NICHOLAS SEMES OE STANDARD DIVINES. PUEITAN PEEIOD. ^ Mitl) (Bznzul preface By JOHN" C. MILLER, D.D., LtNCOLK college; HONOEAEY canon of WORCESTER; RECTOR OF ST MARTIN'S, BIRillNQnAM. THE WOEKS OF THOMAS ADAMS. VOL. II. COUNCIL OF PUBLICATION. W, LINDSAY ALEXANDER, D.D., Professor of Tlieologj% Congregational Union, Edinburgh. THOMAS J. CRAWFORD, D.D., S.T.P., Professor of Divinity, University, Edinburgh. WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM, D.D., Principal of the New College, Edinburgh. D. T. K. DRUMMOND, M.A., Minister of St Thomas' Episcopal Church, Edin- burgh. WILLIAM H. GOOLD, D.D., Professor of Biblical Literature and Church His- tory, Reformed Presbyterian Church, Edinburgh. ANDREW THOMSON, D.D., Minister of Broughton Place United Presbj'teriiin Church, Edinburgh. (3zmxul CFBttcr. REV, THOMAS SMITH, M.A., Edinburgh. THE WOEKS THOMAS ADAMS: THE SUM OF HIS SERMONS, MEDITATIONS, AND OTHER DIYINE AND MORAL DISCOURSES. By JOSEPH ANGUS, D.D., PRINCTPAL OF THE BAPTIST COLLEGE, KEGENT'S PARK, LONDON VOL. II., CONTAINING SERMONS FROM TEXTS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. EDINBURGH: JAMES NICHOL. LONDON : JAMES NISBET AND CO. DUBLIN : W. ROBERTSON. II.DCCC.LX IT. X Edinburgh: printed by ballantyne and oompant, paul's work. CONTENTS. ^ SERMONS. PAGE XXVI. Christ's Star Matt. 11. 11, . . 1 XXVII. The Way Home Matt. 11. 12, . . 13 XXVIII. The Good Politician Directed. ...Matt X. 16, . . 24 XXIX. The Black Saint Matt. XII. 43-45, 36 XXX. The Leaven Matt. XIII. 33, . 69 XXXI. The Two Sons Matt. XXI. 28-30, 81 XXXII. Majesty in Misery Matt. XXVII. 51,. 98 XXXIII. Lycanthropy Luke X. 3, . . .109 XXXrV. The Cosmopolite Luke XIL 20, . . 123 XXXV. The Fire OF Contention Luke XIL 49, . . 145 XXXVL The Barren Tree Luke XIIL 7, . . 166 XXXVIL Faith's Encouragement Luke XVIL 19, . 186 XXXVIIL The Lost are Found Luke XIX. 10, . . 209 XXXIX. The White Devil John XIL 6, . .221 XL. The Holy Choice Acts I. 24, . . .254 XLL A Visitation Sermon Acts XV. 36, . .264 XLII. The Three Divine Sisters : Faith, Hope, and Charity 1 Cor. XIIL 13, . 274 XLIIL The Temple 2 Cor. VL 16, . . 284 XLIV. The City of Peace 2 Cor. XIIL 11, . 311 VI CONTENTS. PAGE XLV. The Bad Leaven Gal. V. 9, . . .335 XLVI. Man's Seed-time AND Harvest Gal. VI. 7, . . . 360 XLVIL Spiritual Eye-salve Eph. I. 18, . . .375 XLVIIL The Saints' Meeting Eph. IV. 13, . . 388 XLIX. The Christian's Walk Eph. V. 2, . . . 404 L. Love's Copy Eph. V. 2, . . .413 LL A Crucifix Eph. V. 2, . . .422 LIL A Divine Herbal Heb. VL 7, 8, . .435 LIIL The Praise OF Fertility Heb. VL 7, . . . 447 LIV. A Contemplation op the Herbs... Heb. VI. 7, . . . 457 LV. The Forest of Thorns Heb. VL 8, . . . 471 LVL The End OF Thorns Heb. VL 8, . . .485 LVII. The Happiness of the Church Heb. XII. 22-24, . 493 CHEIST'S STAE; OB, THE WISE MEN'S OBLATION. When they were come into the house, they saiv the young child tvith Mary his mother, and fell doivn, and ivorshipped him : and tvhen they had opened their treasures, they jyresented unto him gifts ; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. — Matt. II. 11. The Feast of the Epiphany, or Manifestation of Christ, as it is this day's memory, so I have purposed this day's exercise. As relatu traditionis in- struimur, there were three principal and notable appearings of Christ on this day. All which eodem die contigisse feruntur, sed aliis atque aliis annis, — fell out the same day in divers years, as they write. So Maximus Episc. : * Tribus miraculis ornatum diem sanctum servamus, &c., — We keep this day holy and festival, being honoured with three won- ders : this day Christ led the wise men to himself by a star ; this day he turned the waters into wine at the marriage ; this day he was baptized of John in Jordan, According to these three distinct manifestations of himself, they have given this day three several names : — 1. Epijihania; because Christ did appear to certain magi by the direction of a star, and was, by their report, made knoAvn to the fox Herod and his cubs, many enemies in Jerusalem. Ver. 3, ' He was troubled, and all Jeru- salem with him.' 2. Theophania ; because there was a declaration of the whole Trinity, Matt. iii. 16 : of God the Father, whose voice was heard from heaven; of Ood the Son to be baptized, of whom was the testimony given, ' This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ; ' of God the Holy Ghost, who, descending like a dove, lighted on him. 3. Bethphania ;t because, John ii., he shewed the power of his deity at the wedding, in changing their water into wane. So the text, ver. 11, 'This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory.' * Horn. 1 in EpipL. : — ' Hodie stella magos duxit ad prgesepium. Hodie aquS3 ver- tuntur in vinum. Hodie baptizatus est Christua.' t From rSl^, QaTos, a ' bath, or firkin/ Isa. v. 10.— Ed. VOL. II. A >: 2 CHRIST'S STAR. [SERMON XXVI, 4. Some have added a fourth name, from a fourth wonder that they say was wrought on this day: Phagin2)hania ; because Christ relieved /«??ienj triduanam, the three days' hunger of five thousand, with five barley loaves and two little fishes. I confess, this history hath many observable points in it. It entreats of wise men, of a tyrannical king, of troubled people, and of the Eang of kings lying in swaddlmg clothes. To discourse all these vhtutesque, virosque, et tanti incendia belli, would exceed the limits of one cold hour. I would therefore confine my short speech and your attention to the verse read. Wherein, methinks, I find a miraculous wonder : that extraordinary 7n€n, by an extraordinary star, should find the King of heaven in so extraorduiary a place. Wise men seeking a star, shewing a Saviour, lying in a manger. But cernunt oculis, docentur oraculis, — the eye of flesh sees somewhat, the eye of faith shall see more. I may distinguish all into, I. A direction ; II. A devotion : the direction of God, the devotion of men. By the direction, they are brought to the Messiah. By their devotion, 'they worship him, and present him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh.' I. For the direction, we will borrow a little of the premises, and therein consider God's leading — their following. 1. God's leading was by a star. They that delight to cast clouds upon the clear sun have here mooted many questions about this star. (1.) Whether this star were singular, or a heap of stars. Our Eoman adversaries, to bring wilful trouble on themselves and us, have conjured a fiction from one Albumazar, a heathen, that the sign in the zodiac, called the Virgin, is composed of so many stars as may aptly portray virgineni gestantem inter hracliia filmm, — a virgin bearing an infant in her arms; and some of them have thought that, this star. Let Albumazar be the father of this opinion ; and for a little better autho- rity, they have mothered it on a prophecy of Tiburtine Sibylla. When Au- gustus boasted his superhuman majesty, Sibylla shewed him virginem in coelo infanti-portam, — a virgin in heaven bearing a young child in her arms ; ■\vith these words, Hie ^mer major te est, ipsuni adora, — Yonder infant is greater than thou art, O Caesar ; worship him. But because the father of this conceit was an ethnic, and the mother thought a sorceress, they have, as some think, spite of his teeth, brought in Chrysostom for a godfather to it ; or to another opinion, if differing from it, yet also exceeding the truth of this history. Whether of himself, or on their teaching, he says thus : — ' This star appeared to them descending upon that victorial mountain, having in it the form of a little child, and about him the similitude of a cross.' But I confess (and lo the great vaunts of their imity !) that many of them are of another mind. Howsoever, the text is plain against it ; ver. 2, ' uboiiiv auroS rh aoTgga, — vidimus stellam ejus. Aster and astrum differ, as Stella and sidus. Aster and stella signify one star ; astrum and sidus a knot of stars ; as tiny sign in the heaven, coacted and compounded of many stars. The evangelist here useth the singular word, * We have seen his star,' not stars, (2.) They cjuestion whether this was a new star created for the purpose, or one of those coeval to the world. Chrysostom, Damascene, Fulgentius, with most others, are persuaded it was a new star. Houdemius, an Eng- lishman, so sung of it — Matt. II. 11.] cheist's stae. S * Nova coclum stella depingitur, Diun sol novus ia terris oritur;' — 'Twas fit a new star should adorn the skies. When a new Sun doth on the earth arise,' It is called by Augustine,* viagnifica lingua coeli, — the glorious tongue of heaven. It appears this was no ordinary star, ex situ, motu, tempore liLcencU. [1.] By the site. The place of it must be in aere terrce vicino,f — in that 23art or region of the air that was next to the earth ; otherwise it could not so punctually have directed these wise men that travelled by it. [2.] By the motion. The course of other stars is circular : this star went straight forward, as a guide of the way, in the same manner that the ' pillar of fire,' Exod. xxxi, 21, went before Israel when they passed out of Egypt. [3.] By the time of shining. Other stars shine in the night only : this star gave light in the broad day, as if it Avere a star appointed to wait on the sun. * Stella luce vincens Luciferum, Magos ducit ad regem siderum.' Of this star did that conjurer prophesy, Num. xxiv. 1 7, ' There shall come a star out of Jacob,' &c. It was a true star, it was a new star, created by God in heaven for this purpose. Not that the birth of Christ depended on this star, but this star on his birth. Therefore it is called Chiist's star ; ver. 2, ' his star.' This star served to them ad ducendum, to us ad docendum. It led them reaUy, let it also lead us figuratively, to Christ; them per visum, us i^er fidem. By the consent of divines this star did prefigure the gospel; and in deed, for what other light directs u.s to Christ 1 Not the star of natiure. Did not every step it taught us to tread bring us further off? If it heard of him, it sought him — as Laban sought his idols in the tents, or as Saul sought his asses in the mountains, or as Joseph and Mary sought him among their kinsfolk — either in the tents of soft ease and security, or in the mountains of worldly dignity, or among the kindred of the flesh, friends and company. Not the star of the law. For this told us of a perfect obedience, and of condemnation for disobedience; of God's anger, our danger; of sin and death. This star would have lighted us to heaven, if we had no clouds of iniquity to darken it to ourselves. And that which St Paul speaks, Gal. iii. 24, ' The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ,' is to be understood of the legal types and sacrifices; where, by an oblation of the blood of beasts, was prefigured the blood of that Lamb which should expiate all our sins. The gospel is this star; and blessed are they that foUow it. It shall biing them to the babe Jesus. God hath fixed this star in our orb; but how few are so wise as these wise men to follow it ! That star was sometimes hidden : this shines perpetually. It is hon-or and shame to speak it, we no more esteem it than if we were weary of the sun for continual shining. 2. I am loath to part with this star; but other observations caU me from it. You hear God's leading; mark their following. This is described — (1.) Ex adventu, by their access ; (2.) Ex eventu, by their success. Veniunt, inveniunt, — They come, they find. * Serm. 3 in loc. t Thorn., part, iii., quaest. 35, art 7. 4 Christ's stae. [Seemois- XXVI. (1.) Their access. Some ha,ve thought that these magi, ha\ing so pro- found skill in astrology, might by calculation of times, composition of stars, and stellations of the heavens, foreknow the birth of the Messiah. But this opinion is utterly condemned by Augustine* and all good men; and it shall only help us with this observation : — God purposed so plentiful a salvation by Christ, that he calls to him at the first those who were far off. Far off indeed; not only in a local, but ceremonial distance. For place : they were so for as Persia from Judea; from thence most writers affirm their coming. For the other respect : he calls those to Christ who had run furthest from Christ, and given themselves most over to the devil — magicians, sorcerers, conjurers, confederates Avith Satan in the most detestable art of witchcraft. These that had set their faces against heaven, and blasphemed out a renunciation of God and all goodness, even at those doors doth God's Spirit knock, and sends them by a ^ar to a Saviour. Be our sins never so many for number, never so heinous for nature, never so full for measure ; yet the mercy of God may give us a star, that shall bring us, not to the babe Jesus in a manger, but to Christ a king in his throne. Let no penitent soul despair of mercy. Christ manifested himself to two sorts of people in his swathing-clouts — to these magicians, and to shepherds; the latter simple and ignorant, the other learned and wicked. So Augustine,t In rusticitate 2'>cistorum iviperitia 2)rcevalet, in sacrilegiis magorum impietas. Yet to both these, one in the day of his nativity, the other in this epiphany, did that Saviour, with whom is no respect of persons, manifest his saving mercy. Whether thou be poor for goods of the world, or poorer for the riches of grace, be comforted ; thou mayest one day see the salvation of God. Observe their obedience : they come instantly on God's call. They have seen liis star, and they must go to him. They regard not that Herod was an enemy to the king of Persia, their master; they come to his court to inquire for Christ. When they are there, let Herod be never so troubled about the name of the true and new-born King of the Jews, they have the inward direction, the record of an ancient prophecy added by the priests : ver. 6, from Micah v. 3, ' Thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel.' Hereupon they go. Obedience, when it hath the w'arrant, goes upon sound and quick feet Nee falsa fingit, nee vera vietuit imiiedimenta, — No obstacles can stay it, no errors stray it, nor terrors fray it ; it is not deluded with toys, nor deferred with joys; it tarries not with the young man in the gospel, to kiss his friends, nor with the old man, to fill liis barns : but currit per saxa, per ignes, through aU dangers and difficulties, with a faithful eye bent upon the caller's promises. And this is that other virtue remarkable in these wise men. Observe their faith : they come to the priests made acquainted with the oracles of God, to inquire of this King. The priests resolve the place of his birth from the prophet ; but though told of his star, they will not stir a foot towards him. Perhaps it might cost them their honours or lives by the king's displeasure ; therefore they wiU point others, but disajipouit then- own souls. Here is a strange inversion : Veritas illuminat magos, infidelitas obcoecat magistros, — Truth guides the magicians, unbelief blinds the priests. They that were used to necromantic spells and charms begin to understand the * De Civit. Dei, lib. v. t Serm. 2 de Epiph. Matt. II. 11.] Christ's star. 5 truth of a Saviour; whiles they that had him in their books lost him in their hearts. Utimtur paginis, quarum non credunt elo^u'm, — They turn over the leaves, and believe not their contents. To what end were all their quotidian sacrifices ? If they were not tj'pes and figures of a ilessiah, what other thing made they thek temple but a butcher's shambles ? Now the mercy and grace of our Lord Jesus keep us from this apostate ■wickedness ! Let truth never speak it of us, that we have the book of the Lord in our hands, not the doctrine in our consciences ; that we have God's seals, yet unmarked souls; that de virtutibus vacui loqidmur, — we speak of the graces we have not. It was once spoken of Greece, in regard of the ruins, (yea, of the utter ex- tinction, for etiam periere ruince^ Gixeciam in GfrcGcia qucerimus, non inveni- mus, — We seek for Greece in Greece, and cannot find it. Let it never be said of us in respect of our recidival disobedience, Angliam in Anglia quceri- mus, et non inventa est, — We seek that famous church of England in Eng- land, and find it not. IMany love to live within the circumference and reach of the gospel, because it hath brought peace, and that peace wealth, and that wealth promotion. But if this health of quiet might be upheld or augmented by that Roman harlot, they would be ready to cry, ' Great is Diana of the Ephesians !' and Christ might lodge long enough at Bethlehem, ere they would go to visit Mm. Our lives too prodigiously begin to portend this. But, ' faxit Deus, ut nullum sit in omiue pondus.' And for ourselves, beloved, let us not, like the priests, direct others to a Saviour, and stay at home ourselves ; nor like the trumpeter, that encour- ageth others to the battle against the enemy of God and our salvation, nildl ipse nee ausus, nee potuit, — ourselves being cowards, and giving never a stroke. It is not enough to tell the people of a Saviour in Bethlehem ; opus est etiam prceiiione, aut saltern coiiione, et ixiri congressu, — we must go before them, or at least go with them. For this cause I commend the faith of these magi. Seeing the priests' doctrme concurs with the star's dumb direction, though Herod will not leave his court, nor the scribes their ease, nor the people their trades ; yet these men will go alone to Christ. When thou art to embrace religion, it is good going in company, if thou canst get them, — for the greater blessing fallf^ upon a multitude, — but resolve to go, though alone ; for tliou shalt never see the Lord Jesus, if thou tarry till all Jerusalem go with thee to Bethlehem. (2.) We have heard then' advent, or access ; listen to the event, or success : ' They saw the young child with Mary his mother.' God hath answered the desire of their hearts ; they had undertook a long journey, made a diligent inquiry ; no doubt theu- souls longed, with Simeon, to see their Saviour. Lo ! he that never frustrates the faithful affection, gives abundant satisfixction to their hopes : ' They saw the young child with ^Mary his mother.' Observe, [1.] Whom ; [2.] With whom ; [3.] Where they saw him. [1.] Whom i ' The young child.' Meditate and wonder. The ' Ancient of days ' is become a young chUd. The infinitely great is made little. The sustainer of aU things, sucks. Factor terrce, fact us in terra, Creator cceli, creatus sub coelo* — He that made heaven and earth, is made under heaven upon earth. The Creator of the world is created in the world, created little in the world : ' They saw the young cliild.' * Aug. Serm. 27 de Temp. 6 Christ's stak. [Sermon XXVI. [2.] With ivhom ? ' With Mary his mother.' Mary was his daughter ; is she now become his mother 1 Yes ; he is made the child of ]\Iary who is the father of Mary. Sine quo Pater nuiiquam ficit, sine qtio mater nun- quam, fuisset,'"' — Without whom his Father in heaven never was ; without whom his mother on earth had never been. [3.] Where ? It is evident in St Luke's Gospel, they found him lying in a cratch. He who sits on the right hand of the IMajesty on high was lodged in a stable. He that ' measures the waters in his fist, and the heaven with a span,' Isa. xl. 12, was now crowded in a manger, and swaddled with a few rags. Here they find neither guard to defend him, nor tumults of people thronging to see him ; neither crown on his head, nor sceptre in his hand ; but a young child in a cratch : having so little external glory, that they might have saved their pains, and seen many in their own country far be- yond him. Our instruction hence is, that — God doth often strangely and strongly exercise the faith of his ; that their persuasion may not be guided oculis, but oraculis, — by their sight, but his word. The eye of true faith is so quick-sighted, that it can see through all the mists and fogs of difficulties. Hereon these magi do confidently believe that this poor child, lying in so base a manner, is the great King of heaven and earth. The faith of man, that is grounded on the promises of God, must believe that in prison there is liberty, in trouble peace, in affliction comfort, in death life, in the cross a crown, and in a manger the Lord Jesus. The use of this teacheth us not to be offended at the baseness of the gospel, lest we never come to the honour to see Jesus. It was an argument of the devil's broaching, ' Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed on him V John vii. 48. The great, the learned, the wise gave him no credence. But ' this people, that knoweth not the law, is cursed.' None but a few of the rascal company follow him. But hereof Simeon resolved his mother Mary •. ' This child is set for the fall, as well as the rising again, of many in Israel ; for a sign which shall be spoken against,' Luke ii. 34. He should be thus ; but woe unto them that so esteemed him ! It is God's custom to work his will by contraries. If a physician should apply a medicine contrary to the nature and complexion of the patient, he would have little hope to cure the disease. But such is God's miraculous working, that he subdues crowns to a cross, overcomes pride by poverty, overthrows the wisdom of the flesh by the foolishness of the Spirit, and sets knees a-bowing to a babe in a manger. II. You see their access, and the event, or success ; which poirtts deter- mine their direction. Let us come to their devotion. Herein we shall find a triplicity ; to follow the method of Au^istmc's gloss, Adorant coriJoribtis, venerantur oj/iciis, honorant munerihus, — Christ hath bestowed on these magi three sorts of gdfts — goods corporal, spiritual, temporal ; and all these in a devout thankfulness they return to Christ. 1. In falling doivn, they did honour him with the goods of the body. 2. In worshipinng him, with the gifts of the mind. 3. In 2^resenting to him gifts, — gold, frankincense, and myrrh, — with the goods of the world. 1. and 2. The body and nnnd I will knit together, 'They fall down and worship him.' It is fit they should be partners in repentance that have been confederates in sin. It is cjuestioned, whether in transgressing, the body or the soul be most culpable ? I am sure either is guilty. It is all one : a man that wants eyes carries a man that wants feet , the lame that * Aug. Serin. 27 de Temp. Matt. II. 11.] chkist's stae. 7 cannot go spies a booty, and tells his blind porter of it, that cannot see. He that hath eyes directs the way •. he that hath feet travels to it ; but they both consent to steal it. The body without the soul wants eyes : the soul mthout the body wants feet ; but either supplies the other to purloin God's glory. Discuss whether more, that list ; I am certain both the blind and the lame are guilty. Both have offended, both must in a repentant oblation be offered to God. Therefore saith Paul, Rom. xii. 1, 2, not only ' Present your bodies a living sacrifice,' but also, ' Be transformed by the re- newing of your minds.' Bodily labour profits little without the soul ; and it is a proud soul that hath stiff knees. These magi therefore give both : procidentes adoraverunt eum. Here is one thing sticks horribly in the Papists' stomachs ; and like a bone in the throat, wUl neither up nor down -with them. ' They fell down, and worshipped him ;'' not her. This same leaving out of her hath much vexed them. How much would they have given the Evangelist to put in illam ! They saw him with his mother ; yet they worshipped him, not his mother. They have troubled us and themselves with many arguments, that though this was concealed it was not omitted. And they are resolved to believe it, though they cannot prove it ; and that, though it be not so good, shall be as ready. Howsoever they wiU confute the magi in their practice ; for they stUl will adorare earn, when perhaps they forget eum, and give the mother more honour than her Maker. It was but mannerly in Bellarmine to post- scribe two of his tomes with Laus Deo, virr/inique matri Mance, — ' Praise to the Lord, and his mother the Virgin Mary.' Some, setting the cart before the horse, have written, Laus heatce virgini, et Jesu Christo, — ' Praise to the Virgin Mary, and Jesus Christ.' And they have enjoined ten Ave Marias for one Pater noster. It is to be feared at last they wUl adore her for their Saviour, as they do for their mediator, and shut Christ quite out of doors. But let me come out of Babel into God's city. ' They fell down, and wor- shipped him.' Let our instruction hence be this : — God did ever so strangely qualify the baseness of Christ, that though he seemed in men's eyes a contemptible object, and abject, Isa. liii. 3, yet he was so beautified with some certain mark of his divinity, that he might be discerned to be more than man. Here, when he had an ox-stall for his cloth of estate, he had a star from heaven to shine forth his glory. Now, when generally in the world there was as much thought of the man in the moon as of Christ, the Sun of righteousness, behold magicians come from the east, and prostrate themselves before him. The eye of their flesh saw his rags of poverty ; the eye of their faith saw his robes of glory. Instead of the cold stones and pavement, they saw his sapphires, jaspers, chrysoUtes. Instead of his manger, they saw his throne. For the beasts about hiai, they saw armies of angels attending him. For his base stable, they saw palatitcm centum sublime columnis, — a palace of many turrets. They beheld magnum in parvo latere ; that this little child was a great King, yea, a great God, yea, a great King above aU gods. Thus, as Thomas in one of his hymns — 'Quod non capis, quod non vides, Animos.a firmat fides, Praeter rerum ordinem.' ' What we neither feel nor see, Powerful faith believes to be.' When Christ was first revealed to poor shepherds, he was not without a 8 Christ's stak. [Sermon XXVL choir of angels singing his glory, Luke ii. Let him be in the wilderness amongst wild beasts, even those glorious spirits are his j)ensioners, and minis- ter to his wants. Matt. iv. He comes hungry to a fig-tree, to demonstrate his natural mfirmity ; but finding no fruit on it, he curseth the fig-tree, — ' Never fruit grow on thee hereafter,' Matt, xi., — to declare liis power. Must he pay tribute ? Yet the King's son should pay none : but he is content to be a subject, he will pay it ; but he bids Peter go to the sea and take it out of a fish's mouth, Matt. xvii. To shew his humility, he will pay it ; but to shew his divinity, he bids the sea pay it for him. He that imdertook the misery to be whipped. Matt, xxvi., did also, to prove his majesty, whip the buyers and sellers out of the temple. Matt, xi., which was no less than a mira- culous wonder, that a private man should do it without resistance. Yea, when he was dying between two thieves, he so qualifies the baseness of the cross that he works in the heart of one to call him Saviour, and to desire remembrance in his kingdom. Matt, xxvii. When his soul was leaving his body, as a man, even then he ' rent the veil of the temple, shook the earth, tore the rocks, opened the graves,' to prove that he was God. Thus, in his greatest humiliation, God never left him without some testi- mony of his divine power ; that as beholding him hungry, thirsty, weary, weepmg, bleeding, dying, we say, homo ceiie, — Sure he was a man : so, seeing him to calm the seas, command the winds, heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out devils, we may say, Dens certe, — Sure he was God. Thus these converted magicians beheld him 1iomine)n verum, though not hominem merum, — a little child, a great God. To borrow a distich of a divine poet — * strangest eyes, that saw Mm by this star, Who, when bystSCuders saw not, saw so far ! ' 3. Men are especially taken with three things — submission, honour, gifts. These wise men therefore having fallen down and worshipped him, do now ' open their treasures, and present him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh.' Divers of the fathers have diversely glossed these wise men's gifts : — Bern. : They did offer gold, to reUeve Mary's necessities; frankincense, to sweeten the stable; myrrh, to comfort the swaddled babe. Others thus — They did offer gold to Christ, as being a king; franldncense, as being God; mjTrrh, as being man, to die for the redemption of the world. Ambros. : Aurum regi, thus Deo, myrrham defuncto, or morituro, — Gold for a king, incense for God, myrrh for a man that must die, a special unguent to reserve the body from corruption. So Basil : Ut 7'egi aunivi, ut moritu.ro myrrliani, ut Deo thus obtulenmt. The same Hilary : In aiiro regem, in thure Deum, in myrrha hominem, confitentuy. All the fathers and other writers harp on this string, and sing the same note, — Nazianzen, Cyprian, Augustine, Jerome, Gregory, Fulgentius, — that in gold, they acknowledged him a king; by incense, God; by mjTrh, a passible and mortal man. So the Christian poets have sung — * Aurea nascenti fuderimt munera regi : Thura dedere Deo : myrrhatn tribuere sepulchro.' So another — ' Aurum, thus, myrrham, regique, Deoque, Hominique, dona ferunt.'* * These lines are misquoted from Juvencaa ; they ought to stand thus : — ' Thus, aurum, myrrham, regique, hominique, Deoque, Pona feruut.' — Ed. Matt. II. 11.] cheist's stae. ^ In general, learn two profitable instructions : — (1.) They come not to Christ empty-handed. It was God's charge to Israel, Deut. xvi. 16, — but we think now we are delivered from that law, — Non apparebis in conspedu tmo vacuus, * Thou shalt not appear before me empty.' You plead, God cares not for our sheep and oxen, or the fat of our rams; for all the world is his. He requires it not for himself, though due to himself. Give it then to his poor ministers, to his poor members here. I know not how happily I am fallen into that I would never be out of — charity. Most men now-a-days, as it is in the proverb, are better at the rake than at the pitchfork, readier to pull in than give out. But if the Lord hath sown plentiful seed, he expects plentiful fruits ; an answerable measure, heapen and shaken and thrust together, and running over. If God hath made the bushel great, make not you the peck small. Turn not the bounty of heaven to the scarcity of earth. We love the retentive faculty well ; but our expulsive is grown weak. But as God hath made you divites in area, so beseech hun to make you divites in conscientia. Accept not only the dis- tributive virtue from heaven, but affect the communicative virtue on earth. As in a state politic, the liege ambassadors that are sent abroad to lie in foreign kingdoms secureth our peaceable state at home, so that we disperse abroad makes safe the rest at home. The prayers of the poor, by us re- lieved, shall prevail with God for mercy upon iis. The l»ppy solace of a well-pleased conscience shall rejoice us, and the never-fauing promises of God shall satisfy us. We hear many rich men complain of losses by sea, by debtors, by unjust servants : we never heard any one complain of want that came by charity. No man is the poorer for that he gives to the poor ; let him sum up his books, and he shall find himself the richer. As God there- fore hath laid up for you in terra morientium, in this world; so lay you up for yourselves in terra viventium, in the world to come. As you are rich in the king's books, be rich in God's book. If it were possible all the world should miscarry, your treasure in heaven is in a sure coffer ; no thief, rust, moth, fire, shall consume that. You shall find God the best creditor ; he will pay gTeat usury, not ten in a hundred, but a hundred, a thousand for ten. (2.) Their gifts were not slight and trivial, lean, meagre starvelings; but opima, optima, — every one the best in their kinds. Gold is the best of metals, frankincense of aromatical odours, myrrh of medicinal unguents. Match these wise men, ye miserable times of ours. Raro reddentem, 7'arissime optima reddentem profertis. You seldom bring forth a man that will give, but almost never one that will offer the best gifts. Our lame son must be God's clerk, our starved lamb, our poorest fleece, our thinnest sheaf must fall for God's tenth. If we give him the shells, the husks, the sherds, the shreds of our wealth, we judge him beholden to us. God hears the heavens, and the heavens hear the earth, and the earth hears the corn, wine, oU, and they hear us, Hos. ii. Our valleys stand thick with corn, our trees groan with the burden of fruits, our pastures abound with ^ cattle, and we return God either nothing, or the worst we can pick out. Take heed, lest God ' curse our blessings,' Mai. ii. 2 ; and wliiles our barns and garners be fat, he withal ' send leanness into our souls.' Never think, ye miserable worldlings, without opening your treasures and presenting the Lord with liberal gifts, ever, with these magi, to see the face of the Lord Jesus. Go home now, and make thyself merry with thy wealth, whiles Christ stands mourning in the streets ; applaud thy wardrobe, whiles he goes naked ; saturate thyself with thy fat moi'sels, whiles he begs, unre- lieved, for the crumbs ; bcek thy pampered Hmbs at the fire, whiles he shakes 10 Christ's stab. [Seemon XXVI. tlarough cold : thy misery is to come, thou shalt not behold thy Saviour in glory. Generally their example hath taught us somewhat ; to be charitable, to be rich in charity, 1 Tim. vi. 18. More specially they shall instruct us to par- ticular gifts. Some have alluded these three, gold, myrrh, and frankincense, to the three theological virtues, faith, hope, and charity. ' Auro virtus perhibetur amantis : In myrrlia bona spes ; tliure beata fides.' By incense they understand faith ; because as that is to be offered, so this is to be reposed in God alone. By myrrh, hope ; that though death lay the body in the cold eai-th, and send it to jDutrefaction, yet hope shall, as it vsrere, embalm it with myrrh, and give it expectance of a better resurrection. By gold, love and charity ; the use of it being such as it can procure them to whom we give it necessary things to the sustentation of their lives. Et quid non venditur auro ? Others have resolved it thus : — ' Pro myrrha lachrymas ; auro cor porrige purum, % Pro thure, ex humili pectore f unde preces ; ' — * Pure heart, thy gold, thy myrrh be penitence ; And devout prayer be thy frankincense.' In a word — First, Offer up to God thy frankincense, supplication and thanksgiving. Ps. cxli. 2, ' Let thy prayer be set forth before him as incense, and the lift- ing up of thy hands as an evening sacrifice.' Put this into Christ's censer, and it will make a sweet smoke in God's nostrUs. 'Whoso offereth me praise glorifieth me,' Ps. 1. 23. It shall perfume thy soul, qualify the stench of thy iniquities, and vindicate thy heart from the suffocating plague of sin. Say then, Ps. liv., ' I will freely sacrifice unto thee : I will praise thy name, O Lord, for it is good.' Freely, for this must be frankincense. JVext, Present to him thy myrrh, a chaste and mortified life. Let thine eyes, like the hands of the church, Cant. v. 5, 'drop down sweet-smelling myii'h.' Let them gush forth with penitent tears, and thy soul pour out floods of sorrow for thy offences. ' We have sinned, we have sinned : oh, let the Lord behold our oblation of myrrh, accept our repentance ! ' Lastly, Thou must give thy gold also : a pure heart, tried in the furnace of afiliction, and sublimed from all corruption. And because God only knows the heart, and the world must judge by thy fruits ; give thy spiritual gold to Christ, and thy temporal gold to his poor members. Here take with thee three cautions : — Caution 1 .—That all these gifts be derived from an honest heart. It is said of these magi, ' They opened their treasures, and presented unto him gifts.' Man's heart is his treasury; thou must open that when thou pre- sentest any gift to the Lord. He that comes with an open hand and a shut heart, shall be answered of God, as Belshazzar was of Daniel, ' Keep thy rewards to thyself, and give thy gifts to another.' Caution 2. — That thy gifts observe the true latitude of devotion, which endeavours to extend itself to the glory of God, the good of thy brother, and the salvation of thy own soul. And to all these three may these three gifts of the wise men be referred. The incense of prayer respects God, the gold Matt. II. 11.] cheist's star. 11 of charity respects our neiglibour, and tlie myrrh of mortification respects ourselves. Caution 3. — That yoii offer not only one, but all these. It hath been questioned whether these magi did offer singuli singula or singuli tria. But the consent of divines is, that they gave every one all, semel et simul. Thy oblation will not be welcome, if any of the three be missing ; give then all. Some will give mjrrrh, but not frankincense ; some will give frankincense, but not myrrh ; and some wiU give myrrh and frankincense, but not gold. First, Some will give myrrh, — a strict moral life, not culpable of any gross eruption or scandalous impiety ; but not frankincense. Their prayers are thin sown, therefore their graces cannot come up thick. Perhaps they feel no want; and then, you know, rarce fiimant felicihus aroe. In their thought they do not stand in any great need of God ; when they do, they will offer him some incense. These live a morally honest life, but are scant of reli- gious prayers ; and so may be said to offer myrrh without frankincense. Secondly, Some will give frankincense, — pray frequently, perhaps tediously^ but they will give no myrrh, — not mortify or restrain their concupiscence. The Pharisees had many prayers, but never the fewer sin's. These m«ck God, that they so often beg of him that his will may be done, when they never subdue their affections to it. There are too many such among us, that will often join with the church in common devotions, who yet join with the world in common vices. These make great smokes of frankincense, but let not faU one drop of myrrh. Thirdly, Some will give both myrrh and frankincense, but by no means thek gold. I will give, saith the worldling, a sober life, — there is my myrrh ; I will say my prayers, — there is my frankincense ; but do you think I will part with my gold '? This same gold lies closer in men's hearts than it doth in their purses. You may as well wring Hercules's club out of his fist, as a penny from their heaps to charitable uses. You have read, 2 Sam. xxiv. 24, how Araunah, like a king, gave to the king oxen for sacrifice, and the instruments for fuel. But Da\dd answered, * Shall I offer burnt-offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing ? ' These men will give God oblations, and enough, provided they cost them nothing. The usurer must save his gold for his idolatrous eye, the drunkard for his host, the lustful for his whore, the proud for his back, the epicure for his belly. Can you hope they will part from their gold? ' Avirum omnes, pulsa jam pietate. colunt.' Oh, this damned sin of covetousness, how many it keeps from the grace of God and the gates of heaven ! Men think they can never have gold enough. They WTitc of the toad, that she eats of nothing but the earth, and thereof no more than she can hold in her foot at once ; and the reason they give is, that she fears the earth would be wasted, and none left. A fit emblem of the covetous, who fear to take their portion of the things God hath given them under the sun, lest they should want ; when the bottom of their patri- mony, moderately unravelled, would last to ten fnigal generations. How this sickness grovels ! How it stoops hiin into earth, into hell ! This disease lies in men's bones, I have read of a beggar that passed by a company of rich men, and earnestly besought their alms, complaining that he had a secret disease lying in his bones, that he coifld not earn his living. They in charity gave him somewhat, and let him go. One amongst the rest fol- lowing Mm, would needs know of him what that secret disease should be, 12 Christ's stak. [Sermon XXVL seeing that outwardly he seemed to ail nothing. Quoth the beggar, You cannot see it, for it lies in my bones ; and some call it idleness. You see many a rich man, whose cup of wealth runs over ; you wonder to see him so miserable, both to himself and others. Why, there is a disease that lies in his bones, that keej^s him from working the works of charity, from re- lieving his distressed brethren ; you may call it covetousness. They wUl part with anything, so they may keep their gold. But we must give our gold too with the rest. If we offer not all, Christ will accept none. I wUl end with a consolation ; for who can shut up this story with a terror ? The Lord will so graciously provide for his, that in their gxcatest extremity they shall not be destitute of comfort. Though JIary travail in her travel, — for she was dehvered in Bethlehem, whither she came to be taxed, Luke ii., and 'likely wanted necessary provision for her infant and herself, — behold, God will relieve their poverty, and send them gold from the east : as he once in a dearth provided for Jacob's family in Canaan, by a store of bread in Egypt. Comfort shall come when and whence we least expect it. Eocks shall yield water, ravens shall bring meat, rather than we shfill perish ; even our enemies shall sustain us. ' I have been young, and now am old ; yet have I not seen the righteous forsakei'i, nor his seed begging bread,' Ps. xxxvii. 25. ' By whom all things were made, and since have stood : By him they all shall work unto om* good : ' To whom be praise for ever ! Amen. THE WAY HOME. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. — Matt. II. 12. When these wise men had presented to Christ their gifts ; which, indeed, he first gave them, for the earth is his, and the fulness thereof; yet he rewards them. They emptied their treasures of gold, myrrh, and frankin- cense ; and he filled the treasure of their hearts with heavenly graces. For their gold, he returns them pure wisdom. They were called wise men before ; but their wisdom was infernal, downwards to hell, perhaps consulting with devils. Now he gives them ' wisdom from above, pure ' and refined as gold, James iii. 17. For their frankincense, he purgeth them of their former superstitious idolatries, from sacrificings to Satan ; and instructs them to whom franldn- cense is due, and aU other offerings of piety : to their Creator and Sa^iour. For their myrrh, he gives them charity, a true love to him that so truly loved them ; and for his sake, a love to others. They made then a blessed exchange with Christ, when, for gold, frankincense, mjTrh, they received "wisdom, devotion, charity. Now, to testify how highly the Lord favoured them, he speaks to them in a dream, and reveals his mind for the safety of his Son ; ' that they should not return to Herod.' And to witness how truly they served the Lord, they gave obedience ; ' they departed into their own country another way.' The whole maybe distinguished into, I. An informing; II. A performuag: I. A word ; II. A work. God gives the word, the magi do the ivorTc. God doth inform, and they •perfoi-m. He instructeth, and they execute. He gives direction, they obedi- ence. His word, informance, instruction, direction, is : 'He warned, them in a dream that they should not return to Herod.' Their work, performance, pliable obedience : ' They departed into their own country another way.' I. In the direction or monition informing are considerable these three circumstances: — 1. The men, xvise men, magicians; 2. The manner, in a dream; 3. The matter, that they shoidd not return to Herod. 1. The persons to whom God gave this admonition are expressly called wise men. Some say they were also great men. If so, then was this revelation made, (1.) Potentibus; (2.) Petentibus :'— 14 THE WAY HOME. [SeKMON XXVII. (1.) To great men. It is the opinion of some that these magi were kings ; and that the evangelist in calling them wise men, gave them a more honour- able title than if he had called them kings. So Ludolphus says that magus was in those days more noble than magnus. But we must loiow who they are that thus style them. Friars and Jesuits, such as can by no means endure the superiority of prmces ; that are derisores hominum maxime poten- tum. Hereon some of them have mooted strange problems, able to fill whole volumes : An sacerdotes regibus 2)referendi, — Whether priests be not above kings ? But still the conclusion is against princes. Some more moderate on that side have confessed them not reges, but regulos, little Idngs, petty princes: like those one -and -thirty kings that conspired against Joshua, chap. xii. 24 ; or those fifty that met at Troy. There is a kind of king in France whom the common people call, Le Roi d^Yvetot. But that these were but three in number, and kings in power, it may be painted in a Popish window, is not in the Catholic's Bible, therefore needs not be in a Chiistian's creed. (2.) Howsoever these magi were potentes or no, they were 2ietentes. Though they were great men, yet they humbly seek the greatest of men, yea, the great God, Jesus. And behold, graciously the Lord offers himself to their search : accorduig to his infallible promise, that he will be found out of aU that seek him. Dedit aspicieiitibus intellectum, qui prcestitit signum, et quod fecit intelligi, fecit inquiri^' So he offers himself to all faithful searchers. But we cannot find him we seek, unless he find us first ' that came to seek and to save that which was lost,' Luke xix. 10. We seek m vain, unless we seek Mm ; and we seek him in vain, unless he find us. Nos ad se qiccerendum suscitat, se ad inveniendum porrigit,\ — He stirs up our hearts to seek him, and offers himself to be found. There was never faithful heart sought the Lord Jesus, but he found ' him whom his soul loved,' Cant. iii. 1. His patience might be exercised, his fidelity tried, his desires extended, by God's hiduig himself for a season. In the night of obscmity, security, ignorance, he may miss him, ver. 1. Though he incj^uire among the deepest philosophers, and honestest worldlings, ver. 2, he may not find him. But, ver. 3, the watchmen will bring him to him ; yea, ver. 4, Christ himself will appear in gracious mercy. He may say for a while, as the poet of Anchises — ' QuD3 regio Christum ? quis liabet locus ? Illius ergo venimus,' — Where is Christ ? In what country may I find him ? But the Lord Jesus will reveal himself; yea, meet him half-way, as the mercifid father met his unthrifty son when he returned, Luke xv. AVe shall conclude with joy : * We have found the Messias : even him of whom j\Ioses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth,' John i. 41, 45. 2. You hear the persons to whom this admonition was given : the next circumstance is the manner : in a dream. I might here enter into a cloudy and confused discourse of dreams, till I had brought you all asleep. But I love not to fetch any bouts, where there is a nearer way. Herein 1 may say with Augustine,t ' I would to God I could discern between dreams.' Some are, (1.) Natm-al ; some, (2.) Preter- natural ; and others, (3.) Supernatural. (1.) Natural; and such arise either from complexion or from affection. [l.J From complexion or constitution. The sanguine hath merry dreams; the melancholy, sorrowful dreams; the choleric, dreams of fire, and such turbulent thoughts, the phlegmatic, of rain, of floods, and such watery * Leo in loc. f Fulgent. J Ad Euodium, ep. 100 ,- et de Civit. Dei, cap. 20. Matt. II. 12.] the way home. 15 objects. And as these elemental liumours do abound in a man, the dreams have a stronger force, and more violent perturbation. [2.] From affection : what a man most desires, he soonest dreams of. * Omnia qua) seusu volvuntur vota divimo, Tempore nocturno reddit arnica quies, Venator defessa toro dum membra reponit. Mens tamen ad silvas et sua lustra redit. Gaudet amans f urto : permutat navita merces : Et vigil elapsas quserit avarus opes.' * So Augustine :t Somniimi nascitur ex studiis prceteritis, — What man desires in the day, he dreams in the night. The hunter's mind is in the forest, whiles his wearied bones are reposed on a soft bed. The soldier di-eams of batteries, assaults, encounters ; the lawyer, of quirks and demurs ; the citizen, of tricks and^frauds ; the musician, of crotchets ; the Semmary, of equivocations. The glutted epicure dreams of dainty dishes and fat morsels. The thirsty drunkard dreams of his liquor ; ' and, behold, he drinketh ; but awake, his thii'st is not satisfied,' Isa. xxix. 8. The usurer dreams of his trmiks, and that he is telling his gold ; and starts, as if eveiy rat were a thief breaking in upon him. The timorous dream that they are flying before over- taking danger. The lustful imagines his desired embracings. The angry, that he is fighting, killing, spoUuag. The secure, that they are whistling, singuig, dancing. The jealous dreams of his Avife's errors, when she lies chastely by his side. The ambitious, that he is kissing the king's hand, and mounted into the saddle of honour. The overcharged mind dreams of his em- ployment ; ' for a dream cometh through the multitude of business,' Eccles. V. 3. (2.) Preternatural : and these are either ad errorem or ad terrorem. Where- of the first is wrought by Satan pennittente Deo, God suffering it ; the second by God, mediante diabolo, Satan being a mediate instrument. [1.] There are dreams for error, wrought by the mere illusion of Satan : whom God once suffered to be a lying spkit in the mouth of four hundred prophets. He working upon men's affections, incHnations, and humours, causeth in them such dreams as seduce them to wickedness, and induce them to wretchedness. They write of one Amphiaraus, an Argive soothsayer, that by a dream he was brought to the Theban voyage ; where hiatii terrcs ahsorhetur, — he was swallowed up of the earth. So Pharaoh's baker was encouraged to hopeful error by a dream, Gen. xl. 16. So was that mon- strous host of !Midian overthrown by a dream of a barley-cake, that hit a tent and overwhelmed it, Judg. vii 13, which was interpreted the sword of Gideon. [2.] For terror. Job says, that Deus terret per somnia, et per visiones hor- rorem incidit, — God strikes terror into the hearts of the wicked by dreams : as a mains genius is said to appear to Brutus the night before his death ; or as the face of Hector was presented to Andromache. Polydore Virgil records the dream of that bloody tyrant, Richard the Thii-d, that in a dream, the night before the battle of Bosworth-ficld, he thought all the devils ia hell were haling and tugging him in pieces ; and all those whom he had murdered ciying and shrieking out vengeance against him : though he thinks this was more than a dream. Id credo nonfuisse somnium, sed con- sdentiam scelerum, — He judged it not so much a dream as the guilty con- science of his ovm wickedness. So to Fiobert Winter, one of the powder traitors, in a dream appeared the ghastly figTU'es and distracted visages of his * Claudian. in Prsct,, lib, iii. + -Lib. de Spiritu et Anima, cap. 25, 16 THE WAY HOME. [SeRMON XXVII. cliief friends and confederates in that treason ; not unlike the very same manner wherein they after stood on the pinnacles of the Parliament-house. (3;) Supernatural ; such as are sent by divine inspiration, and must have a divine interpretation. Such were the dreams of Pharaoh expounded by Joseph ; the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar declared by Daniel. Of these were two sorts : — [1.] Some were mj^stical; such as those two kings" dreams, and Pha- raoh's two officers', whose exposition is only of God. So Joseph answers : 'Are not interpretations of the Lord?' Gen. xl. 8. So Nebuchadnezzar to Daniel : ' Thou art able, for the spirit of the holy God is in thee,' Dan. iv. 18. The sorcerers and astrologers dearly acknowledged their ignorance with their lives, Dan. ii. 13. Thus Pharaoh may dream, but it is a Joseph that must expound it. It is one thing to have a representation objected to the fantasy, another thing to have an intellectual light given to understand it. [2.] Others are demonstrative ; when the Lord not only gives the dream, but also withal the understanding of it. Such were Daniel's dreams, and these wise men's, and Joseph's in this chapter. Wherein was a \ision and provision : a vision what to do ; a provision that no harm might come to Jesus. These dreams were most specially incident to the New Testament, when God at the very rising of the sun began to expel the shadows of dark mysteries : ' And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon aU flesh : and your sons and your daughters shaE prophesy, ancl your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams,' Acts ii. 17. Now the sun is gotten up into the midst of heaven, — the gospel into the full strength, — these shadows vanish : the more light the less shadow. So that now to expect revelation of things by dreams, were to entreat God to lend us a candle whiles we have the bright sun. The superstitious Papists are still full of these dreams ; and find out more mysteries in their sleep than they can well expound waking. The Abbot of Glastonbury, when Ethelwold was monk there, dreamt of a tree whose branches were all covered with monks' cowls, and on the highest bough one cowl that overtopped aU the rest ; which must needs be expounded the fixture greatness of this Ethel- wold. But it is most admirable how the Dominic friars make shift to ex- pound the dream of Dommic's mother, which she had when she was with child of him : that she had in her womb a wolf with a burning torch in his mouth. Say what they wiU, a wolf is a wolf still : and that order hath ever carried a burning torch to scorch their mother, the church. But there is no dream of theirs without an interpretation, without a prediction. And if the event answer not their foretelling, they expound it after the event. If one of them chance to dream of a green garden, he goes presently and makes his will. Or if another dream that he shakes a dead friend by the hand, he is ready to call to the sexton for a grave ; takes solemn leave of the world, and says he cannot live. Beloved, God hath not grounded our foith upon dreams, nor ' cunningly devised fables,' 2 Pet. i. 1 6 ; but on the holy gospel, wiitten by his servants in books, and by his Spirit in the tables of our hearts. They that will be- lieve dreams and traditions above God's sacred word, let them hear and fear their judgment, 2 Thess. ii. 11, Tor this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie : that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.' Banish from your hearts this superstitious folly, to repose any confidence on dreams. But if you desii-e to make any use of dreams, let it be this. Consider thy- Matt. II. 12.] the way home. 17 self in thy dreaming, to what inclination thou- art mostly carried ; and so by thy thoughts in the night, thou shalt learn to know thyself in the day. Be thy dreams lustful ; examine whether the addictions of thy heart run not after the bias of concupiscence. Be they turbulent ; consider thy own contentious disposition. Be they revengeful ; they point to thy malice. Run they upon gold and riches ; they argue thy covetousness, Thus God may be said to teaoh a man by his dreams still : non qtoid erit, sed qualis est, — not what shall be, but what he is ; not future event, but present condition may be thus learned. Neither day nor night scapes a good man without some profit : the night teacheth him what he is, as the day what he should be. Therefore said a philosopher, that all waking men are in one common world ; but in sleep every man goes into a world by him- self. For his dreams do signify to him those secret mclinations to which he thought himself a stranger, though they were home-dwellers in his heart. Even those fancies are speaking images of a man's disposition. And as I have heard of some that talk in their dreams, and then reveal those secrets which awake they would not have disclosed, so may thy dreams tell thee when thou wakest what kind of man thou art. The hypo- crite dreams of dissimulation ; the proud woman, of pamt and colours ; the thief, of robbery and booties ; the Jesuit, of treasons. Let them ask their very sleep, quales sint, what manner of men they are. For so lightly they answer temptations actually waking, as their thoughts do sleeping. Thus only a man may make good use of his dreams. Here let us observe, that God doth sometimes draw men to him suis ipsorum studiis, — by their own delights and studies. No doubt these magi were well acquainted with dreams, it being amongst the Ethnics and Peri- patetics a special object of divination. Therefore there is a book bearing the name of Aristotle, De divinatione per somnium. Many errors these men had swallowed by dreams ; now, behold, in a dream they shall receive the truth. So God called them by a star whose profession was to rely too much on the stars. Quare 2>^i' stellam ? ut per Christum, ipsa materia erroris, Jieret salutis occasio,* — Why by a star 1 That through Jesus Christ the very matter of their error might be made a means of their salvation. Per ea illos voccsi, quce familiaria illis consuettido fecit, — God calls them by those things which custom had made familiar to them. TJhey that are stung with scorpions, must be ciired by the oil of scorpions. Thus God allures men to him as fishermen fishes, with such baits as may be somewhat agree- able to them. Paul is occasioned by the ' altar to the unknown God,' Acts xvii. 23, to make known the true God, the everlasting Jesus. Doth David love the sheep-folds? He shaU be a shepherd still : Ps. Ixxviii. 71, ' From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.' Doth Peter love fishing ? He shall go a-fishing still, though for more noble creatures ; to catch souls. Do these magicians love stars and dreams 1 Behold, a star and a dream shall instrupt them in the truth of God. Old Isaac takes occasion by the smell of his • son's garments, savouring of the field, to pronounce a spiritual blessing : Gen. xxvii 27, ' The smeU of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed.' Jerome notes of Amos, that he begins his prophecy with roaring, — ' The Lord shall roar from Zion,' Amos i. 2, — because he being a field-man, kept the woods, where he was wonted to the roaring of lions. Judoei sir/na quarimt ? — ' Do the Jews seek a sign 1 ' Why Christ wiU there, even among them, work his miracles. Doth Augustine love eloquence ? * Claiysolog. Horn. 6 in Matth. VOL. LL B 18 * THE "WAY HOME. [SeRMON XXVIL Ambrose sliall catch him at a sermon. ' All things shall work to their good,' Eom. viii. 28, that are good : omnia, etiam peccata, — all things, even their very sins, saith Augustine. Montaigne in his Essays writes, that a libidinous gentleman sporting with a courtezan in a house of sin, chanced to ask her name ; which she said was Mary. Whereat he was stricken with such a re- morse and reverence, that he instantly not only cast off the harlot, but amended his whole future life. Well-beloved, since this is God's mercy to allure us to him by our own de- lights, let us yield ourselves to be caught. What scope doth thy addiction level at, that is not sinful, which God's word doth not promise and afford 'i What delight can you ask which the sanctuary gives not 1 Love you hunt- ing 1 Learn here to hunt ' the foxes, the little cubs,' those crafty sins skulk- ing in your bosoms, Cant. ii. 15. Would you dance 1 Let your hearts keep the measures of Christian joy ; and leap, like John the Baptist in Elizabeth's womb, at the salvation of Jesus. Delight you in running ? Paul sets you a race : ' So run that ye may obtain,' 1 Cor. is. 24. You shall have good company : David promiseth, that he ' will run the way of God's commandments,' Ps. cxix. 32. Peter and John will run with you to Jesus. Love you music 1 Here are the bells of Aaron still ringing ; the treble of mercy, and the tenor of judgment, Ps. ci. 1 : Levi's lute, and David's harp. There are no such songs as the songs of Zion. Would you be merry 1 ' Eejoice in the Lord always ; and again I say, Rejoice,' Phil. iv. 4. If ever you found joy like this joy, — 'the peace of conscience, and joy of the Holy Ghost,' Rom, xiv. 17, — back again to the world. Lovest thou dainty cheer ] Here be the best cates, the body and blood of thy Saviour, the bread of life ; no hunger after it. WUt thou drink much ? ' Drink my wine and my milk; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved,' Cant. v. 1. Bihite et inebriamini, as the original imports, — drink, and be drunken with loves ; pledge the health that Christ began, even ' a saving health to all nations.' Are you ambitious ? There is no preferment like that is to be had here, in the court of the King of kings. David judged it no little thing to be son-in-law to a king ; but what is it then to be a king ? Desire you stately buildings ? Alas ! the whole world is but a cottage, a poor transient tabernacle, to the mansions promised by Christ, John xiv. 2. Lastly, are you covetous ? Yet I need not ask that question, but take it as granted. Why, then, here is gold ; more precious than that of Arabia, or of Havilah. Rust or thief may distress that ; this is a treasure can never be lost. What should I say more 1 What can win you ? Which way soever your desire stands, God doth allure you. The best things in earth or in heaven are your bait. With these doth the Lord seek you ; not for any need that he hath of you, but for your own salvation. When the fairest of all beloveds doth thus woo us, let him win us ; and espouse us to himself in grace, that we have the plenary marriage in glory. You see the manner of their warning. 3. The matter : that they should not return to Herod. Why not to Herod ? Because the Lord now lets them see his hj^pocrisy. For howso- ever he pretended, ver. 8, 'to come and worship him;' yet he intended not servire, but scevire, — not to honour him, but to murder him. He aiUs the wise men privily, as if he quaked at the propagation of this news, for it came upon him like the pangs of death. He commands them to inquii'e de infante, not de rege, — of the babe, not of the king ; for that title galled him to the eartli. ' That I may worship him.' Dirum /acinus tingit colore pietatis, — It is a monstrous wickedness, which he would dye in the colours of godliness. The Lord doth disappoint the purposes of tyrants. Though their bows be Matt. IT. 12.] the way home. • 19 bent, and their swords whetted, yet the mark shall be removed ; and they shall rather wound themselves than the innocent. Though they be ' great with child of iniquity, and conceive mischief, yet they shall bring forth but falsehood,' Ps. vii. 14. Though those Jews had ' bound themselves under a curse neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul,' Acts xsiii. 12 ; yet if they had kept their vow, they had fasted to death. Though Sennacherib purposed to swallow up Jerusalem at a morsel ; yet the Lord mocked his menaces : ' He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor cast a bank against it,' Isa. xxxviL 33. Herod made himself sure of Christ, but the Lord deceived him again and again. First he stroke him with extreme sottishness ; that learning by the wise men the birth of Christ, though the matter in his thought touched his crown, he sends none of his courtiers with them under pretence of gratifying them ; which might so have seized on that innocent Lamb, and not wor- shipped, but worried him. But the Lord so confounded his wits with the spirit of giddiness, that the magi go alone. Next, now that his bloody hopes depend upon their return, behold they are sent home ' another way.' So that, ver. 1 G, * he saw that he was mocked.' Herod mocked the wise men, and God shall direct the wise men to mock Herod. He pretended to adore whom he did abhor ; and they do cum vulpe vulpinare, — beguile the fox ; yea, rather oviciUa lujnivi fallit, — the lamb deceives the wolf. Sim- plicity goes beyond subtlety. A cane non magno scepe tenetur aper. Here was Herod's folly, that he would not suffer the King of the whole world to be king in Jewry ; that in fear of a successor, he would kill his Saviour. Nay further, for fear of a strange heir, he kiUs his own heir. Which occa- sioned Augustus t© say, that it was better being Herod's hog than his heir. Here, then, see his cruelty : if his strength cannot take Jesus, he will try his cunning ; and last, when his cunning faUs, he falls to open violence again, * sending forth men of war.' Thus when tyrants fail in their politicians' rhetoric, they faU to the carters' logic. II. You see the informance ; let us look upon their performance : ' They departed into their own country another way.' All which (wanting time to prosecute the history) I wUl apply to ourselves. Their course home shall teach us a course to our home, even to heaven and glory ; wherein I desire to observe these cii-cumstances : — 1. Ourselves naturally lost ; 2. Our finding of Christ ; 3. Our charge not to return to Herod ; but, 4. To go to our own country ; and, 5. That by another way. 1. Let it be granted that we have all wandered from the way of life : Isa. liiL 6, ' All we like sheep have gone astray ; we have turned every one to his own way.' I would to God every one would sentire, feel this in particular ; and not only consentire, consent to it in general. * I am not come to call the righteous,' saith Christ, * but sinners to repentance,' Matt. ix. 1 3. And, Luke XV., he leaves the hypocritical justiciaries to their own high-conceited purity, and seeks the lost sheep. We may here pause, and wonder at our , misery, at his mercy. We were so lost, that we could never find him ; he is so good, that he sought and found us. Invenit non qiicei'entes, non i^erdet inventos, — He found us, not seeking him ; being found, he will not lose us. * Come to me, all that labour and are heavy laden, and I wiU give you rest,' Matt. xi. 28. The proud sinner who doth not find his sin, the careless who doth not feel his sin, is not called. Only sentieniibiis morbum promiitiiur medicina, — health is promised to those that feel their sickness. 2. Christ calls us ; but how shall we come 1 Behold, he sends us a star for direction, his holy word: John vi. QS, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? 20 THE WAY HOME. [SeRMON XXVII. Thou hast the words of eternal life.' Would you come to him that is vita, the life ? You must come by him that is via, the way. It is he quo eiindum, whither we would go ; it is he qua eundum, by which we must go. To his word then let us come with an honest heart : not to sleep, not to carp, not to gaze ; but to observe attentively, to remember faithfully, and to prac- tise obedientlj', what is there taught us. Neither must God only, for his part, afford us a star for gandance ; but we must also, for our part, bring feet to walk to him. These are three : — (1.) Contrition : a heart truly sorrowful for our former iniquities. He that is cast down by repentance shall be raised up with joy. It is not pos- sible to walk to God without this foot. He that goes to heaven must wash his steps with tears. And he that hath this foot shall make large paces to glory. Though he hath long lingered, he will now haste ; as the malefactor stejjped by this foot from the cross to paradise. (2.) Faith. Sorrow may cast down too fast, too far. Though the head have leave to ache, yet let not the hand of faith be wanting to hold it. Though the eye be blubbered with tears, yet must it look through all that water to the clear sun, Jesus Christ, When the law hath done its office in making thy sin manifest, thank it, and take thy leave of it ; as thou wouldest do of a friend that hath done thee a good turn, but now grows trouble- some. Put iloses behind thee, saith Luther ; and fix thine eyes upon Christ, that ' Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world,' John i. 29. Without this foot thou shalt step short of comfort. Faith must bring thee to the fountain of that blood which shall ' wash away all thy sins,' 1 John 1.7. (3.) Obedience. This foot must be continually used; all the days of thy life must thou travel in the ways of God with this foot. It knows and keeps celerity, integrity, constancy. [1.] Celerity : ' I will run the way of thy commandments,' Ps. cxix. 32. It makes haste, knowing that God will not be pleased with haltmg obedi- ence, or with that zeal that only goes a parliament-pace. The cripple was carried to the temple. Acts iii. : God loves not such limping zeal, that is car- ried to church on two crutches, law and custom ; but that which, with Peter and John, runs to the place where Christ is. But it is God that ' maketh our feet like the feet of hinds,' Ps. xviii. 33. [2.] Integrity : it turns not to the right hand nor to the left, but goes straight on, ' running with patience the race that is set before it,' Heb. xii. 1. Therefore, saith the Apostle, ' make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way,' ver, 13 ; for all false ways the Lord doth utterly abhor. ' The wicked walk on every side,' Ps. xii. 8 ; they have circular goings on every side of the truth, but the true way they can- not find. But integrity is not so light-heeled, to skip out of the way of righteousness at every dog that reproachfully barks at it, nor at eveiy Siren that temptingly would call it aside. The devil, with all his force of terror or error, cannot seduce it. [3.] Constancy : it is ever travelling, though through many hindrances. It hath a heavy load of flesh to burden it, and to make every step tedious, yet it goes. Cares for family, troubles of contentious neighbours, frowning of great adversaries, the malicious turbulency of the world, all offer to stay it, but it goes on. As if it had received the apostles' commission. Salute none of these remoras by the way, it resteth not till it see the salvation of Ood. The Lord 'delivers the feet from falling, that it may walk before God in the light of the living,' Ps. Ivi. 13. Matt. II. 12.] the way home. 21 3. We must not return back to Herod. Why not to Herod ? He was a fit type of the devil ; and they that are recovered and escaped from him should not fall back into his clutches. The devil is like Herod, both for his subtlety and cruelty. The Herods were all dissemblers, all cruel. There was Herod Ascalonita, Herod Antipas, and Herod Agrippa, all cruel in the but- chering of God's saints. ' Ascalonita uecat pueros, Antipa Johaiinem, Agrippa Jacobum, mittitque in carcere Petrum.' Ascalonita makes an earnest show of zeal to Christ, but he desired not sub- jicere se Christo, sed sibi Christum, — not to become subject to Christ, but to make Christ the subject of his fiiry. Antipas seemed to love John the Bap- tist, but he suffers a dancing foot to kick off his head. The cruelty of the other Herod was monstrous. He slew all those whom he could suspect to issue from the line of David, all the infants of Bethlehem under two years old, at one slaughter. He slew his kindred, his sister, his wife, his son.^ He cut the throats of many noble Jews whiles he lay on his deathbed. Yea, he made it in his will, that so soon as ever the breath was out of his body, all the sons of the nobler Jews, shut up mto a safe place, should be instantly slain, to bear him company. By this means he resolved that some should lament his death, which otherwise would have been the cause of great joy. A wretched testament, and fit for such a devil to make. That devil we are charged not to return to exceeds this both in subtlety and cruelty, even as much as a father may his son. Herod was not so per- fect a master of his art. The wise men deceived Herod ; he must be a wise man indeed that overreaches Satan. Herod was a bungler to him : he trusted to instruments to destroy Christ ; the devil looks to that business himself. * He can transform himself into an angel of Ught ; ' and rather than not draw men to hell, he will dissemble a love to heaven. He will speak good, that he may work evil ; and confess the truth, that thereby he may procure credit to greater falsehood. He can stoop to the reprobate, like a tame horse, till they get up and ride him ; but when he hath them on his back, he runs post with them to hell. When he hath thus exercised his pohcy, will he spare his power ? When his fox's part is done, he begins his lion's. Blood, massacre, destruction, are his softest embraces ; horror and amazement are the pleasures of his court ; ' Kni, kUl, burn, bum,' is the lang-uage of his tongue, to those miserable wretches which must ever be burning, never consumed, ever in suffering, and never die. Oh, then, let us never return to Herod, nor venture on his mercy ! The poor bird that hath escaped the hawk's talons is careful to avoid his walk. The strayed lamb, fallen into the wolf's cave, and delivered by the shepherd, will no more straggle out of the flock. If the Lord Jesus hath sought and brought us to himself by the star of his gospel, let us no more go back to Herod ; flying the works of darkness, and serving the living God with an upright heart. Indeed, they that are truly freed from his servitude will never more become his vassals. Many seem escaped that are not. If the adulterer return, like the ' hog to the mire,' and the drunkard, ' like the dog to his vomit,' 2 Pet. ii. 22, it is likely that they love Herod well, for they go back to him. The minister may desire to ' offer them up a liv- ing sacrifice to the Lord,' Rom. xv. 16, but, Uke wild beasts, they break the rope, and will not be sacrificed. But we, ' being delivered by Christ out of * Joseph. Antiq., lib. xvii., cap. 8. 22 THE WAY HOME. [SeRMON XXVII. the liands of our enemies, must serve him without fear, in holiness and right- eousness, all the daj-s of our life,' Luke i. 74, 4. We must go to our own country. In this world we are but strangers : though perhaps we think too well of these vanities, yet they are but foreign things ; we have another home. We may be ravished with this earth, as Peter wdth Tabor, — Bonum hie, It is good being here, — but if we look up to that heaven which is our country, mundi calcamus inutiU jMndiis. Behold, the very outside is fair : the outmost walls are beautified with glorious lights ; every one as a world for greatness, so a heaven for goodhness. All those spangles be as radiant stones, full of lustre, pure gold to the dross of earthly things. What may we, then, think there is within 1 Yea, whatsoever the wicked think, yet this world is but the thoroughfare ; and it is not their home neither, though indeed they have their portion in this life. It is said of Judas going to hell, that ' he went to his own place,' Acts i. 25 ; therefore that, and not this, is their own country, as sure as they think themselves of this world. In heaven there is all life, no death ; in hell, all death, no life ; on earth, men both live and die, passuig through it as the wilderness, either to Egypt or Canaan, This earth, as it is between both, so it prepares us for both, and sends every one to their own country — eternal joy, or everlasting sorrow. He tliat here dies to sin shall hereafter live in heaven ; he that lives in sin shall hereafter die in hell. All sojourn either with God, feeding on his graces, or with Satan, surfeiting on his iniquities. They that wiU have Satan for their host in transgression shall afterwards be his guests in perdi- tion. But they that obey God as their Master shall also have him their Father, and that for ever. Contemn we, then, this world. What though we have many sorrows here, and a succession of miseries, we are not at home. What stranger looks for kind usage amongst his enemies 1 As well might the captive Jews expect quiet among the Babylonians. Thou art sure of a country wherein is peace. In that heaven the wicked have no part, though here much pleasure. When thou considerest this truly, thou wouldst not change portions with them. Let it be comfort sufficient, since we cannot have both, that we have by many degrees the better. Their own country. — Heaven is our own country. Ours, ordained for us by God the Father : Matt. xxv. 31, ' Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit ye the kingdom.' Ours, purchased for us by God the Son : Heb. x. 19, ' We have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.' Ours, sealed to us by God the Holy Ghost : Eph. iv. 30, ' The Spirit of God seals us up to the day of redemption;' Kom. viii. 16, ' The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.' Ours thus, tliough we are not yet fully entered into it. Habevms jus ad rem, nondum in re, — We arc heirs to it, though now we be but wards. Our minority bids and binds us to be servants : Gal. iv. 1, ' The heir, as long as he is a child, differs nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all.' When we come to full years, a perfect growth in godliness, in mensuram staturcc adulti Christi, — 'to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ,' Eph, iv. 13, — we shall have a plenary possession. It is ours already, not in re, but iri spe; as Augustine. Our common law distinguisheth between two manner of freeholds : a freehold in deed, when a man hath made his entry upon lands, and is thereof really seized ; a free- hold in law, when a man hath right to possessions, but hath not made his actual entry. So Is this country ours ; ours ienore Juris, though not yet Matt. II. 12.] the way home. 23 jure tenoris, — ours in tlie iiilieritance of tlie possession, tliough. not in the possession of the inheritance. To this country, our country, let us travel ; and that we may do it the better — 5. The last circumstance shews us how : * another way.' We must change the whole course of our inordinate conversation, and walk another way — even the King's highway to Paradise. Immiitatio vice emendatio vitce^'' — The changing of the way is the amending of our Ufe. Eepentance must teach us to tread a new path. To man truly penitent, optimus j^rtus est mutatio con- silii,f — the best haven is the change of his life : ' not to turn again by the same way that he came,' 1 Kings xiii. 9. Thus must we renounce our own wills and old ways, and, being made new creatures, take new paths. So Gregory : ' We departed from our country by pride, disobedience, doting on \'isiblG delights, and pleasing the lusts of the flesh : we must therefore return by humility, obedience, contemning the world, and condemning the flesh.' Qid (i Faradisi gandiis per delectationera recessimics, ad hcec pier ■pcenitentiam, tanquam j)er novam viam, revocamur, — We that departed from Paradise by sin, must return thither by a new way — repentance. Hast thou walked in lust ? Take another way — by purity and chastity. Didst thou travel with pride ? There is another way to heaven — humility : ' Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,' Matt. v. 3. Wert thou given to avarice 1 There is a new way to heaven — by charity : 'Ye have fed me hungry,' &c., 'therefore come, ye blessed,' Matt, xxv. Didst thou trudge with contention, and molesting thy neighbours with suits ? This is the way to Westminster Hall ; there is ' another way ' to heaven : Matt. v. 9, ' Blessed are the peacemakers ; for they shall be called the children of God.' Didst thou trade in usury? This is the way to the Exchange ; thou must exchange this way if thou wilt come to glory. Hast thou foraged with oppression ? Thou must, with Zaccheus, seek out another way : Luke xix. 8, ' If I have taken anything from any man by false dealing, I restore him fourfold.' Let the drunken epicure, malicious repiner, seditious incendiary, dissembling hj^DOcrite, unjust oppressor, leave their wretched paths, and seek another way to happiness. God give us aU grace to find this way of repentance, that we may come at last to our own country — peace and rest with Jesus Christ ! Amen. * Euseb. Horn. 1 de EpipL t TertuL THE GOOD POLITICIAN DIEECTED. Be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. — Matt. X. 16. Out of every creature (simply considered) there is some good to be learned. The divine poet* sweetly — * The world 's a school, where in a general story God always reads dumb lectures of his glory.' It is a three-leaved book — heaven, earth, and sea ; and every leaf of this book, every line of every leaf, every creature in this universe, can read to man, for whom they were made, a divinity lecture. In a speaking sUence they preach to us that Deity which made both them and us, and them for us. Seculum speculum, — the world is a glass wherein we may behold our Creator's majesty. From the highest angel to the lowest worm, all in.struct us somewhat. For one and the same almighty hand, that made the angels in heaven, made also the worms on earth. Non superior in illis, non hv- ferior in istis.f f Besides this general lecture, they have aU their particular schools : Solo- mon sends us to the ant to learn providence, Prov. vi. 7 ; Isaiah to the ox to learn thankfulness, Isa. i. 3. Many beasts do excel man in many natural things : — ' Nos aper auditu prseceUit, aranea tactu, Vultur odoratu, lynx visu, simia gustu/ — The boar excels us in hearing, the spider in touching, the vulture in smell- ing, the lynx in seeing, the ape in tasting. Some have observed that the art of curmg the eyes was first taken from the swallows. The eagles have taught us architecture; we received the light of phlebotomy from the hippopotamus. The Egyptian bird, ibis, first gave to physicians knowledge how to use the I,, clyster. The spider taught us to weave. Here the serpent instructs us in policy, the dove in simplicity. Now we are fallen among serpents, stinging serpents, enemies to man \ can we fetch away any good from them ? Yes, those very venomous and malici- ous creatures shall afi"ord us documenta^ not nocumenta; they shall teach us, not touch us. I may say of them, as it is said of the Jews, Hostes sunt in cordihus, suffragatores in codicihus, — They are our enemies in their hearts, our friends in their books. The malice of serpents is mortal, their use shall * Du Bartas, let day, 1st week. + Aug. Solil., cap. 9. Matt. X. 16. J the good politician directed. 25 be \ital. So it may, so it shall, if our sobriety keep tlie allowed compa-ss ; for our imitation is limited and qualified. We must not be in all points like serpents, nor in all respects like doves ; but in some, but in this : ' Be ye wise as serpents, harmless as doves.' Perhaps other uses might be ac- 1 commodated : as the serpent might teach us how with wisdom to dwell below on the earth, and the dove with wings of innocence to fly up to heaven above. We may in earthly matters keep a serpentine and winding motion ; but to heaven, with the dove, we must have a straight course. But I confine my- seK to the pith of the text and our Saviour's meaning : * Be wise as serpents^ innocent as doves.' J The words may (not unfitly) be distinguished into — I. A perhibition; and II, A cohibition : as it were the reins and the curb, I. The perhibition, allowance, or reins : ' Be wise as serpents,' II. The cohibition, corrective, restraint, or curb : * Be harmless as doves,' They must go hand in hand, without disjunction. United they are com- modious, parted dangerous. There is a necessity of their union to our peace : divide them, and you lose yourselves. Wit without innocence will offend others ; innocence without wit will not defend ourselves. Prudentia sine simjylicitate malitia ; simplicitas sine 2y'>'uclentia stultitia, — Wit without innocence is wickedness ; innocence without wit is foolishness. Whosoever hath the one and wants the other, must needs be either guilty of folly or of dishonesty. Lest we be too crafty, and circumvent others, let us keep the innocency of the dove ; lest we be too simple, and others circumvent us, let us keep the wisdom of the serpent. I. Let us first see from the serpent how we should be wdse, and then go to the dove for innocence. Six principal lessons of wisdom the serpent may teach us : — 1. Their first policy is by all possible means to defend their head. If they must encounter with danger, they expose their whole body to it ; but howsoever they will safeguard their head. They write of them, that al- though all a serpent's body be mangled, unless his head be cut off, (which he cunningly hides,) by a kind of attractive power and vigour, one part wUl come to another again. This is to us a singular document of wisdom, to look well to our Head. Christ is our Head ; and the sinews and nerves that knit us to him are our faith and hope : let us preserve these undaunted, undamaged. We fight against an enemy that seeks especially to wound us there. He strikes in- deed at every place : he hath, saith Jerome, nomina mille, viille nocendi artes ; therefore Paul chargeth us, Eph. vi. 11, to 'put on the whole armour of God, that we may be able to stand against all the wiles of the devil.' But especially look to the head: ver. 16, 17, 'Above all, take the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation;' save the head. Protect all parts, if it be possible; let not oppression wound thee in the hand, nor blasphemy in the tongue, nor wantonness in the eye, nor covetousness in the heart ; but howsoever shield thy head : lose not thy hope of salvation, thy faith in Jesus Christ. Homo qui hahet se, hdbet totum in se, said the jjhilosopher, — He that hath himself, hath all in himself But ille hahet se, qui hahet Christum, et ille hahet Christum, qui hahet fidem, — he hath himself that hath Christ, and he hath Christ that hath faith. Whatsoever you lose, lose not this ; though you lose your loves, though you lose your lives, keep the faith, ' I will trust in thee, though thou kill me,' saith Job, chap, xiii, 15. 'I have kept the faith,' saith Paul, 2 Tim. iv. 7, though ' I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus,' Gal. vi. 17, If insatiate death be let alone, to cut us into pieces mth 25 THE GOOD POLITICIAN DIRECTED. [SeRMON XXVIII. tlie sword, to grind ns into the maws of beasts, to burn us in the fire to ashes ; yet so long as our Head, Christ, is safe, he hath the serpent's attrac- tive power to draw us to him. * Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am,' John xvii. 24. The more we are cut off, the more we are united ; death, whiles it strives to take us from him, sends us to him. Keep faith in the Head, With what mind soever Seneca wrote it, I know to good use I may speak it : Malo mihi successum deesse, quam Jidem, — I had rather want success than faith. Fidem qui perdidit, nil hahet tdtra quod 2)e)'dat, — He that hath lost his faith, hath nothing else to lose. But it is the Lord that preserves the head. ' God, the strength of my salvation ; thou hast covered my head in the day of battle,' Ps. cxl. 7. 2. The next policy in serpents is to stop their ears against the noise of the charmers. This is one of the similitudes which the Psalmist gives between the T\icked and serpents : Ps. Iviii, 4, 5, ' Their poison is like the poison of a sequent : they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear ; which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.' This charming, as they write, was invented in the eastern countries, where they were pestered with abundance of serpents; which music the serpent hear- ing, wisely distrusting his own strength, thinks it the surest course to stop his ears. This he doth by couching one ear close to the ground, and cover- ing the other -with his voluminous tail. The incantations of this world are as often sung to us, as those charms to the serpents ; but we are not so wise as serpents to avoid them. Sometimes a Siren sings us the charms of lust ; and thus a weak woman overcomes him thftt overcame the strong lion. ' Lenam non potuit, potuit superare lerenam. Quern fera non valuit vincere, vicit hera/ says the epigrammatist. ' He goeth after her straightway : ' though ' her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death,' Prov. vii. 22. Sometimes Satan comes to us like a goldfinch, and whistles to us a note of usury, to the tune of ten in the hundred ; we are caught presently, and fall a-dancing after his pipe. Sometimes, like Alecto, he charms us a madrigal of revenge for private wrongs ; instantly we are caught with malice, destruc- tion sits in our looks. Not seldom he comes to a man with a drunken carol, — Lay thy penny to mine, and we will to the wine, — he is taken suddenly ; he runs to it, though he reels from it. He sings the slothful a Dormi secure ; and he will sleep, though his ' damnation sleepeth not,' 2 Pet. ii. 3. Yea, there are not wanting that, let him sing a song of blasphemy, they will swear with him. Let him begin to rail, they will libel mth him. Let his incan- tation be treason, and they will answer him in gunpowder. Yea, let him charm with a charm, a witless, senseless sorcery, and if a tooth aches, or a hog groans, they will admit it, admire it. Of such folly the very serpents shall condemn us. But as open-eared as men are to these incantations of the devil and sin, let the musical bells of Aaron be rung, the sweet songs of Zion sung, they will not listen ; they will not be channed with all our cunning. So that we shall be fain to send them to the judgment-seat of God, with this scroll on their foreheads, Noluerunt incantarl, — Lord, we have done our best, but this people would not be charmed. 3. Their third policy. They fly men's society as known enemies ; and rather choose a wilderness, seeking peace among briars and thorns. And may they not herein teach us with Moses, * rather to choose afiiiction ' in a Matt. X. 16.] the good politician directed. 27 wilderness ' with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season,' Heb. xi. 25. Much hath been, and may be, said to lessen men's dotage to the world ; and yet one word I must add — * Non quia vos nostra sperem prece posse moveri.' Did ever any of you know what the peace of conscience and joy of the Holy Ghost is ? Whiles that comfort and jubilation dwelt in your heart, I ask you how the world stood in your sight 1 Stood it not like a deformed witch, devils sucking on her breasts ; a shoal of ugly sins sitting like screech- owls on her head; blood and massacres besmearing her face; lies, blas- phemies, perjuries, waiting at her beck ; extortion and oppression hanging on her arms ; wickedness and wretchedness filling both her hands ; the cries, groans, and imprecations of widows and orphans sounding in her ears ; heaven thundering vengeance on her head ; and the enlarged gates of the in- fernal pit yawning to entertain her. Is this your paramour, ye worldlings 1 Is this the beauty you hazard a soul to get 1 munde immunde, evU-favoured world, that thou shouldest have so many lovers ! Ecce ruinosus est mimdus, et sic cmiatur : quid si perfectus esset ? Quid for mosics facej^et, quum deforinis sic adoratur ;* — If the world being ruinous so pleaseth men, what would it do if it were sound and perfect ? If it were fair and beauteous, how would we dote on it, that thus love it deformed 1 But how rare a man is he qtd iiihil habet coimmme cum ^ secido,f — that hath no conmiunion with this world ! that retires himself ' like the serpent, and doth not intricate his mind in these worldly snares ; who does not watch with envy, nor travel with avarice, nor climb with am- bition, nor sleep with lust under his pillow ! But for all this, vincet amor 7nundi. iloney and vrealth must be had, though men refuse no way on the left hand to get it. We may charge them nummos x)ropter Deum expendere, — to lay out their wealth for God's sake ; but they will Deum 2>ropter nummos colere, — worship God for their wealth's sake. We say, Let the world wait upon religion ; they say, Let religion wait upon the world. You talk of heaven and a kingdom ; but tutius hoc coeliim, quod hrevis area tenet. Tliat heaven is surest, think they, that lies in their coffers. As those two giants bound Mars in chains, and then sacri- ficed to him ; so men first coffer up their wealth, and then worship it. Or if they suffer it to pass their lock and key, yet they bind it in strong chains and charms of usury to a plentiful return. * Enough ' is a language they A\iU never learn tiU they come to hcU ; where their bodies shall have enough earth, their souls enough fire. There are four adverbs of quantity : parum, nihil, nimis, satis, — little, nothing, too much, enough. The last, that is the best, is seldom found. The poor hath little ; the beggar nothing ; the rich too much ; but qui satis ? — who hath enough ? Though they have too much, all is too little ; nothing is enough. Quid satis est si Roma parum ? — What is enough, if all Eome be too little ? said the poet.:{: But the world itself could not be enough to such. yEstuat infelix a/ngusto limite mundi. The covetous man may habere quod voluit, nunquam. quodvult, — he may enjoy what he desired, never what he desireth; for his desires are infinite. So their abundance, which God gave them to help others out of distress, plungeth themselves into destruction : as Pharaoh's chariot drew his master into the sea. In the l\Iassilian sea, saith Bernard, scarce one ship of four is cast away ; but in the sea of this world, scarce one soul of four escapes. * August. t Amb. in Psal. j: Lucan. 28 THE GOOD POLITICIAN DIEECTED. [SeRMON XXVIII. 4. Their next policy. When they swim, though their bodies be plunged down, yet they still keep their head above the water. And this lesson of their wisdom I would direct to the riotous, as I did the former to the covet- ous. Which vicious affections, though in themselves opposite, — for the covetous think prodigu7)i j^rocUguim, the spender a wonder; and the pro- digal think parcum porcum, the niggard a hog, — yet either of them both may light his candle at the lamp of the serpent's wisdom, and learn a virtue they have not. Though you swim in a full sea of delights, yet be sure to keep your heads up for fear of drowning. It is natural to most sensitive creatures to bear up their heads above the floods ; yet in the stream of pleasure, foolish man commonly sinks. If I had authority, I would here bid gluttony and drunk- enness stand forth, and hear themselves condemned by a serpent. If the belly have any ears, let it hear ; and not suffer the head of the body, much less the head of the soul, reason, to be drowned in a puddle of riot. Multrx fercula, multos morbos, — Many dishes, many diseases. Gluttony was ever a Mend to ^Esculapius. But for the throat's indulgence, Paracelsus, for all his mercury, had died a beggar. Intemperance lies most commonly sick on a dowii-bed; not on a pad of straw. *Ah me's' and groans are soonest heard in rich men's houses. Gouts, pleurisies, dropsies, fevers, surfeits, are but the consequents of epicurism. ' QuEe nisi divitibus nequeunt contingere mensis.'* A divine poet, morally — ' We seem ambitious God's whole work to vindo : Of nothing he made us, and we strive too To bring ourselves to nothing back ; and we Do what we can to do 't as soon as he.' We complain of the shortness of our lives, yet take the course to make them shorter. Neither is the corporal head only thus intoxicate, and the senses drowned in these deluges of riot : but reason, the head of the soul, and grace, the head of reason, is overwhelmed. Barum convivium sine vitio, sine convitio. Eevellers and revilers are wonted companions. When the beUy is made a Crassus, the tongue is turned into a Caesar, and taxeth all the world. Great feasts are not without great danger. They serve not to suffice nature, but to nourish corruption, Luke ii. 42, Joseph and Mary went uj) to Jerusalem to the feast with Jesus ; but there they lost Jesus. Twelve years they could keep him, but at a feast they lost him. So easily is Christ lost at a feast. And it is remarkable there, ver. 46, that in the temple they found him again. Jesus Christ is often lost at a banquet ; but he is ever found in the temple. Jude speaks of some that 'feast without fear,' ver. 12. They suspect not the loss of Christ at a banquet. But Job feared his children at a feast : ' It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in then' hearts,' chap. i. 5. Let us suspect these riotous meetings, lest we do not only swim but sink. Let us be like the deer, who are ever most fearful at their best feeding. Rom. xiii. 13, ' Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness,' that were to feast the world ; ' not in chambering and wantonness,' that were to feast the flesh ; ' not in strife and envying,' that were to feast the devil. I know there be some that care not what be said against eating, so you * Horat,, lib. ii., satyr. 4. Matt. X. 16.] the good politician directed. 29 meddle not with their drink; who cry out like that German, at a great tournament at court, when all the spectators were pleased : Valeant ludi qui- hns nemo hibit, — Farewell that sport where there is no drinking. I will say no more to them, but that the serpent's head keeps the upper hand of the waters, but drink gets the upper hand of their heads. How preposterous is this : soh'ii serpentes, ebrii homines, — sober serpents and drunken men ! The serpent is here brought to teach wisdom ; and to be sober is to be wise. The philosopher so derives wisdom in his Ethics : (Tw^joffivj; est quasi cJi^o-jGu, riiv ^ffoi-jjtf/v. Or as another, quia au^si t'/jv <p^ha. 5. The fifth instance of their wisdom propounded to our imitation is vigi- lancy. They sleep little ; and then least when they suspect the vicmity of danger. A precedent worth our following. * See that ye walk circumspectly ; not as fools, but as wise,' Eph. v. 1-5. Carry your eyes in your heads : ' The wise man's eyes are in his head,' Eccles. ii. 14; not like those lamije, in a box. Nor like a hoodwinked prince, that is not suffered to see but through his flatterers' spectacles. Be watchful, saith our Saviour : ' You know not what hour your Master wiU come.' 1 Pet. v. 8, ' Be sober, be vigilant'; be- cause your adversary the devU, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.' Those are two main motives to watchfulness. First, our landlord is ready to come for his rent. Secondly, our enemy is ready to assault our fort. And let me add, the tenement we dwell in is so weak and ruinous, that it is ever and anon ready to drop down about our ears. He that dwells in a rotten ruinous house dares scarce sleep in a tempestuous night. Our bodies are earthly, decayed, or at least decaying tabernacles ; every little disease, like a storm, totters us. They were indeed at first strong cities ; but we then by sin made them forts of rebels. Whereupon our offended liege sent his sergeant, Death, to arrest us of high treason. And though for his mercies' sake in Christ he pardoned our sins, yet he suffers us no more to have such strong houses ; but lets us dwell in thatched cottages, paper waUs, mortal bodies. Have we not then cause to watch, lest our house, whose ' foundation is in the dust,' Job iv. 19, fall, and 'the fall thereof be great?' Matt. vii. 27. Shall we still continue sine metu, perhaps sine motu dormitantes ? It is a fashion in the world to let leases for three lives : as a divine poet sweetly — * So short is life, that every tenant strives In a torn house or field to have three lives.' But God lets none for more than one life : and this expired, there is no hope to renew the lease. He suffers a man sometimes to dwell in his tenement 'threescore and ten years,' sometimes 'fourscore,' Ps. xc. 10; till the house be ready to drop down, like mellow fruit. But he secures zaone for a month, for a moment. Other farmers know the date of their leases, and expiration of the years ; man is merely a tenant at will, and is thrust out often sedihus, cedihus, at less than an hour's warning. We have then cause to watch. ' I sleep, but my heart waketh,' saith the church. Cant. v. 2. If temptation do take us napjnng, yet let our hearts wake. Simon, dormis ? — ' Sleepest thou, Peter?' Mark xiv. 37. Indeed there is a time for all things ; and sometimes sleep and rest is dahile and laudahile, necessary and profitable. But now Simon, when thy Lord is ready to be given up into the hands of his enemies, when the hour and power of darkness is instant, when the great work of salvation is to be wrought, ' Simon, sleepcst thou V Thou that hast promised to suffer with me, canst thou not watch with me ? Qiiomodo morieris, qui spectare et expedare f 30 THE GOOD POLITICIAN DIRECTED. [SeEMON XXVIIL non potes ? Beloved, let us all watch ; for that Jesus, who was then, when Peter slept, ready to suffer, is now, though we all sleep, ready to judge quick and dead. 6. The last general point of wisdom we wiU learn from them is this : as they once a year slip off their old coat and renew themselves, so let us cast off the old man, and ' the garment spotted of the flesh,' Jude 13, — more speckled with lusts than the skin of any serpent, — and ' be renewed in our mind, to serve God in the holiness of truth,' Eph. iv. 24, The Grecians have a fabulous reason of this renovation of serpents. Once mankind strove earnestly with the gods, by supplication, for perpetual youth. It was granted, and the rich treasure being lapped up, was laid upon an ass to be carried among men. The silly beast being sore thirsty, came to a fountain to drink : the keeper of this fountain was a serpent, who would not suffer the ass to drink unless he would give liim his burden. The ass, both ready to faint for thirst, and willing to be lighted of his load, condescended. Hereby the serpent got from man perpetual j^outh. Indeed the serpent changeth his age for youth, and man his youth for age. And the ass, for his punishment, is more tormented with thirst than any other beast, The serpent may thus get the start of a man for this world ; but when he dies, he dies for ever ; life never returns. But we shall put off, not the skin, but tliis mortal body ; and so be clothed with immortality and eternal life above t we shall be young again in heaven. ' Only death adds t' our strength : nor are we grown In stature to be men, till we are none.' Let this answer the poet : — ' Anguibus esuitur tenui cum pelle vetustas : Cur uos angusta conditione sumus?' * Why do serpents repair themselves, and man decay 1 The answer is easy and comfortable : when there shall be new heavens and new earth, we shall have new bodies. They have here new bodies, and we old bodies . but there we shall have new bodies when they are no bodies. But to our purpose. They write that the serpent gets him to some nar- row-passage, as between two sticks, and so slips off his sldn. And this is called spoliiim serpentis or ver7iatio serpentis. If we would cast off our old coat, wlxich is corrupt according to deceitful lusts, we must pass through a 'narrow gate,' Matt. vii. 13, as it were two trees, faith and repentance. Heaven is called ' new Jerusalem,' Rev. xxi. ; you cannot creep through those new doors with your old sins on your backs. Be no Gibeonites : God will not be cozened with your old garments. Put them off, saith Paul ; put them off, and cast them away ; they are not worthy mending. None are made of Satan's slaves God's sons, but they must put off their old livery, which they wore in the devil's service, the cognisance of Mammon. * Let him that is in Christ be a new creature : old things are passed away ; behold, all things are become new,' 2 Cor. v. 17. 'I saw,' saith St John, 7io- vum coehim, &c., ' a new heaven and new earth.' For whom provided 1 For new creatures. Envy this, ye worldlings, but strive not in your lower pomps to equal it. Could you change robes with Solomon, and dominions with Alexander, you could not match it. But quake at your doom, ye wicked : ' Tophet is or- dained of old,' Isa. XXX. 33 , old hell for old sinners. But which way * Tibullus. Matt. X. 16.] the good politician directed. 31 might a man turn his eyes to behold his renovation? jS'il novi video, oiil novi audio. The hand is old, it extorts ; the toiigiie is old, it swears. Our usuries are still on foot to hunt the poor, our gluttonies look not leaner, our drunkenness is thirsty stUl, our security is not waked. Old idols are in our inward and better temples. Our iniquities are so old and ripe, that they are not only albce ad messem, white to the harvest ; but even siccce ad ignem, dry for the fire. Not only serpents, but divers other creatures, have their turns of renewing. The eagle reueweth her bill, saith the prophet ; our grandmother earth be- comes new, and to all her vegetative children the spring gives a renovation. Only we her ungracious sons remain old still. But how shall we expect hereafter new glorified bodies, unless we will have here new sanctified souls ? ' In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to tliis rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God,' Gal. vi. 1.5, 16, I have taught you, according to my poor meditation, some wisdom from the serpent. Augustine gives six or seven other instances, worthy your observation and imitation, which I must pass over in silence. The cohihition challengeth some piece of my discourse ; for I dare not give you the reins, and let you go without the curb. 'And yet I shall hold you a little longer from it ; for as I have shewed you some good in serpents, that you may fol- low it, so I must shew you some evil in them, that you may eschew it. The vicious and obnoxious aflfections of serpents have more followers than their virtues. These instances are of the same number with the former. 1. The serpent, though creeping in the dust, hath a lofty spirit; reaching^ not only at men, but even at the birds of the air. And' here is the ambi- tious man's emblem. He was bred out of the dust, yet he catcheth at lord- ships and honours ; ransacks the city, forages the country, scours it through the church ; but his errand is to the court. He is the maggot of pride, begot out of corruption ; and looks in an oflSce as the ape did when he had got on the robes of a senator. 2. Their flattery or treachery : they embrace, whUes they sting. They lie in the green grass, and under sweet flowers, that they may wound the sus- pectless passenger. Here I wUl couple the serpent with the flatterer — a human beast, and of the two the most dangerous. And that fitly ; for they write of a serpent whose sting hath such force that it makes a man die laughing. So the flatterer tickles a man to death. Therefore his tears are called crocodili lacryma^, the crocodile's tears. A\Tien he weeps, he wounds. Every frown he makes gives his patron a vomit, and every caudle of com- mendation a purge. His church is the kitchen, his tongue is his caterer, his young lord his god, whom at once he worships and worries. ^Vhen he hath gotten a lease, he doth no longer fear his master ; nay more, he fears not God. 3. Their ingratitude : they kill those that nourished them. And here I rank with serpents those prodigies of nature, unthankful persons. Seneca says they are worse. Venemiin quod serpentes in alienam perniciem profe- runt, sine sua continent. Non ita vitium ingratitudinis continetur* — The poison which a serpent casts out to the danger of another, he retains without his own : but the voice of ingratitude cannot be so smothered. Let us hate this sin, not only for others' sake, but most for our own. 4. Their voracity: they kill more than they can eat. And here they would be commended to the engrossers, who hoard more than they can spend, * Sen., epist. iS. S^ THE GOOD POLITICIAN DIRECTED. [SeRMON XXVIII. that the poor niight starve for lack of bread. Such a man (if he be not rather a serpent, a devil, than man) makes his almanac his Bible ; if it prognosticate rain on Smthin's Day, he loves and believes it beyond the Scripture. Nothing in the whole Bible pleaseth him but the stoiy of Pha- raoh's dream, where the seven lean kine did eat up the seven fat ones. He could wish that dream to be true every year, so he might have grain enough to sell. He cries out in liis heart for a dear year, and yet he is never without a dear year in his beUy. Solomon says, ' The people shall curse him,' and I am sure God will not bless him ; but he fears neither of these so much as a cheap year. 5. Their hostility and murderous minds: they destroy all to multiply their own kind. And for this I will bring the depopulator to shake hands with serpents. For he cannot abide neighbours. If any man dwells in the town besides himself, how should he do for elbow-room 1 There are too many of these serpents in England. I would they were all exiled to the Tvilderness, where they might have room enough, and none to trouble them, except of their own generation — serpents. They complain eagerly against our negligence in discovering new parts of the world ; but their meaning is to rid this land of inhabitants. They have done then- best, or rather their worst : whenas in my memory from one town in one day were driven out above threescore souls, — harbourless, succourless, exposed to the bleak air and unmerciful world, — besides those that could provide for themselves.* But the Lord of heaven sees this : the clamours of many poor debtors in the dun- geon, of many poor labourers in the field, of many poor neighbours crymg and dying in the streets, have entered the ears of the Lord of hosts, and he will iudge it. ' Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to re- quite it : the poor committeth himself unto thee ; thou art the helper of the fatherless,' Ps. x. 14. 6. Lastly, their enmity against man, whom they should reverence : which we sorely found, and cannot but think of, quoties meminerimus illius inaus- ■picati 2^omi, — as often as we remember that unlucky apple, ^lianus and Pliny report, that when a serpent hath killed a man, he can never more cover himself in the earth, but wanders up and down like a forlorn thing ; the earth disdaining to receive into her bowels a man-murderer. The male doth not acknowledge the female, nor the female the male, that hath done such a deed. Since, therefore, they rebel against man whom they should honour, let me yoke with them traitors. Seminaries, and renegades, that refuse alle- giance to their lieges and sovereigns. Will they say a prince may lose jus regni, the right of his kingdom, per injustitiam regiiandi, by reigning with injustice and cruelty ; and so they are absolved of their obedience ] But how haps it that the Scrij^ture never knew this distmction 1 Saul, though guilty of aU sins against the first table, yet ex solo indelehili unctionis cha- ractere, might not be deposed ; but David calls him Christum Domini, — the Lord's anointed. If the prmce be an offender, must they punish ? Who gave them that authority ? No, sufficit ei in pxxnam, quod Deum ex- pedet tdtorem, — It is enough for him that he look for God to be his judge. Oh, but when the Pope's excommunication thunders, it is no sin to decrown kings. So superstitiously they follow the Pope, that they forsake Christ, and will not give Csesar his due. They are the firebrands and bustuaries of kingdoms ; serpents hidden in ladies' and gentlewomen's chambers ; in a word, long spoons for traitors to feed mth the devil. * The author of that cruel deed ijccame afterwards the author of his own death, and wilfiillv killed himself. Matt. X. 16.] the good politician directed. 33 Y()u see also now quid non. There is iDoisou in serpents now told, you, leave that; there is wisdom to be learned from serpents before shewed you, study that. Every vice you nourish is a venomous stinging serpent in your own bosoms. If you will have hope of heaven, expel those serpents. / 1 have read of a contention between Scotland and Ireland about a little island, either challenging it for theirs. It was put to the decision of a Frenchman, who caused to be put into the island living serpents, arbitrating it thus : that if those serpents lived and prospered there, the ground was Scotland's ; if they died, Ireland's.""' If those serpentine sins, lusts, and lewdness live and thrive in your hearts, Satan Avill challenge you for his dominion ; if they perish and die through mortification, and by reason of the pure air of God's Holy Spirit in you, the Lord seals you up for his own inheritance. II. I have given you the reins at large : let me give but one pull at the curb, and you shall go. The cohibition is, ' Be harmless as doves.' In doves there be some things to be eschewed, many things to be commended, one thing to be followed. The dove is a timorous and faint-hearted creature : ' Ephraim is like a silly dove without heart,' Hosea vii. 11. Be ye not so. In doves there are many things commendable ; but I will but name them, re- garding the limits of both my test and time. 1. Beauty. By that name Christ praiseth the beauty of his spouse : * Thou art fair, my love, my dove,' &c. ' Thou hast doves' eyes within thy locks,' Cant. iv. 1. And the church praiseth her Saviour : ' His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of water, washed with milk, and fitly set,' chap. V. 12, i. 15; as a precious stone in the foil of a ring. A white dove is a pleasant sight, but not like a white soul. 2. Chastity. Nescit adulterii flammam intemerata coliimha. The dove knows not the luxurious pollution of an adulterate bed. Who ever saw dove sick of that lustful disease ? Happy body, that hath such continency ! and blessed soul, which shall be ' presented a pure virgin to Jesus Christ !' 2 Cor. xi. 2. They are virgins, and follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, Bev. xiv. 4. 3. Fruitfulness. Most months in the year they bring forth young. The faithful are in this respect doves ; for faith is ever pregnant of good works, travails with them, and on all occasiors brings them forth. 4. Amity. They love their ovm maty"? ; not changing tUl death give one ■of them a biU of divorce. Gemit tiirtur : the turtle groans when he hath lost his mate. Nature teacheth them, what reason above nature, and grace above reason, teacheth us, to ' rejoice with the wives of our youth.' 5. Unity. They live, feed, fly by companies. Many of them can agree quietly in one house : even teaching us ' how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity,' Ps. cxxxiii. 1 ; that as we have ' one hope,' Eph. iv. 4, so have ' one heart,' Acts iv. 32. TTierefore the Holy Ghost came down ' in the likeness of a dove,' ]\Iatt. iii. 16, of all birds ; and it was the dove that would not leave Noah's ark, Gen. viii. 9. But these are but circumstances ; my centre is, their innocence. Columha Mmjilex est animcd, felle caret, rostro non kedit.f Other fowls have their talons and beaks, whereby they gripe and devour, like usurers and ojipressors in a commonwealth. The dove hath no such weapon to use, no such heart to use it. They write that she hath no gall, and so free from the bitter- ness of anger. Tcdem columham audivimiis, non talem liominem. We have heard of such a dove, not of such a man. "Who can say, he hath innocent * For an account of this and other legends respecting the Isle of Man, see Wilson and Geikie's ' Life of Professor Edward Forbes.' — Ed. f Bern, in die Purificat. VOL. II. C 34 THE GOOD POLITICIAN DIRECTED. [SeKMON XXVIII hands and a simple heart 1 Indeed none perfectly in God's sight : yet some have had, and may have this in part, by the -witness of their own con- sciences. Samuel could challenge the Israelites to accuse him : ' Whose ox have I taken 1 whom have I defrauded ? of whose hand have I received any bribe 1 ' 1 Sam. xii. 3. And Job sweetly : ' My heart shall not con- demn me for my days. If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, let it be broken. If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me,' Job xxxi. 21, &c. For that is true innocence, saith Augustine, qiue nee inimico nocet, — that hurts not our very enemy. ' If my land cry against me, or the furrows thereof complam, let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley.' How few amongst us dare thus plead . So Da\'id : ' O Lord, thou knowest mine innocence.' blessed testimony ! This is murus aheneiis, a wall of brass about a man. In mails sperare honum, nisi innocens, nemo potest, — To hope for good in the midst of evils, no man can but the innocent. He goes fearless of danger, thoiigh not secure. Impavidiim ferient ruina;, JVec suspectus est pati, quod se non meminit fecisse, — He cannot look to suffer that wrong which he knows he hath not done. Innocence, saith Chrysostom, is free in servitude, safe in danger, joyful in bonds. Cum humiliatur, erigitur : aim pugnat, vincit : cum occiditur, coronatur, — When it is cast down, it is raised up ; when it fights, it conquers ; when it is killed it is crowned. This is that harmlessness which must be joined with the serpent's -R-isdom. So Paul to his Romans : ' I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil,' Eom, xvi. 19. This is an excellent mixture, saith Gregory :* ut simplicitatevi columhce astutia serp)entis instrueret : ut serpentis astutiam simplicitas columhce temperaret, — that the wisdom of the serpent might instruct the simplicity of the clove j that the dove's simpli- city might temper the serpent's policy. So Beda on the first of Job. Job is said to be simple and upright : simple in innocency, upright in discreet equity. Simp>lex qida alios non Icedit, rectus quia se ah cdiis non cornimpi permittit, — Simple, in that he did not hurt others ; upright, in that he suf- fered not himself to be corrupted by others. J^on viultum distat in vitio, aut decij^ere, aut decipi j^osse.f The one is weakness, the other wickedness. This is that grace to which the gates of heaven stand open, innocence. But alas ! where shall the robbers and workers of violence appear ? What shall become of the oppressor 1 No creature in heaven or earth shall testify his innocency. But the sighs, cries, and groans of undone parents, of beggared widows and orphans, shall witness the contrary. AU his money, like hempseed, is sowed with curses ; and every obligation is written on earth with ink and blood, and in hell with blood and fire. What shall become of the encloser of commons ? Who shall plead his innocency? Hedges, ditches, fields, and towns; the weeping of the poor, the very lowings of beasts, shall witness against him. Where shall fraud, cozenage, racking of rents, injury, perjury, mischief appear ? You may conceal your craft from the eyes of man, — defraud the minister, beguile your neighbour, impoverish the commonwealth, unper- ceived, unpunished, — but know that the Lord will not hold you iimoccnt. 1 conclude : Make you the picture of innocency, and hang it in your houses ; but especially draw it in the table of your hearts. Let it be a virgin fair and lovely, without any spot of wrong to blemish her beauty. Let her garments be white as snow, and yet not so white as her conscience. Let the tears of compassion di'op from her eyes, and an angel holding a * In locum. + Jerom, ad Rust. Matt. X. 16.J the good politician directed. 35 bottle to catch them. Let her weep, not so much for her o^vll afflictions, as for the wickedness of her afflicters. Let the ways be milk where she sets her foot, and let not the earth complain of her pressure. Let the sun offer her his beams ; the clouds their rain, the ground her fruits, every creature his virtue. Let the poor bless her ; yea, let her very enemies be forced to praise her. Let the world be summoned to accuse her of wrong, and let none be found to witness it. Let peace lie in her lap, and integrity between her breasts. Let religion kiss her lips, and all laws reverence her ; patience possess her heart, and humility sit in her eyes. Let all Christians make her the precedent of their lives ; and study the doctrine that her mouth teacheth. Let the angels of heaven be her guardians ; and the mercy of God a shield of defence unto her. Let her tread upon injury, and stamp the devil and violence under her feet. Let her greatest adversaries, oppres- sion and hypocrisy, fly from her presence. Let rapine, malice, extortion, de- population, fraud, and wrong, be as far removed from her as hell is from heaven. Let the hand of mercy dry her eyes, and wipe away her tears. Let those glorious spirits lift her up to the place of rest. Let heaven add to her beauty, immortality set her in a throne of joy, and eternity crown her with glory : whither may all her children follow her, through the blood and merits of that innocent Lamb, Jesus Christ. Amen. THE BLACK SAINT; OR, THE APOSTATE. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walJceth through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I zvill return into my house from whence I came out ; and ivhen he is co7ne, he findeth it empty, sivept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taheth with himself seven other spirits more iviclced than himself, and they enter in and diuell there ; and the last state of that man is tvorse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this ivicked generation. — Matt. XII. 43-45. Our Saviour's manifold and manifest miracles, which lie wrought among and upon the Jews, were requited with a blasphemous interpretation — that they were done in the power of Beelzebub. Which having disproved by invin- cible arguments, he concludes against them in this parable : ' When the un- clean spirit,' &c. This is clearly manifest in the application : * Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.' A double occasion gives us the hand of direction to this speech. Either it hath a reference to the man dispossessed of the dumb and blind devil, ver. 22 ; or intends a conjunction of the contumelious blasphemies of the Jews. Perhaps it may be referred to the former, but certainly is directed to the latter. It may serve for both ; so two gaps be stopped with one bush, two sores jjovered with one plaster. 1. It might sei-ve for a charge to the cured, to prevent recidivation. He was dumb, behold he speaks ; he was blind, behold he sees ; he was pos- sessed, behold he is enfranchised. He hath recovered his eyes, his tongue, his heart ; he is rid of the devil. Now he that is quit of so bad a guest, shall septuple his own woes by his re-entertainment. Such a caution did the same physician give another of his patients : John v. 14, ' Behold, thou art made whole ; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.' It is well for thee that the imclean spirit is gone, but it wUl be worse with thee than ever if he gets in again. 2. He that did speak life, and to the life, doth especially mean it to the Jews. Cast your eyes upon the text, and your minds upon the renegade Matt. XII. 43-45.] the black saint. 37 Jews ; and observe how respectively tliey look one upon anotlier : running together without alienation, till they come to the end. (1.) The unclean spirit, the power of sin, was cast out of the Jews by Moses's law ; and God had great stir about it. He was fain to speak early and late, and attend them ' all the day long, with outstretched hands,' Isa. Ixv, 2 ; tUl he appeals to censure : ' What could have been done more to my vineyard 1 ' Isa. v. 4. (2.) At last he is out ; and then, lilie a discontented guest, hindered of his old lodging, and destitute of so warm a bed, he 'walks through diy places' — revisits the heathen. But finding them as strongly his own as the infran- gible chains of wickedness could make them, he disdams rest, like an engrosser, in his own lordship, so long as there are other purchases to be made abroad. Or perhaps the ' ark of salvation ' is now brought to the Gentiles, and then the Dagon divagon of hell must needs be packing. A new king, the true King, beginning his reign in the conscience, deposeth, dejecteth, ejecteth that usurping tyrant. There is no remedy ; out he must. (3.) The prince of the air thus discovered and discomfited by the Sun of righteousness breaking through the gross and foggy clouds of ignorance and impiety wherein the Gentile world was wrapped; what doth he but re- salutes his former habitation ? He liked the old seat well, and will venture a fall, but recover it. (4.) Thither he flies ; and, lo, how fit he finds it for his entertain ! _ The heart of the Jews is empty of faith ; swept with the besom of hypocrisy, a justiciary, imaginary, false-conceited righteousness ; and garnished with a few broken traditions and ceremonies : suppellectile complements instead of substantial graces. (5.) Glad of this, he re-collects his forces : ' takes with him seven other spirits,' a greater dominion of sin, than he was erst armed withal ; ' more wicked than himself;' as if he would make invuicible provision, and preven- tion of any future dispossession. (6.) ' He enters in ' with his crew : not purposing to be as a guest, but tenant ; not a tenant, but a landlord ; not a landlord, but a king, a com- mander, a tyrant ; till at last he may presume of an indubitable right. As usurpers that come to a kingdom by a violent or Utigious title, are at first so modest and dainty that they sign not their grants, edicts, and such public acts in their own particular and singular names, but require the conscription and evident consent of their council. But once estabhshed by succession, and unrivalled by opposition, they grow peremptorily confident in their own right and power, and in their most tyrannous acts dare sign, Teste me ipso ; so Satan at first erection of his kingdom in the Jews, conscious of his unjust title, was content to admit the help of fond ceremonies, tales, traditions, &c., to make for him against Christ, whose kingdom he visurps. This he conde- scended to out of a mannerly cozenage, and for the more subtle insinuation into the Jewish hearts. But now established in his throne, and confirmed in his title, by their hard-heartedness and wilful obstinacy in rejecting their Messiah, he is bold to sign aU his oppositions to the gospel with a Teste me ij)so. (7.) Hereupon their ' latter end becomes worse than their beginnmg.' A stronger delusion hath taken hold of them, and that in the just judgment of the wise ordinator of all things. ' For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie : that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness,' 2 Thess. ii. 11, 12. For ' if he that despised Moses's law died without mercy under two 38 THE BLACK SAINT. [SeEMON XXIX. or three witnesses,' Heb. x. 28, then, ver. 29, ' of how much sorer punish- ment shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot,' not the servant, but ' the Sou of God, and hath counted the blood,' not of bulls and goats, but ' of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified,' whereby he shall now he condemned, ' an unholy thing ; and hath done despite to the Spirit,' not of bondage, but ' of grace?' His beginning was far better, or at least less bad, than his end shall be. The occasion was so material that it hath led me further than either my purpose or your patience would willingly have allowed me. Whatsoever is written, is written either for our instruction or destruction ; to convert us if we embrace it, to convince us if we despise it. Let this consideration quicken your attention, enliven your meditation, encourage your obedience. You demand vivcwi vocem ; it is then a living voice, when it is a voice of life to the believing hearers. Otherwise there is vox mortifera, a voice that brings death to disobeyers. ' The word that I have spoken,' saith Christ, ' shall judge you in the last day.' The white devil, the hypocrite, hath been formerly'" discovered, and the sky-coloured veil of his dissimulation pulled off. I am to present to your view and detestation a sinner of a contrary colour — swarthy rebellion, and besmeared profaneness : an apostate falling into the clutches of eight unclean spirits. Needs must he be foul that hath so many foul devils in him. ]\Iary Magdalene had but seven, and they were cast out ; this hath gotten one more, to make his soul the blacker, and they keep in. If hypocrisy there were justly called the white devil, apostasy here may as justly be termed the black saint. In the former was a wliite skin of profession drawn over an ulcerous corpse ; here, hide and carcase, hand and heart, shadow and sub- stance, seeming and being, outward profession and inward intention, are black, foul, detestable. Therefore we wiU call him ' The Apostate, or Black Saint.' This text dweUeth on two persons, man and Satan. Alas ! it goes ill, when man and the devil come so near together ; weak man, and his infest, professed enemy. Wherein we will (metaphorically) compare man to a fort, and the devU to a captain. 