WHat these words are, and from what spirit they come, I shall not need to declare unto you by a Preface: the very hearing of the [Page 2]Book named, and the reading of the Text, speaking them sufficiently to be the words of that famous mirrour of Saints, that old Disciple of Christ, that same Evangelical Patri­arch in the Land of Uz, Job, an up­right man, unadvisedly though he had sinned, and many an unseeming passion had that occasion brought him unto by the afflicting hand of God upon him. One while you might behold him passionately no less then cursing his own birth­day; quarrelling with the Sun, the Moon and the Stars, with the womb that bare him, and the paps that gave him suck. Moreover, you might have heard him challenge God, and to give himself the victo­ry: Nay, more then this, goes to lay violent hands upon himself, wishes he might dye an untimely death too, and justifying himself, sayes, Is there any iniquity in my tongue? therefore I will not hold my [Page 3]peace, nor be restrained.

In the midst of all these clouds comes this comfortable Sun-shine, this Equinoctial. He now layes down the Buckler before him a­gainst whom he had lift it up, with a pensive and penitent breast, crying out, I have sinned, what shall I do un­thee O thou preserver of men?

The words considered particularly, the parts are three.

Here is first, a Confession of sin; I have sinned.

Secondly, a deploration of his own ignorance, following upon that sin; Quid faciam, What shall I do? Or if you will, of distraction and consultation for the means of atone­ment; What shall I do?

Thirdly, an imploration of him a­gainst whom he had sinned; O thou preserver of men.

In the first, he calls to mind what he had done. Secondly, confults what he should do. And Thirdly, [Page 4]finding no comfort in these, he ad­dresses himself to the last, the Pre­server of men.

In the handling of these, I will first look upon the Text in general, as it may serve for an every dayes Information. Secondly, as it may serve for a Good-Friday Meditation: For in the choice of my Text I did not forget the day, which being to preserve and keep alive the greatest blessing that ever happened to the sons of men, by him who is the Author and Finisher of our salvati­on, it will be very acceptable not onely to point our finger to this Preserver of ours, but our belief, and to look up unto him, and to cry unto him, peccavi, I have sinned; What better mixture or composition I say, in respect of the qualification of the Comforter, of the Preservers mer­cy? If I speak not seasonably to the day, the fault is mine, and not the Texts.

And first to begin with the first, Jobs peccavi, I have sinned; with reference to the person that made it: First, Job cryes peccavi; a cir­cumstance I cannot but pause upon, as having something of wonder in it. As Saul said, Is this thy voice my son David? So may I say, Is this thy voice holy Job? Thou that ere while spoke in so different a strain, that so justified himself before his Maker, is it come to no better nor worse then a peccavi? Whence we may learn, that he that pleads with God, be he whom he will, must come home at last with a peccavi. I say, with God, and not with men; with men we must often plead for our innocency: It was Samuels case, 1 Sam. 12.3. Whose Oxe or Asse have I taken? It was Davids case, I am innocent. And so it was Jobs case here, If I have rewarded evil, &c. he holds his integrity with both his hands; but when he comes to plead [Page 6]with God, then he lets go his hold, then he cryes peccavi.

Holy and righteous Job, a man so miraculous in the Book of God, set up as a pattern of patience; a man in whom the Devil could not find an hole; it was the flower in his Garden, for which he stands upon Record, his managing of this very cause, saith he, I am faulty; and as here, so he is elsewhere; and as with him, so with all mankind: I have sinned here, saith Job, and it is not to be wondred at; and the reasons are.

First, in that all-ruling direction of God.

Secondly, in the exactness of that rule by which God doth measure. I seem sometimes, saith Saint Austin, a straight man in mine own eyes, but when thou comest to lay me by the rule of thy Law, I find my self to be very crooked.

In a word, thirdly, it lyes in the [Page 7]unavoidable infirmity that remains in our best actions that ever we have done or can do: I say, the best of us all, take it, and look to it, and consider how coldly, how sinisterly, how disadvantageously to the glory of God, should he compare it with what we should have done, or what we might have done, had our strength been answerable to his design; and we may find reason, as holy Anselm, to say, Potest & non possit placare; It may please God, and it may not please God. If he cannot say as Calvin when he came to dye, Alas, that all my sickness hath been so unprofitable! Either of these had not so much fa­vour as Hezekiah, yet he confessed, and that with tears; what his imper­fections wanted, he begged with tears. So much for the occasion of the confession of his sin.

One word more in relation to the matter it self; what it was so trou­bled him, and which caused that his [Page 8]heart smote him; was it that he had spoken words that were unworthy of God, and thus irreverently spoken of God, and opened his mouth im­patiently against him? These are the words I am to speak of. Dost thou speak thus irreverently of God whoever thou be? they will prove sad breakings to thy heart in the time of affliction, if thou openest thy mouth against him: As Job here, I will lay my hand upon my mouth, I will hear what God will say; for peccavi, I have sinned.

Whosoever is the sword or the rod, God is the Author: 'Twas the saying of old Eli, 'Tis the Lord, let him do what seemeth good in his eyes; and what unthankfulness it will be in us to God, if that having received so many good things, and but one evil, we should repine at it? Should we not rather with holy Job say, Shall we receive good at the hands of God, and not evil?

Fourthly, it is bootless to repine against God; like the bird in the net, the more it stirs, the faster 'tis caught; or the fish on the hook, the more it stirs, the more it hurts it self. If to be angry with my brother, doth deserve to be cast into Hell, to speak against God is to shoot an arrow up­right, it reflects upon thy own head; upon the head I say, of him that speaks against his Maker. I will leave one word to the consideration of those men, that if all things fall not out to their mind they exclaim a­gainst God.

Indeed we find the Heathens did it (when things fell out crosly) to their Gods. We read of Sylla, that he cursed his gods, and the image of Apollo: of Licinius, that he put away his gods: of Barbarossa, that he did revile his gods. Oh there is a true God in Israel, let us not expostulate and rail against him. But I could wish this humour had passed no farther; [Page 10]but is it not crept amongst us Chri­stians, and that upon slight occasions? We cannot be content with Sylla or Barbarossa, to curse and revile our God, but with Licinius to put him away; yea, we whip him by our blasphemies, we spit on him by our rash speeches. If Jobs heart akes for a few distempered thoughts of God, what a deal of repentance hath the horrid and execrable blas­phemer need of? If for a few angry words Jobs heart was so prickt, what will become of the profane swearer at the day of Judgement? Much better were it for them to come in this life before God with a peccavi, as Job here in my Text, I have sin­ned. So much for the deploration of his misery.

Secondly, I come to the consulta­tion about the means of atonement with God, Quid faciam, What shall I do? Which words are taken several wayes in Scripture; it is taken for [Page 11]the voice of a man perplext with grief, that is, Vox clamantis. Ano­ther while it is taken for Vox tre­mentis, Act. 2. It is said of those that were converted by Saint Peter, they were prickt to the heart, and cryed, Men and Brethren, what shall we do? and the Jailor being amazed at the Earthquake comes trembling to Paul and Silas, Act. 16. saying, What shall I do? Sometimes it is Vox inferentis, the voice of an Inqui­rer, one that looks after help and succour, that is not resolved what to do: So the young man came to Christ, asking, What he should do to be saved? Now these distinctions offer unto us this consideration gene­rally; That the effects that sin at the best works in a man, are sorrow, fear and care: Or to draw three into two; His repentance and turning unto God, till God be at peace with him. To confess is not enough, but we must deplore; to deplore is not enough, [Page 12]but we must inquire; to inquire is not enough unless we seek to him that can preserve us: What shall I do [...] thee? And from hence I come to the next part, Oh thou Preserver of men! It is not enough to confess our sins, but we must deplore them and be­wail them; and not onely so, but when a man hath committed a sin it runs him into a Labyrinth, he knows not what to do, it fills a mans heart with tears and with grief, it puts him upon such a confession that it makes him mourn. This is the nature of sin, where it is truly seen in the breast of Saint Paul, in Peter, in Job, and so in the rest of all those ancient Peni­tents concerning the necessity of this Quid faciam? In the Primitive times, in Saint Austins and Tertul­lians times, after any hainous sin committed, this kind of sorrow cast these ancient Christians before the feet of their Bishops, and cost them no lesse then whole weeks, whole [Page 13]moneths, and whole years in bewail­ing their scandalous crimes and apo­stasies in sackcloth and ashes, beg­ing prayers at the doors of their Congregations, blurring their faces with tears, and their cheeks with mourning; and those that had not the grace to do this were not admit­ted the Congregation. It is memo­rable at this day to consider what Antiquitie required, what their In­junctions were towards notorious sinners, inhibiting them the use of all Gods creatures but bread and water for many dayes, till they came with a Quid faciam? debarred them a long time from coming to the Lords Table, and not onely to cry, peccavi Pater, but peccavi frater, I have sinned brother, by bringing a scan­dal upon the whole Church of God. If you will ask the reason of this, they thought they came as enemies to in­vade the Lords Table before thus reconciled; and to let them do lesse [Page 14]then this was to use a terrible kind of judgment, and to destroy them in a flattering way, as Saint Ambrose saith. Harsh and tender years, and cruel Age wherein we live, wherein we have fancied to our selves such a repentance as knows nothing of tears, none of these tears, or if any, they tarry but till the minstrels descend, the flagons of wine are fil­ling, their dainty Cates are provi­ding; they wash down their sorrow in cups of wine; they applaud them­selves, saying, I thank God I am not in such a case as this man; but no thoughts of their sins, no lamenta­tion for their iniquity.

I might here shew unto you that sorrow is never well bestowed but upon sin, this sorrow will cure no other diseases; I lose my child, and mourn for it, but sorrow will not re­vive it; I go backward in the world, I am sorry for it, but it makes me never the richer. I am pursued by [Page 15]an enemy, sorrow will make no resi­stance, but spent upon sin, it is well bestowed, here it cures. If a man cast away his sorrow upon his wife, his closet, his shop, he had as good wash his house with sweet water; but sorrow this way for sin, it will like Aarons rod eat up all the rest of the rods. If a man forsakes his sin without an hearty sorrow for it, it is no kindly departure.

In the next place I come unto those that think there is no need of a Quid faciam? When thou sinnest, hither must thou come at last; though you out-swear it, out-drink it, out-play it, yet it will come at last; Citius aut serius: If not in the day of thy prosperity when thou washest it away, yet when thou goest down in the world it will find thee, and like Ahab it will say unto thee, Have I found thee, O mine enemy! And as the Malus genius said to Caius, Thou shalt meet me at Philippi; [Page 16]which was the place where he should dye. If thou hearest not of sin by way of sorrow now, it will find thee at the day of thy death; if not here, yet there is a place of weeping, wail­ing and gnashing of teeth, aut peni­tentium lachrymas aut damnatorum; if thou hearest not of it here, thou wilt hear of it there; and who would not rather choose to take his part with Job here in my Text, then to dye with sorrow? Who would not strive to turn the current of his griefs this way, then to let them run till he come to everlasting torments? In a word, in two things Jobs pattern is to be followed: First, for sins im­mediatly committed against God we must sorrow, I have sinned against thee, what shall I do to thee? which is a point to be considered, God will have it done to him. When you fast, saith God, was it unto me? Against thee onely have I sinned, saith David, Psalm 51. Why, Uriah was killed, [Page 17] Bathsheba abused, Israel scandalized? No: But one God is worth a thou­sand Uriahs, Bathsheba's, and Israels, and he was dishonoured by it. Our sorrow for sin must be directed to God, for he is the Preserver.

Now I come to the second point, (from the question propounded in an inquisitive manner, which was the first) which is this; That turning to God is not enough unlesse we con­fesse, and confession is nothing unless we deplore, and deploration will do us no good unlesse we inquire; Quid faciam? and not onely inquire, but we must put it in execution; careful as well as sorrowful, practical as well as inquisitive, something to be done to get us friends with God. Who can tell whether God will turn and repent? it held up the Ninevites from sink­ing. When Davids faith was like fire in the embers quite covered o­ver, and he crying out, Why art thou disquieted within me? yet he had [Page 18]hope in God. This is that we must look for; but we cannot find this in the breast of most wicked men, to bring them to practise as God pre­scribes them: For Christ when he came to cure the blind man he had a question to ask him, Visuè sanari? Wilt thou be made whole? There are many on the way side, that if you ask them if they will be cured of their sore arms and legs, they will tell you no; for say they, we can make more of them fore then whole: So there are many that will not be made clean, nor sorrow for their sins, because of losing their joy.

To speak one word concerning this Quid faciam of Job: With the same breath wherein he pronounces himself willing to do, he pronounces himself at a lost estate, not knowing what to do, especially in the way of satisfaction to God, as Hugo and others do understand it. And so [Page 19]they consider it as if Job had said, O Lord, if I had to do with any but with thee, I could tell how to make satisfa­ction; but to thee, qui bonis meis non eges, which standest in need of nothing that I have, with thee between whom there is an infinite disproportion, what can I do to thee? What are ten thousand rivers of oil, the seed of my body for the sin of my soul? I can bemoan, I can consult, I can resolve upon what thou wilt direct me, but more then this I cannot do, nor any satisfaction worthy of thee: Giving us to understand, that whatsoever may be thought of satisfaction to God, if we do propose an equivalence, it is a dream. How­ever it may be necessary to make satisfaction fraternal, if we have done him any hurt or wrong, to restore to him; or material, to our Mother the Church, for giving scandalous examples, that the scandal of the Church may be some way repaired: but for the satisfaction to God, it is [Page 20]too great a thing to be done. Job knew not what to do; he makes his query, he turns himself to God, and becomes an humble suppliant for mercy, leaving all hopes of merits or satisfaction: What shall I do unto thee, O thou Preserver of men? So that I come to the third branch, his resolution. We have had Job con­fessing, bemoaning, bewailing and inquiring, hear him now resolving what to do; he addresses himself to the throne of the divine Majesty, What shall I do, &c.

These words are not onely spoken consultively to God as to an Oracle for advice, but resolutely; whence we have a good point: That in things concerning God it is good to go to, to addresse our selves to God, especially in matters of satisfaction; but that's not all, but to go to him as to a Sanctuary. Job here flies to God as to a City of Refuge, to a Castle of defence, as the Malefa­ctors [Page 21]were wont to the horns of the Altar, so doth Job after his sin to the Preserver of men.

And here it is to be handled whom Job means by the Preserver; doubt­less he whom in most places he calls his Redeemer, and here was the ob­ject of his faith, without all perad­venture the same: It must needs be the same, for how can they call up­on him in whom they have not belie­ved? and so here Job's prayer is preferred to him in whom he had believed, the Preserver of men: And in handling of this there are two things offered to your conside­ration.

First, how well this title of Pre­server of men doth agree with him to whom Job prayes.

