1. That there is a God.

The first duty that God requires of every man, is, That he doth ac­knowledge that there is a God. 'Tis the first principle that a man must learn.Heb. 11.6. Saint Paul puts a necessity upon it, He that comes to God, must believe that he is; and he spoke it but out of his Masters mouth;John 17.3. This is life eter­nal to believe thee to be the only God, and him whom thou hast sent, Jesus Christ. Where two things are propounded for a man to believe; one as a man, the other as a Christian: As a man, to believe a God, to whom he is bound for his Creation. As a Christian, to believe Jesus Christ to whom he is indebted for his salvation. Even nature will bind him to the one, but grace to the other; having from Jehovah his root of being, from Jesus his ori­ginal of well-being.

The first of these positions, to wit, Deum esse, that there is a God, is so certain in it self, and so universally receiv'd by all Nations, that I thought it lost labour to go about to prove it. Yet when I consider'd again, that there is in the world a degenerate generation of men mis-shapen in the powers of their souls, and transformed from the power of reason, roo­ting up those Maximes and Principles, which reason and the hand of Nature hath planted in them, I thought it not amiss to fortifie this foundation upon which all that followeth must relie.

[...]. Atheism is the great sickness of the soule, whence proceed all other distemperatures in the life. And of it are guilty, first the contradicting Atheist, who, with that Diagoras flatly denies that there is a God; tell him of blasphemies, he smiles, as if there were no name to be blasphemed; that it is the h [...] One of Israel, he impudently returns, That there is nothing holy. Wit [...] him the whole service of God is but an humane invention, that hoped to master them by Religion, whom they could not overcome by reason. Ring in his eare the joyes of heaven, or the paines of hell, 'tis as if you spoke of the Elysian fields, or Plato's Court. Produce Scripture to prove it, as good alledge Rablais or the Al­coran. Next to him is the Sceptick, the disputing Atheist, who though he is not positive there is no God, yet he questions An sit, whether there be a God or no, and to that end he invents Arguments pro & con, Nazian. [...]. that may serve for both sides; and for the most part defends as Julian, [...], the worst part of the probleme. But let him know, that while he thus hangs in aequilibrio, between the two, from his an sit, he is in danger to come to Non est, from his doubt to the flat Negative, there is no God.Plalm 14.1. And yet there is another of this brood, you may call him the Natural Athe­ist; who is so taken up with his Natura naturata, that he thinks never of Natura naturans; so drown'd with the constant and visible work of Nature below, that he never looks up to God, that infused by an eternal Law, that constancy into the works of Nature. Now this is a man impeditae linguae, who sometimes lisps and stammers that Nature is that which we Divines call God, and besides her there is no other. In the last place appears the Practical Atheist, the man who in words acknowledgeth God, but in his works denies him. Whence are those sinnes that have tongues and cry? are they not from this fountaine? Blasphemy would not be heard, blood would not cry; Oppression, Sacriledge, Perjury, would not be a burden to the Land; Moses and Aaron would be of more esteem,Psalm 14.1. did not men say in their hearts with the Fool, There is no God.

Now divers causes there are, which may bring men and invite them to sit down and rest in cathedrâ pestilentiae, in this chaire of scorners. Psalm 1.1. The first [Page 74] is pride of heart; they think the vast braine of man should comprehend all things; which being but finite, must needs be too shallow to comprehend an infinite Majesty. For finiti ad infinitum nulla proportio. Is it not enough to apprehend him, but he would comprehend him also? Could he be pro­portion'd to the model of our braine, he were not God, not infinite, not immense. Never then let the Devil lead thee to this Atheisme, Thou canst not comprehend him, therefore reject him, Thou canst never understand fully what he is, therefore deny that he is. Secondly, There is not any man who is conscious of some wicked deed, who desires not to be hid, and to escape punishment.Tertul. Apol. c. 1. Malefici gestiunt latere, devitant apparere, trepi­dant deprehensi, negant accusati. If there be a God, he must be just; if just, he will be reveng'd on sinners, and then he will be reveng'd on me, saith the Atheist; which that he be not, he shall not be. Thirdly, They finde things succeed not according to their minde; they ask and have not, and then they doubt with the Israelites, Exod. 17.7. Job 22.15. Whether God is among them or not. What is the Almighty, that they should serve him? and what profit shall they have, if they pray unto him? Lastly, That which should have been for their wealth, is unto them an occasion of falling; that very thing which should have taught them that there is a God, hath perswaded them that he is not. For what greater evidence of the Deity is there, than the constant and interrupted or­der we see of this Universe, every creature being obedient and observant of that Law which God gave at first? Their actions are uniforme, one course they keep, yet know not what they do, nor why; which proceeding not from themselves, must on necessity come from some such Agent originally, that knoweth, appointeth, holdeth up this order, constancy, uniformity. This then might stay these mens haste and blasphemy, in concluding that God is not: Whereas like a wholeso [...]e [...]ose, that meets with a foule stomach or a rotten liver, it hath a contra [...] e [...]ect, for it makes them to blaspheme, as is evident;2 Pet. 3.4. Since the Fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were, say they, even from the beginning of the Creation. The thing which hath been, Eccles. 1.15. is that which shall be; and that which is done, is that which shall be done, and there is no now thing under the sun; and upon it they infer,

