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CONTENTS.

PAGE

XLV. The Bad Leaven Gal. V. 9, . . .335

XLVI. Man's Seed-time AND Harvest Gal. VI. 7, . . . 360

XLVIL Spiritual Eye-salve Eph. I. 18, . . .375

XLVIIL The Saints'Meeting Eph. IV. 13, . . 388

XLIX. The Christian's Walk Eph. V. 2, . . . 404

L. Love's Copy Eph. V. 2, . . .413

LL A Crucifix Eph. V. 2, . . .422

LIL A Divine Herbal Heb. VL 7, 8, . .435

LIIL The Praise OF Fertility Heb. VL 7, . . . 447

LIV. A Contemplation op the Herbs...Heb. VI. 7, . . . 457

LV. The Forest of Thorns Heb. VL 8, . . . 471

LVL The End OF Thorns Heb. VL 8, . . .485

LVII. The Happiness of the Church Heb. XII. 22-24, . 493

CHEIST'S STAE;

OB,

THE WISE MEN'S OBLATION.

When they were come into the house, they saiv the young child tvith Mary his mother, and fell doivn, and ivorshipped him : and tvhen they had opened their treasures, they jyresented unto him gifts ; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. — Matt. II. 11.

The Feast of the Epiphany, or Manifestation of Christ, as it is this day's memory, so I have purposed this day's exercise. As relatu traditionis in-struimur, there were three principal and notable appearings of Christ on this day. All which eodem die contigisse feruntur, sed aliis atque aliis annis, — fell out the same day in divers years, as they write.

So Maximus Episc.: * Tribus miraculis ornatum diem sanctum servamus, &c.,—We keep this day holy and festival, being honoured with three wonders : this day Christ led the wise men to himself by a star; this day he turned the waters into wine at the marriage; this day he was baptized of John in Jordan, According to these three distinct manifestations of himself, they have given this day three several names :—

1. Epijihania; because Christ did appear to certain magi by the direction of a star, and was, by their report, made knoAvn to the fox Herod and his cubs, many enemies in Jerusalem. Ver. 3, ' He was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.'

2. Theophania ; because there was a declaration of the whole Trinity, Matt. iii. 16 : of God the Father, whose voice was heard from heaven; of Ood the Son to be baptized, of whom was the testimony given, ' This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;' of God the Holy Ghost, who, descending like a dove, lighted on him.

3. Bethphania ;t because, John ii., he shewed the power of his deity at the wedding, in changing their water into wane. So the text, ver. 11, 'This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory.'

* Horn. 1 in EpipL. :—' Hodie stella magos duxit ad prgesepium. Hodie aquS3 ver-tuntur in vinum. Hodie baptizatus est Christua.'

t From rSl^, QaTos, a ' bath, or firkin/ Isa. v. 10.— Ed.

VOL. II. A >:

4. Some have added a fourth name, from a fourth wonder that they say was wrought on this day: Phagin2)hania ; because Christ relieved/«??ienj triduanam, the three days' hunger of five thousand, with five barley loaves and two little fishes.

I confess, this history hath many observable points in it. It entreats of wise men, of a tyrannical king, of troubled people, and of the Eang of kings lying in swaddlmg clothes. To discourse all these vhtutesque, virosque, et tanti incendia belli, would exceed the limits of one cold hour. I would therefore confine my short speech and your attention to the verse read.

Wherein, methinks, I find a miraculous wonder : that extraordinary 7n€n, by an extraordinary star, should find the King of heaven in so extraorduiary a place. Wise men seeking a star, shewing a Saviour, lying in a manger. But cernunt oculis, docentur oraculis, —the eye of flesh sees somewhat, the eye of faith shall see more.

I may distinguish all into, I. A direction; II. A devotion: the direction of God, the devotion of men. By the direction, they are brought to the Messiah. By their devotion, 'they worship him, and present him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh.'

I. For the direction, we will borrow a little of the premises, and therein consider God's leading—their following.

1. God's leading was by a star. They that delight to cast clouds upon the clear sun have here mooted many questions about this star.

(1.) Whether this star were singular, or a heap of stars. Our Eoman adversaries, to bring wilful trouble on themselves and us, have conjured a fiction from one Albumazar, a heathen, that the sign in the zodiac, called the Virgin, is composed of so many stars as may aptly portray virgineni gestantem inter hracliia filmm, —a virgin bearing an infant in her arms; and some of them have thought that, this star.

Let Albumazar be the father of this opinion; and for a little better authority, they have mothered it on a prophecy of Tiburtine Sibylla. When Augustus boasted his superhuman majesty, Sibylla shewed him virginem in coelo infanti-portam, —a virgin in heaven bearing a young child in her arms; ■\vith these words, Hie ^mer major te est, ipsuni adora, —Yonder infant is greater than thou art, O Caesar; worship him.

But because the father of this conceit was an ethnic, and the mother thought a sorceress, they have, as some think, spite of his teeth, brought in Chrysostom for a godfather to it; or to another opinion, if differing from it, yet also exceeding the truth of this history. Whether of himself, or on their teaching, he says thus :—' This star appeared to them descending upon that victorial mountain, having in it the form of a little child, and about him the similitude of a cross.' But I confess (and lo the great vaunts of their imity !) that many of them are of another mind.

Howsoever, the text is plain against it ; ver. 2,' uboiiiv auroS rh aoTgga,— vidimus stellam ejus. Aster and astrum differ, as Stella and sidus. Aster and stella signify one star ; astrum and sidus a knot of stars; as tiny sign in the heaven, coacted and compounded of many stars. The evangelist here useth the singular word, * We have seen his star,' not stars,

(2.) They cjuestion whether this was a new star created for the purpose, or one of those coeval to the world. Chrysostom, Damascene, Fulgentius, with most others, are persuaded it was a new star. Houdemius, an Englishman, so sung of it—

Matt. II. 11.] cheist's stae. S

* Nova coclum stella depingitur, Diun sol novus ia terris oritur;'—

'Twas fit a new star should adorn the skies. When a new Sun doth on the earth arise,'

It is called by Augustine,* viagnifica lingua coeli, —the glorious tongue of heaven. It appears this was no ordinary star, ex situ, motu, tempore liLcencU.

[1.] By the site. The place of it must be in aere terrce vicino,f —in that 23art or region of the air that was next to the earth ; otherwise it could not so punctually have directed these wise men that travelled by it.

[2.] By the motion. The course of other stars is circular : this star went straight forward, as a guide of the way, in the same manner that the ' pillar of fire,' Exod. xxxi, 21, went before Israel when they passed out of Egypt.

[3.] By the time of shining. Other stars shine in the night only: this star gave light in the broad day, as if it Avere a star appointed to wait on the sun.

* Stella luce vincens Luciferum, Magos ducit ad regem siderum.'

Of this star did that conjurer prophesy, Num. xxiv. 17, ' There shall come a star out of Jacob,' &c. It was a true star, it was a new star, created by God in heaven for this purpose. Not that the birth of Christ depended on this star, but this star on his birth. Therefore it is called Chiist's star; ver. 2, ' his star.'

This star served to them ad ducendum, to us ad docendum.

It led them reaUy, let it also lead us figuratively, to Christ; them per visum, us i^er fidem.

By the consent of divines this star did prefigure the gospel; and in deed, for what other light directs u.s to Christ 1

Not the star of natiure. Did not every step it taught us to tread bring us further off? If it heard of him, it sought him—as Laban sought his idols in the tents, or as Saul sought his asses in the mountains, or as Joseph and Mary sought him among their kinsfolk—either in the tents of soft ease and security, or in the mountains of worldly dignity, or among the kindred of the flesh, friends and company.

Not the star of the law. For this told us of a perfect obedience, and of condemnation for disobedience; of God's anger, our danger; of sin and death. This star would have lighted us to heaven, if we had no clouds of iniquity to darken it to ourselves. And that which St Paul speaks, Gal. iii. 24, ' The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ,' is to be understood of the legal types and sacrifices; where, by an oblation of the blood of beasts, was prefigured the blood of that Lamb which should expiate all our sins.

The gospel is this star; and blessed are they that foUow it. It shall biing them to the babe Jesus. God hath fixed this star in our orb; but how few are so wise as these wise men to follow it! That star was sometimes hidden: this shines perpetually. It is hon-or and shame to speak it, we no more esteem it than if we were weary of the sun for continual shining.

2. I am loath to part with this star; but other observations caU me from it. You hear God's leading; mark their following. This is described— (1.) Ex adventu, by their access; (2.) Ex eventu, by their success. Veniunt, inveniunt, —They come, they find.

* Serm. 3 in loc. t Thorn., part, iii., quaest. 35, art 7.

(1.) Their access. Some ha,ve thought that these magi, ha\ing so profound skill in astrology, might by calculation of times, composition of stars, and stellations of the heavens, foreknow the birth of the Messiah. But this opinion is utterly condemned by Augustine* and all good men; and it shall only help us with this observation:—

God purposed so plentiful a salvation by Christ, that he calls to him at the first those who were far off. Far off indeed; not only in a local, but ceremonial distance. For place : they were so for as Persia from Judea; from thence most writers affirm their coming. For the other respect: he calls those to Christ who had run furthest from Christ, and given themselves most over to the devil—magicians, sorcerers, conjurers, confederates Avith Satan in the most detestable art of witchcraft. These that had set their faces against heaven, and blasphemed out a renunciation of God and all goodness, even at those doors doth God's Spirit knock, and sends them by a ^ar to a Saviour.

Be our sins never so many for number, never so heinous for nature, never so full for measure; yet the mercy of God may give us a star, that shall bring us, not to the babe Jesus in a manger, but to Christ a king in his throne. Let no penitent soul despair of mercy.

Christ manifested himself to two sorts of people in his swathing-clouts— to these magicians, and to shepherds; the latter simple and ignorant, the other learned and wicked. So Augustine,t In rusticitate 2'>cistorum iviperitia 2)rcevalet, in sacrilegiis magorum impietas. Yet to both these, one in the day of his nativity, the other in this epiphany, did that Saviour, with whom is no respect of persons, manifest his saving mercy. Whether thou be poor for goods of the world, or poorer for the riches of grace, be comforted; thou mayest one day see the salvation of God.

Observe their obedience: they come instantly on God's call. They have seen liis star, and they must go to him. They regard not that Herod was an enemy to the king of Persia, their master; they come to his court to inquire for Christ. When they are there, let Herod be never so troubled about the name of the true and new-born King of the Jews, they have the inward direction, the record of an ancient prophecy added by the priests: ver. 6, from Micah v. 3, ' Thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel.' Hereupon they go.

Obedience, when it hath the w'arrant, goes upon sound and quick feet Nee falsa fingit, nee vera vietuit imiiedimenta, —No obstacles can stay it, no errors stray it, nor terrors fray it; it is not deluded with toys, nor deferred with joys; it tarries not with the young man in the gospel, to kiss his friends, nor with the old man, to fill liis barns: but currit per saxa, per ignes, through aU dangers and difficulties, with a faithful eye bent upon the caller's promises. And this is that other virtue remarkable in these wise men.

Observe their faith: they come to the priests made acquainted with the oracles of God, to inquire of this King. The priests resolve the place of his birth from the prophet; but though told of his star, they will not stir a foot towards him. Perhaps it might cost them their honours or lives by the king's displeasure; therefore they wiU point others, but disajipouit then- own souls.

Here is a strange inversion: Veritas illuminat magos, infidelitas obcoecat magistros, —Truth guides the magicians, unbelief blinds the priests. They that were used to necromantic spells and charms begin to understand the * De Civit. Dei, lib. v. t Serm. 2 de Epiph.

truth of a Saviour; whiles they that had him in their books lost him in their hearts. Utimtur paginis, quarum non credunt elo^u'm, —They turn over the leaves, and believe not their contents. To what end were all their quotidian sacrifices ? If they were not tj'pes and figures of a ilessiah, what other thing made they thek temple but a butcher's shambles ?

Now the mercy and grace of our Lord Jesus keep us from this apostate ■wickedness ! Let truth never speak it of us, that we have the book of the Lord in our hands, not the doctrine in our consciences; that we have God's seals, yet unmarked souls; that de virtutibus vacui loqidmur, —we speak of the graces we have not.

It was once spoken of Greece, in regard of the ruins, (yea, of the utter extinction, for etiam periere ruince^ Gixeciam in GfrcGcia qucerimus, non inveni-mus, —We seek for Greece in Greece, and cannot find it. Let it never be said of us in respect of our recidival disobedience, Angliam in Anglia qucerimus, et non inventa est, —We seek that famous church of England in England, and find it not. IMany love to live within the circumference and reach of the gospel, because it hath brought peace, and that peace wealth, and that wealth promotion. But if this health of quiet might be upheld or augmented by that Roman harlot, they would be ready to cry, ' Great is Diana of the Ephesians !' and Christ might lodge long enough at Bethlehem, ere they would go to visit Mm. Our lives too prodigiously begin to portend this. But,

' 0 faxit Deus, ut nullum sit in omiue pondus.'

And for ourselves, beloved, let us not, like the priests, direct others to a Saviour, and stay at home ourselves; nor like the trumpeter, that encour-ageth others to the battle against the enemy of God and our salvation, nildl ipse nee ausus, nee potuit, —ourselves being cowards, and giving never a stroke. It is not enough to tell the people of a Saviour in Bethlehem ; opus est etiam prceiiione, aut saltern coiiione, et ixiri congressu, —we must go before them, or at least go with them.

For this cause I commend the faith of these magi. Seeing the priests' doctrme concurs with the star's dumb direction, though Herod will not leave his court, nor the scribes their ease, nor the people their trades; yet these men will go alone to Christ. When thou art to embrace religion, it is good going in company, if thou canst get them,—for the greater blessing fallf^ upon a multitude,—but resolve to go, though alone ; for tliou shalt never see the Lord Jesus, if thou tarry till all Jerusalem go with thee to Bethlehem.

(2.) We have heard then' advent, or access ; listen to the event, or success : ' They saw the young child with Mary his mother.'

God hath answered the desire of their hearts ; they had undertook a long journey, made a diligent inquiry; no doubt theu- souls longed, with Simeon, to see their Saviour. Lo ! he that never frustrates the faithful affection, gives abundant satisfixction to their hopes : ' They saw the young child with ^Mary his mother.'

Observe, [1.] Whom ; [2.] With whom; [3.] Where they saw him.

[1.] Whom i ' The young child.' Meditate and wonder. The ' Ancient of days' is become a young chUd. The infinitely great is made little. The sustainer of aU things, sucks. Factor terrce, fact us in terra, Creator cceli, creatus sub coelo* —He that made heaven and earth, is made under heaven upon earth. The Creator of the world is created in the world, created little in the world : ' They saw the young cliild.'

* Aug. Serm. 27 de Temp.

[2.] With ivhom ? ' With Mary his mother.' Mary was his daughter; is she now become his mother 1 Yes; he is made the child of ]\Iary who is the father of Mary. Sine quo Pater nuiiquam ficit, sine qtio mater nun-quam, fuisset,'"' —Without whom his Father in heaven never was; without whom his mother on earth had never been.

[3.] Where ? It is evident in St Luke's Gospel, they found him lying in a cratch. He who sits on the right hand of the IMajesty on high was lodged in a stable. He that ' measures the waters in his fist, and the heaven with a span,' Isa. xl. 12, was now crowded in a manger, and swaddled with a few rags. Here they find neither guard to defend him, nor tumults of people thronging to see him; neither crown on his head, nor sceptre in his hand; but a young child in a cratch : having so little external glory, that they might have saved their pains, and seen many in their own country far beyond him. Our instruction hence is, that—

God doth often strangely and strongly exercise the faith of his ; that their persuasion may not be guided oculis, but oraculis, —by their sight, but his word. The eye of true faith is so quick-sighted, that it can see through all the mists and fogs of difficulties. Hereon these magi do confidently believe that this poor child, lying in so base a manner, is the great King of heaven and earth. The faith of man, that is grounded on the promises of God, must believe that in prison there is liberty, in trouble peace, in affliction comfort, in death life, in the cross a crown, and in a manger the Lord Jesus.

The use of this teacheth us not to be offended at the baseness of the gospel, lest we never come to the honour to see Jesus. It was an argument of the devil's broaching, ' Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed on him V John vii. 48. The great, the learned, the wise gave him no credence. But ' this people, that knoweth not the law, is cursed.' None but a few of the rascal company follow him. But hereof Simeon resolved his mother Mary •. ' This child is set for the fall, as well as the rising again, of many in Israel; for a sign which shall be spoken against,' Luke ii. 34. He should be thus; but woe unto them that so esteemed him ! It is God's custom to work his will by contraries. If a physician should apply a medicine contrary to the nature and complexion of the patient, he would have little hope to cure the disease. But such is God's miraculous working, that he subdues crowns to a cross, overcomes pride by poverty, overthrows the wisdom of the flesh by the foolishness of the Spirit, and sets knees a-bowing to a babe in a manger.

II. You see their access, and the event, or success; which poirtts determine their direction. Let us come to their devotion. Herein we shall find a triplicity ; to follow the method of Au^istmc's gloss, Adorant coriJoribtis, venerantur oj/iciis, honorant munerihus, —Christ hath bestowed on these magi three sorts of gdfts—goods corporal, spiritual, temporal; and all these in a devout thankfulness they return to Christ.

1. In falling doivn, they did honour him with the goods of the body.

2. In worshipinng him, with the gifts of the mind.

3. In 2^resenting to him gifts, —gold, frankincense, and myrrh,—with the goods of the world.

1. and 2. The body and nnnd I will knit together, 'They fall down and worship him.' It is fit they should be partners in repentance that have been confederates in sin. It is cjuestioned, whether in transgressing, the body or the soul be most culpable ? I am sure either is guilty. It is all one : a man that wants eyes carries a man that wants feet, the lame that * Aug. Serin. 27 de Temp.

cannot go spies a booty, and tells his blind porter of it, that cannot see. He that hath eyes directs the way •. he that hath feet travels to it; but they both consent to steal it. The body without the soul wants eyes : the soul mthout the body wants feet ; but either supplies the other to purloin God's glory. Discuss whether more, that list; I am certain both the blind and the lame are guilty. Both have offended, both must in a repentant oblation be offered to God. Therefore saith Paul, Rom. xii. 1, 2, not only ' Present your bodies a living sacrifice,' but also, ' Be transformed by the renewing of your minds.' Bodily labour profits little without the soul; and it is a proud soul that hath stiff knees. These magi therefore give both: procidentes adoraverunt eum.

Here is one thing sticks horribly in the Papists' stomachs ; and like a bone in the throat, wUl neither up nor down -with them. ' They fell down, and worshipped him ;'' not her. This same leaving out of her hath much vexed them. How much would they have given the Evangelist to put in illam ! They saw him with his mother; yet they worshipped him, not his mother.

They have troubled us and themselves with many arguments, that though this was concealed it was not omitted. And they are resolved to believe it, though they cannot prove it; and that, though it be not so good, shall be as ready. Howsoever they wiU confute the magi in their practice ; for they stUl will adorare earn, when perhaps they forget eum, and give the mother more honour than her Maker. It was but mannerly in Bellarmine to post-scribe two of his tomes with Laus Deo, virr/inique matri Mance, —' Praise to the Lord, and his mother the Virgin Mary.' Some, setting the cart before the horse, have written, Laus heatce virgini, et Jesu Christo, —' Praise to the Virgin Mary, and Jesus Christ.' And they have enjoined ten Ave Marias for one Pater noster. It is to be feared at last they wUl adore her for their Saviour, as they do for their mediator, and shut Christ quite out of doors.

But let me come out of Babel into God's city. ' They fell down, and worshipped him.' Let our instruction hence be this :—

God did ever so strangely qualify the baseness of Christ, that though he seemed in men's eyes a contemptible object, and abject, Isa. liii. 3, yet he was so beautified with some certain mark of his divinity, that he might be discerned to be more than man. Here, when he had an ox-stall for his cloth of estate, he had a star from heaven to shine forth his glory. Now, when generally in the world there was as much thought of the man in the moon as of Christ, the Sun of righteousness, behold magicians come from the east, and prostrate themselves before him.

The eye of their flesh saw his rags of poverty; the eye of their faith saw his robes of glory. Instead of the cold stones and pavement, they saw his sapphires, jaspers, chrysoUtes. Instead of his manger, they saw his throne. For the beasts about hiai, they saw armies of angels attending him. For his base stable, they saw palatitcm centum sublime columnis, —a palace of many turrets. They beheld magnum in parvo latere ; that this little child was a great King, yea, a great God, yea, a great King above aU gods. Thus, as Thomas in one of his hymns—

'Quod non capis, quod non vides, Animos.a firmat fides, Praeter rerum ordinem.'

' What we neither feel nor see, Powerful faith believes to be.'

When Christ was first revealed to poor shepherds, he was not without a

choir of angels singing his glory, Luke ii. Let him be in the wilderness amongst wild beasts, even those glorious spirits are his j)ensioners, and minister to his wants. Matt. iv. He comes hungry to a fig-tree, to demonstrate his natural mfirmity; but finding no fruit on it, he curseth the fig-tree,— ' Never fruit grow on thee hereafter,' Matt, xi.,—to declare liis power. Must he pay tribute ? Yet the King's son should pay none : but he is content to be a subject, he will pay it; but he bids Peter go to the sea and take it out of a fish's mouth, Matt. xvii. To shew his humility, he will pay it; but to shew his divinity, he bids the sea pay it for him. He that imdertook the misery to be whipped. Matt, xxvi., did also, to prove his majesty, whip the buyers and sellers out of the temple. Matt, xi., which was no less than a miraculous wonder, that a private man should do it without resistance. Yea, when he was dying between two thieves, he so qualifies the baseness of the cross that he works in the heart of one to call him Saviour, and to desire remembrance in his kingdom. Matt, xxvii. When his soul was leaving his body, as a man, even then he ' rent the veil of the temple, shook the earth, tore the rocks, opened the graves,' to prove that he was God.

Thus, in his greatest humiliation, God never left him without some testimony of his divine power; that as beholding him hungry, thirsty, weary, weepmg, bleeding, dying, we say, 0 homo ceiie, —Sure he was a man : so, seeing him to calm the seas, command the winds, heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out devils, we may say, 0 Dens certe, —Sure he was God. Thus these converted magicians beheld him 1iomine)n verum, though not hominem merum, —a little child, a great God. To borrow a distich of a divine poet—

* 0 strangest eyes, that saw Mm by this star, Who, when bystSCuders saw not, saw so far !'

3. Men are especially taken with three things—submission, honour, gifts. These wise men therefore having fallen down and worshipped him, do now ' open their treasures, and present him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh.'

Divers of the fathers have diversely glossed these wise men's gifts:—

Bern.: They did offer gold, to reUeve Mary's necessities; frankincense, to sweeten the stable; myrrh, to comfort the swaddled babe. Others thus—

They did offer gold to Christ, as being a king; franldncense, as being God; mjTrrh, as being man, to die for the redemption of the world.

Ambros.: Aurum regi, thus Deo, myrrham defuncto, or morituro, —Gold for a king, incense for God, myrrh for a man that must die, a special unguent to reserve the body from corruption.

So Basil: Ut 7'egi aunivi, ut moritu.ro myrrliani, ut Deo thus obtulenmt.

The same Hilary: In aiiro regem, in thure Deum, in myrrha hominem, confitentuy.

All the fathers and other writers harp on this string, and sing the same note,—Nazianzen, Cyprian, Augustine, Jerome, Gregory, Fulgentius,—that in gold, they acknowledged him a king; by incense, God; by mjTrh, a passible and mortal man. So the Christian poets have sung—

* Aurea nascenti fuderimt munera regi: Thura dedere Deo : myrrhatn tribuere sepulchro.'

So another—

' Aurum, thus, myrrham, regique, Deoque, Hominique, dona ferunt.'*

* These lines are misquoted from Juvencaa; they ought to stand thus:—

' Thus, aurum, myrrham, regique, hominique, Deoque, Pona feruut.'— Ed.

Matt. II. 11.] cheist's stae. ^

In general, learn two profitable instructions:—

(1.) They come not to Christ empty-handed. It was God's charge to Israel, Deut. xvi. 16,—but we think now we are delivered from that law,— Non apparebis in conspedu tmo vacuus, * Thou shalt not appear before me empty.' You plead, God cares not for our sheep and oxen, or the fat of our rams; for all the world is his. He requires it not for himself, though due to himself. Give it then to his poor ministers, to his poor members here.

I know not how happily I am fallen into that I would never be out of— charity. Most men now-a-days, as it is in the proverb, are better at the rake than at the pitchfork, readier to pull in than give out. But if the Lord hath sown plentiful seed, he expects plentiful fruits; an answerable measure, heapen and shaken and thrust together, and running over. If God hath made the bushel great, make not you the peck small. Turn not the bounty of heaven to the scarcity of earth. We love the retentive faculty well; but our expulsive is grown weak. But as God hath made you divites in area, so beseech hun to make you divites in conscientia. Accept not only the distributive virtue from heaven, but affect the communicative virtue on earth.

As in a state politic, the liege ambassadors that are sent abroad to lie in foreign kingdoms secureth our peaceable state at home, so that we disperse abroad makes safe the rest at home. The prayers of the poor, by us relieved, shall prevail with God for mercy upon iis. The l»ppy solace of a well-pleased conscience shall rejoice us, and the never-fauing promises of God shall satisfy us. We hear many rich men complain of losses by sea, by debtors, by unjust servants : we never heard any one complain of want that came by charity. No man is the poorer for that he gives to the poor ; let him sum up his books, and he shall find himself the richer. As God therefore hath laid up for you in terra morientium, in this world; so lay you up for yourselves in terra viventium, in the world to come. As you are rich in the king's books, be rich in God's book. If it were possible all the world should miscarry, your treasure in heaven is in a sure coffer ; no thief, rust, moth, fire, shall consume that. You shall find God the best creditor; he will pay gTeat usury, not ten in a hundred, but a hundred, a thousand for ten.

(2.) Their gifts were not slight and trivial, lean, meagre starvelings; but opima, optima, —every one the best in their kinds. Gold is the best of metals, frankincense of aromatical odours, myrrh of medicinal unguents.

Match these wise men, 0 ye miserable times of ours. Raro reddentem, 7'arissime optima reddentem profertis. You seldom bring forth a man that will give, but almost never one that will offer the best gifts. Our lame son must be God's clerk, our starved lamb, our poorest fleece, our thinnest sheaf must fall for God's tenth. If we give him the shells, the husks, the sherds, the shreds of our wealth, we judge him beholden to us.

God hears the heavens, and the heavens hear the earth, and the earth hears the corn, wine, oU, and they hear us, Hos. ii. Our valleys stand thick with corn, our trees groan with the burden of fruits, our pastures abound with ^ cattle, and we return God either nothing, or the worst we can pick out. Take heed, lest God ' curse our blessings,' Mai. ii. 2; and wliiles our barns and garners be fat, he withal ' send leanness into our souls.'

Never think, ye miserable worldlings, without opening your treasures and presenting the Lord with liberal gifts, ever, with these magi, to see the face of the Lord Jesus. Go home now, and make thyself merry with thy wealth, whiles Christ stands mourning in the streets ; applaud thy wardrobe, whiles he goes naked; saturate thyself with thy fat moi'sels, whiles he begs, unrelieved, for the crumbs; bcek thy pampered Hmbs at the fire, whiles he shakes

tlarough cold : thy misery is to come, thou shalt not behold thy Saviour in glory.

Generally their example hath taught us somewhat ; to be charitable, to be rich in charity, 1 Tim. vi. 18. More specially they shall instruct us to particular gifts.

Some have alluded these three, gold, myrrh, and frankincense, to the three theological virtues, faith, hope, and charity.

' Auro virtus perhibetur amantis : In myrrlia bona spes; tliure beata fides.'

By incense they understand faith; because as that is to be offered, so this is to be reposed in God alone.

By myrrh, hope; that though death lay the body in the cold eai-th, and send it to jDutrefaction, yet hope shall, as it vsrere, embalm it with myrrh, and give it expectance of a better resurrection.

By gold, love and charity; the use of it being such as it can procure them to whom we give it necessary things to the sustentation of their lives. Et quid non venditur auro ?

Others have resolved it thus :—

' Pro myrrha lachrymas; auro cor porrige purum, % Pro thure, ex humili pectore funde preces; '—

* Pure heart, thy gold, thy myrrh be penitence; And devout prayer be thy frankincense.'

In a word—

First, Offer up to God thy frankincense, supplication and thanksgiving. Ps. cxli. 2, ' Let thy prayer be set forth before him as incense, and the lifting up of thy hands as an evening sacrifice.' Put this into Christ's censer, and it will make a sweet smoke in God's nostrUs. 'Whoso offereth me praise glorifieth me,' Ps. 1. 23. It shall perfume thy soul, qualify the stench of thy iniquities, and vindicate thy heart from the suffocating plague of sin. Say then, Ps. liv., ' I will freely sacrifice unto thee : I will praise thy name, O Lord, for it is good.' Freely, for this must be frankincense.

JVext, Present to him thy myrrh, a chaste and mortified life. Let thine eyes, like the hands of the church, Cant. v. 5, 'drop down sweet-smelling myii'h.' Let them gush forth with penitent tears, and thy soul pour out floods of sorrow for thy offences. ' We have sinned, we have sinned: oh, let the Lord behold our oblation of myrrh, accept our repentance!'

Lastly, Thou must give thy gold also : a pure heart, tried in the furnace of afiliction, and sublimed from all corruption. And because God only knows the heart, and the world must judge by thy fruits ; give thy spiritual gold to Christ, and thy temporal gold to his poor members. Here take with thee three cautions:—

Caution 1 .—That all these gifts be derived from an honest heart. It is said of these magi, ' They opened their treasures, and presented unto him gifts.' Man's heart is his treasury; thou must open that when thou pre-sentest any gift to the Lord. He that comes with an open hand and a shut heart, shall be answered of God, as Belshazzar was of Daniel, ' Keep thy rewards to thyself, and give thy gifts to another.'

Caution 2.—That thy gifts observe the true latitude of devotion, which endeavours to extend itself to the glory of God, the good of thy brother, and the salvation of thy own soul. And to all these three may these three gifts of the wise men be referred. The incense of prayer respects God, the gold

of charity respects our neiglibour, and tlie myrrh of mortification respects ourselves.

Caution 3.—That yoii offer not only one, but all these. It hath been questioned whether these magi did offer singuli singula or singuli tria. But the consent of divines is, that they gave every one all, semel et simul. Thy oblation will not be welcome, if any of the three be missing ; give then all.

Some will give mjrrrh, but not frankincense; some will give frankincense, but not myrrh; and some wiU give myrrh and frankincense, but not gold.

First, Some will give myrrh,—a strict moral life, not culpable of any gross eruption or scandalous impiety ; but not frankincense. Their prayers are thin sown, therefore their graces cannot come up thick. Perhaps they feel no want; and then, you know, rarce fiimant felicihus aroe. In their thought they do not stand in any great need of God; when they do, they will offer him some incense. These live a morally honest life, but are scant of religious prayers ; and so may be said to offer myrrh without frankincense.

Secondly, Some will give frankincense,—pray frequently, perhaps tediously^ but they will give no myrrh,—not mortify or restrain their concupiscence. The Pharisees had many prayers, but never the fewer sin's. These m«ck God, that they so often beg of him that his will may be done, when they never subdue their affections to it. There are too many such among us, that will often join with the church in common devotions, who yet join with the world in common vices. These make great smokes of frankincense, but let not faU one drop of myrrh.

Thirdly, Some will give both myrrh and frankincense, but by no means thek gold. I will give, saith the worldling, a sober life,—there is my myrrh; I will say my prayers,—there is my frankincense; but do you think I will part with my gold'? This same gold lies closer in men's hearts than it doth in their purses. You may as well wring Hercules's club out of his fist, as a penny from their heaps to charitable uses.

You have read, 2 Sam. xxiv. 24, how Araunah, like a king, gave to the king oxen for sacrifice, and the instruments for fuel. But Da\dd answered, * Shall I offer burnt-offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing ?' These men will give God oblations, and enough, provided they cost them nothing. The usurer must save his gold for his idolatrous eye, the drunkard for his host, the lustful for his whore, the proud for his back, the epicure for his belly. Can you hope they will part from their gold?

' Avirum omnes, pulsa jam pietate. colunt.'

Oh, this damned sin of covetousness, how many it keeps from the grace of God and the gates of heaven ! Men think they can never have gold enough. They WTitc of the toad, that she eats of nothing but the earth, and thereof no more than she can hold in her foot at once; and the reason they give is, that she fears the earth would be wasted, and none left. A fit emblem of the covetous, who fear to take their portion of the things God hath given them under the sun, lest they should want ; when the bottom of their patrimony, moderately unravelled, would last to ten fnigal generations.

How this sickness grovels! How it stoops hiin into earth, into hell! This disease lies in men's bones, I have read of a beggar that passed by a company of rich men, and earnestly besought their alms, complaining that he had a secret disease lying in his bones, that he coifld not earn his living. They in charity gave him somewhat, and let him go. One amongst the rest following Mm, would needs know of him what that secret disease should be,

seeing that outwardly he seemed to ail nothing. Quoth the beggar, You cannot see it, for it lies in my bones; and some call it idleness. You see many a rich man, whose cup of wealth runs over; you wonder to see him so miserable, both to himself and others. Why, there is a disease that lies in his bones, that keej^s him from working the works of charity, from relieving his distressed brethren; you may call it covetousness. They wUl part with anything, so they may keep their gold. But we must give our gold too with the rest. If we offer not all, Christ will accept none.

I wUl end with a consolation; for who can shut up this story with a terror ? The Lord will so graciously provide for his, that in their gxcatest extremity they shall not be destitute of comfort. Though JIary travail in her travel,—for she was dehvered in Bethlehem, whither she came to be taxed, Luke ii., and'likely wanted necessary provision for her infant and herself,—behold, God will relieve their poverty, and send them gold from the east: as he once in a dearth provided for Jacob's family in Canaan, by a store of bread in Egypt. Comfort shall come when and whence we least expect it. Eocks shall yield water, ravens shall bring meat, rather than we shfill perish; even our enemies shall sustain us. ' I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsakei'i, nor his seed begging bread,' Ps. xxxvii. 25.

' By whom all things were made, and since have stood : By him they all shall work unto om* good:'

To whom be praise for ever! Amen.

THE WAY HOME.

And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. — Matt. II. 12.

When these wise men had presented to Christ their gifts; which, indeed, he first gave them, for the earth is his, and the fulness thereof; yet he rewards them. They emptied their treasures of gold, myrrh, and frankincense ; and he filled the treasure of their hearts with heavenly graces.

For their gold, he returns them pure wisdom. They were called wise men before; but their wisdom was infernal, downwards to hell, perhaps consulting with devils. Now he gives them ' wisdom from above, pure' and refined as gold, James iii. 17.

For their frankincense, he purgeth them of their former superstitious idolatries, from sacrificings to Satan; and instructs them to whom franldn-cense is due, and aU other offerings of piety : to their Creator and Sa^iour.

For their myrrh, he gives them charity, a true love to him that so truly loved them; and for his sake, a love to others. They made then a blessed exchange with Christ, when, for gold, frankincense, mjTrh, they received "wisdom, devotion, charity.

Now, to testify how highly the Lord favoured them, he speaks to them in a dream, and reveals his mind for the safety of his Son; ' that they should not return to Herod.' And to witness how truly they served the Lord, they gave obedience; ' they departed into their own country another way.'

The whole maybe distinguished into, I. An informing; II. A performuag: I. A word; II. A work.

God gives the word, the magi do the ivorTc. God doth inform, and they •perfoi-m. He instructeth, and they execute. He gives direction, they obedience. His word, informance, instruction, direction, is : 'He warned, them in a dream that they should not return to Herod.' Their work, performance, pliable obedience : ' They departed into their own country another way.'

I. In the direction or monition informing are considerable these three circumstances:—1. The men, xvise men, magicians; 2. The manner, in a dream; 3. The matter, that they shoidd not return to Herod.

1. The persons to whom God gave this admonition are expressly called wise men. Some say they were also great men. If so, then was this revelation made, (1.) Potentibus; (2.) Petentibus:'—

(1.) To great men. It is the opinion of some that these magi were kings; and that the evangelist in calling them wise men, gave them a more honourable title than if he had called them kings. So Ludolphus says that magus was in those days more noble than magnus. But we must loiow who they are that thus style them. Friars and Jesuits, such as can by no means endure the superiority of prmces; that are derisores hominum maxime poten-tum. Hereon some of them have mooted strange problems, able to fill whole volumes : An sacerdotes regibus 2)referendi, —Whether priests be not above kings ? But still the conclusion is against princes. Some more moderate on that side have confessed them not reges, but regulos, little Idngs, petty princes: like those one-and-thirty kings that conspired against Joshua, chap. xii. 24 ; or those fifty that met at Troy. There is a kind of king in France whom the common people call, Le Roi d^Yvetot. But that these were but three in number, and kings in power, it may be painted in a Popish window, is not in the Catholic's Bible, therefore needs not be in a Chiistian's creed.

(2.) Howsoever these magi were potentes or no, they were 2ietentes. Though they were great men, yet they humbly seek the greatest of men, yea, the great God, Jesus. And behold, graciously the Lord offers himself to their search : accorduig to his infallible promise, that he will be found out of aU that seek him. Dedit aspicieiitibus intellectum, qui prcestitit signum, et quod fecit intelligi, fecit inquiri^' So he offers himself to all faithful searchers. But we cannot find him we seek, unless he find us first ' that came to seek and to save that which was lost,' Luke xix. 10. We seek m vain, unless we seek Mm; and we seek him in vain, unless he find us. Nos ad se qiccerendum suscitat, se ad inveniendum porrigit,\ —He stirs up our hearts to seek him, and offers himself to be found. There was never faithful heart sought the Lord Jesus, but he found ' him whom his soul loved,' Cant. iii. 1. His patience might be exercised, his fidelity tried, his desires extended, by God's hiduig himself for a season. In the night of obscmity, security, ignorance, he may miss him, ver. 1. Though he incj^uire among the deepest philosophers, and honestest worldlings, ver. 2, he may not find him. But, ver. 3, the watchmen will bring him to him; yea, ver. 4, Christ himself will appear in gracious mercy. He may say for a while, as the poet of Anchises—

' QuD3 regio Christum ? quis liabet locus ? Illius ergo venimus,'—

Where is Christ ? In what country may I find him ? But the Lord Jesus will reveal himself; yea, meet him half-way, as the mercifid father met his unthrifty son when he returned, Luke xv. AVe shall conclude with joy: * We have found the Messias : even him of whom j\Ioses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth,' John i. 41, 45.

2. You hear the persons to whom this admonition was given : the next circumstance is the manner : in a dream.

I might here enter into a cloudy and confused discourse of dreams, till I had brought you all asleep. But I love not to fetch any bouts, where there is a nearer way. Herein 1 may say with Augustine,t ' I would to God I could discern between dreams.' Some are, (1.) Natm-al; some, (2.) Preternatural ; and others, (3.) Supernatural.

(1.) Natural; and such arise either from complexion or from affection.

[l.J From complexion or constitution. The sanguine hath merry dreams; the melancholy, sorrowful dreams; the choleric, dreams of fire, and such turbulent thoughts, the phlegmatic, of rain, of floods, and such watery

* Leo in loc. f Fulgent. J Ad Euodium, ep. 100,- et de Civit. Dei, cap. 20.

objects. And as these elemental liumours do abound in a man, the dreams have a stronger force, and more violent perturbation.

[2.] From affection : what a man most desires, he soonest dreams of.

* Omnia qua) seusu volvuntur vota divimo,

Tempore nocturno reddit arnica quies, Venator defessa toro dum membra reponit.

Mens tamen ad silvas et sua lustra redit. Gaudet amans furto : permutat navita merces:

Et vigil elapsas quserit avarus opes.' *

So Augustine :t Somniimi nascitur ex studiis prceteritis, —What man desires in the day, he dreams in the night. The hunter's mind is in the forest, whiles his wearied bones are reposed on a soft bed. The soldier di-eams of batteries, assaults, encounters; the lawyer, of quirks and demurs; the citizen, of tricks and^frauds; the musician, of crotchets; the Semmary, of equivocations. The glutted epicure dreams of dainty dishes and fat morsels. The thirsty drunkard dreams of his liquor; ' and, behold, he drinketh ; but awake, his thii'st is not satisfied,' Isa. xxix. 8. The usurer dreams of his trmiks, and that he is telling his gold; and starts, as if eveiy rat were a thief breaking in upon him. The timorous dream that they are flying before overtaking danger. The lustful imagines his desired embracings. The angry, that he is fighting, killing, spoUuag. The secure, that they are whistling, singuig, dancing. The jealous dreams of his Avife's errors, when she lies chastely by his side. The ambitious, that he is kissing the king's hand, and mounted into the saddle of honour. The overcharged mind dreams of his employment ; ' for a dream cometh through the multitude of business,' Eccles. V. 3.

(2.) Preternatural: and these are either ad errorem or ad terrorem. Whereof the first is wrought by Satan pennittente Deo, God suffering it ; the second by God, mediante diabolo, Satan being a mediate instrument.

[1.] There are dreams for error, wrought by the mere illusion of Satan : whom God once suffered to be a lying spkit in the mouth of four hundred prophets. He working upon men's affections, incHnations, and humours, causeth in them such dreams as seduce them to wickedness, and induce them to wretchedness. They write of one Amphiaraus, an Argive soothsayer, that by a dream he was brought to the Theban voyage ; where hiatii terrcs ahsorhetur, —he was swallowed up of the earth. So Pharaoh's baker was encouraged to hopeful error by a dream, Gen. xl. 16. So was that monstrous host of !Midian overthrown by a dream of a barley-cake, that hit a tent and overwhelmed it, Judg. vii 13, which was interpreted the sword of Gideon.

[2.] For terror. Job says, that Deus terret per somnia, et per visiones hor-rorem incidit, —God strikes terror into the hearts of the wicked by dreams : as a mains genius is said to appear to Brutus the night before his death ; or as the face of Hector was presented to Andromache. Polydore Virgil records the dream of that bloody tyrant, Richard the Thii-d, that in a dream, the night before the battle of Bosworth-ficld, he thought all the devils ia hell were haling and tugging him in pieces ; and all those whom he had murdered ciying and shrieking out vengeance against him : though he thinks this was more than a dream. Id credo nonfuisse somnium, sed con-sdentiam scelerum, —He judged it not so much a dream as the guilty conscience of his ovm wickedness. So to Fiobert Winter, one of the powder traitors, in a dream appeared the ghastly figTU'es and distracted visages of his

* Claudian. in Prsct,, lib, iii. + -Lib. de Spiritu et Anima, cap. 25,

cliief friends and confederates in that treason; not unlike the very same manner wherein they after stood on the pinnacles of the Parliament-house.

(3;) Supernatural; such as are sent by divine inspiration, and must have a divine interpretation. Such were the dreams of Pharaoh expounded by Joseph; the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar declared by Daniel. Of these were two sorts:—

[1.] Some were mj^stical; such as those two kings" dreams, and Pharaoh's two officers', whose exposition is only of God. So Joseph answers : 'Are not interpretations of the Lord?' Gen. xl. 8. So Nebuchadnezzar to Daniel: ' Thou art able, for the spirit of the holy God is in thee,' Dan. iv. 18. The sorcerers and astrologers dearly acknowledged their ignorance with their lives, Dan. ii. 13. Thus Pharaoh may dream, but it is a Joseph that must expound it. It is one thing to have a representation objected to the fantasy, another thing to have an intellectual light given to understand it.

[2.] Others are demonstrative; when the Lord not only gives the dream, but also withal the understanding of it. Such were Daniel's dreams, and these wise men's, and Joseph's in this chapter. Wherein was a \ision and provision : a vision what to do ; a provision that no harm might come to Jesus. These dreams were most specially incident to the New Testament, when God at the very rising of the sun began to expel the shadows of dark mysteries : ' And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon aU flesh : and your sons and your daughters shaE prophesy, ancl your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams,' Acts ii. 17. Now the sun is gotten up into the midst of heaven,—the gospel into the full strength,—these shadows vanish : the more light the less shadow.

So that now to expect revelation of things by dreams, were to entreat God to lend us a candle whiles we have the bright sun. The superstitious Papists are still full of these dreams; and find out more mysteries in their sleep than they can well expound waking. The Abbot of Glastonbury, when Ethelwold was monk there, dreamt of a tree whose branches were all covered with monks' cowls, and on the highest bough one cowl that overtopped aU the rest; which must needs be expounded the fixture greatness of this Ethelwold. But it is most admirable how the Dominic friars make shift to expound the dream of Dommic's mother, which she had when she was with child of him : that she had in her womb a wolf with a burning torch in his mouth. Say what they wiU, a wolf is a wolf still: and that order hath ever carried a burning torch to scorch their mother, the church. But there is no dream of theirs without an interpretation, without a prediction. And if the event answer not their foretelling, they expound it after the event. If one of them chance to dream of a green garden, he goes presently and makes his will. Or if another dream that he shakes a dead friend by the hand, he is ready to call to the sexton for a grave; takes solemn leave of the world, and says he cannot live.

Beloved, God hath not grounded our foith upon dreams, nor ' cunningly devised fables,' 2 Pet. i. 16; but on the holy gospel, wiitten by his servants in books, and by his Spirit in the tables of our hearts. They that will believe dreams and traditions above God's sacred word, let them hear and fear their judgment, 2 Thess. ii. 11, Tor this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie : that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.' Banish from your hearts this superstitious folly, to repose any confidence on dreams. But if you desii-e to make any use of dreams, let it be this. Consider thy-

self in thy dreaming, to what inclination thou- art mostly carried; and so by thy thoughts in the night, thou shalt learn to know thyself in the day. Be thy dreams lustful; examine whether the addictions of thy heart run not after the bias of concupiscence. Be they turbulent; consider thy own contentious disposition. Be they revengeful ; they point to thy malice. Run they upon gold and riches; they argue thy covetousness,

Thus God may be said to teaoh a man by his dreams still: non qtoid erit, sed qualis est, —not what shall be, but what he is; not future event, but present condition may be thus learned. Neither day nor night scapes a good man without some profit: the night teacheth him what he is, as the day what he should be. Therefore said a philosopher, that all waking men are in one common world; but in sleep every man goes into a world by himself. For his dreams do signify to him those secret mclinations to which he thought himself a stranger, though they were home-dwellers in his heart. Even those fancies are speaking images of a man's disposition. And as I have heard of some that talk in their dreams, and then reveal those secrets which awake they would not have disclosed, so may thy dreams tell thee when thou wakest what kind of man thou art. The hypocrite dreams of dissimulation; the proud woman, of pamt and colours; the thief, of robbery and booties; the Jesuit, of treasons. Let them ask their very sleep, quales sint, what manner of men they are. For so lightly they answer temptations actually waking, as their thoughts do sleeping. Thus only a man may make good use of his dreams.

Here let us observe, that God doth sometimes draw men to him suis ipsorum studiis, —by their own delights and studies. No doubt these magi were well acquainted with dreams, it being amongst the Ethnics and Peripatetics a special object of divination. Therefore there is a book bearing the name of Aristotle, De divinatione per somnium. Many errors these men had swallowed by dreams ; now, behold, in a dream they shall receive the truth. So God called them by a star whose profession was to rely too much on the stars. Quare 2>^i' stellam ? ut per Christum, ipsa materia erroris, Jieret salutis occasio,* —Why by a star 1 That through Jesus Christ the very matter of their error might be made a means of their salvation. Per ea illos voccsi, quce familiaria illis consuettido fecit, —God calls them by those things which custom had made familiar to them. TJhey that are stung with scorpions, must be ciired by the oil of scorpions. Thus God allures men to him as fishermen fishes, with such baits as may be somewhat agreeable to them. Paul is occasioned by the ' altar to the unknown God,' Acts xvii. 23, to make known the true God, the everlasting Jesus. Doth David love the sheep-folds? He shaU be a shepherd still: Ps. Ixxviii. 71, ' From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.' Doth Peter love fishing ? He shall go a-fishing still, though for more noble creatures; to catch souls. Do these magicians love stars and dreams 1 Behold, a star and a dream shall instrupt them in the truth of God. Old Isaac takes occasion by the smell of his • son's garments, savouring of the field, to pronounce a spiritual blessing : Gen. xxvii 27, ' The smeU of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed.' Jerome notes of Amos, that he begins his prophecy with roaring,—' The Lord shall roar from Zion,' Amos i. 2,—because he being a field-man, kept the woods, where he was wonted to the roaring of lions. Judoei sir/na quarimt ? —' Do the Jews seek a sign 1 ' Why Christ wiU there, even among them, work his miracles. Doth Augustine love eloquence ? * Claiysolog. Horn. 6 in Matth. VOL. LL B

Ambrose sliall catch him at a sermon. ' All things shall work to their good,' Eom. viii. 28, that are good : omnia, etiam peccata, —all things, even their very sins, saith Augustine. Montaigne in his Essays writes, that a libidinous gentleman sporting with a courtezan in a house of sin, chanced to ask her name; which she said was Mary. Whereat he was stricken with such a remorse and reverence, that he instantly not only cast off the harlot, but amended his whole future life.

Well-beloved, since this is God's mercy to allure us to him by our own delights, let us yield ourselves to be caught. What scope doth thy addiction level at, that is not sinful, which God's word doth not promise and afford 'i What delight can you ask which the sanctuary gives not 1 Love you hunting 1 Learn here to hunt ' the foxes, the little cubs,' those crafty sins skulking in your bosoms, Cant. ii. 15. Would you dance 1 Let your hearts keep the measures of Christian joy ; and leap, like John the Baptist in Elizabeth's womb, at the salvation of Jesus. Delight you in running ? Paul sets you a race : ' So run that ye may obtain,' 1 Cor. is. 24. You shall have good company : David promiseth, that he ' will run the way of God's commandments,' Ps. cxix. 32. Peter and John will run with you to Jesus. Love you music 1 Here are the bells of Aaron still ringing; the treble of mercy, and the tenor of judgment, Ps. ci. 1 : Levi's lute, and David's harp. There are no such songs as the songs of Zion. Would you be merry 1 ' Eejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, Rejoice,' Phil. iv. 4. If ever you found joy like this joy,—'the peace of conscience, and joy of the Holy Ghost,' Rom, xiv. 17,—back again to the world. Lovest thou dainty cheer ] Here be the best cates, the body and blood of thy Saviour, the bread of life; no hunger after it. WUt thou drink much ? ' Drink my wine and my milk; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved,' Cant. v. 1. Bihite et inebriamini, as the original imports,—drink, and be drunken with loves; pledge the health that Christ began, even ' a saving health to all nations.' Are you ambitious ? There is no preferment like that is to be had here, in the court of the King of kings. David judged it no little thing to be son-in-law to a king; but what is it then to be a king ? Desire you stately buildings ? Alas ! the whole world is but a cottage, a poor transient tabernacle, to the mansions promised by Christ, John xiv. 2. Lastly, are you covetous ? Yet I need not ask that question, but take it as granted. Why, then, here is gold; more precious than that of Arabia, or of Havilah. Rust or thief may distress that; this is a treasure can never be lost. What should I say more 1 What can win you ? Which way soever your desire stands, God doth allure you. The best things in earth or in heaven are your bait. With these doth the Lord seek you ; not for any need that he hath of you, but for your own salvation. When the fairest of all beloveds doth thus woo us, let him win us; and espouse us to himself in grace, that we have the plenary marriage in glory. You see the manner of their warning.

3. The matter : that they should not return to Herod. Why not to Herod ? Because the Lord now lets them see his hj^pocrisy. For howsoever he pretended, ver. 8, 'to come and worship him;' yet he intended not servire, but scevire, —not to honour him, but to murder him. He aiUs the wise men privily, as if he quaked at the propagation of this news, for it came upon him like the pangs of death. He commands them to inquii'e de infante, not de rege, —of the babe, not of the king ; for that title galled him to the eartli. ' That I may worship him.' Dirum/acinus tingit colore pietatis, —It is a monstrous wickedness, which he would dye in the colours of godliness.

The Lord doth disappoint the purposes of tyrants. Though their bows be

bent, and their swords whetted, yet the mark shall be removed; and they shall rather wound themselves than the innocent. Though they be ' great with child of iniquity, and conceive mischief, yet they shall bring forth but falsehood,' Ps. vii. 14. Though those Jews had ' bound themselves under a curse neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul,' Acts xsiii. 12 ; yet if they had kept their vow, they had fasted to death. Though Sennacherib purposed to swallow up Jerusalem at a morsel ; yet the Lord mocked his menaces : ' He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor cast a bank against it,' Isa. xxxviL 33.

Herod made himself sure of Christ, but the Lord deceived him again and again. First he stroke him with extreme sottishness; that learning by the wise men the birth of Christ, though the matter in his thought touched his crown, he sends none of his courtiers with them under pretence of gratifying them; which might so have seized on that innocent Lamb, and not worshipped, but worried him. But the Lord so confounded his wits with the spirit of giddiness, that the magi go alone. Next, now that his bloody hopes depend upon their return, behold they are sent home ' another way.' So that, ver. 1G, * he saw that he was mocked.' Herod mocked the wise men, and God shall direct the wise men to mock Herod. He pretended to adore whom he did abhor; and they do cum vulpe vulpinare, —beguile the fox ; yea, rather oviciUa lujnivi fallit, —the lamb deceives the wolf. Simplicity goes beyond subtlety. A cane non magno scepe tenetur aper. Here was Herod's folly, that he would not suffer the King of the whole world to be king in Jewry; that in fear of a successor, he would kill his Saviour. Nay further, for fear of a strange heir, he kiUs his own heir. Which occasioned Augustus t© say, that it was better being Herod's hog than his heir. Here, then, see his cruelty : if his strength cannot take Jesus, he will try his cunning; and last, when his cunning faUs, he falls to open violence again,

* sending forth men of war.' Thus when tyrants fail in their politicians' rhetoric, they faU to the carters' logic.

II. You see the informance; let us look upon their performance : ' They departed into their own country another way.' All which (wanting time to prosecute the history) I wUl apply to ourselves. Their course home shall teach us a course to our home, even to heaven and glory; wherein I desire to observe these cii-cumstances :—1. Ourselves naturally lost; 2. Our finding of Christ; 3. Our charge not to return to Herod ; but, 4. To go to our own country; and, 5. That by another way.

1. Let it be granted that we have all wandered from the way of life : Isa. liiL 6, ' All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way.' I would to God every one would sentire, feel this in particular; and not only consentire, consent to it in general. * I am not come to call the righteous,' saith Christ, * but sinners to repentance,' Matt. ix. 13. And, Luke XV., he leaves the hypocritical justiciaries to their own high-conceited purity, and seeks the lost sheep. We may here pause, and wonder at our

, misery, at his mercy. We were so lost, that we could never find him; he is so good, that he sought and found us. Invenit non qiicei'entes, non i^erdet inventos, —He found us, not seeking him; being found, he will not lose us.

* Come to me, all that labour and are heavy laden, and I wiU give you rest,' Matt. xi. 28. The proud sinner who doth not find his sin, the careless who doth not feel his sin, is not called. Only sentieniibiis morbum promiitiiur medicina, —health is promised to those that feel their sickness.

2. Christ calls us ; but how shall we come 1 Behold, he sends us a star for direction, his holy word: John vi. QS, 'Lord, to whom shall we go?

Thou hast the words of eternal life.' Would you come to him that is vita, the life ? You must come by him that is via, the way. It is he quo eiindum, whither we would go ; it is he qua eundum, by which we must go. To his word then let us come with an honest heart: not to sleep, not to carp, not to gaze; but to observe attentively, to remember faithfully, and to practise obedientlj', what is there taught us. Neither must God only, for his part, afford us a star for gandance; but we must also, for our part, bring feet to walk to him. These are three :—

(1.) Contrition : a heart truly sorrowful for our former iniquities. He that is cast down by repentance shall be raised up with joy. It is not possible to walk to God without this foot. He that goes to heaven must wash his steps with tears. And he that hath this foot shall make large paces to glory. Though he hath long lingered, he will now haste ; as the malefactor stejjped by this foot from the cross to paradise.

(2.) Faith. Sorrow may cast down too fast, too far. Though the head have leave to ache, yet let not the hand of faith be wanting to hold it. Though the eye be blubbered with tears, yet must it look through all that water to the clear sun, Jesus Christ, When the law hath done its office in making thy sin manifest, thank it, and take thy leave of it ; as thou wouldest do of a friend that hath done thee a good turn, but now grows troublesome. Put iloses behind thee, saith Luther ; and fix thine eyes upon Christ, that ' Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world,' John i. 29. Without this foot thou shalt step short of comfort. Faith must bring thee to the fountain of that blood which shall ' wash away all thy sins,' 1 John 1.7.

(3.) Obedience. This foot must be continually used; all the days of thy life must thou travel in the ways of God with this foot. It knows and keeps celerity, integrity, constancy.

[1.] Celerity : ' I will run the way of thy commandments,' Ps. cxix. 32. It makes haste, knowing that God will not be pleased with haltmg obedience, or with that zeal that only goes a parliament-pace. The cripple was carried to the temple. Acts iii. : God loves not such limping zeal, that is carried to church on two crutches, law and custom; but that which, with Peter and John, runs to the place where Christ is. But it is God that ' maketh our feet like the feet of hinds,' Ps. xviii. 33.

[2.] Integrity: it turns not to the right hand nor to the left, but goes straight on, ' running with patience the race that is set before it,' Heb. xii. 1. Therefore, saith the Apostle, ' make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way,' ver, 13 ; for all false ways the Lord doth utterly abhor. ' The wicked walk on every side,' Ps. xii. 8; they have circular goings on every side of the truth, but the true way they cannot find. But integrity is not so light-heeled, to skip out of the way of righteousness at every dog that reproachfully barks at it, nor at eveiy Siren that temptingly would call it aside. The devil, with all his force of terror or error, cannot seduce it.

[3.] Constancy: it is ever travelling, though through many hindrances. It hath a heavy load of flesh to burden it, and to make every step tedious, yet it goes. Cares for family, troubles of contentious neighbours, frowning of great adversaries, the malicious turbulency of the world, all offer to stay it, but it goes on. As if it had received the apostles' commission. Salute none of these remoras by the way, it resteth not till it see the salvation of Ood. The Lord 'delivers the feet from falling, that it may walk before God in the light of the living,' Ps. Ivi. 13.

3. We must not return back to Herod. Why not to Herod ? He was a fit type of the devil; and they that are recovered and escaped from him should not fall back into his clutches. The devil is like Herod, both for his subtlety and cruelty. The Herods were all dissemblers, all cruel. There was Herod Ascalonita, Herod Antipas, and Herod Agrippa, all cruel in the butchering of God's saints.

' Ascalonita uecat pueros, Antipa Johaiinem, Agrippa Jacobum, mittitque in carcere Petrum.'

Ascalonita makes an earnest show of zeal to Christ, but he desired not sub-jicere se Christo, sed sibi Christum, —not to become subject to Christ, but to make Christ the subject of his fiiry. Antipas seemed to love John the Baptist, but he suffers a dancing foot to kick off his head. The cruelty of the other Herod was monstrous. He slew all those whom he could suspect to issue from the line of David, all the infants of Bethlehem under two years old, at one slaughter. He slew his kindred, his sister, his wife, his son.^ He cut the throats of many noble Jews whiles he lay on his deathbed. Yea, he made it in his will, that so soon as ever the breath was out of his body, all the sons of the nobler Jews, shut up mto a safe place, should be instantly slain, to bear him company. By this means he resolved that some should lament his death, which otherwise would have been the cause of great joy. A wretched testament, and fit for such a devil to make.

That devil we are charged not to return to exceeds this both in subtlety and cruelty, even as much as a father may his son. Herod was not so perfect a master of his art. The wise men deceived Herod; he must be a wise man indeed that overreaches Satan. Herod was a bungler to him : he trusted to instruments to destroy Christ; the devil looks to that business himself. * He can transform himself into an angel of Ught;' and rather than not draw men to hell, he will dissemble a love to heaven. He will speak good, that he may work evil; and confess the truth, that thereby he may procure credit to greater falsehood. He can stoop to the reprobate, like a tame horse, till they get up and ride him; but when he hath them on his back, he runs post with them to hell.

When he hath thus exercised his pohcy, will he spare his power ? When his fox's part is done, he begins his lion's. Blood, massacre, destruction, are his softest embraces; horror and amazement are the pleasures of his court; ' Kni, kUl, burn, bum,' is the lang-uage of his tongue, to those miserable wretches which must ever be burning, never consumed, ever in suffering, and never die. Oh, then, let us never return to Herod, nor venture on his mercy ! The poor bird that hath escaped the hawk's talons is careful to avoid his walk. The strayed lamb, fallen into the wolf's cave, and delivered by the shepherd, will no more straggle out of the flock. If the Lord Jesus hath sought and brought us to himself by the star of his gospel, let us no more go back to Herod; flying the works of darkness, and serving the living God with an upright heart. Indeed, they that are truly freed from his servitude will never more become his vassals. Many seem escaped that are not. If the adulterer return, like the ' hog to the mire,' and the drunkard, ' like the dog to his vomit,' 2 Pet. ii. 22, it is likely that they love Herod well, for they go back to him. The minister may desire to ' offer them up a living sacrifice to the Lord,' Rom. xv. 16, but, Uke wild beasts, they break the rope, and will not be sacrificed. But we, ' being delivered by Christ out of

* Joseph. Antiq., lib. xvii., cap. 8.

the liands of our enemies, must serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness, all the daj-s of our life,' Luke i. 74,

4. We must go to our own country. In this world we are but strangers : though perhaps we think too well of these vanities, yet they are but foreign things; we have another home. We may be ravished with this earth, as Peter wdth Tabor,— Bonum hie, It is good being here,—but if we look up to that heaven which is our country, mundi calcamus inutiU jMndiis. Behold, the very outside is fair: the outmost walls are beautified with glorious lights ; every one as a world for greatness, so a heaven for goodhness. All those spangles be as radiant stones, full of lustre, pure gold to the dross of earthly things. What may we, then, think there is within 1

Yea, whatsoever the wicked think, yet this world is but the thoroughfare ; and it is not their home neither, though indeed they have their portion in this life. It is said of Judas going to hell, that ' he went to his own place,' Acts i. 25; therefore that, and not this, is their own country, as sure as they think themselves of this world. In heaven there is all life, no death; in hell, all death, no life ; on earth, men both live and die, passuig through it as the wilderness, either to Egypt or Canaan, This earth, as it is between both, so it prepares us for both, and sends every one to their own country— eternal joy, or everlasting sorrow.

He tliat here dies to sin shall hereafter live in heaven; he that lives in sin shall hereafter die in hell. All sojourn either with God, feeding on his graces, or with Satan, surfeiting on his iniquities. They that wiU have Satan for their host in transgression shall afterwards be his guests in perdition. But they that obey God as their Master shall also have him their Father, and that for ever.

Contemn we, then, this world. What though we have many sorrows here, and a succession of miseries, we are not at home. What stranger looks for kind usage amongst his enemies 1 As well might the captive Jews expect quiet among the Babylonians. Thou art sure of a country wherein is peace. In that heaven the wicked have no part, though here much pleasure. When thou considerest this truly, thou wouldst not change portions with them. Let it be comfort sufficient, since we cannot have both, that we have by many degrees the better.

Their own country. —Heaven is our own country. Ours, ordained for us by God the Father : Matt. xxv. 31, ' Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit ye the kingdom.' Ours, purchased for us by God the Son : Heb. x. 19, ' We have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.' Ours, sealed to us by God the Holy Ghost : Eph. iv. 30, ' The Spirit of God seals us up to the day of redemption;' Kom. viii. 16, ' The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.'

Ours thus, tliough we are not yet fully entered into it. Habevms jus ad rem, nondum in re, —We arc heirs to it, though now we be but wards. Our minority bids and binds us to be servants : Gal. iv. 1, ' The heir, as long as he is a child, differs nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all.' When we come to full years, a perfect growth in godliness, in mensuram staturcc adulti Christi, —'to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ,' Eph, iv. 13,—we shall have a plenary possession.

It is ours already, not in re, but iri spe; as Augustine. Our common law distinguisheth between two manner of freeholds : a freehold in deed, when a man hath made his entry upon lands, and is thereof really seized ; a freehold in law, when a man hath right to possessions, but hath not made his actual entry. So Is this country ours ; ours ienore Juris, though not yet

jure tenoris, —ours in tlie iiilieritance of tlie possession, tliough. not in the possession of the inheritance. To this country, our country, let us travel; and that we may do it the better—

5. The last circumstance shews us how : * another way.' We must change the whole course of our inordinate conversation, and walk another way— even the King's highway to Paradise. Immiitatio vice emendatio vitce^'' —The changing of the way is the amending of our Ufe. Eepentance must teach us to tread a new path. To man truly penitent, optimus j^rtus est mutatio con-silii,f —the best haven is the change of his life : ' not to turn again by the same way that he came,' 1 Kings xiii. 9. Thus must we renounce our own wills and old ways, and, being made new creatures, take new paths. So Gregory : ' We departed from our country by pride, disobedience, doting on \'isiblG delights, and pleasing the lusts of the flesh : we must therefore return by humility, obedience, contemning the world, and condemning the flesh.' Qid (i Faradisi gandiis per delectationera recessimics, ad hcec pier ■pcenitentiam, tanquam j)er novam viam, revocamur, —We that departed from Paradise by sin, must return thither by a new way—repentance. Hast thou walked in lust ? Take another way—by purity and chastity. Didst thou travel with pride ? There is another way to heaven—humility : ' Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,' Matt. v. 3. Wert thou given to avarice 1 There is a new way to heaven—by charity : 'Ye have fed me hungry,' &c., 'therefore come, ye blessed,' Matt, xxv. Didst thou trudge with contention, and molesting thy neighbours with suits ? This is the way to Westminster Hall; there is ' another way' to heaven : Matt. v. 9, ' Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God.' Didst thou trade in usury? This is the way to the Exchange; thou must exchange this way if thou wilt come to glory. Hast thou foraged with oppression ? Thou must, with Zaccheus, seek out another way : Luke xix. 8, ' If I have taken anything from any man by false dealing, I restore him fourfold.' Let the drunken epicure, malicious repiner, seditious incendiary, dissembling hj^DOcrite, unjust oppressor, leave their wretched paths, and seek another way to happiness. God give us aU grace to find this way of repentance, that we may come at last to our own country—peace and rest with Jesus Christ! Amen.

* Euseb. Horn. 1 de EpipL t TertuL

THE GOOD POLITICIAN DIEECTED.

Be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. — Matt. X. 16.

Out of every creature (simply considered) there is some good to be learned. The divine poet* sweetly—

* The world's a school, where in a general story God always reads dumb lectures of his glory.'

It is a three-leaved book—heaven, earth, and sea; and every leaf of this book, every line of every leaf, every creature in this universe, can read to man, for whom they were made, a divinity lecture. In a speaking sUence they preach to us that Deity which made both them and us, and them for us. Seculum speculum, —the world is a glass wherein we may behold our Creator's majesty. From the highest angel to the lowest worm, all in.struct us somewhat. For one and the same almighty hand, that made the angels in heaven, made also the worms on earth. Non superior in illis, non hv-ferior in istis.f f Besides this general lecture, they have aU their particular schools : Solomon sends us to the ant to learn providence, Prov. vi. 7 ; Isaiah to the ox to learn thankfulness, Isa. i. 3. Many beasts do excel man in many natural

things :—

' Nos aper auditu prseceUit, aranea tactu, Vultur odoratu, lynx visu, simia gustu/—

The boar excels us in hearing, the spider in touching, the vulture in smelling, the lynx in seeing, the ape in tasting. Some have observed that the art of curmg the eyes was first taken from the swallows. The eagles have taught us architecture; we received the light of phlebotomy from the hippopotamus. The Egyptian bird, ibis, first gave to physicians knowledge how to use the I,, clyster. The spider taught us to weave. Here the serpent instructs us in policy, the dove in simplicity.

Now we are fallen among serpents, stinging serpents, enemies to man \ can we fetch away any good from them ? Yes, those very venomous and malicious creatures shall afi"ord us documenta^ not nocumenta; they shall teach us, not touch us. I may say of them, as it is said of the Jews, Hostes sunt in cordihus, suffragatores in codicihus, —They are our enemies in their hearts, our friends in their books. The malice of serpents is mortal, their use shall * Du Bartas, let day, 1st week. + Aug. Solil., cap. 9.

be \ital. So it may, so it shall, if our sobriety keep tlie allowed compa-ss ; for our imitation is limited and qualified. We must not be in all points like serpents, nor in all respects like doves ; but in some, but in this : ' Be ye wise as serpents, harmless as doves.' Perhaps other uses might be ac- 1 commodated: as the serpent might teach us how with wisdom to dwell below on the earth, and the dove with wings of innocence to fly up to heaven above. We may in earthly matters keep a serpentine and winding motion; but to heaven, with the dove, we must have a straight course. But I confine my-seK to the pith of the text and our Saviour's meaning : * Be wise as serpents^ innocent as doves.' J

The words may (not unfitly) be distinguished into—I. A perhibition; and II, A cohibition: as it were the reins and the curb, I. The perhibition, allowance, or reins : ' Be wise as serpents,' II. The cohibition, corrective, restraint, or curb : * Be harmless as doves,'

They must go hand in hand, without disjunction. United they are commodious, parted dangerous. There is a necessity of their union to our peace: divide them, and you lose yourselves. Wit without innocence will offend others; innocence without wit will not defend ourselves. Prudentia sine simjylicitate malitia; simplicitas sine 2y'>'uclentia stultitia, —Wit without innocence is wickedness; innocence without wit is foolishness. Whosoever hath the one and wants the other, must needs be either guilty of folly or of dishonesty. Lest we be too crafty, and circumvent others, let us keep the innocency of the dove; lest we be too simple, and others circumvent us, let us keep the wisdom of the serpent.

I. Let us first see from the serpent how we should be wdse, and then go to the dove for innocence. Six principal lessons of wisdom the serpent may teach us :—

1. Their first policy is by all possible means to defend their head. If they must encounter with danger, they expose their whole body to it; but howsoever they will safeguard their head. They write of them, that although all a serpent's body be mangled, unless his head be cut off, (which he cunningly hides,) by a kind of attractive power and vigour, one part wUl come to another again.

This is to us a singular document of wisdom, to look well to our Head. Christ is our Head; and the sinews and nerves that knit us to him are our faith and hope : let us preserve these undaunted, undamaged. We fight against an enemy that seeks especially to wound us there. He strikes indeed at every place : he hath, saith Jerome, nomina mille, viille nocendi artes ; therefore Paul chargeth us, Eph. vi. 11, to 'put on the whole armour of God, that we may be able to stand against all the wiles of the devil.' But especially look to the head: ver. 16,17, 'Above all, take the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation;' save the head. Protect all parts, if it be possible; let not oppression wound thee in the hand, nor blasphemy in the tongue, nor wantonness in the eye, nor covetousness in the heart; but howsoever shield thy head : lose not thy hope of salvation, thy faith in Jesus Christ.

Homo qui hahet se, hdbet totum in se, said the jjhilosopher,—He that hath himself, hath all in himself But ille hahet se, qui hahet Christum, et ille hahet Christum, qui hahet fidem, —he hath himself that hath Christ, and he hath Christ that hath faith. Whatsoever you lose, lose not this ; though you lose your loves, though you lose your lives, keep the faith, ' I will trust in thee, though thou kill me,' saith Job, chap, xiii, 15. 'I have kept the faith,' saith Paul, 2 Tim. iv. 7, though ' I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus,' Gal. vi. 17, If insatiate death be let alone, to cut us into pieces mth

tlie sword, to grind ns into the maws of beasts, to burn us in the fire to ashes ; yet so long as our Head, Christ, is safe, he hath the serpent's attractive power to draw us to him. * Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am,' John xvii. 24. The more we are cut off, the more we are united; death, whiles it strives to take us from him, sends us to him. Keep faith in the Head, With what mind soever Seneca wrote it, I know to good use I may speak it : Malo mihi successum deesse, quam Jidem, —I had rather want success than faith. Fidem qui perdidit, nil hahet tdtra quod 2)e)'dat, —He that hath lost his faith, hath nothing else to lose. But it is the Lord that preserves the head. ' 0 God, the strength of my salvation; thou hast covered my head in the day of battle,' Ps. cxl. 7.

2. The next policy in serpents is to stop their ears against the noise of the charmers. This is one of the similitudes which the Psalmist gives between the T\icked and serpents : Ps. Iviii, 4, 5, ' Their poison is like the poison of a sequent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.' This charming, as they write, was invented in the eastern countries, where they were pestered with abundance of serpents; which music the serpent hearing, wisely distrusting his own strength, thinks it the surest course to stop his ears. This he doth by couching one ear close to the ground, and covering the other -with his voluminous tail.

The incantations of this world are as often sung to us, as those charms to the serpents; but we are not so wise as serpents to avoid them. Sometimes a Siren sings us the charms of lust; and thus a weak woman overcomes him thftt overcame the strong lion.

' Lenam non potuit, potuit superare lerenam. Quern fera non valuit vincere, vicit hera/

says the epigrammatist. ' He goeth after her straightway :' though ' her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death,' Prov. vii. 22. Sometimes Satan comes to us like a goldfinch, and whistles to us a note of usury, to the tune of ten in the hundred; we are caught presently, and fall a-dancing after his pipe. Sometimes, like Alecto, he charms us a madrigal of revenge for private wrongs; instantly we are caught with malice, destruction sits in our looks. Not seldom he comes to a man with a drunken carol, —Lay thy penny to mine, and we will to the wine,—he is taken suddenly; he runs to it, though he reels from it. He sings the slothful a Dormi secure ; and he will sleep, though his ' damnation sleepeth not,' 2 Pet. ii. 3. Yea, there are not wanting that, let him sing a song of blasphemy, they will swear with him. Let him begin to rail, they will libel mth him. Let his incantation be treason, and they will answer him in gunpowder. Yea, let him charm with a charm, a witless, senseless sorcery, and if a tooth aches, or a hog groans, they will admit it, admire it. Of such folly the very serpents shall condemn us.

But as open-eared as men are to these incantations of the devil and sin, let the musical bells of Aaron be rung, the sweet songs of Zion sung, they will not listen; they will not be channed with all our cunning. So that we shall be fain to send them to the judgment-seat of God, with this scroll on their foreheads, Noluerunt incantarl, —Lord, we have done our best, but this people would not be charmed.

3. Their third policy. They fly men's society as known enemies; and rather choose a wilderness, seeking peace among briars and thorns. And may they not herein teach us with Moses, * rather to choose afiiiction' in a

wilderness ' with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season,' Heb. xi. 25. Much hath been, and may be, said to lessen men's dotage to the world; and yet one word I must add—

* Non quia vos nostra sperem prece posse moveri.'

Did ever any of you know what the peace of conscience and joy of the Holy Ghost is ? Whiles that comfort and jubilation dwelt in your heart, I ask you how the world stood in your sight 1 Stood it not like a deformed witch, devils sucking on her breasts; a shoal of ugly sins sitting like screech-owls on her head; blood and massacres besmearing her face; lies, blasphemies, perjuries, waiting at her beck; extortion and oppression hanging on her arms; wickedness and wretchedness filling both her hands; the cries, groans, and imprecations of widows and orphans sounding in her ears; heaven thundering vengeance on her head; and the enlarged gates of the infernal pit yawning to entertain her.

Is this your paramour, 0 ye worldlings 1 Is this the beauty you hazard a soul to get 1 0 munde immunde, evU-favoured world, that thou shouldest have so many lovers ! Ecce ruinosus est mimdus, et sic cmiatur: quid si perfectus esset ? Quid for mosics facej^et, quum deforinis sic adoratur ;* —If the world being ruinous so pleaseth men, what would it do if it were sound and perfect ? If it were fair and beauteous, how would we dote on it, that thus love it deformed 1 But how rare a man is he qtd iiihil habet coimmme cum ^ secido,f —that hath no conmiunion with this world! that retires himself ' like the serpent, and doth not intricate his mind in these worldly snares; who does not watch with envy, nor travel with avarice, nor climb with ambition, nor sleep with lust under his pillow !

But for all this, vincet amor 7nundi. iloney and vrealth must be had, though men refuse no way on the left hand to get it. We may charge them nummos x)ropter Deum expendere, —to lay out their wealth for God's sake ; but they will Deum 2>ropter nummos colere, —worship God for their wealth's sake. We say, Let the world wait upon religion; they say, Let religion wait upon the world. You talk of heaven and a kingdom ; but tutius hoc coeliim, quod hrevis area tenet. Tliat heaven is surest, think they, that lies in their coffers. As those two giants bound Mars in chains, and then sacrificed to him; so men first coffer up their wealth, and then worship it. Or if they suffer it to pass their lock and key, yet they bind it in strong chains and charms of usury to a plentiful return.

* Enough' is a language they A\iU never learn tiU they come to hcU ; where their bodies shall have enough earth, their souls enough fire. There are four adverbs of quantity : parum, nihil, nimis, satis, —little, nothing, too much, enough. The last, that is the best, is seldom found. The poor hath little; the beggar nothing; the rich too much ; but qui satis ? —who hath enough ? Though they have too much, all is too little ; nothing is enough. Quid satis est si Roma parum ? —What is enough, if all Eome be too little ? said the poet.:{: But the world itself could not be enough to such. yEstuat infelix a/ngusto limite mundi. The covetous man may habere quod voluit, nunquam. quodvult, —he may enjoy what he desired, never what he desireth; for his desires are infinite. So their abundance, which God gave them to help others out of distress, plungeth themselves into destruction : as Pharaoh's chariot drew his master into the sea. In the l\Iassilian sea, saith Bernard, scarce one ship of four is cast away; but in the sea of this world, scarce one soul of four escapes.

* August. t Amb. in Psal. j: Lucan.

4. Their next policy. When they swim, though their bodies be plunged down, yet they still keep their head above the water. And this lesson of their wisdom I would direct to the riotous, as I did the former to the covetous. Which vicious affections, though in themselves opposite,—for the covetous think prodigu7)i j^rocUguim, the spender a wonder; and the prodigal think parcum porcum, the niggard a hog,—yet either of them both may light his candle at the lamp of the serpent's wisdom, and learn a virtue they have not.

Though you swim in a full sea of delights, yet be sure to keep your heads up for fear of drowning. It is natural to most sensitive creatures to bear up their heads above the floods ; yet in the stream of pleasure, foolish man commonly sinks. If I had authority, I would here bid gluttony and drunkenness stand forth, and hear themselves condemned by a serpent. If the belly have any ears, let it hear; and not suffer the head of the body, much less the head of the soul, reason, to be drowned in a puddle of riot. Multrx fercula, multos morbos, —Many dishes, many diseases. Gluttony was ever a Mend to ^Esculapius. But for the throat's indulgence, Paracelsus, for all his mercury, had died a beggar. Intemperance lies most commonly sick on a dowii-bed; not on a pad of straw. *Ah me's' and groans are soonest heard in rich men's houses. Gouts, pleurisies, dropsies, fevers, surfeits, are but the consequents of epicurism.

' QuEe nisi divitibus nequeunt contingere mensis.'* A divine poet, morally—

' We seem ambitious God's whole work to vindo : Of nothing he made us, and we strive too To bring ourselves to nothing back ; and we Do what we can to do't as soon as he.'

We complain of the shortness of our lives, yet take the course to make them shorter.

Neither is the corporal head only thus intoxicate, and the senses drowned in these deluges of riot: but reason, the head of the soul, and grace, the head of reason, is overwhelmed. Barum convivium sine vitio, sine convitio. Eevellers and revilers are wonted companions. When the beUy is made a Crassus, the tongue is turned into a Caesar, and taxeth all the world. Great feasts are not without great danger. They serve not to suffice nature, but to nourish corruption, Luke ii. 42, Joseph and Mary went uj) to Jerusalem to the feast with Jesus; but there they lost Jesus. Twelve years they could keep him, but at a feast they lost him. So easily is Christ lost at a feast. And it is remarkable there, ver. 46, that in the temple they found him again. Jesus Christ is often lost at a banquet; but he is ever found in the temple. Jude speaks of some that 'feast without fear,' ver. 12. They suspect not the loss of Christ at a banquet. But Job feared his children at a feast: ' It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in then' hearts,' chap. i. 5. Let us suspect these riotous meetings, lest we do not only swim but sink. Let us be like the deer, who are ever most fearful at their best feeding. Rom. xiii. 13,' Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness,' that were to feast the world; ' not in chambering and wantonness,' that were to feast the flesh; ' not in strife and envying,' that were to feast the devil.

I know there be some that care not what be said against eating, so you

* Horat,, lib. ii., satyr. 4.

meddle not with their drink; who cry out like that German, at a great tournament at court, when all the spectators were pleased : Valeant ludi qui-hns nemo hibit, —Farewell that sport where there is no drinking. I will say no more to them, but that the serpent's head keeps the upper hand of the waters, but drink gets the upper hand of their heads. How preposterous is this : soh'ii serpentes, ebrii homines, —sober serpents and drunken men! The serpent is here brought to teach wisdom ; and to be sober is to be wise. The philosopher so derives wisdom in his Ethics : (Tw^joffivj; est quasi cJi^o-jGu, riiv ^ffoi-jjtf/v. Or as another, quia au^si t'/jv <p^ha.

5. The fifth instance of their wisdom propounded to our imitation is vigi-lancy. They sleep little; and then least when they suspect the vicmity of danger. A precedent worth our following. * See that ye walk circumspectly ; not as fools, but as wise,' Eph. v. 1-5. Carry your eyes in your heads : ' The wise man's eyes are in his head,' Eccles. ii. 14; not like those lamije, in a box. Nor like a hoodwinked prince, that is not suffered to see but through his flatterers' spectacles. Be watchful, saith our Saviour : ' You know not what hour your Master wiU come.' 1 Pet. v. 8, ' Be sober, be vigilant'; because your adversary the devU, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.'

Those are two main motives to watchfulness. First, our landlord is ready to come for his rent. Secondly, our enemy is ready to assault our fort. And let me add, the tenement we dwell in is so weak and ruinous, that it is ever and anon ready to drop down about our ears. He that dwells in a rotten ruinous house dares scarce sleep in a tempestuous night. Our bodies are earthly, decayed, or at least decaying tabernacles; every little disease, like a storm, totters us. They were indeed at first strong cities; but we then by sin made them forts of rebels. Whereupon our offended liege sent his sergeant, Death, to arrest us of high treason. And though for his mercies' sake in Christ he pardoned our sins, yet he suffers us no more to have such strong houses; but lets us dwell in thatched cottages, paper waUs, mortal bodies.

Have we not then cause to watch, lest our house, whose ' foundation is in the dust,' Job iv. 19, fall, and 'the fall thereof be great?' Matt. vii. 27. Shall we still continue sine metu, perhaps sine motu dormitantes ? It is a fashion in the world to let leases for three lives : as a divine poet sweetly—

* So short is life, that every tenant strives In a torn house or field to have three lives.'

But God lets none for more than one life : and this expired, there is no hope to renew the lease. He suffers a man sometimes to dwell in his tenement 'threescore and ten years,' sometimes 'fourscore,' Ps. xc. 10; till the house be ready to drop down, like mellow fruit. But he secures zaone for a month, for a moment. Other farmers know the date of their leases, and expiration of the years; man is merely a tenant at will, and is thrust out often sedihus, cedihus, at less than an hour's warning.

We have then cause to watch. ' I sleep, but my heart waketh,' saith the church. Cant. v. 2. If temptation do take us napjnng, yet let our hearts wake. Simon, dormis ? —' Sleepest thou, Peter?' Mark xiv. 37. Indeed there is a time for all things; and sometimes sleep and rest is dahile and laudahile, necessary and profitable. But now Simon, when thy Lord is ready to be given up into the hands of his enemies, when the hour and power of darkness is instant, when the great work of salvation is to be wrought, ' Simon, sleepcst thou V Thou that hast promised to suffer with me, canst thou not watch with me ? Qiiomodo morieris, qui spectare et expedare

f

30 THE GOOD POLITICIAN DIRECTED. [SeEMON XXVIIL

non potes ? Beloved, let us all watch; for that Jesus, who was then, when Peter slept, ready to suffer, is now, though we all sleep, ready to judge quick and dead.

6. The last general point of wisdom we wiU learn from them is this : as they once a year slip off their old coat and renew themselves, so let us cast off the old man, and ' the garment spotted of the flesh,'Jude 13,—more speckled with lusts than the skin of any serpent,—and ' be renewed in our mind, to serve God in the holiness of truth,' Eph. iv. 24,

The Grecians have a fabulous reason of this renovation of serpents. Once mankind strove earnestly with the gods, by supplication, for perpetual youth. It was granted, and the rich treasure being lapped up, was laid upon an ass to be carried among men. The silly beast being sore thirsty, came to a fountain to drink : the keeper of this fountain was a serpent, who would not suffer the ass to drink unless he would give liim his burden. The ass, both ready to faint for thirst, and willing to be lighted of his load, condescended. Hereby the serpent got from man perpetual j^outh. Indeed the serpent changeth his age for youth, and man his youth for age. And the ass, for his punishment, is more tormented with thirst than any other beast, The serpent may thus get the start of a man for this world; but when he dies, he dies for ever; life never returns. But we shall put off, not the skin, but tliis mortal body; and so be clothed with immortality and eternal life above t we shall be young again in heaven.

' Only death adds t' our strength : nor are we grown In stature to be men, till we are none.'

Let this answer the poet:—

' Anguibus esuitur tenui cum pelle vetustas : Cur uos angusta conditione sumus?' *

Why do serpents repair themselves, and man decay 1 The answer is easy and comfortable : when there shall be new heavens and new earth, we shall have new bodies. They have here new bodies, and we old bodies . but there we shall have new bodies when they are no bodies.

But to our purpose. They write that the serpent gets him to some narrow-passage, as between two sticks, and so slips off his sldn. And this is called spoliiim serpentis or ver7iatio serpentis. If we would cast off our old coat, wlxich is corrupt according to deceitful lusts, we must pass through a 'narrow gate,' Matt. vii. 13, as it were two trees, faith and repentance. Heaven is called ' new Jerusalem,' Rev. xxi.; you cannot creep through those new doors with your old sins on your backs. Be no Gibeonites : God will not be cozened with your old garments. Put them off, saith Paul; put them off, and cast them away; they are not worthy mending. None are made of Satan's slaves God's sons, but they must put off their old livery, which they wore in the devil's service, the cognisance of Mammon. * Let him that is in Christ be a new creature : old things are passed away ; behold, all things are become new,' 2 Cor. v. 17. 'I saw,' saith St John, 7io-vum coehim, &c., ' a new heaven and new earth.' For whom provided 1 For new creatures.

Envy this, ye worldlings, but strive not in your lower pomps to equal it. Could you change robes with Solomon, and dominions with Alexander, you could not match it. But quake at your doom, ye wicked : ' Tophet is ordained of old,' Isa. XXX. 33 , old hell for old sinners. But which way

* Tibullus.

might a man turn his eyes to behold his renovation? jS'il novi video, oiil novi audio. The hand is old, it extorts; the toiigiie is old, it swears. Our usuries are still on foot to hunt the poor, our gluttonies look not leaner, our drunkenness is thirsty stUl, our security is not waked. Old idols are in our inward and better temples. Our iniquities are so old and ripe, that they are not only albce ad messem, white to the harvest; but even siccce ad ignem, dry for the fire.

Not only serpents, but divers other creatures, have their turns of renewing. The eagle reueweth her bill, saith the prophet; our grandmother earth becomes new, and to all her vegetative children the spring gives a renovation. Only we her ungracious sons remain old still. But how shall we expect hereafter new glorified bodies, unless we will have here new sanctified souls ? ' In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to tliis rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God,' Gal. vi. 1.5, 16,

I have taught you, according to my poor meditation, some wisdom from the serpent. Augustine gives six or seven other instances, worthy your observation and imitation, which I must pass over in silence. The cohihition challengeth some piece of my discourse; for I dare not give you the reins, and let you go without the curb. 'And yet I shall hold you a little longer from it; for as I have shewed you some good in serpents, that you may follow it, so I must shew you some evil in them, that you may eschew it. The vicious and obnoxious aflfections of serpents have more followers than their virtues. These instances are of the same number with the former.

1. The serpent, though creeping in the dust, hath a lofty spirit; reaching^ not only at men, but even at the birds of the air. And' here is the ambitious man's emblem. He was bred out of the dust, yet he catcheth at lordships and honours; ransacks the city, forages the country, scours it through the church; but his errand is to the court. He is the maggot of pride, begot out of corruption; and looks in an oflSce as the ape did when he had got on the robes of a senator.

2. Their flattery or treachery: they embrace, whUes they sting. They lie in the green grass, and under sweet flowers, that they may wound the sus-pectless passenger. Here I wUl couple the serpent with the flatterer—a human beast, and of the two the most dangerous. And that fitly; for they write of a serpent whose sting hath such force that it makes a man die laughing. So the flatterer tickles a man to death. Therefore his tears are called crocodili lacryma^, the crocodile's tears. A\Tien he weeps, he wounds. Every frown he makes gives his patron a vomit, and every caudle of commendation a purge. His church is the kitchen, his tongue is his caterer, his young lord his god, whom at once he worships and worries. ^Vhen he hath gotten a lease, he doth no longer fear his master ; nay more, he fears not God.

3. Their ingratitude: they kill those that nourished them. And here I rank with serpents those prodigies of nature, unthankful persons. Seneca says they are worse. Venemiin quod serpentes in alienam perniciem profe-runt, sine sua continent. Non ita vitium ingratitudinis continetur* —The poison which a serpent casts out to the danger of another, he retains without his own : but the voice of ingratitude cannot be so smothered. Let us hate this sin, not only for others' sake, but most for our own.

4. Their voracity: they kill more than they can eat. And here they would be commended to the engrossers, who hoard more than they can spend,

* Sen., epist. iS.

S^ THE GOOD POLITICIAN DIRECTED. [SeRMON XXVIII.

that the poor niight starve for lack of bread. Such a man (if he be not rather a serpent, a devil, than man) makes his almanac his Bible; if it prognosticate rain on Smthin's Day, he loves and believes it beyond the Scripture. Nothing in the whole Bible pleaseth him but the stoiy of Pharaoh's dream, where the seven lean kine did eat up the seven fat ones. He could wish that dream to be true every year, so he might have grain enough to sell. He cries out in liis heart for a dear year, and yet he is never without a dear year in his beUy. Solomon says, ' The people shall curse him,' and I am sure God will not bless him ; but he fears neither of these so much as a cheap year.

5. Their hostility and murderous minds: they destroy all to multiply their own kind. And for this I will bring the depopulator to shake hands with serpents. For he cannot abide neighbours. If any man dwells in the town besides himself, how should he do for elbow-room 1 There are too many of these serpents in England. I would they were all exiled to the Tvilderness, where they might have room enough, and none to trouble them, except of their own generation—serpents. They complain eagerly against our negligence in discovering new parts of the world; but their meaning is to rid this land of inhabitants. They have done then- best, or rather their worst: whenas in my memory from one town in one day were driven out above threescore souls,—harbourless, succourless, exposed to the bleak air and unmerciful world,—besides those that could provide for themselves.* But the Lord of heaven sees this : the clamours of many poor debtors in the dungeon, of many poor labourers in the field, of many poor neighbours crymg and dying in the streets, have entered the ears of the Lord of hosts, and he will iudge it. ' Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless,' Ps. x. 14.

6. Lastly, their enmity against man, whom they should reverence: which we sorely found, and cannot but think of, quoties meminerimus illius inaus-■picati 2^omi, —as often as we remember that unlucky apple, ^lianus and Pliny report, that when a serpent hath killed a man, he can never more cover himself in the earth, but wanders up and down like a forlorn thing; the earth disdaining to receive into her bowels a man-murderer. The male doth not acknowledge the female, nor the female the male, that hath done such a deed. Since, therefore, they rebel against man whom they should honour, let me yoke with them traitors. Seminaries, and renegades, that refuse allegiance to their lieges and sovereigns. Will they say a prince may lose jus regni, the right of his kingdom, per injustitiam regiiandi, by reigning with injustice and cruelty; and so they are absolved of their obedience ] But how haps it that the Scrij^ture never knew this distmction 1 Saul, though guilty of aU sins against the first table, yet ex solo indelehili unctionis cha-ractere, might not be deposed; but David calls him Christum Domini, — the Lord's anointed. If the prmce be an offender, must they punish ? Who gave them that authority ? No, sufficit ei in pxxnam, quod Deum ex-pedet tdtorem, —It is enough for him that he look for God to be his judge. Oh, but when the Pope's excommunication thunders, it is no sin to decrown kings. So superstitiously they follow the Pope, that they forsake Christ, and will not give Csesar his due. They are the firebrands and bustuaries of kingdoms; serpents hidden in ladies' and gentlewomen's chambers; in a word, long spoons for traitors to feed mth the devil.

* The author of that cruel deed ijccame afterwards the author of his own death, and wilfiillv killed himself.

Y()u see also now quid non. There is iDoisou in serpents now told, you, leave that; there is wisdom to be learned from serpents before shewed you, study that. Every vice you nourish is a venomous stinging serpent in your own bosoms. If you will have hope of heaven, expel those serpents. /1 have read of a contention between Scotland and Ireland about a little island, either challenging it for theirs. It was put to the decision of a Frenchman, who caused to be put into the island living serpents, arbitrating it thus : that if those serpents lived and prospered there, the ground was Scotland's; if they died, Ireland's.""' If those serpentine sins, lusts, and lewdness live and thrive in your hearts, Satan Avill challenge you for his dominion; if they perish and die through mortification, and by reason of the pure air of God's Holy Spirit in you, the Lord seals you up for his own inheritance.

II. I have given you the reins at large : let me give but one pull at the curb, and you shall go. The cohibition is,' Be harmless as doves.' In doves there be some things to be eschewed, many things to be commended, one thing to be followed. The dove is a timorous and faint-hearted creature : ' Ephraim is like a silly dove without heart,' Hosea vii. 11. Be ye not so. In doves there are many things commendable; but I will but name them, regarding the limits of both my test and time.

1. Beauty. By that name Christ praiseth the beauty of his spouse : * Thou art fair, my love, my dove,' &c. ' Thou hast doves' eyes within thy locks,' Cant. iv. 1. And the church praiseth her Saviour : ' His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of water, washed with milk, and fitly set,' chap. V. 12, i. 15; as a precious stone in the foil of a ring. A white dove is a pleasant sight, but not like a white soul.

2. Chastity. Nescit adulterii flammam intemerata coliimha. The dove knows not the luxurious pollution of an adulterate bed. Who ever saw dove sick of that lustful disease ? Happy body, that hath such continency ! and blessed soul, which shall be ' presented a pure virgin to Jesus Christ!' 2 Cor. xi. 2. They are virgins, and follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, Bev. xiv. 4.

3. Fruitfulness. Most months in the year they bring forth young. The faithful are in this respect doves; for faith is ever pregnant of good works, travails with them, and on all occasiors brings them forth.

4. Amity. They love their ovm maty"?; not changing tUl death give one ■of them a biU of divorce. Gemit tiirtur: the turtle groans when he hath lost his mate. Nature teacheth them, what reason above nature, and grace above reason, teacheth us, to ' rejoice with the wives of our youth.'

5. Unity. They live, feed, fly by companies. Many of them can agree quietly in one house : even teaching us ' how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity,' Ps. cxxxiii. 1 ; that as we have ' one hope,' Eph. iv. 4, so have ' one heart,' Acts iv. 32. TTierefore the Holy Ghost came down ' in the likeness of a dove,' ]\Iatt. iii. 16, of all birds; and it was the dove that would not leave Noah's ark, Gen. viii. 9.

But these are but circumstances ; my centre is, their innocence. Columha Mmjilex est animcd, felle caret, rostro non kedit.f Other fowls have their talons and beaks, whereby they gripe and devour, like usurers and ojipressors in a commonwealth. The dove hath no such weapon to use, no such heart to use it. They write that she hath no gall, and so free from the bitterness of anger. Tcdem columham audivimiis, non talem liominem. We have heard of such a dove, not of such a man. "Who can say, he hath innocent

* For an account of this and other legends respecting the Isle of Man, see Wilson and Geikie's ' Life of Professor Edward Forbes.'— Ed. f Bern, in die Purificat.

VOL. II. C

hands and a simple heart 1 Indeed none perfectly in God's sight: yet some have had, and may have this in part, by the -witness of their own consciences. Samuel could challenge the Israelites to accuse him : ' Whose ox have I taken 1 whom have I defrauded ? of whose hand have I received any bribe 1 ' 1 Sam. xii. 3. And Job sweetly: ' My heart shall not condemn me for my days. If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, let it be broken. If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me,' Job xxxi. 21, &c. For that is true innocence, saith Augustine, qiue nee inimico nocet, —that hurts not our very enemy. ' If my land cry against me, or the furrows thereof complam, let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley.' How few amongst us dare thus plead . So Da\'id : ' O Lord, thou knowest mine innocence.'

0 blessed testimony ! This is murus aheneiis, a wall of brass about a man. In mails sperare honum, nisi innocens, nemo potest, —To hope for good in the midst of evils, no man can but the innocent. He goes fearless of danger, thoiigh not secure. Impavidiim ferient ruina;, JVec suspectus est pati, quod se non meminit fecisse, —He cannot look to suffer that wrong which he knows he hath not done. Innocence, saith Chrysostom, is free in servitude, safe in danger, joyful in bonds. Cum humiliatur, erigitur : aim pugnat, vincit: cum occiditur, coronatur, —When it is cast down, it is raised up; when it fights, it conquers; when it is killed it is crowned.

This is that harmlessness which must be joined with the serpent's -R-isdom. So Paul to his Romans : ' I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil,' Eom, xvi. 19. This is an excellent mixture, saith Gregory :* ut simplicitatevi columhce astutia serp)entis instrueret: ut serpentis astutiam simplicitas columhce temperaret, —that the wisdom of the serpent might instruct the simplicity of the clove j that the dove's simplicity might temper the serpent's policy. So Beda on the first of Job. Job is said to be simple and upright: simple in innocency, upright in discreet equity. Simp>lex qida alios non Icedit, rectus quia se ah cdiis non cornimpi permittit, —Simple, in that he did not hurt others; upright, in that he suffered not himself to be corrupted by others. J^on viultum distat in vitio, aut decij^ere, aut decipi j^osse.f The one is weakness, the other wickedness.

This is that grace to which the gates of heaven stand open, innocence. But alas ! where shall the robbers and workers of violence appear ?

What shall become of the oppressor 1 No creature in heaven or earth shall testify his innocency. But the sighs, cries, and groans of undone parents, of beggared widows and orphans, shall witness the contrary. AU his money, like hempseed, is sowed with curses; and every obligation is written on earth with ink and blood, and in hell with blood and fire.

What shall become of the encloser of commons ? Who shall plead his innocency? Hedges, ditches, fields, and towns; the weeping of the poor, the very lowings of beasts, shall witness against him.

Where shall fraud, cozenage, racking of rents, injury, perjury, mischief appear ? You may conceal your craft from the eyes of man,—defraud the minister, beguile your neighbour, impoverish the commonwealth, unper-ceived, unpunished,—but know that the Lord will not hold you iimoccnt.

1 conclude : Make you the picture of innocency, and hang it in your houses; but especially draw it in the table of your hearts. Let it be a virgin fair and lovely, without any spot of wrong to blemish her beauty. Let her garments be white as snow, and yet not so white as her conscience. Let the tears of compassion di'op from her eyes, and an angel holding a

* In locum. + Jerom, ad Rust.

bottle to catch them. Let her weep, not so much for her o^vll afflictions, as for the wickedness of her afflicters. Let the ways be milk where she sets her foot, and let not the earth complain of her pressure. Let the sun offer her his beams ; the clouds their rain, the ground her fruits, every creature his virtue. Let the poor bless her ; yea, let her very enemies be forced to praise her. Let the world be summoned to accuse her of wrong, and let none be found to witness it. Let peace lie in her lap, and integrity between her breasts. Let religion kiss her lips, and all laws reverence her; patience possess her heart, and humility sit in her eyes. Let all Christians make her the precedent of their lives; and study the doctrine that her mouth teacheth. Let the angels of heaven be her guardians; and the mercy of God a shield of defence unto her. Let her tread upon injury, and stamp the devil and violence under her feet. Let her greatest adversaries, oppression and hypocrisy, fly from her presence. Let rapine, malice, extortion, depopulation, fraud, and wrong, be as far removed from her as hell is from heaven. Let the hand of mercy dry her eyes, and wipe away her tears. Let those glorious spirits lift her up to the place of rest. Let heaven add to her beauty, immortality set her in a throne of joy, and eternity crown her with glory : whither may all her children follow her, through the blood and merits of that innocent Lamb, Jesus Christ. Amen.

THE BLACK SAINT;

OR,

THE APOSTATE.

When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walJceth through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I zvill return into my house from whence I came out; and ivhen he is co7ne, he findeth it empty, sivept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taheth with himself seven other spirits more iviclced than himself, and they enter in and diuell there ; and the last state of that man is tvorse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this ivicked generation. — Matt. XII. 43-45.

Our Saviour's manifold and manifest miracles, which lie wrought among and upon the Jews, were requited with a blasphemous interpretation—that they were done in the power of Beelzebub. Which having disproved by invincible arguments, he concludes against them in this parable : ' When the unclean spirit,' &c. This is clearly manifest in the application: * Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.'

A double occasion gives us the hand of direction to this speech. Either it hath a reference to the man dispossessed of the dumb and blind devil, ver. 22; or intends a conjunction of the contumelious blasphemies of the Jews. Perhaps it may be referred to the former, but certainly is directed to the latter. It may serve for both ; so two gaps be stopped with one bush, two sores jjovered with one plaster.

1. It might sei-ve for a charge to the cured, to prevent recidivation. He was dumb, behold he speaks; he was blind, behold he sees ; he was possessed, behold he is enfranchised. He hath recovered his eyes, his tongue, his heart; he is rid of the devil. Now he that is quit of so bad a guest, shall septuple his own woes by his re-entertainment. Such a caution did the same physician give another of his patients : John v. 14, ' Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.' It is well for thee that the imclean spirit is gone, but it wUl be worse with thee than ever if he gets in again.

2. He that did speak life, and to the life, doth especially mean it to the Jews. Cast your eyes upon the text, and your minds upon the renegade

Jews; and observe how respectively tliey look one upon anotlier: running together without alienation, till they come to the end.

(1.) The unclean spirit, the power of sin, was cast out of the Jews by Moses's law; and God had great stir about it. He was fain to speak early and late, and attend them ' all the day long, with outstretched hands,' Isa. Ixv, 2 ; tUl he appeals to censure: ' What could have been done more to my vineyard 1 ' Isa. v. 4.

(2.) At last he is out; and then, lilie a discontented guest, hindered of his old lodging, and destitute of so warm a bed, he 'walks through diy places' —revisits the heathen. But finding them as strongly his own as the infrangible chains of wickedness could make them, he disdams rest, like an engrosser, in his own lordship, so long as there are other purchases to be made abroad. Or perhaps the ' ark of salvation' is now brought to the Gentiles, and then the Dagon divagon of hell must needs be packing. A new king, the true King, beginning his reign in the conscience, deposeth, dejecteth, ejecteth that usurping tyrant. There is no remedy; out he must.

(3.) The prince of the air thus discovered and discomfited by the Sun of righteousness breaking through the gross and foggy clouds of ignorance and impiety wherein the Gentile world was wrapped; what doth he but re-salutes his former habitation ? He liked the old seat well, and will venture a fall, but recover it.

(4.) Thither he flies; and, lo, how fit he finds it for his entertain ! _ The heart of the Jews is empty of faith; swept with the besom of hypocrisy, a justiciary, imaginary, false-conceited righteousness ; and garnished with a few broken traditions and ceremonies : suppellectile complements instead of substantial graces.

(5.) Glad of this, he re-collects his forces : ' takes with him seven other spirits,' a greater dominion of sin, than he was erst armed withal ; ' more wicked than himself;' as if he would make invuicible provision, and prevention of any future dispossession.

(6.) ' He enters in' with his crew : not purposing to be as a guest, but tenant; not a tenant, but a landlord; not a landlord, but a king, a commander, a tyrant; till at last he may presume of an indubitable right. As usurpers that come to a kingdom by a violent or Utigious title, are at first so modest and dainty that they sign not their grants, edicts, and such public acts in their own particular and singular names, but require the conscription and evident consent of their council. But once estabhshed by succession, and unrivalled by opposition, they grow peremptorily confident in their own right and power, and in their most tyrannous acts dare sign, Teste me ipso ; so Satan at first erection of his kingdom in the Jews, conscious of his unjust title, was content to admit the help of fond ceremonies, tales, traditions, &c., to make for him against Christ, whose kingdom he visurps. This he condescended to out of a mannerly cozenage, and for the more subtle insinuation into the Jewish hearts. But now established in his throne, and confirmed in his title, by their hard-heartedness and wilful obstinacy in rejecting their Messiah, he is bold to sign aU his oppositions to the gospel with a Teste me ij)so.

(7.) Hereupon their ' latter end becomes worse than their beginnmg.' A stronger delusion hath taken hold of them, and that in the just judgment of the wise ordinator of all things. ' For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie : that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness,' 2 Thess. ii. 11, 12. For ' if he that despised Moses's law died without mercy under two

or three witnesses,' Heb. x. 28, then, ver. 29, ' of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot,' not the servant, but ' the Sou of God, and hath counted the blood,' not of bulls and goats, but ' of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified,' whereby he shall now he condemned, ' an unholy thing; and hath done despite to the Spirit,' not of bondage, but ' of grace?' His beginning was far better, or at least less bad, than his end shall be.

The occasion was so material that it hath led me further than either my purpose or your patience would willingly have allowed me. Whatsoever is written, is written either for our instruction or destruction; to convert us if we embrace it, to convince us if we despise it. Let this consideration quicken your attention, enliven your meditation, encourage your obedience. You demand vivcwi vocem ; it is then a living voice, when it is a voice of life to the believing hearers. Otherwise there is vox mortifera, a voice that brings death to disobeyers. ' The word that I have spoken,' saith Christ, ' shall judge you in the last day.'

The white devil, the hypocrite, hath been formerly'" discovered, and the sky-coloured veil of his dissimulation pulled off. I am to present to your view and detestation a sinner of a contrary colour—swarthy rebellion, and besmeared profaneness: an apostate falling into the clutches of eight unclean spirits. Needs must he be foul that hath so many foul devils in him. ]\Iary Magdalene had but seven, and they were cast out; this hath gotten one more, to make his soul the blacker, and they keep in. If hypocrisy there were justly called the white devil, apostasy here may as justly be termed the black saint. In the former was a wliite skin of profession drawn over an ulcerous corpse; here, hide and carcase, hand and heart, shadow and substance, seeming and being, outward profession and inward intention, are black, foul, detestable. Therefore we wiU call him ' The Apostate, or Black Saint.'

This text dweUeth on two persons, man and Satan. Alas! it goes ill, when man and the devil come so near together; weak man, and his infest, professed enemy. Wherein we will (metaphorically) compare man to a fort, and the devU to a captain.

1. Man to a fort. Not that he is like stupid and dead walls, without sense, without science: of no ability, either to offend his adversary, or to defend himself; but a living tower, that hath sense, reason, understanding, will, affections : which give him means to open a voluntary door to his captain's entrance. For it is of God that a sinner opens his heart to God; of himself that he opens to Satan.

2. The devil to a captain: a strong, impioiis, impetuous, imperious captain ; violent in invasion, tyrannous in obsession : a rampant lion, that scorns either superiority or competition.

The material circumstances concerning both fort and captain, hold and holder, place and person, may be generally reduced to these three :— I. The unclean spirit's egress, forsaking the hold; wherein we have—

1. His unroosting; and observe, (1.) The person goiiig out; (2.) The manner; and, (3.) The measure of his going out.

2. His unresting, or discontent; which appears, (1.) In his travel, *he walketh;' (2.) In his trial, 'in dry places;' (3.) In his trouble, 'seeking rest;' (4.) In the event, ' findeth none.'

II. His regress, striving for a re-entry into that he lost; considered—

* As in this edition the sermons are arranged in the order of the texts, that referred to is Sermon XXXIX., further on in this volume.— Ed.

1. Tntcntivehj; wlierein are regardable, (1.) His resolution, 'IavUI;' (2.) His revolution, 'return;' (3.) The description of his seat, 'into my house;' (4.) His affection to the same place, ' whence I came out.'

2. Inventively; for he findeth in it, (1.) Clearness, it is 'empty;' (2.) Cleanness, 'swept;' (3.) Trimness, 'garnished.'

III. His ingress, which consists in his fortifying the hold; manifested—

1. By his associates; for he increaseth his troops, who are described, (1.) By their nature, ' spirits;' (2.) By their number, ' seven;' (3.) By the measure of their malice, ' more wicked.'

2. By his assault, to the repossessing of the place; testified, (1.) By their invasion, 'they enter;' (2.) By their inhabitation, 'they dwell;' (3.) By their cohabitation, ' they dwell there together.'

IV. The conclusion and application shut up all. The conclusion: * The last state of that man is worse than the first.' The application: ' Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.' You see I have ventured on a long journey, and have but a short time allowed me to go it. My observations in my travel shall be the shorter, and, I hope, not the less sound. So the brevity shall make some amends for the number.

I. I am to begin with the unclean spirit's departure : ' When the unclean spuit is gone out of a man.' It is well that he is gone, if he would never return. Valedicamus in adagio : Si sat procul, sat bene, —Let us speed him hence with the proverb : Far enough, and good enough. Let not such a guest come till he be sent for. But, alas ! he will never be far enough; no, not even now, whiles God is sowing the seed of life, will this enemy forbear to sow tares. He runs about the seats like a pick-purse; and if he sees a roving eye, he presents objects of lust; if a drowsy head, he rocks him asleep, and gives him a nap just the length of the sermon; if he spies a covetous man, he transports his soul to his counting-house; and leaves nothing before the preacher but a mindless trunk.

Well, gone he is out of this man; and we must therein consider two things:—1. His tmroosting; 2. His unresting. In his unroosting or departure, we have justly observable these three circumstances ; (1.) The person; (2.) The manner; (3.) The measure of his going out.

1. —(1.) The person is described according, [L] to his nature; [2.] to his condition. He is by nature a spirit; by condition or quality, unclean.

[1.] By nature, he is a spirit. I will not trouble you with the diverse accep-tion of this word, spirit. There is a divine, human, angelical, diabolical spirit; yet are not these all: ' Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord,' Ps. cl. 6 ; that is, ' that hath a spirit.' It is observed that Avhen this article, the, is prefixed to spirit, and no attribute subjoined that may denominate or distinguish it, it is meant of the third Person in Trinity, the Holy Ghost. Piom. viii. 26, 'The Spirit helpeth our infirmities,' &c. So Jerome notes on Matt. iv. 1, 'Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the -ndlder-ness, to be tempted of the devU.' Here the adjunct gives sufiicient distinction. As 1 Sam. xvi 14, 'The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.' This was an evil and unclean spirit.

This makes against the Sadducees and atheists, that deny the subsistence of spirits, Acts xxiii. 8, or imagine them to be only qualities of the mind; affirming that good angels are but good motions, and bad angels nothing else but bad motions. They may as well call the wind but imaginarium quiddam, sickness but a fontasy, and death itself but a mere conceit. They shall find that there are spirits created for vengeance, and in the day

of wrath, when God shall bid them strike, they will lay on sure strokes; essential and subsisting natures. Hell-fire is no fable ; devils are not nomi-nals, but reals; not imaginary qualities, but afflicting spirits: here, the tempters to sin ; hereafter, the tormentors for sin. Qui non credent, sentient, —They that will not believe God's words, shall feel their wounds. The de^dl hath a special medicine for atheism.

[2.] By quality, he is unclean: and that in regard, first, of his condition; and, secondly, of his perdition. Condition or property in himself: perdition, which he doth work upon others; for he labours to infect man, that he may make him, both in wickedness and wretchedness, lilce himself.

First, Unclean in respect of his own condition. The devil was by creation good. God made him an angel of light; he made himself an angel of darkness. 'God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good,' Gen. i. 31. If every parcel of the Creator's workmanship was perfect, withovit question those angels which once stood before his face, and attended the hests of the Lord of hosts, were principally perfect. Therefore the devil, as he is a creature, is good; according to St Augustine,"^'" ipsius diaboli natura, in quantum natura est, non est mala, —the nature of the devil, insomuch as it is a nature, is not evil. But, John viii. 44, ' When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own.' He derived his nature from God, but the depravation of it from himself He was good by generation, is evil by degeneration. In that he is evil, or devil, he may thank himself for it. A spirit, of God's; unclean, of his own making : Quod sjnritus, d, Deo est: quod impurus, a seipso.

Secondly, Unclean by his operation and effects. His labour and delight is to make man as unclean as himself. He strives to make Judas's heart foul with covetousness, Absalom's with treason, Gehazi's with bribes. Cam's with murder, Jeroboam's with idolatry, nay, even David's with adultery. God is purity; and ' blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,*^ Matt. v. 8. But a soul soiled and foiled with lust, drunkenness, swearing,' hypocrisy, avarice, is an unclean habitacle for an unclean spirit, a foul evO for a foul devil Every sin is unclean; but there is one sin called unclean-ness, as if it were more immediately derived from the devil, and more naturally pleasing him. Hereby God is robbed of that he bought with so dear a price, and ' the member of Christ is made the member of a harlot,' 1 Cor, vi. 15. It is continually joined with fornication, adultery, whore-hunting, Eph. V. 3, 5; Col. iii. 5. St Paul reasons against this sin by i\n argument drawn ah ahsurdo: to couple that body to a harlot, which should mystically be united to Christ. Not unlike that of the poet:—

' Humano capiti cervicem jungere equiuam.' +

And howsoever this debauched age, with a monstrous impudence, will call it either no sin, or peccadillo, a little sin; yet it hath that power and effect t» make men as like to the devil, as an unclean body may be to an unclean spirit. Call it what you will, blanch it with apologies, candy it with nature's delights, parget it with concealments, uncleanness is uncleanness still, and like the devil. Unless (as in the legend of St Anthony, % that when his host set liim a toad on the table, and told him it was written in the gospel, De omni quod tihi apioonitur, coinedes, —' Thou shalt eat of such things as are set before thee j' he with the sign of the cross, made it a capon ready roasted) you can metamorphose Satan's poisons, toads and serpents, feculent and baneful sins, into nutrimental virtues,—wash the blackmore's sldn wliite, and * De Civit. Dei, lib. xis., cap. 13. t Horat. J Sediil.

make leprosies fair and sound,—the sin of uncleanness will make you like this unclean spirit.

Let aU this teach us not to hate the essence, but the works of the devil. His nature, abstractively considered, is good ; but as he is wicked, and a provoker to wickedness, hate him. In regard of his excellent knowledge, gathered by long observation, and comprehension of the seminary virtues, he is called Dcemon; for his envy, enmity, Satan; for his command, Beelzebub; for his power, the strong man; lastly, for his pollution, an unclean spirit: continually, devil, because he strives continually to do evil. As these pravities have coiTupted him, we must hate him. »So do all; so say all. An obstinate sinner answers an honest reproof with, ' I defy the devil : I will shield myself from Satan as well as my admonisher; the foul fiend shall have no power over me :' yet stUl deafs himself to the cry of his own conscience, that he may live the more licentiously. But, alas! Satan is not such a babe, to be outfaced with a word of defiance. He can bear a few invectives,, so he may be sure of the soul; like a usurer, that can endure to be railed on, so his money comes troUing in. Let the fox have his prey, though with curses. But it is a lamentable course to defy a lion, yet run into his clutches. Be not unclean, and be secure.

(2.) The manner: J^jjX^s, is gone; which is rather a form of speaking with us than a form of his going out. Yet howsoever a spirit or man leaves the place of his former residence, whether willingly or on compulsion, when he is out, it is said of him, He is gone. Here, then, is offered to our consideration the manner of the devil's departure.

Satan goes not out of an inhabited heart willingly. Where they had local and substantial possession, you read in the gospel that Christ was said to 'cast them out.' And among other places, most pregnantly in the 11th of Luke, ver. 14, to the justification and clearing of this phrase, 'Jesus was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake.' He was ' gone' out, he was ' cast' out; the one expounds the other. So that this 'gone' out is rather a passive than an active speech : he never went out with his good-will, he frets to be dislodged of his chamber. That legion of devils in one poor Gadarene, Mark v., held it no less than a torment to be cast out of man. ' I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.' And ' art thou come hither to torment us before the time ?' "When the King of heaven and the controller of hell cast the dumb and deaf spirit out of the child of a believing father, Mark ix., 'the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him, and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said. He is dead.' As when a writ of ejection comes against a bad tenant, that he sees he must out, he fires the house about his ears.

So long as he may foment our corrupt affections, and give us complacency and self-satisfaction in his vicious obedience,—till he make us not subjects, but slaves, and rather res than pej^sonas, as the lawyers speak,—he gives to every one a dormi secure. But when we begin to suspect his right, to try his title, and to go to law to cast liim out, and to bustle against him, the • skulking fox is turned to an ox, and puts forth his goring horns of tyranny.

When thou beginnest to sue him, he will plead prescription : Ileum est, meum erit, quia meum fuit, —It is mine, it shall be mine, because it hath been mine. Custom in sin is a shrewd argument against repentance. Tur-pius ejicitur, quam non admittitur hospes, —A guest is with better manners not admitted than ejected. If that will not serve, he goes to it in plain force. He doth not say, as Jacob to Laban, ' These twenty years have I served thee,' &c., but. These many years have I commanded thee; and dost •

tliou now shake off my sendee, degenerate rebel, and refuse allegiance ! As Eabshakeh, in the embassage of Sennacherib to Hezekiah : ' Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me 1 ' Isa. xxxvi, 5. Who shall deliver thee out of my hands 1 If we answer with that threatened king, ' The Lord of hosts shall deliver us,' at whose name the Sennacherib of infernal Babylon doth tremble, so that he must depart, he will not go out without terror, but tear and afflict the heart, in the parting and desertion of our old delights.

Hence we may infer that there is a power superior to Satan, that must expel him, or he will not depart. The uncircumcised Philistine insults, till David come. ' The strong man armed keeps his palace and his goods in peace,' Luke xi., untU the stronger man, even the Strength of Israel, comes against him. It is he that is able to pluck out Satan by head and shoulders. This is he alone that can help either the corporally or spiritually possessed.

The kings of England and France (as if it were an impression of divine power in them) do cure a disease by touch. And I have read it reported (though but reported) that the kings of Spain help demoniac and possessed persons. These are but corporal cures. The Pope challengeth a faculty to cure spiritual impotencies, leprosies, and possessions. Alas ! it is not in his power, though in his pride and superarrogant glory. Indeed, when our anguished souls have bathed themselves in the river of Jordan, (an angel of mercy have stirred the waters,) in our penitential tears, in our Saviour's blood, on the cross, in the sacrament; it is aU, if the Pope (and yet not he more than the meanest minister, did he not monopolise men's sins by reservations) may pronounce who is dispossessed of the power of Satan, who not. But to cast out the devil's tyranny, whether substantial or spiritual, to rescue a miserable man out of the enchanted walls of Babylon, to set the foot of a weak Christian on the neck of that leviathan, to give him in-sultation and triumph over asps, lions, dragons, is the singular and incommunicable work of God.

Christ throws Satan out per ictuni, per dictum, —by his word, by his sword : the power and operation of his Spirit in the preaching of the gospel. He breaks his head, he breaks his neck with a Scriptv,m est. Hence ' the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds ; casting down every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,' ifec, 2 Cor. x. 4, 5. Were this hold stronger than the seven-fold walls of Babylon, and his exaltation as high as ever the imagination of Nebuchadnezzar mounted his own worth, this shall batter and bring him down. The word casts him out, the sacraments hold him out; that drives him forth, and these keep him from coming in.

(3.) The measure. It must necessarily and punctually be examined how this miclean spirit may be said to be cast out. These two ways, in regard of the two sorts of persons out of whom he is cast: he is so thrown out of the godly, as never to return in again; so out of the wicked, that mdeed he remains in still. Consider we then in what measure the devil departeth out of this apostate. Let us divide this into six circumstances, and the quotient will give us the sum of our desires.

[1.] Satan is so far gone out, as the mind is enlightened. This the apostle grants incident to an apostate, Heb. vi. That he may be 'enlightened, taste of the heavenly gift, be made partaker of the Holy Ghost, taste of the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, yet fall away, never to be renewed again by repentance.' This is that divines caU

historica Jldes ; a floating notion in the brain, a general transient apprehension of God's revealed truth, which shews itself in a dexterity of wit, and volubility of speech; a fire in the brain, not able to warm the heart. It hath power to inform their judgments, not to reform their lives.

Now so far as this illumination, swimming, nimble, and discursive knowledge, is let in, so far is Satan said to be cast out. There is, saith Solomon, Eccles. i. 18, scientia contristans; and saith Paul, 1 Cor. viii. 1, scientia conjlans, —there is a knowledge that maketh sorrowful, that maketh proud. God in all knowledge regards not so much the quantity as the substance. There may be more light in a reprobate than in a sanctified soul, but not so good light. I speak not to vilify knowledge, but to rectify it. Otherwise, you know, the greater punishment belongs to hini that ' knows God's will, and doth it not.' Oftentimes the more shallow in knowledge, the more bungerly in wickedness : when a quick and sharp wit without grace, is like a headstrong horse without a bridle, Neither is this knowledge in a reprobate gratia vana, seel evanescens, —not a vam, but a vanishing grace. ' They walk in the light,' John xii. ' They rejoice of the light,' John v. Yet is not the light in them. They have not the ' Sun of righteousness' risen in their hearts, Mai, iv,; for this sun can never set,

[2.] Satan is so far gone out of the wicked, as they have admitted some probable beginnings of conversion. This is but a flash of hypocrisy, no true heat of zeal. When the most flinty heart shall be hit against the steel of God's judgments, it wiU strike fire; but those sparkles are too weak to kindle the true warmth of grace, the fuel is so green, the afi"ections so vicious, whereon it works. Peccavi, was David's voice after his sinful arithmetic ; * Judas's voice after his abhorred treason. Vox eadem, non lioeni-tentia; talis somts, non sinus, —The same voice or sound, not the same heart or penitence, Esau wept, having lost the blessing; Peter wept, having denied his Master: neither wept without bitterness. Similes lachrymce, non animce, —The like tears, not the like consciences. Iron and steel, heated in the fire, are pliable to the fashioning hammer; let them be cold, and they resume their former hardness. The heat of a sudden judgment, striking (like thunder) the companion of thy side ; a secret wipe of the ' sword of the Spirit, dividing the marrow and the bones,' in an eflectual sermon; a stitch in the flesh, like the messenger of death, may a little thaw and melt the hard metal of an ungodly heart: but let the fire cease, and give him leave to be cold again, and he becomes harder than ever before,

[3.] Satan is so far said to be gone out, as he lies hidden, like mud and slime under a thick snow. The devil may be within the grate, though he thrust not out his apparent horns; or say he be walked abroad, yet he returns home at night, and in the meantime, like a mistrustful churl, locks the door after him, spars up the heart with security, that his treasure be not stolen. Thus as a snail he gathers up himself into his shell and house of the heart, when he fears discovery, and puts not forth his horns. Sometimes he plays not in the sun actually, but burrows deep in the afi'ections. The fox • keeps his den close when he knows that God's huntsmen be abroad to seek him. He knows that oftentimes armis i^oUentior asiiis, —his fraud was beyond his force; that he is pestUentior arte, quam marte; that he poisons more mortally melle quamfelle; that he may do as much hurt m a mask of white as in his own black habit; that he may spoil more lambs in a sheei:)'s skin than appearing as a wolf. He is content to yield to a show of holiness, that he may work the more mischief. It is sutiicient for him if he may, That is, his ' numberiug' of the people.— Ed.

tliough not turhare, yet iurpare, not disquiet, yet dishonest tlie soul of man, Now so far as this touch of religion enters, is this unclean sj^irit said to be gone out.

[4.] Satan may be said cast out, in the opinion of the party in whom he resides. Every one presumes there is no devil within him. The proud hath no Lucifer, the covetous no ]\f amnion, the idolater no Melchom, the adulterer no unclean spirit. Let me catechise thee. Thou didst promise in thy baptism to forsake the devil. What! doest thou stay there ? Nay, and all his works. Alas! be not so supine and careless; uhi opera, ihi operans, — where the works are, there is the work-master. Thou art asleep, Samson, whiles these Philistines are upon thee, are within thee. The ague is not gone, though the fit be over. Whilst thou slumberest in thy waftage, the vessel goes on still. Satan is not out, though thou conceitest him gone ; and so, as it is in our phrase, he is gone to conceit.

[o.] This unclean spirit may seem gone in the opinion of the church. Sometimes the devil is gone from a man in his own judgment, not the world's; sometimes in the world's judgment, not his own. The church had a good estimation of Judas, as conformable to the outward duties of obedience, and the rather because Christ trusted him with the stewardship; but God and his own conscience knew him a thief. The devil will not always be hunted by the scent, or followed by the print of his steps. The world shall not ever have him in palpable view and full cry, by reason of his notorious and gross impieties. If he can but now and then shoot in an instigation to some wickedness, it serves his turn. He doth not every day sally out of his fort, and charge his enemies in the face ; but watcheth opportunity, when his excursions may do most mischief. The devil may be within, though he stand not at door to be seen.

[6.] Lastly, Satan is said so far to be gone out as there is an interruption in the sovereignty of sin for a season. The floods of iniquity are not so violent as if they were kept within the dam by shutting down the sluice. The dromedary, the ungodly, runs not so madly, whiles that infernal rider forbears their sides with his spur.

As he is said to come in when he was in before: because there cometh in a more forcible and stronger illusion of Satan than the heart erst suffered, Luke xxii. It is said that ' Satan entered into Judas' before the j^assover ; yet we cannot think that God's Spirit was in him before : but only now a greater power of Satan got in, that, like a ripe tumour, would be no longer hid within the thin skin of hypocrisy. Corruption now gets eruption, and the rancorous ulcer of mckedness bursts forth.

So of the contrary'', Satan is said to go out when he stUl holds in; but like a bird in the net, that hangs by one claw. Nero is still in Rome, though he remits taxations, and forbears massacres for a season. The love of drunkenness may be in the heart, though there be a day when tke tavern is avoided. Be the adulterer aslcej), he is an adulterer still. What master so cruel but sometimes lets his slave rest? Certa quiescendi tempora fata da-hunt, —The devil is not continually impelling or compelling his servants to public and notorious iniquities. Sometimes he suspends his tyranny, and sits close in the heart, banqueting on the lusts which he finds there, and sends not abroad for newcates. The tempestuous wind eftsoon lies still; the most robustious and malignant force of wickedness bates of the usual violence, and breaks not forth into the same show of malice without some intermission. So far as this suspense, remission, and interruption of sin extends, so far is Satan said to be gone out.

You see the measure. Only give me leave to set you down two short rules, as two reflecting perspectives, wherein you may behold whether this unclean spirit be truly or hyi^ocriticaUy cast out of your hearts.

Rule 1.—So far is Satan cast out as sin is cast out. The tenure whereby Satan holds any lordship in the heart is sin. He that would overthrow his title must labour an ejection of wickedness. Piety in the heart, purity in the life, are true testimonies of the devil's exile. Satan fights against us with two weapons—that he found in us, and that he brings upon us. That he found in us is flesh and blood; that he brings upon us is death. By this latter he could not have hurt us, except we had given him the former, and so reached him a weapon to pierce our own hearts. In what measure sin rules, or is ruled, Satan is held in or ejected.

Ride 2. —The discontinuing of some sins and retaining others gives no comfort or argument of Satan s departure. If he be truly gone, there comes in his place a perfect detestation and resolute opposition against all sin. It is in vain to cast out Satan by avoiding avarice, when thou lettest him in by a wasteful prodigality; to admit him by hypocrisy whom thou thi'owest out by profaneness. This is to put the devil out at the porch, and let him in again at the postern. But one Rimmon is too much for Naaman, one Delilah for Samson, one Herodias for Herod; one exorbitant delight, reserved, resolved, persisted in, is enough for Satan, too much for the sinner.

I say not. Thou must never sin; but. Love no sin. How impossible is the former, the latter how necessary ! It is the content and complacency in siu that holds in the devil. What is it for a rich man to brag he is no thief? Or a beggar to clear himself from bribery ? Or for an old man to forbear the stews ? Or for a credulous Papist, that thinks to deserve heaven by works, to add a mite to an hospital 1 But whiles he pours a little ointment on Christ's feet by charity, by opinion of merit he throws the box at his head. What is it to abstain from those sins whereunto thou art not tempted? But repentance renounceth ' all dead works,' and obedience strives to walk in aU God's ways. In omnibus sine exceptione, etsi non in omnibus cum im-pletione, —None of all must be excepted, though none of all be fulfilled. If the devil be truly cast out, there is a full resolution in the heart against all manner of sin.

2. Thus much of his unroostmg, or throwing out; for his unresting, per-plexedness, and discontent, observe in it four circumstances : his travel, trial, trouble, event. (1.) For his travel, 'he walks.' (2.) For his trial, ' in dry places.' (3.) For his trouble, ' he seeks rest.' (4.) For the event, ' he find-€th none.'

(1.) Travel: ' He walks.' The devil is no idle spirit, but a wvilker; a vagrant, runagate walker, like Cain, that cannot rest in a place. I have heard of travellers that have seen many parts of the world, but never any perpetual peripatetic, or universal walker, but Satan, who hath travelled all coasts and corners of the earth ; and would of heaven too, if he might be ad-"mitted. He is not like St George's statue, ever on horseback, and never riding; but, as if he were knight-marshal of the whole world, he is ever walking. His motion is circular, and his unwearied steps know no rest ; he hath a large and endless circuit. His walk is a siege, that goes about the fort to find the weakest place, as easiest for battery. ' He walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour,' 1 Pet. v. 8. As in other things he is a serpent, so especially in his wallis, for his whole course is serpentine. All his walks were after, against, about man. His walks are the

circumference, and man the centre. Tlie motive, cause, and main intention of his journey is to win man.

A strange pilgrim ! that makes not an end of his journey till there be an end of time. He hath been in heaven, in paradise, in the earth, in the sea, and in hell, and yet hath not done walking. Some there are that will go from Eome to England to make proselytes ; but the devil will go from one end of the world to the other, and walk from pole to pole, till he hath put a girdle about the loins of the earth, to make a man the ' child of hell,' like himself. And in all his travel, like fame, and a mutinous rebel, vires ac-quirit eiinclo, —he still enlargeth his own dition. It was a true answer that the father of lies made to Truth itself. Job ii. 2, 'I come from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.'

He walks any way, to spill any man, by any means. He is at hand to Saul, he meets Judas in the face, and he backs Peter. He walks like an errant post between the adulterer and his harlot; between the proud gallant and his parasite ; between the ambitious and his intelligencer ; between the usurer and the broker j between the thief and receiver; between the greedy advocate and the contentious client; between the sacrilegious patron and the simoniacal priest ; betwixt the inns and the hall; betwixt the exchange and the warehouse.

Where can a man bestow himself that the devil cannot walk to him 1 Art thou in thy private chamber ? There can Satan find thee; as he did Eve in paradise, Christ in the desert. If in any place, he hath there most power and opportunity. ' Two are better than one; for if either fall, or be prevailed against, the other will Uft up, or rescue him,' Eccles. iv. 9. But Vce soli, —'Woe to him that is alone !' for if he miscaiTy, there is none to help him. The melancholy man, that loves to be sequestered from society, and lives an hermitical, solitary life, is most exposed to Satan's assaults. Company is good, especially if the companions be good, as being a means to hinder Satan from so violent working upon our affections. The philosophers were wont to say, ' He that lived alone was either a god or a devil.' Yet solitariness is not so evU as evil company. It is better to bustle with one devil in a close chamber than with many devUs in a riotous tavern.

Art thou in the court 1 Satan walks thither too; and will fit Eehoboam with flatterers, Ahab with liars, Pharaoh with sorcerers, Belshazzar with cups, Solomon with concubines. Art thou in the market 1 He is ready with oaths, with cozenages, Nay, art thou in the temple 1 Thither he dares travel too ; and pervert the eyes with shows, the ears with sounds, the thoughts with fancies, the senses with sleej^. Wheresoever, whensoever, howsoever thou art busied, he walks to thee with his temptations ; and, like a nimble, voluble shopkeeper, interrupts thee with a ' What lack you ?' He hath a ship ready for Jonah, a witch for Saul, a wedge for Achan, a rope for Judas. A booty stands readj'' for the thief, a pawn for the broker, a mortgage for the merchant, a monopoly for the courtier, a harlot for the adulterer.

As he walks through the streets, there he throws a short measure, a false balance into a tradesman's shop. He steps into a drinking-house, and kindles a quarrel. He shoulders to the bar, and pops in a forged evidence, a counterfeit seal. He dares enter the schools, and commence schisms and contentions ; nay, climb up into the pulpit, and broach sects and divisions. He travels no ground, but like a stinldng fog, or a dying oj^pressor, he leaves an ill scent behind him. This is he that makes men serve God percunctorily, perfunctorily; to go slowly to it, to sit idly at it.

Whither, where can we walk, and not behold Satan's walks ; and see the prints of his feet as plain as if his steps were set in snow, or, like the priests of Bel, in ashes, that we may say. The devil hath been here 1 He that shall travel the Lower Provinces, and in some parts thereof see the cities ruinated, habitations spoiled, forts battered, temples demolished, fields tmtilled, will say. Sure the enemy hath been here. He that with observing and weeping eyes beholds, not our temples, but the piety in them dissolved; not our cities, but the citizens perverted; not our houses, but their inhabitants defaced with iniquity; not our fields, but our hearts lying untilled; our lawyers turned truth-defrauders, our landlords oppressors, our gentlemen rioters, our patrons simonists ;—would surely say, This is Satan's walk; the devil hath, been here. Let this fasten on our souls two instructions :—

First, To keep out of Satan's walks. Though he visiteth all places, and his inquisition be stricter than the Spanish,—for that catches none but Protestants, the Papists scape,—yet he freqnenteth some more than other. Perhaps he may find thee in the temple, as he took Judas at the communion ; but cany a faithful and upright heart, and then, though, he walks thither to thee, he shall walk to hell without thee. When thou art for company, choose the best: if they mourn, mourn with them; if they be merry, refuse not mirth with them, so it be honest, ad societatem, not ad saiietatem. When thou art alone, read, pray, meditate; that either God may talk to thee or thou to God. So, with Scipio, thou shalt be ' least alone when most alone,' The guard of angels shall be about thee, and the ' fellowship of the Holy Ghost' within thee; and let Satan walk whither he will, thou art, like Enoch, ' walking with God,' Gen. v. 24.

Secondly, Since Satan is so walking and busy a spirit, let this teach us not to be idle. Indeed, be not too busy in other men's matters, nor too lazy in thine own. Shall we know that the enemy walks, waits, watches to destroy us ; and shall we not look to ourselves 1 He sows tares in the field of our hearts whiles we sleep ; let us awake and pluck tliem up, lest they choke the good seed of our graces. It is not allowed us to sit stUl; we must be walking. Eye to thy seeing, ear to thy hearing, hand to thy working, foot to thy walking. ' Up and eat, Elias,' 1 Kings xix. 7 ; arise, O Christian, thou hast sat too long, having so great a journey to go. The servants in the law were commanded to eat the passover with their shoes on, Exod. xii. 11 ; and St Paul chargeth the sons in the gospel—perhaps not without some allusion to that—' to stand with their feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace,' Eph. vi. 15. When a man is standing, it is said he will be walking. Astronomers have numbered the mUes betwixt earth and heaven, as if they had climbed up thither by ladders, to be 900,000.* But, without doubt, Christianity is a great journey ; and he that considers the way and distance betwixt mortality and immortality, corruption and glory, must needs conclude i^ is high time to be walking. Vita hrevis, ars lon(ja, —Life is short, and this skill not soon learnt. We cannot begin this journey too early : we have sitten too long; it is full time we were travelling. Otherwise a walk-•ing devil shall condemn a slothful man.

(2.) Trial: 'through dry places.' The discontented devil, cast out of man, seeks about for a new lodging, and finds all places dry; lie esteems every place, but in man's heart, irksome and unpleasant, as a dry, ban'en, and heathy wilderness. Now, as when a man hath long lived in a fertile vaUey, abounding with delightful fruits and necessary comforts, the grounds

* Probably the author meant the distance between the earth and the sun; which is, however, 100 times as great as he states it.—En.

standing tliick with corn, and a pleasant river running along to glad his heart with a welcome moisture ; it cannot be other than a displeasing change to be banished into a mountainous desert, where the scorching sun burns up the grass, and withers the fruit; or the unhindered force of the wind finds a bleak object to work upon ; where the veins of blood, the springs of water •rise not, run not, to madefy the earth and cherish her plants. Such is Satan's case and cause of perplexity. The wicked heart was his delighted orchard, where the fruits of disobedience, oaths, lies, blasphemies, oppressions, cozenages, contentions, drunken, proud, covetous actions and habits, made him fat. For as God hath his vineyard, the devil hath his orchard. The fruits that God expects and deUghts to gather are the good grapes of obedience. Satan's desire is wicked and wretched effects. These he either found ready, or made ready in the heart of man. Whence displaced, sedibus, ■cedihus, he is mad fur anger, and accounts all places dry.

He finds no rest in dry places. Perhaps the devU loves the low countries and wet ground. In a moderate, temperate, dry brain he finds no footing ; but in the soul of the swilHng drunkard, as a foggy and fenny ground, lie obtains some residence. Abstemious moderation, and temperate satisfaction of nature, is too dry a place, for so hot a spirit as hell-fire hath made him, to quench his malicious thirst; but in those that are filled vdth wine and strong drinks, suaviter, molliter acquiescit. When the Son of God threw a legion out of one poor man, they beg earnestly to be allowed entrance into the svidne. Of all creatures void of reason, it is observed of those, that they will swill till they swell, drink till they burst. If Circe's cup (or if you will, the vintner's, the victualler's) hath transformed man into a drunken hog, this is a moist place that Satan affects. If the head be well tippled, he gets in, and makes the eyes wanton, the tongue blasphemous, the hands ready to stab, the ' throat an open sepulchre' to devour,

I deny not but Paul may meet his friends at the market of Appium, and •drink at the Three Taverns, Acts xxviii, 15, Honest necessity must be relieved. And for this purpose were taverns first erected; for the necessary refection of travellers and strangers. Neither laws divine nor national con-•demn their use, but their abuse. Yet, Ecclus. xxvi, 30, ' a victualler shall not be freed from sin.' You will say it is apocryphal; and I fear a man of that profession is apocryphal too, who wiU not sell riot for money, and wink at those that fill their brains to empty their purses. Wine is a good creature, to ' cheer man's heart;' and Paul allows it to Timothy for his stomach's sake. But those that drink wine, not to help the stomach, but to surfeit it; not for wholesome and medicinal respects, but with inebriative delight, or on some base intent, to overthrow the company; these are moist places, fit for Satan,

(3.) Troidile : ' seeking rest,' But is he in any hope to find it ? Doth he not carry his hell about him ? Can he get out of the curse and malediction of God 1 There is no rest to him passively, actively. Passively ; the unappeased anger of Almighty God persecutes him, and denies him rest. Actively; he gives himself no rest, in tempting and tormenting man. God persecutes him; he persecutes man. Thus through a voluntary and enforced motion, et volenter, et violenter, ' he seeks rest, but he finds none.'

The devil's malice to mankind is so great, that he cannot rest without their ruin. He began with the first parents, and will not end but with the end of the world ; till he hath tempted, or at least attempted, the last man that ever their generations shall produce. Hereon it is noted, that the angels sinning were never restored, because they offended without temptation, merely

of malice, being created pure and excellent spirits. But man fell from God, and was again redeemed to God, because he was seduced of another. Quanto fragilior in natura, tanto facilioi^ ad veniam, —The weaker in nature, and so more apt to fall, the more easy to be lifted up again. But the de\il fell so fuUy, so foully, being sole actor in his own fault, sole author of his own ftdl, that he is never to be restored; so never obtains rest. Yet he imagines to himself a kind of rest, when he is quietly possessed of man's heart. As a malicious man acquiescit vindidis, so when the devil hath wrought man's woe, and brought him to hell, it is a rest unto him. But his rest is man's unrest; his melody our malady. His blustering tempest is not laid till he hath split the vessel, our body; and drowmed the passenger, our soul.

His first and chief aim is to destroy the soul, and to deface that more excellent part of man, that is nearer to the character and divine impression of God's image. If the soul be coming, he is sure the body will follow. If he cannot reach the spirit, then have at the flesh. Let Joseph look for the stocks, Peter for the jail, David for exile, Job for botches. If the restraming power of heaven interdicts him the body, then he sets upon the estate : like Joseph's mistress, that missing the person, catcheth the garment; or the savage bear, which, prevented of the blood and bones, falls a-tearing the clothes that fell from them. The birds of the air, fishes of the sea, beasts of the earth, shall pay for it. Everything which belongs to man's health and comfort shall feel his tyranny. If Job's person be forbidden the extent of his malice, yet he "utII have a fling at his oxen, asses, sheep, camels. Job. i. When that legion must leave the possessed, they beg, not to be sent away out of the country, but to be admitted into the herd, Matt. v. 10, 12. The inhabitants are freed; then, woe to their swine ! Bather hogs than nothing. He will play at small game, rather than sit out. As that bloody tyrant, being disabled to extend his cruelty to men, must be still a-kiUing, though it be but worms. He ' seeketh rest.'

(4.) Event, or success : ' but he findeth none.' So soon as ever this unclean spirit is thrown out of man, that he begins to serve God, Satan rageth worse than ever; and till he can overthrow the beginnmgs of grace in us with a second perversion, he finds no rest. We cannot so soon please God but we displease the devU. Whiles Paul was a Pharisee, no man in greater credit; but become a professor and preacher of the gospel, none more exposed to dangers and contumelies. If we do but look toward Jerusalem, as Christ, Luke ix. 53, ' because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem,' might not be received of the Samaritans ; or if we purpose to heaven, as Paul to Thessalonica, Satan will ofi'er to liinder our pass, 1 Thess. ii. 18. The devil desires to winnow Peter, not Judas, Luke xxii 31. The more faithful servants of God we be, the more doth Satan bruise us with the flail, or grate us with the fan.

The thief doth not break into an empty cottage, but into some furnished house, or full granary, where the fatness of the booty is a fitness to his desires. This unclean spirit finds no rest in an atheist, usurer, drunlcard, swearer, &c. He knows a canker hath overrun their consciences already ; and that they are as sure as temptation can make them. No prince makes war with his own tractable subjects.

' Gloria pvignantes vincere major erit.'

Holofenies tells Judith : ' Fear not in thine heart: for I never hurt any that was willkig to serve Nebuchadnezzar, the king of all the earth,' Judith xi. L So the devil: I never use to harm any that are content to serve me,

VOL. IL D

the king of all the Vi'orld. What need he tempt them that tem^Dt themselves ? The fowler shoots at birds that be wild, not at doves and yard-fowls, tame, and in his own keeping.

Many stood by the fire, Acts xxviii. 3, yet the viper leaps upon none of their hands, but Paul's. This viper of hell labours to sting the best men ; reprobates he hath poisoned enough already. The dog barks at strangers, not at domestical servants, or daily visitant friends. This mad Cerberus bites not those that have given him a sop, their affections and souls; but flies at the throat of such only as deny him the fealty of love and obedience, and abandon his regiment. Whiles the Israelites were in Egypt, and Pharaoh had some service of them, he doth but oppress them with burdens, and such slavish impositions; but when they are departed from his territories, and have extricated themselves from his bondage, he comes after them with fire and sword; and nothing but their blood and death can appease hmi. Swear, swagger, covet, cozen, dissemble, defraud, give the devil homage and allegiance, and his tyranny will be content with the supportation of these burdens; but rebel, revolt, renounce his sovereignty, and then nothing but fire and fury will flash from him.; and, except in thy ruin, he finds no rest.

II. Thus much for the unclean spirit's unroosting and xmresting ; his relinquishing the hold, and his demeanour after it: and therein generally for his egress. His regress is the next act of this tragedy; his striving for a reentry into the fort he hath lost : which consists, 1. In his intention, what he purposeth; 2. In the invention, what he findeth. His access and success is presented in these scenes:—

1. His intention or project dwells upon, (1.) A resolution ; (2.) A revolution; (3.) A descriptimi of his seat; (4.) Affection to the same house whence he came out.

(1.) 'E.h resolution: 'I will.' Volo, est vox aut pertinacis, aut potentis; non petentis, —' I will,' is the voice, not of a beggar, but either of one powerful or peremptory. Good in the Almighty, saucy in a subordinate power, without some reservation or exception made to the supreme providence. Will you, Satan 1 It is too bold and presumptuous a voice. Ask leave, Satan; for you are chained to your clog, and cannot stir but limitata 230tes-tate. Behemoth is tied in a tether, and that triumphant Lamb holds the lion in an infrangible cord; and says to him, as to the sea, ' Here will I stay the insultation of thy proud waves,' Job xxxviii. 11, Will you know what makes the devil thus bold ? A double confidence :—[1.] In his o\vn strength; [2.1 In man's weakness.

[l.] In his own strength. Therefore he says not, Conabor reverti, but Re-vertar, quasi nihil ohstiterit. As if he had that power which was prophesied of Cyrus, Isa. xlv. 2, that ' gates of brass and bars of iron should be broken open before him.' Or as it is feigned of the Pope in the year of jubilee, that he comes to the gate of St Peter's Church in Kome, and there having knocked with his silver hammer, the gate presently ftiUs down before him. Perhaps he means to hieroglyphic unto us what wondrous engines silver tools are in Rome, and what strange feats they work, till coelum sit venule Beusqxie, and not only to present the person of Peter, heaven's porter, as they call him, and to manifest the liberty of purgatory-ghosts, given by virtue of Papal indulgences.

This is the devil's strength, whereof he is so confident; and it is helped by his subtlety. His subtlety shews itself in his temptations. Which to discover is one special intention in all sermons. Mine shall be to cut off a lap of his garment. He tempts either—.

First, Invisibly; by stirring secret motions and internal provocations in the heart. So he wrought upon Judas by covetousness, upon Simon Magus by ambition, upon Esau by profaneness. ' Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed,' James i. 14. This is that operative possession, whereby the ' prince of the power of the air now worketh in the children of disobedience,' Eph. ii. 2. Innumerable are these invisible subtleties. Or—

Secondly, Visibly; by external apparitions and shapes, presented to the body's eye, either essential or delusive. This he doth three ways :—

First, By taking to himself an airy body, fashioning it to what form he pleaseth; as the good angels did, by God's dispensation, according to the opinion of divines, v/hen they ' did eat meat with Abraham,' Gen. xviii. 8. Thus he appeared to Saul in the shape of Samuel, 1 Sam. xx\Tii. 14. The king said to the witch, ' What form is he of ? And she said. An old man Cometh up, and he is covered -with a mantle.' Which was a feigned proportion that, by God's permission, Satan had taken to delude Saul. So it is said, that he often appeared in the days of ignorance.

Secondly, By entering into the corpse of some dead body, making it speak and walk as he pleaseth : which is not denied by divines, but the devil, by God's sufferance, may do, but with two provisos :—First, This must be the body of a reprobate that he assumes; for the ' godly sleep in peace,' Isa. Ivii. 2. God gives him a Nolito tangere meos, —Touch not mine, either living or dead. Secondly, If it be a reprobate corpse, yet he can appear in it no longer than naturally he can preserve it from corrupting. But that Satan can keep a carcase from putrefying, further than nature permits, it is generally and truly denied. And even these black shadows, blessed be God, in this sunshine of the gospel, are abolished.

Thirdly, By entering into the body of some living thing. So the devils in the possessed spake audibly, and gave a loud acknowledgment of Christ, Matt. viii. So Satan entered the body of a living serpent, when he tempted and seduced the woman. Gen. iii. 1; 2 Cor. xi. 3. But of all shapes which he assumeth, he hath best liking to the Likeness of man, and delights in a human resemblance. Of aU habits this best pleaseth him : in a kind of affecting pride, thereby to be as like to God as possibly he may. This is Satan's first presumption : a strongly-opinioned trust in his own strength.

[2.] In man's weakness; who, as he is never strong of himself, so at some times and places weaker than other. And therefore, like wise captains in towns of garrison, he had need to fortify that place with most men and munition, with best spiritual arms and armour, where either the enemy's ordnance, his temptations, have made a breach, or we are naturally weakest. Our frailty gives the devil a presumptuous confidence of 'Inirusion. Hence he saitli, not fortasse, but inroad dubio, ' I will return.' He thinks we are too weak to tura him away without his errand, when he comes with a picture of lust, a bag of gold, a staff of office and promotion. When he saith to the avarous, I will make thee rich; to the tyrant, I will make thee dreadful; to the wanton, I will make thee merry; to the wasteful, I will make thee beloved; to the idle, I will give thee ease : not only Achan, Gehazi, Saul, and Judas have been too weak for these encounters, but even Noah, Lot, David, Solomon, and Peter have bowed at these tempests.

This he could not do but by working on our ready and inclinable affections. As a cunning artificer, that can produce greater effects upon matter conveniently disposed thereunto than nature could have done alone. When the devil and our corrupt flesh meet, they engender a generation of sins;

as his sons, tlie mcagicians of Egypt, could make living creatures by applying and suggesting passive tilings to active, which would never have met but by their mediation; or as the statuary can make an image, which the timber and axe could never have effected without him. So the wicked would never produce such tetrical and horrible eifects, but the devil's adding his heat to theirs, and by a prodigious coupling of his instigation and their lusts.

Thus weak he thinks us, and not seldom finds us. The natural man goes forth to fight with a mighty giant, in a monomachy or duel; the second he brings with him is the world : the natural man's second is the flesh. He j)repares to fight with a professed enemy, and calls out for his assistant a private and close foe. He is weakly backed that hath a traitor for his guard. To arm his presumption with policy, he seriously observes which way the current of every man's humour runneth; knowing by long experience what will most easily draw him to sin.

As physicians, when they would know the state of the sick, and the nature of their disease, first inquire decubitum, the time of the jiatient's lying down and yielding himself to his lair. But because this observation holds not alike in all men, but some walk longer before they betake themselves to their bed than others, therefore they more especially reckon ab actionibus Icesis, —that is, when their appetite, digestion, and other faculties failed in the performance of their ofiices. And lastly, finding the course of nature in the diseased, which way it worketh, accordingly minister their physic, as that calls, Come and help me.

Such a course takes this malignant physician for the death of the soul: observing first when a delight in any sin casts us down ; and then, when the faculties of our souls forbore their functions, in hungering after righteousness, or digesting the word of truth; and lastly, when he hath found which way our natural inclination is given, and the grain of our aflections runs, he labours to help us forward into the practical custom of that wickedness; as a cunning fisher, using that bait which he knows most congruent to the nature and appetite of that fish he would strike. Thus he urgeth the choleric to anger; the melancholy to distrust, despair, and to lay violent hands on themselves; the sanguine to immoderate mirth; the phlegmatic to drowsiness in Christian ofiices, and to the deferring of obedience, assuring him that it is time enough to repent betwixt that and doomsday.

Since he is so bold with us, what should we do but be as bold with him 1 James iv. 7, ' Resist the devil, and he will flee from yoii.' He is a lion to those that fly him, a fly to those that stand him. Andacius insistit d, tergo, quam resistii infaciem/'^ Take in thy hand the ' sword of the Spirit:' fling a Scriptum est at his head. Take up some of David's stones out of God's holy brook, and smite that daring Phihstine in the forehead. This is the weapon wheremth our Saviour Christ encountered and beat him. Let us follow the same captain with the same arms. Let us not fear : Malus miles, qui imperatorer/i gemens sequitur, —He is a cowardly soldier that follows his general groaning. Thou goest not alone to this combat: Christ went before thee, goes with thee. How canst thou not march courageously, cum dux sit sociits, when thy captain is thy companion 1 He hath taught us this war both by precept and practice : ' Blessed be the Lord our strength, which teacheth our hands to war, and our fingers to fight,' Ps. cxhv. 1. Ctfjus munimur auxilio, movemiir exemplo, —We are guided, we are guarded ; by his presidency, by his precedency. So Augustine,t Ideo tentatus est Christus, ne vinceretur ct tentatore Christiamis, —Christ endured tentation, that tenta-* Bern. t In Psalm xc.

Matt. XII. 43-45.] the black saint. §3

tion might not overcome Christians. He says no other to thee than Abime-lech to his soldiers : ' "VVliat you have seen me do, make haste, and do as I have done,' Judges ix. 48. This is our strong comfort: ' For in that he himself hath suffered and was tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted,' Heb. ii. 18.

(2.) His revolution: 'return.' The devil being never permitted to pry into God's secret book of predestination, and so not knowing who is elect, who reprobate, hopes still to return into any house whence he hath been ejected. And accordingly in many, too many, he prevails. If Satan be totally thrown out, in vain he expects returning: especially to get any dominion in the lost fort. But we read, that a man may ' know the truth,' 2 Pet. ii. 21, and yet ' forsake it;' be ' enlightened,' nay,' taste of the powers of the world to come;' nay, be said, in some respects, 'sanctified,' yet 'crucify Christ again,' Heb. vi. 6. To these will Satan return, with as strong power as ever, Heb. x. 26.

N^owhe returns, either,[l.] By unright receiving of God's blessings; like good wine put into a polluted or broken vessel: or, [2.] By unreverent use of them; imagining themselves rather domlnos than dispensatores: or, [3.] By defiling them with hy|30crisy; so true gold is alchymcd over with a false sophistication : or, [4.] By mixing them with lusts and much-made-of sms; and this permission is like good meat put into a vicious stomach, where there is a con-fiision of poor food and crudities, to the destruction, not conservation of health.

Hence infer : though Satan be gone, yet expect his return. He hath his terms and returns, as well as vacations. And by this thou mayest judge whether this unclean spirit be truly or hypocritically cast out : if he doth not return, he was never gone ; if he strive not to come in, he is in already. A secure heart may suppose him expelled that still lies close in the house. If by perpetual assaults he strives for entrance, then be sure he is truly gone out. Even his oppositions shall afford thee comfort, his war give thee peace. And if he be gone, keep him at staflPs end; seeing thou art rid of so ill a tenant, let him never come in again,

(.3.) The description of his seat : ' into my house.' Satan calls this reprobate's heart his house ; {fnd so it is. Not by creation ; for so every man is God's house : 1 Cor. iii. 16, ' Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 ' Not by adoption : Cant. V. 2, 'Open to me, my sister,' &c., saith Christ; and, Rev. iii. 20, 'I stand at the door and knock,' &c. But upon our rejection of God, and God's desertion of us, the heart becomes Satan's house. For it is either a seat of sanctity, or a cage of unclean birds ; a chapel for Jesus, or a den for devils : for where Christ is not by his pure Spirit, Satan is by his foul spirit.

So the malicious heart is a house for the spirit of envy; the drunken, for the spirit of ebriety; the proud, for the spirit of pride ; the unchaste, for the spirit of uncleanness ; the usurer, for the spirit of covetousness. They may flatter themselves. Est Deus in nobis, agitante calescimus illo, —that God is in them, but the inmate and residentiary of their hearts is that unclean vulture. They may be rich in worldly wealth, and have sumptuous houses, and fair parlours, like Eglon; but themselves are foul parlours for Satan. How lamentable is it to see owls and bats, lim and Ziiin, impiety, impenitency, and rebellion, dwelling in that mansion which the Lord of hosts built for himself!

Heu domus antiqua, quam dispart dominaris domino! —0 ancient house, how ill art thou governed! where covetousness is the hall, for there is no room for charity in her old place; oppression the kitchen, where the lives

and livings of poor men are dressed for rich men's tables : pride is the parlour, which is hung with ostentation and self-flattery; wantonness is the chamber, where concupiscence sits and hatcheth an innumerable brood of lusts; malice is the chimney, which ever smokes, and sometimes flames out revenge ; security is the bed, whereon Satan luUs himself; and impenitency keeps the gate, that no admission be given to admonition, nor anything let in to disquiet the house. Oh, the mercy of God! Shall we let in our enemies and keep out our friends'? Must Satan be advanced into God's throne 1 Shall pride shut the door against the Lord of all mercy and comfort, who yet hath promised to dwell in the humble and contrite soul 1 For shame ! Let us cast Satan out, and keep him out. Though he flatter with the voice of the hyena at the door, and give blandiloquous proffers, yet—

' Janua fallaci non sit aperta viro.'

(4.) His affection to the same place : ' whence I came out.' Experienced delight sharpens desire, whereas unknown things are not cared for. This unclean spirit remembers the softness and warmth of his old lodging, and therefore no marvel if he covets to repossess it. Because—

[1.] He finds an easier and softer residence there than in hell. He had rather be in any place than his own place; rather in hogs than in the deep, Luke viii. 31. There he is tormented himself; here he doth vex and tempt others.

[2.] Man is made after the image of God; to whom, since he finds that his malice cannot extend, he labours to deface his picture. Hence man bears the blows which are meant at God.

[3.] Man is by Christ advanced to that place whence God disthronised him. Now he cannot endure that a human creature should ascend to that heaven whither himself, once an angel, may not be admitted.

[4.] He is exasperated against man by that curse inflicted on him for seducing man, that ' the seed of the woman should break his head.' This irre-concileable enmity enrageth and mads him. Christ he could not queU; have at Christians !

[5.] Lastly, the devil is j)roud stUl; and, though he be cast down, is not humbled ; though low, not lowly. He takes a |)ride in his kingdom, though it be but of darkness; and loves to have many subjects to do him homage. Since he cannot be king in heaven, he would command in heU. To enlarge his dominion, he would, like Absalom, steal away the hearts of men from King David of Israel, the liege Lord of heaven and earth.

Hence he affects his old house : there he is sure of good cheer and welcome ; a fire of lust to warm him, a bed of uncleanness to lodge him, and a table furnished with aU manner of impieties to feast him. Better here than walking in dry places, where wickedness is too barren to yield fruits for his diet, and oppositions too violent to give him rest.

2. You perceive now his resolution, revolution, description of his old seat, and affection to it; and in all these his intention. His invention foUows, and the successful answcrableness of all things to his deskes. He comes, and he finds preparation for his entertainment, consisting in clearness, cleanness, trimness: clearness, it is empty; cleanness, or handsomeness, it is swept; trimness, or adornation, it is garnished.

(1.) The devil shall not want room when he comes : there shall be no inmate in the house to molest him, but such as he cither left behind or sent before—vicious lusts. Which are indeed parts of himself, and therefore cannot be said to be sodcditium. They are shadows and resemblances of himself; which though he finds there, he reputes the house no less empty.

(2.) It is not enough to be empty, and capable to receive Lim; but it must be cleanly, and plausible to receive him : ' swept.' There must be a clear riddance of whatsoever may discontent him.

(3.) Nay, all this preparation is too slender; as if some great prince were expected, the house must be garnished; as it were, hung with tapestry and arras. There must not only be emptiness and handsomeness, but neatness. So then here is the provision of the house to receive him:—(1.) It is not troublesome, for it is ' empty.' (2.) It is not sluttish, for it is ' swept.' (3.) It is not incurious, for it is ' garnished.'

There is capacity, conveniency, curiosity. Which three circumstances of provision we may thus expound :—(1.) We will refer clearness or emptiness to the absence of faith and good works. (2.) Cleanness or handsomeness to an overly repentance. (3.) Trimness and curiosity to hypocrisy.

(1.) Vacuity: it is 'empty.' True faith is never alone. It is in the very act of justification sola, but not solUaria. Good works, as inseparable attendants, or rather efiects, accompany it. Where these are, there is no emptiness. But in this apostate, or black saint, there is neither the mistress nor the maids, faith nor good works : therefore the room of his heart is empty, and capable of the unclean spirit. Perhaps in this vacancy and absence of the power of Satan, there might be an abstinence from gross impieties, but there was no hearty alacrity to the troublesome works of godliness ; therefore he is justly said to be empty. We know that the forbearance of monstrous and world-noted wickedness is not enough to justify before God, or to acquit us from eternal malediction. The tree is doomed to the fire that yields not good fruits, although it yield no evil. Even infructuous barrenness brought Christ's curse on the fig-tree. Sour grapes are not only displeasing to God, but no grapes ; and the flood of condemnation reacheth further than to drown obstinacy, for it fetcheth in also infertility. God is departed; and you know that sede vacante, there will be no paucity of intruders. What house stands long tenantless 1 No marvel, then, if an empty vessel be never exalted to honour.

Hence we may infer that this re-mgress of Satan can never befall the regenerate ; for it is impossible to find their heart empty. Faith, temperance, patience, zeal, charity, hope, humility, are perpetual residentiaries in the temple of their souls; and if any one be tempted abroad, and allured to a short discontinuance, yet the other keep infallible possession; and with un-conquered strength keep out Satan. If the rest should be driven into a comer, yet faith would defend the door against aU assaults.

Indeed there may be such a storm and tempest of an afilicted conscience, that the graces of the Spirit, as obscured in a cloud, may not be sensibly perceived; and in regard of our own feeling there may be an absence or vacuity. But we must not take an abatement for an emptiness; a secession for a destitution. It is certain, those that have the invisible mark of the Spirit shall have the visible mark of an honest life ; and totally they cannot lose grace, nor a second time fall away : for then they could not be renewed agaui by repentance, Heb. vi. 6, nor ever be restored except Christ should die again : Heb. x. 26, ' For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.' Paul had some hojie of the incestuous person, and therefore did not wholly cut him off and accurse him ; but separate and suspend him for a time, ' that by the dehvering of him unto Satan' for a season, ' for the destruction of the flesh, his spirit might be saved in the day

of the Lord Jesus,' 1 Cor. v. 5. Thus Christ beuig once truly in, -wUl never out: the ftiithful cannot be empty. There is, then, a defect of faith in this black apostate, that makes room for the devil.

(2.) Cleanliness : it is 'swept'. This is the effect of an overly and superficial repentance : like a slight besom, it sweeps away the dust and cobwebs, and such lighter stuff, but the filth and dirt is caked and baked on. Sins of less delight to the flesh, and tentations of weaker force, are brushed away; but the main affection to some old impiety hath the root in the heart un-digged up. The devil is content the conscience should be swej^t, so long as it is but only swept.

Sin is congealed, concorporated, baked on; and must be pared and digged away by greater violence than sweeping. Swept, Satan yields it, so not pared. Impiety is habituated by custom, hardened by impenitency, incorporated to him by his affection to it; and shall he think that a formal repentance, like a soft besom, can sweep all clean 1 Can a few drops and sprinklings of water purge off the inveterate foulness and corruption of the flesh 1 There is required much rinsing to whiten a defiled soul.

How perverse is their course and thought that imagine they may repent more in an hour than they sin in an age ! As if, having in many years kindled a thousand fires, thou wouldest think to put them out all with one tear : whereas mdeed, many tears can scarce put out one. Then boldly, stain the cloth a whole vintage, and at last let one washing serve for all. Alas! man is quickly made miserable, but not with such speed happy. How easily, how suddenly got man his damnation ! it was but eating an apple, soon done. Esau quickly hunted away his blessing, but could not with many tears recover it. David is not long in falling, his rising is tedious. With much pains and contention doth a man climb up some high tower; but losing his hold, he comes down apace. It is no easy thing to stand, it is easy to slip, to stumble, to fall. The thick and foggy air of this sinful world, as the smoke and stenchful mists over some populous cities, can soon sully the soul; the continual trampling of sin brings mire and dirt upon the conscience ; these corruptions are not so presently rid away as taken.

Clip the hairs short, yet they will grow again, because the roots are in the skull, A tree that is but pruned, shred, topped, or lopped, will sprout again : root it up, and it shall grow no more. What is it to clip the outward appearances, and to lop the superfluous boughs oi our sms, when the root is cherished in the heart 1 What to have a foul and miry house swept? The Pharisee, in his blown prayers, cozening tithes, frequent alms, did but sweep the house, and remove the cobwebs of outward impieties; but the dirt of hypocrisy was baked on; the roots of pride -and covetousness grew still untouched.

It is not, then, a transient sorrow, nor a formal compunction, (which may wound and jirick the heart like a needle, but wants the thread of faith to sew and join it to God,) that can make the house clean. It is but swept, and so ready for Satan's re-entiy and repossession.

(3.) Trimness, or curiosity : ' garnished.' This ornature and fit furnishing of the house for Satan's entertainment is done by hypocrisy. When the rotten cabin of a foul heart is hung Avith gay hangings; when putidum et putridmn cadaver, a rotten and stinking carcase, is hid in a sepulchre painted over with vermilion ; when a stenchful dunghill is covered with white snow, here is a garnishing for the devil. He that can pray at church, and cozen at home ; give his debtor fair words, and eat him through with usury, which is to break his head with precious balms; hath bitterness in his heart,

whilst his tongue distils mjTrh and drops honey : that man hath a house garnished for this unclean spirit.

Satan ■will allow his hosts to pretend sanctity, so they intend villany; aliud projyonere, cdiud sitppojiere, —to have the cuj) outwardly rinsed and cleansed, so it be within full of extortion and rancour; to gild over a poi-Bonous pill; to pray in the church, so they prey on the church : this is a trimmed house, a chamber garnished for the devil. This Satan doth in an ambitious imitation of the Lord, who would have his house garnished as the passover chamber was trimmed.

God would have the ' beams of his house cedar, and the galleries of fir,' Cant, i 17 ; like king Solomon's chariot, 'the pillars thereof are silver, the bottom thereof gold, the covering of it of purple; the midst thereof being paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem,' chap. iii. 10. He would have sanctification for the furniture, for ' this is the will of God, even your hoUness,' 1 Thess. iv. 3; and for ornaments, the graces of his Spirit. Thither he comes, and there he sups : Rev. iii. 20, ' Behold, I stand at the door and knock : if any man open unto me, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he shall sup with me.'

The de\il, accordingly, desires his house garnished, but the furniture is sin, and the ornaments opera tenehrarum, the works of darkness ; and then, if you will, let this mansion be outwardly pargeted and whited over. Make they show of having the Holy Ghost on Sundays, so they retain the foul devil all the week. These are they that make religion a masquery : lie, swear, cheat, oppress, scorn, riot, revile, revel; yet appear at church on the Sabbath, as if they came for a passport to do more mischief The strength of their profession is but a gristle, which is indeed neither bone nor flesh; neither true religion nor no religion. Like the speckled innocency of the Papists, in their ostentate charity, unclean chastity, luxurious fasts, and meritorious treasons, in butchering princes and transferring kingdoms.

These hypocrites, being erst so themselves abused and deluded of Satan, persuade others to villany by arguments of virtue. For a hypocrite will do nothing without a colour, and with a colour anything. If thou beest a good fellow, pledge this health; if a true gentleman, put not up this disgrace without revenge ; if any charity in thee, mamtain this parasite. Whereas it is the part of a good man to be sober; of a generous spirit to ' pass by an offence,' said the wisest king; and of a charitable man to succour the poor, not to maintain the dissolute.

Yet all this mad troop of enormities must march under the colours of religion. As those rebels in the north, in our late cpieen's days, of blessed memory, who, when all their projects and stratagems appeared manifestly to the overthrow of their gracious princess, yet concluded their proclamation with, ' God save Queen Elizabeth !'

These are Satan's white boys, or rather black boys, whom he Idlls, Uke the ape her young, with Idndness, and danms with indulgence. He gives them a vaster commission than I have read that Philip le Long gave the Jacobuis in Paris; which charter had a reasonable extension, A porta illorum, ad jjortam ivfemi, inclusive. This is the passport which this great captain gives hypocrites: from their own gates to the gates of hell, inclusively.

This is that hypocritical and half-turning to God, when the outward action is suppressed, and the hidden corruption lies still fostered in the heart. The appearance is masked, the afi'ection not mortified. And though, like au eunuch, he doth not beget palpable and manifest enormities ; yet hath a lust.

^S THE BLACK SAINT. [SeEMON XXIX.

and itcli, and concupiscence to them, and forbears not in tlie dark, safe from the eyes of the world, to practise them.

A man that doth outwardly refuse adherence to the world for a colourable embracuig of the world, yet inwardly and in a hearty affection parts not with his former turpitudes, fulfils that on himself which St Basil once said of a senator, that seemed to renounce the world, yet retained part of his ill-gotten riches, as Ananias kept back part of the price of his lands : ' Thou hast spoiled a senator, and hast not made a monk.' So I may say of this man, ' Thou hast marred a worldling, and hast not made a Christian.'

Now the devil is content thou shouldest remit some of thy gross impieties, so thou retain others. He cares not to be cast out by idolatry, so he be kept in by atheism. He is well pleased that Judas should become an apostle of Christ, so he be withal a traitor. Let Abimelech give hospitality to Abraham, so he purpose to abuse his wife. Let Herod hear John Baptist preach; perhaps he will cut off his head for preachmg against Herodias.

The devil is loath to be dislodged of ignorance, yet is content that error succeed in place. He is vexed that the truth should appear to a man, yet if worldliness keep fast hold of the affections, this is a cable-rope to pull him in again. If he lose the sconce of the understanding, yet give hun the citadel of the affections. Any unmortified, habituated, affected sin, is a sufiicient stin'up to mount him into his old saddle. Either let the soul stoop to fulfil the body's base desires, or let the body employ all his members, faculties, functions, to satisfy the soul's lusts, and he is pleased.

The infernal t3Tant deals with men herein as the Egyptian Pharaoh dealt with the Israelites. Moses hath a commission and a command from God, to take with him the children of Israel, and to go ' three days' journey into the wilderness,' to celebrate a feast to the Lord. Pharaoh is very loath to lose the profit which by the servitude of Israel did arise to him; he will not suffer them. But when renewed plagues prove that there is no remedy, and a, perpetual vicissitude of judgments enforce it, observe how he would compound it:—

First, Exod. viii. 25, ' Go ye, sacrifice to your God in this land.' Nay, saith Moses, ver. 26, 'It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God : lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us ?' That were a shame, and insufferable offence to them, to immolate beasts among them that worship beasts.

Secondly, ' Go ye,' saith Pharaoh, ver. 2d>, if there be no remedy, ' even into the wilderness,' and sacrifice to your God ; but ' go not far.' Nay, saith Moses, we must go three days' journey. The limits and confines of the wilderness will not serve our turns; as if our sacrifice should not smell of Egypt, Ave must go so far as our travel can reach in three days.

Thirdly, Go ye, saith Pharaoh, and so far as now you desire, and your feet can measure in three days; but ' who must go 1 ' Exod. x. 9, Moses saith, ' Our sons and daughters, flocks and herds ; for we must hold a feast to the Lord.' ' Not so : your little ones shall not go,' quoth Pharaoh ; ' go ye that are the men, and serve the Lord, for that was your desire. And they were driven from his presence,' ver. 11. But Moses requires that all may go : ' old and young, sons and daughters.'

Fourthly, Pharaoh, after the devouring locusts and palpable darkness, calls again for Moses and Aaron. ' Go ye yourselves, and let your little ones go also; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed,' Exod. x. 24. Nay, saith Moses, ver. 25, we must have ' burnt-offerings and sacrifices for the

Lord our God. Our cattle shall also go with us; there shall not a hoof be left behind : for thereof must we take to serve the Lord our God.'

Did Pharaoh regard their cattle above their little ones ? or their children beyond themselves'? No ; but he deals by conditions and limitations, as loath to part with all at once. Therefore rather their cattle than nothing, For he know they had covetous minds; and when in the wilderness they wanted prOAision, and were pmched with famine, they would return back ^gain for their cattle. Every yielding confession* that came from him was by force of the rack; he gxants nothing, but on the compulsion of a judgment.

So this spiritual and hellish Pharaoh hath had a soul long in his Egypt, and hath found him beneficial and helpful to his kingdom of darkness in many services. The word preached comes, like Moses, to call him out of this bondage. Satan is afraid to be put out of commons, frantic at the menace of expulsion ; he will not give ground till he be forced, nor depart except plagued. But when he perceives no evasion, or remedy against God's intendment, he falls to indenting with niggardly grants and allowances :—

First, Sacrifice here in this land; put on a mantle of religion over the old body. Be inwardly an Egyptian stUl, black and wicked, though an external sacrificer. Let thy life be staht, qiio ; shift not ground. Answer thou with Moses, No ; I must change place, travel a new way : from Egypt toward Canaan ; from the region of darkness to the regiment of life.

Secondly, Go then, saith the devil, but not far; keep within my wliistle, that when I beckon my hand with a bag in it, or give you the call of vanity, you may hear, and return. No, Satan ; I must go far off : three days' journey from Egypt, I must not stay near Sodom, nor in any of the plains, lest I be destroyed. It is no repentance that puts not on a contrary habit. Pride must be turned to humility, covetise to charity, dissimulation to honesty, &c.

Tim dly. Well then, saith Satan, go ye, the men, but leave the children behind you : let me have your youth and strength, and when you are old talk of sacrifice and of religion, Tliis is the devil's dispensation, Youth must be borne with. To dance, to dice, to drink, to ruffle, scuffle, wear fleeces of vanity on their heads, and to leave no place without some vicious testimony of their presence, non est vitium adolescenti, is no fault in a young man. So the king of Babylon took not the men, but the children of the Jews, to teach them the learning of Chaldea. Answer : It is good to begin at the gates of our life to serve God, and from our birth to be Nazarites unto the Lord. Lest if the frame of our lives be built on a lascivious and riotous foundation of long practised wantonness, ' our bones be full of the sin of our youth, and it lies down with us in the dust/ Job xx, 11; and when our bodies arise from the earth, our sins also rise with them to judgment. No, Satan; youth and age, all the degrees of our life, shall be devoted to the service of God.

Foiu-thhj, Yet, saith Pharaoh, leave your cattle ; saith the devil. Leave your affections behind you. I must be content to let you come to church, . hear, read, join in prayers; yet do not quite forsake me. Leave me but a pawn—your affection ; a secret liking to your former iniquities. No, Satan ; God must be served with all the heart, with all the soul, ifcc.; we will not leave so much as a desire to any sin, ' we will not leave a hoof behind us.' Indeed, Satan willuigly would not content himself with the bounds, but aims at the Avhole inheritance; he is not satisfied with the borders, but besiegeth the metropolitan city. Let us keep him out tif all, if we can; but since we * Qu., concession ?— Ed.

must sin, let us hold him occupied in some outhouse, but be sure to keep him out of the bedchamber—from ruling in the heart.

III. You have here Satan's egress and regress ; how he forsakes his hold, how he forceth and strives for a re-entry. Let the same patience and attention dwell with you whiles you sit to hear his ingress ; his fortifying of the hold being taken, and provision against future dispossession. This is manifested—1. By his associates ; 2. By his assault. For the former, he multi-plieth his troops, and increaseth his forces; who are described—(1.) By their nature, 'spirits;' (2.) 'By ih.QVC number, 'seven;' (3.) By the measitre of their malice, ' more wicked than the former.'

1.—(1.) Their nature : ' spirits.' And so both the easier to get in and the harder to be got out. We see what kmd of possession the devil hath in this black apostate, a spiritual and internal power. By which strong ' working and ruling in the hearts of the children of disobedience,' Eph. ii. 2, he hath gotten high titles, as the ' prince,' the ' king,' the ' god of the world,' JSTot that Satan is any such thing of himself, but only through the weakness of the ungodly, who admit him for a lord of misrule in their hearts. Christ is the true and only Lord of heaven and earth; the devil is the prince of this world, but merely by usurpation; the greatest part of the world being either his open or secret followers.

They are spirits, full of tyranny, full of malice. Their temptations in this life testify the one; and their torments in the next life (or rather death) shaU declare the other. Here is thy misery, O apostate : illos dum spuitus occupat artus ; whiles thy own spirit doth move thy joints, and other spirits persecute thy spirit, which is for ever and ever, thou shalt have no release of bondage, no decrease of anguish.

(2.) Their number : ' seven.' A certain number is put for an uncertain ; by seven spirits is intended a monstrous number of capital sms. This ex-presseth a forcible seducing of Satan : before, one spuit; now, seven more. Mary Magdalene had once in her seven devils; this apostate hath gotten eight.

It doth so provoke and distemper Satan to be cast out, that he meaneth and menaceth a fiercer assault, and ramparts his recovered fortress with a septuple guard, that the security of his defence may give defiance to all oppositions. He doth so fill the heart as he ' filled the heart' of Ananias, Acts V. 3, and there is no room for the least drop of grace. Now, he that could not rid himself of one foul spirit, what wiU he do to encounter seven with the former % The combat is but tolerably equal when one to one, but ne Hercules contra duos, —two is odds though against Hercules; how then shall this weak man shift or deal with eight ? If I might a little allegorise : The Papists make but seven deadly sins. I am sure that hypocrisy is none of them in their account. Hypocrisy might be in this apostate before ; for he was garnished, and now perhaps those other seven are crept in to it, and so there are eight in all. But indeed, as every sm is deadly, though out of theh' numeration and register; so by the addition of this number, 'seven,' is signified an abundance of iniquities.

(3.) The measure of their malice : ' more wicked.' They are called more wicked, because they make the possessed more wicked. This is spoken of the devil—who is always x>essimum, the worst—in some degree of comparison : not so much secundum naturam proj^riam, but secundum operationem in cdiis, —not so much in regard of his own nature, as m respect of the effects which he works in man. That it shall go worse with this black saint's person the conclusion will shew. Here consider, that his sins are made more

Matt. XII. 43-45.] the black saint. G1

wicked. One and the same sin, even respecting the identity of it, may be worse in a quadruple regard :—

[1.] Eatione perpetrantis, —in respect of the committer. Jonah's sleep was worse than the mariner's; Judas's conspiracy worse than the Jews' • wickedness in a Christian worse than in an infidel.

[2.] Eatione loci, —in regard of the place. So, wTangling in a church is worse than in a tavern; thievery in the temple more ^^'icked than thievery in the market. Amos iL 8, ' They lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god;' which was more horrible than the same wickedness done in another place. This appeared by Christ's actual punishing that offence, even with those hands that we never else read gave any blows; for sacrilege is the worst of all thefts.

[3.] Eatione temporis, —in respect of the time. For to play when thou shouldest pray; to swear when thou shouldest sing; when thou shouldest bless, to curse; and to be drunk in a tavern when thou oughtest to serve God in the temple,—is worse than the same offence at other times. Those vintners and victuallers are grievously guilty that do in prayer-time at once open their own door and a door to irreligion and contempt of God's holy worship.

[4.j Eatione naturce, in quam j^eccatur, —in regard of that nature against whom the sin is committed. If a traitor condemned for some notorious conspiracy against his prince shall receive at those maligned hands a gracious pardon, and yet renew his treason with a second attempt, this latter fact, though the same in nature, (for all is but treason,) is more wicked in measure, by reason of the conspirator's unthankfulness for his sovereign's goodness. He ill requites God's mercy for delivering him from one foul devil, that opens a willing door to the entry of seven worse. The more familiar acquaintance we have had with the blessings of God, the greater condemnation abides us for ingratitude. If the sin may be thus made more wicked, why not the person that commits it? Seven new spirits more wicked have made him more kicked than the first left him. Less had been his woe if that one unclean spirit had kept possession alone, than upon his privation to have the position of seven worse.

Three inferences from hence must not pass away unobserved:—

Fh'st, That there is difference of sins, sinners, and consequently of punishments. The first was said to be an unclean sjjirit, yet are the latter seven worse. By the witness of Christ we have it already, Matt, v., and by his judgment shall find it hereafter, that an angry affection is liable to judgment, a provoking gesture to the punishment of a council; but railmg invectives are worthy of hell-fire. Chorazhi and Bethsaida shaU speed worse than Tyre and Sidon, and yet these were already in hell. ' The servant that knows his master's will, and doth it not, shall be beaten with many strii)es.' Simple nescience hath an easier judgment than sinful knowledge. If 13ar-baria wring her hands that she hath known so little, Christendom shall rend her heart that she hath known so much to so little purpose.

Parity of sins is an idle dream, a Stoic and Jovinian imagination. For though the wages of all sin be everlasting death, yet some sins shall feel the torments of that death more violent and terrifying than others. I have otherwhere shewed that Judas's villany in betraying his ^Master was more horrible than if a Barabbas, a notorious butcherer, had done the deed. So our Saviour insinuated to Pilate : ' He that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sm,' John xix. 11. That Babylonian tyrant committed a more

heinous offence, in taking tlie lioly tilings out of so holy a place,—God's consecrated vessels out of God's temple,—than if he had stolen more precious ones out of a profane place. Do you think that a cutpurse playing the thief at a sermon is more worthy of hanging than a robber that stands in the highway 1

This David instanceth, Ps. i. 1, 'Blessed is he that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of the scornful.' Walking is bad enough, but it is worse to stand than to walk, and to sit than to stand in the ways of wickedness. Though idle words be an unclean spirit, yet actual disobedience is a fouler devil. A Christian usurer is worse than a Turkish. An Indian idolater to gold is not so damnable as a Spanish. All reprobates shall find hell-fire hot enough, but this black saint so much the hotter as he was once purged of his unclean spirit.

Secondly, God doth severely revenge himself upon ingratitude for his graces, and squares out his judgment according to the proportion of the blessing conferred and abused. He that would not be thankful to God for the expulsion of one unclean spirit, shall in a just quittance be pestered with seven more, and more wicked. If Christ be so kind to Judas as to minister the sacrament to him, and he so iinkind to Christ as to lay it upon a foul stomach, a polluted heart, the devil shall enter with it.

There is a nescio vos given to those that 'have eaten and drunk in the pre sence of Christ,' and 'have heard him teach in their streets,' Luke xiii. 2Q, (it is all one,) that have feasted at the communion-table, and heard Christ in their pulpits. Even our reading, hearing, praying, Avhen they are done of custom more than of conscience, shall be but a means of Satan's introduction. The word of God, like the dew of heaven, never falls on the earth of our hearts but it makes either herbs or weeds shoot up quicker and thicker in them. ' For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God : but that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned,' Heb. vi. 7.

If they were condemned, Rom. i., and ' given over to a reprobate sense,* that had no other glass to see the Deity in but nature,—for seculum speculum, the world is a glass,—what shall become of those that have had the book of the gospel, yet are stomach-sick of manna, and beat away the hand of mercy reached forth unto them : what but a ' triple reprobate sense,' and here a septuple possession of Satan ?

Thus God in justice (for contempt of his mercy) admits a stronger delusion of the devU,—not to make them ' twofold more the children of hell,' Matt, xxiii 15, as proseljrtes, but sevenfold, as devils,—that their bewitched and infatuated souls shall do service to him that murders them : as Ahaz did * sacrifice to the gods of Damascus that smote him,' 2 Chron. xxviii. 23; as our treacherous and fugitive Seminaries, that adore the Babylonish beast, who profusely carouseth up their blood that serve him; and whiles he builds up the tower of his universal monarchy, to overlook and command the Christian world, he sets them to cement and mortar the walls with their own bloods.

Worse than the Indians, in some of their blind and idolatrous sacrifices: offering not for a ne noceat, but for an ut noceat; crouching not for a blessing, but a curse; and buying with great expense the malediction of God and men. God threatens Israel, that for the multitude of their rebellions he will septuple their punishments : Ley. xxvi. 18, 'And if ye will not yet for all

this hearken unto me, I will punish you seven times more for your sins.' And, ver. 21, 'If ye walk contrary, and will not hearken unto me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you, according to your sins.' So frequently, in the first and second chapters of the prophecy of Amos: ' For three transgressions, and for four,'—which are seven, which are many, which are iimumerable,—'I will not turn away your punishment,' saith the Lord. According to their sins, by weight and measure, proportion and number, shall be their sorrows. As they have swallowed up the poor, and devoured the people of God like bread, impoverished the commonwealth, undone the church, and all this under colour of long prayers, and of a fiery-hot devotion, so ' they shall receive greater damnation.' This is Babylon's final re-compence: Eev. xviii. 6, ' Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works : in the cup which she hath filled, fiU to her double.'

Thirdly, As seven worse spirits are the rcAvard to him that makes much of one bad and unclean, so are seven better spirits bestowed on him that useth one good well. One talent well employed shall gam ten ; and the more we have, the more will God delight to load us. God is as kind to those that trafiic his graces to his glory, as he is severe against those that throw his pearls to swine. And as this apostate's recidivation is rewarded by the accession of seven more wicked spirits, so our sanctified and confirmed hearts shall be honoured with those seven most pure spirits, Eev. i. 4, ' which are before the throne of God.' These seven spirits are taken either for the seven gifts of God's Spirit, prefigured by the seven eyes in one stone, Zech. iii. 9, and seven lamps in one candlestick, chap. iv. 2; which are by some gathered from Isa. xi. 2: ' And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.' The first is the spirit of piety, the second is the spirit of wisdom, the third is the spirit of understanding, the fourth is the spirit of counsel, the fifth is the-spirit of might, the sixth is the spirit of knowledge, the seventh is the spirit of the fear of the Lord. Or, by putting a certain number for an uncertain, all the gifts and graces of God's Spirit are here intended; seven being a number of perfection, and signifying, in the Scriptures, fulness.

God doth so requite his own blessings, that where he finds thankfulness for his goodness, he opens his hands wider; and where drops of grace take well, he will rain whole showers of mercy. It is his delight to reward his own favours and crown his own blessings; as if he would give because he had given. Thus a greater measure of godliness shall possess us, a greater measure of wickedness this apostate, than either in either kind formerly was had. When we receive grace of God, we also receive grace to employ that grace; so that if we thrive not in the growth of godliness, we may justly call our sanctity into question. As he, a malo ad pejus, from evil to worse, descends gradually to hell; so must we, by 'joining virtue to faith, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance,' &c., 2 Pet, i, 5, as per $cansum, climbing by degrees, get up into heaven,

2, I have described the associates : now for the assault. Wherein briefly observe, (1.) Their invasion; (2,) Their inhabitation ; (3.) Their cohabitation,

(1.) Their invasion: 'they enter.' Alas! what should hinder them, ■when a savage troop, appointed at all hands, armed with malice and mischief cap-(X-pie, assaults a poor weak fort, that hath nothing but bare walls and naked gates, and those set wide open, to defend itself? If Lot were in Sodom, if but Faith stood in the turret of the conscience, there might be some

G4 THE BLA.CK SAINT. [SeKMON XXIX.

beating back of tlieir forces; but there is no reluctation, therefore an easy victory. St Paul describes the Christian's armour, Eph. vi. 14, ' Stand, having your loins girt about with truth; having on the breastplate of righteousness ; your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace ; above all, take the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit,' &c.

This apostate hath not a piece of it, to ward the least blow, wheresoever it strikes him. He is to deal with cunning fencers, and hath neither offensive nor defensive weapons. Not truth, but error, is the girdle of his loins ; and for the breastplate of righteousness, he knows not how to put it on. His feet were never ' shod with the preparation of the gospel,' he had not so much time to spare from his nimble gadding after vanities. The fiery darts of these mcked spirits may burn and wound him to death; he hath no shield of faith to cool or quench them. The helmet of salvation is far from him ; he knows not in what armoury to find it. And for the sword of the Spirit, he cannot tell how to handle it. He is an unwalled city, an uudefenced fort, an unarmed man. No marvel if these foul spirits enter, when there is neither contention nor intention to repel them. Omnia tradentur: 2^ortas reserabimus hosti.

(2.) Their inhabitation : ' dwell.' The devil dwelleth in a man, not fan-qiiam corpus locatwn in loco, —as a body seated in a certain place ; for spirits are not contained in any place. Incorporeal created substances do not dwell in a place locally or circumscriptively, as bodies do, but definitively. Nor dwell these in him tanquam forma in materia, —as the form in a substance, as the soul in the body. For the devil is a simple substance of himself, not compounded of any alien or second matter.

But they dweU in him by a secret and spiritual jjower : darkening their minds, 2 Cor. iv. 4, ' that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should not shine unto them.' Poisoning their aff'ections, Eph, iv, 19, that * being past feeling, they might give themselves over to lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness,' Hardening their hearts, Rom. ii. 5, ' tiU they treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.' All which is no other in effect but damming up the lights and windows of this fort, ramming up the gates, and forti-fyuig the walls. Thus they dweU in him, like witches in an enchanted castle; and who shaU break their spells and deliver him ! You see, then, this black saint hath but sorry guests, that purpose longer stay with hiTn than a night; to dwell, yea, to domineer, tiU they have eater, him quite out of house and home.

(3.) Their cohabitation : ' they dwell there;' all of them, even together.

Obs. 1.—There is room enough in one heart for many sins. Mary Magdalene's heart held seven devils ; this apostate's eight. There was a whole legion in another, Matt, viil; all the principalities and powers of darkness in a fourth. Absalom had treason, ambition, pride, incest, ingratitude, for his heart's stuffing. Judas had no fewer turpitudes in his. The heart is so small a piece of flesh, that it will scarce give a kite her breakfast; yet, behold how capacious and roomy it is, to give house-room to seven devils ! He that should read and observe the great physician's dissection of man's heart, Matt. XV. 19,—' Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies,'—would bless himself to think that so little a thing could extend itself to such a capacity; or that it could be so full and not burst.

Obs. 2.—Behold & rabble of devils agreeing quietly in one man. Glomer-antur in unicni innumerce j^estes Urebi, —Innumerable plagues of hell aro rounded up together in one; yet they fall not out for room. On earth, among men, it often falleth out as between those two ambitious Romans :—

Nee quemquam jam ferre potest CcCsarre priorem, Pompeiusve parem,'—

Caesar must have no superior, Pompey no rival. Ahab cannot endure that Naboth's vineyard should disfigure liis lordship. Eich men in this world agree like pikes in a pond, ready to eat up one another; but howsoever, the poor pay for it; they are sure to be devoured. Tradesmen cannot agree in one city, nor neighbours in one town, nor brothers in one house, nor Jacob and Esau in one womb; yet, behold, many devils can agree in one man. They know that 'a kingdom divided cannot stand.' We quarrel and contend, when hell itself is at peace.

IV. My journey draws to an end ; there remain but two steps : the conclusion and application. The conclusion of the parable is fearful: ' The last state of that man is worse than the first.' Is it possible ? His state was so bad before, that can you imagine it Avorse ? Yes ; there was but one devU before, now there are eight. By reason of this stronger possession, his damnation will be the sooner wrought up, the cup of his iniquity brim-filled, and himself hurried to hell with the greater precipitation. This pejority of his state may be amplified in six respects :—

1. Whilst this black saint had a white face, and carried the countenance of religion, he was wrapped up in the general prayers of the church. He seemed of that number for whom, as the friends of Christ, there was a con-tmual remembrance in good men's intercessions. ' If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not mito death. But there is a sin unto death : I do not say that he shall pray for it,' 1 John v. 16. Samuel will pray for Saul, till he perceive that he hath given over the Lord, and the Lord him.

But when the white scarf is plucked off this Moor's face, and his black leprosy appears; when the wolf's sheepskin is stripped off", and he is seen to worry the lambs; then is he smgled out as an enemy to Christ, and God's judgment hastened on him at the entreaty of his servants. He is so much the worse as he hath lost the benefit of good men's prayers. When he is once in this ' gall of bitterness, and bond of iniquity,' in vaui Simon ^lagus requests Simon Peter to request God for liim : ' Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me,' Acts ^dii. 24.

2. Whilst this black devil mantled his tawny skin and ulcerous heart with dissimulation of piety, there was outwardly some hopeful likelihood of his reformation, and winning to heaven; though God knew otherwise in his hidden and reserved counsel. Whilst he sat in the congregation of saints, heard what God spake to them, and spake with them to God, the minister did preach to him the tidings of peace with a good opinion, and admitted him to the communion of the sacrament. But now, his eruption into manifest contempt of sacred things, and despite done to the Spirit of truth, hath deaded that hope ; so that the minister hath not that confident comfort that the word -vvill be the 'savour of life' unto him. His hypocrisy hath deceived the world ; his apostasy hath deceived himself: therefore his ' state is worse.'

3. His latter end is worse in regard of himself; and this may be amplified in four circumstances:—

VOL. II. E

(1.) Before, he was sick of spiritual drunkenness ; now, lie is lethargised. Who knows not that a continued lethargy is worse than a short ebriety ? Such is his state.

(2.) Imijenitence hath brought him to impudence; and by often prostitution of his heart to uncleanness he hath gotten a ' whore's forehead,' that cannot blush: ' Thou refusedst to be ashamed,' Jer. iii. 3. And, Jer. viii. 12, 'Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush,' He hath so little repented for wickedness, that now he thinks there is no wickedness standeth in need of rejientance. A brazen face, Avhich no foul deed, nor reproof for it, can make to change colour! How can it be otherwise 1 For a black saint can no more blush than a black dog.

(3.) He is in worse state, by so much as a relapse is more perilous than the first sickness; by reason that strength is now spent, and nature made more weak, and unable to help itself, or to receive benefit by what is ministered. The sj)arks of goodness are now dying, or quite extinct, and the floods of iniquity more violent against him. There be sorer assaults, and less strength to encounter them.

(4.) Before, he was quiet in himself, and might have a flattering hope that the night would never come; but now, breaking forth into palpable contempt and obduracy, he finds his conscience open to condemn him, and hell-gates open to receive him. His ulcer seemed to be fairly skinned over, and in his own sense healed; but now, to come to a new incision is greater terror than ever. The sound of fear is now in his ears, the sense of a dagger at his heart. His body would, his mind cannot, rest. The horror of future punishment lies at Cain's door, and is at every noise ready to wake him. There is a fearful conflict betwixt sensuality and reason in him; that he may use Job's words, though in a deeper and direr sense, chap. vii. 20, Factus sum mihimet ipse gravis, —' I am a burden and trouble to myself.'

Thus the great parasite of the soul, that heretofore matched the number of God's threatenings with as many fair promises, and flattered this wretch with the paucity of his sins, now takes him in the lurch, and over-reckons him. He that so long kept him in a beautiful gallery of hope, now takes him aside, and shews him the dark dungeon of despair. He engrosseth his ini-c[uities in text-letters, and hangs them on the curtain at his bed's feet, to the racking amazement of his distracted soul. Before, the devil did put his shoulders under the burden; but now he sliifts it ofi", and imposeth it on the sinner. And as I have read the Spanish index deals with Velcurio; who, commenting on Livy, saith that the fifth age was decrepit under the Popes and emperors ; the Index takes out the Po^Des, and leaves the emperors obnoxious to the whole imj)utation :* so the devD. winds out himself at last from the wicked, refusing to carry the burden any longer, but leaves it wholly to their supportation.

This ague, or rather agony, is made more vexing by the sting of conscience: which is now God's bailiff to arrest him, his witness agamst him, his whip to lash him, his register that reads over the long book of his offences, and after a terrible aggravation of their heinousness, tells him his penance, direful and intolerable; and that concordat cum act is curice, it agrees with the just decree of God's court, never to be avoided.

4. His last state is worse than his first in respect of God, who wiU now turn him out of his protection. When he hath once proclaimed open war and rebellion against God, and hath manifestly declared himsehf an outlaw,

* Ind. Hisp., f. 158.

no marvel if God throw him out of the circumference of his mercy, and let his providence take no charge over him, saving only to restrain his sava^-e fury from foraging his grace-empaled church. But for himself, the Scripture gives a renunciation : ' If he will go into captivity, let him go.' Rev. xxii. 11, 'If he will be unjust, let him be unjust still; if he will be filthy, let him be filthy still.' I will not hinder his course: Abeat, pereat, j^rofandat, perdat, said that father in the comedy,—Let him go, perish, sink, or swim. He hath full liberty to swill the cup of his own damnation up to the brun.

5. In respect of the devil his latter state is worse; which may be demonstrated by a familiar similitude. A man is committed to prison for debt, or some light trespass; is there indifierently well used; hath, for his money, all the liberty that the jail and jailer can afford him; nay, is permitted to go abroad with keepers. At last, he spies opportunity, and breaks away; then tlie jailer fumes, and foams, and rageth, and perhaps swears away that little share of his own soul which he had left. The prisoner had need look to himself; if the jailer catch him, he had better never have stirred. At last he is taken : now bolts and locks, and heavy irons, a strong guard, and a vigilant watch, till he be made safe for stkring again. This bondage is far worse than the first.

The sinner in the devil's keeping is let alone to enjoy the liberty of the prison—that is, this world; he may feed his eye mth vanities, his hand with extortions, his belly with junkets, his spleen with laughter, his ears with music, his heart with jollitj^, his flesh with lusts : and all this wdthout control. But if he be won by the gospel preached to break prison, and thereupon give the devU the slip, let him take heed Satan do not catch him again. If he once recovers him into his prison, he will dungeon him, remove him from all means whereby he might be saved ; let him see, hear, feel, understand nothing but temptations and snares; blind his soul, harden his heart, load him with heavy irons, and lock him up in bolts and fetters of everlasting perdition. •

6. Then, lastly, his end shall be worse at the last: when the least parcel of God's wrath shall be heavier than all the anguish he felt before; when his almond-tree shall be turned to an iron rod, his afilictions to scorpions; when the short and momentary vexatious of this world shall no sooner cease to him, than the eternal torments of hell shall begin, and (which is most fearful) shall never end. Be his body burned to death in fire, yet those flames shall go out with his ashes; but come his flesh and soul to that infernal fire, and when they have been burned myriads of years, yet it shall not be quenched.

The application doth immediately concern the Jews; wliich hath l^efore been plentifully instanced. For ourselves :—1. The unclean spirit hath by God's holy gospel been cast out of us. 2. Do you think he is at quiet ? No; he esteems all places dry and barren till he get into us again. 3. He resolves to try for entrance. 4. Now, is it enough that we leave ourselves empty of faith and good works 1 for all our abominable sins swept with an overly repentance, and garnished with hypocrisy, and with our old affections to shi still i 5. Take we heed; he will come with seven spirits, more wicked than the former, and give us a fierce assault.

But 'our help is in the name of God, who hath made heaven and earth :' in whose mercy we trust, because his compassions fail not. Our own strength is no confidence for us; but the grace of that strongest man, who is alone able to keep out Satan. Let us adhere to Him by a true faith, and serve him in a holy integrity of conversation; and our latter end shall be better

than our beginning. * ]\Iark the upriglit man, and behold the just; for the end of that man is peace,' Ps. xxxvii. 37. Our end shall be better hereafter; •vi'hen * God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes;' when sorrow, and sickness, and death shall be no more; when Sennacherib cannot rage, nor the leviathan of hell assault us. Peace shall environ us, heaven shall contain us, glory shall crown us. Our trouble, woe, mourning, have been momentary; but our joys, peace, bHss, shall have no intermission, no mutation, no end. Now he that perfects all good works, make our latter end better than our beginning ! To whom, three Persons, one eternal God, be all praise and glory, for ever and ever ! Amen.

THE LEAVEN;

OB,

A DIRECTION TO HEAYEN.

Another parable spaJce he unto them ; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a luoman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. — Matt. XIII. 33.

The word of God is pure, saitli the Psalmist, ' converting the soul,' Ps. x\x. 7 : ^uxe formaliter, in itself; pure effective, in purifying others. ' Now are ye clean through the word which I have spoken unto you,' John xv. 3. There is life in it, being the voice of Life itself : ' Lord, to whom shall v.-e go 1 thou hast the words of eternal life,' John vi. G8.

As God, ' who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fethers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,' Heb. L 1; so also this Son, whom ' he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds,' when he took flesh and went about on earth doing good, taught the people after diverse fixshions and fonns 'erf speech, though in all of them he carried a state in liis words, and taught Avith authority, unlike the verbal sermons of the scribes. ' He was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,' Luke xxiv. 19, Sometimes he taught by explication, sometimes by application ; sometimes propounding, at other times expounding his doctrine. Often by plain principles and affirmative conclusions; not seldom by parables and dark sentences: in all seeking his Father's glory, his church's salvation. In this chapter, plentifully by parables. Divines give many reasons why Christ used this parabolical form of speaking:—

1. The implction of Scriptures, which had so prescribed of him: ' I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old,' Ps. IxxviiL 2.

2. That the mysteries of God's kingdom might not be revealed to the scornful. To such it shall be spoken in parables, that ' seeing they might not see, and hearing tliey might not understand,' Luke viii. 10. They are riddles to the Cains, and paradoxes to the Judases of the world. But ' if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost,' 2 Cor. iv, 3. These come to church as truants to school, not caring bow little iearaing they get for

their money; but only regarding to avoid the temporal punishment. But at the great correction-day, when the schoolmaster of heaven shall give them a strict examination, their reward must be abundantly painful.

3. That Christ might descend to the capacities of the most simple, who better understand a spiritual doctrine by the real subjection of something familiar to their senses. As the poet:—

' Segaius irritant animos demissa per aures, Quam quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus.'

But the ' testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple,' Ps. xix. 7. He said once to poor fishers, ' To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God,' Luke viii. 10. He says, not mysteria regis, but mys-teria regni, —not the mj^steries of the king, but the mysteries of his kingdom. The former may not be known, the other may, must be known.

And it is also observable, that his parables were diverse, when yet by those sundry shadows he did aim directly at one light. He doth, as it were, draw the curtain of heaven, and describe the Idngdom of God by many resemblances ; yea, and some of these iimmi sonantia; like so many instruments of music plajdng one tune. In that immediately precedent parable of the mustard-seed, and this subsequent of the leaven, he teacheth the same doctrine, the spreading virtue of the gospel. The intention of which course in our great Physician is to give several medicines for the same malady in several men, fitting his recipes to the disposition.of his patients. The soldier doth not so well understand similitudes taken from husbandry, nor the husbandman from the war. The lawyer conceives not an allusion from physic, nor the physician from the law. Forenses domestica nee norunt, nee curant; oieque forensia domesticam agentes vitam, —Home-dwellers are ignorant of foreign matters; neither doth the quiet rural labourer trouble his head with matters of state. Therefore Christ derives a parable from an army, to teach *soldiers; from legal principles, to instruct lawyers; from the field and sowing, to speak familiarly to the husbandman's capacity. As that parable of the seed, the first in this chapter, may be fitly termed the ploughman's gospel; as Ferus saith, that, when he ploughs his ground, he may have a sermon ever before him, every furrow being a line, and every grain of corn a lesson, bringing forth fruit. So Paul borrows a comparison from wrestling, and from running in a race; and our Saviour from a domestical business, — rmdiehrium officium, —from leaven, ' which a woman took,' &c.

We may reduce the parable to three general heads, quid, ad quid, in quo: —L What is compared; II. To what; III. In what. Two natures are accorded in quodam tertio; two subjects shake hands by a reconciling similitude. I. The matter compared is ' the kingdom of heaven;' II. The matter to which it is compared is ' leaven;' III. Now the concurrence of these lies in the sequel, ' which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened:' wherein are remarkable, the agent, the action, the subject, the continuance. 1. The agent is a woman; 2. The action is double, taking and hiding, or putting in the leaven; 3. The subject is meal or flour; 4. The continuance, donee fermentetur totum, —until the whole mass be leavened. This is the in quo, the manner of the concurrence. The general points then are—what, whereto, wherein. We are, according to this method, to begin with the—

I. What. —The subject compared is the kingdom of heaven. This hath a diverse sense and apprehension in the Scriptures. Specially it is taken three ways :—

1. For the kingdom of heaven in heaven, which the godly shall possess hereafter; the scope or main mark we level at. That high p}Taraid which the top of Jacob's ladder reacheth to, and leaneth on. That which St Peter calls ' the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls,' 1 Pet. i. 9. Whereof David sings, ' In thy presence is fulness of joy, at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore,' Ps. xvi. 11. Which no -virtue of mortal eye, ear, or heart hath comprehended. ' They shaU come from east, fi-om west, from north, and south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God,' Luke xiii, 29. Unto which our king that o^vNais it, and Saviour that bought it for us, shall one day invite us, if he find us marked for his sheep : ' Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,' Matt. xxv. 34. Dear Jesus, bring us to this kingdom!

2. For that which qualifies and prepares us to the former, grace and holiness. For into that ' shall enter no unclean thing, nor whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life,' Ptcv. xxi. 27. No flesh that is putrefied, except it be first purified, shall be glorified. No man goes to heaven per saliiim, but per scanmm. Now this sanctity is called the kingdom of heaven, because the life it lives is heavenly; though we are on earth, 'our conversation is in heaven,' Phil. iii. 20 ; and because the joy of the Holy Ghost, and peace of conscience, which is heaven upon earth, is inseparable from it: ' The kingdom of heaven consists not in meats and drinks, but in righteousness, and peace, and joy of the Holy Ghost,' Rom. xiv. 17.

3. For that whereby we are prepared to both the former: this is the kingdom of heaven here meant; and to declare it in a word, it is the preaching of the gospel. This, by the powerful co-operation of God's Spirit, begets grace in this life, and grace in this life shall be crowned TNith glory in the fife to come. The word of God,—which is called the testimony, Isa, viii. 20, because it bears witness to itself,—examined and compared in like places, calls the preaching of the gospel the ' kingdom of heaven,' Luke x. 11: ' The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing fortl? fruits thereof,' Matt. xxi. 43. The children of God live in this first Idng-dom ; the second lives in them; the third, which is above, doth perfect both the former. In this kingdom we might observe—(1.) Who is king 1 (2.) Who are subjects? (3.) What are the laws whereby the one governs, the others are governed ?

(1.) God is king in two respects : potentialitm\ in regard of his majesty; prcesentialiter, in regard of his mercy. Potentially he is king over all the world, governing all things, actions, events, in foro X)oli, in foro Pluti, in foro consciejitice. God is king, be the earth never so unqiiiet, saith the Psalmist. He can still ' the raging of the sea, the roaring of the world, the madness of the people.' Thus he reigns over Satan, and all his factors on earth, executioners in hell. He cannot touch a hog without his license, nor cross a sea without his passport. He hath a hook for Sennacherib, a bridle for the horses and mules, a chain for that great leviathan, a tether for the devil. The Lamb of God leads that great roaring lion in a chain : and with the least twitch of his finger, gives him a non ultra. All powers are inferior to, and derived from this power; to which they have recourse again, as rivers run to the ocean, whence they were deduced. Let all potentates ' cast down their crowns before his feet, with the twenty-four elders,' Rev. iv. 10. Sub-jiciuntur omnes potestates Foiesiati injinitcp. Dominion riseth by degrees : there be gTcat, saith Solomon, and yet greater than they; and yet again higher than they all, Eccles. v. 8. Begin at home : in man there is a

kingdom. Est animi in corpus regnum, —The mind hath a sovereignty over the body. Restrain it to the soul; and in the soul's kingdom doininatur ratio in irascihilem et concupiscibilem partem, —reason hath a dominion over the affections. This kingdom is within man. Look without him; behold, God hath given him a kingdom over reasonless creatures. Yet among themselves, God hath set man over man; the householder is a petty king in his family, the magistrate over the community, the king over all. The heavenly bodies have yet a power over us. JEst corporum coelestium, in inferiora do-minum. God is king over them, and all Astra regunt homines, sed Deus astra regit. God is then only and solely an absolute king.

But he reigns in this place rather presentially by his grace; where his sceptre is a sceptre of righteousness, and his throne man's heart. For that is so excellent a place, that it is evermore taken up for a throne, either by God or Satan. To the godly then is this great king most propense ; though others also taste the sweets of his bounty. As the earthly prince governs, and providentially sustains all the people of his dominions, but those that stand in his court, and feast at liis table, more especially partake of his royal favours : God at his own cost maintains all the world, and hath done almost these six thousand years; but he loveth Jerusalem above all cities, and the gates of Zion above all the dwellings of Jacob. All Joseph's brethren shall be feasted at his charges, but Benjamin's mess shall five times exceed the rest. There may be one favour left for Esau, but Jacob goes away with the blessing. God is still good to all Israel; let him be best' to them that are of a pure heart,' Ps, Ixxiii. 1.

(2.) The subjects in this kingdom are the godly; not such as give a passive and involuntary obedience, doing God's will (as the devil doth) contra scientiam, contra conscientiam, of whom more properly we may say, Propo-sita Dei fiunt potius de illis quam ah illis. These, though they work the secret decrees of the great king, are not of this kingdom. Only they that give to him the sacrifice of a free-will offering, that lihenter and ex animo sub-^ scribe and assent obedience to his hests; whose lives, as well as lips, pray that article, ' Thy will be done.' They are indeed subjects to this king, that are themselves kings : ' Christ hath made us kings and priests,' Rev. i. 6. Every king on earth is as it were a little god, Ps. Ixxxii. 6. Only our God is the great king, able to ' bind kings in chains, and nobles with links of iron,' Ps. cxlix. 8. In respect both of his power reigning over all, and of his mercy over his chosen, he may well be called Eex regum, the great king over both temporal and spiritual kings : he is the King of kings. For all his faithful children are mystically and spiritually made, and called, kings in Christ, and the Lord is king of all.

(3.) The laws whereby this kingdom is governed are the statute laws of heaven, Ps. cxlvii. 19, written of the Holy Ghost by prophets and apostles, sealed by the blood of God's Son ; a light to our darkness, a rule for our actions.

Upon this ground thus laid I build a double structure or instruction :—

Fij'st, Christ hath a kingdom also in this world, not of this world; himself denies it to Pilate, John xviii. 3G. He would none of their hasty coronation with carnal hands. Yet he was and is a spiritual king. So was it prophesied, Dan. vii. 14, Micah iv. 7. So the angel told Mary, Luke i. 32. 33, ' He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.' So Pilate wrote his inscription, though in the narrowest limits,' Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.' To expect or respect the Messiah for a temporal prince, was the Jews' perpetual dotage, the apostles.'

transient error, ilatt. xx. 21, Acts i. 6, ' Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to IsraeH' But Christ is a king after a spiritual manner on earth; restraining the violence of the wolves and goats like a good sliepherd • not suffering them to annoy and infest the lambs at their pleasure, or rather displeasure ; ruling his chosen, overruling the reprobates, as the great master over the whole family of this world. His throne is at the right hand of his Father in heaven; but his dominion is throughout all ages, and extends ti> the ends of the earth.—We should not pass this without some useful application.

App, 1.—If there be a kingdom of heaven here to be had, why do we not seek it ? The charge is not less for our good than God's glorj', which Christ gives : * First seek the kingdom of heaven, and the righteousness thereof, and then all these things shaU be added unto you,' j\Iatt. vi. 33. Seek it in faith, with prayers, with tears, with reformation. Seek it first; let na worldly thing stand in your thoughts worthy prefennent to it. Seek it with disregard and a holy contempt of other things : for this once come, they shall be cast upon you.

App. 2.—Since Christ hath a kingdom here, let us rejoice. ' The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice : let the multitude of isles be glad thereof,' Ps. xcvii. 1. And among those lands, let the joy of England be none of the least. What was foretold by Zechariah, chap. ix. 9, is fulfilled by our Saviour, Matt, xxi. 5 : 'Rejoice, shout out for joy, for thy King cometh.' Let his-exaltation be thy exultation. If he were impotent and could not help, improvident and would not, we were never the better for our King. But his power is immense, his mercy propense : ' He that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleep,' Ps. cxxi. 4.

App. 3.—This is terror to the wicked; they serve a king, but he is not an absolute king; his head is under Christ's girdle, nay, under his feet, ]\Iatt. iv. There is in Satan nee vohmtas, nee validitas, neither might nor mind to succour his subjects, his abjects. Prodigal Lucifer (the father of prodigious Machiavels, that are bountiful with what is none of their own, dealing states and kingdoms, like the Pope, as God's legacies, when God never made him executor) makes Christ a bountiful off"er of kingdoms. Poor beggar ! he had none of his own, not so much as a hole out of hell; whereas-Christ was Lord of all. Disproportionable proffer ! he would give the King of heaven a kingdom of earth; the glory of this lower world to him that is the glory of the higher world, and requires for price to have 1dm worsliip an angel of darkness who is worshipped of the angels of light. Tremble, ye wicked ! you serve an ill master, are subjects to a cursed king. Well were it for you if you might scape his wages; well for himself if he might scape his own. Both he and his subjects shall perish. ' The prince of this world is already judged,' John xvi. 11.

Ap>p. 4.—Since there be two spiritual kingdoms on earth, and we must live under one of them, let us wisely choose the easiest, the securest, the happiest. For ease; Satan's services are unmerciful drudgerj'': no pains must bs refused to get hell. ' Christ's yoke is easy, his burden is light.' For security; we say in terrene differences, it is safest taking the stronger side. Why then should v.'C forsake the strongest man, who commands the world, and revolt to the tents of Belial, the son of vanity ? For happiness; Christ's kingdom is the far more blessed : for countenance, for continuance in the heart-solacing sushine of his mercy, and the unclouded eternity of it.

Secondly, Our second inference is this : Such is the excellency of the gospel, that it is dignified by the title of a kingdom, and that of heaven.

Earthly things cannot boast this privilege, to have that ascribed to the means which belongs to the end. Bread is not health, but the sustenance of it. Reading is not learning, but the way to get it. In divine graces the way is often honoured mth the title of the end. Faith is called life ; grace, salvation ; the gospel, the kingdom. Such is the infallibility of God's decrees, and the inseparable effects that follow his heavenly intentions, that the means shall easUy perform the office they were sent to do. The preaching of the gospel shall save those whom God hath determined to save by it, and shall as assuredly bring them to the kingdom of heaven as if itself were that kingdom. Here, then, is matter—

First, Of instruction : that God hath so decreed it that we must ordinarily pass through one kingdom into another, into a greater. From the gospel of life we shall go to the God of life. From the preaching of the word to that the word hath preached—the ' end of our faith, the salvation of our souls.' For we climb to heaven by Paul's stairs, Rom. x. 9, 10, (and without that manner of ascending few come thither :) from preaching to beheving, from believing to obeying ; and obedience precedes our eternal life. Such a man shall only hear that comfortable allocution : ' Good and faithful servant, enter into thy Master s joy.'

Secondly, Of comfort: that seeing we have the gospel, we have the kingdom of heaven amongst us. They see not this marvellous light that live in their own natural darkness; no, nor do all see this kingdom that live in it, but they alone in whom this kingdom lives. * Our gospel is hid to those that are lost,' 2 Cor. iv. 3. It is an offence to the Gentiles, contempt of the Jews, riddles to the Athenian Stoics, Acts xvii. 18, a paradox to Julian; but to ' them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, the power of God, and the wisdom of God,' 1 Cor. i. 24. Open your scornful eyes, lift lap your neglected heads, ye abortive generation of lust and sin, the sun shines in your faces. Shadow not your eyes with carnal security; remove those thick clouds of ignorance and contempt interposed betwixt you and this light. See, see, and glorify our God; the kingdom of heaven is among you. Come out of your holes, ye Roman dormice; pray for spiritual unction, ye sotted worldlings, that the scales of ignorance may fall from you. Waken your hea\7- spiiits, ye mopish naturals ; live no longer in the region of darkness and tyranny of sin, and bless His name that hath called you to his kingdom. You need not travel a tedious pilgrimage, leaning on the staff of a carnal devotion, as the Papists are forced, nor trudge from east to west to seek this kingdom, as the Jews were menaced, nor cry, It is too far to go to Jerusalem, and therefore fall to worship your calves, your little gods at home, as Jeroboam pretended. But to take away all excuse, and leave your obstinacy naked to the judgment-seat of God, behold veiiit ad limina virtus ; you need but step over your thresholds, and gather manna; the kingdom of heaven is among you.