Secondly, how well the medita­tion of a Preserver did fit Job in the case wherein he was. First, I say, how well this title of Preserver doth suit with God, how well God had [Page 22]deserved it at Jobs hands to be known by the name of the Preserver of men, and how well by the world in general, the whole frame, masse, and pillar thereof; how well at the hands of that part of the world called men; how well, I say, at men, such as Job was. It is admirable to consider how true God is to the title of Pre­server of men; he hath not onely ordained means to supply the needs of every man, and the care of every man in preservation of himself; also his Angels about us, he gives his Angels charge over us; also the sup­ply of every one to take care of ano­ther; and not onely so, but the care of our Ancestors to preserve our li­berties, they pitched our Tents; not onely his care of great men to set them over lesse; he saith to Magi­strates and Ministers, Keep this man safe, thy life shall go for his; he is thy preserver every way, and hath still reserved to himself the name of [Page 23]chief Preserver: He is Archiepisco­pus, the chief Bishop of our souls, he hath taken upon him all the names of salvation; he is our Father, and Mother, and Brother, and Husband, and Keeper, to shew how true he is to the title of Preserver: and some­times when God looks like a de­stroyer, when God comes to de­stroy us for our sins, he staies and pauses, and strikes, with much lenity, to shew to all the world that he fights not with the person but the sin, his Commissions are against the disease, not the patient; Christs scourges were not to destroy the Temple, but to clear it. We may compare them to Davids battel a­gainst Absalom, where there is a charge goes along, Do the young man no harm. God hath given every chastisement this warning, Do the man no harm. I will shew one in­stance; When Joab was sent to take Sheba the son of Bichri, when he [Page 24]came to destroy the City whereto he fled, a wise woman desired to speak with him, and asked him why he would destroy the City? who told her; whereupon she required the head of Sheba to be cast over the wall to him: With the same er­rand God comes to us when he looks upon us as if he would destroy us, he calls upon us to deliver up the son of Bichri, the sins that are within us, deliver them up, and he will not de­stroy you. Look upon all his affli­ctions whensoever that it happeneth, so that he cannot but he must punish; do but consider with what unwilling­nesse God comes, with what relu­ctancy; when he holds up his hand to strike, he yet staies to see if there be any to stand in the gap, or to hold him, Amos 11.16. How shall I give thee up, O Ephraim? how shall I deli­ver thee? how shall I make thee as Admah or Zeboim? He doth it as though it went against him, he draws [Page 25]and brandishes; nay, when his sword is in his hand he looks about him to see if there be any to hold his hand that he might not destroy; and yet when he doth punish, he doth not suffer his mercy to be quite gone, and when he is cutting, he still pre­serves. I should have told you how well God deserved the name of Pre­server at the hands of Job; in the fail of all Job's comforts, in the fail­ing of all other preservers. His wife that should have preserved him, she counselled him to curse God and dye, and his friends that should have comforted him, were miserable comforters. The Devil let loose upon him, his brethren stood afar off, they stood at a distance, his ser­vants they were no preservers, he called, and they did not answer, the very children did mock and slight him: Now God preserved him from his wife, his children, his friends, his servants, from the Devil, yea, [Page 26]from his own self; he was going about to strangle himself, to have laid violent hands on himself, and God preserved him from the Devil that went about to destroy him; well might Iob know God by that name the Preserver of men; well might the meditation of the Preser­ver of men become Iob at this time, in such a condition, when his sins were in his thoughts, when he was in his perplexed condition, in his affrighted condition, it was Iobs best way at that time to stir up the medi­tation of Gods preserving him. What face soever God set upon it, and whatsoever his usage was to him, yet certainly that God with whom he was making his peace, to whom he made his confession, he was a Preserver of all his creatures, of men, and amongst men sinners, Pec­cavi, I have sinned, and what shall I do? I call this Iob's meditation; these two must depend together; [Page 27]the thoughts of a mans sin, and the thoughts of our Saviour, think of our sin and of our Saviour; at this time 'tis true there are many that think this Preserver doth not so well agree with God, as when they ask me, how I conceive of God that is a flaming fire to render vengeance, and that he must so be remembred. I answer, we must so remember God, as not to forget that he is a merciful God, neither to think so deeply of our sins, as to forget the thoughts of our Saviour; not as Iu­das, when he had betrayed Christ he confessed he had betrayed inno­cent bloud, and restores the pieces, but all ended in strangulavit se; he hang'd himself, he had forgotten the Preserver of men; it is no more then needs to be to have our sins al­wayes before us. David labours to aggravate his sin, it is to be under­stood not without the proposal of Gods mercy; so we must look upon [Page 28]sin by the light of Gods Word, and not by Satans false glasses. Gods manner of revealing sin, and the Devils are contrary. God cures us like a good Physician, that takes a man into a close room and applies medicines; the Devil doth not so, he carries him into the cold air, he goes about to kill him: take heed of looking upon sin with the Devils glasse, unlesse you have your friends about you, the Gospel, and all the promises of it, that if he offers to wrong you, you may call them in. And therefore the Use shall be, that we look not upon sin with both our eyes, but cast one eye upon sin, and another upon our Saviour, not so as to look through him, or beyond him, but with the faith of Abraham, he can see through a barren womb, and through a killing sword his numerous posterity. A good Christian he can look beyond them all, and see Christ at Gods right hand to bring him [Page 29]safely to Heaven. This was Jobs prayer and case upon a dunghil, through the ill counsel of his wife, through the discomforts of his friends, through the despisings of his brethren, through the machina­tion of the Devil, through the sligh­tings of his servants, and through the contemning of children, yea, through the evil temptations of his own heart he can see God his Preser­ver; and this must be our course, when our understandings will go a­long with the Devil, when our scant­ling souls shall imagine that we hear God say unto us, Go you unprofitable servants, and go you cursed; and when we can see nothing but death and Hell, then remember to stand still and see the salvation of God, remem­ber him that is the Preserver of men; a duty that invites you to fix your thoughts upon this Preserver of men. I am now come from the date of my Text, and am now [Page 30]to come to the work of the day, and it doth much concern you to fix your eyes and intendments upon this Pre­server of men, general contem­plations of Gods preserving; you have heard already how well God deserves from the world and the hands of men in particular, the word of Preserver: And thus I have done with it as it is an every dayes meditation; but I must not shake hands and take leave of my Text so; you know how well this dayes work will agree with it, which hath long since invited me unto it, had I an heart or words answerable unto it: but alas what words can be used, or what tongue can utter it: that which my heart cannot reach to, how can my tongue utter or express: Si mihi sint centum linguae, sint ora (que) cen­tum [...]: F [...]rr [...] vox— Which of you can tell me? Oh my God, saith Saint Austin, Da mihi de misericordia, &c. Give me of thy mercy that I may [Page 31]speak of thee, speak in me that I may speak of thee. A work above any humane power to make any tole­rable demonstration of, had I as ma­ny tongues as there are stars. Were there a Councel called of all the Angels in Heaven to consult of it, and among them one chosen to de­clare it, all their tongues, under­standings, and imaginations infused into him, had he all the learning and eloquence that ever was or can be attained, were he to stand in my place at this time, how should I see him gravell'd, puzzell'd, and faul­ter'd, and founder'd, and non-plust? how should I hear him call for more tongues, for more eloquence? how should I hear him cry with Esay, Quis enarrabit? Who shall shew his works? Should I not hear him cry out with Moses, Ego sum puer, I am a child? with David, This knowledge is too wonderful for me? Whether I look upon the work of this day, or [Page 32]upon God positively in the contri­vance of it, in the execution or sub­ject, with reference to the object, the parties that it may concern, or with reference to the work it self, or with reference to the manner of wor­king, the condition from whence we were redeemed, and the conditi­on to which we were brought; it is beyond human invention to give any tolerable description of it. I think this matter will do better in applica­tion then in amplifica­tion Ora mille flu­entia melle..

If we look upon it first of all comparatively, comparing it with other dayes, and paralleling it with other preservers: What are they other preservers, and other saviours? We know where to finde them. Shall we piddle out the time with the preventions of the sufferings of particular men? what need we make mention of the children of Israels deliverance out of Aegypt? our own [Page 33]deliverance from the Spanish Invasi­on in Eighty eight, or of the fifth of November. I charge you, as the Prophet Zachary speaks on another occasion, not a word of them, nei­ther of Eighty eight, nor the fifth of November. We may parallel this dayes deliverance with the work of the Creation, there Dixit & factum est, He did but speak and it was done, here it cost many sweatings and drops of bloud; this was the master­piece of Gods workmanship. There God gave me to my self, here him­self to me. There was the work of his finger, here of his arm, With a mighty and out-stretched arm hath he gotten himself the victory. There he made me like unto himself, here he makes himself like unto me. There he made me, but here he remade me; this exceeds the whole Crea­tion, take the whole Creation of the world together either in the contri­vance of it, or in the execution of [Page 34]it. In the contrivance, had our Sa­viour gone no farther this day then to have devised the means how we might be restored, it had been mercy enough, but to call the depths of his Counsels, to devise a way how to punish sin, and to save the sinners, to bestow Hell upon the sin, and Heaven upon the sinner, how to compound an infinite Justice and an infinite Mercy: Had our Saviour gone no farther but found out the way, and said, Sons of men, I see you are utterly lost and undone, and I could wish that I could help you, but I counsel you to do thus and thus, see what you can do to appease my Fathers ju­stice, I should be very glad to see you do well, and the like; could all the An­gels in Heaven have helpt us? sure­ly no: But himself to be both the contriver and executor, not onely to finde out the means, but to be the means, to call the depth of his Counsel together, to save the man, [Page 35]and damn the sin, to send one to Hell, and the other to Heaven: Oh admirable Love!

Again, consider who is the Pre­server, the subject that did it, who would ever have looked to have him come down from Heaven? Who would have thought that he would have clothed himself with the rags of our mortality, and have come down, who was the delight of An­gels, the darling of Heaven, the be­loved of his Father? It is a greater humiliation then for the greatest Emperour in the world to become a worm, or a fly, or a grain of dust, and all this for a creature so ill-de­serving, in whom there was neither beauty, nor comelinesse, or favour, the things that make men favourable with Princes; nay more, when we were enemies, and in the acts of ho­stility, dead in trespasses and sins, worms and no men, yet he came to save us, even us men.

It was the ground of a worthy me­ditation of a reverend Father, con­cerning Sampsons being brought to so much misery for Dalilah: Oh mi­serable Sampson, (saith he) what made thee to spend thy dearest bloud for an harlot, for Dalilah? How can I sufficiently wonder at this mercy, not for an harlot, but for worse then an harlot, for such wretches as we are? and the keeping us from such a state, and bringing us to such a state; from such an estate, an estate of sin, when we lay not onely in pulvere, but in sanguine, in the dust, yea in our own bloud, not onely wounded, but wounded to death, yea dead; was that all? no; pereuntes, perishing, Ezek. 16.6, 9. children of perdition, lost, and the worst kind of lost too, perditi in Dei favore, lost in the fa­vour of God, perditi de benedictione Dei, lost the blessing of God, no hope of any thing, but go you cursed was our next doom; nay, utterly lost, [Page 37]and yet recovered by him out of that condition; and into what a con­dition from all this miserable and lost condition we were recovered, to our inheritance, recovered from the state of enemies to the state of friends, to the state of favorites, of heirs of Heaven: all these together didst thou do, Oh merciful Preser­ver!

In the next place I come to the means by which he did preserve us, and that by the destruction of him that was the preserver, a preservati­on destructive to the preserver him­self, wherein there was a necessity for one to come from Heaven, and he no lesse then the Son of God, to stand in the place of man, and en­dure that which he should have suffe­red for his sin, and that such a suffer­ing, to speak one word of it, that the whole Gospel is little more then a compendious Chronicle of the ca­lamities that Christ endured in his [Page 38]life: Should I but go along from his Cradle to his Crosse, the time would fail me, in all places; nor only upon the Crosse, but in the Garden, yea in toto progressu, &c. in the whole course of his life, in every action of it, at the hand of every person he conversed withal, every part of his life from the womb, nay, in the womb he was accounted by his sup­posed father to be but a bastard; in his Cradle cruelly dealt withal, exiled, banished into Egypt, tumbled and tossed up and down, tempted in the wildernesse by the Devil. In all places, in the Temple, in the Phari­sees house, in the City, in the Coun­trey, in the wildernesse, within and without, abused by all sorts of men, the Scribes and Pharisees, the high Priests and Rulers, and by the mul­titude of people; he did suffer in e­very action: Did he preach, where had he his learning? Did he eat and drink? a man gluttonous, and a wine­bibber. [Page 39]Did he keep company? a friend of Publicans and sinners. Did he cast out Devils, 'twas censured to be by Belzebub the Prince of the De­vils. In his life, in his death, in all things; and in his sufferings two things are remarkable: First, that he suffered alone, he trod the wine­presse alone, he suffered solus. Se­condly, he suffered totus, he suffered for his Preaching, for his works of mercy, that for which he should have been applauded. The Disciple that before hugg'd his Master, and lay in his arms, now for haste left his shirt behinde him, he ran so hard, that he left his linnen garment. Thomas that before would dye with Lazarus, he is now gone. The sons of Zebedee that forsooth could drink of the cup that he drank of, they were far enough off; not onely his friends on earth, but his best friend in Heaven; he suffered a terrible withdrawing of his countenance, he [Page 40]sees him not as he was wont to be in his glorious Majesty, yet still he cryes, Deus meus, My God; his best friends on earth fled, and his best friend in Heaven hid his face from him: he suffered totus; his head buf­fetted, his face spitted on, his hands nailed, and his feet bored, his side pierced, his glorious temples crown­ed with thorns, he led Captivity captive, to whom we pray, Lord en­ter not into Captivity with thy servant; he to whom the Saints cry, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Hosts, he to whom the blessed Spirits sing Hallelujahs to him that sits on the Throne, upon him they cryed, All Hail King of the Jews; he that lashed the Nations with a rod of Iron, to have his back beaten with a whip: he suffered in all his outward senses; What tastes he? What sees he? What hears he? What smells he? What feels he? In all his faculties and mem­bers, in his understanding, the whole [Page 41]wrath of God; in his memory, what he was, and what he had been; in his judgment, what strugling and irresolution, Let this Cup passe, and let it not passe, he will have his will, and he will not have his will; he was astonished, affrighted, perplexed, in. an agony, such an agony wherein he sweat drops of bloud; of the repro­ches done to him, if we consider ubi, where, He suffered at Jerusa­lem, the stage of the world, and where he did display all his works of mercy. Quando, at what time, at the time of the Passeover, at the concourse of most people, that he might be a scorn to all; and cum quibus, with two thieves, and be­tween them both as the worst of the three; and per quos, by whom this was done, by his own Countrey­men, those for whom this was done, so gracelesse not so much as thanking him for what he did, when he was at his last gasp upon the Cross; beneath [Page 42]beneath him the Devil gaping for him; on the one side a thief revi­ling him, on the other none but a thief; Hell wide open under him, his friends flying from him: round about him what sees he? the earth trembling and quaking, the rocks rending in pieces, the mountains leaping, the air thundering, the clouds pouring down, the Heavens as it were burning with lightning, the Sun hiding his face, as ashamed to see his Master so used at their hands for whom he thus suffered. What hears he? those that did it, crying, His bloud be upon us and our children and if there be any evil in us, not to save us but to damn us, when an An­gel durst not shew his head, or so much as peep out of Heaven upon him.

A preservation wrought by such a Saviour, to free us from such a con­dition, and bring us to such a condi­tion, by such a means he suffered [Page 43]both in body and soul, I think I need not say more of it; doth not this deserve to be prized as a great mercy?

But because the keeping of a Good Friday doth not consist so much by the making of a Tragical relation of his sufferings, as it doth in something else; this is not all that is to be done. 'Tis true, our presenting him to your eyes is no more then needs, but we must praise the Lord for his won­drous works. Can we with the Is­raelites, look up to this Brasen Ser­pent that it may cure our souls? Here is an object of love, of fear, of joy, of grief, of affection, and what not? There is something of the solemnity lies in this, to consider what God hath done for our souls. I gave you a taste at the beginning, how that Job after his sin comes home to the Preserver of men: So this points us to the duty of the day, and that is to make use of Christs sufferings, [Page 44]and considering that Job in the midst of all his sufferings had his eye to the Preserver of men, he deplored his sins, and cast his eyes upon him. I finde the holy Ghost more then once mentioning the duty of the day, they shall look upon him whom they have pierced, Zach. 12. and looking to the Author and Finisher of their faith, Hebr. 12. looking with such eyes upon him, as the lame man in the Gospel upon Paul and Barnabas, to have some good from him. Looking upon him as a Preserver, as those Israelites did upon the Brasen Ser­pent to cure them, not to wink with our eyes; let no man think the work of a Good Friday to see him with our bodily eyes, as the Papists in the sight of the Crucifix, but the eyes we are to make use of are the eyes of our souls, the beholding of Christ crucified in our thoughts. Take him into your hearts and souls, and there preserve him, let him challenge [Page 45]a mansion room in thee, thy whole heart; Christ is to be made the sole object of this day, if you celebrate his crucifying aright. What kind of object Christ ought to be I will deliver in few words: Our Saviour doth present himself as an object of the eye, to behold him, as an object of the ear, as an object of trouble, as an object of joy, as an object of hope; if upon our sin, then he is an object of wonder, an object of fear.

The motive of Christs sufferings, it was his love, the merit of Christs sufferings procures us pardon, and the end of Christs sufferings was our salvation. Give me leave to point my finger at each of these, and that in a familiar way, without danger of puzling our selves.

He suffered on the Crosse, to make good our comforts, he was bound, to purchase our freedome. And here first of all, the work of the day doth [Page 46]challenge at our hands matter of ad­miration; it is a duty the Heavens are called upon upon a lesse occasion: Hear O ye Heavens, and be astonished O earth. Who is there that hath any thing of Heaven in him, let him obstupescere, he amazed and wonder, it is a wonder in all the particulars of it.

First, to wonder at the hainousness of that sin, the nature of which was such that it could no otherwise be expiated but thus. That which threw Adam out of Paradise, the An­gels out of Heaven, Saul from his Kingdome, that at this day pulls down Families, and Nations, and Kingdomes; that makes some Na­tions an hissing and reproch to o­thers; pray God it doth not serve us so: That which doth tumble a Kingdome into the dust, pray God it do not serve us so. It made the Son of God to bleed, and to cry, My God, my God, why hast thou forsa­ken [Page 47]me? Which of us in the strong­est temptation to any sin, that is, re­membring the price of it, could chuse but be intreated to hold his hand? Consider in the strongest temptation to any sin, it was the price of my Sa­viours bloud. And secondly, this serves for matter of gratulation, to be thankful for Christs love, that he would thus suffer, and that we despair not though we find it not in our Ware-houses, in our Closets, in our Chambers, in our Chests, in our Cupboards, or the like outward things. Potiphar looks upon Joseph, and sees all things thrive under him, and therefore he loves him; & so Laban for the same reason loves Jacob: But here is Gods love, that he gave himself for us; that's the se­cond.

A third Instruction is for admira­tion of that obligation God hath cast upon thee: He that could have glo­ryed in thy destruction, that he should [Page 48]glory in thy salvation, what canst thou do but rejoyce? But to won­der is nothing, if we go no farther: Therefore in the fourth place, here is matter of thanksgiving, which is a duty for every Ordinance. Every ordinary blessing it calls for a Tro­phee, a Pillar, an Altar, a Song, a Sacrifice, a Chronicle; so did David, Moses, and other servants of God. What thanks doth he expect for this dayes deliverance?