1. Man to a fort. Not that he is like stupid and dead walls, without sense, without science : of no ability, either to offend his adversary, or to defend himself; but a living tower, that hath sense, reason, understanding, will, affections : which give him means to open a voluntary door to his cap- tain's entrance. For it is of God that a sinner opens his heart to God ; of himself that he opens to Satan. 2. The devil to a captain : a strong, impioiis, impetuous, imperious cap- tain ; violent in invasion, tyrannous in obsession : a rampant lion, that scorns either superiority or competition. The material circumstances concerning both fort and captain, hold and holder, place and person, may be generally reduced to these three : — I. The unclean spirit's egress, forsaking the hold ; wherein we have — 1. His unroosting ; and observe, (1.) The person goiiig out; (2.) The manner ; and, (3.) The measure of his going out. 2. His unresting, or discontent; which appears, (1.) In his travel, *he walketh;' (2.) In his trial, 'in dry places;' (3.) In his trouble, 'seeking rest;' (4.) In the event, ' findeth none.' II. His regress, striving for a re-entry into that he lost ; considered — * As in this edition the sermons are arranged in the order of the texts, that referred to is Sermon XXXIX., further on in this volume. — Ed. Matt. XII. 43-45.] the black saint. 39 1. Tntcntivehj ; wlierein are regardable, (1.) His resolution, 'IavUI;' (2.) His revolution, 'return;' (3.) The description of his seat, 'into my house;' (4.) His affection to the same place, ' whence I came out.' 2. Inventively; for he findeth in it, (1.) Clearness, it is 'empty;' (2.) Cleanness, 'swept;' (3.) Trimness, 'garnished.' III. His ingress, which consists in his fortifying the hold ; manifested — 1. By his associates; for he increaseth his troops, who are described, (1.) By their nature, ' spirits ;' (2.) By their number, ' seven ;' (3.) By the measure of their malice, ' more wicked.' 2. By his assault, to the repossessing of the place ; testified, (1.) By their invasion, 'they enter;' (2.) By their inhabitation, 'they dwell;' (3.) By their cohabitation, ' they dwell there together.' IV. The conclusion and application shut up all. The conclusion : * The last state of that man is worse than the first.' The application : ' Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.' You see I have ventured on a long journey, and have but a short time allowed me to go it. My observa- tions in my travel shall be the shorter, and, I hope, not the less sound. So the brevity shall make some amends for the number. I. I am to begin with the unclean spirit's departure : ' When the unclean spuit is gone out of a man.' It is well that he is gone, if he would never return. Valedicamus in adagio : Si sat procul, sat bene, — Let us speed him hence with the proverb : Far enough, and good enough. Let not such a guest come till he be sent for. But, alas ! he will never be far enough ; no, not even now, whiles God is sowing the seed of life, will this enemy forbear to sow tares. He runs about the seats like a pick-purse ; and if he sees a roving eye, he presents objects of lust ; if a drowsy head, he rocks him asleep, and gives him a nap just the length of the sermon ; if he spies a covetous man, he transports his soul to his counting-house ; and leaves nothing before the preacher but a mindless trunk. Well, gone he is out of this man; and we must therein consider two things : — 1. His tmroosting ; 2. His unresting. In his unroosting or de- parture, we have justly observable these three circumstances ; (1.) The per- son; (2.) The manner; (3.) The measure of his going out. 1. — (1.) The person is described according, [L] to his nature; [2.] to his condition. He is by nature a spirit ; by condition or quality, unclean. [1.] By nature, he is a spirit. I will not trouble you with the diverse accep- tion of this word, spirit. There is a divine, human, angelical, diabolical spirit ; yet are not these all : ' Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord,' Ps. cl. 6 ; that is, ' that hath a spirit.' It is observed that Avhen this article, the, is prefixed to spirit, and no attribute subjoined that may denomi- nate or distinguish it, it is meant of the third Person in Trinity, the Holy Ghost. Piom. viii. 26, 'The Spirit helpeth our infirmities,' &c. So Jerome notes on Matt. iv. 1, 'Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the -ndlder- ness, to be tempted of the devU.' Here the adjunct gives sufiicient distinc- tion. As 1 Sam. xvi 14, 'The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.' This was an evil and unclean spirit. This makes against the Sadducees and atheists, that deny the subsistence of spirits, Acts xxiii. 8, or imagine them to be only qualities of the mind ; affirming that good angels are but good motions, and bad angels nothing else but bad motions. They may as well call the wind but imaginarium quiddam, sickness but a fontasy, and death itself but a mere conceit. They shall find that there are spirits created for vengeance, and in the day 40 THE BLACK SAINT. [SeRMON XXIX. of wrath, when God shall bid them strike, they will lay on sure strokes ; essential and subsisting natures. Hell-fire is no fable ; devils are not nomi- nals, but reals ; not imaginary qualities, but afflicting spirits : here, the tempters to sin ; hereafter, the tormentors for sin. Qui non credent, sentient, — They that will not believe God's words, shall feel their wounds. The de^dl hath a special medicine for atheism. [2.] By quality, he is unclean : and that in regard, first, of his condition ; and, secondly, of his perdition. Condition or property in himself : perdition, which he doth work upon others ; for he labours to infect man, that he may make him, both in wickedness and wretchedness, lilce himself. First, Unclean in respect of his own condition. The devil was by creation good. God made him an angel of light ; he made himself an angel of dark- ness. 'God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good,' Gen. i. 31. If every parcel of the Creator's workmanship was perfect, withovit question those angels which once stood before his face, and attended the hests of the Lord of hosts, were principally perfect. Therefore the devil, as he is a creature, is good ; according to St Augustine,"^'" ipsius diaboli natura, in quantum natura est, non est mala, — the nature of the devil, inso- much as it is a nature, is not evil. But, John viii. 44, ' When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own.' He derived his nature from God, but the depravation of it from himself He was good by generation, is evil by degeneration. In that he is evil, or devil, he may thank himself for it. A spirit, of God's; unclean, of his own making : Quod sjnritus, d, Deo est: quod impurus, a seipso. Secondly, Unclean by his operation and effects. His labour and delight is to make man as unclean as himself. He strives to make Judas's heart foul with covetousness, Absalom's with treason, Gehazi's with bribes. Cam's with murder, Jeroboam's with idolatry, nay, even David's with adultery. God is purity ; and ' blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,*^ Matt. v. 8. But a soul soiled and foiled with lust, drunkenness, swearing, ' hypocrisy, avarice, is an unclean habitacle for an unclean spirit, a foul evO for a foul devil Every sin is unclean ; but there is one sin called unclean- ness, as if it were more immediately derived from the devil, and more na- turally pleasing him. Hereby God is robbed of that he bought with so dear a price, and ' the member of Christ is made the member of a harlot,' 1 Cor, vi. 15. It is continually joined with fornication, adultery, whore-hunting, Eph. V. 3, 5 ; Col. iii. 5. St Paul reasons against this sin by i\n argument drawn ah ahsurdo : to couple that body to a harlot, which should mystically be united to Christ. Not unlike that of the poet : — ' Humano capiti cervicem jungere equiuam.' + And howsoever this debauched age, with a monstrous impudence, will call it either no sin, or peccadillo, a little sin ; yet it hath that power and effect t» make men as like to the devil, as an unclean body may be to an unclean spirit. Call it what you will, blanch it with apologies, candy it with nature's delights, parget it with concealments, uncleanness is uncleanness still, and like the devil. Unless (as in the legend of St Anthony, % that when his host set liim a toad on the table, and told him it was written in the gospel, De omni quod tihi apioonitur, coinedes, — ' Thou shalt eat of such things as are set before thee j' he with the sign of the cross, made it a capon ready roasted) you can metamorphose Satan's poisons, toads and serpents, feculent and baneful sins, into nutrimental virtues, — wash the blackmore's sldn wliite, and * De Civit. Dei, lib. xis., cap. 13. t Horat. J Sediil. Matt. XII. 43-45.] the black sai:st. 41 make leprosies fair and sound, — the sin of uncleanness will make you like this unclean spirit. Let aU this teach us not to hate the essence, but the works of the devil. His nature, abstractively considered, is good ; but as he is wicked, and a pro- voker to wickedness, hate him. In regard of his excellent knowledge, gathered by long observation, and comprehension of the seminary virtues, he is called Dcemon; for his envy, enmity, Satan; for his command, Beelzebub; for his power, the strong man; lastly, for his pollution, an unclean spirit : con- tinually, devil, because he strives continually to do evil. As these pravities have coiTupted him, we must hate him. »So do all ; so say all. An obsti- nate sinner answers an honest reproof with, ' I defy the devil : I will shield myself from Satan as well as my admonisher ; the foul fiend shall have no power over me :' yet stUl deafs himself to the cry of his own conscience, that he may live the more licentiously. But, alas ! Satan is not such a babe, to be outfaced with a word of defiance. He can bear a few invectives,, so he may be sure of the soul ; like a usurer, that can endure to be railed on, so his money comes troUing in. Let the fox have his prey, though with curses. But it is a lamentable course to defy a lion, yet run into his clutches. Be not unclean, and be secure. (2.) The manner: J^jjX^s, is gone; which is rather a form of speaking with us than a form of his going out. Yet howsoever a spirit or man leaves the place of his former residence, whether willingly or on compulsion, when he is out, it is said of him, He is gone. Here, then, is offered to our con- sideration the manner of the devil's departure. Satan goes not out of an inhabited heart willingly. Where they had local and substantial possession, you read in the gospel that Christ was said to 'cast them out.' And among other places, most pregnantly in the 11th of Luke, ver. 14, to the justification and clearing of this phrase, 'Jesus was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake.' He was ' gone ' out, he was ' cast' out ; the one expounds the other. So that this 'gone' out is rather a passive than an active speech : he never went out with his good-will, he frets to be dislodged of his chamber. That legion of devils in one poor Gadarene, Mark v., held it no less than a torment to be cast out of man. ' I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.' And ' art thou come hither to torment us before the time ? ' "When the King of heaven and the controller of hell cast the dumb and deaf spirit out of the child of a believing father, Mark ix., 'the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him, and he was as one dead ; insomuch that many said. He is dead.' As when a writ of ejection comes against a bad tenant, that he sees he must out, he fires the house about his ears. So long as he may foment our corrupt affections, and give us complacency and self-satisfaction in his vicious obedience, — till he make us not subjects, but slaves, and rather res than pej^sonas, as the lawyers speak, — he gives to every one a dormi secure. But when we begin to suspect his right, to try his title, and to go to law to cast liim out, and to bustle against him, the • skulking fox is turned to an ox, and puts forth his goring horns of tyranny. When thou beginnest to sue him, he will plead prescription : Ileum est, meum erit, quia meum fuit, — It is mine, it shall be mine, because it hath been mine. Custom in sin is a shrewd argument against repentance. Tur- pius ejicitur, quam non admittitur hospes, — A guest is with better manners not admitted than ejected. If that will not serve, he goes to it in plain force. He doth not say, as Jacob to Laban, ' These twenty years have I served thee,' &c., but. These many years have I commanded thee ; and dost • 42 THE BLACK SAINT. [SeRMON XXIX, tliou now shake off my sendee, degenerate rebel, and refuse allegiance ! As Eabshakeh, in the embassage of Sennacherib to Hezekiah : ' Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me 1 ' Isa. xxxvi, 5. Who shall deliver thee out of my hands 1 If we answer with that threatened king, ' The Lord of hosts shall deliver us,' at whose name the Sennacherib of in- fernal Babylon doth tremble, so that he must depart, he will not go out without terror, but tear and afflict the heart, in the parting and desertion of our old delights. Hence we may infer that there is a power superior to Satan, that must expel him, or he will not depart. The uncircumcised Philistine insults, till David come. ' The strong man armed keeps his palace and his goods in peace,' Luke xi., untU the stronger man, even the Strength of Israel, comes against him. It is he that is able to pluck out Satan by head and shoul- ders. This is he alone that can help either the corporally or spiritually pos- sessed. The kings of England and France (as if it were an impression of divine power in them) do cure a disease by touch. And I have read it reported (though but reported) that the kings of Spain help demoniac and possessed persons. These are but corporal cures. The Pope challengeth a faculty to cure spiritual impotencies, leprosies, and possessions. Alas ! it is not in his power, though in his pride and superarrogant glory. Indeed, when our anguished souls have bathed themselves in the river of Jordan, (an angel of mercy have stirred the waters,) in our penitential tears, in our Saviour's blood, on the cross, in the sacrament ; it is aU, if the Pope (and yet not he more than the meanest minister, did he not monopolise men's sins by re- servations) may pronounce who is dispossessed of the power of Satan, who not. But to cast out the devil's tyranny, whether substantial or spiritual, to rescue a miserable man out of the enchanted walls of Babylon, to set the foot of a weak Christian on the neck of that leviathan, to give him in- sultation and triumph over asps, lions, dragons, is the singular and incom- municable work of God. Christ throws Satan out per ictuni, per dictum, — by his word, by his sword : the power and operation of his Spirit in the preaching of the gospel. He breaks his head, he breaks his neck with a Scriptv,m est. Hence ' the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pull- ing down of strongholds ; casting down every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,' ifec, 2 Cor. x. 4, 5. Were this hold stronger than the seven-fold walls of Babylon, and his exaltation as high as ever the imagination of Nebuchadnezzar mounted his own worth, this shall batter and bring him down. The word casts him out, the sacraments hold him out ; that drives him forth, and these keep him from coming in. (3.) The measure. It must necessarily and punctually be examined how this miclean spirit may be said to be cast out. These two ways, in regard of the two sorts of persons out of whom he is cast : he is so thrown out of the godly, as never to return in again ; so out of the wicked, that mdeed he remains in still. Consider we then in what measure the devil departeth out of this apostate. Let us divide this into six circumstances, and the quotient will give us the sum of our desires. [1.] Satan is so far gone out, as the mind is enlightened. This the apostle grants incident to an apostate, Heb. vi. That he may be 'en- lightened, taste of the heavenly gift, be made partaker of the Holy Ghost, taste of the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, yet fall away, never to be renewed again by repentance.' This is that divines caU Matt. XIL 43-45.] thk black saint. 43 historica Jldes ; a floating notion in the brain, a general transient apprehen- sion of God's revealed truth, which shews itself in a dexterity of wit, and volubility of speech ; a fire in the brain, not able to warm the heart. It hath power to inform their judgments, not to reform their lives. Now so far as this illumination, swimming, nimble, and discursive know- ledge, is let in, so far is Satan said to be cast out. There is, saith Solomon, Eccles. i. 18, scientia contristans; and saith Paul, 1 Cor. viii. 1, scientia conjlans, — there is a knowledge that maketh sorrowful, that maketh proud. God in all knowledge regards not so much the quantity as the substance. There may be more light in a reprobate than in a sanctified soul, but not so good light. I speak not to vilify knowledge, but to rectify it. Other- wise, you know, the greater punishment belongs to hini that ' knows God's will, and doth it not.' Oftentimes the more shallow in knowledge, the more bungerly in wickedness : when a quick and sharp wit without grace, is like a headstrong horse without a bridle, Neither is this knowledge in a repro- bate gratia vana, seel evanescens, — not a vam, but a vanishing grace. ' They walk in the light,' John xii. ' They rejoice of the light,' John v. Yet is not the light in them. They have not the ' Sun of righteousness ' risen in their hearts, Mai, iv, ; for this sun can never set, [2.] Satan is so far gone out of the wicked, as they have admitted some probable beginnings of conversion. This is but a flash of hypocrisy, no true heat of zeal. When the most flinty heart shall be hit against the steel of God's judgments, it wiU strike fire ; but those sparkles are too weak to kindle the true warmth of grace, the fuel is so green, the afi"ections so vicious, whereon it works. Peccavi, was David's voice after his sinful arith- metic ; * Judas's voice after his abhorred treason. Vox eadem, non lioeni- tentia ; talis somts, non sinus, — The same voice or sound, not the same heart or penitence, Esau wept, having lost the blessing ; Peter wept, hav- ing denied his Master : neither wept without bitterness. Similes lachrymce, non animce, — The like tears, not the like consciences. Iron and steel, heated in the fire, are pliable to the fashioning hammer ; let them be cold, and they resume their former hardness. The heat of a sudden judgment, striking (like thunder) the companion of thy side ; a secret wipe of the ' sword of the Spirit, dividing the marrow and the bones,' in an eflectual sermon ; a stitch in the flesh, like the messenger of death, may a little thaw and melt the hard metal of an ungodly heart : but let the fire cease, and give him leave to be cold again, and he becomes harder than ever before, [3.] Satan is so far said to be gone out, as he lies hidden, like mud and slime under a thick snow. The devil may be within the grate, though he thrust not out his apparent horns ; or say he be walked abroad, yet he re- turns home at night, and in the meantime, like a mistrustful churl, locks the door after him, spars up the heart with security, that his treasure be not stolen. Thus as a snail he gathers up himself into his shell and house of the heart, when he fears discovery, and puts not forth his horns. Sometimes he plays not in the sun actually, but burrows deep in the afi'ections. The fox • keeps his den close when he knows that God's huntsmen be abroad to seek him. He knows that oftentimes armis i^oUentior asiiis, — his fraud was be- yond his force ; that he is pestUentior arte, quam marte; that he poisons more mortally melle quamfelle; that he may do as much hurt m a mask of white as in his own black habit ; that he may spoil more lambs in a sheei:)'s skin than appearing as a wolf. He is content to yield to a show of holiness, that he may work the more mischief. It is sutiicient for him if he may, That is, his ' numberiug ' of the people. — Ed. 44 THE BLACK SAINT. [SeEMON XXIX tliough not turhare, yet iurpare, not disquiet, yet dishonest tlie soul of man, Now so far as this touch of religion enters, is this unclean sj^irit said to be gone out. [4.] Satan may be said cast out, in the opinion of the party in whom he resides. Every one presumes there is no devil within him. The proud hath no Lucifer, the covetous no ]\f amnion, the idolater no Melchom, the adulterer no unclean spirit. Let me catechise thee. Thou didst promise in thy bap- tism to forsake the devil. What ! doest thou stay there ? Nay, and all his works. Alas ! be not so supine and careless ; uhi opera, ihi operans, — where the works are, there is the work-master. Thou art asleep, Samson, whiles these Philistines are upon thee, are within thee. The ague is not gone, though the fit be over. Whilst thou slumberest in thy waftage, the vessel goes on still. Satan is not out, though thou conceitest him gone ; and so, as it is in our phrase, he is gone to conceit. [o.] This unclean spirit may seem gone in the opinion of the church. Sometimes the devil is gone from a man in his own judgment, not the world's ; sometimes in the world's judgment, not his own. The church had a good estimation of Judas, as conformable to the outward duties of obedience, and the rather because Christ trusted him with the stewardship ; but God and his own conscience knew him a thief. The devil will not always be hunted by the scent, or followed by the print of his steps. The world shall not ever have him in palpable view and full cry, by reason of his notorious and gross impieties. If he can but now and then shoot in an instigation to some wickedness, it serves his turn. He doth not every day sally out of his fort, and charge his enemies in the face ; but watcheth opportunity, when his ex- cursions may do most mischief. The devil may be within, though he stand not at door to be seen. [6.] Lastly, Satan is said so far to be gone out as there is an interruption in the sovereignty of sin for a season. The floods of iniquity are not so vio- lent as if they were kept within the dam by shutting down the sluice. The dromedary, the ungodly, runs not so madly, whiles that infernal rider for- bears their sides with his spur. As he is said to come in when he was in before : because there cometh in a more forcible and stronger illusion of Satan than the heart erst suffered, Luke xxii. It is said that ' Satan entered into Judas ' before the j^assover ; yet we cannot think that God's Spirit was in him before : but only now a greater power of Satan got in, that, like a ripe tumour, would be no longer hid within the thin skin of hypocrisy. Corruption now gets eruption, and the rancorous ulcer of mckedness bursts forth. So of the contrary'', Satan is said to go out when he stUl holds in ; but like a bird in the net, that hangs by one claw. Nero is still in Rome, though he remits taxations, and forbears massacres for a season. The love of drunk- enness may be in the heart, though there be a day when tke tavern is avoided. Be the adulterer aslcej), he is an adulterer still. What master so cruel but sometimes lets his slave rest? Certa quiescendi tempora fata da- hunt, — The devil is not continually impelling or compelling his servants to public and notorious iniquities. Sometimes he suspends his tyranny, and sits close in the heart, banqueting on the lusts which he finds there, and sends not abroad for newcates. The tempestuous wind eftsoon lies still ; the most robustious and malignant force of wickedness bates of the usual violence, and breaks not forth into the same show of malice without some intermission. So far as this suspense, remission, and interruption of sin extends, so far is Satan said to be gone out. Matt. XII. -i3-45.] the black saint. 45 You see the measure. Only give me leave to set you down two short rules, as two reflecting perspectives, wherein you may behold whether this unclean spirit be truly or hyi^ocriticaUy cast out of your hearts. Rule 1. — So far is Satan cast out as sin is cast out. The tenure whereby Satan holds any lordship in the heart is sin. He that would overthrow his title must labour an ejection of wickedness. Piety in the heart, purity in the life, are true testimonies of the devil's exile. Satan fights against us with two weapons — that he found in us, and that he brings upon us. That he found in us is flesh and blood ; that he brings upon us is death. By this latter he could not have hurt us, except we had given him the former, and so reached him a weapon to pierce our own hearts. In what measure sin rules, or is ruled, Satan is held in or ejected. Ride 2. — The discontinuing of some sins and retaining others gives no comfort or argument of Satan s departure. If he be truly gone, there comes in his place a perfect detestation and resolute opposition against all sin. It is in vain to cast out Satan by avoiding avarice, when thou lettest him in by a wasteful prodigality ; to admit him by hypocrisy whom thou thi'owest out by profaneness. This is to put the devil out at the porch, and let him in again at the postern. But one Rimmon is too much for Naaman, one Delilah for Samson, one Herodias for Herod ; one exorbitant delight, reserved, resolved, persisted in, is enough for Satan, too much for the sinner. I say not. Thou must never sin ; but. Love no sin. How impossible is the former, the latter how necessary ! It is the content and complacency in siu that holds in the devil. What is it for a rich man to brag he is no thief? Or a beggar to clear himself from bribery ? Or for an old man to forbear the stews ? Or for a credulous Papist, that thinks to deserve heaven by works, to add a mite to an hospital 1 But whiles he pours a little ointment on Christ's feet by charity, by opinion of merit he throws the box at his head. What is it to abstain from those sins whereunto thou art not tempted? But repentance renounceth ' all dead works,' and obedience strives to walk in aU God's ways. In omnibus sine exceptione, etsi non in omnibus cum im- pletione, — None of all must be excepted, though none of all be fulfilled. If the devil be truly cast out, there is a full resolution in the heart against all manner of sin. 2. Thus much of his unroostmg, or throwing out ; for his unresting, per- plexedness, and discontent, observe in it four circumstances : his travel, trial, trouble, event. (1.) For his travel, 'he walks.' (2.) For his trial, ' in dry places.' (3.) For his trouble, ' he seeks rest.' (4.) For the event, ' he find- €th none.' (1.) Travel: ' He walks.' The devil is no idle spirit, but a wvilker; a vagrant, runagate walker, like Cain, that cannot rest in a place. I have heard of travellers that have seen many parts of the world, but never any perpetual peripatetic, or universal walker, but Satan, who hath travelled all coasts and corners of the earth ; and would of heaven too, if he might be ad- "mitted. He is not like St George's statue, ever on horseback, and never riding ; but, as if he were knight-marshal of the whole world, he is ever walking. His motion is circular, and his unwearied steps know no rest ; he hath a large and endless circuit. His walk is a siege, that goes about the fort to find the weakest place, as easiest for battery. ' He walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour,' 1 Pet. v. 8. As in other things he is a serpent, so especially in his wallis, for his whole course is ser- pentine. All his walks were after, against, about man. His walks are the 4G THE BLACK SAINT. [SeRMON XXIX. circumference, and man the centre. Tlie motive, cause, and main intention of his journey is to win man. A strange pilgrim ! that makes not an end of his journey till there be an end of time. He hath been in heaven, in paradise, in the earth, in the sea, and in hell, and yet hath not done walking. Some there are that will go from Eome to England to make proselytes ; but the devil will go from one end of the world to the other, and walk from pole to pole, till he hath put a girdle about the loins of the earth, to make a man the ' child of hell,' like himself. And in all his travel, like fame, and a mutinous rebel, vires ac- quirit eiinclo, — he still enlargeth his own dition. It was a true answer that the father of lies made to Truth itself. Job ii. 2, 'I come from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.' He walks any way, to spill any man, by any means. He is at hand to Saul, he meets Judas in the face, and he backs Peter. He walks like an errant post between the adulterer and his harlot ; between the proud gallant and his parasite ; between the ambitious and his intelligencer ; between the usurer and the broker j between the thief and receiver ; between the greedy advocate and the contentious client ; between the sacrilegious patron and the simoniacal priest ; betwixt the inns and the hall ; betwixt the exchange and the warehouse. Where can a man bestow himself that the devil cannot walk to him 1 Art thou in thy private chamber ? There can Satan find thee ; as he did Eve in paradise, Christ in the desert. If in any place, he hath there most power and opportunity. ' Two are better than one ; for if either fall, or be prevailed against, the other will Uft up, or rescue him,' Eccles. iv. 9. But Vce soli, — 'Woe to him that is alone !' for if he miscaiTy, there is none to help him. The melancholy man, that loves to be sequestered from society, and lives an hermitical, solitary life, is most exposed to Satan's assaults. Company is good, especially if the companions be good, as being a means to hinder Satan from so violent working upon our affections. The philosophers were wont to say, ' He that lived alone was either a god or a devil.' Yet solitariness is not so evU as evil company. It is better to bustle with one devil in a close chamber than with many devUs in a riotous tavern. Art thou in the court 1 Satan walks thither too ; and will fit Eehoboam with flatterers, Ahab with liars, Pharaoh with sorcerers, Belshazzar with cups, Solomon with concubines. Art thou in the market 1 He is ready with oaths, with cozenages, Nay, art thou in the temple 1 Thither he dares travel too ; and pervert the eyes with shows, the ears with sounds, the thoughts with fancies, the senses with sleej^. Wheresoever, whensoever, howsoever thou art busied, he walks to thee with his temptations ; and, like a nimble, voluble shopkeeper, interrupts thee with a ' What lack you ? ' He hath a ship ready for Jonah, a witch for Saul, a wedge for Achan, a rope for Judas. A booty stands readj'' for the thief, a pawn for the broker, a mort- gage for the merchant, a monopoly for the courtier, a harlot for the adul- terer. As he walks through the streets, there he throws a short measure, a false balance into a tradesman's shop. He steps into a drinking-house, and kindles a quarrel. He shoulders to the bar, and pops in a forged evidence, a coun- terfeit seal. He dares enter the schools, and commence schisms and con- tentions ; nay, climb up into the pulpit, and broach sects and divisions. He travels no ground, but like a stinldng fog, or a dying oj^pressor, he leaves an ill scent behind him. This is he that makes men serve God percunctorily, perfunctorily ; to go slowly to it, to sit idly at it. Matt. XII. 43-45.] the black saint. 47 Whither, where can we walk, and not behold Satan's walks ; and see the prints of his feet as plain as if his steps were set in snow, or, like the priests of Bel, in ashes, that we may say. The devil hath been here 1 He that shall travel the Lower Provinces, and in some parts thereof see the cities ruinated, habitations spoiled, forts battered, temples demolished, fields tmtilled, will say. Sure the enemy hath been here. He that with observing and weeping eyes beholds, not our temples, but the piety in them dissolved; not our cities, but the citizens perverted; not our houses, but their inhabitants de- faced with iniquity ; not our fields, but our hearts lying untilled ; our lawyers turned truth-defrauders, our landlords oppressors, our gentlemen rioters, our patrons simonists ; — would surely say, This is Satan's walk ; the devil hath, been here. Let this fasten on our souls two instructions : — First, To keep out of Satan's walks. Though he visiteth all places, and his inquisition be stricter than the Spanish, — for that catches none but Pro- testants, the Papists scape, — yet he freqnenteth some more than other. Perhaps he may find thee in the temple, as he took Judas at the communion ; but cany a faithful and upright heart, and then, though, he walks thither to thee, he shall walk to hell without thee. When thou art for company, choose the best : if they mourn, mourn with them ; if they be merry, refuse not mirth with them, so it be honest, ad societatem, not ad saiietatem. When thou art alone, read, pray, meditate ; that either God may talk to thee or thou to God. So, with Scipio, thou shalt be ' least alone when most alone,' The guard of angels shall be about thee, and the ' fellowship of the Holy Ghost ' within thee ; and let Satan walk whither he will, thou art, like Enoch, ' walking with God,' Gen. v. 24. Secondly, Since Satan is so walking and busy a spirit, let this teach us not to be idle. Indeed, be not too busy in other men's matters, nor too lazy in thine own. Shall we know that the enemy walks, waits, watches to destroy us ; and shall we not look to ourselves 1 He sows tares in the field of our hearts whiles we sleep ; let us awake and pluck tliem up, lest they choke the good seed of our graces. It is not allowed us to sit stUl ; we must be walk- ing. Eye to thy seeing, ear to thy hearing, hand to thy working, foot to thy walking. ' Up and eat, Elias,' 1 Kings xix. 7 ; arise, O Christian, thou hast sat too long, having so great a journey to go. The servants in the law were commanded to eat the passover with their shoes on, Exod. xii. 1 1 ; and St Paul chargeth the sons in the gospel — perhaps not without some allusion to that — ' to stand with their feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace,' Eph. vi. 15. When a man is standing, it is said he will be walk- ing. Astronomers have numbered the mUes betwixt earth and heaven, as if they had climbed up thither by ladders, to be 900,000.* But, without doubt, Christianity is a great journey ; and he that considers the way and distance betwixt mortality and immortality, corruption and glory, must needs conclude i^ is high time to be walking. Vita hrevis, ars lon(ja, — Life is short, and this skill not soon learnt. We cannot begin this journey too early : we have sitten too long ; it is full time we were travelling. Otherwise a walk- •ing devil shall condemn a slothful man. (2.) Trial: 'through dry places.' The discontented devil, cast out of man, seeks about for a new lodging, and finds all places dry ; lie esteems every place, but in man's heart, irksome and unpleasant, as a dry, ban'en, and heathy wilderness. Now, as when a man hath long lived in a fertile vaUey, abounding with delightful fruits and necessary comforts, the grounds * Probably the author meant the distance between the earth and the sun ; which is, however, 100 times as great as he states it. — En. 48 THE BLACK SAINT, [SeRMON XXIX. standing tliick with corn, and a pleasant river running along to glad his heart with a welcome moisture ; it cannot be other than a displeasing change to be banished into a mountainous desert, where the scorching sun burns up the grass, and withers the fruit ; or the unhindered force of the wind finds a bleak object to work upon ; where the veins of blood, the springs of water •rise not, run not, to madefy the earth and cherish her plants. Such is Satan's case and cause of perplexity. The wicked heart was his delighted orchard, where the fruits of disobedience, oaths, lies, blasphemies, oppres- sions, cozenages, contentions, drunken, proud, covetous actions and habits, made him fat. For as God hath his vineyard, the devil hath his orchard. The fruits that God expects and deUghts to gather are the good grapes of obedience. Satan's desire is wicked and wretched effects. These he either found ready, or made ready in the heart of man. Whence displaced, sedibus, ■cedihus, he is mad fur anger, and accounts all places dry. He finds no rest in dry places. Perhaps the devU loves the low countries and wet ground. In a moderate, temperate, dry brain he finds no footing ; but in the soul of the swilHng drunkard, as a foggy and fenny ground, lie obtains some residence. Abstemious moderation, and temperate satisfac- tion of nature, is too dry a place, for so hot a spirit as hell-fire hath made him, to quench his malicious thirst ; but in those that are filled vdth wine and strong drinks, suaviter, molliter acquiescit. When the Son of God threw a legion out of one poor man, they beg earnestly to be allowed entrance into the svidne. Of all creatures void of reason, it is observed of those, that they will swill till they swell, drink till they burst. If Circe's cup (or if you will, the vintner's, the victualler's) hath transformed man into a drunken hog, this is a moist place that Satan affects. If the head be well tippled, he gets in, and makes the eyes wanton, the tongue blasphemous, the hands ready to stab, the ' throat an open sepulchre ' to devour, I deny not but Paul may meet his friends at the market of Appium, and •drink at the Three Taverns, Acts xxviii, 15, Honest necessity must be re- lieved. And for this purpose were taverns first erected ; for the necessary refection of travellers and strangers. Neither laws divine nor national con- •demn their use, but their abuse. Yet, Ecclus. xxvi, 30, ' a victualler shall not be freed from sin.' You will say it is apocryphal ; and I fear a man of that profession is apocryphal too, who wiU not sell riot for money, and wink at those that fill their brains to empty their purses. Wine is a good crea- ture, to ' cheer man's heart ;' and Paul allows it to Timothy for his stomach's sake. But those that drink wine, not to help the stomach, but to surfeit it ; not for wholesome and medicinal respects, but with inebriative delight, or on some base intent, to overthrow the company ; these are moist places, fit for Satan, (3.) Troidile : ' seeking rest,' But is he in any hope to find it ? Doth he not carry his hell about him ? Can he get out of the curse and maledic- tion of God 1 There is no rest to him passively, actively. Passively ; the unappeased anger of Almighty God persecutes him, and denies him rest. Actively ; he gives himself no rest, in tempting and tormenting man. God persecutes him ; he persecutes man. Thus through a voluntary and enforced motion, et volenter, et violenter, ' he seeks rest, but he finds none.' The devil's malice to mankind is so great, that he cannot rest without their ruin. He began with the first parents, and will not end but with the end of the world ; till he hath tempted, or at least attempted, the last man that ever their generations shall produce. Hereon it is noted, that the angels sinning were never restored, because they offended without temptation, merely Matt. XII. 43-45.] the black saint. 49 of malice, being created pure and excellent spirits. But man fell from God, and was again redeemed to God, because he was seduced of another. Quanto fragilior in natura, tanto facilioi^ ad veniam, — The weaker in nature, and so more apt to fall, the more easy to be lifted up again. But the de\il fell so fuUy, so foully, being sole actor in his own fault, sole author of his own ftdl, that he is never to be restored ; so never obtains rest. Yet he imagines to himself a kind of rest, when he is quietly possessed of man's heart. As a malicious man acquiescit vindidis, so when the devil hath wrought man's woe, and brought him to hell, it is a rest unto him. But his rest is man's unrest ; his melody our malady. His blustering tempest is not laid till he hath split the vessel, our body ; and drowmed the passenger, our soul. His first and chief aim is to destroy the soul, and to deface that more excellent part of man, that is nearer to the character and divine impression of God's image. If the soul be coming, he is sure the body will follow. If he cannot reach the spirit, then have at the flesh. Let Joseph look for the stocks, Peter for the jail, David for exile, Job for botches. If the restraming power of heaven interdicts him the body, then he sets upon the estate : like Joseph's mistress, that missing the person, catcheth the garment ; or the savage bear, which, prevented of the blood and bones, falls a-tearing the clothes that fell from them. The birds of the air, fishes of the sea, beasts of the earth, shall pay for it. Everything which belongs to man's health and comfort shall feel his tyranny. If Job's person be forbidden the extent of his malice, yet he "utII have a fling at his oxen, asses, sheep, camels. Job. i. When that legion must leave the possessed, they beg, not to be sent away out of the country, but to be admitted into the herd, Matt. v. 10, 12. The inhabitants are freed ; then, woe to their swine ! Bather hogs than nothing. He will play at small game, rather than sit out. As that bloody tyrant, being disabled to extend his cruelty to men, must be still a-kiUing, though it be but worms. He ' seeketh rest.' (4.) Event, or success : ' but he findeth none.' So soon as ever this un- clean spirit is thrown out of man, that he begins to serve God, Satan rageth worse than ever ; and till he can overthrow the beginnmgs of grace in us with a second perversion, he finds no rest. We cannot so soon please God but we displease the devU. Whiles Paul was a Pharisee, no man in greater credit ; but become a professor and preacher of the gospel, none more ex- posed to dangers and contumelies. If we do but look toward Jerusalem, as Christ, Luke ix. 53, ' because his face was as though he would go to Jeru- salem,' might not be received of the Samaritans ; or if we purpose to heaven, as Paul to Thessalonica, Satan will ofi'er to liinder our pass, 1 Thess. ii. 18. The devil desires to winnow Peter, not Judas, Luke xxii 31. The more faithful servants of God we be, the more doth Satan bruise us with the flail, or grate us with the fan. The thief doth not break into an empty cottage, but into some furnished house, or full granary, where the fatness of the booty is a fitness to his de- sires. This unclean spirit finds no rest in an atheist, usurer, drunlcard, swearer, &c. He knows a canker hath overrun their consciences already ; and that they are as sure as temptation can make them. No prince makes war with his own tractable subjects. ' Gloria pvignantes vincere major erit.' Holofenies tells Judith : ' Fear not in thine heart : for I never hurt any that was willkig to serve Nebuchadnezzar, the king of all the earth,' Judith xi. L So the devil : I never use to harm any that are content to serve me, VOL. IL D 50 THE BLACK SAINT, . [SEEMON XXIX the king of all the Vi'orld. What need he tempt them that tem^Dt them- selves ? The fowler shoots at birds that be wild, not at doves and yard-fowls, tame, and in his own keeping. Many stood by the fire, Acts xxviii. 3, yet the viper leaps upon none of their hands, but Paul's. This viper of hell labours to sting the best men ; reprobates he hath poisoned enough already. The dog barks at strangers, not at domestical servants, or daily visitant friends. This mad Cerberus bites not those that have given him a sop, their affections and souls ; but flies at the throat of such only as deny him the fealty of love and obedience, and abandon his regiment. Whiles the Israelites were in Egypt, and Pharaoh had some service of them, he doth but oppress them with burdens, and such slavish impositions; but when they are departed from his territories, and have extricated themselves from his bondage, he comes after them with fire and sword ; and nothing but their blood and death can appease hmi. Swear, swagger, covet, cozen, dissemble, defraud, give the devil homage and alle- giance, and his tyranny will be content with the supportation of these bur- dens; but rebel, revolt, renounce his sovereignty, and then nothing but fire and fury will flash from him. ; and, except in thy ruin, he finds no rest. II. Thus much for the unclean spirit's unroosting and xmresting ; his re- linquishing the hold, and his demeanour after it : and therein generally for his egress. His regress is the next act of this tragedy ; his striving for a re- entry into the fort he hath lost : which consists, 1. In his intention, what he purposeth ; 2. In the invention, what he findeth. His access and success is presented in these scenes : — 1. His intention or project dwells upon, (1.) A resolution ; (2.) A revolu- tion; (3.) A descriptimi of his seat; (4.) Affection to the same house whence he came out. (1.) 'E.h resolution : 'I will.' Volo, est vox aut pertinacis, aut potentis; non petentis, — ' I will,' is the voice, not of a beggar, but either of one power- ful or peremptory. Good in the Almighty, saucy in a subordinate power, without some reservation or exception made to the supreme providence. Will you, Satan 1 It is too bold and presumptuous a voice. Ask leave, Satan ; for you are chained to your clog, and cannot stir but limitata 230tes- tate. Behemoth is tied in a tether, and that triumphant Lamb holds the lion in an infrangible cord ; and says to him, as to the sea, ' Here will I stay the insultation of thy proud waves,' Job xxxviii. 11, Will you know what makes the devil thus bold ? A double confidence : — [1.] In his o\vn strength ; [2.1 In man's weakness. [l.] In his own strength. Therefore he says not, Conabor reverti, but Re- vertar, quasi nihil ohstiterit. As if he had that power which was prophesied of Cyrus, Isa. xlv. 2, that ' gates of brass and bars of iron should be broken open before him.' Or as it is feigned of the Pope in the year of jubilee, that he comes to the gate of St Peter's Church in Kome, and there having knocked with his silver hammer, the gate presently ftiUs down before him. Perhaps he means to hieroglyphic unto us what wondrous engines silver tools are in Rome, and what strange feats they work, till coelum sit venule Beusqxie, and not only to present the person of Peter, heaven's porter, as they call him, and to manifest the liberty of purgatory-ghosts, given by virtue of Papal indulgences. This is the devil's strength, whereof he is so confident ; and it is helped by his subtlety. His subtlety shews itself in his temptations. Which to dis- cover is one special intention in all sermons. Mine shall be to cut off a lap of his garment. He tempts either — . Matt XIL 43-45.] the black saint. 51 First, Invisibly; by stirring secret motions and internal provocations in the heart. So he wrought upon Judas by covetousness, upon Simon Magus by ambition, upon Esau by profaneness. ' Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed,' James i. 14. This is that opera- tive possession, whereby the ' prince of the power of the air now worketh in the children of disobedience,' Eph. ii. 2. Innumerable are these invisible subtleties. Or — Secondly, Visibly; by external apparitions and shapes, presented to the body's eye, either essential or delusive. This he doth three ways : — First, By taking to himself an airy body, fashioning it to what form he pleaseth ; as the good angels did, by God's dispensation, according to the opinion of divines, v/hen they ' did eat meat with Abraham,' Gen. xviii. 8. Thus he appeared to Saul in the shape of Samuel, 1 Sam. xx\Tii. 14. The king said to the witch, ' What form is he of ? And she said. An old man Cometh up, and he is covered -with a mantle.' Which was a feigned propor- tion that, by God's permission, Satan had taken to delude Saul. So it is said, that he often appeared in the days of ignorance. Secondly, By entering into the corpse of some dead body, making it speak and walk as he pleaseth : which is not denied by divines, but the devil, by God's sufferance, may do, but with two provisos : — First, This must be the body of a reprobate that he assumes ; for the ' godly sleep in peace,' Isa. Ivii. 2. God gives him a Nolito tangere meos, — Touch not mine, either living or dead. Secondly, If it be a reprobate corpse, yet he can appear in it no longer than naturally he can preserve it from corrupting. But that Satan can keep a carcase from putrefying, further than nature permits, it is gene- rally and truly denied. And even these black shadows, blessed be God, in this sunshine of the gospel, are abolished. Thirdly, By entering into the body of some living thing. So the devils in the possessed spake audibly, and gave a loud acknowledgment of Christ, Matt. viii. So Satan entered the body of a living serpent, when he tempted and seduced the woman. Gen. iii. 1; 2 Cor. xi. 3. But of all shapes which he assumeth, he hath best liking to the Likeness of man, and delights in a human resemblance. Of aU habits this best pleaseth him : in a kind of affecting pride, thereby to be as like to God as possibly he may. This is Satan's first presumption : a strongly-opinioned trust in his own strength. [2.] In man's weakness ; who, as he is never strong of himself, so at some times and places weaker than other. And therefore, like wise captains in towns of garrison, he had need to fortify that place with most men and munition, with best spiritual arms and armour, where either the enemy's ordnance, his temptations, have made a breach, or we are naturally weakest. Our frailty gives the devil a presumptuous confidence of 'Inirusion. Hence he saitli, not fortasse, but inroad dubio, ' I will return.' He thinks we are too weak to tura him away without his errand, when he comes with a pic- ture of lust, a bag of gold, a staff of office and promotion. When he saith to the avarous, I will make thee rich ; to the tyrant, I will make thee dread- ful; to the wanton, I will make thee merry; to the wasteful, I will make thee beloved ; to the idle, I will give thee ease : not only Achan, Gehazi, Saul, and Judas have been too weak for these encounters, but even Noah, Lot, David, Solomon, and Peter have bowed at these tempests. This he could not do but by working on our ready and inclinable affec- tions. As a cunning artificer, that can produce greater effects upon matter conveniently disposed thereunto than nature could have done alone. When the devil and our corrupt flesh meet, they engender a generation of sins ; 52 THE BLACK SAINT. [SeEMON XXIX. as his sons, tlie mcagicians of Egypt, could make living creatures by applying and suggesting passive tilings to active, which would never have met but by their mediation ; or as the statuary can make an image, which the timber and axe could never have effected without him. So the wicked would never pro- duce such tetrical and horrible eifects, but the devil's adding his heat to theirs, and by a prodigious coupling of his instigation and their lusts. Thus weak he thinks us, and not seldom finds us. The natural man goes forth to fight with a mighty giant, in a monomachy or duel ; the second he brings with him is the world : the natural man's second is the flesh. He j)repares to fight with a professed enemy, and calls out for his assistant a private and close foe. He is weakly backed that hath a traitor for his guard. To arm his presumption with policy, he seriously observes which way the current of every man's humour runneth ; knowing by long experience what will most easily draw him to sin. As physicians, when they would know the state of the sick, and the nature of their disease, first inquire decubitum, the time of the jiatient's lying down and yielding himself to his lair. But because this observation holds not alike in all men, but some walk longer before they betake themselves to their bed than others, therefore they more especially reckon ab actionibus Icesis, — that is, when their appetite, digestion, and other faculties failed in the performance of their ofiices. And lastly, finding the course of nature in the diseased, which way it worketh, accordingly minister their physic, as that calls, Come and help me. Such a course takes this malignant physician for the death of the soul : observing first when a delight in any sin casts us down ; and then, when the faculties of our souls forbore their functions, in hungering after righteousness, or digesting the word of truth ; and lastly, when he hath found which way our natural inclination is given, and the grain of our aflections runs, he labours to help us forward into the practical custom of that wickedness ; as a cunning fisher, using that bait which he knows most congruent to the nature and appetite of that fish he would strike. Thus he urgeth the chole- ric to anger ; the melancholy to distrust, despair, and to lay violent hands on themselves ; the sanguine to immoderate mirth ; the phlegmatic to drowsi- ness in Christian ofiices, and to the deferring of obedience, assuring him that it is time enough to repent betwixt that and doomsday. Since he is so bold with us, what should we do but be as bold with him 1 James iv. 7, ' Resist the devil, and he will flee from yoii.' He is a lion to those that fly him, a fly to those that stand him. Andacius insistit d, tergo, quam resistii infaciem/'^ Take in thy hand the ' sword of the Spirit :' fling a Scriptum est at his head. Take up some of David's stones out of God's holy brook, and smite that daring Phihstine in the forehead. This is the weapon wheremth our Saviour Christ encountered and beat him. Let us follow the same captain with the same arms. Let us not fear : Malus miles, qui imperatorer/i gemens sequitur, — He is a cowardly soldier that follows his general groaning. Thou goest not alone to this combat : Christ went before thee, goes with thee. How canst thou not march courageously, cum dux sit sociits, when thy captain is thy companion 1 He hath taught us this war both by precept and practice : ' Blessed be the Lord our strength, which teacheth our hands to war, and our fingers to fight,' Ps. cxhv. 1. Ctfjus munimur auxilio, movemiir exemplo, — We are guided, we are guarded ; by his presidency, by his precedency. So Augustine,t Ideo tentatus est Christus, ne vinceretur ct tentatore Christiamis, — Christ endured tentation, that tenta- * Bern. t In Psalm xc. Matt. XII. 43-45.] the black saint. §3 tion might not overcome Christians. He says no other to thee than Abime- lech to his soldiers : ' "VVliat you have seen me do, make haste, and do as I have done,' Judges ix. 48. This is our strong comfort : ' For in that he himself hath suffered and was tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted,' Heb. ii. 18. (2.) His revolution: 'return.' The devil being never permitted to pry into God's secret book of predestination, and so not knowing who is elect, who reprobate, hopes still to return into any house whence he hath been ejected. And accordingly in many, too many, he prevails. If Satan be totally thrown out, in vain he expects returning : especially to get any domin- ion in the lost fort. But we read, that a man may ' know the truth,' 2 Pet. ii. 21, and yet ' forsake it;' be ' enlightened,' nay, ' taste of the powers of the world to come;' nay, be said, in some respects, 'sanctified,' yet 'crucify Christ again,' Heb. vi. 6. To these will Satan return, with as strong power as ever, Heb. x. 26. N^owhe returns, either,[l.] By unright receiving of God's blessings ; like good wine put into a polluted or broken vessel : or, [2.] By unreverent use of them; imagining themselves rather domlnos than dispensatores : or, [3.] By defiling them with hy|30crisy ; so true gold is alchymcd over with a false sophistica- tion : or, [4.] By mixing them with lusts and much-made-of sms ; and this permission is like good meat put into a vicious stomach, where there is a con- fiision of poor food and crudities, to the destruction, not conservation of health. Hence infer : though Satan be gone, yet expect his return. He hath his terms and returns, as well as vacations. And by this thou mayest judge whether this unclean spirit be truly or hypocritically cast out : if he doth not return, he was never gone ; if he strive not to come in, he is in already. A secure heart may suppose him expelled that still lies close in the house. If by perpetual assaults he strives for entrance, then be sure he is truly gone out. Even his oppositions shall afford thee comfort, his war give thee peace. And if he be gone, keep him at staflPs end ; seeing thou art rid of so ill a tenant, let him never come in again, (.3.) The description of his seat : ' into my house.' Satan calls this re- probate's heart his house ; {fnd so it is. Not by creation ; for so every man is God's house : 1 Cor. iii. 1 6, ' Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 ' Not by adoption : Cant. V. 2, 'Open to me, my sister,' &c., saith Christ; and, Rev. iii. 20, 'I stand at the door and knock,' &c. But upon our rejection of God, and God's de- sertion of us, the heart becomes Satan's house. For it is either a seat of sanctity, or a cage of unclean birds ; a chapel for Jesus, or a den for devils : for where Christ is not by his pure Spirit, Satan is by his foul spirit. So the malicious heart is a house for the spirit of envy ; the drunken, for the spirit of ebriety ; the proud, for the spirit of pride ; the unchaste, for the spirit of uncleanness ; the usurer, for the spirit of covetousness. They may flatter themselves. Est Deus in nobis, agitante calescimus illo, — that God is in them, but the inmate and residentiary of their hearts is that unclean vulture. They may be rich in worldly wealth, and have sumptuous houses, and fair parlours, like Eglon ; but themselves are foul parlours for Satan. How lamentable is it to see owls and bats, lim and Ziiin, impiety, impenitency, and rebellion, dwelling in that mansion which the Lord of hosts built for himself ! Heu domus antiqua, quam dispart dominaris domino ! — ancient house, how ill art thou governed ! where covetousness is the hall, for there is no room for charity in her old place ; oppression the kitchen, where the lives 54: THE BLACK SAINT. [SeRMON XXIX. and livings of poor men are dressed for rich men's tables : pride is the par- lour, which is hung with ostentation and self-flattery ; wantonness is the chamber, where concupiscence sits and hatcheth an innumerable brood of lusts ; malice is the chimney, which ever smokes, and sometimes flames out revenge ; security is the bed, whereon Satan luUs himself ; and impenitency keeps the gate, that no admission be given to admonition, nor anything let in to disquiet the house. Oh, the mercy of God ! Shall we let in our enemies and keep out our friends'? Must Satan be advanced into God's throne 1 Shall pride shut the door against the Lord of all mercy and com- fort, who yet hath promised to dwell in the humble and contrite soul 1 For shame ! Let us cast Satan out, and keep him out. Though he flatter with the voice of the hyena at the door, and give blandiloquous proffers, yet — ' Janua fallaci non sit aperta viro.' (4.) His affection to the same place : ' whence I came out.' Experienced delight sharpens desire, whereas unknown things are not cared for. This unclean spirit remembers the softness and warmth of his old lodging, and therefore no marvel if he covets to repossess it. Because — [1.] He finds an easier and softer residence there than in hell. He had rather be in any place than his own place; rather in hogs than in the deep, Luke viii. 31. There he is tormented himself; here he doth vex and tempt others. [2.] Man is made after the image of God ; to whom, since he finds that his malice cannot extend, he labours to deface his picture. Hence man bears the blows which are meant at God. [3.] Man is by Christ advanced to that place whence God disthronised him. Now he cannot endure that a human creature should ascend to that heaven whither himself, once an angel, may not be admitted. [4.] He is exasperated against man by that curse inflicted on him for se- ducing man, that ' the seed of the woman should break his head.' This irre- concileable enmity enrageth and mads him. Christ he could not queU ; have at Christians ! [5.] Lastly, the devil is j)roud stUl ; and, though he be cast down, is not humbled ; though low, not lowly. He takes a |)ride in his kingdom, though it be but of darkness; and loves to have many subjects to do him homage. Since he cannot be king in heaven, he would command in heU. To enlarge his dominion, he would, like Absalom, steal away the hearts of men from King David of Israel, the liege Lord of heaven and earth. Hence he affects his old house : there he is sure of good cheer and wel- come ; a fire of lust to warm him, a bed of uncleanness to lodge him, and a table furnished with aU manner of impieties to feast him. Better here than walking in dry places, where wickedness is too barren to yield fruits for his diet, and oppositions too violent to give him rest. 2. You perceive now his resolution, revolution, description of his old seat, and affection to it ; and in all these his intention. His invention foUows, and the successful answcrableness of all things to his deskes. He comes, and he finds preparation for his entertainment, consisting in clearness, clean- ness, trimness: clearness, it is empty ; cleanness, or handsomeness, it is swept; trimness, or adornation, it is garnished. (1.) The devil shall not want room when he comes : there shall be no in- mate in the house to molest him, but such as he cither left behind or sent before — vicious lusts. Which are indeed parts of himself, and therefore can- not be said to be sodcditium. They are shadows and resemblances of him- self; which though he finds there, he reputes the house no less empty. Matt, XII. 43-45.] the black saint. 55 (2.) It is not enough to be empty, and capable to receive Lim ; but it must be cleanly, and plausible to receive him : ' swept.' There must be a clear riddance of whatsoever may discontent him. (3.) Nay, all this preparation is too slender ; as if some great prince were expected, the house must be garnished ; as it were, hung with tapestry and arras. There must not only be emptiness and handsomeness, but neatness. So then here is the provision of the house to receive him: — (1.) It is not troublesome, for it is ' empty.' (2.) It is not sluttish, for it is ' swept.' (3.) It is not incurious, for it is ' garnished.' There is capacity, conveniency, curiosity. Which three circumstances of provision we may thus expound : — (1.) We will refer clearness or emptiness to the absence of faith and good works. (2.) Cleanness or handsomeness to an overly repentance. (3.) Trimness and curiosity to hypocrisy. (1.) Vacuity: it is 'empty.' True faith is never alone. It is in the very act of justification sola, but not solUaria. Good works, as inseparable attendants, or rather efiects, accompany it. Where these are, there is no emptiness. But in this apostate, or black saint, there is neither the mis- tress nor the maids, faith nor good works : therefore the room of his heart is empty, and capable of the unclean spirit. Perhaps in this vacancy and absence of the power of Satan, there might be an abstinence from gross im- pieties, but there was no hearty alacrity to the troublesome works of godli- ness ; therefore he is justly said to be empty. We know that the forbear- ance of monstrous and world-noted wickedness is not enough to justify before God, or to acquit us from eternal malediction. The tree is doomed to the fire that yields not good fruits, although it yield no evil. Even infructuous barrenness brought Christ's curse on the fig-tree. Sour grapes are not only displeasing to God, but no grapes ; and the flood of condemnation reacheth further than to drown obstinacy, for it fetcheth in also inferti- lity. God is departed ; and you know that sede vacante, there will be no paucity of intruders. What house stands long tenantless 1 No marvel, then, if an empty vessel be never exalted to honour. Hence we may infer that this re-mgress of Satan can never befall the re- generate ; for it is impossible to find their heart empty. Faith, temperance, patience, zeal, charity, hope, humility, are perpetual residentiaries in the temple of their souls ; and if any one be tempted abroad, and allured to a short discontinuance, yet the other keep infallible possession ; and with un- conquered strength keep out Satan. If the rest should be driven into a comer, yet faith would defend the door against aU assaults. Indeed there may be such a storm and tempest of an afilicted conscience, that the graces of the Spirit, as obscured in a cloud, may not be sensibly perceived; and in regard of our own feeling there may be an absence or vacuity. But we must not take an abatement for an emptiness ; a secession for a destitution. It is certain, those that have the invisible mark of the Spirit shall have the visible mark of an honest life ; and totally they cannot lose grace, nor a second time fall away : for then they could not be renewed agaui by repentance, Heb. vi. 6, nor ever be restored except Christ should die again : Heb. x. 26, ' For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.' Paul had some hojie of the incestuous person, and therefore did not wholly cut him off and accurse him ; but separate and sus- pend him for a time, ' that by the dehvering of him unto Satan ' for a season, ' for the destruction of the flesh, his spirit might be saved in the day 56 THE BLACK SAINT. [SeRMON XXIX. of the Lord Jesus,' 1 Cor. v. 5. Thus Christ beuig once truly in, -wUl never out : the ftiithful cannot be empty. There is, then, a defect of faith in this black apostate, that makes room for the devil. (2.) Cleanliness : it is 'swept'. This is the effect of an overly and super- ficial repentance : like a slight besom, it sweeps away the dust and cobwebs, and such lighter stuff, but the filth and dirt is caked and baked on. Sins of less delight to the flesh, and tentations of weaker force, are brushed away ; but the main affection to some old impiety hath the root in the heart un- digged up. The devil is content the conscience should be swej^t, so long as it is but only swept. Sin is congealed, concorporated, baked on ; and must be pared and digged away by greater violence than sweeping. Swept, Satan yields it, so not pared. Impiety is habituated by custom, hardened by impenitency, incor- porated to him by his affection to it; and shall he think that a formal repentance, like a soft besom, can sweep all clean 1 Can a few drops and sprinklings of water purge off the inveterate foulness and corruption of the flesh 1 There is required much rinsing to whiten a defiled soul. How perverse is their course and thought that imagine they may repent more in an hour than they sin in an age ! As if, having in many years kindled a thousand fires, thou wouldest think to put them out all with one tear : whereas mdeed, many tears can scarce put out one. Then boldly, stain the cloth a whole vintage, and at last let one washing serve for all. Alas ! man is quickly made miserable, but not with such speed happy. How easily, how suddenly got man his damnation ! it was but eating an apple, soon done. Esau quickly hunted away his blessing, but could not with many tears recover it. David is not long in falling, his rising is tedious. With much pains and contention doth a man climb up some high tower ; but los- ing his hold, he comes down apace. It is no easy thing to stand, it is easy to slip, to stumble, to fall. The thick and foggy air of this sinful world, as the smoke and stenchful mists over some populous cities, can soon sully the soul; the continual trampling of sin brings mire and dirt upon the con- science ; these corruptions are not so presently rid away as taken. Clip the hairs short, yet they will grow again, because the roots are in the skull, A tree that is but pruned, shred, topped, or lopped, will sprout again : root it up, and it shall grow no more. What is it to clip the out- ward appearances, and to lop the superfluous boughs oi our sms, when the root is cherished in the heart 1 What to have a foul and miry house swept? The Pharisee, in his blown prayers, cozening tithes, frequent alms, did but sweep the house, and remove the cobwebs of outward impieties ; but the dirt of hypocrisy was baked on; the roots of pride -and covetousness grew still untouched. It is not, then, a transient sorrow, nor a formal compunction, (which may wound and jirick the heart like a needle, but wants the thread of faith to sew and join it to God,) that can make the house clean. It is but swept, and so ready for Satan's re-entiy and repossession. (3.) Trimness, or curiosity : ' garnished.' This ornature and fit furnish- ing of the house for Satan's entertainment is done by hypocrisy. When the rotten cabin of a foul heart is hung Avith gay hangings ; when putidum et putridmn cadaver, a rotten and stinking carcase, is hid in a sepulchre painted over with vermilion ; when a stenchful dunghill is covered with white snow, here is a garnishing for the devil. He that can pray at church, and cozen at home ; give his debtor fair words, and eat him through with usury, which is to break his head with precious balms ; hath bitterness in his heart, Matt. XII. 45-45.] the black saint. 57 whilst his tongue distils mjTrh and drops honey : that man hath a house garnished for this unclean spirit. Satan ■will allow his hosts to pretend sanctity, so they intend villany ; aliud projyonere, cdiud sitppojiere, — to have the cuj) outwardly rinsed and cleansed, so it be within full of extortion and rancour ; to gild over a poi- Bonous pill ; to pray in the church, so they prey on the church : this is a trimmed house, a chamber garnished for the devil. This Satan doth in an ambitious imitation of the Lord, who would have his house garnished as the passover chamber was trimmed. God would have the ' beams of his house cedar, and the galleries of fir,' Cant, i 17 ; like king Solomon's chariot, 'the pillars thereof are silver, the bottom thereof gold, the covering of it of purple ; the midst thereof being paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem,' chap. iii. 10. He would have sanctification for the furniture, for ' this is the will of God, even your hoUness,' 1 Thess. iv. 3 ; and for ornaments, the graces of his Spirit. Thi- ther he comes, and there he sups : Rev. iii. 20, ' Behold, I stand at the door and knock : if any man open unto me, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he shall sup with me.' The de\il, accordingly, desires his house garnished, but the furniture is sin, and the ornaments opera tenehrarum, the works of darkness ; and then, if you will, let this mansion be outwardly pargeted and whited over. Make they show of having the Holy Ghost on Sundays, so they retain the foul devil all the week. These are they that make religion a masquery : lie, swear, cheat, oppress, scorn, riot, revile, revel ; yet appear at church on the Sabbath, as if they came for a passport to do more mischief The strength of their pro- fession is but a gristle, which is indeed neither bone nor flesh ; neither true religion nor no religion. Like the speckled innocency of the Papists, in their ostentate charity, unclean chastity, luxurious fasts, and meritorious treasons, in butchering princes and transferring kingdoms. These hypocrites, being erst so themselves abused and deluded of Satan, persuade others to villany by arguments of virtue. For a hypocrite will do nothing without a colour, and with a colour anything. If thou beest a good fellow, pledge this health ; if a true gentleman, put not up this disgrace without revenge ; if any charity in thee, mamtain this parasite. Whereas it is the part of a good man to be sober ; of a generous spirit to ' pass by an offence,' said the wisest king ; and of a charitable man to succour the poor, not to maintain the dissolute. Yet all this mad troop of enormities must march under the colours of re- ligion. As those rebels in the north, in our late cpieen's days, of blessed memory, who, when all their projects and stratagems appeared manifestly to the overthrow of their gracious princess, yet concluded their proclamation with, ' God save Queen Elizabeth ! ' These are Satan's white boys, or rather black boys, whom he Idlls, Uke the ape her young, with Idndness, and danms with indulgence. He gives them a vaster commission than I have read that Philip le Long gave the Jacobuis in Paris ; which charter had a reasonable extension, A porta illorum, ad jjortam ivfemi, inclusive. This is the passport which this great captain gives hypocrites : from their own gates to the gates of hell, inclusively. This is that hypocritical and half-turning to God, when the outward action is suppressed, and the hidden corruption lies still fostered in the heart. The appearance is masked, the afi'ection not mortified. And though, like au eunuch, he doth not beget palpable and manifest enormities ; yet hath a lust. ^S THE BLACK SAINT. [SeEMON XXIX. and itcli, and concupiscence to them, and forbears not in tlie dark, safe from the eyes of the world, to practise them. A man that doth outwardly refuse adherence to the world for a colour- able embracuig of the world, yet inwardly and in a hearty affection parts not with his former turpitudes, fulfils that on himself which St Basil once said of a senator, that seemed to renounce the world, yet retained part of his ill-gotten riches, as Ananias kept back part of the price of his lands : ' Thou hast spoiled a senator, and hast not made a monk.' So I may say of this man, ' Thou hast marred a worldling, and hast not made a Christian.' Now the devil is content thou shouldest remit some of thy gross im- pieties, so thou retain others. He cares not to be cast out by idolatry, so he be kept in by atheism. He is well pleased that Judas should become an apostle of Christ, so he be withal a traitor. Let Abimelech give hospitality to Abraham, so he purpose to abuse his wife. Let Herod hear John Bap- tist preach ; perhaps he will cut off his head for preachmg against Herodias. The devil is loath to be dislodged of ignorance, yet is content that error succeed in place. He is vexed that the truth should appear to a man, yet if worldliness keep fast hold of the affections, this is a cable-rope to pull him in again. If he lose the sconce of the understanding, yet give hun the cita- del of the affections. Any unmortified, habituated, affected sin, is a sufiicient stin'up to mount him into his old saddle. Either let the soul stoop to fulfil the body's base desires, or let the body employ all his members, faculties, functions, to satisfy the soul's lusts, and he is pleased. The infernal t3Tant deals with men herein as the Egyptian Pharaoh dealt with the Israelites. Moses hath a commission and a command from God, to take with him the children of Israel, and to go ' three days' journey into the wilderness,' to celebrate a feast to the Lord. Pharaoh is very loath to lose the profit which by the servitude of Israel did arise to him ; he will not suffer them. But when renewed plagues prove that there is no remedy, and a, perpetual vicissitude of judgments enforce it, observe how he would com- pound it : — First, Exod. viii. 25, ' Go ye, sacrifice to your God in this land.' Nay, saith Moses, ver. 26, 'It is not meet so to do ; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God : lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us ? ' That were a shame, and insufferable offence to them, to immolate beasts among them that worship beasts. Secondly, ' Go ye,' saith Pharaoh, ver. 2d>, if there be no remedy, ' even into the wilderness,' and sacrifice to your God ; but ' go not far.' Nay, saith Moses, we must go three days' journey. The limits and confines of the wil- derness will not serve our turns ; as if our sacrifice should not smell of Egypt, Ave must go so far as our travel can reach in three days. Thirdly, Go ye, saith Pharaoh, and so far as now you desire, and your feet can measure in three days ; but ' who must go 1 ' Exod. x. 9, Moses saith, ' Our sons and daughters, flocks and herds ; for we must hold a feast to the Lord.' ' Not so : your little ones shall not go,' quoth Pharaoh ; ' go ye that are the men, and serve the Lord, for that was your desire. And they were driven from his presence,' ver. 11. But Moses requires that all may go : ' old and young, sons and daughters.' Fourthly, Pharaoh, after the devouring locusts and palpable darkness, calls again for Moses and Aaron. ' Go ye yourselves, and let your little ones go also ; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed,' Exod. x. 24. Nay, saith Moses, ver. 25, we must have ' burnt-offerings and sacrifices for the Matt. XII. 43-45.] the black: saixt. 59 Lord our God. Our cattle shall also go with us ; there shall not a hoof be left behind : for thereof must we take to serve the Lord our God.' Did Pharaoh regard their cattle above their little ones ? or their children beyond themselves '? No ; but he deals by conditions and limitations, as loath to part with all at once. Therefore rather their cattle than nothing, For he know they had covetous minds ; and when in the wilderness they wanted prOAision, and were pmched with famine, they would return back ^gain for their cattle. Every yielding confession* that came from him was by force of the rack ; he gxants nothing, but on the compulsion of a judg- ment. So this spiritual and hellish Pharaoh hath had a soul long in his Egypt, and hath found him beneficial and helpful to his kingdom of darkness in many services. The word preached comes, like Moses, to call him out of this bondage. Satan is afraid to be put out of commons, frantic at the menace of expulsion ; he will not give ground till he be forced, nor depart except plagued. But when he perceives no evasion, or remedy against God's in- tendment, he falls to indenting with niggardly grants and allowances : — First, Sacrifice here in this land ; put on a mantle of religion over the old body. Be inwardly an Egyptian stUl, black and wicked, though an ex- ternal sacrificer. Let thy life be staht, qiio ; shift not ground. Answer thou with Moses, No ; I must change place, travel a new way : from Egypt to- ward Canaan ; from the region of darkness to the regiment of life. Secondly, Go then, saith the devil, but not far ; keep within my wliistle, that when I beckon my hand with a bag in it, or give you the call of vanity, you may hear, and return. No, Satan ; I must go far off : three days' jour- ney from Egypt, I must not stay near Sodom, nor in any of the plains, lest I be destroyed. It is no repentance that puts not on a contrary habit. Pride must be turned to humility, covetise to charity, dissimulation to honesty, &c. Tim dly. Well then, saith Satan, go ye, the men, but leave the children be- hind you : let me have your youth and strength, and when you are old talk of sacrifice and of religion, Tliis is the devil's dispensation, Youth must be borne with. To dance, to dice, to drink, to ruffle, scuffle, wear fleeces of vanity on their heads, and to leave no place without some vicious testimony of their presence, non est vitium adolescenti, is no fault in a young man. So the king of Babylon took not the men, but the children of the Jews, to teach them the learning of Chaldea. Answer : It is good to begin at the gates of our life to serve God, and from our birth to be Nazarites unto the Lord. Lest if the frame of our lives be built on a lascivious and riotous foundation of long practised wantonness, ' our bones be full of the sin of our youth, and it lies down with us in the dust/ Job xx, 11; and when our bodies arise from the earth, our sins also rise with them to judgment. No, Satan ; youth and age, all the degrees of our life, shall be devoted to the service of God. Foiu-thhj, Yet, saith Pharaoh, leave your cattle ; saith the devil. Leave your affections behind you. I must be content to let you come to church, . hear, read, join in prayers; yet do not quite forsake me. Leave me but a pawn — your affection ; a secret liking to your former iniquities. No, Satan ; God must be served with all the heart, with all the soul, ifcc. ; we will not leave so much as a desire to any sin, ' we will not leave a hoof behind us.' Indeed, Satan willuigly would not content himself with the bounds, but aims at the Avhole inheritance ; he is not satisfied with the borders, but besiegeth the metropolitan city. Let us keep him out tif all, if we can ; but since we * Qu., concession ? — Ed. 60 . THE BLACK SAINT. [SeRMON XXIX. must sin, let us hold him occupied in some outhouse, but be sure to keep him out of the bedchamber — from ruling in the heart. III. You have here Satan's egress and regress ; how he forsakes his hold, how he forceth and strives for a re-entry. Let the same patience and atten- tion dwell with you whiles you sit to hear his ingress ; his fortifying of the hold being taken, and provision against future dispossession. This is mani- fested — 1. By his associates ; 2. By his assault. For the former, he multi- plieth his troops, and increaseth his forces; who are described — (1.) By their nature, 'spirits;' (2.) 'By ih.QVC number, 'seven;' (3.) By the measitre of their malice, ' more wicked than the former.' 1. — (1.) Their nature : ' spirits.' And so both the easier to get in and the harder to be got out. We see what kmd of possession the devil hath in this black apostate, a spiritual and internal power. By which strong ' working and ruling in the hearts of the children of disobedience,' Eph. ii. 2, he hath gotten high titles, as the ' prince,' the ' king,' the ' god of the world,' JSTot that Satan is any such thing of himself, but only through the weakness of the ungodly, who admit him for a lord of misrule in their hearts. Christ is the true and only Lord of heaven and earth ; the devil is the prince of this world, but merely by usurpation ; the greatest part of the world being either his open or secret followers. They are spirits, full of tyranny, full of malice. Their temptations in this life testify the one ; and their torments in the next life (or rather death) shaU declare the other. Here is thy misery, O apostate : illos dum spuitus occupat artus ; whiles thy own spirit doth move thy joints, and other spirits perse- cute thy spirit, which is for ever and ever, thou shalt have no release of bondage, no decrease of anguish. (2.) Their number : ' seven.' A certain number is put for an uncertain ; by seven spirits is intended a monstrous number of capital sms. This ex- presseth a forcible seducing of Satan : before, one spuit ; now, seven more. Mary Magdalene had once in her seven devils ; this apostate hath gotten eight. It doth so provoke and distemper Satan to be cast out, that he meaneth and menaceth a fiercer assault, and ramparts his recovered fortress with a septuple guard, that the security of his defence may give defiance to all oppositions. He doth so fill the heart as he ' filled the heart ' of Ananias, Acts V. 3, and there is no room for the least drop of grace. Now, he that could not rid himself of one foul spirit, what wiU he do to encounter seven with the former % The combat is but tolerably equal when one to one, but ne Hercules contra duos, — two is odds though against Hercules ; how then shall this weak man shift or deal with eight ? If I might a little allegorise : The Papists make but seven deadly sins. I am sure that hypocrisy is none of them in their account. Hypocrisy might be in this apostate before ; for he was garnished, and now perhaps those other seven are crept in to it, and so there are eight in all. But indeed, as every sm is deadly, though out of theh' numeration and register; so by the addition of this number, 'seven,' is signified an abundance of iniquities. (3.) The measure of their malice : ' more wicked.' They are called more wicked, because they make the possessed more wicked. This is spoken of the devil — who is always x>essimum, the worst — in some degree of comparison : not so much secundum naturam proj^riam, but secundum operationem in cdiis, — not so much in regard of his own nature, as m respect of the effects which he works in man. That it shall go worse with this black saint's per- son the conclusion will shew. Here consider, that his sins are made more Matt. XII. 43-45.] the black saint. G1 wicked. One and the same sin, even respecting the identity of it, may be worse in a quadruple regard : — [1.] Eatione perpetrantis, — in respect of the committer. Jonah's sleep was worse than the mariner's ; Judas's conspiracy worse than the Jews' • wickedness in a Christian worse than in an infidel. [2.] Eatione loci, — in regard of the place. So, wTangling in a church is worse than in a tavern ; thievery in the temple more ^^'icked than thievery in the market. Amos iL 8, ' They lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god;' which was more horrible than the same wickedness done in another place. This appeared by Christ's actual punishing that offence, even with those hands that we never else read gave any blows ; for sacri- lege is the worst of all thefts. [3.] Eatione temporis, — in respect of the time. For to play when thou shouldest pray ; to swear when thou shouldest sing; when thou shouldest bless, to curse ; and to be drunk in a tavern when thou oughtest to serve God in the temple, — is worse than the same offence at other times. Those vintners and victuallers are grievously guilty that do in prayer-time at once open their own door and a door to irreligion and contempt of God's holy worship. [4.j Eatione naturce, in quam j^eccatur, — in regard of that nature against whom the sin is committed. If a traitor condemned for some notorious con- spiracy against his prince shall receive at those maligned hands a gracious pardon, and yet renew his treason with a second attempt, this latter fact, though the same in nature, (for all is but treason,) is more wicked in measure, by reason of the conspirator's unthankfulness for his sovereign's goodness. He ill requites God's mercy for delivering him from one foul devil, that opens a willing door to the entry of seven worse. The more familiar acquaintance we have had with the blessings of God, the greater condemnation abides us for ingratitude. If the sin may be thus made more wicked, why not the person that commits it? Seven new spirits more wicked have made him more kicked than the first left him. Less had been his woe if that one un- clean spirit had kept possession alone, than upon his privation to have the position of seven worse. Three inferences from hence must not pass away unobserved : — Fh'st, That there is difference of sins, sinners, and consequently of punish- ments. The first was said to be an unclean sjjirit, yet are the latter seven worse. By the witness of Christ we have it already, Matt, v., and by his judgment shall find it hereafter, that an angry affection is liable to judg- ment, a provoking gesture to the punishment of a council ; but railmg in- vectives are worthy of hell-fire. Chorazhi and Bethsaida shaU speed worse than Tyre and Sidon, and yet these were already in hell. ' The servant that knows his master's will, and doth it not, shall be beaten with many strii)es.' Simple nescience hath an easier judgment than sinful knowledge. If 13ar- baria wring her hands that she hath known so little, Christendom shall rend her heart that she hath known so much to so little purpose. Parity of sins is an idle dream, a Stoic and Jovinian imagination. For though the wages of all sin be everlasting death, yet some sins shall feel the torments of that death more violent and terrifying than others. I have otherwhere shewed that Judas's villany in betraying his ^Master was more horrible than if a Barabbas, a notorious butcherer, had done the deed. So our Saviour insinuated to Pilate : ' He that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sm,' John xix. 1 1 . That Babylonian tyrant committed a more 62 THE BLACK SAIKT. [iSbRMON XXiX. heinous offence, in taking tlie lioly tilings out of so holy a place, — God's consecrated vessels out of God's temple, — than if he had stolen more precious ones out of a profane place. Do you think that a cutpurse playing the thief at a sermon is more worthy of hanging than a robber that stands in the highway 1 This David instanceth, Ps. i. 1, 'Blessed is he that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of the scornful.' Walking is bad enough, but it is worse to stand than to walk, and to sit than to stand in the ways of wickedness. Though idle words be an unclean spirit, yet actual disobedience is a fouler devil. A Christian usurer is worse than a Turkish. An Indian idolater to gold is not so damnable as a Spanish. All reprobates shall find hell-fire hot enough, but this black saint so much the hotter as he was once purged of his un- clean spirit. Secondly, God doth severely revenge himself upon ingratitude for his graces, and squares out his judgment according to the proportion of the blessing conferred and abused. He that would not be thankful to God for the expulsion of one unclean spirit, shall in a just quittance be pestered with seven more, and more wicked. If Christ be so kind to Judas as to minister the sacrament to him, and he so iinkind to Christ as to lay it upon a foul stomach, a polluted heart, the devil shall enter with it. There is a nescio vos given to those that 'have eaten and drunk in the pre sence of Christ,' and 'have heard him teach in their streets,' Luke xiii. 2Q, (it is all one,) that have feasted at the communion-table, and heard Christ in their pulpits. Even our reading, hearing, praying, Avhen they are done of custom more than of conscience, shall be but a means of Satan's introduc- tion. The word of God, like the dew of heaven, never falls on the earth of our hearts but it makes either herbs or weeds shoot up quicker and thicker in them. ' For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God : but that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing ; whose end is to be burned,' Heb. vi. 7. If they were condemned, Rom. i., and ' given over to a reprobate sense,* that had no other glass to see the Deity in but nature, — for seculum specu- lum, the world is a glass, — what shall become of those that have had the book of the gospel, yet are stomach-sick of manna, and beat away the hand of mercy reached forth unto them : what but a ' triple reprobate sense,' and here a septuple possession of Satan ? Thus God in justice (for contempt of his mercy) admits a stronger delusion of the devU, — not to make them ' twofold more the children of hell,' Matt, xxiii 15, as proseljrtes, but sevenfold, as devils, — that their bewitched and infatuated souls shall do service to him that murders them : as Ahaz did * sacrifice to the gods of Damascus that smote him,' 2 Chron. xxviii. 23; as our treacherous and fugitive Seminaries, that adore the Babylonish beast, who profusely carouseth up their blood that serve him ; and whiles he builds up the tower of his universal monarchy, to overlook and command the Chris- tian world, he sets them to cement and mortar the walls with their own bloods. Worse than the Indians, in some of their blind and idolatrous sacrifices : offering not for a ne noceat, but for an ut noceat; crouching not for a bless- ing, but a curse ; and buying with great expense the malediction of God and men. God threatens Israel, that for the multitude of their rebellions he will septuple their punishments : Ley. xxvi. 18, 'And if ye will not yet for all Matt. XII. 43-45.] the black saint, 63 this hearken unto me, I will punish you seven times more for your sins.' And, ver. 21, 'If ye walk contrary, and will not hearken unto me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you, according to your sins.' So fre- quently, in the first and second chapters of the prophecy of Amos : ' For three transgressions, and for four,' — which are seven, which are many, which are iimumerable, — 'I will not turn away your punishment,' saith the Lord. According to their sins, by weight and measure, proportion and number, shall be their sorrows. As they have swallowed up the poor, and devoured the people of God like bread, impoverished the commonwealth, undone the church, and all this under colour of long prayers, and of a fiery-hot devo- tion, so ' they shall receive greater damnation.' This is Babylon's final re- compence : Eev. xviii. 6, ' Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works : in the cup which she hath filled, fiU to her double.' Thirdly, As seven worse spirits are the rcAvard to him that makes much of one bad and unclean, so are seven better spirits bestowed on him that useth one good well. One talent well employed shall gam ten ; and the more we have, the more will God delight to load us. God is as kind to those that trafiic his graces to his glory, as he is severe against those that throw his pearls to swine. And as this apostate's recidivation is rewarded by the accession of seven more wicked spirits, so our sanctified and con- firmed hearts shall be honoured with those seven most pure spirits, Eev. i. 4, ' which are before the throne of God.' These seven spirits are taken either for the seven gifts of God's Spirit, prefigured by the seven eyes in one stone, Zech. iii. 9, and seven lamps in one candlestick, chap. iv. 2; which are by some gathered from Isa. xi. 2 : ' And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.' The first is the spirit of piety, the second is the spirit of wisdom, the third is the spirit of understanding, the fourth is the spirit of counsel, the fifth is the- spirit of might, the sixth is the spirit of knowledge, the seventh is the spirit of the fear of the Lord. Or, by putting a certain number for an uncertain, all the gifts and graces of God's Spirit are here intended ; seven being a number of perfection, and signifying, in the Scriptures, fulness. God doth so requite his own blessings, that where he finds thankfulness for his goodness, he opens his hands wider ; and where drops of grace take well, he will rain whole showers of mercy. It is his delight to reward his own favours and crown his own blessings ; as if he would give because he had given. Thus a greater measure of godliness shall possess us, a greater measure of wickedness this apostate, than either in either kind formerly was had. When we receive grace of God, we also receive grace to employ that grace; so that if we thrive not in the growth of godliness, we may justly call our sanctity into question. As he, a malo ad pejus, from evil to worse, descends gradually to hell; so must we, by 'joining virtue to faith, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance,' &c., 2 Pet, i, 5, as per $cansum, climbing by degrees, get up into heaven, 2, I have described the associates : now for the assault. Wherein briefly observe, (1.) Their invasion ; (2,) Their inhabitation ; (3.) Their cohabitation, (1.) Their invasion: 'they enter.' Alas! what should hinder them, ■when a savage troop, appointed at all hands, armed with malice and mischief cap-(X-pie, assaults a poor weak fort, that hath nothing but bare walls and naked gates, and those set wide open, to defend itself? If Lot were in Sodom, if but Faith stood in the turret of the conscience, there might be some G4 THE BLA.CK SAINT. [SeKMON XXIX. beating back of tlieir forces ; but there is no reluctation, therefore an easy victory. St Paul describes the Christian's armour, Eph. vi. 14, ' Stand, having your loins girt about with truth ; having on the breastplate of right- eousness ; your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace ; above all, take the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit,' &c. This apostate hath not a piece of it, to ward the least blow, wheresoever it strikes him. He is to deal with cunning fencers, and hath neither offen- sive nor defensive weapons. Not truth, but error, is the girdle of his loins ; and for the breastplate of righteousness, he knows not how to put it on. His feet were never ' shod with the preparation of the gospel,' he had not so much time to spare from his nimble gadding after vanities. The fiery darts of these mcked spirits may burn and wound him to death ; he hath no shield of faith to cool or quench them. The helmet of salvation is far from him ; he knows not in what armoury to find it. And for the sword of the Spirit, he cannot tell how to handle it. He is an unwalled city, an uudefenced fort, an unarmed man. No marvel if these foul spirits enter, when there is neither contention nor intention to repel them. Omnia tradentur : 2^ortas reserabimus hosti. (2.) Their inhabitation : ' dwell.' The devil dwelleth in a man, not fan- qiiam corpus locatwn in loco, — as a body seated in a certain place ; for spirits are not contained in any place. Incorporeal created substances do not dwell in a place locally or circumscriptively, as bodies do, but definitively. Nor dwell these in him tanquam forma in materia, — as the form in a substance, as the soul in the body. For the devil is a simple substance of himself, not compounded of any alien or second matter. But they dweU in him by a secret and spiritual jjower : darkening their minds, 2 Cor. iv. 4, ' that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should not shine unto them.' Poisoning their aff'ections, Eph, iv, 19, that * being past feeling, they might give themselves over to lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness,' Hardening their hearts, Rom. ii. 5, ' tiU they treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.' All which is no other in effect but dam- ming up the lights and windows of this fort, ramming up the gates, and forti- fyuig the walls. Thus they dweU in him, like witches in an enchanted castle ; and who shaU break their spells and deliver him ! You see, then, this black saint hath but sorry guests, that purpose longer stay with hiTn than a night ; to dwell, yea, to domineer, tiU they have eater, him quite out of house and home. (3.) Their cohabitation : ' they dwell there ;' all of them, even together. Obs. 1. — There is room enough in one heart for many sins. Mary Mag- dalene's heart held seven devils ; this apostate's eight. There was a whole legion in another, Matt, viil; all the principalities and powers of darkness in a fourth. Absalom had treason, ambition, pride, incest, ingratitude, for his heart's stuffing. Judas had no fewer turpitudes in his. The heart is so small a piece of flesh, that it will scarce give a kite her breakfast ; yet, be- hold how capacious and roomy it is, to give house-room to seven devils ! He that should read and observe the great physician's dissection of man's heart, Matt. XV. 1 9, — ' Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulter- ies, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies,' — would bless himself to think that so little a thing could extend itself to such a capacity ; or that it could be so full and not burst. Matt, XII. 43-45.] the black saint. 05 Obs. 2. — Behold & rabble of devils agreeing quietly in one man. Glomer- antur in unicni innumerce j^estes Urebi, — Innumerable plagues of hell aro rounded up together in one ; yet they fall not out for room. On earth, among men, it often falleth out as between those two ambitious Romans : — Nee quemquam jam ferre potest CcCsarre priorem, Pompeiusve parem,' — Caesar must have no superior, Pompey no rival. Ahab cannot endure that Naboth's vineyard should disfigure liis lordship. Eich men in this world agree like pikes in a pond, ready to eat up one another ; but howsoever, the poor pay for it ; they are sure to be devoured. Tradesmen cannot agree in one city, nor neighbours in one town, nor brothers in one house, nor Jacob and Esau in one womb ; yet, behold, many devils can agree in one man. They know that 'a kingdom divided cannot stand.' We quarrel and contend, when hell itself is at peace. IV. My journey draws to an end ; there remain but two steps : the con- clusion and application. The conclusion of the parable is fearful : ' The last state of that man is worse than the first.' Is it possible ? His state was so bad before, that can you imagine it Avorse ? Yes ; there was but one devU before, now there are eight. By reason of this stronger possession, his dam- nation will be the sooner wrought up, the cup of his iniquity brim-filled, and himself hurried to hell with the greater precipitation. This pejority of his state may be amplified in six respects : — 1. Whilst this black saint had a white face, and carried the countenance of religion, he was wrapped up in the general prayers of the church. He seemed of that number for whom, as the friends of Christ, there was a con- tmual remembrance in good men's intercessions. ' If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not mito death. But there is a sin unto death : I do not say that he shall pray for it,' 1 John v. 16. Samuel will pray for Saul, till he perceive that he hath given over the Lord, and the Lord him. But when the white scarf is plucked off this Moor's face, and his black leprosy appears ; when the wolf's sheepskin is stripped off", and he is seen to worry the lambs ; then is he smgled out as an enemy to Christ, and God's judgment hastened on him at the entreaty of his servants. He is so much the worse as he hath lost the benefit of good men's prayers. When he is once in this ' gall of bitterness, and bond of iniquity,' in vaui Simon ^lagus requests Simon Peter to request God for liim : ' Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me,' Acts ^dii. 24. 2. Whilst this black devil mantled his tawny skin and ulcerous heart with dissimulation of piety, there was outwardly some hopeful likelihood of his reformation, and winning to heaven ; though God knew otherwise in his hidden and reserved counsel. Whilst he sat in the congregation of saints, heard what God spake to them, and spake with them to God, the minister did preach to him the tidings of peace with a good opinion, and admitted him to the communion of the sacrament. But now, his eruption into mani- fest contempt of sacred things, and despite done to the Spirit of truth, hath deaded that hope ; so that the minister hath not that confident comfort that the word -vvill be the 'savour of life' unto him. His hypocrisy hath de- ceived the world ; his apostasy hath deceived himself : therefore his ' state is worse.' 3. His latter end is worse in regard of himself; and this may be amplified in four circumstances : — VOL. II. E 66 THE BLACK SAINT. [SeKMON XXIX. (1.) Before, he was sick of spiritual drunkenness ; now, lie is lethargised. Who knows not that a continued lethargy is worse than a short ebriety ? Such is his state. (2.) Imijenitence hath brought him to impudence ; and by often prostitu- tion of his heart to uncleanness he hath gotten a ' whore's forehead,' that cannot blush : ' Thou refusedst to be ashamed,' Jer. iii. 3. And, Jer. viii. 12, 'Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush,' He hath so little repented for wickedness, that now he thinks there is no wickedness standeth in need of rejientance. A brazen face, Avhich no foul deed, nor reproof for it, can make to change colour ! How can it be otherwise 1 For a black saint can no more blush than a black dog. (3.) He is in worse state, by so much as a relapse is more perilous than the first sickness ; by reason that strength is now spent, and nature made more weak, and unable to help itself, or to receive benefit by what is minis- tered. The sj)arks of goodness are now dying, or quite extinct, and the floods of iniquity more violent against him. There be sorer assaults, and less strength to encounter them. (4.) Before, he was quiet in himself, and might have a flattering hope that the night would never come; but now, breaking forth into palpable con- tempt and obduracy, he finds his conscience open to condemn him, and hell- gates open to receive him. His ulcer seemed to be fairly skinned over, and in his own sense healed ; but now, to come to a new incision is greater terror than ever. The sound of fear is now in his ears, the sense of a dagger at his heart. His body would, his mind cannot, rest. The horror of future pun- ishment lies at Cain's door, and is at every noise ready to wake him. There is a fearful conflict betwixt sensuality and reason in him ; that he may use Job's words, though in a deeper and direr sense, chap. vii. 20, Factus sum mihimet ipse gravis, — ' I am a burden and trouble to myself.' Thus the great parasite of the soul, that heretofore matched the number of God's threatenings with as many fair promises, and flattered this wretch with the paucity of his sins, now takes him in the lurch, and over-reckons him. He that so long kept him in a beautiful gallery of hope, now takes him aside, and shews him the dark dungeon of despair. He engrosseth his ini- c[uities in text-letters, and hangs them on the curtain at his bed's feet, to the racking amazement of his distracted soul. Before, the devil did put his shoulders under the burden ; but now he sliifts it ofi", and imposeth it on the sinner. And as I have read the Spanish index deals with Velcurio ; who, commenting on Livy, saith that the fifth age was decrepit under the Popes and emperors ; the Index takes out the Po^Des, and leaves the emperors obnoxious to the whole imj)utation :* so the devD. winds out himself at last from the wicked, refusing to carry the burden any longer, but leaves it wholly to their supportation. This ague, or rather agony, is made more vexing by the sting of conscience : which is now God's bailiff to arrest him, his witness agamst him, his whip to lash him, his register that reads over the long book of his offences, and after a terrible aggravation of their heinousness, tells him his penance, dire- ful and intolerable ; and that concordat cum act is curice, it agrees with the just decree of God's court, never to be avoided. 4. His last state is worse than his first in respect of God, who wiU now turn him out of his protection. When he hath once proclaimed open war and rebellion against God, and hath manifestly declared himsehf an outlaw, * Ind. Hisp., f. 158. Matt. XII. 43-45.] the black saint. 67 no marvel if God throw him out of the circumference of his mercy, and let his providence take no charge over him, saving only to restrain his sava^-e fury from foraging his grace-empaled church. But for himself, the Scripture gives a renunciation : ' If he will go into captivity, let him go.' Rev. xxii. 11, 'If he will be unjust, let him be unjust still; if he will be filthy, let him be filthy still.' I will not hinder his course: Abeat, pereat, j^rofandat, perdat, said that father in the comedy, — Let him go, perish, sink, or swim. He hath full liberty to swill the cup of his own damnation up to the brun. 5. In respect of the devil his latter state is worse ; which may be de- monstrated by a familiar similitude. A man is committed to prison for debt, or some light trespass; is there indifierently well used; hath, for his money, all the liberty that the jail and jailer can afford him ; nay, is per- mitted to go abroad with keepers. At last, he spies opportunity, and breaks away; then tlie jailer fumes, and foams, and rageth, and perhaps swears away that little share of his own soul which he had left. The prisoner had need look to himself; if the jailer catch him, he had better never have stirred. At last he is taken : now bolts and locks, and heavy irons, a strong guard, and a vigilant watch, till he be made safe for stkring again. This bondage is far worse than the first. The sinner in the devil's keeping is let alone to enjoy the liberty of the prison — that is, this world ; he may feed his eye mth vanities, his hand with extortions, his belly with junkets, his spleen with laughter, his ears with music, his heart with jollitj^, his flesh with lusts : and all this wdthout control. But if he be won by the gospel preached to break prison, and thereupon give the devU the slip, let him take heed Satan do not catch him again. If he once recovers him into his prison, he will dungeon him, remove him from all means whereby he might be saved ; let him see, hear, feel, understand nothing but temptations and snares ; blind his soul, harden his heart, load him with heavy irons, and lock him up in bolts and fetters of everlasting perdition. • 6. Then, lastly, his end shall be worse at the last : when the least parcel of God's wrath shall be heavier than all the anguish he felt before ; when his almond-tree shall be turned to an iron rod, his afilictions to scorpions ; when the short and momentary vexatious of this world shall no sooner cease to him, than the eternal torments of hell shall begin, and (which is most fearful) shall never end. Be his body burned to death in fire, yet those flames shall go out with his ashes ; but come his flesh and soul to that in- fernal fire, and when they have been burned myriads of years, yet it shall not be quenched. The application doth immediately concern the Jews ; wliich hath l^efore been plentifully instanced. For ourselves : — 1. The unclean spirit hath by God's holy gospel been cast out of us. 2. Do you think he is at quiet ? No ; he esteems all places dry and barren till he get into us again. 3. He resolves to try for entrance. 4. Now, is it enough that we leave ourselves empty of faith and good works 1 for all our abominable sins swept with an overly repentance, and garnished with hypocrisy, and with our old affec- tions to shi still i 5. Take we heed ; he will come with seven spirits, more wicked than the former, and give us a fierce assault. But 'our help is in the name of God, who hath made heaven and earth :' in whose mercy we trust, because his compassions fail not. Our own strength is no confidence for us ; but the grace of that strongest man, who is alone able to keep out Satan. Let us adhere to Him by a true faith, and serve him in a holy integrity of conversation ; and our latter end shall be better 68 THE BLACK SAINT. [SeKMON XXIX. than our beginning. * ]\Iark the upriglit man, and behold the just ; for the end of that man is peace,' Ps. xxxvii. 37. Our end shall be better hereafter; •vi'hen * God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes ;' when sorrow, and sick- ness, and death shall be no more ; when Sennacherib cannot rage, nor the leviathan of hell assault us. Peace shall environ us, heaven shall contain us, glory shall crown us. Our trouble, woe, mourning, have been momen- tary; but our joys, peace, bHss, shall have no intermission, no mutation, no end. Now he that perfects all good works, make our latter end better than our beginning ! To whom, three Persons, one eternal God, be all praise and glory, for ever and ever ! Amen. THE LEAVEN; OB, A DIRECTION TO HEAYEN. Another parable spaJce he unto them ; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a luoman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. — Matt. XIII. 33. The word of God is pure, saitli the Psalmist, ' converting the soul,' Ps. x\x. 7 : ^uxe formaliter, in itself; pure effective, in purifying others. ' Now are ye clean through the word which I have spoken unto you,' John xv. 3. There is life in it, being the voice of Life itself : ' Lord, to whom shall v.-e go 1 thou hast the words of eternal life,' John vi. G8. As God, ' who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fethers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,' Heb. L 1 ; so also this Son, whom ' he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds,' when he took flesh and went about on earth doing good, taught the people after diverse fixshions and fonns 'erf speech, though in all of them he carried a state in liis words, and taught Avith authority, unlike the verbal sermons of the scribes. ' He was a pro- phet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,' Luke xxiv. 1 9, Sometimes he taught by explication, sometimes by application ; some- times propounding, at other times expounding his doctrine. Often by plain principles and affirmative conclusions ; not seldom by parables and dark sen- tences: in all seeking his Father's glory, his church's salvation. In this chapter, plentifully by parables. Divines give many reasons why Christ used this parabolical form of speaking : — 1. The implction of Scriptures, which had so prescribed of him : ' I will open my mouth in a parable ; I will utter dark sayings of old,' Ps. IxxviiL 2. 2. That the mysteries of God's kingdom might not be revealed to the scornful. To such it shall be spoken in parables, that ' seeing they might not see, and hearing tliey might not understand,' Luke viii. 10. They are riddles to the Cains, and paradoxes to the Judases of the world. But ' if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost,' 2 Cor. iv, 3. These come to church as truants to school, not caring bow little iearaing they get for 70 THE LEAVEN. [SeRMON XXX. their money ; but only regarding to avoid the temporal punishment. But at the great correction-day, when the schoolmaster of heaven shall give them a strict examination, their reward must be abundantly painful. 3. That Christ might descend to the capacities of the most simple, who better understand a spiritual doctrine by the real subjection of something familiar to their senses. As the poet : — ' Segaius irritant animos demissa per aures, Quam quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus.' But the ' testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple,' Ps. xix. 7. He said once to poor fishers, ' To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God,' Luke viii. 10. He says, not mysteria regis, but mys- teria regni, — not the mj^steries of the king, but the mysteries of his kingdom. The former may not be known, the other may, must be known. And it is also observable, that his parables were diverse, when yet by those sundry shadows he did aim directly at one light. He doth, as it were, draw the curtain of heaven, and describe the Idngdom of God by many resem- blances ; yea, and some of these iimmi sonantia; like so many instruments of music plajdng one tune. In that immediately precedent parable of the mustard-seed, and this subsequent of the leaven, he teacheth the same doc- trine, the spreading virtue of the gospel. The intention of which course in our great Physician is to give several medicines for the same malady in several men, fitting his recipes to the disposition. of his patients. The soldier doth not so well understand similitudes taken from husbandry, nor the hus- bandman from the war. The lawyer conceives not an allusion from physic, nor the physician from the law. Forenses domestica nee norunt, nee curant; oieque forensia domesticam agentes vitam, — Home-dwellers are ignorant of foreign matters ; neither doth the quiet rural labourer trouble his head with matters of state. Therefore Christ derives a parable from an army, to teach *soldiers; from legal principles, to instruct lawyers; from the field and sow- ing, to speak familiarly to the husbandman's capacity. As that parable of the seed, the first in this chapter, may be fitly termed the ploughman's gospel ; as Ferus saith, that, when he ploughs his ground, he may have a sermon ever before him, every furrow being a line, and every grain of corn a lesson, bringing forth fruit. So Paul borrows a comparison from wrestling, and from running in a race ; and our Saviour from a domestical business, — rmdiehrium officium, — from leaven, ' which a woman took,' &c. We may reduce the parable to three general heads, quid, ad quid, in quo: — L What is compared; II. To what; III. In what. Two natures are accorded in quodam tertio; two subjects shake hands by a reconciling simi- litude. I. The matter compared is ' the kingdom of heaven ;' II. The matter to which it is compared is ' leaven ;' III. Now the concurrence of these lies in the sequel, ' which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened : ' wherein are remarkable, the agent, the action, the subject, the continuance. 1. The agent is a woman ; 2. The action is double, taking and hiding, or putting in the leaven ; 3. The subject is meal or flour; 4. The continuance, donee fermentetur totum, — until the whole mass be leavened. This is the in quo, the manner of the concurrence. The general points then are — what, whereto, wherein. We are, according to this method, to begin with the — I. What. — The subject compared is the kingdom of heaven. This hath a diverse sense and apprehension in the Scriptures. Specially it is taken three ways : — Matt. XIII. 33.] the leaven. 71 1. For the kingdom of heaven in heaven, which the godly shall possess hereafter ; the scope or main mark we level at. That high p}Taraid which the top of Jacob's ladder reacheth to, and leaneth on. That which St Peter calls ' the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls,' 1 Pet. i. 9. Whereof David sings, ' In thy presence is fulness of joy, at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore,' Ps. xvi. 11. Which no -virtue of mortal eye, ear, or heart hath comprehended. ' They shaU come from east, fi-om west, from north, and south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God,' Luke xiii, 29. Unto which our king that o^vNais it, and Saviour that bought it for us, shall one day invite us, if he find us marked for his sheep : ' Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,' Matt. xxv. 34. Dear Jesus, bring us to this kingdom ! 2. For that which qualifies and prepares us to the former, grace and holi- ness. For into that ' shall enter no unclean thing, nor whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life,' Ptcv. xxi. 27. No flesh that is putrefied, except it be first purified, shall be glorified. No man goes to heaven per saliiim, but per scanmm. Now this sanctity is called the kingdom of heaven, because the life it lives is heavenly; though we are on earth, 'our conversation is in heaven,' Phil. iii. 20 ; and because the joy of the Holy Ghost, and peace of conscience, which is heaven upon earth, is inseparable from it : ' The kingdom of heaven consists not in meats and drinks, but in righteousness, and peace, and joy of the Holy Ghost,' Rom. xiv. 17. 3. For that whereby we are prepared to both the former: this is the kingdom of heaven here meant ; and to declare it in a word, it is the preach- ing of the gospel. This, by the powerful co-operation of God's Spirit, begets grace in this life, and grace in this life shall be crowned TNith glory in the fife to come. The word of God, — which is called the testimony, Isa, viii. 20, because it bears witness to itself, — examined and compared in like places, calls the preaching of the gospel the ' kingdom of heaven,' Luke x. 1 1 : ' The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing fortl? fruits thereof,' Matt. xxi. 43. The children of God live in this first Idng- dom ; the second lives in them ; the third, which is above, doth perfect both the former. In this kingdom we might observe — (1.) Who is king 1 (2.) Who are subjects? (3.) What are the laws whereby the one governs, the others are governed ? (1.) God is king in two respects : potentialitm\ in regard of his majesty; prcesentialiter, in regard of his mercy. Potentially he is king over all the world, governing all things, actions, events, in foro X)oli, in foro Pluti, in foro consciejitice. God is king, be the earth never so unqiiiet, saith the Psalmist. He can still ' the raging of the sea, the roaring of the world, the madness of the people.' Thus he reigns over Satan, and all his factors on earth, executioners in hell. He cannot touch a hog without his license, nor cross a sea without his passport. He hath a hook for Sennacherib, a bridle for the horses and mules, a chain for that great leviathan, a tether for the devil. The Lamb of God leads that great roaring lion in a chain : and with the least twitch of his finger, gives him a non ultra. All powers are inferior to, and derived from this power ; to which they have recourse again, as rivers run to the ocean, whence they were deduced. Let all potentates ' cast down their crowns before his feet, with the twenty-four elders,' Rev. iv. 10. Sub- jiciuntur omnes potestates Foiesiati injinitcp. Dominion riseth by degrees : there be gTcat, saith Solomon, and yet greater than they; and yet again higher than they all, Eccles. v. 8. Begin at home : in man there is a 72 THE iJiAVEN. [Sermon XXX. kingdom. Est animi in corpus regnum, — The mind hath a sovereignty over the body. Restrain it to the soul ; and in the soul's kingdom doininatur ratio in irascihilem et concupiscibilem partem, — reason hath a dominion over the affections. This kingdom is within man. Look without him ; behold, God hath given him a kingdom over reasonless creatures. Yet among them- selves, God hath set man over man ; the householder is a petty king in his family, the magistrate over the community, the king over all. The heavenly bodies have yet a power over us. JEst corporum coelestium, in inferiora do- minum. God is king over them, and all Astra regunt homines, sed Deus astra regit. God is then only and solely an absolute king. But he reigns in this place rather presentially by his grace ; where his sceptre is a sceptre of righteousness, and his throne man's heart. For that is so excellent a place, that it is evermore taken up for a throne, either by God or Satan. To the godly then is this great king most propense ; though others also taste the sweets of his bounty. As the earthly prince governs, and providentially sustains all the people of his dominions, but those that stand in his court, and feast at liis table, more especially partake of his royal favours : God at his own cost maintains all the world, and hath done almost these six thousand years ; but he loveth Jerusalem above all cities, and the gates of Zion above all the dwellings of Jacob. All Joseph's brethren shall be feasted at his charges, but Benjamin's mess shall five times exceed the rest. There may be one favour left for Esau, but Jacob goes away with the blessing. God is still good to all Israel ; let him be best ' to them that are of a pure heart,' Ps, Ixxiii. 1. (2.) The subjects in this kingdom are the godly; not such as give a pas- sive and involuntary obedience, doing God's will (as the devil doth) contra scientiam, contra conscientiam, of whom more properly we may say, Propo- sita Dei fiunt potius de illis quam ah illis. These, though they work the secret decrees of the great king, are not of this kingdom. Only they that give to him the sacrifice of a free-will offering, that lihenter and ex animo sub-^ scribe and assent obedience to his hests ; whose lives, as well as lips, pray that article, ' Thy will be done.' They are indeed subjects to this king, that are themselves kings : ' Christ hath made us kings and priests,' Rev. i. 6. Every king on earth is as it were a little god, Ps. Ixxxii. 6. Only our God is the great king, able to ' bind kings in chains, and nobles with links of iron,' Ps. cxlix. 8. In respect both of his power reigning over all, and of his mercy over his chosen, he may well be called Eex regum, the great king over both temporal and spiritual kings : he is the King of kings. For all his faithful children are mystically and spiritually made, and called, kings in Christ, and the Lord is king of all. (3.) The laws whereby this kingdom is governed are the statute laws of heaven, Ps. cxlvii. 19, written of the Holy Ghost by prophets and apostles, sealed by the blood of God's Son ; a light to our darkness, a rule for our actions. Upon this ground thus laid I build a double structure or instruction : — Fij'st, Christ hath a kingdom also in this world, not of this world ; him- self denies it to Pilate, John xviii. 3G. He would none of their hasty coro- nation with carnal hands. Yet he was and is a spiritual king. So was it prophesied, Dan. vii. 14, Micah iv. 7. So the angel told Mary, Luke i. 32. 33, ' He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.' So Pilate wrote his inscription, though in the nar- rowest limits, ' Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.' To expect or respect the Messiah for a temporal prince, was the Jews' perpetual dotage, the apostles.' Matt. XIII. 33.] the leaven. 73 transient error, ilatt. xx. 21, Acts i. 6, ' Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to IsraeH' But Christ is a king after a spiritual manner on earth ; restraining the violence of the wolves and goats like a good sliepherd • not suffering them to annoy and infest the lambs at their pleasure, or rather displeasure ; ruling his chosen, overruling the reprobates, as the great master over the whole family of this world. His throne is at the right hand of his Father in heaven ; but his dominion is throughout all ages, and extends ti> the ends of the earth. — We should not pass this without some useful appli- cation. App, 1. — If there be a kingdom of heaven here to be had, why do we not seek it ? The charge is not less for our good than God's glorj', which Christ gives : * First seek the kingdom of heaven, and the righteousness thereof, and then all these things shaU be added unto you,' j\Iatt. vi. 33. Seek it in faith, with prayers, with tears, with reformation. Seek it first ; let na worldly thing stand in your thoughts worthy prefennent to it. Seek it with disregard and a holy contempt of other things : for this once come, they shall be cast upon you. App. 2. — Since Christ hath a kingdom here, let us rejoice. ' The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice : let the multitude of isles be glad thereof,' Ps. xcvii. 