These be the motives to this odious impiety, and easie it is from a Chri­stian heart to remove them: But from one who is resolv'd to be obstinate, and will be st [...]ff in the denial, there is not any thing more hard and difficult: For this is not a conclusion, but a pri [...]ciple, and the first of all other princi­ples.Dr. Fotherby A­theomastix. lib. 1. cap. 1. Now principles in all Arts, especially in the highest, as is Divinity, are most difficult to be proved, because they are the first and immediate pro­positions, most known and indemonstrable in themselves, and admit no cause or medium by which they may be assured. Expect not then in this case invincible demonstrations, because the proposition hath its foundation, not in sense, nor in science, but meerly in belief; and upon that Saint Paul builds it,Heb, 11.3. We by faith understand that the world were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen, were not made of things which do appear. By faith alone, (sai [...]h the Apost [...]e) we have the assurance thereof; then can reason but grope at this Truth in the dark, and produce only probable Argu­ments for it,Thom. part. 1ae. q. 46. Art. 2. Concl. not demonstrative. What Aquinas concludes of the Creation, is as true of this principle, Mundum coepisse, suppose it be Deum esse, sold [Page 75] fide tenetur, nec demonstrativè hoc sciri p [...]test, sed id credere maximè ex­ [...]edit. That the world began by Creation, or that God is, is only assured by faith; neither can it be demonstratively known, but it is most expedient to believe it. And he addes, That it is very profitable to know thus much,Corp. Art. lest that any man undertaking to demonstrate this, and being able to produce on­ly Arguments of credibility, gives an occasion to Atheists and Infidels to mock and scoff at him, supposing that we upon those grounds do believe those things which are meerly conclusions of faith.

But if it be objected, That Thomas himself moving the question,Part. 1. q. 2. Art. 2. whe­ther it be demonstrable or not, Deum esse, that God is, resolves it that it is. I answer, That he affirmes no more but that it may be prov'd by an imper­fect demonstration. Not, saith he, à priori, or per causam, but only à posteriori, or ex notiori nobis effectu. Never by any former or pre-existent cause, but from some noble and eminent effects, which are after and depend upon that cause; which by Logicians are accounted but imperfect demon­strations, and only Arguments of credibility: Which I shall marshal under these two heads; either of Revelation or Reason, of Scripture or Nature; for the knowledge of God is brought to us either by his Word, or his Works. His Word, the Scripture, is open only to those of his family; but his works, Heaven and Earth, and the creatures in both, is a Book in Folio, open to all the world, wherein the most unletter'd man may perceive there is a God. The Records that are yet extant and receiv'd by all Christians are beyond ex­ception; and he deserves not the name of a Christian, that dare doubt or say, That the Scripture is not his Word. In this he that runnes may reade this Truth engraven, as with the point of a Diamond almost in every Line. If therefore it can be proved that this is his Word, with the same breath prov'd it will be that he is, since it is necessary that the Agent be before the Action, the person exist before he speak. The first being the efficient, and the last the signification of his Will.

These Oracles of God were first entrusted with the Jew. So much was ac­knowledg'd by an old Oracle extant in Justine Martyr.

For the old part of this Record they, the Jewes I mean, and yet preserve, have deliver'd it unto us. This together with the New, the Catholick Church of God hath stooped unto as the revealed Will of God. And this must needs be a strong inducement devoutly and diligently to read it, and reverently to esteem it; with which the more we consult, the more we shall be perswaded that it came from God: There is in the Edicts so much Majesty, in the Pen-men so much Unity and Harmony, in the Truth so much constancy, in the Doctrine so much equity and purity. Had it proceeded from the corrupt fountaine of mans braine, either the flatness of the stile, or the jarring of the writers, or the inconstancy of the materials, or the injustice or impurity of the Rules contained in it, would too rankly have savoured of flesh and blood. That I name not those strange predictions (which had their com­plement in their season) contain'd in it; and those high and sublime Reve­lations so farre beyond the reach of man to invent, that they are not believed when Taught. Could a Natural man be the Authour of that, which as yet no Natural man is able by the strength of reason to comprehend?

Farther yet, even Nature it self hath ingraffed in every mans soul a de­sire to be happy. To which all the directions of men are unsufficient, because [Page 76] they never yet could finde out a meanes fully to content and satisfie Gods ju­stice for one sinne. Necessary then it was, that man who was ordained to, and desires to attaine happiness, should have some supernatural help to bring him to it, since all natural was too weak. This we call the revealed Will of God, without which the desire of the soul will be frustrate. And once let it be granted that Revelation is necessary, and then one of these two will fol­low; That there never was any such Revelation; which will frustrate the intentions of God for mans felicity: Or that the Word of God which we now embrace, is that Revelation, since there is no other extant.