If among the Heathen he that delivers his Countrey from any po­tent enemies, had such applauses and acclamations, mille annos vivat, he that slew a thousand of our enemies, may he live a thousand years, may his name be precious a thousand years: How can we pour out our hearts before God, without giving thanks for this dayes deliverance? Neither is admiration or gratulation sufficient, unlesse we blesse our selves in this day, in the apprehension [Page 49]of him that was this Preserver, with reference to our sins; the bloud of Christ hath a vertue to bind up the bleeding soul, and to make the bones that were broken to rejoice. Is not this a matter of admiration, gratula­tion, and consolation? therefore in the fear of God these are the thoughts that belong to this day, let your contemplations be upon what he did; these contemplations would preserve us from the sense of tempo­ral calamities. When Jacob saw the Ladders, and the Angels ascen­ding and descending, he said, Haec est porta coeli, this is the gate of Heaven. The gate of Heaven! It is well saith one, that Heaven hath a gate; it is well for Gods children that there is a Preserver, that their hopes are above with him whose care is to preserve things perishing here below, among so many destructions from those that cry to our Jerusalem, Down with it, down with it even to the ground. [Page 50]There is one above who is the Pre­server, who doth never keep back his mercy; but when things look most desperately upon earth, when the enemies hope to take them at a disadvantage, and to fall upon them when there is none to deliver them, then if we call upon him with David, saying, Remember the dayes of old, and thy great mercies unto me; then it is for our comfort, that after a time God will have mercy upon us. When the night is at the darkest, the day is neerest at hand. When the throws of a woman in travel are the greatest, her deliverance is neerest. When Moses saw the children of Israel in the greatest danger, Now stand, saith he, and see the glory of the Lord, the enemy that now threatens you shall see him no more. The earth mourned, Lebanon was ashamed, Bashan and Carmel have all lost their fruit, now will I exalt my self: As if he should say, mans misery that's my opportunity. [Page 51]When things are at the worst with Gods children and his Church, then will he shew himself a Preserver. The comfort of Christs Crosse that's comfort to a soul wounded with misery. Is there any of you here this day that is at his Golgotha, with his strong cryes to God in the sight of his sins, and the terrors of Gods wrath, at the sight of Gods justice? Are any such here? then be­hold consolation; that his bloud this day shed, if thou dost but conceive it, if there be but a true apprehension in thee that that bloud was shed for thee, 'tis enough for thy salvation; that thy price is paid for thee by his death on the Crosse, when his arms were extended both wayes, as well to the thief that despised, as to the good thief; and in that prayer he put up upon the Crosse for the worst of his enemies, for them that nailed him, the worst of men; Father for­give them, for they know not what they [Page 52]do. Those that nail me, that crucifie me, even for them I pray. It is very pro­bable that when the good thief saw Christs mercy extend so far, to the worst of men, he reasons thus with himself, What! is there mercy for these? why not for me? Though a thief, yet not such a wretch as these are thus to crucifie my Saviour; Lord, remember me when thou comest into Paradise; and remember in that prayer of Christ, there is forgivenesse for thee, and in those arms stretched out there is a receptacle for thee, in that bloud that came out of his wounds, there is cure for thee, rather then thou shalt dye he will dye for thee.

But beloved, to enlarge the merits of Christ longer, you will think I spread this plaister too far, in the mean time not knowing whether we have any part in him or no. We must understand the Mystery of Christ as well as the History; there [Page 53]is something to be done by way of examination, to examine what title we have to this Saviour. Look up­on thy own sins, bleed for them as well as Christ bled for thee. Christ doth not actually save all: For the resolution of which, I cannot give you a better answer then what I told you of the Israelites, concern­ing the Brasen Serpent, that which gave them a cure, gives me a capa­city of this Preserver; that which gave them a cure, was first, because they were stung. Secondly, that they did submit to that command that bid them look up to the Ser­pent; the like is required of every one of them that hope to have the Preserver of men to be their Sa­viour.

First, a due sense of our sins: And secondly, a clear sight of our Savi­our.

First, a due sense of the sting; the sting of the old Serpent the Devil, [Page 54]the sin that is in our hearts. The malice of those men that crucified our Saviour, was not the Authour of it, but our sins; the Author is in thine own bosome. And this is a consideration very requisite and necessary for us, for without a sense of our sins, and a sorrow for them, we are not neer to the knowledg of Christ; true sorrow works repen­tance. 'Tis observed of Job that he would confesse his sins to the Preserver of men, because he had sinned, and not for the evil of it in the general, in the grosse, but con­cerning his own soul, Ego, I have sinned. Every man doth not know what belongs to Ego, to find sin in our own bosomes. What need we complain of the evil of the times? it is quickly told whence it comes, even from our sins. They think they are well, because they have no leisure to see whether it be well or ill. Their eyes are so cast abroad, [Page 55]so inquisitive abroad, that they know not how things go at home; if we were true Zelots indeed we might easily see that the way to make the truth known, doth not lie in the ag­gravation of the sins of others, in the discovery of the nakednesse of our fathers, of our mothers, and of our brethren; no, but we must strike impartially, we may not spare any sins, and we ought to rejoice if we see the sword strike at both; and as it cuts Superstitious Papists on the one side, so the Anabaptistical Se­ctaries on the other side; that we destroy what concerns us, our sins, it is not in any invectives or libels, but the part that belongs to thy share is to sweep before thy own door, the pulling of that brand out of the fire, it lies within thee.

And then again secondly, as it was in the sting, so it was in fol­lowing the command, and looking on the Serpent, and so is this the [Page 56]commandment we must follow, we must use the hand that touched the hem of Christs garment, such a faith as was in Peter, to bring him home to our selves; an assent to the truth of God, and not onely as­sentire, but applicare, to apply Christ to our selves, and also adhaerere, to cleave to him, as old Simeon did, not think it enough to see Christ in the arms of his Mother, but in his own arms, he would grasp him there, and hugge him there, as Isaac could not but blesse his Jacob, till he felt some love, some loyalty, some care; and kisse the son lest he be angry, there must be a care to make good Gods image in us.

There are three or four Medita­tions I would gladly make use of con­cerning this Preserver of men: As first, was our Saviour the Preserver of men? then this is in all temptati­ons the most profitable balm; Shall I commit this sin, sin against him that preserved me?

Secondly, is he the Preserver of med? then in all the inhumane and cruel dealing between thee and thy neighbour, think upon it; how dost thou resemble the Preserver of men, and givest thy self altogether to ru­ine and destruction? What expecta­tion can you have of preservation by this Preserver, if you be destroy­ers of your poor Brethren?

In the third place, is he the Pre­server of men? and hath he done so much for our preservation? This then deserves our thankfulnesse. Did Jesus Christ dye for me, and for us all? then let us shew our thankful­nesse by preserving Gods children, Gods Profits, Gods saints, Gods Revenues; let us lend our helping hand to preserve that, and not to think any thing we have too good for them; thy work, thy life, thy la­bour, and all little enough for them.

And then lastly, whatsoever we do in thankfulnesse to God, suffer [Page 58]not his bloud, nor the price of it to be spilt in vain, take heed it be not spilt besides us, take heed the Devil doth not go away with it.

Saint Cyprian hath a sad meditati­on and representation of this; he brings in the Devil at the last day coming and triumphing against Christ, with his rabble of wicked men, and but a few righteous on our Saviours side. The Devil speaks thus: Saviour of the world, dost thou see what a number I have, and what faithful servants they have been to me? Ego nunquam, &c. I was ne­ver whipt, nor buffeted, nor scourged, nor nailed, nor despised, nor crucified for any of these; I never shed a drop of bloud for any of these, I never pro­mised them a Kingdome, or any other reward, yet they were very dutiful to me. I never had a Paradise to premise them, though thou didst shew me such a number as here is. Oh what a sad thing will this be! Oh therefore [Page 59]let every one think to do our Saviour this right, let not the Devil carry away this price from us; he suffered enough then, Oh let not him now suffer any more, let him not suffer in his Name, to be blasphemed; in his Revenue, as Sacrilegious persons would have him; let him not suffer in his Worship, as Hereticks would have him; let him not suffer in his Prophets, as Saul did, slaying four­score in a day, but give unto the Lord the honour due unto his name. Oh let us give him this day the honour that is due unto him, that since he hath given us the bloud of his Son to pre­serve us, he may finde us one day amongst the preserved; and consider that he that is proud, crowns his head with thorns, he that scoffs at Religion, spits in his face: and think upon these meditations;

First, in what a miserable condition thou art till thou hast gotten some sign that thou art preserved by him, [Page 60]and that thou hast some part in his sufferings. I wonder that the souls of many men go not out rending and tearing, go not out stark mad, having no evidence of their salvation. There is no comfort without an in­terest in Christ. What a miserable parting is there both of soul and bo­dy, without an assurance that Jesus Christ is thy Redeemer? Whatso­ever thou art, or whatsoever thy estate is in this world, thou art a wretch, if thou hast not a part in thy Preserver. As Jacob said, when he saw the Chariots and Waggons that Joseph sent for him, Now I shall see Joseph, let me dye, I desire to live no longer, it is enough Joseph is alive: so should we be able to say, Howere the world goes in other things, we know that our Preserver is alive; whate­ver devises Satan hath raised, what­soever crimes thou hast committed, though the Devil say, nec pars, nec sors in hoc negotio, thou hast neither [Page 61]part nor portion in this Saviour; Oh then bethink your selves that God is a Preserver.

The Rabbines tell us of a City of Refuge God had appointed in the time of the old Law, that there should be a City of Refuge, and that the man-slayer should flee thither, and there was a care had that at eve­ry turning of the way there stood an hand pointing out every particular passage to the City of Refuge, and written at the end of the hand RE­FUGE, as if it should have said, Fly man-slayer for thy life, thou hast the way before thee. What truth is in it I know not, yet it is an excellent representation of every one that are sinners; we are in the case of man­slayers all of us, and God hath ap­pointed at every turning of the way a finger, at every corner of the City there is a voice that calls upon us, Re­fuge, Refuge, to save our selves; while the enemy is at our back, the [Page 62]Devil follows us with might and main at the committing of every sin that he may reach us before we get to the City. God hath his voice and his finger to point us thither, it must be our wisdome to go while the finger points and the voice calls. We know not how long we shall hear the voice of God in our Churches, let us bestir our selves as they that fly for their lives, let us hear the voice of God, and gird up our loins: we see by every dayes example the un­certainty of life, let us fly to him that is the refuge of sinners, he that had his arms this day spread on the Crosse to save all, will not refuse thee; and that he may shew us his mercy who is the Preserver of men, God of his mercy grant us, for his Sons sake, for his mercy sake. Amen.

And thus this sweet Singer of our Israel, this ravishing Nightingale, or if you will, this Dove, did groan forth [Page 63]unto you the Passion of his Lord; he like a dexterous Physician did clap a plaister of warm bloud to your souls, and I hope it will prove like the bloud of Goats, qualifying you, that you will afford plyable hearts to God, and obedient hearts to him, and charitable hearts to your bre­thren, seeing you have a share in this Preserver.

But there lies no comfort in the death of Christ, if we hear not of his Resurrection. What is it to hear of a Saviour dead, if he be not ri­sen? What is it to have our Surety to be in prison? but he is out. Hence breaks the day both of his triumph and our comfort, that this Sampson hath carryed away the gates of brasse, this rod of Aaron hath devou­red all the other rods, this God though he overcame not at the first, yet he overcomes at the last; this Jonah is now cast on the shore; and this happy tidings an Angel of our [Page 64]Church brought from another An­gel, and his Text was in the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, chap. 28. verse 6.

THese are the words of the An­gel of God unto two devout [Page 66]women that came to visit the Sepul­chre of our Saviour, declaring unto them the Resurrection of Christ from the dead: a Fundamental point of Christianity, and the argument of these three dayes Festivity is the Re­surrection of our Saviour; and this Feast hath obtained from Gregorie Nazianzen this acclamation, Oh Feast of all Feasts! Oh Festivity of all Festivities! Oh Celebrity of all Celebrities! And therefore beloved, we are so much the more bound to the discharge of our duties for a so­lemn and deliberate commemorati­on of it, and you to a diligent, de­vout and reverent attention unto those four points and parts which are deduceable out of this Text; He is not here, for he is risen.

The parts are these: The first is Logical; the second Historical; the third Analogical; and the fourth Moral. The Logical thus, from the word and particle for, He is not here, [Page 67]for, &c. Secondly, Historical, in the words following, he is risen, a declaration of the Resurrection it self. Analogical, from the person he, in the relation that Christ hath as Head unto all Christians that shall be raised again unto everlasting life as the members of Christ. The Moral, that dependeth upon the same words, he is risen, because it doth challenge of every Christian man a conformity of life, in rising unto newnesse of life conformable to that Resurrection of Christ, as the Apostle will tell us afterwards.

I begin with the Logical, He is not here, for, &c. His assertion is Nega­tive, He is not here; the proof of it, for he is risen. This for is a causal term, which if it be turned into an illative, it stands thus; He is risen, therefore he is not here: As if a man should say, the stars they are not seen, for the Sun is up. Verte, the Sun is up, therefore the stars are [Page 68]not seen. The conclusion therefore of the Angel should be this, Christ cannot be in the grave and out of the grave, not here and there, not in two places at once; and that is our present Theme. This do­ctrine that I teach unto you, it was the confession and profession of this our Protestant Church alwayes, it was written in Rubrick in the bloud of the Martyrs in the days of Queen Mary, both Bishops and others, when­soever they were called to that mur­derous rack of Interrogation among the Papists, asking them this questi­on, What say you to the bodily pre­sence of Christ in the Sacrament? They answered, he is not there be­dily; they proved it, for he is risen, he is ascended into Heaven; a reason, as you see, Angelical, this being granted that the body of Christ is not in two places at once, then is the foundation of all the Romish Masse utterly ruined, dissolved into rubbish [Page 69]and dust; for then farewell the bodi­ly presence, the feigned and forged Transubstantiation, the grosse oral and bodily receiving of it, the sacri­legious sacrificing of it, and that which is the last and worst, the idola­trous adoring of bread in stead of the person of the Son of God, Christ himself.

Neverthelesse we may not ima­gine that the Doctors of that Church make no answer to this consequence of the Angel, He is not here, for he is risen: Their answer is this, that he spoke not these words Doctrinally, but onely Morally, secundum modu­lum, according to the capacity of the women, who might think perad­venture that he was risen not out of the grave, but in the grave: a trans­parent falsity, as will be proved now to the contrary: As this holy E­vangelist, He is not here, (could he walk in the grave to Galilee?) for he is risen; look upon the next verse, [Page 70] He is risen, as he said. What said he? The Evangelist Saint Luke, chap. 24. as he said to you women when you were in Galilee. Then the saying must be taken as it was told them by Christ in Galilee, before he was cru­cified. What was his saying? He said unto them, I shall rise the third day. What meant Christ by rising? was it rising in the grave, or out of the grave? Certainly out of the grave. VVill you have our witnes­ses? Two Angels, Luke 24.5. Say unto these women, Why seek you the li­ving among the dead? If he be li­ving, he is not among the dead; therefore not in the grave, but out of the grave: It is the conclusion of the very Angels themselves. Come to the next words following here, Go quickly, tell his Disciples that he is risen: Tell his Disciples; then the Angels instructed them so, that they might have a faith that he was out of the grave, to the end they might [Page 71]perswade the Disciples, being now a foundation of the Articles of the Christian Faith: But above all you will see it, Luke 24.6. He renders the words of Christ thus, He is not here, but he is risen. But, that is a particle adversitive, alwayes imply­ing a contradiction from the former; as if he should say, such a one is not dead, but alive; if therefore alive, not dead. Christ saith of his body, I am not spirit, but flesh; flesh there­fore, not spirit. Thus in all it is a contradiction in adjuncts: Therefore the truth is, this is an impossibility that the body of Christ can be in two places at once, which is the conclu­sion drawn from thence. Now be­loved, I had not insisted so much upon this, except it had been;

First, that it was so full in my way, that I could not passe by it.

Secondly, because of the jealousie of these times, wherein it is suspe­cted that divers of the Ecclesiasticks [Page 72]are infected with this leaven, or ra­ther leprosie of Popery, to think that the body of Christ can be in divers places at once: Therefore now I shall crave leave to inlarge my self, and the rather because in thus saying, whosoever they be they de­stroy it.

I am therefore now beloved, to prove it unto you not by testimonies and allegations onely, but to deliver unto you the heads as I may say, the form and the reasons summarily of true Antiquitie in the Primitive Church, and that shall confirm un­to us this our doctrine to have been not onely a Catholique truth, but to have had the degree of a Catho­lique faith in the Church of God for six hundred years together. Briefly then thus; those holy Fathers taught first, that no creature can be in divers places at once: why? for that this to be in divers places at once, is the Prerogative of God himself.

Secondly, they prove that the holy Ghost the third Person in the Trinity is God. Why? for that it was in divers Prophets at once: Je­remiah in Jewry, Daniel when he was in Babylon, Ezekiel in Cabar; and al­so after that when he was in divers Apostles at once, they being disper­sed into divers Regions of the world.

Thirdly, they prove that the An­gels are not Gods. Why? Because Angels cannot be in divers places at once.

Fourthly, they prove that no bo­dy, no bodily substance can be in divers places at once. Why? For that it is one body, and to be here and there in one instant, were to di­vide it self from it self; that it were two and one, and not one, are con­tradictions.

Lastly, that we may omit divers others, they prove that the Huma­nity is thus distinguished from the Divinity, because the Deity, the di­vinity [Page 74]nature that being in Heaven is in Earth, and every where else; but the humane nature if it be in Heaven, it is not on Earth, if on Earth it is not in Heaven. Thus these holy Fathers: You have their doctrine of truth. Now that it may appear unto you that this doctrine of truth was also a doctrine of faith, and that by two reasons:

First, because by these for's which are answerable to this for of the An­gel here, they urged them against the Hereticks of their times, such were the Marcionites, the Manichees, the Neucomitans, and such like.