Thirdly, Of reproof: cease your despising of the gospel, ye profane ruffians, whose sport is to make yourselves merry mth God. You cannot stick the least spot of contempt on the cheek of preaching, but it lights on heaven itseK, where you will one day desire to be. While you would shoot arrows against the invulnerable breast of God, they shall recoil with vengeance on your own pates. You little think that your scurrilous jests on the word, and the messengers thereof, strike at the side of Christ with the offer of new wounds. You dream not that you flout the kingdom of heaven itself, which, when you have lost, you will prize dearer than the West Indies doth her gold, or the East her spices. If you knew what this kingdom was, you

would weigh out your blood by ounces, like gold in the balance, till your hearts had not a drop left to cherish thera, for the purchase of it. Behold, you may have it for less. Why do you despise it ? Perhaps you make full account of this kingdom, though you allow yourselves in your vanities. What, will you scorn it, and yet be glad of it ? How unequal are these thoughts ! How impossible these hopes ! God will not give his pearls to swine ; shall they inherit the kingdom of heaven that despise it 1

II. This is the what: now follows the to what.

The thing whereby this mystical nature is shadowed out to us is leaven. In this we must confine ourselves to the scope of the parable ; and as we would not look short, so we will not look beyond. Sobriety must guide our course in every sermon; then especially, when our navigation lies through the depth of a parable. We find leaven elsewhere used in the worse sense ; and before we step any further, this point objects itself to our observation.

The same things are often taken in diiferent senses; sometimes oblique, not seldom opposite. Christ in another place premonisheth his apostles a'gainst the leaven of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians; the leaven of hypocrisy, of irreligion, of savage policies. And the chosen vessel bids us ' purge out the old leaven,' &c., 1 Cor. v. 7. Here it is used as graciously as there grievously; and no meaner a thing is likened to it than the kingdom of heaven. But I refer this note to a place where I have more liberally handled it.

The intent, force, and vigour of the parable consists in the 2)'>'opagation. As leaven spreads into the whole lump, so the gospel regenerates the whole man. This is the pith and marrow of it; yet what other resemblances serve to the illustration of it are considerable. Therefore two remote and improper observations in the leaven shall lead us to the main, which is the dilation of that and the gospel:—

1. Leaven hath a quality somewhat contrary to the meal, yet serves to make it fit for bread. The gospel is sour and harsh to the natural soul, yet works him to newness of life. It runs against the grain of our affections, and we think it troubles the peace of our Israel within us. Our sins are as dear to us as our eye, hand, or foot, J\Iatt. v. 29, necessary and ill-spared members. The gospel, that would divorce our loves so wedded to our iniquities, seems ditrus sermo ; who can bear it 1 It is leaven to Herod to part with his Herodias; to Naaman to be bound from bowing before Rimmon. Christ gives the young man a sour morsel, when he bids liim give his goods to the poor. You choke the usurer with leaven when you tell him that non remittitur peccaium, nisi restituatur ablatum, —his sins shall not lie forgiven till his unjust gains be restored. You may as well prescribe the epicure leaven instead of bread, as set him the voider of abstinence, instead of his table of surfeits. This is leaven indeed, to tell the encloser that he enters commons Avith the devil, while he hinders the poor to enter-common vAth. him ; or to tell the sacrilegious that Satan hath just possession of his soul, while he keeps unjust possession of the church's goods. When this leaven is'held to carnal lips it will not doA\Ti ; no, the very smell of it offends. The combat of faith, the task of repentance, the mercifulness of charity, this same ' rule of three' is hard to learn. To deny a man's self, to cashier his familiar lusts, to lay down whole bags of crosses, and to take u]) one, the cross of Christ; to forsake our money, and assume poverty, persecution, contempt for the gospel; oh sour, sour, leaven, leaven! No such tart thing shall come into the vessel of our heart, among the meal of our affections ; we cannot brook it. But this must come and be made welcome, or we shall not

be bread for God's table. It is said of the leaven that massam acrore grata excitat. It is acror but grains when the soul is once sensible of the virtue. God is fain to wrestle with our corruptions, and, like a loving father, follow us up and down with his leaven; we turn our backs upon him, and bid him keep his leaven to himself, as Daniel to Belshazzar : ' Keep thy rewards to thyself, and give thy gifts to another,' Dan. v. 17. But when we are once weary of the world's husks, and begin to long for the bread in our Father's house, Luke xv. 17,—do but taste and digest this leaven,—then that that was fel in ore proves mel in corcle ; we turn again, and follow him for it: ' Lord, evermore give us this bread,' John vi. 34 ; feed us with this leaven, that we may be bread for thine own table. The law was not so harsh in mortifying our sins, but the gospel is found more sweet in saving our souls.

2. One saith of the leaven, that massam calore suo excitat, —it raiseth the lump with the heat, as the housewife's philosophy gives the cause. The meal is cold of itself, and unapt to congeal. The leaven by heat doth it. In the gospel preached, there is a spreading heat. It is not only fire in Jeremiah's bones, but in the disciples' ears and hearts: ' Did not our hearts burn within us?' Luke xsiv. 32; 'Is not my word as fire? saith the Lord,' Jer. xxiii. 29. In the minister's soul it is like fire shut up in the bones, which must have vent, or it will make him weary of forbearing, and ring a woe in his conscience, if he preach not the gospel. It hath no less powerful fervour in the Christian heart, and enkindles the kindly heat of zeal which no floods of tentation can quench, or blasts of persecution blow out. This is that thaws the frozen conscience, warms the benumbed spirit, and heats the cold heart. Men are naturally cold at heart, and sin runs like a chill ague through the general blood. The covetous, proud hypocrite hath a cold stomach, that for want of digestive heat turns all good nourishment into crudities. Summon them to just trial, feel their pulses, and they beat coldly. If the minister entreat a collection for some distressed Christian, there is a cramp in our fingers; we cannot untie our purse-strings. It is a manifest sign that we are not leavened. So long as the meal of our affects continues thus cold, we are incapable of being bread. The word puts fervour into our hearts, and leavens us.

3. The special instance of this resemblance is, that the leaven spreads virtue into all the meal; the gospel disperseth salvation into the whole man. The word of God is powerful to our renovation, speeding and spreading grace into all parts of us. It works us to perfection, though not that gradual perfection * (as the school termeth it) which is above, yet to that partial perfection which Paul prays for his Thessalonians, * The God of peace sanctify you throughout,' 1 Epist. v. 23, and assumes to be in his Philippians, ' Let as many of us as be perfect be thus minded,' chap. iii. 15. For though justification admits no latitude, yet sanctification is wrought by degrees. And a Christian goes forward into grace, as into those waters of the sanctuary : first to the anldes, then to the knees, and so higher, till all be washed; as the leaven spreads till all be leavened. This doctrine will more clearly manifest itseK in the in quo, or subsequent observations. Only let us not leave it without a double use :—

Use 1.—Suffer yourselves to be leavened; give entertainment to the gospel in your hearts. Though it be 'a more blessed thing to give than to take,' yet it is a less chargeable thing to take than to give. It is God's bounty to give his word ; do not you in a nice sulienness refuse it. ' Let the word dwell in you richly,' Col. iii. IG. Do not pinch this leaven for room, nor * That is, perfection in degi-ee.— Ed.

thrust it into a narrow corner in your conscience, whiles you give spacious receit to lust, and sin, and such lewd inmates. But let it soak into your veins, and dilate itself into your affections, that it may breed good blood in your hearts, good fruit in your conversations.

Use 2.—So judge of yourselves, as you find this leaven spreading in you. If you should hear every day a sermon, or could read every hour a volume, yet whiles your lives are barren, you are but unleavened bread; so unsavoury, that God will not admit it at his board. He hath an unleavened hand, that is not charitable ; an unleavened knee, that is not humble ; an unleavened tongue, that blasphemes; an imleavencd eye, that maliceth; an unleavened heart, that securely offendeth. The outward working shews the inward leavening, and the diffusion is an argument of the being. It cannot be pent up, no more than fire. It is no less operative than it is blessed.

III. You have heard the ivhat, and to tvhat; the in v/hat, how, or the concurrence of these, follow in many particulars. Here is the agent, the action, the subject, the continuance.

1. The agent is a woman ; by whom is shadowed the minister. And here are observable three things :—

(1.) The agent, that must work with this leaven, is a Avoman, weak in her sex ; yet the leaven works never the less for her imbecility. The minister, that must jDut this leaven to our souls, is a man, a weak, sinful, despised man ; yet doth not his Aveakness derogate from the powerful operation of the word in the hearts of God's chosen. It is the word of a mighty and ma-jestical God, who speaks, and the mountains tremble; threatens, and the foundations of the earth are moved. I appeal to your consciences,—who have a testimony from them, and they from the Spirit, that you are God's,—hath not his word, spoken by a silly man, made your hearts bleed within you for your sins 1 Yea, hath not Felix himself trembled Lilie an aspen leaf, when Paul, even his prisoner, preached ? What power hath stirred you, human or divine 1 Tertullus could not do it, whiles authority and credit Avith men seconded his eloquence. Peter taken from his nets shall catch a thousand and a thousand souls at a draught. What presumptuous folly in some is it, then, to loathe the word of eternal truth, because such a man speaks it! God must not only give them meat, but such a cook as may dress it to their own fancies. Our weakness makes way for God's brighter glory : ' That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God,' 1 Cor. ii. 5. Oftentimes the pillars of the church move not him whom a weak leavener hath converted. It is a reason convincing the wicked, confirming the faithful, that Paul gives : ' God hath chosen the fooHsh things of the world to confound the wise ; and the weak things to confound the mighty j that no flesh should glory in his presence,' 1 Cor. i. 27, &c.

(2.) The leaven doth this without the woman's virtue, not without her instrumental help; but the woman in no respect without the leaven. The minister cannot leaven his own heart, much less the souls of others. The word doth it; the minister is but the instnunent to apply it. The physician heals not the sore, but the medicine. The hand feeds not the body, but the meat it reacheth to it. Neither in district terms doth faith save, but only apprehend the Lord Jesus, in whom is assured salvation. Indeed, so doth God dignify our ministerial function, that the priest is said to make the heart clean, and Timothy to save souLs, by attribution of that to the instrument which is wrought by the agent, the happy concurrence of the Spirit and the gospel, Acts iii. 12, 16.

(3.) A woman is the fittest for this domestical business. The minister

"being a man, is aptest in God's choice for this spiritual leavening. Should God speak in his own person, his glory would swallow us up. ' For our God is even a consuming fire,' Heb. xii. 29. ' Who hath seen God and lives?' Ask ]\Iount Sinai, if as stout-hearted men as we can be did not run away, tremble for fear, and entreat that Moses might speak to them from God, not God himself If angels should preach to us, their brightness would amaze us, and in derogation to his glory, to whom alone it belongs, and he will not give it to another, we would fall down to worship them, ready to give them the honour of all good wrought on us. The word should not be said to save, but tlie angels. If one should rise from the dead, as Dives—having learned some charity in hell that had none on earth—wished, it would terrify us. Lo, then, by men of our own flesh, of the same animation with ourselves, doth Jehovah speak to us, that the praise might be, not man's, but God's.

2. The agent thus considered, let us look to the action. This is double : taking the leaven; putting it into the meal.

(1.) The woman took the leaven : she hath it ready before she useth it. We must first have the gospel, before we can leaven your souls with it. We must not be vaporous and imaginative enthusiasts, to trust all on a dabitur in hora ; but with much study and painfulness get this leaven, and apply it. What betters it to have a physician, that hath no medicine; or a medicine, without skill to apply it % ]\Ien think sermons as easy as they are common. You that never prepare yourselves to hear, think so of us, that we never prepare ourselves to preach. If this cheap conceit of preaching did not transport many, they would never covet to hear more in a day than they wUl learn in a year, or practise all their lives. Alas ! how shall we take this leaven % The skill of mingling it is fetched from the schools of the prophets; from meditation, from books. But in these days, disquietness aUows no meditation; penury, no books. You deprive us of our means, yet expect our leavens ; as Pharaoh required of the Israelites their mimber of bricks, but allowed them no straw.

(2.) We must (with the woman) hide our leaven in the meal—apply it to your consciences. We must preach in pain of death. We are salt, and must melt away ourselves to season you. We are nurses, and must feed our cliildren with the white blood of our labours, strained from our own hearts. And you must be content to let this leaven be hidden in your consciences. The word must not be laid on superficially, with a perfunctory negligence, like loose corn on the floor of the heart. The seed that lay scattered on the highway, the fowls of the air picked up, and prevented the fructifying. Matt. xiii. 4. This leaven must be hid from the eyes, and laid up out of the reach of Satan, lest his temptations, like ravening vultures, devour it up. Mary ' hid the sayings of Christ in her heart.' ' Thy law, O Lord,' saith David, ' is within my heart.' If this leaven have not taken the conscience, all outward reformation is but Jehoiakim's rotten wall, painted over with vermilion. What cares a good market-man how fair the fleece or the flesh look, if the liver be specked? It is the praise of Christ's spouse, that ' she is all glorious within.'

3. This leaven must be hid in the meal; which is the third point, the subject: ' three measures of meal.' Observe—

(I.) Three measures. We have no time to discuss the literal and numeral glosses hence inferred, and by some enforced. Either what the measure is; translated by some a peck : for this read the marginal note in the new translation. Or what are those three; by which some understand the three parts of the world, Europe, Asia, Africa; some the whole

man, which they will have to consist of the body, soul, and conscience. Others refer it to the soul, wherein they find the understanding, will, and affections : the understanding enlightened, the will reformed, tlie affections sanctified. But I rather take it spoken, not terminis tenainantihus, but a finite number -put for an indefinite. The gospel, by the power of the Spirit, doth sanctify the whole man, and gets conquest over sin and Satan. Therefore, not to stretch the words of Christ further than he meant them, but to keep the bounds of sobriety, layuig our hand on our lips, and where we understand not, to be silent, let our instruction be this : The gospel is of such force, that it can leaven us throughout; quanti quanti sicmus, three pecks, more or less, we shall be made clean by the word. ' Now are ye clean through the word I have spoken unto you,' John xv. 3.

Thus God's little beginnings have great effects. Roc cUscrimen inter opera Dei et mundi: the works of the world have a great and swelling entrance, but malo fine clauduntur, —they go lame off. But the works of God, from a slender beginning, have a glorious issue. So unequal are his ways and ours. A little mustard-seed proves a great tree ; a little leaven (saith Paul, though in another sense) sours the whole lump. How proudly the world begins, how it halts in the conclusion ! The tower of Babel is begmi, as if it scorned earth, and dared heaven : how quickly, how easily is all dashed! Behold Nebuchadnezzar entering on the stage, with 'Who is God !' but he goes off to feed with beasts. So dissolute is our pride at the breaking out, so desolate at the shutting up. God, from a low and slender ground, at least in our opinion, raiseth up mountains of wonders to us, of praises to himself Joseph from the prison shall be taken up into the second chariot of Egypt. Drowning ]\Ioses shall come to countermand a monarch. David shall be fetched from the sheep-folds to the throne. The world begins with great promises ; but could it give as much as ever the prince of it proffered to Christ, it cannot keep thy bones from the ague, thy flesh from worms, nor thy soul from hell. Behold, a little leaven shall sanctify thee throughout ; the folly of preaching shall save thy soul, and raise thy body to eternal glory.

(2.) This leaven must be put in flour or meal. There must be a fit matter to work on. Rehus idoneis immiscendum est; non cinerihus, nan arena, sed farina, —It must not be mixed with ashes, or sand, or bran, but meal. It doth no good on the reprobate Jews, but broken-hearted Gentiles. Not on atheists and mockers, but on repentant souls, groaning beneath the burden of their sins. Hence so many come to this place of leavening, and return unleavened; their hearts are not prepared, how should they be repaired ? They are sand or dust, not meal or flour. There must be a congruity or pliableness of the subject to the worker. Christ doth not gather wolves and goats into his fold, but sheep. He doth not plant weeds and thorns in his garden, but lilies, roses, and pomegranates. The dogs and swine are excluded the gates of heaven; only the lambs enter to that holy Lamb of God Ashes and rubbish cannot be conglutinate by leaven, but meal. AVhiles you come other substances, look you to be leavened 1 You may put leaven to stones and rocks long enough, ere you make them bread. When you bring so unfit natures with you, complain not that you are not leavened.

(3.) The third observation hence serves to take away an objection raised against the former conclusion. You say Christ will not accept of goats into his fold, nor thorns into his vineyard; nor can leaven work effectually upon incapable natures, as sand, stones, or ashes ; but wherefore serves the word but to turn goats into sheep, and wild olives into vines, and refractory ser-

so THE LEAVEN. [SeEMON XXX.

vants into obedient sons ? The gospel intends tlie exi^unction of the old image, and a new creation of us in Christ Jesus. True, it doth so ; but still there must be in you a co-working answerableness to the gospel. Whiles you obstinately vnll continue dust and stones, look you to be leavened 1 First grind your hearts with a true repentance for your sins; or because you cannot do it of yourselves, beseech God to break your stony bowels with his Spirit, and to grind you with remorse and sorrow. Of corn is made bread; but not till first it be turned to meal. The unbeaten corn will make no paste or dough. Though there be matter in us,—for we are reasonable creatures,—yet God must turn our corn into meal, prepare our hearts with •fit qualities to receive his grace. True it is, that God doth often work this preparation also by preaching; as our sermons have two subjects, the law and the gospel. By the law we must be ground to meal, before the gospel can leaven us. Christ here speaks of sanctification, the effect of the gospel. For the law admits of no repentance; because we cannot satisfy for the evUs we have already committed. Thus we are corn men; but must be ground to meal before fit to be leavened. There is matter in the rock to build a house of, but not form, till it be hewn and squared. Thus God by his grace must prepare us to receive his grace, and by first making us meal, to leaven us. Away, then, with that Popish doctrine of self-preparation by congruity; God works first, in order of place, if not of time. We weakly meet him, when his secret operation has once called us. We are men, there is in us reason, will, capableness, which are not in a block, m a beast. Yet hitherto we are but corn. Our God must grind us to meal by his law, and then leaven us by his gospel.

4, This is the subject. The continuance is, till the whole be leavened. We must preach, and you must hear the gospel perpetually, till you be wholly leavened : which because you cannot fully attain in this world, therefore you frequent the place of leavening till death. Peter doth warn the pure minds of the saints, 2 Peter, iii. 1 ; and Paul preacheth the law even to those that know the law, Eom. vii. 1. You cannot be perfect, yet labour to perfection. Sit not down with that pharisaical opinion. We are leavened enough. The more you know, the more you know your own wants. ' Now the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God that your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,' 1 Thess. v. 23. Amen !

THE TWO SONS;

OB,

THE DISSOLUTE CONFEREED WITH THE HYPOCRITE.

But what think you ? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to-day in my vineyard. He answered and said, I ivill not: hut afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said liTcewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: hut he went ?ioi.— Matt. XXI. 28-30.

The priests and elders quarrel with, our Sa\dour, ver. 23, about Ms authority, Christ requites them, by demanding their opinion concerning the baptism of John. Here is question against question : the Jews appose Jesus, Jesus apposeth the Jews. Neither of them doth, answer the other: the elders could and durst not, our Saviour could and would not. Indeed, Christ's very question was a sufficient answer and resolution of their demand; their own consciences bearing against them invincible witness, that as John's baptism, so our Saviour's autliority, was immediately derived from heaven.

Well, the former question would not be answered : now Christ puts another to them; if with any better success. The other they understand, but dare not answer; this they dare answer, but not understand, lest they should conclude themselves those hypocritical sons that say they will, and do not, against whom heaven-gate is so fast shut that jjublicans and harlots shall first be admitted. ' But what think you ?' If you dare not open your lips, I appeal to your hearts; your tongues may be kept silent, your consciences cannot be insensible. I come to your thoughts: ' What think you 1 '

Inthe body of this discourse are three special members : the proposition of a parable ; a question inferred on it ; the application of it. The parable itself is contained in tlie words of my text: * A certain man had two sons,' «fec. The question, ver. 31, 'Whether of them twain did the will of the father 1 They say to him, The first.' The application concludes, * Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.'

The parable itself shall limit my speech, and your attention for this time.

VOL. II. F

There is an induction, ' A certain man had two sons.' A production, which consists of a double charge, a double answer, a double event:—1. Here is the father's charge to his eldest son: ' Son, go work to-day in ray vineyard.' 2, His answer is negative: ' I will not.' 3. His obedience was affirmative:

* He repented and went.' So, 1. The father's command to his younger son was the same. 2. His answer is affirmative: * I go, sir.' 3. The event was. negative: ' He went not.* You hear the propositions ; assume to yourselves, and the conclusion will tell you whether of these sons you are.

In the first was no show, all action; in the second all show, no action. They were diametrally cross and opposite in their words and works. In their words, one said, 'I will not;' the other, 'I will.' In their works, the one did, the other did not. In the one was no promise, but a performance; in the other no performance, but a promise. The first spoke ill, but did well; the second spoke well, but did ill. Either was faulty, one in words, the other in deeds.

L—1. We will begin, according to our proposed method, with the father's; charge to his eldest son: * Son, go and work to-day in my vineyard;' wherein we have, (1.) An appellation; (2.) An excitation; (3.) An injunction; (4.) A limitation of time; (5.) A direction of place:—The appellation, 'son;' the incitation, 'go;' the injunction, 'work;' the limitation of time, 'to-day;' the direction of place, ' in my vineyard.'

(1.) The ap2yellation: 'son.' God doth lay the imposition of labour upon, his sons. The charge of working in the vineyard belongs to a Christian, not only as he is a servant, but even as he is a son to God. Indeed God hath no son but he that serves him. David was a great king, yet the title he delights himself in was servant,—as appears by his doubling and varying the word,—which he spake not in compliment, but in sincerity of heart:

* O Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thy handmaid;' and, that I may the better serve thee, 'thou hast loosed my bonds,'' Ps. cxvi. 16, released me from the servitude of sin. For none but freemen are God's servants.

It is customable with men on earth to make difference betwdst their servants, theif friends, their sons. Good servants we love well, yet respect as servants, not trusting them with the secrets of our bosoms. They know our commands, not counsels : to them the execution of our wills, our intentions to ourselves. Good friends we hold in a dearer regard : neglecting no time, place, or other circumstantial demonstration of our loves; yet stiU account them other from ourselves, no part of our charge; and seldom ariseth anxiety from any careful provision for them. But our children, as the sweet result-ancies and living pictures of ourselves,—a kind of eternity lent to our bodies, who in some sort die not whiles their offspring lives,—these we principally affect; and they inherit our loves and lands. There is no such difference with God; aU these are one in his estimation. His servants are his friends, his friends his sons, and his sons are his servants. Only all the trial, whether we be friends or sons, stands in this, if we be servants. If thou be my son, work in my vineyard. The son is not exempted from doing his father's business. Even the natural Son of God, and that by an eternal generation, doth not extricate himself from tliis charge, nor shift from his shoulders the imposition of labour : Phil. ii. 6, 7, ' Who being in the form of God, thought it no robbery to be equal with God; yet made himself of no reputation,' ifec, induit formam servi, —took upon him the form of a servant. Christ so answered his mother returning from the feast, and after much search finding him, ' How is it that you sought me ? Wist you not that I must be

about my Father's business ?' Luke ii. 49. So he preached to his disciples, ' I must work the works of him that sent me,' John ix. 4.

AVithout this, vain is the ostentation of other titles. JIany and excellent are the attributions which the Scripture giveth us; as friends, children, heirs, &c. Host men arrogate these, as the sweet privileges of ease, honour, benefit. They imagine that facility, a soft and gentle life, is hence warranted: that it is glory enough to be God's friend or son. Saul wiU bo God's friend, if it be but for his kingdom. The Jews title themselves God's sons, that they may be his heirs. Whiles the door of adoption is thought to stand open ill the gospel, infinite flock in thither; not for love, but gain. Again, these stand most in affection; and, dwelling inwardly, may with the more ease be dissembled. The profession of many is like the mountebank's trunk, which his host seeing fairly bound with a gaudy cover, and Vv-eighty in poise, had his trust deceived with the rubbish and stones within.

Only service hath neither ease nor concealment allotted it, because it consists in a visible action. Many say they are God's friends, but they will do nothing for him. Let a distressed member of their Saviour pass by them, with never so hearty beseechings and pitiful complaints, they are dry nurses ; not a drop of milk comes from them. Call you these God's friends ? Let profiine swaggerers blaspheme God's sacred name; where is their control-ment 1 They cannot endure a serpent, yet give close society to a blasphemer ; whereas this wretch is worse than anything. For every creature doth praise God in his kind ; yea, the very dragons and loathsome toads after their fashion : Ps. cxlviii. 7, 'Praise the Lord, ye dragons, and all deeps.' Yet this caitiff', like a mad dog, flies in his master's face that keeps him. Whoso can endure tliis, and not have their blood rise, and their very souls moved, are no friends to God. It is a poor part of friendship to stand silent by whiles a friend's good name is traduced. Such a man is possessed with a dumb devil. If men were God's friends, they would frequent God's house : there is little friendship to God where there is no respect of his presence, nor affection to his company. Our Saviour throughly decides this : ' Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you,' John xv. 14. There is no friendship where no obedience; neither shall the rebellious ever hear that welcome invitation to God's feast: ' Eat, O friends ; drink and be merry, 0 beloved,' Cant. v. 1. There is, then, no friend to God but his servant.

Some claim kindred of God, that they are his offspring. Acts xvii. 29, and ' made partakers of the divhie nature,' 2 Pet. i. 4; though not really, yet by renovation. But we know Christ distinguished his kindred in the sjjirit from those in the flesh, by this mark of audience and obedience : * He that heareth my word, and doth it, is to me a mother, or a sister, or a brother.'

There are that challenge a filiality : as the Jews, ' We have one Father, even God.' To whom Christ answers, ' If God were your Father, you would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God,' John viii. 41, 42. If you were the children of God, you would surely know your elder brother. God, by the prophet Malachi, nonsuits that plea, ' If I be your father, where is mine honour I' chap. i. 6. Still no good title is ours without service; whether thou be friend, or kindred, or son, go and work in my vineyard.

Casting over this whole reckoning, we find the sum this : God hath few friends, kindred, sons, because he hath few servants. How many have promised good hopes to themselves, and not unlilcely to us, that they were God's children, against whom the gate of heaven hatli been shut for want of actual service ! Let men never plead acquaintance, familiarity, sonship, when God

tries them, as this son, what they will do for him, and they refuse to work in his vineyard. It must be the word, written on the scutcheon of every true Christian soldier, though the Son himself hath made him free, and he is free indeed—I serve. And yet some, as they presume themselves to be God's sons, so they assume to be his servants; and have evidence to neither of these claims. They will be held God's servants, yet never did good char in his house. Religion is his livery, which once getting on their backs, they think themselves safe; and, as many a lewd fellow doth a nobleman's cloth, make it a countenance and protection to their wicked lives. They may, not unfitly, be compared to retainers; for as great men's retainers lightly visit their lord once by the year, and that at Christmas, and then rather for good cheer than love : so these deal with God ; come to his table at Easter, and then they will feast with him, that the world may take notice they belong to him ; which done, they bid him farewell till the next year.

It was a worthy observation, that all sins do strive to make God serve us. So God tells Israel, Isa. xliii. 14, Servire me fecisti, —' Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins.' Not only that God danceth attendance to our reversion,—that exposition is too short,—but God in his plentiful blessings doth serve our turns, which we abusing to riot, and supplying the fire of onr own lusts with his good fuel, we make God serve us. Which of us in this congregation exempts himself from that style of God's servant ? Yet how many here so live, as if God were rather their servant ! God blesseth the vintage, and hangs the boughs with abundant clusters; he fills the valleys with ■ corn, that the loaden scythe fetcheth a little compass : wine is made of the one, strong drink of the other; and both these cloth the drunkard sacrifice to his throat. That is the god he adores, and the God of heaven is fain to serve him. The glutton is fed liberally from God's trencher; the fowls of the air, fishes of the sea, all the delicates of nature, are of his providing. God thus serves the epicure, and the epicure his belly, PhU. iii. 19. The angry man, like the two hot disciples that called for fire from heaven, ordains himself the judge, and would have God turn his executioner. The ambitious politician worships the chair of honour with most rank idolatry, and useth religion as a servile arm to help him up to it; wherein once seated, he will scarce thank God for his service. Thus, as Solomon saith, ' I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth,' Eccles. x. 7. The basest drudge, lust, is highly honoured, whUes the Prince of princes is put to a servile office. But woe unto him that is whirled in coaches through the popular streets, and makes God his lacquey, and religion a foot-boy to run after liim ! God wiU not ever dance attendance to us; and when he is once gone quite from us, we shall never be able to recover him.

Well, sons we are, yet this appears by our services in the vineyard; natural proportion requires this. If God be so gracious to us, as to fetch us by a strong arm through death and blood from the servitude of Satan, and in a sweet ineffable mercy to adopt us his own children, it is fit we should return him obedience. 'Come out from among them, and be ye separate from the unclean, and I wiU receive you : and I will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty,' 2 Cor. vi. 17. Not that our adoption doth depend upon our separation from the wicked, but, Jtrst, to give testimony to the world, and to our own conscience, that we are God's children, by refusing society—if not ciwi operatorihus, yet cum operi-hus tenehramni —and fellowship with the works of darkness; secondl//, to shew that the mercy of God and our amendment of life must go together. For God gives not remission of sin without contrition for sin. Where is

forgiveness, there is also repentance. The blood and water which issued out of Christ's blessed side must not be parted. Every man catchcth at his blood, but few care for his water. The blood signifies our justification, the water our sanctification. We would be justified, we will not be sanctified. But those two cannot possibly be sundered. They came together out of his side, and they must be together in our hearts. God will never accept him for just that will not be holy; nor acquit that soul of her sins that wiU not amend her life.

So that if God have indented with us to save us as sons, we must indent with him to serve him as servants. ' The heir, so long as he is a child, dif-fereth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all,' Gal. iv. 1. It hath pleased God to adopt us co-heu-s ■\\ith his blessed Son to an immortal inheritance ; yet so long as we live on earth, we are but in our minority, and therefore difler not from servants. Though he gives us the vineyard, yet we must first work in it. ' Blessed is that good servant,' Matt. xxiv. 4-5, that ruleth the household of his aflections, and giveth due sustenance to all the faculties of his soul, understanding, memory, conscience. But woe to that ' evil servant,' to whose outward misgovernment is added an inward riot, and heedless regard to his own lusts !

I have read a parable to moralise this. A great prince, intending travel into a far country, left his daughter to the tuition of a servant. Him he made chief, and set under him a controller and five serviceable guardians. The prince no sooner gone, but the servant falls to lust and riot; forceth the lady, the controller, and the guardians to the like intemperance; which they refusing, he despoils her of her robes and jewels, them of their weapons, and turns them forth either by beggary or pillage to seek their livings. This servant is man, God is the prince, his daughter the soul, the controller is reason, and the five senses the guardians. Whiles these hinder man from spoiling his soul with riot, he abuseth them j turns reason to madness, and makes all his senses instruments of wickedness. But woe to that servant whom his lord coming shaU find so doing !

I conclude this point. If thou be my son, serve me, saith God. It was David's holy ambition, and our happy bliss, to be the lowest drudge in God's family. To be a monarch of men is less than to be an underling of saints. Non reputes magnum quod Deo servis, seel maximum reputa, quod ipse dig-natur te in servicm assumere^^ —It is no ordinary favour that God Avill vouchsafe thee to be his servant, yet hath he made us his sons; let us, then, cany ourselves as the sons of so great a prince. The children of kings, not only in their serious studies, but even in their recreations, bear a greater port, and hold a liigher intention, than the children of subjects. Their very sports are not so base as the object of pins and points, and such slight toys. Let worldlings stoop with a grovelling baseness to the trash of this world, and write tlieir low desires in the dust; let us remember our birth and breeding,—I mean our new birth and sanctification,—and carry ourselves like the sons of so great a king. Our work in the vineyard is a holy work, and God will crown it with a rich mercy : ' They shall be minOj saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him,' Mai. iii. 17.

In that the father chargeth his eldest son to work, I might derive a moral observation, and instruct some to pull back that over-partial indulgence which they give to the eldest. It is the fashion with us to make the eldest a gentleman, though the rest be left beggars. The privilege of primogeniture

• Bern.

so sweeps away all from the younger, that they are often enforced to serve the elder. The causes most commonly are, either an ambitious desire of enhancing our names. We thmk a great many stars make not so fair a show as one sun: therefore join land to land, living to living, and give all to the eldest, not regarding whether younger Jacob be more virtuous, I speak not this to deprive the first-born of his right. Though God be not tied to primogeniture, as appears by Israel's laying his right hand upon Ephraim's head, and his left upon Manasseh's, Gen. xlviii. 14 ; yet with men it is often seen that the disinheriting the eldest proves the ruin of the whole posterit;/. I speak only to help the others with a just and fit portion. Or, perhaps, the cause hereof is, a special affection we bear to one child more than to another, and not after their merits, but our own dotage, prefer them; as Isaac loved Esau, and Rebekah Jacob, Gen. xxv. 28. Or, most likely, a covetous desire of procuring great marriage-portions to our eldest, whom we have famoused for our sole and entire heirs.

But the father here sets his eldest son to work. If an)' business be to be done, our custom is to impose aU on the younger, and favour the elder. It is enough for him to see fashions abroad. This indulgence too often turns to niin; for long unrestrained wantonness, and unchidden pride, teacheth him at last, though his now dead father left him much lands, to carry them all up in his purse to London; whence he lightly brings nothing down, but a few new-fangled rags, or perhaps a church on his back, and the bells at his heels; as one said of the church-robber's heir with jingling spurs. Too many run to such riot in the April of their years, that they soon bring December on their houses, and sell their patrimony to some supjjlanter for pottage. They so toss and bandy their estates, from vanity to vanity, from madness to madness, till at last they fall into the usurer's hazard. And once lying at the extortioner's mercy by forfeit, it is as surely damned as the extortioner himself wiU be when he lies at the mercy of the devil. The mind having once caught the trick of running out, is harcUy banked in. He that is used to a torch scorns to go with a candle. It is a good course : let them work in the vineyard before they have it, they will keep it the better when they have it. But some fathers are so dotingly kind, that they put themselves out of their estates to fasten them on their eldest son. Alas, poor men ! how few of them ever die without cursing the time when they made themselves slaves to their cradles !

The prolixity of this point shall be recompensed with the succeeding brevity of the rest. We have done with the appellation : now follows—

(2.) The incitation : ' go.' This is a word of instigation to sedulity and forwardness in the service of our Father. Every son of God must be going-The servants under the law were commanded to eat the passover ' with their shoes on their feet,' Exod. xii. 11; and St Paul may seem to allude to it, when he bids the children of the gospel ' stand with your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace,' Eph. vi. 15. So long as we are standing, there is hope we will be going. It is not permitted to us to sit down in the midst of our race. Christ telleth his apostles, ' When the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye shall also sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel,' Matt. xix. 28. But we know our Saviour dearly earned that voice, before he heard it from his Father, ' Son, sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.' Before he heard this requiem, he complained that * the foxes had holes, and the birds of the air nests, but the Son of man no resting-place for his head.' We must so apprehend God's voice : * Go, my son.' When God found Elias laid under the

juniper-tree, he sends him sustenance, and bids him * arise and eat.' And being laid down again, the angel again ' touched him, saying, Arise and eat; the journey is too great for thee,' 1 Kings xix. 5-7. >Strengthen thy heart, O Christian; sit not downi as if thou wert perfect, thou hast a great journey to go.

Every one thinks himself God's son : then hear his voice, ' Go, my son.* You have all your vineyards to go to. Magistrates, go to the bench, to execute judgment and justice; ministers, go to the temple, to preach, to pray, to do the work of evangelists; people, go to your callings, that you may eat the labours of your own hands. Eye to thy seeing, ear to thy hearing, foot to thy wallang, hand to thy working ; Peter to thy nets, Paul to thy tents; every man to his profession, accordmg to that station wherein God hath disposed us. So Origen comments upon Abraham's family, for their entertaining the three angels. Gen. xviii. 6 : Senex cunit, mulier festinat, pxier ■accelerat; nullus 2n(/er invenitur domo sapientis, —Sarah goes quickly to knead the flour, Abraham runs to the herd for a calf, the servant makes haste to dress it; here is none idle in the wise man's family. The incitation gives way to—

(3.) The injunction: ' work.' The labour of a Christian is like the labour of a husbandman; whereof I have read this proverb, that it returns into a ring : the meaning is, it is endless ; they have perpetually somewhat to do, either ploughing, or sowing, or reaping, &c. Idleness is of itself against the law of Scripture, against the law of nature: Deus maximus invisibUium, inundus maximus visibilium, —God, the greatest of in\isible natures; the world, the greatest of visible creatures ; neither of them is idle. Plato could say, that sapientes majorem cum viiiis, quam cum inimicis pugnam gerunt, — ■wise men have a greater skirmish with theu* own vices and lusts than with foreign swords. There is enough in every man to keep him from idleness ; if at least he do not prefer an unjust peace to a just war.

For us men, and for our salvation, (such was our weakness,) came the Son of God from heaven, (such was his kindness;) gave battle for us to the devil, and world, and all the enemies of our salvation, (such was his goodness;) gave them all the overthrow, (such was his greatness.) What! that we should therefore sit still and take our ease 1 No, but rather to encourage our labour, and hearten us to a happy success. God hath so proportioned things and their events, that they who will rest in the tune of labour shall labour in the time of rest. This is our day of labour, hereafter follows our Sabbath of rest; if we will loiter when we should work, we shall work when we should rest, and feel the eternal throbs of an ever-wounded and wounding conscience. In that other parable of the vineyard, Matt, xx., the wages comes not to the servant till he hath wrought in the vmcyard ; nor here the inheritance to the son. The idle man is the devil's cushion; he sits on him, and takes his ease freely. If you would take the devil's muster-book, and rake hell for a rabble of reprobates,—nasty drunkards, blown swearers, stall-fed gluttons,—I might say of them all, as the poet of iEgistus, how he became an adulterer : In promptu causa est, desidiosus erat, —The cause is ready, they were idle. Work is the injunction. If you ask when and how long—

(4.) The limitation of time instructs you : ' to-day.' We need not grudge God our labour; it is but a day wherein we are enjoined to work : Ps. civ. 23, ' Man goeth forth to his work, and to his labour until the evening;' not only that little part of time, the artificial day, as they call it, but even his whole natural day of life, till his sun set. Christ thus instructs us in his

own example, and tliat witli a must, a word of necessity: * I must work the works of Mm tliat sent me, while it is day : for the night cometh, when no man can work,' John ix. 4. The rich man, Luke xii,, had his day : which "because he spent in filhng his barns with corn, and not his heart with repentance, at evening was rung his soul-knell, 'Thou fool, this night shall they require thy soul of thee; then whose are those things which thou hast provided?' Luke xii. 10. Christ spake it not with dry eyes to Jerusalem : ' If thou hadst known, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!' Luke xix. 42. The next is God's day. This our day hath no morrow to work in; then Deus et dies ultionum convenient, —the God of vengeance and the day of vengeance shall meet together. At night we must give account how we have spent our day; happy are we if we can make our reckoning even with God; a day misspent is lost. The good Emperor Vespasian, if he had heard no causes, or done no charitable act, would complain to his courtiers at night, Amici, diem perdidi, —My friends, I have lost a day. I fear too many may say so of the whole day of their lives: I have lost my day.

Time is precious ; and howsoever our pride and lusts think it, God so highly prizeth it, that he wiU punish the loss of a short time with a revenge beyond all times : the misspense of a temporal day with an eternal night. Every horn' hath wings, and there is no moment passing from us but it flies up to the Maker of time, and bears him true tidings how we have used it. There is no usury tolerable but of two things, grace and time; and it is only blessed wealth that is gotten by improving them to the best. We brought with us into the world sin enough to repent of all our short day. There is no minute flies over our heads without new addition to our sins, and therefore brings new reason for our sorrows. We little think that every moment we misspend is a record against us in heaven, or that every idle hour is entered into God's registry, and stands there in capital letters tUl our repentant tears wash it out. The Ancient of days sees us fool away our time, as if we had eternity before us. Harlots, taverns, theatres, markets of vanity, take up whole weeks, months, years ; and we are old ere we consider ourselves mortal. Not so many sands are left in the glass as a sparrow can take in her bOl, before we think we have lost much time, or perceive we have no more to lose. Nothing is of that nature that life is ; for it loseth by getting, diminisheth by increasing, and every day that is added to it is so much by a day taken from it. That very night which thou last sleptest hath by a night shortened thy life. So insensibly runs away our time, though we entreat it never so earnestly to slacken the pace. How fond are they that invent for it pastimes !

This limitation of the time gives us a double encouragement to our cheerful working in God's vineyard:—

First, The shortness of our day. The saints have reckoned their time by days. So that aged patriarch to the Egyptian king : * Few and evd have the days of thy servant been.' Here it is taken in the singular number, a day. So, Heb. iii. 13, ' To-day, if ye will hear God's voice, harden not your hearts;' Matt. xx. 6, ' Why stand ye here all the day idle V It is a day, a short day, a winter's day. And, alas! it is but a little part of this day that we work. Mtdtum temporis nobis eripitur, 2ilus subducitur, plurimum effiuit: exigua pars est vitce quam nos vivimv^^'' —Much of our time is violently snatched from us, more we are cozened of, most steals away insensibly ; it is the least part of our life m hich we are properly said to live.

♦ Seu., Epist. 1.

Matt. XXL 28-30.] the two sons. SO

Distinguish our day into a morning, noon, and evening. Our youth, which is our morning, we most usually (not usefuUy) spend in toys and vanities : as if it were not vitium adolescenti scortari, &c., —a fault in a young man to wantonise, dance, drink, swear, swagger, revel. Our old age, which is our afteniooa, for the most part is spent in caring, trouble, and anxiety for this world ; our distrustful hearts still asking, How shall we do when we are old 1 yet being so old already, that there is no possible good means of spending what we have. So that here remains nothing but the noon of our day. As Epaminondas aptly said. Young men should be saluted with Good-morrow, or welcome into the world; old men with Good-night, because they are taking theu' leaves of the world; only men of middle age with Good-day. This mid-day is only left for the vineyard, and how much of it spend we in working there 1

Day-labourers use not to sleep at noon; and yet we, for the most part, sleep out almost half our time : other hours are wasted in eating and drinking, other in playing; and, that is worst of all, yet most of all in sinning. Now, behold the great part of our day which we spend in God's vineyard. Let the time before our conversion be deducted; for then we were quite out of the \'ineyard : we were not awake. If a sleeping man may be said dead, then sure a dead man may be said asleep. And, indeed, sins are justly called ojjerxc tenebrarum, the works of the night, not of the light: no fit actions for the day. So that our unregeneratc time hath stolen a great piece from our day. I have read of a courtier that, wearied with that few in these days will be wearied of,—glorious vanities, gallant miseries,—retired himself into the country, where he lived privately seven years. Dying, he caused this epitaph to be engraven on his tomb : Hie jacet Similis, cujus cetas muUo-rum annorumfuit: ipse duntaxat septem annos vixit; —

* Here lies Similis, whose age Saw many years on tliis world's stage. His own accoimt is far less given. He says he only lived seven;'

esteeming the compass of his life no longer than his retiring himself from worldly vanities. So it may be said of a wicked old man : JVon dm vixit, sed diufuit, —He hath not lived long, but been long upon the earth. After this rule many good men have reckoned their years : not from the time of their birth, but of their new bhth; accounting only from that day when they were supernaturally born again, not when naturally born into the world : as if all that time were lost which an unsanctificd life took up.

Secondly^ That other heartening to our cheerful labour is, that when this short day is ended, our rest shall be eternal. Death shall deliver us of this travel; and a life shall foUow it, as uncapable of pains-taking as it is of pain-suffering. ' Blessed are they that die m the Lord, for they rest from their labours, and their works follow them,' Rev. xiv. 13. Our labour in the vineyard is not lost: it is written m heaven; and when our souls ascend thither, it shall meet us at the gate with joy. A man s good deeds are in heaven before him ; he that will not forget us, lets not one of them slip from his notice, or evade his memory. No good work is meritorious, yet none transient. God that loves not us for our good deeds, will love our good deeds for us. The person being justified in Christ, the sanctified work shall be had in remembrance. We rest now one day m seven ; but then, our Sabbath shall be more dehghtful, our rest more joyful, our temple heaven, our songs and psalms, hosannas and hallelujahs, and the continuance of all, eternity.

(5.) The time of our -working is not only confined, but the place defined; this is the last cu-cumstancc of the charge : the direction of i^lace, ' in my vineyard.'

Not in the wilderness of the world, nor in the labyrinth of lusts, nor in the orchard of vain delights, nor in the field of covctousncss, nor in the house of security, much less in the chamber of wantonness, or tavern of dranken-ness, or theatre of lewdness ; but in my vineyard : do my work in my vineyard. We must not only be doing, but be doing what we ought. True obedience is a readiness to do as we are bidden. It is an everlasting rule that Paul gives : Kom. vi. 16, ' His servants ye are to whom ye obey.' The centurion so describeth his good servant: ' I bid him do this, and he doeth it.' It is only a laudable deed that hath in it bene as well as honum. Many can take no pains unless the devil set them on work. They must be their own carvers in their employment, or they wUl sit idle. God sends them to his vineyard, and when he comes, finds them in the market, perhaps in a theatre, in a dicing-house, in a drinldng-house. Let them appoint themselves their task, and God cannot have better servants; let him give the direction, and he cannot possibly have worse. So a man may work, and be over-diligent, yet have no thanks for his labour.

God scorns that the world or the flesh should set down rules how he will be served. He never made the devil his steward, to appoint his sons to their task. The king having made positive laws and decrees whereby he will govern either his public or private house, his kingdom or family, disdains that a groom should contradict and annul those, to dignify and advance other of his own fiction. Paul durst not ' confer with flesh and blood,' Gal. i. 16, when God had imposed on him an ofl&ce. That obedience of Abraham, which was so highly praised, was punctually dependent on God's command. He is a sorry servant that, on the first bidding, runs away without his errand. There is a generation of men that are too laborious : curious statesmen in foreign commonwealths, busy bishops in others' dioceses, scalding their lips in their neighbour's pottage. This is an ambitious age of meddlers; there are almost as many minds as men, sects as cities, gospels as gossips : as if they laboured the reducing of the old chaos and first in-formity of things again. So the foxes do without labour make spoil of the grapes; and these endeavours do not help, but hurt the vineyard. Painful-ness is not only required, but profitableness. Otherwise, as it is said of the schoolmen, they may magna conatu 7iihil agere, —take great pains to no purpose. The wise Ordinator of all things hath so disposed us in our stations, that in serving him, we serve one another. Axid it is an habitual part even -of our Liberty, that ' by love we serve one another,' Gal. v. 13. That byword, * Every man for himself, and God for us all,' is uncharitable, ungodly, and impugneth directly the end of every good calling, and honest land of life. The good son, then, must observe— what "i when ? tvhere, or how ? WTiat ? fivorh. When? to-day. Where, or how? in God's vineyard; \sk)0\iiXm^ in ?i lawful vocation lawfully.

The particular instances of the charge have been discussed; the general -doctrine or sum is this : God hath given every one of us, besides our particular, a general calling of Christianity. The working in his vineyard is expounded by that chosen vessel: ' Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,' Phil. ii. 12. There is no action but hath liis labour; and the proportion of it difi'ers, and is made less or more accorduig to the Avill of the agent. WTiatsoever difficulty there is, ariseth rather from the doer than from the work. What we do willingly, seems easy. Some can follow their

dogs a wliole day in the field with delight, upon whom, if authority should impose the measuring so many paces, how often would they complain of weariuess ! Let good-fellows sit in a tavern from sun to sun, and they think the day very short, confessing (though insensible of the loss) that time is a lif^ht-heeled runner. Bind them to the church for two hours, and you put an ache into their bones, the seats be too hard : now time is held a cripple, and many a weary look is cast up to the glass. It is a man's mind that makes any work pleasant or troublesome.

The voluptuous man swaggers, bezzles, dances, riots ; and scornfully laughs at the sneaking earth-worm, that is ever carrying loads of earth to his hole, sweating and groaning under the burden ; and applauds his own "ftit for choosing such ease. The covetous, that is ever carking and vexing for the world, pitifully derides the voluptuous ; and judgeth his banquets too costly, his clothes too superfluous, his sports and revels too troublesome; svhiles himself hath only cuUed out the easy and happy living. Thus conceit can make difficult things facile, and light ponderous. The true Christian is all this while hearing the word, or praying, or meditating, or following his honest profession, (which both the former imagine burdensome,) and knows his life to be only blessed and comfortable; accounting the covetous man's gain a loss, the voluptuous man's disport a punishment.

The way to heaven is one and the same, to all m itself alike ; though some make it to themselves more tedious by their own unwillmgness. The same yoke more troubles the unyielding neck than the patient. Dii laborantibus, &c. We pay no price to God for any good thing but labour ; if we higgle in that, we are worthy to go without the bargain. A little loitering doth often no little hurt; he that rows against a violent stream, by neglecting a .stroke or two, is borne down a great way suddenly. Honest labour is a good companion, and beguiles tlie time, as society doth a tedious way. The ■wise man thinks those hours only go merrily down that are spent in domg good. But take we heed, that as our hands be not idle, so our works not vicious. The prophet speaks of some that are so far from slothfulness, that they ' imagine mischief on their beds, and rise up early to practise it,' ]\Iicah ii. 1. He that forbears idleness, and falls to lewdness, mends the matter as the unskilful chirurgeon did his patient's leg : when it was only out of joint, he broke it quite in pieces.

2. The charge is ended : the next point objected to our consideration is the son's answer, * I will not.'

We have not been so long about the charge, but the son is as short in his answer ; ' I will not.' A very strange speech of a son to a father : Nolo, ' I wUl not go.'

Hei-e is no irresolute answer ; no halting between two opinions, as the Jews did in the days of Elijah, betwixt God and Baal. No lukewarmncss, as Laodicea, Rev. iii. 1-5; which was neither hot nor cold, and therefore in danger to be spewed up, as an offence to God's stomach. He is none of those neuters, that walk to heaven with statute legs. None of those fools, that onwards their journey to heaven stand in a quandary whether they should go forward to God or backwards to the world. He is not a tottering Israelite, but a plain Jezreelite; strainmg his voice to the highest note of obstinacy : Nolo, ' I will not go.'

He was no hypocrite : here is no dissembling carnage of the business ; as if his father would be pleased with good word.s, or that terms smoother than Jacob coxUd countenance rebellion rougher than Esau. He speaks his thought; fall back, fall edge : ' I will not go.' He was not like that guest

whom the hermit turned out of doors after his charitable entertainment, because he perceived that he could warm his cold hands with the same breath wherewith he cooled his hot pottage.

' 'Twas strange, he thought, Both hot and cold could from one mouth be bi-ought.' ^

This son's breath was stone-cold; as if no spark of piety, or ember of natural duty, lay on the hearth of his heart to warm it; Ifolo, ' I will not go.'

He was no Papist sure : for the Lovanian reservation, Jesuitical equivocation, or mental evasion, were not rules entered into his grammar. Those spurious, bastard, enigmatical positions,—abortive births, which are called pice fraudes, —those smothered affirmations, and devilish cozenages, were not taught him; he never saw the Jesuits' College, nor heard Satan dispute in a friar s cowl; he is blunt and plain, and puts his father out of all doubt: Nolo, ' I will not go.'

He was no lawyer, that is palpable : here be no demurs, nor pausing on an answer; perhaps fearing a further solicitation, he goes roundly to work, and joins issue in a word : ' I vdU not go.'

He was no talkative fellow : that to every short question returns answer able to fill a volume; with as many parentheses in one sentence as would serve Lipsius all his life. I have read of two sorts of ill answers. Come to one of them, and ask where his master is : he replies. He is not within ; and goes his way, not a word further. Demand so much of another : he answers, My master is gone to the Exchange, to talk with a merchant of Turkey, about the return of a ship which went out in -April, laden with, &c.; a voluble, tedious, headless, endless discourse. This son is one of the former; he doth not trouble his father with many words : he is short with him, as if he wanted breath, or were loath to draw out the thread of his speech too long : Nolo, ' I will not go.'

He was no complimenter : he does not with a kissed hand, and cringing ham, practise his long-studied art of compliment; and after a tedious antic of French courtesies, sets his tongue to a clinkant tune. No ; he deals peremptorily, proudly, impudently, desperately : Nolo, ' I will not go.'

Excuses might have been quickly ready, if he would as willingly have lied as have disobeyed. He might have said with the sluggard, ' There is a lion in the way, there is a bear without ;' terror stands at the door : or, My head aches, I cannot work : or. The vineyard is in good case, and needs no dressing : or. It is too far thither; as Jeroboam jileaded : or, I want skill to work in it : or. Thou hast servants enow, lay this task on them, and sjDare thy son : or, If thy son must do it, burden the younger with it; I am thy eldest son, and privileged by primogeniture. No ; he hath no desire to shelter his disobedience under the boughs of excuses; he had rather sj)eak his mind freely : Nolo, ' I will not go.'

Here is the picture of one thrusting away obedience with both hands, and renouncing goodness, as the Gergesenes did Christ, Matt, viii., when they thrust him out of their coasts; as if they had told him that he was no guest for Gergesenes, for his severe laws and their secure lives could never cotton. Would you have some matches set by this son 1 Stephen tells the Jews, Acts vii. 51, 'Ye stilf-necked and uncircumcised in heart, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost.' David speaks of some that * cast the laws of God behind their backs,' Ps. 1. 17; as a man throws a thing behind him in scorn, being an eyesore unto him. Job brings in the wicked saying to the Almighty,

* Depart from us, for we will none of thy ways,' chap, xxi. 14. Israel returns God's mild admonitions with ' There is no help ; no, for I have loved strangers, and after them I will go,' Jer. ii. 25 ; and, ver. 31, ' We are lords, we will no more come unto thee.' Here be matches and parallels to this son.

It is generally customable with us to justify ourselves, and rather than our ulcerous blains and putrefying sores should be exposed to sight and censure, we will double sin, and bind iniquity to iniquity, by concealing it. If there be any bush in Paradise, the sons of Adam have learnt of their father to shroud themselves under it. Either by covering it with a lie, as Gehazi to his master Elisha, ' Thy servant went no wliither.' Or by colouring it with pretences, as Saul: Not I, but ' the people, saved,' not the worst, but ' the best of the cattle,' not for our own private uses, but ' for sacrifice to the Lord.' What a gradation of holy pretences is here assumed ! Or by tran.s-lating it from ourselves, as Adam : Not I, but ' the woman;' nay, ' the woman which thoit gavest me;' and so by rebound casting the fault on God. But here is rebellion unmasking herself, and shewing her ugly visage to the world with an immodest impudence; a protestation, a prostitution of the heart to all manner of impiety : Nolo, ' I will not go.'

3. You hear his answer : let us examine whether we can find any better comfort in the event. ' But he repented and went.'

We say the second thoughts are most commonly the better. For all his big words, his stomach comes down. If I may take leave to gloss it, he could not want motives of humiliation to repentance, of excitation to obedience, if his recollected understanding did consider—(1.) The person commanding ; (2.) The charge ; (3.) Himself, the party charged.

(1.) Fater est qui genuit, joavit, educavit. It is his father, that bred him, that fed him; and therefore,/in-e ^j«<er?io, by the right of a father to his begotten child, might command him ; neither should his obedience be forced formidine j^cence, as slaves execute their master's Avill for fear of the whip. But he is to be drawn jxireJitis amove, with those soft and silken threads of inducement which love gently leads on.

(2.) The charge is not burdensome, nor unbecoming his worth, if he stood upon it. It is no base drudgery, as, Feed the ox. Hold the plough; which no good son refuseth at his father's bidding. It was the fairest business his father could set him about—Work in the vineyard.

(3.) Himself, though a son, though the eldest son, must not live idle. There is nothing more tedious to a noble spirit than to do nothing. There is neither orb, nor star, nor mind, nor eye, nor joint that moveth not. This is not all: it inures his heart to obedience, as well as his hand to diligence; it procures his father's blessing, inflames his affection; and for a bountiful conclusion, shall possess him of his heritage. His father v.'ill give him the vincj'ard he wrought in.

Our Father in heaven gives every one of us the same charge. He sends us to liis vineyard, his church, and bids us work there; glorify his name, edify oiu: brethren, and assure our own salvation. There is no precept in the .whole book of God but enjoins this. Perhaps we have not so blasphemously answered with our tongues, Nolumus, —' We will not go,' we will not do it. But our lives have spoken it: and they make as loud a noise in his ears that hears the heart as easily as the lips. Our conversations speak it; we actually deny it. 1 would to God our refusal were not too demonstrative. Oh, let us reclaim our impudent and refractory renegations, by a serious meditation of the former circumstances !

(1.) The commander is the Lord Almighty, that commands heaven, earth,

jincl hell; and our benign and merci-ful Father. He must be obeyed, his will must be done: either by thee willingly, or constrainedly upon thee. There was never any Cain or Esau, Ahithophel or Jezebel, Julian or Judas, but did the will of God, though they went to hell for their labour. The signed wiU of God may be disobeyed, his eternal decrees cannot be crossed. What thou must do, do willingly. Fata vokntem ducunt, nolentem traliunt. God gently leads thee coming, but drags thee on withdramng: we say, a noble disposition ducitur, non trahitur. It is our Father's charge, let our obedience be cheerful. Let the wicked quake at his thunder, the sweet dews of his mercies mollify our hearts. It is for slaves to do nothing but for fear of present plagues, and the horror of future damnation; but Paul persuades Christians 'by the mercy of God,' Rom. xii. 1. If that argument prevail not with us, we are unworthy the name of his sons. If the tender com-ijassion of our loving Father, and the heart-blood of our elder Brother, Jesus Christ, cannot make our feet quake to enter forbidden paths, and our hands tremble when we put them forth to wicked actions, our souls are in a desperate case. Think, think, it is thy Father that commands.

(2.) The service required is easy, pleasant, comfortable. The devil im-poseth on his slaves a heavy work, and a more heavy wages. His work is true drudgery (let not flesh and blood sit judges) : the vexation of covetous-ness, the misery of ambition, the sickness of ebriety, the poison of lust, the pining of malice, and the sting of conscience wrapt up in the honey of carnal delights, are baseness and most sordid slavery. His wages is worse : ' The wages of sin is death.' Such a death as the severing of the body from the soul, compared with the separation of the soul from God, is of a far vaster difference than the ache of a finger and the most horrid torments of the wheel. Well were it for his slaves if they might for ever go unpaid. But this work is sweet and delectable : hearing, reading, praying, singing, doing the works of piety, of pity; can we imagine a fairer business, if at most it may be called a work 1

(3.) The reward is infinitely transcendent: when we have laboured in the vineyard, we shall have the vineyard. ' Work out your salvation,' and take your salvation. Those that have honoured God, God will honour. It is his mercy not to let any of our poor services to him go unregarded, unrewarded. In this event, there is, first, a word of retraction; secondly, a word of reversion; thirdly, a word of proceeding. He was going on to hell roundly: this but interrupts him and stops his course. He begins in cool blood to pause and think upon it. His answer (and when he answered, his purpose) was, ' I will not go.' Yet here is a but that recollects him. After a little gathering up his spirits, and champing on this bit of the bridle that checked him, this but, he falls to be sorry for what he had spoken, and in direct terms to repentance. Lastly, when sorrow had well humbled him, and his wild spirits grew tame, he delays the time no longer, but falls i:astantly to his business : ' he went.' Faith taught him that his father was merciful, and would forgive his disobedient language, upon the true remorse of his conscience, especially when he came and found him ' working in the vineyard.'

But —That which stops his lewd course is a serious consideration of his folly. This veruntamen, like an oar, turns the boat another way, and saves him from the rock, and inevitable shipwreck, whereinto he was running his vessel. It is a gasp that recovers his swooning soul, when there was little hope of life left. He had died if this but, like a little aqua vita;, had not fetched him back.

It is a blessed msclom of the sotiI, an antidote, or at least good ph^ysic for temerity, to consider our ways. He that goes on without a serious thousht of a quid feci ov facturus sum, precipitates his soul to ruin. The royal prophet so recalls and snibs himself: ' I thought on my ways : and turned my feet unto thy testimonies,' Ps. cxis. 59.

He repented. —They go far that never return. "We heard this son at the highest stair of rebellion, now behold him descending by degrees : * he repented and went;' and it may be supplied, ' he wrought.' Those that to man's judgment and help are inextricably wrapped in the devil's snares, the Lord can easily unwind and set at liberty: not seven devils in one, not a whole legion in another, not all the prmcipalities and powers of darkness in. a third, can hinder repentance of sin, and mercy to repentance, when God" will bestow them. Kiss we the feet of his goodness, that can heal when the case is desperate : a woman bowed down with an infirmity eighteen years, Luke xiii.; a man thirty-and-eight years bedrid, John v. There is no heart so obdurate but the blood of Christ, when it shall please God to apply it,. can mollify it.

Let this keep us from despairing of their salvation whom we see, for the present, given over to licentiousness. The prodigal returns home, the lost sheep is found, the dying thief is converted, this rebellious son is brought to repentance. Then, sin and spare not, says the libertine; there will be hope even to the last. But the mouth of this wickedness is soon stopped. Qui semper dat pcenitenti remissioneni, non semper dot pieccanti poenitentiam, — Who always gives remission to him that repents, doth not evermore give repentance to him that sins. God hath promised forgiveness to him that converts; his oath hath confirmed thi.s, and the blood of Christ hath sealed it. But hoc opus, hie labor est, how shalt thou be converted if God ■withholds his gracious Spirit 1 This promise binds thee to repentance as well as God to mercy. But where grows that herb of grace that thou mightest gather it ? ' Convert thou me, O Lord, and I shall be converted.' The faults uf the samts are therefore recorded; not to encourage our falling, but to comfort us when we are down. He that shall hearten himself to offend by their example, makes the same sin in him presumption which was in them infirmity. So, beholding a man falling by misfortune from some high bridge into a deep water, and yet scape drowning, go and precipitate thyself in, to scape after the same fashion ! It is dangerous tempting of God's mercy.

He went. —Sorrow for the evil past was not sufficient; he must amend his future life. It is not enough to be sorry that he had loitered; he must now labour in the vineyard. It is often seen that the more j)erverse a sinner hath been, when he repents he proves the sounder. AVhen this son grew to be good, he was good indeed. The prophet Jeremiah brings in Ephraim, saying, ' Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instnicted, I smote upon my thigh : I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth,' chap. xxxi. 19. Paul had long been a loiterer, but when he began once to run in the right path, he overtook them all; and he that confessed himself ' born out of due time,' yet doth withal acknowledge that he was ' in labours more abundant than they all,' 1 Cor. XV. 8, 10. Mary Magdalene, being emptied of her seven de^-ils, is testified by Christ ' to love much, because many sins were forgiven her,' Luke viL 47. Zaccheus had long been a covetous extortioner, but when Christ and salvation came to his house, to his soul, how rich was his conversion ! ' Behold, half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have "Wronged any man, I restore liim fourfold,' Luke xix. 8. As if he would

make haste to unravel that bottom of sin which he had been so long in winding up.

Thus I have shewed you a precedent of repentance; shew me a sinner that follows it: one Sabbath-breaker that oifers to redeem God's holy time he hath abusively lost; one encloser that will throw open his unjustly taken-in commons ; one extortioner that returns his thefts,—his usuries, I should say, but sure I did not mistake. We say, We will not; and indeed we do not. Repentance must not look in at our gates. We are not humbled to this day. God must lay us panting upon our bed of sickness, drink up our bloods, and raise our sins, like dust and smoke, in the eyes of our consciences, before we will be moved. Till then we bear our perjuries, blasphemies, oppressions, frauds, those unsupportable burdens, like cork and feathers upon our shoulders, without any sensible pressure. God touch our hearts, that we may ' repent, go and work in his vineyard !'

II. We have done with the dissolute, and are fallen now upon the hypocrite. But he hath been so liberally described in The White Devil, that I wUl only now present him, and let him go. This second son hath also his charge; which because it is the same with the former, I lightly pass over. Only observe, that the Father commands every son to work. There must be no lazy ones in God's family. Adam, even in his innocency. Gen. ii. 15, was not permitted to sleep in the sweet bowers only, or to disport himself in the cool and pleasant walks, but he was bidden to dress the garden. But in the next chapter, when he had sinned, then labour was laid on him as a curse, chap. iii. 19. He and all his generations must earn their bread in the sweat of either brow or brain. There must be no ciphers in God's arithmetic,* no mutes in his grammar, no blanks in his calendar, no dumb shows on his stage, no false lights in his house, no loiterers in his vineyard.

The charge of the father requires also this son's answer : ' I go, sir.' He gives his father a fair title, y-d^n, ' lord,' or ' sir,' as if he acknowledged to hini most submissive reverence ; words soft as butter, but the deeds of war are in the heart. Many can give God good words, but verba rebus jjroba, saith the wise philosopher; appeal from their lips to their lives. And you shall find these two differ, as it is seen in some taverns : there are good sentences upon the walls, Watch, Be sober. Fear God, &c., where there is nothing but blasphemy, ebriety, and unmeasurable rioting in the room. Our times have lighted on a strange flashing zeal in the tongue ; but it is a poor fire of zeal that will not make the pot of charity seethe. Our profession is hot, but our hospitality cold. These men are like a bad mill, that keeps a great clacking, but grinds no grist. ' What hast thou to do to take my covenant in thy mouth, seeing thou hatest instruction in thy heart?' Ps. 1. 16. The hen, when she hath laid an egg, straight cackles it, which causeth it instantly to be taken from her. But here is one cackles when he has not laid, and God coming, finds his nest empty. This is to fry in words, freeze in deeds ; to speak by ells, and work by inches; to promise mountains, and biing forth ridiculous mole-hills. A bad course and a bad discourse agree not. Words are but vocal interpreters of the mind, actions real; what a man does we may be sure he thinks, not evermore what he says. Of the two, give me him that says little and doth much. WHl you examine further who are Uke this son ? They that can say here in the temple, ' Lord, hallowed be thy name ;' scarce out of the church-doors, the first thing they do is to blaspheme it: that pray, ' Thy will be done,' when wdth all their powers they oppose it: and, ' Incline our hearts to keep thy laws,' when they utterly decline

* D. Boys : Postilla.

themselves. These are but devils in angels' feathers, stinking dunghills covered with white snow, rotten timber shining in the night; Pharisees' cups, ignes fatui, that seem to shine as fixed in the orb, yet are no other than crude substances and falling meteors. You hear how fairly this younger brother promiseth; what shall we find in the event? But 'he ■went not.'

What an excellent son had this been if his heart and tongue had been cut out of one piece ! He comes on bravely, but, like an ill actor, he goes halting ofi". It is not profession, but obedience, that pleaseth God. * Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into heaven; but he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven,' Matt. vii. 21. There are three things that cozen many, because they are preparatives to obedience, but are not it : Some intend well, as if the blast of a good meaning could blow them into heaven. Others prepare and set themselves in a toward-ness; but, like the George, booted and spurred, and on horseback, yet they stir not an inch. Others go a degree further, and they begin to think of a course for heaven : for a Sabbath or two you shall have them dihgent churchmen ; but the devil's in it, some vanity or other steals into their heart, and farewell devotion. AU these are short, are nothing, may be worse than nothing ; and it is only actual obedience that pleaseth God. Beloved, say no longer you wiU, but do ; and the ' doer shall be blessed in his deed,' James i. 25. Which blessedness the mercies of God in Christ Jesus vouchsafe us ! Amen.

.VOL. II

MAJESTY IN MISEEY;

OB,

THE POWER OE CHEIST EYEN DYITO.

And, heliold, the vail of the temple ivas rent in twain from, the tojy to the bottom ; and the earth did quahe, and the ivcks rent; and the graves xvere opened; and many bodies of mints which slept arose — Matx. XXVII 51.

In the lowest depth of Christ's humiliation, God never left him without some evident and eminent testimony of his divine power. He hangs here on the cross dying, yea, dead; his enemies insulting over him. Where is now his God ? ' If he be able to save us, let him save himself.' He bears not only the wrath of God, but even the reproach of men. Yet even now shall his divinity appear, and break like a glorious sun through these clouds of misery. He rends the vail, shakes the earth, breaks the stones, raiseth the dead.

These two verses stand gloriously adorned with four miracles:—

1. ' The vaU of the temple was rent in twain.' You will say, perhaps the substance of it was not so strong but an easy force might rend it. But, ver. 50, Christ was dead before, or died at that very instant. It was above nature that a dying, yea, a dead man, crucified in so remote a place from it, should rend the vail within the temple.

2. ' The earth did quake.' Say the vail was of less substance, yet the huge body of the earth will try a man's strength. In vain should silly man contend with that which shaU devoiur him. He cannot move the earth, the earth shall remove him, from walking ahve on it, to lie dead in it. Behold the power of Christ: terram movet, he makes the vast body of the earth to tremble.

3. ' The rocks rent.' Will any yet say, natural causes can shake the earth ? Then let their malicious cavil be choked with this third miracle beyond exception : he breaks the stones, not little stones, but huge, massy rocks.

4. Lastly, to stop the mouth of all adversaries to his divine power, he raiseth up the dead. Suscitare mortuos d septdchro, is only proper to God. * No man can give a ransom to God for his brother, that he should live for

ever, and not see corruption,' Ps. xlix. 7, 9. How much less, when he is dead, recover him to life again ? Here was the finger of God. Now to proceed in order with the miracles :—

FiEST Miracle : ' The vail of the temple,' ifcc.—This vail was the partition betwixt the sanctum sanctorum and the sanctum, as it might be the upper part of the choir. ' Into this went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people,' Heb. ix. 7. By the rending of this vail were many things pre-signified:—

1. This serves for a confirmation of that Christ spoke on the cross ; ' It is finished.' The rending of the vail doth actually echo to his words, and ui-deed fulfils them. Here is an end put to all the sacrifices and ceremonies of the law. In the New Testament is one only real and royal sacrifice, Christ crucified. This was that object whereunto aU those rites looked; and to them all there is now given a consummatum est. So that now ceremonia mortua, lex mortifera, —ceremonies are dead, and the law of them deadly. Novum Testamentum latet in veieri, Vetus j^citet in novo. The gospel lay hidden under the law, the law is complete in the gospel. ' Now, after that you have known God in his gospel, how turn you again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto you desire again to be in bondage l ' Gal. iv. 9. God's service is now simple and plain : ' in spirit and truth,' John iv. 23.

Christ is said to be ' the end of the law :' the moral law he kept himself sincerely, and satisfied for our breaches of it thoroughly. The ceremonial was referred to him, performed of him, fulfilled in him, extinguished by him. They had all vigorem a Ghristo, relationem ad Christum, consumviatlonem in Christo. He gave them theu' beginning, he hath also given them their end. The vaU rent, to witness the canceUuig of that ritual obligation. ' Christ hath blotted out the hand-miiting of ordhiances that was against us, nailing it to liis cross,' Col. ii. 14. That moment was their last gasp, they expired with Christ. But did all ceremonies then utterly die ? No; some were typical, prefiguring Christ: those are dead. Some are for decency and order, adminicula devotionis: these are not dead. The law of Jewish ceremonies is abolished, but some must be retained. Christ came not to dissolve order. Men consist of bodies as weU as souls; and God must be served vAi\i both. Now bodies cannot serve God without external rites; the spouse of Christ cannot be without her borders and laces. Of necessity there must be some outward observances, but thus qualified : that they be for number few, for signification plain, for observation simple; far from ostentation, further from superstition. Christ's spouse must not flaunt it like a harlot, but be soberly attired like a grave matron. Ceremonice quasi caremoniw; uxmts, iX carendo ; as it were ordained to supply the defects of our nature. Because we could not serve God in that simplicity we ought, therefore we have these helps. Hence it is that the nearer to perfection the fewer ceremonies; as it were, the more light the less shadow. In the law were abundant ceremonies, in the gospel far fewer, in heaven none at all.

This condemns the church of Rome for a glorious harlot, because she loads herself with such a heap of gaudy ceremonies; and their mass for mere idolatry, which they believe to be a real propitiatory sacrifice of Christ, made by the priests for the sins of quick and dead. This is to buUd up the vail here rent in pieces, and to accuse Christ of falsehood in his consummatum est. Is an end put to them, and shall they still retain them ; yea, obtrude them as prmcipal parts of God's service; yea, worship them; yea, bind men's con-

sciences to them, on pain of damnation ? Therefore they are liable to the censure of Augustine, who calls such impios sepulturcE violatores, —diggers into the graves of the dead for putrefied and rotten relics ; yea, to the judgment of God, who saith, ' If ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, after the commandments and doctrines of men 1 ' Col. ii. 20, 22. They will say, Dicit Papa, sanxit concilium, —Thus saith the Pope, thus decrees the councU ; but we, Dixit Dominus, non Donatus, —we hear what the Lord says in his Scripture concerning the law of ceremonies.

2. The second thing signified by the rending the vaU is this : the holy of holies figured the third heaven, where God sheweth himself in glory and majesty to his saints. Solomon's temple had in it three courts : an outer court, whereinto the people were admitted j an inner court, wherein only the priests and Levites entered; an inmost of all, whereinto the high priest alone entered, and that but once a-year, and this was called sanctum sanctorum. So there is a threefold heaven— ccelum elementarium, stellatum, gloriosum. First, the elementary heaven, wherein are clouds, winds, rain, dew; and the birds are called the birds of heaven, that is, of this elementary heaven. The second is the starry heaven; so the sun is said to ' go from the end of heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it,' Ps. xix. 6. The last is the glorious heaven, the habitation of God himself; and this was signified by the holy of holies. The vail signified the flesh of Christ; the rending of the vail, the crucifying of Christ; by this is made an entrance into that sanctum sanctorum, the heaven of glory. So expressly : Heb. x. 19,' Having therefore boldness to enter into the hoKest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and \vfmg way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the vaU, that is to say, his flesh.' Heaven-gate was shut up by our sins; none but our highest and holiest Priest had passage thither : but he rent the vail, sufi"ered his body to be torn by death, that he might give us an entrance. Paul, speaking of the legal use of that holiest place in the temple, saith thus, ' The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing,' Heb. ix. 8. But now, by Christ's rending the vaU, patet alti janua coeli, —the way of salvation is opened. Let this reach forth to us two comforts:—

Comfort 1.—There is no fear to be shut out of heaven if thou have faith in Christ; for to thee is the vaU rent, the separation is abolished, Christ is crucified. For so, saith St Peter, ' an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,' 2 Pet. i. 11. Indeed, to unbelievers and hj^pocrites, to worldly wolves and luxurious goats, the vaU is up stUl. How should they enter the sanctum sanctorum, that never approached the sanctum ? How shall they see the glory of God, who would never entertain the grace of God? No; to these there are inaccessible bars, and cherubims with flaming swords, to forbid then" entrance. But to every good and faithful servant the vail is taken away; and Christ says, ' Enter thou uito the joy of the Lord,' Matt. xxv. 21.

Comfort 2. —By this means we have in this world a free access to the throne of grace by our prayers; the vail and separation of sin and wrath is rent asunder by Christ, and a clear way made for our supplications. The propitiatory and mercy-seat, the cherubims of glory shadowing it, the very presence of God, were within the holiest; and the people might not approach it, but stood without afar off: our Saviour hath torn away this vail, and opened our petitions a free passage to the seat of mercy in heaven. ' Having such an high priest over the house of God,' saith Paul, immediately after

the clearing our way through the vail, ' let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith,' &,c., Heb. x. 21, 22. We see how far our prerogative excels that of the Jews. They were servants, we are sons, and cry, ' Abba, Father;' they had priests, we are priests; they had a bar, to us that vail is rent away. ' Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need,' Heb. iv. 16. This is singular comfort, that poor subjects may be sure of access to the king with their petitions; yea, more, be heard in all their desires ; yea, most of all, have an advocate at the king's right hand to plead their cause. But then remember the Psalmist's caution : ' If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord ■\\-ill not hear me,' Ps, Ixvi. 18. Let the servants of Baal cry never so loudly, if lewdly; their prayers are not heard. To the cries of iinfaithfiil sinners the vail is up stiU; and, like a thick cloud, reverberates and beats back their orisons, that they cannot ascend to the throne of grace. Only faith makes a free passage; and a clear conscience hath a clear voice that can pierce heaven.

3. The breaking down of this vail did make the holiest and the other part of the temple all one. Whereby was signified, that of two was made one, Jews and Gentiles one church. ' He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us,' Eph. ii. 14. So that now those the Jews called dogs, eat the bread of the children; yea, they are the children : and ' Japhet is persuaded to dwell in the tents of Shem,' Gen. ix, 27. She is also beloved that was hated ; even the church of the Gentiles is the spouse of Christ. The vail that hindered, Paul calls the ' law of commandments, contained in ord': uices;' this ' he abolished, for to make in himself of twain one new man,' Eph. ii. 15. Heaven-gate is no wider open to a Jew than to a Grecian. ' In Christ Jesus neither circumcision avaUeth anjrthing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God,' Gal. vi. 15, 16. The sun of the gospel, as of the world, is not confined to lighten Judea only, but shines universally. There is not one privilege wherein the Gentile hath not as frank a share as the Jew; the sons of Hagar are adopted the sons of God ; and the free ' Jerusalem above is the mother of us all,' Gal. iv. 26. All this did our blessed Saviour work for us by rending the vail; ' that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby,' Eph. ii, 16.

Oh, then, let us 'keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace!' Christ hath made us at one; let us not make ourselves twain. The vail is rent, why set we up new—schisms in doctrine, jars in conversation"? The bill of divorcement is cancelled; let us love our husband Christ, and, for his sake, every man his brother. Let us set uj) no more vails, lest we do it with the curse of building more Jerichos. There is no bond so sure as reU-gion; no ligaments so strong as faith and a good conscience. Wretched man, that breakest these ties, and rendest thyself from them to whom thou art by Christ united! A mother's, yea, a father's blessing, forsakes thee ; and thou buildest up a new vail, which thou must look for no more Christs to come rend asunder !

4. The rending of the vail teacheth us, that when men sin rebelliously against God, no prerogative shall do them good. The temple was one of their principalest privileges, their glory, their crown. ' The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord,' Jer. vii. 4. It was a figure of the chiu-ch-mihtant, as Solomon the builder was a figure of Christ. For this temple's sake God often spared them. So Daniel prays, ' Cause thy face to shine upon

thy sanctuary, that is desolate/ chap, is. 17. Yet when they fall away from God, and crucify their ]\Iessias, this jDrerogative helps not. For here God's own hand rends the vail, and after gives the whole fabric a spoU to the Gentiles. ' If ye wUl not hear, if ye will not lay it to heart, I will send a curse upon you, I mil curse your blessings ; yea, I have cursed them already, because you do not lay it to heart,' Mai. ii. 2. It lies m man's sin to make God curse his very blessings, and to punish the nocent in the innocent creatures.

We see the way how we may lose temples, and peace, and gospel, and all privileges, by running the courses of disobedience. Who can number the blessings we have enjoyed by the gospel 'I Let us beware lest our ungracious and ungrateful lives rob us not of that, -^vith all the appertinent comforts. They that have travelled the Belgic provinces can witness the miserable footsteps of war, and the tyranny of desolation. Churches and cities have no more monuments, but the ruined foundations, to testify that they were. Sin made way for blood and massacre ; idolatry pulled down those walls, which, otherwise, the most sacrilegious hand should have forborne. If there had been no enemy to raze them, they would have fallen alone, rather than covered so blasphemous impiety under their guilty roofs. ' Peace is within our walls, and prosperity within our palaces,' Ps. cxxii. 7 ; blessed for ever be our God of peace for it ! Yet we have a subtle adversary, Sacrilege, that encroacheth sore upon us, and ' hath taken many of God's houses in possession,' Ps. Ixxxiii. 1 2. We cannot say, ' They have burnt up all the synagogues in the land,' Ps. Ixxiv. 8; but they have done very wickedly to the Lord's sanctuaries. The walls stand,—and it is well if in many places they do so,—but there is not a Levite to feed the people. Alas, how can there, when there is nothing left to feed a Levite ? Covetousness would do as much hurt with us, as war hath done with our neighbours : it would, but I trust in the Lord Jesus it shall not. Though they have rent away God's right,—' tithes and offerings,' Mai. iii. 8,—they shall never rend away God's truth and gospel: rend themselves from it indeed they are likely to do.

5. Lastly, ' The vail was rent.' By rending the part, God did threaten the subversion of the whole. If he spare not the holy of holies, then much less the rest. When God had commanded, ' Slay utterly old and young, maids and children,' he adds withal, ' and begin at my sanctuary,' Ezek. ix. 6. If God begin at his sanctuary, he will not fail to end with the rest. If that shall not scape being profaned, how much less hoiises built for riot and disorder, pride and ambition ! If the temple of prayers, then surely the dens of thieves. ' For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and shall ye go inipunished l' saith God to the heathen, Jer. xxv. 29. If the sacred things defiled by idolatry shall be subverted, never think that your fair houses shall stand, when they are made coverts of oppressions, and convents of superstition. When the better things are not favoured, the worst have small hope. So Peter reasons : ' If judgment shall begin at the house of God, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel 1 ' 1 Pet. iv. 17. If the strong cedars of Lebanon be rooted up, woe to the rotten-rooted poplars ! If the dragon's tail sweep stars from heaven, what shall become of squalid earthly vapours ? The temple was one of the world's greatest wonders; as curious a workmanship as six-and-thirty years could make it. It wanted not the art of man ; yea, the blessing of heaven was added to it. Yet now, lo, etican periere rnince, tliis goodly building by sin was brought to ruin; yea, even the very ruins are perished. Shall, then, your forts and palaces, worldlings' paradises, full of rapine, empty of charity,

stand against all weathers and storms of judgment 1 No : stone shall fall after stone ; and ruin shall one day tell the passengers, as God threatened of Jerusalem, Here stood a goodly manor, a sumptuous edifice, a royal palace. Or if they fall not down in themselves, they shall fall to the owners, whose iniquities have defiled them.

God punisheth by certain degrees : first he rends the vaU, then rend^ away the temple; as by David's hand he first rent Saul's garment, and then rent away his kingdom. God at first toucheth men lightly, in their goods, quiet, health; if these stir not to repentance, he proceeds against the whole. ' Know ye not that ye are the temple of God ?' 1 Cor. iii. 16. If you set up in this temple idols, lusts, and evil affections, God first rends the vail, toucheth you with some gentle afilictions; but if you still continue to make this temple a den of thieves, the temple itself will be destroyed.

You have heard the first miracle, the rending of the vail. As the Jews were wont to rend their garments when they heard blasphemy against God, so it may seem the temple tore its garments, rent its vail in pieces, when it heard those execrable blasphemies against the Son of God.*

Second Miracle : ' The earth did quake.'—The philosophers having given divers natural causes of earthquakes, as by hot and dry exhalations shut up in the bowels of the earth, and labouring for vent, resisted by the earth's soUdness, there ensueth terrce motus, a shaking of the earth, &c. But this was an extraordinary earthquake ; for it happened exactly at the very instant of Christ's death.

It might be to set forth the glory of the New Testament, and to vindicate it from inferiority to the Old. The law was both given and renewed with an earthquake. Given, Exod. xix. 18, to the hand of Moses: 'The whole mount quaked greatly.' As at the giving. Mount Sinai, so at the renewing. Mount Horeb quaked : ' As Elijah stood upon the mount, there passed by a strong wind, and after the wind an earthquake,' 1 Kings xix. 11. So when the Lord of the gospel died, the earth shook, that the ministration of righteousness might not be less glorious than the ministration of death, 2 Cor. iii. 9. This miracle shall give us a threefold instruction :—

1. To consider the fierceness of God's wrath against sins and sinners. For God, by shaking the earth, did no less than threaten the utter subversion of those desperate and bloody wretches. Korah and his confederates were swallowed up of the earth, for rebelling against Moses, the Lord's servant. ' Of how much sorer punishment were these worthy that had crucified,' not the servant, but ' the Son of God ?' Heb. x. 29. If the mercies of God had not been greater than their iniquities, they had not escaped.

By this we see how able God is to punish sinners. He shews what he can do; it is his mercy that he forbears. Some of these were to be converted ; therefore, concussi non excussi, —moved, not removed; shaken, but not destroyed. Ostendisti po^ndo gravia, saith the Psalmist: ' Thou hast shewed thy people hard things,' Ps. Ix. 3. Shewed, not imposed; shook the rod, not laid it on. This forbearance of God should lead us on to repentance, Rom. ii. 4. If not, it is but the forerunner of vengeance. Though now by moving the earth he scare and spare these Jews, yet after the earth spewed them out, as an offence to her stomach. O obstinate hearts, that quake not, when the senseless ground quakes that bears so unprofitable a burden ! Cannot the earth admonish thee ? it shall devour thee. Si non monebit, movebit. If the Almighty's hand stirring it hath not stirred thee to repentance, a sexton's hand shall cover thee with moulds; a weak shaker

* Theophylact.

shall do it. Think when God moves the earth, he preacheth to thy soul. If thy heart, so little in comparison of that great vast body, will not tremble, know God hath one thing that shall shake thee to pieces—death.

2. The nature of sm is here considerable; so heavy, that it makes the very earth to quake. The Jews' sins were such a burden, that the earth, could not bear them without trembling. The earth is fixed, and ' standeth fast,' saith the Psalmist, as the centre of the world ; it is strange that to be-moved, even so strange is the cause that moves it. It must needs be a. monstrous weight of iniquity that totters the earth on her foundations. But why is the earth so quiet now ? Do not innumerable wretches daily crucify Christ, by their oaths, blasphemies, and rebellions, in himself; by their persecutions and oppressions, in his members ? Is not his word derided, his sacraments despised, his good creatures abused ? Why doth not the earth shrink and shake at these horrid impieties 1 Be still; he that holds his hand from miracles, will not hold it from plagues. They are forborne, not forgiven. God keeps silence, but he sleepeth not; the earth may spare them, but ' desolation in a moment shall swallow them,' Ps. Ixxiii. 19. To the Jews the earth moved, and they stood stUl; to these the earth shall stand still, and themselves shall be moved.

3. There is nothing on the earth that is not moveable, if the earth itsek be moveable. ' God hath laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be moved,' Ps. civ. 5. Yet so that he who laid it can shake it: ' He shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble,' Job ix. 6. If the earth, then whatsoever is built upon it. ' The earth shall be burnt,' saith Peter. What, alone ? No ; ' the earth, with the works that are therein, shall be burnt up,' 2 Peter iii. 10. The works of men's hands, the works of their brains, their very ' thoughts shall perish.' ' The Lord's voice shook the earth; and he hath said, Yet once again I will shake not the earth only, but also heaven,' Heb. xii. 26. 0 blessed place, that is not subject to this shaking, whose joys have not only an amiable countenance, but a glorious continuance ! ' The things that are shaken shall be removed, but the things that are not shaken remain for ever.' All the terrors of this. Avorld move not him that is fixed in heaven : ' They that put their trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which carmot be removed, but abideth for ever,' Ps. cxxv. 1. But the tabernacles and hopes of the mcked shall perish together: * For the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth ever,' 1 John ii. 17. Whereon, saith Augustine, Quid vis ? Utrum amare temporalia, et transire cum tempore ! a?t amare Christum, et vivere in ceternum ? —Whether wilt thou love the world, and perish with it, or love Christ, and live for ever ?

Third Miracle : ' The rocks rent.'—A wonderful act, to break stones and rend rocks. This gives us two observations :—

1. This did foresignify the power and efiicacy of the gospel, that it should be able to break the very rocks. As the death and passion of Christ did cleave those solid and almost unpenetrable substances, so the publishing of his death and passion shall rend and break in pieces the rocky hearts of men. So John Baptist said, ' God is able of stones to raise up children unto Abraham,' Matt. iii. 9. The hearts of Zaccheus, Mary Magdalene, Paul, were such rocks; yet they were cleft with the wedge of the gospel. This is that rod of Moses, able to break the hardest rocks, till they gush out with floods-of penitent tears. This is Jeremiah's hammer, powerful to bruise the most obdurate hearts. The blood of the goat sacrificed, of force to dissolve adamant. There is power in the blood of Jesus to put sense in stones. Blessed

are you, if you be thus broken-hearted for him whose heart was broken for you ! For ' the broken heart the Lord will not despise,' Ps. li. 17.

3, Observe the wonderful hardness of the Jews' hearts. The stones rent and clave in sunder at the cruel death of Jesus; but their hearts, more stony than stones, are no whit moved. They rend not their garments, much less their hearts; whenas the earth rent the stones, her bones, and the rocks, her ribs. The flints are softer than they; the flints break, they harden. They still belch their malicious blasphemies ; the rocks relent ; the stones are become men, and the men stones. Oh the senselessness of a hard heart! rocks will sooner break than that can be mollified. Even the hardest creatures are flexible to some actions,—flints to the rain, iron to the fire, stones to the hammer,—but this heart yields to nothing, neither the showers of mercy, nor the hammer of reproof, nor the fire of judgments; but, like the stithy, is still the harder for beating. All the plagues of Egypt cannot mollify the heart of Pharaoh. It is wondrously unnatural that men, made the softest-hearted of all, should be rigidiores lupis, duriores lapidibus, —more cruel than wolves, more hard than stones. I would to God all hard-heartedness had died with these Jews; but it is not so. How often has Christ been here crucified, in the word preaching his cross to your ears, in the sacraments presenting his death to your eyes! Think, think in your own souls, have not the stones in the walls of this church been as much moved ? God forbid our obdurate-ness should be punished as theirs was! Since they would be so stonyhearted, Jerusalem was turned to a heap of stones, and the conquering Romans dashed them pitilessly against those stones which they exceeded in hardness.

Here let the wicked see their doom : the stones that will not be softened shall be broken. There is no changing the decree of God ; but change thy nature, and then know thou art not decreed to death. Stony hearts shall be broken to pieces with vengeance; do not strive to alter that doom, but alter thy own stony heart to a heart of flesh, and so prevent it in the particular. Wolves and goats shall not enter into heaven. Thou mayest pull stars out of heaven before alter this sentence; but do it thus. Leave that nature, and become one of Christ's sheep, and then thou art sure to enter. No adulterer nor covetous person, saith Paul, ' shall inherit the kingdom of heaven,' 1 Cor. vi. 9. This doom must stand, but not against thee, if thou be converted 'Such were ye, but ye are washed,' &c., ver. 11. You are not such. Had the Jews ceased to be stones, they had been spared. God will root thorns and briars out of his vineyard. If thou wouldst not have him root out thee, become a vine, and bring forth good grapes. God threatens to ' break the hairy scalp of him that goes on in sin / yet mayest thou ward this blow from thyself. Go no further on in sin. When God comes in judgment to visit the earth, to shatter rocks, and break stones in pieces, thou hast a heart of flesh, mollified with repentance. Let the earth quake, and the rocks tear; thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace.

Fourth Miracle : ' The graves were opened, and many bodies of saints which slept arose.'—Concerning this two questions are moved :—

1. Where their souls were all this while before. I answer, where the Scripture hath no tongue, we should have no ear. Most probably thus : their souls were in heaven, in Abraham's bosom, and came down to their bodies by divine dispensation, to manifest the power and deity of Christ.

2. Whither they went afterwards. I answer, by the same likelihood, that they died no more, but waited on the earth till Christ's resurrection, and thea attended him to heaven. But these thuiiis that are concealed .should not be

disputed. Tutum est nescire quod tegitur, —It is a safe ignorance where a man is not commanded to know. Let us see what profitable instructions we can hence derive to ourselves. They are many, and therefore I will but lightly touch them :—

1. This teacheth us, that Christ, by his death, hath vanquished death, even in the grave, his own chamber. That giant is subdued, the graves fly open, the dead go out. This bears ample witness to that speech of Christ: * I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live,' John xi. 25. The bodies of the saints, what part of the earth or sea soever holds their dusts, shall not be detained in prison when Christ calls for them; as the members must needs go, when the head draws them. He shall speak to all creatures, Reddite quod devorastis, —Restore whatsoever of man you have devoured; not a dust, not a bone can be denied. The bodies of the saints shall be raised, saith Augustine,* ta7ita facilitate, quanta felicitate, —with as much easiness as happiness. Desinunt ista, non pereunt; mors intermittit vitam, non eripit,f —Our bodies are left for a time, but perish not; death may discontinue life, not disannul it. Intermittitur, non interimititr, —it may be paused, cannot be destroyed.

2. Observe, that all the dead do not rise, but many, and those saints. The general resurrection is reserved till the last day; this a pledge or earnest of it. Now, who shall rise with this comfort ? None but saints; as here Christ takes no other company from the graves but saints : ' The dead in Christ shall rise first,' 1 Thess. iv. 16. Christ is called ' the first-born from the dead,' Col. i. 2^6. He hath risen, and his shall next follow him : ' Every man in his own order : Christ the first-fruits, afterward they that are Christ's at his coming,' 1 Cor. xv. 23. Worms and corruption shall not hinder. He that said ' to corruption, Thou art my mother ; and to the wonns. You are my brethren and sisters,' said also, ' I know that my Redeemer liveth, and one day with these eyes I shall behold him.' The wicked shall also be raised, though with horror, to * look upon him whom they have pierced.' But as Christ did here, so wUl he at the last—single out the saints to bear him company.

3. This sheweth the true operation of Christ's death in all men. We are all dead in our sins, as these bodies were in their graves; now, when Christ's death becomes effectual to our souls, we rise again and become new creatures. From the grave of this world we come into the church, ' the holy city.' But thou complainest of the deadness of thy heart. It is well thou complainest; there is some life, or thou couldst not feel the deadness. ' The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God ; and they that hear it shall live,' John v. 25. If this word hath raised thee from death, and wrought spiritual life in thy heart, thou shalt perceive it by thy breathing, words glorifying God ; and by thy moving, in the ways, and to the works, of obedience.

4. Observe, that these saints which arose are said to have slept. The death of the godly is often called a sleep. So it is said of the patriarchs and kings of Judah, they ' slept with then- fathers.' So Paul saith, they ' sleep in Christ,' 1 Cor. xv. 18. The coflfin is a couch ; in quo mollius dormit, qui bene in vita lahoravit, —wherein he takes good rest that hath wrought hard in the work of his salvation before he went to bed. Felix somnus cum re-quie, requies cum voluptate, voluptas cum ceternitate, —It is a sweet sleep that hath peace with rest, rest with pleasure, pleasure with everlastingness. So the godly sleep, till the sound of a trumpet shall wake them, and then eternal glory shall receive them.

* Enchiridion. f Sen. Epist. 36.

5. Lastly, observe, that Jerusalem is called the holy city, though she were at this time a sink of sin, and a debauched harlot. Either, as some think, that she is called holy because she was once holy. So Rahab is called the harlot, because she was a harlot. Simon is termed the leper, Matt. xxvi. 6, for that he was a leper; and Matthew the publican. Matt. x. 3, for that he was a publican. Or else she was called holy for the covenant's sake, in regard of the temple, sacrifices, service of God, and of the elect people of God that were in it. Whence we may infer how unlawful it is to separate from a church because it hath some corruptions. Is apostate Jerusalem, that hath crucified her Saviour, called still the holy city; and must England, that departeth in nothing from the faith and doctrine of her Saviour, for some scarce discernible imperfections, be rejected as a foedifragous strumpet 1 But there be wicked persons in it. What then ? She may be stUl a holy city. Recedatur ah iniquitate, non ah iniquis, —Let us depart from sin; we cannot run from sinners.

Thus we have considered the miracles; let us now look into the causes wherefore they were wrought.

These maybe reduced into five:—In respect of, 1. The sufferer dying; 2. The creatures obeying; 3. The Jeivs persecuting, 4. The loomen beholding ; 5. The discijiles forsaking.

L In regard to Christ, to testify not only liis innocency, but his majesty. His innocency, that he was, as Pilate's wife acknowledged, a 'just man,' Matt, sxvii. 19. His majesty, as the centurion confessed, 'seeing the earthquake, and the things that were done. Truly this was the Son of God,' ver. 54. He seemed a worm, no man : the contempt and derision of the people, forsaken of his confidence. In the midst of all, God wUl not leave him without witnesses, but raiseth up senseless creatures as preachers of his deity. Est ceterni filius qui illic 2Jendet mortuus, —He that hangs there dead on the cross is the Son of the eternal God. Rather than the children of God shall want mtnesses of their integrity, God will work miracles for their testimony.

2. In regard of the creatures, to shew their obedience to their Creator; they are not wanting to him that gave being to them. These demonstrate it was their Lord that sufiered, and that they were ready to execute vengeance on his murderers. The heaven that was dark would have rained fire on them ; the earth that quaked, shook them to pieces; the rocks that rent, would have tumbled on them; and the graves that opened to let out all other prisoners, have swallowed them quick. They all waited but his command to perform this revengeful execution. Who shall now dare to persecute Christ in his members'? The stones are thy enemies, the earth gapes for thee, hell itself enlargeth her jaws ; if the Lord but hiss to them, they are suddenly in an uproar against thee. Go on in your malice, you raging persecutors, you cannot wrong Christ, no, not in his very members, but you pull the fists of all creatures in heaven, earth, and hell, about your ears : flies from the air, beasts from the earth, poison from sustenance, thunder from the clouds; yea, at last also, though now they help you, the very devils from hell against you. All creatures shoot their malignancy at them that shoot theirs at Christ.

3. In respect of the Jews, his enemies, to shame and confound them. The rocks and graves are moved at liis passion; not they. Zapides tremunt, homines frermint. The stones rend, the huge earth quakes with fear, the Jews rage with malice. We see how difficult it is to mollify a hard heart: harder than to remove a mountain, raise the dead, cleave a rock, shake the

whole earth. It is a great miracle to convert a wicked man, greater than rending of rocks, Moses's rod struck a rock thrice, and did it. Ministers have stroke men's rocky hearts three hundred times, and cannot. The graves sooner open than the sepulchres of sin and darkness; the vast earth sooner quakes than men's hearts at God's judgments,

4. In respect of the ivomen that stood by, that their faith might be confirmed. For seeing him on the cross, at their mercy whose bowels never knew the softness of such a nature, exposed to all the tyranny of their hands and tongues: hands that, like cruel chirurgeons, searched every part of his blessed body; tongues that ran nimbly through all the passages of obloquy, till they had overtaken reproach itself, and cast it on him : his body at the full will of the tormentors, and his soul not without intolerable terrors; as they might judge by the strange speech that came from him: ' ]\Iy God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' Doth man triumph over him, and doth God forsake him 1 This might breed in their hearts a suspicion, either that he was a deceiver, or else utterly cut off". To stifle this doubt in the very birth, he shakes the earth, and rends the rocks; that as they knew him dying hominem venim, so they might perceive him, doing these miracles, not Jiominem merum, but the ever-living God, These wonders blow the spark of their faith, almost dying with Christ, and root in their hearts a deep and infallible persuasion of their Saviour. Something there is to keep the faith of the elect from quenching, though Satan rain on it showers of discomforts. Though no object greets the eye of flesh but discouragement, yet there is a secret spirit within, that will never suffer the faith to fail,

5. In regard of the disciples, to shame and convince them for leaving him. Christ had said before. Si hi tacerent, loquerentur lapides, —' If these,' speaking of his disciples, * should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out,' Luke xix, 40. Lo, this saying is here come to pass: the disciples hold their peace, the stones speak; they forsake Christ, the rocks proclaim him. Such a shame is it for apostles and ministers of Christ to hold their peace, that if they be silent, the very stones shall preach against them. The walls, windows, pavements of churches shall cry out against such pastors, that undertake the office of shepherd, and feed Christ's flock with nothing but air. And even you that come to hear, if no remorse can be put into your hearts at the relation of our Saviour's death ; if you have no feeling of his sorrows, no apprehension of these mysteries, no repentance of your sins, no emendation of your lives; know that the very seats whereon you sit, the walls of your temples, the very stones you tread on, shall bear witness against you.

Now, the Lord Jesus, that at his death brake the rocks, by the virtue of his death break our rocky hearts, that being mollified in this life, they may be glorified in the life to come! Grant this, 0 Father, for thy mercies' sake ; O Christ, for thy merits' sake; O Holy Spirit, for thy name's sake ; to whom, three Persons, one only wise and eternal God, be glory and praise for ever 1 Amen.

LYCANTHEOPY;

OB,

THE WOLF WORRYING THE LAMBS.

I

Behold, I send you forth as lamhs among wolves. — Luile X. 3.

The Great Bishop of our soiils being now at the ordination of his ministers, having first instructed them in via Domini, doth here discipline them in vita discipuU; and pre-arms them to that entertainment which the Samaritans of the world are likely to give all those whose faces look toward Jerusalem: Matt. X. 22, * You shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.' If we had but some opposers, there were some comfort; then it is probable that the rest would help ; nay, all. Yet if they were but indifferently affected toward us, and would neither defend nor offend, but resign us up to ourselves : nay, they shall oppose, they will hate. Your persecutors shall be in every city; not few, but many; not neuters, but mahgners. If there were many, and not haters, then, as it is in the proverb, 'the more the merrier;' if haters, and not many, then ' the fewer the better cheer :' but they are for nature, persecutors; for number, many men, most men, mnumerable, ' all men.' But we are hexepr(^monitii and therefore should he 2ir(emiiniti: neither need we grudge to suffer in some measure for him that hath suffered beyond measure for us. Whatsoever we endure for his name's sake, the patience and passion of others hath matched it; but his grief for us could not be fitted with a sicut in all the world.

But I would not, like a careless porter, keep you without doors till you had lost your stomachs. There is some cheer coming, and I wiU now unlock the gates of my text to let you in to it. The words contaui the deputation to an office : ' Behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.' Consider-itble in the' deputation are—I. A commission; wherein observe, 1. The sender, Christ; 2. The sent, the apostles; 3. The sending, or warrant. II. A. commixtion; which consists, 1. In a prescription,-wyxni they should be that are sent, lambs; 2. A description, what they are among whom sent, wolves.

This is the tree and the branches; shall we now step forward to gather and taste the fruit 1 But stay: here is a gardener must first be spoke

with; one that stands in the very entrance of my text, for some purpose sure : Behold.

Behold is, like John Baptist, in holy writ, evermore the avant-courier of sorcie excellent thing. Pontan compares it to the sounding of a trumpet before some great proclamation. It is like the hand in the margin of a book, pointing to some remarkable thing, and of great succeeding consequence. It is a direct, a reference, a dash of the Holy Ghost's pen ; seldom used reple-tively, but to impart and import some special note, worthy our deeper and more serious observation. It is like the ringing of the great bell before the sermon of some famous preacher, and bids us here, as a monitor, keep silence to hear what the eternal Word speaketh unto us. In a word, it is but a word, and yet the epitome of that whole sentence : ' Let him that hath ears to hear, hear :' let him that hath eyes to see, behold.

This was our Saviour Christ's sermon ad chrum, whose pulpit is now in heaven; and sends us to preach on his preachings, to paraphrase his lectures, and no more but to dehver that to you which he hath dictated to us. Your attention is therefore charged in this hehold. Open your eyes, those organical conduits of disciphne; nay, your hearts are liable, and therefore should be phable, to this charge. Keep then patience in your muids, attention in your ears, meditation in your hearts, practice in your lives. Behold.

Behold what 1 St Matthew recites this deputation, together with a direction : ' Behold, I send you forth as lambs in the midst of wolves : be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves,' chap. x. 16; where Christ doth not only confer a great charge, but infer a fit carriage. The former is mstitutio vice, the other instructiovitoe. 'I send :' 'Be you,' &c. The deputation, or designing their office, shall only limit my speech and your attention for this time. This current parts itself into two rivulets—a commission, a com-mixtion. The missure, 'I send you/ the mixture, 'as lambs among wolves.'

I. Every commission consists, of necessity, besides the mere act, of at least two persons—the sender, the sent.

1. In the sender may be considered his greatness, his goodness. His greatness, that he can send; his goodness, that he ivill send, for the benefit of his church.

(1.) His greatness. The sender is greater than the person sent : as Paul said, in a shallower inequality, of Melchisedec and Abraham, being both men, Heb. vii. 7, 'Without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the greater.' Here the sender is God and man : a king, the King; of pure, absolute, and independent authority; a real prince, a royal prince—real in his right, in his might, royal in his affects and effects; he purposeth and disposeth good to his church. Tyrants are the kmgs of slaves; liberal princes are the kings of men; Christ is the King of kings, here despatching his legates on an embassage to the world. This his greatness.

(2.) His goodness. He that is lOng doth send to his subjects, abjects,—or rather to rebels, to make them subjects,—mth a pardon of aU their treasons ready signed and sealed to their accepting hands. Eph. iv. 8, ' When he had led captivity captive, he gave gifts unto men.' ' When he had led captivity captive,' there is his greatness; ' he gave gifts unto men,' there is his goodness. By the former he is mirijicans; mitificans by the latter. Behold, he must send to us ; we knew not, desired not access to him. He is ' the way, the truth, the life,' and therefore sends out these as describers of the way, dispensers of the truth, conductors to the life. If the way had not found us, we should never have found the way. Here then is his goodness : though a

king, yet he preachetli himself, and sends preachers; as was Solomon, his type, both a king over Israel and a preacher to Israel, Time was, Christ refused to be a king, denied to be a judge, but vouchsafed to be a preacher. Without this sweet dignation to us, we should never have ascended to him, nee opibus, nee operibus, nee oj^era, neither by our wealth, nor by our worth, nor by our wills, nor by our works, nor by our wits, nor by our worship. Thus for the sender.

2. In a messenger sent is required celerity, sincerity, constancy. That he be speedy, that he be heedy, and, as we say, that he be deedy; hold out till his embassage be ended, and till he that sent him send after him a revocation. Celerity without discretion is like wings without eyesj discretion without celerity like eyes without wings; both without constancy are like feet and eyes without a heart.

(1.) For their speediness. Before they are sent, they should not run at aU ; after they are sent, they cannot run too fast. We may say of these messengers, as it was proverbed of the Lacedemonians, Turpe est cuilibet fur/ere, Laconi etiam deliberasse. God gi'ant aU our consciences may witness with ourselves, what Paul speaks of his unretarded execution of Christ's message : ' When it pleased God to send me to preach his Son among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with fiesh and blood !' Gal. i. IC. To adjure their posting alacrity to this business, the apostles were charged to ' salute no man by the way;' much less should the burying our dead friends, or taking leave of our living friends, procrastmate om" course. Pro v. x. 2G, 'As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is a sluggard to them that send Mm.' Isa. xl. 31, * But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles ; they shall run, and not be weary ; they shall walk, and not faint.' It is so, or it should be so ; our diligence should tread upon the heels of our calling for haste, and we should make use of the first handsel of time. In limine qfendisse ominosum, odio-sum, —To stumble at the threshold is a bad heed, and a worse sign.

(2.) It is not enough to be speedfid : we must also be discreet and fiiith-ful. The messenger must do the sender's business, not his own. Celerity lays the reins on our necks ; discretion is the curb of the bridle. There are that run too fast: qui trans mare ciirrunt. As Cyprian writes of some schismatics that had put to sea for Eome, quasi Veritas post eos navigare non possit* This is called by St Augustine, Cursus celerrimus j[>rte^e?- via7n. The four cherubims, Ezek. i. 7, had pedes rectos, straight feet; and the feet of ministers, if they be beautiful, take straight steps. Sunt opera quoi viden-tur bona, et non sunt: quia non referuntur ad iliumfinem,, ex quo bona sunt.\ Indeed, intentio facit honum opus ; but then fides dirigit inteutionem, saitli the same father. It is enough that conscience must lead us, but truth must lead our conscience. J^on est rectum, quod non est a Deo directum. He that commands us agere, commands us hoc agere; non aliud, sed illud. With God, adverbs shall have better thanks than nouns.

* Both good, and well must in our actions meet: Wicked is not much worse than undiscreet.'

He that hath a nimble foot and a false heart, runs himself out of breath ere he remembers his errand. Fidehty is requisite m a messenger.

' Non bove mactato coclestia numina gaudent ; Sed, quse prscstanda est, et sine teste, fide.' %

* Lib. i,, Ep. 3, ad Cornel. f Aug. in Job., Tract. 25. J Ovid. Her,, ss., 181.

(3.) It is not yet enougli to go speedily and heedfuUy, except also deed-fully, with a constant holding out. Though, soon enough, and fast enough, it is not well enough, except far enough : Lauda navigantem, cum pervenerit ad ])ortum. Paul must fight out his battle with victory, * finish his race' with winning the prize, and 'keep the faith,' though he 'bear about in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus.' And then ' there is laid up for him a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give him 4it the last day: and not to him only, but to them also that love his appearing,' 2 Tim. iv. 8. Inveniat mittens missum, judicahundus j)7-cedicantem.

Some begin hotly, and keep the pulpits warm at first, barking loud against ■dumb dogs; thundering out, 'Let him that labours not, not eat:' forbidding promotion without devotion. On a sudden, these 'sons of thunder' are as mute as fishes. What is the matter 1 Now, from their own lips, they should have no promotion. Oh, sir, they have the promotion already. You may perceive the fish is caught, by their hanging aside their nets. Perhaps in a cathedral church, to a refined audience, some episcopal command may deliver him of elephanti 2Mrtum, a child of two years' breeding; one whereof is spent in the conception, another in fashioning the members, and yet a mere embryon when it is born. Oh, favour them: Earce fumant felicibus <irce. Their beginning was golden, like that monarch's dreamed image, but their conclusion is dirty: they end in clay; leaving the word, and cleaving to the world. It were good for the church, and not amiss for themselves, if their gains might be decreased with their pains. But if a restraint of pluralities, or a diminution and abatement of their demesnes, should be imposed, how would they complain; and be answered as certain monks in Winchester were, who complaining to King Henry the Second that their bishop had taken away three of their dishes, and left them but ten, the king replied, that the bishop should do well to take away the ten and leave them but three. As they have crimen immune and nomen inane, so let them have mercedem tenuem, a slender recompense. Inertes should be justly inopes; especially cum valuerunt, et non voluerunt jyrcedicai'e. Is this all? No ; but as the tree falls so it lies. If Christ find them at last loiterers, he will set them to work for ever in torments.

3. You have heard the persons designing and designed; the designation follows, which gives them, (1.) Their warrant; (2.) Their qualification.

(1.) Christ seals them a warrant in his word: a'TroarsXXu ij/j,ag, ' I send you.' It is not humamim inventum, but divinum institutiim* authorised under the broad seal of heaven, in the power of the second Person of that state-royal. He says not, ' I will pray to my Father to send you,' but, 'I send you;' for 'all power is given to me in heaven and in earth,' Matt, xxviii. 18. They come not then without their commission; as those, Jer. xxiii. 21, ' I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran ; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.' Would you have a minister 1 Seek to the nurseries of Christian learning, the universities ; there you shall have them furnished with excellent parts and arts. Is it enougli to have learning ? No; the man of God must be holy. Say he be well learned, and well lived, may he instantly climb up into the pulpit and preach? No; he must first have an inward commission from heaven, and an outward ordination on earth, by imposition of hands. You see their warrant.

(2.) Their qualification is inseparable to their missure. Christ not only speaks, but works efiectually in them, and gives them s^ fieri faciam, how unapt and unable soever they were before. So, Matt. iv. 19, Egofaciam vos * Theophyl, iu Johu sx.

inscatores hominum, —You made yourselves fishermen, 'I will make you fishers of men.' Ho doth not in these days so enthusiastically inspii'c men, but sets them first to be cisterns in the university, before they be conduits in the country. Before they can ' minister a word in time,' Isa. 1. 4, there must be a time to have it ministered to them. Ere their ' words be like apples of gold, with pictures of silver,' Pro v. xxv. 11, they must be refined in some academical furnace, and by much study have this picture and impression of wisdom set on them.

Neither were these apostles dismissed out of Christ's college till they were made fit to teach, 1 Tim. iii. 2. Christ, that set them up as lights, and bade them shine, made them shine; and not as Ardens "■ speaks of some since their days, that -are fumantes, magis quam fiamviantes. Both our torches, life and learning, must burn brightly. It is for the Papists to build a blockhouse of ignorance, and set dunces over fools,—for so the Jesuits call their seculars,—that they may ' both fall into the ditch.' It was a rule with them, the very epitome of their canons in that point:—

• Qui iDene Can, Con,* ille poterit bene presbyter esse.*

And yet methinks they should be more circumspect in their choice ; for they seem to magnify it beyond us, and make it a sacrament, calling it the ' Sacrament of Order.' Wot you not why 1 They think the sacraments confer grace; and, let him be a devil before, the imposition of hands shall make him holy enough.

II. We have examined their commission, let us now examine their com-mixtion : ' as lambs among wolves.' Alas! it goes harsh when those two natures meet: it must be miraculous if one of them come not short home. Yet I find it prophesied of the days of the gospel, ' The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,' Isa. Ixv. 25. Indeed, when wolves become lambs,—of which supernatural effect these lambs are sent forth as mstrumental causes,— this peace may be fulfilled. But wolves, whiles they are wolves, will not let the lambs live in quiet. In this mixture there is a prescription, a description : what we must be that are sent ; what they are amongst whom sent.

1. The nature of our duties is exemplified in this word, 'lambs.' Not that there should be a metamorphosis or transformation of us into that kind of beasts literally; but 'as lambs.' As is sometimes a note of quality, sometimes of equality, here it is only similitudinary : ' as lambs,' ' as doves,' &c. Neither is this enjoined likeness catholic, but partial: we must not be in every respect as lambs, but it must be taken in a limited and qualified sense.

Lambs! Let us observe here, quam oh rem, qua in re, —(1.) Wherefore, (2.) Wlierein, we must be lambs.

(1.) Wherefore. Good reason: he that sends them forth was a Lamb, John i, 29, ' Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world' —6 uiiios, the Lamb, that Lamb of God, even from his own bosom; ' taking away the sins of the world.' Other Levitical lambs took away sin tj'pically, this really. They were slain for the sins of the Jews, this of all the world. There is tacita antithesis in rov x6e/jLov. Christ was a Lamb (that we may take with us our precedent) especially in three respects : of Ms inuocency, patience, profit.

[1.] For his iimocency: John ^dii,, ' Which of you can convince me of sin?' You may reprove, can you disprove ? The world traduced him for a blasphemer,

* Horn, in Fest. S. Luc.

t I suppose, ccmit, confitctur; that is, the duties of a priest are to chant mass and bear coufessions.— Ed.

VOL. n. H

a Samaritan, a sorcerer, an enemy to Ceesar, a boon comj)anion : so easy is it to avile and revile, so hard to convince. The church sweetly and truly commends him: Cant. v. 10, 'My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.' Candidus sanctitate, ruhicunduspassione* —He was white of himself, made red by the wounds of his enemies. It was not praise enough for him that he was (as it is said of David) ore rubiamdo, of a ruddy colour, unless this red had been first grounded on white. His passion had lost the virtue of merit had he not been innocent. But he was agnu& ilk immaculatus, 1 Pet. i. 19, a lamb, that lamb, without blemish, without spot: a sun without a mote, a rose without a canker, a clear heaven without any cloud.

[2.] For his patience: Isa. liii., ' He was oppressed, he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth ; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before the shearer is dumb, so openeth not he his mouth.' First the shearers fleece him, and then the butchers kill him, yet ' he opens not his mouth;' to wit, against them, but for them: 'Father, forgive them; they know not what they do.' He wrote that in the dust which many engrave in brass and marble—wrongs. Behold, the King of heaven i^factus in terris, and fractus in terris, yet calls not fire from heaven to consume his enemies, but quencheth that fire with his own blood, which they in shedding it had kindled against themselves. It is probable that some of the agents in his death were saved by his death. O strange inversion, wrought by mercy, that injusti in homicidio should be made justi per homicidium; and that the blood which was scarce washed from their guilty hands should now whiten their consciences! Like that imposthumed soldier, the blow that was thought to have killed him cured him.

[3.] For his profit: he was profitable in his fleece, profitable in his fleshy profitable in his blood; in his life, in his death, and after death eternally profitable.

First, His flesh is meat indeed, though no7i dentis, sed mentis. ' Our fathers did eat manna,' John vi. 49, which was the food of angels, as it were, and yet died corporally; but whosoever eats the God of angels spiritually, shall not die eternally.

Secondly, His fleece is good. We were cold and naked. Is this aUl Nay, and polluted too. The fleece of his imputed righteousness keeps us warm, clothes our nakedness, hides our uncleanness. Hence the prophet caUs him ' The Lord our righteousness :' ours not inherent, but imputative,, 2 Cor. V. 21. We are made no otherwise ' the righteousness of God in him,' than he was made sin for us; which was only by imputation. So Luther: Christiana sanctitas non est activa, sed passiva sanctitas ; extra nos est jus-titia nostra, non in nobis.

Thirdly, His blood excellent, and of most transcendent virtue, whether lavando or levando. We were maculati, et mactati, —speckled with corruptions, dead in sins. Not only as the Rhemists say, diseased; but as Paul saith, deceased: Eph. ii. 1, 'Dead in sins and trespasses.' His blood hath recovered our life, our health, and washed us as white as the snow in Salmon. Thus he is in every respect profitable to us, more than we could either expetere or expectare, —deserve or desire. Satan is against us; behold Christ is with us, and 'we overcome him by the blood of the Lamb,' Rev. xa. 11.

Now, is Christ a Lamb ? Then must you be sicut agni, ' as lambs.' Christ is the principal and truest exemplar—a general rule without exception. Imitation doth soonest come, and best become children and scholars. We

* Rupert iu locum.

are cliilclren: Matt. v. 44, * Love your enemies,' &c.,' that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.' We are servants to Christ: John xiii., 'Ye call me Master and Lord; and ye say well, for so I am.' Though we cannot tread in his steps, we must walk in his path. As Virgil of Ascanius, son to iEneas: Sequiturque patrem non passibm cequis. Now our imitation is confined, not to his miracles, but to his morals.

It is fit the disciple should follow his master: ]\Iatt. xvi. 24,' If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.' Some foUow him, as Peter, afar off. Some go cheek-by-jowl with him, as the Papists; confounding their own merits with his, and therein themselves. Some outrun Christ, as James and John, Luke ix. 54, in a prepro-perous, preposterous zeal, as hot as Mount Hecla. Let us follow him close, but in meekness. Viscapere celsitudinem Dei? capep)riushumilitatemBei*

(2.) We must be lambs accordingly; and that in—

[l.J Patience. We must take up Christ's cross when we become his scholars. Not only bear it, but take it up. Tollere and ferre differ. An ass bears, man takes up. There is a threefold cross: innocent, perient, penitent. Christ bore the first; the perishing thief, the second; the repentant, and we all, must bear the last. The lamb, whether he be shorn or slain, is dumb to complaints.

We bless God that we are well freed from the Bonners and butchers of these lambs; but we have still fleecers enough,—too many,—that love to see learning follow Homer with a staff and a wallet. This we must expect: Christ sends us not as wolves among wolves, or shepherds among wolves, or sheep about wolves, but as lambs h /xsaui Xukuv, ' in the midst of wolves,' as St Matthew hath it, chap. x. 16. If they cannot devour our flesh, they will pluck our fleeces,—leave us nothing but the tag-locks, poor vicarage tithes, whUes themselves and their children are kept warm in our wool, the parsonage. Nay, and they would clip off the tag-locks too,—raven up the vicarages,—if the law would but allow them a pair of shears. Every gentleman thinks the priest mean, but the priest's means hath made many a gentleman.

Well, he had need be a lamb that lives among such wolves. But as Dr Luther was wont to say, Mitte mundtim vadere sicut vadit, nam vidt vadere sicut vadit —merry Latin, but resolute patience,—' Let the world go as it doth, for it will go as it doth.' Let us comfort ourselves, as our Jewel did his friends in banishment: Hcec non durabicnt cetatem, —This world will not last ever.

He that enters this holy calling must be content, as Paul, ' to die daily,' 1 Cor. XV. 31. To preach the gospel boldly is to pull the world about our ears, and to conjure up the furies of hell against us. But—

' Frangit, et attollit vires in milite causa,'—*

Yet patience is the best gamester, for it winneth when it loseth. He had need be a Job that lives among the Sabeans and Chaldeans of our times. Are you disparaged? suffer. Are you despised? suffer. Are you impoverished? suffer. This same bidapatlmm is the best herb in the garden, the herb patience. It shall amaze them, after all wrongs, to see your foreheads smooth, countenance mild, lips silent, and your habits unmoved. The wolf in the fable (oh that it were but a fable!) when he sees the lamb drinking at the pool, comes blundering into the water and troubles it; then quarrels with the lamb: Qiiare turhasti aquam? —Why hast thou troubled the water? * Aug. t Propert.

Sic nocet innocuo nocuus, causamque oiocendi qucent. So Ahab the wolf told Elisha the lamb that he troubled Israel. As it is truly reported, the Papists would have laid the Gunpowder-treason on the Puritans, if it had been effected. ' Ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise,' Heb. x. 36. But I fear I have incited your patience by standing so long upon patience.

[2.] Time and your expectation call me to the innocency of these lambs. It is not enough for them to suffer wrongs, but they must offer none. For he that doth injury may well receive it. To look for good and do bad is against the law of retail.* Dionysius of Syracusa, being banished, came to Theodore's court a suppliant, where not presently admitted, he turned to his companion with these words, ' Perhaps I did the like when I was in the like dignity.'t When thou receivest offence, remember what thou hast given.

It is no wonder if those lambs be stricken that strike. He that will be an agent in wrongs, must be a patient. How strange and unproper a speech is this, a contentious lamb, a troublesome minister! Hov; learned soever such men may seem, they are indeed illiterate. They are bad writers that have not learned to join; simple grammarians that have not their concords. It is observed of lambs, that Gcetera animalia armavit natura, solum agmim dimisit inermem, —Other living creatures nature hath armed, but the lamb she has sent into the world naked and unarmed, giving it neither offensive nor defensive weapons. The dog hath teeth to bite; the horse, hoofs to trample; the bear, nails to tear; the ox, horns to dash; the lion, paws and jaws to devour; the boar hath his tusk; the elephant, his snout; the hind and hare have svdft feet, to save themselves by flight: only the lamb hath no means either to help itself or hurt others.

Neither is this our innocency only to be considered in respect immediately of man, or of injuries directed to him; but these lambs must be innocent in regard of God, in regard of their calling. The priest in his iDreast-plate must not only have ZZrm, which is science, but Thummim, which is conscience. We have manifold weakness; we must not have manifest wickedness. Though we be not in facto, we must be in fieri; and not then to begin when we should be onwards half our journey. Theodore required that the schoolmasters for his children should be ZiXoOsoi, as well as fiKoeofoi ; and Christ's apostles were not only depiitati, but deputari.% John xiii. 8, ' If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.' Bis 2'>^ccat, qui peccat exemplo. Uncleansed ministers are like BiUiah and Zilpah, Jacob's maids, that being bound themselves, brought forth children that were free. Such churchmen are like the pinnacles on some battlements, that point upward to heaven, but poise downward to their centre.

The best schoolman said, that magistrates and ministers, when they sin, do peccare in quid essenticditer ; all others but in quale accidentaliter. To smoke with the Indian, quan-el with the Frenchman, court a lady with the Venetian, plot vUlany with the Italian, be proud with the Spaniard, cog with a Jew, insult with a Turk, drink down a Dutchman, and tell lies ^vith the devil, for a wager, are works for wolves, not for lambs. To conclude ; as we have deputation, we should have reputation; and because called to be lambs, behave ourselves in innocence.

[3.] Our patience and innocency make us not complete lambs without our

profitableness. Malum fenmus, malum non offerimus, honum prnferhnzis, —

We offer no evil, we suffer evil, we return good. It is not enough to suffer

wrongs, but we must do none. It is not enough to do no wrong, but we

* Lex. talionis. f Valer. Max., lib. iv. X Qu., depurati ?— Ed.

must do good for wrong, ]Matt. v. 44. Bonum jyro malo reddere, Christianum est. Everything in a lamb is good and useful. His fell good, his fleece good, his flesh good; immo et viscera et excvementa commodo sunt. The lambs of God, the ministers of the gospel, must universally abound with benefits.

First, To some this lamb gives his fleece; he clothes the naked, and keeps the sick and poor warm in his wool. He sees not a lamb of Christ stripped by poverty, but he lends him one lock to hide his nakedness.

' Sic vos, non vobis, vellera fertis oves.'

Secondly, He is no niggard of his flesh. Part of his meat and drink, and such refections as God hath sent him, he willingly gives. The lamb is not covetous. ' If I have food and raiment,' saith St Paul, ' I have learned to be content.' Covetousness becomes a lamb worse than rapine a wolf Jude makes it the mark of false teachers to ' feed themselves,' ver. 12 ; and Jeremiah saith, * the wind shall feed them,' chap. xxii. 22; nay, feed on them, and eat them up. Saith Gregory,* Considerate, quid de gregihus agatur, quando lupi sunt pasiores ! —What shall become of the lambs under the tuition of wolves !

Thirdly, Yea, even the blood of these lambs is profitable; which they grudge not to give for the glory of God and benefit of the church, when a just cause hath called for it. We know that the blood of martyrs was milk which nourished the primitive infancy of the church, and God's tithe hath been paid in the lives of Ms servants. Every drop of blood so spilt hath been like a grain sown in mature ground, and brought forth a plenteous harvest of believers. Well may that Lamb of God, that hath begot the church by his blood on the cross, and still nourisheth her with the same blood in the sacrament, deservingly require this circumcision and tribute of blood at the hands of his lambs. The Jews sacrificed their beasts to God ; we equal them in sacrificing our concupiscences and beastly lusts. But we far exceed those typic times, when we immolate our souls and bodies to God. What confirmation of faith, where it was weak; what enkindling of zeal, where it was not, hath been thus effected, the devout acknowledgment of many, non obiter, but ex ^^rofesso, hath demonstrated.

Innumerable are the benefits redounding to you by these lambs. They are ' eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame;' nurses to infants, and feeders of stronger Christians. They lend their eyes to those that cannot see, their feet to those that cannot go, speak comfortable things to the ti-oubled heart, and inform others in the higher mysteries of salvation. If you truly prized and duly praised the profits arising to you by them, you would not, as most do, more esteem a rotten sheep than a sound minister.

2. But I forget myself, as if I were so delighted with these lambs that I knew not how to leave them. Especially blame me not if I be loathe to come among the wolves; whereupon, by the next point of my text, and last I purjiose now to handle, I am enforced to venture. Of the wolf I must speak; but I hope it cannot be said, lupus in fahula, there are any such present to hear me.

This is the description of those among whom the lambs are sent. There is a natural antipathy of these, one against another, ever since God put enmity, an irreconcilable hatred and contrariety, between the seed of the woman and of the serpent. I have read that a string made of wolves' guts, put amongst a knot of strings made of the guts of sheep, corrupts and spoils * Horn. 17:—' Messis ciiiidem multa,' &c.

them all, A strange secret in nature, and may serve to insinuate the malice of these lycanthropi against lambs, that they do not only persecute them living, but even infest them dead.

No marvel, then, if the lambs care not greatly for the company of wolves. For if one scabbed sheep infect the whole flock for morality, what will one wolf do among the lambs for mortality ? Therefore, so far as we may, let us fly the society of wolves. ' With the merciful thou shalt shew thyself merciful,' &c., Ps. xviii. 25. Therefore with the poet, fly wicked company, et te melioribus offer. But how can this be, when we are sent as lambs in medio luporum ? The lamb would not willingly be alone ; yet is far better when solitary than in wolvish society. Plutarch speaks of certain lawgivers that would have their priests abstain from goats,—a luxurious beast, and making men by contact obnoxious to epilepsy,—as the Jews were commanded in Leviticus to abstain from unclean things. Though we cannot escape the company of wolves, let us abhor aU participation of their vices, 1 Cor. v. 10.

The holy word of God, who can give most congruous names to natures, often compares the wicked to brute and savage creatures. God doth not only send reasonable man to learn wisdom of the unreasonable beast;—so he schooled Israel by the ox, Balaam by his ass, and Solomon sends the sluggard to the pismire; for it is certain that many beasts exceed man in divers natural faculties, as the dog in smelling, the hart in hearing, the ape in tasting, &c;—but he matcheth degenerate man with beasts of the most notorious turpitudes:—

The proud enemies of the church are called lions : Ps. Iviii. 6, ' Break out the great teeth of the young lions, 0 Lord.' Wild boars : Ps. Ixxx. 13, ' The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field devours it.' BuUs : Ps. xxii. 12, ' Many bulls have compassed me; strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.' And in the same psalm, unicorns. The bull hath two horns, the unicorn one. The roaring bull, (I had almost said the roaring boy,) the swaggering ruffian, hath two horns: Ishmael's tongue, and Esau's hand; with one horn wounding our bodies and estates, with the other our good names. The unicorn,—that is, the hypocrite,—the foul-breasted, fair-crested, factious Puritan hath but one horn; but therewith he doth no small mischief. This unicorn's horn might be very good if it were out of his head j but so long as it is there, it hurts rather.

David, Ps. xxxii. 9, compares refractory men to ' horses and mules which have no understanding; whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.' The mule, if you heed not, will take his rider in his teeth, and lay him in the manger. And the horse, when he hath cast his load, gives him a kind of farewell with his heels. Experience justifieth this truth amongst us; for many of our parishioners are so full of jadish qualities, that the poor minister can hardly keep his saddle.

Sometimes we have the wicked likened to fowls. There is the peacock, the proud man ; stretching out his painted and gaudy wmgs. The desperate cock, the contentious ; that fights without any quarrel. The house-bird, the S2)arrow; the emblem of an incontinent and hot adulterer. The lapwing, the hypocrite ; that cries,' Here it is, here it is ;' here is holiness, when he builds his nest on the ground, is earthly-minded, and runs away with the shell on his head; as if he were perfect, when he is once pipient. There is the owl, the night-bird, the Jesuited Seminary; that skulks all day in a hollow tree, in some Popish vault, and at even hoots and flutters abroad, and shrieks downfall and ruin to king, church, and commonwealth. There is the bat-

the neuter; that hath both wings and teeth, and is both a bird and a beast; of any religion, of no religion. There is the cormorant, the corn-vorant, the mire-drumble, the covetous; that are ever rooting and rotting their hearts in the mire of this world. There is also the vulture, that follows armies to prey upon dead corpses; the usurer, that waits on prodigals to devour their decaying fortunes. Some men have in them the pernicious nature of all these foul fowls.

We may say of a wicked man, as their school-gloss saith of their soul-priests : Mollis 'presbyter cequiparatur corvo, in nigredine vitiorum, in raucedine vocis, in voracitate ohlationum mortuarum, in foetore sjnritus, in garriditate, et in furto. Such a man is resembled to a raven, in the blackness of his vices, in the hoarseness of his voice, in his insatiable voracity, in his stench of breath, in his tattling garrulity, and in theft.

We find the wicked otherwhiles compared to dogs. Ps. xxii. 1G, * Dogs have compassed me j' and, ver. 20, ' Deliver my soul from the sword, and my darling from the power of the dog;' and, Ps. lix. 6, ' They return at evening; they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.' Saith Paul, Phil. iii. 2, ' Beware of dogs,' &c., either grinning in malice, or barking with reproaches, or biting with mischief

There is the great mastiff, the usurer; that worrieth all the lambs in a country. The blood-hound, the malicious murderer; that kills any man which angers him, relying on a friend in the court for pardon. There is the nimble beagle, the cunning persecutor; that hath always the innocent in the wind. The proud greyhound, the gay gallant; that outruns all moderation. The fawning spaniel, the flattering sycophant; that hath only learned to fetch and carry, to spring the covey of his master's lusts, and to arride and deride him. You have also setters, quick-setters, I should say, that undo the country by making commons several. You have your trencher-dogs, lazy servitors ; that do nothing but eat, drink, play, and sleep. There be tumblers too, luxurious scortators, and their infectious harlots. Some have yard-dogs, churlish porters; to keep the poor away from their gates. And there be bawling curs, rural ignorants; that blaspheme all godliness under the name of puritanism.

To come home, there be wolves everywhere in abundance. I do not mean literally those whom the Greeks call Xuxavd^wzovg; whereof I have read in divers stories, and more authentically reported by that most reverend bishop. Doctor Joseph Hall, in his short epistolical discourse of his travels,* to abound in Ardenna; called by the inhabitants loiigarous; in English, witch-wolves, witches that had put on the form of those cruel beasts. Aristotle, in his second book of the nature of beasts, saith that in India is a wolf that hath three rows of teeth above, hath feet like a lion, a face like a man, and the tail of a scorpion; his voice like a man's voice, and shrill as a trumpet; and is avd^wTroipayog, as these wolves are.

But mystical wolves: ravenous beasts in the forms of men; having a greater similitude to wolves in the disposition of their minds than dissimilitude in the composition of their bodies. The wicked have many resemblances to wolves. Desire of brevity shall reduce them to four : sterility, ferocity, voracity, subtlety.

(1.) For sterility. The wolf is not very fertile in producing its own kind,

(if less, better,) but utterly unprofitable in any good thing redoimding from

him. The horse carrieth his master, the ox is strong to draw the plough,

the sheep gives us wool for warmth, and flesh for nourishment, the cow's

* In a letter to Sir Thomas Challoner.— Ed.

udder drops milk into our pails. The elephant hath virtue in Ms tooth, the unicorn in his horn, the civet-cat in her scent, the goat in his blood, the beaver in his genitals. The dog hath his service, and the cat keeps away vermin; not the ape, but makes some sport; and the very poison of serpents is by art made medicinal. For hide, or hair, or horn, or hoof, or blood, or flesh, most beasts yield some profit ; but the wolf is good for nothing.

A fit emblem of a wicked man; that he is universally evil whde he lives, and not often doth so much good as a hog when he dies. Only death hath bomid him to the good forbearance, and restrains him from doing any further mischie£ Perhaps he may give away some fi-agments in his testament ; but he parts with it in his wUl, against his wUl; and it is but a part, whereas Judas returned aU, yet went to heU. The wolf livmg is like Eumney Marsh : hyerae malus, cestate molestus, nunquam homis, —tide and time, morning and evening, winter and summer, never good. Thus every way is this wolf infructuous.

(2.) Yov ferocity. This wolf is savage and cruel, and loves to lick his own lips when they reek with the lukewarm gore of the lambs. There is no such complacency to the wicked as the wreaking their malicious teens on the good-If they cannot reach them with their claws, they vomit out fire, or at least smoke. Omnis mcditia erudat fumuvV^ The tongue of such a wolf is often like a war-arrow, which doubly hurts where it lights: it wounds the flesh in going in, and it rends it worse in puUiug out. This is the ' arrow they make on the string, to shoot privily at the upright in heart,' Ps. xi. 2.

Their atrocity is not thus satisfied; but if opportimity give power, they will wound and worry the lambs first, and proclaim their guiltiness afterwards. As C3n:ilt observes the Lamb of God was served by the Jews: Primimi ligant; deinde causas in eum gucerunt, —First they bind him, and then they seek matter against him. As it is reported of a judge of the Stannery at Lydford, in Devonshire, who having hanged a felon among the tinners in the forenoon, sat in judgment on him in the afternoon. So the wolves in Queen Mary's days imprisoned the innocent lambs that had broken no law, and afterwards devised a law to condemn them; and having first martyred them, then held disputation whether the act were authentical. These were the sanguisugous wolves. Papists. There are still rapidi, ixtbidi lupi, that must have somewhat to expiate their savage fury. Avicen speaks of the wolf, that if the fishermen leave him no ofi"al, he will rend their nets. These cannibals look for somewhat, if it be but for a Ne noceant. Other wolves are afraid of burning flames; but these lycanthropi budge not an inch for all the fire in hell.

(3.) For voracity. The wolf is ravenous of all beasts; especially the she-wolf, when she hath a litter; and eats the very earth when she hath no other prey, saith Isidore. These mystical wolves rob the ministers, and take away the portion of their meat, as Melzar did from Daniel, though against our wUls, and force us to live with pulse and water-gruel. They love to have the priest look through a lattice, and would be loath all his means should keep his house from dilapidations. The main policy and piety of many that woidd seem to be most religious and pure, consists in plotting and parleying how to lessen the clergyman's estate. They grudge not the merchant's wealth, nor envy the ditation of lawyers, nor hinder the enriching of physicians. These occupations provide for their bellies, their bodies, their estates. But, as if all were more precious than their souls, their whole labour is to devour the minister's due, and to beggar him. I could tell them * Fulgent. t In Job., lib. sii., cap. 45.

what Paul saith: ' If we have sown to you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things 1 ' 1 Cor. ix. 11; but these have no faith in the Scriptures. They are very hot for the gospel; they love the o'ospel: who but they ? Not because they believe it, but because they feel it: the wealth, peace, liberty that ariseth by it.

To cozen the ministers of their tithes in private; or to devour them in public, and to justify it when they have done, and to have the wrested law taking their parts; (but, alas! how should it be otherwise, when it is both judges' and jurors' own case too often 1) to laugh at the poor vicar, that is glad to feed on crusts, and to spin out twenty merks a-year into a thread as long as his life, whiles the wolf ins a crop worth three hundred pounds per amium;—this is a prey somewhat answerable to the voracity of their throats. Let every man, of what profession soever, necessaiy or superfluous, be he a member or scab of the commonwealth, live: so the priest be poor, they care not.

Aristotle saith, that when wolves go out of their dens to prey, they first sharpen and whet their teeth with origanum, or wild marjoram. Before these wolves speak in pubhc or confer in private, they edge their tongues against the clergy; and like the merciless Spaniards to the Indians, they will set them a great deal of work, and but a little meat. Let them preach their hearts out; for they will see their hearts out ere they restore them aught of their own.

Go to, thou wolf; put that thou hast robbed the minister of into the inventory of thy goods: it shall be gravel in thy throat, hooks in the bellies of thy posterity, and engender destruction to all the rest. Aristotle saith, that the wool of that sheep which was devoured by a wolf infecteth and aimoyeth the wearer. So the goods stolen from the minister, though never so closely, is an infectious contagion, and a devouring pestilence to thy body, to thy state, to thy conscience, and will bring all thou hast to confusion. The world says now, 'Alas, poor lamb !' It shall say one day, 'Alas, poor wolf! How art thou caught in the snares of hell!' Meantime they lie in the bosom of the church, as that disease in the breast called the cancer, vulgarly the wolf; devourmg our very flesh, if wo will not pacify and satisfy them with our substance.

(4.) For suUlety. The fox is admired for craft; but he hath not stolen aU from the wolf. It is observed of wolves, that when they go to the fold for prey, they will be sure to advantage themselves of the wind; and Sohnus reports of them, that they hide themselves in bushes and thickets, for the more sudden and guileful preying upon goats and sheep. These li/canthropi in our times do more hurt by their subtlety than by their violence. More is to be feared then* imx, quamfax; malitia, quam militia. ' Beware of them which come to you in sheep's clothiag, but inwardly are ravening wolves,' Matt. vii. 15.

They have outsides of Christianity, but insides of rapine. Intus linum subtilitatis, extra lanam simplicitatis demonstrant* Saith TertuUian, Quce-T^am sunt isice pelles ovium, nisi Christiani nominis extrinsecus superficies i

' Hie dolus est magnus, lupus est qui creditur agnus.'

If you take a wolf in a lambskin, hang him up; for he is the worst of the generation.

You will ask how we should know them. A wolf is discerned from a sheep by his howling, and by his claws: tanquam ex ungue leonem. For

* Greg. Mag.

the howKng of these wolves: you shall hear them barking at the moon, railing, reviling, swearing, blaspheming, abusing, slandering; for this is a wolfish language. For their claws: Matt. vii. 16, 'By their fruits you shall know them.' Etsi non ex omnibus frudibus, tamen ex aliquihis cognoscetis eos.^'

Their wolfish nature will burst forth to their own shame, and the abhorring of all men. Thus saith Melancthon, Ux malo dogmate, et malis moribus dignoscentur. You see the nature of these wolves. Oh that they would consider it that have power to manage them! that they would protect the lambs, and as we have detected their enemies, so punish them: muzzle the wolves, that they may not devour the flocks; give them their chain and their clog—bind them to the good behaviour toward the minister, and restrain their violences ! Wolves fly him that is anointed with the oil of lions. If magistrates would use that sword which the lion, the king, hath put into their hands, to God's glory, the wolves would be in more fear and quiet.

Let him that hath episcopal jurisdiction consider what St Bemardt writes to Eugenius: that it is his ofiice, magis domare luj)os, quam dominari ovi-bus. And as they say the subject of the canon law is, Homo dirigihilis in Deum, et in bonum commune; so that court which is called /o?'m?«, spirituale should specially consider the public tranquillity of these lambs, and to enervate the furious strength of wolves.

Let them that are deputed supervisors of parishes—churchwardens—remember that nothing in the world is more spiritual, tender, and deUcate, than the conscience of a man, and nothing binds the conscience more strongly than an oath. Come ye not therefore with Omne bene, when there are so many wolves among you. If you favour the wolves, you give shrewd suspicion that you are wolves yourselves. Is there nothing for you to present ? God's house, God's day, is neglected: the temples unrepaired, and unrepaired to; neither adorned nor frequented. Adultery breaks forth into smoke, fame, infamy. Drunkenness cannot find the way to the church so readily as to the alehouse; and when it comes to the temple, takes a nap just the length of the sermon. And yet Omnia bene stUl. Let me say, security and partiality are often the churchwardens, connivance and wilful ignorance the side-men. You will say, I talk for the profit of the commissary. I answer, in the face and fear of God, I speak not to benefit his office, but to discharge my own office.

When all is done, and yet all undone still, the lambs must be patient, though in medio luporum. God will not suffer our labours to pass unrewarded. Emittuntur, non amittuntur agni. When we have ' finished our course,' there is ' laid up for us a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give us at the last day,' 2 Tim. iv. 8. Aristotle, in his Ethics, affirms virtue to be only bonum laudabile, making Wa/Voj to be the adjunct thereof; but his felicity to be bonum honorabile, and gives for the adjunct riiiri, making it the most honourable thing in the world. But God's reward to his servants surmounts aU ethic or ethnic happiness, bestowing a kingdom upon his lambs on the right hand; whiles the wolves and goats on the left be sent away to eternal malediction. Now the Lamb of God make us lambs, and give us the reward of lambs—his everlasting comforts ! Amen.

* Anselm. t De Consider., lib. IL

THE COSMOPOLITE;

OB,

WOELD'S FAYOURITE.

But God said unto Iwn, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then ivhose shall those things he which thou hast I'jrovided 1 — Luke XII. 20.

This is tlie covetous man's scripture; and both (like an unflattering glass) presents his present condition, what he is, and (like a fatal book) premon-strates his future state, what he shall be. And because, as no man would be thought of others, or will think himself, a worldling, so nor apply to himself the terror of this text; therefore this scripture doth both indicate and single him out, with a Tu es homo : and when it hath set himseK before himself, it tells him how he shall stand before the tribunal of God—with a lost name, with a lost soul, with a lost world, with a lost and never to be recovered heaven.

We shall perceive more plainly the cosmopolite's fearful judgment, if we take a precursory view of the parable's former passages.

First, we have the rich man, ver. 16, prospermg in his wealth; not only in the usurious gains which his money, fraud, oppression, or unjust dealing might get, but even in those things which God by the hand of nature did reach forth to him. For ' his ground brought forth plentifully.' So deep a draught have the mcked often drunk in the common cup of blessings!

* Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not. They spend their days in wealth,' Job xxi. 10. Yea, will you hear yet a larger exhibition 1 ' They are not in trouble as other men, neither are they l>lfigued like others,' Ps. Ixxiii. 5. There they have exemption from misery.

* Their eyes stand out for fatness; they have more than heart could wish,' ver. 7. There they have accumulation of felicity.

Secondly, we have him caring what to do, ver. 17. He had so much gain, so much grain, that his rooms could not answer the capacity of his heart. * What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits V Care is the inseparable companion of abundance. Una recipiuntur divitice et solicitudo. They to whom is given most wealth are most given

to carking, sharking, and solicitous tliouglitfulness, with, a little inversion of our Saviour's meaning : ' Where is much given, there is much,' yea, more, ' required/ Those hearts whom the world hath done most to satisfy, are least of all satisfied; stni they require more, and perplex themselves to get it. A reasonable man would think, that they who possess abundant riches should not be possessed with abundant cares. But,' Care not for to-morrow,' saith Christ. Cujtis enim diei sjKoiium te visurum nescis, quani oh ccmsam illius solicitudme torqueris .?*—Why shouldst thou disquiet thyself with-thought of provision for that day whose evening thou art not sure to see ?

Thirdly, we have his resolution; which in his purpose hath a double succession (though no success) for their disposed order and places. ' This will I do,' ver. 18. What ? ' I will pull down my barns, and buUd greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods' He thinks of no room in viscerihus ixaiperum, —in the bowels of the poor; which the Lord hath proposed to him a fit receptacle of his superfluity. He minds not to build an hospital, or to repair a church; either in cultum Christi, or culturani Christiani, —to the Avorship of Christ, or education of orphans, or consolations of distressed souls; but only respects horreum suum, and hordeum mum, —his barn and his barley. The want of room troubles him ; his harvest was so great, that he is crop-sick. The stomach of his barn is too little to hold that surfeit of corn he intends it; and therefore in anger he wUl pull it down, and make it answerable to his own desires. This he takes as granted, and upon the new buUding of his barn he buUds his rest: ver. 19, ' Then I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.' He dreams his belly fuU, and now his pipes go; he sings requiem, and lullabies his spirit in the cradle of his barn. This sweet news he whispers to his soul. Though he had wearied Ms body with incessant toUs, and made it a galley-slave to his imperious affection; yet his soul had been especially disquieted, and therefore he pro-miseth his soul some ease. In this indulgent promise, there is a preface and a solace :—

1. The preface assures his soul ' much goods,' and ' many years :' multas divitias, midtos annos. He knew that a scant and sparing proffer would not satisfy his boundless desu-es ; there must be show of an abundant impletion. It is not enough to have an ample rock or distafi" of wealth, unless a longeval time be afforded to spin it out. Philoxenus's wish coupled with his pleasant viands a long throat, crane-like, to prolong his dehght: for shortness doth somewhat abate sweetness. Rex horce, a king of one hour, can scarce warm his throne; it keeps a Christmas-lord flat, that he knows his end. If this man had been his own lord, how excellent an estate would he have assured himself! His farm should have been so large, and his lease so long, that I doubt whether Adam in paradise had a greater lordship, or Methu-salem a longer life. The last of his desires is of the longest size : give him much goods and much time, abundance of joys and abundance of days, and you hit or fit the length of his foot.

2. The solace is a dance of four paces : ' Take thine ease, eat, di'ink, and be merry.' The full belly loves an easy-chair; he must needs join with his laborious surfeits the vacation of sleep. He hath taken great pains to bring death upon him; and now standing at his door, it hears him talk of ease. He promiseth himself that which he travaUs to destroy, life; and even now ends what he threatens to begin. So worldlings weary and wear out their lives to hoard wealth; and when wealth comes, and health goes, they would

* Clirysost. in Matt. vi.

give all for life. O fools ! in continual quest of riches, to hunt tliemselves out of breath, and then be glad to restore all at once for recovery. The next pace is, Eat: his bones must not only be pleased, but his belly. It is somewhat yet that this man resolves at last no more to pinch his gutsj therefore what before he was in their debt, he will pay them with the usury of surfeits. He purposeth to make liimself of a thm starveling, a fat epicure ; and so to translate parciim into porcum. The third pace is. Drink : where gluttony is bid welcome, there is no shutting out of drunkenness. You shall not take a Nabal, but he plies his goblet as well as his trencher. And this is a ready course to retire himself from his former vexation, to drown his cares in wine. The last pace is a levalto, Be merry : when he hath got junkets in his belly, and wines in his brain, what should he do but leap, dance, revel, be merry, be mad! After feasting must follow jesting. Here be all the four passages : he sleeps care away, he eats care away, he drinks care away, and now he sings care away. His pipes be fiill, and they must needs squeak, though the name of the good, yea, the name of God, be dishonoured. But to such a mad-merry scoffer might well be appUed that verse which was sounded in the ear of a great rhymer dying : Desine ludere temere, nitere 2Jropere surgere de jmlvere. Leave playing, and fall to praying : it is but sorry jesting with death. Thus his dance was like Sardanapalus's : Ede, hihe, lude, —Eat, drmk, and be merry; but there is one thing mars all his sport, the bringing of his soul to judgment. He promiseth a merry life, and a long life ; but death says nay to both. He gratifies his soul, and ratifies his state; but cozens himself in all. It may be said of him, as King John of the fat stag dying : ' See how easily he hath lived, yet he never heard mass.' This was the sweet, but the sour follows. Qui gaudehit cum mundo, non regnabit cum Chiisto* —He rejoiceth with the world, but must not live in glory with Christ.

Thus far the rich man acts; now comes in God's part: which turns the nature of his play from comic purposes to tragic events. He beliights all peace and joy to himself: 'But God said. Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be taken from thee,' &c.

The words contain—L An agent; 2. A 2^<xtient; 3. A passion; 4. A question.

The agent is God: ' But God said.' The patient is the rich fool. The passion: 'This night shall thy soul be required of thee.' The question which God puts to him, to let him see his foUy: * Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?'

1. The agent, God. The rich man was purjiosing great matters; but he reckoned without his host: he resolves thus and thus; ' but God said to him.' Hence two observations:—

Obs. 1. —That the purposes of men are abortive, and never come to a happy birth, if God bless not their conception. ]\Ian purposeth, and God disposeth. ' The horse is prepared to the battle, but the victory is of the Lord.' It is a holy reservation in all our purposes, Si Deo placuerit, —If it shall please the Lord. ' Go to now, ye that say. To-day or to-morrow w^e will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. Ye ought to say. If the Lord will,' James iv. 13. For neither tongue can speak, n(ir foot move, if the Lord shall enervate them: as he did Zacharias's tongiie in the temple, Luke i. 22, and Jeroboam's arm, when he would have reached it out against the prophet, 1 Kings xiii. 4. In vain man intends that whereagainst God

* Hierom.

contends. Sisera resolves on victory; God crossetli it with overthrow. Yet thinks Sisera, Jael will succour me, ' for there is peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite,' Judg. iv. 17. No; even there the arm of the Lord is ready to encounter him; a draught of milk shall be his last draught, and the hand of a woman shall kill him that hath escaped the hand of an army of men.

The Jews may say, ' We will flee away on swift horses.' But God saith, * Your persecutors shall be swifter.' Sennacherib purposeth to lick up Israel as the ox grass, and though he found the land before him as an Eden, to leave it behind him as Sodom; but God said. He shall go home without his errand; a hook in his nostrils shall rein him back. The king of Babylon says in his heart, ' I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; and I will be like the Most High,' Isa. xiv. 13, 14. But God said, ver. 15, 'Thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.' Herod made himself so sure of Christ, that rather than to fail of cutting off the prophesied King, he slays his own son. He might so, but he shall not touch God's Son. With what lavish promises did the Spaniards flatter themselves, when they baptized their navy with the name of Invincible! England is their own, they are already grasping it, warm with gore, in their clutches. But God said. Destruction shall inherit their hopes; and the remainder of ruin shall be only left to testify what they would have done.

Men's thoughts promise often to themselves multa, magna, many things, great things : they are plotted, contrived, commenced; yet die like Jonah'& gourd, when we should expect their refreshing, qida non forttinavit Deus, — because God hath not blessed them. Ambition may rear turrets in emulation of heaven, and vain-glory build castles in the air; but the former shall have no roof, as the latter hath no foundation. Philip threatened the Lacedemonians, that if he entered their country, he would utterly extinguish them. They wrote him no other answer but Si, If: meaning, it was a condition well put in, for he never was like to come there. ^S** 81 non esset, perfectum quidlihet esset. But in the menaces of angry tyrants, and purposes of hasty intenders, there is an if, an included condition, that infatuates alL Let our lesson hence be this: That our purposes may be sped with a happy success, let us intend in the Lord, for the Lord:—

First, Let us derive authority of our intentions from this sacred truth, which gives rules not only to live well, and to speak well, but even ad bene cogitandum, to think well. It is a wicked purpose to fast till Paul be killed: to wreak malice, to satisfy lust. Inauspicious and without speed are the intents whose iDeginning is not from God. Let no purpose pass current from thy heart, till God hath set on it his stamp and seal of approbation. Let his word give it a fiat. Whatsoever ye do, yea, or intend to do, let both action of hand and thought of heart be aU to God's glory.

Secondly, Let us in all our purposes reserve the first place for God's helping hand. ' Without me ye can do nothing,' saith Christ, John xv. 5. But it is objected that Paul spake peremptorily to his Corinthians: *I will come mito you when I shall pass through Macedonia,' 1 Cor. xvi. 5. And David: ' I will go to the house of the Lord,' Ps. Ixvi. I answer. Cor tenet, quod lingua tacet, —They that had so much grace in their hearts wanted not this grace, et noscere et poscere facidtatem Domini, —to know and desire the Lord's permission. You shall never take men so well aff"ected to good works, that do not implore God's assistance. Though they do not ever express in word, yet they never suppress in thought, that reservation: *If it please

God;' as Paul doth afterwards in that place, <If the Lord permit,' 1 Cor, xvi. 7. If any wiU dare to resolve too confidentl}', patronising their temerity from such patterns, as if their voluntates were potestates, let them know that, like tailors, they have measured others, but never took measure of themselves : that there is great difference betwixt a holy prophet or apostle, and a profane publican.

Obs. 2.—Observe that God now speaks so to the covetous that he will be heard. He preacheth another kind of sermon to him than ever he did before; a fatal, final, funeral sermon, a text of judgment: ' This night shall they fetch away thy soul.' For this is God's lecture, himself reads it: * But God said.' He had preached to the worldling often before; and those sermons were of three sorts:—

(1.) By his word. But cares of the world choke this seed; the 'heart goes after covetousness,' even whiles the flesh sits under the pulpit. This is the devil's three-winged arrow,—wealth, pride, voluptuousness,—whereby he nails the v«ry heart fast to the earth. It is his talent of lead, which he hangs on the feet of the soul, the affections, that keeps her from mounting into heaven. With the painted beauty of this filthy harlot he bewitcheth their minds, steals their desires from Christ, and sends them a-whoring to the hot stews of hell. Thus is God's first sermon quite lost.

(2.) By judgments on others, whose smart should amaze him. For God, when he strikes others, warns thee, Tua res agitur, &c. When the next house is on fire, thy cause is in question. God hath smitten Israel, that Judah might fear. * Though Israel play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend.' ' Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone,' Hos. iv. 15,17. When the plague knocks at thy neighbour's door, it tells thee, ' I am not far off.' God's judgment on the Galileans, and men in Siloa, is thus applied by Christ, to draw others to repentance, lest ' they likewise perish,' Luke xiii. 5. But what if thousands faU on the worldling's right hand, and ten thousands about him, he dreams of no danger : his own gold gives hkn more content than all this terror. The devil hath hoodwinked him with gain, and so carries him quietly (like a hooded hawk) on his fist, without baiting, to hell. This sermon is lost also.

(3.) By crosses on himself; and this sermon comes a little nearer to him, for it concerns his feeling. The first was objected to his ear, the second to his eye, this last to his sense. But as the first sermon he would not hear, the next not see, so this he will not feel: ' He is stricken, but he hath not sorrowed,' Jer. v. 3. He imputes all to his ill luck, that he loseth the game of his worldly desires; he looks no more up to heaven than if there was none. ' God is not in all his thoughts,' Ps. x. 4. All these sermons are lost.

But now God will be heard : ' He said;' he spoke home ; a word and a blow. He will be understood, though not stood under. Vociferat, vulne-rat; pc?' dictum, per ictum. This is such a sermon as shall not pass A\-ithout consideration. So he preached to Pharaoh by frogs, flies, locusts, murrain, darkness; but when neither by Moses's vocal, nor by these actual lectures he would be melted, the last sermon is a Red Sea, that drowns him and his array. The tree is bared, manured, watered, spared in expectancy of fruits; but when none comes, the last sermon is the axe : it must be ' hewm down and cast into the fire,' Matt. iii. 10. This kind of argument is unanswerable, and cannot be evaded. When ' God gives the word, imuimerable are the preachers;' if the lower voices will not be heard, death shall be feared. God knocks long by his prophets, yea,' stands at the door' himself, Rev. iii.

20; we -will not open. But when tliis preacher comes, he opens the door himself, and will not be denied entrance. ' All the day long have I stretched forth my hands' mito thee, Rom. x. 21: manum misericordice, the hand of his mercy; it is not embraced. Now therefore he stretcheth out manum justitice, the hand of his justice; and this cannot be avoided. AU that long day is past, and now the worldling's night comes : ' This night shall they require thy soul.' The rich man must hear this sermon ; there is no remedy. ' But God said.'

2. We are come from the doer to the sufferer, or patient; and his title is "Apgw!/, ' Thou fool.' What! if this had come from a poor tenant's mouth, it had been held a petty kind of blasphemy. Is the rich man only held the wise man at all parts; and doth God change his title with such a contradiction 1 Is the world's gold become dross 1 the rich idol a fool 1 It is even a maxim in common acceptation, ' He is wise that is rich.' Dives and sa2nens are voces convertibiles, —Rich and wise are convertible terms, imagined to signify one thing. When the rich man speaks, all the people give bareheaded silence and attention. As if no argument could evince such a necessity, as the chief priests to Judas, Matt. xxvi. 14 : Tantum daho, —So much will I give thee. Tantus valor in qiiatuor syllabis, —Such force is there in four syllables and but two words. It is not only eloquence, but enchantment ; and they that use it prevail Uke sorcerers, unless perhaps they light upon multis e millihiis unum, —a Peter: ' Thou and thy money be damned together,' Acts viii. 20. If he that can plead by the strongest arguments be the wisest man, how doth God call the rich man fool ? If a man should travel through all conditions of the world, what gates would not open to the rich man's knock 1

In the church surely religion should have the strongest force; yet riches thrusts in her head even under religion's arm, and speaks her mind. Money once brought the greatest preacher of the gospel, even the author of the gospel, Christ himself, to be judged before an earthly tribunal. Now, ' the servant is not greater than his Lord.' No wonder if money plays the rex still, and disposeth places to men of the greatest worldly, not the best heavenly, gifts. For a gift prospereth which way soever it goeth. It were somewhat tolerable, if money did only hinder us from what we should have; but it wrings from us also what we have.

In the courts of justice, law should rule; yet often money overrules law and court too. It is a lamentable complaint in the prophecy of Isaiah, * Judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter,' Isa. lix. 14. If there must be contention, judgment should go forward; and is it turned backward ? Justice should lay a close ear to the cause of the distressed; and must it stand afar off ? * Truth is fallen in the street.' Oh, the mercy of God! in the street ? Had it faUen in the wilderness, it had been less strange; but in the street, where everybody passeth by, and nobody takes it up ! Miserable iniquity! ' Equity cannot enter.' What! not equity 1 Are they not called coiuis of equity, and must that which gives them denomination be kept out? Now all this perversion, eversion of justice, is made by money. This turneth 'judgment to wormwood,' Amos v. 7, poisons a good cause; or at least into vinegar, as wine that stands long becomes sour. And you are beholden to that lawyer that will restituere rem, get you your right, though he doth it amctando, by delays. There is many one of whom that old verse may be inverted. Talis homo nobis cunctando diminuit rem.

In the wars valour bears a great stroke, yet not so great as money. That

IMacedonian monarch was wont to say, he would never fear to suq^rise that city whose gates were but wide enough for an ass laden with gold to enter. How many forts, castles, cities, kingdoms hath that blown up before ever gunpowder was invented. I need name no more. What quality bears up so brave a head but money gives it the checkmate ! It answereth all things, saith Solomon: ' A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry ; but money answereth all thing.s,' Eccles. x. 19. By all this it appears that riches is the greatest wisdom; but we must take out a writ, ad melius inquirendum.

If wealth be wnt, what means Christ here to call the rich man fool ? Yes, good reason. * God hath made foolish the wisdom of this world,' 1 Cor. i. 20. If God calls him so^ he gets little to have the world esteem him otherwise. * Not he that commendeth himself,' nor whom the world commend-eth, 'is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth,' 2 Cor. s. 18. An ounce of credit with God is worth a talent of men's praises. Frustra com-mendatur in terris, qui condemnatur in coelis, —The world commends, but God condemns ; which of these judgments shall stand %

I might here infer doctrinally that all covetous men be fools; and that in his censure that cannot deceive, not be deceived. But I should prevent the issue of this text, to say and shew this now. I therefore content myself to say it now, to shew it anon. It may be cavilled that folly is rather a defect in the understanding, covetousness in the affections j for so they distinguish the soul, into the intellectual and affectionate part. How then is this attribution of fool proper to the worldling? The truth is, that the offence of the will and affections doth mostly proceed from the former error of the mind. Our desire, fear, love, hatred, reflecting on evil objects, arise from the deceived understanding. So there is a double error in the covetous man's mind that makes him a fool:—

(1.) He conceives not the sufficiency of God's help, and therefore leaves him that will never leave his. He thinks God's treasuiy too empty to content him; he sees not his glory, and therefore will not trust him on bare promises. The good man sweetens his most bitter miseries with this comfort : ' The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance,' Ps. xvi. 5. But all God's wealth cannot satisfy the fool. 0 niviis avarus est, cui Deus non suf-ficit, —He is unmeasurably covetous whom God himself cannot satisfy. Here is one argument of his folly.

(2.) Having left God, who, rested on, would not have left him, he adheres to the world, which cannot help him. The mind of man, like the elephant, must have somewhat to lean upon ; and when the olive, fig-tree, vine, are refused, he must put ' his trust under the shadow of the bramble,' Judges ix. L5, When the Israelites had forsaken the King of heaven, they make to themselves a ' queen of heaven,' Jer. vii. 18. Moses is gone : * Up, make us gods which shall go before us,' Exod. xxxii. 1. Admiratur mundum, qui rejecit Dominum, —He falls off from God, and falls in with the world. Here be both the parts of his folly: * He hath committed two evils ; forsaken the fountain of liraig waters, and hewed himself a broken cisteni,' Jer. ii. 13.

3.' We see the patient, let us come to the passion, or suffermg. This is the point of war, which my text sounds like a trumpet, against all worldlings : ' This night shall thy soul be required of thee.' Favour them in this, and they think all well; but in this of all they must not be favoured. The suffering is aggravated by four circumstances :—(1.) Quicl, what ? the ' soul;' (2.) A quo, of whom? ' of thee;' (3.) Quomodo, how? ' shall be required;' (4.) Quando, when ? ' this night.

VOL. II. 1

(1.) What ? Tlie * soul,' thy soul: not thy barns, nor thy crop; neither the contment, nor content; not thy goods, which thou holdest deai', nor thy body, which thou prizest dearer, but tliy soul, which should be to thee dearest of all. Imagine the whole convex of heaven for thy barn, (and that were one large enough,) and aU the riches of the world thy grain, (and that were crop sufficient,) yet put all these uito one balance, and thy soul into the other, and thy soul outweighs, outvalues the v,'orld. ' What is the whole world worth to him that loseth his soul V The soul is of a precious nature.

One hi substance, like the sun, yet of diverse operations. It is confined in the body, not refined by the body, but is often most active when her jaUor is most dull. She is a careful housewife, disposing all well at home; conserving all forms, and mustering them to her own serviceable use. The senses discern the outside, the circumstance, the husk of things ; she the inside, the virtue, the marrow: resolving effects into causes; compounding, comparing, contemplating things in their highest sublimity. Fire turns coals into fire; the body concocts meat into blood; but the soul converts body into spirits, reducing their purest forms within her dimensive lines. In man's composition there is a shadow of the Trinity. For to make up one man there is an elementary body, a divine soul, and a firmamental spirit. Here is the difference : m God there are three persons in one essence, in us three essences in one person. So in the soul there is a trinity of powers, vegetable, sensitive, rational : the former would only be; the second be, and he well; the third be, be well, and he for ever welL O excellent nature, in whose cabinet ten thousand forms may sit at once; which gives agitation to the bodj', without whom it would fall down a dead and iaanimate lump of clay! This soul shall be required.

' Thy soul,' which understands what delight is, and conceives a tickling pleasure in these covetous desires. But to satisfy thy soul, thou wouldst not be so greedy of abundance ; for a little serves the body. If it have food to sustain it, garments to hide it, harbour to shelter it, liberty to refresh it, it is contented. And satiety of these things doth not reficere, sed mterjicere, —comfort, but confound it. Too much meat surfeits the body, too mucli apparel wearies it, too much ^vine drowns it; only quod convenit, conservat. It is, then, the soul that reqiiires this plenitude, and therefore from this plenitude shall the soul be required.

' Thy soul,' which is not made of a perishing nature, as the body, but of an everlasting substance; and hath by the eternity thereof a capableness of more joy or more sorrow : it must be ever in heaven or ever in hell. This night must this soul receive her doom ; ' thy soul shall be required-'

That soul which shall be the body's perpetual companion, saving a short divorce by the hand of death in the gi'ave; but afterwards ordained to an everlasting reunion. Whereas all worldly goods, being once broken oif by death, can never again be recovered. The soul shall return to the body, but riches to neither; and this soul must be required.

This is a loss, a cross beyond all that the worldling's imagination can give being to. How diflfer the wicked's thoughts dying from their thoughts living ! In the days of their peace they forget to get for the soul any good. Either it must rest itself on these inferior props, or despair of refuge. The eye is not scanted of lustful objects, the ear of melodious sounds, the palate of well-relished viands: but the soul's eye is not fastened on heaven, nor her ears on the word of God; her taste savours not the bread of life ; she is neither brought to touch nor to smell on Christ's vesture. Animas hahent,

qxiasi inanimata vivunt: regarding tlieir flesli as that pampered Romau did his, and their souls as he esteemed his horse ; who being a spruce, neat, and fat epicure, and riding on a lean, scraggy jade, was asked by the censors the reason. His answer was, E(/o euro nieipsmn, Statins vero equum, —I look to mysehf, but my man to my horse. So these worldlings look to their bodies, let who will take care of their souls.

But when this night comes, with what a price would they purchase again their souls, so mortgaged to the devU for a little vanity! Now curare non vohcnt, then 7-ecuperare non valent With what studious and artificial cost is the body adorned, whiles the beggarly soul lies in tattered rags ! The flesh is pleased with the purest flour of the wheat, and reddest blood of the grape; the soul is famished. The body is allowed liberty, even to licentiousness ; the sold is under Satan's lock and key, shackled with the fetters of ignorance and impiety. At this night's terror, to what bondage, hunger, cold, calamity, would they not subject their bodies, to free their souls out of that friendless and endless prison ! Why cannot men think of this before it be too late'? It will somid harshly in thine ear, O thou riotous or avarous worldling, when this passing-beU rings, ' Thy soul shall be required !' If the prince should confiscate thy goods, which thou lovest so dearly, this news would strike cold to thy heart; but here thy soul is confiscate. The devil prizeth this most: he says, as the king of Sodom to Abraham, Da mihi ani-mas, coitei'a surae tihi, —Give me the soul, take the rest to thyself.

(2.) Of u'honi ? ' Of thee,' that hadst so provided for thy soul in another place; for though earth be a dungeon in regard to heaven, yet is it a paradise in respect of hell. This world was his selected and afiected home, and from thence shall death pluck him out by the ears.

If this news of the soul's requiring had come to a faithful Christian, he would have welcomed it. and judged it only the voice of the Feastmaker, finding him in the humiDlc room of this base earth, ' Friend, sit up higher,' Luke xiv. 10; or that voice of heaven that spake to John, ' Come up hither,' Rev. iv. 1: Sit no longer in the vale of tears, but ascend the mountain of glory;—a trumpet calling him to Mount Tabor, where he shall be transfigured for ever. This time would be to him the no7i ultra of his joys and desires : he fought all his combat for this, that he might ' receive the end of his faith, the salvation of his soul,' 1 Pet. i. 9. Ho is content to live here till God call him; but his ' desire is to be dissolved, and to be with Christ,' Phil. i. 23. Bonus vitam hahet in patientia, mortem in desiderio, —He is patient to live, but willing to die. To him,' the day of death is better than the day of his birth,' Ecc-les. \'ii. 1. Job ' cursed the day of his birth,' chap, iii. 3 ; cand Jeremh^h saith, ' Let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed,' chap. xx. 14. But blessed is the hour of death : ' So saith the Spirit; Blessed are they that die in the Lord, for they rest from their labours,' Rev. xiv. 13. Both philosophers and poets could so commend the happiness of this time, that they thought no good man truly huppy till it saluted him.

' Dicique beatus Ante obitum nemo, supremaque f unera debet.'

The ethnics, ignorant of a better life future, honoured this with great solemnities, and kept prodigal feasts on their birthdays; as Herod, when he was served with the Baptist's head for his second course. Matt. xiv. 6. But the Christians were wont to celebrate the funerals of the martyrs, as if we did then only begin truly to live when we die. For though the soul is gotten when man is made, yet it is, as it were, born when he dies : his body

being the womb, and deatli the midwife that delivers it to glorious jierfec-tion. The good man may then well say, Mors mild munus erit, with a, poet;* or rather, ' Death shall be my advantage,' with an apostle, Phil. i. 21. His happiest hour is when In mamis tuas Doinine, he can say, ' Into thy hands, Lord, I commend my soul.' For anima non amiititur, seel proemitti-ttir.

But this of thee is terrible. Thou that never preparedst for death ; wert ' at a league with hell,' securely rocked asleej:) in the cradle of thy barn; that didst ' put far away from thee the evil day,' and give it a charge de non in-stanclo ; thou that criedst, ' Peace, peace,' on thee shall come ' sudden destruction ;' thou that saidst, ' »Soul, be meny,' to sorrow shall thy soul be required. Thou that never esteemedst thy soul so dear as thy wealth, but didst set that after thy stables which might have been equal to angels—' thy soul.' Thou that wert loath to hear of death, as having no hope of future bliss; that wouldest not give thy possession on earth for thy expectation in heaven : as that French cardinal, that said he would not give his part in Paris for his part in paradise : ' of thee' shall a soul be required. This point is sharp, and makes up his misery.

(3.) How ? ' Required.' The original is uTraircZaiv, ' They shall require it.' This is such a requiring as cannot be withstood. God requires thy obedience, thou deniest it; the poor require thy charity, thou deniest it; the world requires thy equity, thou deniest it. But when thy soul shall be required, there must be no denying of that; it cannot be withheld. Who shall require this soul 1

Not God. He required it in thy life, to sanctify it and save it : thou wouldest not hearken to him; now he will none of it. What should God do with a drunken, profane, covetous, polluted, sensual soul? He offered it the gospel, it would not believe ; the blood of Christ, it would not wash and be clean : it is foul and nasty, God requires it not. Or if he require it, it is to judge and condemn it, not to reserve and keep it. Eecusahit Deus jam, ohlatum, giiod non redditur, quando erat requisitum, —God will refuse thy soul now offered, which thou deniedst Mm whiles he desired.

Not heaven. Those crystalline walks are not for muddy feet, nor shall lust-infected eyes look within those holy doors • * In no wise shall enter into that city anything that defileth, or worketh abomination,' Rev. xxi. 27. There is a room without for such, chap. xxii. 15; a black room for black works. What should a worldling do in heaven ? His heart, so full of envy and covetise, would not brook another's fehcity. If there be no gold there, he cares not for coming at it. But he shall be fitted ; for as he requires not heaven, so heaven requires not him. It will .spare him no place; not that it wants room to receive him, but because his heart wants room to desire it. ' The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God,' 1 Cor. vi. 9. But because this general menace doth not terrify him, read his pai-ticular name in the bill of indictment: ver. 10, 'nor the covetous.' Heaven is for men of a '■ heavenly conversation,' Phil. iii. 20. It was but Nebuchadnezzar's dream, Dan. ii.: God Avill not set a golden head upon earthen feet; give the glory of heaven to him that loves nothing but the baseness of this world.

The angels require it not. Those celestial porters, that carry the souls of the saints, as they did the soul of Lazarus, into the bosom of Abraham, have no commission for this man's soul. This rich man might be wheeled and Avhirled in a coach, or perhaps. Pope-like, be borne on men's shoulders; but the poor beggar, whose hope is in heaven though his body on earth, that * Ovid. Trist., i., Eleg. 21.

could neither stand, go, nor sit, is now carried in the highest state by the very angels; when the other djdng, hath no better attendance than devils.

And so if you ask, who then require his soul, sith neither God, nor heaven, nor the blessed angels will receive it : why, devils—they that have right to it by God's just decree for his unjust obedience. God's justice so appoints it, for his sins have so caused it; Satan challengeth his due, his officers require it. Thou hast offendetl, 0 miserable cosmopolite, against thy great Sovereign's law, crown, and majesty; now aU thou hast is confiscate—thy goods, thy body, thy soul. Thou, whose whole desires were set to scrape all together, shalt now find all scattered asunder ; thy close congestion meets with a wide dispersion. Every one claims his own : the world thy riches, the worms thy carcase, the devil thy soul. Lust hath transported thine eyes, blasphemy thy tongue, pride thy foot, oppression thy hand, covetousness thy heart; now Satan requkes thy soul. Not to give it ease, rest, or supply to the defects of thy insatiate desires; no, dahit in cniciatutn, he shall deliver it over to torment. This requiring is a fetching with some kind of violence. Tlie good man resigns or surrenders up his soul, as Christ gave up the ghost ; but the worldling's soul must be plucked from him by force.

(4.) When i ' This night' In this dark qwindo lie hid two fearful extremities—sadness and suddenness. It is not only said in the ' night,' but in 'this night.'

[1.] In the 'night;' this aggravates the horror of his judgment. The night is a sad and uncomfortable time; therefore misery is compared to the night, and joy said to come in the morning. ' Pray that your flight be not in the night,' saith Christ to the Jews; as if the dismal time would make desperate their sorrow. The night presents to the fantasy, which then lies most patient of such impressions, many deceiving and affrightful imaginations. Well, then, may a true, not fantasied, terror work strongly on this wretch's heart, whiles the night helps it forward. All sickness is generally stronger by night than by day; this very circimistance of season then aggravates his misery, making at once his grief stronger, himself weaker.

But what if we look further than the literal sense, and conceive by this night the darkness of his soul. Such a blindness he brmgs on himself, though the day of the gospel be broke round about him. The cause of night to a man is the interposition of the earth bctAvixt him and the sun. This worldling hath placed the earth, the thick and gross body of riches, between his eyes and the Sun of righteousness. And so, shine the sun never so clear, it is still night with him. There is light enough without him, but there is darkness too much within him. And then darkness must to darkness ; inward to outward, as Christ calls it, ' outer darkness.' lie would not see whiles he might, he shall not see when he would. Though he shall for ever have fire enough, yet it shall give him no light, except it be a Little glimmering, to shew him the torments of others, and others the torments of himself.

[2.] ' This night;' the sadness is yet increased by the suddenness. It will be fearful, not only to be surprised in the night, but in that night when he doth not di"eam of any such matter; when there is no fear nor suspicion of apprehension. Ilis case is as with a man that having rested '\\'ith a pleasmg slumber, and been fed with a golden dream, suddenly waking finds liis house flanoing about his ears, his wife and cliildren dyuig in the fire, robbers ransacking his colTers and transporting his goods, all lovers forsaking, no friend pitying, when the very thrusting in of an arm might deliver him. Tins rich man was long asleep, and had been delighted with pretty wanton dreams, of enlarged barns and plentiful harvests, (as all worldly pleasures

are but waking dreams;) now he starts iip, on the hearing of this soul-knell, and perceives all was but a dream, and that indeed he is everlastingly wretched.

The suddenness increaseth the misery. The rich man hath no time to dispose his goods; how shall he do with his soul 1 If in his health, wealth, peace, strength, succoured with all the helps of nature, of opportunity, preaching of the gospel, counsel of ministers, comfort of friends, he would not work out his salvation, what shall he do when extreme pangs deny cap-ableness to receive them, and shortness of his time prevents their approaching to him 1 He hath a huge bottom of sin to unravel by repentance, which he hath been many years winding up by disobedience ; now a great work and a little time do not well agree. This sudden call is fearful: ' This night shall thy soul be required.' Yet before I part from this point, let me give you two notes :—

FiJ'st, There is mercy in God that it is hac node, this nu/ht; not this hour, not this moment. Hac node was sudden, but hoc momenta had been more sudden ; and that this larger exhibition of time is allowed v»^is God's mere mercy against the worldling's merit. He that spared Nineveh many forties of years •uill yet allow her forty days, Jonah iii. 4. He that forbore this wretch many days, receiving no fruit worth his expectation, will yet add a few hours. God, in the midst of justice, remembers mercy: much time he had received and abused, yet he shall have a little more. When the Lord's hand is lifted up to strike him, jet he gives him some lucida intervalla m,o-nitionis, —warning before he lets it down. But let not the worldling presume on this; sometimes not an hour, not a minute is granted. Sword, palsy, apoplexj^, imposthume, make quick despatch, and there is no space given to cry for mercy. But what if a paucity of hours be permitted? Ancient wounds are not cured in haste; the plaster must lie long upon them. There was one man so saved, to take away desperation; and but one so saved, to bar presumption : Unus latro in fine potmtuit: iluus quidem ut nullus despevet; solus autem, ut nidlus 2^rcesumat/' Conversion at the eleventh hour is a Avonder, at the twelfth a miracle. All thieves do not go from the gallows to glory because one did, no more than all asses speak because God opened the mouth of one. Flatter not thyself with hope of time. Nemo sibi ijromittat, quod non 23Tomittit evangelium, —Let no man promise himself a larger patent than the gospel hath sealed to him.

Secondly, The day of the wicked turns at last to a night. After the day of vanity comes the night of judgment. Now is the time when the rich man's sun sets; his light and his delight is taken from him. His last sand is run out; the clock hath ended his latest minute, his iiight is come. His day of pleasure was short; his night of sorrow is everlasting. Extremxinti gaudii luctus occupat. Vexation treads on the heels of vanity. Man's life is compared to a day.

This day to some may be distinguished into twelve hours. The first gives us nativity: even in this hour there is sin; an original pravity, indisposition to good, proncness to evil. Secondly, infancy: God now protects the cradle. Thirdly, childhood: and no^v we learn to speak and to swear together; the sap of iniquity begins to put out. Fourthly, tender age: wherein toys and gauds fill up our scene. Fifthly, youth: this is a madduag, a gadding time. ' Remember not the sins' of this time, prays David, Ps. xxv. 7; their * remembrance is bitter,' says Job, chap. xiii. 26. Sixthly, our high noon: God, that could not be heard before for the loud noise of vanity, now looks for audi-

* Aug.

euce, for obedience. fSeventlily, this is full of cares and crosses: the dngs of the world taste bitter; it is full time that this hour should wean us. The eighth brin<'S us to a sense of mortality! we feel our blood decaying. Ninthly, our bodies go crooked and stooping, to put us in mind that they are going to their original earth. Tenthly, we are even as dying: we do die by degrees; our senses first fail us, our ej^es are dim, like old Isaac's, our ears deaf, our tastes dull, our grinders are done, our stilts unable to support us. Eleventhly, we are a burden to ourselves, to our friends: we long for death, if any hope of a better life hath possessed our hearts. The twelfth hour it comes. Which of these hours pass over us without God's mercies, without our voluntary unthankfulness, unless those first hours wherein our ignorance is incapable of such observance? ' All thy day long have I stretched out my hands unto thee,' saith God, Eom. x. 21. If none of these hours reclaim us, our day is spent, and the night comes; that night ' wherein no man can work,' John ix. 4; actively to comfort, though passively he works for ever in torment. I know that God cuts many one short of most of these hours, and often shuts up his daylight before he comes to his noon. But howsoever man pass from infancy to childhood, from childhood to youth, from youth to age, yet senedutem nemo excedit, —none can be more than old. Though tam senex nemo, quin 2^'^tet se anmcin i)Osse vivere^ —no man is so old but still he thinks he may live another year. And therefore lightly the older, the more covetous; and qxio minus vice restat, eo 2>lus viatici qiiceritur.- ~\\\<i less journey men have, the more provision they make.

God allows this liberal time to some; but what enemies are we to ourselves, that of all these twelve hours allow ourselves not one ! Many post off their conversion from day to day, sending religion before them to thirty; and then putting it off to forty; and not pleased yet to overtake it, promise it entertainment at threescore: at last death comes, and allows not one hour. In youth, men resolve to allow themselves the time of age to serve God; in age, they shuffle it off to sickness; when sicluiess comes, care to dispose their goods, loathness to die, hope to escape, martyrs that good thought; and their resolution still keeps before them the length of ' Gracious Street' at least. K we have but the lease of a farm for twenty years, we make use of the time and gather profit. But in this precious farm of time we are so ill husbands, that our lease comes out before we are one pennyworth of grace the richer by it. Take heed; it is dangerous trifling out thy good day, lest thou hear this message in the evening, ' This night shall thy soul be required of thee.'

4. 'Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?' This is the question. It were somewhat if thou mightest perpetually enjoy them thyself, if thou couldst fetch down eternity to them: as those in the 49th Psalm, ' whose inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling-places to all generations: they call their lands after their own names.' But there is a quamdiu and a quousque. How long? Hab. ii 6,' How long ? thou that loadest thyself vnih. thick clay!' How far ? Isa. xiv, 16,' How far ? thou that madest the earth to tremble, and didst shake the kingdoms !' Here is a non idtra to both: thy power is confined, thy time is limited; both thy latitude and extension are briefed up; here is the period; a full stop in the midst of the sentence, I'm 'ierai, 'Whose shall those things be which thou hast provided V He that should read thy history, being ignorant of thy destin)^, and find so plentiful a happiness in the first page of the book;—grounds so fertile, cattle so prospering, house so furnished, possibilities stroking thy hopes, hopes milking thy desires, desires dancing * Cicero de Senectute.

to the tune of thy pleasures; promises of larger barns, more opulent fruits; and all this with ease, yea, ^vith heart's-ease : ' Soul, be merry /—and coming now to the end of the page, but not of the sentence, turning over a new leaf, thinldng there to read the maturity and perfection of all, should find a blank, an abrupt period, an unlooked-for stop, would surely imagine that either destiny was mistaken, or else some leaves were torn out of the book. Such a Cnjus erunt hcec omnia would bo a terrible dash in a story of happiness so fairly written, and promising so good an epilogue. But here is his end, you must read him no further: ' He whom you have seen this day, you shall see him again no more for ever,' Exod. xiv. 13. ' Whose shall these things be,' O worldling 1 Were thy grounds as Eden, and thy house like the court of Je-hoialdm, yet ' dost thou think to reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar V Jer. xxii. 15. No; Advenitfinis tuus, —Thy end is come; ' whose shall these things be?'

It were something yet if thy children might enjoy these riches. But there is a man that 'hath no child, yet is there no end of his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with wealth; and he saith not, For whom do I travail, and bereave my soul of this good?' Eccles. iv. 8. The prodigal would be his own heir and executor; but this covetous man bequeaths neither legacy to himself, nor to any known inheritor. The other desires to see an end of all his substance; this man to see only the beginning. He hunts the world fall cry, yet hath no purpose to overtake it; he lives behind his wealth, as the other lives beyond it. But suppose he hath children, and then though he famish himself to feed them fat; though he be damned, yet if his son be made a gentleman, there is some satisfaction. But this Cujits erunt is a scattering word, and of great uncertamty. ' Whose shall they be V Perhaps not thy children's. They say, ' Happy is that son whose father goes to the devil,' but thou mayest go to the devil, and yet not make thy son happy. For men make heritages, but God makes heirs. He will wash away the unholy seed, and cut off the generation of the wicked. Solomon had a thousand wives and concubines, and consequently many children ; yet at last he wants one of his ' seed to sit upon the throne of David, or to bear rule in Judah ;' and St Luke derives Christ from Nathan the younger brother, Luke iii. 31. For thus saith God of Jechoniah, whom he calls Coniah,* cutting short at once his name, his Ufe, his hope of posterity:' Write this man childless,' Jer. xxii. 30. It often so foils out, that to a man exceeding wealthy is denied a successor of his own loins. Let him have children, he is not sure those children shall possess his riches. ' But those riches perish by evU travail; and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand,' Eccles. v. 14. A scatterer succeeds a gatherer • avari hcens dissipans ; the father loved the world too well, and the son cares not for it. The sire was all for the rake, and the son is aU for the pitchfork. So, ' whose shall all these be?' Even his that will one day pity the poor. He will love the poor so well, that he will not rest till he be poor with them for company. ' This is the portion of the wicked, and the heritage which the oppressors shaU receive of the Almighty. If then* children be multiplied, it is for the sword; and their offspring shall not be satisfied with bread,' Job xxvii. 13, 14.

Children are a great plea for covctousness, for oppression. Art thou covetous because thou hast children? Remember to make Christ one of thy children. If thou hast one, make him the second ; if two, make him the third; if three, the fourth : how many soever thou hast, let Christ be one; let the poor have a child's part. This is the way to get a blessing to all the * See Vol. I., p. 295.— Ed.

rest. When Christ is made a brother to thy children, and hath a legacy bequeathed him, he will bless the portions of the other. ' The seed of the righteous shall not beg their bread,' Ps. xxxvii 26. It is a sweet verse of the psalm, worthy of observation, as it is full of comfort: ' The good man is ever merciful, and lendeth, and his seed is blessed.' The world thinks the more a man givetli away, the less should be left to his cliildren; but the Lord witnesseth otherwise : let a man lend to the borrower, give to the beggar, be merciful to the distressed, and this is the way to make his seed blessed. Charitable works do not hinder the children's wealth, but further it: what thou givest to the poor, will be a sure undecaying portion to thy posterity. DupUcatuvi ei'it filiis justi, quod Justus dedit Jiliis Dei, —God "vvill double that to thy children which thou hast given to his children. Men flatter themselves, and cozen their consciences, with a tolerableness of usury, when moneys be put out for their children's stocks. Alas ! saith a man, I can leave my children but a little ; but by that they come to age of discretion to use it, it will be jollily increased. I may be quickly gone, and when I am dead, they have no skill to employ it; I will therefore safe-bind it for them, by good bonds with allowance of interest.

God often in the Scriptures hath promised to be a father of the fatherless^ and to provide for those whom the parents' faith have left to his protection. By this promise did Christ commend himself to his disciples : ' I will rtbt leave you orphans,' John xiv. 18 ; we translate it, ' comfortless,' the original is ' orphans,' or fatherless children. ' The Lord relieveth the fatherless, and the widow,' Ps. cxlvi. 9. You may read, 2 Kings iv., that God would work a miracle rather than a poor widow, with her two fatherless children, should want. Hath God made himself their guardian, and must their means be secured by usurious contracts 1 Surely God hath just reason to take this the most unkindly of all the rest. Leave not thy children the inheritance of thy sin, turn not the providence of God from them by iniquity, who hath, promised to protect them, if committed to him. Lo the wit of a worldly man ! He takes thought to make his children rich, and yet takes the only course to undo them. No casualty shall fall upon their stocks, (so they plot,) by any act of God or man ; but here certain loss falls presently upon their souls, and a final ruin shall impartially at last consume their estates. For God will blast the stocks and branches, that are planted in the moorish and muddy ground of usury. The dependence on God is abandoned, and how justly may the Lord forsake them that forsake him ! Neither is this-sin only damnable to the parents, but also dangerous to the children ; who are by this means dyed in the very wool of their youth with the scarlet wickedness of usury.

There was a devil whom the disciples of Christ could not cast out; and when Christ expeUed him, the spirit ' tare the man, and he fell on the ground wallowing and foaming,' Mark ix. 21. Christ then asked, ' How long is it ago suice this came unto him?' To which the father answered, ' Of a child.' If usury be hardly thrown out of the affections, the wonder is little, seeing that devil liath possessed him ' of a child.' The new mortar, wherein garlic hath been stamped, will not a great while lose the smell. It is a fearful advantage that thou givest Satan over thy children, when thou bringest them up in the trade of oppression.

Thy depopulations pull down the country, that thou maycst biuld up thy posterity. Which way canst thou turn thine eyes from beholding the infatuation of such hopes 1 One generation is thus raised up high, and the next comes down as low, even to contempt and beggary.

But perhaps if thou hast no children, yet thou hast a brother. ' There is one alone, and there is not a second ; jea, he hath neither child nor brother : yet is there no end of his labour,' Eccles. iv. 8. Say thou hast a brother, yet is not Christ, thy brother in heaven, dearer to thee than any son of thy mother ? Is not he that hath adopted thee co-heir to his eternal purchase, an inheritance of glory, worthy of some part of thy earthly possessions? Never brother did so much for thee as he hath done. Nature made a man thy brother in thy parents' blood; he made thee his l)rother by Ms own blood. Remember then his needy brethren, and in him thine. He is nearest in blood that is dearest in good; but if thou hast any faith, none did thee ever so much good as Christ.- And to take away all plea from the heart of uncharitableness, Christ calls the poor his brethren, affirms their relievers blessed, and invites them to an everlasting kingdom : ' Inasmuch as ye have done it to the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me,' Matt. XXV. 40. But thou hast a brother in the flesh ! Wilt thou therefore covet, extort, oppress, and so go to hell for thy brother ? It is iU done in any to divert amorem fratris, in odium sui, —the love of his brother into hate against himself. Yet is not this all; but when thou hast purposed most for thy brother, God shall disappoint him of all. ' Whose shall these things be V No, not thy brother's. ' To the sinner the Lord gives travail, to gather an*d to heap up,' Eccles. ii. 26 ; but at last he bestows that heap of treasure upon ' him that is good before God.' Thou bequeathest it to thy brother, but God disposeth it to his children. But thou hast no brother, yet thou hast kindred and friends; and to help thy cousms to wealth, thou wilt cozen thy own soul! Alas ! it is a mystery of knowledge to discern friends, * Wealth maketh many friends,' Prov. xix. 4; they are friends to the wealth, not to the wealthy. They regard not quails sis, but quantus, —not how good thou art, but how great. They admire thee to thy face, but inwardly consider thee only as a necessary e'vil, yea, a necessary devil; and when thou diest, are ready to sing thy soul a Dirige to hell. If thine eyes be ever opened, thou wilt hate such suborners of bastard thoughts to thy heart ; as a recovered man, having drunk a loathsome potion in his sickness, doth ever after hate the very cruse it was brought him in. But say thy friends stick truer to thee, and one holds thy aching head, another runs for physic, a third, by helping thee to change sides, seeks to mitigate thy pains ; yet still thou complainest of unremedied torments. Oh, then, hadst thou not better make the God of comfort thy friend, who would neither be wanting in his presence, nor scanting in his consolations ?

Worldly friends are but like hot water, that when cold weather comes, are soonest frozen. Like cuckoos, all summer they will sing a scurvy note to thee, but they are gone in July at furthest: sure enough before the fall. They flatter a rich man, as we feed beasts, till he be fat, and then feed on him. A true friend reproves thee erring, though perhaps not suddenly. Iron is first heated, then beaten: first let him be heated with due and deserved jjraise for his good, then cool and work him with reprehension for his evil ; as nurses, when their children are fallen, first take them up, and speak them fair, and chide or correct them afterwards. These friends love not thy soul's good, but thy body's goods; let them not carry away thy heart from Christ. But if thou so resolvest that these friends shall enjoy thy riches, yet God saith, Cujus erunt, ' Whose shall they be?' Thy kindred or friends sbaU not eat the grapes of thy planted vineyard; no, 'a stranger shall cat thereof.' 'God giveth not thee power to eat thereof;' no, nor him thou desirest; 'but a stranger eateth it,' Eccles. vi. 2. Dabitur digniori, it shall be given to

I

Luke XII. 20.] the cosmopolite. 139

one good in God's sight; perhaps to such a man's posterity whom thou now scorncst. The ' wicked heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay. They may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver,' Job sxvii. 17.

Now see thy folly, O covetous churl, whose desires were all set on a nun-quam satis: 'Whose shall those things be?' Not whom thou choosest, but whom God appointeth. Thy children are God's charge, if thou wilt faithfully trust him with them: otherwise, couldst thou bind thy lands, and bequeath thy goods; settle thy whole estate so sure as cither strength of law or wit of lawyers can devise; yet Cujiis erunt, —' Whose shall these things be?' Lo, now thou hast enough; thy head aches, thy conscience pricks, death requires thy body, Satan thy soul. Couldst thou not wish that thy barns had been less, and thy charity more? that as God blessed thy store, so thou hadst returned some liberal testimony of thankfulness to his church and poor again? Especially', when neither thyself nor thy assignees shall enjoy these things. ' Whose shall they be?'

All these particulars surveyed give the covetous cosmopolite three brands. He is branded in his soid, in his riches, in his good name. In his soul: ' Thy soul shall be fetched away.' In his riches: ' Whose shall these things be which thou hast provided?' In his name- 'Thou fool.' '\Vhercupon we may justly infer this conclusion as the sum of all: that abundant wealth can bring no good either to soul, body, or name. Man is said to have three lives: spiritual, corporal, and civil, as the lawj^ers caU it—the life of his good name. Neither to this, nor to the life of his soul or body, can multitude of riches confer any good. This text shall prove it in all the particulars :—

1. To the soul can opulency procure no benefit. All Christians know that good for the soul is the passion and merits of Christ: faith to apprehend these; repentance to mortify sins; sanctification to give us celestial lives; and salvation to glorify our persons. Bat can any of these be bought with money ? ' Thou and thy money perish together, that thinkest the gifts of God may be purchased with money,' Acts viiL 20. God will not barter away his graces (as the Indians their gold) for thy gauds and rattles. He will not take the mortgage of a lordshiji for the debt thou owest him. The smoke of thy sacrifice smells never the sweeter because thou art clothed in sUks, or canst sit down to tell thy Michaelmas thousands. Thy adulteries cannot be commuted for in heaven, nor thy usuries be ansvrered by a fine before the tribunal of the Highest. Thou mayest as soon and easily mount up to heaven with wings of lead as by fcathei's of wealth. Indeed, they can do a man as much good in distress of conscience, as to have his head bound with a wet cloth in a cold morning can cure the headache. If wealth could keep a man from hell, how few rich men would 1)C damned! But ho is not mnctior qui ditiov; nor is salvation vendible to a full purse. The doctrine of Rome may affirm it; but the decree of God will not afford it. This cosmopolite had barns and bars, but these cannot hedge in his soul; that is 'required.'

2. To the hody perhaps there is some more expectation of good, but no more success. Thou art angiiished: will thy wealth purchase health? Sleep is denied thy senses, and after many changed sides and places, thou canst find no rest: go now, emjity thy cofiers, and try what slumber the charms and chimes of gold can ring thee. Thy stomach loathes meat: all thy riches are not sufficient sauce to get thee an appetite. Couldst thou drink Cleopatra's draught, it will not ease thy headache! The physician will take thy

money, and give tliee physic; but what 2)hysic will give thee infallible health?

But the rich man hath a fire, when the poor sits cold; the rich a harbour, attendance, and delicate provision, when the poor wants both house and home, meat and money, garments and company. For though riches gather many friends, ' the poor is separated from his neighbours,' Prov. xix. 4. No part of my sermon hath denied but the competency of these earthly things is a blessing; neither dare I infer that the want of these is a curse; for the best have wanted them, not the Saviour of men himself excepted. But what is this to abundance? Is not he as warm that goes in russet as another that rustles and ruffles in his sillis? Hath not the poor labourer as sound a sleep on his flock-bed or pad of straw as the epicure on his down-bed, with his rich curtains and coverings ? Doth not quiet lie oftener in cottages than in glorious manors ? ' The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep,' Eccles. v, 12. And for a good appetite, we see the toiling servant feed savourly of one homely dish, when his surfeited master looks loathingly on his far-fetched and dearly-bought dainties: sitting down to his second meal in a cjuandary whether he should eat of his best dish or nothing; his stomach being such a coward, that it dares not fight with a chicken. This gentleman envies the happiness of his poor hind, and would be content to change states with him, upon condition he might change stomachs. It is not then the plenitude, but competency of these things, that affords even the rich content. >So that a man's estate should be Hke his garment, rather fit than long; for too much troubles him, and the satiety of these earthly riches doth rather kill than conserve the body.

3. The name perhaps hath some hope of luxurious share in this abundance, and thinks to be swelled into a Colossus, over-straddling the world. Indeed, here is the centre; for, I persuade myself, few worldlings can propound to themselves any well-grounded expectation of good to their souls, or help to their bodies, by their accumulation of treasures. Only in his nomen potius (juam 0171671 quceritur, —there is more hope of a great name than of good content. And now for the name ; what is the event? Come his riches ill; his credit is the commons' curse. Populus sihilat, the world rails at him living; and when he dies, no man says. It is pity; but. It is pity he died no sooner. ' They shall not lament for him with. Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!' Jer. xxii. 18; but 'he shall be buried with the burial of an ass,' ver. 19, that hath lived the life of a wolf His glorious tomb, erected by his enriched heir, shall be saluted with execrations; and the passengers by wiU say, 'Here lies the devil's promoter.' Come his wealth well; yet what is credit, or how may we define a good name ? Is it to have a pageant of cringes and faces acted to a taffety jacket ? To be followed by a world of hang-byes, and hooted at by the reeling multitude, like a bird of paradise, stuck full of pied feathers? To be daubed over with court-mortar, flattery; and set up as a butt for whores, panders, drunkards, cheaters, to shoot their commendations at? To be licked with a sycophant's rankhng tongue; and to have poor men crouch to him, as little dogs use to a great mastiff'? Is this a good name? Is this credit? Indeed these thmgs may give him a great sound : as the clapper doth to a bell, makes it have a great sound, but the bell is hollow. They are empty gulls, whose credit is nothing else but a great noise, forced by these lewd clappers. A rich worldling is like a great cannon, and flatterers' praises are the powder that charge him; whereupon he takes fire, and makes a great report; but instantly goes off, goes out in

stench. He may think himself the better; but no -n-ise man, no good man doth; and the f;iuie that is derived from fools is infamy.

That which I take to be a good name is this : Laudari a laude dujnis;'''' to be well esteemed of in Christian hearts; to find reverence in good men's souls. Bonum est laudari, sed 2^Taistat esse laudahilem, —It is a good thinaj to be praised, but it is a better to be praiseworthy. It is well that good men commend thee in their consciences, but it is better when thy good conscience can commend thee in itself. Happy is he whose ' ovm heart doth not condemn him,' 1 John iil 21. This credit wealth cannot procure, but grace ; not goods, but goodness. The poorest man serving God with a fixith-ful heart, finds this aj^probation in sanctified afibctions, when golden asses go without it. I confess, many rich men have had this credit, but they will never thank their riches for it. Their greatness never helped them to this name, but their goodness. They have honoured the Lord, and those the Lord hath promised that he will honour. So that all the reputation which wealth can procure a man in God's judgment is but ' Thou fool.' In that parabolical history, Luke xvi., mention is made of a ' rich man,' but none of his name ; as if it were unworthy to stand in the Lord's book. Here is all the credit of the wicked : their ' very memory shall rot,' and their great name shall either not be remembered, or remembered with detestation.

Lo now the benefit of worldly wealth, and the brands which disfigure the soul, body, name, of covetous men. For his reputation, folly challengeth it; for his riches, uncertainty devours it; for his soul, Satan claims it. He is gone in all respects ; and now there is nothing left of him, but his infamy in the thoughts of men, his goods in the keeping of the world, his body in the prison of the grave, and his soul in the hand of heU. Ahiit, he is gone; a tempest hath stole him away in the night. Saith Job, ' The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered : he openeth his eyes, and he is not,' chap, xxvii. 19. Therefore it is said, Luke xvi. 19, ' There was a certain rich man :' Erat, non est,f ' There was,' there is not, he is now gone. ' I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he is not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found,' Ps. xxxvii. 36.

To conclude : it may be yet objected, that though much wealth can procure to soul, body, or name, no good; yet it may be an antidote to prevent some evil, or a medicine to rid them all of some malady. The insufiiciency of such a promise in riches is punctually also confuted in this text. For neither the rich man's soul, body, nor estate is secured by his abundance. Infernal spirits fetch his soul; temporal men possess his wealth; eternal censures blast his good name; and the worms prey upon his carcase. What evil then can riches either prevent or remove from man ?

1. Not from the soul; all evil to this is cithcv pounce or culpa3; of sin, or of punishment for sin.

For sin. What xica is evacuated by riches 1 Is the wealthy man humbled by his abundance. No, he is rather swelled into a frothy pride , conceiting hunself more than he is, or at least imagining that he is either rig or 6, the man or somehodij. And as pride is radix ovinis peccati, the root of all sin, so riches is the root of pride. Diviiianim vermis siqjerbia, saith St Augustine. When the sun of prosperity heats the dunghill of riches, there is engendered the snake of pride. Wealth is but a quill, to blow up the bladder of high-mindedness. St Paul knew this inseparable consequence, when he charged Timothy to * charge them that are rich in this world, that * Sen. Ep. 102. t Chrysost.

tliey be not tigli-miuded,' 1 Tim, vi. 17. And do we think that the heat of malice will be slaked by riches 1 No, it is fired rather into combustion; and now bm'sts forth into a flame, what before was forced to lie suppressed in the embers of the heart. Is any man the more continent for his abundance t No; Stat qucevis multo meretrix mercahilis auro, —^Whores are led to heU with golden threads. Kiches is a warm nest, where lust securely sits to hatch all her unclean brood. From fulness of bread, the Sodomites fall to mmatural Avantonness. Geres et Liber liinguefaciunt Venerem. Oppression is not abated by multiplication of riches; but rather longiorem et raagis strenuam reddit manum, —gives it a longer and stronger arm. For as the poor cannot withstand, so the rich will not restrain, the tyranny of great oppressors. ' They covet fields, and take them by violence,' Micah ii. 2. How 1 ' Because their hand hath power,'

For punishment. What security is in money. Doth the devU balk a lordly house, as if he were afraid to come in 1 Dares he not tempt a rich man to lewdness 1 Let experience witness whether he dares not bring the highest gaUant both to sin and shame. Let his food be never so delicate, he will be a gTiest at his table; and perhaps thrust in one dish to his feast—drunkenness. Be his attendance never so complete, yet Satan will wait on him too. Wealth is no charm to conjure away the devil; such an amulet and the Pope's holy-water are both of a force. Inward vexations forbear not their stings in vcwe. of riches. An evil conscience dares perplex a Saul in his throne, and a Judas with his purse full of money. Can a silken sleeve keep a broken arm from aching 1 Then may full barns keep an evil conscience from vexing. And doth hell-fire favour the rich man's limbs more than the poor's % Hath he any servant there to fan cold air upon his tormented joints 1 Nay, the nameless Dives goes from soft linen to sheets of fire; from purple robes to flames of the same colour, purple flames; from delicate morsels to want a drop of water. Herod, though a king on earth, when he comes to that smoky vault, hath not a cushion to sit on, more than the meanest parasite in his court. So poor a defence are they for an oppressed soul.

2. Nor from the body can riches remove any plague. The lightning from heaven may consume us, though we be clad in gold; the vapours of earth choke us, though perfumes are still in our nostrils; and poison burst us, though we have the most virtual antidotes. What judgment is the poor subject to, from which the rich is exempted ? Their feet do as soon stumble, and their bones are as quickly broken. Consumptions, fevers, gouts, dropsies, pleurisies, palsies, surfeits, are household guests in rich men's families, and but mere strangers hi cottages. They are the effects of superfluous fare and idleness; and keep their ordinary at rich men's tables. Anguish lies oftener on a down-bed than on a pallet; diseases wait upon luxury as close as luxury upon wealth. These frogs dare leap into King Pharaoh's chamber, and forbear not the most sumptuous palace. But money can buy medicines : yet, what sick man would not wish that he had no money, on condition that he had no malady ! Labour and moderate diet are the poor man's friends, and presence him from the acquaintance of Master Doctor, or the surfeited bills of his apothecary. Though our Avorld-ling here promiseth out of his abundance, meat, drink, and mirth; yet his body grows sick, and his soul sad: he was before careless, and he is now cureless; all his wealth camiot retain his health, when God will take it away.

3. But what shall we say to the estate ? Evils to that are poverty, hunger.

thirst, weariness, servility. We hope wealth can stop the invasion of these miseries. jSTothiug less : it rather mounts a man, as a wrestler does his combatant, that it may give him the greater fall. Riches are but a shield of wax agaiust a sword of power. The larger state, the fairest mark for misfortune to shoot at. Eagles catch not after flics; nor will the Hercules of ambition lift up his club but against these giants. There is not in poverty that matter for a great man's covetous fire to work upon. If Naboth had had no vineyard to prejudice the command of xVhab's lordship, he had saved both his peace and life. Violent winds blow through a hollow willow, or over a poor shrub, and let them stand, whiles they rend a-pieces oaks and great cedars, that oppose theh great bodies to the furious blasts. The tempests of oppressing power meddle not with the contemptible quiet of poor labourers, but shake up rich men by the very roots; that their blasted fortunes may be fit timber for their own buildmg. Who stands so like an eyesore in the tyrannous sight of ambition as the wealthy 1 Imprisonment, restraint, banishment, confiscation, fining, and confining are greatness's intelligencers ; instruments and stairs to climb up by into rich men's possessions. Superabundant wealth hath four hindrances from doing good to the estate :—

(1.) God usually punishcth our over-loving of riches vnth. their loss. He thinks them unworthy to be rivals with himself; for all height and strength of love is his due. >So that the ready way to lose wealth is to love it. Et delectatio j^erdet.

(2.) The greatness of state, or of affection to it, opens the way to rum. A full and large sail gives vantage to a tempest: this pulled down, the danger of the gust, and of shipwreck by it, is eluded; and it passeth by ■\\itli only waves roaring, as if it was angry for being thus prevented. He that walks on plain ground either doth not fall, or riseth again Avith little hurt. He that climbs high towers is more in danger of fiilHng, and if he fall, of breaking his neck.

(3.) We see the most rich worldlings live the most miserably, slaved to that Avealth whereof they keep the key under their girdles. Esuriant iiijjo-pina, as Ave say,—they starve in a cook's shop. A man would think, that if Avealth could clo any good, it could surely do this good, keep the OAvner from Avant, hunger, sorrow, care. No, even these batIs riches do not avoid, but rather force on him. Whereof is a man covetous but of riches 1 AVhen these riches come, you think he is cured of his covetousuess : no, he is more covetous; though the desires of his muid be granted, yet this precludes not the access of new desires to his mind. So a man might strive to extinguish the lamp by putting oil into it, but this makes it burn more. And as it is with some, that thirstily drink harish and ill-brewed drinks, have not their heat hereby allayed, but inflamed; so this worldling's hot eagerness of riches is not cooled, but fired by his abundance.

(4.) That which makes a man easy to hit, makes also his Avound grievous. The poet'- tells us, that AA'hen Codrus's house burns, (a little cottage m the forest,) he stands by and Avarms himself at the flame : he knoAvs that a few sticks, straw, and clay, with a little labour, can rebuild him as good a tabernacle. But if this accident light upon the usurer's house, distraction seLzeth him Avithal: he cries out of this chamber, and that chest, of his closet and cabinet, of his bonds and mortgages, money and plate; and is so much the more impatient as he had more to lose.

In a word, here is all the difference betwixt the rich and the poor : the poor

* Juve., Sat. 4.

man would be rich wliiles he lives, and the rich would be poor when he dies. For it is small grief to leave hunger, cold, distress, bondage, hard lodging, and harder fare; but to forsake full barns, full purses, music, wine, junkets, soft beds, beauteous women, and these lust-tickling delights, aaid to go with death to the land of forgetfulness, this is the terror. I end, then, as Paul concludes his counsel to rich men : ' Lay up for yourselves a good foundation against the time to come, that you may lay hold on eternal life,' } Tim. vi. 19.

THE FIEE OF CONTENTION:

OB,

THE TEOUBLE THAT FOLLOWS THE GOSPEL.

7 come to send fire on the earth ; and tvhat ivill I, if it be already hindUd 7

Luke XII. 49.

Before I run upon division, (and yet division is the subject of my text, and for method's sake I must use some division in my discourse,) I must let you understand what this fire is that is sent, and how innocent our Saviour is that sendeth it.

1. There may be dissension betwixt the good and the good; and hereof is the devil the author. It is the enemy that sows those tares. This is one of the abominations that the Lord ahhorreth : ' A false witness that speaketh lies, and him that soweth discord among brethren,' Pro v. vi. 19. God is never the immediate cause of that which he abominates. ' If any seem to lie contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God,' 1 Cor. xi. 16. To clear Christ and his gospel from causing this, the tenor of all Scriptures admonisheth us with St Peter : ' Be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous,' 1 Pet. iii. 8,

Unity is the badge of Christianity: we are all the members of one body. * The eye cannot say to the hands, I have no need of you,' kc, 1 Cor. xii. We are all stones of one building, therefore must not jar one with another, lest we ruin the whole house. Christ saith, that ' a kingdom divided cannot stand.' The soldiers would not divide the unseamed coat of Christ; far be it from us to rend his body. There are three grounds of love : vktue, pleasure, profit. Virtue all consent to be tlie surest and best. That then which is grounded on the best virtue is the best unity; and this is faith. Love issuing from fiiith is a bond able to tic God to man, man to God; and therefore man to man. This knot is tied so fast, that the powers of hell cannot undo it. All other unities but the communion of saints may be broken.

There is no peace so indissoluble as the peace of fiiith. So, contrarily, there is no contention so violent and raging as that is inflamed by erroneous VOL. u. K

religion. Cyprian writes of Novatus,'"' tlirit lie would not so much as allow his own father bread whiles he lived, nor vouchsafe him burial being dead ; that he spurned his own wife, and kiUcd his own child within her body. Oh, the unmatchable cruelty that some men's religion (if I may so call it) hath embloodied them to ! What treasons, conspiracies, massacres, did or durst ever shew their black faces in the light of the sun like to those of Papists, aU vizarded under pretended religion ! The Pope hath a canon, called JS^os sanctorum 2yredecessorum, &c.,—' We, observing the statutes of our holy predecessors, do absolve those that are bound by fidelity and oath to persons excommunicated, from their oaths ; and do forbid them to keep their fealty towards them, quousque ipsi ad satisfactionem veniant, till they come to yield satisfaction.' What malicious stratagems against suspended princes have not. been kindled from this fire ? Against what nation hath not this cannon shot its fury ? Yea, the more to embolden subjects to such pernicious attempts^ the Pope makes them beUeve that the very apostles take their parts. For so it is manifest by the form of Gregory's sentence, that he commandeth St Peter and St Paul, as if they were his bailifi"s-errant, to execute the writs of his pontifical and privative authority.

Malice in humour is like fire in straw, quickly up and quickly out; but taking hold of conscience, like fire in steel : quod tarde acquisivit, diu retinet, —what was long in getting will be longer in keeping. Eehgion is the greatest enemy to religion ; the false to the true. Favos etiam vesjKefaciunt.-t Wasps also make combs, though instead of honey we find gunpowder. Of dissension among professors of the gospel, Christ is not author; he never gave fire to burn his church. Yet he hath his hand in it. ' There must be heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest,' 1 Cor. xi. 19, He draws good out of evil, and makes a good shall of the evil must; so raising a virtue from a necessity. From contentions begot by Satan, he so sweetly works that the profession of his children, but darkly glowing before, shall be made to shine brightly. In Queen Mary's time, when persecution ■wrung the church, martyrdom gave a manifest approbation of many unknowai saints. The virtues of divers had been less noted if this fiery trial had not put them to it. God's glory and power are more perspi-■cuous in strengthening his against their enemies than if they had none. Christ came not to send this fire, yet he wisely tempers it to our good.

2. There may be dissension betwixt the wicked and the wicked; and hereof also is Satan author. He sets his own together by the ears, like cocks of the game, to make him sport. Hereupon he raised these great heathen wars, that in them millions of souls might go down to people his lower kingdom. Hereupon he draws rufiian into the field agamst rufiian, and then laughs at their vamly spilt blood. All the contentions, quarrels, whereby one evil neighbour vexeth another, all slanders, scoldings, reproaches, calumnies, are his own damned fires. Thus sometimes the ungodly massacre the ungodly, oppressors devour oppressors. ' I wiU set the Egyptians against the Egyptians : and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom,' Isa. xix. 2. The Pharisees against the Sadducees, the Turk against the Pope, the transgressor against transgressor. Covetousness shall be against prodigality, baseness against pride, temerity against dastardy. The drunkard spills the drunkard, the thief robs the thief,— proditoris prodito); —the traitor shall be betrayed, and the cozener shall be cheated. ' They shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm; Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, * Lib. ii., ep. 8. t Tertul.

Manasseh,' Isa. ix. 21. It is unpossible that any true peace should be amongst the wicked, whiles they want the solder that should glue them together—fiiith. Agreement in evil is not peace, but conspiracy. "Wicked men's combining themselves may be a faction, no unity, no amity ; so they have but metum et noxam conscientice pro foedere, —terror and guilt of conscience for their league. But some may question, Doth not Satan, in settiug reprobates agamst reprobates, overthrow his own kmgdom 1 I answer—

(1.) The devU is politic, and will not divide his subjects, when by their holding together he may divide the church. So the Pharisees, though they hate the Sadducees, and the Herodians, that despise them both, shall all join forces, shake and take hands against Christ, Matt. xxii. 16, 23. Papists are enemies to truth, schismatics to peace ; yet both to the church : which suffers, as her Saviour did, m medio inimicoriim, in the midst of adversaries, not only to her now, but at other times also to themselves. Herod and Pilate were of reconciled* enemies reconciled friends, that their united rancours might meet against Jesus. The Jews and the Lystrians, so diversely religioned, the devil can make agree to stone Paul, Acts xiv. 19. Thus Satan holds them under colours and pay, whiles they can do him any service ; but when they can no longer vex others, he falls to vexing of them ; and enrageth their thirst to one another's blood, when they have done c^uaff-ing the blood of the saints.

(2.) The devil, in raising seditions and tumults among his own, intends not the destruction but erection of his kingdom. Perhaps his forces on earth are weakened, but his territories in hell are replenished; wherem he takes himself to reign most surely. For Satan, during a man's life, knows not certainly whether he belongs to God or to him. Predestination is too mystical and secret a book for his condemned eyes to look into; and repentance hath often stepped in between old age and death, frustrating the hopes of Satan. Therefore he hastens a wicked man, wdth what speed he can, to hell; for till he come within the smoky gates, Satan is not sure of him ; he may start out of his clutches. For this cause he precipitates witches with much suddenness to their ends : whom, one would think, he should let live, that they might do more mischief. No; such is his malicious poKcy, he would be sure of some, and rather take one soid in present, than hazard all on the vain hope of more gains.

3. There is a dissension between the wicked and godly; nor yet is Chiist the proper and immediate cause of this. For 'if it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with aU men,' Eom. xii. 18.

4. There is an emnity betwixt grace and wickedness, a continual combat between sanctity and sin; and this is the fire Christ came to send. He is to some a living stone, whereupon they are built to life ; to others a stone of offence, whereat they stumble to death. Now, because the local seat of holiness on earth is in the hearts of the saints, of wickedness in the devil and his instruments, therefore it follows that the evil will persecute the good, and the good may not partake of the vices of the bad. ' What agreement hath the temple of God with idols ? Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,' 2 Cor. vi. 16. Out of the Eg}'pt of this world hath God called his sons. We are forbidden all ' fellowship with the imfruitful works of darkness;' not altogether with the workers, ' for then we must needs go out of the world,' 1 Cor. v. 10. It is commanded, Jer. xv. 19, that 'the precious be separated from the vile;' yet so that they luay return to the

* Qu. ' unreconciled ? '—Ed.

good, tliougli the good may not turn to them. It is good for tlie good to sunder themselves from the incorrigible wicked, as being the first stair of the ladder that leaves the earth, and sets the first step of our journey to heaven. God in his eternal decree separated the elect from the reprobate ; in his vocation he sequesters them from corrupt nature and sin. Wlien he executes particular judgment, he takes Israel from the tabernacles of Korah ; when he will give the general, he will sever the sheep from the goats.

