantastic semblances, and rise up in smoke, vain and hurtful, and end in dissatisfaction. 6. But it is considerable that God, and the sin- ner, and the devil, all join in increasing the diffi- culty and trouble of sin ; upon contrary designs indeed, but all co-operat^ to the verification of lliis discourse. For God, by his restraining grace, and the checks of a tender conscience, and the bands of public honesty, and the sense of honour and re- putation ; and the customs of nations, and the se- verities of laws, makes that in most men the choice of vice is imperfect, dubious, and trouble- some, and the pleasures abated, and the apprehen- sions various and in differing degrees; and men CHfllSIIAN RELIGION. 31 oct their crimes while ihey are disputing against them, and tlie balance is cast hy a few grains, and scruples vex and disquiet the possession : and the diflerence is perceived to be so little, that inconsi- deration and inadvertency is the greatest means to tietermine many men to the entertainment of a sin. And this God does with a design to lessen our choice, and to disabuse our persuasions from ar- guments and weak pretences of vice, and to invite us to the trials of virtue, when we see its enemy giving us so ill conditions. And yet the sinner himself makes the business of sin greater: for its nature is so loathsome, and its pleasure so little, and its promises so unperformed, that wlien it lies open, easy, and apt to be discerned, there is no ar- gument in it ready to invite us: and men hate a \ ice which is every day offered and prostitute; and when they seek for pleasure, unless difficulty presents it, as there is nothing in it really to per- suade a choice, so there is nothing strong or witty enough to abuse a man. And to this purpose (amongst some others, which are malicious and crafty) the devil gives assistance, knowing that men despise what is cheap and common, an«l sus- pect a latent excellency to be in diflicult and for- bidden objects : and therefore tlie devil sometimes crosses an opportunity of sin, knowing that the de- sire is the iniquity and does his work sufficiently ; and yet the crossing the desire by impeding the act heightens the appetite, and makes it more violent and impatient. I?ut by all these means sin is made more troublesome than the pleasures of the temptation can account for : and it will be a strange imprudence to leave virtue «|>on pretence of its difficulty, when for thai very reason we the rather 32 KXCLlLliNCY ryp THF. euteitaiu the instances of sin, despising a cheap sin and a costly virtue; choosing- to walk lluouijh the brambles of a desert, rather than to ciiujb the fruit-trees of paradise. 7. Thirdly, Virtue conduces infinitely to the con- tent of our lives, to secular felicities and political satisfactions; and vice does the quite contrary. For tlie blessings of this life are these that make it happy, peace and quietness, content and satisfac- tion of desires, riches, love of friends and neigh- bours, honour and reputation abroad, a healthful body, and a long life. This last is a distinct con- sideration, but the other are proper to this title. For the first it is certain, peace was so designed by the holy Jesus, that he framed all his laws in com-^ pliance to that design. He that returns gootl (or evil, a soft answer to the asperity of his entmy, kindnesses to injuries, lessens the contention al- ways, and sometimes gets a friend, and when he does not, he shames his enemy. Every little acci- dent in a family to peevish and angry persons is the matter of a quarrel, and every quarrel discom- poses the peace of the house, and sets it on fire; and no man can tell how far that may burn, it may be to a dissolution of the whole fabric. But who- soever obeys the laws of Jesus, bears with tiie in- firmities of his relatives and society, seeks with sweetness to remedy what is ill, and to prevent what it may produce, and throws water upon a spark, and lives sweetly with his wife, affectionately with his children, providently and discreetly with his servants; and they all love the major-do mo, a.n<\ look upon him as their parent, their guardian, their friend, their patron, their proveditore. But look upon a person angry, peaceless, and dislurbe(i. CHRISIIAN RULIGIOX. 33 when lie enters upon his threshold, it gives an alurni to his house, and puts them to flight, or upon their defence; and the wife reckons the joy of her day is done when he returns ; and the chil- dren enquire into tlieir father's age, and think his life tedious; and the servants curse privately, and do their service as slaves do, only when they dare not do otherwise ; and they serve him as they serve a lion — they obey his strength, and fear his cruelty, and despise his manners, and hate his per- son. No man enjoys content in his family but he that is peaceful and charitable, just and loving, forbearing and forgiving, careful and provident. He that is not so, his house may be his castle, but it is manned by enemies : his house is built, not upon the sand, but upon the waves, and upon a tempest: the foundation is uncertain, but his ruin is not so. 8. And if we extend the relations of the man beyond his own walls, he that does his duty to his neighbour, that is, all offices of kindness, gentle- ness, and humanity, nothing of injury and affront. is certain never to meet with a wrong so great as is the inconvenience of a lawsuit, or the contention of neighbours, and all the consequent dangers and inconvenience. Kindness will create and invite kindness; and injury provokes an injury. And since the love of neighl)ours is one of those beau- lies which Solomon did admire, and that tiiis beau- ty is within the combination of precious things which adorn and reward a peaceable, charitable dispo.silion ; he that is in love with spiritual excel- lencies, with intellectual rectitudes, with peace and with blessings of society, knows they grow amongst the r(»se-bu&hes of virtue and holy obedience to the VOL. 11. 25 31 KXCI.LI.F..NCV OF tHi: laws of Jesus. And ' for a good man some vvil! even dare to die;' and a sweet and charitable dis- ])osition is received with fondness, and all the en- dearments of the neighbourhood. He that ob- serves how many families are ruined by conten- tion, and how many spirits are broken by the care, and contumely, and fear, and spite, whicli are entertained as advocates to promote a suit of law, will soon confess that a great loss and peaceal>le (juitting of a considerable interest is a i)iHxliiise and a gain, in respect of a long suit and a vexatious <|uarrel.' And still if the proportion rises higlier, the reason swells, and grows more necessary and determinate : for if we would live according to the discipline of Christian religion, one of the great plagues which vex the world would be no more. Tiiat there should be no wars, was one of the designs of Christianity : and the living accord- ing to that institution which is able to prevent all wars, and to establish an universal and eternal peace, when it is obeyed, is the using an infallible instrument towards that part of our political hap- ])iness which consists in peace. This world would be an image of heaven, if all men were charitable, peaceable, just, and loving. To this excellency all those precepts of Christ which consist in forbear- ance and forgiveness do co-operate. 9. But the next instance of the reward of holy obedience and conformity to Christ's laws is itself a duty, and needs no more but a mere repetition of it. We must l)e content in every state ;^ and l)e- ' James, iii. IG. '^ AvTcioKtin rH €is (piXoffofla aurocicaKToc.—Voli. Dixit M. Cato apud Aul. Gel. lib. xiii. c. 22. " True content is ■ self-taught pliilosophy." CHRISTIAN UEI.IUION. 35 cause Christianity teaches us this lei«son, it teaches us to be hnppy '■ for notliino^ from without can make us miserable, unless we join our consents lo it, and apprehend it such, and entertain it in our sad and mehmcholic retirements. A prison is but a retire- ment, and opportunity of serious thoufjhts, to a person wliose spirit is confined, and apt to sit still, and desires no enhuo;ement beyond tlie cancels of the body, till the state of separation calls it forth into a fair liberty ; but every retirement is a pri- son to a loose and wandering fancy, for whose wildness no precepts are restraint, no band of duty is confinement ; who, when he hath broken the first hedy^e of duty, can never after endure any en- closure so much as in a symbol. But this precept is so necessary, that it is not more a duty than a rule of prudence, and in many accidents of our lives it is the only cure of sadness. For it is certain that no providence less than divine can prevent evil and cross accidents : but that is an excellent remedy to the evil, that receives the accident within its power, and takes out the sting, paring the nails, and drawing the teeth of the wild beast, that it may be tame, or harmless, and medicinal. For all content consists in the proportion of the object to the ap- petite : and because external accidents are not in our power, and it were nothing excellent that thini^s happened to us according to our first desires, God hath by his grace put it into our power to make the happiness, by making our desires descend to the event, and comply with the chance, and combine with all the issues of divine providence And then we are noble persons, when we borrow not our content from things below us, but make our satisfactions from within. And it may be con« S6 EXCELLENCY OF THE sideretl, that every little care may disquiet us, and may increase itself by reflection upon its own acts, and every discontent may discompose our spirits, and put an edge, and make afflictions poignant, but cannot take off one from us, but makes every one to be two. But content removes not the acci- dent, but complies with it, takes away the sharp- ness and displeasure of it, and, by stooping down makes the lowest equal, proportionable, and commensurate. Impatience makes an ague to be a fever, and every fever to be a calenture, and that calenture may expire in madness; but a quiet spirit is a great disposition to heahh, and for the present does alleviate tlie sickness. And this also is notorious in the instance of covetousness. ' The love of money is the root of all evil, which while some have coveted after, they have pierced them- selves with many sorrows.' ' Vice makes poor, and does ill endure it. 10. For he that in the school of Christ hath learned to determine his desires when his needs are served, and to judge of his needs by the propor- tions of nature, hath nothing wanting towards riches. Virtue makes poverty become rich, and no riches can satisfy a covetous mind, or rescue him from llie affliction of the worst kind of poverty. He only wants that is not satisfied. And there is a great infelicity in a family where poverty dwells with discontent: there the husband and wife quar- rel for want of a full table and a rich wardrobe ; and their love, that was built upon false arches, sinks when such temporary supporters are removed: lliey are like two millstones, which set the mill on ' I Tim. vi. 10 CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 3? fire when they want corn : and then their combi- nations and society were unions of lust, or not supported with religious love. But we may easily suppose St. Joseph and the holy virgiii-niotlier in Efj^ypt, poor as hunger, forsaken as banishment, disconsolate as strangers; and yet their present lot gave them no affliction, because the angel fed them witli a necessary hospitality, and their desires were no larger tiian their tables, and their eyes looked only upwards, and they were careless of the future and careful of their duty, and so made tlieir life pleasant by the measures and discourses of divine philosophy. When Elisha stretched upon th body of tlie cliiid, and laid hands to hands, ami applied mouth to mouth, and so shrunk himself into the posture of commensuration with the child, he brought life into tlie dead trunk ; and so may we, by applying our spirits to the proportions of a narrow fortune, bring life and vivacity into our dead and lost condition, and make it live till it grows bigger, or else returns to health and salutary uses. 1 I. And besides this }>hilosophical extraction of gold from stones, and riches from the dungeon of poverty, a holy life does most probably procure such a proportion of riches which can be useful to us, or consistent with our felicity. For besides tiiat the holy Jesus hath promised all things which our heavenly Father knows we need, (provided we do our duty,) and tiiat we find great securities and rest from care when we have once cast our cares upon God, and placetl our hopes in his bosom ; besides all this, the temperance, si)l)riety, and pru- dence of a Christian is a great income, and by not despising if. -a small revenue combines its uarts till 38 EXCEILENCV OF THE it grows to a heap big- enough for the emissions oT charity, and all the offices of justice, and the sup- plies of all necessities ; whilst vice is unwary, pro- digal, and indiscreet, throwing away great revenues as tributes to intemperance and vanity, and suf- fering dissolution and forfeiture of estates, as a punishment and curse. Some sins are direct im- providence and ill husbandry. I reckon in this number intemperance, lust, litigiousness, ambition, bribery, prodigality, gaming, pride, sacrilege ; which is the greatest spender of them all, and makes a fair estate evaporate like camphor, turning- it into nothing-, no man knows which way. But what the Roman gave as an estimate of a rich man, saying, " He that can maintain an army is rich," was but a short account ; for he that can maintain an army may be beggared by one vice, and it is a vast revenue that will pay the debt-books of intem- perance or lust. 12. To these, if we add that virtue is honourable, and a great advantage to a fair reputation; that it is praised by them that love it not ; ' that it is ho- noured by the followers and family of vice; that it forces glory out of shame, honour from contempt ; that it reconciles men to the fountain of honour — the almighty God, who will honour them that ho- nour him : there are but a few more excellencies in the world to make up the rosary of temporal feli- city. And it is so certain that religion serves even our tem])oral ends, that no great end of state can well be served without it;* not ambition, not de- > Virtus laudatur et alget. Juven — " Virtue iy praised and mourns." ■* PrsEcipuam imperatoriaB majest.itis curam esse prospicimua« clnu^•Il\^ iilligkjn. 39 aires of wuullli, nut any great design, hut religion must be made its usher or support. If a new oj)i- nion he commenced, and the aullior would make a sect, antl draw disciples after iiim, at least he must be thought to be religious; which is a demonstra- tiot) how great an instrument of reputation piely and religion is. And if the pretence will do us good offices amongst men, the reality will do the same, besides the advantages which we shall receive from the divine benediction. 'J'lie power of godli- ness will certainly do more than the form alon(\ And it is most notorious in the affairs of the clergy, w hose lot it hath been to fall from great riches to poverty, when their wealth made them less curious of iheir duty : hut when humility and chastity and exemplary sanctity have been the enamel of their holy order, the people, like the Galatians, would pull out their own eyes to do them benefit. And indeed God hath singularly blessed such in- struments to the being the only remedies to repair the breaches made by sacrilege and irre- ligion. But certain it is, no man was ever ho- noured for that which was esteemed vicious.' Vice hath got money and a curse many times ; and vice hath adhered to the instruments and purchases of honour: but among all nations wiiatsoever, those called honourable put on the face and pre- roligionis indaginem ; cujus si cultum retinere potuerimus, iter prospc-ritalis liumnnis apcritur inceptis. Theoil. et \'alent. in Cod. Theod. — " We consider that the promotion of relii^ion should be the principal cave of imperial authority : for if we ran secure- this, the wa/ is opened for success in all things beside." ' Dcdit enini providcnti.i hominibus munus, ui honesta magis juvarent. Quint. lib. i. c. 12 " The providence of God ordained that virtue should best avail us." 40 LXi-EI.LtNCV OF THE tence of virtue. But I choose to instance in the proper cognizance of a Christian, humility, which seems contradictory to the purposes and reception of honour ; and yet in the world nothing is a more certain means to purchase it. Do not all the world hate a proud man ? And therefore what is contrary to humility is also contradictory to honour and re- putation. And when the apostle had given com- mand, that in giving honour we sliould one go he- fore another, he laid the foundation of praises, and panegyrics, and triumphs. And as humility is se- cure against affronts and tempests of despite, be- cause it is below them; so when by employment, or any other issue of divine Providence, it is drawn from its sheath and secrecy, it shines clear and bright as tlie purest and most polished metals. Hu- mility is like a tree, whose root, when it sets deep- est in the earth, rises higher, and spreads fairer, and stands surer, and lasts longer: every step of its descent is like a rib of iron, combining its parts in unions indissoluble, and placing it in the chambers of security. No wise man ever lost any thing by cession, but he receives the hostility of violent per- sons into his embraces, like a stone into a lap of wool ; it rests and sits down soft and innocently; but a stone falling upon a stone makes a collision, and extracts fire, and finds no rest. And just so are two ])roud pereons, despised by each other, contemned by all, living in perpetual dissonances, always fighting against affronts, jealous of every person, disturbed by every accident, a perpetual storm within, and daily hissings from without. 13. Fourthly, Holiness and obedience is an ex- cellent preservative of life, and makes it long and healthful. In order to which discourse, because it CHI(I, 2(i. ' Psaliii xxxiv. 12, 13. * Prov. iii. 7, 8, 16, 18. 42 EXCn.LENCY OF THE had planted in paradise, and wliicli, if man had stood, he should have tasted, and have lived for ever, the fruit of that tree is offered upon the same conditions; ifwe will keep the commandments of God, our obedience, like the tree of life, shall con- sig'n us to immortality hereafter, by a long and a healthful life here. And therefore, although in Moses's time the days of man had been shortened, till they came to ' threescore years and ten, or fourscore years, and then their strenjjjth is but la- bour and sorrow;" (for Moses was the author of that Psalm;) yet to show the great privilege of those persons whose piety was great, Moses himself attained to one hundred and twenty years, which was almost double to the ordinary and determined period. But Enoch and Elias never died, and be- came great examples to us, that a spotless and holy life might possibly have been immortal, 14. T sliall add no more ex.amples, but one great conjugation of precedent observed by the Jewish writers, who tell us, that in the second tem- ple there were three hundred high-priests, (I sup- pose they set down a certain number for an uncer- tain, and by three hundred they mean very many,) and yet that temple lasted but four hundred and twenty years : the reason of this so rapid and vio- lent abscision of their priests being their great and scandalous impieties. And yet in the first temple, whose abode was within ten years as long as the second, there was a succession of but eighteen high-priests : for they being generally very pious, and the preservers of their rites and religion against the schism of Jeroboam, and the defection of Israel, ' Psalm xc, 10. <:IIRISII\N IMI.IGION. 43 and tlie idolatry and ineli-iion of many of tin; kings of Juduli, (iod took deli<>lit to reward it with !i lonf^ and lionouial)ie old aye. And Baluuni knew well enouf,di what he said, when in iiisecstasy and pro|)lielic rapture he made Ins prayer to God, ' Let my soul die the death of the righteous.'' It was not a prayer that his soul might be saved, or that he might repent at last ; for repentance and im- mortality were revelations of a later d:itc : buthe, in his prophetic ecs^tacy, seeing what God had pro- posed to the Moabites, and what blessings he had reserved for Israel, prays that he might not die, as the Moabites were like to die, with an untimely death, by the sword of their enemies, dispossessed of their country, spoiled of their goods, in the pe- riod and last hour of their nation : — But let my soul die the dt-alh of the just, the death designed for the faithful Israelites; such a death which God promised to Abraham, that he should return to his fathers in peaee, and in a good old age. For the death of the righteous is like the descending of ripe and wholesome fruits from a pleasant an/l florid tree; our senses entire, our limbs unbroken, without horrid tortures, alter provision made for our children, with a blessing entailed upon poste- rity, in the j)resence of our friends, our dearest re- lative closing up our eyes, and binding our feet, leaving a good name behind us. O let my soul die such a death ! for this, in whole or in part, accord- ing as God sees it good, is the manner that the righteous die. And this was Balaam's prayer: and this was the Ftate and condition in the Old Testatament. ' Numb. xxiiL 10. 44 EXCFl.l.l.N<'V HF THft 15, In the gospel the case is nothing' altered; for besides that those austerities, rigours, and mortifi- cations which are in the gospel advised or com- manded respectively, are more salutary or of less corporeal inconvenience than a vicious life of in- temperance, or lust, or carefulness, or tyrant co- vetousnes; there is no accident or change to the sufferance of which the gospel hath engaged us, but in the very thing our life is carefully provided for, either in kind, or by a gainful exchange. ' He that loseth his life for my sake, shall find it ; and he that will save his life, shall lose it." And al- though Gcd, who promised long life to them that obey, did not promise that himself would never call for our life, borrowing it of us, and repaying it in a glorious and advantageous exchange; yet this very promise of giving us a better life in exchange for this, when we exposed it in martyrdom, dues confirm our title to this, this being the instrument of permutation with the other: for God obliging himself to give us another in exchange for lliis, when in cases extraordinary he calls for this, says plainly, that this is our present right by grace, and the title of the Divine promises. But the promises are clear; for St. Paul calls children to the observa- tion of the fifth commandment, by the same argu- ment which God used in the first promulgation of it : * Honour thy father and thy mother, (which is the first commandment with promise,) that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest live long upon the earth.'* For although the gospel be built upon better promises than the law, yet it liulh l!ie same too, not as its foundation, but as apj)en« ' Matt. X. 39. « Ephes. vi. 2, 3. ctiHisiiw unii.iiiv. 49 dages and adjuncts of grace, ami supplies of need. 'Godliness liatli tlie promise of this life, as well as of the lite that is to come.'' That is plain. And although Christ revealed his Father's mercies to us in new expresses and great abundance ; yet he took nolhing from the world which ever did in any sen^e invite piety, or endear obedience, or co-operate to- wards felicity. And therefore the promises whicli were made of old, are also presupposed in the new, and mentioned by intimation and implication within tlie greater. When our blessed Saviour, in seven of the eight beatitudes, had instanced in new promises and rewards, as ' heaven, seeing of God, life eternal ;" in one of them, to which heaven is as certainly consequent as to any of the rest, he dill choose to instance in a temporal blessing, and in the very words of the Old Testament ; to show that that ])art of the old covenant w hich concerns morality, and the rewards of obedience, remains firm and included within the conditions of the gospel,^ Hi. To this purpose is that saying of our blessed Saviour, ' Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God:'* meaning, that besides natural meansordained for the preservation of our lives, there are means supernatu- ral and divine. God's blessings does as much as bread. Xay, it is every word proceeding out of the mouth of (>od ; that is, every precept and connnand- ment of God is so for our good, that it is intended as food and pliys-ic to us, a means to make us live long. And therefore (iod hath done in tliis as in ' 1 Tim. iv. «. ' Matt. v. 3, 5. ' PBalni xxxvii. li. * Man. iv. 4; Dent. \iii. i 16 EXCl'LLUNCY OF THE other graces and is<;nes evangelical, wliicli lie proposed to continue in his church for ever. He first gave it in miraculous and extraordinary man- ner, and then gave it by way of perpetual ministry. The Holy Ghost appeared at first like a prodigy, and with miracle ; he descended in visible repre- sentments, expressing himself in revelations and powers extraordinary : but it being a promise in- tended to descend upon all ages of the church, there was appointed a perpetual ministry for its conveyance; and still, though without a sign or miraculous representment, it is ministered in con- firmation by imposition of the bishop's hands. And thus also health and long life, which by way of ordinary benediction is consequent to piety, faith, and obedience evangelical, was at first given in a miraculous manner ; that so the ordinary efTects, being at first confirmed by miraculous and extraordinary instances and manners of operation, might for ever after be confidently expected without any dubitation, since it was in the same manner consigned by which all the whole religion was; by a voice from iieaven, and a verification of miracles, and extraordinary supernatural eflects. That the gift of healing, and preservation and restitution of life was at first miraculous, needs no particular ])robation. All the story of the gospel is one entire argument to prove it: and amongst the fruits of the Spirit, St. Paul reckons gifts of healing, and government, and helps, or exterior assistances and advantages, to represent that it was intended the life of Christian people should be happy and healthful for ever. Now that this grace also de- scended afterwards in an ordinary ministry U recorded by St. James. ' Is any man sick amongst CHRISIIAN RELIGION. 47 you ? let him call for llie elders of tlie church, and let them pray over him, anointini^ him with oil, in the name of the Lord:'' that was then the cere- mony, and the hlessing; and effect is still : for ' the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the liord shall raise him up." For it is observable, that the blessing- of healing and recovery is not appendant to the anealing, but to the prayer of the church ; to manifest tliat the ceremony went with the first miraculous and extraordinary manner, yet that there was an ordinary ministry appointed for the daily conveyance of the bltssin;^ : the faithful prayers and offices of holy priests shall obtain life and liealth to such persons who are receptive of it, and in spiritual and apt dispositions. And when we see, by a continual flux of extraordinary bene- diction, that even some Christian princes are in- struments of the Spirit, not only in the govern- ment, but in the gifts of healing- too, as a reward for their |)romoting the just interests of Chris- tianity, we may acknowledge ourselves convinced that a holy life in tiie faitii and obedience of Jesus Christ, may be of great advantage for our health and life, by tiiat instance to entertain our present desires, and to establish our hopes of life eternal. 17. Fori consider that the fear of God is there- fore the best antidote in the world against sickness and death : 1. Because it is the direct enemy to sin, which brought in sickness and death ; and besides this, that God by spiritual means should produce alterations natural, is not hard to be understood by a Christian j)hilosopher, take him in either of the two capacities. 2. For there is a rule of propor- ' James, v. 14. ' Ibid verse 15. •«4;S rXCFLLENCY OF THE tion and analog^y of effects, that if sin destroys not only the soul but the body also, then may piety preserve both, and that' much rather. For if sin, that is, the effects and conserjuents of sin, 'hath abounded, then shall grace superabound ;'^ that is, Christ hath done us more benefit than the fall of Adam hath done us injury ; and therefore the effects of sin are not greater upon the body, than either are to be restored or prevented by a piou-s life. 3. There is so near a conjunction between soul and body, that it is no wonder if God, mean- ing to glorify both by the means of a spiritual life, suffers spirit and matter to communicate in effects and mutual impresses, Tiius the waters of bap- tism purify the soul ; and the holy eucharist, not the symbolical, but the mysterious .ind spiritual part of it, makes the body also partaker of the death of Christ and a holy union. The flames of hell, whatsoever they are, torment accursed souls ; and the stings of conscience vex and disquiet the body. 4. And if we consider that in the glories of liu«-^n wh^n 've shall live a life purely spiritual, our bodies also are so clarified and made spiritual, that they are also become immortal ; that state of glory being nothing else but a perfection of tjie state of grace, it is not unimaginable but that |ie soul may have some proportion of the same opera- tion upon the body as to conduce to its prolonga- tion, as to an antepast of immortality. 5. For since the body hath all its life from its c .junction with the soul, why not also the perfecl.on of lifo according to its present capacity, that is, health and duration from the perfection of the soul, I ' Horn. V. 20. ( Mifis 1 1 \ N If 11 r«;H)>. <■> mean from llie oinunients of grace ? Aii«i as llie hlessedness of the soul (saith the j)liilosoj)lier) con- sists in llie speculation of honest and just things ; so the perfection of the body and of the whole man consists in the practice, tlie exercise, and operations of virtue. 18. But lliis prohlem in Christian philosophy is yet more intellis^ible, and will be reduced to cer- tain experience, if we consider good life in union and concretion with particular, material, and cir- cumstantiate actions of piety : for these have ^reat powers and influences even in nature to re- store health and preserve our lives. Witness iho sweet sleeps of temperate persons, and their con- stant appetite ; which Timotheus, the son of Conon, observed, when he dieted in Plato's academy with severe and moderated diet : " They that snp with Plato are well the next day." Witness the sym- metry of p;issJons in meek men, their freedom from liie violence of enratjed and passionate indisposi- tions ; ll)e admirable harmony and sweetness of content which dwells in the retirements of a holy conscience: to which if we add those joys which they only understand truly who feel them inwardly, the joys of the Holy Ghost, the content and joys which are attendinpf upon the lives of l)oly persons are most likely to make them lonjj and lieallhful. ' For now we live,' saith St. Paul, ' if ye stand fast in the Lord.' ' It would proloni)f St. Paul's life to see his ii^liostly children persevt-re in holiness : and if we understood the joys of it, it wotdd do much greater advautaj^e to ourselves. IJutif xte consider a spirii,ual life abstractedly and in itself, piety produces our life, not by u natural ' I The:, iiu a. ▼Oi. II. 2'j 60 i;xc!; i.i.ENCY of the efficiency, l)ut by divine benediction. God jjives a liealtliy and a lonjr life as a reward and blessing to crown our piety even before the sons of men : ' For such as be l)lessed of him shall inherit the earth ; but they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.' ' So that this whole matter is principally to be re- ferred to the act of God, either by ways of nature, or by instruments of special providence, rewarding^ piety with a long' life. And we shall more fully apprehend this, if, upon the grounds of Scripture, reason, and experience we weigh the contrary. Vickedness is the way to shorten our days.^ 19. Sin brought death in first; and yet man ^ived almost a thousand years. But he sinned more, and then death came nearer to him ; for when all the world was first drowned in wicked- ness, and then in water, God cut him shorter by one half, and five hundred years was his ordinary period. And man sinned still, and had strange imaginations, and built towers in the air; and then about Peleg's time God cut him shorter by one half yet, two hundred and odd years was liis deter- mination. And yet the generations of the world returned not unanimously to God ; and God cut him ofi' another half yet, and reduced iiim to one hundred and twenty years ; and, by Moses's time, one half of the final remanent portion waa pared away, reducing him tO threescore years and ten : so that, unless it be by special dispensa- tion, men live not beyond that term, or therealiout. But if God had gone on still in the same method, and shortened our days as we multiplied our sins, wc should have been but as an epliemeron ; man should have lived the life of a fly or a gourd ; the ' Psalm xxxvii. 22. * Prov, x. 20. CHRHTIAN RELIGION. «5I noorning should have seen liis birlh, his life have been the term of a day, and the evening must have provided him with a shroud. But God seeing- man's tlioughts were only evil continually, he was resolved no longer so to strive with him, nor destroy the kind, but punish individuals only and single ]>ersons; and if they sinned, or if they did not obey regularly, their life s!)ould be j)ropor tionable. This God set down for his rule : ' Evil shall slay the wicked person :" ' and, ' He that keepeth tiie commandments keepeth his own soul ; but he that despiseth his own ways shall die.*" 20. But that we may speak morje exactly in this problem, we must ol)serve, that in Scripture three general causes of natural death are assigned — na- ture, providence, and chance. By these three I only mean the several manners of divine influence and operation. For God only predetermines; and what is changed in the following events by divine permission, to this God and man in their several manners do co-operate. The saying of David concerning Saul, with admirable philosophy de- scribes the three ways of ending man's life : ' David said furthermore, as the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite liim, or his day shall come to die, or he shall descend into battle and perish." The first is special providence : the second means the term of nature: the third is that which in our want of words we call chance or accident, but is in effect nothing else but another manner of the divine providence. That in all these sin does in- terrupt and retrench our lives, is the undertaking of tlie following ])t'riods : ' Psalm xxxiv. 21. ' Prov. xix. IC. » I Sam. xxvi. 10. '>2 EXCEl I.F.NCY OF THE 21. First, In nature sin is a cause of dyscrasies and distempers, making our bodies healthless and our days few: for although God hath prefixed a j)eriod to nature by an universal and antecedent determination, and that naturally every man that lives temperately, and by no supervening accident )3 interrupted, shall arrive thither ; yet because the greatest part of our lives is governed by will and understanding, and there are temptations to in- temperance, and to violations of our health, the period of nature is so distinct a thing from the period of our person, that few men attain to that which God had fixed by his first law and preceding purpose; but end their days with folly, and in a period which God appointed them with anger, and a determination secondary, consequent, and acci- dental. And therefore, says David, ' health is far from the ungodly, for they regard not thy statutes.' And to this purpose is that saying of Eben-Ezra: " He that is united to God, the foun- tain of life, his soul being improved by grace, com- municates to the body an establishment of its radical moisture and natural heat., to make it more health- ful, that so it may be more instrumental to the spi- ritual operations and productions of the soul, and itself be preserved in perfect constitution." Now, how this blessing is contradicted by the impious life of a vvicked person is easy to be understood, if we consider, that from drunken surfeits come dissolu- tion of members, head-aches, apoplexies, dangerous falls, fracture of bones, drenchings and diUition of the brain, inflammation of the liver, crudities of the stomach, and thousands more, which Solnmon sums up in general terms: MVho hath woe i' Who hath sorrow ? AVho hath redness of eves ? Tliey tl)at tarry loi)<^ at the wine.' I shall not need to instance in the sad and uncleanly con- sequents of lusts; the wounds and accidental deaths which are occasioned by jealousies, by vanity, by peevishness, vain reputation, and animosities, by melancholy, and the despair of evil consciences : and yet these are abundant arfjument, that when God so permits a man to run his course of nature that himself does not intervene by an extraordinary influence, or any special acts of providence, but only jrives his ordinary assistance to natural causes, n very f^ieat })art of men make their natural period shorter, and by sin make tluir days miserable and lew. 22. Secondly, Oftentimes providence intervenes, and makes the way shorter; God, for the iniquity of man, not sufterinj^ nature to take her course, but stoppin{2^ her in Ur- midst of her journey. A<2:ainst this David prayed, *0 my God, cut me not off in the midst of my days.'' But in this there is some variety ; for God does it sometimes in mercy, sometimes in judgment. ' The righteous die, and no man regardeth ; not considering that they are taken away from the evil to come.' ^ God takes the righteous hastily to his crown, lest temptation snatch it from him by interrupting his hopes and sanctity : and this was the case of the olxl world. For from Adam to tiie Hr)od by the palriarchs were eleven generations ; but l)y Cain's line there were but eight, so that Cain's j)osterity were longer- lived; because (iod, intending to bring the flood upon the world, took delight to rescue his elect from the dangers of the present impurity and the ' Prov. xxiii. 2f>, 30. ' Psalm cii. 24. ^ Isrtiah, Ivii I. 64 EXCF.LLENCY OF THE future delude. Abraluim lived five years less than his son Isaac, it beins^ (say the doctors of the Jews) intended for mercy to him, that he mi^^ht not see the iniquity of his grand-child, Esau. And this the church for many ages hath believed in the case of baptized infants dying before the use of reason : for besides other causes in the order of di- vine providence, one kind of mercy is done to tlieni too ; for although their condition be of a lower form, yet it is secured by that timely (shall I call it?) or untimely death. But these are cases ex- tra-regular; ordinarily and by rule God hath re- vealed his purposes of interruption of the lives of sinners to be in anger and judgment; for when men commit any signal and grand impiety, God suffers not nature to take her course, but strikes a stroke with his own hand. To which purpose 1 think it a remarkable instance which is reported by Pipiphanius,' that for three thousand tliree hundred and thirty-two years, even to the tw entieth age, there was not one example of a son that died before his father; but the course of nature was kept, that he who was first born in the descending line did die first; (I speak of natural death; and therefore Abel cannot be opposed to this observation ;) till that Terah, the father of Abraham, taught the peo- ple to make images of clay, and worship them : and concerning him it was first remarked, that ' Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity:" God by an unheard-of judgment, and a rare accident, punished his newly-invented crime. And whenever such intercision of a life happens to a vicious person, let all the world ac- ' Lib. i. tom. i. Panar. sect. 6. - Gen. xi. 28. CHIUSIIAN IIEIJCilON. 55 knowledge it lor a jnclj^menl: and «licn any man is guilty of evil habits or unrepented sins, he maiy therefore expect it, because it is threatened and de- signed for the lot and curse of such persons. This is threatened to covetousness, injustice, and oppres- sion. ' As a partridge sitteth on eggs, ami iiatchelh them not, so he that gctteth riches, and not by rii^ht, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.'' The samn is threatened to voluptuous persons in the highest caresses of delight ; and Christ told a parable with tlie same design. The rich man said, ' Soul, take thy ease :' l)Ut God answered, ' O fool, this night sliall thy soul be required of thee.' Zimri and Cozbi were slain in the trojjhies of their lust. And it was a sad story that was told by Thomas Canti- pratanus : two religious persons, tempted by each otiier in the vigour of their youth, in their very first pleasures and opportunities of sin, were both struck dead in their eml)races and posture ol" enter- tainment. God smote .leroboam for liis usurpation and tyranny, and he died.* Saul died for dis- obedience against God, and asking counsel of n Pythoness.' God smote Uzziah with a leprosy for his profaneness ;■* and distressed Ahaz son-Iy for his sacrilege ;* and sent a horrid disease upon Jehoram for his idolatry.** These instances repre- sent voluptuousness and c<)v«'tonsness, rapine and injustice, idolatry and lust, profaneness and sacri- lege, as remarked by the signature of exemplary judgments to be the means of shortening the days of man; God himself proving the executioner of his own fierce wrath. T instance no more, but in ' JcT. xvii. 11. ^2 Chron. xiii. 20. ' I C'liron. x. 1.3. « 2 Cliron xxvi. 19. ' L' Kings, xvi. « 2 Chion xxi. 18. &0 EXCIil.LENCY OI" THE the singular case of Hananiali the false prophet: 'l^'hus saith the Lord, Behold I will cut thee from off ihe face of the earth ; this year thou shall die, be- cause thou hast taught rebellion against the Lord."' That is the curse and portion of a false prophet — a short life, and a sudden death of God's own parti- cular and more immediate infliction. 23. And thus also the sentence of the divine anger went forth upon criminal persons in tlie New Testament. Witness the disease of Herod, Judas's hanging himself, the blindness of Elymas, the sudden death of Ananias and Sapphira, the buffettings with which Satan afflicted the bodies of persons excommunicate. Yea, the blessed sacra- ij^ent of Christ's body and blood, which is intended for our spiritual life, if it be unworthily received, proves the cause of a natural death. 'For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many are fallen asleep,'* saith St. Paul to the Corinthian church. 24. Thirdly, But there is yet another manner of ending man's life, by way of chance or contingency ; meaning thereby the manner of God's jjrovidence and event of things which is not produced by the disposition of natural causes, nor yet by any parti- cular and special act of God ; but the event which depends upon accidental causes, not so certain and regular as nature, not so conclusive and determined as the acts of decretory providence, but comes by disposition of causes irregular to events rare and accidental. This David expresses b}' entering into battle. And in this, as in the other, we must sepa- rate cases extraordinary and rare from the ordinary ' Jer. xxviii. 16. « 1 Cor. xi. 30. CliltlSIIAN RLLIUIUN. 69 and common. Extra-re^uhirly and upon extraor- dinary reasons and permissions, we find that holy persons have miscarried in battle. So the Israelites fell before Benjamin ; and Jonathan and Uriah, and many of the Lord's champions, figliting against the Philislines. But in these deaths, as God served other ends of providence, so he kept to the good men that fell all the mercies of the promise, by giving them a greater blessing of event and compensation. In the more ordinary course of divine dispensation, they that prevaricate the laws of God are put out of protection ; God withdraws his special provi- dence, or their tutelar angel, and leaves them ex- posed to the influences of heaven, to the power of a constellation, to the accidents ol' humanity, to the chances of a battle, which are so many and various, that it is ten thousand to one a man in that case never escapes : and in such va- riety of contingencies there is no jjrobable way to assure our safety, but by a holy life to en- dear the providence of God to be our guardian. Jt was a remarkable saying of Deborah, ' the stars fought in their courses,' or in their orbs, ' against Sisera.' ' Sisera fought when there was an evil aspect, or malignant influence of heaven upon him. For even the smallest thing that is in oppo- sition to us is enough to turn the chance of a bat- tle ; that alliiough it be necessary for defence of the godly that a special providence should in- tervene, yet to confound the impious no special act is requisite. If CJod exposes them to the ill aspect of a planet, or any other casualty, their days are in- terrupted, and they die. And tliat is the meaning 1 Judg. V. 20. 68 EXCELLENCY OF THE of the prophet Jeremiah : ' Be not ye dismayed at the signs of'heaven, for the heathen are dismayed at them:'' meaning, that God will overrule all infe- rior causes for the safety of his servants, but the wicked shall be exposed to chance and human ac- cidents ; and the signs of heaven, which of them- selves do but signify, or at most but dispose and incline towards events, shall be enough to ac- tuate and consummate their ruin. And this is he meaning of that proverb of the Jews, " Israel hath no planet;" which they expounded to mean, if they observe the law, the planets shall not hurt them; God will overrule all their influences; but if they prevaricate and rebel, the least star in the firmament of heaven shall bid them battle, and overthrow them. A stone shall lie in a wicked man's way, and God shall so expose him to it, leaving him so unguarded and defenceless, that he shall stumble at it and fall, and lireak a bone, and that shall produce a fever, and the fever shall end his days. For not only every creature, when it is set on by God, can prove a ruin ; but if we be not by the providence of God defended against it, we cannot behold the least atom in the sun without danger of losing an eye, nor eat a grape without fear of choking, nor sneeze without breaking of a vein. And Arius, going to the ground, purged his entrails forth, and fell down upon the earth, and died. Such and so miserable is tbe great inse- ' Jer. X. 2. Gentes signa dieruin et iiumerum mensis aut hebdomadae cum metu superstitioso observarunt. Quarta luna in- faustarcputabatur, unde proverbium, 'E;/ rtTpd^i ytytvvi'inQai. Hujusmodi dies GraRci UTrofpna^aq vocant ; Latini, iirfaslju. Hesiodus quintas omiiino svispectas liabet. Tlffnrrac H t^aXinirOat, tTrtl ■)(a\fTrai re ki nircii. I'.)' Tri-finrii yap /5oi^i}(,' alaxpov, t) f.uv r'jSovi) irapi}\^e, rb Kaicov jifi'd. Hierocl. — " If thou doest a base thing for pleasure, the pleasure passes away, the evil remains." CHRIS 11\N HKLIOION. 63 of an unTjfliever. The Hxith and hope of a Chris- tian are tlie fj^races and portions of spiritual wis- dom, which Christ designed as an antidote against this folly. 29. Secondly, Children and fools choose to please their senses ratlier than their reason, because they still dwell within the regions of sense, and have hut little residence amongst intellectual essences And because the needs of nature first employ our sensual a])petites, these being first in possession would also fain retain it, and therefore for ever continue their title, and perpetually fight for it. But because the inferior faculty fighting against the superior is no better than a rebel, and that it takes reason for its enemy, it shows such actions which please tlie sense, and do not please the rea- son, to be unnatural, monstrous, and unreason- able. And it is a greater disreputation to the understanding of a man to be so cozened and deceived, as to choose money before a moral vir- tue; to please that which is common to him and beasts, rather than that part which is a com- munication of the Divine nature ; to see him run after a bubble which himself hath made and the sun hatli jiarticoloured, and to despise a treasure whicii is offered to him, to call him off from pursu- ing that emptiness and nothing. But so dues every vicious person; he feeds upon husks, and loathes manna; worships cats and onions, the beg- garly and basest Egyptian deities, and neglects to adore and lionour the eternal God : he prefers the society of drunkards before the communion of «aints; or tiie fellowship of harlots, before a choir of pure, chaste, and immaterial angels; tlie sick- ness and filth of luxury, before the health and pu- 64 EXCELLENCY OF THE rities of charity and temperance ; a dish of red lentil pottage b-efore a benison ; drink before im- mortality ; money before mercy ; wantonness before the severe precepts of Christian {)liiIosophy ; earth before heaven ; and folly before the crowns, and sceptres, and glories of a kingdom. Against this folly Christian religion opposes contempt of things below, and setting our affections on things above. 30. Thirdly, Children and fools propound to themselves ends silly, low, and cheap, the getting of a nut-shell, or a bag of cherry-stones, a gaud to entertain the fancy of a i'ew minutes ; and in order to such ends, direct their counsels and designs. And indeed in this they are innocent. But persons not living according to the discipline of Christianity are as foolish in the designation of their ends, choosing things as unprofitable and vain to them- selves, and yet with many mi'i^ures o*' maiice and injuriousness both to themselves and others. His end is to cozen his brother of a piece of land, or to disgrace him by telling a lie, to supplant his for- tune, to make him miserable : ends which WiSe men and good men look upon as miseries and per- secutions, instruments of affliction and regret ; be- cause every man is a member of a society, and hath some common terms of union and conjuncture which make all the body susceptive of all accidents to any part. And it is a great folly, for pleasing of the eye, to snatch a knife which cuts our fingers ; to bring affliction upon ray brother or relative which either must affect me, or else 1 am useless, a base or dead person. The ends of vice are ignoble and dishonourable. To discompose the quiet of a family, or to create jealousies, or to raise wars, or to make a man less happy, or apparently miserable. CHKlSm.N KELKilON. 05 or to fish for the tlevil, ami gain souls to our enemy, or to please a passion that undoes us, or to get sometliing that cannot satisfy us ; this is the chain of counsels, and the great aims of unchristian livers: they are all of them extreme great miseries. And it is a great undecency for a man to propound an endless and more imperfect than our present con- dition ; as if we went about to unravel our present composure, and to unite every degree of essence and capacity, and to retire back to our first matter and unsiiapcn state, iioping to get to our journey's end by going backwards. Against this folly the iioly Jesus opposed the fourth beatitude, or precept, of' hungering and thirsting after righteousness.' 31. Fourthly, But children and fools, whatever their ends be, they pursue them with as mucli weakness and folly as they first choose them with indiscretion ; running to broken cisterns, or to pud- dles to quench their thirst. When they are hun- gry they make fantastic banquets, or put colo- (jiiintidu into tiieir pottage, that they may be fur- nished with pot-herbs : or are like the ass that de- sired to flatter his master, and therefore fawned upon him like a spaniel, and bruised his shoulders. Sucli undecencies of means and prosecutions of in- terests we find in unchristian courses. It may be they propound to themselves riches for their end, and tliey use covetousness for tlieir means, and that lirings nought home ; or else they steal to get it and they are apprehended, and made to restore fourfold. Like moths gnawing a garment, they devour their own house, and by greediness of de- sire they destroy their content, making impatience the parent and instrument of all their felicity. Or ihey are so greedy anfl imaginative, and have raised vol 27 66 EXCELLFNCY Of THE theii' expectation by an over-valuincr esteem of tem- poral felicities, that when they come they fall short of their promises, and are indeed less than they would have been, by being beforehand appre- hended greater than they could be. If their design be to present themselves innocent and guiltless of a suspicion or a fault, they deny the fact, and double it. When Ihey would repair their losses, they fall to gaming: and besides that, they are in- finitely full of fears, passions, wrath, and violent disturbances in the various changes of their game; that which they use to restore their fortunes, ruins even the little remnant, and condemns them to beggary, or what is worse. Thus evil men seek for content out of things that cannot satisfy, and take care to get that content; that is, they raise war to enjoy present peace, and renounce all content to get it. They strive to depress their neighbours, that they may be their ef[uals ; to disgrace them, to get reputation to themselves; (which arts being ignoble, do them the most dis()aragement;) and re- solve never to enter into tiie felicities of God by content taken in the prosperities of man ; whicii is making ourselves wretched by being wicked. Ma- lice and envy is indeed a mighty curse ; and the devil can show us nothing more foolish and unrea- sonable than envy, which is in its very formality a curse; an eating of coals and vipers, because my neighbour's table is full, and his cup is crowned with health and plenty. The Christian religion, as it chooseth excellent ends, so it useth proportion- ate and apt means. The most conlrarlictory acci- dent in the world, when it becomes hallowed by a pious and Christian design, becomes a certain means of felicity and content. To quit our lands for cilKi^iiAN i;j.i.i(;ioN. C7 Christ's sake will certainly make us rich ; to depart from our IViends will increase our relations and be- neficiaries; but the strivinjr to secure our temporal interests by any otiier means tlian obedient actions or obedient suft'erings, is declared by the holy Jesus to be the greatest improvidence and ill husbandry in the world. Even in this world Christ will repay us an hundred-Cold for all our losses which we suffer for tlie interests of Christianity. In the same pro- portion we find, that all graces do the work of hu- man felicities with a more certain power and infal- lible effect than their contraries. Gratitude endears benefits, and procures more friendships: confession gets pardon ; impudence and lying doubles the fault, and exasperates the offended person : inno- cence is bold, and rocks a man asleep ; but an evil conscience is a continual alarm. Against this folly of using disproportionate means in order to obtain their ends, the holy Jesus hath opposed the eiglit beatitudes, which by contradictions of nature and improbable causes, according to human and erring estimate, bring our best and wisest ends to pass infallibly and divinely. 32. But tliis is too large a field to walk in ; for it represents all tlie flatteries of sin to be a mere co- zenage and deception of the understanding ; and we find by this scrutiny, that evil and unchristian persons are infinitely unwise, because they neglect the counsel of their superiors and their guides. They dote passionately upon trifles ; they rely upon false foundations and deceiving principles; they are most confident when they are most abused; they are like shelled fish, singing loudest when their iiouse is on fire about their ears; and being mer- riest when they are most miserable and perishing; 68 F.XCKI.LENCY OF THE when ihey have the option of two thing-s, they evef choose the worst; they are not masters of their own actions, but break all purposes at the first tempta- tion; they take more pains to do themselves a mis- chief than would secure heaven; that is, they are rude, ignorant, foolish, unwary, and undiscerning people in all senses, and to all purposes; and are incurable but by their obedience and conformity to the holy Jesus, the eternal wisdom of the Father. 33. Upon the strength of these premises, t!)e yoke of Christianity must needs be apprehended light, though it had in it more pressure than it hath; because lightness or heaviness being relative terms, are to be esteemed by comparison toothers. Christianity is far easier than the yoke ol' Moses's law, not only because it consists of fewer rites, but also because those perfecting and excellent graces which integrate the body of our religion, are made easy by Gjd's assisting, and the gifts of the Holy Ghost : and we may yet make it easier by love and by fear, which are the proper products of the evan- gelical promises and threatenings ; for I have seen persons in affrightment have carried burdens, and leaped ditches, and climbed walls, which their natural power could never have done. And if we understood the sadnesses of a cursed eternity, from which we are commanded to fly, and yet knew how near we are to it, and how likely to fall into it, it would create fears greater than a sudden fire, or a midnight alarm. And those unhappy souls who come to fieel this truth, when their condition is without remedy, are made the more miserable by the apprehension of their stupid folly : for certainly the accursed spirits feel the smart of hell once doubled upon them, by considering by w hat vain and rHitiarnN ki;i.igiun. 