WHEN S^t. Paul wrote to the Saints at Rome, there was a ball of contention (as t'were) throwen be­twixt the Iewe and the Gentile. And howsoever they were converted as true proselytes to the Do­ctrine of Christ, yet did they burne with jealousy one towards another, and re­ceive the gospell with strife and envy, and sharpe contests of mutuall re­proach, and fervent emulation (a fault [Page 2] to much used in these our Dayes, both in the expressions and impressions of many Christians, though interdicted by S^t. Paul to the Ephesians, and condem­ned by S^t. James in the very brethren, with a note and character of [...] and [...] which is meer bitternesse, the gaul and wormewood of crabbed Zeale and corrupt affections.) The Iew boasted of his stock, the Gentile of his Wisedome, the Iew of his privi­ledges, the Gentile of his Endowments; the Iew despised the Gentile as a wild olive, the Gentile despised the Iew as a withered branch cut off from the right olive; the Iew despised the Gentile as a stranger from the Covenant, the Gen­tile despised the Iew as one despised of God and rejected of him for murdering his only Son, and crucifying the Lord of glory.

But as it is said of Nestor, an antient Counsellor of the Grecians.

So doth the Apostle use all diligence, to represse the animosity of their carnall spirits, and to reduce both to love and unity, patience and humility, shewing plainly that all were debters unto God, and that none had cause to boast of themselves, first by reason of their naturall condition they were sub­ject unto wrath; then by reason of their spirituall renovation they were justified by faith, not of merit but of grace, free grace, rich grace, the grace of God through faith in Christ Jesus. All which is copiously delivered in the pre­cedent Chapters, and compendiously gathered in the latter verses, whereof my Text is a briefe Synopsis

Wee joy in tribulation, because it tends unto hope: wee joy in hope because it ends in glory, as the pre­cedent Words doe rightly insinuate. [Page 4] But the top of our joy and the crown of our rejoycing is God alone, pacified by his Sonne in the wood of his Crosse, the blood of his Crosse: who indeed is [...], and [...] (as Theophylact speakes) the author of joy, the author of rest, the author of glory, the author of righteousnesse. Have our conflicts abounded, and have not our Comforts abounded? Have our tryals abounded, and have not our triumphs abounded? Yea doubtlesse, as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so doth our consolation abound through Christ Jesus. And wee never had more Cause to rejoyce, than now wee have in the Day of our peace, the blessed re-union of God with us, the heavenly redintegration of his infinite love and mercifull Kindnesse.

These words are exceeding jubi­lar, and not unsuitable with the present [Page 5] time, which is dies palmarum, or (as wee terme it) Palme-Sunday, a Day of spreading garments, unfolding graces, discovering holynesse, singing praises, and crying Hosanna in the highest, bles­sed is hee that cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest: not with green bowes of Pagan wildnesse, but with palme branches of faith and god­lynesse: which S^t. John will have to be most flourishing and victorious, with [...], this is the victory which overcometh the World, even your faith, the 5th and the 4th of his 1. Ep. You may compare them to the Song of Mary, when she cryed, My Soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour. There seemes at once, to bee [...] and [...], on the Lords part [...], on our part [...]: on the Lords part grace, on our part glory, on the Lords part goodnesse, on our part gladnesse, with a sober kind of ravishment and spirituall Extasy.

1. That which I shall first observe is the grace and benefit of humane recon­cilement. [Wee have received the ato­nement.]

Secondly the meanes or conveyance, and that is [our Lord Jesus Christ:]

Last of all the result or extraction, which is delight and glory, exultation and jucundity, together with the cir­cumstance of time, or rather indeed the instance of time, not future but pre­sent, not in expectation but fruition, now wee are reconciled, and now wee are comforted, since the death of Christ and the power of his rising:

All these have their implicite theses, and may be easily resolved into enun­tiative positions, one, That man is re­conciled unto God.

Another: Christ is the author of this reconcilement.

A third, Wee ought to joy in God alone, through Christ our Mediator and Advocate. But I proceed after the me­thod I have delivered, and shall begin with my first observation, which is the grace and benefit of humane reconci­lement, [...], wee have received the atonement.

Man is an empty thing, and hath nought in himselfe, but what he doth receive, nec quid, nec quale, nec quan­tum, as the Logicians speak of their [...] or rather indeed like that an­tient chaos which Moses would have to be [...] and [...] in the first of Ge­nesis, without forme and beauty, a meer solitude and vacuity, in so much that a Heathen could say, as well in re­spect of men as of their actions. O Cu­ras hominum, & quantum est in rebus inane?