Christ, then, who is the ' Prince of peace,' Isa. is. 6, causeth not quarrels between man and man, as they are creatures; but betwixt goodness and evil, as they are contrary natures. That the sons of Belial hate the sons of God, Christ is not the cause, but the occasion. For when the gospel separates us from the world, the world then bends his malicious forces against us; so that peace in sin, ver. 51, Christ came not to send, but peace of conscience : Phil. iv. 7, ' The peace of God, which passeth all understanding,' &;c. Which because the wicked will not embrace, therefore ' five in one house shall be divided : the father against the son, and the son against the father,' <fcc., ver. 52, 53. The gospel doth not otherwise work this division than the law is said to make sin, Piom. vii. 7, because it made sin known; or the sun is said to cause motes, because it causeth their appearance. Let Paul continue a Pharisee, and the Pharisees will love him; convert he to a Christian, and they wiU hate him. Whiles we live after the world, we have peace with the world, none with God; when we are turned to Christ, we have peace with God, none with the world.

This ground laid, we will consider, for the better exposition of the words, five circumstances:—1. The fire; 2. The fuel; 3. The Idndlers; 4. The smoke; 5. The bellows.

Wherein we shall find Christ's willing, and the firis kindling : who wills goodness to his chosen, which he is sure will enrage the wicked to their persecution. The cause thus given, the fire is left to be kindled by others. For though non sine Deo patimur, yet non h Deo j)etimur. The instruments of our affliction will be found ungodly, who, though they plead. We have done the will of the Lord, shall go to hell for their labour.

1. The fire is discord, debate, contention, anger, and hatred against the godlj^ Every man is composed of four elemental humours, whereof one is choler, resembled to fire. In whom this choler is most adust and puissant, they are usually most hot, furious, fiery. But I speak here of nature; for grace can alter nature, and purge this corruption. Regeneration is the best physic to purge choler. Many medicines hath philosophy prescribed against this spiritual disease, but in vain. The philosopher's servant could scoff his master : He inveighs against anger, writes volumes against it, et ipse viihi irascitur, —and yet he is angry with me. Only grace can, more than give rules, give power to master this madness. Fire and contention have some resemblances:—

(1.) Debate is like fire; for as that of all elements, so this of aU passions, is most violent. The earth is huge, yet we walk quietly on it; it suffers our ploughs to rend up the entrails of it, to teach us patience. The air is copious, yet admits our respiration. The waters boisterous. 3"et sail we upon them, against them. But fire, especially getting the upper hand, is unmercifully raging: it left nothing behind to witness the former happiness of Sodom. The world's last destruction shall be by fire, 2 Pet. iii. 12; and God useth that, of all elements, to express the very torments of hell, adding brimstone to it, Eev. xxi. 8. To this is the anger of God likened : ' Our God is even a consuming fire,' Heb. xii 29. So doth d'^'ace exceed all

passions : floods of correction cannot quencli the turbulent spirit, wliicli is ' set on fire of hell,' James iii. G. Only one estreme may drive out another, as ^Y0 hold our burnt finger to the fire, by a new heat to extract the former. So the fire of grace only must draw out the fire of debate. Matt, iii. 11, or send it to the everlasting fire to quench it, ver. 12.

(2.) Contention is like fii'e, for both burn so long as there is any exustible matter to contend with. Only herein it transcends fire : for fire begets not matter, but consumes it; debate begets matter, but not consumes it. For the -uicked study causes of contention, as Benhadad did against Ahab, 1 Kings XX. So when the Pope could find no just exception against Frederick the emperor, he quarrelled with him for holding the wrong stirrup when the great prelate should mount his palfrey; and though he might easily mistake, for emperors are not used to hold stirrups, j^et he was persecuted almost to excommunication for it. It is woeful dwelling amongst debateful men, whose souls hate peace; that are aoToiyoi, ' without natural affection,' Piom. i. 13,—which Paul makes a reprobate's mark,—strildng all that stand in their way, and not ceasing to burn till all matter cease to feed them. Solomon describes such with a fiery comparison, Prov. xxvi. First, ver. 17, he calls liim a busy-body: 'He passeth by, and meddleth with strife not belonging to him;' he thrusts himself into impertinent business, and ' is like one that taketh a dog by the ears,' which he can neither hold nor well let go. Ver. 18, he notes his politic villany: 'As a madman who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, and saith, Am I not in sport ]' he scattereth abroad mortal mischiefs under the colour of jests. And, ver. 20, lest the fire should go out, he administers fuel himself: ' Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out.' Ver. 21, vv-hen he hath kindled this flame, he strives to spread and di.3perse it, and is as ' coals to burning coals, and wood to the fire. The words of a tale-bearer are wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.' They penetrate and cruciate the most tender and sensible places.

(3.) As a little spark grows to a great flame, so a small debate often proves a great rent. ' Behold how great a matter a little fire kiudleth !' James iii. 5. The wind, at first a small vapour, yet gets such strength in going, that it overturns trees and towers. 'A backbiting tongue hath pulled down strong cities, and overthrown the houses of great men,' Ecclus. xxviii. 14. War is compared to fire : Num. xxi. 28, ' A fire hath gone out of Heshbon, ;md a flame from the city of Sihon: it hath consumed Ar of iloab, and the lords of the high places of Aiiion.' But contention runs like wild-fii-e; so furious a pace, that nothing but blood can extinguish it.

(4.) As fire is proverbially said to be an ill master, but a good servant: so anger, where it is a lord of rule, is a lord of misrule; but where it is subdued to reason, or rather sanctified by grace, it is a good servant. That anger is holy that is zealous for the glory of God.

Thus is division a raging fire, and able, whether it take hold of civility or religion, of burse or church, to overthrow the common good of both.

For civility, the breaking of relatives is the ruin of substantives. We staiid not of ourselves, but upon reference. Want of justice in magistrates, of instruction in governors, of obedience in subjects, of charity in neighbours, destroys the commonwealth. Some gather thus much from the fifth commandment, by good consequence : ' Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.' For if princes rule well, and subjects obey well; if masters command right, and servants do right; if parents infitruct children in the fear of God, and

children obey parents in that fear, this happy harmony shall preserve the land. If this relation and reciprocal duty be neglected, all runs to ruin, and the blessing of long life shall be withdrawn. For it is not fit they should have long life that rebel against those from whom they had, and by whom they hold, their life.

Begin with the least ascendantly. The overthrow of a house is division. When the husband and wife draw not evenly in the j'oke,—when the one brings fire, and the other hath no water to quench it,—when the children are refractory, the servants wasters, there must needs be a decay of this family. Whereof consists a city but of many households ? If the particulars be ruinated, what will become of the general 1 When the members are gone, where is the body? If the magistrates are unjust, the people disobedient ; if one profession quarrel with another, and deny mutualitj^,—the head refusing to give guidance, the eyes their sight, the feet to walk, the hands to work,—the body of that city dissolves. The dissolution of cities and towns must needs ruin the kingdom. When the members fell out with the stomach, that it devoured all and took no pains, hereon the eye would not see for it, nor the hand work for it, nor the foot walk for it, &c.; so the stomach wanting meat, the eyes, hands, feet, and ail members, faint and languish. Tributes and subsidies are but the dues and duties of the members to the prince; who, as the stomach, returns all to their welfare and benefit.

Dissension in religion doth no less hurt, doth more. It divides a house : here, ver. 52, ' Five in one house shall be divided: two against three, and three against two.' And, Matt. x. 36, ' A man's foes shall be they of his own household.' It divides a city : how many cities have been destroyed by their own mutinous distractions, whom foreign invasions could not subdue! It divides a kingdom : whereof France hath long been a bleeding witness; neither hath England been insensible.

' Ac velut in magno populo, cum scepe coorta est Seditio, sjevitque aniinis ignobile vulgus : Jamque faces et saxa volant, furor anna ministrat.' *

It overthrows propinquity : the mutual succour of lending, borrowing, giving, relieving, is lost. Yea, it overturns nature itself, setting ' children at variance against their own parents,' Matt. x. 35. There are three very near: superior, equal, inferior—parent, wife, children; yet we must sej^arate from them, rather than fi'om Jesus Christ, ver. 37. Yea, it is enough to extirpate all: regem, legem, gregem, —prince, law, and people. No Avonder, then, if the busy devil seeks so studiously to kindle this fire. So Eusebius observes :t. The suljtle serpent, when persecutions gave the church breathing space, bt gan to vex her with her own divisions.

2. The/»eZ whereon this fire works is the good profession of the godly. So the rulers against Daniel, in ccmsa Dei sui, chap. vi. 4,—because of his religion. Ps. lix. 3, ' The mighty are gathered against me, not for my transgression, nor for my sin, 0 Lord.' They persecute us, not because they find evil in us, but because they cannot fmd evil in us. ' They run and prepare themselves against me, without my fault.' Without fault ? It is fault enough in their judgment because we serve the Lord. ' They speak evil of us, because we run not with them to the same excess of riot,' 1 Pet. iv. 4. If we will not communicate with their vicious customs, we shall suffer imder their raging cruelties. Against Israel, yea, because it is Israel, do they consult : ' Come, let us cut off them from being a nation; that the name of Israel * Virgil; JEn. i. + Eccles. Hist.

may be no more in remembrance,' Ps. Ixxxiii, 4. For this cause was tlio Babylonian fire kindled against those three servants of God; and the same cause moved mystical Babylon to burn our martyrs in England. If they would have turned to idols and images, the fire had been put out. We would not, could not, yield to their superstitions, therefore the fire burned.

But that which is the occasion of evil cannot be perfectly good. Indeed that which simply and of itself causeth evil is evil itself. But that may be good which indirectly and by consequence, in man's corrupt nature, occa-sioneth it. The gospel, and integrity of professing it, is not the efiicient, but accidental cause, or rather properly no cause, but an occasion of this feud. The bright sun shining on mud and filth is said to cause stench; yet is not the sun the true cause, but the former putrefaction of the subject reflected on. When a corrupt vapour comes into the fiery region, it is soon inflamed. Their rancorous filth had lain quiet, as muck in a dunghill, had not the sun of the gospel shone on it and stirred it. Now howsoever the gospel is not the dh-ect cause of this, yet surely the occasion. For Athens is quiet enough till Paul comes; and till Christ is born, Jerusalem is hushed in peace. Many parishes stick not to say, We had rest and security enough before ; but now since preaching came in, and the pulpits have been warmed, there is nothing but disturbation and unquictness. How else could this text be true, that Christ ' came to send fire on the earth 1' The deluge of sin was universal, and the waters of iniquity stood untroubled, and all was a mare mortuiim; but when Christ puts fire to this water, no marvel if they wrestle. The devil stirs not till God rouse him, as the wild boar sleeps till he be hunted. Let darkness cover men's impieties, and their slumber is unmolested; produce them to the light, and they cannot endure it. The ulcerous side full of dead flesh feels not till you touch the quick. But let Elias tell Ahab of his idolatries, John Baptist, Herod of his lusts, and then, ' Thou art mine enemy.' The ungodly may pretend other causes, but this is the true one. The Pope refused to confirm an archbishop elect, when no insufticiency could be found against him, only because of his age ;* not considering that himself, being older, did manage a greater place. But if the archbishop was able to travel to Rome and back again to England, sure he was able to have sat in the chair of Canterbury. Age was the exception; but the truth was, the archbishop's honesty ; that he carried not with him to Rome a golden bottle to quench the Pope's thirsty soul, as many others did, who returned home with as much wit as they went forth, but not with so much money. Such was the Pope's pretence against Reimundus, the good Earl of Toulouse, that he was a heretic; but when his just purgation and justifying of himself would not pacify his unmerciful Holiness, nor get peaceable possession of his own lands, it was evident to all eyes that the Pope's desire was not so much to have the earl part from his heresy, as from his heritage.t Persecutor.s plead castigation of errors, but they mean subversion of truth.

But great peace is prophesied to the gospel: Isa. xi. 6, ' The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard lie quietly by the kid,' (kc.; and, Micah iv, 3, ' They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.' I answer, God will either restrain the fury of these savage beasts, and turn Esau's threats into mildness when he meets Jacob : ' He that sits in heaven laughs' at their combinings, P.s. ii. 4. Or many tyrants shall be converted to the faith of Christ, subjecting their crowns and laying down their sceptres at the feet of the Lamb. Or it * Matth. Paris. t Act. and Mon.

may intend that outward universal peace wliicli was througli all the world when Christ was born, in the daj^s of Augustus. But most specially that peace of conscience and communion which shaU be among the saints, who shall lay aside all querelous dififerences, and be made one by the blood of Jesus.

But when the gospel came to us in Queen Elizabeth's days, of so blessed memory, we also had much peace. We had -with Gloria in excehis Deo, sung also Fax in terris. The iron gates of war were shut up, and the long tossed ark of our church had an olive-branch of flourishing peace bestowed upon it. The fury of an adversary was not kno^vTi, but ' righteousness and peace kissed each other.' Yet was not this peace without great fires :—

(1.) There was a great fire of Anabaptism: a gross, perverse, and sottish sect, that had washed off their font-water as unclean, and thought it not enough to run out of Babylon, unless they ran also out of themselves, out of their wits. This combustion could not be well quenched; only we were happily rid of it by the shifting ground. For Avhen the flames were suppressed in England, they burst out beyond sea.

(2.) There was a great fire of Brownism: an ignis fafuus, fastening on abundance of crude and squalid matter, that could not easUy be extinguished. It was blown up with the bellows of pride; and because it might not have its own SAving, it fell to direct railing. They say the church of England may be their mother, but is none of God's wife. Why do they not call her plain ' whore V for such is a mother that hath children, and no husband. But these the whiles are brave sons, who care not to prove themselves bastards, that their mother may be noted for a harlot. But the shame be their own, integrity hers; who hath not defiled her bed, though they have shamed her womb. But whiles they call her St John's beast in the Revelation, let them beware lest they prove themselves such as St Paul calls beasts, even dogs, Phil. iii. 2. Surely God will never leave peaceable spirits in England, to go dwell with raUers at Amsterdam.

(3.) There was a raging fii'e of the Papists; who to maintain then* spiritual fire of superstition, made use of material fire to set a whole land in combustion. How unspeakable were their treasons agamst that gracious princess ! which yet if we gather up into one volume, we shall find their last equalling all: which should have been a fire, a fire indeed, such a one as hell itself could only belch out. But bless we our God, that with sweet showers of mercy rained it out.

These fires have been kindled in a land of peace, though many tears have been showered upon them, and earnest prayers sent up to heaven for their quenching. Yea, and will be still, so long as that crown-shorn generation can transport their burning quills into England; and their great Antichrist, the successor not of Peter, but of Ptomulus, sits on that fiery chair. So long-as he is suffered to tyrannise over nations, to depose kings, and dispose Idng-doms; who prays Peter and Paul (as if they never had taught subjects to obey their sovereigns) to eradicate and cast out an emperor from his royalty.''' Whereupon he conferred the empire upon Rodolphus, with this blasphemous verse:—

'Petra dedit Petro, Petrus diadema Eodolplio;'—

' All kingdoms were to Peter given by Christ; And Peter may dispose them as he list.'

But as Cardinal Benno affirms, that when this Hildebrand would needs so-* Pope Hildebrand in his second excommunication of Heniy Emp.

lemnly excommunicate the emperor, his chair burst in pieces, being but newly made of sufficient timber; so if it were throughly broken to fitters ■'■" never like Jericho, to be rebuilded, then, and not till then, princes may reifu in peace. From all this we may observe—

First, That this fire was kindled in Christ's time, and hath burned ever since. For if this rage stroke at the head, it will not favour the members. If the saucy devil durst meddle and encounter with the captain, he will not fear to set upon a mean soldier. ' Eemember,' saith Christ, ' the word that I said unto you. The servant is not greater than the lord; if they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you,' John xv. 20. We cannot expect that immunity which our Saviour never found. In the securest and most quiet state of the church we have found this : that sedition hath trode on the heels of peace, and persecution been born into the world with the feet forward, for haste.

Secondly, That the godly must maintain this fire; for there must be in them no deficiency of fuel. They must hold fast integrity, though this be the matter whereupon this fire works. No peace must be had with them that have no peace with God ; I deny not peace in civil affair's, but hi conforming our manners to thehs. For righteousness must not yield to iniquity ; Christ must be born, and being born must reign, though Herod rage, and the devil foam, and all Jerusalem be troubled at it. Matt. iL 3. Dagon must yield to the ark, not the ark to Dagon, 1 Sam. v. 3; the ten tribes come to Judah, not Judah go to them; Ishbosheth to David, not David to Ishbosheth.

The gospel must be preached, though Iiell break out into opposition ; and we must keep faith and a good conscience, though persecutors print in om* sides ' the marks of the Lord Jesus.'

Thirdly, That the fruit of the gospel is so fiir from allowing carnal peace, that it gives dissension. It hath ever been the destiny of the gospel to bring commotion, trouble, and wars; though no doctruie teacheth so much peace. Matt. X. 34, ' I came not to send peace, but a sword.' Not that the gospel of itself causeth wars; for it maketh peace between God and man, man and man, man and his inward soul; but it overturneth the tables of the moneychangers, spoileth the bank of usurers, will not let Herod keep his Herodias, bars Demetrius of his idolatrous shrines, pulls the cup from the mouth of the drunkard, denounceth confusion to the oppressor, uuvizardeth jjainted hypocrisy, and discovers the ugly face of fraud to the world : therefore it hath enemies, even to the efi"usion of blood, and endeavoured extirpation of all that profess it. So that partly this proceeds from our own corruption, that cannot endure the light, because our deeds are evil; and partly from the malice of Satan, who by the growth of the gospel loseth his jurisdiction. For look, how much ground Christianity gets, that bloody infernal Turk loseth. So that neither can the devil so uncontrollably lead men to quiet damnation; neither can the evil heart be so securely evil. For the gospel informs the understanding, the understanding tells the conscience, and the conscience will not spare to tell men their wickedness. Though God's hand forbears to strike outwardly, the conscience smites inwardly ; and the former unjust peace is broken by a new just war. ilen shall by this means know hell before they salute it, and discern themselves in that broad way that leads to damnation. Safe they may be, thiy cannot be secure. Thus the gospel begets all manner of enemies, foreign, civil, domestical. Foreign : the devil, ■who now makes apparent his horns, as if it were high time to bestir himself. * That is, siiliuters.— Ed.

He sees he cannot lead souls to Iiis black kingdom in a twine thread, as he was wont, without reluctancy; he must clap irons ujjon them, and bind them with his strongest tentations. Civil: the world, which erst ticed us on, as a bait doth the fish, not knowing that there is a hook so near the jaws; we took it for a kind and familiar friend, but now it is descried and described for a veiy adversary. Domestical: thy own bosom is disquieted, and thou must muster up all the forces of thy soul^ to take the traitor that lurks ■within thee, thy own flesh. This is a near and a dear enemy, yet we must jight against it, and that with a wall to subdue it; denying ourselves, and forsaking our delighted lusts and pleasures. The godly must be fain to sit, like the nightingale, with a thorn against her breast. If they scape conflicts abroad, they are sure to have them at home; and if foreign and professed adversaries should give over their invasions, yet this domestical rebel, lust, must with great trouble be subdued. After which spiritual combat, our comfort is that in the end the victory shall be ours. ' It shall not have rule over them that fear God, neither shall they be burnt with the flames thereof,' Ecclus. xxviii. 22. Hence we learn five useful lessons :—

Lesson 1.—That we have need of patience, seeing we know that the law of our profession binds us to a warfare; and it is decreed upon that ' all that will live godly in Christ shall suffer persecution.' When fire, which was the god of the Chaldeans, had devoured all the other wooden deities, Canopis set upon him a caldron full of w^ater, whose bottom was full of holes artificially stopped with wax; which, when it felt the heat of that furious idol, melted and gave way to the water to fall down upon it, and quench it. The water of our patience must only extinguish this fire; nothing but our tears, moderation, and sufferance can abate it. But this patience hath no further latitude than our proper respect; for in the cause of the Lord we must be jealous and zealous. Meam injuriam fcitienter tuU, injuriam contra sponsam Ghristi ferre non potui,* —Our own injuries we must bury in forget-fulness, but wrongs to the truth of God, and gospel of Jesus Christ, we must oppose. Patience is intolerable when the honour of God is in question. Otherwise we must consider, that by troubles God doth try and exercise our patience. Ideo Dens misit in terram honani separationem, ut malciin riim-2)eret conjunctionem, —Therefore God sent on earth a good separation, that he might dissolve an e\il conjunction.

Lesson 2. —That we must not shrink from our profession, though we know it to be the fuel that maintains this fire. Daniel leaves not his God, though he be shewed the lions; nor those three servants their integrity and abomination of the idol, though the heat of the fire be septupled. Let the Pojje spew out his execrations, interdictions, and maledictions,—for his holy mouth is full of curses,—yet keep we our faith : it is better to have the Pope curse us than God. His curse is but lil^e Domitian's thunder: if you give ear to the cracks and noise, it seems a terrible and hideous matter; but if j'ou consider the causes and effects, it is a ridiculous jest. Revolt not from the gospel, from thy faith and innocency ; and though he curse, the Lord wiU bless. Balaam could say, Quomodo maledicam ei, cui non viale-dixit Domimis 2 —How shall I curse him whom the Lord hath not cursed ? Piash and headlong judgment hurts not the person de quo temere Judicatur, against whom it is denounced, but him that so indiscreetly judgeth. Qui <-onantiir per iram cdiena coercere, graviova committunt, —To correct other men's errors in anger is to commit a greater error than theirs. Let not the thunders of malignant opposers dishearten thy zeal. * The just shall live by

* Jerom. ad Vigil.

faith : but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in liirn/ Heb. X. 38.

Lesson 3.—That we think not much of the troublous fires that are thus sent to wait upon the gospel. He that gave us that blessed covenant meant not that we should stick at these conditions. It is enough to have this pass-over, though we eat it with sour herbs; to enjoy the lily, though 'anion"-thorns.' Let the Jews fret, and devils run mad, and many give ground to these persecutions ; yet say we with Peter, ' Master, whither shall we go from thee ? thou hast the words of eternal life,' John vi. G8. He is unworthy of God's favour that cannot go away contented with it, unless he may also enjoy the fovour of the world. It is enough to have the promise of a crown, although we climb to it by the cross. The ancient Christians used to have crucem coronatam pictured, a cross with a crown on the top of it. Tolle cvucem, si vis et habere coronavi. Their hieroglypldc taught men to attain the crown by bearing the cross. Though the friends and fcictors of hcU compass us round, yet we have heaven within us ; would we have it within us and mthout us too ? That is only the privilege of glory. Cannot Paul endure the ' thorns and buffets of Satan 1 ' 2 Cor. xii. 9. Let him quiet his heart with God's encouragement: ' My grace is sufficient for thee.' It is enough to have the ' peace of God, which passeth all understanding,' Phil. iv. 7, though we lack the ill-conditioned peace of the world. IMurmur not that the world denies her wanton solaces to tickle thee with vaui pleasures; thou hast the 'joy of the Holy Ghost:' God is thy portion. Though the lot fall short in earthly means, Avealth and worship, yet he is well for a part that hath God for his portion. Content thyself; this fire must go with the gospel, and thou art unworthy of the immortal gold of gTace if thoii wilt not endure it to be tried in the fire. ' Your faith is much more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire : and shall be found at last to praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ,' 1 Pet. i. 7.

Lesson 4.—That we esteem not the worse of our profession, but the better. It is no small comfort that God thinks thee worthy to suffer for his name. This was the apostles' joy, not that they were worthy, but ' that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Christ,' Acts v. 41. He refused not to be our Saviour for the shame he was put to; he brooked a purple robe to cover his white innocency ; his face, which is worshipped by the angels in heaven, to be spit on; his soul, in the midst of all his unutterable pangs, to be derided and jested at; some wagging their heads, others moving their tongues to blasphemy; and if the manner of death could add to his ignominy, he suffered the most opprobrious : yet, saith Paul, for our sakes, ' he endured the cross, and despised the shame,' Heb. xii. '2 ;—this, all this shame, that he might bring salvation to us, and us to salvation. And shall we be ashamed of his profession, that was not ashamed of our protection I If we be, we have read his judgment: ' He will be ashamed of us before hi.s Father in heaven.' The king doth not cast away his crown, though it be the occasion of many treasons. Lose not thy hope and hold of a royal inheritance, because this title hath many enemies. He was never worthy to wear a wreath of victory, that, coward-like, ran out of the bloody field. The unthrifty soul is justly starved, that will not reap and gather his corn because there be thistles amongst it. He never knew how precious a metal gold is, that will rather throw away his ore than take pains at the furnace. It is pity that ever the water of baptism was spilt upon his face that forsakes the standard of Christ because he hath many enemies. Israel had never gotten that promised Canaan had they been afraid of the sons of ibiak.

It is honour enough to be a Cliristiau, though others that are contemptible do cast contempt upon it. Our Saviour hath armed us with a sweet prediction : ' These things have I spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation ; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world,' John xvi. 33.

Lesson 5. —>Seeing the fuel is our integrity,—and this they specially strike at,—let us more constantly hold together : confirming the communion of saints, which they would dissolve. Let us more strongly fortify our unity, because they so fiercely assault it ; and cling faithfully to our Head, from whom their sacrilegious hands would pull us. ' Lord, whither shall we go from thee 1 thou hast the words of eternal life,' John vi. 08. Where those words are found, woe be to us if we are not found! Multitudo inimicorum corroboret xinitatem amicorum. Let not brethren fight with themselves whiles they have foreign enemies. It is enough that foes strike us; let not us strike our friends. No, nor yet part with our friends and Christ's, because some adversaries are scattered among them. What though the miscellaneous rabble of the profane, as the Brownists term them, be admitted among us; shall the lewdness of these disannvd God's covenant with his ? Yes, say they: this is their mercy ; God's is more. He still held Israel for his, when not many in Israel held him for theirs. The desert was a witness of their mutinous rebelHon against God and his minister ; yet the pillar of protection b}'' day and night left them not. Moses was so far from rejecting them, that he would not endure that God shoidd reject them, though for his own advantage. In all companies there wUl be evil intruders : Satan among the angels, Saul among the prophets, Judas among the apostles, Mcolas * among the deacons, Demas among professors. Yet though Thyatira retains a Jezebel, the good are commanded but ' to hold their own,' Rev. ii. 25.

But say they, we reserve the ceremonies of a superstitious church. But we reserve no sujierstition in those ceremonies. We have both abridged then' number and altered their nature. As it was a pains not amiss undertaken of late, to reduce the feast of Christ's nativity as near to the right qxiando and period of time as art and industry could devise, by taking up the loose minutes wliich, in tract of time and multiplication of degrees, had drawn out a wider distance by certain days than was congruent to the first calendar; so hath our church, so near as she could, abridged the rank superfluities and excrescent corruptions which the traditional ceremonies and ceremonial traditions of Rome had brought in, and thereby removed her from that nearness to her Saviour which she formerly enjoyed, stri\ing to reduce herself concerning ceremonies; for their number to paucity, for their nature to purity, for their use to significancy.

Scjiarate we not then from the church, because the church cannot separate from all imperfection; but keep the Apostle's rule : Eph. iv. 15, ' Follow the truth in love;' not only the truth, but the truth in love. Divers follow the truth, but not truly :—

(1.) Some there are that embrace the truth, but not all the truth: those are heretics.

(2.) Some embrace the truth, but not in unity : and those are separatists.

(3.) Others embrace the truth in unity and verity, but not in heart: and those are hypocrites.

Therefore the Apostle so often urgeth it: 'Be ye all of one mind : have the same affection.' As children of one house have most usually one and

* Supposing that Nicolas (Acts vi. 5) was the founder of the sect of the Nicolaitanes, (Rev. ii.j) which is, however, by no means certain.— Ed.

tlie same education, so all God's children must be like affected to God, to Christ, to the church, and one to another. To God in obedience and piety, to Christ in faith and sincerity, to the church in peace and unity, to their ou*n sins in hatred and enmity, to one another in love and charity: employing; the graces of God bestowed ou us to the edilication and consolation of others; spending ourselves, like torches, to give others light. A Christian, though he be the fittest man of all, j-et he is servant to all: to Christ for himself, to others for Christ. ' Serve one another in love,' Gal. v. 13. Let this affection of unity be increased by considering three inconveniences of dissension :—

(1.) A great advantage is given to the enemj'. They boast the goodness of their errors, whilst v/e agree not in our truth. They take opportunity to shuffle in their counterfeit coin, whiles we consent not in our gold; I say not so much for the weight or pureness of the substance, as for the fashion. Is it not a shame for the children of God to dissent, when the children of hell are at peace 1 It is a military principle : tempt not an enemy by giving him the advantage. What is this but to hearten their malignant opposition to assault us, when they spy in the city a breach? Qui unionem rumpit, —He that dissolves the union of parts, overthrows the unity of the whole.

(2.) Sin by this means steals up : nor is there an advantage given only to our adversaries of Eome, but to our enemies of heU. Wickedness is a crafty thief, which spying a town on fxre, and all hands labouring to quench it, takes his advantage of booties, and what others redeem he steals. Whiles we are busy about this fire, the devil's factors come abroad, like Nicholas's clerks, and steal away souls. Whiles so many disagree about Christ's descending into heU, Satan gathers many thither.

(3.) Our souls by this means oftentimes become rusty, and gather corruption, for want of scouring them by repentance. Whiles we are careful and curious about mint and cummin, justice and piety go away neglected. We at once grow hot in contention and cold in devotion. The fire of the altar goes out whiles the fire of sedition is fuelled. The means whereby the .shepherds take the pelican is to lay fire near her nest; which she, in a foolish pity to save her young ones, offers to flap out with her wings, and so is burned herself. So many, in a fond compassion to quench this fire, bum their own wings, rather than help others. If our ashes could quench it, we should not grudge them ; but since it increaseth part-takings, let us either C[uench it with our tears, or by prayers move God to put it out. Howsoever, neglect we not the estate of our own souls, nor suffer our hearts overgrown with the rust of corruption or moss of security. So thou mayest be like the gold-finer, that is all day purifying of metals, till himself be reczed, smoothed,'"' and soiled all over. Take heed; thou mayest be so long about the fire, till thou be made black with the smoke.

3. We have brought together the fire and the fuel; now we must look for kindlers. The Icindler of this fire is principally Satan : it is he that brings the fuel of good men's sanctity and the fire of evil men's iniquity together, and so begets a great flame. This he doth perform either by his instruments or by himself. He is the great bustuary himself, and hath other deputed inflamers under him.

Sometimes immediately by himself, Kev. xii. That * great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns on his heads,' stands ' before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child so * Qu. 'smutted/ or 'smoked'.'— Ed.

soon as it was born.' When lie perceived that the Great Light (Christ) was come into the world, by throwing down his oracles of darkness, he begins to bustle, and howsoever he speeds, he will fight two or three bouts with him, in a monomachy or duel, person to person. He durst not trust this battle to an instrument, or fight by attorney: this fire he will kindle himself. Per alium desperat; quod etiam per se fieri duhitat. As proud as he is, rather than he will hazard the escaping of a soul from his black kingdom, he will in liis own proper person take the pains to hamper him with his strongest temptations.

Sometimes by his instruments, which are many thousands : for if we compare numbers, he hath more helpers on earth to kindle this fire, than Christ hath servants to put it out. Therefore he is called ' the god of this world,' 2 Cor. iv. 4; where suh nomine nuindi are meant vmndani, worldlings : Rev. xii 9, he is said to ' deceive the whole world.' He labours to deceive all that are in th.e world, but he doth deceive all that are of the world. It was he that stirred up covetousness in the Sabeans, and covetous-ness stirred up their hearts against Job, He incensed Haman, and Haman Ahasuerus against the Jews. He provoked Judas, and almost all Judah, against Jesus. He kindleth malice in their hearts, that kindleth these damnable fires, and shall burn in unquenchable fire for his labour. It is he that provoketh the magistrate to tyranny, the people to disobedience and treachery, the learned to heresy, the simple to security, all to rebellion and impiety. ]\Ien little think whose instruments they are, and whose business they go about, when they put their finger in this fire. It is the devU that puts slander in their tongues, malice in their hearts, and miscliief in their hands : whereby they labour either seducere or cdxlucere* to corrupt men's souls or to cut their throats. For Satan's whole intent is to draw men a cidtu Dei debito, ad cidtum suimet indehitum, —from worshipping the God of light, to worship him that is an angel of darkness. Oh that men would consider what eternal fire is prepared for them, by whom this mystical fire is kindled!

Now Satan kindleth two sorts of fires, general or special. And either of these is double. The general are extended either to error or terror.

(1.) He kindles the fire of open war. He is the great general of that army, Ps. ii., that do ' band themselves against the Lord's anointed.' ' The dragon and his angels fight against Michael and his angels,' Rev. xiL There is no fighting against the saints but under his colours. He was the captaiii in that Parisian massacre; the pilot to that invincible navy in '88. He is the great master of the Inquisition : the grand Cairt of aU confederacies abroad; the Machiavel of all conspiracies at home. There was no treason but was first hammered in his forge, and took the damned fire from his breath. The Pope hath been his applauded instrument many years, to kindle these belluine and Belial fires. Innumerable seditions of wars have been sent from the ingenious study of his holy breast to vex Christian emperors and kings : wherein continually the Pope gave the battle, but the Lord gave the victory, and that where his vicar least intended it. Hilde-brand (Hell-brand rather) promised Rodolphus, whom he incensed against his liege-emperor Henricus, assured conquest; but it seems the bishop had small power in heaven, whatsoever he pretended on earth, for Rodoli)hus's overthrow gave Henricus direct proof to the contrary. It appears in a cer-

* Rupert.

+ I know ncit what is the allusion here, unless it be to Carr, Earl of Somerset, who, after having long enjoyed undeserved favour, was, in his fall, charged with all crimes.— Ed.

tain letter of Benno to the cardinals, that this Hildebrand, preaching in the pulpit, did so promise and prophesy the death of Henricus, that he bid his auditors no more to take him for Pope, but to pluck him from the altar, if the said Henry did not die, or were not dejected from his kingdom, before the feast of St Peter then next ensuing. But the event proved the Pope a liar in the pulpit; and therefore, I hope, took from him all impossibility of lying in cathedra. Indeed, he laboured tooth and naU, by policy and sor-ceiy, by his friends and fiends, to effect tliis. Innumerable were the plots of his treason. One among the rest is observable, in the letter of the said Cardinal Benno : that he had hired a villain, observing the place in the church where this emperor used to pray, to carry wp to the roof of the church a great number and weight of stones, with purpose to let them fall down on the emperor's head at his devotion, and to knock out his brains ; but the traitor being busy to remove a stone of an unwonted hugeness to the place, the plank whereon he stood broke ; down they come both to the floor of the church, and the stone (for it seems Ms own impiety made him the heavier, to fall first to his centre) fell on him, and cpiashed him to pieces.

But what speak I of their particular treasons? A private treachery was but like the French tournay at Chalons— parvum helium, a little war. We are to consider their great fires which they have kindled in the Christian world, when the princes would never have broke mutual peace, had not the devil set on the Pope, and the Pope set on them to this eager contention. But lightly as Mars and money made them popes, so Mars and simony held them rich popes. And now, through Satan's help, they have brought it about, that as at first no pope might be chosen without the emperor, so now no emperor must be chosen without the pope. Both the swords are their claim, and they will have them both, or they will lift them up both against the deniers; and where the sword spiritual may not be admitted, they wiU make way for it with the sword temporal. It is fit, they say, that they should bear temporal rule that follow nearest to God : but the Pope and his clergy follow nearest to God: therefore are the fittest men to rule. It is answered, if God be here taken for that god which St Paul speaks of, the belly, Phil. iii. 19, they follow nearest indeed. From the other and only-true God, they are far enough. If they were not, they would use only spiritual war against the kingdom of Satan, and not meddle with temporal war against the kingdoms of Christian princes. Plead what they can from the wrested Scriptures and misunderstood fathers, yet frust)-a apostolica autho-ritas prcetenditur, uhi apostolica Scriptura contemnitur, —in vain is apostolic authority pretended, where apostohc Scripture is despised or perverted. Non eripit mortalia, qui rer/na dat ccelestia, —That God warrants not the taking away of earthly kingdoms, that gives the kingdom of heaven.

(2.) The second general fire he kindles is error and heresy, a burning river of poison; that cup;of abomination which he rcachcth out to the world in the hand of that great Babylonian whore. To maintain this fire he calls councils, enacts laws, teacheth many parliaments the promulgation of bloody statutes; and whereas other laws of princes (tending to the iiiin of iniquity) are ever neglected, those that are made against Christians have been most severely executed. And lest the devil in this should appear like himself, the prince of death and darbiess, he sits thundering in the Pope's mouth lilce an angel of light, and so directs him; that under In Dei nomine, Amen, he unmercifully condemneth his brother. So that the usurpation of a divine dispensation must burn the poor members of Clirist at the fiery stakes. Now this fire he kindlcth by two malicious courses:—

[1.] By olDScuring tlie liglit of the gospel from men's eyes, and hardening their affection to darkness. So that the children of the night have so doted upon ignorance, that they hate and persecute all the means and messengers of illumination. Shine the sun never so bright, the Papists will see nothing but candle-light. Therefore, it may be, they are permitted tapers, torches, and candles, to content their carnal devotion, that they might not spiritually desire ' the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the image of God,' 2 Cor. iv. 4. And if ever their caliginous minds spy the least glimmering of zeal, or feel a little turning from their former impieties, the shrine, picture, or image of some saint hath the gloiy of their conversion. A very block shall have the praise rather than God. But we can hardly believe they are converted from darkness to light that fetch their illumination out of a stone.

It is recorded that, at Amesbury, when Queen Elinor, the wife of King Henry the Third, lay there, a man that famed himself to have been long blind, came to her, and told her that he had now his sight restored again at the tomb of King Henry, her deceased husband.* The mother easily believed it; but her son. King Edward the First, knowing this man, that he had been ever a dissolute wretch and vile impostor, dissuaded her from giving faith to it, protesting that he knew so well the justice of his father, that if he were living he would sooner pull out both the dissembler's eyes than restore sight to any one of them. So certainly those saints, to the virtue of whose dead bones these hj'pocritcs attribute the glory of their conversion and enlightening, would, if they were living, rather say these men had no eyes of grace at aU, than that any light was given them out of their dead dusts or painted resemblances. This is Satan's first project, to cast a thick cloud of invincible ignorance between men's eyes and the clear sun.

[2.] By hindering all those that have a commission to preach it, Zech. iii. 1, ' He shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.' ' A door is ojDened, but there are many adversaries,' saith the Apostle. 1 Thess. ii, 18, wiU you hear the principal adversary? ' We would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.' The good minister hath no adversary in his calling but he is of the devil's raising. And herein he is either a wolf or a fox, effecting this either by public opposition or secret corruption :—

First, Openly he sets not only his principalities infernal, but also powers terrestrial, against it. What preacher ever began to sing, with a clear breast, the songs of Zion, for many hundred years under the Pope's reach, but instantly pope, cardinals, friars, devils, cursed him with bells and candles, and were ready to burn him in flames'? Scevit ommdus, cum ostenditur immun-dus, —The world is mad, that his dominion and damnation should be spoken against.

Secondly, Secretly he hinders the free preaching of the gospel, by corrupting their hearts that are deputed to that office. And this he cffecteth by infusion of these four hellish ingredients: heresy against truth, schism against peace, popularity against simplicity, and covetisc against charity.

First, He poisons some hearts with heretical points of doctrine, which being (lightly) most pleasing to the flesh, are drunk with thirsty attention. Heresy is thus defined: Jmmano sensu electa, Sciipturce sacrce contraria, palam doctct, 2^cHinaciter defensa, —begot of man's brain, contrary to the Holy Scriptures, openly taught, and peremptorily defended. By this, so far * Act. et Mon, ex Chron. Rob. Amesburieusis.

a,s the flesli in man prevails against the Spirit, Satan prevailg against the truth. So that if they must needs have any of the pure gold of God's word, it shall be so sophisticated, adulterate, and mingled A\ith the dross of human traditions, that they shall not be able to perceive or receive it.

Secondly, Those whom he cannot corrupt against truth he incenseth against peace. Division shall accomplish that mischief which error foiled in. Whom he cannot transport to Rome, he ferries over to Amsterdam. He will either Jieep men on this side the truth, or send them beyond it. Error on the right hand shall cast away souls, if error on the left cannot. Some run so far from Babylon, that they will not keep near Jerusalem; as men that run so eagerly from a lion that they refuge themselves in the hole of a serpent. The schismatic meets with the Romanist in superstition another way. Thus quihus nequit tollere veritatem, negat permittere unitatem, —if he cannot deprive us of truth, he will not permit us peace.

Thirdly, By persuading men to be temporisers, and to catch at the favours of great men. Thus when a preacher must measure his sermon by his lord's humour, the truth of the Lord of hosts is smothered. Against oppression he dares not speak, because it is his lord's fault; not against pride, because it is his lady's; not against riot, because it is his young master's; nor against drunkenness, becaiise they favour it whom his great one favours. He must not meddle with those ulcers which he sees to stick on his patron's conscience. That were the way to lose both present benefit and future benefice; he dares not do it. Whiles he is their servile chaplain, he must learn Turkey-work, to make thrummed cushions of flattery for their elbows. It seems it was not God's business that such a one made himself minister for, but his own, or worse. He hath three masters: he serves his lord, he serves himself, he serves the devil; which of these will pay him the best wages 1 Thus if Satan can neither take away the truth nor peace, yet he labours against simplicity; that for fear of men and hope of means they forbear to speak against wickedness. YtTiat his kingdom loseth one way, it recovers another.

Fourtlily, By infecting their hearts with covetousncss, and extending their desires to an insatiable wealth. With this pill he poisoned Demas, and Judas before him, and thousands after him. The chair of Rome is filled with this pestilence. England hath found it, though many princes will not find it, when the revenues of the crown amounted not to half the Pope's yearly taxes. But we are well eased of that unsupportable burden. Edward the Third began it, for he first made the Prctmunire against the Pope; and our succceduig Christian princes have quite thrown him out of the saddle. God did not make his law so long but man might easily remember it, comprising it all in ten commandments. But the Pope hath curtailed it, and made it far shorter, abridging the ten commandments into two words: Da 2^ec2miam, —Give money. And for this the whole law shall be dispensed with. Experience hath still proved that money was the apostoliail arguments of Rome. An emperor paid for liis absolution a hundred and twenty ^ thousand ounces of gold : a dear reckoning for those wares that cost the Pope nothing!

In the reign of Henry the Third the Pope required the tenths of all the moveables in England, Ireland, and Wales; and because he feared that such moneys could not be speedily enough collected, he sent over many usurers into the land, which were tlien called Caursini, who would lend money to those of the clergy that wanted, but on so unreasonable extortion that the debtors were still beggared. So that what bv his violent exaction and subtle VOL. n. L

circumvention by his own usurers, (for all they had was the Pope's money,) he desired only the tenth part, but he got away also the other nine. And indeed the Pope had reason to maintain usury, for usury mamtained the Pope, Neither is this infection bounded up with that bishop, l3ut dissipated among aU his clergy. Not so much as the very mendicant friars, that profess wilful poverty, but have a wilful desire to be rich. They have more holiness in their hands than in their hearts ; their hands touch no money, their hearts covet it. But the great Belphegor sometimes -gives them a purge. Whereupon said W. Swinderby, ' If the Pope may take fi'om the friars to make them keep St Francis's rule, why may not the emperor take from the Pope to make him keep Christ's rule 1"' But, whosoever gets, the poor laity loseth all. There was a book called Pmnitentiarius Asini, ' The Ass's Confessor,' wherein is mentioned this fable: The wolf, the fox, and the ass come to shrift together, to do penance. The wolf confesseth himself to the fox, who easily absolveth him. The fox doth the like to the woh^ and receiveth the like favour. After this the ass comes to confession, and his fault was, that being hungry he had taken out one straw from the sheaf of a pilgrim to lElome, whereof he was heartily repentant. But this would not serve; the law was executed severely upon him: he was slain and devoured. By the woH is meant the Pope; by the fox, his cardinals, Jesuits, priests: these quickly absolve one another, how hemous soever their offences are. But when the poor ass—^that is the laity—comes to shrift, though his offence be not the weight and worth of a straw, yet on his back must the law be severely executed; and the holy father, the wolf, makes a great matter of it.

' Immensum scelus est, injuria quam peregrino, Fecisti, stramen surripiendo sibi.'

Oh, the insatiable gulf of that sea! God grant that none of that infection ever come over amongst the ministers of the gospel! There is nothing more absurd than that those which teach others to seek the kingdom of heaven and to despise the world, should be found to embrace the world with the neglect of heaven.

These are the general fires this malicious incendiary kindles. There are also two particular and special, which he inflameth in private men's hearts; whereby he prepossesseth them with a prejudicial dis-estimation of the gospel, for causes either direct or obUque. Diiectly for itself, or obliquely and by consequence for private ends:—

(1.) First he begets in a man's mind a dislike of the word for itself. This man esteems preaching but folly: he sees no good it doth to have one prattling an hour or two in a pulpit. He is a parishioner to two parishes. to the congregation he lives with, quoad corpus; to the synagogue of Satan, quoad aniviam. 1 Cor. i. 18, 'The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.' It is horrible when man—dust and ashes, mere folly—shall censure the wisdom of God. Let them have their wills, be it in their account folly; yet' it pleaseth God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that beheve,' vcr. 21. And without this they must live in error, and die in terror: heU-fire will make them change their opinions.

(2,) Others are wrought to hate it only for second and smister respects. The masters of that damsel. Acts x\A., ' possessed with a spirit of divination, seeing the hope of their gains gone,' brought Paul and SUas to scourging, and never left them till they saw them hi prison. When Demetrius per-

* Act. and Mon.

ceived the ruin, not so much of the Ephesian Diana., as of his own Diana,— gain and commodity in making of silver shrines,—he sets all Ephesus in a tumult, Acts xix. 24. The loss of profit or pleasure by the gospel is gi-ound enough of malice and madness against it. Cannot a tyrant be bloody, cannot an oppressor depopulate, a usurer make benefit of his money, a swearer brave with blasphemies, a drunkard keep his tavern-session, but the pulpits must ring of it? Down shall that gospel'come, if they can subject it, that •will not let them run to hell untroubled. Non turhant evangelio, dum oh evanffeliiim non turbentur, —Let them alone, and they will let you alone. But if you fight against their sins with the sword of the Spirit, they will have you by the ears, and salute you with the sword of death. You see the fires that the devd kindleth. It is objected—

Obj. 1.—Satan knows that he can do nothing but by the permission of God. Ansiver. —Therefore, not knowing God's secret wiU, who are elect, who reprobate, he labours to destroy all. And if he perceive that God more especially loves any, have at them to choose. If he can but bruise their heels, oh, he thinks he hath wrought a great spite to God.

Obj. 2. —He knows that though with his tail he can draw stars from heaven, discover the hypocrisy of great professors, j^et he cannot wipe the name of one soul out of the book of life which the Lamb hath written there. Ansiver. —It is the devil's nature to sin against liis own knowledge. Contra scientiam j)eccabit, qui contra conscientiam jyeccavit.

Obj. 3.—He knows he shaU receive the greater damnation, and the more aggravated torments, ' And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shaU be tormented day and night for ever and ever,' Rev. xix. 20. Answer. —He sins always with purposed malice of heart, proudly against God, and blasphemously against the Holy Ghost, though he receive the smart himself.

4. We perceive now the fire, the fuel, and the kindler; let us look to the smoke. There goes lightly a smoke before this fire : Rev. is, 2, ' He opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace ; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth.' When we see smoke, we conclude there is fire. Christ will not quench the smoking flax ; for the smoke without shews a spark of faith witliin. When Abraham saw 'the smoke of tlie country going up as the smoke of a furnace,' Gen. xix. 28, he knew that the fire was begun in Sodom, This smoke is the sign of persecution ensuing; and it is either public or private. Public is twofold :—

(1,) The threatening of tyrants : tliis smoke came out of the mouth of Saul: Acts ix, 1, 'And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings.' Such were the Romish vaunts of the Spanish ships; but God quenched that fire in water, and it was but a smoke. He that could forbid the fire to burn, Dan. iii. 25, can also forbid the smoke to become a flame. Only the massacre at Paris was a fire -without a smoke ; unless it be smoke enough (as indeed it is) for Papists to live among Protestants.

(2.) Security is a public smoke; when men cry. Peace, peace; this is the smoke of war. The careless lives of the old world and Sodom were portentous smokes of their enkindled destniction. Our secure and dead-hearted conversations are arguments of the like to us. God both avert that, and convert us ! We feast, revel, dance, sin, and sing, Mice swans, the prognostics of our own funerals. We are not circumspect to look upon those which

watcli us with the keen eyes of malice; our sleep gives them hope and ourselves clanger. Neglect of defence heartens on a very coward enemy. Our comfort only is, ' He that keepeth Israel doth not slumber nor sleep,' Ps. csxi. 4.

The private smoke, particularly laid to a Christian, is a gentler and more soft temptation. But if this smoke prevail not, Satan comes with a fiery trial. If he cannot pervert Joseph with his tempting mistress, a kind smoke, he will try what a jail can do. If the devil can draw thee to his purpose with a twine-thread, what needs he a cable-rope ? If Samson can be bound with green withs, the Philistines need not seek for iron chains. But Satan knows that some will not, like Adam and Esau, be won with trifles ; that some will stick to Christ whiles the weather is fair and there is peace with the gos23el, yet in time of persecution start aAvay, Matt. xiii. 21. When he comes with tempests and floods, then the house not built on a rock falls. Matt. ^ii. 27. If our foundation be straw and stubble, we know this fire wUl consume; but if gold, it shall rather purge and purify it.

He will not go about that can pass the next way. If a soft puff can turn thee from Christ, Satan will spare his blustering tempests; if a smoke can do it, the fire shall be forborne. If Job could have been brought to his bow, with killing his cattle, sen^ants, children, perhaps his body had been favoured. So that after gentle temptations look for storms; as thou wouldest, after smoke, for fire. Inure thy heart therefore to vanquish the least, that thou mayest foil the greatest; let the former give thee exercise against these latter, as with wooden wasters men learn to play at the sharp. Be thy confidence in him that ever enabled thee; and afty his promise that will not sufier thee 'to be tempted above thy strength.' Only handle this weapon with more heedful cunning; and when thou perceivest the dallyings of the devil, play not with his baits. Corrupt not thy conscience with a little gain, so shalt thou withstand more. Think the easiest temptations a porpoise before a tempest, smoke before fire, signs and prodiges* of a fearful conflict to come.

5. There remains nothing now to be considered but the beUotvs ; that help to maintain this fire. The bellows are double : passive and active. Some blow because they cannot, others because they will not, avoid it.

(1.) The passive bellows are the godly : for they must have no peace with wickedness, ' no fellowship vdth the unfruitful Avorks of darkness,' Eph. V. 11. We must love their persons, and pray for them, as Christ for his crucifiers. But if they will not be converted, if they cannot be suppressed, we may desire either their conversion or confusion : as God wills none to perish as a creature, but as a sinful creature; not of his own making, but of their own marring. So we must hate not virum, but vitium ; reproving and condemning evil works, both by our lips and lives: though our good conversation be the passive bellows to blow this fire.

(2.) The active are the wicked : who do profoundly hate the good, in regard of both their actions and their persons. To this their own forwardness is helped by the devil's instigation : ' If thou blow the spark, it shall burn; if thou spit upon it, it shall be quenched : and both these come out of thy mouth,' Ecclus. xxviii. 12.

But all men love good naturally. No, not all; for some have not only extinguished the flames of religion, but even the very sparks of nature in their liearts.

But some wicked men have loved the godly, Tnie, but not for their ac-* That is, portents or indications.— Ed.

tions, not for their persons, not of their own natures. But, first, either because God snaffles the horses and mules, and curbs the malicious rage of tyrants : or, secondly, converts them to the faith and obedience of his truth; as he took Saul from his raging cruelty, and made him ready to die for him whose servants he would have killed; so turning a wolf into a lamb : or, thirdly, else they love the good for some benefit by them; and therein they love not them, so much as themselves in them. So Ahasuerus loved Esther for her beauty; Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel for his wisdom; Potiphar, Joseph because his house prospered by him; and for this cause did the former Pharaoh affect him.

But otherwise, with blood-red eyes, and faces sparkling fire, they behold us; as Haman did Mordceai. They plot like Machiavels, rail like Rab-shakehs, and conspire like Absaloms. These are the devil's bellows here, to blow quarrels among men; and shall be his bellows in hell to blow the fire of their eternal torments. A man that is great both in wealth and Vvicked-ness cannot be without these bellows—intelligencers, informers, tale-bearers. Let these seditious spirits understand their employment ; they are the devil's bellows : and when their service is done, they shall be thrown into the fire.

I conclude. All this trouble and calamity shall be but upon the earth ; so saith our Saviour : ' I come to send fire on the earth.' In heaven shall be no distraction to break our peace. We should be too well affected to the world, if it had this privilege and exemption; but in vain we seek it where it is not to be found. In heaven only we shall find it, in heaven only let us seek it. Here we may have desiderimn jKicis, but there only pacem de-mlerii, —here the desires of peace, there peace of our desires. Now then, * the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus!' Amen,

THE BAEEEN TEEE.

Then said he to the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none : cut it down; why cumber-eth it the ground ? — Luke XIII. 7.

News is brouglit to Christ of a certain judgment, which was not mope Pilate's than God's, upon some Galileans, who, while they were sacrificing, were sacrificed, their blood being mingled Avith the blood of the beasts on the same altar. Lest this should be wholly attributed to Pilate's cruelty, without due resj)ect had of the omnipotent justice, he samples it with another—of eighteen men miscarrying by the fall of a tower. No Pilate threw down this; here was no human executioner: the matter of theii' death was mortar and stones; these had no purpose to kill them. This therefore must be an invisible hand working by an insensible creature: the instrument may be diverse, the judge is the same.

Now, 2)oena 2^aucoruin, terror oriinium. As an exhalation drawn from the earth, fired and sent back again to the earth, smites only one place, but ter-rifieth the whole country: so their ruins should be our terrors; let them teach us, that they may not touch us. They are hitherto but like Moses's rod turned into a serpent; not into a bear or lion, lest it should have devoured Pharaoh, but into a serpent, that he might be more afraid than hurt. It is God's special favour to us, that others be made examples for us, and not we made examples for others. Nothing could teach them; let them teach us.

Of these fearful instances, our Saviour makes this use, setting down a peremptory conclusion; Vel pmni^endum, vel i^ereundum, —'Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.' Such vengeance is no way to be avoided but by repentance. But here the Jews miL,ht flatter themselves, If we be greater sinners than they, how comes it to pass that we speed better than they ? To this silent objection Christ makes an apological answer, ver. 6. You are not spared because you are more righteous, but because God to you is more gracious. You deserve such or sorer judgments: and the reason of this impunity is not to be looked for in your innocence, but in the Lord's patience; not because you are not worse to him, but because he is better to you; who ofi'ers you space and grace to amend, if (at least) at last you wUl bring forth the fruits of repentance.

There be some terms in the text, (as that the vineyard is the church, every Christian a fig-tree, God the owner, every pastor a dresser,) wherein your understandings may well prevent my discourse : these known and familiar things I take as gTanted of all hands.

It is a parable therefore not to be forfccd every way, nor made to warrant a conclusion which the author never meant. This were, when it ' offers us its company a mile, to compel it to go with us twam,' or to make Christ's messenger speak our errand. Such is the trade of Rome; what their own policy hath made necessarj'^, they -will teach God to make good: this is to pick darkness out of the sun. No, verijicatur in sensic suo, like a good creature, it does only that it was made for. A parable is not like a looking-glass, to represent all forms and faces; but a well-drawn picture, to remonstrate that person whereof it is a counterfeit. It is like a knife: with the haft it cuts not, with the back it cuts not; it cuts with the edge. A candle is made to light us, not to heat us; a stove is made to heat us, not to light us: if this parable, like the sun, may give both light and heat, the more profitable, the more acceptable.

The distribution, —' Then said he to the dresser,' &c. That part of it to which I limit my present discourse delivers itself to us in these four passages:—1. A. consultation: 'Then said he to the dresser of his vineyard.' 2. A comjilaint: 'Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none.' 3. A sentence: ' Cut it down.' 4. A reason: ' Why cumbers it the ground V

1. The consultation: 'Then said he unto,' &c.

(1.) Dixit, non percussif, —he spake, he stroke not: he might have spared words, and begun with wounds. The tree had rather deserved the axe and fire than a consultation of recovery. How easily would man have rejected his hopeless brother ! As when a piece of clay will not work to his mind, the potter throws it away; or we cast foul rags to the dunghill, little thinking that they Aay become white paper. But with God, vefba antecedunt verbera, —he will be heard before he be felt. Our first parents, when they had sinned, vocem aiuliverunt, ' heard the voice of God,' Gen. ui. 8. He reasoned with them before he condemned them. If the father's word can correct the child, he will let the rod alone. Wicked men use the sudden arguments of steel and iron; as Joab discoursed with Amasa ' in the fifth rib,' 2 Sam. xx. 10: they speak daggers' points. So Zedekiah disputed with the prophet: a word and a blow, 1 Kings xxii. 24; yea, a blow without a word: he struck him first, and spoke to him afterwards. God deals otherwise : ' Behold, I stand at the door, and knock,' Rev. iti. 20. He knocks at the door, does not presently break it open. He gives us warning of his judgments, that gave him no warning of our sins. Why doth he thus? That Ave might see our miserable estate, and fall to timely deprecation; that so punisliing ourselves, we might save him a labour.

(2.) Dixit, non destinavit: as if the L»rd would double and repeat his thoughts, before he decreed it to irrevocable ruin. A divine precedent of moderation ! If he that cannot transgress in his wrath, nor exceed in his justice, wiU yet consule>-e aniicum, advise mth his friend, how ought frail man to suspend his furious purposes to mature deliberation ! It is too common with us, to attempt dangerous and desperate actions without further counsel than our own green thoughts; so anger is made a solicitor, passion a judge, and rashness an executioner. The wise man first considers, then speaks or does: the madman first speaks or does, and then considers; which drives him on necessity to play the after-game—witli shame and sorrow to

recover Ms former estate, or give it lost for ever. 0 holy deliberation! whither art thou fled ? David's harp did cast the evil spirit out; this would keep him from ever coming in. It is a porter at the gate of God's spiritual temple, man; that would be as sure to keep out his enemies, as David would have been ready to let in his friends. How many desperate precipices of sin would be prevented were this rule remembered, Consule cultorem f For matter of estate, we are counselled by the lawyer; for health of body, advised by the physician; we trust the pilot to steer our course by sea, the surveyor to mete out our land: but for the soul, let it be as barren as this fig-tree, we take no counsel of the gardener. Do worldlings consult the preacher concerning their usurious trade, before they undertake it'? Do gallants advise with him, before they meet in Aceldama, the field of blood ? Oh that they would admit an answer from such a friend, before they give an answer to such an enemy !

(3.) Dixit vinitori. Such is the honour God doth his ministers, to acquaint them with his own purposes. ' Surely the Lord will do nothing, but he first revealeth it to his servants the prophets,' Amos iii. 7. Nothing,, which may conduce to the office of their ministry and the good of his church. ' To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,' Luke viii. 10. ' To you;' not to the world, they have no such revelation. ' It is given ;' it is none of your inheritance, you were not born to it. ' To know mysteries;' sapere alta, not common things. ' Of the kingdom;' not secular, such mysteries are for the knowledge of statizing Jesuits, but ' of heaven.* 'Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I mean to do?' Gen. xviiL 17. The matter concerned Sodom, not Abraham ; yet it was revealed to Abraham, not to Sodom. But doth God need any man's counsel ? ' Who hath at any time been his counsellor?' Ilom. xi. 34. Will the potter take advice of his pots ? 'Ro ; when Christ asked Philip where supply of bread might be had for the multitude, ' this he said to prove him : for himself knew what he would do,' John vi. 6. His questions are not his but our satisfactions. Thus doth he credit his own ordinance, teaching the world how to esteem of them whom himself so singularly honours. How poor a place soever they find in men's thoughts, the King of heaven and earth calls them to liis counsel. Priest was a title whereof the princes of Israel were ambitious : they would not every man have written his name ujjon his rod, but in hoj^e that this dignity might fall to his lot, Num. xvii. Now, is the ministry of the gospel inferior to that of the law ? Was the service of death more glorious than the service of life and salvation ? If the evangelical covenant be better, is the ministration worse ? The sons of the great think scorn of such an employment: what they held an honour, these count a disparagement. In one and the same subject meets their ambition and our scorn. It is ill when the fig-tree shall despise the dresser, but it would be far worse if the dresser should despise the fig-tree.

(4.) ' To the dresser.' This is the whole congregation of his ministers, to whom he hath committed the culture of his vineyard. All which, by aii enallage numeri, are summed up in one dresser: quia cor nnum, because they have all one heart. Acts iv. 32; (jxda officium tmum, all their labours meet in that one common term, the ' eclification of the body of Christ,' Eph. iv. 12; it is usual to name one i^ro caieris, for all the rest. Peter says, * Though I should die with thee, I will not deny thee.' Did Peter only promise this ? No ; but ' so said hkewise the rest of the disciples,' Matt. xxvi. 35. Had not this been a parable, I never found a place of more probable colour for the high priest of Rome to challenge his uni^■ersal supremacy by:

But surely he will never dress Christ's vineyard as it ought, unless in a-parable. Nay, would his instruments forbear to sow it with brambles, to manure it with blood, and to cast Naboth out of his own vineyard, it were somewhat. But let them pass. When the Spirit wrote to a whole churchy-he inscribes his epistle under one particular name, Angela ecclesice, ' To the angel of the church,' Rev. ii. and iii.

(0.) ' To the dresser.' Dressing implies labour and heedfulness. I might here touch upon the minister's diligence, that Chiist's vineyard never lio rude and unpolislied through his defixult. But this age will look to that well enough : never did the Egyptians call so fast upon the Israelites for makmg of bricks, as the people call on us for making of sermons; and our allowance of materials is much alike. They think it recompense bountiful enough to praise our pains; as if we could live, like chameleons, upon the subtle air of commendations. So they serve us as carriers do their horses; lay heavy burdens upon their backs, and then hang bells at their ears to make them music. But be our reward little or much, God forbid we should slack dressing the vineyard of Jesus Christ.

(G.) ' To the dresser.' Why to him 1 Ut intercederet, that he might plead for the tree. So unwilling is God to destroy, that he would have us manacle his hands wdth our prayers: he would be entreated to forbear. ' Go thy ways down, for the people which thou broughtest out of Egypt have corrupted themselves,' Exod. xxxii. 7. Why this to Moses ? That he might pray for them. He that meant to spare them in mercy, meant withal that Moses should be beholden to hun for that mercy. And Moses indeed chargeth the Lord, sets upon him with so holy a violence, that as if his prayers could vincere invincibilem, he hears, ' Let me alone.' Oh that every vme-dresser were full of this gracious affection to the trees under his charge! Yea, who fears God, and in some measure hath it not ? The people forgot Moses, Moses remembers the people; they could be merry and happy without him, he would not be happy without them. Men rob us of our means, load us with reproaches; all our revenge is to solicit heaven for them by our supplications : they sue us, we sue for them : they impoverish our temporal condition, we pray for their eternal salvation. We could never hope for good to ourselves, if we should not return them this good for their evil.

Korah had drawn a multitude to rebel against Closes and Aaron ; Closes-and Aaron pray for the rebels, Num. xvi. 22. They were worthy of death, and they had it; yet would these merciiul leaders have prevented it, refusing to buy their own peace with the loss of such enemies. Yea, they are so far from carving their own just revenge, that they would not have the liOrd to revenge for them. Let us fill our hearts ^^dth this great example : the people rise up against their pastors, the pastors fall on their faces for the people. Certainly, if God had not meant to hear us, he would never invite us to pray. But as it pleaseth liim to make us his mouth to you, so alsa your mouth to him : both to tell you what he doth say, and to return liini what you should say; to preach against your sins, to pray for your souls. Do you hear us plead for Christ, for Christ hears us plead for you. Indeed, w^e are men of polluted lips and lives; but as God's power is not straitened through our weakness, so nor is his mercy lessened through our unworthi-ness. Therefore, as Paul had his Via mihi d non p)xedicavero, —' Woe unto me if I preach not;' so Moses, in efiect, had his Vet mUii si non inter-cessero, —Woe unto me if I pray not! ' God forbid I should cease praying for you.' But as all our preaching can work no good upon you but through the Holy Ghost, so all our praying can bring no good to you but through

Jesus Christ. We pray for you; forget not you to pray for us. Indeed, weak ones pray with us, malicious ones pray against us, covetous ones prey upon us, few pray for us. We entreat for you, do you entreat for us; and that only Mediator betwixt God and man plead for us all!

2. The complaint: ' Behold, I come,' &c. This hath in it two passages— (1.) His access : ' Behold, these three years,' &c.; (2.) His success : 'I find none.'

(1.) First, the access: Behold. — Ecce is here a note of complaint. He that can thimder down sin with vengeance rains on it showers of complaint. 'Behold the tree;' he might in a moment have put it past beholding by throwing it into the infernal furnace. Why doth he complain that can compel? Uabet in manu jiotentiain, in corde patientiam, —There is power in his hand, but patience in Ms heart. To do justice, we, after a sort, constrain him ; but his delight is to be merciful.

He complains. All complain of lost labours: the shepherd, after all his vigilance, complains of straggling lambs; the gardener, after all his diligence, of withering plants; the husbandman, after all his toU, of lean fields and thin harvests; merchants, after many adventures, of wrecks and piracies; tradesmen, of bad debtors, and scarcity of moneys; lawyers complain of few clients; and divines, of fewer converts. Thus we complaui one of another; but God hath just cause to complain of us all.

WeU, if the Lord complain of sin, let not us make ourselves merry with it. Like Samson, it may make us sport for a whUe, but will at last pull down the house upon our heads, ' The voice of the turtle is' not ' heard in our land,' Cant. ii. 12. Vox turturis, vox gementis. True penitents be more rare than turtles. The voice of the sparrow we hear, chirping lust; of the night-bird, buzzing ignorance; the voice of the screech-owl, croaking blasphemy; of the popinjay, gaudy pride; the voice of the kite and cormorant, covetousuess and oppression: these, and other birds of that wing, be common. But nan audita est vox turturis. Who mourns for the sm of the time, and longs to be freed from the time of sin? It was an unhappy spectacle in Israel to see at once lachrymantem Dominum and ridentem populum, —a weeping Saviour and deriding sinners. We complain of our crosses and losses; we complain of our maladies, of our injuries, enemies, miseries: the Lord open our eyes, and soften our hearts, to see and feel the cause of all, and to complain of our sins !

/ come. —The Lord had often sent before, now he came himself; even by his personal presence, accepting our nature. The Son of God, that made us the sons of men, became the Son of man to make us the sons of God. He came voluntarily: we come into the world, not by our own wills, but by the will of our parents; Christ came by his own will. He came not for his own benefit, but ours. What profit doth the sun receive by our looking on him? We are the better for his hght, not he for our sight. A shower of rain that waters the earth gets nothing to itself; the earth fares the better for it. He came for our fruits; these cannot enrich him : ' Lord, our well-doing extendeth not to thee,' Ps. xvi. 2.

Never came such an inhabitant to our country as Jesus. Had God granted men the liberty to beg of him what they would, and have it, they durst not have been so loold as to ask his only Son. When the king gives a free concession to his subject, to make choice of his own suit without denial, he will not be so impudent as to beg the prince. Let us entertain him well, we fare the better for him : the profit of our redemption blesseth all the rest unto us. Far 1)c it from us to welcome him with scandals, with

blasphemies and neglect. He may then reply, as Absalom to Hushai, ' la this thy kindness to thy friend?' 2 Sam. xvi. 17. No, you say, ^ve make much of him, hold him in the highest regard, trust him \vith our whole salvation. But know, Christ fares not the better for thy faith, but for thy charity. Faith is a beggarly receiver, charity is a rich giver. Thy faith is a hand that takes something from him to enrich thyself; thy charity is a hand that gives something to him in his distressed members. Indeed Christ is the subject of all tongues, but he is not the object of all hearts. The school disputes of him, the pulpit preaches of him, profession talks of him, profane men swear by him; few love him, few serve him. He is come, let him be made welcome, by setting our best cheer and choicest fruits before him. Whom should we entertain, if not our Saviour 1

Seeking. —But did not he know before ? What need he seek that hath found ? He that ' understands our thoughts' long before they are born, cannot be nescious of our works when they are done. My answer shall be short: the Lord's Qucerit is a Requirit; he doth not seek a thing that is hid from him, but requires a debt that is due unto him.

Seehing. —This is no rare, but a continued act. It is not Veni, I came : * He came unto his own,' &c., John i. 11. Nor a Venturus sum, ' Yet a little while, and I will come,' Kev. xxii. But 'io-xoiJ^ai ^rirm: as, Rev, iii 20, Sto pulsans, *I stand knocking;' so here, Venio (juccrens, ' I come seeking.' He seeks continually : will you hear how long 1

These three years. —Much time hath been spent about the interpretation of this time; how it is appliable to the Jewish synagogue, to whom it was immediately referred. I find no great difference among expositors, saving only in their terms. Some by the first year understand the time before the captivity; by the second, their return to Jewry; by the last, the coming of Christ. Some by the first year conceive the law given by Moses; by the second, the prophetical attestations; by the third, the gxace of our Lord Jesus, Some resolve it thus : the first year was the time of circumcision, from Abraham to JMoses; the next, the Levitical law, from Moses to Christ; the last is the year of salvation by the Messiah. Others understand the first year to be of the patriarchs, the middle year of the judges, the third of the kings. After aU this he was entreated to forbear it a fourth year, tUl it was instructed by the apostles; and then being found fraitless, it was cut down by the Romans. But I rather take a definite number to be put for an indefinite; three years is time long enough to wait for the proof of a tree : such a proportionable expectation had the Lord for that church. If literally you would have it, I take this to be the probablest exposition. These three years were the very three years of his preaching, healing diseases, casting out devUs, working miracles before their faces. The other year which he added was the time wlnle the apostles offered them the gospel of salvation. Whereof the refusers were cut down, the accepters were saved.

He hath likcAvise waited for the church of Christiaidty three years; that is, three revolutions of ages, thrice five hundred years. Or he hath tarried the leisure of the whole world three years : the first year, under nature; the second, under the law; the third, under grace; the fom-th is now a-passing, and who knows how far it is spent ?

Or to apply it to ourselves : these three years of our visitation hath been so many scores of years. Conceive the foremost to be in the days of King Edward the Sixth, who purged the gold from the rust and dross of superstition, ignorance, and cozenage which it had contracted. The sun began to shine out in his bright lustre: the Lord came scclciug our fruits; but not

finding them answerable to his expectation, not worthy of the glorious gospel, he drew another cloud over our sun; teaching us better to value that heavenly maiuia wherewith we were so suddenly grown wanton. The second year, under Queen Elizabeth, of so blessed memory; that royal nurse, upon whose bosom the church of God leaned to take her rest. She did again vindicate this vineyard, which had so long lain among friars and monks, that it had almost quite forgotten the language of Canaan: she taught it anew to speak the dialect of the Holy Ghost. When that gracious queen was taken from a crown of gold to a diadem of glory, then began our third year, wherein our present sovereign was sent: dlgnissinnis regno, si non natus ad regnum, —under whom we know not whether our truth or peace be more; only let us bless him, and bless God for him, that we may all be blessed in him. Thus far we may say of our land, as Sylvius did of Rhodes, Semper in sole sita est, —The bright reflection of the gospel compasseth us round about. Now he comes this third year seeking our fruits; which when we consider, we can say no more but Miserere Deus, Lord be merciful to us; for never were such blessings requited with such unthankfulness. We condemn the Jews for abusing Christ's patience: God grant they rise not up at the last day to condemn us !

He comes to particular man three years:— First, In youth: I have planted thee in my vineyard, given thee the influence of my mercies; where is thy fruitfulness 1 Alas ! the young man sends him away, with a Nondum tempiis Jicorum, —It is too early for me to fall to mortification; would you put me to penance before I have had the leisure and pleasure to oftend ? He is ready to send Christ away in the language of that foul spirit,' Art thou come to torment me before my time ?' But whose charge is it to ' Remember thy Creator' diebus juventidis ? Then the conquest is most glorious, because then it is most difficult. You say. It is never too late; but I am sure it is never too soon, to be gracious and holy. The devil is a false sexton, anc? sets back the clock of time in prosperity; in the day of trouble, he will make it run fast enough. Secondly, In middle age; and now the 'buying of farms,' and ' trying of beasts,' the pleasures of matrimony, the cares for posterity, take up all the rooms of the soul. Men rather busy themselves to gather the fruits of earth than to jield the fruits of heaven. Here is strength of nature and fulness of stature, but still a defect of grace. Perhaps Christ hath now some fair promises of fruits hereafter: ' Let me first go bury my father, then,' Luke ix. 61. But (a thousand to one) he finds something in, domo, left by his father, that keeps liim (i Domino, from following his Master. To prevent this, it is his caution to the entertained servant : Ps. xlv. 10, ' Forget thine own people, and thy father's house :' rather forego and forget thy father's house than thy iLaker's service. Thirdly, In old age : now the decay of body should argue a decay of sin. The taste finds no rehsh in riot, the ears cannot distinguish music, the eyes are dim to pleasing objects, very 'desire foils :' now all things promise mortification. He that cannot stir abroad in the world, what should he do but recollect himself, and settle his thoughts on the world to come % Now fruits, or never. Not yet; morosity, pride, and avarice, are the three diseases of old age : men covet most when they have time to spend least; as cheating tradesmen then get up most commodities into their hands when they mean to break. Still he comes seeking fruit, and is returned with a No7i inventus.

If yet it were but as the prophet's sign to Hezekiah,—' This year ye shall eat such as growcth of itself; and the second year such as springetli of the same; and in the third year ye shall sow and reap,' &c.,—the third year

might afford him somewhat. But doth he forbear all trees thus long ? No ; .some are snatched away in the flower and pride of their life; yea, they be not few that will not allow themselves to live, but with riot and intemperance hasten their own ends, l^efore they have well begun or learned what life is : like bad scholars, that slubber out their books before they have learned their lessons. That instead oi jVoh est fnictns, we may say, Kon est Jims, the tree itself is gone. And that goodly person, which like a fair .ship hath been long a-building, and was but yesterday put to sea, is to day sunk in the main. We do not eat, drink, and sleep, and take such refections of nature, id non vioriamiir, that \yq might not die,—that is impossible,—but that we should not die barren, but bear some fruits up with us to him that made the tree.

Seehing. —It is fit we should offer our fruits to God, and not put him to seek for his own. We should be like those ' ripe figs that fall into the mouth of the eater,' Nahum iii. 12. The best liquors are they that drop from their cells of their own accord, without pressing. The most acceptable of all oblations be the free-will-offerings. Howsoever, let us be sure not to disappoint the Lord when he seeks.

On this fig-tree. —It is fit that he that plants a vineyard should taste of the ^vule, Pro v. xxvii. 18 : good reason his own tree should yield him some fruit; considering what he hath done for it, he may well challenge it.

[1.] He hath planted us : we spring not up naturally, as the oak grows from an acorn, the peach from a stone; but a gracious hand hath set us. ' We are not born of flesh, nor of the will of blood, nor of man, but of God,' John i. 13.

[2.] He hath planted us in his vineyard, within the enclosed garden of the church. Had he left us to the unregarded wilderness, without any dresser to look to us, there might have been some excuse of our barrenness. The ground that is left to itself is, in a manner, blameless, though it be fruitle-ss. But in vinea sua, which he hath fenced in with his pro\ddence, blessed with his saving influence, husbanded with his dresser's diligence, forwarded with the beams of mercy, and showers more precious than the * dews of Hermon that fell upon the hill of Zion;' where we particii)ate the fatness of the ground, are fed with unpcrishing manna, compassed about with songs of deliverance, and have ' seen our desires upon' his and ' our enemies ;' where righteousness is our walls, and peace our bulwarks, and the ways be milk where we set our feet.

[3.] We are fig-trees, not brambles ; no man expects ' grapes from thorns,' Matt. vii. 16. Not oaks or cedars, to be a dwelling for tlic storks, but fig-trees apt for fruit, pleasant fruit. If the rest be fruitless, they serve for other purposes ; but what shall become of the barren fig-tree l

[4.] He is our Lord, and, queer it suum, he seeks but his own. If our own kine give us no milk, our own sheep afford us no wool, our own land returns us no increase, we are displeased; whereas these be reasonless creatures, but we have sense above common nature, reason above sense, grace above reason. We are but tenants of these, Christ is Lord of us; our sins bring the curse of barrenness upon them, but there is no fault in God if we be unfruitful.

[/>.] He comes seeking: not threatening, raging, wounding; not felling down the tree, nor stocking it up by the roots ; but seeking. Dignatnr ex-2)ectare fructus, cui licet eradicare infructnosos, —!Man is a loser by the barrenness of his garden tree ; were there not a tree left, God is never the poorer.

Now lay all these together : a Lord that owes us, we arc his trees; to come into his vineyard, where he may be confident; wc live on his ground;

to look upon a fig-tree, made of an apt disposition to good fruit; sucli a one as himself liatli planted, not casually grown up; a tree not neglected, but whereon he hath bestowed great care and cost; waiting, not destroying : what can we plead for it if it be fruitless 1 God is our Lord and proprietary, England is his vineyard, every one of ns his fig-tree, thus planted, watered, blessed by his gracious mercy. He comes to us with patience, that should run to hiiin with penitence ; seeking our fruits, that should make tender of them unsought; waiting, that might command : now, fear, obedience, and thankfulness keep us from sending him back with a Non invenio, —' I find none!'

Fruit. —This is that inseparable efiect that God expects from every tree planted in his garden. We are married to Christ: to what end 1 ' That we should bring forth fruits mito God,' Rom. vii. 4. He seeks not for leaves, buds, or blossoms, but fruits. Could leaves content him, we would not leave him unsatisfied ; he should have an arbour large enough to reach to ' the world's end,' Ps. xix. 4. Our tongues run apace, not seldom faster than our wits. We are God's debtors, and if he will take our words, so : that is all he is like to have. Might buds please him, or blossoms; we have intentions to good, certain offers and shows of obedience, which we wear like a cloak, or some loose garment, that when lust calls we may quickly slip off. But when he seeks for works, all our consonants be turned into mutes, we are speechless. Matt. xxii. 12. Oh, would he ask us for anything but fruits ! but what should be expected from the fig-tree but figs 1

Of every soul here he seeks for fruits. Of the magistrate, that he bring forth the fruits of justice; determining causes with sincerity of decision and convenience of expedition; being, so far as equity permits, a husband to the widow and a father to the fatherless. Of the minister, that he bring forth the fruits of knowledge. Aaron's rod was his pastoral staff : in one and the same night it brought forth buds, and blossoms, and fruit. Fruitfulness is the best argument that God hath called us : there is not a plant of his setting but the very branches thereof shall flourish. I do not say our pains shall always convert many souls; that is God's fruits, not ours. He chargeth us to be industrious in preaching, let himself alone with the work of saving. Of the private man, he expects the fruit of his calling: to be idle is to be barren of good; and to be baiTen of good is to be pregnant of all evil.-Bella gerant alii, Protesilaus edit: but let us that are called to work, work in our calling, otherwise at last we shall make but a sorry answer to that question, Ubi fructus ? Let us all produce the fruits of charity; rich men do good turns to themselves,—as they play at tennis, tossing the ball to him that wiU toss it to them again,—seldom to the poor, for they are not able to bandy it back. Pride cuts, and riot shuffles, but betwixt them both thej-^ deal the poor but a bad game. The fruit of Christianity is mercy; when the rich, like full ears of corn, humble themselves to the poor earth in charity. Feed him that feeds you ; give him part of your temporals, from whom you expect eternals : you clothe Christ with your blacks on earth, he will clothe you with his glorious whites in heaven. Our mercy to others is the fruit of God's mercy to us.

Fruit. —Nothing is created for itself, but so placed by the most wise providence, that it may confer something to the public good, though it be but as the widow's two mites to the treasury. The poorest creature yields some fruit, wherein it doth imitate the goodness of the Maker. We know not readily what good serpents and vermin may do; yet certainly they have their fruit, both in sucking up that poison of the earth, which would be contagious

to man; in .setting oflf the beauty of the better pieces of creation *—for though the same hand made both the angels in heaven and the worms on earth, yet the angels appear the more glorious, being so compared,—besides their hidden virtues abstracted from our knowledge. Of stones they make iron, rubbish sei'ves to raise bulwarks, the small pebble for the sling, worms and flies are baits for fishes; everything is enabled with some gilt for the universal benefit, and so to produce those fruits is their natural work

The sun comes forth of his chamber like a bridegroom, fresh and lively; and rejoiceth as a giant, to run his diui'nal course, to Ughten us with his refulgent beams, to generate, cheer, and mature tliuags with his parental heat: this is his fruit. In his absence, the moon and stars adorn the canopy of heaven, reflecting their operative influence to quicken the lower world : tliis is their fruits. The curled clouds, those bottles of rain, thin as the liquor they contain, fly up and down on the 'svings of the wind, delivering then-moist burdens upon the earth, teats whereon the hungry fields and pastures do suck; yet they expect no harvest from us : this is thek fruits. The subtle winds come puffing out of their caverns, to make artificial motions, wholesome airs, and navigable seas; yet neither earth, an-, nor sea return them recompense : this is their fruits. The earth, in a thankful imitation of the heavens, locks not up her treasures within her own cofiers; but without respect of her private benefit, is liberal of her allowance, yieldmg her fatness and riches to innumerable creatures that hang on her breasts, and depend upon her as their common mother for maintenance. Of the beasts that feed upon her, kine give us their milk, sheep their wool; every one pays a tribute to man, their usufructuary lord : this is their fruits. Fruit-bearing trees spend not all their sap and moisture upon themselves, or the increase of then-own magnitudes; but the principal and purer part of it is concocted into some pleasant fruits, whereof neither they nor their young springs ever come to taste; but they proffer it us, and when it is ripe, they voluntarily let it fall at their masters' feet. Never did the olive anohit itself with its own oil, nor the vine make itself drunk with its own grapes, nor the tree in my text devour its own figs : yet they all strive to aboimd with fruits.

Let me raise your meditations from earth to heaven : the holy angels there are called ' ministering spirits;' those royal armies fight for us agamst our enemies; like nurses, they bear us up in their arms, and, though unseen, do glorious offices for us : this' is part of their fruit. The blessed Trinity is always working : 'Hitherto my Father worketh, and I work,' John v. 17. The Father by his providence and protection, the Son by his mercy and mediation, the Holy Ghost by his gi-ace and sanctificatiou ; aU dividing the streams of their goodness for the best behoof of the world. The more anything furthers the common good, the more noble is its nature, and more resemblmg the Creator.

The earth is fruitfrU; the sea, the air, the heavens are fruitful; and shall not man bring forth fruits, for whom all these are fruitful ? While all the armies of heaven and earth are busied ui fructifying, shall man, of more suigu-lar graces and faculties, be idle, a burden to the world and hhuself I Both the church of God for the propagation of piety, and the world itself for the upholding of his state, require our fruits. If happiness consisted ui doing nothing, God, that meant Adam so happy, would never have .set him about business; but as paradise was his storehouse, so also his workhouse : his pleasure was his task. There is no state of man that can privilege a folded hand. Our life is vita piclveris, non pidvinaris. Lands, means, and moneys,

• Aug.

men make the protections of idleness; whereas Adam commanded tlie whole earth, yet work expected him. In paradise all things did labour for man, now man must labour for all things. Adam did work because he was hajipy, we his children must work that we may be happy. Heaven is for joys, hell for pains, earth for labour, God hath three houses; this is his w^orkhouse, that above is his warehouse. Oh, then, let us be fruitful, that others' benefit may be ours, our l^enefit theirs, and the glory of all the Lord's. If magistrates yield not the fruits of justice, ministers the fruits of knowledge, private men the fruits of charity and obedience ; it is as unnatural as if the sun should forget to shine, or the earth to fructify. God made all these for man, he made man for himself; of us he looks for fruit, of us let him find it, from us accept it, in us increase it, and to us reward it, through him in whom alone we expect mercy, Jesus Christ.

(2.) The success follows, Non invenio. We have brought the Lord mto his vineyard, heard him calling for the dresser, shewing him a tree, telhng him of a three years' expectation; now, if after aU this we inquire for the event, himself certifies us, Ohy^ suw'cxw, ' I find none.'

None 1 Peradventure he came before the season,— nonchim temjnis erat jicorum. When should a tree brmg forth fruits, but tempore suo ? This is the praise of the good tree, Ps. i. 3, that it ' brings forth the fruit in due season.' If the fig-tree could have objected to the owner, as Elisha to his servant, Iloccine teinjms, —' Is this a time to plant vineyards, or gather fruits V 2 Kings V. 26, Or, as the man replied to his neighbour, that came to borrow loaves at midnight, Luke xi. 7, ' Is this a time to lend bread, when myself and family are in bed?' The spring is the season of fnictifying, the autumn of gathering. When ' the time of the singing of birds is come, then the fig-tree puts forth her green figs,' Cant. ii. 12, 13. Not cii7n fermento x>^i'-fundatur pidvis, when ' the dust is leavened with mire,' Job xxxviii, 38, and the bands of Orion have locked up the influence of heaven. Who seeks fruit in winter, he must be content with winter-fruit. There is the winter of an afilicted conscience : no marvel then if neither ripe figs, nor so much as green leaves appear; when aU the sa]) is retired to the root, as in extreme cold the blood runs to the heart to succour it. When the Babylonians required of their captive Israelites some Hebrew songs, they could soon answer : ' How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange landT Ps. cxxxvii, 4. Is this a time or place to be merry ? But did the Lord come out of season ? No, he required it not the first day, or month, but waited the full time, expecting fruit in the autumn or vintage season, Non ante tempus qucerit, qui -per iriennium venii* He came not with a triennial visitation, as episcopal fathers use to visit, once in three years; but every year, every month in the year, week of the month, day of the week. Of another fig-tree it is said, that * the time of figs was not yet,' yet he cursed it, j\Iark xi. 13. Here the time was three years past without fruit, yet he cursed it not. But look to it: if thou wilt not fructify tempore tuo, thou shalt be cut down tempore non tuo, perish before thy time, Eccles. vii. 17. There is not a day in the year wherein he forbears seeking our fruit; yet Venio, non invenio, ' I find none.'

None ? Nunquicl quia viale qiuesivit Domimis ? Was there an error in his search ? Men often seek bona, good things, non bene, not in a good manner. Either they fail in their quando : as Joseph sought Christ after a ' day's journey;' whereas he is too precious to be missed one hour: ' They shall seek thee,' tempore inveniendi, ' when thou mayest be found,' Ps. xxxii. 6. Or in the right tibi: as ]\Iary sought her son in cognitione carnis, ' among

* Gloss.

her kindred;' who was in doino patris, in the temple. So the Papists seek now him in pictures, who promised to be found in the Scriptures. Or in their quomodo : as they that seek aliud pro Ulo, cdiud prai illo, another instead of him, another loesides him, another with him, another before liim, which they do not seek for him. All these seek and miss, because they seek amiss. The world is commonly mistaken in their search; qiccerunt bona locis non suis, —they seek for things out of their proper orbs. IMen seek honour in pride, whereas honour is to be found in humility. They seek reputation m bloody revenge; alas ! that is to be found in patience : ' It is the glory of a man to pass by an offence.' They seek content in riches, which is as if one should seek for fresh water in the midst of the sea. But in none of these circumstances did this seeker faU; not in the uhi, for he sought in the vineyard; not in the quando, for he came in the vintage; not in the quomodo, for he sought fruit on that fig-tree about which he had been at so great charges : yet ' I find none.'

None ? Haply not so thick with fruits as the ' vuies of Engedi;' every land is not a Canaan, to flow with milk and honey. But yet some competent measure, enough to pay the landlord rent for the ground it stands on; no, 'none.' If there be none to spare, whereof the owner may make money, yet suffidat ad usum siaim, ad esum suum, —that he may eat the labours of his own hands; no, 'none,' If the number be not 'as the sand,' yet let there be ' a remnant,' Rom. ix, 27, If there cannot be a whole hai-vest, yet let there be 'a tenth,' Isa. vi, 13, If not a tenth, yet let there be some ' gleanmgs,' Micah vii. 1; and that is a woeful scarcity. If the gleanings be not allowed, yet let there be here and there a fig, a grape, a berry, ' on the outmost branches,' Isa, xvii. 6, that the planter may have a taste. It is too defective, when non fioreUt ficus, —^the tree doth not flourish; but quando non erit uva in vitibus, non ficus inficulneis, Hab. iii. 17,—when there shall not be ' a grape on the vine, nor a fig on the tree,' Jer, viii, 13; this is a miserable sterility. Something hath some savour, but none is good for nothing. Indeed all trees are not equally loaden; there is the measure of a hundred, of sixty, of thirty; an omer, and an ephah; but the sacred dews of heaven, the graces of the gospel, bless us from havuig none! ' I find none.'

Nonel Peradventure none such as he looks for, no fruits delicate enough for the Almighty's taste. Indeed, our best fruits are never perfect and kindly ripened; still they relish sour and earthly, and savour of the stock from which they were taken. They are heavenly plants, but grow in a foreign and cold climate; not well concocted, not worthy the charges and care iDcstowed upon us. Set orange or fig-trees in this our cold country, the fruit Avill not quit the cost of the planting and maintahiing. But the complaint is not here of the imperfection or paucity of fruits, but of the nullity: 'none,' Some reading that text with idle eyes, that after all our fiaiits, we are still 'unprofitable trees,' Luke xvii. 10, because they can find no validity of merit in their works, throw the plough in the hedge, and make holiday. But shall not the servant do his master's business, because he cannot earn his masters inheritance? Shall the mason say, I will share with my sovereign in his kingdom, or I will not lay a stone in his building? Yet good fruits have their reward; though not by the merit of the doer, yet by the mercy of the accepter. Sour they be of themselves, but in Christ they have their sweetening; and the meanest fruits wliich that great 'Angel of the Covenant' shall present to his Father, with the addition of his own ' precious incense,' Rev. viii. 4, are both received and rewarded. In their own nature they may be corrupt; but bemg dyed in the blood of Christ,

VOL. II. M

tliey are made pleasing to God; j^ea, also profitable to the churcli, and useful to men, seem they never so poor. Even a troubled spring doth often quench a distressed soldier's thirst; a small candle doth good where the greater lights be absent; and the meanest fruit of holy charity, even a cup, though it be not of the juice of the grapes out of the vineyard, but of cold water out of the tankard, in the name of Christ, shall have its recompense. Matt. X. 42. But here the complaint is not of the meanness or fewness, but of the barrenness : none at all.

j^one? 'Ever;/ tree is knoivn by its fruits;'' it is Christ's everlasting ritle. Howsoever the tree lives by the sap, and not by the fruits; yet it is known to live by the fruits, and not by the sap, for this is hidden. ' The just man lives by his faith,' not by his works; but he is known to live by his works, not by his invisible faith. Neither doth the fruit make good the tree, but the tree makes good the fruit. Opera bona oion faciunt justum, Justus facit bona opera. Good works make not a man righteous, but the righteous man doth good works. Our persons are justified before our actions; as of necessity the tree must be good before it can bear good fruit. But how shall that tree be discerned that hath no fruit ? ' I find none.'

None ? Why this to us ? Why such a text in such a time 1 We abound with fruits; which way can you look, and not have your eye full of our works? They before, in such places, have successively commended our fruits. Be it so; yet Euripides being questioned why he always made women bad. in his plays, whereas Sophocles ever made them good in his, answered, ' Sophocles makes them such as they ought to be, but I make them such as indeed they are.' Their former commendations have told us what we should be; but this emblem, I fear, teUs us truly what we are. Not all of us; God forbid! Here is but one fig-tree in a whole vineyard thus taxed, and far be it from us to tax a whole vineyard for one barren fig-tree.

None ? Yes; enough of some fruits, but the prophet calls them ficos 'valde males, —' so bad that they cannot be eaten,' Jer. xxiv, 8. As the fruit of the vine is commended for quickness, the fruit of the olive for fatness, so the fruit of the fig-tree for sweetness, in Jotham's parable, Judg. ix. But if it bear not fructvm nativitatis suce, the fruit of its own kind, but bitter figs, here had better be none at all. What an uncomfortable sight is this to him whose heart is set on his orchard, after the cost of so dear blood to purchase it, after such indulgent care to cherish it, and the charges of so many workmen to dress it; yea, after so much patience to expect it, say the fig-tree does not bear so soon as it is planted; in our infimcy we can do nothing, in our minority we will do little, in God's service : but now it is grown fructifiable. Jam nan gustare fructus, not to have so much as a taste .' Yea, were this all, did barrenness only usurp it, but there is worse than a mere orbity or absence of goodness : a position of bitter fruits : Qucesivi was, invenio labruscas, —I find ' wild grapes,' Isa. v. 3, luxuriant fruits. Instead of the hearty effects wliich wine produceth, I am answered with the melancholy prevarications of malice.

Behold the wonder and spectacle of unthankfulness : among all God's creatures, man; and among men, the barren Christian. ' Though Israel play the harlot, yet let not Judah transgress,' Hos. iv. 15. What may be expected from the wild forest of paganism, when the garden of Eden yields such fruits. The sweet fruit of the spiritual fig-tree is mercy: our G<xl is the God of love, our Saviour is the Prince of love, the church is knit together in love ; our root is love, our sap is love, our ligaments love. Now, if we shall suck the blood one of another, violate the relations of peace, concoct all our

moisture into malice, here is worse than Invenio frucium nullum, ' I find none :' for Invenio fructum malum, I find cursed fruits. "We are grown unnatural ; the hand scratchetli tlie eye, the mouth bitcth the hand; thorns and briars entwine and embrace one another, while (against all nature) fig-trees devour one another. ' Lord, thou didst sow good seed in thy lield; whence then hath it tares?' Matt. xiii. 27. Here is more fruit than God would have; but for that he expects, ' I find none.'

When we are filled mth his blessings, Christ looks for our praises; when we have ' eaten and are fat,' that we should ' worship him,' Ps. xxii. 29. What fruit finds he % ' We sit down to eat and drink, and rise up to play,' 1 Cor. X. 7 : for praying, playing. When we are scourged, he looks for our huraiUatiou and penance : ' Sure in their affliction they wiU seek me,' Isa. xxvi. IG. What fruit finds he ? ' Lord, thou hast smitten them, but they have not sorrowed,' Jer. v. 3 ; an insensible desperateness. In this case let us pray,' Lord, less of the fruits we have, and more of them we should have.' ' Instead of righteousness, a ciy,' Isa. v. 7 : a cry indeed—a roaring cry of the oppressor, and a mourning cry of the oppressed. Ucec non sunt placido suscipienda sinu.

Our bells ling, our chimneys smoke, our fields rejoice, our children dance, ourselves .sing and play; Jovis omnia plena. But when righteousness hath sown and comes to reap, here is no harvest: ohy^ ibslay.u, ' I find none.' And as there was never less wisdom in Greece than in the time of the seven wise men, so never less piety among us than now, when upon good cause most is expected. \Vhen the sun is brightest, the stars be darkest: so the clearer our light, the more gloomy our life with the deeds of darkness. The Cimmerians, that live in a perpetual mist, though they deny a sun, are not condemned of impiety, but of ignorance : but Anaxagoras, that saw the sun, and yet denied it, is not condemned of ignorance, but of impiety. Former times were like Leah, blear-eyed, but fruitful: the present, like Rachel, fail", but barren. We give .such acclamation to the gospel, that we quite forget to observe the law. As upon some solemn festival the bells are rung in all steeples, but then the clocks are tied up; there is a great untuned confusion and clangour, but no man knows how the time passeth : so in this universal allowance of liberty by the gospel, which indeed rejoiceth our hearts, had we the grace of sober usage, the clocks that tell us how the time passes, truth and conscience, that shew the bounded use and decent form of things, are tied up and cannot be heard. Still, Fructum non invenio, ' I find no fruits,' I am sorry to pass the fig-tree in this plight: but as I find it, so I must leave it, till the Lord mend it. So I come to—

.3. The sentence : ' Cut it down.' A heavy doom ! Alas ! will nothing else expiate the fault ? May not the lopping oif some superfluities recover it? Take from the sinner the object of his vicious error : deface the harlot's beauty that bewitcheth the lascivious ; pull the cup from the mouth of the drunkard; nauseate the stomach of the riotous; strip the popinjay of her pied feathers; rust the gold, vanish the riches of the covetous; take away Micah's gods, perhaps he will make him no more. If this will not do, cut ofl: some of the arms and branches : weaken his strength; sicken his body; lay him groaning and bleeding on the bed of sufierance ; grieve his heart-strings with the sense and sorrow of his suis ;—anything rather than * cut it down :' alas ! no fruit can grow on it then but sad despair. A man's house is foul, or a little decayed ; will he pull it down, or not rather repair it ? ' There is hope of a tree, though the root wax old in the earth, and the stock die in the ground/ Job xiv. 8; yet the springs of water may put new

life into it: but once cut clown, all hope is cut down with it. When a man hath taken delight in a tree, conveniently planted in his garden, what variety of experinients wiU he use before he cuts it down 1 Alas ! thus, poor silly men, we reason : we measure things that be unmeasurable by things that be measurable, by things that be miserable. "What we in a foolish pity would do, Ave think God in his merciful wisdom should do. Yet which of us would endure a dead tree three years together in his orchard ? We would say. If it wiU not bear fruit to cheer us, it shall make a fire to warm us. But the Lord hath been six-and-thirty moons gracious in his forbearance ; give him now leave to be just in his vengeance. If so much indulgence cannot recover it, there is little hope of it: ' Cut it down.'

' Cut it down.' Who must do this ? The dresser. An unpleasant office to him that hath bestowed so much labour upon it, esteemed it so precious, hoped for some reward at his master's hand for his diligence about it; now to give the fatal blow to cut it down ! And if it must fall, let it be manu aliena, non sua, —let another's hand do it. Hagar mil not behold her dying son; die he must, she was persuaded : Modo non videam, ' Let me not see the death of the child,' Gen. xsi. But he must obey ; arbor non est cultoris, sed patris familias : the tree is not the dresser's, but the Lord's; and his own is at his own disposing : ' Cut it down.'

' Cut it down.' But how ? How can the mhiister be said to cut down a barren soul? Some may conceive here a reference to excommunication; whether the greater, which deprives a man of all benefit by the church's public prayers and the society of Christians; which St Paul calls tradere SatancB, —'to deliver unto Satan,' 1 Cor. v. : so himself excommunicated Hymenaeus and Alexander, ' delivering them unto Satan,' 1 Tim, i. 20—a miserable condition, to be subjected to a slave, to a dog, a drudge; but then especially fearful, when God grants unto Satan a writ or faculty, 2)ro excommunicato capiendo : the ignominy of ignominy, besides the peril; for as Christ protecteth aU the trees in Ms vineyard, so if any be transplanted to the wild desert, they are under the god of this world. (3r the less, which is indeed no other properly than an act of the church's discipline, whereby she corrects her unruly children, that smarting with the absence of wonted comforts, they may be humbled by repentance, and so recover their pristine state. This censure may be either too cruel or too trivial. The church of Rome grants excommunications for things lost: a man hath lost his horse, he may have an excomminiication against him that detains him;* so the father may hap to excommunicate his own son, and for the body of a jade, hazard the soul of his child. Yea, which is worse, they pubhsh excommunications for sins not yet committed. The lord of a manor hath set a row of young elms; he may have an excommunication against all those that shall do them any harm. This is to hang a man before he hath done the fact that deserves it. These irrite, forceless, bugbear excommunications, the ridiculous affordments of a mercenary power, are not unlike those old night-spells which blind people had from mongrel mtches, to set about their orchards and houses, antidotes and charms against thieving; wherein distrusting the providence of God, they made themselves beholden to the devil for safety. Creditors that would be paid in then- moneys may procure an excommunication against their debtors, if they pay not by such a day. This were an excellent project for your citizens, a rounder course than arrests and tedious trials at law. But it is to be doubted that your debtors would fear the Pope's parchment less than the scrivener's, and an excommunication far less * Approved by the Council of Trent, Sess. 26,

tlian an outlawry. There are but four things exempted from the power of their excommunication, as Navarrus notes—a locust, an infidel, the devil, and the Pope : so he hath matched them, so let them go together. For the excommunicate must be a man, a Christian, mortal, and an inferior; now the locust is not a man, the infidel is not a Christian, the devil is not mortal, and the Pope hath no superior. But too much of that ; this is a parable, and here is no foundation for such a building.

' Cut it down.' How? with an axe of martial iron ? This were an exposition fit for Douay, or the Gunpowder-enginers; that by cutting it down understood, ' Blow it up;' turning their axe to a petard. Had God said to them, ' Cut it down,' the axe had been instantly heaved up; yea, they did it when God said no such thing. Rather than fail of cutting it down, they would have stocked it up, root and all: this is their mercy. But the spiritual axe is to cut down culpas, non animcis; when we read of cutting down, remember it is meant of men's sins, not of their soids. Preachers indeed do wound; but it is gladio oris, not ore gladii, —with the sword of the Spirit, not a Eavillac's knife. If God had meant such a cutting do^vn, Nero had been a fitter instrument than Paul. We read that ' their sound went through the world,' Ps. xix.; but that their sword went through the world, we never read.

' Cut it down.' How then ? Succide; that is, Succidendam minare, — Threaten that I will cut it down. ' Cast them out of my sight,' Jer. xv. 1. Ejice; that is, Ejiciendos pronuncia, —>Say that I will reject them. Quod moritin; moriatur ; quod succidendum est, succidatio; —' That which dieth, let it die,' Zech. xi. 9. God sometimes sends such farewells and defiances to sinners that will not repent. ' Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone.' If they will not be persuaded to return, let them go on to their ruin; let them alone. 'K any man will be unjust, let him be unjust; he that will be filthy, let him be filthy still,' Rev. xxii. 11; let them perish. Abeat, pereat, profandat, perdat.

' Cut it down.' This was sententia oris, —the sentence of the mouth ; but it may be this Avas not consilium cordis, —the purpose of the heart. Scepe Deo viinante quod peccans meretur, peccanti non Jit quod Dens minatur. Nor can this tax God of levity ; for he that speaks with condition of repentance, may change his word mthout suspicion of lightness. Tio muta sen-tentiam iuam, Deus mutabit suam.'' Thus was Nineveh cut down : eversa est in malo, ut cedificaretur in bono, —the subversion was menaced, the conversion was intended. The father shuts his rebellious son out of doors, will not allow him a lodging, not so much as among his servants; yet he does not mean to let him perish with hunger and cold in the streets : but when he hath Avell smarted for his disobedience, upon his humble submission he is re-entertained. The very ' mercies of the wicked are cruel,' but the very judgments of God are sweet. This cuttmg down is medicinale, not mortale; disciplinans, non eradicans; for restitution, not destitution; for remedy, not for ruin. Indeed, if all this denunciation and threatening cannot persuade them to return, then comes their final perdition: when they have cut off themselves impenitently, God will cut them off impartially. But if we turn to deprecation and repentance, he will turn to commiseration and forgiveness. The tree is barren, and the Lord says, ' Cut it down;' the tree fructifies, and he will say, ' Let it stand.' Oh, then, let us humble ourselves, and yvith seasonable repentance cut down our sins, that this terrible sentence may never cut down our souls!

* August.

4. Thereasoji: 'Why cumberetli it tlie ground'?' God is an independent Lord, and needs not give a reason of his doings; for -who can call him to account: Cur itafacis? Rom. Lx. 20. His judgments are not always mani-festj they are always just; nor doth he things because they are good, but they are therefore good because he doth them. Should he make short work on the earth, and despatch all barren trees in a moment; yet ' thou continuest holy, O thou worship of Israel!' If he strikes us, we are not wronged; it is our desert, and his justice. If he spares us, we have not merited ; it is his mercy. Hide Jit misericordia, tihi non fit injuria, —That man receives mercy, thou hast no injury. Yet that he might be justified, and the mouth of all wickedness stopped, he is content to give a reason of this sentence: Think not I deal hardly with this fig-tree; let us confer together, and hear one another with patience. I will shew thee sufficient reason of cutting it down: do thou shew me some cause why it should stand. My reason is, * It cumbers the ground.' Terram reddlt otiosam, inidilem. It is not only barren formaliter, but effective. lu a word: (1.) It does no good; (2.) It doth much harm.

(1.) I'irst, it doth no good, therefore it is unworthy of the nourishment. Terra bona and gens mala are an iU match: an opulent land and a pestilent people. Feccator non est digmis pane quo vescitur* —The wicked man is not worthy of the bread he eats, of the water he drinks, of the air he breathes, of the ground he goes on. The rich tliinks himself worthy of delicate viands, costly garments, dutiful attendance, quia dives, because he is rich; yet he may not be worthy of a crumb, a rag, a respect, quia onalus, because he is evil. It will one day grieve such fruitless Nabals, when they must receive a multiplicity of torments, according to the number of their abused benefits; and they will wish that they had not fared so well upon iarth, that they might fare less ill in hell. They live in the vineyard, eat the fat, and drink the sweet; turning all this juice, not into fruitful clusters, for the behoof of God's servants, but into their own arms and branches: raising their houses out of the ruins of God's house. What good do they 1 Cut them down; 'why cumber they the ground?' It is fit that the ' riches of the sinner should be laid up for the righteous,' Eccles. ii. 2G : dentur digniorihus.

But if God should at once cut down all the baiTen trees among us, there never was such a cry in Egypt as there would be about London. What innumerable swarms of nothing-does beleaguer this city ! Men and women, •whose whole employment is to go from their beds to the tap-house, then to the playhouse, where they make a match for the brothel-house, and from thence to bed again. To omit those ambulatory Christians, that wear out the pavement of this great temple with their feet, but scarce ever touch the stones of it ^^dth their knees; that are never further from God than when they are nearest the church. To omit that rabble of begging and pilfering vagabonds, that like beasts know no other end of then- creation but recreation, but to eat, and drink, and sleep. What an army of these might be mustered out of our suburbs, but that idleness hath disabled them to any service; they are neither fit for God nor man. Did they yet but, like worms and insects, spend up the corruption of the land, and leave us the less, it were somewhat. But they are worse, even diseases and unwholesome airs, to breed infection among us. Let authority look to then- castigation, or answer for their mischiefs : so far as they deserve, let them not be spared; cut them down, why cumber they the ground'?

* August.

(2.) The barren tree doth no good you see; but that is not aU—it doth much hurt, and that in two respects :—

[1.] It occupies the room where a better tree might grow. The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, ' and given to a nation that will bring forth the fruits thereof,' Matt. xxi. 43. A fruitful nation would be content wdth such a dwelling. Christ foretells this mutation, Paul shews it accomplished. ' They are broken off, that we'—in their places—'might be graffed on,'llom.xi. 19. ' Friend, how camest thou in liither, not having on a wedding garment V Matt. xxii. 12. Why dost thou usurp the seat where a worthy guest might sit'? Thus Da-^id used to purge his court, admitting the righteous into the offices of the unrighteous, Ps. ci. 8. As in case of calamity, the godly are delivered out of trouble, and the wicked comes in his room : so in case of felicity, the ungodly shall be turned out of their happiness, and the righteous shall come in their stead.

A judge is corrupt; he is girded with justice, but the girdle sags to that side where the purse hangeth : God will cut him down; here is room for a good man that will do equity. A magistrate is partial, and draws the sword of justice in his own quarrel, which he puts up in the cause of Christ: he must be cut down, here is room for one that will love and adhere to the truth. An office is abused by him that holds it; he bought dear and cannot sell cheap : it is tune he were cut down ; this place will maintain a man that will maintain the place with uprightness. A minister is barren, hath no milk in his breasts; ministerium ejus accipiat alter: Acts i. 20, let another take his office ; here is room for one that will feed the people. A pro-fixne patron will let none into the Lord's vineyard but at the non-licet gate, by which good men will never enter; his clerk shall be Sivion, himself will be Magus: vengeance shall cut him down; here is room for one that wUl freely put foithful labourers into the vineyard. There gTOws an oppressor, skulking in a comer ; the needy cannot find him, or if they do, they find no fruit from him: cut him down; here is room for one that wUl pity the poor. The Lord will root out such bastard plants, and replenish his garden with fruitful trees.

[2.] It dravv's away nourishment fi-om better plants that would bear us fruits. For this Christ denounceth a woe to those Jewish clerks, that keeping the keys of heaven, would ' neither enter themselves nor sufi'er others,' Matt, xxiii. 13. What shall become of them that will neither do good nor suffer good to be done, but cutting down'? A great oak pines all the underwood near it, yea, spoils the grass that should feed the cattle. A great oppressor engrosseth all round about him, till there be no place left for a fertile tree, Isa. v. 8. Meanwhile, himself hath only some leaves, to shadow his sycophants; but no fruit, unless bramble-berries, and such as the hogs wUl scarce eat.

All covet fo be great trees, few to be good. The briar would grow up to the bigness of the maple, the maple would be as tall as the cedar, the cedar as strong as the oak ; and these so spread their roots till they starve the rest by an insensible soaking. When mother earth, the church, would derive her sap to some young hopeful plant, these intercej^t it. There is maintenance due to the minister, but the barren impropriator stands in his way and sucks it aU from him : perhaps he leaves him some few drops to cool his temples, but not enough to preserve life.

But the famished tree cries against him that draws the life from it, and yields no fruit; and God wUl hear it: Absciiide, Cut it down. How charitable would Lazarus have been, had he been owner of Dives's estate ! How

would Mordecai have promoted the good of Israel, had he been as great a favourite as Hamaii was! How freely would the conscionable man give spiritual preferments, were he a patron ! He that fears God would justly render the church her dues, did he drive such trades and dwell in such houses as you do. But that God, who disposeth all as it pleaseth him, mend all when it pleaseth liim, even for his own mercies' sake !

Thus from a plain text I have derived you familiar persuasions; for I came not hither to satisfy the curious head, but the honest heart. Admit but two considerations more, and I have done:—

Consideration 1.—The Lord hath shewed us the way to be fruitful by his own example. He owes us nothing: if he withhold good things, we cannot challenge him; if he sends us good things, we are bound to thank him. The last year, how general was the complaint all over this kingdom ! The mower could not fill his scythe, nor the binder-up of sheaves his bosom; the beasts perished for want of fodder; yea, children died m the street with hunger, the poor father not being able with all his week's labour to buy them only bread. The fields were thin, and the barns thinner; little in many places there was to gather, and the vmseasonable weather prevented the gathering of that little. The emptiness of their bowels did justly fill our bowels with compassion. Famine is a sore plague. We then cried unto the Lord for fi'uits, and he heard us. Lo, in how plentiful a harvest he hath answered our desires, to his own praise, and our comfort! Yea, he concluded all with songs and triumphs, a joyful harvest-home : the best sheaf of our wheat, the best grape of the vintage, the best flower of our garland, the best fruit of that royal tree, the safe return of our gracious prince. These be the fruits of his mercy to us; where be the fruits of our thankfulness to him?

Consideration 2. —The barren fig-tree is of all most miserable; and so much the more as it is barren in the vineyard. The vine fruitless is of aU trees most useless, Ezek. xv. 3. It is compared to noble and worthy things: to the good woman, Uxo7' tua sicut vitis, Ps. cxxviii. 3; to the best man, * I am the true vine,' John xv. 1; it cheers the heart of God and man, Judg. ix. 13. But if barren, it is good for nothuig; not so much as to make a pin to hang a hat on. Oaks and cedars are good for building, poplars for pales, very bushes for hedging, doted wood for firing; but the fruitless vine is good for nothing. Salt keeps other things from putrefying; but if itself be putrefied, what shall season it? Matt. v. 13. A sweet singer dehghts us all; but quis medehitur cantatori ct serpente 2ierat,sso ? —if a serpent hath stung him, who shall recover his voice ? If the eye be bluid, what shaU look to the eye ?

Ad nihilum valet, quod nan valet ad finem smim, —It is good for nothing that is not good for the end it was made. If a knife be not good to cut, we say it is good for nothing; yet may some other use be invented for it. If a plough be not good to break the ground, we say it is good for nothing; yet it may stop a gap. If a hound be not good to hunt, Ave say he is good for nothing; yet may he in the night give warning of a thief. But if a fig-tree, a professor, be not good for fruit, he is indeed good for nothmg. The refuse of other tilings have their uses : sour wuie will make vinegar, old rags make paper, lees are for dyers, soil is good to fat the land, potsherds and broken tUes to mend highways; all good for somewhat: yea, they offer to seU the combings of their hairs,—ladies and gentlewomen know whether they be good for any purpose or no. But the fruitless vine, the savourless salt, the lightless lamp, the figless fig-tree, the graceless Christian, is good for nothing.

We aU have our stations in the vineyard, to bring forth fruits; but wliat be those fruits 1 It was a smart invention of liim, that having placed the emperor and the Pope, reconciled, in their majestic thrones, he brought the states of the world before them. First comes a councillor of state, with this motto,' I advise you two;' then a courtier, ' I flatter you three;' then a husbandman, *I feed you four;' then a merchant, 'I cozen you five;' then a lawyer, ' I rob you six;' then a soldier, ' I fight for you seven;' then a physician, ' I kill you eight;' lastly, a priest, ' I absolve you all nine.' This was his satire. But in the fear of God, as our sovereign doth govern us in truth and peace, so let the councillor advise, the judge censure, the husbandman labour, the merchant traffic, the lawj-er plead, the soldier bear arms, the divine preach—all bring forth the fruits of righteousness; that this kingdom may flourish, and be an exemplary encouragement to our neighbours; that our children may be blessed after us, our enemies convinced, aliens converted, Satan confounded, the gospel honoured, the Lord glorified, and our own souls eternally saved. Which grace, the happy fruit of the gospel, and glory, the happy fruit of grace, God the Father grant us all for his mercies' sake, God the Son for his merits' sake, God the Holy Ghost for his name's sake; to whom, three Persons, and one most glorious God, be rendered aU honour and ol5edience, now and for ever! Amen,

TO THE READER.

I neither afifect those rheumatic pens that are still dropping upon the press, nor those phlegmatic spirits that will scarce be conjured into the orb of employment; but if modest forwardness be a fault, I cannot excuse myself.

It pleased God Almighty to make a fearful comment on this, his own text, the very same day it was preached by his unworthiest servant.* The argument was but audible in the morning, before night it was visible. His holy pen had long since written with ink; now his hand of justice expounded it in the characters of blood. There was only a conditional menace, ' So it shall be;' here a terrible remonstrance, 'So it is.' Sure, he did not mean it for a nine-days' wonder ! Their sudden departure out of the world must not so suddenly depart from the memory of the world. Woe to that soul that shall take so sUght a notice of so extraordinary a judgment! We do not say. They perished; charity forbid it! But this we say. It is a sign of God's favour, when he gives a man law. We pass no sentence upon them; yet let us take warning by them. The remarkableness would not be neglected; for the time, the place, the persons, the number, the manner. Yet still we conclude not this was for the transgression of the dead; but this we are sure of, it is meant for the admonition of the Uving.

Such is our blessed Saviour's conclusion upon a parallel instance : ' Except ye repent, ye shall aU likewise perish.' There is no place safe enough for offenders; but when the Lord is once up in arms, happy man that can make his own peace ! otherwise, in vain we hope to run from the plague, while we carry the sin along with us. Yet will not our wilful and bewitched recusants, from these legible characters, spell God's plain meaning. No impression can be made in those hearts that are ordained to perish. For their maUcious, causeless, and imchristian censures of us, God forgive them: our requital be only pity and prayers for them. Howsoever thy give out—and I will not here examine—that their pity is more than ours, impudence itseK cannot deny but our charity is greater than theirs. Now the holy fear of God keep us in the ways of faith and obedience, that the properation of death may never prevent our preparation to die! And yet still, after our best endeavour, 'from sudden death, good Lord, deliver us all!' Amen. T. A.

* This sermon was preached the same day that the house fell down upon the Papists in the Blackfriars, London, October 26,1623.

FAITH'S ENCOUEAGEIENT.

And he said unto uim, Arise, go thy icay: thy faith hath made thee vjhole. —

Luke XVII. 19.

These words were spoken by our Saviour Christ to the penitent and faithful leper. For induction, I will observe two remarkable circumstances preceding my text: first, that Christ did mend him, and then commend him; he did purge him, and praise him.

1. He mended him: curing first his body, then his soul. His body of the leprosy : a disease not more hard to endure than hard to cure. The difficulty of healing it appears by the answer of the king of Israel, upon the receipt of the king of Syria's letters : ' Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy ?' 2 Kings v. 7; intimating that only God is able to cure the leprosy. His soid of the spiritual leprosy : and this was the perfection of health. For this cure the prophet so earnestly prays: Sana animayn, 'Lord, be merciful unto me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee,' Ps. xli. 4. This is a supernatural cure, fit only for the great Physician of souls to perform; the more difficult, quo minus in natura sit, quod prosit, —because nature hath no iniiuence in her stars, no minerals in her earth, no herbs in her garden, that can heal it.

2. He commends him: of all the ten cleansed, ' there are none found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger,' vcr. 18. God had his tithe there, whence he might least expect it. Now, what doth Christ commend him for ? For his thankfulness, for his humility, for his feith : why, these graces were Christ's o^vn; doth he praise him for that himself had given Mm % Yes, this is God's custom : sua dona coronat, —he crowns his own graces, he rewards his own gifts; v/hich teacheth how we should understand reward in the Scripture. ' Call the labourers, and give them their hire,' l\Iatt. sx. 8. ' Whosoever gives a cup of cold water to a disciple, shall not lose his reward,' Matt. x. 42. This hire and reward is not the stipend of our labours, but of God's love. He gives us the good of grace, and then rewards it with the good of glory. It is a reward secundum quid, a gift simpliciter. Compare eternal life to the work, looking no further, it is a reward : ' Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven,' Matt. v. 12. But examine the original from whence it proceeds, then it is the gift of God : ' Eternal life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ,' Rom. vi. 23. He is said to ' shew mercy to them that keep his commandments,' Exod.

XX. 6; tLe very keeping the commandments is not merit, it liatli need of mercy. Lo tlius the Lord gives grace, then praiseth it, blesseth it, rewards it. Christ clotheth liis spouse with his own ' garments, the smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia,' Ps. xlv. 8,—a white robe of his perfect righteousness imputed, ■with his golden merits and inesthnable jewels of graces,—and thou praiseth her: ' Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee,' Cant. iv. 7. When God made the world, with all creatures in it, he beheld it, and Eu(/e bonum, —' Behold, it is exceeding good.' So when he makes a Christian, majorem, oneUorem mundo, and hath furnished him with competent graces, he turns back and looks upon his own workmanship : Ecce honiim, — It is exceeding good ; he forbears not to commend it.

Now what doth he specially commend in this converted leper 1 His praising of God. The leper praiseth God, God praiseth the leper. He praiseth m his praising two things : the Tightness, and the rareness. First, The rightness, that he gave praise to God; directed it thither where it was only due : ' He returned to give glory to God.' Non mihi, sed Deo, saith Christ,—Not to me, but to God. Perhaps his knowledge w\as not j'ct so far enlightened as to know him that cured him to be God ; therefore bestowed his praise where he was sure it should be accepted, where only it is deserved —on God. ' I seek not mine own praise,' saith Jesus, but mittentis, ' the praise of him that sent me.' * If I honour myself, my honour is nothing,' John viii. 54. Secondly, The rareness, and that in two respects :—First, That he alone of ten blessed God; God had but his tenth : it is much if the tenth soul go to heaven. The godly are so rare, that they are set up ' for marks, and signs, and wonders,' Isa. viii. 18, as if the world stood amazed at them. Secondly, That he only was the stranger—a Samaritan.

Many great virtues were found among the Samaritans : faith, charity, thankfulness. First, Faith : ' Many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him,' John iv, 39. Secondly, Charity: it was the Samaritan that took compassion on the man wounded between Jerusalem and Jericho. The priest and the Levite passed by him without pity, but the Samaritan ' bound up his wounds,' Luke x. 34. Thirdly, Gratitude, exemplified in this Samaritan leper : none of the Jews gave God praise for their healing, but only the Samaritan. It was strange that in GrentUes should be found such virtue, where it was least looked for. ' Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel,' Matt. viii. 10. The less informed did prove the more reformed. Samaritan was held a word of reproach amongst the Jews, as appears by their malicious imputation to Christ: ' Say we not well, that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil 1' John ^dii. 48. And at the first proniulgation of the gospel, the apostles received a manifest prohibition: ' Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not,' Matt. x. 5. It was therefore rare to reap such fruits out of the wild forest, cursed like the mountains of Gilboa : ' Let there be no dew, neither rain \ipon you, nor fields of offerings,' 2 Sam. L 21. To be good in good company is little wonder : for angels to be good in heaven, Adam in paradise, Judas in Christ's college, had been no admirable matter; to apostate in these places, so full of goodness, was intolerable weakness. But for Abraham to be good in Chaldea, Noah in the old world. Lot in Sodom; for a man now to be humble in Spain, continent in France, chaste m Venice, sober in Germany, temperate in England; this is the commendation. Such a one is a lily in a forest of thorns, a handful of wheat in a field of cockle. Let me not here omit two things worthy my insertion and your observation :—

First, God's judgment and man's do not concur: the Samaritans were condemned of the Jews, yet here mne Jews are condemned by one Samaritan. They that seem best to the world, are often the worst to God ; they that are best to God, seem worst to the world. "When the moon is lightest to the earth, she is darkest to heaven; when she is lightest to heaven, she is darkest to the earth. So often men most glorious to the world are obscurest to the divine approbation; others, obscure to the world's acknowledgment, are principally respected in God's favour. Man would have cleared the Pharisee and condenuied the publican, when they both appeared in the temple together,—the one, as it were, in the choir, the other in the belfry,—but Christ's judgment is, that the publican ' departed rather justified,' Luke xviii. 14. The Jews thought that if but two men in the world were saved, the one should be a scribe, the other a Pharisee; but Christ saith neither of them both shaU come there : ' You shall see others in the kingdom of heaven, and you yourselves thrust out,' Luke xiii. 28. Some, like the moon, are greater or less by the sun* of men's estimation. Samuel was mistaken in Eliab, Abinadab, and Shammah, 1 Sam. xvi.; for the Lord had chosen David. Isaac preferred Esau, but God preferred Jacob, and made the father give the blessing to that son to whom he least meant it. All this justifies that: ' My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord,' Isa. Iv. 8.

Secondly, Learn we here from Christ to give men their due; praise to them that deserve praise. God speaks of vices with commination, of virtues with commendation. Let us speak of others' sins with grief, of theii' good works with praise and joy. Of others' sins with grief; so did St Paul:

* Many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ,' Phil. iii. 18. So David,

* Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because men keep not thj'' law,' Ps. cxix. 136. Our Saviour wept over apostate Jerusalem; he wept over the people, beholding them as scattered ' sheep without a shepherd.' Who can forbear weeping to see souls muffled and misled by ignorance : like the babes of Nineveh, not able to distinguish the right hand from the left 1 Alas! there are innumerable souls that know not their own estate; oh, pity them ! ' Because thou wUt not he^r this, my soul shall weep in secret for thy pride,' Jer. xiii. 17.

But let us mention others' virtues and good actions with praise. It is the argument of a sullen and proud disposition, not to commend them that do well. Yet there is no ointment so sweet but there will be some ' dead flies' to corrupt it, Eccles. x. 1. There be certain dogs that will bark at the moOn; critics that spend the larger part of their time seeldng knots in a bulrush. The snow is not so white, but there is an Anaxagoras to make it black. It was God's commendation of Job, that ' there was none like him in the earth,' Job i. 8 ; he had no fellow, yet the devil picks and inventeth slanders against him. Tradxicers of their brethren, I call not dcemones, but dcemonis agunt; I do not say they are devils, but they do the work of devils.

This mischief of depraving hath also infected the church. ]Many a preacher tliinks his own glory eclipsed, if the next orb be lightened with a brighter star. Hence they fall to faulting and inveighing; as if there were no way to build up their own credits but by the ruins of another's disgrace. God doth otherwise : ' The Lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely,' Luke xvi. 8. Though he had many faults, yet Christ

* Qu. 'sum'?— Ed.

pruiseth him for what was worthy praise—his policy. St Paul found gross errors in tlie Corinthians : * In this I praise you not, that you come together not for the'better, but for the worse,' 1 Cor. xi 17. But whereui they did well, he commends them : ver. 2, ' I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things.' Thus Ezekiel commends Daniel, a prophet of his own time, and thought it not any derogation from himself: ' Behold, art thou wiser than Daniel 1 ' Ezek. xxviii. 3. As Solomon saith of beggars : ' A poor man oppressing the poor is like a sweephig rain which leaveth no food behind it,' Prov. xxviii. 3. So a muiister disparaging a minister is a breach whereby the devil comes out, and many souls go into hell.

Now to the words, 'Aiise, go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.'

The verse may be distinguished into—I. A passport; and, II. A certificate. ' Arise, go thy way,' there is the passport; ' Thy faith hath made thee whole,' there is the certificate. He gives him first a dismission, leave to depart; then a testimony, or assurance, both to certify the church actually that he was cleansed of his leprosy, but especially to certify his own conscience that he was converted, and that the faith of his soul brought health to his body.

I. In the passport, or dismission, there are two words considerable : Surge and Vade, —'Arise,' 'Go.' Surge ad incijnendum, vade ad jjerficiendum. First, let us speak of them secundum soman; then, secundum sensum : first, according to the history; then, according to mystery. Allegories are tolerable when they be profitable. Nor can it be much from the text, by occasion of those two words spoken to the ears of the leper's body, to instract your souls how to arise from the seat of custom, the couch of sin, and to go on in the way of salvation.

1. 'Arise.' The leper casts himself down, and Christ bids him arise. Humility is the gentleman-usher to glory. God, that sends away the rich empty from his gates, loves to ' fill the hungry with good things,' Luke i. 53. The air passeth by the full vessel, and only filleth that is empty. This is the difierence laetween the proud and beggars; both agree in not having, differ in craving. The proud are 2^ctu2yeres spiritus, the humble are pauperes sinritu. ' Blessed are,' not the poor si^irits, but 'the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Idngdom of heaven,' Matt. v. 3. Such as felt their Avants sought and besought God for supply. ' Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain be brought low,' Luke iii. 5. The lowly mind shall be exalted, the high-towering ambitious shall be thrown down. How shoidd God say to the merchant that glories in his wealth, to the usurer that admireth his moneys, to the gallant that wonders that his good clothes do not i^refer him: ' Arise !' Alas! they are up already, they were never down. A dwarf in a great throng, seeming low on his knees, was bidden by the prince to stand up; alas ! he was before at his highest. God cannot be so mistaken as to encourage their standing up who never yet had the manners to cast themselves down. Descendite ut ascendatis ad Deum: cecidisiis enim ascendendo contra eum* —Descend, that ye may rise up to God; for you have fallen by rising up against God. He that is a mountebank must level himself even with the ground; if humbleness hath once thrown him down, and brought him on liis knees, he shall hear the patron and pattern of humbleness comforting him with a Stnye, ' Arise.'

The guest that sets himself down at the lower end of the table shall hear the feastmaker kindly remove him : 'Friend, sit up higher,' Luke xiv. 10. If Esther fall at Ahasv . us's feet, he will take her by the hand, and bid her

* Aug.

arise. Wlien ' Peter fell down at Jesus's knees, saying, Depart from me; I am a sinful man, O Lord,' Luke v. 8, 10, he presently was raised up with, ' Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men.' Zaccheus is gotten up on high to see Jesus; see him he may with his eye of flesh, but he must descend that he may see him with liis eye of faith. ' Come down, Zaccheus ; this day is salvation come to thy house,' Luke xix. 5 : Descend to the ground, that thou mayest be raised above the clouds. Pride, even in good things, non ditio, sed perditio, is no argument of possession, but destruction. The haughty-minded looks always beyond the mark, and offers to shoot further than he looks, but ever falls two bows short—humility and discretion. Who is heard to say with Paul, Quorum ego stim primus, —' I am the chief of sinners?' 1 Tim. i. 15: such a humble confession scarce heard of. But Christ had given him a Surge on his former humbling : ' Arise, and bear my name before Gentiles and kings,' &c. Let us all thus cast ourselves down in humility, that the Lord may say to us in mercy, ' Arise !'

2. ' Go.' This was the word of dismission wherewith Christ sends him away. He was healed, and therein had his heart's desire; what could he expect more of Christ 1 why is he not gone ? No, he has not yet hi& Vade; he wiU not go till he is bidden. He found such sweetness in the Lord Jesus, that could you blame him though he Avere loath to depart ? From another man's house, we say, after some smaU tarrying. Let us save our credits, and go before we are bidden; but from the Lord let us not depart without a dismission. The hearts of the people were so set on Christ, that he was fain to send them often away, Mark vi. 45, Matt. xiv. 22, ' He sent the multitudes awa}^,' Matt. xv. 39, ' He sent the people away.' As Simeon, that swan, which sung his own funeral: Nunc dimiUis, —' Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.'

This makes to the shame of their faces that, without other cause than of weariness, waywardness, or wantonness, wdU not tarry for their Discedite, but depart the church without the blessing; they will not stay till Christ bids them go. They venture therein wretchedly and dangerously, if they could so conceive it, to depart without the ' peace of God.' It is a usual complaint of man in distress, Quare dereUquisti me, Domine ? —Why hast thou forsaken me, O Lord ? God justly answers, -'Quare dereliquisti me, homo 1 —Why didst thou forsake me first, 0 man % Would you needs depart when you should not % you therefore shall depart when you would not. Discedite, ' Depart;' indeed a woeful dejection, Matt. vii. 23. ' Depart from me, ye cursed,' Matt. xxv. 41. Why cursed ? Good reason; you would not tarry for a blessing. Thus is God even with the wicked : Eecedisti a me, recedam a vobis, —You left me, I therefore leave you. Will you go without bidding] Ahite, —Get you gone. ' He that will go into captivity, let him go.' Deus prior in araore, posterior in odio, —God loved us before we loved him; he doth not actually hate us, till we first hate him. Nunquam deserif, nisi cum deseritur, —He forsakes not us till we forsake him. No man can take Christ from thy soul, unless thou take thy soul from Christ. God complains of the Jews, that they had left him : ' My people have forsaken me,' Jer. ii. 13. Forsake thee, 0 Lord, living Father of mercies, and God of all comfort! ' Will a man forsake the snow of Lebanon, and the cold flowing waters that come from the rocks V Jer. XAdii. 14. If any will do so, then hear the curse : ' 0 Lord, the hope of Israel, aU that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from thee shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters,' Jer, xvii. 13. But let them that cleave to the Lord, hear the

blessing: ' I %vill not leave tlioe nor forsake thee,' Heb. siii. 5. Let us hang on the mouth of God for decision of all our doubts, direction of all (jur ways; like the centurion's servants, Matt. viii. 9, going when he bids us, coming when he calls us, doing what he commands us. At his word let us arise and go on earth ; at his call we shall arise and go to heaven. He that obeys the Surge in grace shall have the S'un/e in glory. He that goes in the ways of holiness shall go into the courts of happiness. ' He that goeth forth weeping, bearing with him precious seed, shall come again rejoicing, and bring his sheaves with him,' Ps. cxxvi. G. ' They that have done well shall go into everlasting life,' Matt. xxv.

Thus much of these two words, as they belonged to that person, the leper. Now let us usefully apply them to ourselves.

First, Let us observe from this Arise, it is Christ that gives the Surge which reviveth us : we can never stir from the seat of impiety till he bids us arise. ' No man can come to me, except the Father draw him,' John vi. 44. The Spirit of Christ must draw us out of the black and miry pit of inicjuity; as Ebedmelech drew Jeremiah out of the dungeon, Jer. xxxviii. 13. We cannot arise of ourselves; nature hath no foot that can make one true step toward heaven : ' That which is born of the fiesh is flesh,' John ui. 6; not fleshly in the concrete, but flesh in the abstract. We cannot speak unless he open our Kps. God says to the prophet, ' Cry.' ' What shall I cry % ' The Spirit must give the word: ' AU flesh is grass,' &c., Isa. xl. 6. We cannot stand unless he give us feet: ' Son of man, stand upon thy feet,' Ezek. ii. 1. Alas ! he cannot; but, ver. 3, ' The Spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet.' We cannot see except he give us eyes : Intelligite, insipi-entes, —'Be -wise, 0 ye fools.' Alas ! they cannot; but da 7nihi intelledum, —do thou, O Lord, give them wisdom. 'Be ye not conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of your minds, that you may prove,' (fee, Kom. xii. 2. There are first two verbs passive, then an active; to shew that we are double so much patients as we are agents. Being moved, we move. Acta fit activa voluntas: when God hath inclined oixr will to good, that will can then incline us to perform goodness.

If we cannot speak without lips from him, nor walk without affections from him, nor see except he give us eyes; then neither can we arise except, he takes us by the hand, as Peter took the cripple, ' and lift him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength,' Acts iii. 7. If the Spirit of our Lord Jesus give us a Surge, our lame soul shall gTOw strong and lively in the nerves of graces, we shall arise and walk; leaping, and singing, and praising God.

Secondly, We must arise, for we are naturally down. By nature a man ' lieth in wickedness,' 1 John v. 19 : by grace he 'risetli to newness of life,' Ptom. vi. 4. Nature and religion are two opposites: I mean by nature, corrupted nature; and by religion, true religion; for otherwise, the accepting of some religion is engraSed to every nature. It is nature to be ' dead in sins,' Eph. ii. 1 : it is religion to be ' dead to sin,' Bom. vl 2. It is nature to be ' reprobate to every good work,' Tit. i. 16 : religion to be 'ready to every good work,' Tit. iii. 1. It is nature to be a ' lover of one's self,' 2 Tim. iii. 2 : religion to ' deny one's self,' Luke ix. 23. It is nature for a man to ' seek only his own profits,' Phil. ii. 21 : religion to ' serve others by love,' Gal. v. 13. Nature esteems preaching, folly: religion, the ' power of God to salvation,' 1 Cor. i. 21, 24. There are two lights in man, as in heaven—reason and faith. Reason, like Sarah, is still asking, ' How can this be ?' Faith, like Abraham, not disputes, but believes. There is no

validity in moral virtues : civil men's good works are a mere carcase, witli-out the soul of faith.

They are like that Roman, that having fortunately slain his three enemies, the Curiatii, coming home in triumph, and beholding all the people welcome him with acclamations, only his sister weep, because he had slain her love ; he embittered his victories mth the murder of his own sister. Carnal men may do glorious deeds, flourish with brave achievements; but they mar all by killiug their own sister, the dear soul. Thus we are down by nature; grace can only help us up, and make us arise. If you ask how nature hath dejected us, how we came originally thus depraved? I answer, We know not so well how we came by it, as we are sure we have it. JUihil ad jjfcedican-dum notius, nihil ad intelligendiLni secretins* —Nothing is more certainly true to be preached, nothing more secretly hard to be understood. Therefore, as in case of a town on fire, let us not busily inquire how it came, but carefully endeavour to put it out. A traveller passing by, and seeing a man fallen into a deep pit, began to wonder how he fell in; to whom the other replied, Tu cogita quomodo hinc me liheres, non quomodo hue ceciderim quce-ras, —Do thou, good friend, rather study how to help me out, than stand questioning how I came in. Pray to Christ for this Suyge : Libera nos Do-mine, —We are naturally down; do thou, 0 Lord, graciously raise us up.

Thirdly, We must ' arise' before we can ' go.' First arise, then go thy way, saith Christ. He that is down may creep like a serpent, cannot go like a man. Thou art to fight with cruel enemies : * Not flesh and blood, but principalities and powers, wicked spirits in high places,' Eph. vi. 12. Thou wilt perform it poorly whiles thou art along on the ground. The flesh will insult over thee with undenied lusts. Qidcquid suggeritur, cceteris aggeritur, —there is not a sinful motion suggested, but it is instantly embraced, and added to that miserable dunghill of iniquity. And is not this wretched, to have Ham's curse upon thee, to be a slave to slaves % The world wiU hold thy head under his girdle, whiles he tramples on thy heart: thou shalt eat no other food than he gives thee ; he will feed thee with bribes, usuries, injuries, perjuries, blasphemies, homicides, turpitudes; none of these must be refused. The devil wUl tjTannise over thee; thou canst hardly grapple with that great red dragon, until thou art mounted like St George on the back of faith. Alas ! how shouldst thou resist him, being down under his feet ? Ai-ise therefore, and 'take the whole armour of God,' Eph. vi. 13, that you may both stand and withstand.

' Arise,' lest God coming, and finding thee down, strike thee lower : * From him that hath not shall be taken away that he seemeth to have.' Pauper uhique jacet, is a proverb more plentifully true in a mystical than a temporal poverty. We say. Qui jaeet in terris, non habet unde cadat, —He that lies on the gromid hath no lower descent to fall to. Yes, there is a lower place. Judas found a lower fall than the earth when he departed, in locum suum, ' into his own place,' Acts i. 25, Such was that great monarch's fall: ' How art thou fallen from heaven, 0 Lucifer? how art thou cut down to the ground?' Isa. xiv. 12. This was a great descent, from heaven to earth. But, ver. 15, ' Thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.' This was a greater descent, from heaven to hell. We esteem it a great fall (ceremonially) from a throne to a prison; and the devU meant a great fall (locally) from the pinnacle to the ground: but there is abi/ssiis inferna, a lower precipice. David begins a psalm of prayer, De profundis, —' Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord,' Ps. cxxx. But there is a depth

* Aug.

of depths, and out of that deep there is uo rising. Arise now, lest you fall into that deep then.

' Arise ;' for if thou wilt not, thou shalt be raised. Si non surrexeris vol-enter, siiscitaberis violenter, —If thou refuse to rise willingly, thou shalt be roused against thy wUl. If thou wilt not hear the first Surge, which is the minister's voice, thou shalt hear the last Surge, which is the archangel's voice. Dicis, Surgam, —Thou sayest, I wUl rise. But when ? Modo Domine, inodo, —Anon, Lord, all in time. Will not this be a silly excuse at the day of judgment, ' I will rise anon ?' Thou must rise ' in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump,' 1 Cor. xv. 52. Though thou cry to the * mountains. Fall on me, and to the rocks. Hide me,' Rev. vi. 16; yet mdla evasio, thou must arise and appear. There are two voices that sound out this Siaye: one evangelical, and that is of mercy; yet we drown this, as Italians do thunder, by drums, bells, cannons. The other angelical, and that is of justice, a voice impossible to be avoided. This is that last sermon, that all the world shall hear : ' Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment.'

' Arise;' let us now raise up ourselves from corruption of soul, that we may one day be raised from corruption of body. They that wlU not rise, their souls must, and cany their bodies to judgment. This world was made for man, not man for this world; therefore they take a wi'ong course that lie down there. He that lies down when he should arise and go, shall rise and go when he would lie down. He that sleeps in the cradle of security all his life, sins soundly without starting; when he once starts and wakes, he must never sleej) again. The de\dl and mischief are ever watching ; and shall men, whom they watch to hurt, sleep ? He that would deceive the devil had need to rise betimes. The lion is said to sleep with one eye open, the hare with both; the worldling with both eyes of his soul shut. He never riseth till he goes to bed; his soul wakens not till his body falls asleep on his deathbed : then perhaps he looks up. As sometimes they that have been blind many years, at the approaching of death have seen,—whereof physicians give many reasons,—so the death-bed opens the eyes of the soul. Indeed at that time there is possibility of waking, but hazard of rising. That poor winter-fruit will hardly reUsh with God. Misermn iiicipere vivere, cum desinendum est, —It is wretched for a man then to begin his life when he must end it. It is at the best but morosa et morhosa j-toeniteiitia, —a wearish and sick repentance. "Wliereas God requires a ' quick and lively sacrifice,' Rom. xii. 1, this is as sick as the person that makes it. This indeed is not a conversion, but a reversion, or mere refuse.

To raise the secure from their unseasonable, unreasonable sleep, God doth ring them a peal of five bells :—

The first bell is conscience : this is the treble, and doth somewhat trouble; especially if the hand of God pulls it. Many think of their consciences as Ul debtors do of their creditors—they are loath to talk with them. Indeed God is the creditor, and conscience the sergeant, that will meet them at every turn. It makes a syllogistical conclusion in the mind. Reason, like David, draws the sword, and conscience, like Nathan, knocks him on the breast with the hilts. David made the proposition, ' The man that hath done this shall die the death,' 2 Sam. xii.; Nathan the assumption, * Thou art the man;' conscience the conclusion, ' Therefore thou must die.' If you hear not, yea feel not the sound of this bell, suspect your dcadness of heart; for that city is in danger where the alarm-bell rings not.

The second bell is the stint, or certain to all the rest: vox evangelii, tho voice of the gospel. This bell of Aaron is so perpetually rung amongst us, VOL. II. N

that as a knell in a great mortality, quia frequens, non terrens,-—%o common tliat no man regards it. Indeed, if some particular clapper ring melodiously to the ear, we come to please that rather than the soul. Luxuriant wits think the Scripture phrase gross; nothing delights them but a painted and meretricious eloquence. There are some that wHl not hear this bell at aU; like Jeroboam, they will not travel to Jerusalem for a sermon, but content themselves with a calf at home. Others look that the preacher's tongue should incessantly walk, but let their own hearts lie still. Thus often our lecturer shall preach, we wUl give the hearing when we list. Thus many ministers come to a parish -with their bones full of marrow, veins full of blood ; but all is soon spent, and the people never the better. We ring, but you do not rise.

The third bell is the mean; and this is suspiria gemitusque morienfium, — the cries and groans of the dying. Another's passing-bell is thy waniing-bell. Death snatcheth here and there about us, thousands on our left, ten thousand on our right; yet as if we had a Supersedeas, or protestation against it, we neither relent nor repent. Our security is argued of the more madness, because we have so common motions and monitions of death. Yet non erimus memores esse necesse mori. How horrible is it to be drunk in a charnel-house ! As Christ spake, ' Let the dead bury their dead.' So we bring to the church dead bodies, with deader souls.

' Forma, favor populi, fervor juvenilis, opesque, Surripuere tibi noscere quid sit homo.'

We confess om'selves mortal, yet we live as if death had no quarrel against us. This bell is the mean, but is too mean to wake us.

The fourth bell is the counter-tenor : vox ixiuperum, the cry of the poor. This bell rings loud, either to us for mercy, or against us for cruelty. Let us know, that if it cannot waken us, it shall waken God against us. ' Their cries are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth,' James v. 4 Set not thy soul in danger of the people's curse; by enhancings, engrossing?, oppressions, &c. But thou sayest they are wicked men that will curse, and God will not hear the wishes of the wicked. I answer, it is often seen that the curse of the undone waster lights upon the head of the undomg usurer. The imprecation of an evil man may fall upon another • God so suffers it, not because he cursed thee, but because thou hast deserved this curse. Let this bell make oppressors arise to shew mercy, that God may rise to shew them mercy. Otherwise the poor man is ready to pray, ' Arise, 0 Lord, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of our enemies : awake for us to the judgment thou hast commanded,' Ps. vil 6. Yea, though they pray not for it, God wUl do it. ' For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him,' Ps. xii. 5. If this bell sound mournfully to thee for bread to the hungry, arise to this sound, as that neighbour rose at midnight to reUeve liis importunate friend, Luke xi. 8. If it cannot waken thy covetous soul to shew mercy to Christ tempore suo, in his time of need, nor will Christ arise to shew mercy to thee, tempore tuo, in thy time of need.

The last beU is the tenor, the bow-bell: able to waken all the city. But though that material bell can teach us when it is time to go to bed, yet this mystical beU cannot teach us the time to arise. This is the abuse of the creatures : ' The rust of the gold cries' against the hoarder, James v. 3 ; ' the stone out of the wall' against the oppressor, Hab. ii 11; the corn and wine against the epicure. This is a roaring and a groaning bell: ' The whole

creature groans and travails iii pain' under us, Rom. viii. 22. This is the creatures' ordinary sermon : Accipe, reclde, cave, —Use us without abusing, return thankfulness without dissembling, or look for vengeance Avithout sparing. They seem to cry unto us, ' We desire not to be spared, but not to be abused: necessitatl subservire non recusamus, sed luxui, —we would satisfy your natural necessity, not intemperate riot.' We are the nocent creatures that cause their innocency to become miserable. And but that the diAine providence restrains them, it is marvel hat they break not their league with us; and with their horns, and hoofs, and other artillery of nature, make war upon us, as their unrighteous and tyrannical lords.

Let some of these bells vv'aken us; lest, as God once protested against Israel, that seeing they would not when it was offered, therefore they should never ' enter into his rest,' Heb. ui. So a renunciation come out agamst us : ' If any will be filthy, let them be filthy stUl,' Eev. xxii.; if they will not arise, they shall lie still for ever. If this peal cannot effect it, yet God hath four things more to rouse us :—

First, A goad that pricks the skui and smarts the flesh—affliction. He hath crosses and curses; those gall, these deeply wound ; they are able to make any but a Pharaoh arise. It was affliction that wakened David : ' It » is good for me that I was troubled.' The leprosy brought Naaman to the -^ prophet; the prophet brought him to God. It is strange if bloody sides put not sense into us. Yet such was the obduracy of Israel: ' Thou hast stricken them, but they have not sorrowed; thou hast consumed them, yet they refused to return,' Jer. v. 3. Insensible hearts ! ' The people turneth not to him that smiteth them; neither do they seek the Lord of hosts,' Isa, ix. 13. Hast thou been wounded, and wilt thou not be wakened ? Beware lest God speak to thy soul, as in another sense Christ did to Peter, * Sleep on now, and take thy rest.'

Secondhj, He hath, to rouse us, thunder of heavier judgments. Perhaps the light scratches which some adverse thorns make are slightly reckoned; we scarce change countenance for them; but he sleeps soundly whom thunder cannot wake. Humanas motiira tonitrica mentes. ^Vhen God thundered that menace in the ears of Nineveh, it waked them. Let Absalom fire Joab's barley fields, and he shall make him rise, 2 Sam. xiv. Shake the foundations of the prison, and the stern jailor will rise a converted Christian : ' Sirs, what shall I do to be saved 1 ' Acts xvi. This thundcrmg of judgments should cleanse our air, awaken our sleepy minds, purge our unclean hearts. ' If the lion roar, who will not fear ? If the Lord thunder, what man will not be afraid V Amos iii. 8.

Thirdly, He hath an ordnance to shoot off—death. Statutum est omnibus mori. It is a statute law of heaven, an ordmance from the court of justice, every man shall die. When this cannon is discharged at thy paper walls, then let thy soul rise, or never. The shooting off this ordnance made Bel-shazzar stagger before he was drunk. ' His knees smote one against another,' when that fatal hand wrote his destiny on the wall, Dan. v. G. Indeed most do slumber on the couch of health, they are quiet, no sickness stirs them; they are at a covenant with the grave :—

• Sed cito finitam datur istam cemere vitam. Prseceps mortis iter.'

Death makes a headlong progi-ess. This ordnance carries death in its mouth: it is an even hand that shoots; one that will never misa the mark. Let this rouse us.

Fouii.ldy, God liatli a trumpet to soianci: * The Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God,' 1 Thess. iv. 16. Altisona,grandisonatuba, —the loudest instrument of war : every ear shall hear it. As it was in the days of Noah and Lot, * so shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed,' Luke xvii. 30 : from eating and drinking, building and planting, buying and sellmg, marrying and dancing, shall this trumpet call them. It shall fetch the drunkard from the ale-bench, the harlot from her luxurious bed, the epicure from his riotous table, the usurer from his charnel-house, of men's bones and beasts' skins, his study: now surgendum est -undique, there must be a universal rising. Well, let us waken before this last trumpet's last summons, lest then we rise only to judgment, and be judged to lie down again in torments. God long expects our rising : Quanta diutius nos expedat tit emendemtis, tanto districtius judicahit si neglexerimus,'''' —With how much patience he waits for our neglected conversion, with so much vengeance he will punish our continued rebellion. The Lord of his mercy give us the first resurrection to grace, that we may enjoy the rising of gloiy!

' Arise, and go.' Being got up, it is not fit we slaould stand stUl, we must 1 be going. The main work was to raise us ; now we are up, I hojDe an easy matter wUl set us a-going. And to help forward our journey, let our meditations take along with them these three furtherances : the necessity, the conveniency, the end. The necessity, we must go ; the conveniency, how we must go; the end, whither we must go.

(1.) The necessity: all that have hope of heaven must be going. The servants of God under the law, Exod. xii. 11, the sons of God under the gospel, Eph. vi, 15, are commanded to have their feet shod, to witness their preparation of going. God doth not only charge Elijah with a Surge, ' Arise,' 1 Kings xix. 5; but also with a Vade, ' Go,' ver. 7. The sitting bird is easUy shot; so long as she is flying in the air, the murdering piece is not levelled at her. There were two principal occasions of David's sm : otkim et ocidus, — idleness and his eye. The one gives Satan opportunity, the other conveniency, to inject his temptation. Otia si tollas, 2)eriere Cujndinis arcus. ' David, hast thou nothing to do ? Come, walk with me on thy palace roof; I wiU shew thee beauty, a snare able to take a saint.' It is necessary therefore to be going; for so we are not so fair a mark for Satan. Adam, so long as he was at his work in the garden, was safe enough ; when he became lazy, and fell a-daUying with Eve, Satan shot him. It Avas Jerome's counsel to Rusti-cus : ' Be ever doing, iit quando diabolus veniat, inveniat occupatum, —that when the devil comes with his business, he may find thee at thine own business.' So thou shalt answer him knocking at thy door: ' I am busy; I have no time to talk with you, Satan.' Do you think the devil could be so sure to meet his friends at the theatre, tavern, brothel-house, but that Mistress Idleness sends them thither 1 Yea, by this he takes a worldling by the hand at church : ' Well met ; you are so full of business all the week that you break your sleeps, cannot take your rest; come, here be two sermons on the Sunday, sleep out them.' The Sabbath seems tedious to some, they have . nothing to do. Nothing ? Alas! they know not a Sabbath-day's work. To pray, to hear, to read, to meditate, to confer, to visit, to pray again; is all this nothing 1 Because they labour not in their worldly calling, they think there needs no labour about their Christian calling : the ' working out their salvation' they hold no pains; indeed they take no pains about it. If they did perform these duties, they should find the right spending the Sab-

* Bern.

bath., not nullum lahorem, sed alium, —not no labour, but another kind of labour than ever they conceived. And this not opus tcedii, sed gaudii. Think of that sweet vicissitude of works and comforts ; and hreve videhitur tempus, tantis varietatibus occupatum, —that time must needs seem short that is spent in such variety of delights. It was the principal of those three faults whereof Cato professed himself to have so seriously repented. One was, passing by water when lie might go by land; another was, trusting a secret to a woman; but the main one was, spending an hour unprofitably. How many hours, not only on common days, but even upon the holy Sab-batli, that concerns the business of our souls, have we unpi'ofitably lavished, and yet never heartily repented them !

(2.) The conveniency: if we go, we must have feet. All our preacliing is to beat the bush, put you from your coverts, and set you a-going; but now quihus p)edihiis 1 —on what feet must you go ? The foot is the affection or appetite, saith St Augustine; eo feror, quocunque feror, —that carries me whithersoever I go. The foot moves the body, the affection moves the soul. The regenerate soul hath three principal faculties, as the natural body hath three semblable members : the eye, hand, and foot. In the soul the eye is knowledge, the hand is faith, the foot is obedience. The soul without knowledge is like Bartimeus, blind; without faith, like the man with the -withered hand; without obedience, like Mephibosheth, lame.

Tnie Christians are not monopodes, one-footed; the Apostle speaks in the plural number, of their feet : ' Stand, having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace,' Eph. vi. 15. He meant not corporal feet: the soul must therefore have spiritual feet, like the body's, for number, for nature :—'

[1.] For number; the body hath two feet, so hath the soul—affection and action, desiring and doing. The former, that puts forward the soul, is a hopeful affection. One said, Hope is a foot, pes spes; but hope is rather a nerve that strengthens the motion of this foot, than the foot itself. The latter is action, or operative obedience; that rightly walks in the blessed way of holiness. ' I desire to do thy will, O my God,' Ps. xl, 8 ; there is the foot of affection. ' I will run the way of thy commandments,' Ps. cxix. 32 ; there is the foot of action. ' I have longed for thy precepts,' ver. 40 ; there is the foot of desiring. ' I turned my feet unto thy testimonies,' ver. 59 ; there is the foot of obeying.

[2.] For nature ; they are fitly compared to feet, and that, ratione situs ei transitus, —for placing and for passing.

For site, or placmg ; the feet are the lower parts of the body, so are affections of the soul. The head is the directer, the foot the carrier : the feet help the head, the head guides the feet. The understanding and affection are like the blind man and the lame : the lame hath eyes but no feet; the blind hath feet but no eyes. But whiles the blind carries the lame, and the lame directs the blind, both may come to their journey's end. The understanding sees well, but of itself cannot go; the affection is able to go, but of liimself cannot see : let the one direct well, the other walk after that direction, and they will bring the soul to heaven.

For transition, or passing ; as the feet corporally, so these spiritually, move and conduct the man from place to place. Indeed, ' none can come to the Son unless the Father draw him,' Jolm vi. 4-4; but when he hath given us feet, he looks we should go. ' He that hath ears to hear, let him hear;' he that hath hands, let him work; he that hath feet, let him go. Hence is that exhortation, ' Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you,' James iv. 8. In this footmanship there is terminus a quo recedimus, terminus ad quern

accedimus, mohis per quern pTocedimus, — from the ways of darkness, to tlie fruition of light, to the conversation in light. From darkness exterior, interior, inferioi*. Outward : this land is full of darkness, fraught operihus tene-hranim, with the works of darkness. Inward : ' Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, and because of the blindness of their heart,' Eph. iv. 18. Outer darkness, that which Christ calls to cmrog ro s^'mtspov, Matt. xxii. 13, or lower darkness : ' He hath reserved the lost angels in everlastuig chains under darkness,' Jude 6. Unto light external, internal, eternal. Outward light: ' Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path,' Ps. cxix. 105. Inward light: * In the hidden parts thou shalt make me to know wisdom,' Ps. li. G. Everlasting light: ' They shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for ever and ever,' Dan. xii. 3. Blessed feet! that carry us to ' that light which lighteneth every man that cometh into the world,' John i. 8; and to the beams of that sun which ' gives light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,' Luke i. 79. Happy feet! they shall be guided ' into the way of peace.' Look to thy foot wheresoever thou treadest; beware the gardens of temporal pleasures : Ust aliquid quod in ijisis florihus angat. It is worse going on fertile ground than on barren . the smooth ways of prosperity are slippery, in rough afflictions we may take sure footing. Let your feet be shod, saith Paul, your affections restrained; bar lust of her vain objects, turn her from earth to heaven. Set her a-travel-ling, not after riches, but graces. Keep the foot of desire still going, but put it in the right way, direct it to everlasting blessedness. And this is—

(3.) The end whither we must go: to perfection. Thou hast done well, yet go on still. Nihil jyrcesumitur actum, dum siiperest aliquid ad agendum, —Nothing is said to be done, whUes any part remains to do. No man can go too far in goodness. Nimis Justus, et nimis sapiens pates esse, nan nimis bonus, —Thou mayest be too just, thou mayest be too wise, but thou canst never be too good. Summce religionis est, imitaj^i quern colis, —It is a true height of religion, to be a follower of that God of whom thou art a wor-shippei'. Come so nigh to God as possibly thou canst, in imitation, not of his power, wisdom, majesty, but of his mercy. ' Be holy, as the Lord is holy,' 1 Pet. i. 1G; 'Be merciful, as your heavenly Father is merciful,' Luke vi. 36. The going on forward to this perfection shall not displease him, but crown thee. Give not over this going, until with St Paul thou have quite 'finished thy course,' 2 Tim. iv. 7.

Aim at perfection, shoot at this mark, though thou cannot reach it. When the wrestling angel said to Jacob, ' Let me go, for the day breaketh,' he answered, 'I will not let thee go except thou bless me,' Gen. xxxii. 2Q. Happy perseverance! ' When I caught him whom my soul loved, I held him, and would not let him go,' Cant. iii. 4. O sweet Jesus! who would let thee go, qui tenes tenentem, apiwehendenteni fortificas, fortificatura con-firmas, confirmatum perficis, perfectum coronas^' —thou that holdest him that holdeth thee, that strengthenest him that trusteth thee, confirmest whom thou hast strengthened, perfectest whom thou hast confirmed, and crownest whom thou hast perfected? In the behalf of this continuance, the Holy Ghost gives those exhortations: 'Holdfast, stand fast;' 'Hold that thou hast, that no man take thy crown,' Piev. iii. 11. The same to the churcli of Thyatira ; Tene quod habes, Rev. ii. 25. ' Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free,' Gal. v. 1. It is an ill hearing, '1%' not do, but ' did run well,' ver. 7. The prophet in his threnes weeps that

* Bern.

* they which were brought up iii scarlet, embrace dunghills,' Lam. iv. 5. It is just matter of lamentation, when souls which have been clad with zeal as with scarlet, constantly forward for the glory of God, fall to such apostasy as with Demas to embrace the dunghill of this world, and with an avarous hausture to lick up the mud of corruption.

Joseph had a coat reaching down to his feet: our religion must be such a garment, neither too scant to cover, nor too short to continue ad ultimum, to the last day of our temporary breath. ' Bo thou faithful unto the death, and I will give thee the crown of life,' Rev. ii. 10 : this crown is promised to a good beginning, but performed to a good ending. Strive to ' comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height,' Eph. iii 18. If we can comprehend with the saints, not only the height of hope, the depth of faith, the breadth of charity, but also the length of continuance, we are blessed for ever. Even the tired horse, when he comes near home, mends his pace : be good always, without weariness, but best at last; that the nearer thou comest to the end of thy days, the nearer thou mayest be to the end of thy hopes, the salvation of thy soul. Oninis coelestis curia nos expedaf, desideremus earn quanta possicmus desiderio* —The whole court of heaven waits for us; let us long for that blessed society with a hearty affection. The saints look for our coming, desiring to have the number of the elect fulfilled; the angels blush when they see us stumble, grieve when we fall, clap their wings "with joy when we go cheerfully forward; our Saviour Christ stands on the battlements of heaven, and with the hand of help and comfort wafteth us to him. When a noble soldier in a foreign land hath achieved brave designs, won honourable victories, subdued dangerous adversaries, and with worthy chivalry hath renowned his kmg and country; home he comes, the king sends for him to court, and there in open audience of his noble courtiers, gives him words of grace, commendeth, and (which is rarely more) rewardeth his valour, heaps dignities, preferments, and places of honour on him. So shall Christ at the last day, to all those soldiers that have valiantly combated and conquered his enemies: in the sight of heaven and earth, audience of men and angels, give victorious wreaths, crowns and garlands, 'long white robes,' Rev. vii. 9, to witness their innocency, and ' pabns in their hands,' to express their victory; and finally, he shall give them a glorious kingdom to enjoy for ever and ever!

Now, yet further to encourage our going, let us think upon our company. Four sweet associates go with us in our journey: good Christians, good angels, good works, our most good Saviour Jesus Christ.

First, Good Cluistians accompany us even to our death. If thou go to the temple, they wiU go with thee. ' Many people shall say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob,' Isa. ii. 3. If thou say, ' Come, let us build up the walls of Jerusalem,' Neh. ii. 17 j they will answer, 'Let us rise up and build,' ver. 18. So when Joshua protested to Israel: Do what you will, ' but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord,' Josh. xxiv. 15; they echoed to huu, 'God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods : we also wUl serve the Lord,' ver. IG, 18. Thou canst not say with Elias, 'I am left alone;' there be

* seven thousand,' and thousand thousands, that never bowed their knee to Baal, Rom. xL 3.

Secondly/, Good angels bear us company: to death, in our guarding; after death, in our carrjing up to heaven. A nrjelis mandavit, —' He hath given his angels charge over us,' Ps. xci. 11. There are malicious devils against

* Bern.

us, but there are powerful angels witli us. That great Majesty whom we all adore hath given them this commission : * Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shaU be heirs of salvation?' Heb. j. 14. An angel counsels Hagar to return to her mistress, Gen. xvi.; an angel accompanies Jacob m his journey, Gen. xlviii.; an angel feeds Elias, 1 Kings xix.; an angel plucks Lot out of Sodom. Gaudent angeli te con-versum illorum sociari co7isoriiis," —The angels rejoice at our conversion, that so their number might have a completion.

Thirdly, Good works bear us company: good angels associate us, to deliver their charge; good works, to receive their reward. Though none of our actions be meritorious, yet are none transient, none lost. They are gone before us to the courts of joy, and when we come, they shaU welcome our entrance. Virtutis miseris dulce sodalitium, —What misery soever per-pleseth our voyage, virtue and a good conscience are excellent company.

Lastly, Jesus Christ bears lis company. He is both via and conviator, — * the way,' John xiv. 6, and companion in the way. When the two disciples went to Emmaus,' Jesus himself drew near, and went with them,' Luke xxiv. 15. If any man go to Emmaus, which Bernard interpreteth to be 'thirsting after good advice,' he shall be sure of Christ's company. If any man entreat Jesus to ' go a mile, he will go -with him twain,' Matt. v. 41. None can complain the want of company whiles his Saviour goes along with him. ' Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ,' 1 John i. 3. There we find two Persons of the blessed Trinity our associates, the Father and the Son : now the Holy Ghost is not wanting. ' The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion,' or fellowship, 'of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen,' 2 Cor. xiii. 13.

Go we then comfortably forward, and ' God will bring us to our desired haven,' Ps. cvii. 30. But ^:>a2<a intrant, 2)ctuciores ambulant, paucissimi j^er-veniiint, —few enter the way, fewer walk in the way, fewest of all come to the end of the way, their salvation. Men think the way to heaven broader than it is; but ' strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto Mfe, and few there be that find it,' Matt. vii. 14. All say they are going to glory, but the greater number take the wrong way. A man somewhat thick-sighted, when he is to pass over a narrow bridge, puts on spectacles to make it seem broader; but so his eyes beguUe his feet, and he falls into the brook. Thus are many drowned in the whirlpool of sin, by viewing the passage to heaven only with the spectacles of flesh and blood : they think the bridge broad, so topple in. Happy eyes that well guide the feet, and happy feet that never rest going tiU they enter the gates of heaven!—Thus much for the passport; now we come to—

II. The certificate : ' Thy fiiith hath made thee whole.' Wherein Christ doth comfort and encourage the leper. First, he comforts him that his faith was the means to restore health to his body; then thereby he encourageth him that this faith, increased, would also bring salvation to his soul.

I might here observe, that as faith is only perceived of God, so it is principally commended of God. The leper gloriiied God, and that with a loud voice; there was his thankfulness : he fell down at Christ's feet; there was his humbleness. The ears of men heard his gratitude, the eyes of men saw his humility; but they neither heard nor saw his faith. But how then, saith St James, ' Shew me thy faith 1 ' Himself answers, * By thy works,' chap, ii. 18. It cannot be seen in hahitu, in the very being; yet may be easily known in habente, that such a person hath it. No man can see wind as it

* Origen.

is in its proper essence; yet by tlie full sails of the ship one may perceive which way the -wind stands. The sap of the tree is not visible, yet by the testimony of leaves and fruits we know it to be in the tree. Now Christ sees not as man sees; man looks upon the external witnesses of his gratitude and humility, but Christ to that sap of faith in his heart which sent forth those fruits. ' Thy ftiith hath saved thee,'

The words distribute themselves mto two principal and essential parts:— 1, The means, ' Thy faith ;' 2. The eifects, ' hath made thee whole.'

1. The means are partly demonstrative, faith; partly relative, thy faith. The quality and the propriety: the quality of the means, it is faith; the propriety, it is not another's, but thy faith.

(1.) 'Faith.' This is the demonstrative quality of the means of his healing. But what was this faith? There is a faith that beheves veritatem historice, the truth of God's word. This we call an historical faith; but it was not this faith. ' King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets 1 I know that thou believest,' Acts xxvi. 27. There is a faith that believes cer-iitudinem promissi, the certainty of God's promises: that verily is persuaded God will be so good as his word; that he will ' not break his covenant mth Israel,' nor ' suifer his faithfulness to fail unto David,' Ps. Isxxix. 33, yet applies not this to itself; but it was not this faith. There is a faith that believes iMestatem diceiitis, the majesty and omnipotency of him that speaks: so the devil, that God is able to turn ' stones into bread,' ]\Iatt. iv. 3 : so the Papist, that he can turn bread into flesh, and cause one circumscribed body to supply millions of remote places at once; but it was not this faith. There is a faith believes se moturam monies, that it is able to remove mountains, 1 Cor. xiii. 2: a miraculous faith, which, though it were specially given to the apostles,—' In my name shall they cast out devils, take up serpents,' ^Mark xvi. 17; cure the sick by imposition of hands; say to a tree, 'Pluck thyself up by the roots, and plant thyself in the sea, and it shall obey them,' Luke xvi. G,—yet reprobates also had it, for even they that are cast out with a Discedite a me, plead this: ' In thy name have we cast out devils, and done many wonderful works,' Matt, vii. 22; but it was not this faith. There is a faith that believes to go to heaven, though it bend the course du-ectly to hell: that thinks to arrive at the Jerusalem of blessedness through the Samaria of profaneness—a presumption; but it was not this faith. There is a faith that beheves a man's own mercy in Jesus Christ, and lives a life worthy of this hope, and becoming such a profession; and it was this faith that our Saviour commendeth.

When Samuel came to anoint one of the sons of Jesse, EUab was presented to him, and he said, 'Surely the Lord's anointed is before him,' 1 Sam. xvi. G. He was deceived : he might have a goodly countenance and a high stature; but it was not he. Then passed by Abmadab; nor is this he. Then Shammah; nor is this he. Then seven of his sons Avere presented: ' The Lord hath chosen none of these.' 'Be here all?' saith Samuel. Jesse answered, ' No; the youngest is behind, and he keepeth the sheep.' Then saith Samuel, ' Send and fetch hun, for we will not sit down tiU he come.' When he was come, he ' was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look on. And the Lord said. Arise, and anoint him; for tliis is he,' vcr, 12, If we should make such a quest for the prmcipal grace : temperance is a sober and matronly virtue, but not she; humility in the lowest is respected of the highest, but not she ; wisdom is a heavenly grace, similisque creanti, like the Maker, but not she; patience a sweet and comfortable \irtue, that looks cheerfully on troubles, when her breast is red with

the blood of sufferance, her cheeks are white with the pureness of innocency, yet not she j charity is a lovely virtue, little innocents hang at her breasts, angels kiss her cheeks,—' Her lips are like a thread of scarlet, and her speech is comely; her temples are like a pomegranate witMn her locks,' Cant. iv. 3,— all the ends of the earth call her blessed; yet not she. Lastly, faith appears, beautified with the robe of her Saviour's righteousness, adorned with the jewels of liis graces, and shining in that fairness which he gave her : Jam reginci venit, now comes the queen of graces; this is she.

Now, as faith excels all other graces, so there is a special degree of faith that excels all other degrees. For every faith is not a saving faith. The king of Syria commanded his captains, * Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel,' 1 Kings xsxii. 31. How should they know him? By his princely attire and royal deportment. Perhaps they met with many glorious personages, slew here and there one; none of them was the Idng of Israel. Setting upon Jehoshaphat, they said, * Surely this is the king of Israel;' no, it was not. One ' drew a bow at a ventm'e,' smote a man in his chariot, and that was the king of Israel. The faith that believes God's word to be true is a good faith, but not ilia fides, that saving faith. The faith that believes Christ to be the world's Saviour is a true faith, but not that faith. The faith that believes many men shall be saved is vera f,des, non ilia fides, a true faith, but not that faith. The faith that believes a man's own soul redeemed, justified, saved by the merits of Jesus Christ,—not without works answerable to this belief,—this is that faith. That was the Idng of Israel, and this is the queen of Israel; all the other be but her attendants.

There is fides sentiendi, assentiendi, and appropriaiidi: a man may have the first, and not the second; he may have the first and second, yet not the third; but if he have the third degree, he hath all the former. Some know the truth, but do not consent to it; some know it and assent to it, yet believe not their own part; they that believe their own mercy have all the rest. As meat digested turns to juice in the stomach, to blood in the liver, to spu'its in the heart; so faith is in the brain knowledge, in the reason assent, in the heart application. As the child in the womb hath first a vegetative life, then a sensitive, last a rational: so faith, as mere knoAvledge, hath but a vegetation; as allowance, but sense ; only the applying and apportionmg the merits of Christ to the own soul by it, this is the rational, the very life of it.

But thus we may better exemplify this similitude. The vegetative soul is the soul of plants, and it is a true soul in the kind, though it have neither sense nor reason. The sensitive soul is the soul of beasts, a true soul; includes vegetation, but is void of reason. The rational soul is the soul of man, a distmct soul by itself, comprehends both vegetation and sense, having added to them the perfection of reason. So there are three kinds or degrees of faith :—First, To believe there is a God; this is the faith of pagans, and it is a true faith, though it neither believe the word of God, nor mercy from God. Secondly, To believe that what God says is true ; this is the faith of de\dls and reprobates, and a true faith; including the faith of pagans, and going beyond it; yet it apprehends no mercy. Thirdly, To believe on God, to rely upon his mercy in Christ, and to aflPy their own reconciliation ; this is the faith of the elect, comprehends both the former, yet is a distinct faith by itself.

This faith only saves; and it hath two properties :— First, It is a repenting faith; for repentance is faith's usher, and dews all her way with tears. Repentance reads the law, and weeps; faith reads the gospel, and comforts.

Both have several books in their hands. Poenitentia intuetur Mosem, fides Christum, —Repentance looks on the rigorous brow of Moses, faith beholds the sweet countenance of Christ Jesus. Secondly, It is a working faith: if it work not, it is dead; and a dead ftiith no more saves than a painted fire warms. Faith is a great ' queen ; her clothing is of wrought gold : the virgins, her companions, that foUow her,' Ps. xlv. 14, are good deeds. Omnis fidelis tantum credit, qiuintum sjierat et amat : et quantum credit, speral, et amat, tantum operatar* A Christian so far believes as he hopes and loves ; and so far as he believes, hopes, and loves, he works. Now, as ]\Ioses is said to ' see him that is invisible,' Heb. xi. 27, because he saw his back parts ; and as when we see the members of the body moving to their several functions, we know there is a soul within, albeit unseen: so faith cannot be so invisible but the fruits of a good life will declare it.

Thus by degrees you see what is the right saving faith. As a lapidary that shews the buyer an orient pearl; and having a little fed his eye with that, outpleaseth him with a sapphire; yet outvalues that with some ruby or chrysolite; wherewith ra\T.shed, he doeth lastly amaze him with a sparkling diamond transcending all : or as drapers shew divers colours, yet at last for a masterpiece exceed all with a piece of scarlet;—so there are divers virtues like jewels, but the most precious vutue of all is faith. And there are divers degrees of faith, as divers-coloured cloths, but the sa\T.ng faith is arrayed in the scarlet robe, hath dipped and dyed herself in the blood of her Saviour Jesus; yet is she white, pure white as the snow of Lebanon. So are all that be washed in that red fountain : ' They have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb,' Rev. vii. 14.

(2.) ' Thy faith.' This is the property of that faith that healed him; Ms own faith. But how could Christ call it his faith, whenas faith is God's gift ? It is indeed datum, so well as mandatum. Conmaanded: ' This is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ,' 1 John iii. 23. So also given : ' To you it is given in the behalf of Christ to believe on him,' Phil. i. 29; and, ' This is the work,' so well as the will, ' of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent,' John vi. 29. But this is not given without means, as the woman of Tekoah said to David : ' God doth devise means,' 2 Sam. xiv. 14. What is that ? 'Faith comes by hearing,' Rom- X. 17. Now when God hath given a man faith, he calls it his : ' Thy faith ;' for what is freer than gift ? So the prophet calls it their own mercy : ' They that wait on Ijing vanities forsake their own mercy,' Jonah ii. 8 ; as the water in the cistern is said to be the cistern's, though it have it from the fountain.

Biit yet, how doth Christ call it his faith? Had he a faith by himself? * There is one faith,' Eph. iv. 5 : therefore not more his than others. In regard of the object upon whom our faith reflects, there is but one faith; in regard of the subject wherein faith resides, every one must have his own faith. There is no salvation by a common faith; but as all true believers have one and the same faith, so every true believer hath a singular and individual faith of his own. 'Thy faith:' thine for two reasons; to distinguish— [1.1 His person from common men; [2.] His faith from common faitLs.

[1.] To distinguish his person from others; the nine had not this faith They believed not, but thou believest. Thy fiiith; this declares him to be out of the common road ' Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil,' Exod. xxiii. 2 : that heJlua m^dtorum cajntum must not lead thee. Some were devoted to Christ, but ' they could not come nigh him for the press,'

* Greg.

Mark ii. 4. It was the multitude that rebuked the blind man's prayers, Luke xviii. 39. As a river leads a man through sweet meadows, green woods, fertile pastures, fruit-loaden fields, by glorious buildings, strong forts, famous cities, yet at last brings him to the salt sea; so the stream of this world carries along through rich commodities, voluptuous delights, stately dignities, all possible content to flesh and blood, but after all this brings a man to death, after death to judgment, after judgment to hell.

Here one of the Romists' authentical pleas for their church falls to the ground—universality. They plead antiquity; so a homicide may derive his murder from Cain. They plead xmity; so Pharisees, Sadducees, Hero-dians combined against Christ. They plead universality; yet of the ten lepers but one was thankful. The way to hell hath the greatest store of passengers. Company is good, but it is better to go the right way alone than the broad with multitudes. It is thought, probably, that at this day, Mohammedanism hath more under it than Christianity,—though we put Protestant, and Papist, and Puritan, and Separatist, and Arminian, and all in the scale to boot,—and that mere Paganism is larger than both. Where many join in the truth, there is the church; not for the many's sake, but for the truth's sake. St Augustine* teachetli us to take religion not by tale, but by Aveight. Numbers make not a thing good, but the weight of truth- Some are so mannerly that they will not go one step before a great man ; no, not to heaven. Many say with Hushai, ' Whom the people, and aU the men of Israel, choose, his \vill I be,' 2 Sam. xvi. 18. But they leave out one principal thing, which Hushai there put in as the prime ingredient, ' Whom the Lord chooseth;' they leave out the Lord. But Joshua was of another mind : ' Choose you what gods soever you will serve ; I and my house will serve the Lord,' Josh. xxiv. 15. The inferior orbs have a motion of their own, contrary to the greater; good men are moved by God's Spirit, not by the planetary motions of popular greatness. Let us prize righteousness highly, because it is seldom found. The pebbles of the world are common, but the pearls of graces rare. The vulgar stream will bring no vessel to the land of peace.

[2.] To distinguish his faith from the common faith. 'Thine ;' another kind than the Pharisees' faith. To believe the word, but traditions A\ithal, 'I'era fides, non pura fides, —is a true, but not a pure faith. To believe the iiuijor of the gospel, not the minor, — vera, non sana fides, —is a true, not a sound faith. To believe a man's own salvation, how debauchedly soever he lives, nee vera, pura, sana, nee omnino fides, —is neither a true, pure, sound faith, nor indeed a faith at all, but a dangerous presumption. To believe thy own reconciliation by the merits of Christ, and to strengthen this by a desire of pleasing God, is a true, sound, saving faith ; and this is fides tua, 'thy faith.'

Whosoever will go to heaven must have a faith of his own. In Gideon's camp every soldier had his own pitcher; among Solomon's men of valour, eveiy one wore his own sword, and these were they that got the \ictories. The five wise virgins had every one oil in her lamp ; and only these enter in with the bridegroom. Another's eating of dainty meat makes thee never the fatter. Indeed, many have sped the better for other men's faith: so the centurion's servant was healed for his master's sake. ' As thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee,' Matt. viii. 13. But for the salvation of the reprobates : ' Though Closes and Samuel stood before me,' saith the Lord, ' yet my mind could not be toward such people,' Jer. xv. 1. ' Though Noah, Daniel,

* In Ps. xziix.

and Job interceded, yet they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness,' Ezek. xiv. 14. Pious men's faith may often save others from temporal calamities, but it must be their own faith that saves them from eternal vengeance. Luther was wont to say, There is great divinity in pronouns. Thy faith. One bird shall as soon fly with another bird's feathers, as thy soul mount to heaven by the wings of another's faith. It is true faith, and thy faith : true with other men's faith, but inherent in thine own person that saves thee. True, not an empty faith : Nuda fides, mdla fides. Inseparahilis est bona vita ct fide, imo vero ea ipsa est bona vita, saith Augustine,*—A good life is inseparable from a good faith; yea, a good faith is a good life. So Irena^us, To believe is to do God's will. Thine ; therefore we say, Credo, not Credivms, —/ believe; not. We believe. Every man must profess, and be accountant for, his own faith. Thus much of the means; now to—

2. The effect: ' Hath made thee whole,' or ' saved thee.' It may be read either way : It hath saved thee, or. It hath salved thee. First of them both jointly, then severally.

Faith is the means to bring health to body, comfort to soul, salvation to both. I call it but the means, for some have given it more. Because the Apostle saith, Abraham obtained the promise ' through the righteousness of faith,' Rom. iv. 13 ; therefore say they. Fides ipsa justitia, —Faith is righteousness itself. But let St Paul answer them, and expound himself : I desire to ' be found in Christ, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,' (whose is that 1) ' the righteousness which is,' not of us, but ' of God by faith,' Phil. iii. 9. Thus faith is said to save us, not of itself: the hand feeds the mouth, yet no man thinks that the mouth eats the hand ; only as the hand conveys meat to the body, so faith salvation to the soul. We say the ring stancheth blood, when indeed it is not the ring, but the stone in it. There are many that make faith an almighty idol—it shall save ; but thus they make themselves idle, and trust all upon nothing. That faith is a meritorious cause of justification, this is a doctrine that may come in time to trample Christ's blood under feet.

Now these speeches rightly understood, faith adopteth, faith justifieth, faith saveth, are not derogatory to the glory of God, nor contradictory to these speeches, Christ adopteth, Christ justifieth, Christ saveth. One thing may be spoken of divers particulars in a different sense. God the Father adopteth, the Son adopteth, the Holy Spirit adopteth, faith adopteth; all these are true, and without contrariety. They be not as the young men that came out of the two armies before Joab and Abner, ' every one tlirusting his sword into his fellow's side, and falling down together,' 2 Sam. ii. 16; but like David's 'brethren, dwelling together in peace,' Ps. cxxxiii. 1, 2. God the Father adopteth, as the fountain of adoption; God the Son, as the conduit ; God the Holy Ghost, as the cistern ; faith as the cock whereby it runs into our hearts.

Faith brings justification, not by any special excellency it hath in itself, but only by that place and office which God hath assigned it; it is the condition on our parts. So the Apostle instructed the jailer, ' Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house,' Acts xvi. 31. God's ordinance gives that thing the blessing, wliich it hath not in its own nature. If Naaman had gone of his own head, and washed himself seven times in Jordan, he had not been healed ; it was God's command that gave those waters such purging virtue. If the Israelites stung vnth. these fiery serpents * De Fide et Oper., c. 23.

in the desert had of their own devising set up a brazen serpent, they had not been cured; it was neither the material brass, nor the serpentine form, but the direction of God which effected it. It was not the statue, but the statute, that gave the virtue. So faith for its own merit brings none to heaven, but for the promise which the God of grace and truth had made to it.

In common speech we say of such a man, his lease maintains him. Is there any absurdity in these words 1 No man conceives it to be a parchment lined with a few words, accompanied with a waxen label, that thus maintains him; but house or land or rents so conveyed to him. So faith saveth; I ascribe not this to the instrument, but to Jesus Christ whom it apprehends, and that inheritance by this means conveyed.

But now wouldest thou know thyself thus interessed ? Look to thy faith, this is thy proof. If a rich man die, and bequeath all his riches and possessions to the next of blood, many may challenge it, but he that hath the best proof carries it. To Christ's legacy thou layest claim, look to thy proof: it is not, ' Lord, Lord, I have prophesied in thy name,' Matt. vii. 22; nor, ' We have feasted in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets,' Luke xiii. 26 ; but, ' I believe; Lord, help my unbelief,' Mark ix, 24; and then thou shalt hear, ' Be it unto thee according to thy faith.' And this a little faith doth, if it be true. There is a faith like a grain of mustard-seed : small, but true; little, but bite it, and there is heat in it; faith warms wherever it goes. In a word, this is not the faith of explication, but of application, that is dignified with the honour of this conveyance.

' Hath made thee whole.' Faith brings health to the body. There was a woman vexed with an uncomfortable disease twelve years. Matt. ix. 20 : ' she suffered many thmgs of physicians,' Mark v. 26; some torturing her with one medicine, some with another; none did her good, but much hurt: ' She had spent all' her living upon them,' Luke viii. 43, and herein, saith Erasmus, was bis miser a; her sickness brought her to weakness, weakness to physic, physic to beggary, beggary to contempt. Thus was she anguished in body, vexed in mind, beggared in estate, despised in place, yet faith healed her. Her wealth was gone, physicians had given her over, her faith did not forsake her : ' Daughter, be of good comfort, thy faith hath made thee whole,' Matt. ix. 22. There was a woman bowed down with a spirit of infirmity ' eighteen years,' yet loosed, Luke xiii. 11; there was a man bedrid ' eight and thirty years,' John v. 5, a long and miserable time, when, besides his corporal distress, he might perhaps conceive from that, Ecclus. xxxviii. 15, * He that sinneth before his Maker, let him fall into the hand of the physician,' that God had cast him away; yet Christ restored him.

Perhaps this leprosy was not so old, but as hard to cure; yet faith is able to do it: ' Thy faith hath made thee whole.' But it was not properly his faith, but Christ's virtue, that cured him; why then doth not Christ say, Mea virtus, and not, Tiia fides, —My virtue, not thy faith, hath made thee whole ? True it is, his virtue only cures, but this is apprehended by man's faith. When that diseased woman had touched him, ' Jesus knew in himself that vu'tue had gone out of him, and he turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?' Mark v. 30. Yet speaking to the woman, he mentioned not his virtue, but her faith : ' Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole,' ver. 34. Faith, in respect of the object, is called in Scripture, ' The faith of Jesus Christ,' Gal. iii. 22 ; in respect of the subject wherein it is inherent, it is my faith, and thy faith. ' Thy faith hath made thee whole.'

' Hath saved thee :' made whole, not thy body only, that is but part, the worst part; but thy soul also, totum te, thy whole sell': ' saved thee.' The other nine had whole bodies, this tenth was made whole in .soul too; saved. The richest jewel Christ left to his church is salvation : ' My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved,' Rom. x. 1. Not their opulency, not their dignity, not their prosperity, was St Paul's T^sh; but their salvation. K the devils would confess to us the truth, they would say, The best thing of all is to be saved. The rich man would fiiin send this news out of heU, ' Let Lazarus testify to my brethren, lest they also come into this place of torment,' Luke xvi. 28. The testimony of salvation was blessed news, from the mouth of him that gives salvation, Jesus Christ. The vessel of man's soul is continually in a tempest, until Christ enter the ship, and then follows the calm of peace.

It is remarkable, that Grod gives the best gifts at last. Christ gave this leper health, ver. 14; bonum, this was good; for vita non est vivere, sed vcd-ere, —it is more comfortable to die quickly, than to live sickly. He gave In'iTi a good name, ' that he returned to give glory to God,' ver. 18; mdiuSy this was better. But now lastly he gives hiin salvation, ' Thy faith hath saved thee,' ver. 19 ; optimum, this is best of all: ultima optima.

Hath God given thee wealth, bless him for it; hath he given thee health, bless him for it; hath he given thee good reputation, bless him for it; hath he given thee children, friends, peaceable days, bless him for all these. But hath he given thee faith 1 Especially bless him for this; he hath given thee with it, what we beseech his mercy to give us all, salvation in Jesus Christ.

I conclude : there is a faith powerful to justify the soul by the righteousness of Jesus Christ; but it never dwelt in a bosom that lodgeth with it lust and dissoluteness : ' If while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves are found sinners, is therefore Christ the mmister of sin ? God forbid,' Gal. ii. 17. Which verse may not unfitly be distinguished into fom' particulars : Quod sit, Si sit, An sit, Absit: There is a concession, a supposition, a question, a detestation. The concession. Quod sit, That is so ; he takes it granted that aU true Christians seek their only justification by Christ. The supposition. Si sit. If it be so, that in the meantime we are found shiners. The question or discussion. An sit. Is it so ? is Christ therefore the minister of sin ? The detestation, Absit, ' God forbid,'

'Where let us behold what the gospel acquireth for us, and requireth of us. It brings us hberty : the ' law gendereth to bondage ;' and that, saith Aquinas, quantum ad affectum, et quantum ad effectum. The law begets an affection of fear, the gospel of love : ' Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father,' Rom. viii. 15. Brevissima et apertissima duoriim testamentorum differentia, timor et amor,* —There is a short and easy difference betwixt the Old Testament and the New, fear and love. The law brought forth only servants, the gospel sons : ' Jerasalem above is free, which is the mother of us all,' Gal. iv. 26, Libera, quod liberata, —free because she is freed. For * if the Son make you free, you shall be free indeed,' John viii. 3G.

This it brings to us; it also challengeth something of us : * That we use not our liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another,' Gal, V, 13. AU things are free to us by foith, yet all things serviceable by charity: tit simid stet servitus libertatis, et libertas servitutis,f —that the service of liberty, and liberty of service, might stand together. A Christian for his faith is lord of all, for his love servant to all. That therefore we * Aug. t Luther.

might not abuse our freedom, nor turn the grace of God into wantonness, the Apostle, after the reins given, pulls us in with the curb : though justified by Christ, take heed that we be not ' found sinners,' a check to over-jocund looseness, a corrective, not so much libertatis, as liberatorum, —of our freedom, as of ourselves being freed. In vain we plead that Christ hath made us saints, if our own evil lives prove us sinners. Indeed, as God covenants by the gospel to remit our sins, so we must condition by the law to amend our lives. For that faith to which the promise of justification and eternal life is made, is a faith that can never be separated from charity. Wheresoever it is, there is love joined with it, bringing forth the ' fruits of right-■eousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God,' Phil, ill. This is that faith to which ' all the promises of God are Yea and Amen in Christ, to the glory of God by us,' 2 Cor. i. 20. The Lord, that hath made them Yea and Amen in his never-failing mercies, make them also Yea and Amen in our ever-believing hearts, through our blessed Saviour Jesus Ohrist, Amen!

THE LOST AEE FOUND.

Fcyr the Son of man is came to seek and to save that which u'as lost— Luke XIX. 10.

The first word is causal, and puts us in mind of some reference. In brief, the dependence is this. Little Zaccheus became great in God's favour; he was, ver. 2, a publican, a chief publican, a rich publican : yet he hath a desire to see Jesus, and Jesus hath a purpose to see him. A fig-tree shall help him to the sight of Christ, and Christ to the sight of him.

Our Saviour calls him down, (it is fit they should come down in humility that entertain Christ,) and bids himself to his house to diimer. He is made Zaccheus's guest for temporal food, and Zaccheus is made his guest for everlasting cheer. ' This day is salvation come to this house,' ver. 9.

This mercy is not without the Pharisees' grudging : ver. 7, ' When they saw it, they all murmured, sajing. That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.' Murmuring is between secret backbiting and open raU-,ing; a smothered malice, which can neither be utterly concealed, nor dare be openly vented. The cause of their murmuring was, that he was become a guest to a sinner; as if the Sun of righteousness could be corrupted in shining on a dunghill of sin. No; whiles he did associate the bad, he made them good ; feeding them spiritually, that fed him corporally. He did not consent to their sin, but correct it; not infecting himself, but affecting their souls, and effecting their bliss. A man may accompany those whom he desires to make better, or them to make him better. And that the mouth of aU wickedness might be stopped, our Saviour says that his coming into this world was not only to call home Zaccheus, but even many such publicans : ' For the Son of man is come to seek and to save,' &c.

We are thus gotten over the threshold, for; let us now look into the house, and survey every chamber and room in it. The foundation of this comfortable Scripture is Jesus Christ, and the buUding may be distinguished into five several parlours, all richly hung and adorned with the gi-aces and mercies of God, ' and the midst thereof paved with love for the daughters of Jerusalem,' Cant. iii. 10. Christ is the buttress or comer-stone, and in him consider here, 1. His humility,' The Son of man;' 2. His verity, ' is come;' 3. His pity,' to seek;' 4. His piety,' to save;' 5. His power,' that which was lost.'

1. ' Tlie Son of man.' Ecce humilitatem. He that is the Son of eternal God calls himself the Son of mortal man.

2. ' Is come.' Ecce ventaiem. What God had promised, his servants

prophesied, his types prefigiired, he h?vth now performed. They all foretold in their kinds that he should come; he makes all good, he ' is come.'

3. ' To seek.' Ecce compasdonem. He knew that we were utterly gone, that we had nee valentis oculum nee volentis animum, —neither an eye able nor a mind willing to seek him; in pity he seeks us.

4. ' To save.' Ecce pietatem. He seeks us not in ruinam, to our destruction, as we deserved; but in salutem, to our salvation, as he desired. Amissos queer it, qucesitos invenit, inventos servat, —He seeks them that were lost, he finds them he seeks, he saves them he finds. ' To save'—

5. ' The lost.' Ecce potestatem. He is not only able to strengthen us-weak, nor to recover us sick, nor to fetch us home offering ourselves to be brought; but when we had neither will nor power to procure this, yea,. when we had a reluctancy against this,—for we were his enemies and hated him,—he did recall us gone, revive us dead, seek and save us that were lost.

You see the chambers, how they lie in order; let me keep your thoughts-in this house of mercy a while, wherem may all our souls dwell for ever ! In surveying the rooms, it is fit we should begin with the lowermost, and thither the text aptly first leads us.

1. ' The Son Of man.' Christ is called a son in three respects. First, In regard of his deity, the Son of God, begotten of him from all eternity, co-equal and co-essential to hun. Secondly, In respect of his flesh, the Son of Mary, naturally born of her. Thirdly, He calls himself the Son of man, in regard that he took on him man's nature, and undertook the performance of man's redemption. Man like us in all things, sin only excepted. So that in this circumstance two things are considerable in Christ, the one necessarily involved in the other—(1.) His humanity; (2.) His humility.

(1.) His humanity. When the fulness of time was come, 'God sent his Son, made of a woman,' Gal. iv. 4. Ex muliere, non in muliere, as Gorran notes against Valentinus, whose heresy was that Christ jjassed through the Virgin as water through a conduit-pipe. But this preposition, ex, signifies a pre-existent matter, as a house is made of timber and stones, bread of wheat, wine of grapes. Christ had therefore the materials of his body from the Virgin Mary, though not his foi-male jyrincijnum; for the Holy Ghost was agent in this wonderful conception,

Neither is this a thing impossible to God, though wondeiful to man, that this Christ should be the Son of Mary without man. As it was possible to God in the first creation to make a woman out of a man without the help of a woman, so in this new creation to make a man out of a woman without the help of a man. There is the same reason of possibility. It is as easy to bring fire from a steel without a flint, as from a flint without a steel. But he that could dare essentiam nihilo, can raise a nature ex aliqiio.

God had four divers manners of creating human creatures. First, The first man Adam was made of no man, but immediately created of God. Secondly, The second, that was Eve, was made, not of a woman, but of a man alone. Thirdly, The third sort, aU men and women else, are begotten of man and woman. Fourthly, Christ, the last sort, was of a difi"erent manner from all these. First, not of no precedent flesh, as Adam; secondly, not of a man without a wo'man, as Eve; thirdly, not of man and woman, as all we; fourthly, but after a new way, of a woman without a man. We are all in this sort opposed to Adam, Christ to Eve. Adam was made of neither man nor woman, we of both man and woman. Eve of a man without a woman, Christ of a woman without a man.

Now as this was a great work of God, so it is a great wonder to man.

Three miracles here : Beum, nasci, virglneni parere, fidem hcec credere. Thtat the Son of God should become the son of woman, a great miracle. That a virgin should bear a child, and yet before, at, after the birth remain still a virgin, a great miracle. That the faith of man should believe all this, maximum miraculum, this is the greatest wonder of all.

Thus you have divinity assuming humanity, a great mystery: ' God manifested in the flesh,' 1 Tim. iii. 16. In mundum venit, qui mundum condi-dit; he comes down to earth, but he leaves not heaven; hie affait, inde non deficit. Humana natura assumpta est, divina non consumpia est. He took humanity, he lost not his divinity. He abideth Marioi Pater, the Father of Mary, who is made Marice Filius, the Son of Mary. * To us a child is born, to us a son is given,' Isa, ix. G. Whereon Emissenus,* Natus qui sentiret occa-sum, datus qui 7iesciret exordium, —He was born that should feel death : he was given that was from everlasting, and could not die. Natus qui et matre esset junior, datus quo nee Pater esset antiquoir, —He that was born was younger than his mother; he that was given was as eternal as his Father. He was Son to both God and Mary. Non alter ex Patre, alter ex Virgine ; sed aliter ex Patre, aliter ex Virgine.

As the flowers are said to have solem in coelo 2^at>'em, solum in terra ma-trem; so Christ hath a Father in heaven without a mother, a mother on earth T\dthout a father. Here is then the wonder of his humanity. The ' everlasting Father,' Isa. ix. 6, is become a little child. He that spreads out the heavens is wrapped in swaddling clouts, Luke ii. 7. He that is the Word becomes an infant not able to speak. The Son of God calls himself the Son of man.

(2.) His humility. If your understandings can reach the depth of this bottom, take it at one view. The Son of God calls himself the Son of man. The omnipotent Creator becomes an impotent creature. As himself saith, * Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,' John xv. 13. So greater humility never was than this, that God should be made man. It is the voice of pride in man, ' I will be like God,' Isa. xiv. 14; but the action of humility in God, ' I will' be man.' Proud Nebuchadnezzar says, Ero similis altissimo,' I will be like the Highest / meek Christ saith, Ero similis infimo, ' I wiU be like the lowest:' ' he put on hun the form of a servant;' yea, he was a despised worm. God spoke it in derision of sinful man, ' Behold, he is become as one of us,' Gen. iii. 22; but now we may say, God is become as one of us. There the lowest aspires to be the highest, here the Highest vouchsafes to be the lowest. Alexander, a son of man, would make himself the son of God : Christ, the Son of God, makes himself the Son of man. God, in ' whose presence is fulness of joy,' Ps. xvi. 11, becomes *a man full of sorrows,' Isa. liii. 3. Eternal rest betakes himself to unrest: having whilst he Hved ' passive action,' and when he died 'active passion.'t

The ' Lord over all things,' Acts x. 36, and * heir of the world,' Heb, i. 2, undertakes ignominy and poverty. Ignominy: the ' King of glory,' Ps. xxiv. 7, is become ' the shame of men,' Ps. xxii. G. Poverty: Pauper in nativi-tate, j)auperior in vita, paujjerrimus in cruce,% —Poor in his birth, for born in another man's stable ; poor in his life, fed at another man's table; poor in his death, buried in another man's sepulchre.

There are, saith Bernard,§ some that are humbled, but not humble; others that are humble, not humbled; and a third sort, that are both humbled and

* Horn, de Nat. t Bern. Ser. in Fer. 4. Hebd,

+ Bern. Tract, de Pas. Dom., cap. 2. § In Cant., Ser. 34.

humble. Pharaoh was humbled and cast down, but not humble; smitten with subversion, not moved with submission. Godfrey of Bologne was not humbled, yet humble; for in the very heat and height of his honour he refused to be crowned in Jerusalem with a crown of gold, because Christ, his Master, had been in that place crowned with a crown of thorns. Others are both humbled and humble. ' When he slew them, they sought him : they returned and inquired early after God,' Ps. bcxviii. 34. Our Saviour Christ was passively humbled : ' he was made lower than the angels, by suffering death,' Heb. ii. 9 ; the Lord did break him. Actively, he humbled himself: ' He made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant; he humbled himself,' Phil. ii. 7. Habitually, he was humbled : ' Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart,' Matt. xi. 29. Let this observation lesson us two duties :—

Lesson 1.—Esteem we not the worse but the better of Christ, that he made himself the Son of man. Let him not lose any part of his honour because he abased himself for us. He that took our flesh ' is also over aU, God blessed for ever, Amen,' Rom. ix. 5. There is more in him than humanity ; not alia persona, but alia natura, —not another person, but another nature. Though he be verus homo, he is not merus homo. And even that man that was crucified on a cross, and laid in a grave, is more high than the heavens, more holy than the angels.

Stephen saw this very ' Son of man standing on the right hand of God,' Acts vii. 56. The blood of this Son of man gives salvation; and to whom it doth not, this Son of man shall adjudge them to condemnation, John V. 27. Under this name and form of humility our Saviour apposed his disciples : 'Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am?' Matt. xvi. 13. Peter answers for himself and the apostles, whatsoever the people thought: ' Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God,' ver. 16. He calls himself the Son of man, Peter calls him the Son of God. The Jews see him only a stumblingblock, and the Greeks foolishness, 1 Cor. i. 23; but Christians see him ' the power of God and the wisdom of God,' ver. 24. The wicked behold him ' without form or comeliness, or beauty to desire him,' Isa. liiL 2; but the faithfid behold him ' crowned with a crown,' Cant. iii. 11, 'his face shining as the sun in his glory,' Matt. xvii. 2. Therefore, Quanto mi-norem se fecit in humilitate, tanto majorem exMhuit in honitate. Quanto pro me vilior, tanto mild carior,* —The lower he brought himself in humility, the higher he magnified his mercy. By so much as he was made the baser for us, by so much let him be the dearer to us.

Observe it, O man; et quia limxis es, non sis superhus: et quia Deo jundus, own sis ingratus, —because thou art dust of thyself, be not proud : because thou art made immortal by Christ, be not unthankful.

Condemned world, that despisest him appearing as a siUy man ! The Jews expected an external pomp in the ]\Iessias : ' Can he not come down from the cross V how should this man save us 1 They consider not that he who wanted a rest for his head, and bread for his followers, fed some thousands of them with a few loaves; that he which wanted a pillow, gives rest to all believing souls ; that he could, but would not come down from the cross, that the dear price of their redemption might be paid.

Many still have such Jewish hearts : What! believe on a crucified man ? But Paul 'determines to know nothing, but this Jesus Christ, and him crucified,' 1 Cor. ii. 2. They can be content to dwell with him on Mount Tabor, but not to foUow him to Mount Calvary. They cleave to him so long

* Bern., Ser. 22.

as lie gives them bread, but forsake him when himself cries for drink, John xix. 28. Oderunt pannos tiios. O Christ, they like well thy robes of glory, but not thy rags of poverty ! They love him while the people cry ' Hosanna,' but shrink back when they cry' Crucify him.' All pleaseth them but the cross : all the fair-way of delights they will accompany him, but at the cross they part.

Thej; will share with him in his kingdom, but they will none of his vassalage, fxhe lion (in a fable) had many attendants, and he provided for them good cheer. They like well of this, and are proud of their master, to whom all the other beasts gave awe and obedience. But it chanced that the lion fell into the danger of the dragon, who had got him down, ready to devour him. His followers seeing this, quickly betook themselves to their heels, and fell every beast to his old trade of rapine. Only the poor lamb stood bleating by, and, though he could not help, would not forsake his lord. At last the lion gets the victor}', and treads the dragon under his feet to death. Then he punisheth those revolting traitors with deserved destruction, and sets the lamb by his own side.

The great' Lion of Judah,' Rev. v. 5, feeds many of the Jews, and at this day profane wretches : whilst his bounty lasts, ' Christ, and none but Christ.' But when the. red dragon hath got him under, nailed him to the cross, crucified him dead, away go these renegades : ' No more penny, no more paternoster.' If affliction come for Christ's cause, they know where to find a kinder master. Back to the world : one to his fraud, and he will overreach others with the sin of deceitf aluess, though himself be overreached with the 'deceitfulness of sin,' Heb. iii. 13. Another to his usury; and he chymi-cally projects money out of the poor's bowels. A third to his covetousness; and he had rather that the very frame of the world should fall than the price of com. A fourth to his idols; and he hopes for cakes from ' the queen of heaven,' as if the King of heaven was not able to give bread. If the Lord pinch them with distress, they run to Rome for succour, expect-uig that from a block which they would not tarry to obtain from the God of mercy. Then they cry like the Israelites: ' Up, make us gods to go before us; for as for this Moses, we know not what is become of him,' Exod. xxxii. 1. But at last this Lion conquers the dragon, overcomes Satan and his damnation; what shall he then say to those rebels ' that would not have him reign over them,' but ' Bring those mine enemies, and slay them before me V Luke xix. 27. But the poor and innocent lambs, that ' suifcr with hhn, shall reign with him,' Rom. viii. 17. ' Blessed are they that sufier persecution for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,' Matt. v. 10.

Lesson 2. —The other use is St Paul's : ' Let the same mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus,' Phil. ii. 5. What mind is that ? Humility. Ver. 7, He that ' thought it no robbery to be equal with God,' humbled himself to become man : we should have found it no robbery to be equal with devils, and shall we be proud 'i What an uitolerable disproportion is this, to behold humilevi Deum, et superhum hominem, —a humble God, and a proud man. Wh» can endure to see a prince on foot, and his vassal mounted I Shall the Son of God be thus humble for us, and shall not wc be humble for ourselves? For ourselves, I say, that deserve to be cast down among the lowest; for ourselves, that we may be exalted.

He that here calls himself the Son of man is now glorified : they that humbly acknowledge themselves to be the sons of men, that is, mortal, shkll be made the sons of God, that is, immortal. In 1 Kings xix. 11, there wa^ a mighty strong wind that rent the mountains, and brake the rocks; but God was not in the wind: the Lord will not rest in the turbulent

spirit, puffed up with the wind of vainglory. There was an earthquake, but God was not in the earthquake: he will not dwell in a covetous heart, buried in the furrows of the earth, and cares of the world. There was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire : he will not rest in a choleric angry soul, full of combustion and furious heat. There was a still soft voice, and the Lord came with it: in a mild and humble spirit the God of heaven and earth will dwell. ' The high and lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity, will dwell in the contrite and humble soul,' Isa. Ivii. 15.

It is a sweet mixture of greatness and goodness, ut duvi nihil in honore suhlimius, nihil in humilitate suhmissiiis, —when the highest in dignity are the lowest in courtesy. Augustine called himself, minivmm non solum omnium apostolorum, sed etiam ejnscoporum, —the least not only of all the apostles, but of all the bishops; whereas he was the most illuminate doctor and best bishop of his times. Paul thought himself ' not worthy to be called an apostle,' 1 Cor. xv, 9; and, behold, he is called The Apostle,—war' ^0°%''^—^ot only Paul, but The Apostle. Abraham, that esteemed himself ' dust and ashes,' Gen. xviii. 27, is honoured to be the ' father of all them that beUeve,' Rom. iv. 11. David sits content at his sheep-folds, the Lord makes him king over his Israel.

But as humility, like the bee, gathers honey out of rank weeds, very sins moving to repentance; so pride, like the spider, sucks poison out of the fairest flowers, the best graces, and is corrupted with insolence. Uiia super-hia destndt omnia, —Only pride overthrows all. It thrust proud Nebuchadnezzar out of men's society, proud Saul out of his kingdom, proud Adam out of paradise, proud Haman out of the court, proud Lucifer out of heavea Pride had her beginning among the angels that fell, her continuance in earth, her end in hell. Poor man, how ill it becomes thee to be proud when God himself is humble!

2. ' Is come.' We understand the person, let us come to his coming. And herein, ecce veritatem, —behold his truth. Did God promise a son of a virgin; Emmanuel, a Saviour ? He is as good as his word; ve7iit, * he is come.' Did the sacrificed blood of so many bulls, goats, and lambs, prefigure the expiatory blood of the Lamb of God to be shed ? Ecce Agnus Dei, —' Behold that Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world,' John i. 29. Is the * Seed of the woman ' promised to ' break the head of the serpent 1 ' Behold he ' breaks the heavens, and comes down' to do it. * For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil,' John iii. 8. Did God engage his word for a Redeemer to purge our sins ? ' Call his name Jesus ; for he shall save his people from their sins,' Matt. i. 21.

Against unbelieving atheists, and misbelieving Jews, here is sufficient conviction. But I speak to Christians, that believe he is come. Hac fide credite venturum esse, qua creditis venisse, —Believe that he wiU come again with the same faith wherewith you believe he is come already. Do not curtail God's word, believing only so much as you list. Faith is holy and catholic : if you distrust part of God's word, you prepare infidelity to the whole. Did God promise Christ, and in ' the fulness of time' send him ? Gal. iv. 4. Then, since he hath again promised him, and ' appointed a day wherein he will judge the world by that man,' Acts xvii. 31, he shall come. As certainly as he came to suffer for the world, so certainly shaU he come to judge the world. ' Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many ; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second tune without sin unto salvation,' Heb. ix, 28. He that kept his promise when he came to die for us,

followed by some few poor apostles, wiU not break it when he shall come in glory with thousands of angels.

Neither did God only promise that Christ should come, but that all believers should be saved by him : ' As many as received him, to them gave he power to be the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name,' John i. 12. 3fisit filium, promisit in filio vitam. He sent his Son to us, and salvation with him. Wretched and desperate men that distmst his mercy ! ' Whosoever believes, and is baptized, shaU be saved.' Whosoever ; Qui se ipsiim excipit, seipsum decipit. Did not God spare to send his promised Sou out of his bosom to death, and will he to those that believe on him deny life 1 No; all ' his promises are Yea and Amen in Christ:' may these also be ' Yea and Amen ' in our believing hearts ! A yielding devil could say, ' Jesus I know;' yet some men are like that tempting de\Tl, Matt, iv., Sifilius Dei sis, —' If thou be the Son of God.' Si, If; as if they doubted whether he could or would save them.

* Is come,' There is a threefold coming of Christ; according to the threefold difference of time—past, present, fixture. As Bernard*— Venit, (1.) Ad homilies ; (2.) In homines ; (3.) Contra homines.

(1.) First, for the time past, he came among men : ' The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,' John i, 14. (2.) Secondly, for the present, he comes into men, by his Spirit and grace : Rev. iii. 20, ' I stand at the door and knock; if any open imto me, I will come in to him.' (3.) Thirdly, for the time to come, he shall come against men : Rom. ii. 16,' At the day when God shall judge the secrets of all hearts by Jesus Christ.' Or as it is wittily observed, the ' Sun of righteousness' appeareth in three signs : Leo, Virgo, Libra. Fu'st, in the law like a lion, roaring out terrible things, with a voice not endurable : ' And they said to Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die,' Exod. xx. 19. Secondly, in the gospel he appeared in Virgo, an infant born of a virgin. Matt. i. 25. Thirdly, at his last audit he shall appear in Libi-a, weighing all our thoughts, words, and works in a balance : ' Behold, I come quickly ; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be,' Rev. xxii. 12.

' Is come.' He was not fetched, not forced, spo7ite venit: of his own accord he is come. ' No man taketh my life from me, but I lay it down of myself,' John x. 18. Ambrose on these words of Christ, in ilatt. xxvi. 55 : ' Are ye come out against a thief, with swords and staves to take me V Stidtum est cum gladiis eum quccrere, qui ultra se offert. It was superfluous folly to apprehend him with weapons that willingly offered himself; to seek hini in the night by treason, as if he shunned the light, who was every day teaching publicly in the temple. Sed factum congruit tempori et personis ; quia cum tenebrce, in tenebroso tempo7'e, tenebrosum opus exercebant, —The fact agrees to the time and persons : they were darkness, therefore they do the work of darkness, m a time of darkness. Indeed he prays, ' Father, save me from this hour;' but withal he corrects himself, ' Therefore came I to this hour.'

But he is to ' fear death,' Heb. v. What is it to us quod timuii, that he feared; nostrum est quod sustinuit, that he suffered. Christ's nature must needs abhor destructive things : he feared death, ex affectu sensualitads, not ex affectu rationis.i He eschewed it secundum se, but did undergo it projAer cdiud. Ex impetu naturce he declined it, but ex imperio ralionis ; considering that either he must come and die on earth, or we aU must go and die in hell, and that the head's temporal death might procure the body's eternal * Ser. 3, de Adventu Christi. t Lomb. iii., sent. dist. 17.

life, behold, ' the Son of man is come.' Neither was it necessary for him to love his pain, though he so loved us to suffer this pain. No man properly loves the rod that beats him, though he loves for his soul's good to be beaten. As Augustine said of crosses, Tolerare juhemur, non amare. Nemo quod tolerat amat, etsi tolerare amat ;*—We are commanded to bear them, not to love them. No man that even loves to suffer, loves that he suffers.

Voluntarily yields himself; saluting Judas by the name of friend : Amice, cur venis ? He suffered not his followers to offend his enemies, nor commands the angels to defend himself, t O blind Jews ! was it impossible for him, de parvo stipite ligni descendere, qui descendit ci coelorum aliiiudine ? —to come down from a piece of wood, that came down from heaven 1 Nun-quid tua vincula ilium jjossunt tenere, quem coeli non possunt capere 1 —Shall your bonds hold him, when the heavens could not contain him 1 He came not to deliver himself, that was in freedom ; but to deliver us, that were in bondage.:}:

' Is come.' Is Christ come to us, and shaU not we come to him % Doth the Son of God come to the sons of men; and do the sons of men scorn to come to the Son of God % Proud dust! wilt thou not meet thy Maker ? If any ask, ' Whither is thy beloved gone, that we may seek him with thee V Cant. vi. 1; the church answers, ' My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies,' ver. 2. You shall have him in his garden, the congregation of the faithful: ' Wheresoever a number is gathered together in his name.' Behold, venit ad limina virtus, manna lies at your thresholds; wUl you not go forth and gather it ? The bridegroom is come; will you not make merry with him 1 The nice piece of dust, like idolatrous Jeroboam, cries. The church is too far off, the journey too long to Christ. He came aU that long way from heaven to earth for us, and is a mile too tedious to go to him ? Go to, sede, ede, perde, —sit still, eat thy meat, and destroy thyself; who shall blame the justice of thy condemnation?

But for us, let us leave our pleasures and go to our Saviour. No?i sedeas sed eas, ne pereas per eas. Come a little way to him, that came so far to thee. Philip tells Nathanael, 'We have found the Messias.' Nathanael objects : ' Can any good thing come out of Nazareth ?' ' Come and see,' saith Philip. And straightway Jesus saw Nathanael coming, John L 45-47. Christ hath sent many preachers to invite us to salvation. We ask, Ubi, Where ? They say, ' Come and see :' but we will not come; Christ cannot see us coming. 3itmdus, cura, caro ; three mischievous hinderers : we come not. Christ himself calls ; yet ' you. will not come unto me, that you might have life,' John v. 40. He comes amongst us. Christians; ad suos : ' He came to his own, and his own received him not,' John i. 11. We say of such things as are unlike, they come not near one another; many clothes lie on a heap together, yet because of their different colours, we say they come not near one to another. But of things that are alike, wc say they come nigh one another. Our coming near to Christ is not in place, but in grace. Not in place j for so the wicked is near to God. 'Whither shall I flee from thy presence ?' Ps. cxxxix. 7. But in grace and quality ; being * holy as he is holy.' Indeed he must first draw us before we can come. ' Draw me, we wiU run after thee,' Cant. i. 4. He first draws us by grace, then we run after him by repentance.

3. ' To seek.' He is come; to what purpose ? £cce compassionem : ' to

♦ Confes., lib. x., cap. 28, f Ambr. in Matt, xxvii. 40.

J ' Non venit ut se liberaret, qui sub servitute non erat; sed ut nos de servitute redimeret.'—Ambr. ut aujp.

seek.' All tlie days of his tiesh upon earth he went about seeking souls. He went to Samaria to seek the woman, to Bethany to seek Mary, to Capernaum to seek the centurion, to Jericho to seek Zaccheus. Oh, what is man, and the son of man, that the Son of God should thus himt after him! We sought not him : ' The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God,' Ps. x. 4. Behold, he seeks us. We would not call upon him ; he sends ambassadors to beseech us : ' We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God,' 2 Cor. v. 20. Indeed, we cannot seek hun till he first find us. OpoHuit viam invenire errantes, errantes enimneqiieimt invenire viam, —K the 'way,' John xiv. 6, had not found us, we should never have found the way. Lo, his mercy ! Non solum redeuntem susciijit, sed perditum qucerit, —How joyful wiU he be to us, that is thus careful to seek us!

Let this teach us not to hide ourselves from Mm. Wretched men, guilty of their own eternal loss, that will not be found of Christ when he seeks them ! How shall they at the last day ' stand with confidence before him,' 1 John ii. 28, that at this day run from him ? If we will not be found to be sanctified, we cannot be found to be glorified. Paul ' desu-es to be found in Christ,' Phil- iiL 9 : in Christ found, for without Christ ever lost. ' Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them are lost, but the son of perdition,' John xviL 12. Woe to that man when Christ shall return "with a JS^on inventus ! What can the shepherd do but seek? Nolunt inveniri, they wiU. not be found. What the channer but charm ? Nolunt incantari, they will not be charmed. What the suitor but woo '? Nolunt desponsari, they will not be espoused to Christ. What the ambassador but beseech? JVolunt exorari, they wiU not be entreated. What then remains ? ' He that will be unjust, let him be unjust still: and he that will be filthy, let him be filthy stUl,' Rev. xxii. 11. If we will not be found of him when he seeks us, he will not be found of us when we seek him. ' They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me,' Prov. i. 28. QiicesUus contemnet, qui qucerens con-temniiur, —He was despised when he sought, and wiU despise when he is sought to.

Three vicious sorts of men are here culpable. First, some skidk virhen Christ seeks. K there be any bush in paradise, Adam will thrust his head into it. If there be any hole of pretence, Saul will there buiTow his rebellion. If Gehazi can shadow his bribery with a he, EUsha shall not find him. When the sun shines, every bird comes forth; only the owl will not be found. These birds of darkness cannot abide the light, ' because their deeds are evil,' John iii. 19. Thus they play at all-hid with God, but how foolishly ! Like that beast that having thrust his head in a bush, and seeing nobody, thinks nobody sees him. But they shall find at last that not holes of mountains or caves of rocks can conceal them, Rev. vL 16.

Secondly, Others play at fast and loose with God; as a man behind a tree, one while seen, another while hid. In the day of prosperity they are hidden ; only in affliction they come out of their holes. As some beasts are driven out of their burrows by pouring in scalding water; or as Absiilom fetched Joab, by settuig ' on fire his barley-fields,' 2 Sam. xiv. 30. These are found on the Sunday, but lost aU the week. Like the devil, they stand among the sons of God, yet devour the servants of God ; as Saul at one time prophesied with the prophets, and at another time massacred them. Christ calls them to a banquet of prosperity, they cry Hie sumus, We are here; but if Satan (in their opuiion) ofier them better cheer, Tili sumus, We are for thee.

Thirdly, Others being lost, and hearing the seeker's voice, go further from him. These are wolves, not sheep. The * sheep hear his voice,' and come; the wolf hears it, and flies. The nearer salvation comes to them, the further they run from it. Because England tenders them the gospel, they wUl run as far as Rome for damnation.

Christ came to seek the lost sheep: Luke xv., he found it, he laid it on his shoulders, and he rejoiced. In his life he seeks the sinner tUl he find him. In his death he lays him on his shoulders, bearing his sins in his body on the cross. In his resurrection he rejoiced for him. In his ascension he opens the door of heaven, and brings him home. V€7iit et invenit, —he comes to seek, and he seeks to save; which is the next point:—

4. ' To save.' Ecce pietatem, behold his goodness. Herod sought Christ ad interituin, to kill him; Christ seeks vis ad salutem, to save its. ' This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners,' 1 Tim. i. 15. Yield to be found, if thou wilt 3deld to be saved. There is nothing but good meant thee in this seeking.