1. And among those lands, let the joy of England be none of the least. What was foretold by Zechariah, chap. ix. 9, is fulfilled by our Saviour, Matt, xxi. 5 : 'Rejoice, shout out for joy, for thy King cometh.' Let his- exaltation be thy exultation. If he were impotent and could not help, im- provident and would not, we were never the better for our King. But his power is immense, his mercy propense : ' He that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleep,' Ps. cxxi. 4. App. 3. — This is terror to the wicked ; they serve a king, but he is not an absolute king ; his head is under Christ's girdle, nay, under his feet, ]\Iatt. iv. There is in Satan nee vohmtas, nee validitas, neither might nor mind to succour his subjects, his abjects. Prodigal Lucifer (the father of pro- digious Machiavels, that are bountiful with what is none of their own, deal- ing states and kingdoms, like the Pope, as God's legacies, when God never made him executor) makes Christ a bountiful off"er of kingdoms. Poor beggar ! he had none of his own, not so much as a hole out of hell ; whereas- Christ was Lord of all. Disproportionable proffer ! he would give the King of heaven a kingdom of earth ; the glory of this lower world to him that is the glory of the higher world, and requires for price to have 1dm worsliip an angel of darkness who is worshipped of the angels of light. Tremble, ye wicked ! you serve an ill master, are subjects to a cursed king. Well were it for you if you might scape his wages ; well for himself if he might scape his own. Both he and his subjects shall perish. ' The prince of this world is already judged,' John xvi. 11. Ap>p. 4. — Since there be two spiritual kingdoms on earth, and we must live under one of them, let us wisely choose the easiest, the securest, the happiest. For ease; Satan's services are unmerciful drudgerj'': no pains must bs refused to get hell. ' Christ's yoke is easy, his burden is light.' For se- curity; we say in terrene differences, it is safest taking the stronger side. Why then should v.'C forsake the strongest man, who commands the world, and revolt to the tents of Belial, the son of vanity ? For happiness; Christ's kingdom is the far more blessed : for countenance, for continuance in the heart-solacing sushine of his mercy, and the unclouded eternity of it. Secondly, Our second inference is this : Such is the excellency of the gospel, that it is dignified by the title of a kingdom, and that of heaven. 74 THE LEAVEN. [SeRMON XXX. Earthly things cannot boast this privilege, to have that ascribed to the means which belongs to the end. Bread is not health, but the sustenance of it. Reading is not learning, but the way to get it. In divine graces the way is often honoured mth the title of the end. Faith is called life ; grace, salva- tion ; the gospel, the kingdom. Such is the infallibility of God's decrees, and the inseparable effects that follow his heavenly intentions, that the means shall easUy perform the office they were sent to do. The preaching of the gospel shall save those whom God hath determined to save by it, and shall as assuredly bring them to the kingdom of heaven as if itself were that kingdom. Here, then, is matter — First, Of instruction : that God hath so decreed it that we must ordinarily pass through one kingdom into another, into a greater. From the gospel of life we shall go to the God of life. From the preaching of the word to that the word hath preached — the ' end of our faith, the salvation of our souls.' For we climb to heaven by Paul's stairs, Rom. x. 9, 10, (and without that manner of ascending few come thither :) from preaching to beheving, from believing to obeying ; and obedience precedes our eternal life. Such a man shall only hear that comfortable allocution : ' Good and faithful servant, enter into thy Master s joy.' Secondly, Of comfort : that seeing we have the gospel, we have the king- dom of heaven amongst us. They see not this marvellous light that live in their own natural darkness ; no, nor do all see this kingdom that live in it, but they alone in whom this kingdom lives. * Our gospel is hid to those that are lost,' 2 Cor. iv. 3. It is an offence to the Gentiles, contempt of the Jews, riddles to the Athenian Stoics, Acts xvii. 18, a paradox to Julian; but to ' them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, the power of God, and the wisdom of God,' 1 Cor. i. 24. Open your scornful eyes, lift lap your ne- glected heads, ye abortive generation of lust and sin, the sun shines in your faces. Shadow not your eyes with carnal security; remove those thick clouds of ignorance and contempt interposed betwixt you and this light. See, see, and glorify our God ; the kingdom of heaven is among you. Come out of your holes, ye Roman dormice ; pray for spiritual unction, ye sotted worldlings, that the scales of ignorance may fall from you. Waken your hea\7- spiiits, ye mopish naturals ; live no longer in the region of darkness and tyranny of sin, and bless His name that hath called you to his kingdom. You need not travel a tedious pilgrimage, leaning on the staff of a carnal devotion, as the Papists are forced, nor trudge from east to west to seek this kingdom, as the Jews were menaced, nor cry, It is too far to go to Jerusalem, and therefore fall to worship your calves, your little gods at home, as Jero- boam pretended. But to take away all excuse, and leave your obstinacy naked to the judgment-seat of God, behold veiiit ad limina virtus ; you need but step over your thresholds, and gather manna ; the kingdom of heaven is among you. Thirdly, Of reproof : cease your despising of the gospel, ye profane ruf- fians, whose sport is to make yourselves merry mth God. You cannot stick the least spot of contempt on the cheek of preaching, but it lights on heaven itseK, where you will one day desire to be. While you would shoot arrows against the invulnerable breast of God, they shall recoil with vengeance on your own pates. You little think that your scurrilous jests on the word, and the messengers thereof, strike at the side of Christ with the offer of new wounds. You dream not that you flout the kingdom of heaven itself, which, when you have lost, you will prize dearer than the West Indies doth her gold, or the East her spices. If you knew what this kingdom was, you Matt. XIII. 33.] the leaven. 75 would weigh out your blood by ounces, like gold in the balance, till your hearts had not a drop left to cherish thera, for the purchase of it. Behold, you may have it for less. Why do you despise it ? Perhaps you make full account of this kingdom, though you allow yourselves in your vanities. What, will you scorn it, and yet be glad of it ? How unequal are these thoughts ! How impossible these hopes ! God will not give his pearls to swine ; shall they inherit the kingdom of heaven that despise it 1 II. This is the what : now follows the to what. The thing whereby this mystical nature is shadowed out to us is leaven. In this we must confine ourselves to the scope of the parable ; and as we would not look short, so we will not look beyond. Sobriety must guide our course in every sermon ; then especially, when our navigation lies through the depth of a parable. We find leaven elsewhere used in the worse sense ; and before we step any further, this point objects itself to our observation. The same things are often taken in diiferent senses ; sometimes oblique, not seldom opposite. Christ in another place premonisheth his apostles a'gainst the leaven of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians ; the leaven of hypocrisy, of irreligion, of savage policies. And the chosen vessel bids us ' purge out the old leaven,' &c., 1 Cor. v. 7. Here it is used as graci- ously as there grievously ; and no meaner a thing is likened to it than the kingdom of heaven. But I refer this note to a place where I have more liberally handled it. The intent, force, and vigour of the parable consists in the 2)'>'opagation. As leaven spreads into the whole lump, so the gospel regenerates the whole man. This is the pith and marrow of it ; yet what other resemblances serve to the illustration of it are considerable. Therefore two remote and im- proper observations in the leaven shall lead us to the main, which is the dilation of that and the gospel : — 1. Leaven hath a quality somewhat contrary to the meal, yet serves to make it fit for bread. The gospel is sour and harsh to the natural soul, yet works him to newness of life. It runs against the grain of our affections, and we think it troubles the peace of our Israel within us. Our sins are as dear to us as our eye, hand, or foot, J\Iatt. v. 29, necessary and ill-spared members. The gospel, that would divorce our loves so wedded to our ini- quities, seems ditrus sermo ; who can bear it 1 It is leaven to Herod to part with his Herodias ; to Naaman to be bound from bowing before Rimmon. Christ gives the young man a sour morsel, when he bids liim give his goods to the poor. You choke the usurer with leaven when you tell him that non remittitur peccaium, nisi restituatur ablatum, — his sins shall not lie forgiven till his unjust gains be restored. You may as well prescribe the epicure leaven instead of bread, as set him the voider of abstinence, instead of his table of surfeits. This is leaven indeed, to tell the encloser that he enters commons Avith the devil, while he hinders the poor to enter-common vAth. him ; or to tell the sacrilegious that Satan hath just possession of his soul, while he keeps unjust possession of the church's goods. When this leaven is'held to carnal lips it will not doA\Ti ; no, the very smell of it offends. The combat of faith, the task of repentance, the mercifulness of charity, this same ' rule of three ' is hard to learn. To deny a man's self, to cashier his familiar lusts, to lay down whole bags of crosses, and to take u]) one, the cross of Christ ; to forsake our money, and assume poverty, persecution, contempt for the gospel ; oh sour, sour, leaven, leaven ! No such tart thing shall come into the vessel of our heart, among the meal of our affections ; we can- not brook it. But this must come and be made welcome, or we shall not 76 THE LEAVEN. [SeRMON XXX. be bread for God's table. It is said of the leaven that massam acrore grata excitat. It is acror but grains when the soul is once sensible of the virtue. God is fain to wrestle with our corruptions, and, like a loving father, follow us up and down with his leaven ; we turn our backs upon him, and bid him keep his leaven to himself, as Daniel to Belshazzar : ' Keep thy rewards to thyself, and give thy gifts to another,' Dan. v. 17. But when we are once weary of the world's husks, and begin to long for the bread in our Father's house, Luke xv. 17, — do but taste and digest this leaven, — then that that was fel in ore proves mel in corcle ; we turn again, and follow him for it : ' Lord, evermore give us this bread,' John vi. 34 ; feed us with this leaven, that we may be bread for thine own table. The law was not so harsh in mortifying our sins, but the gospel is found more sweet in saving our souls. 2. One saith of the leaven, that massam calore suo excitat, — it raiseth the lump with the heat, as the housewife's philosophy gives the cause. The meal is cold of itself, and unapt to congeal. The leaven by heat doth it. In the gospel preached, there is a spreading heat. It is not only fire in Jere- miah's bones, but in the disciples' ears and hearts : ' Did not our hearts burn within us?' Luke xsiv. 32; 'Is not my word as fire? saith the Lord,' Jer. xxiii. 29. In the minister's soul it is like fire shut up in the bones, which must have vent, or it will make him weary of forbearing, and ring a woe in his conscience, if he preach not the gospel. It hath no less powerful fervour in the Christian heart, and enkindles the kindly heat of zeal which no floods of tentation can quench, or blasts of persecution blow out. This is that thaws the frozen conscience, warms the benumbed spirit, and heats the cold heart. Men are naturally cold at heart, and sin runs like a chill ague through the general blood. The covetous, proud hypocrite hath a cold sto- mach, that for want of digestive heat turns all good nourishment into crudi- ties. Summon them to just trial, feel their pulses, and they beat coldly. If the minister entreat a collection for some distressed Christian, there is a cramp in our fingers ; we cannot untie our purse-strings. It is a manifest sign that we are not leavened. So long as the meal of our affects continues thus cold, we are incapable of being bread. The word puts fervour into our hearts, and leavens us. 3. The special instance of this resemblance is, that the leaven spreads virtue into all the meal ; the gospel disperseth salvation into the whole man. The word of God is powerful to our renovation, speeding and spreading grace into all parts of us. It works us to perfection, though not that gra- dual perfection * (as the school termeth it) which is above, yet to that partial perfection which Paul prays for his Thessalonians, * The God of peace sanctify you throughout,' 1 Epist. v. 23, and assumes to be in his Philippians, ' Let as many of us as be perfect be thus minded,' chap. iii. 15. For though jus- tification admits no latitude, yet sanctification is wrought by degrees. And a Christian goes forward into grace, as into those waters of the sanctuary : first to the anldes, then to the knees, and so higher, till all be washed ; as the leaven spreads till all be leavened. This doctrine will more clearly manifest itseK in the in quo, or subsequent observations. Only let us not leave it without a double use : — Use 1. — Suffer yourselves to be leavened; give entertainment to the gos- pel in your hearts. Though it be 'a more blessed thing to give than to take,' yet it is a less chargeable thing to take than to give. It is God's bounty to give his word ; do not you in a nice sulienness refuse it. ' Let the word dwell in you richly,' Col. iii. IG. Do not pinch this leaven for room, nor * That is, perfection in degi-ee. — Ed. Matt. XIIL 33.] the leaven. 77 thrust it into a narrow corner in your conscience, whiles you give spacious receit to lust, and sin, and such lewd inmates. But let it soak into your veins, and dilate itself into your affections, that it may breed good blood in your hearts, good fruit in your conversations. Use 2. — So judge of yourselves, as you find this leaven spreading in you. If you should hear every day a sermon, or could read every hour a volume, yet whiles your lives are barren, you are but unleavened bread ; so unsa- voury, that God will not admit it at his board. He hath an unleavened hand, that is not charitable ; an unleavened knee, that is not humble ; an unlea- vened tongue, that blasphemes ; an imleavencd eye, that maliceth ; an un- leavened heart, that securely offendeth. The outward working shews the inward leavening, and the diffusion is an argument of the being. It cannot be pent up, no more than fire. It is no less operative than it is blessed. III. You have heard the ivhat, and to tvhat ; the in v/hat, how, or the con- currence of these, follow in many particulars. Here is the agent, the action, the subject, the continuance. 1. The agent is a woman ; by whom is shadowed the minister. And here are observable three things : — (1.) The agent, that must work with this leaven, is a Avoman, weak in her sex ; yet the leaven works never the less for her imbecility. The minister, that must jDut this leaven to our souls, is a man, a weak, sinful, despised man ; yet doth not his Aveakness derogate from the powerful operation of the word in the hearts of God's chosen. It is the word of a mighty and ma- jestical God, who speaks, and the mountains tremble ; threatens, and the foun- dations of the earth are moved. I appeal to your consciences, — who have a testimony from them, and they from the Spirit, that you are God's, — hath not his word, spoken by a silly man, made your hearts bleed within you for your sins 1 Yea, hath not Felix himself trembled Lilie an aspen leaf, when Paul, even his prisoner, preached ? What power hath stirred you, human or divine 1 Tertullus could not do it, whiles authority and credit Avith men seconded his eloquence. Peter taken from his nets shall catch a thousand and a thousand souls at a draught. What presumptuous folly in some is it, then, to loathe the word of eternal truth, because such a man speaks it ! God must not only give them meat, but such a cook as may dress it to their own fancies. Our weakness makes way for God's brighter glory : ' That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God,' 1 Cor. ii. 5. Oftentimes the pillars of the church move not him whom a weak leavener hath converted. It is a reason convincing the wicked, confirming the faithful, that Paul gives : ' God hath chosen the fooHsh things of the world to confound the wise ; and the weak things to confound the mighty j that no flesh should glory in his presence,' 1 Cor. i. 27, &c. (2.) The leaven doth this without the woman's virtue, not without her instrumental help ; but the woman in no respect without the leaven. The minister cannot leaven his own heart, much less the souls of others. The word doth it ; the minister is but the instnunent to apply it. The physi- cian heals not the sore, but the medicine. The hand feeds not the body, but the meat it reacheth to it. Neither in district terms doth faith save, but only apprehend the Lord Jesus, in whom is assured salvation. Indeed, so doth God dignify our ministerial function, that the priest is said to make the heart clean, and Timothy to save souLs, by attribution of that to the in- strument which is wrought by the agent, the happy concurrence of the Spirit and the gospel, Acts iii. 12, 16. (3.) A woman is the fittest for this domestical business. The minister 78 THE LEAVEN. [SeKMON XXX. "being a man, is aptest in God's choice for this spiritual leavening. Should God speak in his own person, his glory would swallow us up. ' For our God is even a consuming fire,' Heb. xii. 29. ' Who hath seen God and lives?' Ask ]\Iount Sinai, if as stout-hearted men as we can be did not run away, tremble for fear, and entreat that Moses might speak to them from God, not God himself If angels should preach to us, their brightness would amaze us, and in derogation to his glory, to whom alone it belongs, and he will not give it to another, we would fall down to worship them, ready to give them the honour of all good wrought on us. The word should not be said to save, but tlie angels. If one should rise from the dead, as Dives — having learned some charity in hell that had none on earth — wished, it would terrify us. Lo, then, by men of our own flesh, of the same animation with ourselves, doth Jehovah speak to us, that the praise might be, not man's, but God's. 2. The agent thus considered, let us look to the action. This is double : taking the leaven ; putting it into the meal. (1.) The woman took the leaven : she hath it ready before she useth it. We must first have the gospel, before we can leaven your souls with it. We must not be vaporous and imaginative enthusiasts, to trust all on a dabitur in hora ; but with much study and painfulness get this leaven, and apply it. What betters it to have a physician, that hath no medicine ; or a medicine, without skill to apply it % ]\Ien think sermons as easy as they are common. You that never prepare yourselves to hear, think so of us, that we never prepare ourselves to preach. If this cheap conceit of preaching did not transport many, they would never covet to hear more in a day than they wUl learn in a year, or practise all their lives. Alas ! how shall we take this leaven % The skill of mingling it is fetched from the schools of the prophets ; from meditation, from books. But in these days, disquietness aUows no meditation ; penury, no books. You deprive us of our means, yet expect our leavens ; as Pharaoh required of the Israelites their mimber of bricks, but allowed them no straw. (2.) We must (with the woman) hide our leaven in the meal — apply it to your consciences. We must preach in pain of death. We are salt, and must melt away ourselves to season you. We are nurses, and must feed our cliildren with the white blood of our labours, strained from our own hearts. And you must be content to let this leaven be hidden in your consciences. The word must not be laid on superficially, with a perfunctory negligence, like loose corn on the floor of the heart. The seed that lay scattered on the highway, the fowls of the air picked up, and prevented the fructifying. Matt. xiii. 4. This leaven must be hid from the eyes, and laid up out of the reach of Satan, lest his temptations, like ravening vultures, devour it up. Mary ' hid the sayings of Christ in her heart.' ' Thy law, O Lord,' saith David, ' is within my heart.' If this leaven have not taken the con- science, all outward reformation is but Jehoiakim's rotten wall, painted over with vermilion. What cares a good market-man how fair the fleece or the flesh look, if the liver be specked? It is the praise of Christ's spouse, that ' she is all glorious within.' 3. This leaven must be hid in the meal ; which is the third point, the subject : ' three measures of meal.' Observe — (I.) Three measures. We have no time to discuss the literal and numeral glosses hence inferred, and by some enforced. Either what the measure is ; translated by some a peck : for this read the marginal note in the new translation. Or what are those three ; by which some under- stand the three parts of the world, Europe, Asia, Africa ; some the whole Matt. XIII. 33.J the leaven. 79 man, which they will have to consist of the body, soul, and conscience. Others refer it to the soul, wherein they find the understanding, will, and affections : the understanding enlightened, the will reformed, tlie affections sanctified. But I rather take it spoken, not terminis tenainantihus, but a finite number -put for an indefinite. The gospel, by the power of the Spirit, doth sanctify the whole man, and gets conquest over sin and Satan. There- fore, not to stretch the words of Christ further than he meant them, but to keep the bounds of sobriety, layuig our hand on our lips, and where we understand not, to be silent, let our instruction be this : The gospel is of such force, that it can leaven us throughout; quanti quanti sicmus, three pecks, more or less, we shall be made clean by the word. ' Now are ye clean through the word I have spoken unto you,' John xv. 3. Thus God's little beginnings have great effects. Roc cUscrimen inter opera Dei et mundi : the works of the world have a great and swelling entrance, but malo fine clauduntur, — they go lame off. But the works of God, from a slender beginning, have a glorious issue. So unequal are his ways and ours. A little mustard-seed proves a great tree ; a little leaven (saith Paul, though in another sense) sours the whole lump. How proudly the world begins, how it halts in the conclusion ! The tower of Babel is begmi, as if it scorned earth, and dared heaven : how quickly, how easily is all dashed ! Behold Nebuchadnezzar entering on the stage, with 'Who is God !' but he goes off to feed with beasts. So dissolute is our pride at the breaking out, so desolate at the shutting up. God, from a low and slender ground, at least in our opinion, raiseth up mountains of wonders to us, of praises to himself Joseph from the prison shall be taken up into the second chariot of Egypt. Drowning ]\Ioses shall come to countermand a monarch. David shall be fetched from the sheep-folds to the throne. The world begins with great promises ; but could it give as much as ever the prince of it proffered to Christ, it cannot keep thy bones from the ague, thy flesh from worms, nor thy soul from hell. Behold, a little leaven shall sanctify thee through- out ; the folly of preaching shall save thy soul, and raise thy body to eternal glory. (2.) This leaven must be put in flour or meal. There must be a fit matter to work on. Rehus idoneis immiscendum est; non cinerihus, nan arena, sed farina, — It must not be mixed with ashes, or sand, or bran, but meal. It doth no good on the reprobate Jews, but broken-hearted Gentiles. Not on atheists and mockers, but on repentant souls, groaning beneath the burden of their sins. Hence so many come to this place of leavening, and return unleavened ; their hearts are not prepared, how should they be repaired ? They are sand or dust, not meal or flour. There must be a congruity or pliableness of the subject to the worker. Christ doth not gather wolves and goats into his fold, but sheep. He doth not plant weeds and thorns in his garden, but lilies, roses, and pomegranates. The dogs and swine are ex- cluded the gates of heaven ; only the lambs enter to that holy Lamb of God Ashes and rubbish cannot be conglutinate by leaven, but meal. AVhiles you come other substances, look you to be leavened 1 You may put leaven to stones and rocks long enough, ere you make them bread. When you bring so unfit natures with you, complain not that you are not leavened. (3.) The third observation hence serves to take away an objection raised against the former conclusion. You say Christ will not accept of goats into his fold, nor thorns into his vineyard ; nor can leaven work effectually upon incapable natures, as sand, stones, or ashes ; but wherefore serves the word but to turn goats into sheep, and wild olives into vines, and refractory ser- so THE LEAVEN. [SeEMON XXX. vants into obedient sons ? The gospel intends tlie exi^unction of the old image, and a new creation of us in Christ Jesus. True, it doth so ; but still there must be in you a co-working answerableness to the gospel. Whiles you obstinately vnll continue dust and stones, look you to be leavened 1 First grind your hearts with a true repentance for your sins ; or because you cannot do it of yourselves, beseech God to break your stony bowels with his Spirit, and to grind you with remorse and sorrow. Of corn is made bread ; but not till first it be turned to meal. The unbeaten corn will make no paste or dough. Though there be matter in us, — for we are reasonable creatures, — yet God must turn our corn into meal, prepare our hearts with •fit qualities to receive his grace. True it is, that God doth often work this preparation also by preaching ; as our sermons have two subjects, the law and the gospel. By the law we must be ground to meal, before the gospel can leaven us. Christ here speaks of sanctification, the effect of the gospel. For the law admits of no repentance ; because we cannot satisfy for the evUs we have already committed. Thus we are corn men ; but must be ground to meal before fit to be leavened. There is matter in the rock to build a house of, but not form, till it be hewn and squared. Thus God by his grace must prepare us to receive his grace, and by first making us meal, to leaven us. Away, then, with that Popish doctrine of self- preparation by congruity ; God works first, in order of place, if not of time. We weakly meet him, when his secret operation has once called us. We are men, there is in us reason, will, capableness, which are not in a block, m a beast. Yet hitherto we are but corn. Our God must grind us to meal by his law, and then leaven us by his gospel. 4, This is the subject. The continuance is, till the whole be leavened. We must preach, and you must hear the gospel perpetually, till you be wholly leavened : which because you cannot fully attain in this world, therefore you frequent the place of leavening till death. Peter doth warn the pure minds of the saints, 2 Peter, iii. 1 ; and Paul preacheth the law even to those that know the law, Eom. vii. 1. You cannot be perfect, yet labour to perfection. Sit not down with that pharisaical opinion. We are leavened enough. The more you know, the more you know your own wants. ' Now the very God of peace sanctify you wholly ; and I pray God that your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,' 1 Thess. v. 23. Amen ! THE TWO SONS; OB, THE DISSOLUTE CONFEREED WITH THE HYPOCRITE. But what think you ? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to-day in my vineyard. He answered and said, I ivill not: hut afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said liTcewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir : hut he went ?ioi.— Matt. XXI. 28-30. The priests and elders quarrel with, our Sa\dour, ver. 23, about Ms authority, Christ requites them, by demanding their opinion concerning the baptism of John. Here is question against question : the Jews appose Jesus, Jesus apposeth the Jews. Neither of them doth, answer the other : the elders could and durst not, our Saviour could and would not. Indeed, Christ's very question was a sufficient answer and resolution of their demand ; their own consciences bearing against them invincible witness, that as John's baptism, so our Saviour's autliority, was immediately derived from heaven. Well, the former question would not be answered : now Christ puts another to them ; if with any better success. The other they understand, but dare not answer ; this they dare answer, but not understand, lest they should conclude themselves those hypocritical sons that say they will, and do not, against whom heaven-gate is so fast shut that jjublicans and harlots shall first be admitted. ' But what think you ? ' If you dare not open your lips, I appeal to your hearts; your tongues may be kept silent, your consciences cannot be insensible. I come to your thoughts : ' What think you 1 ' Inthe body of this discourse are three special members : the proposition of a parable ; a question inferred on it ; the application of it. The parable itself is contained in tlie words of my text : * A certain man had two sons,' «fec. The question, ver. 31, 'Whether of them twain did the will of the father 1 They say to him, The first.' The application concludes, * Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.' The parable itself shall limit my speech, and your attention for this time. VOL. II. F 82 THE TWO so^"s. [Seemon XXXL There is an induction, ' A certain man had two sons.' A production, which consists of a double charge, a double answer, a double event : — 1. Here is the father's charge to his eldest son : ' Son, go work to-day in ray vineyard.' 2, His answer is negative : ' I will not.' 3. His obedience was affirmative : * He repented and went.' So, 1. The father's command to his younger son was the same. 2. His answer is affirmative : * I go, sir.' 3. The event was. negative : ' He went not.* You hear the propositions ; assume to yourselves, and the conclusion will tell you whether of these sons you are. In the first was no show, all action ; in the second all show, no action. They were diametrally cross and opposite in their words and works. In their words, one said, 'I will not;' the other, 'I will.' In their works, the one did, the other did not. In the one was no promise, but a performance ; in the other no performance, but a promise. The first spoke ill, but did well ; the second spoke well, but did ill. Either was faulty, one in words, the other in deeds. L — 1. We will begin, according to our proposed method, with the father's; charge to his eldest son : * Son, go and work to-day in my vineyard ;' where- in we have, (1.) An appellation; (2.) An excitation ; (3.) An injunction; (4.) A limitation of time; (5.) A direction of place : — The appellation, 'son;' the incitation, 'go;' the injunction, 'work;' the limitation of time, 'to-day;' the direction of place, ' in my vineyard.' (1.) The ap2yellation : 'son.' God doth lay the imposition of labour upon, his sons. The charge of working in the vineyard belongs to a Christian, not only as he is a servant, but even as he is a son to God. Indeed God hath no son but he that serves him. David was a great king, yet the title he delights himself in was servant, — as appears by his doubling and varying the word, — which he spake not in compliment, but in sincerity of heart : * O Lord, truly I am thy servant ; I am thy servant, and the son of thy hand- maid;' and, that I may the better serve thee, 'thou hast loosed my bonds,'' Ps. cxvi. 16, released me from the servitude of sin. For none but free- men are God's servants. It is customable with men on earth to make difference betwdst their ser- vants, theif friends, their sons. Good servants we love well, yet respect as servants, not trusting them with the secrets of our bosoms. They know our commands, not counsels : to them the execution of our wills, our intentions to ourselves. Good friends we hold in a dearer regard : neglecting no time, place, or other circumstantial demonstration of our loves ; yet stiU account them other from ourselves, no part of our charge ; and seldom ariseth anxiety from any careful provision for them. But our children, as the sweet result- ancies and living pictures of ourselves, — a kind of eternity lent to our bodies, who in some sort die not whiles their offspring lives, — these we principally affect; and they inherit our loves and lands. There is no such difference with God ; aU these are one in his estimation. His servants are his friends, his friends his sons, and his sons are his servants. Only all the trial, whether we be friends or sons, stands in this, if we be servants. If thou be my son, work in my vineyard. The son is not exempted from doing his father's business. Even the natural Son of God, and that by an eternal generation, doth not extricate himself from tliis charge, nor shift from his shoulders the imposition of labour : Phil. ii. 6, 7, ' Who being in the form of God, thought it no robbery to be equal with God ; yet made himself of no reputa- tion,' ifec, induit formam servi, — took upon him the form of a servant. Christ so answered his mother returning from the feast, and after much search finding him, ' How is it that you sought me ? Wist you not that I must be Matt. XXI. 28-30.] the two sons. 83 about my Father's business ? ' Luke ii. 49. So he preached to his disciples, ' I must work the works of him that sent me,' John ix. 4. AVithout this, vain is the ostentation of other titles. JIany and excellent are the attributions which the Scripture giveth us ; as friends, children, heirs, &c. Host men arrogate these, as the sweet privileges of ease, honour, bene- fit. They imagine that facility, a soft and gentle life, is hence warranted : that it is glory enough to be God's friend or son. Saul wiU bo God's friend, if it be but for his kingdom. The Jews title themselves God's sons, that they may be his heirs. Whiles the door of adoption is thought to stand open ill the gospel, infinite flock in thither; not for love, but gain. Again, these stand most in affection ; and, dwelling inwardly, may with the more ease be dissembled. The profession of many is like the mountebank's trunk, which his host seeing fairly bound with a gaudy cover, and Vv-eighty in poise, had his trust deceived with the rubbish and stones within. Only service hath neither ease nor concealment allotted it, because it con- sists in a visible action. Many say they are God's friends, but they will do nothing for him. Let a distressed member of their Saviour pass by them, with never so hearty beseechings and pitiful complaints, they are dry nurses ; not a drop of milk comes from them. Call you these God's friends ? Let profiine swaggerers blaspheme God's sacred name ; where is their control- ment 1 They cannot endure a serpent, yet give close society to a blas- phemer ; whereas this wretch is worse than anything. For every creature doth praise God in his kind ; yea, the very dragons and loathsome toads after their fashion : Ps. cxlviii. 7, 'Praise the Lord, ye dragons, and all deeps.' Yet this caitiff', like a mad dog, flies in his master's face that keeps him. Whoso can endure tliis, and not have their blood rise, and their very souls moved, are no friends to God. It is a poor part of friendship to stand silent by whiles a friend's good name is traduced. Such a man is possessed with a dumb devil. If men were God's friends, they would frequent God's house : there is little friendship to God where there is no respect of his presence, nor affection to his company. Our Saviour throughly decides this : ' Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you,' John xv. 1 4. There is no friendship where no obedience ; neither shall the rebellious ever hear that welcome invitation to God's feast : ' Eat, O friends ; drink and be merry, beloved,' Cant. v. 1. There is, then, no friend to God but his ser- vant. Some claim kindred of God, that they are his offspring. Acts xvii. 29, and ' made partakers of the divhie nature,' 2 Pet. i. 4 ; though not really, yet by renovation. But we know Christ distinguished his kindred in the sjjirit from those in the flesh, by this mark of audience and obedience : * He that heareth my word, and doth it, is to me a mother, or a sister, or a brother.' There are that challenge a filiality : as the Jews, ' We have one Father, even God.' To whom Christ answers, ' If God were your Father, you would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God,' John viii. 41, 42. If you were the children of God, you would surely know your elder brother. God, by the prophet Malachi, nonsuits that plea, ' If I be your father, where is mine honour I ' chap. i. 6. Still no good title is ours without service ; whether thou be friend, or kindred, or son, go and work in my vineyard. Casting over this whole reckoning, we find the sum this : God hath few friends, kindred, sons, because he hath few servants. How many have pro- mised good hopes to themselves, and not unlilcely to us, that they were God's children, against whom the gate of heaven hatli been shut for want of actual service ! Let men never plead acquaintance, familiarity, sonship, when God 84 THE TWO SONS. [Sermon XXXI. tries them, as this son, what they will do for him, and they refuse to work in his vineyard. It must be the word, written on the scutcheon of every true Christian soldier, though the Son himself hath made him free, and he is free indeed — I serve. And yet some, as they presume themselves to be God's sons, so they assume to be his servants ; and have evidence to neither of these claims. They will be held God's servants, yet never did good char in his house. Religion is his livery, which once getting on their backs, they think themselves safe ; and, as many a lewd fellow doth a nobleman's cloth, make it a countenance and protection to their wicked lives. They may, not unfitly, be compared to retainers ; for as great men's retainers lightly visit their lord once by the year, and that at Christmas, and then rather for good cheer than love : so these deal with God ; come to his table at Easter, and then they will feast with him, that the world may take notice they belong to him ; which done, they bid him farewell till the next year. It was a worthy observation, that all sins do strive to make God serve us. So God tells Israel, Isa. xliii. 1 4, Servire me fecisti, — ' Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins.' Not only that God danceth attendance to our re- version, — that exposition is too short, — but God in his plentiful blessings doth serve our turns, which we abusing to riot, and supplying the fire of onr own lusts with his good fuel, we make God serve us. Which of us in this congregation exempts himself from that style of God's servant ? Yet how many here so live, as if God were rather their servant ! God blesseth the vintage, and hangs the boughs with abundant clusters ; he fills the valleys with ■ corn, that the loaden scythe fetcheth a little compass : wine is made of the one, strong drink of the other ; and both these cloth the drunkard sacrifice to his throat. That is the god he adores, and the God of heaven is fain to serve him. The glutton is fed liberally from God's trencher; the fowls of the air, fishes of the sea, all the delicates of nature, are of his providing. God thus serves the epicure, and the epicure his belly, PhU. iii. 19. The angry man, like the two hot disciples that called for fire from heaven, ordains himself the judge, and would have God turn his executioner. The ambitious poli- tician worships the chair of honour with most rank idolatry, and useth reli- gion as a servile arm to help him up to it ; wherein once seated, he will scarce thank God for his service. Thus, as Solomon saith, ' I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth,' Eccles. x. 7. The basest drudge, lust, is highly honoured, whUes the Prince of princes is put to a servile office. But woe unto him that is whirled in coaches through the popular streets, and makes God his lacquey, and religion a foot- boy to run after liim ! God wiU not ever dance attendance to us ; and when he is once gone quite from us, we shall never be able to recover him. Well, sons we are, yet this appears by our services in the vineyard ; natu- ral proportion requires this. If God be so gracious to us, as to fetch us by a strong arm through death and blood from the servitude of Satan, and in a sweet ineffable mercy to adopt us his own children, it is fit we should return him obedience. 'Come out from among them, and be ye separate from the unclean, and I wiU receive you : and I will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty,' 2 Cor. vi. 17. Not that our adoption doth depend upon our separation from the wicked, but, Jtrst, to give testimony to the world, and to our own conscience, that we are God's children, by refusing society — if not ciwi operatorihus, yet cum operi- hus tenehramni — and fellowship with the works of darkness ; secondl//, to shew that the mercy of God and our amendment of life must go together. For God gives not remission of sin without contrition for sin. Where is Matt. XXI. 28-30.] the two sons. 85 forgiveness, there is also repentance. The blood and water which issued out of Christ's blessed side must not be parted. Every man catchcth at his blood, but few care for his water. The blood signifies our justification, the water our sanctification. We would be justified, we will not be sanctified. But those two cannot possibly be sundered. They came together out of his side, and they must be together in our hearts. God will never accept him for just that will not be holy ; nor acquit that soul of her sins that wiU not amend her life. So that if God have indented with us to save us as sons, we must indent with him to serve him as servants. ' The heir, so long as he is a child, dif- fereth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all,' Gal. iv. 1. It hath pleased God to adopt us co-heu-s ■\\ith his blessed Son to an immortal in- heritance ; yet so long as we live on earth, we are but in our minority, and therefore difler not from servants. Though he gives us the vineyard, yet we must first work in it. ' Blessed is that good servant,' Matt. xxiv. 4-5, that ruleth the household of his aflections, and giveth due sustenance to all the faculties of his soul, understanding, memory, conscience. But woe to that ' evil servant,' to whose outward misgovernment is added an inward riot, and heedless regard to his own lusts ! I have read a parable to moralise this. A great prince, intending travel into a far country, left his daughter to the tuition of a servant. Him he made chief, and set under him a controller and five serviceable guardians. The prince no sooner gone, but the servant falls to lust and riot ; forceth the lady, the controller, and the guardians to the like intemperance; which they refusing, he despoils her of her robes and jewels, them of their weapons, and turns them forth either by beggary or pillage to seek their livings. This ser- vant is man, God is the prince, his daughter the soul, the controller is reason, and the five senses the guardians. Whiles these hinder man from spoiling his soul with riot, he abuseth them j turns reason to madness, and makes all his senses instruments of wickedness. But woe to that servant whom his lord coming shaU find so doing ! I conclude this point. If thou be my son, serve me, saith God. It was David's holy ambition, and our happy bliss, to be the lowest drudge in God's family. To be a monarch of men is less than to be an underling of saints. Non reputes magnum quod Deo servis, seel maximum reputa, quod ipse dig- natur te in servicm assumere^^ — It is no ordinary favour that God Avill vouchsafe thee to be his servant, yet hath he made us his sons ; let us, then, cany ourselves as the sons of so great a prince. The children of kings, not only in their serious studies, but even in their recreations, bear a greater port, and hold a liigher intention, than the children of subjects. Their very sports are not so base as the object of pins and points, and such slight toys. Let worldlings stoop with a grovelling baseness to the trash of this world, and write tlieir low desires in the dust; let us remember our birth and breeding, — I mean our new birth and sanctification, — and carry ourselves like the sons of so great a king. Our work in the vineyard is a holy work, and God will crown it with a rich mercy : ' They shall be minOj saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him,' Mai. iii. 17. In that the father chargeth his eldest son to work, I might derive a moral observation, and instruct some to pull back that over-partial indulgence which they give to the eldest. It is the fashion with us to make the eldest a gentleman, though the rest be left beggars. The privilege of primogeniture • Bern. 86 THE TWO SONS. [Seemon XXXL so sweeps away all from the younger, that they are often enforced to serve the elder. The causes most commonly are, either an ambitious desire of en- hancing our names. We thmk a great many stars make not so fair a show as one sun: therefore join land to land, living to living, and give all to the eldest, not regarding whether younger Jacob be more virtuous, I speak not this to deprive the first-born of his right. Though God be not tied to pri- mogeniture, as appears by Israel's laying his right hand upon Ephraim's head, and his left upon Manasseh's, Gen. xlviii. 14 ; yet with men it is often seen that the disinheriting the eldest proves the ruin of the whole posterit;/. I speak only to help the others with a just and fit portion. Or, perhaps, the cause hereof is, a special affection we bear to one child more than to another, and not after their merits, but our own dotage, prefer them; as Isaac loved Esau, and Rebekah Jacob, Gen. xxv. 28. Or, most likely, a covetous desire of procuring great marriage-portions to our eldest, whom we have famoused for our sole and entire heirs. But the father here sets his eldest son to work. If an)' business be to be done, our custom is to impose aU on the younger, and favour the elder. It is enough for him to see fashions abroad. This indulgence too often turns to niin ; for long unrestrained wantonness, and unchidden pride, teacheth him at last, though his now dead father left him much lands, to carry them all up in his purse to London ; whence he lightly brings nothing down, but a few new-fangled rags, or perhaps a church on his back, and the bells at his heels ; as one said of the church-robber's heir with jingling spurs. Too many run to such riot in the April of their years, that they soon bring December on their houses, and sell their patrimony to some supjjlanter for pottage. They so toss and bandy their estates, from vanity to vanity, from madness to madness, till at last they fall into the usurer's hazard. And once lying at the extortioner's mercy by forfeit, it is as surely damned as the ex- tortioner himself wiU be when he lies at the mercy of the devil. The mind having once caught the trick of running out, is harcUy banked in. He that is used to a torch scorns to go with a candle. It is a good course : let them work in the vineyard before they have it, they will keep it the better when they have it. But some fathers are so dotingly kind, that they put themselves out of their estates to fasten them on their eldest son. Alas, poor men ! how few of them ever die without cursing the time when they made themselves slaves to their cradles ! The prolixity of this point shall be recompensed with the succeeding bre- vity of the rest. We have done with the appellation : now follows — (2.) The incitation : ' go.' This is a word of instigation to sedulity and forwardness in the service of our Father. Every son of God must be going- The servants under the law were commanded to eat the passover ' with their shoes on their feet,' Exod. xii. 1 1 ; and St Paul may seem to allude to it, when he bids the children of the gospel ' stand with your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace,' Eph. vi. 15. So long as we are standing, there is hope we will be going. It is not permitted to us to sit down in the midst of our race. Christ telleth his apostles, ' When the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye shall also sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel,' Matt. xix. 28. But we know our Saviour dearly earned that voice, before he heard it from his Father, ' Son, sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.' Before he heard this requiem, he complained that * the foxes had holes, and the birds of the air nests, but the Son of man no resting-place for his head.' We must so appre- hend God's voice : * Go, my son.' When God found Elias laid under the Matt. XXL 28-30.] the two sons. 87 juniper-tree, he sends him sustenance, and bids him * arise and eat.' And being laid down again, the angel again ' touched him, saying, Arise and eat; the journey is too great for thee,' 1 Kings xix. 5-7. >Strengthen thy heart, O Christian ; sit not downi as if thou wert perfect, thou hast a great journey to go. Every one thinks himself God's son : then hear his voice, ' Go, my son.* You have all your vineyards to go to. Magistrates, go to the bench, to execute judgment and justice ; ministers, go to the temple, to preach, to pray, to do the work of evangelists ; people, go to your callings, that you may eat the labours of your own hands. Eye to thy seeing, ear to thy hearing, foot to thy wallang, hand to thy working ; Peter to thy nets, Paul to thy tents ; every man to his profession, accordmg to that station wherein God hath dis- posed us. So Origen comments upon Abraham's family, for their enter- taining the three angels. Gen. xviii. 6 : Senex cunit, mulier festinat, pxier ■accelerat; nullus 2n(/er invenitur domo sapientis, — Sarah goes quickly to knead the flour, Abraham runs to the herd for a calf, the servant makes haste to dress it ; here is none idle in the wise man's family. The incitation gives way to — (3.) The injunction: ' work.' The labour of a Christian is like the labour of a husbandman ; whereof I have read this proverb, that it returns into a ring : the meaning is, it is endless ; they have perpetually somewhat to do, either ploughing, or sowing, or reaping, &c. Idleness is of itself against the law of Scripture, against the law of nature : Deus maximus invisibUium, inundus maximus visibilium, — God, the greatest of in\isible natures; the world, the greatest of visible creatures ; neither of them is idle. Plato could say, that sapientes majorem cum viiiis, quam cum inimicis pugnam gerunt, — ■wise men have a greater skirmish with theu* own vices and lusts than with foreign swords. There is enough in every man to keep him from idleness ; if at least he do not prefer an unjust peace to a just war. For us men, and for our salvation, (such was our weakness,) came the Son of God from heaven, (such was his kindness ;) gave battle for us to the devil, and world, and all the enemies of our salvation, (such was his goodness ;) gave them all the overthrow, (such was his greatness.) What! that we should therefore sit still and take our ease 1 No, but rather to encourage our labour, and hearten us to a happy success. God hath so proportioned things and their events, that they who will rest in the tune of labour shall labour in the time of rest. This is our day of labour, hereafter follows our Sabbath of rest ; if we will loiter when we should work, we shall work when we should rest, and feel the eternal throbs of an ever-wounded and wound- ing conscience. In that other parable of the vineyard, Matt, xx., the wages comes not to the servant till he hath wrought in the vmcyard ; nor here the inheritance to the son. The idle man is the devil's cushion ; he sits on him, and takes his ease freely. If you would take the devil's muster-book, and rake hell for a rabble of reprobates, — nasty drunkards, blown swearers, stall- fed gluttons, — I might say of them all, as the poet of iEgistus, how he be- came an adulterer : In promptu causa est, desidiosus erat, — The cause is ready, they were idle. Work is the injunction. If you ask when and how long — (4.) The limitation of time instructs you : ' to-day.' We need not grudge God our labour ; it is but a day wherein we are enjoined to work : Ps. civ. 23, ' Man goeth forth to his work, and to his labour until the evening ; ' not only that little part of time, the artificial day, as they call it, but even his whole natural day of life, till his sun set. Christ thus instructs us in his 88 THE TWO SONS. [Sermon XXXI. own example, and tliat witli a must, a word of necessity : * I must work the works of Mm tliat sent me, while it is day : for the night cometh, when no man can work,' John ix. 4. The rich man, Luke xii,, had his day : which "because he spent in filhng his barns with corn, and not his heart with re- pentance, at evening was rung his soul-knell, 'Thou fool, this night shall they require thy soul of thee ; then whose are those things which thou hast provided?' Luke xii. 10. Christ spake it not with dry eyes to Jerusalem : ' If thou hadst known, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!' Luke xix. 42. The next is God's day. This our day hath no morrow to work in; then Deus et dies ultionum convenient, — the God of vengeance and the day of vengeance shall meet together. At night we must give account how we have spent our day; happy are we if we can make our reckoning even with God; a day misspent is lost. The good Emperor Ves- pasian, if he had heard no causes, or done no charitable act, would complain to his courtiers at night, Amici, diem perdidi, — My friends, I have lost a day. I fear too many may say so of the whole day of their lives : I have lost my day. Time is precious ; and howsoever our pride and lusts think it, God so highly prizeth it, that he wiU punish the loss of a short time with a revenge beyond all times : the misspense of a temporal day with an eternal night. Every horn' hath wings, and there is no moment passing from us but it flies up to the Maker of time, and bears him true tidings how we have used it. There is no usury tolerable but of two things, grace and time ; and it is only blessed wealth that is gotten by improving them to the best. We brought with us into the world sin enough to repent of all our short day. There is no minute flies over our heads without new addition to our sins, and there- fore brings new reason for our sorrows. We little think that every moment we misspend is a record against us in heaven, or that every idle hour is en- tered into God's registry, and stands there in capital letters tUl our repentant tears wash it out. The Ancient of days sees us fool away our time, as if we had eternity before us. Harlots, taverns, theatres, markets of vanity, take up whole weeks, months, years ; and we are old ere we consider our- selves mortal. Not so many sands are left in the glass as a sparrow can take in her bOl, before we think we have lost much time, or perceive we have no more to lose. Nothing is of that nature that life is ; for it loseth by getting, diminisheth by increasing, and every day that is added to it is so much by a day taken from it. That very night which thou last sleptest hath by a night shortened thy life. So insensibly runs away our time, though we entreat it never so earnestly to slacken the pace. How fond are they that invent for it pastimes ! This limitation of the time gives us a double encouragement to our cheer- ful working in God's vineyard : — First, The shortness of our day. The saints have reckoned their time by days. So that aged patriarch to the Egyptian king : * Few and evd have the days of thy servant been.' Here it is taken in the singular number, a day. So, Heb. iii. 1 3, ' To-day, if ye will hear God's voice, harden not your hearts ;' Matt. xx. 6, ' Why stand ye here all the day idle V It is a day, a short day, a winter's day. And, alas ! it is but a little part of this day that we work. Mtdtum temporis nobis eripitur, 2ilus subducitur, plurimum effiuit: exigua pars est vitce quam nos vivimv^^'' — Much of our time is vio- lently snatched from us, more we are cozened of, most steals away insen- sibly ; it is the least part of our life m hich we are properly said to live. ♦ Seu., Epist. 1. Matt. XXL 28-30.] the two sons. SO Distinguish our day into a morning, noon, and evening. Our youth, which is our morning, we most usually (not usefuUy) spend in toys and vanities : as if it were not vitium adolescenti scortari, &c., — a fault in a young man to wantonise, dance, drink, swear, swagger, revel. Our old age, which is our afteniooa, for the most part is spent in caring, trouble, and anxiety for this world ; our distrustful hearts still asking, How shall we do when we are old 1 yet being so old already, that there is no possible good means of spending what we have. So that here remains nothing but the noon of our day. As Epaminondas aptly said. Young men should be saluted with Good-morrow, or welcome into the world; old men with Good-night, because they are taking theu' leaves of the world ; only men of middle age with Good-day. This mid-day is only left for the vineyard, and how much of it spend we in working there 1 Day-labourers use not to sleep at noon ; and yet we, for the most part, sleep out almost half our time : other hours are wasted in eating and drink- ing, other in playing ; and, that is worst of all, yet most of all in sinning. Now, behold the great part of our day which we spend in God's vineyard. Let the time before our conversion be deducted ; for then we were quite out of the \'ineyard : we were not awake. If a sleeping man may be said dead, then sure a dead man may be said asleep. And, indeed, sins are justly called ojjerxc tenebrarum, the works of the night, not of the light : no fit actions for the day. So that our unregeneratc time hath stolen a great piece from our day. I have read of a courtier that, wearied with that few in these days will be wearied of, — glorious vanities, gallant miseries, — retired himself into the country, where he lived privately seven years. Dying, he caused this epitaph to be engraven on his tomb : Hie jacet Similis, cujus cetas muUo- rum annorumfuit: ipse duntaxat septem annos vixit; — * Here lies Similis, whose age Saw many years on tliis world's stage. His own accoimt is far less given. He says he only lived seven ; ' esteeming the compass of his life no longer than his retiring himself from worldly vanities. So it may be said of a wicked old man : JVon dm vixit, sed diufuit, — He hath not lived long, but been long upon the earth. After this rule many good men have reckoned their years : not from the time of their birth, but of their new bhth ; accounting only from that day when they were supernaturally born again, not when naturally born into the world : as if all that time were lost which an unsanctificd life took up. Secondly^ That other heartening to our cheerful labour is, that when this short day is ended, our rest shall be eternal. Death shall deliver us of this travel ; and a life shall foUow it, as uncapable of pains-taking as it is of pain-suffering. ' Blessed are they that die m the Lord, for they rest from their labours, and their works follow them,' Rev. xiv. 13. Our labour in the vineyard is not lost : it is written m heaven ; and when our souls ascend thither, it shall meet us at the gate with joy. A man s good deeds are in heaven before him ; he that will not forget us, lets not one of them slip from his notice, or evade his memory. No good work is meritorious, yet none transient. God that loves not us for our good deeds, will love our good deeds for us. The person being justified in Christ, the sanctified work shall be had in remembrance. We rest now one day m seven ; but then, our Sabbath shall be more dehghtful, our rest more joyful, our temple heaven, our songs and psalms, hosannas and hallelujahs, and the continuance of all, eternity. 00 THE TWO SONS. [SeEMON XXXI. (5.) The time of our -working is not only confined, but the place defined ; this is the last cu-cumstancc of the charge : the direction of i^lace, ' in my vineyard.' Not in the wilderness of the world, nor in the labyrinth of lusts, nor in the orchard of vain delights, nor in the field of covctousncss, nor in the house of security, much less in the chamber of wantonness, or tavern of dranken- ness, or theatre of lewdness ; but in my vineyard : do my work in my vine- yard. We must not only be doing, but be doing what we ought. True obedience is a readiness to do as we are bidden. It is an everlasting rule that Paul gives : Kom. vi. 16, ' His servants ye are to whom ye obey.' The centurion so describeth his good servant : ' I bid him do this, and he doeth it.' It is only a laudable deed that hath in it bene as well as honum. Many can take no pains unless the devil set them on work. They must be their own carvers in their employment, or they wUl sit idle. God sends them to his vineyard, and when he comes, finds them in the market, perhaps in a theatre, in a dicing-house, in a drinldng-house. Let them appoint them- selves their task, and God cannot have better servants; let him give the direction, and he cannot possibly have worse. So a man may work, and be over-diligent, yet have no thanks for his labour. God scorns that the world or the flesh should set down rules how he will be served. He never made the devil his steward, to appoint his sons to their task. The king having made positive laws and decrees whereby he will govern either his public or private house, his kingdom or family, dis- dains that a groom should contradict and annul those, to dignify and advance other of his own fiction. Paul durst not ' confer with flesh and blood,' Gal. i. 1 6, when God had imposed on him an ofl&ce. That obedience of Abraham, which was so highly praised, was punctually dependent on God's command. He is a sorry servant that, on the first bidding, runs away without his errand. There is a generation of men that are too laborious : curious statesmen in foreign commonwealths, busy bishops in others' dioceses, scalding their lips in their neighbour's pottage. This is an ambitious age of meddlers ; there are almost as many minds as men, sects as cities, gospels as gossips : as if they laboured the reducing of the old chaos and first in- formity of things again. So the foxes do without labour make spoil of the grapes ; and these endeavours do not help, but hurt the vineyard. Painful- ness is not only required, but profitableness. Otherwise, as it is said of the schoolmen, they may magna conatu 7iihil agere, — take great pains to no pur- pose. The wise Ordinator of all things hath so disposed us in our stations, that in serving him, we serve one another. Axid it is an habitual part even -of our Liberty, that ' by love we serve one another,' Gal. v. 13. That byword, * Every man for himself, and God for us all,' is uncharitable, ungodly, and impugneth directly the end of every good calling, and honest land of life. The good son, then, must observe — what "i when ? tvhere, or how ? WTiat ? fivorh. When? to-day. Where, or how? in God' s vineyard ; \sk)0\iiXm^ in ?i lawful vocation lawfully. The particular instances of the charge have been discussed ; the general -doctrine or sum is this : God hath given every one of us, besides our par- ticular, a general calling of Christianity. The working in his vineyard is expounded by that chosen vessel : ' Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,' Phil. ii. 12. There is no action but hath liis labour; and the proportion of it difi'ers, and is made less or more accorduig to the Avill of the agent. WTiatsoever difficulty there is, ariseth rather from the doer than from the work. What we do willingly, seems easy. Some can follow their ilATT. XXL 28-30.] THE TWO SONS. 91 dogs a wliole day in the field with delight, upon whom, if authority should impose the measuring so many paces, how often would they complain of weariuess ! Let good-fellows sit in a tavern from sun to sun, and they think the day very short, confessing (though insensible of the loss) that time is a lif^ht-heeled runner. Bind them to the church for two hours, and you put an ache into their bones, the seats be too hard : now time is held a cripple, and many a weary look is cast up to the glass. It is a man's mind that makes any work pleasant or troublesome. The voluptuous man swaggers, bezzles, dances, riots ; and scornfully laughs at the sneaking earth-worm, that is ever carrying loads of earth to his hole, sweating and groaning under the burden ; and applauds his own "ftit for choosing such ease. The covetous, that is ever carking and vexing for the world, pitifully derides the voluptuous ; and judgeth his banquets too costly, his clothes too superfluous, his sports and revels too troublesome ; svhiles himself hath only cuUed out the easy and happy living. Thus conceit can make difficult things facile, and light ponderous. The true Christian is all this while hearing the word, or praying, or meditating, or following his honest profession, (which both the former imagine burdensome,) and knows his life to be only blessed and comfortable ; accounting the covetous man's gain a loss, the voluptuous man's disport a punishment. The way to heaven is one and the same, to all m itself alike ; though some make it to themselves more tedious by their own unwillmgness. The same yoke more troubles the unyielding neck than the patient. Dii laborantibus, &c. We pay no price to God for any good thing but labour ; if we higgle in that, we are worthy to go without the bargain. A little loitering doth often no little hurt ; he that rows against a violent stream, by neglecting a .stroke or two, is borne down a great way suddenly. Honest labour is a good companion, and beguiles tlie time, as society doth a tedious way. The ■wise man thinks those hours only go merrily down that are spent in domg good. But take we heed, that as our hands be not idle, so our works not vicious. The prophet speaks of some that are so far from slothfulness, that they ' imagine mischief on their beds, and rise up early to practise it,' ]\Iicah ii. 1. He that forbears idleness, and falls to lewdness, mends the matter as the unskilful chirurgeon did his patient's leg : when it was only out of joint, he broke it quite in pieces. 2. The charge is ended : the next point objected to our consideration is the son's answer, * I will not.' We have not been so long about the charge, but the son is as short in his answer ; ' I will not.' A very strange speech of a son to a father : Nolo, ' I wUl not go.' Hei-e is no irresolute answer ; no halting between two opinions, as the Jews did in the days of Elijah, betwixt God and Baal. No lukewarmncss, as Laodicea, Rev. iii. 1-5 ; which was neither hot nor cold, and therefore in danger to be spewed up, as an offence to God's stomach. He is none of those neuters, that walk to heaven with statute legs. None of those fools, that onwards their journey to heaven stand in a quandary whether they should go forward to God or backwards to the world. He is not a tottering Israelite, but a plain Jezreelite ; strainmg his voice to the highest note of obstinacy : Nolo, ' I will not go.' He was no hypocrite : here is no dissembling carnage of the business ; as if his father would be pleased with good word.s, or that terms smoother than Jacob coxUd countenance rebellion rougher than Esau. He speaks his thought ; fall back, fall edge : ' I will not go.' He was not like that guest 92 THE TWO SONS. [Sermon XXXI. whom the hermit turned out of doors after his charitable entertainment, be- cause he perceived that he could warm his cold hands with the same breath wherewith he cooled his hot pottage. ' 'Twas strange, he thought, Both hot and cold could from one mouth be bi-ought.' ^ This son's breath was stone-cold ; as if no spark of piety, or ember of natural duty, lay on the hearth of his heart to warm it ; Ifolo, ' I will not go.' He was no Papist sure : for the Lovanian reservation, Jesuitical equivo- cation, or mental evasion, were not rules entered into his grammar. Those spurious, bastard, enigmatical positions, — abortive births, which are called pice fraudes, — those smothered affirmations, and devilish cozenages, were not taught him ; he never saw the Jesuits' College, nor heard Satan dispute in a friar s cowl ; he is blunt and plain, and puts his father out of all doubt : Nolo, ' I will not go.' He was no lawyer, that is palpable : here be no demurs, nor pausing on an answer ; perhaps fearing a further solicitation, he goes roundly to work, and joins issue in a word : ' I vdU not go.' He was no talkative fellow : that to every short question returns answer able to fill a volume ; with as many parentheses in one sentence as would serve Lipsius all his life. I have read of two sorts of ill answers. Come to one of them, and ask where his master is : he replies. He is not within ; and goes his way, not a word further. Demand so much of another : he answers, My master is gone to the Exchange, to talk with a merchant of Turkey, about the return of a ship which went out in -April, laden with, &c. ; a voluble, tedious, headless, endless discourse. This son is one of the former ; he doth not trouble his father with many words : he is short with him, as if he wanted breath, or were loath to draw out the thread of his speech too long : Nolo, ' I will not go.' He was no complimenter : he does not with a kissed hand, and cringing ham, practise his long-studied art of compliment ; and after a tedious antic of French courtesies, sets his tongue to a clinkant tune. No ; he deals per- emptorily, proudly, impudently, desperately : Nolo, ' I will not go.' Excuses might have been quickly ready, if he would as willingly have lied as have disobeyed. He might have said with the sluggard, ' There is a lion in the way, there is a bear without ;' terror stands at the door : or, My head aches, I cannot work : or. The vineyard is in good case, and needs no dressing : or. It is too far thither ; as Jeroboam jileaded : or, I want skill to work in it : or. Thou hast servants enow, lay this task on them, and sjDare thy son : or, If thy son must do it, burden the younger with it ; I am thy eldest son, and privileged by primogeniture. No ; he hath no desire to shel- ter his disobedience under the boughs of excuses ; he had rather sj)eak his mind freely : Nolo, ' I will not go.' Here is the picture of one thrusting away obedience with both hands, and renouncing goodness, as the Gergesenes did Christ, Matt, viii., when they thrust him out of their coasts ; as if they had told him that he was no guest for Gergesenes, for his severe laws and their secure lives could never cotton. Would you have some matches set by this son 1 Stephen tells the Jews, Acts vii. 51, 'Ye stilf-necked and uncircumcised in heart, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost.' David speaks of some that * cast the laws of God behind their backs,' Ps. 1. 17; as a man throws a thing behind him in scorn, being an eyesore unto him. Job brings in the wicked saying to the Almighty, Matt. XXI. 28-30.] the t-wo sons. 95 * Depart from us, for we will none of thy ways,' chap, xxi. 14. Israel returns God's mild admonitions with ' There is no help ; no, for I have loved stran- gers, and after them I will go,' Jer. ii. 25 ; and, ver. 31, ' We are lords, we will no more come unto thee.' Here be matches and parallels to this son. It is generally customable with us to justify ourselves, and rather than our ulcerous blains and putrefying sores should be exposed to sight and censure, we will double sin, and bind iniquity to iniquity, by concealing it. If there be any bush in Paradise, the sons of Adam have learnt of their father to shroud themselves under it. Either by covering it with a lie, as Gehazi to his master Elisha, ' Thy servant went no wliither.' Or by colouring it with pretences, as Saul : Not I, but ' the people, saved,' not the worst, but ' the best of the cattle,' not for our own private uses, but ' for sacrifice to the Lord.' What a gradation of holy pretences is here assumed ! Or by tran.s- lating it from ourselves, as Adam : Not I, but ' the woman ;' nay, ' the woman which thoit gavest me ;' and so by rebound casting the fault on God. But here is rebellion unmasking herself, and shewing her ugly visage to the world with an immodest impudence ; a protestation, a prostitution of the heart to all manner of impiety : Nolo, ' I will not go.' 3. You hear his answer : let us examine whether we can find any better comfort in the event. ' But he repented and went.' We say the second thoughts are most commonly the better. For all his big words, his stomach comes down. If I may take leave to gloss it, he could not want motives of humiliation to repentance, of excitation to obedi- ence, if his recollected understanding did consider — (1.) The person com- manding ; (2.) The charge ; (3.) Himself, the party charged. (1.) Fater est qui genuit, joavit, educavit. It is his father, that bred him, that fed him; and therefore, /in-e ^j«<er?io, by the right of a father to his begotten child, might command him ; neither should his obedience be forced formidine j^cence, as slaves execute their master's Avill for fear of the whip. But he is to be drawn jxireJitis amove, with those soft and silken threads of inducement which love gently leads on. (2.) The charge is not burdensome, nor unbecoming his worth, if he stood upon it. It is no base drudgery, as, Feed the ox. Hold the plough ; which no good son refuseth at his father's bidding. It was the fairest business his father could set him about — Work in the vineyard. (3.) Himself, though a son, though the eldest son, must not live idle. There is nothing more tedious to a noble spirit than to do nothing. There is neither orb, nor star, nor mind, nor eye, nor joint that moveth not. This is not all : it inures his heart to obedience, as well as his hand to diligence ; it procures his father's blessing, inflames his affection ; and for a bountiful conclusion, shall possess him of his heritage. His father v.'ill give him the vincj'ard he wrought in. Our Father in heaven gives every one of us the same charge. He sends us to liis vineyard, his church, and bids us work there ; glorify his name, edify oiu: brethren, and assure our own salvation. There is no precept in the .whole book of God but enjoins this. Perhaps we have not so blas- phemously answered with our tongues, Nolumus, — ' We will not go,' we will not do it. But our lives have spoken it : and they make as loud a noise in his ears that hears the heart as easily as the lips. Our conversations speak it ; we actually deny it. 1 would to God our refusal were not too demon- strative. Oh, let us reclaim our impudent and refractory renegations, by a serious meditation of the former circumstances ! (1.) The commander is the Lord Almighty, that commands heaven, earth, 94 THE TWO SONS. [Sermon XXXL jincl hell ; and our benign and merci-ful Father. He must be obeyed, his will must be done : either by thee willingly, or constrainedly upon thee. There was never any Cain or Esau, Ahithophel or Jezebel, Julian or Judas, but did the will of God, though they went to hell for their labour. The signed wiU of God may be disobeyed, his eternal decrees cannot be crossed. What thou must do, do willingly. Fata vokntem ducunt, nolentem traliunt. God gently leads thee coming, but drags thee on withdramng : we say, a noble disposition ducitur, non trahitur. It is our Father's charge, let our obedience be cheerful. Let the wicked quake at his thunder, the sweet dews of his mercies mollify our hearts. It is for slaves to do nothing but for fear of present plagues, and the horror of future damnation ; but Paul persuades Christians 'by the mercy of God,' Rom. xii. 1. If that argument prevail not with us, we are unworthy the name of his sons. If the tender com- ijassion of our loving Father, and the heart-blood of our elder Brother, Jesus Christ, cannot make our feet quake to enter forbidden paths, and our hands tremble when we put them forth to wicked actions, our souls are in a despe- rate case. Think, think, it is thy Father that commands. (2.) The service required is easy, pleasant, comfortable. The devil im- poseth on his slaves a heavy work, and a more heavy wages. His work is true drudgery (let not flesh and blood sit judges) : the vexation of covetous- ness, the misery of ambition, the sickness of ebriety, the poison of lust, the pining of malice, and the sting of conscience wrapt up in the honey of carnal delights, are baseness and most sordid slavery. His wages is worse : ' The wages of sin is death.' Such a death as the severing of the body from the soul, compared with the separation of the soul from God, is of a far vaster difference than the ache of a finger and the most horrid torments of the wheel. Well were it for his slaves if they might for ever go unpaid. But this work is sweet and delectable : hearing, reading, praying, singing, doing the works of piety, of pity; can we imagine a fairer business, if at most it may be called a work 1 (3.) The reward is infinitely transcendent : when we have laboured in the vineyard, we shall have the vineyard. ' Work out your salvation,' and take your salvation. Those that have honoured God, God will honour. It is his mercy not to let any of our poor services to him go unregarded, unrewarded. In this event, there is, first, a word of retraction ; secondly, a word of reversion ; thirdly, a word of proceeding. He was going on to hell roundly : this but interrupts him and stops his course. He begins in cool blood to pause and think upon it. His answer (and when he answered, his purpose) was, ' I will not go.' Yet here is a but that recollects him. After a little gathering up his spirits, and champing on this bit of the bridle that checked him, this but, he falls to be sorry for what he had spoken, and in direct terms to repentance. Lastly, when sorrow had well humbled him, and his wild spirits grew tame, he delays the time no longer, but falls i:astantly to his business : ' he went.' Faith taught him that his father was merciful, and would forgive his disobedient language, upon the true remorse of his conscience, especially when he came and found him ' working in the vine- yard.' But — That which stops his lewd course is a serious consideration of his folly. This veruntamen, like an oar, turns the boat another way, and saves him from the rock, and inevitable shipwreck, whereinto he was running his vessel. It is a gasp that recovers his swooning soul, when there was little hope of life left. He had died if this but, like a little aqua vita;, had not fetched him back. Matt. XXI. 28-30.] the two soxs. 9j It is a blessed msclom of the sotiI, an antidote, or at least good ph^ysic for temerity, to consider our ways. He that goes on without a serious thousht of a quid feci ov facturus sum, precipitates his soul to ruin. The royal pro- phet so recalls and snibs himself : ' I thought on my ways : and turned my feet unto thy testimonies,' Ps. cxis. 59. He repented. — They go far that never return. "We heard this son at the highest stair of rebellion, now behold him descending by degrees : * he repented and went;' and it may be supplied, ' he wrought.' Those that to man's judgment and help are inextricably wrapped in the devil's snares, the Lord can easily unwind and set at liberty : not seven devils in one, not a whole legion in another, not all the prmcipalities and powers of darkness in. a third, can hinder repentance of sin, and mercy to repentance, when God" will bestow them. Kiss we the feet of his goodness, that can heal when the case is desperate : a woman bowed down with an infirmity eighteen years, Luke xiii. ; a man thirty-and- eight years bedrid, John v. There is no heart so obdurate but the blood of Christ, when it shall please God to apply it,. can mollify it. Let this keep us from despairing of their salvation whom we see, for the present, given over to licentiousness. The prodigal returns home, the lost sheep is found, the dying thief is converted, this rebellious son is brought to repentance. Then, sin and spare not, says the libertine ; there will be hope even to the last. But the mouth of this wickedness is soon stopped. Qui semper dat pcenitenti remissioneni, non semper dot pieccanti poenitentiam, — Who always gives remission to him that repents, doth not evermore give repentance to him that sins. God hath promised forgiveness to him that converts ; his oath hath confirmed thi.s, and the blood of Christ hath sealed it. But hoc opus, hie labor est, how shalt thou be converted if God ■with- holds his gracious Spirit 1 This promise binds thee to repentance as well as God to mercy. But where grows that herb of grace that thou mightest gather it ? ' Convert thou me, O Lord, and I shall be converted.' The faults uf the samts are therefore recorded ; not to encourage our falling, but to com- fort us when we are down. He that shall hearten himself to offend by their example, makes the same sin in him presumption which was in them infirmity. So, beholding a man falling by misfortune from some high bridge into a deep water, and yet scape drowning, go and precipitate thyself in, to scape after the same fashion ! It is dangerous tempting of God's mercy. He went. — Sorrow for the evil past was not sufficient ; he must amend his future life. It is not enough to be sorry that he had loitered ; he must now labour in the vineyard. It is often seen that the more j)erverse a sinner hath been, when he repents he proves the sounder. AVhen this son grew to be good, he was good indeed. The prophet Jeremiah brings in Ephraim, saying, ' Surely after that I was turned, I repented ; and after that I was instnicted, I smote upon my thigh : I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth,' chap. xxxi. 19. Paul had long been a loiterer, but when he began once to run in the right path, he overtook them all ; and he that confessed himself ' born out of due time,' yet doth withal acknowledge that he was ' in labours more abundant than they all,' 1 Cor. XV. 8, 10. Mary Magdalene, being emptied of her seven de^-ils, is testified by Christ ' to love much, because many sins were forgiven her,' Luke viL 47. Zaccheus had long been a covetous extortioner, but when Christ and salvation came to his house, to his soul, how rich was his con- version ! ' Behold, half of my goods I give to the poor ; and if I have "Wronged any man, I restore liim fourfold,' Luke xix. 8. As if he would 96 THE TWO SONS. [Sermon XXXI. make haste to unravel that bottom of sin which he had been so long in winding up. Thus I have shewed you a precedent of repentance ; shew me a sinner that follows it : one Sabbath-breaker that oifers to redeem God's holy time he hath abusively lost ; one encloser that will throw open his unjustly taken-in commons ; one extortioner that returns his thefts, — his usuries, I should say, but sure I did not mistake. We say, We will not ; and indeed we do not. Repentance must not look in at our gates. We are not humbled to this day. God must lay us panting upon our bed of sickness, drink up our bloods, and raise our sins, like dust and smoke, in the eyes of our consciences, before we will be moved. Till then we bear our perjuries, blasphemies, oppressions, frauds, those unsupportable burdens, like cork and feathers upon our shoul- ders, without any sensible pressure. God touch our hearts, that we may ' repent, go and work in his vineyard ! ' II. We have done with the dissolute, and are fallen now upon the hypocrite. But he hath been so liberally described in The White Devil, that I wUl only now present him, and let him go. This second son hath also his charge ; which because it is the same with the former, I lightly pass over. Only observe, that the Father commands every son to work. There must be no lazy ones in God's family. Adam, even in his innocency. Gen. ii. 15, was not permitted to sleep in the sweet bowers only, or to disport himself in the cool and pleasant walks, but he was bidden to dress the garden. But in the next chapter, when he had sinned, then labour was laid on him as a curse, chap. iii. 1 9. He and all his generations must earn their bread in the sweat of either brow or brain. There must be no ciphers in God's arithmetic,* no mutes in his grammar, no blanks in his calendar, no dumb shows on his stage, no false lights in his house, no loiterers in his vineyard. The charge of the father requires also this son's answer : ' I go, sir.' He gives his father a fair title, y-d^n, ' lord,' or ' sir,' as if he acknowledged to hini most submissive reverence ; words soft as butter, but the deeds of war are in the heart. Many can give God good words, but verba rebus jjroba, saith the wise philosopher; appeal from their lips to their lives. And you shall find these two differ, as it is seen in some taverns : there are good sen- tences upon the walls, Watch, Be sober. Fear God, &c., where there is nothing but blasphemy, ebriety, and unmeasurable rioting in the room. Our times have lighted on a strange flashing zeal in the tongue ; but it is a poor fire of zeal that will not make the pot of charity seethe. Our profession is hot, but our hospitality cold. These men are like a bad mill, that keeps a great clacking, but grinds no grist. ' What hast thou to do to take my covenant in thy mouth, seeing thou hatest instruction in thy heart?' Ps. 1. 16. The hen, when she hath laid an egg, straight cackles it, which causeth it instantly to be taken from her. But here is one cackles when he has not laid, and God coming, finds his nest empty. This is to fry in words, freeze in deeds ; to speak by ells, and work by inches ; to promise mountains, and biing forth ridiculous mole-hills. A bad course and a bad discourse agree not. Words are but vocal interpreters of the mind, actions real ; what a man does we may be sure he thinks, not evermore what he says. Of the two, give me him that says little and doth much. WHl you examine further who are Uke this son ? They that can say here in the temple, ' Lord, hallowed be thy name ;' scarce out of the church-doors, the first thing they do is to blaspheme it : that pray, ' Thy will be done,' when wdth all their powers they oppose it : and, ' Incline our hearts to keep thy laws,' when they utterly decline * D. Boys : Postilla. Matt. XXI. 28-30.] the two sons, 97 themselves. These are but devils in angels' feathers, stinking dunghills covered with white snow, rotten timber shining in the night; Pharisees' cups, ignes fatui, that seem to shine as fixed in the orb, yet are no other than crude substances and falling meteors. You hear how fairly this younger brother promiseth; what shall we find in the event? But 'he ■went not.' What an excellent son had this been if his heart and tongue had been cut out of one piece ! He comes on bravely, but, like an ill actor, he goes halt- ing ofi". It is not profession, but obedience, that pleaseth God. * Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into heaven ; but he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven,' Matt. vii. 21. There are three things that cozen many, because they are preparatives to obedience, but are not it : Some intend well, as if the blast of a good meaning could blow them into heaven. Others prepare and set themselves in a toward- ness ; but, like the George, booted and spurred, and on horseback, yet they stir not an inch. Others go a degree further, and they begin to think of a course for heaven : for a Sabbath or two you shall have them dihgent church- men ; but the devil's in it, some vanity or other steals into their heart, and farewell devotion. AU these are short, are nothing, may be worse than no- thing ; and it is only actual obedience that pleaseth God. Beloved, say no longer you wiU, but do ; and the ' doer shall be blessed in his deed,' James i. 25. Which blessedness the mercies of God in Christ Jesus vouchsafe us ! Amen. .VOL. II MAJESTY IN MISEEY; OB, THE POWER OE CHEIST EYEN DYITO. And, heliold, the vail of the temple ivas rent in twain from, the tojy to the bottom ; and the earth did quahe, and the ivcks rent ; and the graves xvere opened; and many bodies of mints which slept arose — Matx. XXVII 51. In the lowest depth of Christ's humiliation, God never left him without some evident and eminent testimony of his divine power. He hangs here on the cross dying, yea, dead ; his enemies insulting over him. Where is now his God ? ' If he be able to save us, let him save himself.' He bears not only the wrath of God, but even the reproach of men. Yet even now shall his divinity appear, and break like a glorious sun through these clouds of misery. He rends the vail, shakes the earth, breaks the stones, raiseth the dead. These two verses stand gloriously adorned with four miracles : — 1. ' The vaU of the temple was rent in twain.' You will say, perhaps the substance of it was not so strong but an easy force might rend it. But, ver. 50, Christ was dead before, or died at that very instant. It was above nature that a dying, yea, a dead man, crucified in so remote a place from it, should rend the vail within the temple. 2. ' The earth did quake.' Say the vail was of less substance, yet the huge body of the earth will try a man's strength. In vain should silly man con- tend with that which shaU devoiur him. He cannot move the earth, the earth shall remove him, from walking ahve on it, to lie dead in it. Behold the power of Christ : terram movet, he makes the vast body of the earth to tremble. 3. ' The rocks rent.' Will any yet say, natural causes can shake the earth ? Then let their malicious cavil be choked with this third miracle beyond ex- ception : he breaks the stones, not little stones, but huge, massy rocks. 4. Lastly, to stop the mouth of all adversaries to his divine power, he raiseth up the dead. Suscitare mortuos d septdchro, is only proper to God. * No man can give a ransom to God for his brother, that he should live for Matt. XXVII. 51.] majesty in miseky. 99 ever, and not see corruption,' Ps. xlix. 7, 9. How much less, when he is dead, recover him to life again ? Here was the finger of God. Now to pro- ceed in order with the miracles : — FiEST Miracle : ' The vail of the temple,' ifcc. — This vail was the parti- tion betwixt the sanctum sanctorum and the sanctum, as it might be the upper part of the choir. ' Into this went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people,' Heb. ix. 7. By the rending of this vail were many things pre- signified : — 1. This serves for a confirmation of that Christ spoke on the cross ; ' It is finished.' The rending of the vail doth actually echo to his words, and ui- deed fulfils them. Here is an end put to all the sacrifices and ceremonies of the law. In the New Testament is one only real and royal sacrifice, Christ crucified. This was that object whereunto aU those rites looked ; and to them all there is now given a consummatum est. So that now ceremonia mortua, lex mortifera, — ceremonies are dead, and the law of them deadly. Novum Testamentum latet in veieri, Vetus j^citet in novo. The gospel lay hidden under the law, the law is complete in the gospel. ' Now, after that you have known God in his gospel, how turn you again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto you desire again to be in bondage l ' Gal. iv. 9. God's service is now simple and plain : ' in spirit and truth,' John iv. 23. Christ is said to be ' the end of the law : ' the moral law he kept himself sincerely, and satisfied for our breaches of it thoroughly. The ceremonial was referred to him, performed of him, fulfilled in him, extinguished by him. They had all vigorem a Ghristo, relationem ad Christum, consumviatlonem in Christo. He gave them theu' beginning, he hath also given them their end. The vaU rent, to witness the canceUuig of that ritual obligation. ' Christ hath blotted out the hand-miiting of ordhiances that was against us, nailing it to liis cross,' Col. ii. 14. That moment was their last gasp, they expired with Christ. But did all ceremonies then utterly die ? No ; some were typical, prefiguring Christ : those are dead. Some are for decency and order, adminicula devotionis : these are not dead. The law of Jewish ceremonies is abolished, but some must be retained. Christ came not to dissolve order. Men consist of bodies as weU as souls ; and God must be served vAi\i both. Now bodies cannot serve God without external rites ; the spouse of Christ cannot be without her borders and laces. Of necessity there must be some outward observances, but thus qualified : that they be for number few, for signification plain, for observation simple ; far from ostentation, further from superstition. Christ's spouse must not flaunt it like a harlot, but be soberly attired like a grave matron. Ceremonice quasi caremoniw; uxmts, iX carendo ; as it were ordained to supply the defects of our nature. Because we could not serve God in that simplicity we ought, therefore we have these helps. Hence it is that the nearer to perfection the fewer ceremonies ; as it were, the more light the less shadow. In the law were abundant ceremonies, in the gospel far fewer, in heaven none at all. This condemns the church of Rome for a glorious harlot, because she loads herself with such a heap of gaudy ceremonies ; and their mass for mere idolatry, which they believe to be a real propitiatory sacrifice of Christ, made by the priests for the sins of quick and dead. This is to buUd up the vail here rent in pieces, and to accuse Christ of falsehood in his consummatum est. Is an end put to them, and shall they still retain them ; yea, obtrude them as prmcipal parts of God's service ; yea, worship them; yea, bind men's con- 100 MAJESTY IN" MISERY. [SeEMON XXXII. sciences to them, on pain of damnation ? Therefore they are liable to the censure of Augustine, who calls such impios sepulturcE violatores, — diggers into the graves of the dead for putrefied and rotten relics ; yea, to the judg- ment of God, who saith, ' If ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, after the commandments and doctrines of men 1 ' Col. ii. 20, 22. They will say, Dicit Papa, sanxit concilium, — Thus saith the Pope, thus decrees the councU ; but we, Dixit Dominus, non Donatus, — we hear what the Lord says in his Scripture concerning the law of ceremonies. 2. The second thing signified by the rending the vaU is this : the holy of holies figured the third heaven, where God sheweth himself in glory and majesty to his saints. Solomon's temple had in it three courts : an outer court, whereinto the people were admitted j an inner court, wherein only the priests and Levites entered ; an inmost of all, whereinto the high priest alone entered, and that but once a-year, and this was called sanctum sanctorum. So there is a threefold heaven — ccelum elementarium, stellatum, gloriosum. First, the elementary heaven, wherein are clouds, winds, rain, dew ; and the birds are called the birds of heaven, that is, of this elementary heaven. The second is the starry heaven ; so the sun is said to ' go from the end of heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it,' Ps. xix. 6. The last is the glori- ous heaven, the habitation of God himself; and this was signified by the holy of holies. The vail signified the flesh of Christ ; the rending of the vail, the crucifying of Christ ; by this is made an entrance into that sanctum sanctorum, the heaven of glory. So expressly : Heb. x. 19,' Having there- fore boldness to enter into the hoKest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and \vfmg way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the vaU, that is to say, his flesh.' Heaven-gate was shut up by our sins ; none but our highest and holiest Priest had passage thither : but he rent the vail, sufi"ered his body to be torn by death, that he might give us an entrance. Paul, speaking of the legal use of that holiest place in the temple, saith thus, ' The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made mani- fest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing,' Heb. ix. 8. But now, by Christ's rending the vaU, patet alti janua coeli, — the way of salvation is opened. Let this reach forth to us two comforts : — Comfort 1. — There is no fear to be shut out of heaven if thou have faith in Christ; for to thee is the vaU rent, the separation is abolished, Christ is crucified. For so, saith St Peter, ' an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,' 2 Pet. i. 11. Indeed, to unbelievers and hj^pocrites, to worldly wolves and luxurious goats, the vaU is up stUl. How should they enter the sanctum sanctorum, that never approached the sanctum ? How shall they see the glory of God, who would never entertain the grace of God? No; to these there are inaccessible bars, and cherubims with flaming swords, to forbid then" en- trance. But to every good and faithful servant the vail is taken away ; and Christ says, ' Enter thou uito the joy of the Lord,' Matt. xxv. 21. Comfort 2. — By this means we have in this world a free access to the throne of grace by our prayers ; the vail and separation of sin and wrath is rent asunder by Christ, and a clear way made for our supplications. The propitiatory and mercy-seat, the cherubims of glory shadowing it, the very presence of God, were within the holiest ; and the people might not approach it, but stood without afar off : our Saviour hath torn away this vail, and opened our petitions a free passage to the seat of mercy in heaven. ' Hav- ing such an high priest over the house of God,' saith Paul, immediately after Matt. XXVII. 51,] majesty in misery. 101 the clearing our way through the vail, ' let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith,' &,c., Heb. x. 21, 22. We see how far our prero- gative excels that of the Jews. They were servants, we are sons, and cry, ' Abba, Father ;' they had priests, we are priests ; they had a bar, to us that vail is rent away. ' Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need,' Heb. iv. 16. This is singular comfort, that poor subjects may be sure of access to the king with their petitions ; yea, more, be heard in all their desires ; yea, most of all, have an advocate at the king's right hand to plead their cause. But then remember the Psalmist's caution : ' If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord ■\\-ill not hear me,' Ps, Ixvi. 18. Let the servants of Baal cry never so loudly, if lewdly ; their prayers are not heard. To the cries of iinfaithfiil sinners the vail is up stiU ; and, like a thick cloud, reverberates and beats back their orisons, that they cannot ascend to the throne of grace. Only faith makes a free passage ; and a clear conscience hath a clear voice that can pierce heaven. 3. The breaking down of this vail did make the holiest and the other part of the temple all one. Whereby was signified, that of two was made one, Jews and Gentiles one church. ' He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us,' Eph. ii. 14. So that now those the Jews called dogs, eat the bread of the children ; yea, they are the children : and ' Japhet is persuaded to dwell in the tents of Shem,' Gen. ix, 27. She is also beloved that was hated ; even the church of the Gentiles is the spouse of Christ. The vail that hindered, Paul calls the ' law of commandments, contained in ord': uices ; ' this ' he abolished, for to make in himself of twain one new man,' Eph. ii. 15. Heaven-gate is no wider open to a Jew than to a Grecian. ' In Christ Jesus neither circum- cision avaUeth anjrthing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God,' Gal. vi. 15, 16. The sun of the gospel, as of the world, is not confined to lighten Judea only, but shines universally. There is not one privilege wherein the Gentile hath not as frank a share as the Jew ; the sons of Hagar are adopted the sons of God ; and the free ' Jerusalem above is the mother of us all,' Gal. iv. 26. All this did our blessed Saviour work for us by rending the vail ; ' that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby,' Eph. ii, 1 6. Oh, then, let us 'keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace!' Christ hath made us at one ; let us not make ourselves twain. The vail is rent, why set we up new — schisms in doctrine, jars in conversation "? The bill of divorcement is cancelled ; let us love our husband Christ, and, for his sake, every man his brother. Let us set uj) no more vails, lest we do it with the curse of building more Jerichos. There is no bond so sure as reU- gion; no ligaments so strong as faith and a good conscience. Wretched man, that breakest these ties, and rendest thyself from them to whom thou art by Christ united ! A mother's, yea, a father's blessing, forsakes thee ; and thou buildest up a new vail, which thou must look for no more Christs to come rend asunder ! 4. The rending of the vail teacheth us, that when men sin rebelliously against God, no prerogative shall do them good. The temple was one of their principalest privileges, their glory, their crown. ' The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord,' Jer. vii. 4. It was a figure of the chiu-ch- mihtant, as Solomon the builder was a figure of Christ. For this temple's sake God often spared them. So Daniel prays, ' Cause thy face to shine upon 102 MAJESTY IN MISERY. [SeBMOIT XXXII. thy sanctuary, that is desolate/ chap, is. 17. Yet when they fall away from God, and crucify their ]\Iessias, this jDrerogative helps not. For here God's own hand rends the vail, and after gives the whole fabric a spoU to the Gentiles. ' If ye wUl not hear, if ye will not lay it to heart, I will send a curse upon you, I mil curse your blessings ; yea, I have cursed them already, because you do not lay it to heart,' Mai. ii. 2. It lies m man's sin to make God curse his very blessings, and to punish the nocent in the innocent crea- tures. We see the way how we may lose temples, and peace, and gospel, and all privileges, by running the courses of disobedience. Who can number the blessings we have enjoyed by the gospel 'I Let us beware lest our ungracious and ungrateful lives rob us not of that, -^vith all the appertinent comforts. They that have travelled the Belgic provinces can witness the miserable footsteps of war, and the tyranny of desolation. Churches and cities have no more monuments, but the ruined foundations, to testify that they were. Sin made way for blood and massacre ; idolatry pulled down those walls, which, otherwise, the most sacrilegious hand should have forborne. If there had been no enemy to raze them, they would have fallen alone, rather than covered so blasphemous impiety under their guilty roofs. ' Peace is within our walls, and prosperity within our palaces,' Ps. cxxii. 7 ; blessed for ever be our God of peace for it ! Yet we have a subtle adversary, Sacrilege, that encroacheth sore upon us, and ' hath taken many of God's houses in posses- sion,' Ps. Ixxxiii. 1 2. We cannot say, ' They have burnt up all the syna- gogues in the land,' Ps. Ixxiv. 8 ; but they have done very wickedly to the Lord's sanctuaries. The walls stand, — and it is well if in many places they do so, — but there is not a Levite to feed the people. Alas, how can there, when there is nothing left to feed a Levite ? Covetousness would do as much hurt with us, as war hath done with our neighbours : it would, but I trust in the Lord Jesus it shall not. Though they have rent away God's right, — ' tithes and offerings,' Mai. iii. 8, — they shall never rend away God's truth and gospel : rend themselves from it indeed they are likely to do. 5. Lastly, ' The vail was rent.' By rending the part, God did threaten the subversion of the whole. If he spare not the holy of holies, then much less the rest. When God had commanded, ' Slay utterly old and young, maids and children,' he adds withal, ' and begin at my sanctuary,' Ezek. ix. 6. If God begin at his sanctuary, he will not fail to end with the rest. If that shall not scape being profaned, how much less hoiises built for riot and dis- order, pride and ambition ! If the temple of prayers, then surely the dens of thieves. ' For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and shall ye go inipunished l ' saith God to the heathen, Jer. xxv. 29. If the sacred things defiled by idolatry shall be subverted, never think that your fair houses shall stand, when they are made coverts of oppressions, and convents of superstition. When the better things are not favoured, the worst have small hope. So Peter reasons : ' If judgment shall begin at the house of God, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel 1 ' 1 Pet. iv. 17. If the strong cedars of Lebanon be rooted up, woe to the rotten-rooted poplars ! If the dragon's tail sweep stars from heaven, what shall become of squalid earthly vapours ? The temple was one of the world's greatest wonders ; as curious a workmanship as six-and-thirty years could make it. It wanted not the art of man ; yea, the blessing of heaven was added to it. Yet now, lo, etican periere rnince, tliis goodly building by sin was brought to ruin ; yea, even the very ruins are perished. Shall, then, your forts and palaces, worldlings' paradises, full of rapine, empty of charity, Matt. XXVII. 51.] majesty in misery. 103 stand against all weathers and storms of judgment 1 No : stone shall fall after stone ; and ruin shall one day tell the passengers, as God threatened of Jerusalem, Here stood a goodly manor, a sumptuous edifice, a royal palace. Or if they fall not down in themselves, they shall fall to the owners, whose iniquities have defiled them. God punisheth by certain degrees : first he rends the vaU, then rend^ away the temple ; as by David's hand he first rent Saul's garment, and then rent away his kingdom. God at first toucheth men lightly, in their goods, quiet, health ; if these stir not to repentance, he proceeds against the whole. ' Know ye not that ye are the temple of God ?' 1 Cor. iii. 16. If you set up in this temple idols, lusts, and evil affections, God first rends the vail, toucheth you with some gentle afilictions ; but if you still continue to make this temple a den of thieves, the temple itself will be destroyed. You have heard the first miracle, the rending of the vail. As the Jews were wont to rend their garments when they heard blasphemy against God, so it may seem the temple tore its garments, rent its vail in pieces, when it heard those execrable blasphemies against the Son of God.* Second Miracle : ' The earth did quake.' — The philosophers having given divers natural causes of earthquakes, as by hot and dry exhalations shut up in the bowels of the earth, and labouring for vent, resisted by the earth's soUdness, there ensueth terrce motus, a shaking of the earth, &c. But this was an extraordinary earthquake ; for it happened exactly at the very instant of Christ's death. It might be to set forth the glory of the New Testament, and to vindicate it from inferiority to the Old. The law was both given and renewed with an earthquake. Given, Exod. xix. 18, to the hand of Moses: 'The whole mount quaked greatly.' As at the giving. Mount Sinai, so at the renewing. Mount Horeb quaked : ' As Elijah stood upon the mount, there passed by a strong wind, and after the wind an earthquake,' 1 Kings xix. 11. So when the Lord of the gospel died, the earth shook, that the ministration of right- eousness might not be less glorious than the ministration of death, 2 Cor. iii. 9. This miracle shall give us a threefold instruction : — 1. To consider the fierceness of God's wrath against sins and sinners. For God, by shaking the earth, did no less than threaten the utter subver- sion of those desperate and bloody wretches. Korah and his confederates were swallowed up of the earth, for rebelling against Moses, the Lord's ser- vant. ' Of how much sorer punishment were these worthy that had cruci- fied,' not the servant, but ' the Son of God ? ' Heb. x. 29. If the mercies of God had not been greater than their iniquities, they had not escaped. By this we see how able God is to punish sinners. He shews what he can do ; it is his mercy that he forbears. Some of these were to be con- verted ; therefore, concussi non excussi, — moved, not removed ; shaken, but not destroyed. Ostendisti po^ndo gravia, saith the Psalmist : ' Thou hast shewed thy people hard things,' Ps. Ix. 3. Shewed, not imposed ; shook the rod, not laid it on. This forbearance of God should lead us on to re- pentance, Rom. ii. 4. If not, it is but the forerunner of vengeance. Though now by moving the earth he scare and spare these Jews, yet after the earth spewed them out, as an offence to her stomach. O obstinate hearts, that quake not, when the senseless ground quakes that bears so unprofitable a burden ! Cannot the earth admonish thee ? it shall devour thee. Si non monebit, movebit. If the Almighty's hand stirring it hath not stirred thee to repentance, a sexton's hand shall cover thee with moulds ; a weak shaker * Theophylact. 104 MAJESTY IN MISERY. [SeKMON XXXII. shall do it. Think when God moves the earth, he preacheth to thy soul. If thy heart, so little in comparison of that great vast body, will not tremble, know God hath one thing that shall shake thee to pieces — death. 2. The nature of sm is here considerable ; so heavy, that it makes the very earth to quake. The Jews' sins were such a burden, that the earth, could not bear them without trembling. The earth is fixed, and ' standeth fast,' saith the Psalmist, as the centre of the world ; it is strange that to be- moved, even so strange is the cause that moves it. It must needs be a. monstrous weight of iniquity that totters the earth on her foundations. But why is the earth so quiet now ? Do not innumerable wretches daily crucify Christ, by their oaths, blasphemies, and rebellions, in himself; by their persecutions and oppressions, in his members ? Is not his word de- rided, his sacraments despised, his good creatures abused ? Why doth not the earth shrink and shake at these horrid impieties 1 Be still ; he that holds his hand from miracles, will not hold it from plagues. They are for- borne, not forgiven. God keeps silence, but he sleepeth not ; the earth may spare them, but ' desolation in a moment shall swallow them,' Ps. Ixxiii. 19. To the Jews the earth moved, and they stood stUl ; to these the earth shall stand still, and themselves shall be moved. 3. There is nothing on the earth that is not moveable, if the earth itsek be moveable. ' God hath laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be moved,' Ps. civ. 5. Yet so that he who laid it can shake it : ' He shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble,' Job ix. 6. If the earth, then whatsoever is built upon it. ' The earth shall be burnt,' saith Peter. What, alone ? No ; ' the earth, with the works that are therein, shall be burnt up,' 2 Peter iii. 10. The works of men's hands, the works of their brains, their very ' thoughts shall perish.' ' The Lord's voice shook the earth ; and he hath said, Yet once again I will shake not the earth only, but also heaven,' Heb. xii. 26. blessed place, that is not subject to this shaking, whose joys have not only an amiable countenance, but a glorious continuance ! ' The things that are shaken shall be removed, but the things that are not shaken remain for ever.' All the terrors of this. Avorld move not him that is fixed in heaven : ' They that put their trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which carmot be removed, but abideth for ever,' Ps. cxxv. 1. But the tabernacles and hopes of the mcked shall perish together : * For the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth ever,' 1 John ii. 17. Whereon, saith Augus- tine, Quid vis ? Utrum amare temporalia, et transire cum tempore ! a?t amare Christum, et vivere in ceternum ? — Whether wilt thou love the world, and perish with it, or love Christ, and live for ever ? Third Miracle : ' The rocks rent.' — A wonderful act, to break stones and rend rocks. This gives us two observations : — 1. This did foresignify the power and efiicacy of the gospel, that it should be able to break the very rocks. As the death and passion of Christ did cleave those solid and almost unpenetrable substances, so the publishing of his death and passion shall rend and break in pieces the rocky hearts of men. So John Baptist said, ' God is able of stones to raise up children unto Abra- ham,' Matt. iii. 9. The hearts of Zaccheus, Mary Magdalene, Paul, were such rocks ; yet they were cleft with the wedge of the gospel. This is that rod of Moses, able to break the hardest rocks, till they gush out with floods- of penitent tears. This is Jeremiah's hammer, powerful to bruise the most obdurate hearts. The blood of the goat sacrificed, of force to dissolve ada- mant. There is power in the blood of Jesus to put sense in stones. Blessed Matt. XXVIL 51,] majesty in misery. 105 are you, if you be thus broken-hearted for him whose heart was broken for you ! For ' the broken heart the Lord will not despise,' Ps. li. 17. 3, Observe the wonderful hardness of the Jews' hearts. The stones rent and clave in sunder at the cruel death of Jesus ; but their hearts, more stony than stones, are no whit moved. They rend not their garments, much less their hearts ; whenas the earth rent the stones, her bones, and the rocks, her ribs. The flints are softer than they ; the flints break, they harden. They still belch their malicious blasphemies ; the rocks relent ; the stones are be- come men, and the men stones. Oh the senselessness of a hard heart ! rocks will sooner break than that can be mollified. Even the hardest creatures are flexible to some actions, — flints to the rain, iron to the fire, stones to the ham- mer, — but this heart yields to nothing, neither the showers of mercy, nor the hammer of reproof, nor the fire of judgments ; but, like the stithy, is still the harder for beating. All the plagues of Egypt cannot mollify the heart of Pharaoh. It is wondrously unnatural that men, made the softest-hearted of all, should be rigidiores lupis, duriores lapidibus, — more cruel than wolves, more hard than stones. I would to God all hard-heartedness had died with these Jews ; but it is not so. How often has Christ been here crucified, in the word preaching his cross to your ears, in the sacraments presenting his death to your eyes ! Think, think in your own souls, have not the stones in the walls of this church been as much moved ? God forbid our obdurate- ness should be punished as theirs was ! Since they would be so stony- hearted, Jerusalem was turned to a heap of stones, and the conquering Romans dashed them pitilessly against those stones which they exceeded in hardness. Here let the wicked see their doom : the stones that will not be softened shall be broken. There is no changing the decree of God ; but change thy nature, and then know thou art not decreed to death. Stony hearts shall be broken to pieces with vengeance ; do not strive to alter that doom, but alter thy own stony heart to a heart of flesh, and so prevent it in the parti- cular. Wolves and goats shall not enter into heaven. Thou mayest pull stars out of heaven before alter this sentence ; but do it thus. Leave that nature, and become one of Christ's sheep, and then thou art sure to enter. No adulterer nor covetous person, saith Paul, ' shall inherit the kingdom of heaven,' 1 Cor. vi. 9. This doom must stand, but not against thee, if thou be converted 'Such were ye, but ye are washed,' &c., ver. 11. You are not such. Had the Jews ceased to be stones, they had been spared. God will root thorns and briars out of his vineyard. If thou wouldst not have him root out thee, become a vine, and bring forth good grapes. God threatens to ' break the hairy scalp of him that goes on in sin / yet mayest thou ward this blow from thyself. Go no further on in sin. When God comes in judgment to visit the earth, to shatter rocks, and break stones in pieces, thou hast a heart of flesh, mollified with repentance. Let the earth quake, and the rocks tear ; thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace. Fourth Miracle : ' The graves were opened, and many bodies of saints which slept arose.' — Concerning this two questions are moved : — 1. Where their souls were all this while before. I answer, where the Scripture hath no tongue, we should have no ear. Most probably thus : their souls were in heaven, in Abraham's bosom, and came down to their bodies by divine dispensation, to manifest the power and deity of Christ. 2. Whither they went afterwards. I answer, by the same likelihood, that they died no more, but waited on the earth till Christ's resurrection, and thea attended him to heaven. But these thuiiis that are concealed .should not be 106 MAJESTY IN MISERY. [SeEMON XXXII. disputed. Tutum est nescire quod tegitur, — It is a safe ignorance where a man is not commanded to know. Let us see what profitable instructions we can hence derive to ourselves. They are many, and therefore I will but lightly touch them : — 1. This teacheth us, that Christ, by his death, hath vanquished death, even in the grave, his own chamber. That giant is subdued, the graves fly open, the dead go out. This bears ample witness to that speech of Christ : * I am the resurrection and the life ; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live,' John xi. 25. The bodies of the saints, what part of the earth or sea soever holds their dusts, shall not be detained in prison when Christ calls for them ; as the members must needs go, when the head draws them. He shall speak to all creatures, Reddite quod devorastis, — Restore what- soever of man you have devoured ; not a dust, not a bone can be denied. The bodies of the saints shall be raised, saith Augustine,* ta7ita facilitate, quanta felicitate, — with as much easiness as happiness. Desinunt ista, non pereunt ; mors intermittit vitam, non eripit,f — Our bodies are left for a time, but perish not ; death may discontinue life, not disannul it. Inter mittitur, non inter imititr, — it may be paused, cannot be destroyed. 2. Observe, that all the dead do not rise, but many, and those saints. The general resurrection is reserved till the last day ; this a pledge or earnest of it. Now, who shall rise with this comfort ? None but saints ; as here Christ takes no other company from the graves but saints : ' The dead in Christ shall rise first,' 1 Thess. iv. 1 6. Christ is called ' the first-born from the dead,' Col. i. 2^6. He hath risen, and his shall next follow him : ' Every man in his own order : Christ the first-fruits, afterward they that are Christ's at his coming,' 1 Cor. xv. 23. Worms and corruption shall not hinder. He that said ' to corruption, Thou art my mother ; and to the wonns. You are my brethren and sisters,' said also, ' I know that my Redeemer liveth, and one day with these eyes I shall behold him.' The wicked shall also be raised, though with horror, to * look upon him whom they have pierced.' But as Christ did here, so wUl he at the last — single out the saints to bear him company. 3. This sheweth the true operation of Christ's death in all men. We are all dead in our sins, as these bodies were in their graves ; now, when Christ's death becomes effectual to our souls, we rise again and become new creatures. From the grave of this world we come into the church, ' the holy city.' But thou complainest of the deadness of thy heart. It is well thou complainest ; there is some life, or thou couldst not feel the deadness. ' The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God ; and they that hear it shall live,' John v. 25. If this word hath raised thee from death, and wrought spiritual life in thy heart, thou shalt perceive it by thy breathing, words glorifying God ; and by thy moving, in the ways, and to the works, of obedience. 4. Observe, that these saints which arose are said to have slept. The death of the godly is often called a sleep. So it is said of the patriarchs and kings of Judah, they ' slept with then- fathers.' So Paul saith, they ' sleep in Christ,' 1 Cor. xv. 18. The coflfin is a couch ; in quo mollius dormit, qui bene in vita lahoravit, — wherein he takes good rest that hath wrought hard in the work of his salvation before he went to bed. Felix somnus cum re- quie, requies cum voluptate, voluptas cum ceternitate, — It is a sweet sleep that hath peace with rest, rest with pleasure, pleasure with everlastingness. So the godly sleep, till the sound of a trumpet shall wake them, and then eter- nal glory shall receive them. * Enchiridion. f Sen. Epist. 36. Matt. XXVII. 51,] majesty in misery. 107 5. Lastly, observe, that Jerusalem is called the holy city, though she were at this time a sink of sin, and a debauched harlot. Either, as some think, that she is called holy because she was once holy. So Rahab is called the harlot, because she was a harlot. Simon is termed the leper, Matt. xxvi. 6, for that he was a leper ; and Matthew the publican. Matt. x. 3, for that he was a publican. Or else she was called holy for the covenant's sake, in regard of the temple, sacrifices, service of God, and of the elect people of God that were in it. Whence we may infer how unlawful it is to separate from a church because it hath some corruptions. Is apostate Jerusalem, that hath crucified her Saviour, called still the holy city ; and must England, that departeth in nothing from the faith and doctrine of her Saviour, for some scarce discernible imperfections, be rejected as a foedifragous strumpet 1 But there be wicked persons in it. What then ? She may be stUl a holy city. Recedatur ah iniquitate, non ah iniquis, — Let us depart from sin ; we cannot run from sinners. Thus we have considered the miracles ; let us now look into the causes wherefore they were wrought. These maybe reduced into five: — In respect of, 1. The sufferer dying; 2. The creatures obeying ; 3. The Jeivs persecuting , 4. The loomen behold- ing ; 5. The discijiles forsaking. L In regard to Christ, to testify not only liis innocency, but his majesty. His innocency, that he was, as Pilate's wife acknowledged, a 'just man,' Matt, sxvii. 19. His majesty, as the centurion confessed, 'seeing the earth- quake, and the things that were done. Truly this was the Son of God,' ver. 54. He seemed a worm, no man : the contempt and derision of the people, forsaken of his confidence. In the midst of all, God wUl not leave him without witnesses, but raiseth up senseless creatures as preachers of his deity. Est ceterni filius qui illic 2Jendet mortuus, — He that hangs there dead on the cross is the Son of the eternal God. Rather than the children of God shall want mtnesses of their integrity, God will work miracles for their testimony. 2. In regard of the creatures, to shew their obedience to their Creator ; they are not wanting to him that gave being to them. These demonstrate it was their Lord that sufiered, and that they were ready to execute ven- geance on his murderers. The heaven that was dark would have rained fire on them ; the earth that quaked, shook them to pieces ; the rocks that rent, would have tumbled on them ; and the graves that opened to let out all other prisoners, have swallowed them quick. They all waited but his com- mand to perform this revengeful execution. Who shall now dare to perse- cute Christ in his members'? The stones are thy enemies, the earth gapes for thee, hell itself enlargeth her jaws ; if the Lord but hiss to them, they are suddenly in an uproar against thee. Go on in your malice, you raging persecutors, you cannot wrong Christ, no, not in his very members, but you pull the fists of all creatures in heaven, earth, and hell, about your ears : flies from the air, beasts from the earth, poison from sustenance, thunder from the clouds; yea, at last also, though now they help you, the very devils from hell against you. All creatures shoot their malignancy at them that shoot theirs at Christ. 