69 unsatislyin^ tiiHes tliey lost their iKippiness, with « h;it pains they perished, and with how great ease they might have been beatified. And certain it is. Christian religion hath so furnished us with assist- ances, both exterior and interior, both of persua- sion and advantages, that whatsoever Christ hath doubled upon us in perfection, he hath alleviated in aids. 34. And then, if we compare the state of Chris- tianity with sin, all the preceding discourses were intended to represent how much easier it is to be a Christian than a vile and wicked person. And he that remembers, that whatever fair allurements may be pretended as invitations to a sin, are sucii false and unsatisfying pretences, that they drive a man to repent him of his folly, and, like a great laughter, end in a sigh, and expire in weariness and indignation, must needs con- fess himself a fool for doing that which he knows will make him repent that ever he did it. A sin makes a man afraid whenever it thunders; and in all dangers the sin detracts the visor, and affrights him, and visits him when he comes to die, upbraid- ing him Willi guilt, and threatening misery. So that Christianity is the easiest law, and the easiest state ; it is more perfect, and less troublesome ; it brings us to felicity by ways proportionable, land- ing us in rest by easy and unperplexed journeys. This discourse I therefore thought necessary, be- cause it reconciles our religion with those passions and desires which are commonly made the instru- ments and arguments of sin : for we rarely meet with such spirits which love virtue so metaphysi- cally as to abstract her from all sensible and deli- rious compositions, and love the purity of the idea. 70 EXCELLENCY OF THE St. Lewis the king sent Ivo, bishop of Charlies, on an embass}' ; and he told. That he met a giavt* matron on the way, with fire in one hand and water in the other; and, observing- her to have a melancholic, religious, and fantastic deportment and look, asked her what those symbols meant, and what she meant to do with her fire and water ? She answered, " My purpose is with the fire to burn Paradise, and with my water to quench the flames of hell ; that men may serve God without the in- centives of hope and fear, and purely for the love of God." Whether the woman were only imagina- tive and sad, or also zealous, I know not. But God knows he would have few disciples, if the argu- ments of invitation were not of greater promise than the labours of virtue are of trouble. And therefore the Spirit of God, knowing to what we are inflexible, and by what we are made most ductile and malleable, hath propounded virtue clothed and dressed with such advantages as may entertain even our sensitive part and first desires ; that those also may be invited to virtue who under- stand not what is just and reasonable, but what is profitable ; who are more moved with advantage than justice.' And because emolument is more felt than innocence, and a man may be poor for ail his ' Quis enim virtutem amplectitur ipsam, prasmia si tollas ? Sublatis studiorum pretiis, etiam studia peritura, ut minus decora. — Tacit. " P'or who will embrace virtue herself if you take away her rewards .*'' " The rewards of study being denied, the studies will perish as becoming less honourable." Vide Ciceron. Tuscul. 2 ; Lact. lib. iii. c. 27- Instil. ; et Idem. t. 12. Aug. cp. 12. CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 71 gift of cliastity, the holy Jesus, to endear the practices of reli;^ion, hatli represented g'odliiiess to us under tlie notion of gain, anI- S l.\\llON. their condition had one weak k•L,^ upon which, V)e- cause it did rely for one half of the interest, it could be no stronger than its supporters; the con- dition of lower persons, to whom no revelation is made, no privileges are indulged, no greatness of spiritual eminency is appendant, as they have no greater certainty in the thing, so they have less in j>erson, and are therefore to work out their salvation with great fears and tremblings of spirit. 2. The purpose of this consideration is, that we do not judge of our final condition by any dis- courses of our own, relying upon God's secret coun- sels, and predestination of eternity. This is a mountain, upon which whosoever climbs, like Moses, to behold the land of Canaan at great dis- tances, may please his eyes, or satisfy his curiosity, but is Cc^itain never to enter that way. It is like inquiring into fortunes, concerning which Phavori- nus the philosopher spake not unhandsomely : " They that foretel events of destiny and secret pro- vidence, either foretel sad things or prosperous. If they promise prosperous, and deceive you, you are made miserable by a vain speculation, if they threaten ill fortune, and say false, thou art made wretched by a false fear. But if they foretel ad- versity, and say true, thou art made miserable by thy own apprehension before thou art so by des- tiny ; and many times the fear is worse than the evil feared. But if they promise felicities, and promise truly what shall come to pass, then thou shall be wearied by an imj)atience and a suspended hope, and thy hope shall ravish and deflower the joys of thy possession." Much of it is hugely ap- plicable to the present question. And our Ijlessed OF CERlAiMY iJF SALVATION. 75 Lord, when he was petitioned that he would grant to the two sons of Zebedee, that they mi<2^ht sit one on the riijht hand and the other on the left, in his kinjTclom, rejected their desire, and only pro- mised thetn what concerned their duty and their suffering; referring them to that, and leaving the final event of men to the disposition of his Father. This is the great secret of the kingdom, which God hath locked up and sealed with the counsels of eternity. ' The sure foundation of God standeth ; having this seal, the Lord knovveth who are his." This seal sl)all never be broken up till the great day of Christ : in the meantime, the divine knowledge is the only repository of the final sentences, and this ' way of God is unsearchable and past finding out.' And therefore, if we be solicitous and curious to know what God in the counsels of eternity hath decreed concerning us, he halh, in two fair tables, described all those sentences from whence we must take accounts — the revelations of Scripture, and the book of conscience. The first recites the law and the conditions ; the other gives in evidence. The first is clear, evident, and conspicuous; the other, when it is written with large characters, may also be discerned; but there are many little accents, periods, distinctions, and little significations of ac- tions, which either are there written in water, or sullied over with carelessness, or blotted with forgelfulness, or not legil)le by ignorance, or mis- construed by interest and jjarliality, that it will be extremely difficult to read the hand upon the wall, or to copy out one line ol' the eternal sentence. And therefore excellent was the counsel of the son > 2 Tim. ii. lU. 70 OF CERTAINTY OF SALVATION. of Sirach : * Seek not out the thing^s that are too hard for thee, neither search the thint^s that are above thy strenoth. But what is commanded thee think tliereupon with reverence ; for it is not needful for thee to see with thine eyes the things that are in secret.' ' For whatsoever God hath re- vealed in general concerning election, it concerns all persons within the pale of Christianity. He hath conveyed notice to all Christian people, that they are sons of God, that they are the heirs of eternity, coheirs with Christ, partakers of the divine nature ; meaning that such they are by the design of God, and the purposes of the manifesta- tion of his Son. The election of God is disputed in Scripture to be an act of God, separating whole nations and rejecting others ; in each of which, many particular instances there were contrary to the general and universal purpose ; and of the elect nations manj^ particulars perished, and many of the rejected people 'sat down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.' And to those persons to whom God was more par- ticular, and was pleased to show the scrolls of his eternal counsels, and to reveal their particular elec- tions, as he did to the twelve apostles, he showed them wrapped up and sealed : and, to take off their confidences or presumptions, he gave proba- tion in one instance, that those scrolls may be can- celled, that his purpose concerning j)articulars may be altered by us ; and therefore that he did not discover the bottom of the abyss, but some purposes of special grace and indefinite design. But his peremptory, final, unalterable decree, he > Ecclus. iii. 21,22. OF CERTAIMY OF SALVATION. 77 keeps in llie cuhinels of the eternal ages, never to be unlocked till tlie angel of the covenant shall declare the unalterable universal sentence. 3. But as we take the measure of the course of the sun by the dimensions of the shadows made by our own bodies or our own instruments; so must we take the measures of eternity by the span of a man's iiand, and guess at what God decrees of us, by considering how our relations and endearments are to him. And it is observable, that all the con- fidences which the Spirit of God hath created in the elect, are built upon duty, and stand or fall according to the strength or weakness of such sup- porters. ' We know we are translated from death to life by our love unto the brethren :'' meaning, that the performance of our duty is the best con- signation to eternity, and the only testimony God gives us of our election. And tlierefore we are to make our judgments accordingly. And here I consider, that there is no state of a Christian, in which by virtue of the covenant of the gospel it is effectively and fully declared that his sins are ac- tually pardoned, but only in baptism, at our first coming to Christ, when he redeems us from our vain conversation, when he makes us become sons of God, when he justifies us freely by his grace, when we are purified by faith, wiien we make a covenant with Christ to live for ever according to his laws. And this I shall suppose I have alreadv proved and explicated in the discourse of repent- ance. So that whoever is certain he hath not ofTended God since that time, and in nothing transgresseth the laws of Christianity, he is certain ' 1 John, iii. 14. 78 OF CKIIIAIMV OF SALVATION. that he actually remains in the state of baptismal purity ; but it is too certain that this certainty re- mains not lonof, but we commonly throw some dirt into our waters of baptism, and stain our white robe which we then put on. 4. But then because our restitution to this state is a thing that consists of so many parts, is so di- visible, various, and uncertain whether it be arrived to the degree of innocence, (and our innocence consists in a mathematical point, and is not capa- ble of degrees any more than unity, because one stain destroys our being innocent,) it is therefore a very difficult matter to say that we have done all our duty towards our restitution to baptismal grace ; and if we have not done all that we can do, it is harder to say that God hath accepted that which is less than the conditions we entered into, when we received the great justification and pardon of sins. We all know we do less than our duty, and we hope that God makes abatements for human infirmities; but we have but a few rules to judge by, and they not infallible in themselves, and we yet more fallible in the application ; whether we l)ave not mingled some little minutes of m.alice in the body of infirmities, and how much will bear excuse, and in what time, and to what persons, and to what degrees, and upon what endeavours we shall be pardoned. So that all the interval between our losing baptismal grace, and the day of our death, we walk in a cloud, having lost the certain knowledge of our present condition by our prevarications. And indeed it is a very hard thing for a man to know his own heart. And he that shall observe how often himself hath been abused by confidences and secret imperfections, or CEKTAINTY Ol- SAl.VATlDN. /H and how the "greatest part of Christians in name only do tliink ihemselves in a very good condition, when God knows they are infinitely removed from it; (and yet iftiiey did not think themselves well and sure, it is unimaginable they should sleep so quietly, and walk securely, and consider negli- gently, and yet proceed confidently ;) he that con- siders this, and upon what weak and false princi- ples of divinity men have raised their strengths and persuasions, will easily consent to this, that it is very easy for men to be deceived in taking esti- mate of their present condition, of their being in the state of grace. 5. But there is great variety of men, and dif- ference of degrees ; and every step of returning to God may reasonably add one degree of hope, till at last it comes to the certainty and top of hope. Many men believe themselves to be in the state of grace, and are not ; many are in the state of grace, and are infinitely fearful they are out of it: and many that are in God's favour do think they are so, and they are not deceived. And all this is cer- tain. For some sin that sin of presumption and flattery of themselves ; and some good persons are vexed with violent fears and temptations to des|)air, and all are not : and when their hopes are right, yet some are strong, and some are weak. For they that are well persuaded of their present condition, have persuasions as diflferent as are the degrees of their approach to innocence ; and he that is at the higluL'st, hath also such abatements which are apt and proper for the conservation of humility and godly fear. 'I am guilty of nothing,' sailh St. Paul ; •but I am not hereby justified:'' meaning thus, ' 1 Cor. iv 4. so OF CERTAJNTY OF SALVATION. though I be innocent, for ought I know ; yet God, who judges otherwise than we judge, may find something to reprove in me : ' It is God that judges,' that is, concerning my degrees of accept- ance and hopes of glory. If the person be newly recovering from a state of sin, because his state is imperfect, and his sin not dead, and his lust active, and his habit not quite extinct, it is easy for a man to be too hasty in pronouncing well. He is wrapt up in a cloak of clouds, hidden and encumbered ; and liis brightest day is but twilight, and his dis- cernings dark, conjectural, and imperfect;' and his hetut is like a cold hand nevvly applied to the fire, full of pain, and whether the heat or the cold be strongest it is not easy to determine: or like middle colours, which no man can tell to which of the extremes they are to be accounted.' But according as persons grow in grace, so they may grow in confidence of their present condition. It is not certain they will do so ; for sometimes the beauty of their tabernacle is covered with goats'- hair and skins of beasts ; and holy people do infi- nitely deplore the want of such graces which God observes in them with great complacency and ac- ceptance. Both these cases say, that to be cer- tainly persuaded of our present condition is not a duty : sometimes it is not possible, and sometimes it is better to be otherwise. But, if we consider of this certainty as a blessing and a re- ward, there is no question but in a great and emi- nent sanctity of life there may also be a great con- fidence and fulness of persuasion, that our present being is well and gracious ; and then it is certain I £cc]es.ix. 1, 2. OF CF.rilAlNr\ nl SALVATION. 81 tl);it sutli persons are not rleceived. For the thinfj itself beinj^ sure, if the persuasion answers to it, it is needlesss to dispute of the deg;ree of certainty and the manner of it. Some persons are lieartily persuaded of their being reconciled ; and of these some are deceived, and some are not deceived; and there is no si;;n to distinp^uish them, but by that which is the thing signified ; — a holy life, ac- cording to the strict rules of Christian discipline, tells what persons are confident, and who are pre- sumptuous. But the certainty is reasonable in none but in old Christians, habitually holy persons; not in new converts, or in lately lapsed people; for concerning lliem we find the Spirit of God speaking with clauses of restraint and ambiguity ; a ' perhaps,' ' and, 'who knoweth ?* and ' perad- venture the thoughts of thy heart may be forgiven thee;'* God may have mercy on thee. And that God hath done so, they only have reason to be confident, wliom God hath blessed with a lasting, continuing jiiet}', and who have wrought out the habits of their precontracted vices. 6. But we find in Scripture many precepts given to holy persons, being in the state of grace, to secure their standing, and perpetuate their pre- sent condition. For, 'He that endureth unto the end ho [only] shall be saved," said our blessed Saviour : and ' lie that standeth, let him take heed ' Beatus Daniel prascius futuroruni, tie sentcrilia Dei dubitat. Rem temerariam faciunt qui aiuiacter veniam pollicentur pec- cantibus. — S. Hieron. Dan. iv. 27. " The blessed Daniel, thou(»h revealing future things, doubts concerning the sentence of (iod. They act with temerity who boldly promise pardon to Rtnners." • Joel, ii. 14 ; Acts, viii. 2i. ' 3Iatt. xxiv. Hi. voi_ II. 2S b'i OF CEHIAIMY UF SAl,VATION. iest l)e fall : ' ' and, ' riiou slandest by /'aillj ; be not high-minded, but fear :'^ and, ' Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.'' ' Hold fast that thou hast, and let no man take thy trown j'rom thee :'* and it was excellent advice; for one church had 'lost their first love,'* and was likely also to lose their crown. And St. Paul himself, who had once entered within the veil, and seen unutterable glories, yet was forced to endure hard- ship, and to fight against his own disobedient ap- j)elite, and to do violence to his inclinations, for fear that, ' whilst he preaclied to others, himself t^liould become a cast-away.' And since we ob- serve in holy story, that Adam and Eve fell in paradise, and the angels fell in heaven itself, stum- bling at the very jewels which pave the streets of the celestial Jerusalem; and in Christ's family, one man, for whom his Lord had prepared a throne, turned devil; and that in the number of the dea- cons, it is said that one turned apostate, who yet had been a man full of the Holy Ghost; it will lessen our train, and discompose the gaieties of our present confidence, to think that our securities cannot be really distinguished from danger and uncertainties For every man walks upon two legs ; one is firm, invariable, constant, and eternal ; but the other is his own. God's promises are the objects of our faith; but the events and final con- ditions of our souls, which are consequent to our duty, can at the best be but the objects of our hope. And either there must in this be a less cer- tainty, or else faith and hope are not two distinct r 1 Cor. X. 12. - Kom. xi. 20. - Phil. ii. 12 ♦ Kcv. iii. 11. 'Ibid. xxiv. OF CIIM AINIV Ul .SALVATION. 83 graces. ' God's gids und vocation are without repentance;'' meaning, on God's part: but the very people concerning whom St. Paul used the expression, were reprobate and cut off, and in good time shall be called again ; in the meantime many .single persons perish. ' There is no condemna- tion to them that are in Christ Jesus.'* God will look to that, and it will never fail : but then they must secure the following period, and ' not walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit.'* ' Behold the goodness of God towards thee,' saith St. Paul, ' if thou continue in his goodness; otherwise thou also shall be cut off.' And if this be true con- cerning the whole church of the Gentiles, to whom the apostles then made the address, and concerning whose election the decree was public and manifest, that they might be cut off, and tlieir abode in God's favour was upon condition of their perseve- rance in the faith ; much more is it true in single persons, whose election in particular is shut up in the abyss, and permitted to the condition of ou. faith and obedience, and the revelations of dooms day. 7. Certain it is, that God hath given to holy persons the spirit of adoption, enabling them to cry, ' Abba, Father,' and to account tliemselves for 8ons ; and by this 'spirit we know we dwell in Iiim,' and therefore it is called in Scripture, ' the earnest of the Spirit:'* though at its first mission, and when the aposlle wrote and used this appella- tive, tlie Holy Ghost was of greater signification, and a more visible earnest and endearment of their ' Ilom. xi. 29. - Horn. viii. I. J Rom. xi. 22. * Rom. viii. 15 ; 1 John, jv. \'i ; 2 Cor. i. 22, and ». ft. 84 OF CEKTAINTY OF SALVATION. hopes, than it is to most of us since. For the visi- ble sending of the Holy Ghost upon many believers, in gifts, signs, and prodigies, was an infinite argu- ment to make them expect events as great beyond that as that was beyond the common gift of men : just as miracles and prophecy, which are gifts of the Holy Ghost, were arguments of probation for the wliole doctrine of Christianity. And this being a mighty verification of the great promise, the promise of the Father, was an apt instrument to raise their hopes and confidences concerning those other pro- mises which Jesus made, the promises of immor- tality and eternal life, of which the present mira- culous graces of the Holy Spirit were an earnest, and in the nature of a contracting-penny. And still also the Holy Ghost, though in another man- ner, is ' an earnest of the great price of the hea- venly calling,' the rewards of heaven ; though not so visible and apparent as at first, yet as certain and demonstrative, where it is discerned, or where it is believed, as it is and ought to be in every per- son who does any part of his duty, because by the Spirit we do it, and without him we cannot. And since we either feel or believe the presence and gifts of the Holy Ghost to holy purposes, (for whom we receive voluntarily, we cannot easily receive without a knowledge of his reception,) we cannot but entertain him as an argument of greater good hereafter, and an earnest-penny of the per- fection of the present grace, that is, of the rewards of glory ; glory and grace differing no otherwise, than as an earnest in part of payment does from the whole price, 'the price of our liigh calling." So that the Spirit is an earnest, not because he ulways signifies to us that we are actually in the or CKRTAINTY OF «iAl. V A IION. 83 State of grace, but by way of argument or reflec- tion. We know we do belong to God, when we receive liis Spirit ; (and all Christian people have received him, if they were rightly baptized and confirmed ;) I say, we know by that testimony that we belong to God ; that is, we are the people witli whom God hath made a covenant, to whom he hath promised and intends greater blessings, to which the present gifts of the Spirit are in order. But all this is conditional, and is not an immediate testimony of the certainty and future event; but of the event as it is possibly future, and may (without our fault) be reduced to act as certainly as it is promised, or as the earnest is given in hand. And this the Spirit of God oftentimes tells us in secret visitations and |)ublic testimonies ; and this is that which St. Paul calls, ' tasting of the hea- venly gift, and partaking of the Holy Ghost, and tasting of the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come.'' But yet some that nave done so, have fallen away, and have quenched the Spirit, and have given back the earnest of the Spirit, and contracted new relations; and God hath been their Father no longer, for they have done the works of the devil. So that if new converts be uncertain of tlieir present state, old Christians are not absolutely certain they shall persevere. They are as sure of it as Wliey can be of future acts of theirs which God hath permitted to their own power: but this certainty cannot exclude all fear, till their charity be perfect ; only according to the strength of their habits, so is the confidence of their ftbodes in grace. > llcb. vi. 4, 5. ^ OF CEKTAfNTY OF SAI.VATlU.N 8. Beyond this, some holy persons have degrees of persuasion superadded as hxrgesses and acts of grace; God loving to bless one degree of grace with another, till it comes to a confirmation in grace, which is a state of salvation directly oppo- site to obduration : and as this is irremediable and irrecoverable, so is the other inamissible. As God never saves a person obdurate and obstinately impenitent, so he never loses a man whom he hath confirmed in grace; •' whom he [so] loves, he loves unto the end :' and to others, indeed, he offers his persevering love; but they will not entertain it with a persevering duty, they will not be beloved unto the end. But I insert this caution, that every man that is in this condition of a confirmed grace, does not always know it : but sometimes God draws aside the curtains of peace, and shows him his throne, and visits hira with irradiations of glory, and sends him a little star to stand over his dwell- ing, and then again covers it with a cloud. It is certain concerning some persons, that they shall never full, and that God will not permit them to the danger or probability of it ; to such it is mo- rally impossible : but these are but few, and them- selves know it not as they know a demonstrative proposition, but as they see the sun, sometimes breaking from a cloud verj- brightly, but all day long giving necessary and sufficient light. 9. Concerning the multitude of believers this discourse is not pertinent, for they only take their own accounts by the imperfections of their own duty blended with the mercies of God: the cloud gives light on one side, and is dark upon the other; and sometimes a bright ray peeps through the fringes of a shower, and immediately hides itself; OF cektainty of salvation. &7 that we mii^lit be liunible and diligent, strivitij^ for- wards, and looking: upwards, endeavouring our duty, and longing after heaven, ' working out our salvation with fear and trembling;' and in good time our calling and election may be assured, when we first, according to the precept of the apostle, use all diligence. St. Paul, when he wrote his first epistle to the Corinthians, was more fear- ful of being reprobate, and therefore he used exte- rior arts of mortificntion.' But when he wrote to the Romans, wliicli was a good while after, we find him more confident of jiis final condition, ' per- puaded that neither lieight, nor depth, angel, nor principality, nor power, could separate him from ihe love of God in Jesus Christ.'* And when he grew to liis latter end, when he wrote to St. Timo- thy, he was more confident yet, and declared tliat now * a crown of righteousness was certainly laid up for him; for now he had fouglit the fight, and finished his course ; the time of his departure was at hand.' * Henceforth he knew no more fear ; his love was as perfect as this state would permit, and that, cast out all fear. According to this precedent, ii we reckon our securities, we are not likely to be re- proved by any words of Scripture, or by the con- ditions of human infirmity : but when the confi- dence outruns our growth in grace, it is itself a sin; though when the confidence is equal with tlie grace, it is of itself no regular and universal duty, but a blessing and a reward indulged by spe- cial dispensation, and in order to personal neces- sities or accidental purposes. For only so much hope is simply necessary as excludes despair, nnd • 1 Cor. ix. 27. ' Rom. viii. 38, 39. ■< 2 Tiin. iv. «, 7, «. 88 or CEUIAINTV or SALVATiON. encourages our duty, and glorifies God, and enter- tains liis mercy : but that the hope should be with- out fear, is not given but to the highest faith, and the most excellent charity, and to habitual, ratified, and confirmed Christians; and to them also with some variety. The sum is this : all that are in the state of beginners and imperfection have a condi- tional certainty, changeable and fallible in respect of us ; (for we meddle not witli what it is in God's secret purposes;) changealjle, I say, as their wills and resolutions. They that are grown towards perfection have more reason to be confident, and many times are so: but still, although the strength of the habits of grace adds degrees of mo- ral certainty to their expectation, yet it is but as their condition is, hopeful and promising, and of a moral determination. But to those few to whom God hath given confirmation in grace, he hath also given a certainty of condition ; and therefore if that be revealed to them, their persuasions are certain and infallible. If it be not revealed to them, their condition is in itself certain, but their pereuasion is not so; but in the highest kind of hope, 'an an- chor if the soul, sure and steadfast.' THE PRAYER. O eternal God, whose counsels are in the great deep, and thy ways past finding out; thou hast built our faith upon thy pro- mises, our hopes upon thy goodness, and hast described our paths between the waters of comfort and the dry, barren land of our own duties and affections. We acknowledge that all our comforts derive from thee, and to ourselves we owe all our shame and confusions and degrees of desperation. Give us the assistances of the Holy Ghost to help us in performing our duty ; and give us thoee com- (tv cEKi'visrv tiF -^Ai v.v riov. 8'J forts and visitation of the Holy Ghost, which thou in thy infinite and eternal wisdom knowest most apt and expedient to encourage our duties, to entertain our hopes, to alleviate our sadnesses, to refresh our spirits, and to endure our abode and constant cndea- vours in the strictnesses of religion and sanctity. Lead us, dearest God, from grace to grace, from imperfection to strength, from acts to habits, from habits to confirmation in grace; that we may also pass into the region of comfort, receiving the earn- est of the Spirit, and the adoption of sons; till by such a signa- ture we be consigned to glory, and enter into the possession of the ii.heritance which we expect in the kingdom of Ihy Son, and in the fruition of ths fe'iicities of thee, O gracious Father, Owl eternal. Amen. 90 THE TlllKD YEAR Of SECTION XIV. of (he Third Year of (he Preaching qfJestts. 1. But Jesus knowing of the death of the Baptist, Herod's jealousy, and the envy of tlie Pharisees, re- tired into a desert place beyond the lake, together with his apostles; for the people pressed so upon them, they had not leisure to eat. But neither there could he be hid, but great multitudes flocked tliither also; to whom he preached many things. And afterwards, because there were no villages in the neighbourhood, lest they should faint in their return to their houses, he caused them to sit down upon the grass; and with five loaves of bar- ley, and two small fishes he satisfied five thousand men, besides women and children ; and caused the disciples to gather up the fragments, which being amassed together filled twelve baskets. Which miracles had so much proportion to the understand- ing, and met so happily with the affections of the people, that they were convinced that this was the ' Messias who was to come into the world,' and had a purpose to have taken him by force, and made him a king. 2. But he that left his Fathers kingdom, to take upon liim the miseries and infelicities of the world, fled from the offers of a kingdom, and their tu- multuary election, as from an enemy : and there- fore, sending his disciples to the ship to go before towards Belhsaida, he ran into the mountains to hide himself, till the multitude should scatter to their several habitations; he, in the meantime, taking the opportunity of that retirement for the ad- ii^Ls*.^ pru:AciiiNo. 91' vantage of his prayers. But when the apostlei were far engaged in the deep, a great tempest arose, with which they were pressed to tlie extremi- ty of danger, and the hvst refuges, hibouring in sadness and hopelessness, till the fourth watch ot llie night; when, in the midst of their fears and labour, Jesus conies walking on the sea, and aj)- peared to them, which turned their fears into af- IVightments; for they supposed it had been a spi- rit. But he appeased their fears with his pre- sence and manifestation who he was; which yet they defsired to have proved to them by a sign. For ' Simon Peter said unto him, ' INIaster, if it be thou, command me to come to thee on the waters.' The Lord did so : and Peter, throwing himself upon the confidence of his Master's j)ower and pro- vidence, came out of tlie ship; and his fear began to Weigh him down, and he cried, saying, ' Lord, save me.' Jesus look him by tlie hand, reproved the timorousness of his faith, and went with iiiiu into the ship; where, when they had worshipped him, and admired the divinity of his power and person, they presently came into the land of Gen- nesaret, the ship arriving at the port immediately. And all that were sick, or possessed of unclean spirits, 'were brought to him: and as many as touched the border of his garment were made whole.' 3. By this time they whom Jesus had left on the other side of the lake, had come as far as Ca- pernaum to seek him, wondering that he was tliere before tliem. But upon the occasion of their Ko diligent inquisition, Jesus observes to them, " That it was nut the divinity of the miracle that provoked their zeal, but the satisfaction they had 93 THt 1UIIU> Yi;\K OF in tlje loaves, a carnal complacency in their meal: and upon that intimation speaks of celestial bread, the divine nutriment of souls; and then discourses of the mysterious and symbolical manducation ol Christ himself; affirming- that he himself was ' the bread of life that came down from heaven;' that he would give his disciples ' his flesh to eat, and his blood to drink;'" and all this shall be ' for the life of the world,' to nourish unto life eternal ; so that without it a happy eternity could not be obtain- ed. Upon this discourse * divers of his disciples (amongst whom St. Mark the evangelist is said to be one, though he was afterwards recalled by Si- mon Peter) forsook him,'" being scandalized by their literal and carnal understanding of those words of Jesus, which he intended in a spiritual sense. For the words that he spake were not profitable in the sense of flesh and blood; but ' they are spirit, and they are life.,' himself being the expounder, uho best knew his own meaning. 4. When Jesus saw this great defection of his dis- ciples from him, he turned him to the twelve apostles, and asked if they ' also would go away. Simon Pe- ter answered. Lord, whither shall we go ? thou hast the words of eternal life : and we believe and are sure thou art that Christ the Son of the living God.' Although this confession was made by Peter, in the name and confidence of the other apostles, yet Jesus told them, that even amongst the twelve there was one devil ; meaning Judas Iscariot, who afterwards betrayed him. This he told them pro- phetically, that they might perceive the sad acci. dents which afterwards happened, did not invade ' £piphan. Haeres. Id. ji:si s s ntKAtiiiNr.. 93 and surprise him in llje disadvuntages of ignorance or im))rovision, l)iit ranieby his own knowledge and jirovidenco. 5. Tiifu came to him tlie Pharisees, and some Scribes, which came from Jernsalem and Galilee, (fo 'Jesus would not go to Judaea, because the Jews laid wait to kill him,) and quarrelled with him about certain impertinent, unnecessary rites, derived to them not by Divine sanction, but ordi- nances of man; such as were, 'washing their hands oft when they eat, baj)tizing cups and platters,' and ' washing tables and beds :' which ceremonies the apostles of Jesus did not observe, but attended diligently to the simplicity and spiritual holiness oi their Master's doctrine. But in return to their vain demands, Jesus gave them a sharp reproof, for pro- secuting these and many other traditions, to the discountenance of divine precepts; and in particu- lar, they taught men to give to the Corban, and rt-- fused to supply the necessity of their j)arents, think- ing it to be religion, though they nei^kcted piety and charity. And again he thunders cut woes and sadnesses against their impieties; for beiiig curious of minutes, and punctual in rites and ceremonials, but most negligent and incurious of judgment and the love of God ; for tlieir pride, for their hypocrisy, for their imposing burdens upon others which themselves helped not to support ; for taking away ihe key of knowledge I'rom the people, obstructing the passages to heaven ; for approving the acts of their fatht-rs in persecuting the prophets. But for the question itself, concerning washings, .Tesus taught the |)eople, that no outward impurity did stain the soul in the sight of God ; but all pol- lution is from within, from the corruption of Uie 94 THE THIRD YEAR OF licart and impure thoughts, unchaste desiies and unholy purposes; and that charity is the best pu- rifier in the world. 6. And thence 'Jesus departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into a house/ that lie might not be known. The diligence of a mother's love and sorrow, and necessity, found him out in his retirement : for ' a Syrophoenician woman came and besought him 1 e would cast the devil out of her daughter.' But Jesus discoursed to her by way of discomfort and rejection of her, for her nation's sake. But the seeming denial did but enkindle her desires, and made her importunity more bold and undeniable: she begged but 'some crumbs that fell from the children's table,' but one instance of favour to her daughter, which he poured forth without measure upon the sons and daughters of Israel. Jesus was pleased with her zeal and dis- cretion, and pitied her daughter's infelicity, and dismissed her with saying, ' the devil was gone out of her daughter.' 7. But Jesus stayed not long here, but returning * to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of Deca- polis, they brought unto hin\, a mjin deaf and dumb ;' whom Jesus cured by 's. ^j- j^|^, his tongue, and putting his fingers in 1' .^^ lnad^' '^ ''^^'^ caused the people to give a largf^^j^^ ^^lony in appro- bation of all his actions. ^ ,ind they followed him unto a mountain, bringing to him multitudes of diseased people ; and he healed them all. But because the people had followed him ' three days, and had nothing to eat,' Jesus, in pity to their need, resolved to feast them once more at the charge of a miracle : therefore taking ' seven loaves and a few small fishes, he blessed them,' and ' satisfied JESUS'S PRRACHING 93 four thousand men, besides women and children.' And there remained ' seven baskets full of broken bread and fish.' From whence Jesus departed by ship to the coasts of Mageddon and Dalmanutha, whither ' the Pharisees and Sadducees came seek- ing of liim a sign.' But Jesus rejected tlieir im- pertinent and captious demand, knowing they did it to ill purposes and with disaffection ; reprov- ing them, that they ' discerned the face of the sky,* and the prognostics of fair or foul weatlier, but ' not the signs of tlie times' of the Son of man. How- ever, since they had neglected so great demonstra- tions of miracles, gracious discourses, holy la.^s and prophecies, they must expect ' no other sign but the sign of the propliet Jonas ;' meaning, the resurrection of his liody after three days' burial. And so he dismissed the impertinent inquisitors. 8. And passing again over the lake, as his dis- ciples were solicitous, because ' they had forgot to take bread,' he gave them caution to beware ' of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the leaven of Herod :' meaning the hypocrisy and va- nities of the one, and the heresy of the other : for Herod's leaven was the pretence that he was the Messias ; which the sect of the Herodians did ear- nestly and spitefully promote. And after this en- tertainment of themselves by the way, they came together to Bethsaida, where Jesus cured a blind man with acollyrium of spittle, salutary as balsam, or the purest eye-hright, when his divine benedic- tion once had hallowed it. But Jesus staid not there, hut departing thence, into the coasts of Cacsarea Pliilip|)i,out of Herod's power, (for it was in Philip's jurisdiction,) after he had ' prayed with his disciples,' he enquired what opinion the world 96 'IHi; THIIll) VEAK (»F had of Ilim, and ' whom lliey lepoited him to be. They answered, Some say thou art John the Bap- tist, some that thou art Elias, or Jeremias, or one of the prophets :' for in Galilee especially the sect of the Pharisees was mightily disseminated, whose opinion it was, that the souls of dead men, accord- ing to their several merits, did transmigrate into other bodies of very perfect and excellent persons. And therefore in all this variety, none hit upon the right, or fancied him to be a distinct person from the ancients : but although they differed in the as- signation of his name, yet generally they agreed it was the soul of a departed prophet which had pas- sed into another body. But Jesus asked the apos- tles their opinion ; and Peter, in the name of all the rest, made an open and confident confession. Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.' 9. This confession Jesus not only confirmed as true, but as ' revealed by God,' and of fundamental necessity : for after the blessing of Peter's person upon allusion of Peter's name, Jesus said, that' upon this rock [the article of Peter's confession,] he would build his church ;' promising to it assistances even to i)erpetuity, insomuch that ' the gates ot hell,' that is, persecution, and death, and the grave, ' should never prevail against it.' Adding withal a promise to Peter, in behalf or all the rest, as he made a confession for tiiem all, that he would ' give unto him the keys of the kingdom of heaven ; so that whatsoever he should bind on earth should be bound in heaven, and whatsoever he should loose on earth should be loosed in heaven ; a power which he never communicated before or since, but to their successors ; greater than the large charter of nature and tht' ilonative of creation, in ;,>iich all jKSL'ss i-UEAi iiisa. y7 the creatures under heaven were ninde .sulijccl u> man's empire, but till now heaven itself was never subordinate to human ministration. 10. And now tlie days from henceforward to the death of Jesus we must reckon to be like the vigils or eves of his passion ; for now he begjan, and often did ingeminate those sad predictions of his un- handsome usaffe he should shortly find ; that he should be ' rejected of the elders, and chief-priests, and Scribes, and suffer many thin<^s at Jerusalem, and be killed, and be raised up the third day.' But Peter, hearinjj that sad discourse, so contrary to his hopes, which he had blended with temporal ex- pectances, (for he had learnt tlie doctrine of Christ's advent, but not the mystery of the cross,) in great and mistaken civility, took .fesus aside, ' and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee. Lord ; this shall not be unto thee.' But Jesus, full of zeal against so soft and human admonition, that savoured nothing of God, or of abstracted im- material considerations, chid Peter bitterly : ' Get thee behind me, Satan ; thou art an offence unto me. And calling his disciples to him, he told them a second part of the sad doctrine, that not only him- self, but all they also must suffer: for when the head was to be crowned with thorns, if the mem- bers were wrapped in softnesses, it was an unhand- some indecency, and a disunion too near an anti- pathy ; and therefore whoever will be tiie disciple of Jesus, must ' take up his cross, deny himself,' and iiis own fonder appetites, and trace his Master's footsteps, marked out with blood that he shed for our redemption and restitution. And that there be no escape from the participation of Christ's suf- VOL. 11. "«, 08 THE IllUtU Vl'Vll »>F fering', Jesus adtlerl tliis dilemma: ' He that "ill save liis life sliall lose it ; and he that will lose it shall save it' to eternity. Which part soever we choose, there is a life to be lost. But as the first are foolish to the extremest misery, that will lose their souls to gain the world ; so they are most wise and fortunate that will give their lives for him, because when * the Son of man shall c me in his own glory, and his Father's, and of his angels', he siiall reward every man according to his works." This discourse Jesus concluded with a prophecy, that some, standing in that preseticd ' should not die till they saw the Son of man coming in his kingdom.' 11. Of the greater glories of which, in due time to be revealed, ' Jesus after eight days" gave a bright and excellent probation : for ' taking with him Peter, and James, and John, he went up into the mountain Tabor to pray : and while he prayed he was transfigured before them ; and his face did fihine like the sun, and his garments were white and glistering. And there appeared talking with him Moses and Elias gloriously, speaking of the de- cease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem ;' which glory, these apostles, after they had awaked from sleep, did behold. And the interlo- cutors with Jesus, having finished their embassy of death, (which they delivered in forms of glory, representing the excellencies of the reward, to- gether with the sharpness of the passage and interval,) departed, leaving the apostles full of fear, and wonder, and ecstacy ; insomuch that * Peter talked he knew not what,' but nothing amiss, something prophetical ; saying, ' Master, it JESLS'S PREACHINU. 1'9 is good to be here : let us build three tabernacles.*' And some devout persons, in memory of the mys- tery, did erect three churches in the same place in after-ajres. But after the departure of those atten- dant saints, a cloud encircled Jesus and the dis- ciples, and a voice came from the excellent glory. •This is my beloved Son, hear him." The cloud quickly disappeared, and freed the disciples from the fear it had i)ut them in. So they attended Jesus and descended from the mountain, being commanded silence ; which they observed till the resurrection. 12. The next day came to Jesus a man praying in behalf of his son, lunatic and sore troubled with a devil, who sought oft to destroy him in fire and water, that Jesus would be pleased to deliver him. For his apostles tried, and could not, by reason of the want of faith : for this grace, if it be true, though in a less degree, is of power to remove mountains, to pluck up trees by the roots, and to give them solid foundation in the waters. And Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him from that very hour. Then Jesus departed privately into Galilee, and in his journey repeated those sadnesses of his approacliing passion ; whicli so afflicted the spirits of the disciples, that they durst no more provoke him to discourse, lest he should take occasion to interweave something of that unpleasant argument with it. For sad and disconsolate persons use to create comforts to them- selves by fiction of fancy, and use arts of avocation to remove displeasure from them, and stratagems to remove it from their presence, by removing it ' Bede de I.ocu Sanctu, c. I?. HO IHL IHIHU YEAR Of from their apprehensions; thinking the incommo- dity of it is then taken away when they have lost the sense. 13. When Jesus was now come to Capernaum, the exactors of rates came to Simon Peter, asking him if his Master paid the accustomed imposition, viz. a side or a didrachm, the fourth part of an ounce of silver, which was the tribute which the Lord imposed upon all the sons of Israel from twenty years old and above, to pay for redemption and propitiation, and for the use of the tabernacle.' When "Peter came into the house, Jesus knowing the message that he was big with, prevented him, by asking him, ' Of whom do the kings of the na- tions take tribute ; of their own children, or of stran_ij,eis?' Peter answered, ' Of strangers.' Then said Jesus, * then are the children free ;' meaning, that since the Gentile kings do not exact tribute of their sons, neitiier will God of his. And therefore this pension to be paid for ihe use of the tabernacle, for the service of God, for the redemption of their souls, was not to be paid by him, who was the Son of God, but by strangers. Yet, to avoid offence, he sent Peter a fishing, and provided a fish with two didrachms of silver in it, which he commanded Peter to pay for them two. 14. But when the disciples were together with Jesus in the house, he asked them what they dis- coursed of upon the way. For they had fallen upon an ambitious and mistaken quarrel, which of them should be greatest in their Master's kingdom ; which they still did dream should be an external and secular royalty, full of fancy and honour. But > Exod. xxx. JF.StSS I'llEACHING. lOl the Master was dilifjent to check their forwardness, establishing a rule for clerical deportment : ' He that will be greatest among you, let him be your minister:' so supposing a greater and a lesser, a minister and a person to be ministered unto ; but dividing tiie grandeur of the person from the great- ness of office, that the higher the employment is, the more humble should be the man. Because in spiritual prelation it is not as in secular pomps, where the dominion is despotic, the coercion bloody, tiie dictates imperious, the laws externally com- pulsory, and the titles arrogant and vain ; and all the advantages are so j^assed upon the person, that making that first to be splendid, it passes from the person to the subjects, who in abstracted essences do not easily apj)rehend regalities in veneration, but as they are subjected in persons made excellent by sucli superstructures of majesty. But in digni- ties ecclesiastical the dominion is paternal, the regi- ment j)ersuasive and argumentative, the coercion by censures immaterial, by cession and consent, by denial of benefits, by the interest of virtues, and the efficacy of hopes, and impresses upon the spirit; the laws are full of admonition and sermon ; the titles of honour monitors of duty, and memo- rials of labour and offices ; and all the advantages, wiiich from the office usually pass upon the per- son, are to be divested by the humility of the man ; and wlien they are of greatest veneration, they are abstracted exctllencies and immaterial, not passing tl)rough tlie person to the people, and reflected to his lustre, but transmitted by his labour and ministry, and give him honour for his labour's sake, (which is his personal excellency,) not for his honour and titb'. which is either a derivative 102 THi: IHIKO YEAH Of from Christ, or IVom the constitution of pious per- sons, estimating and valuing the relatives of reli- gion. 15. Then Jesus taketh a little child, and setteth him in the midst, propounding him, by way of em- blem, a pattern of humility and simplicity, without the mixtures of ambition or caitive distempers : such infant candour and lowliness of spirit being the necessary port through which we must pass, if we will enter into the courts of heaven. But as a current of wholesome waters breaking from its re- straint runs out in a succession of waters, and every preceding draught draws out the next; so were the discourses of Jesus excellent and opportune, creat- ing occasions for others, that the whole doctrine of the gospel and the entire will of the Father might be communicated upon design ; even the chances of words and actions being made regular and orderly by divine providence : for from the instance of hu- mility in the symbol and hieroglyphic of the child, Jesus discourses of "the care God takes of little children, whether naturally or spiritually such ; the danger of doing them scandal and ofFimces ; the care and power of their angels-guardian ; of the necessity in the event that scandals should arise, and of the great woe and infelicity of those persons who were the active ministers of such offences." 16. But if in the traverses of our life discontents and injuries be done, Jesus teaches how the in- jured person should demean himself: first, reprove; the offending party privately; if he repent, forgive him for ever, with a mercy as unwearied and as multiplied as his repentance.' For the servant to ' Injuriam qui Uilit, oblirisci potest ; qui fecit, nunquam- JliSLbS 1>RF..\CUINU. lOi whom hii) Lord had forgiven ten thousand talents, because he refused to forgive his fellow-servant one hundred pence, was delivered to the tormen- tors, till he should pay that debt which his lord once forgave, till tlie servant's impiety forced him to repent his donative and remission.' But if he refuses the charity of private correction, let him be reproved before a few witnesses: and in case he be still incorrigible, let him be brought to the tribunal of the churcli ; against whose advices if he shall kick, let him feel her power, and be cut off from llie communion of saints, becoming a pagan or u public.in. And to make that the cliurch shall not have a dead and ineffectual hand in her animad- versions, Jesus promises to all the apostles, what before he pron)ised to Peter, a power of binding and loosing on earth, and that it should be ratified in heaven what they shall so dispose on earth, with an unerring key. 17. But John interrupted him, telling him of a stranger that cast out devils in the name of Jesus ; but because he was not of the family, he had for- bidden him. To this Jesus replied, that he should ' in no wise have forbidden him ;' for in all reason he would do veneration to lliat person whose name he saw to be energetical and triumphant over devils, and in whose name it is almost necessary that m.in should believe, who used it as an instrument of Tacit. — " He who has suffered an injury may forget it: he who has inflicted it can never." ' D° pocnis debitorum qni solvendo non sunt, vide Livium. Decad. 1. lib. i. & vi. et Dionys. Ilalicarn. Hist. Rom. lib. tI. et A. GelHuni, lib. xx. r. 1. Cod. Theod. lib. iv. & 7- de exact. 104 Tju: TiiiRn year of ejection of impure spirits. Then Jesus proceeded ia his excellent sermon and union of discourses, add- ing holy precepts " concerning offences which a man might do to himself; in which case he is to be severe, though most gentle to others : for in his own case he must show no mercy, but abscission : for it is better to cut off the offending hand or foot, or extinguish the offending eye, rather than, upon the support of a troublesome foot, and by the light of fin offending eye, walk into ruin and a sad eter- nity, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." And so Jesus ended this chain of ex- cellent discourses. IS. About this time was the Jews' feast of taber- nacles, whither Jesus went up as it were in secret; and passing through Samaria, he found the inha- bitants of a little village so inhospitable as to re- fuse to give him entertainment ; which so provoked the intemperate zeal of James and John, that they would fain have called for fire to consume them, even as Elias did But Jesus rebuked the furies of their anger, teaching them to distinguish the spirit of Christianity from the ungentleness of the decre- tory zeal of Elias : for since the Son of man came with a purpose to seek and to save what was lost, it was but an indiscreet temerity suddenly, upon the lightest umbrages of displeasure, to destroy a man, whose redemption cost the effusion of the dearest blood from the heart of Jesus. But contrariwise Jesus does a miracle upon the ten leprous persons who came to him from the neighbourhood, crying out with sad exclamations for help. But Jesus sent them to the priest to offer for their cleansing. Thither they went; and but one only returned to give thanks. itsus's ruEACHiNa. 105 and he ' a >;tiiinger,' who ' u ith a loud voice glorified GoJ,' and with humble adoration worshipped, and gave thanks l<. Jesus. 19. When Jesus had finished his journey, and was now come to Jerusalem, for the first days he «as undiscerned in public conventions, but heard of the various opinions of men concerninfj him; some say inj^ he was a good man; others, that he deceived tiie people: and the Pharisees sought for him to do him a mischief. But when they despaired of finding him in the midst of the feast and the l>eople, he made sermons openly in the midst of the temple : u horn when he had convinced by the variety and divinity of his miracles and discourses, they gave the greatest testimony in the world of liuman weakness, and how prevalent a prejudice is above the confidence and conviction of a demon- stration : for a proverb, a mistake, an error, in mat- ter of circumstance, did in their understandings outweigii multitudes of miracles and arguments: and because ' Christ was of Galilee,' because ' they knew whence he was,' because of the proverb, that ' out of Galilee comes no prophet,' because ' the rulers did not believe in him,' these outweighed the demonstrations of his mercy, and his power, and divinity. But yet ' very many believed on him ; and no man durst lay hands to take him : for as ytt his time was not come,' in which he meant to give himself up to the power of the Jews. And therefore, when the Pharisees sent officers to seize him, they also became his disciples, being them- selves surprised by the excellency of iiis doclrine- 20. After this ' Jesus went to tlie Mount of Oli- vet,* on the east of Jerusalem, and ' the next day reliJinfd again into the tenij)li' ;' « hno the Siriltes 10^ THE IHIRD YEAR OF and Pliarisees brought liim a woman taken in the act of adultery,' tempting him to give sentence, that they might accuse him of severity or intermed- dling, if he condemned, or of remissness and popu- larity, if he did acquit her. But Jesus found out an expedient for tlieir difficulty, and changed the scene, by bidding ' the innocent person among them cast the first stone at the adulteress :' and then stooping down, to give them fair occasion to withdraw, ' he wrote upon the ground with his finger,' whilst they left the woman and her crime to a more private censure. ' Jesus was left alone, and the woman in the midst ;' whom Jesus dismissed, charging her to ' sin no more.' And a while after, .lesus begins again to discourse to them, "of his mission from the Father, of his crucifixion and exaltation from the earth, of the reward of be- lievers, of the excellency of truth, of spiritual li- berty and relations, who are the sons of Abraham, and who the children of the devil, of his own eternal generation, of the desire of Abraham to see his day. In which sermon he continued, adding still new excellencies, and confuting their malicious and vainer calumnies, till they, that they might also confute him, ' took up stones to cast at him.' But he ' went out of the temple, going through the midst of ihem, and so passed by. 21. But in his passage he met a man who had l)een born blind; and after he had discoursed cur- sorily of the cause of that blindness, it being a mir sery not sent as a punishment to ' his own or his parents' sin,' but as an occasion to make public ' the glory of God ;' he, to manifest that himself was ' the light of the world' in all senses, said it now, and proved il l)y a miracle; for, sitting down. JESbSS I'REACHINCi. 