S^t. John tells us, wee have received Grace for grace, or grace upon grace: one grace brings in another; and one grace brings in another; and one grace drawes in another, neither is it mans wisedome, but Gods bounty that [Page 8] leadeth to repentance, charity, meeke­nesse, humility and whatsoever is praise worthy; most agreable to that of Bernard, Quaevis scintillula in corde accensa, &c. The least sparke of holy fire, kindled in the breast of any Crea­ture must needs arise from the love of God, and the infinite grace of his eternall providence. Wee receive life in our creation, strength in our being, knowledge in study, comfort in mi­sery, patience in trouble, help in adver­sity, [...], the same hand that framed us must preserve us, neither can wee any more releive our selves, then wee could at first make our selves, as Justin Martyr has observed in his Apology for Christians. Formati­on, conservation, reformation, consum­mation are glorious acts but from the Lord, as fruits of the divine goodnesse; not branches of humane impotence, which the Apostle has comprised in a word [...] Our sufficiency is from God, in the 2^d to the Corin­thians.

But among all the favours that have been bestowed upon us, that of re­concilement is most pretious, whereby wee are made friends unto God, stron­ger then our enemyes, Lords over the Creature, and aequall with the An­gells, that warte on his throne, stand in his presence, delight in his worship, and rejoyce to doe him service.

S^t. Origen is so charitable, as to extend his mercy to the Divells, and would have them to be saved after a thousand Years compleatly ended: howbeit, we know the worme dyeth not, and their fire never goeth out, as wee gather from the words of our Sa­viour, in that finall doome, and fatall sentence, [...], depart from mee, yee cursed into everlast­ing fire, provided for the Divell and his Angels, Mat. 25. 48.

As for the host of blessed Angels, that kept their station; they are not said to be truly reconciled, because they never departed from their obe­dience: yet are they confirmed by the [Page 10] mediation of Christ, and seem to have a two fold advancement: one in res­pect of their knowledge, because they look into the mystery of our salvation: another in respect of their joy, because they delight in the worke of our Con­version. That which makes the Scruple touching their reconcilement, is taken from S^t Paul, in the I^st Chapt. of his Ep: to the Colossians, where he notes of Christ, that he sate at peace with the blood of his Crosse, [...], things on Earth and things on Heaven. All which is most unquestionable, & ought to be under­stood of the holy Angells, not in re­lation to God, but in relation to man; not as they are reconciled unto him, but as they are reconciled unto us, and united more firmely with us under one head which is Christ Jesus. And there­fore; if you consider the words of the Text, it is not said, they but we, not all but some, We the Saints of God, wee the Sonns of God.

Chosen freely, drawen sweetly, renewed by his word, quickned by his Spirit: WEE have received the grace of divine love, and heavenly atonement,

Before the Apostacy of our father Adam, there was a sweet harmony be­twixt God and man, but as soon, as hee fell, and had transgressed, he ran away, and was cast forth of Paradise; at what time there was a breach made, and wee became (as the Apostle no­tes) [...]: not only strangers and aliens but foes & enemies to the Lord of glory; such as despise his grace, and despight his goodnesse, with the infinite provocations of enormous impieties. We grieve him and hee forsakes us: We resist him & hee aband­ons us from the brightnesse of his face, and the glory of his presence. For Sin is abominable to God, neither can his pure eyes endure to behold the filthi­nesse of our Corruptions, whereupon saith Isaiah, Your iniquities have sepa­rated betwixt God and you. Hee did so love us, that nothing could take him [Page 12] of and make him leave us but our sins: Hee did so hate Sinne, that nothing could bring him on, and make him love us againe but his Son: his dear Sonne, his only Sonne, the death of his Sonne, the oblation of his Sonne, who gave himselfe for us an offering and a sacrifice unto God, of a sweet smell and pleasant odour [...] Your ini­quities have made a separation betwixt God and you in the 59^th of his prophecy.

It was for sinne, that hee left Israel, and it was for sin that he cast the An­gells down from Heaven: It was for sinne that he drowned the old World, and it was for sinne, that hee destroyed the workes of his creation: Though at first hee took pleasure in them, and said of every thing (which hee made,) [...] it was good, very good the first and the last of Genesis.

This was our Condition in the sad times of humane defection, and thus wee stood at a distance, I will not say a defiance with the Lord of hosts and the God of spirits. But since the parti­tion [Page 13] wall is broken down, and there is an entrance made into the holy place; wee have obtained mercy and are re­ceived into favour. The heat is of, the fire is quencht, wrath is alaid, the strife is ended: and he that was most wrong'd, is most desirous to bee reconciled. Whilst the Angels of God are made the Embassadors of peace, and do openly proclaime tidings of good will unto men upon earth. As James said of Abraham, that hee was termed the friend of God, so wee may say of all beleivers, the Sonns of Abraham, the generations of his Children. They are [...] and [...], lovers of God and be­loved of him. God is their freind, and they are Gods freinds, by the new Co­venant of eternall righteousnesse, in the dispensation of Christ, and merit of his obedience. For, as when two men fall out, a third coming between, makes them freinds and brings them to an a­micable condition: so Christ being in the nature of God and man, hath unit­ed both and made them one, as well in [Page 14] love as in person, by the sweet in­terposition of his mediatory fun­ction.