3. In respect of the Jews, his enemies, to shame and confound them. The rocks and graves are moved at liis passion ; not they. Zapides tremunt, homines frermint. The stones rend, the huge earth quakes with fear, the Jews rage with malice. We see how difficult it is to mollify a hard heart : harder than to remove a mountain, raise the dead, cleave a rock, shake the 108 MAJESTY IN MISERY. [SeRMON XXXIL whole earth. It is a great miracle to convert a wicked man, greater than rending of rocks, Moses's rod struck a rock thrice, and did it. Ministers have stroke men's rocky hearts three hundred times, and cannot. The graves sooner open than the sepulchres of sin and darkness ; the vast earth sooner quakes than men's hearts at God's judgments, 4. In respect of the ivomen that stood by, that their faith might be con- firmed. For seeing him on the cross, at their mercy whose bowels never knew the softness of such a nature, exposed to all the tyranny of their hands and tongues : hands that, like cruel chirurgeons, searched every part of his blessed body; tongues that ran nimbly through all the passages of obloquy, till they had overtaken reproach itself, and cast it on him : his body at the full will of the tormentors, and his soul not without intolerable terrors ; as they might judge by the strange speech that came from him : ' ]\Iy God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' Doth man triumph over him, and doth God forsake him 1 This might breed in their hearts a suspicion, either that he was a deceiver, or else utterly cut off". To stifle this doubt in the very birth, he shakes the earth, and rends the rocks; that as they knew him dying hominem venim, so they might perceive him, doing these miracles, not Jiominem merum, but the ever-living God, These wonders blow the spark of their faith, almost dying with Christ, and root in their hearts a deep and infallible persuasion of their Saviour. Something there is to keep the faith of the elect from quenching, though Satan rain on it showers of dis- comforts. Though no object greets the eye of flesh but discouragement, yet there is a secret spirit within, that will never suffer the faith to fail, 5. In regard of the disciples, to shame and convince them for leaving him. Christ had said before. Si hi tacerent, loquerentur lapides, — ' If these,' speak- ing of his disciples, * should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out,' Luke xix, 40. Lo, this saying is here come to pass : the disciples hold their peace, the stones speak; they forsake Christ, the rocks proclaim him. Such a shame is it for apostles and ministers of Christ to hold their peace, that if they be silent, the very stones shall preach against them. The walls, win- dows, pavements of churches shall cry out against such pastors, that under- take the office of shepherd, and feed Christ's flock with nothing but air. And even you that come to hear, if no remorse can be put into your hearts at the relation of our Saviour's death ; if you have no feeling of his sorrows, no apprehension of these mysteries, no repentance of your sins, no emenda- tion of your lives ; know that the very seats whereon you sit, the walls of your temples, the very stones you tread on, shall bear witness against you. Now, the Lord Jesus, that at his death brake the rocks, by the virtue of his death break our rocky hearts, that being mollified in this life, they may be glorified in the life to come ! Grant this, Father, for thy mercies' sake ; O Christ, for thy merits' sake; O Holy Spirit, for thy name's sake ; to whom, three Persons, one only wise and eternal God, be glory and praise for ever 1 Amen. LYCANTHEOPY; OB, THE WOLF WORRYING THE LAMBS. I Behold, I send you forth as lamhs among wolves. — Luile X. 3. The Great Bishop of our soiils being now at the ordination of his ministers, having first instructed them in via Domini, doth here discipline them in vita discipuU; and pre-arms them to that entertainment which the Samaritans of the world are likely to give all those whose faces look toward Jerusalem : Matt. X. 22, * You shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.' If we had but some opposers, there were some comfort ; then it is probable that the rest would help ; nay, all. Yet if they were but indifferently affected toward us, and would neither defend nor offend, but resign us up to ourselves : nay, they shall oppose, they will hate. Your persecutors shall be in every city; not few, but many; not neuters, but mahgners. If there were many, and not haters, then, as it is in the proverb, 'the more the merrier;' if haters, and not many, then ' the fewer the better cheer :' but they are for nature, persecutors ; for number, many men, most men, mnumerable, ' all men.' But we are hexe pr(^monitii and therefore should he 2ir(emiiniti : neither need we grudge to suffer in some measure for him that hath suffered beyond mea- sure for us. Whatsoever we endure for his name's sake, the patience and passion of others hath matched it ; but his grief for us could not be fitted with a sicut in all the world. But I would not, like a careless porter, keep you without doors till you had lost your stomachs. There is some cheer coming, and I wiU now unlock the gates of my text to let you in to it. The words contaui the deputation to an office : ' Behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.' Consider- itble in the ' deputation are — I. A commission; wherein observe, 1. The sender, Christ ; 2. The sent, the apostles ; 3. The sending, or warrant. II. A. commixtion ; which consists, 1. In a prescription, -wyxni they should be that are sent, lambs ; 2. A description, what they are among whom sent, wolves. This is the tree and the branches ; shall we now step forward to gather and taste the fruit 1 But stay : here is a gardener must first be spoke 110 THE WOLF AND THE LAMBS. [SeEMON XXXIII. with ; one that stands in the very entrance of my text, for some purpose sure : Behold. Behold is, like John Baptist, in holy writ, evermore the avant-courier of sorcie excellent thing. Pontan compares it to the sounding of a trumpet before some great proclamation. It is like the hand in the margin of a book, pointing to some remarkable thing, and of great succeeding consequence. It is a direct, a reference, a dash of the Holy Ghost's pen ; seldom used reple- tively, but to impart and import some special note, worthy our deeper and more serious observation. It is like the ringing of the great bell before the sermon of some famous preacher, and bids us here, as a monitor, keep silence to hear what the eternal Word speaketh unto us. In a word, it is but a word, and yet the epitome of that whole sentence : ' Let him that hath ears to hear, hear :' let him that hath eyes to see, behold. This was our Saviour Christ's sermon ad chrum, whose pulpit is now in heaven ; and sends us to preach on his preachings, to paraphrase his lec- tures, and no more but to dehver that to you which he hath dictated to us. Your attention is therefore charged in this hehold. Open your eyes, those organical conduits of disciphne ; nay, your hearts are liable, and therefore should be phable, to this charge. Keep then patience in your muids, at- tention in your ears, meditation in your hearts, practice in your lives. Behold. Behold what 1 St Matthew recites this deputation, together with a direc- tion : ' Behold, I send you forth as lambs in the midst of wolves : be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves,' chap. x. 1 6 ; where Christ doth not only confer a great charge, but infer a fit carriage. The former is mstitutio vice, the other instructio vitoe. ' I send :' 'Be you,' &c. The depu- tation, or designing their office, shall only limit my speech and your attention for this time. This current parts itself into two rivulets — a commission, a com- mixtion. The missure, 'I send you/ the mixture, 'as lambs among wolves.' I. Every commission consists, of necessity, besides the mere act, of at least two persons — the sender, the sent. 1. In the sender may be considered his greatness, his goodness. His greatness, that he can send ; his goodness, that he ivill send, for the benefit of his church. (1.) His greatness. The sender is greater than the person sent : as Paul said, in a shallower inequality, of Melchisedec and Abraham, being both men, Heb. vii. 7, 'Without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the greater.' Here the sender is God and man : a king, the King ; of pure, absolute, and independent authority; a real prince, a royal prince — real in his right, in his might, royal in his affects and effects ; he purposeth and disposeth good to his church. Tyrants are the kmgs of slaves; liberal princes are the kings of men ; Christ is the King of kings, here despatching his legates on an embassage to the world. This his greatness. (2.) His goodness. He that is lOng doth send to his subjects, abjects, — or rather to rebels, to make them subjects, — mth a pardon of aU their treasons ready signed and sealed to their accepting hands. Eph. iv. 8, ' When he had led captivity captive, he gave gifts unto men.' ' When he had led captivity captive,' there is his greatness ; ' he gave gifts unto men,' there is his goodness. By the former he is mirijicans; mitificans by the latter. Behold, he must send to us ; we knew not, desired not access to him. He is ' the way, the truth, the life,' and therefore sends out these as describers of the way, dis- pensers of the truth, conductors to the life. If the way had not found us, we should never have found the way. Here then is his goodness : though a Luke X. 3.] the wolf and the lambs. Ill king, yet he preachetli himself, and sends preachers ; as was Solomon, his type, both a king over Israel and a preacher to Israel, Time was, Christ refused to be a king, denied to be a judge, but vouchsafed to be a preacher. Without this sweet dignation to us, we should never have ascended to him, nee opibus, nee operibus, nee oj^era, neither by our wealth, nor by our worth, nor by our wills, nor by our works, nor by our wits, nor by our worship. Thus for the sender. 2. In a messenger sent is required celerity, sincerity, constancy. That he be speedy, that he be heedy, and, as we say, that he be deedy ; hold out till his embassage be ended, and till he that sent him send after him a revoca- tion. Celerity without discretion is like wings without eyesj discretion without celerity like eyes without wings ; both without constancy are like feet and eyes without a heart. (1.) For their speediness. Before they are sent, they should not run at aU ; after they are sent, they cannot run too fast. We may say of these mes- sengers, as it was proverbed of the Lacedemonians, Turpe est cuilibet fur/ere, Laconi etiam deliberasse. God gi'ant aU our consciences may witness with ourselves, what Paul speaks of his unretarded execution of Christ's message : ' When it pleased God to send me to preach his Son among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with fiesh and blood ! ' Gal. i. IC. To adjure their posting alacrity to this business, the apostles were charged to ' salute no man by the way;' much less should the burying our dead friends, or taking leave of our living friends, procrastmate om" course. Pro v. x. 2G, 'As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is a sluggard to them that send Mm.' Isa. xl. 31, * But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength ; they shall mount up with wings as eagles ; they shall run, and not be weary ; they shall walk, and not faint.' It is so, or it should be so ; our diligence should tread upon the heels of our calling for haste, and we should make use of the first handsel of time. In limine qfendisse ominosum, odio- sum, — To stumble at the threshold is a bad heed, and a worse sign. (2.) It is not enough to be speedfid : we must also be discreet and fiiith- ful. The messenger must do the sender's business, not his own. Celerity lays the reins on our necks ; discretion is the curb of the bridle. There are that run too fast : qui trans mare ciirrunt. As Cyprian writes of some schis- matics that had put to sea for Eome, quasi Veritas post eos navigare non possit* This is called by St Augustine, Cursus celerrimus j[>rte^e?- via7n. The four cherubims, Ezek. i. 7, had pedes rectos, straight feet ; and the feet of ministers, if they be beautiful, take straight steps. Sunt opera quoi viden- tur bona, et non sunt : quia non referuntur ad ilium finem,, ex quo bona sunt.\ Indeed, intentio facit honum opus ; but then fides dirigit inteutionem, saitli the same father. It is enough that conscience must lead us, but truth must lead our conscience. J^on est rectum, quod non est a Deo directum. He that commands us agere, commands us hoc agere; non aliud, sed illud. With God, adverbs shall have better thanks than nouns. * Both good, and well must in our actions meet : Wicked is not much worse than undiscreet.' He that hath a nimble foot and a false heart, runs himself out of breath ere he remembers his errand. Fidehty is requisite m a messenger. ' Non bove mactato coclestia numina gaudent ; Sed, quse prscstanda est, et sine teste, fide.' % * Lib. i,, Ep. 3, ad Cornel. f Aug. in Job., Tract. 25. J Ovid. Her,, ss., 181. 112 THE WOLF AND THE LAMBS. [SeRMON XXXIII. (3.) It is not yet enougli to go speedily and heedfuUy, except also deed- fully, with a constant holding out. Though, soon enough, and fast enough, it is not well enough, except far enough : Lauda navigantem, cum pervenerit ad ])ortum. Paul must fight out his battle with victory, * finish his race ' with winning the prize, and 'keep the faith,' though he 'bear about in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus.' And then ' there is laid up for him a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give him 4it the last day : and not to him only, but to them also that love his appear- ing,' 2 Tim. iv. 8. Inveniat mittens missum, judicahundus j)7-cedicantem. Some begin hotly, and keep the pulpits warm at first, barking loud against ■dumb dogs; thundering out, 'Let him that labours not, not eat:' forbidding promotion without devotion. On a sudden, these 'sons of thunder' are as mute as fishes. What is the matter 1 Now, from their own lips, they should have no promotion. Oh, sir, they have the promotion already. You may perceive the fish is caught, by their hanging aside their nets. Perhaps in a cathedral church, to a refined audience, some episcopal command may de- liver him of elephanti 2Mrtum, a child of two years' breeding ; one whereof is spent in the conception, another in fashioning the members, and yet a mere embryon when it is born. Oh, favour them : Earce fumant felicibus <irce. Their beginning was golden, like that monarch's dreamed image, but their conclusion is dirty : they end in clay; leaving the word, and cleaving to the world. It were good for the church, and not amiss for themselves, if their gains might be decreased with their pains. But if a restraint of plu- ralities, or a diminution and abatement of their demesnes, should be im- posed, how would they complain; and be answered as certain monks in Winchester were, who complaining to King Henry the Second that their bishop had taken away three of their dishes, and left them but ten, the king replied, that the bishop should do well to take away the ten and leave them but three. As they have crimen immune and nomen inane, so let them have mercedem tenuem, a slender recompense. Inertes should be justly inopes; especially cum valuerunt, et non voluerunt jyrcedicai'e. Is this all? No ; but as the tree falls so it lies. If Christ find them at last loiterers, he will set them to work for ever in torments. 3. You have heard the persons designing and designed ; the designation follows, which gives them, (1.) Their warrant ; (2.) Their qualification. (1.) Christ seals them a warrant in his word : a'TroarsXXu ij/j,ag, ' I send you.' It is not humamim inventum, but divinum institutiim* authorised under the broad seal of heaven, in the power of the second Person of that state-royal. He says not, ' I will pray to my Father to send you,' but, 'I send you;' for 'all power is given to me in heaven and in earth,' Matt, xxviii. 18. They come not then without their commission; as those, Jer. xxiii. 21, ' I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran ; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.' Would you have a minister 1 Seek to the nurseries of Christian learning, the universities ; there you shall have them furnished with excellent parts and arts. Is it enougli to have learning ? No ; the man of God must be holy. Say he be well learned, and well lived, may he instantly climb up into the pulpit and preach? No; he must first have an inward commission from heaven, and an outward ordination on earth, by imposition of hands. You see their warrant. (2.) Their qualification is inseparable to their missure. Christ not only speaks, but works efiectually in them, and gives them s^ fieri faciam, how unapt and unable soever they were before. So, Matt. iv. 19, Egofaciam vos * Theophyl, iu Johu sx. Luke X. 3.] the wolf and the lambs. 113 inscatores hominum, — You made yourselves fishermen, 'I will make you fishers of men.' Ho doth not in these days so enthusiastically inspii'c men, but sets them first to be cisterns in the university, before they be conduits in the country. Before they can ' minister a word in time,' Isa. 1. 4, there must be a time to have it ministered to them. Ere their ' words be like apples of gold, with pictures of silver,' Pro v. xxv. 11, they must be refined in some aca- demical furnace, and by much study have this picture and impression of wisdom set on them. Neither were these apostles dismissed out of Christ's college till they were made fit to teach, 1 Tim. iii. 2. Christ, that set them up as lights, and bade them shine, made them shine ; and not as Ardens "■ speaks of some since their days, that -are fumantes, magis quam fiamviantes. Both our torches, life and learning, must burn brightly. It is for the Papists to build a block- house of ignorance, and set dunces over fools, — for so the Jesuits call their seculars, — that they may ' both fall into the ditch.' It was a rule with them, the very epitome of their canons in that point : — • Qui iDene Can, Con,* ille poterit bene presbyter esse.* And yet methinks they should be more circumspect in their choice ; for they seem to magnify it beyond us, and make it a sacrament, calling it the ' Sacrament of Order.' Wot you not why 1 They think the sacraments confer grace ; and, let him be a devil before, the imposition of hands shall make him holy enough. II. We have examined their commission, let us now examine their com- mixtion : ' as lambs among wolves.' Alas ! it goes harsh when those two natures meet : it must be miraculous if one of them come not short home. Yet I find it prophesied of the days of the gospel, ' The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,' Isa. Ixv. 25. Indeed, when wolves become lambs, — of which supernatural effect these lambs are sent forth as mstrumental causes, — this peace may be fulfilled. But wolves, whiles they are wolves, will not let the lambs live in quiet. In this mixture there is a prescription, a descrip- tion : what we must be that are sent ; what they are amongst whom sent. 1. The nature of our duties is exemplified in this word, 'lambs.' Not that there should be a metamorphosis or transformation of us into that kind of beasts literally; but 'as lambs.' As is sometimes a note of quality, sometimes of equality, here it is only similitudinary : ' as lambs,' ' as doves,' &c. Neither is this enjoined likeness catholic, but partial : we must not be in every respect as lambs, but it must be taken in a limited and qualified sense. Lambs! Let us observe here, quam oh rem, qua in re, — (1.) Wherefore, (2.) Wlierein, we must be lambs. (1.) Wherefore. Good reason: he that sends them forth was a Lamb, John i, 29, ' Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world' — 6 uiiios, the Lamb, that Lamb of God, even from his own bosom ; ' taking away the sins of the world.' Other Levitical lambs took away sin tj'pically, this really. They were slain for the sins of the Jews, this of all the world. There is tacita antithesis in rov x6e/jLov. Christ was a Lamb (that we may take with us our precedent) especially in three respects : of Ms inuocency, patience, profit. [1.] For his iimocency : John ^dii,, ' Which of you can convince me of sin?' You may reprove, can you disprove ? The world traduced him for a blasphemer, * Horn, in Fest. S. Luc. t I suppose, ccmit, confitctur; that is, the duties of a priest are to chant mass and bear coufessions. — Ed. VOL. n. H 114: THE ■WOLF AND THE LAMBS. [SeEMON XXXIIL a Samaritan, a sorcerer, an enemy to Ceesar, a boon comj)anion : so easy is it to avile and revile, so hard to convince. The church sweetly and truly com- mends him: Cant. v. 10, 'My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.' Candidus sanctitate, ruhicundus passione* — He was white of himself, made red by the wounds of his enemies. It was not praise enough for him that he was (as it is said of David) ore rubiamdo, of a ruddy colour, unless this red had been first grounded on white. His passion had lost the virtue of merit had he not been innocent. But he was agnu& ilk immaculatus, 1 Pet. i. 19, a lamb, that lamb, without blemish, without spot : a sun without a mote, a rose without a canker, a clear heaven with- out any cloud. [2.] For his patience : Isa. liii., ' He was oppressed, he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth ; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter ; and as a sheep before the shearer is dumb, so openeth not he his mouth.' First the shearers fleece him, and then the butchers kill him, yet ' he opens not his mouth;' to wit, against them, but for them: 'Father, forgive them; they know not what they do.' He wrote that in the dust which many en- grave in brass and marble — wrongs. Behold, the King of heaven i^f actus in terris, and fr actus in terris, yet calls not fire from heaven to consume his enemies, but quencheth that fire with his own blood, which they in shedding it had kindled against themselves. It is probable that some of the agents in his death were saved by his death. O strange inversion, wrought by mercy, that injusti in homicidio should be made justi per homicidium ; and that the blood which was scarce washed from their guilty hands should now whiten their consciences ! Like that imposthumed soldier, the blow that was thought to have killed him cured him. [3.] For his profit : he was profitable in his fleece, profitable in his fleshy profitable in his blood; in his life, in his death, and after death eternally profitable. First, His flesh is meat indeed, though no7i dentis, sed mentis. ' Our fathers did eat manna,' John vi. 49, which was the food of angels, as it were, and yet died corporally; but whosoever eats the God of angels spiritually, shall not die eternally. Secondly, His fleece is good. We were cold and naked. Is this aUl Nay, and polluted too. The fleece of his imputed righteousness keeps us warm, clothes our nakedness, hides our uncleanness. Hence the prophet caUs him ' The Lord our righteousness : ' ours not inherent, but imputative,, 2 Cor. V. 21. We are made no otherwise ' the righteousness of God in him,' than he was made sin for us ; which was only by imputation. So Luther : Christiana sanctitas non est activa, sed passiva sanctitas ; extra nos est jus- titia nostra, non in nobis. Thirdly, His blood excellent, and of most transcendent virtue, whether lavando or levando. We were maculati, et mactati, — speckled with corrup- tions, dead in sins. Not only as the Rhemists say, diseased; but as Paul saith, deceased: Eph. ii. 1, 'Dead in sins and trespasses.' His blood hath recovered our life, our health, and washed us as white as the snow in Salmon. Thus he is in every respect profitable to us, more than we could either expetere or expectare, — deserve or desire. Satan is against us ; behold Christ is with us, and 'we overcome him by the blood of the Lamb,' Rev. xa. 11. Now, is Christ a Lamb ? Then must you be sicut agni, ' as lambs.' Christ is the principal and truest exemplar — a general rule without exception. Imitation doth soonest come, and best become children and scholars. We * Rupert iu locum. Luke X. 3.] the wolf and the lambs. 115 are cliilclren : Matt. v. 44, * Love your enemies,' &c., ' that ye may be the chil- dren of your Father which is in heaven.' We are servants to Christ : John xiii., 'Ye call me Master and Lord; and ye say well, for so I am.' Though we cannot tread in his steps, we must walk in his path. As Virgil of Ascanius, son to iEneas: Sequiturque patrem non passibm cequis. Now our imitation is confined, not to his miracles, but to his morals. It is fit the disciple should follow his master : ]\Iatt. xvi. 24, ' If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.' Some foUow him, as Peter, afar off. Some go cheek-by-jowl with him, as the Papists ; confounding their own merits with his, and therein them- selves. Some outrun Christ, as James and John, Luke ix. 54, in a prepro- perous, preposterous zeal, as hot as Mount Hecla. Let us follow him close, but in meekness. Vis capere celsitudinem Dei ? cape p)rius humilitatem Bei* (2.) We must be lambs accordingly; and that in — [l.J Patience. We must take up Christ's cross when we become his scholars. Not only bear it, but take it up. Tollere and ferre differ. An ass bears, man takes up. There is a threefold cross : innocent, perient, peni- tent. Christ bore the first; the perishing thief, the second; the repentant, and we all, must bear the last. The lamb, whether he be shorn or slain, is dumb to complaints. We bless God that we are well freed from the Bonners and butchers of these lambs ; but we have still fleecers enough, — too many, — that love to see learning follow Homer with a staff and a wallet. This we must expect : Christ sends us not as wolves among wolves, or shepherds among wolves, or sheep about wolves, but as lambs h /xsaui Xukuv, ' in the midst of wolves,' as St Matthew hath it, chap. x. 16. If they cannot devour our flesh, they will pluck our fleeces, — leave us nothing but the tag-locks, poor vicarage tithes, whUes themselves and their children are kept warm in our wool, the parsonage. Nay, and they would clip off the tag-locks too, — raven up the vicarages, — if the law would but allow them a pair of shears. Every gentle- man thinks the priest mean, but the priest's means hath made many a gentle- man. Well, he had need be a lamb that lives among such wolves. But as Dr Luther was wont to say, Mitte mundtim vadere sicut vadit, nam vidt vadere sicut vadit — merry Latin, but resolute patience, — ' Let the world go as it doth, for it will go as it doth.' Let us comfort ourselves, as our Jewel did his friends in banishment : Hcec non durabicnt cetatem, — This world will not last ever. He that enters this holy calling must be content, as Paul, ' to die daily,' 1 Cor. XV. 31. To preach the gospel boldly is to pull the world about our ears, and to conjure up the furies of hell against us. But — ' Frangit, et attollit vires in milite causa,' — * Yet patience is the best gamester, for it winneth when it loseth. He had need be a Job that lives among the Sabeans and Chaldeans of our times. Are you disparaged? suffer. Are you despised? suffer. Are you impover- ished? suffer. This same bidapatlmm is the best herb in the garden, the herb patience. It shall amaze them, after all wrongs, to see your foreheads smooth, countenance mild, lips silent, and your habits unmoved. The wolf in the fable (oh that it were but a fable !) when he sees the lamb drinking at the pool, comes blundering into the water and troubles it ; then quarrels with the lamb: Qiiare turhasti aquam? — Why hast thou troubled the water? * Aug. t Propert. 116 THE WOLF AND THE LAMBS. [SeRMON XXXIII, Sic nocet innocuo nocuus, causamque oiocendi qucent. So Ahab the wolf told Elisha the lamb that he troubled Israel. As it is truly reported, the Papists would have laid the Gunpowder-treason on the Puritans, if it had been effected. ' Ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise,' Heb. x. 36. But I fear I have in- cited your patience by standing so long upon patience. [2.] Time and your expectation call me to the innocency of these lambs. It is not enough for them to suffer wrongs, but they must offer none. For he that doth injury may well receive it. To look for good and do bad is against the law of retail.* Dionysius of Syracusa, being banished, came to Theo- dore's court a suppliant, where not presently admitted, he turned to his companion with these words, ' Perhaps I did the like when I was in the like dignity .'t When thou receivest offence, remember what thou hast given. It is no wonder if those lambs be stricken that strike. He that will be an agent in wrongs, must be a patient. How strange and unproper a speech is this, a contentious lamb, a troublesome minister ! Hov; learned soever such men may seem, they are indeed illiterate. They are bad writers that have not learned to join; simple grammarians that have not their concords. It is observed of lambs, that Gcetera animalia armavit natura, solum agmim dimisit inermem, — Other living creatures nature hath armed, but the lamb she has sent into the world naked and unarmed, giving it neither offensive nor defensive weapons. The dog hath teeth to bite ; the horse, hoofs to trample ; the bear, nails to tear; the ox, horns to dash; the lion, paws and jaws to devour; the boar hath his tusk; the elephant, his snout; the hind and hare have svdft feet, to save themselves by flight : only the lamb hath no means either to help itself or hurt others. Neither is this our innocency only to be considered in respect immedi- ately of man, or of injuries directed to him ; but these lambs must be inno- cent in regard of God, in regard of their calling. The priest in his iDreast- plate must not only have ZZrm, which is science, but Thummim, which is conscience. We have manifold weakness; we must not have manifest wickedness. Though we be not in facto, we must be in fieri; and not then to begin when we should be onwards half our journey. Theodore required that the schoolmasters for his children should be ZiXoOsoi, as well as fiKoeofoi ; and Christ's apostles were not only depiitati, but deputari.% John xiii. 8, ' If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.' Bis 2'>^ccat, qui peccat exemplo. Uncleansed ministers are like BiUiah and Zilpah, Jacob's maids, that being bound themselves, brought forth children that were free. Such churchmen are like the pinnacles on some battlements, that point up- ward to heaven, but poise downward to their centre. The best schoolman said, that magistrates and ministers, when they sin, do peccare in quid essenticditer ; all others but in quale accidentaliter. To smoke with the Indian, quan-el with the Frenchman, court a lady with the Venetian, plot vUlany with the Italian, be proud with the Spaniard, cog with a Jew, insult with a Turk, drink down a Dutchman, and tell lies ^vith the devil, for a wager, are works for wolves, not for lambs. To conclude ; as we have deputation, we should have reputation ; and because called to be lambs, behave ourselves in innocence. [3.] Our patience and innocency make us not complete lambs without our profitableness. Malum fenmus, malum non offerimus, honum prnferhnzis, — We offer no evil, we suffer evil, we return good. It is not enough to suffer wrongs, but we must do none. It is not enough to do no wrong, but we * Lex. talionis. f Valer. Max., lib. iv. X Qu., depurati ?— Ed. Luke X. 3.] the wolf and the lambs. 117 must do good for wrong, ]Matt. v. 44. Bonum jyro malo reddere, Christianum est. Everything in a lamb is good and useful. His fell good, his fleece good, his flesh good; immo et viscera et excvementa commodo sunt. The lambs of God, the ministers of the gospel, must universally abound with benefits. First, To some this lamb gives his fleece ; he clothes the naked, and keeps the sick and poor warm in his wool. He sees not a lamb of Christ stripped by poverty, but he lends him one lock to hide his nakedness. ' Sic vos, non vobis, vellera fertis oves.' Secondly, He is no niggard of his flesh. Part of his meat and drink, and such refections as God hath sent him, he willingly gives. The lamb is not covetous. ' If I have food and raiment,' saith St Paul, ' I have learned to be content.' Covetousness becomes a lamb worse than rapine a wolf Jude makes it the mark of false teachers to ' feed themselves,' ver. 1 2 ; and Jere- miah saith, * the wind shall feed them,' chap. xxii. 22 ; nay, feed on them, and eat them up. Saith Gregory,* Considerate, quid de gregihus agatur, quando lupi sunt pasiores ! — What shall become of the lambs under the tui- tion of wolves ! Thirdly, Yea, even the blood of these lambs is profitable ; which they grudge not to give for the glory of God and benefit of the church, when a just cause hath called for it. We know that the blood of martyrs was milk which nourished the primitive infancy of the church, and God's tithe hath been paid in the lives of Ms servants. Every drop of blood so spilt hath been like a grain sown in mature ground, and brought forth a plenteous har- vest of believers. Well may that Lamb of God, that hath begot the church by his blood on the cross, and still nourisheth her with the same blood in the sacrament, deservingly require this circumcision and tribute of blood at the hands of his lambs. The Jews sacrificed their beasts to God ; we equal them in sacrificing our concupiscences and beastly lusts. But we far exceed those typic times, when we immolate our souls and bodies to God. What confirmation of faith, where it was weak ; what enkindling of zeal, where it was not, hath been thus effected, the devout acknowledgment of many, non obiter, but ex ^^rofesso, hath demonstrated. Innumerable are the benefits redounding to you by these lambs. They are ' eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame ;' nurses to infants, and feeders of stronger Christians. They lend their eyes to those that cannot see, their feet to those that cannot go, speak comfortable things to the ti-oubled heart, and inform others in the higher mysteries of salvation. If you truly prized and duly praised the profits arising to you by them, you would not, as most do, more esteem a rotten sheep than a sound minister. 2. But I forget myself, as if I were so delighted with these lambs that I knew not how to leave them. Especially blame me not if I be loathe to come among the wolves ; whereupon, by the next point of my text, and last I purjiose now to handle, I am enforced to venture. Of the wolf I must speak ; but I hope it cannot be said, lupus in fahula, there are any such present to hear me. This is the description of those among whom the lambs are sent. There is a natural antipathy of these, one against another, ever since God put en- mity, an irreconcilable hatred and contrariety, between the seed of the woman and of the serpent. I have read that a string made of wolves' guts, put amongst a knot of strings made of the guts of sheep, corrupts and spoils * Horn. 17 : — ' Messis ciiiidem multa,' &c. 118 THE WOLF AKD THE LAMBS. [SeKMON XXXIII. them all, A strange secret in nature, and may serve to insinuate the malice of these lycanthropi against lambs, that they do not only persecute them living, but even infest them dead. No marvel, then, if the lambs care not greatly for the company of wolves. For if one scabbed sheep infect the whole flock for morality, what will one wolf do among the lambs for mortality ? Therefore, so far as we may, let us fly the society of wolves. ' With the merciful thou shalt shew thyself merciful,' &c., Ps. xviii. 25. Therefore with the poet, fly wicked company, et te melioribus offer. But how can this be, when we are sent as lambs in medio luporum ? The lamb would not willingly be alone ; yet is far better when solitary than in wolvish society. Plutarch speaks of certain law- givers that would have their priests abstain from goats, — a luxurious beast, and making men by contact obnoxious to epilepsy, — as the Jews were com- manded in Leviticus to abstain from unclean things. Though we cannot escape the company of wolves, let us abhor aU participation of their vices, 1 Cor. v. 10. The holy word of God, who can give most congruous names to natures, often compares the wicked to brute and savage creatures. God doth not only send reasonable man to learn wisdom of the unreasonable beast ; — so he schooled Israel by the ox, Balaam by his ass, and Solomon sends the sluggard to the pismire ; for it is certain that many beasts exceed man in divers natural faculties, as the dog in smelling, the hart in hearing, the ape in tasting, &c ; — but he matcheth degenerate man with beasts of the most notorious turpitudes : — The proud enemies of the church are called lions : Ps. Iviii. 6, ' Break out the great teeth of the young lions, Lord.' Wild boars : Ps. Ixxx. 13, ' The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field devours it.' BuUs : Ps. xxii. 1 2, ' Many bulls have compassed me ; strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.' And in the same psalm, unicorns. The bull hath two horns, the unicorn one. The roaring bull, (I had almost said the roaring boy,) the swaggering ruffian, hath two horns : Ishmael's tongue, and Esau's hand ; with one horn wounding our bodies and estates, with the other our good names. The unicorn, — that is, the hypocrite, — the foul-breasted, fair-crested, factious Puritan hath but one horn ; but there- with he doth no small mischief. This unicorn's horn might be very good if it were out of his head j but so long as it is there, it hurts rather. David, Ps. xxxii. 9, compares refractory men to ' horses and mules which have no understanding ; whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.' The mule, if you heed not, will take his rider in his teeth, and lay him in the manger. And the horse, when he hath cast his load, gives him a kind of farewell with his heels. Experience justifieth this truth amongst us ; for many of our parishioners are so full of jadish qualities, that the poor minister can hardly keep his saddle. Sometimes we have the wicked likened to fowls. There is the peacock, the proud man ; stretching out his painted and gaudy wmgs. The desperate cock, the contentious ; that fights without any quarrel. The house-bird, the S2)arrow ; the emblem of an incontinent and hot adulterer. The lapwing, the hypocrite ; that cries, ' Here it is, here it is ;' here is holiness, when he builds his nest on the ground, is earthly-minded, and runs away with the shell on his head ; as if he were perfect, when he is once pipient. There is the owl, the night-bird, the Jesuited Seminary ; that skulks all day in a hollow tree, in some Popish vault, and at even hoots and flutters abroad, and shrieks downfall and ruin to king, church, and commonwealth. There is the bat- Luke X. 3.] the wolf and the lambs. 119 the neuter; that hath both wings and teeth, and is both a bird and a beast ; of any religion, of no religion. There is the cormorant, the corn-vorant, the mire-drumble, the covetous ; that are ever rooting and rotting their hearts in the mire of this world. There is also the vulture, that follows armies to prey upon dead corpses ; the usurer, that waits on prodigals to devour their de- caying fortunes. Some men have in them the pernicious nature of all these foul fowls. We may say of a wicked man, as their school-gloss saith of their soul- priests : Mollis 'presbyter cequiparatur corvo, in nigredine vitiorum, in raucedine vocis, in voracitate ohlationum mortuarum, in foetore sjnritus, in garriditate, et in furto. Such a man is resembled to a raven, in the black- ness of his vices, in the hoarseness of his voice, in his insatiable voracity, in his stench of breath, in his tattling garrulity, and in theft. We find the wicked otherwhiles compared to dogs. Ps. xxii. 1 G, * Dogs have compassed me j' and, ver. 20, ' Deliver my soul from the sword, and my darling from the power of the dog ; ' and, Ps. lix. 6, ' They return at evening ; they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.' Saith Paul, Phil. iii. 2, ' Beware of dogs,' &c., either grinning in malice, or barking with reproaches, or biting with mischief There is the great mastiff, the usurer ; that worrieth all the lambs in a country. The blood-hound, the malicious murderer; that kills any man which angers him, relying on a friend in the court for pardon. There is the nimble beagle, the cunning persecutor ; that hath always the innocent in the wind. The proud greyhound, the gay gallant ; that outruns all modera- tion. The fawning spaniel, the flattering sycophant ; that hath only learned to fetch and carry, to spring the covey of his master's lusts, and to arride and deride him. You have also setters, quick-setters, I should say, that undo the country by making commons several. You have your trencher- dogs, lazy servitors ; that do nothing but eat, drink, play, and sleep. There be tumblers too, luxurious scortators, and their infectious harlots. Some have yard-dogs, churlish porters ; to keep the poor away from their gates. And there be bawling curs, rural ignorants ; that blaspheme all godliness under the name of puritanism. To come home, there be wolves everywhere in abundance. I do not mean literally those whom the Greeks call Xuxavd^wzovg; whereof I have read in divers stories, and more authentically reported by that most reverend bishop. Doctor Joseph Hall, in his short epistolical discourse of his travels,* to abound in Ardenna ; called by the inhabitants loiigarous ; in English, witch-wolves, witches that had put on the form of those cruel beasts. Aris- totle, in his second book of the nature of beasts, saith that in India is a wolf that hath three rows of teeth above, hath feet like a lion, a face like a man, and the tail of a scorpion ; his voice like a man's voice, and shrill as a trumpet; and is avd^wTroipayog, as these wolves are. But mystical wolves : ravenous beasts in the forms of men ; having a greater similitude to wolves in the disposition of their minds than dissimili- tude in the composition of their bodies. The wicked have many resemblances to wolves. Desire of brevity shall reduce them to four : sterility, ferocity, voracity, subtlety. (1.) For sterility. The wolf is not very fertile in producing its own kind, (if less, better,) but utterly unprofitable in any good thing redoimding from him. The horse carrieth his master, the ox is strong to draw the plough, the sheep gives us wool for warmth, and flesh for nourishment, the cow's * In a letter to Sir Thomas Challoner. — Ed. 120 THE WOLF AND THE LAMBS. [SeRMON XXXIII udder drops milk into our pails. The elephant hath virtue in Ms tooth, the unicorn in his horn, the civet-cat in her scent, the goat in his blood, the beaver in his genitals. The dog hath his service, and the cat keeps away vermin ; not the ape, but makes some sport ; and the very poison of serpents is by art made medicinal. For hide, or hair, or horn, or hoof, or blood, or flesh, most beasts yield some profit ; but the wolf is good for nothing. A fit emblem of a wicked man ; that he is universally evil whde he lives, and not often doth so much good as a hog when he dies. Only death hath bomid him to the good forbearance, and restrains him from doing any further mischie£ Perhaps he may give away some fi-agments in his testa- ment ; but he parts with it in his wUl, against his wUl ; and it is but a part, whereas Judas returned aU, yet went to heU. The wolf livmg is like Eumney Marsh : hyerae malus, cestate molestus, nunquam homis, — tide and time, morning and evening, winter and summer, never good. Thus every way is this wolf infructuous. (2.) Yov ferocity. This wolf is savage and cruel, and loves to lick his own lips when they reek with the lukewarm gore of the lambs. There is no such complacency to the wicked as the wreaking their malicious teens on the good- If they cannot reach them with their claws, they vomit out fire, or at least smoke. Omnis mcditia erudat fumuvV^ The tongue of such a wolf is often like a war-arrow, which doubly hurts where it lights : it wounds the flesh in going in, and it rends it worse in puUiug out. This is the ' arrow they make on the string, to shoot privily at the upright in heart,' Ps. xi. 2. Their atrocity is not thus satisfied; but if opportimity give power, they will wound and worry the lambs first, and proclaim their guiltiness after- wards. As C3n:ilt observes the Lamb of God was served by the Jews: Primimi ligant; deinde causas in eum gucerunt, — First they bind him, and then they seek matter against him. As it is reported of a judge of the Stannery at Lydford, in Devonshire, who having hanged a felon among the tinners in the forenoon, sat in judgment on him in the afternoon. So the wolves in Queen Mary's days imprisoned the innocent lambs that had broken no law, and afterwards devised a law to condemn them; and having first martyred them, then held disputation whether the act were authentical. These were the sanguisugous wolves. Papists. There are still rapidi, ixtbidi lupi, that must have somewhat to expiate their savage fury. Avicen speaks of the wolf, that if the fishermen leave him no ofi"al, he will rend their nets. These cannibals look for somewhat, if it be but for a Ne noceant. Other wolves are afraid of burning flames; but these lycanthropi budge not an inch for all the fire in hell. (3.) For voracity. The wolf is ravenous of all beasts; especially the she- wolf, when she hath a litter; and eats the very earth when she hath no other prey, saith Isidore. These mystical wolves rob the ministers, and take away the portion of their meat, as Melzar did from Daniel, though against our wUls, and force us to live with pulse and water-gruel. They love to have the priest look through a lattice, and would be loath all his means should keep his house from dilapidations. The main policy and piety of many that woidd seem to be most religious and pure, consists in plotting and parleying how to lessen the clergyman's estate. They grudge not the merchant's wealth, nor envy the ditation of lawyers, nor hinder the enriching of phy- sicians. These occupations provide for their bellies, their bodies, their estates. But, as if all were more precious than their souls, their whole labour is to devour the minister's due, and to beggar him. I could tell them * Fulgent. t In Job., lib. sii., cap. 45. Luke X. 3.] the wolf and the lambs. 121 what Paul saith : ' If we have sown to you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things 1 ' 1 Cor. ix. 11; but these have no faith in the Scriptures. They are very hot for the gospel ; they love the o'ospel : who but they ? Not because they believe it, but because they feel it : the wealth, peace, liberty that ariseth by it. To cozen the ministers of their tithes in private ; or to devour them in public, and to justify it when they have done, and to have the wrested law taking their parts ; (but, alas ! how should it be otherwise, when it is both judges' and jurors' own case too often 1) to laugh at the poor vicar, that is glad to feed on crusts, and to spin out twenty merks a-year into a thread as long as his life, whiles the wolf ins a crop worth three hundred pounds per amium; — this is a prey somewhat answerable to the voracity of their throats. Let every man, of what profession soever, necessaiy or superfluous, be he a member or scab of the commonwealth, live : so the priest be poor, they care not. Aristotle saith, that when wolves go out of their dens to prey, they first sharpen and whet their teeth with origanum, or wild marjoram. Before these wolves speak in pubhc or confer in private, they edge their tongues against the clergy ; and like the merciless Spaniards to the Indians, they will set them a great deal of work, and but a little meat. Let them preach their hearts out; for they will see their hearts out ere they restore them aught of their own. Go to, thou wolf; put that thou hast robbed the minister of into the in- ventory of thy goods : it shall be gravel in thy throat, hooks in the bellies of thy posterity, and engender destruction to all the rest. Aristotle saith, that the wool of that sheep which was devoured by a wolf infecteth and aimoyeth the wearer. So the goods stolen from the minister, though never so closely, is an infectious contagion, and a devouring pestilence to thy body, to thy state, to thy conscience, and will bring all thou hast to confusion. The world says now, 'Alas, poor lamb !' It shall say one day, 'Alas, poor wolf! How art thou caught in the snares of hell !' Meantime they lie in the bosom of the church, as that disease in the breast called the cancer, vulgarly the wolf; devourmg our very flesh, if wo will not pacify and satisfy them with our substance. (4.) For suUlety. The fox is admired for craft; but he hath not stolen aU from the wolf. It is observed of wolves, that when they go to the fold for prey, they will be sure to advantage themselves of the wind ; and Sohnus reports of them, that they hide themselves in bushes and thickets, for the more sudden and guileful preying upon goats and sheep. These li/canthropi in our times do more hurt by their subtlety than by their violence. More is to be feared then* imx, quamfax ; malitia, quam militia. ' Beware of them which come to you in sheep's clothiag, but inwardly are ravening wolves,' Matt. vii. 15. They have outsides of Christianity, but insides of rapine. Intus linum subtilitatis, extra lanam simplicitatis demonstrant* Saith TertuUian, Quce- T^am sunt isice pelles ovium, nisi Christiani nominis extrinsecus superficies i ' Hie dolus est magnus, lupus est qui creditur agnus.' If you take a wolf in a lambskin, hang him up ; for he is the worst of the generation. You will ask how we should know them. A wolf is discerned from a sheep by his howling, and by his claws : tanquam ex ungue leonem. For * Greg. Mag. 122 THE WOLF AND THE LAMBS. [SeEMON XXXIII. the howKng of these wolves: you shall hear them barking at the moon, railing, reviling, swearing, blaspheming, abusing, slandering; for this is a wolfish language. For their claws : Matt. vii. 16, 'By their fruits you shall know them.' Etsi non ex omnibus frudibus, tamen ex aliquihis cognoscetis eos.^' Their wolfish nature will burst forth to their own shame, and the abhor- ring of all men. Thus saith Melancthon, Ux malo dogmate, et malis moribus dignoscentur. You see the nature of these wolves. Oh that they would consider it that have power to manage them ! that they would protect the lambs, and as we have detected their enemies, so punish them : muzzle the wolves, that they may not devour the flocks; give them their chain and their clog — bind them to the good behaviour toward the minister, and restrain their violences ! Wolves fly him that is anointed with the oil of lions. If magis- trates would use that sword which the lion, the king, hath put into their hands, to God's glory, the wolves would be in more fear and quiet. Let him that hath episcopal jurisdiction consider what St Bemardt writes to Eugenius : that it is his ofiice, magis domare luj)os, quam dominari ovi- bus. And as they say the subject of the canon law is, Homo dirigihilis in Deum, et in bonum commune; so that court which is called /o?'m?«, spirituale should specially consider the public tranquillity of these lambs, and to ener- vate the furious strength of wolves. Let them that are deputed supervisors of parishes — churchwardens — re- member that nothing in the world is more spiritual, tender, and deUcate, than the conscience of a man, and nothing binds the conscience more strongly than an oath. Come ye not therefore with Omne bene, when there are so many wolves among you. If you favour the wolves, you give shrewd suspicion that you are wolves yourselves. Is there nothing for you to present ? God's house, God's day, is neglected : the temples unrepaired, and unrepaired to ; neither adorned nor frequented. Adultery breaks forth into smoke, fame, infamy. Drunkenness cannot find the way to the church so readily as to the alehouse; and when it comes to the temple, takes a nap just the length of the sermon. And yet Omnia bene stUl. Let me say, security and par- tiality are often the churchwardens, connivance and wilful ignorance the side- men. You will say, I talk for the profit of the commissary. I answer, in the face and fear of God, I speak not to benefit his office, but to discharge my own office. When all is done, and yet all undone still, the lambs must be patient, though in medio luporum. God will not suffer our labours to pass unre- warded. Emittuntur, non amittuntur agni. When we have ' finished our course,' there is ' laid up for us a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give us at the last day,' 2 Tim. iv. 8. Aristotle, in his Ethics, affirms virtue to be only bonum laudabile, making Wa/Voj to be the adjunct thereof; but his felicity to be bonum honorabile, and gives for the adjunct riiiri, making it the most honourable thing in the world. But God's reward to his servants surmounts aU ethic or ethnic happiness, bestow- ing a kingdom upon his lambs on the right hand; whiles the wolves and goats on the left be sent away to eternal malediction. Now the Lamb of God make us lambs, and give us the reward of lambs — his everlasting com- forts ! Amen. * Anselm. t De Consider., lib. IL THE COSMOPOLITE; OB, WOELD'S FAYOURITE. But God said unto Iwn, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee : then ivhose shall those things he which thou hast I'jrovided 1 — Luke XII. 20. This is tlie covetous man's scripture ; and both (like an unflattering glass) presents his present condition, what he is, and (like a fatal book) premon- strates his future state, what he shall be. And because, as no man would be thought of others, or will think himself, a worldling, so nor apply to himself the terror of this text ; therefore this scripture doth both indicate and single him out, with a Tu es homo : and when it hath set himseK before him- self, it tells him how he shall stand before the tribunal of God — with a lost name, with a lost soul, with a lost world, with a lost and never to be re- covered heaven. We shall perceive more plainly the cosmopolite's fearful judgment, if we take a precursory view of the parable's former passages. First, we have the rich man, ver. 16, prospermg in his wealth ; not only in the usurious gains which his money, fraud, oppression, or unjust dealing might get, but even in those things which God by the hand of nature did reach forth to him. For ' his ground brought forth plentifully.' So deep a draught have the mcked often drunk in the common cup of blessings ! * Their bull gendereth, and faileth not ; their cow calveth, and casteth not. They spend their days in wealth,' Job xxi. 10. Yea, will you hear yet a larger exhibition 1 ' They are not in trouble as other men, neither are they l>lfigued like others,' Ps. Ixxiii. 5. There they have exemption from misery. * Their eyes stand out for fatness ; they have more than heart could wish,' ver. 7. There they have accumulation of felicity. Secondly, we have him caring what to do, ver. 17. He had so much gain, so much grain, that his rooms could not answer the capacity of his heart. * What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits V Care is the inseparable companion of abundance. Una recipiuntur divitice et solicitudo. They to whom is given most wealth are most given 124 THE COSMOPOLITE. [SeEMON XXXIV. to carking, sharking, and solicitous tliouglitfulness, with, a little inversion of our Saviour's meaning : ' Where is much given, there is much,' yea, more, ' required/ Those hearts whom the world hath done most to satisfy, are least of all satisfied ; stni they require more, and perplex themselves to get it. A reasonable man would think, that they who possess abundant riches should not be possessed with abundant cares. But, ' Care not for to-morrow,' saith Christ. Cujtis enim diei sjKoiium te visurum nescis, quani oh ccmsam illius solicitudme torqueris .?* — Why shouldst thou disquiet thyself with- thought of provision for that day whose evening thou art not sure to see ? Thirdly, we have his resolution ; which in his purpose hath a double succession (though no success) for their disposed order and places. ' This will I do,' ver. 18. What ? ' I will pull down my barns, and buUd greater ; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods' He thinks of no room in viscerihus ixaiperum, — in the bowels of the poor ; which the Lord hath proposed to him a fit receptacle of his superfluity. He minds not to build an hospital, or to repair a church ; either in cultum Christi, or culturani Christiani, — to the Avorship of Christ, or education of orphans, or consola- tions of distressed souls ; but only respects horreum suum, and hordeum mum, — his barn and his barley. The want of room troubles him ; his har- vest was so great, that he is crop-sick. The stomach of his barn is too little to hold that surfeit of corn he intends it ; and therefore in anger he wUl pull it down, and make it answerable to his own desires. This he takes as granted, and upon the new buUding of his barn he buUds his rest : ver. 19, ' Then I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years ; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.' He dreams his belly fuU, and now his pipes go ; he sings requiem, and lullabies his spirit in the cradle of his barn. This sweet news he whispers to his soul. Though he had wearied Ms body with incessant toUs, and made it a galley-slave to his imperious affection ; yet his soul had been especially disquieted, and therefore he pro- miseth his soul some ease. In this indulgent promise, there is a preface and a solace : — 1. The preface assures his soul ' much goods,' and ' many years :' multas divitias, midtos annos. He knew that a scant and sparing proffer would not satisfy his boundless desu-es ; there must be show of an abundant impletion. It is not enough to have an ample rock or distafi" of wealth, unless a longeval time be afforded to spin it out. Philoxenus's wish coupled with his plea- sant viands a long throat, crane-like, to prolong his dehght : for shortness doth somewhat abate sweetness. Rex horce, a king of one hour, can scarce warm his throne ; it keeps a Christmas-lord flat, that he knows his end. If this man had been his own lord, how excellent an estate would he have assured himself ! His farm should have been so large, and his lease so long, that I doubt whether Adam in paradise had a greater lordship, or Methu- salem a longer life. The last of his desires is of the longest size : give him much goods and much time, abundance of joys and abundance of days, and you hit or fit the length of his foot. 2. The solace is a dance of four paces : ' Take thine ease, eat, di'ink, and be merry.' The full belly loves an easy-chair ; he must needs join with his laborious surfeits the vacation of sleep. He hath taken great pains to bring death upon him ; and now standing at his door, it hears him talk of ease. He promiseth himself that which he travaUs to destroy, life ; and even now ends what he threatens to begin. So worldlings weary and wear out their lives to hoard wealth ; and when wealth comes, and health goes, they would * Clirysost. in Matt. vi. Luke XII. 20,] the cosmopolite. 125 give all for life. O fools ! in continual quest of riches, to hunt tliemselves out of breath, and then be glad to restore all at once for recovery. The next pace is, Eat : his bones must not only be pleased, but his belly. It is somewhat yet that this man resolves at last no more to pinch his gutsj therefore what before he was in their debt, he will pay them with the usury of surfeits. He purposeth to make liimself of a thm starveling, a fat epicure ; and so to translate parciim into porcum. The third pace is. Drink : where gluttony is bid welcome, there is no shutting out of drunkenness. You shall not take a Nabal, but he plies his goblet as well as his trencher. And this is a ready course to retire himself from his former vexation, to drown his cares in wine. The last pace is a levalto, Be merry : when he hath got junkets in his belly, and wines in his brain, what should he do but leap, dance, revel, be merry, be mad ! After feasting must follow jesting. Here be all the four passages : he sleeps care away, he eats care away, he drinks care away, and now he sings care away. His pipes be fiill, and they must needs squeak, though the name of the good, yea, the name of God, be dishonoured. But to such a mad-merry scoffer might well be appUed that verse which was sounded in the ear of a great rhymer dying : Desine ludere temere, nitere 2Jropere surgere de jmlvere. Leave playing, and fall to praying : it is but sorry jesting with death. Thus his dance was like Sardanapalus's : Ede, hihe, lude, — Eat, drmk, and be merry ; but there is one thing mars all his sport, the bringing of his soul to judgment. He promiseth a merry life, and a long life ; but death says nay to both. He gratifies his soul, and ratifies his state ; but cozens himself in all. It may be said of him, as King John of the fat stag dying : ' See how easily he hath lived, yet he never heard mass.' This was the sweet, but the sour follows. Qui gaudehit cum mundo, non regnabit cum Chiisto* — He rejoiceth with the world, but must not live in glory with Christ. Thus far the rich man acts; now comes in God's part: which turns the nature of his play from comic purposes to tragic events. He beliights all peace and joy to himself: 'But God said. Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be taken from thee,' &c. The words contain — L An agent; 2. A 2^<xtient; 3. A passion; 4. A question. The agent is God : ' But God said.' The patient is the rich fool. The passion: 'This night shall thy soul be required of thee.' The question which God puts to him, to let him see his foUy : * Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?' 1. The agent, God. The rich man was purjiosing great matters; but he reckoned without his host : he resolves thus and thus ; ' but God said to him.' Hence two observations : — Obs. 1. — That the purposes of men are abortive, and never come to a happy birth, if God bless not their conception. ]\Ian purposeth, and God disposeth. ' The horse is prepared to the battle, but the victory is of the Lord.' It is a holy reservation in all our purposes, Si Deo placuerit, — If it shall please the Lord. ' Go to now, ye that say. To-day or to-morrow w^e will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain : whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. Ye ought to say. If the Lord will,' James iv. 13. For neither tongue can speak, n(ir foot move, if the Lord shall enervate them : as he did Zacharias's tongiie in the temple, Luke i. 22, and Jeroboam's arm, when he would have reached it out against the prophet, 1 Kings xiii. 4. In vain man intends that whereagainst God * Hierom. 12G THE COSMOPOLITE. [SeEMON XXXIV. contends. Sisera resolves on victory; God crossetli it with overthrow. Yet thinks Sisera, Jael will succour me, ' for there is peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite,' Judg. iv. 17. No; even there the arm of the Lord is ready to encounter him ; a draught of milk shall be his last draught, and the hand of a woman shall kill him that hath escaped the hand of an army of men. The Jews may say, ' We will flee away on swift horses.' But God saith, * Your persecutors shall be swifter.' Sennacherib purposeth to lick up Israel as the ox grass, and though he found the land before him as an Eden, to leave it behind him as Sodom ; but God said. He shall go home without his errand ; a hook in his nostrils shall rein him back. The king of Baby- lon says in his heart, ' I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; and I will be like the Most High,' Isa. xiv. 13, 14. But God said, ver. 15, 'Thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.' Herod made himself so sure of Christ, that rather than to fail of cutting off the prophesied King, he slays his own son. He might so, but he shall not touch God's Son. With what lavish promises did the Span- iards flatter themselves, when they baptized their navy with the name of Invincible! England is their own, they are already grasping it, warm with gore, in their clutches. But God said. Destruction shall inherit their hopes; and the remainder of ruin shall be only left to testify what they would have done. Men's thoughts promise often to themselves multa, magna, many things, great things : they are plotted, contrived, commenced; yet die like Jonah' & gourd, when we should expect their refreshing, qida non forttinavit Deus, — because God hath not blessed them. Ambition may rear turrets in emula- tion of heaven, and vain-glory build castles in the air ; but the former shall have no roof, as the latter hath no foundation. Philip threatened the Lace- demonians, that if he entered their country, he would utterly extinguish them. They wrote him no other answer but Si, If: meaning, it was a condition well put in, for he never was like to come there. ^S** 81 non esset, perfectum quidlihet esset. But in the menaces of angry tyrants, and purposes of hasty intenders, there is an if, an included condition, that infatuates alL Let our lesson hence be this : That our purposes may be sped with a happy success, let us intend in the Lord, for the Lord : — First, Let us derive authority of our intentions from this sacred truth, which gives rules not only to live well, and to speak well, but even ad bene cogitandum, to think well. It is a wicked purpose to fast till Paul be killed : to wreak malice, to satisfy lust. Inauspicious and without speed are the intents whose iDeginning is not from God. Let no purpose pass current from thy heart, till God hath set on it his stamp and seal of appro- bation. Let his word give it a fiat. Whatsoever ye do, yea, or intend to do, let both action of hand and thought of heart be aU to God's glory. Secondly, Let us in all our purposes reserve the first place for God's help- ing hand. ' Without me ye can do nothing,' saith Christ, John xv. 5. But it is objected that Paul spake peremptorily to his Corinthians: *I will come mito you when I shall pass through Macedonia,' 1 Cor. xvi. 5. And David : ' I will go to the house of the Lord,' Ps. Ixvi. I answer. Cor tenet, quod lingua tacet, — They that had so much grace in their hearts wanted not this grace, et noscere et poscere facidtatem Domini, — to know and desire the Lord's permission. You shall never take men so well aff"ected to good works, that do not implore God's assistance. Though they do not ever express in word, yet they never suppress in thought, that reservation: *If it please Luke XIL 20.] the cosmopolite. 12T God;' as Paul doth afterwards in that place, <If the Lord permit,' 1 Cor, xvi. 7. If any wiU dare to resolve too confidentl}', patronising their temerity from such patterns, as if their voluntates were potestates, let them know that, like tailors, they have measured others, but never took measure of them- selves : that there is great difference betwixt a holy prophet or apostle, and a profane publican. Obs. 2. — Observe that God now speaks so to the covetous that he will be heard. He preacheth another kind of sermon to him than ever he did before ; a fatal, final, funeral sermon, a text of judgment : ' This night shall they fetch away thy soul.' For this is God's lecture, himself reads it : * But God said.' He had preached to the worldling often before; and those sermons were of three sorts : — (1.) By his word. But cares of the world choke this seed; the 'heart goes after covetousness,' even whiles the flesh sits under the pulpit. This is the devil's three-winged arrow, — wealth, pride, voluptuousness, — whereby he nails the v«ry heart fast to the earth. It is his talent of lead, which he hangs on the feet of the soul, the affections, that keeps her from mounting into heaven. With the painted beauty of this filthy harlot he bewitcheth their minds, steals their desires from Christ, and sends them a-whoring to the hot stews of hell. Thus is God's first sermon quite lost. (2.) By judgments on others, whose smart should amaze him. For God, when he strikes others, warns thee, Tua res agitur, &c. When the next house is on fire, thy cause is in question. God hath smitten Israel, that Judah might fear. * Though Israel play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend.' ' Ephraim is joined to idols : let him alone,' Hos. iv. 15, 17. When the plague knocks at thy neighbour's door, it tells thee, ' I am not far off.' God's judg- ment on the Galileans, and men in Siloa, is thus applied by Christ, to draw others to repentance, lest ' they likewise perish,' Luke xiii. 5. But what if thousands faU on the worldling's right hand, and ten thousands about him, he dreams of no danger : his own gold gives hkn more content than all this terror. The devil hath hoodwinked him with gain, and so carries him quietly (like a hooded hawk) on his fist, without baiting, to hell. This sermon is lost also. (3.) By crosses on himself; and this sermon comes a little nearer to him, for it concerns his feeling. The first was objected to his ear, the second to his eye, this last to his sense. But as the first sermon he would not hear, the next not see, so this he will not feel : ' He is stricken, but he hath not sorrowed,' Jer. v. 3. He imputes all to his ill luck, that he loseth the game of his worldly desires ; he looks no more up to heaven than if there was none. ' God is not in all his thoughts,' Ps. x. 4. All these sermons are lost. But now God will be heard : ' He said ;' he spoke home ; a word and a blow. He will be understood, though not stood under. Vociferat, vulne- rat; pc?' dictum, per ictum. This is such a sermon as shall not pass A\-ithout consideration. So he preached to Pharaoh by frogs, flies, locusts, murrain, darkness ; but when neither by Moses's vocal, nor by these actual lectures he would be melted, the last sermon is a Red Sea, that drowns him and his array. The tree is bared, manured, watered, spared in expectancy of fruits ; but when none comes, the last sermon is the axe : it must be ' hewm down and cast into the fire,' Matt. iii. 10. This kind of argument is unanswer- able, and cannot be evaded. When ' God gives the word, imuimerable are the preachers ;' if the lower voices will not be heard, death shall be feared. God knocks long by his prophets, yea, ' stands at the door' himself, Rev. iii. 128 THE COSMOPOLITE. [Sermon XXXIV. 20 ; we -will not open. But when tliis preacher comes, he opens the door himself, and will not be denied entrance. ' All the day long have I stretched forth my hands' mito thee, Rom. x. 21 : manum misericordice, the hand of his mercy ; it is not embraced. Now therefore he stretcheth out manum justitice, the hand of his justice ; and this cannot be avoided. AU that long day is past, and now the worldling's night comes : ' This night shall they require thy soul.' The rich man must hear this sermon ; there is no remedy. ' But God said.' 2. We are come from the doer to the sufferer, or patient; and his title is "Apgw!/, ' Thou fool.' What ! if this had come from a poor tenant's mouth, it had been held a petty kind of blasphemy. Is the rich man only held the wise man at all parts ; and doth God change his title with such a contra- diction 1 Is the world's gold become dross 1 the rich idol a fool 1 It is even a maxim in common acceptation, ' He is wise that is rich.' Dives and sa2nens are voces convertibiles, — Rich and wise are convertible terms, ima- gined to signify one thing. When the rich man speaks, all the people give bareheaded silence and attention. As if no argument could evince such a necessity, as the chief priests to Judas, Matt. xxvi. 14 : Tantum daho, — So much will I give thee. Tantus valor in qiiatuor syllabis, — Such force is there in four syllables and but two words. It is not only eloquence, but enchant- ment ; and they that use it prevail Uke sorcerers, unless perhaps they light upon multis e millihiis unum, — a Peter : ' Thou and thy money be damned to- gether,' Acts viii. 20. If he that can plead by the strongest arguments be the wisest man, how doth God call the rich man fool ? If a man should travel through all conditions of the world, what gates would not open to the rich man's knock 1 In the church surely religion should have the strongest force ; yet riches thrusts in her head even under religion's arm, and speaks her mind. Money once brought the greatest preacher of the gospel, even the author of the gospel, Christ himself, to be judged before an earthly tribunal. Now, ' the servant is not greater than his Lord.' No wonder if money plays the rex still, and disposeth places to men of the greatest worldly, not the best hea- venly, gifts. For a gift prospereth which way soever it goeth. It were somewhat tolerable, if money did only hinder us from what we should have ; but it wrings from us also what we have. In the courts of justice, law should rule ; yet often money overrules law and court too. It is a lamentable complaint in the prophecy of Isaiah, * Judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off : for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter,' Isa. lix. 14. If there must be contention, judgment should go forward ; and is it turned backward ? Justice should lay a close ear to the cause of the distressed ; and must it stand afar off ? * Truth is fallen in the street.' Oh, the mercy of God ! in the street ? Had it faUen in the wilderness, it had been less strange ; but in the street, where everybody passeth by, and nobody takes it up ! Miserable iniquity ! ' Equity cannot enter.' What ! not equity 1 Are they not called coiuis of equity, and must that which gives them denomination be kept out? Now all this perversion, eversion of justice, is made by money. This turneth 'judgment to wormwood,' Amos v. 7, poisons a good cause; or at least into vinegar, as wine that stands long becomes sour. And you are beholden to that lawyer that will restituere rem, get you your right, though he doth it amctando, by delays. There is many one of whom that old verse may be inverted. Talis homo nobis cunctando diminuit rem. In the wars valour bears a great stroke, yet not so great as money. That Luke XII. 20.] the cosmopolite. 129 IMacedonian monarch was wont to say, he would never fear to suq^rise that city whose gates were but wide enough for an ass laden with gold to enter. How many forts, castles, cities, kingdoms hath that blown up before ever gunpowder was invented. I need name no more. What quality bears up so brave a head but money gives it the checkmate ! It answereth all things, saith Solomon : ' A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry ; but money answereth all thing.s,' Eccles. x. 19. By all this it appears that riches is the greatest wisdom ; but we must take out a writ, ad melius in- quirendum. If wealth be wnt, what means Christ here to call the rich man fool ? Yes, good reason. * God hath made foolish the wisdom of this world,' 1 Cor. i. 20. If God calls him so^ he gets little to have the world esteem him other- wise. * Not he that commendeth himself,' nor whom the world commend- eth, 'is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth,' 2 Cor. s. 18. An ounce of credit with God is worth a talent of men's praises. Frustra com- mendatur in terris, qui condemnatur in coelis, — The world commends, but God condemns ; which of these judgments shall stand % I might here infer doctrinally that all covetous men be fools ; and that in his censure that cannot deceive, not be deceived. But I should prevent the issue of this text, to say and shew this now. I therefore content myself to say it now, to shew it anon. It may be cavilled that folly is rather a defect in the understanding, covetousness in the affections j for so they dis- tinguish the soul, into the intellectual and affectionate part. How then is this attribution of fool proper to the worldling? The truth is, that the offence of the will and affections doth mostly proceed from the former error of the mind. Our desire, fear, love, hatred, reflecting on evil objects, arise from the deceived understanding. So there is a double error in the covetous man's mind that makes him a fool : — (1.) He conceives not the sufficiency of God's help, and therefore leaves him that will never leave his. He thinks God's treasuiy too empty to con- tent him ; he sees not his glory, and therefore will not trust him on bare promises. The good man sweetens his most bitter miseries with this com- fort : ' The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance,' Ps. xvi. 5. But all God's wealth cannot satisfy the fool. niviis avarus est, cui Deus non suf- ficit, — He is unmeasurably covetous whom God himself cannot satisfy. Here is one argument of his folly. (2.) Having left God, who, rested on, would not have left him, he adheres to the world, which cannot help him. The mind of man, like the elephant, must have somewhat to lean upon ; and when the olive, fig-tree, vine, are refused, he must put ' his trust under the shadow of the bramble,' Judges ix. L5, When the Israelites had forsaken the King of heaven, they make to themselves a ' queen of heaven,' Jer. vii. 18. Moses is gone : * Up, make us gods which shall go before us,' Exod. xxxii. 1. Admiratur mundum, qui rejecit Dominum, — He falls off from God, and falls in with the world. Here be both the parts of his folly: * He hath committed two evils ; forsaken the fountain of liraig waters, and hewed himself a broken cisteni,' Jer. ii. 13. 3. ' We see the patient, let us come to the passion, or suffermg. This is the point of war, which my text sounds like a trumpet, against all world- lings : ' This night shall thy soul be required of thee.' Favour them in this, and they think all well ; but in this of all they must not be favoured. The suffering is aggravated by four circumstances : — (1.) Quicl, what ? the ' soul ;' (2.) A quo, of whom? ' of thee ;' (3.) Quomodo, how? ' shall be required;' (4.) Quando, when ? ' this night. VOL. II. 1 130 THE COSMOPOLITE. [SeEMON XXXIV. (1.) What ? Tlie * soul,' thy soul : not thy barns, nor thy crop ; neither the contment, nor content; not thy goods, which thou holdest deai', nor thy body, which thou prizest dearer, but tliy soul, which should be to thee dearest of all. Imagine the whole convex of heaven for thy barn, (and that were one large enough,) and aU the riches of the world thy grain, (and that were crop sufficient,) yet put all these uito one balance, and thy soul into the other, and thy soul outweighs, outvalues the v,'orld. ' What is the whole world worth to him that loseth his soul V The soul is of a precious nature. One hi substance, like the sun, yet of diverse operations. It is confined in the body, not refined by the body, but is often most active when her jaUor is most dull. She is a careful housewife, disposing all well at home ; con- serving all forms, and mustering them to her own serviceable use. The senses discern the outside, the circumstance, the husk of things ; she the inside, the virtue, the marrow: resolving effects into causes; compounding, comparing, contemplating things in their highest sublimity. Fire turns coals into fire ; the body concocts meat into blood ; but the soul converts body into spirits, reducing their purest forms within her dimensive lines. In man's composition there is a shadow of the Trinity. For to make up one man there is an elementary body, a divine soul, and a firmamental spirit. Here is the difference : m God there are three persons in one essence, in us three essences in one person. So in the soul there is a trinity of powers, vegetable, sensitive, rational : the former would only be; the second be, and he well; the third be, be well, and he for ever welL O excellent nature, in whose cabinet ten thousand forms may sit at once ; which gives agitation to the bodj', without whom it would fall down a dead and iaanimate lump of clay ! This soul shall be required. ' Thy soul,' which understands what delight is, and conceives a tickling pleasure in these covetous desires. But to satisfy thy soul, thou wouldst not be so greedy of abundance ; for a little serves the body. If it have food to sustain it, garments to hide it, harbour to shelter it, liberty to refresh it, it is contented. And satiety of these things doth not reficere, sed mterjicere, — comfort, but confound it. Too much meat surfeits the body, too mucli apparel wearies it, too much ^vine drowns it ; only quod convenit, conservat. It is, then, the soul that reqiiires this plenitude, and therefore from this pleni- tude shall the soul be required. ' Thy soul,' which is not made of a perishing nature, as the body, but of an everlasting substance ; and hath by the eternity thereof a capableness of more joy or more sorrow : it must be ever in heaven or ever in hell. This night must this soul receive her doom ; ' thy soul shall be required-' That soul which shall be the body's perpetual companion, saving a short divorce by the hand of death in the gi'ave ; but afterwards ordained to an everlasting reunion. Whereas all worldly goods, being once broken oif by death, can never again be recovered. The soul shall return to the body, but riches to neither ; and this soul must be required. This is a loss, a cross beyond all that the worldling's imagination can give being to. How diflfer the wicked's thoughts dying from their thoughts liv- ing ! In the days of their peace they forget to get for the soul any good. Either it must rest itself on these inferior props, or despair of refuge. The eye is not scanted of lustful objects, the ear of melodious sounds, the palate of well-relished viands : but the soul's eye is not fastened on heaven, nor her ears on the word of God ; her taste savours not the bread of life ; she is neither brought to touch nor to smell on Christ's vesture. Animas hahent, Luke XII. 20.] the cosmopolite. 131 qxiasi inanimata vivunt: regarding tlieir flesli as that pampered Romau did his, and their souls as he esteemed his horse ; who being a spruce, neat, and fat epicure, and riding on a lean, scraggy jade, was asked by the censors the reason. His answer was, E(/o euro nieipsmn, Statins vero equum, — I look to mysehf, but my man to my horse. So these worldlings look to their bodies, let who will take care of their souls. But when this night comes, with what a price would they purchase again their souls, so mortgaged to the devU for a little vanity ! Now curare non vohcnt, then 7-ecuperare non valent With what studious and artificial cost is the body adorned, whiles the beggarly soul lies in tattered rags ! The flesh is pleased with the purest flour of the wheat, and reddest blood of the grape ; the soul is famished. The body is allowed liberty, even to licentiousness ; the sold is under Satan's lock and key, shackled with the fetters of ignorance and impiety. At this night's terror, to what bondage, hunger, cold, cala- mity, would they not subject their bodies, to free their souls out of that friendless and endless prison ! Why cannot men think of this before it be too late '? It will somid harshly in thine ear, O thou riotous or avarous worldling, when this passing-beU rings, ' Thy soul shall be required !' If the prince should confiscate thy goods, which thou lovest so dearly, this news would strike cold to thy heart ; but here thy soul is confiscate. The devil prizeth this most : he says, as the king of Sodom to Abraham, Da mihi ani- mas, coitei'a surae tihi, — Give me the soul, take the rest to thyself. (2.) Of u'honi ? ' Of thee,' that hadst so provided for thy soul in another place ; for though earth be a dungeon in regard to heaven, yet is it a para- dise in respect of hell. This world was his selected and afiected home, and from thence shall death pluck him out by the ears. If this news of the soul's requiring had come to a faithful Christian, he would have welcomed it. and judged it only the voice of the Feastmaker, finding him in the humiDlc room of this base earth, ' Friend, sit up higher,' Luke xiv. 10 ; or that voice of heaven that spake to John, ' Come up hither,' Rev. iv. 1 : Sit no longer in the vale of tears, but ascend the mountain of glory; — a trumpet calling him to Mount Tabor, where he shall be trans- figured for ever. This time would be to him the no7i ultra of his joys and desires : he fought all his combat for this, that he might ' receive the end of his faith, the salvation of his soul,' 1 Pet. i. 9. Ho is content to live here till God call him ; but his ' desire is to be dissolved, and to be with Christ,' Phil. i. 23. Bonus vitam hahet in patientia, mortem in desiderio, — He is patient to live, but willing to die. To him, ' the day of death is better than the day of his birth,' Ecc-les. \'ii. 1. Job ' cursed the day of his birth,' chap, iii. 3 ; cand Jeremh^h saith, ' Let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed,' chap. xx. 14. But blessed is the hour of death : ' So saith the Spirit ; Blessed are they that die in the Lord, for they rest from their la- bours,' Rev. xiv. 13. Both philosophers and poets could so commend the happiness of this time, that they thought no good man truly huppy till it saluted him. ' Dicique beatus Ante obitum nemo, supremaque f unera debet.' The ethnics, ignorant of a better life future, honoured this with great solemnities, and kept prodigal feasts on their birthdays; as Herod, when he was served with the Baptist's head for his second course. Matt. xiv. 6. But the Christians were wont to celebrate the funerals of the martyrs, as if we did then only begin truly to live when we die. For though the soul is gotten when man is made, yet it is, as it were, born when he dies : his body 133 THE COSMOPOLITE. [Sermon XXXIV. being the womb, and deatli the midwife that delivers it to glorious jierfec- tion. The good man may then well say, Mors mild munus erit, with a, poet;* or rather, ' Death shall be my advantage,' with an apostle, Phil. i. 21. His happiest hour is when In mamis tuas Doinine, he can say, ' Into thy hands, Lord, I commend my soul.' For anima non amiititur, seel proemitti- ttir. But this of thee is terrible. Thou that never preparedst for death ; wert ' at a league with hell,' securely rocked asleej:) in the cradle of thy barn ; that didst ' put far away from thee the evil day,' and give it a charge de non in- stanclo ; thou that criedst, ' Peace, peace,' on thee shall come ' sudden de- struction ;' thou that saidst, ' »Soul, be meny,' to sorrow shall thy soul be required. Thou that never esteemedst thy soul so dear as thy wealth, but didst set that after thy stables which might have been equal to angels — ' thy soul.' Thou that wert loath to hear of death, as having no hope of future bliss ; that wouldest not give thy possession on earth for thy expectation in heaven : as that French cardinal, that said he would not give his part in Paris for his part in paradise : ' of thee ' shall a soul be required. This point is sharp, and makes up his misery. (3.) How ? ' Required.' The original is uTraircZaiv, ' They shall require it.' This is such a requiring as cannot be withstood. God requires thy obedience, thou deniest it ; the poor require thy charity, thou deniest it ; the world requires thy equity, thou deniest it. But when thy soul shall be required, there must be no denying of that ; it cannot be withheld. Who shall require this soul 1 Not God. He required it in thy life, to sanctify it and save it : thou wouldest not hearken to him ; now he will none of it. What should God do with a drunken, profane, covetous, polluted, sensual soul? He offered it the gospel, it would not believe ; the blood of Christ, it would not wash and be clean : it is foul and nasty, God requires it not. Or if he require it, it is to judge and condemn it, not to reserve and keep it. Eecusahit Deus jam, ohlatum, giiod non redditur, quando erat requisitum, — God will refuse thy soul now offered, which thou deniedst Mm whiles he desired. Not heaven. Those crystalline walks are not for muddy feet, nor shall lust-infected eyes look within those holy doors • * In no wise shall enter into that city anything that defileth, or worketh abomination,' Rev. xxi. 27. There is a room without for such, chap. xxii. 15 ; a black room for black works. What should a worldling do in heaven ? His heart, so full of envy and covetise, would not brook another's fehcity. If there be no gold there, he cares not for coming at it. But he shall be fitted ; for as he requires not heaven, so heaven requires not him. It will .spare him no place ; not that it wants room to receive him, but because his heart wants room to desire it. ' The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God,' 1 Cor. vi. 9. But because this general menace doth not terrify him, read his pai-ticular name in the bill of indictment: ver. 10, 'nor the covetous.' Heaven is for men of a '■ heavenly conversation,' Phil. iii. 20. It was but Nebuchadnezzar's dream, Dan. ii. : God Avill not set a golden head upon earthen feet ; give the glory of heaven to him that loves nothing but the baseness of this world. The angels require it not. Those celestial porters, that carry the souls of the saints, as they did the soul of Lazarus, into the bosom of Abraham, have no commission for this man's soul. This rich man might be wheeled and Avhirled in a coach, or perhaps. Pope-like, be borne on men's shoulders ; but the poor beggar, whose hope is in heaven though his body on earth, that * Ovid. Trist., i., Eleg. 21. Luke XII. 20.] the cosmopolite. 133 could neither stand, go, nor sit, is now carried in the highest state by the very angels; when the other djdng, hath no better attendance than devils. And so if you ask, who then require his soul, sith neither God, nor heaven, nor the blessed angels will receive it : why, devils — they that have right to it by God's just decree for his unjust obedience. God's justice so appoints it, for his sins have so caused it ; Satan challengeth his due, his officers require it. Thou hast offendetl, miserable cosmopolite, against thy great Sove- reign's law, crown, and majesty ; now aU thou hast is confiscate — thy goods, thy body, thy soul. Thou, whose whole desires were set to scrape all to- gether, shalt now find all scattered asunder ; thy close congestion meets with a wide dispersion. Every one claims his own : the world thy riches, the worms thy carcase, the devil thy soul. Lust hath transported thine eyes, blasphemy thy tongue, pride thy foot, oppression thy hand, covetousness thy heart ; now Satan requkes thy soul. Not to give it ease, rest, or supply to the defects of thy insatiate desires ; no, dahit in cniciatutn, he shall deliver it over to torment. This requiring is a fetching with some kind of violence. Tlie good man resigns or surrenders up his soul, as Christ gave up the ghost ; but the worldling's soul must be plucked from him by force. (4.) When i ' This night' In this dark qwindo lie hid two fearful ex- tremities — sadness and suddenness. It is not only said in the ' night,' but in 'this night.' [1.] In the 'night;' this aggravates the horror of his judgment. The night is a sad and uncomfortable time ; therefore misery is compared to the night, and joy said to come in the morning. ' Pray that your flight be not in the night,' saith Christ to the Jews ; as if the dismal time would make desperate their sorrow. The night presents to the fantasy, which then lies most patient of such impressions, many deceiving and affrightful imagina- tions. Well, then, may a true, not fantasied, terror work strongly on this wretch's heart, whiles the night helps it forward. All sickness is generally stronger by night than by day ; this very circimistance of season then aggra- vates his misery, making at once his grief stronger, himself weaker. But what if we look further than the literal sense, and conceive by this night the darkness of his soul. Such a blindness he brmgs on himself, though the day of the gospel be broke round about him. The cause of night to a man is the interposition of the earth bctAvixt him and the sun. This worldling hath placed the earth, the thick and gross body of riches, between his eyes and the Sun of righteousness. And so, shine the sun never so clear, it is still night with him. There is light enough without him, but there is darkness too much within him. And then darkness must to darkness ; in- ward to outward, as Christ calls it, ' outer darkness.' lie would not see whiles he might, he shall not see when he would. Though he shall for ever have fire enough, yet it shall give him no light, except it be a Little glimmer- ing, to shew him the torments of others, and others the torments of himself. [2.] ' This night ; ' the sadness is yet increased by the suddenness. It will be fearful, not only to be surprised in the night, but in that night when he doth not di"eam of any such matter; when there is no fear nor suspicion of apprehension. Ilis case is as with a man that having rested '\\'ith a pleasmg slumber, and been fed with a golden dream, suddenly waking finds liis house flanoing about his ears, his wife and cliildren dyuig in the fire, robbers ransacking his colTers and transporting his goods, all lovers forsaking, no friend pitying, when the very thrusting in of an arm might deliver him. Tins rich man was long asleep, and had been delighted with pretty wanton dreams, of enlarged barns and plentiful harvests, (as all worldly pleasures 134 * THE COSMOPOLITE. [Seemon XXXIV. are but waking dreams ;) now he starts iip, on the hearing of this soul-knell, and perceives all was but a dream, and that indeed he is everlastingly wretched. The suddenness increaseth the misery. The rich man hath no time to dispose his goods ; how shall he do with his soul 1 If in his health, wealth, peace, strength, succoured with all the helps of nature, of opportunity, preaching of the gospel, counsel of ministers, comfort of friends, he would not work out his salvation, what shall he do when extreme pangs deny cap- ableness to receive them, and shortness of his time prevents their approach- ing to him 1 He hath a huge bottom of sin to unravel by repentance, which he hath been many years winding up by disobedience ; now a great work and a little time do not well agree. This sudden call is fearful : ' This night shall thy soul be required.' Yet before I part from this point, let me give you two notes : — FiJ'st, There is mercy in God that it is hac node, this nu/ht ; not this hour, not this moment. Hac node was sudden, but hoc momenta had been more sudden ; and that this larger exhibition of time is allowed v»^is God's mere mercy against the worldling's merit. He that spared Nineveh many forties of years •uill yet allow her forty days, Jonah iii. 4. He that forbore this wretch many days, receiving no fruit worth his expectation, will yet add a few hours. God, in the midst of justice, remembers mercy : much time he had received and abused, yet he shall have a little more. When the Lord's hand is lifted up to strike him, jet he gives him some lucida intervalla m,o- nitionis, — warning before he lets it down. But let not the worldling pre- sume on this ; sometimes not an hour, not a minute is granted. Sword, palsy, apoplexj^, imposthume, make quick despatch, and there is no space given to cry for mercy. But what if a paucity of hours be permitted? Ancient wounds are not cured in haste; the plaster must lie long upon them. There was one man so saved, to take away desperation; and but one so saved, to bar presumption : Unus latro in fine potmtuit : iluus quidem ut nullus despevet; solus autem, ut nidlus 2^rcesumat/' Conversion at the eleventh hour is a Avonder, at the twelfth a miracle. All thieves do not go from the gallows to glory because one did, no more than all asses speak be- cause God opened the mouth of one. Flatter not thyself with hope of time. Nemo sibi ijromittat, quod non 23Tomittit evangelium, — Let no man promise himself a larger patent than the gospel hath sealed to him. Secondly, The day of the wicked turns at last to a night. After the day of vanity comes the night of judgment. Now is the time when the rich man's sun sets ; his light and his delight is taken from him. His last sand is run out ; the clock hath ended his latest minute, his iiight is come. His day of pleasure was short ; his night of sorrow is everlasting. Extremxinti gaudii luctus occupat. Vexation treads on the heels of vanity. Man's life is compared to a day. This day to some may be distinguished into twelve hours. The first gives us nativity : even in this hour there is sin ; an original pravity, indisposition to good, proncness to evil. Secondly, infancy : God now protects the cradle. Thirdly, childhood : and no^v we learn to speak and to swear together ; the sap of iniquity begins to put out. Fourthly, tender age : wherein toys and gauds fill up our scene. Fifthly, youth : this is a madduag, a gadding time. ' Remember not the sins' of this time, prays David, Ps. xxv. 7 ; their * re- membrance is bitter,' says Job, chap. xiii. 26. Sixthly, our high noon: God, that could not be heard before for the loud noise of vanity, now looks for audi- * Aug. Luke XII. 20.] the cosmopolite. ^ 135 euce, for obedience. fSeventlily, this is full of cares and crosses : the dngs of the world taste bitter; it is full time that this hour should wean us. The eighth brin<'S us to a sense of mortality ! we feel our blood decaying. Ninthly, our bodies go crooked and stooping, to put us in mind that they are going to their original earth. Tenthly, we are even as dying: we do die by degrees; our senses first fail us, our ej^es are dim, like old Isaac's, our ears deaf, our tastes dull, our grinders are done, our stilts unable to support us. Eleventhly, we are a burden to ourselves, to our friends : we long for death, if any hope of a better life hath possessed our hearts. The twelfth hour it comes. Which of these hours pass over us without God's mercies, without our voluntary unthankfulness, unless those first hours wherein our ignorance is incapable of such observance? ' All thy day long have I stretched out my hands unto thee,' saith God, Eom. x. 21. If none of these hours reclaim us, our day is spent, and the night comes; that night ' wherein no man can work,' John ix. 4 ; actively to comfort, though passively he works for ever in torment. I know that God cuts many one short of most of these hours, and often shuts up his daylight before he comes to his noon. But howsoever man pass from infancy to childhood, from childhood to youth, from youth to age, yet senedutem nemo excedit, — none can be more than old. Though tam senex nemo, quin 2^'^tet se anmcin i)Osse vivere^ — no man is so old but still he thinks he may live another year. And therefore lightly the older, the more covetous; and qxio minus vice restat, eo 2>lus viatici qiiceritur.- ~\\\<i less journey men have, the more provision they make. God allows this liberal time to some ; but what enemies are we to our- selves, that of all these twelve hours allow ourselves not one ! Many post off their conversion from day to day, sending religion before them to thirty ; and then putting it off to forty ; and not pleased yet to overtake it, promise it entertainment at threescore : at last death comes, and allows not one hour. In youth, men resolve to allow themselves the time of age to serve God ; in age, they shuffle it off to sickness; when sicluiess comes, care to dispose their goods, loathness to die, hope to escape, martyrs that good thought ; and their resolution still keeps before them the length of ' Gracious Street' at least. K we have but the lease of a farm for twenty years, we make use of the time and gather profit. But in this precious farm of time we are so ill husbands, that our lease comes out before we are one pennyworth of grace the richer by it. Take heed ; it is dangerous trifling out thy good day, lest thou hear this message in the evening, ' This night shall thy soul be required of thee.' 4. 'Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?' This is the question. It were somewhat if thou mightest perpetually enjoy them thyself, if thou couldst fetch down eternity to them : as those in the 49th Psalm, ' whose inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling-places to all generations : they call their lands after their own names.' But there is a quamdiu and a quousque. How long? Hab. ii 6, ' How long ? thou that loadest thyself vnih. thick clay !' How far ? Isa. xiv, 16, ' How far ? thou that madest the earth to tremble, and didst shake the kingdoms ! ' Here is a non idtra to both : thy power is confined, thy time is limited; both thy latitude and extension are briefed up; here is the period; a full stop in the midst of the sentence, I'm 'ierai, 'Whose shall those things be which thou hast provided V He that should read thy history, being ignorant of thy destin)^, and find so plentiful a happiness in the first page of the book ; — grounds so fertile, cattle so prospering, house so furnished, possibilities stroking thy hopes, hopes milking thy desires, desires dancing * Cicero de Senectute. 136 THE COSMOPOLITE. [SeKMON XXXIV. to the tune of thy pleasures; promises of larger barns, more opulent fruits; and all this with ease, yea, ^vith heart's-ease : ' Soul, be merry / — and coming now to the end of the page, but not of the sentence, turning over a new leaf, thinldng there to read the maturity and perfection of all, should find a blank, an abrupt period, an unlooked-for stop, would surely imagine that either destiny was mistaken, or else some leaves were torn out of the book. Such a Cnjus erunt hcec omnia would bo a terrible dash in a story of happiness so fairly written, and promising so good an epilogue. But here is his end, you must read him no further : ' He whom you have seen this day, you shall see him again no more for ever,' Exod. xiv. 13. ' Whose shall these things be,' O worldling 1 Were thy grounds as Eden, and thy house like the court of Je- hoialdm, yet ' dost thou think to reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar V Jer. xxii. 15. No; Advenit finis tuus, — Thy end is come; ' whose shall these things be?' It were something yet if thy children might enjoy these riches. But there is a man that 'hath no child, yet is there no end of his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with wealth; and he saith not, For whom do I travail, and bereave my soul of this good?' Eccles. iv. 8. The prodigal would be his own heir and executor; but this covetous man bequeaths neither legacy to himself, nor to any known inheritor. The other desires to see an end of all his substance ; this man to see only the beginning. He hunts the world fall cry, yet hath no purpose to overtake it ; he lives behind his wealth, as the other lives beyond it. But suppose he hath children, and then though he famish himself to feed them fat ; though he be damned, yet if his son be made a gentleman, there is some satisfaction. But this Cujits erunt is a scattering word, and of great uncertamty. ' Whose shall they be V Perhaps not thy children's. They say, ' Happy is that son whose father goes to the devil,' but thou mayest go to the devil, and yet not make thy son happy. For men make heritages, but God makes heirs. He will wash away the un- holy seed, and cut off the generation of the wicked. Solomon had a thousand wives and concubines, and consequently many children ; yet at last he wants one of his ' seed to sit upon the throne of David, or to bear rule in Judah ;' and St Luke derives Christ from Nathan the younger brother, Luke iii. 31. For thus saith God of Jechoniah, whom he calls Coniah,* cutting short at once his name, his Ufe, his hope of posterity : ' Write this man childless,' Jer. xxii. 30. It often so foils out, that to a man exceeding wealthy is denied a successor of his own loins. Let him have children, he is not sure those children shall possess his riches. ' But those riches perish by evU travail ; and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand,' Eccles. v. 14. A scatterer succeeds a gatherer • avari hcens dissipans ; the father loved the world too well, and the son cares not for it. The sire was all for the rake, and the son is aU for the pitchfork. So, ' whose shall all these be?' Even his that will one day pity the poor. He will love the poor so well, that he will not rest till he be poor with them for company. ' This is the portion of the wicked, and the heritage which the oppressors shaU receive of the Almighty. If then* chil- dren be multiplied, it is for the sword ; and their offspring shall not be satis- fied with bread,' Job xxvii. 13, 14. Children are a great plea for covctousness, for oppression. Art thou covet- ous because thou hast children? Remember to make Christ one of thy children. If thou hast one, make him the second ; if two, make him the third ; if three, the fourth : how many soever thou hast, let Christ be one ; let the poor have a child's part. This is the way to get a blessing to all the * See Vol. I., p. 295.— Ed. Luke XII. 20.] the cosmopolite. 137 rest. When Christ is made a brother to thy children, and hath a legacy bequeathed him, he will bless the portions of the other. ' The seed of the righteous shall not beg their bread,' Ps. xxxvii 26. It is a sweet verse of the psalm, worthy of observation, as it is full of comfort : ' The good man is ever merciful, and lendeth, and his seed is blessed.' The world thinks the more a man givetli away, the less should be left to his cliildren ; but the Lord witnesseth otherwise : let a man lend to the borrower, give to the beggar, be merciful to the distressed, and this is the way to make his seed blessed. Charitable works do not hinder the children's wealth, but further it : what thou givest to the poor, will be a sure undecaying portion to thy posterity. DupUcatuvi ei'it filiis justi, quod Justus dedit Jiliis Dei, — God "vvill double that to thy children which thou hast given to his children. Men flatter themselves, and cozen their consciences, with a tolerableness of usury, when moneys be put out for their children's stocks. Alas ! saith a man, I can leave my children but a little ; but by that they come to age of discre- tion to use it, it will be jollily increased. I may be quickly gone, and when I am dead, they have no skill to employ it ; I will therefore safe-bind it for them, by good bonds with allowance of interest. God often in the Scriptures hath promised to be a father of the fatherless^ and to provide for those whom the parents' faith have left to his protection. By this promise did Christ commend himself to his disciples : ' I will rtbt leave you orphans,' John xiv. 18 ; we translate it, ' comfortless,' the original is ' orphans,' or fatherless children. ' The Lord relieveth the fatherless, and the widow,' Ps. cxlvi. 9. You may read, 2 Kings iv., that God would work a miracle rather than a poor widow, with her two fatherless children, should want. Hath God made himself their guardian, and must their means be secured by usurious contracts 1 Surely God hath just reason to take this the most unkindly of all the rest. Leave not thy children the inheritance of thy sin, turn not the providence of God from them by iniquity, who hath, promised to protect them, if committed to him. Lo the wit of a worldly man ! He takes thought to make his children rich, and yet takes the only course to undo them. No casualty shall fall upon their stocks, (so they plot,) by any act of God or man ; but here certain loss falls presently upon their souls, and a final ruin shall impartially at last consume their estates. For God will blast the stocks and branches, that are planted in the moorish and muddy ground of usury. The dependence on God is abandoned, and how justly may the Lord forsake them that forsake him ! Neither is this- sin only damnable to the parents, but also dangerous to the children ; who are by this means dyed in the very wool of their youth with the scarlet wickedness of usury. There was a devil whom the disciples of Christ could not cast out ; and when Christ expeUed him, the spirit ' tare the man, and he fell on the ground wallowing and foaming,' Mark ix. 21. Christ then asked, ' How long is it ago suice this came unto him?' To which the father answered, ' Of a child.' If usury be hardly thrown out of the affections, the wonder is little, seeing that devil liath possessed him ' of a child.' The new mortar, wherein garlic hath been stamped, will not a great while lose the smell. It is a fear- ful advantage that thou givest Satan over thy children, when thou bringest them up in the trade of oppression. Thy depopulations pull down the country, that thou maycst biuld up thy posterity. Which way canst thou turn thine eyes from beholding the infatu- ation of such hopes 1 One generation is thus raised up high, and the next comes down as low, even to contempt and beggary. 138 THE COSMOPOLITE. [SeRMON XXXIV. But perhaps if thou hast no children, yet thou hast a brother. ' There is one alone, and there is not a second ; jea, he hath neither child nor brother : yet is there no end of his labour,' Eccles. iv. 8. Say thou hast a brother, yet is not Christ, thy brother in heaven, dearer to thee than any son of thy mother ? Is not he that hath adopted thee co-heir to his eternal purchase, an inheritance of glory, worthy of some part of thy earthly possessions? Never brother did so much for thee as he hath done. Nature made a man thy brother in thy parents' blood ; he made thee his l)rother by Ms own blood. Remember then his needy brethren, and in him thine. He is near- est in blood that is dearest in good ; but if thou hast any faith, none did thee ever so much good as Christ.- And to take away all plea from the heart of uncharitableness, Christ calls the poor his brethren, affirms their re- lievers blessed, and invites them to an everlasting kingdom : ' Inasmuch as ye have done it to the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me,' Matt. XXV. 40. But thou hast a brother in the flesh ! Wilt thou therefore covet, extort, oppress, and so go to hell for thy brother ? It is iU done in any to divert amorem fratris, in odium sui, — the love of his brother into hate against himself. Yet is not this all ; but when thou hast purposed most for thy brother, God shall disappoint him of all. ' Whose shall these things be V No, not thy brother's. ' To the sinner the Lord gives travail, to gather an*d to heap up,' Eccles. ii. 26 ; but at last he bestows that heap of treasure upon ' him that is good before God.' Thou bequeathest it to thy brother, but God disposeth it to his children. But thou hast no brother, yet thou hast kindred and friends ; and to help thy cousms to wealth, thou wilt cozen thy own soul ! Alas ! it is a mystery of knowledge to discern friends, * Wealth maketh many friends,' Prov. xix. 4 ; they are friends to the wealth, not to the wealthy. They regard not quails sis, but quantus, — not how good thou art, but how great. They admire thee to thy face, but inwardly consider thee only as a necessary e'vil, yea, a necessary devil ; and when thou diest, are ready to sing thy soul a Dirige to hell. If thine eyes be ever opened, thou wilt hate such suborners of bastard thoughts to thy heart ; as a recovered man, having drunk a loathsome potion in his sickness, doth ever after hate the very cruse it was brought him in. But say thy friends stick truer to thee, and one holds thy aching head, another runs for physic, a third, by helping thee to change sides, seeks to mitigate thy pains ; yet still thou complainest of un- remedied torments. Oh, then, hadst thou not better make the God of com- fort thy friend, who would neither be wanting in his presence, nor scanting in his consolations ? Worldly friends are but like hot water, that when cold weather comes, are soonest frozen. Like cuckoos, all summer they will sing a scurvy note to thee, but they are gone in July at furthest : sure enough before the fall. They flatter a rich man, as we feed beasts, till he be fat, and then feed on him. A true friend reproves thee erring, though perhaps not suddenly. Iron is first heated, then beaten : first let him be heated with due and deserved jjraise for his good, then cool and work him with reprehension for his evil ; as nurses, when their children are fallen, first take them up, and speak them fair, and chide or correct them afterwards. These friends love not thy soul's good, but thy body's goods ; let them not carry away thy heart from Christ. But if thou so resolvest that these friends shall enjoy thy riches, yet God saith, Cujus erunt, ' Whose shall they be?' Thy kindred or friends sbaU not eat the grapes of thy planted vineyard; no, 'a stranger shall cat thereof.' 'God giveth not thee power to eat thereof;' no, nor him thou desirest; 'but a stranger eateth it,' Eccles. vi. 2. Dabitur digniori, it shall be given to I Luke XII. 20.] the cosmopolite. 139 one good in God's sight ; perhaps to such a man's posterity whom thou now scorncst. The ' wicked heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay. They may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver,' Job sxvii. 17. Now see thy folly, O covetous churl, whose desires were all set on a nun- quam satis: 'Whose shall those things be?' Not whom thou choosest, but whom God appointeth. Thy children are God's charge, if thou wilt faithfully trust him with them : otherwise, couldst thou bind thy lands, and bequeath thy goods; settle thy whole estate so sure as cither strength of law or wit of lawyers can devise ; yet Cujiis erunt, — ' Whose shall these things be?' Lo, now thou hast enough; thy head aches, thy conscience pricks, death requires thy body, Satan thy soul. Couldst thou not wish that thy barns had been less, and thy charity more? that as God blessed thy store, so thou hadst returned some liberal testimony of thankfulness to his church and poor again? Especially', when neither thyself nor thy assignees shall enjoy these things. ' Whose shall they be?' All these particulars surveyed give the covetous cosmopolite three brands. He is branded in his soid, in his riches, in his good name. In his soul : ' Thy soul shall be fetched away.' In his riches : ' Whose shall these things be which thou hast provided?' In his name- 'Thou fool.' '\Vhercupon we may justly infer this conclusion as the sum of all: that abundant wealth can bring no good either to soul, body, or name. Man is said to have three lives: spiritual, corporal, and civil, as the lawj^ers caU it — the life of his good name. Neither to this, nor to the life of his soul or body, can multi- tude of riches confer any good. This text shall prove it in all the par- ticulars : — 1. To the soul can opulency procure no benefit. All Christians know that good for the soul is the passion and merits of Christ : faith to appre- hend these; repentance to mortify sins; sanctifi cation to give us celestial lives ; and salvation to glorify our persons. Bat can any of these be bought with money ? ' Thou and thy money perish together, that thinkest the gifts of God may be purchased with money,' Acts viiL 20. God will not barter away his graces (as the Indians their gold) for thy gauds and rattles. He will not take the mortgage of a lordshiji for the debt thou owest him. The smoke of thy sacrifice smells never the sweeter because thou art clothed in sUks, or canst sit down to tell thy Michaelmas thousands. Thy adulteries cannot be commuted for in heaven, nor thy usuries be ansvrered by a fine before the tribunal of the Highest. Thou mayest as soon and easily mount up to heaven with wings of lead as by fcathei's of wealth. Indeed, they can do a man as much good in distress of conscience, as to have his head bound with a wet cloth in a cold morning can cure the headache. If wealth could keep a man from hell, how few rich men would 1)C damned ! But ho is not mnctior qui ditiov ; nor is salvation vendible to a full purse. The doctrine of Rome may affirm it ; but the decree of God will not afford it. This cos- mopolite had barns and bars, but these cannot hedge in his soul; that is 'required.' 2. To the hody perhaps there is some more expectation of good, but no more success. Thou art angiiished : will thy wealth purchase health? Sleep is denied thy senses, and after many changed sides and places, thou canst find no rest : go now, emjity thy cofiers, and try what slumber the charms and chimes of gold can ring thee. Thy stomach loathes meat : all thy riches are not sufficient sauce to get thee an appetite. Couldst thou drink Cleo- patra's draught, it will not ease thy headache! The physician will take thy 140 THE COSMOPOLITE. [SeKMOIT XXXIV. money, and give tliee physic; but what 2)hysic will give thee infallible health? But the rich man hath a fire, when the poor sits cold; the rich a harbour, attendance, and delicate provision, when the poor wants both house and home, meat and money, garments and company. For though riches gather many friends, ' the poor is separated from his neighbours,' Prov. xix. 4. No part of my sermon hath denied but the competency of these earthly things is a blessing ; neither dare I infer that the want of these is a curse ; for the best have wanted them, not the Saviour of men himself excepted. But what is this to abundance? Is not he as warm that goes in russet as another that rustles and ruffles in his sillis? Hath not the poor labourer as sound a sleep on his flock-bed or pad of straw as the epicure on his down-bed, with his rich curtains and coverings ? Doth not quiet lie oftener in cottages than in glorious manors ? ' The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep,' Eccles. v, 12. And for a good appetite, we see the toiling servant feed savourly of one homely dish, when his surfeited master looks loathingly on his far-fetched and dearly-bought dainties : sitting down to his second meal in a cjuandary whether he should eat of his best dish or nothing ; his stomach being such a coward, that it dares not fight with a chicken. This gentleman envies the happiness of his poor hind, and would be content to change states with him, upon condition he might change stomachs. It is not then the plenitude, but competency of these things, that affords even the rich content. >So that a man's estate should be Hke his garment, rather fit than long; for too much troubles him, and the satiety of these earthly riches doth rather kill than conserve the body. 3. The name perhaps hath some hope of luxurious share in this abundance, and thinks to be swelled into a Colossus, over- straddling the world. Indeed, here is the centre ; for, I persuade myself, few worldlings can propound to themselves any well-grounded expectation of good to their souls, or help to their bodies, by their accumulation of treasures. Only in his nomen potius (juam 0171671 quceritur, — there is more hope of a great name than of good content. And now for the name ; what is the event? Come his riches ill; his credit is the commons' curse. Populus sihilat, the world rails at him living; and when he dies, no man says. It is pity; but. It is pity he died no sooner. ' They shall not lament for him with. Ah lord ! or, Ah his glory!' Jer. xxii. 18; but 'he shall be buried with the burial of an ass,' ver. 19, that hath lived the life of a wolf His glorious tomb, erected by his enriched heir, shall be saluted with execrations ; and the passengers by wiU say, 'Here lies the devil's promoter.' Come his wealth well; yet what is credit, or how may we define a good name ? Is it to have a pageant of cringes and faces acted to a taffety jacket ? To be followed by a world of hang-byes, and hooted at by the reeling multitude, like a bird of paradise, stuck full of pied feathers? To be daubed over with court-mortar, flattery; and set up as a butt for whores, panders, drunkards, cheaters, to shoot their commendations at? To be licked with a sycophant's rankhng tongue; and to have poor men crouch to him, as little dogs use to a great mastiff' ? Is this a good name? Is this credit? Indeed these thmgs may give him a great sound : as the clapper doth to a bell, makes it have a great sound, but the bell is hollow. They are empty gulls, whose credit is nothing else but a great noise, forced by these lewd clappers. A rich worldling is like a great cannon, and flatterers' praises are the powder that charge him ; whereupon he takes fire, and makes a great report ; but instantly goes off, goes out in Luke XII. 20.] the cosmopolite. 141 stench. He may think himself the better ; but no -n-ise man, no good man doth ; and the f;iuie that is derived from fools is infamy. That which I take to be a good name is this : Laudari a laude dujnis;'''' to be well esteemed of in Christian hearts ; to find reverence in good men's souls. Bonum est laudari, sed 2^Taistat esse laudahilem, — It is a good thinaj to be praised, but it is a better to be praiseworthy. It is well that good men commend thee in their consciences, but it is better when thy good con- science can commend thee in itself. Happy is he whose ' ovm heart doth not condemn him,' 1 John iil 21. This credit wealth cannot procure, but grace ; not goods, but goodness. The poorest man serving God with a fixith- ful heart, finds this aj^probation in sanctified afibctions, when golden asses go without it. I confess, many rich men have had this credit, but they will never thank their riches for it. Their greatness never helped them to this name, but their goodness. They have honoured the Lord, and those the Lord hath promised that he will honour. So that all the reputation which wealth can procure a man in God's judgment is but ' Thou fool.' In that parabolical history, Luke xvi., mention is made of a ' rich man,' but none of his name ; as if it were unworthy to stand in the Lord's book. Here is all the credit of the wicked : their ' very memory shall rot,' and their great name shall either not be remembered, or remembered with detestation. Lo now the benefit of worldly wealth, and the brands which disfigure the soul, body, name, of covetous men. For his reputation, folly challengeth it; for his riches, uncertainty devours it ; for his soul, Satan claims it. He is gone in all respects ; and now there is nothing left of him, but his infamy in the thoughts of men, his goods in the keeping of the world, his body in the prison of the grave, and his soul in the hand of heU. Ahiit, he is gone; a tempest hath stole him away in the night. Saith Job, ' The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered : he openeth his eyes, and he is not,' chap, xxvii. 19. Therefore it is said, Luke xvi. 19, ' There was a certain rich man : ' Erat, non est,f ' There was,' there is not, he is now gone. ' I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he is not : yea, I sought him, but he could not be found,' Ps. xxxvii. 36. To conclude : it may be yet objected, that though much wealth can pro- cure to soul, body, or name, no good ; yet it may be an antidote to prevent some evil, or a medicine to rid them all of some malady. The insufiiciency of such a promise in riches is punctually also confuted in this text. For neither the rich man's soul, body, nor estate is secured by his abundance. Infernal spirits fetch his soul ; temporal men possess his wealth ; eternal censures blast his good name ; and the worms prey upon his carcase. What evil then can riches either prevent or remove from man ? 1. Not from the soul; all evil to this is cithcv pounce or culpa3 ; of sin, or of punishment for sin. For sin. What xica is evacuated by riches 1 Is the wealthy man hum- bled by his abundance. No, he is rather swelled into a frothy pride , con- ceiting hunself more than he is, or at least imagining that he is either rig or 6, the man or somehodij. And as pride is radix ovinis peccati, the root of all sin, so riches is the root of pride. Diviiianim vermis siqjerbia, saith St Augustine. When the sun of prosperity heats the dunghill of riches, there is engendered the snake of pride. Wealth is but a quill, to blow up the bladder of high-mindedness. St Paul knew this inseparable consequence, when he charged Timothy to * charge them that are rich in this world, that * Sen. Ep. 102. t Chrysost. 142 THE COSMOPOLITE. [SeKMOK XXXIV. tliey be not tigli-miuded,' 1 Tim, vi. 17. And do we think that the heat of malice will be slaked by riches 1 No, it is fired rather into combustion ; and now bm'sts forth into a flame, what before was forced to lie suppressed in the embers of the heart. Is any man the more continent for his abundance t No ; Stat qucevis multo meretrix mercahilis auro, — ^Whores are led to heU with golden threads. Kiches is a warm nest, where lust securely sits to hatch all her unclean brood. From fulness of bread, the Sodomites fall to mmatural Avantonness. Geres et Liber liinguefaciunt Venerem. Oppression is not abated by multiplication of riches ; but rather longiorem et raagis strenuam reddit manum, — gives it a longer and stronger arm. For as the poor cannot withstand, so the rich will not restrain, the tyranny of great oppressors. ' They covet fields, and take them by violence,' Micah ii. 2. How 1 ' Because their hand hath power,' For punishment. What security is in money. Doth the devU balk a lordly house, as if he were afraid to come in 1 Dares he not tempt a rich man to lewdness 1 Let experience witness whether he dares not bring the highest gaUant both to sin and shame. Let his food be never so delicate, he will be a gTiest at his table; and perhaps thrust in one dish to his feast — drunken- ness. Be his attendance never so complete, yet Satan will wait on him too. Wealth is no charm to conjure away the devil; such an amulet and the Pope's holy-water are both of a force. Inward vexations forbear not their stings in vcwe. of riches. An evil conscience dares perplex a Saul in his throne, and a Judas with his purse full of money. Can a silken sleeve keep a broken arm from aching 1 Then may full barns keep an evil conscience from vexing. And doth hell-fire favour the rich man's limbs more than the poor's % Hath he any servant there to fan cold air upon his tormented joints 1 Nay, the nameless Dives goes from soft linen to sheets of fire ; from purple robes to flames of the same colour, purple flames ; from deli- cate morsels to want a drop of water. Herod, though a king on earth, when he comes to that smoky vault, hath not a cushion to sit on, more than the meanest parasite in his court. So poor a defence are they for an op- pressed soul. 2. Nor from the body can riches remove any plague. The lightning from heaven may consume us, though we be clad in gold ; the vapours of earth choke us, though perfumes are still in our nostrils ; and poison burst us, though we have the most virtual antidotes. What judgment is the poor subject to, from which the rich is exempted ? Their feet do as soon stumble, and their bones are as quickly broken. Consumptions, fevers, gouts, dropsies, pleurisies, palsies, surfeits, are household guests in rich men's families, and but mere strangers hi cottages. They are the effects of superfluous fare and idleness ; and keep their ordinary at rich men's tables. Anguish lies oftener on a down-bed than on a pallet ; diseases wait upon luxury as close as luxury upon wealth. These frogs dare leap into King Pharaoh's chamber, and forbear not the most sumptuous palace. But money can buy medicines : yet, what sick man would not wish that he had no money, on condition that he had no malady ! Labour and moderate diet are the poor man's friends, and presence him from the acquaintance of Master Doctor, or the surfeited bills of his apothecary. Though our Avorld- ling here promiseth out of his abundance, meat, drink, and mirth ; yet his body grows sick, and his soul sad : he was before careless, and he is now cureless ; all his wealth camiot retain his health, when God will take it away. 3. But what shall we say to the estate ? Evils to that are poverty, hunger. Luke XII. 20.] the cosmopolite. 1 43 thirst, weariness, servility. We hope wealth can stop the invasion of these miseries. jSTothiug less : it rather mounts a man, as a wrestler does his com- batant, that it may give him the greater fall. Riches are but a shield of wax agaiust a sword of power. The larger state, the fairest mark for mis- fortune to shoot at. Eagles catch not after flics ; nor will the Hercules of ambition lift up his club but against these giants. There is not in poverty that matter for a great man's covetous fire to work upon. If Naboth had had no vineyard to prejudice the command of xVhab's lordship, he had saved both his peace and life. Violent winds blow through a hollow willow, or over a poor shrub, and let them stand, whiles they rend a-pieces oaks and great cedars, that oppose theh great bodies to the furious blasts. The tem- pests of oppressing power meddle not with the contemptible quiet of poor labourers, but shake up rich men by the very roots ; that their blasted for- tunes may be fit timber for their own buildmg. Who stands so like an eyesore in the tyrannous sight of ambition as the wealthy 1 Imprisonment, restraint, banishment, confiscation, fining, and confining are greatness's in- telligencers ; instruments and stairs to climb up by into rich men's posses- sions. Superabundant wealth hath four hindrances from doing good to the estate : — (1.) God usually punishcth our over-loving of riches vnth. their loss. He thinks them unworthy to be rivals with himself; for all height and strength of love is his due. >So that the ready way to lose wealth is to love it. Et delectatio j^erdet. (2.) The greatness of state, or of affection to it, opens the way to rum. A full and large sail gives vantage to a tempest : this pulled down, the danger of the gust, and of shipwreck by it, is eluded ; and it passeth by ■\\itli only waves roaring, as if it was angry for being thus prevented. He that walks on plain ground either doth not fall, or riseth again Avith little hurt. He that climbs high towers is more in danger of fiilHng, and if he fall, of breaking his neck. (3.) We see the most rich worldlings live the most miserably, slaved to that Avealth whereof they keep the key under their girdles. Esu riant iiijjo- pina, as Ave say, — they starve in a cook's shop. A man would think, that if Avealth could clo any good, it could surely do this good, keep the OAvner from Avant, hunger, sorrow, care. No, even these batIs riches do not avoid, but rather force on him. Whereof is a man covetous but of riches 1 AVhen these riches come, you think he is cured of his covetousuess : no, he is more covetous ; though the desires of his muid be granted, yet this precludes not the access of new desires to his mind. So a man might strive to extinguish the lamp by putting oil into it, but this makes it burn more. And as it is with some, that thirstily drink harish and ill-brewed drinks, have not their heat hereby allayed, but inflamed ; so this worldling's hot eagerness of riches is not cooled, but fired by his abundance. (4.) That which makes a man easy to hit, makes also his Avound grievous. The poet'- tells us, that AA'hen Codrus's house burns, (a little cottage m the forest,) he stands by and Avarms himself at the flame : he knoAvs that a few sticks, straw, and clay, with a little labour, can rebuild him as good a taber- nacle. But if this accident light upon the usurer's house, distraction seLzeth him Avithal : he cries out of this chamber, and that chest, of his closet and cabinet, of his bonds and mortgages, money and plate ; and is so much the more impatient as he had more to lose. In a word, here is all the difference betwixt the rich and the poor : the poor * Juve., Sat. 4. 