Vidimics et testamur, &c.,—' We have seen, and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world,' 1 John iv. 14. The fishermen's riddle was: Those we could not find we kept; those we found we lost. But Christ's course is otherwise: whom he finds he saves; whom he finds not ape lost for ever. It was a poetical speech, Amare et sajyere vix conceditur diis, —To love and to be wise seldom meet. They are met in Christ; he did love us— suscepit naturam, he became man; he was wise— occidit 2^£ccatum, he killed sm. In love he seeks us, in wisdom he saves us : here was amare et sa^yere. This sweet and comfortable note I must leave to your meditations; my speech must end his saving, though of his salvation there be no end. Parvum est servare honos, —It is a small thing to save those that are in no danger of spilling; therefore, lastly, look to the object:—

5. 'The lost.' There ecce potestatem, behold his power. He is that ' strongest man' that unbound us from the fetters of sin and Satan. Fortis-simus; for ccetera excellit, ccetera expellit, —he excels the rest, he expels the rest. He had need be powerful, that redeems so weak man from the hands of so strong enemies. Magnus venit medicus, quia magnus jacehat cegrotus. The whole world was sick; there had need be a great physician, for there was a great patient. Lo, where wretchedness lies at the foot of goodness: ecce miserum ante misericordern,. What but infinite miseiy should be the fit object of infinite mercy !

Here was then the purpose of Christ's coming: to ' seek the lost,' to recall wanderers, to heal the sick, to cleanse the leprous, to revive the dead, to save sinners. He 'came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,' Matt. ix. 13; he leaves 'the ninety-nine in the wilderness, to seek the lost sheep,' Luke xv. Whether it be ineant of the just angels in heaven, (as Ambrose, Chrysostoin, Hilary, Euthymius think;) or those that thought themselves just, (as Bucer and Ludolphus,) the scribes and Pharisees, that presumed they needed no repentance;—he embraceth publicans and sinners, that confess themselves sick, and lacking a physician; sinful wretches, and needing a Saviour.

Those worldlings in the gospel have better cheer at home; what care they for Christ's supper? It is the dry ground that thinks well of rain, the hungry soul that is glad of sustenance. The mercy of God falls most welcome on the broken spirit. They that feel themselves miserable, and that they stand in need of every drop of his saving blood, to those it runs fresh and sweet. They that feel themselves lost are found. They are least of all

lost that think themselves lost; they are nearest to their health that are most sensible of their sickness. These he seeks, these he saves: to these nascens se dedit in socium, convescens in cihum, moriens in 2^^'^tium, regnans in frceTnium* —iu his birth he became their companion, in his Ufa their food, in his death their redemption, in his glory their salvation.

' Lost!' But where was man lost ? There are diverse losing-places:—

(1.) A garden of delights: and there the first man lost himself, and all us. In a garden therefore our Saviour found us again. We were lost in a garden of rest; we are found in a garden of trouble. The serpent could never take the hare, (he was too light-footed for him,) till he found him sleeping in a garden of sweet flowers, under which the serpent lay hidden. Whilst man not only surfeits on pleasures, but sleeps in them, Satan, that old serpent, wounds him to death.

(2.) A wUderness is a place able to lose us : and that is this world, a wide and wild forest; many lost in it. We read of a rich man, Luke xii., that lost himself in one corner of this wilderness, his very bams. Strange, to be lost in a bam; and yet how many lose themselves in a less room, their counting-house ! The usurer hath there lost his soul, and no man can find it. It is fio long wrapped up among his bonds, till Satan take the forfeit. The de-populator takes a larger field to lose his soul in; and to make sure work that grace may never find it, he hedges and ditches it in.

(3.) Another losmg-place is a labyrinth or maze. In the orchard of this world the god of it hath made a labyrinth, which St John describes, ' The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,' 1 Epist. ii. 16. The entrance hereinto is easy, as you have seen in that emblem of suretyship, the Horn : a man goes gently in at the butt end, but comes hardly out at the buckle; the coming forth is difiicult. It is so fuU of crooked meanders, winduigs, and turnings, out of one sin into another,—from consent to delight, from delight to custom, from custom to impenitency,—that in this labyrinth men soon grow to a maze, and know not how to be extricated : Labyrinthus, quasi labor intus. The wicked 'weary themselves in the ways of destmction,' Wisd. v. 7.

' Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life.' Hwc tria pro trino Numine mtmdus hahet, —This is the trinity the world worships.

' Lust of the flesh.' The adulterer loseth himself in the forbidden bed : Inter viamillas perditur, —He is lost between the breasts of a harlot. He that seeks for him must, as the pursuivant for the Seminaiy, not forbear the mistress's bed to find him.

' Lust of the eyes.' Ahab casts a covetous eye at Naboth's vineyard, David a lustful eye at Bathsheba. The eye is the pulse of the soul: as phj--sicians judge of the heart by the pulse, so we by the eye; a rolling eye, a roving heart. The good eye keeps minute-time, and strikes when it should; the lustful crotchet-time, and so puts all out of tune.

' Pride' has lost as many as any her fellow-devils. They say she was born in heaven, and being cast down, wandered u^ion earth, where a woman took her in; and there she hath dwelt ever since. Indeed, Isa. iii., the shop of pride is the woman's wardrobe; in this wardrobe many souls, both of women and men too, are lost. The common study is new fiishions; but it is an ill fashion thus to lose the soul.

If we would get out of this maze, we must, as God warned the wise men, depart another way. Out of lust Ave must wind forth by chastity, out of covctousness by charity, out of pride by humility. Penitence is the * Postil. Cathol., cou. ii., Dom. Advent.

clue to guide us fortli ; howsoever we came in, we must go out by repentance.

(4.) A fourth, losing-place is the multitude of new and strange ways; wherein men wander, as Saul after his asses, and ai-e lost There is a way to Rome, a way to Amsterdam, a way to the silliness of ignorance, a way to the sullenness of arrogance. None of aU these is the way to Zion. In the multitude of ways, multitude of souls lose themselves.

(5.) Lastly, some are lost in the dark vaidt of ignorance, applauding themselves in their blindness, and like bats refusing the sunshine. They have an altar, Acts xvii. 23, but it is Ignoto Deo, to an unknown God. Like the host of the king of Syria, they are blind, and lost betwixt Dothan and Samaria, 2 Kings vi. 19. They may grope, as the Sodomites, for the door of heaven; but let not the Pope make them believe that they can find it blindfold. Ignorance is not God's star-chamber of light, but the devil's vault of darkness. By that doctrine Antichrist fills hell, and his own coffers. The light that must bring us out is Jesus Christ, • which lighteth every man that Cometh into the world,' John i. 9; and his ' word is a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our paths,' Ps. cxix. 105.

Thus you see there are many places to be lost in, but one way to be found; and that is this: ' The Son of man is come to seek and to save that was lost.' O Jesus, turn our wandering steps into the narrow way of righteousness ! Come to us, that we may be sought; seek us, that we may be found; find us, that we may be saved; save us, that we may be blessed, and bless thy name for ever ! Amen.

THE WHITE DEVIL;

OB,

THE HYPOCRITE UNCASED,

m A SERMON PREACHED AT PAUL'S CROSS, MARCH 7, 1612.

This he said, not that he cared for the poor ; hut hecause he was a thief, and had the hag, and hare what was put therein. — John XII. 6.

I AM to speak of Judas, a devil by the testimony of our Saviour,—' Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil ?' John vi. 7,—^yet so transformed into a show of sanctimony, that he who was a devil in the knowledge of Christ seemed an angel in the deceived judgment of his fellow-apostles. A devil he was, black within and full of rancour, but white without, and skinned over with hypocrisy; therefore, to use Luther's word, we will call him the * white devil,' Even here he discovers himself, and makes good this title. Consider the occasion thus :—

Christ was now at supper among his friends, where every one shewed him several kindness; among the rest, Mary pours on him a box of ointment. Take a short view of her affection:—(1.) She gave a precious unction, spikenard; Judas valued it at three hundred pence, which (after the best computation) is with us above eight pounds; as if she could not be too prodigal m her love. (2.) She gave him a whole pound, ver. 3: she did not cut him out devotion by piecemeal or remnant, nor serve God by the ounce, but she gave all: for quality, precious; for quantity, the whole pound. Oh that our service to God were answerable! We rather give one ounce to lust, a second to pride, a third to malice, &c., so dividing the whole pound to the devil: she gave all to Christ. (3.) To omit her anointing his feet, and wiping them with the hairs of her head; wherein her humility and zeal met: his feet, as unworthy to touch his head; with her hairs, as if her chief ornament was but good enough to honour Christ withal, the beauty of her head to serve Christ's feet. ' She brake the box,' tanqvam ebria, amove, and this of no worse than alabaster, that Christ might have the last remaining drop: and the whole house was filled with the odour;' at this repines Judas, pre-

tending the poor, for he was ' white;' intending his profit, for he was a 'devil.'

The words contain in them a double censure:—I. Judas's censure of Mary; this repeatingly folded up: e/Vs ds touto, ' he said thus,' with reference to his former words, ver. 5, ' Why was not this,' &c. II. God's censure of Judas: this partly, 1. Negative, 'he cared not for the poor;' to convince his hypocrisy, that roved at the poor, but levelled at his profit; like a ferryman, looking toward charity with his face, rowing toward covetousness with his arms. 2. Affirmative, demonstrating, (1.) His meaning, 'he was a thief;' (2.) His means, ' he had the bag;' (3.) His maintenance, ' he bare what was given, or put therein.'

I. In Judas's censure of Mary, many things are observable, to his shame, our instruction; and these, 1. Some more general; 2. Some more special and personal; all worthy your attention, if there wanted nothing in the deliverance,

1. Observe that St John lays this fault on Judas only; but St Matthew, chap. xxvi. 8, and Mark, chap. xiv. 4, charge the disciples with it, and find them guilty of this repining; and that (in both, ayavaxTOuvrsg) not without indignation. This knot is easily untied : Judas was the ringleader, and his voice was the voice of Jacob, all charitable ; but his hands were the hands of Esau, rough and injurious. Judas pleads for the poor; the whole synod likes the motion well, they second it with their verdicts, their words agree; but their spirits differ. Judas hath a further reach : to distil this ointment through the lembic of hypocrisy into his own purse; the apostles mean plainly: Judas was malicious against his Master; they simply thought the poor had more need. So sensible and ample a diff"erence do circumstances put into one and the same action : presumption or weakness, knowledge or ignorance, simplicity or craft, do much aggravate or mitigate an offence. The apostles consent to the circumstance, not to the substance, setting, as it were, their hands to a blank paper: it was in them pity rather than piety; in Judas neither pity nor piety, but plain perfidy, an exorbitant and transcendent sin, that would have brought innocence itself into the same condemnation ; thus the aggregation of circumstances is the aggravation of offences. Consider his covetise, fraud, malice, hypocrisy, and you will say his sin was monstrous; sine modo, like a mathematical line, divisibilis in semper divisi-Ulia, —infinitely divisible. The other apostles receive the infection, but not into so corrupted stomachs, therefore it may make them sick, not kiU them: sin they do, but not unto death. It is a time rule even in good works: Finibus, 7ion ojiciis, disce^mendoe sunt virtutes d, vitiis, —Virtues are discerned from \aces, not by their offices, but by theu' ends or intents : neither the outward form, no, nor often the event, is a sure rule to measure the action by. The eleven tribes went twice, by God's special word and warrant, against the Benjamites, yet in both assaults received the overthrow. Cum Pater Filium, Christus corpus, Judas Dominum, res eadem, non causa, non intentio opera7itis* —When God gave his Son, Christ gave himself, Judas gave his Master; here was the work, not the same cause nor intention in the workers. The same rule holds proportion in offences: here they all sm, the apostles in the imprudence of their censure, Judas in the impudence of his rancour.

I might here, first, lead you into the distinction of sins; secondly, or traverse the indictment with Judas, whereby he accuseth Mary, justifying her action, convincing his slander; thirdly, or discover to you the foulness of raah judgment, which often sets a rankling tooth into virtue's side; often

*Aug.

calls charity herself a harlot, and a guilty hand throws the first stone at innocence, John viii. 7.

But that which I fasten on is the power and force of example. Judas, with a false weight, set all the wheels of their tongues agoing: the steward hath begun a health to the poor, and they begin to pledge him round. Authority shews itself in this, to beget a likeness of manners : Tutum est peccare mitoribus illis, —It is safe sinning after such authors; if the steward say the word, the fiat of consent goes round. Imperio maximus, exemplo •major, —He that is greatest in his government is yet greater in his precedent. A great man's livery is countenance enough to keep drunkenness from the stocks, whoredom from the post, murder and stealth from the gallows : such double sinners shall not escape with single judgments; such leprous and contagious spirits shall answer to the justice of God, not only for their own sins, but for all theirs whom the pattern of their precedency hath induced to the like. To the like, said I? nay, to worse; for if the master drink cid plenitudinem, to fulness, the servant will ad ebrietatem, to madness; the imitation of good comes, for the most part, short of the pattern, but the imitation of ill exceeds the example. A great man's warrant is like a charm o? spell, to keep quick and stirring spirits within the circle of combmed mischief, a superior's example is like strong or strange physic, that ever works the servile patients to a likeness of humours, of affections: thus when the mother is a Hittite, and the father an Amorite, the daughter seldom proves an Israelite, Ezek. xvi. 45. Regis ad exemplum toius comjMnitur orbis, — Greatness is a copy, which every action, every affection strives to write after. The son of Nebat is never without his commendation following him, ' he made Israel to sin,' 1 Kings xv. 30, and xvi. 15. The imitation of our governors' manners, fashion, vices, is styled obedience : if Augustus Caesar loves poetry, he is nobody that cannot versify; now, saith Horace,

* Scribimua indocti, doctique poemata passim.'

When Leo lived, because he loved merry fellows, and stood well-affected to the stage, all Eome swarmed with jugglers, singers, players. To this, I think, was the proverb squared : Confessor Papa, confessor j^ojndus, —If the Pope be an honest man, so will the people be. In vidgus manant exempla regentum.'^ The common people are like tempered wax, whereon the vicious seal of greatness makes easy impression. It was a custom for young gentlemen in Athens to play on recorders; at length Alcibiades, seeing his blown cheeks in a glass, threw away his pipe, and they all followed him. Our gallants, instead of recorders, embrace scorching lust, staring pride, staggering drunkenness, till their souls are more blown than those Athenians' cheeks. I would some Alcibiades would begin to throw away these vanities, and all the rest would follow him. Thus spreads example, lilce a stone thrown into a pond, that makes circle to beget circle, till it spread to the banks. Judas's train soon took fire in the suspectless disciples; and Satan's infections shoot through some great star the influence of damnation mto the ear of the commonalty. Let the experience hereof make us fearful of examples.

Observe, that no society hath the privilege to be free from a Judas; no, not Christ's college itself: ' I have chosen you twelve, and behold one of you is a devil;' and this no worse man than the steward, put in trust with the bread of the prophets. The synod of the Pharisees, the convent of monks, the consistory of Jesuits, the holy chair at Piome, the sanctified parlour at Amsterdam, is not free from a Judas. Some tares will shew that * the«erh

* Cypr.

vious man' is not asleep. They hear him preach that 'had the words of eternal life,' John vi. 68 ; they attend him that could ' feed them with miraculous bread,' ver. 51; they followed him that could * quiet the seas and control the winds,' Matt. xxvi.; they saw a precedent in whom there was no defect, no default, no sin, no guUe ; yet, behold, one of them is a hypocrite, an Iscariot, a devil. Wliat! among saints ? * Is Saul among the prophets V 1 Sam. x, 12. Among the Jews, a wicked publican, a dissolute soldier, was not worth the wondering at: for the publicans, you may judge of their honesty when jom always find them coupled with harlots m the Scripture ; for the soldiers, (that robed Christ in jest, and robbed him in earnest,) they were irreligious ethnics; but amongst the sober, chaste, pure, precise Pharisees, to find a man of sin was held uncouth, monstrous. They run from their wits, then, that run from the church because there are Judases. Thus it will be till the great Judge with his fan shall ' purge his floor,' Matt, iii. 12 ; till the ' angels shaU carry the wheat into the barn of glory,' Matt, yiii-30. Until that day comes, some rubbish will be in the net, some goats amongst the sheej), some with the mark of the beast in the congregation of saints; an Ishmael in the family of Abraham; one without his wedding garment at the marriage-feast; among the disciples a Demas, among the apostles a Judas.—Thus generally.

2.—(1.) Observe : Judas is bold to reprove a lawful, laudable, allowable work: ' he said thus.' I do not read him so peremptory in a just opportunity. He could swallow a gudgeon, though he kecks at a fly; he could observe, obey, flatter the compounding Pharisees, and thought he should get more by licking than by biting; but here, because his mouth waters at the money, his teeth rankle the woman's credit, for so I find malignant reprovers styled : corrodunt, oion corrigunt; correptores, immo corruptores, —they do not mend, but make worse; they bite, they gnaw. Thus was Diogenes surnamed Cynic for his snarling : conviciorum canis, the dog of reproaches. Such forget that monendo 2)h(s, quam minando possumus, —mercies are above menaces. Many of the Jews, whom the thunders of Sinai, terrors of the law, humanas mo-tura tonitriia mentes, moved not, John Baptist wins with the songs of Zion. Judas could feign and fawn, and fan the cool wind of flattery on the burning malice of the consulting scribes. Here he is hot, sweats and swells without cause; either he must be unmerciful or over-merciful; either wholly for the reins, or all upon the spur. He hath soft and silken words for his Master's enemies, coarse and rough for his friends; there he is a dumb dog and finds no fault, here he is a barking cur and a true man instead of a thief; he was before an ill mute, and now he is a worse consonant: but as Pierius's ambitious daughters were turned to magpies for correcting the Muses,* so God justly reproves Judas for unjustly reproving Mary. Qui mittit in altum lapidem, recidet in caput ejus,f —A stone thrown up in a rash humour falls on the thrower's head, to teach him more wisdom. He that could come to the Pharisees, (like Martial's parrot, %a/^£, or like Jupiter's priests to Alexander with a Jove sate,) commending their piety, which was without mercy, here condemns mercy, which was true piety and pity.

I coidd here find cause to praise reprehension : if it be reasonable, seasonable, well-grounded for the reprover, well-conditioned for the reproved. I would have no profession more wisely bold than a minister's, for sin is bold, yea, saucy and presumptuous. It is miserable for both, when a bold sinner and a cold priest shall meet; when he that should lift up his voice like a trumpet doth but whisper through a trunk. Many men are dull beasts * Ovid. Metam., lib. ii. f lerom. ad Rust. monacL

without a goad, blind Sodomites without a guide, deaf adders and idols without ears, forgetful, like Pharaoh's butler, without memories : our connivance is sinful, our sUence baneful, our allowance damnable. Of sin, neither the fathers, factors, nor fautors are excusable; nay, the last may be worst, whiles they may, and will not help it, Rom. xiii. 2. Let Rome have the praise without our envy or rivality: Peccatis Roma patrociniian est. Sodomy is licensed, sins to come pardoned, drunkenness defended, the stews maintained, perjury commended, treason commanded. As sinful as they think us, and we know ourselves, we would blush at these. Nihil interest, sceleri an faveas, an illud facias, —There is little difference between permission and commission, between the toleration and perpetration of the sin : he is an abettor of the evil that may and will not better the evil. Amici vitia, si feraSyfacis tua. Thy unchristian sufferance adopts thy brother's sins for thine own, as children of thy fatherhood. Of so great a progeny is many a sin-favouring magistrate ; he begets more bastards in an hour than Hercules did in a night; and, except Christ be his friend, God's sessions \\t11 charge him with the keeping of them all. No private man can plead exemption from this duty, for amicus is animi custos, —he is thy friend that brings thee to a fair and free end. Doth human charity bind thee to reduce thy neighbour's straying beast, and shall not Christianity double thy care to his erring soul ? Cadit asina, et est qui sublevet ; perit anima, non est qui reco-gitet, —The fallen beast is lifted up, the burdened soul is let sink under her load.

(2.) Observe his devilish disposition, bent and intended to stifle goodness in others, that had utterly choked it in himself. Is the apostle Judas a hin-derer of godliness ? Surely man hath not a worse neighbour, nor God a worse servant, nor the devil a better factor, than such a one: an jiEsop's dog, that because he can eat no hay himself, lies in the manger and will not suffer the horse. He would be an ill porter of heaven-gates, that having no lust to enter himself, will not admit others ; as Christ reproved the lawyers, Luke xi. 52. They are fruitless trees that cumber the ground, chap. xiii. 7 ; cockle and darnel, that hinder the good corn's growth; malicious devils, that plot to bring more partners to their own damnation, as if it were ali-quid socios habuisse doloris, —some ease to them to have fellows in their misery.

Let me pant out a short complaint against this sin : dolendum a medico, quod non delendum a inedicina, —we may bewail where we cannot prevail. The good old man must weep, though he cannot drive away the disease of his chUd with tears. Thou that hinderest others from good works, makest their sins thine, which, I think, thou needest not do, for any scarcity of thine own ; whiles thou temptest a man to villany, or withstandest his piety, thou at once puUest his sins and God's curse on thee. For the author sins more than the actor, as appears by God's judgment in paradise, Gen. iiL 14, <kc., where three punishnients were inflicted on the serpent, as the original plotter ; two on the woman, as the immediate procurer; and but one on Adam, as the party seduced. Is it not enough for thee, 0 Judas, to be a villain thyself, but thou must also cross the piety of others 1 Hast thou spoiled thyself, and wouldst thou also mar Mary ?

(3.) Nay, observe : he would hinder the works of piety through colour of the works of charity, diverting Mary's bounty from Christ to the poor, as if respect to man should take the wall of God's service. Thus he strives to set the two tables of the law at war, one against the other; both which look to God's obedience, as the two cherubimsto the mercy-seat, Exod. xxy. 20; and

VOL. IL p

the catholic Christian hath a catholic care. I prefer not the laws of God one to the other : ' one star here differs not from another star in glory.' Yet I know the best distinguisher's caution to the lawyer : ' This is the commandment, and the other is (but) like unto it,' Matt. xxii. 38, 39. Indeed I would not have sacrifice turn mercy out of doors, as Sarah did Hagar; nor the fire of zeal drink up the dew and moisture of charity, as the fire froia heaven dried up the water at Elijah's sacrifice, 1 Kings xviii. 38; neither would I that the precise observation of the second table should gild over the monstrous breaches of the first. Yet I have heard divines (reasoning this point) attribute this privilege to the first table above the second: that God never did (I wiU not say, never could) dispense with these commandments which have himself for their proper and immediate object. For then (say they) he should dispense against himself, or make himself no God, or more. He never gave allowance to any to have another god ; another form of worship) ; the honour of his name he wiU not give to another; nor suffer the profaner of his holy day to escape unpunished. For the second table, you have read him commanding the brother ' to raise up seed to his brother,' Deut. XXV. 5, notwithstanding the law, ' Thou shalt not commit adultery,' Matt. xii. 24 ; commanding the Israelites to rob the Egyptians, Exod. xi. 2, without infringing the law of stealth; aU this without wrong, for * the earth is his, and the fulness thereof!' Thou art a father of many children : thou sayest to the younger, ' Sirrah, wear you the coat to-day which your other brother wore yesterday;' who complains of wrong? We are all (or, at least, say we are all) the children of God: have earthly parents a greater privilege than our heavenly ? If God then have given dispensation to the second table, not to the first, the observation of which (think you) best pleaseth him ?

Let not then, O Judas, charity shoulder out piety; nay, charity will not, cannot; for ' faith worketh by love,' Gal. v. 6. AJacl love never dined in a conscience where faith had not first broken her fast. Faith and love are like a pair of compasses; whilst faith stands perfectly fixed in the centre, which is God, love walks the round, and puts a girdle of mercy about the loins. There may indeed be a show of charity without faith, but there can be no show of faith without charity." Man judgeth by the hand, God by the heart.

Hence our policies in their positive laws lay severe punishments on the actual breaches of the second table, leaving most sins against the first to the hand of the almighty justice. Let man's name be slandered, currai lex, ' the law is open,' Acts xix. 38; be God's name dishonoured, blasphemed, there is no punishment but from God's immediate hand. Carnal fornication speeds, though not ever bad enough, yet sometimes worse than spiritual, which is idolatry. Yet this last is majus adulterlum, the greater adultery; because non ad alteram mtdierem, 1 Cor. vi. 15, sed ad alterum Deum, Hos. ii. 2,—it is not the knitting of the body to another woman, but of the soul to another God. The poor slave is convented to the spiritual court, and meets with a shrewd penance for his incontinence; the rich nobleman, knight, or gentleman, (for Papists are no beggars,) breaks the commissary's cords as easily as Samson the Philistine's withs, and puts an excommunication in his pocket. All is answered : ' Who knows the spirit of man, but the spirit of man ?' and, ' He stands or falls to liis own master,' Kom. xiv. 4. Yet again, who knows whether bodily stripes may not procure spiritual health, and a seasonable blow to the estate may not save the soul * in the day of the Lord Jesus 2' 1 Cor. v. 5. Often detrimentum pecuniae et

sanitatis; "propter honum. aninioe* a loss to the purse, or a cross to the corpse, is for the good of the conscience. Let me then complain, are there no laws for atheists, that would scrape out the deep engraven characters of the soul's eternity out of their consciences, and think their souls as vanishing as the spirits of dogs; not contenting themselves to lock up this damned persuasion in their own bowels, but belching out this unsavoury breath to the contagion of others ? Witness many an ordinary that this is an ordinary custom; that in despite of the oracles of heaven, the prophets, and the secretaries of nature, the philosophers, would enforce that either there is no God, or such a one as had as good be none: nominal protestants, verbal neuters, real atheists. Ai'e there no laws for image-worshippers, secret friends to Baal, that eat with us, sit with us, play with us, not pray with us, nor for us, unless for our ruins 1 Yes, the sword of the law is shaken against them : alas, that but only shaken! But cither their breasts are invulnerable, or the sword is obtuse, or the strikers troubled with the palsy and numbness in the arms. Are there no laws for blasphemers, common swearers, whose constitutions are so ill-tempered of the four elements, that they take and possess several seats in them : all earth in their hearts, all water in their stomachs, all air in their brains, and (saith St James) all fire in their tongues, James iii. G ; they have heavy earthen hearts, watery and surfeited stomachs, light, airy, mad brains, fiery and flaming tongues. Are there no laws to compel them on these days, that ' God's house may be filled 1' Luke xiv. 23 ; no power to bring them from the 'puddles to the springs?' Jer. ii. 13; from walking the streets, sporting in the fields, quaffing in taverns, slugging, wantonismg on couches, to watch with Christ 'one hour in his house of prayer?' Matt. sxvi. 40. Why should not such blisters be lanced by the knife of authority, which wiU else make the whole body of the commonwealth, though not incurable, yet dangerously sick ? I may not seem to prescribe, give leave to exhort: 7ion est mece kumilitatis didare vohis, &c.t It suits not with my mean knowledge to direct you the means, but with my conscience to rub your memories. Oh, let not the pretended equity to men countenance out our neglect of piety to God !

(4.) Lastly, observe his unkindness to Christ. What, Judas, grudge thy Master a little unction! And, which is yet viler, from another's purse ! With what detraction, derision, exclamation, wouldest thou have permitted this to thy fellow-servant, that repinest it to thy Master ! How hardly had this been derived from thy own estate, that didst not tolerate it from Mary's ! What! Thy Master, that honoured thee with Christianity, graced thee with apostleship, trusted thee with stewardship, wilt thou deny him this courtesy, and without thine own cost ? Thy Master, Judas, thy Friend, thy God, and, yet in a sweeter note, thy Saviour, and canst not endure another's gratuital kindness towards him ? Shall he pour forth the best unction of his blood, to bathe and comfort thy body and soul, and thou not allow him a little refection ? Hath Christ hungered, thii-sted, fainted, sweated, and must he instantly bleed and die, and is ho denied a little unction? and dost thou, Judas, grudge it 1 It had come more tolerably from any mouth : his friend, his follower, his professor, his apostle, his steward 1 Unkind, unnatural, unjust, unmerciful Judas.

Nay, he terms it no better than waste and a loss: E/j r/ ;) acrwXs/a

aiir^j; Ad quid perdiiio hcec ? —' Why is this waste?' Matt. xxvi. 8. What,

lost and given to Jesus! Can- there be any waste in the creature's due

service to the Creator? No; pietas est proprictate sumptusfacere,X —this is

* Th. Aquin. t Bern. t TertuL Apo. 39.

godliness, to be at cost with God : therefore our fathers left behind them deposita j^ietatis, pledges, evidences, sure testimonies of their reUgion, in honouring Christ with their riches; I mean not those in the days of Popery, but before ever the locusts of the Papal sea made our nation drunk with that enchanted cup. They thought it no waste either nova constmere, aut Vetera conservare, —to buUd new monuments to Christ's honour, or to better the old ones. We may say of them, as Eome bragged of Augustus Caesar: Quce invenerunt lateritia, reliquenmt marmorea, —What they found of brick, they left of marble ; in imitation of that precedent in Isaiah, though with honester hearts : ' The bricks are fallen down, but we wiU build with, hewn stones. The sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars,' chap, ix, 10, In those days charity to the church was not counted waste. The people of England, devout like those of Israel, cried one to another, Afferte, Bring ye into God's house; till they were stayed with a statute of mortmain, like Moses's prohibition, ' The people bring too much,' Exod, xxxvi, 6. But now they change a letter, and cry, Avferte, take away as fast as they gave; and no inhibition of God or Moses, gospel or statute, can restrain their violence, till the alabaster-box be as empty of oil as their own consciences are of grace. We need not stint your devotion, but your devoration; every contribution to God's service is helcl waste : Ad quid 2-)erditio hcec ? Now any required ornament to the church is held waste; but the swallowing down, I say not of ornaments, as things better spared, but of necessary maintenance, tithes, fruits, oflferings, are all too little. Gentlemen in these cold countries have very good stomachs; they can devour, and digest too, three or four plump parsonages. In Italy, Spain, and those hot countries, or else nature and experience too lies, a temporal man cannot swallow a morsel or bit of spiritual preferment, but it is reluctant in his stomach, up it comes again. Surely these northern countries, coldly situate, and nearer to* the tropic, have greater appetites. The Afri-, cans think the Spaniards gluttons ; the Spaniards think so of the Frenchmen ; Frenchmen, and all, think and say so of Englishmen, for they can devour whole churches; and they have fed so liberally, that the poor servitors, (ashamed I am to call them so,) the vicars, have scarce enough left to keep life and soul together : not so much as sitis et fames et fiigora poscuntjf —the defence of hunger, and thirst, and cold, requires. Your fathers thought many acres of ground well bestowed, you think the tithe of those acres a waste. Oppression hath played the Judas with the church, and because he would prevent the sins incurable by our fulness of bread, hath scarce left us bread to feed upon, Daniel's diet among the lions, or Elias's in the wUderness. I wUl not censure you in this, ye citizens ; let it be your praise, that though you ' dwell in ceiled houses' yourselves, * you let not God's house lie waste,' Hag. i. 4; yet sometimes it is found that some of you, so careful in the city, are as negligent in the country, Avhere your lands lie; and there the temples are often the ruins of your oppression, TYionumenta rapince; your poor, undone, blood-sucked tenants, not being able to repair the windows or the leads, to keep out rain or birds, f If a levy or taxation would force your benevolence, it comes malevolently from you, with a ' Why is this waste V Raise a contribution to a lecture, a collection for a fire, an alms to a poor destitute soul, and lightly there is one Judas in the congregation to cry, A d quid perditio hcec ? —' Why is this waste V Yet you will say, if Christ stood in need of an unction, though as costly as

* Further from.— Ed. t Juven. Sat. 14.

:J: ' Canescunt turpi templa relicta situ.'— Ovid.

Mary's, you would not grudge it, nor think it lost. Cozen not yourselves, ye hypocrites ; if ye will not do it to his church, to his poor ministers, to his poor members, neither would you to Christ, Matt. xxv. 40; if you clothe not them, neither would you clothe Christ if he stood naked at your doors. Whiles you count that money lost which God's service receiveth of you, you cannot shake away Judas from your shoulders. What would you do, if Christ should charge you, as he did the young man in the gospel, ' Sell all, and give to the poor,' Matt. xix. 21, that think superfluities a waste? Oh, durus sermo ! —a hard sentence ! Indeed, ' a cup of cold water,' Matt. x. 42, is bounty praised and rewarded, but in them that are not able to give more; ' the widow's two mites' are accepted, because all her estate, Luke xxi. 4. If God thought it no waste to give you plenty, even all you have, think it no waste to return him some of his own. Think not the oil waste which you pour into the lamp of the sanctuary, Exod. xxv. 6 ; think not the bread waste which you cast on the waters of adversity, Eccles. xi. 1; think nothing lost whereof you have feoffed God in trust. But let me teach you soberly to apply this, and tell you what indeed is waste :—

(1.) Our immoderate diet,—indeed not diet, for that contents nature, but surfeit, that overthrows nature,—this is waste. Plain Mr Nabal, 1 Sam. xxv. 36, made a feast like a prince. Dives, Luke xvi., hath no other arms to prove himself a gentleman, but a scutcheon of these three colours : first, he had money in his purse, he was rich; secondly, he had good rags on his back, clothed in purple; thirdly, dainties on his table, he fared deliciously, and that every day : this was a gentleman without heraldry. It was the rule, ad aUmenta, uf ad medicamenta, —to our meat as to our medicine : man hath the least mouth of all creatures, mahim non imitari, quod sumus. Therefore it is ill for us not to imitate that which we are; not to be like ourselves. There are many shrewd contentions between the appetite and the purse : the wise man is either a neuter or takes part with his purse. To consume that at one banquet which would keep a poor man with convenient sustenance all his life, this is waste. But, alas ! our slavery to epicurism is great in these days: mancipia serviuntdominis, doraini cupiditati-hus, —servants are not more slaves to their masters, than their masters are slaves to lusts. Tmiocreon's epitaph fits many :—

* Multa bibens, et multa vorans, mala plurima dicens,' &c.,—

He ate much and drank much, and spake much evil. We sacrifice to our palates as to gods : the rich feast, the poor fast, the dogs dine, the poor pine ? Ad quid pei'ditio Juec ? —' Why is this waste V (2.) Our unreasonable ebrieties :—

' Tenentque Pocula esepe homines, et inumbrant ora coronis.'

They take their fill of wine here, as if they were resolved, with Dives, they should not get a drop of water in hell. Eat, drink, play ; quid aliud sepul-chro bovis inscrihi jjoterat ? —what other epitaph could be written on the sepulchre of an ox ? Epulomim crateres, sunt epulomtm carceres, —their bowls are their bolts ; there is no bondage like to that of the vintage. The furnace beguiles the oven, the cellar deceives the buttery; we driuk away our bread, as if we would put a new petition into the Lord's jjrayer, and abrogate the old : saying no more, with Christ, ' Give us this day our daily bread,' but, Give us this day our daily drink; quod non in diem,sed in mensem sufficit, —which is more than enough for a day, nay, would serve a month.

Temperance, the just steward, is put out of office; what place is free from these alehouse recusants, that think better of their drinking-room than Peter thought of Mount Tabor 1 Bonum est esse hie, —' It is good being here,' Matt, xvii. 4, tihi nee Dens, nee dcemon, —where both God and the devil are fast asleep. It is a question whether it be worse to turn the image of a beast to a god, or the image of God to a beast; if the first be idolatry, the last is impiety. A voluptuous man is a murderer to himself, a covetous man a thief, a malicious a witch, a drunkard a de^il; thus to drink away the poor's relief, our own estate : Ad quid j)erditio lime ? —' Why is this waste V

(3.) Our monstrous pride, that turns hospitality into a dumb show : that which fed the belly of hunger now feeds the eye of lust; acres of land are metamorphosed into trunks of apparel; and the soul of charity is transmigrated into the body of bravery: this is waste. We make ourselves the compounds of all nations : we borrow of Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Turkey and all; that death, when he robs an Englishman, robs all countries. Where lies the wealth of England ? In three places : on citizens' tables, in usurers' coffers, and ujjon courtiers' backs. God made all simple, therefore, woe to these compounded fashions ! God will one day say, Hoc non opus mernn, nee imago mea est, —This is none of my workmanship, none of my image. One man wears enough on his back at once to clothe two naked wretches all their Hves : Ad quid, &c.—' Why is this waste ?'

(4.) Our vainglorious buildings, to emulate the skies, which the wise man calls ' the lifting up of our gates too high,' Prov. xvii. 19. Houses built like palaces ; tabernacles that, in the master's thought, equal the mansion of heaven ; structures to whom is promised eternity, as if the ground they stood on should not be shaken, Heb. xii. 16. Whole towns depopulate to rear up one man's walls; chimneys buUt in proportion, not one of them so happy as to smoke ; brave gates, but never open; sumptuous parlours, for owls and bats to fly in : pride began them, riches finished them, beggary keeps them; for most of them moulder away, as if they were in the dead builder's case, a consumption. Would not a less house, Jeconiah, have served thee for better hospitality? Jer. xxii. Our fathers lived well under lower roofs; this is waste, and waste indeed, and these worse than the devil. The devil had once some charity in him, to turn stones into bread. Matt. iv. 3; but these men turn bread into stones, a trick beyond the devil: Ad quid j^erditio hcec ? — * Why is this waste V

(5.) Our ambitious seeking after great alliance : the ' son of the thistle must match mth the cedar's daughter,' 2 Kings xiv. 9. The father tears dear years out of the earth's bowels, and raiseth a bank of usury to set his son upon, and thus mounted, he must not enter save under the noble roof; no cost is spared to ambitious advancement: Ad quid, &c.—' Why is this waste 1'

Shall I say our upholding of theatres, to the contempt of religion ; our maintaining ordmaries, to play away our patrimonies; our four-wheeled porters ; our antic fashions; our smoky consumptions; our perfumed putrefaction : Ad quid 2^erditio hcec ? —Why are these wastes ? Experience wiU testify at last that these are wastes indeecl; for they waste the body, the blood, the estate, the freedom, the soul itself, and aU is lost thus laid out; but what is given (with Mary) to Christ is lost like sown grain, that shall be found again at the harvest of joy.

II. We have heard Judas censuring Mary, let us now hear God censuring Judas:—

1. And that, first, negatively : * he cared not for the poor.' For the poor

he pleads, but himself is the poor he means well to; but let his pretence be what it will, God's witness is true against him: ' he cared not for the poor.'

(1.) Observe : Doth Christ condemn Judas for condemning Mary? Then it appears he doth justify her action; he doth, and that after in express terms : * Let her alone,' &c., ver. 7. Happy Mary, that hast Jesus to plead for thee ! blessed Christians, for whom * Jesus Christ is an advocate !' 1 John ii. 1. ' He is near me that justifies me; who will contend with me ? Behold, the Lord will help me ; who is he that can condemn me ?' Isa. 1. 8, 9. Hence David resigns his protection into the hands of God : * Judge me, O God, and defend my cause against the unmerciful people,' Ps. xliii. 1. And Paul yet with greater boldness sends a frank defiance and challenge to all the actors and pleaders that ever condemnation had, that they should never have power to condemn him, since Jesus Christ justifies him, Eom. viii. 33. Happy man whose cause God takes in hand to plead ! Here is a Judas to accuse us, a Jesus to acquit us; Judas slanders, Jesus clears ; wicked men censure, the just God approves; earth judgeth evil what is pronounced good in heaven ! Oh, then, do well, though, fremunt gentes, great men rage, though perverseness censures, impudence slanders, malice hinders, tjranny persecutes ; there is a Jesus that approves: his approbation shall outweigh all their censures; let his Spirit testify within me, though the whole world oppose me.

(2.) Observe : It is the nature of the wicked to have no care of the poor. Sihi nati, sibi vivunt, sibi mornintitr, sihi damnantur, —They are all for themselves, they are born to themselves, live to themselves; so let them die for themselves, and go to hell for themselves. The fat bulls of Bashan love 'the lambs from the iiock, and the calves from the stall,' &c., 'but think not on the affiction of Joseph,' Amos vi. 4. Your gallant thinks not the distressed, the blind, the lame to be part of his care; it concerns him not. True ; and therefore heaven concerns him not. It is infallible truth, if they have no feeling of others' miseries they are no members of Christ, Heb. xiii. 3. Go on now in thy scorn, thou proud royster ; admire the fashion and stuff thou wearest, whiles the poor mourn for nakedness ; feast royal Dives, while Lazarus can get no crumbs. Apply, Absalom, thy sound, healthful limbs to lust and lewdness, whiles the same blind, maimed, cannot derive a penny from thy purse, though he move his suit in the name of Jesus; thou givest testimony to the world, to thy own conscience, that thou art but a Judas. Why, the poorest and the proudest have, though not vestem commu-nem, yet cutem communem, —there may be difference in the fleece, there is none in the flesh; yea, perhaps, as the gallant's perfumed body is often the sepulchre to a putrefied soul, so a white, pure, innocent spirit may be shadowed under the broken roof of a maimed corpse. Nay, let me terrify them : * Not many rich, not many mighty, not many noble arc called,' 1 Cor. i. 26. It is Paul's thunder against the flashes of greatness : he says not, ' not any,' but 'not many;' for servatur Lazarus pauper, sed in sinu Ahrahami Divitis* —Lazarus the poor man is saved, but in the bosom of Abraham the rich. It is a good saying of the son of Sirach, ' The affliction of one hour will make the proudest stoop,' Ecclus. xi. 27, sit upon the ground, and forget his former pleasure; a piercing misery will soften your bowels, and let your soul sec through the breaches of her prison, in what need distress stands of succour. Then you will be charitable or never, as physicians say of their patients, ' Take whiles they be in pain;' for in health nothing will be WTung

* Aug. in Ps. V.

out of them. So long as health and prosperity clothe you, you reck not the poor. Nabal looks to his sheep, what cares he for David ? If the truth were known, there are many Nabals now, that love their own sheep better than Christ's sheep. Christ's sheep are fain to take coats, their own sheep give coats. Say some that cavH, If we must care for the poor, then for the covetous ; for they want what they possess, and are indeed poorest. No ; pity not them that pity not themselves, who in despite of God's bounty will b6 miserable ; but pity those whom a fatal distress hath made wretched.

Oh, how unfit is it among Christians, that some should surfeit whiles other hunger ! 1 Cor. xi. 21; that one should have two coats, and another be naked, yet both one man's servants ! Luke iii. 11. Remember that God hath made many his stewards, none his treasurer ; he did not mean thou shouldst hoard his blessings, but extend them to his glory. He that is infinitely rich, yet keeps nothing in his own hands, but gives all to his creatures. At his own cost and charges he hath maintained the world almost six thousand years. He will most certainly admit no hoarder into his kingdom ; yet, if you will needs love laying up, God hath provided you a cofier : the poor man's hand is Christ's treasury. The besotted M'orldling hath a greedy mind, to gather goods and keep them; and, lo, his keeping loseth them : for they must have either Jlnem tuum, or jlnem suum, —thy end, or their end. Job tarried and his goods went, chap. i.; but the rich man went, and his goods tarried, Luke xii. Si vestra sunt, tollite vohiscum, —If they be yours, why do you not take them with you ? No, hie acquiruntur, hie amittuntur, —here they are gotten, here lost. But, God himself being witness, (nay, he hath passed his word,) what we for his sake give away here, we shall find again hereafter; and the charitable man, dead and buried, is richer under the ground than he was above it. It is a usual song, which the saints now sing in heaven—

* That we gave. That we have.'

This riddle poseth the worldling, as the fishermen's did Homer : Quoe cepi-mus, reliquinncs ; quae non cepimus, nobiscum portamus, —^AVhat we caught, we left behind us; what we could not catch, we carried with us. So, what we lose, we keep ; what we will keep, we shall lose : he that loseth his goods, his lands, his freedom, his life for Christ's sake, shall find it, Matt. x. 3^. This is the charitable man's case : all his alms, mercies, relievings are, wisely and without executorship, sown in his lifetime; and the harvest wUl be so great by that time he gets to heaven, that he shall receive a thousand for one : God is made his debtor, and he is a sure paymaster. Earth hath not riches enough in it to pay him; his requital shall be in heaven, and there with no less degree of honour than a kingdom.

Judas cares not for the poor. Judas is dead, but this fault of his lives stiU : the poor had never more need to be cared for; but how 1 There are two sorts of poor, and our care must be proportionable to their conditions: there are some poor of God's making, some of their own maldng. Let me say, there are God's poor, and the de\il's poor : those the hand of God hath crossed; these have forced necessity on themselves by a dissolute Hfe. The former must be cared for by the compassion of the heart, and charity of the purse : God's poor must have God's alms, a seasonable relief according to thy power; or else the Apostle fearfully and peremptorily concludes against thee, ' The love of God is not in thee,' 1 John iii 17. If thou canst not find in thy heart to diminish a grain from thy heap, a penny from thy purse, a cut from thy loaf, when Jesus Christ stands at thy door and calls for it; pro-

fess what thou wilt, the love of earth hath thrust the love of heaven out of thy conscience. Even Judas himself wiU pretend charity to these.

For the other poor, who have pulled necessity on themselves ^vith the cords of idleness, riot, or such disordered courses, there is another care to be taken : not to cherish the lazy blood in their veins by abusive mercy; but rather chafe the stunted sinews by correction, relieve them with punishment, and so recover them to the life of obedience. ' The sluggard lusteth,' and hath an empty stomach; he loves sustenance well, but is loath to set his foot on the cold ground for it. The laws' sanction, the good man's function saith, * If he wUl not labour, let him not eat,' 2 Thess. iii. 10. For experience telleth that where sloth refuseth the ordinary pains of getting, there lust hunts for it in the unwarranted paths of wickedness; and you shall find, that if ever occasion should put as much power into their hands as idleness hath put viUany into their hearts, they will be ready to pilfer your goods, fire your house, cut your throats. I have read of the king of j^Iacedon, de-scrjing two such in his dominions, that alterum e Macedonia fugere, alie-rum fugare fecit, —he made one fly out of his kingdom, and the other drive him. I would our magistrates would follow no worse a precedent; indeed, our laws have taken order for their restraint. AVheresoever the fault is, they are rather multiplied; as if they had been sown at the making of the statute, and now, as from a harvest, they arise ten for one. Surely our laws make good wills, but they have bad luck for executors; their wiUs are not performed, nor their legacies distributed ; I mean the legacies of correction to such children of sloth : impunitas delicti invitat homines ad malignandum. Sin's chief encouragement is the want of punishment; favour one, hearten many. It is fit, therefore, that poena ad paucos, metus ad omnes perveniatf —penalty be inflicted on some, to strike terror into the rest.

It was St Augustine's censure : IlUcita non prohibere, consensus erroris est* —Not to restrain evil is to maintain evU. The commonwealth is an instrument, the people are the strings, the magistrate is the musician; let the musician look that the instrument be in tune, the jarring strings ordered, and not play on it to make himself sport, but to please the ears of God. Doctores, the ministers of mercy, now can do no good, except ductores, the ministers of justice, put to their hands. We can but forbid the corruption of the heart; they must prohibit the wickedness of the hand. Let these poor be cared for that have no care for themselves ; runagates, renegades, that will not be ranged (like wandering planets) within the sphere of obedience. ' Yet a little more sleep,' says the sluggard ; but modicum non hahet lonum, —their bunch will swell to a mountain, if it be not prevented and pared down. Care for these, ye magistrates, lest you answer for the subordination of their sins : for the other let all care, that care to be received into the arms of Jesus Christ.

(3.) Observe : Judas cares not for the poor. What! and yet would he for their sakcs have drawn comfort from the Son of God? "What a hypocrite is this ! Could there be so deep dissimulation in an apostle ? Yes, in that apostle that was a devil. Lo, still I am haunted with this white devil, hypocrisy; I cannot sail two leagues, but I rush upon this rock : nay, it will encounter, encumber me quite through the voyage of this verse. Judas said, and meant not, there is hypocrisy; he spake for the poor, and hates them, there is hypocrisy ; he w^as a privy thief, a false steward, <kc., all this not without hypocrisy. Shall I be rid of this devil at once, and conjure him out of my speech ? God give me assistance, and add you patience, and I * Epist, 182, ad Bonif.

will spend a little time to uncase tMs white devil, and strip hina of all his borrowed colours.

Of all bodUy creatures, man (as he is God's image) is the best; but basely dejected, degenerated, debauched, simply the worst. Of all earthly creatures a wicked man is the worst, of all men a wicked Christian, of all Christians a wicked professor, of all professors a wicked hypocrite, of all hjqpocrites a wicked, warped, wretched Judas. Take the extraction or quintessence of all corrupted men, and you have a Judas. This then is a Judas : a man degenerate, a Christian corrupted, a professor putrefied, a gilded hjrpocrite, a white-skinned devil. I profess I am sparingly affected to this point, and would fain shift my hands of this monster, and not encounter him ', for it is not to fight with the unicorns of Assyria, nor the bulls of Samaria, nor the beasts of Ephesus,—neither absolute atheists, nor dissolute Christians, nor resolute ruffians, the horns of whose rapine and malice are no less mar^fest than malignant, but at once imminent in their threats, and eminent in their appearance,—but to set upon a beast, that hath with the heart of a leopard, the face of a man, of a good man, of the best man; a star placed high in the orb of the church, though swooped down with the dragon's taU, because not fixed ; a darling in the mother's lap, blessed with the church's indulgence, yet a bastard; a brother of the fraternity, trusted sometimes with the church's stock, yet no brother, but a broker of treacheries, a broacher of falsehoods. I would willingly save this labour, but that the necessity of my text overrules my disposition.

I know these times are so shameless and impudent, that many strip off the white, and keep the devil; wicked they are, and without show of the contrary. Men are so far from giving house-room to the substance of religion, that they admit not an out-room for the show; so backward to put on Christ, that they will not accept of his livery; who are short of Agrippa, Acts xxvi. 28, scarce persuaded to seem Christians, not at all to be. These will not drink hearty draughts of the waters of life, nay, scarce vouchsafe, like the dogs that run by Mlus, to give a lap at Jacob's well ; unless it be some, as they report, that frequent the sign of it, to be drunk. They salute not Christ at the cross, nor bid him good-morrow in the temple, but go blustering by, as if some serious business had put haste into their feet, and God was not worthy to be stayed and spol^en withal. If this be a riddle, shew me the day shall not expound it by a demonstrative experience. For these I may say, I would to God they might seem holy, and frequent the places where sanctimony is taught; but the devil is a nimble, running, cunning fencer, that strikes on both hands, dujMci ictti, and would have men either oion sanctos, aid non paruvi sanctos, —not holy, or not a little holy, in their own opinion, and outward ostentation : either no fire of devotion on the earth, or that that is, in the top of the chimney. That subtle * winnower' persuades men that they are all chaff and no wheat, or all wheat and no chaff; and would keep the soul either lank with ignorance, or rank with insolence : let me therefore woo you, win you to reject both these extremes, between which your hearts lie, as the grain betwixt both the miUstones.

Shall I speak plainly ? You are sick at London of one disease (I speak to you settled citizens, not extravagants,) and we in the country of another. A sermon against hjq^ocrisy in most places of the country is like phlebotomy to a consumption, the spilling of innocent blood. Our sicknesses are cold palsies and shaking agues; yours in the city are hotter diseases, the burning fevers of fiery zeal, the inflammations and imposthumes of hyjwcrisy. We have the frosts, and you have the lightnings; most of us profess too little,

and some of you profess too much, unless your courses were more answerable. I would willingly be in none of your bosoms; only I must speak of Judas. His hypocrisy was vile in three respects :—

First, He might have been sound. I make no question but he heard his Master preach, and preached himself, that God's request is the heart: so Christ schools the Samaritan woman, John iv. ; so prescribed the scribe, ' Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart,' &c., Mark xii. 30. Corde, Judas, with the heart, which thou reservest like an equivocating Jesuit; nay, toto corde, for it is not tutiim, except it be totum, with the whole heart, which thou never stoodest to divide, but gavest it wholly to him that wholly lolled it, thy Master's enemy, and none of thy friend, the devU. Thou heard-est thy ISIaster, thy friend, thy God, denounce many a fearful, fatal, final woe against the Pharisees : hac appellatione, et ob hanc causam, —under this title, and for this cause; hypocrites, and because hypocrites. As if his woes were but words, and his words wind, empty and airy menaces, without intention of hurt, or extension of a revengeful arm, behold thou art a hypocrite ; thou art therefore the worse because thou mightest be better.

Secondly, He seemed soimd. Sj^em vidtu simulat, i^remit cdtum corde dolorem, nay, dolum rather; craft rather than grief, unless he grieved that out of his cunning there was so little coming, so small prize or booty; yet, like a subtle gamester, he keeps his countenance, though the dice do not favour him. And as Fabius Maximus told Scipio, preparing for Africa, concerning Syphax, Fraus fidem in jjarvis sibi perstruit, ut cum, ojoerce pretium, sit, cum magna mercede fallat;* Judas creeps into trust by his justice in trifles, that he might more securely cheat for a fit advantage. Without pretence of fidelity, how got he the stewardship ? Perhaps if need required, he spared not his own purse in Christ's service ; but he meant to put it to usury : he carried not the purse, but to pay himself for his pains, thus jactura in loco, res quwstuosissima, —a seasonable damage is a reasonable vantage; in this then his vUeness is more execrable, that he seemed good.

If it were possible, the devil was then worse than himself, when he came into Samuel's mantle. Jezebel's paint made her more ugly. If ever you take a fox in a lamb's skin, hang him up, for he is the worst of the generation. A Gibeonite in his old shoes, a Seminary in his haircloth, a ruffian in the robes of a Jacobine, fly like the plague. These are so much the worse devils, as they would be holy devils; true traitors, that would fight against God with Ins own weapons ; and by being out-of-cry religious, run themselves out of breath to do the church a mischief

Thirdly, He would seem thus to his Master, yet knew in his heart that his Master knew his heart; therefore his hypocrisy is the worst. Had he been an alien to the commonwealth of Israel, and never seen more of God than the eye of nature had discovered, (yet, says even the heathen, £%£/ Qdg 'ixdiMv '6fji,fiQc,f —God hath a revenging eye,) then no marvel if his eyes had been so bUnd as to think Christ blind also, and that he, which made the eye, had not an eye to see withal; but he saw that Son of David give sight to so many sons of Adam, casually blind, to one naturally and born blind, John ix. 32,— viiracidum inauditum, a wonder of wonders,—and shall Judas think to put out his eye that gave them all eyes ? Oh, incredible, insensible, invincible ignorance !

You see his hypocrisy : methinks even the sight of it is dissuasion forcible enough, and it should be needless to give any other reason than the discovery ; yet whiles many censure it in Judas, they condemn it not in them-* Liv. Annal., lib. siii. + Horn.

selves, and either think they have it not, or not in such measure. Surely, we may be no Judases, yet hypocrites; and who will totally clear himself ? Let me tell thee, if thou doest, thou art the worst hypocrite, and but for thee we had not such need to complain. He that clears himself from all sin is the most sinner, and he that says he hath not sinned in hypocrisy is the rankest hypocrite ; but I do admit a distinction. AU the sons of Adam are infected with this contamination, some more, some less. Here is the difference, all have hypocrisy, but h3rpocrisy hath some : aliud habere peccatum, aliud haheri ci peccato, —it is one thing for thee to possess sin, another thing for sin to possess thee. All have the same corruption, not the same eruption ; in a word, all are not hypocrites, yet who hath not sinned in h3rpocrisy? Do not then send your eyes, like Dinah's, gadding abroad, forgetting your own business at home; strain not courtesy with these banquets, having good meat carved thee, to lay it liberally upon another man's trencher; be not sick of this plague and conceal it, or call it by another name. Hypocrisy is hypocrisy, whatsoever you call it; and as it hath learned to leave no sins naked, so I hope it hath not forgot to clothe itself. It hath as many names as Garnet had, and more Protean shapes than the Seminaries: the white devil is in this a true devil; multorum nominum, non honi nominis, —of many names, but never a good one. The vileness of this white devil appears in six respects :—

First, It is the worst of sins, because it keeps all sins : they are made sure and secure by h^q^ocrisy. Indeed some vices are quartermasters with it, and some sovereigns over it, for hypocrisy is but another sm's pander; except to content some affected guest, we could never yield to this filthy Herodias, Matt. xiv. 9. It is made a stalking-horse for covetousness; Under long prayers many a Pharisee devours the poor, houses, goods, and all. It is a complexion for lust, who, were she not painted over with a religious show, would appear as loathsome to the world as she is indeed. It is a sepulchre of rotten impostures, which would stink like a putrefied corpse, if hypocrisy were not their cover. It is a mask for treason, whose shopful of jjoisons, pistols, daggers, gunpowder-trains, would easily be spied out, had hypocrisy left them barefaced. Treachery under this vizard thrusts into court revels, nay, court counsels, and holds the torch to the sports, nay, the books to serious consultations; deviseth, adviseth, plots with those that provide best for the commonwealth. Thus are all sins beholden to hypocrisy; she maintains them at her own proper cost and charges.

Secondly, It is the worst of sins, because it counterfeits all virtues. He that counterfeits the king's coin is liable to death; if hypocrisy find not death, and mortevi sine morte, death without death, for counterfeiting the Eang of heaven's seal-manual of grace, it speeds better than it merits. Vice is made virtue's ape in a hypocrite's practice. If he see Chusi run, this Ahimaaz will outrun him; he mends his pace, but not his path; the good man goes slower, but will be at heaven before him. Thus thriftiness in a saint is counterfeited by niggardliness in a hypocrite; be thou charitable, behold he is bountiful, but not except thou may behold him; his vainglorious pride shall emulate thy liberality; thou art good to the poor, he will be better to the rich ; he follows the religious man afar off, as Peter did Christ, but when he comes to the cross he will deny him. Thus h^'jiocrisy can put blood into your cheeks, (like the Aliptce,) and better your colours, but you may be sick in your consciences, and almost dead at the heart, and no}i est medicamen in hortis, —there is no medicine in this drugster's shop can cure you.

Thirdly, A hypocrite is a kind of honest atheist; for his own good is his god, his heaven is upon earth, and that not the peace of his conscience, Phil, iv. 7, or that kingdom of heaven which may be in a soul living on earth, Rom. xiv. 17, but the secure peace of a worldly estate. He stands in awe of no judge but man's eye ; that he obseives with as great respect as David did the eyes of God. If man takes notice, he cares not, yet laughs at him for that notice, and lolls his soul by that laughter : so Pygmaliou-like, he dotes on his own carved and painted piece; and perhaps dies Zeuxis's death, who, l)ainting an old woman, and looking merrily on her, brake out into a laughter that killed him. If the world do not praise his doings, he is ready to challenge it, as the Jews God, ' Wherefore have we fasted, and thou seest it not 1' Isa. Iviii. 3. He crosseth Christ's precept. Matt. vi. 3, the left hand must not be privy to the right hand's charity. He dares not trust God with a penny, except before a whole congregation of witnesses, lest perhaps God should deny the receipt.

Fourthly, A hypocrite is hated of all, both God and man : the world hates thee, Judas, because thou retainest to Christ; Christ hates the more, because thou but only retainest, and doest no faithful service. The world cannot abide thee, thou hypocrite, because thou professest godliness ; God can worse abide thee, because thou doest no more than profess it. It had been yet some policy, on the loss of the world's favour, to keep God's ; or if lost God's, to have yet kept in with the world. Thou art not thy own friend, to make them both thy enemies. Miserable man, destitute of both refuges, shut out both from God's and the world's doors! Neither God nor the devil loves thee'; thou hast been true to none of them both, and yet most false of all to thyself. So this white devil, Judas, that for the Pharisees' sake betrayed his Master, and for the devil's sake betrayed himself, was in the end rejected of Pharisees and Master; and like a ball, tossed by the rackets of contempt and shame, bandied from the Pharisees to Christ, from Christ to the Pharisees, from wall to wall, till he fell into the devU's hazard, not resting like a stone, till he came to his centre, sJg rhv rO'Tron rhv '/diov, ' into his own place,' Acts i. 25. Purposeth he to go to Christ 1 His own conscience gives him a repulsive answer: No, ' thou hast betrayed the innocent blood,' Matt, xxvii. 4. Goes he to the chief priests and elders 1 Cold comfort: ' What is that to us ? see thou to that.' Thus your ambo-dexter proves at last ambo-sinister ; he that plays so long on both hands hath no hand to help himself withal. This is the hypocrite's misery; because he wears God's livery, the world will not be his mother; because his heart, habit, service, is sm-wedded, God will not be his father. He hath lost earth for heaven's sake, and heaven for earth's sake, and may complain, with P^ebekah's fear of her two sons, ' Why should I be deprived of you both in one day 1 ' Gen. xxvii. 45; or as sorrowful Jacob expostulated for his, * Me have you robbed of my children : Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and will you take Benjamin also"? all these things are against me,' Gen. xlii. 3G. This may be the hyjjocrite's mournful dirge : ' :My hyijocrisy hath robbed me of all my comforts : my Creator is lost, my Eedeemer will not own me ; and will ye take away (my beloved Benjamin) the world also"? all these things are against me.' Thus an open sinner is in better case than a dissembling saint. There are few that seem worse to others than they are in themselves; yet I have both read and heard of some that have, with broken hearts and mourning bowels, sorrowed for themselves as if they had been reprobates, and not spared so to proclaim themselves, when yet their estate was good to Godward, though they knew it not. Perhaps their wickedness and ill-life hath been grievous, but their repentance is

gracious : I may call these black saints. The hypocrite is neat and curious in his religious outside, but the linings of his conscience are as ' filthy and polluted rags/ Isa. Ixiv. 6: then I say still, a black saint is better than a white devil.

Fifthly, Hypocrisy is like the devil, for he is a perfect hypocrite; so he began, with our first parents, to put out his apparent horns in paradise: Non moriemini, —'Ye shall not die,' Gen. iii. 4; yet he knew this would kUl them. A hypocrite then is the child of the devil, and (quoth Time, the midwife) as. like the father as it may possibly look. He is ' the father of lies,' John viii. 44; and there is no liar like the hypocrite, for, as Peter said to Ananias, 'Thou hast not lied to men, but to God,' Acts v. 4. Nay, the hypocrite is his eldest son. Now, the privilege of primogeniture by the law was to have 'a double portion,' Deut. xxi. 17; wretched hypocrite in this eldership ! Matt. xxiv. 51. Satan is called a j)rince, and thus stands his monarchy, or rather anarchy: the devil is king; the hypocrite his eldest son, 2 Chron. xxL 3, Job xvi. 11, Eph. ii. 2; the usurer his younger; atheists are his viceroys in his several provinces, for his dominion is beyond the Turk's for limits ; epicures are his nobles; persecutors his magistrates; heretics his ministers; traitors his executors; sin his law; the wicked his subjects; tyranny his government; hell his court; and damnation his wages. Of all these the hypocrite is his eldest son.

Lastly, A hypocrite is in greatest difficulty to be cured. Why should the minister administer physic to him that is perfectly sound? Matt. ix. 12, 13; or why should Christ give his blood to the righteous ? Well may he be hurt and swell, swell and rankle, rankle and fester, fester and die, that will not bewray his disease, lest he betray his credit.

' Stultorum incurata pudor malus ulcera celat.' *

A man of great profession, little devotion, is like a body so repugnantly composed, that he hath a hot liver and a cold stomach : that which heats the stomach, overheats the liver; that which cools the liver, overcools the stomach : so, exhortations that warm his conscience, inflame his outward zeal; dissuasives to cool his hypocrisy, freeze his devotion. He hath a flushing in his face, as if he had eaten fire; zeal burns in his tongue, but come near this glowworm, and he is cold, dark, squalid. Summer sweats ia his face, winter freezeth in his conscience. March, many forwards in his words, December in his actions; pepper is not more hot in the tongue's end, nor more cold at heart; and, to bon'ow the words of our worthy divine and best characterer, we think him a saint, he thinks himself an angel, flatterers make him a god, God knows him a devil.

This is the white devil: you will not think how glad I am that I am rid of him. Let him go; yet I must not let you go till I have persuaded you to hate this monster, to abhor this devU. Alas ! how forget we, in these days, to build up the cedar work of piety, and learn only to paint it over with vermilion ! We white and parget the walls of our profession, but the rubbish and cobwebs of sin hang in the corners of our consciences. Take heed; a Bible under your arms ■rtU not excuse a false conscience in your bosoms; think not you fathom the substance when you embrace the shadow : so the fox seeing sweetmeats in the vial, licked the glass, and thought he had the thing; the ignorant sick man eats up the physicians' bill, instead of the receipt contained in it. It is not a day of seven, nay, any hour of seven days, the grudged

* Hor.

parting with an alms to a fire, the conjuring of a Paternoster, (for the heart only prays,) or once a-year renewing thy acquaintance with God in the sacrament, can piivilege or keep impune thy injuries, usuries, perjuries, frauds, slanders, oppressions, lusts, blasphemies. Beware of this white devil, lest your portion be with them in hell whose society you would defy on eai'th. ' God shall smite thee, thou pamted wall,' Acts xxiii. 3, and wash off thy vermihon dye with the rivers of brimstone. You have read of some that heard Christ preach in their pulpits, feasted at his communion-table, cast out devils in his name, yet not admitted : vv'hUes they wrought miracles, not good works, cast out devils from others, not sins from themselves, Luke xiii. 26, &c., they miss of entrance. Go then and solace thyself in thy bodily devotion : thou hearest, readest, receivest, relievest; where is thy conscience, thy heart, thy spu'it 1 God asks not for thy livery, but thy service; he knows none by their confession, but by their conversation. Your looks are the objects of strangers' eyes, your lives of your neighbours', your consciences of your own, all of God's. Do not Ixion-like take a cloud for Jimo, a mist for presumption of a sound and solid faith : more can say the creed than understand it, than practise it. Go into your grounds in the dead of winter, and of two naked and destitute trees you know not which is the sound, which the doted; the summer will give Christ's mark: ' By their fruits ye shall know them,' Matt. vii. 20.

I speak not to discourage your zeal, but to hearten it, but to better it. Your zeal goes through the world, ye worthy citizens. Who builds hospitals? the city. Who is liberal to the distressed gospel 1 the city. Who is ever faithful to the crown 1 the city. Beloved, your works are good; oh, do not lose their reward through hypocrisy! I am not bitter, but charitable; I would fain put you into the chariot of grace with Elias, and only wish you to put off' this mantle, 2 Kings ii. 13. Oh that it lay in my power to prevail with your affections as well as your judgments ! You lose aU your goodness, if your hearts be not right; the ostentation of man shaU meet with the detestation of God. You lose your attention now, if your zeal be in your eye, more than heart. You lose your prayers, if when the ground hath yoiu: knee, the world hath your conscience : as if you had two gods—one for Sundays, another for work-days; one for the church, another for the change. You lose your charity, whiles you give glozingly, illiberally, too late : not a window you have erected but must bear your names. But some of you rob Peter to pay Paul: take tenths from the church, and give not the poor the twentieths of them. It is not seasonable, nor reasonable charity, to undo whole towns by your usuries, enclosings, oppressions, impropriations; and for a kind of expiation, to give three or four the yearly pension of twenty marks : an almshouse is not so big as a village, nor thy superfluity whereout thou givcst, like their necessity whereout thou extortest; he is but poorly charitable that, having made a hundred beggars, reheves two. You lose all your credit of piety, whiles you lose your integrity; your solemn censuring, mourning for the time's evil, whiles yourselves are the evil cause thereof; your counterfeit sorrow for the sins of your youth, whiles the sins of your age ai"e worse; your castmg salt and brhie of reproof at others' faults, whiles your own hearts are most unseasoned: all these artificial whitings are but thrifty leasings, sick healths, bitter sweets, and more pleasing deaths. Cast then away this bane of religion, hypocrisy; this candle with a great wick and no taUow, that often goes out quickly, never without stench; this fiiir, flattering, white devil. How well have we bestowed this pains, I in speaking, you in hearing, if this devil be cast out of your consciences, out of your con-

versations ! It will leave some prints behind it in tlie best, but bless not yourselves in it, and God shall bless you from it. Amen.

2. The affirmative part of God's censure stands next to our speech: describing, (1.) His meaning; (2.) His means; (3.) His maintenance :—

(1.) His meaning was to be a thief, and shark for himself, though his pretence pleaded/orma ^jar^^^ej-is, in the behalf of the poor. He might, perhaps, stand upon his honesty, and rather than lose his credit, strive to purge himself from his suspectless neighbours; but there need no further jury pass upon him, God hath given testimony, and his witness is beyond exception : * Judas is a thief A thief! who saw him steal 1 He that hath now condemned him for his pains. Indeed the world did not so take him, his reputation was good enough, John xiii. 29; yet he was a thief, a crafty, cunning, cheating thief.

There are two sorts of thieves: public ones, that either with a violent hand take away the passengers' money, or rob the house at midnight; whose church is the highway: there they pray, not to God, but on men;* their dwelling, like Cain's, very unsure; they stand upon thorns, whiles they stand upon certainties. Their refuge is a wood; the instrument of their vocation, a sword : of these some are land-thieves, some sea-thieves; all rove on the sea of this world, and most commonly suffer shipwreck, some in the deep, some on a hill. I will say little of these, as not pertinent to my text, but leave them to the jury; and speak of thieves like Judas, secret robbers, that do more mischief, with less present danger to themselves. These ride in the open streets, whiles the other lurk in close woods. And to reason, for these private thieves are in greater hazard of damnation : the grave exhortations of the judge, the serious counsel of the assistant minister, together with the sight of present death, and the necessity of an instant account with God, work strongly on a public thief's conscience; all which the private thief neither hath, nor hath need of in the general thought. The public thief wants but apprehension, but this private thief needs discovery; for they lie close as treason, dig low like pioneers, and though they be as familiar with us as familiars, they seem stranger than the Indians.

To define this manner of thieves: A private thief is he that without danger of law robs his neighbour; that sets a good face on the matter, and hath some profession to countenance it: a fair cloak hides a damnable fraud; a trade, a profession, a mystery, lilie a Rome-hearted Protestant, hides this devilish Seminary under his roof without suspicion. To say truth, most of our professions (thanks to ill professors) are so confounded with sins, as if there went but a pair of shears between them; nay, they can scarce be distinguished : you shall not easily discern between a hot, furious professor and a hypocrite, between a covetous man and a thief, between a courtier and an aspirer, between a gallant and a swearer, between an officer and a bribetaker, between a servitor and a parasite, between farmers and poor-grinders, between gentlemen and pleasure-lovers, between great men and madmen, between a tradesman and a fraudsman, between a moneyed man and a usurer, between a usurer and the devil. In many arts, the more skilful the more ill-full; for now-a-days armis potentior ashis, fraud goes beyond force: this makes lawj'ers richer than soldiers, usurers than lawyers, the devil than all. The old Hon, saith the fable, when his nimble days were over, and he could no longer prey by violence, kept his den with a feigned sickness; the suspectless beasts, drawn thither to a dutiful visitation, thus became his prey:

* That is, as he often states it more accurately, ' They pray not to God, but prey on men.'— Ed.

cunning served his turn when his canning failed. The world, whiles it was young, was simple, honest, plain-dealing: gentlemen then delved in the ground, now the soles of their feet must not touch it; then they dranlc water, now wine will not serve, except to drunkenness; then they kept sheep, now they scorn to wear the wool; then Jacob returned the money in the sack's mouth. Gen. xliii. 12, now we are ready to steal it, and put it in. Plain-dealing is dead, and, what we most lament, it died without issue. Virtue had but a short reign, and was soon deposed; all the examples of sin in the Bible are newly acted over again, and the interest exceeds the principal, the counterpart the original The apostasy now holds us in our manner: we leave God for man, for Mammon. Once, orhis ingemuit faciiun se videns Arianum, —the world groaned, seeing itself made an Ariau; it may now groan worse, factum se videns Machiavellum, —seeing itself made a Machiavel: nisi Deus opem 2)rc^stat, de2)erire mundum, restat. Grieved Devotion had never more cause to sing—

' Mundum dolens circumivi; Fidem undique quresivi,' &c.; —

* The world I compassed about. Faith and honesty to find out; But country, city, court, and all, Thi'ust poor Devotion to the wall: The lawyer, courtier, merchant, clown, Have beaten poor Devotion down ; All woimd her, til], for lack of breath, Fainting Devotion bleeds to death.'

But I am to deal with none but thieves, and those private ones; and because Judas is the precedent, I wiU begin with him that is most like him, according to the proverb which the Grecians had of Philo Judasus : "H nXa-rm ^tXov/'^ii, 71 ci)/?,wi/ IDMruvi^n, Aid Flato Philonem sequitiir, aut Platonem Philo, —Either Plato followed Philo, or PMlo imitated Plato. Let me only change the names : Either Judas played the Pope, or the Pope plays the Judas. This is the most subtle thief in the world, and robs all Christendom imder a good colour. Who can say he hath a black eye or a light finger ? for experience hath taught him, that cui j^ellis leonina non suffidt, vidpina est assuenda, —

* When the lion's skin cannot threat. The fox's skin can cheat.'

Pope Alexander was a beast, that having entered like a fox, he must needs reign like a lion; worthy he was to die like a dog: for vis consilii expers, mole ruit sua, —power without policy is like a piece without powder. Many a Pope sings that common ballad of hell, Ingenio perii, qui miser ipse ineo* —

* Wit, whither wilt thou ? Woe is me; My wit hath wi'ought my miseiy.'

To say truth, their religion is nothing in the circumstance but craft; and policy maintains their hierarchy, as Judas's subtlety made hun rich. Judas was put in trust with a great deal of the devil's business; yet not more than the Pope. Judas pretended the poor, and robbed them; and doth not the Pope, think you 1 Are there no alms-boxes lifled and emptied into the Pope's treasury 1 Our fathers say that the poor gave Peter-ponce to the Pope, but our grandfathers cannot tell us that the Pope gave Ca^sar-pcnce to the poor. Did not he sit in the holy chair, as Augustus Caesar in his imperial throne, and cause the whole Christian world to be taxed? Luke ii. 1, And what!

* Ovid. VOL. IL Q

Did tliey freely give it 1 No; a taxation forced it. What right, then, had the Pope to it ? Just as much as Judas had to his Master's money. Was he not then a thief? Yet what need a rich man be a thief? The Pope is rich, and needs must, for his comings-in be great: he hath rent out of heaven, rent out of hell, rent out of purgatory; but more sacks come to his mill out of purgatory than out of hell and heaven too ; and for his tolling let the world judge; therefore saith Bishop Jewel,' He would be content to lose hell and heaven too, to save his purgatory.' Some by pardons he prevents from hell; some by indulgences he lifts up to heaven ; and infinite by ransoms from purgatory: not a jot without money. Criices, altaria, Christum, —He sells Christ's cross, Christ's blood, Christ's self, all for money. Nay, he hath rent from the very stews, a hell above-ground, and swells his coffers by the sins of the people; he suffers a price to be set on damnation, and maintains lust to go to law for her own; gives whoredom a toleration under his seal, that lust, the son of idleness, hath free access to liberty, thg daughter of pride.

Judas was a great statesman in the devil's commonwealth, for he bore four main offices;—either he begged them shamefully, or he bought them bribingly, or else Beelzebub saw desert in him, and gave him them gratis for his good parts, for Judas was his white boy;—he was a hypocrite, a thief, a traitor, a murderer. Yet the Pope shall vie offices with him, and win the game too for plurality. The Pope sits in the holy chair, yet a devil: perjury, sodomy, sorcery, homicide, parricide, patricide, treason, murder, &c., are essential things to the new Papacy. He is not content to be steward, but he must be vicar, nay, indeed. Lord himself; for what can Christ do, and the Pope cannot do 1 Judas was nobody to him. He hath stolen Truth's garment, and put it on Error's back, turning poor Truth naked out of doors; he hath altered the primitive institutions, and adulterated God's sacred laws, maintaining vagas lihidines; he steals the hearts of subjects from their sovereigns, by stealing fidelity from the hearts of subjects, and would steal the crown from the king's head;—and all under the shadow of religion. This is a thief, a notable, a notorious thief; but let him go: I hope he is known well enough, and every true man will bless himself out of his way.

I come to ourselves : there are many kinds of private thieves in both the houses of Israel and Aaron; in foro et chow, —in change and chancel, commonwealth and church. I can tax no man's person; if I could, I would abhor it, or were worthy to be abhorred: the sins of our times are the thieves I would arraign, testify against, condemn, have executed; the persons I would have ' saved in the day of the Lord.'

[1.] If there be any magistrates (into whose mouths God hath put the determination of doubts, and the distribution of right into their hands) that sufier popularity, partiality, passion, to rule, overrule their judgments, these are private thieves; they rob the poor man of his just cause and equity's relief, and no law can touch them for it. Thus may causes go, not according to right, but friendship; as Themistocles's boy could say, ' As I will, tha ■whole senate will: for as I will, my mother wills ; as my mother wills, my father wills; as my father wills, the whole senate will.' Thus as a groom of a chamber, a secretary of the closet, or a porter of the gate will, the cause must go. This is horrible theft, though not arraignable : hence a knot is found in a bulrush ; delay shifts off the day of hearing; a good paint is set on a foul pasteboard; circumstances are shuffled from the bar; the sun of truth is clouded ; the poor confident plaintiff goes home undone; his moans, his groans are vented up to heaven; the just God sees and suffers it, but

lie will one day judge that judge. Who can indict this thief? What law may pass on him 1 What jury can find him 1 What judge can fine him ? None on earth ; there is a bar he shall not escape. If there be any such, as I trust there is not, they are thieves.

[2.] If there be any lawyer that takes fees on both hands, one to speak, another to hold his peace, (as Demosthenes answered his bragging fellow-lawyer,) this is a thief, though the law doth not call him so. A mercenary tongue, and a money-spelled conscience, that undertakes the defence of things known to his own heart to be unjust, is only proper to a thief. He robs both sides : the adverse part in pleading against the truth, his own client in drawing him on to his further damage. If this be not, as the Roman complained, latrociniuni in foro, thievery in the hall, there is none. Happy Westminster-hall, if thou wert freed from this kind of cutpurses ! If no plummets, except of unreasonable weight, can set the wheels of their tongues agomg, and then if a golden addition can make the hammer strike to our pleasure ; if they keep their ears and mouths shut, till their purses be full, and will not understand a cause till they feel it; if they shuffle difficulties into plainness, and trip up the law's heels mth tricks ; if they, surgeon-like, keep the client's disease from healing tiU he hath no more money for salve : then, to speak in their own language, Noverint universi, ' Be it known to all men by these presents,' that these are thieves; though I could wish rather, that noverint ipsi, they would know it themselves, and reform it.

[3.] If there be any officer that walks with unwashen hands,—I mean, with the foul fingers of bribery,—he is a thief: be the matter penal or capital, if a bribe can pick justice's lock, and plead innocent, or for itself, being nocent, and prevail, this is theft. Theft % Who is robbed 1 The giver ? Doth not the freedom of his wiU transfer a right of the gift to the receiver % No ; for it is not a voluntary or willing -will; but as a man gives his purse to the over-mastering thief, rather than venture his life, so this his bribe, rather than endanger his cause. Shall I say, the thief hath as much right to the purse as the officer to the bribe; and they are both, though not equally palpable, yet equally culpable thieves. Is the giver innocent, or nocent ? Innocent, and shaU not innocence have her right without a bribe 1 Nocent, and shall gold conceal his fault or cancel his punishment ? Dost thou not know whether, and wilt thou blind thyself beforehand with a bribe ? for bribes are like dust thrown in the eyes of justice, that she cannot without pain look on the sunshine of truth. Though a second to thyself receive them, wife or friend, by thy allowance, they are but stolen goods, coals of fire put in the roof of thy house : ' for fire shall devour the houses of bribes,' Job xv. 34. And there have been many houses built, (by report,) the first stone of whose foundation was hewn out of the quarry of bribery. These are thieves.

[4.] There is thievery too among tradesmen : and who would think it ? Many, they say, rob us, but we rob none; yes, but they think that verba lactis will countenance//'aiicZewi infactls, —smooth words wiU smother rough deeds. This web of theft is many ways woven in a shop or warehouse, h\it three especially :—

First, By a false weight, and no true measure, whose content or extent is not justifiable by law, Deut. xxv. 13; or the cunning conveyances in weighing or meting, such as cheat the buyer. Are not these pretty tricks to pick men's purses ? The French word hath well expressed them ; they are legerdemains. Now had I not as good lose my purse on Salisbury plain as in London Exchange ? Is my loss the less, because violence forbears, and craft picks my purse? The highway thief is not greater abomination to God

than the shop-thief, Prov. xi. 1; and for man, the last is more dangerous : the other we knowingly fly, but this laughs us in the face whiles he robs us. Secondly, By insufiicient wares, which yet, with a dark window and an impudent tongiie, will appear good to the buyer's eye and ear too. Sophistry is now fled from the schools into shops ; from disputation to merchandising. He is a silly tradesman that cannot sophisticate his wares, as well as he hath done his conscience; and wear his tongue with protestations barer than trees in autumn, the head of old age, or the livings of churchmen. Oaths indeed smell too rank of infidelity; marry, we are Protestants, and protest away our souls : there is no other way to put off bad wares, and put up good moneys. Are not these thieves ?

Thirdly, By playing, or rather preying, upon men's necessities : they must have the commodity, therefore set the dice on them ; vox latronis, the advantage taken of a man's necessity is a trick beyond Judas. Thou shouldest rather be like Job, ' a foot to lame necessity,' chap. sxix. 15, and not take away his crutch. Or perhaps God hath put more wit into thy brains than his, thou seest further into the bargain, and therefore takest opportunity to abuse his plamness : thou servest thyself in gain, not him in love; thou mayest, and laugh at the law, but there is a law thou hast transgressed, that, without Jesus Christ, shall condemn thee to heU.

Go now, applaud yourselves, ye sons of fraud, that eagle-eyed scrupulosity cannot find you faulty, nor the lion-handed law touch you ; please yourselves in your security. You practise belike behind the hangings, and come not on the public stage of injury ; yet you are not free from spectators : testante Numine, homine, dcemone, —God, men, angels, devils, shall witness agamst you. Ex cordibus, ex codicihus, —By your hearts, by your books God shall judge you. Injury is often in the one, perjury in the other; the great Justice will not put it up : they shall be convicted thieves.

[5.] There are thieves crept into the church too; or rather they encroach on the church : for ministers cannot now play the thieves with their livings, they have nothing left to steal; but there are secret Judases can make shift to do it. Difficilis magni custodia census. The eagles flock to a carcase, and thieves hanker about rich doors; at the dispersion of church livings, they cried as the Babylonians, ' To the spoil, to the spoil.' The church was once rich, but it was diehiis illis, in the golden time, when honesty went in good clothes, and ostentation durst not give religion the checkmate; now they plead prescription, and prove them their own by long possession. I do not tax aU those for private thieves that hold in their hands lands and possessions that were once the church's, but those that withhold such as are due to churchmen. Their estates were once taken away by more than God's mere sufferance, for a just punishment for their idleness, idolatry, and lusts : sure there is some Achanism in the camp of the Levites, that makes this plague-sore to run still; there are some disobedient and fugitive Jonahs that thus totter our ship. I complain not that claustra are turned into castra; abbeys into gentlemen's houses; places of monition, to places of munition; but that men rob aram Dominicam, God's house, to furnish haram domesticam, their own houses. This is theft, and sacrilegious theft; a succession of theft: for the fingers of the sons are now heavier than the loins of their fathers; those were irnprobi Papistce, wicked Papists, and these are improhi rapistce, ungodly robbers.

This is a monstrous theft, and so exceeding all thefts, as non nisi in Deum fieri 2iotest* —it can be committed against none but God. When Scipio

* August.

robbed the temple of Tholossa, there was not a man that carried away any of the gold who ever prospered after it; and, I pray you, tell me how many have thrived with the goods of the church ? They go from man to man without rest, like the ark among the Philistines, 1 Sam. v., which was removed from Ashdod to Gath, from Gath to Ekron, as if it could find no place to rest in, but vexed the people that kept it, tiU it returned to its old seat in Israel. Oftentimes these goods, left by gentlemen to their heirs, prove gangrenes to their whole estates; and ' house is joined to house,' Isa. v. 8, so fiist, God's house to their own, that the fire which begins at the one consumes the other : as the eagle, that stole a piece of meat from the altar, carried a coal with it that set her nest on fire. I am persuaded many a house of blood in England had stood at this hour, had not the forced springs of impropriations turned their foundation to a quagmire. In aU your knowledge, think but on a church-robber's heir that ever thrived to the third generation. Yet, alas ! horror to my bones, and shame to my speech! there are not wanting among ourselves that give encouragement to these thieves : and without question, many a man, so well otherwise disposed, would have been reclaimed from this sm but for their distinctions of competencies. I appear to their consciences, there is not a humorist living that in heart tlunks so, or would forbear their reproof, were he not well provided for. These are the foxes, that content not themselves to steal the grapes, but they must forage the vine. Cant. ii. 25 : thus yet still is ' God's house made a den of thieves,' Matt. xxi. 13. Without envy or partiality they are thieves.

[6.] There is more store of thieves yet: covetous landlords, that stretch their rents on the tenter-hooks of an evil conscience, and swell their coffers by undoing their poor tenants. These sit close, and stare the law in the face, yet, by their leave, they are thieves. I do not deny the improvement of old rents, so it be done with old minds,—I mean, our forefathers' charity,—but with the devil, to set right upon the pinnacles, and pitch so high a price of our lands that it strains the tenants' heart-blood to reach it, is theft, and killing theft. What all their immoderate toil, broken sleeps, sore labours can get, with a miserable diet to themselves, not being able to spare a morsel of bread to others, is a prey to the landlords' rapine : this is to rob their estates, grind their faces, suck their bloods. These are thieves.

[7.] Engrossers; that hoard up commodities, and by stopping their community raise the price : these are thieves. Many blockhouses in the city, monopoUes in the court, garners in the country, can testify there are now such thieves abroad. We complain of a dearth; sure the heavens are too merciful to us that are so unmerciful one towards another. Scarcity comes without God's sending : who brings it then ? Even the devil and his brokers, engrossing misers. The commonwealth may often blow her nails, imless she sit by an engrosser's fire: her limbs may be faint with hunger, unless she buy grain at an engrosser's price. I confess this is a sin which the law takes notice of, but not in the full nature, as theft. The pick-purse, in my opinion, doth not so much hurt as this general robber; for they rob millions. These do not, with Joseph, buy up the superfluity of plenty to prevent a dearth, but hoard up the store of plenty to procure a dearth : rebels to God, trespassers to nature, thieves to the commonwealth. If these were apprehended and punished, neither city nor country should complain as they do. Meantime the people's curse is upon them, and I doubt not but God's plague will foUow it, if repentance turn it not away: till when, they are private thieves.

[8.] Enclosers; that pretend a distinction of possessions, a preservation of

woods, indeed to make better and broader their own territories, and to steal from the poor commons : these are horrible thieves. The poor man's beast is Lis maintenance, his substance, his life; to take food from his beast, is to take the beast's food from his belly: so he that encloseth commons is a monstrous thief, for he steals away the poor man's living and life ; hence many a cottager, nay, perhaps farmer, is fain (as the Indians do to de^dls) to sacrifice to the lord of the soil a yearly bribe for a ne noceat. For though the law forbids such enclosures, yet quod fieri non debet, factum valet, —when they are once ditched in, say the law what it vdW, I see no throwing out. Force bears out what fraud hath borne in. Let them never open their mouths to plead the commonwealth's benefit; they intend it as much as Judas did Avhen he spake for the poor. No, they are thieves, the bane of the common good, the surfeit of the land, the scourge of the poor; good only to themselves, and that in opinion only, for they do it ' to dwell alone,' Isa. v. 8 : and they dwell alone indeed, for neither God nor good angel keeps them company; and for a good conscience, it cannot get through their quicksets. These are thieves, though they have enclosed their theft, to keep the law out and their wickedness in : yet the day shall come their lands shall be thrown out, their lives thrown out, and their souls thrown out; their lands out of their possessions, their lives out of their bodies, their souls out of heaven, except repentance and restitution prevail with the great Judge for their pardon. Meantime they are thieves.

[9.] Many taphouse-keepers, taverners, victuallers, which the provident care of our worthy magistrates hath now done well to restrain ; if at least this Hydra's heads do not multiply. I do not speak to annihilate the profession : they may be honest men, and doubtless some are, wliich live in this rank; but if many of them should not chop away a good conscience for money, drunkenness should never be so welcome to their doors. The dissolute wretch sits there securely, and buys his own sickness with a great expense, which would preserve the health of his poor wife and children at home, that lamentably moan for bread whiles he lavisheth all in drink. Thus the pot robs him of his wits, he robs himself of grace, and the victualler robs him of his money. This theft might yet be borne, but the commonwealth is here robbed too. Drunkenness makes so quick riddance of the ale that this raiseth the price of malt, and the good sale of malt raiseth the price of barley : thus is the land distressed, the poor's bread is dissolved into the drunkard's cup, the markets are hoised up. If the poor cannot reach the price, the maltmaster will; he can utter it to the taphouse, and the taphouse is sure of her old friend, drunkenness. Thus theft sits close in a drink-ing-room, and robs all that sail into that coast. I confess they are (most of them) bound to suffer no drunkenness in their houses, yet they secretly acknowledge that if it were not for drunkenness, they might shut up their doors, as utterly unable to pay their rents. These are thieves.

[10.] Flatterers, that eat like moths into liberal men's coats,— the bane of greatness,—are thieves, not to be forgotten in this catalogue. These rob many a great man of his goodness, and make him rob the commonwealth of her happiness. Doth his lord want money 1 He puts into his head such fines to be levied, such grounds enclosed, such rents improved. Be his maintainer's courses never so foul, either he furthers them or he smothers them : sin hath not a more impudent bawd, nor his master a more impious thief, nor the commonwealth a more sucking horse-leech. He would raise himself by his great one, and cannot contrive it but by the ruin of others. He robs the flattered of his goods, of his grace, of his time, of his freedom, of his soul:

is not this a thief? Beneficia, veneficia, —All their good is poison. They are dominis amsores, reipublicce arrosores, —their masters' spaniels, the commonwealth's wolves. Put them in your Paternoster, let them never come in your creed : pray for them, but trast them no more than thieves.

[11.] There is another nest of thieves more in this city, brokers and breakers. I conjoin them in my description for the likeness of their condition : brokers, that will upon a good pawn lend money to a devil, whofio extortion, by report, is monstrous, and such as to find in men is improbable, in Christians impossible; the very vermin of the earth. Indeed man had a poor beginning; we are the sons of Adam, Adam of dust, dust of deformity, deformity of nothing, yet made by God; but these are bred, like monsters, of the corruption of nature and wicked manners, and carry the devil's cognisance. For breakers, such as necessity compels to it I censure not; if they desire with all their hearts to satisfy the utmost farthing, and cannot, God will then accept votal restitution for total restitution, that which is affected for that which is effected, the will for the deed : and in those, debt is not (as the vulgar speech is) deadly sin; a sore it may be, no sin. But they that with a purpose of deceit get goods into their hands in trust, and then without need hide their heads, are thieves; for the intent to steal in their minds directed their injurious hands. The law arraigns them not, the judgment-seat of God shall not acquit them. These steal more quickly and Avith more security than a highway robber, who all his lifetime is m perpetual danger. It is but passing their words, allowing a good price, conveying home the wares, and on a sudden dive under the waters ; a close concealment shall save them five hundred pound in a thousand. They live upon others' sweat, fare ricldy upon others' meat; and the debtor is often made a gentleman, when the creditor is made a beggar.

Such false Gibeonites enrich scriveners : their unfaithfulness hath banished all trust and fidelity. Time was, that Noverint universi was unborn, the lawj'er himself knew not what an obligation meant. Security stood on no other legs but promises, and those were so sound that they never faded their burden; but Time, adulterating with the harlot Fraud, begot a brood of Noverints: and but for these shackles, debt would often shew credit a light pair of heels. Therefore, now, plus creditur annulis quarn anirais,'" — there is more faith given to men's seals than to their souls. ' Owe nothing but love,' saith the Apostle, Rom. xiii. 8; all owe this, but few pay it: or if they do, it is cracked money, not current in God's exchequer; for our love is dissimulation, and our charity is not cold, but dead. But these bankrupts, of both wealth and honesty, owe all things but love, and more than ever they mean to pay, though you give them time till doomsday. These are thieves.

[12.] The twelfth and last sort of thieves (to make up the just dozen) are the usurers. This is a private thief like Judas, and for the bag Idie Judas, which he steals from Christ like Judas, or rather from Christians, that have more need, and therefore worse than Judas. This is a man made out of wax : his Paternoster is a pawn ; his creed is the condition of this obligation; his religion is all religation, a binding of others to himself, of himself to the devil : for look how far any of the former thieves have ventured to heU, the usurer goes a foot further by the standard. The poet exclaims agamst this sin—

' Hinc usura vorax, avidumque, in tempore foenus,' &c. ;

describing in that one line the names and nature of usury. Foenus, quasi

*Sen.

foetus. It is a teeming thing, ever with child, pregnant, and multiplying. Money is an unfruitful thing by nature, made only for commutation; it is a preternatural thing it should engender money; this is monstrosus partus, a prodigious birth. Usura, quad iwopter tcsum rei. The nature of it is wholly devouring : their money to necessity is like cold water to a hot ague, that for a time refresheth, but prolongs the disease. The usurer is like the worm we call the timber-worm, {Teredo,) which is wonderful soft to touch, but hath teeth so hard that it eats timber ; but the usurer eats timber and stones too. The prophet hedgeth it in between bribery and extortion : ' In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood: thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord. Therefore I have smitten my hands at thy dishonest gain,' &c., Ezek. xxii. 12,13. You hear God's opinion of it. Beware this dishonest gain; take heed lest this casting your money into a bank cast not up a bank against you; when you have found out the fairest pretexts for it, God's justice shall strike off all: ' Let no man deceive you with vain words : for such things God's wrath wUl faU on the children of disobedience,' Eph. v. 6. Infinite colours, mitigations, evasions, distinctions are invented, to coimtenance on earth heaven-exploded usury: God shall then frustrate aU, when he pours his wrath on the naked conscience. God saith, ' Thou shalt not take usury :' go now study paintings, excuses, apologies, dispute the matter with God; hell-fire shall decide the question. ' I have no other trade to Kve on but usury.' Only the devil first made usury a trade. But can this plea in a thief, ' I have no other trade to live on but steaUng,' protect and secure him from the gallows ?

The usurer then is a thief; nay, a double thief, as the old Koman law censured them, that charged the thief with restitution double, the usurer with fourfold; concludiag him a double thief. Thieves steal sometimes, usurers always. Thieves steal for necessity, usurers without need. The usurer wounds deeper with a piece of paper than the robber with a sword. Many a young gentleman, newly broke out of the cage of wardship, or blessed with the first sunshine of his one-and-twenty, goes from the vigilance of a restraining governor uito the tempting hand of a merciless usurer, as if he came out of God's blessing into the warm sun. Many a man, that comes to his lands ere he comes to his wits, or experience of their villany, is so let blood in his estate by usury, that he never proves his own man again.

Either prodigahty, or penury, or dissembled riches, borrow on usury. To rack the poor with overpuUs, all but devils hold monstrous. To lend the prodigal is wicked enough, for it feeds his issue with ill-humours, and puts stibium into his broth, who was erst sick of the vomiting disease, and could not digest his father's Ul-gotten patrimony. For the rich that dissemble poverty, to borrow on usiiry,—' For there is that maketh himself poor, and hath great riches,' Prov, xiii. 7,—they do it either to defeat creditors or to avoid taxations and subsidies, or some such sinister respects. The gentleman that borroweth on usury, by racking his rents makes his tenants pay his usury. The farmer so borrowing, by enhancing his corn makes the poor pay his usury. The tradesman raiseth his wares, that the buyer must pay his usury. I wiU not tax every borrower: it is lawful to suifer injury, though not to offer it; and it is no sm for the true man to give his purse to the thief, when he cannot choose. To redeem his lands, liberty, life, he may (I suppose) give interest; but not for mere gain only which he may get by that wicked money, lest he encourage the usurer, for a receiver upholds a thief. This is the cutpurse, whose death is the more grievous because he is reprieved

till the last sessions : a gibbet is bmlt in hell for him, and all the gold in the world cannot purchase a pardon. I know there is mercy in Christ's blood to any repentant and believing sinner, but, excepted Zaccheus, shew ine the usurer that repents; for as humility is the repentance of pride, and abstinence the repentance of surfeit, so is restitution the repentance of usury. He that restores not repents not his usury; and then non remittitur peccatum, nisi restituatur ahlativm^'' —the sin is retained, till the gains of usury be restored. This is durus sermo, seel verus sermo, —a hard sajdng, but true. ' Then we may give all.' Do, if they be so gotten : Dahit Deus meliora, majora, plura, —God will give better things, God \vill give greater things, God will give more things; as the prophet to Amaziah, 2 Chron. xxv. 9, ' The Lord is able to give thee more than this.'

Thus I have discovered by occasion of Judas some privy thieves : if vv'ith-out thanks, yet not without conscience; if without profit, yet not without purpose of profit. Indeed these are the sins which I vowed with myself to reprove; not that others have not done it, or not done it better than I, from this place. I acknowledge both freely; yet could I not pass this secret thief, Judas, without discovering his companions, or, as it were, breaking open the knot of thieves, which under allowed pretences are arrant cutpurses to the commonwealth. How to punish, how to restrain, I meddle not: it is enough to discharge my conscience, that I have endeavoured to make the sins hateful to the trespassers, to the trespassed: Deus tarn facial commodum, quam fecit accommodum, —God make it as prevalent as I am sure it is pertinent!

(2.) and (3.) Give me leave, yet ere I leave, to speak a word of the bag : first, his means; and, secondly, his maintenance. I will join them together ; a fit and a fat booty makes a thief. Judas hath got the bag, and the bag hath got Judas; he could not carry it, but he must make it light enough for his carriage : he empties it into his own cofi"er, as many stewards rise by their good lord and master's fall. Judas means to be a thief, and Satan means to fit him with a booty; for after he had once wrought journey-work with the devil, he shall not want work, and a subject to work on. I will limit my remaining speech to these three heads :—First, The difliculty, to bear the bag, and not to be covetous. Secondly, The usual incideucy of the bag to the worst men. Thirdly, The progress of sin; only faint not in this last act.

[1.] It is hard to bear the bag, and not to be covetous. Judas is bursar, and he shuts himself into his pouch: the more he hath, the more he covets. The apostles, that wanted money, are not so having: Judas hath the bag, and yet he must have more, or he will filch it. So impossible is it that these outward things should satisfy the heart of man. Soli luihent omnia, qui habeiit habentem omnia, —They alone possess all things that possess the possessor of aU things. The nature of true content is to fiU aU the chinks of our desires, as the wax doth the seal. None can do this but God, for (as it is well observed) the world is round, man's heart three-cornered: a globe can never fill a triangle, but one part will be still empty; only the blessed Tiinity can fiU these three comers of man's heart. I confess the bag is a thing much reckoned of, and makes men much reckoned of; for pecunice ohediimt omnia, —aU things make obeisance to money. Et qui ex divitiis tarn magni fiunt, non miror si divitias tarn magni faciant, — they may admire money whom mon6y makes admired. Such is the plague and dropsy the bag brings to the mind, that the more covetousness drinks down, the thirstier it is. This is a true drunkard: dmn absorbet vinum, ahsorbetur d, vino, —he drinks down his wealth, and his wealth drinks down

* Auk.

liim. Qui tenet marsupium, tenetur a marsupio^^ —He holds his purse fast, but not so fast as his purse holds him : the strings of his bag tie his heart faster than he ties the strings of his bag. He is a jailer to his jailer, a jDrisoner to his prisoner, he jails up his gold in the prison of his coffer, his gold jaUs up him in the prison of covetousness; thus dum vult esse prcedo, fit p)'ceda,f —whiles he would come to a prey, he becomes a prey. The devil gets his heart, as the crab the oyster: the oyster lies gaping for air on the sands, the crab chops in her claw, and so devoureth it; whiles the covetous gapes for money, the devil thrusts in his hairy and cloven foot, I mean his baits of temptation, and chokes the conscience.

Thus the bag never comes alone, but brings with it cares, saith Christ, Matt. xhi. 22; snares, saith Paul, 1 Tim. vi. 9. It is better to be without riches than, like Judas, conjured into the circle of his bag : his heaven is among his bags; in the sight of them he applauds himself against all censures, revilings, curses. It had profited some to have wanted the bag; and this the wicked (waked) consciences confess djdng : wishing to be without riches, so they were without sins ; yea, even those their riches have procured. It is none of God's least favours, that wealth comes not trolling in upon us ; for many of us, if our estate were better to the world, would be worse to God. The poor labourer hath not time to luxuriate : he trusts to God to bless his endeavours, and so rests content ■ but the bag commonly makes a man either j^^'odigum or avarum, a prodigal man or a prodigious man; for avarus monstrum, the covetous man is a monster. How many wretches hath this bag drowned, as they swam over the sea of this world, and kept them from the shore of bliss! Be proud then of your bag, ye Judases: when God's bailiff. Death, shall come mth a habeas corpus, what shall become of your bag ? or rather of yourselves for your bag 1 Your bag will be found, but yourselves lost. It will be one day said of you, as great as the bag hath made you, as the poet sung of Achilles :—

'Jam cinis est, et de tam magno restat Achille, Nescio quid, parvam quod non bene compleat urnam;'—J

' A gi'eat man living holds much ground: the brim Of his days fill'd, how little ground holds him ! Great in command, large in land, in gold richer: His quiet ashes, now, scarce fill a pitcher.'

Can your bag commute any penance in hell 1 or can you by a fine answer your faults in the star-chamber of heaven ? No ; Judas and his bag too are perished, Acts viii. 20. As he gave religion the bag for the world, so the world gave him the bag, and turned him a-begging in that miserable country where all the bags in the world cannot purchase ' a drop of water to cool his tongue,' Luke xvi. 24. Thus are the covetous Judas and his bag well met.

[2.] The bag is most usually given to the worst men : of the apostles, he that was to betray Christ is made his steward. Goods are in themselves good: A^eputentur mala, dantur et bonis; nepidentur suvimahona,dantur et malis,§ —Lest they should be thought not good, they are given to good men; lest they should be thought too good, they are given to evil men. Doubtless some rich men are in heaven, and some poor out; because some rich in the purse are poor in the spirit, and some poor in purse are proud in spirit: and it is not the bag, but the mind, which condemns a man ; for the bag is more easily contemned than the mind conquered. Therefore foolish Crates, to throw away his money into the sea,— IJgo mergam te, ne me7-gar d, te, I * Amb. f Aug. J Ovid. Met. § Aug.

will drown thee, lest thou drown me,—since wealth well employed comforts ourselves, relieves others, and brings us, as it were, the speedier way to heaven, and perhaps to a greater portion of glory; but for the most part, the rich are enemies to goodness, and the poor friends. Lazarus, the poor man, was in Abraham's bosom, and it was Dives that went to hell: the rich, and not the poor.

Search the Scriptures, consult all authors, and who are they that have saUed through the world in the tallest vessels: and you shall meet loaden with the bag, Cains, Nimrods, Hams, Ishmaels, Esaus, Sauls, Ahabs, Labans, Nabals, Demases, Judases, devils, the slime of nature, the worst of men, and as bad as the best of devUs. What do men cast to swine and dogs, but draff and carrion? What else are the riches that God gives to the wicked men? Himself is pleased to call them by these names. If they were excellent things, they should never be cast on those God hates (' I have hated Esau') and means to condemn. There is no privilege, then, in the bag to keep thee from being a Judas; nay, therefore thou art most likely, and thereby made most likely, to be a Judas. Who hath so much beauty as Absalom ? who so much honour as Nebuchadnezzar ? who so much wealth as Nabal ? who the bag but Judas ?

Surely God is wise in all his ways; he knows what he does • Judas shall hence bag up for himself the greater damnation. It is then no argument of God's favour to be his purse-bearer; no more than it was a sign that Christ loved Judas above the other apostles because he made him his steAvard : he gave the rest grace, and him the bag; which sped best ? The outward things are the scatterings of his mercies, like the gleaning after the vintage : the full crop goes to his children, Ishmael shall have wealth, but Isaac the inheritance; Esau his pleasures, but Jacob goes away with blessing. God bestows favours upon some, but they are angry favours; they are in themselves bo7ia, goods, and from God, dona, gifts,—for he is not only a living God, Heb. ix, 14, but a giving God, James i. 17,—^but to the receivers, banes. The Israelites had better have wanted their quails, than eaten them with such sauce. Judas had better been without the bag, than have had the bag, and the devU with it.

I would have no man make his riches an argument of God's disfavour and his own dereliction ; no, but rather of comfort, if he can find his affections ready to part with them at Christ's calling. I never was in your bosoms : how many of you lay up this resolution in your closet among your bags ? how many resolve, said I, nay, perform this ? You cannot Avant opportunity in these days. I would wish you to try your hearts, that you may secure your consciences of freedom from this Judasm : oh, how few *" Good-riches there be in these days ! But one apostle goes to hell, and he is the richest. Make then your riches a means to help you to heaven ; whither you can have no direct and ready way, tUl you have gotten the moon beneath your feet. Rev. xii. 1; I mean the world. Lay up your bag in the bosom of charity, and your treasure in the lap of Cluist, and then the bag shall not hinder, but further your flight to heaven.

[3.] Observe how Judas runs through sin, from one wickedness to another, without stay: from covetousness to hypocrisy, from hypocrisy to theft, from theft to treason, from treason to murder; for since he could not get the ointment bestowed on Christ, he means to get Christ himself, !Matt. xxvi. 14, 15; and to this purpose goes instantly to the ciders and priests A^ath a Quid dabitis, &c. He values the ointment at three hundred pence, and * Not inanj-, by name or by diflposition.

Christ at but thirty; as if lie was worth no more than the interest-money, ten in the hundred : and herein he makes his own price, for they gave him his asking. He betrays Jesus Christ a man, Jesus Christ his Master, Jesus Christ his Maker; as if he would destroy his Savioui-, and mar his Maker.

Thus he runa from sin to sin, and needs he must, for he that the devil drives feels no lead at his heels. Godliness creeps to heaven, but wickedness runs to hell. Many Parliament-Protestants go but a statute pace, yet look to come to heaven; but, without more haste, it is like to be when the Pharisees come out of hell. Butfacilis descensus Averni; were you blinder than superstition, you may find the way to hell. It is but slniping down a hill, and hell stands at the bottom; this is the cause that Judas runs so fast.*

I have read of one Ruffus, that upon his shield painted God on the one side, and the devil on the other, with this motto: Si tu me nolis, iste rogitat, —If thou, O God, wilt none of me, here is one will. Either God must take him suddenly, or he will run quick to the devil. The gallant gallops in riot; the epicure reels a drunken pace; the lustful scorns to be behind, he runs from the fire of lust to the fire of heU, as the fondly impatient fish leaps out of the boiling pan into the burning flame. The swearer is there ere he be awai'e, for he goes by his tongue; the covetous rides post, for he is carried on the back of Mammon; the usurer sits stiU in his chair or the chimney-corner, lame of the gout, and can but halt, yet he will be at hell as soon as the best runner of them aU.

Usury is a coach, and the devil is driver; needs must he go whom the devil drives. He is drawn to hell in pomp, by two coach-horses, wild spirits, with wings on their heels, swifter than Pegasus or Mercury—Covetousness and Infidelity. What makes him put money to use but covetousness ? What makes him so wretchedly covetous but want of faith 1 Thus he is hurried to heU in ease, state, triumph. If any be worthy to bear the usurer company, let it be the rioter; though they be of contrary dispositions, yet in this journey fitly and accordantly met: for the usurer commonly hath money, but no coach, and the prodigal gallant hath a coach, but no money. If they want more company, let them take in the cheater; for he waits upon both these, and may perhaps fail of the like opportunity.

Thus because the ways to hell are full of green, smooth, soft, and tempting pleasures, infinite run apace with Judas, till they come to ' their own place.' But heaven's way is harsh and ascending, and the ' gate narrow.' Indeed, the city of glory is capacious and roomy: ' In my Father's house there are many mansions,' saith Christ, John xiv. 2. It is domus s2)eciosa, et domus spatiosa,f —not either scant of beauty, or pent of room. But the gate hath two properties : it is low, strait, and requires of the enterers a stooping, a stripping.

Low. Pride is so stiff that many a gallant cannot enter : you have few women with the topgallant headtires get here, they cannot stoop low enough; few proud in and of their offices, that have eaten a stake and cannot stoop; few sons of pride, so starched and laced up that they cannot without pain salute a friend; a wonderful scarcity of over-precise, over-dissolute, factious humorists, for they are so high in their own conceits that they cannot stoop to this low gate. The insolent, haughty, weU-opinioned

* ' Lata via est, et trita via est, quae ducit ad Orcum. Invenit hoc, etiam ae duce, cascua iter.'— Owen Epig.

t' Niiminis immensi sedes ampligsima coelum: OmnipoteDS Dominus omnipatensque domus.'— Jh.

of themselves cannot be admitted , for, * not humbled to this day/ Jer. xliv. 10. This low gate and a high state do not accord. Wretched fools, that rather refuse the glory within, than stoop for entrance ! as if a soldier should refuse the honour of knighthood because he must kneel to receive it.

Strait, or narrow. As they must stoop that enter this low gate, so they must strip that enter this strait gate. No make-bates get in, they are too full of tales and lies. God, by word of mouth, excludes them : ' Into it shaU enter no unclean thing, or that worketh abomination or lies,' Rev. xxi. 27. Few litigious neighbours ; they have so many suits, contentions, nisi-priuses on their backs, that they cannot get in. Some lawyers may enter, if they be not overladen with fees. You have few courtiers taken into this court, by reason there is no coach-way to it, the gate is too narrow. No officers, that are big with bribes. Not an encloser; he hath too much of the poor commons in his belly. The usurer hath no hope ; for, besides his bags, he hath too much wax and paper about him. The citizen hopes well; but a false measure sticks so cross in his mouth that he cannot thrust in his head. The gentleman makes no question , and there is great possibility, if two things do not cross him —a bundle of racked rents, or a kennel of lusts and sports. The plain man is likely, if his ignorance can but find the gate. Husbandmen were in great possibility; but for the hoarding of com and hoising of markets. Tradesmen, if they would not swear good credit into then- bad wares, might be admitted. Ministers may enter without doubt or hindrance, if they be as poor in their spirits as the^ are in their purses. But impropriators have such huge bams full of church grains in their bellies, that they are too great. Let all these take the physic of repentance, to abate their swollen souls, or there will be no entrance.

You hear how difficult the way is to heaven, how easy to hell; how fast sin runs, how slowly godliness creeps; what should you then do, but ' strive to enter in at the narrow gate ?' which you shall the better do if you lighten yourselves of your bags. Oh, do not, Judas-like, for the bag, seU your honesty, conscience, heaven! The bag is a continent to money, and the world is a continent to the bag; and they shall all perish, 'Meatfor the belly, and the belly for meat,'—gold for the purse, and the purse for gold,— * but God shall destroy them both,' 1 Cor. vi. 13. Trust not then a wealthy bag, nor a wealthy man, nor the wealthy world; all will fail: but trust in God, whose * mercy endureth for ever.' The time shall come that

' Deus erit pro numine. Cum mvindus sit pro nomine. Cum homo pro nemine;'—

God shall be God when the world shall be no world, man no man; or at least no man, no world of our expectation, or of ability to help us. To God, then, our only help, be all praise, power, and glory, now and for ever! Amen.

THE HOLY CHOICE.

And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, ivhich hnoivest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen. — Acts I. 24.

The business of the day is an election; an election into one of the most noble offices of the kingdom—the government of this honourable city, which (let not envy hear it) hath no parallel under the sun. The business of my text is an election too ; an election into the highest office in the church—to be an apostle and witness of Jesus Christ. If you please to spare the pattern in four circumstances,—as, First, This office is spiritual, yours temporal; Secondly, This place was void by apostasy or decession, yours is supplied by succession; Thirdly, This election is by lots, yours is by suffi-ages; Fourthly, This choice was but one of two, it may be your number exceeds,—the rest will suit well enough, and the same God that was in the one, be also present in the other, by the assistance of his Holy Spirit!

The argument of the text is a prayer to God for his direction in their choice : yea, indeed, that he would choose a man for them; including a strong reason of such a request, because he doth ' know the hearts of all men.'

They begin with prayer; this was the usual manner in the church of God. So Moses prayed for the choice of his successor : ' Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation,' Num. xxvii. 16. Christ sent not his apostles to that holy work without a prayer : ' Sanctify them through thy truth,' John xvii. 27. In the choosing of those seven deacons, they first prayed, and then ' laid their hands upon them,' Acts vi. 6. Thus were kings inaugurated, with sacrifice and prayer. It is not fit he that is chosen for God should be chosen without God. But for this, Samuel himself may be mistaken, and choose seven wrong, before he hit upon the right. In this I cannot but commend your religious care, that businesses of so great a consequence be always sanctified with a blessing. Those which in a due proportion must represent God to the world, ought to be consecrated to that Majesty which they resemble by public devotions. Every important action requires prayer, much more that which concerns a whole city. When Samuel came to Bethlehem to anoint David, he calls the whole city to the sacrifice. Indeed the family of Jesse was sanctified in a more special manner : this business was most theirs, and all Israel's in them. The fear of God should take full possession of all our hearts that are this day assembled ',

but those with whom God hath more to do than with the rest, should be more holy than the rest.

The choice of your wardens and masters in your several companies hath a solemn form; and it is the honour of your greatest feasts, that the first dish is a sermon. Charity forbid that any should think you admit such a custom rather for convenience than devotion ; as if preaching were but a necessary complement to a solemnity, as wine and music. I am persuaded better things of you : but if there should be any such perverse spirits, that like the governor of a people called -^qui, when the Eomans came to him, jussit eos ad quercum dicere, bade them speak to the oak, for he had other business; but they replied, Et hcec sacrata quercus audiat foedus d, vohis violatum, —Let this oak bear witness that you have broke the league which you have covenanted : so when we come to preach to your souls, if you should secretly bid us speak to the walls, lo, even the very walls will be witness against you at the last day. Though Saul be king over Samuel, yet Samuel must teach Saul how to be king. We may instruct, though we may not rule ; 3^ea, we must instruct them that shall rule. Therefore, as we obey your call in coming to speak, so do you obey God's command in vouchsafing to hear. Let us apply ourselves to him with devotion, and then he will be graciously present at our election.

This prayer respects two things :—I. Quern, the person whom they entreat. II. Quid, the matter for which they entreat.

I. The person is described, 1. By his omnipotence,' Lord;' 2. By his omniscience, ' That knowest the hearts of men.'

I. Omnipotence; ' Lord.' We acknowledge thy right; thou art fit to be thine own chooser. ' Lord :' there be many on earth called lords; but those are lords of earth, and those lords are earth, and those lords must return to earth. This Lord is almighty; raising out of the dust to the honour of princes, and * laying the honour of princes m the dust.' ' Lord:' of what? Naj', not qualified; not Lord of such a county, barony, seigniory; nor Lord by virtue of office and deputation, but in abstracto, most absolute. His lordship is universal: Lord of heaven, the owner of those glorious mansions ; Lord of earth, disposer of all kingdoms and principaUties; Lord of hell, to lock up the old dragon and his crew in the bottomless pit; Lord of death, to unlock the graves; he keeps the key that shall let all bodies out of their earthly prisons. A potent Lord; whither shall we go to get out of his dominion 1 Ps. cxxxix. 7, &c. To heaven 1 There we cannot miss him. To hell l There we cannot be without him. In air, earth, or sea, in light or darkness, we are sure to find him. Whither then, except to purgatory? That terra incognita is not mentioned in his lordship, the Pope may keep the key of that himself. But for the rest he is too saucy, exalting his universal lordship, and hedging in the whole Christian world for his diocese. Stretching his arm to heaven, m rubricking what saints he list; to hell, in freeing what prisoners he list; on earth, in setting up or pulling down what kings he list, but that some have cut short his busy fingers.

To the Lord of all they commend the choice of his own servants. Every mortal lord hath this power in his own famdy; how much more that Lord which makes lords! Who so fit to choose as he that can cJioose the fit ? Who so fit to choose as he that can make those fit whom he doth choose ? It is he alone that can give power and grace to the elected, therefore not to be left out in the election. How can the apostle preach, or the magistrate govern, without him, when none of us all can move but in him ? It is happy when we do remit all doubts to his decision, and resign ourselves to

his disposition. We must not be our own carvers, but let God's choice be ours. When we know his pleasure, let us shew our obedience. And for you upon whom this election falls, remember how you are bound to honour that Lord of heaven that hath ordained such honour for you upon earth : that so in all things we may glorify his blessed name.

2. Omniscience : it is God's peculiar to be the searcher of the heart. ' The heart of man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?' Jer. xvii. 9, 10. Who? Ego Dominus, 'I the Lord search the heart.' He hath made no window into it, for man or angel to look in : only it hath a door, and he keeps the key himself.

But why the heart 1 Here was an apostle to be chosen : now wisdom, learning, eloqtience, memory, might seem to be more necessary qualities than the heart. ISTo, they are all nothing to an honest heart. I deny not but learning to divide the word, elocution to pronounce it, wisdom to discern the truth, boldness to deliver it, be all parts requirable in a preacher. But as if all these were scarce worth mention in respect of the heart, they say not. Thou that knowest which of them hath the subtler wit or abler memory, but which hath the truer heart; not which is the greater scholar, but which is the better man : ' Thol^ that knowest the heart.'

Samuel being sent to anoint a son of Jesse, when Eliab, the eldest, came forth, a man of a goodly presence, fit for his person to succfeed Saul; he thinks with himself, This choice is soon made; sure this is the head upon which I must spend my holy oil. The privilege of nature and of stature, his primogeniture and proportion, give it him; this is he. But even the holiest prophet, when he speaks withoiit God, runs into error. Signs and apparances are the guides of our eyes; and these are seldom without a true falsehood or an uncertain truth. Saul had a goodly person, but a bad heart; he was higher than all, many were better than he. It is not hard for the best judgment to err in the shape. Philoxemenes, a magnanimous and valiant soldier, being invited to Magyas's house to dmner, came in due season, but found not his host at home. A servant seeing one so plain in clothes, and somewhat deformed in body, thought him some sorry fellow, and set, him to cleave wood. Whereat Magyas (being returned) wondering, he received from him this answer : Expendo pixnas deformitatis mece, —I pay for my unhandsomeness. All is not valour that looks big and goes brave. He that judgeth by the inside, checked Samuel for his misconceit: ' Look not on his countenance or stature, for I have refused him; for the Lord seeth not as man seeth,' 1 Sam. xvi. 7 David's countenance was ingenuous and beautiful, but had it promised so much as Eliab's or Abinadab's, he had not been left in the field, whUe his brethren sat at the table. Jesse could find nothing in David worthy the competition of honour with his brethren : God could find something to prefer him before them all. His father thought him fit to keep sheep, though his brethren fit to rule men : God thinks him fit to rule, and his brethren to serve; and by his own immediate choice destines him to the throne. Here was aU the difference : Samuel and Jesse went by the outside, God by the inside; they saw the composition of the body, he the disposition of the mind. Israel desires a Idng of God, and that kiug was chosen by the head; God will choose a king for Israel, and that king is chosen by the heart. If, in our choice for God, or for ourselves, we altogether follow the eye, and suffer our thoughts to be guided by outward respects, we shall be deceived.

Why do they not say. Thou that knowest the estates of men, who is rich, and fit to support a high place, and who so poor that the place must sup-

port him 1 I hear some call wealtk substance; but certainly at best it is but a mere circumstance. It is like the planet Mercury: if it be joined with a good heart, it is useful; if with a bad and corrupt one, dangerous. But howsoever, at the beam of the sanctuary, money makes not the man, yet it often adds some metal to the man; makes his justice the bolder, and in less hazard of bemg vitiated. But pauperis sapientia plus valet quara diviiis ahundantia. If the poor man have ' wisdom to deliver the city,' Eccles. vi 15, he is worthy to govern the city. I yield that something is due to the state of authority : ad popuhan phaleras. So Agrippa came to the tribunal with great pomp and attendance. This is requisite to keep awe in the people, that the magistracy be not exposed to contempt. But magistraius, non vestitus, indicat virum, — wise government, not rich garment, shews an able man. It was not riches that they regarded.

Why do they not say. Thou that knowest the birth or blood of men 1 I know it is a reverend thing to see an ancient castle or palace not in decay, or a fair tree sound and perfect timber. But as foul birds buUd their nests in an old forsaken house, and doted trees are good for nothing but the fire; so the decay of virtue is the ruin of nobility. To speak morally, active worth is better than passive : this last we have from our ancestors, the first from ourselves. Let me rather see one virtue in a man alive, than aU the rest in his pedigree dead. Nature is regular in the brute creatures: eagles do not produce cravens; and it was a monstrous fable that Nicippus's ewe should yean a lion. But in man she fails, and may bring forth the like proportion, not the like disposition. Children do often resemble their parents in face and features, not in heart and qualities. It is the earthly part that follows the seed; wisdom, valour, virtue, are of another beginning. Honour sits best upon the back of merit: I had rather be good without honour, than honourable without goodness. Cottages have yielded this as weU as palaces. Agathocles was the son of a potter, Bion of an infamous courtesan. In holy writ, Gideon was a poor thresher, David a shepherd; yet both mighty men of valour, both chosen to rule, both special saviours of their country. Far be it from us to condemn aU honour of the first head, when noble deservings have raised it, though before it could shew nothing but a white shield. Indeed, it is not the birth, but the new birth, that makes men truly noble.

Why do they not say. Thou that knowest the wisdom and policy of men ? Certainly, this is requisite to a man of place; without which he is a blind Polj'phemus, a strong arm without an eye. But a man may be wise for himself, not for God, not for the public good. An ant is a wise creature for itself, but a shrewd thing in a garden. Magistrates that are great lovers of themselves are seldom true lovers of their country. All their actions be motions that have recourse to one centre—that is, themselves. A cunning head without an honest heart, is but like him that can pack the cards, yet when he hath done, cannot play the game; or like a house with many convenient stairs, entries, and other passages, but never a fair room; all the inwards be sluttish and offensive. It is not then. Thou that knowest the wealth, or the birth, or the head, but the heart: as if in an election that were the main; it is all if the rest be admitted on the by.

Here then we have three remarkable observations—(1.) What kind of hearts God will not choose, and we may guess at them. (2.) What hearts he ^vill choose, and himself describes them. (3.) Why he will choose men esiJeciaUy by the heart.

(1.) What kind of hearts he will not choose; and of these, among many, I will mention but three :—

VOL. U. B

[1.] Cor divismn, a distracted heart; part whereof is dedicated to the Lord, and part to the world. But he that made all will not be contented with.a piece, Aut Ccesar, aut nihil. The service of two masters, in the obedience of their contrary commands, is incompatible, se7isu composito. Indeed Zaccheus did first serve the world, and not Christ; afterward Christ, and not the world; but never the world and Christ together. Many divisions followed sin. First, It divided the heart from God : ' Your sins have separated between you and your God,' Isa. lix. 2, Secondly, It divided heart from heart. God by marriage made one of two, sin doth often by prevarication make two of one. Thirdly, It divided the tongue from the heart. So Cain answered God, when he questioned him about Abel, ' Am I my brother's keeper?' as if he would say, Go look. Fourthly, It divided tongue from tongue at the buUding of Babel; that when one called for brick, his fellow brings him mortar; and when he spake of coming down, the other falls a-rerpoving the ladder. Fifthly, It divided the heart from itself: ' They spake with a double heart,' Ps. xii. 2. The original is, ' A heart and a heart:' one for the church, another for the change; one for Sundays, another for working days; one for the king, another for the Pope, A man without a heart is a wonder, but a man with two hearts is a monster. It is said of Judas, There were many hearts in one man; and we read of the saints, There was one heart in many men. Acts iv, 32, Dabo illis cor unum; a special blessing.

Now this division of heart is intolerable in a magistrate; when he plies his own cause under the pretence of another's, and cares not who lose, so he be a gainer, St Jerome calls this cor male locatum; for many have hearts, but not in their right places. Cor habet in ventre gulosus, lascivus in libir dine, ciqndus in lucris. Naturally, if the heart be removed from the proper seat, it instantly dies. The eye unnested from the head, cannot see; the foot sundered from the body, cannot go : so spiritually, let the heart be un-centred from Christ, it is dead. Thus the coward is said to have his heart at his heel, the timorous hath his heart at his mouth, the envious hath his heart in his eyes, the prodigal hath his heart in his hand, the fool hath his heart in his tongue, the covetous locks it up in his chest. He that knows the hearts of all men will not choose a divided or misplaced heart.

[2.] Cor lapideum, a hard or stony heart. This is ingratum ad bene-ficia, infidum ad consilia, inverecundum ad turpia, inhumamim ad bona, temerarium ad omnia. A rock, which all the floods of that infinite sea of God's mercies and judgments cannot soften; a stithy, that is still the harder for beating. It hath aU the properties of a stone : it is as cold as a stone, as heavy as a stone, as hard as a stone, as senseless as a stone. No persuasions can heat it, no prohibitions can stay it, no instructions can teach it, no compassions can mollify it. Were it of iron, it might be wrought; were it of lead, it might be molten, and cast into some better form ; were it of earth, it might be tempered to another fashion; but being stone, nothing remains but that it be broken. What was Pharaoh's greatest plague ? Was it the murrain of beasts? Was it the plague of boils? Was it the destruction of the fruits ? Was it the turning of their rivers into blood ? Was it the striking of their first-born with death ? No; though all these plagues were grievous, yet one was more grievous than all— cor durum, his hard heart. He that knows all hearts, knows how ill this would be in a magistrate; a heart which no cries of orphans, no tears of widows, no mourning of the oppressed, can melt into pity. From such a heart, good Lord, deliver us !

[3.] Cor cupidum, a covetous heart, the desires whereof are never filled.

A handful of corn put to the whole heap increaseth it; yea, add water to the sea, it hath so much the more ; but ' he that lovcth silver shall never be satisfied with silver,' Eccles. v. 10. One desire may be filled, but another comes, Crescet amor mimmi, quantum ipsa i^^cunia crescit. Natural desires are finite, as thirst is satisfied with drink, and hunger with meat. But unnatural desires be infinite: as it fares with the body in burning fevers, quo plus stmt j^otce, 2>his sitiuntur aquce; so it is in the covetous heart, ut cum possideat plurima, plura petat. Grace can never fill the purse nor wealth the heart.

This vice is in all men iniquity, but in a magistrate blasphemy ; the root of all evil in every man, the rot of all goodness in a great man. It leaves them, like those idols in the Psalms, neither eyes to see, nor ears to hear, but only hands to handle. Such men will transgress for handfuls of barley and morsels of bread; and a very dram of profit put into the scale of justice turns it to the wrong side. There is not among all the charms of heU a more damnable speU to enchant a magistrate than the love of money. This ' turns judgment into wormwood,' or at least into vinegar; for if injustice do not make it bitter as wormwood, yet shifts and delays will make it sour as vinegar. Oh, how sordid and execrable should bribes be to them, and stink worse in their nostrils than Vespasian's tribute of urine ! Let them not only bind then- own hands, and the hands of their servants, that may take, but even bind the hands of them that would ofier. He that useth integrity doth the former, but he that constantly professeth integrity doth the latter. It is not enough to avoid the fault, but even the suspicion. It is some discredit to the judge, when a chent with his bribe comes, to be denied ; for if his usual carriage had given him no hope of speeding, he would not offer. A servant that is a favourite or inward gives suspicion of corruption, and is commonly thought but a by-way; some postern or back-door for a gift to come in when the broad fore-gates are shut against it. Tliis makes many aspire to ofiices and great places, not to do good, but to get goods; as some love to be stirring the fire, if it be but to warm their own fingers. Whatsoever affairs pass through their hands, they crook them all to their own ends; and care not what becomes of the public good, so they may advance their own private : and would set their neighbour's house on fire and it were but to roast their own eggs. Let them banish covetousness with as great a hatred as Amnon did Tamar : first thrust it out of their hearts, then shut and lock the door after it; for the covetous heart is none of them that God chooseth, (2.) Next let us see what kind of hearts God will choose; and they be furnished with these virtues fit for a magistrate:—

[1.] There is cor sajnens, a wise heart; and this was Solomon's suit, ' an understanding heart,' 1 Kings iii. 9. He saw he had power enough, but not wisdom enough; and that royalty without wisdom was no better than an eminent dishonour, a very calf made of golden ear-rings. There is no trade of life but a pecuhar wisdom belongs to it, without wliich all is tedious and unprofitable; how much more to the highest and busiest vocation, the government of men! An ignorant ruler is like a blind pilot; who shall save the vessel from rum ?

[2.] Cor imtiens, a meek heart; what is it to discern the cause, and not to be patient of the proceedings? The first governor that God set over his Israel was Moses, a man of the meekest spirit on earth. How is he fit to govern others, that liath not learned to govern himself? He that cannot nile a boat upon the river is not to be trusted with steering a vessel on the ocean. Nor yet must this patience degenerate into cowardliness : Moses,

that was so meek in his own cause, in God's cause was as resolute. So there is also—

[3.] Cor magnanimum, a heart of fortitude and courage. The rules and squares that regulate others are not made of lead or soft wood, such as wni bend or bow. The principal columns of a house had need be heart of oak. A timorous and flexible magistrate is not fit for these corrupt times. If either threatenings can tenify him, or favour melt liim, or persuasions swerve him from justice, he shall not want temptations. The brain that must dispel the fumes ascending from a corrupt Uver, stomach, or spleen, had need be of a strong constitution. The courageous spirit that resolves to do the will of heaven, what malignant powers soever would cross it on earth, is the heart that God chooseth.

[4.] There is cor honestum, an honest heart. Without this, courage wdU prove but legal injustice, policy but mere subtlety, and ability but the devil's anvil to forge mischiefs on. Private men have many curbs, but men in authority, if they fear not God, have nothing else to fear. If he be a simple dastard, he fears all men; if a headstrong commander, he fears no man: like that unjust judge that ' feared neither God nor man,' Luke xviii. 2. This is the ground of all fidelity to king and country—religion. Such was Constantine's maxim : ' He cannot be faithful to me that is unfaithful to God.' As this honourable place of the king's lieutenantship hath a sword-bearer, so the magistrate himself is the Lord's sword-bearer, saith St Paul, Rom. xiii. 4. And as he may never draw this sword in his private quarrel, so he must not let it be sheathed when God's cause calls for it. It is lenity and connivance that hath invited contempt to great places. Did justice carry a severer hand, they durst not traduce then* rulers in songs and satires, the burden whereof will be their own shame. Magistrates are our civil fathers; and what deserve they but the curse of Ham, that lay open the nakedness of their fathers ? When Alexander had conquered Darius, and casually found his slain body lying naked, he threw his own coat over him, saying, ' I will cover the destiny of a king.' It is God alone that ' cast-eth contempt upon princes;' which that he may not do, let them preserve cor mundum, a clean heart, not conscious of ill demerits.

Such a one sits on the judgment-seat as one that never forgets that he must appear before the judgment-seat of Christ. So he executeth justice, as never losing the sense of mercy; so he sheweth mercy, as not offering violence to justice. He can at once punish the offence and pity the offender. He remembers his oath, and fears to violate it: to an enemy he is not cruel, to a friend he wiU not be partial. And if ever he have but once cut the skirt of justice, as David the lap of Saul's garment, his heart smites him for it. He minds no other clock on the bench but that of his own conscience. He will not offend the just, nor afford a good look to varlets; nor yet doth he so disregard their persons as to wrong their causes. He will maintain piety, but not neglect equity. In court, he looks not before him on the person, nor about him on the beholders, nor behind him for bribes; nay, he will not touch them in his closet or chamber, lest the timber and stones in the wall should witness against him. So he helps the church, that the commonwealth be no loser; so he looks to the commonwealth, that the church may not be wronged. The lejvd fear him, the good praise him, the poor bless him; he hath been a father to orphans, a husband to distressed widows. ^lany prayers are laid up for him in heaven; and when he dies, they, with the assistance of angels, shall bear him up to blessedness.

(3.T Lastly, Let us see why God will choose men by the heart. I deny not

but wisdom and courage, moderation and patience, are all requisite concurrences ; but the heart is the pri7num mobile, that sets all the "wheels agoing, and improves them to the right end. When God begins to make a man good, he begins at the heart: as nature in forming, so God in reforming, begins there. As the eye is the first that begins to die, and the last that begins to live, so the heart is the first that lives, and the last that dies. It is said of the spider that in the morning, before she seeks out for her prey, she mends her broken web, and in doing that, she always begins in the midst. Before we pursue the profits and baits of this world, let us first amend our life; and when we undertake this, let us be sure to begin at the heart. The heart is the fort or citadel in this little isle of man ; let us fortify that, or all will be lost. And as naturally the heart is first in being, so here the will (which is meant by the heart) is chief m commanding. The centurion's servants did not more carefuUy obey him, when he said to one, * Go, and he goeth ; to another. Come, and he cometh ; to a third. Do this, and he doeth it,' Matt. viiL 9, than all the members observe the heart. If it say to the eye, See, it seeth; to the ear, Hear, it hearkeneth; to the tongue. Speak, it speaketh; to the foot. Walk, it walketh; to the hand, Work, it worketh. If the heart lead the way to God, not a member of the body, not a faculty of the soul, will stay behind. As when the sun ariseth in the morning, birds rise from their nests, beasts from their dens, and men from their beds. They all say to the heart, as the Israelites did to Joshua, ' All that thou com-mandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us we will go : only the Lord be with thee,' Josh. i. 16. Therefore the penitent publican ' smote his heart,' Luke xviii. 13, as if he would call up that to call up all the rest. It cannot command and go without.

No part of man can sin without the heart; the heart can sin without all the rest. The wolf goes to the flock, purposing to devour a lamb, and is prevented by the vigilancy of the shepherd ; yet hcpns exit, lupus rec/reditur, —he went forth a wolf, and comes home a wolf. The heart intends a sin which is never brought into action, yet it sins in that very intention. The hand cannot offend without the heart, the heart can offend without the hand. The heart is like a mill: if the wind or water be violent, the mill will go whether the miller will or not; yet he may choose Avhat kind of grain it shall grind, wheat or darnel. If the affections be strong and passionate, the heart may be working ; yet the Christian, by grace, may keep out lusts, and supply it with good thoughts.

The heart is God's peculiar, the thing he especially cares for : ' My son, give me thy heart;' and good reason, for I gave my own Son's heart to death for it. Hon minus tuiim, quia meum, —It is not less thine for being mine; yea, it cannot be thine comfortably unless it be mine perfectly. God requires it principally, but not only ; give him that, and all the rest will follow, tic that gives me fire needs not be requested for light and heat, for they are inseparable. Non corticis^ sed cordis Deus* —God doth not regard the rind of the lips, but the root of the heart. It was the oracle's answer to him that would be instructed which was the best sacrifice. Da medium limce, solem simul, et canis iram; which three characters make cor, the heart. Man's affection is God's hall; man's memory, his library; man's intellect, his privy chamber; but his closet, sacrary, or chapel, is the heart. So St Augustine glosscth the Paternoster: qui es in at I is, —which art in heaven ; that is, in a heavenly heart.

All outward works a hypocrite may do, only he fails in the heart; and

* Ambr.

because he fails there, lie is lost everywhere. Let the flesh look never so fair, the good caterer will not buy it if the liver be specked. Who will put that timber into the building of his house which is rotten at the heart ? Man judgeth the heart by the works; God judgeth the works by the heart. All other powers of man may be suspended from doing their offices, but only the will; that is, the heart. Therefore God will excuse all necessary defects, but only of the heart. The blind man cannot serve God with his eyes, he is excused; the deaf cannot serve God with his ears, he is excused; the dumb cannot serve God with his tongue, he is excused; the cripple cannot serve God with his feet, he is excused; but no man is excused for not serving God with his heart. Deus non respicit quantum homo valet, sed quantum velit. St Chrysostom seemed to be angry with the Apostle for saying, ' Behold, we have left all, and followed thee,' Matt, xix. 27. What have you left ? An angle, a couple of broken nets, and a weather-beaten fish-boat; a fair deal to speak of! But at last he corrects himself, ' I cry you mercy, St Peter ; you have forsaken all' indeed ; for he truly leaves all that leaves quod ml capit mundus, vel cupit, —that takes his heart from the world, and gives it to Christ.

All other faculties of man apprehend their objects when they are brought home to them; only the will, the heart, goes home to the object. Colour must come to the eye, before it can see it; sound to the ear, before it can hear it; the object to be apprehended is brought home to the understanding, and past things are recollected to the memory, before either can do her office. But the heart goes home to the object. Uhi thesaurus, ibi cor, —Not where the heart is, there wiU be the treasure ; but where the treasure is, there will be the heart.

* Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,' Matt. v. 8. Of all, the pure heart is beholden to God, and shall one day behold God. Therefore David prays. Cor mundum crea in me, Deus, —' Create in me a clean heart, O God,' Ps. li. 10. The Lord rested from the works of his creation the seventh day; but so dearly he loves clean hearts, that he rests from creating them no day. As Jehu said to Jehonadab, Est tihi cor rectum, — 'Is thy heart right?' 2 Kings x. 15; then give me thy hand, 'come up into my chariot:' so this is God's question, Is thy heart upright ? then give me thy hand, ascend my triumphant chariot, the everlasting glory of heaven.

To conclude; because there is such difference of hearts, and such need of a good one, they put it to him that knows them all, and knows which is best of all. For howsoever nature knows no difference, nor is there any, quorum prcecordia Titan de meliore luto finxit; yet in regard of grace, the sanctified heart is of purer metal than common ones. A little living stone in God's building is worth a whole quarry of the world. One honest heart is better than a thousand other: the richest mine and the coarsest mould have not such a disproportion of value. Man often fails in his election; God cannot err. The choice here was extraordinary, by lots; yours is ordinary, by suffrages : God's hand is in both.

Great is the benefit of good magistrates : that we may sit under our own vines, go in and out in peace, eat our bread in safety, and (which is above aU) lead our lives in honest liberty; for all this we are beholden, under God, to the magistrate, first the supreme, then the subordinate. They are trees, under whose branches the people build and sing, and bring up their young ones in religious nurture. That' silence in heaven about half an hour,' Kev. viii., when the ' golden vials were fiUed with sweet odours,' and the prayers

of the saints ascended as pillars of smoke and incense, is referred by some to the peace of the church under Constantine. It is the king of Mexico's oath, when he takes his crown, Justitiam se administratumm, effecturum ut sol cursum teneat, omhes phianf, rivi currant, terra producat fructus, —That he will minister justice, he will make the sim hold his course, the clouds to rain, the rivers to run, and the earth to fructify. The meaning is, that the upright and diligent administration of justice will bring all these blessings of God upon a country.

If we compare this city with many in foreign parts, how joyfuUy may we admire our own happiness ! Those murders and massacres, rapes and con-stuprations, and other mischiefs, that be there as common as nights, be rare with us. I will not say that all our people are better than theirs; I dare say, our government is better than theirs. Merchants make higher use, and are more glad of, calm seas than common passengers. So should Christians more rejoice in peace than can the heathen; because they know how to improve it to richer ends—the glory of God, and salvation of their own souls. Proceed, ye grave and honourable senators, in your former approved courses, to the suppressing of vice and disorders, and to the maintenance of truth and peace among us. It is none of the least renown of this famous city, the wisdom and equity of the governors. To repeat the worthy acts done by the Lords Mayors of London were fitter for a chronicle; they are too large for a sermon.

But it is high time to bless you with a dismission, and to dismiss you with a blessing.* That Almighty God,' that knows the hearts of all,' sanctify your hearts to govern, and ours to obey; that we all seeking to do good one to another. He may do good unto us all! To this blessed and eternal God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be all glory and praise for ever ! Amen.

* This sermon is incomplete, the second head being left out.— Ed.

A VISITATION SEEMON.

And some days after, Paid said unto Barnabas, Let xis go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have i^reached the word of the Lord, and see how tliey do. — Acts XV. 36.

There be certain royal laws, which Christ and his apostles made for eternal use; to the observation whereof all Christian nations and persons are unchangeably bound. And there be some ritual things, which were at the first convenient, but variable according to the difference of times and places. Strictly to impose aU these circumstances on us, were to make us, not the sons, but the slaves of the apostles. That is a fond scrupulosity which would press us in all fashions with a conformity to the primitive times; as if the spouse of Christ might not wear a lace or a border for which she could not plead prescription. Diversitas lituiim commendat tmitatem fidei, saith our Anselm. Let us keep the substance, for the shadow God hath left us at liberty. But yet when we look back upon those first patterns, and find a rule of discipline fit for the present times, in vain we should study a new, that are so well accommodated with the old. The business of the text and day is a visitation; a practice which, at the first view of the words, can plead antiquity; and by a review, shall plead the great utility. I know there be divers kinds of visitations; but whether they be national, provincial, parochial, or capitular, they all have auctoritatem uberrimavi, being grounded upon a practice apostolical; and iisum saluberrimum, (to use the words of St Augustine,) being of a physical nature, to prevent or cure distemperatures in the church of God.

Generally, I. The form of the words is a motion; II. The matter, a visitation.

I. The motion was Paul's, the forwardest soldier in all the army of Christ: that winged husbandman, who ploughed up the fallow hearts of the Gentiles; that with a holy zeal, greater than the ambition of Alexander, would sooner have wanted ground than desire to travel in the business of his Master. Terra citius defecisset, qicam studium prcedicandi. Indeed, he had found an unusual mercy, as himself delivers it: ' The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant toward me,' 1 Tim. i. 14 ; using an extraordinary phrase to express an extraordinary grace; a word never the like used, for a mercy never the like exhibited. There is oU in the widow's cruse to sustain, 1 Kings xvii. 16; Aaron's was far more, it ' ran down to the skirts of his clothing,' Ps.

cxxxiii. 2. Such a superabundant grace was in Paul. For sanctification ; many saints are commended for some special virtues : Abraham for faith, Moses for meekness, David for thankfulness, Job for patience—Paul is praised for them aU. For subduing of vices; men most sanctified have had some tangs : as David of anger for Nabal's churlish answer; Hezekiah had a smack of pride—setting aside concupiscence, Paul had no spot. For knowledge ; he was rapt up into heaven, there learned his divinity among the angels—his school being paradise, his university the third heaven, and God his tutor. For power; his very clothes wrought miracles. God so trusted Paul, that he committed his whole church unto him. Thus was he honoured : the other apostles were sent d Christo mo7'tali, Paul cb Christo immor-tali. And with the like superabundant grace did he answer his charge; that though he were novissivius in online, he was primus in mevito. Yea, he is well called God's arrow, wounding every soul that heard him with the love of Christ. This was his motion, one act of his apostolical care.

II. The matter is a visitation. To visit is a word of great latitude, and signifies the performance of all pastoral duties : to instruct the ignorant, to comfort the weak, to correct the stubborn, to confirm the religious. Strictly, it imports a superior's scrutiny or examination of things under his charge ; as a steward in a family overlooks the under-servants : praising the forward, provoking the sluggard, and rectifying disorders, which are ready to creep in through the least connivance. This we shall the better apprehend, if we let the text fall into parts, of which we shall find seven :—

1. The visitors, Paul and Barnabas; for this office was at first apostolical^ and hath ever been episcopal.

2. The visited, their * brethren'—whether the people under the pastors, or the pastors set over the people; for as they ought to visit their own particular charges, so the bishops to visit them : yea, and even those visitors may be visited by such delegates as the prince appoints, who is the chief visitor under Christ.

3. The exercise, or frequent use of this office, ' Let us go again.' For the rareness of performing this duty may breed much inconvenience.

4. The moderation, or seasonableness of it, ' after certain days.' There must be some intermission, or else the assiduity may make it a burden, or bring it into contempt.

5. The latitude or extent of it, ' in every city;' not calling all the world to one place, as the bishop of Ptome did in his glory, summoning all nations to his consistory. They visit every city ; they compel not every city to visit them. Nor do they balk the greatest for fear, nor neglect the meanest in contempt; but ' every city.'

6. The limitation, restraint, or confining of this exercise, ' where we have preached the word of God.' Pagans are out of their walk; they meddlo not with unbelievers, but with those grounds wherein they have sown the seeds of the gospel.

7. Lastly, the intent and scope of all, ' to see how they do :' quomodo se haheant; whether they fail or thrive in their spiritual growth. These be the passages; whereof with what brevity I can, and with what fidelity I ought.

1. The visitors : Paul and Barnabas. There is difference, I know, betwixt the apostles and bishops. For, besides their immediate calling and extraordinary endowments, the apostles' function was an unlimited circuit, lie in universum orhem ; tlie bishop's is a fixed or positive residence in one city. All those acts which proceeded from supernatural privilege ceased with their

cause; as the gift of tongues, of miracles, and the like. Those tools that serve for the foundation are not the fittest for the roof The great Master-builder made choice of such for the first stones which he meant not to employ in the walls. But this is the first thing I would here note;—

The first foundation of the church was laid in an inequality, and hath ever shice so continued. Parity in government is the mother of confusion and disorder,* and disorder doth ill become the church of God; where all the strings or voices be unisons, or of one tenor, there can be no harmony. There be CKO'zovvTig, seers, which signifies the duty of each pastor over his flock; and there be sTieKO'Trouiirsg, overseers, such as must visit and overlook both flock and seers. In the Old Testament, together with the parity of priesthood, there was an imparity of government : one Levite above another, priests above them, the high priest above them all. Christ himself is said to be a ' priest after the order of Melchizedek :' he was of some order then ; but we have those that would be priests without any order at all, that, refuse to be ordered.

Take away difference, and what will follow, but an anabaptistical ataxy, or confusion. It was the saying of Bishop Jewel, or the jewel of bishops, All priests have idem ministerium, sed diversam potestatem. A bishop and ail archbishop differ not in i^otestaU ordinis, sed in potestate regiminis. Nor doth a bishop differ from a pastor, quoad vhtutem sacerdotii, sed quoad po-tentiam jurisdidionis. There is one indelible character of priesthood to them both. That great Claviger of heaven, who opens, and no man shuts, shuts, and no man opens, Eev. iii. 7, hath left two keys for the government of the church : the one, clavem scientice, the preaching of the gospel, which is the more essential part of our function; for a ' necessity is laid upon us, and woe unto us if we preach not the gospel,' if we turn not that key. The other, clavem potentice, the key of jurisdiction or disciphne, which makes the church acievi ordinatam, an army well marshalled. The former im-poseth a duty, and hcec op>ortet facere ; the latter importeth a decency, and hcEc opoHet fieri. Thus did the great Shepherd of Israel govern his flock, with ' two staves,' Zech. xi. 7. One, the ' staff of bands,' sound doctrine; the other, the 'staff of beauty,' orderly discipline. St Paul joins them both together : the steadfastness of their faith, and the comeHness of their order, and makes them the matter of his joy in the Colossians, chap. ii. 5. Without order, faith itself would be at a loss. Even the stars do not fight from heaven, but in their order, Judg. v. 20. Therefore is our ministry called orders, to shew that we are bound to order above other professions. This orderly distinction of ecclesiastical persons is set down by the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. xii., placing some as the head, other as the eyes, other as the feet; all members of one body, with mutual concord, equal amity, but unequal dignity. To be a bishop, then, is not a numeral, but a muneral function; a priority in order, a superiority in degree. ' Who is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household ?'— quern Doininus constituit super familiam, —Matt. xxiv. 45. AU ministers of Christ have their due honour; some are worthy of double hononr. Far be it from us sinners to grudge them that honour, whereof God himself hath pronounced them worthy. This first. Again:—

Paul and Barnabas. Paul was a man of ardent zeal; Barnabas is interpreted ' the son of consolation.' Paul would have Barnabas along with him, that the lenity of the one might somewhat mitigate and qualify the fervour of the other. Thus Moses was with Elias when they both met with Christ

* Aris*. Polit.

transfigured on the mount. Elias was a fiery-spirited prophet, inflamed with holy zeal; Moses a prophet of a meek and mild spirit: these two together are fit servants to wait upon the Son of God. I do not say that either Paul wanted compassion or Barnabas fervency; but this I say, that both these tempers are a happy composition in ^ visitor, and make his breast like the sacred ark, wherein lay both Aaron's rod and the golden pot of manna, Heb. ix. 4 : the rod of correction, the manna of consolation ; the one a corrosive, the other a cordial. Spiritual fathers should be like natural mothers, that have both uhera and verbera; or like bees, having much honey, but not without a sting. Only, let the sting be the least in their desire or intention, and the last in execution; like God himself, qui habet in potestate vindidam, sed mavult in tisu misericordiam.

There have been some who did put lime and gall into the milk; yea, ministered 2yi'o lacte venenum: Bonners and Gardiners, that gave too shaqj physic for the disposition of their patients; that—as the Antiochians said of Julian,* taking occasion by the bull which he stamped on his coin—have gored the world to death: that, as if they had Saul's commission to vex the church of Christ, have concluded their visitations in blood. But mercy, no less than holiness, becomes the breastplate of Aaron. I deny not the necessity of jurisdiction, both corrective and coactive: the one restraining where is too much forwardness, the other enforcing where is slackness. There is a rod, and there is a sword. Veniam ad vos in virga; that is the rod. Utinam absdndantiir qui pa'turbant vos; that is the sword. K we observe God's proceeding in the church, we shall find how he hath fitted men to the times and occasions. In the low and afflicted estate of Israel, they had Moses, a man of meek spirit, and mighty in wonders. Meek, because he had to do with a tetchy and froward people ; mighty in wonders, because he had to do with a Pharaoh. When they were settled in a quiet consistence, they had a grave and holy Samuel. In their corrupted declination, they had a hot-spirited Elijah, who came in a tempest, as he went out in a whirlwind. These times of ours be of a sinful and depraved condition, therefore have need to be visited with spirits more stirring than those of the common mould. Imo, veni Paule cum virga,i —Come, Pavd, with thy rod. Rather let us smart with correction than run on to confusion.

2. The visited : their brethren. Such was that great Apostle's humility that he calls all believers brethren, to shew that he had but the privilege of a brother, and did no otherwise than all the rest bear the arms of the elder. Yea, why should not an apostle accept of that title, when the eternal Son of God 'is not ashamed to call us brethren?' Heb. ii. 11. The weakest Christian is a brother to the holiest saint, therefore not to be contemned. It is most unnatural for a man to despise his brother, the son of his own father. It is a brand set upon that tongue, which must bum with quenchless flames : ' That it spake against his brother, and slandered his own mother's son,' Ps. 1. 20. Bishops are m the chiefest respect brethren to the ministers; in a meaner regard they are fathers. They are our fathers but in that respect whereby they govern us; but in that respect which doth save us, they are our brethren. Fratres in salute, patres in ordine ad salutem. Even princes should not scorn the brotherhood of their subjects ', for howsoever on earth there is a necessity of these ceremonial difierences, yet in the grave for our bodies, in heaven for our souls, there is no such distinction. If there be any disparity after this life, it shall be secundum opera, not secundum officia; proportioned to the works they have done, not to the * Socrat, lib. vii., cap. 22. t Aug.

honours they have borne, St Paul calls Timothy in one place his son, in another place his brother.

Bishops are brethren to ministers in a threefold relation:—By nature, so are all men; by grace, so are all Christians; by office, so are all pastors. He that. Matt. xxiv. 45, was called rector sui^r familiam, ' ruler over the household,' the same is also termed, ver. 49, owhohlog, 'a fellow-servant* with the rest of the meany :* aU servants under one lord, though some superior m office to the rest. As in the civil state, within that honourable rank, both earls and lords are called barons, yet their dignities are not equal: every earl being a baron, but not every baron an earl. So in the state ecclesiastical, in respect of the general service of Christ, the dispensation of his word and mysteries, bishops and priests are all brethren and fellow-presbyters ; yet though the styles be communicable, the terms are not convertible: for every bishop is a priest, but every priest is not a bishop. As this therefore no way diminisheth their authority, for episcopus est sacerdotum princeps, saith Ignatius ;t so it commendeth their humility to caU us brethren. If we offend paterna agant, let them correct us as their children ; while we do well, fraterna teneant, let them encourage us their brethren. God is not tied to means; for illumination of the mind, he often lights a great lamp of the sanctuary at a little wax-taper, as he did Paul by Ananias, And for moving of affections, often with a puff of wind he stirs up the waves of the great ocean. Deus non est parvus in parvo; not straitened according to the smaUness of the organ. On the one side love and gravity, on the other side obedience and sincerity, on all sides hohness and humility, become the ministers of Jesus Christ.

3. The exercise, or due practice of this office : 'Let us go again,' Let us go; that is, go personally. Let us go again; that is, go frequently.

(1.) Let us go; not send our deputy, but go ourselves. He that sends sees by another's eyes, and takes the state of things upon trust. If we go, we see by our own, and our own eyes be our best informers. How is he episcopus that never overlooks ? So St Jerome, in his epistle to Nepotian, nitatur esse quod dicitur. He is an ill shepherd that does not know mdtuni pecoris. ' Know the state of thy flocks and the face of thy herds,' Prov. xxvti. 23. Desire to see them, quomodo Moses voluit videre Deum, ymerugy face to face. In the proverb, Domini oculus pascit equum, et vestigia ejiis pinguefaciunt agrum, —The miaster's eye feeds the horse; the presence of the bishop, like the north wind, dispels infection. It was Paul's continual fear, some prevarication in his absence: ' I fear I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found to you such as you would not,' 2 Cor. xii. 20. St Peter's shadow wrought miracles, but now the bishop's shadow will work no miracles. This is one special thing to be visited and examined, the residence of pastors in their charges. It is an unhappy thing for a man to be a stranger at home, Damasus;}: compares such to wanton women, who no sooner bear children, but presently put them forth to nvu-se, that with less trouble they may return to their old pleasure, Peraldus, a Popish writer, is so bitter against those that feed their flocks by deputies, that he says, It is as if a man should marry a Avife, and suffer another to get children by her, Illudque Clictovoei, magis salsum quam falsum; vicariam quidem salutem, personaleni vero perniciem, talibus manere.

I know there is a residence personal and pastoral: and he that is a stranger to the pulpit, though he straggle not out of the bounds of his parish, is the greatest non-resident. And I grant that in some cases a dispensation

* That is, menage, the household.— Ed, t Ad Trail, J Ep. 4, ad Episc.

is requisite— cedat minus mojoH; yet it is no hurt to pray, God persuade them all to dwell in their own tents. But it is not well for a preacher to be like a door, when it is once oiled, then to leave - creaking. It was a friar's conceit upon Gen. vi., when the clergy, those ' sons of God,' began to dote upon the ' daughters of men,'—to be enamoured of temporal preferments,—then by such marriages monsters were begotten in the church, and the sanctuary of God was filled with giants, far from the shape of Christians. It is pity but the bishop should forbid the banns ; and if any such marriage be, it is more than time to make it a nullity, by divorcing them from idleness, covetousness, and ambition. ' The faithful steward is he that gives the household their portion of meat in due season,' Luke xii. 42. He must give them all meat, young and old, rich and poor, weak and strong. In due season, that is, when their appetites call for it; nay, he must not always stay till they desire it. Propriis manibus, he must do it with his own hands : he is but a deputy, and therefore is not evermore allowed a deputy. Let us go ourselves.

(2.) Let us go again. The building of the church goes slowly forward ; though there be many labourers, there be more hinderers : God never had so many friends as enemies. If the overseers look not well to the business, too many will make church-work of it; for such loitering is now fallen into a proverb. Men are fickle, as were the Galatians and churches of Asia; if they be not often visited, they will soon be corrupted. Luther said in Wittenberg, that a few fanatical fellows had pulled down more in a short space than all they could build up again in twenty years. The de\al is always busy, and it is no small labour to earth that fox. The plant which we would have thrive must be often watered. The apostles did visit to confirm and comfort, because that was a time of persecution. Our mischief is intestine : Pax a paganis, imx ah hcereticis, mdla 'pax d, falsis jilUs. Let but Moses turn his back, and ascend the mount, to be Israel's lieger with God, the people presently speak of making a calf He went but on their embassage to their Maker : yet, as if they had seen him take his heels and run into the wilderness, is no sooner vanished out of their sight, than out of their mind, and they fall to idolatry. Our churches are not like Irish timber, if they be not continually swept, there will be spiders and cobwebs. If the servants sleep, the master's field is not privileged from tares. Therefore to prevent dangers, and to heal diseases, frequent visitation is necessary for the church of Christ,

4, The moderation, or seasonableness of it: 'after certain days,' Exassidui-tate vilitas; that which is too common becomes cheap, and loseth credit. Due respirations are requisite in the holiest acts. God is so favourable to liis creatures, that he requires them not to be overtoiled in the works of his own service. When the temple was a-preparing, the thirty thousand workmen wi'ought not continuedly, but with intermission, 1 Kings v. 14. One month they were in Lebanon, and two at home ; so their labour was more generous and less burdensome. Ever ten thousand did work, while twenty thousand breathed. The mind that is overlaid with business grows dull and heavy; over-lavish expense of spirits leaves it heartless. The best horse ■will tire soonest, if the reins lie loose on his neck. Perfection comes by leisure, and no excellent thing is done at once. The gourd, which came up in a night, withered in a day; but the plants that live long rise slowly. It is the rising and setting of many suns that ripens the business both of nature and art. Who would not rather choose many competent meals than buy the gluttony of one day with the fast of a whole week ? Therefore the

reverend fathers of the church observe their due times of visiting ; and particular pastors have theu- set days of feeding. He is an ill fisher that never ^ mends his net; a bad mower that never whets his scythe.

There be some so mad of hearing, that, as if their preacher had ribs of iron, and a spirit of angelical nature, they will not suffer him to breathe; but are as impatient of such a pause as Saul was of David's sickness: 'Bring him to me in the bed, that I may slay him,' 1 Sam. xix. 15, Such, and no more, is their pity to their minister. Bring him though he lie sick in his bed; spare him not, though his heat and heart be spent. And if he satisfy not their unseasonable, unreasonable desires, they exclaim and break out into bitter invectives against us : not unlike the Chinese, that whip their gods when they do not answer them. Such misgoverned feeders should be stinted to their measure, as the Israelites were to an omer. God will never thank us for killing om-selves to humour our hearers.

5. The extent, or latitude of it: ' in every city.' First, such was their favour and indulgence, they went to every city; not summoned every city to appear before them. Our grave diocesans do follow the blessed apostles in this step : they visit us in our several deaneries and divisions, without com-pellmg the remote dwellers to travel unto their consistories.

Again, ' in every city :' such was their impartial justice, and most equal love to all; the greatest were not exempted from their jurisdiction, nor the least neglected of their compassion. The holiest congregations may be blemished with some malefactors, Rome, and Corinth, and Ephesus, though they were all famous cities, had no less need of apostles for their visitants than they had for their founders. Three traitors kindle a fire, two hundred and fifty captains bring sticks to it, and all Israel is ready to warm themselves at it, Num. xvi. It was happy for Israel when they had but one Achan, Josh, vii.; and yet that one Achan was enough to make them unhappy. The innocence of so many thousands was not so forcible to excuse his one sin, as his one sin was to taint aU the people. One evil man may kindle that fire which the whole world cannot quench. Shall Jeroboam be an idolater alone ? No; he can no sooner set up his calves, but his subjects, like beasts, are presently down on their knees.

Where stands that Utopia, that city which is in so good case that it need not be visited ? Sin doth multiply so fast that the poor preacher cannot outpreach it; yea, it is weU if the bishop himself, with all his authority, can suppress it. We cannot say always whence these evils come, but we are sure they are. You have perad venture heard or seen a motion, a puppet-play; how the little idols leap, and move, and rmi strangely up and down. We know it is not of themselves; but there is a fellow behind which we see not, it is he that doth the feat. We see in our parishes strange motions : a drunken companion bearding his minister, a contentious incendiary vexing him with actions and slanders ; an obstinate Papist carries away his recusancy, scorns the preacher, seduceth the people : this is a strange kind of puppet-play; but God knows who it is behind the curtam that gives them their motion; only we are sure they cannot thus move themselves. There are many meetings, and much ado, as if sin should be punished : a jury is empannelled, a sore charge is given; the drunkard shall be made an example. Good-ale shall be talked with, whoredom shall be whipped, and all shall be well. We look for present reformation; but it commonly proves like the juggler's feast in Suidas : a table furnished with all manner of dainties in show, whereof when they came to taste, they found nothing but air. But I pass from the extent, to—

6. The limitation, or restraint of it: ' where we have preached the word of the Lord.' Not every city, but every city and place that hath received the word of instruction. No visiting a garden but where some seeds have been planted ; that which is aU weeds is left to a higher visitation : ' God shall judge them that are without,' 1 Cor. v. 13. One would think that the word of God were so prevailing, that it should beat down enormities faster than Satan can raise them. But we find, by miserable experience, that even in those cities where the gospel hath abounded, sin hath superabounded; and that this glorious sun hath not dispelled and overcome all those fogs and mists that have surged from heU. But if the sun cause a stench, it is a sign there is some dunghUl nigh; let it reflect upon a bed of roses, there is all sweetness.

Shall we lay the blame upon the preachers? That were unjust in omr own consciences. What city in the world is so rich in her spiritual provision as this ? Some whole countries within the Christian pale have not so many learned and painful pastors as be within these walls and liberties. It looks like the firmament in a clear night, bespangled with refulgent stars of different magnitude, but all yielding comfortable light ' to guide our feet in the way of peace.' The church in Constantinople, wherein Nazianzen preached, was called avasraata, the Resurrection Church, in respect of the great concourse and assembly of people. Most churches in this city may well bear that name. Where is the fault then ? I could happUy tell you of some causes : the great profanation of God's Sabbath, the perfunctory hearing of his sacred word, the cages of imclean birds, brothels and drinking-schools, the negligence of the secular magistrate, the exemplary corruption of rulers, the sinful indulgence of parents and masters in then- families, when the mouths of their children and servants be filled with uncorrected oaths and blasphemies. Oh that we might see an end of these things before we see an end of all things ! The last point is—

7. The intent, or end of all: ' to see how they do.' First, to see how the pastors do whom they had set over particular congregations. The apostles had been careful in their first election; and good reason : ' Lay hands suddenly on no man,' saith St Paul. There is a story in the legend, how a bishop devoted to the service of Our Lady, in the agony of death, prayed her to be his mediator, as he had been her chaplain. To whom she answered, that for his other sins she had obtained pardon, but his rash imposition of hands was a case which her Son would reserve to himself. But some that were fit in the choice, may prove unworthy in the progress : therefore must be visited, to ' see how they do.' For if the physician be sick, what shall become of his patients ? Certainly a minister's life is fuU of honour here, and hereafter too; so it is fall of danger here, and hereafter too. Oh, what an honour it is to labour in God's harvest, to be an ambassador from Christ, to remit and retain sins, to dress and lead the bride, to sit on thrones and judge the nations ! Again, what a danger is it to answer for souls lost by our silence, to be guilty of blood by either teaching or living amiss ! For howsoever the doctrine itself be the light, yet the preacher's life is the lantern that carries it, and keeps it from blowing out; and it is an easier defect to want Latin or learning than to want honesty and discretion. God hath given us the keys; but if they rust upon our hands, whether through foul carriage or want of use, they will but serve to lock ourselves out of doors. Therefore we must submit to a visitation.

' How they do.' What! must it be examined what store of souls they have converted ? No, it is the measure, not the success, that God looks to.

fSt Paul himself doth not say, Plus prof id omnibus, —I did more good than the rest; but, Plus laboravi omnibus, —I took more pains than the rest. ' I laboured more abundantly than they all,' 1 Cor. xv. 10. Our reward shall ])e ' according to our works,' not according to the fruit of our works. And our labour, however fruitless among men, ' shall not be in vain in the Lord,' ver. 59i. It was the complaint of a great prophet, ' I have laboured in vain, and spent my strength for nought; yet my reward is with the Lord,' Isa. xlix. 4. Though we cannot save you, yet our desire and endeavour to do it shall save ourselves. We give God what we have, he asks us no more : this is enough to honour him and reward us.

' How they do.' What! how they thrive in their temporals, what riches or preferments be given them ? No, as this is none of our ambition, so it is none of our luck or portion. Men suck our milk, like mules, and then kick us with their heels. Cominseus says, he that would be a favourite must not have a hard name, that so he might be easily remembered when promotions are a-dealing. It seems that preachers have hard names, for none remember them in the point of benefit. The world regards them as poor folks do their children, they would be loath to have any more of them, because they are troubled to maintain them they have. In Jeroboam's time the lowest of the people were made priests, and now priests are made the lowest of the people. A layman, like a mathematical line, runs on ad infinitum; only the preacher is bound to his competency, yea, and defrauded of that. But let all preferments go; so long as we can find preferment in your consciences, and be the instruments of your salvation, we are content.

' How they do.' Not only the pastors, but even all the brethren; their errors must also be looked into. St Paul mentions the house of Chloe, 1 Cor. i. 11, 'It hath been declared to me, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions and faults among you;' from thence he had information of their disorders. Answerable to which, we have churchwardens, they are the house of Chloe, bound by oath to present misdemeanours, that sins may have their just censure. Let them on the one side take heed of spleen, that they do nothing maliciously. So their accusation may be just, and their affection unjust; and in doing that they shall sin, which they had sinned in not doing. Ille dat poenam, tic amisisti laudem. On the other side, of connivance and partiality; for there is an Omnia bene that swaUows all vanities. Drunkenness, uncleanness, swearing, profanation of the Sabbath, go abroad all the year, and when the visitation comes, they are locked up with an Omnia bene. This is not that charity that ' covereth sin,' but a miserable indulgence that cherisheth sin.

In the creation there was an Omnia bene; God reviewed all his works, and they were ' exceeding good.' In our redemption there was an Omnia hene; he hath done all things well, he hath made the blind to see, and the lame to go ; a just confession and applause. Here was an Omnia bene indeed, but there never was an Omnia bene since.

Let there be therefore a visitation with the rod, lest God come to visit with fire. God hath a fourfold visitation :—1. A visitation of grace and mercy: Visitavit et redemit, —' He hath visited and redeemed his people,' Luke i. 68. He came not only to see us, but to save us: not only to live among us, but to die for us. So Paul applies that of the psalm, ' What is man, that thou art mindful of him 1 and the son of man, that thou visitest him?' Heb. ii. G. The time wherein Jerusalem heard the oracles, and saw the miracles of our blessed Saviour, is called ' the day of her visitation.' 2. A visitation of pity and compassion: so when God relieved Sarah'3

barrenness, he is said to ' visit her,' Gen. xxi. 1. Thus he did visit Job in his sickness: 'Thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.' This duty he commends to us for true religion indeed : ' Pure religion and undefiled before God is, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction,' James i. 27. To these works he promiseth the kingdom of heaven : ' You have visited me when I was sick, or in prison; therefore come, ye blessed,' Matt. xxv. 43. 3. A visitation of severity and correction; so Job calls his trial a visitation. Job vii. 18, and we call the pestilence, God's visitation. This he threatened even to the offenders of the house of David: ' I ^vill visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes,' Ps. Ixxxix. 32, This visitation is not without mercy; yea, it is an argument of mercy; for when God refuseth to visit, that is the sorest visitation of all. Therefore we pray, * Look down from heaven, O Lord; behold, and visit thy vine,' Ps. Ixxx. 14. 4. Lastly, a visitation of wTath and fury : * Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? ShaU not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this V Jer. v. 29. So he visited Egypt, when he slew their firstborn ; the old world, when he drowned it; Sodom, when he burned it: 'I will go down and see.' Thus shall he one day visit the wicked, and with fire and brimstone, and a horribly tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.

God's visitation cannot be eluded or avoided; there will be no appealing to a higher court, no revoking by prohibitions, no hiding from the censure, no corrupting the judge, no answering the matter by proxy, no commuting the penalty; no preventing, but either by living innocent, or dying penitent.

Therefore let us all visit ourselves, that we may save God the labour. This is a duty to which we are all naturally backward: like elephants that choose troubled waters, and refuse to drink in clear springs, for fear of seeing their own deformities. Our unthrifts, that are run so far in arrearages, they are loath to hear of a reckoning. Or, it may be, we have chiding consciences ; and then, like those that are troubled with curst and scolding wives at home, love to be rambling abroad. But it is better to have our wounds searched while they are green, than to have our limbs cut off for being festered. Descend we, then, into the depth and corners of our own hearts, let us begin our visitation there; mortifying all our rebellious lusts, and subduing our affections to the will of our Maker. So only shall we pass clear and uncondemned by the great Bishop of our souls, Jesus Christ. I have done: Deo gloria, vobis gratia, mihi venia. Amen.

VOL. II.

THE THREE DIVINE SISTERS: FAITH, HOPE, AND CHAEITT.

Now abideth faith, liope, charity, these three ; hut the greatest oftJiese is charity.—I Cor. XIII. 13.

When those three goddesses, say the poets, strove for the golden ball, Paria adjudged it to the queen of Love. Here are three celestial graces, in a holy emulation, if I may so s^Deak, striving for the chiefdom; and our Apostle gives it to love. ' The greatest of these is charity.'

Not that other daughters are black, but that Charity excels in beauty. We may say of this sister, as it was said of the good woman, ' Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all,' Pro v. xxxi. 29. Paul doth not disparage any when he saith, ' Charity is the greatest.' All stars are bright, though ^ one star may differ from another in glory,' 1 Cor. xv. We may say of graces, as of the captains of the sons of Gad, ' The least a hundred, the greatest a thousand;' or as the song was of Saul and David: SSaul hath slain his thousands, David his ten thousands.' Faith is excellent, so is hope ; but ' the greatest of these is charity.'

Methinks these three theological virtues may not unfitly be compared to three great feasts which we celebrate in the year—Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas. Faith, like Easter, believes Christ dead for our sins, and risen again for our justification ; Hope, like Pentecost, waits for the coming of the Holy Ghost, God's free Spirit of grace, to come into us, and to bring us to heaven; and Charity looks like Christmas, full of love to our neighbours, full of hospitaUty and mercy to the poor.

These are three strings often touched : faith, whereby we beheve aU God's promises to be true, and ours; hope, whereby we wait for them with patience ; charity, whereby we testify what we believe and hope. He that hath faith cannot distrust; he that hath hope cannot be put from anchor ; he that hath charity will not lead a licentious life, for ' love keeps the commandments.'

For method's sake, we might first confer them all, then prefer one. But I will sjDeak of them according to the three degrees of comparison:—I. Positively ; II, Comparatively; III. Superlatively : ' the greatest of these is charity.' Under which method we have involved—1. Their order, how they

are ranked; 2. Their nature, how they are defined; 3. Their distinction, how they are differenced; 4. Their number, how many are specified; 5. Their conference, how they are compared; 6. Lastly, their dignity, and therein how far one is preferred.

I. Faith is that grace which makes Christ ours, and all his benefits. God gives it: ' Faith is given by the Spirit,' 1 Cor. xii. 9. By the word preached : ' Faith cometh by hearing,' Rom. x. 17. For Christ's sake : ' To you it is given for Christ's sake, to believe in his name,' Phil. i. 29. This virtue is no sooner given of God, but it gives God. So soon as thou believest, Christ is thine, and all his : ' For he that gives us Christ will also with him give us all things,' Rom. viii. 32.

'Without this it is impossible to please God,' Heb. xi. 6. Let us not otherwise dare to come into his presence. There is nothing but wrath in him, for sin in us. Joseph charged his brethren that they should come no more in his sight, unless they brought Benjamin with them. We come at our peril into God's presence if we leave his beloved Benjamin, our dear Jesus, behind us. When the philosopher heard of the enraged emperor's menace, that the next time he saw him he would kill him, he took up the emperor's little son in his arms, and saluted him with a Potesne, ' Thou canst not now strike me.' God is angry with every man for his sins. Happy is he that can catch up his Son Jesus; for in whose arms soever the Lord sees his Son, he will spare him. The men of Tyre were fain to intercede to Herod by Blastus, Acts xii. 20. Our intercession to God is made by a higher and surer way; not by his servant, but by his Son.

Now tliis Mediator is not had without a medium—faith. Fides 7nedmm, d quo remedium; faith is that means Avhereby we lay hold on this Christ. Ditfidence shall never have Jesus for its advocate; though every man may say, ' I believe ; Lord, help my unbelief.'

St Paul useth one word that very significantly expresseth faith, calling it 'the evidence of things not seen,' Heb. xi. 1. Fides est credere quod non vides; cujus merces est videre qtiod credis, —Faith is to believe what thou seest not; whose reward is to see what thou believest. Now the metaphor may be explained thus :—

(1.) Christ dying made a will or a testament, sealing it with his own blood, wherein he bequeathed a certain legacy of inheritance to his brethren with himself: ' Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me,' John xvii. 24. This is the substance of his will and testament.

(2.) The conveyance of this will is the gospel: ' Whosoever believes, and is baptized, shall be saved.' A large patent, a free and full grant. There is no exception of persons, either in regard of state, quality, or country : * There is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus,' Gal. iii. 28. The conveyance is of an ample latitude.

(3.) The executor or administrator of this will, if I may so speak, is the Holy Ghost, that Comforter which Christ promised to ' send, that should lead us into all truth,' John xiv. 1G. This Spirit begets ftiith and sanctification in our hearts, puts ' Abba' into our mouths, applies the merits of our Saviour to our souls, and indeed ' seals us up to the day of redemption,' Eph. iv. 30. Without his assistance we could appropriate no comfort by his will, nor challenge any legacy therein bequeathed.

(4.) Lastly, The e\idence whereby every particular man apportions to himself his title and interest, is his faith. Thou, unregenerate soul, pleadcst

a legacy in this wUl. Go to, let us join issue, and come to trial. Where is thy evidence ? Here it is; my faith. This evidence, as all other, must have some witnesses. Produce thine; and before the bar of the great Chief Justice, the King's Bench of heaven, let them not lie.

The first is thy conscience. Alas ! give this leave to speak without interruption, and one day it shall not flatter thee. This saith, thy evidence is false and counterfeit, forged by a wretched scrivener, flesh and blood; for thy heart trusts in uncertainly good riches, or in certainly bad vanities, more than in the living God.

The next is thy life. Alas! this is so speckled with sins, so raw and sore with lusts, that as a body broken out into blains and boUs argues a corrupted liver or stomach within, so the spots and ulcers of thy life demonstrate a putrefied heart. Lo, now thy witnesses. Thou art gone at the common law of justice; it is only the chancery of mercy that must clear thee. What wUt thou now do 1 What, but humble thyself in recompense for thy false faith; take prayer in thy company, for pardon of former errors; go by the word preached : for the minister is, as it were, the register to engross the deed; and desire God on the humble knees of thy soul, to give thee a new and a true evidence 1 Let this instnict us to some uses.

Use 1.—Be sure that thy evidence is good. Satan is a subtle lawyer (and thou dost not doubt of his malice,) and will soon pick holes in it; find out tricks and cavils agaiast it. He will winnow and sift thee, gram after grain : take heed, lest thou run not all to chaff. There is a faith of saints : ' Now live not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life that I live, I live by the faith of the Son of God,' Gal. ii. 20. And there is a faith of devils : ' Thou believest; thou doest well: the devils believe, and tremble,' James ii. 19. There is a faith which cannot perish : ' Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish,' John iii. 15. And there is a faith that in the time of temptation falls away. The rocky ground receives the word, and for a while believeth, but in the time of temptation falls away, Luke xm. 13. There is a faith which the world overcometh; such was the faith of Demas. And there is a faith that overcometh the world : ' This is the victory whereby we overcome the world, even our faith,' 1 John v. 4. There is a dead, idle, and infruc-tuous faith, James ii. 14; and there is a lively, active, working faith : ' Faith worketh by love,' Gal. v. 6. Be sure, then, that thy faith vnH endure the touch, even the fiery trial.

Use 2.—Do not lose such a legacy as Christ hath bequeathed, for want oi faith. Glorious is the inheritance; but where is thy evidence ? Flatter not thy soul with, hope of this possession, vrithout the assurance of faith, ' Christ gives his life for his sheep.' What is this to thee that art a wolf, a swine, a goat ? God dresseth his vineyard, pruneth it, is provident over it. What is this to thee that art a thorn, and no branch of the vine ? Look thou to be weeded up, and thrown out. The blood of Christ runs fresh; but where is thy pipe of faith to derive it from his side to thy conscience ? Say it should shower mercy, yet if thou wantest faith, aU would fall besides thee. There would be no more favour for thee than if there was no Saviour.

Let, then, no miseries of earth, much less pleasures, quench thy faith. Satan seeing this spark of fire kindled in thy heart, woiJd blow it out with storms, or work thee to smother it thyself with vanities, or to rake it up in the dead embers of cold security. But believe against sight and sense; as David prophesied that he should be a king. Eo 2^lus hahet fides menti, quo minus argumenti, —Faith shall have so much the more recompense, as it had the less argument to induce it.

Hope is the sweetest friend that ever kept a distressed soul company; it beguiles the tcdiousness of the way, aU the miseries of our pUgiimage.

' Jam mala finissem letho ; sed credula vitam Spes fovet, et melius eras fore semper ait.'

Therefore, Dum spiro spei'o, said the heathen; but, Dum exspiro spero, says the Christian. The one, Whilst I live, I hope ; the other also. When I die, I hope : so Job, ' I wdll hope in thee though thou killest me.' It tells the soul such sweet stories of the succeeding joys; what comforts there be in heaven; what peace, what joy, what triumphs, marriage-songs, and hallelujahs there are in that country whither she is travelling, that she goes merrily away with her present burden.

It holds the head whilst it aches, and gives invisible drink to the thirsty conscience. It is a liberty to them that are in prison, and the sweetest physic to the sick. St Paul calls it an anchor, Heb. vL 19. Let the winds blow, and the storms beat, and the waves swell, yet the anchor stays the ship. It breaks through aU difficulties, and makes way for the soul to follow it. It teacheth Abraham to expect fruit from a withered stock; and Joseph in a dungeon, to look for the sun and stars' obeisance. It counsels a man, as Esdras did the woman who, having lost her son, would needs die languishing in the disconsolate fields : ' Go thy way into the city to thine husband,' 2 Esd. x. 17. Mourn not, wretch, for the loss of some worldly and perishing dehght: sit not down and die, though the fruit of thy womb be swallowed into the earth; but go home to the city, the city of mercy, to thine husband, even thy husband Jesus Christ; let him comfort thee. This is the voice of Hope.

Though misery be present, comfort absent, though through the dim and waterish humour of thy heart, thou canst spy no deliverance, yet such is the nature of hope, that futioxi facta elicit, —it speaks of future things as if they were present: ' We are saved by hope,' Eom. viii. 24. Yet, sic literati, ut adhuc speranda sit hcereditas, vostea possidenda. Nunc hahemus jus ad rem, nonduvi in re, —We have our inheritance in hope ; which gives us the right of the substance, though not the substance of the right; assurance of the possession, though not possession of the thing assured. This tells us, that nemo valde dolebit et diu, —no man should grieve much and long; God making our misery atit tolerahilem, aut hrevem, —either sufferable or short.

These are the comforts of hope. Now, that you may not be deceived, there is (as I said before of faith) a thing like hope, which is not it.

There is a bold and presumptuous hope, an ignorant security and ungrounded persuasion, the very illusion of the devil, who, when he cannot prevail with downright evil, cozens with the shadows of goodness : that how wickedly and wretchedly soever a man shall live, though he furs himself warm with poor men's hearts, though he forbids his brains (as on covenant) one sober hour in the year to think of heaven, though he thirst for carouses of blood, though he strives to powder a whole kingdom with the corns of death and massacre, though he carries half-a-dozen impropriate churches on his sacrilegious back, though he out-thunder heaven with blasphemies, though he trample under his profane foot the precious blood of God's Son; yet still he hopes to be saved by the mercy of God. But we will sooner cast pearls to swine, and bread to dogs, than the comforts of Zion to such. We say not,'' Rejoice and tremlile,' but tremble without rejoicing. We sing not to them, 'With the Lord is mercy, that he might be feared;' but with the Lord is judgment and vengeance; with him is plague and pestilence,

storm and tempest, horror and anguish, indignation and wrath, that he may be feared. Against this hope we shut up the bosom of consolation, and the promise of safety by the merits of Christ ; and so far as we are charged, the very gates of everlasting life.

There is a hope, sober, faithful, well-grounded, well-guarded, well-assured. This is like a house built on a rock. The rock is God's promised mercy; the building, hope in Christ: it is, as it were, moated or entrenched about with his blood by the sweet testimony of God's Spirit to the conscience: known by the charity of the inhabitants; for it keeps bread for the hungry, clothes for the naked, entertainment for strangers. To this hope we open the doors of the kingdom of heaven; and so far as the commission of the keys lead us, we unlock the gates of eternal life, and allow entrance. We call this ' the blessed hope.'

Charity is an excellent virtue, and therefore rare; if ever in this contentious age, wherein fratrum quoque gratia rara est, the unfeigned love of brothers is strange. Woe is me ! before I am come to define what love is, I am fallen into a declamation against the want of it. What is here chiefly commended is chiefly contemned, as if we had no need of mutual succour, nor could spare a room in our hearts to entertain charity, lest we should expel our old loved guests, fraud, malice, and ambition. Love hath two proper objects—the one, immediate and principal; the other, mediate and limited.

The proper and immediate object of our love is God. This is the great commandment, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength.' As if he would not leave out the least sinew or string of the heart, the least faculty or power of the soul, the least organ or action of the strength. So Bernard : ' With all the heart,' that is, affectionately; 'with all thy soul,' that is, wisely; 'with all thy strength,' that is, constantly. Let the zeal of thy heart inflame thy love to God; let the wisdom of thy soul guide it; let the strength of thy might confirm it. AU the afi"ections of the heart, all the election of the soul, all the administration of the body. The soul judgeth, the wiU prosecutes, the strength executes. God can brook no rivals; no division betwixt him and Mammon, betwixt him and Melchom, betwixt him and Baal, betwixt him and Belial. Causa diligendi Deiim Deus est, modus sine modo, —The cause and motive to love God, is God; the manner is without measure. Minus amat te, qui aliquid amat lyrceter te, quod non amat ijroptm' te, —He poorly loves God, that loves anything besides him, which he doth not love for him.

The subordinate object of love is man, and his love is the effect of the former cause, and an actual demonstration of the other inward affection. Waters coming from the sea boil through the veins of the earth till they become springs, and those springs rivers, and those rivers run back to the sea again. All man's love must be carried in the stream of God's love. Blessed is he that loves amicum in Domino, inimicum j)ro Domino, —his friend in the Lord, his enemy for the Lord. * Owe nothing to any man, but this, that ye love one another,' Kom. xiii. 8. Other debts, once truly paid, are no more due; but this debt, the more we pay it, the more we owe it; and we still do acknowledge ourselves debtors to all, when we are clear with all: proverbially, ' I owe him nothing but love.' The communication of this riches doth not impoverish the proprietary; the more he spends of his stock, the more he hath : 'There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth,' Pro v. xi. 24. But he that wUl hoard the treasure of his charity shall grow poor, empty, and bank-nipt : ' There is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth unto

poverty.' Love is the abridgment of the law, the new precept of the gospel. Luther calls it the shortest and the longest divinity: short, for the form of words; long, yea, everlasting, for the use and practice; for 'charity shall never cease.'

II. Thus for the first degree of comparison, positively. The second is comparative; where, though it be said virtues and great men must not be compared, yet we may without offence bring them to a holy conference; else how shall we perceive the Apostle's intended scope, the transcendency of charity ? I will therefore first confer faith with hope, and then with them both, charity.

1. The distinction between faith and hope is nice, and must warily be discovered. I will reduce the differences into three respects, of order, oflBce, and object:—

For order: Paul gives faith the precedency. ' Faith is the ground of things hoped for,' Heb. xi. Faith always goes before; hope follows after, and may in some sort be said to be the daughter of faitk For it is as impossible for a man to hope for that which he believes not, as for a painter to draw a picture in the air. Indeed, more is believed than is hoped for; but nothing is hoped for which is not believed. So that on necessity, in respect of order, faith must precede hope.

For ojice: faith is the Christian's logic; hope his rhetoric. Faith perceives what is to be done, hope gives alacrity to the doing it. Faith guides, adviseth, rectifieth; hope courageously encounters with all adversaries.* Therefore faith is compared to a doctor in the schools, hope to a captain in the wars.t Faith discerns the truth, hope fights against impatience, heaviness of spirit, infirmity, dejectedness, desperation. Divines have alluded the difference between faith and hope in divinity to that between wisdom and valour in philosophy. Valour without wisdom is rashness, wisdom without valour is cowardice. Faith without hope is knowledge without valour to resist Satan; hope without faith is rash presumption, and an undiscreet daring ; you see their different office.

For object: faith's object is the absolute word and infallible promise of God; hope's object is the thing promised. Fides intuetur verhuin rei, spes vero rem verhi, —Faith looks to the word of the thing, hope to the thing of the word. So that faith hath for its object the truth of God; hope, the goodness of God. Faith is of things both good and bad, hope of good things only. A man believes there is a hell, as truly as he believes there is a heaven; but he fears the one, and hopes only for the other. Faith hath objected to it things past, present, future. Past, it believes Christ dead for our sins, and risen again for our justification. Present, that he now sits at the right hand of his Father in heaven. Future, that he shall come to judge quick and dead. Hope only respects and expects things to come. For a man cannot hope for that wkLch he hath. You see how in some sense hope excels faith. For there is a faith in the devils; they believe the truth of God, the certainty of the Scriptures; they acknowledge Christ the Judge of quick and dead; therefore cry, ' Why tormentest thou us before the time ?' They have faith joined with a Popish preparatory good work, fear; ' the devils believe and tremble :' yea, they pray, they beseech Christ not to send them into the deeps; what then want they? Hope, a confident expectation of the mercy of God; this they can never have. They believe; they cannot hope. This is the life of Christians, and the want makes devils. If it were not for this hope, ' we of all men were most miserable,' 1 Cor. xv. 19. * Alsted System. Theolog., lib. iil, loc. 17. + Aug.

2. Charity differs from them both. These three divine graces are a created trinity; and have some glimmering resemblance of the Trinity uncreate. For as there the Son is begotten of the Father, and the Holy Ghost proceeds from them both; so here, a true faith begets a constant hope, and from them proceeds charity. ' Thus is God's temple built in our hearts,' saith Augustine : the foundation whereof is faith ; hope the erection of the walls; charity the perfection of the roof.

In the godly all these three are united together, and cannot be simdered. We believe in God's mercy, we hope for his mercy, and we love him for his mercy. Faith says, there are good things prepared : hope says, they are prepared for me : charity says, I endeavour to walk worthy of them. So that, what good faith believes shall be, hope expects for herself, and charity aims at the Avay to get it, by ' keeping the commandments.' Faith apprehends both reward and punishment; hope only looks for good things for ourselves ; charity desires the glory of God, and the good of all our brethren.

III. The second degree gives way to the third, last, best: the superlative. * But the greatest of these is charity.' Time will not afford me to answer all the objections which subtle wits have ignorantly deduced from these words. Neither were it to other purpose than to write Iliads after Homer, they have been so soundly and satisfyingly answered. I will only mention two, and but report a responsive solution.

Object. 1. —The principal promises are made to believers: 'Whosoever believes, and is baptized, shall be saved.' So no less a promise is made to lovers : ' All things shall work together for the best to those that love God,' &c., Kom. viii. 28. ' God,' saith the Psalmist, ' is near to those that call upon him.' He is close by all those that suffer for him ; but he is within those that love him. Here is prope, intra, intiis. This same intra, within, is of the highest degree. ' God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dweU-eth in God, and God in him,' 1 John iv. 17. O unspeakable felicity !

Object. 2.—If charity be greater than faith, then is not man justified by faith only. Inconsequent illation ! St Paul commends not love for the virtue of justification : it may fail in that particular action, yet receive no impeachment to the excellency of it. By demonstration: A prince doth excel a peasant: shall any man therefore infer that he can plough better, or have more skUl in tUlage ? A philosopher doth excel a mechanic, though he cannot grind so well as a mUler, or limn so cunningly as a painter. A man is better than a beast: who but a madman will therefore conclude that he can run faster than a horse, draw more than an ox, or carry a greater burden than an elephant ? Though he faU in these particular acts, yet none wUl deny but he is better than a beast.

The truth is, that in faith stands originally our fellowship with God. Into that^hand he poureth the riches of his mercy for salvation; and were the actions of charity never so great and (foolishly thought) meritorious, yet, if not the eftects of a true saving faith, they are lost, and a man may for his charity go to the devil And though they would plead from the form of the last judgment (Matt, xxv.) that God accepts men to life for their deeds of charity, feeding, clothing, relieving; yet the Scripture fully testifies, that God neither accepts these, nor ourselves for these, further than they are the effects of a true faith. Our persons being first justified by faith in Christ, then God will crown our works. Yet a Christian must work : for no nudi-fidian, as well as no nvdlifidian, shall be admitted into heaven. ' Therefore,' saith the apostle, ' faith worketh by love,' Gal. v. 6. For faith is able to justify of itself, not to work of itself. The hand alone can receive an alms,

but cannot cut a piece of wood without an axe or some instrument. Faith is the Christian's hand, and can without help receive God's given grace into the heart; but to produce the fruits of obedience, and to work the actual duties required, it must have an instrument: add love to it, and it worketh by love. So that the one is our justification before God, and the other our testification before men.

Their number is considerable; these three, neither more nor less. "Why not two 1 as there be two parts in man, his understanding and will: to direct these two, is sufficient to salvation. By faith the understanding is kept safe; by charity, the will: what needed then the mention of hope ? Yes, hope is the daughter of faith, and the mother of charity; and as man hath an understanding to be informed, and a will to be rectified, so he hath a heart to be comforted, which is the proper office of hope.

But why, then, speaks he of no more than three ? St Peter mentions eight together, 2 Pet. i. 6; and St Paul himself, in another place, puts in nine, Gal. v. 22. Why are all these left out in this glorious catalogue ? Is it enough to have these three and no more 1 Are the rest superfluous, and may well be spared ? Nothing so; but all those virtues are comprehended under these three : as to the trade of a stationer, some are required to print, some to correct, some to fold, others to bind, and others to garnish ; yet all belongs to one trade. There be many rays, and but one sun ; there is heat and Light in one fire. So aU those graces may be reduced to these three principals, as we read 1 Thess. i. 3, the work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope; temperance, patience, godliness, &c., are all servants to these three great princes, faith, hope, and charity.

rV. Lastly, for the prelation. Wherein consisteth this high transcendency of charity? In six privileges :—

1. For latitude, love is the greatest. Faith and hope are restrained within the limits of our particular persons. ' The just man lives by his own faith,' and hopes good to himself; but love is like the vine which ' God brought out of Egypt, and cast out the heathen to plant it, which covereth the mountains with the shadow of its boughs, and spreads its branches unto the sea and the rivers,' Ps. Ixxx. 8. It is like the sun in the sky, that throws his comfortable beams upon aU, and forbears not to warm even that earth that beareth weeds. Love extends to earth and heaven. In heaven it aftecteth God, the Maker and mover; the angels, as our guardians; the triumphant saints, for their pious sanctity. On earth, it embraceth those that fear the Lord especially; it wisheth conversion to those that do not; it counsels the rich; it comforts the poor; it reverenceth superiors, respecteth inferiors; doth good to friends, no evil to foes; wisheth well to all. Tliis is the latitude of charity. Faith hath but narrow limits, but the extent of love is universal, not bounded with the world. Faith believes for thyself, but charity derives and drives the effects of thy faith to others. Thy fiiith relieves thyself, thy charity thy brother.

2. For perpetuity and continuance. Faith lays hold on God's gracious promise for everlasting salvation; hope expects this with patience; but when God shall fulfil his word, and us with joy, then faith shall be at an end, hope at an end, but love shall remain between God and us an everlasting bond. Therefore, saith the Apostle, ' now abideth faith,' &c. Noio: now three, then one, and that is charity. When we have possession of those pleasures which we hoped and believed, what longer use is there of faith or hope ? But our loves shall not end with our lives. We shall everlastingly love our Maker, Saviour, Sanctifier, angels, and saints; where no discontent shall

breed any jar in our hallelujalis. If the use of love be so comfortable on earth, what may we think it will be in heaven ?

Thus saith Chrysostom : ' Only love is eternal.' Now, faith and hope hold up the hands of charity, as Aaron and Hur held up the hands of Moses; but then their use and office shall cease. Tunc non erit s})€s, quando erit spes, —Hope shall not be when the thing hoped is. Hope shall bring in possession, possession shall thrust out hope. Therefore, saith Augustine, is charity greater, etsi non propter eminentiam, tamen propter permanentiam, —if not for the excellency, yet for the perpetuity.

Thus to justify a man, faith is greater; but in a man justified, charity is greater. Let faith alone with the great work of our salvation; but that finished, it shall end, and so yield superiority to love, which shaU endure for ever.

3. For the honour and likeness it hath unto God. Faith and hope make not a man like God, but charity doth. He neither can be said to believe nor to hope; but we know he loves, yea, he is love.

4. In respect of its titles, charity exceUeth, It is novum onandcttum, the new commandment: faith was never called so. It is vincidum perfec-tionis, the bond of perfection : faith is not so termed ; thy faith oiily ties thyself to God, but love binds up all in one bundle of peace. It is impletio legis, the fulfilling of the law : where hath faith such a title ? St Ambrose, on the funeral of Theodosius, observes, that he died with these words in his mouth, Dilexi, dilexi, which he conceived to be his answer to the angels asking him how he had behaved himself in his empire,—I have loved, I have loved; that was enough.

5. Charity is more noble, for it is a better thing to give than to receive. Faith and hope are all of the taking hand, but charity gives. If faith gives glory to God, yet this is but his own, an acknowledgment of that to be his which is his. The property of faith is to receive into itself; the property of love to lay out itself to others.

6. For manifestation. Faith and hope are things unseen, and may be dissembled, but charity cannot be without visible fruits; therefore the only trial of faith and hope is by charity.

Thus charity is greatest, if not respectu originis, or for causality, yet for dignity. 1. More honourable, because like God. 2. More noble, because more beneficial to man. 3. More communicable, for faith respects thyself, •charity aU. 4. More durable; when faith is swallowed uj) in vision, hope in possession, then love remains. 5. For titles, 6. For manifestation.

Thus you have commended to your souls these three sisters, faith, hope, ^nd charity. Faith we must have, or we are reprobates; hope, or wretches; charity, or not Christians. There is a promise made to faith, that it shall Lave access to God, Heb. xi. 6; to hope, that it shall not be ashamed, Bom. V. 5 ; but to charity, that it shall dwell in God, and have God dwelling in it, 1 John iv. 16.

I should now teU you, that as these three fair sisters came down from heaven, so in a cross contrariety the devil sends up three foul fiends from hell: against faith, infidelity; against hope, desperation; against charity, malice. He that entertains the elder sister, unbelief, I quake to speak Ms doom, yet I must: ' He is already condemned,' John iii. 18. He that em-braceth the second ugly hag, despair, bars up against himself the possibility of all comfort, because he ofi"ends so precious a nature, the mercy of God, and tramples under his desperate feet that blood which is held out to his unaccepting hand. He that welcomes malice, welcomes the devil himself;

he is Ccolled * the envious,' and loves extremely to lodge himself in an envious heart. These be fearful, prodigious sisters : fly them and their embraces ; and remember, O ye whom Christ concerns, the commandment of your Saviour, * Love one another !'

I will end with our Apostle's exhortation to his Philippians : ' If there be any consolation in Christ,' and there is consolation in him when the whole world cannot afford it; * if any comfort of love,' and he that knows not the comforts of love knows no difference betwixt man and beast; ' if any fellowship of the Spuit,' by whom we are all knit into one communion, and enriched with the same treasures of grace ; ' if any bowels and mercies,' if uncharitableness and avarice hath* turned our entrails into stone and iron, if we have not forgotten the use and need of mercy ; ' fulfil my joy, that yc be like-minded, and have the same love,' Phil. ii. 1, 2. Fulfil the Apostle's joy only ? No, the joy of the bride and Bridegroom, of the church on earth, of the saints in heaven; the joy of the blessed angels ; the joy of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and last of all, the joy of your own hearts, that yon * Love one another.' Forget not that trite but true saying—

' They shall not want prosperity, That keep faith, hope, and charity.'

* Hath not.— Ed.

THE TEMPLE.

(AT PAUL'S CROSS, AUGUST 5.*)

WJiat agreement hath the temple of God ivith idols ? —2 Coe. VI. 16.

It is not fit they should be too familiar, or near together in this world, whose portions shall be far asunder in the world to come. The sheep and goats are indeed now blended promiscuously, and none can distinguish them here but he that shall separate them hereafter; the right and left hand of the last tribunal shall declare them. But they that be alien or opposite to us in faith and profession are manifest, and we have a frequent charge De nan commisceiido. Now the nearer this Ul-matched conjunction, the more intolerable : the same board, ill ; the same bed, worse ; worst of all the same temple. So the Apostle begins his dehortation, ' Be not unequally yoked with unbehevers :' so he ends it, 'What agreement hath the temple of God with idols V Divers seeds of grain in one ground, divers kiads of beasts in one yoke, divers sorts of cloth in one garment, were expressly forbidden under the law, Deut. xxii.; and shall several religions be allowed in one church under the gospel ?

The absurdness of such a mixture is here illustrated by many oppositions; the sound of all which is interrogative, the sense negative. Eighteousness and unrighteousness, light and darkness, Christ and Belial, the believer and the infidel ; these can have no communion, no concord, no conjunction; and * what agreement hath the temple of God with idols V

I need not by art divide these words, for they are divided by nature. Now as quce Deus conjunxit, nemo sejMret, —those things that God hath joined together, let no man put asunder : so quce Deus sej^aravit, nemo con-jungat, —those things that God hath put asunder, let no man join together. The scope of the text, and the matter of my discourse, is to separate idols from the temple of God; the Holy Ghost hath divided them to my hands : they cannot agree in his sentence, let them never agree in our practice; cursed is he that goes about to compound this controversy. The temple is holy, idols profane ; it is not lawful to mix sacra profanis. The temple is for God, idols for the devil ; God and the devil admit no reconciliation. Therefore, as two hostile nations, after some treaty of peace, neither liking

* Apparently 1623.— Ed.

the proposed conditions, break off in a rage. In hoc xiterque consentimus, quod consentire nolumus, —In this we both consent, that we will not consent at aU; so be it here agreed, that no agi-eement can be made. In composing differences betwixt man and man, betwixt famOy and family, bet^vixt kingdom and kingdom, heati pacijici, —blessed are the peace-makers. But in reconciling Christ and Belial, the temple of God and idols, maledicti pacifici, —cursed are the peace-makers. Here bella geri 2)l(t'Ceat magnos habitiira triuin2)hos. God himself in paradise did first put the quarrel, his Apostle hath here given the alarm, and he deserves a malediction that sounds a retreat.

But as no battle can be well fought without order and martial array, so no discourse can be made profitable without some method. The temple, therefore, we will suppose to be God's castle, and idolatiy the invasion of it. This castle is but one, idols are many. The champions that God hath set to defend his castle are especially or principally princes and pastors, the magistracy and the ministry; the adversary forces that fight against it be the devil's mercenary soldiers. The munition on the one side is the divine Scripture, the sacred word of God; the engines, ordnance, and instruments of assault on the other side are idols, traditions, and those carnal inventions wherewith the corrupt heart of man seeks to batter it. The siege is continual, the feud implacable, the difference u-reconcileable. Yet at last the war shall end, with the ruin of those enemies, in the triumph of the righteous, and to the everlasting glory of God.

Now though this war be every way spiritual, it is divers ways considerable. There is a material, and there is a mystical temple • there are external and internal idols; there be ordinary and extraordinary soldiers. Every Christian, as he is a temple of God, so not without the assault of idols: there is a civil war, a rebellion within him, wherewith he is continually exercised. In this militant estate of the church none are free : only he that gives full allowance to his own corruptions is not a temple of God, but a synagogue of Satan; a sink of uncleanness, rather than a sanctuary of holiness. Thus from one general arise many particulars, and you will say, ' Behold a company;' as Leah said of her son Gad, ' A troop cometh,' Gen. xxx. 11. Yet all these branches have but one root: they are but like the wheels of a clock, taken a little in sunder to view, then to be put together again. Let not their number discourage your attention. When a wealthy favourite of the world sent his servant to bespeak lodging for him, he told the host, * Here wiU come to-night the lord of such a manor, the landlord of such a town, the keeper of such a forest, the master of such an ofiice, the lay-parson of such a parish, a knight, a justice of peace, a gentleman, a usurer, and my master.' 'Alas,' answers the host, ' I have not lodging for half so many,' * Be content,' repUes the servant, ' for all these are but one man.' So if you distrust your memories for room to entertam so many observations, yet be comforted, for all have but this one sum, * There is no agreement betwixt the temple of God and idols.'

The Temple. —That which was built by Solomon was justly called the wonder of the world, a white and glorious monument, set on the hiU of Zion, inviting passengers to see it, and amazing their eyes when they beheld it. It was of white marble without, of cedar and gold within, all of the best, all beautiful, precious, durable. So magnificent was that structure, that all nations have admired it, all times celebrated it. * Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is ]Mount Zion,' Ps. xlviiL 2. While the favour of heaven was set upon Jerusalem, the joy of the whole earth was Mount Zion.

It is fit he tliat made the world a house for man, should have a house in this world made for himself: neither could it be too costly, seeing all the materials that went to it were his own. Every rotten cottage is too good for Satan, no fabric could be too sumptuous for God. While his people dwelt in tents, himself was content to dwell in a tabernacle : in the flitting condition of Israel, he would have his own house a moveable, that they might never remove without him. But when their residence was settled in the promised land, he would have his tabernacle turned into a temple, that they dwelling where he appointed them, he might also dwell among them. The former was for motion, the latter for rest; the one for progress, the other his standing house. All this while, God had but one house at once : first, the tabernacle; then that gave place to the temple; and Solomon's temple being defaced, was supplied by Zerubbabel. Now he hath many houses, even so many as there be nations, as there be congregations, as there be persons professing Christ. We have houses of our own, why should not God have his 1 A prince hath more houses than one, why should the King of heaven be abridged 1 A king in his own person can dwell but in one house at once; let God have never so many, he can at once fill them all. He hath a house of flesh, so every believer is his temple; a house of stone, so this material one is his temple; a house neither of flesh nor stone, but immaterial, immortal in the heavens. And as Christ says, that 'in his Father's house there are many mansions,' John xiv., so in his Father's militant church there are many houses.

It were vain to ask what God should do with a house, when we consider what we do with our own : what but dwell in it 1 But how God doth dwell in it seems to be a question, seeing the Apostle saith, that ' he dwells not in temples made with hands,' Acts xvii. 24. Indeed he dwells not in them as we dwell in ours. Our house defends us, God defends his house; our house comprehends us, God comprehends his house. We are only within our houses, and they are without us : God is so within his house that he is also without it, elsewhere, everywhere, yea, his house is within him. When we are abroad we cannot keep our houses; yea, when we are in them asleep they serve to keep us. God can never be absent from his, nor doth the keeper of this temple ever sleep. Now every material temple wherein the saints are assembled, the truth of the gospel is preached and professed, the holy sacraments duly administered, and the Lord's name is invocated and worshipped, is the temple of God.

Why is it called his temple, but for the testification of his presence ? When Cain stood excommunicated for murdering his brother, and might not come to the place appointed for God's service, he is said to be ' cast out from the presence of the Lord,' Gen. iv, 16. Some have interpreted the like of Jonah's ' flying from his presence,' chap. i. 3 ; that he fled from the place where the prophets used to stand ready to be sent of God. Nadab and Abihu ' died before the Lord,' Lev. x. 2; that is, before the altar of the Lord. That which was done before the ark or altar, in the tabernacle or temple, was said to be done coram Domino. And yet too many come to the temple with so little reverence as if they thought God were not at home, or did not dweU in his own house. But the Lord is present in his temple : in vain .shall we hope to find him elsewhere, if we do not seek him here. ' I Avill be in the midst of you gathered together in my name,' Matt, xviii. 20; not anywhere, not everywhere, but here. Indeed no place excludes him, but this place is sure of him. He fills all places with his presence, he fills this with his gracious presence. Here he both hears us and is heard of us :

Audit oranfes, docet audientes* —He hears our prayers, and teaclieth us our lessons. No place sends up faithful prayers in vain, no place hath such a promise of hearing as the temple. It is the Lord's court of audience, his Highness's court of requests. There humble souls open their grievances, from whence they return loaden with graces. Why are many so void of goodness, but because they are negligent of the public devotions 1 They seek not the Lord where he may be found, therefore deserve to miss him where they pretend to seek him. Why should they think to find God in their closets, while they care not to seek him in his temples ? When we need the help of our friend, do we tarry till we meet him by chance, or till he come to us, or shall we not rather go home to his house ? ' Peter and John went up into the temple at the hour of prayer,' Acts iii. 1; they thought it not sufficient to pray in their private chambers, but join themselves with the congregation, as a navy royal to transport their holy merchandise to heaven. ' Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord,' Ps. cxxxiv. 2. Pure hands are accepted in every place, but especially in the sanctuary. What follows ? * The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.' He says not. The Lord that made heaven bless thee upon earth; nor, The Lord that made earth bless thee out of heaven; but, The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion. Blessings come originally from heaven, mediately through Zion. In the temple let us seek, in the temple we shall find those precious treasures and comforts of Jesus Christ.

This temple is not without some enemies. Besides those profane politicians, that think with one Eustathius, that there is no use of temples; or those Massilians, who, as Damascene reports, did add to other heresies, tem-2:)loncm contemptum; or those pseudo-apostoli, that laughed at a temple full of suppliants, as a house full of fools; or those that be of Jeroboam's mind, who to settle himself in the kingdom of Israel, diverts the people from God's house at Jerusalem." Instead of that snowy and glittering temple, they shall have two golden representations. Zion is too far off", these shall be near home : that is a tedious way of devotion, these both compendious and plausible. As Josephust brings him in persuading them : ' My good people and friends, you cannot but know that no place is without God, and that no place doth contain God; wheresoever we pray, he can hear us; wheresoever we worship, he can see us : therefore the temple is superliuous, the journey needless; God is better able to come to you, than you are to go to him.' Beside these, the temple of God hath two kinds of foes :—

1. The Anabaptists tell us, that the old superstition hath made those houses fitter for stables than for churches; that they ought no more to be called templet Dei, but templa idolorum ; as they pretend, the passover was called in those corrupt times, not pascha Dei, but pascha Judceoricm, John ii. 13. By the same reason they would have removed all princes, because some have abused their governments. But we say, though evil men abuse good tilings, yet if a kingdom were not a lawful state, David and Josiah would never have been kings ; for good men do not use evil things. The temple in Christ's time was become a den of thieves, yet even then and there did he send up devout and holy prayers. It is a gross ignorance that cannot distinguish betwixt a fault that proceeds ex natura facti, and that which proceeds ej; abusu honi ; the former is malum simpliciter, the other is but viahim pey accidens-X No man pulls down his house, because uncleanncss hath been committed in one of the chambers. Let olfonders be removed from the

* Bern. t Antiq., lib. viii., cap. 3. t Tli. 1 qu. 41, art. 6.

temple, not demolished because of offences. ' The kingdom of God shall be taken from you,' Matt. xxi. 43, saith Christ; not quite taken away, but only taken from the Jews. When God threatened the like to Saul, 1 Sam. xv. 28, he did not mean to have no more kings, or to reduce it to the former state of judges; no, only the kingdom shall lose Saul, but Israel shall not lose the kingdom. It is a maxim in nature. Things dedicated to God are not to be transferred to the uses of men; a principle in philosophy, Quae recte data sunt, erijn non licet;''' and a proverb among our children, To give a thing and take a thing is fit for the devil's darling.

2. The sacrilegious, to whom God is beholden, if they let his temple stand; but for the maintenance of it, they will be so bold vdth him, as either to share half, or leave him none. There be many that pray in the temple, who yet also prey on the temple; as if a thief should do homage to that house in the day which he means to rob in the night. But alas ! why should I touch that sore which is all dead flesh ? or speak against sacrilege in orhe saailego, among them that delight in it ? Where lawyers are feed, hired, bribed to maintain sacrilege, God and his poor ministers may even hold their peace. Something would be spoken for Zion's sake, but I take this place and time for neither the right uhi nor quando. We know Abigail would not tell Nabal of his drunkenness, tUl he was awoke from his wine. Whensoever it shall please God to awake you from this intoxication, we may then find a season to speak to you. But God keep you from Nabal's destiny! that when this sin shall be objected to your consciences on your deathbeds, your hearts do not then ' die in you like a stone,' 1 Sam. xxv. 37. One thing let me beg of you in the name of liim whom you thus wrong : howsoever you persist to rob the temple of the due salary, yet do not stand to justify it. By imploring mercy, perhaps you may be saved, but by justifying the injury, you cannot but be lost. As the French king, Francis the First, said to a woman kneeling, and crying to, him for justice, ' Stand up, woman, for justice I owe thee ; if thou beggest anything, beg mercy.' So if you request anjrthing of God, let it be mercy, for he owes you justice j and in this point, God be merciful to you all!

It was David's earnest prayer, ' One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his. temple,' Ps. xxvii. 7. There are many that pray David's words, but not with David's heart. Unnm 2)etii, One thing I have desired, de jirceterito, for the time past ; et hoc requiram, this I will still seek after, de/uturo, for the time to come : I have required it long, and this suit I vidll urge till I have obtained it. What 1 To dwell in some of the houses of God all the days of my life, and to leave them to my children after me ; not to serve him there with devotion, but to make the place mine own possession ? These love the house of God too well; they love it to have and to hold : but because the conveyance is made by the lawyer, and not by the minister, their title will be found naught in the end; and if there be not a nisi prius to prevent them, yet at the great day of universal audit, the Judge of all the world shall condemn them. By this way, the nearer to the church, the further from God. The Lord's temple is ordained to gain us to him, not for us to gain it frOm him. If we love the Lord, we will * love the habitation of his house, and the place where his honour dwelleth;' that so by being humble frequenters of his temple below, we may be made noble saints of his house above, the glorious kingdom of Jesus Christ.

* Plato.

These be the enemies to the temple, whereof the first would separate Bo-minum (t templo, the other templum d. Domino, —they would take God from the temple, these would take the temple from God. Let mc conclude this point with two watchwords :—

First, The first concerns us of the ministry, the waiters of the temple. It hath been an old saying, De templo ovine honum, de templo ovine vialuvi,* —All good or evil comes from the temple. Where the pastor is good, and the people good, he may say to them as Paul to his Corinthians, Nonne opus aneuvi vos estis in Domino, —' Are not ye my work in the Lord ?' 1 Cor. ix. 1. Where the pastor is bad, and the people no better, they may say to him, I^onne desiructio nostra tu es in seculo, —Art not thou our destruction in the world ? It is no wonder if an abused temple make a disordered people, A wicked priest is the worst creature upon God's earth; no sin is so black as that shall appear from under a white surplice. Every man's iniquity is so much the heinouser as his place is holier. The sin of the clergy is Ulce a rheum, which rising from the stomach into the head, drops down upon the lungs, fretting the most noble and vital parts, tiU aU the members languish into corruption. The lewd sons of Eli were so much the less tolerable by sinning in the tabernacle. Their sacrifices might do away the sins of others; 110 sacrifice could do away their own. Many a soul was the cleaner for the blood of those beasts they shed; their own souls were the fouler by it. By one and the same service they did expiate the people's oftences and multiply their own. Our clergy is no charter for heaven. Such men are like the conveyances of land, e\idences and instruments to settle others in the kingdom of heaven, while themselves have no part of that they convey. It is no unpossible thing for men at once to shew the way to heaven with their tongue, and lead the way to hell with their foot. It was not a Jewish ephod, it is not a Romish cowl, that can privilege ^n evil-doer from punishment, There-iore it was God's charge to the executioners of his judgments, ' Begin at my own sanctuary,' Ezek. ix. 6 ; and the Apostle tells us, that 'judgment shall begin at the house of God,' 1 Pet, iv. 17; and Christ, entering into his prophetical ofiice, began reformation at his Father's house, John ii, 15, Let our devout and holy behaviour prevent this, and by our reverend carriage m the temple of God, let us honour the God of the temple. It should be our endeavour ' to raise up seed unto our elder brother,'t to win souls unto Christ. Nunquam cessate hicrari Christo, qui lucrati estisd, Christo. If Christ, while he was upon the cross, saith Bernard, had given me some drops of his own blood in a vial, how carefully would I have kept them, how dearly esteemed them, how laid them next my heart ! But now he did not think it fit to trust me with those drops, but he hath entrusted to me a flock of his lambs, those souls for whom he shed his blood, like whom his own blood was not so dear unto him; upon these let me spend my care, my love, my labour, that I may present them holy saints to my dear Lord Jesus,

Secondly, The other concerns all Christians; that they beware lest, for the abuses of men, they despise the temple of God. For as the altar cannot sanctify the priest, so nor can the unholiness of the priest dishallow the altar. His sin is his own, and cannot make you guilty ; the virtue and comfort is from God, and this is still able to make you holy. When we read that ' the sin of the priests was great before the Lord, for men abhorred the otferuig of the Lord,' 1 Sam. ii. 17, this, we all confess, was ill done of the priests, and I hope no man flunks it was well done of the people. Say their sins, yea, their very persons, were worthy to be abhorred, shall men therefore scorn the * Chrys. t August.

VOL. U. T

sanctuary, and cast that contempt on the service of God which belongs to the vices of man ? This were to add our own evil to the evil of others, and to offend God because he was offended. Cannot the faults of men displease us, but we must needs fall out with God ? Do we not provoke him justly to abhor our souls, when we so unjustly contemn his service ? Know that he is able to sanctify thy heart, even by the ministry of that man whose heart he hath not yet sanctified. The virtue consists not in the human action, but in the divine institution. We say of the sacraments themselves, much more of the ministers, Isti non trihuunt, quod 'per istos tribiiitttr, —These do not give us what God doth give us by them.

But this age is sick of such a wanton levity, that we make choice of the temple according to our fancy of the preacher : and so tie up the free Spirit of God from blowmg where he pleaseth, that he shall be beholden to the grace of the speaker for giving grace to the hearer. So whereas Paul ties faith to hearing, they will tie hearing to faith : and as they believe the holiness of the man, so they expect fruit of the sermon. This is to make Paul something, and ApoUos something; whereas Paul himself says they are both notliing. God only gives the increase, and who shall appoint him by whom he shaU give it 1 Let the seed be good, and the ground good, and the Lord will send fruit, whosoever be the sower. But while you make hearing a matter of sport, preaching is too often become an exercise of wit. Words are but the images of matter, and you shall hear anon it is not lawful to worship images. It dangerously misbecomes the temi^le when anjrthing shall be intended there but the glory of God, and gaining of souls to Jesus Christ.

Thus much concerning the temple. The next point I must fall upon is—

Idols. —^Idol, in Greek, signifies a resemblance or representation, and difters not from image in Latin; both at first taken in a good sense, but the corruption of times hath bred a corruption of words, and idol is now only taken for the image of a false god. Every idol is an image, but every image is not an idol; but every image made and used for rehgious purposes is an idoL The images of God are idols, wherewith Popery abounds. An old man, sitting in a chair, with a triple crown on his head, and pontifical robes on his back, a dove hanging at his beard, and a crucifix in his arms, is their image of the Trinity, This picture sometime serves them for a god in their churches, and sometime for a sign at their taphouses; so that it is a common saying in many of their cities, ' Such a gentleman Ues at the Trinity, and his servants at God's Head.' This they seem to do as if they would in some sort requite their Maker: because God made man according to his image, therefore they, by way of recompense, will make God according to man's image. But this certainly they durst not do, without putting the second commandment out of their catechisms, and the whole decalogue out of their consciences.