If any shall desire to be further sa­tisfyed concerning the nature of this atonement and shall say to me of this spirituall Manna, as the Israelites did of their corporall Manna, which fell in the Wildernesse, full of pleasure and dele­ctable sweetnesse [...] What is this? or how doe you Conceive it to be understood? Wee are ready to pronounce with lear­ned Zanchius, that it is renovatio, &c. a reinvesting of man with pristine holy­nesse, or a reducing of man to that former interest wee had with God in Christ Jesus, from the state of wrath to the state of peace, from the state of bondage to the state of liberty, from the state of fear to the state of assurance, from the state of misery to the state of mercy, that we may draw neer with boldnesse to that heavenly throne, and having received that spirit of adop­tion, cry Abba, father, [...], Rom. 8. as Sonnes and heirs, heirs of [Page 15] God and coheires with Christ, in the sweet fruition of an everlasting King­dome. The dislike and antipathy, the variance and the enmitie which trans­gression wrought, being quite aboli­shed and obliterated by the precious blood of that paschall Lambe, sprink­led upon the door posts of our hearts and consciences. For to speake in the Words of Salvian, Crimen nostrum discrimen gravissimum, Our greatest danger is from sin. That being clean­sed, wee are preserved, nor only so, but graced and honoured, embraced and dignify'd with signal ornaments of love and kindnesse, by ring and by robe, as they are distinctly mentioned by S^t Luke the Evangelist, in that comfort­able story of the prodigalls Conver­sion. Hence it is the Apostle doth so much boast of a holy Communion which the saints have with the Father and the Son, Our fellowship, saith he, and that with an Emphasis, truely, Our fellowship is with the Father and the Son, in the 1^st and 3^d of his First Epist. [Page 16] That as he is one with the Father, so wee may be one with him, of one heart, of one mind, of one desire, of one judg­ment, of one building, one Temple, one body, one spirit, which indeed is the height of comfort, and doth most eminently represent the wonderfull excellency of Christian atonement.

S^t Bernard mentions divers unions in a tract of his stiled, Varij Sermones, naturall, carnall, virtuall, morall, per­sonall, substantiall, and the like. Na­turall between the Soul and the body, they are one man; Carnal between the Man and the Woman, they are one Flesh; Virtuall in the Consent of our af­fections, they are one harmony; morall in the Conjunction of brethren, they are one Society: personall with the divinity and humanity, they are one Christ; substantiall in the deep my­stery of the blessed Trinity, They are are our God, our Lord, of whom, and by whom, and through whom all things were made. As for the union in the Text it is spirituall, whereby wee [Page 17] are not only transformed in our selves, and transported out of our selves, but engrafted in Christ, and made one Spirit with him, as it is directly avowed by the Doctor of the Gentiles in the 6 Chapt. and 17. verse of the 1 Ep. to the Corinth. [...], he that is joyned with the Lord, is one Spirit with him, acted by one Spirit, raised by one Spirit, sanctified by one Spirit, governed by one Spirit, the holy ghost moving as it were upon the whole body of the Church, and having a gracious influence from the head of Christ to the hearts of men, and the secretest juncture of his dearest mem­bers, For when Christ was gone, he sent down a fire on the Earth, a Vestal fire, a sacred fire, a blessed fire, a holy fire; I mean the Comforter, which is the love of God, that hee might keep us to to himselfe, and abide with us for ever.

I could fix upon such a meditation as this, and dwell in the contemplation of divine peace, that great atonement, that blessed atonement, the atonement [Page 18] with an Emphasis, the atonement with an excellence that cleares the minde, and cheares the spirit with uni­maginable comfort, dulcor ejus absorbet conscientiam, saith that elegant father the sweetenesse thereof swallowes up my thoughts, and puts me into a frame of jubilar excesse. O that it were no lesse with men, than with God, and that wee might see a perfect reconcilement in every condition, like that of the disci­ples who mett together [...], as the Text hath it, with one mind, in one place in the 2. and 1. of the Acts of Apost. But this is more to be prayed for, than can easily be expected in Massa and in Meribba, at the Waters of strife, amidst the divisions of many brethren. And yet it is a shame, that Christ should dye to make our peace, and we should live to make debate a­mongst our selves: striving and strug­ling, like Iacob and Esau in the wombe, and bowels of Church and Country, not as true Israelites, but as vaine Ish­maelites, or generations of the Patri­arch [Page 19] Dan, who was said to be Coluber in viâ, a Snake in the path, and a Ser­pent in the way Gen. 49. The Lord grant, that at length we may be able to say in a generall sense, a sense morall, a sense politicall, a sense naturall, a sense ecclesiasticall [...], wee have received the atonoment, for the honour of God, the peace of Sion, and the great Security of this Land and Nation.