To close up this Digression, I shall offer one thing more only, which will be a stong perswasion that this is the Book of God, and that it came not from any private impulsion. Every man is so great a flatterer of himself, and so jealous of his own honour, that were it possible, he would not suffer the least of his infirmities to appeare, much less his foulest enormities to be blazon'd to posterity. But the Secretaries of this Book have not concealed their grossest faults,Exod. 32. Num. 12. & 20. Psalm. 51. Jonah 1. & 4. 1 Tim. 1.13. nor their friends impurest actions. Moses, not the fa­thers errours, nor his own, no nor Aarons his own brothers transgressions; David in a Throne mournes, yet expresseth his adultery, and murder of Ʋ­riah; Jonah Book'd his shameful flight, and his sullen anger, his impatience; Paul mentions his cruel persecution of the Church, and was content to have it set out at large by Saint Luke, as Saint Peter also his perjury and denial of his Master by the Evangelists. Since then these pious soules either wrote themselves their own blemishes, or being written by others, suffered not an Index expurgatorius to pass upon them; a mighty evidence it is, That there was a motion more than humane that thus disposed them to write, and to beare with what was written.

To what purpose you will say, is all this? to what else, but to perswade you, or rather all Infidels, that the Scripture is the revealed Will of God? And then it will necessarily follow, that there is a God before he can reveal any thing, which was the Point to be proved.

Secondly, Were we to convince a Mahometan in this question, we could be copious in proofs out of the Alcoran; were we to undertake a Jew, a Saducee, a Samaritan, we could convince them either out of the Old Te­stament, the Pentateuch, or Talmud. Had we a dispute with some wise Heathen, we could serve our selves of infinite Testimonies from their own Writings. Our Task is then the more difficult, because being to deal with men, who would be held, and are in their own eyes the sole ingrossers and Monopolists of reason, yet to wise men seem most irrational. But as Festus said to Paul, Acts 25.12. Hast thou appealed unto Caesar? unto Caesar shalt thou go; So say I also to these men, that since they appeal to reason, at the Tribunal of reason they shall take their Tryal.

Where the first Witness I produce shall be the soule of man. Consiste in medio anima, Tetrul. Test. ani­mae. cap. 1. Apolog. cap. 17. stand forth, O thou soule of man; I call thee not taught to speak at Athens, or informed in the School, or enabled by Libraries. It is thee now I cite hither, who art rude and simple, and wholly unlearned, such as a man may finde at Plough in the high way; I had almost said dwel­ling in the breast of an Ideot. In this case I have need of thy simplicity and plainness, since to thy Art and skill this Adversary will not give credit. What we may not without suspicion of fraud be heard to say, you shall hear this simple soul openly pronounce, God is good, God is great, God gives all things. Do him good, he returnes his blessing in the Name of God; Deus benedicat, God bless you for it. Do him wrong, he appeales to Heaven; Deus videt omnia, & Deus reddet, & Deus inter nos judicabit, God sees all, and God revenge my Quarrel, I commend my case to God, God [Page 77] judge betwixt us. O Testimonium animae naturaliter Christianae, This is the Testimony of a soul that even nature hath taught to speak like a Christian. For were this voice heard alone where the Gospel might infuse such a prin­ciple, it might be suspected; But when the tongues of naked Indians, and savage Americans are inur'd to these formes, I see that universally in all men there cannot be but some inbred notions of the Deity ingraffed and infixed in their souls, by the larger use of reason, and relicks of the Divine Image. Compass the world, finde you may Cities without walls, Letters, Princes,P [...]utarch. Wealth, Schools, Theaters; but not one shall you finde without some God, without a Tryal by Oath, without some Ceremony of Religion, by which they hope to procure good things for them, and to avert evil from them. Out of which Calvin well collects, In eo tacita quaedam confessio est, Calvin. instit. c. 1. Sect. 4. in­scriptum in cordibus hominum Divinitatis sensum, That by this there is a ta­cit confession,Tusc. 1 & de Natura Deorum. that there is a sense of a Deity inscribed in the hearts of all men; I adde out of Tully, be they never so cruel or barbarous.

2. And yet this is not the sole evidence that the soule gives in to this Truth. God hath placed in every mans breast a conscience, in which things are not written as in sinking paper, where the letters cannot be read, but as Characters drawn with the juyce of an Onyon, not legible till they are brought to the fire. Suppose you beheld a man commit some heynous sinne securely and secretly, and perswading himself that there is nor Judge nor Revenger; at that instant let but death appeare, and hold up his finger, his countenance is chang'd, his knees smite together, his heart becomes cold as a stone. Now his conscience beginnes to awake, and assures him there is a God that judgeth the earth. It was a pious meditation of Bernard, At home I have an Accuser, a Witness, a Judge, a Tormentor;Bernard. de In­ter. domo. c. 14. my conscience accuseth me, my memory is the Witness, my reason is the subordinate Judge, and feare is the Tormentor. This causeth even the boldest Atheist, who in his ruff and jollity defies heaven, in a time of distress and danger to eat his words, and seek for help of that Deity he hath before denyed and blasphemed. The Oratour makes mention of one Metrodorus a famous A­theist of his time,Cicero. than whom I never saw any man more surprized with feare. Nunquam vidi quenquam qui magis timeret ea; quae timenda nega­ret, mortem dico & Deos, I never beheld a man who did more feare those things which he denyed to be feared, Death and the Gods.Hesych. Illustri­us. And there is extant an elegant Epigram of one Bion Borysthenes one of the same crue, who in his health scoffed at the Gods, and every one he saw at his prayers; but falling sick, [...], &c. He did not only please the Gods with the fat of Rammes, and labour to feast and delight their nostrills with the swee­test incense; neither said only Peccavi, I have sinn'd, pardon what's past; but he yielded his neck to the Charmes of an old Witch. Gods there were when he would live, and was in danger; not so much as the Devil that should not be sought to. A story much like this we finde in Aeschylus. When the Persian Army was to pass the River Strimon before frozen, and on a sudden beginning to Thaw; At every crack of Ice, saith the Messenger, there I saw with my eyes those Gallants (whom before I heard boldly to maintain there was no God) every one of them on their knees, and full devoutly praying the Ice might hold till they got over. See, see, what death, what sick [...]ess, what a Thaw can do! in an instant it can convert an Atheist into a Theist, a profane wretch into a devout; of a mocker, change a man to a superstiti­ous foole. So hard a matter it is to check nature, and stifle conscience, but it will arrest the man in a time of feare and trouble, and set him to the Barre. In their prosperity confess God they will not, lest they should feare him; [Page 78] but the least feare extorts from them a free confession. And because they would not feare God that made all things,Psalm 53.5. Sueton. Cicero. Lev. 26.36. Isa. 19.16. they are afraid of all things they need not feare. This being the perpetual note of an Atheist, to fear; with Caligula, a Thunder-clap; with the Stoick, a storme, a leafe, a shadow, the sha­king of a hand.