107 • he made clay of spittle,' und ' anointing the eyes of the blind man,' bid him ' tio uash in Siloain:' which was a pool of limpid water \\lii(h (rod sent at the prayer of Isaiah the prophet, a little before his death, to satisfy the necessity of his people, oppressed with thirst and a strict siege; and it stood at the foot of the Mount Sion, and gave its water at first by returns and periods, always to the Jews, but not to the enemies :' and those inter- mitted springings were still continued, but only a pool was made from the frequent effluxes. The blind man ' went and washed, and returned see- ing ;' and was incessantly vexed by the Pharisees, to tell them the manner and circumstances of the cure. And when the man had averred the truth, and named his physician, jjiving him a pious and charitable testimony, the Pharisees, because they could not force him to disavow his good opinion of Jesus, ' cast him out of the synagogue.' But Jesus meeting him received him into the church, told him he was Christ ; and the man became again enlightened, and lie believed, and worshipped. But the Pharisees blasphemed : for such was the dis- pensation of the divine mysteries, that the l)lind Khould see, and they which think they see clearly should become blind, because they had iiot the excuse of ignorance to lessen or take oft" the sin, but in the midst of light they shut their eyes, and doted upon darkness ; and ' therefore did their sin remain.' 2?. But Jesus continued his sermon among the Pharisees, insinuating reprehensions in his dog- matical discourses, which like light shined and discovered error: lor by discoursing, " the proper- • Kphiphan. He ^'ita ct Intcritu Prophet, c ?• 108 THE THIRD VEAR OF ties of a good shepherd, and the lawful way of intromission, he proved them to be ' thieves and robbers,' because they refused to ' enter in by Jesus,' who is ' the door of the sheep:' and upon the same ground reproved all those false Christs which be- fore him usurped the title of Messias ; and proved his own vocation and office by an argument which no other shepherd would use, because he ' laid down his life for his sheep.' Others would take the fleece, and eat the flesh ; but none but liimself would die for his sheep: but he would first die, and then gather his sheep together into one fold, (intimating the calling of the Gentiles.) To which purpose he was ' enabled by his Father to lay down his life, and to take it up :' and had also en- deared them to his Father, that they should be * preserved unto eternal life; and no power should be able to take them out of his hand, or the hand of his Father:' for, because Jesus was ' united to the Father,' the Father's care preserved the Son's flocks." 23. But the Jews, to requite him for his so divine sermons, betook themselves to their old argument; ' they took up stones again to cast at him,' pre- tending he had blasphemed. But Jesus proved it to be no blasphemy to call himself the ' Son of God,' because they to whom the word of God came, are in Scripture called gods. But nothing could satisfy them, whose temporal interest was con- cerned, not to consent to such doctrine which would save their souls by ruining their temporal concernments. But when ' they sought again to take him, Jesus escaped out of their hands, and went away beyond Jordan, where John at first bap- tized ; which gave the people occasion to remern- JESts's PHEACHINU. 109 her ihal ' Jolin did no miracle, but this man does many ;' and John, whom all men did revere and hij^hly account for his office and sanctity, gave tes- timony to Jesus: 'and many believed on him there.' "24. After this, Jesus knowing that ' the harvest was great, and as yet tiie labourers had Been few, sent out seventy-two of liis disciples, with the like commission as formerly the twelve apostles, that ihey might 'go before to those places whither him- self meant to come. Of which number were the seven, whom afterwards the apostles set over the widows, and Matthias, Mark, and some say Luke, Justus, Barnabas, Appelles, Rufus, Niger, Cephas, (not Peter,) Thaddaeus, Aristion, and John. The rest of the names could not be recovered by the best diligence of Eusebius and Epiphanius.' But when they returned from their journey they rejoiced g^reatly in the legation and power: and Jesus also rejoiced in spirit, giving glory to God, that he had made his revelations to babes and the more imper- fect persons ; like the lowest valleys, which receive from heaven the greatest floods of rain and bless- ings, and stand thick with corn and flowers, when the mountains are unfruitful in their height and greatness. '26. And now a doctor of the law came to Jesus, asking him a question of the greatest consideration that a wise man could ask, or a prophet answer : ' Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life ?' Jesus referred him to the Scri|)tures, and declared the way to heaven to be this only, 'To love the Lord with all our powers ' Kphiphan. Pan. lib. i. torn. 1 ; E'.useb. lib. i. c. 12; PapiM apud Euscb. lib. iii. c. 33. IIQ THE THIfil) YEAR oF and faculties, and our neij^hbour as ourself.' But when the lawyer, being captious, made a scruple in a smooth rush, asking what is meant by ' neighbour; Jesus told him by a parable of a traveller fallen into the hands of robbers, and neglected by a priest and by a levite, but relieved by a Samaritan, that no distance of country or religion destroys the rela- tion of neighbourhood ; but every person with whom we converse in peace and charity, is that neighbour whom we are to love as ourselves. 26. Jesus having departed from Jerusalem upon the fore-mentioned danger, came to a village called Bethany ; where Martha, making great and busy preparation for his entertainment, to express her joy and her affections to his person, desired Jesus to dismiss her sister INlary from his feet, who sat there, feasting herself with the viands and sweet- nesses of his doctrine, incurious of the provisions for entertainment. But Jesus commended her choice ; and though he did not expressly disrepute Martha's civility, yet he preferred Mary's religion and sanctity of affections. In this time (because ' the night drew on in which no man could work,') Jesus hastened to do his Father's busi- ness, and to pour out the whole cataracts of holy lessons ; like the fruitful Nilus, swelling over the banks, and filling all the trenches, to make a plenty of corn and fruits, great as the in- undation. Jesus therefore teaches his disciples " that form of prayer the second time, which we call the Lord's Prayer : teaches them assiduity and indefatigable importunity in prayer, by a pa- rable of an importunate neighbour borrowing loaves at midnight, and a troublesome widow, who forced an unjust judge to do her right by her clamorous Jl.SLS j HULACHING. 1 1 1 and hourly luklresses; encourages them to pray, by consideration of the divine goodness and fa- therly affection, far more indulgent to his sors than natural fathers are to their dearest issue ; and adds a gracious promise of success to them that pray. He reproves pharisaical ostentation ; arms his disciples against the fear of men ant! the terrors of persecution, which can arrive but to the inconi- modilies of the body; teaches the fear of God, who is Lord of the whole man, and can accurse the soul as well as punish the body. He refuses to divide the inheritance between two brethren, as not having competent power to become lord in tem- poral jurisdictions. He preaches against covetous- ness, and the placing felicities in worldly posses- sions, by a parable of a rich man, whose riches were two big for his barns, and big enough for his soul, and he ran over into voluptuousness, and stu- j)id complacencies in his perishing goods; he was snatched from their possession, and his soul taken from him in the violence of a rapid and hasty sick- ness, in the space of one night. Discourses of di- vine Providence and care over us all, and descend- ing even as low as grass. He exhorts to alms- deeds, to watchfulness, and preparation against the sudden and unexpected coming of our Lord to judgment, or the arrest of death ; tells the offices and sedulity of the clergy, under the apologue of stewards and governors of their lords' houses; leaches them gentleness and sobriety, and not to do evil upon confidence of their Lord's absence and delay ; and teaches the [)eople even of them- selves to judge what is right concerning the signs of the coming of the Son of man. And the end 112 THE THinu VhAR OF of all these discourses was, that all men should re- pent, and live good lives, and be saved." 27. At this sermon ' there were present some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate min- gled with their sacrifices.* For the Galileans were a sort of jicople that taught it to be unlawful to pay tribute to strangers, or to pray for the Romans ; and because the Jews did both, they refused to communicate in tiieir sacred rites, and would sacri- fice apart; at which solemnity, when Pilate the Roman deputy had apprehended many of them, he caused them all to be slain, making them to die upon the same altars. These were of the pro- vince of Judaea, but of the same opinion with those who taught in Galilee, from whence the sect had its appellative. But to the story: Jesus made re- ply, that these external accidents, though they be sad and calamitous, yet they are no arguments of condemnation against the persons of the men, to convince them of a greater guilt than others, upon whom no such visible signatures have been im- printed. The purpose of such chances is, that we sliould * repent, lest we perish' in the like judg- ment. 28. About this time a certain ruler of the syna- gogue renewed the old question about the observa- tion of the sabbath; repining at Jesus that he cured ' a woman that was crooked, loosing her from her infirmity, with which she had been afl3icted eigh- teen years.' But Jesus made the man ashamed by an argument from their own practice, who them- selves ' loose an ox from the stall on the sabbath, and lead him to watering. And by the same ar- gument he also stopped the mouths of the Scribea JKSLS S PRK VClIINii 1 13 and Pharisees, wliicli were open upon liim for curing' an hydropic person upon the sabbath. For Jesus, that he mi^ht i 114 IHi: IHIRIJ YTAR Of should die at Jerusalem ; and intimates great sad- nesses future to them for neglecting- this their day of visitation, and for ' killing the prophets and the messengers sent from God.' " 29. It now grew towards winter, and the Jews' feast of dedication was at hand; therefore Jesus went up to Jerusalem to the feast, where he preach- ed in Solomon's porch, which part of tiie temple stood entire from the first ruins ; and the end of his sermon was, that the Jews had like to have stoned him. But retiring from thence he went beyond Jordan, where he taught the people in a most elegant and persuasive parable, concerning " the mercy of God in accepting penitents, in the parable of the Prodigal Son returning : discourses of the design of the Messias coming into the world, to recover erring persons from their sin and dan- ger, in the apologues of the lost sheep, and groat; and under the representment of an unjust, but prudent steward, he taught us so to employ our pre- sent opportunities and estates, by laying them out in acts of mercy and religion, that when our souls shall be dismissed from the stewardship and cus- tody of our body, we ' may be entertained in ever- lasting habitations.' He instructed the Pharisees in the question of divorces, limiting the permis- sions of separations to the only cause of fornica- tion : preferreth holy celibate before the estate of marriage, in them to whom the gift of continency is given, in order to the kingdom of heaven. He telleth a story or a parable, (for which is uncer- tain,) of a rich man (whom Euthymius, out of the tradition of the Hebrews, nameth Nymensis) and liazarus : the first a voluptuous person, and uncha- ritable; the other pious, afflicted, sick, and a beg- JKSIS'S I'lll'ACHING. 115 gar: the first died, and went to hell ; the second to -Abraham's bosom. God so ordering the dis- pensation of good things, that we cannot easily enjoy two heavens; nor shall the infelicities of our lives, if we be pions, end otherwise than in a be- atified condition. The epilogue of which story dis- covered this truth also, that the ordinary means of salvation are the express revelations of Scrip- ture, and the ministries of God's appointment: and whosoever neglects these, shall not be sup- plied with means extraordinary ; or if he were, they would be totally ineffectual, 30. And still the peojde drew water from the fountains of our Saviour, which streamed out in a full and continual emanation. For adding wave to wave, ' line to line, precept upon precept,' he " reproved the fastidiousness of the Pharisee, that .came with eucharist to God, and contempt to his brother; and comme;ide(l the humility of the publican's address, who came deploring his sins, and with modesty and penance and importunity begged and obtained a mercy. Then he laid hands upon certain young children, and gave them benediction, charging his apostles to admit in- fants to him, because to them in person, and to such in emblem and signification, the kingdom of heaven does appertain. He instructs a young man in the ways and counsels of perfection, besides the observation of precepts, by heroical renunciations and acts of munificent charity." Which discourse because it alighted upon an indisposed and an un- fortunate subject, (' for the young man was very rich,') Jesus discourses " how hard it is for a rich man to be saved ; but he expounds himself to mean, 'they that trust in riches:' and however it is a 116 THE TUIRD YCAIJ Ol' .lESL » S PREACHING matter of so great temptation, that it is almost im- possible to escape ; yet ' with God nothing is im- possible.' But when the apostles heard the Mas- ter bidding the young man ' sell all, and give to the poor, and follow him,' and for his reward pro- mised him *a heavenly treasure;' Peter, in the name of the rest, began to think that this was their case, and the promise also might concern them ; and asking him this question. What shall we have, who have forsaken all, and followed thee ? Jesus answered, that they should ' sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.' 31. And Jesus extended this mercy to every dis- ciple that should * forsake either house, or wife, or children, or any thing, for his sake and the gospel's ;' and that they ' should receive a hundretl fold in this life,' by way of comfort and equivalency, ' and in the world to come' thousands of glories and possessions, in fruition and redundancy. For ' they that are last shall be first, and the first shall be last :' and the despised people of this world shall reign like kings, and contempt it- self shall swell up into glory, and poverty into an eternal satisfaction. And these rewards shall not be accounted according to the privileges of na- tions, or priority of vocation, but readiness of mind and obedience and sedulity of operation after calling. AVhich Jesus taught his disciples in the parable of the labourers in the vineyard, to whom the master gave the same reward, though the times of their working were different; as their calling and employment had determined the opportunity of their labours. OF SCANDAl. 1 17 DISCOURSE XVII. Of Scandal ; or, giving and taking Offence. 1. A SAD curse being threatened in the gospel to them who oflend any of Christ's little ones; that is, such as are novices and babes in Christianity, it concerns us to learn our duty and perform it, that we may avoid the curse: for, 'Woe to all them by whom offences come.' ' And although the duty is so plainly exj)licated and represented in gloss and case by the several commentaries of St. Paul upon this menace of our blessed Saviour; yet because our English word, offence,' which is commonly used in this question of scandal, is so large and equivo- cal that it hath made many pretences, and in- tricated this article to some inconvenience, it is not without good purpose to draw into one body those propositions w hich the masters of spiritual life have described in the managing of this question. 2. First, By whatsoever we do our duty to God, we cannot directly do offence, or give scandal to our brother; because in such cases where God hatl) obliged us, he hath also obliged himself to recon- cile our duty to the designs of God, to the utility of souls, and the ends of charity. And this proj)o- sition is to be extended to our obedience to the lawful constitutions of our competent superiors: in which cases we are to look upon the command- ment, and leave the accidental events to the disjK)- sition of that Providence who reconciles dissonances in nature, and concentres all the variety of acci- dents in his own glory. And whosoever is offended ' Matt>L xviii. 7- ' Rom. xiv. ; I Cor. viii. ; OaL ii. 118 OF SCANDAL at me for obeying God or Gods vicegerent, is offended at me for doing my duty: and in this there is no more dispute, but whether I shall dis- please God, or my peevish neighbour. These are such whom the Spirit of God complains of under other representments : they think it strange we run not into the same excess of riot; their eye is evil, because their Master's eye is good ; and the abounding of God's grace also may become to them an occasion of falling, and the long-suffering of God tlie encouragement to sin. In this there is no difficulty ; for in what case soever we are bound to obey God or man, in that case and in that con- junction of circumstances we have nothing per- mitted to our choice, and have no authority to re- mit of the right of God or our superior: and to comply with our neighbour in such questions, be- sides that it cannot serve any purposes of piety, if it declines from duty in any instance, it is like giving alms out of the portion of orphans, or build- ing hospitals with the money and spoils of sacri- lege. It is pusillanimity, or hypocrisy, or a deny- ing to confess Christ before men, to comply with any man, and to offend God, or omit a duty. What- soever is necessary to be done, and is ade so by God, no weakness or peevishness of mai. an make necessary not to be done; for the matter of scandal is a duty beneath the prime obligations of re- ligion. 3. Secondly, But every thing which is used in religion is not matter of precise duty ; but there are some things which indeed are pious and religi- ous, but dispensable, voluntary, and commutable: such as are voluntary fasts, exterior acts of disci- pline and mortification not enjoined, great degreet l>F SCANDAL. 119 of exterior worship, prostration, long prayers, vigils. And in these things, although there is not directly a matter of scandal, yet there may be some pruden- tial considerations in order to charity and edifica- tion. By pious actions I mean, either particular pursuances of a general duty, which are uncom- manded in the instance, such as are the minutes and expresses of alms ; or else they are com- mended, but in the whole kind of them unenjoined. such as divines call the counsels of perfection. Ii\ bolli tliese cases a man cannot be scandalous : for the man doing in charity and the love of God such actions whicli are aptly expressive of love, the man, I say, is not uncharitable in his purposes ; and the actions themselves being either attempts or proceedings toward perfection, or else actions of direct duty, are as innocent in their productions as in themselves, and therefore, without the malice of the recipient, cannot induce him into sin ; and no- thing else is scandal : to do any pious act proceeds from the Spirit of God ; and to give scandal, from the spirit of malice or indiscretion ; and therefore a pious action, whose fountain is love and wisdom, cannot end in uncharitableness or imprudence. But because when any man is offended at what I esteem piety, there is a question whether the action be pious or no; therefore it concerns him that works, to take care that his action be either an act of duty, though not determined to a certain parti- cular; or else be something counselled in Scrip- ture, or practised by a holy person there recorded, and nowhere reproved ; or a practice warranted by such precedents which modest, prudent, and religious persons account a sufficient inducement of such particulars : for he that proceeds upon such 1:^0 OF SCANDAL. principles derives the warrant o(" his actions from l»eginnings which secure the particular, and quits the scandal. 4. This, I say, is a security against the uncharit- ahleness and the sin of scandal ; because a zeal ot doing pious actions is a zeal according to God ; but it is not always a security against the indiscre- tion of the scandal. He that reproves a foolish person in such circumstances that provoke him, or make him imprudent or blasphemous, does not give scandal, and brings no sin upon himself, though he occasioned it in the other. But if it was probable such effects should be consequent to the reprehension, his zeal was imprudent and rash : but so long as it was zeal for God, and in its own matter lawful, it could not be an active or guilty scandal. But if it be no zeal, and be a design to entrap a man's unwariness or passion or shame, and to disgrace the man, by that means or any ether to make him sin, then it is directly the offending of our brother. They that preached Christ out of envy intended to do offence to the apostles : but because they were impregnable, the sin rested in their own bosom, and God wrought his own ends by it. And in this sense they are scandalous per- sons who fast for strife, who pray for rebellion, who entice simple persons into the snare by colours of religion. Those very exterior acts of piety become an offence, because they are done to evil purposes, to abuse proselytes, and to draw away disciples after them, and make them love the sin, and march under so splendid and fair colours. They who out of strictness and severity of persuasion represent the conditions of the gospel alike to every person ; that is, nicer than Christ describ -d them in all circum- «tF SCANOAI. 12! stances, and deny such liberties of exterior desires and complacency which may be reasonably permitted to some men, do very indiscreetly, and may occa- sion the alienation of some men's minds from the entertainments of relitjion. But this being acci- dental to the thing itself, and to the purpose of the man, is not the sin of scandal; but it is the indis- cretion of scandal, if by such means he divorces any man's mind from the cohabitation and unions of religion. And yet if the purpose of the man be to affright weaker and nnwise persons, it is a direct scandal, and one of those ways which the devil uses towards the peopling of his kingdom : it is a plain laying of a snare to entrap feeble and unin- structed souls, 5. But if the pions action have formerly joined with any thing that is truly criminal, with idolatry, with superstition, with impious customs or impure rites, and by retaining the piety I give cause to my weak brother to think I approve of the old ap- pendage, and by my reputation invite him to swallow the whole action without discerning ; the case is altered ; I am to omit that pious action, il it be not under command, until I have acquitted it from the suspicion of evil company. But when I have done what in prudence I guess sufficient to thaw the frost of jealousy, and to separate those dissonances which formerly seemed united, I have done my duty of charity, by endeavouring to free my brother from the .snare; and I have done what in Cliristian prudence I was obliged, w hen I have protested against the apjiendant crime. If after- wards the same person shall entertain the crin>e upon pretence of my example, who have plainly disavowed it; he lavs the snare for himself, and w V22 OF SCANDAL. glad of lite pretence, or will in spile enter into the net, that he might think it reasonable to rail at me, I may not. with Christian charily or prudence, wear the picture of our blessed Lord in rings or medals, though witli great aflFection and designs of doing him all the honour that I can, if by such pictures I invite persons, apt more to follow me than to un- derstand me, to give divine honour to a picture : but when I have declared my haired of supersti- tious worshippings, and given my brother warn- ing of the snare which his own mistake or the devil's malice was preparing for him, I may then without danger signify my piety and affections in any civil representments which are not against God's law, or the customs of the church, or the analogy of fail)). And there needs no other reason to be given for this rule, than that there is no rea- son to be given against it. If the nature of the thing be innocent, and the purpose of the man be pious, and he halh used his moral industry to secure his brother against accidental mischances and abuses, his duty in this particular can have no more parts and instances. 6. But it is too crude an assertion, to affirm in- definitely, that whatsoever hath been abused to evil or superstious purposes, must presently be abjured, and never entertained for fear of scandal ; for ii is certain that the best things have been most abused. Have not some persons used certain verses of the Psalter as an antitode against the tooth-ache; and carried the blessed sacramentin pendents about their necks as a charm to countermand witches ; and St. John's gospel as a spell against wild beasts and wilder untamed spirits ? Confession of sins to the minis- ters of religion hath been made an instrument tp OF SCANDAL 123 gel ve base ends ; and so indeed hath all religion been abused : and some persons have been so receptive of scandal, that they suspected all reli- gion to be a mere stratagem, because they have observed very many men have used it so. For some natures are like sponges or sugar, whose ut- most verge if you dip in wine, it drowns itself by the moisture it sucks up, and is drenched all over, receiving its alteration from within : its own nature did tile mischief, and plucks on its own dissolution. And these men are greedy to receive a scandal, and when it is presented bat in small instances, they suck it up to the dissolution of their whole religion ; being glad of a quarrel, that their impie- ties may not want all excuse. But yet it is cer- tainly very tmreasonable to reject excellent things because they have been abused ; as if separable accidents had altered natures and essences ; or that they resolve never to forgive the duties, for having once fallen into tlie hands of unskilful or malicious persons. Hezekiah took away the brazen serpent, because the people abused it to idolatry ; but the serpent liad long before lost its use: and yet, if the people had not been a peevish and refractory and superstitious people, in whose nature it was to take all occasions of superetition ; and further yet, if the taking away such occasions and opportunities of that sin in special had not been most agreeable with the designs of God, in forbidding to tlie people the common use of all images in the second command- ment, which was given iheni after the erection of tliat brazen statue, Hezekiah possibly would not, or at least had not been bound to have destroyed lliat monument of an old story and a great bless- ing, but have sought to separate the abuse from 1-24 OF SCANDAL. the minds of men, and retained the image. But in Christianity, when none of these circumstances occur, where, hy the greatness and plenty of reve- lations, we are more fully instructed in the ways of duty, and when ihe thing itself is pious, and the abuse very separable, it is infinite disparagement to us, or to our religion, either that our religion is not sufficient to cure an abuse, or that we will never part with it, but we must un pardonably re- ject a good, because it had once upon it a crust or spot of leprosy, thovigh since it hath been washed in the waters of reformation. The primitive Chris- tians abstained from actions of themselves indiffer- ent, which the unconverted people used, if those actions were symbolical, or adopted into false reli- gions, or not well understood by those they were bound to satisfy : but when they had washed ot? the accrescences of Gentile superstition, they chose such rites which their neighbours used, and had designs not imprudent or unhandsome ; and they were glad of heathen temples, to celebrate the Christian rites in them; and they made no other change, but that they ejected the devil, and invited their Lord into the possession. 7. Thirdly, In things merely indifferent, whose practice is not limited by command, nor their na- ture heightened by an appendant piety, we must use our liberty, so as may not offend our brother, or lead him into a sin directly or indirectly. For scandal being directly against charity, it is to be avoided in the same measure and by the same pro- j)ortions in which charity is to be pursued. Nov\ we must so use ourselves, that we must cut off a foot, or pluck out an eye, rather than the one should bear us, and the other lead us to sin and death: UF SCANDAL. 1 2d we mubt ralljer rescind all the natural and sen- sual, or dearest invitations to vice, and deny our- selves lawful things, tlian that lawful things should betray us to unlawful actions. And this rule is the measure of charity; our neighbour's soul ought to be dearer unto us tlian any tern- poral privilege. It is lawful for me to eat herbs, or fish, and to observe an ascetic diet; but if by such austerities I lead others to u good opinion of Monlanism, or the practices of Pythagoras, or to believe flesh to he impure, I must rather alter my diet, than teach him to sin by mistaking me. St. Paul gave an instance of eating flesh sold in the shambles from the idol-temples. To eat it in the relation of an idol-sacrifice is a great sin ; but w lien it is sold in the shambles, the property is altered to them that understand it so. But yet even this Paul would not do, if by so doing he should encourage undiscerning people to eat all meat conveyed from the temple, and offered to devils. It is not in every man's head to distinguish formalities, and to make abstractions of purpose from exterior acts, and to alter their devotions by new relations and respects depending upon intel- lectual and metaphysical notions. And therefore it is not safe to do an action which is not lawful, but after the making distinctions, before ignorant and weaker persons, who swallow down the bole and the box that carries it, and never pare their apple, or take the core out. 11 I, by the law of charity, must rather quit my own goods tiian suft'er my brother to perisli, niucli rather must I quit mv privilege, and those superstructures of favour and grace which Christ hath given me beyond my ne- cessities, than wound th< spirit and destroy the 126 OF SCA-SDAL. sf)ul of a weak man, for whom Christ died. It is an inordinate affection, to love my own ease and circumstances of pleasure, before the soul of a bro- ther; and such a thing are the privileges of Chris- tian liberty ; for Christ hath taken off from us the restraints which God had laid upon the Jews in meat and holidays. But these are but circum- stances of grace given us for opportunities, and cheap instances of charity : we should ill die for our brother, who will not lose a meal to prevent his sin, or change a dish to save his soul. And if the thing be indifferent to us, yet it ought not to be indifferent to us whether our brother live oi die. 8. Fourthly, And yet we must not, to please peevish or froward people, betray our liberty which Christ hath given us. If any man opposes the lawfulness and license of indifferent actions or be disturbed at my using my privileges inno- cently ; in the first case I am bound to use them still, in the second I am not bound to quit them to please him. For in the first instance, he that shall cease to use his liberty, to please him that says his liberty is unlawful, encourages him tliat says so in his false opinion, and by complying with him gives the scandal ; and he who is angry with me for making use of it, is a person that, it may be, is crept in to spy out and invade my liberty but not apt to be reduced into sin by that act of mine which he detests, for which he despises me, and so makes my person unapt to be exemplar to him. To be angry with me for doing what Christ iiath allowed me, and which is part of the liberty he purchased for me when he took upon himself the form of a servant, is to judge me, and to be OF SCANDAI^ 127 uncharitable to me ; and he that does so is before- hand with me, and upon the active |>art ; he does the scandal to me, and by offering to dt prive me of my liberty, he makes my way to heaven nar- rower and more encumbered tlian Christ left it, and so places a stumblinfj-stone in my way ; I put none in his. And if such j)eevisliness and discon- tent of a brotlier engages me to a new and unim- posed yoke, then it were in the power of my enemy, or any malevolent pei-son, to make me never to keep festival, or never to observe any private fast, never to be prostrate at my prayers, nor to do any thing but according to his leave, and his humour shall become the rule of my actions ; and then my charity to him shall be the greatest uncharitable- ness in the world to myself, and his liberty shall be my bondage. Add to this, that such complying and obeying the peevishness of tliscontented per- sons is to no end of charity. For besides that such concessions never satisfy persons who are un- reasonably angry, because by tlie same reason they may demand more, as they ask this for which they had no reason at all; it also encourages them to be peevish, and gives fuel lo tlie passion, and feeds the wolf, and so encourages the sin, and pre- vents none. 9. Fifthly, For he only gives scandal, who in- duces his brother directly or collaterally into sin ; as appears by all the discourses in Scripture guid- ing us in this duty ; and it is called ' laying a slumbling-block in our brother's way, wounding the conscience of our weak brother.'* Thus Balaam ' I Cor. viii. 10, 12 ; Rom. xiv. 21 ; IMatt. v. 20, and xiii. 67 4 Mark, xiv. 27, ftnd vi.3, and jv. 17; Luke, vii.'iS; Jolin, xvi. I. 128 OF SCANDAL. was said to lay a scandal before the sons of Israel, by tempting them to fornication with the duugli- ters of Moab. Every evil example, or imprudent, sinful, and unwary deportment is a scandal, be- cause it invites others to do the like, leading them by the hand, taking off the strangeness and inso- lency of the act, which deters many men from entertaining it ; and it gives some offers of security to others, that ihey shall escape as we have done : besides that it is in the nature of all agents, natural and moral, to assimilate, either by proper efficiency, or by counsel and moral in- vitements, others to themselves. But this is a di- rect scandal. And such it is to give money to au idle person, who you know will be drunk with it; or to invite an intemperate person to an opportu- nity of excess, who desires it always, but without thee wants it. Indirectly and accidentally, but very criminally they give scandal, who introduce persons into a state of life from whence probably they pass into a state of sin. So did the Israelites, who married their daughters to the idolatrous Mo- abites ; and so do they who intrust a pupil to a vicious guardian : for although God can preserve children in the midst of flames without scorching; yet if they singe their hair, or scorch their flesh, they that put them in are guilty of the burning. And yet further, if persons so exposed to danger should escape by miracle, yet they escape not who expose them to the danger. They who threw the children of the captivity into the furnace, were burnt to death, though the children were not hurt. And the very oftering a person in our trust to a certain or probable danger, foreseen and under- stood, is a likely way to pass sin upon the person vr SCAiNDAL. 129 so exposed, but u certiiin way to contract it in our- selves: it is ersons, by taking away the marks of diflerence between them that obey and them that obey not. And in all cases when the question is between a friend to be secured from apostacy, or an enemy to be gained from indifferency, St. Paul's rule is to be observed: ' ])o good to all, but especially to the Ijousehold of faith." When the church, in a parti- 134 OF SCANDAL. cular instance, cannot be kind to both, she must first love her own children. 12. Eighthly, But when the question is between jDleasing and contenting- the fancies of a friend, and the gaining of an enemy, the greater good of the enemy is infinitely to be preferred before the satis- fying the unnecessary humour of the friend. And therefore that we may gain persons of a different re- ligion, it is lawful to entertain them in their innocent customs, that we may represent ourselves charitable and just, apt to comply in what we can, and yet for no end complying further than we are per- mitted. It was a policy of the devil to abuse Christians to the rites of Mithra, by imitating the Christian ceremonies. And the Christians them- selves were beforehand with him in that policy ; for they facilitated the reconcilement of Judaism with Christianity by common rites; and invited the Gentiles to the Christian churches, because they never violated the heathen temples, but loved the men, and imitated their innocent rites, and only offered to reform their errors, and hallow their abused purposes : and this, if it had no other con- tradictory or unhandsome circumstance, gave no offence to other Christians, when they had learned to trust them with the government of ecclesiastical affairs to whom God had committed them, and they all had the same purposes of religion and charity. And when there is no objection against this but tlie furies or greater heats of a mistaken zeal, the compliance with evil or unbelieving per- sons, to gain them from their errors to the ways of truth and sincerity, is great prudence and great charity ; because it chooses and acts a greater good Ol SCANDAL. 135 at no otlieicliargeor expense but llie discomposhi;^ of an intenipeniie zeul. 13. Nintlily, We are not bound to intermit a good or a lawful action as soon as any man tells us it is scandalous: (for that may be an easy strataf^em to give me laws, and destroy my liberty :) but either when the action is of itself, or by reason of a public known indisposition of some persons, probably introductive of a sin ; or when we know it is so in fact. Tlie other is but aflVigliting' a man : this only is prudent, that my charity be guided by such rules which determine wise men to actions or omissions respectively ; and therefore a light fame is not strong enough to wrest my liberty from me ; but a reasonable belief, or a certain knowledge ; in the taking of which estimate we must neither bi: too credulous and easy, nor yet ungentle and stub- born, but do according to the actions of wise men and the charities of a Christian. Hither we may refer the rules of abstaining from things which are of evil report: for not every thing which is of good report is to be followed ; for then a false opi- nion, when it is become popular, must be professed for conscience' sake : nor yet every thing that is of bad report is to be avoided ; for nothing endured more sliame and obloquy than Christianity at its first commencement. But by good report we are to understand such things which are well rejjorted of by good men and wise men, or Scripture, or the consent of nations. And thus for a woman to marry within the year of mourning is scandalous, because it is of evil re])ort, gives susj)icion of lightness, or some worse confederacy, before the death of her iiusband ; the thing itself is apt to minister the Huspicion, and this mo are bound to prevent: and 136 OF SCANDAL, unless the suspicion be malicious, or impriuleni and unreasonable, we must conceal our actions from the surprises and deprehensions of suspicion- It was scandalous amongst tbe old Romans not to marry ; among the Christians, for a clergyman to marry twice, because it was against an apostolical canon : but when it became of ill report for any Christian to marry the second time, because this evil report was begun by the errors of Montanus, and is against a permission of holy Scripture, no lay-christian was bound to abstain from a second bed for fear of giving scandal. 14. Tenthly, The precept of avoiding scandal concerns the governors of the church or state in the making and execution of laws ; for no law in things indifterent ought to be made to the provoca- tion of the subject, or against that pulilic disposi- tion which is in the spirits of men, and will cer- tainly cause perpetual irregularities and schisms. Before the law be made, the superior must comply with the subject; after it is made, the subject must comply with the law : but in this the church hath made fair provision, accounting- no laws obligatory till the people have accepted them, and given tacit approbation. For ecclesiastical canons have their time of probation : and if they become a burden to the people, or occasion schism, tumults, public disunion of affections, and jealousies against au- thority, the laws give phice, and either fix not when they are not first approved, or disappear by desuetude. And in the execution of laws no less care is to be taken : for many cases occur in whicii the laws can be rescued from being a snare to men's consciences by no other way but by dispen- sation, and slacking of the discipline as to certain OF SCANDAI.. l;j/ particulars. Mercy and sacrifice, Jlie letter and the spirit, the words and the intention, llie general case and the particular exception, the present dis- position and the former state of things, are often- times so repugnant, and of such contradictory in- terests, that there is no stumbling--block more troublesome or dangerous than a severe, literal, and rigorous exacting of laws in all cases. But when stubbornness or a contentious spirit, when rebellion and pride, "hen secular interest, or ease and licentiousness, set men up against the laws, the laws then are upon the defensive, and ought not to give place. It is ill to cure particular dis- obedience by removing a constitution decreed by public wisdom for a general good. When tlie evil occasioned by tlie law is greater than the good designed, or than the good which will come by it in the present constitution of things, and the evil can by no other remedy be healed, it concerns the lawgiver's charity to takeoff" such positive con- stitutions, which in the authority are merely human, and in the matter indifferent, and evil in the event. The sum of this whole duty I shall choose to re- present in the words of an excellent person, St. Jerome: "We must, for the avoiding of scandal, quit every thing which may be omitted without pre- judice to the threefold truth, of life, of justice, and doctruje." Meaning, that what is not expressly commanded by God or our superiors, or what is not exj)ressly commanded as an act of j)iety an^ AM) MANMIi despises the one will quickly disobey the other. Presently, upon report of this sad accident, ihe people ran to the judgment-seat; and every man was ready to be accuser and witness and judge upon these poor destroyed people. But Jesus al- lays their heat; and though he would by no means acquit these persons from deserving death for their denying tribute to Caesar, yet be alters the face of the tribunal, and makes those persons who were so apt to be accusers and judges, to act another part, even of guilty persons too; that since they will needs be judging, they might judge themselves: for, ' Think not these were greater sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered such things. 1 tell you, nay ; but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish,' ' Meaning, that although there was great proViability to believe such persons (schismatics, I mean, and rebels) to be the greatest sinners of the world ; yet themselves, who had de- signs to destroy the Son of God, had deserved as great damnation. And yet it is observable, that the holy Jesus only compared the sins of them that suffered with the estate of the other Galileans who suffered not, (and that also applies it to the persons present who told the news,) to consign this truth unto us — that when persons confederate iji the same crimes, are spared from a present judg- ment falling upon others of their own society, it i.s indeed a strong alarm to all to secure themselves by repentance against the hostilities and eruptions of sin; but yet it is no exemption or security to them that escape, to believe themselves persons less sinful. For God sometimes decimates or tithes ' liuke, xiii. 3. ur DtVIM JLI)(iMI NTS. I4t delinquent |)er>oiis, lli-it they die for a common Clime, according; as Ciod liatli cast tiieir lot in the decrt'cs of precieslination ; and either they that remain are sealed up to a worse calamity, or left within the reserves and mercies of repentance ; for in this there is some variety of determination and undiscerned providence. 2. The purpose of our blessed Saviour is of great use to us in all the traverses and changes, and especially the sad and calamitous accidents o«f the world. But in the misfortune of others we are to make other discoui-ses concerning divine judgments, than when the case is of nearer con- cernment to ourselves. For, first, when we see a person come to an unfortunate and untimely death, we must not conclude such a man perishing and mi- serable to all eternity.' It was a sad calamity that fell upon the man of Judah, that returned to eat bread into the proj)het's house, contrary to the word of the Lord. He was abused into the act by a prophet, and a pretence of a command from God : and whether he did violence to his own under- standing, and believed the man because he was willing, or did it in sincerity, or in what degree of sin or excuse the action might consist, no man there knew ; and yet a lion slew him, and the ly- ing prophet that abused him escaped, and went to his grave in peace. Some persons, joined in society ' De Anania et Sapphira dixit Origcne*, Digni enim erant in sa-culo recipcre peccatuni siiuni, ut nuindiores exeant ab hac vita, numdati castigatione sil)i illata per mortem conmiunem, (juoniam credtntcs craiit in Christum. Idem ait S. Aiij;. lib. iv. c. 1. ront. Parmeii. et Cas-ian. — " Ori^cn has said, conceminfj Ananias and Sapphira, that they were punished in this world that they might leave it chastened, ])urificd by the death which ihey both suffered, because they were believers in Christ." 142 CAUSES ANn MANNER and interest with criminals, have perished in the same judgments; and yet it would be hard to call them equally guilty, who in the accident were equally miserable and involved. And they who are not strangers in the affairs of the world, cannot but have heard or seen some persons who have lived well and moderately, though not like the flames of the holocaust, yet like the ashes of incense, send- ing up good perfumes, and keeping a constant and slow fire of piety and justice, yet have been sur- prised in the midst of some unusual, unaccustomed irregularity, and died in that sin. A sudden gaiety of fortune, a great joy, a violent change, a friend is come, or a marriage-day hath transported some persons to indiscretions and too bold a licence ; and the indiscretion hath betrayed them to idle com- pany, and the company to drink, and drink to a fall, and that hath hurried them to their grave. And it were a sad sentence to think God would not repute the untimely death for a punishment great enough to that deflexion from duty, and judge the man according to the constant tenour of his former life. Unless such an act was of malice great enough to outweigh the former habits, and interrupt the whole state of acception and grace. Something like this was the case of Uzzah, who espying the tottering ark, went to support it with an unhallowed hand : God smote him, and he: died immediately. It were too severe to say hi? zeal and indiscretion carried him beyond a tempo ral death to the ruins of eternity. Origen and many others have made themselves * eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven,' and did well after it; but those that did so, and died of the wound, were smitten of God, and died in their folly; and yet it OF DIVINE JUDGMKNTS. 143 IS rather to be called a sad consequence of their in- discretion, than the express of a final ang'er from God Almighty. For as God takes of!" our sins and punishments by parts, remitting to some persons the sentence of death, and inflicting the fine of a tem- poral loss, or the gentle scourge of a lesser sick- ness ; so also he lays it on by j)arts, and according to the proper proportions of the man and of the crime; and every transgression and lesser deviation from our duty does not drag the soul to death eter- nal ; but God suffers our repentance, though im- perfect, to have an imperfect effect, knocking off" the fetters by degrees, and leading us in some cases to a council, in some to judgment, and in some to liell-fire. But it is not always certain that he who is lead to the prison doors shall there lie entomb- ed ; and a man may by a judgment be brought to the gates nf hell, and yet tiiose gates shall not prevail against him. This discourse concerns per- sons whose life is habitually fair and just, but are surprised in some unhandsome, but less criminal action, and die or suffer some great calamity as the instrument of its expiation or amendment. 3. Secondly, But if the person upon whom the judgment fulls be habitually vicious, or the crime of a clamorous nature or deejier tincture; if the man ' sin a sin unto dealli,' and either meets it, or some otiier remarkable calamity not so feared as death, provided we pass no further tiian the sen- tence we see then executed, it is not against cha- rity or prudence to say, this calamity, in its own formality, and by the intention of God, is a pu- nisliment and judgment. In the favouralile cases of honest and just jiersons our sentence and opi- nions ought also to be favourable, and in sucl* 144 CAUSES AND iMANNKR questions to incline ever to the side of charitable construction, and read other ends of God in the accidents of our neighbour than revenge or express wrath. But when the impiety of a person is scan- dalous and notorious, when it is clamorous and violent, when it is habitual and yet corrigible, if we find a sadness and calamity dwelling with such a sinner, especially if the punishment be spiritual, we read the sentence of God written with his own hand ; and it is not sauciness of opinion, or a. pressing into the secrets of Providence, to say the same thing which God hath published to all the world in the expresses of his Spirit. In such cases we are to observe the ' severity of God ; on them that fall severity ;' and to use those judgments as instruments of the fear of God, and arguments to hate sin ; which we could not well do, but that we must look on them as verifications of God's threat- ening against great and impenitent sinners. But then, if we descend to particulars, we may easily be deceived. 4. For some men are diligent to observe the ac- cidents and chances of providence upon those es- pecially who differ from them in opinion; and whatever ends God can have, or whatever sins man can have, yet we lay that in fault which we there- fore hate because it is most against our interest; the contrary opinion is our enemy, and we also think God hates it. But such fancies do seldom serve either the ends of truth or charity. Pierre Calceon died under the barber's hand : there wanted not some who had said it was a judgment upon him for condemning to the fire the famous Pucelle of France, who prophesied the expulsion of the English out of the kingdom They that thought OF DIVINK JLDGMENTS. I -16 this, believed lior to be a. prophetess; but others, that thought her a witch, were willing to find out another conjecture for the sudden death of that gentleman. Garnier. earl of Gretz, kept the pa- triarch of Jerusalem from his right in David's tower and the city, and died within three days; and by ])a))art, the patriarch, it was called a judg- ment upon liim for his sacrilege. But the uncer- tainty of tliat censure appeared to them who con- sidered that Baldwin (who gave commission to Garnier to withstand the patriarch) did not die; but Godfrey of Bouillon did die immediately after he had passed the right of the patriarcli. And yet when Balflwin was beaten at Rhan)ula, some bold people pronounced that then God punished him wpon the patriarch's score, and thought his sacri- lege to l>e the secret cause of his overthrow : and yet his own pride and rashness was the more visi- ble, and the judgment was but a cloud, and pas- sed away quickly into succeeding victory.' But I instance in a trifle. Certain it is, that God removed the candlestick from the Levantine churches because he had a quarrel unto them : for that punirshment is never sent upon pure designs of emendation, or for direct and immediate pur- poses of the divine glory, but ever makes reflection upon tlie past sin ; but when we descend to a judg- ment of the jiarticulars, God walks so in the dark to us, that it is not discerned upon wliat ground he smote them. Some say it was because tliey dis- honoured the eternal Jesus, in denying the j)roces- sion of the Holy Ghost from the Son. And in this some thought themselves sufficiently assured I I!aroii. AD. lliK), and 20-24. VOL. II. 32 146 CAI'5I:S AM> MANNER l>y a si^n from heaven, because the Greeks lost Constantinople upon Whitsunday, the day of the festival of the Holy Spirit.' The church of Rome calls the churches of the Greek communion schis- matical, and thinks God righted the Roman quarrel when lie revenged his own. Some think they were cut off for being breakers of images : others think tliat their zeal against images was a means they were cut off no sooner. And yet he that shall observe what innumerable sects, lieresies, and factions were commenced amongst them, and how they were wanton with religion, making it serve ambitious and unworthy ends, will see that, besides the ordinary conjectures of interested persons, they had such causes of their ruin which we also now feel heavily incumbent upon ourselves. To see God adding fifteen years to the life ofHezekiah upon his prayer, and yet cutting off the young son of David, begotten in adulterous embraces ; to see him rejecting Adonijah, and receiving Solomon to the kingdom, begotten of the same mother whose son God in anger formerly slew ; to observe his mer- cies to Manasses, in accepting him to favour, and continuing the kingdom to him, and his severity to Zedekiah, in causing his eyes to be put out; to .see him rewarding Nebuchadnezzar with the spoils of Egypt for destroying Tyre, and executing God's severe anger against it, and yet punishing others for being executioners of his wrath upon Jerusalem, even then when he purposed to chastise it; to see Wenceslaus raised from a peasant to a throne, and Pompey from a great prince reduced to that condition, that a pupil and an eunuch passed sen- ' Kstius. Of DIVINE JCDGMENTS. 147 tence of dealli upon him ; to see great fortunes fall into the hand of a fool, and honourable old persons and learned men descend to unefjiial beggary; to see liim strike a stroke with his own hand in the conversion of Saul, and another quite contrary in the cutting off of Judas ; must needs be some re- straint to our judgments concerning the general state of those men who lie under the rod : but it proclaims an infinite uncertainty in the particular*, since we see contrary accidents happening to per- sons guilty of the same crime, or put in the same indispositions. God hath marked all great sins with some signal and express judgments, and hath transmitted the records of them, or represented them before our eyes ; that is, hath done so in our age, or it hath been noted to have been done be- fore : and that being sufficient to affright us from those crimes, CJod hath not thought it expedient to do the same things to all persons in the same cases, having to all persons produced instances and examples of fear by fewer accidents, sufficient to restrain us, but not enough to pass senlencf upon the changes of divine Providence. 5. But sometimes God speaks plainer, and gives us notice what crimes he punishes in others, that we may the rather decline such rocks of offence. If the crime and the punishment be symbolical, and have proportion and correspondence of parts, the hand of God strikes the man, but holds up one finger to point at the sin. The death of the child ol' liathsheba was a plain declaration that Int- anger of (iod was upon David for the adulterous mixture. That blasphemer, whose tongue was presently struck with an ulcerous tumour, with hiii tongue declared the glories of (Jod and his own -i|8 CAL'SES AND MANNER shame. And it was not doubted but God, when he smote the lady of Dominicus Silvius, the duke of Venice, with a loathsome and unsavoury disease, did intend to chastise a remarkable vanity of hers, in various and costly perfumes, which she affected in an unreasonable manner, and to very evil pur- poses. And that famous person, and of excellent learnin!5^, Giacchettus of Geneva, being- by his wifr found dead in the unlawful embraces of a Strang*^ woman, who also died at the same instant, left an excellent example of God's anger upon the crime, and an evidence that he was then judged for his intemperate lust.' Such are all those punishments which are natural consequents to a crime: as drop- sies, redness of eyes, dissolution of nerves, apo- plexies, to continual drunkenness ; to intemperate eating, short lives and sudden dealhs; to lust, a caitive, slavish disposition, and a foul, diseased body ; fire and sword, and depopulations of towns ar culpa ligat, qui majestatis honori Vulnus ab ore parant. Hie prodidit, ille diremit Sacrilega de voce. Poet. Christ, apud Baron, toni. ti, ad snn. Christ. 