But I hasten to my Second observa­tion, from the grace to the meanes, from the benefit to the Conveyance, and that is Dominus Iesus Christus, our Lord Jesus Christ. Not Moses or Aa­ron, not an Angell or Cherubim, nor any creature of highest order, but God alone through Christ his Son: Jesus Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ, (as wee read in the Words of my Apostle.) He is a Lord for his Dominion, a Jesus for his salvation a Christ for the dignity of his threefold unction. A Lord that doth rule us, a Jesus that hath freed us, a Christ that shall anoint us, with grace [Page 20] holynesse, joy and gladnesse, to the rich enheritance of immortall blessednesse.

Give me leave then to put you in mind of a notable saying which I have from S^t Ambrose, vulnus accepit, un­guentum effudit, hee took a sore wound in his naturall body, he powred forth a Soveraign balm in his mysticall body: a Soveraigne balme, a pretious ointment, that hath cured our sores, and healed our infirmities, to all well-pleasing, and good acceptance with the God of all comfort and Father of mercies.

Indeed wee have [...], a Word of reconcilement, and [...], the ministry of reconciliation: but the Worke is his, the power is his, the merit is his, the performance is his, that made both one, by virtue of his passion. We are serviceable, and instru­mentall, as suppliant Orators, and sub­ordinate cooperators in so great a busi­nesse. Hee is the root, and the ground, the spring and the fountaine of that ce­lestiall agreement, and heavenly com­position. Whereupon saith John, We [Page 21] have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the recon­ciliation for our sinnes. As for Paul, he is most cleare, with a [...], God hath reconciled us to himselfe through Jesus Christ. And againe, [...]. God is in Christ, reconciling the world unto himselfe, 2 Cor. 5. 18, 19.

How then is it that in the same place, we are desired to be reconciled unto God, we pray you in Christs steed, that yee be reconciled unto God? Have we strength enough to do it our selves? and are we able to make our owne peace? This seemes to contradict the series of the Text, and to derogate from the honour of an absolute medi­atour. Yet if we distinguish the man­ner, 'twill be no hard matter to recon­cile the Scripture. Christ did it fun­damentally, we conformably: Christ authentically and radically, we obsequi­ously and readily, with desires answer­able and hearty being drawne and converted in the sound of his word and power of his Gospell, in the smell of [Page 22] his garments, and the savour of his oyntments. Insomuch that what he wrought by the wonderfull humilia­tion of his temporall oeconomy, we must apply it to our hearts and consci­ences by faith, repentance, charity, obedience, invocation, adoration, the frequent exercises of the holy Sacra­ments, and the religious observation of divine ordinances, which were given us for no other end, but that we may draw neere unto God as loving chil­dren.

Let men please themselves never so much with their severall Idols, whe­ther Corporall or spirituall, among the dead, or among the living: there is no creature in heaven or in earth, in the center of the one, or circle of the other that can bring us to God but only Christ Jesus; The Angell of the Co­venant, the first borne of every crea­ture, the great high priest, that took the censer of his flesh, and laid upon it the burning coales of divine love, and offered up the sweet incense of a pure [Page 23] heart and a gracious spirit. Is he not the way and the doore? the way in whom we go? the doore by whom we enter? As no man comes to the sonne, unlesse the father draw him: so no man comes to the father, unlesse the sonne doth bring him. Abraham is igno­rant, and Israel knowes us not, as we read in that Evangelicall prophet.

For behold Christ is here, cloathed with our flesh; that he may invest us with his righteousnesse, and present us to the father, holy and unblameable, without spot in his sight: a greater then Moses, a greater then Aaron, a greater then Elias, a greater then Solamon, or any prophet, since the world began. And therefore God must needs be angry, if we do not kisse the Sonne, his deare Sonne, his beloved Sonne, in whom alone he is well pleased, and by whom alone we are truly reconciled: kisse the mouth [Page 24] of his word, and pretious oracles: kisse the hand of his power, and wondrous miracles, kisse the feet of his justice and sure mercies, his sure mercies and steadfast promises that stand as the Sunne, and continue as the Moone for ever in the heavens. These we must kisse, and these we must embrace, looking towards Jesus, the author and finisher of our course: if ever we mean to have God our friend or the light of his countenance to shine upon us.

It was for Joseph's sake, that his brethren were so courteously received: and it is for Christs sake that we are so graciously reconciled. He came into the world as Joseph came into Egypt, for the good and the benefit, for the protection and the liberty, the help and the comfort, the provision and the safety of all his brethren. And there­fore Augustine will have him to be a figure of Christ, with a typum gessit salvatoris, in one of his sermons in­scribed, de tempore: both alike sold, both a like spoyled, one throwne into [Page 25] a pit, another into a grave; one cast into a dungeon, another into hell by a voluntary condescention; though ex­alted at length that he might save us, as well from death as from derth, the derth of his word, and the death of our soules, in that burn­ing lake of intollerable woe, and in­supportable misery. And therefore saith Bernard, mortem pertulit, at mor­tem sustulit, he suffered death, but he abolished death, and destroyed him that had the power of death with his owne weapon.