Secondly, because they did this to this end that they might confirm unto all the world the doctrine of the Deity, to know that this is a Prero­gative belonging to God alone; and secondly, for the preservation of the true nature of the manhood of Christ; for whereas the Manichees might say that the body of Christ [Page 75]was in the Moon and the Deity to­gether; fieri non potest, saith Saint Austin, it cannot be; for by this means you will not make it a true body of Christ. I will conclude, and it shall be in the words of an holy Father that lived six hundred years after Christ, Vigilius by name, who saith thus, Humanitas Christi si in terra tunc non in coelo, &c. The Humanity of Christ if it be on Earth, then cer­tainly it is not in Heaven, if in Hea­ven bodily, then certainly not on earth. Was this his private opinion onely? No; Haec est Confessio Ca­tholica quam, &c.

This is the Confession, a Catho­lique confession, saith he, which the Apostles have delivered, the Mar­tyrs of Christ have confirmed, and now all the faithful in Christ do pre­serve to this day. Beloved, this Vigilius was Bishop of Trent, and he hath delivered unto us a confession as contrary unto the last Councel of [Page 76] Trent, as yea and nay, truth and fal­sity, Antiquity and Novelty; so that if the Primitive Church of Christ was the Catholique Church, certainly the now Romish church it is a step-dame and degenerate. If the Primitive doctrine was a Catho­lique faith, and a legitimate childe, then the now doctrine of the Church of Rome it is a bastard-brat.

Now then beloved, I have deli­vered unto you the points concern­ing the Logical part, wherein if I have been too obscure, if that Lo­gick part be too obscure for some, I may make amends in the Historical, where I shall not make it so plain to your brains, as to your senses. He is not here, for, &c.

This Historical part will offer unto you 3 observations concerning this doctrine of Christs Resurrection; the first is,

1. That it is a truth most evi­dent.

[Page 77]2. It is a truth Omnipotent.

3. It is a truth Trimphant.

For Christ after his Resurrection manifested himself unto all men, all kinds of men that heard him Preach: he manifested himself to two, to twelve, to five hundred at once; to Saint Paul after his Ascension into Heaven, here is all the eye-sight: to other senses; he manifested himself to his Apostles by feeling and hand­ling his body; here are three senses. Now beloved, why should not this be a foundation of truth to know and discern, to build our faith upon these things? The Apostl [...] [...]aint John tells us that it ought to be so, for saith he, 1 John 1.1. That which you have heard, that which you have seen, that which your hands have handled, that we declare unto you, &c. He laies the faith of Christ on this founda­tion, hearing, seeing, handling. Here again I am justly occasioned to deal with the Church of Rome, by this [Page 78]light to dispel the darknesse thereof, that their great infatuation concern­ing the body of Christ; they say he is in the Sacrament in these three o­pinions: First, he is here, say they, and yet his body is invisible. Se­condly, it is here impalpable: And lastly, 'tis in Heaven both visible and palpable. It is here invisible, im­palpable, and yet it is in Heaven both visible and palpable; three monsters which are now to be expulsed, not by the strength of my wit, but by the authority of this Angel here speaking from Christ, here spoken of, from t [...] Church of Christ, their whole voice for a general union for this; the Angel in the next words, even in this Text, this verse, he saith unto the women, Come and see, Come and see where they laid the Lord. I say he is not here, I will prove it unto you, demonstrate it unto your sight, let your sight be Judge; the arbitration of your sight shall satisfie [Page 79]you: Come and see, he is not here; though they laid him here, he is not here; here is the argument of the Angel: But here they will tell us he passed by men out of company to avoid danger, and they saw him not. This is truth, but this is not all the truth; for the reason why they saw him not, it was because their eyes were held that they could not see. How many of you now see this Pulpit? and yet wink with your eyes, you cannot see it. Is this Pulpit ere the lesse visible, because you do not see it? When mens eyes are held, they cannot see, Christs body not­withstanding was visible still to be seen. And now to confirm this that I have said unto you, St. John himself shall make it good. There was one of the Disciples (saith he John 20. and he speaks of himself) the other Disciple he looked into the sepulchre, and he saw the linnen clothes, he saw not Christ there pre­sent; [Page 80]and what doth he but resolve and beleeve that he was risen out of the grave? And indeed it had been a mockery of these women, for the Angel, if their eyes being held, to bid them to see without their sight. Therefore you have the first point concerning this sense of Seeing suffi­ciently demonstrated unto you. Come to our Saviour Christ: As the Angel said to the woman, Come and see; so Christ he said to his Disciples, Come and feel, feel, I am I, this body is mine, feel my body, search the wounds, &c. So that now Christ makes this truth even palpa­ble unto them, that they may have their faith from the vertue of their own fingers. This is the doctrine of Christ, the body of Christ is pal­pably to be seen; Come unto our faith, the Councel of Ephesus, one of the first Councels in the Christian world, for the humane nature of Christ resolves thus; Corpus Christi [Page 81]est & visibile & palpabile ubicunque fuerit. The body of Christ it is visible and tractable wheresoever it is; therefore may we come now to our resolution, and conclude, that the body of Christ in the Sacrament of the Masse, you say it is invisible, I say then it is not the body of Christ: Do you say it is impalpable? it is not the body of Christ. Do you say also it is both visible and invisi­ble? I return to the Fathers, and they say thus: This is, say they, sot­tish. Why? you may as well say that the same body of Christ can be finite and infinite, it can be created and not created at once, which the distinction of places can never recon­cile.

Oh, but say they unto us, this is natural reason, this is reasoning like Ethnicks and Pagans. Nay, we have the Authority, which is the Authority of the Catholick Church, we have the Authority Angelical, [Page 82]we have not onely the Authority E­vangelical, but of Christ himself. He is not here, &c. Thus I have shewn that he is palpable wheresoe­ver he be: Now the evidence be­ing thus plain, let us ascend a little higher, to know, that what if some should say, that notwithstanding these evidences, I doubt whether this doctrine be true or no, that Christ is risen? Our Apostle Saint Paul hath answered this argument long ago, when he said thus; If that Christ be not risen, we are false witnes­ses: As if he should say, a thing most incredible, for they which were with our Lord and Saviour, and saw, and heard, and felt him, were alwayes ready to lay down their lives for Christ, and for this very Article, he is risen. There Saint Paul speak for himself; If Christ be not risen, what should it advantage me that I fought with beasts at Ephesus after the manner of men, to endanger my life for [Page 83]this Article, Christ is risen? and this was that Paul that could say of him­self, 1 Cor. 10. That among all those many troubles and afflictions for this profession, In carcere, &c. I was in death often, oftentimes left for dead, stoned and persecuted, so manifold a Martyr was this one Saint Paul. He speaks also of the rest of the Apo­stles, 1 Cor. 5. We are in jeopardy eve­ry day, every day in jeopardy, even for this Article, and this truth that Christ is risen he stands upon, in that 1 Cor. 15. Well then beloved, for the establishing of our Christian faith in this one point, certainly these A­postles of Christ had been most shamelesse, if they had published to all that which they saw not; most faithlesse, if they had not believed that which they all saw; most heart­lesse, if they had not ventured their lives for the profession of that, the resurrection of Christ from the dead, by vertue whereof their bodies [Page 84]should also be reserved to eternal life; and most foolish also, if they should have spent their bloud for that they believed not, they having thus seen, thus heard, thus belie­ved, thus Preached, thus dying and suffering death, they may be eyes, and have been to the Christian world, to see by their faith; and so I perswade my self of you all that are here present, to give faith unto this Article of the resurrection of Christ from death; and therefore I am authorised to give unto you the benediction which Christ gave unto such as you, saying, Blessed are they that see not, and yet believe; and so Blessed be you.

Now you have heard the evi­dence, this is an evident truth, we have not yet heard the power of it, but that is in the next part, wherein I said that this is a truth which is Omnipotent, an Omnipotent truth, look to our Text; I, but saith the [Page 85]Evangelist, He is risen; he doth not say Agarthes, he is raised, but he is risen, and because it was he that rai­sed himself from the dead: It is he that said, I have power to lay down my life, and to take it up again; lay down my life by dying, to take it up again by rising: as easie to take it up as to lay it down, to lay down my life as man, to take it up again as God. E­ven as he said of the same body to the Jews, Destroy you this Temple, I will raise it up in three dayes. Destroy it, then its destructive; but raise it up in three dayes, there's his God­head. Thus he spake once, let us put them together, God and Man, Man and God. How prove we it? The Apostle proves it, Heb. 1.1. of Christ, thus, he was declared migh­tily to be the Son of God by his re­surrection from the dead. Where­upon Saint Austin, Oh miraculum miraculorum! This is a miracle of miracles, the Sun of all Suns, never [Page 86]the like, that one dead should raise himself from the dead; this could not be man, but God; it must needs be as the Apostle to the Colossians, The Godhead dwelling in him bodily which raised himself from the dead: now beloved, from hence it must follow, that it was impossible for him to be detained in the grave; and S. Peter saith, Acts 2. it was impossi­ble for Christ to be detained in the pangs of death; it is a word taken from women travailing in child, when the throwes and pangs are up­on her she cannot contain her bur­den, it must go out. Well said Chrysologus of this burden, Concepit mortuum & peperit vivum: Here is a difference then between this womb and all the rest of the world, concei­ving dead, and bringing forth alive; and indeed so it must needs bee when Omnipotency is the Midwife, as it was with Jonas, a type of Christ, swallowed up of the Whale, the sto­mach [Page 87]could not digest it, it must be cast out. Of what use must this be to us? the same power that raised him from death to life, the same power will give us resurrection to life ever­lasting, even our bodies. So the A­postle, Phil. 3. He will change our vile bodies, and make them like unto his glorious body. So much for the second point, that I call it an Omni­potent truth.

The next is, that it is also a trium­phant truth; there are two trium­phings of Christ that we read of in Scripture, and they are admirable; the one is of his Passion, and the o­ther not of his, but of the general Resurrection; the one is an Introdu­ction to the other; of his Passion thus, Col. 2. He having spoiled princi­palities and powers, made a shew of them openly, and triumphed over them on the Cross. Here is his triumph, he be­comes a conquerour over principa­lities and powers; he made a shew of [Page 88]them openly, he spoiled them, there's the conquering; sold them openly, there's the preparation for the tri­umph of the people, and to look upon all as a conquerour, there's his triumph; this triumph thus spokes of it hath allusion unto the triumphs of the world, and especially that of the Romane State, wherein there was first presented a multitude of Trumpeters, sounding out the vi­ctory, and resounding; then came in chariots of spoils, spoils of armour, spoils of riches; the conquerour he sits in the midst looking back unto those noble slaves that came be­hind, their wives, their children, and all their hands bound about them. I will passe no farther in the story, enough for application. Now I beseech you extend your mind as much as you can that we may behold at least some glimpse of this great victory of our Saviour Christ and of his conquest. Here now, where was [Page 89]his sight of Majesty? he was now gi­ving up the ghost upon the Crosse, and behold a triumph, why God and Man the Deity never forsook the Manhood, no not in his death; the vertue of his death was the cru­cifying of the Devil and all his pow­ers: And now I come to the slaves of this triumph, the principalities and powers, namely, the greatest powers that can be conceived in creatures; and who should deal with them but he that is above all power, Christ our Saviour? What doth he spoil them of? of all their de­signs, be they never so mischievous; he spoils them of all their wiles, and prevents them they can do nothing, never any thing to the prejudice of the children of God regenerate, ne­ver any thing that shall work to his overthrow: This is that spoil, and he leads them, as it is here in the o­ther Text, open in view, he goes not out of sight; So that this point is [Page 90]contemplative; here is no Cheru­bims or Seraphims, Angels or Arch­angels, but whatsoever can be seen in the world by the mortal eyes, that was visibly performed by Christ. Thus much for that second triumph; and so it shall be in the general resur­rection, 1 Cor. 15. Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh Hell, or Grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law; but thanks be to God who hath given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ; Thanks be to God that he hath given us victory in Christ our Lord. Now mark I beseech you the manifold circum­stances of this victory in the day of the resurrection of the holy Saints and Martyrs. What will become of the Law? the Law of God it shall be cancelled; no more Law here, and the Law it is the strength of sin; for if there were no law, there were no transgression, the law being taken away, there is no more sin; and as for [Page 91]sins past, they are either pardoned or punished in the day of the resurrecti­on. Well then, but sin it is the sting of death, what becomes of death? Death it is swallowed up in victory: Death's dead, no more giving up of the ghost. Come to the Grave; Grave where is thy victory? When the Trumpets sound, and the Angel gives his voice, arise ye dead, and come unto Judgement, they come out of their Graves, the Graves are empty. But the great enemies are Hell and the Devil: Hell where's thy victory? The conquest being before, as you heard, concerning the passage of the souls of men, the gates of Hell are shut up, no in­gresse nor egresse, but all is shut, they are all detained, as the Apostle saith, in the chains of darknesse and torments for ever. And this is our victory; Thanks be to God that hath given us victory in Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen. Thus have I ended [Page 92]the Historical point, which con­cern'd us in the evidence of this truth, that you have heard that he is risen, and of the power thereof: All this while we have not learned the causes of this resurrection, that belongs to the third part which I said was Analogical, and this hath three considerations:

The first is this; Christ here in the Text is to be considered, in the first place, as the general cause of the Resurrection of the world of men.

The second consideration is this, That he in this Text is the special cause of the resurrection of all the souls everlastingly blessed.

The third consideration of him is, as he is risen as an example, That it is possible there may be a resurrecti­on from the death of the body. First, the resurrection of Christ teacheth us a certainty of resurrection, that he is the special effectual cause of the resurrection to life everlasting unto [Page 93]the sons of God that shew the actions of the resurrection of Christ. Se­condly, there is a generality or uni­versality of Resurrection. Thirdly, the possibility of the bodies resurre­ction unto life. To begin with the universality, all must rise again; by whom? by whose power? why? by Christs, 1 Cor. 15.6. As by the sin of the first Adam death came upon all men, so by Christ the Resurrection from the dead: all men, all manner of men, all men dying, all men rising, all the sons of men. We have an Apostle for it: All men, saith the Apostle, 1 Cor. 6. All men must dye, all men must appear before the Tribunal Seat of Christ, and give an account of all things they did in this life, be it good or bad. Here's good and bad, all men. This was believed by the Jews before Christ came; so the Apostle Saint Peter, Acts 2. shews unto us, That they believed the re­surrection from the dead. They [Page 94]believed the Prophet Daniel, that they should rise, the just and the un­just, Dan. 12. Here's all that Pro­phets prophecy, some to honour, and some to shame; here's either honour, or shame: A shame there­fore it will be unto us, beloved, if we do not believe that which they be­lieved. That we having before us not a prophecie which Saint Peter saith is a dark light; they believed in a dark light, in a light in a dark place, and we have the very Sun­shine of the Gospel to instruct us: But what instruction do we learn from this universality? It com­mends unto us the general Justice of God, that as he will be both vindi­cative and remunerative to the bo­dies of men, they must rise again; vindicative, to punish wicked men, and remunerative, to reward the godly, even in their bodies. Our reason; That as the body hath been an instrument unto the soul for acting [Page 95]either good or evil, so they should be co-partners together in weal or woe. We see the same shadowed in the Parable, the finger of the poor man in Heaven, and the tongue of the rich man in Hell, yet not­withstanding it must be the same bo­dy: and as Job said of his eyes, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and I shall see him with these eyes, and no other. The same eyes; For belo­ved, how should it consist with the Justice of God, that one body should glutton, gormandise and swell with excesse, and wallow in sensual plea­sures, and there should be another body put upon him that should cry out, I am tormented in these flames? Or for the godly, as for example, Saint Stephen, whose name signifies a Crown, that he should suffer Mar­tyrdome for this truth we are now proving, the Resurrection, and af­terwards another body be given unto him, which should be clothed with [Page 96]blessednesse, which is called the Crown of Righteousness? No, be­loved, it is a certain and an infallible truth, that it must be disposed accor­ding to the Justice of God. There's a statute for it, Heb. 1.9. Statutum est, &c. It is appointed and statuted for all men to dye, and after death comes Judgment; all men first to dye, and then comes Judgment, Judgment as sure as death. Here is matter of horrour, and matter of comfort; horrour to the wicked, that when that great and general Goal-delivery comes, it shall be as it is sometimes at the Assises; there are two men in prison, and one hath either got his pardon, or else he is innocent, that none can impeach him; and he saith to his fellows, I am going before the Judge for deliverance out of prison. Another he hath Guilty branded in his forehead, and he cryes, I am go­ing before the Judge, but it is to re­ceive my condemnation, and to be [Page 97]delivered over to execution: So shall it be in the end of time, and in this general Resurrection; Then as it is in the Apocalypse, the wicked that should appear before the Judge, shall cry to the rocks to cover them, and the mountains to fall upon them, to deliver them from the wrath of the Lamb, and yet to them he is a Tyger; looking upon their guilti­nesse and desperation, they call and cry for impossibilities, rocks to hide them from the Judge of all Judges, and hills to cover them from the God of all Gods. But as for the godly, they come and say, Now is our Redemption at hand; for that which concerns redemption and comfort it belongs to them. The next consideration is the necessity of the resurrection. Now hear how necessary this resurrection is. We read of many benefits in the Scri­pture of God concerning all men by vertue of Christs birth, his life, [Page 98]his merits, his preaching, his passion, his dying. But what if there were no Resurrection? The Apostle tells us, 1 Cor. 15. Then were our faith in vain. Our whole faith were vain, if there were not a resurrection, we preach in vain: And indeed were there no resurrection, though the birth of Christ were never so joy­ous, the miracles that he wrought in the world never so miraculous, his promises for everlasting life never so gracious, his work and price of Re­demption never so meritorious, yet if there were no resurrection, his birth, his life, his miracles, his passion, yea, his death it self put together, the same stone that covered his corpse, should cover all those singu­lar infinite benefits. But now he is risen, this work of the resurrection it is both the perfection and comple­ment of all the Articles that went before, so it is also the foundation of all the Articles that come after, [Page 99]rising, communion, sitting at the right hand of God in glory: See the necessity of this resurrection, and there is also the like necessity laid upon us, seeing this resurrection is the vertue of our resurrection: So the Apostle to the Colossians tells us, That Christ is the Head of the Church, and the first begotten of the dead. He must have the preeminence, he is the first begotten of the dead, for he ascended first into Heaven, to take possession, there's his preheminence; Happy are we if we can come after, as we may come, for he did not take possession for himself alone, but as the head of the whole body, he is the first begotten among the dead. And this for the comfort of all; Be that inseparable union between us and Christ known unto you, I do not say in our souls alone, but in our bodies also; for so the Apostle, Eph. 5. We are flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone. Oh beloved, when the [Page 100]holy Fathers of the Primitive Church fell upon this Text, they were ravish­ed with contemplations thereof; to think there was such an individual union between Christ and them, even our bodies. And this union is more then if there were a reality of cor­poration in body and body, by the vertue whereof he our head is risen, that we may rise again; and sooner shall Christ suffer his flesh to be torn from his body, then that any one re­generate Christian man shall be sepa­rated from him in the resurrection to eternal glory. Thus saith the Apo­stle, 1 Thess. 4. They shall be alwayes with him. Now then thus you see as in the resurrection of Christ him­self, so in our resurrection, although that all our joy in the birth of Christ, all our saith in the promises of Christ, and in the vertue of his death, and all our hope of glory to come, it is risen from these words of my Text, by the vertue of this, He is [Page 101]risen. This is the necessity, which is the second consideration I spake of; and now beloved, methinks I hear the voices of prophane men that say, What do you tell us of the resurrection, of the universality, the happinesse or necessity of Christs resurrection, before you can shew unto us the possibility thereof? This is the next point which I am to han­dle unto you, That it is possible that all shall rise again. I prove it from the Text, there's a possibility, and thus it stands, He is risen; if one man be risen from the dead, its possible for another that's dead to rise again. Here's the argument, and yet behold there are two adversaries against this argument. The one is imaginary, and denyeth the consequence; the other is peremptory and pernicious, and denies the antecedent. The consequence is this, ergo another man may rise again. The imaginary man that reads that Text, Thou wilt not [Page 102]suffer thine holy One to see corruption, reasons in his fancy not peremptori­ly, not certainly, why there is diffe­rence betwixt Christs rising and a Christian mans, for Christ he is that holy One without sin; We sinners, for these reasons: His body felt no cor­ruption, our bodies even putrified unto corruption it self. He the holy One, he could hallow his own grave, so cannot we, for we are corrupt. These are his fancies; now peradven­ture you may think they deserve no answer; not much indeed, and yet the answer whatsoever it shall be, I hope it shall be pertinent and not un­profitable.