33(» OF niVrNE JlDGMtNTS. lol said to punish f^vvni crimes or aclicns of hiLjhesl malignity, because they are commonly productions from the spirit of reprobation; they are the highest ascents, and suppose a body of sin. And therefore, altliough the judgment may be intended to j)uni'-Ii all our sins, yet it is like the Syrian army, it kills all that are its enemies, but it hath a special com- mission to ' fight against none but the king of Is- rael,' because his death would be the dissolution of the body. And if God humbles a man for his great sin, that is, for those acts which combine ami consummate all the rest, possibly the body of sin may sej)arate, and be apt to be scattered and sub- dued by single acts and instruments of mortifica- tion. And therefore it is but reasonable, in our making use of God's judgments upon others, to think that God will rather strike at the greatest crimes; not only because they are in themselves of greatest malice and iniquity, but because they are the sum total of the rest, and by being great progressions in the state of sin suppose all the rest included : and we, by proportioning and observing the judgment to the highest, acknowledge the whole body of sin to lie under the curse, though the greatest only was named, and called upon with the voice ot thunder. And yet because it sometimes happens, that upon the violence of a great and new occasion some persons leaj) into such a sin, which in the ordinary course of sinners uses to be the eflect or an habitual and growing state ; then if a jiulgment happens, it is clearly appropriate to that one great crime, which as of itself it is equivalent to a vicious habit, and interrupts the acceptation of all its for- mer luntraries, so it meets with a curse, such us 162 CAtSLS AND MANNEi; usually God chooses for the punishment of a whole body and state of sin. However, in makinsi^ obser- vation upon the expresses of God's anger, we must be careful that we reflect not with any bitterness or scorn upon the person of our calamitous bro- ther, lest we make that to be an evil to him whitli God intends for his benefit, if the judgment was medicinal ; or that we increase not the load, al- ready great enough to sink him beneath his grave, if the judgment was intended for a final abscission. 7. Fourthly, But if the judgments descend upon ourselves, we are to take another course : not to enquire into particulars to find out the proportions, (for that can only be a design to part with just so much as we must needs,) but to mend all that is amiss ; for then only we can be secure to remove the Achan, when we keep nothing within us or about us that may provoke God to jealousy or wrath. And that is the proper product of holy fear, which God intended should be the first effect of all his judgments. And of this God is so careful, and yet so kind and provident, that fear might not be produced always at the expense of a great suffering, that God hath provided for us cer- tain prologues of judgment, and keeps us waking with alarms, that so he might reconcile his mercies with our duties. Of this nature are epidemical diseases, not yet arrived at us, prodigious tempests, thunder, and loud noises from heaven : and he that will not fear when God speaks so loud, is not yet made soft with the impresses and perpetual drop- pings of religion. Venerable Bede reports of St, Chad, that if a great gust of wind suddenly arose. he presently made some holy ejaculation, to beg OF UIVINE JUOOMENTS. 153 favour of God for all mankind, who might possibly be concerned in the efiects of that wind : but if a storm succeeded, he fell prostrate to tlie earth, and grew as violent in j)rayer as the storm was either ut land or sea: but if God added thunder and lightning, he went to the church, and there spent all his time during the tempest in reciting Litanies, Psalms, and other holy prayers, till it pleased God to restore his favour, and to seem to forget his an- ger.' And the good bishop added this reason ; because these are the extensions and stretchings forth of God's hand, and yet he did not strike; but he that trembles not when he sees God's arm held forth to strike us, understande neither God's mercies nor his own danger; he neither knows what those horrors were which the people saw from Mount Sinai, nor what the glories and amazements shall be at the great day of judgment. And if this religious man had seen Tullus Hostilius, the lioman king, and Anastasius, a Christian em- peror, but a reputed heretic, struck dead with thunderbolts, and their own houses made their urns to keep their ashes in, there could have been no posture bumble enough, no prayers devout enough, no place holy enough, nothing sufficiently expressive of his fear, and his humility, and his adoration and leligion to the almighty and infinite power and glorious mercy of God, sending out his emissaries to denounce war with designs pt' peace. A great Italian general, seeing the sudden death of Alfonsus, duke of Ferrara, kneeled down in- stantly, saying, " Antl shall not this sight make me religious ?" Three and twenty tiiousand fell • Hist. (rent. .Vn.'loi, lib, iii. c 18 154 CALSKS AM) MANNER in one night in the Israelitish cwnp, uho were nU slain for fornication.' And this so prodi^ioua »- judgment was recorded in Scripture for our t>- ample and affrightment, that we should not with such freedom entertain a crime which destroyed so numerous a body of men in the darkness of one evening. Fear and modesty, and universal refor- mation, are the purposes of Gf d's judgments upon us, or in our neighbourhood, 8. Fifthly, Concerning jud^'/ -nts happening to a nation or a church, the consicltration is particu- lar, because there are fewer capacities of making sins to become national than personal ; and there- fore if we understand when a sin is national, we may the rather understand the meaning of God's hand when he strikes a peoj)le. For national sins grow liigherand higher, not merely according to thedegree of the sin, or the intention alone, but according to the extension ; according to its being national, so it is productive of more or less miscliief to a king- dom. Customary iniquities amongst the people do then amount to the account of national sins, when they are of so universal practice as to take in well near every particular ; such as was that of Sodom, not to leave ten righteous in all the coun- try ;* and such were the sins of the old world, who left but eight persons to esca])e the angry baptism of the flood. And such was the murmur of the <;hildren of Israel, refusing to march up to Canaaa at the commandment of God; they all murmured but Caleb and Joshua. And this God, in the case of the Amalekites, calls the fulfilling of their sins, and a filling up the measure of their iniquities* > 1 Cor. X. 8. Ilor. lib, iii Od. 6. ftr DIVINE JUDGMENTS. 165 And hither also I reckon the defection of the ten tribes from the house of Juclah, and the Samaritan schism ; these caused the total extirpation of the offending people. For although these sins were personal and private at first, yet when tliey come to be universal by diffusion and dissemination, and the good people remaining among them are but like drops of wine in a tun of water, of no con- sideration with God, save only to the preservation of their own persons ;' then although tire persons be private, yet all private or singular persons make the nation. But this hath happened but seldom in Christianity : I think indeed never, except in the case of mutinies and rebellion against their lawful prince, or the attesting violence done in unjust wars. But God only knows, and no man can say, when any sin is national by diffusion : and therefore in this case we cannot make any certain judgment or advantage to ourselves, or very rarely, by observing the changes of providence upon a people. 9. But the next above this, in order to the pro- curing popular judgments, is public impunities; the not doing justice upon criminals publicly complained of and demanded, especially when the persons interested call for justice and execution of good laws, and the prince's arm is at liberty and in full strength, and there is no contrary reason in the particular instance to make compensation to the public for the omission, or no care taken to Batisfy the particular. Abimelech thought he had reason to be angry with Isaac for saying Rebecca was his sister : for ' one of the people might have ' Eiek. XIV. 20. 156 CAUSES AND MANNER lain Willi thy wife, and thou shouldst have brought evil upon us:' meaning', that the man should have escaped unpunished, by reason of the mistake ; which very impunity he feared might be ex- pounded to be a countenance and encouras^ement to the sin. But this was no more than his fear. The case of the Benjamites comes home to this pre- sent article; for they refused to do justice upon the men that had ravished and killed the Levite's concubine; they lost twenty-five thousand in battle, their cities were destroyed, and the whole tribe almost extinguished. For punishing public and great acts of injustice is called in Scripture 'put- ting away the evil from the land;'' because to this purpose the sword is put into the prince's hand, and lie 'bears the sv^ord in vain' who ceases to protect his people : and not to punish the evil is a voluntary retention of it ; unless a special case intervene in which the prince thinks it convenient to give a particular pardon ; provided this be not encouragement to others, nor without great reason big enough to make compensation for the particular omission, and with care to render some other satisfaction to the person injured. In allother cases of impunity, that sin becomes national by forbearing, which in the acting was personal : and it is certain the impunity is a spring of uni- versal evils; it is no thank to the public if the best man be not as bad as the worst. 10. But there is a step beyond this, and of a more public concernment : such are the laws of Omri, when a nation consents to and makes un- gouly statues. When mischief is established as u > Deut.xvii. 12 ; xix. 13, 19; xxi. y, 21, et alibi. OF DIVINE JDDGMF.NTS, 107 law, tlien llie nation is engaged to some purpose. When I see the people despise their governors, scorn and rob and disadvantage the ministers of religion, make rude addresses to God, to his temple, to his Bucraments, I look upon it as the insolency of an untaught people, who would as readily do the contrary, if the fear of God and the king were upon them by good examples, and pr»cepts, and laws, and severe executions. And further yet, when the more public and exemplary persons are without sense of religion, without a dread of ma- jesty, without reverence to the church, without im- presses of conscience, and the tendernesses of a religious fear towards God ; as the persons are greater in estimation of law, and in their influences upon the people, so the score of the nation ad- vances, and there is more to be paid for in popu- lar judgments. But when iniquity or irreligion is made a sanction, and eitiier God must be disiion- oured, or the church exauctorated, or her rites in- vaded by a law, then the fortune of the kingdom is at stake. No sin engages a nation so much, or is so public, so solemn iniquity as is a wicked law. Therefore it concerns princes and states to secure the piety and innocency of their laws; and if there be any evil laws, which upon just grounds may be thought productive of God's anger, because a pub- lic misdemeanour cannot be expiated but by a public act of repentance, or a public calamity, the laws must either have tlieir edsre abated by a desuetude, or be laid asleep by a non-execution, or dismembered by contrary privisos, or have the sting drawn forth by interpretation, or else by alj- rogation be quite rescinded. IJut these are n.-itional sins within itself, or within it.s own body, l)y the 158 CAUSES AND MANNER act of the body (I mean) diffusive or representa- tive; and they are like the personal sins of men in or against their own bodies in the matter of sobriety. There are others in the matter of justice, as the nation relates to other people communicating in public intercourse. 1 1 . For as the intercourse between man and man in the actions of commutative and distribu- tive justice is the proper matter of virtues and vices personal ; so are the transactions between nation and nation against the public rules of jus- tice; sins national directly, and in their first origi- nal, and answer to injustice between man and man. Such are commencing war upon unjust titles, invasion of neighbours' territories, confede- racies and aids upon tyrannical interest, wars against true religion or sovereignt}', violation of the laws of nations, which they have consented to us the public instrument of accord and negociation, breach of public faith, defending pirates, and the like. When a public judgment comes upon a na- tion, these things are to be thought upon ; that we may not think ourselves acquitted by crying out against swearing, and drunkenness, and cheating in manufactures, which, unless they be of univer- sa-l dissemination, and made national by diffusion, are paid for upon a personal score ; and the private infelicities of our lives will either expiate or punish them severely. But while the people mourn for those sins of which their low condition is capable, sins that may produce a popular fever, or perhaps the plague, wliere the misery dwells in cottages, and the princes often have indemnity, as it was in the case of David ; yet we may not hope to appease a war, to master a rebellion, to cure UF blVINK .ILUGMENT8. I'V") tl»e public dislemperatures of a kinj^doni, which threaten not the people only, or the frovernors also, but even the government itself, unless the sins of a more public capacity be cut off by public declarations, or other acts of natural jus- tice and religion. But the duty which concerns us all in such cases is, that every man in every ca- pacity siiould enquire into himself, and for his own portion of the calamity put in his own syml)ol of emendation for his particular, and his prayers for the public interest. In uhich it is not safe that any private persons should descend to par- ticular censures of tlie crimes of princes and states ; no, not towards God, unless the matter be notorious and past a question ; but it is a sufficient assoil- nient of this part of his duty, if, wlien he hatii set his own house in order, he would pray, with inde- finite significations of his charity and care of the public, that God would put it into tlie hearts of all whom it concerns, to endeavour the removal of the sin that hath brought the exterminating angel upon tlie nation. But yet there are sometimes great lines drawn by God in the expresses of an- ger in some judgments upon a nation : and when llie judgment is of that danger as to invade the very constitution of a kingdom, the proportions ihat judgments many times keep to their sins in- timate, that there is some national sin in which, eitlier by diffusion, or representation, or in the di- ri'ct matter of sins, (as false oaths, unjust wars, wicked confederacies, or ungodly laws,) the nation in the public capacity is delinquent. 12. J^or as the nation hath in sins a capacity dis- tinct from the sins of all the people, inasmuch as li)e nation is united in one heail, guarded by a dis- 160 CAUSES AND MANNTR tinct and a lil^her angel, (as Persia by St.Michael,) transacts affairs in a public right, transmits influ- ence to all particulars from a common fountain, and hath intercourse with other collective bodies, who also distinguish from their own particulars; so likewise it hath punishments distinct from those infelicities which vex particulars ; punishments proportionable to itself and its own sins : such as are change of governments, of better into worse, of monarchy into aristocracy, and so to the lowest ebb of democracy; death of princes, infant kings, foreign invasions, civil wars, a disputable title to the crown, making a nation tributary, conquest by a foreigner, and, which is worst of all, removing the candlestick from a people, by extinction of the church, or that which is necessary to its conserva- tion, the several orders and ministries of religion. And the last hath also proper sins of its own an- alogy ; such as are false articles in the public con- fessions of a church, schism from the catiiolic, pub- lic scandals, a general viciousness of the clergy, an indifferency in religion, without warmth and holy fires of zeal, and diligent pursuance of all its just and holy interests. Now in these and all parallel cases, when God by punishments hath probably marked and distinguished the crime, it concerns public persons to be the more forward and impor- tunate in consideration of public irregularities ; and for the private also, not to neglect their own particulars; for by that means, although not cer- tainly, yet probably, they may secure themselves from falling in the public calamity. It is not in- fallibly sure that holy persons shall not be smitten by the destroying angel ; for God in such deaths hath many ends of mercy, and some of providence Uf lilVlNi: JUDfiMCNTS. lOl to serve; but such private and personal emenda- tions and devotions are the greatest securities of the men against the judgment, or the evil of it, pre- serving them in this life, or wafting them over to a belliu'. Thus many of tlie Lord's champions did fall in battle, and the armies of the Benjaniites did twice prevail upon the juster people of all Israel ; and the Greek empire hath declined and slirunk under the fortune and power of tlie Otto- man family ; and the holy land, which was twice possessed by ChriAian princes, is now in the do- minion of unchristened Saracens; and in the pro- duction of these alterations many a gallant and pious person suflered the evils of war, and the change of an unlimely death. 13. But the way ibr the whole nation to pro- ceed in cases (A' epidemical diseases, wars, great judgments, and popular cahimities, is to do in the ]»ublic proportion the same that every man is to do for his private; by public acts of justice, re- pentance, fastings, pious laws, and execution of just and religious edicts, making peace, quitting of unjust interests, declaring ))ublicly against a crime, protesting in behalf of' the contrary virtue or re- ligion. And to this also every man, as he is a member of the body j)olilic, must co-operate ; that by a repentance in difiiision hclj) may come, as well as by a sin of universid dissemination tiie plague was hastened and invited the rather. But in these cases all the \\ork of discerning and pro- nouncing concerning the cause of the judgment, as it must be without asperity, and only for designs of correction and emendation, so it must be done by kings and prophets, and the assistance of other j^ublio persons, to whon? the public is committetU VOL. 11. ^3 IG2 CAUSES AND MANNER Josliiui caf^t lots upon Aclian, and discovered the public trouble in a private instance; and of old the prophets had it in commission to reprove the popular iniquity of nations, and the confederate sins of kingdoms; and in this Christianity altered nothing. And when this is done modestly, pru- dently, humbly, and penitently, oftentimes the tables turn immediately, but always in due time; and a great alteration in a kingdom becomes the greatest blessing in the world, and fastens the church, or the crown, or the public peace, in bands of great continuance and security ; and it may be li.e next age shall feel the benefits of our sufferance and repentance. And therefore, as we must endea- vour to secure it, so we must not be too decretory in the case of others, or disconsolate or diffident in our own, when it may so happen, that all succeed- ing generations shall see that God pardoned ua and loved us even w^hen he smote us. Let us ail learn to fear and walk humbly. The churches of Laodicea and the Colossians suffered a great ca- lamity within a little while after the Spirit of God had sent them two epistles by the ministry of St. Paul : their cities were buried in an earthquake ; and yet we have reason to think they were churches beloved of God, and congregations of holy people. THE PRAYER. O eternal and powerful God, thou just and righteous Governor of the world, who callest all orders of men hy precepts, pro- mises, and threatenings, by mercies, and by judgments, teach us to admire and adore all the wisdom, the effects and infinite va- rieties of thy providence ; and make us to dispose ourselves so, by Ot DIVINE JinOMENTS. 163 «bedience, by repentance, by all the manners of holy living. tha» we may never provoke thee to jealousy, i.^iuch less to wrath and indignation against us. Keep far from us ihe sword of the de- stroying angel, and let us never perisli in the public expresses of thy wrath, in diseases epidemical, with the furies of war, with calamitous, sudden, and horrid accidL'nts, wiih unusual diseases ; unless that our so strange fall be more for thy glory and our eternal benefit, and then thy will be done : we beg thy grace, that we may cheerfully conform to thy holy will and pleasure. Lord, open our understandings, that we inay know the meaning of thy voice, and the signification of thy language, when thou ■peakest from heaven in signs and judgments : and let a holy fear GO soften our spirits, and an intense love so inflame and sanctify our cksires. that we may apprehend every mtimation of thy pleasure ■t its first and remotest and most obscure representment ; that to we may with repentance go out to meet thee, and prevent the expresses of thine anger. Let thy restraining grace, and the ob- •ervation of the issues of thy justice, so allay our spirits-, that we be not severe and forward in conaemning others, nor back> w&ru m passing sentence upon ourselves. JVIake us to obey thy voice described in holy Scripture, to tremble at thy voice ex- pressed in wonders and great effects of providence, to condemn none but ourselves, nor to enter into the recesses of thy sanctuary and search the forbidden records of predestination ; but tliat we may read our duty in the pages of revelation, not in the labels of accidental effects: that tliy judgments may confirm thy word, and tliy word tea. h us nur duty ; and we, by such excellent instru- ments, may enter in and grow up in '.he ways of godliness, through Jesus Chii>t cur Lord. Amen. 164 FKOM THE DKATH OF LAZARUS SECTION XV. of the Accidents happening from the Death of LazOf rtis, until the Death and Burial of Jesus. 1. While Jesus was in Galilee, messengers came to him from Martha and her sister Mary, that he would hasten into Judasa, to Bethany, to relieve the sickness and imminent dangers of their brother Lazarus. But he deferred his going till Lazarus was dead ; purposing to give a great probation of his divinity, power, and mission, by a glorious mi- racle, and to give God glory, and to receive reflec- tions of the glory upon himself: for after he had stayed two days, lie called his disciples to go with him into Judsea, telling them that Lazarus was dead, but he would raise him out of that sleep of death. But by that time Jesus was arrived at Bethany, he found that Lazarus had been dead four days, and now near to putrefaction. But when Martha and Mary met him, weeping their pious tears for their dead brother, Jesus suffered the passions of pity and humanity, and wept ; dis- tilling that precious liquor into the grave of Laza- rus, watering the dead plant, that it might spring into a new life, and raise his head above the ground. 2. When Jesus had, by his words of comfort and institution, strengthened the faith of tiie two mourn- ing sisters, and commanded the stone to be removed from the grave, he made an address of adoration and encharist to his Father, confessing his perpe- tual propensity to hear him ; and then cried out^ • Lazarus, come forth !' Anfl he that was dead TO THF Bl'RIAL OF JESUS, 1C5 came forth from his bed of darkness, with his night- clothes on him, whom when the apostles had un- loosed at the command of Jesus, he went to Bethany. And many that were present believed on him ; but others, wondering and malicious, went and told the Pharisees the story of the miracle; who, upon that advice, called their great council, whose great and solemn cognizance was of the greater causes of prophets, of kings, and of the holy law. At this great assembly it was that Caiaphas, the high- priest, prophesied that it was expedient one should d not abide in darkness; that they might obey the commandments of the Father, whose express charge it was that Jesus should ];)reach this gospel ; and that they might not be judged at the last day by the word which they have rejected, which word to all its observers is ever- lasting life." After which sermon retiring to Bethany, he abode there all night." 1). On the morning, returning to Jerusalem, on the way being hungry he passed by a fig-tree, where, expecting fruit he found none, and cursed the fig-tree, which by the next day was dried up and withered. Upon occasion of which preternatural event Jesus discoursed of the power of faith, and its power to produce miracles. But upon this occasion others, llie disciples of Jesus in after-ages, have pleased themselves with fancies and imperfect descants; as that he cursed this tree in mystery and secret Intendment, it having been the tree in the eat- ing whose fruit Adam, prevaricating the divine law, made an inlet to sin, which brought in deaXn and the sadnesses of Jesus's passion." But Jesus having entered the city came into the temple, and preached the gospel : and the chief-priests and Scribes questioned his commission, and by what authority he did those things. But Jesus promis- ing to answer them if they would declare their opinions concerning John's baptism, which tliey durst not, for fear of displeasing the people, or throwing dirt in their own faces, was acquitted ol his obligation, by their declining the proposition. 10. But there he reproved the Pharisees and ru- ■ Isidor, ad Theo. pum. lib. i. ep. 61. TO THE BLHIAL OF JESUS. 171 lers by the parable of" two sons ; the first whereoi said to his father, he would not obey, but repented, and did his command ; the second ^ave good words, but did nothing : meaning, that persons of the great- est improbability M'ere more heartily converted than I hey whose outside seemed to have appropriated religion to the labels of their frontlets. He added a parable of the vineyard let to husbandmen, who killed the servants sent to demand the fruits, and at last the son himself, that they might invade the in- heritance : but made a sad commination to all such who should either stumble at this stone, or on whom tliis stone should fall." After which, and some other reprehensions, (which he so veiled in parable that it might not be expounded to be ca- lumny or declamation, although such sharp ser- mons had been spoken in the people's hearing ; but yet so transparently that themselves might se their own iniquity in those modest and just re- ])resentnieiils,) tliePharisees would fain iiave seized him; but they durst not for the people, but re- solved, if they could, ' to entangle him in his talk;' and therefore ' sent out spies,' who should pretend panclily and veneration of his person ; who with a goodly insinuating preface, that ' Jesus re- garded no man's person, but spake the word of (iod,' with much simplicity and justice, desired to know if it were ' lawful to pay tribute to Caesar or not.' A question which was of great dispute, be cause of the numerous sect of the Galileans, who • lenied it, and of the aflfiections of the people, who luved their money, and their liberty, and the pri- vileges of their nation. And now, in all probability, lie shall fall under tiie displeasure of the people or of Cesar. But Jesus called to see a penny; and 172 FROM TIIF. DFATII t»F I.AZARUS finding it to be superscribed with Caesar's imag'e, with incomparable wisdom he brake their snare, and establislied an evansfelical proposition forever; saying, 'Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.' 11. Having so excellently and so much to their wonder answered the Pharisees, the Sadducees bring their great objection to him against the resur- rection, by putting the case of a woman married to seven husbands, and 'whose wife should she be in the resurrection ?' thinking that to be an impos- sible state, which engages upon such seeming in- congruities, that a woman should at once be wife to seven men. But Jesus first answered their objec- tion, telling them, that all those relations whose foundation is in the imperfections and pas- sions of flesh and blood, and dulies here below, shall cease in that state; which is so spiritual that it is like to the condition of angels, amongst whom there is no diflference of sex, no cognations, no ge- nealogies or derivation from one another : and then, by a new argument, proves the resurrection, by o.ne of God's appellatives, who did then delight to be called 'the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob:' for since God ' is not the God of the dead, but of the living,' unto him even these men are alive ; and if so, then either they now exercise acts of life, and therefore shall be restored to their bodies, that their actions may be complete, and they not remain in a state of imperfection to all eternity ; or if they be alive, and yet cease from operation, they shall be much rather raised up to a condition which shall actuate and make perfect their present capacities and indispositions, lest power and inclin^ition Bhould for ever ha in the root, and never rise up to ro iHi; KUUiAL (11- JESUS. 173 fn.it or lieibage; and so be an eternal vanity, like an old bud, or an tternal child. J2. After this, the Pharisees being well pleased, not that Jesus spake so excellently, but that the Sadducees were confuted, came to him, asking, * which Avas tiie great commandment,' and some other things, more out of curiosity than pious desires of satisfaction. But at last JesiM» was pleased to ask them concerning Christ, ' whose son he was:' they answered, ' The son of David.' But he re- plying, ' How then doth David call him Lorrfl?* ['TlieLord said unlo my Lord, sit thou on my right hand." 8^c.] they had nothing to answer. But Jesus then gave his disciples caution against the pride, tlie hypocrisy, and the oppression of the Scribes and Pharisees ; and commended the poor widow's oblatiorj of her ' two miles into the trea- sury,' it being a great love in a little print, for it was ' all her living.' All this was spoken in the temple; the goodly stones of which, when the apostles beheld with wonder, they being white and firm, twenty cubits in length, twelve in breadth, eight in depth, as Josephus reports,' Jesus proj)he- cies the destruction of the place. Concern-ing which prediction when the apostles, being with him at the Mount of Olives, asked him j)rivalely concerning the time and the signs of so sad event, he discoursed largely of " his coming to judgment against that city, and interweaved predictions of the universal judgment olall the world ; of which this, tliough very sad, was but a small adumbra- tion : adding precepts of watchfulness, and stand- ing in preparation, with hearts filled with grace, < Lib. xiv. Antiq. c. 14. 174 FKOM THE DKATH OF LAZARUS our lamps always shining, that when the bride- groom sliall come, we may be ready to enter in ;" which was intended in the parable of the five wise virgins ; and concluded liis sermon with a narra- tive of his passion, foretelling that within two days he siiould be crucified. ip. Jesus descended from the mount, and came to Bethany; and turning into the house of Simon the leper, Mary Magdalene, having been reproved J by Judas for spending ointment upon Jesus's feet, ^ it being so unaccustomed and hirge a profusion, thought now to speak iier love once more, and trouble nobody ; and therefore she ' poured oint- ment on his sacred head ;' believing that, being a pompousnessof a more accustomed festivity, would be indulged to the expressions of her affection. But now all the disciples murmured, wondering at the prodigiousness of the woman's religion, ^reat enough to consume a province in the overflowings of her thankfulness and duty. But Jesus now also entertained the sincerity of her miraculous love; adding this prophecy, that where the gospel should be pre;icli:"l there also a record of this act shall be kept, as a perpetual monument of her piety, and an attestation of his divinity, who could foretel future contingencies ; Christianity receiving the greatest argument from that which St. Peter calls ' the surer word of prophecy ;' meaning it to be greater than the testimony of miracles, not easy to be dissembled by impure spirits, and whose efficacy should descend to all ages : for this pro- phecy shall for ever be fulfilling, and, being 'ivery day verified, does every day preach the divinity of Christ's person, and of his institution. 14. Tv.o days before the passovor^ the Scribes TO THE BUniAI, OF JESUS. 175 and Pharisees called a council, to contrive crafty ways of destroying^ Jesus, they not darint;^ to do it by open violence. Of which meetinjj when Judas Iscariot had notice, (for thf»e assemblies were pub- lic and notorious,) he ran from Bethany, and offered himself to betray his Master to them, if they would U^ive him a considerable reward. They agreed for thirty pieces of silver. Of what value each piet*:; was is uncertain ; but their own nation hath given a rule, that when a piece of silver is named in the Pentateuch, it si{i;niHes a side ; if it be named in the prophets, it sip:nilies a pound ; if in the other writini,'^ of the Old Testament, it signifies a talent.* This therefore being alhged out of the prophet Jeremy by one of the evangelists, it is probable the price at which Judas sold his Lord was ihiily pounds weight of silver : a goodly price for the Sa- viour of the world to be prized at by his undiscern- ing and unworthy countrymen. 15. The next day Wvi^ the first day of unleavened bread, on which it was necessary they should kill the passover : therefore Jesus sent Peter and John to the city, to a certain man, whom they should find carry- ing a pitcherof water to his house ; him they should follow, and there prepare the passover. They went and found the man in the same circumstances; and prepared for Jesus and his family, who at the ' Elias Lerita Jud. iM Tisbi. Arius Hlontanns in diction. Syro-Chaldaic. ^ Matt, xxvii. 1), ubi citatur Jcremias pro Zecharia, per erro- rcin illapsuni in Codiccsi. N.im tempore S. Aupustini in non- nullis Codicibiis (Zecharia?) leijebatiir ; aique hodie in Syriac T. Sed fortassis ex traditione hoc dcsccndit a Jcremia dictum, sicut niulta alia in vet. testani. non descripta, et in N. T. repetita ■ «]\>nd CO maj^is est crcdibile, quia proverbialitcr dictum apud Judaos, .Spiritum Jereniiap Tfsc prophecy The disciples u-ere all troubled at this sad arrest, looking one on another, and doubling of ul)om he spake; but the}' beckoned to the beloved disciple, leaning on Jesus's breast, that he might ask : for they w ho knew their own innocency and infirmity, were desirous to satisfy their curiosity, and to be rid of their indetermination and their fear. But Jesus being asked, gave them a sign, and a sop to Judas; commanding him to do what he list speedily: for Jesus was extremely slrait- tned till he had drunk the chalice oft', and accom- plished his mysterious and affliclive baptism. After Judas received the sop, the devil entered into him, and Judas went forth immediately, it being now night. 19. When he was gone out, Jesus began his iarewell sermon, rarely mixed of sadness and joys, and studded with mysteries as with emeralds; dis- I'oursing of " the glorification of God in his Son. and of those glories which the Father had prepared for him; of his sudden departure, and his migra- tion to a place whither they could not come yet, but afterwards they should : meaning, first to death, and then to glory : commanding them to love one another ; and foretelling to Peter, (who made con- fident protests that he would die with his Master,) that •' before the cock should crow twice, he should deny him thrice.' But lest he should afi^lict them Avith too sad representments of his present condi- tion, he comforts them with Ihe comforts of faith, with th'e intendments of his departure to prepare |)laces in heaven for them, whither they might come iiy him, who is the way, the truth, and the life; adding a promise, in order to their present support and future fflicities, that if tlicv should ask of God TO TMK BURIAL MF JESUS. )79 any thing in his name, they should receive it; and upon condition they would love him, and keep his commandments, he would pray for the Holy Ghost to come upon them, to supply his room, to furnish them witli proportionahle comforts, to enable ihem with great gifts, to lead them into all trutli, and to abide with tliem for ever. Then arming them against future persecutions, giving them divers holy precepts, discoursing of his emanation from the Father, and of the necessity of his de])arture, he gave them his blessing, and prayed for tliem : and then, having sung an hymn, which was part of the great Allehijah, beginning at the 1 Nth Psalm, (' Wlien Israel came out of Egypt,') and ending at the ]l8lh, inclusively, he went forth witli his disciples over the brook Cedron, unto the Mount of Olives, to a village called Gethsemane, where there was a garden, into which he entered to pray toge- ther with his d>Eciples." 20. But taking Peter, James, and John apart with him, about a stone's cast from the rest, lie began to be exceeding sorrowful, and sad even unto death ; for now he saw the ingredients of his bitter draught pouring into the chalice, and the sight was full of horror and amazement: lie there- fore fell on his face, and prayed, ' O, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.' In this prayer he fell into so sad an agony, that the pains inflicted by his Father's wrath, and made active by his own apprehension, were so great, that a sweat distilled from his sacred body as great and cofiglo- bated as drops of blood :' and God. who beard his prayer, but would not answer him in kind, sent an ' Quidamex Ilegesippo notaiit, ex irroratione sanguinis Christi natam arhoreni. Sic Philipim'' Bohquiiis ct alii. Scd ha: sunt mero! nugsc. 180 FROM Itit; DEATH OF LAZARUS angel to comfort him in the sadness, which he was pleased not to take awa3% But knowing that the drinking this cup was the great end of his coming into the world, he laid aside all his own interests, and divested himself of the affections of flesh and blood, willing his Father's will ; and because his Father commanded, he, in defiance of sense and passion, was desirous to suffer all our pains. But as when two seas meet, the billows contest in un- gentle embraces, and make violent noises, till, having wearied themselves into smaller waves and disunited drops, they run quietly into one stream : so did the Spirit and nature of Jesus assault each other with disagreeing interests and distinguishing disputations, till the earnestness of the contention was diminished by the demonstrations of the Spirit, and the prevailings of grace; which the sooner got the victory, because they were not to contest with an unsanclified or rebellious nature, but a body of affections which had no strong desires, but ccf its o\f n preservation. And therefore Jesus went thrice, and prayed the same prayer, that, ' if it were possible, the cup might puss from him ;' and thrice made an act of resignation; and in the intervals ' came and found his apostles asleep,' gently chiding their incuriousness, and warning them to * watch and pray, that they enter not into temptation ;' till the time that the traitor ' came with a multitude armed with swords and staves, from the priests and elders of the people,' to apprehend him. 21. Judas gave them the opportunity of the night, that was all the advantage they had by him ; because they durst not seize him by day, for fear of the people : and he signified the person of his master to the soldiers by a kiss, and an address of TO THE BLRIAI. OF JFSUS. 18" seeming civility. But when they came towards him, 'Jesus said. Whom seek ye? They said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am he.' But there was a divinity upon him, that they rould not seize him at first. But as a wave climbing of a rock is beaten back and scattered into members, till falling down it creeps with g'entle wafiinfjs, and kisser, the feet of the stony mountain, and so encircles it v BO the soldiers, coming at first with a rude attempt, were twice repelled by the glory of his person, till they, falling at his feet, were at last admitted to the seizure of his body ; having by those involuntary prostrations confessed his power greater than theirs, and that the lustre and influence of a God are greater than the violences and rudenesses of soldiers. And still they, like weak eyes, durst not behold the glory of this sun, till a cloud, like a dark veil, did interrupt the emissions of his glories, they could not seize upon him, till they had thrown u veil upon his holy face. Which although it was a custom of the Easterlings, and of the Roman empire generally, yet in this case was violence and necessity, because a certain impetuosity and vigorousness of spirit and divinity issuing from his holy face, made them to take sanctuary in dark- ness, and to throw a veil over him, in that dead time of a sad and dismal night.' But Peter, a stout (ialilean, bold and zealous, attempted a rescue, and ' smote a servanit of the high-priest, and cut off his ear.' But Jesus rebuked the intemperance of his passion, and commanded him to ' put up his sword,' saying, ' all they that strike with the ■word shall perish with the sword;' so putting a ' Hieron. in c ix. INIatt. 182 FROM THE DKAIII OF l.AZARUS bridle upon the illegal inflictions and expresses of anger or revenge from an incompetent authority. But ' Jesus touched Malchus's ear, and cured it.' 22. When Jesus had yielded himself into their power, and was now ' led away by the chief- priests, captains of the temple, elders of the people, and soldiers,' who all came in combination and covenant to surprise him, his disciples fled ; and John the Evangelist, who with grief and an over- running fancy had forgot to lay aside his ujjper garment, which in festivals they were used to put on, began to make escape ; but being arrested by bis linen upon his bare body, he was forced to leave that behind him, that himself might escape his master's danger; for now was verified the pro- phetical saying, ' I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered ; but Peter followed affar off;' and the greatness of John's love, when he had mastered the first inconsiderations of his fear, made him to return awhile after into the high-prrest's hall. 23. Jesus was first led to Annas, who was the prince of the Sanhedrim, and had cognizance of prophets and public doctrines ; who therefore * enquired of Jesus concerning his disciples and his discipline.' But he answered, that his doctrme had been public or popular ; that he never taught in conventicles ; and therefore referred him to the testimony of all the people. For which free answer, ' a servant standing by smote him on the face ;' and Jesus meekly asked him what evil he had done. But Annas without the seventy assessors could judge nothing; and therefore * sent him bound to Caiaphas, who was high-priest that year,' president of the rites of the temple ; as the other lO IHL UllllVL OF JKSL'S. 183 high-priest was of llie f,Meat council. Tliitlitr Feter came, and had admission by the means of another disciple, supposed to be John, who having: sold his possession in Galilee to Caiaphas, came and dwelt near Mount Sion ; but was, by interven- tion of that barcjain, made known to the hiL-li- priest, and brought Peter into the iiouse. Where when Pe- ter was challen;;ed three limes l)y the servants to be a Galilean, and of Jesus's family, he denied and forswore it; till Jesus, looking- back, reminded him of his prediction, and the foulness of the crime ; • and the cock crew,' for it was now the second cock-crow in[j after ten of the clock in the fomtli watch. ' x\nd Peter went out and wept bitterly,' that he might cleanse his soul, washing off the foul stains he bad contracted in his shameful per- jury and tienying of his Lord. And it is reported of the same holy person, that ever after, when he heard the cock crow, he wept; remembering ihe old instrument of his conversion, and his own uii- worlhine.ss, for which he never ceased to do actions of sorrow and i,harp repentance.' 24. On the morning the council was to assem- ble; and whilst Jesus was detained in expecta- tion of it, the servants mocked him, and did all actions of affront and ignoble despite to his sacred head ; and because the question was whether lie were a prophet, ' they covered his eyes, and smote, him,' in derision calling on him to ' prophecy who smote him.' But in the morning, when the high-priests and rulers of the people were assem- bled, they sought false witness against Jesus ; Im: ' Arsenius in viiis I'p. 184 FHOM riir 1>EATH of LAZARCd found none to purpose : U)ey railed boldly, and could prove nothing ; they accused vehemently, and the allegations were of such things as were no crimes; and the greatest article which the united diligence of all their malice could pretend, was, that ' he said he would destroy the temple, and in three days build it up again.' But Jesus nei- ther answered this nor any other of their vainer allegations ; for the witnesses destroyed each other's testimony by their disagreeing ; till at last Caia- phas, "who, to verify his prophecy, and to satisfy his ambition, and to bait his envy, was furiously determined Jesus should die, 'adjures him by the living God to say whether he were the Christ, the Son of the living God.' Jesus knew his design to be an inquisition of death, not of piety or curiosity ; yet, because his hour was now come, he openly affirmed it, witliout any expedient to elude the high-priest's malice, or to decline the question. 25. When Caiaphas heard the saying, he accused Jesus of blas]>hemy, and pretended an apprehen- sion so tragical, that he overacted his wonder and feigned detestation ; for he rent his garments, (which was the interjection of the country, and custom of the nation, but forbidden to the high- priest,) and called presently to sentence. And, as it was agreed beforehand, ' they all condemned him as guilty of death,' and as far as they had power inflicted it; for they 'beat him with their fists, smote him with the palms of their hands, spit upon him,' and abused him beyond the license of enraged tyrants. When Judas heard that they had passed the final and decretory sentence of death upon his Lord, he, who thought not it would TO IHH BIRIAI. or JESUS. 1^5 have ffone so fur, rrpented liim to have been an instrument ofso damnable amachinalion, and came and brought the silver which they gave him for hire, ' threw it in amongst ihem, and said, I have einned in betraying the innocent blood,' But they, incurious of those hell-torments Judas felt within him, because their own fires burned not yet, dis- missed him ; and upon consultation bought with the money ' a field to bury strangers in.' And ' Judas went and hanged himself:' and the judg- ment was made more notorious and eminent, by an unusual accident at such deaths; for he so swelled, that ' he burst, and his bowels gushed out.' But the Greek scholiast and some others report out of Papias, St. John's scholar, that Judas fell from the fig-tree on which he hanged, before he was quite dead, and survived his attempt somti while, being so sad a spectacle of deformity and pain, and a prodigious tumour, that bis plague was deplorable, and highly miserable; till at last he burst in the very substance of his trunk, as l)eing extended beyond the jjossibiiities and caj)a- cities of nature.' •iO. But the high-priest had given Jesus over to the secular power, and carried him to Pilate, to l)e put to deatii by his sentence and military power. But coming thither, they ' would not enter into the judgment-hall,' becau^ie of the feast; r)ut Pilate met them, and willing to decline tlie busi- ness, bid them 'judge him according to their own law.' They rei>lied, 'it was not lawful for them ' Euthein. in xxvi. Matt Cedren. in compend. Oecumen. in c i. Act. Juvencus Hixt. Kvangel. lib. iv. Ikda ']e locu asttct c. 4. 186 FROM TIIK Dr'AIH uF l.AZ^RL'S to put any man to deatli;' meaning', during the seven days of unleavened bread :' (asapeais in tlif instance of Herod, who detained Peter in prison, in- tending after Easter to bring him out to the people:) and their malice was restless, till the sentence they had passed were put in execution. Others think that all the right of inflicting capital punishments was taken from the nation by the Romans. And Jo- sephus writes, that when Ananias, their high-priest, had by a council of the Jews condemned St. James, the brother of our Lord, and put liim to death, without the consent of the Roman president, he was deprived of his priesthood.' But because PUate (who either by common right, or at that time was the judge of capital inflictions) was averse from intermeddling in the condemnation of an innocent person, they attempted hiiu witii excellent craft ; for knowing that Pihi'te was a great servant of the Roman greatness, and a hater of the sect of the Galileans, tlie high-priest accused Jesus, that he was of that sect, that he ' denied paying' tribute to Caesar, that he called himself king.' Concerning which, when Pilale in- terrogated Jesus, he answered, that ' his kingdom was not of this world.' And Pilate, thinking he had nothing to do with the other, came forth again, and gave testimony, that ' he found nothing worthy of death in .Jesus.' But hearing tliat he was a Galilean, and of Herod's jurisdiction, Pi- late sent him to Herod, who was at Jerusalem, at the feast. ' And Herod was glad, because he had ' S. Aug. tract. 114. in Joan. Cyril, in .Joan. Ambros. serm. de calend. Januar. Chrys. in Joan. hom. lib. x.v. ^ Antiq. c viii. TO THK llUItr.A.1. 01- JESUS, 187 lienid iihrIi olliini;' and since his letiini fioi^ Rome hiul ilesirecl to see him, but could nol, 1)V reason of his own avocations, and the ambulatory life of Christ; ' and now he hoped to see a miracle done by him,' of whom he had heard so many. But the event of this was, that Jesus did there no miracle ; ' Herod's soldiers set him at noi.ght, and mocked him. And that day Herod was reconciled to Piiate.' ' Anil Jesus was sent back, arrayed in a white und splendid garment: whicli though possibly it might be intended for derision, yet was SI symbol of innocence, condemned persons usually being arrayed in blacks. And when Pilate baa again examined him, ' Jesus, meek as a lamb, and as a sheep before the shearers, opened not his mouth: insomuch that Pilate wondered,' perceiving: the greatest innocence of the man, by not offering to excuse or lessen any thing : for though ' Pilate had power to release him or crucify him ;' yet his contempt of death was in just proportion to his in- nocence : which also Pilate concealed not, but pub- lished .Tesus's innocence by Herod's and his own sentence; to the great regret of the rulers, who, like ravening wolves, thirsted for a draught of blood, and to devour the morning prey. 27. But Pilate hoped to prevail upon the rulers, by making it a favour from them to Jesus, and an indulgence from him to the nation, to set him free: for oftentimes even malice itself is driven out by the devil of self-love; and so we may be acknow- ledged the authors of a safety, we are content to rescue a man even from our ownselves. Pilate therefore offered tliat, according to the custom of the nation, Jesus should be released for the hoiK^ui ' Joseph, lib. xTi. c. 14. Idem in vita sua. 188 FROM THE DEATH oF LA/\Rl'S of the present festival, and as a donative to the people. But the sph'it of malice was here the more prevalent, and they desired that Barabbas, 'a mur- derer, a thief, and a seditious person,' should be exchanged for him. Then Pilate, casting fJ^out all ways to acquit Jesus of punishment, and himself of guilt, offered to 'scourge him and let him go;' hoping that a lesser draught of bl-ood might stop the furies and rabidness of their passion, without their bursting with a river of his best and vital liquor. But these leeches would not so let go ; ' they cry out, Crucify him :' and to engage him finally, they told him, ' if he did let this man go, he was no friend to Caesar.* 'i8. But Pilate called for ' water, and washed his hands,' to demonstrate his ovvn unwillingness, and to reject and transmit the guilt upon them; who took it on them as greedily as they sucked the blood : ' they cried out. His blood be on us and on our children.' As Pilate was going to give sen- tence, his wife, being troubled in her dreams, sent, with the earnestness and passion of a woman that he should ' have nothing to do with that just person.' But he was engaged : Caesar and Jesus, God and the king, did seem to have different inter- ests ; or at least he was threatened into that opinion ; and Pilate, though he was satisfied it was but ca- lumny and malice, yet he was loath to venture upon his answer at Rome, in case the high-priest should have accused him : for no man knows whe- ther the interest or the mistake of his judge may cast the sentence ; and whoever is accused strongly, is never thought entirely innocent. An Si'eton. in Tiberio, c. 75- D'o Rom. Hist, lib Ivii. Sub 'J'iberid et Druso loss. C'orrnplos autem est cxtdex Epist. Sido- nli, qui ait, Nunc, ex vctere S. C. Tiberiano, Triginta dieruin vitam post sententiam trabit.— " According to the original law, thirty days were to intervene between tlie passing of the sentence and the execution." ' Lib. In servorum 1>. de pccnis. Lib. I.evia. T). deaecui. 190 FROM THE Dr.ATH OF LAZARUS 30. Th s ' '•' s therefore having fiamed a ctos« sad and heavy, laid it upon Jesus's shoulders, (\v!io, like Isaac, bore the wood with which he was to he sacrificed himself ) nd they drove him out to cru- cifixion, who was scarce able to stand under tliat load. It is generally supposed that Jesas bore the whole tree ;' that is, both the parts of his cross ; but to him that considers it, it will seem impossible : and therefore it is more likely, and agreeable to the old manner of crucifying malefactors, that .Tesus only carried the cross-part; the body of it being upon the place either already fixed, or prepared for its station. Even that lesser part was giievous and intolerable to his tender, virginal, and weakened body ; and when he fainted, they compel Simon, a Cyrenian, to help him. A great and a mixed multitude followed .Jesus to Golgotha, the charnel- house of the city, and the place of execution. But the women v\ept with bitter exclamations; and their sadness was increased by the sad predictions Jesus then made of their future misery, saying, ' Ye daughters of .Terusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time shall come that men shall say. Blessed are the barren that never bare, and the paps that never gave suck : for they shall call on the hills to cover them, and on the mountams to fall upon them;' '■ Lignum transversum solum portavit Jesus, scil. Patibulum, ad locmn ubi crux, scil. lignum oblongum, terra tlefixum stetit. Sic Plautus, Patibulum ferant per urbem, et cruci affigantur. IV I ale ergo pictoreshodierni pingunt Jesum, bajulantem utrum- que lignum scil. Lipsius Tract, de supplicio crucis. — '' Jesus, says Lipsius, carried the transverse beam of the cross to the place where the tree itself was already fixed in the ground. Plawtus alludes to tliis custom. INIodern painters, therefore, err in rc« presenting Jesus bearing the whole of the cross." TO THK BUUIAI, OF JESUS llll that by a sidden ruin tliey may escape the linger- ing: calamities of famine and fear, and the horror of a thousand deaths. 31. ' Wh ■■■ Jesus was come to Golgotha,' a place in the Mount of Calvary, (where, according- to the tradiiion of the ancients, Adam was buried,' and where Abraham made an altar for the sacrffice of his son,') by the piety of liis disciples, and, it is probable, of those good women which did use to minister to him, there was provided * wine mingled with myrrh ;' which among the Levantines is an excellent and pleasant mixture, and such as the piety and indulgence of the nations used to admi- nister to condemned per^ms.' But Jesus, who by voluntary susception did choose to suffer our pains, refused that refresliment which the piety of the wo- men presented to him. The soldiers having strip- ued him, nailed him to the cross with four nails, and divided his mantle into four parts, giving to each soldier a part ; but for his coat, because it would be spoiled if parted, it being weaved without seam, they cast lots for it. 32. Now Pilate liad caused a title, containmg the cause of his death, to be superscribed on a table in Latin, Cireek, and Hebrew ; the Hebrew being first, the Greek next, and the Latin nearest to the holy body; but all written after the Jewish manner, from the right hand to the left ; for so the title is shown in the church of Santa Croce, in Rome, tiie > 'lertul. lib. ii. contra ^larcion. Origen. Tract, xxxv. in Matt. Basil, in Levit. e. 5. Athan de Pass, et cruce, ct fert onincs Pp. unico excepto Hieronjmo, in I'.pist, ad ICplies. c. 6, et in c. 27, Matth. * S. Aug. Serm. vii. de Tempore. J Piin. Nat. Hist. lib. xiv. r. IX .^ihcnfpus, lib. xi c. 30. 