I intend no polemical discourse of this point, by examining their arguments : that business is fitter for the school than the pulpit. And, 0 God ! that either school or pulpit in Christendom should be troubled about it!—that any man should dare to make that a question which the Lord hath so plainly and pimctuaUy forbidden! Beside the iniquity, how grievous is the absurdity! How is a body without a spuit like to a spirit without a body 1 a visible picture like an invisible nature ? How would the king take it in scorn to have his picture made like a weasel or a hedge-hog ! and yet the difference betwixt the greatest monarch and the least emmet is nothing to the distance betwixt a finite and an infinite. If they allege, with the Anthropomorphites, that the Scripture attributes to God hands and feet and eyes, why there-

fore may they not represent him in the same forms ? But we say, the Scripture also speaks of his covermg us with the shadow of his wings; why therefore do they not paint him like a bird with feathers ? K they say that he appeared to Daniel in this form, because he is there called the ' Ancient of days;' we answer, that God's commandments, and not his apparitions, be rides to us : by the former wc shall be judged, and not by the latter. It is mad religion to neglect what he bids us do, and to imitate what he hath done : as if we should despise his laws, and go about to counterfeit his thunder. God is too infinite for the comprehension of our souls, why should we then labour to bring him into the naiTOw compass of boards and stones 1 Certainly, that should not be imaged which cannot be imagined. But Christ was a man, why may not his image be made ? Some answer, that no man can make an image of Christ without leavuig out the chief part of him, which is his divinity. It was the Godhead united to the manhood that makes him Christ: sure this camiot be painted. But why should we make Christ's image without Christ's warrant ? The Lord hath forbidden the making of any image, whether of tilings in heaven, where Christ is, or of things on earth, where Christ was, to worship them. Now, tUl God revoke that precept, what can authorise this practice ?

The images of the saints, employed to such religious purposes, make them no less than idolaters. It is a silly shift to say, the honour done to the images reflects upon the represented saints, Wlien they clothe an image, is the saint ever the gayer or warmer'? When they offer to an image, is the saint ever the richer 1 When they Icneel to an image, the saint esteems himself no more worshipped than the king holds himself honoured when a man speaks to his picture before his face. Therefore some of them are driven to confess plainly, that the image is worshipped for itself. But could the saints in heaven be heard speak upon earth, they would disclaim that honour which is prejudicial to their Maker, As Calvin is not afraid to say of the blessed Virgin, that she would hold it less despite done to her, if they should pull her by the hair of the head, or trample her in the dirt, than to set her m rivality with her Son, and God, and Saviour, But they teU us that they worship not the images of false gods, as did the pagans, but only the images of God's own servants and choice friends. But will the jealous God endure this, that his honour be taken from him upon condition it be not bestowed upon his enemies, but upon his friends ? Idolatry is called adultery in the Scriptures; and shall a woman quit herself from oflfence because, though she do commit adultery, yet it is with none but her husband's friends ? Is this done in a good meaning, or in love to Christ 1 It is but a bad excuse of a wife to say that she exceedingly loves her husband, therefore must have some other man to kiss and embrace in his absence, and all this in love to her husband.

We arc all by nature prone to idolatry : when we were little children, we loved babies; and being grown men, we are apt to love images. And as babies be children's idols, so idols and images be men's babies. It seems that idols are fittest for babes, therefore so the Apostle fits his caution : ' Babes, keep yourselves from idols,' 1 John v. 21. As all cm- knowledge comes by sense, so we naturally desire a sensible object of devotion; finding it easier to see pictures than to comprehend doctrines, and to form prayers to the images of men, than to form man to the image of God.

Nor can they excuse themselves from idolatry by saying they put their confidence in God, not in the images of God. For when the Israelites had made their golden calf, and danced about it,—one calf about another,—they

were not such, beasts as to think, that beast their God. But so can suj)er-stition besot the mind that it makes us not men, before it can make us idolaters. What do they say ? ' INIake us gods, that shall go before us,' Exod. xxxii. 1. Every word is wicked, absurd, senseless. They had seen the power of God in many miraculous deliverances before their eyes; the voice of God had scarce yet done thundering in their ears: he had said, ' I am Jehovah, thou shalthave no other gods;' and this they, trembling, heard him speak out of the midst of the flames, and yet they dare speak of' another god.' The singular number would not serve them : make us ' gods.' How many gods would they have ? Is there any more than one? 'Make'us gods; and were not they strange gods that could be made ? Instead of acknowledging God their Maker, they command the making of gods. This charge they put upon Aaron, as if he were able to make a god. Aaron might help to spoil a man, either himself or them, but he could not make a man, not one hair of a man, much less a god; and yet they say to him, ' Make us gods.' And what should these gods do? 'Go before us.' Alas! how should they go that were not able to stand 1 how go before others that could not move themselves 1 Oh the blockishness of men, that make blocks to worship ! Otherwise, how could they that are the images of God fall down before the images of creatures 1 ' For health, they call upon that which is weak; for life, they pray to that which is dead; and a prosperous journey they beg of that which cannot set a foot forward,' Wisd. xiii. 18.

Yet, as their sin was bad enough, let not our imcharitableness make it worse. Let us not think them so unreasonable as to think that calf a god; or that the idol which they made to-day did bring them out of Egypt three months before. It was the true God they meant to worship in the calf; and yet, at the best, even that idolatry was damnable. So charity bids us hope of the Papists that they do not take that board or stone for their god ; yet withal we find that God doth take them for idolaters. They tell us, with a new distinction, that they forbid the people to give divine worship to images; but we say, they had better forbid the people to have images, A block lies in the highway, and a watchman is set by it to warn the passengers : ' Take heed, here is a block,' But how if the watchman fall asleep? Whether is the safer course, quite to remove the block out of the way, or to trust the passengers' safety upon the watchman's vigilance ? As for their watchmen, commonly they are as very images as the images themselves; and how should one block remove another ? When Jeroboam had set up his two idols in Israel, he rakes up his priests out of the common kennel; the basest of the people were good enough for such a bastard devotion : wooden priests were fit enough to wait upon golden deities. So when ]\Iicah had made him a costly idol, he hires him a beggarly Levite. JSTo otherwise did the painter excuse himself for drawing the images of Peter and Paul too ruddy and high-coloured in the face, that howsoever they were while they hved, pale T\T.th fasting and preaching, yet now they must needs become red with blushing at the errors and ignorance of their successors; for such with a loud noise they give themselves out to be.

To conclude; if it were as easy to convince idolaters as it is to confound and tread down their idols, this labour of confutation had been well spared, or were soon ended. But if nothing can reclaim them from this superstitious practice, let them read their fearful sentence: Their place shall be * without, among the dogs,' Kev. xxii, 18, and those desperate sinners un-capable of forgiveness. ' The strong,' the idol which they made their strength, ' shall bo as tow, and the maker,' or worshipper, ' thereof as a spark, and

they shall both bum together' in everlasting fire, * and none shall quench them,' Isa. i. 31. Now the Lord open their eyes to see, and sanctify their hearts to yield, that ' there is no agreement betwixt the temple of God and idols;' which is the next point whereof I shall speak, with what brevity I can, and with what fidelity I ought.

No agreement. —There be some points which the wrangling passions of men have left further asunder than they found them, about which there needed not have been such a noise. But things that ai'e in their own natures contrary, and opposed by the ordmance of God, can never be reconciled. An enemy may be made a friend, but enmity can never be made friendship. The air that is now light may become dark, but light can never become darkness. Contraries in the abstract are out of all composition. The sick body may be recovered to health, but health can never be sickness. The sinner may be made righteous, but sin can never become righteousness. Fire and water, peace and war, love and hatred, truth and falsehood, faith and infidelity, religion and idolatry, can never be made friends; there can be ' no agreement betwixt the temple of God and idols.'

God is ens entium, all in all; an 'idol is nothing in the world,' saith the Apostle. Now all and nothing are most contrary. Idolatry quite takes away faith, a fundamental part of Christian religion; for an idol is a thing visible, but ' fixith is of things invisible,' Heb. xi. 1. The idol is a false evidence of things seen, faith is a tnie evidence of things not seen. Besides, God can defend himself, save his friends, plague his enemies; but idols nee hostes ahscindere possimt quasi clii, nee se abscondere quasi homines* —they can neither revenge themselves on provokers, like gods; nor hide themselves from injurers, like men.

The foolish Philistines thought that the same house could hold both the ark and Dagon, 1 Sam. v. 3; as if an insensible statue were a fit companion for the living God. In the morning they come to thank Dagon for the victory, and to fall down before him before whom they thought the God of Israel was fallen; and lo, now they find the keeper flat on his face before the prisoner. Had they formerly of their own accord, with awful reverence, laid him in this posture of a humble prostration, yet God would not have brooked the indignity of such an entertainment. But seeing they durst set up their idol cheek by cheek with their ]Maker, let them go read their folly in the temple floor, and confess that he which did cast their god so low, could cast them lower. Such a shame doth the Lord owe all them which will be making matches betwixt him and Belial. Yet they consider not, How .should this god raise us, who is not able to stand or rise himself ? Strange they must confess it, that whereas Dagon was wont to stand, and themselves to fall down; now Dagon was fallen down, and themselves stood, and must help up with their own god. Yea, their god seems to worship them on his face, and to crave that succour from them which he was never able to give them. Yet in his place they set him again ; and now lift up those hands to him which helped to lift him up, and prostrate those faces to liim before whom he lay prostrate. So can idolatry turn men into the stocks and stones which they worship : ' They that make them are like unto them.' But will the Lord put it up thus? No, the next fall shall burst it to pieces; that they may sensibly perceive how God scorns a competitor, and that there is no agreement betwixt him and idols. Now, what is the difference betwixt the Philistines and Papists ? The Philistines would set God in the temple of idols; the Papists would set idols in the temple of God. Botli

* HieroiB.

agree in this, that they would make God and idols agree together. But Manasseh found to his cost that an idol might not be endured in the house of God, 2 Chron. xxxiii. 7.

How vain, then, are the endeavours to reconcile our church with that of Rome, when God hath interposed this bar, there is no agreement betwixt him and idols! Either they must receive the temple without idols, or we must admit idols with the temple, or this composition cannot be. There is a contention betwixt Spain and the Netherlanders concerning the right of that country; but should not the inhabitants weU fortify the coasts, the raging sea would soon determine the controversy, and by force of her waves take it from them both. There is a contestation betwixt us and the pontifi-cians, which is the true church; but should not we, in meantime, carefully defend the faith of Christ against idols, superstition would quickly decide the business, and take the possession of truth from vls botL A proud and perverse stomach keeps them from yielding to us, God and his holy word forbids our yielding to them, they will have idols or. no temple, we will have the temple and no idols : now tiU the agreement be made betwixt the temple and idols, no atonement can be hoped betwixt us and them.

' I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circmncised, Christ shaU profit you nothing,' Gal. v. 2. He that would not endure a little leaven in the lump, what would lie have said of a little poison 1 If Moses joined with Christ, the ceremonial law with the gospel, were so offensive to him, how would he have brooked Christ and Belial, light and darkness, righteousness and im-righteousness, the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils, the table of the Lord and the table of devils, the temple of God and idols ? In the tuning of an instrument, those strings that be right we meddle not with, but set the rest higher or lower, so as they make a proportion and harmony with the former. The same God, who, of his gracious mercy, hath put us in the right and unjarring harmony of truth, bring them home in true consent to us, but never suffer us to fall back unto them! Hitherto the contention between us hath not been for circumstance, but substance; not for the bounds, but for the whole inheritance: whether God or man, gTace or nature, the blood of Christ or the milk of Mary, the written canon or unwritten trar dition, God's ordinance in establishing kings, or the Pope's usurpation in deposing them, shall take place in our consciences, and be the rule of our faiths and lives.

We have but one foundation, the infallible word of God; they have a new foundation, the voice of their church, which they equalise in presumption of certainty with the other. We have but one h.ead, that is Christ; they Iiave gotten a new head, and dare not but believe him, whatsoever Christ says. S'ponsus ecclesice nostrce Ghristus, —Christ is our husband; they have a new husband. While Rome was a holy church, she had a holy husband; but now, as Christ said to the woman of Samaria, ' He v/hom thou now hast is not thine husband,' John iv. 18 : so he whom the Romanists have now got is an adulterer, he is no husband. So that here is foundation against foundation, head against head, husband against adulterer, doctrine against doctrine, faith against unbelief, religion against superstition, the temple of God agauist idols; and aU these so diametrally opposed, that the two poles shall sooner meet than these be reconciled. Michael and the dragon cannot agree in one heaven, nor the ark and Dagon in one house, nor Jacob and Esau in one womb, nor John and Cermthus in one bath, nor the clean and the leprous in one camp, nor truth and falsehood in one mouth, nor the Lord and llammon in one heart, nor religion and superstition in one kingdom, nor God and idols

in one temple. The silly old hermit was sorry that God and the devil should be at such odds, and he would undertake to make them j&iends; but the devil bade him even spare his labour, for they two were everlastingly fallen out. No less vain a business doth that man attempt that would work an agreement betwixt the temple of God and idols.

I take leave of tliis point with a caution. Fly the places of infection, come not within the smoke of idols, lest it smother the zeal of God's temple in your hearts. Revolting Israel calls for gods; but why should this god of theirs be fashioned like a calf? What may be the reason of tliis shape? Whence had they the original of such an idol ? Most likely in Egypt; they had seen a black calf '^\i.th white spots worshipped there. This image stUl ran in their minds, and stole their hearts, and now they long to have it set up before their eyes. Egypt will not out of their fancies : when they wanted meat, they thought of the Egyptian flesh-pots; now they want ]\Ioses, they think of the Egyptian idols. They brought gold out of Egypt; that very gold was contagious : the very ear-rings and jewels of Egypt are fit to make idols. The Egyptian burdens made them run to the true God, the Egyptian examples led them to a false god. What mean our wanderers by running to Rome, and such superstitious places, unless they were weary of the church of God, and would fetch home idols ? If it were granted that there is some little tnith among them, yet who is so simple as to seek his corn among a great heap of chaff, and that far off, who may have it at home, winnowed and cleansed to his hand ?

The very sight of evil is dangerous, and they be rare eyes that do not convey this poison to our hearts. I have heard of some, that even by labouring in the Spanish galleys, have come home the slaves of their superstitions. Egypt was always an unlucky place for Israel, as Rome is for England. The people sojourned there, and they brought home one calf; Jeroboam sojourned there, Judg. xvii., and he brought home two calves; an old woman (in all likelihood) had sojourned there, and she brought home a great many. The Romish idols have not the shape of calves, they have the sense and meaning of those calves; and to fill the temple full of calves, what is it but to make religion gTiUty of bulls ? *

Consider it well, ye that make no scruple of superstitious assemblies : it will be hard for you to dwell in a temple of idols imtainted. Not to sin the sins of the place we live in, is as strange as for pure liquor timned up in a musty vessel not to smell of the cask. Egypt will teach even a Joseph to swear : a Peter will learn to curse in the high priest's hall. If we be not scorched with the fire of bad company, we shall be sure to be blacked with the smoke. The soundest body that is may be infected with a contagious air. Indeed a man may travel through Ethiopia unchanged, but he cannot dwell there without a complexion discoloured. How hath the common practice of others brought men to the devUish fashion of swearing, or to the brutish habit of drinking, by their own confessions ! Superstition, if it have once got a secret liking of the heart, like the plague, wiU hang in the very clothes, and after long concealment, break forth in an unlooked-for infection. The Israelites, after all their airing in the wilderness, will stUl smell of Egypt. We read God saying, ' Out of Egyj^t have I called my Son,' Matt, ii 15. That God dia call his Son out of Egypt, it is no wonder: the wonder is that he did call Mm into Egypt. It is true, that Egjrpt could not hurt Christ; the king doth not follow the court, the court waits upon the king; wheresoever Christ was, there was the church. But be our Israelites

* Nonaense.

SO sure of their sons, when they send them into Egypt, or any superstitious places ? It was their presumption to send them in; let it be their repentance to call them out.

The familiar society of orthodox Christians with misbelievers hath by-God ever been most strictly forbidden ; aud the nearer this conjunction, th& more dangerous and displeasing to the forbidder. No man can choose a worse friend than one whom God holds his enemy. When religion and superstition meet in one bed, they commonly produce a mongrel generation. If David marry Maacah, their issue proves an Absalom, 2 Sam. iii. 3. If Solomon love idolatrous women, here is enough to overthrow him with all Ms wisdom. Other strange women only tempt to lust, these to misreligion ; and by joining his heart to theirs, he shall disjoin it from God. One religion matching with another not seldom breed an atheist, one of no religion at aU. I do not say this is a sufficient cause of divorce after it is done, but of restraint before it is done. They may be ' one flesh,' though they be not ' one spirit.' The difference of religion or virtue makes no divorce here; the great Judge's sentence shall do that hereafter. And the believing husband is never the further from heaven, though he cannot bring his unbelieving wife along with him. The better shall not carry up the worse to heaven, nor the worse pull down the better to hell. Quod fieri non clehuit, factum valet. But now, is there no tree in the garden but the forbidden ? None for me to love but one that hates the truth ? Yes, let us say to them in plain fidelity, as the sons of Jacob did to the Shechemites in dissembling policy, ' We cannot give our sister to a man that is uncircumcised,' Gen. xxxiv. 14 : either consent you to us in the truth of our religion, or we will' not consent to you in the league of our communion.

St Chrysostom calls this a plain denial of Christ. He that eateth of the meat offered to idols gustu negavit Christum, —hath denied Christ with his tasting. If he but handle those things with delight, iactu negavit Christum, —he hath denied Christ with his touching. Though he touch not, taste not, yet if he stand to look upon the idolatry with patience, visu negavit Christum, —he hath denied Christ with his eyes. If he listen to those execrable charms, auditu negavit Christum, —he hath denied Christ with his ears. Omitting all these, if he do but smell to the incense with pleasure, odoratu oiegavit Christum, —he hath denied Christ with his smelling. It is said of the Israelites, Commisti sunt inter gentes, —' They were mingled among the heathen,' Ps. cvi. 35. What followed ? Presently ' they learned theu" works.' The reason why the raven returned not to Noah's ark is given by some, because it met with a dead carcase by the way. Why do we pray, * Deliver us from evil,' but that we imply (besides all other mischiefs) there is an infectious power in it to make us evil 1 Let us do that we pray, and pray that we may do it. Yea, Lord, free us from Egypt, estrange us from Kome, separate us from idols, deliver us from evU ; ' for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.'

Thus far we have taken a literal survey of the text, concerning the material temple, external or objectual idols, and the impossibility of their agreement. Now to come nearer home to ourselves in a moral exposition ; here, first— _

The Temple of God is the church of Christ; and they are so like, that we often interchange the terms, calling a temple the church, and the church a temple of God. The material temple under the law was a figure of the spiritual under the gospel. The former was distinguished into three rooms r the porch, the holy place, and the sanctum sanctorum, or holy of holies.

The porch prefigured baptism, which is the door whereby we enter into the church of Christ, The holy place, the communion of the militant church upon earth, separated from the world. The holy of holies, whereinto the high priest only entered, and that once a-year, prefigured the glorious kingdom of heaven, whereinto the Lord Jesus entered once for all There was one court of the temple common, whither access was denied to none ; though they were unclean or uncircumcised, thus far they might be admitted. There was another court within that, allowed to none but the Israelites, and of them to none but the clean. There was a third, proper only to the priests and Levites, whither the laity might not come ; thus far they might bring their offerings, but further they might not offer to go. In the temple itself there was one room into which the Levites might not enter, the priestg might; another whither the priests might not come, but only the high priest, and even he but once yearly. Some passages of the Christian church are common to all, even to the unclean hypocrites and foul-hearted sinners. They have access to God's holy ordinances, and tread in his courts; as the Pharisee came into the congregation, and Judas received the communion. Others are secret and reserved, wherein the faitliful only converse with God, and solace themselves in the sweet frviition of his gracious presence.

The material temple, in three divisions, seemed to be a clear representation of the church in three degrees. The first signified the external and visible face of the church, from which no professor of Christ is debarred; the second, the communion of the invisible church upon earth; the last, the highest heaven of God's glorified saints. Neither did those rooms more exceed one another than do these parts of the spiritual house of Christ. What are the most polished comers of the temple to the spiritual and living stones of the church 1 "What be pebbles to sapphires, or marbles to diamonds ? Howsoever, some are more transported with insensible monuments than with living saints. As it was a complaint long since, Fulget ecclesia in parietibuSj luget in pau'perihus; yet temples are built for men, not men for temples. And what is a glorious edifice, when the whole world is not worth one soul ? Dead walls be of small value to the living temples of the Holy Ghost; yea, the temple of our body to the temple of Christ's body, his church; yea, the temple of God's church militant on earth to that which is triumphant in heaven. What is silver and gold, cedar and marble, to those divine graces, faith, truth, piety, holiness ? Solomon's temple did last but some four hundred and thirty years; the church is for eternity. The temple took up but a little space of ground, at most the hill Zion; the church is universally spread—in all parts of the world God hath his chosen.

Did our intellectual eyes truly behold the beauty of this temple, we would, with that good emperor, esteem it better to be a member of the church than head of the kingdom. We would set tliis one thing against all worldly glories. As when Henry the Fourth, that late great kuig of France, was told of the king of Spain's ample dominions : as, first, he is king of Castile, and ' I,' quoth Henry, ' am king of France;' he is king of Navarre, ' and I am king of France;' he is king of Portugal, 'and I am king of France;' he is king of Naples, 'and I am king of France,' he is king of the Sicilies,' and I am king of France;' he is king of Nova J/ispania, the West Indies, ' and I am king of France.' He thought the kingdom of France equivalent to all these. So let thy soul, O Christian, solace itself against all the wants of thy mortal pilgrimage in this, that thou art a member of the church. Another hath the more wit or learning, yet I am a Christian; another hath more lionour and-preferment on earth, yet I am a Christian; another hath more

silver, and gold, and riches, yet I am a Christian; another hath large possessions, yet I have an inheritance in heaven, I am a Christian. David thought it not so happy to be a king in his own house as to be a doorkeeper in God's house. Were our hearts thoroughly sanctified, we would undervalue all honours to this: that we are parts of this spiritual temple, the members of Jesus Christ.

' Idols.' Every device of man in the service of God is a mere idol. Whatsoever we invent out of God's school, or substitute in God's room, is to us an idol. Howsoever we flatter ourselves with reflecting aU the honour on God, yet he will reflect the vengeance on us. ' Shall a man speak deceitfully for God V Job xiii. 7, or tell a lie for his glory ? He is not so penurious of means to honour himself as to be beholden to us for a lie. The doctrine of universal grace seems to make much for God's glory, but himself says it is a lie; for ' he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.' To say that Christ in the womb wrought many miracles hath a fair show of honouring him; but who can say it is not a lie ? Sure, we read no such matter ! To distribute among the saints departed several offices—as one to have the charge of women in chUdbed, another to be the patron of such a city or country (to omit their protection of beasts, one for hogs, another for horses)—seems to honour God in thus honouring them : but it is a lie, and a plain derogation to his universal providence; yea, as absurd as if the flies should take upon them to give the charges and offices of this kingdom. To say the saints in heaven know the occurrents of this nether world, and the condition of their ancient friends or children below, reading them in the Deity as by the reflection of a glass,—this is a fiction that carries a show of honouring God; but it doth indeed dishonour him, by making creatures as omniscient as their Maker. Besides, how absurd is it to say, that John in Patmos, seeing Christ, did see aU that Christ saw ! If I, standing on the ground, see a man on the top of a high turret, do I see all that he seeth ? If the sight of him that looketh be to be measured by the sight of him on whom he looketh, it will follow, that he which looketh on a blind man should see nothing at aU. And who seeth not the blmdness of this consequence 1

To say that all the worship done to the Virgin-Mother redounds to the honour of her Son and God, is a gross falsehood. The idolatrous Jews might as well have pretended the honour of God when they worshipped the queen of heaven. That fanatical vision of theirs,* concerning the two ladders that reached up to heaven while Christ was preparing to judge the world : the one red, at the top whereof Christ sat; the other white, at the top whereof the Virgin sat; and when the friars could not get up the red ladder of Christ, but evermore tumbled down backward, St Francis called them up the wliite ladder of Our Lady, and there they were received. Did this make for the honour of Christ, when the red blood of our Saviour is not so able to bring men to heaven as the white milk of his mother ?—which must needs be the moral or meaning of it. Or the observation of Barrhadius, the Jesuit,t who made bold to ask Christ, why in his ascension to heaven he did not take his mother along with him, and makes himself this answer : ' It may be. Lord, for fear lest thy heavenly court should be in doubt which of the two they .should go first to meet, an tibi Domino suo, cm ijm DomincB suce, —whether thee, their Lord, or her, their lady;' as if it had been well advised of Christ to leave his mother behind him, lest she should share part of his glory. Did this make for the honour of Christ 1 To choke up the laiowledge of God * Speciil. Exempl. f Barrhad. m Cone. Evang.

by preaching that ignorance is the mother of devotion, hath small colour of honouring God. The ascribing of false miracles to the livuig or departed .saints seems to honour God, but sure he Avill never thank them for it. St Augustine being sick, a blind man came to him, expecting that he could miraculously restore his sight; but that good father sent him away mth a check, ' Doest thou think that if I could cure thee by miracle, that I would not by miracle cure myself?'

It is a foolish thought that God will ])e glorified by a lie. Our judicial astrologers, that tie men's destmies to the stars and planets, pretend God's honour, who hath given sucli virtue and influence to his creatures, but indeed make them no better than idols. Though the sun and moon be good and necessary, yet to adore the sun and moon is flat idolatry. It was not Mercury that made the thief, nor Venus that made the strumpet: as when the husband cudgelled his adulterous wife, and she complained that he was unnatural to strike his own flesh, alleging that it was not she that played the harlot, but Venus in her; to whom he replied, that neither was it she that he did beat, but Venus in her, or rather Venus out of her.

To malfe this useful to oin-selves, let us take heed of fanc3Tiig another service of God than he hath prescribed us. Every master in his own family appoints the manner how he will be served. He that requires om' service requii-es it his own way, or else he holds us to serve ourselves, not him. Shall we make ourselves wiser than our Maker, as if he did not best know what would best please him ? Shall heaven give a blessing to that which was devised against the will of heaven ? Doth not God threaten them with the addition of plAgues that shall add to his precepts 1 If such devices be good and necessary, why did not God command them ? Did he want wisdom ? If they be not necessary, why do we use them ? Is it not our presumptuous folly 1 The Lord's jealousy is stirred up by the rivality, not only of a fcilse god, but of a false worship. Nothing is more dangerous than to mint his services in our own brains. ' In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men,' Matt. xv. 9. Is it not grievous for men to lose aU their labour, and that in the main business of their life ? That so many hundred oblations, so many thousand prayers, so much cost of their purses, so much affliction to their bodies, so much anguish of their souls, should be all forceless, fruitless ? Like a dog that hunts counter, and takes great pains to no purpose.

EvU deeds may have sometunes good meanings ; but those good meanings are answered with evil recompenses. Many bestow their labours, their goods, their bloods, and yet receive torments instead of thanks. When the Apostle bids us ' mortify our earthly members,' Col. ui. 5, he does not intend violence to ourselves, but to our sins. There is one mortification, to cast ourselves out of the world : there is another mortification, to cast the world out of us. A body macerated with scourges, disabled with fastings, wearied with pilgrimages, was none of St Paul's mortification. ' Who hath required this at your hands V Where is no command imposed, no reward proposed; no promise made, if you do; no punishment threatened, if you do not; what fruit can be expected but shame ? Must we needs either do nothing, or that wliich is worse than ncjthing ? Shall we offer so much, suffer so much, and aU in vain 1 Quis hcec ct vohis ? Let him pay you your wages, that did set you on work. Never plead your own reason where God hath set a phiin mterdictioiL He that suffers his faith to be overruled by his reason, may have a fat reason, but a lean faith. That man is not worthy to be a follower of Christ who hath not denied himself; therefore denied his reason, for his reason is no

small piece of himself. If reason get the head in this divine business, it presently prevails with will, and will commands the affections; so this new triumvirate shall govern the Christian, not faith. But as when three ambassadors were sent from Rome to appease the discord between Nicomedes and Prusias;* whereof one was troubled with a megrim in his head, another had the gout in his toes, and the third was a fool; Cato said merrily, ' That ambassage had neither head, nor foot, nor heart.' So that man shall neither have a head to conceive the truth, nor a foot to walk in the ways of obedience, nor a heart to receive the comforts of salvation, that suffers his reason^ will, and affections to usurp upon his faith.

Hence it comes to pass, that the most horrid sins are turned into idols, "by setting our own reasons against the manifest will of God. Thus lies shall be fathered upon the ' Father of truth,' and truth upon the ' father of lies.' Thus breach of faith and perjury shall be held orthodox opinions. Yea, that execrable monster, whereof this day remembers us, treason itself, shall be held good doctrine. Rude cacodcemon, that stigmatic idol, that gross devil, shall be worshipped. Si fas ccedendo coelestia scandere, —If this be the way to the kingdom of heaven, if thus men may merit to be stars in the firmament, by embruing their hands in the blood-royal of princes, what Jesuit win not be a star ] When such be their principles, such must needs be their practices. What though God condemn treason to hell, when the Pope will advance it to heaven 1 What though the divine Scripture doth rank traitors among dogs and devils, when the Pope will number them among saints ? It was wont to be said, Ex quolibet Ugno non Jit Mercurius, —Every block is not fit to make an image. Yet now, the most monstrous sin that ever the devil shaped in his infernal forge is not only by the practice, but even by the doctrine of Rome, turned into an idol. What is . that we shall call sin, when murder and treason is held religion ? Alas for our age, to bear the date of these impieties! That our posterity should ever read in our chronicles : In such a year, in such a day, traitors conspired against their lawful and gracious sovereign; and that in those days there was a sect of men living that did labour, in voluminous writings, to justify those horrible facts. But oh, may those pestiferous monuments be as fast devoured by oblivion as the authors' abettors themselves are swallowed up by confusion ! And the same God deliver us his people from their conspiracies, that hath delivered this his church from their idolatries !

Thus we have looked abroad, but now have we no idols at home 1 Oh, how happy was it, if they were as far from the temple as they are from agreement with the temple ! I will not abound in this discovery ; there be three main idols among us : vain pleasure, vain honour, and riches ; and it is to be feared that these three vanities have more clients than the Trinity that made us. The first is an idol of the water, the next an idol of the air, the last an idol of the earth.

First, Vain pleasure; and, oh, what world of foolish worshippers flock to this merry goddess! She hath a temple in every corner : ebriety sits in taverns, burning smoky incense, and sacrificing drink-offerings to her. So that if a man should 'prophesy of wine and strong drink,' Micah ii. 11, he were a prophet fit for this age ; but to preach sobriety is held but a dry doctrine. We commend wine for the excellency of it; but if it could speak, as it can take away speech, it would complain, that by our abuse both the excellencies are lost; for the excellent man doth so spoil the excellent wine, until the excellent wine hath spoiled the excellent man. Oh that a man

* Sabell., par, 1.

should take pleasure in that which makes him no man ; that he should let a thief in at his mouth, to steal away his wit; that for a little throat-indulgence, he should kill in himself both the first Adam, his reason, and even the second Adam, his regeneration, and so commit two murders at once ! In every brothel this idol hath her temple; where the bed of uncleanness is the altar, the priest a strumpet, and the sacrifice a burning flesh oftered to Moloch. It is no rare thing for a man to make an idol of his mistress, and to spend more time in her courtings than he doth at his prayers, more cost on her body than upon his own soul. Images Avere but dead idols, but painted popinjays be living idols. Pleasure hath a larger extent than I can now stand to survey: this may be called an idol of the water, fluid and unsatisfying.

Secondly, Vain honour is the idol of fools : no wise man ever sought felicity in shadows. His temple is pride, his altar ambition, his service flattery, his sacrifice petulancy. Silly Sennacherib, to make an idol of a chariot! Isa. xxxvii. 24 ; and no wiser prince of Tjtc, to make an idol of liis own brain ! Ezek. xx\iii. 4. Men mistalce the way to be great, while they neglect the way to be good. All the while a man hunts after his shadow, he misspends his time and pains : for the sun is upon his back, behind him, and his shadow is still unovertaken before him • but let him turn his face to the sun, and follow that, his shadow shall follow him. In vain doth that man pursue honour, his shadow, while he turns his face from virtue and goodness; he shall miss what he so labours to catch : but let him set his face toward Christ, the Sun of righteousness, and run to the high prize of eternity, this shadow shall wait ujjon him; for * those that honour me, I will honour,' saith the Lord.

' God resisteth the proud;' and good reason, for the proud resisteth God. Other sins divert a man from God, only pride brings him against God, and brings God against him. There is nothing in this world worth our pride, but that moss will grow to a stone. Pride is ever dangerous, but then most when it pus's us up with a presumption of merit. Thus the Romanists presume to do more good works, and those more perfect, than God requu-es ; so that he is become a debtor to them, and bound to make them satisfaction. But doubtless God will more easily bear with those sins wliereof we repent, than of that righteousness whereof we presume. ' I am not as other men are,' said the Pharisee, Luke xviii., and the clock of his tongue went traer than the dial of his heart; he was not like other men indeed, sure he was like none of them that should be saved. Humility is so hard a lesson to get into the heart, that Christ was fain to come dowai from heaven, in his own person, to teach it.

Pride is even conversant about good works and graces; this Saul loves to be among the prophets. So that if a man have some good measure of sancti-ficatiou, and of assurance of eternal life, it will be hard not to be proud of that. Pride hath hurt many, humility never yet did harm. A man goes in at a door, and he stoops ; the door is high enough, yet he stoops : you will say, he needs not stoop; yea, but saith Bernard, there is no hurt in his stooping ; otherwise he may catch a knock, this way he is safe. A man may bear hunself too high upon the favour of God, there is no danger in his stooping, no harm in humihty. Let nie rather be the lowest of God's servants than the noblest among his enemies. The honour of this world is at best but a golden dream, from which men commonly awake in contempt. This is an idol of the air.

Thirdly, Wealth is the covetous man's idol; Job shews the form of hi.s

canonisation : ' He makes gold Ms hope, and says to the wedge, Thou art my confidence,' chap. xxxi. 24. As treason sets up a new king, for David, Absalom; so covetousness sets up a new god, for Jehovah, Mammon. But, O miserable god! saith Luther, that cannot defend itself from rusting or robbing. And, O more miserable man ! that trusts himself upon the keeping of that god which himself is vain to keep. Micah did not worship his silver till it was cast into the form of an idol: these spare the labour of forming, and worship the very metal. The superstitious adore aurum in idolo, —gold in the idol: the covetous find idolum in aiiro, —an idol in the very gold. Me-talla seems to sound quasi imsto, to. aXka, post alia necessaria. When they had manured the ground, sown seeds, gathered fruits, and found out other things to sustain life, then itum est in viscera terrce, —they digged into the bowels of the earth. Oh that man should lay that next his heart which God hath placed under his feet! that the thing which might be best spared should be most admired ! Mammon hath his temple, the world; God hath his temple, the church : but there be many that balk God's temple to go to Mammon's; and they ofier fair, that make some reverence to God, as they pass by him to the world. Hence it is that so many get riches and so few godliness. The poets feign Pluto to be the god of hell and the god of riches, (as if riches and hell had both one master.) Sometimes they set him forth lame and slow-paced, sometimes nimble as fire. When Juj)iter sends him to a soldier or a scholar, he goes limping j when he sends him to one of his panders, he flies like lightning. The moral is, the wealth that comes in God's name, comes slowly, and with dihgent labour, but that which is haled in with an evil conscience, is both hasty and abundant in the collection. This is the worldling's main god, all the rest be subordinate to him. Si modo Jupiter mihi x>ropitius sit, minores deos flocci facio, —So long as Mammon favours them, or their ' Great Diana' multiplies their gains, they scorn the other petty gods, making account with a little money to buy them alL This is an idol of the earth.

' No agreement.' ' Ye cannot serve God and Mammon,' you may dispute for it, you shall never compound it. Gehazi cannot run after the forbidden talents, but he must leave his master. Some indeed here have so finely distinguished of the business, that though they serve God, they will serve Mm more thriftily, and please Mm as good cheap as they can. They have resolved not to do evil, though they may gain by it: yet for gain, they will venture as near evil as possibly they can, and miss it. But when it comes to the push, it will be found, that for one scruple of gold they will make no scruple of conscience. But as those inhabitants of Judea, that served both God and idols, did indeed neither serve God nor idols; so these Mgglers, while they would have two masters, have indeed never a one. For in the evil day, their master the world will renounce them, and then their master Christ will not receive them; so MgMy doth he scorn such a competition. Man was made to serve God, and the world to sei-ve man; so the world at best is but God's servant's servant. Now if we plead ourselves God's servants, what an indign and preposterous tMng is it to take our own servant, and make him competitor with our Master 1 God says, Lend, give, clothe, feed, harbour; ]\Iammon says, Take, gather, extort, ojjpress, spoil: whether of these is our God ? Even he that is most obeyed. No less might be said for pleasures and honours, or whatsoever is delectable to flesh and blood. ' The love of tMs world is enmity to God;' and the east and west shall sooner unite their forces, than these be reconciled.

It is the devil's especial aim to bring these idols near the temple : he

finds no such pleasure to clomineer in his own hell; but he hath a mind to paradise. One wittily observeth, that Christ chose poor fishermen as the fittest to receive his oracles and to plant his church, because Satan scorned to look so low as to tempt them. He studied to prevent Christ among the kings of the earth and great doctors, never suspecting sUly fishers. But when he found himself deceived, he will then make their whole profession to fiire the worse for it; he bears the whole succession of their tribe an old grudge. Before, he passed by them, and tempted the great masters; now he will sooner tempt them than kings and emperors. The church doth ' not judge them that are without,' 1 Cor. v, 12, but them within; and Satan had rather foil one within than a hundred without. He hath a desire to all, but especially he loves a religious soul: he Avould eat that with more greediness than Kachel did her mandrakes. The fall of one Christian better pleaseth him than of many unbelievers. No king makes war against his own loyal subjects, but against rebels and enemies. The devil is too subtle to spend his malice upon them that do him ready service. He cares not so much to multiply idols in Babylon, as to get one into Zion. To maintain priests of Baal in the land of Israel, at the table of Jezebel, as it were imder God's nose; or to set up calves at Bethel, in scorn of the temple; this is his ambition. The fox seldom preys near home, nor doth Satan meddle with his own; they are as sure as temptation can make them. What jailer lays more chains upon the shackled malefactor, that loves his ])i'ison, and would not change. The pirate spends not a shot upon a coal-ship; but he lets fly at the rich merchant. Cantabit vacuus, the empty traveller may pass uimiolested: it is the full barn that iuvites the thief If we were not belonging to the temple, we should not be assaulted with so many idols; if not Christians, fewer tentations.

Now the more potent and malicious our adversaries, the more resolute and strong be our resistance. The more extreme the cold is withoxit, the more doth the natural heat fortify itself within, and guard the heart. It is the note of the ungodly, that they ' bless idols,' Isa. Ixvi. 3 : if we would not be such, let us bless ourselves from idols. And as we have banished the material idols out of our temples, so let vis drive these spiritual ones out of om- hearts. Let us say with Ephraim, We have heard God, and seen him : ' What have we to do any more with idols V Hos. xiv. 8. The vices of the religious are the shame of rehgion: the sight of this hath made the stoutest champions of Christ melt into tears. ' Eivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law,' Ps. cxix. 13G. David was one of those great worthies of the world, not matchable in his times; yet he weeps. Did he tear in pieces a bear like a kid 1 rescue a lamb with the death of a lion ? foil a mighty giant, that had dared the whole army of God ? Did he, like a whirlwind, bear and beat down his enemies before him; and now does he, like a child or a woman, fall a-weeping ? Yes, he had heard the name of God blasphemed, seen his holy rites profaned, his statutes vilipended, and violence offered to the pure and intemerate chastity of that holy virgin, reUgion ; this resolved that vahant heart into tears : ' Rivers of waters nm down mine eyes.' So Paul, ' I tell you of them weepmg, that are enemies to the cross of Christ,' Phil. iii. 18. Had he, with so magnanimous a coiu-age, endured stripes and persecutions, run through perils of all sorts and sizes, fought with beasts at Ephesus, been rapt up to heaven, and learned his divinity among the angels; and does he now weep 1 Yes, he had seen idols in the temple, impiety in the church of God : this made tJiat great spirit melt into tears. If we see these idols in others, or feel

them in ourselves, and complain not; we give God and tlie churcli just cause to complain of us. Now the Lord deliver his temples from these idols !

But all this whUe we have walked in generals; and you wUl say, Quod omnibus dicitur, neviini dicitur ; let me now therefore come to particulars.

' The temple of God' is every Christian : as the church is his great temple, so his little temple is every man. We are not only, through his grace, living stones in his temple, but living temples in his Zion; each one bearing about him a little shrine of that infinite Majesty. Wheresoever God dwells, there is his temple ; therefore the believing heart is his temple, for there he dwells. As we poor creatures of the earth have our being in him, so he the God of heaven hath his dwelling in us. It is true that the heaven of heavens is not aljle to contain him, yet the narrow lodgings of our renewed souls are taken up for him. What were a house made with hands unto the God of spirits, unless there be a spirit for him to dwell in made vsdthout hands ? Here if the body be the temple, the soul is priest ; if that be not the offerer, the sacrifice will not be accepted.

In this spiritual temple, first there is the porch; which we may conceive to be the mouth. Therefore David prays to have ' a watch set at the door of his Hps,' to ward the gate of God's temple. This may seem to be one reason of saluting in former times 'by a kiss;' they did kiss the gate of God's temple. Here the fear of God is the porter; who is both ready to let in his friends, and resolute to Iveep out his enemies. Let him specially watch for two sorts of foes—the one, a traitor that goes out, evil speaking; the other, a thief that steals in, too much drinking.

The holy place, the sanctified mind, that which St Paul calls the ' inner man.' Here be those riches and ornaments, the divine graces. Here not only justice, and faith, and temperance, sing their parts, but the whole choir of heavenly virtues make up the harmony.

The holy of holies is the purified conscience, where stand the cherubims, faith and love ; and the mercy-seat, shaded with the wings of those glorious angels: from which propitiatory God gives the gracious testimonies of his good Spirit, ' witnessing with our spirits that we are his children,' Rom. viii. 16. In this sacrary doth the Lord converse with the soul; takes her humble confession, gives her sweet absolution. It is a place whither nor man nor angel can enter; only the liigh priest Jesus comes, not once a-year, but daily ; and communicates such inestimable favours and comforts as no tongue can express.

Here we find the ark, wherein the royal law and pot of heavenly manna are preserved; the one restraining us from sin to come by a happy prevention, the other assuring us pardon of sin past with a blessed consolation. Let us look further upon the golden candlesticks, our illumined understandings, whereby Ave perceive the will of our Maker, and discern the way of our eternal peace. Then upon the tables of shew-bread, which be our holy memories, that keep the bread of life continually ready within us. Yea, memory is the treasuiy of this temple, which so locks up those celestial i'iches, that we can draw them forth for use at all opportunities. Here is iilso the vail, and those silken curtains and costly hangings, the righteous--uess of Christ, which makes us acceptable to God; both hiding our own infirmities, and decking us with his virtues. Here is the altar for sacrifice, the contrite heart; the beast to be slain is not found among our herds, but among our affections; we must sacrifice our lusts: the knife to kUl them, which would else kill us, is the sword of the Spirit, the word of God j the

fire to consume them is holy zeal, kindled in our breasts by the inspiration of God.

There be other sacrifices also to oflfer in this temple, on this altar. Besides our praises and prayers, the ' setting forfli of our prayer as incense, and the lifting up of our hands as an evening sacrifice,' Ps. cxli. 2, there is mercy and charitable deeds. What is devotion without compassion ? What sacrifice without mercy ? ' If thy brother hath ought against thee,' Matt. v. 23 ; yea, if thou have ought that should have been thy brother's; thy oblation will stink in God's nostrils. It was an old complaint of the church, that her stones were clothed, and her children naked; that the curious found matter to delight them, but the distressed found not bread to sustain them. Therefore saith St Augustme,* *S'i habes taurum. pinguem, occide pauj^eribics, —If thou have a fat bull, sacrifice it to the poor. Though they cannot drink the blood of goats, they can eat the flesh of bulls. And he that saith, ' If I were hungry, I would not tell thee,' Ps, 1. 12 j yet will acknowledge at the last day, ' I was hungry, and thou didst feed me; come, thou blessed,' Matt. XXV. The poor have God's commendatory letters to us, and our prayers be our commendatory letters to God; if we wUl not hearken to him, how should he gratify us ? Thus, O Christian, art thou a moving temple of the living God.

Let this teach us all to adorn these temples with decent graces. Superstition cares not what it bestows on material fanes, mountainous columns, marble pillars, gorgeous monuments, which yet are not sensible of their own ornaments; spangled crucifixes, images clad in sUks and tissues, with embroidered canopies, and tables beset with pearls and diamonds. Thus bountiful is she to her superfluities. Oh that our religion would do something for these ancient and ruinous walls ! But how much more precious be these spiritual temples of ourselves ! How much more noble ought to be their furnitures!

1. First, then, if we be the temples of God, let us be holy: for ' holiness, O Lord, becometh thy house for ever.'

2. It is domus orationis; they must have the continual exercises of prayer. In templo vis orare ? In te ora, —Wouldst thou pray in God's temple ? Pray in thyself.

3. The sound of the high praises of God must be heard in these temples : ' There every man speaks of his honour.' It pleaseth the Lord to ' inhabit the praises of Israel' And Ps. xlviii. 9, ' We have thought of thy loving-kindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple'—that is, even in the midst of ourselves, in our own hearts. There let us think upon his mercies, there echo forth his praises.

4. The inhabitant disposeth aU the rooms of his house : if God dwell in us, let him rule us. Submit thy wiU to his word, thy affections to his Spirit, It is fit that every man should bear rule in liis own house,

5. Let us be glad when he is in us, and give him no disturbance. Let not the foulness of any room make him dislike his habitation. Cleanse aU the sluttish comers of sin, and perfume the whole house with myrrh and cassia- Still be getting nearer to thy landlord : other inhabitants come home to their houses; but here the house must strive to come home to the inhabitant. Whensoever God comes toward thee, meet him by the way, and bid him welcome to his own.

6. Lastly, if we be the Lord's houses, then nobody's else. The material temples are not to Idb diverted to common ofiices; much more should the

* In Ps. xli. VOL. II. U

spiritual be used only for God's service. Let us not alienate his rights: thus he will say, ' This is my house, here will I dwell, for I have a delight therein.' Oh, may we so adorn these temples with graces, that God may take delight to dwell in us !

' Idols.' These be the temples : the idols that haunt them we better know than know how to expel. They be our lusts and inordinate affections; the rebellions of our corrupt nature, which ' fight against the soul,' defile the body, and disgrace the temples of God's Spirit. So I pass from them to the last point: that betwixt these libidinous idols and those spiritual temples there can be—

' No agreement.' God will dwell with no inmates : if uncleanness be there, w^ill the fountain of aU purity abide it ? Will Christ dwell with an adulterer ? He that will suflFer no unclean thing to enter his city above, Eev. xxi. 27, will ho himself dwell in an unclean city below 1 Oh, think how execrable that sin is, which doth not only take the members of Christ and makes them the limbs of an harlot, but even turneth Christ's temples into stinking brothels. Our hearts be the altars to send up the sweet incense of devout prayers and cheerful thanksgivings; if the smoke of malicious thoughts be found there, will God accept our oblations ? Is it possible that man should please his father, that will not be reconciled to his brother ? The lamps of knowledge and sobriety are burning within us; will not the deluge of drink put them out? Will the Lord dwell in a drunken body? Must we not cease to be his temples, when we become Bacchus's tuns and tunnels ? There is manna, the bread of life, within us; will not epicurism and throat-indulgence corrupt it 1 There is peace in us; will not pride and contention affright it ? There is the love of heaven in us; will not the love of the world banish it 1 Shall the graces of God cohabitate with the vices of Satan ? Will the temple of God endure idols 1 No, these eagles' plumes will not brook the blending with common feathers ; this heavenly gold scorns the mixture of base and sophisticate metals.

Let us search our hearts, and ransack them narrowly: if we do not cast out these idols, God will not own us for his temples. ' My house shall be called the house of prayer,' Matt. xxi. 13, this was God's appropriation; ' but you have made it a den of thieves,' this is man's impropriation. Let us take heed of impropriating God's house, remembering how he hath revenged such a profanation with scourges. 'We are bought with a price, therefore let us glorify God both in body and spirit, for they are his,' 1 Cor. vi. 20: his purchase, his temple, his inheritance, his habitation. Do not lose so gracious an owner by the most ungracious sacrilege. You see many ruined houses which have been once king's palaces : learn by those dead spectacles to keep yourselves from the like fortunes, lest God say of you, Hoc templum meumfuit, —This was my house ; but now, because it took in idols, I have forsaken it.

Or what if we do not set up idols in these temples, when we make the temples themselves idols; or say not with Israel, ' Make us gods,' while we make gods of ourselves ? while we dress altars, and erect shrines to our own brains, and kiss our own hands for the good they have done us ? If we attribute something to ourselves, how is Christ all in all with us ? Do we justly blame them that worship the beast of Rome, and yet find out a new-idolatry at home 1 Shall we refuse to adore the saints and angels, and yet give divine worship to ourselves, dust and ashes 1 If victory crown our battles, if plenty fill our garners, or success an.swer our endeavour.?, must the glory of all reflect upon our own achievements ? This is a rivality that God

will not endure, to make so many temples nothing but idols. But as the Lancashire justice said of the ill-shaped rood, though it be not well-favoured enough for a god, it will serve to make an excellent devil. So proud dust and ashes, that arrogates the honour of God, and impropriates it to himself, though he be too foul for a temple, yet he is fit enough for an idol. When David prays, Libera me ah homine onalo, —' Deliver me from the evil man,

0 Lord,' St Augustine, after much study and scrutiny to find out this evil man, at last lights upon him; ab homine malo, that is, d, me ipso, —' Deliver me from the evil man,' deliver me from myself; deliver Augustine from Augustine; I am that evil man. So, of all idolatries, God deliver us from a superstitious worship of ourselves ! Some have idolised their princes, some their mistresses, some their manufactures, but they are innumerable that have idolised themselves. He is a rare man that hath no idol, no little god in a box, no especial sin in his heart to which he gives uxorious and affectionate indulgence.

The only way to amend all is for every man to begin mth himself. In vain shall we blame those faults abroad which we tolerate at home. That man makes himself ridiculous, who, leaving his own house on fire, runs to quench his neighbour's. Let but every man pull a brand from this fire, the flame will go out alone; if every soul cleanse his own temple, all shall be quit of idols, and God will accept of all. A multitude is but a heap of unities ; the more we take away the fewer we leave behind. When a field is overgrown with weeds, the best course to have a good general harvest is for every man to weed his own ground. When we would have the street cleansed, let every man sweep his own door, and it is quicldy done. But while every man censures, and none amends, we do but talk against idols with still uncleansed temples.

Let us pray for universal repentance, like a good Josiah, to purge the houses of God, till lust and profancness, pride and covetousness, fraud and wantonness, malice and drankenness, be no more found among us : till everything be cast out, and nothing let in that is unclean. So shall the Lord dwell in us with content, and we shall dwell in him with comfort. Here we shall be a temple for him, hereafter he shall be a temple for us. So we find that glorious city described, ' I saw no temple therein, but the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb Avas the temple of it,' Rev. xxi. 22. We are God's temple on earth, God shall be our temple in heaven. To this purpose, the Spirit of God sanctify us, and be for ever sanctified in us ! Amen.

Some may, haply, long ere this have prejudicated in their censures : How is this opus diei in die suo ? What is all this to the lousiness of the day ?

1 might have prevented the objection, by comparing idolatry with treason: the one being a breach of allegiance to the Lord, the other a breach of allegiance to the Lord's anointed. Idolatry is a treason against God, and treason is a kind of idolatry against the king. From both which the divine grace and our holy obedience deliver us all ! I conclude with application to the time.

This is one of those blessed days celebrated for the deliverance of (.)ur gracious sovereign; and well may the deliverance of a king, of such a king, deserve a day of gratulation. When God delivers a private man, he doth, as it were, repeat his creation; but the deliverance of a kmg is always a choice piece in the Lord's chronicle. The story how he was endangered and how preserved, this place hath divers times witnessed; and that in a more punctual manner than I have either strength, or art, or time to match. A hard thno it seemed to be when a king was imprisoned, when he had no guard with

him but his innocency, no subject but a traitor. But there was a stronger with him than all they could be against him. A good prince hath more guards than one : he hath a subsidiary guard, consisting of mortal men ; an inward guard, the integrity of his own conscience; a spiritual guard, the prayers of his faithful subjects; a celestial guard, the protection of diligent and powerful angels; a divine guard, his Maker's providence, that fenceth him in with a wall of fire, which shall at once both preserve him and consume his enemies.

But my purpose is not to bring your thoughts back to the view of his peril, but to stir your hearts up to thankfulness for his preservation. He is justly styled ' the Defender of the Faith :' he hath ever defended the faith, and the faith hath ever defended him. He hath preserved the temple of God from idols, and therefore God hath preserved him from all his enemies. Surely that providence which delivered him from those early conspiracies, wherewith he hath been assaulted from his cradle, meant him for some extraordinary benefit and matchless good to the Christian world. He that gave him both life and crown almost together, hath still miraculously preserved them both from all the raging violences of Rome and heU. Now when the Lord delivered him, what did he else but even deliver us all? That we might rejoice in his safety, as the Romans did in the recovery of Germanicus, when they ran with lamps and sacrifices to the Capitol, and there sung with shouts and acclamations, Salva Roma, salva 2^airia, salvtis Germanicus, —The city is safe, the country is safe, and all in the safety of Germanicus. While we consider the blessings which we enjoy by his gracious government, that the estates we have gotten with honest industry may be safely conveyed to our posterity 3 that we sit under the shadow of peace, and may teach our children to know the Lord; that the good man may build up temples and hospitals without trembling to think of savage and barbarous violences to pull them down; that our devotions be not molested with uproars, nor men called from their callings by mutinies ; that our temples be not profaned with idols, nor the service of God blended with superstitious devices; that our temporal estate is preserved in liberty, our spiritual estate may be improved in piety, and our eternal estate assured us in glory; that our lives be protected, and in quiet our souls may be saved : for such a king of men, bless we the God of kings, and sing for his deliverance, as they did for their Germanicus, as privately every day, so this day in our public assemblies : Salva Britannia, salva ecclesia, salmis Jacobus, —Our kingdom is safe, the church of God is safe, oiar whole estate is safe, we are aU safe and happy in the safety and happiness of I^ing James. Oh that, as we have good cause to emulate, so also we would truly imitate, the gratula-tion of Israel, 2 Chron. v. 12, 13 : we for our king, that hath preserved the temple, as they for their king that built the temple; while the Levites and singers stood with harps, and cymbals, and viols, and the priests blowing with trumpets, as if they had all been one man, and made one sweet harmony to the praise of God.

For these public and extraordinary blessings, God requires public and extraordinary praises : that this great assembly, with prepared hearts and religious atfections, should magnify his glorious name, and if it were possible, by some unusual strain of our united thanks, pierce the very skies, and give an echo to those celestial choirs, singing, Honour, and praise, and gloiy be to our gracious God for all his merciful dehverances both of prince and people. Yea, O Lord, still preserve thine own anointed, convert or confound all his enemies; but upon liis head let his crown liourish. Long, long live that

royal keeper of God's holy temple, and the defender of that faith which he hath of old given to Ms saints, and let all true-hearted Israelites say. Amen; yea, let Amen, the faithful Witness in heaven, the Word and Truth of God, say Avien to it. For ourselves, let us heartily repent of our former sins, religiously amend our future lives, abandon all our intestine idols, serve the Lord with pure hearts ; and still, and still God shall deliver both him and us from all our enemies. This God grant for his mercies' sake, Jesus Christ for his merits' sake, the Holy Ghost for his name's sake; to whom, three persons and one eternal God, be all praise and glory, obedience and thanksgiving, world without end! Amen.

EIEENOPOLIS:

THE CITY OF PEACE.

TO ALL THAT LOVE PEACE AND TRUTH.

Peace, take it with all faults, is better than war; and the end of a just war is but studmm jiacis, the intention of a right peace. The subject, then, is beyond exception to all that love peace. But commonly they with whom it meddles, refuse to meddle with it. Let such take the course of their unhappy precipice into everlasting unquietness, who wilfully reject the cure of their affected malady; denying their consciences a trouble that may save them, for fear of losing a trouble that doth please them, As if a man were less than mad, that will leap into the fire to avoid the smoke. There is pax /undamenti, the peace of doctrine ; and jxix ordinis, the peace of discipline. The heretic would pull down the first pillar, the schismatic the other. The former would break our peace with Christ; the latter with ourselves and the church : both these are almost desperate. But there is a third, pax jwlitica, a civil peace ; and the common disturbers of this are such contentious spirits, that either unprovoked, out of mischievous intentions, or being provoked, out of malicious revenge, set all in uproar, make a mutiny in manners, an ataxy in the course of life. To cure this Babel, if at least she will be cured, is the scope of this tractate. Peace was Christ's blessed legacy to his church; and we are the ministers whom he hath chosen to see it paid. Executors are often sued for the bequest given by dead testators : lo, here a legacy, without suing, from a living Father. Embrace it, and be regulated by it; so shall your hearts find present comfort, and your souls eternal life in it.

The hearty desirer of your peace,

THO. ADAMS.

THE CITY OF PEACE.

Live in inace; and the God of love and peace shall he with you. —2 Cor. XIIL 11.

Peace is the daughter of righteousness, and the mother of knowledge ; the nurse of arts, and the improvement of all blessings. It is delectable to all that taste it, profitable to them that practise it; to them that look upon it, amiable; to them that enjoy it, a benefit invaluable. The building of Christianity knows no other materials. If we look upon the church itself, 'there is one body;' if upon the very soul of it, 'there is one Spirit;' if upon the endowment of it, ' there is one hope;' if upon the head of it, ' there is one Lord;' if upon the life of it, ' there is one faith;' if upon the door of it, ' there is one baptism;' if upon the Father of it, ' there is one God, and Father of all,' Eph. iv. 4.

Peace is a fair virgin, every one's love, the praise of all tongues, the object of all eyes, the wish of all hearts; pacem te poscimus omnes. She hath a smiling look, which never frowned with the least scowl of anger; snoAvy arms, soft as down, and whiter than the swan's feathers, always open to pious embracements. Her milken hand carries an olive branch, the symbol and emblem of quietness. She hath the face of a glorious angel, always looking towards righteousness, as the two cherubims looked one upon the other, and both unto the mercy-seat. Her court is the invincible fort of integrity ; so guarded by the divine providence, that drums, trumpets, and thundermg cannons, those loud instrument.? of war, (I mean blasphemy, contention, violence,) may affront her, but never affright her. She hath a bounteous hand, virtual like the gannent of Christ; if a faithful soul can come to touch it, to kiss it, all her vexations are fled, her conscience is at rest. Her bowels are full of pity; she is always composing salves for all the wounds of a broken heart. Sedition and tumult her very soul hates; she tramples injuries and discords under her triumphant feet. She sits in a tlironc of joy, and wears a crown of eternity; and to all those that open the door of their heart to bid her welcome, she will open the door of heaven to bid them welcome, and repose their souls in everlasting peace. In these continual dog-days of ours, wherem love waxeth cold, and strife hot, we had need set our instruments to the tune of peace. This was the blessed legacy which Christ bequeathed to his church; the Apostle from his Master sent it as a token to the Corui-tliians; and I from the Apostle commend it as a jewel to all Christians:

' Live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.' Which conclusion of the ej)istle contains the blessing of the Apostle; a valediction, and a benediction. They are in part hortatory, in part consolatory; the virtue to which he persuades them, and the reward which he promiseth them. There is a sweet symphony and respondent proportion between the counsel and the comfort, the active peace and the factive peace : for seeking peace on earth, we shall find peace in heaven; for keeping the peace of God, we shall be kept by the God of peace. The one is the regular compass of our life on earth, the other is the glorious crown of our life ia heaven.

That we may not cherish too weak an opinion of this duty, we must know that this apostolical counsel is an evangelical law, and binds us all to the peace : ' Live in peace.' There are in it all the concurrmg qualities that define a good law, as Lycurgus taught: generalitas, bonitas, possibilitas, —^it must be general, good, possible.

General, so that all be tied to the obedience of it. Else it were like Anacharsis's law, a cobweb to catch flies; or those tyrannous censures, which are made to vex doves, while they are indulgent to buzzards.

It must be good, for none are bound to the obedience of unjust things. If it have an indifferent extent to good or bad, there is easily found some colour of evasion.

It must be possible, for if things be imposed ultra posse, and so men be made liable to the mulct when they are not culpable of the guilt, they may object that Natiirce dictame^i: nemo tenetur ad imjjossibile, —none are to be tied to the obedience of impossible things. Such are tyrants' laws; not vincula, sed retia, —not limits to confine, but nets to ensnare; not pales, but toils.

But the law of peace is general, none can plead immunity; good, none tax it of iniquity; possible, none can say it is beyond their ability. But it may be objected : If you require it general, it is not possible, for we cannot have peace with aU men; if it were possible, yet is it not lawful and good, for we may not have peace with all men. To direct us in this, the Apostle inserts two cautions : ' If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men,' Rom. xii. 18 : E/ duvurov, and to s^ 'j/j,uv ; for there are some cases in which ou dvvarhv, it is not possible. ' What communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial ?' 2 Cor. vi. 15. We must have no peace with it, if there be no grace in it. ' Blessed is he that walketh not in the comisel of the ungodly,' &c., Ps, i. Forbear not only to sit in the chair of pestilence with them, which is peccatum dominans, sin reigning, but even to stand and discourse with them, which is peccatum delectans, sin delighting; yea, even to walk a turn with them, which is peccatum intrans, sin entering; teaching us to shun the very acquaintance of their counsels.

But wicked men cannot be avoided; and so long as we are in this world, we must converse with men of the world. To answer this, we must distinguish between offenders and offences; we may have no peace with the one, true peace with the other. There are two names, homo el peccator, —a man, and a sinner : quod 2yeccator est, corrijye ; quod homo, miserere,'^' —as he is a sinner, reform him; as he is a man, the image of God, pity him. Doth thy brother sin of ignorance 1 Dilige errantem, interfice errorem, —Kill the error, preserve thy brother. Doth he offend of frailty? Be at peace cum hominibus, non cum moribus, —with the man, not with the manners. Tres-

* Aug.

passeth. he of malice? Hate vitium, not vincm, —the disease, not the patient. Howsoever these infirmities are inevitable, still we may have peace, CU7-II vialis, licet non in malis, —with evil men, though not in evU matters.

Indeed, let him that hath authority correct maUcious offences, for that is not like a ravisher to abuse, but hke a champion to vindicate, the honour of peace. Yet still cum corrigat maliiiam, diligat personam, —^let bim correct the transgression, love the person.

But how shall we answer that of the Psalmist: ' Be not merciftd to them that sin of malicious wickedness,' Ps. lix. 5. This was not lyrecantis votum, sed prophetantis vatidnium, —not the request of a petitioner, but the prediction of a prophesier. He did not wish it should be so, but saw it would be so.

But if all this be true, we may then admit peace with Rome. We do accept a civil, not a religious peace. In a treatise of pacification both parties must yield somewhat ; but nothing is to be yielded that may prejudice the truth. In a musical instrument, the strings that be out of tune are set up or set down to the rest; the strings that be in tune are not stirred. Our doctrine and profession are tuned to the blessed gospel, that infaUible canon of truth, and therefore must not be changed. Their faith and religion jarreth and erreth from that ; therefore must be proportioned to ours, if they will endeavour a perfect harmony.

Thus far, and upon these terms, we may have peace, if we seek it: we may live in peace, and peace may live in us, if we desire it. Therefore still BhrivevTs, ' Live in peace.' Calvin renders it, Pacem agite, ' Do peace ;' or, as if God should say to men whom he found quarrelling, or too loud, ' Peace.' The word is emphatical, and intimates a continual habit: we may call it the exercise of peace, or the practice of peace.

Some have a good mind to peace, but they wUl be at no labour about it , many are content to embrace it, but they are ashamed to seek it; most men love it, few practise it. The use commends the virtue : the beauty and praise of peace consists not m motion, but m action; nor is the benefit of it in a knowing discourse, but in a feehng sense. A speculative peace is like an historical knowledge, such as he that hath been always confined to his study may have of foreign countries. So we make a conquest of peace, as the byword says our fathers won Boulogne ; who never came within the report of the cannon. Or as the Grecians kept philosophy in theu' leaves, but kept it not in their lives. A jejune and empty speculation, like some subtle air in the head, only breaks out into crotchets : it is experience that brings the sweetness of peace home to the heart. Use breeds perfectness, and disuse loseth the most serviceable things. Gold loseth more of its weight by rusting in corners, than by continual rumiing in commerces, the proper end it was coined for. The best land wiU yield small increase if it be not tilled; though some have the most profitable trades, the want of industry hath made them the poorest men. The throne of peace is in the heart, not in the head.

To recover, therefore, the swooning Ufe of this virtue, I will compare peace to a city: if you wUl, to this city; which should be, like Jerusalem, a ' city of peace.' And so much we will^ pray for it: that it may preserve peace, and peace may preserve it, to the world's end.

I. Let the walls of this city be unity and concord. II. Let her have four gates : innocence and patience, benefaction and satisfaction. The first gate of peace is innocence; she must do no wrong. The second is patience ; she must suffer wrong. The third is beneficence; she must do good instead

of wrong. The fourth is recompense; she must make liberal and just satisfaction for any committed wrong. There is also a postern gate, and that is humility : a gate indeed, but a small and low one; whosoever enters the city of peace that way, must stoop before he get in. III. The enemies of this city are many, divided into two bands—hostility and mutiny. IV. The government of it is magistracy. V. The law, religion. VI. The palace, the temple. VII. The life of the citizens is love. VIII. It is served by the river of prosperity. IX. The state of it is feUcity, X. The inheritance, eternal glory.

I. The walls of j)eace are unity and concord, Omnis societas est corjnis 2)oliticum ; and it is in a city as in a body : there are many members, one body j many citizens, one city. The body is one of the most lively figures and examples of peace. ' We are all one body,' 1 Cor. xii. Not only one kingdom ; so disparity in religions makes many differences. Nor only one city, inter dites erunt lites ; so disparity of estates will breed quarrels. Nor only one house; so we may have ' enemies of our own household.' Bat one body, here must be aU love and peace. Where all are tied by bonds, joints, and ligaments to the head; there also by the same nerves one to another.

Some members are single : as the tongue is one, to speak one truth ; the heart one, to entertain one God. Other are gemina, germana; their forces are doubled to supply mutual defects. Some are stronger, as the arms and legs, for the supportation of the weaker. Thus qualified are all the faithful citizens of peace ; preserving a unanimity in affection, a sympathy in afilic-tion, a ready help to the most needful condition; comforting the minds of those that are perplexed, suppljring the wants of those that are distressed, rectifying the weakness of those that are unsettled, informing the ignorance of those that are seduced, and reforming the errors of those that are perverted : aU endeavouring the deliverance of the oppressed.

The members provide one for another : the eye sees not only for itself, but for the body; the hand works not only for itself, but for the body; the ear hearkens, the tongue talks, the foot walks, all parts exercise their functions for the good of the whole. In the city of peace men must not only seek their own, but the glory of their Maker, and the good of their society. That God Avho hath given us honour by our ancestors, would also have us iidd honour to our successors. To prefer a private good before a public, is to famish and starve the whole body to fat a toe or please a finger. Such monopolies and patents as impoverisheth the whole to enrich a part are not tolerable in the city of peace.

There is no envy or grudging among the members; the eye doth not grieve to see the arm grow strong, nor the foot to be sensible of the stomach's health. In this city, one should not envy another's thriving, as if aU were taken from ourselves that is given to our neighbours. The Lord sees that an inequality is best for his glory; distributing, to whomsoever least, yet to ■every one more than he deserves. * Shall the ear say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body V 1 Cor. xii. 16. No; but, as John Baptist said of Christ, ' He cometh after me, yet is before me;' some come after us in wealth that may go before us in grace. The poor man is not so many pounds behmd the rich for this world, as he may be talents before him for the world to come. They often with their poverty, misery, ignominy, are saved; whiles others, with aU their honour and opulency, go to hell.

If one member suffer, the rest suffer with it. If there be a thorn in the foot, the eye sheds a tear, the heart aches, the head grieves, the hand is ready to pull it out. If a man tread on our toe, we say, * Why do you tread

on me V Quod cuiqiiam, cuivis, —Let us sorrow for the afflictions of others, ' as if we were in the body.' He is no son of peace that ' forgets the breaking of his brother Joseph,' Amos vi. G.

The walls of the city must be whole, no breaches in them, lest this advantage the enemy's entrance. There must be no schism in a city, as no division in the body : one must not be for Paul, another for Apollos, another for Cephas ; but all for Christ, and all for peace. Many evil men may have one will in wickedness. It is said of Pilate, Luke xxiii. 25, Tradidit Jesvm voluntati eoricm, —' He delivered Jesus to their will,' not wills; many sinners, one will. Shall, then, the sons of grace jar ? the children of peace be mutinous ? Unica colmnha mea, saith Christ,—' My dove is but one.' The dove is a bird of peace : many of them can agree lovingly together in one house; every one hath a little cottage by herself, wherein she sits content, ■without disquieting her neighbours. Thus dum sinr/uhe qucerimt unionem, omnes conservant unitatem. We have them that rush into others' tabernacles, swallowing a man and his heritages: would doves do thus ? Poor Naboth's portion is many a rich Ahab's eye-sore: would doves do thus 1 Numbers are still on the wing to prey upon prostrate fortunes; these be ravens, not doves. If the law cannot make work for their malice, their malice shall make work for the law. This is like cocks of the game, to peck out one another's eyes to make the lawyers sport. When two friends are fallen out of love into blows, and are fighting,- a third adversary hath a fair advantage to kill them both. We have an enemy that watcheth his time, and while we wound one another, he wounds us all.

If the members be pulled asunder, they all rot; the distraction of parts is the dissolution of the whole. If we forsake the peace of our mother, we put ourselves upon record for bastards. Discontent with our own portions and places overthrows the city of peace. When the woods and the floods were at variance, the sand and the tire were fain to quiet their insurrection, 2 Esdr. iv. 14. While men will not rest satisfied with their own determinate stations, but invade the severals and properties of others, what can be expected but destruction ? If there be contention on this side, and ambition on that side, there will be confusion on all sides. While Judah was hot against Israel, and Israel hot against Judah, the king of Syria smote them both. God shall supply the part of Syria; and when brother is against brother, he will be against them all. He that doth not what he can to maintain the walls, doth what he can to betray the city.

II. So I come from the walls to the gates.

1. The fir.st gate is innocence; and this may be called Bishopsgaie, the ministers of the gospel being both the preachers and precedents of innocency. If men would abstain from doing wrong, the peace could not be broken. St Bernard writes of the dove, that felle caret, —she hath no gall. Let us be such doves, to purge our hearts from all bitterness.

Now the first shelf that wrecks innocence is anger. It were rare if ' the wrath of man should fulfil the righteousness of God;' even a curst anger breaks the peace. It is an evidence whereby God will judge men guilty : now there is no malefactor going to the bar for his trial would wilUngly have that evidence found about him that should cast him. Iratns nou videt legem, sed lex videt iratiim, —The wTatliful man takes no notice of the law, but the law takes notice of the wrathful man. Let us take heed lest we carry our anger with us unto God. That which oftends our eyes, we remove either our sight from it, or it from our sight; but that which ofiends our souls, we too often lay next our hearts. But it is the voice of transportivc fiury, ' I

cannot moderate my anger.' Cannot! Wlierefore serveth grace but to mortify such natural, yea, rather unnatural passions ?

How easily dotli this rage often inveterate, making some so angry with men that they will scarce be pleased with God himself! And either he must take them with their anger, or let them alone. So soon it rankles into malice, and that is full opposite to innocence.

What shall a man do ? In this sudden fit shall he come to the Lord's table, or forbear it? Si non accessent, periculum; si accesserit, damnum, — To refuse the sacrament in anger is evil; to receive it in anger, that is worse. Is the body and blood of Christ no more worth, but that for love of a peevish himiour we should neglect it 1 Shall we starve our consciences to feed our misbegotten passions 1 What is then to be done in this strait 1 The answer is easy: Let us excommunicate our wrath, that we may communicate with the church ; leave our lusts behind us, and we are welcome, as Abraham left his ass when he went about his sacrifice, Gen. xxii. 5. In the Levitical law no unclean thing might be touched ; if it were touched, the temple by that person must not be approached. ISTow, for the Israelite to absent himself from the assembly of saints and service of God was uncomfortable; to come so polluted, was dangerous. He knew the remedy; either not to be unclean at all, or soon to get himself cleansed. The first best is to harbour no malice : the next, to deliver ourselves from it with all possible speed.

In a word, let us turn our anger, when it comes, another way. Let all our hate be the hate of all sin, and our anger bent against our own corruptions. Let our wrath, like the shepherd's dog, sleep till the wolf comes. Be we at peace with God by repentance, with our neighbour by iimocence, with oui" own heart by a purified and pacified conscience ; and the Prince of peace, the Lord Jesus, shall embrace us.

2. The second gate is patience, which is not imlike to Ludgate; for that is a school of patience, the poor souls there learn to suffer. The first entrance of peace is to do no injury, the next is to suffer injury. It is one special commendation of charity, that it 'suffers all things;' pro fratrihus, a fratrihus, 'propter fratres. For our brethren we must sustain some loss: he that suffers not an abatement of his own fulness to supply their emptiness, is no brother. Of our brethren we must put up some wrong, rather than make a flaw in the smooth passage of peace. Because of our brethren, and ' for the elect's sake, we must endure all things, that they may obtain salvation,' 2 Tim. ii. 18. Let us be infirmed, to have them confirmed; brooking a temporal loss, to procure their eternal good.

According to the Apostle's counsel, ' Let us bear the burden one of another,' Gal. vi. 2, and God shall bear the burden of us aU. As in the arch of a building, one stone bears mutually, though not equally, the weight of the rest. Or as deer swimming over a great water do ease themselves in laying their heads one upon the back of another; the foremost having none to support him, changeth his place, and rests his head upon the hindmost. Bear thou with his curiousness, he doth bear with thy furiousness ; let me bear with his arrogance, he doth bear with my ignorance. In architecture, all stones are not fit to be laid in every part of the building; but some below, as the fundamental and chief corner-stone to sustain the load of the rest, some higher in the wall, others in the top for ornament. In the church, ^vhich is built of ' living stones,' Christ is the ' head of the corner,' the foundation that supports all; gracious saints have the next places, and are so set that they may help to bear up the weaker.

Materials that be only of a hard nature will never fadge well in an edifice

The Italians have a proverb, ' Hard without soft, the wall is nought.' Stones cobliled up together, mthout mortar to combine them, make but a tottering wall. But if there be mortar to cement them, and with the tractable softness of the one to glue and fix the solid hardness of the other, this may fortify it against the shock of the ram or shot of the cannon. The society that consists of nothing but stones, intractable and refractory spirits, one as froward and perverse as another, soon dissolves. But when one is reeking with the fire of rage, and another shaU bring the water of patience to cool and quench it, here is a duration of peace. When iron meets iron, there is a harsh and stubborn jar ; let wool meet that rougher metal, and this yielding turns resistance into embracements.

Let not then the voice be an echo of ill words, nor the hand a racket to bandy back fire-balls. Patience makes even the wicked confess, ' Thou art more righteous than I,' 1 Sam. xxiv. 17. Infoelix victoria qua hominem siqyercnmis, vitio succicmbimtis* —It is a wretched victory that overcomes our foes, and slaves us to our lusts. Patientia mea a Domino, Ps. Lxii, 5, as the fathers read it; and indeed who can give this patience but God ? Paul had many lives, yet he sacrificed them all: 'I die daily,' 1 Cor. xv. 31. Btsi non mortis experientia, tamen j)roposito,i —Though he could lose but one, yet, in regard of his patience and purpose, he was ready to lose them all.

Nor is Christian patience thus confined within the bearing of injuries, but it extends also to the remitting of them. Some can suffer for the present, as Haman before Mordecai, aniono vindicandi. Forgiveness is the demonstration of patience. Not to contest because we cannot conquer, is called patience perforce; but can we remit ? The civil man can forbear, the Chria-tian must forgive. Let us be remiss to note a wrong, remissive to forget it, writing aU our injuries in the dust. Yea, let humility sweetly order our forgiveness : for gravisdma jyoena est contumeliosa venia, —a proud and scornful pardon is a reproachful wrong; there is in it more bitterness than mercy, more punishment than reconcilement.

Otherwise, how can we pray,' Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us' ? Oh but, say some, God is merciful! What! shall we therefore be unmerciful ? I may forgive, but I cannot forget, is the faint reservation of another. Take we heed; let not us be in jest with God, lest he be in earnest with us. Do we tiot otherwise beg a removal of mercy and pardon from our own souls. WiU not God say, * Evil servant, ex ore tuo, — out of thy own mouth will I judge thee' ? Hath Christ with his own blood made thee friends with God, and cannot that blood entreat thee to be friends with thy brother ? When thou comest to the holy altar with thy gift, and rememberest thy ofiiended brother, ' leave there thy gift; first bo reconciled to him, then offer to God,' Matt. v. 24. A gift doth pacify wrath, jmd God is pleased with our sacrifice upon his altar; yet aim omnis culpa munere solvattir, sola injuria incondonata rejicitur,X —when evciy fault is solved with a gift, injury alone is sent away without pardon.

Therefore qualem vis erga te esse Deum, talem ie exMheas erga pi'oxijnum,^ —^be thou to thy brother on earth as thou wouldest have thy Father in heaven be to thee. Si loudens, pete veniam; si Icesus, da veniam, —K an insurer, ask pardon; if a sufferer, give pardon. Be we so far from expecting his submission, that we render our remission, and meet the trespasser with a pardon before he ask it. Dissensio ah aliis, (I te reconciliatio incipiat,\\ — Let strife begin from others, be thou first in reconcilement. Christ healed Malchus's ear that came to an-cst him. Which amongst us so loves his bene-* Bern. f Chrys. t Aug. § Isidor. || Sen.

factors as Paul loved his malefactors 1 He would do anything to save them that would do anything to kill him. Others' offences to us are but small, valued with ours against God, who is infinite. If he forgive the pounds, let not us stick at the farthing tokens.

3. The next gate is beneficence. Doing good is the fortification of peace. This may be called Aldgate; not only because there is the picture of Charity at the gate,—I do not say, as near going out, but at the gate, to keep goodness in,—but because that is called the Old-gate, and charity was a virtue of old times, not so much now in fashion. The heathen moralist said we must use men thus: Bene velle omnibus, bene facere amicis, —Wish well to all, and do good only to our friends. But the clear light of nature, which is the gospel, chargeth us, ' while we have opportunity, to do good to all men;' albeit with some preferment of the best,' especially to the household of faith,' Gal. vi. 10.

All men may be ranked under one of these combinations : rich and poor, home-born and strangers, friends and enemies.

First, for the rich and poor. The Pharisee will stand on good terms with the rich, invite them for a re-invitation; as men at tennis toss the ball to another, that he may toss it to them again. But who helps the poor? ' Wealth maketh many friends, but the poor is separated from his neighbour,' Prov. xix. 4. If he do well, he is not regarded; if ill, he is destroyed. The poor man, by his wisdom, delivered the city from the force of a puissant enemy; yet, when all was done,' no man remembered that poor man,' Eccles. ix. 15, But ' if he stumble, they will help to overthrow him,' Ecclus. xii. 23, How contemptibly* doth a rich epicure look upon a poor beggar ! yet ' the rich and the poor meet together, and the Lord is the maker of them all,' Prov. xxii. 2, In all our grand feasts, the guests that Christ spoke for, Luke xiv. 14, are left out.

For domestics and strangers. Many have so much religion as to provide for their own, yea, so much irreligion as to do it with the prejudice of the public good and hazard of their own souls : but who provides for strangers ? ' Entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained angels unawares,' Heb. xiii. 2. But for all this possible happiness, few mil put it to the venture : and were they indeed angels, without angels in their purses to pay for it, they should find cold entertainment.

Friends and enemies. For friends, many will be at peace with them, till they be put to the trial by some expressive action; and then they will rather hazard the loss of a friend than the least loss by a friend. But suppose we answer our friends in some slight courtesy, hoping for a greater, who will do good to his enemies 1 'If thine enemy hunger, feed him: so thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head,' Rom. xii. 20, Do it, not with an intent to make his reckoning more, but thy own reckoning less, ' Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefuUy use you,' Matt. v. 44. Do unto them deeds of amity, deeds of charity, deeds of piety. Of amity, ' Love them that hate you;' of charity, * Do good to them that hurt you;' of piety, 'Pray for them that persecute you.' There is the Diligite of the heart, ' Love your enemies;' the Benedicite of the tongue, ' Bless them that curse you;' the Benefacite of the hand, ' Do-good to them that hate you;' the Benevelle of all, 'Pray for them that persecute you.' ' Love your enemies,' there is Afectus cordis; ' Do thorn good,' there is Effectus operis; ' Pray for them,' there is Perfectio charitatis. But the wise man counsels, ' Do well to him that is lowly, but give not to the * That is, coutemptuously,— Ed.

ungodly 3' and, ' Give unto tlie good, not to the sinner,' Ecclus. xii. o, 7. Though not qiia imjnus and quia wipins, yet qua homo and quia homo, we must relieve him. Cherish himself, not his sin. We must love him, noti quoad culpam, sed quoad naturam. They are God's children, licet insani, although they be sick; and our brethren, licet ivjirmi, although they be weak. Therefore, for the conformity of nature, because we are the same workmanship; for our own benefit, for he that doth good to his enenay, even in that doth better to himself; and for the imitation of him we worship; let us uphold peace by charity. His sun rises, and rain falls, both on the just and unjust, Matt. v. 45. Noli negate, quod Deus nulli negat. Thus looking up with piety to the Lord's perfection, and down with pity upon man's imperfection, let us do good to all.

Through the gate of beneficence doth the charitable man enter mto the city of peace. He that is covetous must needs be mutinous. ' He that is greedy of gain, troubleth his own house,' Prov. xv. 27. Solomon calls him, a trouble-house, and we do find him a trouble-city, as Demetrius did all Ephesus. But charity makes peace ; Divitem voluit Deus id pauperem adju-varet, jMuperem voluit ut divitem piroharet, —God makes some rich, to help the poor; and suffers some poor, to try the rich. The loaden would be glad of ease : now charity lighteneth the rich man of his superfluous and unwieldy carriage. When the poor find mercy they will be tractable : when the rich find quiet, they should be charitable. Would you have your goods kept in peace 1 First, lock them up by your prayers, then open them again with your thankful use, and trust them in the hands of Christ by your charity.

This city hears ill for oppression, and is (I fear too justly) suspected of injustice : now the most noble confutation of jealousy is by deeds of charity. This is the East-gate to the city of peace, and I may (from St Paul) call it the principal, and ' most excellent way,' 1 Cor. xii. 31. Whosoever can shew you the way better, yet certainly none can shew you a better way.

4. The fourth gate is recompense, or satisfaction; and this we may liken to Cripplegate. It is the lamest way to peace, yet a way: it is a halting gate, but a gate. It were far better coming into this city by any of the former gates, yet better at this than none. All come not by innocence, nor all by patience, nor all by beneficence; but if they have failed in these, they must be admitted by recompense, or not at all. The first best is to do no injury; the next is satisfaction, to make amends for that we have done. Hortensius said of his mother. Ego minquam cum ea inivi gratiam, —I never was reconciled to her, because we two never fell out. Oh that the inhabitants of this city could say so of their neighbours : We never were made friends, because we never were foes ! But as our Saviour saith, ' It is necessary that olfences do come :' not that it should be so, but that it will be so. There is no necessity that compels a man to sin ; except that the heart being evil, will give ofi"ence. As it is necessary for him that comes to the fire to be made hot; but there is no necessity that he come unto the fire.

The malady of offences will be contracted, therefore the only cure is by satisfaction. That we may know how to do this, the Scripture sets down divers degrees m the accomplishment of this satisfaction for injuries. First, He must go to the party wronged. Secondly, He must confess his fault. Thirdly, He must humble himself. Fourthly, He must make restitution. Fifthly, He must reconcile himself. Sixthly, And this must be done quickly, with all possible speed.

He must go to him, not tarry till he meet huu, or till some occasion bring

them together. Not obvium da; but go to thine adversary, Matt. v. 24, go on purpose : inquire for him, seek him out, rest not till thou find him.

Humanity may work some to this undertaking and overtaking of peace; but man is naturally so good a constructor of his own doings, that Avill he confess his fault 1 Yes, ' He shall confess his trespass,' Num. v. 7.

An ingenious'* nature may be brought to acknowledge his fault: but will pride, the contention-maker, admit humility? Will he stoop to him he hath abused ? From insultation will he descend to submission ? He must: ' Go and humble thyself,' Prov, vi. 3.

Touch of conscience may procure humihty; but yet will he not spend twice as much at law, ere he make restitution ? Yet even here, a quiet man for his own peace's sake may be brought to give somewhat, for a part of amends: but will he satisfy him the whole 1 The law of nature requires total satisfaction, but will he besides give damages ? The law of the land allows damages; but now will he give any overplus to make an atonement ? or be at so much cost as to buy reconcilement, rather than miss it ? He must: Zaccheus restores fourfold, and by the law he is bound to add a fifth part, Num. V. 7.

But if all this be done, will he yet ever be friends with him ? will he be truly reconciled ? He must: ' Reconcile thyself to thy brother,' Matt. v. 24. Otherwise, when he desires of the Lord to be forgiven, as he forgiveth, God will answer, as Joseph did to his brethren, ' Look me not in the face, unless thy brother be with thee,' Gen. xliii. 3. Shall the father think well of that son which rejecteth his brother ? Do we call the ' Author of peace' our God, while we are the children of dissension ? Will he ever agree with him that delights to quarrel with his ? But suppose the mjurer doth entreat and persuade himself, without prevailing, will he use his friends about such a business 1 Yes, saith Solomon, he must employ his friends.

Time may work all this, but to do it when the flesh trembles, and the blood boUs for revenge, suddenly; who can so prevail over himself? He must do it quickly: ' Agree with thine adversary quickly,' Matt. v. 25. Yes, perhaps, Avhen leisure may serve; but will any man neglect business to go about it ? Yes, aU business set apart, though it were as important as offering sacrifice at God's own altar: ' Leave there thy gift,' &c. Noji ex2Jerieris DeuTii tihi p'opitium, nisi 2^Toximiis te sentiat sibi -placatxim^ —strife with our brother makes our best services unacceptable to our Father. The Lord dis-penseth with his own worship to maintain our charity: and will not be found of us, till we have found our brother, to make our peace with him. Come not to the temples, hear no sermons, say not your prayers, forbear all worship and devotions, while a festering and rankling hatred is in your souls.

Yet now all this may be done of an inferior to a superior, either for fear, or hope of gain by his love : but would you have a superior yield thus to an inferior, to deprecate strife ? Yes, Abraham disdained not to go unto Lot, the elder to the younger, the uncle to the nephew, the worthier to the meaner, and that in the kindest manner, to compose a controversy begun by their servants. Oh that this age, which seldom wakes but to do mischief, would yet think, how after all injuries to others, they do this greatest injury ' to their own souls, that for want of a just compensation, they exclude themselves from the blessing of peace !

5. These be the main gates; there is a little postern besides, that is, humility : for of all vices, pride is a stranger to peace. The proud man is too guilty, to come in by innocence; too surly, to come in by patience : he hath * That is, ingenuous,— Ed.

no mind to come in by benefaction; and lie scorns to come in by satisfaction. All these portcullises be shut against him : there is no way left but the postern for him ; he must stoop, or never be admitted to peace. Pride is always en^dous and contumelious, thinking she adds so much to her own reputation as she detracts from others . she is no fit neighbour for peace.

Heaven is a high city, yet hath but a low gate. Celsa fatria, via hinnilis. Tolle superhiam, quod habes meum est: tolle invidiam, quod haheo tuitvi est* —Take away pride, and that which thou hast is mine ; take away envy, and that which I have is thine. Pride and envy are too uncivil for a peaceable city : the one cannot endure a Aicine prosperity, nor the other a superior eminency. All men must be poor to please the one, and all must be base to content the other. Peace is humble, pride quite overlooks her. The philosopher might have seen the stars in the water; he could not see the water in the stars when he stumbled into the ditch. Men may behold glory in humility, they shall never find peace in ambition. The safest way to keep fire is to rake it up in embers; the best means to preserve peace is in humbleness. The tall cedars feel the fury of tempests, which blow over the humble shrubs in the low valleys. There was no rule with Paul at first; raising tumults, speeding commissions, breathing out slaughters agaiust poor Christians; but when Christ had thundered liim from his horse, broken his void spirit to humility, then he was fit for peace. God, that often effectuates his own will by contraries, makes trouble the i)reparation for peace; as a father corrects his unruly children that they may be quiet. Let us examine our own experience : when the Lord hath soundly scourged us, we go from under his fingers as tame as lambs; farewell strife, aU our care is to find rest and peace in Jesus Chiist.

III. We have seen the city of peace, with her walls and gates, and we wish well to her : ' Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy fialaces,' Ps. cxxii. 7. But hath she no adversaries 1 Yes; there is an enemy that beleaguers this city—contention ; whose army is divided into two bands or troops : the one called the civil, the other the uncivil; the civil are law quarrels, the uncivil are sword quaiTels. The one is the smoothfaced company, the other the rugged or ragged regiment. The city of peace hath gates for these also, when she hath subdued them. Either she turns them out at Moorgate, as fitter for the society of ]\Ioors and pagans—she banisheth them ; or lays them up in Newgate —a place very convenient, being not so old as peace, built since the birth of strife. These enemies pursue us, velferro, velforo, as that father saith.t

Fevro ; when upon every punctilio of honour, as they fiilsely call it, reason and religion must be thrown by, and friry govern. The gaUant, as if he knew no law but his own will, or as if the least aspersion upon his honour were more weighty than if the state of Christendom or the glory of God lay upon it, cries, Revenge ! offers the stab, threatens the pistol. How is that precious account forgotten which God requires of man and beast! Gen. ix. 5. Men study to be mad yAih reason; they have an art of killuig that teacheth murder by the book : as cunning as Joab was, that could stab in the fifth, rib, a speeding place; so he treacherously slew Abner and Amasa, 2 Sam. iii. 27, XX. 10. Oh that men should venture their lives upon one another's sword, as if they had no souls to be ventured upon the sword of God's vengeance ! that he should be held base who, being challenged, doth not write his mind with a pen of steel, in the ink of blood, on the white paper of man's life!

* Aug. + Ibid. "^

VOL. II. X

Cannot the tears of our mother prevail with us, when seeing us quarrel she says, as Jocasta advised her two unbrotherly sons :—

' Bella geri placuit nullos habitxira triumphos;'

or as Rebekah said of her twins, ' Why should I be deprived of you both in one day V Gen. xxvii. 45. But if our mother cannot still us, our Father will part us; and they whose souls hate peace shall be sent to a prison where is no peace, that seeing they love quarrels, they may have fighting enough with infernal spirits. But perhaps there be some who make no other reckoning, resolving with him in the Orator, Hodie coenabinms apucl inferos, —To-night we will sup together in hell. As it is reported of two to have fought under the gallows, desperately forecasting, that if the one were there killed the other should there be hanged.

By the toleration of this duel in France, that kingdom lost in ten years six thousand gentlemen, as themselves report. Wretched men! for occisor lethaliter peccat, et occisus ceternaliter perit,'^ —the homicide sins deadly, and the slain, without unexpectable mercy, perisheth eternally. How dare they lift up those hands to God for mercy, that have been lifted up against their brother in cruelty 1 Every base vermin can kiU; it is true prowess and honour to give life and preserve it.t Simeon and Levi seemed to have just cause, the whoring of their own sister. Gen. xxxiv. 31; yet their father oalls them ' brethren in evil' for it, blesseth his honour from their company, and his soul from their secrecy, Gen. xlix. 6. Thou sayest of thy contendent, he shall have as good as he brings, yet thyself condemnest that he brings for evil. iVe titaris inimico 2^Tceceptore,X —Let not thy enemy teach thee to do that which thyself detestest in him. Because we receive injuries without right, shall we return them without law ?

Sometimes this ariseth from the wine, Bacchus ad arma vocat; and lightly it makes men aptest to use their arms when they cannot stand on their legs. But shall this serve for a plea, and get a pardon. It was done in drink. No; this rather deserves a double punishment, as it is a double fault. Commonly it proceeds from tmadvised anger; as if anything done in fury were not done in folly. The choleric man is like one that dwells in a thatched house, who being rich in the morning, by a sudden fire is a beggar before . night. It was the decree of Theodosius, by the counsel of St Ambrose, that execution after a severe sentence should be deferred thirty days : that the heat being qualified, the severity might be moderated.

But they object. This is to stand by like fools, while we suffer others to abuse us. No, that is not folly which the Lord hath commended for wisdom. The shot of the cannon hurts not wool, and such yielding things, but that which is hard, stubborn, and resisting ; the rage of our roaring sons is tamed by patience. Turn to the brawling cur, and he will be more fierce ; ride on neglecting him, and he will soon be quiet. This is the furious band.

Foro; there is another battalia of adversaries that turn their challenge into a writ: the field appointed is Westminster Hall or some other court of justice ; the weapons, the law; the postures of the fight are demurs, delays, quirks, removals; the victory, a verdict; the doom, a sentence; and the death itself, an execution. One says. To bear this is against my conscience; when indeed he means it is against his concupiscence. If the plaintiff go no further than the court of his own affections, the defendant shall never have audience; for he is amicics curice. ' He that is first in his own cause seemeth just; but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him,' Prov. xviii. 17 : he is * Bern. + Aug. + Basil.

no competent judge in his own matter. It will bear an action, saith the lawgiver ; this inflameth passion in the law-goer.

Oh that men could see the foUy of this htigiousness ! First, that he is not in the state of gi'ace, but a mere carnal man. This is St Paul's argument to the Corinthians : If there be contentions among you, ' are ye not carnal ?' 1 Cor. iii. 4 ; whereas the ' fruit of the Spirit is peace, long-suffering, gentleness,' Gal. V. 23, Secondly, that he doth not so much find, as make himself enemies. We may say of him as the angel said to Hagar concerning her son Ishmael, Gen. xvi. 12, ' His hand is against every man, and every man's hand against him.' Thirdly, that he vexeth himself without need : they that go to law for trifles, are like nice people that continually lie m the hands of chirurgeons and physicians, for pimples and warts; whereas the physician and lawyer are for necessity, not wantonness. Their boxes and papers are the books and badges of their profession; they tmdge up and down, more busy to cast away their money, than lawyers are to catch it; their word is Currat lex, —Let the law have its course; but by their wills that course should never have an end.

They plead. We have stood before the best, in courts of highest honour; alas ! so doth the spider, even ' m kings' palaces,' Pro v. xx. 10, So did the devil; when the sons of God presented themselves before him, Satan was there also. Job ii. 1, Fourthly, they consider not the root of contentions, as the Apostle describes them:—Want of wisdom to compound controversies : ' Is there not one wise man among you, able to judge between brethren %' 1 Cor. vi. 5. Want of love : ' Brother is against brother.' Want of patience : ' Why do ye not rather suffer wrong 1 ' Want of justice: ' Ye defraud and do wrong.' For want of justice, foro conscieniiw, they prosecute their malice, foro justitice. We may add, want of mercy,—they cannot forgive ; but if they forgive not others, their final Quietus est was never yet sealed, and they shall be called to an after-reckoning. As that wicked servant sped ; notwithstanding the ' Lord forgave liim' at his request, because he did not forgive his brother at his entreaty, he was ' delivered over to the tormentors,' Matt, xviii, 22.

Fifthly, they weigh not how they are deceived. Lawyers first invented laws to secure our lands and titles; now they make those laws engines to get away our lands and titles. Their frequent session hath not been evermore to preserve a man's possession. And for those that can tarry the leisure of the law, they have quirks and delays; which are like the corrosive plasters of an unconscionable leech, that tiu'us a small green wound to an incurable fistula, by poisoning and exulceration of it for filthy lucre. When a man must die without mercy, it is some ease to die quickly, and be out of his pain. But such, when they purpose to murder a man's estate, have tricks to keep him long a-dying; that he may stiU languish and puie away hi hope of recovery.

And what doth the winner get, that at the term's end he may brag of his gains ? Doth he not come home dry-foundered ? Doth he not follow the mill so long, till the toll be more than the gTist 1 It is a token of unwholesome air, where the country is full of thriving physicians : Si valeant Iwmines, ars iua, Phoebe, jacet. It argues little hejiith in that kingdom which hath so many thriving lawyers; who while unquietness feeds us, do quietly feed upon us.

We are willing to give such self-molcsters some counsel, if they ^vill take it, and ask them no fees for it. Yea, we give it not, but Christ gives it: will they take his advice, that great' Counsellor' of the Father ? He coun-

sels liis clients to the everlasting possession of tlieir souls by patience. In Olympiads certaminibus, diaholo consecratisf' —In the games of Olympus, consecrated to the devil, he had the glory of the day that gave most wounds, and came off himself untouched. In stadio Christi non est ea certandi lex, sed contraria, —In the race of Christianity, there is a contrary law of striving : not he tliat offers most blows, but he that suffers most blows, is crowned. A man is stricken; will he go to law for this 1 No, rather let him turn the other cheek; this is Christ's counsel. His cloak is taken from him : it is near him, a garment; of necessary comeliness, a cloak; of singular use, he hath but one cloak; he hath the propriety of it, it is Ids cloak : must he go to law for this? No, rather let Mm take his coat also. Foelix ille, sinudus corpore, sit midus vicditia, —^there is a wedding garment to clothe such.

I am no Anabaptist, nor libertine, to deny the magistracy, or lawfulness of authority, and our just appeal thereto. Rather than every man should be his own judge, I would appease uproars with the town-clerk of Ephesus: ' The law is open, and there are deputies; let them implead one another,' Acts xix. 38. St Paul himself took this course, appealing to the judgment-seat of Caesar, Acts xxv. 10. Our SaA-iour's practice is a clear comment and declaration of his law. He that bade us rather turn our other cheek to the smiter than revenge ourselves, did himself sweetly reprove him that smote Mm: ' If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou me?' John xviiL 23. So Paul to Ananias, 'Sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law ?' Acts xxiii. 3. The Lord himself hath appointed tribunals ; and no law, no love. I know there is a Christianly seeking of justice, when injurious persons grow worse by forbearance, and ground their insolence upon others' patience. As CMistians may war in love, so they may jar in love : when the party cast in the suit, may be bettered, if not in his money, yet in Ms manners; and Satan only conquered. Ut qui vincitur, simid vinccd, et imus tantummodo vincatur diaholus. Sed reprimam me, I wiU hold me where I was. I have laboured to bring men mto peace, I must shew them no way out again. The fathers sometimes in confuting a heresy much spread, if they did run a little within the brinks of a contrary error, not then questioned, nor so dangerous, were never censured for that to have erred dog-matice. So if to convince that heresy in manners, ' It is lawful to go to law for every thing,' I should a little lean to and favour that other opinion, ' It is lawful to go to law for nothing,' either excuse me, or at least suspend your judgments, till I come on purpose to handle that point. If men would promise not to go to law till then, I would promise, when they did go to law, to bear all their charges.

Howsoever, let them not do it animo litigandi, nor for every wrong enter a,n action, lest God enter his action against them. ' The Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land,' Hosea iv. 1 : a terrible action, which the jury of heaven and earth will find. Let them therefore leave all, and study God's law with that royal prophet: ' Thy testimonies are my delight and my counsellors;' and ' I wiU meditate in thy statutes,' Ps. cxix. 24, 48. Blessed is he that ' meditates on God's law day and night,' Ps. L 2; but cursed is he that wastes Ms time to meditate and study law-tricks. Let the litigious soul learn a new course of law; let conscience be his chancery, charity Ms chancellor, patience his counsellor, truth Ms attorney, and peace his solicitor. Litem in 2^fOximum, diverted in seipsum. Let Mm go to law with Ms own heart; arraign his passionate will tat the bar of God's

* Chrys.

judgment; let the twelve apostles be a jury against him, who all condemn contention. Thus let him judge himself, that he be not judged of Jesus Christ. For he that avengeth his own quarrel, steps into the prince's chair of estate, yea, into God's own seat, dethroning both, and so disturbs heaven and earth. Madmen that thus presume, as if God did not see malice in the heart! ' Hell and destruction are before the Lord; much more then the hearts of the children of men,' Prov. xv. 11. Or as if, seeing men contend, he had nothing to do with it; but must sit still like an idle looker-on, and take part with neither.

■' Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; for it is written. Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord,' Rom. xii. 19. This sounds a retreat to all quarrels : Paul seeing the daggers drawn, and the peace in danger to be broken, steps in with the sword of the Spirit to part the fray. It is a writ of rcversemcnt from the high court of heaven; if we break open the writ, we shall find the Kmg's pleasure m it: an arrest of revengers. He begins with 'Dearly beloved:' a sweet ingredience, to qualify a bitter medicine. As if he should say. It is my love that I write so much against mahce: not for your hurt, but for your eternal good; if you will not believe me, believe God himself: * To me belongeth vengeance,' Deut. xxxii. 35.

The devO, when he gets audience, tells a man how much he is hated of others; the Holy Spirit tells him how much he is loved of others. The argument of our charity to them is God's charity to us, ' Put on, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, long-suffering,' Col. iii. 1 2 : seeing ye are beloved of God, love his.

This is God's challenge, 'Vengeance is mine;' God's execution, 'I mil repay;' God's subscription, to which his great name is affixed, ' Thus saith the Lord.' Scriptum est, it is a transcript and fjiithful copy out of the original, to shew it the Lord's true act and deed; twice written, that it might never be forgotten : ' Once hath God spoken, twice have I heard it, that vengeance,' so well as power, 'belongeth unto God,' Ps. Isii. 11. He pleads the continuance of succession without interruption; vengeance, judgment, and glory are his alone. Therefore to avenge ourselves, is both to lose God's protection, and to incur his condemnation. It is faithless and fruitless. Faithless; not to believe that God will deal with us according to his Avord. ' With thine eyes thou shalt see the reward of the wicked,' Ps. xci. 8. It is then infidchty not to commit our case to God and his deputy the prince, but to make them both our deputies and instruments of revenge. What is this but to exalt ourselves above all that is called God, and to play the devil in jest, and the Pope in good earnest? Fruitless; for if being wronged, we draw out our wooden dagger of revenge, God will put up his sword, and leave us to ourselves. The injured child turns not again, but rans to his father. When the Italians hear how God hath reserved vengeance to himself, they say blasphemously, ' He knew it was too sweet a bit for man, therefore kept it for his own tooth.' But if man were his own carver, ho would carve too deep. God only is wise and just : wise to know, and just to give the due proportion. Now the great and omnipotent Lord Chief-Justice bind us all to the peace on cartb, and bring us all to the peace of heaven !

Now, because every city must have an established government, order being the good of every creature, and it is better not to be than to be out of order; therefore this city of peace must have a lord and a law; a ruler to govern it, and a rule whereby it must be governed. The king is Christ, who is there-

fore called, Princeps Pads, —' Tlie Prince of Peace.' And he hath a deputy or vicegerent under him, whom he hath set to promove the good, and to remove the evil, of peace. The law is truth, that is the gospel, regula iMcis, the rule of truth.

IV. The governor of this city is supreme authority. As God is a great King, so the king is, as it were, a little god. ' I have said, Ye are gods.' God is an invisible King, the king is a visible god. ' Ye must be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake,' Rom. xui. 5. All must obey: the bad for fear, the good for love. To compel the one, there is a writ out of the King's Bench ; to persuade the other, there is an order in the Chancery.

Of all nations we are blessed with peace, under a king of peace ; therefore all bound to be children of peace. There are three ways of choosmg kings ; —1. An immediate nomination from God; 2. A succession of blood ; 3. An election of the people. The first ceaseth, the last hath been found dangerous, the best remains. They that are suddenly chosen out of the flock do seldom manifest such royal behaviour, nor become their majesty, for it is not their trade. Jehu remitted much of his noble zeal when he was settled in his kingdom. It is one thing to say, ' With a great sum of money obtained I this kingdom,' Acts xxii. 28; and for* another to say, ' I was a king bom.' We may justly say of our king, Dignisshmis regno, si non natus ad regnum. When the poets called some men the sons and offspring of the gods, they meant that they were men of a more noble and uncommon nature, and that those graces were ex divino qflatu. It was as familiar t\ith Homer to make a king fight with a god at his elbow as a common soldier with his sword in his hand" To whom the Lord gives most honour, he gives most assistance. 'The heart of the king is in his hand, as rivers of waters;' the heart of a private man as a little brook. In the former is more need of his omnipotence. Howsoever, the grace of adoption, in the apostles' time, was ' not given to many mighty or noble,' 1 Cor. i. 26 ; yet the graces of administration are.

Anarchy is the mother of division, the stepmother of peace. While the state of Italy wants a king, aU runs into civil broils. It is the happmess of this city that there is no distraction. Not a king at Judah, and another at Dan; not one in Hebron, another in Gibeon; not the red rose here, and the white there. We are not shufiled into a popular government, nor cut into cantons by a headless, headstrong aristocracy; but Henricus Rosas, Eegna Jacobus, —in Henry was the union of the roses, in James of the kingdoms. Every king is not a peacemaker: ours, like a second Augustus, hath shut the msty door of Janus's temple ; so maldng peace, as if he were made of peace. That blessed queen, of sweet and sacred memory before him, was Filia Pads ; who, as by her sexual graces she deserved to be the queen of women, so by her masculine virtues to be the queen of men. Certainly, it would have troubled any king but him, to have succeeded such a queen; yet no man complains the want of peace. This he promised, and Yerbwn regis, rex regi, this he hath performed to every good soul's content. When he was first proclaimed, what heard we but peace ? What heard the nobles % a king that would honour them. What the senators ? a king that would^ counsel them. What the schools? a king that would grace them. What the divines ? a king that would encourage them. What the rich ? a king that would defend them. What the poor ? a king that would relieve them.

When a tyrant comes abroad, all seek to hide themselves : ' When the wicked rise, men hide themselves,' Prov. xxviii. 28. But when a clement

* Qu. 'far'?— Ed.

prince progresseth, all flock to him; the streets and ways are filled with people, the air with acclamations. We call our peace, ' the king's peace;' and say to brawlers, Keep the king's peace. Peace, plenty, traffic, learning, administration of justice, flourishing of arts, preaching of the gospel, Rex Jtipiter omnibus idem. Like David, he leads the dance to heaven; and like Augustus, makes a sweet spring wheresoever he goes. ' Israel had rest forty years,' Judg. v. 31 ; we have had a jubilee of fifty years, and begun again. The peacemaker doth both bless and is blessed; therefore let us bless him, and bless God for him, and hold ourselves blessed in Mm.

Away then with those discontented spirits that grudge these outward rights, whether tributes of money, or attributes of supremacy. Solvatur subsidium, ne contingat excidium. 'For this cause pay we tribute also,' &c,, Rom. xiii. 6. It is the mediate due to God, as prayers and praises are his immediate rents. Some have observed, that Christ did not miracle about honour or money, except that one of giving tribute to Caesar.* Much more intolerable arc those our cousins of Samaria, that fly off in a rage : ' "What portion have we in David?' Matt. xxu. 27. For this cause certainly, if David were now aUve, he would never admit a Jesuit to his chaplain. But perish his enemies, and upon his own head let his crown flourish! May not the sceptre depart from Jacob, nor a seed from his loms, till Shiloh come again ! May his posterity have a crown on earth, when himself hath a crown in heaven ! Amen.

V. The law of tliis city is the law of Christ: a law indeed, but a law of peace. It made peace betwixt God and man; and it must make peace between man and man. If it cannot reconcile us one to anctther, it shall reconcile none of us to the Lord. It is a law, not to be observed fur state, but for conscience. Indeed those Catidi Catilinarii, statising Jesuits turn all their religion into statism, yea, into atheism. And there be many church-recusants, a monstrous, menstruous brood, the moon-calves of that lunatic religion. Come they do, but more for fear of the law than for love of the gospel. And all the children that even hang on the breasts of peace cannot be excused; for some through nescience or negligence, scarce cast an eye on the statutes of peace.

* I will hear what the Lord will speak : for he will speak peace unto his people,' Ps. Ixxxv. 8. One takes snuff at his poor neighbour : perhaps it is Mordecai's cap that hath put Haman out of Ids princely wits; and now he resolves to trounce him. Proud beggar! he will teach liim to know his betters. Oh, but tarry, and hear the statute of peace : ' Rob not the poor, because he is poor,' Prov. xxii. 22 ; ' for the Lord will plead his cause, and spoil the soul of them that spoil him.' Lust makes this a spur to oppression, (pda pauper, because he is poor; the law makes this a bridle from it, quia paii2')er, because he is poor. Another is crop-sick of ceremonies; he hath a toy in his head, that the church's garment should not be embroidered, nor have more lace and fringe than his own coat: there is in hini so little of man, that he talks of nothing but the beast. Rather than his children shall be crossed in baptism, he will out of the ark into some fantastical wherry. Let him tarry, and hear what the law speaks, in his law of peace : ' In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor imcir-cumcision, but a new creature,' Gal. vi. 15; that is, neither ceremony, not no ceremony, but the substantial—a new creature.

Another flatters himself, ' I need not stand on strict performance of tithes;

* It is now generally imderstoocl that this tribute was not to Casar, but to the temple.— Ed.

the gospel requires nothing but benevolence : experienced men justify it, I have the warrant of good lawyers for it.' Oh, but such a la-\vyer is the barrister of Barathrum, a sworn enemy to the law of peace. The voice of Clirist is not in it; hear that: ' Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things,' Gal. vi. 6.

This city of peace hath one immutable rule, and it is sufficient to direct all actions : ' And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God,' Gal. vi. 16. A man is proud of his victorious mischiefs, fleshed with his fortunate wickedness, thinks he hath carried himself bravely in out-bribing his adversary, fooling judge and jury by false testimony, and triumphs in his unblest gain : but is this according to the rule of peace ? Vincat Veritas, —Let truth overcome. The loser may sit down with content, but the winner shall lie down in torment. A rich man carries himself proudly ; above others in scorn, above himself in folly : he thinks all his titles beneath him, and even those that worship him stUl to undervalue him; others he looks upon as if they were made to serve him, yea, and be proud to be commanded by him. Cross him, and he rages, swells, foams like the sea in a storm; but is this after the rule of peace ? ' Learn of me, who am meek and lowly in heart,' Matt. xi. 29. Alas ! what is the difierence in dust 1 ' The beggar dies, so does the rich man,' Luke xvL 22. Before, the rich could not endure the beggar near him; here one verse contains them both. In life the rich hath the pre-eminence of ease, and wealth, and honour: in death, the poor man goes first to peace.

In driving a trade, it is Mammon's prime poUcy to take advantage of others' necessity or simplicity. ' Sold you it for so much 1 ' saith Peter, Acts V. 8. 'Yea, for so much,' answers Ananias. ' Did it cost so much?^ says the buyer. ' Yes,' saith the seller. Let him tremble at the judgment, which was a sudden death. This is the rule of an unjust city, not of the city of peace : Pereat mundi lucrum, ne flat animce damnum, —Perish that gain which comes with the soul's loss.

Many think charity to the poor to be a work of mere supererogation; that they are not bound liberally to give part of that to lazy beggars which they have laboriously gotten by their endeavours. But hear the rule of peace : * Break thy bread unto the hungry.' ' Sell that thou hast, and give to the poor,' Matt. xix. 21. But as when Christ dissuaded from covetise, by the difficulty of entrance that wealth finds to heaven, they amazedly replied, 'Who then can be saved?' who can walk after this rule? when we preach this doctrine, the world cries, Durus sermo, —This is a hard saying, a harsh sermon. Yet is this the law of peace, and thus minded are the citizens of peace. When the poor at your gates ask you panem quotidianum, their daily bread, they after a sort make you gods; therefore shew yourselves at least to be men. Charity is the food of peace on earth, and the seed of peace in heaven.

VI. The palace of peace is the temple : the peace of man can never be preserved without the worship of God. It is not enough for the city to have laws, but these must be dividged, made known to the inhabitants, the observation of them continually urged; for by nature men are apt enough to fly out. Howsoever the Eomans buUt their Temphi^n Pads without the gates, yet here it is the chief honour and ornament of the city. Here Peace keeps her court, and sits like a royal queen in her chair of estate : which is not like Solomon's throne, guarded with lions, but with milk-white doves, and covered over with olive branches. .

But, alas, how doth her palace now fall to ruin for want of reparation.'

Few there be that repair it, but to impair it thousands arc ready. The question was once, 'What shall we bring to the man of God V 1 Sam. ix. 7. Now it is a motion suffered in all courts, What shall we take away from the man of God ? The noble Shunammite buUt him a chamber, with a bed and a candlestick : we have those that puU down his rooms, disturb his rest, and put out his light. Nehemiah reduced the tithes to the primitive institution and order; but if any Nehemiah should now undertake it, and restore our portion to our own hands, there are ten thousand harpies ready to catch it ere it come to our mouths. W^e may sing, or rather sigh one to another, as little children chant in the streets :—

' When shall we eat white bread ? When the puttock is dead :'

•when there is not a sacrilegious lawyer left. If the walls of Jerusalem should begin to rise, there is a Tobiah or Sanballat to flout us, that ' a fox is able to break them down,' Neh. iv. 3. Corrupt advocates are those foxes, and by their wills the vine of peace should bear no grapes that escape their fingers. Some have written wittily in the praise of folly, some have commended baldness, others in a quaint paradox extolled deformity; but in former times it was never heard that any wrote encomiums of sacrilege.

That ' the kings of the earth should conspire against Christ,' Ps. ii. 2, it was no wonder; for ' they knew him not,' 1 Cor. ii. 8. That the Edomitea and Ishmaelites should oppose him, Ps. Ixxxiii. 6, no wonder; for they stood on terms of hostility. That the Jews should confederate against him, Acts iv. 27, no wonder ; for they hated liim. But that men baptized in his faith, bearing his name as their honourable title, and wearing liis profession as their chief ornament, should consent to rob him, and justify it by their law; this is such a thing as the very barbarians would blush at. Suppose the ministers of this city, the pensioners of peace, by some humble complaint request their o-\vn, or, at most, but some small part of their own; is the spoiler at a nonplus ? Cannot he find an advocate to plead for him, and make his cause, though not be, yet appear, good? What! not one for his fees that can cry down the temple, the gospel, Christ himself ? Is there no bill to be framed, no false plea to be found ? Is Satan turned fool ? Hath none of his scholars any brains left ? Yes, we might think the devil were dead, if there could not be found an advocate to plead for sacrilege. The Lord, in his justice for sin, ' hath broken down her hedges,' Ps. Ixxx. 12 ; and now every hand hath a snatch at her grapes.

In many places, Ahab-like, they have engrossed the whole vineyard; but if the poor, exposed, and unsupported vine be left, it shall bear the owner but a few grapes. This may hold in jure fori; it never shall hold injure 2)oli. God promised that the faith of the church should remove mountains: such were Domitian, Dioclesian, and those imperial persecutors. The chiu-ch prays, Dorsum eorum incurva, —' Bow down their backs;' and so the Lord did. Valerian was so bowed down that he became a footstool for the king of Persia to mount up to liis horse. Oh that the church of peace liad still this miraculous faith to remove these momitains : malicious and truth-hating pleaders, the pioneers of the temple, and the maintaincrs of those that pillage it!

They tell us, ' The law is open, and there be deputies,' Acts xix. 38; but who be the deputies in tliis city? Is there any other than a judge of their own ? And is it not then a proverbial answer of any man questioned in this sacrilege : 'Ask my father if I be a thief?' When David decided the

matter to Mephibosheth, ' Thou and Ziba divide the land,' 2 Sam. xix. 30, he answered : ' Yea, let him take all.' For the misery of the law, I never by experience found it, because I never tried it; but when they have leave to divide the inheritance of Christ with their ministers, (and it were something tolerable if they did but divide it,) I say, let them take aU, seeing all they will have, rather than we go to recover it by such a judgment. But certainly God cannot long abide to see that people prosper who cannot abide to see Ms church prosper. They that spoU the palace of peace on earth shall never be entertained into her glorious court of heaven.

VII. The river that serves this city of peace is prosperity. It is one principal happiness of a city to be situated by a river's side : that as it hath fortified itself by land, so it may have command of the sea. Prosperity is the river to this city, that like a loving Meander, winds itself about, throwing his silver arms upon her sides; ebbing slowly, but flowing merrily, as if he longed to embrace his love. Peace is the mother of prosperity, but prosperity is too often the murderer of peace. For peace breeds wealth, wealth breeds pride, pride breeds contention, and contention kills peace. Thus she is often destroyed by her own issue, as Sennacherib was by his own bowels.

Take this city we live in for an instance. Peace hath brought God's plenty : the inhabitants neither plough, nor sow, nor reap; yet are fed like the fowls of heaven. They fare well with less trouble than if corn grew at their doors, and cattle grazed in their streets. But as Nilus may rise too high, and water Egypt too much, so the inundation of opulency may do them hurt. Thus may the influence of heaven, and the plenty of earth, be a snare unto us, and our abundance an occasion of our falling. Prosperity is hearty meat, but not digestible by a weak stomach; strong wine, but naught for a weak brain. ' The prosperity of fools destroyeth them,' Prov. i. 32. It is not simply prosperity, but the prosperity of fools, that destroyeth them. The swelling river by the surfeit of a tide doth not sooner bring in our increase, but our increase doth breed in our minds another swelling, in our bodies another surfeiting : we swell in pride, and surfeit in wantonness. The Israelites never fared so well as when they lived at God's immediate finding, and at night expected their morrow's breakfast from the clouds; when they did daily ask, and daily receive, their daily bread.

There be (as I heard a worthy divine observe) three main rivers in the land, whereof this is held the best; and this city is placed in the best seat of the river, upon the gentle rising of a hill, in the best air, and richest soil. When a courtier gave it out, that Queen Mary, being displeased with the city, threatened to divert both term and parliament to Oxford, an alderman asked whether she meant to turn the channel of the Thames thither or no : If not, saith he, by God's grace, we shall do well enough. ' The lines are fallen to us in pleasant places; we have a goodly heritage,' Ps. xvi. 6. Both the elements are our friends : the earth sends us in her fruits, the sea her merchandise. We are near enough the benefits, and far enough from the dangers, of the ocean. Nothing is wanting to the consummation of our happiness, to keep us in our o^vn country, m our own city, in our own houses, but that which keeps men in their wits—temperance and thankfulness. ^

But do we not requite this river of prosperity with ungrateful impiety, and use the ocean of God's bounty as we do the Thames ? It brings us in all manner of provision: clothes to cover us, fuel to warm us, food to nourish us, wine to cheer us, gold to enrich us; and we, in recompense, soil it with our rubbish, filth, common sewers, and such excretions. It yields us all

manner of good things, and we requite it with all plenty of iDad things. It comes flowing in with our commodities, and we send it loaden back with our injuries.

Such toward God is the impious ingratitude of this famous city, which else had no parallel under the sun. She may not mifitly be compared to certain pictures, that represent to divers beholders, at divers stations, divers forms. Looking one way, you see a beautiful virgin; another way, some deformed monster. Cast an eye upon her profession, she is a well-graced creature; turn it upon her conversation, she is a misshapen stigmatic. View her peace, she is ' fairer than the daughters of men;' view her pride, the children of the Hittites and Amorites are beauteous to her. Think of her good works; then, 'Blessed art thou of the Lord :' number her sins; then, 'How is that faithful city become an harlot!" Isa. i. 21. To tell of her charity, and how many hundreds she feeds in a year, you will .say with Paul, ' In this I praise her.' To tell of her oppressions, and how many thousands she undoes in a year, you will say with him again, ' In this I praise her not.' Behold her like a nurse, drawing her breasts and giving milk to orphans; you wish her cup to run over with fulness. Behold her like a horse-leech, sucking the blood of the church, to feed her own sacrilegious avarice; you will say, her cup is too full. When we think of her prosperity, we wonder at her impiety: when we think of her impiety, we wonder at her prosperity. Oh that her citizens would learn to manage their liberal fortunes, and to entertain the river of peace ' that makes glad the city of God,' with humility and sobriety; that when death shall disfranchise them here, they may be made free above, in that triumphant city whose glory hath neither measure nor end !

VIII, The life of the citizens is love : for without the love of men there can be no peace of God; and there is no love of God in them that desire not peace with men. He that loves not the members was never a friend to the Head. To say we love Christ, and hate a Christian, is as if a man, while he was saluting or protesting love to his friend, should tread on his toes. I know indeed that every creature is to be loved, but in ordinc ad Deum. Religion doth not forbid, but rectify our affections. Our parents, spouses, children, allies, countrymen, neighbours, friends, have all their due places in our love; and it were a brutish doctrine to dispossess us of these human relations. Only they must know their orders and stations, and by no means usurp upon God : they must not be mistresses, but handmaids to the love of Christ.

But let us love them because they love God : as reflections of our sight, which glance from the Lord upon his image. If God have their hearts, let them have our hearts. It is poor to love a man for that is about him : he must be loved for that is witlun him. If we should accomit of men as we do of bags, prize them that weigh heaviest; and measure out our love by the subsidy-book, honouring a man because he is well clothed; I see then no reason but we should do greater reverence to the bason and ewer on the stall, than to the goldsmith m the shop; and most humbly salute satin and velvet in whole pieces, because their virgin-glory was never yet ravished and abused into fashion.

No, but especially let us love others, because they fear God, and servo Jesus Christ. For as the brain is to the sinews, the liver to the veins, and the heart to the arteries; so is God's love to human societies : as the very soul by which they live, and the form that gives them being. Otherwise

our companies are conspiracies, when we fall in one with, another, to fall out with God. Let us begin our loves above, deriving this holy fire from the altar of heaven; let our faith enkindle it at the heart of Christ, and then like the cherubiins, we shall look graciously one upon another, while all look up to the mercy-seat of God.

IX. The general state of this city. This is the corollary of all; every particular being cast up, here is the sum : her universal felicity. For the illustration whereof, it "will not be unuseful to borrow an instance; and we need not travel far to seek out such an image or resemblance.

Look we upon our own nation, the happy model of this city of peace. It was said, that in Rome a man might see all countries; and the Romans used to solace themselves : ' It is good looking on a map of the world, uhi nihil in orhe videmus alienum, —when we find nothing in the world which is not our own.' What doth the whole earth produce which is not yielded to our enjoying 1 What was once said of Ormus is true of this city, ' Turn the world into a ring, and this is the diamond of it.' Like to Gideon's fleece, it hath been wet with the dew of heaven, when drought was on the whole earth besides. Or like Nilus, which keeps within its banks, when other rivers overflow their continents. Some nations have peace, but without the truth; other have the truth, but without peace : we have both truth and peace. Our neighbours have been exercised with troubles, whirled about with hostile tumults; their ears affrighted with the thunder of those murdering pieces; theu" eyes aghast wdth their temples and tabernacles flaming about their heads; infants bleeding upon the stones, and their amazed mothers ravished ere they can be permitted to die. The shrieks of the djdug, and slavery of the living, under the merciless hands of a killing or insulting adversary, these have been their distracting objects : none of them come near us. There is no rifling of houses, no flying to refuges, no rotting in dungeons, no ruinating of monuments, no swelling the channels with blood, no firing of cities, no rapes of virgins, no dashing of babes against the stones, nor casting them, as they drop from their mothers' wombs, mto their mothers' flames. But instead of these, the truth of the gospel is preached, piety professed, the practice of it encouraged; grace promising, and peace performing, blessed rewards.

That is verified in us which is recorded of the days of Solomon, ' That he had peace on all sides round about him : and Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his \ine, and under his fig-tree, from Dan to Beersheba,' 1 Kings iv. 25. Or as Sylvius said of Rhodes, Semper in sole sita est. The sunshine of mercy embraceth us, and hath made us a day of peace, not shorter than sixty years : the favours of God overshadowing us, as the cherubims did the mercy-seat. I know that Rome frets at this, and let the harlot rage her heart out: she thunders out curses, but (praised be God !) we never more prospered than when the Pope most cursed us. Yea, 0 Lord, though they curse, do thou bless : their thunder doth more fear than hurt, thy fiivour doth more good than they can blast! Convert or confound them that have evil will at Zion j and still let us inherit thy peace, that thou mayest inherit our praise !

This is the reward of peace, and of all those that in sincerity of heart love her : ' The God of peace shall be with them,' 2 Cor. xiii. 11. There be six kinds of peace, but the peace of God contains all the rest. ' The peace of God passeth all understanding :' therefore whosoever loseth this peace, hath a loss Tjast all understanding. But Christ foretold us, that * in the world we

shall have no peace,' John xvi. 3. Indeed no peace, quoad oppodtionem se-culi; yet much peace, fiuoad disposltionem Domini. The most savage disturbers, St non reformentuv ne pereant, tamen reprimentur ne perimant, —if they be not reformed to save themselves, they shall Ijc restrained from harming us. If they will not do us the good they should, yet they shall not do us the evil they would. Vel inlmia/s tuns non manebit, vel non manehit inimicus, —Either our enemies shall not live, or they shall not live our enemies. Either ' the righteous shall rejoice Avhen they see the vengeance, and wash their feet in the blood of the wicked,' Ps. Iviii. 10 ; or ' the Lord wiU give them favour in the sight of their enemies, and those that hated them shall cleave unto them,' Exod. xi. 3.

From hence ariseth peace with ourselves : a conformity of affection to reason, of reason to grace; that the conflicts which a distressed conscience finds with legal terrors shall be turned to mild embracements. Faith leading the understanding, the understandhig guiding the will, the will ruling the operative powers, and Christ Jesus governing all. For indeed he is the fountain of peace, and we ' through him, being justified by faith, have peace with God,' liom. v. 1. Through the corruption of our nature, and justice of God's nature, Ave are enemies : and there is no reconciliation but through the blood of the everlasting covenant. He reconciles us to God, as Joab did Absalom to David by the woman of Tekoah, 2 Sam. xiv. 7, when the whole family rose up, and said, ' Deliver him that smote his brother, that we may take his life for the life of the slain ;' and so the father and mother shall ' have no name nor remainder upon earth.' God hath two sorts of sons—angels and men: the angels that fell are lost for ever; men fell—if they were lost too, where should God have sons ? I know that he needs not man : he hath still the elect angels, and is able to raise sons of stones : he can want nothing while he possesseth himself. Well, yet in mercy Christ reconciles us. David asks, ' Is not the hand of Joab in all this 1' ver. 19 ; so we may admire, ' Is not the hand of Jesus in all this 'I' Yes, he hath made our peace. The minister always ends his public devotions with ' the peace of God,' and the blessing of this peace rest upon us !

Thus we have a real abridgment of this mystical city of peace; happy every way, Vigilancy is her ofiicer of peace, that hath an eye in the darkest angles, and discovers the first conceptions of stiife. Discipline is her clerk of the peace, that keeps the records, and indicts off"enders. Authority is her justice of peace, that if any will not be ruled, binds them over to the peace. Equity is her burse, where men exchange kindness for Idndness ; on whose stairs injury and imposture durst never set their foul feet. Truth is her standard, which with the trumpet of fame shall resound her happiness to all nations. Plenty is her treasurer, liberality her ahnoner, conscience her chancellor, wisdom her counsellor, prayer her clerk of the closet, ftiith her crown, justice her sceptre, masculine virtues her peers, graces her attendants, and nobility her maid of honour. All her garments are green and orient; all her paths be milk, her words oracles, and lier works miracles : making the blind to see, and the lame to go, by a merciful supply to their defects. Her breath is .sweeter than the new-blown rose, millions of souls lie sucking their life from it; and the smell of her garments is like the smell of Lebanon. Her smiles are more reviving than the vertumnal sunshine ; and her favours, like seasonable dews, spring up flowers and fraits wheresoever she walks. Holiness is the canopy of state over her head, and tranquillity the arras where she sets her foot. All her servants wait in order, and can with con-

tentfol knowledge distinguish and accept their own places. Her court is an image of paradise; all her channels flow with milk, and her conduits run wine. Envy and murmuring, as privy to their own guUt, fly from her presence. Her guard consists not of men, but angels; and they pitch their tents about her palace.

X. Lastly, having preserved and blessed all her children on earth, she goes with them to heaven, is welcomed into the arms of her Father, invested queen with a diadem of glory, and possessed of those joys unto which time shall never put an end.

THE BAD LEAVEN;

OE,

THE CONTAGION OF SIN.

A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. — Gal. V. 9.

This epistle was written with St Paul's owu hand : chap. vi. 11, 'Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with my own hand.' It is for quaUty excellent, for quantity large. He wrote not so long an epistle to any other church with his own hand. Indeed he wrote a letter to Philemon with his own hand, ver. 19, ' I Paul have written it with mine own hand;' but it was short. He wrote longer epistles to the Romans and Corinthians, but not with his own hand, but by scribes. We have cause therefore to regard it more ; as his pains were greater in writing, so let our diligence be greater in observing.

The main purpose of it is to discover, First, That ill conjunction of Moses and Christ, the ceremonies of the law with the sanctimony of the gospel. Secondly, The free grace and justification by the blood of Christ without the works of the law. In this the Galatians had received a beguiniug, but now ha4 admitted a recidivation. For this cause the Apostle chides, ver. 7, ' Ye did run well: who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth ]' where there is a concession and an expostulation, a step and a stop. The concession or step, ' Ye did run well' The expostulation or stop, ' Who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth ?'

In the former, he compares Christianity to a race : all men must first be viatores in this valley of tears, before they can be assessoi-es, and sit with Christ in his kingdom of glory. Only as it agrees with a race in many things,—as labour, it is no idle thing to be a Christian; shortness, it is a race, the perplexity is recompensed with the brevity; continuance, the runner must hold out the last step, if he wiU obtain the pri^e,—so there arc some differences. First, In other races many run, only one wins the goal; but in this all that run faithfully shall reign triumphantly. Though they cannot run so fast as others, nor so far as others ; yet even they that came at the eleventh hour into the vuieyard, received the penny, so well as they that came at the third. For the Lord regards not quantum, but ex quanlo,

—not liow much, but liow -well. Whatever hour they are called, let them spend the after-time in a zealous diligence. Secondly, In other races one hinders another, but in this journey one helps another. The more the merrier ; no envy or grudging, either in the way or the goal. Dispar gloria aingidorum, sed communis Ic^titia omnium. There may be different glory of some, yet there is a common joy of all. Every good man is a spur to his brother. Peter and John ran to Christ's sepulchre ; John outran Peter unto the grave, Peter outwent John into the grave. But we run together unto Christ's throne; some come before, some after, all meet in the communion ■of saints. Thirdly, In other races the runner obtains a prize that shall perish; all the runners here get an incorruptible croAvn. They run for a little prize, a little praise; we for eternal glory. Run we then cheerfully; behold, a kingdom lies at the stake. God give us all eyes of faith to see it, ■and hearts of obedience to run to it, through the power of Jesus Christ!

In the latter, the Apostle may seem to put a superfluous question : ' Who did hinder you?' for there are many adversaries. As, first, Satan, the general of that damned crew that hinder our passage to heaven. Paul ex-cuseth himself to the Thessalonians : ' We would have come to you once and again, but Satan hindered us,' 1 Thess. ii. 18. ' Joshua the high priest stood before the angel of the Lord, and Satan stood at his right hand to resist him,' Zech. iii. 1. Where God hath his church, Satan hath his chapel. So also wicked men; such as have taken the devil's oath of allegiance. What the de'sil cannot do immediately by himself, he does mediately by his instruments. To err, humanum, is the wickedness of a man; but to seduce, dia-holicum, is the part of a devil. It is ill to play the woman, worse to play the beast, worst of all to play the devil. But what special hinderers the Apostle means, we shall have precise occasion in some future passages to demonstrate.

Only I must not omit that the Apostle gives a direct resolution by way of negation : ver. 8, ' This persuasion cometli not of hini that calleth you.' God is noways the author of error and sin. He that wills the death of no sinner, will not lead him into the ways of destruction. Indeed he suffers Satan to tempt aU, but to a diverse purpose : the good, to try them ; the reprobate, to destroy them. The temptations of the godly are for their instruction; of the wicked, for their destruction. James tells us that ' every good gift comes down from the, Father of lights,' chap. i. 17. Is it evil 1 It cometh not from God. The Apostle telling the Ephesians of lusts, blindness, wantonness, obstinacy, concludes peremptorily, Non sic didicistis Christum, —' Ye have not so learned Jesus Christ,' Eph. iv. 20. Art thou perverted ? Thou never iearnedst this of Christ. ' Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted •of God; for God tempteth no man,' James i. 13. In him we live, move, and have our being : a Gentile poet sung it, a Christian apostle sanctified it, Acts xvii. 28, all the creatures in heaven and earth cry Amen unto it. Life is his, whether we live well or ill; motion is his, whether we Mft up our hands to prayer or murder; but the pravity and corruption of these is none of his. Is any part of body or power of soul depraved 1 ' This cometh not from him that calleth us.' What is then the cause of sin 1

I answer, properly nothing : it hath indeed a deficient cause, but no efii-cient cause. It is a defect, privation, or orbity of that God made; tlic thing itself he never made. Will you ask what is the cause of sickness 1 I answer, the destitution of health. If what is the cause of darkness, the absence of the sun; if of blindness, the deficiency of seeing. 'What is the cause of ailence ? No cause. There are causes of speech—organs, air, &c.; take away

these, what follows but silence 1 You see the light; who ever saw darkness? You hear speech; who ever heard silence 1 Man forsook grace; sin came in at the back-door. It is a bastard brought into God's house by stealth. Woe to them that shall root their filthiness in the Deity ! If thoy be seduced, to cry, 'Lord, thou hast deceived us,' Jer. iv, 10. No ; destruction is of thyself, O Israel;' in me is thy help,' We have all gotten this sm from Adam: Mulier quam, tic, &c.,—' The woman which thou gavest me ;' as if God had given him a woman to tempt him. Ucec est I'uina maxima, Dewni putare causam ruince, —^This is the greatest destruction that can be, to charge God with the cause of our destruction. No, 0 Father of heaven, be thou justified, and the faces of all men ashamed ! Let us look home to our own flesh; from thence it cometh tliat destroyetL 3fe, me, adsum qui feci. The Lord put not only this confession in our mouths, but this feeling in our hearts, that all our evU cometh from ourselves, all our good from Jesus Christ!

' Of him that called you.' He hath called you to liberty, will you entangle yourselves in new bondage ? Who pities him that, iDcing redeemed from prison, wUfully recasts himself into it ? or that, saved from the fire, will run into it again 1 Art thou titio ereptus, and yet hast a mind to be iDurned ? He hath called you not to the ceremonies, but to their antitype; not to those legal lambs, but to that evangelical Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. WiU you be directed by lamps when the sun is risen 1 No; he hath called you to the truth and comforts of the gospel; obey that call. And then he that hath persuaded you to virtue, by calling you to grace, shall crown you with eternal glory.

Now one argument whereby the Apostle deters them from blending Judaism with Christianity is derived from the danger of corrupting the doctrine of the gospel: ' A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.' One ceremony of the legal rites observed with an opinion of necessity sourcth all that sweetness of redemption that cometh by Christ. This divine aphorism may thus logically be resolved—into a predicate, subject, and copula: the predicate, leaven; the subject, lump; the copula, leaveneth. Or thus: there is a thing active, 'leaven;' a thing factive, 'soureth;' a thing passive, 'the lump.'

But because the whole speech is allegorical, let us first open the metaphor with the key of proper analogy, and then take out the treasure—such observations as may be naturally deduced from it. Most properly our Apostle by leaven understands false doctrine, and by lump the truth of the gospel; so the sense is this, one heresy infects a mass of truth. Or if we restrain it to persons, by leaven he meaneth false teachers, and by lump the church of Galatia ; and so a teacher of the bondage to the law soiu-s the Uberty of the gospel. ' Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing,' ver. 2. Or if yet we wUl look upon it with more *" general view, we may by leaven imderstand sui, by lump man, by leavening infection. Here are three respondences, and all worthily considerable ;—

1. First, taking leaven for false doctrine, so we find in the New Testament four sorts of leavens: l\Iatt. xvi. G, ' Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees;' there be two of them, the Pharisaical and the Sadducean leavens. Mark viii. 15, 'Beware of the leaven of Herod;' there is the third. The fourth is my text, the leaven of mingling ilosaical ordinances with Christ's institutions. It will not be amiss to take a transient view of these leavens; for though former times had the origmals, we have the counterparts, we have parallel leavens. VOL. ir. Y

(1.) To begin with the Pharisees; to these I may well liken our Seminaries : one egg is not liker another. Even a Jesuit wrote in good earnest, I^on male comparari Fharisceos Catholicis, —Papists are fitly compared to the Pharisees. Whether he spake it ignorantly, or unwittingly, or puqjosely, I am sure Caiaphas never spoke truer when he meant it not. Shall we take a little pains to confer them 1 The Pharisees had corrupted, yea, in a manner annulled, the law of God by their traditions, and for this Christ complains against them, ]\Iatt. xv. 6. Now for the Papists, this was one of their Tridentine decrees, ' With the same reverence and devotion do we receive and respect traditions that we do the books of the Old and New Testament* Shut thine eyes and hear both speak, and then for a wager which is the Pharisee, which the Seminary 1 Indeed to some traditions we give locum, but locum suum, —a place, but their own place. They must never dare to take the wall of the Scripture.

Again, the Pharisees corrupted the good test v>'ith their lewd glosses. The law was, that no leper might come into the temple; their traditional gloss was, that if he were let down through the roof this was no offence. As that drunkard that having forsworn going to a certain tavern, yet being carried thither every day on men's shoulders, thought he had not broken his oath. Their Sabbath-day's journey was a thousand cubits; their gloss understood this without the walls, and walking all day through the city no sin. The Papists are not behind them in their foul mterpretations, not shaming to call that sacred writ a nose of wax, formable to any construction. Paul subscribes his two epistles to the Thessalonians thus, Missa fuit ex Athenis; a Papist cries out straight, 'Here is a plain text for the mass.' Ps. viii. 6, Omnia subjecisti pedibus ejus, —* Thou hast put all things under his feet.' This is spoken of the beasts' subjection to man; their gloss construes it of men's subjection to the Pope ! So Isa. xlix. 23, ' They shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet.' Here, saith their gloss, is a plain proof for kissing the Pope's feet. Our Saviour says, Matt, xviii. 3, 'Except ye become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.' Hereupon St Francis commands one Massseus to tumble round on the earth like a little child, that he might enter. ' If thy foot offend thee,' saith Christ, ' cut it off.' Hereupon when the penitent confessed to St Anthony that he had kicked his mother, he urged him with that text; the man went and cut off his foot, but St Anthony, honestly to make him amends, set it on again. Were these not goodly constructions ? So the new-elected Pope, in his solemn Lateran procession, must take copper money out his chamberlain's lap, and scatter it among the people, saying, ' Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give unto you,' Acts iii. G. And is not this a probable truth, a praisable bounty ? Seven years' penance is enjoined to a deadly sin, because Miriam was separated seven days for her leprosy; and God saith to Ezekiel, chap. iv. 6,' I have given thee a day for a year.' O genuine and most neighbourly concording of Scriptures ! When God's word subjects priests to kings, their gloss subjects kings to priests, at least to popes. But as when they determined to kill the Emperor Henry the Seventh, that they might be sure to poison him, they stuck not to poison their own God in the sacrament; so, purposmg to tear the honour and deface the majesty of kings, they first offer violence to the sacred word of God. In these damnable glosses it is hard to decide whether Pharisee is beyond Papist, or Papist beyond Pharisee. But dum Juec male construunt, seipsos male destruunt, —their e\'il construction of the Scriptures brings a worse destruction to themselves. They make

that serve the turn of their policy which God meant to serve the turn of his glorj\

The Pharisees cleaved to the letter, but despised the spirit; so do Papists, Hoc est corpm must be materially there : for this they wrangle, fight, burn the contradictors; yet few of them care to find it spiritually there. Dabo daves, I will give thee the keys; therefore none can enter heaven except the Pope open the doors. Whereas Peter's two keys, one of knowledge, the other of power, are fitted to two locks—ignorance and induration. But wo know who keeps the keys, and lets in many thousands to heaven without the Pope's leave : ' These things saith he that is holy and true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth ; that shutteth, and nu man openeth,' Ptev. iii. 7. Some of the Piabbins affirmed that God requires two things concerning his law—custody and work ; custody in heart, work in execution. The Pharisees thought it enough to have it in their frontlets, not in their hearts. So the Piomist hath his opus opemtmn; prayers numbered on beads, fastings, pilgrimages, Ac, and then cries like Saul: ' Blessed be thou of the Lord ; I have performed the commandment of the Lord,' 1 Sam. XV. 13.

The Pharisees justified themselves by their works, and woidd not stick to say of the law, * All this have I kept from my youth.' Do not the Papists so ? Do they not climb to salvation by their own works, and justify themselves ? Those thought it not only easy to fulfil the law, but possible to do more than they were bound to. They thought it not worth thanks to perform what they were bidden. God's law was too little for their holiness. They plied God with unbidden oblations, gave more than they needed, than was commanded. ' I pay tithes of all,' said that Pharisee. Of aU '] It was more than he needed. If God would have a Sabbath kept, they over-keep it; let a house be on fire that day, they would not quench it. And what other is the boasting opinion of the Romanists ? It is notliing with them to content God; they can earn him, supererogate of him. Yea, these Jewish Paj^ists have done more than enough for themselves, many good works to spare for others : this they call the church's treasure, and they sell them for ready money. But Christ taught us all to say, ' We are unprofitable servants;' intimating, that do what we can, yet God is a loser by the best of us.

To omit the miserable penances of the Pharisees, pricking themselves with thorns, and wounding their flesh with whips, wherein it is not possible for a Papist to go beyond them. If the misusuig, macerating, lacerating their own bodies be a means to come into heaven, surely the Pharisees should enter far sooner than the Papists. Yet were those kept out, and shall these enter ? ' Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven,' Matt. V. 20. The people were so besotted on them, that they thought if but two men should go to heaven, the one must be a scribe, the other a Pharisee. But here was strange news : neither of them both shall come there. So the Papists think that if but two men be saved, one must be a friar, the other a Jesuit. He that should say neither of them both was likely to speed so well, should have the whole multitude stare upon him for such a jxiradox.

The Pharisees bragged much of Moses's chair; just so do our Papists of Peter's chair. The Pharisees justified it that there was no error in theirs; the Papists affirm that there is no possibility of error ui theirs. The Pharisees thundered against the poor people,' This people who knoweth not the law are cursed,' John vii, 49. So the Pope thimdcrs his curses and excommunica-

tions against us; but (we bless God) his thunder cannot reach us. I would other places had no more cause to fear his thunder. Then would they answer him, as Gregory the Fourth was answered, when he purposed peremptorily to proceed against Louis le Debonair : the French bishops answered in flat terms, Si excoravmnicaturus veniret, excommunicatus discederet, —If he came to excommunicate, he should be sent back excommunicated.

The Pharisees compassed sea and land to make proselytes; ' and when they had made one, they make him twofold more the child of hell than themselves,' Matt, xxiii. 15. Do not our Seminaries so? Yes, they are compassers too, like their grand master, Job ii.'; much like those Circidatores and CircumceUiones, a limb of the Donatists, They creep into ladies' houses, I had almost said into their chambers; the pursuivant in modesty hath forborne the gentlewoman's bed, and missed him. Confession and penance are the principal wheels whereupon the engine of their policy runs. By the first, they find out men's secret inclinations; by the other, they heap riches to their tribe. They wUl not lead a novice into the main at first, to make him believe the Pope's infallibility of judgment, authority to decrown kings, to make scripture no scripture, and no scripture scripture, &c. This meat is too tough, it will not down : therefore they court his aflections with pleasing delights, smooth semblances, and moderate constructions, as near to the religion from which they would pervert him as possibly may be afforded. So by degrees they gain him, God and the truth loseth him. In their own countries, places of freedom, they vizor their hearts; in England, they vizor their faces too.

The Pharisees made difference of oaths : ' Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor. Ye fools and bhnd : for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?' Matt, xxiii. 16, That was their doctrine, tMs was Christ's reproof. So the Papists have their distinctions betwixt a material and a formal oath; one to bind the conscience, the other not. Out of g|ich an unlucky copulation of fraud and malice was that monstrous stigmatic equivocation engendered. A damned egg, not covered by any fair bird, but hatched, as the poets feign of ospreys, with a thunder-clap. A mere bastard ; whosoever was the father, Jesuits keep the child, and bring it up as their only darling. But they have their bulls of dispensation for it; fit they should all speed as some did once with their bulls. Two Seminaries came into England with their two bulls, but being apprehended, those two bulls called in a third bull, which was Bull the hangman, to despatch them both.

Lastly, the Pharisees used to ' devour widows' houses, and for a pretence to make long prayers,' Matt, xxiii. 14. It is evil to devour a man's house, worse to devour a widow's house; worst of aU, when their lips seemed to pray, to be chewing that morsel, Jerusalem had never worse Pharisees than Rome j these were mere bunglers to the Jesuits. The new Pharisees have made very proselytes and novices of the ancient, A widow's cottage fiUed the paunch of an old Pharisee, Large patrimonies and fair revenues will not stop the throat of the Jesuit. They devour the laud as Pharaoh's lean kine, and yet look hunger-starved stUl. You shall have them first fall in with the wife, as the devil did with Eve; but they cozen the husband of his inheritance, as the devil cozened Adam. Even other orders among them cry shame upon the Jesuits : they prowl away all with a face of sad piety and stern mortification. Forgive my unseasonable prolixity; you see one dangerous leaven.

(2.) The next is the leaven of the Sadducees : hear their doctrine, Matt, xxii. 23, ' They say there is no resurrection ;' Acts xxiii. 8, ' The Sadducees say there is no rcsun-ection, neither angel nor spirit.' I would we had no matches for them, but we have too many : that either deny futmncm aliquid post mortem, —that any further thing is to be done or suffered or enjoyed after death; or else sJ^xm./(Blicitev fore universis, —that every man shall be happy. They have studied reasons against the resurrection. The flesh turns into rottenness, rottenness to dust, ttc. But St Augustine cuts them off with reason : Qui potuit formare novum, non poterit reparare niortuum ?— He tliat could make man of nothing surely can revive him of a small thing. Facilius est restituere, quam constituere, —It is far easier to repair than to prepare. They tell us, ' It is better to a living dog than a dead lion,' Eccles. ix. 4 ; which is true among beasts like themselves, but among men a dead beast is better than a living atheist. Like dogs they bark at heaven, but they cannot bite it; it is out of their ciraumference. Though they build up reasons and treasons like Babel, yet they prove but confusion. They would pull God out of his throne, if it were possible ; but he is safe enough out of the reach of their malice, else it had gone Ul with him before this. Their song is, ' Let us eat and drink,' (tliey think of no reckoning to pay,) ' for to-morrow we die,' 1 Cor. xv. 32. They promise to-morrow, yet kiU themselves to-day. This is their song, but the Holy Ghost adds the burden : ' After death cometh the judgment,' Heb. is.. 27. It is appointed unto men ' once to die ;' to all men once, to atheists twice, for there is a ' second alath.' Their first death makes way to their last judgment. They are in some respect worse than the devil: he knows and acknowlcdgeth a Deity; these say, 'There is no God.' 'The devils believe and tremble,' James ii. 19; these have neither faith nor fear. The devil quakes at the day of judgment, these deride it. ' Art thou come hither to torment us before the time V ^latt. viii. 29. There is their terror. ' Where is the promise of his coming ? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.' There is their derision. The devils say, ' Jesus we know,' Acts xix. 15; these are like that doubting spmt. Si Filius Dei, —'If thou be the Son of God,' Matt. iv. G, as if they made question whether he was so or not. Strange ! even the father of suas cometh short of his sons; and there be atheists upon earth whenas there are none in hell. But they profess some religion among us. It may be so ; but they fit and square it to their own humours, as that giant dealt with his guests, for all whom he had but one bed : if they were too short for it, he racked them out longer; if too long, he cut them shorter.

But visculptinn est omnibus esse Deum, —it is written m all hearts by the pen of nature that there is a God. It is not possible to get out these indelible characters. Say what they will, they would give much to be sure that the Scripture was not true. The discourse of reason confutes them : ' Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee : the fowls of the air, and they shall tcU thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of God hath wrought this ?' Job xii. 7, 9. Frcesentemqiie referet qucclibet herha Deum, —The little pile of grass tells us there is a God that made it. Besides, they have a conscience within them, God's deputy in the soul, which will speak for the Maker and Master, and bo heard too. Qui negat esse De^im, mihi negat, et tibi, non sibi, —He that denies there is a Gk)d, denies it to me, and to thee, but never to himself. You may sooner pull his heart out of his breast than this impression out of his heart. Thus is their leaven tossed back into their own teeth: they will not now acknowledge this; they shall

one day feel tliis. Ocnios quos culpa clausit, poena aperiet, —The eyes whicli atheism hath shut, damnation shall open. Tliis is a cursed leaven.

(3.) The next leaven is that of the Herodians. Here crafty and dissembling hypocrites might be thought their fittest and most suitable parallels, because Christ calls Herod a fox: ' Go and tell that fox,' Luke xiii. 32, But the Herodians were rather noted for profane fellows; and so we must seek out other matches. Such as carry in their gestures a tepidity of religion, a looseness of life; that ' turn the grace of God into wantonness,' and make that which brings salvation to all a means of confusion to themselves. This disease is inter ins, within; and quickly becomes inter it us, a violent destruction. Professed atheists and open heretics are through the manifestation of their malice prevented : these are bosom serpents, that sting in silence. Aristotle says, that extreme is less hurtful which is nearest to the medium, and doth communicate with it in something. Prodigality is less noxious than avarice, because it hath this common with liberality, to give; which the other hath not. Fiery zeal is dangerous : by this Paul persecuted Christ, Acts xxii. 4; by this the Jews crucified Christ, Ptom. x. 2. But profane coldness is worse, because it is further from the mean, which is zeal in religion.

By these wretches' lewdness among us, the Ptomish adversaries take advantage to slander our religion. They say our profession is a doctrine of liberty; that we preach for faith, and against works: but' Wisdom is justified of her chil-drerP Thus we preach, ' Tribulation and angixish upon every soul of man that cloth evil ; but glory and peace to every man that worketh good,' Rom. ii. 9; and, ' Every man that hath hope in Christ purifieth himself,' 1 John iii. 3 ; and this is ' pure religion and undefiled before God : To visit the fatherless and vddows in their aflliction, and to keep ourselves unspotted from the world,' James i. 27. Our faith is not an ouala, imagined in the brain; but an 'wirCsTaatg, seen in our life. We teach that justification and sanctification are inseparable friends. If men will not be reformed, we conceal not from them God's renunciation : ' If any man will be filthy, let him be filthy still,' Ptev. xxii. 11. Our dissolute conversation cannot annihilate the truth of our doctrine. Howsoever the Samaritan, not the Jew, relieved the wounded man, yet the Jew's religion was true, and not the Samaritan's. How polluted soever we are, yet their hands are not clean enough to take up stones against us. If they rejoice and triumph in men's wickedness, they profess imitation of the devil in a cursed mirth. Good Christians have learned to mourn for abominations, Ezek. ix., not to laugh at them. To return to those dissolute wretches : they sing not with the church a Teneho te Domine, —'I held him, and I would not let him go,' Cant. iii. 4; all their delight is m a Nunc dimiltis; they are glad to be gone. It were not amiss if we were well rid of them, being thus incorrigible : ' Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump,' 1 Cor. v. 7. What leaven the Apostle there means, he declares, ver. 13, ' Put away from among yourselves that wicked person.' When Jonah was cast out of the ship, the sea ceased from her raging; when Zimri was slain, the plague stayed; when Baal was destroyed, Israel had peace. If these cursed leavens of superstition, atheism, and profaneness were purged, how sweet a lump would the church of England be ! We cannot hope it, yet let us pray for it: Miserere Dens! Cleanse us from these leavens, for the merits of thy Son, our blessed Saviour, Jesus Christ!

(4.) There is a fourth leaven, to which St Paul hath principal respect in this place; and that is the mixing of law with gospel: I mean ceremonial

and legal rites mth the truth of Jesus Christ. This leaven might well die in forgetfulness, and have moulded away, if there had not been a late generation of Thraskites to devour it as bread. They must abstain from swine's flesh, and from blood, and that upon conscience to the ceremonial law. But he that thus abstains from blood and flesh, the flesh and blood of Christ shall do him no good. What is this but to lick up the Galatians' vomit ? to swallow that hard and indigestible leaven which St Paul took so much pains about to get out of their stomachs ? But let it sleep with them in the dust; it is dead and buried, let us not disquiet the grave to revive it.

2. Now to the second way of considering these words, taking leaven personally for leaveners, fixlse teacliers, indeed heretics. I wUl only note two things, one of doctrine, another of discipline. For doctrine, out of my text, that they sour the whole lump ; for discipline, that therefore the church should restrain and correct them.

The leaven of heresy spreads far : ' Their word will eat as doth a canker/ 2 Tim. ii. 17, or a gangrene. AhiCtg is an option, or election, of ahov/j.ai, to make choice. A laudable word at first among philosophers, taken for a right form of learning. In divinity it is a word of disgrace, and intends a stubborn deviation from the received truth. It is more than error : Enrage possum, licereticus esse non possumj" —I may err, I cannot be a heretic. Qui sua pestifera dogmata defendere persistunt, hceretici sunt, —They that wilfully go on to maintain their pestilent opinions are heretics. It hath the right property of a gangrene—it frets as it goes : -vires acqiiirit eundo. Heresies in the soul are like ulcera depascentia in the body—they eat up the parts about them.

Of this God is the deficient cause, who suff'ers it: First, In respect of the wicked, that their just condemnation might not be hindered: 'For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie,' 2 Thess. ii. 11. Secondly, In regard of the faithful, that their tentation might assure them to be God's: ' There must be heresies,' or schisms, ' that they wliich are approved may be made manifest among you,' 1 Cor. xi. 19. AVith this premonition God prepared Israel, that when a false prophet or dreamer should come unto them, ' God doth prove you, to know whether you will love the Lord with all your heart,' Deut. xiii. 3. For this cause are heresies: ut fxles, habendo tentationem, haberet etiajnp'robatione)7i,f —that faith admitting a trial, might receive an approval.

Of this Satan is the eflicient cause: the father of lies never loved the Father of truth. Wicked and perverse men are the instrumental causes; they are so overwise, that the curdle of their wit procures a brealcing out into faction. Cu7n discipidi veritatis non erunt, mayistri evroris sunt, —Ke-fusing to be the scholars of truth, they become the schoolmasters of error. >So the precedent cause in such is self-love; the cause that grows out of the other, and nearer to the mam eftect, (or rather defect,) is discontent. If the church forget them in dealing her legacies of preferment, they will tear her bowels for it. If their mother pleaseth not their humours with an expected indulgence, they -will be so bold as kick her sides. Pride steps in for a third cause,—unless I forget her place, for she disdains an inferior room,—and yet of all sins, as none presumes higher, so none is thrust lower; even to the bottomless pit, Isa. xiv. 15. St John doth witness thus much of Diotrephes: ' I wrote unto the church, but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the pre-eminence among them, receiveth us not,' 3 Epist, ver. 9. He is called by Beda, Iloeresiarcha superbus. Hypocrisy must needs be admitted for a fourth. * Aug. + TertuL

motive to heresy. Applause must be had, if not by being good, yet by seeming so. Omnes hcerctici sunt hypocrita', saith Jerome,—Every heretic is a hypocrite. Like vipers, they never come to light, but with some rupture to the Avomb of their mother.

Thus heresy creeps in at a little hole, but infects, infests the whole house; like a plague that comes in at the windows, and then propagates itself beyond all measure. Erroris 7ionest finis* —There is no termination of error. Therefore the only way to refute heresies is to fetch them back to their original. Hoireses ad sua prindina referre, est refellere. If you can reduce them to their first, you see their last. As if a man would dry up a stream, he cannot do it in the main, but goes first to the spring-head, stops up that: the river will fail of itself

As in the bodily gangrene, the part affected grows tumid and cadaverous, the colour fades and becomes blackish; so in the spiritual, the mind grows tumid and swelling: ' Vainly puffed up with a fleshly mind,' Col. ii. 18; the fair colour of profession gone:' walking as enemies to the cross of Christ,' PhU. iii. 18. We know how the heresy of Arius did spread, when totus orbis ingemuit, factum se vide7is Arianum, —the whole world groaned, feeling itself made not Christian, but Arian. There was a long disputation about two words, little differing in sound, much in sense, o/j^oovaiog and ofioioiiaioi; the Arians holding Christ like God in substance, the orthodox Christians holding him one with God in substance. Oh the world of ink and blood that was spent about this! The Pope rose by degrees : first above bishops, then above patriarchs, then above councils, then above kings, then above Scriptures, now last of all above God himself. So the Apostle speaks of Antichrist: ' He exalteth himself above all that is called God,' 2 Thess. ii. 4. From so poor a beginning he hath risen prettily for his time. Thus Popery crept up in the dark, like a thief putting out the lights, that it might more securely rob the • house. Whiles it broached opinions, that like to sweet wines pleased the palate, it led many liquorish affections to hell; not unlike the butcher, who claws the ox till he cuts his throat. Thus the leaven of heresy spreads.

But the church must take care lest it spread too far. Let them alone in quiet, (yet what quiet can they have that disturb themselves?) and then * evil men and seducers wiU wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived,' 2 Tim. iii. 13. Augustine says of Arius's schism in Alexandria, una scintilla fuit, —that it was at first but a little spark ; but because not statim suppressa, totimi orhera ejus flamma populata est, —the flame of it singed the whole world, not being extinguished in time. The kindling fire is easily quenched : when it possesseth the town, it rageth and rangeth like a tyranny, scorning the offers of suppression. Now, therefore, 'I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences, contrary to the doctrine that ye have learned, and avoid them,' Rom. xvi. 17. The malice of a heretic, vel dolenda tanquani hominis, vel cavenda tanqiiam hostis, vel inidenda tanquam imprudentis,f —is either to be lamented, as a man's, or avoided, as a foe's, or derided, as a fool's. When proud Marcion said to Polycarpus, jYon me agnoscis ? —Dost thou not know me ? Yes, replied that good saint; agnosco te immogenitum Satance, —I acknowledge thee the devil's eldest son. If it prove an uncurable gangrene, ense reddendum, ne ^^cii's sin-cera trahatur, —cut it off to save the rest. Pereat tmus potius quam unitas, —Better lose one of the whole, than the whole for one. It is Hippocrates's maxim, Quce ferro non ciLranttir, ignis curet, —Where the knife can do no good, fire must. However heretics escape fire temporal, let them beware fire * Sen. t Aug.

eternal. For ourselves, bless we God, that hath cleared the way of truth among us, and thrust this leaven out of our coasts. Whiles the plague rode circuit in our streets, we prayed; when it ceased, we praised God. No plague so dangerous as heresy : whiles that ranged in our church, as Sylvius said of ruinated Constantinople, 0 viiseram urhis facievi! so we of our church, 0 miseram ecclesion faciem! This leprosy gone, she is now fair in the eyes of her Beloved. Christ now kisseth her Ups, and for this let us kiss the feet of Jesus Christ.

3. 'A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.' Now let us resolve this allegory another way, and conceive by leaven, sin ; by lump, man ; by leavening, infection. In effect, a little sin makes the whole man, in body and soul, unsavoury to the Lord. For method in proceeding : first, we wUl view the metaphor, the similitude of sm to leaven; then examine how a little of this can sour the whole lump. The similitude holds in many respects; albeit one be here principally intended, the souring quality, yet may the rest be justly considered.

(1.) Leaven is not bread, but the corruption of that which maketh breacL Sin is not a created quality, but the corruption of a created quality. God made not sin. Who, then 1 The devil begot it on man's lust: ' This I have found, that God made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions,' Eccles. viL 29. Tricks enow to make themselves miserable. That which rottenness is in the apple, sourness in the wine, corruption in the flesh, such is sm in the soid : fetida qucedam qiuditas, a thing never good since it took being, only usurps the place of good, and occupies the seat where a happy and perfect quality stood. It is like a Jehoiakim, that sits in the throne of a Josiah : as that bad son of so good a father ' gave the silver and the gold of the temple to Pharaoh-Necho,' 2 Kuigs xxiii 35; so this gives the endowments of nature, of reason, of affection to the black prmce of darkness. Or as the Pope pretends that he sits m the chair of Peter; yet what that blessed saint attributed to Christ,—' Why marvel ye at this ? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as if we by our own power or holiness had made this man to walkl' Acts iii. 12: ' Be it known to you, that by the name of Jesus of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, this man now stands whole before you,' Acts iv. 10,—this the Pope attributes to relics and blocks. There is no disease but he hath appointed some puppet to cure it. Froh pudor ? '/uin, cui ? Such is the practice of sin : the bounty of God ' gives com, and wine, and oil, multiplies silver and gold,' Hos. ii. 8; and even these, sin gives to Baal. It is depravatio honi and deprivatio lord, —one is active, the other passive, the latter a necessary consequent of the former. It depraves our power of obedience to God actually; it deprives us of God's good grace and blessing passively. The one is mseparable to the other; for he that forfeits honum unde, shall lose honum inde. They that spoil that grace whence they might do good, shall lose that glory whence they expect good. The first breach of one law took away all power to keep any, and by it we are disabled to all.

(2.) The very same substance of meal that would make bread, by addition of salt becomes leaven. The very same work that might be good and acceptable to God, by addition of our pravity becomes evil. Thus the best actions of an unjustified person are so leavened with his own con-uption that God abhors them. ' Yom- new moons and appouited feasts my soul hateth : they are a trouble to me; I am weary to bear them. When ye make many prayers, I will not hear you,' Isa. i. 14. What is the reason ? ' Your hands are full of blood.' Even sacrifices and supplications (good services in their own

nature) are made displeasing by the leaven of sin : ' He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man ; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck,' Isa. Ixvi. 3. Sacrifices God commanded, and often commended; yet victinue impiorum, the oblations of the wicked, are abominated. iVo7i speciosa laus in ore peccatoni7ii, —Praise becometh not the mouth of a sinner.

Every unregenerate man claudicat in rectis, —halts in the straightest path. Omnia natiiralia bona jwlluta, omnia supernaturalia amissa, —His portion of natural good is defiled, but of supernatural good all share is vanished. reccavi, was David's voice after his sinful arithmetic f the same was Judas's voice after his damned treason. Similis sonus, non sinus, —There was the same sound, but not the same heart. Esau wept as much after the loss of the blessing, as Peter after the denial of his Master. Similes lacrymce, non animf£, —Like tears, but unlike souls. The Pharisee went to church so well as the publican; but the publican came home ' rather justified ' than the Pharisee. The Pharisee threw bounteously into the treasury; the poor •widow two mites : yet Christ commends the poorer gift for the richer charity. That work which seems the same in identitate operis, yet differs much ratione agentis, in respect of the workers. ]\Iany heathen excelled us in moral virtues, yet the ignorance of Christ did shut heaven against them. V(b tihi, Aristoteles : laudaris uhi non es, et damnaris tibi es,t—Woe to thee, O Aristotle, who art commended where thou art not, and condemned where thou art. Yea, even in a justified man's works, though pure from the Spirit, yet passing through his hands, there is some tang of this leaven, enough to keep them from being meritorious. Look then well both to the justification of thy person and the sanctification of thy works. Thou indeed confessest sin to be damnable, but it would grieve thee to go to hell for thy good deeds. Though a man should give all his goods to the poor, yet Avanting faith and love, he may for his charity go to the devil. Pray then that thy defects may be supplied by Christ, ' who gave himself a sacrifice for lis to God of a sweet-smelling savour,' Eph. v. 2, perfuming us with the pleasant odour of his merits.

(3.) By leaven soured we make relishable bread for the use of man; so by the ungodly s most cursed sins God will advance his glory. Will Pharaoh harden his heart 1 ' I will get me honour upon him,' saith God. That leaven of malice which soured the souls of those brethren against poor Joseph, the Lord made use of to his glory. From that ungracious practice he raised a pedigree of blessings. Otherwise there had been no provision in EgyjDt, no bread to spare for Israel, no wonders wrought by Moses, no manna from heaven, no law from Sinai, no possession of Canaan. So from the un-naturalest murder that ever the sun beheld, yea, which the sun durst not look upon, God glorified himself in saving us. The oppressor impoverisheth the righteous; God sees and suffers, and from his villany effectuates their good, by taking away those snares to save their souls. The Lord will glorify himself in the vessels of destruction; and the groans in hell shall honour his justice, so well as the soi^igs in heaven honour his mercy. How much better is it to glorify God in faithfulness, that will preserve thee, than in wickedness, which will destroy thee !

(4.) A man cannot 'live by bread only,' Matt. iv. 4, much worse by leaven.

No man can live for ever by his righteousness and good works, much less by

his sins. Sin is no nourishment to the soul; unless as some, Mithridates-

like, have so inured their bodies to poison that venenum nutrit, even venom

* That is, his numbering of the people.— Ed. + Aug.

doth batten them: so others their souls to sin, that they cannot keep life •w-ithout it. And indeed we say of some things, that they nourish sickness and feed death. Omne simile nutnt simile: inward corruption is fed and maintained by outward action. Covetise in Judas is nourished by filcliing his Master's money. Murder in Joab is heartened and hardened with blood. Theft is fatted with booties ; pride with gay rags ; usury battens by extortion ; sacrilege by cliurch-robbing. Pascitur libido conviviis, nittritur dc-liciis, vino accenditur, ebrietate jiammatur* —Banqueting is the diet of lust, wantonness her nurse, wine kindles a heat in her blood, and drunkenness is the powder that sets her on fire. Thus sin feeds upon this leaven; but with the same success that Israel upon quails : they fatted their carcases, but made them lean souls.

Though this leaven pass the swallow, yet it sticks in the stomach; sin may be devoured, but lies heavy on the conscience : ' Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but his mouth shall be filled with gravel,' Prov. xx. 17. It may be ' sweet in his mouth, but it is gall of asps in his bowels,' Job x. 15. Putrid meat is apt to breed and feed worms, so this leaven the worm of conscience; when they once come to feel it work, then ready to crj-, * This is my death !' unless God give them a good vomit of repentance, to put it off their souls, and the sober diet of sanctification, to amend and rectify their lives.

(5.) Lastly, sin and leaven are fitly compared for their sourness. There is a leaven sharp and sour, but sanative. ' The kingdom of heaven is hke unto leaven,' Matt. xiii. 33. But this leaven is far sourer, yet hath nothing but death in it. It is sour to God, sour to angels, sour to saints, sour to the sinner. Sin is sourer than any leaven.

[1.] Sour to God, who hates nothing but sin. He made man, and man made sin. He loves his own creature, but he hates man's creature. Sm is sourer to him than the devil; for non odit peccatum diaholi causa, sed diaholum peccati causa, —he hates not sin for the devil's sake, but the devil for sin's sake. It is so sour to him, that for one sin he plagued a world of men ; how will he plague one man for a world of sin ! So sour that he could relish no man for it, till he had killed it in the sides of Jesus Christ. We are all so sour that, but for this sweetening and perfume, we could never have been endured. The Scripture, for our understanding, ascribes senses to God ; and we find every sense displeased vdth sin :—

First, It is offensive to his smelhng: He tells the Jews that their sins did stink in liis nostrils. So did the world offend him, that he washed and soused it in a deluge; and then, after Noah's sacrifice, is said to ' smell a savour of rest,' Gen. viii. 21. For this cause they had their altar of incense ; and God commanded a perfume to be made to him: ' The Lord said to Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, with pure frankincense; and thou shalt make it a perfume, pure and holy,' Exod. XXX. 34. Both signified that we all stunk by nature, and are only perfumed by the incense of Christ's prayers and righteousness.

Secondly, It is offensive to his tasting : ' I looked,' after all my pains and kindness,' for good grapes, and the vine brought forth wild grapes,' Isa. v. 2. When he comes to taste the vintage of our lives they are sour grapes : * Ye turn judgment into wormwood,' Amos v. 7. Justice is pleasant unto the Lord, but injuiy bitter as wonnwood. So the Jews served Christ; instead of wine, they gave him vinegar to drink. He turned their water into wine; they turn his wine into vinegar. Good works of faith and obedience are

* Aiiibr.

that ' best wine' which we should give * our Beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak,' Cant. vii. 9. But evil deeds are sour to his palate.

Thirdly, It is offensive to his feeling: so sharp that the spear, thorns, whips, and nails were blunt to it. Our iniquities were so heavy to his sense, that he complixins himself to be burdened under them, ' as a cart is pressed with sheaves,' Amos ii. 13. The Lord of heaven lay groveUing on the earth, and as if he were cast into a furnace of his Father's wrath, sweating drops of blood. They are so harsh still to his feeling, that he chaUengeth Saul for wounding himself: ' Why strikest thou me ?' Acts ix. 5. Saul strikes at Damascus, Jesus Christ suffers in heaven.

Fourthly, It is offensive to his hearing: ' The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, because their sin is very grievous,' Gen. xvi. 20. Our dissensions and quarrels are as jarring in God's ears, as if divers distracted musicians should play upon divers bad instruments so many several tunes at one time. The confusion of sins brought the confusion of languages. God's ear could not endure the distraction of their hearts; therefore their own ears shall not distinguish the dissonance of their voices. The cry of blood and oppression makes so grievous a noise to heaven, that vengeance must only quiet it. Our murmurings, our oaths, blasphemies, slanders, are like the croaking of frogs, howling of dogs, and hissing of serpents in God's hearing.

Fifthly, It is offensive to his seeing : ' Though thou wash thee with nitre, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord,' Jer. ii. 22. Our ojjpres-sions are like running ulcers, our adulteries as most sordid and filthy thmgs. The prophet, Isa. Ixiv. 6, compares it to the most feculent defilement and loathsome turpitude that can be uttered. ' Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity,' Hab. i. 13. Oh, let us abhor that filthiness which will turn the face of God from us! Neither are they displeasing only to his senses, but grievous to his mind : ' Is it a small thing for you to grieve men, but you will grieve God also ?' Isa. viL 13. It is dangerous to anger him that can anger all the veins of our hearts. It was the prophet Isaiah's complaint of Israel, ' They rebelled, and vexed his Holy Spirit,' chap, Ixiii. 10. Yea, they are offensive to his very soul: ' Your new moons and appointed feasts my soul hateth,' chap. i. 14. Thus he protesteth against recidivation, Heb. x. 38 : 'If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.' This is an emphatical speech, and an argument of God's hearty detestation. ' The wicked, and him that loveth violence, his soul hateth,' Ps. xi. 5. Therefore he is said to bend his soul to revenge : ' Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this ?' Jer. V. 9.

[2.] Sour to the angels : for if they ' rejoice at our conversion,' Luke xv., then they grieve at our perversion. How sour is that sin which brings grief unto the thresholds of joy ! They blush at our falls, rejoice at our integrity. ' Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth for them who shall be the heirs of salvation ?' Heb. i. 14. Let us, then, feast them with integrity, not with the leaven of iniquity.

[3.] Sour to the saints : the church is our mother, and she laments to see any child of her womb averse from goodness. Therefore as a loving mother, whose husband was slain for the safety of herself and children, if she sees any child transgress the rules, and break her husband's testament, she tells them of their father's kindness; she describes his deadly wounds and ghastly looks; and, to make their facts more odious, she sheweth some garment of his embrued with blood. So the church often offers to our considerations

how Christ, her dear love and Lord, was betrayed, condemned, crucified ; tells us our sins have done this; that they were the Judas betraying, the Herod mocking, the Pilate condemning, the Longinus wounding, the hand of Jews recrucifying Christ. Now as Dido adjured departing ^Eneas, Per ego te has lacrymas, &c,; per si quid unqicam cbdcefuit nobis, horuvi miserere lahorum: so our mother entreats us, (yet entreating is too low a phrase for a mother,) pe?- talent cruorem, per tantum amor em, —by so precious blood, and by so gracious love, to sin no more ; at least to abhor such precipices of sin, and forbear (as it were) to choke him with such cursed leavens.

[4.] Sour to the sinner himself: for it ever leaves behind it a stmg of conscience. It may taste pleasing and palatable at first, but leaven is not sourer at last. Perhaps our judgments may be out of taste, as men in fevers; or Satan (that crafty apothecary) hath mingled the potion cunningly: yet though sap07'em amisit, venerium retinet, —poison is poison, though it come in a golden cup. Esau's pottage went down merrily, but the loss of his birthright was a bitter farewell. Whatsoever service sin doth us, it shews us but an ill-favoured trick at the last. It brings us to the door of terror, and then bids us shift for ourselves. It is like Lysimachus's draught of cold water, that refreshes him for a moment, and captives him for ever. By Solomon's rule, vexation is entailed to vanity, Eccles. i. A hedgehog must dwell in Babylon; a pricking conscience in a profane breast: ' Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee : this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heait,' Jer. iv, 18, ' Rejoice, 0 young man, in thy youth,' &c.; ' but know that for all these things God wiU bring thee into judgment,' Eccles, xi, 9, The verse begins with pleasure, but ends with terror. Sin will be sour at the last.

The allegory thus opened, the special treasure or instruction remains yet to be drawn out. We perceive what the leaven signifies, and what the lump. Now we must consider the relation betwixt modicum and totum; a little leaven, and the whole lump. ' A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump,'

A little sin infecteth a great deal of righteousness, ' Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and offend in one point, he is guilty of all,' James ii, 10. He hath broken totam legem, though not totum legis. I speak not here of the absolutely (dissolutely) wicked, whose life is like Eldred's reign, j^rava in principio, pejor in medio, pessima in ultimo, —bad in the beginning, worse in the midst, worst of all in th^ end,—but of those that have some good measure of grace, and stand in the state of adoption, yet may admit of Paul's prayer, ' to be sanctified throughout,' 1 Thess. v. 23. And upon good reason ; for there is a universal conniption, therefore should be a universal sanctification. In that young man that professed himself to have kept the commanfbnents, and Christ began to love him, yet there was a little leaven spoiled all—covetousness. Unum restat, one thing Avas wanting : ' Sell that thou hast, and give to the poor,' Matt. xix. 22. No, he was costive, and could not abide such a purge. In Herod, though he heard many sermons of John's preached gladly, (and it is some good thing to hear sermons with joy,) yet the leaven of Herodias marred all. ' Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto hini that teacheth him in all his goods,' Gal. vi. 6. This was the Apostle's canon, an ordinance that will kill where it is resi.sted; yet a world of arguments hath been invented to stop it up. We will give of charity; but any thing of duty ? Yes, of duty. Well, we will give somewhat of duty ; but part of all ? Yes, part of all. Put out this Iv rraaiv, and we will compound with you; though we take away a talent of your duties, we will return a mite of benevolence.

I will tell you a story : A seignior came with his servant to one of Our Lady's images, (no matter which, for they do not scant her of number.) He threw in an angel of gold; the humble picture in gratitude made a courtesy to him. The sei-vant observing, aud wondering at her ladyship's plausible carriage, purposed Avith himself to give somewhat too, that he might have a courtesy. So he puts into the basin sixpence, and withal takes out his master's angel; the image makes courtesy, and seems to thank him still. It is common with this city to take away the clergy's angel, and to lay down sixpence in its stead ; yet look they for courtesy too, but I think no honest man will give them thanks.

This little leaven undoes all goodness. ' You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God commands you,' Deut. v. 33. All? Put out in omnibus, ' in all,' and we will say something to it. But as Dens remittit ovinia peccata, aut nulla, —God forgives all sins, or none; so we must faithfully resolve against all sins, or we repent of none. As is God's remission, such must be our contrition. Every man is an Adam, a good conscience his paradise, lust the forbidden fruit : one lust is able to turn him out of aU his comforts. Hast thou kept thy hands from injury ? Yet if thy tongue have offended, thou shalt be judged of thy ' idle words.' Suppose thou hast preserved castitatem linguce, sobriety of speech, (yet ' if any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man,' James iii, 2,) but thy thoughts have welcomed a pleasing lust, those thoughts have leavened thy soul. ' For God will' not only 'bring every work into judgment,' but 'every secret thought, whether it be good or evil,' Eccles. xii. 14. Men have brought that opinion mto a proverb, ' Thought is free;' no, thy thought is God's bond-slave. Aa thou canst not think a good thought but by his suggestion, so not an evD. thought but by his permission. If but thy thought harbour this leaven, the whole lump is soured. Actions men see, thy thoughts only God and thyself Ille liber inter accusatores, quern firopria non accusal conscientia, — That man needs fear no accusers, that is freed fi'om the condemnation of his own conscience. There are six motives that infer and enforce a caution of little sins. Little sins are dangerous, because they are, 1. Mortalia, they are deadly. 2. Plurima, they are numerous. 3. Insensibilia, not easily felt. 4. Materialia maximorurn, they are the materials or seeds of gross sins. 5, Maximas inficiunt virtutes, they leaven the best virtues. G. Facilius 2ier-dunt, they more cunningly destroy the soul.

1. Minima mortalia; even the least offence is mortal in its own nature, culpable of transgression, and liable to malediction, ' The wages of sin is death,' Rom, vi, 23, It was a strange gloss of Haymo upon that text: Hoc non de omnibus 2)eccatis intelligendum est, sed de criminalibus, —This is not meant of all sins, but only of such as are criminal; such, saith he, as St John speaks of: ' There is a sin unto death, I say not that thou shouldst pray for it,' 1 John v. 16. So St Paul's indefinite speech of all sins he restrains to St John's particular sense of one sin : that sin, which shall never be forgiven, against the Holy Ghost. For otherwise, if St John should intend it of all criminal sins, then it would follow that we should not pray for heretics, adulterers, homicides; which were directly cross to the rule of charity. Certainly Paul in that general rule admitted of no exception; it is an aphorism wherein no sober judgment can find distinction. The Apostle thought of no venial when he called all mortal. ' The wages of sin'—not of this or that sin, as sacrilege, robbery, blasphemy, &c., but of sin, any sin, every sin ; though men deem it trivial, they shall find it mortal—' is death.'

I know there is a just distinction of sins, of greater and less. Parity or

Gal. V, 9.] tub bad leaven. ;5t>l

equality of all transgressions is an idle dream. It was a worse murder to kill Zachariali at the altar tliau Uriah in the field. To steal sacra de sacro, holy things out of a holy place, is worse theft than to steal j))'ofana de jjto-fano, common things out of a profime place. The difference of the punishments manifests a difference of the sins. As in heaven 'one star excels another star in glory;' so in hell one firebrand exceeds another in burning, though all feel the fire hot enough. Christ tells the Pharisees that they make their proselyte ' twofold more the child of hell than themselves,' ilatt. xxiii. 15. Tolerahilius erit Sodomce, —'It shall be more tolerable for Sodom in the day of judgment than for Capernaum,' Matt. xi. 24 ; and yet the Sodomites were then in hell. They that devoured widows' houses under the colour of long prayers 'shall receive greater damnation,' Luke xx. 4. As they have been more wicked, they shall be more wretched. This distinction of sins we take up and justify, yea, we dare go further, and say there are some sins mortal, and some venial, but not in their own nature. The difi"erence is not ratione j^evcatorum, sed peccantiiim, —not in respect of the sins, but of the sinners. To the faithful and penitent all sins are venial; to the unbelievers and impenitent, all sins are mortal. It is misericordia remittentis, not natura transgressionis, —the mercy of the forgiver, not the quality of the sin,—that maketh it venial. All transgressions are mortal in themselves, and by repentance all venial in Christ. The least sin, legally considered, is mortal; the greatest sin, evangelically considered, is pardonable.

This difference we approve; yea, we say that small sins are more easily pardoned, and great sins, when they arc remitted, are more hardly remitted. For certainly offenders are more or less punished, according to the quahty of the offence. An eye with an eye, but blood with blood, and life with life. Yet still say we not, that a sin is in its own nature venial. For even the least is dvo/x/a, ' the transgression of the law,' 1 John iii. 4. It is for the doctrine of Eome to lessen sin, and to extenuate punishment; and that for two reasons : first, that they might please the people with some liberty; and next, that hereby they might build up their purgatory. For they assign mortal sins to hell, and venial to that purging fire. They offer herein a double wrong—both to their own modesty, and to God"s mercy. To their own modesty, for they extenuate their faults in sinning; to God's mercy, for they disparage his goodness in forgiving. They affirm that sins of omission, weakness, forgetfulness, and ignorance, be -prceter legem Dei, but not contra legem Dei, —that they be besides the law of God, not against the law of God. This doctrine, like the 'lips of that strange woman, drop as a lioneycomb, and are smooth as oil,' Prov. v. 3; biit their ' end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword,' ver. 4. This is a dangerous delusion ; for hence they come so to neglect those less sins, that peccata minima be at last thought nulla. As they have certain orders among them, friars Minorites, friars Minims, and then Nullani, NuUans; so sin bates and dwindles from a minorite, or less sin, to a minim, or least sin, and from a. nimim to a nullan, to be no sin at all. Thus incipit esse licituvi, quod solet esse jiublicuvi. The commonness takes away the heinousness; from being generally practised, it comes to be universally allowed.

Every sin is committed against God : ' Against thee, thee only, have I sinned,' Ps. li. 4. Look upon the infinite majesty oftcnded, and by that judge the quality of thy offence. There be shis of weakness, sins of ignorance, and sins of malice. Those of wealuiess are said to bo committed against God the Father, whose special attribute is power. Those of ignor-

ance, against God the Son, wliose special attribute is wisdom. Those of malice, against God the Holy Ghost, whose special attribute is love. Whether then they be of weakness, of ignorance, or of malice, they offend either the power of God, or the wisdom of God, or the love of God; therefore acknowledge secundum magnitudinem Dei, magnitudinem peccati, —confess the least sin great and bad that hath offended a majesty so great and good.

2. Minima 2)h('}'ima, sins less heinous, are the most numerous. Many littles make a mickle. Small drops of rain commonly cause the greatest floods. Quo minus violentum, eo magis 2^erpetuum, —The less violence, the longer continuance. The drizzling sleet, that falls as it were in a mist, fills the channels, they swell the rivers, the overcharged rivers send forth their superfluous waters over the containing banks; now the meadows are polluted, the corn-fields spoiled, the cattle drowned; yea, even houses, and towns, and inhabitants are endangered, and firm continents buried under a deluge of waters. Many little sands, gathered to a heap, fail not to swallow a great vessel. De parvis grandis acervus erit. You have eagles, hawks, kites, and such great fowls of rapine, flying always alone; but the sparrows and pigeons, that devour the grain, by mnumerable troops. There were not more grievous plagues to the Egyptians than came by the con-temptiblest creatures,—as frogs, lice, flies, locusts,—by reason of the monstrous swarms, ' covering the face of the earth, and darkening the land, and devouring the fruit of the whole country,' Exod. x. 15; yea, even kiUing the people, that ' there was no remedy found for their life,' Wisd. xvi 9. Thus great destRiction ariseth from little causes; therefore, oion contemnenda quia parva, sed metuenda quia multa, —let us not despise our sins because they are little, but fear them because they are many, saith Augustine. The small drops of sin, continually falling, have drowned many souls. As they have been our arms to fight against God, so God will make them his armies to confound us. Timenda rnina multitiulinis, etsi non 7nagnitudinis, —Let us fear them for their number, though we slight them for their nature.

A pace is but a little space of ground; yet a thousand paces make a mile, and many miles bring to hell. Si negligis quia non pessima, caveas quia plurima, —If they be not the worst, they are the most; and is it not all to one purpose whether one Goliath or a thousand Phihstines overcome thee ? The bird brings so many little straws as make up her nest: the reprobate so many little sticks as make up his own burning pile. Augustine saith there is m sin both weight and number. Esti non timeas quando expendis, time quando numeras. Judge them by tale, and not by weight. Put a wanton speech, a loose gesture into the balance, though Christ found it heavy, and every soul shall for whom he did not bear it, yet it is censured vix culpa, a little faulting, a little faihng : so little, that were it less, it were nothing. But now leave thy geometry, and come to arithmetic : begin to number thy wanton works, and unchristian gestures, and carnal thoughts; now, lo, they come in by troops and herds, thicker than the frogs into Egypt, miraris numerum. Thou standest amazed at their number, and now criest, Miserere mei Deu^, —Lord, have mercy on me a most wretched sinner. Yet when thy recognition hath done its best, and thy memory represented those swarms of sins to thy conscience, thy view is as far short as wiU be thine answer; neither can extend ad millesimam, vel viinimam partem: thou hast not seen one of a thousand. ' Who can understand his errors ? O Lord, cleanse thou me from my secret faults,' Ps. xix. 12.

Thus it is not trutina, but scrutinium, that will teach thee the danger of these little sins. Thou didst never steal thy neighbour's goods by breaking

into his house, therefore pleadest not guUty to that law, ' Thou shalt not steal.' Examine, thou shalt find passed from thee so many covetous wishes as make up a robbery. Thou art no swearer; yet through the door of thy lips have scaped out so many idle words, as being put together will make up a blasphemy. Thou never madest the member of Christ a member of a harlot by uncleanness ; yet thou hast given indulgence to as many lustful thoughts and desires as being summed will make up a great adultery. I fear that many who have forborne the forbidden bed have yet by their lusts, scatteringly and forgetfully admitted, framed up an adultery as great as David's. Some that have made a conscience of grand oaths and impudent blasphemies, yet have ejaculated so many loud, lewd, and false attestations, as have conflated a blasphemy no less impious than Kabshakeh's. A tradesman disdains to he, abhors to oppress; yet hath uttered so many commodities by dissimulations, concealments, false warrantings, cunning frauds, as make up an oppression equal to Jeconiah's. A Protestant abominates sacrilege, and downright robbing the church; yet hath so long been bold to make use of his impropriation; or if iu a meaner condition, wi,th his compositions, customs, detiaies, legal alienations, leases, and fines, as make up a sacrilege not inferior to Achan's. Put my money to interest; no, saith another, I defy all usurious contracts ; yet by his pawns, mortgages, forfeits, cozenages, and such tricks known best to God his Judge, the devil his en-giner, his scrivener, and himself, he puts down unconverted Zaccheus for usury. Oh the incredible souls lost in the labyrinth of these unsuspected, and in their imagination justifiable, sins !

3. Minima insensihilia; these little sins are not so easUy felt, therefore most pernicious. If a man hath dyed his hand in blood, irrequieta conscientia, a peaceless conscience haunts him with incessant vexation: let him hate his brother, this little murder he feels not. The devil, like a roaring lion, is soon heard: forming himself to a fox, his insinuation is not perceived. He roars in monstrous iniquities, in treason, murder, sacrilege, oppression : these be thundering sins, that will waken the soul if it be not lethargised. But creeping like a silent fox, he devours the grapes without disturbance: ' Take us the foxes, the little foxes ; for they spoil the vines,' Cant. ii. 15. If Satan hew at the timber, and knock at the foundation of the house, we hear the noise and preserve the buUding. They are those small teredines, little sms, that insensibly eat it to dust, and it is ruined ere we are aware. So long as sin comes not in thunder, it never wakens men : if it do not enter into theo-machy, and denounce open war against God, they make but a Tush of it. To abuse the good creature is nothing, so long as they are not drunk; to give nothing to the poor is no sin, so long as they take not fi-om the poor; to sleep out the sermon is but a little drowsiness, all is well so long as they break not the Sabbath in absence from church. These and such like are the common thoughts; and so trivial an estimate they bear of these sins, that they think God should do them wrong to call them to any reckoning for them.

Thus they sow sins, as that enemy did tares, ' here a little, and there a little;' but grown up, the whole field was overgrown with them. A sin that cannot be committed, sine grandi corritptione sni, gravi Icesione proximi, magno contemptu Dei, —without his own notorious depravation, his brother's grievous oppression, God's manifest contempt and provocation ; this quickly amazeth a man, and he starts back from the devil's first offer. If Satan at first had come to Judas, Here" is a hundred pieces, betray thy ]\raster : none, he was not yet hardened enough in villany. Let Satan first work him to

VOL. II. z

hypocrisy, then to covetousness, and lastly he shall prevail with him for treason too. He might refuse a hundred pieces before, now he will take thirty.

When that good prophet wept upon Hazael, 2 Kings viii. 11-13, he asked, ' Why weepeth my lord ?' He answered, • Because I know the evil that thou wilt do to the children of Israel: their strongholds wilt thou set on fire, slay their young men with the sword, dash their children against the stones, and rip up their women Avith child;' he replied, ' What, is thy servant a dog, that I should do this great thing 1 ' He thought it impossible that the devil should ever work him to so horrid a mischief. But he did it: ambition brought him to a kingdom, a kingdom brought him to tyranny, tyranny to insolence, insolence not only to oppression of his own, but to inustion of other countries, among which Israel felt the smart, in the burning of her cities, and massacring her inhabitants. Thus by degrees he was wrought to this self-incredited mischief; as impossible as at first he judged it, at last he performed it. Doubtless there be some that would shudder at the temptation to perjury; yet fedetentim, by insensible steps they arrive at it: by lying they come to swearing, by swearing to forswearing. If the usm-er had an oppressed man's widow and orphans lying and crying at his doors, perhaps shame, if not remorse, would seize upon him ; but let him exact, enhance, oppress, excoriate the commonwealth, and not hear of it in a public clamour, he never winceth for the matter. A fact that looks at the first blush horrid and intolerable is presently either avoided, or within some modest limits restrained; but another dum j^arvum creditiw, securius in usu retinetur, —the opinion of parvity abates the opinion of pravity : that which is weakly censured is strongly retained. Our ofiicious lies, soothing adulations, amorous wishes, wanton songs, scoffing at ministers, censuring of sermons, being reproved, we laugh them out. But these laughing sins will be one day found crying sins. And if we cry not to God for mercy by repentance, they shall cry to God agamst us for vengeance.

4. Minima 'inaterialia maximomm, —Little sins are the materials of great sins. The seeds of all sins are naturally in us : not so much as treason, homicide, perjury, but are in us quoad potentiam, yea, quoad naturam et 2iropensionem, —there is in our nature a proclivity to them. Now the heart is so apt ground to produce and mature these innata mala, inbred seeds ta actuals, that without the preventing grace of God we cannot avoid them. Thou art a Christian, and fearest not that ever thou shouldest apostate into the denial of thy Saviour; yet let me say thou hast the materials of this sin within thee—timorousness and self-love. Thou sayest, ' Sure I shall never be a drunkard, that belluine folly shall never apprehend me;' yet thou hast the materials of this within thee, and that naturally and hereditarily from thy first gi-andmother Eve: a sweet tooth in thy head, a liquorish appetite to delicate meats and intoxicating wines.

Thou canst not be a traitor, nor admit of conspiracy against thy sovereign, yet the material of this wickedness is within thee. That which we call gunpowder is made of the salt and fatter earth: in the ground are the materials, which when art hath concocted, chimed, prepared, charged, and discharged, it overturns towers and towns, ports and cities. We were once too near proving (by a woful experience) the violence of it; but the goodness of our Lord Jesus averted it. So in thy earth, thy heart, there is this salt and spumy matter, the mmeral of treason ; unless the reason of a man, and religion of a Christian, keep it from eruption. Thou art resolved never to think bighly of thine own worth, yet thou hast the seed of pride within thee : thou art

naturally (as Luther said) born -nith a Pope in thy belly. There is the material—to be too well aflfected to thy own doings. It is impossible, thou thinkest, for thee to be made a usurer, now thou hast no money; yet thou hast the seed of usury within thee, and—•

' Crescit amor nummi quantum ipsa pecunia crescit.'

All the sons of Adam love earth too well. Who shall ever persuade thee to bow down before an idol? Yet a dainty feast persuades thee to worship thine own belly ; this is no idolatry. It was but a little cloud that Elijah's servant saw, ' rising out of the sea like a man's hand,' 1 Kings xviii. 44; yet it portended a great shower. Sin seems at first like a little cloud, but it prognosticates a deluge of ensuing wickedness. The careless gallant, by many trifles often fetched, runs so far in the mercer's books unawares, that he cannot endure to hear of a reckoning. These little arrearages, taken up on trust, i-un our souls so deep into God's debt, that if the blood of Christ do not pay it, though we sold wife and children, and all we possess, 7io)i Juxbemus uncle, we can never discharge it, jSIatt. xviii. 25.

5. Minima i^eccata maximas injiciunt virtutes, —A little sin infects a great deal of righteousness. The leprosy infected the garments, and the very walls of the house ; but sin hath infected wood, and wool, and walls, earth, air, beasts, plants, and planets; and stuck a scar on the crystal brow of nature itself : ' For we know the whole creation groaneth, and travaileth in pain together until now,' Kom. viii. 22. If the great world groan for man's sin, shall not the little world, man, groan for his own sin \ Send a Little temptation in at the ear or eye, it will not rest working till it runs like poison to the heart, David let in a little leaven at his eye, it quickly wrought to his heart, gangrened to adultery, to blood; hardly cured.

A little coloquintida spoils all the broth : a spot in the face blemisheth aU the beauty. Naaman the Syrian is plentifully commended : ' He was captain of the host, a great man with his master, and honourable, because the Lord by him had given deliverance to Syria : he was also a mighty man of valour, but he was a leper,' 2 Kings v. 1. The same hut mars all; but he was a leper. So in the soul, one vice disgraceth a great deal of virtue. When he was cured and converted by Elisha, first he is charitable, offers gold and garments, but he excepts ' bowing in the house of Eimmon;' he is devout, and begs earth for sacrifice, but excepts Rimmon; he is religious, and promiseth to offer to none but the Lord, but he excepts Rimmon. This little leaven, this ' hut Rimmon,' soured all. ' Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinlving savour,' Eccles. x. 1. The apothecaries' imction is a thing praised in the Scriptures, compounded of many excellent simples, made not so much for medicine as for odour; yet the flies of death putrefy it: 'so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.*

When one commended Alexander for his noble acts and famous achievements, another objected agamst him that he killed Callisthenes. He was valiant and successful in the wars; true, hut he killed CaUisthenes. He overcame the great Darius; so, hut he killed Callisthenes. He made himself master of the world ; grant it, hut still he killed CalUsthcnes. His meaning was, that this one unjust fact poisoned all his valorous deeds. Beware of sin, which may thus leaven the whole lump of our soul. Indeed we must all sin, and every sin sours; but to the faithful and repentant Christian it shall not be damnable : ' There is no damnation to them that are in Jesus Christ,' Eom. viii. 1. There is in all corruption, to most affliction, to none

damnation, that are in Christ. Our leaven hath soured us, but we are made sweet again by the all-perfuming blood of our blessed Saviour.

6. Minima 2}eccata facilius destruunt, —The least sins are the most fatal to men's destruction. Anima est tota in toto ; so that if the toe aches, the head feels, the eye lets fall a tear, the very heart mourns. So let but the eye lust, the soul is in danger to be lost. 3fors 'ptr fenestras, saith the prophet. ' Death comes in at the windows, then enters into the palaces, to cut off the children without, and the young men in the streets,' Jcr. ix. 21. Is it but an unclean thought 1 Mors in ilia; as the children of the prophets cried. Mors in olla, —There is death in it and for it. A dram of poison diffuseth itself to all parts, tiU it strangle the vital spirits, and turn out the soul from the tenement. ' How great a matter a little fire Idndleth !' James ui. 5. It is all one whether a man be killed with the prick of a little thorn, or with the hewing of a broad-sword, so he be killed. We have seen a whole arm imposthumated with a little prick in the finger: if Satan can but wound our heel, (as the poets feign of Achilles,) he will make shift to kill us there ; even from the heel to send death to the heart. Therefore Christ calls hatred murder, a wanton eye adultery; besides the possibility of act, they are the same in the intention of heart. The hornet is a little fly, yet it stings deadly.

I know that heavier sins shall have a heavier weight of punishment; yet is the least heavy enough to sink the soul to the bottomless pit. Greater fury of iniquity shall have the hotter fire ; but, oh, let us never feel the heat of one ! A little leak sinks a great vessel. Pope Marcelline being accused for idolatry, answered for himself, ' I did but cast a few grains of incense into the fire; that was little or nothing.' Yet it was manifest offering to idols; is that nothing 1 Christ would not obey Satan in his minimis: he would not answer his desire in the smallest suit he could request, of turning ' stones into bread,' Matt. iv. 3, even whiles he was so hungry as forty days' fasting could make him; teaching us to deny Satan in his least motions, lest custom of having them granted make him so impudent as to take no repulse in his greatest temptations.

This is the devil's method of working ; as it is in the first psalm : * Blessed is the man that hath not walked,' &c. First, he gets a man to walk a turn or two with him in sin, as it were to confer and debate the matter. After some walking, lest he should be weary, he prevails with him to ' stand in the way of sinners;' after admission of the thought, to commission of the act. Lastly, he persuades him for his ease to ' sit down in the seat of the scornful ;' falling to despise God and deride all goodness. Thus he brings h im from walking to standing, from standing to sitting stUl; and this is limen inferni, the very threshold of hell. We judge of sin as of the sun; little because far off, yet indeed it is bigger than the earth. The nearer we come to the sense of iniquity, the greater it appears. Was it such a sin for Adam to eat a forbidden apple ? Yes ; the greatness is remonstrable in the event: it brought destruction upon himself and his posterity. Is it such a heinous offence for David to know the number of his people ? Do not princes make good their muster-books by such a qiicere and numeration 1 The plague witnessed the greatness of it, and himself cries, Peccavi, ' I have done wickedly,' 2 Sam. xxiv. 17. Look on the least sin in Satan's false glass, and it seems contemptible ; behold it in the true glass of God's law, and it appears abominable. The devil stands betwixt wicked men and their sins all their life; but placeth their sin betwixt heaven and themselves in death; writes them in text letters on the curtains, that their amazed souls cannot

choose but read them. Thus he that led them living by sin to presumption, now drives them dying by sin to desperation.

Satan seems modest, and will be contented with a little when he can get no more; he wUl jDlay at small game before he sit out. Wilt thou not cut throats ? yet quarrel and appoint fields. Not so ? yet hate thine enemies. Not professed hatred ? yet watch occasions to hinder his good. If thou wilt not injure his estate, yet at least scandalise his good name. He will take little rather than nothing. The Israelites in the desert had no rich and costly sacrifices to ofi"er to Baal-peor, Num. xxv. 2. They had not such store of beasts but the oblations to God took them up. I cannot see what they should have fit for this sacrifice to Baal, except manna and water; too good for the devU, but he is content with this. Yet it is evident that they committed idolatry : ' Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them : as it is written. The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play,' 1 Cor. X. 7. Rather than want their custom, Satan shall take such as they had. Will Naaman worship God? yet let him worship Rimmon too. No, he •mil not do so ; yet let him bow to Rimmon ? No, nor so much ; yet let him .' bow before Rimmon,' 2 Kings v. 18. The devil is glad of this, where he can get no more. Thus Pharaoh miuceth and limits with Moses concerning the dismission of Israel, Exod. viii., x. God's charge was : 'Let my people go three days' journey in the wilderness,' to celebrate a feast to the Lord. Now mai-k how Pharaoh would compound it. First, ' Sacrifice to God in this land.' No, saith Moses; we must go into the wilderness. Then saith Pharaoh, If there be no remedy, go, and go to the wilderness, and sacrifice to your God; but 'go not far.' Nay; we must go three days' journey. Then Pharaoh, ' Go ye, the men, but leave your children behind you.' Nay ; we must go old and young, sons and daughters. Then Pharaoh, ' Go ye, men, women, and children, so far as your feet can measure in three days; but your flocks and your herds shall be stayed.' Nay; 'we will not leave a hoof behind us.' So when the devil perceives no remedy, he falls to indenting with niggardly grants and allowances.

Somewhat hath some savour; give him at least a thought, a word, a look, as Lot's wife, and that something pleaseth him. Among the heathen they used to join together epula and sacrificia; with solemn sacrifices to their gods, solemn banquets among themselves. So the Apostle delivers the custom of the Moabites, 1 Cor. x. 7: in the midst of their idolatry ' they sat down to eat and drink.' So the Psalmist writes of that cursed com-mixtion of Israel with Moab, that they had idolatrous feasts: ' They joined themselves to Baal-peor, and did eat the sacrifices of the dead,' Ps. cvi. 28. One nation had a custom in these superstitious feasts to sacrifice to their idol capita, some noblemen's heads, according as it fell to their lots, together with their hearts and their hvers. It came to the turn of the king's special favourite thus to lose his life : the king resolving both to keep the custom, yet to save his friend, objected that God was no murderer, nor delighted in the blood of men. That if he were a God, he was certainly good, and goodness stood not in the desire of his own creatures' destruction. Therefore instead of the man's head, he offered the head of an onion ; and for blood, heart, and livers of men, all these of birds or beasts. The devU must be pleased with this : he saw that this little homage was some acknowledgment of his sovereignty.

Satan can hold a man's soul in by a little, as a bird that hangs in the net by a claw. Perhaps shame and fear keep some from eruption into scandalous things: the appearance is vizarded, the affection is not mortified.

Like a ennucli, lie doth not beget palpable and gross turpitudes, yet hath a lust^ itch, and concupiscence. This little serves the devil's turn. Satan would keep away the light of the truth from a man ; well he is so seated that he will have it; by knowledge he seems to cast out Satan. Yet if he can but iusmuate into his affection, this little cord wUl pull him in again with ease. Must he lose the sconce of thy understanding 1 Let him hold the citadel of thy desires ; this little gate will let him in at his pleasure.

I draw to conclusion ; let this teach us aU to make a scrutiny in our souls, and seriously to repent of this little leaven. Little in quantity, great in quahty ; little in estimation, powerful in operation. Little in the sight of men, judging by outward appearance ; great in the sight of God, judging in truth. Lot said of the city of Zoar, ' Is it not a little one 1 and my soul shall live,' Gen. xix. 20 ; thou sayest of thy sin. Is it not a little one 1 and why should my soul die 1 A little postern opened may betray the greatest city. Jonathan tasted but ' a little honey on the top of his wand,' 1 Sam. xiv. 43, and hardly he escaped death for it. A little leaven makes the head heavy, and the heart sick. Eschew this little, if thou wouldst be great in heaven; for ' whosoever shall break one of these least commandments, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven,' Matt. v. 19. Minimus, that is indeed nullus ; the least there, because he shall not be there at aU. Let no tang of corruption come to thy least part, if thou desirest to preserve body and soul ' blameless to the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,' 1 Thess, V. 23.

Repentance must be to all dead works; sanctification takes liberty in no sin. Nullum 'peccatum retinendum spe remissionis, —No evil must be reserved under the hope of forgiveness. God gave a law, but no dispensation for any breach of it; his general ndes have no exceptions, unless it please the divine oracle to dispense with it. Thou shalt not worship an idol. 'No, not to save my life"? Not to save life, as those three servants of God professed to Nebuchadnezzar : ' If the God we serve will not deliver us, yet we wiU not serve thy gods, nor worship thy golden image,' Dan. iii. 18. Thou sayest, Minimum est, It is little ; but in mvmmis Jidelem esse, magnum est, — to be fiiithful in a little is no little virtue. ' Well done, good servant: thou hast been faithful in a little, therefore I will make thee ruler over much.' He that is not careful in a little is not to be trusted for more. If any man Avill corrupt his conscience for a pound, what would he do for a thousand 1 If Judas will sell his Master for thirty pence, about some two-and-twenty shillings of our money, what would he have sold for the treasury 1 God never gave a No7i obstante for sin. The Pope indeed gives bulls and indulgences, and pardons for cursed works before their perpetration; but God never allows leave to do ill. The Pojje says, ' Kdl an heretical king;' God says, ' Touch him not.' Woe to that soul who takes the Pope's word before the Lord's word ! God chargeth a prophet that ' he should eat no brejicl nor drink water in Bethel,' 1 ICings xiii. 9. Another prophet came, saying, * An angel spake to me' (blessed angels speak truth; nay, more, he spake) ' by the word of the Lord, Bring him back, that he may eat bread and drink water,' ver. 18. He did so ; but mark the event: returning home, ' a lion slew him by the way,' ver. 24. Believe not a man, believe not a Pope, believe not a prophet, believe not an angel, against the word of the Lord.

Let us refuse iniquity, in what extenuation of quantity or C(jlour of quality soever it be offered us. For sin is like a bemired dog : if it fawns on us, it fouls us. And the least sin is like a little leak in a shij), which if it be not stopped, will sink the whole vessel. The Freiv^hmen have a mill-

tary proverb : ' The loss of a nail, the loss of an army.' The want of a nail loseth the shoe, the loss of a shoe troubles the horse, the horse endangereth the rider, the rider breaking his rank molests the company so far as to hazard the whole army. From slender and regardless beginnings grow out these fiital and destructive effects. The doors are shut, the thief cannot enter; a little boy is put in at the window, and he opens the door for the great tliief: so the house is robbed. A charm is cast in at the window, eye or ear; that quickly unlocks the door of the heart, till all the rooms be ransacked, not a piece of virtue or one gem of grace left.

Pompey marching to the wars, requested to lodge his army in a certain city, by whose borders he must needs pass; the governor answered that he would not trouble his city with so numerous and dangerous a guest. Pompey then desired but entertainment and relief for his sick soldiers, who were perishing for want of succour ; the governor thought sick men could do them no mischief: this was granted, they admitted. Being there a while, they recovered their health, opened the gates to the rest; so became strong enough, to take the city. If Satan cannot get leave for his whole army of lusts, yet he begs hard for his weak ones, as sins of infirmity ; but those sickly soldiers soon get strength to surprise the soul.

The trees of the forest held a solemn parliament, wherein they consulted of the innumerable wrongs which the axe had done them; therefore made an act that no tree should hereafter lend the axe a helve, on pain of being-cut do'waL The axe travels up and down the forest, begs wood of the cedar, oak, ash, elm, even to the poplar; not one would lend him a chip. At last he desired so much as would serve him to cut down the briars and bushes; alleging that those shrubs did suck away the juice of the ground, hinder the growth, and obscure the glory of the fair and goodly trees. Hereon they were content to afford him so much ; when he had gotten his helve, he cut down themselves too. These be the subtle reaches of sin ; give it but a little advantage, on its fair promises to remove thy troubles, and it will cut down thy soul also. Therefore obsta ■pi^incipiis, —trust it not in the least. Consider a sin (as hideed it is) a crucifying of Christ; wilt thou say, I may crucify Christ a little ? I may scourge his flesh, wound his side, pierce his heart a httle 1 What man loves the Lord Jesus, who would either say it or do it 1 Consider thy falling into sin a hurling of thyself down from some high pinnacle; wilt thou say, I maj'- break my neck a little ? Consider it a casting thyself into unquenchable fire; wilt thou say, I may burn my soul and body a little 1 As suffei-ing, we think the least misery too great; so sinning, let us think the least iniquity too great. So avoiding also little sins, we shall find great favour with Jesus Christ. Amen.

MAN'S SEED-TIME AND HAEVEST;

OB.

LEX TALIONIS.

Be not deceived; God is not mocked : for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. — Gal. VI. 7.

These words have so near alliance to the former, that before we speak personally of them, we must first find out their pedigree. To fetch it no higher than from the beginning of the chapter, the line of their genealogy runs thus:—First, ' Supportation of the weak,' ver. 1,2; Secondly, ' Probation of ourselves,' ver. 4 ; Thirdly, ' Communication of duties to our teachers,' ver. G. The first is an action of charity; the second of integrity ; the third of equity.

This last is the father of my text; and it is fit that we, being to speak of the child, should first look a little into his parentage. PatHque simillima proles. It is this: ' Let him that is taught in the word communicate to him that teacheth in all good things.'

This, one would think, should stand like the sun, all men blessing it; yet Mammon hath suborned some dogs to bark against it, WiU they say, Let him is only permissive 1 They shall find it was imperative : 'Let there be light and there was Ught,' Gen. i. 3 ; though their sensible hearts want the obedience of these insensible creatures. Or wUl they except against taught, as if they that will not be taught were not bound ? Indeed many are better fed than taught; otherwise they would not deny food to his body that does not deny food to their souls. Or perhaps they will plead indignitatem do-centis, —the unworthiness of the teacher. And what Paul shall be worthy if every barbarian may censure him ? But non tollatur divinum debitum, j^ropter humanam debilitatem, —let not God lose his right for man's weakness. ' You have robbed me,' saith God, Mai. iii, 8 ; not my ministers.

Wni not aU this quarrelling serve ? Yet still Paul's proposition must have some opposition. Though we must give something to our teachers, yet this charge doth not fetch in tithes. This, this is the point; prove this, and you shall find many a great man's soul, as his impropriations cannot be, in a damnable lapse. I would say something of it; but methinks I hear my

friends telling me what Sadolet said to Erasmus. Erasmus would prove that worshipping of images might well be abolished. I grant, quoth Sadolet, thy opinion is good; but this point should not be handled, because it will not be granted.

I am sure God's law gives tithes to his church; but say they, that law is abolished, repealed by a new Act of Parliament. Paul in his epistle frees us from the old law. Indeed, Paul, speaking of our sanctification and salvation, notes our deliverance from the lusts of the flesh and from the lists of the law. From the ceremonial law wholly, from the moral only so far as it shall not condemn those in Christ. But who, save an advocate of Mammon, will limit tenths to ceremony ? God requires a portion of our time, of our goods,—the seventh of our time, the tenth of our goods,—and we have those that turn both into ceremony. Such make the Sabbath itself a mere ceremony. But' be not deceived; God is not mocked.'

This same tusiv dyadoT;, ' in all good things,' is of some latitude. Many will allow some of their goods, but they snarl at Paul's in omnibus. The minister shall have the Easter-book, perhaps some other trifles; it may be, against their wills, wool and lambs; but shall the black coat carry away the tithe-shock ? The gummed taffeta gentleman would fret out at this. They plead to their vicar, ' We give what the law allows.' What their law, not what the gospel. Axid yet they hope not to be saved by the law, but by the gospel.

The Apostle saith, 'part of aU ;' why then not the tenth part, which God at the first commanded, and custom in aU ages commended 1 That part once assigned of God should prevent all arbitrary disposing of men. What landlord leaves it to his tenant to pay him what rent he list 1 If Mammon must set out God's portion, he is sure to have but a little. It was never well with the church since it was at the world's finding. No man fears to surfeit whiles he is at his enemy's feeding.

I think the purest and precisest reformers—deformers, I should say—of religion can hardly order this matter better than God hath done. Every plummet is not for this sound; nor every line for this level; nor out of many such blocks can a man carve ]\Iercury. The canon law says, that si princeps causaiii inter partes audierit, et sententiam dixerit; lex est in omnibus similibus, —if the prince hear a cause betwixt parties, and give a definitive sentence, that is a law to decide aU controversies of the same nature. But we have the Prince of heaven's sentence for paying of tithes ; before the law to Abraham, under the law to the Jews; therefore small reason that it should not hold under the gospel among Christians, ' Be not deceived; God,' &c.

They were the church's; why are they not ? Plead what you wUl, God hath a grievous Quare imjoedit against you. You say they were taken away from idle drones and fat-bellied monks. So rapitmtur ab indignis, detinen-tur d dirjnis, —from the unworthy they were taken, and from the worthy they are detained. But to whom are they given 1 Possidebant Papistce, possident liapistce, —Those kept some good hospitality with them, these keep none. So that, as Comminseus'' observes upon the battle of Montchlery, some lost their livings for running away, and they were given to them that ran ten miles further. Idleness lost, and oppression hath gained. But let me say with the Psalmist, Ps. xi. 3, ' The foundations are cast down; but what hath the righteous done 1 ' The foundations of the church, which should hold up the gospel, tenths and maintenance, are cast down bepause of

* Lib. i., cap. 4.

S62 man's seed-time and harvest. [Sermon XLVI.

superstitious abusers ; but ' what hatli the righteous done' that these things should be taken frona them 1 A bishop coming to a town, because the bells rang not, suspended the organs* A strange kind of revenge, because the bells rang not in the steeple, to suspend the organs in the choir. So because those bells, not of Aaron, but of Antichrist, did not ring to God's glor}^, you have suspended the organs and means of living from them that take pains, and in your own consciences preach to you the sincere gospel of Christ. But ' be not deceived ; God is not mocked.'

Or perhaps you say, you must have these church-livings for hospitality's sake, that you may keep the better houses. So you make the clergy poor, that you may make the poor rich.

I have read that the Sophy of Persia, being to send a great sum of money for an offering to Mohammed in Arabia, would send none of his own coin, for that, he said, was gotten by ill means ; but exchanged it with English merchants, because theirs was gotten honestly, and with a good conscience. So it may be you think that your own unjust moneys, and extorted comings in by the ruin of your tenants, is no good offering to God. But the churchman's Living comes honestly, and with a good conscience, and therefore you will take that to offer your sacrifice of alms to God. But herein you come ^hort of the Persian ; you do not give your own lordships and lands in exchange. Yet methinks, if spiritual livings must be given to the poor, you might suffer the church to give her own. I could never find either in Albo J'rcetoruvi or in Ruhrica Martyrum how the laity was deputed to this stewardship. Sure they intrude themselves into this office, and will be God's almoners whether he will or no. If they will give to the poor, let them give that is theirs. Dona qu(B7-it, non spolia Deus,\ —God expects and re--spects gifts of thine own, not spoils of others. ' Be not deceived; God is not mocked.'

But where is your hospitality after all this? You can tell me ; nay, I can tell you. Bestowed among silk-men, mercers, yea, upon tailors, players, harlots, and other insatiable beggars of the same rank. In the reign of Alexander Severus, the tipplers and alehouse-keepers complained against the Christians, that they had turned a place of ground to some religious use which belonged to them. But the veiy heathen emperor could answer (upon hearing the cause) that it Avas honest and fit God to be served before alehouses. Who would not judge that tithes are fitter to be given to God, than to hounds, harlots, sycophants, inventors of fashions, and such bawds of pride and notorious iniquity ]

This I will speak boldly, and justify, that hospitality was at the same time impropriated from the land, that spiritual livings were impropriated from the church. You have not robbed Peter to pay Paul, but to pay Judas. And hence misery sets her black foot into so many fair doors : all comes to beggary at last. They that swallow churches, like dogs that eat knot-grass, never thrive after it. ' Be not deceived; God is not mocked.' I have rubbed this sore enough, and conclude with that saying of Chrysostom, Moneo z(t reddaiis Deo sua, ut Deus restituat vobis vestya,X —Restore to God his own, that God may restore to you your own.

Thus as he that had pulled one of Solomon's curtains, the rest would follow, though in the first there were work enough for his admiration ; so in this coherence, pardon me if I have been somewhat plentiful. It was the induction to my text; and the door thus opened, let us enter in to survey the building. ' Be not deceived,' &c. The whole may be distinguished into, * Aroad. Arcbb. of Cant. See Fox, Martyrol. f Ambr. t Clin-sost. in Mai. iii.

I. A caution; and, II. A reason. The caution,' Be not deceived; God is not mocked :' the reason, ' For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.'

I. The caution is partly dissuasive, ' Be not deceived;' 2. Persuasive, ' God is not mocked.' You may deceive yourselves, you cannot deceive God. These two circumstances make against two defects: 1. Error, 'Be not deceived;' 2. Hypocrisy, ' God is not mocked.'

1. The dissuasion : ' Be not deceived.' This is the voice of a friend, studying aut prcevenire errori, aut revocare evrantem, —either to prevent a man before he errs or to recall him erring. A phrase often used by our Aj^ostle, Eph. v. G, ' Let no man deceive you with vain words.' KUdl facilius est, qiiam errare, —There is nothing easier than to err. There is no man but errs; sometimes in via pedum, often in via viorum. This provision, then, is necessary, Mi^ 'rrXamadi. Deceits lie as thick upon the earth as the grasshoppers did in Egypt; a man can scarce set his foot besides them.