To the first therefore thus; He it is true had no sin, he was innocent, yea, innocency it self. Now every one of us, whosoever they be that are in the world, that will say they are no sinners, and have no sin, the Apostle Saint John will give him the lye, 1 John 1. There is no truth is [Page 103]him. He hath no part in Christs resurrection, no affinity with him, and by nature we are born aliens from him: So to consider that he being crucified of men most wickedly, desperately, cruelly, blasphemously handled of sinners, any natural man would think now that he is risen, Theanthropos, God and man, He should abhor all men, and loath the sight of all sinners, and become Mis­anthropos. But behold and marvel, how he recollects himself in the be­half of sinners immediately after his resurrection. Saint Mark chap. 16. tells us, That Christ appeared first to Mary Magdalene. Note, as much as if he should have said, he appeared first of all unto one that had been a most notorious sinner, she out of whom he had cast seven Devils, this deserves a Marginal Note; and speaks unto her in a mild compella­tion, Mary, that's for her. The Di­sciples of Christ they forsook him, [Page 104]and turned apostates from Christ; but did Christ forsake them? No: In the tenth verse of this Chapter he saith unto them, Go and tell them; yea, they were more then forsakers, for among the Disciples there was one Peter, he that had vowed above all the rest not to deny Christ, yet he disclaimed and disavowed him; what's become of him? This Mes­senger of Christ, this Angel saith, Go and tell the Disciples, and Peter by name, lest he might be mist. But what shall we say for Thomas? mes­sage upon message comes unto him, We have seen him, he is risen: Christ comes and gives his blessing to all his Disciples, saying, Peace be unto you; cryes, Thomas, Thomas, come and feel and believe. Beloved, be­hold here the mirrour of all merci­fulnesse in our Saviour Christ. Con­sider what Christ is: An Angel tells us he was therefore called a Saviour, because he should save his people from [Page 105]their sins; this was in his Passion; he dyed for our sins, and rose again for our justification: So in his Resurrecti­on. But now he is above all princi­palities and powers, after his con­quest of these principalities and pow­ers, when he led Captivity Captive, and will he now vouchsafe pardon unto sinners? It is his profession, If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righ­teous, and he is the propitiation for our sins.

The next Exception that was ta­ken to the consequence, was this; That he was the holy One that saw no corruption, but we are corrupt and putrified; the best of us all with lying but four dayes in the grave, will be little better then Lazarus, rotten and stinking. Yet notwith­standing remember that Lazarus be­ing dead, what Christ said to his Di­sciples, Our brother Lazarus is asleep, let us go and wake him. So it is with [Page 106]all our corpses, though they be turned into dust. Lend me your attenti­ons; Let us all go to Golgotha, the place of dead mens skuls; look up­on them with the eye of faith, as those that will rise in the resurrection among the just. But if there be any such here, that Saint Peter speaks of, saying, In the last dayes there shall come scoffers, denying the resurrection, we may deal with these faithless as Christ with the Fidlers, turn them out of our company, that we have no con­versation with them: So that Christ here being the holy One, and we his members, we shall in the end be holy ones with Christ.

The last is the hallowing of our Graves; and the Apostle saith, He is the first-fruits of them that sleep. Christ risen, and in Heaven, he is there but the first-fruits of the dead in behalf of us. The first-fruits of them that sleep: Alluding to that in the old Law, where the Priests were to [Page 107]take sheaves out of the field before they were ripe, and to offer them up to God, and by oblation of those sheaves all the field of Corn was san­ctified to the people: So it is here, Christ is the first-fruits, wheresoever mans body be, be it in the ditch, or on the dunghill, be it in the mawes of birds or beasts, all our bodies through him are sanctified unto God. So having done with this, I come to the Hereticallizer, who denies all possibility of resurrection, the An­tecedent. He will stand upon na­tural reason: Now there is two wayes, if I were to deal with a Jew I would easily confute him; If a Jew, I would stand upon the principles of our Saviour Christ, in his answer to the Sadduces; You erre, not knowing Scriptures, nor the power of God. The Scripture tells you you shall rise, and where's the power that's in the Scri­ptures? Also there's Moses leprous hand, and presently healed; there's [Page 108] Aarons rod, dry, yet presently budded and blossomed; Sarah being barren, shortly after bears a child; Jonah three dayes and three nights in the whales belly & yet riseth again. Eze. 37. There were dry bones, and yet bones creep unto bones, sinews creep unto those bones, and knit them to­gether, and flesh comes and knits those sinews, and then God puts life, and then they become men. But we are to deal with the man that is meerly natural, and stands altoge­ther upon his own reason, and there­fore thus: If he will take the pains to go into Arabia, there he may hear of the Phoenix, that consumes it self in the fire, and another riseth out of those ashes. But that's too far: Come neerer hand, to the Bombyx, the Silk-worm, he dyes, and out of his dust comes a Fly. These are yet remote; will you have them domestical? in our own Land we shall finde the like: In some places [Page 109]the Bees, the Flyes, the Wasps are produced out of the Hides of Beasts of divers kinds: But except I see a natural reason I will not believe it. Perhaps you will say with Thomas, I will not believe, unlesse I see it and feel it. Well, seeing these will not serve thy turn, what shall I do unto thee? Even as Solomon sent the Sluggard to the Ant to labour, so must I thee. Saint Paul he sends a Naturalist or natural Fool to learn of a little seed of Corn the resurrection from the dead; Thou fool, when thou sowest, the seed lives not before it dyes: and yet you may see it live, you may see it dye, after it is turned to dust, it lives again: And by this he foolifies all the generation of Philosophers and Infidels; and as we say, Jannes and Jambres, which withstood Moses by false miracles, were conquered by one true miracle of Lice; So all these are confounded in this one seed; and even here is the finger of God, and as much in this [Page 110]as ever it was in that, to the confusion of those that withstand it. Now beloved, that you have heard all these points opened, there remains the fourth, and that's the Moral point. About which I had studied not a little, but foreseeing I should trespasse upon your patience, I have contracted my self into some few In­structions concerning the Moral part; and the first is this:

That the Resurrection of Christ requires of every Christian a confor­mity of holinesse of life; and the Apostle will make it good, for thus he saith, Rom. 6. That as Christ rose again, so should we walk in newness of life: So that newnesse of life is a conformity to the Resurrection of Christ. I speak of this newnesse of life the rather, because it is a resurre­ction in it self. So Saint John, Apoc. 20. Those that are partakers of the first resurrection, saith he, shall never fall into the second death. By the [Page 111]first Resurrection, newnesse of life, we are made partakers of the second resurrection; and from hence may arise divers instructions. The first shall be this; That all Christian ver­tues they take their rising from the doctrine of the resurrection unto eternal life, that comprehends all vertues that can be imagined, Coloss. 1. Saint Paul gives a direction that we should live soberly, justly, holily in this present world. Here's a Triplica­tive vertue which contains all others; we must live soberly, this requires temperance and sobriety, &c. justly, that extends to all relation we have to Superiours or Governours; and the other is holinesse, which brings upon us all the obligations that we have concerning God and his worship in this present world: What follows? looking for the hope of the mighty God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ. Beloved, how should this ravish the hearts of men to live soberly, justly and holily [Page 112]in this present world? When as the true Christian regenerate may say with the holy Apostle, that he hath an expectation, an hope, a looking for the appearance, the blessed ap­pearance, the glorious appearance of God, a mighty God, and of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Here you see that our salvation depends upon these triplicite vertues. Again, Saint Paul, 1 Cor. 13. saith thus, there are the three, Faith, Hope, and Charity. What have these to do with the re­surrection? Certainly the doctrine of the resurrection is made sure by these: Therefore for Faith first, be it known unto you, I speak of a living faith, not of a dead faith, void of repentance and newnesse of life. This is a dead faith which he calls a Devillish faith; but I speak of that faith which Saint Paul affirms to work by love: Of this faith our Saviour Christ saith, He that believeth in me, though he dye, yet shall be live; [Page 113]Here is living of dying. This is a resurrection, and he that believes this, doth believe he shall rise. The next to Faith is Charity; of this St. John speaks, We know we are transla­ted from death to life, because we love the brethren. Therefore love the brethren, because we shall be preser­ved from death to life. Now come to open it, and that in the Old Testa­ment, where it is said, The people of God were tormented, racked, suffered all manner of persecution, because they looked for a better re­surrection, that is, the resurrection of the body to be better then all the torments and afflictions the world could lay upon them. Surely be­loved, we can look for no better re­surrection then these holy men did that suffered for the resurrection; but we may better look for it then they, they looked upon it with dim eyes, and they believed, but we have open eyes, we may see it by most evident [Page 114]demonstrations; they never saw Christ raised from the dead, reigning in Majesty, in Eternity and Glory; this doctrine are we made sensible of. Now therefore saith the Apostle, If we suffer with him, we shall also be glo­rified with him. So much for our Hope.

The second point is this: That our first resurrection requires that our worship and service unto God in holinesse be as well performed in body as in soul. Thus the Apostle, 1 Cor. 1.6. Glorifie God in your bodies and souls, you are bought with a price; Glorifie God with your bodies; and yet behold greater then these: Let every man say unto himself, I am created by God both body and soul, Ergo, I will glorifie him in both: But since I have trespassed against my God, and thereby lost both body and soul; Therefore, thirdly, there comes a Redeemer unto me, and he suffers for me ago­nies [Page 115]and pangs both in body and soul; therefore by this suffering he hath freed me from everlasting death and torments both of body and soul. This is not all, but besides this, the price spoken of here which is the price of redemption, is also a price purchasing of glory in the Heavens for my body and soul, and therefore let them that have bodies and souls know that there is a duty lies upon them to glorifie God in their lives both in their bodies and souls. The next point is this; That the sinful body hath a dead soul; every sinful body wallowing in sin hath a dead soul: So we read, 1 Tim. 1.5. The woman living in pleasure, she was dead though she lived. Again, the Bishop of Sardis, a wicked Bishop, but yet a Bishop, I am sure a Bishop; Thou hast a name that thou livest, but thou art dead. Our Saviour Christ said unto the survivers of those that were dead, Survivers unto [Page 116]them, and go and attend their Fune­ral and Herse; Go, (saith he) let the dead in sins bury their dead: So you see that these wicked ones they have but the carkasse of Christians. And as nothing is more ugly and odi­ous in the sight of man then the car­kasse of man; so there is nothing more detestable in the sight of God then a wicked, obstinate and impeni­tent sinner. Again, the mortified body hath a living soul; It is neces­sary that this be preached unto all the world, because most of the world have forgot themselves. And the principal part of Christianity consists in this mortification and sanctificati­on. We all live in sins, dost thou live in actual sin, bodily sin? thou art dead, if thou be not mortified in them. Give up your bodies a living sacrifice, that is, mortification; let not sin reign in your mortal bodies. I will give you a pattern of S. Paul himself, 1 Cor. 9. But I chastise my [Page 117]body, and bring it into subjection; So then you see that this is a matter on which consists eternal life. The A­postle tells us, If you mortifie the lusts of the flesh, you shall live, if not, you shall dye. Its a matter of life and death, which is to shew that those that are mortified men have a living soul. Again, we must take heed of bodily and actual transgressions, for I must tell you that these acts of men done in their bodies, shall have resurrection with them, even with their bodies: This is a profitable point, for God sees all things before him, all things that have been or can be, he sees them all in present, as it were in present, that's the infinite­nesse of his Science. Now then what saith the Apostle? We all must appear before the Tribunal-Seat of Christ, and every one shall give an account of those things that are done in his flesh; fleshly body: So then whereas the Epicure sings his Ballad, and the burthen of [Page 118]his Song is, Let us eat and drink, for to morrow we shall dye; yet death will come, and then we must give an ac­count of all our actions. So much for my Text.

Because I was told I should make some application concerning the present occasion, I do therefore ad­dresse my self and my speech unto you Right Honourable, and to all your reverend Senate, and to all your Associate Worthies: First, we must give an acknowledgment unto God, and blesse his great goodnesse, that hath so sanctified the hearts of our Predecessors of former times to leave such worthy and real Testimo­nies to the world of their piety and godly devotion; devotion both for the Church and Houses of God, and charity unto the poor; these have re­ceived their rewards, the full rewards of all their labours on Earth, in the Heavens, where they shall remain for ever in the highest Seat of Glory; [Page 119]they are now Canonized by God himself, and have left themselves in their memories and examples for you and those that shall be able to walk in their steps. The Roll that I have seen speaks of wonderful blessed Foundations, of Hospitality for the relief of hundreds, and hundreds, and thousands. It doth not need so much to put them here in your Ca­lendar and Paper, for the comfort of men, but that their good examples might stir up others to the like du­ties of piety and charity, in respect of those that are the Founders, all their names are registred in the Book of Life for all Eternity.

My Exhortation unto you must be, that you would enlarge your mu­nificence both wayes, in duties of piety and charity, but especially of charity, because of the objects be­fore our eyes, the Orphans, that have sung joyfully and comfortably unto God by way of Thanksgiving. I [Page 120]shall not stand to reason with you, I shall onely apply those things which are appliable unto the men of the world, as they are worldly men, and apply the promises of God unto them, as they are worldly, though the promises are all Heavenly, and ye with a recommendation to men as worldly men; for you look to have habitation here in the world, behold the poor, that you bestow your cha­rity on, they shall bring you (you know the place of Scripture, I do but name the words) into eternal habitations. You labour for trea­sure, and the promise is, that you shall have treasure in Heaven. Will you have bags for your treasures? the Gospel is, that these Orphans, and such like, how mortal soever they may be, yet unto God they are bags, those bags that will never wear out. Will you have a trade of life for the best advantage? then without all comparison, it is charitable usury; the [Page 121]promise is, You shall receive an hun­dred fold, be the poor what they will of themselves; the gift is to God, and to Christ, not so much un­to them, for be they wanderers in the world, as we say rogues some­times, charity is not alwayes suspi­cious without cause. What faith the Wise man to us, Cast thy bread upon the waters, for after many dayes thou shalt find it with advantage; that thou givest unto such a man, though unworthy: what saith Job? his loins shall bless thee; thou givest mortal things, and he gives immortal bles­sings, his loins shall blesse thee. Whatsoever thou dost to the poor, their loins, and their back, and their belly shall blesse thee, for it comes from God. But withal let us know and remember why it is that the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour would set down the tenure of salvation or damnation upon the giving or not giving unto the poor, it is, because [Page 122]it is such a work if rightly done, that proceeds from a true faith, and therefore God knows that it is a work that proceeds from true cha­rity; and those that do thus, and make conscience of it, as giving it for Gods sake indeed, and Christs sake indeed, certainly they are Christs, and will walk according to the Precepts of Faith. And now I conclude with prayer, &c.