192 FROM THE DEATH Ol' 1 AZARUS Latin letters being- to be read as if it were Itobiew . the reason of which I could never find sufficiently discovered, unless it were to make it more legible to the Jews, who by conversing with the Romans, began to understand a little Latin. The title was, ' Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews.' But th« Pharisees would have it altered, and, ' that he said he was king of the Jews.' But Pilate, out of wilful- ness, or to do despite to the nation, or in ho- nour to Jesus, whom he knew to be a just per- son, or being overruled by divine Providence, refused to alter it. ' And there were crucified with Jesus two thieves, Jesus being in the midst, ac- cording to the prophecy, ' he was reckoned with the transgressors.' Then Jesus prayed for his per- secutors : ' Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' But while Jesus was full of pain and charity, and was praying and dying for his enemies, ' the rulers of the Jews mocked him,' up- braiding him with the good works he did, and the ex- presses of his power, saying, ' He saved others; him- self he cannot save;' others saying, ' Let him come down from the cross, if he be the king of the Jews, an-d we will believe in him;' and others, acroHiijSf us their malice was determined by fancy md occa- sion, added weight and scorn to his pains: and oi the two malefactors that were crucified with him, * one reviled him, saying. If thou be the Christ, save thyself and us.' And thus far the devil pre- vailed, undoing himself in riddle, provoking men to do despite to Christ, and to heighten his passion out of hatred to him ; and yet doing and promot- ing that which was the ruin of all his own kingdom and potent mischiefs : like the Jew. who in indig- nation against Mercury, threw stones at his image. Tt* TlfK rJLKlAl. »>r JESUS. 193 niul yel was by Ins superior judged idolatrous, that beinp^ the manner of doinp^ honour to the idol amono- the Gentiles,* But then Christ, who iiad upon the cross prayed for his enemies, and was heard of God in all that, he desired, felt now the beginnings of success. For the other thief, whom the present pains and circumstances of Jesus's pas- sion had softened and made believing, reproved his fellow for not fearing God ; confessed that this death happened to them deservedly, but to Jesus causelessly; and then prayed to Jesus, 'Lord, re- member me when thou comest into thy kingdom.' Which combination of pious acts and miraculous conversion Jesus entertained with n speedy pro- mise of a very great felicity, promising ' that upon that very day he should be with hiu) in paradise.' XL ' Now there were standing by the cross the mother of Jesus and her sister, and Mary Magda- len, and John." And Jesus, being upon his death- bed, although he had no temporal estate to be- stow, yet he would make provision for his mother, who, being a widow, and now childless, was likely to be exposed to necessity and want; and there- fore he did arrogate John, the beloved disciple, into Mary's kindred, making him to be her adopted son, and her to be his mother, by fiction of law : • Woman, behold thy son ; and man, behold thy mother. And from that time forward John took her home to his own house,' which he had near Mount Sion, after he had sold his inheritance in (ialilee to the high-j>riest. 34. While these things were dding, the whole frame of nature seemed to be dissolved and out ot I R. Manasses. V'id. Dionys. Vossium in annot. ad Rab. R. MAiTnon. Vol.. II X~i I#tl FROM fill'. Ur.ATK (iF I.AZAHL'S order, while their Lord and Creator suffered. For the sun was so darkened, that the stars appeared ; and the eclipse was prodigious in the manner as well as in deoree, because the moon was not then in conjunction, but full:' and it was noted by Phle^on, the freed man of the emperor Hadrian, by Lucian out of the Acts of the Gauls, and Dio- nysius, while he was yet a heathen, excellent scIjo- hirs all, great historians and philosophers; who also noted the day of tlie week and tlie hour of the <, being in the agonies of a high fever, said, ' I thirst. And one ran, and filled a sponge with vinegar, wrapping it with hyssop, and put it on a reed, that he might drink.' The vinegar and the sponge were, in executions of condemned persons, set to stoj) the too violent issues of blood, and to prolong the death ; but were exhibited to him in scorn ; * mingled with gall,' to make the mixture more horrid and ungen- tle.' But Jesus tasted it only, and refused the draught. And now, knowing that the prophecies were fulfilled, his Father's wrath appeased, and his torments satisfactory, he said, ' It is finished : and crying with a loud voice, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit, he bowed his head, and yielded up iiis spirit' into the hands of God, and died, hastening to his Father's glories. Thus did this glorious Sun set in a sad and clouded west, running speedily to shine in the other world. 3(i. Then was the veil of the temple, which se- parated the secret Mosaic rites from the eyes of the people, rent in the midst, from the top to the bottom ; and the angels, presidents of the temple, called to each other to depart from their seats ; and so great " an earthquake happened, that the rocks did rend, the mountains trembled, the graves opened, and the bodies of dead persons arose, walking from their cemeteries to tiie holy city, and appeared unto many."' And so great apprehensions and amazements happened to tliem all that stood by, • Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. xxxi. v. 11. Tertul. de Spect. c. 25. * S. Ilieron. ep. 150. q. fl. 196 FROM THE DEATH OF LAZARUS that they departed, smiting their breasts, with sor- row and fear. And the centurion that ministered at the execution said, ' Certainly this was the Son of God ;' and he became a disciple, renouncing his military employment, and died a martyr.' 37. But because the next day was the Jews' sab- bath, and a paschal festival besides,' tlie Jews has- tened, that the bodies should be taken from the cross ; and therefore sent to Pilate to hasten their death by breaking their legs, that before sun-set they might be taken away, according to the com- mandment, and be buried.^ The soldiers there- fore came, and brake the legs of tlie two thieves ; but espying and wondering that Jesus was already dead, they brake not his legs; for the Scripture foretold, that a bone of him should not be broken. But a soldier with his lance pierced his side, and immediately there streamed out two rivulets of water and l)lood. But the holy virgin-mother, (whose soul, during this whole passion, was pierced with a sword and sharper sorrows, though she was supported by the comforts of faith, and those holy predictions of his resurrection and future glories which Mary had laid up in store against this great day of expense,) now that she saw iier holy Son had suffered all that our necessities and their ma- lice could require or inflict, caused certain minis- ters, with whom she joined, to take her dead Son from the cross; whose body, when once she got free from the nails, she kissed and embraced wilh > Apud Metaph. die 16 Octob. '^ Plin. lib. xi. c.45. Vide liacCan;. ib. '. i. 26 Cic. pre Kosc. 3 Philo de leg. special. Deut. xxl TO 1HE BURIAL OF JESUS. 197 entertuinnients of the nearest vicinity that could be expressed by a person that was holy and sad, and a mother weepings for her dead son. 38. But she was highly satisfied with her own meditations, that now that great mystery, deter- mined by divine predestination before the begin- ning of all ages, was fulfilled in her Son; and the passion that must needs be, was accomplished. She therefore first bathes his cold body with her warm tears, and makes clean the surface of the wounds, and delivering a winding-napkin to Jo- seph of Arimathea, gave to liim in charge to en- wrap the body and embalm it, to compose it to the grave, and to do it all the rites of funeral ; having first exhorted him to a public confession of what he was privately till now.' And he obeyed tlie counsel of so excellent a person, and ventured upon the displeasure of tlie Jewish rulers, and ' went confidently to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus.' And Pilate gave him the power of it. 39. Joseph therefore takes the body, binds his face with a napkin, washes tlie body, anoints it with ointment, enwraps it in a composition of myrrh and aloes, and puts it into a new tomb, which he for himself had hewn out of a rock: (it not being lawful among the .lews to inter a con- demned person in the common cemeteries:) for all these circumstances were in the Jews' manner of fcurying. But when the sun was set, the chief priests and Pharisees went to Pilate, telling him that Jesus, whilst he was living, foretold his own resurrection upon the tliird day ; and lest his disci- ples should come anil steal the body, and say he ' i\(etaphr. August. 15. 198 CONSIDERATIONS ON ACCIDKNTS was risen from the dead, desired that the sej)idchre might be secured against the danger of any such jmposturf.. Pdatc gave them leave to do their pleasure, even to the satisftiction of their smallest scruples. They therefore ' sealed the grave, rolled a great 'stone to the mouth of it.' and, as an ancient tradition says, bound it about with labels of iron, and set a watch of soldiers, as if they had inlendt-d to have made it surer than the decrees of fate, or the never-failing laws of nature.' Ad. section XV. Considerat'tvns of some preparatory Accidenh before the Entrance of Jesus into his Passion. 1. He that hath observed the story of the life of Jesus, cannot but see it all the way to be strewed with thorns and sharp-pointed stones; and, al- though by the kisses of his feet they became preci- ous and salutary, yet they procured to him sorrow and disease. It was meat and drink to him to do his Father's will ; but it was bread of affliction, and rivers of tears to drink: and for these he thirsted like the earth after the cool stream ; for so great was his perfection, so exact the conformity of his will, so absolute the subordination of his inferior faculties to the infinite love of God, which sat re- gent in the court of his will and understanding, that in this election of accidents he never con- sidered the taste, .but the goodness; never distin- guished sweet from bitter, but duty and piety Bcda de locis Sanctis, c. 2« Nireph. lib. i. c 32. PKEPARATORY TO THF, I'ASSION. If)*? always prepared his table. And therefore, now knowing' that his time determined by the Father was nigh, he hastened up to Jerusalem. ' He went before his disciples,' saith St. Mark, 'and they followed him, trembling and amazed :' and yet be- fore that, even then, when his brethren observed he had a design of publication of himself, he suffered tliem to go before him, and went up as it were in secret: for so we are invited to martyrdom, and suffering in a Christian cause, by so great an ex- ample : the holy .Tesus is gone before us, anil it were a holy contention to strive whose zeal were forwardest in the designs of hnrniliation and self- denial. But it were also well, if in doing ourselves secular advantage, and j)romoting our worldly in- terest, we should follow him, who was ever more distant from receiving honours than from receiving a painful death. Those affections which dwell in sadness, and are married to grief, and lie at the foot of the cross, and trace the sad steps of Jesus, have the wisdom of recollection, the tempers of so- briety ; and are the best imitations of Jesus, and securities against the levity of a dispersed and a vain spirit. This was intimated by many of the disciples of Jesus in the days of the Spirit, and when tliey had tasted of the good word of Got?, and the powers of the world to come : for then we find many ambitious of martyrdom, and that have laid stratagems and designs by unusual deaths to get a crown. The soul of St. Laurence was so scorched with ardent desires of dying ibr his Lord, that he accounted the coais of his gridiron but as a julep or the aspersion of cold water to refresh his soul; they were chill as the Alpine snows in re- spect of the heals of his diviner flames. And if £00 CONSIDERATIONS ON ACCIDENH these lesser stars shine so brightly and burn so warmly, what heat of love may we suppose to have been in the Sun of rigljteousness! If they went fust toward the crown of martyrdom, yet we know that the holy Jesus went before them all. No wonder that ' he cometh forth as a bridegroom from his cha,mber, and rejoiceth as a giant to run his course.' 2. When the disciples had overtaken Jesus, he begins to them a sad homily upon the old text of suffering, which he had well-nigh for a year toge- ther preached upon : but because it was an un- pleasing lesson, so contradictory to those interests upon the hopes of which they had entertained themselves, and spent all their desires, they could by no means understand it: for an understanding prepossessed with a fancy, or an unhandsome prin- ciple, construes all other notions to the sense of the first ; and whatsoever contradicts it, we think it an objection, and that we are bound to answer it : but now that it concerned Christ to speak so plainly, that his disciples, by what was to happen within five or six days, might not be scandalized, or believe it happened to Jesus without his knowledge and voluntary entertainment, he tells them of his suf- ferings to be accomplished in this journey to Jeru- salem. And here the disciples showed themselves to be but men, full of passion and indiscreet affec- tion; and the bold Galilean, St Peter, took the boldness to dehort his Master from so great an in- felicity ; and met with a reprehension so great, that neither the Scribes, nor the Pharisees, nor Herod himself ever met with its parallel : Jesus called him Satan ; meaning, that no greater contradic- tions can be offered to the designs of God and his holy Son, than to dis-uade us from suffering : and PUKl'AKAlOUV TO inii. rA.SSlON. 21)1 if We untlerstood liow great are Uie advimtn^es ol'i sufterinj; comiilion, we shouki think all ourclag gilt, unci oiir j>avements strewed with roses, and our lialters silken, and the rack an instrument of pleasure, and be most impatient of those temptu tions whieli seduce us into ease, and divorce us I'rom the cross, as beinj>' opposite to our greatest hopes and most j)errect desires ; but slill this humour oC St. Peter's imperleclion abides amongst us. He that breaks oft" the yoke of obedience, and unties the bands of discipline, and preaches a cheap religion, and presents heaven in the midst ol flowers, and strews car|jets soiter than the Asian luxury in the way, and sets the songs of Sion to the tunes of Persian and lighter airs, and ofters great liberty of living, and bondage under affection and sins, and reconciles eternity with the present enjoyment, he shall have his schools filled with disciples : but he that preaches the cross, and the severities of Christianity, and the strictnesses of a holy life, shall have the lot of his blessed Lord ; he shall be thought ill of, and deserted. li. Our blessed I/ord, five days before his passion, sent his disciples to a village to borrow an ass, that he might ride in triumpli to Jerusalem : he had none of his own, l)ut yet he «ho was so dear to God could not want uhat was to supply his needs. It may be, Ciod hath liut all the yood in 202 CONSIDLIIATIONS 0\ ACCIDENTS the use of the cretitiire which the owners can re- ceive : and the horse which is lent me in charity, does me as much ease ; and the bread which is given me in alms, feeds me as well as the other part of it, which the good man that gave me a por- tion reserved for his own eating, could do to him. And if we would give God leave to make provi- sions for us in the ways of his own choosing, and not estimate our wants by our manner of receiving, being contented, that God by any of his own ways will minister it to us, we shall find our cares eased, and our content increased, and our thankfulness engaged, and all our moderate desires contented by the satisfaction of our needs: tor, if God is j)leased to feed me by my neighbour's charity, there is no other difference, but that God makes me an occasion of his ghostly good, as he is made the occasion of my temporal. And if we think it disparagement, ue may remember that God con- veys more good to him by me, than to me by him : and it is a proud impatience, to refuse or to be angry with God's provisions, because he hath not observed my circumstances and ceremonies of elec- tion. 4. And now begins that great triumph in which the holy Jesus was pleased to exalt hisoffice, and to abase his person. He rode, like a poor man, upon an ass, a beast of burden, and the lowest value; and yet it was not his own; and in tliat equipage he received the acclamations due to a mighty Prince, to the Son of the eternal King : telling us, that the smallness of fortune, and the rudeness of exterior halnliments, and a rough wall, are sometimes the ontsides of a great glory ; and that, when God means to glorify or do honour to a j)erson, lie needs PREPAKAIuin lO nil' l'A.SSI(>N. 203 no help from secular advantages, lie hides great riches in renunciation of the worki, and makes great honour breathe forth from tlie clouds of humi- Jity, and victory to arise from yielding and the modesty of departing from cur interest, and peace to be the reward of him that suflers all the hostili- ties of men and devils : for Jesus, in this great hu- mility of his, gives a great j)robation tiiat he was the Messias, and the King of Sion ; because no other king entered into those gates riding upon an ass ; and received the honour of Hosannah in that unlikelihood and contradiction of unecpial circum- stances. o. The blessed Jesus had never but two days of triumph in iiis life : the one was on his transfii^ura- tion u|)on Mount Talior; the other, tills, his riding into the holy city. But that it n:ay appear how little were his joys and present exterior compla- cencies ; in the day of his transfiguration JNIuses and Elias appeared to him, telling him what great things he was to suffer; and in this day of his riding to Jerusalem, he wet the palms with a dew sweeter than the moistures upon Mount Hermon, or the drops of manna: for, to allay the little warmth of a springing joy, he let down a shower of tears, weeping over undone Jerusalem in the day of his triumph, leaving it disputable whether he felt more joy or sorrow in the acts of love : for he triumphed to consider that the redemption of the world was so near; and wept bitteriy that men would not be redeemed : his joy was great, to con- sider that himself was to suffer so great sadness for our good ; and his sorrow was very great, to consider that we wouM not entertain that good that he brouglit and laid before us by his passion. He 201 CUNSIDEUA IlON^ <»N AtCIUENrs was in fij::uie, us his servant S. Paphnuliiis was afterwards in letter and true story, "crucitied ui)((i) palms:"' which indeed was the emblem of u vic- tory ; but yet such as had leaves, sharp, poijinant. and vexatious. However, lie entered into Jeru- salem dressed in ijaieties, which yet lie placed under his feet; but with such pomps and solemnilies each family, according t > its proportion, was ac- customed to briui; I he paschal lamb t > be slain for the passover. And it was not an undecent cere- mony, that ' the Lamb slain (Vi)m the beginning of the world ' should be brought to iiis slaughter, with the acknowledgments of a religious solemnity, because now that real good was to I)e exhibited to the world, which those little jnischal lambs did but signify and represent in shadow, and that was the true cause of all the little joy he had. 6. And if we consider what followed, it might seem also to be a design to heighten the dcjlorous- nessof his passion. For to descend from the greatest of worldly honours, from the adoration of a God, and the acclamations to a king, to the death of a slave and the torments of a cross, and the disho- nours of a condemned criminal, were so great stoopings and vast changes, that they gave height and sense, and excellency to each other. This then seemed an excellent glory, but indeed was but an art and instrument of grief. For such is the nature of all our felicities, they end in sad- ' Palma est victorum, fulniae tu aiHxus es ; ergo leetus obi, quoniam non nisi victor obis. " The palm the victor's is, and to tne palm Triumphant thou wert bound : Go forth ! be joyous and be calm ; Thou goest a victor crowned !" JRrPXRATORV TO THE PASSION. 205 ness, and increase the sting of sorrows, and add moment to them, and cause impatience and un- comfortable remembrances. But the sfriefs of a Christian, whether they be instances of repentance, or parts of persecution, or exercises of patience, end in joy and entlless comfort. Thus Jesus, like a rainbow, half made of the j^lories of light, and half of tiie moisture of a cloud, half triumph and half sorrow, entered into that town where he had done much good to others, and to himself received nothing but affronts. Yet his tenderness increased upon him : and that very journey, which was Christ's last solemn visit for their recovery, he doubled all the instruments of his mercy and their conversion. He rode in triumph ; the children sang Hosannah to him ; he cured many diseased persons ; he wept for them, and pitied them, and sighed out the intimations of a prayer, and did penance lor their ingratitude ; and stayed all day there, looking about him towards evening, and no man would invite him home ; but he was forced to go to Bethany, where he was sure of an hospi- table entertainment. I think no Christian that reads this but will be full of indignation at the whole city, who for malice or for fear would not or durst not receive their Saviour into their houses : and yet we do worse ; for now that he is become onr liord, with mightier demonstrations of his eternal power, we suffer him to look round about upon us for months and years together, and pos- sibly never entertain him, till our house is ready to rush upon our beads, and we are going to unu- sual and stranger bal)italions. And yet in the midst of a pojjulous and mutinous city this great King had some good subjects, persons that threw 206 CONSIDEUAIIONS ON ACCinEN TS away their own garments, and laid them at the feet of our Lford ; that being divested of their own, they might be reinvested with a robe of his righte- ousness, wearing that till it were changed into a stole of glory. The very ceremony of their recep- tion of the Lord became symbolical to them, and expressive of all our duties. 7. But I consider tiiat the blessed Je^us had affections no less than infinite towards all man- kind : and he who wept upon Jerusalem, who had done so great despite to him, and within five days were to fill up the measure of iheir iniquities, and do an act which all ages of the world could never repeat in the same instance, did also in the number of his tears reckon our sins as sad considerations and incentives of his sorrow. And it would well become us to consider what great evil we do, when our actions are such as for which our blessed Lord did weep. He who was seated in the bosom of feli- city, yet he moistened his fresh laurels upon the day of his triumph with tears of love and bitter allay. His day of triumph was a day of sorrow : and if we would weep for our sins, that instance of sorrow would be a day of triumph and jubilee. 8. From hence tlie holy Jesus went to Bethany, where he had another manner of reception than at the holy city. There lie supped : for his goodly day of triumph had been with him a fasting-day. And Mary jNlagdalen, who had spent one box of nard pistic upon our Lord's feet as a sacrifice of eucharist for her conversion, now bestowed ano- ther in tiiankfulness for the restitution of her bro- ther Lazarus to life, and consigned her liord unto his burial. And here she met with an evil inter- preter: Judas, an apostle, one of the Lord's own l»Hi:i'Ai! \r tumour and inconvenience, that it was not to be cured but by some prodigy of example and mira- cle of humility ; which tlie holy Jesus offered to them in this express, calling them to learn some great lesson ; a lesson which God descended from heaven to earth, from riches to poverty, from essen- tial innocence to the disreputation of a sinner, from a master to a servant, to learn us ; that is, that we should esteem ourselves but just as we are, low, sinful, miserable, needy, and unworthy. It seems it is a great thing, that man should come to have just and equal thoughts of himself, that (Jod used such puweriid arts to transmit this les- son, ant! engrave it in the spirits of men; and if 216 roNSIDTR KTIdNS ICON the receipt fails, we are eternally lost in the mists of" vanity, and enter into the condition of those angels whom pride transformed and spoiled into the condition of devils. And upon consideration of this ^^reat example, Guericus, a good man. cried out, " Thou hast overcome, O Lord, thou hast overcome my pride ; this example hath mastered me : I deliver myself up into thy hands, never to receive liberty or exaltation but in the condition of thy humblest servant." 3. And to this purpose St. Bernard hath an af- fectionate and devout consideration,' saying, " Tiiat some of the angels, as soon as they were created, had an ambition to become like God, and to as- pire into the throne which God had appointed lo tke holy Jesus in eternal ages. When God created man, presently the devil rubbed his leprosy upon him, and he would needs be like God too; and Satan promised him that he should. As the evil angels would have been like to God in power and majesty, so man would have been like him in knowledge, and have imitated the wisdon) of the eternal Father. But man had the fate of Gehazi ; he would needs have the talent and garments of Lucifer, and he had also his plague ; he lost para- dise for his pride. And now what might befit the Son of God to do, seeing man so lost, and God so 7ealous of his honour P I see (saitli he) that by occasion of me the Father loses Ijis creatures; for they have all aspired to be like me, and are fallen into the greatest infelicities. Behold, I will go to- ' Qiiomodo non humiliabitur homo sub tarn hurnili Deo ? S. Bernard. — " How can man refuse to humble himself undef 80 humble a God ?" rnrii^iN >ii{m«>\ i>r iiimii.ii v. ?]> ward man in sncli a form, lliat wliosnever (Voui henceforth would become like me shall be so, and be a o-ainer by it. And for this cause the Son of C-od came from heaven, and made himself a ])onr humble person, anti by all the actions of his life, commented upon tiie i)resent discourse:" * Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart." Blessed be that mercy and bounty which moved Almighty God to condescend to that so great ap- petite we had of bein<^ like him : for now we may be like unto God, but it must he by humility, of which he hath given us an example powerful as miracles, and as gn-at as our own pride and mi- scry. 4. And indeed our blessed Lord, knowing that examples are like maps and perfect schemes, in which the whole continent may at once he repre- sented to the eye to all the purposes of art and benefit, did, in the latter end of his life, draw up the dispersions and larger harvest of his precepts, binding ihem in the bundle of great examples, and casting them into actions as into sums total. For so this act of washing the feet of his own mi- nisters, and then dying for them, and for all his enemies, did preach the three great sums of evan- gelical perfection with an admirable energy and abbreviature ; humility and churity and suffer- ings, being to Christianity as the bo ly and the soul and the spirit are to the whole man. For no man brings a sad funeral into the theatre to make his spectators merry, nor can well preach chastity in the impurity of the IJordelii, or persuade tempe- rance, when himself is full of wine and luxury, ' Watt. \\. 29. 218 CONSIOKK \ rn>Ns VV )\ and enters into the b;itlis to boil liis undiu^'esteil meat, that he may relnrn to his second supper, and breathes forth impure belchings to^jetlier with his homily. A poor eremite, or a severely-iivinff philosopher, into whose life his own precepts have c'^jscended, and his doctrine is minified with his soul, mingles also effect and virtue with homilies, and incorporates his doctrine in the hearts of his disciples. And this the holy Jesus did in his own person, bearing the burden first upon his own shoulders, that we may with better alacrity un- dergo what our blessed Lord bears with us and for us. But that we may the better understand what our blessed Lord designed to us in this lecture, let us consider the proper acts of humility which in- tegrate the virtue. 0. The first is, Christ's humble man thinks meanly of himself. And there is great reason every man should. For his body is but rottenness and infirmity covered with a fair mantle; a dung- hill overcast with snow. And if we consider sad- ly, that from trees and plants come oil, balsam, wine, spices, and aromatic odours, and that from the sinks of our body no such sweet or salutary emanations are observed ; we may at least think it unreasonable to boast our beauty, which is no- thing but a clear and well-coloured skin, which every thing in the world can spoil; or our strength, which an ague tames into the infirmities of a child, and in which we are excelled by a bull ; or any thing of our body, which is nothing but an unridy servant of the soul, marked with characters oi' want and dependence, and begging help from all the element-; and upon a little disturbance growiivj; troublesome to itself by ils own impurities. And CHRisi s sr.HMoN or HtMiLrrv. 2ly y<-t tlieie is no reason in respect of the soul for any man to exalt himself above his brother; be- cause all reasonable souls are equal, and that one is wise, and another is foolish or less learned, is by accident and extrinsic causes. God at first makes ill! alike; but an indisposed body, or an inoppor- linu; education, or evil customs, superinduce varie- ty an & Hier. in Vii. ij. Anton. 2'22 CONSIDERATIONS CPON out of tenderness wished liim to be more careful and nutritive of his person. The good duke an- swered, 'Sir.be not troubled, and think not that I am ill provided of conveniences : for I send a harbinger before, who makes ray lodgings ready, and takes care that T be royally entertained.' The lord asked him who was his harbinger. He answered, ' The knowledge of myself, and the conisideration of what I deserve for my sin, which is eternal torments; and when witli this knowledge I arrive at my lodging, how unprovided soever I find it, methinks it is ever better than I deserve.' " The sum of this meditation consists in believing, and considering, and reducing to practice those thoughts, that we are nothing of ourselves, that we have nothing of our own, that we have received more than ever we can discharge, that we have added innumerable sins, that we can call nothing our own but such things which we are ashamed to own, and such things which are apt to ruin us. If we do nothing contrary to the purpose and hearty persuasion of such thoughts, then we think me.anly of ourselves. And in order to it, we may make use of this advice: — to let no day pass without some sad recollection and memory of somewhat which may put us to confusion and mean opinion of ourselves : either call to mind the worst of our sins, or tlie indis- creetest of our actions, or the greatest of our shame, or the uncivilestof our affronts; any thing to make us descend lower, and kiss the foot of the moun- tain. And this consideration applied also to every tumour of spirit, as soon as it rises, may possibly allay it. 7. Secondly, Christ's humble man bears con- rilltlSTS SKHMO.N OF Ill-^IILltV. 223 fiirm-Iies evenly anti sweetly, and desires not to be hononred I>y others." He chooses to (lo those things tiiut deserve honour and a fair name ; hot then eats not of those fruits liimself, but transmits fhrm to the use of others, and the glory of God Tliis is a certain consequence of the other : for he that truly disesteems himself, is content that others should do so too ; and he who with some regret and impatience hears himself scorned or under- vahu'd, l)alh not acquired the grace of humility. AVhich Serapion in Cassian noted to a young per- son, who [)erpetually accused himself, with the greatest semblances of humility, l)at was impatient when Serapion reproved him. " Did you hope that I would have praised your humility, and have reputed you for a saint? It is a strange perverse- iiess to desire others to esteem highly of you, for that in which to yourself you seem most unwor- thy."' He that inquires into the faults of his own actions, requiring them that saw them to tell him in what he did amiss, not to learn the fault but to engage them to praise it, cozens himself into pride, and makes humility the instrument. And a man would be ashamed were he told that he used stra tagems for praise. But so glorious a thing is liu- n)ility, that pride, to hide her own shame, puts on ' Ama nesciri et pro nihilo rqjutari. — Gcrson. — •' Love to l>e obscure and regarded as of no estiniaiion.'' - Appetere de huniilitate laudeni, humilitatis non est virtus, sed subvcrsio. Quid enini perversum niagis aut indignius, f|uani ut inde vclis liaberi nielior, unde tibi viderio deterior 'i — >. Hernard. — " To seek praise for our hiuiiility. is not to possess but to destroy the virtue : for what can be more inconsistent than to wihh to be considered the better for that by which we appeal worse to ourselves." Kcchis. sii. 11. 224 Ctl.NSlDKUATlONS L'I'ON the other's visor ; it beins niore to a proud man's purposes to seem humble than to be so. And such was the Cynic whom Lucian derided, because that one searching- his scrip, in expectation to have found in it mouldy bread or old rags, he discovered a bale of dice, a box of perfumes, and the picture of his fair mistress, Carisianus walked in his gown in the feast of Saturn ; and when all Rome was let loose in wantonness, he put on the long robe of a senator and a severe person ; and yet nothing was more lascivious than he. But the devil's pride prevails sometimes upon the spirit ot lust. Humility neither directly nor by conse- quence seeks for praise, and suffers it not to rest upon its own pavement, but reflects it all upon God, and receives all lessenings and instruments of affront and disgrace, that mingle not with sin or indecencies, more willingly than panegyrics. When otiiers have their desires, thou not thine; the say- ings of another are esteemed, thine slighted ; others ask and obtain, thou beggest and art refused ; they are cried up, thou disgraced and hissed at ; and while they are employed, thou art laid by, as fit for nothing; or an unworthy person commands thee and rules thee like a tyrant; he reproves thee, suspects thee, reviles thee; canst thou bear this sweetly, and entertain the usage as thy. just por- tion, and as an accident most fit and proper to thy person and condition ? Dost tliou not raise theatres to thyself, and take delight in the supple- tories of thy own good opinion, and the flatteries of such whom thou endearesl to thee, that their praising thee should heal the wounds of thine ho- nour by an imaginary and fantastic restitution ' ^ CHUISrS SERMON l.f IILMIl.lTY. 226 He lliiit IS not content and patient in affronts, hath not yet k-arned humility of the holy Jesus. 8. Thirdly, As Christ's humble man is content in affronts, and not greedy of praise ; so when it is presented to him, he takes no contentment in it : and if it be easy to want praise when it is denied, yet it is harder not to be delighted with it when it is offered. But there is much reason that we should put restraints upon ourselves, lest, if we oe praised without desert, we find a greater judg- ment of God ; ' or if we have done well, and re- ceived praise for it, we lose all our reward, which God halh deposited for them that ' receive not their good things in this life.' For ' as silver is tried in the melter, and gohl in the crucible, so is a man tried in the mouth of him that praises him ;' that is, he is either clarified from his dross, by look- ing upon the praise as a homily to teach and an instruuient to invite his duty ; or else, if he be jilicuiiy pure, lut is consoliihittd, htrenglhened in llic sobriety oi his sjjirit, and retires himself closer into the strengths and securities of humility. Nay, this step of humility uses, in very holy j)ersons, to be enlarged to a delight in affronts and disreputa- tion in the world. " Now I begin to be Christ's di!5ci[)le," said Ignatius the martyr, when in his journey to Rome he suffered perj)etual revilings ' Tanla eniiii considcratione trcpidat, (David,) ne aut de his in quibus laudatur, et non sunt, majus Dei judicium inveniai; •ut dc his in quibus laudatur, et sunt, competens pra;niiuni perdat. S. Greg.— " David trembles, lest the judgment of t4od should fall more heavily upon him because of those things for which he is falsely praised, or lest he should at last lose the fitting reward of those things for which he is rightly com- mended." VOL. II. 37 226 CONSIDERATIONS IPOS and abuse. St. Paul 'rejoiced in liis infirmities and reproach :' and all the apostles at Jerusalem went from the tribunal ' rejoicing that they were esteemed worthy to suffer shame for the name ot Jesus.'' This is an excellent condition and degree of humility. But I choose to add one that is less, but in all persons necessary. 9. Fourthly, Christ's humble man is careful never to sjjeak any thing that may redound to his own praise, unless it be with a design of charity or duty, that either God's glory or the profit of his neighbour be concerned in it ; but never speak- ing with a design to be esteemed learned or ho- nourable. St. Arsenius had been tutor to three CsBsars, Theodosius, Arcadius, and Honorius ; but afterwards, when he became religious, no word escaped him that might represent and tell of his former greatness. And it is observable concerning St. Jerome, that although he was of noble extrac- tion, yet in all his own writings tfiere is not ll}e smallest intimation of it This I desire to be un- derstood only to the sense and pur|)oses of hu- mility, and that we iiave no designs of vanity and fancy in speaking learnedly, or recounting our ex- terior advantages : but if eitlier the [)rofit of our brother or the glory of God, if either there be piety or charity in the design, it is lawful to publish all those excellencies with which God hath distin- guished us from others. Tlie young marquis of Castilion being to do public exercise in his course of philosophy, made it a case of conscience whe- ther he were bound to dispute his best; fearing lest ' Acts, V. 41. Christ's sermon of hcmility. 227 tanity mij^lit transport him in the midst of those praises which his collejriates mif^ht give him. It was an excellent consideration in the youn<5 gen- tleman : hut in actions civil and human, since the danger is not so immediate, and a little compla- cency, becoming the instrument of virtue and en- couragement of studies, may with like care be referred to God as the giver, and celebrate his ])raises, he might with more safety have done his utmost ; it being in some sense a duty to encou- rage others, to give account of our graces and our labours, and all the appendant vanity may quiclily be suppressed. A good name may give us oppor- tunity of persuading others to their duty, especially in an age in which men choose their doctrines by the men that preach them : and St. Paul used his liberty when he was zealous for his Corin- thian disciples, but restrained himself when it began to make reflections upon his own spirit. But although a good name be necessary, and \n order to such good ends whither it may serve it is lawful to desire it; yet a great name, and a pompous honour, and a secular greatness halh more danger in it to ourselves than ordinarily it ran iiave of benefit to others. And although a man may use the greatest honours to the greatest purjjoses, yet ordinary persons may not safely desire them ; because it will be found very hard to have such mysterious and abstracted considerations, as to se- ))arate all our proper interest from the public end. To which I add this consideration, that the con- tempt of honour, and the instant pursuit of hunn- lily, is more effective of the ghostly benefit of otiif'rs, than honours and great dignities can be, unless it be rarely and very accidentally. i?28 CONSIDEUATIONS UPON 10. If we need any new incentives to the prac- tice of this grace, I can say no more, but that liumi- lity is truth, and pride is a lie ; tiiat theone glorifies God, the other dishonours him ; humility makes men like angels, pride makes angels to become devils; that pride is iblly, humility is the temper of a holy spirit and excellent wisdom ; that humi- lity is the way to glory ; pride, to ruin and confusion. Humility makes saints on earth, pride undoes them ; humility beatifies the saints in heaven, and the elders throw their crowns at the foot of the throne ; pride disgraces a man among all the so- cieties on earth : God loves one, and Satan solicits the cause of the other, and |)romotes his own inter- est in it most of all. And there is no one grace in which Christ propounded himself imitable so sig- nally as in this of meekness and humility; for the enforcing of which he undertook tiie condition of a servant, and a life of poverty, and a death of dis- grace ; and washed the feet of his disciples, and even of Judas himself, that his action might be turned into a sermon to preach this duty, and to make it as eternal as his own story- TJIK PKAVKR. O holy and eternal Jesus, who wert pleased to lay aside the glories and incomprehensible majesty which clothed thy infinity from before the beginning of creatures, and didst put on a cloud upon thy brightness, and wert invested with the impure and im- perfect broken robe of human nature, and didst abate those splendours which broke through the veil, commanding devils not to publish thee, and men not to proclaim thy excellencies, and the apostles not to reveal those glories of thine which tlicv di». rHRISl's SERMAS- ((V HL'Mllirv. ?'.?9 covered encircling thee upon Mount Tabor in thy transfiguration; and didst, by perpetual homilies and symbolical mysterious ac- tions, as with deep characters, engrave humility into the spirits of thy disciples and the discipline of Christianity ; teach us to approach near to these thy glories, which thou hast so covered with a cloud that we might without amazement behold thy ex- cellencies ; make us to imitate thy gracious condescensions ; take from us all vanity and fantastic complacencies in our own per- sons or actions; and when there arises a reputation consequent to the performance of any part of our duty, make u-s to reflect the glory upon thee, suffering nothing to adhere to our own spirits i)ut shame at our own imperfection, and thankfulness to thee for all thy assistances. I^et us never seek the praise of men from unhandsome actions, from flatteries and unworthy discourses; nor entertain the praise with delight, though it proceed from better principles : but fear and tremble, lest we deserve punish- ment, or lose a reward which thou hast leposited for all them tliat sack thy glory and despise their own, ihat they may imitate the example of their I,ord. Thou, O Lord, didst triumph over sin and deatli ; subdue also my proud understanding and my prouder affections, and bring me under thy yoke ; that I may do thy work, and obey my superiors, and be a servant of all my brethren in their necessities, and esteem myself inferior to all men by a deep i.enseof my own unworthiness, and in all things may obey thy laws, and conform to thy precedents, and enter into thine inheritance, O holy and eternal Jesus. Amen. DISCOURSE XIX. Of Ihe Insdfution and Reception of the Holy Sacra- ment of the Lord's Supper. I. As the sun amoiio^ the stars, and man anionjij tlie sublunary creatures, is tlie most eminent and nol)le, the prince of the inferiors, and their measure, or their oruide; so is tliis action among- all the 230 OF THE INSTITUTION ANO instances of religion : it is the most perfect and consummate; it is an union of mysteries, and a consolidation of duties ; it joins God and man, and confederates all the societies of men in mutual com- plexions, and the entertainments of an excellent charily; it actually performs all that could be ne- cessary for man, and it presents to man as great a thing as God could give ; for it is impossible any thing should be greater than himself. And when God gave his Son to the world, it could not be but he should ' give us all things else.' And therefore this hlessed sacrament is a consigning us to all fe- licities, because, after a mysterious and ineffable manner, we receive him who is light and life, the fountain of grace, and the sanctifier of our secular comforts, and the author of holiness and glory. But as it was at first, so it hath been ever since ; * Christ came into the world, and the world knew him not :' so Christ hath remained in the world, by the communication of this sacrament, and yet he is not rightly understood, and less truly valued. But Christ may say to us, as once to the woman of Sa- maria: • Woman, if thou didst know the gift of God, and who it is that speaks to thee, thou wouldst ask him :' so, if we were so wise, or so fortunate to know the excellency of this gift of the Lord, it would fill us full of wonder and adoration, joy and thankfulness, great hopes and actual felicities, making us heirs of glory by the great additions and present increment of grace. 2. 'After supper Jesus took bread and blessed it,' and made it to be a heavenly gift. He gave them bread, and told them it was his body; that body which was broken for the redemption of man, for the salvation of the world. St Paul calls it ^ RKCtPTION OF THi: SACRVMENr. S3 1 'bread' even after consecration : 'The bread wliich we break, is it not the communication of the body of Christ ?' ' So that by divine faith we are taught to express our belief of this mystery in these words: " llie bread, which is consecrated and made sacra- mental, is the body of our Lord; and the fraction and distribution of it is the communication of that body wliich died fv)r us upon the cross.'' lie that doubts of either of the parts of this proposition, must eitlier think Christ was not able to verify his word, and to make bread by his benediction to be- come to us his body ; or that St. Paul did not well interpret and understand this mystery, when he called it bread. Christ reconciles them both, call- injf himself 'the bread of life:' and if we be of- ♦tended at it, because it is alive, and therefore less apt to become food, we are invited to it becans«; it is bread ; and if the sacrament to others seems less mysterious, because it is bread, we are height- ened in our faith and reverence, because it is life. The bread of the sacrament is the life of our ioul ; and the body of our Lord is now conveyed to us, being the bread of the sacrament. And if we con- sider how easy it is to faith, and how impossible it seems to curiosity, we shall be taught confidence and modesty ; a resigning our understanding to the voice of Christ and his apostles, and yet ex- pressing our own articles, as Christ did, in indefi- nite significations. And possibly it may not well consist with our duty, to be inquisitive into the se- crets of the kingdom, which we see by plain event hath divided the church almost as much as the sacrament hath united it; and which can only ' 1 Cor. X. IG. 232 OF IHT. I.Ns'ftiri TiDN A M> serve the purposes of the school and of evil men, to make questions for that, and Mictions for these, but not promote the ends of a holy life, obedience or charity. 3. Some so observe the literal sense of the words, that they understand them also in a natural : some so alter them by metaphors and preternatural sig- nifications, that they will not understand them at all in a proper. We see it, we feel it, we taste it, and we smell it to be bread ; and by philosophy we are led into a belief of that substance whose ac- cidents these are, as we are to believe that to be fire which biu'ns, and flames, and shines; but Christ also affirmed concerning it, ' this is my body ;' and if fuith can create an assent as strong as its object is infallible, or can be as certain in its conclusions as sense is certain in its apprehensions we must at no hand doubt but it is Christ's body. Let the sense of that be what it will, so that we believe those words, and (whatsoever that sense is which Christ intended) that we no more doiiht in our faith than we do in our sense; then our faith is not reprovable. It is hard to do so much violence to our sense, as not to think it bread ; but it is more unsafe to do so much violence to our faith, as not to believe it to be Christ's body. But it would be considered, that no interest of religion, no saying of Christ, no reverence of opinion, no sa- credness of the m3'^stery is disavowed, if we believe both what we hear and what we see. He that be- lieves it to be bread, and yet verily to be Christ's body, is only tied also by implication to believe God's omnipotence, that he who affirmed it can also verify it. And they that are forward to believe the chanjre of substance, can intend no ojore luit RFCEPTION or IHt SACnAMENT. 333 that it be l^elieved verily to be the body of oi»r Lord. And if they tliink it impossible to re- concile its beinsf bread, willi the verity of being' Christs body, let them remember that themselves are put to more difticulties, and to admit of more miracles, and to contradict more sciences, and to re- fuse the testimony of sense, in aflfirminp^ the special manner of transubstaiitiation. And therefore it were safer to admit the words in their first sense, in which we shall no more be at war with reason, nor so much with sense, and not at all with faith.' ' Acceptum panem et distributum discipulis corpus suum ilium fecit, Hoc est corpus meuin, dii-endo, id est, figura corporis mei. Figura anon fuisset, nisi veritaiis asset corpus. Tert. lib. iv. cont. iMarcion. c. 40. Quod si quicquid ingreditur in os, in ventrem abit, et insecessuin ejicitur, et illecibusqui sanctiiicatur per verbum Dei perque obsecrationem, juxia id quod habet ma- ter'alc in ventrem abit, ctinseccssum ejicitur, &c. et haecquidem de typico symboliceque corpore. Origen in xv. cap. S. iMatt. T(£ ffi'fitioXa TH aw^ciTos tH cieriroTiKy. Kj r« u'ljiaroi; fUTii Tt/y tTTiK-XTjitj' tTrtGaWiTat, t^ ertpa yiviToi, «XX'«k" utKiiaQ t^iVa- rai (pvanoQ' fiivii yap nri rip- 7rpor£()«c itaiac, Kf rH a\liiia- Tor, Ki T» I'l^uc, t?) opora in ki utttu, cla K) Trporfooi' )/r. Theod. Dial. 2. Idem disputando contra Eutychianos, docentes humatiam C'hristi naturam convcrsum iri in divinam, codem scil. niodo quo panis in corpus C'hristi, ait, Certe eodcm sciL modo, hoc est, nullo. 'O Ci Stonyo h I'l/iiTipoc, &c Our blessed Saviour, who hath called himself the living ISread, and a \'ine, hath also honoured the visible signs with the title and ap- pellation of his body and blood, not changing their nature, but adding to nature gr.ue. — Sec the Dialog, called '' The Ininiov- •ible." Sacramen;a qua; suminius corporis et sanguinis Christi, divina res est. Propter quod pereadem divin;e efHcinuir consor- tes natura:, et tamcn non dcsinit esse substantia vel natura panis PI vini : el certe imago et siniilitudo corjxiris et sanguinis Chriati ill actione mysterioruiii celebrantur. F. Oelasius libr contra Nesiorium it Kuiychetem. Non quod proprie corpus ejus sit panis, et pcculum sanguis; sed quod mys'.eriuui corporis ejus sr.ii- guinisque contineant. Facundus. Sign. Sacramenta quan lam similitudinem non haberent earum rerum quarum sunt sacra- menta, omnino sacramcnta nonessenl: K\ hac a. similitudine pleruHKiue ipsaruni rerum nomina accipiunt. S. -Aug. Fpist. 23. 234 OF THF. INSTITUTION AND And for persons of the contradictory persuasion, who, to avoid the natural sense, affirm it only to be figuralive, since their design is only to make this sacrament to be Christ's body in the sense of faith, and not of philosophy, they may remember that its being really present does not hinder, but that all that reality may be spiritual ; and if it be Christ's body, so it be not affirmed such in a natural sense and manner it is still only the object of faith and spirit: and if it be affirmed only to be spiritual, there is then no danger to faith in admitting the words of Christ's institution: 'This is my body.' I suppose it to be a mistake, to think whatsoever is real must be natural ; and it is no less to think spiritual to be only figurative : that is too much, and this is too little. Philosophy and faith may well be reconciled ; and whatsoever objection can invade this union, may be cured by modesty. And if we profess we understand not the manner of this Idem contra Faustum Manich. lib. x. c. 2. Quod ab omnibus appellatur sacrificium, signum est veri sacrificii, in quo caro Christi post assumptionem per sacramentum memoriae celebratur. Apud Gratianum de Conseciat. dist. ii. c. 48. citatur Augustinus in Libro Sententiarum Prosper! in haec verba. Sicut ergo cceles- tispanis, qui Christi caro est, suo niodo vocatur corpus Christi, cum revera sit sacramentum corporis Christi, illius, viz. quod visibile, quod palpabile, mortale in cruce positum est ; vocaturque ipsa immolatio carnis quas sacerdotis manibus fit Christi passio, mors, crucifixio, non rei veritate sed significante mysterio : sic sacramentum fidei quod baptisms intelligitur, fides est. .Sj ergo haec vasa sanctificata ad privates usus transferre sic periculo- sum est, in quibusnon est verum corpus Christi, sed mysterium cor- poris ejus continetur ; quanto magis vasa corporis nostri, &.C. S. Chrysost. Opere imperf. in JMatth. Idem in Epist. ad Caes.a- rium, in Biblioth. Pp. Colon. 1618. Sicut n. antequam sancti- licetur panis, Panem nominamus, divina autem ilium sanctifi- cante gratia, niediante sacerdote, liberatus quidem est ab appeU latione panis, dignus autem habitus est Dominici corporis appeU Uiioni, etiamsi natura aupis in eo permansit, Ac "^Ri.cEPTioN or run .«\crament. 23-5 mystery, we say no more but that it is a mystery : it" it liaci been necessary we slioiikl have construed it into the most latent sense, Clirist himself would have ^iven a clavis, and taught the cliurch to un- lock so f^reat a secret. Christ said, ' This is my body, this is my blood.' St. Paul said, ' The bread of blessintj^ that we break is the communication of llie body of Christ, and the chalice which we bless is the communication of the blood of Christ ;' and, ' we are all one body, because we eat of one bread,' ' One proj)osition as well as the other is a matter of faith, and the latter of them is also of sense ; one is as literal as the other, and he that distinguishes in his belief, as he may place the impropriety upon what part he please, and either say it is iniproperly called bread, or improperly called Christ's body; so he can have nothing to secure his jiropositiou from error, or himself from boldness, in decreeing concerning mysteries against the testimonies ot sense, or beyond the modesty and simplicity ot Christian faith. Let us love and adore the abyss of divine wisdom and goodness, and entertain the sacrament with just and iioly receptions; and then we shall receive all those fruits of it which an ear- nest disputer, or a peremptory dogmatizer, whether he happen riglit or wrong, hatli no warrant to ex- pect upon the interest of liis opinion. 4. In the institution of this sacrament Christ manifested, first, his almigiity power; secondly. ' 1 Cor. X. l(>, 17. Chrysost. notat Aposloluni non clixis&e paneni esse /j£r(>\;''/>', >ed (cotvoij'iai' TK (Tui/j«rog- \^)inT^, ut indicaret ila participari corpus Domini, ut fiaiU ununi partitipans, et res participuta, sicut Verbum et Dei Caro. 6/:Krix<""') partem aliquam sibj vendicat, 0 Kotftvfwr, tolius particeps est. 23G OF THE INSTITU'IION AND liis infinite Avisdoni ; and thirdly, his unspeakable chanty. First, his power is manifest in making the symbols to be the instruments of conveying himself to the spirit of the receiver. He nourishes the soul with bread, and feeds the body with a sa- crament: he makes the body spiritual by his graces there ministered, and makes the spirit to be united to his body by a participation of the divine nature. In the sacrament that body which is reigning in heaven is exposed upon the table of blessing ; and his body which was broken for us is now broken again, and yet remains impassible. Every con- secrated portion of bread and wine does exhibit Christ entirely to the faithful receiver; and yet Clirist remains one, while he is wholly ministered in ten thousand portions So long as we call these mysterious, and make tliem intricate to exercise our faith, and to represent the wonder of the mys- tery, and to increase our charity ; our being in- (juisitive into the abyss can have no evil ])urposes. God hath instituted the rite in visible symbols, to make the secret grace as j^resential and discernible as it might, that by an instrument of sense our spirits might be accommodated as with an exterior object to produce an internal act. But it is the j)rodigy of a miraculous power, by instruments so easy to produce effects so glorious. This then is the object of wonder and adoration. 6. Secondly, And this effect of power does also remark the divine wisdom, who hath ordained such symbols, which not only, like spittle and clay toward the curing blind eyes, proclaim an almighty power, but they are apposite and proper to signify a duty, and become to us like the word of life; and from bread they turn into a homily : for iherelbre our RECtl'TKlN 0|- 'IIIK S\<.KA\!rM. 337 nisej»t Master lialli appointeti hread and wine, that we may be corporeally miitecl to liim; lliat as tlie Kymbols Inconiinpf nutriment are turned into the substance of our bodies, so Clirisl beinsj;- the food of our souls should assimilate us, making- us partakers of the divine nature. It also tells us, that from hence we derive life and holy motion ; ' for in him we live, and move, ami have our being.' He is the staft'of our life, and tht light of our eyes, and ihc strength of our spirit; he is the viand for our journey, and the antepast of heaven. And because this holy mystery was intended to be a sacrament of union, that lesson is morally represented in the symbols; that as the salutary juice is expressed from many clusters running into one chalice, and the bread is a mass made of many grains of w heat, so we also (as tlie apostle infers from hence, him- self observing the analogy,) should ' be one bread and one body, because we partake of that one hreail.' And it were to be wished that from hercti also all Christians would understand a signification of ano'.her duty, and that they would often commu- nicate, as remembering that the soul may need a frequent ministration as well as the body its daily proj)()rtion. This consideration oi' the divine wis- dom is apt to produce reverence, humility, and submission of our understanding to the immensity of God's unsearchable abysses. 