1 44 THE COSMOPOLITE. [SeRMON XXXIV. man would be rich wliiles he lives, and the rich would be poor when he dies. For it is small grief to leave hunger, cold, distress, bondage, hard lodging, and harder fare ; but to forsake full barns, full purses, music, wine, junkets, soft beds, beauteous women, and these lust-tickling delights, aaid to go with death to the land of forgetfulness, this is the terror. I end, then, as Paul concludes his counsel to rich men : ' Lay up for yourselves a good foundation against the time to come, that you may lay hold on eternal life,' } Tim. vi. 19. THE FIEE OF CONTENTION: OB, THE TEOUBLE THAT FOLLOWS THE GOSPEL. 7 come to send fire on the earth ; and tvhat ivill I, if it be already hindUd 7 Luke XII. 49. Before I run upon division, (and yet division is the subject of my text, and for method's sake I must use some division in my discourse,) I must let you understand what this fire is that is sent, and how innocent our Saviour is that sendeth it. 1. There may be dissension betwixt the good and the good ; and hereof is the devil the author. It is the enemy that sows those tares. This is one of the abominations that the Lord ahhorreth : ' A false witness that speaketh lies, and him that soweth discord among brethren,' Pro v. vi. 19. God is never the immediate cause of that which he abominates. ' If any seem to lie contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God,' 1 Cor. xi. 16. To clear Christ and his gospel from causing this, the tenor of all Scriptures admonisheth us with St Peter : ' Be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous,' 1 Pet. iii. 8, Unity is the badge of Christianity : we are all the members of one body. * The eye cannot say to the hands, I have no need of you,' kc, 1 Cor. xii. We are all stones of one building, therefore must not jar one with another, lest we ruin the whole house. Christ saith, that ' a kingdom divided cannot stand.' The soldiers would not divide the unseamed coat of Christ ; far be it from us to rend his body. There are three grounds of love : vktue, plea- sure, profit. Virtue all consent to be tlie surest and best. That then which is grounded on the best virtue is the best unity; and this is faith. Love issuing from fiiith is a bond able to tic God to man, man to God ; and therefore man to man. This knot is tied so fast, that the powers of hell cannot undo it. All other unities but the communion of saints may be broken. There is no peace so indissoluble as the peace of fiiith. So, contrarily, there is no contention so violent and raging as that is inflamed by erroneous VOL. u. K 146 THE FIEE OF CONTENTION [SeRMON XXXV. religion. Cyprian writes of Novatus,'"' tlirit lie would not so much as allow his own father bread whiles he lived, nor vouchsafe him burial being dead ; that he spurned his own wife, and kiUcd his own child within her body. Oh, the unmatchable cruelty that some men's religion (if I may so call it) hath embloodied them to ! What treasons, conspiracies, massacres, did or durst ever shew their black faces in the light of the sun like to those of Papists, aU vizarded under pretended religion ! The Pope hath a canon, called JS^os sanctorum 2yredecessorum, &c., — ' We, observing the statutes of our holy pre- decessors, do absolve those that are bound by fidelity and oath to persons excommunicated, from their oaths ; and do forbid them to keep their fealty towards them, quousque ipsi ad satisf actionem veniant, till they come to yield satisfaction.' What malicious stratagems against suspended princes have not. been kindled from this fire ? Against what nation hath not this cannon shot its fury ? Yea, the more to embolden subjects to such pernicious attempts^ the Pope makes them beUeve that the very apostles take their parts. For so it is manifest by the form of Gregory's sentence, that he commandeth St Peter and St Paul, as if they were his bailifi"s-errant, to execute the writs of his pontifical and privative authority. Malice in humour is like fire in straw, quickly up and quickly out ; but taking hold of conscience, like fire in steel : quod tarde acquisivit, diu retinet, — what was long in getting will be longer in keeping. Eehgion is the greatest enemy to religion ; the false to the true. Favos etiam vesjKefaciunt.-t Wasps also make combs, though instead of honey we find gunpowder. Of dissension among professors of the gospel, Christ is not author ; he never gave fire to burn his church. Yet he hath his hand in it. ' There must be heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest,' 1 Cor. xi. 19, He draws good out of evil, and makes a good shall of the evil must; so raising a virtue from a necessity. From contentions begot by Satan, he so sweetly works that the profession of his children, but darkly glowing before, shall be made to shine brightly. In Queen Mary's time, when persecution ■wrung the church, martyrdom gave a manifest approbation of many unknowai saints. The virtues of divers had been less noted if this fiery trial had not put them to it. God's glory and power are more perspi- ■cuous in strengthening his against their enemies than if they had none. Christ came not to send this fire, yet he wisely tempers it to our good. 2. There may be dissension betwixt the wicked and the wicked ; and hereof also is Satan author. He sets his own together by the ears, like cocks of the game, to make him sport. Hereupon he raised these great heathen wars, that in them millions of souls might go down to people his lower kingdom. Hereupon he draws rufiian into the field agamst rufiian, and then laughs at their vamly spilt blood. All the contentions, quarrels, whereby one evil neighbour vexeth another, all slanders, scoldings, reproaches, calum- nies, are his own damned fires. Thus sometimes the ungodly massacre the ungodly, oppressors devour oppressors. ' I wiU set the Egyptians against the Egyptians : and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour ; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom,' Isa. xix. 2. The Pharisees against the Sadducees, the Turk against the Pope, the transgressor against transgressor. Covetousness shall be against prodigality, baseness against pride, temerity against dastardy. The drunk- ard spills the drunkard, the thief robs the thief, — proditoris prodito); — the traitor shall be betrayed, and the cozener shall be cheated. ' They shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm ; Manasseh, Ephraim ; and Ephraim, * Lib. ii., ep. 8. t Tertul. Luke XII. 49.] the fire of contention. 147 Manasseh,' Isa. ix. 21. It is unpossible that any true peace should be amongst the wicked, whiles they want the solder that should glue them toge- ther — fiiith. Agreement in evil is not peace, but conspiracy. "Wicked men's combining themselves may be a faction, no unity, no amity ; so they have but metum et noxam conscientice pro foedere, — terror and guilt of con- science for their league. But some may question, Doth not Satan, in settiug reprobates agamst reprobates, overthrow his own kmgdom 1 I answer — (1.) The devU is politic, and will not divide his subjects, when by their holding together he may divide the church. So the Pharisees, though they hate the Sadducees, and the Herodians, that despise them both, shall all join forces, shake and take hands against Christ, Matt. xxii. 16, 23. Papists are enemies to truth, schismatics to peace ; yet both to the church : which suf- fers, as her Saviour did, m medio inimicoriim, in the midst of adversaries, not only to her now, but at other times also to themselves. Herod and Pilate were of reconciled* enemies reconciled friends, that their united ran- cours might meet against Jesus. The Jews and the Lystrians, so diversely religioned, the devil can make agree to stone Paul, Acts xiv. 19. Thus Satan holds them under colours and pay, whiles they can do him any ser- vice ; but when they can no longer vex others, he falls to vexing of them ; and enrageth their thirst to one another's blood, when they have done c^uaff- ing the blood of the saints. (2.) The devil, in raising seditions and tumults among his own, intends not the destruction but erection of his kingdom. Perhaps his forces on earth are weakened, but his territories in hell are replenished ; wherem he takes himself to reign most surely. For Satan, during a man's life, knows not certainly whether he belongs to God or to him. Predestination is too mystical and secret a book for his condemned eyes to look into ; and re- pentance hath often stepped in between old age and death, frustrating the hopes of Satan. Therefore he hastens a wicked man, wdth what speed he can, to hell ; for till he come within the smoky gates, Satan is not sure of him ; he may start out of his clutches. For this cause he precipitates witches with much suddenness to their ends : whom, one would think, he should let live, that they might do more mischief. No ; such is his mali- cious poKcy, he would be sure of some, and rather take one soid in pre- sent, than hazard all on the vain hope of more gains. 3. There is a dissension between the wicked and godly ; nor yet is Chiist the proper and immediate cause of this. For 'if it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with aU men,' Eom. xii. 18. 4. There is an emnity betwixt grace and wickedness, a continual combat between sanctity and sin ; and this is the fire Christ came to send. He is to some a living stone, whereupon they are built to life ; to others a stone of offence, whereat they stumble to death. Now, because the local seat of holiness on earth is in the hearts of the saints, of wickedness in the devil and his instruments, therefore it follows that the evil will persecute the good, and the good may not partake of the vices of the bad. ' What agreement hath the temple of God with idols ? Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing ; and I will receive you,' 2 Cor. vi. 16. Out of the Eg}'pt of this world hath God called his sons. We are forbidden all ' fellowship with the imfruitful works of darkness ; ' not altogether with the workers, ' for then we must needs go out of the world,' 1 Cor. v. 10. It is commanded, Jer. xv. 19, that 'the precious be separated from the vile ; ' yet so that they luay return to the * Qu. ' unreconciled ? '—Ed. 148 THE FIEE OF CONTEIy^TION. [SeKMOX XXX Y. good, tliougli the good may not turn to them. It is good for tlie good to sunder themselves from the incorrigible wicked, as being the first stair of the ladder that leaves the earth, and sets the first step of our journey to heaven. God in his eternal decree separated the elect from the reprobate ; in his vocation he sequesters them from corrupt nature and sin. Wlien he executes particular judgment, he takes Israel from the tabernacles of Korah ; when he will give the general, he will sever the sheep from the goats. Christ, then, who is the ' Prince of peace,' Isa. is. 6, causeth not quarrels between man and man, as they are creatures ; but betwixt goodness and evil, as they are contrary natures. That the sons of Belial hate the sons of God, Christ is not the cause, but the occasion. For when the gospel separates us from the world, the world then bends his malicious forces against us ; so that peace in sin, ver. 51, Christ came not to send, but peace of conscience : Phil. iv. 7, ' The peace of God, which passeth all understand- ing,' &;c. Which because the wicked will not embrace, therefore ' five in one house shall be divided : the father against the son, and the son against the father,' <fcc., ver. 52, 53. The gospel doth not otherwise work this divi- sion than the law is said to make sin, Piom. vii. 7, because it made sin known ; or the sun is said to cause motes, because it causeth their appear- ance. Let Paul continue a Pharisee, and the Pharisees will love him ; con- vert he to a Christian, and they wiU hate him. Whiles we live after the world, we have peace with the world, none with God ; when we are turned to Christ, we have peace with God, none with the world. This ground laid, we will consider, for the better exposition of the words, five circumstances: — 1. The fire; 2. The fuel; 3. The Idndlers; 4. The smoke; 5. The bellows. Wherein we shall find Christ's willing, and the firis kindling : who wills goodness to his chosen, which he is sure will enrage the wicked to their per- secution. The cause thus given, the fire is left to be kindled by others. For though non sine Deo patimur, yet non h Deo j)etimur. The instruments of our affliction will be found ungodly, who, though they plead. We have done the will of the Lord, shall go to hell for their labour. 1. The fire is discord, debate, contention, anger, and hatred against the godlj^ Every man is composed of four elemental humours, whereof one is choler, resembled to fire. In whom this choler is most adust and puissant, they are usually most hot, furious, fiery. But I speak here of nature ; for grace can alter nature, and purge this corruption. Regeneration is the best physic to purge choler. Many medicines hath philosophy prescribed against this spiritual disease, but in vain. The philosopher's servant could scoff his master : He inveighs against anger, writes volumes against it, et ipse viihi irascitur, — and yet he is angry with me. Only grace can, more than give rules, give power to master this madness. Fire and contention have some resemblances : — (1.) Debate is like fire; for as that of all elements, so this of aU passions, is most violent. The earth is huge, yet we walk quietly on it ; it suffers our ploughs to rend up the entrails of it, to teach us patience. The air is copious, yet admits our respiration. The waters boisterous. 3"et sail we upon them, against them. But fire, especially getting the upper hand, is unmer- cifully raging: it left nothing behind to witness the former happiness of Sodom. The world's last destruction shall be by fire, 2 Pet. iii. 12; and God useth that, of all elements, to express the very torments of hell, adding brimstone to it, Eev. xxi. 8. To this is the anger of God likened : ' Our God is even a consuming fire,' Heb. xii 29. So doth d'^'ace exceed all Luke XII. 49.] the fire of contention. 149 passions : floods of correction cannot quencli the turbulent spirit, wliicli is ' set on fire of hell,' James iii. G. Only one estreme may drive out another, as ^Y0 hold our burnt finger to the fire, by a new heat to extract the for- mer. So the fire of grace only must draw out the fire of debate. Matt, iii. 11, or send it to the everlasting fire to quench it, ver. 12. (2.) Contention is like fii'e, for both burn so long as there is any exustible matter to contend with. Only herein it transcends fire : for fire begets not matter, but consumes it; debate begets matter, but not consumes it. For the -uicked study causes of contention, as Benhadad did against Ahab, 1 Kings XX. So when the Pope could find no just exception against Frederick the emperor, he quarrelled with him for holding the wrong stirrup when the great prelate should mount his palfrey; and though he might easily mistake, for emperors are not used to hold stirrups, j^et he was per- secuted almost to excommunication for it. It is woeful dwelling amongst debateful men, whose souls hate peace ; that are aoToiyoi, ' without natural affection,' Piom. i. 13, — which Paul makes a reprobate's mark, — strildng all that stand in their way, and not ceasing to burn till all matter cease to feed them. Solomon describes such with a fiery comparison, Prov. xxvi. First, ver. 17, he calls liim a busy-body: 'He passe th by, and meddleth with strife not belonging to him;' he thrusts himself into impertinent business, and ' is like one that taketh a dog by the ears,' which he can neither hold nor well let go. Ver. 18, he notes his politic villany : 'As a madman who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, and saith, Am I not in sport ] ' he scattereth abroad mortal mischiefs under the colour of jests. And, ver. 20, lest the fire should go out, he administers fuel himself : ' Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out.' Ver. 21, vv-hen he hath kindled this flame, he strives to spread and di.3perse it, and is as ' coals to burning coals, and wood to the fire. The words of a tale-bearer are wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.' They penetrate and cruciate the most tender and sensible places. (3.) As a little spark grows to a great flame, so a small debate often proves a great rent. ' Behold how great a matter a little fire kiudleth ! ' James iii. 5. The wind, at first a small vapour, yet gets such strength in going, that it overturns trees and towers. 'A backbiting tongue hath pulled down strong cities, and overthrown the houses of great men,' Ecclus. xxviii. 14. War is compared to fire : Num. xxi. 28, ' A fire hath gone out of Heshbon, ;md a flame from the city of Sihon : it hath consumed Ar of iloab, and the lords of the high places of Aiiion.' But contention runs like wild-fii-e; so furious a pace, that nothing but blood can extinguish it. (4.) As fire is proverbially said to be an ill master, but a good servant : so anger, where it is a lord of rule, is a lord of misrule ; but where it is sub- dued to reason, or rather sanctified by grace, it is a good servant. That anger is holy that is zealous for the glory of God. Thus is division a raging fire, and able, whether it take hold of civility or religion, of burse or church, to overthrow the common good of both. For civility, the breaking of relatives is the ruin of substantives. We staiid not of ourselves, but upon reference. Want of justice in magistrates, of instruction in governors, of obedience in subjects, of charity in neighbours, destroys the commonwealth. Some gather thus much from the fifth com- mandment, by good consequence : ' Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.' For if princes rule well, and subjects obey well; if masters command right, and servants do right; if parents infitruct children in the fear of God, and 150 THE FIRE OF CONTENTION. [SeRMON XXXV. children obey parents in that fear, this happy harmony shall preserve the land. If this relation and reciprocal duty be neglected, all runs to ruin, and the blessing of long life shall be withdrawn. For it is not fit they should have long life that rebel against those from whom they had, and by whom they hold, their life. Begin with the least ascendantly. The overthrow of a house is division. When the husband and wife draw not evenly in the j'oke, — when the one brings fire, and the other hath no water to quench it, — when the children are refractory, the servants wasters, there must needs be a decay of this family. Whereof consists a city but of many households ? If the particu- lars be ruinated, what will become of the general 1 When the members are gone, where is the body? If the magistrates are unjust, the people disobe- dient ; if one profession quarrel with another, and deny mutualitj^, — the head refusing to give guidance, the eyes their sight, the feet to walk, the hands to work, — the body of that city dissolves. The dissolution of cities and towns must needs ruin the kingdom. When the members fell out with the stomach, that it devoured all and took no pains, hereon the eye would not see for it, nor the hand work for it, nor the foot walk for it, &c. ; so the stomach wanting meat, the eyes, hands, feet, and ail members, faint and lan- guish. Tributes and subsidies are but the dues and duties of the members to the prince; who, as the stomach, returns all to their welfare and benefit. Dissension in religion doth no less hurt, doth more. It divides a house : here, ver. 52, ' Five in one house shall be divided : two against three, and three against two.' And, Matt. x. 36, ' A man's foes shall be they of his own household.' It divides a city : how many cities have been destroyed by their own mutinous distractions, whom foreign invasions could not subdue ! It divides a kingdom : whereof France hath long been a bleeding witness ; neither hath England been insensible. ' Ac velut in magno populo, cum scepe coorta est Seditio, sjevitque aniinis ignobile vulgus : Jamque faces et saxa volant, furor anna ministrat.' * It overthrows propinquity : the mutual succour of lending, borrowing, giving, relieving, is lost. Yea, it overturns nature itself, setting ' children at variance against their own parents,' Matt. x. 35. There are three very near: superior, equal, inferior — parent, wife, children; yet we must sej^arate from them, rather than fi'om Jesus Christ, ver. 37. Yea, it is enough to extirpate all : regem, legem, gregem, — prince, law, and people. No Avonder, then, if the busy devil seeks so studiously to kindle this fire. So Eusebius observes :t. The suljtle serpent, when persecutions gave the church breathing space, bt gan to vex her with her own divisions. 2. The/»eZ whereon this fire works is the good profession of the godly. So the rulers against Daniel, in ccmsa Dei sui, chap. vi. 4, — because of his religion. Ps. lix. 3, ' The mighty are gathered against me, not for my trans- gression, nor for my sin, Lord.' They persecute us, not because they find evil in us, but because they cannot fmd evil in us. ' They run and pre- pare themselves against me, without my fault.' Without fault ? It is fault enough in their judgment because we serve the Lord. ' They speak evil of us, because we run not with them to the same excess of riot,' 1 Pet. iv. 4. If we will not communicate with their vicious customs, we shall suffer imder their raging cruelties. Against Israel, yea, because it is Israel, do they con- sult : ' Come, let us cut off them from being a nation ; that the name of Israel * Virgil ; JEn. i. + Eccles. Hist. Luke XII. 49.] the fiee or contention. 151 may be no more in remembrance,' Ps. Ixxxiii, 4. For this cause was tlio Babylonian fire kindled against those three servants of God ; and the same cause moved mystical Babylon to burn our martyrs in England. If they would have turned to idols and images, the fire had been put out. We would not, could not, yield to their superstitions, therefore the fire burned. But that which is the occasion of evil cannot be perfectly good. Indeed that which simply and of itself causeth evil is evil itself. But that may be good which indirectly and by consequence, in man's corrupt nature, occa- sioneth it. The gospel, and integrity of professing it, is not the efiicient, but accidental cause, or rather properly no cause, but an occasion of this feud. The bright sun shining on mud and filth is said to cause stench; yet is not the sun the true cause, but the former putrefaction of the subject reflected on. When a corrupt vapour comes into the fiery region, it is soon inflamed. Their rancorous filth had lain quiet, as muck in a dunghill, had not the sun of the gospel shone on it and stirred it. Now howsoever the gospel is not the dh-ect cause of this, yet surely the occasion. For Athens is quiet enough till Paul comes ; and till Christ is born, Jerusalem is hushed in peace. Many parishes stick not to say, We had rest and security enough before ; but now since preaching came in, and the pulpits have been warmed, there is nothing but disturbation and unquictness. How else could this text be true, that Christ ' came to send fire on the earth 1 ' The deluge of sin was universal, and the waters of iniquity stood untroubled, and all was a mare mortuiim ; but when Christ puts fire to this water, no marvel if they wrestle. The devil stirs not till God rouse him, as the wild boar sleeps till he be hunted. Let darkness cover men's impieties, and their slumber is unmolested; pro- duce them to the light, and they cannot endure it. The ulcerous side full of dead flesh feels not till you touch the quick. But let Elias tell Ahab of his idolatries, John Baptist, Herod of his lusts, and then, ' Thou art mine enemy.' The ungodly may pretend other causes, but this is the true one. The Pope refused to confirm an archbishop elect, when no insufticiency could be found against him, only because of his age ;* not considering that himself, being older, did manage a greater place. But if the archbishop was able to travel to Rome and back again to England, sure he was able to have sat in the chair of Canterbury. Age was the exception; but the truth was, the archbishop's honesty ; that he carried not with him to Rome a golden bottle to quench the Pope's thirsty soul, as many others did, who returned home with as much wit as they went forth, but not with so much money. Such was the Pope's pretence against Reimundus, the good Earl of Toulouse, that he was a heretic; but when his just purgation and justifying of himself would not pacify his unmerciful Holiness, nor get peaceable possession of his own lands, it was evident to all eyes that the Pope's desire was not so much to have the earl part from his heresy, as from his heritage. t Persecutor.s plead castigation of errors, but they mean subversion of truth. But great peace is prophesied to the gospel : Isa. xi. 6, ' The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard lie quietly by the kid,' (kc. ; and, Micah iv, 3, ' They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks : nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.' I answer, God will either restrain the fury of these savage beasts, and turn Esau's threats into mildness when he meets Jacob : ' He that sits in heaven laughs' at their combinings, P.s. ii. 4. Or many tyrants shall be converted to the faith of Christ, subjecting their crowns and laying down their sceptres at the feet of the Lamb. Or it * Matth. Paris. t Act. and Mon. 152 THE FIEE OP CONTENTION. [SeRMON XXXV. may intend that outward universal peace wliicli was througli all the world when Christ was born, in the daj^s of Augustus. But most specially that peace of conscience and communion which shaU be among the saints, who shall lay aside all querelous dififerences, and be made one by the blood of Jesus. But when the gospel came to us in Queen Elizabeth's days, of so blessed memory, we also had much peace. We had -with Gloria in excehis Deo, sung also Fax in terris. The iron gates of war were shut up, and the long tossed ark of our church had an olive-branch of flourishing peace bestowed upon it. The fury of an adversary was not kno^vTi, but ' righteousness and peace kissed each other.' Yet was not this peace without great fires : — (1.) There was a great fire of Anabaptism: a gross, perverse, and sottish sect, that had washed off their font-water as unclean, and thought it not enough to run out of Babylon, unless they ran also out of themselves, out of their wits. This combustion could not be well quenched; only we were happily rid of it by the shifting ground. For Avhen the flames were sup- pressed in England, they burst out beyond sea. (2.) There was a great fire of Brownism : an ignis fafuus, fastening on abundance of crude and squalid matter, that could not easUy be extinguished. It was blown up with the bellows of pride ; and because it might not have its own SAving, it fell to direct railing. They say the church of England may be their mother, but is none of God's wife. Why do they not call her plain ' whore V for such is a mother that hath children, and no husband. But these the whiles are brave sons, who care not to prove themselves bas- tards, that their mother may be noted for a harlot. But the shame be their own, integrity hers; who hath not defiled her bed, though they have shamed her womb. But whiles they call her St John's beast in the Revelation, let them beware lest they prove themselves such as St Paul calls beasts, even dogs, Phil. iii. 2. Surely God will never leave peaceable spirits in England, to go dwell with raUers at Amsterdam. (3.) There was a raging fii'e of the Papists ; who to maintain then* spi- ritual fire of superstition, made use of material fire to set a whole land in combustion. How unspeakable were their treasons agamst that gracious princess ! which yet if we gather up into one volume, we shall find their last equalling all : which should have been a fire, a fire indeed, such a one as hell itself could only belch out. But bless we our God, that with sweet showers of mercy rained it out. These fires have been kindled in a land of peace, though many tears have been showered upon them, and earnest prayers sent up to heaven for their quenching. Yea, and will be still, so long as that crown-shorn generation can transport their burning quills into England ; and their great Antichrist, the successor not of Peter, but of Ptomulus, sits on that fiery chair. So long- as he is suffered to tyrannise over nations, to depose kings, and dispose Idng- doms ; who prays Peter and Paul (as if they never had taught subjects to obey their sovereigns) to eradicate and cast out an emperor from his royalty. ''' Whereupon he conferred the empire upon Rodolphus, with this blasphemous verse : — 'Petra dedit Petro, Petrus diadema Eodolplio;'— ' All kingdoms were to Peter given by Christ; And Peter may dispose them as he list.' But as Cardinal Benno affirms, that when this Hildebrand would needs so- * Pope Hildebrand in his second excommunication of Heniy Emp. Luke XII. 49.] the fiee op contention. 1,53 lemnly excommunicate the emperor, his chair burst in pieces, being but newly made of sufficient timber ; so if it were throughly broken to fitters ■'■" never like Jericho, to be rebuilded, then, and not till then, princes may reifu in peace. From all this we may observe — First, That this fire was kindled in Christ's time, and hath burned ever since. For if this rage stroke at the head, it will not favour the members. If the saucy devil durst meddle and encounter with the captain, he will not fear to set upon a mean soldier. ' Eemember,' saith Christ, ' the word that I said unto you. The servant is not greater than the lord ; if they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you,' John xv. 20. We cannot ex- pect that immunity which our Saviour never found. In the securest and most quiet state of the church we have found this : that sedition hath trode on the heels of peace, and persecution been born into the world with the feet forward, for haste. Secondly, That the godly must maintain this fire ; for there must be in them no deficiency of fuel. They must hold fast integrity, though this be the matter whereupon this fire works. No peace must be had with them that have no peace with God ; I deny not peace in civil affair's, but hi con- forming our manners to thehs. For righteousness must not yield to iniquity ; Christ must be born, and being born must reign, though Herod rage, and the devil foam, and all Jerusalem be troubled at it. Matt. iL 3. Dagon must yield to the ark, not the ark to Dagon, 1 Sam. v. 3 ; the ten tribes come to Judah, not Judah go to them ; Ishbosheth to David, not David to Ishbosheth. The gospel must be preached, though Iiell break out into opposition ; and we must keep faith and a good conscience, though persecutors print in om* sides ' the marks of the Lord Jesus.' Thirdly, That the fruit of the gospel is so fiir from allowing carnal peace, that it gives dissension. It hath ever been the destiny of the gospel to bring commotion, trouble, and wars ; though no doctruie teacheth so much peace. Matt. X. 34, ' I came not to send peace, but a sword.' Not that the gospel of itself causeth wars ; for it maketh peace between God and man, man and man, man and his inward soul ; but it overturneth the tables of the money- changers, spoileth the bank of usurers, will not let Herod keep his Herodias, bars Demetrius of his idolatrous shrines, pulls the cup from the mouth of the drunkard, denounceth confusion to the oppressor, uuvizardeth jjainted hypocrisy, and discovers the ugly face of fraud to the world : therefore it hath enemies, even to the efi"usion of blood, and endeavoured extirpation of all that profess it. So that partly this proceeds from our own corruption, that cannot endure the light, because our deeds are evil; and partly from the malice of Satan, who by the growth of the gospel loseth his jurisdiction. For look, how much ground Christianity gets, that bloody infernal Turk loseth. So that neither can the devil so uncontrollably lead men to quiet damnation ; neither can the evil heart be so securely evil. For the gospel informs the understanding, the understanding tells the conscience, and the conscience will not spare to tell men their wickedness. Though God's hand forbears to strike outwardly, the conscience smites inwardly ; and the former unjust peace is broken by a new just war. ilen shall by this means know hell before they salute it, and discern themselves in that broad way that leads to damnation. Safe they may be, thiy cannot be secure. Thus the gospel begets all manner of enemies, foreign, civil, domestical. Foreign : the devil, ■who now makes apparent his horns, as if it were high time to bestir himself. * That is, siiliuters. — Ed. 154 THE FILE or CONTENTION. [SeRMON XXXV. He sees he cannot lead souls to Iiis black kingdom in a twine thread, as he was wont, without reluctancy ; he must clap irons ujjon them, and bind them with his strongest tentations. Civil : the world, which erst ticed us on, as a bait doth the fish, not knowing that there is a hook so near the jaws ; we took it for a kind and familiar friend, but now it is descried and described for a veiy adversary. Domestical : thy own bosom is disquieted, and thou must muster up all the forces of thy soul^ to take the traitor that lurks ■within thee, thy own flesh. This is a near and a dear enemy, yet we must jight against it, and that with a wall to subdue it ; denying ourselves, and forsaking our delighted lusts and pleasures. The godly must be fain to sit, like the nightingale, with a thorn against her breast. If they scape conflicts abroad, they are sure to have them at home ; and if foreign and professed adversaries should give over their invasions, yet this domestical rebel, lust, must with great trouble be subdued. After which spiritual combat, our comfort is that in the end the victory shall be ours. ' It shall not have rule over them that fear God, neither shall they be burnt with the flames thereof,' Ecclus. xxviii. 22. Hence we learn five useful lessons : — Lesson 1. — That we have need of patience, seeing we know that the law of our profession binds us to a warfare ; and it is decreed upon that ' all that will live godly in Christ shall suffer persecution.' When fire, which was the god of the Chaldeans, had devoured all the other wooden deities, Canopis set upon him a caldron full of w^ater, whose bottom was full of holes artificially stopped with wax ; which, when it felt the heat of that furious idol, melted and gave way to the water to fall down upon it, and quench it. The water of our patience must only extinguish this fire ; nothing but our tears, moderation, and sufferance can abate it. But this patience hath no further latitude than our proper respect ; for in the cause of the Lord we must be jealous and zealous. Meam injuriam fcitienter tuU, injuriam contra sponsam Ghristi ferre non potui,* — Our own injuries we must bury in forget- fulness, but wrongs to the truth of God, and gospel of Jesus Christ, we must oppose. Patience is intolerable when the honour of God is in question. Otherwise we must consider, that by troubles God doth try and exercise our patience. Ideo Dens misit in terram honani separationem, ut malciin riim- 2)eret conjunctionem, — Therefore God sent on earth a good separation, that he might dissolve an e\il conjunction. Lesson 2. — That we must not shrink from our profession, though we know it to be the fuel that maintains this fire. Daniel leaves not his God, though he be shewed the lions ; nor those three servants their integrity and abomination of the idol, though the heat of the fire be septupled. Let the Pojje spew out his execrations, interdictions, and maledictions, — for his holy mouth is full of curses, — yet keep we our faith : it is better to have the Pope curse us than God. His curse is but lil^e Domitian's thunder : if you give ear to the cracks and noise, it seems a terrible and hideous matter ; but if j'ou consider the causes and effects, it is a ridiculous jest. Revolt not from the gospel, from thy faith and innocency ; and though he curse, the Lord wiU bless. Balaam could say, Quomodo maledicam ei, cui non viale- dixit Domimis 2 — How shall I curse him whom the Lord hath not cursed ? Piash and headlong judgment hurts not the person de quo temere Judicatur, against whom it is denounced, but him that so indiscreetly judgeth. Qui <-onantiir per iram cdiena coercere, graviova committunt, — To correct other men's errors in anger is to commit a greater error than theirs. Let not the thunders of malignant opposers dishearten thy zeal. * The just shall live by * Jerom. ad Vigil. Luke XII. 49.] the fire of contention. 1.5J faith : but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in liirn/ Heb. X. 38. Lesson 3. — That we think not much of the troublous fires that are thus sent to wait upon the gospel. He that gave us that blessed covenant meant not that we should stick at these conditions. It is enough to have this pass- over, though we eat it with sour herbs; to enjoy the lily, though 'anion"- thorns.' Let the Jews fret, and devils run mad, and many give ground to these persecutions ; yet say we with Peter, ' Master, whither shall we go from thee ? thou hast the words of eternal life,' John vi. G8. He is un- worthy of God's favour that cannot go away contented with it, unless he may also enjoy the fovour of the world. It is enough to have the promise of a crown, although we climb to it by the cross. The ancient Christians used to have crucem coronatam pictured, a cross with a crown on the top of it. Tolle cvucem, si vis et habere coronavi. Their hieroglypldc taught men to attain the crown by bearing the cross. Though the friends and fcictors of hcU compass us round, yet we have heaven within us ; would we have it within us and mthout us too ? That is only the privilege of glory. Cannot Paul endure the ' thorns and buffets of Satan 1 ' 2 Cor. xii. 9. Let him quiet his heart with God's encouragement : ' My grace is sufficient for thee.' It is enough to have the ' peace of God, which passeth all understanding,' Phil. iv. 7, though we lack the ill-conditioned peace of the world. IMurmur not that the world denies her wanton solaces to tickle thee with vaui pleasures ; thou hast the 'joy of the Holy Ghost:' God is thy portion. Though the lot fall short in earthly means, Avealth and worship, yet he is well for a part that hath God for his portion. Content thyself; this fire must go with the gospel, and thou art unworthy of the immortal gold of gTace if thoii wilt not endure it to be tried in the fire. ' Your faith is much more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire : and shall be found at last to praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ,' 1 Pet. i. 7. Lesson 4. — That we esteem not the worse of our profession, but the better. It is no small comfort that God thinks thee worthy to suffer for his name. This was the apostles' joy, not that they were worthy, but ' that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Christ,' Acts v. 41. He refused not to be our Saviour for the shame he was put to ; he brooked a purple robe to cover his white innocency ; his face, which is worshipped by the angels in heaven, to be spit on ; his soul, in the midst of all his unutterable pangs, to be derided and jested at ; some wagging their heads, others moving their tongues to blasphemy ; and if the manner of death could add to his igno- miny, he suffered the most opprobrious : yet, saith Paul, for our sakes, ' he endured the cross, and despised the shame,' Heb. xii. '2 ; — this, all this shame, that he might bring salvation to us, and us to salvation. And shall we be ashamed of his profession, that was not ashamed of our protection I If we be, we have read his judgment : ' He will be ashamed of us before hi.s Father in heaven.' The king doth not cast away his crown, though it be the occasion of many treasons. Lose not thy hope and hold of a royal in- heritance, because this title hath many enemies. He was never worthy to wear a wreath of victory, that, coward-like, ran out of the bloody field. The unthrifty soul is justly starved, that will not reap and gather his corn be- cause there be thistles amongst it. He never knew how precious a metal gold is, that will rather throw away his ore than take pains at the furnace. It is pity that ever the water of baptism was spilt upon his face that for- sakes the standard of Christ because he hath many enemies. Israel had never gotten that promised Canaan had they been afraid of the sons of ibiak. 156 THE FIEE OF COKTENTIOX. [SeEMOK XXXV, It is honour enough to be a Cliristiau, though others that are contemptible do cast contempt upon it. Our Saviour hath armed us with a sweet predic- tion : ' These things have I spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation ; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world,' John xvi. 33. Lesson 5. — >Seeing the fuel is our integrity, — and this they specially strike at, — let us more constantly hold together : confirming the communion of saints, which they would dissolve. Let us more strongly fortify our unity, because they so fiercely assault it ; and cling faithfully to our Head, from whom their sacrilegious hands would pull us. ' Lord, whither shall we go from thee 1 thou hast the words of eternal life,' John vi. 08. Where those words are found, woe be to us if we are not found! Multitudo inimicorum corroboret xinitatem amicorum. Let not brethren fight with themselves whiles they have foreign enemies. It is enough that foes strike us ; let not us strike our friends. No, nor yet part with our friends and Christ's, be- cause some adversaries are scattered among them. What though the miscel- laneous rabble of the profane, as the Brownists term them, be admitted among us ; shall the lewdness of these disannvd God's covenant with his ? Yes, say they : this is their mercy ; God's is more. He still held Israel for his, when not many in Israel held him for theirs. The desert was a witness of their mutinous rebelHon against God and his minister ; yet the pillar of protection b}'' day and night left them not. Moses was so far from rejecting them, that he would not endure that God shoidd reject them, though for his own advantage. In all companies there wUl be evil intruders : Satan among the angels, Saul among the prophets, Judas among the apostles, Mcolas * among the deacons, Demas among professors. Yet though Thyatira retains a Jezebel, the good are commanded but ' to hold their own,' Rev. ii. 25. But say they, we reserve the ceremonies of a superstitious church. But we reserve no sujierstition in those ceremonies. We have both abridged then' number and altered their nature. As it was a pains not amiss under- taken of late, to reduce the feast of Christ's nativity as near to the right qxiando and period of time as art and industry could devise, by taking up the loose minutes wliich, in tract of time and multiplication of degrees, had drawn out a wider distance by certain days than was congruent to the first calendar; so hath our church, so near as she could, abridged the rank super- fluities and excrescent corruptions which the traditional ceremonies and ceremonial traditions of Rome had brought in, and thereby removed her from that nearness to her Saviour which she formerly enjoyed, stri\ing to reduce herself concerning ceremonies ; for their number to paucity, for their nature to purity, for their use to significancy. Scjiarate we not then from the church, because the church cannot separate from all imperfection ; but keep the Apostle's rule : Eph. iv. 15, ' Follow the truth in love ; ' not only the truth, but the truth in love. Divers follow the truth, but not truly : — (1.) Some there are that embrace the truth, but not all the truth: those are heretics. (2.) Some embrace the truth, but not in unity : and those are separatists. (3.) Others embrace the truth in unity and verity, but not in heart : and those are hypocrites. Therefore the Apostle so often urgeth it : 'Be ye all of one mind : have the same affection.' As children of one house have most usually one and * Supposing that Nicolas (Acts vi. 5) was the founder of the sect of the Nicolaitanes, (Rev. ii.j) which is, however, by no means certain. — Ed. Luke XII. 49.J xhe fiee op contention. 157 tlie same education, so all God's children must be like affected to God, to Christ, to the church, and one to another. To God in obedience and piety, to Christ in faith and sincerity, to the church in peace and unity, to their ou*n sins in hatred and enmity, to one another in love and charity : employ- ing; the graces of God bestowed ou us to the edilication and consolation of others ; spending ourselves, like torches, to give others light. A Christian, though he be the fittest man of all, j-et he is servant to all : to Christ for him- self, to others for Christ. ' Serve one another in love,' Gal. v. 13. Let this affection of unity be increased by considering three inconveniences of dissension : — (1.) A great advantage is given to the enemj'. They boast the goodness of their errors, whilst v/e agree not in our truth. They take opportunity to shuffle in their counterfeit coin, whiles we consent not in our gold ; I say not so much for the weight or pureness of the substance, as for the fashion. Is it not a shame for the children of God to dissent, when the children of hell are at peace 1 It is a military principle : tempt not an enemy by giv- ing him the advantage. What is this but to hearten their malignant oppo- sition to assault us, when they spy in the city a breach? Qui unionem rumpit, — He that dissolves the union of parts, overthrows the unity of the whole. (2.) Sin by this means steals up : nor is there an advantage given only to our adversaries of Eome, but to our enemies of heU. Wickedness is a crafty thief, which spying a town on fxre, and all hands labouring to quench it, takes his advantage of booties, and what others redeem he steals. Whiles we are busy about this fire, the devil's factors come abroad, like Nicholas's clerks, and steal away souls. Whiles so many disagree about Christ's de- scending into heU, Satan gathers many thither. (3.) Our souls by this means oftentimes become rusty, and gather cor- ruption, for want of scouring them by repentance. Whiles we are careful and curious about mint and cummin, justice and piety go away neglected. We at once grow hot in contention and cold in devotion. The fire of the altar goes out whiles the fire of sedition is fuelled. The means whereby the .shepherds take the pelican is to lay fire near her nest ; which she, in a foolish pity to save her young ones, offers to flap out with her wings, and so is burned herself. So many, in a fond compassion to quench this fire, bum their own wings, rather than help others. If our ashes could quench it, we should not grudge them ; but since it increaseth part-takings, let us either C[uench it with our tears, or by prayers move God to put it out. Howsoever, neglect we not the estate of our own souls, nor suffer our hearts overgrown with the rust of corruption or moss of security. So thou mayest be like the gold-finer, that is all day purifying of metals, till himself be reczed, smoothed,'"' and soiled all over. Take heed ; thou mayest be so long about the fire, till thou be made black with the smoke. 3. We have brought together the fire and the fuel; now we must look for kindlers. The Icindler of this fire is principally Satan : it is he that brings the fuel of good men's sanctity and the fire of evil men's iniquity together, and so begets a great flame. This he doth perform either by his instruments or by himself. He is the great bustuary himself, and hath other deputed inflamers under him. Sometimes immediately by himself, Kev. xii. That * great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns on his heads,' stands ' be- fore the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child so * Qu. 'smutted/ or 'smoked'.' — Ed. 158 THE FIEE OF CONTENTION. [SeRMON XXXV. soon as it was born.' When lie perceived that the Great Light (Christ) was come into the world, by throwing down his oracles of darkness, he begins to bustle, and howsoever he speeds, he will fight two or three bouts with him, in a monomachy or duel, person to person. He durst not trust this battle to an instrument, or fight by attorney : this fire he will kindle himself. Per alium desperat ; quod etiam per se fieri duhitat. As proud as he is, rather than he will hazard the escaping of a soul from his black kingdom, he will in liis own proper person take the pains to hamper him with his strongest temptations. Sometimes by his instruments, which are many thousands : for if we compare numbers, he hath more helpers on earth to kindle this fire, than Christ hath servants to put it out. Therefore he is called ' the god of this world,' 2 Cor. iv. 4 ; where suh nomine nuindi are meant vmndani, world- lings : Rev. xii 9, he is said to ' deceive the whole world.' He labours to deceive all that are in th.e world, but he doth deceive all that are of the world. It was he that stirred up covetousness in the Sabeans, and covetous- ness stirred up their hearts against Job, He incensed Haman, and Haman Ahasuerus against the Jews. He provoked Judas, and almost all Judah, against Jesus. He kindleth malice in their hearts, that kindleth these damnable fires, and shall burn in unquenchable fire for his labour. It is he that provoketh the magistrate to tyranny, the people to disobedience and treachery, the learned to heresy, the simple to security, all to rebellion and impiety. ]\Ien little think whose instruments they are, and whose business they go about, when they put their finger in this fire. It is the devU that puts slander in their tongues, malice in their hearts, and miscliief in their hands : whereby they labour either seducere or cdxlucere* to corrupt men's souls or to cut their throats. For Satan's whole intent is to draw men a cidtu Dei debito, ad cidtum suimet indehitum, — from worshipping the God of light, to worship him that is an angel of darkness. Oh that men would consider what eternal fire is prepared for them, by whom this mystical fire is kindled ! Now Satan kindleth two sorts of fires, general or special. And either of these is double. The general are extended either to error or terror. (1.) He kindles the fire of open war. He is the great general of that army, Ps. ii., that do ' band themselves against the Lord's anointed.' ' The dragon and his angels fight against Michael and his angels,' Rev. xiL There is no fighting against the saints but under his colours. He was the captaiii in that Parisian massacre ; the pilot to that invincible navy in '88. He is the great master of the Inquisition : the grand Cairt of aU confede- racies abroad ; the Machiavel of all conspiracies at home. There was no treason but was first hammered in his forge, and took the damned fire from his breath. The Pope hath been his applauded instrument many years, to kindle these belluine and Belial fires. Innumerable seditions of wars have been sent from the ingenious study of his holy breast to vex Christian em- perors and kings : wherein continually the Pope gave the battle, but the Lord gave the victory, and that where his vicar least intended it. Hilde- brand (Hell-brand rather) promised Rodolphus, whom he incensed against his liege-emperor Henricus, assured conquest ; but it seems the bishop had small power in heaven, whatsoever he pretended on earth, for Rodoli)hus's overthrow gave Henricus direct proof to the contrary. It appears in a cer- * Rupert. + I know ncit what is the allusion here, unless it be to Carr, Earl of Somerset, who, after having long enjoyed undeserved favour, was, in his fall, charged with all crimes. — Ed. Luke XII. 49.] the fire of coxtention. 15D tain letter of Benno to the cardinals, that this Hildebrand, preaching in the pulpit, did so promise and prophesy the death of Henricus, that he bid his auditors no more to take him for Pope, but to pluck him from the altar, if the said Henry did not die, or were not dejected from his kingdom, before the feast of St Peter then next ensuing. But the event proved the Pope a liar in the pulpit ; and therefore, I hope, took from him all impossibility of lying in cathedra. Indeed, he laboured tooth and naU, by policy and sor- ceiy, by his friends and fiends, to effect tliis. Innumerable were the plots of his treason. One among the rest is observable, in the letter of the said Cardinal Benno : that he had hired a villain, observing the place in the church where this emperor used to pray, to carry wp to the roof of the church a great number and weight of stones, with purpose to let them fall down on the emperor's head at his devotion, and to knock out his brains ; but the traitor being busy to remove a stone of an unwonted hugeness to the place, the plank whereon he stood broke ; down they come both to the floor of the church, and the stone (for it seems Ms own impiety made him the heavier, to fall first to his centre) fell on him, and cpiashed him to pieces. But what speak I of their particular treasons? A private treachery was but like the French tournay at Chalons — parvum helium, a little war. We are to consider their great fires which they have kindled in the Christian world, when the princes would never have broke mutual peace, had not the devil set on the Pope, and the Pope set on them to this eager contention. But lightly as Mars and money made them popes, so Mars and simony held them rich popes. And now, through Satan's help, they have brought it about, that as at first no pope might be chosen without the emperor, so now no emperor must be chosen without the pope. Both the swords are their claim, and they will have them both, or they will lift them up both against the deniers ; and where the sword spiritual may not be admitted, they wiU make way for it with the sword temporal. It is fit, they say, that they should bear temporal rule that follow nearest to God : but the Pope and his clergy follow nearest to God : therefore are the fittest men to rule. It is answered, if God be here taken for that god which St Paul speaks of, the belly, Phil. iii. 19, they follow nearest indeed. From the other and only- true God, they are far enough. If they were not, they would use only spi- ritual war against the kingdom of Satan, and not meddle with temporal war against the kingdoms of Christian princes. Plead what they can from the wrested Scriptures and misunderstood fathers, yet f rust )-a apostolica autho- ritas prcetenditur, uhi apostolica Scriptura contemnitur, — in vain is apostolic authority pretended, where apostohc Scripture is despised or perverted. Non eripit mortalia, qui rer/na dat ccelestia, — That God warrants not the taking away of earthly kingdoms, that gives the kingdom of heaven. (2.) The second general fire he kindles is error and heresy, a burning river of poison ; that cup;of abomination which he rcachcth out to the world in the hand of that great Babylonian whore. To maintain this fire he calls coun- cils, enacts laws, teacheth many parliaments the promulgation of bloody statutes; and whereas other laws of princes (tending to the iiiin of iniquity) are ever neglected, those that are made against Christians have been most severely executed. And lest the devil in this should appear like himself, the prince of death and darbiess, he sits thundering in the Pope's mouth lilce an angel of light, and so directs him; that under In Dei nomine, Amen, he unmercifully condemneth his brother. So that the usurpation of a divine dispensation must burn the poor members of Clirist at the fiery stakes. Now this fire he kindlcth by two malicious courses : — 160 THE FIRE OF CONTENTION. [SeRMON XXXV, [1.] By olDScuring tlie liglit of the gospel from men's eyes, and harden- ing their affection to darkness. So that the children of the night have so doted upon ignorance, that they hate and persecute all the means and mes- sengers of illumination. Shine the sun never so bright, the Papists will see nothing but candle-light. Therefore, it may be, they are permitted tapers, torches, and candles, to content their carnal devotion, that they might not spiritually desire ' the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the image of God,' 2 Cor. iv. 4. And if ever their caliginous minds spy the least glimmering of zeal, or feel a little turning from their former impieties, the shrine, picture, or image of some saint hath the gloiy of their conversion. A very block shall have the praise rather than God. But we can hardly believe they are converted from darkness to light that fetch their illumina- tion out of a stone. It is recorded that, at Amesbury, when Queen Elinor, the wife of King Henry the Third, lay there, a man that famed himself to have been long blind, came to her, and told her that he had now his sight restored again at the tomb of King Henry, her deceased husband.* The mother easily believed it ; but her son. King Edward the First, knowing this man, that he had been ever a dissolute wretch and vile impostor, dissuaded her from giving faith to it, protesting that he knew so well the justice of his father, that if he were liv- ing he would sooner pull out both the dissembler's eyes than restore sight to any one of them. So certainly those saints, to the virtue of whose dead bones these hj'pocritcs attribute the glory of their conversion and enlightening, would, if they were living, rather say these men had no eyes of grace at aU, than that any light was given them out of their dead dusts or painted re- semblances. This is Satan's first project, to cast a thick cloud of invincible ignorance between men's eyes and the clear sun. [2.] By hindering all those that have a commission to preach it, Zech. iii. 1, ' He shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.' ' A door is ojDened, but there are many adversaries,' saith the Apostle. 1 Thess. ii, 18, wiU you hear the principal adversary? ' We would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again ; but Satan hindered us.' The good minister hath no adversary in his calling but he is of the devil's raising. And herein he is either a wolf or a fox, effecting this either by public opposition or secret corruption : — First, Openly he sets not only his principalities infernal, but also powers terrestrial, against it. What preacher ever began to sing, with a clear breast, the songs of Zion, for many hundred years under the Pope's reach, but in- stantly pope, cardinals, friars, devils, cursed him with bells and candles, and were ready to burn him in flames'? Scevit ommdus, cum ostenditur immun- dus, — The world is mad, that his dominion and damnation should be spoken against. Secondly, Secretly he hinders the free preaching of the gospel, by corrupt- ing their hearts that are deputed to that office. And this he cffecteth by infusion of these four hellish ingredients : heresy against truth, schism against peace, popularity against simplicity, and covetisc against charity. First, He poisons some hearts with heretical points of doctrine, which being (lightly) most pleasing to the flesh, are drunk with thirsty attention. Heresy is thus defined: Jmmano sensu electa, Sciipturce sacrce contraria, palam doctct, 2^cHinaciter defensa, — begot of man's brain, contrary to the Holy Scriptures, openly taught, and peremptorily defended. By this, so far * Act. et Mon, ex Chron. Rob. Amesburieusis. Luke XII. 49.] the fiee of contention. 161 a,s the flesli in man prevails against the Spirit, Satan prevailg against the truth. So that if they must needs have any of the pure gold of God's word, it shall be so sophisticated, adulterate, and mingled A\ith the dross of human traditions, that they shall not be able to perceive or receive it. Secondly, Those whom he cannot corrupt against truth he incenseth against peace. Division shall accomplish that mischief which error foiled in. Whom he cannot transport to Rome, he ferries over to Amsterdam. He will either Jieep men on this side the truth, or send them beyond it. Error on the right hand shall cast away souls, if error on the left cannot. Some run so far from Babylon, that they will not keep near Jerusalem ; as men that run so eagerly from a lion that they refuge themselves in the hole of a serpent. The schismatic meets with the Romanist in superstition another way. Thus quihus nequit tollere veritatem, negat permittere unitatem, — if he cannot de- prive us of truth, he will not permit us peace. Thirdly, By persuading men to be temporisers, and to catch at the favours of great men. Thus when a preacher must measure his sermon by his lord's humour, the truth of the Lord of hosts is smothered. Against op- pression he dares not speak, because it is his lord's fault; not against pride, because it is his lady's; not against riot, because it is his young master's; nor against drunkenness, becaiise they favour it whom his great one favours. He must not meddle with those ulcers which he sees to stick on his patron's conscience. That were the way to lose both present benefit and future benefice; he dares not do it. Whiles he is their servile chaplain, he must learn Turkey-work, to make thrummed cushions of flattery for their elbows. It seems it was not God's business that such a one made himself minister for, but his own, or worse. He hath three masters : he serves his lord, he serves himself, he serves the devil ; which of these will pay him the best wages 1 Thus if Satan can neither take away the truth nor peace, yet he labours against simplicity ; that for fear of men and hope of means they for- bear to speak against wickedness. YtTiat his kingdom loseth one way, it recovers another. Fourtlily, By infecting their hearts with covetousncss, and extending their desires to an insatiable wealth. With this pill he poisoned Demas, and Judas before him, and thousands after him. The chair of Rome is filled with this pestilence. England hath found it, though many princes will not find it, when the revenues of the crown amounted not to half the Pope's yearly taxes. But we are well eased of that unsupportable burden. Edward the Third began it, for he first made the Prctmunire against the Pope ; and our succceduig Christian princes have quite thrown him out of the saddle. God did not make his law so long but man might easily remember it, com- prising it all in ten commandments. But the Pope hath curtailed it, and made it far shorter, abridging the ten commandments into two words : Da 2^ec2miam, — Give money. And for this the whole law shall be dispensed with. Experience hath still proved that money was the apostoliail argu- ments of Rome. An emperor paid for liis absolution a hundred and twenty ^ thousand ounces of gold : a dear reckoning for those wares that cost the Pope nothing ! In the reign of Henry the Third the Pope required the tenths of all the moveables in England, Ireland, and Wales ; and because he feared that such moneys could not be speedily enough collected, he sent over many usurers into the land, which were tlien called Caursini, who would lend money to those of the clergy that wanted, but on so unreasonable extortion that the debtors were still beggared. So that what bv his violent exaction and subtle VOL. n. L 162 THE FIRE OF CONTENTION. [SeKMON XXXV. circumvention by his own usurers, (for all they had was the Pope's money,) he desired only the tenth part, but he got away also the other nine. And indeed the Pope had reason to maintain usury, for usury mamtained the Pope, Neither is this infection bounded up with that bishop, l3ut dissipated among aU his clergy. Not so much as the very mendicant friars, that pro- fess wilful poverty, but have a wilful desire to be rich. They have more holiness in their hands than in their hearts ; their hands touch no money, their hearts covet it. But the great Belphegor sometimes -gives them a purge. Whereupon said W. Swinderby, ' If the Pope may take fi'om the friars to make them keep St Francis's rule, why may not the emperor take from the Pope to make him keep Christ's rule 1 "' But, whosoever gets, the poor laity loseth all. There was a book called Pmnitentiarius Asini, ' The Ass's Confessor,' wherein is mentioned this fable : The wolf, the fox, and the ass come to shrift together, to do penance. The wolf confesseth himself to the fox, who easily absolveth him. The fox doth the like to the woh^ and receiveth the like favour. After this the ass comes to confession, and his fault was, that being hungry he had taken out one straw from the sheaf of a pilgrim to lElome, whereof he was heartily repentant. But this would not serve ; the law was executed severely upon him : he was slain and devoured. By the woH is meant the Pope ; by the fox, his cardinals, Jesuits, priests : these quickly absolve one another, how hemous soever their offences are. But when the poor ass — ^that is the laity — comes to shrift, though his offence be not the weight and worth of a straw, yet on his back must the law be severely executed ; and the holy father, the wolf, makes a great matter of it. ' Immensum scelus est, injuria quam peregrino, Fecisti, stramen surripiendo sibi.' Oh, the insatiable gulf of that sea ! God grant that none of that infection ever come over amongst the ministers of the gospel ! There is nothing more absurd than that those which teach others to seek the kingdom of heaven and to despise the world, should be found to embrace the world with the neglect of heaven. These are the general fires this malicious incendiary kindles. There are also two particular and special, which he inflameth in private men's hearts ; whereby he prepossesseth them with a prejudicial dis-estimation of the gospel, for causes either direct or obUque. Diiectly for itself, or obliquely and by consequence for private ends : — (1.) First he begets in a man's mind a dislike of the word for itself. This man esteems preaching but folly : he sees no good it doth to have one prat- tling an hour or two in a pulpit. He is a parishioner to two parishes . to the congregation he lives with, quoad corpus; to the synagogue of Satan, quoad aniviam. 1 Cor. i. 18, 'The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness ; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.' It is hor- rible when man — dust and ashes, mere folly — shall censure the wisdom of God. Let them have their wills, be it in their account folly ; yet ' it pleaseth God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that beheve,' vcr. 21. And without this they must live in error, and die in terror : heU-fire will make them change their opinions. (2,) Others are wrought to hate it only for second and smister respects. The masters of that damsel. Acts x\A., ' possessed with a spirit of divination, seeing the hope of their gains gone,' brought Paul and SUas to scourging, and never left them till they saw them hi prison. When Demetrius per- * Act. and Mon. Luke XII. 49.] the fiee op contention. 163 ceived the ruin, not so much of the Ephesian Diana., as of his own Diana, — gain and commodity in making of silver shrines, — he sets all Ephesus in a tumult, Acts xix. 24. The loss of profit or pleasure by the gospel is gi-ound enough of malice and madness against it. Cannot a tyrant be bloody, can- not an oppressor depopulate, a usurer make benefit of his money, a swearer brave with blasphemies, a drunkard keep his tavern-session, but the pulpits must ring of it? Down shall that gospel 'come, if they can subject it, that •will not let them run to hell untroubled. Non turhant evangelio, dum oh evanffeliiim non turbentur, — Let them alone, and they will let you alone. But if you fight against their sins with the sword of the Spirit, they will have you by the ears, and salute you with the sword of death. You see the fires that the devd kindleth. It is objected — Obj. 1. — Satan knows that he can do nothing but by the permission of God. Ansiver. — Therefore, not knowing God's secret wiU, who are elect, who reprobate, he labours to destroy all. And if he perceive that God more especially loves any, have at them to choose. If he can but bruise their heels, oh, he thinks he hath wrought a great spite to God. Obj. 2. — He knows that though with his tail he can draw stars from heaven, discover the hypocrisy of great professors, j^et he cannot wipe the name of one soul out of the book of life which the Lamb hath written there. Ansiver. — It is the devil's nature to sin against liis own knowledge. Contra scientiam j)eccabit, qui contra conscientiam jyeccavit. Obj. 3. — He knows he shaU receive the greater damnation, and the more aggravated torments, ' And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shaU be tormented day and night for ever and ever,' Rev. xix. 20. Answer. — He sins always with purposed malice of heart, proudly against God, and blasphemously against the Holy Ghost, though he receive the smart him- self. 4. We perceive now the fire, the fuel, and the kindler ; let us look to the smoke. There goes lightly a smoke before this fire : Rev. is, 2, ' He opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace ; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth.' When we see smoke, we conclude there is fire. Christ will not quench the smoking flax ; for the smoke without shews a spark of faith witliin. When Abraham saw 'the smoke of tlie country going up as the smoke of a furnace,' Gen. xix. 28, he knew that the fire was begun in Sodom, This smoke is the sign of persecution ensuing ; and it is either public or private. Public is twofold : — (1,) The threatening of tyrants : tliis smoke came out of the mouth of Saul: Acts ix, 1, 'And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings.' Such were the Romish vaunts of the Spanish ships ; but God quenched that fire in water, and it was but a smoke. He that could forbid the fire to burn, Dan. iii. 25, can also forbid the smoke to become a flame. Only the massacre at Paris was a fire -without a smoke ; unless it be smoke enough (as indeed it is) for Papists to live among Protestants. (2.) Security is a public smoke ; when men cry. Peace, peace ; this is the smoke of war. The careless lives of the old world and Sodom were porten- tous smokes of their enkindled destniction. Our secure and dead-hearted conversations are arguments of the like to us. God both avert that, and convert us ! We feast, revel, dance, sin, and sing, Mice swans, the prognostics of our own funerals. We are not circumspect to look upon those which 164 THE FIRE OF CONTENTIOSr. [SeEMON XXXV. watcli us with the keen eyes of malice ; our sleep gives them hope and our- selves clanger. Neglect of defence heartens on a very coward enemy. Our comfort only is, ' He that keepeth Israel doth not slumber nor sleep,' Ps. csxi. 4. The private smoke, particularly laid to a Christian, is a gentler and more soft temptation. But if this smoke prevail not, Satan comes with a fiery trial. If he cannot pervert Joseph with his tempting mistress, a kind smoke, he will try what a jail can do. If the devil can draw thee to his purpose with a twine-thread, what needs he a cable-rope ? If Samson can be bound with green withs, the Philistines need not seek for iron chains. But Satan knows that some will not, like Adam and Esau, be won with trifles ; that some will stick to Christ whiles the weather is fair and there is peace with the gos23el, yet in time of persecution start aAvay, Matt. xiii. 21. When he comes with tempests and floods, then the house not built on a rock falls. Matt. ^ii. 27. If our foundation be straw and stubble, we know this fire wUl consume ; but if gold, it shall rather purge and purify it. He will not go about that can pass the next way. If a soft puff can turn thee from Christ, Satan will spare his blustering tempests ; if a smoke can do it, the fire shall be forborne. If Job could have been brought to his bow, with killing his cattle, sen^ants, children, perhaps his body had been favoured. So that after gentle temptations look for storms ; as thou wouldest, after smoke, for fire. Inure thy heart therefore to vanquish the least, that thou mayest foil the greatest ; let the former give thee exercise against these latter, as with wooden wasters men learn to play at the sharp. Be thy confidence in him that ever enabled thee ; and afty his promise that will not sufier thee 'to be tempted above thy strength.' Only handle this weapon with more heedful cunning ; and when thou perceivest the dallyings of the devil, play not with his baits. Corrupt not thy conscience with a little gain, so shalt thou withstand more. Think the easiest temptations a porpoise be- fore a tempest, smoke before fire, signs and prodiges* of a fearful conflict to come. 5. There remains nothing now to be considered but the beUotvs ; that help to maintain this fire. The bellows are double : passive and active. Some blow because they cannot, others because they will not, avoid it. (1.) The passive bellows are the godly : for they must have no peace with wickedness, ' no fellowship vdth the unfruitful Avorks of darkness,' Eph. V. 11. We must love their persons, and pray for them, as Christ for his crucifiers. But if they will not be converted, if they cannot be suppressed, we may desire either their conversion or confusion : as God wills none to perish as a creature, but as a sinful creature ; not of his own making, but of their own marring. So we must hate not virum, but vitium ; reproving and condemning evil works, both by our lips and lives : though our good con- versation be the passive bellows to blow this fire. (2.) The active are the wicked : who do profoundly hate the good, in re- gard of both their actions and their persons. To this their own forwardness is helped by the devil's instigation : ' If thou blow the spark, it shall burn ; if thou spit upon it, it shall be quenched : and both these come out of thy mouth,' Ecclus. xxviii. 12. But all men love good naturally. No, not all ; for some have not only extinguished the flames of religion, but even the very sparks of nature in their liearts. But some wicked men have loved the godly, Tnie, but not for their ac- * That is, portents or indications. — Ed. Luke XII. 49.] the fire op contention 165 tions, not for their persons, not of their own natures. But, first, either because God snaffles the horses and mules, and curbs the malicious rage of tyrants : or, secondly, converts them to the faith and obedience of his truth ; as he took Saul from his raging cruelty, and made him ready to die for him whose servants he would have killed ; so turning a wolf into a lamb : or, thirdly, else they love the good for some benefit by them ; and therein they love not them, so much as themselves in them. So Ahasuerus loved Esther for her beauty ; Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel for his wisdom ; Potiphar, Joseph because his house prospered by him ; and for this cause did the former Pharaoh affect him. But otherwise, with blood-red eyes, and faces sparkling fire, they behold us ; as Haman did Mordceai. They plot like Machiavels, rail like Rab- shakehs, and conspire like Absaloms. These are the devil's bellows here, to blow quarrels among men ; and shall be his bellows in hell to blow the fire of their eternal torments. A man that is great both in wealth and Vvicked- ness cannot be without these bellows — intelligencers, informers, tale-bearers. Let these seditious spirits understand their employment ; they are the devil's bellows : and when their service is done, they shall be thrown into the fire. I conclude. All this trouble and calamity shall be but upon the earth ; so saith our Saviour : ' I come to send fire on the earth.' In heaven shall be no distraction to break our peace. We should be too well affected to the world, if it had this privilege and exemption ; but in vain we seek it where it is not to be found. In heaven only we shall find it, in heaven only let us seek it. Here we may have desiderimn jKicis, but there only pacem de- mlerii, — here the desires of peace, there peace of our desires. Now then, * the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus!' Amen, THE BAEEEN TEEE. Then said he to the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none : cut it down; why cumber- eth it the ground ? — Luke XIII. 7. News is brouglit to Christ of a certain judgment, which was not mope Pilate's than God's, upon some Galileans, who, while they were sacrificing, were sacrificed, their blood being mingled Avith the blood of the beasts on the same altar. Lest this should be wholly attributed to Pilate's cruelty, without due resj)ect had of the omnipotent justice, he samples it with another — of eighteen men miscarrying by the fall of a tower. No Pilate threw down this ; here was no human executioner : the matter of theii' death was mortar and stones; these had no purpose to kill them. This therefore must be an invisible hand working by an insensible creature : the instru- ment may be diverse, the judge is the same. Now, 2)oena 2^aucoruin, terror oriinium. As an exhalation drawn from the earth, fired and sent back again to the earth, smites only one place, but ter- rifieth the whole country : so their ruins should be our terrors ; let them teach us, that they may not touch us. They are hitherto but like Moses's rod turned into a serpent; not into a bear or lion, lest it should have de- voured Pharaoh, but into a serpent, that he might be more afraid than hurt. It is God's special favour to us, that others be made examples for us, and not we made examples for others. Nothing could teach them; let them teach us. Of these fearful instances, our Saviour makes this use, setting down a peremptory conclusion; Vel pmni^endum, vel i^ereundum, — 'Except ye re- pent, ye shall all likewise perish.' Such vengeance is no way to be avoided but by repentance. But here the Jews miL,ht flatter themselves, If we be greater sinners than they, how comes it to pass that we speed better than they ? To this silent objection Christ makes an apological answer, ver. 6. You are not spared because you are more righteous, but because God to you is more gracious. You deserve such or sorer judgments : and the reason of this impunity is not to be looked for in your innocence, but in the Lord's patience ; not because you are not worse to him, but because he is better to you; who ofi'ers you space and grace to amend, if (at least) at last you wUl bring forth the fruits of repentance. Luke XIII. 7.] the barren tree. 167 There be some terms in the text, (as that the vineyard is the church, every Christian a fig-tree, God the owner, every pastor a dresser,) wherein your understandings may well prevent my discourse : these known and familiar things I take as gTanted of all hands. It is a parable therefore not to be forfccd every way, nor made to warrant a conclusion which the author never meant. This were, when it ' offers us its company a mile, to compel it to go with us twam,' or to make Christ's messenger speak our errand. Such is the trade of Rome; what their own policy hath made necessarj'^, they -will teach God to make good : this is to pick darkness out of the sun. No, verijicatur in sensic suo, like a good crea- ture, it does only that it was made for. A parable is not like a looking- glass, to represent all forms and faces; but a well-drawn picture, to remon- strate that person whereof it is a counterfeit. It is like a knife : with the haft it cuts not, with the back it cuts not; it cuts with the edge. A candle is made to light us, not to heat us; a stove is made to heat us, not to light us : if this parable, like the sun, may give both light and heat, the more profitable, the more acceptable. The distribution, — ' Then said he to the dresser,' &c. That part of it to which I limit my present discourse delivers itself to us in these four pas- sages: — 1. A. consultation : 'Then said he to the dresser of his vineyard.' 2. A comjilaint : 'Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none.' 3. A sentence : ' Cut it down.' 4. A reason : ' Why cumbers it the ground V 1. The consultation: 'Then said he unto,' &c. (1.) Dixit, non percussif, — he spake, he stroke not : he might have spared words, and begun with wounds. The tree had rather deserved the axe and fire than a consultation of recovery. How easily would man have rejected his hopeless brother ! As when a piece of clay will not work to his mind, the potter throws it away ; or we cast foul rags to the dunghill, little think- ing that they Aay become white paper. But with God, vefba antecedunt verbera, — he will be heard before he be felt. Our first parents, when they had sinned, vocem aiuliverunt, ' heard the voice of God,' Gen. ui. 8. He reasoned with them before he condemned them. If the father's word can correct the child, he will let the rod alone. Wicked men use the sudden arguments of steel and iron ; as Joab discoursed with Amasa ' in the fifth rib,' 2 Sam. xx. 10 : they speak daggers' points. So Zedekiah disputed with the prophet : a word and a blow, 1 Kings xxii. 24 ; yea, a blow without a word : he struck him first, and spoke to him afterwards. God deals other- wise : ' Behold, I stand at the door, and knock,' Rev. iti. 20. He knocks at the door, does not presently break it open. He gives us warning of his judgments, that gave him no warning of our sins. Why doth he thus? That Ave might see our miserable estate, and fall to timely deprecation; that so punisliing ourselves, we might save him a labour. (2.) Dixit, non destinavit : as if the L»rd would double and repeat his thoughts, before he decreed it to irrevocable ruin. A divine precedent of moderation ! If he that cannot transgress in his wrath, nor exceed in his justice, wiU yet consule>-e aniicum, advise mth his friend, how ought frail man to suspend his furious purposes to mature deliberation ! It is too com- mon with us, to attempt dangerous and desperate actions without further counsel than our own green thoughts; so anger is made a solicitor, passion a judge, and rashness an executioner. The wise man first considers, then speaks or does : the madman first speaks or does, and then considers ; which drives him on necessity to play the after-game — witli shame and sorrow to 168 THB BAEEEN TEEE. [SeEMON XXXVL recover Ms former estate, or give it lost for ever. holy deliberation ! whither art thou fled ? David's harp did cast the evil spirit out ; this would keep him from ever coming in. It is a porter at the gate of God's spiritual temple, man ; that would be as sure to keep out his enemies, as David would have been ready to let in his friends. How many desperate precipices of sin would be prevented were this rule remembered, Consule cultorem f For matter of estate, we are counselled by the lawyer; for health of body, advised by the physician ; we trust the pilot to steer our course by sea, the surveyor to mete out our land : but for the soul, let it be as barren as this fig-tree, we take no counsel of the gardener. Do worldlings consult the preacher concerning their usurious trade, before they undertake it '? Do gallants advise with him, before they meet in Aceldama, the field of blood ? Oh that they would admit an answer from such a friend, before they give an answer to such an enemy ! (3.) Dixit vinitori. Such is the honour God doth his ministers, to ac- quaint them with his own purposes. ' Surely the Lord will do nothing, but he first revealeth it to his servants the prophets,' Amos iii. 7. Nothing,, which may conduce to the office of their ministry and the good of his church. ' To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,' Luke viii. 10. ' To you ;' not to the world, they have no such revelation. ' It is given ;' it is none of your inheritance, you were not born to it. ' To know mysteries ;' sapere alta, not common things. ' Of the kingdom ;' not secular, such mysteries are for the knowledge of statizing Jesuits, but ' of heaven.* 'Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I mean to do?' Gen. xviiL 17. The matter concerned Sodom, not Abraham ; yet it was revealed to Abraham, not to Sodom. But doth God need any man's counsel ? ' Who hath at any time been his counsellor?' Ilom. xi. 34. Will the potter take advice of his pots ? 'Ro ; when Christ asked Philip where supply of bread might be had for the multitude, ' this he said to prove him : for himself knew what he would do,' John vi. 6. His questions are not his but our satisfactions. Thus doth he credit his own ordinance, teaching the world how to esteem of them whom himself so singularly honours. How poor a place soever they find in men's thoughts, the King of heaven and earth calls them to liis counsel. Priest was a title whereof the princes of Israel were ambitious : they would not every man have written his name ujjon his rod, but in hoj^e that this dignity might fall to his lot, Num. xvii. Now, is the ministry of the gospel inferior to that of the law ? Was the service of death more glorious than the service of life and salvation ? If the evangelical covenant be better, is the ministration worse ? The sons of the great think scorn of such an employment : what they held an honour, these count a disparagement. In one and the same subject meets their ambition and our scorn. It is ill when the fig-tree shall despise the dresser, but it would be far worse if the dresser should despise the fig-tree. (4.) ' To the dresser.' This is the whole congregation of his ministers, to whom he hath committed the culture of his vineyard. All which, by aii enallage numeri, are summed up in one dresser : quia cor nnum, because they have all one heart. Acts iv. 32 ; (jxda officium tmum, all their labours meet in that one common term, the ' eclification of the body of Christ,' Eph. iv. 12; it is usual to name one i^ro caieris, for all the rest. Peter says, * Though I should die with thee, I will not deny thee.' Did Peter only pro- mise this ? No ; but ' so said hkewise the rest of the disciples,' Matt. xxvi. 35. Had not this been a parable, I never found a place of more probable colour for the high priest of Rome to challenge his uni^■ersal supremacy by: Luke XIIL 7.] the baeren tkee. IGL^ But surely he will never dress Christ's vineyard as it ought, unless in a- parable. Nay, would his instruments forbear to sow it with brambles, to manure it with blood, and to cast Naboth out of his own vineyard, it were somewhat. But let them pass. When the Spirit wrote to a whole churchy- he inscribes his epistle under one particular name, Angela ecclesice, ' To the angel of the church,' Rev. ii. and iii. (0.) ' To the dresser.' Dressing implies labour and heedfulness. I might here touch upon the minister's diligence, that Chiist's vineyard never lio rude and unpolislied through his defixult. But this age will look to that well enough : never did the Egyptians call so fast upon the Israelites for makmg of bricks, as the people call on us for making of sermons ; and our allowance of materials is much alike. They think it recompense bountiful enough to praise our pains ; as if we could live, like chameleons, upon the subtle air of commendations. So they serve us as carriers do their horses ; lay heavy burdens upon their backs, and then hang bells at their ears to make them music. But be our reward little or much, God forbid we should slack dress- ing the vineyard of Jesus Christ. (G.) ' To the dresser.' Why to him 1 Ut inter cederet, that he might plead for the tree. So unwilling is God to destroy, that he would have us manacle his hands wdth our prayers : he would be entreated to forbear. ' Go thy ways down, for the people which thou broughtest out of Egypt have cor- rupted themselves,' Exod. xxxii. 7. Why this to Moses ? That he might pray for them. He that meant to spare them in mercy, meant withal that Moses should be beholden to hun for that mercy. And Moses indeed chargeth the Lord, sets upon him with so holy a violence, that as if his prayers could vincere invincibilem, he hears, ' Let me alone.' Oh that every vme-dresser were full of this gracious affection to the trees under his charge ! Yea, who fears God, and in some measure hath it not ? The people forgot Moses, Moses remembers the people ; they could be merry and happy with- out him, he would not be happy without them. Men rob us of our means, load us with reproaches ; all our revenge is to solicit heaven for them by our supplications : they sue us, we sue for them : they impoverish our tem- poral condition, we pray for their eternal salvation. We could never hope for good to ourselves, if we should not return them this good for their evil. Korah had drawn a multitude to rebel against Closes and Aaron ; Closes- and Aaron pray for the rebels, Num. xvi. 22. They were worthy of death, and they had it ; yet would these merciiul leaders have prevented it, re- fusing to buy their own peace with the loss of such enemies. Yea, they are so far from carving their own just revenge, that they would not have the liOrd to revenge for them. Let us fill our hearts ^^dth this great example : the people rise up against their pastors, the pastors fall on their faces for the people. Certainly, if God had not meant to hear us, he would never invite us to pray. But as it pleaseth liim to make us his mouth to you, so alsa your mouth to him : both to tell you what he doth say, and to return liini what you should say ; to preach against your sins, to pray for your souls. Do you hear us plead for Christ, for Christ hears us plead for you. Indeed, w^e are men of polluted lips and lives; but as God's power is not straitened through our weakness, so nor is his mercy lessened through our unworthi- ness. Therefore, as Paul had his Via mihi d non p)xedicavero, — ' Woe unto me if I preach not;' so Moses, in efiect, had his Vet mUii si non inter- cessero, — Woe unto me if I pray not ! ' God forbid I should cease praying for you.' But as all our preaching can work no good upon you but through the Holy Ghost, so all our praying can bring no good to you but through 170 THE BAEEEN TEEE. [SeEMON XXXVI. Jesus Christ. We pray for you; forget not you to pray for us. Indeed, weak ones pray with us, malicious ones pray against us, covetous ones prey upon us, few pray for us. We entreat for you, do you entreat for us ; and that only Mediator betwixt God and man plead for us all ! 2. The complaint : ' Behold, I come,' &c. This hath in it two passages — (1.) His access : ' Behold, these three years,' &c.; (2.) His success : 'I find none.' (1.) First, the access : Behold. — Ecce is here a note of complaint. He that can thimder down sin with vengeance rains on it showers of complaint. 'Behold the tree;' he might in a moment have put it past beholding by throwing it into the infernal furnace. Why doth he complain that can com- pel? Uabet in manu jiotentiain, in corde patientiam, — There is power in his hand, but patience in Ms heart. To do justice, we, after a sort, constrain him ; but his delight is to be merciful. He complains. All complain of lost labours : the shepherd, after all his vigilance, complains of straggling lambs; the gardener, after all his diligence, of withering plants; the husbandman, after all his toU, of lean fields and thin harvests; merchants, after many adventures, of wrecks and piracies; tradesmen, of bad debtors, and scarcity of moneys ; lawyers complain of few clients; and divines, of fewer converts. Thus we complaui one of another; but God hath just cause to complain of us all. WeU, if the Lord complain of sin, let not us make ourselves merry with it. Like Samson, it may make us sport for a whUe, but will at last pull down the house upon our heads, ' The voice of the turtle is ' not ' heard in our land,' Cant. ii. 12. Vox turturis, vox gementis. True penitents be more rare than turtles. The voice of the sparrow we hear, chirping lust; of the night-bird, buzzing ignorance; the voice of the screech-owl, croaking blasphemy; of the popinjay, gaudy pride; the voice of the kite and cor- morant, covetousuess and oppression : these, and other birds of that wing, be common. But nan audita est vox turturis. Who mourns for the sm of the time, and longs to be freed from the time of sin? It was an unhappy spectacle in Israel to see at once lachrymantem Dominum and ridentem populum, — a weeping Saviour and deriding sinners. We complain of our crosses and losses; we complain of our maladies, of our injuries, enemies, miseries : the Lord open our eyes, and soften our hearts, to see and feel the cause of all, and to complain of our sins ! / come. — The Lord had often sent before, now he came himself; even by his personal presence, accepting our nature. The Son of God, that made us the sons of men, became the Son of man to make us the sons of God. He came voluntarily : we come into the world, not by our own wills, but by the will of our parents; Christ came by his own will. He came not for his own benefit, but ours. What profit doth the sun receive by our looking on him? We are the better for his hght, not he for our sight. A shower of rain that waters the earth gets nothing to itself; the earth fares the better for it. He came for our fruits; these cannot enrich him : ' Lord, our well-doing extendeth not to thee,' Ps. xvi. 2. Never came such an inhabitant to our country as Jesus. Had God granted men the liberty to beg of him what they would, and have it, they durst not have been so loold as to ask his only Son. When the king gives a free concession to his subject, to make choice of his own suit without denial, he will not be so impudent as to beg the prince. Let us entertain him well, we fare the better for him : the profit of our redemption blesseth all the rest unto us. Far 1)c it from us to welcome him with scandals, with Luke XIII. 7.] the bakeen tkee. 171 blasphemies and neglect. He may then reply, as Absalom to Hushai, ' la this thy kindness to thy friend?' 2 Sam. xvi. 17. No, you say, ^ve make much of him, hold him in the highest regard, trust him \vith our whole salvation. But know, Christ fares not the better for thy faith, but for thy charity. Faith is a beggarly receiver, charity is a rich giver. Thy faith is a hand that takes something from him to enrich thyself; thy charity is a hand that gives something to him in his distressed members. Indeed Christ is the subject of all tongues, but he is not the object of all hearts. The school disputes of him, the pulpit preaches of him, profession talks of him, profane men swear by him; few love him, few serve him. He is come, let him be made welcome, by setting our best cheer and choicest fruits be- fore him. Whom should we entertain, if not our Saviour 1 Seeking. — But did not he know before ? What need he seek that hath found ? He that ' understands our thoughts ' long before they are born, can- not be nescious of our works when they are done. My answer shall be short : the Lord's Qucerit is a Requirit ; he doth not seek a thing that is hid from him, but requires a debt that is due unto him. Seehing. — This is no rare, but a continued act. It is not Veni, I came : * He came unto his own,' &c., John i. 11. Nor a Venturus sum, ' Yet a little while, and I will come,' Kev. xxii. But 'io-xoiJ^ai ^rirm : as, Rev, iii 20, Sto pulsans, *I stand knocking;' so here, Venio (juccrens, ' I come seeking.' He seeks continually : will you hear how long 1 These three years. — Much time hath been spent about the interpretation of this time ; how it is appliable to the Jewish synagogue, to whom it was immediately referred. I find no great difference among expositors, saving only in their terms. Some by the first year understand the time before the captivity ; by the second, their return to Jewry ; by the last, the coming of Christ. Some by the first year conceive the law given by Moses ; by the second, the prophetical attestations ; by the third, the gxace of our Lord Jesus, Some resolve it thus : the first year was the time of circumcision, from Abraham to JMoses ; the next, the Levitical law, from Moses to Christ ; the last is the year of salvation by the Messiah. Others understand the first year to be of the patriarchs, the middle year of the judges, the third of the kings. After aU this he was entreated to forbear it a fourth year, tUl it was instructed by the apostles ; and then being found fraitless, it was cut down by the Romans. But I rather take a definite number to be put for an indefinite ; three years is time long enough to wait for the proof of a tree : such a proportionable expectation had the Lord for that church. If literally you would have it, I take this to be the probablest exposition. These three years were the very three years of his preaching, healing diseases, casting out devUs, working miracles before their faces. The other year which he added was the time wlnle the apostles offered them the gospel of salvation. Whereof the refusers were cut down, the accepters were saved. He hath likcAvise waited for the church of Christiaidty three years ; that is, three revolutions of ages, thrice five hundred years. Or he hath tarried the leisure of the whole world three years : the first year, under nature ; the second, under the law; the third, under grace; the fom-th is now a-passing, and who knows how far it is spent ? Or to apply it to ourselves : these three years of our visitation hath been so many scores of years. Conceive the foremost to be in the days of King Edward the Sixth, who purged the gold from the rust and dross of super- stition, ignorance, and cozenage which it had contracted. The sun began to shine out in his bright lustre: the Lord came scclciug our fruits; but not 172 THE BAEREX TREE. [SeEMON XXXVL finding them answerable to his expectation, not worthy of the glorious gospel, he drew another cloud over our sun ; teaching us better to value that heavenly maiuia wherewith we were so suddenly grown wanton. The second year, under Queen Elizabeth, of so blessed memory; that royal nurse, upon whose bosom the church of God leaned to take her rest. She did again vindicate this vineyard, which had so long lain among friars and monks, that it had almost quite forgotten the language of Canaan : she taught it anew to speak the dialect of the Holy Ghost. When that gracious queen was taken from a crown of gold to a diadem of glory, then began our third year, wherein our present sovereign was sent : dlgnissinnis regno, si non natus ad regnum, — under whom we know not whether our truth or peace be more; only let us bless him, and bless God for him, that we may all be blessed in him. Thus far we may say of our land, as Sylvius did of Rhodes, Semper in sole sita est, — The bright reflection of the gospel compasseth us round about. Now he comes this third year seeking our fruits; which when we consider, we can say no more but Miserere Deus, Lord be merciful to us; for never were such blessings requited with such unthankfulness. We condemn the Jews for abusing Christ's patience : God grant they rise not up at the last day to condemn us ! He comes to particular man three years : — First, In youth : I have planted thee in my vineyard, given thee the influence of my mercies; where is thy fruitfulness 1 Alas ! the young man sends him away, with a Nondum tempiis Jicorum, — It is too early for me to fall to mortification; would you put me to penance before I have had the leisure and pleasure to oftend ? He is ready to send Christ away in the language of that foul spirit, ' Art thou come to torment me before my time ? ' But whose charge is it to ' Remember thy Creator ' diebus juventidis ? Then the conquest is most glorious, because then it is most difficult. You say. It is never too late ; but I am sure it is never too soon, to be gracious and holy. The devil is a false sexton, anc? sets back the clock of time in prosperity; in the day of trouble, he will make it run fast enough. Secondly, In middle age; and now the 'buying of farms,' and ' trying of beasts,' the pleasures of matrimony, the cares for posterity, take up all the rooms of the soul. Men rather busy themselves to gather the fruits of earth than to jield the fruits of heaven. Here is strength of nature and fulness of stature, but still a defect of grace. Perhaps Christ hath now some fair promises of fruits hereafter : ' Let me first go bury my father, then,' Luke ix. 61. But (a thousand to one) he finds something in, domo, left by his father, that keeps liim (i Domino, from following his Master. To prevent this, it is his caution to the entertained servant : Ps. xlv. 10, ' Forget thine own people, and thy father's house : ' rather forego and for- get thy father's house than thy iLaker's service. Thirdly, In old age : now the decay of body should argue a decay of sin. The taste finds no rehsh in riot, the ears cannot distinguish music, the eyes are dim to pleasing objects, very 'desire foils :' now all things promise mortification. He that cannot stir abroad in the world, what should he do but recollect himself, and settle his thoughts on the world to come % Now fruits, or never. Not yet ; morosity, pride, and avarice, are the three diseases of old age : men covet most when they have time to spend least ; as cheating tradesmen then get up most commodities into their hands when they mean to break. Still he comes seeking fruit, and is returned with a No7i inventus. If yet it were but as the prophet's sign to Hezekiah, — ' This year ye shall eat such as growcth of itself ; and the second year such as springetli of the same; and in the third year ye shall sow and reap,' &c., — the third year Luke XIII. 7.] the earkex tkee. 173 might afford him somewhat. But doth he forbear all trees thus long ? No ; .some are snatched away in the flower and pride of their life ; yea, they be not few that will not allow themselves to live, but with riot and intemper- ance hasten their own ends, l^efore they have well begun or learned what life is : like bad scholars, that slubber out their books before they have learned their lessons. That instead oi jVoh est fnictns, we may say, Kon est Jims, the tree itself is gone. And that goodly person, which like a fair .ship hath been long a-building, and was but yesterday put to sea, is to day sunk in the main. We do not eat, drink, and sleep, and take such refections of nature, id non vioriamiir, that \yq might not die, — that is impossible, — but that we should not die barren, but bear some fruits up with us to him that made the tree. Seehing. — It is fit we should offer our fruits to God, and not put him to seek for his own. We should be like those ' ripe figs that fall into the mouth of the eater,' Nahum iii. 12. The best liquors are they that drop from their cells of their own accord, without pressing. The most acceptable of all oblations be the free-will-offerings. Howsoever, let us be sure not to disappoint the Lord when he seeks. On this fig-tree. — It is fit that he that plants a vineyard should taste of the ^vule, Pro v. xxvii. 18 : good reason his own tree should yield him some fruit ; considering what he hath done for it, he may well challenge it. [1.] He hath planted us : we spring not up naturally, as the oak grows from an acorn, the peach from a stone ; but a gracious hand hath set us. ' We are not born of flesh, nor of the will of blood, nor of man, but of God,' John i. 13. [2.] He hath planted us in his vineyard, within the enclosed garden of the church. Had he left us to the unregarded wilderness, without any dresser to look to us, there might have been some excuse of our barrenness. The ground that is left to itself is, in a manner, blameless, though it be fruitle-ss. But in vinea sua, which he hath fenced in with his pro\ddence, blessed with his saving influence, husbanded with his dresser's diligence, for- warded with the beams of mercy, and showers more precious than the * dews of Hermon that fell upon the hill of Zion;' where we particii)ate the fatness of the ground, are fed with unpcrishing manna, compassed about with songs of deliverance, and have ' seen our desires upon ' his and ' our enemies ; ' where righteousness is our walls, and peace our bulwarks, and the ways be milk where we set our feet. [3.] We are fig-trees, not brambles ; no man expects ' grapes from thorns,' Matt. vii. 16. Not oaks or cedars, to be a dwelling for tlic storks, but fig- trees apt for fruit, pleasant fruit. If the rest be fruitless, they serve for other purposes ; but what shall become of the barren fig-tree l [4.] He is our Lord, and, queer it suum, he seeks but his own. If our own kine give us no milk, our own sheep afford us no wool, our own land returns us no increase, we are displeased ; whereas these be reasonless creatures, but we have sense above common nature, reason above sense, grace above reason. We are but tenants of these, Christ is Lord of us ; our sins bring the curse of barrenness upon them, but there is no fault in God if we be unfruitful. [/>.] He comes seeking : not threatening, raging, wounding ; not felling down the tree, nor stocking it up by the roots ; but seeking. Dignatnr ex- 2)ectare fructus, cui licet eradicare infructnosos, — !Man is a loser by the barren- ness of his garden tree ; were there not a tree left, God is never the poorer. Now lay all these together : a Lord that owes us, we arc his trees ; to come into his vineyard, where he may be confident ; wc live on his ground ; 174 THE BARREN TREE. [SeRMON XXXVI. to look upon a fig-tree, made of an apt disposition to good fruit ; sucli a one as himself liatli planted, not casually grown up ; a tree not neglected, but whereon he hath bestowed great care and cost ; waiting, not destroying : what can we plead for it if it be fruitless 1 God is our Lord and proprietary, England is his vineyard, every one of ns his fig-tree, thus planted, watered, blessed by his gracious mercy. He comes to us with patience, that should run to hiiin with penitence ; seeking our fruits, that should make tender of them unsought ; waiting, that might command : now, fear, obedience, and thankfulness keep us from sending him back with a Non invenio, — ' I find none !' Fruit. — This is that inseparable efiect that God expects from every tree planted in his garden. We are married to Christ : to what end 1 ' That we should bring forth fruits mito God,' Rom. vii. 4. He seeks not for leaves, buds, or blossoms, but fruits. Could leaves content him, we would not leave him unsatisfied ; he should have an arbour large enough to reach to ' the world's end,' Ps. xix. 4. Our tongues run apace, not seldom faster than our wits. We are God's debtors, and if he will take our words, so : that is all he is like to have. Might buds please him, or blossoms ; we have intentions to good, certain offers and shows of obedience, which we wear like a cloak, or some loose garment, that when lust calls we may quickly slip off. But when he seeks for works, all our consonants be turned into mutes, we are speechless. Matt. xxii. 12. Oh, would he ask us for anything but fruits ! but what should be expected from the fig-tree but figs 1 Of every soul here he seeks for fruits. Of the magistrate, that he bring forth the fruits of justice; determining causes with sincerity of decision and convenience of expedition ; being, so far as equity permits, a husband to the widow and a father to the fatherless. Of the minister, that he bring forth the fruits of knowledge. Aaron's rod was his pastoral staff : in one and the same night it brought forth buds, and blossoms, and fruit. Fruitfulness is the best argument that God hath called us : there is not a plant of his set- ting but the very branches thereof shall flourish. I do not say our pains shall always convert many souls ; that is God's fruits, not ours. He chargeth us to be industrious in preaching, let himself alone with the work of saving. Of the private man, he expects the fruit of his calling : to be idle is to be barren of good ; and to be baiTen of good is to be pregnant of all evil.- Bella gerant alii, Protesilaus edit : but let us that are called to work, work in our calling, otherwise at last we shall make but a sorry answer to that question, Ubi fructus ? Let us all produce the fruits of charity ; rich men do good turns to themselves, — as they play at tennis, tossing the ball to him that wiU toss it to them again, — seldom to the poor, for they are not able to bandy it back. Pride cuts, and riot shuffles, but betwixt them both thej-^ deal the poor but a bad game. The fruit of Christianity is mercy ; when the rich, like full ears of corn, humble themselves to the poor earth in charity. Feed him that feeds you ; give him part of your temporals, from whom you expect eternals : you clothe Christ with your blacks on earth, he will clothe you with his glorious whites in heaven. Our mercy to others is the fruit of God's mercy to us. Fruit. — Nothing is created for itself, but so placed by the most wise pro- vidence, that it may confer something to the public good, though it be but as the widow's two mites to the treasury. The poorest creature yields some fruit, wherein it doth imitate the goodness of the Maker. We know not readily what good serpents and vermin may do ; yet certainly they have their fruit, both in sucking up that poison of the earth, which would be contagious Luke XIII. 7.] the barken tree. 17a to man ; in .setting oflf the beauty of the better pieces of creation * — for though the same hand made both the angels in heaven and the worms on earth, yet the angels appear the more glorious, being so compared, — besides their hidden virtues abstracted from our knowledge. Of stones they make iron, rubbish sei'ves to raise bulwarks, the small pebble for the sling, worms and flies are baits for fishes ; everything is enabled with some gilt for the uni- versal benefit, and so to produce those fruits is their natural work The sun comes forth of his chamber like a bridegroom, fresh and lively ; and rejoiceth as a giant, to run his diui'nal course, to Ughten us with his re- fulgent beams, to generate, cheer, and mature tliuags with his parental heat : this is his fruit. In his absence, the moon and stars adorn the canopy of heaven, reflecting their operative influence to quicken the lower world : tliis is their fruits. The curled clouds, those bottles of rain, thin as the liquor they contain, fly up and down on the 'svings of the wind, delivering then- moist burdens upon the earth, teats whereon the hungry fields and pastures do suck ; yet they expect no harvest from us : this is thek fruits. The subtle winds come puffing out of their caverns, to make artificial motions, whole- some airs, and navigable seas ; yet neither earth, an-, nor sea return them recompense : this is their fruits. The earth, in a thankful imitation of the heavens, locks not up her treasures within her own cofiers ; but without re- spect of her private benefit, is liberal of her allowance, yieldmg her fatness and riches to innumerable creatures that hang on her breasts, and depend upon her as their common mother for maintenance. Of the beasts that feed upon her, kine give us their milk, sheep their wool ; every one pays a tribute to man, their usufructuary lord : this is their fruits. Fruit-bearing trees spend not all their sap and moisture upon themselves, or the increase of then- own magnitudes ; but the principal and purer part of it is concocted into some pleasant fruits, whereof neither they nor their young springs ever come to taste ; but they proffer it us, and when it is ripe, they voluntarily let it fall at their masters' feet. Never did the olive anohit itself with its own oil, nor the vine make itself drunk with its own grapes, nor the tree in my text devour its own figs : yet they all strive to aboimd with fruits. Let me raise your meditations from earth to heaven : the holy angels there are called ' ministering spirits ; ' those royal armies fight for us agamst our enemies ; like nurses, they bear us up in their arms, and, though unseen, do glorious offices for us : this' is part of their fruit. The blessed Trinity is always working : 'Hitherto my Father worketh, and I work,' John v. 17. The Father by his providence and protection, the Son by his mercy and mediation, the Holy Ghost by his gi-ace and sanctificatiou ; aU dividing the streams of their goodness for the best behoof of the world. The more any- thing furthers the common good, the more noble is its nature, and more resemblmg the Creator. The earth is fruitfrU ; the sea, the air, the heavens are fruitful ; and shall not man bring forth fruits, for whom all these are fruitful ? While all the armies of heaven and earth are busied ui fructifying, shall man, of more suigu- lar graces and faculties, be idle, a burden to the world and hhuself I Both the church of God for the propagation of piety, and the world itself for the upholding of his state, require our fruits. If happiness consisted ui doing nothing, God, that meant Adam so happy, would never have .set him about business ; but as paradise was his storehouse, so also his workhouse : his pleasure was his task. There is no state of man that can privilege a folded hand. Our life is vita piclveris, non pidvinaris. Lands, means, and moneys, • Aug. 176 THE BARREN TREE, [SeRMON XXXVI. men make the protections of idleness ; whereas Adam commanded tlie whole earth, yet work expected him. In paradise all things did labour for man, now man must labour for all things. Adam did work because he was hajipy, we his children must work that we may be happy. Heaven is for joys, hell for pains, earth for labour, God hath three houses ; this is his w^orkhouse, that above is his warehouse. Oh, then, let us be fruitful, that others' benefit may be ours, our l^enefit theirs, and the glory of all the Lord's. If magis- trates yield not the fruits of justice, ministers the fruits of knowledge, private men the fruits of charity and obedience ; it is as unnatural as if the sun should forget to shine, or the earth to fructify. God made all these for man, he made man for himself ; of us he looks for fruit, of us let him find it, from us accept it, in us increase it, and to us reward it, through him in whom alone we expect mercy, Jesus Christ. (2.) The success follows, Non invenio. We have brought the Lord mto his vineyard, heard him calling for the dresser, shewing him a tree, telhng him of a three years' expectation ; now, if after aU this we inquire for the event, himself certifies us, Ohy^ suw'cxw, ' I find none.' None 1 Peradventure he came before the season, — nonchim temjnis erat jicorum. When should a tree brmg forth fruits, but tempore suo ? This is the praise of the good tree, Ps. i. 3, that it ' brings forth the fruit in due season.' If the fig-tree could have objected to the owner, as Elisha to his ser- vant, Iloccine teinjms, — ' Is this a time to plant vineyards, or gather fruits V 2 Kings V. 26, Or, as the man replied to his neighbour, that came to bor- row loaves at midnight, Luke xi. 7, ' Is this a time to lend bread, when myself and family are in bed?' The spring is the season of fnictifying, the autumn of gathering. When ' the time of the singing of birds is come, then the fig-tree puts forth her green figs,' Cant. ii. 12, 13. Not cii7n fermento x>^i'- fundatur pidvis, when ' the dust is leavened with mire,' Job xxxviii, 38, and the bands of Orion have locked up the influence of heaven. Who seeks fruit in winter, he must be content with winter-fruit. There is the winter of an afilicted conscience : no marvel then if neither ripe figs, nor so much as green leaves appear ; when aU the sa]) is retired to the root, as in extreme cold the blood runs to the heart to succour it. When the Babylonians required of their captive Israelites some Hebrew songs, they could soon answer : ' How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange landT Ps. cxxxvii, 4. Is this a time or place to be merry ? But did the Lord come out of season ? No, he required it not the first day, or month, but waited the full time, expecting fruit in the autumn or vintage season, Non ante tempus qucerit, qui -per iriennium venii* He came not with a triennial visitation, as episcopal fathers use to visit, once in three years ; but every year, every month in the year, week of the month, day of the week. Of another fig-tree it is said, that * the time of figs was not yet,' yet he cursed it, j\Iark xi. 1 3. Here the time was three years past without fruit, yet he cursed it not. But look to it : if thou wilt not fructify tempore tuo, thou shalt be cut down tempore non tuo, perish before thy time, Eccles. vii. 17. There is not a day in the year wherein he forbears seeking our fruit ; yet Venio, non invenio, ' I find none.' None ? Nunquicl quia viale qiuesivit Domimis ? Was there an error in his search ? Men often seek bona, good things, non bene, not in a good man- ner. Either they fail in their quando : as Joseph sought Christ after a ' day's journey ;' whereas he is too precious to be missed one hour : ' They shall seek thee,' tempore inveniendi, ' when thou mayest be found,' Ps. xxxii. 6. Or in the right tibi : as ]\Iary sought her son in cognitione carnis, ' among * Gloss. LOKE XIII. 7.] THE BARREN TREE. 177 her kindred;' who was in doino patris, in the temple. So the Papists seek now him in pictures, who promised to be found in the Scriptures. Or in their quomodo : as they that seek aliud pro Ulo, cdiud prai illo, another instead of him, another loesides him, another with him, another before liim, which they do not seek for him. All these seek and miss, because they seek amiss. The world is commonly mistaken in their search ; qiccerunt bona locis non suis, — they seek for things out of their proper orbs. IMen seek honour in pride, whereas honour is to be found in humility. They seek reputation m bloody revenge ; alas ! that is to be found in patience : ' It is the glory of a man to pass by an offence.' They seek content in riches, which is as if one should seek for fresh water in the midst of the sea. But in none of these circumstances did this seeker faU ; not in the uhi, for he sought in the vineyard ; not in the quando, for he came in the vintage ; not in the quomodo, for he sought fruit on that fig-tree about which he had been at so great charges : yet ' I find none.' None ? Haply not so thick with fruits as the ' vuies of Engedi ; ' every land is not a Canaan, to flow with milk and honey. But yet some com- petent measure, enough to pay the landlord rent for the ground it stands on; no, 'none.' If there be none to spare, whereof the owner may make money, yet suffidat ad usum siaim, ad esum suum, — that he may eat the labours of his own hands; no, 'none,' If the number be not 'as the sand,' yet let there be ' a remnant,' Rom. ix, 27, If there cannot be a whole hai-vest, yet let there be 'a tenth,' Isa. vi, 13, If not a tenth, yet let there be some ' gleanmgs,' Micah vii. 1 ; and that is a woeful scarcity. If the gleanings be not allowed, yet let there be here and there a fig, a grape, a berry, ' on the outmost branches,' Isa, xvii. 6, that the planter may have a taste. It is too defective, when non fioreUt ficus, — ^the tree doth not flourish; but quando non erit uva in vitibus, non ficus inficulneis, Hab. iii. 17, — when there shall not be ' a grape on the vine, nor a fig on the tree,' Jer, viii, 1 3 ; this is a miserable sterility. Something hath some savour, but none is good for nothing. Indeed all trees are not equally loaden; there is the measure of a hundred, of sixty, of thirty; an omer, and an ephah; but the sacred dews of heaven, the graces of the gospel, bless us from havuig none ! ' I find none.' Nonel Peradventure none such as he looks for, no fruits delicate enough for the Almighty's taste. Indeed, our best fruits are never perfect and kindly ripened; still they relish sour and earthly, and savour of the stock from which they were taken. They are heavenly plants, but grow in a foreign and cold climate; not well concocted, not worthy the charges and care iDcstowed upon us. Set orange or fig-trees in this our cold country, the fruit Avill not quit the cost of the planting and maintahiing. But the com- plaint is not here of the imperfection or paucity of fruits, but of the nullity : 'none,' Some reading that text with idle eyes, that after all our fiaiits, we are still 'unprofitable trees,' Luke xvii. 10, because they can find no validity of merit in their works, throw the plough in the hedge, and make holiday. But shall not the servant do his master's business, because he cannot earn his masters inheritance? Shall the mason say, I will share with my sovereign in his kingdom, or I will not lay a stone in his building? Yet good fruits have their reward ; though not by the merit of the doer, yet by the mercy of the accepter. Sour they be of themselves, but in Christ they have their sweetening; and the meanest fruits wliich that great 'Angel of the Covenant ' shall present to his Father, with the addition of his own ' precious incense,' Rev. viii. 4, are both received and rewarded. In their own nature they may be corrupt; but bemg dyed in the blood of Christ, VOL. II. M 178 THE BARKEN TREE. [SeEMON XXXVI. tliey are made pleasing to God ; j^ea, also profitable to the churcli, and use- ful to men, seem they never so poor. Even a troubled spring doth often quench a distressed soldier's thirst; a small candle doth good where the greater lights be absent ; and the meanest fruit of holy charity, even a cup, though it be not of the juice of the grapes out of the vineyard, but of cold water out of the tankard, in the name of Christ, shall have its recompense. Matt. X. 42. But here the complaint is not of the meanness or fewness, but of the barrenness : none at all. j^one? 