And thus this Pillar, this reverend Father of the Church of God, this sound Divine, as heretofore he hath asserted the truth of our Religion by his hand-writing against grand Apo­states, and against all the Chaos of Antichrists devises, as then by his pen, so now by his tongue, did vin­dicate the Resurrection, which is the Fundamental Article of our Re­ligion; for Resurrectio à mortuis est fides Christianorum, the resurrection [Page 123]from the dead is the faith of Christi­ans; and if you will know what fruit there is from Christs rising from the dead, the third Preacher will in­form you, and I shall use no other Introduction then his own. I will shew you that it agrees well with the resurrection from the dead (for the mercy of God flowes from this re­surrection of our Saviour, for he dy­ed for our sins, and rose that our souls might be saved) in that melting Sermon of his which was anchored upon that place in the Psalms

THE words are an Appeal of the Princely Prophet David from the Throne of Justice to the Throne of Goodnesse; and are con­siderable in their Context and in [Page 125]their Text. First, in their Context, and that three several wayes: First, they must be considered in way of consequence, as they follow the for­mer verse: First, he speaks of the Judgment of God; If thou O Lord, shouldst enter into Judgment, who could stand? And then he comes in with a discourse of Mercy. And secondly, as in order, so he tempers Justice and Mercy together. Thirdly, as they are a cry of perplexity, he cries in the first verse, complains in the second verse, fears in the third, and here he resolves to set upon Mercy.

The first point from the first of these is, That we can neither sensibly nor safely Preach mercy in forgive­nesse of sins, unlesse as we do ac­quaint you with the Justice of God, as in the former place; so in the se­cond place we must make and con­temper in our meditations the thoughts of mercy with the thoughts of justice. Thirdly, though the a­ction [Page 126]of sin may be short, yet the passion will be long. A sin may be soon committed, but the pardon of sin is not so soon had.

First, That before we can sensibly or safely Preach the mercies of God in the forgivenesse of sins unto you, we must acquaint you with the justice of God, as in the verse before my Text. If thou entrest into Judg­ment, who shall stand? But there is mercy with thee, &c. that thou maist be feared.

It was the method that was al­wayes used in the Old and New Te­stament. Our first parents hiding themselves through terrour of spi­rit among the bushes, when God would Preach the Gospel unto them, he first arraigns them, and then pas­ses a promise of mercy, That the seed of the woman should break the Ser­pents head. Thus it was in the Law, before a man could know God, he must come to Mount Sinai, and the [Page 127]Law is a Schoolmaster to lead us un­to Christ. Thus it was at the giving of the holy Ghost, there was a rush­ing of a mighty wind, and then the holy Ghost came into their mindes and hearts. This was the method of that Preacher; then in the New Testament, first, men must be weary and heavy laden, and then Christ comes to ease, Matth. 11.8. I came not to call the righteous (those that imagine themselves so) but sinners to repentance, those that are so wise to see it, and so humble to say it. No expectation of healing from the bra­sen Serpent, but onely from those that were hurt and look up. First, see your selves led into captivity by the Devil, and then you are fit to receive infranchisement and delive­rance from God; and this that good Father applyed unto our selves. First, let it be an Instruction for us to con­sider, though Hell fire be flasht in our faces, God doth it but as pa­rents [Page 128]to their children, they hold them over the fire to make them a­fraid of falling into the fire. The Law is a Schoolmaster to Christ. First, Law and then Gospel. First, plow up the Fallow-ground of our hearts, and then sowe the word, Jer. 4.4. according to the method of Gods appearing to Elijah; First, a blustering wind, then an Earth­quake, after that Fire, and last comes God in a still voice: First, look for Earthquakes, Winds, and Fires in the soul, and after all for comfort. Thus it is Gods most usual way. And then secondly, what shall we say to those carnal Gospellers that are all for the calm doctrines of the times? those that complain they cannot sit quiet in their seats for the threatnings of some Ministers, they would have a Gospel of Gold, and Salvation of Silver, and Testa­ments of precious stones, and go to Heaven upon featherbeds. But [Page 129]beloved, I had rather speak a thou­sand words to comfort then one to discomfort, but it is for the good of your souls, and for the glory of our Saviour; we cannot, dare not, must not do otherwise; we must come home to your consciences, come home to them; so the Prophets, so the Apostles have done in all a­ges, they have denounced the judg­ments of God against all their Audi­tors; and did you but hear those yells that are now in Hell, those that cry out, I may thank that flattering Preacher for these pains, if he had told me of this I had not come hi­ther. Think of it now, that you feel it not hereafter. In the next place, it is good for us to temper the thoughts of mercy and justice toge­ther; not to talk of justice onely, but also of mercy. My Song shall be of Mercy and Judgment, saith David, Psalm 101.1. and Deut. 28. Half the Chapter speaks of judg­ment, [Page 130]and half of mercy, Deut. 11. Blessings on one Mountain, and Cursings upon another. Blessings upon Mount Gerizim, and cursings upon Mount E­bal: And indeed there are two main rocks between which most men fall, Presumption and De­spair; we are between them like Susanna between the Judges; we are between them as between Sylla and Charybdis. We may say of Desperation as of Saul, it hath slain his thousands, but of Presump­tion as of David, it hath slain his ten thousands; and therefore though we diet our selves with the mercies of God, we must not glut with them; and this was applied by him unto the souls of Preacher and people: First, to Preachers, we should take a lesson from hence, that when we finde that there is mors in olla, death in the pot, discomfort in the heart, then we must take the herb of comfort and put it in. That hand is hewn [Page 131]out of the hardest rock that will not administer comfort to the soul that needs it. We must, like the good Samaritan, pour oil and wine into your sores; wine to open them, and oil to supple them; speak not of judgment alone; God did ne­ver intend this unto you, and do not deal all of mercy, but think of judg­ment also; for if God had never so much mercy in store, there is none for you presumptuous sinners. That was the second consideration. The third consideration was, That though the action of sin be short, yet the passion is long; though a great sin be soon committed, yet a small sin is not so soon remitted. Look upon David, he committed two great sins, adultery and murder, the adultery he committed with the look of an eye, the murder with the turn of an hand, it was but writing a Letter to Joab; but though the story be never so short in Samuel, yet the repentance [Page 132]is long in the 51. Psalm; there [...] much ado: Cause the bones that thou hast broken to rejoice; Wash me, purge me, cleanse me, purifie me with hyssop; the sin of one night did cause the tears of many nights. Behold Ma­nasseh, 2 Chron. 33.12, 13. he did pray and pray, and put up prayer upon prayer, and did humble himself greatly, he prayed and he prayed; this was no vain repetition, but pray­er upon prayer, suit upon suit, and all little enough to obtain mercy from God; God is quickly offended, but not so soon pleased; the wound is soon taken, but not so soon cured; our sins are compared to debts in the Lords Prayer, a man may run more into debt one day, then he can get out of many dayes; God would have it so that his mercy might come sweeter unto us. See it in Joab and David, Joab intreated of David that Absalom might come and see him, David was content he should go to [Page 133]his house, but he must not see his face. Thou that sinnest, God may suffer thee to come into thy house, nay, into the Congregation, for the present, but there may be a Veil up­on his face, he may not suffer us to see his face for anger. Oh then woe be to those that presume as though they had their pardon sealed. As one relates of an uproar among the members, and the will would com­mand the eye and the hand, you shall do this and that; the old Bel­dam the flesh wondring to hear such an uproar, starts up and asks the reason of it, saying, I have been quiet so long, and so I will be still; you give way to sin, but you know not which way to get out of it a­gain, that's the main thing; the pro­digal son after his going from his fa­ther, do you think he could think of coming in a day, that was going but half a day? Is it possible we should continue in sin forty, fifty, sixty years [Page 134]and then turn to God presently? no beloved, there's more time goes to this, and therefore be not presump­tuous, take heed of trusting too much upon the mercy of God, not having an eye upon the justice of God, and take heed of committing sin upon presumption of an easie cure; we must not think to come to Heaven easier then David did, he cryes and he calls, he weeps and mourns like a Dove. Joseph and Mary lost their son but a dayes jour­ney, they were finding him two or three days: And thus much for the consideration of the Text, in regard of the context, as it reflects upon the words before. Now of the Text; There is mercy with thee that thou maist be feared; mercy, mercy with thee: There are several kinds of mercy, the word is very large, mer­cies of prevention, and mercies of assistance, mercies of subvention, and mercies of support; but certain­ly [Page 135]the mercy of God is especially in­tended here, and therefore some Translations read it, There is for­giveness with thee that thou maist be feared; it is with thee, it is alwayes at home, God hath it in his hand about him, close unto him, There is mercy with thee that thou maist be fea­red; and what kind of mercy? not meerly pardon of sin, as I pardon a debt or injury, and there's an end, but the propitiation for sins. It is in some Translations, There is propi­tiation with thee, &c. Thus there is mercy with thee: whence ariseth this Instruction, That God is prompt and ready to have mercy upon and forgive a penitent sinner, when he seeks to him. I say; God is prompt, &c. Though God be a just God, yet there is mercy with him. Now this mercy of God it is to be consi­dered three wayes that are very ob­servable: First, consider the mercy of God comparatively. Secondly, [Page 136]consider it absolutely. Thirdly, in the circumstances of it. First, con­sider the mercy of God compara­tively, in respect of his justice. I know if you speak of the Attributes of God, they are all Essential alike, but if you speak of the expression of them towards us, God may be said to be more merciful then just. You see that God when he came to A­dam, he came to judge him in the cool of the evening, he staid long; but he sent labourers into his Har­vest betimes. We find that Ninev [...] had forty dayes given it before it should be destroyed; but God made haste, he did run to meet the prodi­gal child, he made haste. It is easie to pul down, but it is hard to build up, & God takes more delight in building, then in pulling down: you see the mercy of God expressed unto Adam, unto Sodom, unto the Prodigal; and we may make comparison of it unto the Firmament, God made it in [Page 137]one day; but God would not destroy the City of Nineveh under forty dayes, and many hundred years be­fore he will destroy the world. A­gain, the world was made in six days, but you see it is six thousand years before he will destroy it; he is more prone unto mercy then unto justice; nay, take it in the executing of ju­stice, he shewed justice in destroying Sodom, but mercy in sparing Lot, he shewed justice upon the old world, but mercy in preserving Noah; God shewed his justice on the Jews in casting of them off, but mercy to the Gentiles in calling of them. There was his justice fell upon our Saviour, but by it his mercy upon us, that from his Cross there should come cure to us. There was justice in sending an Angel to destroy Jeru­salem, but mercy in sending another Angel to mark those that mourned in Jerusalem. Thus you see how God doth mingle his justice and mer­cy [Page 138]together. So Exod. 3.4, 5, 6, 7. The Lord, the Lord, merciful and gracious, abundant in, &c.

Every word hath its weight. Je­hovah, thou hast broke thy promise with him, but he is Jehovah, and will not erre, the Lord, mighty and powerful God; it is a work of power to forgive many sins, but he is the Lord mighty to save and to forgive; thou art sinful, but God is merciful; thou art gracelesse, but God is gra­cious; thou hast broken thy vowes made unto him, but he is true of promise unto thee. And though thy sins be great for quantity, and hainous for quality, he forgives ini­quities, transgressions and sins of all sorts. And therefore 2 Cor. 1. God is called the Father of mercy. The natural Bee may make honey natu­rally, but it doth not sting naturally, that is, not without provocation. See it also of God in his justice upon So­dom; when Abraham did put up a [Page 139]suit for Sodom, that if there were but fifty persons found there, he would not destroy it, and came down by degrees from fifty to forty, from forty to thirty, from thirty to twenty, from twenty to ten; and it is observed that God did never leave granting till Abraham did leave ask­ing. It may be if he had come to lesse, God would have spared them; he did so in another place; If there be but one to stand in the gap I will spare them. Look upon Manasseh a most abominable Idolater, who cut Esau in pieces with an iron sawe, and made the streets of Jerusalem to run with bloud, yet when he prayed unto God, God did forgive him. Mary Magdalene that had seven Devils, she washed our Saviours feet with the hairs of her head, that had been nets to catch fools; bestowed that costly ointment which she had used upon her self, upon Christ. Christ ac­cepts of it, he applauds it, he rewards [Page 140]it; he is prone unto mercy, and more prone unto mercy then unto judge­ment. The Prodigal son when he returns home to his Father, his Fa­ther runs and meets him when he was afar off, and he doth not strike him or chide him, but he falls upon his neck, puts his ring upon his finger. The Shepherd when he findes his sheep that was lost, he doth not beat it, but he laies it upon his neck. Thirdly, consider the circumstances of this mercy. Con­sider first, who it is that doth forgive. Who? why the God of Heaven and Earth, he that hath Vials of wrath in his hand, and could pour them upon us, we that are his inferiours and his enemies: we though we do bear with our superiours, we will trample upon our inferiours; but God doth not so.

Thirdly, Consider what God in mercy doth forgive us, and that is sin. Blessed are they whose iniquities [Page 141]are forgiven, and whose sin is pardoned. David doth not place his blessings in his Beauty, he was ruddy of complex­ion; nor in his government, though he was a great King; nor in his pre­ferment, he was taken from the sheep to be head over Israel: But here is his happinesse, Blessed is he whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sin is pardoned. Nay, how often doth God do this? seven times? no, but as often as Christ commands us to forgive our brethren, seventy seven times, as often as we forgive our brethren, so we offend not out of malice, but return and repent, God will have mercy on us. There went but one word to the making of the world, but there go many to the saving of a soul, 1 Pet. 1.8. And now judge and examine if you can ima­gine what a depth and height there is in this mercy of God. I come to the Application in brief, and so to put an end to this Sermon. This [Page 142]may be an Antidote, a Preservative against desperation unto poor deject­ed souls and disconsolate sinners, that God is as merciful as just, and delights more in mercy then in ju­stice. What a precious balsome is this for a wounded sinner? And consider first, that desperation it is most injurious unto our selves, a wound that cannot possibly be healed by us. If a Chirurgeon laies on a plaister, and we cast it away, what hope is there of cure for us? And if God sends us the comforts of the Gospel, and if we sit down sullen and cast them away, what comfort can we have? Desperation is compared to a beast with horns, it pushes against mercy. What for a man to despair of mercy, is it but to spill his bloud upon the ground, or to throw it in the air, with Julian, or to hang it on a Tree, with Judas? that God should drink to us in a cup of salvation, and we to pledge him [Page 143]in a cup of damnation, that is dero­gatory from God: The Devil comes to us, and sayes, Thy sins are too great, the mercies of God are too precious for thee; shall we be­lieve that lyar, rather then he that sayes, I have been wounded for you, I will take your sins upon me, and heal you? Will you make God a lyar, and the Devil true?

Secondly, look upon the steps of desperation, the several steps of it, he did name divers Ingratitude Infidelity. steps, but insisted only upon this, to wit, Presumption. The wicked man begins in presumption, but ends in despair. When their flatteries have touled them a long time on, and perswaded them that their case is good, at last their souls are stifled with the consideration of their sins by presumption: what more contrary? and yet presumption it is the very rode way to desperation. If I am abroad long, either in the [Page 144]Sun, or in the Snow, my eyes will be so dazeled I shall hardly see. When I have been in the glorious Sun-shine of the mercy of God, in the Halcy­on dayes of prosperity, I cannot taste any thing but of a Saviour. A presumptuous man is like unto one that is asleep upon a rock, and dreaming of a rock of Pearl sudden­ly starts up and falls into the Sea. Take heed the Devil do not finde you upon this pinacle, upon pre­sumption, and so cast you down to eternal destruction. Shall I be bold and presumptuous, because God is merciful? Shall I cut and gash my self, because a good Chirurgeon lives where I live? Shall I use spe­ctacles to go over a Bridge to make the Bridge seem better, and so perish? Look not upon the mercy as if it were greater then it is; no, as God is merciful to penitent, so he is just to impenitent sinners.

And so this reverend Father of our Church who was in Heaven while he was on Earth, preached against those two main enemies of our salvation, Desperation and Presumption; His words were all excellent, of the justice and mercy of God, and the merits of our Saviour. But what will become of all this? what comfort springs from the mercy of God, from the forgivenesse of sins unto us, if our hearts, our thoughts creep still on the ground, if we be taken up with Earthly things, and prefer ri­ches and honour before God? and therefore came to the chance of our fourth and last Divine, to draw up our hearts, (sursum corda) unto Heaven. If you look for mercy lift up your hearts where it is to be had; wherefore should we look down, or kill flies any longer? our conversations must be in Heaven, if [Page 146]our hearts be in Heaven. This was the bag out of which he did fetch treasure new and old, precious treasure.

THE words may be read two wayes, either For our conversa­tion [Page 148]is in Heaven: or, But our conver­sation is in Heaven: If For our con­versation is in Heaven, it is an argu­ment to inforce a duty set down in the seventeenth verse, That we should not minde the things here below, for Saint Paul and the rest of the Saints have their conversation in Heaven. If you will read it (but) then there's another reference in the eighteenth and nineteenth verses. There were many false Apostles whose glory was their shame, and minded earthly things; but there was a distinction between true and false Apostles: But our conversation is in Heaven, whereever the con­versation of false Apostles is.