6. Thirdly, But the story of the love of our dear- est Lord is written in largest characters, who not only was at that instant busy in doing man the greatest good, even then when man was contriving Ids dentil and his disiionour, but contrived to repre- sent his bitter passion to us without any circum- stances of horror, in symbols of pleasure and de- 238 Of THK INSTITtTION AND light ; tliat ' we may taste anrl see how gracious our Lord is,' who would not transmit the record of his passion to us in any thing that might troui)le us. No love can be greater than that which is so bea- tifical as to bestow the greatest good ; and no love can be better expressed than that which, although it is productiveof'the greatest blessings, yet is curious also to observe the smallest circumstances. And not only both these, but many other circumstances and arguments of love concur in the holy sacrament. 1. It is a tenderness of affection that ministers wholesome physic with arts and instruments of pleasure. And such was the charity of our Lord, wl)o brinsjs health to us in a golden chalice; life, not in the bitter drugs of Egypt, but in sj)irits and quintessences ; giving us apples of paradise, at the same time yielding food, and health, and pleasure. 2. Love desires to do all good to its beloved ol:)ject; and that is the greatest love which gives us the greatest blessings. And the sacrament therefore is tlie argument of his greatest love; for in it we re- ceive the honey and the honey-comb, the paschal lamb with his bitter herbs, Clirist with all his griefs, and his passion with all the salutary effects of it. 3. Love desires to be remembered, and to have his own object in perpetual re- presentment. And this sacrament Christ de- signed to that purpose, that he, who is not present to our eyes, might always be present to our spirits. 4. Love demands love again, and to desire to be lieloved is of itself a great argument of love. And as God cannot give us a greater blessing than his love, which is himself with an excellency of rela- tion to us superaddeil ; so vvliat greater demonstra- tion of it can he make to us, than to desire us to RECEPTION OF THE SACRAMENT. 239 love him with as much earnestness and vehemency of desire, as if we we were that to liim which he is essentially to us, the author of our being and our blessinjT ? 5. And yet to consummate this love, and represent it to he the ureatest and most excel- lent, the lioly Jesus hatli in this sacrament desig'ned that we should be united in our spirits with him, incorporated to his body, partake of his divine nature, and communicate in all his graces: and love hath no expression beyond this, that it desires to be united unto its object. So tliat what Moses said to the men of Israel, ' What nation is so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things for which we call upon him ? we can enlarge in the meditation of this holv sa- erameiit : for now tlie Lord our God calls upon us, not only to be nigh unto him, but to lie all one with him ; not only as he was in the incarnation, flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone, but also to communicate in spirit, in grace, in nature, in divi- nity itself. 7. Upon the strength of the premises we may sooner take an estimate of the graces which are conveyed to us in the reception and celebration of this holy sacrament and sacrifice. For as it is a commemoration and represenlment of Christ's «lealh, so it is a commemorative sacrifice ; as we receive the symbols and the mystery, so it is a sacrament. In both capacities the benefit is next to infinite. First, for whatsoever Christ did at the institution, the same he commanded the church to Father his death and sacrifice : there he sits a high- priest continually, and offers still the same one perfect sacrifice; that is, still represents it as having been once finished and consummate in order to perpetual and never-failing events. And this also his ministers do on earth ; they offer up the same sacrifice to God, the sacrifice of the cross, by pray- ers, and a commemorating rite and representment according- to his holy institution. And as all the effects of grace and the titles of glory were pur- chased for us on the cross, and the actual mysteries of redemption perfected on earth, but are applied to us and niatie effectual to single persons and communities of men by Christ's intercession in heaven : so also they are promoted by acts, duty, and religion here on earth, that we may lie ' work- ers together with God,'' (as St. Paul expresses iJ,) and in virtue of the eternal and all-sufficient sacri- fice may offer up our prayers and our duty, and by representing that sacrifice may send up toge- ther with our prayers an instrument of their gra- ciousness and acceptation. The funerals of a de- ceased friend are not only performed at his first interring, but in the monthly minds and anniver- sary commemorations, and our grief returns upon the sight of a picture, or upon any instance which our dead friend desired us to preserve as his me- morial : we celebrate and exhibit the Lord's death in sacrament and symbol. And this is that great express, which when the church offers to God the Father, it obtains all those blessings which that sacrifice purchased. Themistocles snatched uj) the son of king Admetus, and held him between him- ' 2 Tor. vi. 1. Rt:rEf'ri the Son of God, and representing him to his Fa- ther, is the doing an act of mediation and advan- tage to ourselves in the virtue and efficacy of the Mediator. As Christ is a priest in heaven for ever,- and yet does not sacrifice himself afresh, nor yet without a sacrifice could he he a priest, hut hy a daily ministration and intercession repre- sents his sacrifice to God, and offers himself as sacrificed; so he does upon earth by the ministry of his servants ; he is offered to God ; that is, he is by prayere and the sacraments represented or ' offered up to God as sacrificed ;' which, in effect, is a celebration of his death, and the applying it to the present and future necessities of the church, as we are capable, by a ministry like to his in heaven. Jt follows then, that the celebration of this sacri- fice be in its proportion an instrument of applying the proper sacrifice to all the purposes which it first designed.' It is ministerially and by applica- tion an instrument propitiatory, it is encharistical, it is an homage, and an act of adoration, and it is impetratory, and obtains for us and for the whole church all the benefits of the sacrifice, which is now celebrated and applied : tliat is, as this rite is the remembrance and ministerial celebration of Christ's sacrifice, so it is destined to do honour to God, to express the homage and duty of his ser- ' Istc ealix benedictione solenni sacratus, ad totius hominis vitam saluteniqueproficit; biiniil nudicanientiim et holocanstum, ad sanandas infirmitates et pur^andas iniquit.ites, ex'stens. S. Cyp- de ca?na Dom. — " That cup, consecrated by the accuv- tomcd blessing, avails to the life and salvation of the whole man, and is at the same time a nieple; ' Christ is knoun in the breaking of bread:' that it is a great defence against the hostilities ol our ghostly enemies, this holy l)read being like the 246 OF THE INSTITUTION AND cake of Gideon's camp, overturning the tents of Midian : ' tliat it is the relief of our sorrows, the antidote and preservative of souls, the viand of our journey, the guard and passport of our death, the wine of angels; that it is more healthful than rhubarb, more pleasant than cassia; that the bee- tle and lareca of the Indians, the moly or nepenthe of Pliny, the lirinon of the Persians, the balsam of Judoea, the manna of Israel, the honey of Jona- than, are but weak expressions to tell us that this is excellent above art and nature, and that nothing is good enough in philosophy to become its emblem. All these must needs fall very short of those plain words of Christ, ' This is my body.' The other may become the ecstasies of piety, tiie transporta- tion of joy and wonder, and are like the discourse of St. Peter upon Mount Tabor ; he was resolved to say some great thing, but he knew not vviiat: but when we remember that the body of our Lord and his blood is communicated to us in the bread and chalice of blessing, we must sit down and rest our- selves; for this is the mountain of the Lord, and we can go no further. 1 1. In the next place it will concern our inquiry to consider how we are to prepare ourselves. For at the gate of life a man may meet with death ; and although this holy sacrament be like manna, in which the obedient find the relishes of obedi- ence, the chaste of purity, the meek persons of content and humility ; yet vicious and corrupted palates find also the gust of death and coloquin- tida. The Syberites invited their women to their ' St. Chrysostom says, " We leave that table with the Ktrength of lions, breathing fire, made terrible thereby to de- mons." iu:ci:rTioN oj rut sackament. 247 sulenu) sutrifices :i full year before llie sdemnily, that tliey mip^lit, by ])revious dispositions and a long foresiirht, attend wit'ii fjravity and fairer order the celel)ration of the riles.' And it was a rea- Bonable answer of Pericles, to one that asked him why he, beinjj a philosophical and severe person, came to a wedding trimmed and adorned like u paranym, h ; 'I come adorned to an adorned per- son," trimmed to a bridegroom. And we also, if we come to the marriage of the Son with the soul, (which marriage is celebrated in this sacred mys- tery,) and have not on a wedding-garment, shall be cast into outer darkness, the portion of undress- ed and unprepared souls. 12. For from this sacrament are excluded all unbaptized persons, and such who lie in a known sin, of which they have not purged themselves by the apt and proper instruments of repentance. For if the pasclial lamb was not to be eaten but by persons pure and clean, according to the sanctifica- tions of the law, the Son of God can less endure the impurities of tiie spirit, than God could suffer the uncleannesses of the law. St. Paul hath given us instruction in this : ' First let a man examine himself, and so let him eat. For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself, not discerning tiie Lord's l)ody.'* That is, although the church of Corinth, by reason of the present schism, the j)ublic disciplitie of the church was neglected, and every man permitted to lumself; yet even then no man was disobliged from his duty of private repentance, and holy pre- parations to the perception of so great a mystery; ' Plutarcli. Syinpos » 1 Cor. xi. 28, 29. '48 OF THL INSIITUTION AND ^*.cit the liOrd's body may be discerned from com- mon nutriment. Now nothing can so unhallow and desecrate the rite as the remanent affection to II sin, or a crime unrepented of. And self-exami- nation is prescribed, not for itself, but in order to the abolition of sin and death : for itself is a rela- tive term and an imperfect duty, whose very na- ture is in order to something beyond it. And this was in the primitive church understood to so much severity, that if a man had relapsed after one pub- lic repentance into a foul crime, he was never again readmitted to the holy communion. And the fa- thers of the council of Eliberis call it " a mocking and jesting at the communion of our Lord, to give it once again after repentance and a relapse, and a second or third postulation."' And indeed we use to make a sport of the greatest instruments of religion, when we come to them after an habitual vice, whose face we have, it may be, wetted with a tear and breathed upon it with a sigh, and abstain- ed from the worst of crimes for two or three days, and come to the sacrament to be purged, and to take our rise by going a little back from our sin, that afterwards we may leap into it with more vio- lence, and enter into its utmost angle. Tliis is dishonouring the body of our Lord, and deceiving ourselves. Christ and Belial cannot cohabit. But if we have left all our sins, and have no fondness of affection towards them; if we hate them, (which then we shall best known when we leave them, and with complacency entertain their contraries,) then Christ hath washed our feet, and then he in- vites US to his holy supper. Hands dipped io I Concil. Eliber. c. 3. HIXLl'llMN OF lUL SACKAMKM. 249 blood, or polluted with uiiluwrul gains, or stained with the spots of flesh, are mosl unfit to handle the holy body of our liOixl, and minister nourish- ment to the soul. Christ loves not to enter into the mouth full of cursings, oaths, blaspiieniies, re- xilings, or evil-speukings ; and a heart full ol" vain and vicious tiioughts stinks like the lake of So- dom : he finds no rest there; and when he enters, he is vexed wiih the unclean conversation of the impure inliabitants, and flies from thence with the vvinii^s of a dove, that he may retire to pure and whiter habitations. St. Justin Martyr, reckoning the predispositions required of every faithful soul for the entertainment of his Lord, says, tliat " it is not lawful for any to eat the eucharist, but him that is washed in the laver of regeneration for the remission of sins, that believes Christ's doctrines to be true, and that lives according to the discipline of the holy Jesus."' And therefore St. Ambrose refused to minister the holy communion to the emperor Theodosius, till by public repentance he had reconciled himself to God and the society of faithful people, after the furious and choleric rage and slaughter committed at Thessalonica. And as this act was like to cancellating and a circum- vallation of the holy mysteries, and in that sense and so far was a proper duty for a prelate, to whose dispensiition the rites are committed ; so it was jui act of duty to the emperor, of paternal and ' St. Basil, lib. ii. dc Bapf. c. 3. S. Ambros. lib. vi. c. 37. in Luc. !). See St. Chrysost. hom. ii'A, in Matt, where he says, " That if either a general, a nobleman, or even a king should unworthily approach the Lord's table, he must be rebuked and sent away ; and that he would rather suffer death than treat unworthily the Lord's boflv." y50 OF THL; lN!»TITiriiO.\ ANW tender care; not of proper authority or jurisdic- tion, which he could not have over his prince, but yet had a care and the supravision of a teacher over him ; whose soul St. Ambrose had betrayed, unless he had represented his disposition to com- municate in expressions of magisterial or doctoral authority and truth. For this holy sacrament is a nourishment of spiritual life, and therefore cannot Avith effect be administered to them who are in the state of spiritual death ; it is giving a cordial to a dead man : and although the outward rite be ministered, yet the grace of the sacrament is not '•ommunicated ; and therefore it were well that they also abstained from the rite itself. For a fly can boast of as much privilege as a wicked person can receive from this holy feast; and oftentimes pays his life for his access to forbidden delicacies, as certiiinly as they. 13. It is more generally thouglit by the doctors of the church, that our blessed Lord administered the sacrament to Judas, although he knew he sold hira to the Jews : some others deny it, and sup- pose Judas departed presently after the sop given him, before he communicated.' However it was. (Christ, who was Lord of the sacraments, might dispense it as he pleased : but we must mi- nister and receive it according to the rules be hath since described. But it becomes a prece- dent to the church in all succeeding ages; al- though it might also have something in it extra- ordinary and apter to the first institution : for be- cause the fact of Judas was secret, not yet made ' Negaturii Clemente Rom. 5. Const, c. Ifi. ab Hilario, c. 30, in Matt, ab Innocentio. lib, iii. <\e Ulyster. c. 1.3, a Rupcrto, Hildebrand. ('v,'noin,m. ot pauci^ aliis. RECEPTION OF Mil; SACRAMENT. 2fl| notorious, Christ those ralher to admit him into the rites of external communion, than to separate him with an open shame for a fault not yet made open : for our blessed Lord did not reveal the man and his crime till the very time of ministration, if Judas did communicate. But if Judas did not com- municate, and tliat our blessed Lord gave him the sop at the paschal supper, or at the interval be- tween it and the institution of its own, it is certain that Judas went out as soon as he was discovered, and left this part of discipline upon record: — that when a crime is made public and notorious, the j(overnors of tiie church, accord in<; to tlicir power, are to deny to give the blessed sacrament, till by repentance such persons be restored. In private tjins, or sins not known by solemnities of law, or evidence of fact, good and bad are entertained in public communion : and it is not to be accounted a crime in tiiem that minister it, because they can- not avoid it, or have not competent authority to se- parate persons whom the public act of the church hatli not separated.' But if once a public separa- tion be made, or that the fact is notorious and the sentence of law is in such cases already declared, they that come, and he that rejects them not, both pollute the blood of the everlasting- covenant. And liere it is applicable what God sjjake by the pro- phet, ' if thou wilt separate the precious thing from the vile, ihou shalt be as my mouti).'" ' Nee a communione prohibere quenquam possumus, nisi aut sponte confessum, aut in aliquo sive seculari sive ecclesiastico judicio nominatum atque convictuin. S. Aug. lib v. Homil. horn. 60. S. Thomas, iii. p. q. 81. a. 2.— " We cannot prohibit any one from the communion, unless he have voluntarily con- fused some sin, or have been convicted thereof by a secular or ee- clesiaKtical judgment." < .Ter. XV. 19. 2&i OF lUE JNSilTLTION AND But tliis is vvliolly a matter of discipline, arbi- trary, and in the power of tlie church ; nothing in it of divine commandment, but u hat belongs to the communicants themselves : for St. Paul reproves them that receive disorderly, but gives no orders to the Corinthian presbyters to reject any that present themselves. Neither did our blessed Lord leave any commandment concerning it, or hath the holy Scripture given rules or measures concerning its actual reduction to practice ; neither who are to be separated, nor for what offences, nor by what au- thority,nor who is to be the judge. And indeed it is a judgment that can only belong to God, who knows the secrets of hearts, the degrees of every sin, the beginnings and portions of repentance, the sin- cerity of purposes, by what thoughts and designs men begin to be accepted, who are hypocrites, and who are true men. But when many and commen men come to judge, they are angry upon trifling mistakies and weak disputes: they call that sin that angers tlieir party or grieves their interest; they turn charity into pride, and admonition into ty- ranny; ihey set up a tribunal that themselves may sit higher, not that their brethren may walk more securely. And then concerning sins, in most cases they are most incompetent judges; they do not know all their kinds ; they miscal many ; they are ignorant of the ingredient and constituent parts and circumstances ; they themselves make false measures, and give out according to them, when they please ; and when they list not, they can change the balance. When the matter is public, evident, and notorious, the man is to be admonished of his danger by the minister, hut not by him to be forced from it: for the power of the minister of hoi v RECEPTION OF THE SACRAMENT. 2'*3 things is but the power of a preacher and a coun- eellor, of a physician and a guide : it hath in it no coercion or violence, but what is indulged to it by human laws and by consent, which may vary as its principle. Add to this, that the grace of God can bei^in the work of repentance in an instant; and in what pe- riod or degree of repentance the holy communion is to be administered, no law of God declares ; which therefore plainly allows it to every period, and leaves no difference, except where the disci- pline of the church and the authority of the su- preme power doth intervene : for since we do not find in Scripture that the apostles did drive from the communion of holy things even those whom they delivered over to Satan or other cen- sures, we are left to consider, that in the nature of the thing, those who are in the state of weakness and infirmity have more need of the solemn prayers of the church, and therefore, by presenting them- selves to the holy sacrament, approach towards that ministry which is the most effectual cure; espe- cially since the very presenting themselves is an act of religion, and therefore supposes an act of re- pentance and faith, and other little introductions to its fair reception. And if they may be prayed for and prayed with, why they may not also be communicated, which is the solemnity of the greatest prayer, is not yet clearly revealed. This discourse relates only to private ministry : for when I affir n that there is no command from Christ, to all his ministers to refuse u horn they are pleased to call scandalous, or sinners, I intend to defend good people from the tyranny and arbitrary power of those great companies of ministers, who 2fll OF THi: INsriTtTlON AM) in so many luindred places would liave a judica- ture supreme in spirituals, which would be more intolerable than if they had in one province tvvenly thousand judges of life and death. But when the power of separation and interdiction is only insome more eminent anil authorized persons, who take public cognizance of causes by solemnities of law, and exercise their power but in some rare instances, and then also for the public interest, in which, although they may be deceived, yet they are the most competent and likely judges; much of the inconvenience, which might otherwise follow, is avoided. And then it only remains that they con- sider, in what cases it can be a competent and u proper infliction upon sinners, to take from them that which is the means and ministry of grace and recovery ; whether they have any warrant from Christ, or precedent in the apostles' practice, and how fur. As for the forms and usages of tlie pri- mitive church, they were hugely different, sometimes for one cause, sometimes for another. Sometimes whole churches have been excommunicated ; some- times the criminal and all his household for his offence, as it happened in the excommunication of Aiidronicus and Thoas, in Synesius, in the year 411.' Sometimes they were absolved and restored by lay-confessors, sometimes by emperors; as it happened to Eusebius of Nicomedia, and Theognis of Nice, who were absolved by Constantine from the sentence of excommunication inflicted by the Nicene fathers : and a monk did excommunicate Tlieodosius the younger.' So that in this there can be no ceitainty to make a measure and a rule. ' Synes. ep. ^9. « Theod.Hiat. lib. v. 36. Baron, torn. 5. A. D. 425. Sect. 1& RLCtl'!l«»N Ol rut vACRAWLNr. '265 The surest way, most aj^roeaMe to the j)rececleJils of Sciiplure and the analogy of the gospel, is, tliat ' by the word of their proper ministry' all sinners should be separate from the holy communion ; that is, threatened by tiie words of God with damnation, and fearful temporal dany the excellence of these previous acts of holiness, will not be too inquisitive into the necessity of cir- cumstances and measures ; but do it heartily, and devoutly, and reverently, and as much as they can , ever esteeming it necessary, that the actions of so great solemnity should by some actions of piety, attending like handmaids, be distinguished from common employments, and remarked for the prin- cipal and most solemn of religious actions. The primitive church gave the holy sacraments to in- fants immediately after baptism,' and by that act transmitted this proposition — that nothing was of absolute necessity, but innocency and purity fronj sin, and a being in the slate of grace.* Other ac- tions of religion are excellent additions to the dig- nity of the person and honour of the mystery, but they were such of which infants were not capable. The sum is this ; afier the greatest consociation of religious duties for preparation, no man can be suf- ' Clem. Rom. lib. viii. ConstiL. c. 20; Concil. Tolet. i. c. 1 1 ; 8. Aug. ep. 2S, ad Bonif et ep. 107, et lib. iv. de Trin. c. 10. « Gennailius, lib. iii. ile Kcd. DogmaC c. 53. VOL. II. 39 268 or 11! K iNsriTi'TioN and ficiently uorlliy to communicate : let us take care that we be not unworthy, by bring-injj a guilt with us, or tlie remanent affection to a sin. Est gloriosus sane convictus Dei ; Sed illi qui invitalur, non qui invisus est. 16. When the happy hour is come in which the Lord vouchsafes to enter into us, and dwell with us, and be united with his servants, we must then do the same acts over again with greater earnestness and intention ; confess the glories of God and thy own unworthiness; praise his mercy with ecstasy of thanksgiving and joy; make oblation of thyself, of all thy faculties and capacities; pray, and read, and meditate, and worship : and that thou mayest more opportunely do all this, rise early to meet the bridegroom, pray for special assistance, enter into the assembly of faithful people cheerfully, attend there diligently, demean thyself reverently, and before any other meat or drink, receive tlie body of thy Saviour with pure hands, with holy intention, with a heart full of joy, and faith, and hope, and wonder, and eucharist. These things I therefore set down irregularly and without method, because in these actions no rule can be given to all persons; and only such a love and such a religion in general is to be recommended, which will overrun the banks, and not easily stand confined within the margin of rules and artificial prescriptions. Love and religion are boundless; and all acts of grace relating to the present mystery are fit and propor- tioned entertainments of our Lord. This only re- member, that we are by the mystery of one bread confederated into one body, and the communion of saints ; and that the sacrifice which we then com- nrcr. I'lKiN (»r iiii: sacimmini'. 2-V.) V memonite \mis designed by our lionl for llic benefit ofiill his church : lot us bo sure to diinv all failhlul jieople into the society of the present blessin;;, join- inp^ with the holy man that ministers in prayers and offerinsfs of that mystery for tlie benefit of all sorts of men of Christ's catholic church : and it were also an excellent act o( Christian comnuuiicii, and agreeable to the practice of the church in ail ai^es, to make an oblation to (iod lur the poor; that as we are (ed by Christ's body, so we also should feed Christ's body, makinj^ such returns as we can — a grain of frankincense in e.\clKin<^e for a province, an act of duly and Christian charity as eucharistical for the present i^race, that all the body may rejoice and glory in tli;: salvation of the Lord. )7. After thou hast received that pledge of im- mortality and antepast of glory, even the Lord's body in a mystery, leave not thy Saviour there alone, but attend him with holy thoughts and col- loquies of prayer and eucharist. It was sometime counted infamous for a woman to entertain a se- cond love, till the body of her deatl husband was dissolved into ashes, and disa|ipeared in the form of a body : and it were well, that so long as the consecrated symbols remain within us, according lo common estiniate, we should keep the flame biiLiht, and the perfume of an actual devotion burning, that our communion be not a transient act, but a perma- nent and lasting intercourse with ourLortI : but in this every man best knows his own opportunities and necessities of diversion. I only commend earn- estly to practice, that every receiver should make a recollection ol" himself, and the actions of tlie day; that he improve it to the best advantage; that lie J60 OF THE INSTiri TION AND show unto our Lord all the defects of his house, ali his poverty and weaknesses : and this let every man do by such actions and devotions which he can best attend, and himself, by the advice of a spiritual man, finds of best advantage. 1 would not make the practice of religion, especially in 8uch irregular instances, to be an art, or a burden, or a snare to scrupulous persons. What St. Paul said in the case of charity, I say also in this : ' He that sows plentifully shall reap plentifully; and he that sows sparingly shall gather at the same rate : let every man do as himself purposeth in his heart ' Only it were well in this sacrament of love we had some correspondency, and proportionable returns of charity and religious affections. 18. Some religious persons have moved a ques- tion, whether it were better to communicate often or seldom : some thinking it more reverence to those holy mysteries to come but seldom ; while others say, it is greater religion or charity to come frequently: but I suppose this question does not differ much from a dispute, whether is better to pray often, or to pray seldom. For whatsoever is commonly pretended against a frequent commu- nion, may in its proportion object against a solemn prayer; remanent affection to a sin, enmity with neighbours, secular avocations to the height of care and trouble; for these either are great undecencies in order to a holy prayer, or else are direct irregu- larities, and unhallovv the prayer : and the celebra- tion of the holy sacrament is in itself and its own Ibrmality a sacred, solemn, and ritual prayer, in which we invocate God by the merits of Christ, expressing that adjuration not only in words, but ni actual representment and commemoration of his ^ HFcrPTMN OK THL on of a declining piety, and the intervening of se- cular interests. But then it came to once a week; and yet that was not every where strictly observed : but that it be received once every fortnight, St. Jerome counsels very strongly to Eustochium, a holy virgin: "Let the virgins confess their sins twice every month, or oftener ; and being fortified with the communion of the Lord's body, let them manfully fight against the devil's forces and at- tempts." Awhile after it came to once a month, then once a year; then it fell from that too; till all the Christians in the west were com- manded to communicate every Easter, by the de- cree of a great council, about five iiundred years since.* But the church of England, finding that too little, hath commanded all her children to receive thrice every year at least, intending that they should come oftener; but of this she demands an account. For it hath fared with this sacrament us with other actions of religion, wliich have de- scended from flames to still fires, from fires to sparks, from sparks to embers, from embers to smoke, from smoke to nothing. And although the public declension of piety is such, that in this pre- sent conjuncture of things it is impossible men should be reduced to a daily communion ; yet that thej are to (ommunicate frequently is so a duty, I hat as no excuse but impossibility can make the > Epist. 80, ad Lucinum. ' ConciL Lau ^ RECrPTION OF Tin: SACUVMf.NT. '2Ct^ omission innocent, so tlie loss nnd consequent want is infinite and invaluable. 20. For the holy communion beinjj a remem- brance and sacramental repetition of Christ's pas- Bion, and the application of his sacrifice to us and the whole catholic church ; as they who seldom communicate, delijiht not to remember the passion of our liOrd, and sin against his very purpose, and one of the designs of institution ; so he cares not to receive the benefits of the sacrifice who so neglects their application, and reducing them to actual profit and reception. " Whence came the sanctimony of the primitive Christians? whence came their strict observation of the divine com- mandments ? whence was it that they persevered in holy actions with hope and an unweary dili- gence ? from whence did their despising worldly ihingscome, and living with common possession, and the distributions of an universal charity ? Whence came these and many other excellencies, but from a constant prayer, and a daily eucha- rist ? Tiiey who every day represented tiie death of Christ, every day were ready to die for Christ." It was tlie discourse of an ancient and excellent person. And if we consider this sacrament is in- tended to unite the spirits and affections of the world, and that it is diffusive and powerful to this j)urpose, (' for we are one body,' saith St. Paul, ' because we partake of one bread,') possibly we may liave reason to say, that the wars of kingdoms, the animosity of families, the infinite multitude of law- suits, the personal hatreds, and the universal want of charity, which hath made the world miserable and wicked, may in a great degree be attributed to the neglect of this great s\ mbol and instrument 261 OF THE INSTITUTION AND of charity. The chalice of the sacrament is called by St. Paul, * the cup of blessing :' and if children need every day to beg blessing of their parents, if we also thirst not after this cup of blessing, bless- ing may be far from us. It is called, ' the com- munication of the blood of Christ;' and it is not imaginable that man should love heaven, or felicity, or his Lord, that desires not per- petually to bathe in that salutary stream, the blood of the holy Jesus, the immaculate Lamb of God. 21. But I find that the religious fears of men are pretended a colour to excuse this irreligion. Men are wicked, and not prepared ; and busy, and full of cares and affairs of the world, and can- not come with due preparation ; and therefore bet- ter not come at all. Nay, men are not ashamed to say, they are at enmity with certain persons, and therefore cannot come. 1. Concerning those per- sons who are unprepared, because tliey are in a state of sin or uncharitableness; it is true, they must not come : but this is so far from excusing their not coming, that they increase their sin, and secure misery to themselves, because they do not * lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset them,' that they may come to the mar- riage-supper. It is as if we should excuse our- selves from tlie duties of charity, by saying we are uncharitable; from giving alms, by saying we are covetous ; from chastity, by saying we are lascivi- ous. To such men it is just that they graze with the goats, because they refuse to wash llieir hands, that tliey may come to the supper of the Laml). 2. Concerning those that pretend cares and in- cumbrances of tlie world : if their affairs make sin KECTPTION uf run SACnAMENT. ^Cy6 and impure affections to stick opon them, they are in tlie first considerations; but if tlieir office he necessary, jnst or cliaritablo, tliey imitate iNIartha, and choose the less perfect part, when they neglect the offices of religion for duties economical. 3. But the other sort have more pretence and fairer virtue in their outside. They suppose, like the Persian princes, the seldomer such mysterious rites are seen, tlie more reverence we shall have, and they the more majesty ; and they are fearful lest the frequent attraction of them should make us less to value the great earnests of our redemption and immortality. It is a pious consideration, but not becoming them. For it cannot be that the sacrament be undervalued by frequent reception, without the great unworthiness of the persons so turning God's grace into lightness, and loathing manna: nay, it cannot be without an unworthy communication; for he that receives worthily increases in the love of God and religion, and the fires of the altar are apt to kindle ox^r sparks into a flame. And when Christ our Jjord enters into us, and we grow weary of him, or less fond of his fre- quent entrance and perpetual cohabitation, it is an infallible sign we have let his enemy in or are pre- paring for it. For this is the difterence between secular and spiritual objects, nothing in this world hath any pleasure in it long beyond the hope of it; for the possession and enjoyment is found so emp- ty, that we grow weary of it: but whatsoever is spiritual, and in order to God, is less before we have it, but in the fruition it swells our desires, und enlarges tiie aj)petite, and makes us more re- ceptive ajjd forward in the entertainment. And therefore those acts of religion that set us forward *2oi) (»F TUP: INSI'JTL' TKtS' AND in time, and backward in aftection, do declare that ive have not well done our duty, but have commu- nicated unworthily: so that the mending of our fault will answer the objection. Communicate with more devotion, and repent with greater con- trition, and walk with more caution, and pray more earnestly, and meditate diligently, and re- ceive with reverence and godly fear; and we shall find our affections increase together with the spi- ritual emolument: ever remembering that pious and wise advice of St. Ambrose, " Receive every day, that which may profit thee every day ; but he that is not disposed to receive it every day, is not lit to receive it every year.'" 22. And if after all diligence it be still feared that a man is not well prepared, I must say that it is a scruple, that is, a trouble beyond a doubt, and without reason, next to superstition and the dreams of religion : and it is nourished by imagining that no duty is accepted, if it be less than perfi?c- tion ; and that God is busied in heaven, not only to destroy the wicked, and dash in pieces vessels of dishonour, but to ' break a bruised reed' in pieces, and to cast the smoking flax into the tlames of hell.' In opposition to which we must know, that nothing makes us unprepared but an evil con- science, a state of sin, or a deadly act : but the lesser infirmities of our life, against which we daily strive, and for which we never have any kind- ness or affections, are not spots in these feasts of charity, but instruments of humility, and stronger ' De Sacram. lib. v. c. 4. '' St. Chrysostom says, " That a pure conscience only deter- mines the fitness of the time for our approaching the Lord's Uble. RECEPTION OF IHt SACUAMEM'. !L^f)7 invitations to come to those rites which are or- dained for corroboratives asfainst infirmities of the soul, and for the growth of the spirit in the stren^Jths of God. For those other acts of prepara- tion whicii precede and accompany tiie duty, the better and more religiously they are done, they .■ire indeed of more advantage, and honorary to the sacrament: yet he that conies in the state of grace, tliou^ih he takes the opportunity upon a sudden ofter, sins not. And in such indefinite duties, whose degrees are not described, it is good counsel to do our best; but it is ill to make them instru- ments of scruple, as if it were essentially necessary to do that in the greatest height, which is only in- tended for advantage and the fairer accommoda- tion of the mystery. But these very acts, if they be esteemed necessary preparations to llie sacra- ment, are the greatest arguments in the world that it is best to communicate often ; because the doing of that which must suppose the exercise o( so many graces, must needs promote the interest of religion, and dispose strongly to habitual graces by our frequent and solemn repetition of the acts. It is necessary liiat every communicant be first examin- ed concerning the state of his soul, by himself or his superior; and that very scrutiny is in admir- able order towards the reformation of such irregu- larities which time and temptation, negligerce and incuriousness, infirmity or malice, have brought into the secret regions of our will and understand- ing. Now although this examination be tiierefore enjoined, that no man sliould approach to the holy tal)le in the state of ruin and reprobation ; and that therefore it is an act not of direct preparation, but on inquiry whether we be prepared or no; S6b IHE INSTITUTION OF THE SACRAMENT. yet this very examination will find so many little irregularities, and so many great imperfections, that it will appear the more necessary to repair the hreaches and lesser ruins by such acts of [)iety and religion ; because every communication is in- tended to be a nearer approach to God, a furtlier step in grace, a progress towards glory, and an in- strument of perfection ; and therefore, upon the stock of our spiritual interests, for the purchase of a greater hope, and the advantages of a growing charity, ought to be frequently performed. I end with the words of a pious and learned person : " It is a vain fear and an imprudent reverence, that procrastinates and defers going to the Lord that calls them :"' they deny to go to the fire, pre- tending they are cold ; and refuse physic, because they need it. THE PRAYER. O blessed and eternal Jesus, who gavest thyself a sacrifice for our sins, thy body for our spiritual food, thy blood to nourish our spirits, and to quench the flames of hell and lust, who didst so love us, who were thine enemies, that thou de- siredst to reconcile us to thee, and becamest all one with us, that we may live the same life, think the same thoughts, love the same love, and be partakers of thy resurrection and immor- tality ; open every window of my soul, that I may be full of light, and may see the excellency of thy love, the merits of thy sacrifice, the bitterness of thy passion, the glories and virtues of the mysterious sacrament. Lord, let me ever hunger and thirst after this instrument of righteousness; let me have no gust or re- lish of the unsatisfying delights of things below, but let my soul dwell in thee : let me for ever receive thee spiritually, and very frequently communicate with thee sacramen tally, and imitate thy virtues piously and strictly, and dwell in the pleasures of ■ Joan, (ierson, in Alagnifica. ; CONSIDF.UAriO.NS ON THE I'ASSION. QC\) tliy lioubc eternally. Lord, thou hast prepared a tabic for me, against them that trouble me. Iiet that holy sacrament of the eucharist be to me a defence and shield, a nourishment and me- dicine, life and health, a means of sanctification and spiritual growth ; that I, receiving the body of my dearest I^ord, may be one with his mystical body, and of the same spirit, united with indissoluble bands of a strong faith, and a holy hope, and a never-failing charity ; that from this veil I may pass into the vi- sions of eternal clarity, from eating thy body to beholding thy face in the glories of thy everlasting kingdom, O blessed and eternal Jesus. Amen. Consideralions xtpoii /he .Iccideiits happening on the Vespers of the Passion. I. When Jesus had supped, and sang a hymn, and prayed, and exhorted, and comforted his dis- ciples with a farewell-sermon, in which he repeated such of his former precepts which were now appo- site to ll e present condition, and reinforced them with proper and pertinent arguments, he went over the brook Cedron, anfl entered into a garden, and into the prologue of his passion ; choosing that place for his agony and satisfactory ])ains, in which the first scene of human misery was repre- sented, and where he njight best attend the oftices of devotion preparatory to his death. Besides this, lie thereiure departed from the house, that he might give opportunity to his enemies' surprise, and yet no incommodate the good man, by whose hosj)itality they had eaten the paschal lamb. So thiit he v\ent like a lamb to the slaughter, to the garden as to a prison ; as if by an agreement with his persecutors he had expected their arrest, and Btaycd there to prevent their further intjuiry : for 270 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE SO great was his desire to pay our ransom, that himself did assist, hy a forward patience and active opportunity towards the persecution : tea'ching us, that by an active zeal and a ready spirit we assist the designs of God's glory, tliough in our own suf- ferings and secular infelicities. 2. When he entered the garden, he left his dis- ciples at the entrance of it, calling with him only Peter, James, and John : ' he withdrew himself from the rest about a stone's cast, and began to lie exceeding heavy.' He was not sad till he had called them, (for his sorrow began when he pleased :) which sorrow he also chose to represent to those three who had seen his transfiguration, the earnest of his future glory, that they might see of how great glory for our sakes he disrobed himself; and that they also might, by the confronting those con- tradictory accidents, observe, that God uses to dispense his comforts, the irradiations and emis- sions of his glory, to be preparatives to those sor- rows with which our life must be allayed and sea- soned ; that none should refuse to partake of the sufferings of Ciirist, if either they have already felt his comforts, or hope hereafter to wear his crown : and it is not ill-observed, that St. Peter, being the chief of the apostles, and doctor of the circumcision, St. John, being a virgin, and St. James, the first of the apostles that was martyred, were admitted to Christ's greatest retirements and mysterious secrecies, as being persons of so singu- lar and eminent dispositions, to whom, according to the pious opinion of the church, especial coronets are prepared in heaven ; besides the great crown of righteousness, which in common shall beautify the heads of all the saints : meaning this, that doctors. vi;.Hri;ft> oi IHK PASSION. 1271 Tirgins, ami martyrs, sliall receive, even for their very state of life and accidental graces, more enji- nent dei^rees of accidental glory ; like as the sun, reflecting upon a limpid fountain, receives its rays doubled, without any increment of its proper antl natural light. 3. Jesus began to be exceeding sorr(;wful, to he sore amazed, and sad even to death. And because he was now to suffer the pains of our sins, there began his j)assion, whence our sins spring. From an evil heart and a prevaricating spirit all our sin.s arise : and in the spirit of Christ began his sorrow ; wd)ere he truly felt the full \alne and demerit ol sin, which we think not worthy of a tear or a hearty sigh ; but he groaned and fell under the burden. But therefore he took upon him this sad- ness, that our imj)erfect sorrow and contrition might be heightened in his example, and accepted in its union and confederacy with his. And Jesus still designed a further mercy for us; for he sanc- tified the passion of fear, and hallowed niitural Badnesses, that we might not think the infelicities of our nature, antl the calamities of our temporal ♦ ondition to beconie criminal, so long as they make us not omit a duty, nor dispose us to the ehclioii of a crime, nor force us to swallow a temptation, nor yet to exceed the value of their impulsive cause. He that grieves for the loss of friends, antl yet had rather lose all the friends he halh than lose the love of God, hath the sorrow of our I.ord for his preccilent. And he that fears death, and trembles at its approximation, and yet had rather die again than sin once, hath not sinnetl in his fear J Christ hath hallowed it, antl the necessitous 272 CUiNSlDERATIONS ON THE condition of his nature is his excuse. But it were highly to be wished, that in the midst of our caresses and levities of society; in our festivities and trium|)hal merriments, when we laugh at folly and rejoice in sin, we would remember, that for those very merriments our blessed Lord felt a bitter sorrow ; and not one vain and sinful laughter, but cost the holy Jesus a sharp pang and throe of pas- sion. 4. Now that tlie holy Jesus began to taste the bitter cup, he betook him to his great antidote, which himself, the great physician of our souls, prescribed to all the world to cure their calamities, and to make them pass from miseries into virtue, hat so they may arrive at glory. He prays to his Heavenly Father ; he kneels down, and not only so, but falls flat upon the earth, and would in hu- mility and fervent adoration have descended low as the centre : he prays with an intention great as his sorrow, and yet with a dereliction so great, and a conformity to the divine will so ready, as if it had been the most indifferent thing in the world for him to be delivered to death, or from it : for though Ins nature did decline death, as that which hath a natural horror and contradiction to the present in- terest of its preservation, yet when he looked upon it as his heavenly Father had put it in the order of redemption of the world, it was that baptism which he was straitened till he had accomplished. And now there is not in the world any condition of prayer which is essential to the duty, or any cir- cumstances of advantage to its performance, but were concentred in this one instance; humility of spirit, lowliness of deportment, importunity of de- VKSrF.llS OF THE I'ASSKlN. 273 sire, a fervent spirit, ;i lauCul niatU'r, resignation to the will of God, "rent love, the love of a son to his father, (which appelhitive was the form of Ijis ad- dress,) perseverance, (he went thrice, and prayed the siinie prayer.) Il was not lontj, anti it was so retired us to have the advantao^es of a sufficient so- litude and opportune recollection ; for he was with- th-awn from the most of his disciples: and yet not so alone as to lose the benefit of communion , for Peter and the two Boanerges were near 1 im. Christ in this jirayer, which was the most fervent that he exer mad*: on earth, intending' to transmit to all the world a precedent of devotion to be transcribed and in)ilat»;d ; that we should cast all our cares and empty tliem in the bosom of God, being con- lent to receive such a portion of our trouble back again, which he assigns us for our spiritual emolu- ment. 5. Tile holy Jesus having in a few w ords poured out torrents of innocent desires, was pleased slill to interrupt his prayer that he might visit his charge, that little flock which was presently after to be scattered : he was careful of them in the midst of his agonies ; — they in his sufferings were Jiist asleep. He awakens tlieni, gives them com- niand to watch and pray ; that is, to be vigilant in the custody of tlicir senses, and observant of all accidents, and to pray that they may be strength- ened agamst all incursions of enen)ies and tempta- tions; and then relurnsto prayer; and so a third time, liis devotion still increasing with his sorrow. And when his prayer was full, and his sorrow come to a great measure, after tin; third, God sent his ' angel to comlbrt iiim :' and by tliat act of grace tlicn only ♦'xpreswd, hath taiiglu lis to continue our devotion* vol,. Ji. |o 274 CONSIDKKATIONS ON THE SO long as our needs last. It may be God will not send a comforter till the third time ; that is, after a long expectation, and a patient sufferance, and a lasting hope: in the interim God supports us with a secret hand, and in his own time will refresh the spirit with the visitations of his angels, with the emissions of comfort from the Spirit, the Com- forter. And know this also, that tlie holy angel, and the Lord of all the angels, stands by every holy person when he prays : and altliough he draws before his glories the curtain of a cloud, yet in every instant he takes care we shall not perish, and in a just season dissolves the cloud, and makes it to distil in holy dew, and drops sweet as manna, pleasant as nard, and wholesome as the breath of heaven. And such was the consolation which the holy .Tesus received by the ministry of the angel,' representing to Christ, the Lord of the angels, how necessary it was tliut he should die for the glory of God ; that in his passion, his jus- tice, wisdom, goodness, power, and mercy should shine ; that unless he died all the world should perish, but his blood should obtain their pardon ; and that it should open the gates of heaven, re- pair the ruin of angels, establish a holy church, be j)roductive of innumerable adoptive children to his Father, wliom himself should make heirs of glory ; and that his passion should soon pass away — his Father hearing and granling his prayer, that the cup should pass speedily, though indeed it should ' Conforra.tus est, sed tali coiifort-^^ione quae dolorem noii mi- nuit, sed magis auxit; contbrtatus enim est ex fructus magnitu- dine, non subtracta doloris amaritiidine. tJeda in Luc. 22. — " He was comforted witli a con^ol-ition which diminished not, but rather augmented his pain ; tVr he was comforted by the greatness of the result, tlie liitlcints^ of the grief remaining." VF.>|'1HR nl I HI. I'.*«SSU»N 275 pns- tlii<)ii;:;li him; that it slioiild he atteiidecl and (MldWid uiili a lilorious lesiinection, witl> eternal rvsl and fjloiy of iiis humanity, with the exaltation ' (' his name, witli a supreme dominion over all the W'>rhl. aiirl thai his Father shouhl make him Xing' n' kiur whatsoever other comforts tiie an<^el ministered, were such considerationswhich the holy Jesus knew, aiMJ the ant^el knew not but by communication IVoui that God to whose assumed humanity the anj^el spake; yet be was pleased to receive com- fort (roni his servant, just as God receives glory fr 'Ui his creatures, and as he rejoices in his own works, even because he is good and gracious, and is pleased so to Justin. JMart. Dial. Tryph. Athanas. lib. vi. de Beat, filii Dei. Aug, lib. vi. c. 5. de Consecr. Evang. Hier. lib. deTrad, Heb. Iren. lib. iv c. 31. contra haeres. Idem aiunt Diony& Alex. Aymonius, Epiphan et alii. * Lib. vi. in Luc VF.SITRS OF IHK IM^SIoN. 277 InitiRelfwas pleased to purify liis church, and pre- sent her to God holy and spotless. What collate- ral designs and tacit sin^nifications might be de- sio^ned by this mysterious sweat I know not: cer- tainly it was a sad beginning of a most dolorous passion. And such griefs, which have so violent, permanent, and sudden effects upon the body, which is not of a nature symbolical to interior and immaterial causes, are proclaimed by such marks to be high and violent. We have read of some persons, tl)at the grief and fear of one night hath put a cover of snow upon their heads, as if the la- bours of thirty years had been extracted, and the quintessence drank off in the passion of that night. But if nature had been capable of a greater or more prodigious impress of passion than a bloody sweat, it must needs have happened in this agony of the holy Jesus, in which he undertook a grief great enough to make up the imperfect contrition of all the saints, and to satisfy for the impenitencies of all the world. 7. By this time the traitor Judas was arrived at Gethsemane; and being in the vicinage of the gar- den, Jesus rises from his prayers, and first calls his disciples from tiieir sleep, and by an irony seems to give them leave to sleep on, but reproves their drowsiness when danger is so near, and bids them 'henceforth take their rest;' meaning, if they could for danger, which was now indeed come to the garden doors. But the holy Jesus, that it miglit appear he undertook the passion will) choice and a free election, not only refused to fly, hut called his apostles to rise, that they might meet his murder- ers, will) came to him wilh swords and slaves, as if they were to surpvi-e a prince of armed outlaws 278 CONSIDERATfON8 <>N lirE whom without force they could not rediice. S(i also mig^ht butchers do well to g-o armed, when they are pleased to be afraid of lambs, by calling them lions. Judas only discovered his Master's retirements, and betrayed him to the opportunities of an armed band ; for he could not accuse his Master of any word or private action, that might render him obnoxious to suspicion or the law : for such are the rewards of innocence and prudence, that the one secures against sin, the other against suspicion and appearances. 