'Ever;/ tree is knoivn by its fruits;'' it is Christ's everlasting ritle. Howsoever the tree lives by the sap, and not by the fruits; yet it is known to live by the fruits, and not by the sap, for this is hidden. ' The just man lives by his faith,' not by his works; but he is known to live by his works, not by his invisible faith. Neither doth the fruit make good the tree, but the tree makes good the fruit. Opera bona oion faciunt justum, Justus facit bona opera. Good works make not a man righteous, but the righteous man doth good works. Our persons are justified before our actions; as of neces- sity the tree must be good before it can bear good fruit. But how shall that tree be discerned that hath no fruit ? ' I find none.' None ? Why this to us ? Why such a text in such a time 1 We abound with fruits; which way can you look, and not have your eye full of our works? They before, in such places, have successively commended our fruits. Be it so ; yet Euripides being questioned why he always made women bad. in his plays, whereas Sophocles ever made them good in his, answered, ' Sophocles makes them such as they ought to be, but I make them such as indeed they are.' Their former commendations have told us what we should be ; but this emblem, I fear, teUs us truly what we are. Not all of us ; God forbid ! Here is but one fig-tree in a whole vineyard thus taxed, and far be it from us to tax a whole vineyard for one barren fig-tree. None ? Yes ; enough of some fruits, but the prophet calls them ficos 'valde males, — ' so bad that they cannot be eaten,' Jer. xxiv, 8. As the fruit of the vine is commended for quickness, the fruit of the olive for fat- ness, so the fruit of the fig-tree for sweetness, in Jotham's parable, Judg. ix. But if it bear not fructvm nativitatis suce, the fruit of its own kind, but bitter figs, here had better be none at all. What an uncomfortable sight is this to him whose heart is set on his orchard, after the cost of so dear blood to purchase it, after such indulgent care to cherish it, and the charges of so many workmen to dress it ; yea, after so much patience to expect it, say the fig-tree does not bear so soon as it is planted ; in our infimcy we can do nothing, in our minority we will do little, in God's service : but now it is grown fructifiable. Jam nan gustare fructus, not to have so much as a taste .' Yea, were this all, did barrenness only usurp it, but there is worse than a mere orbity or absence of goodness : a position of bitter fruits : Qucesivi was, invenio labruscas, — I find ' wild grapes,' Isa. v. 3, luxuriant fruits. Instead of the hearty effects wliich wine produceth, I am answered with the melan- choly prevarications of malice. Behold the wonder and spectacle of unthankfulness : among all God's creatures, man ; and among men, the barren Christian. ' Though Israel play the harlot, yet let not Judah transgress,' Hos. iv. 15. What may be expected from the wild forest of paganism, when the garden of Eden yields such fruits. The sweet fruit of the spiritual fig-tree is mercy : our G<xl is the God of love, our Saviour is the Prince of love, the church is knit together in love ; our root is love, our sap is love, our ligaments love. Now, if we shall suck the blood one of another, violate the relations of peace, concoct all our Luke XIII. 7.] the barren tree. 179 moisture into malice, here is worse than Invenio frucium nullum, ' I find none :' for Invenio fructum malum, I find cursed fruits. "We are grown un- natural ; the hand scratchetli tlie eye, the mouth bitcth the hand ; thorns and briars entwine and embrace one another, while (against all nature) fig- trees devour one another. ' Lord, thou didst sow good seed in thy lield ; whence then hath it tares?' Matt. xiii. 27. Here is more fruit than God would have ; but for that he expects, ' I find none.' When we are filled mth his blessings, Christ looks for our praises ; when we have ' eaten and are fat,' that we should ' worship him,' Ps. xxii. 29. What fruit finds he % ' We sit down to eat and drink, and rise up to play,' 1 Cor. X. 7 : for praying, playing. When we are scourged, he looks for our huraiUatiou and penance : ' Sure in their affliction they wiU seek me,' Isa. xxvi. IG. What fruit finds he ? ' Lord, thou hast smitten them, but they have not sorrowed,' Jer. v. 3 ; an insensible desperateness. In this case let us pray, ' Lord, less of the fruits we have, and more of them we should have.' ' Instead of righteousness, a ciy,' Isa. v. 7 : a cry indeed — a roaring cry of the oppressor, and a mourning cry of the oppressed. Ucec non sunt placido suscipienda sinu. Our bells ling, our chimneys smoke, our fields rejoice, our children dance, ourselves .sing and play; Jovis omnia plena. But when righteousness hath sown and comes to reap, here is no harvest : ohy^ ibslay.u, ' I find none.' And as there was never less wisdom in Greece than in the time of the seven wise men, so never less piety among us than now, when upon good cause most is expected. \Vhen the sun is brightest, the stars be darkest : so the clearer our light, the more gloomy our life with the deeds of darkness. The Cimme- rians, that live in a perpetual mist, though they deny a sun, are not con- demned of impiety, but of ignorance : but Anaxagoras, that saw the sun, and yet denied it, is not condemned of ignorance, but of impiety. Former times were like Leah, blear-eyed, but fruitful : the present, like Rachel, fail", but barren. We give .such acclamation to the gospel, that we quite forget to observe the law. As upon some solemn festival the bells are rung in all steeples, but then the clocks are tied up ; there is a great untuned confusion and clangour, but no man knows how the time passeth : so in this universal allowance of liberty by the gospel, which indeed rejoiceth our hearts, had we the grace of sober usage, the clocks that tell us how the time passes, truth and conscience, that shew the bounded use and decent form of things, are tied up and cannot be heard. Still, Fructum non invenio, ' I find no fruits,' I am sorry to pass the fig-tree in this plight : but as I find it, so I must leave it, till the Lord mend it. So I come to — .3. The sentence : ' Cut it down.' A heavy doom ! Alas ! will nothing else expiate the fault ? May not the lopping oif some superfluities recover it? Take from the sinner the object of his vicious error : deface the har- lot's beauty that bewitcheth the lascivious ; pull the cup from the mouth of the drunkard; nauseate the stomach of the riotous; strip the popinjay of her pied feathers ; rust the gold, vanish the riches of the covetous ; take away Micah's gods, perhaps he will make him no more. If this will not do, cut ofl: some of the arms and branches : weaken his strength ; sicken his body ; lay him groaning and bleeding on the bed of sufierance ; grieve his heart-strings with the sense and sorrow of his suis ; — anything rather than * cut it down :' alas ! no fruit can grow on it then but sad despair. A man's house is foul, or a little decayed ; will he pull it down, or not rather repair it ? ' There is hope of a tree, though the root wax old in the earth, and the stock die in the ground/ Job xiv. 8 ; yet the springs of water may put new 180 THE BARREN TREE. [SeRMON XXXVI. life into it : but once cut clown, all hope is cut down with it. When a man hath taken delight in a tree, conveniently planted in his garden, what variety of experinients wiU he use before he cuts it down 1 Alas ! thus, poor silly men, we reason : we measure things that be unmeasurable by things that be measurable, by things that be miserable. "What we in a foolish pity would do, Ave think God in his merciful wisdom should do. Yet which of us would endure a dead tree three years together in his orchard ? We would say. If it wiU not bear fruit to cheer us, it shall make a fire to warm us. But the Lord hath been six-and-thirty moons gracious in his forbearance ; give him now leave to be just in his vengeance. If so much indulgence can- not recover it, there is little hope of it : ' Cut it down.' ' Cut it down.' Who must do this ? The dresser. An unpleasant office to him that hath bestowed so much labour upon it, esteemed it so precious, hoped for some reward at his master's hand for his diligence about it ; now to give the fatal blow to cut it down ! And if it must fall, let it be manu aliena, non sua, — let another's hand do it. Hagar mil not behold her dying son ; die he must, she was persuaded : Modo non videam, ' Let me not see the death of the child,' Gen. xsi. But he must obey ; arbor non est cultoris, sed patris familias : the tree is not the dresser's, but the Lord's ; and his own is at his own disposing : ' Cut it down.' ' Cut it down.' But how ? How can the mhiister be said to cut down a barren soul? Some may conceive here a reference to excommunication; whether the greater, which deprives a man of all benefit by the church's public prayers and the society of Christians ; which St Paul calls tradere SatancB, — 'to deliver unto Satan,' 1 Cor. v. : so himself excommunicated Hymenaeus and Alexander, ' delivering them unto Satan,' 1 Tim, i. 20 — a miserable condition, to be subjected to a slave, to a dog, a drudge ; but then especially fearful, when God grants unto Satan a writ or faculty, 2)ro ex- communicato capiendo : the ignominy of ignominy, besides the peril ; for as Christ protecteth aU the trees in Ms vineyard, so if any be transplanted to the wild desert, they are under the god of this world. (3r the less, which is indeed no other properly than an act of the church's discipline, whereby she corrects her unruly children, that smarting with the absence of wonted comforts, they may be humbled by repentance, and so recover their pristine state. This censure may be either too cruel or too trivial. The church of Rome grants excommunications for things lost : a man hath lost his horse, he may have an excomminiication against him that detains him;* so the father may hap to excommunicate his own son, and for the body of a jade, hazard the soul of his child. Yea, which is worse, they pubhsh excommuni- cations for sins not yet committed. The lord of a manor hath set a row of young elms ; he may have an excommunication against all those that shall do them any harm. This is to hang a man before he hath done the fact that deserves it. These irrite, forceless, bugbear excommunications, the ridiculous affordments of a mercenary power, are not unlike those old night-spells which blind people had from mongrel mtches, to set about their orchards and houses, antidotes and charms against thieving ; wherein distrusting the providence of God, they made themselves beholden to the devil for safety. Creditors that would be paid in then- moneys may procure an excommunica- tion against their debtors, if they pay not by such a day. This were an ex- cellent project for your citizens, a rounder course than arrests and tedious trials at law. But it is to be doubted that your debtors would fear the Pope's parchment less than the scrivener's, and an excommunication far less * Approved by the Council of Trent, Sess. 26, Luke XIIL 7.] the baheen tree. 181 tlian an outlawry. There are but four things exempted from the power of their excommunication, as Navarrus notes — a locust, an infidel, the devil, and the Pope : so he hath matched them, so let them go together. For the excommunicate must be a man, a Christian, mortal, and an inferior ; now the locust is not a man, the infidel is not a Christian, the devil is not mortal, and the Pope hath no superior. But too much of that ; this is a parable, and here is no foundation for such a building. ' Cut it down.' How? with an axe of martial iron ? This were an expo- sition fit for Douay, or the Gunpowder-enginers ; that by cutting it down understood, ' Blow it up ;' turning their axe to a petard. Had God said to them, ' Cut it down,' the axe had been instantly heaved up ; yea, they did it when God said no such thing. Rather than fail of cutting it down, they would have stocked it up, root and all : this is their mercy. But the spi- ritual axe is to cut down culpas, non animcis; when we read of cutting down, remember it is meant of men's sins, not of their soids. Preachers indeed do wound ; but it is gladio oris, not ore gladii, — with the sword of the Spirit, not a Eavillac's knife. If God had meant such a cutting do^vn, Nero had been a fitter instrument than Paul. We read that ' their sound went through the world,' Ps. xix. ; but that their sword went through the world, we never read. ' Cut it down.' How then ? Succide; that is, Succidendam minare, — Threaten that I will cut it down. ' Cast them out of my sight,' Jer. xv. 1. Ejice; that is, Ejiciendos pronuncia, — >Say that I will reject them. Quod moritin; moriatur ; quod succidendum est, succidatio; — ' That which dieth, let it die,' Zech. xi. 9. God sometimes sends such farewells and defiances to sinners that will not repent. ' Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone.' If they will not be persuaded to return, let them go on to their ruin; let them alone. 'K any man will be unjust, let him be unjust; he that will be filthy, let him be filthy still,' Rev. xxii. 11; let them perish. Abeat, pereat, profandat, perdat. ' Cut it down.' This was sententia oris, — the sentence of the mouth ; but it may be this Avas not consilium cordis, — the purpose of the heart. Scepe Deo viinante quod peccans meretur, peccanti non Jit quod Dens minatur. Nor can this tax God of levity ; for he that speaks with condition of repent- ance, may change his word mthout suspicion of lightness. Tio muta sen- tentiam iuam, Deus mutabit suam.'' Thus was Nineveh cut down : eversa est in malo, ut cedificaretur in bono, — the subversion was menaced, the con- version was intended. The father shuts his rebellious son out of doors, will not allow him a lodging, not so much as among his servants ; yet he does not mean to let him perish with hunger and cold in the streets : but when he hath Avell smarted for his disobedience, upon his humble submission he is re-entertained. The very ' mercies of the wicked are cruel,' but the very judgments of God are sweet. This cuttmg down is medicinale, not mortale; disciplinans, non eradicans; for restitution, not destitution; for remedy, not for ruin. Indeed, if all this denunciation and threatening cannot per- suade them to return, then comes their final perdition : when they have cut off themselves impenitently, God will cut them off impartially. But if we turn to deprecation and repentance, he will turn to commiseration and for- giveness. The tree is barren, and the Lord says, ' Cut it down ;' the tree fructifies, and he will say, ' Let it stand.' Oh, then, let us humble ourselves, and yvith seasonable repentance cut down our sins, that this terrible sentence may never cut down our souls ! * August. 182 THE EAEEEN THEE. [SeEMON XXXVL 4. Thereasoji: 'Why cumberetli it tlie ground'?' God is an independent Lord, and needs not give a reason of his doings ; for -who can call him to account: Cur itafacis? Rom. Lx. 20. His judgments are not always mani- festj they are always just; nor doth he things because they are good, but they are therefore good because he doth them. Should he make short work on the earth, and despatch all barren trees in a moment; yet ' thou continuest holy, O thou worship of Israel !' If he strikes us, we are not wronged; it is our desert, and his justice. If he spares us, we have not merited ; it is his mercy. Hide Jit misericordia, tihi non fit injuria, — That man receives mercy, thou hast no injury. Yet that he might be justified, and the mouth of all wickedness stopped, he is content to give a reason of this sentence : Think not I deal hardly with this fig-tree; let us confer together, and hear one another with patience. I will shew thee sufficient reason of cutting it down : do thou shew me some cause why it should stand. My reason is, * It cum- bers the ground.' Terram reddlt otiosam, inidilem. It is not only barren formaliter, but effective. lu a word : (1.) It does no good; (2.) It doth much harm. (1.) I'irst, it doth no good, therefore it is unworthy of the nourishment. Terra bona and gens mala are an iU match : an opulent land and a pesti- lent people. Feccator non est digmis pane quo vescitur* — The wicked man is not worthy of the bread he eats, of the water he drinks, of the air he breathes, of the ground he goes on. The rich tliinks himself worthy of deli- cate viands, costly garments, dutiful attendance, quia dives, because he is rich ; yet he may not be worthy of a crumb, a rag, a respect, quia onalus, because he is evil. It will one day grieve such fruitless Nabals, when they must receive a multiplicity of torments, according to the number of their abused benefits ; and they will wish that they had not fared so well upon iarth, that they might fare less ill in hell. They live in the vineyard, eat the fat, and drink the sweet; turning all this juice, not into fruitful clusters, for the behoof of God's servants, but into their own arms and branches: raising their houses out of the ruins of God's house. What good do they 1 Cut them down; 'why cumber they the ground?' It is fit that the ' riches of the sinner should be laid up for the righteous,' Eccles. ii. 2G : dentur digniorihus. But if God should at once cut down all the baiTen trees among us, there never was such a cry in Egypt as there would be about London. What in- numerable swarms of nothing-does beleaguer this city ! Men and women, •whose whole employment is to go from their beds to the tap-house, then to the playhouse, where they make a match for the brothel-house, and from thence to bed again. To omit those ambulatory Christians, that wear out the pavement of this great temple with their feet, but scarce ever touch the stones of it ^^dth their knees ; that are never further from God than when they are nearest the church. To omit that rabble of begging and pilfering vagabonds, that like beasts know no other end of then- creation but recrea- tion, but to eat, and drink, and sleep. What an army of these might be mustered out of our suburbs, but that idleness hath disabled them to any service ; they are neither fit for God nor man. Did they yet but, like worms and insects, spend up the corruption of the land, and leave us the less, it were somewhat. But they are worse, even diseases and unwholesome airs, to breed infection among us. Let authority look to then- castigation, or answer for their mischiefs : so far as they deserve, let them not be spared ; cut them down, why cumber they the ground '? * August. Luke XIII. 7.] the baheen tree. 183 (2.) The barren tree doth no good you see ; but that is not aU — it doth much hurt, and that in two respects : — [1.] It occupies the room where a better tree might grow. The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, ' and given to a nation that will bring forth the fruits thereof,' Matt. xxi. 43. A fruitful nation would be content wdth such a dwelling. Christ foretells this mutation, Paul shews it accomplished. ' They are broken off, that we' — in their places — 'might be graffed on,'llom.xi. 19. ' Friend, how camest thou in liither, not having on a wedding garment V Matt. xxii. 12. Why dost thou usurp the seat where a worthy guest might sit '? Thus Da-^id used to purge his court, admitting the righteous into the offices of the unrighteous, Ps. ci. 8. As in case of calamity, the godly are delivered out of trouble, and the wicked comes in his room : so in case of felicity, the ungodly shall be turned out of their happiness, and the righteous shall come in their stead. A judge is corrupt; he is girded with justice, but the girdle sags to that side where the purse hangeth : God will cut him down ; here is room for a good man that will do equity. A magistrate is partial, and draws the sword of justice in his own quarrel, which he puts up in the cause of Christ : he must be cut down, here is room for one that will love and adhere to the truth. An office is abused by him that holds it ; he bought dear and cannot sell cheap : it is tune he were cut down ; this place will maintain a man that will maintain the place with uprightness. A minister is barren, hath no milk in his breasts ; ministerium ejus accipiat alter : Acts i. 20, let another take his office ; here is room for one that will feed the people. A pro- fixne patron will let none into the Lord's vineyard but at the non-licet gate, by which good men will never enter ; his clerk shall be Sivion, himself will be Magus : vengeance shall cut him down ; here is room for one that wUl freely put foithful labourers into the vineyard. There gTOws an oppressor, skulking in a comer ; the needy cannot find him, or if they do, they find no fruit from him : cut him down ; here is room for one that wUl pity the poor. The Lord will root out such bastard plants, and replenish his garden with fruitful trees. [2.] It dravv's away nourishment fi-om better plants that would bear us fruits. For this Christ denounceth a woe to those Jewish clerks, that keep- ing the keys of heaven, would ' neither enter themselves nor sufi'er others,' Matt, xxiii. 13. What shall become of them that will neither do good nor suffer good to be done, but cutting down '? A great oak pines all the under- wood near it, yea, spoils the grass that should feed the cattle. A great op- pressor engrosseth all round about him, till there be no place left for a fertile tree, Isa. v. 8. Meanwhile, himself hath only some leaves, to shadow his sycophants ; but no fruit, unless bramble-berries, and such as the hogs wUl scarce eat. All covet fo be great trees, few to be good. The briar would grow up to the bigness of the maple, the maple would be as tall as the cedar, the cedar as strong as the oak ; and these so spread their roots till they starve the rest by an insensible soaking. When mother earth, the church, would derive her sap to some young hopeful plant, these intercej^t it. There is maintenance due to the minister, but the barren impropriator stands in his way and sucks it aU from him : perhaps he leaves him some few drops to cool his temples, but not enough to preserve life. But the famished tree cries against him that draws the life from it, and yields no fruit; and God wUl hear it: Absciiide, Cut it down. How cha- ritable would Lazarus have been, had he been owner of Dives's estate ! How 184 THE BAEKEN TREE. [SeRMON XXXVI. would Mordecai have promoted the good of Israel, had he been as great a favourite as Hamaii was ! How freely would the conscionable man give spiritual preferments, were he a patron ! He that fears God would justly render the church her dues, did he drive such trades and dwell in such houses as you do. But that God, who disposeth all as it pleaseth him, mend all when it pleaseth liim, even for his own mercies' sake ! Thus from a plain text I have derived you familiar persuasions; for I came not hither to satisfy the curious head, but the honest heart. Admit but two considerations more, and I have done : — Consideration 1. — The Lord hath shewed us the way to be fruitful by his own example. He owes us nothing : if he withhold good things, we cannot challenge him; if he sends us good things, we are bound to thank him. The last year, how general was the complaint all over this kingdom ! The mower could not fill his scythe, nor the binder-up of sheaves his bosom; the beasts perished for want of fodder; yea, children died m the street with hunger, the poor father not being able with all his week's labour to buy them only bread. The fields were thin, and the barns thinner; little in many places there was to gather, and the vmseasonable weather prevented the gathering of that little. The emptiness of their bowels did justly fill our bowels with compassion. Famine is a sore plague. We then cried unto the Lord for fi'uits, and he heard us. Lo, in how plentiful a harvest he hath answered our desires, to his own praise, and our comfort ! Yea, he con- cluded all with songs and triumphs, a joyful harvest-home : the best sheaf of our wheat, the best grape of the vintage, the best flower of our garland, the best fruit of that royal tree, the safe return of our gracious prince. These be the fruits of his mercy to us ; where be the fruits of our thankfulness to him? Consideration 2. — The barren fig-tree is of all most miserable; and so much the more as it is barren in the vineyard. The vine fruitless is of aU trees most useless, Ezek. xv. 3. It is compared to noble and worthy things : to the good woman, Uxo7' tua sicut vitis, Ps. cxxviii. 3 ; to the best man, * I am the true vine,' John xv. 1 ; it cheers the heart of God and man, Judg. ix. 13. But if barren, it is good for nothuig; not so much as to make a pin to hang a hat on. Oaks and cedars are good for building, poplars for pales, very bushes for hedging, doted wood for firing; but the fruitless vine is good for nothing. Salt keeps other things from putrefying ; but if itself be putrefied, what shall season it? Matt. v. 13. A sweet singer dehghts us all; but quis medehitur cantatori ct serpente 2ierat,sso ? — if a serpent hath stung him, who shall recover his voice ? If the eye be bluid, what shaU look to the eye ? Ad nihilum valet, quod nan valet ad finem smim, — It is good for nothing that is not good for the end it was made. If a knife be not good to cut, we say it is good for nothing; yet may some other use be invented for it. If a plough be not good to break the ground, we say it is good for nothing; yet it may stop a gap. If a hound be not good to hunt, Ave say he is good for nothing ; yet may he in the night give warning of a thief. But if a fig-tree, a professor, be not good for fruit, he is indeed good for nothmg. The refuse of other tilings have their uses : sour wuie will make vinegar, old rags make paper, lees are for dyers, soil is good to fat the land, potsherds and broken tUes to mend highways; all good for somewhat : yea, they offer to seU the combings of their hairs, — ladies and gentlewomen know whether they be good for any purpose or no. But the fruitless vine, the savourless salt, the lightless lamp, the figless fig-tree, the graceless Christian, is good for nothing. Luke XIII. 7.] the barren tree. 185 We aU have our stations in the vineyard, to bring forth fruits; but wliat be those fruits 1 It was a smart invention of liim, that having placed the emperor and the Pope, reconciled, in their majestic thrones, he brought the states of the world before them. First comes a councillor of state, with this motto, ' I advise you two ;' then a courtier, ' I flatter you three ;' then a hus- bandman, *I feed you four;' then a merchant, 'I cozen you five;' then a lawyer, ' I rob you six ;' then a soldier, ' I fight for you seven ;' then a phy- sician, ' I kill you eight ;' lastly, a priest, ' I absolve you all nine.' This was his satire. But in the fear of God, as our sovereign doth govern us in truth and peace, so let the councillor advise, the judge censure, the husbandman labour, the merchant traffic, the lawj-er plead, the soldier bear arms, the divine preach — all bring forth the fruits of righteousness; that this kingdom may flourish, and be an exemplary encouragement to our neighbours; that our children may be blessed after us, our enemies convinced, aliens converted, Satan confounded, the gospel honoured, the Lord glorified, and our own souls eternally saved. Which grace, the happy fruit of the gospel, and glory, the happy fruit of grace, God the Father grant us all for his mercies' sake, God the Son for his merits' sake, God the Holy Ghost for his name's sake ; to whom, three Persons, and one most glorious God, be rendered aU honour and ol5edience, now and for ever ! Amen, TO THE READER. I neither afifect those rheumatic pens that are still dropping upon the press, nor those phlegmatic spirits that will scarce be conjured into the orb of employment; but if modest forwardness be a fault, I cannot excuse myself. It pleased God Almighty to make a fearful comment on this, his own text, the very same day it was preached by his unworthiest servant.* The argument was but audible in the morning, before night it was visible. His holy pen had long since written with ink; now his hand of justice expounded it in the characters of blood. There was only a conditional menace, ' So it shall be;' here a terrible remonstrance, 'So it is.' Sure, he did not mean it for a nine-days' wonder ! Their sudden departure out of the world must not so suddenly depart from the memory of the world. Woe to that soul that shall take so sUght a notice of so extraordinary a judgment ! We do not say. They perished; charity forbid it ! But this we say. It is a sign of God's favour, when he gives a man law. We pass no sentence upon them ; yet let us take warning by them. The remarkableness would not be neglected ; for the time, the place, the persons, the num- ber, the manner. Yet still we conclude not this was for the transgression of the dead; but this we are sure of, it is meant for the admonition of the Uving. Such is our blessed Saviour's conclusion upon a parallel instance : ' Except ye repent, ye shall aU likewise perish.' There is no place safe enough for offenders ; but when the Lord is once up in arms, happy man that can make his own peace ! otherwise, in vain we hope to run from the plague, while we carry the sin along with us. Yet will not our wilful and bewitched recusants, from these legible characters, spell God's plain meaning. No impression can be made in those hearts that are ordained to perish. For their maUcious, causeless, and imchristian censures of us, God forgive them : our re- quital be only pity and prayers for them. Howsoever thy give out — and I will not here examine — that their pity is more than ours, impudence itseK cannot deny but our cha- rity is greater than theirs. Now the holy fear of God keep us in the ways of faith and obedience, that the properation of death may never prevent our preparation to die ! And yet still, after our best endeavour, 'from sudden death, good Lord, deliver us all !' Amen. T. A. * This sermon was preached the same day that the house fell down upon the Papists in the Blackfriars, London, October 26, 1623. FAITH'S ENCOUEAGEIENT. And he said unto uim, Arise, go thy icay : thy faith hath made thee vjhole. — Luke XVII. 19. These words were spoken by our Saviour Christ to the penitent and faith- ful leper. For induction, I will observe two remarkable circumstances pre- ceding my text : first, that Christ did mend him, and then commend him ; he did purge him, and praise him. 1. He mended him : curing first his body, then his soul. His body of the leprosy : a disease not more hard to endure than hard to cure. The diffi- culty of healing it appears by the answer of the king of Israel, upon the receipt of the king of Syria's letters : ' Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy ? ' 2 Kings v. 7 ; intimating that only God is able to cure the leprosy. His soid of the spiritual leprosy : and this was the perfection of health. For this cure the prophet so earnestly prays : Sana animayn, 'Lord, be merciful unto me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee,' Ps. xli. 4. This is a supernatural cure, fit only for the great Physician of souls to perform ; the more difficult, quo minus in natura sit, quod prosit, — because nature hath no iniiuence in her stars, no minerals in her earth, no herbs in her garden, that can heal it. 2. He commends him : of all the ten cleansed, ' there are none found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger,' vcr. 18. God had his tithe there, whence he might least expect it. Now, what doth Christ com- mend him for ? For his thankfulness, for his humility, for his feith : why, these graces were Christ's o^vn ; doth he praise him for that himself had given Mm % Yes, this is God's custom : sua dona coronat, — he crowns his own graces, he rewards his own gifts ; v/hich teacheth how we should un- derstand reward in the Scripture. ' Call the labourers, and give them their hire,' l\Iatt. sx. 8. ' Whosoever gives a cup of cold water to a disciple, shall not lose his reward,' Matt. x. 42. This hire and reward is not the stipend of our labours, but of God's love. He gives us the good of grace, and then rewards it with the good of glory. It is a reward secundum quid, a gift simpliciter. Compare eternal life to the work, looking no further, it is a re- ward : ' Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven,' Matt. v. 1 2. But examine the original from whence it proceeds, then it is the gift of God : ' Eternal life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ,' Rom. vi. 23. He is said to ' shew mercy to them that keep his commandments,' Exod. Luke XVII. 19.] faith's encouragement. 187 XX. 6 ; tLe very keeping the commandments is not merit, it liatli need of mercy. Lo tlius the Lord gives grace, then praiseth it, blesseth it, rewards it. Christ clotheth liis spouse with his own ' garments, the smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia,' Ps. xlv. 8, — a white robe of his perfect righteousness im- puted, ■with his golden merits and inesthnable jewels of graces, — and thou praiseth her : ' Thou art all fair, my love ; there is no spot in thee,' Cant. iv. 7. When God made the world, with all creatures in it, he beheld it, and Eu(/e bonum, — ' Behold, it is exceeding good.' So when he makes a Chris- tian, majorem, oneUorem mundo, and hath furnished him with competent graces, he turns back and looks upon his own workmanship : Ecce honiim, — It is exceeding good ; he forbears not to commend it. Now what doth he specially commend in this converted leper 1 His praising of God. The leper praiseth God, God praiseth the leper. He praiseth m his praising two things : the Tightness, and the rareness. First, The rightness, that he gave praise to God; directed it thither where it was only due : ' He returned to give glory to God.' Non mihi, sed Deo, saith Christ, — Not to me, but to God. Perhaps his knowledge w\as not j'ct so far enlightened as to know him that cured him to be God ; therefore bestowed his praise where he was sure it should be accepted, where only it is deserved — on God. ' I seek not mine own praise,' saith Jesus, but mittentis, ' the praise of him that sent me.' * If I honour myself, my honour is nothing,' John viii. 54. Secondly, The rareness, and that in two respects : — First, That he alone of ten blessed God; God had but his tenth : it is much if the tenth soul go to heaven. The godly are so rare, that they are set up ' for marks, and signs, and wonders,' Isa. viii. 18, as if the world stood amazed at them. Secondly, That he only was the stranger — a Samaritan. Many great virtues were found among the Samaritans : faith, charity, thankfulness. First, Faith : ' Many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him,' John iv, 39. Secondly, Charity : it was the Samaritan that took compassion on the man wounded between Jerusalem and Jericho. The priest and the Levite passed by him without pity, but the Samaritan ' bound up his wounds,' Luke x. 34. Thirdly, Gratitude, exemplified in this Samaritan leper : none of the Jews gave God praise for their healing, but only the Samaritan. It was strange that in GrentUes should be found such virtue, where it was least looked for. ' Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel,' Matt. viii. 10. The less informed did prove the more reformed. Samaritan was held a word of reproach amongst the Jews, as appears by their malicious imputation to Christ : ' Say we not well, that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil 1 ' John ^dii. 48. And at the first proniulgation of the gospel, the apostles received a manifest prohibition: ' Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not,' Matt. x. 5. It was therefore rare to reap such fruits out of the wild forest, cursed like the mountains of Gilboa : ' Let there be no dew, neither rain \ipon you, nor fields of offerings,' 2 Sam. L 21. To be good in good company is little wonder : for angels to be good in heaven, Adam in paradise, Judas in Christ's college, had been no admirable matter ; to apos- tate in these places, so full of goodness, was intolerable weakness. But for Abraham to be good in Chaldea, Noah in the old world. Lot in Sodom ; for a man now to be humble in Spain, continent in France, chaste m Venice, sober in Germany, temperate in England ; this is the commendation. Such a one is a lily in a forest of thorns, a handful of wheat in a field of cockle. Let me not here omit two things worthy my insertion and your observa- tion : — 188 faith's encouragement, [Sermon XXXVII. First, God's judgment and man's do not concur : the Samaritans were condemned of the Jews, yet here mne Jews are condemned by one Samari- tan. They that seem best to the world, are often the worst to God ; they that are best to God, seem worst to the world. "When the moon is lightest to the earth, she is darkest to heaven ; when she is lightest to heaven, she is darkest to the earth. So often men most glorious to the world are ob- scurest to the divine approbation ; others, obscure to the world's acknow- ledgment, are principally respected in God's favour. Man would have cleared the Pharisee and condenuied the publican, when they both appeared in the temple together, — the one, as it were, in the choir, the other in the belfry, — but Christ's judgment is, that the publican ' departed rather justi- fied,' Luke xviii. 14. The Jews thought that if but two men in the world were saved, the one should be a scribe, the other a Pharisee ; but Christ saith neither of them both shaU come there : ' You shall see others in the kingdom of heaven, and you yourselves thrust out,' Luke xiii. 28. Some, like the moon, are greater or less by the sun* of men's estimation. Samuel was mistaken in Eliab, Abinadab, and Shammah, 1 Sam. xvi. ; for the Lord had chosen David. Isaac preferred Esau, but God preferred Jacob, and made the father give the blessing to that son to whom he least meant it. All this justifies that : ' My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord,' Isa. Iv. 8. Secondly, Learn we here from Christ to give men their due ; praise to them that deserve praise. God speaks of vices with commination, of virtues with commendation. Let us speak of others' sins with grief, of theii' good works with praise and joy. Of others' sins with grief; so did St Paul: * Many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ,' Phil. iii. 18. So David, * Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because men keep not thj'' law,' Ps. cxix. 136. Our Saviour wept over apostate Jerusalem; he wept over the people, beholding them as scattered ' sheep without a shepherd.' Who can forbear weeping to see souls muffled and misled by ignorance : like the babes of Nineveh, not able to distinguish the right hand from the left 1 Alas ! there are innumerable souls that know not their own estate ; oh, pity them ! ' Because thou wUt not he^r this, my soul shall weep in secret for thy pride,' Jer. xiii. 17. But let us mention others' virtues and good actions with praise. It is the argument of a sullen and proud disposition, not to commend them that do well. Yet there is no ointment so sweet but there will be some ' dead flies ' to corrupt it, Eccles. x. 1. There be certain dogs that will bark at the moOn; critics that spend the larger part of their time seeldng knots in a bulrush. The snow is not so white, but there is an Anaxagoras to make it black. It was God's commendation of Job, that ' there was none like him in the earth,' Job i. 8 ; he had no fellow, yet the devil picks and inventeth slanders against him. Tradxicers of their brethren, I call not dcemones, but dcemonis agunt ; I do not say they are devils, but they do the work of devils. This mischief of depraving hath also infected the church. ]Many a preacher tliinks his own glory eclipsed, if the next orb be lightened with a brighter star. Hence they fall to faulting and inveighing ; as if there were no way to build up their own credits but by the ruins of another's disgrace. God doth otherwise : ' The Lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely,' Luke xvi. 8. Though he had many faults, yet Christ * Qu. 'sum'?— Ed. Luke XVII. 19.] faith's encouragement. 189 pruiseth him for what was worthy praise — his policy. St Paul found gross errors in tlie Corinthians : * In this I praise you not, that you come to- gether not for the' better, but for the worse,' 1 Cor. xi 17. But whereui they did well, he commends them : ver. 2, ' I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things.' Thus Ezekiel commends Daniel, a prophet of his own time, and thought it not any derogation from himself : ' Behold, art thou wiser than Daniel 1 ' Ezek. xxviii. 3. As Solomon saith of beggars : ' A poor man oppressing the poor is like a sweephig rain which leaveth no food behind it,' Prov. xxviii. 3. So a muiister disparaging a minister is a breach whereby the devil comes out, and many souls go into hell. Now to the words, 'Aiise, go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.' The verse may be distinguished into — I. A passport ; and, II. A certifi- cate. ' Arise, go thy way,' there is the passport ; ' Thy faith hath made thee whole,' there is the certificate. He gives him first a dismission, leave to depart ; then a testimony, or assurance, both to certify the church actually that he was cleansed of his leprosy, but especially to certify his own con- science that he was converted, and that the faith of his soul brought health to his body. I. In the passport, or dismission, there are two words considerable : Surge and Vade, — 'Arise,' 'Go.' Surge ad incijnendum, vade ad jjerficiendum. First, let us speak of them secundum soman; then, secundum sensum : first, according to the history ; then, according to mystery. Allegories are toler- able when they be profitable. Nor can it be much from the text, by occa- sion of those two words spoken to the ears of the leper's body, to instract your souls how to arise from the seat of custom, the couch of sin, and to go on in the way of salvation. 1. 'Arise.' The leper casts himself down, and Christ bids him arise. Humility is the gentleman-usher to glory. God, that sends away the rich empty from his gates, loves to ' fill the hungry with good things,' Luke i. 53. The air passeth by the full vessel, and only filleth that is empty. This is the difierence laetween the proud and beggars ; both agree in not having, differ in craving. The proud are 2^ctu2yeres spiritus, the humble are pauperes sinritu. ' Blessed are,' not the poor si^irits, but 'the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Idngdom of heaven,' Matt. v. 3. Such as felt their Avants sought and besought God for supply. ' Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain be brought low,' Luke iii. 5. The lowly mind shall be exalted, the high-towering ambitious shall be thrown down. How shoidd God say to the merchant that glories in his wealth, to the usurer that admireth his moneys, to the gallant that wonders that his good clothes do not i^refer him : ' Arise ! ' Alas ! they are up already, they were never down. A dwarf in a great throng, seeming low on his knees, was bidden by the prince to stand up ; alas ! he was before at his highest. God cannot be so mis- taken as to encourage their standing up who never yet had the manners to cast themselves down. Descendite ut ascendatis ad Deum : cecidisiis enim ascendendo contra eum* — Descend, that ye may rise up to God ; for you have fallen by rising up against God. He that is a mountebank must level himself even with the ground ; if humbleness hath once thrown him down, and brought him on liis knees, he shall hear the patron and pattern of hum- bleness comforting him with a Stnye, ' Arise.' The guest that sets himself down at the lower end of the table shall hear the feastmaker kindly remove him : 'Friend, sit up higher,' Luke xiv. 10. If Esther fall at Ahasv . us's feet, he will take her by the hand, and bid her * Aug. 190 faith's encouragement. [Sermon XXXVIL arise. Wlien ' Peter fell down at Jesus's knees, saying, Depart from me ; I am a sinful man, O Lord,' Luke v. 8, 10, he presently was raised up with, ' Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men.' Zaccheus is gotten up on high to see Jesus ; see him he may with his eye of flesh, but he must de- scend that he may see him with liis eye of faith. ' Come down, Zaccheus ; this day is salvation come to thy house,' Luke xix. 5 : Descend to the ground, that thou mayest be raised above the clouds. Pride, even in good things, non ditio, sed perditio, is no argument of possession, but destruction. The haughty-minded looks always beyond the mark, and offers to shoot fur- ther than he looks, but ever falls two bows short — humility and discretion. Who is heard to say with Paul, Quorum ego stim primus, — ' I am the chief of sinners?' 1 Tim. i. 15: such a humble confession scarce heard of. But Christ had given him a Surge on his former humbling : ' Arise, and bear my name before Gentiles and kings,' &c. Let us all thus cast ourselves down in humility, that the Lord may say to us in mercy, ' Arise ! ' 2. ' Go.' This was the word of dismission wherewith Christ sends him away. He was healed, and therein had his heart's desire ; what could he expect more of Christ 1 why is he not gone ? No, he has not yet hi& Vade; he wiU not go till he is bidden. He found such sweetness in the Lord Jesus, that could you blame him though he Avere loath to depart ? From another man's house, we say, after some smaU tarrying. Let us save our credits, and go before we are bidden ; but from the Lord let us not de- part without a dismission. The hearts of the people were so set on Christ, that he was fain to send them often away, Mark vi. 45, Matt. xiv. 22, ' He sent the multitudes awa}^,' Matt. xv. 39, ' He sent the people away.' As Simeon, that swan, which sung his own funeral : Nunc dimiUis, — ' Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.' This makes to the shame of their faces that, without other cause than of weariness, waywardness, or wantonness, wdU not tarry for their Discedite, but depart the church without the blessing; they will not stay till Christ bids them go. They venture therein wretchedly and dangerously, if they could so conceive it, to depart without the ' peace of God.' It is a usual complaint of man in distress, Quare dereUquisti me, Domine ? — Why hast thou forsaken me, O Lord ? God justly answers, -'Quare dereliquisti me, homo 1 — Why didst thou forsake me first, man % Would you needs de- part when you should not % you therefore shall depart when you would not. Discedite, ' Depart;' indeed a woeful dejection, Matt. vii. 23. ' Depart from me, ye cursed,' Matt. xxv. 41. Why cursed ? Good reason; you would not tarry for a blessing. Thus is God even with the wicked : Eecedisti a me, recedam a vobis, — You left me, I therefore leave you. Will you go without bidding] Ahite, — Get you gone. ' He that will go into captivity, let him go.' Deus prior in araore, posterior in odio, — God loved us be- fore we loved him ; he doth not actually hate us, till we first hate him. Nunquam deserif, nisi cum deseritur, — He forsakes not us till we forsake him. No man can take Christ from thy soul, unless thou take thy soul from Christ. God complains of the Jews, that they had left him : ' My people have forsaken me,' Jer. ii. 13. Forsake thee, Lord, living Father of mercies, and God of all comfort ! ' Will a man forsake the snow of Lebanon, and the cold flowing waters that come from the rocks V Jer. XAdii. 14. If any will do so, then hear the curse : ' Lord, the hope of Israel, aU that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from thee shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters,' Jer, xvii. 13. But let them that cleave to the Lord, hear the Luke XVII. 19.] faith's excoukagement. 191 blessing : ' I %vill not leave tlioe nor forsake thee,' Heb. siii. 5. Let us hang on the mouth of God for decision of all our doubts, direction of all (jur ways ; like the centurion's servants, Matt. viii. 9, going when he bids us, coming when he calls us, doing what he commands us. At his word let us arise and go on earth ; at his call we shall arise and go to heaven. He that obeys the Surge in grace shall have the S'un/e in glory. He that goes in the ways of holiness shall go into the courts of happiness. ' He that goeth forth weeping, bearing with him precious seed, shall come again re- joicing, and bring his sheaves with him,' Ps. cxxvi. G. ' They that have done well shall go into everlasting life,' Matt. xxv. Thus much of these two words, as they belonged to that person, the leper. Now let us usefully apply them to ourselves. First, Let us observe from this Arise, it is Christ that gives the Surge which reviveth us : we can never stir from the seat of impiety till he bids us arise. ' No man can come to me, except the Father draw him,' John vi. 44. The Spirit of Christ must draw us out of the black and miry pit of inicjuity ; as Ebedmelech drew Jeremiah out of the dungeon, Jer. xxxviii. 13. We cannot arise of ourselves ; nature hath no foot that can make one true step toward heaven : ' That which is born of the fiesh is flesh,' John ui. 6 ; not fleshly in the concrete, but flesh in the abstract. We cannot speak unless he open our Kps. God says to the prophet, ' Cry.' ' What shall I cry % ' The Spirit must give the word : ' AU flesh is grass,' &c., Isa. xl. 6. We can- not stand unless he give us feet : ' Son of man, stand upon thy feet,' Ezek. ii. 1. Alas ! he cannot; but, ver. 3, ' The Spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet.' We cannot see except he give us eyes : Intelligite, insipi- entes, — 'Be -wise, ye fools.' Alas ! they cannot; but da 7nihi intelledum, — do thou, O Lord, give them wisdom. 'Be ye not conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of your minds, that you may prove,' (fee, Kom. xii. 2. There are first two verbs passive, then an active ; to shew that we are double so much patients as we are agents. Being moved, we move. Acta fit activa voluntas: when God hath inclined oixr will to good, that will can then incline us to perform goodness. If we cannot speak without lips from him, nor walk without affections from him, nor see except he give us eyes ; then neither can we arise except, he takes us by the hand, as Peter took the cripple, ' and lift him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength,' Acts iii. 7. If the Spirit of our Lord Jesus give us a Surge, our lame soul shall gTOw strong and lively in the nerves of graces, we shall arise and walk ; leaping, and singing, and praising God. Secondly, We must arise, for we are naturally down. By nature a man ' lieth in wickedness,' 1 John v. 19 : by grace he 'risetli to newness of life,' Ptom. vi. 4. Nature and religion are two opposites : I mean by nature, corrupted nature ; and by religion, true religion ; for otherwise, the accept- ing of some religion is engraSed to every nature. It is nature to be ' dead in sins,' Eph. ii. 1 : it is religion to be ' dead to sin,' Bom. vl 2. It is nature to be ' reprobate to every good work,' Tit. i. 1 6 : religion to be 'ready to every good work,' Tit. iii. 1. It is nature to be a ' lover of one's self,' 2 Tim. iii. 2 : religion to ' deny one's self,' Luke ix. 23. It is nature for a man to ' seek only his own profits,' Phil. ii. 21 : religion to ' serve others by love,' Gal. v. 13. Nature esteems preaching, folly: religion, the ' power of God to salvation,' 1 Cor. i. 21, 24. There are two lights in man, as in heaven — reason and faith. Reason, like Sarah, is still asking, ' How can this be ? ' Faith, like Abraham, not disputes, but believes. There is no 192 faith's encoukagement. [Sermon XXXVII. validity in moral virtues : civil men's good works are a mere carcase, witli- out the soul of faith. They are like that Roman, that having fortunately slain his three enemies, the Curiatii, coming home in triumph, and beholding all the people welcome him with acclamations, only his sister weep, because he had slain her love ; he embittered his victories mth the murder of his own sister. Carnal men may do glorious deeds, flourish with brave achievements ; but they mar all by killiug their own sister, the dear soul. Thus we are down by nature ; grace can only help us up, and make us arise. If you ask how nature hath de- jected us, how we came originally thus depraved? I answer, We know not so well how we came by it, as we are sure we have it. JUihil ad jjfcedican- dum notius, nihil ad intelligendiLni secretins* — Nothing is more certainly true to be preached, nothing more secretly hard to be understood. There- fore, as in case of a town on fire, let us not busily inquire how it came, but carefully endeavour to put it out. A traveller passing by, and seeing a man fallen into a deep pit, began to wonder how he fell in ; to whom the other replied, Tu cogita quomodo hinc me liheres, non quomodo hue ceciderim quce- ras, — Do thou, good friend, rather study how to help me out, than stand questioning how I came in. Pray to Christ for this Suyge : Libera nos Do- mine, — We are naturally down; do thou, Lord, graciously raise us up. Thirdly, We must ' arise ' before we can ' go.' First arise, then go thy way, saith Christ. He that is down may creep like a serpent, cannot go like a man. Thou art to fight with cruel enemies : * Not flesh and blood, but principalities and powers, wicked spirits in high places,' Eph. vi. 12. Thou wilt perform it poorly whiles thou art along on the ground. The flesh will insult over thee with undenied lusts. Qidcquid suggeritur, cceteris agger itur, — there is not a sinful motion suggested, but it is instantly embraced, and added to that miserable dunghill of iniquity. And is not this wretched, to have Ham's curse upon thee, to be a slave to slaves % The world wiU hold thy head under his girdle, whiles he tramples on thy heart : thou shalt eat no other food than he gives thee ; he will feed thee with bribes, usuries, injuries, perjuries, blasphemies, homicides, turpitudes ; none of these must be refused. The devil wUl tjTannise over thee ; thou canst hardly grapple with that great red dragon, until thou art mounted like St George on the back of faith. Alas ! how shouldst thou resist him, being down under his feet ? Ai-ise therefore, and 'take the whole armour of God,' Eph. vi. 13, that you may both stand and withstand. ' Arise,' lest God coming, and finding thee down, strike thee lower : * From him that hath not shall be taken away that he seemeth to have.' Pauper uhique jacet, is a proverb more plentifully true in a mystical than a temporal poverty. We say. Qui jaeet in terris, non habet unde cadat, — He that lies on the gromid hath no lower descent to fall to. Yes, there is a lower place. Judas found a lower fall than the earth when he departed, in locum suum, ' into his own place,' Acts i. 25, Such was that great monarch's fall : ' How art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer? how art thou cut down to the ground?' Isa. xiv. 12. This was a great descent, from heaven to earth. But, ver. 15, ' Thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.' This was a greater descent, from heaven to hell. We esteem it a great fall (ceremonially) from a throne to a prison ; and the devU meant a great fall (locally) from the pinnacle to the ground : but there is abi/ssiis inferna, a lower precipice. David begins a psalm of prayer, De profundis, — ' Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord,' Ps. cxxx. But there is a depth * Aug. Luke XVII. 19.] faith's encoukagement. 193 of depths, and out of that deep there is uo rising. Arise now, lest you fall into that deep then. ' Arise ;' for if thou wilt not, thou shalt be raised. Si non surrexeris vol- enter, siiscitaberis violenter, — If thou refuse to rise willingly, thou shalt be roused against thy wUl. If thou wilt not hear the first Surge, which is the minister's voice, thou shalt hear the last Surge, which is the archangel's voice. Dicis, Surgam, — Thou sayest, I wUl rise. But when ? Modo Domine, inodo, — Anon, Lord, all in time. Will not this be a silly excuse at the day of judgment, ' I will rise anon ? ' Thou must rise ' in a moment, in the twink- ling of an eye, at the last trump,' 1 Cor. xv. 52. Though thou cry to the * mountains. Fall on me, and to the rocks. Hide me,' Rev. vi. 16; yet mdla evasio, thou must arise and appear. There are two voices that sound out this Siaye : one evangelical, and that is of mercy ; yet we drown this, as Italians do thunder, by drums, bells, cannons. The other angelical, and that is of justice, a voice impossible to be avoided. This is that last sermon, that all the world shall hear : ' Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment.' ' Arise ;' let us now raise up ourselves from corruption of soul, that we may one day be raised from corruption of body. They that wlU not rise, their souls must, and cany their bodies to judgment. This world was made for man, not man for this world ; therefore they take a wi'ong course that lie down there. He that lies down when he should arise and go, shall rise and go when he would lie down. He that sleeps in the cradle of security all his life, sins soundly without starting ; when he once starts and wakes, he must never sleej) again. The de\dl and mischief are ever watching ; and shall men, whom they watch to hurt, sleep ? He that would deceive the devil had need to rise betimes. The lion is said to sleep with one eye open, the hare with both ; the worldling with both eyes of his soul shut. He never riseth till he goes to bed ; his soul wakens not till his body falls asleep on his death- bed : then perhaps he looks up. As sometimes they that have been blind many years, at the approaching of death have seen, — whereof physicians give many reasons, — so the death-bed opens the eyes of the soul. Indeed at that time there is possibility of waking, but hazard of rising. That poor winter- fruit will hardly reUsh with God. Misermn iiicipere vivere, cum desinendum est, — It is wretched for a man then to begin his life when he must end it. It is at the best but morosa et morhosa j-toeniteiitia, — a wearish and sick re- pentance. "Wliereas God requires a ' quick and lively sacrifice,' Rom. xii. 1, this is as sick as the person that makes it. This indeed is not a conversion, but a reversion, or mere refuse. To raise the secure from their unseasonable, unreasonable sleep, God doth ring them a peal of five bells : — The first bell is conscience : this is the treble, and doth somewhat trouble ; especially if the hand of God pulls it. Many think of their consciences as Ul debtors do of their creditors — they are loath to talk with them. Indeed God is the creditor, and conscience the sergeant, that will meet them at every turn. It makes a syllogistical conclusion in the mind. Reason, like David, draws the sword, and conscience, like Nathan, knocks him on the breast with the hilts. David made the proposition, ' The man that hath done this shall die the death,' 2 Sam. xii. ; Nathan the assumption, * Thou art the man ;' conscience the conclusion, ' Therefore thou must die.' If you hear not, yea feel not the sound of this bell, suspect your dcadness of heart ; for that city is in danger where the alarm-bell rings not. The second bell is the stint, or certain to all the rest : vox evangelii, tho voice of the gospel. This bell of Aaron is so perpetually rung amongst us, VOL. II. N 194 faith's encouragement. [Sermon XXXVII. that as a knell in a great mortality, quia frequens, non terrens,-—%o common tliat no man regards it. Indeed, if some particular clapper ring melodiously to the ear, we come to please that rather than the soul. Luxuriant wits think the Scripture phrase gross ; nothing delights them but a painted and meretricious eloquence. There are some that wHl not hear this bell at aU ; like Jeroboam, they will not travel to Jerusalem for a sermon, but content themselves with a calf at home. Others look that the preacher's tongue should incessantly walk, but let their own hearts lie still. Thus often our lecturer shall preach, we wUl give the hearing when we list. Thus many ministers come to a parish -with their bones full of marrow, veins full of blood ; but all is soon spent, and the people never the better. We ring, but you do not rise. The third bell is the mean ; and this is suspiria gemitusque morienfium, — the cries and groans of the dying. Another's passing-bell is thy waniing- bell. Death snatcheth here and there about us, thousands on our left, ten thousand on our right ; yet as if we had a Supersedeas, or protestation against it, we neither relent nor repent. Our security is argued of the more madness, because we have so common motions and monitions of death. Yet non erimus memores esse necesse mori. How horrible is it to be drunk in a charnel-house ! As Christ spake, ' Let the dead bury their dead.' So we bring to the church dead bodies, with deader souls. ' Forma, favor populi, fervor juvenilis, opesque, Surripuere tibi noscere quid sit homo.' We confess om'selves mortal, yet we live as if death had no quarrel against us. This bell is the mean, but is too mean to wake us. The fourth bell is the counter-tenor : vox ixiuperum, the cry of the poor. This bell rings loud, either to us for mercy, or against us for cruelty. Let us know, that if it cannot waken us, it shall waken God against us. ' Their cries are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth,' James v. 4 Set not thy soul in danger of the people's curse ; by enhancings, engrossing?, op- pressions, &c. But thou sayest they are wicked men that will curse, and God will not hear the wishes of the wicked. I answer, it is often seen that the curse of the undone waster lights upon the head of the undomg usurer. The imprecation of an evil man may fall upon another • God so suffers it, not because he cursed thee, but because thou hast deserved this curse. Let this bell make oppressors arise to shew mercy, that God may rise to shew them mercy. Otherwise the poor man is ready to pray, ' Arise, Lord, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of our enemies : awake for us to the judgment thou hast commanded,' Ps. vil 6. Yea, though they pray not for it, God wUl do it. ' For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord ; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him,' Ps. xii. 5. If this bell sound mournfully to thee for bread to the hungry, arise to this sound, as that neighbour rose at mid- night to reUeve liis importunate friend, Luke xi. 8. If it cannot waken thy covetous soul to shew mercy to Christ tempore suo, in his time of need, nor will Christ arise to shew mercy to thee, tempore tuo, in thy time of need. The last beU is the tenor, the bow-bell : able to waken all the city. But though that material bell can teach us when it is time to go to bed, yet this mystical beU cannot teach us the time to arise. This is the abuse of the creatures : ' The rust of the gold cries ' against the hoarder, James v. 3 ; ' the stone out of the wall' against the oppressor, Hab. ii 11; the corn and wine against the epicure. This is a roaring and a groaning bell : ' The whole Luke XVIL 19.] faith's encouragejient. 195 creature groans and travails iii pain ' under us, Rom. viii. 22. This is the creatures' ordinary sermon : Accipe, reclde, cave, — Use us without abusing, re- turn thankfulness without dissembling, or look for vengeance Avithout spar- ing. They seem to cry unto us, ' We desire not to be spared, but not to be abused : necessitatl subservire non recusamus, sed luxui, — we would satisfy your natural necessity, not intemperate riot.' We are the nocent creatures that cause their innocency to become miserable. And but that the diAine providence restrains them, it is marvel hat they break not their league with us ; and with their horns, and hoofs, and other artillery of nature, make war upon us, as their unrighteous and tyrannical lords. Let some of these bells vv'aken us ; lest, as God once protested against Israel, that seeing they would not when it was offered, therefore they should never ' enter into his rest,' Heb. ui. So a renunciation come out agamst us : ' If any will be filthy, let them be filthy stUl,' Eev. xxii. ; if they will not arise, they shall lie still for ever. If this peal cannot effect it, yet God hath four things more to rouse us : — First, A goad that pricks the skui and smarts the flesh — affliction. He hath crosses and curses ; those gall, these deeply wound ; they are able to make any but a Pharaoh arise. It was affliction that wakened David : ' It » is good for me that I was troubled.' The leprosy brought Naaman to the -^ prophet; the prophet brought him to God. It is strange if bloody sides put not sense into us. Yet such was the obduracy of Israel : ' Thou hast stricken them, but they have not sorrowed ; thou hast consumed them, yet they refused to return,' Jer. v. 3. Insensible hearts ! ' The people turneth not to him that smiteth them ; neither do they seek the Lord of hosts,' Isa, ix. 13. Hast thou been wounded, and wilt thou not be wakened ? Beware lest God speak to thy soul, as in another sense Christ did to Peter, * Sleep on now, and take thy rest.' Secondhj, He hath, to rouse us, thunder of heavier judgments. Perhaps the light scratches which some adverse thorns make are slightly reckoned ; we scarce change countenance for them; but he sleeps soundly whom thunder cannot wake. Humanas motiira tonitrica mentes. ^Vhen God thundered that menace in the ears of Nineveh, it waked them. Let Absalom fire Joab's barley fields, and he shall make him rise, 2 Sam. xiv. Shake the foundations of the prison, and the stern jailor will rise a converted Chris- tian : ' Sirs, what shall I do to be saved 1 ' Acts xvi. This thundcrmg of judgments should cleanse our air, awaken our sleepy minds, purge our un- clean hearts. ' If the lion roar, who will not fear ? If the Lord thunder, what man will not be afraid V Amos iii. 8. Thirdly, He hath an ordnance to shoot off— death. Statutum est omnibus mori. It is a statute law of heaven, an ordmance from the court of justice, every man shall die. When this cannon is discharged at thy paper walls, then let thy soul rise, or never. The shooting off this ordnance made Bel- shazzar stagger before he was drunk. ' His knees smote one against another,' when that fatal hand wrote his destiny on the wall, Dan. v. G. Indeed most do slumber on the couch of health, they are quiet, no sickness stirs them ; they are at a covenant with the grave : — • Sed cito finitam datur istam cemere vitam. Prseceps mortis iter.' Death makes a headlong progi-ess. This ordnance carries death in its mouth : it is an even hand that shoots; one that will never misa the mark. Let this rouse us. 196 faith's excouragement. [Sermon XXXVII. Fouii.ldy, God liatli a trumpet to soianci : * The Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God,' 1 Thess. iv. 16. Altisona,grandisonatuba, — the loudest instrument of war : every ear shall hear it. As it was in the days of Noah and Lot, * so shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed,' Luke xvii. 30 : from eating and drinking, building and planting, buying and sellmg, marry- ing and dancing, shall this trumpet call them. It shall fetch the drunkard from the ale-bench, the harlot from her luxurious bed, the epicure from his riotous table, the usurer from his charnel-house, of men's bones and beasts' skins, his study : now surgendum est -undique, there must be a universal rising. Well, let us waken before this last trumpet's last summons, lest then we rise only to judgment, and be judged to lie down again in torments. God long expects our rising : Quanta diutius nos expedat tit emendemtis, tanto districtius judicahit si neglexerimus,'''' — With how much patience he waits for our neglected conversion, with so much vengeance he will punish our continued rebellion. The Lord of his mercy give us the first resurrec- tion to grace, that we may enjoy the rising of gloiy ! ' Arise, and go.' Being got up, it is not fit we slaould stand stUl, we must 1 be going. The main work was to raise us ; now we are up, I hojDe an easy matter wUl set us a-going. And to help forward our journey, let our medi- tations take along with them these three furtherances : the necessity, the conveniency, the end. The necessity, we must go ; the conveniency, how we must go ; the end, whither we must go. (1.) The necessity : all that have hope of heaven must be going. The ser- vants of God under the law, Exod. xii. 11, the sons of God under the gospel, Eph. vi, 15, are commanded to have their feet shod, to witness their pre- paration of going. God doth not only charge Elijah with a Surge, ' Arise,' 1 Kings xix. 5; but also with a Vade, ' Go,' ver. 7. The sitting bird is easUy shot ; so long as she is flying in the air, the murdering piece is not levelled at her. There were two principal occasions of David's sm : otkim et ocidus, — idleness and his eye. The one gives Satan opportunity, the other conveni- ency, to inject his temptation. Otia si tollas, 2)eriere Cujndinis arcus. ' David, hast thou nothing to do ? Come, walk with me on thy palace roof ; I wiU shew thee beauty, a snare able to take a saint.' It is necessary therefore to be going ; for so we are not so fair a mark for Satan. Adam, so long as he was at his work in the garden, was safe enough ; when he became lazy, and fell a-daUying with Eve, Satan shot him. It Avas Jerome's counsel to Rusti- cus : ' Be ever doing, iit quando diabolus veniat, inveniat occupatum, — that when the devil comes with his business, he may find thee at thine own busi- ness.' So thou shalt answer him knocking at thy door : ' I am busy; I have no time to talk with you, Satan.' Do you think the devil could be so sure to meet his friends at the theatre, tavern, brothel-house, but that Mistress Idleness sends them thither 1 Yea, by this he takes a worldling by the hand at church : ' Well met ; you are so full of business all the week that you break your sleeps, cannot take your rest ; come, here be two sermons on the Sunday, sleep out them.' The Sabbath seems tedious to some, they have . nothing to do. Nothing ? Alas ! they know not a Sabbath-day's work. To pray, to hear, to read, to meditate, to confer, to visit, to pray again ; is all this nothing 1 Because they labour not in their worldly calling, they think there needs no labour about their Christian calling : the ' working out their salvation' they hold no pains ; indeed they take no pains about it. If they did perform these duties, they should find the right spending the Sab- * Bern. Luke XVII. 19.] faith's encouragement. 197 bath., not nullum lahorem, sed alium, — not no labour, but another kind of labour than ever they conceived. And this not opus tcedii, sed gaudii. Think of that sweet vicissitude of works and comforts ; and hreve videhitur tempus, tantis varietatibus occupatum, — that time must needs seem short that is spent in such variety of delights. It was the principal of those three faults whereof Cato professed himself to have so seriously repented. One was, passing by water when lie might go by land ; another was, trusting a secret to a woman ; but the main one was, spending an hour unprofitably. How many hours, not only on common days, but even upon the holy Sab- batli, that concerns the business of our souls, have we unpi'ofitably lavished, and yet never heartily repented them ! (2.) The conveniency : if we go, we must have feet. All our preacliing is to beat the bush, put you from your coverts, and set you a-going ; but now quihus p)edihiis 1 — on what feet must you go ? The foot is the affection or appetite, saith St Augustine; eo feror, quocunque feror, — that carries me whithersoever I go. The foot moves the body, the affection moves the soul. The regenerate soul hath three principal faculties, as the natural body hath three semblable members : the eye, hand, and foot. In the soul the eye is knowledge, the hand is faith, the foot is obedience. The soul without know- ledge is like Bartimeus, blind ; without faith, like the man with the -withered hand ; without obedience, like Mephibosheth, lame. Tnie Christians are not monopodes, one-footed ; the Apostle speaks in the plural number, of their feet : ' Stand, having your feet shod with the prepara- tion of the gospel of peace,' Eph. vi. 15. He meant not corporal feet : the soul must therefore have spiritual feet, like the body's, for number, for nature : — ' [1.] For number ; the body hath two feet, so hath the soul — affection and action, desiring and doing. The former, that puts forward the soul, is a hopeful affection. One said, Hope is a foot, pes spes; but hope is rather a nerve that strengthens the motion of this foot, than the foot itself. The latter is action, or operative obedience ; that rightly walks in the blessed way of holiness. ' I desire to do thy will, O my God,' Ps. xl, 8 ; there is the foot of affection. ' I will run the way of thy commandments,' Ps. cxix. 32 ; there is the foot of action. ' I have longed for thy precepts,' ver. 40 ; there is the foot of desiring. ' I turned my feet unto thy testimonies,' ver. 59 ; there is the foot of obeying. [2.] For nature ; they are fitly compared to feet, and that, ratione situs ei transitus, — for placing and for passing. For site, or placmg ; the feet are the lower parts of the body, so are affec- tions of the soul. The head is the directer, the foot the carrier : the feet help the head, the head guides the feet. The understanding and affection are like the blind man and the lame : the lame hath eyes but no feet ; the blind hath feet but no eyes. But whiles the blind carries the lame, and the lame directs the blind, both may come to their journey's end. The under- standing sees well, but of itself cannot go ; the affection is able to go, but of liimself cannot see : let the one direct well, the other walk after that direction, and they will bring the soul to heaven. For transition, or passing ; as the feet corporally, so these spiritually, move and conduct the man from place to place. Indeed, ' none can come to the Son unless the Father draw him,' Jolm vi. 4-4 ; but when he hath given us feet, he looks we should go. ' He that hath ears to hear, let him hear ;' he that hath hands, let him work ; he that hath feet, let him go. Hence is that exhortation, ' Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you,' James iv. 8. In this footmanship there is terminus a quo recedimus, terminus ad quern 198 faith's encouragement. [Sermon XXXVII. accedimus, mohis per quern pTocedimus, — from the ways of darkness, to tlie fruition of light, to the conversation in light. From darkness exterior, in- terior, inferioi*. Outward : this land is full of darkness, fraught operihus tene- hranim, with the works of darkness. Inward : ' Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, and because of the blindness of their heart,' Eph. iv. 1 8. Outer darkness, that which Christ calls to cmrog ro s^'mtspov, Matt. xxii. 13, or lower darkness : ' He hath reserved the lost angels in everlastuig chains under darkness,' Jude 6. Unto light external, internal, eternal. Outward light : ' Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path,' Ps. cxix. 105. Inward light : * In the hidden parts thou shalt make me to know wisdom,' Ps. li. G. Everlasting light : ' They shall shine as the brightness of the firma- ment, and as the stars for ever and ever,' Dan. xii. 3. Blessed feet ! that carry us to ' that light which lighteneth every man that cometh into the world,' John i. 8 ; and to the beams of that sun which ' gives light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,' Luke i. 79. Happy feet ! they shall be guided ' into the way of peace.' Look to thy foot wheresoever thou treadest ; beware the gardens of temporal pleasures : Ust aliquid quod in ijisis florihus angat. It is worse going on fertile ground than on barren . the smooth ways of prosperity are slippery, in rough afflictions we may take sure footing. Let your feet be shod, saith Paul, your affections restrained ; bar lust of her vain objects, turn her from earth to heaven. Set her a-travel- ling, not after riches, but graces. Keep the foot of desire still going, but put it in the right way, direct it to everlasting blessedness. And this is — (3.) The end whither we must go : to perfection. Thou hast done well, yet go on still. Nihil jyrcesumitur actum, dum siiperest aliquid ad agendum, — Nothing is said to be done, whUes any part remains to do. No man can go too far in goodness. Nimis Justus, et nimis sapiens pates esse, nan nimis bonus, — Thou mayest be too just, thou mayest be too wise, but thou canst never be too good. Summce religionis est, imitaj^i quern colis, — It is a true height of religion, to be a follower of that God of whom thou art a wor- shippei'. Come so nigh to God as possibly thou canst, in imitation, not of his power, wisdom, majesty, but of his mercy. ' Be holy, as the Lord is holy,' 1 Pet. i. 1 G ; 'Be merciful, as your heavenly Father is merciful,' Luke vi. 36. The going on forward to this perfection shall not displease him, but crown thee. Give not over this going, until with St Paul thou have quite 'finished thy course,' 2 Tim. iv. 7. Aim at perfection, shoot at this mark, though thou cannot reach it. When the wrestling angel said to Jacob, ' Let me go, for the day breaketh,' he answered, 'I will not let thee go except thou bless me,' Gen. xxxii. 2Q. Happy perseverance ! ' When I caught him whom my soul loved, I held him, and would not let him go,' Cant. iii. 4. O sweet Jesus! who would let thee go, qui tenes tenentem, apiwehendenteni fortificas, fortificatura con- firmas, confirmatum perficis, perfectum coronas^' — thou that holdest him that holdeth thee, that strengthenest him that trusteth thee, confirmest whom thou hast strengthened, perfectest whom thou hast confirmed, and crownest whom thou hast perfected? In the behalf of this continuance, the Holy Ghost gives those exhortations: 'Holdfast, stand fast;' 'Hold that thou hast, that no man take thy crown,' Piev. iii. 11. The same to the churcli of Thyatira ; Tene quod habes, Rev. ii. 25. ' Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free,' Gal. v. 1. It is an ill hearing, '1%' not do, but ' did run well,' ver. 7. The prophet in his threnes weeps that * Bern. Luke XVIL 19.] faith's encoukagement. 199 * they which were brought up iii scarlet, embrace dunghills,' Lam. iv. 5. It is just matter of lamentation, when souls which have been clad with zeal as with scarlet, constantly forward for the glory of God, fall to such apostasy as with Demas to embrace the dunghill of this world, and with an avarous hausture to lick up the mud of corruption. Joseph had a coat reaching down to his feet : our religion must be such a garment, neither too scant to cover, nor too short to continue ad ultimum, to the last day of our temporary breath. ' Bo thou faithful unto the death, and I will give thee the crown of life,' Rev. ii. 10 : this crown is promised to a good beginning, but performed to a good ending. Strive to ' compre- hend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height,' Eph. iii 18. If we can comprehend with the saints, not only the height of hope, the depth of faith, the breadth of charity, but also the length of con- tinuance, we are blessed for ever. Even the tired horse, when he comes near home, mends his pace : be good always, without weariness, but best at last ; that the nearer thou comest to the end of thy days, the nearer thou mayest be to the end of thy hopes, the salvation of thy soul. Oninis coelestis curia nos expedaf, desideremus earn quanta possicmus desiderio* — The whole court of heaven waits for us ; let us long for that blessed society with a hearty affection. The saints look for our coming, desiring to have the num- ber of the elect fulfilled ; the angels blush when they see us stumble, grieve when we fall, clap their wings "with joy when we go cheerfully forward ; our Saviour Christ stands on the battlements of heaven, and with the hand of help and comfort wafteth us to him. When a noble soldier in a foreign land hath achieved brave designs, won honourable victories, subdued dan- gerous adversaries, and with worthy chivalry hath renowned his kmg and country; home he comes, the king sends for him to court, and there in open audience of his noble courtiers, gives him words of grace, commendeth, and (which is rarely more) rewardeth his valour, heaps dignities, preferments, and places of honour on him. So shall Christ at the last day, to all those soldiers that have valiantly combated and conquered his enemies : in the sight of heaven and earth, audience of men and angels, give victorious wreaths, crowns and garlands, 'long white robes,' Rev. vii. 9, to witness their innocency, and ' pabns in their hands,' to express their victory ; and finally, he shall give them a glorious kingdom to enjoy for ever and ever ! Now, yet further to encourage our going, let us think upon our company. Four sweet associates go with us in our journey : good Christians, good angels, good works, our most good Saviour Jesus Christ. First, Good Cluistians accompany us even to our death. If thou go to the temple, they wiU go with thee. ' Many people shall say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob,' Isa. ii. 3. If thou say, ' Come, let us build up the walls of Jerusalem,' Neh. ii. 17 j they will answer, 'Let us rise up and build,' ver. 18. So when Joshua pro- tested to Israel : Do what you will, ' but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord,' Josh. xxiv. 15; they echoed to huu, 'God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods : we also wUl serve the Lord,' ver. IG, 18. Thou canst not say with Elias, 'I am left alone;' there be * seven thousand,' and thousand thousands, that never bowed their knee to Baal, Rom. xL 3. Secondly/, Good angels bear us company : to death, in our guarding; after death, in our carrjing up to heaven. A nrjelis mandavit, — ' He hath given his angels charge over us,' Ps. xci. 11. There are malicious devils against * Bern. 200 faith's encoukagement. [Sermon XXXVIL us, but there are powerful angels witli us. That great Majesty whom we all adore hath given them this commission : * Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shaU be heirs of salvation?' Heb. j. 14. An angel counsels Hagar to return to her mistress, Gen. xvi. ; an angel accompanies Jacob m his journey, Gen. xlviii. ; an angel feeds Elias, 1 Kings xix. ; an angel plucks Lot out of Sodom. Gaudent angeli te con- versum illorum sociari co7isoriiis," — The angels rejoice at our conversion, that so their number might have a completion. Thirdly, Good works bear us company: good angels associate us, to deliver their charge; good works, to receive their reward. Though none of our actions be meritorious, yet are none transient, none lost. They are gone before us to the courts of joy, and when we come, they shaU welcome our entrance. Virtutis miseris dulce sodalitium, — What misery soever per- pleseth our voyage, virtue and a good conscience are excellent company. Lastly, Jesus Christ bears lis company. He is both via and conviator, — * the way,' John xiv. 6, and companion in the way. When the two disciples went to Emmaus, ' Jesus himself drew near, and went with them,' Luke xxiv. 15. If any man go to Emmaus, which Bernard interpreteth to be 'thirst- ing after good advice,' he shall be sure of Christ's company. If any man en- treat Jesus to ' go a mile, he will go -with him twain,' Matt. v. 41. None can complain the want of company whiles his Saviour goes along with him. ' Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ,' 1 John i. 3. There we find two Persons of the blessed Trinity our associates, the Father and the Son : now the Holy Ghost is not wanting. ' The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion,' or fellow- ship, 'of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen,' 2 Cor. xiii. 13. Go we then comfortably forward, and ' God will bring us to our desired haven,' Ps. cvii. 30. But ^:>a2<a intrant, 2)ctuciores ambulant, paucissimi j^er- veniiint, — few enter the way, fewer walk in the way, fewest of all come to the end of the way, their salvation. Men think the way to heaven broader than it is ; but ' strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto Mfe, and few there be that find it,' Matt. vii. 14. All say they are going to glory, but the greater number take the wrong way. A man somewhat thick- sighted, when he is to pass over a narrow bridge, puts on spectacles to make it seem broader ; but so his eyes beguUe his feet, and he falls into the brook. Thus are many drowned in the whirlpool of sin, by viewing the passage to heaven only with the spectacles of flesh and blood : they think the bridge broad, so topple in. Happy eyes that well guide the feet, and happy feet that never rest going tiU they enter the gates of heaven ! — Thus much for the passport; now we come to — II. The certificate : ' Thy fiiith hath made thee whole.' Wherein Christ doth comfort and encourage the leper. First, he comforts him that his faith was the means to restore health to his body ; then thereby he encourageth him that this faith, increased, would also bring salvation to his soul. I might here observe, that as faith is only perceived of God, so it is prin- cipally commended of God. The leper gloriiied God, and that with a loud voice; there was his thankfulness : he fell down at Christ's feet; there was his humbleness. The ears of men heard his gratitude, the eyes of men saw his humility ; but they neither heard nor saw his faith. But how then, saith St James, ' Shew me thy faith 1 ' Himself answers, * By thy works,' chap, ii. 18. It cannot be seen in hahitu, in the very being; yet may be easily known in habente, that such a person hath it. No man can see wind as it * Origen. Luke XVII. 19.] faith's encouragement. 201 is in its proper essence ; yet by tlie full sails of the ship one may perceive which way the -wind stands. The sap of the tree is not visible, yet by the testimony of leaves and fruits we know it to be in the tree. Now Christ sees not as man sees ; man looks upon the external witnesses of his gratitude and humility, but Christ to that sap of faith in his heart which sent forth those fruits. ' Thy ftiith hath saved thee,' The words distribute themselves mto two principal and essential parts : — 1, The means, ' Thy faith ; ' 2. The eifects, ' hath made thee whole.' 1. The means are partly demonstrative, faith ; partly relative, thy faith. The quality and the propriety : the quality of the means, it is faith ; the propriety, it is not another's, but thy faith. (1.) 'Faith.' This is the demonstrative quality of the means of his heal- ing. But what was this faith? There is a faith that beheves veritatem historice, the truth of God's word. This we call an historical faith ; but it was not this faith. ' King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets 1 I know that thou believest,' Acts xxvi. 27. There is a faith that believes cer- iitudinem promissi, the certainty of God's promises : that verily is persuaded God will be so good as his word ; that he will ' not break his covenant mth Israel,' nor ' suifer his faithfulness to fail unto David,' Ps. Isxxix. 33, yet applies not this to itself; but it was not this faith. There is a faith that believes iMestatem diceiitis, the majesty and omnipotency of him that speaks : so the devil, that God is able to turn ' stones into bread,' ]\Iatt. iv. 3 : so the Papist, that he can turn bread into flesh, and cause one circumscribed body to supply millions of remote places at once ; but it was not this faith. There is a faith believes se moturam monies, that it is able to remove mountains, 1 Cor. xiii. 2 : a miraculous faith, which, though it were specially given to the apostles, — ' In my name shall they cast out devils, take up serpents,' ^Mark xvi. 17; cure the sick by imposition of hands; say to a tree, 'Pluck thyself up by the roots, and plant thyself in the sea, and it shall obey them,' Luke xvi. G, — yet reprobates also had it, for even they that are cast out with a Discedite a me, plead this : ' In thy name have we cast out devils, and done many wonderful works,' Matt, vii. 22 ; but it was not this faith. There is a faith that believes to go to heaven, though it bend the course du-ectly to hell : that thinks to arrive at the Jerusalem of blessedness through the Samaria of profaneness — a presumption ; but it was not this faith. There is a faith that beheves a man's own mercy in Jesus Christ, and lives a life worthy of this hope, and becoming such a profession ; and it was this faith that our Saviour commendeth. When Samuel came to anoint one of the sons of Jesse, EUab was pre- sented to him, and he said, 'Surely the Lord's anointed is before him,' 1 Sam. xvi. G. He was deceived : he might have a goodly countenance and a high stature; but it was not he. Then passed by Abmadab; nor is this he. Then Shammah ; nor is this he. Then seven of his sons Avere presented : ' The Lord hath chosen none of these.' 'Be here all?' saith Samuel. Jesse answered, ' No ; the youngest is behind, and he keepeth the sheep.' Then saith Samuel, ' Send and fetch hun, for we will not sit down tiU he come.' When he was come, he ' was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look on. And the Lord said. Arise, and anoint him ; for tliis is he,' vcr, 12, If we should make such a quest for the prmcipal grace : temperance is a sober and matronly virtue, but not she ; humility in the lowest is respected of the highest, but not she ; wisdom is a heavenly grace, similisque creanti, like the Maker, but not she ; patience a sweet and com- fortable \irtue, that looks cheerfully on troubles, when her breast is red with 202 faith's encoueagement. [Sermon XXXVII. the blood of sufferance, her cheeks are white with the pureness of innocency, yet not she j charity is a lovely virtue, little innocents hang at her breasts, angels kiss her cheeks, — ' Her lips are like a thread of scarlet, and her speech is comely ; her temples are like a pomegranate witMn her locks,' Cant. iv. 3, — all the ends of the earth call her blessed ; yet not she. Lastly, faith appears, beautified with the robe of her Saviour's righteousness, adorned with the jewels of liis graces, and shining in that fairness which he gave her : Jam reginci venit, now comes the queen of graces ; this is she. Now, as faith excels all other graces, so there is a special degree of faith that excels all other degrees. For every faith is not a saving faith. The king of Syria commanded his captains, * Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel,' 1 Kings xsxii. 31. How should they know him? By his princely attire and royal deportment. Perhaps they met with many glorious personages, slew here and there one ; none of them was the Idng of Israel. Setting upon Jehoshaphat, they said, * Surely this is the king of Israel ; ' no, it was not. One ' drew a bow at a ventm'e,' smote a man in his chariot, and that was the king of Israel. The faith that believes God's word to be true is a good faith, but not ilia fides, that saving faith. The faith that believes Christ to be the world's Saviour is a true faith, but not that faith. The faith that believes many men shall be saved is vera f,des, non ilia fides, a true faith, but not that faith. The faith that believes a man's own soul redeemed, justified, saved by the merits of Jesus Christ, — not without works answerable to this belief, — this is that faith. That was the Idng of Israel, and this is the queen of Israel ; all the other be but her attendants. There is fides sentiendi, assentiendi, and appropriaiidi : a man may have the first, and not the second ; he may have the first and second, yet not the third ; but if he have the third degree, he hath all the former. Some know the truth, but do not consent to it ; some know it and assent to it, yet be- lieve not their own part ; they that believe their own mercy have all the rest. As meat digested turns to juice in the stomach, to blood in the liver, to spu'its in the heart; so faith is in the brain knowledge, in the reason assent, in the heart application. As the child in the womb hath first a vegetative life, then a sensitive, last a rational : so faith, as mere knoAvledge, hath but a vegetation ; as allowance, but sense ; only the applying and apportionmg the merits of Christ to the own soul by it, this is the rational, the very life of it. But thus we may better exemplify this similitude. The vegetative soul is the soul of plants, and it is a true soul in the kind, though it have neither sense nor reason. The sensitive soul is the soul of beasts, a true soul ; in- cludes vegetation, but is void of reason. The rational soul is the soul of man, a distmct soul by itself, comprehends both vegetation and sense, hav- ing added to them the perfection of reason. So there are three kinds or degrees of faith : — First, To believe there is a God ; this is the faith of pagans, and it is a true faith, though it neither believe the word of God, nor mercy from God. Secondly, To believe that what God says is true ; this is the faith of de\dls and reprobates, and a true faith ; including the faith of pagans, and going beyond it ; yet it apprehends no mercy. Thirdly, To be- lieve on God, to rely upon his mercy in Christ, and to aflPy their own recon- ciliation ; this is the faith of the elect, comprehends both the former, yet is a distinct faith by itself. This faith only saves ; and it hath two properties : — First, It is a repent- ing faith ; for repentance is faith's usher, and dews all her way with tears. Repentance reads the law, and weeps ; faith reads the gospel, and comforts. Luke XVII. 19.] faith's encoukagement. 203 Both have several books in their hands. Poenitentia intuetur Mosem, fides Christum, — Repentance looks on the rigorous brow of Moses, faith beholds the sweet countenance of Christ Jesus. Secondly, It is a working faith : if it work not, it is dead ; and a dead ftiith no more saves than a painted fire warms. Faith is a great ' queen ; her clothing is of wrought gold : the vir- gins, her companions, that foUow her,' Ps. xlv. 14, are good deeds. Omnis fidelis tantum credit, qiuintum sjierat et amat : et quantum credit, speral, et amat, tantum operatar* A Christian so far believes as he hopes and loves ; and so far as he believes, hopes, and loves, he works. Now, as ]\Ioses is said to ' see him that is invisible,' Heb. xi. 27, because he saw his back parts ; and as when we see the members of the body moving to their several functions, we know there is a soul within, albeit unseen : so faith cannot be so invisible but the fruits of a good life will declare it. Thus by degrees you see what is the right saving faith. As a lapidary that shews the buyer an orient pearl ; and having a little fed his eye with that, outpleaseth him with a sapphire ; yet outvalues that with some ruby or chrysolite ; wherewith ra\T.shed, he doeth lastly amaze him with a spark- ling diamond transcending all : or as drapers shew divers colours, yet at last for a masterpiece exceed all with a piece of scarlet ; — so there are divers virtues like jewels, but the most precious vutue of all is faith. And there are divers degrees of faith, as divers-coloured cloths, but the sa\T.ng faith is arrayed in the scarlet robe, hath dipped and dyed herself in the blood of her Saviour Jesus ; yet is she white, pure white as the snow of Lebanon. So are all that be washed in that red fountain : ' They have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb,' Rev. vii. 14. (2.) ' Thy faith.' This is the property of that faith that healed him ; Ms own faith. But how could Christ call it his faith, whenas faith is God's gift ? It is indeed datum, so well as mandatum. Conmaanded : ' This is his com- mandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ,' 1 John iii. 23. So also given : ' To you it is given in the behalf of Christ to believe on him,' Phil. i. 29 ; and, ' This is the work,' so well as the will, ' of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent,' John vi. 29. But this is not given without means, as the woman of Tekoah said to David : ' God doth devise means,' 2 Sam. xiv. 14. What is that ? 'Faith comes by hear- ing,' Rom- X. 17. Now when God hath given a man faith, he calls it his : ' Thy faith ;' for what is freer than gift ? So the prophet calls it their own mercy : ' They that wait on Ijing vanities forsake their own mercy,' Jonah ii. 8 ; as the water in the cistern is said to be the cistern's, though it have it from the fountain. Biit yet, how doth Christ call it his faith? Had he a faith by himself? * There is one faith,' Eph. iv. 5 : therefore not more his than others. In re- gard of the object upon whom our faith reflects, there is but one faith ; in regard of the subject wherein faith resides, every one must have his own faith. There is no salvation by a common faith ; but as all true believers have one and the same faith, so every true believer hath a singular and individual faith of his own. 'Thy faith:' thine for two reasons; to distinguish — [1.1 His person from common men ; [2.] His faith from common faitLs. [1.] To distinguish his person from others; the nine had not this faith They believed not, but thou believest. Thy fiiith ; this declares him to be out of the common road ' Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil,' Exod. xxiii. 2 : that heJlua m^dtorum cajntum must not lead thee. Some were devoted to Christ, but ' they could not come nigh him for the press,' * Greg. 204 faith's encouragement. [Sermon XXXVII. Mark ii. 4. It was the multitude that rebuked the blind man's prayers, Luke xviii. 39. As a river leads a man through sweet meadows, green woods, fertile pastures, fruit-loaden fields, by glorious buildings, strong forts, famous cities, yet at last brings him to the salt sea; so the stream of this world carries along through rich commodities, voluptuous delights, stately dignities, all possible content to flesh and blood, but after all this brings a man to death, after death to judgment, after judgment to hell. Here one of the Romists' authentical pleas for their church falls to the ground — universality. They plead antiquity ; so a homicide may derive his murder from Cain. They plead xmity ; so Pharisees, Sadducees, Hero- dians combined against Christ. They plead universality ; yet of the ten lepers but one was thankful. The way to hell hath the greatest store of passengers. Company is good, but it is better to go the right way alone than the broad with multitudes. It is thought, probably, that at this day, Mo- hammedanism hath more under it than Christianity, — though we put Pro- testant, and Papist, and Puritan, and Separatist, and Arminian, and all in the scale to boot, — and that mere Paganism is larger than both. Where many join in the truth, there is the church ; not for the many's sake, but for the truth's sake. St Augustine* teachetli us to take religion not by tale, but by Aveight. Numbers make not a thing good, but the weight of truth- Some are so mannerly that they will not go one step before a great man ; no, not to heaven. Many say with Hushai, ' Whom the people, and aU the men of Israel, choose, his \vill I be,' 2 Sam. xvi. 18. But they leave out one prin- cipal thing, which Hushai there put in as the prime ingredient, ' Whom the Lord chooseth;' they leave out the Lord. But Joshua was of another mind : ' Choose you what gods soever you will serve ; I and my house will serve the Lord,' Josh. xxiv. 15. The inferior orbs have a motion of their own, contrary to the greater ; good men are moved by God's Spirit, not by the planetary motions of popular greatness. Let us prize righteousness highly, because it is seldom found. The pebbles of the world are common, but the pearls of graces rare. The vulgar stream will bring no vessel to the land of peace. [2.] To distinguish his faith from the common faith. 'Thine ;' another kind than the Pharisees' faith. To believe the word, but traditions A\ithal, 'I'era fides, non pura fides, — is a true, but not a pure faith. To believe the iiuijor of the gospel, not the minor, — vera, non sana fides, — is a true, not a sound faith. To believe a man's own salvation, how debauchedly soever he lives, nee vera, pura, sana, nee omnino fides, — is neither a true, pure, sound faith, nor indeed a faith at all, but a dangerous presumption. To believe thy own reconciliation by the merits of Christ, and to strengthen this by a desire of pleasing God, is a true, sound, saving faith ; and this is fides tua, 'thy faith.' Whosoever will go to heaven must have a faith of his own. In Gideon's camp every soldier had his own pitcher ; among Solomon's men of valour, eveiy one wore his own sword, and these were they that got the \ictories. The five wise virgins had every one oil in her lamp ; and only these enter in with the bridegroom. Another's eating of dainty meat makes thee never the fatter. Indeed, many have sped the better for other men's faith : so the centurion's servant was healed for his master's sake. ' As thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee,' Matt. viii. 1 3. But for the salvation of the repro- bates : ' Though Closes and Samuel stood before me,' saith the Lord, ' yet my mind could not be toward such people,' Jer. xv. 1. ' Though Noah, Daniel, * In Ps. xziix. Luke XVII. 19.] faith's encoueagemext. 205 and Job interceded, yet they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness,' Ezek. xiv. 14. Pious men's faith may often save others from temporal calamities, but it must be their own faith that saves them from eternal vengeance. Luther was wont to say, There is great divinity in pro- nouns. Thy faith. One bird shall as soon fly with another bird's feathers, as thy soul mount to heaven by the wings of another's faith. It is true faith, and thy faith : true with other men's faith, but inherent in thine own person that saves thee. True, not an empty faith : Nuda fides, mdla fides. Inseparahilis est bona vita ct fide, imo vero ea ipsa est bona vita, saith Augus- tine,* — A good life is inseparable from a good faith ; yea, a good faith is a good life. So Irena^us, To believe is to do God's will. Thine ; therefore we say, Credo, not Credivms, — / believe ; not. We believe. Every man must pro- fess, and be accountant for, his own faith. Thus much of the means ; now to— 2. The effect : ' Hath made thee whole,' or ' saved thee.' It may be read either way : It hath saved thee, or. It hath salved thee. First of them both jointly, then severally. Faith is the means to bring health to body, comfort to soul, salvation to both. I call it but the means, for some have given it more. Because the Apostle saith, Abraham obtained the promise ' through the righteousness of faith,' Rom. iv. 13 ; therefore say they. Fides ipsa justitia, — Faith is right- eousness itself. But let St Paul answer them, and expound himself : I de- sire to ' be found in Christ, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,' (whose is that 1) ' the righteousness which is,' not of us, but ' of God by faith,' Phil. iii. 9. Thus faith is said to save us, not of itself : the hand feeds the mouth, yet no man thinks that the mouth eats the hand ; only as the hand conveys meat to the body, so faith salvation to the soul. We say the ring stancheth blood, when indeed it is not the ring, but the stone in it. There are many that make faith an almighty idol — it shall save ; but thus they make themselves idle, and trust all upon nothing. That faith is a meritorious cause of justification, this is a doctrine that may come in time to trample Christ's blood under feet. Now these speeches rightly understood, faith adopteth, faith justifieth, faith saveth, are not derogatory to the glory of God, nor contradictory to these speeches, Christ adopteth, Christ justifieth, Christ saveth. One thing may be spoken of divers particulars in a different sense. God the Father adopteth, the Son adopteth, the Holy Spirit adopteth, faith adopteth; all these are true, and without contrariety. They be not as the young men that came out of the two armies before Joab and Abner, ' every one tlirusting his sword into his fellow's side, and falling down together,' 2 Sam. ii. 16 ; but like David's 'brethren, dwelling together in peace,' Ps. cxxxiii. 1, 2. God the Father adopteth, as the fountain of adoption ; God the Son, as the con- duit ; God the Holy Ghost, as the cistern ; faith as the cock whereby it runs into our hearts. Faith brings justification, not by any special excellency it hath in itself, but only by that place and office which God hath assigned it ; it is the con- dition on our parts. So the Apostle instructed the jailer, ' Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house,' Acts xvi. 31. God's ordinance gives that thing the blessing, wliich it hath not in its own nature. If Naaman had gone of his own head, and washed himself seven times in Jordan, he had not been healed ; it was God's command that gave those waters such purging virtue. If the Israelites stung vnth. these fiery serpents * De Fide et Oper., c. 23. 206 faith's encouragement. [Sermon XXXVII. in the desert had of their own devising set up a brazen serpent, they had not been cured ; it was neither the material brass, nor the serpentine form, but the direction of God which effected it. It was not the statue, but the statute, that gave the virtue. So faith for its own merit brings none to heaven, but for the promise which the God of grace and truth had made to it. In common speech we say of such a man, his lease maintains him. Is there any absurdity in these words 1 No man conceives it to be a parch- ment lined with a few words, accompanied with a waxen label, that thus maintains him ; but house or land or rents so conveyed to him. So faith saveth ; I ascribe not this to the instrument, but to Jesus Christ whom it apprehends, and that inheritance by this means conveyed. But now wouldest thou know thyself thus interessed ? Look to thy faith, this is thy proof. If a rich man die, and bequeath all his riches and posses- sions to the next of blood, many may challenge it, but he that hath the best proof carries it. To Christ's legacy thou layest claim, look to thy proof : it is not, ' Lord, Lord, I have prophesied in thy name,' Matt. vii. 22 ; nor, ' We have feasted in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets,' Luke xiii. 26 ; but, ' I believe ; Lord, help my unbelief,' Mark ix, 24 ; and then thou shalt hear, ' Be it unto thee according to thy faith.' And this a little faith doth, if it be true. There is a faith like a grain of mustard-seed : small, but true ; little, but bite it, and there is heat in it ; faith warms wherever it goes. In a word, this is not the faith of explication, but of application, that is dignified with the honour of this conveyance. ' Hath made thee whole.' Faith brings health to the body. There was a woman vexed with an uncomfortable disease twelve years. Matt. ix. 20 : ' she suffered many thmgs of physicians,' Mark v. 26 ; some torturing her with one medicine, some with another ; none did her good, but much hurt : ' She had spent all' her living upon them,' Luke viii. 43, and herein, saith Erasmus, was bis miser a; her sickness brought her to weakness, weakness to physic, physic to beggary, beggary to contempt. Thus was she anguished in body, vexed in mind, beggared in estate, despised in place, yet faith healed her. Her wealth was gone, physicians had given her over, her faith did not forsake her : ' Daughter, be of good comfort, thy faith hath made thee whole,' Matt. ix. 22. There was a woman bowed down with a spirit of infirmity ' eighteen years,' yet loosed, Luke xiii. 1 1 ; there was a man bedrid ' eight and thirty years,' John v. 5, a long and miserable time, when, besides his corporal distress, he might perhaps conceive from that, Ecclus. xxxviii. 15, * He that sinneth before his Maker, let him fall into the hand of the physi- cian,' that God had cast him away ; yet Christ restored him. Perhaps this leprosy was not so old, but as hard to cure ; yet faith is able to do it : ' Thy faith hath made thee whole.' But it was not properly his faith, but Christ's virtue, that cured him ; why then doth not Christ say, Mea virtus, and not, Tiia fides, — My virtue, not thy faith, hath made thee whole ? True it is, his virtue only cures, but this is apprehended by man's faith. When that diseased woman had touched him, ' Jesus knew in him- self that vu'tue had gone out of him, and he turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?' Mark v. 30. Yet speaking to the woman, he mentioned not his virtue, but her faith : ' Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole,' ver. 34. Faith, in respect of the object, is called in Scripture, ' The faith of Jesus Christ,' Gal. iii. 22 ; in respect of the subject wherein it is inherent, it is my faith, and thy faith. ' Thy faith hath made thee whole.' Luke XVII. 19.] faith's encoueagement. 207 ' Hath saved thee :' made whole, not thy body only, that is but part, the worst part ; but thy soul also, totum te, thy whole sell' : ' saved thee.' The other nine had whole bodies, this tenth was made whole in .soul too ; saved. The richest jewel Christ left to his church is salvation : ' My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved,' Rom. x. 1. Not their opulency, not their dignity, not their prosperity, was St Paul's T^sh ; but their salvation. K the devils would confess to us the truth, they would say, The best thing of all is to be saved. The rich man would fiiin send this news out of heU, ' Let Lazarus testify to my brethren, lest they also come into this place of torment,' Luke xvi. 28. The testimony of salvation was blessed news, from the mouth of him that gives salvation, Jesus Christ. The vessel of man's soul is continually in a tempest, until Christ enter the ship, and then follows the calm of peace. It is remarkable, that Grod gives the best gifts at last. Christ gave this leper health, ver. 14 ; bonum, this was good; for vita non est vivere, sed vcd- ere, — it is more comfortable to die quickly, than to live sickly. He gave In'iTi a good name, ' that he returned to give glory to God,' ver. 18; mdiuSy this was better. But now lastly he gives hiin salvation, ' Thy faith hath saved thee,' ver. 19 ; optimum, this is best of all : ultima optima. Hath God given thee wealth, bless him for it ; hath he given thee health, bless him for it ; hath he given thee good reputation, bless him for it ; hath he given thee children, friends, peaceable days, bless him for all these. But hath he given thee faith 1 Especially bless him for this ; he hath given thee with it, what we beseech his mercy to give us all, salvation in Jesus Christ. I conclude : there is a faith powerful to justify the soul by the righteous- ness of Jesus Christ ; but it never dwelt in a bosom that lodgeth with it lust and dissoluteness : ' If while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves are found sinners, is therefore Christ the mmister of sin ? God forbid,' Gal. ii. 1 7. Which verse may not unfitly be distinguished into fom' particulars : Quod sit, Si sit, An sit, Absit : There is a concession, a supposition, a question, a detestation. The concession. Quod sit, That is so ; he takes it granted that aU true Christians seek their only justification by Christ. The supposition. Si sit. If it be so, that in the meantime we are found shiners. The question or discussion. An sit. Is it so ? is Christ therefore the minister of sin ? The detestation, Absit, ' God forbid,' 'Where let us behold what the gospel acquireth for us, and requireth of us. It brings us hberty : the ' law gendereth to bondage ;' and that, saith Aqui- nas, quantum ad affectum, et quantum ad effectum. The law begets an affec- tion of fear, the gospel of love : ' Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father,' Rom. viii. 15. Brevissima et apertissima duoriim testamentorum differentia, timor et amor,* — There is a short and easy difference betwixt the Old Testament and the New, fear and love. The law brought forth only servants, the gospel sons : ' Jerasalem above is free, which is the mother of us all,' Gal. iv. 26, Libera, quod liberata, — free because she is freed. For * if the Son make you free, you shall be free indeed,' John viii. 3G. This it brings to us ; it also challengeth something of us : * That we use not our liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another,' Gal, V, 13. AU things are free to us by foith, yet all things serviceable by charity : tit simid stet servitus libertatis, et libertas servitutis,f — that the service of liberty, and liberty of service, might stand together. A Christian for his faith is lord of all, for his love servant to all. That therefore we * Aug. t Luther. 208 faith's encouragement. [Sermon XXXVII. might not abuse our freedom, nor turn the grace of God into wantonness, the Apostle, after the reins given, pulls us in with the curb : though justified by Christ, take heed that we be not ' found sinners,' a check to over-jocund looseness, a corrective, not so much libertatis, as liberatorum, — of our free- dom, as of ourselves being freed. In vain we plead that Christ hath made us saints, if our own evil lives prove us sinners. Indeed, as God covenants by the gospel to remit our sins, so we must condition by the law to amend our lives. For that faith to which the promise of justification and eternal life is made, is a faith that can never be separated from charity. Whereso- ever it is, there is love joined with it, bringing forth the ' fruits of right- ■eousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God,' Phil, ill. This is that faith to which ' all the promises of God are Yea and Amen in Christ, to the glory of God by us,' 2 Cor. i. 20. The Lord, that hath made them Yea and Amen in his never-failing mercies, make them also Yea and Amen in our ever-believing hearts, through our blessed Saviour Jesus Ohrist, Amen ! THE LOST AEE FOUND. Fcyr the Son of man is came to seek and to save that which u'as lost— Luke XIX. 10. The first word is causal, and puts us in mind of some reference. In brief, the dependence is this. Little Zaccheus became great in God's favour ; he was, ver. 2, a publican, a chief publican, a rich publican : yet he hath a desire to see Jesus, and Jesus hath a purpose to see him. A fig-tree shall help him to the sight of Christ, and Christ to the sight of him. Our Saviour calls him down, (it is fit they should come down in humility that entertain Christ,) and bids himself to his house to diimer. He is made Zaccheus's guest for temporal food, and Zaccheus is made his guest for ever- lasting cheer. ' This day is salvation come to this house,' ver. 9. This mercy is not without the Pharisees' grudging : ver. 7, ' When they saw it, they all murmured, sajing. That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.' Murmuring is between secret backbiting and open raU- ,ing ; a smothered malice, which can neither be utterly concealed, nor dare be openly vented. The cause of their murmuring was, that he was become a guest to a sinner ; as if the Sun of righteousness could be corrupted in shining on a dunghill of sin. No ; whiles he did associate the bad, he made them good ; feeding them spiritually, that fed him corporally. He did not con- sent to their sin, but correct it ; not infecting himself, but affecting their souls, and effecting their bliss. A man may accompany those whom he desires to make better, or them to make him better. And that the mouth of aU wickedness might be stopped, our Saviour says that his coming into this world was not only to call home Zaccheus, but even many such pub- licans : ' For the Son of man is come to seek and to save,' &c. We are thus gotten over the threshold, for; let us now look into the house, and survey every chamber and room in it. The foundation of this comfortable Scripture is Jesus Christ, and the buUding may be distinguished into five several parlours, all richly hung and adorned with the gi-aces and mercies of God, ' and the midst thereof paved with love for the daughters of Jerusalem,' Cant. iii. 10. Christ is the buttress or comer-stone, and in him consider here, 1. His humility, ' The Son of man ;' 2. His verity, ' is come;' 3. His pity, ' to seek ;' 4. His piety, ' to save ;' 5. His power, ' that which was lost.' 1. ' Tlie Son of man.' Ecce humilitatem. He that is the Son of eternal God calls himself the Son of mortal man. 2. ' Is come.' Ecce ventaiem. What God had promised, his servants VOL. II. o 210 THE LOST ARE FOUND. [SeKMON XXXVIIL prophesied, his types prefigiired, he h?vth now performed. They all foretold in their kinds that he should come ; he makes all good, he ' is come.' 3. ' To seek.' Ecce compasdonem. He knew that we were utterly gone, that we had nee valentis oculum nee volentis animum, — neither an eye able nor a mind willing to seek him ; in pity he seeks us. 4. ' To save.' Ecce pietatem. He seeks us not in ruinam, to our de- struction, as we deserved ; but in salutem, to our salvation, as he desired. Amissos queer it, qucesitos invenit, inventos servat, — He seeks them that were lost, he finds them he seeks, he saves them he finds. ' To save ' — 5. ' The lost.' Ecce potestatem. He is not only able to strengthen us- weak, nor to recover us sick, nor to fetch us home offering ourselves to be brought ; but when we had neither will nor power to procure this, yea,. when we had a reluctancy against this, — for we were his enemies and hated him, — he did recall us gone, revive us dead, seek and save us that were lost. You see the chambers, how they lie in order ; let me keep your thoughts- in this house of mercy a while, wherem may all our souls dwell for ever ! In surveying the rooms, it is fit we should begin with the lowermost, and thither the text aptly first leads us. 1. ' The Son Of man.' Christ is called a son in three respects. First, In regard of his deity, the Son of God, begotten of him from all eternity, co-equal and co-essential to hun. Secondly, In respect of his flesh, the Son of Mary, naturally born of her. Thirdly, He calls himself the Son of man, in regard that he took on him man's nature, and undertook the performance of man's re- demption. Man like us in all things, sin only excepted. So that in this cir- cumstance two things are considerable in Christ, the one necessarily involved in the other — (1.) His humanity; (2.) His humility. (1.) His humanity. When the fulness of time was come, 'God sent his Son, made of a woman,' Gal. iv. 4. Ex muliere, non in muliere, as Gorran notes against Valentinus, whose heresy was that Christ jjassed through the Virgin as water through a conduit-pipe. But this preposition, ex, signifies a pre-existent matter, as a house is made of timber and stones, bread of wheat, wine of grapes. Christ had therefore the materials of his body from the Virgin Mary, though not his foi-male jyrincijnum ; for the Holy Ghost was agent in this wonderful conception, Neither is this a thing impossible to God, though wondeiful to man, that this Christ should be the Son of Mary without man. As it was possible to God in the first creation to make a woman out of a man without the help of a woman, so in this new creation to make a man out of a woman without the help of a man. There is the same reason of possibility. It is as easy to bring fire from a steel without a flint, as from a flint without a steel. But he that could dare essentiam nihilo, can raise a nature ex aliqiio. God had four divers manners of creating human creatures. First, The first man Adam was made of no man, but immediately created of God. Secondly, The second, that was Eve, was made, not of a woman, but of a man alone. Thirdly, The third sort, aU men and women else, are begotten of man and woman. Fourthly, Christ, the last sort, was of a difi"erent man- ner from all these. First, not of no precedent flesh, as Adam ; secondly, not of a man without a wo'man, as Eve ; thirdly, not of man and woman, as all we ; fourthly, but after a new way, of a woman without a man. We are all in this sort opposed to Adam, Christ to Eve. Adam was made of neither man nor woman, we of both man and woman. Eve of a man with- out a woman, Christ of a woman without a man. Now as this was a great work of God, so it is a great wonder to man. Luke XIX. 10,] the lost are found. 211 Three miracles here : Beum, nasci, virglneni parere, fidem hcec credere. Thtat the Son of God should become the son of woman, a great miracle. That a virgin should bear a child, and yet before, at, after the birth remain still a virgin, a great miracle. That the faith of man should believe all this, maxi- mum miraculum, this is the greatest wonder of all. Thus you have divinity assuming humanity, a great mystery : ' God mani- fested in the flesh,' 1 Tim. iii. 16. In mundum venit, qui mundum condi- dit; he comes down to earth, but he leaves not heaven ; hie affait, inde non deficit. Humana natura assumpta est, divina non consumpia est. He took humanity, he lost not his divinity. He abideth Marioi Pater, the Father of Mary, who is made Marice Filius, the Son of Mary. * To us a child is born, to us a son is given,' Isa, ix. G. Whereon Emissenus,* Natus qui sentiret occa- sum, datus qui 7iesciret exordium, — He was born that should feel death : he was given that was from everlasting, and could not die. Natus qui et matre esset junior, datus quo nee Pater esset antiquoir, — He that was born was younger than his mother ; he that was given was as eternal as his Father. He was Son to both God and Mary. Non alter ex Patre, alter ex Virgine ; sed aliter ex Patre, aliter ex Virgine. As the flowers are said to have solem in coelo 2^at>'em, solum in terra ma- trem; so Christ hath a Father in heaven without a mother, a mother on earth T\dthout a father. Here is then the wonder of his humanity. The ' everlasting Father,' Isa. ix. 6, is become a little child. He that spreads out the heavens is wrapped in swaddling clouts, Luke ii. 7. He that is the Word becomes an infant not able to speak. The Son of God calls himself the Son of man. (2.) His humility. If your understandings can reach the depth of this bottom, take it at one view. The Son of God calls himself the Son of man. The omnipotent Creator becomes an impotent creature. As himself saith, * Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,' John xv. 13. So greater humility never was than this, that God should be made man. It is the voice of pride in man, ' I will be like God,' Isa. xiv. 1 4 ; but the action of humility in God, ' I will' be man.' Proud Nebuchadnezzar says, Ero similis altissimo, ' I will be like the Highest / meek Christ saith, Ero similis infimo, ' I wiU be like the lowest :' ' he put on hun the form of a servant ;' yea, he was a despised worm. God spoke it in derision of sinful man, ' Behold, he is become as one of us,' Gen. iii. 22 ; but now we may say, God is become as one of us. There the lowest aspires to be the highest, here the Highest vouchsafes to be the lowest. Alexander, a son of man, would make himself the son of God : Christ, the Son of God, makes himself the Son of man. God, in ' whose presence is fulness of joy,' Ps. xvi. 11, becomes *a man full of sorrows,' Isa. liii. 3. Eternal rest be- takes himself to unrest : having whilst he Hved ' passive action,' and when he died 'active passion.'t The ' Lord over all things,' Acts x. 36, and * heir of the world,' Heb, i. 2, undertakes ignominy and poverty. Ignominy : the ' King of glory,' Ps. xxiv. 7, is become ' the shame of men,' Ps. xxii. G. Poverty : Pauper in nativi- tate, j)auperior in vita, paujjerrimus in cruce,% — Poor in his birth, for born in another man's stable ; poor in his life, fed at another man's table ; poor in his death, buried in another man's sepulchre. There are, saith Bernard,§ some that are humbled, but not humble ; others that are humble, not humbled ; and a third sort, that are both humbled and * Horn, de Nat. t Bern. Ser. in Fer. 4. Hebd, + Bern. Tract, de Pas. Dom., cap. 2. § In Cant., Ser. 34. 212 THE LOST AEE FOTTND, [SeEMON X5XVIII humble. Pharaoh was humbled and cast down, but not humble ; smitten with subversion, not moved with submission. Godfrey of Bologne was not humbled, yet humble ; for in the very heat and height of his honour he re- fused to be crowned in Jerusalem with a crown of gold, because Christ, his Master, had been in that place crowned with a crown of thorns. Others are both humbled and humble. ' When he slew them, they sought him : they re- turned and inquired early after God,' Ps. bcxviii. 34. Our Saviour Christ was passively humbled : ' he was made lower than the angels, by suffering death,' Heb. ii. 9 ; the Lord did break him. Actively, he humbled himself : ' He made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant ; he humbled himself,' Phil. ii. 7. Habitually, he was humbled : ' Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart,' Matt. xi. 29. Let this observation les- son us two duties : — Lesson 1. — Esteem we not the worse but the better of Christ, that he made himself the Son of man. Let him not lose any part of his honour be- cause he abased himself for us. He that took our flesh ' is also over aU, God blessed for ever, Amen,' Rom. ix. 5. There is more in him than huma- nity ; not alia persona, but alia natura, — not another person, but another nature. Though he be verus homo, he is not merus homo. And even that man that was crucified on a cross, and laid in a grave, is more high than the heavens, more holy than the angels. Stephen saw this very ' Son of man standing on the right hand of God,' Acts vii. 56. The blood of this Son of man gives salvation ; and to whom it doth not, this Son of man shall adjudge them to condemnation, John V. 27. Under this name and form of humility our Saviour apposed his dis- ciples : 'Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am?' Matt. xvi. 13. Peter answers for himself and the apostles, whatsoever the people thought : ' Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God,' ver. 16. He calls himself the Son of man, Peter calls him the Son of God. The Jews see him only a stumblingblock, and the Greeks foolishness, 1 Cor. i. 23; but Christians see him ' the power of God and the wisdom of God,' ver. 24. The wicked behold him ' without form or comeliness, or beauty to desire him,' Isa. liiL 2 ; but the faithfid behold him ' crowned with a crown,' Cant. iii. 11, 'his face shining as the sun in his glory,' Matt. xvii. 2. Therefore, Quanto mi- norem se fecit in humilitate, tanto majorem exMhuit in honitate. Quanto pro me vilior, tanto mild carior,* — The lower he brought himself in humi- lity, the higher he magnified his mercy. By so much as he was made the baser for us, by so much let him be the dearer to us. Observe it, O man ; et quia limxis es, non sis superhus : et quia Deo jundus, own sis ingratus, — because thou art dust of thyself, be not proud : because thou art made immortal by Christ, be not unthankful. Condemned world, that despisest him appearing as a siUy man ! The Jews expected an external pomp in the ]\Iessias : ' Can he not come down from the cross V how should this man save us 1 They consider not that he who wanted a rest for his head, and bread for his followers, fed some thousands of them with a few loaves ; that he which wanted a pillow, gives rest to all believing souls ; that he could, but would not come down from the cross, that the dear price of their redemption might be paid. Many still have such Jewish hearts : What ! believe on a crucified man ? But Paul 'determines to know nothing, but this Jesus Christ, and him crucified,' 1 Cor. ii. 2. They can be content to dwell with him on Mount Tabor, but not to foUow him to Mount Calvary. They cleave to him so long * Bern., Ser. 22. Luke XIX. 10.] the lost are found. 213 as lie gives them bread, but forsake him when himself cries for drink, John xix. 28. Oderunt pannos tiios. O Christ, they like well thy robes of glory, but not thy rags of poverty ! They love him while the people cry ' Hosanna,' but shrink back when they cry ' Crucify him.' All pleaseth them but the cross : all the fair- way of delights they will accompany him, but at the cross they part. Thej; will share with him in his kingdom, but they will none of his vassal- age, fxhe lion (in a fable) had many attendants, and he provided for them good cheer. They like well of this, and are proud of their master, to whom all the other beasts gave awe and obedience. But it chanced that the lion fell into the danger of the dragon, who had got him down, ready to devour him. His followers seeing this, quickly betook themselves to their heels, and fell every beast to his old trade of rapine. Only the poor lamb stood bleating by, and, though he could not help, would not forsake his lord. At last the lion gets the victor}', and treads the dragon under his feet to death. Then he punisheth those revolting traitors with deserved destruction, and sets the lamb by his own side. The great ' Lion of Judah,' Rev. v. 5, feeds many of the Jews, and at this day profane wretches : whilst his bounty lasts, ' Christ, and none but Christ.' But when the. red dragon hath got him under, nailed him to the cross, cru- cified him dead, away go these renegades : ' No more penny, no more pater- noster.' If affliction come for Christ's cause, they know where to find a kinder master. Back to the world : one to his fraud, and he will overreach others with the sin of deceitf aluess, though himself be overreached with the ' deceitfulness of sin,' Heb. iii. 13. Another to his usury; and he chymi- cally projects money out of the poor's bowels. A third to his covetousness ; and he had rather that the very frame of the world should fall than the price of com. A fourth to his idols ; and he hopes for cakes from ' the queen of heaven,' as if the King of heaven was not able to give bread. If the Lord pinch them with distress, they run to Rome for succour, expect- uig that from a block which they would not tarry to obtain from the God of mercy. Then they cry like the Israelites : ' Up, make us gods to go be- fore us ; for as for this Moses, we know not what is become of him,' Exod. xxxii. 1. But at last this Lion conquers the dragon, overcomes Satan and his damnation ; what shall he then say to those rebels ' that would not have him reign over them,' but ' Bring those mine enemies, and slay them before me V Luke xix. 27. But the poor and innocent lambs, that ' suifcr with hhn, shall reign with him,' Rom. viii. 17. ' Blessed are they that sufier persecu- tion for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,' Matt. v. 10. Lesson 2. — The other use is St Paul's : ' Let the same mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus,' Phil. ii. 5. What mind is that ? Humility. Ver. 7, He that ' thought it no robbery to be equal with God,' humbled him- self to become man : we should have found it no robbery to be equal with devils, and shall we be proud 'i What an uitolerable disproportion is this, to behold humilevi Deum, et superhum hominem, — a humble God, and a proud man. Wh» can endure to see a prince on foot, and his vassal mounted I Shall the Son of God be thus humble for us, and shall not wc be humble for ourselves? For ourselves, I say, that deserve to be cast down among the lowest ; for ourselves, that we may be exalted. He that here calls himself the Son of man is now glorified : they that humbly acknowledge themselves to be the sons of men, that is, mortal, shkll be made the sons of God, that is, immortal. In 1 Kings xix. 11, there wa^ a mighty strong wind that rent the mountains, and brake the rocks; but God was not in the wind : the Lord will not rest in the turbulent 2H THE LOST ARE FOUND, [SeEMON XXXVIII. spirit, puffed up with the wind of vainglory. There was an earthquake, but God was not in the earthquake : he will not dwell in a covetous heart, buried in the furrows of the earth, and cares of the world. There was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire : he will not rest in a choleric angry soul, full of combustion and furious heat. There was a still soft voice, and the Lord came with it : in a mild and humble spirit the God of heaven and earth will dwell. ' The high and lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity, will dwell in the contrite and humble soul,' Isa. Ivii. 15. It is a sweet mixture of greatness and goodness, ut duvi nihil in honore suhlimius, nihil in humilitate suhmissiiis, — when the highest in dignity are the lowest in courtesy. Augustine called himself, minivmm non solum omnium apostolorum, sed etiam ejnscoporum, — the least not only of all the apostles, but of all the bishops ; whereas he was the most illuminate doctor and best bishop of his times. Paul thought himself ' not worthy to be called an apostle,' 1 Cor. xv, 9 ; and, behold, he is called The Apostle, — war' ^0°%''^ — ^ot only Paul, but The Apostle. Abraham, that esteemed himself ' dust and ashes,' Gen. xviii. 