Come now, O thou immoveable Stoick, and looser Epicure, thou spawn of the old Saducee, come now, I say, and let us reason together. Why dost quake? why art thou wanne? No eye sees thee, no face beholds thee, all's done in secret, and the night dwells upon thy actions. There are no passions; heaven is a fable, and hell a Tale; there is neither Angel, nor Spirit, nor yet Gods: or if any, they take their rest and ease above, and re­gard not any thing that is here done below; Fate and Necessity alone beare the sway in all things, and dost thou yet tremble? are thou yet pale? dost thou yet flye and hide? Well, now I see that guilt makes thee a man a­gaine, and danger creates feare, and feare creates Gods. That little spark of the Deity, which thy looser course of life hath raked up for a time be­ginnes to glow in a time of trouble, presents to thy conscience a Judge, a Tribunal, a fearful Sentence. Let us then appeale ab ebriis ad sobrios, from Caligula in his pride, to Caligula under a clap of Thunder; from the Stoick in a cleare day, to the Stoick in a storme; from the Epicure in h [...]s drunken fit of security, to the same Epicure under a disease presenting him with the ghastly face of death;Gen. 42.21. In a word, from Josephs Brethren in Dothan, to Josephs Brethren in Prison: And then even these Opponents that stiffly de­nyed, will now easily grant the Conclusion, That there is a God that judgeth the earth. You shall not need to prove it, for it shall be freely confessed. So powerful is that evidence of conscience in them, the sting of which, though it may be blunted, yet cannot it be pull'd out, but will shoote, and ake, and put them to paine while it convicts them as guilty, and summons them to answer at Gods Tribunal. It was not without reason then, that Da­vid prayed,Psalm 9.20. Put them in feare, O Lord, that the Heathen may know them­selves to be but men. So he concludes the Psalm, and so will I conclude this Argument.

3. Another there is of no less force, which this Text affords, Heaven and Earth; and the serious view and survey of these, will with a loud voice pro­claime the Creatour. Cardinal Cusa­nus. Rom. 1.20. For universus mundus nihil aliud est quam D us ex­plicatus, The whole world is nothing else but God expressed. For the in­visible things of him from the Creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; even his eternal Power and God­head. Basil. The heaven and the earth then is [...], a Divinity Schoole, in which every Creature is a Doctor of the Chaire, and reads to us a plaine Lecture of the Creatour. For as that excellent Carver Phidias did so cunningly engrave his own name in Minerva's shield,Cicero 1. Tusc. that it was im­possible to blot out the Letters, without utterly defacing the whole picture: So also it hath pleased Almighty God to set his own Name with so curious a hand upon the least of his creatures, that it is not possible to blur out the Character an not deny the Work-master.

Suppose you should arrive in some Island, where at first there appeared unto you no inhabitant,Phil. Morn. de veritate Relig. Christ. cap. 1. yet you should here behold stately structures, magnificent Temples, Vines digested into order, and Fruits of all sorts springing from stocks either by engraffing or inoculation: Say you would certainly, that the stones roll'd not together of themselves to this beauty, nor the trees could ne­ver conspire to plant, and order one another; and upon it conclude, that this Island hath, or hath had wise inhabitants; Some man without question hath seated himself here; for we evidently behold the ingenuity of a man, [Page 79] though the steps of his feet appear not. We will therefore proceed farther, and make trial, if we yet can finde out the the Author of these works of won­der. To the light we are brought, everywhere we meet with works which man was never able to make, no nor yet know nor understand, should his dayes be drawn out to those of Methuselah. Ought we not to wonder, and in admiration to conclude, The Spirit of God hath gone this way, the Spirit of the Almighty is in this; since in every place we behold that, which not the wit of man, nor arme of flesh were able to bring to passe. Pitch upon the im­mediate cause, you are too low; upon the next wheele, you are yet to seek; ascend to the Sun, the Moon, the Starres, you cannot be so satisfied; for what is it that hath set all these to work in such a constant way, and order? The minde of the most diligent enquirer can finde nothing to rest in, till from the con­nexion of causes he arrives at the first, which is an infinite omnipotent agent, the Spirit of God that mov'd upon the face of the waters.Gen. 1.2. That meditation of Hermes was pious, Domine ego contemplabor te, &c. O Lord, I will con­sider thee, in those things above, in those things below.Hermes Tris­meg. Thou hast created all things, neither is this universal Nature any thing else than an Idea or exem­plar of thee.