Sweet Jesu! who shall declare the strange procurement of our gracious reconcilement in that rare Conjuncti­on of both natures, by the power of the Godhead, by the patience of the man-hood, by the majesty of the one, by the humility of the other? This enabled thee to beare, that to over­come; this to endure, that to satisfy; this to descend and lay downe thy life, that to ascend and take it up againe, that we may be advanced above those [Page 26] angelicall Thrones, and sit together with thee in heavenly places. S^t Chry­sostome is astonished with it, and cries out [...]; how comes this work, this great work to be acted and accomplished? And therefore I will not take upon me to describe the manner of it, further then I have direction from the Apostle, who gives you a twofold explication in the 1 Chap. of the Epist. to the Collos. that he doth reconcile us [...], in the body of his flesh through death: and that he doth reconcile us [...], with the blood of his crosse: where you have death and blood, and a Crosse. In death there is misery, in blood there is cruelty, in a crosse there is shame and notorious in­famy. All which meet together like three fatall sisters in Conjunction, for ill to Christ, for good to us, the ag­gravation of his punishments, the in­stauration of our nature; that we may be joyned with the Saints above, and gathered into the bosome of our hea­venly father; [...], in the body [Page 27] of his flesh through death, and that with blood, the blood of his Crosse; the blood of his crosse that hath drown­ed our iniquities, the blood of his crosse that hath purged our Consciences, the blood of his Crosse that hath destroy­ed our enemies, the blood of his Crosse that hath justified our persons, the blood of his Crosse that hath quench­ed the violence of that flaming sword that hung at the gate of our celestiall paradise, to keep us back from the sight of God, and the blessed Com­munion of his glorious Angells. In­somuch that Augustine speaking of Satan hath these words victus in pati­bulo qui vicerat in par adiso, He is now overcome in the blood of his Crosse, that did first overcome in the garden of paradise.

The Apostle affirmes we are bought with a price. I confesse we are recon­ciled with a price, a great price, the price of blood, whilst the chastisement of our peace was laid upon him, and his stripes were our healing; for it [Page 28] cost him deare, and whatsoever he got for us, he purchased at a very high rate; our peace with his owne travell, our freedome with his owne bondage, our favour with his owne disgrace, our comfort with his owne punishment, our welcome and reception with his owne contempt and dereliction, a strange dereliction, a grievious dere­liction, that made him cry, and lift up his voyce, with anguish of heart and agony of Spirit, Eli, Eli, lammasa­bachthani, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Now me thinkes, I stand amazed at the love of God that hath reconciled us with the death of his Sonne, the bitter death of his only begotten Son, at the love of Christ that hath recon­ciled us with his blood, the volunta­ry effusion of his owne most pretious blood. What shall he not do for us, now we are made friends and righte­ous, that did so much for us being enemies and sinners, dabit tibi bona sua qui pertulit mala tua, saith learned [Page 29] Augustine. He must needs bestow his rest upon us that hath taken his burdens upon himselfe.

The truth is, his death is available unto life, his life is available unto glo­ry, his death plucks us out of Satans hands, his life puts us into Gods hand, and the protection of his majesty. We are absolved by his death, we shall be advanced by his life, we are saved by his death, we shall be kept by his life never to depart from the obedience of his truth, when he shall have bound us to himselfe with everlasting mercy, in a three-fold cord of faith, hope, and charity,

as the Poet hath it in another sense, which no force shall be able to break, no age to consume, no power to dis­solve, nor yet the gates of hell ever to prevaile against.

It is recorded of S^t Bernard, in his life Guilielmus, when Satan came to him in his sicknesse, and thought to drive him to despaire with remem­brance of his sinnes, that he was much troubled at first, but afterwards ga­thering strength, said unto him, non sum aignus &c. I confesse, I am not worthy of my selfe, neither can I ex­pect to enter heaven by any righteous­nesse of my owne, but Christ hath a double right unto that glorious king­dome, one of inheritance by the fa­ther, another of purchase by his passi­on. That of inheritance he keeps to himselfe, and rests in it; that of pur­chase he gives to me, and I lay hold on it with faith and confidence. At these words the enemie was confounded and vanished away: but the holy father was much comforted, and triumph't ex­ceedingly in the merits of his Saviour. By this we learne to cast our selves up­on God for eternall safety, with a per­fect abdication of humane infirmity; and may justly Condemne the vanity [Page 31] of such as go from the Sunne to the Moone, from the lord to our lady, from the fountaine of living waters, to the broken cisterne of humane emp­tinesse, and from the protection of our Saviour, to the mediation of any crea­ture, from the temple of God to the temple of idols, from the sacrifice of Christ and the satisfaction of his death, to the shrines of Diana, or the rotten sepulchers of the most holy Martyrs. These I might argue, and these I might condemne, but that indeed they are not so much to be refuted with care and deliberation, as to be exploded with scorne and derision.