27, is honoured to be the ' father of all them that beUeve,' Rom. iv. 11. David sits content at his sheep-folds, the Lord makes him king over his Israel. But as humility, like the bee, gathers honey out of rank weeds, very sins moving to repentance; so pride, like the spider, sucks poison out of the fairest flowers, the best graces, and is corrupted with insolence. Uiia super- hia destndt omnia, — Only pride overthrows all. It thrust proud Nebuchad- nezzar out of men's society, proud Saul out of his kingdom, proud Adam out of paradise, proud Haman out of the court, proud Lucifer out of heavea Pride had her beginning among the angels that fell, her continuance in earth, her end in hell. Poor man, how ill it becomes thee to be proud when God himself is humble ! 2. ' Is come.' We understand the person, let us come to his coming. And herein, ecce veritatem, — behold his truth. Did God promise a son of a virgin ; Emmanuel, a Saviour ? He is as good as his word ; ve7iit, * he is come.' Did the sacrificed blood of so many bulls, goats, and lambs, pre- figure the expiatory blood of the Lamb of God to be shed ? Ecce Agnus Dei, — ' Behold that Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world,' John i. 29. Is the * Seed of the woman ' promised to ' break the head of the serpent 1 ' Behold he ' breaks the heavens, and comes down ' to do it. * For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil,' John iii. 8. Did God engage his word for a Re- deemer to purge our sins ? ' Call his name Jesus ; for he shall save his people from their sins,' Matt. i. 21. Against unbelieving atheists, and misbelieving Jews, here is sufficient con- viction. But I speak to Christians, that believe he is come. Hac fide credite venturum esse, qua creditis venisse, — Believe that he wiU come again with the same faith wherewith you believe he is come already. Do not curtail God's word, believing only so much as you list. Faith is holy and catholic : if you distrust part of God's word, you prepare infidelity to the whole. Did God promise Christ, and in ' the fulness of time ' send him ? Gal. iv. 4. Then, since he hath again promised him, and ' appointed a day wherein he will judge the world by that man,' Acts xvii. 31, he shall come. As certainly as he came to suffer for the world, so certainly shaU he come to judge the world. ' Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many ; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second tune without sin unto salva- tion,' Heb. ix, 28. He that kept his promise when he came to die for us, Luke XIX. 10.] the lost are found. 215 followed by some few poor apostles, wiU not break it when he shall come in glory with thousands of angels. Neither did God only promise that Christ should come, but that all be- lievers should be saved by him : ' As many as received him, to them gave he power to be the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name,' John i. 12. 3fisit filium, promisit in filio vitam. He sent his Son to us, and salvation with him. Wretched and desperate men that distmst his mercy ! ' Whosoever believes, and is baptized, shaU be saved.' Whosoever ; Qui se ipsiim excipit, seipsum decipit. Did not God spare to send his pro- mised Sou out of his bosom to death, and will he to those that believe on him deny life 1 No ; all ' his promises are Yea and Amen in Christ :' may these also be ' Yea and Amen ' in our believing hearts ! A yielding devil could say, ' Jesus I know ; ' yet some men are like that tempting de\Tl, Matt, iv., Sifilius Dei sis, — ' If thou be the Son of God.' Si, If; as if they doubted whether he could or would save them. * Is come,' There is a threefold coming of Christ ; according to the three- fold difference of time — past, present, fixture. As Bernard* — Venit, (1.) Ad homilies ; (2.) In homines ; (3.) Contra homines. (1.) First, for the time past, he came among men : ' The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,' John i, 14. (2.) Secondly, for the present, he comes into men, by his Spirit and grace : Rev. iii. 20, ' I stand at the door and knock; if any open imto me, I will come in to him.' (3.) Thirdly, for the time to come, he shall come against men : Rom. ii. 16,' At the day when God shall judge the secrets of all hearts by Jesus Christ.' Or as it is wittily observed, the ' Sun of righteousness ' appeareth in three signs : Leo, Virgo, Libra. Fu'st, in the law like a lion, roaring out terrible things, with a voice not endurable : ' And they said to Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear ; but let not God speak with us, lest we die,' Exod. xx. 19. Secondly, in the gospel he appeared in Virgo, an infant born of a virgin. Matt. i. 25. Thirdly, at his last audit he shall appear in Libi-a, weighing all our thoughts, words, and works in a balance : ' Behold, I come quickly ; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be,' Rev. xxii. 12. ' Is come.' He was not fetched, not forced, spo7ite venit : of his own ac- cord he is come. ' No man taketh my life from me, but I lay it down of myself,' John x. 18. Ambrose on these words of Christ, in ilatt. xxvi. 55 : ' Are ye come out against a thief, with swords and staves to take me V Stidtum est cum gladiis eum quccrere, qui ultra se offert. It was superfluous folly to apprehend him with weapons that willingly offered himself ; to seek hini in the night by treason, as if he shunned the light, who was every day teaching publicly in the temple. Sed factum congruit tempori et personis ; quia cum tenebrce, in tenebroso tempo7'e, tenebrosum opus exercebant, — The fact agrees to the time and persons : they were darkness, therefore they do the work of darkness, m a time of darkness. Indeed he prays, ' Father, save me from this hour ;' but withal he corrects himself, ' Therefore came I to this hour.' But he is to ' fear death,' Heb. v. What is it to us quod timuii, that he feared ; nostrum est quod sustinuit, that he suffered. Christ's nature must needs abhor destructive things : he feared death, ex affectu sensualitads, not ex affectu rationis.i He eschewed it secundum se, but did undergo it projAer cdiud. Ex impetu naturce he declined it, but ex imperio ralionis ; consider- ing that either he must come and die on earth, or we aU must go and die in hell, and that the head's temporal death might procure the body's eternal * Ser. 3, de Adventu Christi. t Lomb. iii., sent. dist. 17. 216 THE LOST APvE FOUND. [SeRMON XXXVIII. life, behold, ' the Son of man is come.' Neither was it necessary for him to love his pain, though he so loved us to suffer this pain. No man properly loves the rod that beats him, though he loves for his soul's good to be beaten. As Augustine said of crosses, Tolerare juhemur, non amare. Nemo quod tolerat amat, etsi tolerare amat ;* — We are commanded to bear them, not to love them. No man that even loves to suffer, loves that he suffers. Voluntarily yields himself ; saluting Judas by the name of friend : Amice, cur venis ? He suffered not his followers to offend his enemies, nor com- mands the angels to defend himself, t O blind Jews ! was it impossible for him, de parvo stipite ligni descendere, qui descendit ci coelorum aliiiudine ? — to come down from a piece of wood, that came down from heaven 1 Nun- quid tua vincula ilium jjossunt tenere, quem coeli non possunt capere 1 — Shall your bonds hold him, when the heavens could not contain him 1 He came not to deliver himself, that was in freedom ; but to deliver us, that were in bondage.:}: ' Is come.' Is Christ come to us, and shaU not we come to him % Doth the Son of God come to the sons of men ; and do the sons of men scorn to come to the Son of God % Proud dust ! wilt thou not meet thy Maker ? If any ask, ' Whither is thy beloved gone, that we may seek him with thee V Cant. vi. 1 ; the church answers, ' My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies,' ver. 2. You shall have him in his garden, the congregation of the faithful : ' Wheresoever a number is gathered together in his name.' Behold, venit ad limina virtus, manna lies at your thresholds ; wUl you not go forth and gather it ? The bridegroom is come ; will you not make merry with him 1 The nice piece of dust, like idolatrous Jeroboam, cries. The church is too far off, the journey too long to Christ. He came aU that long way from heaven to earth for us, and is a mile too tedious to go to him ? Go to, sede, ede, perde, — sit still, eat thy meat, and destroy thyself; who shall blame the justice of thy condemnation? But for us, let us leave our pleasures and go to our Saviour. No?i sedeas sed eas, ne pereas per eas. Come a little way to him, that came so far to thee. Philip tells Nathanael, 'We have found the Messias.' Nathanael objects : ' Can any good thing come out of Nazareth ? ' ' Come and see,' saith Philip. And straightway Jesus saw Nathanael coming, John L 45- 47. Christ hath sent many preachers to invite us to salvation. We ask, Ubi, Where ? They say, ' Come and see : ' but we will not come ; Christ cannot see us coming. 3itmdus, cura, caro ; three mischievous hinderers : we come not. Christ himself calls ; yet ' you. will not come unto me, that you might have life,' John v. 40. He comes amongst us. Christians ; ad suos : ' He came to his own, and his own received him not,' John i. 11. We say of such things as are unlike, they come not near one another ; many clothes lie on a heap together, yet because of their different colours, we say they come not near one to another. But of things that are alike, wc say they come nigh one another. Our coming near to Christ is not in place, but in grace. Not in place j for so the wicked is near to God. 'Whither shall I flee from thy presence ? ' Ps. cxxxix. 7. But in grace and quality ; being * holy as he is holy.' Indeed he must first draw us before we can come. ' Draw me, we wiU run after thee,' Cant. i. 4. He first draws us by grace, then we run after him by repentance. 3. ' To seek.' He is come ; to what purpose ? £cce compassionem : ' to ♦ Confes., lib. x., cap. 28, f Ambr. in Matt, xxvii. 40. J ' Non venit ut se liberaret, qui sub servitute non erat ; sed ut nos de servitute redimeret.' — Ambr. ut aujp. Luke XIX. 10.] the lost aee Fou^-D. 217 seek.' All tlie days of his tiesh upon earth he went about seeking souls. He went to Samaria to seek the woman, to Bethany to seek Mary, to Caper- naum to seek the centurion, to Jericho to seek Zaccheus. Oh, what is man, and the son of man, that the Son of God should thus himt after him ! We sought not him : ' The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God,' Ps. x. 4. Behold, he seeks us. We would not call upon him ; he sends ambassadors to beseech us : ' We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God,' 2 Cor. v. 20. Indeed, we cannot seek hun till he first find us. OpoHuit viam invenire errantes, errantes enimneqiieimt invenire viam, — K the 'way,' John xiv. 6, had not found us, we should never have found the way. Lo, his mercy ! Non solum redeuntem susciijit, sed perditum qucerit, — How joyful wiU he be to us, that is thus careful to seek us ! Let this teach us not to hide ourselves from Mm. Wretched men, guilty of their own eternal loss, that will not be found of Christ when he seeks them ! How shall they at the last day ' stand with confidence before him,' 1 John ii. 28, that at this day run from him ? If we will not be found to be sanctified, we cannot be found to be glorified. Paul ' desu-es to be found in Christ,' Phil- iiL 9 : in Christ found, for without Christ ever lost. ' Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them are lost, but the son of perdition,' John xviL 12. Woe to that man when Christ shall return "with a JS^on in- ventus ! What can the shepherd do but seek? Nolunt inveniri, they wiU. not be found. What the channer but charm ? Nolunt incantari, they will not be charmed. What the suitor but woo '? Nolunt desponsari, they will not be espoused to Christ. What the ambassador but beseech? JVolunt exorari, they wiU not be entreated. What then remains ? ' He that will be unjust, let him be unjust still : and he that will be filthy, let him be filthy stUl,' Rev. xxii. 11. If we will not be found of him when he seeks us, he will not be found of us when we seek him. ' They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me,' Prov. i. 28. QiicesUus contemnet, qui qucerens con- temniiur, — He was despised when he sought, and wiU despise when he is sought to. Three vicious sorts of men are here culpable. First, some skidk virhen Christ seeks. K there be any bush in paradise, Adam will thrust his head into it. If there be any hole of pretence, Saul will there buiTow his rebel- lion. If Gehazi can shadow his bribery with a he, EUsha shall not find him. When the sun shines, every bird comes forth ; only the owl will not be found. These birds of darkness cannot abide the light, ' because their deeds are evil,' John iii. 19. Thus they play at all-hid with God, but how foolishly ! Like that beast that having thrust his head in a bush, and seeing nobody, thinks nobody sees him. But they shall find at last that not holes of mountains or caves of rocks can conceal them, Rev. vL 16. Secondly, Others play at fast and loose with God ; as a man behind a tree, one while seen, another while hid. In the day of prosperity they are hidden ; only in affliction they come out of their holes. As some beasts are driven out of their burrows by pouring in scalding water ; or as Absiilom fetched Joab, by settuig ' on fire his barley-fields,' 2 Sam. xiv. 30. These are found on the Sunday, but lost aU the week. Like the devil, they stand among the sons of God, yet devour the servants of God ; as Saul at one time prophesied with the prophets, and at another time massacred them. Christ calls them to a banquet of prosperity, they cry Hie sumus, We are here ; but if Satan (in their opuiion) ofier them better cheer, Tili sumus, We are for thee. 218 THE LOST AEE FOUND. [SeRMON XXXVIIL Thirdly, Others being lost, and hearing the seeker's voice, go further from him. These are wolves, not sheep. The * sheep hear his voice,' and come ; the wolf hears it, and flies. The nearer salvation comes to them, the further they run from it. Because England tenders them the gospel, they wUl run as far as Rome for damnation. Christ came to seek the lost sheep : Luke xv., he found it, he laid it on his shoulders, and he rejoiced. In his life he seeks the sinner tUl he find him. In his death he lays him on his shoulders, bearing his sins in his body on the cross. In his resurrection he rejoiced for him. In his ascension he opens the door of heaven, and brings him home. V€7iit et invenit, — he comes to seek, and he seeks to save ; which is the next point : — 4. ' To save.' Ecce pietatem, behold his goodness. Herod sought Christ ad interituin, to kill him; Christ seeks vis ad salutem, to save its. ' This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners,' 1 Tim. i. 15. Yield to be found, if thou wilt 3deld to be saved. There is nothing but good meant thee in this seeking. Vidimics et testamur, &c., — ' We have seen, and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world,' 1 John iv. 14. The fishermen's riddle was : Those we could not find we kept ; those we found we lost. But Christ's course is otherwise: whom he finds he saves; whom he finds not ape lost for ever. It was a poetical speech, Amare et sajyere vix conceditur diis, — To love and to be wise seldom meet. They are met in Christ ; he did love us — suscepit naturam, he became man; he was wise — occidit 2^£ccatum, he killed sm. In love he seeks us, in wisdom he saves us : here was amare et sa^yere. This sweet and comfortable note I must leave to your medita- tions; my speech must end his saving, though of his salvation there be no end. Parvum est servare honos, — It is a small thing to save those that are in no danger of spilling; therefore, lastly, look to the object : — 5. 'The lost.' There ecce potestatem, behold his power. He is that ' strongest man ' that unbound us from the fetters of sin and Satan. Fortis- simus; for ccetera excellit, ccetera expellit, — he excels the rest, he expels the rest. He had need be powerful, that redeems so weak man from the hands of so strong enemies. Magnus venit medicus, quia magnus jacehat cegrotus. The whole world was sick ; there had need be a great physician, for there was a great patient. Lo, where wretchedness lies at the foot of goodness : ecce miserum ante misericordern,. What but infinite miseiy should be the fit object of infinite mercy ! Here was then the purpose of Christ's coming : to ' seek the lost,' to recall wanderers, to heal the sick, to cleanse the leprous, to revive the dead, to save sinners. He 'came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,' Matt. ix. 13; he leaves 'the ninety-nine in the wilderness, to seek the lost sheep,' Luke xv. Whether it be ineant of the just angels in heaven, (as Ambrose, Chrysostoin, Hilary, Euthymius think;) or those that thought themselves just, (as Bucer and Ludolphus,) the scribes and Pharisees, that presumed they needed no repentance ; — he embraceth publicans and sinners, that confess themselves sick, and lacking a physician; sinful wretches, and needing a Saviour. Those worldlings in the gospel have better cheer at home ; what care they for Christ's supper? It is the dry ground that thinks well of rain, the hungry soul that is glad of sustenance. The mercy of God falls most wel- come on the broken spirit. They that feel themselves miserable, and that they stand in need of every drop of his saving blood, to those it runs fresh and sweet. They that feel themselves lost are found. They are least of all Luke XIX. 10.] the lost are found. 219 lost that think themselves lost; they are nearest to their health that are most sensible of their sickness. These he seeks, these he saves : to these nascens se dedit in socium, convescens in cihum, moriens in 2^^'^tium, regnans in frceTnium* — iu his birth he became their companion, in his Ufa their food, in his death their redemption, in his glory their salvation. ' Lost !' But where was man lost ? There are diverse losing-places : — (1.) A garden of delights: and there the first man lost himself, and all us. In a garden therefore our Saviour found us again. We were lost in a garden of rest ; we are found in a garden of trouble. The serpent could never take the hare, (he was too light-footed for him,) till he found him sleeping in a garden of sweet flowers, under which the serpent lay hidden. Whilst man not only surfeits on pleasures, but sleeps in them, Satan, that old serpent, wounds him to death. (2.) A wUderness is a place able to lose us : and that is this world, a wide and wild forest; many lost in it. We read of a rich man, Luke xii., that lost himself in one corner of this wilderness, his very bams. Strange, to be lost in a bam ; and yet how many lose themselves in a less room, their counting- house ! The usurer hath there lost his soul, and no man can find it. It is fio long wrapped up among his bonds, till Satan take the forfeit. The de- populator takes a larger field to lose his soul in ; and to make sure work that grace may never find it, he hedges and ditches it in. (3.) Another losmg-place is a labyrinth or maze. In the orchard of this world the god of it hath made a labyrinth, which St John describes, ' The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,' 1 Epist. ii. 16. The entrance hereinto is easy, as you have seen in that emblem of surety- ship, the Horn : a man goes gently in at the butt end, but comes hardly out at the buckle; the coming forth is difiicult. It is so fuU of crooked mean- ders, winduigs, and turnings, out of one sin into another, — from consent to delight, from delight to custom, from custom to impenitency, — that in this labyrinth men soon grow to a maze, and know not how to be extricated : Labyrinthus, quasi labor intus. The wicked 'weary themselves in the ways of destmction,' Wisd. v. 7. ' Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life.' Hwc tria pro trino Numine mtmdus hahet, — This is the trinity the world worships. ' Lust of the flesh.' The adulterer loseth himself in the forbidden bed : Inter viamillas perditur, — He is lost between the breasts of a harlot. He that seeks for him must, as the pursuivant for the Seminaiy, not forbear the mistress's bed to find him. ' Lust of the eyes.' Ahab casts a covetous eye at Naboth's vineyard, David a lustful eye at Bathsheba. The eye is the pulse of the soul : as phj-- sicians judge of the heart by the pulse, so we by the eye ; a rolling eye, a roving heart. The good eye keeps minute-time, and strikes when it should; the lustful crotchet-time, and so puts all out of tune. ' Pride ' has lost as many as any her fellow-devils. They say she was born in heaven, and being cast down, wandered u^ion earth, where a woman took her in; and there she hath dwelt ever since. Indeed, Isa. iii., the shop of pride is the woman's wardrobe; in this wardrobe many souls, both of women and men too, are lost. The common study is new fiishions; but it is an ill fashion thus to lose the soul. If we would get out of this maze, we must, as God warned the wise men, depart another way. Out of lust Ave must wind forth by chastity, out of covctousness by charity, out of pride by humility. Penitence is the * Postil. Cathol., cou. ii., Dom. Advent. 220 THE LOST AKE FOUND. [SeP.MON XXXVIII, clue to guide us fortli ; howsoever we came in, we must go out by repent- ance. (4.) A fourth, losing-place is the multitude of new and strange ways; wherein men wander, as Saul after his asses, and ai-e lost There is a way to Rome, a way to Amsterdam , a way to the silliness of ignorance, a way to the sullenness of arrogance. None of aU these is the way to Zion. In the multitude of ways, multitude of souls lose themselves. (5.) Lastly, some are lost in the dark vaidt of ignorance, applauding them- selves in their blindness, and like bats refusing the sunshine. They have an altar, Acts xvii. 23, but it is Ignoto Deo, to an unknown God. Like the host of the king of Syria, they are blind, and lost betwixt Dothan and Samaria, 2 Kings vi. 19. They may grope, as the Sodomites, for the door of heaven; but let not the Pope make them believe that they can find it blindfold. Ignorance is not God's star-chamber of light, but the devil's vault of darkness. By that doctrine Antichrist fills hell, and his own coffers. The light that must bring us out is Jesus Christ, • which lighteth every man that Cometh into the world,' John i. 9 ; and his ' word is a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our paths,' Ps. cxix. 105. Thus you see there are many places to be lost in, but one way to be found ; and that is this : ' The Son of man is come to seek and to save that was lost.' O Jesus, turn our wandering steps into the narrow way of righteous- ness ! Come to us, that we may be sought; seek us, that we may be found; find us, that we may be saved ; save us, that we may be blessed, and bless thy name for ever ! Amen. THE WHITE DEVIL; OB, THE HYPOCRITE UNCASED, m A SERMON PREACHED AT PAUL'S CROSS, MARCH 7, 1612. This he said, not that he cared for the poor ; hut hecause he was a thief, and had the hag, and hare what was put therein. — John XII. 6. I AM to speak of Judas, a devil by the testimony of our Saviour, — ' Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil ? ' John vi. 7, — ^yet so trans- formed into a show of sanctimony, that he who was a devil in the knowledge of Christ seemed an angel in the deceived judgment of his fellow-apostles. A devil he was, black within and full of rancour, but white without, and skinned over with hypocrisy; therefore, to use Luther's word, we will call him the * white devil,' Even here he discovers himself, and makes good this title. Consider the occasion thus : — Christ was now at supper among his friends, where every one shewed him several kindness ; among the rest, Mary pours on him a box of ointment. Take a short view of her affection : — (1.) She gave a precious unction, spike- nard; Judas valued it at three hundred pence, which (after the best compu- tation) is with us above eight pounds; as if she could not be too prodigal m her love. (2.) She gave him a whole pound, ver. 3 : she did not cut him out devotion by piecemeal or remnant, nor serve God by the ounce, but she gave all : for quality, precious; for quantity, the whole pound. Oh that our service to God were answerable ! We rather give one ounce to lust, a second to pride, a third to malice, &c., so dividing the whole pound to the devil : she gave all to Christ. (3.) To omit her anointing his feet, and wiping them with the hairs of her head ; wherein her humility and zeal met : his feet, as unworthy to touch his head ; with her hairs, as if her chief ornament was but good enough to honour Christ withal, the beauty of her head to serve Christ's feet. ' She brake the box,' tanqvam ebria, amove, and this of no worse than alabaster, that Christ might have the last remaining drop : and the whole house was filled with the odour;' at this repines Judas, pre- 222 THE WHITE DEVIL, [SeRMON XXXIX. tending the poor, for he was ' white ; ' intending his profit, for he was a 'devil.' The words contain in them a double censure: — I. Judas's censure of Mary ; this repeatingly folded up : e/Vs ds touto, ' he said thus,' with refer- ence to his former words, ver. 5, ' Why was not this,' &c. II. God's censure of Judas: this partly, 1. Negative, 'he cared not for the poor;' to convince his hypocrisy, that roved at the poor, but levelled at his profit ; like a ferry- man, looking toward charity with his face, rowing toward covetousness with his arms. 2. Affirmative, demonstrating, (1.) His meaning, 'he was a thief ; ' (2.) His means, ' he had the bag ; ' (3.) His maintenance, ' he bare what was given, or put therein.' I. In Judas's censure of Mary, many things are observable, to his shame, our instruction ; and these, 1. Some more general ; 2. Some more special and personal; all worthy your attention, if there wanted nothing in the de- liverance, 1. Observe that St John lays this fault on Judas only; but St Matthew, chap. xxvi. 8, and Mark, chap. xiv. 4, charge the disciples with it, and find them guilty of this repining ; and that (in both, ayavaxTOuvrsg) not with- out indignation. This knot is easily untied : Judas was the ringleader, and his voice was the voice of Jacob, all charitable ; but his hands were the hands of Esau, rough and injurious. Judas pleads for the poor ; the whole synod likes the motion well, they second it with their verdicts, their words agree ; but their spirits differ. Judas hath a further reach : to distil this ointment through the lembic of hypocrisy into his own purse; the apostles mean plainly : Judas was malicious against his Master ; they simply thought the poor had more need. So sensible and ample a diff"erence do circumstances put into one and the same action : presumption or weakness, knowledge or ignorance, simplicity or craft, do much aggravate or mitigate an offence. The apostles consent to the circumstance, not to the substance, setting, as it were, their hands to a blank paper: it was in them pity rather than piety; in Judas neither pity nor piety, but plain perfidy, an exorbitant and transcend- ent sin, that would have brought innocence itself into the same condemna- tion ; thus the aggregation of circumstances is the aggravation of offences. Consider his covetise, fraud, malice, hypocrisy, and you will say his sin was monstrous ; sine modo, like a mathematical line, divisibilis in semper divisi- Ulia, — infinitely divisible. The other apostles receive the infection, but not into so corrupted stomachs, therefore it may make them sick, not kiU them : sin they do, but not unto death. It is a time rule even in good works : Finibus, 7ion ojiciis, disce^mendoe sunt virtutes d, vitiis, — Virtues are discerned from \aces, not by their offices, but by theu' ends or intents : neither the out- ward form, no, nor often the event, is a sure rule to measure the action by. The eleven tribes went twice, by God's special word and warrant, against the Benjamites, yet in both assaults received the overthrow. Cum Pater Filium, Christus corpus, Judas Dominum, res eadem, non causa, non intentio opera7itis* — When God gave his Son, Christ gave himself, Judas gave his Master; here was the work, not the same cause nor intention in the workers. The same rule holds proportion in offences : here they all sm, the apostles in the imprudence of their censure, Judas in the impudence of his rancour. I might here, first, lead you into the distinction of sins ; secondly, or tra- verse the indictment with Judas, whereby he accuseth Mary, justifying her action, convincing his slander; thirdly, or discover to you the foulness of raah judgment, which often sets a rankling tooth into virtue's side ; often *Aug. John XIL 6.] the -white devil. 223 calls charity herself a harlot, and a guilty hand throws the first stone at innocence, John viii. 7. But that which I fasten on is the power and force of example. Judas, with a false weight, set all the wheels of their tongues agoing : the steward hath begun a health to the poor, and they begin to pledge him round. Authority shews itself in this, to beget a likeness of manners : Tutum est peccare mitoribus illis, — It is safe sinning after such authors ; if the steward say the word, the fiat of consent goes round. Imperio maximus, exemplo •major, — He that is greatest in his government is yet greater in his precedent. A great man's livery is countenance enough to keep drunkenness from the stocks, whoredom from the post, murder and stealth from the gallows : such double sinners shall not escape with single judgments ; such leprous and contagious spirits shall answer to the justice of God, not only for their own sins, but for all theirs whom the pattern of their precedency hath induced to the like. To the like, said I? nay, to worse; for if the master drink cid plenitudinem, to fulness, the servant will ad ebrietatem, to madness; the imitation of good comes, for the most part, short of the pattern, but the imi- tation of ill exceeds the example. A great man's warrant is like a charm o? spell, to keep quick and stirring spirits within the circle of combmed mis- chief, a superior's example is like strong or strange physic, that ever works the servile patients to a likeness of humours, of affections : thus when the mother is a Hittite, and the father an Amorite, the daughter seldom proves an Israelite, Ezek. xvi. 45. Regis ad exemplum toius comjMnitur orbis, — Greatness is a copy, which every action, every affection strives to write after. The son of Nebat is never without his commendation following him, ' he made Israel to sin,' 1 Kings xv. 30, and xvi. 15. The imitation of our governors' manners, fashion, vices, is styled obedience : if Augustus Caesar loves poetry, he is nobody that cannot versify; now, saith Horace, * Scribimua indocti, doctique poemata passim.' When Leo lived, because he loved merry fellows, and stood well-affected to the stage, all Eome swarmed with jugglers, singers, players. To this, I think, was the proverb squared : Confessor Papa, confessor j^ojndus, — If the Pope be an honest man, so will the people be. In vidgus manant exempla regentum.'^ The common people are like tempered wax, whereon the vicious seal of greatness makes easy impression. It was a custom for young gentle- men in Athens to play on recorders ; at length Alcibiades, seeing his blown cheeks in a glass, threw away his pipe, and they all followed him. Our gallants, instead of recorders, embrace scorching lust, staring pride, stagger- ing drunkenness, till their souls are more blown than those Athenians' cheeks. I would some Alcibiades would begin to throw away these vanities, and all the rest would follow him. Thus spreads example, lilce a stone thrown into a pond, that makes circle to beget circle, till it spread to the banks. Judas's train soon took fire in the suspectless disciples ; and Satan's infections shoot through some great star the influence of damnation mto the ear of the com- monalty. Let the experience hereof make us fearful of examples. Observe, that no society hath the privilege to be free from a Judas ; no, not Christ's college itself : ' I have chosen you twelve, and behold one of you is a devil ;' and this no worse man than the steward, put in trust with the bread of the prophets. The synod of the Pharisees, the convent of monks, the consistory of Jesuits, the holy chair at Piome, the sanctified parlour at Amsterdam, is not free from a Judas. Some tares will shew that * the«erh * Cypr. 224 THE WHITE DEVIL. [SfiRMON XXXIX. vious man' is not asleep. They hear him preach that 'had the words of eternal life,' John vi. 68 ; they attend him that could ' feed them with mira- culous bread,' ver. 51 ; they followed him that could * quiet the seas and control the winds,' Matt. xxvi. ; they saw a precedent in whom there was no defect, no default, no sin, no guUe ; yet, behold, one of them is a hypo- crite, an Iscariot, a devil. Wliat ! among saints ? * Is Saul among the prophets V 1 Sam. x, 12. Among the Jews, a wicked publican, a dissolute soldier, was not worth the wondering at : for the publicans, you may judge of their honesty when jom always find them coupled with harlots m the Scripture ; for the soldiers, (that robed Christ in jest, and robbed him in earnest,) they were irreligious ethnics ; but amongst the sober, chaste, pure, precise Pharisees, to find a man of sin was held uncouth, monstrous. They run from their wits, then, that run from the church because there are Judases. Thus it will be till the great Judge with his fan shall ' purge his floor,' Matt, iii. 12 ; till the ' angels shaU carry the wheat into the barn of glory,' Matt, yiii- 30. Until that day comes, some rubbish will be in the net, some goats amongst the sheej), some with the mark of the beast in the congregation of saints ; an Ishmael in the family of Abraham ; one without his wedding garment at the marriage-feast ; among the disciples a Demas, among the apostles a Judas. — Thus generally. 2. — (1.) Observe : Judas is bold to reprove a lawful, laudable, allowable work : ' he said thus.' I do not read him so peremptory in a just opportunity. He could swallow a gudgeon, though he kecks at a fly ; he could observe, obey, flatter the compounding Pharisees, and thought he should get more by licking than by biting ; but here, because his mouth waters at the money, his teeth rankle the woman's credit, for so I find malignant reprovers styled : corrodunt, oion corrigunt; correptores, immo corruptores, — they do not mend, but make worse ; they bite, they gnaw. Thus was Diogenes surnamed Cynic for his snarling : conviciorum canis, the dog of reproaches. Such forget that monendo 2)h(s, quam minando possumus, — mercies are above menaces. Many of the Jews, whom the thunders of Sinai, terrors of the law, humanas mo- tura tonitriia mentes, moved not, John Baptist wins with the songs of Zion. Judas could feign and fawn, and fan the cool wind of flattery on the burn- ing malice of the consulting scribes. Here he is hot, sweats and swells without cause ; either he must be unmerciful or over-merciful ; either wholly for the reins, or all upon the spur. He hath soft and silken words for his Master's enemies, coarse and rough for his friends ; there he is a dumb dog and finds no fault, here he is a barking cur and a true man instead of a thief; he was before an ill mute, and now he is a worse consonant : but as Pierius's ambitious daughters were turned to magpies for correcting the Muses,* so God justly reproves Judas for unjustly reproving Mary. Qui mittit in altum lapidem, recidet in caput ejus,f — A stone thrown up in a rash humour falls on the thrower's head, to teach him more wisdom. He that could come to the Pharisees, (like Martial's parrot, %a/^£, or like Jupiter's priests to Alexan- der with a Jove sate,) commending their piety, which was without mercy, here condemns mercy, which was true piety and pity. I coidd here find cause to praise reprehension : if it be reasonable, season- able, well-grounded for the reprover, well-conditioned for the reproved. I would have no profession more wisely bold than a minister's, for sin is bold, yea, saucy and presumptuous. It is miserable for both, when a bold sinner and a cold priest shall meet ; when he that should lift up his voice like a trumpet doth but whisper through a trunk. Many men are dull beasts * Ovid. Metam., lib. ii. f lerom. ad Rust. monacL John XII. 6.] the white devil. 225 without a goad, blind Sodomites without a guide, deaf adders and idols without ears, forgetful, like Pharaoh's butler, without memories : our con- nivance is sinful, our sUence baneful, our allowance damnable. Of sin, neither the fathers, factors, nor fautors are excusable ; nay, the last may be worst, whiles they may, and will not help it, Rom. xiii. 2. Let Rome have the praise without our envy or rivality : Peccatis Roma patrociniian est. Sodomy is licensed, sins to come pardoned, drunkenness defended, the stews maintained, perjury commended, treason commanded. As sinful as they think us, and we know ourselves, we would blush at these. Nihil interest, sceleri an faveas, an illud facias, — There is little difference between permis- sion and commission, between the toleration and perpetration of the sin : he is an abettor of the evil that may and will not better the evil. Amici vitia, si feraSyfacis tua. Thy unchristian sufferance adopts thy brother's sins for thine own, as children of thy fatherhood. Of so great a progeny is many a sin-favouring magistrate ; he begets more bastards in an hour than Hercules did in a night ; and, except Christ be his friend, God's sessions \\t11 charge him with the keeping of them all. No private man can plead exemp- tion from this duty, for amicus is animi custos, — he is thy friend that brings thee to a fair and free end. Doth human charity bind thee to reduce thy neighbour's straying beast, and shall not Christianity double thy care to his erring soul ? Cadit asina, et est qui sublevet ; perit anima, non est qui reco- gitet, — The fallen beast is lifted up, the burdened soul is let sink under her load. (2.) Observe his devilish disposition, bent and intended to stifle goodness in others, that had utterly choked it in himself. Is the apostle Judas a hin- derer of godliness ? Surely man hath not a worse neighbour, nor God a worse servant, nor the devil a better factor, than such a one : an jiEsop's dog, that because he can eat no hay himself, lies in the manger and will not suffer the horse. He would be an ill porter of heaven-gates, that having no lust to enter himself, will not admit others ; as Christ reproved the lawyers, Luke xi. 52. They are fruitless trees that cumber the ground, chap. xiii. 7 ; cockle and darnel, that hinder the good corn's growth ; malicious devils, that plot to bring more partners to their own damnation, as if it were ali- quid socios habuisse doloris, — some ease to them to have fellows in their misery. Let me pant out a short complaint against this sin : dolendum a medico, quod non delendum a inedicina, — we may bewail where we cannot prevail. The good old man must weep, though he cannot drive away the disease of his chUd with tears. Thou that hinderest others from good works, makest their sins thine, which, I think, thou needest not do, for any scarcity of thine own ; whiles thou temptest a man to villany, or withstandest his piety, thou at once puUest his sins and God's curse on thee. For the author sins more than the actor, as appears by God's judgment in paradise, Gen. iiL 14, <kc., where three punishnients were inflicted on the serpent, as the original plot- ter ; two on the woman, as the immediate procurer ; and but one on Adam, as the party seduced. Is it not enough for thee, Judas, to be a villain thyself, but thou must also cross the piety of others 1 Hast thou spoiled thyself, and wouldst thou also mar Mary ? (3.) Nay, observe : he would hinder the works of piety through colour of the works of charity, diverting Mary's bounty from Christ to the poor, as if respect to man should take the wall of God's service. Thus he strives to set the two tables of the law at war, one against the other ; both which look to God's obedience, as the two cherubimsto the mercy-seat, Exod. xxy. 20; and VOL. IL p 226 THE WHITE DEVIL. [SeKMON XXXIX. the catholic Christian hath a catholic care. I prefer not the laws of God one to the other : ' one star here differs not from another star in glory.' Yet I know the best distinguisher's caution to the lawyer : ' This is the com- mandment, and the other is (but) like unto it,' Matt. xxii. 38, 39. Indeed I would not have sacrifice turn mercy out of doors, as Sarah did Hagar ; nor the fire of zeal drink up the dew and moisture of charity, as the fire froia heaven dried up the water at Elijah's sacrifice, 1 Kings xviii. 38 ; neither would I that the precise observation of the second table should gild over the monstrous breaches of the first. Yet I have heard divines (reasoning this point) attribute this privilege to the first table above the second : that God never did (I wiU not say, never could) dispense with these commandments which have himself for their proper and immediate object. For then (say they) he should dispense against himself, or make himself no God, or more. He never gave allowance to any to have another god ; another form of wor- ship) ; the honour of his name he wiU not give to another ; nor suffer the profaner of his holy day to escape unpunished. For the second table, you have read him commanding the brother ' to raise up seed to his brother,' Deut. XXV. 5, notwithstanding the law, ' Thou shalt not commit adul- tery,' Matt. xii. 24 ; commanding the Israelites to rob the Egyptians, Exod. xi. 2, without infringing the law of stealth; aU this without wrong, for * the earth is his, and the fulness thereof ! ' Thou art a father of many chil- dren : thou sayest to the younger, ' Sirrah, wear you the coat to-day which your other brother wore yesterday ;' who complains of wrong? We are all (or, at least, say we are all) the children of God : have earthly parents a greater privilege than our heavenly ? If God then have given dispensation to the second table, not to the first, the observation of which (think you) best pleaseth him ? Let not then, O Judas, charity shoulder out piety ; nay, charity will not, cannot ; for ' faith worketh by love,' Gal. v. 6. AJacl love never dined in a conscience where faith had not first broken her fast. Faith and love are like a pair of compasses; whilst faith stands perfectly fixed in the centre, which is God, love walks the round, and puts a girdle of mercy about the loins. There may indeed be a show of charity without faith, but there can be no show of faith without charity." Man judgeth by the hand, God by the heart. Hence our policies in their positive laws lay severe punishments on the actual breaches of the second table, leaving most sins against the first to the hand of the almighty justice. Let man's name be slandered, currai lex, ' the law is open,' Acts xix. 38 ; be God's name dishonoured, blas- phemed, there is no punishment but from God's immediate hand. Carnal fornication speeds, though not ever bad enough, yet sometimes worse than spiritual, which is idolatry. Yet this last is majus adulterlum, the greater adultery ; because non ad alteram mtdierem, 1 Cor. vi. 15, sed ad alterum Deum, Hos. ii. 2, — it is not the knitting of the body to another woman, but of the soul to another God. The poor slave is convented to the spiritual court, and meets with a shrewd penance for his incontinence; the rich nobleman, knight, or gentleman, (for Papists are no beggars,) breaks the com- missary's cords as easily as Samson the Philistine's withs, and puts an ex- communication in his pocket. All is answered : ' Who knows the spirit of man, but the spirit of man ? ' and, ' He stands or falls to liis own master,' Kom. xiv. 4. Yet again, who knows whether bodily stripes may not procure spiritual health, and a seasonable blow to the estate may not save the soul * in the day of the Lord Jesus 2' 1 Cor. v. 5. Often detrimentum pecuniae et John XII. 6.] the white devil. 227 sanitatis ; "propter honum. aninioe* a loss to the purse, or a cross to the corpse, is for the good of the conscience. Let me then complain, are there no laws for atheists, that would scrape out the deep engraven characters of the soul's eternity out of their consciences, and think their souls as vanish- ing as the spirits of dogs; not contenting themselves to lock up this damned persuasion in their own bowels, but belching out this unsavoury breath to the contagion of others ? Witness many an ordinary that this is an ordinary custom ; that in despite of the oracles of heaven, the prophets, and the secretaries of nature, the philosophers, would enforce that either there is no God, or such a one as had as good be none : nominal protestants, verbal neuters, real atheists. Ai'e there no laws for image- worshippers, secret friends to Baal, that eat with us, sit with us, play with us, not pray with us, nor for us, unless for our ruins 1 Yes, the sword of the law is shaken against them : alas, that but only shaken ! But cither their breasts are invulnerable, or the sword is obtuse, or the strikers troubled with the palsy and numbness in the arms. Are there no laws for blasphemers, common swearers, whose constitutions are so ill-tempered of the four elements, that they take and possess several seats in them : all earth in their hearts, all water in their stomachs, all air in their brains, and (saith St James) all fire in their tongues, James iii. G ; they have heavy earthen hearts, watery and surfeited stomachs, light, airy, mad brains, fiery and flaming tongues. Are there no laws to com- pel them on these days, that ' God's house may be filled 1 ' Luke xiv. 23 ; no power to bring them from the 'puddles to the springs?' Jer. ii. 13; from walk- ing the streets, sporting in the fields, quaffing in taverns, slugging, wantonismg on couches, to watch with Christ 'one hour in his house of prayer?' Matt. sxvi. 40. Why should not such blisters be lanced by the knife of authority, which wiU else make the whole body of the commonwealth, though not in- curable, yet dangerously sick ? I may not seem to prescribe, give leave to exhort : 7ion est mece kumilitatis didare vohis, &c.t It suits not with my mean knowledge to direct you the means, but with my conscience to rub your memories. Oh, let not the pretended equity to men countenance out our neglect of piety to God ! (4.) Lastly, observe his unkindness to Christ. What, Judas, grudge thy Master a little unction ! And, which is yet viler, from another's purse ! With what detraction, derision, exclamation, wouldest thou have permitted this to thy fellow-servant, that repinest it to thy Master ! How hardly had this been derived from thy own estate, that didst not tolerate it from Mary's ! What ! Thy Master, that honoured thee with Christianity, graced thee with apostleship, trusted thee with stewardship, wilt thou deny him this courtesy, and without thine own cost ? Thy Master, Judas, thy Friend, thy God, and, yet in a sweeter note, thy Saviour, and canst not endure another's gratuital kindness towards him ? Shall he pour forth the best unction of his blood, to bathe and comfort thy body and soul, and thou not allow him a little re- fection ? Hath Christ hungered, thii-sted, fainted, sweated, and must he in- stantly bleed and die, and is ho denied a little unction? and dost thou, Judas, grudge it 1 It had come more tolerably from any mouth : his friend, his follower, his professor, his apostle, his steward 1 Unkind, unnatural, unjust, unmerciful Judas. Nay, he terms it no better than waste and a loss : E/j r/ ;) acrwXs/a aiir^j ; Ad quid perdiiio hcec ? — ' Why is this waste? ' Matt. xxvi. 8. What, lost and given to Jesus ! Can- there be any waste in the creature's due service to the Creator? No; pietas est proprictate sumptusfacere,X — this is * Th. Aquin. t Bern. t TertuL Apo. 39. 228 THE WHITE DEVIL, [SeRMON XXXIX. godliness, to be at cost with God : therefore our fathers left behind them deposita j^ietatis, pledges, evidences, sure testimonies of their reUgion, in honouring Christ with their riches ; I mean not those in the days of Po- pery, but before ever the locusts of the Papal sea made our nation drunk with that enchanted cup. They thought it no waste either nova constmere, aut Vetera conservare, — to buUd new monuments to Christ's honour, or to better the old ones. We may say of them, as Eome bragged of Augustus Caesar : Quce invenerunt lateritia, reliquenmt marmorea, — What they found of brick, they left of marble ; in imitation of that precedent in Isaiah, though with honester hearts : ' The bricks are fallen down, but we wiU build with, hewn stones. The sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars,' chap, ix, 10, In those days charity to the church was not counted waste. The people of England, devout like those of Israel, cried one to another, Afferte, Bring ye into God's house ; till they were stayed with a statute of mortmain, like Moses's prohibition, ' The people bring too much,' Exod, xxxvi, 6. But now they change a letter, and cry, Avferte, take away as fast as they gave ; and no inhibition of God or Moses, gospel or statute, can restrain their violence, till the alabaster-box be as empty of oil as their own consciences are of grace. We need not stint your devotion, but your devoration ; every contribution to God's service is helcl waste : Ad quid 2-)erditio hcec ? Now any required ornament to the church is held waste ; but the swallowing down, I say not of ornaments, as things better spared, but of necessary maintenance, tithes, fruits, oflferings, are all too little. Gentlemen in these cold countries have very good stomachs ; they can devour, and digest too, three or four plump parsonages. In Italy, Spain, and those hot countries, or else nature and experience too lies, a temporal man cannot swallow a morsel or bit of spiritual preferment, but it is re- luctant in his stomach, up it comes again. Surely these northern countries, coldly situate, and nearer to* the tropic, have greater appetites. The Afri-, cans think the Spaniards gluttons ; the Spaniards think so of the French- men ; Frenchmen, and all, think and say so of Englishmen, for they can de- vour whole churches; and they have fed so liberally, that the poor servitors, (ashamed I am to call them so,) the vicars, have scarce enough left to keep life and soul together : not so much as sitis et fames et fiigora poscuntjf — the defence of hunger, and thirst, and cold, requires. Your fathers thought many acres of ground well bestowed, you think the tithe of those acres a waste. Oppression hath played the Judas with the church, and because he would prevent the sins incurable by our fulness of bread, hath scarce left us bread to feed upon, Daniel's diet among the lions, or Elias's in the wUderness. I wUl not censure you in this, ye citizens ; let it be your praise, that though you ' dwell in ceiled houses' yourselves, * you let not God's house lie waste,' Hag. i. 4 ; yet sometimes it is found that some of you, so careful in the city, are as negligent in the country, Avhere your lands lie ; and there the temples are often the ruins of your oppression, TYionumenta rapince; your poor, undone, blood-sucked tenants, not being able to repair the windows or the leads, to keep out rain or birds, f If a levy or taxation would force your benevolence, it comes malevolently from you, with a ' Why is this waste V Raise a contribution to a lecture, a col- lection for a fire, an alms to a poor destitute soul, and lightly there is one Judas in the congregation to cry, A d quid perditio hcec ? — ' Why is this waste V Yet you will say, if Christ stood in need of an unction, though as costly as * Further from.— Ed. t Juven. Sat. 14. :J: ' Canescunt turpi templa relicta situ.' — Ovid. John XII. 6.] the white devil. 229 Mary's, you would not grudge it, nor think it lost. Cozen not yourselves, ye hypocrites ; if ye will not do it to his church, to his poor ministers, to his poor members, neither would you to Christ, Matt. xxv. 40; if you clothe not them, neither would you clothe Christ if he stood naked at your doors. Whiles you count that money lost which God's service receiveth of you, you cannot shake away Judas from your shoulders. What would you do, if Christ should charge you, as he did the young man in the gospel, ' Sell all, and give to the poor,' Matt. xix. 21, that think superfluities a waste? Oh, durus sermo ! — a hard sentence ! Indeed, ' a cup of cold water,' Matt. x. 42, is bounty praised and rewarded, but in them that are not able to give more ; ' the widow's two mites' are accepted, because all her estate, Luke xxi. 4. If God thought it no waste to give you plenty, even all you have, think it no waste to return him some of his own. Think not the oil waste which you pour into the lamp of the sanctuary, Exod. xxv. 6 ; think not the bread waste which you cast on the waters of adversity, Eccles. xi. 1 ; think nothing lost whereof you have feoffed God in trust. But let me teach you soberly to apply this, and tell you what indeed is waste : — (1.) Our immoderate diet, — indeed not diet, for that contents nature, but surfeit, that overthrows nature, — this is waste. Plain Mr Nabal, 1 Sam. xxv. 36, made a feast like a prince. Dives, Luke xvi., hath no other arms to prove himself a gentleman, but a scutcheon of these three colours : first, he had money in his purse, he was rich ; secondly, he had good rags on his back, clothed in purple ; thirdly, dainties on his table, he fared deliciously, and that every day : this was a gentleman without heraldry. It was the rule, ad aUmenta, uf ad medicamenta, — to our meat as to our medi- cine : man hath the least mouth of all creatures, mahim non imitari, quod sumus. Therefore it is ill for us not to imitate that which we are ; not to be like ourselves. There are many shrewd contentions between the appetite and the purse : the wise man is either a neuter or takes part with his purse. To consume that at one banquet which would keep a poor man with con- venient sustenance all his life, this is waste. But, alas ! our slavery to epi- curism is great in these days: mancipia serviunt dominis, doraini cupiditati- hus, — servants are not more slaves to their masters, than their masters are slaves to lusts. Tmiocreon's epitaph fits many : — * Multa bibens, et multa vorans, mala plurima dicens,' &c., — He ate much and drank much, and spake much evil. We sacrifice to our palates as to gods : the rich feast, the poor fast, the dogs dine, the poor pine ? Ad quid pei'ditio Juec ? — ' Why is this waste V (2.) Our unreasonable ebrieties : — ' Tenentque Pocula esepe homines, et inumbrant ora coronis.' They take their fill of wine here, as if they were resolved, with Dives, they should not get a drop of water in hell. Eat, drink, play ; quid aliud sepul- chro bovis inscrihi jjoterat ? — what other epitaph could be written on the sepulchre of an ox ? Epulomim crateres, sunt epulomtm carceres, — their bowls are their bolts ; there is no bondage like to that of the vintage. The furnace beguiles the oven, the cellar deceives the buttery; we driuk away our bread, as if we would put a new petition into the Lord's jjrayer, and abrogate the old : saying no more, with Christ, ' Give us this day our daily bread,' but, Give us this day our daily drink; quod non in diem,sed in men- sem sufficit, — which is more than enough for a day, nay, would serve a month. 230 THE WHITE DEVIL. [SeRMON XXXIX. Temperance, the just steward, is put out of office ; what place is free from these alehouse recusants, that think better of their drinking-room than Peter thought of Mount Tabor 1 Bonum est esse hie, — ' It is good being here,' Matt, xvii. 4, tihi nee Dens, nee dcemon, — where both God and the devil are fast asleep. It is a question whether it be worse to turn the image of a beast to a god, or the image of God to a beast ; if the first be idolatry, the last is impiety. A voluptuous man is a murderer to himself, a covetous man a thief, a malicious a witch, a drunkard a de^il ; thus to drink away the poor's relief, our own estate : Ad quid j)erditio lime ? — ' Why is this waste V (3.) Our monstrous pride, that turns hospitality into a dumb show : that which fed the belly of hunger now feeds the eye of lust ; acres of land are metamorphosed into trunks of apparel ; and the soul of charity is transmi- grated into the body of bravery : this is waste. We make ourselves the com- pounds of all nations : we borrow of Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Turkey and all ; that death, when he robs an Englishman, robs all countries. Where lies the wealth of England ? In three places : on citizens' tables, in usurers' coffers, and ujjon courtiers' backs. God made all simple, therefore, woe to these compounded fashions ! God will one day say, Hoc non opus mernn, nee imago mea est, — This is none of my workmanship, none of my image. One man wears enough on his back at once to clothe two naked wretches all their Hves : Ad quid, &c. — ' Why is this waste ?' (4.) Our vainglorious buildings, to emulate the skies, which the wise man calls ' the lifting up of our gates too high,' Prov. xvii. 1 9. Houses built like palaces ; tabernacles that, in the master's thought, equal the mansion of heaven ; structures to whom is promised eternity, as if the ground they stood on should not be shaken, Heb. xii. 16. Whole towns depopulate to rear up one man's walls ; chimneys buUt in proportion, not one of them so happy as to smoke ; brave gates, but never open ; sumptuous parlours, for owls and bats to fly in : pride began them, riches finished them, beggary keeps them ; for most of them moulder away, as if they were in the dead builder's case, a consumption. Would not a less house, Jeconiah, have served thee for better hospitality? Jer. xxii. Our fathers lived well under lower roofs; this is waste, and waste indeed, and these worse than the devil. The devil had once some charity in him, to turn stones into bread. Matt. iv. 3 ; but these men turn bread into stones, a trick beyond the devil : Ad quid j^erditio hcec ? — * Why is this waste V (5.) Our ambitious seeking after great alliance : the ' son of the thistle must match mth the cedar's daughter,' 2 Kings xiv. 9. The father tears dear years out of the earth's bowels, and raiseth a bank of usury to set his son upon, and thus mounted, he must not enter save under the noble roof; no cost is spared to ambitious advancement : Ad quid, &c. — ' Why is this waste 1' Shall I say our upholding of theatres, to the contempt of religion ; our maintaining ordmaries, to play away our patrimonies; our four-wheeled por- ters ; our antic fashions ; our smoky consumptions ; our perfumed putrefac- tion : Ad quid 2^erditio hcec ? — Why are these wastes ? Experience wiU testify at last that these are wastes indeecl ; for they waste the body, the blood, the estate, the freedom, the soul itself, and aU is lost thus laid out ; but what is given (with Mary) to Christ is lost like sown grain, that shall be found again at the harvest of joy. II. We have heard Judas censuring Mary, let us now hear God censuring Judas : — 1. And that, first, negatively : * he cared not for the poor.' For the poor John Xn. 6.] the white devil. 231 he pleads, but himself is the poor he means well to ; but let his pretence be what it will, God's witness is true against him : ' he cared not for the poor.' (1.) Observe : Doth Christ condemn Judas for condemning Mary? Then it appears he doth justify her action ; he doth, and that after in express terms : * Let her alone,' &c., ver. 7. Happy Mary, that hast Jesus to plead for thee ! blessed Christians, for whom * Jesus Christ is an advocate ! ' 1 John ii. 1. ' He is near me that justifies me ; who will contend with me ? Be- hold, the Lord will help me ; who is he that can condemn me ? ' Isa. 1. 8, 9. Hence David resigns his protection into the hands of God : * Judge me, O God, and defend my cause against the unmerciful people,' Ps. xliii. 1. And Paul yet with greater boldness sends a frank defiance and challenge to all the actors and pleaders that ever condemnation had, that they should never have power to condemn him, since Jesus Christ justifies him, Eom. viii. 33. Happy man whose cause God takes in hand to plead ! Here is a Judas to accuse us, a Jesus to acquit us ; Judas slanders, Jesus clears ; wicked men censure, the just God approves ; earth judgeth evil what is pronounced good in heaven ! Oh, then, do well, though, fremunt gentes, great men rage, though perverseness censures, impudence slanders, malice hinders, tjranny persecutes ; there is a Jesus that approves : his approbation shall outweigh all their censures ; let his Spirit testify within me, though the whole world oppose me. (2.) Observe : It is the nature of the wicked to have no care of the poor. Sihi nati, sibi vivunt, sibi mornintitr, sihi damnantur, — They are all for themselves, they are born to themselves, live to themselves; so let them die for themselves, and go to hell for themselves. The fat bulls of Bashan love 'the lambs from the iiock, and the calves from the stall,' &c., 'but think not on the affiction of Joseph,' Amos vi. 4. Your gallant thinks not the dis- tressed, the blind, the lame to be part of his care ; it concerns him not. True ; and therefore heaven concerns him not. It is infallible truth, if they have no feeling of others' miseries they are no members of Christ, Heb. xiii. 3. Go on now in thy scorn, thou proud royster ; admire the fashion and stuff thou wearest, whiles the poor mourn for nakedness ; feast royal Dives, while Lazarus can get no crumbs. Apply, Absalom, thy sound, healthful limbs to lust and lewdness, whiles the same blind, maimed, cannot derive a penny from thy purse, though he move his suit in the name of Jesus ; thou givest testimony to the world, to thy own conscience, that thou art but a Judas. Why, the poorest and the proudest have, though not vestem commu- nem, yet cutem communem, — there may be difference in the fleece, there is none in the flesh ; yea, perhaps, as the gallant's perfumed body is often the sepulchre to a putrefied soul, so a white, pure, innocent spirit may be sha- dowed under the broken roof of a maimed corpse. Nay, let me terrify them : * Not many rich, not many mighty, not many noble arc called,' 1 Cor. i. 26. It is Paul's thunder against the flashes of greatness : he says not, ' not any,' but 'not many;' for servatur Lazarus pauper, sed in sinu Ahrahami Divitis* — Lazarus the poor man is saved, but in the bosom of Abraham the rich. It is a good saying of the son of Sirach, ' The affliction of one hour will make the proudest stoop,' Ecclus. xi. 27, sit upon the ground, and forget his former pleasure ; a piercing misery will soften your bowels, and let your soul sec through the breaches of her prison, in what need distress stands of succour. Then you will be charitable or never, as physicians say of their patients, ' Take whiles they be in pain ;' for in health nothing will be WTung * Aug. in Ps. V. 232 THE "WHITE DEVIL. [SeEMON XXXIX. out of them. So long as health and prosperity clothe you, you reck not the poor. Nabal looks to his sheep, what cares he for David ? If the truth were known, there are many Nabals now, that love their own sheep better than Christ's sheep. Christ's sheep are fain to take coats, their own sheep give coats. Say some that cavH, If we must care for the poor, then for the covet- ous ; for they want what they possess, and are indeed poorest. No ; pity not them that pity not themselves, who in despite of God's bounty will b6 miser- able ; but pity those whom a fatal distress hath made wretched. Oh, how unfit is it among Christians, that some should surfeit whiles other hunger ! 1 Cor. xi. 21 ; that one should have two coats, and another be naked, yet both one man's servants ! Luke iii. 11. Remember that God hath made many his stewards, none his treasurer ; he did not mean thou shouldst hoard his blessings, but extend them to his glory. He that is infinitely rich, yet keeps nothing in his own hands, but gives all to his creatures. At his own cost and charges he hath maintained the world almost six thousand years. He will most certainly admit no hoarder into his kingdom ; yet, if you will needs love laying up, God hath provided you a cofier : the poor man's hand is Christ's treasury. The besotted M'orldling hath a greedy mind, to gather goods and keep them ; and, lo, his keeping loseth them : for they must have either Jlnem tuum, or jlnem suum, — thy end, or their end. Job tarried and his goods went, chap. i. ; but the rich man went, and his goods tarried, Luke xii. Si vestra sunt, tollite vohiscum, — If they be yours, why do you not take them with you ? No, hie acquiruntur, hie amittuntur, — here they are gotten, here lost. But, God himself being witness, (nay, he hath passed his word,) what we for his sake give away here, we shall find again hereafter ; and the charitable man, dead and buried, is richer under the ground than he was above it. It is a usual song, which the saints now sing in heaven — * That we gave. That we have.' This riddle poseth the worldling, as the fishermen's did Homer : Quoe cepi- mus, reliquinncs ; quae non cepimus, nobiscum portamus, — ^AVhat we caught, we left behind us ; what we could not catch, we carried with us. So, what we lose, we keep ; what we will keep, we shall lose : he that loseth his goods, his lands, his freedom, his life for Christ's sake, shall find it, Matt. x. 3^. This is the charitable man's case : all his alms, mercies, relievings are, wisely and without executorship, sown in his lifetime ; and the harvest wUl be so great by that time he gets to heaven, that he shall receive a thousand for one : God is made his debtor, and he is a sure paymaster. Earth hath not riches enough in it to pay him ; his requital shall be in heaven, and there with no less degree of honour than a kingdom. Judas cares not for the poor. Judas is dead, but this fault of his lives stiU : the poor had never more need to be cared for ; but how 1 There are two sorts of poor, and our care must be proportionable to their conditions : there are some poor of God's making, some of their own maldng. Let me say, there are God's poor, and the de\il's poor : those the hand of God hath crossed ; these have forced necessity on themselves by a dissolute Hfe. The former must be cared for by the compassion of the heart, and charity of the purse : God's poor must have God's alms, a seasonable relief according to thy power ; or else the Apostle fearfully and peremptorily concludes against thee, ' The love of God is not in thee,' 1 John iii 17. If thou canst not find in thy heart to diminish a grain from thy heap, a penny from thy purse, a cut from thy loaf, when Jesus Christ stands at thy door and calls for it ; pro- John XIL 6.] the white devil. 233 fess what thou wilt, the love of earth hath thrust the love of heaven out of thy conscience. Even Judas himself wiU pretend charity to these. For the other poor, who have pulled necessity on themselves ^vith the cords of idleness, riot, or such disordered courses, there is another care to be taken : not to cherish the lazy blood in their veins by abusive mercy ; but rather chafe the stunted sinews by correction, relieve them with punishment, and so recover them to the life of obedience. ' The sluggard lusteth,' and hath an empty stomach ; he loves sustenance well, but is loath to set his foot on the cold ground for it. The laws' sanction, the good man's function saith, * If he wUl not labour, let him not eat,' 2 Thess. iii. 10. For experience telleth that where sloth refuseth the ordinary pains of getting, there lust hunts for it in the unwarranted paths of wickedness ; and you shall find, that if ever occasion should put as much power into their hands as idleness hath put viUany into their hearts, they will be ready to pilfer your goods, fire your house, cut your throats. I have read of the king of j^Iacedon, de- scrjing two such in his dominions, that alterum e Macedonia fugere, alie- rum fugare fecit, — he made one fly out of his kingdom, and the other drive him. I would our magistrates would follow no worse a precedent ; indeed, our laws have taken order for their restraint. AVheresoever the fault is, they are rather multiplied ; as if they had been sown at the making of the statute, and now, as from a harvest, they arise ten for one. Surely our laws make good wills, but they have bad luck for executors ; their wiUs are not per- formed, nor their legacies distributed ; I mean the legacies of correction to such children of sloth : impunitas delicti invitat homines ad malignandum. Sin's chief encouragement is the want of punishment ; favour one, hearten many. It is fit, therefore, that poena ad paucos, metus ad omnes perveniatf — penalty be inflicted on some, to strike terror into the rest. It was St Augustine's censure : IlUcita non prohibere, consensus erroris est* — Not to restrain evil is to maintain evU. The commonwealth is an instrument, the people are the strings, the magistrate is the musician ; let the musician look that the instrument be in tune, the jarring strings ordered, and not play on it to make himself sport, but to please the ears of God. Doctores, the ministers of mercy, now can do no good, except ductores, the ministers of justice, put to their hands. We can but forbid the corruption of the heart ; they must prohibit the wickedness of the hand. Let these poor be cared for that have no care for themselves ; runagates, renegades, that will not be ranged (like wandering planets) within the sphere of obedi- ence. ' Yet a little more sleep,' says the sluggard ; but modicum non hahet lonum, — their bunch will swell to a mountain, if it be not prevented and pared down. Care for these, ye magistrates, lest you answer for the subordi- nation of their sins : for the other let all care, that care to be received into the arms of Jesus Christ. (3.) Observe : Judas cares not for the poor. What ! and yet would he for their sakcs have drawn comfort from the Son of God? "What a hypo- crite is this ! Could there be so deep dissimulation in an apostle ? Yes, in that apostle that was a devil. Lo, still I am haunted with this white devil, hypocrisy ; I cannot sail two leagues, but I rush upon this rock : nay, it will encounter, encumber me quite through the voyage of this verse. Judas said, and meant not, there is hypocrisy ; he spake for the poor, and hates them, there is hypocrisy ; he w^as a privy thief, a false steward, <kc., all this not without hypocrisy. Shall I be rid of this devil at once, and conjure him out of my speech ? God give me assistance, and add you patience, and I * Epist, 182, ad Bonif. 234 THE "WHITE DEVIL. [SeEMON 5XXIX. will spend a little time to uncase tMs white devil, and strip hina of all his borrowed colours. Of all bodUy creatures, man (as he is God's image) is the best ; but basely dejected, degenerated, debauched, simply the worst. Of all earthly creatures a wicked man is the worst, of all men a wicked Christian, of all Christians a wicked professor, of all professors a wicked hypocrite, of all hjqpocrites a wicked, warped, wretched Judas. Take the extraction or quintessence of all corrupted men, and you have a Judas. This then is a Judas : a man degene- rate, a Christian corrupted, a professor putrefied, a gilded hjrpocrite, a white- skinned devil. I profess I am sparingly affected to this point, and would fain shift my hands of this monster, and not encounter him ', for it is not to fight with the unicorns of Assyria, nor the bulls of Samaria, nor the beasts of Ephesus, — neither absolute atheists, nor dissolute Christians, nor resolute ruffians, the horns of whose rapine and malice are no less mar^fest than malignant, but at once imminent in their threats, and eminent in their ap- pearance, — but to set upon a beast, that hath with the heart of a leopard, the face of a man, of a good man, of the best man ; a star placed high in the orb of the church, though swooped down with the dragon's taU, because not fixed ; a darling in the mother's lap, blessed with the church's indulgence, yet a bastard ; a brother of the fraternity, trusted sometimes with the church's stock, yet no brother, but a broker of treacheries, a broacher of falsehoods. I would willingly save this labour, but that the necessity of my text overrules my disposition. I know these times are so shameless and impudent, that many strip off the white, and keep the devil ; wicked they are, and without show of the con- trary. Men are so far from giving house-room to the substance of religion, that they admit not an out-room for the show ; so backward to put on Christ, that they will not accept of his livery ; who are short of Agrippa, Acts xxvi. 28, scarce persuaded to seem Christians, not at all to be. These will not drink hearty draughts of the waters of life, nay, scarce vouchsafe, like the dogs that run by Mlus, to give a lap at Jacob's well ; unless it be some, as they report, that frequent the sign of it, to be drunk. They salute not Christ at the cross, nor bid him good-morrow in the temple, but go bluster- ing by, as if some serious business had put haste into their feet, and God was not worthy to be stayed and spol^en withal. If this be a riddle, shew me the day shall not expound it by a demonstrative experience. For these I may say, I would to God they might seem holy, and frequent the places where sanctimony is taught ; but the devil is a nimble, running, cunning fencer, that strikes on both hands, dujMci ictti, and would have men either oion sanctos, aid non paruvi sanctos, — not holy, or not a little holy, in their own opinion, and outward ostentation : either no fire of devotion on the earth, or that that is, in the top of the chimney. That subtle * winnower ' per- suades men that they are all chaff and no wheat, or all wheat and no chaff; and would keep the soul either lank with ignorance, or rank with insolence : let me therefore woo you, win you to reject both these extremes, between which your hearts lie, as the grain betwixt both the miUstones. Shall I speak plainly ? You are sick at London of one disease (I speak to you settled citizens, not extravagants,) and we in the country of another. A sermon against hjq^ocrisy in most places of the country is like phlebotomy to a consumption, the spilling of innocent blood. Our sicknesses are cold palsies and shaking agues ; yours in the city are hotter diseases, the burning fevers of fiery zeal, the inflammations and imposthumes of hyjwcrisy. We have the frosts, and you have the lightnings ; most of us profess too little, John XII. 6,] the white devil. 235 and some of you profess too much, unless your courses were more answer- able. I would willingly be in none of your bosoms ; only I must speak of Judas. His hypocrisy was vile in three respects : — First, He might have been sound. I make no question but he heard his Master preach, and preached himself, that God's request is the heart : so Christ schools the Samaritan woman, John iv. ; so prescribed the scribe, ' Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart,' &c., Mark xii. 30. Corde, Judas, with the heart, which thou reservest like an equivocating Jesuit; nay, toto corde, for it is not tutiim, except it be totum, with the whole heart, which thou never stoodest to divide, but gavest it wholly to him that wholly lolled it, thy Master's enemy, and none of thy friend, the devU. Thou heard- est thy ISIaster, thy friend, thy God, denounce many a fearful, fatal, final woe against the Pharisees : hac appellatione, et ob hanc causam, — under this title, and for this cause; hypocrites, and because hypocrites. As if his woes were but words, and his words wind, empty and airy menaces, without intention of hurt, or extension of a revengeful arm, behold thou art a hypo- crite ; thou art therefore the worse because thou mightest be better. Secondly, He seemed soimd. Sj^em vidtu simulat, i^remit cdtum corde dolorem, nay, dolum rather ; craft rather than grief, unless he grieved that out of his cunning there was so little coming, so small prize or booty ; yet, like a subtle gamester, he keeps his countenance, though the dice do not favour him. And as Fabius Maximus told Scipio, preparing for Africa, con- cerning Syphax, Fraus fidem in jjarvis sibi perstruit, ut cum, ojoerce pretium, sit, cum magna mercede fallat;* Judas creeps into trust by his justice in trifles, that he might more securely cheat for a fit advantage. Without pre- tence of fidelity, how got he the stewardship ? Perhaps if need required, he spared not his own purse in Christ's service ; but he meant to put it to usury : he carried not the purse, but to pay himself for his pains, thus jactura in loco, res quwstuosissima, — a seasonable damage is a reasonable vantage ; in this then his vUeness is more execrable, that he seemed good. If it were possible, the devil was then worse than himself, when he came into Samuel's mantle. Jezebel's paint made her more ugly. If ever you take a fox in a lamb's skin, hang him up, for he is the worst of the generation. A Gibeonite in his old shoes, a Seminary in his haircloth, a ruffian in the robes of a Jacobine, fly like the plague. These are so much the worse devils, as they would be holy devils ; true traitors, that would fight against God with Ins own weapons ; and by being out-of-cry religious, run themselves out of breath to do the church a mischief Thirdly, He would seem thus to his Master, yet knew in his heart that his Master knew his heart ; therefore his hypocrisy is the worst. Had he been an alien to the commonwealth of Israel, and never seen more of God than the eye of nature had discovered, (yet, says even the heathen, £%£/ Qdg 'ixdiMv '6fji,fiQc,f — God hath a revenging eye,) then no marvel if his eyes had been so bUnd as to think Christ blind also, and that he, which made the eye, had not an eye to see withal ; but he saw that Son of David give sight to so many sons of Adam, casually blind, to one naturally and born blind, John ix. 32, — viiracidum inauditum, a wonder of wonders, — and shall Judas think to put out his eye that gave them all eyes ? Oh, incredible, insensible, invincible ignorance ! You see his hypocrisy : methinks even the sight of it is dissuasion forcible enough, and it should be needless to give any other reason than the disco- very ; yet whiles many censure it in Judas, they condemn it not in them- * Liv. Annal., lib. siii. + Horn. 236 THE WHITE DEVIL. [SeKMON XXXIX. selves, and either think they have it not, or not in such measure. Surely, we may be no Judases, yet hypocrites ; and who will totally clear himself ? Let me tell thee, if thou doest, thou art the worst hypocrite, and but for thee we had not such need to complain. He that clears himself from all sin is the most sinner, and he that says he hath not sinned in hypocrisy is the rankest hypocrite ; but I do admit a distinction. AU the sons of Adam are infected with this contamination, some more, some less. Here is the dif- ference, all have hypocrisy, but h3rpocrisy hath some : aliud habere peccatum, aliud haheri ci peccato, — it is one thing for thee to possess sin, another thing for sin to possess thee. All have the same corruption, not the same erup- tion ; in a word, all are not hypocrites, yet who hath not sinned in h3rpocrisy? Do not then send your eyes, like Dinah's, gadding abroad, forgetting your own business at home ; strain not courtesy with these banquets, having good meat carved thee, to lay it liberally upon another man's trencher ; be not sick of this plague and conceal it, or call it by another name. Hypocrisy is hypo- crisy, whatsoever you call it ; and as it hath learned to leave no sins naked, so I hope it hath not forgot to clothe itself. It hath as many names as Gar- net had, and more Protean shapes than the Seminaries : the white devil is in this a true devil ; multorum nominum, non honi nominis, — of many names, but never a good one. The vileness of this white devil appears in six re- spects : — First, It is the worst of sins, because it keeps all sins : they are made sure and secure by h^q^ocrisy. Indeed some vices are quartermasters with it, and some sovereigns over it, for hypocrisy is but another sm's pander ; except to content some affected guest, we could never yield to this filthy Herodias, Matt. xiv. 9. It is made a stalking-horse for covetousness; Under long prayers many a Pharisee devours the poor, houses, goods, and all. It is a complexion for lust, who, were she not painted over with a religious show, would appear as loathsome to the world as she is indeed. It is a sepulchre of rotten impostures, which would stink like a putrefied corpse, if hypocrisy were not their cover. It is a mask for treason, whose shopful of jjoisons, pistols, daggers, gunpowder-trains, would easily be spied out, had hypo- crisy left them barefaced. Treachery under this vizard thrusts into court revels, nay, court counsels, and holds the torch to the sports, nay, the books to serious consultations ; deviseth, adviseth, plots with those that provide best for the commonwealth. Thus are all sins beholden to hypocrisy ; she maintains them at her own proper cost and charges. Secondly, It is the worst of sins, because it counterfeits all virtues. He that counterfeits the king's coin is liable to death ; if hypocrisy find not death, and mortevi sine morte, death without death, for counterfeiting the Eang of heaven's seal-manual of grace, it speeds better than it merits. Vice is made virtue's ape in a hypocrite's practice. If he see Chusi run, this Ahimaaz will outrun him ; he mends his pace, but not his path ; the good man goes slower, but will be at heaven before him. Thus thriftiness in a saint is counterfeited by niggardliness in a hypocrite ; be thou charitable, behold he is bountiful, but not except thou may behold him ; his vain- glorious pride shall emulate thy liberality ; thou art good to the poor, he will be better to the rich ; he follows the religious man afar off, as Peter did Christ, but when he comes to the cross he will deny him. Thus h^'jiocrisy can put blood into your cheeks, (like the Aliptce,) and better your colours, but you may be sick in your consciences, and almost dead at the heart, and no}i est medicamen in hortis, — there is no medicine in this drugster's shop can cure you. John XII. 6.] the white devil. 237 Thirdly, A hypocrite is a kind of honest atheist; for his own good is his god, his heaven is upon earth, and that not the peace of his conscience, Phil, iv. 7, or that kingdom of heaven which may be in a soul living on earth, Rom. xiv. 17, but the secure peace of a worldly estate. He stands in awe of no judge but man's eye ; that he obseives with as great respect as David did the eyes of God. If man takes notice, he cares not, yet laughs at him for that notice, and lolls his soul by that laughter : so Pygmaliou-like, he dotes on his own carved and painted piece; and perhaps dies Zeuxis's death, who, l)ainting an old woman, and looking merrily on her, brake out into a laughter that killed him. If the world do not praise his doings, he is ready to chal- lenge it, as the Jews God, ' Wherefore have we fasted, and thou seest it not 1 ' Isa. Iviii. 3. He crosseth Christ's precept. Matt. vi. 3, the left hand must not be privy to the right hand's charity. He dares not trust God with a penny, except before a whole congregation of witnesses, lest perhaps God should deny the receipt. Fourthly, A hypocrite is hated of all, both God and man : the world hates thee, Judas, because thou retainest to Christ ; Christ hates the more, because thou but only retainest, and doest no faithful service. The world cannot abide thee, thou hypocrite, because thou professest godliness ; God can worse abide thee, because thou doest no more than profess it. It had been yet some policy, on the loss of the world's favour, to keep God's ; or if lost God's, to have yet kept in with the world. Thou art not thy own friend, to make them both thy enemies. Miserable man, destitute of both refuges, shut out both from God's and the world's doors ! Neither God nor the devil loves thee'; thou hast been true to none of them both, and yet most false of all to thyself. So this white devil, Judas, that for the Pharisees' sake betrayed his Master, and for the devil's sake betrayed himself, was in the end rejected of Pharisees and Master ; and like a ball, tossed by the rackets of contempt and shame, bandied from the Pharisees to Christ, from Christ to the Pharisees, from wall to wall, till he fell into the devU's hazard, not resting like a stone, till he came to his centre, sJg rhv rO'Tron rhv '/diov, ' into his own place,' Acts i. 25. Purposeth he to go to Christ 1 His own conscience gives him a repul- sive answer : No, ' thou hast betrayed the innocent blood,' Matt, xxvii. 4. Goes he to the chief priests and elders 1 Cold comfort : ' What is that to us ? see thou to that.' Thus your ambo-dexter proves at last ambo-sinister ; he that plays so long on both hands hath no hand to help himself withal. This is the hypocrite's misery; because he wears God's livery, the world will not be his mother ; because his heart, habit, service, is sm-wedded, God will not be his father. He hath lost earth for heaven's sake, and heaven for earth's sake, and may complain, with P^ebekah's fear of her two sons, ' Why should I be deprived of you both in one day 1 ' Gen. xxvii. 45 ; or as sorrowful Jacob expostulated for his, * Me have you robbed of my children : Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and will you take Benjamin also "? all these things are against me,' Gen. xlii. 3G. This may be the hyjjocrite's mournful dirge : ' :My hyijocrisy hath robbed me of all my comforts : my Creator is lost, my Eedeemer will not own me ; and will ye take away (my beloved Benjamin) the world also "? all these things are against me.' Thus an open sinner is in better case than a dissembling saint. There are few that seem worse to others than they are in themselves ; yet I have both read and heard of some that have, with broken hearts and mourning bowels, sorrowed for themselves as if they had been reprobates, and not spared so to proclaim themselves, when yet their estate was good to Godward, though they knew it not. Per- haps their wickedness and ill-life hath been grievous, but their repentance is 238 THE WHITE DEVIL. [SbKMON XXXIX, gracious : I may call these black saints. The hypocrite is neat and curious in his religious outside, but the linings of his conscience are as ' filthy and polluted rags/ Isa. Ixiv. 6 : then I say still, a black saint is better than a white devil. Fifthly, Hypocrisy is like the devil, for he is a perfect hypocrite ; so he began, with our first parents, to put out his apparent horns in paradise : Non moriemini, — 'Ye shall not die,' Gen. iii. 4; yet he knew this would kUl them. A hypocrite then is the child of the devil, and (quoth Time, the mid- wife) as. like the father as it may possibly look. He is ' the father of lies,' John viii. 44 ; and there is no liar like the hypocrite, for, as Peter said to Ananias, 'Thou hast not lied to men, but to God,' Acts v. 4. Nay, the hypocrite is his eldest son. Now, the privilege of primogeniture by the law was to have 'a double portion,' Deut. xxi. 17; wretched hypocrite in this eldership ! Matt. xxiv. 51. Satan is called a j)rince, and thus stands his monarchy, or rather anarchy: the devil is king; the hypocrite his eldest son, 2 Chron. xxL 3, Job xvi. 11, Eph. ii. 2; the usurer his younger; atheists are his viceroys in his several provinces, for his dominion is beyond the Turk's for limits ; epicures are his nobles ; persecutors his magistrates ; heretics his ministers ; traitors his executors ; sin his law ; the wicked his subjects ; tyranny his government ; hell his court ; and damnation his wages. Of all these the hypocrite is his eldest son. Lastly, A hypocrite is in greatest difficulty to be cured. Why should the minister administer physic to him that is perfectly sound? Matt. ix. 12, 13 ; or why should Christ give his blood to the righteous ? Well may he be hurt and swell, swell and rankle, rankle and fester, fester and die, that will not bewray his disease, lest he betray his credit. ' Stultorum incurata pudor malus ulcera celat.' * A man of great profession, little devotion, is like a body so repugnantly com- posed, that he hath a hot liver and a cold stomach : that which heats the stomach, overheats the liver; that which cools the liver, overcools the stomach : so, exhortations that warm his conscience, inflame his outward zeal ; dissuasives to cool his hypocrisy, freeze his devotion. He hath a flush- ing in his face, as if he had eaten fire ; zeal burns in his tongue, but come near this glowworm, and he is cold, dark, squalid. Summer sweats ia his face, winter freezeth in his conscience. March, many forwards in his words, December in his actions ; pepper is not more hot in the tongue's end, nor more cold at heart ; and, to bon'ow the words of our worthy divine and best characterer, we think him a saint, he thinks himself an angel, flatterers make him a god, God knows him a devil. This is the white devil : you will not think how glad I am that I am rid of him. Let him go ; yet I must not let you go till I have persuaded you to hate this monster, to abhor this devU. Alas ! how forget we, in these days, to build up the cedar work of piety, and learn only to paint it over with ver- milion ! We white and parget the walls of our profession, but the rubbish and cobwebs of sin hang in the corners of our consciences. Take heed ; a Bible under your arms ■rtU not excuse a false conscience in your bosoms ; think not you fathom the substance when you embrace the shadow : so the fox seeing sweetmeats in the vial, licked the glass, and thought he had the thing ; the ignorant sick man eats up the physicians' bill, instead of the receipt contained in it. It is not a day of seven, nay, any hour of seven days, the grudged * Hor. John XII. 6.] the white devil. 239 parting with an alms to a fire, the conjuring of a Paternoster, (for the heart only prays,) or once a-year renewing thy acquaintance with God in the sacra- ment, can piivilege or keep impune thy injuries, usuries, perjuries, frauds, slanders, oppressions, lusts, blasphemies. Beware of this white devil, lest your portion be with them in hell whose society you would defy on eai'th. ' God shall smite thee, thou pamted wall,' Acts xxiii. 3, and wash off thy vermihon dye with the rivers of brimstone. You have read of some that heard Christ preach in their pulpits, feasted at his communion-table, cast out devils in his name, yet not admitted : vv'hUes they wrought miracles, not good works, cast out devils from others, not sins from themselves, Luke xiii. 26, &c., they miss of entrance. Go then and solace thyself in thy bodily devo- tion : thou hearest, readest, receivest, relievest ; where is thy conscience, thy heart, thy spu'it 1 God asks not for thy livery, but thy service ; he knows none by their confession, but by their conversation. Your looks are the objects of strangers' eyes, your lives of your neighbours', your consciences of your own, all of God's. Do not Ixion-like take a cloud for Jimo, a mist for presumption of a sound and solid faith : more can say the creed than under- stand it, than practise it. Go into your grounds in the dead of winter, and of two naked and destitute trees you know not which is the sound, which the doted ; the summer will give Christ's mark : ' By their fruits ye shall know them,' Matt. vii. 20. I speak not to discourage your zeal, but to hearten it, but to better it. Your zeal goes through the world, ye worthy citizens. Who builds hospitals? the city. Who is liberal to the distressed gospel 1 the city. Who is ever faithful to the crown 1 the city. Beloved, your works are good ; oh, do not lose their reward through hypocrisy ! I am not bitter, but charitable ; I would fain put you into the chariot of grace with Elias, and only wish you to put off' this mantle, 2 Kings ii. 13. Oh that it lay in my power to pre- vail with your affections as well as your judgments ! You lose aU your good- ness, if your hearts be not right ; the ostentation of man shaU meet with the detestation of God. You lose your attention now, if your zeal be in your eye, more than heart. You lose your prayers, if when the ground hath yoiu: knee, the world hath your conscience : as if you had two gods — one for Sun- days, another for work-days ; one for the church, another for the change. You lose your charity, whiles you give glozingly, illiberally, too late : not a window you have erected but must bear your names. But some of you rob Peter to pay Paul : take tenths from the church, and give not the poor the twentieths of them. It is not seasonable, nor reasonable charity, to undo whole towns by your usuries, enclosings, oppressions, impropriations; and for a kind of expiation, to give three or four the yearly pension of twenty marks : an almshouse is not so big as a village, nor thy superfluity whereout thou givcst, like their necessity whereout thou extortest ; he is but poorly charitable that, having made a hundred beggars, reheves two. You lose all your credit of piety, whiles you lose your integrity ; your solemn censuring, mourning for the time's evil, whiles yourselves are the evil cause thereof; your counterfeit sorrow for the sins of your youth, whiles the sins of your age ai"e worse ; your castmg salt and brhie of reproof at others' faults, whiles your own hearts are most unseasoned : all these artificial whitings are but thrifty leasings, sick healths, bitter sweets, and more pleasing deaths. Cast then away this bane of religion, hypocrisy; this candle with a great wick and no taUow, that often goes out quickly, never without stench ; this fiiir, flattering, white devil. How well have we bestowed this pains, I in speaking, you in hearing, if this devil be cast out of your consciences, out of your con- 240 THE WHITE DEVIL. [SeEMON XXXIX. versations ! It will leave some prints behind it in tlie best, but bless not yourselves in it, and God shall bless you from it. Amen. 2. The affirmative part of God's censure stands next to our speech : de- scribing, (1.) His meaning; (2.) His means; (3.) His maintenance : — (1.) His meaning was to be a thief, and shark for himself, though his pre- tence pleaded /orma ^jar^^^ej-is, in the behalf of the poor. He might, perhaps, stand upon his honesty, and rather than lose his credit, strive to purge him- self from his suspectless neighbours; but there need no further jury pass upon him, God hath given testimony, and his witness is beyond exception : * Judas is a thief A thief ! who saw him steal 1 He that hath now con- demned him for his pains. Indeed the world did not so take him, his reputa- tion was good enough, John xiii. 29 ; yet he was a thief, a crafty, cunning, cheating thief. There are two sorts of thieves : public ones, that either with a violent hand take away the passengers' money, or rob the house at midnight ; whose church is the highway: there they pray, not to God, but on men;* their dwelling, like Cain's, very unsure; they stand upon thorns, whiles they stand upon certainties. Their refuge is a wood; the instrument of their vocation, a sword : of these some are land-thieves, some sea-thieves ; all rove on the sea of this world, and most commonly suffer shipwreck, some in the deep, some on a hill. I will say little of these, as not pertinent to my text, but leave them to the jury; and speak of thieves like Judas, secret robbers, that do more mischief, with less present danger to themselves. These ride in the open streets, whiles the other lurk in close woods. And to reason, for these private thieves are in greater hazard of damnation : the grave ex- hortations of the judge, the serious counsel of the assistant minister, together with the sight of present death, and the necessity of an instant account with God, work strongly on a public thief's conscience; all which the private thief neither hath, nor hath need of in the general thought. The public thief wants but apprehension, but this private thief needs discovery; for they lie close as treason, dig low like pioneers, and though they be as familiar with us as familiars, they seem stranger than the Indians. To define this manner of thieves : A private thief is he that without danger of law robs his neighbour; that sets a good face on the matter, and hath some profession to countenance it : a fair cloak hides a damnable fraud; a trade, a profession, a mystery, lilie a Rome-hearted Protestant, hides this devilish Seminary under his roof without suspicion. To say truth, most of our professions (thanks to ill professors) are so confounded with sins, as if there went but a pair of shears between them; nay, they can scarce be dis- tinguished : you shall not easily discern between a hot, furious professor and a hypocrite, between a covetous man and a thief, between a courtier and an aspirer, between a gallant and a swearer, between an officer and a bribe- taker, between a servitor and a parasite, between farmers and poor-grinders, between gentlemen and pleasure-lovers, between great men and madmen, between a tradesman and a fraudsman, between a moneyed man and a usurer, between a usurer and the devil. In many arts, the more skilful the more ill-full ; for now-a-days armis potentior ashis, fraud goes beyond force : this makes lawj'ers richer than soldiers, usurers than lawyers, the devil than all. The old Hon, saith the fable, when his nimble days were over, and he could no longer prey by violence, kept his den with a feigned sickness ; the suspectless beasts, drawn thither to a dutiful visitation, thus became his prey : * That is, as he often states it more accurately, ' They pray not to God, but prey on men.' — Ed. John XII. 6.] the white devil. 241 cunning served his turn when his canning failed. The world, whiles it was young, was simple, honest, plain -dealing: gentlemen then delved in the ground, now the soles of their feet must not touch it ; then they dranlc water, now wine will not serve, except to drunkenness; then they kept sheep, now they scorn to wear the wool; then Jacob returned the money in the sack's mouth. Gen. xliii. 12, now we are ready to steal it, and put it in. Plain- dealing is dead, and, what we most lament, it died without issue. Virtue had but a short reign, and was soon deposed ; all the examples of sin in the Bible are newly acted over again, and the interest exceeds the principal, the counterpart the original The apostasy now holds us in our manner : we leave God for man, for Mammon. Once, orhis ingemuit faciiun se videns Arianum, — the world groaned, seeing itself made an Ariau; it may now groan worse, factum se videns Machiavellum, — seeing itself made a Machiavel : nisi Deus opem 2)rc^stat, de2)erire mundum, restat. Grieved Devotion had never more cause to sing — ' Mundum dolens circumivi ; Fidem undique quresivi,' &c. ; — * The world I compassed about. Faith and honesty to find out ; But country, city, court, and all, Thi'ust poor Devotion to the wall : The lawyer, courtier, merchant, clown, Have beaten poor Devotion down ; All woimd her, til], for lack of breath, Fainting Devotion bleeds to death.' But I am to deal with none but thieves, and those private ones ; and be- cause Judas is the precedent, I wiU begin with him that is most like him, according to the proverb which the Grecians had of Philo Judasus : "H nXa- rm ^tXov/'^ii, 71 ci)/?,wi/ IDMruvi^n, Aid Flato Philonem sequitiir, aut Platonem Philo, — Either Plato followed Philo, or PMlo imitated Plato. Let me only change the names : Either Judas played the Pope, or the Pope plays the Judas. This is the most subtle thief in the world, and robs all Christendom imder a good colour. Who can say he hath a black eye or a light finger ? for experience hath taught him, that cui j^ellis leonina non suffidt, vidpina est assuenda, — * When the lion's skin cannot threat. The fox's skin can cheat.' Pope Alexander was a beast, that having entered like a fox, he must needs reign like a lion ; worthy he was to die like a dog : for vis consilii expers, mole ruit sua, — power without policy is like a piece without powder. Many a Pope sings that common ballad of hell, Ingenio perii, qui miser ipse ineo* — * Wit, whither wilt thou ? Woe is me ; My wit hath wi'ought my miseiy.' To say truth, their religion is nothing in the circumstance but craft ; and policy maintains their hierarchy, as Judas's subtlety made hun rich. Judas was put in trust with a great deal of the devil's business ; yet not more than the Pope. Judas pretended the poor, and robbed them; and doth not the Pope, think you 1 Are there no alms-boxes lifled and emptied into the Pope's treasury 1 Our fathers say that the poor gave Peter-ponce to the Pope, but our grandfathers cannot tell us that the Pope gave Ca^sar-pcnce to the poor. Did not he sit in the holy chair, as Augustus Caesar in his imperial throne, and cause the whole Christian world to be taxed? Luke ii. 1, And what! * Ovid. VOL. IL Q 242 THE WHITE DEVIL. [SeEMON XXXIX. Did tliey freely give it 1 No ; a taxation forced it. What right, then, had the Pope to it ? Just as much as Judas had to his Master's money. Was he not then a thief? Yet what need a rich man be a thief? The Pope is rich, and needs must, for his comings -in be great : he hath rent out of heaven, rent out of hell, rent out of purgatory; but more sacks come to his mill out of purgatory than out of hell and heaven too ; and for his tolling let the world judge ; therefore saith Bishop Jewel, ' He would be content to lose hell and heaven too, to save his purgatory.' Some by pardons he prevents from hell ; some by indulgences he lifts up to heaven ; and infinite by ran- soms from purgatory: not a jot without money. Criices, altaria, Christum, — He sells Christ's cross, Christ's blood, Christ's self, all for money. Nay, he hath rent from the very stews, a hell above-ground, and swells his coffers by the sins of the people ; he suffers a price to be set on damnation, and maintains lust to go to law for her own ; gives whoredom a toleration under his seal, that lust, the son of idleness, hath free access to liberty, thg daughter of pride. Judas was a great statesman in the devil's commonwealth, for he bore four main offices; — either he begged them shamefully, or he bought them bribingly, or else Beelzebub saw desert in him, and gave him them gratis for his good parts, for Judas was his white boy; — he was a hypocrite, a thief, a traitor, a murderer. Yet the Pope shall vie offices with him, and win the game too for plurality. The Pope sits in the holy chair, yet a devil : perjury, sodomy, sorcery, homicide, parricide, patricide, treason, murder, &c., are essential things to the new Papacy. He is not content to be steward, but he must be vicar, nay, indeed. Lord himself; for what can Christ do, and the Pope cannot do 1 Judas was nobody to him. He hath stolen Truth's gar- ment, and put it on Error's back, turning poor Truth naked out of doors ; he hath altered the primitive institutions, and adulterated God's sacred laws, maintaining vagas lihidines ; he steals the hearts of subjects from their sove- reigns, by stealing fidelity from the hearts of subjects, and would steal the crown from the king's head ; — and all under the shadow of religion. This is a thief, a notable, a notorious thief; but let him go : I hope he is known well enough, and every true man will bless himself out of his way. I come to ourselves : there are many kinds of private thieves in both the houses of Israel and Aaron ; in foro et chow, — in change and chancel, com- monwealth and church. I can tax no man's person; if I could, I would abhor it, or were worthy to be abhorred : the sins of our times are the thieves I would arraign, testify against, condemn, have executed; the persons I would have ' saved in the day of the Lord.' [1.] If there be any magistrates (into whose mouths God hath put the determination of doubts, and the distribution of right into their hands) that sufier popularity, partiality, passion, to rule, overrule their judgments, these are private thieves ; they rob the poor man of his just cause and equity's relief, and no law can touch them for it. Thus may causes go, not according to right, but friendship ; as Themistocles's boy could say, ' As I will, tha ■whole senate will : for as I will, my mother wills ; as my mother wills, my father wills ; as my father wills, the whole senate will.' Thus as a groom of a chamber, a secretary of the closet, or a porter of the gate will, the cause must go. This is horrible theft, though not arraignable : hence a knot is found in a bulrush ; delay shifts off the day of hearing ; a good paint is set on a foul pasteboard ; circumstances are shuffled from the bar ; the sun of truth is clouded ; the poor confident plaintiff goes home undone ; his moans, his groans are vented up to heaven ; the just God sees and suffers it, but John XII. 6.] the white devil. 243 lie will one day judge that judge. Who can indict this thief? What law may pass on him 1 What jury can find him 1 What judge can fine him ? None on earth ; there is a bar he shall not escape. If there be any such, as I trust there is not, they are thieves. [2.] If there be any lawyer that takes fees on both hands, one to speak, another to hold his peace, (as Demosthenes answered his bragging fellow- lawyer,) this is a thief, though the law doth not call him so. A mercenary tongue, and a money-spelled conscience, that undertakes the defence of things known to his own heart to be unjust, is only proper to a thief. He robs both sides : the adverse part in pleading against the truth, his own client in drawing him on to his further damage. If this be not, as the Roman com- plained, latrociniuni in foro, thievery in the hall, there is none. Happy Westminster-hall, if thou wert freed from this kind of cutpurses ! If no plummets, except of unreasonable weight, can set the wheels of their tongues agomg, and then if a golden addition can make the hammer strike to our pleasure ; if they keep their ears and mouths shut, till their purses be full, and will not understand a cause till they feel it ; if they shuffle difficulties into plainness, and trip up the law's heels mth tricks ; if they, surgeon-like, keep the client's disease from healing tiU he hath no more money for salve : then, to speak in their own language, Noverint universi, ' Be it known to all men by these presents,' that these are thieves ; though I could wish rather, that noverint ipsi, they would know it themselves, and reform it. [3.] If there be any officer that walks with unwashen hands, — I mean, with the foul fingers of bribery, — he is a thief : be the matter penal or capital, if a bribe can pick justice's lock, and plead innocent, or for itself, being nocent, and prevail, this is theft. Theft % Who is robbed 1 The giver ? Doth not the freedom of his wiU transfer a right of the gift to the receiver % No ; for it is not a voluntary or willing -will ; but as a man gives his purse to the over-mastering thief, rather than venture his life, so this his bribe, rather than endanger his cause. Shall I say, the thief hath as much right to the purse as the officer to the bribe ; and they are both, though not equally palpable, yet equally culpable thieves. Is the giver innocent, or nocent ? Innocent, and shaU not innocence have her right without a bribe 1 Nocent, and shall gold conceal his fault or cancel his punishment ? Dost thou not know whether, and wilt thou blind thyself beforehand with a bribe ? for bribes are like dust thrown in the eyes of justice, that she cannot without pain look on the sunshine of truth. Though a second to thyself receive them, wife or friend, by thy allowance, they are but stolen goods, coals of fire put in the roof of thy house : ' for fire shall devour the houses of bribes,' Job xv. 34. And there have been many houses built, (by report,) the first stone of whose foundation was hewn out of the quarry of bribery. These are thieves. [4.] There is thievery too among tradesmen : and who would think it ? Many, they say, rob us, but we rob none ; yes, but they think that verba lactis will countenance //'aiicZewi infactls, — smooth words wiU smother rough deeds. This web of theft is many ways woven in a shop or warehouse, h\it three especially : — First, By a false weight, and no true measure, whose content or extent is not justifiable by law, Deut. xxv. 13 ; or the cunning conveyances in weigh- ing or meting, such as cheat the buyer. Are not these pretty tricks to pick men's purses ? The French word hath well expressed them ; they are leger- demains. Now had I not as good lose my purse on Salisbury plain as in London Exchange ? Is my loss the less, because violence forbears, and craft picks my purse? The highway thief is not greater abomination to God 244 THE "WHITE DEVIL. [SeRMON XXXIX. than the shop-thief, Prov. xi. 1 ; and for man, the last is more dangerous : the other we knowingly fly, but this laughs us in the face whiles he robs us. Secondly, By insufiicient wares, which yet, with a dark window and an impudent tongiie, will appear good to the buyer's eye and ear too. Sophistry is now fled from the schools into shops ; from disputation to merchandising. He is a silly tradesman that cannot sophisticate his wares, as well as he hath done his conscience ; and wear his tongue with protestations barer than trees in autumn, the head of old age, or the livings of churchmen. Oaths indeed smell too rank of infidelity ; marry, we are Protestants, and protest away our souls : there is no other way to put off bad wares, and put up good moneys. Are not these thieves ? Thirdly, By playing, or rather preying, upon men's necessities : they must have the commodity, therefore set the dice on them ; vox latronis, the advan- tage taken of a man's necessity is a trick beyond Judas. Thou shouldest rather be like Job, ' a foot to lame necessity,' chap. sxix. 15, and not take away his crutch. Or perhaps God hath put more wit into thy brains than his, thou seest further into the bargain, and therefore takest opportunity to abuse his plamness : thou servest thyself in gain, not him in love ; thou mayest, and laugh at the law, but there is a law thou hast transgressed, that, without Jesus Christ, shall condemn thee to heU. Go now, applaud yourselves, ye sons of fraud, that eagle-eyed scrupulosity cannot find you faulty, nor the lion-handed law touch you ; please yourselves in your security. You practise belike behind the hangings, and come not on the public stage of injury ; yet you are not free from spectators : testante Numine, homine, dcemone, — God, men, angels, devils, shall witness agamst you. Ex cordibus, ex codicihus, — By your hearts, by your books God shall judge you. Injury is often in the one, perjury in the other ; the great Jus- tice will not put it up : they shall be convicted thieves. [5.] There are thieves crept into the church too ; or rather they encroach on the church : for ministers cannot now play the thieves with their livings, they have nothing left to steal ; but there are secret Judases can make shift to do it. Difficilis magni custodia census. The eagles flock to a carcase, and thieves hanker about rich doors ; at the dispersion of church livings, they cried as the Babylonians, ' To the spoil, to the spoil.' The church was once rich, but it was diehiis illis, in the golden time, when honesty went in good clothes, and ostentation durst not give religion the checkmate ; now they plead prescription, and prove them their own by long possession. I do not tax aU those for private thieves that hold in their hands lands and pos- sessions that were once the church's, but those that withhold such as are due to churchmen. Their estates were once taken away by more than God's mere sufferance, for a just punishment for their idleness, idolatry, and lusts : sure there is some Achanism in the camp of the Levites, that makes this plague-sore to run still; there are some disobedient and fugitive Jonahs that thus totter our ship. I complain not that claustra are turned into castra ; abbeys into gentlemen's houses ; places of monition, to places of munition ; but that men rob aram Dominicam, God's house, to furnish haram domesticam, their own houses. This is theft, and sacrilegious theft ; a succession of theft : for the fingers of the sons are now heavier than the loins of their fathers ; those were irnprobi Papistce, wicked Papists, and these are improhi rapistce, ungodly robbers. This is a monstrous theft, and so exceeding all thefts, as non nisi in Deum fieri 2iotest* — it can be committed against none but God. When Scipio * August. John XII. 6.] the white devil. 24o robbed the temple of Tholossa, there was not a man that carried away any of the gold who ever prospered after it; and, I pray you, tell me how many have thrived with the goods of the church ? They go from man to man without rest, like the ark among the Philistines, 1 Sam. v., which was re- moved from Ashdod to Gath, from Gath to Ekron, as if it could find no place to rest in, but vexed the people that kept it, tiU it returned to its old seat in Israel. Oftentimes these goods, left by gentlemen to their heirs, prove gangrenes to their whole estates ; and ' house is joined to house,' Isa. v. 8, so fiist, God's house to their own, that the fire which begins at the one con- sumes the other : as the eagle, that stole a piece of meat from the altar, car- ried a coal with it that set her nest on fire. I am persuaded many a house of blood in England had stood at this hour, had not the forced springs of impropriations turned their foundation to a quagmire. In aU your know- ledge, think but on a church-robber's heir that ever thrived to the third gene- ration. Yet, alas ! horror to my bones, and shame to my speech ! there are not wanting among ourselves that give encouragement to these thieves : and without question, many a man, so well otherwise disposed, would have been reclaimed from this sm but for their distinctions of competencies. I appear to their consciences, there is not a humorist living that in heart tlunks so, or would forbear their reproof, were he not well provided for. These are the foxes, that content not themselves to steal the grapes, but they must forage the vine. Cant. ii. 25 : thus yet still is ' God's house made a den of thieves,' Matt. xxi. 13. Without envy or partiality they are thieves. [6.] There is more store of thieves yet : covetous landlords, that stretch their rents on the tenter-hooks of an evil conscience, and swell their coffers by undoing their poor tenants. These sit close, and stare the law in the face, yet, by their leave, they are thieves. I do not deny the improvement of old rents, so it be done with old minds, — I mean, our forefathers' charity, — but with the devil, to set right upon the pinnacles, and pitch so high a price of our lands that it strains the tenants' heart-blood to reach it, is theft, and killing theft. What all their immoderate toil, broken sleeps, sore labours can get, with a miserable diet to themselves, not being able to spare a morsel of bread to others, is a prey to the landlords' rapine : this is to rob their estates, grind their faces, suck their bloods. These are thieves. [7.] Engrossers; that hoard up commodities, and by stopping their com- munity raise the price : these are thieves. Many blockhouses in the city, monopoUes in the court, garners in the country, can testify there are now such thieves abroad. We complain of a dearth ; sure the heavens are too merciful to us that are so unmerciful one towards another. Scarcity comes without God's sending : who brings it then ? Even the devil and his brokers, engrossing misers. The commonwealth may often blow her nails, imless she sit by an engrosser's fire : her limbs may be faint with hunger, unless she buy grain at an engrosser's price. I confess this is a sin which the law takes notice of, but not in the full nature, as theft. The pick-purse, in my opinion, doth not so much hurt as this general robber ; for they rob millions. These do not, with Joseph, buy up the superfluity of plenty to prevent a dearth, but hoard up the store of plenty to procure a dearth : rebels to God, trespassers to nature, thieves to the commonwealth. If these were appre- hended and punished, neither city nor country should complain as they do. Meantime the people's curse is upon them, and I doubt not but God's plague will foUow it, if repentance turn it not away : till when, they are private thieves. [8.] Enclosers; that pretend a distinction of possessions, a preservation of 246 THE WHITE DEVIL. [SeEMON XXXIX. woods, indeed to make better and broader their own territories, and to steal from the poor commons : these are horrible thieves. The poor man's beast is Lis maintenance, his substance, his life ; to take food from his beast, is to take the beast's food from his belly : so he that encloseth commons is a monstrous thief, for he steals away the poor man's living and life ; hence many a cottager, nay, perhaps farmer, is fain (as the Indians do to de^dls) to sacrifice to the lord of the soil a yearly bribe for a ne noceat. For though the law forbids such enclosures, yet quod fieri non debet, factum valet, — when they are once ditched in, say the law what it vdW, I see no throwing out. Force bears out what fraud hath borne in. Let them never open their mouths to plead the commonwealth's benefit; they intend it as much as Judas did Avhen he spake for the poor. No, they are thieves, the bane of the common good, the surfeit of the land, the scourge of the poor ; good only to themselves, and that in opinion only, for they do it ' to dwell alone,' Isa. v. 8 : and they dwell alone indeed, for neither God nor good angel keeps them company; and for a good conscience, it cannot get through their quick- sets. These are thieves, though they have enclosed their theft, to keep the law out and their wickedness in : yet the day shall come their lands shall be thrown out, their lives thrown out, and their souls thrown out ; their lands out of their possessions, their lives out of their bodies, their souls out of heaven, except repentance and restitution prevail with the great Judge for their pardon. Meantime they are thieves. [9.] Many taphouse-keepers, taverners, victuallers, which the provident care of our worthy magistrates hath now done well to restrain ; if at least this Hydra's heads do not multiply. I do not speak to annihilate the pro- fession : they may be honest men, and doubtless some are, wliich live in this rank ; but if many of them should not chop away a good conscience for money, drunkenness should never be so welcome to their doors. The disso- lute wretch sits there securely, and buys his own sickness with a great ex- pense, which would preserve the health of his poor wife and children at home, that lamentably moan for bread whiles he lavisheth all in drink. Thus the pot robs him of his wits, he robs himself of grace, and the victualler robs him of his money. This theft might yet be borne, but the commonwealth is here robbed too. Drunkenness makes so quick riddance of the ale that this raiseth the price of malt, and the good sale of malt raiseth the price of barley : thus is the land distressed, the poor's bread is dissolved into the drunkard's cup, the markets are hoised up. If the poor cannot reach the price, the maltmaster will ; he can utter it to the taphouse, and the tap- house is sure of her old friend, drunkenness. Thus theft sits close in a drink- ing-room, and robs all that sail into that coast. I confess they are (most of them) bound to suffer no drunkenness in their houses, yet they secretly ac- knowledge that if it were not for drunkenness, they might shut up their doors, as utterly unable to pay their rents. These are thieves. [10.] Flatterers, that eat like moths into liberal men's coats, — the bane of greatness, — are thieves, not to be forgotten in this catalogue. These rob many a great man of his goodness, and make him rob the commonwealth of her happiness. Doth his lord want money 1 He puts into his head such fines to be levied, such grounds enclosed, such rents improved. Be his maintainer's courses never so foul, either he furthers them or he smothers them : sin hath not a more impudent bawd, nor his master a more impious thief, nor the commonwealth a more sucking horse-leech. He would raise himself by his great one, and cannot contrive it but by the ruin of others. He robs the flattered of his goods, of his grace, of his time, of his freedom, of his soul : John XII. C] the white devil. 247 is not this a thief? Beneficia, veneficia, — All their good is poison. They are dominis amsores, reipublicce arrosores, — their masters' spaniels, the com- monwealth's wolves. Put them in your Paternoster, let them never come in your creed : pray for them, but trast them no more than thieves. [11.] There is another nest of thieves more in this city, brokers and breakers. I conjoin them in my description for the likeness of their con- dition : brokers, that will upon a good pawn lend money to a devil, whofio extortion, by report, is monstrous, and such as to find in men is improb- able, in Christians impossible ; the very vermin of the earth. Indeed man had a poor beginning ; we are the sons of Adam, Adam of dust, dust of deformity, deformity of nothing, yet made by God; but these are bred, like monsters, of the corruption of nature and wicked manners, and carry the devil's cognisance. For breakers, such as necessity compels to it I censure not ; if they desire with all their hearts to satisfy the utmost far- thing, and cannot, God will then accept votal restitution for total restitution, that which is affected for that which is effected, the will for the deed : and in those, debt is not (as the vulgar speech is) deadly sin ; a sore it may be, no sin. But they that with a purpose of deceit get goods into their hands in trust, and then without need hide their heads, are thieves ; for the intent to steal in their minds directed their injurious hands. The law arraigns them not, the judgment-seat of God shall not acquit them. These steal more quickly and Avith more security than a highway robber, who all his lifetime is m perpetual danger. It is but passing their words, allowing a good price, conveying home the wares, and on a sudden dive under the waters ; a close concealment shall save them five hundred pound in a thousand. They live upon others' sweat, fare ricldy upon others' meat ; and the debtor is often made a gentleman, when the creditor is made a beggar. Such false Gibeonites enrich scriveners : their unfaithfulness hath banished all trust and fidelity. Time was, that Noverint universi was unborn, the lawj'er himself knew not what an obligation meant. Security stood on no other legs but promises, and those were so sound that they never faded their burden ; but Time, adulterating with the harlot Fraud, begot a brood of Noverints : and but for these shackles, debt would often shew credit a light pair of heels. Therefore, now, plus creditur annulis quarn anirais,'" — there is more faith given to men's seals than to their souls. ' Owe nothing but love,' saith the Apostle, Rom. xiii. 8 ; all owe this, but few pay it : or if they do, it is cracked money, not current in God's exchequer ; for our love is dissimulation, and our charity is not cold, but dead. But these bankrupts, of both wealth and honesty, owe all things but love, and more than ever they mean to pay, though you give them time till doomsday. These are thieves. [12.] The twelfth and last sort of thieves (to make up the just dozen) are the usurers. This is a private thief like Judas, and for the bag Idie Judas, which he steals from Christ like Judas, or rather from Christians, that have more need, and therefore worse than Judas. This is a man made out of wax : his Paternoster is a pawn ; his creed is the condition of this obligation ; his religion is all religation, a binding of others to himself, of himself to the devil : for look how far any of the former thieves have ventured to heU, the usurer goes a foot further by the standard. The poet exclaims agamst this sin — ' Hinc usura vorax, avidumque, in tempore foenus,' &c. ; describing in that one line the names and nature of usury. Foenus, quasi *Sen. 248 THE WHITE DEVIL. [SeEMON XXXIX foetus. It is a teeming thing, ever with child, pregnant, and multiplying. Money is an unfruitful thing by nature, made only for commutation ; it is a preternatural thing it should engender money; this is monstrosus partus, a prodigious birth. Usura, quad iwopter tcsum rei. The nature of it is wholly devouring : their money to necessity is like cold water to a hot ague, that for a time refresheth, but prolongs the disease. The usurer is like the worm we call the timber-worm, {Teredo,) which is wonderful soft to touch, but hath teeth so hard that it eats timber ; but the usurer eats timber and stones too. The prophet hedgeth it in between bribery and extortion : ' In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood : thou hast taken usury and in- crease, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord. Therefore I have smitten my hands at thy dishonest gain,' &c., Ezek. xxii. 12, 13. You hear God's opinion of it. Beware this dishonest gain ; take heed lest this casting your money into a bank cast not up a bank against you ; when you have found out the fairest pretexts for it, God's justice shall strike off all : ' Let no man deceive you with vain words : for such things God's wrath wUl faU on the children of disobedience,' Eph. v. 6. Infinite colours, mitigations, evasions, distinctions are invented, to coimtenance on earth heaven-exploded usury: God shall then frustrate aU, when he pours his wrath on the naked conscience. God saith, ' Thou shalt not take usury : ' go now study paintings, excuses, apolo- gies, dispute the matter with God ; hell-fire shall decide the question. ' I have no other trade to Kve on but usury.' Only the devil first made usury a trade. But can this plea in a thief, ' I have no other trade to live on but steaUng,' protect and secure him from the gallows ? The usurer then is a thief; nay, a double thief, as the old Koman law cen- sured them, that charged the thief with restitution double, the usurer with fourfold ; concludiag him a double thief. Thieves steal sometimes, usurers always. Thieves steal for necessity, usurers without need. The usurer wounds deeper with a piece of paper than the robber with a sword. Many a young gentleman, newly broke out of the cage of wardship, or blessed with the first sunshine of his one-and-twenty, goes from the vigilance of a restrain- ing governor uito the tempting hand of a merciless usurer, as if he came out of God's blessing into the warm sun. Many a man, that comes to his lands ere he comes to his wits, or experience of their villany, is so let blood in his estate by usury, that he never proves his own man again. Either prodigahty, or penury, or dissembled riches, borrow on usury. To rack the poor with overpuUs, all but devils hold monstrous. To lend the prodigal is wicked enough, for it feeds his issue with ill-humours, and puts stibium into his broth, who was erst sick of the vomiting disease, and could not digest his father's Ul-gotten patrimony. For the rich that dissemble poverty, to borrow on usiiry, — ' For there is that maketh himself poor, and hath great riches,' Prov, xiii. 7, — they do it either to defeat creditors or to avoid taxations and subsidies, or some such sinister respects. The gentleman that borroweth on usury, by racking his rents makes his tenants pay his usury. The farmer so borrowing, by enhancing his corn makes the poor pay his usury. The tradesman raiseth his wares, that the buyer must pay his usury. I wiU not tax every borrower : it is lawful to suifer injury, though not to offer it ; and it is no sm for the true man to give his purse to the thief, when he cannot choose. To redeem his lands, liberty, life, he may (I suppose) give interest ; but not for mere gain only which he may get by that wicked money, lest he encourage the usurer, for a receiver upholds a thief. This is the cutpurse, whose death is the more grievous because he is reprieved John XII. 6.] the white devil. 