Take it which way you will, by way of a motive, or a distinction; it is not so much for us to know what Saint Paul did, but what we ought to do, what we should do. There are four things considerable in the Text: First, that the Christians [Page 149]conversation it is in Heaven. Second­ly, his expectation, he looks for our Lord and Saviour there. Thirdly, his happinesse, who shall change our vile bodies, and make them like unto his glorious body. Fourthly, the ground of this hope and confidence, according to that mighty power where­by he is able to subdue all things.

Having taken his rise from the first of these, the Christians conver­sation, But our conversation is in Hea­ven. The word Conversation is in the Old Testament every where up and down. For Conversation the word here used is Politeuma, and it is a word that concerns those that live in Cities. So Greg. Nazianzen, Beza and Tertullian, do interpret it. Tertullian saith, But our Burgessship is in Heaven; and so Beza, We are Bur­gesses or freemen of Heaven. But Beza and the rest they have faln short of this Politeuma: It signifies more then a Burgessship or freedome, but [Page 150]they are Citizens; you make many free that are far from you; you ac­count them onely Citizens that in­habit among you. Saint Paul did ex­cus [...] himself from rods, by saying he was a Roman, but yet he was born at Tarsus; he was free there, but yet he was not a true Citizen there: So there is a medium be­tween these two. So Anaxagoras when it was laid to his charge, that he followed his study so much that he did not care for his Countrey, no, saith he, but I do, and pointing up his finger, said, that Heaven was his Countrey, I care for that. So saith David, I am a stranger; he was not onely a stranger when he was in Phi­listia, with the King of Gath, but in this earth, as all my fathers were. When I am at home, I am not at home; though I am in my Coun­trey, yet I am not in my own Coun­trey: For our conversation is in Heaven. Heaven it is the Haven of [Page 151]the Saints, God hath prepared Hea­ven for them, and them for Heaven. There are two Cities whereof Saint Paul speaks, the one he calls Heaven, the other Earth, the one Jerusalem, the other. Babylon; Let every man consider to which City he belongs, for all of us belong either to Babylon or Jerusalem, either above or below. Monicha the mother of Saint Austin, when she saw her son converted, cryes out, Nescio quid faciam, &c. 'Tis true the time was that I desired some length of time to see thee become a good Christian, but now I see that performed, what if I dye, if I dye, now I see my son a true Ortho­dox Christian, and a right honest man? she cared for no more. But if you will ask the Church of Rome, especially the more Ancient, or some others before the Church of Rome came into the world, they will say an Hermites life is that which is the most Heavenly. As Paul the Her­mite [Page 152]prefers a Monastical life, as if Saint Paul had said, In Cellis, and not In Celsis, in Caves, and not in Heaven: But that life though it keeps them from a great deal of e­vil, so it hinders them from doing a great deal of good: a contempla­tive life it may be a blear-eyed life; A contemplative life were good, if God had no other businesse for us in this world but to leave our parents and friends, our professions and cal­lings, and to run into Cells; this is not the right conversation. We may use the world, but not love it, saith Saint Paul; use the world, but not abuse it, by riot, gluttony, surfets, excesse, which is a fighting with God with his own weapons; if you love the world, you do abuse the world. But now let us consider our selves, what we are. There are many in the world that have nothing to do in the world but to care for the world: They are of the earth, earthly, [Page 153]as Saint Paul speaks, that think of the earth, talk of the earth, and do nothing but trade in the earth: So that silver and gold may flow in, they desire no more, they see nothing suf­ficient but that. To whom shall I liken this generation? to Bees and to Ants. The Ants they are a Na­tion, a wise Nation, as Solomon calls them, though not a strong, there is an Aristocracy among them. But now there are the Bees, and they have a Monarchy, and they are busie too. So also men are wise in their generation this way, they re­member that Summer will not al­wayes last, but that Winter will come; that health will not last al­wayes, but sicknesse will come: But Oh who looks for their souls? who provides that when Earth forsakes them, Heaven may finde them? I will give you the character of those whose conversations are in Heaven, to characterise them: We use to [Page 154]say of a man that's dead, he is a man of another world; and so true Christians they are men of another world. 'Tis true you finde them here, but they are here and not here; while they are below, they are a­bove. They do not slight the fa­vors of God in the world, but they do not use them as though they loved them. They do not hate the world, nor do they fear the frown of the world. A good Christian takes care to shift himself out of the world with faith and a good Conscience, with the peace of God. 'Tis true he is imparted in worldly things, but he hath an heavenly minde. He never ventures upon any worldly businesse, but his thoughts and his heart are lifted up in the midst of his worldly businesse, with many ejaculations and short prayers. When things fall [...] [...]ccording to his expectation, he sings Hallelujah's and Hosanna's; when things fall out crosly, he looks [Page 155]for better dayes to come; he hath sorrow here, but joyes hereafter: He will lighten himself in any storm, by casting his estate away, one thing one way, and another thing another way, so he may come safe to Hea­ven. His eyes are upon that Cele­stial place where the Angels are, and the spirits of just men made perfect, and where the body is, to which the Eagles do resort; and they look for our Saviour Christ from thence: and that leads me from the first part, which is the Christians conversation, unto the second, the Christians ex­pectation. From whence we look for our Lord, &c. And herein there are three particulars considerable:

First, the person expected, our Lord and Saviour. Secondly, the place from whence he is expected, from Heaven: And thirdly, the act it self, Expectation.

First, the person expected, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus and Christ, [Page 156]both answer one another; the two latter are but explicable to the for­mer; not to hold you long upon these beginnings of Divinity, although they are profitable: First, he is our Jesus, our Saviour. Our Saviour saith Tully, what word's that? reading it in an Inscription over a door in Syracuse: What mean the words? Non possunt exprimi, it cannot be expressed with one word. Will you say it is Serva­tor, or Salvator? it is a made word. Tertullian in his African Language, will call it Salutifica; but this comes from the former. Well, but saith Saint Austin, he is a Saviour which is a Saviour, and will be a Saviour. He came at the first to save our bodies from sin, he shall come to save our souls, and he shall come from Hea­ven. This is the name by which we must look to be saved, and there is no other name under Heaven. He is a Lord also as well as a Jesus: Lord is a name of honour, and a name of [Page 157]power. A name of honour, and therefore given unto Kings, unto Priests, unto Prophets, and unto great men. Unto Kings; My Lord the King every where used. Unto Priests; so Hannah unto Eli. To the Prophets; so to Elisha. To great men; so to Naaman the Syrian; My Lord, if the Prophet, &c. And there­fore Christ being a greater King then David, a greater Priest then Eli, a greater Prophet then Elisha, doth well deserve this title of Lord. And secondly, in regard of power, there is in Christ a double power; there is potestas innata, and potestas data, a power innate, and a power given. And he is sometimes called the Lord, with addition, the Lord of the world, the Lord of his Church; sometimes he is called the Lord, by way of Appropriation, My Lord [...] my God, saith Thomas: The Lord said unto my Lord, saith David. Sometimes in a way of Foundation, My Lord the [Page 158]King; but what's the Lord without his honour? If Christ be a Lord, then in the first place let us honour him. If I be a Lord, where is my fear? Secondly, let us obey him: To give him the name, and to deny obedi­ence, it were to mock him. Third­ly, submit to his Law in all things whatsoever; It is the Lord, saith Eli, let him do what seemeth good in his own eyes. Fourthly, you must part with any thing for this God. They let loose the Foal and the Asse, because the Lord hath need of them. It is the Lords, wherefore wilt thou keep it from him?

Fifthly, take heed of giving thy self over to any lust to be Lord; Pride would be Lord, (as Tertullian saith) Idlenesse would be my Lord, Vain-gl [...] would be my Lord, but thou onely shalt be my Lord.

Sixthly, we must not use our own means; we cannot say our tongues are our own, our hands are our own, [Page 159]we have a Lord over them and us. You that are Lords on earth, have a Lord in Heaven; You that are Kings on earth, have a King in Hea­ven.

And lastly, we must expect this Lord, we must look for him. And so I come from the first particular of this general, the person expected, to the second, the place from whence he is expected, and that's from Hea­ven; But our conversation is in the Heavens. Out of which Heavens we must expect our Saviour; it is a dissonant in the expression, and it is but a circumstance, but we must pause upon it. Heaven is the place from whence we expect Christ. When Christ is in Heaven, he can­not be on earth: Christ is not upon the earth bodily, as the Papists would have him, but he is now in Heaven, and the Heavens must con­tain him till the time of the restituti­on of all things. 'Tis true, Christ [Page 160]is here by his protecting power, by his Word and by his Love, and by his Spirit he walks amidst the golden Candlesticks. I am he, you know the Text saith, but not in a bodily way, he hath not lost the essential property of his Godhead, he is in all places in heavenly things, he hath called us together to sit down with him not onely in hope; we are in Heaven even while we are on earth. Securi estis, &c. saith Tertullian: Oh my flesh and spirit be you secure, Christ is gone to prepare Heaven for you; he is gone, he hath left us the pledge of his Spirit that he will come to us, and he hath taken with him the pledge of our flesh to assure us that we shall come to him. What would we have more? What better rock can we rest upon then this, our Savi­our is in Heaven? There's a double expectation of our Saviour Christ: First, his first coming was expected; Oh that thou wouldst rend the Heavens [Page 161]and come down! Esa. 66. He is called the desire of the Nations. Heb. 2. The hope of the people of God. We see how Hannah the Prophetesse, and the rest, did wait for the coming of Christ; and there's another expecta­tion, and that's of the second co­ming of Christ: And thus we must expect our Saviour, but how? after what manner? There are many conditions we must expect him in: We must first look for him with faith, and with assurance that he that shall come will come, and will not tarry; he will come in his own time, but we must wait for him. Secondly, we must wait for his coming with the love of his coming. There are ma­ny accused as Malefactors, that look for the Judge to come to absolve them, and to deliver them out of prison; Others to condemn them: one looks with an hateful and an angry eye, the other with a loving, expecting, and a longing eye: So [Page 162]the Saints of Christ, they wait and long for his coming, they are sick of love, and desire to be united to him, not with remisse affections, but with ardent love, intensively, and yet patiently expecting him. To him that believes, he will make haste to come and sup with him. Even so, Come Lord Jesus.

And then lastly, we must look for this coming of our Saviour with care and with Conscience; 1 Pet. 3.11. We look for a new Heaven, and a new Earth, according to his promise. Consider therefore what manner of persons we ought to be, if we look for the Resurrection, for Christs co­ming in all holinesse. The word in the Original is in all holinesses. There are many have forms of godlines, but they deny the power of it. Oh the swear­ing, the lying, the Sabbath-breaking, the murdering, the abuse and injuring one of another! doth this fit us for the coming of Christ? with what [Page 163]tongues can we say, Come Lord Jesus, when we live so basely, and entertain such horrid crimes? we must be care­full as well as expecting Christians; we must live in heaven, and there­fore expect our Saviour thence, that he may change our vile bodies to be like unto his glorious body, when he shall come in glory. The very creatures groan for the coming of Christ, the very creatures desire a dissolution, and much more Christians. It is to put forth the horn and the head as a Watch-man out of his Tower, to see who draws neer, or whether it be day or no: So we must long and look for the coming of our Saviour, and that we may enjoy happiness of him, that he may change our vile bodies to be like unto his glorious body. And so I come unto the third particular, the happinesse of the Saints.

And first, here we may see what our bodies are; and secondly, what they shall be: They are for the [Page 164]present vanity, they shall be glori­ous. First, what they are for the present, vile, vile bodies; I may say, bodies of vileness. But you will say, do not I derogate from my God, to call it a vile body? No, I may honour my God, and dishonour my body. It is his glory that he hath put such treasure in earthen and vile vessels, that he should transform a vile into a glorious body. This is his honour: Let me a little set a glosse upon the body, before I call it vile. The body of man it is Gods Master-piece, an Artificial work. The other works of God may be called the works of his fingers, but the body of man is called the work of Gods hands. I am curiously wrought, I am wonderfully made: Look upon the embroidery of thy veins, upon thy sinews, how intire, how interwoven and intertwisted; the countenance of man looks up­wards, when all beasts look down­wards; [Page 165]and though there be many faces, yet all agree in one visage, and yet they all differ in something: the eye of man it is the watch-man of the soul, it is a most goodly part, & a prime piece of Architecture; and the hand it is an instrument of instru­ments, how easily and quickly we can call it from one affair unto ano­ther! And yet though this body be so glorious, you see what we have made it, a vile body; a vile body in three respects:

First of all, in respect of the origi­nal of it, and that whereof it is com­pounded. Secondly, in respect of the accidents unto which it is sub­ject. Thirdly, in respect of the close and conclusion of all, of that into which it shall be once turned.

First, inspect of the original of our bodies: What are they but earth? The name Adam will minde us of it, it signifies earth, earth comes of earth, nay, it comes of clay, saith E­liphaz [Page 166]in Job; nay, not so properly, our bodies are so many disordered matters, not earth but dust; dust, the worst and most contemptible; nay, not dust, rather out of the dust, if there be any thing worse then dust in dust, of that was man made: You see from whence we come, though that Absalom and Adonijah were ne­ver so proper, and tall, and beautiful, yet for all that they come from the earth, they were but a piece of dust and clay; though you be never so beautiful, or never so artificially a­dorn your selves, though you do frizzle and circumcise your selves, you do but adorn a piece of clay, a piece of earth: Suppose you do wear gold, and jewels, and precious stones, yet you cannot make it o­therwise then a vile body, a vile piece of earth. Saint Paul gives it the right name, a piece of earth, a vile body. Again, suppose the body were never so seemingly beautiful, [Page 167]or better invested or clothed then o­thers, yet all is earth; the Debtor and the Creditor, the King and the subject, the Noble and the Peasant, all vile, all earth. We have our fair China-dishes, yet we account them but earth, all earth as well as other vessels. Put silver into an ear­then vessel, it is still earthen: and this is the nature of our bodies in re­spect of their original.

Again, in the second place, in re­gard of the several casualties to which our bodies are obnoxious; you see how we are subject to hunger, and thirst, and cold, these are natu­ral, the body is invested and shrowded with these. But for casualties; our bodies are subject to be burned, hanged, drowned: by which we may see that man is but meer vanity; and though all things come by the Pro­vidence of God, yet we may call them casualties. We are subject to many infirmities: How many dis­eases [Page 168]are there in this body? Pliny faith in his time there were three hun­dred diseases; and how many dis­eases are there in this old and decre­pit age? an hundred and twelve dis­eases of the eyes, in the breast, in the head, in the heart. I cannot stand to instance in all: you see how we are infested and troubled with all these, and for our cures of them trees and berries, herbs, and mem­bers, and parts of beasts, and all lit­tle enough; beholden to all things for every thing; to the Hart for the horn, to the Oxe for the gall; nay, that which we scorn to touch in our health, we are beholding to in our sickness, as Doves dung, poison, and the like. Will you conclude now that these bodies are vile? May I not say with Saint Bernard, that the body it is a Magazine of misery, a sink and puddle of corruption?

Thirdly, it is vile also in respect of the conclusion, the end and close [Page 169]of it, We are dust, and unto dust we must return, Eccles. 12.7. Sarah though she were never so beautiful in the eyes of Abraham, yet he de­sires a piece of ground of the Ekro­nites to bury his dead out of his sight, he could not endure her in his sight. Many times our bodies are buried in the bellies of beasts, as it was with Jezebel, (as your Preacher told you) in the bellies of Fishes, as Pharaoh, and many in the mawes of birds, as many slain in battel. When we come to the most honourable bu­rial, the best is to go to the Earth, and what becomes of us then? why then we are food for the worms; sometimes they lay hold upon us be­fore we come to the grave, so on Herod, Theocrates, and Sylla the Di­ctator, and Maximinus, all eaten of worms. Take heed, there are worms creep out of a man before he dies; There was an Heathen that had this disease, and desired that the [Page 170]Christians might not hear of it. And a King within our memory, in these Western parts, did call his son upon his death-bed, and shewed him these beasts upon his breast, which struck him to the heart that he died. Job was troubled with the worms too, Job 7. full of worms; and God threa­tens to Nebuchadnezzar, Esa. 14. That there should be worms beneath him, and worms above him, worms should be his covering. Consider this, you that do pamper your selves, as if you should never die, this is all you can do, you do but make the more meat for worms, and the more flesh you have, the more meat you pro­vide for worms. Consider this, you that tumble over in your wardrobes, you do but clothe and adorn that which is worms meat in time. You that boast so of your pedegree and descent, and you will not take it as you have done, go to Job and Da­vid, they will tell you what your [Page 171]kindred is; I have said unto a worm, thou art my father, and unto rottenness, thou art my mother. Thus you see what we are, food for worms; but let us take heed we meet not with another worm, and that's the worm of Conscience, it is no matter though other worms eat us. Though I be meat for worms, saith Job, yet I know that my Redeemer lives, and that I shall see him with these eyes, &c. But the worm of Conscience shall never die, the fire of Hell shall never go out. And if your bodies be vile of themselves, make them not viler. The Drun­kard he makes himself a swine, and the Glutton he makes it an hogges­head, the adulterer makes his body the member of an harlot; yet with a good Conscience, though this be our misery, that they are vile bodies, yet this shall be our happiness, that they shall be made like unto his glorious body.