The use I shall make of this doctrine is a short expostulation out of S^t Au­gustine, with à quanta iniquitas? quan­ta perversitas &c? If the peace of our soules, and the reconcilement of our natures be the price of blood, the blood of Christ, the true Sonne of the everliving God: what a pravity, what injustice, what a phrensy, what a mad­nesse is it, to sell againe those soules [Page 32] unto the Divell for a little gaine, a little pleasure, a little smoke, a little honour, or any the like shadow of outward meanes and temporall felicity, which God hath purchased to himselfe with extreame paine, and infinite mi­sery?

The Argument which the Apostle frames is most considerable, and wor­thy of observation, yee are bought with a price, and are not your owne. Your bodies are his, your soules are his, that did emancipate and set them free from the strong mans hand and danger of the enemy: his by creation, his by redemption, his in making, his in re­conciling, and therefore he must be glorified in both, and loved of both, that we may delight in him, and he de­light in us, that we may rejoyce in him, and he may rejoyce in us with joy unspeakable and full of glory. For if it be life eternall to know God, what is it to love God? and to have the gracious returnes of love from him againe? Without controversy; it is [Page 33] the fulnesse of joy, and the marrow of blisse: as rivers of oyle, and floods of peace, whereof the Angels drink most plenteously, and are continually re­fresht. And therefore saith Chryso­stome, [...], To love God and to be loved of God, with the sweet reciprocation of mutuall dilection is more then a Kingdome to the Saints; the King­dome of glory, the Kingdome of hea­ven.

My deare brethren, I beseech you with the Apostle, or rather I charge you with King Salomon, by the hinds and by the roes, by the mercies of God and bowels of Christ Jesus, by the obedience of his life, by the pow­er of his death, by his Word and by his Gospel, by his Sacraments, and by his ordinances, by the blood which he shed for you, and by the Spirit which he sent to you, that he might lead you into all truth, and make you partakers of a pretious inheritance a­mongst the Saints in glory,

keep your soules with all diligence, and let nothing draw you from the love of Christ Jesus, cleave to the Lord with all perseverance, and what God hath joyned let no man sever. In vaine do we renew the league of divine friend­ship, if we do not hold it inviolably, without provocation of great offence. The fathers would have Caudam hostiae, as well as Caput hostiae, both head and rump to be offered, no lesse in spirituall sacrifices, then heretofore in the just performance of legall observances. The pretious robe of Christian holi­nesse ought to be like the embroyder­ed Coat of the Patriarch Joseph, which is said to be talaris, downe to the feet and below the ancles: that we may ad­here constantly to the Lord, and finish our Course in the perfection of holi­nesse. It is a great interest we have in God by meanes of this present union; [Page 35] labour to improve it, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit; whereby yee are not only joyn'd and coupled, but Sealed and confirmed unto the time of your redemption. Christ saies, yee are made whole, sinne no more, lest a worse thing come unto you. I say, yee are made friends, sinne no more, lest a worse thing come unto you, when the house of your Soule, and tabernacle of your Conscience being swept and gar­nisht, may draw many uncleane spi­rits in, and the end prove worse, then your beginning. Are yee not washt? are yee not cleansed? are yee not re­conciled? are yee not justified? are yee not cured? are yee not healed? are yee not renewed? are yee not san­ctified, in the name of the Lord Jesus; and by the Spirit of our God? Christ hath obtained for you the remission of your sinnes, and Christ hath put on you the garment of his righteousnesse, that yee may find grace in the sight of God, and be adopted into the family of his dearest children, with all the [Page 36] Company of his elect Angels. Be­ware then of relapsing into sinne, and take heed there be not found among you a heart of unbeliefe, to depart from the living God. O let not the poyson of sinne, abide in you, because the love of God hath abounded to­wards you: but hate it as a Serpent, and embrace him that hath taken away the sting. Avoyd it as a Syren, and hold what you have, that no man take away your Crowne, the Crowne of your life, the Crowne of your rejoy­cing, whereby we are enabled to cry with the Apostle, and to sing trium­phantly, with joy in God through our Lord Jesus, by whom we have now re­ceived the atonement.

And so I come to my last observati­on, The result or extraction, of delight and glory, exultation and jucundity. Which indeed is pleasing and may serve for application of all that hath been spoken, In Deogloriamur, we joy in God.

Saul had a Jonathan, David an Ab­salon, and Paul himselfe a beloved Ti­mothy, [Page 37] and a deare Philemon; wherein they took much pleasure and delight. But God alone is the joy of our hearts, and the Solace of our Spirits, that hath called us to his eternall glory through Christ Jesus. And doubtlesse we may very well joy in God, that enjoy so much from God, in temporall mer­cies, spirituall graces, outward bene­dictions, and inward refections, that fill our soules with marrow and fat­nesse. For to speak in the words of Salomon, The winter is past, the showers are gone, the singing of Birds is come, and the flowers appeare in our land: Choyce flowers of grace and peace, truth and righteousnesse, whereof we may compose [...], (as S^t Chry­sostome speaks) a thousand garlands of divine celebrities, and tripudiant gratu­lations. He that turned water into wine before his death, turned blood into wine, at his death; the blood of his Crosse into the wine of gladnesse, the blood of his passion into the wine of consolati­on: A sweet wine, a pleasant wine, [Page 38] the mulsum of grace, and the mustum of his Spirit, (for so I promise you, S^t Bernard termes it,) reserved for the marriage of the lambe, and kept as twere in the wine cellars of the King: that we may be cheared and wholy for­get the vanities of the world, the pleasures of sinne, the lusts of the flesh, and the lures of Satan.