Now in this glasse we behold the face of God three several wayes. 1.Viguer. cap. 19. Sect. 1. vers. 1. Via eminentiae. 2. Negationis. Causationis. 1. First, eminently, when those perfections which are in the creature mount our thoughts to the Creator, and warrant us to affirme, that if they be honorable in the effect, they must needs be of far more veneration in the cause. We know that God cannot be com­pounded of Substance and Accidents, but whatsoever is in God, is God; and therefore we should call him, in abstracto, justice, mercy, good­nesse, power it self, and not just, merciful, good, omnipotent. 'Tis then by Analogy this is done; and from the similitude of a finite object every way a­greeable to our weak understanding, we attribute to God those vertues in which the creature doth excel. We hold it an honour to a man to be wise, just, good, holy, merciful, &c. and therefore we conceive it will make for his glory to acknowledge, that he is wise in his counsels, just in his proceedings, good in benefits, holy in his wayes, merciful in his forbearance. Eminent in all these, and paramount, infinitely beyond the perfections of the best man.

2. The way we come to know God from the creature, is Negatively, by which we remove from him all those defects and imperfections which are in­cid [...]nt to our selves; We stile him Immortal, Immutable, Invisible, Infinite, Incomprehensible, because mortality, and mutability argue a defect in the creature; and to be limited and confined, imperfectoin. 'Tis not therefore for him who hath an unlimited essence to be stinted by our eye or minde; 'tis not for him, who is life it self, or in whom is no shadow of change, to be subject to mortality and alteration. Leave all these defects to mortal, mutable, and weak men; and therefore that we may be sure to remove them far enough from him, we have chosen to expresse our selves in these Negative Epithets. For,Julius Scali­ger. Nullis vocibus tam plenè Deum significamus quam iis, quae ignorantiam prae­tendunt. We signifie God by no words so fully, as those which expresse our own ignorance.

3. But both these wayes, the Affirmative, the Negative, rather shew us what God is, than that he is: how we shall apprehend him, than how we shall prove his being and existence. And before I proceed farther, I beseech the Majesty of heaven to pardon my bold attempt and presumption, and say the sin to the charge of those miscreants which have put me to this unwilling and unnecessa­ry labour. For such it were, would men but confesse what they see and fee [...]e, and acknowledge but so much as the grounds of reason would informe them: [Page 80] For we never see any effect, but presently we enquire after the cause; we ne­ver behold a thing, but strait we enquire who did it. The effects we must needs confesse are not easie to be numbred, and the causes by which produced, sub­ordinate, a wheele in a wheele, and the inferiour depending upon the Superi­our, and the lesse mov'd by that which is chain'd and next to it, by which if we ascend,Thom. parte 1ae q. 2. Artic. 3. Conclus. we shall at last come unto one first mover, in whom our thoughts must rest. For otherwise the progresse in subordinate causes would be infinite, which may not be admitted. For let the causes that work under one another extend to an infinity, the minde will not have whereon to settle, but still must enquire farther, and then nothing can be known, since all science ariseth from the knowledge of the causes. There must then in these be an order, and all order presupposeth primum & ultimum, the first and the last. The last is of­ten evident; The first we seek for, which being not to be found in heaven or earth, for all things in both are moved; and it is granted, that Nihil movetur à seipso, that Nothing can be moved of it self; it then upon necessity must be moved by another, which can be nothing else but a supreme power, from which all other must depend tam in ess [...]ndo quam causando, both in essence and causation. And this is that eternal being we call God, [...], that first and independent cause in himself; Causa causae, & causa causati, The cause from which all other inferiour causes have their efficiency, and the cause of all other effects whatsoever: According to that of Saint Paul, God works all in all; far more powerfully, and with greater efficacy concurring to any effect than any second cause; which truth Aristotle, that great Master of Na­ture saw,Metaphys. 2. text. 17. and confessed; for saith he, Si prima non essent, nihil esset. If there be not a First, there will be Nothing.

It is the belief of a Heathen. Credo Deos immortales ideo sparsisse ani­mos in humana corpora, Cicero de Se­nect. &c. I beleeve, saith he, the immortal Gods to that end to have sent from the celestial dwelling souls into the bodies of men, that beholding the beauty of the earth, and order of heaven, they should imitate both by an orderly life, and a constant course. Our soul then was not infused to be idle; It was first for contemplation of what Ood made, heaven and earth, in which what can we else see but works of wonder? To which I now call you, and desire your patience, while I lead you through the whole; you must needs acknowledge the Maker the more clearly after this view.

1. GOD is One.

That God is but One, we have a full Testimony out of the Law, out of the Prophets, out of the Gospel, out of the Epistles.