8. Tlie holy Jesus had accustomed to receive every of iiis disciples, after absence, with entertain- ment of a kiss, which was the endearment of per- sons, and the expression of the oriental civility : and Judas was confident that his Lord would not reject him, whose feet he had washed at the time when he foretold this event, and therefore had agreed to sig- nify him by this sign; and did so, beginning war with a kiss, and breaking the peace of his Lord by the symbol of kindness. Which because Jesus entertained with much evenness and charitable expressions, calling him ' friend,' he gave evidence, that if he retained civilities to his greatest enemies, in the very acts of hostility, he hath banquets, and crowns, and sceptres for his friends, that adore him with tlie kissesof charity, and love him with the sin- cerity of an affectionate spirit. But our blessed Lord, besides his essential sweetness and serenity of spi- rit, understood well how great benefits himself and all the world were to receive by occasion of that act ■ Judas : and our greatest enemy does by accident to holy persons the offices of their dearest friends; telling us our faults without a cloak to cover their deformities, but out of malice l-iying open the cir- VKSIT.IIS ttF lilt J'ASSION 27i> camstances of aggravation, doing us affronts from whence we have an instrument of our patience, and restraining us from scandalous crimes, lest we become ' a scorn and reproof to them tiiat hate us.' And it is none of God's least mercies that he per- mits enmities amongst men, that animosities and peevishness may reprove more sharply, and correct with more severity and simplicity, than the gentle nands of friends, who are apterto bind our wounds up, than to discover them and make them smart. But they are to us an excellent probation how friends may best do the offices of friends, if they would take the plainness of enemies in accusing, and still mingle it witli the tenderness and good affections uf friends. But our blessed liord called Judas, • friend,' as being the instrument of bringing him to glory, and all the world to pardon, if ihey would. y. Jesus himself begins the inquiry, and leads them into their errand, and tells them he was Jesus of Nazareth whom they sought. But this also, which was an answer so gentle, had in it a strength greater than the eastern wind or the voice of thunder : for God was in that still voice, and it struck them down to the ground. And yet they, and so do we, still persist to persecute our Lord, and to provoke the eternal God, who can with the breath of his mouth, with a word or a sign, or a thought, reduce us into nothing, or into a worse condition, even an eternal duration of torments, and cohabitation with a never-ending misery. And if we cannot bear a soft answer of the merciful God, how siiall we dare to provoke the wrath of the almighty Judge ? Hut in this instance there was a rare mixture of effects, as there was in 2>^; r(>Nsii>r:n ATioNs on tuk Christ of natnrfs ; the voice of a man, and the power of God. For it is observed by the doctors of the primitive ages, that from the nativity of oiii Loixl to the day of his death, the divinity and hu- manity did so communicate in effects, that no great action passed, but it was like the sun shining througli a cloud, or a beauty with a thin veil drawn over it, they gave illustration and testimony to each other.' The holy .Jesus was born a tender and a crying infant ; but is adored by the magi as SI king, by the angels as their God. He is circum- cised as a man ; but a name is given him to sig- nify him to be the Saviour of the world. He flies into Egypt like a distressed child under the con- duet of his helpless parents; but as soon as he enters the country, the idols fall down and confess his true divinity. He is presented in the temple as the son of man ; but by Simeon and Anna he is celebrated with divine praises for the Messias, the Son of God. He is baptized in Jordan as a sinner ; but the Holy Ghost descending upon him pro- claimed him to be the well-beloved of God. He is hungry in the desert as a man ; but sustained his body without meat and drink for forty days toge- ther by the power of his divinity. There he is tempted of Satan as a weak man ; and the angels of light minister unto him as their supreme Lord. And now, a little before his death, when he was to take upon him all the affronts, miseries and exina- nitions of the most miserable, he receives testimonies from above, which are most wonderful : for he was transfigured upon Mount Tabor, entered tri- umphantly into Jerusalem, had the acclamations » S. Cyril. S. Athaiias. S. Leo. &e. of the people; when he was dyinpc, he darkenerl the sun ; when he was dead, he opened the sepul- chres; when lie was fast nailed to the cross, he made ti)e earth to tremble ; now, when he suffers himself to be apprehended by a guard of soldiers, he strikes them all to the ground only by replying to their answer, that the words of the prophet might be verified: 'Therefore my people shall know my name ; therefore they shall know in that day, that I am he that doth speak, behold it is I.'' 10. The soldiers and servants of the Jews having recovered from their fall, and risen by the permis- sion of Jesus, still persisted in their inquiry after him, who was present, ready, and desirous to be sacrificed. He therefore permitted himself to be taken, but not his disciples; for he it was that set them their bounds; and he secured his apostles to be witnesses of his sufferings and his glories; and this work was the redemption of the world, in which no man could have an active share, lie alone was to tread the wine-press ; and time enough they sliould be called to a fellowship of sufferings.'' But Jesus went to them, and they bound him with cords : and so began our liberty and redemption from slavery and sin, and cursings and death. But he was bound iaster by bands of his own ; his Father's will, and mercy, j)ily of the world, pro- phecies, and mysteries, and love held him fast . and these cords were as strong as death; and the cords which the soldiers' malice put upon his holy hands were but symbols and figures, his own com- passion and affection were the morals. But yet be undertook this short restraint and condition of • laaiali, lii. ti. » S. Cyril. 2>iU CON.SIURRATIONS ON IIIF a prisoner, tliat all sorts of persecution and exte- rior calanjities might be hallowed by his suscep- tion, and these pungent sorrows should like bees sting liim, and leave their sting behind, that all the sweetness should remain for us. Some melan- cholic devotions have from uncertain stories added sad circumstances of the first violence done to our Lord ; that they bound him with three cords, and that with so much violence, that they caused blood to start from his tender hands ; that they spat tiien also u|)on him witli a violence and incivility like that uliich their fathers had used towards Hur, the brother of Aaron, whom they choked with impure spittings into his throat, because he refused to con- sent to the making a golden calf. These particu- lars are not transmitted by certain records. Cer- tain it is, they wanted no malice, and now no power; for the Lord had given himself into tlieir hands. 11. St. Peter, seeing his Master thus ill used, asked, ' Master, shall we strike with the sword ?' and, before he had his answer, cut oft" the ear of Malchus. Two swords there were in Christ's family, and St. Peter bore one, either because he was to kill the paschal lamb, or, according to the custom of the country, to secure them against beasts of prey, whicli in that region were frequent, and dangerous in the night. But now he used it in an unlawful war : he had no competent autho- rity ; it was against the ministers of his lawful prince; and against onr prince we must not draw a sword for Christ himself, himself having for- bidden us. As his * kingdom is not of this world,' so neither were his defences secular. He could have called for many legions of angels for his vi:si'i:ns ur inr. i-assion. 283 guard, if lie had so pleased ; and we read that one angel slew one hundred and eij^hty-five thou- sand armed men in one niglit ; and therefore it was a vast power which was at the command of our Lord ; and he needs not such low auxiliaries as an army of rebels, or a navy of pirates, to defend his cause. He first lays the foundation of our happi- ness in his sufferings, and hath ever since supported religion by patience and suffering, and in poverty, and in all the circumstances and conjunctures of imjjrobable causes. Fighting for religion is cer- tain to destroy charity, hut not certain to supjjort faith. St. Peter tlierefore may use his keys, but he is commanded to put up his sword ; and he did so; and presently he and all his fellows fairly ran away. And yet that course was much the more Christian ; f(jr though it had in it much infirmity, yet it had no malice. In the meantime ttie Lord was pleased to touch the ear of Malchus, and he cured it ; adding to the first instance of power, in throwing them to the ground, an act of miraculous mercy, curing the wounds of an enemy made by a friend. But neither did tiiis pierce their callous and obdurate spirits; but they led him in uncouth ways, and through tlie brook Codron,' in which it is said the ruder soldiers j)Iunged him, and passed upon him all the affronts and rudenesses which an insolent and cruel multitude could think of, to sig- nify their contempt and their rage. And such is the nature of evil men, u ho, when they are not soflened by the instruments and arguments of Rrace, are much hardened by them : such being the purpose of God, that either grace shall cure ■ Psalm ex. ult. •284 toNSibr.iinioNs on thi: i'.vssion. sin, or accidentally increase it; that it shall either pardon it, or bring it to greater punishment. For so I have seen healthful medicines, abused by the incapacities of a healthless body, become fuel to a fever, and increase the distemperature from indis- position to a sharp disease, and from thence to the margin of the grave. But it was otherwise in Saul, whom Jesus threw to the ground with a more angry sound than these persecutors ; but Saul rose a saint, and they persisted devils, and the grace of God distinguished the events. THE PRAYER. I. O holy Jesus, make me, by thy example, to confonu to the will of that eternal God who is our Father, merciful and graci- ous; that I may choose all those accidents which his providence hath actually disposed to me ; that I may know no desires but his commands, and his will ; and that, in all afflictions, I may fly thiiher for mercy, pardon, and support, and may wait for de- liverance in such times and manners which the Father hath re- served in his own power, and graciously dispenses according to his infinite wisdom and compassion. Holy Jesus, give me the gift and spirit of prayer ; and do thou, by thy gracious interces- sion, supply my ignorances and passionate desires and imperfect choices, procuring and giving to me such returns of favour which may support my needs, and serve the ends of religion and the spirit, which thy wisdom chooses, and thy passion hath purchased, and thy grace loves to bestow upon all thy saints and servants. Amen. II. Eternal God, sweetest Jesu, who didst receive Judas with the affection of a Saviour, and sufferedst him to kiss thy cheek, witli the serenity and tranquillity of God ; and didst permit the soldiers to bind thee, with patience exemplary to all ages of «t\ tin viiiLiii.iSii i»i .M:sts. 2b-5 martyrs ; antl iliil^t i-iire tlie womul of iliy enemy with the cha- rity of a parent, ami the tciuleriicss of an inlinite pity; () kiss me with the kisses of tliy mouth, embrace me with the entertain- ments of a gracious Lord, aiul let my soul dwell and feast in thee who art the repository of eternal sweetness and refreshments. Bind me, C) Lord, with those bands which tied thee fast, the chains of love; that such holy union may dissolve the cords of vanity, and conrine the bold pretensions of usurping passions and imprison all extravagancies of an impertinent spirit, and lead cin captive to the dominion of grace and sanctified reason : that 1 also may imitate all the parts of thy holy passion, and may by thy bands get my liberty, by thy kiss enkindle charity, by the touch of thy hand and the breath of thy mouth have all my wounds cured and restored to the integrity of a holy penitent, and the purities of innocence ; that I may love thee, and please thee, and live with thee for ever, () holy and sweetest Jcsuu Amen. Considerations upon the Scourging and other Accidents happening from the Apprehension tilt the i.'rnci- Jixion of Jesus. 1. The house of Annas stood in the Mount Sion, and in the way to the house of Caiaphas ; and thither he was led as to tlie first stage of their triumi)h for their surprise of a person so feared and desired ; and there a naughty person smote the holy Jesus upon his face, for saying to Annan that he had made his doctrine public, and that all the people were ahle to give account of it: to whom the Lamb of God showed as much meekness and palieiice in his answer, as in his answer to Annas he iiad showed prudence and nK)desty : for now tiiat tlicy had taken Jesus, they wanted a crime to object against liim, and therefore were de- sirous ti> snatch occasion from his discourses, to 280 AcciDiiNTs r\u)M Tiir; Ai>riu;iiENSiox whicli tiiey resolved to tempt liim, l>y riiies^tions and affronts ; but liis answer was general and in- definite, safe and true, enough to acquit his doc- trine from suspicions of secret designs, and yet se- cure against their present snares ; for now himself, who always had the innocence of doves, was to join with it the prudence and wariness of serpents; not to prevent deatli, (for that he was resolved to suffer,) but that they might be destitute of all ap- pearance of a just cause on his part. Here it was that Judas received his money ; and here, that holy face which was designed to be that object in the beholding of which much of the celestial glory doth consist ; that face which the angels stare upon with wonder, like infants at a bright sun-beam, was smitten extrajudicially by an incompetent person, with circumstances of despite, in tlie presence of a judge, in a full assembly, and none reproved tlie insolency and the cruelty of the affront : for they resolved to use him as they use wolves and tigers, with all things that may be destructive, violent, and impious: and in this the injury was height- ened, because the blow was said to be given by Malchus, an Idumean slave,' and therefore a con- tem[)tible person ; but far more unworthy by his ingratitude ; for so he repaid the holy Jesus for working a miracle, and healing his ear. But so the Scripture was fulfilled: 'He shall give his body to the sniiters, and his cheeks to the nippers, saith the prophet Isaiaii ; and ' they shall smite the cheek of the judge of Israel,' saith INIicah. And this very circumstance of the passion Ijactantins ' Afalchus Idumaeis missus captivus ab oris. Vide Episc. £.'remon. lib. ii. Christeiitos. Isai 1. C; Micab. v. 1. Till. Till-: citiciriMON. 287 affirms to Iiave been foretold by tlie Firytlira?an eibyl.' But no meekness or indifferency could engage our Lord not to protest liis innocency : and though following his steps we must walk in the regions of patience, and tranquillity, and ad- mirable toleration of injuries; yet we may repre- sent such defences of ourselves, which by not re- sisting the sentence may testify that our suffering is undeserved : and if our innocency will not pre- serve our lives, it will advance our title to a better ; and every good cause ill-judged sliall be brought to another tribunal to receive a just and unerring sentence, 2. Annas having suffered this unwortliy usage towards a person so excellent, sent him away to Caiaphas, who had formerly, in a full council, re- solved he should die;* yet now palliating the de- sign with the scheme of a tribunal, they seek out for witnesses, and the witnesses are to seek for alle- gations; and when they find them, they are to seek for proof, and those proofs were to seek for unity and consent, and nothing was ready for their purposes; Ijut tliey were forced to use the sem- blance of a judicial process, that, because they were to make use of Pilate's authority to put him to death, they miglit persuade Pilate to accept of their examination and conviction, without further inquiry. But such had been the excellency and exemplary piety and prudence of the life of Jesus, that if they j)retended against him questions of their law, they were not capital in a Roman court; ■ Lib. iv. Instit. cap. 16. » Victor, in iS. Alaru 288 ACCIhi^NTS FR()\f Tilt: ArPRKHKNSION if they .affirmed that he had moved the people to sedition, and affected the kingdom, they saw that all the world would convince them of false testi- mony. At last, after many attempts, they accused him for a fiourative speech, a trope which they could not understand ; which, if it had been spoken in a literal sense, and had been acted too accord- ing to the letter, had been so far from a fault that it would have been a prodigy of power ; and it had been easier to raise the temple of Jerusalem, than to raise the temple of his body. In the mean- time, the Lamb of God left his cause to defend itself under the protection of his heavenly Father ; not only because himself was determined to die, but because if he had not, those premises could never have inferred it. But this silence of tb^'^ioly Jesus fulfilled a prophecy ; it made his enemies full of murmur and amazement, it made them to see that he despised the accusations as certain and apparent calumnies ; but that himself was fearless of the issue, and in the sense of morality and mysteries tauo"ht us not to l:)e too apt to excuse ourselves, when the semblance of a fault lies upon us, unless by some other duty we are obliged to our defences ; since he who was most innocent was most silent : and it was expedient, that as the first Adam in- creased his sin by a vain apology, the silence and sufferance of the second Adam should expiate and reconcile it. .3. But Caiaphas had a reserve which he knew should do the business in that assembly ; he ad- jured him, by God, to tell him if he were the Christ. The holy Jesus, being adjured by so sacred a name, would not now refuse an answer, lest it rii.L lift: cut (I FIX I ON. 2S9 mi^ht not consist witii tliat honour wliich is due to it, and w liich lie always paid ; and that he nii;;ht neither despise tlie authority of liie high-priest, nor upon so solemn occasion he wanting to that great truth which he came down to earth to persuade to tlie world. And when three such circumstances concur, it is enough to open our moulhs, though «e let in death; and so did our Lord — confessed him- self to be the Clirist, the Son of the living God. And this the high-priest Tvas pleased, as the design was laid, to call blasphemy; and there they voted him to die. Then it was the high-priest rent his clothes ; the veil of the temple was rent when the passion was finisiied, the clothes of the priests at tlie l)eginning of it; and as that signified the de- parting of the synagogue, and laying religion open, so did the rending the garments of Caiaphas pro- phetically signify that the priesthood should be rent from him, and from the nation.' And thus the personated and theatrical admiration at Jesus became the type of his own punishment, and con- signed the nation to deletion : and usually God so dispenses his judgments, that when men personate the tragedies of others, they really act their own. 4. Whilst these things were acting concerning the Lord, a sad accident happened to his servant, Peter; for being engaged in strange and evil com- ])any, in the midst of danger, surprised with a ♦jueslion, w ithout time to delilierate an answer, to find subterfuges, or to fortify himself, he denied his Lord shamefully, with some boldness at first; and tliis grew to a licentious confidence, and then to impudence, and denying with perjnry, that he knew not his Lord, who yet was known to him as idem ait. S. Hicr. TttL. II. 41 290 ACCIUENfS FKOM TUi; AI'PRKflKNSION his own heart, and was dearer than his eyes, and for whom he professed, but a little before, he would die ; but did not do so till many years after : but thus he became to us a sad example of human in- firmity; and if the prince of the apostles fell so foully, it is full of pity, but not to be upbraided, if we see the fall of lesser stars.' And yet that we may prevent so great a ruin, we must not mino^Ie with such company who will provoke or scorn us into sin ; and if we do, yet we must stand upon our <^uard that a sudden motion do not surprise us: or if we be arrested, yet let us not enter further in our sin, like wild beasts intricating themselves by their impatience ; for there are some who, being ashamed and impatient to have been engaged, take sanctuary in boldness, and a shameless abetting it; so running into the darkness of hell to hide their nakedness. But he also by returning, and rising instantly, became to us a rare example of penitence ; and his not lying long in the crime did facilitate his restitution : for the Spirit of God being extinguished by our works of darkness, is like a taper, which if, as soon as the flame is blown out, it be brought to the fire, it sucks light, and without trouble is rekindled; but if it cools into death and stiftness, it requires a longer stay and trouble. The holy Jesus in the midst of his own sufferings forgot not his servant's danger, but was pleased to look upon him when tlie cock crew; and the cock was the preacher, and the look of Jesus was the grace that made his ser- mon effectual; and because he was but newly ' "Oi/ TpoTTovai (TKiat roTf aio^iaffivi-irovrai. Srwf oi a/ta()- rini T-a7c v/'i'xn'C aKo\n^Hmi'. Agapet. Diac Capit. Admonit. ♦;fl. I^eo Serm. !), de Pass. Dom. et Euthym. in hunc locum.— " In the same manner as shadows follow bodies, so do sins the «OuL" TILL THE CRUCIFIXION. 291 fallen, and his habitual love of his Muster thouf^h interrupted, yet had suffered no natural abatement, he returned with the swiftness of an eag;le to the embraces and primitive affections of his Lord. 5. By this time suppose sentence given, Caia- phas prejudging all the Sanhedrim; for he first declared .Fe,' us to have spoken blasphemy, and the fact to be notorious, and then asked their votes; «>hich whoso then should have denied, must have contested the judgment of the high-priest, who by the favour of the Romans was advanced, (Valerius Grains, who was president of Judea, having been his patron,) and his faction potent, and his malice great, and his heart set upon this business : alt which inconveniences none of them durst have suf- t'erefl, unless he had had the confidence greater than of an aj)ostle at that time. But this sentence was but like strong dispositions to an enraged fever; he was only declared apt and worthy for death, they had no power at that time to inflict it; but yet they let loose all the fury of madmen and insolency ot wounded, smarting soldiers; and although, from the time of his being in the house of Annas till the council met, they had used him with studietl indignities ; yet now they renewed and doubled the unmercifulness and their injustice, to so great a height that tiieir injuries must needs have been greater than his patience, if his patience had been less tiian infinite. For thus man's redemption grows up as the load swells which the holy Jesus bare for us; for these were our portion, and we, having turned the flowers of paradise into thistles, should for ever have felt their infelicity, hati not Jesus paid the debt. But lie, l)eaiing them ujjou his tender body wilii an even and excellent and •292 ACCIDENTS PROM THF APPREHENSION dispassionate spirit, offered up these beginnir!;j8 of sufferings to his Father, to obtain pardon even for them that injured him, and for all the world. 6. Judas now seeinj? that this matter went fur- ther than he intended it, repented of his fact. For although evil persons are in the progress of their iniquity invited on by new arguments, and sup- ported l>y confidence and a careless spirit; yet when iniquity is come to the height, or so great a proportion lliat it is apt to produce despair or an intolerable condition, then the devil suffers the conscience to thaw and grow tender, but it is the tenderness of a bile, it is soreness rather than a new disease; and either it comes when the time of repentance is past, or leads to some act which shall make the pardon to be impossible; and so it hap- pened here. For Judas, either impatient of the shame or of the sting, was thrust on to despair of pardon, with a violence as hasty and as great as were his needs. And despair is very often used like the bolts and bars of hell-gates ; it seizes upon them that had entered into the suburbs of eternal death by an habitual sin, and it secures them against all re- treat. And the devil is forward enough to bring a man to repentance, provided it be too late; and Esau wept bitterly and repented him; and the five fool- ish virgins lift up their voice aloud when the gates were shut; and in hell men shall repent to all eter- nity. Bui I consider the very great folly and in- felicity of Judas : it was at midnight he received his money in the house of Annas ; betimes in that morning he repented his bargain : he threw the money back again, but his sin stuck close, and it is thought to a sad eternity. Such is the pur- TILL THE CKUCIFIXON. 293 chase of treason and the reward oC covetousness; it is cheap in its oft'ers, momentary in its posses- Bion, unsatisfying in the fruition, uncertain in tiie Btay, sudden in its departure, horrid in the remem- brance, and a ruin, a certain and miserable ruin is in tiie event. When Judas came in that sad condi- tion, and told his miserable story to them that set him on work, they let him go away unpitied : he had served their ends in betraying his Lord, and those that hire such servants use to leave them in the disaster, to shame and to sorrow ; and so did the priests; but took the money, and refused to put it into the treasury, because it was ' tiie price of blood ;' but they made no scruple to take it from the treasury to buy that blood. Any thing seems law ful that serves the ends of ambitious and bloody |)ei"sons, and then they are scrupulous in their cases of conscience when nothing of interest does intervene ; for evil men make religion the servant of interest ; and sometimes weak men think that it is the fault of the religion, and suspect that all of it is a design, because many great politics make it Ko. The end of the tragedy was, that Judas died with an ignoble death, marked with the circum- stances of a horrid judgment, and perished by the most infjMnous iiands in the world; that is, by his own.' Wliich if it be confronted against the ex- cellent s[)irit of St. Peter, who did an act as con- tradictory to his honour and the grace of God a.s could be easily iniagined ; yet taking sanctuary in the arms of his Lord, he lodged in his heart for ever, and became an example to all the w orld of the excellency of the divine mercy, and the ' S. August. Ac civil. Dei, lib. i.e. l?. 294 ACCIOKMS IROM TH t AITKKHtNSION efficacy of a lioly hope, and a hearty, timely, and an operative repentance. 7. But now all things were ready for the pur- pose, the high-priest and all his council go along with the holy Jesus to the house of Pilate, hopinigj he would verify their sentence, and bring it to ex- ecution, that they might once be rid of their fears, and enjoy their sin and their reputation quietly. 8t. Basil affirms, that the high-priest caused the holy Jesus to be led with a cord about his neck; and in memory of that, the priests for many ages wore a stole about theirs.' But the Jews did it according to the custom of the nation, to signify he was condemned to death : they desired Pilate that he would crucify him, they having found him worthy. And when Pilate inquired into the par- ticulars, they gave him a general and indefinite answer; ' If he were not guilty, we would not have brought him unto thee :' they intended not to make Pilate judge of the cause, but executor of their cruelty. But Pilate had not learned to be guided by an implicit faith of such persons, which he knew to be malicious and violent; and therefore still called for instances and arguments of their accusation. And that all the world might see with how great unworthiness they prosecuted the Mes- feias, they chiefly there accused him of such crinuvs upon which themselves condemned him not, and which they knew to be false, but yet likely to move Pilate, if he had been passionate or inconsiderate in his sentences; 'he offered to make himself u king.' This discourse happened at the entry of the Praetorium; for the Jews, who had no con- ' In Mysfagog. Ilccles, Autho. Com. in Marc. apud. 8. Hieron. Til. I, THE CRtCIIIXKlN. 20.1 ■cience of killinjj the King of hea\-en, made a con- Bcience of the external customs and ceremonies of their law, wliich had in them no interior sanctity, which were apt to separate them from the nations, and remark them with characters of relij^ion and abstraction : it would defile them to ^o to a Roman forum, where a capital action was to he judj^eil ; and yet the effusion of the best blood in the world was not esteemed against their religion ; so violent and blind is the spirit of malice, which tnrns hu- manity into cruelty, wisdom into craft, diligence into subornation, and religion into superstition. 8. Two other articles they alleged against him; but the first concerned not Pilate, and the second was involved in the third, and therefore he chose to examine him upon this only, of his being a king. To which the holy Jesus answered, lliat it is tnie he was a king indeed, l)ut ' not of this world ;' his throne is heaven, the angels are his courtiers, and the whole creation are his subjects: his regiment is spiritual, his judicatories are the courts of conscience and church tribunals, and at doomsday, the clouds: the tribute which he de- mands are confomiily to his laws, faith, hope, and charity ; no other gabels but the duties of a holy spirit, and the expresses of a religious worship, and obedient will, and a consenting undei-standiug. And in all tiiis Pilate thought tlie interest of Caesar was not invaded. For certain it is, the dis- cipline of Jesus confirmed it much, and supported it by the strongest pillars. And here Pilate saw how impertinent and malicious their accusation was. And we who declaim against tiie unjust proceedings of the Jews against our di^arest T»ord, bhould do well to take care that wc, in accusing any 296 ACCIDENTS FIIOM THK AITKLH ESSION of our brethren either with malicious purpose, or with an uncharitable circumstance, do not commit the same fault which in them we so hate and ac- cuse. Let no man speak any thing; of liis neighbour but what is true. And yet if the truth be height- ened by the biting rhetoric of a satirical spirit, ex- tended and drawn forth in circumstances and arts of aggravation, the truth becomes a load to a guilty person, is a prejudice to the sentence of the judge, and hath not so much as the excuse of zeal, much less the charity of Christianity. Sufficient to eveiy man is the plain story of his crime : and to excuse as much of it as we can, would better become us, who perish unless we be excused for infinite irregu- larities. But if we add this also, that we accuse our brethren before them that may amend them and reform their error, if we pity their persons, and do not hate them, if we seek nothing of their disgrace, and make not their shame public, but when the public is necessarily concerned, or the state of the man's sin requires it, then our accusations are charitable ; but if they be not, all such accusations are accepted by Christ with as much displeasure, in proportion to the degree of the malice and the proper effect, as was this accusation of his own person. 9. But Pilate having pronounced Jesus inno- cent, and perceiving he was a Galilean, sent him to Herod, as being a more competent person to deter- mine concerning one of his own jurisdiction. Herod was glad at the honour done to him, and the person brought him, being now desirous to see some miracle done before him. But the holy Jesus spake not one word there, nor did any sign ; 80 to reprove the sottish carelessness of Herod, Til, I. riiK riii'tinxjoN. 207 wlio, living in the place of Jesus's abode, never had seen his person or heard his sermons. And if we neglect the opportunities of <,Mace, and refuse to heai- the voice of Christ in the time of mercy and divine appointment, we may arrive at that state ol misery in which Christ will refuse to speak one word of comfort to us ; and the homilies of the gospel shall be dead letters, and the spirit not at all refreshed, nor the understanding instructed, nor the affections moved, nor the will determined ; but because we have, during all our time, stopped our ears, in his time God will stop his mouth, and shut up the springs of grace, that wo shall receive no refreshment, or instruction, or pardon, or feli- city. Jesus suffered not himself to be moved at the pertinacious accusations of the Jews, nor the desires of the tyrant, but persevered in silence, till Heiv)d and liis servants despised him and dismissed him. For so it became our high-priest, who was to sanctify all our sufferings, to consecrate affronts and scorn, that we may learn to endure contempt, and to suffer ourselves in a religious cause to be despised ; and when it happens in any other, to re- member that we have our dearest Lord for a prece- dent of bearing it with admirable simplicity and equanimity of deportment. And it is a mighty stock of self-love that dwells in our spirits, w liich makes us of all afflictions most im])atient of this. But Jesus endured this despite, and suffered this to be added, that he was exposed, in scorn, to the boys of the streets. For Herod caused him to be arrayed in white, sent him out to be scorned by the people, and hooted at liy idle persons, and so he remitted him to Pilate. And since that accident to our r^ord, tlio rhnr«h hnlli not undcji-ntly chose 2«J8 ACCIDENTS FROM THK A IMREHENSION to clothe her priests with albs or while garments ; and it is a symbolical intimation and represent- inent of that part of the passion and affront which Herod passed upon the holy Jesus, And this is so far from deserving a reproof, that it were to be wished all the children of the church would imi- tate all those graces which Christ exercised when he wore that garment, which she bath taken up in ceremony and thankful memory ; that is, in all their actions and sufferings be so estranged from secular arts and mixtures of the world, so intent upon reli- gion, and active in all its interests, so indifferent to all acts of providence, so equal in all chances, so patient of every accident, so charitable to enemies, and so undeterred by exterior events, that nothing may draw us forth from the severities of our reli- gion, or entice us from the retirement of a recol- lected and sober and patient spirit, or make us to depart from the courtesies of piety, though for such adhesion and pursuit we be esteemed fools, or ignorant, or contemptible. 10. When Pilate had received the holy Jesus, and found that Herod had sent him back uncon- demned, he attempted to rescue him from their malice, by making him a donative and a freed man at the petition of the people. But they prefer- red a murderer and a rebel, Barabbas, before him: for themselves being rebels against the King of heaven, loved to acquit persons criminal in the same kind of sin, rather than their Lord, against whom they took up all the arms that they could receive from violence and perfect malice ; * desiring lo have him crucified who raised the dead, and to liave the other released who destroyed the living. And when Pilalo saw they were set upon it he TIM. TJir. rmcinxioN. 299 consentecl, and delivered him first to be scouieied ; which the soldiers executed with violence and un- relenting hands, opening his virginal body to na- kedness, and tearing his tender flesh, till the pave- ment was purpled w ith a shower of holy blood.' It is reported in the ecclesiastical story, tiiat when St. Agnes and St. Barbara, holy virgins and mar- tyrs, were stripped naked to execution, God, pity- ing their great shame and trouble to have their nakedness discovered, made (or them a veil of light, and sent them to a modest and desired death. But the holy Jesus, who chose all sorts of shame and confusion, that by a fulness of suffering he might expiate his Father's anger, and tliat he might consecrate to our sufferance ail kind of affront and passion, endured even the shame of nakedness at the time of his scourging, suffering himself to be divested of his robes, that we miglit be clothed with that stole he put off. For there- fore he took on him the state of sinning Adam, and became naked, that we might first be clothed with righteousness, and then with immortality. II. After they had scourged him without re- morse, ' they clothed him with purple, and crowned him with thorns, and put a cane in his hands, for a sceptre, and bowed their knees before liim,' and ' saluted him ' with mockery, w ith a ' Hail, King of the .Tews !' and they ' beat him,' and ' spat uj>on him:' and then Pilate brought iiim fbrtii, and showed this sad spectacle to the people ; hoping this might move them to compassion, v\ ho never loved to see a man prosperous, and are always troubled to see the same man in misery. But the I S. Aug. tract, xv. in Joann. 300 ACCIDtMS IKOM THL APPREHENSION earth, which was cur&ed for Adam's sake, and was sowed with thorns and tliistles, produced the full harvest of them ; and tl)e second Adam gathered them all, and made j^arlands of them, as ensigns of his victory which he was now in pursuit of against sin, the grave, and hell. And we also may make our thorns, which are in themselves pungent and dolorous, to be a crown, if we bear them patiently, and unite tliem to Christ's passion, and offer them to his honour, and bear them in his cause, and rejoice in them for his sake. And indeed, after such a grove of thorns growing upon the head of our Lord, to see one of Christ's members soft, deli- cate, and effeminate, is a great indecency, next to this of seeing the Jews use the King of glory witb. the greatest reproach and infamy. 12. But nothing prevailing, nor the innocence of Jesus, nor his immunity from the sentence of Herod, nor the industry and diligence of Pilate, nor the misery nor the sight of the afflicted Lamb of God, at last (for so God decreed to permit it, and Christ to suffer it) Pilate gave sentence of death upon him, having first washed his hands. Of which God served his end, to declare the innocence of his Son, of which in this whole process he was most curious, and suffered not the least probability to adhere to him : yet Pilate served no end of his, nor preserved any thing of his innocence. He that rails upon a prince, and cries, Saving your honour, you are a tyrant ; and he that strikes a man upon the face, and cries him mercy, and un- does him, and says it was in jest, does just like that person that sins against God, and thinks to be excused by saying it was against his c >i srie:ice ; that is, washing our hands when TM.t. inK <'m crnxiov. 301 they are sUiiiied in blood ; as if a ceremony of pu- rification were ennufjii to cleanse a soul from the stains of a spiritual impurity. So some refuse not to take any oath in times of persecution, and say it obliges not, because it uas forced, and done against their will ; as if the doing of it were waslied off by protesting against it: whereas the protesting against it declares me criminal, if I rather choose not death than that wiiich I profess to be a sin. But all the persons which co-operated in this death, were in this life consigned to a fearful judg- ment after it. The Jews took the blood (which Pilate seemed to wash off) ' upon themselves and their children ;' and tlie blood of this paschal Lamb stuck upon their forehead, and marked them, not to escape, but to fall under the sword of the destroying angel ; and they perished either by a more hasty death, or shortly after in the extirpa- tion and miserable ruin of their nation. And Pilate who had a less share in the crime, yet had a black character of a secular judgment : for not long after he was by Vitellius, the president of Syria, sent to Rome to answer to the crimes ob- jected against him by the Jews, whom to please he had done so much violence to liis conscience ; and by Caesar's sentence he was banished to Vieima, deprived of all his honours, where he lived inglo- riously, till, by impatience of his calamity, he killed himself with his own hand. And thus the blood of Jesus, shed for the salvation of the world, became to them a curse ; and that which purifies the saints, stuck to them that shed it, (and mingled it not with the tears of repentance,) to be a leprosy loathsome and incurable. So manna turns to worms, and the wint! of angels to vinegar and lees, when it is re- 302 ACCIDENTS FROM THE API'REHENSION ceiverl into impure vessels, or tasted by wanton palates ; and the sun itself produces rats and ser- pents, when it reflects upon the dirt of Nilus. THE PRAYER. O holy and immaculate Lamb of God, who wert pleased to suffer shame and sorrow, to be brought before tribunals, to be accused maliciously, betrayed treacherously, condemned unjustly, and scourged most rudely, suffering the most severe and most un- handsome inflictions which could be procured by potent, subtle, and extremest malice ; and didst choose this out of love greater than the love of mothers, more affectionate than the tears of joy and pity dropped from the eyes of most passionate women, by these fontinels of blood issuing forth life and health and pardon upon all thine enemies ; teach me to apprehend the baseness of sin, in proportion to the greatest of those calamities which rriy sin made it necessary for thee to suffer, that I may hate the cause of thy sufferings, and adore thy mercy, and imitate thy charity, and copy out thy patience and humility, and love thy person to the uttermost extent and degrees of my affections. Lord, what am I, that the eternal Son of God should suffer one stripe for me ? But thy love is infinite. And how great a misery is it to provoke by sin so great a mercy, and despise so miraculous a goodness, and to do fresh despite to the Son of God ? But our sins are innumerable, and our infirmities are mighty. Dearest Jesu, pity me, for I am accused by my own conscience, and am found guilty ; I am stripped naked of my innocence, and bound fast by lust, and tormented with stripes and wounds of enraged appetites. But let thy innocence excuse me, the robes of thy righteousness clothe me, thy bondage set me free, and thy stripes heal me : that thou being my advocate, my physician, my patron, and my Lord, I may be adopted into the union of thy merits, and partake of the efficacy of thy sufferings, and be crowned as thou art, having my sins changed to virtues, and my thorns to rays of glory under thee our head, in the participation of eternity, () holy and immaculate Lamb of God. Amen. OF A I.fK I'RtPARxnON FOR DEATH. 1^03 DISCOURSE XX. Of Death, and the due Manner of Preparation to it. I. The Holy Spirit of God hath in Scripture re- vealed to us but one way of preparini^ to death, and that is, by a holy life; and there is nothing in all the book of life, concerninj^ this exercise of address to death, but such advices which suppose the dyinji" person in a state of grace. St. James indeed cc)un- sels, that in sickness we should send for the minis- ters ecclesiastical, and that they ' pray over us,' and that we 'confess our sins, and they shall be for- given ;' ' that is, those prayers are of great efficacy for the removing the sickness, and taking of!" that punishment of sin, and healing them in a certain degree, according to the efficacy of the ministry, and the dispositions or capacities of the sick per- ■son. But we must know that oftentimes univer- sal eft'ects are attributed to partial causes ; l)e- causeby the analogy of Scripture we are taught, that all the body of holy actions and ministries are to unite in production of the event, and tliat without that arlunation one thing alone cannot operate: I/ut because no one alonedoes the work, but by an united power, therefore indefinitely the effect is ascribed sometimes to one, sometimes to another; meaning, that one as much as the other, that is, all together, are to work the pardon and the grace. But the doctrine of preparation to death we are clearest taught in the parable of the ten virgins.'* Those who were wise stood waiting for the coming of the bridegroom, their lamps burning; only when the 'Jam V, 14, &c. * Matt. tlxv. 304 l»F A DIF. PRF.rAUATfON LorJ was at han(1, the notice of liis coming published, they trimmed their lamps ; and they, so disposed, went forth, and met him, and entered with liira into his interior and eternal joys. They whose lamps did not stand ready beforehand, ex- pecting- the uncertain hour, were shut forth, and bound in darkness. 'Watch, therefore, (so our Lord applies and expounds the parable,) for ye know not the day nor the hour of the coming of the Son of man.'' Whenever the arrest of death seizes us, unless before that notice we had oil in our vessels, that is, grace in our hearts, ha- bitual grace, (for nothing else can reside or dwell there, an act cannot inhabit or be in a vessel,) it is too late to make preparation. But they who have it, may and must prepare ; that is, they must stir the fire, trim the vessel, make it more actual in its exercise and productions, full of ornament, ad- vantages, and degrees. And that is all we know from Scripture concerning preparation. 2. And indeed, since all our life we are dying and this minute in which I now write, death di- vides with me, and hath got the surer part and more certain possession, it is but reasonable that we should always be doing the offices of preparation. If to-day we were not dying, and passing on to our grave, then we might with more safely defer our Mork till the morrow. But as fuel in a furnace, in every degree of heat and reception of the flame, is converting into fire and ashes, and the disposing it to the last mutation, is the same work with the last instance of its change ; so is the age of every day a beginning of death, and the night composing us ■ Matt. xiii. 25. Kolt DKAIH. ;i().'> to sleep bids us go to our lesser rest ; because that night, which is the etui of the jireceilingday, is but a lesser death : and \vi)ereas now we have died so many days, the last day of onr life is hut the dying of so many more; and when that last day of dying will come we know not. There is nothing then add- ed but the circumstance of sickness, which also hap- pens many times before ; only men are pleased to call that death which is the end of dying, when we cease to die any more. And therefore to put off our preparation till that which we call death, is to put off the work of all our life, till the time comes in which it is to cease and determine. 3. But to accelerate our early endeavour, (be- sides what hath been formerly considered upon the proper grounds of repentance,) I here reinforce the consideration of death in such circumstances which are apt to engage us upon an early industry. First, T consider, lliat no man is sure that he shall not die suddenly ; and therefore, if heaven be worth secur- ing, it were fit that we should reckon every day the vespers o; ilealh; and tiierefore, tliat, according to the usual rites of religion, it b(; begun and spent with religious offices. And let us consider, that those many persons who are remarked in history to have ioi\t his bed, called on him to repent of his sins, to implore the mercies of God, and to trust in Christ : but he answered, with reason enough, " This is no time to change my life ; the sentence is passed upon me, and it is too late."* And it is very considerable and sad which Petrus Damianus tells ofGunizo, a factious and ambitious person, to whom, it is said, the tempter gave notice of his approaching death ; but when any man preached repentance to him, out of a strange incuriousness, or the spirit of re- brobation, he seemed like a dead and unconcerned person ; in all other discourses he was awake and apt to answer:* for God had shut up the gates of mercy, that no streams sliould issue forth to quench the flames of hell; or else had shut up ' Uomil. i2, in Evang. t Life. y. c. 15^ Hist. Gent. Anglor, J Biblioth. Ss, Pp. torn. iii. 310 or A Dl'F. I'RKPARATIflN the grates of reception and entertainment, that it should not enter. Either God denies to give them pardon when they call, or denies to them a power to call ; they either cannot pray, or God will not answer. Now since these stories are related by men, learned, pious, and eminent in their generations, and because they served no design but the ends of piety, and have in them nothing dissonant from revelation, or the fre- quent events of providence, we may upon their stock consider, that God's judgments and visible marks being set upon a state of life, although they happen but seldom in the instances, yet they are of universal purpose and signification. Upon all murderers God hath not thrown a thunder-bolt, nor broke all sacrilegious persons upon the wheel of an inconstant and ebbing estate, nor spoken to every oppressor from heaven in a voice of thunder, nor cut off all rebels in the first attempts of insurrec- tion : but because he hath done so to some, we are to look upon those judgments as divine accents and voices of God, threateuing all the same crimes with the like events, and with the ruins of eternity. For though God does not always make the same prologues to death, yet by these few accidents hap- pening to single persons, we are to understand his purposes concerning all in the same condition : it was not the person so much as the state which God then remarked with so visible characters of his dis- pleasure. 6. And it seems to me a wonder, that since from all the records of Scripture, urging the uncertainty of the day of death, the horror of the day of judg- ment, the severity of God, the dissolution of the world, the certainty of our account, still from all FOR DEATH. 31 1 these premises the spirit of God makes no ntlier jnlerence, but that we watch, and stand in a re;i- diness, that we ' live in all holy conversation and {godliness,'' and that there is no one word concern- ing any other manner of an essentially necessary pre- paration, none but this; yet that there are doctrines commenced, and rules prescribed, and offices set down, and suppletories invented by curates of souls, iiow to prepare a vicious person, and upon his death-bed to reconcile him to the hopes and promises of heaven. Concerning- which I desire that every j)erson would but inquire, where any one promise is recorded in Scripture concerning^ such addresses, and wliat articles Christ hath drawn up between his Father and us concerning- a prepa- ration begun upon our death-bed :* and if he shall find none, (as most certainly from Genesis to the Revelation there is not a word concerning it, but very much against it,) let him first build his hopes upon this proposition — that a holy life is the only preparation to a haf»py death ; and then we can, without danger, proceed to some other consider- ations. 7. When a good man, or a person concerning^ whom it is not certain he hath lived in habitual vices, comes to die, there are but two general ways of intercourse with him ; the one, to keep him from new sins; the other, to make some emendations of the old : the one, to fortify him against special weaknesses and proper temptations of that estate ; and the other, to trim his lamp, that by excellent actions he may adorn his spirit, making up tlie ' Matt. XXV. i:{ and x.\iv, 4-2 ; Mark, xiii. 33; 2 Pet. iii. II. » TeeiiHi prills ergo voluta h.xc animo ante tubas : galo> ftluin sero (lue)li pienitet. Juvcii. Sat. 1. 312 OF A DUI PREJ'ARATION omissions of his life, and supplying the imperfec- tions of his estate, that his soul may return into the hands of his Creator as pure as it can; every degree of perfection being an advantage so great, as that the loss of every the least portion of it cannot be re- compensed with all the good of this world. Con- cerning the first, the temptations proper to this estate are either weakness in faith, despair, or pre- sumption : for whatsoever is besides these, as it is the common infelicity of all the several states of life, so there are oftentimes arguments of an ill con- dition, of immortification of vicious habits, and that becomes not to this combat well prepared ; such as are covetousness, unwillingness to make restitution, remanent aflfections to his former vices, an unresigncd spirit, and the like. 8. In the ecclesiastical story we find many dying persons mentioned, who have been very much afflict- ed with some doubts concerning an article of faith. St. Gregory, in an epistle he wrote to St. Austin, instances in the temptation which Eusebius suf- fered vipon his death-bed.' And although some- times the devil chooses an article that is not proper to that estate, knowing that every such doubt is well enough for his purpose, because of the incapacity of the person to suffer long disputes, and of the jealousy and suspicion of a dying and weak man, fearing lest every thing should cozen him ; yet it is commonly instanced in the article of the resurrection, or the state of separation or re- union. And it seems to some persons incredible, that from a bed of sickness, a state of misery, a cloud of ignorance, a load of passions, a man ' De prseccnio S. Hieron. »MR DKATH. 313 Bhoulcl enter into the condition of u perfect under- standinfj, rrrcat joy, and an intellectual life, a con- versalifin wiih ansjels, a fruition of God ; the change is "greater than his reason ; and his failh being in cdu elusion totterinji^ like the ark, and ready to fall, seems a pillar as unsafe and unable to rely on, as a bank of turf in an earthquake. Against tiiis a general remedy is prescribed by spiritual persons : tliat the sick man should appre- hend all changes of persuasion which happened to him in his sickness, contradictory to those assents which in his clearest use of reason he had, to be temptations and arts of the devil. And he hath reason so to think, when he remembers how many comforts of the Spirit of God, what joys of religion, what support, what assistances, what strengths he had in the whole course of his former life, upon the stock of faith, and interest of the doctrine of Christianity. And since the disbelieving the promises evangelical at that time can have no end of ailvantage, and that all wise men tell him it may have an end to make him lose the title to them, and do him infinite disadvantage; upon the stock of interest and prudence he must reject such fears, which cannot help him, but may ruin him. For all the works of grace which he did upon the hopes of God, and the stock of the divine revelations, (if he fails in his hold upon them,) are all rendered unprofitable. And it is certain, if there be no such thing as immortality and resur- rection, he shall lose nothing for believing there is ; but if there be, they are lost to him for not be- lieving it. 9. But this is also to be cured by proper argu- ments. And there is no Chri^^tinn man but hath 314 OF A DUE PREPAUATION within him, and carries about liim, denionstrutions of the possibility, and great instances of the credi- bility of those great changes, which these tempted persons have no reason to distrust, but because they think them too great and too good to be true. And here, not only the consideration oftlie divine power and his eternal goodness is a proper anti- dote, but also the observation of what we have already received from God. To be raised from nothing to something is a mutation not less than infinite; and from that which we were in our first conception to pass into so perfect and curious l)o- dies, and to become discursive, sensible, passionate, and reasonable, and next to angels, is a greater change, than from this state to pass into that ex- cellency and perfection of it which we expect as the melioration and improvement of the present. For this is but a mutation of degrees, that of sub- stance : tliis is more sensible, because we have per- ception in both states ; that is of greater distance, because in the first term we were so far distant from what we are, that we could not perceive what then we were, much less desire to be what we now perceive; and yet God did that for us unasked, without any obligation on his part, or merit on ours; much rather then may we be confident of this alteration of accidents and degrees, because God hath obliged himself by promise ; he hath dis- })osed us to it by qualities, actions, and habits, which are to the state of glory as infancy is to manhood, as elements are to excellent discourses, as blossoms are to ripe fruits. And he that hath wrought miracles for us, preserved us in dangers, done strange acts of providence, sent his Son to take our nature, made a virgin to bear a son, and FOR DEATH. Q\6 God to become man, and two natures to be one in- dividual person, and all in order to this end of which we doubt, hath given so many arguments of credibility, that if he had done any more, it would not have been left in our choice to believe or not believe; and then much of the excellency of our failli would have been lost. Add to this, that we are not tempted to disbelieve the Roman story, or that Virgil's ^neids were writ by him, or that we ourselves are descended of such parents; because these things are not only transmitted to us by such testimony which we have no reason to distrust, but because the tempter cannot serve any ends upon us by producing such doubts in us : and therefore since we have greater testimony for every article of faith, and to believe it is of so much concern- ment to us, we may well suspect it to be an arti- fice of the devil to rob us of our reward; this pro- ceeding of his beingof the same nature with all his other temptations, which in our life-time, like fiery darts, he threw into our face, to despoil us of our glo- ry, and blot out the image of God imprinted on us. 10. Secondly, If the devil tempts the sick person to despair, he who is by God appointed to minister a word of comfort, must fortify his spirit with con- sideration and repiesentment of the divine good- ness, manifest in all the expresses of nature and grace, of providence and revelation ; that God never ' extinguishes the smoking flax, nor breaks llie l)ruisefl reed ;' that a constant and a hearty en- deavour is the sacrifice which God delights in ; that in the firmament of heaven there are little stars, and they are most in number, and there are but few of the greatest magnitude ; that there are children and babes in Christ, as well as strong men. ■HC OF A DUE PREPARATfON and among'st these there are great difference; that the interruptions of the state of grace by inter- vening crimes, if they were rescinded by repent- ance, there were great danger in the interval, but served as increment of the divine glory, and argu- ments of care and dilgence to us at the restitution. These and many more are then to be urged, when the sick person is in danger of being swallowed up with over-muc!i sorrow ; and therefore to be in- sisted on in all cases as the physician j^ives him cordials, that we may do charity to him and minis- ter comfort, not because they are always necessary, even in the midst of great sadnesses and discom- forts. For we are to secure his love to God, that he acknowledge the divine mercy, that he believe the article of remission of sins, that he be thankfu/ to God for the blessings which already he hath received, and that he lay all the load of his discom- fort upon himself, and his own incapacities of mercy : and then the sadness may be very great, and his tears clamorous, and his heart broken all in pieces, and his humility lower than the earth, and his hope indiscernible, and yet no danger to his final condition. Despair reflects upon God, and dishonours the infinity of his mercy. And if the sick person do but confess that God is not at all wanting in his promises, but ever abounding in his mercies, and that it is want of the condition on his own part that makes the misery, and that if he had done his duty, God would save him ; let him be assisted with perpetual prayers, with examples of lapsed and returning sinners, whom the church celebrates for saints, such as Mary Magdalen, Ma- ry of Egypt, Afra, Thasis, Pelagia; let it be often inculcated to him, that as God's mercv is of itself Foil DEAIH. 