For indeed, he is the right object of humane Comfort, most absolute and compleat, most adequate and perfect, that can satisfy the heart of man, and fill every corner of that winding Laby­rinth with delicious Content. We joy in him, and we joy of him, in him for the grace of present adoption, of him for the hope of future exaltation to our selves and to our brethren: In him simply, as he is God in himselfe, of infinite power and incomprehensi­ble majesty, in him respectively as he is God to us of infinite goodnesse, and unspeakable mercy; In him as a God, in him as a Father, in him as a Lord, in him as a Saviour, that we are his, [Page 39] and that he is ours, by the gracious sti­pulations of Evangelicall promises, Our God and our Father, our Lord and our Saviour, the Author of peace and e­verlasting tranquillity, the donor of life and immortall glory; which makes the spouse rejoyce with melody, and sing with jubilee, my beloved is mine, and I am his. He feedeth among the lilies, the white Soules and pure Con­sciences of men Sanctified with the Spi­rit of holinesse.

Aeneas Sylvius used to say (as tis recorded in his life by Platina) nullum gaudium sine virtute solidum, there Could be no sollid joy without the exercise of virture. Had it been said without the love of God in Jesus Christ, it had been spoken most divinely. Some joy in their strength but that is Carnall, some joy in their wisdome but that is imperfect, some joy in their treasure but that is deceitfull, some joy in their greatnesse and honour but that is inconstant and sometimes mu­table, and therefore we joy in God [Page 40] that are endeared to him, and have re­ceived the benefit of divine atonement. Our heart doth rejoyce, and our flesh doth rejoyce in God, the living God, that makes us a rejoycing, and Cre­ates us a very joy, through Christ his Sonne, and the powerfull working of his Continuall intercession.

The originall word [...], is most emphaticall, and impleyes a kind of joy more then ordinary, even gestient gladnesse, and triumphant glory: I know not whether I should call it an exultation, or an insultation, because it makes us insult over the adversary, and triumph over the enemy, laughing at his destruction, and exposing him openly, as the Graecian did, of whom the verse goes,

Ter circum Iliacos raptaverat He­ctoramuros,

for by this, we do not only joy in God, but we joy over that which may anoy our soules, and trample on it [Page 41] with derision and contempt. Not un­like our blessed Saviour, when he brui­sed the head of the Serpent, and brake the head of the Leviathan in the midst of the waters; sporting with him that sported therein, with the staffe of his Crosse, and the rod of his power, his eternall power and God-head, Rom. 1. Who then shall lay any thing to our charg? It is God that justifieth, who shall con­demne? It is Christ that died. yea rather which is risen againe, and sits at the right hand of God, and makes interces­sion for us, as we have it in that brave challenge, graciously set downe, and couragiously sent forth by that Cham­pion of God, and trumpet of the Gos­pel, the Doctor of the Gentiles, and vessell of election, in plaine scorne and open defence of spirituall wickednesse in highest places.

We joy in God, we joy over death, we joy in God, we joy over sinne, we joy in God, we joy over the grave, we joy in God, we joy and crow, (as it were) over hell and Satan, with all [Page 42] the powers of that infernall kingdome, and may safely tread upon Serpents and Scorpions, (as the Apostles did) with­out hurt and danger, in the name of Christ, and strength of our redeemer, that hath set up his crosse, as a glori­ous Trophy in the midst of the Nati­on, to the everlasting reproach and e­ternall confusion of the Dragon and his angels. Of this we have both an em­bleme and example: an Embleme in the woman that was cloathed with the Sun, and had the Moon under her feet: an example in the Apostle when he brake forth into that triumphant [...], Oh death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory? The sting of death is sinne, and the strength of sinne is the law: but thanks be to God who hath gi­ven us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore saith God by the mouth of his Servant, Qui gloria­tur, in me glorietur; let him that glo­rieth, glory in me, that he understandeth me, and that he knoweth me, who sheweth mercy, and judgment, and [Page 43] righteousnesse upon the earth, Jer. 9.