But to prevent the deceivings of sin is our Apostle's intention : Heb. iii. 13, ' Lest any of us be hardened, through the deceitfulness of sin.' Sin is crafty and full of delusion : there is no sin but hath its cozenage. Usury walks in Alderman Thrifty's gown. Pride gets the name of my Lady Decency. Idolatry, as if it dwelt by ill neighbours, praiseth itself, and that for the purest devotion. Homicide marcheth like a man of valour ; and Lust professeth itself nature's scholar. Covetousness is goodman Nabal's husbandry ; and Enclosing, Master Oppressor's policy. We were wont to say, that black could never be coloured into white; yet the devil hath some painters that undertake it. Evils are near neighbours to good. Erro7'e sub illo, pro vitio virtus crimina scepe tulit, —By that means virtue hath borne the blame of vice's faults; yea, and more than that, vice hath had the credit of virtue's goodness. But ' be not deceived.'

When men's wits, and the devil's to help, have found out the fairest pretexts for sin, God's justice strikes off all, and leaves sin naked and punishable. Many pretences have been found out for many sins; besides distinctions, mitigations, qualifications, extenuations, colours, questions, ncces.sities, inconveniences, tolerations, ignoi'ances. But when man hath done, God begins. One argument of God's now is stronger than all ours : ' Thou shalt not do this.' Go study to persuade thyself that thou mayest; yet at last God takes away all thy distinctions, when he pours his wrath on thy naked conscience. Then where is thy paint 1 If it prevail not against the sun, what will it do against the fire 1

God chargeth our first parents that they should not eat of the forbidden fruit: * If you do, you shall die,' Gen. iii. 4. The de\il comes first with a fiat negative: Non moriemini, —'Ye shall not die.' Then with subtle promises, ' Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.' But what is the event I They eat, and they die; are instantly made mortal; and should have died for ever, but for a Saviour. God bids Saul slay all in Amalek, 1 Sam. xv. 3, ' Smite Amalek; utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not.' Yet Saul spares Agag and the fat cattle. Why is this a fiiult ? ' I spared the best of the cattle for sacrifice to the Lord.' Will not this serve ? No ; God rejects Saul from being king over Israel, who had rejected God from being King over Saul, ' Be not deceived; God is not mocked.'

Consider we here the examples of Uzzah and Uzziah. For Uzzah; 1 Chron. xiii.lO, God had charged that none but the consecrated priests should touch the ark. Uzzah seeing the oxen ' shake the ark, put forth his hand to stay it up.' Was this a sin, to stay the ark of God from falling? Yes;

God proves it: he lays him dead by the ark's side. For Uzziah; God had charged, Num. xviii. 7, that none should invade the priest's office: ' The stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.' Uzziah wUl come to the altar with a censer in his hand to offer incense, 2 Chron. xsvi. 18. Why, is this an offence to offer to the Lord ? Yes; God makes it manifest: Uzziah is a leper to his dying day. God had commanded the prophet sent to Bethel, ' Thou shalt eat no bread, and drink no water there,' 1 Kings xiii. 17. Well, he is going homewards, and an old prophet overtakes him, and persuades him to refresh himself. No, says the other, I must not; ' for so was it charged me in the word of the Lord, Thou shalt eat no bread,' &c. But says the old prophet, ' An angel spake to me, saying, Bring him back, that he may eat bread.' WeU, he goes ; is not a prophet's word, an angel's word, authority enough ? No; the Lord proves it: he gives a Hon leave to slay him. ' Be not deceived; God is not mocked.'

The Jews knew that they ought not to despise their Messiah. He is come; lo, now, they study arguments against him : ' We know this man whence he is; but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is,' John vii. 27 ; and, ' Search and look ; for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet,' ver. 52. Be these their cavUs against God's express charge 1 He answers all, when he ' leaves their house unto them desolate.' I hope I may take a little, says Gehazi; but enough took him for it, a continual leprosy. The e-\al servant hath his plea. Matt. xxv. 25, ' I knew that thou wert a hard man,' &c.,' therefore I hid thy talent in the earth : lo, there thou hast that is thine.' But what follows 1 Ver. 30, ' Cast ye that unprofitable servant into utter darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

To come fnun example to application. It is God's command concerning princes, ' Touch not mine anointed.' The Papists will touch them with the hand of death. Why 1 They have warrant from the Pope. God's word says not so, either in precept or precedent. If any king in God's book had been deposed by a priest, all the schools and pulpits would have rung of it; we should have had no rule with the church of Rome. But it falls out happily, ut quod 'pr<xcei:)to non jubetur, etiam exemplo caveat, —that as it is not commanded by charge, so nor commended by examples. But will they still argue for the shedding of the blood-royal ? The gallows confutes them here; but their worst confutation will be confusion hereafter.

God says, ' Thou shalt not put thy money to usury.' Thou hast found out many distinctions to satisfy thy conscience, or rather thy covetousness. God's word and thy will are at odds. He says, ' Thou shalt not;' thou sayest, ' Thou mayest,' on these and these terms. Hell-fire shall decide the question. ' Eeheve the poor,' saith the Lord : thou suckest their bloods rather : but howsoever wilt give nothing. Why, may we not do with our own what we list ] Well, this same Ite maledicti, ' Go, ye cursed,' is a fearful and unanswerable argument. Thus flesh and blood speeds, when it wUl deal with God on terms of disputation. If God's one reason, ' Thou shalt not do this,' be not stronger than all ours now, it shall be one day. ' Let no man deceive you with vain words : for, for these things the wrath of God shall come upon the children of disobedience,' Eph. v. 6. ' Be not deceived.'

As every particular sin hath its particular colour, so there are general pretexts for general sins, whereby many souls are deceived. I find this doctrine, though plain, so necessary, that I must be bold to pursue it. You may easily forgive aU good faults. There are seven general pleas for sin:—

First, Predestination is pleaded. If I be written to life, I may do this;

for many are saved that have done worse. If not, were my life never so strict, hell appointed is not to be avoided. These men look to the top of the ladder, but not to the foot. God ordains not men to jump to heaven, bnt to climb thither by prescribed degrees. Non ]Kr saltum, sed scansum. Qui ordina/vit finem, ordinavit media ad finem, —He that decreed the end, decreed also the means that conduce to it. If thou take liberty to sin, this is none of the way. Peter describes the rounds of this ladder : ' Faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, jjatience, godliness, charity,' 2 Pet. L G. Thou runnest a contraiy course, in the wdld paths of unbelief, profaneness, ignorance, riot, impatience, impiety, malice ; this is none of the way. These are the rounds of a ladder that goes downward to hell. God's predestination est multis causa standi, nemini labendi,''^ —helps many to stand, pusheth none down. Look thou to the way, let God alone with the end. Believe, repent, amend, and thou hast God's promise to be saved. ' Be not deceived; God is not mocked.'

Secondly, It is God's will I should do this wickedness • he saw it, and might have prevented it. It is unjust to damn a man for that he wiUs him to do.

Ans. —This is a blasphemous and most sacrilegious cavil. Where did God ever will thee • to be, to swear, to opi^ress, to adulterise ? His will is his word; and where findest thou his word commanding sin 1 And shall God's prescience make him guilty of thy evil ? Then must thy memory make thee guUty of other men's evil. ' As thou by thy memory dost not cause those things to have been done that are past; so God by his foreknowledge doth not cause those things to be done which are to come.'t

Thirdly, Ignorance is pleaded : I knew not the deed to be evil; or if evil, not so dangerous. Indeed ignorance may make a sin minus, not nullum ; a less sin, but not no sin. ' I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief,' saith our Apostle, 1 Tim. i. 13. And, feccata scientium peccatis ignorantium prccponuntiir,'^ —The sins of them that know are more heinous than the sins of them that know not. But if thou hadst no other sin, thy ignorance is enough to condemn thee; for thou art bound to Imow. Qtii ea quce sunt Domini nesciunt, d, Domino nesciuntur,\ —They that wUl not know the Lord, the Lord will not know them. But I speak to you that may know; your ignorance is affected. ' Some of you have not the knowledge of God : I speak this to your shame,' 1 Cor. xv. 34. Midli ut liherius peccar-ent, Uhenter ignorant, ||—Many, that they may sin the more securely, are ignorant wilfully. Thus you may go blindfold to hell. ' Be not deceived; God is not mocked.'

Fourthly, A fourth saith, I have many good deeds to weigh with my evils. Lideed I am a usurer, an adulterer, a swearer; but I keep a good house, I give alms; and I will do more when I am dead. Indeed these are good works; bona accipientibus, non fadentibus, —good to the receivers, not to the givers. So a man may be born for the good of many, not for his own. Tliey write that the pyramids of Egypt were built for that great Pharaoh's tomb ; but the Red Sea disappointed him. ISIany think by good works to build up a heaven for themselves ; but leading unsanctified lives, hell prevents their purpose. And such a man as robs many hundreds to relieve some, may at last for his charity go to the devil. The Papists indeed stand ex-

* Aug. de Prccdest. Saiictonim.

+ ' Sicut tu memoria tu.a non cogis facta esse, qutc sunt prjeterita: sic Deus prsescientia sua non cogit facienda, quaj sunt futura.'— Aug. cic Liber. Arhitr., lib. iii.

X Aug. § Greg, in Pastoral, lib. i., cap. 1. || Bern, in 11 Grad. Humil.

tremely for building of abbeys, colleges for Jesuits, and augmenting the revenues of monasteries, that masses and dirges may be sung for their souls; they give full absolution to such a man, and seal him a general acquittance of all his sins. They make the besotted laity, especially some rich burgher, believe, that without any more ado, it is impossible for a man to be damned that lives in such a profession; and, which is strange, here they equivocate truly, so long as a man lives in it; but if he dies in it, there is the danger. But we know the person must be justified, or else the work is not sanctified. ' Be not deceived ; God is not mocked.'

Fifthly, But say some, God is merciful. Comfortable truth: else woe, woe to miserable man ! But shall God shew mercy to those that abuse his mercy? He will not be so merciful to thee, as to be unjust to himself. God will be just; go thou on and perish. God sheweth mercy to the relenting, not to the railing, thief. Wouldst thou have him merciful to thee, that art unmerciful to him, to thyself? Misericordia amplectenti, non tergiversanii datur. They that will lead a wicked life, sub spe misericordice, in hope of mercy, shall meet with a fearful death, suh terrore justitioe, in the horror of justice. Kiss the mercy of God, abuse it not. Where is prcesumptio Venice, will follow consumptio personce, —a presuming of favour shall be l^unished with a consuming wrath. ' Be not deceived,' &c.

Sixthly, Others allege, Christ died for our sms, and his satisfaction is of infinite price. This is the door of hope, from which the profanest wretch is angry to be driven. The most presumptuous sinner flatters his soul with this comfort; as if the gates of heaven were now set open, and he might enter with all his iniquities on his back Indeed there is no want in Christ; but is there none in thee? In him is 'plenteous redemption;' but how if in thee there be scarce faith ? Whatsoever Christ is, what art thou ? ' God .so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son,' John iii. 16. He did not let, or lend, or sell, but give; not an angel, nor a servant, but a Son; not another's, but his oivn; not his adoptive, but natural, his begotten Son; not one of many, but his o«Zy-begotten Son. Many degrees of love; but what of all this ? ' That whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' But thou hast no faith, therefore no privilege by this gift, 'I am the good shepherd,' saith Christ, John x. 11. Why? 'I give my life.' But for whom ? ' For my sheep.' Not for lustful goats, or covetous hogs, or oppressing tigers. If thou be such, here is no more mercy for thee than if there were no Saviour. If there be no careful observation of the law, there is no conservation by the gospel. No good life, no good faith ; no good faith, no Christ. ' Be not deceived; God is not mocked.'

Seventhly, Well, yet repentance makes all even wheresoever it comes ; or God is not so good as his word. Yes, God wUl be so good as his promise; but here is the doubt, whether thou wait be so good as thy pui-pose. Thou canst charge God no further than to forgive thee repenting; not to give thee repentance sinning. Promisit Deus 2]oe7iitenti veniam, non 2}ecca7iti pcenitentiam, —He hath made a promise to repentance, not of repentance. This is God's treasure : what is the reason the malefactor went from the cross to heaven ? Dedit poenitentiavi, qui dedit et paradisum, —God gave him repentance, that also gave him paradise. Art thou sure God wiU put this alms into thy polluted hand ? It is dangerous venturing the soul on such an uncertainty. He that sins that he may repent, is like one that surfeits that he may take physic. And whether this physic will work on a dead heart is a perilous fear. Alas ! what tears are in flint ? what remorse in a benumbed conscience ? Tutum est poenitenda non committere, cerium

non est commissa dejlere, —It is safe not to do what thou laayest repent; it is not certain to repent what thou hast done. It is the fashion of many to send repentance afore to threescore : but if they live to those years, they do not then overtake it, but drive it before them still. 'Be not deceived; God is not mocked.'

You see now what trust is in colours : how easily you may deceive yourselves, how unpossibly mock God. Leave then excuses to the wicked, that will be guilty, and God shall not know of it. Bernard reckons up their mitigations : Non feci, kc* —' I have not done it; or if I have done, yet not done evil: or if evil, yet not very evil; or if very evil, yet not with an evil mind ; or if with an evil mind, yet by others' evil persuasion.' ' Be not deceived ; God is not mocked.' If we ciy with that servant, ' Have patience, and I will pay thee all;' the Lord may forbear in mercy. But if we wrangle, ' I owe nothing; and God is too hasty to caU me from my pleasures;' he will require the uttermost farthing.

2. I have held you long in this dissuasive part of the caution. The persuasive was also much included in it, and therefore I Avill but touch it.

' God is not mocked.' God is often in the Scripture called the ' searcher of the heart.' Jer. xvii. 9, 'The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked : who can know it ]' Who '] E(jo Dominus, —' I the Lord know the heart.' So Solomon in his prayer : 2 Chron. vL 30, ' Thou only knowest the hearts of all the children of men.' So the apostles abou>t the election of one in Judas's room : ' Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men,' Acts i. 24. Now, he that knows the heart cannot be mocked. It is hard to beguUe the eye of man looking on us; how much more to deceive the eye of God looking in us ! Therefore, q^iood non audes facere aspiciente conservo, hoc ne cogites inspiciente Deo.

How vain a thing then is it to be a hypocrite, as if God had not a window in the heart to discern it! Hypocrites, saith Augustine, have Chris-tianum nomen ad judicium, non ad remedium,\ —the name of Christians to their condemnation, not comfort. Their words are like an echo; they answer God's call, but never come at him. Good company they will admit, to better their credit, not their conscience. Like crafty apothecaries, they have one thing written in their papers and marks, and another thing in their boxes. But because every man is as hasty to condemn a hypocrite as David was to condemn the oppressor in the parable, 2 Sam. xii. 5, when the Tu es homo lies in his own bosom, I will touch two or three particulars.

If we look into Popery, we shall find it universally a professed study to mock God. They make show, by their abundant prayers, of an abundant zeal; when (as if God saw not the heart) they think the work done is sufficient. Those

' Qui filo insertis numerant sua murmura baccis,'

keep number and tale; no matter with what mind : no, nor yet to whom, whether to this angel or that saint; to our Lord, or to our Lady. Yea, it is recorded that the Papists in Scotland (about Henry the Eighth's time of England) used to say the Lord's prayer to saints;:}: insomuch that when a little knowledge came into some men's hearts of this absurdity, there arose great schism. And one Friar Toitis was gotten to make a sermon, that the Paiernoiter might be said to sainLs. So were the people divided, that it

* ' Non feci; si feci, non male feci; si male feci, non multum male; si multum male, non mala iuteutione; si mala intentione, tanien alieiia persuasione.'— Ber. Tract, dc Grad. Humii, grad. 8. t De Temp., 215. J Foxe, Martyrol.

was a common question : ' To whom say you your Paternoster ? ' Call you these zealous prayers? 'Be not deceived; God is not mocked.'

As much might be said for their unclean celibate. Their single life makes show of great pureness, as if their adulteries, sodomitry, unnatural brothelry, unmatchable uncleannesses, were not known. They ostent their chastity, when urbs est jam tota lupanar. What would they but mock God 1

No less for their fastings. How deadly a sin is it to eat flesh on a Friday! yet it is no sin with them to be drunk on a Friday. A poor labourer ploughs aU day, at night refresheth himself with a morsel of bacon : he is a heretic. A gallant gentleman hawks all day, at night sits down to his variety of fishes, curious wines, possets, junkets : oh, he is a good Catholic. A hypocrite he is rather. Famam qucerunt ahstinentice in deliciis, —They seek the credit of temperance among full tables, full pots. Famam qimrunt, but famem fugiunt, —They desire praise, but they refuse hunger. But ' God is not mocked.'

For ourselves. If there be any here (because my text depends on that occasion) that robs his minister of temporal food, and yet makes show to hunger after his spiritual food; though he may cozen man unseen, either by his gTeatness or craftiness, let him know that ' God is not mocked.'

If there be any fraudulent debtor, that deceives his brother of his goods, then flatters his conscience that the merits of Christ shall acquit him; so packs aU upon Christ, let him pay it; let him know that ' God is not mocked.' The blood of Christ was not shed to pay men's debts, but God's debts. It hath virtue enough; but no such direction. Thou injurest Christ to lay such reckonings on him. No; Vende, solve, vive de reliquo, —' Sell that thou hast, pay that thou owest, live of that thou reservest,' 2 Kings iv. 7.

If there be any usurer, that deals altogether in letting out; that lets out his money to men, his time to Mammon, his body to pining, his mind to repining, his soul to Satan; though he comes to the church, and sits out a sermon, let him know that his mind is then bound to his obligations; and he creeps into the temple for the same end the serpent crept into paradise. Wretched men that are bound to his mercy! for, like a common hackney jade, he will not bear them one hour past his day. But let him know,' God is not mocked.'

If there be any oppressor, that comes to church in the shape of knight or gentleman, and thinks to cover all his exactions of his poor tenants, all his wringings of his neighbours, with going three or four miles to a sermon ; let him know that ' God is not mocked.' He prefers mercy before sacrifice, and would not have thy profession countenance thy evil deeds, but thy good deeds commend thy profession.

Baldwin, an archbishop of Canterbury, boasted often that he never ate flesh in his life.* To whom a poor lean widow replied that he said false; for he had eaten up her flesh. He demands how. She replies, by taking away her cow. Never pretend your earnest zeal, fasting or praying, or travelling to sermons, when you devour widows' houses, enclose commons, and so eat up the very flesh of the poor.

If there be any that allows sometimes the church his body, when the Pope always hath his heart; who, though he be in domo Dei, in God's house, is 2:>ro domo Antichristi, is for Antichrist's kitchen ; or that keeps a lady at home that wiU not come two furlongs to church, whereas our Lady travelled as far as Jerusalem, Luke ii. 41; who must needs be a Papist because her grandam was so, and grows sick if you but talk of the communion; and aU

* Act. and Monum.

this to save his lands on earth, though he lose his land in paradise : let him know, ' God is not mocked.'

If there be any here that hath given no religion yet a full persuaded place in his heart, but because he sees divers shadows, resolves on no substance ; and is like the bat, that hath both wings and teeth, and so is neither a bird nor a beast: his mind being like a pull" of wind, between two religions, as that between two doors, ever whistling. Protestants, he says, believe well, Puritans say well, and Papists do well; but till they all agree in one, he will be none of them all. To quit him in his own fantasy, let him then take from the one good faith, from the other good words, and from the last good works, and he may be made a very good Christian. But why then comes he to church 1 By the mere command of the positive law ; as he comes to the assizes when he is warned of a jury. But let him not be deceived ; ' God is not mocked.'

If there be any luxurious, that serves God in the temple, his flesh in the chamber ; any covetous, that, as if his soul was divisible, strives to serve two masters, though he doth it diversely—God with his art, the world with his heart; if any blasphemer, that here sings psalms, and abroad howls oaths and curses—' If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, that man's religion is in vain,' James i. 2G; if any seem xus/w dovhsuovrss, when they are xahuj douXsuovn;, servers of the Lord, when they are observers of the time : let them know to their horror, non deluditur Deus, ' God is not mocked.'

Gold cannot hide a rotten post from God's eye. If men will be humiles sine despectu, and jiauperes sine defedu* he sees it. Hypocrisy is like a burning fever, which drinks fervent heat out of cold drink. The h}^)ocrite is nothing else but a player on this world's stage ; the villain's part is his, and all his care is to play it handsomely and cleanly. He maliceth any man that would take his part from him : not unlike to him that being requested to lend his clothes to represent a part in a comedy, answered, No ; he would have nobody play the fool in his clothes but himself. He thinks to cozen all the world with the opinion of his purity; but there is one above sees him. ' God is not mocked.'

11. I have ended the caution; let us come to the reason : ' For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap ;' wherein observe—1. The manner ; 2. The matter.

1. In the manner there is a twofold generalitj^, of the thing and the person. There is a 'whatsoever' and a 'whosoever;' for the whole speech is indefinite.

(1.) The person is indefinite : 'a man,' any man, every man. This is the first generality. For country, be he Jew or Gentile, Turk or Christian; for degree, high or low, prince or subject, the greatest lord or the basest groom ; for estate,, be they rich or poor, the wealthiest burgher or the wretchedest beggar; for sex, be they male or female ; for condition, be they bond oi free. * What a man,' any man, * sows,' ckc.

(2.) The thing is indefinite : ' whatsoever.' This is the other generality. Be it good or evil, blessing or cursing, charity or injury, equity or iniquity, truth or hypocri.sy, deceit or honesty. ' Whatsoever a man soweth,' &c. EvU is of the flesh : and, ver. 8, * He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption;' and, chap. v. 19,' The works of the flesh are manifest: adultery,' &c.; they which sow such seed ' shall not inherit the kingdom of God.' Good is of the Spirit: ' And he which soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap

* Beru. VOL. II. 2 A

life everlasting;' cliap. v. 22, ' The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,' &c,; and ' to those that walk after this Spirit there is no condemnation,' Rom. viii. 1. 'Whatsoever.' There are no more sorts of men but good and evil; nor more sorts of ends than jpcena et 'prcemium, reward and punishment. Therefore whatsoever whosoever soweth, the same shall he also reap.

2. You see the manner. In the matter we must also consider two things —a seeding and a harvest. ' Whatsoever a man soweth' in his seed-time, ' that shaU he also reap' in his harvest. They that sow grace shall reap glory ; they that sow corruption must reap confusion.

To begin with the wicked : he that sows evil shall reap evil; he that soweth malum culpce, the evil of sin, shall reap malum poence, the evil of punishment. So Eliphaz told Job that he had seen. Job iv. 8, ' they that plough iniquity, and sow vrickedness, reap the same.'

And that either in kind or quality, proportion or quantity. In kind, the very same that he did to others shall be done to him; or in proportion, a measure answerable to it. So he shall reap what he hath sown, in quality or in quantity ; either in portion the same, or in proportion the like.

(1.) In kind. The prophet cursing Edom and Babel, saith thus, Ps. cxxxvii. 8,' O daughter of Babylon, happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.' The original is, ' that recompenseth to thee thy deed which thou didst to us.' So Zion rejoiceth over Edom: Obad., ver. 15, 'As thou hast done, it shall be done to thee; thy reward shall return upon thine own head.' So the Lord to Mount Seir : Ezek. xxxv. 15, 'As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel when it was desolate, so will I do unto thee : thou shalt be desolate, O Mount Seir.' Yea, ver. 14, ' When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate.' Prov. i.. Wisdom crieth, fools laugh; therefore saith she, ' I wiU also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh.' This is, ver. 31, 'to be filled with their own devices, to eat the finit of their own way,' to reap of their own sowing.

Thus was God's law : ' Eye for eye, tooth for tooth;' lex talionis; ' blood for blood.' So Abel's blood spilt on the earth cries for the blood of Cain, that runs in his murderous veins. Nature is offended and must be pacified; and no pacification can wash the land from blood, but their blood that shed it. Justice must cause them that have sowed blood to reap blood. The example of Adoni-bezek is most observable, Judges i. Judah and Simeon, warring against the Canaanites, surprised Adoni-bezek, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes. And Adoni-bezek said, ' Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table : as I have done, so God hath requited me.'

Thus is wickedness recompensed suo genere, in its own kind. So often the transgressor is against the transgressor, the thief robs the thief, 2)roditoris proditor; as in Eome many unchristened emperors, and many christened popes, by blood and treason got the sovereignty, and by blood and treason lost it. EvU. men drink of their own brewing, are scourged with their own rod, drowned in the pit which they digged for others; as Haman was hanged on his own gallows, PerUlus tormented in his own engine. iVec enim lex justior xdla est; quam neds artifices arte perire sna. Thus they reap in kind. Now—

(2.) In proportion. The punishment is apted to the quality of the sin. Adam at first did eat in wantonness; Adam shall therefore eat in pain. He excuseth his offence vsdth a bold forehead; therefore in the sweat of his forehead he shaU eat his bread. The woman's eye lusted; therefore in her eye

tears. She longed then against grace; she shall long now against nature. She overruled her husband before ; he shall overrule her now. Man hath the pre-eminence, and 'her desire shall be subject to him,'—should be, though in all it is not; but lightly, when Eve overrules Adam, the devil is in the business.

To trace along the passages of Holy Scriptures in this point—about proportion. The ambition of Babel-builders was punished with ridiculousness. Ham offending against natural reverence was damned to servitude. As it was but an easy judgment upon Henricus the Fifth, emperor of Germany, that had deposed his natural father, to have no natural son. Sodom was burned with fire unnatural, that had burned with lusts unnatural. Lot's wife abusing her sense, lost her sense; became a senseless pillar. She would look back, therefore she shall not look forward; she turned before, therefore now shall not stir; tchi respexit, ibi remansit.

Thus Absalom's folly was the recompense of David's adultery. He had slain Uriah with the sword, and the sword shall not depart from his house. Solomon divides God's kingdom ; his own kingdom shall be divided. Because Pharaoh drowned the male children of the Hebrews in a river, Exod. i. 22, himself and the Egyptian host shall be drowned in a Red Sea, chap, xiv. Dives would not give Lazarus a crumb; Lazarus shall not bring Dives a drop. Dedderavit guttam, qui non declit micam* There is fit proportion betwixt a crumb of bread and a drop of water. The tongue of that rich man, that had consumed so much belly-cheer, and turned down so many tuns of wine, shall not now procure one pot of water, not a handful, not a drop. Li his tongue he sinned ; in his tongue he is tormented. Judas was the instrument of his Master's death; Judas shall be the instrument of his own death. Insolent Bajazet vowed to imprison conquered Tamerlane in a cage of iron, and to carry him up and down the world in triumph; but Tamerlane conquering that Turk, triumphed over him just in the same fashion. Those two monsters of the age, Pope Alexander the Sixth and his darling Borgias, that had bathed their hands in so much blood, were at last, by the error of a cup-bearer, poisoned themselves out of those very bottles wherewith they would have poisoned the cardinals. Behold the proportion: punishments respondent to the sins.

Here is sufficient cause to make the wicked tremble : God hath proportioned out a judgment for their sins. !Man by his wickedness cuts out a garment of confusion for his own back. I know that this kind of punishing is not always executed in this world, God's temporal judgments are (like our quarter-sessions) kept here and there. Some, much, yea, most, is reserved for another world. If all sin were punished here, we should look no further. But ' Tophet is ordained of old : the pUe thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, Uke a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it,' Isa. XXX. 33. If no sin were punished here, man would not believe God's power. But some is : 'So that a man shall say, VerUy there is a reward for the righteous; verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth,' Ps. Iviii. 11.

Think of that lower future place, ye wicked, and the heavy proportion tha't must there be measured you. Here you have sown in your seed-time; there you must reap your harvest. Let the idolater think of this : he hath thrust God out of his throne ; God will thrust him out of his kingdom. The drunkard that abuseth so much wine must there want a little water. The usurer shall be there bound faster with the bonds of torment than he hath formerly bound poor men with his obligations. The covetous, that had no

* Aug.

pity, shall not be pitied : ' Ho shall have judgment without mercy that hath shewed no mercy,' James ii. 13. The lustful shall burn with a new fire ; the malicious shall find no further cause of envy. V(^ ridentibus; they that laughed shall now weep; and that as Rachel, for their joys, never to be comforted. ' He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity,' Prov. xxii. 8.

I list not to enter discourse of those infernal horrors. I may say with the poet, If I had a hundred tongues, and a voice of iron,

'Non Omnia poenarum percurrere nomina possim,'—

I could not run through the names of those endless torments. It is a fearful place: God send us all never to know more of it than by hearsay ! Where spirits are the tormentors, damnation the fire, the breath of an offended God the bellows, shrieking and gnashing of teeth the music, the effect of impatient fury; and all these terrors perfected by their eternity. We commonly say in misery, If it were not for hope, the heart would burst; here is no hope, and yet the heart must hold. The wretchedness is, it cannot burst. Poence gehennales torquent, non extorquent: puniunt, non Jiniunt corpora* It is called by Augustine, Mors sine morte, finis sine fine, defedus sine de-fectu.f

But some will say, Your text speaks of proportion : how can eternal vengeance be proportionable to a momentary offence 1 Yes; first, an infinite God is offended, and a finite man is the offender. Because he cannot be capable of an infinite wrath at once, he must have it in eternity; the short dimensions of his essence cannot answer so infinite justice but in the long extension of his punishment; what wants in place must be supplied in time. Christ indeed suffered enough in a short time, because he was infinite ; man cannot do so, and therefore must be for ever in suffering. Secondly, he that delights in sin desires it may ahvays continue : and velle pecca-tum, est peccatum, —so that an infinite desire must needs have an infinite punishment. Qui moritur sine poenitentia, si seviper vivei'et, semper pec-caret, —He that dies without repentance, if he should ever live, would ever sin. So Gregory : It is God's just judgment, ut nunquam mortuus careat supplicio, qui nunquam vivus voluit carere peccato,'^ —that the dead should have eternal punishment, who Kving would have been eternally wicked; ut nuUus detur iniquo terminus idtionis; qui quamdiu valuit, habere noluit te-)ini7mm criminis, —that no end should be allowed to his vengeance, that would have allowed himself no end of wickedness. As the good man, if he should ever live, would ever do well. If thou wilt therefore offend i7i oeterno tuo, God must punish in a^terno suo. Thy injustice would put no date to thy sins; God's justice shall set no date to thy sufferings. ' Thus ye have ploughed wickedness, and ye have reaped iniquity,' Hos. x. 13.

You see the wicked's seeding and harvest : God keep us from sowing such seed, that we may never reap such a crop ! The godly have also their seeding and their harvest. All their sowing may be distinguished into piety towards God, and charity towards men.

(1.) For piety. They sow in faith ; and God will bless that seed : it shall grow up to heaven, for it is sown in the side of Jesus Christ who is in heaven. ' He that beUeveth on God;' there is the seed : ' shall have everlasting life,' John v. 24 ; there is the harvest. Qui credit quod non videt, videbit quod credit, —He that believes what he doth not see; there is the seed : shall one day see what he hath believed; there is the harvest.

* Prosper. t De Spiiitu et Anima, cap. 56. % lu Moral.

They sow in obedience : this is also a blessed seed, that will not fail to prosper wheresoever it is cast. ' If ye keep my commandments ; ' there is the seed : 'ye shall abide in my love,' John xv. 10 ; there is the harvest. Kom. \\. 22, 'Ye are the servants to God, and have your fruit imto holiness j' there is the solving ; ' and the end everlasting life;' there is the reaping. Obedientia in terris, regnahit in ccelis. —He that serves God on earth, and sows the seed of obedience, shall in heaven reap the harvest of a kingdom.

They sow in repentance : and this seed must needs grow up to blessedness. Ps. cxxvi. 5, 'They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that gocth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed;' there is the sowing : ' shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him;' there is the harvest. Many saints have now reaped this crop in heaven, that sowed their seed in tears. David, Mary Magdalene, Peter; as if they had made good the proverb, ' No coming to heaven with dry eyes.' Thus nature and God diflfer in their proceedings. To have a good crop on earth, we desire a fair seed-time; but here a wet time of sowing shall bring the best har\'est in the barn of heaven. ' Blessed are they that mourn ;' there is the seeding : ' for they shall be comforted,' Matt. v. 4 ; there is the harvest. Lastly, they sow in renouncing of the world, and adherence to Christ: and they reap a great harvest. ' Behold,' saith Peter to Christ, ' we have forsaken all and followed thee,' Matt. xix. 27 ; there is the seeding. ' What shall we have therefore 1 ' What ] ' You shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel,' ver. 28, 29 ; all that you have lost shall be centupled to you : and you ' shall inherit everlasting life;' there is the harvest. * Sow to yourselves in righteousness, and reap in mercy,' Hos, x. 12.

(2.) For charity. He that sows this seed shall be sure of a plentiful crop. ' Whosoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones a cup of cold water only'—a little refreshing—' in the name of a disciple ; verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward,' ^latt. x. 42. But if he that giveth a little shall be thus recompensed, then ' he that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully,' 2 Cor. ix, 6. Therefore sparse abroad with a fuU hand, like a seedsman in a broad field, without fear. Doth any think he shall lose by his charity ? No worldling, when he sows his seed, thinks he shall lose his seed ; he hopes for increase at harvest. Darest thou trust the ground, and not God ? Sure God is a better paymaster than the earth: grace doth give a larger recompense than nature. Below, thou mayest receive forty grains for one ; but in heaven, (by the promise of Christ,) a hundred-fold: a ' measure heapen, and shaken, and thrust together, and yet running over, ' Blessed is he that considereth the poor ;' there is the seeding : ' the Lord shall deliver him in the time of trouble,' Ps. xli. 1 ; there is the harvest. Is this all \ No ; ]\Iatt. xxv. 35, ' Ye fed me when I was hungry, and gave me drink thirsty,' comforted me in misery; there is the sowing. Venite heati, ' Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you;' there is the harvest. I shut up tliis pohit with the Apostle's blessing : ' Now he that ministereth seed to the sower, both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness,' 2 Cor. ix. 10. God send you a good harvest!

I conclude. ' Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.' Oh that this text might be true upon all us at this time ! The Lord hath sown the seed of his gosftel; oh that he might reap your souls to his glory ! But shall we hope for that which the prophets found not ? ' I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought,' saith Isaiah, chap. xlix. 4. Nor the apostles ] ' I have fished all night, and caught nothing,' saith Peter.

No, nor Christ himself, ' who spake as never man spake ?' Yet himself teUeth us. Matt, xiii., that of four sorts of ground wherein the seed was sown, three were barren, and returned no fruit. Alas, how much seed is sown among thorns, rocks, and highway grounds ! You come to receive this seed, but it fructifies not. You bring forth hedge-fruit, like the heathen; scarce so good. We hear often, and as often forget.

Yet still, beloved, this text shaU be true. God hath sown, and he will reap : sown his word, and will reap his glory. His glory, either in your instruction or destruction, conversion or conviction, life or death. Oh, why should that be to your horror that is meant to your comforts ! Turn not that to your desolation which God sends to your consolation. Pray you then with me, every one to the Lord, that this seed now sovra may bring forth fruit in us all,—in some thirty, in some sixty, in some a hundred-fold,— to the glory of his holy name, and the eternal salvation of our souls through. Jesus Christ. Amen.

SPIEITITAL ETE-SALVE;

OR,

THE BENEFIT OF ILLUMINATION.

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may Jcnow what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. — Eph. I. 18.

The special grace that liere Paul prays for his Ephesians is illumination. Wherein is described to us—I. An eye ; II. An object. The eye is spiritual, the object celestial; the instrument is gracious, the spectacle glorious. ' The eye enlightened,' there is the organ; ' the hope of God's calling, and the rich inheritance of the glorified saints,' there is the object.

The eye is described by its situation and its qualification. The site is 'the understanding;' the qualification is ' enlightened.'

I. The eye is the most excellent organ of sense. St Augustine applies seeing to all the senses: hear and see, touch and see; and the Psalmist hath, ' Taste and see how gracious the Lord is.' Other senses discern only things near them; this, remote and distant objects. Some say the roimd-ness of the eye resembles the unity of the Deity, which is one and perfect; and the triangular sight, the trinity of persons. Tiiis is too curious. Happy is that intellectual eye, whose object is the blessed Unity in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; whose delight is good, yea, God!

In a clear eye, the looker sees his owa. image ; so God, in a sanctified understanding, sees a limited resemblance of his infinite self. And as some physicians say, that if looking in a sick man's eyes they see their image, there is hope of life ; but the want of this resultance is held an argument of instant death : whereby they give themselves a prognostic sign whether the patient will die of that sickness or recover it, by the reflection of his eyes. But it is certain, if God's image be not in the understanding, i7istat mors animcB, the soul is in danger ; if it sliine there, there is comfort of life, yea, life of comfort. Hence it is that the ' god of this world' doth so strive to ' blind the minds of them that believe not,' ne imago Dei, &c., ' that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine into them,' 2 Cor. iv. 4,

God liath set two lids to defend the corporal eye from annoyances. So he hath given the understanding dims jmlpehras, faith and hope, to shelter it. For the eye is not more tender to the body than the understanding is to the soul. And therefore Satan seeks by all means to hurt it, either by offering it violent blows, which the ' shield of faith' bears off, or by throwing dust into it,—' gifts blind the eyes,'—which the other lid of hope for better riches keeps out.

1. The situation of this spiritual eye is in the soul. God, framing man's soul, planted in it two faculties : the superior, that is the understanding, which perceiveth and judgeth; the inferior, that is the will, which being informed of the other, accordingly follows or flies, chooseth or refuseth. The Scripture, favouring the simplest capacity, compares these two powers of the soul to two known parts of the body : the understanding to the eye, the affections to the foot—the eye directing, the foot walking. Every man is naturally born blind and lame : as Zedekiah, captivated to the king of Babylon; first they ' put out his eyes,' 2 Kings xxv. 7, and then they lamed his feet with fetters of brass. So is eveiy man by nature, and therefore easily made a slave to the king of infernal Babylon, if the mercy of Christ should not redeem him. This consideration reacheth forth to us two uses; the one of instruction, the other of reprehension :—

Use 1.—This teacheth us to desire in the first place the enlightening of our eyes; and then after, the strengthening of our feet. So that sweet prophet ordereth his prayers, Ps. xxv. 4, 5 : first, ' Shew me thy ways, 0 Lord : teach me thy paths;' then, * Lead me in thy truth.' First clear my eyes, then enable my feet. Ps. cxix. 27, 32, ' Make me to understand the way of thy precepts,' and then ' I will run the way of thy commandments.' He that would sail safely must get a good pilot, before good rowers. Swift horses, without a skilful waggoner, endangers more. He that labours for feet before he hath eyes, takes a preposterous course; for, of the two, the lame is more likely to come to his journey's end than the blind. Could he run as swift as Hazael,* and overstrip the young hart on the mountains; yet being blind, he would hardly hit the way to heaven. There is but one way thither, bypaths mnumerable; it is a thousand to one against him that he misseth the right. If he be set into it, ynt there are so many blocks, rubs, obstacles put before him by the devil and the world, that he can no more go in the true way than he could discern it from the fiilse. But if a man hath eyes, there is hope he Avill creep to heaven, though on lame feet. He sees where Jerusalem stands, and hath direction for the way; (as travellers in scrolls : from such a village to such a city, &c.;) so the word of God prescribes his journey • from ' faith to virtue, from virtue to knowledge, from knowledge to temperance, from temperance to patience,' &c., 2 Pet. i. 5, till he comes to 'enter into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ,' ver. 11. Hence we see there is somewhat more hope of a vicious person that hath a good understanding, than of an utterly dark and blind soul, though he walks upon zealous feet. Let them know that they will come to heaven without eyes, when the wicked come out of heU without feet.

Which lets us see the kind love of the Popish clergy to their people, and how unfeignedly they desire their going to heaven, when they pluck out their eyes, and send them thither. So they may grope for it, as the Sodomites did for the door of Lot's house. That which they call the ' mother of devotion,' ignorance, Augustine calls iiesshnam matrem, the worst mother: Pessimce matris ignorauiice, 2^essimce it idem duce filice sunt: scilicet falsitas,

* Q». Asahel?— Ed.

et duhietas ; ilia miseiior, ista miserahilior ; ilia perniciosior, ista molestior^ —There are tvro evil daughters of the most evil mother ignorance : falsehood and doubting; the former is more miserable, the latter more pitiable; that more pernicious, this more troublesome. Let them that plead so impetuously their religion authentical from the fathers, {nos cum patribus rejicimur,) read the opinion of a great father concerning a main point of their doctrine—ignorance. ■ Chrysostom says, Prcecedit scientia virtutis cultum, — Knowledge of virtue must ever go before devotion : for no man can earnestly affect the good he knows not; and the evil whereof he is ignorant, he fears not.* So that true love to good, and hatred to evil, cannot occur to a heart nescient of them both. For scientia co7iscientiam divigit, conscientia scien-tiam perjicit, —knowledge rectifies conscience, so well as conscience perfects knowledge. Con must ever be in composition ; and so kindly uniting knowledge to devotion, there ariseth conscience.

If they allow not then their people eyes, they may as well lame their feet, and so send them like the Syrian band, instead of Dothan to Samaria. They say, ' This is not the way' to heaven, ' nor is this the city' of life : ' follow me, and I will bring you to the man,' Jesus Christ, ' whom ye seek. But he led them to Samaria,' '2 Kings vi. 19.

Use 2.—This reprehends a common fashion of many auditors. ^Vllen tho preacher begins to analyse his text, and to open the points of doctrine, to inform the understanding, they lend him very cold attention. That part of the sermon is spent in slumber, as if it concerned us not. But when he comes to apply his conclusions, and to drive home the use of his inferences by application, then they begin to rouse up themselves, and lend an ear of diligence : as if they had only need to have their hearts warmed, and not to have their minds warned and enlightened with knowledge. But, alas ! no eyes, no salvation. Your affections are stirred in vain without a precedent illumination of your souls. You must know to do before you cau do what you know. And indeed he that attends only to exhortation, and not to instruction, seems to build more upon man's zeal than God's word. Both do well together : attend to the ' doctrine,' and suffer also ' the word of exhortation,' that you may have both clear eyes and sound feet; those which God hath joined together let no man put asunder.

2. I come from the situation to the cjualification of this spiritual eye : ' enlightened.' For this blessing the Apostle prays to the ' Father of lights, from whom comes every good and perfect gift,' James i. 17 : from him, and from him only, conies this grace of illumination. Man's mind is not only dark, but darkness, Eph. v. 8, till the Spirit of knowledge light on him, and lighten him. Though Zedekiah was in Nebuchadnezzar's court, that great monarch, newly delivered of his monstrous ambition, to whom all the glories and pleasures of the world came a-gossiping, yet he saw none of this pomp and magnificence; his eyes were wanting, 2 Kings xxv. So blind Samson among the merry Philistines, Judges xvi., saw none of their rich apparel, costly cheer, and glorious triumphs. When the natural man comes into the temple, among the congregation of God's saints, his soul is not delighted with their prayers, praises, psalms, and service ; he sees no comfort, no plea-.sure, no content in their actions. True, he doth not, he cannot; for his understanding is not enlightened to see ' the hope of their calling, and the glorious riches' which the Spirit of grace and consolation sheds into them. He sees no whit into the awful majesty of God, filling all with his glorious

* Clirys. in Polit., lib. iii.:—' Nemo potest fideliter appetere quod ignorat; et malum uisi cognitum sit, non timetur.'

presence, and ruling all events with, liis providence; even disposing evil to his glory. Nothing of the beauty, mercy, pity of his Sa\dour, sitting at the right hand of his Father; not his highness being in heaven, nor yet his nighness to his brethren on earth. Nothing of ' Mount Sion, the city of the living God, the celestial Jerusalem; nor of the company of innumerable angels; nor of the general assembly and company of the first-bom, which, are written in heaven; not of God the Judge of all; nor of the spirits of just men made perfect; nor of Jesus.the Mediator of the new testament; nor the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel,' Heb. xii. 22.

What more than a world of happiness doth this man's eye not see! Hereupon we call a mere fool a natural. The worldlings have esteemed and misnamed Christians God's fools; but we know them the fools of the world. The greatest philosopher is but a sot to the weakest Christian; therefore philosophy, unbaptized with grace, is said to be monoculate, to have but one eye, and that is of natural reason ; a left eye of the soul. But the Christian hath two eyes : the left eye of reason, whereby he may see into the secrets of nature as far as the philosopher; and the right eye of faith, which the other wanting, cannot conceive the 'mystery of godliness,' 1 Tim. iii. 16. This mystery to him is but like a high candle to a blind man. God only then must give Solomon wisdom; and to his father, a knowledge above his teachers. 'If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God,' James i. 5. The first character our forefathers taught us was Christ's cross; our first spelling lesson, ' In the name of the Father,' &c.; to teach us that even all human knowledge, much more divine, is derived from God's fountain. There are two reasons Avhy we must all beg of God for ourselves, as Paul did for his Ephesians, this grace of illumination :—

Beason 1.—Our spiritual blindness came upon us by God's just curse for our sins. As the Philistines put out Samson's eyes for his many mischiefs done them; so God on far greater cause blinded Adam, and his perpetual issue. He had pure and good knowledge; but because his ambition was a-p-petere prohibitum, to desire that was forbidden, his punishment was perdere concessum, to lose that he had. Now, the same hand that laid on this penalty must take it off. The blind men in the gospel recovered not their sight till Christ came. They were as t3rpes to us, to teach us that only the Spirit of Christ can restore our spiritual eyes. Therefore of this Spirit are we counselled to ' buy eye-salve, to anoint our eyes, that we may see,' Eev. iii. 18.

Reason 2. —^Thls original defect is increased by actual transgressions. We were born ignorant, we have made ourselves blind, putting out even that remaining spark of nature. We ' mind earthly things,' Phil. iii. 19; setting not only our ' afi'ections,' Col. iii. 2, but even fixing our whole knowledge on this world. And it is impossible that a man's eye should look on earth and heaven also at one instant. It is a rule in philosophy : Nothing receives anjiihing but that is empty of all other things of a contrary nature. The ear must be empty of all sounds, the taste of aU savours, the eye of all colours, before there can be entertainment given to a new object. The smell possessed with rue cannot scent the rose ; the taste infected with gaU imagines all morsels bitter; and a green glass held before the eyes presents all things looked on green. So if the soul's eye be taken up with the gaudy vanities of this pied world, it cannot discern the tilings that concern everlasting peace. The understanding then must be withdrawn fi*om earth that it may contemplate heaven. This confutes their practices that have vowed a monkish life, addicted to speculation and eying of heaven, yet are perpetu-

ally raking in the mud of the earth to get money, with an impossibility of reconciling these two opposite objects to their eyes at once. In vam they lift up ceremonial eyes of a forced devotion, for the eye of tlieir heart is fixed downwards; unless they have squint-eyed souls, that can look two ways at once. But I rather think that, like watermen, they look one way and row another; for he must needs be strangely squint-eyed that can at the same instant fasten one of his lights on the light of glory, and the other on the darkness of iniquity. The riches above and below are remote things; quo-Tnim dum aliud contemplatim aspicimus, aliud contemptim despicimus, — whereof whiles we admire the one, we vilipend the other. This blindness then being both hereditary to our natures, (and hereditary diseases are not easily cured,) and augmented by our wilful disorders, can be taken away by no hand but God's. ' Since the world began was it never heard that any man'—not man, but God—' opened the eyes of one that was born blind,' (John ix. 32,) and had iucreased this caecity by his own accessive and excessive wickedness.

He that would desire inspection into others' bKndness, had need of clear eyes himself. ' Cast out the beam in thine own eye, that thou mayest pull out the mote in thy brother's,' saith our Saviour. Let us take with us, then, the eyes of grace that we have, that we may the better look into that blindness of nature we had. There is in this blind eye diseases and defects. The diseases are double; so are the defects.

First, The diseases :—

First, The cataract, which is a thickness drawn over the eye, and bred of many causes : this especially, either from the rheum of vain-glory, or the inflammation of malice. From this eye there is no reflection, or returning its own beams, whereby a man may contemplate himself. But even the optic nerves and the visory s^iirits are corrupted : the memory cannot revolve, nor the mind present itself, what it is ; nee in se descendere tentat. This dark mind is the vault where Satan keeps his seminary, and sits hatching a black brood of lusts.

The means to expel this disease is to take God's law into thy hand and heart, and through that glass to look into thyself. 'Consider your own ways in your hearts,' saith the prophet Haggai, chap. i.

' Teipsum. Concute: tecum liabita: te consule, die tibi quis sis.'

Plumb deep into thy own breast: Animi tui cihyssum intra.* A man offends less by searching sin with too deep than with too short an instrument. Though this be, saith Anse]m,t gravis angustia, a hard exigent. Si me inspicio, meipsum non tolero; si non inspicio, nescio. Si video, horror; si non videro, mors est, —If I look into myself, I cannot endure myself; if I look not, I cannot know myself. If I see mysclif, there is horror; if I see not, there is death. This inspection is difiicult. Difficile est se nosse, sed heatum, —It is a hard, but a happy thing, to know one's self. Private sins are not easily spied out. Difficilius est invenire, quam interficere, as Caesar said of the Scythians,—It is harder to find them out than to root them out. Innumerable sins are in a man; if not in actual and ripe practice, yet in growing seeds. Qui indidget uni vitio, amicus est omnibus, —He that is partially indulgent to one sin is a friend to all. It is a pains well taken to study thyself How sweet a rest doth that night bring whose sleep is prevented with a recognition of ourselves !

* laid, de Sum. Bon., lib. i. ■ t In Meditat.

Bernard teacheth man a threefold consideration of liiniself: Quid, quis, quahs sit* —What by nature, who in person, what kind of man in conversation. Which particulars, when he casteth up, he shall find in sum, himself a miserable sinner. Si cupis bonus fieri, primum crede quod nialus sis, —If thou wouldest be good, first know that thou art evil. Chrysostom amplifies this self-knowledge by teaching a man to consider what he is in himself, dust and ashes; what is within him, much wickedness; what above him, an offended justice; what below him, a burning lake; what against him, Satan and sin; what before him, vain pleasure; what behind him, infallible death.t

But, alas ! what is all this that hath been said of the eye, if God enlighten not that mental eye to see it 1 He must open our eyes to behold the ' wonderful things of his law.' Otherwise man's sight to these objects is but as oculus noctiiw ad lumen soils. Spiritual joys he cannot perceive ; and what he conceives of death and hell, he thinks of them senselessly like a beast, or desperately like a devil. If his conscience begins to wake, he sings her asleep again. And as in some, the fuliginous vapours arising from the lower parts of the body blind the eyes; so in him the fumous evaporations of the flesh's lusts have caused absolute blindness. The Spirit of God, with the saving instrument of grace, can only take away this Ceitaract.

Secondly, There is another disease called the pearl in the eye : a dangerous disease, and hereof are all worldlings sick; for earthly riches is such a pearl in the eye, that they cannot see the pearl of the gospel, which the wise merchant sold all he had to purchase. By the distrusting and distracting cares of the world, this intellectual eye is not only depraved, but deprived of light. Affectio inundi, infedio animi, —Our souls are affected, infected with this contagion. We are easily inclined and declined from our supernal bliss, by the doting love of these transient delights. And iihi amor, ihi oculus, —the eye follows the heart with more diligence than a servant his master. Now, it is no wonder if that eye be blind which the devd hath daubed up with the dirt of this world! Covetousness is an engrosser, wheresoever it dwells; and as it would engross the whole universe to its unsatiate self, so it takes up the whole soul with all the affections and desires of it. It gives every member and faculty press-money, and binds all their contention to get riches. It leaves not so much as an eye for ourselves, not a thought for God. Quicquid de se intrinsecus agatur, oblitus est animus, dum extrinsecus occt/patur,X —Whiles the mind is externally busied, it forgets Avhat is done in itself, what shall become of itself. This pearl then must be cut out of the worldling's eye with the sharp knife of repentance, otherwise he is likely never to see heaven. For it may be well said to them, as the philosopher answered to some that asked him curious questions of the world, —whether it had a soul, whether it were round, &c.,— Vos de mundo solliciti estis, et vestram immunditiem non curatis: You are busy examiners concerning the world, but idle neglecters of your unclean selves.

Secondly, These are the diseases; there is also a double defect in this natural eye:—

First, It perceives only natural and external things, quce ante pedes stent,, —which lie at their feet; for ' it cannot see afar off,' 2 Pet. i. 9. It beholds only the bark or rind, but not the inward virtue. It can perceive what thy riches are, thy house adorned, thy lands tilled, thy grounds stocked ; but

* De Consid.

t Chrys. iu Tract, de Symb., lib, xiii. :—'Quid intra, infra, supra, contra, ante, post, se.' + Grep;. in Mor.

not those spiritual blessings and celestial privileges that belong to tliee as thou art a Christian. It judgeth the cabinet by the leather and cover, not by the costly jewels in it. It may see Job's outward affliction, not his inward consolation. If God swells their garners with plenteous fruits, and fills their bones with marrow, this they see; but the ' hope of God's calling,' the comforts of the gospel, the saidng health of Jesus Christ, and the promises of eternal life, they not see. The world is their circumference ; other things nee capiunt, nee cupiunt; neque tenent manibus, nee ceniunt oculis, —they neither comprehend nor covet, neither hold nor behold them.

A beast hath one kind of eye, a natural man two, a Christian three. The beast hath an eye of sense; the natural man, of sense and reason; the Christian, of sense, of reason, and of faith. Each of these hath its several objects, several intentions. The eye of sense regards only sensual things ; the eye of reason, only sensible and natural things; the eye of faith, spiritual, supernal, and supernatural things.

The eye of sense doth not extend to intelligible things and matters of discourse. Tell a brute beast of pliilosophy and the conclusions of nature, he understands you not. The belly of sense hath no ears for such instructions. Let it be fed, nourished, have the appetite delighted; of further felicity it hath neither notion nor motion. Nee noseit, nee poscit.

The eye of reason sees further than that of sense; and hath, more than common sense, a rational and discursive apprehension of intelligible objects. For the bodies of creatures, the brutes see them as well as man, and perhaps some better; but in these bodies he perceives hidden virtues, objectual to the scope of understanding, which the beast cannot see. I confess that many a man is defective in the gradual ascents of reason. Tell a rustic or mechanic that the sun is greater than the whole earth, or that a little star is larger than his cart-wheel, and he derides thy boldness, and thinks thou wouldst be admired for telling a lie; though this by the eye of mature reason is discerned perfect truth.

The eye of faith sees further than both the former; for it looks into the * hope of our calling, and the glorious inheritance of the saints.' The Christian hath not only an eye of sense common with beasts, nor an eye of reason common with men, but also an eye of faith proper to his profession ; wherein he goes beyond the natural man, further than the natural man goes beyond the beast. The unregenerate lives all his days in a mist : he cannot look up to heaven, in comparison whereof that world he sees is but a base molehill, and himself is like a bhnd mole digging in it. Yea, in this very world, his own proper element, how little doth he truly perceive ! There is no herb or flower he treads on that he truly knows. Yea, he is a stranger at home, and is ignorant of what is in his own bosom. But for things that concern a better world he hath no insight. ' The natural man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him ; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned,' 1 Cor. iL 14. Those things are incredible, impossible to him, which we build our faiths on. Happy tlien are their ' eyes that see these things !' In matters of the world our simplicity moves pity or makes sport; let it content us, that these losses are requited by our spiritual knowledge, seeing farther into better matters. That wherein we are ignorant, is transient and contemptible ; that which we know, is glorious and eternal. The ignorance of the former shall not hinder our blessedness; the knowledge of the other shall accomplish it.

Secondly, The second defect m the eye is an insolid levity: it is roving,

like Dinah's, and ravislied abroad; but wants self-inspection. Two things exceedingly move men—similitude and example.* When men judge others very evU, they begin to think themselves good. Nothing doth sooner blind us than comparisons. He that would mount to a high opinion of his own worth, by comparing it to the base wickedness of another, ^^erincZe est, ac si quis ad claudos respiciens, siiam miretur velocitatem,\ —is like one that observing a cripple's lameness, wonders at himself that he is so swift. The curious man goes abroad, et extcrius omnia co7isiderat; qui sic interna des-jncitjX —and is so intentive upon foreign business that he forgets his own. They are common questions. Quid ille fecit, —What hath he done ? and. Quid ille faciei, —' What shall he do V John xxi. 21. But not. What have I done ? 'What shall I do that I might be saved?' Acts xvi. 30. They are like tailors, that have taken measure of many men, never of themselves. Such a man doth not smite his own bosom with the pubhcan, but breaks his neighbour's head with the Pharisee. It is good for a man to keep his eyes at home, and set them about the domestical business of his own heart; lest at last omnibus notus, ignotus moritur sihi, —he that lived known to all, dies in ignorance of himself.

I cannot leave this excellent organ, the eye, tUl I have shewed you two things :—First, The danger of spiritual blindness; Secondly, The means to cure it.

Spiritual blindness shall appear the more perilous, if we compare it with natural. The body's eye may be better spared than the soul's; as to want the eyes of angels is far worse than to want the eyes of beasts. The want of corporal sight is often good, not evil: evil in the sense, and good in the consequence. He may the better intend heavenly things, that sees no earthly to draw him away. Many a man's eye hath done him hurt. ' The sons of God saw the daughters of ni.en,' Gen. vi. 4. David, from the roof of his palace, saw Bathsheba. Per oculoricvi heneficium, intrat cordis veneficium, — The hghtning of lust hath scorched the heart through those windows. Ma/-lus oculus, 7nalus animus, —An evil eye makes an evil mind. The Apostle speaks of ' eyes full of adultery:' it is a fearful thing to have an eye great with whoredom. And there be eyes full of covetousness, lusting after the grounds and goods of other men : as Ahab's eye was full of Naboth's vineyard. But non tutum est conspicere, quod non licitum est concupiscere, — let not thine eye be enamoured of that which thy heart must not covet. You see, therefore, that sometimes the loss of corporal sight doth the soul good; and the eye of faith sees the better because the eye of flesh sees not at all.

Besides, the bodily blind feels and acknowledgeth his want of sight; but the spiritually blind thinks that none have clearer eyes than himself. He that wants corporal eyes blesseth them that see; this man derides and despiseth them. Their bUndness is therefore more dangerous, qui suam ignorant ignorantiam, that ' know not they are blind,' as Laodicea, Rev. iii. 17. This conviction Christ gave to the Jews : ' If ye were blind, ye should not have sin : but now ye say. We see ; therefore your sin remaineth,' John ix. 41. The blind in body is commonly led either by his servant, or his wife, or his dog : there may be yet some respect in these guides. But the bhnd m sold is led by the world, which should be his servant, is his traitor; or by the flesh, which should be as a wife, is his harlot ; or by the devil, which is a dog indeed, a crafty cur, not leading, but misleading him. He that is blind himself, and led by such bhnd, or rather blinding guides, how should he escape the rubs of transgression or the pit of destruction ! * Cicero de Orat., lib. iii. + Sen. X Bern.

Now the means to clear this eye is to get it a knowledge of God, of ourselves. That the eye may be cured, this knowledge must be procured. Now God must be known by his works, his Avord, and his Spirit.

1. By his works. The book of nature teacheth the most unlearned that there is a Deity. This may be called natural theology. For ' his invisible things may be understood by his visible works,' Rom. i. 20. Prcesentemcjiie refert qiccelibet herba Deura, —Not a pile of grass we tread on but tells us there is a God. ' Ask the beasts, and they will tell thee; the fowls of the air, the fishes of the sea, the earth will declare unto thee, that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this,' Job xii. 7, &c. When a hermit was found fault with that he wanted books, he answered, that there could be no want of books, when heaven and earth stood before his eyes. 'The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth liis handy work. Day unto day uttereth speech; and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard,' Ps. xix. 1-3. All these creatures speak God; in whom is the act of all powers, and from whom the power of all acts. Whether thou have a carnal affection, filled with vanity; or a curious head, filled with variety; or a Christian heart, filled with verity; despise not the psedagogy and manuduction of the world, leading thee to know God.

2. But this book reads only to us (that ask, An sit) Beus est, that there is a God. If we ask further, Qais sit, Who this God is, or how to be worshipped, it cannot expound it. It brings us only, like that Athenian altar, Acts xvii. 23, ad ignotum Deum, —to the unknown God. We must turn over a new leaf, search another book, to take out this lesson. ' Search the Scriptures,' for they give this testimony. So Zechariah, ' Ten men out of all languages of the nations shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying. We will go with you, for we have heard that God is -with you,' chap, viii. 23. In the former, the book is the world, the school nature's light, the scholar man, quatenus homo, as he is man. But here the book is the Scripture, the school the light of grace, and the scholar Christian man, as he is a Christian. There was the eye of reason exercised; here of faith. There was taught God in his creatures ; here God in his Christ.

3. But this scriptural knowledge (common to the wicked) is not sufficient; there must be a spiritual knowledge : whereby, though he sees not more than is in the word, yet he sees more than they that see only the letter of the word. ' The anointing which you have received teacheth you all things,' 1 John ii 27. Call we then earnestly upon the Spirit of illummation for this knowledge. For it is not obtained per rationem, seel per orationem, — not by reason, but by prayers. ' For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,' kc, ' that you may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge,' Eph. iii. 18.

Now we must learn to see ourselves; and this self-contemplation must be made—1. By a natural; 2. By a moral; and, 3. By a spiritual glass.

1. Natiu-ally : by looking into the constitution and composition of our own persons; as Paul distinguisheth us into ' body, soul, spirit,' 1 Thess. v. 23. For thy body; it was not only ' fashioned beneath on the earth,' Ps. cxxxix. 15, but of the earth. Oiu: first parents were made of the earth: of the earth was their meat; of their meat their blood ; of their blood their seed; of their seed our bodies. Corrupta et corrumpentia corpora, —bodies coiTupt of themselves, and corrupting the souls. For thy soul; it is a real, spiritual, invisible and indivisible substance, diffused by God into thy body; who by placing this

SS4 SPIRITUAL EYE-SALVE. [SeRMON XLVII.

soul in thy flesh, hath set thee in the midway, betwixt the bodiless spirits above and the mindless bodies below. This soul is preserved by neither element nor aliment, but by him only that made her, and to whom she resteth not till she returns. For thy sjjirit; it is called vinculum and vehiculum, —a bond and a chariot. It is a bond to unite a divine and heavenly soul to an earthly elementary body; both these extremes meet friendly by this tertium, a finnamental spirit. It is called a chariot, because it carrieth the soul's faculties to all organs and parts of the body, and that with wonderful speed.

2. Morally : by considering how frequently we have transgressed those virtues to which the very heathen gave a strict obedience. Where is our justice, temperance, patience? We have idle designs, and idler desires; and give way to all evil that may be either thought or wrought; and what we dare not act, we dare like. We loathe (like fond sheep) the good pastures of fit benefits, and bleat after the browse of vanities. Like erring planets, we keep not the ecliptic line of virtuous mediocrity. As God hath all good in himself, all evil only in knowledge; so we on the contrary, have much good in knowledge, all evil in ourselves.

3. Spiritual knowledge goes yet further ; even in medullas, et penetralia cordis, —it searcheth the heart; and if in that most inward chamber, or in any cabinet thereof, it can find an idol, it brings it forth. It sees when the torrent of time beats thee down the stream of custom; what faintness is in thy faith, what coldness in thy zeal, when the awe of man gives the fear of God a checkmate. It sounds the lowest depth of the conscience, and spieth blemishes in the face of whitest mnocence. So it brings the best soal down on her knees, teacheth her the necessity of humbleness, and puts this prayer in her mouth, ' Lord be merciful to me a sinner !'

II. We have now done with the organ of seeing, the understanding, or soul's eye : let us come to the object to be seen, ' the hope of his calling, and the riches of the glory of God's inheritance in the saints.'

The object is clear and transparent to a sanctified eye. The philosophers propound six necessary occurrences to our perfect seeing; and you shall see them all here met:—

1. Firmness or good disposition of the organ that seeth. A rolling eye beholds nothing perfectly. A Dinah's eye is the prologue to a ravished soul. This must be a composed eye, steadfastly settled on the divine object; saying with David, ' My heart is fixed, 0 Lord, my heart is fixed.' The proposed glory is so infinite, that it may well take up the whole eye, for it shall one day take up the whole man. ' Enter thou, good servant, into thy Master's joy :' it is too great to enter into thee. This object is so immense, that we cannot well look besides it.

2. The spectacle must be objected to the sight: the eye cannot pierce into penetralia terrce, or suhlimia avli; nor can the understanding see into these supernatural joys, unless the Lord object them to it. Hence it is that many neglectfully pass by (sine lumine lumen) the light, for want of eyes to regard it. But God here produceth the wardrobe of his glory to the sanctified eyes ; as if he said, Venite et videte, Ps. xlvi. 8, ' Come, and see.' So Moses: * Stand still, and see the salvation of God,' Exod. xiv. 13. So Christ to his apostles: 'It is given to your eyes to see these things; to others but by parables.'

3. That there be a proportional distance betwixt the organ and the object: neither too near, nor too far ofi". A bright thing held too near the sight confounds it: be it never so bright, if too far off", it cannot discern it. God hath sweetly ordered and compounded this deference. Those everlasting

joys are not close by our eyes, lest the gloiy should swallow us up; for mortal eyes cannot behold immortal thmgs, nor our con-uptiblc sight see steadfastly that eternal splendour. ' ^Yho can see God, and live V And though you say it is the soul that sees, yet even this soul, whiles it is prisoned in this muddy vale, or rather jail, the flesh, hath by reason of the other's impotency and passibleness, a thick cloud between itself and glory. * For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face : now I know in part; then shall I know even as also I am known,' 1 Cor. xiii. 12. The best eye upon earth looks but through a glass, a lattice, an obscuring impediment. Now on the other side, lest this object should be too far off, that the intellectual eye could not reach it, behold, God hath given it the first-fruits : ' Pdghteousness, peace of conscience, and joy of the Holy Ghost,' Rom. xiv. 17 ; a prelibation of glory. It sees the earnest of the Spirit, 'sealing us up to the clay of redemption;' a pledge of those joys which otherwise no eye hath seen, no ear heard, nor heart on earth conceived.

4. It is required that the objected matter be substantial; not altogether diaphanous and transparent, but massy, and of a solid being. Otherwise the sight cannot perceive, nor the mind well conceive, the nature Avhich is so subtle and sublimed; but intends itself still further, tiU it can acquiescere in materiaiii visibilem, —rest itself on some visible object. But this object here proposed is no empty chiiyiera, or imaginary, translucent, airy shadow, but substantial: ' the hope of God's calhng, and a glorious inheritance;' which though nature's dull eye cannot reach, faith's eye sees perfectly. For hcec est fides, credere quod non vides.

And the subject of this spectacle is by demonstration proved solid and substantial; because nothing but that can give this intellectual eye firm content, and complacency. How go the affections of man in a rolling and ranging pace from one creature to another! Now thy heart is set upon wealth; thou wilt have it, though thou dig for it in visceribus both matris et fiUorum, —in the bowels of the earth, and of the sons of the earth. Say wealth is come, thou art then for honour; thy riches are a ladder, whereby thou wouldest cUmb to dignity. Dedecet divitem esse ignohilem. Nobility gotten hath not settled thee; thou art traversing new desires. Thy lust presents thee a beauteous paramour; unclean desires now fill up thy scene ; and thou playest, lilce that German, many parts thyself—a golden ass, a proud lion, a luxurious goat. Wealth and greatness command thy pleasure; thy lust is answered. Then thou art for music, and so actest a fourth part; thou art thine own fiddler. Now thy blood is to be heated with deUcatcs ; thou must be indulgent to thy throat with lust-provoldng meats : and so playest j-et another part, a caterer to uncleanness. When all is done—

' Non contenta quies; uon est sedata libido.'

When thou hast thus wandered, and begged of every poor creature a scrap of comfort, yet thou art but clawed and cloyed with variety, with vanity; not contented. It is all but one little crumb to one half-dead of hunger. Couldst thou pass over the vast universe, from the convex superficies of heaven to the centre of hell, yet the immense capacity, rapacity of thy desires will not be satisfied.

Well, then, did Augustine confess : Fecisli nos ad te, et inquietum est cor nostrum donee requiescat in te, —O Lord, thou didst make us for thee, and our heart cannot be quiet till it rest in tlicc. Nothing but the Trinity of persons in that one Deity can fill the triangular concave of man's own heart. The fire flieth to his own sphere, the stone fallcth to his centre, the rivers. VOL. ir. 2 B

run to the sea, as to their end and rest, and are but violently detained in any other place. The needle, touched with the loadstone, stands ever trem-bhng and quiveriug, tUl it enjoy the full aspect of the northern pole. Thus the Lord is only our centre, the very life of satisfaction, full of perfect and infallible comfort; and he alone can content the boundless apj)rehension of this intellectual eye. All other are but shadows and vanities; but this matter objected in my text satisfies. The Avorld cannot, but this can: ' the hope of God's calling, and his glorious inheritance,' &c.

5. Clearness of space betwixt the organ and the object; for the interposition of some thick and gross body prevents the faculty of the eye. The quickest eye cannot see through hills; and a crass cloud is able to hide the sun from us at noonday. On necessity, that we may behold with our understanding's eyes this celestial object, ' the hope of our calluig,' there must be a removing of all thick and impenetrable obstacles:—

(1.) Some have whole mountams betwixt their eyes and heaven; the mountains of vain-glory hinder their sight. They are ravished with the bravery of earth; they think there is no heaven but at court, no further scope of ambition than to be great in this world. If you tell them of the glory of God's inheritance given to his saints, alas! they believe not your prattle; they cannot see it. They cannot mdeed; for who can see through mountains 1

(2.) Others, to make surer prevention against their sight of heaven, have rolled the whole earth betwixt that and their eyes. These are the covetous, who are rooting down to the centre. If you tell them of this ' hope,' &c., they answer, N'ou videmus nisi tei^am, —We see nothing but earth. Well may they say so; for what eyes can see thi'ough the vast and condensed body of the earth ?

(3.) Others yet have interjected such obscure and pitchy clouds between then sight and this sun of glory, that they cannot see. ^^Tiether of errors, that darken the light of truth; or of affected ignorance, that blinds their own eyes; or of blasphemous atheism; they wUl see nothing but Avhat they do see. * Where is the promise of his coming ? Since the fathers fell asleep, aU things continue as they were from the beginnmg of the creation,' 2 Pet. iii. 4. Nil novi video, —I see no new thing : it was so, and it is so. Non aliud videre patres, aliudve nepotes aspicient. Or of rude and crude impieties, which both blear their own eyes, and shadow heaven's graces from them. Thus the devil deals with them, as the Pharisees' servants dealt with Christ: first they blind him, and then buffet him, and bid him prophesy ' who smote him,' Mark xiv. Q5. First he puts out their eyes with their own iniquities, and then leads them about to make himself sport. They cannot see the way to bliss, they have blinded themselves; interposed such clouds betwixt them and heaven, that this ' glorious light' cannot shine unto them. There must be then a clear space; and this God grants to faith : ' Stephen, fuU of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God,' &c. ' Behold, I see the heavens open, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God,' Acts vii. 55, 5Q. Though this be taken for more than a spiritual sight, yet hence we have this comfort, that our eyes of faith shall see God now in grace, and our eyes of flesh hereafter in glory.

6. Lastly, The object must be stable and firm, for if it move too swiftly, it dazzleth the eye, and cannot be truly '(according to the perfect form of it) beholden. An oar in the river often seems to the passengers as if it were broken, by reason of the swift and violent motion of the water. An arrow cuts the air -witli such quickness that we can scarce discern it, which lying

at the mark is easily seen. God hath therefore answered our desires, and fitted our understanding with a stable object; which Paul calls ' an exceeding and eternal weight of glory,' 2 Cor. iv. 17. 'A weight;' substantial and l)ermanent: not a light transient matter, nor a swift voluble nature; but weighty. Therefore let us ' not look on the things which are seen, but on the things which are not seen : for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal,' ver, IS. It is here called an inheritance, which none can take from us; that subtle lawyer, Satan, shall never be able to pick cavils against it.

You must not expect that I should enter into a particular resolution of our objected comforts; I must reserve that to a more liberal time. Only now let us set them in our meditation, and settle om'selves to attain them. Contemn we, condemn we the foolish choice of worldlhigs, in regard of our portion and ' better part, never to be taken from us.' AVhy should I mislike my gold, because he prefers his copper ? The least dram of these joys shall outweigh aU the pleasures of earth. And as one torment in heU shall make the reprobate forget aU earthly vanities; so the least drop of this pleasure shall take from us the remembrance of our former miseries. We shall not think on our poverty in this world, when we possess those riches; but forget our contemptible baseness, when God shall give us that ' glory of saints.' ' He shall not much remember the days of his life, because God answereth him in the joy of his heart,' Eccles. v. 20. God give us to see these thhigs now in grace, that we hereafter may see them in glory ! Amen.

THE SAINTS' MEETING;

on,

PEOGEESS TO GLOEY.

Till we all meet in the unity of the faith, and of the hioivledge of the Son of God, nnto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ—Ev^. IV. 13.

The first word of the text is a gate to let in our considerations, to contem-jjlate this goodly city: whicli indeed is like Jerusalem, ' a city of peace and unity;' harmoniously 'compact together. Thither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord,' Ps. cxxii. 4. And when we are in, let us number and ponder the towers and powers of it: for every pin and pinnacle shall afford us comfort. But we must first pass by this portal, until; and this very entrance will give us two observations :—

Ols. 1. Teacheth us, that God hath ordained the ministry of the gospel to last to the end of the world. ' Christ hath given apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers, to perfect the saints, and to edify his body;' to continue ' till we all meet in the unity of faith,' &c. So was his promise after his charge. Matt, xxviii. 19, 20 : his charge, 'Go teach all nations;' his promise, ' Lo, I am with you alway, unto the end of the world.' God wiU send shepherds, till every lost sheep be brought to the folds of peace. The minister's voice shall sound till it be overtaken by the archangel's trumj). The ministration of the law had an end; but there is none to the ministration of the gospel, before the end of the world. Here may be given a double excellency to the gospel, and prelation above the law: it is more gracious and more glorious.

(1.) The gospel is more gracious. ' God hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter kiU-eth, but the spirit giveth life,' 2 Cor. iii. 6. The proper oflice of the law was to threaten, terrify, condemn : Lex non damnans est ficta et picta lex, saith Luther,—That law that doth not condemn, is a feigned and a painted law. But the power of the gospel is to convert and save : ' The Lord hath

anointed me,' saith the prophet in the person of Christ, ' to preach good tidings unto the meek, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the acceptable year of the Lord, to comfort all that mourn,' Isa. Ixi. 1. The law was called the ' ministration of death;' but the gospel, like John Baptist, points us to Christ a Saviour : ' Behold the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world,' John i. 29. The law menacetli death; but the gospel assures us, ' There is no damnation to them which are in Christ,' Rom. viii. 1. When the law, like a stern sergeant, arresteth thee, ' Pay that thou owest;' the gospel produceth an acquittance, sealed in the blood of Jesus, and says to thy faith, All is paid. Quod lex operum minando imperat, lexjidei credendo impetrat* —What the law of works commanded threatening, the new law of faith obtaineth by believing.

(2.) The gospel is also more glorious: and that both in regard of the countenance and continuance. For beauty more glorious : because it is more honourable to be the messenger of mercy and life, than to be the minister of terror and death. A. deathsman is accounted base, but ' their feet are beautiful that bring tidings of peace' and pardon. ' If the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory,' 2 Cor. iii. 9. For continuance : ^Moses's glory is done awaj', but the glory of ]\Ioses's Lord remains for ever. ' The law Avas given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Christ Jesus,' John i. 17. The type is vanished, banished; but the substance abideth ever. ' AVhen that which is perfect comes, that which is in part is done away,' 1 Cor. siii. 10, There was a second testament to succeed the first; but after the second shall succeed none. So that if any man shall wUfolly and finally evacuate to himself the virtue of this new covenant, ' there remaineth no more sacrifice for his sins,' Heb. x. 2Q. Therefore the apostle concludes, ' If that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious,' 2 Cor. iii. 11. The blood of Christ doth mystically run fresh to the end of the world ; therefore the gospel must be preached, that this blood may be appHed. The gospel is that star that must bring us to Christ : therefore shall shine till our souls come to him in glory. The very subject of the gospel is everlasting life : therefore it shall not leave us, till it hath brought us thither.

Ohs. 2.—This xintil gives matter of exhortation : instructing us to wait with patience for this blessed time ; to be content to stay for God's xintil. It is a sweet mixture of joy in trouble, the certain hope of future ease. Thou art captived, thou shalt be freed; thou art persecuted, shalt triumph; thou art fought against, shalt reign; thou art derided, but thou shalt shine in glory. Only quietly expect this until. ' Yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry,' Heb. x. 37. But ' until this recompense of reward comes, ye have need of patience.' Labour not a violent extrication of thyself; abide and wait, 'till we all meet in tlie imity of faith,' ikc.

We are got through the gate, let us now enter the city; v;hcrcin v;e sha'l find five principal passages or streets :—

L "What 1 There shall be a meeting.

2. Who .^ We, yea, zve cdl: all the saints.

3. Wherein? In unity; that miity, u; rriv horrjra.

4. AVhereof 1 Of the faith and hnowledfje of God's Son.

5. Whereunto ? To a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fidness of Christ.

• All-.

1. What ? ' Meet,' The meeting of friends is ever comfortable : 'When the brethren heard of ns, they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage,' Acts xxviii, 15. They have sullen and tetrical spirits whom the sight of good friends cannot cheer. Fraternxmi vere dulce sodalitium. Ecce quam honum, <fec.,—' Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!' Ps. cxxxiii. 1. Some things are good, but not pleasant: as afflictions; they are not sweet, yet profitable : ' It was good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes,' Ps. cxix. 71. Other things are pleasant, but not good : ' The wicked take delight in sin, which slayeth the soul.' But this is both honum and Jucundum, —good and pleasant also.

There is a threefold meeting of the godly:—

(1.) In this life, with their souls in their bodies,

(2.) After death, of their souls without bodies.

(3.) At the last day, of both together in glory,

(1,) In this life; and here the communus termimis of their meeting is God's house; where always Christ himself is one of the number : ' Wheresoever two or three of you be gathered together in my name, I will be in the midst of you,' Matt, xviii, 20, But to have his blessed society, we must not only bring our bodies, but our minds with them. Quomodo erit Ghristus in medio nostrum, si nohiscum non erimus 1 —How should Christ be with us, if we be not with ourselves ? Fins valet consonantia voluntatum quam vocum. The harmony of our voices is not so pleasing to God as of our hearts. This is the happiest meeting in this world. The denial of this comfort made the soul of David sick, ' cast down, and disquieted within him,' Ps. xlii. 2, 10. And his revival was, that he might ' go unto the altar of God, unto God his exceeding joy,' Ps. xliii, 4. Indeed the ungodly think not thus : they are more delighted with the tabernacles of Meshech, and the taverns of Kedar. In Luke, when Joseph and Mary had lost Jesus, coming from Jerusalem, ' they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance,' chap, ii. 44, But they found him not until they came to Jerusalem ; and there he was ' in the temple.' The children of God, when they seek Christ, find him not in the world, among their kindred and friends in the flesh; but in domo Dei, —in the house of God. It is dangerous to be absent from these holy meetings, lest we miss of our Saviour's company. God did not promise to meet thee here,—thou usurer at the bank, thou drunkard at the alehouse, thou sluggard on thy unseasonable couch,—but at the church, Christ comes to appear to us, and we are gone, some about our farms of covetousness, others about carnal pleasures. In vain we seek God, if not in his right iibi, where he hath promised to be found, Fugienti boniim consortium, obvenit corrupium et corrumpens sodalitium. He that eschews Christian meetings, shall be met withal, either by the devil when he is lazy, or by the devil's jBiends when he is busy,

(2.) Wlien death shaU manumit and set free our souls from the prison of the body, there shall be a second meeting. ' IMany have come from the east and from the west,' far remote in place, and have ' met with Abraham and Isaac,' and the holy patriarchs, which Uved long before them in this world, ' in the kingdom of heaven.' So already in Mount Zion are the ' spirits of just men made perfect,' Heb, xii, 23, The purer part is then glorified, and meets with the triumphant church in bliss. This meeting exceeds the former in comfort—[1.] In respect that our miseries are past, our conflict is ended, and ' tears are wiped from our eyes.' The very release from calamity is not a little felicity. So Augustine meditates of this place negatively: Non

est ibi mors, non luctiis* &c.,—There is no death nor dearth, no pining nor repming, no sorrow nor sadness, neither tears nor fears, defect nor loathing. No glory is had on earth without grudging and emulation; in this place there is no envy. Non erit aluixui invidia clisparis claritatis, ([uum i-e^/na-bit in omnibus unitas chaiitatis,f —None shall malice another's glorious clearness, when in all shall be one gracious dcarness. God shall then give rest to our desires. In our first meeting we have desiderium quietis ; in this second, quietem desiderii, —here we have a desire of rest; there we shall have rest of desire. [2.] In regard that we shall see God; behold him whose glory filleth all in all. This is gi-eat happiness; for ' in his presence is the fulness of joy, and at his right hand are pleasures for ever,' Ps. xvi. 11. We shall not only meet with ' the spirits of just men made perfect,' Heb. xii. 24, but also with him that made them just and perfect: ' Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant;' even God himself.

(3.) Our last meeting, which is called the ' general assembly and church of the first-bom written in heaven,' is the great meeting at the end of the world; when our reunited bodies and souls shall possess perfect glory, and reign with our Saviour for ever; when as no mountain or rock shall shelter the wicked from doom and terror, so no corruption detain one bone or dust of us from glory. ' We shall be caught up together in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we be ever with the Lord,' 1 Thess. iv. 17.

2. Who ?■ ' We.' There is a time when the elect shall meet in one universality. Though now we are scattered aU over the broad face of the earth, dispersed and distressed, yet we shall meet. There is now a communion of saints: First, as of aU the members with the head; all have interest in Christ. For he is not a garden flower, private to few; but the ' rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valley,' Cant. ii. 1, common to the reach of all faithful hands : so Jude calls this our ' common salvation,' ver. 3. Secondly, so one member with another; even of the church triumphant with this militant. They sing hosannahs for us, and we hallelujahs for them : they pray to God for us, we praise God for them ; for the excellent graces they had on earth, and for their present glory in heaven. We meet now in our affections, to solace one another, and serve our God; there is a mutual sympathy between the parts. ' If one member suffer, all suffer with it,' 1 Cor, xii. 26. But this meeting shaU be void of passion, and therefore needless of compassion ; though love shall remain for ever.

This instruction is full of comfort. We part here with our parents, children, kindred, friends : death breaks off our society ■ yet there shall be a day of meeting. 'Comfort one another with these words,' 1 Thess. iv. 18, Hast thou lost a wife, brother, child 1 You shaU one day meet, though not with a carnal distinction of sex, or cornxpt relation which earth afforded. No man carries earth to heaven with him : the same body, but transfigured, purified, glorified. There shaU be love hereafter, not the offals of it. A wife shall be known, not as a wife; there is no marriage but the Lamb's. Thou shalt rejoice in thy glorified brother, not as thy brother according to the flesh, but as glorified. It is enough that this meeting shall afford more joy than we have knowledge to express.

This gives thee consolation dying; mth giief thou Icavest those thou dearly lovest. Yet, first, thou art going to one whose love is greater than Jonathan's, that gave his life to redeem thee; and well pondering the matter, thou art content to forsake all, to desire a dissolution, that thou mayest be with Christ. Yet this is not all; thou shalt again meet those * De Symb., lib. iii. f Idem, in Vita .Sterna.

•whom tliou now departest from, and that with greater joy than thou hast left in present sorrow.

This comforts us all: if it be a pleasure for friends to meet on earth, where Satan is stdl scattering his troubles of dissension, what is it to meet in heaven, where our peace is free from distraction, from destruction ! where if there be any memory of past things, meminisse juvahit, it shall rtither delight us to think of the miseries gone, and without fear of returning ! It is some deUght to the merchant to sit by a quiet fire, and discourse the escaped jierils of ■wrecks and storms. Remove then your eyes from this earth,—whether you be rich, for whom it is more hard; or poor, for whom it is easier,—and know it is better living in heaven together than on earth together. So then run your race, that in the end you may meet with this blessed society—the congregation of saints in glory.

'We 3' yea, 'all we.' In this world we must never look to see a universal church; but at that general day we shall all meet. In heaven there are none but good ; i\\ hell, none but bad; on earth, both good and bad mingled together. I confess that the church militant is the suburbs of heaven ; yea, called the kingdom of heaven, because the King of heaven governs it by his celestial laws ; but stiU it is but heaven upon earth. In God's floor there is chafl' mixed with the wheat ; in his field, cockle with corn; in his net, rubbish with fish; in his house, vessels of wrath with those of honour. The church is like the moon, sometimes increasmg, sometimes decreasing ; but when it is at the fuU, not without some spots. Now this mixture of the luigodly is suflfered for two causes : either that themselves may be converted, or that others by them may be exercised. Omnis mains aut ideo vivit, ut corrigatur: aut ideo ut ^jer ilium bonus exerceaUir.'^

First, For their own emendation, that they may be converted to embrace that good which they have hated. So Saul a persecutor becomes Paul a professor. Mary IMagdalene, turpissima meretrix fit sanctissima midier, — a putrefied sinner, a purified saint. Zaccheus, that had made many rich men poor, will now make many poor men rich, when he had paid every man his own, (and that now he judged their own which he had fraudulently got from them): ' Behold, half my goods I give to the poor,' Luke xix. 8. The thief, after a long, lewd life, hath a short, happy death ; and goes from the cross to paradise. If these had been rooted up at the first, God's garner had wanted much good wheat. He that is now cockle, may prove good corn.

Secondly, For the exercise of the godly. For the reprobate do not only ' fill up the measure of their sins,' that so, ' not believing the truth, they might be damned for their unrighteousness,' 2 Thess. ii. 11, making their condemnation both just and great; but they serve also for instruments to exercise the faith and patience of the saints. Babylon is a flail to bruise the nations; at last itself shaU be thrashed. They are but the rubbish wherewith the vessels of honour are scoured; the vessel made bright, tho scouring stuft' is thrown to the dunghill. They are apothecaries to make us bitter potions for the recovery of our spiritual health, but so that they cannot put in one dram more than their allowance; and when they come to be paid for their bills, they find the sum total their own vengeance. They are like shepherds' dogs, that serve to hunt the lambs of Christ to the sheep-folds of peace; but their teeth are beaten out, that they cannot worry us. Fremit lupus, tremit agnus, —the wolf rageth, and the lamb quakcth; but 'fear not, little flock/ Luke sii. 32, he is greater that is with you than all

* Aug.

they that are against you. Illonim malitia, est vestra militia, —their malico is your warfare; but 'in all you shall conquer,' Eom. viii. 37. They shall make you better, not worse. Hence let us learn—

(1.) Not to fly from the church because there are some wicked men in it, Xon propter malos hoai sunt deserendi, sed propter honos mali sunt tolerandi,'^ —Forsake not the good because of the evil, but sutier the evil because of the good. When we can brook no imperfection in the church, know then diaholum nos tumefacere superbla, —that the devil doth blow us up Avith pride, saith Calvin, t I hold the church, saith Augustme, fuU of both wheat and chaff: ' I better whom I can ; whom I cannot, I suffer.' Fugio paleam, lie hoc sim; lion aream, ne nihil sim, —I avoid the chaff, lest I become chaff;" I keep the floor, lest I become nothing. ' We sin all in many things,' James iii. 2, and many in all things : let us fly from aU sins, not from all sinners ; for 'then we must go out of the world,' 1 Cor. v. 10, out of ourselves. But, *I believe the holy catholic church;' I believe it, though through the shadow of infirmities I cannot see it. Intelligit fides, quce non vides, —If it was perspicuous to sense, there w-as no place to faith, no use or exercise of believing. But here ' we walk by faith, not by sight,' 2 Cor. v. 7. AU the glory of the King's daughter is intus, within : Ps. xlv. 14, 'She is glorious withui.' Wretched are they that forsake her, and when they speak of her, bless themselves that they are fled out of Babel. Blmd fools, that will not know Jerusalem from Babel! Their fault is the more heinous, for two causes: First, they seemed our most zealous professors; and a lewd servant is easilier brooked than an undutiful sou. Secondly, they know so muchj, that, their own conscience tells them, ignorance cannot excuse their separation. An ignorant injury is in more hope both of amends and mercy. All their hot urging w\as a purging, not from our vices, but our good order; which when they could not effect, they purged themselves out of our company. And their very malice did us good; for I am sure we have been . <;ver since the cleaner.

They send us word of many unreformed, imcensured evils among us, for which they separate. It cannot be denied, it cannot be avoided, but that among so many millions of men there will be some lepers; but what! must their uncleauness needs infect all 1^ Certe nullius crimen inficit nescientem.t. Let me not participate of their sin, not shun the church because they are in it. Yea, I am commanded to come, though they be there. If a man will come unworthy, the sin is his ; but if I come not because he comes, the sin is mine. God says to the wicked guest, ' How camest thou in hither 1 ' not to the prepared, ' How came you in with such a guest ?' His fault cannot dispense with my duty; nor shall my duty be charged with his fault. But our evils are innumerable; I w-ould to God they w^ere less : yet I am sur^j the gospel is fair, though our lives be foul; our profession is good, though many men's conversation be full of evil. And yet the number of our evils is somewhat abated by their absence; we cannot complain of all evils, whiles we Avant them. To the unclean, they say, all things are evil; yet they are content to take some evil from us. They will eat our Aictuals, yea, and eat them up; as if for anger, rather than hunger. They will purse up our moneys; take advantages of their forfeited bonds, and plead a providence in it,—their own providence they mean,—and so, though not pray with us, yet prey upon us. If ii!l our things be evil, I perceive they love some of our evil. Let them go; they from us, not us from ourselves. But rather—

(2.) Seeing there are wolves among the lambs, let us be wise to save our-* Aug. t Adversus Anabaptist,, art, 2. J Aug. Ep. 43.

selves, and patient to suffer others. The good are for thy comfort, the v?lcked for thy exercise; let thy life be good, to the consolation of the one, and conviction of the other. Non valcle Imidabile est, bonum esse cum bonis, sed ho7mm esse cum malls* —For as it is a ■wretched fault not to be good among the good: so it is a worthy praise to be good among the evil. ' Let your light so shine, that others may glorify God' for your good. Matt. v. 16; and be ' ashamed' of their own evU, 1 Pet. iii. 16. ' You are the light of the world;' if there be any dimness in your shining, the whole country is full of snuffers. In the temple were ' golden snuffers,' 1 Kings vii. 50 : we have not many of those, to make us burn brighter; but base stinking ones, that would rather put us out.

(3.) Let us abhor wicked societies, knowing that they should be convented again in hell. There may be some acquaintance with them, must be no familiarity. A mere commerce with them is not utterly in itself unlawful, but dangerous. Factum licitum prohibetur, propter vicinitatem illiciti. Thou hadst better lose a good bargain at a worldling's hand, than purchase some of his wickedness. The second chariot of Egypt taught Joseph to swear by the life of Pharaoh. Let them see thy good Ufe, hear thy gracious words; thy true detestation, and wise reprehension of their wickedness. God's servants would have all serve their Master, that they might have the more company with them to heaven. But let thy ' delight be with the saints on earth, and with those that excel in virtue,' Ps. xvi. 3. Let us meet now in sincerity, that hereafter we may meet in glory. ' I am a companion of all them that fear thee and keep thy precepts,' Ps. cxix. 63. Death may break off for a while this gracious meeting, but our glorious second meeting shall triumph over death; it shall be general, it shall be eternal.

3. Wherein 1 ' In the unity.' A perfect unity is not to be expected in this life; it is enough to enjoy it in heaven. Indeed the church is ever but one : ' There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number : my dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother,' Cant. vi. 8. Though a kingdom have in it many shires, more cities, and innumerable towns, yet is itself but one; because one king governs it, by one law : so the church, though universally dispersed, is one Mngdom; because it is ruled by one Christ, and professeth one faith. ' There is one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith,' Eph. iv. 4, 5. So much unity now.

But that unity which is on earth may be offended, in regard of the parts subjectual to it. What famUy hath not complained of distraction ? What fraternity not of dissension ? What man hath ever been at one with himself? ' There must be divisions,' saith Paul, 1 Cor. xi. 19 ; are and must be by a kind of necessity. But there is a twofold necessity. One absolute and simple: God must be just; a necessity of infallibility. The other ex hypotliesi, or of consequence : as this, ' There must be heresies.' Satan will be an adversary, man will be proud; a necessity upon presupposition of Satan's malice, and man's wickedness. ' But woe unto them by whom offences come;' we know not the hurt we bring by our divisions. ' Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Love the truth, and peace,' Zech. viii. 19. Some love peace well, but they care not for truth. These are secure worldlings: let them alone in their sins, and you would not wish quieter men. Pacem quccrimi, p)ietatem fugmnt; they seek peace, but they fly righteousness, as if they would disunite those things which God hath joined together, righteousness and peace.

* Greg. Mor. 1.

' Eighteousness and peace shall kiss each other.' Others love truth well, but not peace. Let them fabric a church out of their own brains, or rather a discipline to manage it, and they will keep within the verges of the main truth. They cannot be content to have good nulk, but they must choose their spoon to eat it with. They arc wanton children, and worthy the rod of correction; let them be whipped, only discipline may mend them.

I would our eyes could see what hurt the breach of unity doth u& ScUurus's axTOws, taken singly out of the sheaf, are broken with the least finger; the whole unsevered bundle fears no stress. We have made ourselves weaker by dispersing our forces. Even the encouraged atheist walks to church in the lane of our divisions; and is still no less an atheist than the devil was a devil when he ' stood among the sons of God,' Job i. 6, It is the nature of our controversies to fight peremptorily at both ends, whiles truth and piety is left in the middle, and neglected. "Whiles men have contended about the body of religion, some have thought it quite dead; as no doubt Moses's body was, when the ' archangel disputed with the devil about it,' Jude, ver. 9. As one said of the Donatists, Betwixt our Licet and your Noti licet, many souls stagger,* and excuse their irresolution by our want of peace. Indeed this is eventually one good efi'ect of many controverted points: the way is cleansed for others, though not for themselves. Thieves falling out, true men come by their goods. Two flints beaten together, sparkles out fire; and by the wrestling of two poisons, the health is preserved. So are some united to the truth by these divisions of peace. But others are more unsettled; they condemn all for the dissension of some. Our comfort is, God doth not so. The divisions of a few, and that about the husk of religion, ceremony, cannot redound to the condemnation of a whole church. In God's judgment it shall not; we must care little, if in theirs. Do we not know, that Satan by his good-will would allow us neither truth nor peace ? but if we must have one, will he not labour to detain the other ? If he can keep us from truth, he cares not much to allow us peace. The Avicked have security, the devil lets them alone. What fowler sets his gin for tame bii-ds, that wiU come gently to his hand ? But if we embrace the tnith, then have at our peace. Shall the prince of darkness be quiet, when his captives break loose from him ? The good are soonest tempted. Tnvidia feHur in inagnos. It was the king of Syria's command to his two and thirty captains : ' Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel,' 1 Kings xxii. 31, It is the devil's charge to his soldiers : Fight against none but the godly, that fight against me. David was safe among his sheep, and Moses leading a private life. No man lays snares for his OAvn bu'ds, nor the devil for such as ' are taken captive by him at his wiU,' 2 Tim. ii. 26. But pax conscientice is helium Satance; and this just war is better than an imjust peace.

Let all this give condemnation to peace-haters, and commendation to peace-lovers. There are some quite gone, not diverse, but adverse to us; with these war, and no peace, for they have no peace with Christ. Sinews cut in sunder can never be knit, nor can there be integralis xinitas in solidlone con-tinui. They will be gonej let them go. I would wo were as well rid of all those whose souls hate vmity. The Christians of the first age were neither Albinians nor Nigrians ; the report of faction was scarce heard. Athanasius, on whose shoulder our mother the church leaned, in her sharpest persecution, to take her rest, rejoiced that though the adversary hate was violent, the love of brethren was sound. Peter was commanded to put up his sword, • Optat, Cont. Farm.

even when Christ was r.t his elbow to heal the greatest wound he could make: whjr do vve smite and hurt, that have no such means of cure ? King Richard, the holy warrior, having taken a bishop in coat-armour in the field, was requested by the Pope (calling him his son) to release him. The king sent not liim, but his coat, to the Pope; and asked him, An hcec essetfilii sui tunica 1 —•Whether this was his son's coat % alluding to the coat of Joseph, which his brethren brought to their father. The ashamed Pope answered, Nee heme esse filii sui iunicam, —This was none of his son's coat. These are wretched spirits; boldness undertakes, wit contrives, assistance furthers, conscience prepares, scrupulosity consents, strength prevails, and peace suffers. And now, lo, they jjlot, not tollere iinum, but unitatem, —not to single out one to wreak their malice on, but to dissolve and undo the united strength of all. Either the sceptre must stoop to the mitre, or no peace.

Between the roots of Judah and Levi, by Moses's law, the separations and distances were so wide, that neither need to cross another's walk, nor to eclipse another's dignity. The rod of Moses was once turned into a serpent, to give terror; but the rod of Aaron was preserved, not in campo martio, in a field of war and sedition ; but testimonii tahernaculo, sprouting forth green leaves of truth, and sweet blossoms of peace. Well, let our enemies cry—

' Non pacem petimus, superi, date gentibus iram.'

Our voice be for peace :—

' Nulla salus bello, pacem te poscimus omnes.'

Peace was that last and rich jewel, which Christ, departing to his Father, left his spouse for a legacy : ' Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you,' John xiv. 27. This peace be with us for ever !

4. Whereof? This unity hath a double reference : first, to faith ', secondly, to knowledge. And the object to both these is 'the Son of God.'

(1.) ' Of the faith,' Faith is taken two ways: either passively or actively. Vel pro eo quo creditur-; vel j^i'o eo quod creditur, —Either for that whereby a man believes, or for that which a man believes. So it is used both for the instrument that apprehends, and for the object that is apprehended.

[1.] If we take it for the former, we may say there is also a unity of faith, but by distinction. Faith is one 7'atione ohjecti, non ratione suhjecti, —one in respect of the object on which it rests, not one in respect of the subject in which it resides. Every man hath his own faith ; every faith resteth ou Christ: ' The just shall live by his own faith.' Nulla fides pro te, nisi qiicc in te. Every man must see with his own eyes, reach with his own hand, have oil ready in his own lamp. Matt. xxv. 9, that he may enter in Avith the Bridegroom. He must labour in the vineyard himself, that would have the jjenny; he shall not have another's paj^ It is a happy perfection of faith when we shall all believe hi one Christ, after one manner. Not one vntli a Grecian faith, another with a Ptoman, a third with an Arian, a fourtir with an Anabaptistical; but ' all meet in the unity' of one holy catholic faith.

[2.] But if we rather take it pro ohjecto quod creditur, —for Christ in whom we have believed,—we shall all meet in the unity of those joys and comforts which we have faithfully expected. Some believed before the law, some tinder the law, others under the gospel; all shall ' meet in the unity of faith;' 'receiving the end of their faith, the salvation of their souls,' 1 Pet i. 9. Whether some believed in Christ to come, or others in Christ already come, or we in Christ come, and gone to glory; venturus et veuit, diversa sunt

verba, eadem fides, —to come, or come, are diverse words, but tliere is but one faith. ' One Lord, one faith,' Eph. iv. 5,

Now, since faith must bring us to our beloved, and by that we shall come to the Son of God, how precious should it be unto us ! Let the great worldlings possess their preposterous wishes—Epicurus Ms pleasure, Alexander his honour, Midas his gold : be our deliglit, desire, prayer, ' O Lord, increase our faith. I believe ; Lord, help my unbelief Therefore is nothing more honourable, more rich, more pleasant, than to be a true believer; for against this no evil on earth, no devil in hell, shall be able to prevail.

(2.) ' Of the knowledge.' That knowledge which we now have is shallow in all of us, and dissonant in some of us. There is but one way to know God, that is by Jesus Christ; and but one way to know Christ, and that is by the gospel. Yet there are many that go about to know him by other ways; they will know him by traditions, images, revelations, miracles, deccivable fables. But the samts shall ' meet in the unity of the knowledge of the Son of God;' there shall be iTuion and perfection in their knowledge at that day.

But it is objected that Paul saith, ' knowledge shall vanish away,' 1 Cor. xiii. 8. The manner, not the matter, of our present knowledge shall vanish: we shall not know by schools, tutors, or arts in heaven; so the manner of knowmg ceaseth. But the matter remains ; for ' this is eternal life, to know God,' John xiii. 7. Now Ave know Christ in some manner and measure here ; but through a window or lattice : ' jMy beloved looketh forth at the window, shewing himself throu,c;li the lattice,' Cant. ix. 2. Thus the Apostle, ' Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face,' 1 Cor. xiii. 12. AYhen a man sees a map of Jerusalem, wherein is presented the towers and bulwarks, he presently conceives what manner of city it is; but imperfectlj^ as a man that only reads the description of foreign countries : but when he comes thither, beholds all the streets, palaces, beauty, and glory, he esteems his former knowledge poor, in respect of his present satisfaction. We are now pilgiims, and know no more of the celestial country than we can see through the spectacles of faith, in the glass of the Scriptures. In this map we read Jerusalem above described to us : a city of gold, whose walls are jasper, and her foundation crystal, Eev. xxi. 18. We read that this ' corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal immortality,' 1 Cor. XV. o4; that there is blessedness in the fountain—joys in show beautiful, in sense wonderful, in weight excessive, in dignity Avithout comparison, and in continuance without end; and that in Christ we are chosen before all worlds, to be burgesses of this incorporation.

But when we shall have ' Avhite garments' put on our backs, and ' palms m our hands,' and shall ' sit with him in his throne,' Rev. iii. 21, feasting at Ids table of glory; we shall then say, as that noble queen to Solomon, 1 Kings X. 7, ' It was a true report' of thy glory, O king, ' that I heard before ; but now lo I see, one half Avas not told me.' x\s worldlings about a purchase inquire what seat, what delight, Avhat commodities are apperti-nent to it,—except, like that fool in the gospel, they will buy first, aiul see afterwards,—so Ave may sweetly consult of our future happiness, Avithout curiosity, Avithout presumption : like those that never yet Avere at home, noAV after much hearsay travelling thitherwards, Ave ask in the Avay, what peace, what delight, what content will Ije found there, and hoAv much the benefit of our standing house transcends our progress.

There are three things busied about Christ—faith, hope, and sight. By the two former we now live Avithout the latter; by the latter Ave shall then live without the former. ' Noav Ave live by faith, not by sight,' 2 Cor. v. 7;

then we shall live by sight, not by faith. But for our faith, the world would tread us down ; for ' this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith,' 1 John v. 4. But for our hope, ' we were of all men most miserable,' 1 Cor. XV. 19; the worldlings were far happier. When these two have done their offices, sight comes in : * We are now the sons of God, it doth not appear yet what we shall be : but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is,' 1 John iii. 2.

Here is the benefit of sight. These three are like three members of the body—the hand, foot, eye. Faith, like the hand, lays unremoved hold on Christ. Hope, like the foot, walks towards him in a holy expectation, patiently enduiing all wrongs, in hope of sweet issue. Sight, which belongs to the eye, shall fully apprehend him, when it is glorified. In this bright * knowledge we shall all meet.'

Our present knowledge shall be excelled by our future in five differences :—

Fi?'st, In quality. This is an abstracted knowledge of Christ absent; that a plenary knowledge of Christ present. Uos dbstractiva fit intuitiva notitia* The light of a lamp vanisheth when the glorious sun appeareth. If our knowledge were 7iiundus eruditionis, a world of learning, yet it is but emditio mundi, the learning of the world ; of narrow bounds in regard of the knowledge in heaven.

Secondly, In quantity. Even that we know now shall be known then in a greater measure. The orbs, elements, planets, plants, the herbs of the field, parts of our own bodies, we know now; but, alas, weakly, in regard of that perfection which this future life shall give us. Indeed the Christian, for his own saving health, knows so much as is able to make him everlastingly blessed; for he knows Christ his Saviour, ' and that is eternal life.' But then he shall know him in a higher measure, and perfectly see those things now unconceivable. Paul ' heard unsj)eakable words' in his rapture above, which below he confesseth ' not possible for man to utter,' 2 Cor. xii. 4.

Thirdly, In perfection or maturity. Our knowledge here grows from degree to degree; there it shall be one and the same, receiving or requiring no augmentation. ' They go from strength to strength.' How long ? ' Till they appear before God in Zion,' Ps. Ixxxiv. 7.

Fourthly, In continuance. Earthly knowledge is momentary ; all skiU in tongues and arts is, like the authors, mortal, and shall come to an end. The most famous artists have often either met with a derogate name, or been buried in oblivion. The study of Christ is only eternal, and shall not be abrogated, but perfected : ' we shall know then, as we are known.'

Fifthly, In imity. Various, dissonant, and not seldom repugnant, is human laiowledge; indeed not worthy the name of knowledge, for it is opinion. Man is contrary to man ; yea, man to himself: this same unum sentire, ' to be of one mind,' 1 Pet. iii. 8, is difficult, if not impossible to be found. Though we aim our knowledge at one mark, yet some shoot on the right hand, some on the left; some short, and others shoot over, having a ' knowledge that pufteth up,' 1 Cor. viii. 1, whose learning hath in it some poison, if it be let go without the true corrective of it. But at this expected day, we shaU all meet in a ' unity of knowledge.'

' Of the Son of God.' That eternal Son of God, who in the fuhiess of time became for us the Son of man, shall then be more clearly knoisTi to us. We now believe his truth of perfection ; we shall then see his perfection of trutk We shall brightly apprehend the imconceivable mystery of him, who is

* Melanct.

Filius Dei sine matre, JilitLs hominis sine patre, —the Sou of God without mother, the son of man without father.

If any ask, whether our knowledge shall extend no further than to Christ our Saviour; there is no dou^t, h\it as we know our elder Brother set in his throne above all the powers of heaven, so we shall also know the rest of our fi-atemity. Love is a grace that never fades, and therefore shall have knowledge to make way before it. We shall love the saints; I may infer we shall know them. Peter knew Moses and Elias on the mount, !Matt. xvii. 4, whom yet before he never saw : why then should we net know them in heaven ? And if them, why not other of our glorified friends 1 If nothing but that which is earthly, and savours of corruption, shall cease, and fall off like Elijah's mantle; then knowledge must needs remain, being a divine grace, pure and everlasting as the soul. But seek we to know the Son of God here to be our Saviour, and without doubt hereafter we shall know him to be our glorifier.

o. Whereunto ? ' To a perfect man.' Before, he speaks in the plural number of a multitude, ' We shall all meet;' now by a sweet kind of solecism he compacts it into the smgular—all into one. ' We shall all meet to a perfect man.' Here lie three notes, not to be balked:—

First, This shews what the unity of the saints shall be : one man. Here they are sometimes said to ' have one heart, one soul,' Acts iv. 32; there they shall be ' one man.' That not a carnal, corruptible, sinful man, for he may dissent from himself, but a ' perfect man.' Not materially, for there shall be distinct bodies and souls still, as here; but metaphorically, in regard of the never-jarring harmony. 0 sweet music, where the symphony shall exceedingly delight us, without division, without frets !

Secondly, The whole church is compared to a man; we have often read it compared to a body, here to a man. As in other places to a body, 1 Cor. xii. 27, Eph. iv. 16, cujus caput est Christus, whose head is Christ; so our Apostle here, ver. 16, speaketh of our growing to the 'Head, which is Christ.' So in this place to a man, cujus aninia est Christus, whose soul is Christ. Now the soul in the body increaseth not augmentatively, but secundum vigorem; transfusing into the body her virtual powers and operations more strongly. Christ is ever the same : Heb. xiii. 8, ' Jesus Christ, yesterday, and to-day, and the same for ever.' In this soul there is no mutation; but the 'body increaseth with the increase of God,' Col. ii. 19. For as Christ increaseth the strength of his grace in us, so we grow to perfection.

Thirdly, Full perfection is only reserved for heaven, and not gianted tiU we meet in glory; then shall the church be one ' perfect man.' We may be now mundi, saith Augustine, yet still mtmdandi, to be cleansed."'' Not so peifect, but still glad of mercy. Our purity is not in facto, but in fieri; inchoate, not finished though begun. All our righteousness consists in the not imputation of our sins : ' Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity.' Summa j^erfectio imjoerfectionis confessio, —Our greatest cleanness is the free acknowledging our vileness. The other immunity shall be when there are no passions in men, no lusts capable of sin : now it is wcU if we live without scandal; without eruption, though not without corruption. No7i sine cidpa, sed sine querela. And so the commendation of Zacharias must be understood, Luke i 6, which calleth him ' righteous, walking in all the commandments of the Lord blameless.' He lived blameless in the world's eye, not in the Lord's, ' If thou shouldest mark iniquity, O Lord, who shall

* Aug. iu JoL, 80.

stand?' Ps. cxxx. 3; especially when Iiis eye of justice only shall look upon it. Vce etiam laudahiU vitce hominum, si remota misericordia discutiatur /*— Woe to the most commendable life of man, if mercy be removed "when it is examined ! It is enough to prove Zacharias a dnner, in that he was a priest; for it was imposed on the priest first ' to ofier for his own sins,' Heb. vii. 27, and then the sins of the people; which had been needless if the priest had not been guilty of sin, and liable to condemnation.

The justification of David seems to rise higher: Ps, xvii. 3, ' Thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing.' What! hath God tried him, the Searcher of the hearts, that sees into all the inward cabins and hidden concaves of the soul ? and shall he find nothing—not great impieties, not less infirmities, nothing ! This phrase seems general, yet is not totally exclusive : nothing against Saul; no treachery or injustice against the Lord's anointed. So it is by Euthymius, and must be restrictively considered. Otherwise David had many sins : original, ' I was conceived in sin,' Ps. li. 5; actual and public, in slaying not a Philistine, but an Israelite, an Israelite his subject, his honest and worthy subject, and that by the sword of the uncircumcised; and yet more, by a wile, sending for him home, and making him drunk. And to ripen this blister, he adulteriseth with his wife : he that hath many wives, robs his poor neighboiir of his singular comfort, only wife. These were apparent, unjustifiable impieties; which makes him fall to a psalm of mercy: ' Have mercy upon me, O Lord, have mercy upon me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee.'

These were known to the world : no doubt, divers others were known to his own heart; and yet more, which neither the world nor his own heart knew. ' Who can tell how oft he offendeth ? O clen,nse thou me from my secret faults,' Ps. xix. 12. Yet, in the matter of Saul, thou canst find nothing. As Bishop Latimer once said, in his sermon before King Edward the Sixth, ' For sedition, methinks, for aught I know, if I may so speak, I should not need Christ.' David was no traitor, but David was an adulterer. He was in many personal faults an offender; but as a subject he was a good subject, as a king an excellent prince.

No less is the praise of Job: ' A perfect and upright man ; none like him in the earth,' chap. ii. 3; which yet is not to be taken for a positive, biit comparative commendation. There was none like him in that part of the earth; and he was perfect in regard of those vicious times. Hear himself speak: ' How shall a man be just with Godf chap. ix. 2; and, ver. 28, ' I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.'

Let, then, the Pelagians drink never so deep in this justifying cup of their own righteousness, and let the Papist as deeply pledge him; yet perfection is reserved for another world, when Ave shall meet to a perfect man.- Here we may have it partially, there gradually. Here, so much as belongs ad viam, to our way : Phil. iii. 15, ' Let us, as many as are perfect, be thus minded.' There only, that is proper ad 2^airiam, to our country: ver. 12, 'Not as though we were alreacly perfect; but following after,' ifec. Let us, (1.) be humble in acknowledging our OAvn wants and sins, who cannot, to God contending with us, 'answer one of a thousand,' Job ix. 3. JVec millessimoi, nee minimx parti, saith Bernard.t (2.) Labour to perfection, ' in forgetting those things wliich are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,' Phil. iii. 13. (3.) Comfort our endeavouring hearts -with this sweet encourage-.ment: we shall one day meet to a perfect man.

' To the measure of the stature.' The word iiXm'ac, before translated ' age,' * Aug. Confess., lib. ix., cap. 13. f De QuacU'up. Debito.

is now better by our new, and according to Baza, ' stature.' If any will here ground, that in heaven we shall live in that measure of Christ's age and stature wherein he died, I subscribe not, but am silent. It is not safe wading without a bottom. Oijly thus much, there shall be nothing wanting to make our glory perfect ; and whether you conceive the three-and-thirtieth year of a man's age to be its beauty and complete perfection, I dispute not. This implies a spiritual stature whereunto every saint must grow. Whence infer—

First, That we must grow up so fast as we can in this life, ^joining to faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,' &c., 2 Pet. i. 5. We must increase our talents, enlarge our graces, shoot up in tallness, grow up to this stature. For God's family admits no dwarfs: stunted profession was never sound. If the sap of grace be in a plant, it will shoot out in boughs of good words and fruit of good works; always expected"' the winter of an afflicted conscience. If a tabe and consumption take our graces, they had never good lungs, the true breath of God's Spirit in them.

Secondly, God wiU so ripen our Christian endeavours, that though we come short on earth, we shall have a full measure in heaven. We have a great measure of comfort here, but withal a large proportion of distress: there we shall have a fuU measure, ' heapen and shaken, and thrust together, and yet running over,' without the least bitterness to distaste it. This is a high and a happy measure.

Regard not what measure of outward things thou hast, so thou get this measure. ' Trouble not thyself with many things:' this one is sufficient, the * better part,' the greater measure, never to be lost or lessened. Open both thine eyes of reason and faith, and see first the little help that lies in great worldly riches. ' As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool,' Jer. rm. 11. A bird that steals young ones from other birds, and tenderly nourisheth them, is mocked for her motherly kindness when they are fledged. Even now she had many running after; by and by they give her the slip, and are aU gone: pleasures, delights, riches, are hatched and brooded by the wicked as their own. But ' when God, at whose command they are, calls them away, they take them to their heels; like fugitives they are gone, and no officer can bring them back. The rich man may shut up his wealth for a season; but as a bird in a cage if it spy a hole open, it is gone, and ffies far enough beyond recovery, towering like an eagle, even up ' toward heaven,' Prov. xxiii. 5. Were thy measure never so ample, as full as his barns, Luke xii., yet but a night, a jiiece of a night, and all is gone. ' The first-bom of death shall devour his strength,' saith Bildad; and it ' shall bring him to the king of terrors,' Job xviii. 13,14, What help is in weakness 1 Never talk of helping thee with fine flour, and the best grapes, and the richest excrements of worms, sUken garments: thou wUt one day say, This is no succour. No; that is succour which will help thee in anguish of thy soid and distress of thy conscience, calm the troubles of thy spirit, and heal the wounds of thy broken heart, when the horror of death and terrors of sin, sharpened with a keen edge of God's justice, shall besiege thee: now let the thing be praised that can help thee. No measure of earthly things can give thee case, but this measure of grace, that shall bring thee to the full measure of glory. Grow thou as high in this world as Jonah's gourd, a wonn shall smite thee, and thou shalt wither. Grow up to this stature of Christ, so fast as thou mayest and so far as then canst, and * Qu. 'excepted'?— Ed. VOL. II. 2 c

what is here wautiug to thy holy endeavours God shall make up with his happy mercies.

' Of the fulness of Christ.' Adulti Christi. It is not meant the full growth of Christ in the flesh, which was as other children. Luke ii. 40, ' The child grew, and waxed stronger.' AVe read him a babe, sucking; at twelve years old, disputing; at thirty, preaching; and about thirty-three, dying. His increasing was not hahitualiter, seel effectualiter. But here we must consider Christ as Head of his body the church; and so said to have meiisuram staturce cuhdtce, the measure of full stature, when his body is perfected. Now some predestinated members of this body are yet unborn, which must concur to the perfection and making up of this ' stature of the fulness of Christ.' Whence we have a sweet and comfortable observation offered us :—

Till the church be fully gathered together, there is in some sort a want to the perfection of Christ. But we must consider Christ two ways—personally raid mystically. Personally, or abstractively in himself, he is not only perfect, but perfection itself. Col. i. 19, ' For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.' And, chap. ii. 9, ' In him dweUeth,' not passeth by,' the fulness,' not a good reasonable measure; and this not only a sufficient fulness, but ' all the fulness,' not of any created nature, but ' of the Godhead,' and that not fantastically, but ' bodily.' ]\Iystically, or m relation to his body the church : ' Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular,' 1 Cor, xii. 27. And Christ's will is, that ' where he is,' his members may be ' there also,' John xvii. 24. So that till the whole body be gathered to the head, the head is in some sort not perfect. And in this sense may that, Cant. iii. 11, be understood, 'Behold King Solomon, with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals :' where the church is said to set a crown on Christ's head; as if his full and perfect coronation were not come tiU the day of his espousals and marriage-in heaven, when his whole church shall be crowned together with him. Time was, that ' the other disciple outran Peter' to the sepulchre, and Peter outwent that other disciple into the sepulchre, John xx. 6 ; but at this day, ' they that are alive shall not prevent them that sleep,' 1 Thess. iv. 15. For ' God hath provided better for us, that they without us should not be made perfect,' Heb. xi. 40. V/e shall all go together to glory.

What a treasure of joy and comfort is here opened us ! Our Saviour so loves us, that he thinks not himself perfect without its. ' What is man, O Lord, or the son of man, that thou so reckonest of him V Ps. cxliv. 3. Thou hast saints, the spirits of the just, blessed and obedient angels, thy own mfi-nite self to delight thee ; quid opus vermicido ? —what need hast thou of a worm ? What am I, Saviour, that thou shouldest not think thyself perfect without me ? Well may this sweeten all our poverty, misery, disgrace, and ignominy that the world casts upon us. A great gallant blusheth to see thee take acquaintance of him, looks upon thee betwixt scorn and auger, thinks himself disparaged by thy company: be content, th<i God of heaven and earth thinks himself not perfect mthout thee. He that can break thy contemners to pieces, respecteth thee. Thou art unworthy of the favour of Jesus Christ, if thou canst not content thyself with it, without the world.

What a terror shall this be to the Vtdcked, to see those men crowned kings with Christ, to v/liom they disdained to give notice in the world! Dives looks with pitiful eyes on glorified Lazarus, who once lay at his gates without the relief of crumbs. It shall be no small aggravation to the un-godly's torments to say of the saint, ' This was he whom we had sometimes in derision, and a proverb of reproach. We fools accounted his life madness,

and his end without honour. 'Now he is numbered among the children of God, and his lot is among the saints,' Wisd. v. 3—5.

I conclude, Eveiy saint shall enjoy this full measure of glory: there shall be no scanting, no limitation. None shall complain of lack : there is the fountain, drink thy fill ; there is the heap, take as much as thou wilt. There shall be in all an equality, though not of quantity, yet of proportion : which ariscth not from the object, wherein is plenitude; but from the subject, which is not alike capable. A vessel thrown into the sea can be but full; another is but full, though it contain a greater measure. Every one shall possess this fulness; and being full, there is no want, therefore no envy. But let us take no thought who shall sit highest in this kingdom, with the sons of Zebedee : it is enough that we shall be crowned kings. Trouble not thyself for order, only strive for admission. We cannot desire to be more than blessed. Let us go into the city of glory, and let God appoint us a room.

Here we see the great difference betwixt this life and the next. In this life we grow up to our full stature ; and then we decrease tUl we decease, we decline and die. In the other, we come at first to ' perfect stature,' and so continue for ever. We are here subject to sorrows and sins; the first grievous to us as we are men, the other as we are good men : lo, we shall one day be freed, be perfect. It is a sweet meditation that fell from a reverend divuae : that many vegetable and brute creatures do exceed men in length of days, and in happiness in their kind, as not wanting the thing they desire. The oak, the raven, the stork, the stag fill up many years; in regard of whom man dies in the minority of childhood. This made the philosophers call nature a stepdame to man, to the rest a true mother. For she gives him least time that could make best use of his time, and least pleasure that could best apprehend it, and take comfort in it. But here divuiity teacheth and reacheth a large recompense from our God, Other creatures live long, and then perish to nothing; man dies soon here, that hereafter he may live for ever. This shortness is recompensed with eternity. ■Dost thou blame nature, O philosopher, for cutting thee so short thou canst not get knowledge 1 Open thine eyes : perfect knowledge is not to be had here, though thy days were double to i\Iethusalem's. Above it is. Bless God then rather for thy life's shortness : for the sooner thou diest, the sooner thou shalt come to thy desired knowledge. The best here is short of the least there. Let no man blame God for maldng him too soon happy. Say rather with the Psalmist, ' My soul is athirst for the livhig God : O when shall I come to appear m the glorious presence of the Lord !' Who Avould not forsake a prison for a palace, a tabernacle for a city, a sea of dangers for a firm land of bliss, the life of men for the life of angels ? In the bed of tliis joy let me repose your souls for this time : meditating of that eternal glory whereof you shall have a 'perfect and fuU measure 3' thinking that the full coronation of your Saviour tarries for you ; and lifting up your eyes of soitow from the valley of tears to the mount of Zion of blessedness, whereon the Lamb of God standeth to gather his saints about him to ' a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of his own fulness,' To whicli place himself, for his own merits' and mercies' sake, in due time bring us ! Amen.

THE CHEISTIAN'S WALK;

OB,

THE KING'S HIGHWAY OF CHARITY.

Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a siveet-smelling savour. — Eph. V. 2.

Our blessed Saviour is set forth in the gospel, not only a sacrifice for sin, but also a direction to virtue. He calleth himself the truth and the toay: the truth, in regard of his good learning; the way, in respect of his good life. His actions are our instructions, so well as his passion our salvation. He taught us both faciendo and 2^atiendo, —both in doing and in dying.

Both sweetly propounded and compounded in this verse. Actively, he loved us; passively, he gave himselfc or us; and so is both an ensample for virtue, and an offering for sin. He gave himself, that his passion might save us; he loved us, that his actions might direct us. ' Walk in love, as Christ,' &c.

We may distinguish the whole verse into a sacred canon, and a sacred crucifix.

The canon teacheth us, What; the crucifix, Eoiv.

In the canon we shall find a precept; it is partly exhortatory : and a precedent ; it is partly exemplary.

The precept, ' Walk in love;' the precedent or pattern, ' as Christ loved us.' The precept holy, the pattern heavenly. Christ bids us do nothing but what himself hath done before; we cannot find fault with our example.

The crucifix hath one main stock, 'He gave himself for us;' and two branches, not unlike that cross-piece whereunto his two hands were nailed; 1. An ' offering' or sacrifice; 2. ' Of a sweet-smelling savour to God.'

To begin with the canon: the method leads us first to the precept, which shall take up my discourse for this time : ' Walk in love.' Here is, 1. The way prescribed; 2. Our course incited. The way is love; our course, walking.

1. Love is the way ; and that an excellent way to heaven. Our Apostle ends his 12th chapter of First Corinthians in the description of many spiritual gifts : ' Apostleship, prophesying, teaching, worldng of miracles, healing,

speaking with tongues,' chap. xii. 28,—all excellent gifts,—and yet concludes, ver. 31, * But covet earnestly the best gifts; and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.' Now that excellent, more excellent way, was charity; and he takes a whole succeeding chapter to demonstrate it, chap, xiii., which he spends wholly in the praise and prelation of love.

I hope no man, when I call love a way to God, wiU understand it for a justifying way. Faith alone, leaning on the merits of Christ, doth bring us into that high chamber of presence. Love is not a cause to justify, but a way for the justified. There is difference betwixt a cause and a way. Faith is causa justificandi; love is via justijicati. They that are justified by faith, must Avalk in charity; for ' faith worketh,' and walketh, ' by love,' Gal. v. 6. Faith and love are the brain and the heart of the soul, so knit together in a mutual harmony and correspondence, that without their perfect union the whole Christian man cannot move with power, nor feel with tenderness, nor breathe with true Ufe. Love, then, is a path for holy feet to walk in. It is, (1.) a clear, (2.) a near, (3.) a sociable way.

(1.) Clear. —There be no rubs in love. Nee retia tendit, nee loedere intendit. It neither does nor desires another's harm; it commits no evil, nay, 'it thinks no evil,' saith our Apostle, 1 Cor. xiii. 5. For passive rubs,' it passeth over an offence,' Prov. xix. 11. It may be moved with violence, cannot be removed from patience. * Charity covers a multitude of sins,' saith Peter, 1 Epist. iv. 8,—' all sins,' saith Solomon, Prov, x. 12,—covers them partly from the eyes of God, in praying for the offenders; partly from the eyes of the world, in throwing a cloak over our brother's nakedness; especially from its own eyes, by winking at many A\Tongs offered it. ' Charity suffereth long,' 1 Cor. xiii. 4. The back of love will bear a load of injuries.

There be two graces in a Christian, that have a different property. The one is most stout and stern; the other most mild and tender. Love is soft and gentle; and, therefore, compared to the 'bowels,' Col. iii. 12: viscera miserieordice. Faith is austere and courageous, carrying Luther's motto on its shield, Cedo nidli, —I yield to no enemy of my faith. So said our precious Jewel: ' I deny my living, I deny my estimation, I deny my name, I deny myself; but the faith of Christ, and the truth of God, I cannot deny.' But love is mild, long-suffering, merciful, compassionate, and so hath a clear way to peace.

(2.) Near. —Love is also a very near way to blessedness, and, as I may say, a short cut to heaven. All God's law was at first reduced to ten precepts. The laws of nations, though they make up large voliunes, yet are still unperfect; some statutes are added as necessary, others repealed as hurtful. But the law of God, though contained in a few Imes, yet contains all perfection of duty to God and man. There is no good thing that is not here commanded, no evil thing that is not here forbidden. And aU this is in so short bounds that those ten precepts are called but ten words. Yet when Christ came, he abridged this law shorter, and reduced the ten into two : * Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself.' St Paul yet comes after, and rounds up all into one. God reduceth all into ten; Christ those ten into two; Paul those two into one : ' Love is the fulfilling of the law,' Rom. xiiL 10, Which is compendium, non dispendixtm lerjis, saith Tcrtullian,*—an abridging, not enervating of the law of God. So Augaistine, ' God in all his law, nihil prcecipit nisi charitatem, nihil cidpat 7iisi ciipiditatem,f —commands notliing but love, condemns nothing but lust,' Yea, it is not only the complement of the law, but also tte * Contr. Marcion., lib. v. f De Doctrin. Christ., lib. iii., cap. 10.

supplement of the gospel. Novum mandatum, —' A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another,' John xiii. 34. All which makes it manifest that love is a near way to heaven.

(3.) Sociable it is also ; for it is never out of company, never out of the best company. The delight thereof is ' with the saints that are in earth, and with the excellent,' Ps. xvi. 3. The two main objects of envy are highness and nighness: the envious man cannot endure another above him, another near him; the envious man loves no neighbour. But contrarily, love doth the more heartily honour those that are higher, and embrace those that are nigher, and cannot want society, so long as there is a communion of saints.

3, Love is the way, you hear: our course is walking. As clear, near, and sociable a way as love is, yet few can hit it; for of all ways you shall find this least travelled. The way of charity, as once did the v/ays of Zion, mourns for want of passengers. This path is so uncouth and unbeaten, that many cannot tell whether there be such a way or not. It is, in their opinion, but via serjjentis, —the way of a serpent on the earth, or of a bird in the air, which cutteth the air with her wings, and leaves no print or track behind her; or some chimera or mathematical imaginary jDoint—an ens rationale, without true being. Viam dilectionis ignorant, as the apostle saith, viam 2>acis, —' The way of peace they have not known,' Rom. iii. 17.

Others know there is such a way, but they will not set their foot into it. Their old way of malice and covetousness is delightful; but this is ardua et 2yrcmmpta via, —a hard and a harsh way. Indeed, artis tristissima janua nostra', the entrance to this way is somewhat sharp and unpleasant to flesh; for it begins at repentance for former uncharitableness. But once entered into this Idng's highway, it is full of all content and blessedness : Ad hetos ditcens j^e^' gramina Jluctus.

Walk in love. —He doth not say, talk of it, but walk in it. This precept is for course, not discourse. Love sits at the door of many men's lips, but hath no dwelling in the heart. We may say truly of that charity, it is not at home. A great man had curiously engraven at the gate of his j^alace the image of Bounty, or hospitality; the needy travellers with joy spying it, approach thither in hopeful expectation of succour; but still silence, or an empty echo, answers all their cries and knocks : for hospitality may stand at the gate, but there is none in the house. One among the rest (his hungry trust thus often abused) resolves to pluck doAvn the image, with these words, *If there be neither meat nor drink in the house, what needs there a sign?' Great portals in the country, and coloured posts in the city, promise the poor beggar liberal relief, but they are often but Images; rtmta et mtdila signa, —dumb and lame signs; for charity is not at home, only the shadow without spe illectat inani, gives fair and fruitless hoj^es.

We are too much wearied with these shadows of charity. Ambrose makes two paiis of liberality—benevolence and beneficence.* Many will share the former, but spare the latter; they will wish something, but do nothing : they have open mouths, but shut hearts; soft words, but hard bowels. To these St John gives advice, ' Let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed and in truth,' 1 John iii. 18 ; opposing works to words, verity to vanity. Verbal compliments are not real implements; and, with a little inversion of the philosopher's sense, ' The belly hath no ears,' the starved soul deUghts not to hear charity, but to feel it. Ocidatw mihi sunt manv.s, —The poor's hands have eyes; what they receive they believe. The gouty usurer hath a nimble tongue, and though he will not walk in love, he can talk of love; * Offic, lilo. i., cap. 30.

for, of all members, the tongue j)ostj'ema smescit, waxeth old last. Lot a distressed passeuger come to some of their gates, and he shall have divinity enough, but no humanity; wholesome counsel, but no wholesome food. They can afford them exhortation, but not compassion ; charging their ears, but in no wise overcharging their bellies : they have Scripture against begging, but no bread against famishing. The bread of the sanctuary is common with them, not the Ijrcad of the buttery. If the poor can be nourished with the philosophical supper of good moral sentences, they shall be prodigiously feasted; but if the bread of life will not content them, they may be packing. But, saith St James, ' If you say to the poor, Depart in peace, be warmed, be filled; yet give them nothing needful to the body, your devotion profits not,' neither them nor yourselves, James ii. 16. There is difl'erence betwixt breath and bread, between wording and working, between mere language and very sustenance.

The apostle chargeth us to walk, not to talk of love ; one step of our feet is worth ten words of our tongues. The actions of pity do gracefully become the profession of piety. It is wittily observed, that the over-precise are so thwartingly cross to the superstitious in all things, that they Avill scarce do a good work, because a heretic doth it; that whereas a Papist will rather lose a penny than a Paternoster, these ■will rather give a Paternoster than a penny. They are devout and free in anything that toucheth not their purses. Thus, with a show of spiritual counsel, they neglect corporal comfort; and overthrow that by their cold deeds, which they would seem to build up by their hot words : that the poor might well reply^ More of your cost, and less of your counsel, would do far better.

Walk in love. —Do not step over it, nor cross it, nor walk besides it, nor near it, but walk in it. The doctrine in full strength directs us to a constant embracing of charity. The whole course of our living must be lovmg ; our beginning, continuance, end, must be in charity. Two sorts of men are here specially reprovable : some that seem to begin in charity, but end not 60 ; others that seem to end in charity, that never walked so.

First, Some have had apparent beginnings of love, whose conclusion hath halted off into worldliness : while they had little, they communicated some of that little; but the multiplying their riches hath been the abatement of their mercies. Too many have verified this incongruent and preposterous observation, that the fiUing their purses with money hath ])roved the emptying their hearts of charity. As one obsei-ves of Rome, that the declination of piety came at one instant with the multiplication of metals. Even that clergy, that being poor, cared only to feed the flock, once grown rich, studied only to fill the pail. Ammianus Marcellinus saith of them, that matronarum oUotionihus ditahantur, —they were enriched by ladies' gifts. And hereupon, together with that unlucky separation of the Greek head from the Latin body, the empire began to dwindle, the popedom to flourish. Now plenty is the daughter of prosperity, ambition of plenty, corruption of ambition. So divitice veniunt, religioqiiefugit, —religion biings in wealth, wealth thrusts out religion.

To this purpose, and to prevent this ready evil, was God's charge by the pen of David : ' If riches increase, set not your heart upon them,' Ps. IxiL 10. For till they increase, there is less danger. But saith one, Societas qucedam est, etiam omnis, vitiis et diviiiis, —Wealth and wickedness are near of kin. Niinict honorum copia, ingens malorum occasio, —Plenty of goods lightly occasions plenty of evils. Goodness commonly lasts till goods come; but dition of state alters condition of persons. How many had beeu

good had they not been great! And as it was said of Tiberius, he would have made a good subject, but was a veiy ill king; so many have died good servants, that would have lived bad masters. God, that can best fit a man's estate here, that it may further his salvation hereafter, knows that many a man is gone poor up to heaven, who rich would have tumbled down to helL We may observe this in Peter, who being gotten into the high priest's hall, sits him down by the warm fire, and forgets his Master, Mark xiv. 54. Before, Peter followed Christ hard at the heels, through cold and heat, hunger and thirst, trouble and weariness, and promiseth an infallible adherence ; but now he sits becking himself by a warm fire, his poor Master is forgotten. Thus his body grows warm ; his zeal, his soul, cold. When he was abroad in the cold, he was the hotter Christian; now he is by the fireside, he grows the colder. Oh the warmth of this world, how it makes a man forget Christ! He that wants bread, pities them that be hungry; and they that want fire have compassion of the poor, cold, and naked; but the warmth and plenty of the world starve those thoughts. When the princes are at ease in Zion, they never ' grieve for the affliction of Joseph,' Amos vi 6.

Whilst usury can sit in furs, ambition look down from his lofty turrets, lust imagine heaven in her soft embracings, ej)icurism study dishes and eat them, pride study fashions and wear them; the down-trodden poor, exposed to the bleak air, aflOiicted, famished, are not thought on. So easily are many that begin ia love put by riches out of the way, and made to forbear walking in charity, even by that which should enable their steps. Thus avarice breeds with wealth, as they speak of toads that have been found in the midst of great stones. Though the man of mean estate, whose own want instructs his heart to commiserate others, say thus with himself, ' If I had more goods, I would do more good;' yet experience justifies this point, that many have changed their minds with their means, and the state of their purse hath forespoken the state of their conscience. So they have ' begun in' the charity of ' the Spirit,' and ' ended in' the cares of ' the flesh,' Gral. iiL 3.

Every man hath a better opinion of himself than to think thus. As Hazael answered Elisha, when the good prophet told him with tears that he should burn the cities of Israel with fire, slay the inhabitants, rip up the women with child, and dash the infants against the stones: ' Am I a dog, that I should do this horrid thing V 2 Kings viii. 13 ; so you wiU not think, that being now mean, you relieve the distressed ; if you were rich, that you would rob, spoil, defraud, oppress, impoverish them. Oh, you know not the incantations of the world! It is a pipe that (beyond the siren's singing) makes many sober men run mad upon it. I have read of an exquisite musician, of whom it was reported that he could put men into strange fits and passions, which he would as soon alter again with vaiying his notes, inclining and compelling the disposition of the hearer to his strains. There was one that would make trial how he could affect him, daring his best skill to work upon his boasted composedness and resolution. The musician begins to play, and gave such a lacrym(x, so sad and deep a lesson, that the man feU into a dumpish melancholy, standing as one forlorn, with his arms wreathed, his hat puUed over his eyes, venting many mournful sighs. Presently the musician changeth his stroke into mirthful and lusty tunes, and so by degrees into jigs, crotchets, and wanton airs; then the man also changeth his melancholy into sprightly humours, leaping and dancing as if he had been transformed into air. This passion lasting but with the note that moved it, the musician riseth into wild raptures, masks, and antiques ; whereupon he also riseth to shouting, haUoing, and such frantic passages.

that he grew at last stark-mad. Such a charming power, said a worthy diviiie, hath the musie of money and wealth, and such fits it works in a man's heart. First it takes him from peaceful settledness, and from great content in his little, and puts him into dumps; a miserable, carking thought-fulness how to scrape together much dirt. Next when he hath it, and begins with deUght to suck on the dugs of the world, his purse, his bams, and all his, but his heart, fuU, he falls to dancing and singing reqidems: ' Soul, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry,' Luke xii. 19. Then shall his table stand fuU of the best dishes, his cup of the purest wine, his back with the richest robes; and he conceits a kind of immortality in his coffers; he denies himself no satiety, no surquedry. But at last the world's bedlam music puts him into frenzy : he grows rampant; runs into oppressions, extortions, depopulations, rapes, whoredoms, murders, massacres j spares not blood or friendship, authority nor vassalage, widow nor orphan, prince nor subject; nee haros, nee arm, —neither poor man's cottage nor church's altar; yea, if the commonwealth had but one throat, as Nero wished of Rome, he would cut it. Oh the unpacifiable madness that this world's music puts those into who will dance after its pipe ! For this cause, saith our Apostle, continue in the charity thou hast begun: ' Walk in love.' ' Ye did xxm. well, who did hinder you?' Gal. v. 7. Doth wealth keep you from charity? ' This persuasion Cometh not of him that caUeth you,' ver. 8. God never meant, when he gave you riches, tliat you should then begin to be covetous. He did not for this puqDose shew new mercy to you, that you should take away your old mercies from his.

Secondly, There are other that seem to end in love, who never aU their days walked in this heavenly path. They have a will lying by them, wherein they have bequeathed a certain legacy to the poor—something to such a church, or such an hospital. But this will is not of force tUl the testator be dead, so that a man may say, though the will be ready, yet ' to will is not ready' with them; for God shall not have it so long as they can keep it. These can wish, with Balaam, to die Christians, but they must live pagans. Having raised thousands out of their sacrUegnous and inhospitable impropriations, they can bestow the dead hope of a little mite on the church; in memorial whereof the heir must procure an annual recitation, besides the monumental sculpture on the tomb. Be his life never so black, and more tenebrous than the vaults of lust, yet, said a reverend divine, he shall And a black prophet, for a black cloak, that with a black mouth shall commend him for whiter than snow and lilies. Though his unrepented oppressions, un-restored extortions, and blood-drawing usuries, have sent his soul to the infernal dungeon of Satan, whose parishioner he was all his life; yet money may get him canonised a saint at Rome, and robe liim with spotless integrity and innocence. So divers among them, that lived more latronum, yet in death affected cultum martyrum. Hence epitaphs and funeral orations shall commend a man's charity, who never aU his days walked two steps in love.

But it is in vain to write a man's charity in a repaired window, when his tyrannous life is written in the bloody and indelible characters of many poor men's ruin and ovei-throw. Nor can the narrow plaster of a little poor benevolence hide and cover the multitude of gaping wounds made by extortion and unmercifulness. No, God hates the sacrifice of robbeiy: ' their drink-offerings of blood will I not offer,' said David, Ps. xvi. 4. The oblation that is made up of the earnings of the poor'is an abomination, offending God's eye, and provoking his hand. First restore the lands and goods

of others, injuriously or usuriously gotten; let not an unjust penny lie rotting on tliy heap and heart; and then build hospitals, repair ruined holy places, produce the fruits of mercy, walk in love. Otherwise, it is not smooth marble and engi-aven brass, A\ith a commending epitaph, that can any more preserve the name from rotten putrefaction than the carcase. But for all that, the memory shall stink above ground, as the body doth under it. It is a desperate hazard, that a wicked man by a charitable will shall make amends for all; whereas, commonly a usurer's testament is but a testimony of his lewd life. There is small hope that they end in charity who would never walk in love.

There be others that cannot walk in love, through a double defect, either of eyes or of feet. Some have feet, but want eyes; others have eyes, but want feet.

First, Some have the feet of affections, but they lack eyes, and so cannot descry the true and perfect way of love. Indeed, no man can find it without God. ' Shew me thy ways, O Lord : teach me thy paths,' Ps. xxv. 4. For it is he that directs ' sinners and wanderers to the way,' ver. 8. These xvant him that should ' lead them by the way that they should go,' Isa. xlviii. 17. They think that by building up a ladder of good works their souls shall, on meritorious rounds, climb up to heaven. They cannot distinguish between viavi regni and causavi regnandi. They suppose if they relieve Seminaries, fast Lents, keep their numbered orisons, prodigally sacrifice their bloods in treasons for that Roman harlot, this is via dileciionis, the way of love. So the sUly servant, bidden to open the gates, set his shoulders to them, but with all his might could not stir them; whereas another comes with the key, and easily unlocks them. These men, so confident in their good works, do but set their shoulders to heaven-gates, alas ! without comfort j for it is the key of faith that only opens them. These have nimble feet, forward affections, hearts workable to charity, and vrould walk in love if they had eyes. Therefore let us pray for them : ' Cause them to know the way, O Lord, wherein they should walk,' Ps. cxliii. 8.

Secondly, Others have eyes, but they want feet; they understand the %vay of love, but they have no affection to walk m it. They know that false measures, forsworn valuations, adulterate wares, smooth-cheeked circumventions, painted cozenages, malicious repinings, denied succours, are all against love. Noscunt et poscunt, —they know them, but they will use them. They know that humbleness, kindness, meekness, patience, remission, compassion, giving and forgiving, actual comforts, are the fruits of love. Xorunt et nolunt, —they know it, but they wUl none of it. These know, but walk not in love. It is fabled that a great king gave to one of his subjects, out of his own mere favour, a goodly city, happily replenished with all treasures and pleasures. He does not only freely give it, but directs him the way, which keeping, he should not miss it. The rejoiced subject soon enters on his journey, and rests not till he comes within the sight of the city. Thus near it, he spies a gTcat company of men digging in the ground, to whom approaching, he found them casting up white and red earth in abundance. Wherewith his amazed eyes growing soon enamoured, he desires a participation of then- riches. They refuse to join him in their gains, unless he wUl join himself in their pains. Hereupon he falls to toUing, digging, and delving, tUl some of the earth falls so heavy upon him that it lames him, and he is able to go no further. There he dies in the sight of that city, to which he could not go for want of feet, and loseth a certain substantial gift for an uncertain shadow of vain hope.

You can easily apply it. God, of his gracious favour, not for our deserts, gives man, his creature, a glorious city, even that whose ' foundations are of jasper, sapphire, and emerald,' Arc, Rev. xxi. 19. He doth more, directs him in the Avay to it: Go on this way; ' walk in love.' lie begms to travel, and comes within the sight of heaven; but by the way he spies worldlings toiling in the earth, and scraping together white and red clay—silver and gold, the riches of this world. Hereof desirous, he is not suffered to partake, except he also partake of their covetousness and corrupt fashions. Now, Mammon sets him on work to dig out his own damnation;* where, after a while, this gay earth comes tumbling so fast upon him, that his feet be maimed, his affections to heaven lost, and he dies short of that glorious city, which the King of heaven purchased with his own blood, and gave him. Think of this, ye worldlings, and seeing you know what it is to be charitable, put your feet in this way: ' Walk in love.'

There be yet others whose whole course is every step out of the way to God, who is love ; and they must walk in love that come unto him.

First, There is a path of lust ; they err damnably that call this the way of love. They turn a spiritual grace into a carnal vice ; and whereas charity and chastity are of a nearer alliance than sound, these debauched tongues call uncleanness love. Adultery is a cursed way, though a much coursed way; for a whore is the highway to the devil.

Secondlj^, There is a path of malice ; and they that travel in it are bound for the enemy. Their evil eye is vexed at God's goodness, and their hands of desolation would vmdo his mercies. Other men's health is their sickness; others' weal their woe. The Jesuits and their bloody proselytes are pilgrims in this way. We know by experience the scoj^e of their walks. Their malice was so strong as scevire in saxa; but they would turn Jerusalem in acei-vum lapidum, into a heap of stones. Yea, such was their rage, that nil reliqui fecerunt, ut non ipsis elementis fieret injuria, —they spared not to let the elements know the madness of their violence. They could not draw fire from heaven; (their betters could not do it in the days of Christ on earth ;) therefore they seek it, they dig it from hell:—

' Flectere cum nequeunt Superos, Acheronta movebuut.*

Here was malicious walking.

Thirdly, There is a counterfeit path; and the travellers make as if they walked in love, but their love is dissimulation. It is not dilectio vera, true love, Avhich St John speaks of, 1 Epist. iii. 18; nor dilectio mera, as Luther, —not a plain-hearted love. They will cozen you unseen, and then, like the whore in the Proverbs, wipe their mouths; and it was not they. Their art is alius pellere axit tollere, —to give others a mpe or a wound; and, Judaslike, they salute those with a kiss, against whom they intend most treason.

Fourthly, There is a way directly cross to love, which neither obeys God, for love keeps the commandments; nor comforts man, for love hath compassion on the distressed. These have feet swift enough, but ' swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways,' Eom. iii. 15, IG. They are in Zedekiah's case, 2 Kings xxv. 7 : l)oth their eyes are put out, and their feet lamed with the captive-chains of »Satan; so easily carried down to liis infernal Babylon.

These are they that * devour a man and his heritage,' ]\Iic. ii. 2. Therefore Christ calls their riches, not ra otra, but tu hivra, things within them, as if they had swallowed them down into their bowels. The phrase Ls used * * Effodiuntur opes irritamenta malorum.'— Or. Met.

by Job,' He hath, swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them T»p again: God shall cast them out of his belly,' chap. xx. 15. When this vomit is given them, you shall see strange stuff come from them. Here the raw and micligested gobbets of usiu-y; there the mangled morsels of bloody oppressions : here five or six impropriate churches; there thousand acres of decayed tillage : here a whole casket of bribes; there whole houses and patrimonies of undone orphans : here an enclosure of commons ; there a vastation of proper and sanctified things. Rip up their consciences, and this is the stuffing of their hearts.

These walk cross to the cross of Christ ; as Paul saith, they are enemies, cursed 'walkers,' PhU. iii. 18. Whereupon we may conclude with Bernard, Periculosa tempora jam non instant, seel extant* —The dangerous times are not coming, but come upon us. The cold frost of indevotion is so general, that many have benumbed joints; they cannot walk in love. Others so stiff and obdurate, that they will meet all that walk in this way, and with their turbulent malice, strive to jostle them out of it. Therefore David prays, ' Preserve me from the violent men, that have purposed to overthrow my goings,' Ps. cxL 4. Let us then, upon this great cause, use that deprecation ua our Litany, 'From pride, vain-glory, and hypocrisy; from envy, hatred, and malice, and all uncharitableness, good Lord, deliver us !'

I am loath to give you a bitter farewell, or to conclude with a menace. I see I cannot, by the time's leave, drink to you any deeper in this cup of charity. I will touch it once again, and let every present soul that loves heaven pledge me : * Walk in love.'

The way to life everlasting is love; and he that keeps the way is sure to come to the end. ' We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren,' 1 John iii 14. For this are the works of mercy, charity, piety, and pity, so much commended in the Scriptures, and by the fathers, with so high titles, because they are the appointed way wherein we must walk, and whereby we must ' work up our own salvation.' Therefore the apostle claps in the neck of good works : ' laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life,' 1 Tim. vi 19. Thereby we lay the ground of salvation in our consciences, and take assured hold of eternal life. He that goes on in love shall come home to life.

This comforts us; not in a presumption of merit, but in confident knowledge that this is the way to glory: wherein, when we find ourselves walking, we are sure we are going to heaven, ' and sing in the ways of the Lord, Great is the glory of the Lord,' Ps. cxxxviii. 5. Now, therefore, ' put on (as the elect of God, holy and beloved) bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind,' &c.. Col. iii. 12. As you claim any portion in those gracious blessings, election, sanctification, and the love of God ; as you would have the sweet testimony of the Spirit that you are sealed up to the day of redemption, ' put on mercy, kindness, meekness, long-suffering'—let them be as robes to cover you all over; yea, ' bowels of mercies'—let them be as tender and inward to you as your most vital parts. Lay forbearance and forgiveness as dear friends in your bosoms. Depart from iniquity; for ' the highway of the upright is to depart from evil; and he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul,' Prov. xvi. 17. And, ' above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness,' Col. iii. 14. 'Walk in love.' * And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God !' Gal. vi. IG. Amen. * De Considerat., lib. i.

LOVE'S COPT;

OB,

THE BEST PRECEDENT OF CHAEITT.

As Chnst loved us. — Eph, V. 2.

We distinguislied the whole verse into a cajiooi and. a crucifix. The canon consisted of a precept and a precedent. Love is the subject, and it is both commanded and commended: commanded in the charge, which you have heard ; commended in the exam2)le, which you shall hear. I determined my speech with the jn'ecept: ' Walk in love.' The 2}recedent or pattern remains to be propounded and expounded: ' as Christ loved us.' Every word is emphatical; and there be four, signifying four several natures.

Here, 1. w4s is a word of quality; 3. Christ is a word of majesty; 3. Loved is a word of mercy; 4. Us is a word of misery.

Two of these words be vincida or media, that join and unite other things; sicut and ddexit, as and loved. As directs our love to God and man, by the exemplified rule of Christ loving us. ' Walk in love' to others, ' as Christ loved us.' Loved is that blessed reconciling natiu'e whereby God's good greatness descends to our bad baseness, and the Just gives to the unjust salvation. For what other nature but mercy could reconcile so high majesty and so low misery!

1. As, according to Zanchius's observation on this place, is a note of quality, not equaUty; of similitude, not of comparison. We must love others as Christ loved us. As, for the manner, not for the measure. ' His love was strong as death,' Cant. viii. 6; for to the death he loved us. It was a bright and clear fire; ' many waters could not quench it;' yea, water and blood could not put it out. ' God so loved the world,' John iii. 16, so freely, so fatherly, so fully, as no tongue can teU, no heart think. ' The love of Christ passcth knowledge,' Eph. iii. 19. To think of equalling this love would be an impossible presumption. Our love is inconstant, weak; a mingled, and often a mangled love, mingled with self-love, and mangled with the wounding afi'ections of the world. Our love is faint, his strong; ours fickle, his constant; ours limited, his infinite. Yet we must follow him so fast as we can, and so far as we may: ' Walking in love, as he loved us.'

His walking in love was strange and admirable; lie took large steps— from keaven to eartk, and from eartk to heaven. As Bernard, on that speech of the church concerning her Beloved, ' Behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills,' Cant. ii. 8. He leaps from heaven to the virgin's womb, from the womb to a manger, from the manger to Egypt, from Egypt to Judah, from thence to the temple, from the temple up to the cross, from the cross down to the grave, from the grave up to the earth, and from the earth up to the highest glory. And he shall yet have another leap, from the right hand of his Father to judge quick and dead.

These were great jumps, and large paces of love : when he made but one stride from the clouds to the cradle, and another from the cradle to the cross, and a third from tTie cross to the crown. To come from the bosom of his immortal Father to the womb of his mortal mother was a great step. From the lowest hell, or depth of his humiliation, to the highest heaven, or top of his exaltation, was a large pace.

We cannot take such large steps, nor make such strides. These leaps are beyond our agility, our ability. Yet we must follow him in love; stepping so far as we can, and walking so fast as we may. Follow Ave carefully and cheerfully; though non passibus (equis. The father, that takes his young son into the field with bows and shafts, and bids him shoot after him, doth not expect that the child should shoot so far as he, but so far as he can. Though we cannot reach Christ's mark, yet ' if there be a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, not according to that he hath not,' 2 Cor. viii. 12. Now, this particle as is not barely similitudiuary, but hath a greater latitude; and serves, (1.) To confine the measure; (2.) To define the matter ; and, (3.) To refine the manner of our imitation.

(1.) This sicut confines our imitation, and limits it to that circumference which the present rule or compass gives it We may not follow Christ in all things, but in this thing: love, as he loved us. Our imitation hath a limitation, that it may not exorbitantly start out of the circle. There are special works which God reserves to himself, and wherein he did never command or commend man's following; but rather strikes it down as presumption. His power, his majesty, his wisdom, his miracles, cannot without a. contumacious ambition be aimed at. When Lucifer aspired to be like God in majesty, he was thrown out of heaven. When Adam contended to be like God in knowledge, he was cast out of paradise. When Nebuchadnezzar arrogated to be like God in power, he was espulsed his kingdom. When Simon Magus mounted to be like God in working miracles, and to fly in the air, he was hurled down, and broke his neck. God must not be imitated in his finger, in his arm, in his brain, in his face, but in his bowels. Not in the finger of his miracles, nor in the arm of his power, nor in the brain of his wisdom, nor in the face of his majesty, but in the bowels of his mercy. * Be ye merciful, as your heavenly Father is merciful,' Luke vi. 36. And saith Paul, 'put on the bowels of mercy,' Col, iii. 12, as Chxist put them on : forbear, forgive, walk in love, as he loved us. Neither angel nor man did ever, or shall ever, offend in coveting to be like God, in love, grace, mercj', goodness. So that this sicut excludes his miracles, and dhccts us to his morals. ' Vv^alk in love, as,' &c,

(2.) This sicut defines what our love should be : as Christ's was to us. Now, his love to us had an infinite extension, and is past the skill of men or angels to describe. Yet because this is the perfect coj^y of our imitation, and the infallible rule whereby we must square our charity, I must, according to my shallow power, wade a little into this infinite and boundless sea.

I will only note four sweet streams of life in liis love. It was, [1.] Holy, sine merito; [2.] Hearty, sine modo; [3.] Kind, sine despectu; [4.] Constant, sine defectu.

[1.1 Holy. The love of Jesus to us was sanda et sandificans diledio: a love holy formaliter, in itself; and holy effedive, in making those holy oii whom it was set. He gave himself to us, and for us, and gave us a faith to receive and embrace him; sine quo nee dilecti, nee diligentes fidssemus, — without whom we neither could have received love, nor returned love. Now his love did not only extend to our bodies' health, but to our souls' bhss. So he loved us, tliat he saved us.

Our love should likewise be holy and whole, desiring not only our brother's external welfare, but much more his internal, his eternal blessedness. He that pities not a famished body, deserves justly the name of an unmerciful man; but he that compassionates not an afflicted conscience, hath much more a hard heart. It is a usual speech of compassion to a distressed man, Alas, poor soul! but this same ' Alas, poor soul!' is for the most part mistaken. Neither the piticr nor the pitied imagines the soul pitiable. Very humanity teacheth a man to behold an execution of thieves and traitors with gTief; that men, to satisfy their maUcious or covetoiis affections, should cut off their own lives with so infamous a death. But who commiserates the endangered soul, that must then enter into an eternal life or death ?

The story of Hagar with her son Ishmael is set down by so heavenly a pen, that a man cannot read it without tears. She is cast out of Abraham's house witli her child, that might call her master father. Gen. xxi. 14. Bread and water is put on her shoulder, and she wanders into the wilderness ; a poor relief for so long a journey, to which there was set no date of returning. Soon was the water spent in the bottle ; the child cries for drink, to her that had it not, and lifts up pitiful eyes, every glance whereof was enough to wound her soul; vents the sighs of a dry and panting heart; but there is no water to he had, except the tears that ran down from a sorrowful mother's eyes could quench its thirst. Down she lays the child under a shrub, and went, as heavy as ever mother parted from her only son, and sat her down upon the earth, as if she desired it for a present receptacle of her grief, of herself; ' a good way off,' saith the text, ' as it were a bow-shot,' thiii the shrieks, yellings, and dying groans of the child might not reach her ears; crying out, ' Let me not see the death of the child.' Die she knew he must, but as if the beholding it would rend her heart, and wound her soul, she denies those windows so sad a spectacle : ' Let me not see the death of the child. So she lift up her voice and wept.' Never was Hagar so pitiful to her son Ishmael; as the church is to eveiy Christian. If any son of her womb will wander out of Abraham's family, the house of faith, into the wilderness of this world, and prodigally part with his ' own mercy,' Jonah ii. 3, for the gaudy, transient vanities thereof, she follows, with entreaties to liim, and to heaven for him. If he will not return, she is loath to see his death; she turns her back upon him, and weeps. He that can with dry eyes and unrelenting heart behold a man's soul ready to perish, hath not so much passion and compassion as that Egj'ptian bondwoman.

_[2.J Hearty. The love of Christ to us was hearty; not consisting of shows and signs, and courtly compliments, but of actual, real, royal bounties. He did not dissemble love to us when he died for us. Exhibitio operis, probatio amoris. He pleaded by the truest and most undeniable argument, demonstration. * I love you.' Wherein I ' I give my life for you.' Tot ova, qiiot vulnera; tot verba, qiiot vo'lera. So many wounds, so many words to speak

actually his love ; every strii^e he bore gave sufficient testimony of his affection. His exceeding rich gift shews his exceeding rich love. This heartiness must be in our love, both to our Creator and to his image.

First, To God; so he challengeth thy love to be conditioned: with thy heart, with all thy heart. And this, saith Christ, is p?'mM??i et maximum mcmdatum, —' the first and the greatest commandment,' Matt. xxii. 38. The first, quasi virtualiter continens reliqua,'^ —as mainly comprehending all the rest. For he that loves God with all his heart, will neither idolatrise, nor blaspheme, nor profane his Sabbaths; no, nor wrong his creatures. The greatest, as requiring the greatest perfection of our love.t This then must be a hearty love,—not slow, not idle; but must shew itself, et 'properando et operando, —in ready diligence, in fruitful and working obedience. There are many content to love God a Uttle, because he blesseth them much. So Saul loved him for his kingdom. These love God pro seipsis, not prce seijosis, — for themselves, not before themselves. They will give him homage, but not fealty; the calves of their lips, but not the calves of their stalls. If they feast him with venison, part of their emparked riches, which is dear to them, yet it shall be but rascal deer, the trash of their substance; they will not feast him with the heart, that is the best deer in their park. J

Secondly, To man, whom thou art bound to love as thyself; where, say some, as is but a tarn, not a tantum: as thyself, not as much as thyself; oa for the manner, not for the measure. But this is certain, true love begins at home, and he cannot love another soundly, that primarily loves not himself. And he that loves himself with a good heart, with the same heart wiU love his brother. In quo seipsum, et propter quod seij)sum,§ —in that manner, and for that cause, that he loves himself. This, then, commands the same love, if not the same degree of love, to thy brother, that thou bearest to thyself.

This hearty love is hardly found. More is protested now than in former times, but less done. It is wittily observed, that the old manner of saluting was to take and shake one another by the hand. Now we lock arms, and join breasts, but not hearts. That old handful was better than this new armful. Our cringes and complimental bowings promise great humility, but the smothered vermin of pride lies within. We have low looks and lofty thoughts. There are enough of those ' which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts,' Ps. xxviii. 3; whose smooth habits do so palliate and ornamentally cover their poison, as if they did preserve mud in crystal. The Romans usually painted Friendship with her hand on her heart, as if she promised to send no messenger out of the gate of her lips, but him that goes on the heart's errand. Now we have studied both textures of words, and pretextures of manners, to shroud dishonesty. But one ounce of real charity is worth a whole talent of verbal. He loves us best that does for us most. Many politicians (and the whole world now runs on the wheels of policy) use theii* lovers as ladders, their friends as scaffolds. When a house is to be erected, they first set up scaffolds, by which they build it up; the house finished, down pull they the scaffolds, and throw them into the fire. When the covetous or ambitious man hath his turn served by others, either for his advancing or advantaging, for gain or glory, he puts them off with neglect and contempt. The house is bmlt, what care

* Marlorat. + Arctius.

t There is here a play upon the words ' dear' and ' deer,' ' heart' and ' hart/ which our modem spelling fortunately does not allow us to exhibit.— Ed. § Jacob, de Vorag. in Luc. x., Serm. 2.

they for the scaffold? The feat is wrought, let the wise and honest helpers be prisoned or poisoned, sink or swim, stand or perish. Nay, it is well if they help not those down that helped them up.

[3.] Kind. The Apostle makes kindness one essential part of our love. Col, iii. 13; deriving it from Christ's example, who was kind to us, both in giving us much good and forgiving us much evil. And God commendeth, yea, cSommandeth, the inseparable neighbourhood of godliness and brotherly kindness. ' Add to your godliness brotherly kindness,' 2 Pet. i, 7. For there is no piety towards God, where there is no kindness to our brother. Now, Christ's kindness to us consisted in two excellent effects, corrigenda et porrigendo.

First, In correcting our errors, directing and amending our lives. J^fon minima pars dilectionis est, reprehendere dilectum, —It is no small part of kindness, to reprove him thou lovest. Therefore God saith, ' Thou shalt reprove thy brother, and not hate him in thy heart.' A loving man will chide his erring friend; and he that does not, hates him in his heart. Sic vigilet tolerantia, ut non dormiat disciplina,* —So let patience watch, that discipline sleep not. This was David's desire, ' Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness; and let him reprove me, it shall be an excellent oH, which shall not break my head,' Ps. cxli. 5. Our Saviour took this course, but he was pitiful in it; not 'breaking the bruised reed, nor.quenching the smoking flax,' Matt. xii. 20. He was not transported with passion, but moved with tender compassion and merciful affection : ' He was moved with compassion toward the people, seeing them as sheep without a shepherd,' Mark vi. 34. ' As a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him,' Ps. ciii. 13. And children are viscera j?:)a7'e?2^z<«i, saith Jerome,t—the very bowels of the parents. Therefore his bowels yearned within him when he saw the weakly blind led by the wilfully bKnd, and he instructed them. It is no small mercy in a father to con-ect his erring child.

This is one office of love almost quite forgotten in the world. Our eyes and ears are conscious of many horrid sins, whereof we make also our souls guilty by our silence. Like chameleons, we turn to the colour of our company. Oppressions, that draw blood of the commonwealth, move us not. Oaths, that totter the battlements of heaven, wake us not. Oh, where is our kindness ! Whilst we do not reprove, we approve these iniquities. He is conscious of secret guiltiness that forbeareth to resist open iniquity.:}; Thou sayest it is for love's sake thou sparest reprehension. Why, if thou love thy friend, thou wilt gently rebuke his faults. If thou love thy friend never so dearly, yet thou oughtest to love truth more dearly. Let not, then, the truth of love prejudice the love of truth.

Secondly, In 2'>orrigendo, reaching forth to us his ample mercies: ' Giving us riclily all things to enjoy,' 1 Tim. vi. 17. Where the Apostle describes God's bounty,—that he gives freely, fully, universally, effectually.

First, Freely. He gives without exchange; he receives nothing for that he gives. Ungodly men have honour, wealth, health, peace, plenty; their bellies arc filled with his treasure, and they do not so much as return him thanks. His sun shines, his rain falls on the unjust and ungrateful man's ground. Man when he gives, et respicit et recijnt gratitudinem, both expects and accepts thanks and a return of love. God hath not so much as thanks. For the good, they are indeed grateful; but this gratia grati is gratia grati-ficantis. God gives them this grace to be thankful, ana they may bless him, that he stirs them up to bless him.

* Aug. de Verbis Apost., Scrm. 22. t In Epist. Paul ad Philem. % Greg.

VOL. II. 2 D

Secondly, Fully and richly, as becomes the greatest king. A duke, at the •wedding-feast of his daughter, caused to be brought in thirty courses, and at every course gave so many gifts to each guest at the table as were dishes in the course. And I have read of a queen that feasted her guests with wines brewed with dissolved precious stones, that every draught was valued at a hundred crowns. Here was royal entertainment; but this was but one feast. Such bounty continued would quickly consume the finite means of any earthly prince. Only God is ' rich in mercy,' Eph. ii. 4. His treasury fills all the ■world, without emptying, yea, impairing or abating itself.

Thirdly, Universally; all things. The king hath his crown, the great man his honour, the mighty his strength, the rich his wealth, the learned his knowledge, the mean man his peace; all at his gift. He opens his hand wide, he sparseth abroad his blessings, and fills all things living with his jjlenteousness.

Fourthly, Effectually; he settles these gifts upon us. As he gave them Tidthout others, so others without him shall never be able to take them away. As he created, so he conserveth the virtues,—strength in bread, and warmth in clothes,—and gives wine and oil their effective cheerfulness.

Be thou so land as this holy and heavenly pattern, not aiming at the measure, which is inimitable, but levelling at the manner, which is charitable. Like Job, who used not to ' eat his morsels alone,' chap. xzxi. 17; neither to deny his ' bread to the hungiy,' nor the ' fleece of his flock' to the cold and naked. Let thy stock of kindness be liberal, though thy stock of wealth be stinted. Give omni 2^6ienti, though not omnia petenti; as that father excellently.

[4.] Constant. For with Christ is no variableness, ' no shadow of change,' James i. 17; but 'whom he once loves, he loves for ever,' John xiii. L F'ickleness is for a Laban, whose ' countenance will turn away from Jacob,' Gen. xxxi. 2, and his affection fall off with his profit. I have read of two entire friends, well deserving for their virtues, that when the one was promoted to great wealth and dignity, the other neglected in obscurity; the j)referred, though he could not divide his honour, yet shared his wealth to his old companion. Things so altered, that this honoured friend was falsely accused of treachery, and by the blow of suspicion, thrown down to misery; and the other, for Ms now observed goodness, raised up to a high place; where now he requites his dejected friend with the same courtesy, as if their minds had consented and contended to make that equal which their states made different. Oh for one dram of this immutable love in the world! Honours change manners; and we will not know those in the court who often fed us in the country; or if we vouchsafe to acknowledge them as friends, we will not as suitors. Hereon was the verse made :—

' Quisquis iu hoc mundo ciinctis vult gratus haberi: Det, capiat, quterat, plurima, pauca, nihil;'—

' He that would be of worldly men well thought, Must always give, take, beg, much, little, nought.'

Men cannot brook poor friends. This inconstant charity is hateful, as our English phrase premonisheth : ' Love me little, and love me long.'

(3.) This siciit refines our love. 'Walk in love, as Christ loved us;' where as is not only similitudinary, but causal: ' Love, because Christ loved us,' 1 John iv. 19; for this cause, as after this manner. Which serves to purify our love, to purge it from corruption, and to make it perfect. Dilectia Lei 710S facit et diligibiles et diligentes, —Both such as God can love, and

such as can love God. For it is the love of Christ to us that works a love to Christ in us. A man will ever love that medicine that hath freed him from some desperate disease. Christ's love hath healed us of aU our sores and sins; let us honour and love this medicine, compounded of so precious simples, water and blood. And let us not only affectionately embrace it ourselves, but let us invite others to it: ' Come and hearken, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul,' Ps. Ixvi IG.

2. Christ. —I have been so punctual in this word of equality, that I can but mention the rest. The word of majesty is Christ, who being Almighty God, coequal and coeternal with the Father and the Spirit, took on him our nature, and was/arfi« homo, ut pro homine pacaret Deurn, —God was made man, that for man he might appease God. Thus did so great a majesty stoop low for our love; non exuendo quod habuif, sed induendo quod non hahuit, —not by losing what he had, but by accepting what he had not, our miserable nature. Ipse dilexit nos, et tantus et tantuni, et gratis tantillos et tales,'''' —He that was so great, loved, so greatly, us that were so poor and unworthy, freely.

3. Loved is that word of mercy that reconciles so glorious a God to so ungracious smners. The cause which moved Christ to undertake for us was no merit in us, but mere mercy in him. He loved us, because he loved us : m our creation, when we could not love him ; in our redemption, when w^e would not love him. Loved us, not but that he loveth us stUl. But the Apostle speaks in this time, to distinguish the love wherewith he now loveth thus, from that whereby he once loved us. ' For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by his death; much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life,' Piom. v. 10. Though it be also true, that ' from everlasting he loved us,' Jer. xxxi. 3.

4. Us is the Avord of misery; us he loved that were so wretched. The word is indefinite : us, all us. Us, be we never so unworthy; all us, be we never so many.

(1.) Us that were unworthy of his love, from whom he expected no correspondence. That he loved the blessed angels was no wonder, because they with winged obedience execute his bests, 'and do his word,' Ps. ciiL 20. Yea, that he loved his very reasonless and insensible creatures is not strange ; for ' fire and haU, snow and vapour, stormy wind and tempest, fidfil his word,' Ps. cxlviii. 8. But to love us, that were 'weak, ungodly, smners, enemies,' Rom. v.: weak, no strength to deserve; ungodly, no piety to procure ; sinners, no righteousness to satisfy; enemies, no peace to atone, for we hated him, and all his;—' Ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake,' ]\Iatt. x. 22;—to love such tis, was an unexpectable, a most merciful love. He that wanted nothing, loved us that had nothing; immortal eternity loved mortal dust and ashes. Oh, if a man had ora mille Jluentia melle, yea, the tongues of angels, he could not sufficiently express this love. ' So God loved the world,' John iii. IG; mundum immunduvi, the unclean world, that not only not' received him,' John i. 11, but even crucified and killed him.

(2.) All of us, without exception of persons. This is the ' Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world,' John i. 29. The gospel proclaims a universal Si qiiis : ' Whosoever believes, and is baptized, shall be saved.' Qui seipsum excipit, seipsum decipit, —He tliat excepts himself, beguiles his own soul. Hence I find three inferences observable, which I will commend to your consciences, and your consciences to God :— First, Dilecti diligannis ; Secondly, Dilectos diligamus; Thirdly, Diligentes diligamiis. * Bern. Tract, de Diligendo Deo.

First, We are loved ourselves; therefore let us love. He that bids us love, loved us first. ' This is my commandment, that ye love one another.' Why ? 'As I loved you,' John xv. 12. Non aliud jussit, quam gessit, —He chargeth us with notMng in precept which he performed not in practice. Therefore, si tardi sumus ad amandum, non tardi simus ad redamanduni, —though we have not been forward to love first, let us not be backward to return love. Dilecti diligite. ' If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another,' 1 John V. 11. Magnus amoris amor; and the sole requital which God requires for liis rich love is our poor love: that only may love him, but have nothing to give him that is not his.

Secondly, They are beloved whom thou art charged to love. He that bids us love others, loves them himself. It is fit we should love those whom Christ loves. If thou love Christ, thou art bound to love others, because he loves them; yea, with that very same love wherewith he loves thee. Therefore dilectos diligamus.

Thirdly, They also love God, whom God commands thee to love. The love of Christ is so shed abroad into all Christians' hearts, that they un-feignedly affect Jesus their Saviour. They love him whom thou lovest, therefore love them. It is fit we should love them highly that love God heartily. Therefore diligentes diligamus.

Thus you have heard Love's walk, or race ', now, then, saith Paul, ' So run that you may obtain.' I will end with an apologue, an epilogue, a parable. Charity, and certain other rivals, or indeed enemies, would run a race together. The prize they aU ran for was felicity; which was held up at the goal's end by a bountiful lady, called Eternity. The runners were Pride, Prodigality, Envy, Covetousness, Lust, Hypocrisy, and Love. AU the rest were either diverse or adverse, neighbours or enemies to Charity. I will, herald-like, shew you their several equipage, how they begin the race and end it.

Pride, you know, must be foremost; and that comes out like a Spaniard, with daring look, and a tongue thundering out braves, mounted on a spiritly jennet, named Insolence. His plumes and perfumes amaze the beholders' eyes and nostrils. He runs as if he would overthrow giants and dragons,— yea, even the great Red Dragon, if he encountered him,—and with his lance burst open heaven-gates. But his jennet stumbles, and down comes Pride. You know how wise a king hath read his destiny : ' Pride will have a fall.'

The next is Prodigality; and because he takes himself for the true Charity, he must be second at least. This is a young gallant, and the horse he rides on is Luxury. He goes a thundering pace, that you would not think it possible to overtake him ; but before he is got a quarter of the way, he is spent, aU spent, ready to beg of those that begged of him.

Envy will be next, a lean meagre thing, full of malicious mettle, but hath almost no flesh. The horse he rides on is Malecontent. He would in his journey first cut some thousand throats, or powder a whole kingdom, blow up a state, and then set on to heaven. But the hangman sets up a gaUows in his way, whereat he runs full butt, and breaks his neck.

Then comes sneaking out Covetousness, a hunger-starved usurer, that sells wheat, and eats beans : many men are in his debt, and he is most in his own debt; for he never paid his belly and back a quarter of their dues. He rides on a thin hobbling jade called Unconscionableness, which, for want of a worse stable, he lodgeth in his own heart. He promiseth his soul to bring her to heaven; but tarrying to enlarge his barns, he lost opportunity and the prize of salvation, and so fell two bows short—faith and repentance.

Lust hath gotten on Love's cloak, and will venture to run. A leprous wretch, and riding on a trotting beast, a he-goat, was almost shaken to pieces. Diseases do so cramp him, that he is fain to sit down with Vce misero ! and without the help of a good doctor or a surgeon, he is like never to see a comfortable end of his journey.

Hypocrisy is glad that he is next to Charity; and persuades that they two are brother and sister. He is horsed on a halting hackney—for he does but borrow him—called Dissimulation. As he goes, he is offering every man his hand, but it is still empty. He leans on Charity's shoulder, and protests great love to her; but when she tries him to borrow a little money of him for some merciful purpose, he pleads he hath not enough to serve him to his journey's end. He goes forward like an angel, but his trusted horse throws him, and discovers him a de^ol.

The last named, but first and only that comes to the prize at the goal's end, is Charity. She is a humble virtue, not mounted as other racers, but goes on foot. She spares from her own belly, to relieve those poor pilgrims that travel with her to heaven. She hath two virgins that bear her company —Lmoccnce and Patience. She does no hurt to others, she suffers much of others; yet was she never heard to curse. Her language is blessing, and she shall for ever inherit it. Three celestial graces, Glory, Immortality, and Eternity, hold out a crown to her. And when Faith and Hope have lifted her up to heaven, they take their leave of her; and the bosom of everlasting Mercy receives her.

A CEIJCIFIX;

OR,

A SERMON UPON THE PASSION.

lie hath given liimself for v$ an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. — Eph. V. 2,

This latter part of the verse is a fair and livel}'^ crucifix, cut by the hand of a most exquisite carver,—not to amaze our corporal lights with a piece of wood, brass, or stone, curiously engraven, to the increase of a carnal devotion ; but to present to the eye of the conscience the grievous passion and gracious compassion of our Saviour Jesus Christ, ' who gave himself for us,' &c. This crucifix presents to our eye seven considerable circumstances:— 1. Who? Christ. 2. What ? Gave. 3. Whom? Himself 4. To whom ? To God. 5. For whom 1 For us. 6. After what manner 1 An offering and sacrifice. 7. Of what effect ? Of a sweet savour.

The points, you see, lie as ready for our discourse as the way did from Bethany to Jerusalem; only fail not my speech, nor your attention, tiU we come to the journey's end.

1. Who 1 —The person that gives is Christ; the quality of his person doth highly commend his exceeding love to us. We will ascend to this consideration by four stairs or degrees, and descend by four other. Both in going up and coming down we shall perceive the admirable love of the giver. Ascend-antly:—

(1.) We will consider him hominem, a man. ' Behold the man,' saith Pilate, John xix. 5. We may tarry and wonder at his lowest degree, that a man should give himself for man. ' For scarcely for a righteous man will one die,' Rom. v. 7. But this man gave himself for unrighteous men, to die, not an ordinary, but a grievous death, exposing himself to the wrath of God, to the tyranny of men and devils. It would pity our hearts to see a poor dumb beast so terrified; how much more hominem, a man, the image of God!

(2.) The second degree gives him hominem innocentem, an mnocent man. Pilate could say, ' I have found no fault in this man ; no, nor yet Herod,' Lulvc xxiii. 14. No, nor the devil, who would have been right glad of such

an advantage. So Pilate's wife sent her husband word, ' Have thou nothing to do with that just man,' Matt, xxvii. 19, So the person is not only a man, but a just man, that gave himself to endure such horrors for us. If we pity the death of malefactors, how should our compassion be to one innocent !

(3.) In the third degree, he is not only homo, a man, and Justus homo, a good man, but also magnus homo, a great man, royally descended from the ancient patriarchs and kings of Judah. Pilate had so written his title, and he would answer, not alter it. Quod scripsi, scripsi. And what was that ? 'Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews,' John xLx. 19, Now as is the person, so is the passion; the more noble the giver, the more excellent the gift. That so high a king would suffer such contempt and obloquy to be cast upon Mm, when the least part of his disgrace had been too much for a man of mean condition ! That a man, a good man, a great man, bore such calumny, such calamity, for oiu- sakes : here was an unmatchable, an unspeakable love,

(4.) This is enough, but this is not all. There is yet a higher degree in this ascent; we are not come to our full quantus. It is this : he was plus giiam homo, more than man; not only maximus homimtm, but major homi-nibus, the greatest of men; yea, greater than all men. Not mere filius hominis, but vere films Del, —he was more than the son of man, even the Son of God. As the centurion acknowledged, ' Truly this man was the Son of God,' Mark xv, 39. Here be all the four stairs upwards : a man, a harmless man, a prhicely man, and yet more than man, even God himself. Solomon was a great king, but here is a greater than Solomon. Solomon was Christus Domini, but here is Chrisius Dominus, He was the anointed of the Lord, but this is the Lord himself anointed. And here all tongues grow dumb, and admiration sealeth up every lip. This is a depth beyond sounding. You may perhaps drowsily hear this, and coldly be affected with it; but let me say, principalities and powers, angels and seraphims, stood amazed at it.

We see the ascent. Shall we bring down again this consideration by as many stairs ?

(1.) Consider him. Almighty God, taking upon him man's nature. This is the first step downwards. ' The V/ord was made flesh, and dwelt among xis,' John i. 1-1; and, 'God sent forth his Son, made of a woman,' Gal. iv. 4. And this was done, naturam suscipiendo nostram, non mxitando suam,* —by putting on our nature, not by putting off his own. Homo Deo accessit, non Deus ci se recessit. He is both God and man, yet but one Christ; one, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person. Now in that this eternal God became man, he suffered more than man can suffer, either living or dead. That man should be turned into a beast, into a worm, into dust, into nothing, is not so great a disparagement as that the glorious God should become man : ' He that thought it not robbery to be equal with God, was made in the likeness of man,' Phil. ii. 6, He that is ' more excellent than the angels,' became lov/er than the angels. Even the brightness of God's glory takes on him the baseness of our nature ; and he that laid the foundations of the earth, and made the world, is now in the world made himself This is the first descending degree,

(2.) The second stair brings hinr yet lower. He is made man ; but what man i Let him be universal monarch of the world, and have fealty and lioniage acknowledged to him from all kings and emperors as his viceroys ; let him walk upon crowns and sceptres, and let princes attend on his court;

* Aug. Epist. 120.

and here was some majesty, that might a little become the Son of God. No such matter. Induit formam servi, —' He took upon him the form of a servant,' Phil. ii. 7. He instructs us to humility by his own example. ' The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister,' Matt. xx. 28. j' O Israel, thou hast made me to serve with thy sins,' Isa. xliii. 24. He gave himself for a minister, not for a master; ad servitutem, non ad dominationem. He that is God's Son is made man's servant. Proudly blind, and blindly poor man, that thou shouldest have such a servant as the Son of thy Maker! This is the second step downwards.

(3.) This is not low enough yet: ' I am a worm, and no man,' saith the Psalmist in his person; yea, ' the shame of men and contempt of the people.' He is called, Ps. xxiv. 7, ' the King of glory.' ' Be ye open, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in;' but, Isa. liii. 3, ' He is despised and rejected of men: we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.' Oh the pity of God, that these two should come so near together, ' the King of glory,' and ' the shame of men !' Quo celsior majestas, eo mirahilior humilitas. Thus saith the Apostle, ' He made himself of no reputation,' Phil. ii. 7. He that requires all honour as properly due to him, makes himself, not of little, but of no reputation. Here was dejection; yea, here was rejection. Let him be laid in his poor cradle, the Bethlehemites reject him; the manger must serve; no room for him in the inn. Yea, ' He came unto his own, and his own received him not,' John ill. All Israel is too hot for him; he is glad to flee into Egypt for protection. Comes he to Jerusalem, which he had honoured with his presence, instructed with his sermons, amazed with his miracles, wet and bedewed with his tears 1 They reject him : ' I would, and ye would not.' Comes he to his kindred ? They deride and traduce him, as if they were ashamed of his alliance 1 Comes he to his disciples ? ' They go back, and will walk no more with him,' John vi. 6Q. Will yet his apostles tarry with him 1 So they say, ver. 68, ' Lord, to whom shall we go ? thou hast the words of eternal life.' Yet at last one betrays him, another forswears him, all forsake him; and Jesus is left alone in the midst of his enemies. Can malice yet add some further aggravation to his contempt 1 Yes, they crucify him with malefactors. The quality of his company is made to increase his dishonour. In medio latronum, tanquam laivonum immanissimics. In the midst of thieves, as it were the prince of thieves, saith Luther. He that ' thought it no robbery to be equal to the most holy God,' is made equal to thieves and murderers; yea, tanquam dux, as it were, a captain amongst them. This is the third step.

(4.) But we must go yet lower. Behold now the deepest stair and the greatest rejection. Affligit one Deus, —' The Lord hath afficted me in the day of his fierce anger,' Lam. i. 12. ' It pleased the Lord to bruise him ; he hath put him to grief,' Isa. liii. 10. No burden seems heavy, when the comforts of God help to bear it. When God will give solace, vexation makes but idle offers and assaults. But now, to''' the rejection of all the former, the Lord turns his back upon him as a stranger; the Lord wounds him as an enemy. He cries out, ' My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me V How could the sun and stars, heaven and earth, stand, whUe their ]\Iaker thus complained ! The former degree was deep ; he was crucified with evildoers, ' reckoned amongst the wicked.' Yet thieves fared better in death than he. We find no irrision, no insultation, no taunts, no invectives against them. They had nothing upon them but pain; he both contempt and tor-* That is, ' in additioa to.'^— Ed.

ment. If scorn and derision can vex Ms good soul, he shall have it in peals of ordnance shot against him. Even the basest enemies shall give it; Jews, soldiers, persecutors, yea, suffering malefactors, spare not to flout him. His blood cannot appease them without his reproach. But yet the disciples are but weak men, the Jews but cruel persecutors, the devils but malicious enemies ; all these do but their kind: but the lowest degree is, God forgets him, and in his feeling he is forsaken of the Highest. Weigh all these circumstances, and you shall truly behold the Person that gave himself for us.

2. What? —We come to the action, Dedit. Giving is the argument of a free disposition. ' I lay down my life; no man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again,' John x. 17, 18. He that gives life to us, gave up his own life for us. He did not sell, set, let, or lend, but give. Ohlatus est, quia, ipse voluit, —He was offered, because he would be offered. No hand could cut that stone from the quarry of heaven; no violence pull him from the bosom of his Father, but sua misericordia, his own mercy : ' he gave.' ' He cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills,' Cant. ii. 8. He comes with willingness and celerity, no human resistance could hinder him ; not the hillocks of our lesser infirmities, not the mountains of our grosser iniquities, could stay his merciful pace towards us.

He gave his life; who could bereave him of it ? To all the high priest's armed forces he gave but a verbal encounter, ' I am he;' and they retire and ' fall backward;' his very breath dispersed them all. He could as easily have commanded fire from heaven to consume them, or vapours from the earth to choke them; he that controls devils, could easily have quailed men. More than twelve legions of angels were at his beck, and every angel able to conquer a legion of men. He gives them leave to take him, yea, power to kiU him; from himself is that power which apprehends himself. Even whiles he stands before Pilate scorned, yet he teUs him, ' Thou couldest have no power against me,' nisi datam desu2:)er, ' unless it were given thee from above.' His own strength leads him, not his adversaries ; he could have been freed, but he would not; constraint had abated his merit; he wUl deserve though he die.

The loss of his life was necessary, yet was it also voluntary: Qicod amitti-tur necessarmm est, quod emittitur voluntarium;'^ therefore 'he gave up the ghost.' In spite of all the world he might have kept his soul within his body; he would not. The world should have been burnt to cmders, and aU creatures on earth resolved to their original dust, before he could have been enforced. Man could not take away his spirit; therefore he gave it. Otherwise, if his passion had been only operis and not voluntatis, material and not formal, it could not have been meritorious, or afforded satisfaction for us. For that is only done well that is done of our will.

But it is objected, out of Heb. v. 7, thjo* ' he offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears, unto him that was able to save him from death.' Hence some blasphemers say that Christ was a coward in fearing the natural death of the body. If he had so feared it, he needed not to have tasted it. Christ indeed did naturally fear death, othermse ho had not been so affected as an ordinary man. Yet he willingly suffered death, otherwise he had not been so well affected as an ordinary martyr. But he prays thrice, ' Let this cup pass.' Divines usually distinguish here. The Sententiaries, thus : That there was in Christ a double human or created wUl, the one voluntas ut natura, a natural wiU; the other voluntas ut

* Ambrose.

ratio, a reasonable will. Christ, according to his natural "will, trembled at the pangs of death, and this without sin; for nature abhorreth all destructive things. But in regard of liis rational will, he willingly submits liimself to drink that cup. ' Not as I will, O Father, but as thou wilt.' A man, saith Aquinas, will not naturally endure the lancing of any member, yet by his reasonable will he consents to it, for the good of the whole body; reason masters sense, and cutting or cauterising is endured. So Christ, by the strength of his natural will, feared death ; but by his reason, perceiving that the cutting, wounding, crucifying of the Head, would bring health to the whole body of his church, and either he must bleed on the cross, or we must all burn in hell; behold, now he willingly and cheerfully ' gives himself an offering and sacrifice to God for us.'

But was it a mere temporal death that our Saviour feared 1 No; he saw the fierce wrath of his Father, and therefore feared. Many resolute men have not shrunk at a little; divers martyrs have endured strange torments with magnanimity. But now when he that gave them strength quakes at death, shall we say he was a coward ? Alas ! that which would, have overwhelmed man, would not have made him shrink; that which he feared, no mortal man but himself ever felt. Yet he feared. The despair of many thousand men was not so much as for him to fear. He saw that which none saw, the anger of an infinite God ; he perfectly apprehended the cause of fear, our sin and torment; he saw the bottom of the cup, how bitter and dreggish every drop of that vial was ; he truly understood the burden which we make light of. Men fear not heU, because they know it not. If they could see, through the opened gates, the insufferable horrors of that pit, trembling and cjuaking would run like an ague through their bones. This insupportable load he saw, that the sponge of vengeance must be wrung out to Mm, and he must suck it up to the last and least drop. Every talent of our inicjuities must be laid \\]}0\\ him, till, as 'a cart, he be laden with sheaves,' Amos ii. 13. And with all this pressure he must mount his chariot of death, the cross, and there bear it, till the ai>peased God give way to a consummatum est, —' It is finished !'

The philosopher could say, that sapiens miser, magis est miser, quam stultus miser, —a wise man miserable is more miserable than a fool miserable, because he understands his misery. So that our Saviour's pangs were aggravated by the fulness of his knowledge. No marvel then if he might justly take David's Avords out of his mouth, ' Thy terrors have I suffered with a troubled mind.' This thought drew from him those tears of blood. His eyes had formerly wept for our misdoings; his whole body now weeps : not a fixint dew, but he sweat out solid drops of blood. The thorns, scourges, nails, fetched blood from him, but not with such pain as this sweat. Outward violence drew on those; these the extremity of his troubled thought. Here, then, was his cause of fear. He saw our everlasting destruction if he suffered not ; he saw the horrors which he must suffer to ransom us. Hinc ilke lachrymcc, —Hence those groans, tears, cries, and sweat; yet his love conquered all. By nature he could willingly have avoided this cup; for love's sake to us he took it in a -vnlling hand; so he had purposed, so he hath performed. And now to testify his love, saith my text, he freely ' gave.'

3. Whom ?—Himself. This is the third circumstance : the gift, himself.

Not an angel; for an angel cannot sufficiently mediate between an immortal nature ofiended, and a mortal nature corrupted. The glorious angels are blessed, but finite and limited, and therefore unable for this expiation. They cannot be so sensibly ' touched with the feeling of our infirmities,' Heb.

iv, 1 -5, as lie tliat was in our own nature, ' in all points tempted like as we are, sin only excepted.'

Not saints; for tkey have no more oil than will serve their own lamps : they have enough for themselves, not of themselves; all of Christ, but none to spare. Fools cry, ' Give us of your oil ;' they answer,' Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you; but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves,' Matt. xxv. 9. They could not propitiate for sin, that were themselves guilty of sin, and by nature liable to condemnation. Wretched idolaters, that thrust this honour on them against their wills; how would they abhor such sacrilegious gioiy !

Not the riches of this world; ' We were not redeemed with coniiptible tilings, as silver and gold,' 1 Pet. i. 18. Were the riches of the old world brought together to the riches of the new world ; were all the mineral veins of the earth emptied of their purest metals ; tliis pay would not be current with God. It A\ill cost more to redeem souls. ' They that trust in their wealth, and boast in the multitude of their riches, yet cannot by any means redeem their brother, nor giva to God a ransom for him,' Ps. xlix. G, 7. The servant cannot redeem the Lord. God made a man master of these things; he is then more precious than his slaves.

Not the blood of bulls or goats, Heb. ix. Alas ! those legal sacrifices were but dumb shows of this tragedy, the mere figures of this oblation, mystically presenting to their faith that ' Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world.' This Lamb was prefigured in the sacrifices of the law, and now presented in the sacraments of the gospel, slain indeed, * from the beginning of the world;' who had power, iwode&se, to profit us, before he had es$e, a human being himself. None of these would serve.

Whom gave he then? Seipsum, himself; who was both God and man : that so participating of both natures, our mortality, and God's immortality, he might be a perfect mediator. Apparuit vjitur inter mortales peccat07'es et immortalem justiun, mortalis cmn hominihus, Justus cum Deo,''^ —He came between mortal men and immortal God, mortal with men, and just with God. As man he suffered, as God he satisfied ; as God and man he saved. He gave himself, se totum, se solum, —lumself wholly, himseK only.

(1.) All himself, his whole person, soul and body, Godhead and manhood. Though the Deity could not sufi'er, yet in regard of the personal union of these two natures in one Christ, his very passion is attributed in some sort to the Godhead. So, Acts xx. 28, it is called the ' blood of God;' and, 1 Cor. ii. 8, ' The Lord of glory' is said to ' be crucified.' The school's distinction here makes all plain. He gave totum Christum, though not totum Cliristi, —all Christ, though not all of Christ; Jwmo non valuit, Deus nan voluit, —as God alone he would not, as man alone he coiUd not, make this satisfaction for us. The Deity is impassible ; yet was it impossible, without this Deity, for the great work of our salvation to be wrought. If any ask, how the manhood could suffer without violence to the Godhead, being united in one person, let him understand it by a familiar comparison. The sunbeams shine on a tree, the axe cuts down this tree, yet can it not hurt the beams of the sun. So the Godhead still remains unharmed, though the axe of death did for a while fell down the manhood. Corpus pa-ssum est dolore et gladio, anivia dolore non r/ladio, divinitas nee dolore nee r/ladio, —His body suffered both sorrow and the sword; his soul sorrow, not the sword; his Deity neither sorrow nor the sword. Deitas in dolente, non in dolore, —The Godhead was in the person pained, yet not in the pain. * Aug. Coiifes., lib. x., cap. 43.

(2.) Himself only, and that Avithout a partner, and without a comforter. [1.] Without a partner, that might share either his glory or our thanks, of both which he is justly jealous. Christi passio adjutore non eguit* —The sufferings of our Saviour need no help. Upon good cause, therefore, we abhor that doctrine of the PajDists, that our offences are expiated by the passions of the saints. No, not the blessed virgin hath performed any part of our justification, paid any farthing of our debts. But thus sings the choir of Eome—

' Sancta virgo Dorothea, Tua nos virtute bea, Cor in nobis novum crea.*

Wherein there is pretty rhyme, petty reason, but great blasphemy; as if the virgin Dorothy were able to create a new heart within us. No, ' but the blood of Jesus Christ cleauseth us from aU sin,' 1 John i. 7. His blood, and his only. O blessed Saviour ! every drop of thy blood is able to redeem a believing world. What then need we the help of men 1 How is Christ a perfect Saviour, if any act of our redemption be left to the performance of saint or angel ? No, our souls must die, if the blood of Jesus cannot save them. And whatsoever witty error may dispute for the merits of saints, the distressed conscience cries, ' Christ, and none but Christ.' They may sit at tables and discourse, enter the schools and argue, get up into the pulpits and preach, that the works of good men are the church's treasure, given by indulgence, and can give indulgence, and that they will do the soul good. But lie we upon our deathbeds, panting for breath, driven to the push, tossed with tumultuous waves of afflictions, anguished with sorrow of spirit, then we sing another song—' Christ, and Christ alone; Jesus, and only Jesus; mercy, mercy, pardon, comfort, for our Saviour's sake !' ' Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved,' Acts iv. 12.

[2.] Without a comforter. He was so far from having a sharer in his passion, that he had none in compassion, that (at least) might anyways ease his sorrows. It is but a poor comfort of calamity, pity; yet even that was wanting. ' Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass hyV Lam. i. 12. Is it so sore a sorrow to Christ, and is it nothing to you 1 a matter not worth your regard, your pity? Man naturally desires and expects, if he cannot be delivered, eased, yet to be pitied. ' Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me,' Job xix. 21. Christ might make that request of Job, but in vain; there was none to comfort him, none to pity him. It is yet a little mixture of refreshing, if others be touched with a sense of our misery; that in their hearts they wish us weU, and would give us ease if they could; but Christ hath in his sorest pangs not so much as a comforter. The martyrs have fought valiantly under the banner of Christ, because he was with them to comfort them. But when himself suffers, no relief is permitted. The most grievous torments find some mitigation in the supply of friends and comforters. Christ, after his monomachy, or single combat with the devil in the desert, had angels to attend him. In his agony in the garden, an angel was sent to comfort him. But when he came to the main act of our redemption, not an angel must be seen. None of those glorious spirits may look through the windows of heaven, to give him any ease. And if they would have relieved hiui, they could not. Who can lift up where the Lord will cast down ? What chir-urgeon can heal the bones which the Lord hath broken ? But his mother,

* Ambrose.

and other friends, stand by, seeing, sighing, weeping, Alas! what do those tears, but increase his sorrow 1 Might he not justly say with Paul, ' What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart ?' Acts xxi. 13. Of whom then shall he expect comfort ? Of his apostles ? Alas! they betake them to their heels. Fear of their own danger drowns their compassion of his misery. He might say with Job, ' Miserable comforters are ye aU.' Of whom, then 1 The Jews are his enemies, and vie unmercifulness with devils. There is no other refuge but his Father. No, even his Father is angry; and he who once said, * This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,' Matt. iii. 17, is now incensed. He hides his face from him, but lays his hand heavy upon him, and buffets him with anguish. Thus solus 2^<^iitury he gave himself, and only himself, for our redemption.

4. To WHOM ?—To God; and that is the fourth circumstance. To whom should he offer thLs sacrifice of expiation, but to Him that was offended ? and that is God. * Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight,' Ps. li. 4. ' Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight,' Luke xv. 21. All sins are committed against him: his justice is displeased, and must be satisfied. To God ; for God is angry. With what, and whom 1 With sin and us, and us for sin. In his just anger he must smite; but whom 1 In Christ was no sin. Now shall God do like Annas or Ananias ? * If I have spoken evil,' saith Christ, ' bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou me !' John xvui. 23. So Paul to Ananias, ' God shall smite thee, thou whited waU; for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law ?' Acts xxiii. 3. So Abraham pleads to God, ' Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right V Gen. xviii. 25. Especially right to his Son, and to that Son which glorified him on earth, and whom he hath now glorified in heaven ? We must fetch the answer from Daniel's prophecy, ' The Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself,' Dan. ix. 26. Not for himself? For whom, then ? For solution hereof we must step to the fifth point, and there we shaU find—

5. For whom X —For us. He took upon him our person, he became surety for us; and, lo, now the course of justice may proceed against him ! He that wlU become a surety, and take on him the debt, must be content to pay it. Hence that mnocent Lamb must be made a sacrifice; ' and he that knew no sin' in himself, ' must be made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him,' 2 Cor. v. 21. Seven times in three verses doth the prophet Isaiah inculcate this: We, Ours, Us, chap. Hii. 4-6. We were aU sick, grievously sick; every sin was a mortal disease. Quot vitia, tot fehres. ' He healeth our infirmities,' saith the prophet; he was our physician, a great physician. Magnus venit medicus, quia magnus jacehat cegro-ius, —The whole world was sick to death, and therefore needed a powerful physician. So was he; and took a strange course for our cure : which was not by giving us physic, but by taking our physic for us. Other patients drink the prescribed potion; but our Physician drank the potion himself, and so recovered us.

* For us.' Pro me doluit, qiii pro se nihil habuit qtiod doleret* —He suffered for me, that had no cause to suffer for himself. 0 Domine Jesu, doles nan tua, sed mdnera mea. So monstrous were our sins, that the hand of the everlasting justice was ready to strike us with a fatal and final blow; Christ in his own person steps between the stroke and us, and bore that a while that would have sunk us for ever. Nos immortalitate male usi sumiis, ut moreremur; Christus mortalitate bene usus est, tct viveremus,^ —We abused

* Ambr. De Fid. ad Grat., lib. ii., cap. 3. + Aug. de Doct. Christ, lib. i., cap. 14.

the immortality we liad, to our deatli; Clirist used tlie mortality lie had, to our life. Dilexit nos, he loved us; and such us, that were his utter enemies. Here then was love without limitation, beyond imitation. Unspeakable mercy, says Bernard, that the King of eternal glory should yield himself to be crucified, 2^^'o ^<^wi despicatissimo vernacido, imvio venniailo,* —for so poor a wretch, yea, a worm; and that not a loving worm, not a living worm; for we both hated him and his, and were ' dead in sins and trespasses.'

Yea, for all us, indefinitely; none excepted, that wUl apprehend it faithfully. The mixture of ]\Ioses's perfume is thus sweetly allegorised : God commands him to put in so much frankincense as galbanum, and so much galbanum as frankincense, Exod. xxx. 34. Christ's sacrifice was so sweetly tempered: as much blood was shed for the peasant in the field as for the prince in the court. The oflfer of salvation is general: ' Whosoever among you feareth God, and worketh righteousness, to him is the Avord of this salvation sent.' As there is no exemption of the greatest from misery, so no exception of the least from mercy. He that will not believe and amend shall be condemned, be he never so rich ; he that doth, be he never so poor, shall be saved.

This one point of the crucifix, ' for us,' requires more punctual meditation. Whatsoever we leave unsaid, we must not huddle up this ; for indeed this brings the text home to us, even into our consciences, and speaks effectually to us all: to me that speak, and to you that hear, with that prophet's application, ' Thou art the man.' We are they for whose cause our blessed Sa\iour was crucified. For us he endured those grievous jjangs; for us, that we might never taste them. Therefore say we with that father, Toto nobis Jigatur in corcle, qui totusjivo nobis Jixus in cnice,f —Let him be fixed wholly in our hearts, who was whoUy for us fastened to the cross.

We shall consider the uses we are to make of this by the ends for which Christ performed this. It serves to save, to move, and to mortify us.

Use 1.—To save us. This was his purpose and performance: all he did, all he suffered, was to redeem us. ' By his stripes we are healed,' Isa. liii. 5. By his sweat Ave refreshed; by his sorrows we rejoiced; by liis death we saved. For even that day, which was to him dies hctus, the heaviest day that ever man bore, was to us dies scdutis, ' the accepted time, the day of salvation,' 2 Cor. vi. 2. The day was e\il in respect of our sins and his sufferings ; but eventually, in regard of what he paid and what he purchased, a good day, the best day, a day of joy and jubilation.

But if this salvation be wrought for us, it must be applied to us, yea, to every one of us. For that some receive more profit by his passion than others is not his fault that did undergo it, but theirs that do not undertake it; to apply it to their own consciences. We must not only believe this text in gross, but let every one take a handful of this sheaf, and put it into his own bosom. So turning this for tis into for me. As Paul, ' I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me,' Gal. ii. 20. Blessed faith, that into the plural, tw, puts m the singular soul, me ! Se dedit pro me. Every one is a rebel, guilty and convicted by the supreme law; death Avaits to arrest us, and damnation to receive us. What should Ave do but pray, beseech, cry, weep, till we can get our pardon sealed in the blood of Jesus Christ, and every one find a sure testimony in his OAvn soul, that Christ ' gave himself for me.'

Use 2.—This should move us. Was all this done for us, and shall we

* Ser. cle Quadruplici Debito, f Aug. cle Saucta Virg., cap. 55.

not be stirred 1 Have ye no regard ? ' Is it nothing to you that I suffer such sorrow as was never suffered?' Lam. i. 12. All his agony, his cries, and tears, and groans, and pangs, were for us; shall he thus grieve for us, and shfill we not grieve for ourselves 1 For ourselves, I say ; not so much for him. Let his passion move us to compassion, not of his sufferings,— alas ! our pity can do him no good,—but of our sins which caused them. * Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children,' Luke xxiii. 28. For ourselves; not for his pains that are past, but for our own that should have been, and, except our foith sets him in our stead, shall be. Shall he weep to us, for us, and shall we not mourn ? Shall he drink so deeply to us in this cup of sorrow, and shall we not pledge him 1 Doth the -uTath of God make the Son of God shriek out, and shall not the servants for whom he suffered tremble ? Omnis creatura compatitur Christo 7n,orienii* —Every creature seems to suffer with Christ: sun, earth, rocks, sepulchres. Sohts miser homo non co77ipatitur, pi-o quo solo Christus 2X(titur, —Only man suffers nothing, for whom Christ suffered all. Doth his passion tear the vail, rend the stones, cleave the rocks, shake the earth, open the graves; and are our hearts more hard than those insensible creatures, that they cannot be penetrated 1 Doth heaven and earth, sun and elements, suffer with him, and is it nothing to us 1 We, wretched men that we are, that were the principals in this murder of Christ; whereas Judas, Caiaphas, Pilate, soldiers, Jews, were aU but accessaries and instrumental causes. We may seek to shift it from ourselves, and derive this heinous fact upon the Jews ; but the executioner doth not properly Idll the man. Solum peccatum Jwmicida est, —Sin, our sins, were the murderers. Of us he suffered, and for us he suffered : unite these in your thoughts, and tell me if his passion hath not cause to move us.

And yet, so obdurate are our hearts, that we cannot endure one hours discourse of this great business. Christ was many hours in dying for us ; we cannot sit one hour to hear of it. Oh that we should find fault with heat or cold in hearkening to these heavenly mysteries, when he endured for us such a heat, such a sweat, such agony, that through his flesh and skin he sweat drops of blood. Doth he weep tears of gore-blood for us, and cannot we weep tears of water for ourselves ? Alas ! how would we die for him, as he died for us, when we are weary of hearing what he did for us ?

Use 3.—This should mortify us. Christ delivered himself to death for our sms, that he might deliver us from death and our sins. He came not only to destroy the devil, but to ' destroy the works of the devil,' 1 John iii. 8. Neither doth he take only from sin, damnancU vim, Eom. viii. 1, the power to condemn us; but also, dominandi vim, Rom. vi. 6, 12, the poAver to rule and reign in us. So that Christ's death, as it answers the justice of God for our misdeeds, so it must kill in us the will of misdoing. Christ in all parts suffered, that we in all parts might be mortified. His sufferings were so abundant, that men cannot know their number, nor angels their nature, neither men nor angels their measure. His passion found an end, our thoughts cannot. He suffered at aU times; in all i^laces; in all senses; in all members; in body and soul also: all for us.

First, At all times. In his childhood, by poverty and Herod; in the strength of his days, by the powers of earth, by the powers of hell, yea, even-by the powers of heaven. In the day he lacks meat, in the night a pillow. Even that holy time of the great passover is destined for his dying. When they should kill the paschal lamb hi thankfulness, they slay the L?.mb of

* Hieron. in Math,

God in wickedness. They admire the shadow, yet condemn the substance. All for us; that all times might yield us comfort. So the Apostle sweetly, * He died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him,' 1 Thess. v. 10.

Secondly, In all places. In the cradle by that fox; in the streets by revilers; in the mountain by those that would have thrown him down headlong; in the temple by them that 'took up stones to cast at him,' John viiL 59. In the high priest's hall by buffeters, in the garden by betrayers; by the way, laden with his cross. Lastly, in Calvary, a vile and stinking place, among the bones of malefactors, crucified. Still all for us, that in all places the mercy of God might protect us.

Thirdly, In all senses. For his taste, lo, it is afflicted with gall and vinegar—a bitter draught for a dying man! His touch felt more : the nails driven into his hands and feet; places most sensible of pain, being the most sinewy parts of the body. His ears are fuU of the blasphemous contumelies which the savage multitude belched out against him. Not him, but Barab-bas, they cry to Pilate; preferring a murderer before a Saviour. Will you read the speeches objectual to his hearing ? (See Matt, xxvii. 29, 39, 42, 44, 49.) In all, consider their blasphemy, his patience. For his eyes, whither can he turn them without spectacles of sorrow ? The despite of his enemies on the one side, shewing their extremest malice; the weeping and lamenting of his mother on the other side, whose tears might wound his heart. If any sense were less afflicted, it was his smelling; and yet the putrefied bones of Calvary could be no pleasing savour.

Thus suffered aU his senses. That taste that should be delighted with the wine of the vineyard, that ' goeth down sweetly,' Cant. vii. 9, is fed with vinegar. He looks for good grapes, behold ' sour grapes,' Isa. v. 4; he expects wine, he receives vinegar. That smell that should be refreshed with the odoriferous scent of the ' beds of spices,' Cant. vi. 2, the piety of his saints, is filled with the stench of iniquities. Those hands that sway the sceptre of the heavens, are fain to carry the reed of reproach, and endure the nails of death. Those eyes that were as a 'flame of fire,' Eev. i. 14, in respect of which the very sun was darkness, must behold the afflicting objects of shame and tyranny. Those ears, which to delight the high choristers of heaven sing their sweetest notes, must be wearied with the taunts and scofis of blasphemy.

And all this for us; not only to satisfy those sins which our senses have committed, but to mortify those senses, and preserve them from those sins. That our eyes may be no more full of adulteries, nor throw covetous looks on the goods of our brethren. That our ears may no more give so wide admission and welcome entrance to lewd reports, the incantations of Satan. That sin in aU our senses might be done to death; the poison exhausted, the sense purified.

FouHhly, In all members. Look on that blessed body, conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of a pure virgin; it is all over scourged, martyred, tortured, mangled. What place can you find free ? Caput angelicis spiiiti-hiis tremehundmn, densitate s^nnarum pungitur. Fades pulchra pr(B jiliis hominum, Judceorxim sputis deturpatur. Oculi lucidiores sole, in moHe cali-gantur, &c. ;*—To begin at his head; that head, which the angels reverence, is crowned with thorns. That face, which is ' fairer than the sons of men,' Ps. xlv. 2, must be odiously spit on by the filthy Jews. His hands, that made the heavens, are extended and fastened to a cross. The feet, which tread

* Bernard.

upon the necks of his and our enemies, feel the like smart. And the mouth must be buffeted, which ' spake as never man spake,' John vii. 4G.

Still all this for us. His head bled for the wicked imaginations of our heads. His face was besmeared with spittle, because we had spit impudent blasphemies against heaven. His lips were afflicted, that our lips might henceforth yield savoury speeches. His feet did bleed, that our feet might not be swift to shed blood. All his members suffered for the sins of all our members, and that our members might be no more servants to sin, but ' servants to righteousness unto holiness,' Rom. vi. 19. Conspui voluit, ut nos lavaret; velari voluit, ut velamen ignorantiai a meniibus nostris auferret; in capite percuti, ut corpori sanitatem restitueret;* —He would be polluted with their spittle, that he might wash us; he would be bhndfolded, that he might take the vail of ignorance from our eyes; he suffered the head to be wounded, that he might renew health to all the body.

(Six times we read that Christ shed his blood: First, when he was circumcised; at eight days old his blood was spilt. Then in his agony in the garden, where he sweat drops of blood. Then in his scourging, when the merciless tormentors fetched blood from his holy sides. Next when he was cro\vned with thorns; those sharp prickles raked and harrowed his blessed head, and drew forth blood. Then in his crucifying; when his hands and feet were pierced, blood gushed out. Lastly, after his death, ' one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water,' John xix. 34. All his members bled, to shew that he bled for all his members. Not one drop of this blood was shed for himself, all for us; for his enemies, persecutors, crucifiers, ourselves. But what shall become of us, if all this cannot mortify us ? ' How shall we live with Christ, if with Christ we be not dead?' Eom. vi. 8. Dead indeed unto sin, but living unto righteousness. As Elisha revived the Shunammite's child, ' He lay upon it; put his mouth upon the chUd's mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands, and stretched himself upon the child, and the flesh of the child waxed warm,' 2 Kings iv, 34 : so the Lord Jesus, to recover us that were dead in our sins and trespasses, spreads and applies his whole passion to us; lays his mouth of blessing upon our mouth of blasphemy; his eyes of holiness upon our eyes of lust; his hands of mercy upon our hands of cruelty; and stretcheth his gracious self xipon our wretched selves, till we begm to wax warm, to get life, and the (holy) spkit returns into us.

Fifthly, In liis soul. All this was but the outside of his passion: ' Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say ? Father, save me from tliis hour; but for this cause came I unto this hour,' John xii. 27. The pain of the body is but the body of pain; the very soul of sorrow is the sorrow of the soul. All the outward afflictions were but gentle prickings, in regard of that his soul suffered. ' The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?' Pro v. xviii. 14. He had a heart within, that suffered unseen, unknown anguish. This pain drew from him those strong cries, those bitter tears, Heb. v. 7. He had often sent forth the cries of compassion; of passion and complaint not tUl now. He had wept the tears of pity, the tears of love, but never before the tears of anguish. When the Son of God thus cries, thus weeps, here is more than the body distressed; the soid is agonised.

StiU all this for us. His soul was in our souls' stead; what would they have felt if they had been in the stead of his? AU for us; to satisfaction,

* Hierou. VOL. n. 2 E

to emendation. For iky drunkenness and pouring down strong drinks, lie drank vinegar. For thy intemperate gluttony, lie fasted. For thy sloth, he did exercise himself to continual pains. Thou sleepest secure, thy Saviour is then waking, watching, praying. Thy arms are inured to lustful em-bracings ; he for this embraceth the rough cross. Thou deckest thyself with proud habiliments, he is humble and lowly for it. Thou ridest in pomp, he journeys on foot. Thou wallowest on thy down beds, thy Saviour hath not a pillow. Thou surfeitest, and he sweats it out, a bloody sweat. Thou fiUest and swellest thyself with a pleurisy of wickedness. Behold incision is made in the Head for thee; thy Saviour bleeds to death. Now, judge whether this point (for us) hath not derived a near application of this text to our own consciences. Since, then, Christ did all this for thee and me, pray then with Augustine: 0 Domine Jesu, da cordi meo te desiderare, desi-derando qucerere, qucerendo invenire, inveniendo amare, amando mala mea redempta non iterare* —Lord, give me a heart to desire thee; desiring, to seek thee; seeking, to find thee; finding, to love thee; loving, no more to offend thee!

There are two main parts of this crucifix yet to handle. I must only name them, being sorry that it is still my hap to trouble you with prolixity of speech:—

6. The next is the manner : ' an offering and sacrifice.' His whole life was an offering, his death a sacrifice. He gave himself often for us an eucharistical oblation, once an expiatory sacrifice. In the former, he did for us all that we should do; in the latter, he suffered for us all that we should suffer. ' Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree,' 1 Pet. ii. 24. Some of the Hebrews have affirmed, that in the fire which consumed the legal sacrifices, there always appeared the face of a Hon.'h Which mystery they thus resolve, that the Lion of Judah should one day give himself for us, a perfect expiatory sacrifice. Thus, ' once in the end of the world hath he appeared, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself,* Heb. ix. 26.

7. The last point is the effect : ' of a sweet-smeUing savour.' Here is the fruit and efficacy of all. Never was the Lord pleased with sinful man till now. Were he never so angry, here is a pacification, a sweet savour, the whole world were quintessenced into one perfume, it could not yield sc fragrant a smell. We are aU of ourselves pidida et jnitrida cadavera, —dead and stinking carcases. The pure nostrils of the Most Holy cannot endure us: behold the perfume that sweetens us, the redeeming blood of the Lord Jesus. This so fills him with a delightful scent, that he wUl not smell out noisome wickedness.

Let me leave you with this comfort in your bosoms - How unsavoury soever our own sins have made us, yet if our hand of faith lay hold on this Saviour's censer, God wiU scent none of our corruptions, but we shall smel sweetly in his nostrils. Bernard for all r O dear Jesus, mori debemus, e tu solvis; nos peccavimm, et tic litis. Opus sine exemplo, gratia sine meritOj charitas sine modo, —We should die, and thou payest it; we have offended^ and thou art punished. A mercy without example, a favour without meril^ a love without measure. Therefore I conclude my sermon, as we all shul up our prayers, with this one clause, ' Through our Lord Jesus Christ.' 0 Father of mercy, accept our sacrifice of prayer and praise for his sacrifice ol pain and merit; even for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake ! To whom, with the Father and blessed Spirit, be all glory, for ever! Amen.

* Medit., cap. 1. t Paul, Tagius, cap. 4»

I

A DIVINE HEEBAL

OS.,

GAKDEN OF GRACES.

For the earth which drinketh in ilie rain that cometh oft iqoon it, and bnngeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God; but that ivhich beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. — Heb, VI. 7, 8.

I PRESUME here is no atheist to hear and deny, ' the gospel is the power of God to salvation,' Rom. i. 16. I hope here is no libertine; if there be, let him hear also : it is the power of God to confusion. It is a double-edged sword, Heb. iv. 12, and gives either instruction or destruction. It is fire, that doth melt wax to repentance, and harden clay to vengeance. It is here a rain or dew falling on the ground of man's heart, causing one soil to be fertile in good works, another to abound with weeds of impiety: ' for it returneth not back to him that sent it, in vain.' That it conveys grace to us, and returns our fruitful gratitude to God, is a high and happy mercy. That it offers grace to the wicked, and by their corrupt natures occasions greater impiety, is a heavy but holy judgment.

Not to travel far for division, here lies earth before us. And as I have seen in some places of this land, one hedge parts a fruitfid meadow and a barren heath, so of this earth, man; the same substance for nature's constitution, clay of the same heap in the creating hand of the potter ; for matter, mass, and stuff, none made de meliore luto; though in respect of eternity's ordination, some vessels of honour, of dishonour others. Here be two kinds, a good and a bad soil; the one a garden, the other a desert: the former an enclosure of sweet herbs, excellent graces; the latter a wild and savage forest of briers and thorns, scratching and wounding offences.

For the better ground we will consider—1. The operative means or working cause of the fertility, 'the rain that cometh often upon it;' 2. The thankful returning of expected fruit, ' it bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed;' 3. The reward of mercy, * it receiveth blessing from God.'

Tlie herbs are graces; and^ IV. The blessing is a sweet retribution of mercy.

I. The earth is the best ground that lies betwixt heaven and earth, man; the noblest part of tliis world; the worthiest creature, that hath earth for its pavement, and heaven for its ceiling; the Creator's image, and as some read, his shadow, which moves as the body doth whose it is. When the body puts forth an arm, the shadow shews an arm, &c.; so man in his actions and courses depends upon the disposition of God, as his all-powerful Maker and Mover. The blessed Deity (which hath in it a trinity of most equal and eternal Persons) is the first and best of all beings; the holy angels next; et a Jove tertius Ajax, man next them.

Ardens conceiteth upon Mark xvi., in the apostles' commission, ' Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,' that by this ' every creature,' is meant man. For to lifeless, senseless, or reasonless things, God never enjoined to preach the gospel. But man is called ' every creature,' because he hath a participation of the best in all creatures. Stones have a being, not life; plants have a being and life, not sense ; beasts have a being, life, and sense, but not understanding; angels have both being, life, sense, and understanding. Man participates with aU these in their best. He hath a being with stones, life with plants, sense with beasts, understanding with angels : a sweet abstract or compendium of all creatures' perfections.

Let not aU this make man proud. Even this word earth, though here used in a spiritual sense, puts him in mind that this excellent man is a mortal creature. Earth must to earth : hot earth to cold earth; that earth Avhich hath now a life in it, to that earth which hath no life in it. Therefore I will say from the prophet, ' 0 earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord,' Jer. xxii. 29. Bestow not too much pains in adorning this perishable earth, thy flesh : the earth thou must be careful of, and which God here waters from heaven mth his holy dews, is thy heart, thy conscience.