317 infinite, so its demonstration to us is not deter- mined to any certain period, but hath such lati- tudes in it and reservations, which as they are apt to restrain too p;reat boldness, so also to become sanctuaries to disconsolate persons ; let hinj be in- vited to throw himself upon God upon these grounds, that he who is our Judge is also our Ad- vocate and Redeemer, that he knows and pities our infirmities, and that our very hoping in him does endear bini, and he will deliver us the rather for our confidence, when it is balanced with reverence and humility : and then all these supernumerary fears are advantageous to more necessary graces, and do more secure liis final condition than they can disturb it. II. When St. Arsenius was near his death, he was observed to be very tremulous, sad, weeping, and disconsolate. The standers-by asked tiie rea- son of his fears, wondering that he, having lived in great sanctity for many years, should not now re- joice at the going forth of his prison. The good man confessed the fear, and withal said it was no otiier than he had always borne about wiih him in the days of his pilgrimage; and what he then thought a duty, tliey had no reason now to call either a fault or a misery. Great sorrows, fears, and dislrustings of a man's own condi- tion, are oftentimes but abatements of confiectitiir, infirma est ; pnpnitentia qua; a mnrierjte lantum petitur, tinieo ne et ipsa nioriatiir S Aug. Serm. tie tcnp. \'i(le cmnl. lib. 1. honiil. 41. — " the penitence of the intirin is inKrni ; and the penitence of tha dying U, I fc;iT, like to die." 320 OF A OLE ratPARATION used to deatli bed penitents uCler a vicious liTe: because if any thing more be intended in the form than a prayer, the trutli of the affirmation may be questioned ; and an ecclesiastical person hath no authority to say to such a man, " I absolve thee ;" but if no more be intended but a prayer, it is better to use a mere prayer and common form of address, than such words which may countenance unse- cure confidences, evil purposes, and worse lives. 14. Thirdly, If the devil tempts a sick person, who hath lived well, to presumption, and that he seems full of confidence and without trouble; the care that is thtn to be taken is to consider the disease, and to state the question right. For at some instants and periods God visits the spirit of a man, and sends the imission of a bright ray into him ; and some good men have been so used to apprehensions of the divine mercy, that they have an habitual cheerfulnsss of spirit and hopes of sal- vation. St. Jerome reports that Hilarion, in a death-bed agony, felt some tremblings of heart, till reflecting upon his course of life, he found comforts springing from thence by a proper emanation, and departed cheerfully;' and Hezekiah represented to God in prayer the integrity of his life, and made it the instrument of his hope. And nothing of this is to be called presumption, provided it be in persons of eminent sanctity and great experience, old disciples and the more perfect Christians. But because such persons are but seldom and rare, if the same confidence be observed in persons of coni- ' Egredere, anhna, quid times? septuag'iita prope annis ficrviisti Christo, et jiim moritimes ? S. Hier. in Vita Hilar — ♦' Why, O soul, dost thou fear to depart ? Hast thou served Christ for seventy years, and yet fear to die ?" F.IK DUATH. 321 mon impciTiclion and an ordinary life, it is to be corrected and allayed with consideralioii of the divine severity and justice, anfl with tlie strict recjuisites of a holy life, with the deceit of a man's own heart, witli consideration and general remem- brances of secret sins, and that the most perfect state of life hath very great needs of mercy, and ' if the rii^hteous scarcely be saved, v>here shall the ijn<:^()dly and tiie sinner appear?'' And the s|)iril of liie man is to be promoted and helped in the increase of contrition, as being the proper dele- tery to cure the extravagancies of a fro ward and intemperate si)irit. 15. But there is a presumption commenced upon opinion, relyiniJ^ either upon a persuasion ofsinj^le predestination, or else (which is worse) upon ima- ginary securities, that heaven is to be purchased upon conditions easier than a day's labour, and that un evil life may be reconciled to heaven by the in- tervening of little or single acts of piety or repent- ance. If either of them both have actually pro- duced ill life, to which they are apt, or apt to be abused, the persons are miserable in their condi- tion, and cannot be absolutely remedied by going about to cure the presumption ; that was the cause of all, but now it is the least thing to be consi- dered. His whole state is corrupted ; and men will not by any discourses or spiritual arts used on their deathbeds be put into a state of grace; because then is no time to change the state, and there is no mutation then but by single actions. From good to better a dying man may proceed, but ' Vac vitac etiani laudablli, si sine niisericordia discutias earn. S. Aug. lib. ix. ( onfcss. — "Woe to the lest lite, if judged without mercy." VOL. II. Ij 922 OF A DL'E JMU:i'ARATiON not from the state of reprobation to the life of grace. And yet it is good charity to unlose the bonds of Satan, whereby the man is bound and led captive at his will, to take off the presumption by destroyini; the cause ; and then let the vvork of grace be set as forward as it can, and leave the event to God ; for nothing else is left possible to be done. But if the sick man be of a good life, and yet have a degree of confidence beyond his virtue, upon the fancy of predestination, it is not then a time to rescind his opinion by a direct opposition, but let him be drawn ofi" from the consideration of it, by such discourses as are apt to make him humble and pe- nitent ; for they are the most apt instruments to secure the condition of the man, and attemper his spirit. These are the great temptations incident to the last scene of our lives ; and are therefore more particularly suggested by the tempter, because they have in them something contrary to the universal effect of a holy life, and are designs to interpose between the end of the journey and the reception of the crown. And therefore it concerns every man who is in a capacity of ' receiving the end of his faith, the salvation of his soul,' to lay up in the course of his life, something against this great day of expense, that he may be better fortified with the armour of the Spirit against these last assaults of the devil, that he may not shipwreck in the liaven. Ifi, Eschewing evil is but the one half of our work, we must also do good. And now, in the few remanent days or hours of our life, there are certain exercises of religion which have a special relation to this state, and are therefore of great concern- ment to be done, that we may make our condition ns certain as wo can, and our portion of glory FOR DEATH. 323 greater, and our pardon surer, and our love to increase, and that our former omissions and breaches be repaired, with a condition in some measure proportionable to those p^reat hopes whicii we then are going to possess. And first, let the sick person, in the beginning of his sickness, and in every change and great accident of it, make ads of resignation to God, and entirely submit himsell to the divine will ; remembering, that sickness may, to men properly disposed, do the work of God, and produce the effect of the Spirit, and promote the interest of his soul, as well as health, and often- times better; as being in itself and by the grace ol God apt to make us confess our own impotency and dependencies, and to understand our needs of mercy, and the continual influences and supports of heaven ; to withdraw our appetites from things below, to correct the vanities and insolencies of an impertinent spirit, to abate the extravagancies of the flesh, to put our carnal lusts into fetters and disability, to remember us of our state of pilgri- mage, that this is our way, and our stage of trouble and banishment, and that heaven is our country ; for so sickness is the trial of our patience, a fire to purge us, an instructor to teach us, a bridle to restrain us, and a state inferring great necessities of union and adhesions unto God. And as upon these grounds we have the same reason to accept sickness at the hands of God, as to receive pliysic from a physician ; so it is argument of excellent grace to give God hearty thanks in our disease, and to accept it cheerfully, and with spiritual joy 17. Some persons create to themselves excuses of discontent, and quarrel not with the pain, but the ill consequents of sickness. It makes them 324 OF A DUE PREPARATION troublesome to their friends ; and consider not that their friends are bound to accept the trouble, as themselves to accept the sickness ; that to tend the sick is at that time allotted for the portion of their work, and that charity receives it as a duty, and makes that duty to be a pleasure. And however, if our friends account us as a burden, let us also accept that circumstance of affliction to ourselves with the same resig'nation and indifferency as we entertain its occasion, the sickness itself; and pray to God to enkindle a flame of charity in their breasts, and to make them compensation for the charge and trouble we put them to ; and then the care is at an end. But others excuse their discon- tent with a more religious colour, and call the disease their trouble and affliction, because it im- pedes their other parts of duty; they cannot preach, or study, or do exterior assistances of charity and alms, or acts of repentance and mortification. But it were well if we could let God propor- tion out our work, and set our task ; let him choose what virtues we shall especially exercise; and when the will of God determines us, it is more excellent to endure afflictions with patience, equanimity, and thankfulness, than to do actions of the most pompous religion, and laborious or expensive charity : not only because there is a deliciousness in actions of religion and choice, which is more agreeable to our spirit than the toler- ation of sickness can be, which bath great reward, but no present pleasure; but also because our suf- fering and our employment is consecrated to us when God chooses it, and then there is no mixture of imperfection or secular interest, as there may be in other actions even of an excellejit religion, when Fon DEATH. 335 ourselves are the choosers. And let us also remem- ber, that God halli not so much need of thy works as thou hast of patience, humility, and resirofitable : and certain it is, if men knew well to bear tlieir sicknesses humbly towards God, charit- ably towards their ministers, and cheerfully in them- selves, there were no greater advantage in the world to be received than upon a sick bed ; and that alone hath in it the benefits of a church, of a religious as- sembly, of the works of charity and labour: and since our soul's eternal well-being depends upon the ' 2 Chron. xvi. 12. FOR ui ATH. :J27 charities and [trovidence and veracity of God, and we have nothinp^ to show for it but his word and goodness, and tliat is infinitely enough ; it is but reason we be not more nice and scrupulous about the usage antl accommodation of our body. If we accept, at God's hands, sadness and dryness of aft'ec- tion and spiritual desertion patiently and with in- difterency, it is unliandsome to express ourselves less satisfied in the accidents about our body. 19. But if the sickness proceed to death, it is a new charge upon our spirits, and God calls for a final and entire resignation into his hands. And to a person who was of humble affections, and in his life-time of a mortified spirit, accustomed to bear the yoke of the Lord, this is easy ; because he looks upon death not only as the certain condition of nature, but as a necessary transition to a state of blessedness,' as the determination of his sickness, the period of human infelicities, the last change of condition, the beginning of a new, strange, and ex- cellent life, a security against sin, a freedom from the importunities of a tempter, from the tyrannies of an imperial lust, from the rebellion of concupis- cence, from the disturbances and tempests of tiie irascible faculty, and from the fondness and child- ishness of tiie concupiscible ; and St. Ambrose says well, " the troubles of this life and the dangers are so many, that in respect of them deatli is a re- medy, and a fair, proper object of desires." And we find that many saints liave pniyed for dealli, • SojiIZhv fih- ytip hi roi' iv^dct (iiov oiQ av aK^u'iv Ki'Ofih-wT th'di. rhr (*f ^avnrov yivoriv tt^ rov orrwc fHov li, rov ivcniinna rR l)E^TH. ^33 after liis fiill aiul repaialion, an«l lliat he lialli sul)- niittetl all ihat be ilid or undid to the discerning of u holy man, whose office it is to guide his soul in this agony and last offices. All men cannot have the blessing of a wise and learned minister, and some die where they can have none at all ; yet it were a safer course to do as much of this as we can, and to a competent person, if we can ; if we cannot, then to the best we have, according as we judge it to be of spiritual advantage to us : for in this conjuncture of accidents it concerns us to be sure, if we may, and not to be deceived, where we can avoid it ; because we shall never return to life to do this work again. And if after this inter- course with a sj)iritual guide, we be reconciled by the solemn prayer of the church, the prayer of ab- solution, it will be of great advantage to us: we depart with our Father's blessing, we die in the ac- tual communion of the church, we hear the sen- tence of God applied after the manner of men, and the promise of pardon made circumstantiate, mate- ri.il, present, and operative upon our spirits, and have our portion of tlie promise which is recorded by St. James, that ' if the elders of the church pray over a sick person' fervently and effectually, (add solemnly,) ' his sins shall be forgiven him ;' that is, supposing him to be in a capacity to re- ceive it ;) because such prayers of such a man ' are very prevalent.' ' 24. All this is, in a spiritual sense, • washing the hands in innocency ;' and then let him ' go to the altar,' Let him not, for any excuse less than im- possibility, omit to receive the holy sacrament ; > Jam. V. 14, IS. 334 OF A OLE rUFPARATiON which tlie fathers, assembled in the great Nicene council, have taught all the Christian world to call " the most necessary provisions for our last jour- ney;"' which is the memory of that death by which we hope for life; which is the seed of immortality and resurrection of our bodies; which unites oui spirit to Christ; which is a great defensutive against the hostilities of the devil; which is the most so- lenm prayer of the church, united and made ac- ceptable by the sacrifice of Christ, which is then represented and exhibited to God ; which is the great instrument of spiritual increase and the growth of grace ; which is duty and reward, food and physic, health and pleasure, deletery and cor- dial, prayer and thanksgiving, an union of myste- ries, the marriage of the soul, and the perfection of all the rites of Christianity. Dying with the holy sa- crament in us, is a going to God with Christ in our arms, and interposing him between us and his an- gry sentence. But then we must be sure that we have done all the duty, without which we cannot communicate worthily. For else Satan comes in the place ofChrist, and it is a horror not less than in- finite to appear before God's tribunal, possessed in our souls with the spirit of darkness. True it is, that, by many laws of the churcli, the bishop and the minister are bound to give the holy eucharist to every person who in the article or apparent danger of death desires it, provided that he hath submitted himself to the imposition and counselsof the bishop or guide of his soul, that, in case he recovers, he may be brouglit to the peace of God and his church, ' Tlepi ^t Twv i^ocivovTwv 6 TraXaicot,' K) KuvoviKog vojioi; dvayKnioraTH i(t>o^iii fii) c'nro'Tipt'irrOai Cone. Nicen. can. 13. U DEATH. 336 by such steps and def!;ree!» of repentance by which other public sinners are reconciled. But to this gentleness of discipline and easiness of admi- nistration, those excellent persons who made the canons thought themselves compelled by the rigour of the Novatians : ' and because they admitted not lapsed persons to the peace of the church upon any terms, though never so great, so public, or so penal a repentance; therefore these not only remitted them to the exercise and station of penitents, but also to the communion. But the fathers of the council of Eliberis denied this favour to persons who after baptism were idolaters:* either intending this as a great argument to affright persons from so great a crime ; or else believing that it was unpar- donable after baptism, a contradiction to that state which we entered into by baptism and the cove- nant evangelical. However, I desire all learned j)ersons to observe ic, and the less learned also to make use of it, that those more ancient councils of the church which commanded the holy commu- nion to be given to dying persons, meant only such, which according to the custom of the church, were under the conditions of repentance; that is, such to whom punishment and discipline of divers years were enjoined; and if ir. happened they died in the interval, before the expiration of their time of reconciliation, then they admitted them to the communion.^ Which describes to us the doc- ' Concil. Nicen. can. ecd. cone. Ancyr. c 6. Cone. Aurelian. ii. c 12. « Cone. Elib. c !. ' Mird coKi^naia<; II ^EniaKoirot^ iTri^ono. Concil. Nicen. c. 13. THTHf; 'trri (ifjfjj ^t\'3ri/i'cri. Cone. Anc. c. 9. De his qui in ptrnitentia posici vita excesserunt, p.acuit nullum communioiM) Tacuiim debere S. Aug. Tract. II'J, iu Juaa. 340 CONSlDF.RATrONS I'PON blessed Lord described with a table, appendant to the fringe of his garment, set full of nails and pointed iron ; for so sometimes they afflicted persons con- demned to that kind of death. And St. Cyprian affirms that Christ did stick to the wood that he carried, being galled with the iron at his heels, and nailed even before his crucifixion." But this and the other accidents of his journey and their malice so crushed his wounded, tender, and virginal body, that they wei'e forced to lay the load upon a Cy- renian, fearing that he should die with less shame and smart than they intended him. But so he was pleased to take man unto his aid, not only to repre- sent his own need and the dolorousness of his pas- sion, but to consign the duty unto man, that we must enter into a fellowship of Christ's sufferings, taking up the cross of martyrdom when God requires us, enduring affronts, being patient under affliction, loving them that hate us, and being benefactors to our enemies, abstaining from sensual and intem- perate delight, forbidding to ourselves lawful fes- tivities and recreations of our weariness, when we have an end of the spirit to serve upon tiie ruins of the body's strength, mortifying our desires, breaking our own will, not seeking ourselves, be- ing entirely resigned to God, These are the cross, and the nails, and the sjjear, and the whip, and ail the instruments of a Christian's passion. And we may consider, that every man in this world shall in some sense or other bear a cross, few men es- cape it, and it is not well with them that do ; but they only bear it well that follow Christ, and tread in his steps, and bear it for his sake, and ' S. Cypr. de Pass. IHU cKtcii-ixiuN or Jtsus. 341 walk as l)e walked; and he that follows his owi desires, when he meets with a cross there, (as it is certain enough he will,) bears the cross of his con- cupiscence, and that hath no fellowship with the cross of Christ. By the precept of bearing the cross we are not tied to pull evil upon ourselves, that we may imitate our Lord in nothing but in being afflicted ; or to personate ti«e punitive exer- cises of mortification and severe abstinences which were eminent in some saints, utkI to which they bad special assistances, as others had the gift of chastity, and for which they had special reason, and, as they apprehended, some great necessities: but it is required that we bear our own cross ; ' so said our dearest Lord. For when the cross ot Christ is laid upon us, and we are called to mar- tyrdom, then it is our own, because God made it to be our portion : and when, by the necessilieii of our spirit, and the rebellion of our body we need exterior mortifications and acts of sel'" denial, then also it is our own cross, because our needs have made it so : and so it is when God sends us sickness or any other calamity, what ever is either an effect of our ghostly needs, or tht condition of our temporal estate, it calls for oui sufterance, and patience, and equanimity. Fo 'therefore Christ hath sutlered for us,' saith St I'eter, ' leaving us an example, that we shouk follow his steps,'* who bore his cross as long as he could ; and when he could no longer, he mui mured not, but sank under it: and then he was content to receive such aid, not which he chose himself, but such as was assigned liim. < Mhtt. xvi. 24. < 1 I'ct. ii. 2 . 342 CONSIDi:ilATlON8 UI'ON 3. Jesus was led out of the gates of Jerusalem, that he might become the sacrifice for persons without the pale, even for all the world.' And the daughters of Jerusalem followed him with pious tears till they came to Calvary; — a place difficult in the ascent, eminent and apt for the publication of shame, a hill of death and dead bones, polluted and impure ; — and there beheld him stripped naked who clothes the fields with flowers, and all the world with robes, and the whole globe with the canopy of heaven; and so dressed, that now every circumstance was a triumph.* By his disgrace he trampled upon our pride ; by his poverty and na- kedness he triumphed over our covetousness and love of riches ; and by his pains chastised ihe deli- cacies of our flesh, and broke in pieces the fetters of concupiscence. For as soon as Adam was clothed, he quitted Paradise ; and Jesus was made naked, that he might bring us in again. And we also must be despoiled of all our exterior adhe- rences ; that we may pass through the regions of duty and divine love to a society of blessed spirits, and a clarified, immortal, and beatified estate. 4. There they nailed Jesus with four nails, fixed his cross in the ground, which with its fall into the place of its station gave infinite torture by so vio- lent a concussion of the body of our Lord, which rested upon nothing but four great wounds ; where he was designed to suffer a long and lingering tor- ment. ' For crucifixion, as it was an exquisite pain, sharp and passionate, so it was not of quick effect towards taking away the life. St. Andrew ' Hcb. xiii. 13. " Athanas. de Pass, el Cruce Domini. 1 KiiOi foi'ijfi; yUr ^opv rirpawXtvpof. — - Nonn. mi; cKtciFixioN <»f Jtsus. 343 was two whole days upon the cross; and somo martyrs have upon the cross been rather starved, and devoured witli birds, than killed with the proper torment of tiie tree. But Jesus took all his passion with a voluntary snsception, God heij^hten- inj^ it to g;reat deg^rees of torment supernaturally ; and he laid down his life voluntarily, when his Fa- ther's wrath was totally appeased towards mankind. 5. Some have fancied, that Christ was pleased to take somethin!2^ from every condition of which man ever was or shall be possessed ; taking- immu- nity from sin from Adam's state of innocence, pu- nishment and misery from the state of Adam fallen, the fulness of grace from the state of reno- vation, and perfect contemplation of the divinity and beatific joys from the state of comprehension and the blessedness of heaven : meaning, tliat the humanity of our blessed Saviour did, in the sharp- est agony of his passion, behold the face of God, and communicate in j^lory. But I consider that, although the two natu;es of Christ were knit by a mysterious union into one person, yet the natures still retain their incommunicable properties. Christ, as God, is not subject to hufterings, as a man he is the subject of miseries; as God he is eternal, as man, mortal and commensurable by time; as God, the supreme lawgiver, as man, most humble and obedient to tlie law ; and therefore that tlie human nature was united to the divine, it does not infer that it must in all instances partake of the divine felicities, which in God are essential, to man communicated without necessity, and by an arbitrary dis|)ensation. Add to this, that some virtues and excellencies were in the soul of Christ vhich could not consist with the state of glorified 344 coNsiDEttvnoNs upon and beatified persons; such as are humility, po« verty of spirit, hope, holy desires ; all which havinpf their seat in the soul, suppose even in the supreniest faculty a state of pilgrimage; that is, a condition which is imperfect, and in order to something be- yond its present. For therefore ' Christ ought to suffer,' (saith our blessed Lord himself,) and 'so enter into his glory." And St. Paul affirms, that ' we see Jesus made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour,'* And again, 'Christ humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross: wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name above every name.' * Thus his present life was a state of merit and work, and as a reward of it, he was crowned with glory and immortality ; his name was exalted, his kingdom glorified ; he was made the Lord of all the creatures, the first fruits of the resurrection, the exemplar of glory, and the prince and head of the catholic church ; and because this was his recom- pence, and the fruits of his humility and obedience, it is certain it was not a necessary consequence and a natural efflux of the personal union of the god- head with the humanity. This I discourse to this purpose, that we may not in our esteem lessen the suffering of our dearest Lord, by thinking he had the supports of actual glory in the midst of all his sufferings. For there is no one minute or ray of glory but its fruition does outweigh and make us insensible of the greatest calamities, and the spirit of pain which can be extracted from all the infeli- « Luke, xxiv. 26, secundum vulg. interp. ° Heb. ii. 9. * Phil. ii. 8, 9. Tin; CKUciiixiuN of ji;.sus. 315 cities of lliis world. True it is, tlnit the f(re;ileht biauties in liiis world are receptive of .in allay of sorrow, and nothini,' can have pleasure in all capa- cities. The most beauteous leathers of the birds of paradise, the ostrich, or the peacock, if put into our throat, are not there so pleasant as to the eye. But the beatific joys of the least glory of heaven take away all pain, ' wipe away all tears from our eyes ;' and it is not possible that at the same instant the soul of Jesus should be ravished with jflorv, and yet abated with pains grievous and afflictive. On the other side, some say that the soul of Jesus upon the cross suffered the pains of hell, and all the torments of the damned ; and that without such sufTerinjjs it is not imaginable he should pay the price which God's wrath should demand of us. But the same tliat reproves the one does also repre- hend the other; for the hope that was tlie support of the soul of Jesus, as it confesses an imperfection that is not consistent with the state of glory, so it excludes the despair that is the torment proper to accursed souls. Our dearest Lord suffered the whole condition of humanity, 'sin only excepted;' and freed us from hell with suffering those sad pains, and merited heaven for his own humanity, as the head, and all faithful people, as the mem- bers of his mystical body. And therefore his life here was only a state of pilgrimage, not at all trimmed with beatific glories. Much less was he ever in the stale of hell, or upon the cross felt the form;d misery and spirit of torment which is the jjortion of damned spirits; because it was impos- sible Christ should despair, and without despair it is impossible there should he a hell But this is hiphiy probaMv, l)ui» in thi- iulinti<.>i) of degrees 246 CONSlUEUAliONS UPON and present anguish, the soul of our Lord might feel a greater load of wrath than is incumbent in every instant upon perishing souls. For all the sadness which may be imagined to be in hell, con- sists in acts produced from principles that cannot surpass the force of human or angelical nature; but the pain which our blessed Lord endured for the expiation of our sins, was an issue of an united and concentred anger, was received into the heart of God and man, and was commensurate to the whole latitude of the grace, patience, and cha- rity of the Word incarnate. 6. And now behold the priest and the sacrifice of all the world laid upon the altar of the cross, bleeding, and tortured, and dying, to reconcile his Father to us : and he was arrayed with ornaments more glorious than the robes of Aaron. The crown of thorns was his mitre, the cross his pastoral staff, the nails piercing his hands were instead of rings, the ancient ornament of priests, and his flesh rased and chequered with blue and blood, instead of the parti-coloured robe. But as this object calls for our devotion, our love and eucharist to our dearest liord ; so it must needs irreconcile us to sin, which in the eye of all the world brought so great shame, and pain, and amazement upon the Son of God, when he only became engaged by a charitable substitution of himself in our place; and therefore we are assured, by the demonstration of sense and e\f)erience, it will bring death and all imaginable miseries, as the just expressions of God's indigna- lion and hatred. For to this we may apply tlie word's of oui' Lord in the prediction of miseries to .lerusalem: ' Jf this be done in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry ?' For it is certain THE CRUCIIIXIUN OF JESLi* 347 Christ infinitely pleased his Falliei* ever, oy hecom- in{^ the person miide snilty in estimate of law ; and yet so g^reat charity of our Lord, and the so great love and pleasure of his Father, exempted him not from suffering pains intolerable. And much less shall those escape who provoke and dis])lease God, and ' despise so great salvation,' whicli the holy Jesus hath wrought with the expense of blood, and so precious a life. 7. But here we see a great representation and testimony of the divine justice, who was so angry with sin, who had so severely threatened it, who does so essentially hate it, that he would not spare his only Son, when he became a conjunct person, relative to the guilt, by undertaking the charges of our nature. For although God hath se* down in holy Scripture the order of liis justice, and the manner of its manifestation, that one soul should not perish for the sins of another;' yet this is meant for justice and for mercy too : that is he will not curse the son for the father's fault,* or in any relation whatsoever substitute one person for another, to make him involuntarily guUty; but when this shall be desired by a person that cannot finally perish, and does a mercy to the exempt persons, and is a voluntary act of the suscipienl, and shall in the event also redound to an infinite good, it is no deflexion from the divine justice to excuse many by the. affliction of one, who also for that very suflering shall have infinite comj)ensa- tion. We see that for the sin of Cham aU his posterity were accursed : the subjects of David died witli the plague, because their prince num- • Eiek. xviii.2, 3, 4, &c. ' Dciit. xxiv. 16. 348 CONSIDERATIONS Ul'ON bered the people : idolatry is punished in the children of the fourtli sreneration : Saul's seven sons were hanged for his breakinj? the league ot Gibeon ; and Ahabs sin was punished in his pos- terity, he escaping, and ' the evil was brought upon his house in his son's days.' In all these cases, the evil descended upon persons in near re- lation to the sinner, and was a punishment to him, and a misery to these; and were either chastise- ments also of their own sins; or, if they were not, they served other ends of providence, and led the afflicted innocent to a condition of recompence, accidentally procured by that infliction. But if for such relation's sake and economical and political conjunction, as between prince and people, the evil may be transmitted from one to another ; much rather is it just, when by contract a competent and conjunct person undertakes to quit his relative. Thus, when the hand steals, the back is whipped ; and an evil eye is punished with a hungry belly. Treason causes the whole family to be miserable ; and a sacrilegious grandfather hath sent a locust to devour the increase of the nephews. 8. But in our case it is a voluntary contract, and therefore no injustice; all parties are voluntary. God is the supreme Lord, and his actions are the measure of justice: we, who had deserved the pu- nishment, had great reason to desire a Redeemer; and yet Christ, who was to pay the ransom, was more desirous of it than we were, for we asked it not before it was promised and undertaken. But thus we see that sureties pay the obligation ol" the principal debtor, and the pledges of contracts have been, by the best and wisest nations, slain, when the articles have been hroken : the ThcssalianP THE CHI CIFIXIoN OF JI'SL3. 349 slew two hiindred and fiTty pledges ; the Romans three luindied of the Volsci, and threw the Ta- rentines from the Tarpeian rock.' And that it may appear Christ was a person in all senses com- petent to do this for us, himself testifies, that he had ' power over his own life, to take it up or lay it down.'* And therefore, as there can he nothinu^ affainst the most exact justice and reason of laws and punishments, so it mairnifies the divine mercy, wlio removes the punishment from us, who of ne- cessity must have sunk under it; and yet makes us to adore his severity, who would not forfjive us without punishing iiis Son for us; to consign unto us liis perfect hatred against sin, to conserve ihesa- credness of his laws, and to imprint upon us great characters of fear and love. The famous Locrian, Zaleucus, made a law, that all adulterers should lose both their eyes. His son was first unhappily surprised in the crime; and his father, to keep a temper between the piety and soft spirit of a pa- rent, and the justice and severity of a judge, put out one of his own eyes, and one of his son's.' So (iod did with us: he made some abatement, that is, as to the person with whom he was angry, but inflicted his anger upon our Redeemer, whom he essentially loved, to secure the dignity of his sanc- tions and the sacredness of obedience ; so marry- ing justice and mercy by the intervening of a commutation. Thus David escaped by the death of his son, God choosing that penalty for the ex- ' Livius, vide li. Si ,(uis rennn. D. de custod. et exhib. reoruni. L. si ;i reo 1). de fidejussoribus. " John, X. IB. * Apud Diodor. Sicul. et iClian. "Ira in) o I'tafiaKog rvyXwh^ riXtwr, )?y ii'ti fit) CitKpBaiiff rb i'nra^ KiKvpuijUvov 350 CONSIDERATIONS UPON piation ; and Cimon offered himself to prison, to purchase the liberty of his father, Miltiades. It was a filial duly in Cimon, and yet the law was satisfied. And both these concurred in our great Redeemer. For God, who was the sole arbitrator, so disposed it; and the eternal Son of God sub- mitted to this way of expiating our crimes ; and it became an argument of faith and belief of the great article of remission of sins, and other its appendant causes, and effects, and adjuncts : it being wrought by a visible and notorious passion. It was made an encouragement of hope ; for ' he that spared not his own Son' to reconcile us, ' will with him give all things else' to us so reconciled : and a great endearment of our duty and love, as it was a demonstration of his. And in all the changes and traverses of our life, he is made to us a great example of all excellent actions and all patient sufferings. 9. In the midst of two thieves, three long hours the holy Jesus hung clothed with pain, agony, and dishonour; all of them so eminent and vast, that he who could not but hope, whose soul was en- chased with divinity, and dwelt in the bosom of God, and in the cabinet of the mysterious Trinity, yet had a cloud of misery so thick and black drawn before him, that he complained as if God had forsaken him. But this was ' the pillar of a cloud,' which conducted Israel into Canaan. And as God behind the cloud supported the holy Jesus, and stood ready to receive him into the union of his glories ; so his soul, in that great desertion, had in- ternal comforts, proceeding from consideration of all those excellent persons which should be adopt- ed into the fellowship of his sufferings, which IHF. flMCIHXION (JF JF.SLS. 'Af>\ Rhould imitate liis graces, which should communi- cate in his glories. And we follow this cloud to our country, having Christ for our guide. And though he trod the way, leaning upon the cross, which, like the staff of Egypt, pierced his liands ; yet it is to us a comfort and support, pleasant to our spirits as the sweetest canes, strong as the pil- lars of the earth, and made apt for our use by liav- ing been borne and made smooth by the hands of our elder brother. 10. In the midst of all his torments, Jesus only made one prayer of sorrow, to represent his sad condition to his Father; but no accent of murmur, no syllable of anger against his enemies : instead of that he sent up a holy, charitable, anti effective prayer for their forgiveness; and by that prayer obtained of God tliat within fifty-five days ciglit thousand of his enemies were converted. So po- tent is the prayer of charity, that it prevails above the malice of men, turning the arts of Satan into the designs of God ; and when malice occasions the prayer, the prayer becomes an antidote to ma- lice. And by this instance our blessed Lord con- signed that duty to us, which in his sermons he had preached, that we should forgive our enemies, and pray for them ; an . great enough to swallow her up, yet her love was greater, and did swallow up her grief. But the sun also had a veil upon his face, and taught us to draw a curtain before the passion, which would be the most artificial expression of its greatness; whilst by silence and wonder we confess it great beyond our expression, or, which is all one, great as the burden and baseness of our sins; and with this veil drawn before the face of Jesus, let us suppose him at the gates of paradise, calling with his last words, in a loud voice, to have them opened, that the King of glory might come in. THE PRAYER. I. O holy Jesus, who for our sakes didst suffer incomparable anguish and pains, commensurate to thy love and our miseries, which were infinite, that thou mightest purchase for us blessings upon earth, and an inheritance in heaven ; dispose us by love, thankfulness, humility, and obedience, to receive all the benefit of thy passion; granting unto us and thy whole church remis- sion of all our sins, integrity of mind, health of body, competent maintenance, peace in our days, a temperate a:r, fruitfulness of the earth, unity and integrity of faith, extirpation of heresies, reconcilement of schisms, destruction of all wicked counsels in- tended against us ; atul bind the hands of rapine and sacrilege, that they may not destroy the vintage, and root up the vine itself. 3Iultiplv thy blessings upon us, sweetest Jesus; increase in us true religion, sincere and actual devotion in our prayers, patience in troubles, and whatsoever is necessary to our soul's health, or conducin: to thy glory. Ame ;. II. O dearest Saviour, I adore thy mercies, and thy incomparable kove, expressed in thy so voluntary susception ar>d afec.ior.ate suf- i'liE vHi i II e\ni\ ni JE»;is. ;l.'5 fering such horrid and sad tortures, which cannot be remembered without a sad compassion : the waters of bitterness entered into thy soul, and the storms of deatli and thy Father's anger broke thee all in pieces. And what shall I do, who by my sins have so tormented my dearest Lord ? What contrition can be great enough, what tears sufficiently expressive, what hatred and de- testation of my crimes can be equal and commensurate to those sad accidents which they have produced ? Pity me. O Lord, pity me, dearest Ood ; turn those thy merciful eyes towards me, () most merciful Redeemer : for my sins are great, like unto thy passion, full of sorrow and shame, and a burden too great for me to bear. Lord, who hast done so much for me, now only speak the word, and thy servant shall be whole. Let thy wounds heal me, thy virtues amend me, thy death quicken me ; that I in this life, suffering the cross of a sad and salutary repentance, in the union and merits of thy cross and passion, may die with ihee, and rest with thee, and rise again with thee, and live with thee for ever, in ihe possession of thy glories, O dearest Saviour Jesus. Amon. 356 OF THE RESDRRF.CTION SECTION XVI. of the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus. 1. While it was yet early in the morning, upon the first day of the week, Mary Magdalen and Mary, the mother of James and Salome, brought sweet spices to the sepulchre, that they might again embalm the holy body; (for the rites of embalming among the Hebrews used to last forty days;') and their love was not satisfied with what Joseph had done. They therefore hastened to the grave ; and after they had expended their money, and bought the spices, then begin to consider, who shall re- move the stone : but yet they still go on, and their love answers the objection, not knowing how it should be done, but yet resolving to go through all the difficulties ; but never remember to take care to pass the guards of soldiers. But when they came to the sepulchre, they found the guard afl^righted and removed, and the stone rolled away : for there had a little before their arrival been a great earth- quake, and ' an angel descending from heaven rolled away the stone, and sat upon it;'' and for > Gen. 1.; Tacit. Annal. lib. xxi. 2 Aurora lucis rutilat, Cnelum laudibus intonat, Mundus exultans jubilat, Gemens infernus ululat ; Cum rex ille fortissiinus, Mortis confractis viribus, Pede conculcans Tartara, Solvit a poena miseros. Ille qui clausus lapide Custoditur sub milite, Triumphans pompa nobili, Victor surgit de fun ere. 'lymn. Paschal. AND ASCENSION OF JF.SUS. 3-57 fear of him the guards about the tomb became astonished with Tear, and were like dead men : and some of them ran to the hij^h-priests, and told them what had happened. But they now, resolving to make their iniquity safe and unquestionable by a new crime, hire the soldiers lo tell an incredible and a weak fable, that his disciples came by night and stole him away : against which accident the wit of man could give no more security than them- selves had made. The women entered into the se- [>ulchre, and missing the body of Jesus, Mary Magdalen ran to the eleven apostles, complaining that the body of our Lord was not to be found. Then Peter and John ran as fast as they could to see: for the unexpectedness of the relation, the wonder of the story, and the sadness of the person, moved some affections in them, which were kindled by the first principles and sparks of faith, but were not made actual and definite, because the faith was not raised to a flame : they looked into the sepul- chre, and finding not the body there, they returned. By this time Mary Magdalen was come back, and the women who stayed, weeping for their Lord's body, saw two angels sitting in white, the one at ihe head, and the other at the feet; at which unex- pected sight they trembled, and bowed themselves: l)ut an angel bid them not to fear; telling them, that Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, was also risen, and was not there; and called to mind what Jesus had told them in Galilee concerning his crucifixion, and resurrection the third day. 2. And Mary Magdalen turned herself back, and saw Jesus ; but supposing him to he the gardener, she said to him, ' Sir, if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and 358 OF IHH KtSURUrCTION I will take him away. But Jesus said unto her, Mary.' Then she knew his voice, and with ecstasy of joy and wonder was ready to have crushed his feet with her embraces. But he commanded her not to touch iiim, but go to his brethren, and say, ' I as- cend unto my Father and to your Father, to my God and your God.' Mary departed with satisfac- tion beyond the joys of a victory or a full vintage, and told these things to the apostles; but the narra- tion seemed to them as talk of abused and fantastic j)ersons. About the same time Jesus also appeared unto Simon Peter. Towards the declining of the (hiy, two of his disciples going to Emmaus, sad, and discoursing of the late occurrences, .Jesus puts himself into their company, and upbraids their in- credulity, and expounds the Scriptures, that Christ ought to suffer, and rise again the third day ; and in the breaking of bread disappeared ; and so was known to them by vanishing away, whom present they knew not. And instantly they hasted to Jerusalem, and told the apostles what had hap- pened. 3. And while they were there, that is, the same day, at evening, when the apostles were assem- bled, all save Thomas, ' secretly, for fear of the Jews, the doors being shut, .Tesus came and stood in the midst of them. They were exceedingly troubled, supposing it had been a spirit.' But Jesus confu'ted them by the philosophy of their senses; by 'feeling his flesh and bones, which spirits iiave not :' for he gave them his benediction, ' show- ing them his hands and his feet.' At which sight they rejoiced with exceeding joy, and began to be restored to their indefinite hopes of some fu- ture felicity, by the return of their Lord to life: and AM> ASCI NSIU.V t>K Ji:sis. 'S-^i there lie rtr^l l)rt';Ul)t'<.l on tliem, givini,' llicm llie Holy Ghost, and |)errormin;(^LVs|iiN (.!• jr.sus. oOl tlie fleven ; si^iit ihem to ' preach to all the world repentance and remission of sins in his name ;' pro- misine: ' to be with tiiem to the end of the woild.' He appeared also unto James, but at what time is uncertain ; save that there is something^ concern- ino: it in the "gospel of St Matthew, which the Na- zarenes of Beraea used, and whicli it is likely them- selves added out of repoit ; for there is nothJn<2^ of it in our Greek copies. The words are these: " When the Lord had given the linen in which he was wrapped, t ■■ Dial. adv. 'I'ryphon. J64 AC(.'1DENTS ruOM THE DEATH and the intermetrutte recef)tacle of souls to be dis- tinct places; both blessed, but hugely differing in degrees.' Tertullian is dog-matical in the assertion, that till the voice of tlie great archangel be heard, and as long as Christ sits at the right hand of his Father, making intercession for the church, so long blessed souls must e\[)ect the assembling of their brethren, the great congregation of the church, that they may all pass from their outer courts into the inward tabernacle, the holy of holies, to the throne of God.* And as it is certain that no soul could enter into glory before our Lord entered, by whom we hope to have access; so it is most agreeable to the pro- portion of the mysteries of our redemption, that we believe the entrance into glory to have been made by our Lord at his glorious ascension ; and that his soul went not thither before then, to come back again, to lie contracted into the sjjan of humanity, and dwell forty days in his body upon earth. But that he should return from paradise, that is, from the common receptacle of departed spirits who died in the love of God, to earth again, had in it no lessening of his condition, since himself in mercy called back Lazarus from thence ; and some others also returned to live a life of grace, which in all senses is less than the least of glories. Sufficient it is to us, that all holy souls departing go into the hands, that is, into the custody of our Lord ; that they ' rest from their labours, that their works • Lib. V. cap. 3. - Lib. de Anima ; et de PraescripU Idem Sentiunt Scriptor. Resp.ad Orthod. q. 70". S. Greg. Nazianz. Orat. 10. S. Chrv- 60St. Horn. 15, in Alatth. S. Ambr. in Micheam. Cyrilli Li- turg. ICpiphaii. ep. apud S. Hier. Theodoretus. Tlieophylactus, et vett. passim. IS III. lilt; lii.-i i{iii;c ju».N. 3('.o tshail Collow liicui ;' ' ami oveiUike llieni too, at tlie day of judgment: thut they are happy presently; that they are visited by angels; that God sends, as lie pleases, excellent irradiations and types of glory to entertain them in tlieir mansions:* that their condition is secured : but the crown of righteous- ness is laid up against the great day of judgment,' and then to be produced, and given to St. Paul, and to all that love the coming of our Lord ; that is, to all who either here in duty, or in their re- ceptacles, with joy and certain hope, long for the revelation of that day. At the day of judgment Christ will ' send the angels, and they shall gather together the elect from ihe four winds;'* and all the refuse of men, evil persons, they shall throw into everlasting burning. Then our blessed Lord shall call to the elect to enter into the kingdom, .ind reject the cursed into the portion of devils; for whom the (ire is but now prepared in the inter- val. For ' we must all appear before the judg- ment-seat of Christ,' saith St. Paul ; ' that every man may receive in his body according as lie hath done, whether it be good or ■evil.'-* Out of the body the reception of the reward is not : and therefore St. Peter aHTirms, that 'God hath delivered the evil angels into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.''' And St. Jude sailh, that ' the angels ' Itev. xiv. i;;. • Just. Mart, "to, inter qu»st. ad Gentiles: says, '"That the good are immediately afier death carried into paradise, where they behold the I'acis of angel.s and the vision of Christ." ' '2 Tim. iv. C, * flialt. xiii. 41 ; xxiv. 31. * 2 Cor. V. 10 "Ij'rt tcnfii'i^tiTai iKnToc tu ifia r« aiLjiaTOC Bic quidam Cod. ra en) tH rroiftaror. sir connnuniter, et rectius. •^ U Pet. ii. 4. IMm AiciDLNis iiioM rut: uI'ATH which kept not iheir first fiiith, but left their first habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day.' ' And therefore the devils expostulated with our blessed Saviour, * Art thou come to torment us before the lime?'* And the same also he does to evil men, 'reserving the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.'' For since the actions which are to be judged are the actions of the whole man, so also must be the judicature. And our blessed Saviour intimated this to his apostles: ' In my Father's house are many mansions : but I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go away, I will come again, and take you unto me ; that where I am, there ye may be also.' * At Christ's second coming this is to be performed.^ Many outer courts, many different places or different states there may be; and yet there is a place whither holy souls shall arrive at last, which was not then ready for us ; and was not to be entered into, until the entrance of our Lord had made the preparation ; and that is certainly the highest heaven, called by St. Paul, the third heaven : because the other re- ceptacles were ready, and full of holy souls, pa- triarchs, and prophets, and holy men of God ; con- cerning whom St. Paul affirms expressly, that 'the fathers received not the promises ; God having provided some better thing for us, tliat they with- out us sliould not be made perfect :'° therefore cer- ' Jude, 6. « Matt. vili. '2D. '■3 2 Pet. ii. 9. Lactant. lib. vii. c. 21, says, "Let it not be sup- posed that the souls of men are immediately judged ; for they are detained in one common receptacle till the time appointed for judgment." * .John, xiv. 2, 3. ' Satiabor cum apparueris. Psal. xvii. 15. * Heb. xi. 40; Irensns, lib. v. adv. Haeres. ad. fin. Orig«n. iNiii. int Hi:si RKEcriu.'v. '361 lain il is tlinl llieir condition was a state of imper- fection ; and \et lliey were {)lHced in paradise, in Abraham's Iwsom ; and thither Christ went, and the l)lessed tliief attended him. And then it \va» that Christ made their condition better. For tliougb still it lie a j lace of relation in order to somethinj; beyond it, yet the term and object of their hope is changed. They sat in the re^i^ions of darkness, ex- pecting tl)at great promise made to Adam and the j)atriarchs, the promise of the Messias : but when he that was promised came, be preached to the spirits in prison ; he communicated to them the mysteries of the gospel, the secrets of the kingdom, the things bidden from eternal ages ; and taught them to look up to the glories purchased by his passion, and made the term of their expectation l)e liis second coming, and the objecbs of their hope the glories of tiie beatific vision. And, ahhongh the state of separation is sometimes in Scripture called heaven, and sometimes hell ; (for these words in Scripture are of large significations;) yet it is never called tlie third iieaven, nor the hell of the damned : for altbougli concerning it nothing is clearly revealed, or what is their portion till the day of judgment ; yet il is intimated in a parable, that between good and evil spirits, even in the state of separation, there is distance of place. Cer- tain il is, there is great distance of condition : and as the holy souls in their regions of light are full of love, joy, hop*,', and longing for the coming of the great day ; so tliu accursed do expect il willj an in- Hoin.7, in Levit. ; Chrysostoiu. Horn. 39, in 1 Cor.; Theodo- rot; Theophyl. ; Oecmneniusin Heb. 11 ; S. Aug. lib. i. ; Ke- tract. c. 14 ; Victorin. .Man. in c. 6; Apoc Ambros. de bono Mortis, c. 10, 11. 368 ACClDt.NTS IRUM THE DIIATH supportable amazement, and are presently tdrment- ed with apprehensions of the future. Happy are they that through paradise pass into the kingdom ; who from their highest hope pass to the greatest charity ; from the state of a blessed separation to the mercies and gentle sentence of the day of judg- ment,' which St, Paul prayed to God to grant Onesiphorus ; and more explicitly for the Thessa- ionians, ' that their whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming oi our Lord Jesus.' '' And T pray God to grant the same to me, and all faithful people whatsoever. 2. As soon as the Lord had given up his Spirit into the hands of God, the veil of the temple was rent; the angels, guardians of the place, deserted it ; the rites of Moses were laid open, and the en- closures of the tabeinacle were disparked ; tl.c earth trembled, the graves were opened, and all the old world and the old religion were so shaken towards their first chaos, that if God had not suj)ported the one, and reserved the other for an honourable burial, the earth had left to support her children, and the synagogue had been thrown out to an in- glorious exposition and contempt. But yet in these symbols these were changed from their first condition, and passed into a new dominion ; all old things passed away, and all things became new ; the earth and the heavens were reckoned as a new creation ; they passed into another kingdom, under Christ their Lord; and as before the creatures ' 2 Tim. i. 18. * 1 Thess. V, 23 ; vide IrenEeum in hunc locum, lib. v. c. 6, adv. Hseres. ubi probat absque unione corporis, animse etspiritAs^ hoininem non esse. UNTIL iHt atStnilLCTlON. 309 were servants of human necessities, they now be- come servants of election, and in order to the ends of ^race, as before of nature ; Clirist having now the power to dispose of them in order to his kin;i- dom, and by the administration of iiis own wisdom. And at the instant of tliese accidents, God so de- termined tlie persuasions of men, that they refierred tiiese prodigies to the honour of Christ, and took them as testimonies of that truth, fur the afhrma- tion of which tlie high -priest liad condemned our dearest Lord. And although the heart of the priest rent not, even then when rocks did tear in pieces; yet the people who saw the passion smote their breasts, and returned, and confessed Christ.' 3. The graves of the dead were opened at the . liiiiiself upon tlio way into the company of two gooci men j,'oin5j to Em mans, with troubled spirits and a reeling- failli, shaking all its upper building, but leaving some of its foundation firm. To them the Lord discourses of the necessity of the death and resurrection of the Messias, and taught them not to take estimate of the counsels of (Jod by the designs and proportions of man : for God, by ways contrary to human judgment, brings to pass the purposes of his eternal providence. The glories of Christ were not made pompous by human circumstances ; his kingdom was spiritual ; he was to enter into felicities through the gates of death ; he refused to do miracles before Herod, and yet did them before the people ; he confuted his accusers by silence; and did not descend from the cross when they offered to believe in him if he would, but left them to be persuaded by greater arguments of his power, the miraculous circum- stances of his death, and the glories of his resur- rection ; and by walking in the secret paths of di- vine election, hath commanded us to adore his footsteps, to admire and revere liis wisdom, to be satisfied with all the events of providence, and to rt-joico in him, if by afflictions he makes us holy, if by persecutions he supports and enlarges his church, if by death he brings us to life. So we ar- rive at the communion of his felicities, we must let him choose the way ; it being sufficient that he is our guide, and our support, and our ' exceeding great reward.' For therefore Christ preached to the two disciples, going to Emmaus, the way of the cross, and the necessity of that passage, that the wisdom of God might be glorified, and the conjec- tures of man ashamed. But whil^^t his discour8