First, Thus speaks the Law, Heare, O Israel, the Lord is God, and there is no other besides me, Deut. 5.7. or before me. Which command, as Philo and [Page 89] the Christians that followed, have call'd [...], de unius imperio, the commandment by which the Empire of one is established, and the multi­tude of gods are destroyed. And againe, Heare O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And yet againe, See now that I, even I am He, Deut. 6 4. & 32.39. and there is no God with me; which in the Hebrew is thus read, Ego, Ego ipse.

Secondly, Thus speak the Prophets; David in the Psalmes,Psal. 83.18. & 86.10. & 18.31 Isa. 45.5. & 42.8. & 44.6, 8. Thou whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most High over all the earth. Thou art God alone. For who is God save the Lord? or who is a Rock save our God? This supremacy God reserves to himself, I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God besides me. Which the same Prophet Esay had said twice or thrice before, I am the Lord, this is my name; and my glory I will not give to another. I am the first, I am the last, and besides me there is no God. And againe, Is there a God besides me? There is no God, I know not any. Which also Hannah the Mother of Samuel remembred in her Song, 1 Sam. 2.2.

Thirdly, This was also the language of the Pharisee in the Gospel, con­fessing that it was a great Truth our Saviour spoke, Well Master, Mark 12.32. Rom. 3.30. 1 Cor. 8.4, 6. Gal. 3.20. Ephes. 4.6. thou hast said the truth; for there is one God, and there is none other but he. And Saint Paul speaks the same words to the Romanes, It is one God shall justifie; to the Corinthians, To us there is but one God. To the Galatians, But God is one. To the Ephesians, There is one God and Father of all. And to heap up no more places, in the first Epistle to Timothy thus we reade,1 Tim. 2.5. There is one God, and one Mediatour between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Either then cast off the Old and New Testament, or it must be confess'd that God is but one, Ʋnity being his first Attribute.

An Assertion which the wisest of the Heathens have delivered and proved;Orpheus, Sibyl­lae, Homer, Py­thagoras, Plato. [...]. Seld. de diis Syris proleg. I should but trouble you in producing their Testimonies, they are extant in Justine Martyr. Yet I cannot pass over that the Priests in Egypt, though for their profit they retain'd a multitude of gods in name and shew, yet in the most secret revestres of their Temples, whither the people might not approach, they had a Sphere resembling the world, whose Inscription was Moderatoris Ʋnici, The Symbol of the only Governour. And at Athens though they had their mysteries of Ceres, their feasts of Apollo, Bacchus, &c. yet they had one Altar erected [...], to the unknown God; Acts 17.23. which Saint Paul proves to be the God of heaven. That great Hermes hath at once spoken for them all, Ʋnum statuimus Deum, unam unitatem, omnium, quae sunt, Alii legunt uni­tatum. Trismegist. in Paemand. c. 2, 3, &c. Plato Epist. 13. ad Dionys. radi­cem: Deos non Naturae ordine, sed honoris causâ nomimamus, We judge that there is but one God, one root of all the Unities which are in the world; And Gods indeed we name, not for their being▪ but for their ho­nour. Which Truth was acknowledged also by Plato to Dionysius; Hence, saith he, you shall know whether I write seriously or not; for when I write seriously, ordior epistolam ab uno Deo; cùm secus, à pluribus, I begin my Letter from one God; when otherwise, with many; and therefore he saith not Si diis placuerit, si dii adfuerint, &c. If it please the Gods, if the Gods be present; but often useth these formes of speech, Quod Deo placue­rit, Deo juvante, Deus novit, Deus fecit, If it please God, God helping,Just. Martyr. l. citato. God knows, God makes. And him he calls [...], as in Moses; [...], The only Being; but the rest, [...], Those who had no Being truly.

Be it as it is conceived, that he and the rest among the Learned Heathens transcribed this and many other truths from the Books of Moses and the Pro­phets,Vide Philip. Morn. de ver. Christi Relig. cap. 3. yet this seemeth very consonant to the light of reason; for otherwise with one voice they would not have delivered it. All things in the world must have a beginning and being. Which beginning of being is either from, [Page 90] themselves, or from some other. That from themselves they have it not 'tis certain; why is it else they perish? why do they change? why come they to nothing? could not that Nature, would not that Nature which first gave them being, have also continued them? would not every thing preserve its own state,Dr. Hackwells Apology. lib. 5. Sect. 1. were it in its own proper power? Since Nature inclines not to corrupti­on, but generation, necessary then it is that we confess a Superiour power, that imposed this condition upon all that doth decay in the first Creation; which is that [...], that Summum E [...]s, whose priviledge it is to be what he is,Heb. 13.8. whose Name is Jehovah, I am yesterday, to day, the same for ever.

Now this condition he imposed upon the Creatures out of his infinite pow­er. But two infinite powers cannot be conceiv'd at once, since the infinite power of the one will limit and circumscribe the power of the other, for else it cannot be infinite. As therefore it is necessary there be but one infi­nite power, so it is necessary that there be but one only God, from whose Unity all diversity doth proceed; as from one point all sorts of lines, from one number all equality and inequality of numbers.