I could willingly step out a little to chide those, tliat, neglecting God's earth, the soul, fall to trimming with a curious superstition the earth's earth, clay and loam : a body of corruption painted, till it shuie like a lily, (like it in whiteness, not in humility, the candour of beauty, for the lily grows low: lilium convaUmm, Cant. ii. 1, a flower of the valleys and bottoms;) a little shme done over with a pasteboard; rottenness hid under golden leaves; stench lapped up in a bundle of silks; and, by reason of poison sucked from sin and hell, worthy of no better attribute than glorious damnation. Is there no sickness, is there no disgrace, is there no old age, is there no death, that you make so much of this earth ? Or do you desperately resolve to dote on it living, as if you never hoped to find it again bemg dead ? Fear not, you shall meet with it again; perhaps when you would not. God hath struck as gallant as you can make or thmk yourselves, with sudden, sore, and sure judgments. Believe it, his hand is his own. His arm wasj never yet broken, luxate, or manacled.

Woe worth them that have put pride and covetousness feUow-commonersJ among us, for they outeat us aU, and starve the whole house of our land !J Covetise would be charitable, but there is that other sum to make up. Pride j would give, or at least forbear to extort, but there is a ruff of the new] fashion to be bought. Dignity, a carriage, or strange apparel is to be purchased; and who but the poor tenants must pay for it?—upon whom theyj (once so accoutred) afterward look bet-wixt scorn and anger, and go as if thej were shut up in wainscot.

' Sed vitate viros ciiltum formasque professes; Qiiique suas pommt in statione comas.'

Such a one will not give, lest his Avhite hand should touch the poor beggar's, who perhaps hath a hand cleaner than his; I mean from aspersions of blood, rapine, injury, bribery, lust, and filthiness. He cannot intend to pray, for he is called to dinner just when his last lock is hung to his mind. Oh the monstrous curiosity of tricking up this earth of earth ! Yet from the courtier to the carter, from the lady to the inkle-beggar, there is this excess, and going beyond their calling.

But I have sti'ayed out of my way to cut off a lap of pride's garment. I conclude this earth with this caution : Respice, aspice, prospice, —Look back upon what thou wast; behold what thou art; consider what thou must be. liecole primordia, attende media, pnevideio novissima. Hcec pudorem adducimt, ilia dolorem ingenmt, ista timorem incutiunt; *—Call to mind former things, see the present, foresee the last. The first will breed in thee shame, the other grief, these fear. Remember thou wert taken out of tlie earth; behold thy strength of life subject to diseases, manifold, manifest, sensible ones: foresee that thou must die; this earth must to earth again.

But the earth here meant is a divine, spiritual, immortal nature,—called earth by a metaphor,—incapable of sufl'ering terrene ft-agility. This is God's earth, and that in a high and mystical sense, though proper enough. Indeed. Domini ieira, ' The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof,' saith the Psalmist. But he hath not such respect to the earth he made, as to this earth for whom he made it. This is terra sigillata, earth that he hath sealed and sanctified for himself, by setting his stamp and impression upon it. Now, the good man's heart is compared to earth for divers reasons :—

1. For humility. Humus, quasi humilis. The earth is the lowest of all elements, and the centre of the world. The godly heart is not so low in situation, but so lowly in its own estimation. God is said to hang the earth upon nothing : Job xxvi. 7, 'He strctcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing,' that it might wholly depend on himself So a true Christian heart, in regard of itself, is founded upon nothing, (hath a humble vilipending and disprizing of its own worth,) that it may wholly and safely rely on God. O man of earth, why exaltest thou thyself? This is the way to prevent and frustrate the exaltation of God. Keep thyself lowly as the earth, reject aU o])inion of thy own worth, and thou shalt one day overtop the clouds. The earth is thy mother, that brought thee forth when thou wert not; a stage that carries thee whiles thou art; a tomb that receives thee when thou art not. It gives thee origuial, harbour, sepulchre. Like a Idnd mother, she bears her ofi'spring on her back; and her brood is her perpetual burden, till she receive them again into the same womb from whence she delivered them. She shall be yet more kind to thee, if her baseness can teach thee humility, and keep thee from being more proud of other things, than thou canst, with any reason, be of thy parentage. Feu-are proud of their souls, and none but fools can be proud of their bodies; seeing here is all the dift'erence betwixt him that walk.?, and his floor ho walks on : li\'ing earth treads upon dead earth, and shall at last be as dead as his pavement. i\Iany are the favours that the earth doth us ; yet amongst them all there is none greater than the schooling us to humilit}', and working iu \is a true acknowledgment of our own vileness, and so directing us to heaven, to find that above which she cannot give us below.

2. For patience. The earth is called terra, quia teritur ; and this is the

* Bernard.

natural earth. For tliey distinguisli it into tliree sorts : terra quam teri-mus; terra quam gerimus; terra quam qucerimus, which, is the glorious land of promise. That earth is cut and wounded with culters and shares, yet is patient to suffer it, and returns fruits to those that ploughed it. The good heart is thus rent with vexations and broken with sorrows; yet offers ' the other cheek to the smiter,' endureth all with a magnanimous patience, assured of that victory which comes by suffering: Vincit qui patUur. Neither is this aU : it returns mercy for injury, prayers for persecutions, and blesseth them that cursed it. * The ploughers ploughed upon my back : they made long their furrows,' Ps. cxxix. 3. ' They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my soul. Yet when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth : I humbled my soul with fasting j I was heavy, as one that mourned for his friend or brother; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom,' Ps. xxxv. 12,13. When the heart of our Saviour was thus ploughed up with a spear, it ran streams of mercy, real mercy; which his vocal tongue interpreted, ' Father, forgive them : they know not what they do.' His blood had a voice, a merciful voice, and ' spake better things than the blood of Abel,' Heb. xii. 24. That cried from the caverns of the earth for revenge; this from the cross, in the sweet tune of compassion, for forgiveness. It is a strong argument of a heart rich in grace, to wrap and embrace his injurer in the arms of love; as the earth quietly receives those dead to burial, who living tore up her bowels.

3. For faithful constancy. The earth is called solum, because it stands alone, depending on nothing but the Maker s hand : ' One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh ; but the earth abideth for ever,' Eccles. i. 4. She often changeth her burden, without any sensible mutation of herself : ' Thy faithfulness is to aU generations; thou hast established the earth, and it standeth,' Ps. cxix. 90. The Hebrew is, ' to generation and generation ;' inferring, that times, and men, and the sons of men, posterity after posterity, pass away; but the earth, whereon and whereout they pass, abideth. The parts thereof have been altered; and violent earthquakes, begot in its own bowels, have tottered it. But God hath laid ' the foundations of the earth,' (the original is, ' founded it upon her bases,') ' that it should not be removed for ever,' Ps. civ. 5 j the body of it is immovable. Such a constant solidity is in the faithful heart, that should it thunder buUs from Rome, and bolts from heaven, impavidmn ferient ruince. Indeed, God hath sometiaies bent an angry brow against his own dear ones; and then no marvel if they shudder, if the * bones of David tremble,' and the ' teeth of Hezekiah chatter.' But God will not be long angry with his; and the balances, at first putting in of the evenest weights, may be a little swayed, not without some show of inequality, which yet, after a little motion, settle themselves in a just poise. So the first terror hath moved the godly, not removed them; they return to themselves, and rest in a resolved peace. Lord, do what thou wilt: ' if thou kill me, I will trust in thee.' Let us hear it from him that had it from the Lord : Ps. cxii. 6, ' Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. He shall not be afraid of evil tiding : his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. His heart is established,' &c. O sweet description of a constant soul!

They give diverse causes of earthquakes. Aristotle, among the rest, admits the eclipse of the sun for one ; the interposition of the moon's body hindering some places from his heat. I know not how certain this is in philosophy : in divinity it is most true, that only the eclipse of our sun, Jesus Christ, raiseth earthquakes in our hearts; when that inconstant and ever-

changing body of (the moon) the world steps betwixt our sun and us, and keeps us from the kindly vital heat of his favour; then, oh then, the earth of our heart quakes; and we feel a terror in our bones and bowels, as if the busy hand of death were searching them. But no eclipse lasts long ; especially not this : our sun will shine on us again; we shall stand sure, even as 'Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.' Ps. cxxix. 1.

4. For charity. The earth brmgs forth food for all creatures that live on it. Green herb for the cattle; oil and wuie for man : ' The valleys stand thick with com; the mower fOleth his scythe, and the binder up of sheaves his bosom,' A good man is so full of charity, he relieves all, without improvidence to himself. He gives plentifully, that all may have some ; not indiscreetly, that some have all. On the earth stand many glorious cities, and goodly buildings; fair monuments of her beauty and adornation. The sanctified soul, in a happy respondency, hath manifold works of charity, manifest deeds of piety; that sweetly become the faith which he professeth.

5. For riches. The earth is but poor without: the surface of it, especially when squalid winter hath bemired it, seems poor and baiTen ; but within it is full of rich mines, ores of gold, and quarries of precious minerals. For medals and metals, it is abundantly wealthy. The sanctified heart may seem poor to the world's eye, which only beholds and judgeth the rind and husk, and thinks there is no treasure in the cabinet, because it is covered with leather. But within he is full of golden mines and rich ores, the invisible graces of faith, fear, love, hope, patience, holiness; sweeter than the spices of the East Indies, and richer than the gold of the West. Omnis decor Jilice Sion ah intus, —' The King's daughter is all glorious within,' Ps. xlv. 13. It is not the superficial skin, but the internal beauty, that moves the King of heaven to be enamoured of us, and to say, ' Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee,' Cant. iv. 7.

6. Lastly, for fertility. The earth is fruitful: when the stars have given influence, the clouds showered down seasonable dews, and the sun bestowed his kindly heat; lo, the thankful earth returns fruits, and that in abundance. The Christian soul, having received such holy operations, inspirations, and sanctifying motions from above, is never found without a grateful fertility. Yea, as the earth to man, so man to God, returns a blessed usury : ten for one ; nay, sometimes thirty, sometimes sixty, sometimes a hundred-fold.

But the succeeding doctrine wiU challenge this demonstration. I have been somewhat copious in the first word; the brevity of the rest shall recompense it. The operative cause that worketh the good earth to this fruit-fulness is a heavenly ' rain that falls often upon it;' and the earth doth ' drink it up.' Wherein is observable, that the rain doth come, that it is welcome; God sends it plenteously, and man entertains it lovingly. It comes oft, and he drinks it up. God's love to man is declared in the coming; in the welcoming, man's love to God. In the former we will consider—1. The matter; 2. The manner. The matter that cometh is rain. The manner consists in three respects:—1. There is mercy; 'it cometh.' It is not constrained, deserved, pulled down from heaven ; 'it cometh.' 2. Frequency; 'it cometh often.' There is no scanting of this mercy; it flows abundantly, as if the windows of heaven were opened : 'often.' 3. Direction of it right; 'upon' this earth. It foils not near it, nor beside it, but upon it.

II. To begin \viih. the rain :—

1. God's word is often compared to rain or dew. ]\Ioscs begins his song with, ' My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass,'

Deut. xxxii. 2. Therefore in the first verse, he calls to the earth to hear his voice. Man is the earth, and his ' doctrine the rain.' ' Prophesy ye not,' Micah ii. G; the original \yord is, ' Drop ye not,' &c. ' Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, drop not thy word agamst the house of Isaac,' Amos vii. 16. * Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places,' Ezek. xxi. 2. The metaphor is usual; wherein stands the comparison ? In six similitudes:—

(1.) It is the property of rain to cool heat. Experience tells us that a sweltering fervour of the air, which almost fries us, is allayed by a moderate shower sent from the clouds. The burning heat of sin in us, and of God's anger for sin against us, is quenched by the gospel. It cools our intemperate heat of maUce, anger, ambition, avarice, lust; which are burning sins.

(2.) Another effect of rain is thirst quenched. The dry earth parched with heat, opens itself in refts and crannies, as if it would devour the clouds for moisture. The Christian soul ' thirsts after righteousness,' is dry at heart till he can have the gospel: a shower of this mercy from heaven quencheth his thirst; he is satisfied. ' Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but it shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life,' John iv. 14.

(3.) Rain doth allay the winds. When the air is in an uproar, and the stoutest cedars crouch to the ground before a violent blast, even towers and cities tremble; a shower of rain sent irom the clouds mitigates this fury. When the potentates of the world, tyrants, little better than devils,—Gog and !Magog, ^loab and Ammon, Turkey, Rome, hell,—storm against us, God quiets all our fears, secures us from all their terrors by a gracious rain, drops of mercy in the never-failing promises of the gospel.

(4.) Rain hath a powerful efiicacy to cleanse the air. When infectious fogs and contagious vapours have filled it full of corruption, the distilling showers wash away the noisome putrefaction. We know that too often filthy fumes of errors and heresies surge up in a land, that the soul of faith is almost stifled, and the uncleanness of corrupt doctrine gets a predominant place : the Lord then drops his word from heaven ; the pure rain of his holy gospel cleanseth away this putrefaction, and gives new life to the almost-smothered truth. Woe to them, then, that would deprive men's souls of the gospel, and 'withhold the truth in unrighteousness!' When they ' lock up the gates of grace,' as Christ reproved the la\vj'ers, and labour to make the ' heavens brass,' they must needs also make the ' earth iron.' How should the earth of man s heart bring forth fruits, when the rain is 'v\-ithheld from it 1 No marvel if their air be poisoned.

(5.) Rain hath yet another working: to mollify a hard matter. The parched and heat-hardened earth is made soft by the dews of heaven. Oh, how hard and obdurate is the heart of man till this rain falls on it! Is the ieart covetous ? No tears from distressed eyes can melt a penny out of it. Is it malicious 1 No supplications can beg forbearance of the least wrong. Is it given to drunkenness ? You may melt his body into a dropsy, before his heart into sobriety. Is it ambitious? You may as well treat with Lucifer about humiliation. Is it factious ? A choir of angels cannot sing him into peace. No means on earth can soften the heart; whether you anoint it with the supple balms of entreaties, or thunder against it the bolts of menaces, or beat it with the hammer of mortal blows. Behold ! God showers this rain of the gospel from heaven, and it is suddenly softened. One sermon may ' prick him at the heart;' one drop of a Saviour's blood

distilled on it by the Spirit, in the preaching of the word, melts him like war. The drunkard is made sober, the adulterer chaste, Zaccheus merciful, and raging Paul as tame as a lamb.

They that have erst served the devil with an eager appetite, and were hurried by him with a voluntary precipitation, have all their chains eaten off by this aquafortis : one drop of this rain hath broken theii* fetters ; and now all the powers of hell caimot prevail against them. There is a legend —I had as good say a tale—of a hermit that heard, as he imagined, all the devUs of hell on the other side of the wall lifting, and blowing, and groaning, as if they were a-removing the world. The hermit desires to see them. Admitted, behold they were aU lifting at a feather, and could not stir it. The application may serve, yield the fable idle. Satan and his armies,— spirits, lusts, vanities, sins,—that erst could toss and blow a man up and doAvn like a feather, and did not sooner present a wickedness to his sight but he was more ready for action than they for instigation ; now they cannot stir him: they may sooner remove the world from its pillars than him from the grace and mercy of God. The dew of heaven hath watered him, and made him grow, and the power of hell shall not supplant him. The rain of mercy hath softened his heart, and the heat of sin shall never harden it.

(G.) Lastly, ram is one princijjal subordinate cause that aU things fructify. This holy dew is the operative means, next to the grace of God in our Lord Jesus Christ, that the souls of Christians should bring forth the fruits of faith and obedience. I know God can save without it: we dispute not of his power, but of his work, of ordinary, not extraordinary operations. God usually worketh this in our hearts by his word.

3. Thus far the matter; the manner is—(1.) It cometh/ (2.) 'often/ (3.) * upon it.'

(1.) ' It cometh.' It is not forced, nor fetched, but comes of his own mere mercy whose it is. )So saith the Apostle, ' Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights,' James i. 17. They that v/ant it have no merit of congruity to draw it to them; they that have it have no merit of condignity to keep it with them. It is the mercy and gratuital fiivour of God that, this gospel cometh to us. For, if ipsum mimis be 7nunus, how highly is this great gift to be praised! What deserve we more than other nations ? They have as pregnant wits, as proportionable bodies, as strong sinews, as we; and perhaps would bring forth better fruits. Yet they want it; with us it is. We need not travel from coast to coast, nor journey to it; it is come to us. Venit ad liminci virtus: will you step over j-our thresholds and gather manna ? When the gospel was far off from our fathers, yet in them siudiwii audiendi superahat icc-diuvi accedendi, —the desire of hearing it beguiled the length of the way. But we will scarce put forth our hand to take this bread; and, as in some ignorant country towns, be more eager to catch the rain that fiiUs from the outside of the church in their buckets, than tliis rain of grace preached in it, in their hearts. Oh, you wrong us ; we arc fond of it; we call for preaching. Yes, as your forefathers of the blind times would call apace for holy water; yet when the sexton cast it on them, they would turn away their faces, and let it fall on their backs. Let God sow as thick as he will, you will come \\\) thin. You wiU admit frequency of preaching, but you have taken an order with yourselves of rare practising. You are content this raiii should come, as the next circumstance gives it—

(2.) ' Often.' God hath respect to our infirmities, and sends us a plcnti-

f'ul rain. One shower will not make us fruitful; it must come * oft upon us.'

* Gutta cavat lapidem, non vi, sed SEcpe cadendo,'—

The rain dints the hard stone, not by violence, but by oft-falling drops. Line must be added to line ; ' here a little, and there a Uttle.' God could pour a whole flood on us at once; but man's imderstanding

' Is like a vial, narrow at the top; Not capable of more than drop by drop,'

says the poet. If much were poured at once, a great deal would fall besides, and be spUt. Like children, we must be fed by spoonfuls, according to the capacity of our weak natures. It is not an abundant rain falling at once that makes the plants grow, but kindly and frequent showers. One sermon in a year contents some thoroughly; and God is highly beholden to them if they will sit out that waking. You desire your fields, your gardens, your plants to be often watered; your souls will grow well enough with one rain. How happy would man be if he were as wise for his soul as he is for his body! Some there are that would hear often, maybe too often, till edification turn to tedification; and get themselves a multitude of teachers; but they will do nothing. You shall have them run ten miles to a sermon, but not step to their own doors with a morsel of bread to a poor brother. They wish well to the cause of Christ, but they wiU do nothing for it, worth ' God-a-mercy.' The world is full of good wishes, but heaven only full of good works. Others would have this rain fall often, so it be such as they desire it. Such a cloud must give it, and it must be begotten in thunder— faction and innovation : tiU evangelium Ghristi jit evangelium hominis; aut quod 2:>ejiis est, diaboli* —^till the gospel of Christ be made man's gospel, or, which is worse, the devil's. If the rain, as it falls, do not smell of novelty, it shall fall besides them. They regard not so much heaven, whence it comes, as who brings it. I have read of two, that, meeting at a tavern, fell a-tossmg their religion about as merrily as their cups, and much drunken discourse was of their profession. One professed himself of Doctor Martin's religion; the other swore he was of Doctor Luther's reUgion; whereas Martin and Luther was one man. No ram shall water them, but such a man's; otherwise, be it never so wholesome, they spew it up again. As if their conscience were so nice and delicate as that ground at Cologne, where some of St Ursula's eleven thousand virgins were buried; which wUl cast up again in the night any that have been interred there in the day, except of that company, though it were a chUd newly baptized. For ourselves, Umits of sobriety being kept, desire we to hear the gospel often; and let our due succeeding obedience justify the goodness of our thirst. When Christ spake of the ' bread of life,' the transported disciples beseech him, ' Lord, evermore give us this bread,^ John vi. 34. So pray we: Lord, evermore shower down upon us this rain !

(3.) ' Upon it.' God so directs this dew of his word that it shall fall on our hearts, not besides. The rain of the gospel, like the rain of the clouds, hath sometimes gone by coasts : ' I have withholden the rain fi-om you, and I have caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece Avhereupon it rained not withered,' Amos iv. 7. But I have wetted your fields, moistened your hearts with the dews of heaven, given you ' my statutes and ordinances,' saith the Lord: ' I have not dealt so with every people;' there be some * Hier, iu Ep. ad Galat.

that' liave not the knowledge of my laws,' Ps. cxlvii. 20. The sun shines on many nations where this spiritual rain falls not. This is not all; but as at the last clay ' two in one bed' shall be divorced, so even now one seat in the church may hold two, upon one whereof this saving rain may fall, not on the other. The ' Spirit blows where it pleaseth ; ' and though the sound of the rain be to all open cars alike, yet the spiritual dew drops only into the open heart. Many come to Jacob's well, but bring no pitchers with them wherewith to draw the water. A good shower may come on the earth, yet if a man house himself, or be shrouded under a thick bush, or burrowed in the ground, he will be dry still. God sends down his rain : one houseth himself in the darkness of security—he is too drowsy to be tolled in with the bells; another sits dallying -with the delights of lust under a green bush; a third is burrowed in the ground, mining and entrenching himself m the quest of riches. Alas, how should the dew of grace fall upon these! Thou wouldest not shelter the ground from the clouds, lest it grow barren : oh, then, keep not thy soul from the rain of heaven !

You have heard how the rain is come ; now hear how it is made welcome. The good ground drinks it; nay, drinks it in: imbibit. The comparison stands thus : the thirsty land drinks up the rain greedily, which the clouds pour upon it. You would wonder what becomes of it; you may find it in your fruits. When your vines hang full of clusters, your gardens stand thick mth flowers, your meadows with grass, your fields with corn; you will say, the earth hath been beholden to the heaven. That hath rained moisture, this hath drunk it in; we see it in our fruits. ' The Lord saith, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel,' Hos. ii. 21. The fruits of com, wine, oU, witness that the earth hath heard them, that heaven hath heard the earth, and that the Lord hath heard the heaven. The heavens give influence to the ground, the ground sap to the plants, the plants nourishment to us, the Lord a blessing to all. The Lord ' watereth the lulls from the chambers : the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man : wine to make glad his heart, and oil to make his face shine, and bread to strengthen man's heart,' &c., Ps. civ. 13-15. With such thirsty appetite, and no less happy success, doth the good soul swallow the dew of grace. If you perceive not when the faithful take it, you may see they have it; for their fruits testify it. It is a most evident demonstration that they have been beholden to the gospel, they have a sanctified life. ' Drinks it in.'

There be very many great drinkers in the world. The main drunkenness, that gives denomination to all the rest, is that throat-drunkenness, whereof the prophet, Vce fortibus ad pofcmdum ! These are they that will not drink this mystical wine in the church, so mllingly as be drunk in the taphouse. Wine-worshippers, that are at it on their knees, protesting from the bottom of their hearts to the bottom of their cups; if the health be not pledged, actum est de amicitia, farewell friendship. I have read of a street in Rome, called Vicus sobrius, Sober Street. Find such a street in any city or populous town in England, and some good nmn will put it in the chronicle.

It hath been said, that the Germans are great drinkers; and therefore to carouse is held to be derived from them, the word being originally to gar-rowse, which is to drink off all : gar signifj-ing totum. So the Germans are called by themselves Germanni, quasi toti hojnines, as if a German were Allr-man ; according to another denomination of their countiy, Allemand. And so we are grown to think him that can tipple soundly, a tall man, nay.

all-man from top to toe. But if England plies her liquor so fast as she begins, Germany is like to lose her charter. I have heard how the Jesuits outstripped the Franciscans. Indeed St Francis at the first meeting saw six thousand friars. Ignatius, because he could not begin liis order with so many, made up the number in devils. The Germans had of us both priority and number for drunkards. Our English beggars first got the fashion ; but" because their number was short, and it was like that the nation would be disgraced, it was agreed to make it up in gallants.

No marvel if the Lord for this threaten us with the rod of famine, and to scourge us with that most smarting string of his whip. God hath laid himself fair in his bow already, and is ready to draw this arrow up to the head, and send it singing into our bosoms. Fer7'o scevior fames; it is one of God's sorest judgments. Beasts and sword kill quickly; and the plague is not long in despatching us ; but dearth is a lingering death. ' They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger; for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field,' Lam. iv. 9. We see how our seasons are changed, because we can find no season for repentance. Our springs have been gi-aves rather than cradles; our summers have not shot up, but withered our grass ; our autumns have taken away the flocks of our sheep ; and for our latest harvest, we have had caiise to invert the words of our Saviour, Luke x. 2. He saith, ' The harvest is great, but the labourers are few: joray ye therefore the Lord to send forth more labourers into his harvest.' But we might have said, ' The labourers are many, and the harvest is small: pray ye therefore the Lord to send a greater harvest for the labourers.' God hath thus, as it were, pulled the cup from the drunkard's lips; and since he will know no measure, the Lord will stint him. If there will be no voluntary, there shall be an enforced fast. We have other great drinkers besides.

What say you to those that drink up whole towns, unpeople countries, depopulate villages, enclose fields 1 that, Pharisee-like, swallow up poor men's houses, drink their goods, though mingled with tears of dam and young ones, mother and children 1 Are not these horrible drinkers 1 Sure God will one day hold the cup of vengeance to their lips, and bid them drink their fills.

The proud man is a great drinker. It is not his belly, but his back, that is the drunkard. He pincheth the poor, racks out the other fine, enhanceth the rent, spends his own means, and what he can finger besides, upon clothes. If his rent-day make even with his silk-man, mercer, tailor, he is well. And his white madam drinks deeper than he. The walls of the city are kept in reparation with easier cost than a lady's face, and the appurtenances to her head.

The ambitious is a deep drinker. Oh, he hath a dry thirst upon Mm. He loves the wine of promotion extremely. Put a whole monopoly into the cup, and he will carouse it off. There is a time when other drunkards give over for a sleeping-while : this drinker hath never enough.

Your grim usurer is a monstrous drinker. You shall seldom see him drunk at his own cost; yet he hath vowed not to be sober till his doomsday. His brains and his gown are lined \\ith fox; he is ever a-foxing. It may be, some infernal spirit hath put love-powder in his drink, for he dotes upon the devil extremely. Let him take heed; he shall one day drink his own obligations, and they will choke him.

The rol>altar is a huge drinker. He loves, like Belshazzar, to drink only in the goblets of the temple. Woe unto him, he carouses the wine he never

sweat for, and keeps the poor minister thirsty! The tcntli sheaf is his diet; the tenth fleece (oh, it is a golden fleece, he thinks) is his drink; but the wool shall choke him. Some drink down whole churches and steeples; but the bells shall ring in their bellies.

Every covetous worldling is a great drinker; he swallows aunrni potahile as his diet-drink. And like an absolute, dissolute drunkard, the more he drinks, the drier he is; for he hath never enough. It may be said of him as it was of Bonosus, whom the emperor Aurelian set to drink with the German ambassador : Not a man, but a rundlet filled with vnwa.

And my fine precise artisan, that shuns a tavern as the devil doth a cross, is often as drunk as the rankest. His language doth not savour of the pot; he swears not, but ' indeed!' But trust him, and indeed he will cozen you to your face. The love of money hath made him drunk. And though tlie proverb be, In vino Veritas; yet as drunk as he is, you shall never have truth break out of his lips.

And the unconscionable lawyer, that takes fees on both hands, as if he could not drink but with two cups at once, is not he a great drinker 1 If what is wanting in the goodness of the cause be supplied in the greatness of the fees, oh these

'Foecundi calices, quem non fecere clisertum?'

Let all think these ebrieties must be accounted for. How fearful v/ere it if a man's latter end should take him drunk ! ' Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and so that day come upon you unawares,' Luke xxi. 34. In corporal ebriety the soul leaves a drunken body; in spiritual, the body leaves a drunken soul: both desperately fearful.

There is yet a last, and those a blessed sort of drinkers, which drink in this sweet rain of grace and mercy. They do not only taste it • so do the wicked : ver. 4, ' They have tasted of the heavenly gift; they have tasted of the good word of God, and of the powers of the world to come.' Nor drink it only to their throat, as if they did gargarise the word, as carnal politicians and fonual professors do. They must attend, they must admit, but no further than their throats; they wiU but gargarise the gospel. It shall never come into their stomachs, never near their hearts. But these drink it in, digest it in their consciences, take liberal draughts of it, and do indeed drink healths thereof. Common health-maintainers drink their sickness. Therefore says the modem poet honestly:—

* Una salus sanis nullam potare salutem.'

But this is a ' saving health :' such as our Saviour began to us, when he drank to us in his own blood, ' a saving health to aU nations.' And we are bound to pledge him in our faith and thanlcfulness, as David ; * I will take the cup of salvation, and bless the name of the Lord.' This is a hearty draught of the waters of life; the deeper the sweeter. Blessed he is that drinks soundly of it, and ■o'ith a thirsty appetite ! There is, as divines say, sancta ebrielas/^ such as fell on the blessed apostles on Whitsunday, Acts ii. They were drunk, not with new ■^^•ine, but with the Holy Ghost. This holy plenitude doth, as it were, inebriate the s(mls of the saints : * They shall be abundantly satisfied witli the fiitness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures,' Ps. xxxvi. 8. The spouse sings of her kindness: ' He brought me to the banqueting-house, and his

* Ardens.

banner over me was love. Stay me with flagons, and comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love,' Cant. ii. 4, 5. In the original it is called, ' house of wine.' Christ hath broached to his church the sweet wine of the gospel, and our hearts are cheered with it; our souls made merry with flagons of mercy. Come to this wine, Bibite et inebriamini, —' Eat, 0 friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, 0 beloved,' Cant. v. 1 : drink and be drunk with it. God will be pleased with this, and no other but this, drunkenness. The vessel of our heart being once thus filled with grace, shall hereafter be replenished with glory.

THE PEAISE OF FEETILITY.

For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and h'ingeth forth herbs meet for them hy ivhom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God. — Heb. VI. 7.

That difference which the philosophers put between learning and metals we may truly find between human writings and God's Scriptures conferred. They that dig in the one find parvum in magna, a little gold in a great deal of ore ; they that dig in this rich field—which the wise merchant sold all he had to purchase—find magnum in parvo, much treasure in a few words. III. We have heard how the good earth is beholden to God for his holy rain; the next circumstance objects to our meditation this earth's thankful fertility : ' It bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed.' Every word transcends the other; and as it excludes some vicious defect, so demonstrates it also some gradual virtue.

1. ' It brings forth.' It is not barren, like a dead ground that yields neither herbs nor weeds. This is no idle heart, that doth neither good nor harm; that, like a mere spectator of the world, sits by with a sUent contemplation ; for whom was made that epitaph :—

* Here lies he, was bom and cried. Lived threescore years, fell sick, and died;'

doing neither profit nor prejudice to the country he lived in. Here is no such stupid neutrality, nor infructuous deadness : ' It brings forth.'

2. They are not weeds it produceth, but ' herbs.' A man had as good do nothing as do naughty things. It is less evil to sit still than to run swiftly in the pursuit of wickedness. They that forbear idleness and fall to lewdness, mend the matter, as the devil, in the tale, mended his dame's leg: when he should have put it in joint, he broke it quite in pieces. It is not enough that this ground bring forth, but that it yield herbs. Of the two, the barren earth is not so evil as the wicked earth; that men pity, this they curse. ' It brings forth herbs.'

3. Neither is it a paucity of herbs this ground afforded, but an abundance : not one herb, but herbs; a plural and plentiful number. There is neither barrenness nor bareness in this ground; not no fruits, not few fruits, but many herbs.

expects of the garden, who planted it; such as he will accept, not in strict justice for their own worth, but in great mercy for Jesus Christ, ' Meet for them by whom it is dressed.

"We have now opened the mine, let us dig for the treasure. Four demonstrations commend this good ground :—

1. It is fruitful.

2. It is fruitful in good.

3. It is fruitful in much good.

4. It is fruitful in such good as the dresser loolcs for.

1. Fertilitj': *It brings forth.' Barrenness hath ever been held a curse, a shame, rejjroach. So the mother of John Baptist insinuated : ' Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men,' Luke i. 25. When God will bring the gospel, and with it salvation to the Gentiles, he is said to take away their barrenness. So was it prophesied, Isa. liv. 1 ; so was it accomplished, Gal. iv. 27 : 'Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry' with joy, 'thou that travaUest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she that hath a husband.' The primordial praise of this good ground is, that it is not barren. This fertility in the Christian heart doth—(1.) conclude thankfulness ; (2.) exclude idleness.

(1.) For the former. God hath given him rain for this purpose, that he should bring forth fruit; if he should take the rain, and not answer the sender's hopes, he were unthankfid. The good man considers the end why he received any blessing, and examines what God meant in conferring on him such a benefit. Hath God given him wisdom 1 Solomon hath taught him to ' let his fountains be dispersed abroad, and his rivers of waters in the streets,' Prov. v. 16. Whether thy knowledge be great in divine things, ianquam lummare majiis, or in human, tanqiiam luminare minus, remember our Saviour's lesson, Matt, v., ' Put not your light under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may give light to all that are in the house. Let your light shine before men,' &c. They that are God's lights, must waste themselves to give light to others. Non licet habere ^^Tivatum, ne 2yrivemur e«,* —To keep it private is the way to be deprived of it. So the old verse—

' Scire tuum nihil est, nisi te scire hoc sciat alter/—

As we miLst not be wise in ourselves, so nor only wise to ourselves. He that conceals his knowledge, cancels it, and shall at last turn fool. Do not enclose that for several which God hath meant common. The not employing will be the impairing of God's gifts.

This is the fruit which the good ground must send forth, for all the seeds of grace sown in it. Neither doth this instruction bound itself with our spiritual, but extends also to our temporal gifts. Hast thou riches 1 When God scattered those blessings upon thee, in the seed-time of his bounty, he intended thou shouldst return him a good crop at the harvest. Be thankful then, in doing that with them for which God gave them. Custos e$ tuariim, non dominus, facidtatum, —Thou art a deputed steward, not an independent lord, of thy wealth, God meant them to promove and help forward thy journey to heaven ; let them not retard thy course, or put thee quite out of the way. Thou art a thankful ground, if thou suffer thy riches to bring forth those fruits which the hand of God looks to gather from them. Be merciful, be charitable, be helpful. Slips pauperum, thesaurus divitum, —The rich man's treasure is the poor man's stock. The distressed * Aug. Conf., lib. xii., cap. 25.

soul .asks but his own. Christ may say to thee in the beggar's person, * Pay,' not give, ' me a penny thou owest me.' Da viihi ex eo quod tibi dedi: de meo qxiocro, non de tuo: da et redde,''' —Give me of that which I gave thee: I demand some of my own, not of thine : it is more properly a restoring than a gift. Feiimusque damusque vicissim. Thou askest the Lord, and he giveth thee; but on this condition, that thou give him some of it back again. Thou art more truly the beggar, and God but a demander of a just and easy retribution. This is not aU.

God did also mean that thyself should take comfort in these things. It is a part of that blessedness wliich the Psalmist promiseth to him that feareth the Lord : ' Thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands; happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee,' Ps. cxxviii. 2. For God gave wine for this purpose, * to make glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face shine, and bread to strengthen his heart,' Ps. civ. 15. How doth man divert God's goodness, when he turns his blessing into a curse, and puts his good creatures from their intended uses ! ' The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of thy field,' saith the wise man, Prov. xxvii. 25, Thou must wear the wool, and drink the milk of thy own flock. Neither be so sparing as to starve thyself in the midst of thine own plenty; as the covetous wretch that dares not eat an egg lest he should lose a chicken. Nor so profuse to thy own lusts, that thou shouldst give all, vel veneri, vel i)entri. Not that surfeits or wine should sluice out thy estate into thy belly. Not that with unnecessary quarrels of law, thou shouldst afflict and weary thy neighbours. O madness ! that to put out both thy brother's eyes, thou, shouldst put out one of thine own; nay, both thine own for one of his. Ungrateful men for God's great mercy: that what they get by peace with foreign, vainly spend it in civil wars; where the lawyers set them together, as men clap on unwilling mastiffs ! IMost commonly they fight at the long ■weapon; a tedious, wearying, weather-beaten suit. Sometimes they fight close : poniard and pistol, killing quarrels; laying trains for one another, tni both be blown up. Can the back of charity bear no load ? Are the sinews of love grown so feeble 1 Alas, fools ! you get both nothing but the blows; the lawyer goes away with the A^ctory. He fills his purse, and you come home both well beaten.

Well, the good ground knows no such end for God's blessings. He sees with the eye of faith another intentional meaning for such bounty. He doth not say of his riches, as the atheists of their tongues, ' They are our own,' Ps. xii. 4. What hath magistrate on the bench, or preacher in the pulpit, or friend in private, to do with it 1 I waste none of theirs; let me do with my own as I list. But saith the Apostle, ' Fool, what hast thou that thou hast not received?' And wherefore hast thou received them? To satiate thy own lusts ? or to ' bring forth fruit meet for them by whom thou art dressed V There is nothing that a man can properly and in district terms call his own but his sins. His impieties, Aveaknesses, ignorances, vices, lusts; these are his own. All good things are God's gifts, James i. 17. Be thankful then, and after the rahi of mercy, bring forth the herbs of obedience. You see what this fertility concludes—thankfulness. Hear now what it excludes :—

(2.) Idleness. This good ground lies not dead and barren, nor returns all heaven's rain with a naked and neutral acceptation : it brings forth. You read, Luke xix., of a servant, to whom, when his lord had entrusted a talent, he hid it in the ground, as a hoarder his money, to keep it safe.

* Chrj-s. VOL. II. 2 F

And at his Lord's return, Lomine ecce tuum; he answered his account with, ' Lord, behold thine own.' I knew that thou wert severus magister, ' a hard master;' therefore I thought it my securest course to make good thine own again. But the lord replied, £Jx ore tuo, —' 0 evil servant, out of thy own mouth I condemn thee.' Thou shouldst then have answered my austerity with thy laborious care of my advantage. Therefore hear his doom : ' Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth,' Matt. xxv. 30. He did not evil with his talent; no, it was enough to condemn him, he did nothing. There is abundance of this dead ground in the world, which brings forth nothing. Idle wretches, that sleep out time and admonition; but their ' damnation sleepeth not,' 2 Pet. ii. 3. It was never said, ' Samson hath lost his strength,' till he slept in the lap of Delilah. Idleness doth neither get nor save; there is nothing more empty of good fruits, nor more abundantly pregnant with evU. That man doth Ul that doth nothing, and he loseth whiles he gains not. Many beholding, with cowardly and carnal eyes, what a long and troublesome journey it is to heaven, sit them down and fall fast asleep. 0 barren ground ! wUl ye bring forth nothing ? Is difficulty made your hindrance, that should be a spur to your more eager contention ? Know you not that the violent shall get the kingdom of heaven ? Some can follow their dogs all day in the field; others hunt Mammon dry-foot in their shops year after year, and never complain of weariness. Only an hour or two in the church puts an ache into our bones; as if nothing wearied us so soon as well-doing. Is it fear of too much labour that keeps you from God 1 Why doth not the same reason deter you from serving the devil ? His laws are true burdens, and his service drudgery; but ' Christ's yoke is easy, and his burden light,' Matt. 3d. 30.

I may boldly affirm it: your covetous man takes more pains to go to heU, than the godly ordinarily to get to heaven. He riseth early, and resteth late, and eats the coarse bread of sorrow; and after tedious and odious misery, goes to the devil for his labour. Shall we refuse easier pains for a far better recompense ? It is but Satan's subtlety that makes men believe the passage to life so extremely difficult, that it is impossible. Herein the devU doth like the inhospitable savages of some countries, that make strange fires aijd a show of dismal terrors upon the shores, to keep passengers from landing. The sluggard, says Solomon, doth but feign bears and lions (as the superstitious doth bugs*) in the way, as apologies for idleness, that he may sit still and be at ease. The slothful person is the devil's shop, wherein he worketh engines of destruction. He is most busy in the lazy. 'But whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor knowledge, nor device, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou goest,' Eccles. ix. 10. If thy soul be watered with the dew of heaven, thou must needs bring forth. What 1

2. * Herbs.' There is fertility in goodness. The eldest daughter of idleness is to do nothing; the next-born, to do something to no purpose. But the good man is not only doing, but well-doing : ' Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing,' Matt. xxiv. 46. This so consists in doing honum and bene; as the former verse may seem to intimate. He 'gives them meat,' there he doth good; 'in due season,' there he doth it well. The forbearance of wickedness is not enough to acquit the soul, but the performance of righteousness. The rich glutton is tormented ia heU, not because he did hurt, but because he did not help, Lazarus. Non * That is, * bugbears.'— Ed.

quod ahstulerit alienct, sed quod non donarit sua, saith. St Chrysostom,—Not for takiiif away another man's, but for not giving his own. He would not give the poor the crumbs that fell from his board, and so facere damna lucrum, make a gain of his losses; for they were lost that fell from his libertine table, and yet would have refreshed the hungry and famished souL But Dives would not give a cmmb to get a crown. He wore fine linen, but it was his own ; he was clothed in rich purple, but it was his own; he fared sumptuously every day, but he did eat liis own meat: he took none of all this from Lazarus. Yet he went to hell. God condemned him because he did not give some of this to Lazarus. Thus it is not only the commission of lewdness that sinks men to hell, but even also the omission of goodness. Dost thou hear, 0 earth ? unless thou bring forth herbs, thou shalt be condemned. The fig-tree had no bad fruit on it; yet was it cursed, because it had none at aU. The axe that is laid to the root. Matt. iii. 10, shall hew down even * that tree which brings not forth good fruit,' though it bring forth, no evil. Fire shall take the barren, as well as the weedy ground.

' Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven,' Matt. v. 20. Wherein, methinks, our Saviour implieth a threefold gradation to heaven :— First, there must be justitia, righteousness ; a habitual practice of godliness; an uncorrupt Hfe, which shall only be entertained to God's hill, Ps. xv. 2. But the ground must be made good before it can produce good herbs; for the person must be accepted before the work. And this work must be good, both quoad fontem and quoad finem,; we must derive it from an honest heart, and drive it to a right end. In the next place, this righteousness must be a man's own. Nisi justitia vestra. Here that ground which 'brings forth herbs receiveth blessing;' not that borrows them of another. For so, as stony and barren a heart as Cheapside may be a far richer garden than some of those where those herbs, brought thither, naturally grew. The Pope hath a huge garden of these herbs, wherewith he can store as many as wiU pay for them. John Baptist fasted more than he was commanded ; and Mary lived more strictly than God required. Now the church of Kome keeps an herbal of these superabundant works; and money may have store of them. But heaven and Ptome stand a great way asunder. And as God never gave the Pope authority to make such bargains, so he never means to stand to them. It is not only spoken, but commanded to be written of the dying saints, that 'their works follow them,' Eev. xiv. 13 : their own works, not the works of others. No righteousness of friend living, or of saint dead, shall do thee good; but the herbs of thy own garden shall be accepted of God. Lastly, this righteousness must excel, nisi ahundaverit. If it come short of those that come short of heaven, what hope have you ? It must exceed innocence, and come to real goodness.

We have not sufficiently discharged our duties in being painful unless we be profitable. Some will take no pains unless the devil set them on work. They must be their own carvers in their employment, or they will sit idle. But so a man may work and have no thanks for his labour. It is not then simply and only bringing forth commends a ground, but bringing forth herbs.

The fruit of Peter's repentance is not to deny his Master no more, but to stand to him to the death. We think, if we forbear our wonted notorious sins, we are on the sudden excellent Christians, As if God were beholden to us for not wounding his name with oaths, for not playing out Sabbaths, for not railing on his gospel, for not oppressing his poor members; when we

neither relieve tlie poor, nor obey the gospel, nor hallow his Sabbaths, nor honour his name. Perhaps a usurer, when he hath gotten enough, will cease that damned trade ; now he is sure of heaven in a trice. Alas ! how repents Zaccheus if he restores not 1 Shall I go a step higher ? If he give not liberally, and shew compassion to the afflicted saints 1 Perhaps an old adulterer, when his sap is grown to cinders, breaks off his uncleanness. "When the envious loseth his object, he may suspend his malice. But where are the returned fruits of penitence, manifest and visible obedience ? Say the weeds are gone, where be the herbs ? To root up the weeds is but the first step to heaven; and some are forty, threescore years taking this step. How long will it be ere their garden be set mth good growing herbs 1 But ' curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord,'—and that it might fully appear that this curse came not on them for taking part with God's enemies and fighting against him, but only for denial of succour, the song doubles it, —' to the help of the Lord against the mighty,' Judges v. 23. The offended Lord delivered that servant to the tormentors, that did not extort from his fellow that he had no right to, nor wrest away another's goods, but did only say, ' Pay me that thou owest;' and in a harsh manner, or nnmerciful measure, required his own due. Matt, xviii. 34. It is the form of the last doom, 'I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat,' Matt. xxv. 42 ; though you took not away mine, yet for not giving your own, ' Go, ye cursed.'

But if that ground be near unto cursing that brings not forth herbs, what shall we say to tlia,t which brings forth weeds ? What hell, and how many torments are provided for oppressing Dives, when Dives that but denied his own shall be tormented in endless flames ! If he were bound to an everlasting prison that rigorously prosecuted his own right, challenged his own debt, whither shall they be cast that unjustly vex their neighbours, quarrel for that which is none of theirs, and lay title to another man's property ? If he that gives not his coat to the naked shall lie naked to the vengeance of God, then he that takes away the poor man's coat shall be clad with burning confusion. If he that gives not wring his hands, he that takes away shall rend Ms heart. The old world did but eat and drink, build and plant, marry and be merr}^, and were swept away with the besom of a universal deluge ; which things were in themselves lawful: what shall become of liars, swearers, adulterers, idolaters, malicious, monstrous, scandalous sinners, whose works are in themselves simply unlawful 1 There are three sorts of ground mentioned, Mark iv., and the very worst of them receives the seed, yet aU damned: whither shall the tempest of God's Avrath drive them that would never give the gospel a religious ear ? 0 beloved, weigh it!

Our ' idle words' must come to judgment; what shall be our answer for unlawful deeds 1 If omission of good works be whipped with rods, commission of impieties shall be scourged with scorpions. If they that stand in a lukewarm neutrality shall be spewed up, sure the palpable and notorious offender shall be trodden under foot of provoked justice. Indifferency shall not scape; and shall extreme presumption be spared, that, like dogs, sup up the dregs they have vomited'? I have read of a Popish saint, Henry the Dane, that in a mad and harebrained devotion, when worms crawled out of a corrupt ulcer in his knee, did put them in again. There are such frantic wretches, that when the word hath squeezed some poison out of their consciences, and driven forth lusts, like crawling worms, they in a voluntary madness piit them in again. As the serpent casts out her poison when she goes to the water to drink ; when she hath drunk, sups it up again. Adam

lost himself, and all his posterity, by one transgression; and do we think, can we hope, that our infinite sins shall scape judgment 1 Or do we extenuate our iniquities with such self-flattering mitigation, that if they be not innumerable, they are pardonable; and that a few shall bring no man to judgment? And what call we this paucity? As the gloss deals with a piece of Gratian's Decretum: the text says, Meretrix est, quce multorum libidini patet, —She is a whore Avho serves many men's turns. Now the gloss brings this indefinite number to a certain; and gives multorum a reasonable latitude, saying, The name of whore should not be given her till she hath lain with three-and-twenty thousand men ! So till we have doubled, iterated, and multiplied our lies, oaths, oppressions, lusts, unto thousands and thousands, we do not think that we merit the names of liars, swearers, oppressors, or luxurious persons. Beloved, these things must be reckoned for; and if nescience be beaten with stripes, wilful impiety shall be burned with fire. Blessed ground, then, that ' brings forth herbs;' and that not in scarcity, but in—

3. Plenty : many herbs. The good ground is plentiful in fruits. It bears fruit, good fruit, much good fruit. Multiplicity of grace is requisite, though not perfection. What garden is only planted with one singular kind of herb ? The Christian hath need of many graces, because he is to meet with many defects, to answer many temptations, to fight with many enemies. Therefore, 2 Pet. i. 5, ' Join with your faith virtue, and with virtue knowledge, and with knowledge temperance,' &c. One jewel will not serve; Christ's spouse must have divers to adorn her. Cant. iv. One piece of armour will not secure us; we know not which way the blow will come, nor •where it will light. Therefore, ' Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against all the wiles of the devil,' Eph. vi. 11. The loins, the breast, the head, the feet; all parts must be armed. The ' fruit of the Spirit'—those happy fruits which the Spirit of God worketh in us and bringeth out of us—is manifold : ' love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,' &c., Gal. v. 22. The Apostle chargeth us to be * rich in good works,' 1 Tim. vi. 18 ; and 'for this cause bows his knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, according to the riches of his glory, we might be filled with all the fulness of God,' Eph. iii. 14, 16. The reason is given by Christ: ' To whom much is given, of them shall much be required.' And it was his commendation of Llary Magdalene, that because ' she had much forgiven her, therefore she loved much.'

Happy then is that ground wliich abounds with good herbs ; the fruits of faith, patience, content, charity ! Not our riches, but our ' works shall follow us.' Goodness shall only give pulchrum sepidclirum; and as we use to stick dead bodies vAth. herbs, so these herbs, our fruitful good works, shall adorn and beautify our memorials, when ' the name of the wicked shall rot.' I know England, inveigh the Papists till their galls burst, is full of pious and charitable works. It is a garden full of good herbs. ' Not to us, but to God be the ])raise,' who hath moved such instruments to works of his glorj'. Yet qnxe non fecimus ipsi, vix ea nostra voco, —let every man quiet his own conscience with the good herbs his ow-n garden produccth.

The rich man grows easily richer; so the good man easily better. It is the custom of most men to be pleased with a very little religion. For the world, we are enraged and transported with such a hunger that the grave is sooner satisfied; but a very little godliness contents us. But if we would not be 'barren nor inifruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ,' we must, saith the Apostle, ' abound with these herbs,' 2 Pet. i. 8. And

then, for a proportionate reward, ' an entrance sliall be ministered unto us abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Saviour Christ,' ver. 11. Blessed is he that brings forth herbs, many herbs; and, lastly, such as are—

4. ' Meet for them by whom he is dressed.' The word hj luhom may as weU be translated for xvhom, hi oZg jiuoysTrai. Two instructions are here necessarily offered us :—(1.) By whom this goodness comes; (2.) For whom it must be intended.

(1.) By whom it is dressed. God is the husbandman that dresseth this ground, and causeth in it fertility. It was the Pelagian error, A Deo habe-mus quod homines sumus, d nobis ipsis autem quod justi sumus* —We are beholden to God that we are men, to ourselves that we are good men. But the contrary is here evident. God doth not only make the ground, but he makes the ground fruitful: he rains upon it, he dresseth it, he blesseth it. Christ said not. Sine me 2'>ciruni potestis facer e, sed sine me nihil. 'Without me can ye do nothing,' saith our Saviour, John xv. 5, and to the best men, even the apostles ; not a little, but nothing. If God had only made thee a man, and thou made thyself a good man, then is thy work greater than God's work. For, melius est justuvi esse, quam hominem esse,^ —our mere being is not so happy as our better being. No; this text convinceth that lie. For, according to that distinction of grace, here is gratia operans, God begins the work ; he makes the ground good, sanctifies the person. Here is gratia co-operans, God that begins, performs the work; he raineth upon, he dresseth the heart, and so causeth it to produce herlDS. Here is gratia salvans, whereby he crowneth our will and work in the day of our Lord Jesus. ' It receiveth blessing from God.' So—

' Qui viret in foliis, venit Ji radicibus liumor.'

The sap of grace which appears green and flourishing in the branches and fruit, comes from the root. Now in all this Deus non necessitat, sed fadlitat, —God induceth the good to good by alacrity, not enforceth against their wills. Quoniam probitate coada, gloria nidla venit;% for God doth not work upon us as upon blocks and stones, in all and every respect passive ; but converts our wills to will our own conversion. Qui fecit te sine te, non justificabii te sine te. Fecit nescientem, justifcat volentem,^ —He that made thee without thyself, will not justify thee without thyself; without thy merit indeed, not without thine act. He created thee when thou knewest it not, he doth justify thee with the consent of thy own will. Let this consideration lay us all prostrate before the footstool of God, kissing the feet of his mercy, who is the 'beginner and finisher of our faith,' Heb. v. 23; who hath made the ground good, and increased the number of herbs with his holy dews from heaven, dressed it with his graces, and promised to reward it with his blessings.

(2.) Thus by tvhom; now/or whom.

Meet for them who dressed it. And is it possible that man should produce herbs meet for the acceptation of God % Hath he not pure eyes, which see uncleanness and imperfection in all our works % Is there any man so happy as to be justified in his sight % No; but it pleaseth him to look upon our works in the crystal glass, Christ; and because they are the effects of a true faith in him, to esteem them meet. St Peter saith, ' This is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wi-ongfiilly,' 1 Pet. ii. 19. Do even our sufferings then merit ? ToDro yao yf^iiii even this is grace. ' To you it is given, not only to believe in him, but even to suffer

* Aug. Tract. 81 in Job. f Aug. % Prud. § Aug.

for his sake.' Tixis was none of yours, but given you. And when you have suffered, yet you must truly, with Paul, reckon that ' the afflictions of this present world are not worthy of that high inestimable weight of glory,' Eom. viii. 18. There are no works acceptable, quce 'prcecedunt jiistificandum, sed quce sequuntur justijicatum, —which go before justification, but these that follow it, AH of us, as Luther was wont to say, have naturally a Pope bred in our bellies; a mountebank opinion of our own worth. Narcissus-hke, we dote upon our own forms, and think our works acceptable enough to God, If we have prayed, relieved, believed the history of the gospel, or attentively heard the word, these are works meet for God. The monk had but one hole in his cell, and though it was in the top, upward to heaven, yet the devil made a shift to creep in there. The serpent thrusts in his head often in some crack of our good works. Luther paradoxically: Omnium injusti-tiarum fere sola causa justitia, —Almost the only cause of all unrighteousness is a too well-conceited righteousness. We are easily induced to think ourselves, every one, as Simon Magus, ' some great man,' Acts viii, 9, There must be a dejection of this thought, an annihilation of our own worth, that we can do nothing meet for God, or worthy his just acceptance. For sordet in distinctione judicis, quodfulget in opinione operantis, —That is often foul in the sentence of the judge which shines in the imagination of him that doth it.

But as physicians say, no man dies of an ague, or without it; so seldom any soul dies of pride, or without pride : not mere of pride, for though that sickness were enough to kill it, yet it is ever accompanied with some other disease and vicious wickedness; nor without it, for it is so inherent unto man's nature, that pride, if it doth not provoke, yet at least holds the door whiles any iniquity is doing. Hence flow so many errors, and factions, and .singularities.

For as in the body, a raw stomach makes a rheumatic head, and a rheumatic head a raw stomach : so in the soul, an indigested conceit of some good thing in us makes the head run of some rheumatic opinion or mad factious singularity; and this petulant rheum in the brain keeps the conscience raw still, that the physic of repentance, or good diet of peaceable obedience, cannot help it. Let us correct these exorbitant and superfluous conceits, which are like proud flesh upon us, and know we are able to do nothing of ourselves, but God is fain to put even good thoughts in us. And if we do good from him, how good soever it be as from him, yet running through us, it gets some pollution.

Neither let us run into the contrary error, as if in a stupid wilfuluess, what good soever we did, we could not hope that God in Jesus Christ would accept it. There is a threshold of despair below to stumble at, as well as a post of high presumption to break our heads at. There is al^ase dejection, a sordid humility. Barcena the Jesuit told another of his order, that when the devil appeared to him one night, out of his profound humility he rose up to meet him, and prayed him to sit down in his chair, for he was more worthy to sit there than he. This did appear a strange kind of dejcctedness. Surely, I think, a man should by God's word and warrant take comfort in his welldoing, £^d be cheered in the testimony which a good conscience, on good cause, beareth to him. So David heartened himself against all the malicious slanders of his enemies: ' 0 Lord, thou knowest my innocence.' Good works are the necessary and inseparable efi"ects of a true faith. We are by nature all dead in sin, and by sin concluded under death. Our Saviour bore for us this death, and by his passion freed us from eternal damnation. It was not

enough to scape hell, how shall we get to heaven? Lo, we are clothed with the garment of his righteousness, hung with the jewels of his merits. So not only hell is escaped by his sufferings, but heaven got by his doings. Why should we then work 1 What need our gardens stand so full of herbs ? Good reason. Shall God do so much for us, and shall we do nothing for him, for ourselves 1 If the lord of a forest gives me a tree, it is fit I should be at the cost to cut it down and bring it home, if I will have it. I cannot say that I deserved the tree, it was another's gift; but my labours must lead me to enjoy that which was freely given me. Neither can the conscience have assurance of eternal life, so frankly bestowed in Christ, without a good conversation. Faith doth justify, and works do testify that we are justified. In a clock, the finger of the dial makes not the clock to go, but the clock it; yet the finger without shews how the clock goes within. Our external obedience is caused by our inward faith; but that doth manifest how truly the clock of our faith goes. As a man's corporal actions of sleeping, eating, digesting, walking, declare his recovery from sickness, and present health; so his life witnesseth by infallible symptoms that the disease and death of sin is mortified in him, and that he hath taken certain hold of eternal life. It is meet, then, that we should do good works; but all our works are made meet and worthy in him that bought us. I wUl conclude, then, with that anthem, made by a sweet singer in our Israel: Fendemus ct te, credimus in te, tendimus ad te, non nisi per te, optime Christe. Amen.

A CONTEMPLATION OF THE HEEBS.

For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and hrinj-eth forth herbs meet for them hy tvhom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God. — Heb. VI. 7.

That the herbs of our graces may be meet for the dresser,—contentful to God, who hath planted, watered, husbanded the garden of our hearts,—we will require in them four virtues:—1, Odour; 2. Taste; 3. Ornament; 4. Medicinal virtue.

1. That they have a good odour. God is delighted with the smell of our graces : ' My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies,' Cant. vi. 2. The virtues of Christ are thus principally pleasant; and all our herbs only smell sweetly in his garden : ' Because of the savour of thy good ointments, thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee,' Cant. i. 3. This savour is sweetly acceptable in the nostrils of God : ' All thy garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia,' Ps. xlv. 8. It is his righteousness that gives all our herbs a good odour; and in him it pleaseth God to judge our works sweet. When Noah had built an altar, and sacrificed burnt-offerings on it, ' the Lord smelled a sweet savour, and said, I will not again curse the ground for man's sake,' Gen. viii. 21. Myrrh and frankincense were two of the oblations which the wise men offered to Christ being an infant, Matt. IL

' Trea reges, regum Regi tria dona tulerunt;

Myrrham homiui, uncto aurum, thiira dedere Dec. Tu tria fac itidem doues pia luunera Cliristo,

Muneribus gratus si cupis esse tuis. Pro myrrha laerymas, pro auro cor porrige purum,

Pro thure, ex humili pectore funde preces;'— '

* Three kings to the great King three offerings bring. Incense for God, myrrh for man, gold for king. Thy incense be the hands a white soul rears; * For gold give a pure heart, for myrrh drop tears.'

The way to make our herbs smell sweetly is first to purge our garden of weeds. For if sin be fostered in our hearts, all our works will be abomi-

nated. God heareth not the prayers of tlie wicked : ' If ye will walk contrary to me,' saith. the Lord, ' I will bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I wUl not smell the savour of your sweet odours,' Lev. xxvi. 31. But being adopted by grace in Christ, and sanctified to holiness, our good works smell sweetly : ' I have received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God,' Phil. iv. 18. It seems God liighly esteems the herb charity in our gardens. He that serveth the Lord shall smell as Lebanon: ' He shall grow as the vine, and his scent shall be as the wine of Lebanon,' Hos, xiv. 6, 7.

Man is naturally delighted with pleasant savours, and abhors noisome and stinking smells. But our God hath purer nostrils, and cannot abide the polluted heaps of iniquities. The idle man is a standing pit, and hath an ill-savoured smell, an ill-favoured sight. The drunkard is like a bog, a fog, a fen of evil vapours; God cannot abide him. Your covetous wretch is like a dunghill; there is nothing but rottenness and infection in him. Omnis malitia eructat fumum, —AU wickedness belcheth forth an evil savour. Wonder you, if God refuse to dwell with the usurer, swearer, idolater, adulterer ? There is a poison of lust, a leprosy of putrefaction in them; no carrion is so odious to man as man's impieties are to God. Yea, the very oblations of defiled hands stink in his presence : ' He that sacrificeth a lamb is as if he cut oif a dog's neck,' &c., Isa. Ixvi. 3. As if assafcetida was the only plant of their gardens. But good herbs give a double savour—one outward to man, another inward to God. The sweet smoke of a holy sacrifice, like a subtle air, riseth up to heaven; and is with God before man sees or smeUs it. It also cheers the hearts of Christians to behold Christian works. Eeverence to the word, hallomng the Sabbaths, relieving the poor, deeds of mercy, pity, piety, give a delightful scent; solacing the souls of the saints, and pleasing him that made them both men and saints. Therefore,' Hearken unto me, ye holy children, and bud forth as a rose growing by the brook of the field. Give ye a sweet savour, as frankincense, and flourish as a lily, send forth a smell, sing a song of praise, and bless the Lord in all his works,' Ecclus. xxxix. 13.

2. That they taste well. Many a flower hath a sweet smell, but not so wholesome a taste. Your Pharisaical prayers and alms smelt sweetly in the vulgar nostrils; taste them, and they were but rue, or rather wormwood. When the Pharisee saw the publican in the lower part of the temple, standing, as it were, in the belfry, he could cry, Foh this publican ! But when they were both tasted by his palate that could judge, the publican hath an herb in his bosom, and the Pharisee but a gay, gorgeous, stinking weed. The herbs that the passover was eaten with were sour ; yet they were enjoined with sweet bread. Sour they might be, but they were wholesome. Herbs have not only their savour, but their nutriment: ' He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man, that he may bring food out of the earth,' Ps. civ. 14. Herbs then are food, and have an alimental \drtue. So we may both with the herbs of charity feed men's bodies, and with the herbs of piety feed their souls. A good life is a good salad; and in the second place to precepts are usefully necessary good examples. The blood of martyrs is said to have nourished the church. The patience of the saints, in the hottest extremity of their afilictions, even when the flames of death have clipped them in their arms, have been no less than a kindly nourishment to many men's faith. It is expounded by a universal consent of divines that one of those three feedings, which Christ imposed on Peter, is Pasce exemplo: Let thy life feed them. Blessed gardens, that yield herbs, like

Jotliam's vine, that ' cheer the heart both of God and man,' Judges ix. 13. The poets feigned that nectar and ambrosia were the food of their gods :—

' Jupiter ambrosia satiir est, est nectare plenus.'

But the true God's diet is the virtues of his saints, ■wherewith he promiseth to sup when he comes into their hearts. Rev. iii. 20. Faith, love, patience, meekness, honesty, these dishes are his dainties.

If thou wouldest make Christ good cheer in the parlour of thy conscience, bring him the herbs of obedience. Do not say, I would have laeen as kind and liberal to my Saviour as the best, had I lived in those days when he blessed the world with his bodily presence; but now I may say with Mary Magdalene, ' They have taken away the Lord, and I know not where to find him.' Damn not thyself with excuses. Wheresoever his church is, there is he : exercise thy piety. Wheresoever his membei's are, there is he : exercise thy charity. Thou art very niggardly if thou wilt not afford him a salad, a dinner of herbs. Yet, saith tSolomon, ' A dinner of green herbs with love, is better than a fat ox with hatred.'

3. That they be fit to adorn. Herbs and flowers have not only their use in pleasing the nostrils and the palate, but the eye also. They give delight to aU those three senses. Good works are the beauty of a house, an'd a better sight than fresh herbs strewed in the windows. The chamber where Christ would eat his passover was trimmed ; and the palace of our princely Solomon 'is paved with love of the daughters of Jerusalem,' Cant. iii. 10.

There is no ornature in the world like good deeds ; no hanging of tapestry ov arras comes near it. A stately building where an idolater dwells is but a gaudy coat to a Sodom-apple. When you see an oppressor raising a great house from the ruins of many less, depopulating a country to make up one family, building his parlours with extortion, and cementing his walls with the mortar of blood, you say. There is a foul Minotaur in a fair labyrinth. Be a man dead, it is a foolish hope to rear immortality with a few senseless stones. Perhaps the passenger will be hereby occasioned to comment upon his bad life, and to discourse to his company the long enumeration of such a man's vices. So a perpetual succession of infamy answers his gay sepulchre; and it had been better for him to have been utterly inglorious than inexcusably infamous. The best report that can be drawn from him is but this: Here lies a fair tomb, and a foul carcase in it.

These things do neither honest a man living, nor honour him dead. Good works are the best ornaments, the most lasting monuments. They become the house wherein thy soul dwelleth, whiles it dwells there; and bless thy memory, when those two are parted. A good life is man's best monument, and that epitaph shall last as if it were written with a pen of iron and claw of a diamond, which is made up of virtuous actions. Good herbs beautify more than dead stones. Wheresoever thou shalt be buried, obscurity shaU not swallow thee. Every good heart that knew thee is thy tomb; and every tongue writes happy epitaphs on thy memorial. Thus height up your souls ^vith a treasure of good works. Let your herbs smell sweetly, let them taste cheerfully, let them adorn beauteously. So God's palate, his nostrils, his sight, shall be well pleased.

4. That they be medicinable, and serve not only as antidotes to prevent, but as medicaments to cure the soul's infirmities. The poor man's physic lies in liis garden ; the good soul can fetch an herb from his heart, of God's planting there, that can help him. Pliny writes of a certain herb, which he calls thelygomim; we in English, *The grace of God.' A happy herb, and worthy to stand in the first place, as chief of the garden. For it is the prin-

cipal, and, as it were, tlie genus of all tlie rest. We may say of it, as some write of the carduus henedictus, or holy thistle, that it is herba omni morba, —an herb of such virtue that it can cure all diseases. This may heal a man who is otherwise mdlis viedicabilis herbis. Wretched men, tliat are without this herb, the grace of God, in their gardens !

Hl/ssop, and Humility/. —Is a man tempted to pride,—and that is a saucy sin, ever busy among good works, like a Judas among the apostles,—let him look into his garden for hyssop, humility of spirit. Of which herb it is written:—

* Est humilis, petrseque suis radicibus hseret.'

Let him be taught by this herb to annihilate his own worth, and to cleave to the Rock whereout he grows, and whereof he is upholden, Jesus Christ, Or let him produce the camomile, which smells the sweeter the more it is trodden on. Humility is a gracious herb, and allays the wrath of God; whereas pride provokes it. It is recorded of an English king, Edward the First, that being exceeding angry with a servant of his, in the sport of hawking, he threatened him sharply. The gentleman answered, It was well there was a river between them. Hereat the king, more incensed, spurred his horse into the depth of the river, not without extreme danger of his life, the water being deep, and the banks too steep and high for his ascending. Yet at last recovering land, with his sword drawn, he pursues the servant, who rode as fast from him. But finding himself too ill-horsed to outride the angry king, he reined, lighted, and on his knees exposed his neck to the blow of the king's sword. The king no sooner saw this but he puts up his sword, and would not touch him. A dangerous water could not withhold him from violence; yet his servant's submission did soon pacify him. Whiles man flies stubbornly from God, he that ' rides upon the wings of the wind' posts after him with the sword of vengeance drawn. But Avhen dust and ashes humbles himself, and stands to his mercy, the wrath of God is soon appeased.

This camomile or hyssop grows very low. Humbleness roots downward, yet no herb hath so high branches. We say, that proud men have high minds : they have not; for their minds only aspire to some earthly honours, which are but low shrubs indeed. The humble man aspires to heaven, and to be great in the eternal King's favour; and this is the true, but good height of mind. His desires have a high aim, though their dwelling be in the vale of a humble heart. There are engines that raise water to fall, that it may rise the higher. A lowly heart, by abasing itself in the sight of God and men, doth mount all the other graces of the soul as high as heaven, and the eye of mercy accepts them. Pride is a stinking weed ; and though it be gay and garish, is but like the horse-flower. In the field, it is of glorious show : crop it, and you cannot endure the savour. At the best, the proud man is but like the bird of paradise or the ostrich : his feathers are more worth than his body. Let not thy garden be without this herb humility. It may be least respected with men, and among other herbs overlooked, but most acceptable to God. Respexit humilitatem ancillce suce, sings the virgin Mary,—' He bad regard to the lowliness of his handmaiden.' It shall not want a good remembrance, a good recompense. For the last, the least, and the lowest, may come to be the first, the greatest, and the highest. This is a necessary herb.

It'iUapathum; the herb Patience. —Is a man, through multitudes of troubles, almost wrought to impatience, and to repine at the providence of

God, that disposeth no more ease 1 Let him fetch an herb out of the garden to cure this malady : hulapathum, the herb patience. The adamant serves not for all seas ; but patience is good for all estates. God's purpose cannot be eluded with impatience, and man under his hand is like a bird in a net : the more he struggles, the faster he is. Impatience regards not the highest, but secondary causes; and so bites the stone instead of the thrower. If our inferior strike iis, we treble revenge. If an equal, we requite it. If a superior, we repine not; or if we mutter, yet not utter our discontent. Think whose hand strikes : it is God's, whether by a pleurisy, or a fever, or a sword, or whatever other instrument. The blow was his, whatsoever was the weapon. And this wound will not be cured, unless by applying the herb patience.

The good man hath such a hand over fortune, knowing who guides and disposeth all events, that no miseries, though they be sudden as well as sharp, can unheart him. If he must die, he goes breast to breast with virtue. If his life must tarry a further succession of miseries, he makes absent joys present; wants, plentitudes; and beguiles calamity, as good company does the way, by patience. ' A certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness,' 1 Kings xxii. 34. The man shot at random, or, as the Hebrew hath it, ' in his simplicity;' but God directed the arrow to strike Ahab. So David spake of Shimei: ' Let him alone, and let him curse ; for the Lord hath bidden him. It may be that the Lord will look on mine affliction, and requite me good for his cursing this day,' 2 Sam. xvi. IL Consider we not so much how unjust man is that giveth the wrong, as how just God is that guideth it. Non venit sine merito, quia Deus est Justus : nee erit sine commodo, quia Deus est bonus, —It comes not without our desert, for God is just: nor shall be without our profit, for God is merciful. God hath an herb which he often puts into his children's salad, that is rue : and man's herb, wherewith he eats it, must be lapathum, patience.

This rue is affliction, which hath a profitable effect in those tliat quietly digest it. Of all the herbs in the garden, only rue is the herb of grace. How much virtue is wrought in the soul by this bitter plant! It is held by some a sickness: it is rather physic, a sharp and short medicine, that bringeth with it much and long health. This, if they will needs have it a sickness, may be compared to the ague. The ague shakes a man worse than another disease that is mortal. At last it gives him a kind farewell, and says, ' I have purged thy choler, and made thee healtliful, by consuming and spending out that humour which Avould have endangered thy life.' Affliction in the taste is often more bitter than a judgment that kills outright; but at last it tells the soul, ' I have purged away thy foulness, wrought out thy lusts, and left thee a sound man.' So the good physician procureth to his patient a gentle ague, that he may cure him of a more dangerous disease: Ut curet spasmum, j^'oairat fehrim. Christ, our best Physician, deals a little roughly with us, that he may set us straight. And howsoever the fever of affliction disquiet us a while, we shall sing in the conclusion with the Psalmist, ' It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes,' Ps. cxix. 71.

Sa^pefacit Deus opus quod non estsuum; ui facial optis quod est suum, — God by a work, that is none of his, effecteth a work in us that is his. He molests us with vexations, as he did Job,—which is Satan's work immediately, not his,—that thereby he might bring us to patience and obedience, which is his work immediately and wholly, not Satan's. ' So we are chas-

tened of the Lord, tliat we miglat not be condemned with the world,' 1 Cor. xi. 32.

Bees are drowned in honey, but live in vinegar;* and good men grow the better aflSected the more they are afflicted. The poor man for his ague goes to his garden, and plucks up thyme. The remedy for this spiritual fever is true, but sensible patience. Men should feel God's strokes, and so bear them. It is dispraisable either to be senseless or fenceless; not to know we are stricken, or not to take the blows on the target of patience.

Many can lament the effects, but not the cause, and sorrow that God grieves them, not that they grieve God. They are angry with heaven for being angry with them. They with heaven for justice, that is angry with them for injustice. But moei'eamus, quod mereamur 2yoenam, —let not the punishment, but the cause of it, make thy soul sorrowful. Know thou art whijjped for thy faults, and apply to the prints the herb patience.

Heari's-ease, and /Spiritual Joy. —-Doth sorrow and anguish cast down a man's heart, and may he complain that his ' soul is disquieted within him ?' Ps, xlii. Let him fetch an herb out of this garden, called heart's-ease; an inward joy which the Holy Ghost worketh in him. Though all ' the days of the afflicted be evil, yet a merry heart is a continual feast,' Prov. xvi 5. This is heaven upon earth : ' Peace of conscience, and joy of the Holy Ghost,' Rom. xiv. 17. His conscience is assured of peace with God, of reconciliation in the blood of Jesus, and that his soul is wrapped up in the bundle of life.

This may be well called heart's-ease : it is a holy, a happy herb to comfort the spirits. When worldly joys, either, like Rachel's children, are not, or, like EU's, are rebellious, there is heart's-ease in this garden, that shall cheer him against all sorrows—certainty of God's favour. Let the world frown, and all things in it run cross to the grain of our minds; yet ' with thee, 0 Lord, is mercy, and plentiful redemption.' And, if nobody else, yet ' God will be still good to Israel, even to those that are of a pure heart,' Ps. Ixxiii. 1. Those which we call penal evils, are either past, present, or to come; and they cause in the soul, sorrow, pain, fear. Evils past, sorrow; present, pain; future, fear. Here is heart's-ease for all these. Miseries past are solaced, because God hath turned them to our good, and we are made the better by once being worse. Miseries present find mitigation; and the infinite comfort that is with us, within us, sweetens the bitterness that is without us. Miseries future are to us contingent; they are uncertain, but our strength is certain: God. Novi in quern credidi, —'I know whom I have trusted.' Here is abundant ease to the heart.

Balsamum, or Faith. —Hath the heart got a green wound by committing some offence against God 1 for actual iniquity makes a gash in the soul. The good man runs for halsamum, and stancheth the blood: faith in the promises of Jesus Christ. He knows there is ' balm at Gilead, and there are physicians there; and therefore the health of liis soul may easily be recovered,' Jer. viii. 22. He is sure that if the blood of Christ be applied, it will soon stanch the blood of his conscience, and keep him from bleeding to death; and that the wounds of his Saviour will cure the wounds of his soul. And though this virtual healing herb be in God's own garden, yet he hath a key to open it—prayer; and a hand to take it out, and to lay it on his sores—faith. This is a sovereign herb; and indeed so sovereign that there is no herb good to us without it. It may be called panaces; which physicians say is an herb for all manner of diseases, and is indeed the principal herb of grace; for it adorns the soul with all the merits and righteousness of Jesus Christ.

St JohrCs-wcyrt, or Charity. —Doth the world, through sweetness of gaiu, that comes a little too fast upon a man, begin to carry away his heart to covetousncss ? Let him look in this garden for the herb called St John's-ivort, charity and brotherly love. It is called St John's herb not uuproperly; for he spent a whole epistle in commending to us this grace, and often inculcated, * Little children, love one another.' And he further teacheth that this love must be actual: ' For he that hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother hath need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?' 1 John iii. 17. He hath no such herb as St John's-wort in his garden. The good Christian considers that he hath the goods of this world to do good in this world; and that his riches are caUed bona, goods, non quodfadant honum, sed U7ide faciat bonum* — not that they make him a good man, but give him means to do good to others.

He learns a maxim of Christ from the world, which the world teacheth, but followeth not; that is, to make sure as much wealth as he can: as it were madness to leave those goods behind him, which he may carry with him. This pohcy we all confess good; but fail in the consecution. The world thinks that this assurance is got by purchasing great revenues, or by locking up gold in coffers. The Christian likes well to save what he can; but he thinks this not the way to do it. He considers that the richest hoarder leaves all behind him, and carries nothing but a windmg-sheet to his grave. But he finds out this policy in the Scriptures, as David was resolved of his doubt in the sanctuary, Ps. Ixxiii. : that what he charitably gives alive, he shall carry with him dead ; and so resolves to give much, that he may keep much. Therefore what he must lose by keeping, he wUl keep by losing; and so proves richer under ground than ere he was above it. The poor man's hand he sees to be Christ's treasury; there he hoards up, knowing it shall be surely kept, and safely returned him. His garden shall stand full with St John's-wort; and charity is his herb to cure all the sores of covetousness.

Penny-royal, and Content. —Doth poverty fasten her sharp teeth in a man's sides, and cannot all his good industry keep want from his family'? Let him come to this garden for a httle fenny-royal, content. This wiU teach him to think that God who feeds the ravens, and clothes the hlies, wall not suffer him to lack food and raiment. The birds of the aii' neither plough nor sow, yet he never sees them lie dead in his way for want of provision. They sleep, and smg, and flj^ and play, and lack not. He gathers hence infalUbly, that God wUl bless his honest endeavours; and whiles he is sure of God's benediction, he thinks his penny-royal, his poor estate, rich. No man is so happy as to have all things; and none so miserable as not to have some. He knows he hath some, and that of the best riches; therefore resolveth to enjoy them, and want the rest with content. He that hath this herb in his garden, penny-royal, contentation of heart, be he never so poor, is very rich.

Af/nus castus, and Continence. —Doth the rebellious flesh, upon a little indulgence, grow wanton ; and would concupiscence enkindle the fire of lust ? The good soul hath in this garden an herb called agnus castus, the chaste herb, and good store of lettuce, which physicians say cool this natm-al intemperate heat. His agnns castus and lettuce are prayer and fasting. He knows that if this kind of devil get possession of the heart, it ' goes not out but by prayer and fasting.' It is fasting spittle that must kill that serpent,

* Aug.

Mistress Venus dwells at tlie sign of the ivy-busli; and where the beUy is made a barrel, stuffed with delicious meats and heating drinks, the concupiscence will be luxurious of turpitudes. Sine Cerere et Baccho friget Venus, —Venery will freeze, if wine and junkets do not make her a fire. Lust will starve, if flesh pampering shall not get her a stomach. Where there is thin diet and clean teeth, there will follow chastity.

Barley-ivater, or Cool-anger. —Doth the heat of anger boil in a man's heart, and enrageth him to some violent and precipitate courses 1 Let him extract from this garden the juice of many cooling herbs; and among the rest a ■drink of barley-water : a tysan of meekness to cool this fire. He that hath proceeded to anger is a man; he that hath not proceeded to sinful, harmful anger is a Christian. Irasci homijiis, injuriam non facere Christiani* The most loving man will chide his friend sweetly; and he that doth not, ' hates him in his heart.' Sic vigilet tolerantia, ut non dormiat discipUna.f But he will not be transported with anger, to the loss of his friends, of himself. He considers that God is ' provoked every day, yet is long-suffering, and of great goodness.' He hears that others speak ill of him ; he judgeth not without certain knowledge. Knowing, he suffers not himself to be abused. It were silliness to believe all; suUenness to believe none. The wrong done to God and a good conscience must move him.

' Non patitur ludum fama, fides, oculus,'—

A man's name, his faith, and his eye, must not be jested withal. Yet when he is most angry he recollects himself, and claps upon his head a tysan of meekness.

Parsley, or Frugality. —Declines a man's estate in this world, as if his hand had scattered too lavishly, there is an herb in this garden; let him for a while feed on it—parsley, parsimony. Hereon he will abridge himself of some superfluities; and remember that moderate fare is better than a whole coUege of physicians. He wiU wear good clothes, and never better, knowing there is no degree beyond decency. It was for Pompey to wear as rich a scarf about his leg as other princes wore on their heads. But the frugal man can clothe himself all over decently with half the cost that one of our gallant Pompeys caseth his leg. He that would not want long, let him practise to want somewhat before he extremely needs. I have read of an English martyr, that being put into a prison at Canterbury, tried (when she had liberty of better fare) to live on a spare diet, as preparing and pre-arming herself with ability to brook it when necessity should put her to it. J Frugality puts but three lingers into the purse at once : prodigality scatters it by heaps and handfuls. It is reported that Caesar's host lived a long time at Dyrrhachium with coleworts, whereof arose the proverb, Lajysana vivere, to live sparingly. That stock lasts that is neither hoarded miserably nor dealt out indiscreetly. We sow the furrow, not by the sack, but by the handful. The Avise man knows it is better looking through a poor lattice-window than through an iron gate; and though he will lend what he may, he will not borrow till he must needs.

Liver-ivort, or Peaceable Love. —Is a man sick in his liver by accession of some distemperature 1 Doth his charity and love to some neighbours, for their mahgnancy against him, fail and faint in his heart ? For they say, Cogit amare jecur. I stand not here on the distinction betwixt amare and dili-gere. Then let him step to this garden for some jecur aria ; we call it liverwort. He asks of his heart for his old love, his wonted amity. If his * Jerom, f Aug. J Martyrol.

reason answer that the persecutions of such and such calumnies have fled her into another country, he is not at quiet tUl affection fetch it home again. He thinks that night he sleeps without charity in his bosom, his pillow ia harder than Jacob's was at Bethel, Gen. xxviiL If carnal respects can draw him to love his friend for his profit, or his kinsman for blood, he will much more love a Christian for his Father's sake, for his own sake.

There is a story (nothing worth but for the moral) of a great king, that married his daughter to a poor gentleman that loved her. But his grant had a condition annexed to it, that whensoever the gentleman's left side looked black, or he lost his wedding-ring, he should not only lose his wife, but his life. One day, pursuing his sports, he fell into a quarrel, where at once he received a bruise on his left breast, and lost his ring in the scuffling. The tumult over, he perceived the danger whereinto his own heedlessness had brought him, and in bitterness of soul shed many tears. In his sorrow he spied a book, which opening, he found therein his ring again, and the first words he read were a medicine for a bruised side. It directed him three herbs, whereof a plaster applied should not fail to heal him. He did so : was cured, was secured.

The apphcation is this : The great King of heaven marries to man, poor man, his own daughter, mercy and everlasting kindness ; but threatens him that his side must not look black, his heart must not be polluted with spiritual adulteries, nor must he lose his wedding-ring, love to God and his saints, lest he forfeit both God's mercy and his own salvation. Man, in the pursuit of worldly affairs, quarrels with his neighbours, and scuffles with contention. So his heart takes a bruise, and looks black with hatred ; and charity, his wedding-ring, is lost in these wilful turbulencies and vexations. What should he do but mourn 1 Lo, God in his goodness directs him to a book, the holy Gospel. There the Spirit helps him to his ring again, his former love; and to heal his bruise, prescribes him three herbs :

First, rue, or herb of grace, which is repentance : this teacheth him to sorrow for his strife and emulation, and purgeth away the bruised blood.

The second is the flower de luce, thankfulness: he considers how infinitely God hath loved him; therefore he must needs love God, and in him his. Beatus qui amat te, et amicuvi in te, et inimicum propter te. He knows it impossible to love him he hath not seen, and to hate his image which he hath seen.

The third, camomile, which will grow the faster for injuries. Many wrongs hereafter shall not put him out of charity. A good plaster of these herbs will draw his bosom white again; and when it is so, let him use jecuraria, Uver-wort, a continual application of love to his heart: that he, keeping his ruig of faith sure from losing, and his breast from the self-procured blows of contention, he may hold also his wife for ever, that beautiful daughter of the King, God's eternal mercy.

Lily, or Pureness of Heart. —Doth a man perceive his heart a little be-gilded with ostentation, and desires he to seem better than he is ? And how easily is man won to answer his commenders' speculation ? Let him fetch the lily, pureness of heart, which is an herb of grace, growing in the humble valley of a meek spirit, yet is white and lovely. He knows God can unmask the vizarded face, and turn the inside outward. If a man be a Herod within and a John without, a wicked politician in a ruff of i^recisian Bet, God can distinguish him. There are too many of these, that stand up in the fabric Uke pyramids: it were better for us, for themselves, if they were but good honest pillars. Plain-dealing is a good plain-song, and makes

VOL. II. 2 G

l)etter music than a forced squeaking treble, that troubles us all with novelties. Shallow honesty is more commendable than the profound quicksands of subtlety; and one leaf of the plane-tree is better than many handfuls of the pricking holly. ' They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search: both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, i& deep,' Ps. Ixiv. 6. But when God shall wound them with his arrow, ' they shall make their tongue fall upon themselves.' Such a man's own wit shall snare him, and he shall sing, or rather sigh, Ingenio 'perii. They are glad of Christ's cross; not to suffer for it, but to enjoy plenitude of riches by it; and so, like many in great funerals, rejoice to be mourners, that they may get some of the blacks. Put them to no charges, and they will make you believe they are strongly, strangely religious. But ' shall we offer burnt-sacrifices to the Lord our God of that which cost us nothing 1' 2 Sam. xxiv. 24. Christ compares this man to ' a painted sepulchre.' Sepiilchrum quasi semi-pulchruni, saith one. Extra nitidum, intus foetidiim. But let them be the men they seem, and not nettles in the midst of a rose-cake. The good great man, though he be able securely to do much mischief, regards more the sin's indignity than his own indemnity.

Enula campana, or Obedience. —Perhaps evil example hath suddenly, and without provided consideration, led a man into evil. Let him run to« this garden for enula campana. This herb is that Christ enjoined us; ' Search the Scriptures;' add hereto the word of the Lord. This shall give decision of all doubts, and teach thee what path to fly, what way to take. It is written of tliis herb, Enula camjyajia reddit pjwcordia sana. It is true of our constant cleaving to the word, that it shall purge the heart of what corruption soever bad precedents have put into it. Of all the herbs in thy garden lose not this. Forego not the ' sword of the Spirit:' it is thy best weapon.

Heart-wort, or Affiance in God's Promises. —It may be sorrow of heart for sin hath cast a man down, and he is swallowed up of too much heaviness. There is an herb to comfort him called heart-wort, affiance in the merciful promises of God, passed to him by word, oath, seal, scriptures, sacraments; and therefore infallible. ' At what time soever, what sinner soever repents of what sin soever, God will put all his wickedness out of his remembrance.' He will not let that promise fall to the ground, but accomplisheth it with peace and joy : * Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted," Matt. V. 4. He believes that his wet seed-time shall have a glad harvest: * for they that sow in tears shall reap in joy,' Ps. cxxvi. 5, He persuades himself that the days of mourning will pass away, as the wind blows over the rain; and then ' God will wipe away all tears from his eyes,' Eev. vii. 17^ with the hand of mercy. This confidence in the midst of all sorrows is his heart-wort.

Hyacinth, or following Christ. —Say that the Christian hath met with some gilded pill of corruption, some poisonous doctrine, yet plausible to flesh and blood- Let him search his garden for hyacmth, or solseqimt,m, turnsol;. an herb that duly and obediently follows the sun. Do thou follow the Sun of righteousness, Mai. iv. 2, and let his bright beams guide thy course, who hath promised to teach all those that with a humble heart and earnest prayer seek it at his hands. Follow the Sun, and he will bring thee where he is, to heaven, at the right hand of his Father. Let no wandering planet err thee, but adhere to the Sun with a faithful imitation.

Care-atvay. —If worldly troubles come too fast upon a man, he hath an herb called care-away. >Tot that he bequeathes himself to a supine negli-

gence, as if God would fill his liouse with provision, while he sits and sings care away; but as he is free from idleness, so also from distrust. lie considers the ravens and lUies, and knows that the Lord is the ' preserver of men,' as well as of fowls; that he respects man above those, and his own above other men. Therefore he throws all his cares upon God, as if they were too heavy a load for himself. Solicitous thoughtfulness can give him no hurt, but this herb care-away shall easily cure it.

Holy Thistle, or Good Resolution. —Yield that he is pressed with injuries; as ' who will live godly in Christ, and shall not suffer persecution 1' He is oppressed by force or fraud, might or subtlety, and cannot help himself He hath a good herb in this garden, called carduus henedictus, holy thistle, a godly resolution, that through many miseries he must enter heaven. Ho rests himself on God, and rather wisheth his harmlessness should suffer than himself not to give passive and patient obedience to lawful authoritj^ ' Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known to thee, 0 king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship thy golden image,' Dan. iii. 17.

There are many other herbs in this garden: as if he be to deal with crafty adversaries, let him fetch some sage, honest policy, and such as may stand with an untrcnched conscience. For Christ gave us this allowance, to be ' wise as serpents;' though withal a cohibition, that we be ' harmless as doves,' Matt. X. 16. If he be tempted to ebriety, he hath in this garden coleivorts, moderate abstinence. Matthiolus, on the preface of Dioscorides, notes such a natural enmity betwixt this herb and drunkenness, that if you plant cole-wort near to the roots of the vine, of itself it flieth from them. But I excuse myself.

' Non ego cuncta meis amplecti versibus opto.'

I would not leave nothing unsaid. Thus I have walked you through a sacred garden of many gracious herbs. I will stay you no longer than to hear your blessing.

lY. * It receiveth blessing from God, The reward gives a happy conclusion to this good ground. So it pleaseth the Lord to accept our labours, that he will reward them; not after our own merit, for that is not an atom, but after his own mercy, which exceeds heaven and earth. Receive this blessing with a thankful heart; thou hast not earned it. It is objected that here it is said, their ' works are meet for God,' therefore deserve this blessing. And, Wisd. iii. 5,' God proved them, and found them meet for himself,' as if they could stand God's trial. And Paul exhorts us to ' walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called,' Eph. iv. 1. I answer, Deus coronat dona sua, non menta nostra,* —God rewards his own works, not our worth. It is given, non meritis operantis, sed 7mseratione donantis, —not for the deserts of the doer, but for the mercy of the giver. Datur operatoribus, non pro operibus. Luke xii. 33, ' It is my Father's wall to give you a kingdom.'

Do we good ? From whom is it ] Doth not God work in us to will and to do? Thou hast done well; be comforted, be not proud. It was God's work, not thine. Omnia merita Del dona sunt ; et ita homo propter ipsa magis J)eo debitor est, quani Deus hoviini,f —All our good works are God's gifts: and therefore man is more beholden to God for them, than God to man. If in this garden any good herb spring over the wall, and saucily challenge to itself a prerogative of merit, deal with it as the gardener with * Aug. + Bern.

superfluous brandies—prune it off. Or as Torquatus with his over-venturous son; cut it short with the sword of the Spirit for daring beyond its commission. Our adversaries oppose this truth very violently, both in the schools and in the pulpits; but come they to their deathbeds, to argue it between God and their own souls, then grace and grace alone, mercy and only mercy, Jesus and none but Jesus,

And this even their great Bell-wether* is forced to acknowledge, Proister incertitiulinem proprice justitice, et periculum inanis glorice, tutissimum est fidudam totam in sola Dei misericordia et benignitate reponere. I will translate his words truly : ' By reason of the uncertainty of our own righteousness, and the danger of vainglory, the safest course is to put our whole trust and confidence in the only favour and mercy of God.' But perhaps Bellarmine spoke this as a mere Jesuit; and now made palpable, he may be willing to recant and unsay it.

This blessing then comes not for the ground's merit, but for the dresser's mercy. It is said, Gen. vi,, that God would destroy the world with a flood, ' because the imaginations of man's heart were only evil continually,' And, Gen, Aoii., it is said that God will no more curse and destroy the ground for man's sake, ' because the imaginations of his heart are only evil from his youth.' The same reason that is alleged why God will not spare the world is also alleged why God will spare the world.

It serves plentifully to demonstrate that not for man's merit, but for God's mercy, confusion is withholden, ' I am the Lord, I change not: therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.'

' It receiveth.' Such is the immense goodness of God that he will add grace to grace, and when he hath shewn mercy he will shew more mercy. As if he expected no other argument of future bounty but his former bounty. * Whom he did predestinate, them also he called; and whom he called, them also he justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified,' Kom. viii. 30. Man is to be considered in a fourfold estate— confectionis, infectionis, refectionis, perfectionis. First, God made him happy; without misery, without iniquity: ' God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions/ Eccles. vii. 29. If a glorious heaven above him, a fruitful earth under him, serviceable creatures about him, could give him solace and felicity, he was not scanted. Here is man's first draught of God's bounty—his original state. Then man fell from holiness, and so from happiness, and lost the favour of the Creator with the good of the creature, that a general curse fell on the earth for his sake. Lo, now he lies weltering in his gore, who shall heal him, who shall revive him ? God promised him a Saviour, and kept his word. Look on his own only Son, hanging, bleeding, dying on an accursed cross. A Eedeemer is come; what is man the better for it that hath no power to believe on him 1 Faith he hath none, but what God must put into him. Again, Lord, help; let us receive yet a third mercy: make us believers, or we are never the better. We had as good have no Saviour as not to have him our Saviour; and ours he cannot be unless the Lord make us his. Lastly, the Lord gives us faith : and so we shall receive a happiness by this believed Saviour, better than ever our first creation gave us—a kingdom, a kingdom of life, an eternal kingdom of life, that can never be taken from us. Thus we are still receivers, and God is the giver, *We receive blessing from God,'

/ Blessing,' This word is of a great latitude. What good is there which will not be brought within this compass? This blessing hath a double * Bellar. de Justif., lib. v., cap. 7.

extent. There is heatitudo vice, and beatitudo patrice: 1, A blessing of the way; and, 2. A blessing of the country; one of grace, the other of glory.

1. The former is either outward or inward.

(1.) Outward. 'I will abundantly bless her provision: I M-ill satisfy her poor with bread/ Ps. cxxxii. 15 : ' Blessed in the field, blessed in the city; the fruits of thy body, of thy ground, of thy cattle, shall be blessed; thy basket, thy store, thy going out and coming in, shall be blessed,' Deut. xxviii. 4. Which things do often come to the godly even on earth, and that in abundance. For as all have not riches that exceedingly love them, so many have them that do not much care for them. Wealth is like a woman —the more courted, the further off.

(2.) Inward. The godly on earth is, as it were, in the suburbs of heaven, whose ' kingdom consists, not in meat and drink, but righteousness, peace of conscience, and joy of the Holy Ghost,' Eom. xiv. 17. Could his life be as fuU of sorrows as ever Lazarus was full of sores, yet he is blessed The sunshine of mercy is still upon him, and the blessing of God makes him rich. Let the air thunder, and the earth quake, and hell roar, yet ' he that walketh uprightly, walketh surely,' Prov. x. 9. Qui vadit plane, vadit sane. I have read it storied of a young vii'gin, that at a great prince's hands had the choice of three vessels; one whereof should be freely given her, even that she should choose. The first was a vessel of gold, richly wrought, and set with precious stones, and on it written, ' Who chooseth me shall have what he deserveth.' The second was of silver, superscribed thus, ' Who chooseth me shall have what nature desireth.' The third was of lead, whose motto was this, ' Who chooseth me shall have what God hath disposed.' The former pleased her eye well, but not her understanding : it offered what she deserved. She knew that was just nothing; therefore refused it. The second considered, offered what nature desires. She thought that could be no sohd good, for nature desires such things as please the carnal lust. This she also refused. The third had a coarse outside, but the sentence pleased her well—offering what God had disposed. So she faithfully put herself upon God's ordinance, and chose that. This virgin is man's souL The golden vessel is the world's riches; contentful to an avarous eye. Too many choose this; but, being opened, it was full of dead men's bones and a fool's bauble : to testify them fools which cleave to the world, and at last all their hopes shall be rewarded with a bauble. ^Neither is this all: though ' their inward thought be, that their houses shall continue for ever; yet they shall be laid in the grave like sheep, and death shall feed on them,' Ps. xlix. 11, 14. The silver vessel is the lusts of the flesh, those fond and vain delights which concupiscence seeks. So saith the motto, ' It gives what nature desireth;' but corrupt nature affects nothing but what gives complacency to the flesh. This vessel, opened, was fuU of wild-fire and an iron %vhip. God shall scourge the lustful here with the whip of judgments— diseases of body, infamy of name, overthrow of estate, vexation of conscience. And Satan shall hereafter burn them in wUd-fire, such flames as can never be quenched. The leaden vessel is, as the sense and sentence declare it, the blessing of God, The chooser of it shall have what God hath disposed for him. Blessed soul that makes this election ! for, opened, it was found full of gold and most precious jewels, every one more worth than a world—the immortal graces of Gods Spirit.

The virgin chose this, and she was married to the king's son. Choose this vessel, O my soul, and Jesus Christ, the King of heaven, shall marry thee. No matter though it seems lead without, and gUster not with earthly

vanities, it is rich within; the wealth thereof cannot be valued, though all the arithmeticians of the world go about to sum it, ' There be many that say, AVho will shew us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us,' Ps. iv. G.

2. This blessing hath yet a further extent, to the blessedness of our country : when we shall hear, ' Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,' Matt. xxv. 3-i. For, AS'i sic bonus es sequentibus te, qualis futurus es consequentibus* —If thou, Lord, be so good to those that follow thee, what Avilt thou be to those that hnd thee ! If there be such blessing in this world, what shall that be in the life to come ! If the first-fruits of our inheritance and the earnest of the Spirit be so graciously sweet here, surely when that infinite mass of glory shall be broken up and communicated to us, we shall be wonderfully ravished. ' When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away,' 1 Cor. xiii. 10. This is beata vita in fonte, saith Augustine,—a blessed life indeed. jEterna sine successione, distributa sine diminutione, communis sine invidia, sufficiens sine indigentia, jucunda sine iristitia, beata sine omni oniseria. ' Thou wilt shew me the path of life : in thy presence is the fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore,' Ps. xvi. 11.

No tongue can declare tliis blessing : happy heart that shall feel it! whose glorified eye shaU one day behold all, and ten thousand times more than we have spoken; who shall say, as it is in the psalm, Sicut audivimus, ita et vidimus, —' As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of our God.' As we have heard it preached on earth, we now find it true in heaven ; though the city we enjoy doth far excel the map we saw.

Well, this is God's blessing, and he will give it to the good ground. Labour we then to be fruitful gardens, and to abound with gracious herbs, that God may in this world shower upon us the dews of his mercy, and after this life transplant us to his heavenly paradise. Let not the pleasures of sin, the lusts of the wanton flesh, the riches, snares, cares of the world; nor fill those transient delights whose taste is only in the sense, the operation in the conscience, that tickle men for an hour, and wound them for ever; nor all those vain desires of carnal complacency which shall one day be laid upon God's cold earth, intercept us to the privation of this blessing.

Let us not be hunting after sports, as Esau for venison, and lose our blessing, lest we cry, howl, roar, when it is too late to recover it. Think, oh, think, there is a heaven, a God, a Jesus, a kingdom of glory, society of angels, communion of saints, joy, peace, happiness, and eternity of all these, which it will be a fearful thing to lose for the base pleasures and short delights of this world.

O great God of all, and sweet Father of thy chosen, pour upon us thy holy dews of grace; make our souls to stand thick with sanctified herbs, that we may receive thy blessing; that, honouring thee in the day of grace, we may be honoured by thee in the day of glory ! Grant this for thy loved Son, and our lo\ing Saviour, even Jesus Chiist's sake ! Amen.

* Bern. Serm. 47 in Cant.

THE FOEEST OF THOENS.

But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh tinto cursing; ivhose end is to be burned. — Heb. VI. 8.

This verse begins with a word of disjunction, Bid. The rain of grace falls upon the good ground : it returneth herbs, it receiveth blessing; ' but that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing,' &c. It is undeniably true, that St Paul knew no purgatory: otherwise, he that ' shunned not to declare to men all the counsel of God,' Acts xx. 27, would not in a voluntary silence have omitted this mystery. He delivers two sorts of grounds, the good and the bad; the one blessed, the other near unto cursing. He knew no mean, either betwixt good and evil men, or betwixt reward and punishment, blessing and cursing. It seems that Christ himself was ignorant of that point, which the Papists know so soundly and believe so roundly. For he says, In God's field, whatsoever grows is either corn or cockle, ;Matt. xiii. 24; for the one whereof a barn is provided, for the other unquenchable fire. A third sort, between herbs and weeds, had either the Master or the servant known, they would have acknowledged.

This first word of the text, bid, is a strong engine set to the walls of purgatory, to overturn them, and overbum them with the fire of hell. For they arc imaginary pales, that divide hell and purgatory; take away your conceit, and they are both one—all is hell. For surely hell was raked when purgatory was found; and it is nothing else but a larder to the Pope's kitchen. What fivncy soever founded it, their wits are foundered that labour to maintain it. For they cannot tell us vel quid sit, vel ubi, —what it is, nor where it is. They cavil with us for want of unity and consent in judgment. Yet Bellamiine* recites eight several opinions amongst them about the place; and concludes at last, that it must remain among those secrets quce sua tempore aperientur nobis, —which shall be unfolded to us in their times. Some think the torments of it to consist in fire, others in water; some that the afflicters are angels, other that they are devils. So they teach 07n7ii modo, that which is nullo modo; and because it is ubigiie, is therefore nidlibi. Howsoever, it being the Pope's peculiar, and in his power to command the angels to fetch out whom he list, methinks the Popes are strangely unmerciful, that in all this time none of them hath made a general gaol-delivery. * De Purgat., lib. ii., cap. 6.

But our purgatory is ' the blood of Jesus Christ,' which ' cleanseth us from sin/ 1 John i. 7. And they that have no portion in this blood shall be rejected, are nigh unto cursing, and their end is to be burned.

The barren, or rather evil-fruited ground, is the ground of my discourse : and according to the common distinction of evil, here is a double evil in the text: uniim, quod malus facit, alterum, quod malus 2^ciiiiur, —an evil which the wicked man doth, and an evil which he suflfers; an evil that is sin, and an evil that is punishment for sin. In the former, the wicked are agents ; in the latter, patients. The one evil is done by them, the other upon them. They offend God's justice, and God in his justice offends them. ' They have loved cursing, and cursing shall be unto them : they desired not blessing, and it is far from them.' They produce thorns, and the end of thorns is to be burned. The first and worst evil (for the other, though evil to them, is good in God's good justice) is sin. Herein the wicked are compared to bad ground; their iniquities to thorns and briers ; and the manner how so ill weeds arise from this ground is said to be bearing : ' The earth that beareth thorns,' &c. Here first observe—

1. The different word the Apostle useth. For the good earth, he says, it is TixTovda (Sordvrjv, bringing forth herbs. For the evil, it is sxips^ouaa, bearing, not bringing forth. As if good works were brought forth like children, not without pain and travail: evil works but cast out like froth or scum; as easily vented as invented. Therefore the earth is said ehullire, to bubble or boil out such things as mere excretions. Our proverb says. An evil weed grows apace. Herbs grow not without preparing the ground, planting, and watering them by seasonable dews and diligence. Weeds are common : it is hard to set the foot besides them. The basest things are ever most plentiful. Plurima, pessima. I have read of a kind of mouse that breeds six score young ones in one nest; whereas the offspring of the lioness or elephant is but single. You shall find your furrows full of cockle and darnel, though you never sow them. The earth, saith the philosopher, is now an own mother to weeds, and naturally breeds and feeds them; but a stepmother to good herbs. Man, by a proclivity of his own natural inclination, is apt to produce thorns and briers; but ere he can bring forth herbs, graces, God must take pains with him. No husbandman so labours his ground as God doth our hearts. Happy earth, that yields him an expected harvest! But that which beareth thorns is near to be cursed and burned.

2. Observe that a wicked man is compared to bad earth, and that fitly, in five respects :—

(1.) For baseness. The earth is the heaviest of all elements, and doth naturally sink downwards; as if it had no rest but in the centre, which itself is. A wicked man is base-minded, and sinks with a dull and ponderous declination; not regarding the things above, but those below. He hath commune with men sursum os, but with beasts, deorsicm cor. AU his affections have a low object, not of humility, but base dejection. His hope, desire, love, joy, are set on these iixferior things; and, like a mole, he digs still downward, till he come to his centre, ' his own place,' Acts i. 15 —hell. Telluris inutile pondus.

(2.) For coldness. Experience teacheth that the earth is cold ; and coldness is a natural quality pertaining to it, though accidentally there be bred in it fiery vapours. The wicked man hath a cold heart, frozen up in the dregs of iniquity; though there be an unnatural heat sometimes flaming in him, the fire of lust and malice tormenting his bowels : but this is no kindly heat to warm his conscience. That is derived from the fire of the temple,

that never goes out, and only given by Jesus Christ, that ' baptizeth with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.'

(3.) For foulness. The squalid earth (for we speak not here of any good ground) is called lutulenta terra, miry and noisome; yet is it neat and clean in comparison of a sin-contaminated soul. The body was taken from the earth, not the soul; the body shall resolve to the earth, not the soul; yet the polluted soul is more sordid than either a leprous body or a muddy earth. In the eye of God, there is no beauty so acceptable, no foulness so detestable, as the soul's. The dove carried the praise of beauty from the peacock, by the eagle's judgment: because though the peacock living had the fairer plumes, yet dead he hath but a black liver. God's judgment of all men's fairness is by the liver, the ' cleanness of the heart in his eyesight.'

(4.) For obscurity and darkness. The earth is called a 'place of black darkness, the land of forgctfidness.' So Job and David term it. The wicked sold is fuU of darkness, thickness of sight, caecity of understanding; not * seeing the glorious liberty of the sons of God.' * Our gospel is hid to those that are lost: whose minds the god of this world hath blinded,' 1 Cor. iv. 4. There is in them hebetudo mentis, which is acutce ratioyiis obtusio, carnalis intemperantia crassis sensibits inducta* They are so utterly ignorant of heaven that, as it is in the proverb, ne pictiim quidem viderunt, —they have not seen it so much as in the map or picture; as to men shut up in the low caverns of the earth, not so much as the sun, and stars, and the lights of heaven's lower parts have appeared. Tolevabilor est poena, vivere non jjosse, quam nescire. Ignorance is a heavier punishment than death, saith the philosopher.t Darkness is their desire, 'because their deeds are evil.' Perhaps at last, after a long dotage on their dark delight, earth, they come to hear of a better and richer country, and then take only with them the lantern of nature to find it. But so erepto lumini candelabrum qucerunt,-^ having lost the light, they grope for the candlestick. A man that comes into his house at midnight sees nothing amiss; in the daylight he finds many things misplaced. Nature is but a dark lantern, when by it we endeavour to ransack the conscience. Only the light of grace can demonstrate aU the sluttish and neglected misorders in our souls.

(5.) The main resemblance between an evil ground and worse man consists in the ill fruits that they both produce : briers and thorns, and such not only unhelpful, but hurtful vices. This is the principal analogy which our Apostle intends; the pith and marrow of this comjDarison. But before we come to a particular survey of this Avood, some observable doctrines fall profitable to our instruction. Observe therefore—

[1.] The word of God will work some way. It falls not upon any ground in vain ; but will produce herbs or weeds. It is such physic as will either cure or kill. It mollifies one, makes another more hard. Some hearts it pricks. Acts ii.; others it terrifies, though converts not, as it made Felix tremble. None ever heard it, but they are either better or worse by it. 'We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, unto the Gentiles foolishness; but unto them which are called, both of Jews and Greeks, the power of God, and the wisdom of God,' 1 Cor. i. 23. It is either a converting or convincing power; sealing receivers to redemption, contemners to rejection, Heb. iv. 12. 'The word which I have preached shall judge you in the latter day,' John xii. 48.

If this doctruie were considerately digested in hearers' hearts, what a zeal-* Hugo. f Sen.

ous preparation would it work in their souls ! It would bring us to these seats with other minds, if we remembered that we return not back to our own doors the very same we came out, but either somewhat better or mucli worse. Sergius Paulus was turned, Elymas obdurated, at one sermon, Acts xiii. 7, 8. After our Saviour's heavenly sermon, John vi. 66, ' some went back, and walked no more with him ;' that Christ bespake his apostles, * Will ye also go away 1 ' Others stuck more close : ' Lord, to whom shall we go ? thou hast the words of eternal life,' ver. 68. The prophet Isaiah, speaks fully to this purpose : ' As the rain cometh down, and returneth not back, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater; so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth : it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it,' Isa, Iv. 10.

The word that we have preached shall either save you or judge you. It shall be either a copy of your pardon or a bill of your indictment at the last day. John Baptist calls the gospel a fan, that will distinguish between true and false children, between wheat and chaff. Matt. iii. 12. It will make known the faithfulness of those that with honest hearts embrace it, and .scatter hypocrites like chaff, by reason of their insolid levity. Simeon so prophesied to Mary the virgin of her Son, that ' he should be the fall and the rising,' Luke ii. 34, the reparation and ruin, of many ; and whiles ' he is set for a sign which shall be spoken against,' by this means ' the thoughts of many hearts shall be revealed.' The word is like fire, that hath a double operation upon the several subjects it works on—stubble or gold. It fires the one and fines the other. Some hearts it inflames with zeal to it; other it sets on fire to impugn, persecute it. It is to conversion, if believed; to confusion, if despised. Lo, Christ himself preaching, some faithfully entertain, others reject, as the Gergesenes, that had rather have their hogs saved than their souls. Matt. viii.

[2.] That thorns are produced, the fault is not in the good rain, but the ill ground. ' What could I,' saith God, * have done more to my vineyard V Isa. V. 4 : I have done enough to make it bear good grapes; ' wherefore then,' or from what cause, ' brings it forth wild grapes V The earth desires the influence of heaven and showers from the clouds to make it fruitful. It is granted : the sun shines, the dews fall. The garden hereupon brings fortli herbs, the desert thorns. If these blessings of heaven were the proper cause of the weeds, why hath not then the good ground such cursed effects 1 The everlasting lamp of heaven sends forth his saving rays; and the sacred dews of the gospel fall on the pure and unclean heart. There it is requited with a fertile obedience ; here with an impious ingratitude. Let not the mercy of God be blamed for this man's misery. Perditio ex se; God hath done <;nough to save him. St Augustine directly to this purpose : Simid pluit Dominus super segetes, et super spinas. Sed segeti jyhdt ad hoireiim, spinis ad igneni et tamen U7ia est jjltcvia.'^ God at once rains upon the herbs and the thorns : upon the herbs or good seed, to shoot it up for his bam, for himself; upon the thorns, to fit them for the fire : yet is it one and the same rain.

This shall cover the faces of libertines with everlasting confusion, who are

evermore rubbing their own filthiness on God's purity, and charging him as

the author of their sins. If the devils in hell should speak, what could they

say more 1 We have fallen from our happiness, and God caused it. Eepro-

* De Benedict. Esau et Jacob.

bate thoughts! Men have spilt blood, defiled forbidden beds, struck at princes with treasons, ruined countries with depopulations, filled the earth with rapes, and shot at heaven with blasphemies; and lay their damnation on their Maker, deriving from his purpose excuses of their wickedness. The inevitable decree of God's counsel is charged; the thought of that hath made them careless: so with good food they poison themselves. Willing fools, rack not your belief with impossibilities. Behold, God is so far from authorising your sins and falls, that he rains on you the holy dews of his word to mollify your hearts ; justifying himself by this proffered means of your salvation that he would not the death of a sinner. Oh, but his hidden ■vvill is to damn us ! !Madmen! that forsake that signed will, written iu tables, published with trumpets, commanded with blessings, cursings, promises, menaces, to which every soul stands bound, and fall to prying into those unsearchable mysteries, covered with a curtain of holy secrecy, not to be drawn aside till the day comes wherein we shall know as we are known.

Cease, aspiring man, to root thy wickedness in heaven, and to draw iu God as an accessary to thy profaneness. God would have thee saved, but thou wilt bear thorns and briers, though thou endangerest thyself to cursing. Is this the requital for his mercy 1 Are all his kindnesses to thee thus taken 1 That when he hath done so much to bring thee to heaven, thou wilt tax him for casting thee to hell 1 when he hath so laboured to make thee good, thou wilt lay to his charge thy own voluntary badness 1 No ; justify God, and magnify his mercy. Accuse thine own corrupt heart, that turns so good and alimental food into off'ensive crudities. Say, heaven is good, but thy ground is naught. Fatness and juice hath been bestowed on thee, but thou hast yielded pestilent and noisome fruits. Lay not the fault on heaven, but on the native corruption of thy own heart, that hath decocted the goodness of God into venom.

[3.] This observation shall make way and give place to another: That the gix)und is very imthankful which answers the kindness of heaven iu raining on it, with briers and thorns. Wretched man, that receives so blessed dews from the fountain of mercy, and returns an ungrateful wickedness ! Unthankful it is, as failing in both those essential parts of gratitude, acknowledging and requiting a benefit; and so guilty both of falsehood and injustice. Say the wicked did confess God's mercies, yet where is their obedience ? True thankfulness is called gratiarum actio, non dictio. Whiles for holy dews they render unholy weeds, this disobedience is the gi-eatest ingratitude. The silence of our tongues, the not opening our lips to let our ' mouth shew forth his praise,' is a grievous unthankfulness. He is of an evil disposition that conceals or dissembles a benefit. This is one branch of ingratitude. But our speech hitherto keeps but low water : let us rise up to view the mountainous billows of that ingratitude here taxed—a real, actual, sensual, senseless unthankfulness; if it be not a degree beyond it, and unthankfuhiess too poor a word to express it. Mere ingratitude returns nothing for good ; but this sin returns evil for good. Silence in acknowledging is too short: we must think of a contumacious and contumelious retribution. God, after his merciful rain, loolvs for some herbs of grace, when he walks down into liis ' garden, to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded,' Cant. vi. 11. And, behold, weeds, stinking weeds, stinging weeds, thorns and briers ! Here is ingi-atitude in fuU proportion, with all the dimensions of his ugly, stigmatic form. This is that wickedness which brings the ground here to rejection, malediction, combustion. Observe further that—

k

[4,1 Wicked men prove commonly so much the worse as they might have been better, and. divert the means of their conversion to their confusion. The more rain of the gospel they receive, the more abundantly they thrust forth the thorns of iniquities. The roots of these briers are earthed in their hearts, and do boil out at the warm dews of the word. It fares with them as with a man of a surfeited stomach : the more good meat he eats, the more he increaseth his corruption. The former crudities undigested, unegested, having the greater force, turn the good nutriment into themselves. There is such an antipathy betwixt the good word of God and the heart of a reprobate, that the more it wrestles to bring him to heaven, the more he wrestles against it that he might be damned. Tully mentions a country wherein a great drought and heat maketh abundance of mire and dirt, but store of rain causeth dust. It is here experimentally true : the plentiful rain of God's blessed word is answered with the dusty and sandy barrenness of men's evil lives. So the sun, shining upon unclean dunghills, is said to cause a greater stench; yet no wise man blames the beams of the sun, but the filthiness of those putrefied heaps, for such offence. The Sun of righteousness hath sent down the glorious rays of his gospel among us; the wicked hereupon steam out the more noisome and stenchful fruits. Upon whom shall the accusation light ? God's comfortable heat of mercy, or our putrid and rank iniquities? Sometimes the sun's heat working upon a muddy and baneful object breeds horrid serpents. No wonder, then, if this rain of the gospel engender in reprobate miuds weeds and prickles. The Cicones have a river that doth harden the bowels, and make the entrails stony :* a strange operation in them that drink it! But if the water of life do harden the hearts of Pharaohs, and exasperate the mischiefs of a malicious Elymas, let the imputation of fault light where it is deserved. It was a strange protestation that God had against Israel, ' I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me,' Isa. i, 2;—I have brought them up in my house, and taught them my precepts, and yet (as if my instructions and favours had made them worse) they have rebelled against me. Thus when the sun is hottest, the springs are coldest ; and the more fervent the love of God is to us, the more cold is our charity to him, and to others for him. As if the sweet dews of Hermon had made the hill of Zion more barren.

It is written of the Thracian flint, that it burns with water, and is quenched with oil; a fit emblem of those wicked souls that are the worse for God's endeavour to better them. But such coiatrary efi"ects hath the gospel in contrary natures. As by the heat of the sun wax is softened, and yet clay is hardened: so by the preaching of the word the hearts of such as shall be saved are mollified; but the hearts of the lost are further obdurate. God in his wise justice will be even with men : since they wiU not be the better for his favours, they shall be the worse. Seeing they will not bring forth herbs, they shall cast forth weeds; and he that might not in their salvation, will be glorified in their subversion. For application :—

This rain hath fallen upon us all: how have we entertained it ? where be our herbs ? It is objected against us that our forefathers, who wanted this rain, brought forth more herbs than we that have it. That they, in the days of ignorance, did more than they knew; that we, in the light of the gospel, know more than we do, Apollonius, among other wonders, writes one most wonderful: that there was a people which could see nothing in the

* Ovid.

day, but all in tlie night. What! hath the sun blinded us 1 Cannot we see to serve God so well in the light as they did in the dark ?

It was once said, Ignoti nulla cupido ; but now it may be inverted, Noti nullus amor; we little esteem the gospel, because it is frequent amongst us. The long enjoying it hath dulled our estimation. Full children are weary of then' bread, and play with it; like the Indians, that have such store of gold and precious stones, that they truck them away for glasses and rattles. Perhaps the cold legs of custom will bring us to church, and we are content to hear the preacher taxing our frauds, usuries, oaths, oppressions. Maybe for some show of devotion, we will ask counsel at his lips; but say what he will, we will not part with our sins.

The princes of Israel came to Jeremiah, and entreat him to inquire of the Lord for them, Jer. xHi., promising that whatsoever direction the Lord should send they would obey. The prophet accordingly j^resents their supplication to God. God answers, ' You shall not go unto Egypt, lest you be destroyed : but abide still in Judah, and you shall be safe,' Jer. xliii, \Vhen they heard this oracle, because it was not to their humours, they replied, ' We will go into Egypt.' This was their purpose from the beginning, (though they dissembled a will to know God's mind,) which if God's command crosseth they will cross his command : they will go into Egypt. So people will be content to hear what God saith to them by his ministers ; but if he speak not what pleaseth them, they will foUow their own affections. We are such nice and froward pieces, that the more God woos us we are the further off. As it is with some shallow professor of music, saith the poet—

* Omnibus hoc vitium cantoribns, inter amicos, Ut nunquam inducant animum cantare rogati.' *

When they are most earnestly entreated, they make most dainty to sing or play. So the more the Lord calls for our praises, the more hoarse are our voices, the more harsh our notes; or perhaps we will not sing at all. But if God hath given us music, and we will not dance, as Christ reproved the Jews, we shall mourn in sadness for our obstinate refusal of proffered mirth. You have heard Herodotus's tale of the piper. He came to the water side, and piped to the fishes; they would not dance. He took his net, and caught some of them; and being thrown upon dry land, they began to leap and skip up. * Nay,' quoth the piper, ' I offered you music before, and you would none; now you shall dance without a pipe.' Men commonly regard the songs of Zion as they do music heard late at night in the streets, whiles they are in bed. Perhaps they will step to the window, and listen to it a while, and presently to bed again. So men step from the couch of their lusts and sins to church, hear the sermon, and then to bed again, lulling themselves in their former security.

There are some that care for hearing it no more, but sit down with a conceit of their own suflSciency. They know as much as all the preachers can tell them ; let the youth go to be catechised. So the sluggish and irreligious master sits at home, whiles he sends his servants to church. There is an old tale, idle in itself, the use may be good. A certain man that would never go to church, when he heard the saints'-bell would say to his wife, ' Go thou to church and pray for thee and me.' One night he dreamed that both he and his wife were dead, and that they knocked together at heaven-gate for entrance. St Peter (by the legend) is porter, and suffered the wife to enter in, but kept the husband out: answering him, Ilia intravit pro se et

* Hor., lib. i., sat. 3.

te, —' She is gone in botli for herself and thee.' As thy ^vife went to church for thee, so she must go to heaven for thee. The moral instructs every one to have a personality of faith, and a propriety of devotion; that himself serving God, himself may be blessed of God.

It now remains to examine more narrowly the nature of the sins these' nngodly hearts produce. They are called thorns and briers. Pliny saith that the thorn is more soft than a tree, and more hard than an herb 3* as if it were some unkindly thing, and but an unperfect excrement of the earth. For the philosopher saith, It is not the intent of kind that trees should be sharp with prickles and thorns , but he would have it caused by the insoli-dity and unfastness of the tree. By which means the cold humour is drawn out by the pores ere it be concocted : whereupon for scarcity of matter, it is hardened by the sun ; and so shaped and sharpened into a thorn.

But it is unquestionable truth, that God created the thorns and briers on the earth. Some think, because it is said, Gen. iii., in man's punishment, Maledicta esto terra propter te, —' Cursed be the earth for thy sake : thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee,' chap. iii. 18,—that therefore if mankind had not sinned, the ground should have produced no such thing. But the most received opinion, and consonant to truth, is, that these thorns and briers should have been though man had never fallen; but they should not have been noxious and hurtful to him. Now let us consider what resemblances may be found betwixt those natural and these allegorical thorns and briers :—

1. Where is abundance of thorns, there is most commonly a barren ground. For they hinder the happy influence of the heavens, the kindly heat of the sun, the dews of the clouds, and all those working causes of fertility. God pre-arms Ezekiel, that he should not wonder at the barrenness of Israel, ' for briers and thorns shall be with thee,' chap. ii. 6. Let no man marvel at our unprofitable times; we have too many briers and thorns among us, which do what they can to hinder the goodness of heaven to us, or our goodness to heaven. That which is sown nigh or among thorns, seldom prospers. Our Saviour saith, that the seed sown in some hearers brought forth no fruit; ' for the thorns choked it,' Matt. xiii. The very company of the wicked is hai-m-ful, for they are as thorns to stifle any goodness. ' The companion of fools shall be afflicted,' saith Solomon. He dwells among thorns, that shall wound him. To lay no more affliction upon him than Solomon there meant,—as appears by the opposite member of the verse,—he shall endure a privation of what good soever he had, and a position of their lewdness. A good man with ill company*is like a living man bound to a dead corpse, that will sooner suffocate hun, than he can revive that. The soul that lives among thorns shall hardly thrive. Therefore saith the Lord of the vineyard concerning the barren tree, ' Cut it doAvn, why troubles it the ground?' Luke xiii. 7.

2. Thorns and briers grow most commonly on heaps, and seldom are found single, or destitute of company of their own kind; and though they be troublesomely harmful to other trees, yet they fold and embrace one another v/ithout hurt. It is so usually seen, that wicked men hold together, and sins grow in united clusters. There is a combination of the ungodly, even so far as to the very participation of their estates: ' Cast in thy lot •with us; we will have all one purse,' Prov. i. 14. They are entangled in mutual amity, like beds of eels; nothing but thunder can break their knots. Is it much, saith Christ, that you purpose diligere diligentes, ' to love them

* Lib. xxi., cap. 1G.

that love you V Matt. v. 46. Why, briers and thorns do it; * even publicans do the same.' Yea, I would to God their unity did not shame ours. We see here, that one of the Papists' chief marks of their church is not infallible,—their consent or unity,—when briers and thorns have it. The Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians conspire against Christ; may be, they with the rest. Sins grow in heaps, like thorns in bushes : where are some, are many. The Apostle brings them in by couples and companies : ' Gluttony and drunkenness, chambering and wantonness, strife and envying,' Piom. xiii. 13. Methinks gluttony and drunkenness come in like an Englishman and a Dutchman; chambering and wantonness, like an Italian and a Venetian; strife and envy, like a Spaniard and a Frenchman. These sins being so national and natural to the countries : to over-drink in Germany; to overeat in England; to wantonise in Italy and Venice; to quarrel in France; and to be envious in Spain, envy being ever the bosom-companion of pride.

3. Thorns and briers, by reason of their thickness and sharpness, are refuges for serpents, snakes, adders, and such other venomous beasts. Where the ungodly have a strong part, oppression, rapine, robbery, murder, and all those fatal serpents, are fostered. God, when he told Ezekiel, chap, ii., that ' briers and thorns should be with him,' adds in the very next words, ' and thou shalt dwell among scorpions.' Therefore in Latin, ruhetum is a place, of briers and brambles, and rubeta is a toad, and that land-toad, the most venomous of the kind. It is dangerous sleeping near such places. He that lives among the wicked hath no need of security, but to have clear and cir-cimispect eyes; lest either the thorns prick him, or the serpents mider the thorns sting him. * Woe is me,' saith the Psalmist, ' that I must remain in jMeshech, and dwell in the tents of Kedar !'

4. Neither do the wicked, only with their thorns and briers, hinder others' passage, but even their own. No marvel if it be so difficult for an ungodly man to get to heaven ; for he hedgetli up his own way. Men multiply their transgressions to infinite, and cast up innumerable thorns; yet hope well to be saved. But in vain he purposeth to travel to Jerusalem, that hedgeth up his own passage. * Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward,' Prov. xxii. b; not of God's setting, but of their own planting. For (the next words testify) ' he that keepeth his soul shall be far from them.' There are hindrances enough to heaven, though the wicked make none themselves. The devil will look that the way shall not be easy. Neither hath God set salvation upon such terms, that we may play and get it: ' The kingdom of heaven is got by violence;' and they must strive, that will pass the narrow gate. Satan hath so many plots and tricks to deceive them, so many teu-tations and corruptions to oppose them, that they have no cause to fence up the way themselves, with a hedge of their own thorns. Heaven-gates will not fall down before men, as the iron gates of the city to Peter, of their own accord. Acts xii. 10. Nay, 'if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear ?' 1 Pet. iv. 18.

5. Sins are fitly compared to thorns and briers, for their wounding, pricking, and such harmful ofi'ences. Therefore they are called tribuli, d trihu-lando, from their vexing, oppression, and tribulation they give those that touch them. The wicked are such calthrops to the country, boring and bloodying her sides; either pricking the flesh, or tearing of the fleece : as briers and bushes that rob the sheep of their coats, which come to them for shelter. A great man wicked is like Abimelech, whom Jotham calls a bramble in his parable. The olive would not leave his fatness, nor the fig-tree bis sweetness, nor the vine his goodness, to be promoted over the trees.

But the aspiring bramble usurps it; and, as if lie were some great cedar, he calls the trees to ' trust under his shadow.' But when poor men come to this brarnble for refuge, here they lose a lock, and there a lock, till they are left naked; yea, the clothes arc not only rent from their backs, but, like the sons of Sceva exorcising the evil spirits, they depart not away naked only, but wounded, Acts xix. 16. Their garments satisfy not these briers, scarce their blood and lives.

These briers and thorns have such pricking and wounding effects in regard of three objects, whom they strike. For sins are like thorns—1. To men ; 2. To Christ; 3. To the own consciences of the committers.

First, to men. Pliny "' mentioneth three sort of briers :—

1. The moorish brier, that only grows in rank and fenny places, and is nourished with rotten mud, and such squalid putrefaction. There is a generation of men like these briers, given to drunkenness, whose affections are fed only with the moisture of the pot. They cannot live but in fenny and moorish places. PKny saith, that adders and toads love and eat the fruits of these briers; and it is the food of serpents. The effects of drunkenness (in like sort) are a condiment for the devil. Augustine somewhat near our purpose, when he compares drunken places to the fens; where are bred snakes and serpents, and such vile noxious things, which every year must be burned. It were a good turn, if these moorish brambles were stocked up by the roots. If you ask how you should rid them, I will not point you to the fen-men, who to make quick despatch of their annoyances, set fire on their fens; but I wUl give you another precedent. When a king asked how he might be rid of certain noisome fowls, which came abundantly flying into his land, one answered him, nidos eorum uhique destruendos, —that the only means was to destroy their nests in every place. So if you would be shut of these moorish briers, the course is to destroy their nests; their haunts and rendezvous, as they term them; the common quagmires of all filthiness. The alehouses are their nests and cages, where they exhaust and lavish out their goods, and lay plots and devices how to get more. Hence they fall either to robbing or cheating, open courses of violence or secret mischief, till at last the jail prepares them for the gibbet. For lightly they sing through a red lattice, before they cry through an iron grate. And when those briers are hampered, and put into prisons, it is said that those places teach them more villany than they knew before; that when a lewd fellow comes out of prison, he is furnished with such a pack of mischiefs, that he now sets up school, and teacheth others. It is wonderful, that places ordained for reformation should be instructions of worse lewdness. I speak not against mercy; but experience and truth witnesseth, that the mercy of some actions is cruelty. And the pity to a notorious malefactor argues us of a hard heart, and of unmercifulness to the commonwealth. The sparing of rapes, robberies, whoredoms, cheatings, frauds, unjust measures, false balances, occasioneth, yea, encourageth the Hke. If thou be a magistrate, deputed to judge it, and sparest a man that hath shed blood, the next blood he sheds thou art guilty of Thou consentest to the second robbery of a thief, that hast remitted him the first.

A father brings in a notorious malefactor arraigning f at the bar before the judge : when the mother comes, miseranda ululatione, with bitter weeping, desiring mercy for her son; the wife lachrymahili voce, with mournful speech, imploring mercy for her husband; the little children, ployantibus ocellis, with crying eyes, beseeching mercy for their father; the people wish-* Lib. sxi., cap. 16. -|- That is, being arraigned.— Ed.

ing he may be spared for the goodliness of his person. Yet saith the judge, Non misereor modo, —I pity, but must not spare. Pereat timts, potius qiiam nnitas, —Better one perish than all. Weed up the implacable thorns, for they \n\\ keep the ground barren. It hath been said, Bear one injury and provoke more; but here in case of justice, forgive one public injury,—I mean a fact of horrid nature, as I formerly taxed,—and you provoke and encourage many. The mariners would fain save Jonah; but when there is no remedy, they will rather lose one Jonah than aU themselves.

2. Pliny's next sort of briers are tnbidi agrestes, field-briers; which are, saith he, shrewd enemies to tillage, and the fruits of the earth. This island of ours, Avithin these late days, hath bred a great number of these field-briers ; which unnaturally turn their mother into barrenness. Oppressors, enclosers, depopulators, deportators, depravators; that run the land to ruin for a private benefit, and work out a particular gain from a public and general loss.

Gain, said I! Where is it 1 Did you ever know enclosers prosper ? I will speak boldly : I never knew great man grow greater by his depopulations ; and I hope no man will say he hath grown better by them. Cornfields are turned to sheep-walks, once-inhabited towns feed oxen, and churches are made shepherds' cottages; and yet the doers of all this never the richer. They keep less hospitality, for a few rooms in London serve their turns; they extort sorer rents, and yet they have never the more money. It cannot be denied but the main end of these courses was profit, and enhancing their estates; and lo, in this very end God crosseth them. Speak what you wiU of their pride, of turning the alms they should give to the poor into feasts for the rich, of their infrugal courses; I say confidently. Hie digitus Dei, —Here is the very hand of God striking them. Man, though he hath authority, will not look to these field-briers, but let them waste and forage, and play the Abiraelechs; but God will. But if ye do not look to it, let me say to you, as Jotham to the Shechemites, of that aspiring bramble, Judg. ix. 20, ' If fire come not out of Shechem to devour Abimelech, fire will come from Abimelech to devour Shechem.' If you undo not the oppressions of the field-briers, their oppressions will undo us aU.

3. There is the town-brier too, which groweth in our mounds and fences, and about the closing of towns. You in the city have no great plenty of these briers ; yet you are troubled (in a metaphorical sense) with town-briers and city-brambles, which would not a little vex you, if you were not those yourselves.

(1.) What say you to the usurer? Is he not a thorn amongst youl If you were not usurers yourselves, you would confess it. But they say, the most horrible usury in the world is here practised, to forty in the hundred; nay, to doubling of the principal in one year. A landed gentleman wants money : he .shall have it, but in commodities, which some compacted broker buys of him, for half the rate they cost him, in ready money. Are these Christians ? Dare they shew their faces in the temple ? But I know you have been often told of these things. In a word, even the gentlest usury is a most sharp thorn, and pricks the side of the country till the blood follows. A usurer Avith his money is like a man that hath no work of his oyra, yet keejis a servant to let out; and takes not only hire of others for his day's Labour; but chargeth him to steal .somewhat besides, and never to return home empty. You understand me ; I need not further apply it.

These are vile winding and wounding briers, that fetch away clothes, and

VOL. II. 2 H

skin, and flesh too. iNow the mercy of God rid us of these thorns; and let us know it is for our sins that God suffers usurers among us ! It maybe he permits them, as he did the Canaanites for a while in Israel, lest the wild beasts should break in upon them; lest pride, and haughtiness, and un-cleanness should spill men's souls by a full estate of wealth. God suffers usurers, like horse-leeches, to suck and soak them; thereby, possibly, to humble them. Yet in the meantime, I may say of them, as Joshua did of those Canaanites, that ' they are pricks in our sides, and thorns in om-eyes,' Josh, xxiii. 13.

(2.) What do you think of adultery ? Is it not a thorn ? Yes, a sharp thorn, wounding the purse, envenoming the body, condemning the soul. The ground that bears it is lust; the sap that feeds it is fulness of bread and idleness; the heat that makes it glow, grow, and shoot, is lewd and wanton speech, effeminate gestures; infamy is the bud, pollution the fruit, and the end hell-fire. And as Cajetan and Theophylact observe on 1 Thess. iv. 4, that the Apostle having bid men ' possess their vessel ia holiness,' he adds, 'and let no man go beyond or defraud his brother in any matter;' that this circumvention may be applied to adultery, when a man is deceived of his bosom-spouse, who is hired to the subornation of bastards. So that lightly, concupiscence and cozenage go together; as that wickedness, of aU others, never goes but by couples. For adulterers non possunt ire soli ad didbolum,'" —an adulterer cannot go alone to the devil.

(3.) Corrupt and conscienceless lawyers you will confess to be sharp and wounding brambles, and exceedingly hurtful. A poor client among them is as a bhnd sheep in a thicket of thorns ; there is no hope of his fleece, it is well if he carry away his flesh whole on his back. A motion this term, an order next; instantly aU crossed; scarcely the twentieth order sometime stands ; execution is suspended, a writ of error puts aU out of course. Oh the uncertain events of suits ! I hope, says the poor blood-drawn wretch, I shall have an end of my suit next term. Nay, nor the next term, nor the next year. Fool! thou art gotten into a suit of durance, almost an immortal suit. And when the upshot comes, perhaps the mispleading of a word shall forfeit all. It is a lamentable uncertainty, and one politic addition of fickleness to the goods of this world, that no man might set his heart upon them, that an estate bought, truly paid for, and inherited, should be gone upon a word, sometimes upon a syllable, upon a very bare letter, omitted or miswritten by the scrivener. These are scratching briers. If what is wanting in the goodness of the cause be supplied by the greatness of the fees, their tongues shall excuse their tongues for their contraconscient pleadings. The Itahans have a shrewd proverb against them : ' The devil makes his Christmas-pies of lawyers' tongues and clerks' fingers.' This proverb I leave with them, and come to their kinsmen:—

(4.) Corrupted officers, who are also sharp and sharking brambles. Their oflfice is a bush of thorns at their backs, and they all to rend the country with bribery and extortion. These men seek after authority and commanding places, not with any intent of good to the commonwealth, but to fill their own purses, to satisfy their own lusts; as some love to be poring in the fire, not that they care to mend it, biit only to warm their own fingers.

(5.) We have Papists among us; look to them, they are rankling thorns and rending briers. False Gibeonites they are; and howsoever they pretend their ' old shoes,' the antiquity of their church, we have ever found them thorns, ready to put out our eyes, and, if they could, the eye of the gospel.

* Jerom.

They exclaim against us for persecution, and cry themselves (louder than oyster-women in the streets) for patient Catholics, saints, martyrs. But match the peace they enjoy under us with the tyranny they exercised over us; the burning our fathers at stakes, the butchering our princes, their conspiracy against our whole realm, their continual bending their weapons against sovereigns' and subjects' throats, and you wUl say they are thorns. I have read of a bkd, that when men are devout at their sacrifice, takes fire from the altar and bums their houses. All their black treasons and bloody intendments they derive from the altar, and plead the warrant of religion to set our whole land in combustion. Oh that these brambles were stocked up ; that Ishmael were cast out of doors, that Sarah and her son Isaac might live in quiet!

(6.) There are furious malecontents among us, a contemptible generation of thorns, that, because their hands are pinioned, prick only with their tongues. They are ever whining, and upon the least cause filling the world with importunate complaints. These are savage and popular humours, that cannot suffer eminency to pass unreproached; but they must vellicate goodness and gird greatness, that neither the living can walk nor the dead sleep in quiet: aflfecters of innovation, that are ever finding fault with the present times; anything pleaseth them but what is. Eveii the best blessings of God scape not their censures, neither do they esteem by judgment or pronounce by reason; they find fault with things they know not wherefore, but because they do not like them. Beware these thorns ; they are like the wheels of some cunningly wrought fireworks, that fly out on all sides, and offering to singe others, burn themselves. Laiidant veteres, &c., as if no times were so miserable as ours. As if the civil wars of France, or the bloody Inquisition of Spain, or the Turkish cruelty in Natolia, where he breeds his soldiers; or at home, the time of the barons' war; or yet later, the persecution of a Bonner, were none of them so cruel as these days, when every man sits and sings under his own fig-tree. Sure if they had once tasted the bitterness of war, they would better esteem of their peace. These are pes-tUent thorns; nothing but fear keeps them from conspiracy. Nay, so they might set the whole land on fire, they would not grudge their own ashes.

(7.) There are briers, too, growing near the church; too near it. They have raised church Hvings to four and five years' purchase, and it is to be feared they will shortly rack up presentative livings to as high a rate as they did their impropriations, when they would sell them. For they say, few will give above sixteen years' purchase for an impropriate parsonage ; and I have heard some rate the donation of a benefice they must give at ten years, what with the present money they must have, and with reservation of tithes, and such unconscionable tricks; as if there was no God in heaven to see or punish it. Perhaps some wiU not take so much, but most will take some; enough to impoverish the church, to enrich then- own purses, to damn their souls.

One would think it was sacrilege enough to rob God of his main tithes; must they also nim away the shreds ? Must they needs shrink the whole cloth, enough to apparel the church, as the cheating taUor did, to a dozen of buttons ? Having full gorged themselves with the parsonages, must they pick the bones of the vicarages too 1 Well saith St Augustine, Multi in hac vita inanducant, quod jyostea apud inferos digei'unt, —^lany devour that m this life, which they shall digest in hell.

These are the church-briers, which, let alone, wiU at last bring as famous a church as any Christendom hath to beggary. Politic men begin apace

already to witliliold their children from schools and universities. Any profession else better likes them, as knowing they may live well in whatsoever calUng, save in the ministry. The time was, that Christ threw the buyers and sellers out of the temple, but now the buyers and sellers have thrown him out of the temple. Yea, they will throw the church out of the church, if they be not stayed. But some may say to me, as one advised Luther, when he began to preach against the Pope's usurpation and tyranny, ' You had as good hold your peace. This wickedness is so powerful, that you will never prevail against it. Get you to your study and say, " Lord, have mercy on us!" aijd procure yourself no ill-will.' But be it good-will, or be it ill-wUl, we come hither to speak the truth in our consciences. And if these church thorns wUl continue their wickedness, be it unto them as they have deserved. If they will needs go to hell, let them go ; we cannot help it, let them perish. I had purposed the discovery of more brambles, but the time forbids it. I would to God we were well freed from those I have taxed.

THE END OF THOENS.

But that which heareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. — Heb, VI. 8.

Our sins are thorns to others ; some wounding with their direct blows, others with their wipes, all with their examples, Man only hath not felt their blows; our Saviour also so found them, when he was fain for our sakes to set his naked breast, his naked heart, his naked soul, agaiiast them. They say the nightingale sleeps with her breast against a thorn to avoid the serpent. Christ was content to be wounded, even to death, with thorns, that he might deliver us from that devouring serpent, the great infernal dragon. His head was not only raked and harrowed with material thorns,— caput angelicis spirilihus tremebundinn, coronatur spinis,'" that head which the angelical spirits adore and tremble at, was crowned with thorns,—but these mystical thorns, our miquities, with fiercer blows drew blood of his soul. They do in a sort still. Heb. vi, 8, ' They crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open .shame,' Not in himself, for they cannot ; but con them no thanks, they would if they could r and to themselves they do it. Wretched men ! wiU you not yet let Jesus Christ alone, and be at rest ? Will you still offer violence to your blessed Saviour, and labour to pull him down from his throne to his cross, from his peaceful glory at the right hand of his Father to more sufferings? You condemn the merciless soldiers, that ' plaited a crown of thorns,' Matt, xxvii, 29, and put it on his innocent head. Sinful -wretch, condemn th3'self! Thy sms were those thorns, and far sharper. Thy oppressions, wrongings, and wringmgs of his poor brethren offer him the violence of new wounds; thy oaths, thy frauds, thy })ride scratch him like briers. Hear him complaining from heaven, ' Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me 1 ' These thorns grow on earth, yet they prick Jesus Christ in heaven. Oh, we little know the price of a sin, that thus play the executioners with the Lord of life ! Think, think ; Christ felt your sins as sharp thorns.

Lastly, you find them thorns yourselves, if Christ did not for you. When God shall enliven and make quick the sense of your numbed consciences, you shall confess your own .sins cruel thorns to your souls : 2 Cor. xii, 7, 'a thorn in your Hesh,' that shall buffet you with terror. For a whUe

* Bern.

men are insensible of their iniquities. Christ, Matt. xiii. 22, calls the riches of this world thorns, which choke the good seed of the gospel.

The common opinion of the world is, that they are goodly, fine, and smooth things : furs to keep them warm, oU to cheer their faces, and wine to their hearts; of a silken softness to their affections. But Christ saith, they are thorns, stinging and choking thorns. And the covetous conscience shall one day perceive in them triplicem 'punduram, a threefold pricking :* lahoris in acqiiisitione, —they are gotten with trouble; timorisin jiossessione, —they are kept with fear; doloris in amissione, —they are lost with grief

Men commonly deal with their sins as hedgers do when they go to plash thorn bushes ; they put on tining gloves, that the thorns may not prick them : so these harden their hearts, that their own thorns may give them no compunction. But all vanities are but like the fool's laughter, which Solomon compares to ' the cracklmg of thorns under a pot,' Eccles. vii. 6; they make a noise, and suddenly go out. But sin never parts with the wicked without leaving a sting behind it.

Luther saith,t there are two fiends that torment men in this world; and they are sin and a bad conscience. The latter follows the former; or, if you will, the former wounds the latter: for sin is the thorn, and the conscience the subject it strikes. This thorn often pricks deep, to the very heart. Acts ii. ; to the very bones, Ps. xxsviii. 3, ' There is no rest in my bones, because of my sin.' Vis minquam esse tristis- 'i hene vive. Nunqiuim securus est reus animus. X Wouldest thou never be sorrowful? Live well. A guilty mind cannot be securely quiet. An evil mind is haunted and vexed with the thorns of his own conscience. Sin to the affections, whilst it is doing, is oleum tmgens, supple oil. Sin to the conscience, when it is done, is tribulus inmgenSj a pricking thorn. What extreme contraries do often wicked conceits run into ! In their time of security they cannot be brought to think sin to be sin. At last desperately they think it such a sin that it cannot be forgiven. At first they are delighted with the sense and smell of their iniquity as of a sweet rose: but the rose of their delight withers, and there is a thorn under it that pricks the heart. Hereupon Solomon couples pleasant vanity and troublesome vexation together. If that tickles the flesh, this shall wound the spirit. You shall hear a usurer, in the madness of presumption, expostulating, ' What! may I not make benefit of my money ?' Observe him, and in the end you shall hear him, in the madness of despaii", cry out of his own damnation for it. At first they make question whether it be a sin; at last they know it such a sin that they make question whether God will forgive it. So men will look to sin either too superficially or too superstitiously. There was no danger, saith the drunkard, when he is asked how he escaped such a passage : bring him back in the sober morning to see, and he falls down dead in astonishment.

I need not further amphfy this point. Christ gives a y(B ridentihus ! — ' Woe to them that laugh, for they shall weep !' and every smile of sin shall be turned to a groan of sorrow. They that exhibit their lives as sacrifices risui et lubentice, shall one day feel pricks and goads and thorns scratching and piercing their hearts, when (like the stricken deer, with the arrow-head rankling in his side) they shall not be able to shift or change pains Avith places. Let this teach our souls two instructions ;—

1. That we labour our hearts betimes to a sensibleness of these thorns. A thorn swallowed into the flesh, if it be not looked to, rankles. Sin with-

* Lvidolph. f In Galat., cap. i., ver. 3.

X Isid., lib. ii. Soliloquiorum:—' Mens emm mala couscientia propriis agitatur stimulis.'

out repentance ■will fester in the soul, and is so much more perilous as it is less felt. Oh the number of thorns that lie in many consciences, who complain no more than if they ailed nothing ! The i)rick of a thorn is not so painful at first, while the blood is hot, as after a cold pause. Every man hath his complaints; and who liveth out of the reach of discontent ? You shall hear tradesmen complaining of few or false customers; labourers of little work and less wages. Beggars complain the want of charity, and rich men the want of money; merchants of rocks and pirates; lawyers of short fees, and clients of long suits. But no man complains of the thorns in his own bosom. He nourisheth briers there that wound him; and the heart is as dedolent* as if it were past feeling. But where there is no discovery of the disease, the recovery of the health is in vain looked for.

2. After sense of the smart, will follo^v a desire of remedy. The throbbmg conscience would be at ease, and freed from the thorn that vexeth it. David ' roars out for the very disquietness of his heart.' The aching heart will make a crying tongue, and wet eyes. Lo the mercy of God ! a remedy is not sooner desired than offered. The sacred gospel directs us to a medicine that shall supple the heart, and draw out these thorns, though they stuck as thick in it as ever the arrows did in Sebastian.

They speak of the herb dictamnum, called of some dittany, that it hath a secret virtue to draw out anything fastened in the body. Pliny saithf that this herb drunk, sagittas 2'>elUt. Experience teUeth that it is sovereign to exhale a thorn out of the flesh. Our only dictamimm is the precious blood of our merciful Saviour Jesus Christ. A plaster of that is truly virtual to draw out all thorns from our consciences. Saucia anima, wliich is nullis medicahilis herhis, is thus cured. Our sins drew blood of him, that his blood might save us. He was crowned with thorns, that we might not be kill ed with thorns. He was wounded for us, that we might not perish our-.selves.

Take we heed that we despise not this medicine. The law was so far from drawing out these thorns, that it would drive them in further, and cause them to rankle in the heart, without any hope of ease. It did but exasperate their stings, and give them a deeper continuance of pricking. The mollifying and healing gosj)el extracts their venom, and sucks out their poison. Let us not dare, then, to vilipend this cordial and sovereign medicine.

You perceive that our sins are thorns, and what is their only remedy. Know now, that if they be not drawn out in this world, they shall be found thorns hereafter, when the owners shall hear Christ's sentence : ' Go, ye cursed,' &c.; for ' the end of them is to be buxned.' So I come to the jmn-ishnient; but I vsdU soon have done with that, which shall never have done with those that must undergo it.

There is a threefold gradation in the penalty; rejection, malediction, combustion—' is rejected,' ' is nigh unto cursing,' ' and the end thereof is to be burned.' And it seems to have a relation to a threefold distinction of time : —1. For the present, 'it is rejected;' 2. For instance, or appropinquation, 4t is nigh unto cursing;' 3. For future certainty, 'the end of it is to be burned.' As men commonly deal with thorns : first, they cut them up with bills and mattocks; then they lay them by to wither; and, lastly, bum them in the furnace.

1. Rejection. This which we here translate 'is rejected,' is in the original, udoxi/jLog, which may signify reprohus, or reprohatrts, —so Beza hath it, —is repi-oved, or disallowed of God. This ground shall have no ground in * That is,, free fi-om pain.— Ed. t Lib. xxvi., caj). 14.

hecaven, no part in God's inheritance. It is reprobate silver, not current witli the Lord. No man desires to purchase land that \vUl bring forth nothing but weeds; 'he will not cast away his silver upon it. And shall God buy so base ground, that will be no better, at so inestimable a price as the incorruptible blood of his own Son ? It despiseth the Lord's goodness, and the Lord's goodness shall despise it. * It is rejected.' If any man saith, This is durus sermo, let him consider of whom the Apostle speaketh, ver. 4, against whom he concludes ab impossibili, —* It is impossible,' &c. A hard saying to understand, but more, most, hard to undergo. If God be driven to lose all his pains and cost upon an ungrateful heart, he will at last renounce it, and give it over as a desperate nature. As he in the comedy, Aheat, per eat, profundat, perdat. ' If it will be filthy, let it be filthy stiU..' If nothing will bring it to goodness, it shall ' be rejected.'

2. The second degree of the punishment is cursing; and this may seem to exceed the former. God's curse is a fearful thing. If you would view (though but in part) the latitude and extension of it, I refer you to Deut. xxviii. But I purpose not to be curiously punctual in the demonstration of these particular degrees of the punishment. That which I will observe is this: That God is more propense and inclined to blessing than to cursing, more prone to shew mercy than to inflict judgment. It is said in the former verse, * the good ground receives blessing of God'—receives it presently, receives it at once. But here of the evil ground, ' it is nigh unto cursing'— it is not presently cursed, but nigh unto it. There is some pause and delay, some lucida intervalla misericordice. The whole vial of wrath is not poured on at once; but first there is a despising or rejection, to let the wicked see how hateful their vices are in God's sight. If this serve not, they are not suddenly cursed; but there is a breathing time, and a merciful space between that and cursing, and between cursing and burning. So slowly doth God proceed to judgment, so little haste he makes to the execution of his vengeance. He is speedy to deliver, to save, to give his blessing ; but he hath leaden feet when he comes to strike.

The use of this to ourselves is, that the patient forbearance of God may lead us to repentance, Rom. ii. 4. The prophet Joel bids us ' rend our hearts,' and fall to weeping and mourning,' because the Lord is merciful and slow to anger,' chap. ii. 13. God's long-suffering is as a hand reached out tiiat points us to repentance. Such is his goodness, that when all his terrors and menaces are set in their places, yet he makes room for repentance, whensoever it comes. And though they be as ready to strike as Abraham's hand was to Isaac's sacrifice, yet repentance, tanquam vox angeli, shall stay them. O blessed repentance, how sweet and amiable art thou! Yet how few love thee !

The great man, that thinks he may securely be wicked, because he is honourably great, and dares affront the pulpit, though the greatest bishop in the land were preaching in it, cares not for repentiance. The wealthy gentleman that can bung up hospitality into a Diogenes's tub, nestle himself warm in a city chamber, whiles owls and daws parlour themselves in his country-manors,—that (as it is storied of that Jew for the use of his money) takes his rent in blood, the hear1>blood of his racked tenants,—cares not for repentance.

The country Nabal, that hoards his grain, and with it locks up his soul in a garner, that the sun of God's blessing may not come at it,—that starves the poor, his family, himself,—cares not for repentance. The avarous citizens, whom the tempter can never find without a false measure in one hand, and a cozening weight in the other,—that have tricks in their sconces to over-

reach the devil himself, but that (like a cunning fencer) he that taught tliem all their tricks kept one to himself, to cheat them of their souls,—care not for repentance. The muffled lawyer, that hath no sense left alive but his feeling, and weighs all causes by the poise of gold,—that talks against others' right and his own conscience, that leads jury into perjury with his fraudulent circumventions,—cares not for repentance.

The sharking officer, that (like Menelaus, an Armenian archer in the wars betwixt Constantius and Magnentius *) can shoot three arrows at once, at one loose, wherewith he wounds not one, but three at the least,—the prince whom he serves, the person whom he draws blood of, and the body of the commonwealth,—cares not for repentance.

I need not speak of the church-robber, the usurer, the drunkard, the proud, the unclean adulterer. No man can think that they care for repentance; Oh, but they all purpose to repent. Spare them a while; they are but new set mto the oven, not yet fully baked in their hot vanities 3 let them soak a little in their pleasures, and at last they will return : * They are as an oven heated by the baker,' Hos. vil 4. Repentance is an ascent of four steps; many get up three of them, but climb not to the fourth and best:—

(1.) Some there are that purpose to amend their lives. But purpose without performance is like a cloud without rain ; not unlike Hercules's club in the tragedy—of a great bulk, but the stuffing is moss and rubbish. If the tree be fairly blossomed, and naked of fruit, it may speed as the fig-tree in the gospel—be cursed; or at least, it is as the evil ground here, ' nigh unto cursing.' Many that purposed to repent are now in hell : as the five foolish virgins that intended to go in with the bridegroom, but before the time their lights dropped out.

One said, that hell is like to be full of good purposes, but heaven of good works. If a bare intention would serve, God's church on earth would be fuller of saints, and his court in heaven fuller of souls. Ignorance and sloth adulterating, bring forth this lank brood, this abortive embryon—purpose. Such a man is like an ill debtor, who will not pay God his due of devotion till he is old, and then he carmot pay, for want of time and money, space and grace to repent. We make, in these days, our purposes like our eves, and our performances like the holidays : servants work hard upon the eves, that they may have the more liberty to play upon the holidays; so we are earnest, and labour hard on our purposes, but are idle and play upon our performances. But resolution without action is a golden couch to a leaden jewel.

(2.) The second round of this ladder is preparation. Some there are that will prepare, and almost set themselves in a readiness for their journey to heaven, yet never set one step forward. Preparation is indeed as necessary as the door is to the house, but as idle, if there be no house to the door. It may, as John the Baptist did for Christ, ' prepare the way of the Lord' into our hearts; and it may be as vain as the apothecary's beast,t which ho promised his patient would help liim of all diseases, but before morning it had eaten up itself Preparation is a necessary antecedent to all great works: ' Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel,' Amos iv. 12. But a man may prepare meat, and not feed; prepare garments, and not wear them. Preparation does well, if reparation follows. A man may climb both these rounds, and yet fall short of the true height of repentance.

(3.) The thiid stair is a beginning to abstain from some horrid iniquities, and, as it were, an entering into a new path; but not going one step in it * Zosim., lib. ii. f Bestia Pharmacopolce.

without a, voluntary revolting. But beginning is nothing to perfection. Some begin in the Spirit, and end in the flesh: that salute Christ in the market-place, take acquaintance of him in the street, but never bid him home to their houses. It is vox prcetereuntium derisoria, —the speech of them that pass by: ' This man began to buUd.' A house but begun is not fit to dwell in ; and shall we think that God's Spirit will dwell in an inchoate habitacle, and not likely to be finished? The Apostle saith, 'It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered m\to them,' 2 Pet. ii. 21.

(4.) The fourth round only pleaseth God, and is good for our souls—repentance ; without which the evU ground is near to cursing, as it were at next door by, and it shall come on him with a speedy visitation, nisi inter-veniente ^^oeiiitentia. This is the bulwark to defend us from the shot of God's thunder from heaven; this hedgeth us in from his judgments on earth. Woe to sinful man without this ! for he is near to cursing, and ' his end is to be burned.' Blessed soul that hath it! Wheresoever it dwells, mercy dwells by it. If England hath it, it shall ease her of her thorns : ' There shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of nil that are round about them,' Ezek. xxviii. 24.

3. The last and sorest degree of the jjunishment is burning. I will not discourse whether the fire of that everlastingly hot furnace be material or spiritual. Surely it is strangely terrible; and we are blessed if we neither understand it nor undergo it. The misery of the damne^ is usually distinguished into the pain of loss and the pain of sense; both implied in this verse, and expressed 2 Thess. i. 8, 9: Christ shall ' take vengeance on such as know not God, and obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ;' there is pain of sense. ' They shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;' there is pain of loss.

(1.) This poena damni, or privation of blessedness, may seem to be implied in the first degree here mentioned—rejection. The reprobate are cast away of God. Much like that form of the last sentence, Matt. sxv. 41, 'Depart from me, ye cursed;' a fearful sentence, a tenible separation. ' From me,' saith Christ, that made myself man for your sakes, that offered my blood for your redemption, and received these and these wounds for your remedy. ' From me,' that would have healed, would have helped, would have saved you. ' From me,' that invited you to mercy, and you would not accept it. ' From me,' that purchased a kingdom of glory for such as believed on me, and will honour their heads with cro^mis of eternal joy. ' Depart from me.' This is a fearful rejection. My friendship, my fellowship, my paradise, my presence, my heaven, 'where is fulness of joy, and pleasure for evermore,' Ps. xvi. 11, are none of yours. They might have been; they are lost. Neither shall they only lose Christ, but all the company with Christ: the choir of glorious angels, the society of his blessed mother, the prophets, apostles, martyrs, aU the happy and holy saints, with the whole host of heaven. They shall fret, and vex, and be ready to eat their own gaUs, to see those triumphing in glory whom they on earth persecuted, martyred, tortured. They could here exercise their savage tyranny over them, not only denying their own bread, but taking away theirs; they could de-.spise, beat, malign, undo, burn them at stakes. Now the estate of both is changed; as Abraham told Dives, ' They are comforted, and thou art tormented,' Luke xvi. 25.

(2.) This is not all. The privation of blessed joys is not enough : there must follow the position of cursed torments. For their punishment is proportioned to their sin : ' They have committed two evils ; they have for.saken the Lord, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water,' Jer. ii. 13. As they turned from their ]\laker, so their Maker turns from them: there is pcena damni. As they fastened their deUghts on the creatures, so the creatures shall be their tortures: there is j)(£na sensus. They rejected God, and he rejects them; they adhered to wickedness, and it shall adhere to their bones for ever, and bring them to burning.

Their torments, which arc here expressed by fire, have two fearful conditions—universality and eternity.

(1.) They are universal, vexing every part of the body and power of the soul. It is terrible in this life to be pained in every part of the body at one time. To have ache in the teeth, gout in the feet, colic in the rems, kc, and to lie (as it were) upon a rack, for innumerable diseases, like so many executioners, to torture him, is intolerable. But the largest shadow of these torments to their substance is not so much as a little bonfire to the combustion of the whole world.

(2.) They are eternal. If it had but as many ages to burn as there be trees standing on the earth, there would be some, though a tedious hope of their end. But it is such a fire as shall never be quenched. This word never is fearful. Though they rain floods of tears upon it, they shall be but like oil to increase the flame ; for ' the worm never dies, the fire never goes out.' You see the end of thorns. ' Wickedness burneth as the fire ; it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickest of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke,' Isa. ix. 18.

I resolved against prolixity. The general and summary doctrine is this : That since the wicked ground, which ' beareth thorns and briers, is near unto cursing, and the end thereof is eternal fire,' it follows necessarily, that aU they which lay the foundation of ungodliness must needs build upon condemnation : ' Let no man deceive you : he that committeth sin is of the devil,' 1 John iii. 8. If the course of a man's life be wicked, covetous, unclean, malicious, idolatrous, adulterous, drunken, he lays the groundwork of his own destruction; and precipitates himself to the malediction of God. He that lays the foundation in firework, must look to be blown up. Perhaps this meditation, though it be of unquenchable fire, may yet work coldly in our hearts, and leave no impression behind it; yet you cannot deny this to be trae. He that would deny it, must deny my text, must turn atheist, and reject the holy word of God. Nay, he must think there is no God, no revenge of wickedness, no devil, no hell. And he undertakes a very hard task, that goes about to settle this persuasion in his mind. No, no : ' Let no man deceive you with vain words; for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience,' Eph. v. 6. And in this passage I must value all men alike, of what stuff or of what fashion soever his coat be ; if his life be full of briers and thorns, his end is to be burned. * What shall we then do unto thee, O thou Preserver of men,' that we may escape it ? What, but * repent, and believe the gospel!' .Mark i. 15.

Let the commination of hell instmct us to prevent it, as the message of Nineveh's overthrow effected their safety. 1. Let us flee by a true faith into the arms of our Pvcdeemer, that God reject us not. 2. Let us pour forth floods of repentant tears, that we be not nigh unto cursing. 3. And let us

bring fortli no more briers and thorns, that our end may not be to be burned. Faith, repentance, obedience; this same golden rule of three will teach us to ■work up our own salvation. This done, we shall not be rejected, but known to be elected ; we shall be so far from cursing, that we shall presently receive the blessing; and our end shall be, not fire, but glory and peace. ' Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace,' Ps. xxxvii. 37.

THE HAPPINESS OF THE CHUECH.

But ye are come unto Mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable compaiiy of angels, to the general assembly and ch^trch of the frst-born, luhich are written in heaven, and to-God the judge of all, and to the spirits of Just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. — Heb. XII. 22-24.

They that make comparisons, alteram deprimunt, ut res alterius emineant, — debase the one part, that they may advance the honour of the other. Our apostle abates the glory of the law, that he may give more glory (where it is more deserved) to the gospel. ' For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory,' 2 Cor. iii. 9. The sum of the comparison is spent in these three generals :— 1. There were omnia terrena et externa, all things outward and savouring of earth : ver. 18, * a mount that might still be touched,' &c. Here, all interna et coelestia, spiritual and heavenly. 2. There are all ohscura et caliginosa, dark and difficult: ' blackness and darkness,' &c. Here, all clara et illustria, clear and conspicuous; therefore the prophet called Christ Solem justitice, * The Sun of righteousness,' Mai. iv. 2; and John Baptist styled him * That Light, which lightens every one coming into the VForld,' John i. 8. 3. There, all were terribilia, fearful and amazing : not only to the people, ver. 19, who 'entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more;' but even to Moses : ver. 21, ' So terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake,' Here, all amaUlia et Iceta, lovely as Rachel, delightful as music: the gospel is called ' the message of peace.' Our apostle therefore preacheth a double quantity in the gospel: magnitudinem glorice, mtdiltudinemgratiw, —the greatness of gloiy, to work in us reverence; the multitude of grace, to work in us love and obedience. ' The law was given by ISIoses, but grace and truth came by-Christ Jesus,' John L 17. The excellency of Christ above ]\Ioscs is exemplified in the third chapter of this epistle : * ISIoses verily was faithful in all God's house as a servant; but Christ as a Son over his own house,' &c., Heb. iii. G.

To the words: the parts are generally two—the access, and the object. First, for the access, ' Ye are come.' What! on your own feet, without a

guide? No : Accessistis, hoc est, fide evcmgelica jjerducti estis* —Ye are come, that is, ye are brought by the faith of the gospel. There is one that brings you—God: every person in the blessed Trinity. It is ojms Patris, ' No man can come except the Father draw him,' John vi. 44; ojms Filii, ' Draw me, we will run after thee,' Cant. i. 4; 02ms S'piritus Sancii,' Let thy good Spirit lead me into the land of righteousness,' Ps. cxliii. 10. Man is by natitre in Zedekiah's case, 'blind and lame,' 2 Kings xxv. 7. Blind : Non invenisset viam, nisi via invenisset eum, —Unless the way had found him, he could never have found the way. Lame : he may know that the temple of heaven hath a * Beaixtiful gate,' grace; but cannot come thither till God brings him, loosen his stupified joints, and put into his hand the alms of mercy. This done, he may ' enter into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God,' Acts iii. 2, &c.

Thus first he gives the soul eyes, understanding; then feet, gracious affections; and now expects that he should come. God hath not so done all for thee, that thou shouldst do nothing for thyself. A Deo sine te factus, a te sine Deo infectus : a Christo sine te refectus, non a te sine Christo, nee ^ Christo sine te perfectus, —God did create thee without thyself, thou didst lose thyself without God : without thyself Christ did redeem thee; but neither thyself without Christ, nor Christ without thyself, shall perfect thee. Potest Dominus inveniri, adveniri, non prceveni)'i,f —There may be a finding of God, a coming to God, but no preventing of God. Have faith : ' He that cometh to God must believe,' Heb. xi. 6; and that of thine own, for there is no coming on another's foot. Thus that we might come to Christ, Christ came to us. JVon de coelo merita nostra, sed 2:>eccata traxerunt, —Not our merits, but our maladies, drew that great Physician from heaven to us.

' Ye are,' not coming, but' come;' it is rather a time perfectly past, than expectantly future. Which plainly demonstrates that this is a clescription of the church in her militant estate, so well as triumphant. Indeed either hath a relation to other, a communion with other; and the inestimable privileges of them both are wrapped up together. The connexion of glory to grace is so infallible, that they often change names : heaven is called the kingdom of holiness, and holiness is called the kingdom of heaven. ' Ye are saved by hope,' Rom. viii. 24; and, ' He that believeth hath everlasting life, and is passed from death to life,' John v. 24; so sure, as if they were already in heaven. So Paul, ' Our conversation is in heaven, from whence we look for our Saviour, Jesus Christ,' Phil. iii. 20.

The object or place of our arrival is described by many excellent and honourable titles. First, it is called a ' mount:' but is there so much happiness in that ? Ferinnt sicmmos fidgura tnonfes, —The highest mountains are most dangered to the violences of heaven, ver. 18. There was a 'mount burning with fire.' This is no mountain of danger or terror, but Zion : safe, pleasant, delightful Zion; the 'joy of the whole earth,' the beloved of God : the John that leaned on the bosom of Christ. ' The Lord loves the gates of Zion better than all the dwellings of Jacob,' Ps. Ixxxvii 2. But though a mount, though Mount Zion, yet it might be a solitary and unfrequented hill: like that whereunto the devil took Christ, and shewed him the kingdoms of the world, Llatt. iv. 8; where a man can only see glory, not enjoy it. Or like that mount Nebo, or top of Pisgah, whereon Moses might only stand, and behold the land of Canaan, Deut. xxxiv. 4.

Not so; but on this mount there stands a ' city,' a populous city, and full of buildings; like that wherein Christ says ' there are many mansions,' John * Parreus. t Bern.

xiv. 2. But now whose city is this 1 For it may be some poor decayed thing, that hath only some ruins of remaining monuments. No; it is ' the city of God/ They are superlative things that have attributed to them the name of God. Saul's sleep was called sopor Domini, —a slee]^ of God. Ka-chel said, 'With great wrestlings have I wrestled,' Gen. xxx. 8: Hebr., * the wrestlings of God.' ' Thy righteousness is like the great mountains,' Ps. xxxvi. G : Hcbr. ' the mountains of God.' Nineveh was an ' exceeding great city,' Jonah iii. 3 : Hebr. ' a city of God.' This Hebrew dialect our apostle follows to the Hebrews, and calls this excellent city the city of God. Not that it is only God's by way of ascription, but even by foundation and everlasting possession; but to vindicate it from any obscureness, it is the city of God. But there were many conceited gods; it may be this belonged to some idol, as Peor did to Baal, and Ekron to Baal-zebub. No, these were all dead gods; this is * the living God.' The Psalmist calls them mortuos : * They did eat the sacrifices of the dead,' Ps. cvi. 28; but this God is called vivens, ' the living,' Heb. ix. 24 ; and Betts viventium, ' the God of the living,' Matt. xxii. 32. Well, yet what is the name of this city ? Is it a city, a city on a mount, a city of God, and doth it want a name 1 Not a great man, but if he build a fair house, he will give it some name; perhaps 'call it after his own name,' Ps. xlix. 11. The name is 'Jerusalem,' famous, blessed Jerusalem ; a city of peace. But there was a Jerusalem on earth, whereof we may only say, Fuit, —It was. That was fulfilled on it which Christ foretold against it, ' There shall not be left one stone upon another,' Matt. xxiv. 2. But this city is built with no other stones than jaspers, sapphires, emeralds, and amethysts, Eev. xxi. 19. It is here distinguished from that terrene by the name of ' heavenly;' above the wheel of changeable mortality, it is not subject to mutation. ' The celestial Jerusalem.'

But yet, though it be a city on a mount, though Jerusalem, though heavenly, yet the imperfection''^ of all may be impaired through the want, either of inhabitants, or of good inhabitants. There be cities eminent for situation, glorious for budding, commodious for traffic, yet have all these benefits poisoned by evil citizens. When Alcibiades would sell a house, among other conveniences for which he praised it, he especially commends it for this, that it hath a good neighboui". Who be the neighbours in this city ? ' Angels;' glorious and excellent creatures, the great King's courtiers; here our guardians, there our companions. Yes, you will say, one or two angels: yea, a company; not like David's at Adidlam, nor Absalom's in Hebron, but ' iimimierable, myriads of angels.'

Are there none in tliis city but angels 1 What habitation is there then for men 1 Yes, yes, there is an assembly of men ; not some particular synod, nor provincial convocation, nor national council, but a ' general assembly.' Wliat do you call it ? ' The church.' Of whom consists it 1 Ex 2^rimo-genitis, —' Of the first-born.' But then it may seem tLit younger brothers are excluded. No, the first-born of the world may be a younger brother in Christ, and the first-born in Christ may be a younger brother in the world. Be they younger or elder, all that ' are written in heaven,' if their names be in the book of life, their souls arc in the bundle of life ; all they, and none but they. ' There shall enter into it no unclean thing, but only they which are written in the Lamb's book of life,' Rev. xxi. 27.

But now is it a city so pleasant, and peopled with such inhabitants, and hath it no governors ? Yes; ' God,' judex imiversorum, ' the judge of all.' But here is more matter of fear than comfort: we may quickly offend this judge, * (lu., 'perfection'?— Ed.

and so be quite cast out of this city. The very name of a judge implies terror. No, for it is the part of a just judge, parcere suhjectis, et dehellare supei-hos, —to punish obstinate rebels, and to protect peaceable and obedient subjects.

Somewhat was said of adopted citizens, such as were strangers bom, and by grace naturalised. What manner of creatures are they that God hath admitted to dwell there 1 ' Spiiits.' Why, devils are spirits. No, spirits ' of men.' But many men have wicked spirits, and shall such dwell there 1 No,

* the spirits of just men.' Why, Solon, Aristides, Phocion, Scipio, were just men. They were morally just, but not truly justified, not 'perfect.' These are 'just spirits made perfect.'

How came they to be thus perfect ? By Jesus, ' who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification,' Rom. iv, 25. What is this Jesus 1 ' A mediator.' Man was guilty, God was angry. How should they be reconciled ? A mediator must do it. For tliis purpose, apparuit -mte)^ mortales peccatores, et immortalem justum, mortalis cum hominibus, Justus cum Deo, —he appeared between mortal sinners and the immortal Judge; mortal with men, just with God: so was a perfect mediator. Whereof ? Novi foederis, —* Of the new covenant.' The old was forfeited; a new one comes by him that renews all. Not, * Do this and live;' but, ' Believe on him that hath done it for thee, and live for ever,' John iii. 16. How is this covenant confirmed 1 It is sealed with blood. How is this blood appKed ? A spergendo,

* by sprinkling :' as the door-posts sprinkled with the blood of the paschal lamb caused the destroying angel to pass over the Israelites, so the aspersion of this immaculate Lamb's blood upon the conscience shall free us from the eternal vengeance. But what is the virtue of this blood ? ' It speaketh better things than that of Abel.' That blood cried for vengeance; this cries for forgiveness. The voice of that was, ' Lord, see and judge;' the voice of this is, ' Father, forgive them; they know not what they do.'

Thus briefly have I paraphrased the text. Now, for method's sake, in the tractation we may consider generally these five points :—I. There is a city, Jerusalem; ' the city of the living God.' II. The situation whereon it is built; 'Mount Zion.' III. The citizens, who are angels and men;' an innumerable company of angels, and spirits of just men.' IV. The King that governs it; ' God, the judge of all.' V. The purchaser that bought it, and gave it us; ' Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant.' But now the situation hath the first place in the words, therefore chaUengeth the same in my discourse. And indeed on good cause should the foundation go before the building : we first seek out a fit ground, and then proceed to edify on it.

I. Mount Zion. Not Kterally that Mount Zion whereon Solomon buUt the temple and David his palace. That local Zion became like Shiloh : first, exceedingly and superlatively ' loved,' Ps. Ixxxvii. 2 ; afterward ' abhorred and forsaken, like the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent that he pitched among men,' Ps. Ixxviii. GO. This was threatened to that sacred place as a just punishment of their rebellious profaneness: ' Therefore will I do unto this house that is called by my name as I have done to Shiloh.' It lies in the power of sin to make the most blessed places accursed: ' God turns a fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of the inhabitants that dweU therein,' Ps. cvii. 34. Civitatis eversio morum non mxirorum casus, —The ruin of a city is not the breach of the walls, but the apostasy of manners. Were our fences stronger than the sevenfold walls of Babylon, the sins within would hurl down the bulwarks without. If there be pravilegvum among ns, there is no privilegium for us.

This Zion, then, stands not on earthly foundations; for at the general dissolution, ' the earth, with all the works in it,' cities, castles, towns, towers,

* shall be burnt up,' 2 Pet. iii. 10. If it were built on a ' sandy foundation,' when * the rain, the floods, and winds shall conspire agamst it, it would fall, and the fall of it would be great,' Matt. vii. 27. But Zion is built on Christ:

* Behold, I lay in Zion a chief conaer-stone, elect and precious : he that believeth on him shall not be confounded,' 1 Pet. ii. 6. This is conspicuous by the antithesis of Mount Zion with the gospel to Mount Sinai with the law. The apostle calls that montevi ■^r}M;pc>}iJ.ivo<j, a mount that might be touched-If this had been upon earth, it had also been contrectabilis, touchable; but it is only spiritual. He alludes to God's prophecies and promises, evan-gelhim proditurtim de Monte Sion, —that the gospel should come out of Mount Zion. This is manifest to those that will consider and confer these places, Obad. ver. 21, Isa. ii. 3, Mic. iv. 2, ' Come, let us go up to the mount of the Lord, for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of God from Jerusalem;' Isa. lix. 20, with Kom. xi. 26, 'There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.' Sinai gave thraldom by IMoses; Zion gives freedom and salvation by Jesus.

These two words give us two comforts of grace. Fortitudinem quia mons ; heatitudinem quia Mons Sion, —Security, because it is a mountain; felicity, because it is Mount Zion.

1. Here is considerable the validity and strength of grace that comes by Christ: we are not built in a valley, but on a mount. A mountain hath ever been held the place of safety: ' I said in my prosperity, I shall never be moved,' Ps. xxx. 6. What is his reason 1 ' Lord, thou of thy favour hast made my mountain so strong.' But, alas! what are all the mountains of the earth to Mount Zion ? ' Woe to them that trust in the mountains of Samaria !' Amos vi. 1. The profane Edomite stands on his mountain, Isa. xxi. 11, and derides the judgment of God. The Syrians thought God only Deum montium, ' a God of the mountains,' 1 Kings xx. 23. It was 'upon the high mountain that Israel played the harlot,' Jer. iii. 6. Many sit on their mountains and give defiance to beaven. The covetous man's mountain is his riches; there he thinks himself safe: ' Soul, rest; thou hast goods laid up for many years,' Luke xii. 19. The ambitious man's mountain is his honour, and who dares find fault with so promontorious a celsitude 1 Yes: ' Every mountain shall be brought low,' Isa. xl. 4. Sensuality is the voluptuous man's mountain ; there he refugeth himself against all reproofs. But when the judgments of God shall come upon the earth, they shall cry ' to the mountains. Fall on us; and to the hills. Cover us,' Luke xxiii. 30. As neither against the waters in the former deluge, so not against the fire in the latter dissolution, shall the mountains defend; only this Mount Zion shall save us.

The mountain of worldly confidence hath not more strength of defending against the assaults of men than danger of exposition to the violences of heaven. Here is the difference betwixt the worldling's building and the Christian's:—

(1.) They think themselves only to buUd high, aspiring to an cquaKty with mountains; and us low builders, poor, dejected, and rejected creatures. But, indeed, they buUd low, for all sublunary things are low buildings. Only he that builds on this !Mount Zion builds high and sure: when all oppositions and adversary forces have done their worst, he stands firm ' like Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth fast for ever,' Ps. cxxv. L VOL. II, 2 I

The wise man's mind is ever above the moon;* yea, above the sun. What turbulencies soever be in the world, all is peace there. ' In my Father's house there are many mansions,' John xiv. 2. In domo ; it is a house, not a tabernacle. ' Of my Father;' for if he hath afforded such a ]iouse for his enemies, how glorious is that he hath reserved for himself and his friends ! Fatris mei, saith Christ, ' My Father.' Your father is able to give you a cottage for your short life; My Father gives a house for ever. There are mansions, a manendo; not movable tents, but mansions. 'Many,' enow for aU; none shall be troubled for want of elbow-room. Therefore let aU mountains stoop to this. ' The mountain of the Lord shall be established in the top of mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it,' Isa. ii. 2. This is God's mountain, who hath chosen of all nations, Israel ; of all tribes, Judah; of all cities, Jerusalem; of all temples, that of Solomon; of all mountains. Mount Zion.

(2.) The worldlings think this mountain is but a dream, because they cannot see it nor touch it. But our Apostle says it is intrectabilis, it cannot be touched with earthly fingers; no profane feet must tread in those holy courts. Natural men's- understandings are led by their senses; jilus ocido quam oracido, —they will believe no further than they see. Give me good cheer, says the epicure ; this I can see and taste; and tell not me of your spiritual banquet in heaven. Give me good liquor, says the drunkard, the blood of the gxape : this gives colorem, saporem, odorem, —colour to the eye, savour to the palate, odour to the scent: heaven hath no nectar like this. Give me honour, saith the ambitious, which may advance me : that from this mountain of preferment I may overlook the inferior world, and behold vassals prostrate to my celsitude; this I can feel and see: tell not me of your invisible kingdom, and ' such honour have all his saints,' Ps. cxlix. 9. Give me gorgeous apparel, says the proud ; this wiU make me admired, and give me admission among the great ones: teU not me of your ' robe of glory.' Give me gold, says the covetous; this I can see; it is my sun by day, and my moon by night. I can spend my time delightfully in telling, feeling, treasuring this : never tell me of your ' treasure in heaven.' Well, if there be no remedy, but sense must be your religion, and this world your God ; take your choice, these gross and palpable things, trust you in these mountains : but. Lord, give us this Mount Zion, which our Lord Jesus Christ hath established for us !

Now, sith we are built upon a mountain, let us know that we are conspicuous ; all the world takes notice of us. The faithful are not ordained to live in corners unobserved, but are set on a mountain as examples of goodness to aU : * A city that is set on a hiU cannot be hid,' Matt. v. 14. God meant you notable; take heed you become not notorious. As Mount Ziou is * the joy of the whole earth,' Ps. xlviii. 2; so it is the light of the whole earth. If that light become darkness, how gi-eat, and how greatly to be condemned, is that darkness! This was that great exception God took against Israel, that 'through them his name,' which should have been honoured, 'was blasphemed among the Gentiles,' Eom. ii. 24. You are founded on a mountain; therefore ' have your conversation honest among men, that by your good works which they behold, they may glorify God in the day of visitation,' 1 Pet. iL 12.

2. The felicity that comes by Christ, insinuated by Zion, which was a place of blessedness. This is either prcemissa or promissa, —already sent into our hearts, or certainly objected by promise to our faiths. It is eitlier

* Sen.

assumed or assured. In re or in spe, — either that we have, or that wc shall have. The happiness we have already by this Mount Ziou consists in three privileges—the favour of God, joy of the Holy Ghost, and peace of conscience.

(1.) In the favour of God; which is to Zion as the light was once to Goshen, Exod x. 23 : shining there, and nowhere else. Or as to Gideon, the fleece on the mountain is wet with the dew of heaven, when all the earth is dry besides, Judges vi. 37. This is lux vulins tui, ' the light of thy countenance,' Ps. iv. 6, which •' puts more gladness into our hearts' than the abundance of earthly fruits rejoice the covetous. The wicked shall never see it, unless so much as may increase their anguish, when they must depart from it for ever.

(2.) Inthejoy of the Spirit; which is hilaris cumpondere virtus, —a gladness that can neither be suppressed nor expressed. Sentire est cordis, dicere non est oris, —The heart doth feel it, the tongue cannot tell it. It is that ' stone vrith the new name written in it, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it,' Rev. ii. 17. There is much rejoicing in the world, but the matter of it is mutable. These lower delights are more sensitive, but more fluid. They sooner cloy us; magna foelicitas est a felicitate non vinci,^' —it is a great happiness not to be overcome of happiness. Corporal delights work in us a great hunger till they are attained. But spiritual, cum non habeniur sunt in fastidio: cum hahentur, in desiderio,\ —whiles we have them not, we care not for them; but when we have them, we more eagerly desire them. There is no hunger of it tiU we taste it. In illis appetitus generat saturitatem, saturitas fasiidum ; hi istis appetitus parit fruitionem, fruitio parit appetitum, —In carnal pleasures, appetite begets fulness, fulness loatliing; in spiritual, desire prepares fruition, fruition begets desiring. Voluptuous pleasure is like a blister, it begins first with an itching, but at last it swells and breaks forth in anguish and putrid corruption. There are two observations able to keep us from over-affecting the joys of this world, and from vilipending the joys of Zion :—

Obs. 1.—First, resolve eveiy carnal delight into the first matter and principle of it, and there will be more lilvclihood of despising than danger of much desiring. The covetous makes ' gold his hope,' and says to the wedge, * Thou art my confidence,' Job xxxi. 24; and what are those precious metals he so worshippeth, but veins of the earth better coloured ? The ambitious builder, that erects a Babel for the honour of his own majesty, Dan. iv. 30, thinks all eyes stand amazed at his magnificence. And what are those sumptuous monuments wherein he so glorieth, but monumental witnesses of his folly, a little hewn timber, some burnt and hardened earth ? The adulterer admires the beauty of his harlot, kneels to a pledge of her memoiy, by wanton sonnets idolises her, turns his soul to an elephant, and worships this sun. Now, what is that stately building of a human lump but the same earth his foot treads upon, better tempered; because painted, worse ; and when it wants the guest, the soul that quickens it, worst of all 1 The proud dotes on his costly robes, centres his eye upon himself, as if no second object was worth looking on; the tailor's hand hath made him a man, and his purse makes the tailor a gentleman. And what are those curious rags but such as are given of worms, and consumed of moths ? Consider the materials of your lower joys, and if you will persist in their dotage, you shall do it without our envy.

Obs, 2.—Obsen'c tlieir conclusion ; look from their beginning to their end. * ScD. t Greg.

Delectatio vulnerat, et transit; infoelicem reddidit, et reliquit* —Pleasure, like an Irishman, wounds \ntli a dart, and is suddenly gone; it makes a man miserable, and so leaves him. Mors in olla ; behold laughter concluded in tears. The iwotasis delights, the ajwdosis wounds. The conscience receives a long vexation for a transient delectation; for an unpcrfect content, perfect torment. This is a hard pennyworth; so little pleasure for so much repentance. He that for a little joy gives that Christ bought with so much pain, stultum Christum reputat mercatorem,\ —thinks Christ a foolish buyer; but the event proves him a foolish seller. Esau bitterly repented this bargain.

This for the world : but now the joys of Mount Zion are, for matter, spiritual; for substance, real; for use, universal; for continuance, eternal.

(3.) In the peace of conscience. There is little outward peace ui the world; we have either an Esau with his hand, or an Ishmael with his tongue, bent against us. ' As then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now,' Gal. iv. 29. So it is, and so it will be to the end of the world. This is the difference betwixt Mount Zion militant, and Mount Zion triumphant. In heaven are all comforts Avithout any crosses; in hell are all crosses without any comforts; on earth comforts and crosses, joy and grief, peace and trouble, misery and mercy, are blended together. We may say of a Christian, as Lormus the Jesuit -writes of an archbishop of Toledo, who weighing the much-disputed controversy, whether Solomon was saved or damned, and not being satisfied with the arguments of either side, caused Solomon to be painted on the walls of his chapel half in heaven and half in hell. So the Christian, in respect of his outward calamities, seems to be half in hell; but in respect of his inward comforts, he is the better half in heaven. Howsoever, ' being justified by faith, we have peace with God,' Kom. v. 1. And wheresoever we are dispersed, or howsoever distressed, ' the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,' and surpasseth all commending, ' preserveth our hearts in Jesus Christ evermore.'

But all this in 2}OSsesso, we have already; there is something more in pro-misso, wMch we shall have. ' We are now the sons of God, but it appears not yet what we shall be,' 1 John iii. 2. Hast thou here much peace 1 There is more : here we have desidermm 2)acis, there pacem desiderii, —here a desire of peace, there the peace of our desires. Hast thou here some joy ? There is more : now joy mth sorrow, chequer-work, white and black; roses, but thorns with them : then joy with safety, safety with eternity; such joy as ' shall never be taken from us,' John xvi. 22. There rex vetitas, lex charitas, pax foelicitas, vita ceternitas-X If one day in lower Zion be better than a thousand days in the tents of wickedness, Ps. Ixxxiv. 10, then one day in upper Zion is better than a thousand years in the valley of tears. If Peter was so ravished with Mount Tabor, where only Christ was transfigured, Matt. xvii. 2, what is he with this Mount Zion, where all are glorified! ' How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord !' Ps. Ixxxiv. 1. If God's tabernacles be so lovely, what is his mansion ? If there be such joy in the remission of sin, what is there in the abolition of sin 1 If there be now such sweet peace in thy heart, such music in thy conscience, what mayest thou think there is in heaven 1 But because no7i capimus ilia, ilia cajnant nos, —we cannot comprehend those pleasures, let those pleasures comprehend us. Good servant, the joy is too great to enter into thee, therefore 'enter thou into the joy of thy Lord,' Matt. xxv. 23.

This ]\Iount Zion did God give to Christ, and Christ to us. God to his * Ambr. f Aug. + Ilt)id.

Son : ' Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion,' Ps. ii. 6. The Son to us : 'A Lamb stood on jMount Zion, and -wdth him an hundred forty and four thousand,' (tc, Eev. xiv. 1. A lamb in figure, slain from the foundation of the world. A lamb in fact, led like a lamb to the slaughter, Acts viii. 32. 'Standeth;' sits not idle, nor lies asleep: 'He that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps,' Ps. cxxi. 4. Whereon ? Not as the two beasts his opposites, that rise out of the earth and sea, but on a 'mount.' What , mount? Not Sinai, but 'Zion.' Other mountains quake at his presence : 'The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord;' but 'Zion heard and was glad, and the daughter of Judah rejoiced,' Ps. xcvii. 5, 8. Other mountains, in homage to this, have skipped and danced about it: ' The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs,' Ps. cxiv. 4. He stands, therefore is AAdlling to defend ; on a mount, therefore able to defend ; on ]\Iount Zion, therefore ready to defend, because he is in the midst of his own, and sees his church round about him. So that though all the red dragons on earth, and black devils in hell, rage against us, yet the Lamb on Mount Zion will defend us. There now he .stands, calling us by grace; there we shall one day behold him, calling us to glory : until he give this glory to us, yea, then and ever, let us give all glory to the Lamb, that stands on Mount Zion.

This is the place which the Lord chose and loves. He refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim ; ' but chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved,' Ps. Ixxxvii 68. This praise did inherit and inhabit Zion: ' The Lord hath chosen Zion, he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest for ever; here wUl I dwell, for I have desired it,' Ps. cxxxii. 13. Let the precedent of God's affection work in all our hearts a zeal to Zion. The Lord that chose Zion, choose us to Zion; he that desired it his habitation, make it the habitation of our desires! It is his rest; let it be ours, that we may rest with him. ' Here wiU I dwell,' saith he; let all pray to dwell there. Though it be a Mil, a high hiU; though there be pains and toil in getting up, yet let us ascend, for above there is eternal joy.

II. ' The city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.' I come from the situation to the city; you hear where it is, hear now what it is. A city on a mountain. ' Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is j\Iount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. God is known in her palaces for a sure refuge,' Ps. xlviii. 4, &c. Here be some circumstances. 1. Qucesit, not a village, but a city. 2. Cujus, not man's, but God's; not a feigned, but the living God's. 3. Qualis, not earthly, but heavenly. 4. Quo nomine, not Sodom or Samaria, but the city of peace, Jerusalem.

1. The city. The church may be compared to a city for three resemblances : of safety, unity, paucity.

(1.) For safety. Cities have ever been held the securest places. So Lot said of little Zoar; ' Let me escape thither, and my soul shall live,' Gen, xix. 20. Cain fearing the execution of his cmse, built him a city for refuge, and called it Enoch, Gen. iv. 17. The motive that caused those wicked to build a city was security, ' lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth,' Gen. xi. 4. The Israelites had their ' cities of refuge,' and a law of their protection. Num. xxxv. 27. But there is no city of sure refuge but this city of the living God. It is ordinary with men to put too much trust, like Israel, in their walled cities. ' Except the Lord keep the city, the

watcliman waketli but in vain,' Ps. cxxvii. 1, * Shalt thou reign because thou closest thyself in cedar f Jer. xxii. 15. Thou thinkest thyself secure because an inhabitant of this famous London. No, thou livest in an island, therefore in danger of the sea; in a Christian island, therefore in danger of the Turk ; in a Protestant island, therefore in danger of the Pope; in a chief city of this island, therefore in danger of the devil. The city is perilous for pride ; the more spectators, the more acclamations; the larger the theatre, the louder the applause. The solemn assembly in Csesarea puffed up ambitious Herod to his own destruction. The people shouted, Vox Dei ! but the worms confuted their flattery and his folly. Simon Magus ventured that flight in a city, to which in an obscure village he had neither been tempted, nor would have attempted. And whether quick comings in of money make not this city unsafe to many souls, miserable experience hath evinced. Prceceps lucrum, jyrinceps damnum, —Sudden profit is capital loss. But suppose men care not so much for the safety of their souls, are their bodies secure 1 Thieves, homicides, fires deny it. But if they scape all these fires, yet not the last fire. Your buckets may quench other fires, not this; no milk nor vinegar can extinguish that wild-fire: as in the days of Noah, a dove could not set down her foot for water, so nor at this day for fire. Let this meditation, like a fortunate storm, drive you to harbour; the weakness of all cities in the world, to the safety of the city of God.

(2.) For unity. Familiarity hath the name, quasi ejusdem familice, as it were of the same family. Concord and agreement is taught by the corporation of one city, ' Jerusalem is buUt as a city well compacted together,' Ps. cxxii. 3. Here is no need of lawyers, all are at peace. Not a tell-tale, not an incendiary in it. Inferior cities have good orders for unity, but all will not embrace the unity of order. Sa^pe inter cives turhaverit omnia dives. It must be as the rich will have it, or there is no rule. These citizens are not to'hani, but turbani. It was David's care to ' cut off such wicked doers from the city of God,' Ps. ci. 8. Here they * persecute us from city to city, going over the cities of Israel,' Matt. x. 23 : not leave us till we are driven to this city, then shall we rest in peace; every one loving another, and the Lord Jesus loving us all.

(3.) For paucity. Indeed a city is great compared with a village, but what is it in respect of the earth? 'Are there few that shall be saved?' Luke xiii 23. No, there are many : ' Christ is the first-born among many brethren,' Piom. viii. 29. ' Lo, a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations and languages, stood before the throne,' Bev. vii. 9. Are there many that shall be saved? No, few: ' Many are called, but few are chosen,' Matt. x. 16. Christ's is a 'little flock,' Luke xiL 32. The best courses have the fewest followers : Numerus paucior, numerus melior. God's servation is ' a very small remnant,' Isa. i. 9 ; a very tenth. ' In it shall be a tenth,' Isa. vi. 13 ; many leaves, the sap is but a tithe. ' As the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough; four or five in the outmost fruitful branches,' Isa. xvii. 6. They are compared to the 'gleaning of the grapes after the Adntage,' Isa. xxiv. 13. It was the church's complaint, ' Woe is me ! for I am as the gleanings,' ]\Iicah vii. 1. This was God's collection : ' I will take you one of a city, and two of a family,' Jer. iii. 14. God is a shepherd that saves some from the lion, ' taking out of his mouth two legs, or the piece of an ear,' Amos iii. 12 : rescue a few from that universal apostasy. Of the six hundred thousand that came out of Egj^pt, but two entered into Canaan, Caleb and Joshua. Even the best is but titio ereptus ah igne, —a brand snatched out of the fire. ' All

flesh had corrupted their way,' Gen. vi. 12; ouly Noah escaped. Not one righteous in Sodom but Lot. Four hundred and fifty prophets for Baal, but one for the Lord; four hundred flatterers for Ahab, one ]Michaiah for the truth. ' Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel,' Isa. vui. 18; so few and rare, that they are gazed on for monsters. When they sat in counsel against Christ, none spake for him but Nicodemus, John vii. 51. Paul answering before Nero, * no man stood with him, but all men forsook him,* 2 Tim. iv. 10. But to the idol all consent, Exod. xxxii. From young to old given to sodomy, Gen. xix. Pilate asking what shall be done with Jesus, ' all cry. Crucify him.' There was a general shout for Diana two hours together, ' Great is Diana of the Ephesians,' Acts xix. 31. ' All, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, received the mark of the beast in their foreheads,' Eev. xiii. IG. ' The children of Israel are like to little flocks of Idds,' 1 Kings xx. 27; but the wicked, like the Syrians, fill the country. But those few innocents speed best. ' Though the number of Israel be as the sand, a remnant shall be saved,' Rom. ix. 27. Among us many rob the church, few add to the dition of it; there are many usurers, few restorers. Lord, ' thou hast but a few names in Sardis,' Rev. iii. 1.

That of Esdras concerning Israel is true of this mystical city, ' Of all the trees, thou hast chosen thee only one vine : of all the lands of the whole world, thou hast chosen thee ouly one pit: of all the flowers, one lily: of aU the depths of the sea, thou hast filled thee one river : of all the builded cities, thou hast hallowed Zion unto thyself. Of aU the fowls created, thou hast named thee one dove : of all the cattle, thou hast provided thee one sheep : among all the multitudes of peoples, thou hast gotten thee one people,' 2 Esdr. V. 23. If we should divide the world into thirty parts, scarce five of them are Christian. Of those five, the Pope challengeth (at the least) half. He says, I have one church in Italy, one in Germany, one in Spain, one in France, one in England. Now the Lord one day convince him, and grant us he may have none in England ! Now it is a quarrel betwixt us and Antichrist, whether they or we belong to this city; we cannot agree about it. One day this quarrel will be taken up; the next will clear it. Now subdivide iill these five parts of the world, whether theirs or ours, and scarce one is truly sincere. Hypocrisy hath one part, heresy another part, profaneness a third part, lukewarmness a fourth; God hath least, that owns all. Oh the small number sealed up by the Spirit of the living God ! Let this teach every one to suspect himself: when Christ said, ' One of you shall betray nie,' they presently all cry, ' Master, is it I f When he was asked whether only few should be saved, he tells them of neither many nor few, but charged them to look to themselves, that they might be of the number: ' Strive to enter in at the strait gate,' Luke xiii. 24. ' There is a city built in a broad field, full of all good things, but the entrance thereof is narrow, besides the dangerous passage between a violent firo and a deep water,' 2 Esdr. vii. G. Study, strive, pray that thou mayest pass through the narrow way, by the sweet guiding hand of Christ.

2. Of God. God is the proprietary of this city. Est una civitas, et una civitas : unns popiihis, et timis populus, unus rex, et imm rex, una lex, et %ina lex,* —There are two cities, two peoples, two kings, and two laws. For the cities, there is ' Babylon the great,' Rev. xviii. 2, and ' Jerusalem the mother of us all,' Gal. iv. 2G. For the peoples, there is the ' seed of the woman' and ' of the serpent'—corn and tares, sheep and goats, vessels of

• Aug.

honour, and vessels of dislionour, Jacob and Esau, Christ and Belial. JVec est tertitcs, nee ad tertium, —There is no third person, nor designment to a third place. For the kings, there is Christ: ' Yet have I set my King upon Zion the mountain of my holiness,' Ps. ii. 6; and Satan, ' the prince of the power of the air,' Eph. ii. 2. The prince indeed, not mundi, sed tenehrarum mundi, —not of the world, but of the darkness of the world. 2 Cor. iv. 4, you have both these kings together : ' The god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of Christ might not shine unto them.' For the laws, God's law is, ' Let every one that nameth the name of Christ, depart from iniquity,' 2 Tim. ii. 19. Satan's law is, ' the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,' 1 John ii. 16. God's law is, ' Thou shalt not swear;' Satan's, Thou shalt forswear. God's law, * Covet not;' Satan's, Covet all. Nihil prcecipit Deus nisi charitatem, nihil diabolus nisi cupiditatem, —God commands nothing but love, the devil nothing but lust.

Now these two cities were begun in Cain and Abel: Cain a citizen of the world, Abel a citizen of God. Their names signify their natures : Cain signifies a possession, and he built a city; for ' the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light.' Iniqui mentem in amore prcesentis vitce figunt,^ —Wicked men set their whole delight in this present world. What moved Caui to this 1 Not to be defended against wild beasts, which Plato says first moved men to build cities; for then Abel would have builded so well as Cam : nor because man is animal sociale, a sociable creature, which Aristotle makes a special motive hereof; for then the righteous would also have builded. But because Cain was a fugitive, he builded for protection against God's curse ; especially because he had "no expectation of a better city. Unlike to Abraham, who ' looked for a city that hath a foundation, whose builder and maker is God,' Heb. xi. 10. The Greeks say, that Cecropolis, built by Cecrops, the Egyptians that Thebes, the Argives that Argos, was the first city. But it is manifest, that this city built by Cain was the first. He caUed the name of this city Enoch, but Henoch in the righteous line is the seventh: ' Enoch the seventh from Adam,' Jude, ver. 14. So the wicked dedicate worldly possessions in the first place, the righteous in the last. Cain and Henoch had their possession and dedication here. But Abel signifies mourning, and he built no city. Our possession is in heaven, this city of God, invisible to the eye, incredible to the faith of the world, but infallible to all believers.

And for Cain, it is not properly translated, cedijicavit, but erat cedifi-cator, as Junius; erat aidijicans, as the Septuagint : he began to build, but he finished not: he was still a runagate. So all worldlings are but cedi^' cantes; like the Babel-erecters, they but began to rear the tower, but never could come to roof it. ' This man began to build,' aaith Christ, ' but could not make an end.' They are persuaded, yea, ' theii- inward thought is, that they buUd houses to all ensuing generations,' Ps. xlis. 13; but 'this their way is their foUy.' ^dijicat mortalis, mors diridt cedijicantem, —Mortal man builds, and death puUs down both builder and edifice. You have heard it talked of castles built by day, and still (no man knows how) pulled down again by night. That fabulous report is mystically true of the worldling's hope : whatever he erecteth in the day of his prosperity, the night of his ruhi shall overthrow.

Here are the two cities: Omnis homo vel in ccelis regnatums cum Christo, vel in infernis cruciandus cum diaholo,\ —Every one shall either reign with * Greg. t Aug.

Clirist in heaven, or be tormented -with the devil in hell. But how then is it said that ' God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself?' 2 Cor. v. 19; therefore the whole world is reconciled. But St John contracts it, Mundus positus in maligno, —' The whole world lieth in wickedness,' 1 John V. 29; therefore the world is not reconciled to this city. Here qui bene dis-tinguit, bene docet, —a proper distinction doth clear this diflBculty. The world is sometimes taken for good, then denominatio sequitur meliorem partem ; often for evil, then denominatio sequitur majorem jmrtem. In a word, saith Augustine, Amor Dei constituit Jerusalem, amor mundi Babylonem, — The love of God entitles us to Jerusalem, the love of the world to Babylon. Thus may we distinguish the citizens; for bonos vel malos mojrs faciunt boni vel mail amores, —our good or bad loves make om: good or bad lives. There is no man which belongs not to one of these two cities. No ? To which of them belongs the hypocrite 1 To Babylon 1 His face is toward Jerusalem. To Jerusalem ? His heart is %vith Babylon. His misery is great: because he wears God's outside, the world will not be his mother; because he wears the world's inside, God will not be his father. He hath lost earth for heaven's sake, and heaven for earth's sake. We have some such rushers into authority uncalled, vicious correctors of vice, that undertake to cleanse the Augean stables, perhaps somewhat the sweeter till themselves came in : officious scavengei-s of iniquity. If with this loam they daub over their own debauchedness, they are like dung, which is rotten and stinking of itself, yet compasseth the ground, and makes it fruitful. Or like the shepherd's dog, that hunts the straggling sheep to the fold, yet is a dog stiU, and hath his teeth beaten out, lest he should worry them. Will you hear to what city hypocrites belong ? The wicked servant shall have ' his portion with h)''po-crites, where shaU be weeping, and gnashing of teeth,' Matt. xxiv. 51. So then the hypocrite's home is the city of weeping and gnasMng of teeth.

But in this blessed city God is Kmg, Christ his eldest Son, Heb. i. 6; the elect are his younger brethren, Eom. viii. 29 ; his viceroys are kings, angels his nobles, just judges his magistrates, Rom. xiii. 4; good preachers his ministers, 2 Cor. v. 20; holiness his law, 1 Thess. iv. 3; the godly his subjects, providence his government. Matt, vi 32; heaven his court, ]\Iatt. v. 34; and salvation his recompense, Rom. vi. 23.

Further observe, that if this city be God's, then so are all things in it. Whence I infer that all sacred things in this city being God's, must not be violated. For the things in heaven, they are safe enough out of the en-croacher's reach; but the holy things of this militant city arc universally abused : sacrilegium quasi sacrilcedium, —a profaning that is holy. Now holiness is ascribed to pereons, places, or things. Sacrilege may be committed, saith Aquinas, (1.) Vel in personam, —against a person, when one ecclesiastical man is abused : ' He that despiseth you, despiseth me,' Luke X. 16. (2.) Vel in locum, —against a place, when the temple is profaned : * My house is called the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves,' Mark xi. 17. (3.) Vel in rem, —when things dedicated to holy uses are perverted: ' You have robbed me in tithes and oflPerings,' Mai. iii. 8. Simon Magus would have bought a ' power to give the Holy Ghost by imposition of hands,' Acts viii. 19. He would have given money for it, no doubt to have gotten money by it. No spiritual things are to be bartered for money. Now spiritual things are of four sorts :—

(1.) Essentialiter: the gifts of God's Spirit—justification, sanctificatfon, ' love, peace, patience, goodness, faith,' Gal. v. 22, charismata salutis; y?hich make those that have them spuitual.

(2.) Causaliter: the word and sacraments, which are the conduit-pipes to convey unto our souls those graces, from the fountain of all grace, Jesus Christ; * The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life,' John vi. G3,

(3.) Effectualiter; as power to heal, to work miracles, to excommunicate, to absolve : gifts not imparted to secular hands, but committed with the keys to the church.

(4.) Per annectlonem; such are spiritual livings and endowments: these are not to be profaned in buying and selluig. Selling is like the .sin of Gehazi; buying, like the sin of Simon ]\Iagus. Anathema danti, anathema accipienti, —There is a curse to the giver, and a curse to the receiver. Now sacrilege to these holy things of God is committed three ways :—

(1.) Quando aufertur sacrum de sacro, —When a holy thing is taken from a holy place : as the consecrated vessels out of the temple. Felix seeing the costly chalices Constantinus and Constantius had bestowed on the church, maliciously scoffed. What stately plate is there for the carpenter's son 1 * But he that had so base a conceit of Christ's blood, did himself nothing night and day but vomit blood, till his unhappy soul was fetched from his wretched carcase. We have too many of those, that, like Belshazzar, with the riches of the church have furnished their cupboards of plate.

(2.) Quando non sacrum de sacro, —When a common thing is stolen from a sacred place. As if a thief breaks open a church to steal some private treasure hid in it. So the churchwardens may defraud the poor of the money in the box. It is the poor's, not sacred to the church, yet it is sacrilege to embezzle it.

(3.) Quando sctcrum de non sacro, —When a holy thing is taken out of a common place : as when the church is robbed of her possessions and endowments. Oh the mercy of God, what shall become of England for thus robbing God's city ! Our patrons are like those Christ whipped out of the temple; yea, worse : for they bought and sold in the church, these buy and seU the church itself 'It is a snare to the man that devoureth that which is holy,' Prov. XX. 25. A snare hath three properties. It catcheth suddenly : Uzzah did but touch the ark, and presently fell down dead. It holds surely : Uzziah will offer incense, but the leprosy (which was his plague) held him to his dying day, 2 Chron. xxvi. 19. It destroys certainly : the earth swallowed Korali and his confederates, when the rest escaped.

The i^rophet bestows a whole psalm against this sin, Ps. Ixxxiii. The centre of it, upon whom all the lines and projections of his invectives meet, are those, ver. 12, that say, ' Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession.' He calls them God's enemies, tumultuous, proud, God-haters, ver. 2. Crafty enemies, with their plots, tricks, subtleties; much like our impropriators' legal justifyings, ver. 3. Confederate enemies, combining themselves to annihilate a church : ' Come, let us cut them off from being a nation,' ver. 4 ; endeavouring to extinguish the very name of Israel: breaking down the pale, that the boar, the depopulator, and the wild beast, the corrupt patron, may waste and devour it, Ps. Ixxx. 13. They would plough ■up the universities, and sow them with the seed of barbarism. Now mark how he prays for them, ver. 9, * Do unto them as unto the Midianites;' who were by the trumpets and lamps so terrified, that they drew their swords one upon another, Judg. vii. 22 : so that these by the trumpets of the law, and lamps of the gospel, might be awaked. ' As to Sisera and to Jabin at the brook of Kishon,' Judg. iv. 9 ; that great captain, whom God delivered

* Theodor,

into the hands of a woman. Ver. 11,' Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zceb; yea, all their princes as Zebah and Zalmunna;' all i)rincc3, yet died violent and ignominious deaths, and ' became like dung for the earth,' Doth he stay here? No; ver. 13, ' 0 my God, make them like a wheel, and as the stubble before the wind :' infatuate all their plots, turn their brains, and disperse their stratagems. Is he yet satisfied? No; ver. 14, 'As the fire burncth a wood, and as the flame setteth on fire the mountains; so persecute them with thy tempest.' He useth imprecations to open the flood-gates of God's wrath, that like fire it might consume them, either naturally, as fire burns the wood, or miraculously, as it inflameth the mountains. Yer. IG, ' Fill their faces -with shame.' If this be to take God's houses in possession, who dares lay sacrilegious hands upon them 1 Yet for aU this, those men did not what they desired. ' Let us take,' ver. 12 ; they said it, they did it not. Perhaps no thanks to them; they would if they could. We have done it, taken, inhabited, inherited ; as Elias said to Ahab: ' We have killed, and also taken possession,' 1 Kings xxi. 19. His tithes, his off"erings, all his lioly rites, yea, his very churches : we have gotten them, and led them captive away, bound in chains of iron, conveyed by deeds, grants, seals, fines, as if we would be sure they should never return to the owner; God is robbed of them for ever.

' Shall I not visit for these thmgs ? saith the Lord : shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation?' Jcr. v. 29. What family, that hath had but a finger in these sacrileges, hath not been ruinated by them 1 They have been more unfortunate to the gentry of England than was the gold of Tholossa to the followers of Scipio. Remember the proverb : ' He that eats the king's goose shall have the feathers stick in his throat seven years after.' Justinian said, Proximum sacrilegio crimen est i£iiod viajestatis dicitur, — Treason is a jjetty sin in respect of sacrilege. Augustine seems to give the reason: Tanto gravius est peccation, quanto committi non jyotest nisi in Deum, —It is so much the more heinous, because it cannot be committed but immediately against God himself. Well then, as the Philistines made haste to send home the ark, 1 Sam. v. 11, and the Egyptians to rid themselves of God's people, Exod. xii. 31 ; so let us restore to God his dues with all speed. Otherwise, as he smote the Philistines with emerods secretly, and the Egj-p-tians with plagiies publicly; so only himself knows what he hath determined against us. With what face canst thou expect an inheritance from Christ in heaven, that detainest from Christ his inheritance here on earth ? * Let us not so Jewishly with the spoils of Christ purchase fields of blood.

It is much, if at all this any guilty soul tremble; but howsoever, like Pharaoh, when the thunder and lightnmg are done, they are where they were. Oh, this is a difiicult de\al to be cast out!

' Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's,' ^Mark xii, 17, Reddite Deo sua, ut Dens restituat vohis vestra,f —Return unto God that which is his, that God may allow you that which is youi's. We pay to the king impost, subsidies, and fifteens; so give we all these in a resemblance to God, The Lord's impost for all his blessings is our gratitude. * What shall I render to the Lord for all liis benefits toward me ] I will take the cup of salvation, and bless the name of the Lord,' Ps. cxvi. 12. If we forget to pay this impost, the commodity is forfeit; God will take it back. Our subsidies are according to our parts. The subsidies of our eyes are our tears : he that pays not this tribute of rain shall want the sunshine of mercy. The subsidies of our mouths are our praises. Tibi * Aug. t Ibid.

omne os confitebitur. ' Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise,' Ps. li. 15. The subsidies of our cars are attention to his word: ' Mary sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word,' Luke x. 39. The subsidies of our heads are meditations of his power, justice, mercy, truth : ' The blessed man doth meditate in the law of the Lord day and night,' Ps. i. 2. This reduceth Christianity to practice ; a rare habit, and yet it is less possible to be good without it than to swallow and never chew the cud. A sermon without consequent meditation may come to be remembered again in hell. The subsidies of our knees are geniculations ; ' I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,' Eph. iii. 14; Stephen 'kneeled down and prayed,' &c., Acts vii. 60. If our knees be too stout to pay this tribute, heaven-gate will be too low for our entrance. The subsidies of our hands are alms to the poor; the due payment of this interest shall bless and increase the principal: ' Give, and it shall be given you,' Luke vi. 38. To the king we pay fifteens, to God tenths : these he hath separated to himself. The honest Pharisee could say, Tithe and be rich; the dishonest Christian says. Tithe and be poor. But what men get by this detiny, shall be their fatal destiny; they shall leave the gold behind them, but carry the guilt with them to everlasting fire. Eob not this city militant, lest God turn yoii from the city triumphant.

' Of the living God.' This hath been an ancient attribute to God, ' living;' and it is added here jjartly for distinction, partly for demonstration. First, it distinguisheth the owner of this city from other titular gods. For ' there be gods many, and lords many,' 1 Cor. viii. 5. The name of gods hath been given to men, to idols, to lusts. Homines dii mortales, idola dii mortui, libidines dii mortiferi, —Men are gods dying, idols dead, lusts deadly. There are—

(1.) Dii deputati, reputed and deputed gods: such are magistrates and princes. ' I have said. Ye are gods,' Ps. Ixsxii. 6 ; but these are mortal gods : ' Ye shall die like men.' You have your life from this living God : both the life of nature common with others, and the life of power superior to others. 'The poAvers that be are ordained of God,' Eom. xiii. 1. Pilate received that power from God whereby he unjustly condemned the Son of God. ' Thou couldst have no power against me, except it were given thee from above,' John xix. 11. We must give to those gods obedience, either . active or j^assive : active when they command well, passive though they command ill. Otherwise we incur ' damnation' for obstinate disobeying, Rom. xiii. 2, as themselves have damnation for unjust commanding. These are momentary gods, as men are kings on the stage tiU the i^lay is done.

(2.) Diifictitii, feigned gods, as Mars the god of war, Neptune the god of the sea, &c. They were strange gods that went a-whoring after women, made way to their lusts, if not by flattery, by blood. Scarce ranker villany in the devils than was found in those gods. This the philosophers objected against Paul, that he was 'a setter forth of strange gods,' Acts xvii. 18. The superstitious Lystrians took Paul for such gods : Dii descenderunt, ' The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men,' Acts xiv. 11. But Paul, ver. 15, points them to ' the living God that made heaven and earth.' Those feigned gods are confounded by this living God.

(3.) Dii manufacti, gods made with men's hands, idols; but these are dead gods, Ps. cvi. 28. Yea, not only dead, but nothing : ' An idol is nothing in the Avorld,' 1 Cor. viii. 4. It is true that they have matter and form : the gold, brass, wood, or stone whereof they are made, be substances; they have something in esse naturw, nothing in esse vitw/ they have stuff,

but no life in them. ' They have eyes, and see not, there is no breath in their mouths,' Ps. cxxxv. 17. St Paul commends in the Thessalonians this happy conversion, 'from dead idols to the living God,' 1 Thess. i. 9. Oh that it were as easy to confute idolaters as it is to confound idols! Pes Jwminis conculcat talem deum, —No idol is so great a god, but the foot of man can kick it down.

(4.) Dii usurpantes, usurping gods, devils. So Paul calls Satan '■ the god of this world,' 2 Cor. iv. 4. Of the whole world 1 What is then left for God '] Not so; he is dem improhorum, not elemeniomm. God of the wicked, not of the frame, of the world. ' The prince of this world is already judged,' 1 Cor. vi. 13. A goodly god that is already judged! 'The God of peace shall tread Satan under your feet,' Eom. xvi. 20. Not you, but God shall tread him down (to your comfort) under your feet. Therefore, 'give no place to the devil,' Eph. iv. 27; for there is no place for the devil, but where it is given him.

(5.) Dii sensuales, sensual gods. Some make their belly their god, and delicate cheer his sacrifices. ' Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats; but God shall destroy both it and them,' 1 Cor. vi. 13. Others make gold and sUver their gods. Worse than pagan idolatry; they had gods of corn and of wine; but ' these idols of silver and of gold, which they made for themselves to worship,' Isa. ii. 20, they shall one day cast away with malediction. Some make their wife a goddess, dote upon her with extremest idolatry; a fair coloured piece of clay hath more worship than the Lord of heaven. To some their patron is a god; they more quake at his frown than at all the curses in the Bible. These are not only dead, but deadly gods.

For demonstration, the owner of this city is the living God; both forma-liter in himself, and effective to others. ' Who only hath immortality,' 1 Tim. vi. 1G. Only ? Are not angels and men's souls immortal. But God gives to them this immortality; only he hath it in himself. Therefore he is called the living God, and the God of life. There be three degrees of life, all given by this living God. Universal; which consists of sense and motion : of this the beasts participate. ' Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, and they are created,' Ps. civ. 3. Rational; a life proper to maUj'^not to other earthly creatures. Supernatural; which belongs only to the faithful. Christ himself is this life in us. ' Now live not I, but Christ liveth in me,' Gal. ii. 20. II(jec vita reponitur, deponitur nunquam, —This life is laid up, but never lost. The world sees it not, because ' it is hid with Christ in God,' Col. iii 3. We now feel it, live by it; ' but when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we appear with him in glory,' ver. 4.

Behold here with comfort the Master we serve, the living God. Riches is a fljdng master; it hastes away ' with the wings of an eagle,' Prov. xxiii. 5. Honour is a dying master; it brings a man to the sepidchre, and then goes back with the heralds. Pleasure is a spilling master : ' Woe to them that laugh ! for they shall weep,' Luke ^d. 25. Satan is a killing master, his wages is hell-fire. But all in grace is living and enlivenhig. Idols are dead, and never were alive; men are alive, but shall be dead; pleasures are neither alive nor dead; devils are both alive and dead, for they shall live a dying life, and die a living death. Only the living God gives everlasting life. Not only the life that he hath in himself, but the life that he gives to his creatures, challengcth a part in this title. As light is from the sun, so is life from God. He is the soul of the world, and more, for without him it could not be so much as a carcase. He is hfe itself, and spreads life mto all the animate creatures. In whom then should we put our trust, but in the living

God ? There is no less than madness in that idolatry which shall dote upon a base creature ; and bestow that life which we have from God upon a heap of gold, a thing that hath no life in itself, and no price but from men. Oh, let us ' turn from these vanities unto the living God !' Acts xiv. 5.

' Jerusalem.' This is the appellation of the city. As Canaan was a figure of heaven, either of them called the ' land of promise;' so local Jerusalem is a type of this mystical city. There are many conceits concerning the denomination of Jerusalem. Jerome thinks that the former part of the word comes from the Greek 'lipog, holy; because Jerusalem is called ' the holy city,' Matt, xxvii. 53. But then there should be a mixture of two several languages, Greek and Hebrew, to the making up of the word. The Hebrews derive it better: they say Shem called it Salem, ' peace;' and Abraham Jireh. The place where he attempted the sacrifice of his son he called Jehovali-jireh, —' The Lord will see,' Gen. xxii. 14. Thus put together it is Jerusalem, visio 2yacis. This is more probable than from the Greek 'iffoc, as Jt^ rome, or from Jehus, as Pererius. This is evident from Ps. Ixxvi. 2, ' In Salem is his tabernacle, and his dwelling-place in Zion.' So that Salem and Zion were both in one place. The Jews have a tradition, that in one and the same place Cain and Abel offered, in the same place Noah coming out of the ark sacrificed, in the same place Abraham offered Isaac, in the same place stood Araunah's threshing-floor which David bought, in the same place Melchizedek the priest dwelt, in the same place Solomon built the temple, and our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified.