And there are four special in­dowments [Page 172]or privileges of a glo­rious body, Impassibility, Activity, Spirituality and Clarity: First Im­passibility; we shall be past suffering at the last day; sentire est pati, even to feel is to suffer now, and in every action there is a passion; but it shall not be so hereafter, when our bodies shall be changed, then there shall be no sorrow, no fainting, no crying: Farewel Gout, and Stone, and Stran­gury, and all; if I shall be brought to happiness, I shall be brought to safety.

Secondly, there is Activity; here our bodies are dull and slow, these Asses of ours must be beaten, and spurr'd, and whipt to do any good; our spirit may be willing, when our flesh is weak. It shall not be so here­after, we shall be vigorous, and active, and lively, and these our bodies which are now so dull, shall be then lively, and go on with cheerful­nesse.

And thirdly, it is a spiritual body; corpus spirituale, a spiritual body, but not a spirit; it shall be spiritual, but not a spirit.

Fourthly, it shall be a clear body, a clarified body, that's the fourth prerogative of a glorified body, Daniel 12.1. The righteous shall shine like the stars in the Firmament, and those that convert many to righteousness, like the Sun for ever and ever; nay, more then this, our Saviour goes farther, they shall shine, sicut Sol in potestate, like the Sun in its strength; yet farther here in the Text, our bo­dies shall be like unto his glorious body. What sayest thou, Paul, faith Saint Chrysostome to Saint Paul here, Dost thou know what thou sayest? What like unto Christs glorious body? That body that sits at Gods right hand? that body that is worshipped by Angels? Yes, like unto his glo­rious body. Let me then look for the saving of my soul: Let the [Page 174]world weep for what they please, I will weep more for the losse of my body and soul. I wonder, saith Saint Chrysostome, That men should give away their souls, throw them away upon trifles, to disrobe themselves of this transcendent glory, to lose such a glory as this is, to be made like unto the glorious body of our Saviour. Wilt thou cast away this soul? what a madnesse is it of thee? Many men do compare the pain of losse with the pain of sence which the damned have in Hell, and do think the pain of losse to be worse then the pain of sence. To lose the sight of my Saviour, to lose this glory that I should have arrived at, this sticks more at me then all the pains of Hell could do, so I may enjoy my God. O Lord, whatever thou takest from me, take not from me this glory, this eternal glory: Lord, here cut me, and slay me, do what thou wilt with me, onely save [Page 175]my soul. There are many losses in this world, of husbands, of children, of goods by unfaithful servants, by fire, by irreligious and prodigal chil­dren; but these are not to be named when we speak of the losse of Hea­ven. And therefore to conclude this point, I lose my father, my mo­ther, my husband, my wise, my chil­dren; but from this, this losse, this eternal losse of the soul, good Lord deliver us.

And thus much the fourth Prea­cher. He was also even in Heaven while he was on earth, as his Text speaks, Our conversation is in Heaven; and if ever there were a lively Com­mentary upon the Text, his Preach­ing was the Commentary it self, he was an example next to the example of Saint Paul, while he preached he spake as if he had been in Heaven.

And thus have I run this race, done this task laid upon me, with my small abilities: I hope you will not lay unto my charge the slips, the infirmities which have passed from me.

The three last, they were old Di­sciples of Christ, they made among them two hundred and thirty or two hundred and forty years; Christ doth love old Disciples, and he loves young ones; he loves old Disciples, because they hold out so long, and he loves young Disciples, because they begin so soon. Juniores Disci­pulos Christus diligit, &c. Christ lo­ved his young Disciples best, be­cause they began early; he loves his old Disciples, because they cleave closely unto him. But the Tyrant time requires another discourse of me; but I must tell you before hand that it will be but as a dinner of [Page 177]herbs after a Feast of fat things: Take it as it is.

You have heard of the death of our Saviour, in the first; of the re­surrection of our Saviour, and of his manner of rising, in the second; you have heard of the mercy of God in the forgivenesse of sin, propounded to all that serve him in an heavenly conversation, in the third; and of our body by an heavenly conversa­tion transformed to be like unto his glorious body, in the fourth. These are rare mysteries, and when we have said all we can, we must break off with silence, with amazement and stupefaction. These are deep mysteries, we are not able to sound them with our corrupt judgement; Great is the mystery of Godliness, God manifest in the flesh, seen of Angels, &c.

We are not able to conceive of [Page 178]him, we cannot expresse him; and therefore I think it will cohere with the matter in hand to display before your eyes the profoundnesse of these mysteries; which we may see in 1 Cor. 13.9.

AS the eleventh Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews may be called the Triumph of Faith, so this Chapter may be well stiled the Tri­umph of Love. Which triumphant grace, besides that it is invested with admirable qualities, and seconded by glorious effects; and besides that it [Page 180]bears away the bell from the know­ledge of the brain, from the prophe­cie of the tongue, the eloquence of that little member, the munificence of the hand, and the Martyrdome of the whole body. All which we find spoken of in this Chapter. Without love, what is faith but fancie? what is prophecie but a dark mystery? what is eloquence but untunable musick? what is munificence but prodigality? what is martyrdome but a rash and unadvised slaying a mans self? Without love they may all hang down in their own weaknesse and infirmity; and there­fore Saint Paul tells us, We know but in part, and therefore prophecie but in part; We know but in part, that's the first, and I fear the time will suffer me to go no farther. We know but in part.

Take knowledge to be what you will, take it at the largest extent, the wisest men on earth, those that [Page 181]have been in the uppermost cham­bers of Divinity, and sounded the depths of all Learning, yea, that have gone round all humane Learn­ing, they know but in part. Some things there are that we know not, and there are some things we know but in part; and what we know ob­jectively, it may be full, but subje­ctively, it is weak.

First, some things we know not, as the Essence of God, instant in things past and to come, we cannot know it, it is not fit for our under­standing. Who knows what God did before the world? Who knows when the Angels were crea­ted? who knows? we may collect and conjecture, but who can posi­tively affirm it? who can tell whe­ther the Sun before the Stars were created, did rise and set, or no? those are beyond our knowledge. We know not the end of the world, when all things shall be out of date, [Page 182]when the tongue shall be tied up from prophecying in this world, when faith shall be turned into fee­blenesse, and hope into quaking; and that when hope shall quake, love shall stand still when the rest faint and vanish. This is confirmed in the words neer the Text, and in the words of my Text. The Argument stands thus; That which is but in part cannot last; But knowledg is but in part, and faith is but in part; For we know but in part, and we pro­phecie but in part: And beloved, if so be these Preachers you have heard have faln short in any particular in the prosecution of their Text; and if I, (as I know I must) being weary of proceeding, and I undervalue my own thoughts, neither will I be so in love with the brood of my own brain, as to trouble you and my self long with it, but onely in behalf of all the Ministers that have preached, and of my self, that we know but in [Page 183]part, and prophecie but in part. The head and tongue divide the Text; the head is like unto Heaven, that doth disperse abroad its light and influence by the tongue; and the tongue it is a many-stringed instru­ment, whereby we do praise God. Here's the knowledge of the head, the tongue, but that this tongue may be tied up from self-commen­dation, therefore we come to the ignorant terms of antipathy; as, Why doth the Load-stone draw Iron to it? what answer can we give, but that it is the quality? as much as to say, I do not know: And so for the times to come, it is not for us to know the times of God. Prophecies are best understood in the fulfilling of them; there are many things God hath left to his own Cabinet-Councel, and we must not intrude into them; Secret things belong to God, but revealed things to as and to our children.

And secondly, our knowledge is but imperfect, in respect of the ob­ject, We see but through a glass darkly and imperfectly.

First, what can we say or know of God? Damasin saith, he is not an essence or substance, he is somewhat above; we do not know what to call him; bring in a contribution of all kind of language, there's too much inability to expresse the na­ture of Almighty God; our know­ledge of God rises not by adding to it, but as a statue rises, by cutting somewhat from it, and we know him by an imperfect knowledge. We see the Sun in a dim kind of way; we see but the back-parts of God, as we see a man that is past, we have but a glimpse of it. And so for the Trinity, the Father, Son, and holy Ghost, three Persons, and one God; it is a mystery, that made Hillary cry out, and fall back, and go again, and say, there's a stupidity in my un­derstanding, [Page 185]I know not what to say: and therefore the Nicene Fa­thers would not have the words of Essence used, they thought there was more in God. And so for the Decree of God, how far is it beyond our knowledge? How unsearchable are his Judgments? they are past find­ing out. And if you cannot finde out the reason of Gods decrees, see the reason of it, it is well for you to be of his Court, though not of his Councel. His decrees may amaze a man to consider them; read but Saint Pauls discourse, how shall we puzzle and gravel? what shall we say more then this I will not say: Do thou reason the case how thou wilt, Ego credam, I will believe.

And then fourthly, for the Crea­tion of the world; what a vast diffe­rence is there between nothing and something? We may believe there is a Creation, but we cannot grasp it in our understanding.

And then in the fifth place, the prophanation of sin, That God should create us so holy that the body should have no sin in it, and yet there should now be sin in both body & soul; we know it. But how do we know it? Come to the Person and Offices of Christ, that he that was the Ancient of dayes should dye; that he that was the mouth of his Father, and the Word, should not speak, this is a mystery, and great is the mystery. And then again, the mystery or our bodies, that our bodies should be destroyed, that they should be turned to ashes, or cut in pieces, and one piece many miles from another, and yet the same body to arise gloriously. We may believe it, but we are not able to conceive it. Now to the joyes of Heaven, Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive the joyes that are there. The eye can see far, [Page 187]and the ear can hear far, the one can see the lightning afar off, and the o­ther hear the thunder; yet eye and ear are both dull and heavy, if you bring them to the consideration of this thing; here are things unuttera­ble, I was rapt up into the third Hea­ven, saith Saint Paul, and I saw things that were unutterable. And so for the Scriptures, though in all things necessary to salvation, the Scriptures are plain and evident; but take many places of the Scripture, how far remote are they from our understanding? what great myste­ries are there? One being asked what God was, took first a day, then two, then three dayes, then four, and so the farther he went to search, the more he was plunged; So in the Scriptures, some places are plain, a Lamb may feed in them. In pro­phecies, we fix upon one man, he must be the deliverer; we see him taken from the world, and the work [Page 188]left undone. The best Comment upon prophecies is the fulfilling of them. Look upon some other Texts of Scripture; What should they do that are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not up again? Because of the Angels the women must be mo­dest. Saint Austin did not know it, and that's in regard of the Scripture, We know but in part.

Thirdly, in regard of the sub­ject, what we know, we know after an imperfect partial fashion; and therefore it is, Beloved, that Faith should be embraced by us, because we believe that we cannot under­stand. Hence it is that we have but an opinion of many things in the world: If there were certain know­ledge, what needed opinion?

Fourthly, because we do admire all things; there's no admiration but where there wants understand­ing. Thus it is in the [...] display­ed unto you; I might proceed fur­ther [Page 189]in several kindes of knowledge among Heathens and Christians: a­mong Heathens, they do worship an unknown God; there was an Al­tar in Athens dedicated, with this Inscription, To the unknown God, Acts 17. They do worship they know not what, as our Saviour speaks to the Samaritan woman: You worship you know not what; and they do feel and grope after God, if perhaps they can finde him. There was one An­tonius, that having read Platoes Works of the Immortality of the soul, and having often read them used these words, Nescio, &c. I know not how, but when I am rea­ding I give assent, when I have laid a­side the Book all slips from me; so doting is our knowledge, for the earthly man, the carnal man discerns not the things that are Gods, nay, for the best they see but through a glass, they see but in part. Thus you see the points laid open unto [Page 190]you, I will bring it home to your Consciences a little in the applicati­on, and then I shall conclude. Some there are that do oppose this truth, others that pervert it.

Some there are that oppose it, and those are our adversaries the Romanists: First, in setting up the infallibility of the Pope; and second­ly, in crying up the Fathers and the Councels for our Faith. How can this be but false, if this be true that we know but in part?

First, therefore for the infallibility of the Pope, who will sit like an Emperour and take up any contro­versie; Beloved, we know contro­versies on foot which he cannot decide, between the Franciscans and Dominicans, about the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, and the like; either he cannot or dares not end them for fear of losing either side; but we know but in part. Have not some of their Popes been pronoun­ced [Page 191]Hereticks by General Councels? and yet these men must know all things. One of them could not read Saint Matthews Gospel, and yet these must be saved; they would pluck out their own eyes, and see by other mens; and how can this be, if as Saint Paul saith, we know but in part? And then again, they will cry up the Fathers and Councels, but when all is done they do but a­buse us, and the Fathers will be found to erre when all comes to light. Were there not some of them that held dangerous and Here­tical opinions? But I am loth to un­cover our forefathers nakedness: If I must, I will take you off from ado­ring it, rising up to it, and too much reverencing it. Cyprian was for re­baptization, Saint Austin was once of opinion that children should re­ceive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper as well as others of age; and Origen was of opinion that Spi­rits [Page 192]had hands, and flesh, and eyes; and Justin Martyr: but I rather co­ver them in silence, but that the Papists do incite us; the Fathers were but a partial, no infallible rule.

Again, as some do oppose this point, so some do pervert it: So the Papists they pervert it, and say, Because we know but in part, there­fore we must have Traditions, for we know but in part, as Saint Paul saith. In this they do but as we say, bring coals to New-Castle, or light a candle to the Sun, by bringing their Traditions to be proved by this Scripture.

Secondly, the Anabaptists, they pervert it, and conclude from hence, because we know but in part, there­fore we will look for revelation from above; and thereupon they cast by the Book of God, and look for re­velations from Heaven. God for­bid we should countenance any such [Page 193]spirits as these are, for what is there to be known but what is fetcht out of Gods Word.

Thirdly, others forsooth, that are lazy Christians, will say, If I turn over the Book of God never so much, I shall know but in part, therefore I will know nothing at all: Like little children, if you take away one of their trinkets, they will throw all the rest away: Or, because one man gives me a box on the ear, therefore I will sue him, and because I may not have five hundred pounds damages, therefore I will have nothing at all. This is like the Hangman, that first blindes the malefactors eyes, and then turns him off. This was it made the Jews crucifie the Lord of life, for had they known it they would not have done it. The candle must be put out, or else put into the dark Lanthorn (say the Papists) we must not see what mischiefs are towards. This ignorance must needs be the [Page 194]way to Hell, to utter darkness.

If we know but in part, First, let us follow men but in part. Turn over Antiquity, borrow authority from the Fathers, they will be good moral perswasions and inductions to bring us to the truth, but bring all to the Scripture, weigh it by the ballance of the Sanctuary, whether it be good or no. And where they speak that which is contradictory to the Word of God, let us prefer Truth before the Fathers. Christ saith not, I am Antiquity, or I am Cu­stome, but I am Truth.

Secondly, if we know but in part, let us add some cubits to our know­ledge. Knowledge is like unto Hea­ven, it is very glorious if we could see it; and we must first know the will of our Father before we can do it. This is the first step to know what God is, and to know what our selves are. First, begin with know­ledge, then go on with practice: [Page 195]First, know the truth, and then ad­here to it, and then defend it to the death.

Let us add knowledg unto our knowledg, but as we know but in part, let us be wise also, take heed of en­tring roughly into the cabinets of God, we must not gaze too high.

I do not say but that we should search the mysteries of the Word of God, and study them freely; but what mysteries God hath reserved unto himself, meddle not with them, we know but in part.

And then again, make amends for thy want of knowledg by thy faith; believe, if God hath said it, set thy seal of faith unto it. He (saith Lu­ther) that will be wise in Aristotle, is a fool in Christ. And a Pope did once say, that Piscatores and not Phi­losophers were to be believed; they that say they know much, know no­thing, saith Solomon and Saint Paul. The emptiest hogsheads sound most, [Page 196]and the shallowest waters make the greatest noise, Non est, &c.

This is no true knowledg, but a swelling and excrescency.

In the sixth place, we must pra­ctise what we know; if we know but in part, let us make amends for our partial knowledg in practising what we know, and whatsoever else you know, be sure to know those things that concern your eternal salvation. What is it for men to be scrupulous in leaving out H in Homo, and yet will take away a man. This is the onely true Arithmetick, to number our dayes, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdome, that's the true Astro­nomy. This is it indeed that we must discourse of. What is it then to de­serve our Supremacy in Logick, to be overcome in Arithmetick, to talk of Generation, and have not Rege­neration? It is not enough to know, but we must practise. If you know these things, happy are you if [Page 197]you do them. Beloved, how many Sermons have been lost in this place, and in divers other places of this Kingdome? what will you hear and devour all, and bring forth no fruit at all? for shame make it up by your practice; he that practiseth what he knows, God will make him to know more; some know to instruct others, that's charity; some know to practice, and that's piety; some know for affectation, and that's pride. Knowledge makes a man worse rather then better, unless he practise. Knowledg like the Uni­corns horn, doth well in a mans hand, but ill in a beasts head. A man that's ignorant, he carries Uriah's letters in his own bosome. They that know and do not practise, shall be beaten with many stripes. What canst thou say in excuse of thy self? thou seest the Sun-shine of the Gospel, thou art not in darkness as many are; if thou dost not practise it, woe be unto thee. [Page 198]We have had the light of the Gospel above these threescore years, and what excuse can we make?

Lastly, let us hunger and long af­ter that place where we shall see God face to face, where there shall be no darkness without, nor darkness with­in, where the walls are made of chry­stal, and the gates of pearl. There is no need of the Sun, nor of the Moon, nor of the Stars, God is the Light, and the Lamb is the Light; of it, and to that place God of his mercy bring us for his mercy sake, for his Sons sake, and for our Saviour Jesus Christ his sake. Amen.