'Tis known whose ambition it was to be like the Most High, and yet his pride was not to have absolute,Isa. 14.12, 13, 14. but a proportional power; like he would be only, not above him. The Devil was not so mad or foolish, to desire an impossible thing, he would only be Independent, no Subject, but command in his Kingdome, as God did in his, and enjoy his own as his own, freely, and not precariously as a homager. For which attempt he was justly cast out of heaven,Epipbanius haer. 66. Sect. 14. Socrat. Scol. l. 1. cap. 21. and reserved in chaines of darkness for ever. To erect then more powers than one, is to be of the Devils conspiracy, and to fetch from Hell, that old blasphemy of the Manichees who made two principles, one of good, another of evil; one of light, another of darkness; one of heat, another of cold; one of health, another of sickness.

But take a view of all the creatures of the world, and tell me whether they do not proclaime their Maker to be but One. In the Elements we finde contrary qualities, heat and cold, moysture and siccity; and where there is contrariety, there will be Warre. Were there then one God of the cold, another of the heat; one power to command over moyst, another over dry bodyes, there would be continual factions, perpetual quarrels betwixt the E­lements. Whereas it is now One God that keeps them quiet, causeth that one usurp not each others rights and places, and sweetly unites them for the com­position of natural bodyes.

What should I say, that all things in Nature, Art, and Policy, tend to u­nity? In man the branches of many veines are from one Liver, of many nervs from one braine, many arteryes proceed from one heart. And though the body be composed of parts of different qualities, yet it hath but one head for the guidance and direction of all, and one soul to direct and guide that one head. In a Tree there be divers boughs, sprigs, and armes, yet all con-center in the same body, and both meet in one root. To which Porphiry compares his Scale of Universals, in which you ascend from the particulars to the Species, and so upwards till you come to the highest Genus, Ens, in which are united whatsoever you can conceive. So that this diversity is redu­ced into an unity, till at last you come by degrees to that unity, than which nothing can be more one. For Unum & Ens convertuntur.

'Tis a most true Observation, that Art imitates Nature; and what is it that makes any Art differ from any other but unity? The unity of the object and the end being the essential difference; and yet the learned are not so con­tent; they think it would be an occasion of quarrel, should they thus stand single, without any respect one to another, and therefore they have linked [Page 91] them together by subordination, that one might assist the other in the proof of their principles: Over all which they have set the Metaphysiques as a su­pervisor to examine, to confirme, to judge what shall be receiv'd for un­doubted Truth. Whatsoever then man conceives, finds out, disposes, tends to unity.

I omit here that Grammer first requires Concords, Rhetorick unites dis­affected mindes, Arithmetick beginnes with unites, the Mathematicks re­duce all Diagrams to a single point, Musick closes every Lesson in a Dia-pa­son or Cords. For the Politicks are nearer for my purpose, in which I find a Monarchy preferr'd before all other kinde of Governments.

Multiplicity of Kings is not good, saith that wisest of the Grecians. Good! nay, stark naught, the occasion of that sedition and quarrel among them, and therefore let there be but one King. [...].Just. Martyr. [...]. ad Ellen. But Monarchy is safe and inexpugnable. In Israel they had their Senhedrim, yet all was out of square, as appeares in the Theft and Idolatry of Micah, in the Idolatry and Rapine of the Danites, Judges 17.18, 19, 20. in the abominable bestialities of the men of Gibeah, and the civil War of the Benjamites. All which e­normities the holy Ghost imputes to the want of a Monarch. There was no King in Israel, therefore every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

'Tis Unity then that holds together the World, Heads all Arts and Scien­ces, preserves all bodyes, both natural and political, which fall to decay and ruine upon dis-union and separation. Now what can this speculation leade us to, but to set up one Monarch over all, who by his wisdome should direct all, and by his eye and care should provide for all, and by his hand and pow­er govern all? So things of different kindes and qualities might be kept in peace; whereas without that one to set them a Law, they would fight with and destroy one another. It was so in the Chaos, saith the wittyest of Poets,Ovid. & In Chaos antiquum confundimur, we should be turn'd into the old Chaos againe, had not that One God that made all these— Concordi pace ligavit, knit them in peace.

To close up this point, judge in your selves, whether it be fit for man, who will admit but one Pilot in a Ship, one General in an Army, one Ad­miral in a Navy, one Master in a Family, one Mayor in a City, to suppose the world should have more Lords than One! And if reason hath taught us yet over all to appoint one, let the same reason teach us also, that it is as necessary to allow One God to Rule the whole. Be not more brutish than beasts: The Bees have their King, the Birds their chief, every Herd their Leader. Nay, be not worse than the Devils, for they have their Prince, Beelzebub the Prince of Devils. Luke 11.15. And his Eldest and best beloved Son Anti-Christ, will usurp that forme of Government which is most glorious, most divine, he will admit no competitour,2 Thes. 2.3, 4. will exalt himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, &c. Of these then learn that Monarchy is the best forme of Government. And deny flatly that there is a God, or else acknowledge that he must be the sole Monarch. Think not that he will admit of any competitour, which irrational creatures will not do in their little Common-Wealths, nor the Devil, nor Anti-Christ in their King­domes.

Do all Arts and Sciences teach unity of objects, and shall we conceive that Divinity alone should teach multiplicity of Gods? Heathenisme may, but Christianity will not; no, nor yet Judaisme, nor Turcisme. These [Page 92] though differing in other things, yet in this principle they unite, That there is but One Jehovah, God blessed f [...]r ever more. Amen.