But to let go ambiguities, Jerusalem is a ' city of peace.' This is plain ' Melchizedek was king of Salem, that is, king of peace,' Heb. \ii. 2. God's church is a church of peace. That of Plato over his door is worth our remembrance : Nemo nisi verifatis et pacis studiosiis intrabit, —Let none enter but such as love peace and truth. St Paul is bold to his Galatians: ' I would to God they were even cut off that trouble you,' Gal. v. 12. Contra rationem nemo sohrius, contra Scripturas nemo Ghristiamis, contra ecclesiam nemo pacificus senserit, —No sober man speaks against reason, no Christian against the Scriptures, no peaceable man against the church. He that is not a man of peace is not a man of God. Peace is the effect of patience : if men would bear injuries, and offer none, all would be peace. It is the greatest honour for a man to suffer himself conquered in that wherein he should yield. ' Be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace be with you,' 2 Cor. xiii. 11. A just reward; if we have one mind, and live in love and peace, the God of love and peace shall be with us.

* Heavenly.' This city is on earth, but not of earth. This is not terrestrial Jerusalem ; ' she is in bondage with her children,' Gal. iv. 25. She was not only then under the Roman servitude literally; but, according to Paul's meaning allegorically, she could not attain the liberty of the Spirit, but abideth under the wrath of God and horror of conscience. But this Jerusalem is heavenly : ' I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband,' Kcv. xxi. 2.

Now it is called heavenly in three respects—of birth, of conversation, of inheritance. Ortus ccelestis quoad origincm : j^i'ogressus coelestis quoad con-versationem, finis coelestis quoad translationem. Here is all heavenly. ' Jerusalem that is above is free, the mother of us all,' Gal. iv. 26. In hoc quod dicitur sursiim, originis altitudo: quod Jerusalem, pacis midtitudo; quod libera, libertatis magnitudo: quod mater, fecunditatis amplitudo: quod nostrum omnium, charitatis latitudo* The church in the Creed hath three pro-

• Hugo. Card.

perties—'holy, catholic, knit in a communion.' The word above intimates, she is holy; the word mother, that she is knit in a communion; the word of all, that she is catholic.

Jerusalem is a type of the catholic church, in election, collection, dilection. For election ; * The Lord hath chosen Zion,' Ps. cxxxii. 13. That out of all cities, this out of all nations. * Ye are a chosen generation, a peculiar people,' 1 Pet. ii. 9; enclosed from the commons of this world, God's own appropriation. For collection; that was walled with stone, this hedged in with grace, ' God planted a vineyard in a very fruitful hill, and he fenced it,' Isa. v. 2. It is well mounded, and the citizens of it linked together with the ' bond of peace,' Eph. iv. 3. For dilection; ' beautiful for situation,' the palace of the great I^ng; the sanctuary of his holy worship, his presence-chamber; * the pillar and ground of the truth,' 1 Tun. iiL 1 5. There was ' the seat of David,' Ps. cxxii. 5: here the throne of the 'Son of David,' Rev. iii. 7, that openeth and no man shutteth, that shutteth and no man openeth. A heavenly city :—

(1.) In respect of her birth and beginning heavenly. For the Lord of heaven hath ' begot her of immortal seed, by the word of truth,' James i. 18. Art thou a Christian 1 Behold thy honourable birth and beginning. Was it an honourable style, Trojanus origine Caesar ? Then much more, Coslestis ongine sancius. Every saint is by his original heavenly. Bear thyself nobly, thou hast a celestial generation.

(2.) In respect of gro"wi;h and continuance heavenly. ' Our conversationr is in heaven,' Phil. iii. 20. We live on earth, yet, saith the apostle, our conversation is expressly in heaven. Our affections are so set on it, that we scarce look upon this world : we so run to our treasure there, that we forget to be rich here ; but, like the saints, cast onr money at our feet. Acts iv. Corpore-ambulantes in terris, corde hahifantes in coelis, —Our bodies walk on earth, our hearts dwell in heaven. To the hating and despising world we answer, i\^i7 nobis cum mundo, nil vohis cum coelo, —We have small share in this world, you have less in the world to come.

(3.) In respect of the end. Ideo dicitur coelestis, quia coslum sedes ejus,'''' —Our souls are never quiet till they come to their wished home. ' Thus hath God blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places,' Eph. i. 3. The church in her worst part is below, in her best above. Earth is patria loci, but heaven is patria juris; as Irishmen are dwellers in Ireland, but denizens of England, We ' dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust,' Job iv. 19; but are ruled by the laws of that supenial city.

* Father, my will is that those thou hast given me, may be with me where I am,' John xvii. 24. Amator mortuus est in corpore proprio, vivus in ali-eno,\ —A lover is dead in his own body, alive in another's. Animus velut pondere, amore fertur, quocunque fertur, saith Augustine,—Love weighs .and sways the soul, whithersoever it be carried. Exi de terra tua, said God to Abraham,—* Get thee out of thy country,' Gen. xii. 1; yea, rather, de terra non tua, from a country that is none of thine, ' unto a land that I will, shew thee,' thy own land, the kingdom of heaven. Though man be called

* earth earth, earth,' .Jer. xxii. 29, thrice with one breath, (earth by procreation, earth by .sustontation, earth by corruption, saith Bernard,) yet the Christian is not hahitalor sed accola terra', —not a dweller, but a pas.sengcr on the earth. ' For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come,' Heb. xiii. 14. An Englishman that trathcs in Turkey, and gets wealth in Turkey, yet plants not in Turlcey, but transports for England. A Christian,

* A-n-r. t riato.

•whatever he gets on earth, treasures up in heaven. Socrates being asked what countryman he was, answered, Suvi civis mundi, —I am a citizen of the world. But a Christian must answer, Su7n civis coeli, —I am a citizen of heaven. Forsake we this home-stall with a ready mind, when God calls us. And the Lord grant us so to live in this city of grace, that we may all live for ever in the city of glory, through Jesus Christ!

III. * To an innumerable company of angels.' Behold one special dignity the gospel brings us: consociari angelis, —to be made companions with the angels. The incorporal spirits are of two sorts, celestial and infernal If we weigh the malignancy of the one with the benignity of the other, we shall truly meditate this benefit. Infernal spirits are tempters to evil, and tormentors for evil. Homines seducunt, seductos damnant, damnatos torquent, —They seduce mortals, seduced they damn them, damned they torment them. Because they lost being like God, they strive to make men like themselves. The devil enhanceth his own damnation, to procure others'. He knows himself irrecoverably lost, therefore is desperate. These are wretched companions. Lord, grant us to know no more of them than by hearsay! But the good angels strive by all means to uphold us in our integrity; to keep us in fear of that God they know and worship; to preserve us from dangers whilst we live, and being dead, to transport us to everlasting joy. Bless us, 0 Lord, with the society of these angels for ever !

Here we must consider two circumstances, Quales and Quoti: the persons, what they are, 'angels;' the number, how many they are, 'an imiumerable company.'

1. What they are: ' angels.' An angel is an intellectual and incorporal substance, free of wUl, a servant to God, and by his grace immortal in blessedness. Ctijiis substantice speciem et termimim solus qui creavit novit* —^We cannot sufficiently know them whiles we are on earth; oh, may we one day see and know them in heaven ! That we may receive comfort by this consorting with angels, and understand what good they do unto us, let us consider in them these six particulars: their nature, their knowledge, their power, their dignity, their distinction, their ministry.

(L) Their nature: they are not qualities and motions, but spiritual substances, really subsisting. This their actions testify; running on God's commands, executing his bests, &c. They are not flesh and bone, yet sometimes have taken visible forms. Abraham, entertaining three angels, 'set meat before them, and they did eat,' Gen. xviii. 8. Theodoret says they did take the meat simidatis manibus, and did put it into simidatum os, —they seemed to eat, not in truth. But they had palpable and tractable bodies for the time, as appears plainly, ver. 4, by ' washing their feet.' Thomas thinks they assumed a true body, but no7i fait vera comestura, —it was not a true eating. But this is a weak opinion; for there may be a true eating, though the meat be not converted into the substance of the body. So our Saviour did eat after his rising from death, yet no man thinks his meat was turned into his substance. It is safe to say with the text, ' they did eat,' and perform other offices of a body truly. Now this was by divine dispensation for a time, the better to accomplish their enjoined duties. Yet were these bodies no part of their natures, but only as garments are to us. But whence had they these bodies 1 They were either immediately created of God, or conflate of some prc-subsistent matter.t What became of these induments deposed ? Either as they were made of nothing, so resolved into nothing, or else turned into the first matter whereof they were composed; and so was also the meat they * Damasc. + Calvin.

did cat. Thus they have been called men: ' Three men came to Abraham,' Gen. xviii. 2; the women that came to Christ's sepulchre found ' two men standing by them in shining garments,' Luke xxiv. 4. This is their nature, which in itself, saith Isidore, is mutable; for some of them ' fell from that blessed estate, and left their own habitation,' Jude, ver. 6. But now for the rest, servavit eos incorimptos charitas ceteiiia, —the eternal love of God hath made them unchangeable. For Christ' hath reconciled all things to himself, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven,' Col. i. 20. This is their excellent nature: inferior to God, superior to man. In the prophet's vision,' each of the seraphims had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly,' Isa. vi. 2. They have two wiugs to cover their faces, as not able to behold the glory of God; and two to cover their feet, because we are not able to behold them in their excellency.

(2.) Their knowledge. Austin says, They are taught of God, in the eternal contemplation of whose truth they are most blessed. Quomodo qiice scienda sunt nesciant, qui scientem omnia sciunt T" —How should they be ignorant of such things as are fit to be known, that know him that knows all % Their Imowledge is threefold: natural, experimental, and revealed. First, natural; received of God in their creation, endued with an extraordinary light above man. Secondly, revealed; as God, according to process of time, hath manifested to them: God revealed things to the angels, they to the proj)hets. Thu'dly, experimental; which they have acquired by observation: they mark God's doings. For it is certain the angels did not know all things from the beginning which they know now. They knew not perfectly the manner of man's redemption. That mystery from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, and is ' now made known to the principalities and powers in heavenly places,' Eph. iii. 10; 'Great is the mystery of godliness: God is manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels,' 1 Tim. iii 16. Res mira angelis, quanto hominibus! —A matter worthj^ the wonder of angels, much more of men !

There be things which yet the angels do not know:—First, Not the day of judgment: ' Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven,' Matt. xxiv. 30. Secondly, Not man's heart: ' Thou, Lord, only knowest the hearts of all men,' Acts i. 24. If angels knew men's hearts, they were gods. Thirdly, Neither do I think, with St Augustine, that they know quanti nuvieri suj^iilementum de genere humano integritas illius civiiatis expedat, —what definite number of mankind must concur to the perfection of that heavenly city. Man is circumscribed in place, knowledge, and mortality. Angels are circumsciibcd in place and knowledge, not in mortality. God is not circumscribed in either place, knowledge, or mortality. Man knoweth much, angels know more, only God knoweth all.

(3.) Theii- power. Christ, suffering himself to be apprehended, said he could command more than twelve legions of angels; whereupon one notes the mightuiess of his rescue, for every angel is stronger than a legion of men. They are said to excel in strength: ' Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength,' Ps. ciii. 20» Mighty angels: ' The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,' 2 Thess. i. 7. iMighty, but his; the original hath it, ' the angels of his mighty power.' Innumerable first-born of Egypt were slain by one angel; a hundred eighty-five thousand Assyrians smitten by one angel, 2 Kings xix. 35; seventy thousand killed by one angel,

* Greg. VOL. II. 2 K

2 Sam. xxiv. Therefore they are called potestates, 'powers;' powerful in themselves, but how mighty when they are strengthened by the Almighty !

This is wonderful comfort to us, they are not weak that fight for us: ' Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, but prevailed not,' Rev. xii. 7, 8. The devil hath a raging malice, but no prevailing power. One angel is too hard for many devils. But against the power of angels, it is objected that a man prevailed against an angel: ' Jacob had power over the angel, and prevailed,' Hos. xii. 4. Some had a sottish opinion that this angel was the devil in Esau's likeness, and that by the power of a good angel Jacob overcame. Now, lest he should ascribe the victory to himself and his own strengi^a, the angel smote him on the thigh, so that he halted. But there is no mention made save of one angel: he that wrestled with him was the same that blessed him; he that blessed him was the same that touched him: a good angel, for an evil would never have blessed him. But, indeed, this angel was the Son of God:— First, Because he blessed him: God blesseth, not angels. Secondly, It is said. Gen. xxxii. 28, that he ' prevailed with God;' and, ver. 30, that he 'saw God face to face:' therefore it was God, not an angel. Whether it were God or an angel, you may see the power of faith, that it can prevail with mighty angels, with Almighty God. He that wrestled with Jacob gave him power to overcome; seipso fortior est, —so God is stronger than himself. He could not prevail, because he would not; he disposeth his power according to his will, not his will according to his power: ' Haste thee to Zoar; for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither,' Gen. xix. 22; ' Let me alone, that I may consume them,' Exod. xxxii. 10;—as if Lot and Moses could hinder God. Faith and prayer are manacles to his hands, whereunto he gives victory against himself.

(4.) Their dignity consists in two things: in respect of their place, and of their grace. First, For their abode, it is in heaven. Evil angels dwell below: ' They are cast down into hell,' 2 Pet. ii. 4; good above: ' The angels do behold the face of my Father in heaven,' Matt, xviii. 10. They are heavenly courtiers and heavenly choristers, eternally singing Jehovah's praise. Secondly, In respect of their grace; so that they are called the angels ■of God, and are far more excellent than man. It is true that the Son of God dignified man's nature more than theirs: ' For he took not on him the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham,' Heb. ii. 16. Timet angelxis adorari ah humana natura, quam videt in Deo suhlimatam^" —The angels refuse to be worshipped of man's nature, which they see God himself hath accepted. But though he took not their nature, yet he dignified their ofiice; for he is often called by the name of angel: ' The angel that redeemed me,' says aged Israel, Gen. xlviii. 16. The only redeeming angel is Christ. The angel that went with the camp of Israel is called, Exod. xiv. 24, ' The Lord.' Paul says expressly it was Christ, 1 Cor. x. 4, 9. He is called cmgelus foederis, the ' angel of the covenant,' Mai. iii. 1. 'I saw an angel having the key of the bottomless pit; and he bound Satan,' Rev. xx. 1. But only Christ can bind Satan, and ' hath the keys of death and hell,' Rev. i. 18. Thus Christ hath accepted the name of angels, yet he took not on him the nature of angels, but of man; no more than the angels took on them the nature of man, when they appeared in a human shape.

(5.) Their distinction. Gregory collects from the Scriptures novem angel-orum ordines, —nine several orders of angels: angels, archangels, virtues,

* Greg.

powers, principalities, dominations, thrones, cherubim, and serapliim. We grant indeed that there be certain distinctions and degrees in the choir of heaven; but whether distinguished by nature, gifts, or offices, none can determine. The Papists plead much for the princedom of i\Iichael above all other angels. Their ground is Rev. xii. 7, ' ^Michael and his angels fought,' «fec. Bellarmine affirms, that ever since the fall of Lucifer, Michael is head of the glorious angels; and the Rhemists coUect from that place the reason why Michael is ordinarily painted fighting with a dragon. But the foolish painter, so well as wise Bellarmine, can tell us how Michael came to bo chosen ua Lucifer's room. Jude saith, the wicked angels that left their habitation are 'reserved in chains of darkness;' but he tells us not that such as did not fall are preferred to higher places, but rather continue still in their ' first estate' and dignity. Indeed Jude calls Michael an archangel, and Daniel unum de principibus, one of the principal angels ; but it can never be proved that he was, is, or shall be monarch or head of all angels. Themselves say, that the greatest angel is used in the greatest embassage; but Gabriel, not Michael, was sent for the contracting of that sacred match between the God of heaven and the blessed virgin, Luke i. Therefore Gabriel, not Michael, should be supreme both in natural graces and supernatural prerogatives. Indeed Christ is the Michael there mentioned; for the blessed angels cannot be said to l^e any other Michael's angels than Christ. So Augustine, Bullinger, Marloratus. Perhaps, in the vision, Michael and a host of angels appeared to John, but they represented Christ and his members. Christus est ecclesice suce PromacJms, angeli ejus SymmachV^ It is against the principles of holy belief to ascribe this victory to Michael or any other angel whatsoever. ' They overcame Satan by the blood of the Lamb,' Rev. xii. 11, not by Michael or any angel.

(6.) Their ministry. From hence, some of the fathers say, the angels took their names. So Gregory: Angeli vocahulum nomen est officii, non naturae, —Angel is a name of office, not of nature. The inhabitants of that celestial country are always spirits, but cannot always be calle(t angels. Tunc solum sunt angeli, quando pier eos aliqua nuntiantur, —They are then only angels, or (it is all one) messengers, when they are sent on some message. Therefore he concludes, Hi qui minima nuntiant angeli, qui summa nuntiant arcli' angeli vocantur, —They that are sent on business of less moment are called angels ; of greater importance, archangels. Augustine: Ex eo quod est, spiritus est: ex eo quod agit, angelus est, —They are spirits in regard of their being, angels in regard of their doing. Good angels, saith Isidore, are deputed for the ministry of man's salvation. God hath given man three helps: sense, to see danger near; reason, to suspect danger far off; angels, to prevent that he neither sees nor suspects. Now the ministry of angels is threefold : to God, to his church, to his enemies.

[1.] To God, which consists principally in two things :—First, In adoring and ascribing glory to him. So the seraphims cried, * Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts,' Isa. vi. 3. An army sung, ' Glory to God on high,' Luke ii. 14. The whole choir of heaven, 'Thou art worthy, 0 Lord, to receive honour and power,' Rev. iv. Secondly, In standing in his presence, ready at his command, ' they do his commandments, hearkening to the voice of his word,' Ps. ciii. 20. For this promptness of obedience we pray, ' Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.' Quod oramus, agamus. Thus angels were messengers that Christ should be conceived, Luke i. 31; that he was

* Aretiixe.

conceived, Matt. i. 20; that lie was born, Luke ii. 11; that he was risen, Luke xxiv. 4; that he was ascended, Acts i. IL These were great mysteries, therefore were confirmed with the testimony of angels.

[2.] To the church. ' Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation V Heb. i. 14. And by this theu' ordination to service, the Apostle shews how infinitely far the preeminence of Christ transcends theirs. But did not Christ put ' upon him the form of a servant V PhU. ii. 7- Doth not himself profess, that he ' came not to be ministered unto, but to minister?' Matt. xx. 28. The answer is easy, I^on esse hoc naturce, sed vohintarice exinanitionis 1 —This was not a natural or enforced, but a willing abasement of himself. Humilitatem non habitam induit, celsitatem habitam non exuit, —He put on a humiliation that he had not, he did not put oft' the glory that he had. But the angels were created to this end, that they should serve. Totamque conditionem sub ministerio contineri Istis naturale, illi adventitium/^' To them it was necessary, to Christ voluntary. Now their ministry to the church is three ways considerable :—

First, In this life; and that to our bodies and to our souls.

First, To our bodies; for they necessarily tend to the preservation of our temporal estates, even from our cradles to our graves. This is true in doctrine and in example. Iij doctrine: ' There shall no evil befall thee, nor any plague come nigh thy dwelling,' Ps. xci. 10. Why, how shall we be protected 1 Ver. 11, Angelis mandabit, ' For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.' In example : an angel comforts, directs, feeds Elias. Angels pluck Lot out of Sodom. An angel adviseth Joseph to flee into Egypt with Jesus. Abraham so encouraged his servant: ' The Lord will send his angel before thee,' Gen. xxiv. 7. ' Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him,' chap, xxxii. 1. Peter was in prison, and ' the angel of the Lord freed him,' Acts xii. 7.

Secondly, To our souls, furthering the means of our salvation. The law was given l^y them, saith Stephen : * Ye received the law by the disposition of angels,' Acts vii. 53. God makes them instruments to convey knowledge to his church. It was God's charge: ' Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision,' Dan. viii. 16. It was the angel's performance : ' Daniel, I am come forth to give thee skill and understanding/ Dan. ix. 22. St John acknowledgeth in his Revelations, that' an angel shewed him those things,' chap. xxii. 8. They preserve us in the true worship of God, and cannot endure any attribution of his glory to a creature, no not to themselves. When ' John fell down at the angel's feet to worship him,' he prevented him : ' See thou do it not,' chap. xix. 10. They rejoice in our conversion : ' There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth,' Luke xv. 10. They joy in this for two causes :—First, To behold the glorious fruit of their labours ; for it delights a man to see the works of his hands prosper. God hath sent them to guide us to good, to guard us from evil; when we follow their guidance, they rejoice. Let us hate to sin, as we would not wish to bring grief to the thresholds of heaven. Secondly, That their number might be made up again. They lost a number of spirits ; they are glad to have it made up with souls. The angels jomed company with men, praising God on earth, Luke ii. ; so they dehght to have men made their fellow-choristers in heaven.

Secondly, At the end of this life, to carry our souls to heaven. When the

* Calviu.

beggar died, ' he was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom,' Luke xvi. 22. He that in life was scorned of men, and had no companions but the dogs, is so regarded of God that he is guarded by angels. He that could neither go, nor sit, nor stand, is now carried; not on the shoulders of men, as the Pope, the proudest on earth, but he rides on the wings of angels. He is carried to a glorious port by gracious porters.

Thirdli/, At the last day, ' Christ shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together the elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other,' Matt. xxiv. 31. These are those reapers, chap. xiii. 30, that in the time of harvest must gather the tares to the fire, and the wheat to God's barn.

, This is their ministry to us. But it is the Lord ' that ordereth all our steps,' Ps. xxxvii. 23 ; he spreads the gracious wings of his providence over us; and the Lord Jesus Christ is all in all unto us. Now the rule is, Non multiplicanda entia sine necessitate; and, Frustra fit per plura, quod fieri potest per pmiciora. It seems, then, the help of angels is more than needs. For ' he that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps,' Ps. cxxi. 4. I answer, that angelical custody doth not extenuate, but extol God's goodness and greatness towards us ; for this is but the execution of his high and holy providence. It is the wisdom of the king that governs all the cities and castles in his dominions; yet he leaves not these unfurnished of men and munition to withstand the enemy's invasion. The devils range and rage against us in every corner, therefore God hath ordained for our guard a host of angels. ' The angel of tlie Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them,' Ps. xxxiv. 7. True it is that God is able to defend us himself by himself, through that immediate concourse that he hath in all things. But to shew that the Almighty God, being tied to no means, doth yet work by means to uphold the weakness of our natures. A prince sees his little children besieged, and sends his stronger sons, able soldiers, to relieve them. Their help to us is certain, though not visible : we cannot describe it nor prescribe it, but we feel it in the success ; they preserve us. Against the Syrian band, ' the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire,' 2 Kiugs vi. 17, to defend Elisha. Neither is this all, but to manifest his abundant goodness to mankind : ' What is man, 0 Lord, or the son of man, that thou so' guardest and ' regardest him?' Ps. viii. 4. They are dust, and vanity, and rottenness, yet the Lord sends his glorious angels, his pages of honour, and princes of his court, for theii' messengers and ministers. As if a king should not only give his subject a charter and patent of safe conduct, but also send his own guard to attend him. So the Lord honours us with his own guard-royal through Jesus Christ.

[3.] To enemies; not for their safety, but for the execution of God's judg-♦ ments on them. The huge army of Sennacherib was overthrown by an angel. Indeed they will not the destruction' of any man, further than the justice of God ordains it. But sometimes they are sent out for the protection of the very wicked: so Daniel speaks of the Grecians' angel and of the Persians' angel, Dan. x. The Ptomists allot a particular tutelar angel to every college and corporation ; yea, to the generation of flies, fleas, and ants; yea, to every infidel kingdom such an angel; yea, to antichrist; lastly, even to hell itself Sure then they will not pinch themselves; they appoint to the Pope two principal serapliims, ISIichael and Gabriel, ever attending his person. For that Michael is the chiefest, Victorellus produceth two very equal witnesses, the Iloman liturgy and Tasso's Jerusalem, as a worthy divine observed. To the conclave they assign one special assistant angel. But

methinks, as they ideate their hierarchy, this angel should desire the room, and become a suitor to the Holy Ghost to name him Poioe in the next conclave. For by this means he doth wonderfully enlarge his diocese, having aU the lower world under him, all particidar angels of special societies subject to him; yea, all the archangels and principaUties, officed to several estates, must concur to his guard and assistance.

The truth is, God sometimes allows the help of angels to the very reprobates ; but to this scojie and purpose, 2^opuli sui promovere saliUem, —to further the welfare of his own people. For all the achievements and victories, which come to the heathen by help of angels, are intended not for their good, but the good of the saints. It is for the Son of God's sake they minister to us; and to none do they perfonn these comfortable services but to the elect in Jesus Christ.

2. Thus you see what these angels are; now let us consider how many. 'An innumerable company.' The original is mynades. Myrias is ten thousand, innumerable; a finite number is put for an indefiiaite. ' Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him,' Dan. vii. 10. 'I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands,' Eev. v. 11. Gregory* thinks there are so many angels as there are elect: Siiperna ilia civitas ex angelis et hominibus constat: ad quam tantum credimus humanum genus ascendere, quantos illic contigit electos angelos remansisse. Ut scriptum est; statuit terminos gentium juxta numerum angelorum Dei. So many angels, saith he, as fell from heaven, so many souls shall go up to heaven.

It is a question much disputed, whether, besides the protection of angels in common, every particular man have one particular angel for his guardian. I find many of the fathers allotting every one a particular angel. Isidor. : Singidce gentes prwpositos angelos habere creduntur; imo omnes homines angelos siios. Origen, BasU, Jerome, Chrysostom, Theophylact, Gregory Nyssen, Primasius Justin Martyr, Augustine, most of the schoolmen, and some Protestant divines, all conclude that every man from his birth, or especially from his baptism, hath a particular angel. I will not dispute it, yet I must doubt it; because I see no clear ground in the Scriptures to prove it. The two chief places cited are these: Matt, xviii. 10, 'Despise not these little ones, for their angels behold the face of my Father in heaven.' This place Cajetan and others expound, not that every little one hath a peculiar guardant angel, but omnes omnibus, that all the angels take care of all God's little ones. As the Scripture construes itself: aU the angels rejoice at the conversion of one sinner, Luke xv. 10. The other place is Acts xii. 15. Peter being unexpectedly delivered out of prison, came to Mark's house, where the saints were gathered together. Rhoda hearing his voice, ran in and told them how ' Peter stood at the gate. ' They said to her, Thou art mad : but when she constantly affirmed it, they said. It is his angel.' I answer that the disciples, amazed at the strange report, spake they knew not what. On the like reason, because Peter, transported in beholding Christ transfigured, said, ' Let us build here three tabernacles,' Matt. x\di. 4, some might infer that saints departed dwell in tabernacles. Because the two sons of Zebedee desired to sit one at Christ's right hand, the other on his left in his kingdom. Matt. XX. 21, they might have concluded that Christ was to be a temporal king. Or because the disciples, seeing Jesus walking on the sea, in their troubled minds said, ' It was a spirit,' Matt. xiv. 'IQ, others might prove that * Horn. 34, in Evang.

spirits walk. Omne dictum sancti non est dictum sanctum, — All are not Christian truths that true Christians have spoken. Dicunt errores non ChHstiani, sed homines, —They err not as they are Christians, but as they are men.

But it is objected, that they spake after the common opinion of men in that age. We reply, that in that age it was a common opinion that dead men walked : so it appears by Herod hearing the fame of Jesus, ' This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead,' Matt, xiv, 2. Vox jwpuli is not ever vox Dei, —Common errors are no rules of truth. And if the place were so manifest as they could wish it, why might it not rather be understood thus 1 ' It is his angel,' that is, some angel that God hath sent for his deliverance. Sometimes many men have but one angel; other times one man hath many angels. Esod. xiv. 10, there was but one angel for many people. 2 Kings vi. 17, there were many angels for one man.

As great princes will have their servants attend on him whom they honour, so God commands his angels to wait on them whom he gi-aciously respects. Neither are they properly angels longer than they are so employed. They are always spirits, but not always angels;* as we do not call those messengers that are sent on no message. >St Jerome proves the dignity of the soul by this argument, that every one hath a several angel deputed for his guard from his nativity. Some have gone so far as to affirm that Christ himself, while he lived upon earth, had his tutelar angel; which they ground upon this, that in his agony in the garden ' there appeared an angel from heaven comforting him,' Luke xxii. 43. But others reject it for a paradox, that the God of all should want the guard of one single angel. Bellarmine hath fancied to us that in every kingdom there are two kings, a man and an angel; in every diocese two bishops, a man and an angel; yea, in the Catholic church, without a schism, two popes, the one a visible man, the other an invisible angel. The school is full of such dreams, that each of us hath a bad angel to oppose, as a good to assist; t that at the resurrection, every man's good angel shall gather together the bones of him he guarded.| But these be the fancies of those men that have made themselves a false key to the cabmet of God's secrets. Our knowledge hath two bounds : on the one side the Scripture, on the other side our own modesty; and to us it sufficeth to teach you, that God doth protect us by his angels. Of their protection we are certain; of their number, whether one or more, we may be, with religion enough, uncertain.

Let us now make some uses concerning this discourse of angels. These may be twofold; some for imitation, others for application:—

First, for imitation: there are three things specially to be observed in angels, purencss of substance, readiness of obedience, fervour of charity. These are covertly implied from Psalm civ. 4, ' He maketh his angels spirits, his ministers a flaming fire :' spirits, there is the purity of their substance; ministers, there is the readiness of their obedience ; flame of fire, there is the heat of their charity. Thus were the cherubims of the tabernacle made, figuring these three virtues in the angels. Exod. xxv.: First, they were made of pure gold, ver. 18. This shews the excellency of their substance, for gold is the purest and best of metals. To this God's own word is compared : ' We will make thee borders of gold, with studs of silver,' Cant. i. 11. Secondly, they had two wings stretched out, to witness i)romj)titudiiiem ohedientice: 'Gabriel did fly swiftly,' Dan. ix. 21. Of all creatures the winged are the swiftest. ' Oh that I had wings like a dove ! then would I fly away, and be at rest,' Ps. Iv. G. The most suddenly transient thing, * Gregor. t Maldou. X Suarez.

riches, is compared to a winged creature : ' Riches makes itself wings, like an eagle,' Prov. xxiii. 5. Thirdly, they were made with their faces one towards another, to manifest the tnith of their love; not like proud men, turning away their countenance from their brethren. Lastly, though one were toward another, yet both toward the mercy-seat: beholding him in sight to whom they were beholden in duty.

Thus we see, (1.) That their nature is pure; and this their mansion declares, which is heaven: for ' into it shall enter no unclean thing..' They are shining and smging stars : ' When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy,' Job xxxviii. 7. Heaven, like fire, similem sibi reddit ingredientem, makes that it receives like itself. (2.) That their obedience is ready and swift, their very name imports, angels. A quo dominatio, ah eo denominatio; for a name is given from some supereminent quality. 'He rode upon a cherub, and did fly,' Ps. xviii. 10. (3.) That their charity is great, appears by their busy protecting us, grieving at our falls, rejoicing at our perseverance in good, and helping us forward to salvation. Let us imitate them in four things :—

(1.) In purity. N'othing is more pleasing to God. It hath the blessing of this life, and of the life to come. Of this hfe: ' Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a pure heart,' Ps. Ixxiii. 1. God is good to the whole world with his common benefits, better to Israel with extraordinary blessings, but best of all to the ' pure in heart' with his saving graces. Of the life to come : ' Who shall stand in God's holy place ? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart,' Ps. xxiv. 4. ' Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,' Matt. v. 8. There is no joy like to this beatifical vision; to see God is the height of happiness. But so shall the wicked: ' they shall see him whom they have pierced,' Rev. i. 7. Divines usually distinguish of that sight: ' They shall see the Son of man coming in a cloud,' Luke xxi. 27; they shall see him as a man, not as God; as theh just Judge, not merciful Saviour.

(2.) In piety and obedience; wherein the angels are ready and speedy, resolute and absolute. As they help us to command the creature, so let them teach us to obey the Creator. They fly when God sends them; true obedience hath no lead at its heels. Paul herein was like an angel: having Ms commission, he stood not to 'confer with flesh and blood,' Gal. i. 16. Quantum morce addis, tantum obedientice detraJiis, —So much as a man adds to delay, he takes away from obedience. The truly obedient man doth not procrastinate : Sed statim 23ct)-ai aures auditui, linguam voci, x>edem itineri, manum operi, cor prcecipienti* —He instantly prepareth his ear for the message ; ' Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth,' 1 Sam. iii. 10. His tongue giveth a ready answer to the question, ' Simon, lovest thou me 1 Lord, thou knowest that I love thee,' John xxi. 16. His foot is shod for the journey: 'His feet be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace,' Eph. vi. 15, His hand is fit for the work : 'Abraham stretched forth his hand to slay his son,' Gen. xxii. 10. His heart is pliable to the Commander : Paratum cor, —' O Lord, my heart is ready.'

(3.) In charity. Angels look upon and love one another, and all love us. Lit this teach us to love them and ourselves. Do they seek our peace, and shall we uncharitably war ? It was the angel's song, Luke ii., Pax in terris, • —'Peace upon earth:' war with none but with Antichrist and the devil. The angels have no need of our love; we of theirs. Love we tliat on earth, which shall dwell with us for ever in heaven—charity.

* Bern.

(i.) In humility. Those glorious spirits stoop to do us service; let us not think it bad or base to serve one another in love. No one man can so far exceed another, as the angels excel the best men. Do they abase themselves to our succour; and shall we in a foolish pride scorn our brethren 1 The haughty piece looks on the poor betwixt scorn and anger: ' Touch me not,' I am of purer mould; yet mors dominos servis, blended together in the forgotten grave, none makes the finer dust. We cannot say, Such a lady's rottenness smells sweeter than such a beggar's. Conv down, thou proud spirit; deny not succour to thy distressed brother, lest God deny his high angels to succour thee.

Thus for imitation; now for application, learn we other uses :—

(1.) This is terror to the wicked, who contemn and condemn the righteous. ' Despise not these little ones, for their angels are \ni\x my Father in heaven,' ilatt. xviii. 10. Beware you that scoff at poor innocents, their angels may plague you. They for their parts may be content to put up abuses, and to forgive injuries; but their angels may take vengeance. 'Herod vexed certain of the church, killed James with the sword; and seeing it pleased the Jews, he took Peter also,' Acts xti. 1. They could not help this, but their angels did : for ' an angel of the Lord smote him that he died,' ver. 23. Thou mayest have evasion from the executioners of men, but no protection agamst the officers of God. When they are bidden to strike, they will lay on sure strokes: ' We will destroy this place, for the Lord hath sent us to destroy it,' Gen. xix. 13.

(2.) They teach us devout reverence, so to behave ourselves as in the sight and presence of holy angels. The consideration of so blessed a company doth not only conferre jiduciam, and afferre devotionem, but inferre reveren-tiam, saith Bernard. When to Jacob, in his dream, was presented that ladder, and the ' angels ascending and descending on it,' wakening, he says, ' How fearful is this place ! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven,' Gen. xxviii. 17. Seneca said, that the conceit of Cato and Plato, and such grave men m our company, would restrain us from evil ; but what are these to the holy angels of heaven ? ' We are a spectacle to the angels,' 1 Cor. iv. 9; they arc observers and witnesses of all our actions. ' For this cause the woman ought to have power on her head, because of the angels,' 1 Cor. xi. 10. This is not to be understood of offence only given to the ministers of the church ; but to signify that a Avoman throwing oft" the vaU of modesty, and token of subjection to her husband, doth make even the angels of heaven witnesses of her dissolute contumacy. The angels are present vdth thee, when all men on earth are absent from thee. I ask thee, when thou pollutest the marriage-bed, attemptest a' homicide, plottest a treason, forgcst a writing, wouldest thou then have the angels present with thee, or absent from thee 1 If thou desirest them present, why dost thou offend them by thy turpitudes 1 If absent, thy protectors are gone, and the devils would easily confound thee. Non facias coram angelis Dei, yea, coram, Deo angelorum, —Do not that thing before the angels of God, yea, before the God of angels, which thou wouldest shame to do in the sight and presence of an earthly man.

Yet let us mark here, by the way, that albeit the angels deserve our reverence, yet they desire not our adoration. Indeed, the evil angels request it: it was a special boon which the devil begged of Christ, ' to fall down and worship him,' Matt. iv. 9. But the good refuse it: ' See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow-servant,' saith the angel to kneeling John, Eev. xix. 10. As we usually come too short in our due reverence to the angels, so the Papists

go too far in undue adoration. They have a set prayer for it: Angele Dei, custos mei: me tibi commissum lege superna, semper rege, custodi, guherna. This sacrilegious honour those holy spirits refuse: they take no charge of such superstitious souls. Accipiunt commissum, non arripiunt inconcessum. Honorandi, non adorandi; sunt angeli; —Let them be honoured, but not adored. Love and reverence the angels, only worship God and Jesus Christ.

(3.) This declares to us the excellent company that is in heaven. Were the place less noble and majestical, yet the company it affords is able to make the soul right blessed. We are loath to leave this eai-th for the society of some friends in whom we delight; yet we are all subject to mutual dislikes. Besides the meeting of those good friends again in heaven, there be also glorious angels. There be nothing in them but is amiable, admirable; nothing in possibility of changing our pleasures. There thou shalt see and converse with those ancient worthies, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, fathers of the primitive times, all of them outshining the stars; where our love shall be as eternal as is our glory. There we shall live familiarly in the sight of those angels whom now we receive good from, and see not. Yea, there is the fountain of all felicity—that Saviour of ours^ whose grace only brings us to the blessed vision of the whole Trinity. Neither can there be a higher happiness than the eternal fruition of Jesus Christ. Let this teach us all to bless our God, that hath thus advanced us. Man is corporal dust; oh that this clay of ours should come to dwell with those incorporal spirits! ' We shall be as the angels of God in heaven,' Matt. xsii. 30. Sicut, non ipsi; like angels, though not angels in nature: communicatione spei, non speciei; we have now a communion of hope with them, hereafter of glory. To this place, 0 thou Creator of men and angels, bring us through Jesus Christ!

* To the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven.' Our Apostle hath spoken of the church's glory typically and topically; now he describes it materially. First, the essence of it, what it is; ' the church.' Secondly, the property of it, what kind of church it is; ' general,' or catholic. Thirdly, what are the parts of it, and of whom it consists : ' of the first-bom, written in heaven.'

' The church.' This word is taken in divers significations. For the material temple : 1 Cor. xi. 18, 'When ye come together in the church, I hear there are divisions among you.' For the faithful domestics of one famUy: 1 Cor. xvi. 19, * Aquila and PriscUla salute you, with the church that is in their house.' For the professors of one province ; ' The church of Corinth, of Ephesus,' &c. For some famous company of believers gathered together in one place : 1 Cor. xiv. 4, ' He that prophesieth, edifies the church.' For an ecclesiastical senate or synod : Matt, xviii. 17, ' If he shall neglect to hear them,' die ecdesice, ' tell it unto the church.' For the whole number of the elect: Matt. xvi. 18, ' Upon this rock I will build my church.' Acts V. 11, 'Great fear came upon all the church.' 1 Tim. iii. 15, ' Which is the church of the Uving God, the pillar and ground of truth.' Here first let me premise three circumstances concerning the church:—

1. Though it be a ' general assembly,' yet it is but one. ' There be threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number: but my dove, my undefiled is but one : she is the only one of her mother,' Cant. vi. 8. Indeed, there be two parts of this one church: triumphant m heaven, and militant on earth. The triumphant part is a company of justified spirits, triumphing over the flesh, world, and devil; spirits, I say, for

bodies are not yet ascended.* They have two happy privileges :—(1.) To rejoice in the conquest over sin and death. The most righteous man living is i?i 2^?'ce?ia, in a continual warfare; but so are the other, for St John saith, ' There was war in heaven/ Rev. xii. 7. This must be understood of heaven on earth, where there is no truce with Satan: Pax cum Deo, helium cum diaholo, —We have peace Avith God, but on this condition, that war with the devil. Therefore so run the promises : Vincenti dahitur, —' To him that overcometh' shall be given palms, Rev. vii. 9, to shew that they had been warriors, are now conquerors. (2.) To praise God continually, and to sing 'Amen; Blessing and glory, thanksgiving and honour, be unto God for ever and ever!' The militant part is a company of men living under the cross, and desiring to be with Christ. They suffer, and this is their way to glory; ' through much tribulation entering into the kingdom of God,' Acts xiv. 22. They desire dissolution, being ' willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord,' 2 Cor. v. 8. Not simply and absolutely desiring death ; but first that they might leave sinning, and so cease to displease God, and then to come nearer to their blessed Saviour, whose love hath ravished their hearts. Now this militant church may have many parts : as the ocean-sea is but one, yet distinguished according to the regions upon which it lies; so there is the Spanish Ocean, the English Ocean, the German Ocean. There is a church in England, a church in France, a church in Germany: yet there is but one militant church. Multce ecclesice, una ecclesia, saith St Augustine. One sun, many beams; one kingdom, many shires; one tree, many branches.

2. We must note that Christ alone is head of his church, and can have no other partner to share with him in this dignity. ' Jesus Christ is the corner stone, in whom all the building, fitly framed together, grows unto a holy temple in the Lord,' Eph. ii. 2L He doth not only by his authority govern it, but also by his grace quicken it; so that we live not, but Christ liveth in us. ' Let us hold the head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, increaseth with the increase of God,' Col. ii. 19. He requires no deputy, he needs none; for 'wheresoever ye are gathered together in my name, I am in the midst of you,' Matt. x\Tii. 20. Now every commission ceaseth in the presence of him that gives it.

It is therefore as great arrogancy in the Pope to call himself caput ecclesice, head of the church, as for a subject to keep himself in commission in the presence of the king. But they distinguish of heads: there is a principal, and a ministerial head. Christ is not so weak in himself, or so respectless of us, as to need any ministerial head. Indeed there be heads inaterialitev, who are no other than principal members. So Saul was called ' head of the tribesj' 'Thou hast made me the head of the heathen,' Ps. xviii. 43; 'the Tachmonite, head of the captains,' 2 Sam. xxiii. 8; ' Jozabad, head of the Levites,' Neh. xi. 16. The eldest was called head of the family: 'These be the heads of their fathers' houses,' Exod. \i. 14. But there is a head for-mcditer, to give sense, motion, virtue, governance: this none but only Christ. 3. We must know that there is no salvation out of this church ; such as never become members of it must eternally perish: they that are true members shall be saved. ' If they had been of us, they would have continued Avith us: but they went out from us, that it might be manifest they were not of us,' 1 John ii. 19. 'Without are dogs and scorners,' &.C., Rev. xxii. 15. All out of the ark perished in the waters. ' The Lord added to the church

* Except our Saviour'.s, and the bodies of Enoch and Elias, and of those saints that rose at Christ's resurrection, of which yet many divines doubt.

daily such as should be saved,' Acts ii. 47. First, because there are no means of salvation out of it; no word to teach, no sacraments to confirm. And especially because out of the church there is no Christ,, and out of Christ no salvation. Who have not the church their mother, cannot have God their father. This teacheth us to honour our mother, and like little children to hang at her breasts for our sustenance : ' Suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory,' Isa. Ixvi. 11. Run not to strange nurses for poison, when you may have pure millc of your own mother. * Desire, like babes, that sincere milk of the gospel, that you may grow by it,' 1 Pet. ii. 2. Qualis niitritio, talis complexio, —The complexion of your manners, the disposition of your lives, will witness whose children you are.

' The general assembly.' This is the property of the church; ' general.' It is cathoUc in three respects: of time, of persons, of place. Of time; because the church had a being in all ages, ever since the promise was given to our first parents in paradise. If there had been a time when no church had been on earth, the world should have then perished, for it stands for the elect's sake. Of persons ; for it consists of all degrees and sorts of men, rich and poor, princes and subjects, bond and free. There is no order nor state excluded, if they exclude not themselves. ' Christ is the propitiation for our sins,' 1 John ii. 1. He may be so indeed for the sins of John and the disciples, but how appears it for mine ? Yes; ' not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world,' ver. 2, every condition of believers. Of place; it is gathered from all parts of the earth, especially under the new testament : ' Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world,' Matt, xxvi. 13. When Christ gave his apostles their commission, he gave also the whole world for their parish, ' Go teach all nations, and baptize,' &c., Matt, xxviii. 19.

Thus we see the property of this church, catholic or general. It is one, but not tied to one time, nor one place, nor one person; it is catholic to all times, to aU places, to all persons. Augustine says that the Donatists in his days would have tied the church to Cartenna in Africa; as the Papists in our days to Rome in Italy. How is it then a general assembly 1 Thus that antichristian rabble, which have almost nothing in their mouths but ' The church, the church,' yet do mostly infringe the liberties of the church, and hedge it in. All of them have made the cathohc church to be nothing else but the Roman church; and some of them the Roman church to be nothing else but the Pope. So in effect, Fajm virtualiter est tota ecdesia, say they. The Anabaptists imagined a church like the tick, all body and no head; the Papists have made a church like the toadstool, all head and no body. What a monster is their Pope, that will be all in all; eye and tongue, body and head, and tail too ! As Caligula took oflf the head of Jupiter, and set on another of his own; so they have smitten off Christ's headship, and set on the Pope's. Let them take their imaginary head; say we only to Christ, ' Whom have we in heaven but thee ? and on earth none besides thee.' Our dependence be for ever on our Head, the Lord Jesus.

Before I leave this point, I desire to express two things—one for distinction, the other for instruction. First, for distinction, bet^vixt this general assembly and particular churches; then for instruction, to shew who be true members of this cathohc church,

1, The main difference between them consists in this : that the cathohc church is always invisible, the members thereof only known to God ; particular churches are sometimes invisible, and lying hid; other times manifest

in the open profession of Christ's name. As the moon is eftsoons eclipsed or clouded, and often shhieth in the full.

(1.) It lies hid through want of the word preached, and public administration of the sacraments. So it was in the days of Elias, when he wished to die : 'I only am left,' 1 Kings xix. 14. Strange apostasy, when so notable a prophet could not discern the church ! Yet, ver. 18, ' I have left seven thousand, that never bowed their knees to Baal.' So it was in the reign of Asa: ' For a long season Israel hath been without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without the law,' 2 Chron. xv. 3. The Papists demand where our church was before the days of Luther. We answer, that a universal apostasy was over the face of the world, the true church was not then A-isible ; but the grain of truth lay hid under a great heap of Popish chaff But this invisibility doth not prove a nuUity. They cannot impugn the antiquity of our church, unless they convince themselves. For the church of England holds no other doctrine than that the church of Rome primarily did hold, jind that which St Paul delivered to them in sacred writing : ' Justification only by the blood of Christ.' If they be fallen from this, who can blame us for falling from them ? It was high time to leave them, when they left the Lord Jesus. So long as we preserve the truth's antiquity, we must smile at thek fond objection of novelty. The church of God is catholic, not Roman Catholic ; that is just as foolish a phrase as the byword of' Kent and Christendom.' Particular and universal are contradictories. If we have anything from them that they had from God, it is our blessing that we have kept it, their woe that they have lost it. Esau's blessing and birthright is lost to himself and given unto Jacob. They have not so much reason to boast, as we to rejoice.

Our church had a substantial being before, but hath gotten a better being by the repurgation of the gospel, which is maintained by our CJhristian princes, justly styled ' defenders of the ancient faith.' It was God's floor before, though fiiU of chaff; but now since * he that hath his fan in his hand,' Matt, iii. 12, hath purged it, it is clearer in show and substance. It was before a wedge of pure gold, but usurped by the hands of impostors, that by their mixtures and sophistications, for gain and sinister respects, augmented it into a huge body and mass. It had the tincture of gold still, but mingled with the dross of traditions, superstitions, will-worships. You ask where was the gold; shew us the place. We answer, it was in that mass; now for extracting and purifymg it from the dross, God gave us the touchstone of his word, which made it sound, and manifests it to be sound. The Lord doth not then forsake his : the time was that the whole world seemed to groan factum se videns Arianiim, —beholding itself made Arian; yet God had his number. Sardis is said to be dead: ' Thou hast a name that thou livest, but thou art dead,' Rev. iii. 1; yet there be a ' few names in Sardis which have not defiled their garments,' ver. 4. When ordinary means faU, by extraordinary the Lord gathers his elect. The Israelites in the wilderness wanted both circumcision and passover, yet God made supply by manna and the pillar of the cloud.

(2.) A church is visible when it flourisheth : not that the faith and secret election of men is seen, but there are apparent signs, by frequenting the sanctuary, and submitting themselves to the ministry of the word. Now this visible church is a mixed company of men professing the faith. I caU it mixed, for in it are both believers and hy^wcrites, com and tares; it is a band of men where be some valiant soldiers and many cowards. It is called a church from the better, not from the greater part. The ungodly, though

tliey are in the cliurcli, are not of the church; as the superfluous humours in the veins are not parts of the body, but rather the sickness of it. These profess vem7n Jidevi, sed non vere, —the true faith, but not truly. Hence it appears that there be two sorts of members in the church: members before God, such as beside the outward profession, keep a * pure heart, a good conscience, and faith unfeigned;' members before men, such as have only the colour and husk of religion, in heart ' denying the power of godliness.' Yet these are by us to be esteemed members, according to the rule of charity judging the best.

2. Now for instruction; what I have to say consists in the exammation of two points. First, whether the church of England be a part of this catholic church; then next, whether the church of Rome have the same prerogative.

For ourselves; the most infallible mark of the true church is the right ministration of the sacraments, and sincere preaching the true doctrine of the gospel. That is the true mother and spouse of Christ that brings forth children to him, ' of immortal seed, by the word of God which abideth for ever,' 1 Pet. i. 23; not of traditions, miracles, dreams, but of this ' incorruptible seed.' And when they are born anew, feeds them with sincere milk out of her two breasts, the two testaments. This you know in your consciences to be true in our mother : she doth not give us pro lade venenum, but milk; even the same that Christ himself put into her breasts. When we grow strong she gives us meat, not bones; troubles us not with the subtleties of the schools, that have 2^hts argutiarum quam doctrince, plus doctrinoe quam usus, but quod accepit d, Domino, what she hath received of the Lord, neither more nor less, but just weight. She doth not say, Hcec dicit Papa ; but, Hcec dicit Dominus, —not, Thus saith the Pope in his decretals; but, Thus saith the Lord in his Scriptures. She doth ' say the truth in Christ, and lieth not, her conscience bearing her witness in the Holy Ghost,' Rom. ix. 1. She doth not sophisticate truth, not mingle wine with water, not daub the walls of God's house with untempered mortar, not buUd upon the foundation straw and stubble, not adulterate the word, like a lustful man, whose end is not to increase mankind, but to satisfy concupiscence. Oh, then, let us hang upon her lips that preserves this true knowledge, and say with Peter,' Lord, to whom should we go ? thou hast the words of eternal life !' John vi. 68.

Thus we have proved the truth of our church by Scripture; but our adversaries oppose the sufficiency of this proof by disabling the Scriptures. They say we cannot know Scripture to be Scripture but by the testimony of the church. It is false, for the witness of man, subject to error, is nothing to the testimony of God, that cannot err. Therefore the Scripture is called the ' testimony,' Isa. viii. 20, because it bears witness to itself. Besides, the church hath her beginning from the word, for there can be no church without faith, no faith without the word, no word without the Scriptures. So the church depends on the Scripture, not the Scripture on the church. The lawyer, that hath only power to expound the law, is under the law. But they object, that 'faith comes by hearing,' Rom. x. 17, and hearing by the voice of the church. Paul intends there, not that general faith whereby we believe Scripture to be Scripture, but that justifying faith whereby we attain salvation. And this comes by the voice of the church, not of itself, but as it is the ministry of God's word. John is but vox clamantis; Christ is verhum damans. Particular churches have erred; therefore the best security from error is in the Scriptures.

This is a Lesbian rule, able to decide all controversies; and it is vitio

hominum, by the fault of bad interpreters, that it doth not. For whether aliorum incuria, that despise it, or aliorum injuria, that pervert it, it suffers martyrdom, and may not be heard declare itself. The Papist, in expounding Scripture after his own fancy, makes himself judge, not the Scripture. But all their drift is with God's loss to promove the Pope's gain. He must be judge; yea, he shaU be an unerring judge. Yet, if the Pope have this infallibility, I wonder what need there is of councils. Here they fly to distinctions as to famihar spirits. The Pope may err argumentative, not definitive, —in his chamber, not in his chair; p^rsonaliter, non formaliter, — as man, not as Pope. How prove they such an exposition of the Scripture 1 Here they fly to the Pope; he so expounds it. How prove they the Pope cannot err? Here straight they fly back again to'Scripture: ' Peter, I have prayed for thee that thy faith shall not fail.' These hang together like a sick man's dream. Insequeris ? fur/io. Fugis ? inseqicor. Yet thus they conclude against their own wills; whUst they only prove the Pope by the Scripture, spite of their teeth they prefer the Scripture above the Pope.

If this be so, that the truth of the gospel being professed, believed, obeyed among us, manifest us against all adversaries to be true members of this general assembly, then two subordinate questions offer themselves collaterally here to be handled. First, Whether corrupters of our truth, and disturbers of our peace, are to be tolerated ? Secondly, ^Vhether for some corruptions of doctrine, or vices in manners, it be lawful for any of us to make separation from us 1

(1.) Seditious and pestilent seedsmen of heresies are to be restrained. If 'a little leaven sour the whole lump,' what will a little poison do? If Paul to his Galatians could not endure Christ and Moses together. Gal. v. 9 ; how would he to his Corinthians endure Christ and Belial together ? 2 Cor. vi. 14. He sticks not to ingeminate anathemas to them that preached another gospel. The Papists cry out against us for persecution; they that shame not to belie the Scriptures, will not blush to belie us. Their prosperity, their riches, their number among us, directly prove that a man may be a Papist in England, and live. ' But if their religion turn to treason, shall it scape unpunished ? A Papist may live, a traitor may not live. To persuade that a Christian king at the Pope's will may, yea, must, be decrowned or murdered: is this the voice of religion, or treason ? If this be conscience, there is no villany; if such an act merit heaven, let no man fear hell. I would ask a Papist, whether he be not bound by his religion to execute the Pope's doctrinal will; whether if he bid him kill his king, he may refrain from that sacred blood, and not sin. If he refuse treason, he is not constant to his religion; if he keep his religion, he must not stick at any act of treason. So that who knows whether this day a mere Papist may not, on the Pope's command, to-morrow be a traitor ?

But say they, ' This is a supposition as likely as if heaven should fall: the Pope will never command it.' I answer, that popes have commanded it. ' But we hope his present holiness -will not' We were in a piteous case if our •security was no better than your hope. God bless our gracious sovereign from ever standing at the Pope's mercy! Why should such seminaries of heresy, and incendiaries of conspiracy, be suffered ? What atonement '■' of affection can there be in such disparity of religion, when some cry, God help us ! others, Baal hear us ! They to angels and saints, we to the Lord that made heaven and earth. But the event hath often proved which of these could best hear prayers. As in that memorable fight on the Levant * That is, at-one-ness, or agreement,— Ed.

seaSj of fiv£ Englisli sMps against eleven Spanish; tliey crying for ^ictory to our Lady, we to our Lord : it seems the Son heard better than the mother, for the victory was ours. The commonwealth that stands upon legs partly of iron and partly of clay is never sure. One womb held Romulus and Eemus in peace; one kingdom could not contain them.

But every man's mind is as free as the emperor's. Conscience is a castle, and there is nothing so voluntary as religion: faith comes by persuasion, not by compulsion. Yield all this; and say with Tertullian, Nihil minus fidei est, quam fidem cogere. And with Bernard, Suspendite verhera, ostendite libera. Make a man in error rather blush than bleed. But if they break the foundation, Hon ferendi, sed feriendi. First speak to the conscience by good counsel; but if that ear be stopped, shake the whole house about it. Si^eak to the ears of the inheritance, of the liberty, of the body; by mulct, by prison, by exile. Let the liberty say to the conscience, For' thy sake I am restrained; let the inheritance say, For thy sake I am impoverished; let the body say, For thy sake I am afflicted. But because heresy dies not with the particular person, but kUls also others, and centum inficit, dum unum interficit; and because it strikes at the life of a Christian, that is, his faith,—' for the just shall live by his faith;'— therefore pereat unus, p)oti^is quam unitas. Hoeretici corrigendi ne pereant, reprimendi ne perimant^^ —Heretics are to be corrected, lest they damn themselves; to be restrained, lest they damn others. Fersecutio facit onartyres, hceresis a2)ostatas : p>lus nocuerzmt horum togce, quam iUoruvi galece,-\ —Persecution made martyrs, heresy makes apostates: the heretics' words have done more hurt than the tyrants' swords. Aperte saivit p)ersecutor ut Leo ; hcereticus insidiatur ut Draco. Ille negare Christum cogit, iste docet. Ad-versus ilium opus p)citientia, adversiis istum ojytis vigilantia; —The persecutor rageth like a lion, the heretic insinuates himself like a serpent. To deny Christ he compels, this man instructs. Against the former we have need of patience, against the latter of vigilance.

Excommunication, bondage, exile have been thought fit punishments for heretics; fire and faggot is not God's law, but the Pope's canon-shot.:[ A heretic dying in his heresy cannot be saved; therefore Luther thinks, he that puts a heretic to death is a double murderer : destroying his body with death temporal, Ms soul with death eternal. But saith AugTistine, Diligite homines, interficite errores, —Love the persons, kill the errors. Presume on the truth without pride, strive for it without rage. Severitas, quasi sceva Veritas, —But verity and severity do not agree. Fire and sword may put to death heretics, but not heresies. See here the difierence betwixt the Papists' proceedings against us, and ours against them. They die not among us for refusing our faith; but us they burned, not for denying any article of faith, but for not believing transubstantiation: so strange an article that Bellarmine himself doubts whether it may be proved from Scripture or no, but that the church hath declared it so to be. But though faith be above reason, yet it is not against reason. ' This is my body,' saith Christ. Hoc, 'This bread:' this pronoun demonstrative they will have to demonstrate nothing. Hoc cdiquid nihil est. How then 1 this nothing is my body : not this bread, but this nothing. Others will have something demonstrated to the understanding, nothing to the senses. Some will have a demonstration to the senses, nothing to the understanding; some partly to both. Others expound it, ' This body;' then it is thus, 'This body is my body :' others say it is individuum vagum. But quod midtipliciter exponitur, communiter

* Tertul. f Aug. J A play upon ' canon' and ' cannon.'— Ed.

ignoratur, —tliat which is so variously expounded is generally unknown. The most judicious among them cannot explicate it.

* Corpore de Christi lis est, de sanguine lis est: Deque modo lis est, non habitura modum.'

What damnable cruelty then was it in them to burn silly women for not understanding this their inexplicable mystery ! Those gunpowder divines condemned others to the fire for not knowing that which they never knew themselves. We teach such erring souls to be corrected, that they may be converted, not be confounded; excommunicated, ' for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus,' 1 Cor. v. 5.

(2.) Whether a separation may be justly made from our church for some errors or corruptions of life 1 I know that divers, who were once among us, never of us, have put out their own lights, indeed excommunicated themselves. What is their plea 1 That our assemblies are full of enormities. I answer, that the defects and corrui)tions of a church must be distinguished : they are either in doctrme or in manners. For doctrine; some errors are citra fundamentum, some circa funclamentum, others contra funclamentum. Errors beside the foundation trouble, errors cd>out the foundation shake, errors against the foundation overturn all. So long then as no foundation is harmed, it is not lawful to depart: until the church separate from Christ, we must not separate from it. In two cases there is warrant of separation. First, when the substance of God's worship is quite corrupted : ' What agreement hath the temple of God with idols?' 2 Cor. vi. 16 ; when this is, ver. 17, ' Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord.' When Jeroboam had set up idols in Israel, ' the priests and the Levites left their suburbs and possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem,' 2 Chron. xi. 14. Secondly, when the substance of doctrine is quite corrupted : ' If any man consent not to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness,' &c., 1 Tim. vi. 3; ' from such withdraw thyself,' ver. 5. Paul in the synagogue at Ephesus preached for the space of three months together; ' but when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake e\T.l of that way, he departed from them, and separated the disciples,' Acts xix. 9. In these two cases lawful, not else.

For corruption in manners; they make not mdlam ecclesiam, seel mcdam ec-clesiam, —not no church, but a bad church. Wicked scribes sitting in Moses's chair, and teachmg the things he wrote, must be heard : ' Whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not after their works,' Matt. xxiii. 3. Separate from their private society, not from the public assembly. But they charge us, that we deny Christ. I answer, Denial of Christ is double, either in judgment or in fact. Denial of Christ in judgment makes a Christian no Christian; denial in fact, the judgment being sound, makes liim not no Christian, but an evil Christian. When the Jews had crucified the Lord of life, they remained still a church, if thei'e were any on the face of the earth ; and Jenisalem was still called the ' holy city,' Matt, xxvii. 53. To them belonged ' the promise, and to their children,' Acts ii. 39. * To them pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants,' Rom. ix. 4. I would to God this bloody issue were stanched ; but what age hath not complained it? This mischief is intestine. Amara 2)ersecutio in cruore martyrum, amarior in 2)ugna hcvreticorum, amarissima in malis morihus domesticorum, —The persecution of tyrants was bitter; the poison of heretics more bitter; but the evil lives of Christians most bitter of all. ' Many VOL. II. 2 L

walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ,' PhU. iii. 18. Whereupon saith Augustine, How comes that great champion to fall a-weeping ] Could he endure ' stripes above measure, j)risons frequent, shipwrecks, perils by sea and land, among enemies, among false brethren, hunger, thirst, cold, weariness, pain-fulness V 2 Cor. xi. 24. ' Did he fight with beasts after the manner of men V 1 Cor. XV. 32. Was he rapt up among the angels ? Did he bear all these miseries? was he honoiu'ed with all these mercies'? and now does he weep? Yes, sin and sensuahty were crept into the church; and this made that undaunted spirit fall a-weeping. Fax a paganis, pax ab hcereticis, nulla 2)ChX d falsis filiis, —We have quiet from the pagans, quiet from heretics, but no quiet from wicked and exorbitant professors. Our greatest enemies are they of our own house. Lord Jesus, heal this plague !

Now we have proved and approved the truth of our own church at home, let us examine whether the church of Rome be also a true member of this catholic assembly. Errors that annihilate a church are of two sorts: some weakening, others destroying the foundation. Weakening error is the building of ' hay and stubble on the foundation,' 1 Cor. iii. 12 : the stubble burnt, their souls may be saved, ver. 15. A man breaks down the windows of his house, the house stands, though defaced; he pulls down the lead or tiles, the house stands, though uncovered; he beats down the walls, the house stands, though deformed; he plucks up the foundation, the house falls, and ceaseth to be a house. Those which destroy the foundation are the overthrowing errors; by them a church ceaseth to be a church. Yet if an error be against the foundation, we are to consider the persons, whether they err of malice or of weakness. If of malice, like ' Jannes and Jambres, that withstood Moses, resisting the tnith,' 2 Tim. iii. 8, it is no longer a church. But if of weakness, we must not so peremptorily conclude; for Paul writes to the Galatians as a church of God, though they were perverted to another doctrine, embracing a fundamental error of justification by works. The church of Rome doth wilfully and obstinately destroy the foundation, therefore may be concluded for no chiircL If they will be justified by the works of the law, they are fallen from grace.

Let us hear how they quit themselves. First, they would do it by retorting all this back upon us : they teU us flatly that we are no church, and thus they prove it. They say we have no bishops, so no ministers, so no sacraments, thei'efore no church. Here they clap their wings, and crow. Victory, victory ! As ' Manasseh against Ephraim, and Ephraim against Manasseh, and both against Judah,' Isa. ix. 21; so they have set our brothers against vis, us against our brothers, Papists against us all. Behold the exigent we are in : the Papists say we have no ministers, because they are not made by bishops; the Puritans say we have no ministers, because they are made by bishops. Which of these speak true ? Neither. First to answer the Puritan : Bishops may make ministers. Paul chargeth Timothy to 'lay hands suddenly on no man,' 1 Tim, v. 22; therefore he may lay hands on some. To Titus : ' For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest ordain elders in every city,' Titus i, 5. Now we have true bishops; therefore, in God's name, aUow us to have true ministers. For the Romanists, that teU us we have none of these; how strangely do they beUe us and themselves! Oportet mendacem esse memorem. Have they forgot their obrayding* us that we have all our episcopal rites from them? aU our ministerial orders from them ? If we have it from them, then we have it. * That is, upbraiding.— Ed.

They are Bristo's own words in his Motives : ' The Protestants are apes of the Papists, the communion-book is made altogether out of the mass-book.' Why, then, do they not communicate with us ? It is not for conscience, but for malice. Let it be granted that we have this from them ; but then they must grant withal that Jacob, by God's disposing, hath gotten Esau's birthright. So the Israelites were fain to go to the Philistines to sharpen their scythes. We abhor not episcopal ordinations, but papal. Our substance fi-om them ; their circumstances to themselves : Fapcdes ordinationes sunt fcedce nundinationes. We have theii' gold, they have left themselves nothing but tinkers' metal. Let them keep their OAvn, give us ours.

But further, they object the continuance of their succession. We answer, the succession of person is notlimg worth, without the succession of doctrine; which they want. If it ■\\'ere by us granted, what never shall be by them proved, that Peter is succeeded by the Pope; yet as Matthias succeeding Judas was never the worse, so the Pope succeeding Peter is never the better. Periit dignitas cathedne cum veritate doctrince. But they say that m the Roman church, baptism is rightly, for the substance of it, administered ; therefore it is a true church. Indeed they have the outward washing, but quite overthrown the inward; which stands in justification by the imputed righteousness of Christ. But the Samaritans had circumcision, yet were they not a true church. Baptism, severed from the preaching of the gospel, is of no more force than a seal when it is plucked off from the indenture. Indeed truly, though they have baptism, yet it belongs not to them, but to a hidden church among them. For doubtless God hath his chosen and sealed number in the midst of those apostates; as the light in the lantern belongs not properly to the lantern, but to the passenger. That sacrament in the assembly of Rome is like a true man's purse in a thief's hand : it no more proves them a true church, than that pu.rse proves the thief a true man. The Lord, of his goodness, that hath given them the sign of the grace, give them also the gi-ace of the sign—true washing away of their sins in the blood of Christ!

Some have objected, and they seem to be kind friends to Rome, that Antichrist must sit in the temple—that is, the church; therefore this sitting of Antichrist in Rome proves them to be a true church. But I am sure, by this argument, what they get in the hundred they lose in the shire : they may put these gains m their eye. I hope they will not confess their Pope Antichrist, to have us grant them a true church. Therefore some of them have affirmed, Hominem non Christianum posse esse Eomanum 2iontiJicem. And would not he be a strange head of Christ's church that is not a true member of Christ's body? But, howsoever, their argument holds not ; for it is one thing to be in the church, another thing to be of the church. Antichrist sits in that place, not as a member of the church, but as a usurper. So the pirate sits in the merchant's ship, yet hath no right to it. All that can be proved hereby is, that among the Papists there is a hidden church, in the midst whereof Antichrist domineereth, but hath no part of salvation in it. What cause then have we to bless our God, that hath brought us from Babylon to Jerusalem, out of darkness into his marvellous light, from the Romish synagogue to the ' general assembly and church of the first-born which are written in heaven !' And the Lord, of his mercy, preserve us in it for ever and ever !

To conclude ; there be diverse censures of the Roman church. Some say it is no church, but ceqicivoce, as the picture of a man is called a man, or a painted fire, a fire. It is no more a church than the carcase of a dead man, that

Lath on a living man's garments, is a living man, look it never so like liim. These look upon it oculo vevo, sed severo, —with a true but a sharp eye. Others say. It is non sanum 7nemhrum, sed memhrum, —It is not a sound member, but a member. It hath scriptures, but corrupted \^dth traditions ; but indeed they have changed the native sense, and so are lanterns that shew light to others, none to themselves. They have the articles of the Creed, and make the same general confession of faith, yet overthrow all this another way. Herein they are like a fond fiither, that with much indulgence tenders the body of his child, would not suffer the cold wind to blow upon him, yet by secret conveyances inwardly infects the heart and destroys him. Thus they say it is still a member, still a church, as a brain-sick man is a man. The Roman assembly is vere ecclesia, sed non vera ecdesia, —truly a church, but not a true church. A leprous man is a man ; adidtera uxor, tamen uxor est, —an adulterous wife is still a wife. So Duraeus: In Papain est ecclesia, et Papatiis non est ecclesia: tit ecclesia, Dei; iit Papalis, diaholi, —In Popery is a church, yet Popery is not the church : as it is a church, it is of God ; as Popish, of the devil. It is incurata ecclesia, —an incurable church, that ' hates to be reformed/ therefore no church. ' We would have cured Babel, but she would not be cured.' She hath a^jostated into treason, clipped Regiam monetam, the great King's coin, the word of God : turned that pure gold into sophisticate alchymy; i^rayer to Christ into invocation of saints. These men conclude, that it is not a body diseased, and full of wounds, that hath the throat cut, yet with some life and breath remaining, but a rotten and dead carcase, void of spiritual life. It hath blended Judaism and Paganism together with Christianity, and so swelled u]d a superstitious worship of God ; therefore no church.

For my part I judge not: God reserves to himself three things—the revenge of injuries, the glory of deeds, the judgment of secrets. I wiU not judge, but like a witness give in my testimony. And here qui bene distin-guit, bene docet* —the best construction is that whicli inclines to charity; that is, there is no probable salvation in the church of Rome. Infants dying before they come to these errors, I believe saved; for others, nescio quid dicere, —I know not what to say. They have damnable heresies, as that of free-wUl, of merits, &c., yet the persons that of weakness defend them may be saved. God pardons even wilful errors if they be truly repented. Therefore I believe that many of our fathers went to heaven, though through blindness. Now indeed they are more inexcusable, because our sound is gone out among them. There are seducentes and seducti: the wilful blind lead the woeful blind, until both fall into the ditch. If they will not see, there is no help, no hope. If simple ignorance mislead, there is hope of return ; but if affected, it is most wretched. Our office is to help them with our prayers; and let us pray for them as Paul did for his Ephesians, ' That the eyes of their understanding being enlightened, they may know what is the hope of God's calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance is in the saints,' Eph. i. 18. Many of them have ready hearts, but they want eyes; we have open eyes, God grant us ready hearts !

' The first-born which are written in heaven.' This is a description of the persons of whom the church consists. The church itself is a number of men, which God hath set apart by an eternal decree, and in time sanctified to become real members of it. They are ' written in heaven,' there is their eternal election j and they are ' the first-born,' that is new-born, there is their sanctification. For the two parts of the description, their primogeniture; and

* Zauch.

registering in God's book, are but borrowed speeches, whereby God would ratify the everlasting predestination and salvation of his church ; that as the first-born is not to be defeated of his inheritance, and the enrolled names are never to be obliterated, so certainly shall they inherit eternal life.

' The first-born.' Some understand by the first-born not all the elect, but only the patriarchs and such ancient saints, the noble and primitive parts of the church.* Then this should have been referred only to the church triumphant in heaven; but the catholic church is here expressly meant, which comprehends also the saints upon earth : therefore they also are first-born. Besides, they are said to be ' written in heaven,' which had been a superfluous speech of those who are already in heaven. They that are there need no writing. Unusquisque electus est 2>)"imogenitus.

But this seems to infringe the primogeniture of Christ, to whom the name is by special title and right given. Primogemtus intei- multos fratres, saith Paul,—He is the ' first-begotten among many brethren,' Rom. viii. 29; primogenitus universce a-eatmxe, the 'first-born of every creature,' Col. i. 15; lirimogenitus mortuonim, the 'first-born from the dead,'ver. 18. He is the first-born, as he is the Son of God, and as he is man. As he is the Son of God: in respect of time, before all things, the beginning of all; in respect of dignity, becaiise he is the foundation of all good to his church. ' Of his fulness have we aU received, and grace for grace,' John i. 16. As he is man, he is the first-born; not in respect of time, but of excellency and virtue. In respect of his miraculous conception; the first that ever was conceived without sin, and 'by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost,' Luke i. 35. In respect of his birth, he was the first-bom of Mary: ' She brought forth her first-born son, and called his name Jesus,' Matt. i. 25. In respect of his resurrection; when God raised him out of the grave, he is said to beget his Son: ' Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee,' Ps. ii. 7. And lest the interpretation of birth only should be deduced from that place, St Paul expressly applies it to his resurrection: Acts xiiL 33, ' God raised up Jesus again, as it is written in the second psalm. Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.' Lastly, in respect of his pre-emmence: ' He is the first-born from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence,' Col. i. 18. So the privilege of primogeniture is singularly and individually his.

How, then, are the faithful here called the first-born 1 To answer this, we must know that God hath sons by nature and by grace. Christ by nature only; all the elect by grace. Christ is a son begotten, not made; we are sons made, not begotten in respect of nature. Christ as God is begotten, not born; as man he is born, not begotten. We see the privilege of Christ's primogeniture: from his let us look to ours, for from him we have it. The elect are called first-born in three respects:—

1. Because they are united to the First-born: ' For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one : for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,' Heb. ii. 11. He that is made units cum i^rimogenito may be well cdW&d 'primogenitus, —one with the First-born is a first-born.

2. Because they are culled and called out of the world. Many wicked are created before them, but they are elected in God's decree to life before the other; for the wicked are not chosen at aU. Esau was Isaacs first-born, but Jacob was God's first-born. ^lany of the world's first-born have been rejected : ' Israel laid his right hand upon Ephraim, the younger, and his left upon Manasseh, the elder,' Gen. xlviii. 17; ' lleuben, thou art my first-born;

* Calvin.

but thou slialt not be excellent/ chap. xlix. 4. Cain, Adam's first-born; Ishmael, Abraham's first-born, were cast off. ' Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my first-born,' Esod. iv. 22. The Lord had first chosen that nation to be his people, yet afterward rejected them, and accepted the Gentiles; so that ' the elder serve the younger.' But God's first-born are never refused: whom he hath predestinated to be sons, he hath also called to be heirs. So that this primogeniture is not in respect of generation, but of regeneration. Though they be not primo conditi, they are primo reconditi. ' Flesh and blood hath no work in this birth, nor the will of man, but the will of God,' John i. 13; 'Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a land of first-fruits of his creatures,' James i. 18. The Spirit begets of immortal seed, grace, in the womb of the church; the means of this birth being the word: ' Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,' John iii. 3. Out of that universal apostasy, God sent his Son to beget some first-born to himself.

3. Because the privileges of the first-born are theirs. These were many, as we may find in allusion to the law:—

(1.) The excellency of strength : ' Reuben, my first-born, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power,' Gen. xlix. 3. Man decays, and the children of age are not so strong as the children of youth; therefore the first-born are called the ' beginning of l^ower,' and the ' excellency of strength.' True it is, that there is no decay in God's Spirit that begets : yet because the faithful are first in God's intention of favour, and he gives them that strength of grace to resist sin and to serve him which the world hath not; therefore they are called his first-born, the excellency of his power. Though we be weak in ourselves, yet his strength is glorified in our weakness, his ' grace is sufficient for us,' 2 Cor. xii. 9.

(2.) The name of the family was given to the first-born : ' Is not my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin?' saith Saul, 1 Sam. ix. 21. Gilead made his whole family to be called Gileadites. For further exemplifying of this privilege, read Num. xxvi, 23-52. Is this dignity lost under the gospel to the first-born in Christ 1 No, for even the wicked dwelling among the righteous, are for their sakes vouchsafed the name of Christians. The name of the first-born hath christened all the family.

(3.) Priesthood and the right to sacrifice : ' Moses sent twelve young men, according to the twelve tribes of Israel, to offer burnt-offerings, and sacrifice peace-offerings unto the Lord,' Exod. xxiv. 5. Those young men are thought to be no other but twelve of the first-born of the chief of the tribes; to whom the right of sacrificing and priesthood did belong, till the Levites were separated for that end : ' Take the Levites instead of all the first-born among the children of Israel,' Num. iii. 45. Neither is this privilege lost by the gospel : ' Christ hath made us kings and priests unto God his Father,' Rev. i. 6; to offer up spiritual sacrifice of thanksgiving to him. Priests, but ' priests to God;' lest the schismatic should take advantage thereby to trouble the civil state. The propitiatory sacrifice is offered for us by our high priest Jesus : the sacrifices of our priesthood are only gratulatory.

(4.) Double portion. If a man have two wives, one beloved and another hated, and children by them both : ' if the first-born son be hers that is hated,' yet when he maketh his sons to inherit, though perhaps he would favour the son of the loved, yet ' he shall acknowledge the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath : for he is the beginning of his strength, the right of the first-born is his,' Deut. xxi. 17. So the elect have a double portion : not only a share in the things of this life, but much

HeB. XII. 22-24.] THE HAPPINESS OF THE CHUECH.

535

more in heaven : ' Godliness hath the promise both of the life that now is, and of that which is to come,' 1 Tim. iv. 8. It is a false imagination that God makes none of his children happy in this life : Abraham was rich, Da\id a king. But if he denies them opulency, he never denies them content. This is the chief riches ; for we see others esurientes in popina, as the byword is, starvmg in a cook's shop—wretched in their highest fortunes. The godly have so much share of this world as may stand with their eternal blessedness in the world to come. And such may be content with a small portion here, that are sure of the inheritance hereafter. Jehoshaphat gave great gifts of silver and gold and precious things to all his children; ' but the kingdom he gave to Jehoram, because he was the first-born,' 2 Chron. xxi. 3. Our law gives the first-born son the mheritance ; God will not deprive his of it. Thus hath Christ promised a double })ortion to the faithful: ' He shall receive an hundred-fold now in this time, and in the world to come eternal life,' Mark x. 30. And indeed the birthright with the Jews was a type of everlasting life.

The consideration of this excellent privilege doth teach us three lessons :— First, That we are dedicated to God : Exodus xiii. 2, Numbers iii. 13, 'Sanctify to me all the fivst-bom.' So Hannah dedicated her first-bom Samuel to the Lord, 1 Sam. i. 28. Mary brought Christ to Jerusalem, ' to present him to the Lord; as it is written in the law, Every male that open-eth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord,' Luke ii. 22. To rob God of his tithes is sacrilege ; but to take away from him our souls, tliis is the highest sacrilege. In this we have a sequestration from common use, we are no longer as we were. ' They are mine,' saitli the Lord : not only by a common right, so all things are his—' The earth is the Lord's,, and the fulness of it j' nor only for a grateful acknowledgment, that the increase of all things comes from him: but as the Israelites were God's by special claim, because he preserved them in Egypt, when the fij-st-born were slain, for whose redemption he accepted the first-born of their beasts; when he might have commanded all, lest this should seem grievous to them, he requireth but the first part. He only reserved what he preserved. So we were all by nature in as much danger of God's wrath, as were the Israelites of the de-stroyuig angel when the first-born of the Egyptians were smitten dead. But the Lord sprinkled the doors of our hearts with the blood of his holy Lamb Jesus. Hath the Lord spared us ? then he challengeth us. To take from man his own is injurious, from God sacrilegious. ' Glorify God in your body, and in your spirit.' Why? 'For they are God's :' 'ye are not yom- own,' saith the Apostle, 1 Cor. vi. 20. Thus he confessed himself not his own man : ' There stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve,' Acts xxvii. 23. We are God's possession, the first-born which he hath redeemed by his own first-born Christ. This we acknowledge when we present our children to God in baptism. Yet, O strange and forgetful inconstancy ! when we have given them to God in baptism, by a foolish indulgence we take them away again in education. A prince abhors to have his el<^st son marry with a harlot; this were to vilify aixl ignoble that royal blood. And shall God brook his first-born to be contracted with that ugly strumpet, sin? This were to forfeit and make void the right of primogeniture.

Secondly, Seeing we are God's first-bom, let us oflfer our first and best things to him. The Lord hath deserved the priority of our service : ' First seek the kingdom of God, and the righteousness thereof,' Matt. vi. 33. Our first studies, our first labours must be consecrated to God. The law required

three properties in the sacrifices offered to God :—First, They must be firstborn : ut illi reddanms prima, qui nobis dedit omnia, —that we should willingly give him the first, that had bountifully given us all. So we must give the first hour of the day, the first work of our hands, the first words of our lips to the Lord. Secondly, They must be clean beasts, for God abhorreth the xxnclean, maimed, or deformed : ' Ye ofier polluted bread upon mine altar. If ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil ? if ye ofier the lame and sick, is it not evil ? oflfer it now to the governor, will he be pleased with if?' Mai. i. 8. So we must hold up to God 'clean hands,' and send up ' pure hearts :' ' making straight paths for our feet, lest that which is halting be turned out of the way,' Heb. xii. 13. Thirdly, The sacrifices mitst be males, because the best and most perfect things are to be given to God. Midti homines, pauci 'biri, —Let us offer up our masculine virtues, ' growing to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ,' Eph. iv. 13. We must aim at this perfect sacrifice.

Besides, in the law there were three other rules observable in the consecration of the first-born :—First, That they should be seven days with the dam, and the eighth day be given to God, Exod. xxii, 30. Wherein there was not only a respondence to the rule of circumcision, limited to the eighth day, Gen, xvii. 12, but to prevent their fraud in offering to God things of no service, being too soon taken from the dam. Secondly, In voluntary oblations they were forbidden to dedicate to the Lord any of the first-born. 'The firstling of the beasts, which should be the Lord's firstling, no man shall sanctify it,' Lev. xxvii. 26. The reason is, because that was the Lord's already. We have such names highly recorded on our hospital walls, painted on the windows of our churches, often engraven in marble, the memorable tenant of worthy acts, for excellent benefactors. Yet all their benevolence to God is not the tenth of that they have robbed God, and taken from his church. Fool! give of thine own, if thou wilt have reward in heaven : first restore justly what thou hast gathered unjustly. To give of that is not liberallter dare, sed 2iartialiter retrihuere; thou bestowest on God a lamb of his own ewe. Dost thou look for thanks for such a gift ? Alas! it was God's own before. Thirdly, They were commanded neither to work nor shear the first-bom : ' Thou shalt do no work with the firstUng of thy bullock, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep,' Deut. xv. 19. To curb their covetousness : though they would not deceive the Lord of his first-born, yet they would take so much profit of it as they could. But they are restrained from diminution; they must not present a worn bullock, nor a shorn sheep. Now if the Lord was so jealous of first-born beasts, how is he jealous of firstborn souls ! Let us not think our choicest and most excellent things too dear for God, that hath made us his first-born in Jesus Christ.

Lastly, Let us upon no condition part with our birthright. Hath God advanced us to this honour, ' I will make him my first-born, higher than the kings of the earth?' Ps. Ixxxix. 27; then let us never sell it. 'Let there be no person profane as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright,' Heb. xii. 16. Hath the elder brother primariam potestate77i, ' Be IPrd over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down unto thee 1 ' Gen. xxvii. 29 ; let no lust subject us servire minori, to serve the younger. The enemies rage against them; but saith God to Pharaoh, ' Let my son go that he may serve me ; if thou refuse to let him go, behold I will slay thy son, even thy first-born,' Exod. iv. 23. Thus saith the Psalmist, ' God reproves even kings for their sakes,' Now omne heneficium petit offimim, —every benefit is obligatory, and binds to some thankful duty. Hath God dignified

US with a privilege 1 he expects that our carefulness should never forfeit it. Naboth would not sell his vineyard; yet his vineyard was but a part of his inheritance, and his inheritance but a part of his birthright. Though Ahab proffered him 'a better vineyard,' or 'the worth of it in money;' yet saith Naboth, ' The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee,' 1 Kings xxi. 3. And shall we for trifles pass away our eternal bkthright ? It is a wretched bargain; yet the blasphemer swears away his bu-thright, the epicure feasts away his birthright, the wine-bibber drirdcs away his birthright, the lavdsh spends his birthright, the covetous sells liis birthright for ready money.

There be some that sell their birthright: it is said of the lawyer that ho hath linguam venalem, a saleable tongue; the covetous, venalem animani, a saleable soul; the harlot, venalem carnem, a saleable flesh. Esau sold his birthright, Ahab sold himself to work wickedness, Judas sold his soul for thirty pieces. ' There is not a more wicked thing than a covetous man ; for such a one setteth his soul to sale, because while he liveth he casteth away his bowels,' Ecclus. x. 9. Others pawn their birthright; they are not so desperate as to sell it outright, but they will pawn it for a while. They seem to make conscience of their ways generally, and to be good husbands of their talents ; but when an opportune temptation comes, with meat in the mouth,—a fit advantage of much wealth, of high honour, of secret pleasure, —they will embrace and fasten on it, though they pawn their souls for a season. And indeed he that knowingly ventures to sin, doth as it were mortgage his birthright, puts it to the hazard of redeeming by repentance. But it is dangerous to be a merchant venturer in this case : the birthright is precious; if that infernal broker get but a colour of title in it, he will use tricks to make thee break thy day, and then sue out a judgment against thee. Some lose their birthright; profane and negligent wretches, that leave their soul perpetually unguarded, unregarded. They may be careful about many things, but one thing is necessary, to keep their birthright. While they sleep, 'the enemy sows tares;' it is wretched slumber that sleeps and slips away the birthright. Others give aivay their birthright; and these are specially the envious and the desperate. Malice gives it away, and hath nothing for it. The ambitious bargains to have a little honour for liis birthright, the covetous to have some gold for his birthright, the voluptuous to have some sensual pleasure for his birthright; but the mahcious gives it away for nothing, except it be vexation, that doth anguish him, and languish him. The desperate destroyer of his own body gives away his birthright; he hath nought for it but horrors within, and terrors without. These men serve the devil's turn for nothing. Look, O miserable man, upon the purchaser of thy birthright, Christ, and consider the price that it cost him ; if thou sell that for a little pleasure that he bought with so much pain, thou thinkest him an idle merchant. No, Lord, as thou hast given it to us, so keep it for us; that having now the assurance of it in grace, we may have one day the fuU possession of it in glory!

' Written in heaven.' This phrase is often used in the Scripture, and is but a metaphor whereby God declares the certainty of some men's eternal predestination and infallible salvation. Tostatus makes three written books of God. The great book, wherein are written all persons, actions, and events, both good and bad. Out of this are taken two other books : the book of predestination, consisting only of the elect; the book of God's prescience, which he calls the Black Book, wherein are registered only the reprobate. But this latter book hath no warrant in the Scriptures. It is true that as there

is a certain number to be saved, so tbe Lord knowetli them tliat are ordained to destruction; but the Scripture gives only a name of book to the first, not to the worst. Non quod scrihuntur in aliquo libro, sed quod nan scrihuntur in illo libro. ' Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and let them not be written among the righteous,' Ps. Lxix. 28; 'Whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world,' Rev. xvii. 8. Not that they are written in any other book, but that they are not written in that book. Indeed God may be said to have divers books:—

1. Liber providentice, the book of his providence, wherein God seeth and disposeth all things that are done by himself in the world. ' Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book were all my members written, when as yet there was none of them,' Ps. cxssix. 16. Not a sparrow falls from the house, not a hair from our heads, without the record of this book.

2. Liber memorice, the book of God's memory, wherein all things done by men, whether good or evil, are registered. ' A book of remembrance was written before God, for them that feared the Lord, and thought upon his name,' Mai. iii. 16 ; * The books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life,' Rev. xx. 12. Hence it is plain that there are other books besides the iDOok of life. This is that which manifesteth all secrets, whether mental, oral, or actual; whereby * God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, be it good or evil,' Eccles. xii. 14. This book shall be opened in that day 'when God shall judge the secrets of all hearts by Jesus Christ,' Rom. ii. 16.

3. Liber conscientice, the book of every man's conscience : this is a book of record or testimony; not so much of judicature as of witness. ' If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things,' 1 John iii. 20. There is conscientia perverm, that doth wholly condemn; there is conscientia dubia, that doth neither condemn nor acquit; there is conscientia bene ordinata: such a one had Paul, ' I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,' Rom. ix. 1. Every man's conscience beareth witness; but ubi cogitatio non habet quod accuset, —where the thought hath no matter of accusation against a man, that conscience doth bear witness in the Holy Ghost. Look well to thy life, for thou bearest about thee a book of testimony, that shaU speak either with or agamst thee.

4. Liber monumentoruin, a book of monuments; which contains the acts of the saints for the memory of times to come. Of tliis nature were the Chronicles, the Acts of the Apostles, that martyrology, or golden legend of the saints, in the chapter preceding my text. God threatens the false prophets, that ' they shall not be written in the writing of the house of Israel,' Ezek. xiii. 9.

5. Liber veritatis, the book of truth : this may also be called the book of life, because it contains those rules that lead and direct us to life eternal, as that is called a book of warfare wherein the precepts of the military art are written. ' Search the scriptures, for therein ye have eternal life,' John v. 39. ' AU these things are the book of the covenant of the most high God,' Ecclus. xxiv. 23.

6. Liber vitce, the book of life itself; wherein only are written the names of the elect, whom God hath ordained to salvation for ever. This is to be written in heaven. ' Into that holy city shall enter nothing that defileth;' but oiily ' they which are written in the Lamb's book of life,' Rev. xxi. 27. Paul speaks of his fellow-labourers, ' whose names are written in the book of life,' Phil. iv. 5. When the disciples returned, and said, 'Lord, even the devils

are subject to us througli thy n.ame:' True, saitL Christ, *I saw Satan as lightning fall from hccaven. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you : but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven,' Luke x. 20. This is a borrowed speech: sicut nos ea lite-Hs consignamus, —as we commit that to writing, the memory whereof we would have kept, so doth God; not that he needs any book of remembrance, but because all things are present with him, as if they were Avritten in a book. They among men which are chosen to any special place or service, are wiittcn in a book : so the Roman senators were called patres con-sonpti; and it is called the muster-book wherein stand the names of the soldiers pressed to the wars. To conclude, this ' WTiting in heaven/ is the book of election, wherein all that shall be saved are registered.

Here unavoidably we come to the main question, that may seem to infringe this happy privilege of the church : Whether to be written in heaven be an infallible assurance of salvation; or whether any there registered may come to be blotted out 1 The truth is, that none written in heaven can ever be lost; yet they object against it Ps. Ixix. 28, ' Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and let them not be written among the righteous.' Hence they infer, that some names once there recorded are afterwards j)ut out. But this opmion castetli a double aspersion upon God himself. Either it makes him ignorant of future things, as if he foresaw not the end of elect and reprobate, and so were deceived in decreeing some to be saved that shall not be saved; or that his decree is mutable, in excluding those upon their sins whom he hath formerly chosen. From both these weaknesses St Paul vindicates him, 2 Tim. ii. 19, ' The foundation of God standeth sure, ha\'ing the seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his.' First, ' the Lord knows them that are his;' this were not true if God's prescience could be deluded. Then, his 'foundation stands sure;' but that were no sure foundation, if those he hath decreed to be his should afterwards fall out not to be his. The very conclusion of truth is this, impossihilis est deletio; they which are ' written in heaven' can never come into hell. To clear this from the opposed doubt, among many I will cull out three proper distinctions :—

1. One may be said to be written in heaven simpliciter, and secundum quid. He that is simply written there, in quantum prcedestinatus ad vitam, because elected to life, can never be blotted out. He that is but Avritten after a sort may, for he is written non secundum Dei p)Tcescientia7n, sed secundum jn'ccsen-tem jiistitiam, —not according to God's former decree, but according to his present righteousness. So they are said to be blotted out, not in respect of God's knowledge, for he knows they never were written there; but according to their present condition, apostatising from grace to sin.*

2. Some are blotted out non secundum rei veritatem, sed hominum opini-onem, —not according to the truth of the thing, but according to men's opinion. It is usefulf in the Scriptures to say a thing is done quando inno-tescat fieri, when it is declared to be done. Hypocrites have a simulation of outward sanctity, so that men in charity judge them to be written in heaven. But when those glistering stars appear to be only ignes fatui, foolish meteors, and fall from the finnament of the church, then Ave say they are blotted out. The written ex existentia, by a perfect being, are never lost; but ex appa-7'entia, by a dissembled appearance, may. Some God so writes, in se ut simpliciter hahituri vitam, that they have life simply in themselves, though not of themselves. Others he so writes, ut hahcant non i7i se, sed in sua causa; from which falling they are said to be obhterated.^!

* Ljran. f Qu. 'usual'?— Ed. J Aquiu.

3. Augustine says, we must not so take it, that God first writes and then dasheth out. For if a Pilate could say, Quod scripsi, scripsi, —' What I have written, I have written,' and it shall stand; shall God say, Quod scripsi eso-pungam, —What I have written I will wipe out, and it shall not stand 1 They are written then secundum spem ipsorum, qui ibi se scrip>tos putahant, —according to their own hope that presumed their names there ; and are blotted out quando ipsis constet illos non ibi fuisse, —when it is manifest to themselves that their names never had any such honour of inscription. This even that psalm strengthen whence they fetch their opposition : ' Let them be blotted out of the book of the living ; and let them not be written among the righteous,' Ps. Ixix. 28. So that to be blotted out of that book, it is indeed never to be written there. To be wiped out in the end, is but a declaration that such were not written in the beginning.

But how then shall we justify Moses's desire 1 ' If thou wilt forgive their sm,' fair and good : ' but if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written,' Exod. xxxii. 32. Did Moses wish an impossibility? Some opinionate, that this was not the book of life that Moses meant; but they err. Some by this understand the book of the law, as if this were his meaning : If thou destroy the people to whom thou hast given the law, let not my name be mentioned as the lawgiver. But it is answered, that the book of the law was not yet written; and he could not desire blotting forth of a book that was not. This was in Moses's power when he wrote the law, to leave out his own name; he needed not to trouble God about it. He opposeth the greatest loss he coiild sustain, against the greatest benefit he could obtain; but this was no great loss, to be blotted out of that book. Moses speaks of a book that God had written; but the book of the law, saving only the decalogue, Moses wrote himself. Jerome understands this desire of Moses for death in this life: Perire in prcesentevi, non in perpetuum. But if he conceives no more than a temporal death, God's answer confutes it: ' Whosoever hath sinned against me, him wiU I blot out,' ver. 33. Only sinners are razed out of this book; but from the book of terrene life, both sinners and just come to be blotted : for good and bad are subject to temporal death. Cajetan understands it, de libro principatus in hac vita, to be the book of sovereignty; because it is decreed by God as in a book, quod isti vel illi 2)rincipentur, that this or that man should have the dominion. But God answers, only sinners are razed out of the book; but in the book of government are bad kings so well as good. And for that book, Ezek. xiiL 9, as if he wished no more but not to be counted of Israel, or have his name among the patriarchs and prophets; if Israel had perished, the book of his covenant with Israel had also perished. So for that book of Jasher, Josh. x. 13, it is thought to be lost, therefore no great matter to be put out of it. It must needs be then the book of life; and how could Closes wish a razing out of that book ?

Some say, that by sin a man may come to be blotted out of that book, wherein he thought himself written. But if it could not be done without sin, this construction were to make ISIoses pdere peccare mortcditer, —to beg power to sin mortally, that he might be blotted out. Neither doth God so much raze out any, as indeed they raze out themselves. Some take it to be a parabolical speech, to shew the intention of his desire. As Kachel said to Jacob, ' Give me children, or else I die,' Gen. xxx. 1; yet she had rather live and have no children, than have children and presently die. As if one should say, Do this, or else kill me; yet he had rather have the thing omitted

than himself killed.* But this were to make Moses speak one thing and mean another; whereas he desired it from his heart. Others think Moses spake affirmatively, after this sense : that if God would not pardon the people's sin, it would follow that himself should be blotted out.t But this had been against the justice of God, that one should be damned for the sin of another. Again this had convinced Moses of wavering and doubtfulness of his salvation; but the foithful have confidence, that though thousands should perish, yet they are sure of eternal bliss.

Some say, Moses wished this after the disposition of the inferior part of his soul; and not in voluntate rationem superiorem sequente, —not in that will which is governed by reason. They exemplify it in Christ, who desired the ' cup to pass from him,' yet simpUdter vellet pati, simply he would sufi"er. But there is great difference in the example. Christ eschews death, Moses ensues death : the object of their desires was unlike. Christ by his office was to bear the sin and punishment of his people; Moses was never called to such a mediatorship. Christ prayeth there as a man; for as God he prayeth not, but is prayed to. There is duplex affectus, mentis et sensus: Christ in the affection of his mind was willing to suffer, but in his affection of sense he desired the cup to pass. >So that in Christ to escape death was a natural desire: in Moses to wish death, yea, an eternal death, was a contranatural desire; it proceeded not from the sensual part, butfromhis inward feeling and mediation.;}: , Others think he prayed quia turhaUis erat, being troubled : not considering at that instant whether that was possible that he begged. Ex impetu passionis, saith Lyranus; vehementia fuisse abreptum, ut loquatu)' quasi ecstaticus, saith Calvin. But this accuseth him of rashness; for it is fit he that prayeth should be of a calm and composed spirit. Others conclude, that Moses preferred the safety of the people before his own soul. Calvin: He thought of nothing but ut salvus sit j^opulus, that the people might be saved. But this is against the rule of charity; for though another's soul be dearer to me than my own body, yet my own soul ought to be dearer unto me than all men's souls in the world. Yea, if all the souls of the saints; yea, of the virgin Mary herself, should perish, except my soul perished for them, (saith Tostatus,) citins deherem eligere omnes illas 2)erire, quam cmimam meam, —I ought rather to choose to save my own soul than all theirs.

Lastly, the most and best rest upon this sense. Because the salvation of Israel was joined with the glory of God, both in respect of the promises made to the fathers, which was not for his honour to frustrate; and to prevent the blasphemies of the enemies insulting on their ruin,—' God hath forsaken his people,'— Moses ante omnia gloriam Dei spectavit, he respected the glory of God above all; in regard whereof he was careless of his own salvation. Precious to us is the salvation of others, more precious the salvation of ourselves, but most precious of all is the glory of God. Such a wish as this great prophet of the old testament, had that great apostle of the new: ' I could wish myself accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,' Rom. ix. 3. They say, to clear both these desu'es from sin, there is no other solution but this : that both of them, for God's glory in Israel's safety, desired a separation from glory for a time, not damnation of body and soul for ever. Howsoever, there was some difference in their wishes. Moses "wished pe7-ire cum ceteris; Paul perire pro ccetei'is. Moses cum j)ereuntihus; Pauhis ne pereant,§ —Moses desired to perish with

* Tostat. t Rupert. J Qk. 'meditation'?— Ed, § Chrys.

them tliat perished; Paul desired to perish that they might not perish. Bat the aim of both was the Lord's glory and the people's safety. Their zeal was ineffable, their example inimitable, their affection iinmatchable; yet thus fer desirable, that all ministers, like Moses and Paul, zealously seek their people's salvation. And I am persuaded that a parent doth not more earnestly desire the welfare of his child, than doth a good minister the saving of his flock. What we desire for you, do you labour for yourselves, and the Lord Jesus work for us all!

There be some that would have it granted, that Moses and Paul did sin in those mshcs; and the concession thereof doth safely end all controversy. I see no prejudice in this answei*, for the best saints living have had their weaknesses. But if you please after all these, to admit also the hearing of my opinion. Mine I call it, because I never read or heard any yet give it: I call it an opinion, because unusquisqiie ahundat sensu suo, and may take which his own judgment best liketh. By this book I think he means God's favour; as we usually say, to be in a man's favour is to be in his books. We speak of one that hath dissemblingly cozened us, Such a man shaU never come in my books. For you will not enter that man into your book, whom you do not both trust and favour. To be blotted out of God's book, is to be liable to his displeasure, subjectual to his judgments. Now I cannot be persuaded that Moses ever imagined God would eternally destroy Israel; therefore nor did he beg eternal destruction to himself. He wished no more to himself than he feared to them. But it is expressly set down, ver. 14, that God would not cast away Israel to everlasting perdition : ' The Lord repented of the evil, which he thought to do unto his people.' But thus : Lord, if they must needs undergo thy wrath and severe punishment for their sin, so punish me in the same measure, that have not sinned. If thou wilt not favour them, forget to favour me; let me feel thy hand with them. It was not then everlasting damnation that he either feared to them, or desired to himself; but only the desertion of God's present love and good pleasure to him, together with subjection to his judgments; whereof they should taste so deeply, as if God had never booked them for his own. This seems to be the true sense by God's answer : ' Those that have sinned, I will blot out of my book.' The offenders shaU smart, they that have sinned shall be punished. tSo David and other saints felt grievous impositions, though they never perished, but were ordained to eternal life.

To conclude, they that are written in heaven can never be lost. Woe then to that religion which teacheth even the best saint to doubt of his salvation while he liveth ! Hath Christ said, ' Believe;' and shall man say, ' Doubt V This is a rack and strappado to the conscience: for he that doubteth of his salvation, doubteth of God's love; and he that doubteth of God's love, cannot heartily love him again. If this love be wanting, it is not possible to have true peace. Oh the terrors of this troubled conscience ! It is like an ague ; it may have intermission, but the fit will come and shake him. An untoward beast is a trouble to a man, an untoward servant a great trouble, an iintoward wife a greater trouble, but the greatest trouble of all is an untoward conscience. ' Blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven,' Ps. xxxii. 1: where there is no remission of sins, there is no blessedness. Now there is no true blessedness but that is enjoyed, and none is enjoyed unless it be felt, and it cannot be felt unless it be possessed, and it is not possessed unless a man know it, and how does he know it that doubts whether he hath it or not ?

All souls are passengers in this world, our way is in the middle of the sea;

we have no sure footing: which, way soever we cast our eyes, we see nothing but deep waters, the devil and our own flesh raising up against us infinite storms. God directs us to Christ, as to a sure anchor-hold; he bids us undo our cables, and fling up our anchors in the vail, fasten them upon Jesus : we do so, and are safe. But a sister of ours passing in the ship with us, that hath long taken upon her to rule the helm, deals unkindly Avith us; she cuts in pieces our cables, throws away our anchors, and tells us we may not presume to fasten them on the rock, our Mediator. She rows and roves us in the midst of the sea, through the greatest fogs and fearfulest tempests: if we follow her course, we must look for inevitable shipwreck. The least flaw of Avind will overturn us, and sink our souls to the lowest gulf. No ; they that are written in the eternal leaves of heaven, shall never be wrapped in the cloudy sheets of darkness. A man may have his name written in the chronicles, yet lost; written in durable marble, yet perish; written on a monument equal to a Colossus, yet be ignominious; written on the hospital-gates, yet go to hell; written on his own house, yet another come to possess it. Ail these are but writmgs in the dust, or upon the waters, where the characters perish so soon as they are made. They no more prove a man happy, than the fool could prove Pontius PUate a saint, because his name was written in the Creed. But they that be written in heaven are sure to inherit it.

Now to apply all this usefully to ourselves; some perhaps would be satisfied how we may know our names written in heaven. It is certain that no eye hath looked into God's book, yet himself hath allowed certain arguments and proofs, whereby we have more than a conjectural knowledge. The principal is the ' testimony of God's Spirit' concm-ring with ' our spirit/ Rom. viii. 16. But of this I have liberally spoken in some later passages of this book; together with the most pregnant signs of our election. Here therefore I am straitened to insert only some (there omitted) efiects. Which are these four : if our hearts be on God's book; if the poor be in our book ; if Ave Avill order the book of our conscience; lastly, if we can write our-serves holy in earth, then be bold we are written happy in heaA'cn.

First, If our heart be on God's book ; and this we shall find e converso, if God's book be in our heart. Mary laid up Christ's words in her heart. It must not lie like loose corn on the floor, subject to the pecking up of every fowl; but it is ground by meditation, digested by faith: manet alto corde repostum. God says, ' My son, give thy heart to me :' do thou pray, ' My father, first give thyself to my heart.' I ask not Avhether this book Ues in thy study, but whether the study of it lies in thy heart. The life of the Scriptures is not in vefhorum, foliis, sed in medulla cordis, —not in the letters and leaves, but in the inwards of the heart. It is not lectio, nor relectio, but dilectlo, —not reading, but leading a life answerable, that assures us. If we sincerely love this book, we are certainly in God's book. Mary zealously loving Christ's word, is said to ' choose the better part, that shall never be taken from her.'

Secondly, If the poor be in thy book,—and this is reciprocal,—then thou art m their book ; and the conclusion is infallible, thou art in the book of life. For the relieved poor do by their prayers * entertain,' or make Avay for thy entertainment ' into everlasting habitations,' Luke xvi. 9. And Christ at the last day calls them to himself that have been charitable to his members : * Come, ye blessed, receive the kingdom prepared for you,' Your Avorks have not merited this kingdom, for it was ' prepared' for you; but as that was prepared for you, so your charity hath prepared you for it: ' Come' and

take it. ' Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth.' Do thou write it in the dust, the poor will write it in their hearts; God finds it in their prayers, their prayers prevail for thy mercy, and mercy writes thy name in heaven. ' Thy prayers and thy alms are come up for a memorial before God,' Acts X. 4. Therefore ' cast thy bread upon the waters,' drown it in those watery eyes ; it is not lost in that river; like Peter thou throwest in an angle, and bringest up silver; enough to make thee blessed. Via coeli est pauper: si non vis errare, incipe erogare^^ —The poor is the highway to heaven : if thou wouldst not wander in thy journey, shew mercy. Non 2)otes hahere nisi quod acceperis : non potes non habere quod dederis, —Thou canst have nothing unless thou receive it; thou canst keep nothing unless thou give it: him that the poor writes not charitable on earth, nor doth God write saveable in heaven.

Thirdly, If thy name be written Christian in the book of thy conscience, this is a special argument of thy registering in heaven: ' For if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness and confidence towards God/ 1 John iii. 21. What if man's ignorance and unmerciful jealousy blot thee out of the book of his credit, si de lihro viventium nunquam j)ropria deleat conscientia, —so long as thy own conscience doth not blot thee forth the book of blessedness. If the good spoken of us be not found in our conscience, that glory is our shame. If the evil spoken of us be not found in our conscience, that shame is our glory. Therefore it is that Hugo calls the conscience, lihrum signatum et clausum, in die judicii aperiendum, —a book shut and sealed, only at the resurrection to be opened. Conscientiam, magis quamfamam attende: falli scepe poterit fama, conscientia nunqua7n,f —Look to thy conscience more than to thy credit: fame may be often deceived, conscience never. The beams that play upon the water are shot from the sun in heaven; the peace and joy that danceth in the conscience comes from the ' Sun of righteousness,' the Lord Jesus. If a hearty laughter dimple the cheek, there is a smooth and quiet mind within. Upon the wall there is a writing: a man sitting with his back to the wall, how should he read it ? But let a looking-glass be set before him, it will reflect it to his eyes, he shall read it by the result-ance. The writing our names in heaven is hid, yet in the glass of a good conscience it is presented to our eye of faith, and the soul reads it. For it is impossible to have a good conscience on earth, except a man be written in heaven.

Fourthly, If the book of sanctification have our names written, then surely the book of glorification hath them, and they shall never be blotted out: For God 'hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before liim in love,' Eph. i. 4. Now as we may reason from the cause to the eifect, so certainly from the efi'ect to the cause. Election is the cause, holiness the effect. As, therefore, every one written in heaven shall be holy on earth, so every one holy on earth is written in heaven.

This sanctity is manifested in our obedience, which must be ad totum, ' I had respect to aU thy commandments,' Ps. cxix. 6; per totum, ' I have inclined my heart to keep thy statutes alway, even to the end,' ver. 112; de toto, ' to keep thy precepts with my whole heart,' ver. 69. In Kome the 2Mtres conscripti were distinguished by their robes, and they of the Livery in London have a peculiar habit by themselves to difier from the rest of the Company. Is thy name enrolled in that legend of saints ? Thy livery will witness it: ' thy conversation is in heaven,' Phil. iii. 20. A senator relating * Aug. t Sen.

to his son the great honours clccrced to a number of soldiers, whose names were written in a book, the son was importunate to see that book. The father shews him the outside; it seemed so glorious that he desired him to open it: no, it was sealed by the council. ' Then,' saith the son, ' tell me if my name be there 1 ' The father replies,' The names are secreted to the senate.' The son, studying how he might get some satisfaction, desired him to deliver the merits of those inscribed soldiers. The father relates to him their noble achievements and worthy actions of valour, wherewith they had eternised their names. ' Such are written, and none but such must be written, in this book.' The son, consulting with his own heart, that he had no such trophies to shew, but had spent his time in courting ladies rather than encountering knights,—^that he was better for a dance than a march,—that he knew no drum but the tabret, no courage but to be drunk; herevipon he presently retired himself, repented, entered into a combat with his own affections, subdued them, became temperate, continent, valiant, virtuous. When the soldiers came to receive their wreaths, he steps in to challenge one for himself. Being asked upon what title, he answered, ' If honours be given to conquerors, I have gotten the most noble conquest of all' 'Wherein?' ' These have subdued strange foes, but I have conquered myself f and indeed this is judged the greatest victory. The application is familiar. Thou desirest to know whose names are written in blessedness. It shall not be told thee, this or that individual person; but generally thus, men so qualified, faithful in Christ and to Christ, obedient to the truth and for the truth, that have subjected their own affections, and resigned themselves to the guidance of the heavenly will; these men have made noble conquests, and shall have princely crowns: find in thyself this sanctimony, and thou hast a sure testimony; thou art written in heaven.

But all men challenge this: they believe and obey, and do good deeds; and therefore some, to be sure of putting in themselves, constantly affirm all men are written. But infinite numbers will be deceived at the last: for if there were universal inscription, there should follow universal election; if universal election, then universal salvation. If the former were true, then were not election any such name. If the latter, to what purpose did God make hell ? ' God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son.' What, that all should be saved ? No, but that ' whosoever believes might have everlasting life.' Not all; for he that takes all cannot be said to choose. Let this stir us up to get security that our names are written there. Benefits common to all, as light of the sun, dews of heaven, are little regarded: but quce rarissima carissima, —things hard to come by are much set by. Because God doth not give riches to all men; but isti inidtum, illi pariim, hide nihil, —much to one, little to another, none at all to a third,— hereupon men debase themselves to moiling slaves, yea, to earth-rooting beasts, to get them. For the race of this world, where only the first obtains the goal, gets the money, all truss up their loins, run apace, none will be hindmost. For heaven, where all that run well shall speed well, and have for their prize a ' crown of righteousness,' men are so courteous, they will give another leave to go before them. But let thy grace in this life witness thy hope of glory in the life to come.

IV. ' To God the judge of all.' We have considered the citizens, let us now look upon the glorious majesty of the King that governs them. Where, first, let us observe in general that there shall be a day of judgment, otherwise to what purpose is there a judge 1 If there were no such scoffers as to say, ' Where is the promise of his coming 1 For since the fathers fell VOL. n, 2 m

asleej), all things continue as they were from tlie beginning of the creation," 2 Pet. iii. 4; this observation might well have been spared. The reason to prove it is derived from the justice and goodness of God. ' It is a just thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you ; and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,' 2 Thess. i. 6. This for the honour of the faithful, and for the horror of reprobates. Here the good man finds the sharpest misery, the evil man sweetest felicity; therefore it is just that there should be a time of changing turns and places. 'The T\dcked shall be a ransom for the righteous, and the transgressor for the upright,' Prov. xxi.

18. The rich man's table stood full of delicates, Lazarus lacks crumbs: therefore they must change states : ' He is comforted, and thou art tormented,' Luke xvi. 25. There is a time to get, and a time to lose : 'Woe to you that laugh, for you shall mourn!' Luke vi. 25 ; ' Blessed are you that mourn, for you shall rejoice,' Matt. v. 4. God shall give the owe fletum 2yro risu, the other ri&imi pro fletii: wiping away all tears from their eyes. Rejoice, thou irrefragably dissolute, follow the lusts of tliy own heart; 'but remember for all these things thou must come into judgment,' Eccles. xi. 9. It is a dear pennyworth to buy the merry madness of one hour with ages of pangs, infinite and eternal. If there were no judgment, hov\^ should God be just % But the righteous shall see the vengeance : ' So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous, verily there is a God that judgeth the earth,' Ps. Iviii. 11. Otherwise where is our hope % ' For if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we of aU men are most miserable,' 1 Cor. xv.

19. But it is objected :—

Ohj. 1.—That the whole world consists of believers or unbelievers. Now there is no last ju.dgment for either of these : none for believers, for ' he that believeth hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment,' John iii. 12 ; none for unbelievers, for 'he that believeth not is condemned already.' I answer, first, for the latter, the unbehever is condemned already in effect three ways :—First, by the purpose of God, Avho did foresee and appoint his condemnation, as a punishment for his sin, and execution of his justice. Secondly, by the word of God, where his condemnation is set down. Thii'dly, by his own conscience, which every hour doth judge and condemn him. Yet all this hinders not but that he may also pass the judgment of Christ at that general assizes, which is the manifestation and completion of that inchoate judgment. To the former I answer, it is not said, ' The believer shall not come into judgment,' but, he ' shall not come into condemnation ;' for'we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ,' 2 Cor. v. 10, even the very faithful, ahsolvendi causa, that Christ may publicly acquit them.

Ohj. 2.—Conscience is a sufiicient judge; what needs more ?■ I answer, properly consdentia testis, non judex, —the conscience is a witness rather than a judge. Indeed, it hath a great office here, and so it shall have there. It is felt now, but then more sensibly. Now many are so borne away with the precipices and streams of their sensual pleasures, ut cogitationes accusa-trices non audiant^^ —that they hear not the accusation of their thoughts; but then it will be heard and felt. Now it may pluck a man by the sleeve, and crave audience, but it is drowned with the noise of good-fellowship. Besides hactenus est ocadtus testis, —it is hitherto a secret witness, only known to him that hath it; but then the book that is now sealed shall be opened, and all the world Shall read it. As the seal leaves a print in the

* Ljran.

wax beliind it, so the conscience au impression of past sins in the thoughts; indelible characters, which death itself shall not eat out. Conscience here doth witness, 'accuse or excuse;' but Christ shall there 'judge the secrets of all hearts,' Rom. ii. 15, IG.

* God the Judge of all: let us now look into the particulars: Quis, Qualis, Quorum. Deus, Judex, tiniversorum. The three words answer to three questions :—Who ? God. What is he 1 A Judge. Of whom ? Of all.

' God.' It is manifest that this honour belongs to Christ, therefore Christ is God. ' God hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordamed,'Acts xvii. 31. 'He hath given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of man,' John v. 27. To this consents that article of our faith in the Creed, that he who suffered under Pilate ' shall come to judge quick and dead.' But it is objected, that to judge is the action of the whole Trinity: true, it is common to all, but the execution of it pertains to one. God judgcth, but by the Son; so distinctly, Rom. ii. 16, 'God shall judge the secrets of all hearts by Jesus Christ:' God by Christ.

But it is further objected that the saints shall judge : ' Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel,' Matt. xix. 28. ' Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world?' 1 Cor. vi. 2. This truly is a great honour to the apostles and saints. To be judge of a circuit is an honourable office, what is it then to judge the world ? But there is great difference: they have potestatem accessoriam, an accessory power; Christ ini-peratoriam, a principal and imperial power. ' All power is given to me in heaven and in earth,' Matt, xxviii. 18. He hath honorem jyriinariuni, the prime honour; they suhordinatum, derived from his. Christ gives senten-tiam judicatoriam, they only approhatoriain, —he the sentence of judgment, they of approbation. As the justices on the bench are in some maimer judges, not in giving the sentence, but in approving the sentence given. The saints therefore may be said to judge vel exemplo, vel testimonio, vel suffrarjio. First, by their example; for their lives shall condemn the wicked, as Noah's handiwork did the old world. So the apostles shall judge Israel, because their faith shall take from Israel aU excuse. Such a judgment Christ speaks of: ' The Ninevites shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it. The queen of the south shall rise up in judgment with it, and shall condemn it,' Matt. xii. 41, 42. The goodness of the one shall judge and condemn the badness of the other. So Christ stops the blasphemous mouths of the Jews, accusing him to Avork by Beelzebub, ' If I do it by him, by whom do your children cast out devils ? Therefore they shall be your judges,' Matt. xii. 27. Secondly, by their testimony, who can witness that the means of salvation was offered them in the gospel, which they not accepting are justly condemned ? ' He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgcth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day,' John xii. 48. So shall Babylon be judged by ' those that would have cured her,' but she would not be cured. Thirdly, by then- suffrage and approval of Christ's righteous sentence. Thus shall the elect judge the world, yea, even the angels. ' Know ye not that we shall judge the angels f 1 Cor. vi. 3. By world we must understand the wicked, and by the angels devils. And certainly the saints have some place in this judgment: ' They shall judge the nations,' Wisd. iii. 8, and have dominion over the people, and their Lord shall reign for ever. Christ shall set all his adversaries before his own face, and the face of his

church : where they shall behold those become their judges whom they once esteemed and used as their slaves. ' This is he whom we sometimes had in derision : now he is numbered among the children of God, and his portion is among the saints/ Wisd. v. 5. Bat why is the execution of this judgment committed to the second person in the Trinity—to Christ 1

1. It is fit that he who came to be judged should also come to judge. Time mcmifestiis veniet inter justos judicaturus juste, nni occulte venerat ju-dicandus ah injustis injuste,''' —He that came in humility to be judged by the unjust unjustly, shall come in glory to judge all justly.

2. As it is for the honour of Christ, so is it for the horror of his enemies ; when they ' shall see him whom they have pierced,' entreating the ' rocks and mountains to hide them from the presence of him that sits on the throne,' Eev. vi. 16. In majestate msuri sunt, quern in humilitate videre nolueriint. JJt tanto distvidius virtutem sentiant, quanta confemptius infirmitatem deri-senmtjf —They shall behold him in majesty whom they would not deign to look upon in humility. The baser they esteemed his weakness, the heavier they shall find and feel his mightiness. Then Christ stood like a lamb before Pilate a lion : now Pilate, like a malefactor, shall stand before Christ his judge, ' Crucify him, crucify him,' was the sentence of the Jews; ' Bind them hand and foot, and throw them into utter darkness,' will be the sentence of Christ. ' We will not have this man reign over us,' was their sentence,' Luke xix. 14; ' Bring those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, and slay them before me,' this is Christ's sentence, ver. 27. The ungodly conspire, ' Let us break his bands asunder, and cast away his cords from us,' Ps. ii. 3 ; therefore, ver. 9, ' He shall break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.' Thus he that was once made a footstool of his enemies shall reign * till he hath made all his enemies his footstool,' Ps. cs. L As Joshua dealt with the five kings hid in the cave of ]\Iakkedah,—brought them out, caused his captains of war to set their feet on the necks of them, then slew them, and hanged them on trees, Josh. x. 24,—so shall Christ triumph over his enemies; their necks subjected to the feet of the saints, and their substances cast into endless torments.

3. For the comfort of his chosen ones, he is their judge; that is, their Saviour. He that gave the blood of mercy to save them from the hand of justice will not now condemn them. 0 blessed mercy, that so triumphs against judgment! yea, justice and mercy are met together in this judge; justice upon them that despised him, mercy to them that feared him. Happy faith, that shall not be ashamed at that day ! ' Abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming,' 1 John ii. 28. The heavens shall be on fire, the elements melt with the flame, the earth be burnt, castles, cities, towns, and towers be turned to one pile ; the devils shall make a hideous noise, the reprobates shriek and howl like dragons ; all because this Judge's wrath is kindled. But the faithful shall rejoice • ' I will see you again, and your hearts shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you,' John xvi. 22. The music of saints and angels shall be joined in one choir, and all sing, ' Blessing, honour, glory, and power, be unto him that sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, for ever,' Rev. V. 13.

' The Judge;' that is, his authority. Now there are certain properties required in a just judge; some of them are found in some judges, many in few judges, all perfectly in no judge but this ' Judge of all,' Jesus Christ. * Aug. f Gregor.

1. Ferspicacitas ingenii, sharpness of apprehension, and soundness of understanding. Ignorance in a private person is a weakness, in a judge a wickedness. Ignorantia Judicis, calamitas innocentisj" —A judge ignorant makes wretched the innocent. It was a curse : ' I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them,' Isa. iii. 4; that is, governors of a childish discretion. It is a woe : ' Woe to thee, 0 land, when thy king is a child!' Eccles. x. 16. Justice was anciently painted blind, to shew that no favour be given to persons; but it was not meant so blind as not to discern causes. It is woeful when judges are so blind that they are fain to feel the right. No man would have his body come under the cure of a foolish physician, nor his estate under an ignorant judge. But this Judge of heaven and earth is so wise, that he knows the very secrets of men's hearts. ' All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do,' Heb, iv. 13. The wicked can have no hope, that a bad cause flourished over should pass unconstrued, uncensured. ' His eyes are as a flame of fire,' Rev. i. 14, clear to search and find out all secrets. Accordingly, he hath, now put in his interlocutory, then will give his definitive sentence.

2. Audacitas animi, boldness of courage. A timorous judge loseth a good cause. In the fable, when the hart is made judge between the wolf and the lamb, it must needs go on the wolf's side. The fear of displeasing greatness is a sore remora to the vessel of justice. Therefore the poor complain,' If the foundations be cast down, what can the righteous do V Ps. xi. 3. Quis metuet offendere, cum judex metuat ahscindere, —Who will fear to do mischief when he knows the judge dares not punish him 1 Therefore when God made Joshua judge of Israel, observe how he doubles his charge : chap. L 6-9, ' Be strong, and of a good courage.' And the people again, ver. 18, We will obey thee, ' only be thou strong, and of a good courage.' But this Judge will not be daunted with faces of men. ' The kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the chief captains, and the mighty men, hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains,' Rev. vi. 15. Those terrors of slaves, and mirrors of fools, that made the underlings tremble and ' hide themselves ui caves,' Heb. xi. 38, now for all thek puissance, are glad to run into a hole, and cowardly shroud themselves. Adducetur cum suis stidtus Plato discipulis, Aristotelis argumenta non 2)roderunt; Ilerodis onajestas de-jicieiur; cum Jilius pauperculce venerit judicatiirus ierramjf —Then foolish Plato shall appear Avith his scholars, Aristotle shall be confuted with all his arguments, Herod's pomp shall be turned to shame, when that Son of the virgin shall come to judge the world.

3. Ilonestas conscientke, honesty of conscience. The judge that will be cormpted, dares corrupt the truth. Woeful is that judgment which comes from him who hath venakm ccnimam, a saleable soul. Fehx was such a judge, who ' hoped that money should have been given him of Paul,' Acts xxiv. 26. Qui vendit justitiam pro pecunia, perdit j^ecuniam cum anima, — He that sells justice for money shall lose mercy and his soul. ' You afilict the just, you take a bribe, and turn aside the poor in the gate from their right,' Amos v. 12. They have built them ' houses of hewn stone,' ver. 11. How 1 ' By bribes.' What shall become of them ? ' They shall not dwell in them,' for 'fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery,' Job xv. 34. If any justiccrs think so to raise themselves, it is but iit lapsu graviore ruanf, —that they may have the sorer fall. There are certain rich stuff's forbidden by the statute; but to wear clothes cut out of bribes and laced with exactions is specially forbidden by the statute of heaven. When money can open

* Aug. + Hierom.

the lock of Justice's door, tlie Avorst cause is first heard. The pocket key is fitted for all doors. One spake unhappily : ' I have a key in my pocket,' saith he, ' that will pass me iu all countries.' He meant his purse. In Italy, it can open the door of life : do you hate a man 1 For money you may have him pistoled or poisoned. In France, it can open the door of love : lust you for such a woman ? Money makes her your harlot. In Spain, it opens the door of justice: the case shall go on the rich man's side. In England, it can open the door of honour: money makes a gentleman, and reputation swells with the barns. In Ptome, it can open the door of heaven, for they sell claves, altaria, Christum, —peace, and pardon, and heaven, and Christ himself. Gravius lacerantiw 2^<^uperes a jjravis judicibus, quani a cruentis-simis hostihus. Xullus prcedo tam cupidus hi alienis, quam judex iniquus in 5?«'s,"—The robes of peace covering corruption are worse to the poor than hostile invasion. But this judge of heaven will take no bribes; other judges may procrastinate, put ofi^, or pervert causes. Scepe non Jiniunt negotia, quousque exhcmriant marsupia, —They will often see an end of the clients' money, before the clients see an end of their cause. They often determine to hear, but seldom hear to determine. But Christ shall judge those judges •-'Be instructed, ye judges of the earth: kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish,' Ps. ii. 12. At that day, p/i<s vcdehunt pura corda, quam astuta verba, conscientia bona, quam marsupia 2^isna,f —Pure hearts shall speed better than subtle words; a good conscience better than a full purse. Judex nonfalletur verbis, oiec Jlectetur donis, —That judge will neither be moved with our gifts nor deceived with our shifts. Happy soul, that, forsaking the love of money, hath gotten a pure heart to appear before Jesus Christ!

4. Impartialitas justitice, impartial justice. Tully tells us of a proverb: Exuit personam judicis, quisquis amici induif, —He hath put off the person of a judge, that puts on the person of a friend. The good judge neither hath his right hand filled with love, nor his left with hatred ; the school of justice is not swayed. Indeed tamdiu judex, quamdAu Justus, —he is so long a judge as he is just. Nomen quod ab cequitate sumitur, per prcevarica-tionem admittitur. Seleucus was commended, that when (according to his law for adultery, which took from the offender both his eyes) his son was deprehended in that fact, put out one of his own eyes, and one of his son's. Duo lumina ccecantur juxta legem, duo supersunt juxta misericordiam, — Two eyes are lost according to justice, and two remain according to mercy. A marvellous temper, inter justum judicem, et onisericordem 2)atrem, —between a just judge and a kind father. But God is so just that, because sin would let him save none of us, he slew his Son to save aU of us. ' God commendeth his love to us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,' Kom. V. 8. God commends his love; indeed he might justly commend it, and to us by this token, that being rebels he bought us with the blood of his own Son. He will ever continue so just, in punishing traitors, in crowning his faithful subjects. Judex damnatur, cum nocens absolvitur,% —He that justifies the guilty, transfers the guilt to himself. But ' shall not the Judge of aU the earth do right V Gen. xviii. 25. Yes, we have all sinned, but * thou continuest holy, 0 thou worship of Israel.'

5. JEquitas sententice, the equity of sentence; it shall be given upon good testimony. Ambrose says, It is not the part of a judge to condemn any man without an accuser. Christ did not cast away Judas, though he knew him a thief, because he was not accused. When that adulteress was left alone before Christ, he said, ' Woman, where are thine accusers ? Hath no

* Isidor. f Bern. + Sen.

man condemned tlice ? She said, No man, Lord. Then said Jesus, Neither do I condemn thee : go, and sin no more,' John viii. 10. But here shall be no want of accusers: their own conscience, all the creatures, aU the elements, angels, men, de^dls, shall accuse; then Christ shall judge. Ileii miser! sic deprehensus quo fugias? Latere erit impossibile, apparei-e intolerabile/'' — Whither wilt thou flee, 0 wretch thus accused ? To lie hidden it will be impossible; to appear, insufferable. ' Every man shall receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or evU,' 2 Cor. V. 10; the same, neither more nor less, but just weight. The wicked wrought their pleasure while God did suffer; therefore God wiU work his pleasure while they suffer.

' Of aE,' both good and evil, elect and reprobates, men and angels; but of these in a difierent manner. To shew how this shall be done, I must lead your attentions orderly through five passages: a citation, separation, probation, sentence, and retribution.

1. The citation. There is a summons sent out to make aU appear before Christ's tribunal. This citing is done by the voice of Christ: ' All that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth,' John v. 28. The power of this voice is unspeakable : to empty earth, sea, air, heaven, and hell; and presently to fill earth, air, heaven, and hell. To empty all upon his summons, and to fill all upon his sentence. Therefore it is compared to a trumpet, the loudest of all musical instruments. ' The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised,' 1 Cor. xv. 52. Vere vox tuhcB terrihilis, cui omnia ohediunt elementa. Petras "scindit, Inferos aperit, portas cereas frangit, vincula mortis diriimpit, et de pro/undo ahyssi animas liheratis corporibus assignat,f —^A terrible voice, that shall shake the world, rend the rocks, break the mountains, dissolve the bonds of death, burst down the gates of hell, and unite aU spirits to their own bodies. There shall be no concealing, no keeping back from this voice. Now Christ calls: ' Come unto me, all that labour,' Matt. xi. 28; yet 'you will not come unto me that you might have life,' John v, 40. Then he shall call. Come you that must labour in torments, and be laden for ever. Then they must come to receive the doom of death. Now ' awake, thou that slee2:)est, and Christ shall give thee light,' Eph. V. 14; but they will not rise. At that day. Awake, thou wicked that art dead, and Christ shall send thee to darkness; and then they must rise. This is that general day that shall congregate aU; they shall come from the four winds and corners of the world, to make a universal appearance. But if this be the voice of Christ, how is it then said the archangel shall sound the trumpet of collection ? ' He shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather all together,' Matt. xxiv. 31. ' The Lord shall descend from heaven Avith a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God,' 1 Thess. iv. 16. I answer. The voice is originally Christ's, ministerially the angels'. As now he speaks to us by men, 2 Cor. v. 20, so at that day by angels. Oh, what a glory of our Saviour shall then ap})ear, when he is set on his throne, before so full a court as all the reasonable creatures God ever made ! Videat nosjam in sanctimonia, xit tunc videamus earn in gaudio, —Let him now behold us in holiness, that then we may behold him ui happiness.

2. The separation. We have thus brought all together; now we must separate one from another. The form hereof is given by Christ himself: ' Before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats,' Matt. xxv. 32.

* Anselm. t Chiys.

Tliis full and final separation is reserved for Christ, and not performed till that day. For, Smite crescere, ' Let them grow both together, corn and tares, until the harvest,' Matt. xiii. 30. This world is the floor; fan while you will, there will be some chaff; fish never so discreetly, you shall meet with some sturdy dog-fish that will rend the net. In heaven are none but saints, in hell none but reprobates, on earth they are both promiscuously blended together.

Do you wonder that the lambs cannot live in quiet % Consider the number of goats among them ' They eat up the good pasture, and tread down the residue with their feet; they drink of the fountains, and foul the residue "with their feet.' My flock are fain to eat that they have trodden, and to drink that they have fouled with their feet, Ezek. xxxiv. 18. But God shall judge and separate: ver. 20, ' Behold I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and the lean cattle.' Because they have thrust with side and shoidder, and pushed all the diseased mth their horns, 'therefore I will save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey, and I will judge between cattle and cattle.' The goats will annoy till they be quite separated. Too many among us have these goatish conditions : tlaey climb up ambitiously to the moun-tams of preferment, like goats; they pill and bark the commonwealth, like goats; they lust after women as hot as goats; they trouble the waters of Israel, the peace of the church, like goats; they tread under feet God's blessings, like goats; they smell of impiety as rank as goats; and therefore they must be separated as goats.

We have all from Adam the nature of the goat; let us weep away, and keep away, such goatish qualities. And let us put on the j^roperties of sheep; which Christ (John x.) gives to be three : Audire, ohedire, sequi, —to hear Christ's word, to obey Christ's will, to follow Christ's steps. Search thy soul for these brands and marks of a sheep, or else thou wilt prove a goat. Hast thou Jidem agni, the faith of a lamb reposed in the Lamb of God ? Hast thou innocentiam agni, the innocence of a lamb, free from wrong ? vellus agni, the fleece of a lamb, to warm the poor ? humilitatem agni, the humbleness of a lamb, a stranger to pride ? ^ja^i'en^ia??! agni, the patience of a lamb, ready to lay down thy life for Christ 1 Then thou shalt have gloriam agni, the reward of a lamb, assured salvation in heaven.

Thus the goats and the sheep be like in external fashion,—they feed both in one pasture, lie both in one fold, all their lifetime,—but Christ will put them asunder at the last day. Like two travellers that go together to one town, take up one inn, feed together at one board, sleep together in one bed; but in the morning their ways part. The sheep and goats eat together, drink together, sleep together, rot together, but at this day there shall be a separation. The goats may deceive man both in life and death, they may be taken for sheep, but Christ can discern between cattle and cattle. God judgeth by the liver, man by the livery. If the liver be rotten, look the flesh never so fair, the good market-man will not buy it. If Christ find not the heart sound, he will none of the carcase.

3. The probation. Every man must undergo his trial. From the jirison of the grave, they are set before the Judge, and there sufi'er discussion or trial. There are certain ' books to be opened' for this probation, Kev. xx. 12; some rolls or records filled up in the court of heaven. There is liber 'prceceptonim secundum quern, et liber conscientice ex quo judicaimir, quicqidd prcecipitur scriptum in illo, quicquid delinquitur in isto. Here is divina scientia, et humana conscieniia met together. We may forget our sins, but God keeps a true register. If the sufferings of the saints be recorded, then

sure their violences by whom they suffer are not forgotten. Now the book of the law whereby men are judged contains three leaves : nature, the law written, and the gospel. Some must be tried by the first only, some by the first and second, others by all three.

First, That some shall be judged only by the law of nature, it is clear. • As many as have smued without the law shall perish without the law,' Kom. ii. 12. Here two things are considerable : one, what this law of iiature is ; the other, whether the breach of it be sufficient to condemn.

First, It is a knowledge of certain principles tending to live well; and of conclusions thence neccssr.rily inferred, agreeable with the internal rule of truth planted by God in man, and teaching him to worship his Maker. Thus Melancthon defines it. The matter of it is principles with conclusions directing to a good life. Parents are to be honoured, this is a principle engrafted; therefore I must honour my parents, this is a conclusion inferred. The form of it is an accordance with the rule of truth, God's moral law; for the law natural is the summary abridgment of the law moral. The author of it is God, who hath written it in man's heart. Deus omniicm Creator singulorum pedonhiis infuditj''' The end is, that it might be a testimony of that divine providence whereby God now ruleth, and of that justice whereby he will judge men. This agrees with the Apostle's definition, Rom. ii. 1.5, ' Which shew the work of the law ^vritten in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts excusing or accusing.' ' The work,' there is the matter of it; ' of the law,' there is the form ; ' written,' there is the author that imprints it; ' the conscience accusing or excusing,' there is the end. In this inward testimony arising from nature are these two principal things: Gvvri^iGig, a comprehension of practical prhiciples, and natural discerning between just and imjust; and GunihGic, conscience chiding for choosmg evil, and approving for doing good. The one makes the proposition, the other the assumption.

Secondly, The other point to be discussed is, whether the breach of this law doth condemn ? Some object, that it is quite blotted out of man, therefore cannot bind him. No question it is much obscured, in respect both of intellectual and affectual faculties. For imderstanding; it gropeth ' if happily it might feel after God,' Acts xvii. 27. Adam had the knowledge of good by experience, of evil only by contemplation: but falling, he had also an experimental knowledge of evil. For afiection; man's will is so perverse, that whenas naturally he desires to be hapj^y, yet he willingly commits those things against his first intendment that make him most unhappy; as a thief steals to keep himself from famine, and so from misery : thus, Ne miser sit, malus Jit: et idea miserior, quia malus, —Lest he should be wretched, he becomes wicked; and is so much the more wretched by being wicked. Beatus vult esse homo, etiam nan sic vivendo ut possit esse, —^lan seeks for blessedness in all places but where it is. Yea, custom brings this will to contempt of sin. Peccata quamvis korrenda, cum in consuetudinem venerint, creduntur parva, out mdla,i —Sins horrid and imcouth at first, become trivial and familiar by practice.

Thus is that natural light dimmed and overcast by the corruption of prosperous lusts; yet ne ipsa quidevi delet iniquitas, —sm doth not quite raze it out. First, because there are certain principles reviving it in the most dissolute; as the desu-e of happiness, and every one would attain that end, though they err in the means. Yea, they know that evil is to be avoided, which appears in that they would not have any wrong ofi'ered to themselves. * Ambr, t Aug.

These general rules all know, albeit in the particular applications they are blinded. Hence it came that some gross sins were not condemned of them, as robbery among the Germans, lust of males among the Grecians, Eom. i. 27. Indeed, God did punish maVitiam per duritiem ; yet stUl remain some sparks and cold cinders of that primary and original fire. Secondly, That the light of nature is not quite extinct appears by the force and working of the conscience; for this doth vex and sting the most obstinate soul. By tliis Cain was driven to confess the monstrousness of his sin. Thirdly, The practice of natural men evinceth it, who by force of nature performed some things agreeable to equity. ' The Gentiles having not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law,' Eom. ii. 14. The very Gentiles had many excellent politic laws and positive constitutions. This seems to clear the meaning of Plato's two assertions : Legem esse inventionem veritatis, —That was the law of nature. Legem esse imitatlonem veritatis, —Such were the positive decrees grounded upon the other. But what precepts doth this law contain, and what remnants of it doth man retain 1

The law of nature commands man to live religiously to God above him, justly to man with him, soberly to things under him. To deal justly with men, nature gives him two rules: one affirmative, 'What thou wouldst have others to do to thee, so do to them;' the other negative, Quod tihi fieri non vis, alteri non feceris, —Do not that to others which thou wouldst not have them do to thee. Even nature instructs a man how to rule his affections. So TuUy: Animus iraperat corpori, ut rex civibus : ratio libidini, ut servis domimcs, —The mind governs the body, as a king reigns over his subjects: the reason over lust, as a master over his servants. Whence had he this but from nature? There is vis rationis, orationis, adorationis. By the virtue of reason man loves man ; by the power of discourse man regards himself; by the power of worship man respects God. If we should examine the particular commandments—First, They acknowledge one God. TuUy protested, that when he wrote seriously, he mentioned but one God; and he did but ludere, play the poet, when he spake of more. Moses called this God 6 uv, and Plato to h. Secondly, Numa Pompilius judged it unlawful to ascribe any form to God invisible. Thirdly, They durst indeed play with their puppets, imagmary gods, Venus and Cupid, &c.; but for the Deity they cry out, Great is their Diana : this vindicates, them from vUiiJending the name. If they had known a greater God, they would have given greater reverence to his name. Fourthly, Divers of the Gentiles had their Sabbaths; mingled with strange superstitions; but they were taught by nature to set apart some time for worship. Fifthly, They commanded and commended honour to parents : Solon ordaining no law for parricides, answered there w^ere none so unnatural to attempt it. Sixthly, That murder was held abominable, appears by their punishing it, accorcUng to God's law, with death. Seventhly, That adultery was odious, it is manifest by Pharaoh: ' Why saidst thou, She is my sister ? so I might have taken her to me to wife,' Gen. xii. 19. By Abimelech to Abraham: ' What have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and my kingdom a great sin,' Gen. xx. 9. By Abimelech to Isaac: ' What is this thou hast done unto us % one might have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us,' Gen. xxvi. 10. Eighthly, Theft some punished ■with death, others with double restitution. Cato being asked, Quid fcene-rari i —What it was to practise usury, answered, Quid hominem occidere ? — the same that to kill a man. Ninthly, They so hated and avoided falsehood and lying, that they would not suffer a man to be witness against his enemy.

Tenthly, They thought it unlawful to covet other men's goods. One of them said, Concupiscere alieninn, sit a me cdienatum.

Eut now their natur;il knowledge being so obscured, shall yet the law of nature condemn ? Yes, for ' the invisible things of God might be understood by the tlungs that are made; so that they are without excuse,' Eom. i. 20. God could not be apprehended by them any other way than by nature; yet sinning against him they arc without excuse. ' Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not,' Jer. x. 25, ' and upon the kingdoms that have not called on thy name,' Ps. Ixxix. 6. ' He shall come in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God,' 2 Thess. L 8. By this shall many millions of men be condemned. Imxcusahilis est ovinis jy^ccator, vel reatu originis^^ —Original guilt makes us inexcusable, without voluntary ad-ditament. Ignorantia ejus qui noluit intelUgere, est peccantis culpa : igno-raniia ejus qui non potuit intelUgere, est peccati poena. In utrisque non est justa excusatio, sed est justa damnatio, —His ignorance that would not understand is the wickedness of sin; his ignorance that could not understand is the punishment of sin. Doth not this latter excuse ? Yes, a tanto, but not it toto, —from so much guiltiness, but not from all guiltiness. Ignorance can be no plea, for all are bound to know. It serves not a malefactor's turn to plead ignorantiam juris, that he knew not the law of his prince which he hath broken. I know that simple nescience is minoris culpa;, but not mdlce,f a less fault, not no fault. The ' knowing servant' disobedient shall have ' many stripes.' The ignorant is not spared, though less punished, Luke xii. 47. To the ignorant are two wants, knowledge and a good will; but he that sms wittingly hath but one want, only a good will. He that fails on knowledge hath voluntatein facti et peccati, —a will both to the deed and to the sin. He that fails in ignorance hath only voluntatem facti, non peccati, —a will of the deed, not of the sin, though the deed be a sin. Ignorantia duplex; una quce est causa culpa;, altera cujus causa culpa est,X — There is an ignorance that is the cause of sin, and there is a sin that is the cause of ignorance, No ignorant hath his sin mitigated; but is solum qui noil hahuit unde discere, saith Augustine,—he only that had no means of learning. For Christ is a just judge, and would not condemn without fault. We have all good means of knowledge; God keep us from the condemnation of ignorance!

Secondlg, The next book is the law : that others shall be judged by this it is clear without quection. ' As many as have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law,' Kom. ii. 12. The Jews shall be thus judged rather than the Gentiles, who had not the law written. The law of Moses did only bind the Hebrews; the prophets were not commanded to publish it to the Gentiles. Paul calls the times before Christ ' the times of ignorance,' Acts xvii. 30 ; and the gospel a ' mystery kept secret since the world began,' Piom. xvi. 25. Now to object, first, that the Jewish merchants taught many nations the law is vain ; for they were generally more apt discere religionem alienam, quam docere suam, —to learn false religions than to teach the true. And many of them did not even by their own types and sacrifices perfectly understand the sacrifice of Christ. Then to say their books were manifest is false, for the Jews kept them. ' Unto them were committed the oracles of God,' Rom. iii. 2. They were first depositarii, then oeconomi, dispensers. ' For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem,' Isa. ii. 3. ' He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes unto Israel, he hath not dealt so with any nation,' Ps. cxlvii. 19. So Christ to the Samaritan * Aug. t ' nuUiiis.' — Ed. J Perer.

woman, ' Salvation is of the Jews,' John iv. 22. Now as this crediting facit ad honorem personce cui confidimus,'' —makes to the honour of the person wliom we credit, this was a great credit to the Jews; so it brings them to a strict account: exigendam cum tisuris, as in the talents,—God looks for his own with usury. Some of them kept them in their hands, but not in their hearts ; aliis mcigis profatura quam ipsis,f —for the benefit of others, more than of themselves.

Now this book is the touchstone or trial of our works; whatsoever we have either thought, said, or done, is either with or against the law of God. How we wrangle here to justify many things, which there will not abide the trial! How many arguments doth a contentious man produce, to countenance his brabbling lawsuits ! Defensio juris, intentio legis, retardatio injuri-arum, —The defending of his right, the purpose of the law, the keeping back of injuries; forbear one wrong, and provoke more ; and correctio injustorum, the punishing of evil-doers. And be not these smooth colours 1 who can now say, Peccasti in litigando ? —Thou hast done ill in going to law 1 But still we reckon without our host: thou thinkest thy penny good silver, as the fool thought his pebble a diamond; bring it to the test. ' There is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another,' 1 Cor. vi 7. Whether will God judge thee according to thine own humour, or according to this precept ? Alas, he will then try thee secundum legem suam, non secundum legem tuam, —after his law, not after thy lust. It is oj^us caniis, and will not abide tentationem ignis. ' Contention, strife, variance,' are works of the flesh, Gal. v. 20; and ' they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.' Hell-fire will consume all such reasons.

So among others, an angry word calls on a challenge: they have plausible reasons for it. Their credit lies upon it; and better lose life than reputation. If being wronged they challenge not, or being challenged they answer not, the world condemns them for cowards. So they fight not so much against another's life, as against their own reproach. This were somewhat if it were tcwi bene, quam magneiwopositum, —if the project were as Christian as it is Roman. Now they must go to the field, pray, embrace, forgive; then fight and kill. But is this the law that God will judge by 1 No, that law is, ' Thou shalt not kiU.' But perhaps they purpose not to kill; yet saith God, ' Return not evil for evil;' how doth this agree with thy colour;}: and humour ? Yet more peremptorily: ' Avenge not yourselves, but give place unto wrath; for vengeance is mine,' saith the Lord, Rom. xii. 19. Will you steal this from him in a glorious theft ? hazard your soul more than your body 1 thrusting one upon an enemy's sword, the other on God's sword ? Will you meet together in so bloody a design, wherein uterque letaliter peccat, soipe alter ceternaliter perit, —both sin deadly, often one or both perish eternally ! Thus your pretences may blanch it over with the name of honour ; but the law you must be tried by will find it homicide.

For usury ; how is it bedaubed with arguments, probabilities, patronages, examples ! Books have been written to justify it; but none of these is that law whereby the usurer must be judged. They do not only reason thus : I must give to the poor, therefore I must take usury of the rich ; an argument of Standgate-hole : I may rob some, that I may give to others. But they defend it by Scripture : ' If thou lend money to the poor, thou shalt not lay upon him usury,' Exod. xxii. 25. Not on the poor; therefore they infer, we may lay it on the rich. ' Rob not the poor, because he is poor,' saith Solomon, Prov. xxii. 22; therefore we may rob the rich, because he is rich, * Ambr. f Erasm. J Qu. ' clioler' ?— Ed.

and can spare it. Is not this a goodly strong argument ? So because it is said, Exod. xxii. 22, ' Ye shall not afflict the widow or fatherless child,' it must needs follow that they may trouble a woman married, or a child that hath a father. There are infinite excuses; but the law of trial is, ' Thou shalt not lend upon usury :' study an answer to that question. As much may be said for impropriations; what shall become of all our legal pleas, our alienations, prohibitions, customs, fines ? All fine excuses! when Christ shall set the sacrilegious before him, and read this law, ' Thou shalt not rob God of his tithes and offerings,' Mai. iii. 8. Where now are all reasons and excuses? This spiritual court vnll admit of no corrupt customs, no devices: Me thou hast robbed, by me thou shalt be condemned. Lord, enter not into judgment with us : who shall be justified in thy sight 1 We cannot answer ex millihus nmim, one of a thousand. Help us, O thou Judge and Saviour! let thy mercy as Jesus help us against thy justice as Judge ! We must come under probation, defend us from reprobation, and let us find approbation, not for our works, but thy mercies, O blessed Redeemer ! Amen.

Lastly, Others are to be judged by the gospel; and this certainly bindeth our conscience here, for it shall judge us hereafter. ' He that believeth not on Christ is condemned,' John iii. 18. Now the gospel requires of us two things—faith and obedience. Faith: ' Repent and believe the gospel,' Mark i. 15. Obedience : 'Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine,' Rom. vi, 17. Which obedience must be prompta, ' ye have obeyed ; ' vol-untaria, 'from the heart;' discreta, that true 'form of doctrine.''■' Indeed obedient ia evangelica est ipsa fides. Many think they are not bound to believe the gospel; but by this they shall be judged.

True it is that all are not bound to it: they to whom Christ never spoke, was never spoken, have an excuse; not of every sin, but of this sin, that they have not believed on Christ. It is objected, The law bound all, therefore the gospel binds all. No; for the law was given to man's nature : so though its knowledge was lost by man's default, yet its bond remains on God's part. The gospel was never given to man's nature, but after the fall, and is above nature. Adam was the root of mankind in respect of nature, not in respect of grace. When God gave the law to him, he bound him and all his posterity to keep it. When he gave the promise to him, and faith to believe it, he did not withal give it to all mankind. Neither, if Adam had afterward fallen from faith, should all mankind have fallen with him. The first Adam was not the root of the promise, but the second.

But now to ourselves : we must all stand before the tribunal of Christ; to the statutes of the former books who can answer ? All our help is in this latter book—we fly to the gospel. We ' behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world,' John i. 29, and comfort ourselves that ' if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins,' 1 John ii. 2. Now, as Festus said to Paul, ' Hast thou appealed unto Cajsar 1 unto Ctesar shalt thou go,' Acts XXV. 22. So, hast thou appealed to the gospel ? Thou shalt go to the gospel for thy trial. Vel te totaliter ahsolvit, vel te capitaliter damnat, —It shall either thoroughly justify thee, or extremely condemn thee. The Spirit shall convince the world ' of sin,' saith Christ, ' because they believe not on me,' John xvi. 9. Now, what is the Holy Ghost's judgment here, will be Christ's hereafter. But why are they condemned of sm for not believing ? First, because other sins are condemned by nature and law,—as

* Lvran.

murder, adultery,—botli among Jews and Gentiles; but not to believe is the jiroper sin of Christians ; and it is a grand sin, because they have the doctrine of faith. Secondly, because infidelity is the root of all sins, as faith is of all good works; the want of faith leads from transgression to presumption, from presumption to despair. Thirdly, especially, because faith takes away the guilt of sins, and freeth from condemnation; but infidelity retains the guilt of itself and others. Oinnia peccata 2^er infidelitatem retinentur, 'per jidem remittuntur!'' Luther hath it, out of Augustine, Nidlum peccatum nisi infidelitas, mcUa justitia nisi fides. —There is no sin but infidelity, no righteousness but faith. Not that adultery, intemperance, malice, are no sins ; but infidelitate manente, manet omne jyeccatum: eadem decedente ahsol-t'untur omnia quoad reatum, —unfaithfulness remaining, every sin remains; that departing, every sin is pardoned, and quite taken away in respect of the guiltiness. Peccata stint, tiia2oeccata nan sunt, —Afterthou becomest a believer, the sins thou doest are sins; but not thy sins, because they are forgiven thee. This appears by the purpose of Christ's coming, which was to ' dissolve the works of the devil,' 1 John iii. 8; believe on him, and thy sins are dissolved, absolved : thou art as if thou never hadst off'ended. Non quod 2)eccatuni omnino non erit, sed quod non omnino imjmtattcm erit, —JSTot that sin altogether should not be, but that it shall not be imputed. How quick a riddance penitent faith makes with our sins! They are too heavy for our shoulders, faith presently turns them over to Christ. Whereas there would go with us to judgment a huge kennel of lusts, an army of vain words, a legion of evil deeds. Faith instantly dischargeth them all, kneeling down to Jesus Christ, beseeching him to ansAver for them.

Therefore make we much of faith : if our souls be ballasted with this, they shall never shipwreck. Ahasuerus had many virgins, none pleased him like Esther : none pleaseth God but faith, all the rest for her sake. She is that Judith that saveth the life of all thy good works by cutting off the usurping head of Satan. Thou canst not be unwelcome to God if thou come with confidence : nothing more offends God than the not taking his word. Sin offends his law, but unbelief offends his gospel. Though we do not what he bids us, yet let us be sure he will do what he tells us. It is good to obey the former, better to believe the latter; because he is more able and more good than we. Well, now, after this gospel we must be judged; so Paul writes to his Komans: ' God shall judge the secrets of all hearts by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel,' Eom. ii. 16. Thou canst not satisfy the law, therefore study thy soul an answer to this book; otherwise, saith Christ, ' The word that I have sj)oken, the same shall judge thee in the last day,' John xii. 46. The sermons thou hast heard shall rise up in judgment to condemn thee. Hence arise three conclusions :—

(1.) It is no presumption for a Christian to believe the pardon of his sins in Christ, for to do the will of God is not to presume. If we do not believe this, Christ shall judge us damnable by the gospel; therefore if we do conscionably believe this, he shall acquit us by the gospel. u}fon est 2)}'ce-sum2itio a-edentis, uhi est aidJiontas jicbentis, —There is no presumption in man to believe it, when there is the authority of God to command it. Of all things in a Christian, God doth not love a nice, dainty, and maidenly faith. He loves to have a man's modesty bashful, his humility fearful, his penitence sorrowful, his patience joyful, his compassion pitiful; but he loves a faith that hath boldness in it, that is not afraid to trouble God with afii-ance or suppliance, but is confident, mat orcus et ortus. Without faith it is

* Ang.

dangerous pressing into tlie presence-chamber, as it was to the marriage without the wedding garment; but in faith sequere et consequere ; qui cupit, capit, —speak and speed: 'Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you,' John x\'i. 23. It is no sin to trust God with thy soul; Paul teacheth it by example : * I know whom I have believed, that he will keep that I have committed to him against that day,' 2 Tim. i. 12. Peter, by counsel: 'Commit your soul to God in well-doing,' 1 Pet. iv. 19. It is no sin to call God Father, ' for he hath sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father,' Gal. iv. 6. It is no sin to trouble him with our suits: ' Let us draw near with a true heart, in fuU assurance of faith,' Heb. x. 22. Not to do this faithfully is against the gospel; therefore to be judged of that sin.

(2.) The infallible certainty of a true Christian's salvation is kno^^^l to himself, and cannot be doubted without sin. For if it be sm to distrust this, it is then righteousness to believe it. The sum of the gospel is man's salvation by Christ; he that believes not this, believes not the gospel; and he that knows the gospel, and believes it not, shall by it be condemned. Now God in the gospel doth not require that absolute perfection which he did in the law, under the perU of damnation ; but qualifies the rigour of the law by the satisfaction of a mediator. So that the gospel accepts the intent and endeavour for the act; as the will to repent for penitence, and the wdU to believe for faith. It is then not only a weakness, but a wickedness, to distrust God's mercy in thy salvation; let not this ftxult judge thee before Jesus Christ.

(3.) The gospel requires probation of faith by a good life: norma fidei, forma vita;, —as we believe, we must live. Do we believe Christ hath redeemed us % We must live like such as are redeemed: if freed, let us demean ourselves as children of freedom. It is nothing at this judgment to say, ' I have believed,' when the life shall Avitness the contrary: thy lips affirm, but thy works deny. As our Saviour said, Opera testantur de me, — 'My works bear witness of me' that I am Christ; so thou must say, Opera testantur de me, —My works bear witness of me that I am a Christian. Thou shalt be saved for thy faith, not for thy works; but for such a faith as is without works thou shalt never be saved. Works are disjoined ctjusti-ficato,''' —from the act of justifying, not from the person justified. If this Judge for his o'rni merits give us salvation, we must shew him the fair copy of our conversation. Quicquid Christxis operatur -pro nobis, operatur in nobis, —"Whatsoever Christ works for us, he also works in us. If he hath freed us from the damnation of sm, he hath also freed us from the domuiion of sin. Albeit in our justification jf?e< nobis secimdum Jidem nostram, —be it unto us according to our faith; yet in salvation reddetur unicuique secundum opera sua, —every man shall be rewarded according to his works. Let not that which is a word of comfort to us be a bill of indictment against us.

4. The sentence. As there be two sorts of men to be sentenced, so there is a double sentence: one of absolution, the other of damnation. With absolution our Saviour begins in action, with that let us begin in meditation. He begins with fiivour,—oh, he is ready to shew mercy !—and comes slowly to wrath and judgment. In the absolution are considerable four circumstances—a calling, a commending, a reply, and an answer.

(1.) The calling is set down Matt. xxx. 34, 'Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.' In which gracious speech wc may perceive six gradations:— * Evidently it should be, ' d justijicatione, non <X justificalo.' — Ed.

[1.] Amabilis vocatio : 'Come.' Tins was the voice of Christ generally to all in the day of grace, is particularly to the elect in the clay of glory. Now he calls more than will come; then he will not call all that Avould come. Now he gives many Venite's: ' Come to me, aU that labour,' ]\Iatt. xi. 28. ' If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink,' John vii. 37. ' The Spirit and bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come,' Kev. xxii. 17. Send not others, but come yourselves. Come to no others, either saints or angels, but come to me. Let us take heed of that Discedite, quia nolidstis venire, —' Depart from me,' Matt. vii. 23 ; good reason, for 'you would^fcot come unto me,' John v. 40. You declined my call when I was humbled : 'Is not this the carpenter's son ?' Matt. xiii. 55. I will decline you now I am exalted : ' None of those men that were called shall taste of my supper,' Luke xiv. 24. But such as have obediently heard his Co7ne in holiness, shall also graciously hear his second Come in happiness.

[2.] Suavis benedictio : 'Ye blessed.' Never man was, is, or shall be, but desires secundum sensum suum, after his own sense, to be blessed, saith Aristotle ; though the most have sought it out of the right rihi, where it was not to be found. In Christ only it is found, who is indeed the ' Father of blessedness.' Matt. V. 3,' Blessed are the poor in spirit.' The first word of the first lesson of Christ's first sermon is 'blessed'—a word able to make a man blessed.

[3.] Patris dilectio: ' Of my Father.' To be blessed of God is to be surely blessed. Parents do well in blessing their children; princes in blessing their people. Here is the difi"erence: henedicunt, but not heatificmxt, —they may wish them blessed, but not make them blessed. But saith God to Abraham, ' In blessing I will bless thee/ Gen. xxii. 17 ; ' I have blessed him, and he shall be blessed,' Gen. xxvii. 33. All blessedness springs from that fountain: the Lord hath blessed us, and requires us to bless him ' who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen,' Bom. ix, 5. This the universal song that all creatures gives him : ' Blessing, honour,' &c., Eev. v. 13.

[4.] Felicitatis loossessio: 'Inherit.' Inheritance is of birth, not industry; the younger brother is often of more desert than the elder, yet cannot this make him his father's heir. This is of inheritance, therefore not of merit. It diifers from an earthly inheritance in three things:—First, in that the testator must be dead, and the successor living; in this God, the testator, is everliving, and his heirs, before they can fully possess it, must be dead.'^ A temporal inheritance divided is diminished; one is of so much land shortened as is to another shared. The heirs here are without number : ' of all nations, kindred, and languages,' Kev. vii. ; yet though the inheritance be imparted it is not impaired. Tanta singidis, quanta 07nnibits,-f —Every one hath as much as any one. Thirdly, the partition of an earthly inheritance breeds among the co-heirs envy and grudging; but in this the joy of one is the joy of all. Dispar gloria singidorum, tamen communis ketitia omnium,X —One star may excel another star in glory, but none shall envy another in glory. There shall be no repining at another's more glorious clearness, where remains in all one gracious dearness. ' Inherit.'

[5.] Hcereditatis perfectio: ' A kingdom.' The top of man's desire is a J&ingdom : nil nisi regna placent. Yet if they be earthly kingdoms they will not satisfy. Alexander is not content with his universal monarchy. But here is a kingdom will satisfy : you will say, there are many kings, and but one kingdom; therefore not room enough : yes, for the bounds of the least are not narrower than heaven itself.

* Amlir. f Ardens. t Aug.

[6.] Regni paratio: * Prepared for you.' Not merited in your times, but prepared before all times. It had no beginning in respect of God's intention ; it shall have no end in respect of your possession. God's decree to give it us had no beginning, but shall have an end; our fruition of it shall have a beginning, but no end : God's mercy in both hath neither beginning nor end, but is from everlasting to everlasting. Had the Lord such care to provide a kingdom for his children before they were, then sure he will give it them at the appointed time. So certain are they of blessedness, that it is * prepared for them from the foundation of the world.' ' For you,' not for all; there is no universal election, God* decrees not aU to be saved. Then Christ should have said thus: ' Inherit the kingdom' imyatum omnibus, datum mhis, ' prepared for all,' and given to you; but he saith, ' Prepared for you,' therefore not purposed to all. Seeing there is so good cheer prepared for us, let US prepare ourselves for that; like some dainty guest, who, knowing there is such delicate fiire behind, keeps his stomach for it. Let us disdain the coarse diet of this world, that dangers us to the dropsy of our covetise, or the surfeits of riot. We use to fast on the eves that we may feast on the holidays; let us here abstain from the table of sin, that we may hereafter banquet in the kingdom of heaven.

This is matter of comfort to us: here the world condemns the godly, therefore they shall have a time of absolving. ' When that general session comes, ' then look up, and Lift up your head, for your redemption draweth nigh,' Luke xxL 28. There is no mercy to be had in this world, for the wicked themselves are accusers, witnesses, judges; but at that day a poor man's case will be heard. There 'the poor committeth himself unto thee, for thou art the helper of the fatherless,' Ps. x. 14. Christ will take the cause into his own hand : ' The souls under the altar cry mth a loud voice, How long, 0 Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?' Eev. vi. 10. Yes; it is fit every one should have a day of hearing. This is theirs, that shall be ours: ' The righteous shall rejoice when he secth the vengeance,' Ps. Iviii. 10. Rejoice 1 Yes; they have no charity to us on earth, we must have no charity to them in hell.

(2.) The commendation follows the calling ; Matt. xxv. 35, ' For I was hungry, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink,' &c. Christ witnesseth their faith from the effects: they brought forth fruits of mercy. Thus it is evident that not according to the internal habit of fiiith and charity, but according to the external acts proceeding from them, is the reward bestowed. Christ before justified them by their faith, apprehending his merits; now he justifies them by testimony of that faith, arising from their works. The point Christ insists in is their works of mercy, which are six: visito, poto, cibo, redimo, tego, colligo fratres, —giving them meat, drink, harbour, clothing, visitation in sickness, redemption from bondage.

Where observe, that the main point Christ will scan at the last is the point of mercy. Not how wise, nor how learned, nor how just, but how merciful.* Now, if a scholar, standing for preferment, knew directly that one question wherein he should be opposed, he would study a fuU and ready answer to it. We all know that one and main question wherein Christ will examiiae us, what works of mercy have we done. If we have gotten no demonstration of mercy, we are worthily condemned. Now their mercy is commended, partly in respect of the object, and partly in respect of the act. For the object, it is done to Christ: happy mercy that is done to the Lord

* Ambr. VOL. II. 2 N

Jesus; it shall never pass unrewarded ! ' Joasli forgot tlie kindness of Jehoiada,' 2 Chron. xxiv. 22 ; but the King of heaven will remember all the good done unto him. Says that good malefactor, ' Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom,' Luke xxiii. 42. I will not forget thee, answers Jesus : ' To-day thou shalt be with me in paradise.' ' I was an hungered, and ye fed me.' / and me, saitli Christ.

In regard of the act, the thing they distribute and contribute is not bare words, but actual mercies—food, clothing, &c. This is the effect of a true faith, not a verbal, but a real working faith: a faith, not like that the Psalmist seems to mention, (though in anoftier sense,) ' I believed,' et icleo locuttis sum, —' and therefore I spake;' but such as the Apostle speaks of, ' I believed,' et icleo operatus sum, —and therefore I wrought; ' a faith working by love.' It is easy to mistake St Paul, Ptom. xiv. 22, ' Hast thou faith 1 have it to thyself before God,' unless we expound him by St James : chap. ii. 18, 'Hast thou faith? shew thy faith by thy works.' If we will be the children of Abraham, ' who is the father of them that believe,' Eom. iv. 11, we must be so by Sarah, who is the mother of 'them that obey,' 1 Pet. iii. C. They that will be trees of righteousness in God's garden must not be like the fig-tree in the gospel, that had only leaves, no fruit ; but like the ' tree that brings forth her fruit in due season,' Psalm i. 3 ; or, like Aaron's rod, that of a dead stick, having life and sap put into it, presently bare almonds,—fruit, no leaves spoken of

Some give words enough, contrary to Moses, who was a man of few words. The Papists vsdll rather lose a penny than a paternoster : these will give ten paternosters before one penny. They give the words of Naphtali, ' pleasant words,' but no meat; as if the poor were, like Ephraim, ' fed with the wind,' Hosea xii. 1. Or, as if their word were verbiim Domini, the ' word of God,' that men might live by it. Matt. iv. 4. Solomon says, ' AVisdom is good with an inheritance;' so good counsel is good with an alms. If a famished man beg bread of thee, and thou only fallest to instruct his soul, but deniest food to his body, he may reply, as Hushai said to Absalom of Ahithophel's counsel, ' The counsel that Ahithophel hath given is good, but not at this time,' 2 Sam. xvii. 7. Martial demands of Caius a small piece of silver : Quod vel doncmti non (jrave, Caius blamed him for his idle profession of poetry; counselled him to study the law, that would enrich him. To him Martial: Quod peto da milii tu, non peto consilium, —Give me that I ask thee; I do not ask thee counsel. Many are like St Peter's fish; it had money in its mouth, but not a hand to give it. Or like Dives's dogs; they can lick a poor man with their tongues, else give him no relief. Diogenes, a witty beggar, would usually walk in a place where earthen statues were erected, in honour of some that died for their country. To them he would pray, to them reach out his hand, bow, and beg. Being asked the reason, he answered, Nihil aliud quam repulsam meditor, —I think of nothing but a repulse and denial. We have many such living statues, mere idols, that have mouths, and speak not; eyes, and pity not; hands, and give not. The poor are sure of nothing but a repulse.

(3.) The reply or question upon this commendation made by the saints, Matt. XXV. 37, ' Then shall the righteous answer him; Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee 1 or thirsty, and gave thee drink V &c. This is no denial of that truth Christ hath avouched. But, first, to magnify Christ's mercy, who takes these works as done to himself, which are done for his sake. Let no covetous churl plead he wants subjects upon whom to exercise his mercy : pauper ubiquejacet, —which way can he walk and not

beliolcl one hungry, another thirsty, <fec. Secondly, To testify their humility, that albeit these things are true, yet they acknowledge no merit in them ; they have not done so much of these as they ought. Besides, they might have an after consideration of their sins past, which, valued with their good works, they find one to outweigh a thousand. The Papists ostent their merits on earth, the saints dare not do so even ready for heaven; but ' cast down their crowns before the throne: saying, Thou, O Lord, art only worthy to receive glory and honour,' Eev. iv. 10. They have nee honi inopiam, nee in bono mperhiam, —They are not poor in good works, n^X proud of good works. They wrote their charity in the dust, therefore^^^itar God write it in marble. They seem to forget the works of mercy they have done, therefore are they remembered by Jesus Christ.

(4.) The answer of Christ, Matt. xxv. 40,' Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.' The miseries of my brethren are my own miseries. ' We have an high priest touched \A\h. the feeling of our infirmities,' Heb. iv. 15. That invulnerable and glorified breast is still touched with the sense of our wounds. ' Saul, thou persecutest me.' He says not mine, but me: me in mine. ' He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of mine eye,' Zech. ii. 8. Surely he will pity the misery of every one, that is affiicted with the sorrows of all: Quis 7'ecusabU pro Christo2:>ati, quando Christus compatituriKitienti? —Who would refuse to sufi"er for Christ, when he is sure that Christ sufiers with him ?

Here is excellent direction for our works of mercy : that no sinister end draw them from us, but sincere love to Christ. If any fish for the applause of men, his bait shall be his own hook to snare himself. Da Ghristo, —Look on the poor man, and in that member behold the Head, Christ. ' He that shall give a cup of cold water to one of these little ones, in the name of a disciple, he shall in no A\ise lose his reward,' !Matt x. 42. A cup of water is but a small gift; yet done in that name, and for that cause, it is rewarded as an excellent work of mercy. It is the true note of a child of God to shew mercy to a Christian, because he is a Christian. Natural men have their private ends and advantageous respects in their beneficences. Such a one shall do me service, flatter my addiction, bring intelligences to mine ear. I will make him my property ; my charity shall bind him to me. ]\Ioral men will sometimes give, even for pity's sake; but the true Christian doth it for % Christ's sake, and looks no further. ' Doing good unto all, especially to them that are of the household of faith,' Gal. vi. 10. Some think that the best work is to build temples and monasteries; but, indeed, the best work is to relieve, not the dead, but the living temples of Christ's mystical body. It was an ancient complaint: Fidget ecclesia in parietibus, litget in pauperibus, —The church flourisheth in her glorious buildings, but mourneth and pines away in her poor members. Deny not due cost to the dead walls, but first satisfy the living bowels; that Christ may say, ' Come, ye blessed !'

I come now to the sentence of condemnation. Matt. xxv. 41, 'Then shall he say to them on the left hand. Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.' In this form of damnatory judgment are four points considerable : a rejection of the wicked, a reason of that rejection, an objection against that reason, a confutation of that objection.

(1.) In the rejection are many particulars gradually enhancing their judgment. They arc partly privative and partly positive. ' Depart from me, ye cursed,' there is pa/ia damni ; ' into everlasting fire,' there is ^;f/?«rt seiisus. As there be two kinds of sin, delictum and 2}eccatum, — delictum est desertio honi,

peccatuvi perpet7'atio mali* —the one, a forsaking of that is good; the other, a committing of that is evil: so there is a like proportion of punishment, a depriving of joy, and a giving over to torment. Here is—

[1.] A grievous refusal: ' Depart.' This seems nothing to the wicked now, such is their dead service. 'Depart?' Why, they are content to be gone. * Because sentence against an evU work is not executed speedily, therefore their heart is fully set in them to do evil,' Eccles. viii. 11. But as a prince opening his long locked-up treasure graciously takes some in with him, and saying to all other ill-meriting followers, ' Depart,' it will be a disgraceful vexation; so when the glory of heaven, and those invaluable treasures shall be opened, and dealt about to the faithful, what horror wiU it be to the reprobates to be cast off with a ' Dej)art!' ' Blessed are the eyes that see the things which ye see :' Christ to his saints, Luke x. 23; 'for the kings have desired to see them, and were not suffered.' If it were such a blessedness to see Jesus in humility, what is it to see him in glory 1 But from this the wicked are bidden ' depart.'

[2.] The loss of salvation: ' from me^' your Saviour that was wounded for you; that offered my blood to you, which was offered for you. And if ' from me,' then from all that is mine; my mercy, my glory, my salvation. Consider here what an excellent thing it is to have familiarity with Christ on earth, that he may not cast us off as strangers from heaven. He that would have Christ know him there, must not be a stranger to Christ here. He must have some fellowship with God. How ? ' If we walk in the light, we have fellowship with God, and with his Son Jesus Christ,' 1 John i. 7. To Avalk in the dark is to have fellowship with the prince of darkness; to walk in the light is to have fellowship with the Father of lights. Will a reprobate, that hath always turned his back upon Christ, here press into his company ? Upon what acquaintance ? Yes, ' We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets,' Luke xiii. 26 ; as if they should say. We have fed at thy communion-table, and heard thee preach in our pulpits. Stm this proves no acquaintance; for in the one you did eat 2xmeni Domini, non p)Cinem Dominum, —the bread of Christ, but not Christ with the bread. In the other you have heard vei-hum Domini, not regarded Dominum verhi. Your ear hath been opened, but your conscience shut. ((Therefore, ver. 25, Non novi vos, —as familiar as you presume, yet you are such strangers to me that ' I know you not.' They never willingly came near Christ but to persecute him; therefore he shall then cast them far enough off for ever.

[3.] The deserved malediction: ' ye cursed.' He is cursed, that being bom in sin, lives in it, and dies in it, without seeking recovery. I call this curse merited, because they love it: 'As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him,' Ps. cix. 17. Hath he loved it? Let him take his love: 'As he clothed himself with cursing as with a garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones,' ver. 1S. It was his outside, let it be his linings : it was his outward stuff, let it be his inward stuffing. Every one that hath not first a pardon by Christ, must hear this curse pronounced against him from Christ. Oh, then, suffer not thine eyes to sleep till Christ hath sealed thee a quietus est ! Give no peace to thyself tUl thou have peace with God. Quamdiu imijoenitentia manet, mcdedictio imminet, —So long as unrepentance abides in us, cursedness hangs over us. He that wilfully goes on in known wickedness, hazards himself to inevitable cursedness. ' Go, ye cursed.'

* Bern.

[4.] The horror of the pains: ' into everlasting fire.' Fire; of all elements the most violent, therefore fittest to describe those pangs : ' The pile thereof is fire and much wood: the breath of the Lord, like a river of brimstone, doth kindle it,' Isa. xxx. 33. ' Everlasting;' the torments thereof arc ever frying, never dying: ' Where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched,' Mark ix. 44. Vermis corrodet conscientiam, ignis comhuret carnein; quia et corde et corpore deliquerunt* The fire shall torture their flesh, the worm their spiiit, because both in flesh and spirit they have sinned. The reprobates shall be packed and crowded together, like bricks in a fieiy furnace, having not so much as a chink where any wind may enter in to cool them.

[p.] The pre-ordinance of their torments: ' prepared for the devil and his angels 3' ordained beforehand. Origen held that the devil and his angels .should one day be released from theu' tortures; and that these words of Christ were spoken minaciter, potius quam veraciter, —rather by way of threatening than true meaning. But Augustine answers, that the Scripture hath confuted him 2)iemssivie ac planissime. For the fire prepared for Satan is not temporary, but everlasting; where, though floods of tears be continually raining upon it, yet can it not be put out.

' Prepared,' to the terror of wicked men, that ' covenant vdth hell:' alas ! they are deceived, it was made for some purpose. That fire was prepared for some, and some have prepared themselves for it. Burning in lusts, in malice, in revenge, until themselves, their lusts, malice, and revenge, and all burn in hell. The devil was crafty, yet he could not scape hell: be as wily as you can, yet beware hell. It is not policy, but piety, that must escape this fire. Now as this brings to the wicked much terror, so it helps to preserve the godly against error. And this was one principal cause of the penning this sentence. The wise master of the family will chide his servants, yea, and upon desert correct them, in the presence of his child, that he may learn by it to stand in awe of his father. So deals God, minatur quod faciei improbis, ne facial quod minatur Sanctis. He threatens the wicked what he will do to their sins, that the godly may avoid what he threatens for sins. Omnis minatio, arnica monitio, —every threatening is a fair wanung. The Lord give us mutare sententiam nostram, tit ipse mutet sententiam suam, —to change our mind, that God may change his menace ! Let us now come humbly to him in repentance, that we may never depart from him into vengeance. The other circumstances I will but touch.

(2.) Tlie reason of this rejection, ilatt. xxv. 42: ' For I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink.' They are not judged ex malis commissis, sed ex bonis omissis, —not by the e\'il deeds they have done, but by the good things they have not done. Christ says not. Ye took away my meat when I was hungry; but. You gave me not your meat. You did not strip me of the clothes I had; but, You gave me no clothes when I had not. ' The axe cuts up the tree which brought not forth good fruit,' Matt. iii. 10, though it be not accused for bringing forth bad fruit. Innocency is good, but not enough: we see that not to have relieved is an unanswerable indictment at that day. Hoav heavy will this sentence fiiU upon many among us ! What heaps have manj'^ in this city; perhaps some got without a tentered conscience, yield it no worse: yet would to God it were so well; for it is hard honum cito evadere divitem, —for an honest man to become rich on the sudden. They have it, and now may they not keep it ? Is it not their own 1 But, oh, it is fearful when for this keeping they shall be condemned ! It is not a groat weekly or monthly to the poor, and

•Aug.

a small pension to the mucli-robbed churcli, that can discharge you, but you must give proportionably. Plead what you can to the poor, Christ will not be so answered. Who can force me to give 1 None. But because thou wilt not give unforced, thou shalt justly be condemned.

(3.) The objection against this reason, Matt. xxv. 44 : ' Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athii-st,' &c., ' and did not minister unto thee V They have a kind of impudence still adhering to their foreheads : they would seem to justify themselves, though they be deservedly punished. ' When did we see thee V Often. When this poor widow hath departed without thy mercy, that orphan without thy help, that blind or lame without thy alms 1 When 1 When not ? Every occasion shall be a bill of indictment against thee. Who will wonder to see a Romish Pharisee soothe and flatter himself on earth, when he is not ashamed to do it in judgment before the Lord Jesus Christ ? Sed nulla defensio ahsolvet reum, nulla infensio dissolvei judicium. Plead they whether subtlely or angrily, as if some wrong were done them, it is equity itself that doth sentence them.

(4.) The confutation of their objection : Matt. xxv. 45, ' Insomuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.' This one distinction takes away all their arguments : here is a full answer to their qvxindo ; a declaration of their death-deserving wickedness, that would have no pity on the Lord Jesus. * Judgment merciless .shall be given to them that shew no mercy,' James ii. 13; you know this. Dives was denied a drop, because he would not give a crumb; you know this. ' He that stoppeth his ear at the cry of the poor, shall cry himself and not be heard,' Pro v. xxi. 13; did not I tell you thus % The poor you had ever, this mercy you shewed never; therefore ' Go, ye cursed.'

5. Lastly, the retribution : this is set down in brief, but the matter it contains is long and everlasting : ' All shall come forth ; they that have done good, to the resurrection of life; they that have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation,' John v. 29. ' These shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal,' Matt. xxv. 46. An estate soon versed; never to be reversed. The voice of Christ shall speak it, and the power of Christ shall effect it. No angel shall speak against it, no devil shall withstand it.

How should this teach us St Paul's use, who, considering that there shall oe ' a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust,' resolved with himself ' to have always a good conscience, void of offence, toward God and toward man,' Acts xxiv. 16. Let it instruct us all to watch for tliis day; a charge, than which nothing was more current in the mouth of Christ. Let me conclude with that sigh from his soul: ' Could ye not watch with me one hour ?' It will not be long ere the glass be run, the hour out; Judas is at hand, judgment is not far off; then may you sleep and take your rest. This day is nearer you now than when you first entered the church. Twice have the blasted ears eat iip the full com; twice have the lean kine devoured the fat: Pharaoh's dream is doubled for the certainty and expedition. ' Yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry,' Heb. X. 37. If we shall have comfort in this day when it is come, we must long for it before it do come. What comfort shall the usurer have % He desires not this day, for then the ' angel swears there shall be no more time,' Rev. X. G; and his profession is to sell time. He sells it dear, very costly to another's purse, but most costly to his own soul. Such as iDribe for offices, farm monopolies, contract an usurious rent for Ufe; do they desire it ? ' Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord ! to what end is it for you % the

day of the Lord is darkness, and not Jight,' Amos v. 18. The soul groaning under sin desires it; ' Who shall deliver me from the body of this death V Horn. vii. 24. The suffering soul may desire it: ' Come, Lord Jesus.' The faithful spouse wedded to Christ desires this coming of her husband; she is now espoused, that is the plenary consummation of the marriage : ' Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him : for the mamage of the Lamb is come, and the bride hath made herself ready. Blessed are they that be called to this marriage supper,' llev. xix. 7 :— To the ungodly it will be a fearful day.

* Ignis ubique ferox ruptis regnabit habenis.'

There shall follow an universal dissolution. Downwards go Satan, his angels, and reprobates; howling, and shrieking, and gnashing of their teeth,—the effect of a most impatient fury,—to be bound hand and foot with everlasting chains of darkness : where fire shall torture, yet give no light; worms gnaw the heart, yet never gnaw in sunder the strings : eternal pains jnmire, non finire corpora. Small sorrows grow great with continuance ; but, oh, misery of miseries ! to have torments universal, and withal eternal; not to be endured, yet not to be ended. Upwards goes Christ, the blessel angels and saints, singing with such melody as never mortal ear heard. The only song which that choir sing audible to man, was that which the shepherds heard, ' Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good ^vill towards men,' Luke ii. 14. Yet Christ was then coming to suffer : what may we think are those hallelujahs everlastingly chanted in the courts of heaven ! We know not; yet we may know one special note, which a universal choir ' of all nations, kindred, and tongues,' angels, elders, all shall sing: * Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen,' Rev. vii. 12.

' To the spirits of just men made perfect.' The citizens of heaven are of two sorts : by creation or adoption. Created and natural citizens are the angels; adopted are men. Of these be two kinds, some assumed, and others assigned. The assigned, such as are decreed in their times to be citizens ; said before to be ' written in heaven.' The assumed, such as are already possessed of it, here ' spirits of just men made perfect.' But how then is the Apostle's meaning cleared ? How are the militant on earth said to * be come unto these just spirits in heaven V Yes, we have a communion with them, participating in spe, what they possess i7i re. Now we are no more strangers and foreigners, but ' fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,' Eph. ii. 19. Only our apprenticeship of the flesh is not yet out; but they have their freedom. But as we have all a union with Christ, so a communion with Christians : the combatant on earth, with the triumphant in heaven.

* Spirits ;' this word hath diverse acceptions. It is taken, (1.) Pro anirno, for the mind : Luke x. 21, Jesus rejoiced 'in .spirit;' 1 Chron. y. 26, God stirred up the 'spiiit' of the king of Assyria. (2.) Pro sede rationis, et rut r,'y;fMovr/.Sj: 1 Cor. ii, 11, 'What man knows the things of man, save the spirit of man which Is within him"?' (3.) Pro affectu vel afflatu, for the motion of the mind, whether good or bad : Luke ix, 55, 'Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of So there is called ' the spirit of lust,' ' the .spirit of pride,' »fcc. (4.) Pro donis Spiriius sandi, for the gifts of God's Spirit : Acts viii. 15, Peter and John prayed for the disciples at Samaria, that they might receive ' the Holy Spirit,' meaning the graces of the Holy Spirit; Gal. iii. 2, ' Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing

of faith V (5.) Pro efficacia evangelii, for the effectual working of the gospel ; and so it is opposed to the letter : 2 Cor. iii. 6, ' The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth Life.' (6.) Pro spiritualihus exercitiis, for spiritual exercises : Gal. vi. 8, ' He that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap everlasting life;' John iv. 23, ' True worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth.' (7.) Pro regenerata parte, for the regenerate part of a Christian; and so it is opposed to the flesh : Gal. v. 17, ' The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit lusteth against the flesh.' (8.) Lastly, Pro anima immortali, for the immortal soul: Eccles. xii. 7, ' Dust shall return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it.' This spirit did Stephen commend into the hands of Christ, Acts vii. 59 ; and Christ into the hands of his Father, Matt, sxvii. 50, yielding up the spirit. Thus it is taken here.

* Spirits;' he doth not say bodies : they lie in the dust under the hope of a better resurrection. ' Spirits :' we find here what becomes of good men's souls when they forsake their bodies; they are in ' the heavenly city.' There are many idle opinions what becomes of man's soul in death. Some have thought that the souls then, though they die not, yet are still kept within the body (as it were asleep) until the last day. But the Scripture speaks expressly the contrary; for Dives's soul was in hell, and Lazarus's soul in Abraham's bosom. ' I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God,' Rev. vi. 9. Some have imagined a transmigration of souls, forsaken of their own bodies, into other bodies. Herod seems to be of this opinion : when news was brought him concerning the fame of Jesus, he said to his servants, ' Tliis is John the Baptist, he is risen from the dead,' Matt. xiv. 2. He thought that the soul of John was put into the body of Jesus. It is alleged, that Nebuchadnezzar living and feeding with beasts, ' until seven times were passed over him,' had lost his own soul, and the soul of a beast was entered in its room. But this is a frivolous conceit. Indeed God had bereft him of common reason, yet he had still the soul of a man. Do not many among us, that have the souls of men, live like debauched beasts ? The lustful Like a goat, the covetous like a wolf, the drunkard like a hog, the politician like a fox, the raUer like a barking cur. Others think that the soul neither dieth nor sleepeth, nor passeth out of one body into another, but wandereth up and down here on earth among men, and often appeareth to this man, often to that; whence came that fabulous opinion that dead men walk. For this purpose they allege the witch of Endor, who made Samuel appear to Saul, and answer him. But the truth is, that was not Samuel indeed, but an apparition, the mere counterfeit of him. For not all the witches in the world, nor all the devils in hell, can disquiet the souls of the faithful, for they are in God's keeping. Dying, their souls are immediately translated to blessedness : ' there are the spirits of just men made perfect ;' and there to abide, until the general resurrection shall restore them to their own bodies. For the souls of the reprobates, departing in their sins, they go directly to hell, and are kept there as in a sure prison.

Let this instruct all such as have a Christian hope to let their souls depart with comfort. Emittuntur, non amittuntur: death doth not lose them, but loosen them, and set them free from the bondage of corruption. Howl and lament, if thou think thy soul perisheth. There arc some that fear not so much to die as to be dead : they know the ]mng is bitter, but it is short ; it is the comfortless estate of the dead that is their dread. They could well resolve for the act of their passage if they were sure to live afterwards.

Animula vagula hlandula. Whither ^oest thou ? said that heathen emperor on his death-bed, lamenting the doubtful condition of his soul after the par-ture. Very not being is abhorred of nature, if death had nothing else to make it fearful. It is woeful to lie rotting in the silent grave, neither seeing nor seen. Here the Christian lifts up his head of comfort: ' Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit.' I lose it not, because thou hast it; thou wilt keep it in peace, and give it me back again in eternal joy.

' Of just men.' Justice is ascribed to a Christian two ways. There is—

First, Passiva justitia, a passive justice ; Christ's righteousness imputed to him, and hereby he stands perfectly just before God. This the Apostle calls ' the righteousness of God, wliich is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all,' Eom. iii, 22. ' Christ is made unto us righteousness,' 1 Cor. i. 30. This justice is attained by faith : ' Noah became heir of the righteousness which is by faith,' Heb. xi. 7. ' Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness,' Eom. iv. 3. Without this no spirit shall appear just before God in heaven. Our own righteousness is a covering too short to hide our nakedness; Christ's garment is a long robe that covers all.

Secondly, Activa justitia, active righteousness; an effect of the former, which is indeed a testimony that we are justified by Christ. ' Let no man deceive you : he that doeth righteousness is righteous,' 1 John iii. 7. Therefore saith James, ' A man is justified by his works,' chap. ii. 24:. If his meaning had been that our own works simply acquit us before God, it could never be reconciled to that of his Master : ' When we have done all we can, we must call ourselves unprofitable servants;' nor to that of his fellow: ' I see a law in my members warring against the law of my mind,' Eom. vii. 23; nor to that of himself: ' In many things we sin all,' chap. iii. 2. Now this ju.stice effective from God, active in us, is taken two ways: laU and stride.

In a larger sense it is taken for all piety, and so justice and holiness are all one. Properly taken, justification is imputed, sanctification inherent; but understanding our justness an effect of Christ's justice imputed to us, so Justus and sanctus are convertible terms. They are 'just spirits,' that is, they are saints. Now if we desire to come oxl sanctos, to the saints, we must live scaicte, a holy life. God by telling us who are in heaven, teacheth us who shall come to heaven : none but saints. They are set before us as examples, ut eorum sequamur gratiam, et consequamur gloriam, —that steering their course, we might come to their haven. The Scripture teacheth us quid agendum, what is to be done; the saints quo inodo, how it is to be done. Vita sanctorum, inierpretatio scripturarum, —The lives of holy men is a kind of commentary or interpretation of the holy writ. Let us, as we do by good copies, not only lay them before us, and look on them, but write after them. For it is not sufficient legere, sed degere vitam sanctorum, —not to read, but to lead the lives of saints. Papists in this go too far, as evil men come too short. Good men imitate the saints, but do not worship them; Papists worship the saints, but do not imitate them; lewd men do neither. Perhaps they will imitate their infirmities : as if only for that they liked them, for which only God misliked them. The samts are to be held as patterns, not as patrons, of our life. But the PapLsts praise not God in his saints, nor the saints for God, but as God. Only let us reverently walk in their grace, that we may joyfully come to their place.

In a stricter sense it is taken for that moral virtue which gives to every man his own. This virtue hath been highly commended in the heathen; but one saith truly, Justitia ethnicorum miranda potius, quani laudanda, — Their justice deserved more admiration than commendation; they wanted

him tliat should make them just, TMey so affected this justice that they took sirnames from it: Aristides was called Justus; Scipio, Justus; Fabius, Justus. Their justice was no virtue, but a shadow of virtue. They neither knew the Lord Deum virtutis, nee Christum virtutem Dei, —the God of virtue, nor Christ the virtue of God. Only Jesus is Justus: ' Christ suffered for sins, the just for the unjust,' 1 Pet. iii. 18; * Ye denied the Holy One and the Just,' Acts iii. 14. There was another 'Jesus called Justus,' Col. iv. 11, a helper of the apostles; but Christ is Dominus justitia nostra, —' The Lord our Righteousness,' Jer. xxsiii. 16. By him we are only made just: ' In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and glory,' Isa. xlv. 25.

Being thus justified, let us be just; not doing that to others which we would not have others to do to us, and doing that to others which we desire to be done to ourselves. Some are just in small matters; so the Pharisees pay 'tithe of mint, and anise, and cummin,' Matt, xxiii. 23, but omit weightier things. This is Pharisaica justitia, a Puritan righteousness; not to endure an hour's recreation on the Sunday, yet to rob the church by usurpations, to exact interests and forfeits; these be nothing. So the money might not be put into the treasury that might hire Judas to betray his Master. The ten brethren were so just as to return the money in their sacks, yet stuck not to sell their brother Joseph.

Some are just in great things, not in small. As the others strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel; so these are like the net, that takes the great fishes and lets go the little fry. Wantonness is no fault with them, if it extend not to adultery. They stick not to swear, so long as they swear not to a lie. Maliciously to hate, or peevishly to quarrel, is trivial, if they proceed not to blows and blood. So long as they are not drunk, swallow down wine, and spare not. De minimis non curat lex, —The law takes no notice of small faults. But indeed eadem ratio rotunditatis, —there is the same respect of roundness in a penny that is in a platter, though not of largeness. To steal the bridle, as to steal the horse, is tarn, though not tantum, —such a sin, though not so great a sin. Thou say est. Minimum est, minimum est, — It is little, it is little. Sed in minimo fidelem esse magnum est, —To be faithful in a little is a great virtue. ' Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven,' Matt. v. 19. Erit minimus, that is, nullus, —he shall be least in heaven, that is, he shall not be there at all. But well done, good servant: ' because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities,' Luke xix. 17. Bene utere jxa^vo, fniere magno, —The just dispensation of a little shall bring thee to be entrusted with much. Whether great or small, we must be just, if we look ever to reign with these 'just spirits.' Ad socie-tatem justorum non admittuntur nisi justi.

I wonder what place the defrauder expects, that wraps up his conscience in a bundle of stuffs, and swears it away. The buyer thinks he is just, and he is just cozened, no more. The usurer would storm and stare, as if he had seen a spirit, if he were taxed for unjust. Presently he consults (his scriptures) his bonds, and (his priest) his scrivener; and there the one swears, the other shews in black and white, that he takes but ten in the hundred. Is he then unjust 1 Yes : ' Thou hast taken usury and increase, and hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion,' Ezek xxii. IG. He takes hire for that should be freely lent : is not this unjust 1 Besides, the people curse it, and they curse not but for injustice. ' I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent me on usury, yet every one doth curse me,' Jer. XV. 10; insinuating, that if a man lend on usury, it is no wonder if

the people curse him. Where must the lay-parson sit, that fats himself with the tithe-grain, and will not give the poor minister the .straw ? Is this just 1 He takes the tenth of his neighbour s profits, and never so much as reads him a homily for it: is this just 1 He lays sacrilegious hands on God's sanctified things, and never asks him leave : is this just? Where shall the engrosser appear, that hoards up commodities bought with ready money, and when he vends them, makes the poor pay treble usury for it: is this just? What shall become of that unspeakably rich transporter, who carries out men and money, to the impoverishing of the land, and brings home gauds and puppets, fit for nobody's use but pride's? Surely, as heaven is for 'just spirits,' so there is some other place for the unjust. ' Know ye not that the unjust shall not inherit the kingdom of God?' 1 Cor. vi. 9. If not God's kingdom, then the Idngdom of darkness ; downwards, hell. I do not say, that every unjust deed throws a soul thither : Injustum esse damnat, non in juste semel agere, —To be unjust is damnable, not one thing unjustly done : the habit, not the act. But for others. Qui injuste dominantur, juste dam-nantur, —They have unjustly lived, but they shall be justly condemned.

' Made perfect.' This is a passive quality; non qui se perficiunt, sed qui perjiciuntur, —not such as have made themselves perfect, but are made perfect. The other property is actively expressed ; just, it is not %^\di justijied, —not that they made themselves just, but that Christ's righteousness hath justified them; so both they are, and are reputed just. But here passively, 2yerfected, which plainly shews that all is from Gocl; for omne majus includit minus. If only Christ make them ' perfect,' then only Christ doth make them 'just.' For it is nothing so difficult for a just man to become perfect, as for an evil man to becoihe just. As it is easier for a man healed and directed the wp,y to come to the goal, than for him that lies lame in darkness. Quidedit ingressrun must also dare progressurn : conficere et perncere ; to make and to make up, to do and to perfect, are both the works of God. We could never be just, unless Christ justify us : never come to perfection, unless he perfect us. He that be^n this good work, must also finish it.

' Made perfect.' In heaven are none but the perfect. Talis sedes ex-pectat talem sessorem, —Such a house requires such an inhabitant. On earth there is a kind of perfection ; all the faithfid are perfectly justified, but not perfectly sanctified. The reprobates are 2'>erfecte imperfedi. The godly im-perfecte perfecti, —those perfectly imperfect, these imperfectly perfect. They are so perfect that they are acquitted in Christ, and there remains no judgment for them, but only a declaration of their pardon. Justification admits no latitude, in it nee raagis nee minus, for none can be more than just. But the perfection of sanctity is Avrought by degrees : non jilenam induimus jyer-fectionem, donee totam exuimus infectionem, —all the stains of our infection must first be cleansed, and quite washed away, before this fall perfection be given us. Christ's blood doth now wholly take from us the guiltiness of sin, not wholly the pollution of sin; that blessedness is reserved only for heaven. Let us therefore be 2'>erficientes, going and growing up, that at last we may be perfedi, ' made perfect.' This is not wrought on a sudden ; a child doth not presently become a man. Even the Lord Jesus had his time of growing, and can any member grow faster than the head ? Indeed the malefactor on the cross shot up in an hour; but this was miraculous, and God seldom works by such miracles. God neither sends angels from heaven, nor the dead from hell, to give warning to men upon earth. ' I say, if they hear not 3tIoses and the prophets, neither will thev be persuaded though one rose from the dead,' Luke xvi. 3L But repentance hath the promise of a quan-

doamque, —* whensoever a sinner repents,' &c. I will not limit God's infinite mercy, but only advise thy sick soul, who, after a desperate and inveterate wound, lookest for a sudden cure by repentance ; it is better to make this thy diet than thy physic. Repent every day, that thou mayest have remission one day. Melior medicus qui excludit morhos, qumn qui curai. He is a better physician that keeps diseases off us, than he that cures them being on us. Prevention is so much better than healing, because it saves the labour of being sick. Thou allowest not a surgeon unnecessarily to break thy head to try his skill and the virtue of his plaster. Springes were better taken away qucz non 2yrosimt, because they do no good, than the setting of watchmen by them to warn travellers, ne noceant, that they be not hurt by them. Take away thy lusts quite; this is the way to be sure : for repentance may be like Baal, so fast asleep that all thy cries are not able to waken her.

To conclude, he that will wear a crown in heaven must be all his life on earth preparing the gold to make it. Not that thy own virtues crown thee, but that God without thy virtues will never crown thee. The robe of glory that is worn there must be spun and woven here,—spun out of the side of Christ by faith, and embroidered with our good works. That eternal light ariseth from this eternal life. ' Lay up in store for yourselves a good foundation against the time to come, that you may lay hold on eternal life,' 1 Tim. vi. 19. The groundwork of salvation is made here : that high Power of glory that is built for thee in heaven hath the foundation of it laid upon earth.

How should a man be i)erj-ectus that was never fadus, well begun ? I wonder what perfection a wine-bibber looks for? sure to be a perfect drunkard. What perfection expects the luxurious prodigal? sure to be a perfect beggar. What perfection hopes the covetous churl for, that allows himself a race of fourscore years, and sets God at the latter end of it 1 and he hath that place too with this condition, that he trouble not his mind about it till the last day comes. Surely to live unblessed and to die unpitied; but that some now bless God he is gone, and others say it is a pity he died no sooner. All his projections have aimed at this perfection, to make himself a perfect slave. What perfection dreams the Jesuit to himself but to become a perfect traitor 1 What perfection is likely to the incontinent adulterer but to be a perfect lazar 1 What the malicious, but a perfect villain 1 what the proud, but a perfect fool ? what the blasphemer, but a perfect devil 1

They say, early holiness proves ripe corruption; but I am sure, habituated profaneness proves rank damnation. Alas ! how should they make an end that never begun ? ' This man began to buUd,' saith Christ, ' but could not make an end:' how should they finish that never began '? You that spend your days in lazy forgetfuhiess of religion, examine your own consciences; do you ever think to be perfect'? Are you content stiU to be abortive, and shall you be perfected in the womb of the grave ? God hath given you time and means; he did not say, Siimite et consuinite, —Take it, and spend it at your pleasure. Oh begin, that you may continue and end : hear to learn, learn to do, do to continue, continue to be perfect. Begin betimes, lest God's end come before your beginning. Enter into the way of piety, and follow it; striving with all your powers to grow up ' to a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ,' Eph. iv. 13.

V. ' And to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.' We have considered the glory of the city, the felicity of the citizens ; we are lastly come to the Mediator, who brings bot'h these together, and without whom they

had been everlastingly asunder. We are all by nature belonging, not to Mount Zion, but to the valley of Hinnom; not to the celestial Jerusalem, but to the infernal Babylon; not to the society of glorious angels, but of afflicting devils; not to the church of the first-born, but to the assembly of abortive reprobates; we had no reference to God as a kind father, but as a severe judge ; not to just spirits made perfect from sin, but to lost spirits made perfect in sin. Thus -were we by nature, but Jesus hath brought us to Mount Zion, &c. How blessed a thing will it be to come unto this Jesus ! It was St AugTistine's special wish to have seen Christ in the flesh. If there were such comfort in seeing Christ humbled, if such admiration in seeing him transfigured, what joy is it to behold him in heaven glorified ! How glorious a matter do some tliink it to stand in the court of an earthly prince, to receive a gracious look, to hear a royal word, or to be commanded some honourable service ! What is it then to stand in the court of heaven, to have the King of kings speak peaceably to us, to behold our Lord Jesus crowned with that immortal diadem, to sing his praises, as free from flattery as from inconstancy, and to live in that paradise for ever ! Uhicunquc fueris Domine Jesii, —Wheresoever thou art, O blessed Saviour, give us no more happiness than to bo with thee. If thou be in the earth, we wiU travel day and night to come to thee; if on the sea, -with Peter we will swim to thee; if on the cross, we will stand weeping by thee; if riding in triumph, we will sing Hosanna to thee; if transfigured on Tabor, we will be ravished with thee; but if sitting on tliy heavenly throne, how blessed even to look upon thee ! It is his ' will that we should be with him where he is, and behold his glory,' John xvii. 2i. We are now come to him by a conjunction mystical ; we then shall have vicinity local and eternal,

' The Mediator;' not a Mediator, but the, that Mediator, that only one. ' For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,' 1 Tim. ii. 5. God was angry, man was guilty, Christ is the mediator betwixt them ; who being God, could satisfy God, and being man, could suffer for man. We are lost, and desire something to recover us : what shall that be 1 Mercy 1 No, God is just; he that hath oftended must be punished. Shall it be justice ? No, we have need of mercy, that he who hath ofi"ended might be spared. Here, to be so merciful as not to wrong his justice, to be so just as not to forget his mercy, there must be a mediator. This must not be the world, that was God's own before, he made it; not angels, for they are engaged for their own creation; and being finite, cannot satisfy an infinite mnjesty by infinite punishment for uifinite sins.

God's Son must do it. Now if he come to satisfy for pride, he must put on humility ; if for rebellion, he must put on obedience ; if for stubbornness, he must put on patience; he must serve if he will deserve : this God alone cannot do; if to die, he must be mortal, this only God cannot be. Therefore this mediator is made man, to be himself bound; as he is God, to free others that are bound, !Man to become weak, God to vanquish. Man to die, God to triumph over death. This is that sacred ladder, whose top in heaven, reachmg to the bosom of God, expresseth his divinity; and his foot on the earth, close to Jacob's loms, witnesseth his humanity. We are bankrupt debtors, God is a sm'e creditor, Christ sets aU on his score. We are ignorant clients, God is a skilful judge, Christ is our advocate to plead our cause for us. God is a just master, we are unfaithful, unfi-uitful, unprofitable servants, this mediator takes up the matter between us.

' Of the new covenant.' For !Moses may seem to be a mediator of the old covenant. ' I stood between tHc Lord and you at that time, to shew

you the word of tlie Lord,' Deut. v. 5. This mediatorship of the new covenant is a high office, compatible to none but the Lord Jesus. Who should appear between a just God and sinful men, but he that is mortal with men and just with God ? It is a covenant, for there is something agreed on both sides; we covenant to believe and God to forgive. A new covenant; there was cold comfort for us in the old. A man reading, Fac hoc et vives, —' Do this and thou shalt live,' thinks of it as if he were bidden to catch a star from the firmament, and take it for his laboui*. But in the new, Crede et vive, —Believe and live for ever. The condition on man's part is behevmg, the covenant on God's part is saving. Now, though it be true that it is as easy for man of himself to fulfil the law as it is to believe the gospel, yet the new covenant, dat credere, gives a man power to believe; for faith is the fair gift of God. Prcecipit non adjuvat lex, ojfert et affert evangeliura. The law gives commandment, but not amendment; the gospel brings salvation to our hearts, and our hearts to salvation. As it chargeth us, so it aideth us. As this mediator gv/QS fideyn quain credirmis, the faith which we believe, mercy and remission; so also fidem qua credimus, the faith whereby we believe, grace to apprehend this mercy. ' Christ hath obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises,' Heb. viii. 6.

Briefly here consider the excellency of this new and evangehcal covenant, above the old and legal. Li the beginning God made man righteous; for he created him ' in his own image,' Gen. i. 27, which the apostle says ' consisted in righteousness and the holiness of truth,' Eph. iv. 24. But man soon defaced this goodly and godly picture. ' This I have found, that God made man righteous, but he sought out many inventions;' ways to make himself wicked and wretched. Hence it foUowed that our restitution was a greater work than our constitution. The house was with more ease built up new, than repaired, being old and ruinous. That was done per verhuvi enuntiatmn, this per verhum annuntiatum. There he spake the word, and all things were created ; here the ' Word was made flesh,' John i. 14. Fecit mira, tidit dira: 2MSSUS dura verba, duriora verhera. There it was done by saying. Die verhum tantum; here by doing, yea, by dying : suflering grievous words, more grievous wounds. Faotus in terris, fractus in terris. There all begun in Adam, who was terrcefilms, a son of the earth; here all in Christ, who is cxeli Domimis, the Lord of heaven. Spiritual life is better than natural, firmer, surer. There man had only a power to stand, but with it a power to fall, according to liis own pleasure; here he hath a certainty of inseparable conjunction to Christ. He so stands as never to fall, so lives as never to die, so is loved as never to be hated. There Adam and Eve were married to propagate filios carnis, children of the flesh; here Christ is married to his church, to beget filios sjnrituales, children in the spirit; and that with a bond never to be divorced. Thus at first God commanded that to exist which was not before ; now he makes one contrary to be changed into another : flesh into spirit, darkness into light, corruption into holiness ; greater miracles than changuig stones into bread; Dignus vindice nodus, —a knot worthy the finger of God to untie. Here is the wonderful work of the new covenant: we were made ex spiritu oris, redeemed ex sanguine cordis, —created by the breath of God's mouth, but saved by the blood of his heart. Therefore not six cherubims, as in the vision of Isaiah, nor four-and-twenty elders, as in the Eevelation of John, but a royal army of heavenly soldiers, were heard praising God at the birth of Jesus Christ.

In sum, there is but ' one mediator of the new covenant :' neither saint nor angel hath any part in this dignity. Idem est muUos Deos fingere, ac

sandos mortuos invocare* —To worship old saints is to make new gods. He that shall pray to dead men, dishonours the living Mediator. St Paul saith expressly, ' There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,' 1 Tim. ii. 5. Whence it is manifest that it is the same blasphemous presumption to make more mediators than one, that to make more gods than one. Here the Romanists distinguish : Christ is the sole mediator of redemption, not of intercession. Opus mediatore ad mediatovem Christum. We must have a mediator of intercession to this mediator of redemption. A bUnd answer : for Paul directly there speaks of prayers and intercession, ver. 1, &c. But say they, Our prayers are to be made to God alone, tanquam per eum iviiilendce, because our desires are fulfilled only by him; but unto the saints, tanquam per eos impetrandce, because they are obtained by them. As if Christ were so busy that he could not tend to hear us; or so stately, that he would not bend to hear us; or so unjust, as to deny his own Venite, and not to perform his promise, ' Come unto me, all that labour,' Matt, xi, 28.

We oppose against them that comfortable saying of St John : ' If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,' 1 John ii. 1. They answer. Indeed Christ is our chief advocate ; saints and angels, secondary or subordinate advocates. But the word advocate is borrowed of the lawyers, and signifies Mm only that doth plead the justice of his client's cause. A stranger in the court may become a petitioner to the judge, and entreat favour for the person guilty; but advocates are patrons and proctors of their clients. Angels in heaven, and saints on earth, are suitors in our behalf to God; but Christ alone is our advocate. And upon good cause, for who but he can so well plead his own righteousness whereby he hath justified us? Therefore the Apostle calls him there our 'propitiation :' he that will be our advocate must also be our propitiation; no saints or angels can be a propitiation for us; therefore no saints or angels can be our advocates. Augustine says, that if St John had offered himself to this office, he had not been apostolus, sed Antichristtts.

We object further Christ's promise : ' Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you,' John xvi. 23. Not in j\Iaiy's or Peter's, but 'in my name.' BeUarmine answers, that there may be a mediator between disagreeing parties thi'ee ways:—1. By declaring who hath the wrong; and so there is no controvers}'^, for all agree that God is the party grieved. 2. By paying the creditor for the debtor; so Christ is alone mediator. 3. By desiring the creditor to forgive the debtor; and in this sense he says angels and saints are mediators. But this distinction is no other than Bellarmine's mincing; who indeed seems to be ashamed of the blasphemous plu:ases in their ^Missals : as Maria, mater gratice: Sande Pdre, miserere mei, salva me, &c. These, saith he, are our words, but not our meanings : that Mary or Peter should confer grace on us in this life, or glory in the life to come. Yet both their school and practice speaks more, for Aquinas says, our prayers are cflectual by the merits of samts; and that Christ's intercession is gotten by the patronage of apostles, by the intervention of martyrs, by the blood of Becket, and the merits of all saints. And the practice of the people is to hold angels and samts immediate mediators, able to satisfy and save. But as one hath well observed : If every saint in the Pope's calendar be received as a mediator, we shall worship unknown men, as the Athenians did unknown gods. For the best Papists doubt whether there were ever any St George or St Christopher.

But say they, The vii'gin is a known saint; she can and may, by the

* Mclancth.

right of a motlier, command her Son Christ.* Their whole church sings, 0 foslix imerpera, nostra j)icms scelera,jure matris impera. And Maria con-solatio injirmorum, redemjJtio cajytivorum, liheratio damnatorum, salus uni-versorum. They have given so much to the mother, that they have left nothing for the Son. Ozorius the Jesuit says, Caput gratice Christiis, Maria collum, —Christ is the head of grace, but Mary is the neck : no grace can come from the head, but it must pass through the neck. They invocate her their advocate ; but of Christ's mediation, the medium or better half is taken from him : as if he were still a child, in subjection to his mother. But as he is Marice filius, so he is Marice Domimis, —the Son and the Lord of his mother. Therefore the first words that we read Christ ever spake to his parents were rough, and by way of reproof According to St Luke, these were his first: ' How is it that ye sought me ? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?' Luke ii. 49. According to St John, more sharply : 'Woman, what have I to do with theel' John ii. 4. Quanquam locuta est jure matris, tamen duriter respondef. Where was then their Monstra te esse matrem ? Though at the command of his mother he spake, yet he spake roughly. Whereas God's kingdom consists of his justice and mercy, the Papists attribute the greatest part, which is his mercy, to Mary: making her, as one noted, the Lady-high-chancellor, and Christ as it were the Lord-chief-justice. As we appeal from the King's-Bench bar to the Chancery, so a Papist may appeal from the tribunal of God to the court of our lady. So they make her Domina fac totum. When one flatteringly wi'ote of Pope Adrian, Trajectum j^lantavit, Zovanium rigavit, Ccesar autem incrementimi dedit, —Trajectum planted, Lovain watered, but the Pope gave the increase ; one wittily underwiites, Beiis interivi nihil fecit, —God did nothing the while. So if Mary be the comfort of the weak, the redeemer of captives, the deliverer of the damned, the salvation of all, the advocate of the poor, the patroness of the rich; then sure Christ hath nothing to do. No, beloved; ' Abraham is ignorant of us,' the blessed virgin knows us not: but the Lord Jesus is our Kedeemer. Prayer is not a labour of the lips only, but an inward groaning of the spirit, a pouring out of the soul before God. Now saints and angels understand not the heart; it is ' the righteous God that trieth the heart and the reins,' Ps. vii. 9. Christ is the master of all requests in the court of heaven; there needs no porter nor waiter. It is but praying, ' Lord Jesus, come unto me,' and he presently answers,' I am with thee.' Hear me, 0 Christ, for it is easy to thy power, and usual to thy mercy, and agreeable to thy promise ! O blessed j\Iediator of the new covenant, hear us !

' To the blood of sprinkling.' Aspersionis, Hebraico more pro asperso. Two things are implied in the two words, sacrijicium and heneficium: 'blood,' there is the sacrifice ; ' of sprinkling,' there is the benefit.

' To the blood.' To speak properly, it is the death of Christ that satisfies the justice of God for our sms ; and that is the true material cause of our redemption. Yet is this frequently ascribed to his blood : ' The blood of Christ purgeth the conscience from dead works,' Heb. ix. 14. ' Out of his pierced side came forth blood and water,' John xix. 34. As God wrote nothing in vain, so what he hath often repeated, he would have seriously considered. Nan leviter prcetereat lectura nostra, quod tain frequenter insculpsit Scriptura sacra. There are some reasons why our salvation is ascribed to Christ's blood:—

1. Because in the blood is the life. ' Flesh with the blood thereof, which is the life thereof, you shall not eat,' Gen. ix. 4. The soul of a beast is in the blood. Lev. xvii. 14, and in the blood is the life of every reasonable creature on earth. The effusion thereof doth exhaust the vital spirits, and

* Bonaven.

death follows. In Christ's blood was his life ; the shedding of that was his death ; that death by the loss of that blood is our redemption.

2. Because this blood answers to the types of the legal sacrifices. This our apostle exemplifies in a large conference. ' The first testament was not dedicated without blood. Moses, sprinkling the book and all the people, said. This is the blood of the testament. Almost all things are by the law purged by blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission,' Heb. ix. 18. No reconciliation, no remission without blood. All directed us to this Lamb of God, whose blood only vindicates us from eternal condemnation. Not that the blood of a mere man could thus merit; but of that man who is also God; therefore it is called the ' blood of God,' Acts xx. 28.

3. Because blood is fitter for applyment to the heart of man; who is so weak in apprehension that God is fain to lead him as it were by the senses. Not that there is a necessary receiving of Christ's material blood by every one that shall be saved,—so it might sprinkle upon the soldiers that crucified him, who yet might go to hell,—but it is received mentaliter et sacramen-taliler; there is a mental and a sacramental application. Thus we are said to drink his blood that receive it spiritually by faith. The Papists in their opinion are fed orally with the very material blood of Christ; but then surely none of them can go to hell, ' for he that eats the flesh, and drinks the blood of the Son of man, hath eternal life,' John vi. 54. But now the priests, for fear belike lest too many of the people should be saved, and so purgatory, the Popedom's pillar, be quite overthrown, have taken away the cup from them ; and turned Christ's Bihite omnes into Bibite non omnes, — ' Drink ye all,' priests, not the rest. When they had given this blood so high an honour, they thought it too good for the common sort. First they said, it is really in tlie cup ; there they gave it too much : then they took it from the people ; there they gave them too little. First they strained it, and then they restrained it. But they answer, The people have this blood in the bread; for that is flesh, and can there be flesh without blood 1 If so, why then do themselves take the cup ? Either it is necessary for the people, or superfluous for the priests; unless they value a clergyman's soul at a higher rate than a layman's : as if Christ's blood were not shed for the one, so well as for the other.

But to let go their sacrilegious absurdities, let us content ourselves spiritually to receive this blood, shed for us, and communicated to us. This blood is ready for application, if our hearts be ready for apprehension. To us it is, though not elementally, yet alimentally profitable. There is a blood that nourisheth, as the pelican her young ones with her own blood; Christ so feeds our souls to salvation with this blood. There is a blood that mollifies, as the warm blood of a goat softens the adamant; we have obdurate hearts, if Christ's blood cannot melt them. There is a blood that purgeth, as the kid's ; so the ' blood of Christ clcanseth us from all sins,' 1 John iii. 17. There is a blood that colours, as the deer's; so doth Christ's blood give a pure colour to his church : ' Thou art all fair, my love.' ' These are they wliich have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb,' Rev. vii. 14. This blood is semen vitce, siihxtantia f/ratia', fimdamen-tum juM'Uice, cedificium meriti, magna charUx cceli. A flux of blood in the head is stanched by ojiening a vein in the foot; but here to save aU the members from bleeding to death, blood must be dra^vTi from the head. As Eve came out of Adam's side sleeping, so the church is taken out of Christ's side bleeding. Thus God disposed it in mercy; ut effundatur sanguis Christi, ne confundatur anima Christiani, —that Christ's blood should be spilt to save our souls from spilling.

VOL. II. 2 o

' Of aspersion ; ' in relation to the typical manner : ' Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people,' Exod. xxiv. 8. To this alludes Paul here; and Peter calling it ' the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ/ 1 Pet. i. 2. In the passover the doors were sprinkled with the blood of the paschal lamb; and the destroying angel passed over them. All those whom the eternal judgment shall pass over, must have their hearts thus sprinkled. We have many spots, had need of many drops. For a spot of avarice, a drop of this blood ; for a spot of lust, a drop of blood; for a spot of drunkenness, a drop of blood ; for a spot of oppression, a great drop of blood ; for the wounds and gashes of oaths, execrations, blasphemies, many drops of blood to stanch them. Yea, we are not only sinners, but, saith Micah, ' sins;' therefore must be sowsed and drenched in this blood, that we may be clean.

'That spcaketh better things than that of Abel.' This is a metaphor, to shew the force of Christ's blood, so prevailing with God as if it had a tongue. The comparison is between Abel's blood and Christ's j now Abel's is said to cry : ' The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground,' Gen. iv. 10. Glamitat in coeliim vox sanguinis. So Christ's blood is said to speak : quot vidnera, tot voces,— bo many w^ounds, so many words.

There is gTeat respondence of Christ to Abel. Abel was slain by his brother, Christ by his brethren; the voice of the Jews was, ' Crucify him.' Abel was slain because he sacrificed; Christ was slain that he might be sacrificed. Cain envied Abel because he was accepted; the Jews hated Christ because he was good. Abel might say to his brother, ' For my sacrifice dost thou kill me 1 ' Christ did say to the Jews, ' For which of my good works do ye stone me V Abel was so slain, that his blood was abundantly shed, and that in many places; for it is said, vox sanguinum, —the ' voice of bloods.' So Christ's blood was let out with thorns, scourges, nails, spear. As Cain sustained a threefold punishment—he was cursed in his soul, a vagabond on earth, unprosperous in his labours; so are the Jews plagued— they have no place they can call their own ; when they have heaped up riches, some other takes them away; they cannot see their own city but they must l^ay for it; they are cursed in their obstinate blindness: thus according to their own request, the blood of Christ is upon them and upon their children.

But now Christ's blood speaks better things : Abel's cried vindidam, Christ's speaks misericordiam. That, 'Lord, see and revenge;' this, 'Father, forgive them., they know not what they do.' God hath an ear of mercy, so well as of justice. If he heard that blood speaking for confusion, then he wiU hear this ppeak for remission. If he heard the servant, he will much rather hear the Son; if he heard the servant for spilling, he will much more hear the Son for saving. Postida d me, saith God to his Son,—' Ask of me, and I will give thee,' Ps. ii. 8 : the Father will deny the Son nothing. Thus hath he saved us prece et pretio, —by his blood, and that a speaking blood : if that blood speak for our safety, nothing shall condemn us. Now the blood of this mediator, our Lord Jesus, speak for us to the Father of mercy, that the Holy Ghost may seal us up to eternal redemption ! To whom, three person.s, one blessed God, be praise for ever ! Amen.

END OF VOL. II.

BAIXANTYNE AND COMPANY, PRINTERS, ErilNBlROH.

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