Give me leave then to put you in mind of those everlasting joyes, which shall never be taken from you, not of meat and of drinke, not of harp and viol, in the luxury of the greatest feasts, but of God and of Christ, the Word and his Spirit, Quo nihil speciosius, quo nihil pretiosius, in the sweet language of that incomparable Father: then which nothing is more amiable and spe­cious for grace and beauty, nothing more admirable and pretious for sub­stance and value, lest it be said of you, as it was of the Pharisees, Luk. 7. 32. Cantavimus, & non Saltastis, we have Piped unto you, but ye have not Dan­ced, we have Sung unto you, but yee have not rejoyced; you may peradven­ture have joyed in the pleasant noise of musicall instruments, yee have not re­joyced at the Word of God, and sound of his Gospell, in sober dances of Spi­rituall rejoycings: with this he is plea­sed, with that he is grieved: in this he is glorified, in that he is dishonoured, [Page 44] and sometimes mightily blasphemed.

I will not deny, but that we may re­joyce in the outward comforts of hu­mane life, and take pleasure in the ve­ry creature, joy in health, joy in beau­ty, joy in wealth, joy in safety, joy in Arts and Sciences, Tongues and Lan­guages, friends and favours, priviledges and preferments, the gifts of nature and the graces of the Spirit, whereby we are enabled to promote the honour of God and benefit of his Servants. In these we may rejoyce, in these we may triumph, as they are blessings of our heavenly Father and pledges of his love: so it be with a twofold Caution and respect: the one of thankfulnesse, in the right acknowledgment of divine bounty, from whence they come; the other of subordination in the reall in­tendment of divine glory, whereunto they runne. For that is finis debitus, as Aquinas speaks, and ought to be the maine aime of our best faculties and most eminent perfections. In this sense we interpret the words of S^t Paul, [Page 45] and are to understand that deprecation of the Apostle; God forbid I should re­joyce in any thing, but the Crosse of our Lord Jesus Christ: not primarily and wholy, but conditionally and mode­rately in order to Christ and the ad­vancement of his glory.

And therefore, as Aristotle said, when they brought him two sorts of wine, the one from Rhodes, the other from Lesbos, with allusion to his Scho­lars, Menedemus and Theophrastus [...] &c. That of Rhodes is good, but this of Lesbos is the sweeter: So do I professe of earthly joy and hea­venly joy, corporall joy and spirituall joy, the joy of the Creature, and the joy of the Creator: that may be good, this is better, that may be pleasant, this is sweeter, that may be usefull, this is needfull, and such as ought most to be desired.

Faine would I draw you to it, that your hearts may rejoyce, and your joy may be full, when that which is perfect shall come, and that which is imperfect [Page 46] shall be done away. For in his presence, there is fulnesse of joy, and at his right hand there are pleasures for ever more. But where I faile, let Augustine go on, and make supply with his gaudete in one of his Sermons de Verbis Domini, Gau­dete in Domino, non in saeculo: Gaudete in veritate, non in falsitate: Gaudete in spe aeternitatis, non in store vanitatis: rejoyce in the Lord, not in the world: rejoyce in the truth, not in falshood; rejoyce in the hope of life and glory, not in the flower and flourish of Pride, and of vanity. All this is strongly en­forced by the Word of God, which in­deed is mighty in operation, and shar­per then a two edged sword, to divide betwixt the Soule and the Spirit, the joynts and the marrow, the world and your heart, the earth and your affecti­ons. I might send you to the Prophet David for ample direction, who writes many Psalmes of this argument, with a jubilate in Deo, O be joyfull in the Lord, all yee Lands, serve the Lord with glad­nesse, and come before his presence with a [Page 47] song: And with a Venite, exultemus in Domino, O Come let us sing unto the Lord, let us heartily rejoyce in the strength of our Salvation, let us come before his presence with thanks-giving, and shew our selves glad in him with Psalmes. But I shall leave you to a shorter compen­dium out of the Apostle, Philip. 4. 4. where he gives you a double charge, and bids you rejoyce in the Lord, with an I­terum dico, Againe, I say rejoyce: that he may awake you from the dreames of secular fancies, and bring you to the joyes of Spirituall extasies. I scarce remember a place in the Volume of this Book, of greater emphasis, that doth more insinuate into the heart of men, with a sweeter Eccho of forcible ingemination, and patheticall instru­ction, then what I last spake unto, re­joyce in the Lord, and againe I say rejoyce.

Therefore I wish it may have a deep impression with you, and be as nailes fastned by the masters of assemblies, never to be removed and forgotten, that yet may affect it, and that it may lift [Page 48] you up, from wordly desires and earth­ly Cogitations, as the Spirit did Eze­kiel, when it took him by a lock of the haire, and brought him to Jerusalem, lift you up, and bring you on to Jerusa­lem, the vision of peace, the fruition of blisse, the new Jerusalem, the cele­stiall Jerusalem; Jerusalem which is a­bove; the Mother of us all. Where a­mongst other songs and doxologies of praise and thanks-giving we may re­member this, and sing aloud upon our beds, with Patriarches and Prophets; with Apostles and Evangelists, with Martyrs and Confessors, with Saints and Angells, We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. Which the Lord Grant for Christ his sake, to whom with the Father and the holy Spirit, three persons and one God be ascribed all Power, Majesty, and Do­minion now and for ever, AMEN.