249 till the last sessions : a gibbet is bmlt in hell for him, and all the gold in the world cannot purchase a pardon. I know there is mercy in Christ's blood to any repentant and believing sinner, but, excepted Zaccheus, shew ine the usurer that repents ; for as humility is the repentance of pride, and abstinence the repentance of surfeit, so is restitution the repentance of usury. He that restores not repents not his usury ; and then non remittitur peccatum, nisi restituatur ahlativm^'' — the sin is retained, till the gains of usury be restored. This is durus sermo, seel verus sermo, — a hard sajdng, but true. ' Then we may give all.' Do, if they be so gotten : Dahit Deus meliora, majora, plura, — God will give better things, God \vill give greater things, God will give more things ; as the prophet to Amaziah, 2 Chron. xxv. 9, ' The Lord is able to give thee more than this.' Thus I have discovered by occasion of Judas some privy thieves : if vv'ith- out thanks, yet not without conscience ; if without profit, yet not without purpose of profit. Indeed these are the sins which I vowed with myself to reprove ; not that others have not done it, or not done it better than I, from this place. I acknowledge both freely; yet could I not pass this secret thief, Judas, without discovering his companions, or, as it were, breaking open the knot of thieves, which under allowed pretences are arrant cutpurses to the commonwealth. How to punish, how to restrain, I meddle not : it is enough to discharge my conscience, that I have endeavoured to make the sins hateful to the trespassers, to the trespassed : Deus tarn facial commodum, quam fecit accommodum, — God make it as prevalent as I am sure it is pertinent ! (2.) and (3.) Give me leave, yet ere I leave, to speak a word of the bag : first, his means ; and, secondly, his maintenance. I will join them together ; a fit and a fat booty makes a thief. Judas hath got the bag, and the bag hath got Judas ; he could not carry it, but he must make it light enough for his carriage : he empties it into his own cofi"er, as many stewards rise by their good lord and master's fall. Judas means to be a thief, and Satan means to fit him with a booty; for after he had once wrought journey-work with the devil, he shall not want work, and a subject to work on. I will limit my remaining speech to these three heads : — First, The difliculty, to bear the bag, and not to be covetous. Secondly, The usual incideucy of the bag to the worst men. Thirdly, The progress of sin ; only faint not in this last act. [1.] It is hard to bear the bag, and not to be covetous. Judas is bursar, and he shuts himself into his pouch : the more he hath, the more he covets. The apostles, that wanted money, are not so having : Judas hath the bag, and yet he must have more, or he will filch it. So impossible is it that these outward things should satisfy the heart of man. Soli luihent omnia, qui habeiit habentem omnia, — They alone possess all things that possess the possessor of aU things. The nature of true content is to fiU aU the chinks of our desires, as the wax doth the seal. None can do this but God, for (as it is well observed) the world is round, man's heart three-cornered : a globe can never fill a triangle, but one part will be still empty ; only the blessed Tiinity can fiU these three comers of man's heart. I confess the bag is a thing much reckoned of, and makes men much reckoned of; for pecunice ohediimt omnia, — aU things make obeisance to money. Et qui ex divitiis tarn magni fiunt, non miror si divitias tarn magni faciant, — they may admire money whom mon6y makes admired. Such is the plague and dropsy the bag brings to the mind, that the more covetousness drinks down, the thirstier it is. This is a true drunkard : dmn absorbet vinum, ahsorbetur d, vino, — he drinks down his wealth, and his wealth drinks down * Auk. 250 THE AVHITE DEVIL. [SeKMON XXXIX. liim. Qui tenet marsupium, tenetur a marsupio^^ — He holds his purse fast, but not so fast as his purse holds him : the strings of his bag tie his heart faster than he ties the strings of his bag. He is a jailer to his jailer, a jDrisoner to his prisoner, he jails up his gold in the prison of his coffer, his gold jaUs up him in the prison of covetousness ; thus dum vult esse prcedo, fit p)'ceda,f — whiles he would come to a prey, he becomes a prey. The devil gets his heart, as the crab the oyster : the oyster lies gaping for air on the sands, the crab chops in her claw, and so devoureth it ; whiles the covetous gapes for money, the devil thrusts in his hairy and cloven foot, I mean his baits of temptation, and chokes the conscience. Thus the bag never comes alone, but brings with it cares, saith Christ, Matt. xhi. 22 ; snares, saith Paul, 1 Tim. vi. 9. It is better to be with- out riches than, like Judas, conjured into the circle of his bag : his heaven is among his bags ; in the sight of them he applauds himself against all censures, revilings, curses. It had profited some to have wanted the bag ; and this the wicked (waked) consciences confess djdng : wishing to be with- out riches, so they were without sins ; yea, even those their riches have pro- cured. It is none of God's least favours, that wealth comes not trolling in upon us ; for many of us, if our estate were better to the world, would be worse to God. The poor labourer hath not time to luxuriate : he trusts to God to bless his endeavours, and so rests content ■ but the bag commonly makes a man either j^^'odigum or avarum, a prodigal man or a prodigious man ; for avarus monstrum, the covetous man is a monster. How many wretches hath this bag drowned, as they swam over the sea of this world, and kept them from the shore of bliss ! Be proud then of your bag, ye Judases : when God's bailiff. Death, shall come mth a habeas corpus, what shall become of your bag ? or rather of yourselves for your bag 1 Your bag will be found, but yourselves lost. It will be one day said of you, as great as the bag hath made you, as the poet sung of Achilles : — 'Jam cinis est, et de tam magno restat Achille, Nescio quid, parvam quod non bene compleat urnam; ' — J ' A gi'eat man living holds much ground : the brim Of his days fill'd, how little ground holds him ! Great in command, large in land, in gold richer : His quiet ashes, now, scarce fill a pitcher.' Can your bag commute any penance in hell 1 or can you by a fine answer your faults in the star-chamber of heaven ? No ; Judas and his bag too are perished, Acts viii. 20. As he gave religion the bag for the world, so the world gave him the bag, and turned him a-begging in that miserable coun- try where all the bags in the world cannot purchase ' a drop of water to cool his tongue,' Luke xvi. 24. Thus are the covetous Judas and his bag well met. [2.] The bag is most usually given to the worst men : of the apostles, he that was to betray Christ is made his steward. Goods are in themselves good: A^e putentur mala, dantur et bonis; ne pidentur suvimahona,dantur et malis,§ — Lest they should be thought not good, they are given to good men; lest they should be thought too good, they are given to evil men. Doubtless some rich men are in heaven, and some poor out ; because some rich in the purse are poor in the spirit, and some poor in purse are proud in spirit : and it is not the bag, but the mind, which condemns a man ; for the bag is more easily contemned than the mind conquered. Therefore foolish Crates, to throw away his money into the sea, — IJgo mergam te, ne me7-gar d, te, I * Amb. f Aug. J Ovid. Met. § Aug. John XII. 6.] the white devil. 2j1 will drown thee, lest thou drown me, — since wealth well employed comforts ourselves, relieves others, and brings us, as it were, the speedier way to heaven, and perhaps to a greater portion of glory ; but for the most part, the rich are enemies to goodness, and the poor friends. Lazarus, the poor man, was in Abraham's bosom, and it was Dives that went to hell : the rich, and not the poor. Search the Scriptures, consult all authors, and who are they that have saUed through the world in the tallest vessels : and you shall meet loaden with the bag, Cains, Nimrods, Hams, Ishmaels, Esaus, Sauls, Ahabs, Labans, Nabals, Demases, Judases, devils, the slime of nature, the worst of men, and as bad as the best of devUs. What do men cast to swine and dogs, but draff and carrion? What else are the riches that God gives to the wicked men? Himself is pleased to call them by these names. If they were excellent things, they should never be cast on those God hates (' I have hated Esau') and means to condemn. There is no privilege, then, in the bag to keep thee from being a Judas ; nay, therefore thou art most likely, and thereby made most likely, to be a Judas. Who hath so much beauty as Absalom ? who so much honour as Nebuchadnezzar ? who so much wealth as Nabal ? who the bag but Judas ? Surely God is wise in all his ways ; he knows what he does • Judas shall hence bag up for himself the greater damnation. It is then no argument of God's favour to be his purse-bearer ; no more than it was a sign that Christ loved Judas above the other apostles because he made him his steAvard : he gave the rest grace, and him the bag ; which sped best ? The outward things are the scatterings of his mercies, like the gleaning after the vintage : the full crop goes to his children, Ishmael shall have wealth, but Isaac the inheritance ; Esau his pleasures, but Jacob goes away with blessing. God bestows favours upon some, but they are angry favours ; they are in them- selves bo7ia, goods, and from God, dona, gifts, — for he is not only a liv- ing God, Heb. ix, 14, but a giving God, James i. 17, — ^but to the receivers, banes. The Israelites had better have wanted their quails, than eaten them with such sauce. Judas had better been without the bag, than have had the bag, and the devU with it. I would have no man make his riches an argument of God's disfavour and his own dereliction ; no, but rather of comfort, if he can find his affec- tions ready to part with them at Christ's calling. I never was in your bosoms : how many of you lay up this resolution in your closet among your bags ? how many resolve, said I, nay, perform this ? You cannot Avant opportunity in these days. I would wish you to try your hearts, that you may secure your consciences of freedom from this Judasm : oh, how few *" Good-riches there be in these days ! But one apostle goes to hell, and he is the richest. Make then your riches a means to help you to heaven ; whi- ther you can have no direct and ready way, tUl you have gotten the moon beneath your feet. Rev. xii. 1 ; I mean the world. Lay up your bag in the bosom of charity, and your treasure in the lap of Cluist, and then the bag shall not hinder, but further your flight to heaven. [3.] Observe how Judas runs through sin, from one wickedness to another, without stay : from covetousness to hypocrisy, from hypocrisy to theft, from theft to treason, from treason to murder; for since he could not get the ointment bestowed on Christ, he means to get Christ himself, !Matt. xxvi. 14, 15; and to this purpose goes instantly to the ciders and priests A^ath a Quid dabitis, &c. He values the ointment at three hundred pence, and * Not inanj-, by name or by diflposition. 252 THE WHITE DEVIL. [SeKMON XXXIX. Christ at but thirty; as if lie was worth no more than the interest- money, ten in the hundred : and herein he makes his own price, for they gave him his asking. He betrays Jesus Christ a man, Jesus Christ his Master, Jesus Christ his Maker; as if he would destroy his Savioui-, and mar his Maker. Thus he runa from sin to sin, and needs he must, for he that the devil drives feels no lead at his heels. Godliness creeps to heaven, but wicked- ness runs to hell. Many Parliament-Protestants go but a statute pace, yet look to come to heaven; but, without more haste, it is like to be when the Pharisees come out of hell. Butfacilis descensus Averni; were you blinder than superstition, you may find the way to hell. It is but slniping down a hill, and hell stands at the bottom ; this is the cause that Judas runs so fast.* I have read of one Ruffus, that upon his shield painted God on the one side, and the devil on the other, with this motto : Si tu me nolis, iste rogitat, — If thou, O God, wilt none of me, here is one will. Either God must take him suddenly, or he will run quick to the devil. The gallant gallops in riot; the epicure reels a drunken pace; the lustful scorns to be behind, he runs from the fire of lust to the fire of heU, as the fondly impatient fish leaps out of the boiling pan into the burning flame. The swearer is there ere he be awai'e, for he goes by his tongue; the covetous rides post, for he is carried on the back of Mammon ; the usurer sits stiU in his chair or the chimney- corner, lame of the gout, and can but halt, yet he will be at hell as soon as the best runner of them aU. Usury is a coach, and the devil is driver ; needs must he go whom the devil drives. He is drawn to hell in pomp, by two coach-horses, wild spirits, with wings on their heels, swifter than Pegasus or Mercury — Covetousness and Infidelity. What makes him put money to use but covetousness ? What makes him so wretchedly covetous but want of faith 1 Thus he is hurried to heU in ease, state, triumph. If any be worthy to bear the usurer company, let it be the rioter ; though they be of contrary dispositions, yet in this journey fitly and accordantly met : for the usurer commonly hath money, but no coach, and the prodigal gallant hath a coach, but no money. If they want more company, let them take in the cheater ; for he waits upon both these, and may perhaps fail of the like opportunity. Thus because the ways to hell are full of green, smooth, soft, and tempt- ing pleasures, infinite run apace with Judas, till they come to ' their own place.' But heaven's way is harsh and ascending, and the ' gate narrow.' Indeed, the city of glory is capacious and roomy : ' In my Father's house there are many mansions,' saith Christ, John xiv. 2. It is domus s2)eciosa, et domus spatiosa,f — not either scant of beauty, or pent of room. But the gate hath two properties : it is low, strait, and requires of the enterers a stooping, a stripping. Low. Pride is so stiff that many a gallant cannot enter : you have few women with the topgallant headtires get here, they cannot stoop low enough; few proud in and of their offices, that have eaten a stake and can- not stoop; few sons of pride, so starched and laced up that they cannot without pain salute a friend ; a wonderful scarcity of over-precise, over-dis- solute, factious humorists, for they are so high in their own conceits that they cannot stoop to this low gate. The insolent, haughty, weU-opinioned * ' Lata via est, et trita via est, quae ducit ad Orcum. Invenit hoc, etiam ae duce, cascua iter.' — Owen Epig. t ' Niiminis immensi sedes ampligsima coelum : OmnipoteDS Dominus omnipatensque domus.' — Jh. John XII. 6.] the -white devil. 253 of themselves cannot be admitted , for, * not humbled to this day/ Jer. xliv. 10. This low gate and a high state do not accord. Wretched fools, that rather refuse the glory within, than stoop for entrance ! as if a soldier should refuse the honour of knighthood because he must kneel to receive it. Strait, or narrow. As they must stoop that enter this low gate, so they must strip that enter this strait gate. No make-bates get in, they are too full of tales and lies. God, by word of mouth, excludes them : ' Into it shaU enter no unclean thing, or that worketh abomination or lies,' Rev. xxi. 27. Few litigious neighbours ; they have so many suits, contentions, nisi-priuses on their backs, that they cannot get in. Some lawyers may enter, if they be not overladen with fees. You have few courtiers taken into this court, by reason there is no coach-way to it, the gate is too narrow. No officers, that are big with bribes. Not an encloser; he hath too much of the poor com- mons in his belly. The usurer hath no hope ; for, besides his bags, he hath too much wax and paper about him. The citizen hopes well ; but a false measure sticks so cross in his mouth that he cannot thrust in his head. The gentleman makes no question , and there is great possibility, if two things do not cross him — a bundle of racked rents, or a kennel of lusts and sports. The plain man is likely, if his ignorance can but find the gate. Husbandmen were in great possibility; but for the hoarding of com and hoising of markets. Tradesmen, if they would not swear good credit into then- bad wares, might be admitted. Ministers may enter without doubt or hindrance, if they be as poor in their spirits as the^ are in their purses. But impropriators have such huge bams full of church grains in their bellies, that they are too great. Let all these take the physic of repentance, to abate their swollen souls, or there will be no entrance. You hear how difficult the way is to heaven, how easy to hell ; how fast sin runs, how slowly godliness creeps ; what should you then do, but ' strive to enter in at the narrow gate ? ' which you shall the better do if you lighten yourselves of your bags. Oh, do not, Judas-like, for the bag, seU your honesty, conscience, heaven ! The bag is a continent to money, and the world is a continent to the bag; and they shall all perish, 'Meat for the belly, and the belly for meat,' — gold for the purse, and the purse for gold, — * but God shall destroy them both,' 1 Cor. vi. 1 3. Trust not then a wealthy bag, nor a wealthy man, nor the wealthy world ; all will fail : but trust in God, whose * mercy endureth for ever.' The time shall come that ' Deus erit pro numine. Cum mvindus sit pro nomine. Cum homo pro nemine ;' — God shall be God when the world shall be no world, man no man ; or at least no man, no world of our expectation, or of ability to help us. To God, then, our only help, be all praise, power, and glory, now and for ever ! Amen. THE HOLY CHOICE. And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, ivhich hnoivest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen. — Acts I. 24. The business of the day is an election ; an election into one of the most noble offices of the kingdom — the government of this honourable city, which (let not envy hear it) hath no parallel under the sun. The business of my text is an election too ; an election into the highest office in the church — to be an apostle and witness of Jesus Christ. If you please to spare the pattern in four circumstances, — as, First, This office is spiritual, yours temporal; Secondly, This place was void by apostasy or decession, yours is supplied by succession ; Thirdly, This election is by lots, yours is by suffi-ages ; Fourthly, This choice was but one of two, it may be your number exceeds, — the rest will suit well enough, and the same God that was in the one, be also present in the other, by the assistance of his Holy Spirit ! The argument of the text is a prayer to God for his direction in their choice : yea, indeed, that he would choose a man for them ; including a strong reason of such a request, because he doth ' know the hearts of all men.' They begin with prayer ; this was the usual manner in the church of God. So Moses prayed for the choice of his successor : ' Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation,' Num. xxvii. 16. Christ sent not his apostles to that holy work without a prayer : ' Sanctify them through thy truth,' John xvii. 27. In the choosing of those seven deacons, they first prayed, and then ' laid their hands upon them,' Acts vi. 6. Thus were kings inaugurated, with sacrifice and prayer. It is not fit he that is chosen for God should be chosen without God. But for this, Samuel him- self may be mistaken, and choose seven wrong, before he hit upon the right. In this I cannot but commend your religious care, that businesses of so great a consequence be always sanctified with a blessing. Those which in a due proportion must represent God to the world, ought to be consecrated to that Majesty which they resemble by public devotions. Every important action requires prayer, much more that which concerns a whole city. When Samuel came to Bethlehem to anoint David, he calls the whole city to the sacrifice. Indeed the family of Jesse was sanctified in a more special man- ner : this business was most theirs, and all Israel's in them. The fear of God should take full possession of all our hearts that are this day assembled ', Acts I. 24.] the holy choice. 255 but those with whom God hath more to do than with the rest, should be more holy than the rest. The choice of your wardens and masters in your several companies hath a solemn form ; and it is the honour of your greatest feasts, that the first dish is a sermon. Charity forbid that any should think you admit such a custom rather for convenience than devotion ; as if preaching were but a necessary complement to a solemnity, as wine and music. I am persuaded better things of you : but if there should be any such perverse spirits, that like the governor of a people called -^qui, when the Eomans came to him, jussit eos ad quercum dicere, bade them speak to the oak, for he had other business ; but they replied, Et hcec sacrata quercus audiat foedus d, vohis violatum, — Let this oak bear witness that you have broke the league which you have cove- nanted : so when we come to preach to your souls, if you should secretly bid us speak to the walls, lo, even the very walls will be witness against you at the last day. Though Saul be king over Samuel, yet Samuel must teach Saul how to be king. We may instruct, though we may not rule ; 3^ea, we must instruct them that shall rule. Therefore, as we obey your call in com- ing to speak, so do you obey God's command in vouchsafing to hear. Let us apply ourselves to him with devotion, and then he will be graciously present at our election. This prayer respects two things : — I. Quern, the person whom they entreat. II. Quid, the matter for which they entreat. I. The person is described, 1. By his omnipotence, ' Lord ;' 2. By his om- niscience, ' That knowest the hearts of men.' I. Omnipotence; ' Lord.' We acknowledge thy right; thou art fit to be thine own chooser. ' Lord :' there be many on earth called lords ; but those are lords of earth, and those lords are earth, and those lords must return to earth. This Lord is almighty; raising out of the dust to the honour of princes, and * laying the honour of princes m the dust.' ' Lord :' of what? Naj', not qualified; not Lord of such a county, barony, seigniory; nor Lord by virtue of office and deputation, but in abstracto, most absolute. His lordship is universal : Lord of heaven, the owner of those glorious man- sions ; Lord of earth, disposer of all kingdoms and principaUties ; Lord of hell, to lock up the old dragon and his crew in the bottomless pit ; Lord of death, to unlock the graves ; he keeps the key that shall let all bodies out of their earthly prisons. A potent Lord ; whither shall we go to get out of his dominion 1 Ps. cxxxix. 7, &c. To heaven 1 There we cannot miss him. To hell l There we cannot be without him. In air, earth, or sea, in light or darkness, we are sure to find him. Whither then, except to purgatory? That terra incognita is not mentioned in his lordship, the Pope may keep the key of that himself. But for the rest he is too saucy, exalting his uni- versal lordship, and hedging in the whole Christian world for his diocese. Stretching his arm to heaven, m rubricking what saints he list ; to hell, in freeing what prisoners he list ; on earth, in setting up or pulling down what kings he list, but that some have cut short his busy fingers. To the Lord of all they commend the choice of his own servants. Every mortal lord hath this power in his own famdy; how much more that Lord which makes lords ! Who so fit to choose as he that can cJioose the fit ? Who so fit to choose as he that can make those fit whom he doth choose ? It is he alone that can give power and grace to the elected, therefore not to be left out in the election. How can the apostle preach, or the magistrate govern, without him, when none of us all can move but in him ? It is happy when we do remit all doubts to his decision, and resign ourselves to 256 THE HOLY CHOICE. [SeRMON XL. his disposition. We must not be our own carvers, but let God's choice be ours. When we know his pleasure, let us shew our obedience. And for you upon whom this election falls, remember how you are bound to honour that Lord of heaven that hath ordained such honour for you upon earth : that so in all things we may glorify his blessed name. 2. Omniscience : it is God's peculiar to be the searcher of the heart. ' The heart of man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked ; who can know it?' Jer. xvii. 9, 10. Who? Ego Dominus, 'I the Lord search the heart.' He hath made no window into it, for man or angel to look in : only it hath a door, and he keeps the key himself. But why the heart 1 Here was an apostle to be chosen : now wisdom, learning, eloqtience, memory, might seem to be more necessary qualities than the heart. ISTo, they are all nothing to an honest heart. I deny not but learning to divide the word, elocution to pronounce it, wisdom to discern the truth, boldness to deliver it, be all parts requirable in a preacher. But as if all these were scarce worth mention in respect of the heart, they say not. Thou that knowest which of them hath the subtler wit or abler memory, but which hath the truer heart ; not which is the greater scholar, but which is the better man : ' Thol^ that knowest the heart.' Samuel being sent to anoint a son of Jesse, when Eliab, the eldest, came forth, a man of a goodly presence, fit for his person to succfeed Saul; he thinks with himself, This choice is soon made ; sure this is the head upon which I must spend my holy oil. The privilege of nature and of stature, his primogeniture and proportion, give it him; this is he. But even the holiest prophet, when he speaks withoiit God, runs into error. Signs and apparances are the guides of our eyes; and these are seldom without a true falsehood or an uncertain truth. Saul had a goodly person, but a bad heart; he was higher than all, many were better than he. It is not hard for the best judgment to err in the shape. Philoxemenes, a magnanimous and valiant soldier, being invited to Magyas's house to dmner, came in due sea- son, but found not his host at home. A servant seeing one so plain in clothes, and somewhat deformed in body, thought him some sorry fellow, and set, him to cleave wood. Whereat Magyas (being returned) wondering, he received from him this answer : Expendo pixnas deformitatis mece, — I pay for my unhandsomeness. All is not valour that looks big and goes brave. He that judgeth by the inside, checked Samuel for his misconceit : ' Look not on his countenance or stature, for I have refused him; for the Lord seeth not as man seeth,' 1 Sam. xvi. 7 David's countenance was ingenuous and beautiful, but had it promised so much as Eliab's or Abinadab's, he had not been left in the field, whUe his brethren sat at the table. Jesse could find nothing in David worthy the competition of honour with his brethren : God could find something to prefer him before them all. His father thought him fit to keep sheep, though his brethren fit to rule men : God thinks him fit to rule, and his brethren to serve ; and by his own immediate choice destines him to the throne. Here was aU the difference : Samuel and Jesse went by the outside, God by the inside ; they saw the composition of the body, he the disposition of the mind. Israel desires a Idng of God, and that kiug was chosen by the head; God will choose a king for Israel, and that king is chosen by the heart. If, in our choice for God, or for ourselves, we alto- gether follow the eye, and suffer our thoughts to be guided by outward respects, we shall be deceived. Why do they not say. Thou that knowest the estates of men, who is rich, and fit to support a high place, and who so poor that the place must sup- Acts 1. 21] the holy choice. 257 port him 1 I hear some call wealtk substance; but certainly at best it is but a mere circumstance. It is like the planet Mercury: if it be joined with a good heart, it is useful ; if with a bad and corrupt one, dangerous. But howsoever, at the beam of the sanctuary, money makes not the man, yet it often adds some metal to the man; makes his justice the bolder, and in less hazard of bemg vitiated. But pauperis sapientia plus valet quara diviiis ahundantia. If the poor man have ' wisdom to deliver the city,' Eccles. vi 15, he is worthy to govern the city. I yield that something is due to the state of authority : ad popuhan phaleras. So Agrippa came to the tribunal with great pomp and attendance. This is requisite to keep awe in the people, that the magistracy be not exposed to contempt. But magistraius, non vestitus, indicat virum, — wise government, not rich garment, shews an able man. It was not riches that they regarded. Why do they not say. Thou that knowest the birth or blood of men 1 I know it is a reverend thing to see an ancient castle or palace not in decay, or a fair tree sound and perfect timber. But as foul birds buUd their nests in an old forsaken house, and doted trees are good for nothing but the fire ; so the decay of virtue is the ruin of nobility. To speak morally, active worth is better than passive : this last we have from our ancestors, the first from our- selves. Let me rather see one virtue in a man alive, than aU the rest in his pedi- gree dead. Nature is regular in the brute creatures : eagles do not produce cravens ; and it was a monstrous fable that Nicippus's ewe should yean a lion. But in man she fails, and may bring forth the like proportion, not the like disposition. Children do often resemble their parents in face and fea- tures, not in heart and qualities. It is the earthly part that follows the seed ; wisdom, valour, virtue, are of another beginning. Honour sits best upon the back of merit : I had rather be good without honour, than honourable without goodness. Cottages have yielded this as weU as palaces. Agathocles was the son of a potter, Bion of an infamous courtesan. In holy writ, Gideon was a poor thresher, David a shepherd; yet both mighty men of valour, both chosen to rule, both special saviours of their country. Far be it from us to condemn aU honour of the first head, when noble deservings have raised it, though before it could shew nothing but a white shield. Indeed, it is not the birth, but the new birth, that makes men truly noble. Why do they not say. Thou that knowest the wisdom and policy of men ? Certainly, this is requisite to a man of place ; without which he is a blind Polj'phemus, a strong arm without an eye. But a man may be wise for himself, not for God, not for the public good. An ant is a wise creature for itself, but a shrewd thing in a garden. Magistrates that are great lovers of themselves are seldom true lovers of their country. All their actions be motions that have recourse to one centre — that is, themselves. A cunning head without an honest heart, is but like him that can pack the cards, yet when he hath done, cannot play the game; or like a house with many con- venient stairs, entries, and other passages, but never a fair room; all the inwards be sluttish and offensive. It is not then. Thou that knowest the wealth, or the birth, or the head, but the heart : as if in an election that were the main ; it is all if the rest be admitted on the by. Here then we have three remarkable observations — (1.) What kind of hearts God will not choose, and we may guess at them. (2.) What hearts he ^vill choose, and himself describes them. (3.) Why he will choose men esiJeciaUy by the heart. (1.) What kind of hearts he will not choose; and of these, among many, I will mention but three : — VOL. U. B 258 THE HOLY CHOICE. [SEKMOif XL. [1.] Cor divismn, a distracted heart; part whereof is dedicated to the Lord, and part to the world. But he that made all will not be contented with. a piece, Aut Ccesar, aut nihil. The service of two masters, in the obedience of their contrary commands, is incompatible, se7isu composito. Indeed Zaccheus did first serve the world, and not Christ ; afterward Christ, and not the world; but never the world and Christ together. Many divi- sions followed sin. First, It divided the heart from God : ' Your sins have separated between you and your God,' Isa. lix. 2, Secondly, It divided heart from heart. God by marriage made one of two, sin doth often by prevarication make two of one. Thirdly, It divided the tongue from the heart. So Cain answered God, when he questioned him about Abel, ' Am I my brother's keeper?' as if he would say, Go look. Fourthly, It divided tongue from tongue at the buUding of Babel ; that when one called for brick, his fellow brings him mortar; and when he spake of coming down, the other falls a-rerpoving the ladder. Fifthly, It divided the heart from itself: ' They spake with a double heart,' Ps. xii. 2. The original is, ' A heart and a heart:' one for the church, another for the change; one for Sundays, another for working days ; one for the king, another for the Pope, A man without a heart is a wonder, but a man with two hearts is a monster. It is said of Judas, There were many hearts in one man ; and we read of the saints, There was one heart in many men. Acts iv, 32, Dabo illis cor unum; a special blessing. Now this division of heart is intolerable in a magistrate; when he plies his own cause under the pretence of another's, and cares not who lose, so he be a gainer, St Jerome calls this cor male locatum; for many have hearts, but not in their right places. Cor habet in ventre gulosus, lascivus in libir dine, ciqndus in lucris. Naturally, if the heart be removed from the proper seat, it instantly dies. The eye unnested from the head, cannot see; the foot sundered from the body, cannot go : so spiritually, let the heart be un- centred from Christ, it is dead. Thus the coward is said to have his heart at his heel, the timorous hath his heart at his mouth, the envious hath his heart in his eyes, the prodigal hath his heart in his hand, the fool hath his heart in his tongue, the covetous locks it up in his chest. He that knows the hearts of all men will not choose a divided or misplaced heart. [2.] Cor lapideum, a hard or stony heart. This is ingratum ad bene- ficia, infidum ad consilia, inverecundum ad turpia, inhumamim ad bona, temerarium ad omnia. A rock, which all the floods of that infinite sea of God's mercies and judgments cannot soften; a stithy, that is still the harder for beating. It hath aU the properties of a stone : it is as cold as a stone, as heavy as a stone, as hard as a stone, as senseless as a stone. No persuasions can heat it, no prohibitions can stay it, no instructions can teach it, no compas- sions can mollify it. Were it of iron, it might be wrought ; were it of lead, it might be molten, and cast into some better form ; were it of earth, it might be tempered to another fashion ; but being stone, nothing remains but that it be broken. What was Pharaoh's greatest plague ? Was it the murrain of beasts? Was it the plague of boils? Was it the destruction of the fruits ? Was it the turning of their rivers into blood ? Was it the striking of their first-born with death ? No ; though all these plagues were grievous, yet one was more grievous than all — cor durum, his hard heart. He that knows all hearts, knows how ill this would be in a magistrate ; a heart which no cries of orphans, no tears of widows, no mourning of the oppressed, can melt into pity. From such a heart, good Lord, deliver us ! [3.] Cor cupidum, a covetous heart, the desires whereof are never filled. Acts 1. 24.] the holy choice. 259 A handful of corn put to the whole heap increaseth it; yea, add water to the sea, it hath so much the more ; but ' he that lovcth silver shall never be satisfied with silver,' Eccles. v. 10. One desire may be filled, but another comes, Crescet amor mimmi, quantum ipsa i^^cunia crescit. Na- tural desires are finite, as thirst is satisfied with drink, and hunger with meat. But unnatural desires be infinite : as it fares with the body in burning fevers, quo plus stmt j^otce, 2>his sitiuntur aquce; so it is in the covetous heart, ut cum possideat plurima, plura petat. Grace can never fill the purse nor wealth the heart. This vice is in all men iniquity, but in a magistrate blasphemy ; the root of all evil in every man, the rot of all goodness in a great man. It leaves them, like those idols in the Psalms, neither eyes to see, nor ears to hear, but only hands to handle. Such men will transgress for handfuls of barley and morsels of bread; and a very dram of profit put into the scale of justice turns it to the wrong side. There is not among all the charms of heU a more damnable speU to enchant a magistrate than the love of money. This ' turns judgment into wormwood,' or at least into vinegar ; for if injustice do not make it bitter as wormwood, yet shifts and delays will make it sour as vinegar. Oh, how sordid and execrable should bribes be to them, and stink worse in their nostrils than Vespasian's tribute of urine ! Let them not only bind then- own hands, and the hands of their servants, that may take, but even bind the hands of them that would ofier. He that useth integrity doth the former, but he that constantly professeth integrity doth the latter. It is not enough to avoid the fault, but even the suspicion. It is some dis- credit to the judge, when a chent with his bribe comes, to be denied ; for if his usual carriage had given him no hope of speeding, he would not offer. A servant that is a favourite or inward gives suspicion of corruption, and is commonly thought but a by-way ; some postern or back-door for a gift to come in when the broad fore-gates are shut against it. Tliis makes many aspire to ofiices and great places, not to do good, but to get goods ; as some love to be stirring the fire, if it be but to warm their own fingers. Whatso- ever affairs pass through their hands, they crook them all to their own ends; and care not what becomes of the public good, so they may advance their own private : and would set their neighbour's house on fire and it were but to roast their own eggs. Let them banish covetousness with as great a hatred as Amnon did Tamar : first thrust it out of their hearts, then shut and lock the door after it ; for the covetous heart is none of them that God chooseth, (2.) Next let us see what kind of hearts God will choose; and they be fur- nished with these virtues fit for a magistrate : — [1.] There is cor sajnens, a wise heart ; and this was Solomon's suit, ' an understanding heart,' 1 Kings iii. 9. He saw he had power enough, but not wisdom enough ; and that royalty without wisdom was no better than an eminent dishonour, a very calf made of golden ear-rings. There is no trade of life but a pecuhar wisdom belongs to it, without wliich all is tedious and unprofitable ; how much more to the highest and busiest vocation, the go- vernment of men ! An ignorant ruler is like a blind pilot ; who shall save the vessel from rum ? [2.] Cor imtiens, a meek heart; what is it to discern the cause, and not to be patient of the proceedings? The first governor that God set over his Israel was Moses, a man of the meekest spirit on earth. How is he fit to govern others, that liath not learned to govern himself? He that can- not nile a boat upon the river is not to be trusted with steering a vessel on the ocean. Nor yet must this patience degenerate into cowardliness : Moses, 260 THE HOLY CHOICE. [SbRMON XL. that was so meek in his own cause, in God's cause was as resolute. So there is also — [3.] Cor magnanimum, a heart of fortitude and courage. The rules and squares that regulate others are not made of lead or soft wood, such as wni bend or bow. The principal columns of a house had need be heart of oak. A timorous and flexible magistrate is not fit for these corrupt times. If either threatenings can tenify him, or favour melt liim, or persuasions swerve him from justice, he shall not want temptations. The brain that must dispel the fumes ascending from a corrupt Uver, stomach, or spleen, had need be of a strong constitution. The courageous spirit that resolves to do the will of heaven, what malignant powers soever would cross it on earth, is the heart that God chooseth. [4.] There is cor honestum, an honest heart. Without this, courage wdU prove but legal injustice, policy but mere subtlety, and ability but the devil's anvil to forge mischiefs on. Private men have many curbs, but men in authority, if they fear not God, have nothing else to fear. If he be a simple dastard, he fears all men ; if a headstrong commander, he fears no man : like that unjust judge that ' feared neither God nor man,' Luke xviii. 2. This is the ground of all fidelity to king and country — religion. Such was Constantine's maxim : ' He cannot be faithful to me that is unfaith- ful to God.' As this honourable place of the king's lieutenantship hath a sword-bearer, so the magistrate himself is the Lord's sword-bearer, saith St Paul, Rom. xiii. 4. And as he may never draw this sword in his private quarrel, so he must not let it be sheathed when God's cause calls for it. It is lenity and connivance that hath invited contempt to great places. Did justice carry a severer hand, they durst not traduce then* rulers in songs and satires, the burden whereof will be their own shame. Magistrates are our civil fathers ; and what deserve they but the curse of Ham, that lay open the nakedness of their fathers ? When Alexander had conquered Darius, and casually found his slain body lying naked, he threw his own coat over him, saying, ' I will cover the destiny of a king.' It is God alone that ' cast- eth contempt upon princes;' which that he may not do, let them preserve cor mundum, a clean heart, not conscious of ill demerits. Such a one sits on the judgment-seat as one that never forgets that he must appear before the judgment-seat of Christ. So he executeth justice, as never losing the sense of mercy ; so he sheweth mercy, as not offering violence to justice. He can at once punish the offence and pity the offender. He remembers his oath, and fears to violate it : to an enemy he is not cruel, to a friend he wiU not be partial. And if ever he have but once cut the skirt of justice, as David the lap of Saul's garment, his heart smites him for it. He minds no other clock on the bench but that of his own conscience. He will not offend the just, nor afford a good look to varlets ; nor yet doth he so disregard their persons as to wrong their causes. He will maintain piety, but not neglect equity. In court, he looks not before him on the person, nor about him on the beholders, nor behind him for bribes ; nay, he will not touch them in his closet or chamber, lest the timber and stones in the wall should witness against him. So he helps the church, that the commonwealth be no loser ; so he looks to the commonwealth, that the church may not be wronged. The lejvd fear him, the good praise him, the poor bless him ; he hath been a father to orphans, a husband to distressed widows. ^lany prayers are laid up for him in heaven ; and when he dies, they, with the assistance of angels, shall bear him up to blessedness. (3.T Lastly, Let us see why God will choose men by the heart. I deny not Acts 1. 24.] the holy choice. 2G1 but wisdom and courage, moderation and patience, are all requisite concur- rences ; but the heart is the pri7num mobile, that sets all the "wheels agoing, and improves them to the right end. When God begins to make a man good, he begins at the heart : as nature in forming, so God in reforming, begins there. As the eye is the first that begins to die, and the last that begins to live, so the heart is the first that lives, and the last that dies. It is said of the spider that in the morning, before she seeks out for her prey, she mends her broken web, and in doing that, she always begins in the midst. Before we pursue the profits and baits of this world, let us first amend our life ; and when we undertake this, let us be sure to begin at the heart. The heart is the fort or citadel in this little isle of man ; let us fortify that, or all will be lost. And as naturally the heart is first in being, so here the will (which is meant by the heart) is chief m commanding. The centurion's ser- vants did not more carefuUy obey him, when he said to one, * Go, and he goeth ; to another. Come, and he cometh ; to a third. Do this, and he doeth it,' Matt. viiL 9, than all the members observe the heart. If it say to the eye, See, it seeth ; to the ear, Hear, it hearkeneth ; to the tongue. Speak, it speaketh ; to the foot. Walk, it walketh ; to the hand, Work, it worketh. If the heart lead the way to God, not a member of the body, not a faculty of the soul, will stay behind. As when the sun ariseth in the morning, birds rise from their nests, beasts from their dens, and men from their beds. They all say to the heart, as the Israelites did to Joshua, ' All that thou com- mandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us we will go : only the Lord be with thee,' Josh. i. 1 6. Therefore the penitent publican ' smote his heart,' Luke xviii. 13, as if he would call up that to call up all the rest. It cannot command and go without. No part of man can sin without the heart ; the heart can sin without all the rest. The wolf goes to the flock, purposing to devour a lamb, and is prevented by the vigilancy of the shepherd ; yet hcpns exit, lupus rec/reditur, — he went forth a wolf, and comes home a wolf. The heart intends a sin which is never brought into action, yet it sins in that very intention. The hand cannot offend without the heart, the heart can offend without the hand. The heart is like a mill : if the wind or water be violent, the mill will go whether the miller will or not ; yet he may choose Avhat kind of grain it shall grind, wheat or darnel. If the affections be strong and passionate, the heart may be working ; yet the Christian, by grace, may keep out lusts, and supply it with good thoughts. The heart is God's peculiar, the thing he especially cares for : ' My son, give me thy heart ;' and good reason, for I gave my own Son's heart to death for it. Hon minus tuiim, quia meum, — It is not less thine for being mine ; yea, it cannot be thine comfortably unless it be mine perfectly. God re- quires it principally, but not only ; give him that, and all the rest will fol- low, tic that gives me fire needs not be requested for light and heat, for they are inseparable. Non corticis^ sed cordis Deus* — God doth not regard the rind of the lips, but the root of the heart. It was the oracle's answer to him that would be instructed which was the best sacrifice. Da me- dium limce, solem simul, et canis iram; which three characters make cor, the heart. Man's affection is God's hall ; man's memory, his library ; man's in- tellect, his privy chamber ; but his closet, sacrary, or chapel, is the heart. So St Augustine glosscth the Paternoster : qui es in at I is, — which art in heaven ; that is, in a heavenly heart. All outward works a hypocrite may do, only he fails in the heart ; and * Ambr. 262 THE HOLY CHOICE, [SeRMON XL. because he fails there, lie is lost everywhere. Let the flesh look never so fair, the good caterer will not buy it if the liver be specked. Who will put that timber into the building of his house which is rotten at the heart ? Man judgeth the heart by the works ; God judgeth the works by the heart. All other powers of man may be suspended from doing their offices, but only the will ; that is, the heart. Therefore God will excuse all necessary defects, but only of the heart. The blind man cannot serve God with his eyes, he is excused ; the deaf cannot serve God with his ears, he is excused ; the dumb cannot serve God with his tongue, he is excused ; the cripple cannot serve God with his feet, he is excused ; but no man is excused for not serving God with his heart. Deus non respicit quantum homo valet, sed quantum velit. St Chrysostom seemed to be angry with the Apostle for saying, ' Be- hold, we have left all, and followed thee,' Matt, xix. 27. What have you left ? An angle, a couple of broken nets, and a weather-beaten fish-boat ; a fair deal to speak of ! But at last he corrects himself, ' I cry you mercy, St Peter ; you have forsaken all ' indeed ; for he truly leaves all that leaves quod ml capit mundus, vel cupit, — that takes his heart from the world, and gives it to Christ. All other faculties of man apprehend their objects when they are brought home to them ; only the will, the heart, goes home to the object. Colour must come to the eye, before it can see it ; sound to the ear, before it can hear it ; the object to be apprehended is brought home to the understanding, and past things are recollected to the memory, before either can do her office. But the heart goes home to the object. Uhi thesaurus, ibi cor, — Not where the heart is, there wiU be the treasure ; but where the treasure is, there will be the heart. * Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,' Matt. v. 8. Of all, the pure heart is beholden to God, and shall one day behold God. Therefore David prays. Cor mundum crea in me, Deus, — ' Create in me a clean heart, O God,' Ps. li. 10. The Lord rested from the works of his crea- tion the seventh day ; but so dearly he loves clean hearts, that he rests from creating them no day. As Jehu said to Jehonadab, Est tihi cor rectum, — 'Is thy heart right?' 2 Kings x. 15 ; then give me thy hand, 'come up into my chariot : ' so this is God's question, Is thy heart upright ? then give me thy hand, ascend my triumphant chariot, the everlasting glory of heaven. To conclude ; because there is such difference of hearts, and such need of a good one, they put it to him that knows them all, and knows which is best of all. For howsoever nature knows no difference, nor is there any, quorum prcecordia Titan de meliore luto finxit ; yet in regard of grace, the sanctified heart is of purer metal than common ones. A little living stone in God's building is worth a whole quarry of the world. One honest heart is better than a thousand other : the richest mine and the coarsest mould have not such a disproportion of value. Man often fails in his election ; God cannot err. The choice here was extraordinary, by lots ; yours is ordi- nary, by suffrages : God's hand is in both. Great is the benefit of good magistrates : that we may sit under our own vines, go in and out in peace, eat our bread in safety, and (which is above aU) lead our lives in honest liberty ; for all this we are beholden, under God, to the magistrate, first the supreme, then the subordinate. They are trees, under whose branches the people build and sing, and bring up their young ones in religious nurture. That ' silence in heaven about half an hour,' Kev. viii., when the ' golden vials were fiUed with sweet odours,' and the prayers Acts 1. 24.] the holy choice. 263 of the saints ascended as pillars of smoke and incense, is referred by some to the peace of the church under Constantine. It is the king of Mexico's oath, when he takes his crown, Justitiam se administratumm, effecturum ut sol cursum teneat, omhes phianf, rivi currant, terra producat fructus, — That he will minister justice, he will make the sim hold his course, the clouds to rain, the rivers to run, and the earth to fructify. The meaning is, that the upright and diligent administration of justice will bring all these blessings of God upon a country. If we compare this city with many in foreign parts, how joyfuUy may we admire our own happiness ! Those murders and massacres, rapes and con- stuprations, and other mischiefs, that be there as common as nights, be rare with us. I will not say that all our people are better than theirs ; I dare say, our government is better than theirs. Merchants make higher use, and are more glad of, calm seas than common passengers. So should Christians more rejoice in peace than can the heathen ; because they know how to im- prove it to richer ends — the glory of God, and salvation of their own souls. Proceed, ye grave and honourable senators, in your former approved courses, to the suppressing of vice and disorders, and to the maintenance of truth and peace among us. It is none of the least renown of this famous city, the wisdom and equity of the governors. To repeat the worthy acts done by the Lords Mayors of London were fitter for a chronicle; they are too large for a sermon. But it is high time to bless you with a dismission, and to dismiss you with a blessing.* That Almighty God, ' that knows the hearts of all,' sanctify your hearts to govern, and ours to obey; that we all seeking to do good one to another. He may do good unto us all ! To this blessed and eternal God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be all glory and praise for ever ! Amen. * This sermon is incomplete, the second head being left out. — Ed. A VISITATION SEEMON. And some days after, Paid said unto Barnabas, Let xis go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have i^reached the word of the Lord, and see how tliey do. — Acts XV. 36. There be certain royal laws, which Christ and his apostles made for eternal use ; to the observation whereof all Christian nations and persons are un- changeably bound. And there be some ritual things, which were at the first convenient, but variable according to the difference of times and places. Strictly to impose aU these circumstances on us, were to make us, not the sons, but the slaves of the apostles. That is a fond scrupulosity which would press us in all fashions with a conformity to the primitive times ; as if the spouse of Christ might not wear a lace or a border for which she could not plead prescription. Diver sitas lituiim commendat tmitatem fidei, saith our Anselm. Let us keep the substance, for the shadow God hath left us at liberty. But yet when we look back upon those first patterns, and find a rule of discipline fit for the present times, in vain we should study a new, that are so well accommodated with the old. The business of the text and day is a visitation ; a practice which, at the first view of the words, can plead antiquity ; and by a review, shall plead the great utility. I know there be divers kinds of visitations ; but whether they be national, provincial, parochial, or capitular, they all have auctoritatem uberrimavi, being grounded upon a practice apostolical ; and iisum saluberrimum, (to use the words of St Augustine,) being of a physical nature, to prevent or cure distemperatures in the church of God. Generally, I. The form of the words is a motion ; II. The matter, a visit- ation. I. The motion was Paul's, the forwardest soldier in all the army of Christ : that winged husbandman, who ploughed up the fallow hearts of the Gentiles ; that with a holy zeal, greater than the ambition of Alexander, would sooner have wanted ground than desire to travel in the business of his Master. Terra citius defecisset, qicam studium prcedicandi. Indeed, he had found an unusual mercy, as himself delivers it : ' The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant toward me,' 1 Tim. i. 14 ; using an extraordinary phrase to express an extraordinary grace ; a word never the like used, for a mercy never the like exhibited. There is oU in the widow's cruse to sustain, 1 Kings xvii. 1 6 ; Aaron's was far more, it ' ran down to the skirts of his clothing,' Ps. Acts XV. 36.] a visitation sermon. 265 cxxxiii. 2. Such a superabundant grace was in Paul. For sanctification ; many saints are commended for some special virtues : Abraham for faith, Moses for meekness, David for thankfulness, Job for patience — Paul is praised for them aU. For subduing of vices ; men most sanctified have had some tangs : as David of anger for Nabal's churlish answer ; Hezekiah had a smack of pride — setting aside concupiscence, Paul had no spot. For know- ledge ; he was rapt up into heaven, there learned his divinity among the angels — his school being paradise, his university the third heaven, and God his tutor. For power ; his very clothes wrought miracles. God so trusted Paul, that he committed his whole church unto him. Thus was he hon- oured : the other apostles were sent d Christo mo7'tali, Paul cb Christo immor- tali. And with the like superabundant grace did he answer his charge ; that though he were novissivius in online, he was primus in mevito. Yea, he is well called God's arrow, wounding every soul that heard him with the love of Christ. This was his motion, one act of his apostolical care. II. The matter is a visitation. To visit is a word of great latitude, and signifies the performance of all pastoral duties : to instruct the ignorant, to comfort the weak, to correct the stubborn, to confirm the religious. Strictly, it imports a superior's scrutiny or examination of things under his charge ; as a steward in a family overlooks the under- servants : praising the forward, provoking the sluggard, and rectifying disorders, which are ready to creep in through the least connivance. This we shall the better apprehend, if we let the text fall into parts, of which we shall find seven : — 1. The visitors, Paul and Barnabas; for this office was at first apostolical^ and hath ever been episcopal. 2. The visited, their * brethren ' — whether the people under the pastors, or the pastors set over the people ; for as they ought to visit their own particu- lar charges, so the bishops to visit them : yea, and even those visitors may be visited by such delegates as the prince appoints, who is the chief visitor under Christ. 3. The exercise, or frequent use of this office, ' Let us go again.' For the rareness of performing this duty may breed much inconvenience. 4. The moderation, or seasonableness of it, ' after certain days.' There must be some intermission, or else the assiduity may make it a burden, or bring it into contempt. 5. The latitude or extent of it, ' in every city ;' not calling all the world to one place, as the bishop of Ptome did in his glory, summoning all nations to his consistory. They visit every city ; they compel not every city to visit them. Nor do they balk the greatest for fear, nor neglect the meanest in contempt ; but ' every city.' 6. The limitation, restraint, or confining of this exercise, ' where we have preached the word of God.' Pagans are out of their walk ; they meddlo not with unbelievers, but with those grounds wherein they have sown the seeds of the gospel. 7. Lastly, the intent and scope of all, ' to see how they do :' quomodo se haheant ; whether they fail or thrive in their spiritual growth. These be the passages; whereof with what brevity I can, and with what fidelity I ought. 1. The visitors : Paul and Barnabas. There is difference, I know, betwixt the apostles and bishops. For, besides their immediate calling and extra- ordinary endowments, the apostles' function was an unlimited circuit, lie in universum orhem ; tlie bishop's is a fixed or positive residence in one city. All those acts which proceeded from supernatural privilege ceased with their 266 A VISITATION SERMON. [SeRMON XLI. cause ; as the gift of tongues, of miracles, and the like. Those tools that serve for the foundation are not the fittest for the roof The great Master- builder made choice of such for the first stones which he meant not to em- ploy in the walls. But this is the first thing I would here note; — The first foundation of the church was laid in an inequality, and hath ever shice so continued. Parity in government is the mother of confusion and disorder,* and disorder doth ill become the church of God ; where all the strings or voices be unisons, or of one tenor, there can be no harmony. There be CKO'zovvTig, seers, which signifies the duty of each pastor over his flock ; and there be sTieKO'Trouiirsg, overseers, such as must visit and overlook both flock and seers. In the Old Testament, together with the parity of priest- hood, there was an imparity of government : one Levite above another, priests above them, the high priest above them all. Christ himself is said to be a ' priest after the order of Melchizedek :' he was of some order then ; but we have those that would be priests without any order at all, that, re- fuse to be ordered. Take away difference, and what will follow, but an anabaptistical ataxy, or confusion. It was the saying of Bishop Jewel, or the jewel of bishops, All priests have idem ministerium, sed diversam potestatem. A bishop and ail archbishop differ not in i^otestaU ordinis, sed in potestate regiminis. Nor doth a bishop differ from a pastor, quoad vhtutem sacerdotii, sed quoad po- tentiam jurisdidionis. There is one indelible character of priesthood to them both. That great Claviger of heaven, who opens, and no man shuts, shuts, and no man opens, Eev. iii. 7, hath left two keys for the government of the church : the one, clavem scientice, the preaching of the gospel, which is the more essential part of our function ; for a ' necessity is laid upon us, and woe unto us if we preach not the gospel,' if we turn not that key. The other, clavem potentice, the key of jurisdiction or disciphne, which makes the church acievi ordinatam, an army well marshalled. The former im- poseth a duty, and hcec op>ortet facere ; the latter importeth a decency, and hcEc opoHet fieri. Thus did the great Shepherd of Israel govern his flock, with ' two staves,' Zech. xi. 7. One, the ' staff of bands,' sound doctrine ; the other, the 'staff of beauty,' orderly discipline. St Paul joins them both together : the steadfastness of their faith, and the comeHness of their order, and makes them the matter of his joy in the Colossians, chap. ii. 5. Without order, faith itself would be at a loss. Even the stars do not fight from heaven, but in their order, Judg. v. 20. Therefore is our ministry called orders, to shew that we are bound to order above other professions. This orderly distinction of ecclesiastical persons is set down by the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. xii., placing some as the head, other as the eyes, other as the feet ; all members of one body, with mutual concord, equal amity, but unequal dignity. To be a bishop, then, is not a numeral, but a muneral function ; a priority in order, a superiority in degree. ' Who is a faithful and wise ser- vant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household ?' — quern Doininus constituit super familiam, — Matt. xxiv. 45. AU ministers of Christ have their due honour ; some are worthy of double hononr. Far be it from us sinners to grudge them that honour, whereof God himself hath pronounced them worthy. This first. Again : — Paul and Barnabas. Paul was a man of ardent zeal ; Barnabas is inter- preted ' the son of consolation.' Paul would have Barnabas along with him, that the lenity of the one might somewhat mitigate and qualify the fervour of the other. Thus Moses was with Elias when they both met with Christ * Aris*. Polit. Acts XV. 3G.] a visitation sermon. 267 transfigured on the mount. Elias was a fiery-spirited prophet, inflamed with holy zeal ; Moses a prophet of a meek and mild spirit : these two to- gether are fit servants to wait upon the Son of God. I do not say that either Paul wanted compassion or Barnabas fervency ; but this I say, that both these tempers are a happy composition in ^ visitor, and make his breast like the sacred ark, wherein lay both Aaron's rod and the golden pot of manna, Heb. ix. 4 : the rod of correction, the manna of consolation ; the one a corrosive, the other a cordial. Spiritual fathers should be like natural mothers, that have both uhera and verbera; or like bees, having much honey, but not without a sting. Only, let the sting be the least in their desire or intention, and the last in execution ; like God himself, qui habet in potestate vindidam, sed mavult in tisu misericordiam. There have been some who did put lime and gall into the milk ; yea, ministered 2yi'o lacte venenum : Bonners and Gardiners, that gave too shaqj physic for the disposition of their patients ; that — as the Antiochians said of Julian,* taking occasion by the bull which he stamped on his coin — have gored the world to death : that, as if they had Saul's commission to vex the church of Christ, have concluded their visitations in blood. But mercy, no less than holiness, becomes the breastplate of Aaron. I deny not the neces- sity of jurisdiction, both corrective and coactive: the one restraining where is too much forwardness, the other enforcing where is slackness. There is a rod, and there is a sword. Veniam ad vos in virga; that is the rod. Utinam absdndantiir qui pa'turbant vos; that is the sword. K we observe God's proceeding in the church, we shall find how he hath fitted men to the times and occasions. In the low and afflicted estate of Israel, they had Moses, a man of meek spirit, and mighty in wonders. Meek, because he had to do with a tetchy and froward people ; mighty in wonders, because he had to do with a Pharaoh. When they were settled in a quiet consistence, they had a grave and holy Samuel. In their corrupted declination, they had a hot- spirited Elijah, who came in a tempest, as he went out in a whirlwind. These times of ours be of a sinful and depraved condition, therefore have need to be visited with spirits more stirring than those of the common mould. Imo, veni Paule cum virga,i — Come, Pavd, with thy rod. Rather let us smart with correction than run on to confusion. 2. The visited : their brethren. Such was that great Apostle's humility that he calls all believers brethren, to shew that he had but the privilege of a brother, and did no otherwise than all the rest bear the arms of the elder. Yea, why should not an apostle accept of that title, when the eternal Son of God 'is not ashamed to call us brethren?' Heb. ii. 11. The weakest Christian is a brother to the holiest saint, therefore not to be contemned. It is most unnatural for a man to despise his brother, the son of his own father. It is a brand set upon that tongue, which must bum with quench- less flames : ' That it spake against his brother, and slandered his own mother's son,' Ps. 1. 20. Bishops are m the chiefest respect brethren to the ministers ; in a meaner regard they are fathers. They are our fathers but in that respect whereby they govern us ; but in that respect which doth save us, they are our brethren. Fratres in salute, patres in ordine ad salutem. Even princes should not scorn the brotherhood of their subjects ', for howso- ever on earth there is a necessity of these ceremonial difierences, yet in the grave for our bodies, in heaven for our souls, there is no such distinction. If there be any disparity after this life, it shall be secundum opera, not secundum officia; proportioned to the works they have done, not to the * Socrat, lib. vii., cap. 22. t Aug. 268 A VISITATION SERMON. [SeRMON XLL honours they have borne, St Paul calls Timothy in one place his son, in another place his brother. Bishops are brethren to ministers in a threefold relation : — By nature, so are all men ; by grace, so are all Christians ; by office, so are all pastors. He that. Matt. xxiv. 45, was called rector sui^r familiam, ' ruler over the household,' the same is also termed, ver. 49, owhohlog, 'a fellow- servant* with the rest of the meany :* aU servants under one lord, though some superior m office to the rest. As in the civil state, within that honourable rank, both earls and lords are called barons, yet their dignities are not equal : every earl being a baron, but not every baron an earl. So in the state eccle- siastical, in respect of the general service of Christ, the dispensation of his word and mysteries, bishops and priests are all brethren and fellow-presby- ters ; yet though the styles be communicable, the terms are not convertible : for every bishop is a priest, but every priest is not a bishop. As this there- fore no way diminisheth their authority, for episcopus est sacerdotum princeps, saith Ignatius ;t so it commendeth their humility to caU us brethren. If we offend paterna agant, let them correct us as their children ; while we do well, fraterna teneant, let them encourage us their brethren. God is not tied to means ; for illumination of the mind, he often lights a great lamp of the sanctuary at a little wax-taper, as he did Paul by Ananias, And for moving of affections, often with a puff of wind he stirs up the waves of the great ocean. Deus non est parvus in parvo; not straitened according to the smaUness of the organ. On the one side love and gravity, on the other side obedience and sincerity, on all sides hohness and humility, become the ministers of Jesus Christ. 3. The exercise, or due practice of this office : 'Let us go again,' Let us go; that is, go personally. Let us go again; that is, go frequently. (1.) Let us go; not send our deputy, but go ourselves. He that sends sees by another's eyes, and takes the state of things upon trust. If we go, we see by our own, and our own eyes be our best informers. How is he episcopus that never overlooks ? So St Jerome, in his epistle to Nepotian, nitatur esse quod dicitur. He is an ill shepherd that does not know mdtuni pecoris. ' Know the state of thy flocks and the face of thy herds,' Prov. xxvti. 23. Desire to see them, quomodo Moses voluit videre Deum, ymerugy face to face. In the proverb, Domini oculus pascit equum, et vestigia ejiis pinguefaciunt agrum, — The miaster's eye feeds the horse; the presence of the bishop, like the north wind, dispels infection. It was Paul's continual fear, some prevarication in his absence : ' I fear I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found to you such as you would not,' 2 Cor. xii. 20. St Peter's shadow wrought miracles, but now the bishop's shadow will work no miracles. This is one special thing to be visited and examined, the residence of pastors in their charges. It is an unhappy thing for a man to be a stranger at home, Damasus;}: compares such to wanton women, who no sooner bear children, but presently put them forth to nvu-se, that with less trouble they may return to their old pleasure, Peraldus, a Popish writer, is so bitter against those that feed their flocks by deputies, that he says, It is as if a man should marry a Avife, and suffer another to get children by her, Illudque Clictovoei, magis salsum quam falsum ; vicariam quidem salutem, personaleni vero perniciem, talibus manere. I know there is a residence personal and pastoral : and he that is a stranger to the pulpit, though he straggle not out of the bounds of his parish, is the greatest non-resident. And I grant that in some cases a dispensation * That is, menage, the household.— Ed, t Ad Trail, J Ep. 4, ad Episc. Acts XV. 36.] a visitation sermon. 2G9 is requisite — cedat minus mojoH; yet it is no hurt to pray, God persuade them all to dwell in their own tents. But it is not well for a preacher to be like a door, when it is once oiled, then to leave - creaking. It was a friar's conceit upon Gen. vi., when the clergy, those ' sons of God,' began to dote upon the ' daughters of men,' — to be enamoured of temporal prefer- ments, — then by such marriages monsters were begotten in the church, and the sanctuary of God was filled with giants, far from the shape of Chris- tians. It is pity but the bishop should forbid the banns ; and if any such marriage be, it is more than time to make it a nullity, by divorcing them from idleness, covetousness, and ambition. ' The faithful steward is he that gives the household their portion of meat in due season,' Luke xii. 42. He must give them all meat, young and old, rich and poor, weak and strong. In due season, that is, when their appetites call for it ; nay, he must not always stay till they desire it. Propriis manibus, he must do it with his own hands : he is but a deputy, and therefore is not evermore allowed a deputy. Let us go ourselves. (2.) Let us go again. The building of the church goes slowly forward ; though there be many labourers, there be more hinderers : God never had so many friends as enemies. If the overseers look not well to the business, too many will make church-work of it ; for such loitering is now fallen into a proverb. Men are fickle, as were the Galatians and churches of Asia ; if they be not often visited, they will soon be corrupted. Luther said in Wit- tenberg, that a few fanatical fellows had pulled down more in a short space than all they could build up again in twenty years. The de\al is always busy, and it is no small labour to earth that fox. The plant which we would have thrive must be often watered. The apostles did visit to confirm and comfort, because that was a time of persecution. Our mischief is intes- tine : Pax a paganis, imx ah hcereticis, mdla 'pax d, falsis jilUs. Let but Moses turn his back, and ascend the mount, to be Israel's lieger with God, the people presently speak of making a calf He went but on their embas- sage to their Maker : yet, as if they had seen him take his heels and run into the wilderness, is no sooner vanished out of their sight, than out of their mind, and they fall to idolatry. Our churches are not like Irish timber , if they be not continually swept, there will be spiders and cobwebs. If the servants sleep, the master's field is not privileged from tares. Therefore to prevent dangers, and to heal diseases, frequent visitation is necessary for the church of Christ, 4, The moderation, or seasonableness of it : 'after certain days,' Exassidui- tate vilitas; that which is too common becomes cheap, and loseth credit. Due respirations are requisite in the holiest acts. God is so favourable to liis creatures, that he requires them not to be overtoiled in the works of his own service. When the temple was a-preparing, the thirty thousand work- men wi'ought not continuedly, but with intermission, 1 Kings v. 14. One month they were in Lebanon, and two at home ; so their labour was more generous and less burdensome. Ever ten thousand did work, while twenty thousand breathed. The mind that is overlaid with business grows dull and heavy; over-lavish expense of spirits leaves it heartless. The best horse ■will tire soonest, if the reins lie loose on his neck. Perfection comes by leisure, and no excellent thing is done at once. The gourd, which came up in a night, withered in a day; but the plants that live long rise slowly. It is the rising and setting of many suns that ripens the business both of nature and art. Who would not rather choose many competent meals than buy the gluttony of one day with the fast of a whole week ? Therefore the 270 A VISITATION SEEMON. [SeEMON XLI. reverend fathers of the church observe their due times of visiting ; and par- ticular pastors have theu- set days of feeding. He is an ill fisher that never ^ mends his net ; a bad mower that never whets his scythe. There be some so mad of hearing, that, as if their preacher had ribs of iron, and a spirit of angelical nature, they will not suffer him to breathe ; but are as impatient of such a pause as Saul was of David's sickness : 'Bring him to me in the bed, that I may slay him,' 1 Sam. xix. 15, Such, and no more, is their pity to their minister. Bring him though he lie sick in his bed ; spare him not, though his heat and heart be spent. And if he satisfy not their unseasonable, unreasonable desires, they exclaim and break out into bitter invectives against us : not unlike the Chinese, that whip their gods when they do not answer them. Such misgoverned feeders should be stinted to their measure, as the Israelites were to an omer. God will never thank us for killing om-selves to humour our hearers. 5. The extent, or latitude of it : ' in every city.' First, such was their favour and indulgence, they went to every city ; not summoned every city to appear before them. Our grave diocesans do follow the blessed apostles in this step : they visit us in our several deaneries and divisions, without com- pellmg the remote dwellers to travel unto their consistories. Again, ' in every city : ' such was their impartial justice, and most equal love to all ; the greatest were not exempted from their jurisdiction, nor the least neglected of their compassion. The holiest congregations may be blemished with some malefactors, Rome, and Corinth, and Ephesus, though they were all famous cities, had no less need of apostles for their visitants than they had for their founders. Three traitors kindle a fire, two hundred and fifty captains bring sticks to it, and all Israel is ready to warm them- selves at it, Num. xvi. It was happy for Israel when they had but one Achan, Josh, vii. ; and yet that one Achan was enough to make them un- happy. The innocence of so many thousands was not so forcible to excuse his one sin, as his one sin was to taint aU the people. One evil man may kindle that fire which the whole world cannot quench. Shall Jeroboam be an idolater alone ? No ; he can no sooner set up his calves, but his subjects, like beasts, are presently down on their knees. Where stands that Utopia, that city which is in so good case that it need not be visited ? Sin doth multiply so fast that the poor preacher cannot outpreach it ; yea, it is weU if the bishop himself, with all his authority, can suppress it. We cannot say always whence these evils come, but we are sure they are. You have perad venture heard or seen a motion, a puppet-play; how the little idols leap, and move, and rmi strangely up and down. We know it is not of themselves ; but there is a fellow behind which we see not, it is he that doth the feat. We see in our parishes strange motions : a drunken companion bearding his minister, a contentious incendiary vexing him with actions and slanders ; an obstinate Papist carries away his recusancy, scorns the preacher, seduceth the people : this is a strange kind of puppet-play; but God knows who it is behind the curtam that gives them their motion ; only we are sure they cannot thus move themselves. There are many meetings, and much ado, as if sin should be punished : a jury is empannelled, a sore charge is given ; the drunkard shall be made an example. Good-ale shall be talked with, whoredom shall be whipped, and all shall be well. We look for present reformation; but it commonly proves like the juggler's feast in Suidas : a table furnished with all manner of dainties in show, whereof when they came to taste, they found nothing but air. But I pass from the ex- tent, to — Acts XV. 36.] a visitation sermon. 271 6. The limitation, or restraint of it : ' where we have preached the word of the Lord.' Not every city, but every city and place that hath received the word of instruction. No visiting a garden but where some seeds have been planted ; that which is aU weeds is left to a higher visitation : ' God shall judge them that are without,' 1 Cor. v. 13. One would think that the word of God were so prevailing, that it should beat down enormities faster than Satan can raise them. But we find, by miserable experience, that even in those cities where the gospel hath abounded, sin hath superabounded; and that this glorious sun hath not dispelled and overcome all those fogs and mists that have surged from heU. But if the sun cause a stench, it is a sign there is some dunghUl nigh ; let it reflect upon a bed of roses, there is all sweetness. Shall we lay the blame upon the preachers? That were unjust in omr own consciences. What city in the world is so rich in her spiritual provision as this ? Some whole countries within the Christian pale have not so many learned and painful pastors as be within these walls and liberties. It looks like the firmament in a clear night, bespangled with refulgent stars of differ- ent magnitude, but all yielding comfortable light ' to guide our feet in the way of peace.' The church in Constantinople, wherein Nazianzen preached, was called avasraata, the Resurrection Church, in respect of the great concourse and assembly of people. Most churches in this city may well bear that name. Where is the fault then ? I could happUy tell you of some causes : the great profanation of God's Sabbath, the perfunctory hearing of his sacred word, the cages of im clean birds, brothels and drinking-schools, the negli- gence of the secular magistrate, the exemplary corruption of rulers, the sinful indulgence of parents and masters in then- families, when the mouths of their children and servants be filled with uncorrected oaths and blasphe- mies. Oh that we might see an end of these things before we see an end of all things ! The last point is — 7. The intent, or end of all : ' to see how they do.' First, to see how the pastors do whom they had set over particular congregations. The apostles had been careful in their first election ; and good reason : ' Lay hands sud- denly on no man,' saith St Paul. There is a story in the legend, how a bishop devoted to the service of Our Lady, in the agony of death, prayed her to be his mediator, as he had been her chaplain. To whom she an- swered, that for his other sins she had obtained pardon, but his rash imposi- tion of hands was a case which her Son would reserve to himself. But some that were fit in the choice, may prove unworthy in the progress : therefore must be visited, to ' see how they do.' For if the physician be sick, what shall become of his patients ? Certainly a minister's life is fuU of honour here, and hereafter too ; so it is fall of danger here, and hereafter too. Oh, what an honour it is to labour in God's harvest, to be an ambassador from Christ, to remit and retain sins, to dress and lead the bride, to sit on thrones and judge the nations ! Again, what a danger is it to answer for souls lost by our silence, to be guilty of blood by either teaching or living amiss ! For howsoever the doctrine itself be the light, yet the preacher's life is the lantern that carries it, and keeps it from blowing out ; and it is an easier defect to want Latin or learning than to want honesty and discretion. God hath given us the keys ; but if they rust upon our hands, whether through foul carriage or want of use, they will but serve to lock ourselves out of doors. Therefore we must submit to a visitation. ' How they do.' What ! must it be examined what store of souls they have converted ? No, it is the measure, not the success, that God looks to. 272 A VISITATION SEKMON, [SeRMON XLL fSt Paul himself doth not say, Plus prof id omnibus, — I did more good than the rest ; but, Plus laboravi omnibus, — I took more pains than the rest. ' I laboured more abundantly than they all,' 1 Cor. xv. 10. Our reward shall ])e ' according to our works,' not according to the fruit of our works. And our labour, however fruitless among men, ' shall not be in vain in the Lord,' ver. 59i. It was the complaint of a great prophet, ' I have laboured in vain, and spent my strength for nought ; yet my reward is with the Lord,' Isa. xlix. 4. Though we cannot save you, yet our desire and endeavour to do it shall save ourselves. We give God what we have, he asks us no more : this is enough to honour him and reward us. ' How they do.' What ! how they thrive in their temporals, what riches or preferments be given them ? No, as this is none of our ambition, so it is none of our luck or portion. Men suck our milk, like mules, and then kick us with their heels. Cominseus says, he that would be a favourite must not have a hard name, that so he might be easily remembered when promotions are a-dealing. It seems that preachers have hard names, for none remember them in the point of benefit. The world regards them as poor folks do their children, they would be loath to have any more of them, because they are troubled to maintain them they have. In Jeroboam's time the lowest of the people were made priests, and now priests are made the lowest of the people. A layman, like a mathematical line, runs on ad infinitum; only the preacher is bound to his competency, yea, and defrauded of that. But let all prefer- ments go ; so long as we can find preferment in your consciences, and be the instruments of your salvation, we are content. ' How they do.' Not only the pastors, but even all the brethren ; their errors must also be looked into. St Paul mentions the house of Chloe, 1 Cor. i. 11, 'It hath been declared to me, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions and faults among you ;' from thence he had information of their disorders. Answerable to which, we have church- wardens, they are the house of Chloe, bound by oath to present misde- meanours, that sins may have their just censure. Let them on the one side take heed of spleen, that they do nothing maliciously. So their accusation may be just, and their affection unjust ; and in doing that they shall sin, which they had sinned in not doing. Ille dat poenam, tic amisisti laudem. On the other side, of connivance and partiality; for there is an Omnia bene that swaUows all vanities. Drunkenness, uncleanness, swearing, profanation of the Sabbath, go abroad all the year, and when the visitation comes, they are locked up with an Omnia bene. This is not that charity that ' covereth sin,' but a miserable indulgence that cherisheth sin. In the creation there was an Omnia bene ; God reviewed all his works, and they were ' exceeding good.' In our redemption there was an Omnia hene; he hath done all things well, he hath made the blind to see, and the lame to go ; a just confession and applause. Here was an Omnia bene in- deed, but there never was an Omnia bene since. Let there be therefore a visitation with the rod, lest God come to visit with fire. God hath a fourfold visitation : — 1. A visitation of grace and mercy : Visitavit et redemit, — ' He hath visited and redeemed his people,' Luke i. 68. He came not only to see us, but to save us: not only to live among us, but to die for us. So Paul applies that of the psalm, ' What is man, that thou art mindful of him 1 and the son of man, that thou visitest him?' Heb. ii. G. The time wherein Jerusalem heard the oracles, and saw the miracles of our blessed Saviour, is called ' the day of her visitation.' 2. A visitation of pity and compassion: so when God relieved Sarah'3 Acts XV. 36.] a visitation sermon. 273 barrenness, he is said to ' visit her,' Gen. xxi. 1 . Thus he did visit Job in his sickness: 'Thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.' This duty he com- mends to us for true religion indeed : ' Pure religion and undefiled before God is, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction,' James i. 27. To these works he promiseth the kingdom of heaven : ' You have visited me when I was sick, or in prison ; therefore come, ye blessed,' Matt. xxv. 43. 3. A visitation of severity and correction ; so Job calls his trial a visita- tion. Job vii. 18, and we call the pestilence, God's visitation. This he threatened even to the offenders of the house of David : ' I ^vill visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes,' Ps. Ixxxix. 32, This visitation is not without mercy; yea, it is an argument of mercy ; for when God refuseth to visit, that is the sorest visitation of all. Therefore we pray, * Look down from heaven, O Lord; behold, and visit thy vine,' Ps. Ixxx. 1 4. 4. Lastly, a visitation of wTath and fury : * Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? ShaU not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this V Jer. v. 29. So he visited Egypt, when he slew their first- born ; the old world, when he drowned it ; Sodom, when he burned it : 'I will go down and see.' Thus shall he one day visit the wicked, and with fire and brimstone, and a horribly tempest : this shall be the portion of their cup. God's visitation cannot be eluded or avoided ; there will be no appealing to a higher court, no revoking by prohibitions, no hiding from the cen- sure, no corrupting the judge, no answering the matter by proxy, no com- muting the penalty ; no preventing, but either by living innocent, or dying penitent. Therefore let us all visit ourselves, that we may save God the labour. This is a duty to which we are all naturally backward : like elephants that choose troubled waters, and refuse to drink in clear springs, for fear of see- ing their own deformities. Our unthrifts, that are run so far in arrearages, they are loath to hear of a reckoning. Or, it may be, we have chiding con- sciences ; and then, like those that are troubled with curst and scolding wives at home, love to be rambling abroad. But it is better to have our wounds searched while they are green, than to have our limbs cut off for being festered. Descend we, then, into the depth and corners of our own hearts, let us begin our visitation there ; mortifying all our rebellious lusts, and subduing our affections to the will of our Maker. So only shall we pass clear and uncondemned by the great Bishop of our souls, Jesus Christ. I have done : Deo gloria, vobis gratia, mihi venia. Amen. VOL. II. THE THREE DIVINE SISTERS: FAITH, HOPE, AND CHAEITT. Now abideth faith, liope, charity, these three ; hut the greatest oftJiese is charity.— I Cor. XIII. 13. When those three goddesses, say the poets, strove for the golden ball, Paria adjudged it to the queen of Love. Here are three celestial graces, in a holy emulation, if I may so s^Deak, striving for the chiefdom ; and our Apostle gives it to love. ' The greatest of these is charity.' Not that other daughters are black, but that Charity excels in beauty. We may say of this sister, as it was said of the good woman, ' Many daugh- ters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all,' Pro v. xxxi. 29. Paul doth not disparage any when he saith, ' Charity is the greatest.' All stars are bright, though ^ one star may differ from another in glory,' 1 Cor. xv. We may say of graces, as of the captains of the sons of Gad, ' The least a hundred, the greatest a thousand;' or as the song was of Saul and David: SSaul hath slain his thousands, David his ten thousands.' Faith is excellent, so is hope ; but ' the greatest of these is charity.' Methinks these three theological virtues may not unfitly be compared to three great feasts which we celebrate in the year — Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas. Faith, like Easter, believes Christ dead for our sins, and risen again for our justification ; Hope, like Pentecost, waits for the coming of the Holy Ghost, God's free Spirit of grace, to come into us, and to bring us to heaven ; and Charity looks like Christmas, full of love to our neighbours, full of hospitaUty and mercy to the poor. These are three strings often touched : faith, whereby we beheve aU God's promises to be true, and ours; hope, whereby we wait for them with patience ; charity, whereby we testify what we believe and hope. He that hath faith cannot distrust ; he that hath hope cannot be put from anchor ; he that hath charity will not lead a licentious life, for ' love keeps the com- mandments.' For method's sake, we might first confer them all, then prefer one. But I will sjDeak of them according to the three degrees of comparison : — I. Posi- tively ; II, Comparatively ; III. Superlatively : ' the greatest of these is charity.' Under which method we have involved — 1. Their order, how they 1 Cor. XIII. 13.] the three divine sisters. 27.5 are ranked; 2. Their nature, how they are defined; 3. Their distinction, how they are differenced ; 4. Their number, how many are specified ; 5. Their conference, how they are compared; 6. Lastly, their dignity, and therein how far one is preferred. I. Faith is that grace which makes Christ ours, and all his benefits. God gives it : ' Faith is given by the Spirit,' 1 Cor. xii. 9. By the word preached : ' Faith cometh by hearing,' Rom. x. 1 7. For Christ's sake : ' To you it is given for Christ's sake, to believe in his name,' Phil. i. 29. This virtue is no sooner given of God, but it gives God. So soon as thou believest, Christ is thine, and all his : ' For he that gives us Christ will also with him give us all things,' Rom. viii. 32. 'Without this it is impossible to please God,' Heb. xi. 6. Let us not otherwise dare to come into his presence. There is nothing but wrath in him, for sin in us. Joseph charged his brethren that they should come no more in his sight, unless they brought Benjamin with them. We come at our peril into God's presence if we leave his beloved Benjamin, our dear Jesus, behind us. When the philosopher heard of the enraged emperor's menace, that the next time he saw him he would kill him, he took up the emperor's little son in his arms, and saluted him with a Potesne, ' Thou canst not now strike me.' God is angry with every man for his sins. Happy is he that can catch up his Son Jesus ; for in whose arms soever the Lord sees his Son, he will spare him. The men of Tyre were fain to intercede to Herod by Blastus, Acts xii. 20. Our intercession to God is made by a higher and surer way ; not by his servant, but by his Son. Now tliis Mediator is not had without a medium — faith. Fides 7nedmm, d quo remedium; faith is that means Avhereby we lay hold on this Christ. Ditfidence shall never have Jesus for its advocate ; though every man may say, ' I believe ; Lord, help my unbelief.' St Paul useth one word that very significantly expresseth faith, calling it 'the evidence of things not seen,' Heb. xi. 1. Fides est credere quod non vides ; cujus merces est videre qtiod credis, — Faith is to believe what thou seest not ; whose reward is to see what thou believest. Now the metaphor may be explained thus : — (1.) Christ dying made a will or a testament, sealing it with his own blood, wherein he bequeathed a certain legacy of inheritance to his brethren with himself : ' Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am ; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me,' John xvii. 24. This is the substance of his will and testament. (2.) The conveyance of this will is the gospel : ' Whosoever believes, and is baptized, shall be saved.' A large patent, a free and full grant. There is no exception of persons, either in regard of state, quality, or country : * There is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female : for ye are all one in Christ Jesus,' Gal. iii. 28. The conveyance is of an ample latitude. (3.) The executor or administrator of this will, if I may so speak, is the Holy Ghost, that Comforter which Christ promised to ' send, that should lead us into all truth,' John xiv. 1 G. This Spirit begets ftiith and sanctification in our hearts, puts ' Abba ' into our mouths, applies the merits of our Saviour to our souls, and indeed ' seals us up to the day of redemption,' Eph. iv. 30. Without his assistance we could appropriate no comfort by his will, nor challenge any legacy therein bequeathed. (4.) Lastly, The e\idence whereby every particular man apportions to himself his title and interest, is his faith. Thou, unregenerate soul, pleadcst 276 THE THREE DIVINE SISTERS. [SeEMON XLII. a legacy in this wUl. Go to, let us join issue, and come to trial. Where is thy evidence ? Here it is ; my faith. This evidence, as all other, must have some witnesses. Produce thine ; and before the bar of the great Chief Justice, the King's Bench of heaven, let them not lie. The first is thy conscience. Alas ! give this leave to speak without inter- ruption, and one day it shall not flatter thee. This saith, thy evidence is false and counterfeit, forged by a wretched scrivener, flesh and blood ; for thy heart trusts in uncertainly good riches, or in certainly bad vanities, more than in the living God. The next is thy life. Alas ! this is so speckled with sins, so raw and sore with lusts, that as a body broken out into blains and boUs argues a corrupted liver or stomach within, so the spots and ulcers of thy life de- monstrate a putrefied heart. Lo, now thy witnesses. Thou art gone at the common law of justice ; it is only the chancery of mercy that must clear thee. What wUt thou now do 1 What, but humble thyself in recompense for thy false faith ; take prayer in thy company, for pardon of former errors ; go by the word preached : for the minister is, as it were, the register to en- gross the deed ; and desire God on the humble knees of thy soul, to give thee a new and a true evidence 1 Let this instnict us to some uses. Use 1. — Be sure that thy evidence is good. Satan is a subtle lawyer (and thou dost not doubt of his malice,) and will soon pick holes in it ; find out tricks and cavils agaiast it. He will winnow and sift thee, gram after grain : take heed, lest thou run not all to chaff. There is a faith of saints : ' Now live not I, but Christ liveth in me : and the life that I live, I live by the faith of the Son of God,' Gal. ii. 20. And there is a faith of devils : ' Thou believest; thou doest well : the devils believe, and tremble,' James ii. 19. There is a faith which cannot perish : ' Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish,' John iii. 15. And there is a faith that in the time of temptation falls away. The rocky ground receives the word, and for a while believeth, but in the time of temptation falls away, Luke xm. 13. There is a faith which the world overcometh ; such was the faith of Demas. And there is a faith that overcometh the world : ' This is the victory whereby we overcome the world, even our faith,' 1 John v. 4. There is a dead, idle, and infruc- tuous faith, James ii. 14; and there is a lively, active, working faith : ' Faith worketh by love,' Gal. v. 6. Be sure, then, that thy faith vnH endure the touch, even the fiery trial. Use 2. — Do not lose such a legacy as Christ hath bequeathed, for want oi faith. Glorious is the inheritance ; but where is thy evidence ? Flatter not thy soul with, hope of this possession, vrithout the assurance of faith, ' Christ gives his life for his sheep.' What is this to thee that art a wolf, a swine, a goat ? God dresseth his vineyard, pruneth it, is provident over it. What is this to thee that art a thorn, and no branch of the vine ? Look thou to be weeded up, and thrown out. The blood of Christ runs fresh ; but where is thy pipe of faith to derive it from his side to thy conscience ? Say it should shower mercy, yet if thou wantest faith, aU would fall besides thee. There would be no more favour for thee than if there was no Saviour. Let, then, no miseries of earth, much less pleasures, quench thy faith. Satan seeing this spark of fire kindled in thy heart, woiJd blow it out with storms, or work thee to smother it thyself with vanities, or to rake it up in the dead embers of cold security. But believe against sight and sense ; as David prophesied that he should be a king. Eo 2^lus hahet fides menti, quo minus argumenti, — Faith shall have so much the more recompense, as it had the less argument to induce it. 1 Cor. XIII. 13.] the three divine sisters. 277 Hope is the sweetest friend that ever kept a distressed soul company ; it beguiles the tcdiousness of the way, aU the miseries of our pUgiimage. ' Jam mala finissem letho ; sed credula vitam Spes fovet, et melius eras fore semper ait.' Therefore, Dum spiro spei'o, said the heathen ; but, Dum exspiro spero, says the Christian. The one, Whilst I live, I hope ; the other also. When I die, I hope : so Job, ' I wdll hope in thee though thou killest me.' It tells the soul such sweet stories of the succeeding joys ; what comforts there be in heaven ; what peace, what joy, what triumphs, marriage-songs, and hallelujahs there are in that country whither she is travelling, that she goes merrily away with her present burden. It holds the head whilst it aches, and gives invisible drink to the thirsty conscience. It is a liberty to them that are in prison, and the sweetest physic to the sick. St Paul calls it an anchor, Heb. vL 19. Let the winds blow, and the storms beat, and the waves swell, yet the anchor stays the ship. It breaks through aU difficulties, and makes way for the soul to fol- low it. It teacheth Abraham to expect fruit from a withered stock ; and Joseph in a dungeon, to look for the sun and stars' obeisance. It counsels a man, as Esdras did the woman who, having lost her son, would needs die languishing in the disconsolate fields : ' Go thy way into the city to thine husband,' 2 Esd. x. 17. Mourn not, wretch, for the loss of some worldly and perishing dehght : sit not down and die, though the fruit of thy womb be swallowed into the earth ; but go home to the city, the city of mercy, to thine husband, even thy husband Jesus Christ ; let him comfort thee. This is the voice of Hope. Though misery be present, comfort absent, though through the dim and waterish humour of thy heart, thou canst spy no deliverance, yet such is the nature of hope, that futioxi facta elicit, — it speaks of future things as if they were present : ' We are saved by hope,' Eom. viii. 24. Yet, sic literati, ut adhuc speranda sit hcereditas, vostea possidenda. Nunc hahemus jus ad rem, nonduvi in re, — We have our inheritance in hope ; which gives us the right of the substance, though not the substance of the right ; assurance of the possession, though not possession of the thing assured. This tells us, that nemo valde dolebit et diu, — no man should grieve much and long ; God making our misery atit tolerahilem, aut hrevem, — either sufferable or short. These are the comforts of hope. Now, that you may not be deceived, there is (as I said before of faith) a thing like hope, which is not it. There is a bold and presumptuous hope, an ignorant security and un- grounded persuasion, the very illusion of the devil, who, when he cannot prevail with downright evil, cozens with the shadows of goodness : that how wickedly and wretchedly soever a man shall live, though he furs himself warm with poor men's hearts, though he forbids his brains (as on covenant) one sober hour in the year to think of heaven, though he thirst for carouses of blood, though he strives to powder a whole kingdom with the corns of death and massacre, though he carries half-a-dozen impropriate churches on his sacrilegious back, though he out-thunder heaven with blasphemies, though he trample under his profane foot the precious blood of God's Son ; yet still he hopes to be saved by the mercy of God. But we will sooner cast pearls to swine, and bread to dogs, than the comforts of Zion to such. We say not, '' Rejoice and tremlile,' but tremble without rejoicing. We sing not to them, 'With the Lord is mercy, that he might be feared;' but with the Lord is judgment and vengeance; with him is plague and pestilence, 278 THE THREE DIVINE SISTERS. [SeRMON XLII. storm and tempest, horror and anguish, indignation and wrath, that he may be feared. Against this hope we shut up the bosom of consolation, and the promise of safety by the merits of Christ ; and so far as we are charged, the very gates of everlasting life. There is a hope, sober, faithful, well-grounded, well-guarded, well-assured. This is like a house built on a rock. The rock is God's promised mercy; the building, hope in Christ : it is, as it were, moated or entrenched about with his blood by the sweet testimony of God's Spirit to the conscience : known by the charity of the inhabitants ; for it keeps bread for the hungry, clothes for the naked, entertainment for strangers. To this hope we open the doors of the kingdom of heaven ; and so far as the commission of the keys lead us, we unlock the gates of eternal life, and allow entrance. We call this ' the blessed hope.' Charity is an excellent virtue, and therefore rare ; if ever in this con- tentious age, wherein fratrum quoque gratia rara est, the unfeigned love of brothers is strange. Woe is me ! before I am come to define what love is, I am fallen into a declamation against the want of it. What is here chiefly commended is chiefly contemned, as if we had no need of mutual succour, nor could spare a room in our hearts to entertain charity, lest we should expel our old loved guests, fraud, malice, and ambition. Love hath two proper objects — the one, immediate and principal; the other, mediate and limited. The proper and immediate object of our love is God. This is the great commandment, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength.' As if he would not leave out the least sinew or string of the heart, the least faculty or power of the soul, the least organ or action of the strength. So Bernard : ' With all the heart,' that is, affectionately; 'with all thy soul,' that is, wisely; 'with all thy strength,' that is, constantly. Let the zeal of thy heart inflame thy love to God ; let the wisdom of thy soul guide it ; let the strength of thy might confirm it. AU the afi"ections of the heart, all the election of the soul, all the administration of the body. The soul judgeth, the wiU prosecutes, the strength executes. God can brook no rivals ; no division betwixt him and Mammon, betwixt him and Melchom, betwixt him and Baal, betwixt him and Belial. Causa diligendi Deiim Deus est, modus sine modo, — The cause and motive to love God, is God; the manner is without measure. Minus amat te, qui aliquid amat lyrceter te, quod non amat ijroptm' te, — He poorly loves God, that loves anything besides him, which he doth not love for him. The subordinate object of love is man, and his love is the effect of the former cause, and an actual demonstration of the other inward affection. Waters coming from the sea boil through the veins of the earth till they become springs, and those springs rivers, and those rivers run back to the sea again. All man's love must be carried in the stream of God's love. Blessed is he that loves amicum in Domino, inimicum j)ro Domino, — his friend in the Lord, his enemy for the Lord. * Owe nothing to any man, but this, that ye love one another,' Kom. xiii. 8. Other debts, once truly paid, are no more due ; but this debt, the more we pay it, the more we owe it ; and we still do acknowledge ourselves debtors to all, when we are clear with all : proverbially, ' I owe him nothing but love.' The communication of this riches doth not impoverish the proprietary; the more he spends of his stock, the more he hath : 'There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth,' Pro v. xi. 24. But he that wUl hoard the treasure of his charity shall grow poor, empty, and bank- nipt : ' There is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth unto 1 Cor. XIII 13.] the three divine sisters, 279 poverty.' Love is the abridgment of the law, the new precept of the gospel. Luther calls it the shortest and the longest divinity : short, for the form of words; long, yea, everlasting, for the use and practice; for 'charity shall never cease.' II. Thus for the first degree of comparison, positively. The second is comparative ; where, though it be said virtues and great men must not be compared, yet we may without offence bring them to a holy conference ; else how shall we perceive the Apostle's intended scope, the transcendency of charity ? I will therefore first confer faith with hope, and then with them both, charity. 1. The distinction between faith and hope is nice, and must warily be dis- covered. I will reduce the differences into three respects, of order, oflBce, and object : — For order : Paul gives faith the precedency. ' Faith is the ground of things hoped for,' Heb. xi. Faith always goes before ; hope follows after, and may in some sort be said to be the daughter of faitk For it is as impossible for a man to hope for that which he believes not, as for a painter to draw a pic- ture in the air. Indeed, more is believed than is hoped for; but nothing is hoped for which is not believed. So that on necessity, in respect of order, faith must precede hope. For ojice : faith is the Christian's logic ; hope his rhetoric. Faith per- ceives what is to be done, hope gives alacrity to the doing it. Faith guides, adviseth, rectifieth ; hope courageously encounters with all adversaries.* Therefore faith is compared to a doctor in the schools, hope to a captain in the wars.t Faith discerns the truth, hope fights against impatience, heavi- ness of spirit, infirmity, dejectedness, desperation. Divines have alluded the difference between faith and hope in divinity to that between wisdom and valour in philosophy. Valour without wisdom is rashness, wisdom without valour is cowardice. Faith without hope is knowledge without valour to resist Satan ; hope without faith is rash presumption, and an undiscreet dar- ing ; you see their different office. For object : faith's object is the absolute word and infallible promise of God ; hope's object is the thing promised. Fides intuetur verhuin rei, spes vero rem verhi, — Faith looks to the word of the thing, hope to the thing of the word. So that faith hath for its object the truth of God ; hope, the goodness of God. Faith is of things both good and bad, hope of good things only. A man believes there is a hell, as truly as he believes there is a heaven ; but he fears the one, and hopes only for the other. Faith hath objected to it things past, present, future. Past, it believes Christ dead for our sins, and risen again for our justification. Present, that he now sits at the right hand of his Father in heaven. Future, that he shall come to judge quick and dead. Hope only respects and expects things to come. For a man cannot hope for that wkLch he hath. You see how in some sense hope excels faith. For there is a faith in the devils ; they believe the truth of God, the certainty of the Scriptures ; they acknowledge Christ the Judge of quick and dead ; therefore cry, ' Why tormentest thou us before the time ?' They have faith joined with a Popish preparatory good work, fear ; ' the devils believe and tremble :' yea, they pray, they beseech Christ not to send them into the deeps ; what then want they? Hope, a confident expectation of the mercy of God ; this they can never have. They believe ; they cannot hope. This is the life of Christians, and the want makes devils. If it were not for this hope, ' we of all men were most miserable,' 1 Cor. xv. 19. * Alsted System. Theolog., lib. iil, loc. 17. + Aug. 280 THE THREE DIVINE SISTEES. [SeEMON XLII. 2. Charity differs from them both. These three divine graces are a created trinity; and have some glimmering resemblance of the Trinity uncreate. For as there the Son is begotten of the Father, and the Holy Ghost pro- ceeds from them both ; so here, a true faith begets a constant hope, and from them proceeds charity. ' Thus is God's temple built in our hearts,' saith Augustine : the foundation whereof is faith ; hope the erection of the walls ; charity the perfection of the roof. In the godly all these three are united together, and cannot be simdered. We believe in God's mercy, we hope for his mercy, and we love him for his mercy. Faith says, there are good things prepared : hope says, they are pre- pared for me : charity says, I endeavour to walk worthy of them. So that, what good faith believes shall be, hope expects for herself, and charity aims at the Avay to get it, by ' keeping the commandments.' Faith apprehends both reward and punishment ; hope only looks for good things for ourselves ; charity desires the glory of God, and the good of all our brethren. III. The second degree gives way to the third, last, best : the superlative. * But the greatest of these is charity.' Time will not afford me to answer all the objections which subtle wits have ignorantly deduced from these words. Neither were it to other purpose than to write Iliads after Homer, they have been so soundly and satisfyingly answered. I will only mention two, and but report a responsive solution. Object. 1. — The principal promises are made to believers: 'Whosoever believes, and is baptized, shall be saved.' So no less a promise is made to lovers : ' All things shall work together for the best to those that love God,' &c., Kom. viii. 28. ' God,' saith the Psalmist, ' is near to those that call upon him.' He is close by all those that suffer for him ; but he is within those that love him. Here is prope, intra, intiis. This same intra, within, is of the highest degree. ' God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dweU- eth in God, and God in him,' 1 John iv. 17. O unspeakable felicity ! Object. 2. — If charity be greater than faith, then is not man justified by faith only. Inconsequent illation ! St Paul commends not love for the virtue of justification : it may fail in that particular action, yet receive no impeach- ment to the excellency of it. By demonstration: A prince doth excel a peasant : shall any man therefore infer that he can plough better, or have more skUl in tUlage ? A philosopher doth excel a mechanic, though he can- not grind so well as a mUler, or limn so cunningly as a painter. A man is better than a beast : who but a madman will therefore conclude that he can run faster than a horse, draw more than an ox, or carry a greater burden than an elephant ? Though he faU in these particular acts, yet none wUl deny but he is better than a beast. The truth is, that in faith stands originally our fellowship with God. Into that^hand he poureth the riches of his mercy for salvation ; and were the actions of charity never so great and (foolishly thought) meritorious, yet, if not the eftects of a true saving faith, they are lost, and a man may for his charity go to the devil And though they would plead from the form of the last judgment (Matt, xxv.) that God accepts men to life for their deeds of charity, feeding, clothing, relieving ; yet the Scripture fully testifies, that God neither accepts these, nor ourselves for these, further than they are the effects of a true faith. Our persons being first justified by faith in Christ, then God will crown our works. Yet a Christian must work : for no nudi- fidian, as well as no nvdlifidian, shall be admitted into heaven. ' Therefore,' saith the apostle, ' faith worketh by love,' Gal. v. 6. For faith is able to justify of itself, not to work of itself. The hand alone can receive an alms, 1 COE. XUL 13.] THE THREE DIVINE SISTEES. 281 but cannot cut a piece of wood without an axe or some instrument. Faith is the Christian's hand, and can without help receive God's given grace into the heart ; but to produce the fruits of obedience, and to work the actual duties required, it must have an instrument : add love to it, and it worketh by love. So that the one is our justification before God, and the other our testification before men. Their number is considerable ; these three, neither more nor less. "Why not two 1 as there be two parts in man, his understanding and will : to direct these two, is sufficient to salvation. By faith the understanding is kept safe ; by charity, the will : what needed then the mention of hope ? Yes, hope is the daughter of faith, and the mother of charity; and as man hath an understanding to be informed, and a will to be rectified, so he hath a heart to be comforted, which is the proper office of hope. But why, then, speaks he of no more than three ? St Peter mentions eight together, 2 Pet. i. 6 ; and St Paul himself, in another place, puts in nine, Gal. v. 22. Why are all these left out in this glorious catalogue ? Is it enough to have these three and no more 1 Are the rest superfluous, and may well be spared ? Nothing so ; but all those virtues are comprehended under these three : as to the trade of a stationer, some are required to print, some to correct, some to fold, others to bind, and others to garnish ; yet all belongs to one trade. There be many rays, and but one sun ; there is heat and Light in one fire. So aU those graces may be reduced to these three principals, as we read 1 Thess. i. 3, the work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope ; temperance, patience, godliness, &c., are all ser- vants to these three great princes, faith, hope, and charity. rV. Lastly, for the prelation. Wherein consisteth this high transcendency of charity? In six privileges : — 1. For latitude, love is the greatest. Faith and hope are restrained with- in the limits of our particular persons. ' The just man lives by his own faith,' and hopes good to himself ; but love is like the vine which ' God brought out of Egypt, and cast out the heathen to plant it, which covereth the mountains with the shadow of its boughs, and spreads its branches unto the sea and the rivers,' Ps. Ixxx. 8. It is like the sun in the sky, that throws his comfortable beams upon aU, and forbears not to warm even that earth that beareth weeds. Love extends to earth and heaven. In heaven it aftecteth God, the Maker and mover; the angels, as our guardians; the triumphant saints, for their pious sanctity. On earth, it embraceth those that fear the Lord especially; it wisheth conversion to those that do not; it counsels the rich; it comforts the poor; it reverenceth superiors, respecteth inferiors; doth good to friends, no evil to foes; wisheth well to all. Tliis is the latitude of charity. Faith hath but narrow limits, but the extent of love is universal, not bounded with the world. Faith believes for thyself, but charity derives and drives the effects of thy faith to others. Thy fiiith re- lieves thyself, thy charity thy brother. 2. For perpetuity and continuance. Faith lays hold on God's gracious promise for everlasting salvation; hope expects this with patience; but when God shall fulfil his word, and us with joy, then faith shall be at an end, hope at an end, but love shall remain between God and us an everlasting bond. Therefore, saith the Apostle, ' now abideth faith,' &c. Noio : now three, then one, and that is charity. When we have possession of those pleasures which we hoped and believed, what longer use is there of faith or hope ? But our loves shall not end with our lives. We shall everlastingly love our Maker, Saviour, Sanctifier, angels, and saints ; where no discontent shall 282 THE THKEE DIVINE SISTERS. [SeEMON XLIL breed any jar in our hallelujalis. If the use of love be so comfortable on earth, what may we think it will be in heaven ? Thus saith Chrysostom : ' Only love is eternal.' Now, faith and hope hold up the hands of charity, as Aaron and Hur held up the hands of Moses ; but then their use and office shall cease. Tunc non erit s})€s, quando erit spes, — Hope shall not be when the thing hoped is. Hope shall bring in possession, possession shall thrust out hope. Therefore, saith Augustine, is charity greater, etsi non propter eminentiam, tamen propter permanentiam, — if not for the excellency, yet for the perpetuity. Thus to justify a man, faith is greater ; but in a man justified, charity is greater. Let faith alone with the great work of our salvation ; but that finished, it shall end, and so yield superiority to love, which shaU endure for ever. 3. For the honour and likeness it hath unto God. Faith and hope make not a man like God, but charity doth. He neither can be said to believe nor to hope ; but we know he loves, yea, he is love. 4. In respect of its titles, charity exceUeth, It is novum onandcttum, the new commandment : faith was never called so. It is vincidum perfec- tionis, the bond of perfection : faith is not so termed ; thy faith oiily ties thyself to God, but love binds up all in one bundle of peace. It is impletio legis, the fulfilling of the law : where hath faith such a title ? St Am- brose, on the funeral of Theodosius, observes, that he died with these words in his mouth, Dilexi, dilexi, which he conceived to be his answer to the angels asking him how he had behaved himself in his empire, — I have loved, I have loved ; that was enough. 5. Charity is more noble, for it is a better thing to give than to receive. Faith and hope are all of the taking hand, but charity gives. If faith gives glory to God, yet this is but his own, an acknowledgment of that to be his which is his. The property of faith is to receive into itself ; the property of love to lay out itself to others. 6. For manifestation. Faith and hope are things unseen, and may be dissembled, but charity cannot be without visible fruits ; therefore the only trial of faith and hope is by charity. Thus charity is greatest, if not respectu originis, or for causality, yet for dignity. 1. More honourable, because like God. 2. More noble, because more beneficial to man. 3. More communicable, for faith respects thyself, •charity aU. 4. More durable ; when faith is swallowed uj) in vision, hope in possession, then love remains. 5. For titles, 6. For manifestation. Thus you have commended to your souls these three sisters, faith, hope, ^nd charity. Faith we must have, or we are reprobates ; hope, or wretches ; charity, or not Christians. There is a promise made to faith, that it shall Lave access to God, Heb. xi. 6 ; to hope, that it shall not be ashamed, Bom. V. 5 ; but to charity, that it shall dwell in God, and have God dwell- ing in it, 1 John iv. 16. I should now teU you, that as these three fair sisters came down from heaven, so in a cross contrariety the devil sends up three foul fiends from hell : against faith, infidelity ; against hope, desperation ; against charity, malice. He that entertains the elder sister, unbelief, I quake to speak Ms doom, yet I must : ' He is already condemned,' John iii. 18. He that em- braceth the second ugly hag, despair, bars up against himself the possibility of all comfort, because he ofi"ends so precious a nature, the mercy of God, and tramples under his desperate feet that blood which is held out to his unaccepting hand. He that welcomes malice, welcomes the devil himself; 1 COE. XIII. 13.] THE XHEEE DIVINE SISTERS. 283 he is Ccolled * the envious,' and loves extremely to lodge himself in an envious heart. These be fearful, prodigious sisters : fly them and their embraces ; and remember, O ye whom Christ concerns, the commandment of your Sa- viour, * Love one another !' I will end with our Apostle's exhortation to his Philippians : ' If there be any consolation in Christ,' and there is consolation in him when the whole world cannot afford it ; * if any comfort of love,' and he that knows not the comforts of love knows no difference betwixt man and beast ; ' if any fellowship of the Spuit,' by whom we are all knit into one communion, and enriched with the same treasures of grace ; ' if any bowels and mercies,' if uncharitableness and avarice hath* turned our entrails into stone and iron, if we have not forgotten the use and need of mercy ; ' fulfil my joy, that yc be like-minded, and have the same love,' Phil. ii. 1, 2. Fulfil the Apostle's joy only ? No, the joy of the bride and Bridegroom, of the church on earth, of the saints in heaven ; the joy of the blessed angels ; the joy of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ; and last of all, the joy of your own hearts, that yon * Love one another.' Forget not that trite but true saying — ' They shall not want prosperity, That keep faith, hope, and charity.' * Hath not. — Ed. THE TEMPLE. (AT PAUL'S CROSS, AUGUST 5.*) WJiat agreement hath the temple of God ivith idols ? — 2 Coe. VI. 16. It is not fit they should be too familiar, or near together in this world, whose portions shall be far asunder in the world to come. The sheep and goats are indeed now blended promiscuously, and none can distinguish them here but he that shall separate them hereafter ; the right and left hand of the last tribunal shall declare them. But they that be alien or opposite to us in faith and profession are manifest, and we have a frequent charge De nan commisceiido. Now the nearer this Ul-matched conjunction, the more intolerable : the same board, ill ; the same bed, worse ; worst of all the same temple. So the Apostle begins his dehortation, ' Be not unequally yoked with unbehevers :' so he ends it, 'What agreement hath the temple of God with idols V Divers seeds of grain in one ground, divers kiads of beasts in one yoke, divers sorts of cloth in one garment, were expressly forbidden under the law, Deut. xxii. ; and shall several religions be allowed in one church under the gospel ? The absurdness of such a mixture is here illustrated by many oppositions ; the sound of all which is interrogative, the sense negative. Eighteousness and unrighteousness, light and darkness, Christ and Belial, the believer and the infidel ; these can have no communion, no concord, no conjunction ; and * what agreement hath the temple of God with idols V I need not by art divide these words, for they are divided by nature. Now as quce Deus conjunxit, nemo sejMret, — those things that God hath joined together, let no man put asunder : so quce Deus sej^aravit, nemo con- jungat, — those things that God hath put asunder, let no man join together. The scope of the text, and the matter of my discourse, is to separate idols from the temple of God ; the Holy Ghost hath divided them to my hands : they cannot agree in his sentence, let them never agree in our practice ; cursed is he that goes about to compound this contr