2. That in the Godhead be three Persons.

But it will be said, What, is there but one God? how is that possible, since here we reade of three? Three in heaven. Can one be three, and three one? Yes, it may be, it must be so; even so saith the Spirit, These three are one. Some tell us that they are one consensu, or Testimonio, in consent, in their Testimony; which is true, for all three agree in this, That God sent his Sonne. But this Interpretation is too cold; for so three hundred men may be but one, that is, agree in the same Testimony, and be but one Witness: Which yet by the way proves them to be distinct persons; for such they must be before they can agree: The person alwayes having an existence before he can consent. Which clearly overthrows the end for which this answer was invented, and stops the mouths of those that serve themselves of it. But this shift is not it that can sustaine the weight of these words; for in the Original the predicate is [...], not [...]. Unum, not Unus. One in essence, not one witness, which must be referr'd to their nature and substance, not to their union in assent, which the following words seem to cleare; for of the three following Witnesses on earth, the phrase is otherwise, they three agree [...], to one purpose. This then is but an evasion, and if true, did not enervate the force of the Text.

To give you more light in this mystery; a thing is said to be one two man­ner of wayes;Justine Mart. [...]. either in essence, in person or existence. By essence a thing is meant having being in it self, but common unto others; As the nature of man is to be a reasonable creature, which yet is not so restrain'd to any par­ticular man, but all equally share in it. And thus the Deity or Nature of the Godhead, which yet is not so limited to the Father, but the Son and the holy Ghost equally partake of it. By person is meant a substance having exi­stence in himself, intelligent, incommunicable, no part of another, nor sustained by any other. Thus we say Peter, James, and John are distinct, and intelligent persons; for though they all agree in the Nature of man, yet they have every one a particular existence. For Peter is not James, nor John the same numerically with either. To apply this to my purpose. Thus we believe and teach, that God is one in Nature and Essence of himself, subsisting by himself,Gen. 17.1. 1 Cor. 8.6. Heb. 2.10. Al-sufficient of himself; of whom, through whom, in whom are all things. We nevertheless believe and teach, that this same infinite One is without any confusion distinguished into three Persons. The first called the Father, the second called the Sonne, the third the Holy Ghost: And thus three may be one, and one three. Three one in essence, and one three in existence.

If any one then would conceive aright in his minde the Divine Nature, he must conceive of God or the Godhead absolutely; if any of the Persons, then he must conceive of the same Godhead, with the relation it hath to per­sonal properties. Thus the Godhead consider'd with the property of Father­hood or begetting, is the person of the Father. The same Godhead consider­ed with the property of being begotten, is the person of the Son. And the same Godhead again consider'd with the property of proceeding, is the person of the Holy Ghost.

Hitherto I have shew'd you how one may be three, and three one. It re­mains, that out of the Scripture I demonstrate

• 1. That these three are one in Nature.
• 2. That these three are Persons, not qualities.
• [Page 93]3. That they are three distinct Persons, not One.

1. These three Persons are One in Nature, Coessential, and Consubstantial.

1. Because the name of God agrees to all three. The Father is God, Jer. 23.6. Jehovah our righteousnesse. The Sonne is God. Of the [...]athers con­cerning the fl [...]sh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. Rom. 9.5. The Holy Ghost is God. Acts 5.3, 4. Thou hast lyed unto the Holy Ghost, that is, to God.

2. The Divine Attributes are given unto all three, The Father uncreate; for of him, and through him, and to him are all thing [...], Rom. 11.36. The Sonne Ʋncreate. All things were mad [...] by him, and without him was made nothing that was made. John 1.3. The Holy Ghost Ʋncreate. The Spirit of God moved upon the waters. Gen. 1.2. Psal. 104.30. [...]he Father eternal, 1 Tim. 1.17. Unto the King eternal be honour. The Sonne e [...]ernal. Before Abraham was, I am. John 8.58. The Holy Ghost eternal. Heb. 9.14. Called the et [...]rnal Spirit. The Father Almighty, Gen. 17.1. Th [...] So [...]ne Almighty; He shall raise our dead bodies by that mighty working, Phil. 3.21. whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself. And the Holy Ghost Almighty. Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his Counsellor, hath taught him? Isa. 40.13.

3. The Opera ad extra, or the works which from the Unity iss [...]e as it were in open sight, are all in common works of the Deity. The first is that wonderful work of the Creation, which is attributed to all three persons. Elohim creav [...]t. This the Creede attr [...]butes to the Father.Gen. 1.1. But this also is attributed to the Son Isa. 54.5. Thy Maker is thy husband. The same to t [...]e Holy [...]host, Job 33.4. The Spirit of the Lord hath made. The second work is Redempti­on, is attributed to the Sonne. The third of Sanctificatio [...], which is a work of the Holy Ghost, and yet all three are the works of one true God, and of God alone, and therefore there can be but one Go [...].

Lastly, Baptisme can only be administred in the name of God, as is evi­dent. Belief may not be fixed upon any but God;1 Cor. 1.14, 15 Jer. 17.5. for creatures are no ob­jects of faith; cursed be the man, saith the Prophet, that [...]rusts in man. Di­vine glory may be given to none but God; My glory I will not give o an­other. Blesse we may not in any other name but Gods.Isa. 42.8. Num. 6.24. ad 27. Since then we Bap­tize in the Name, and beleeve in the Name, and give glory in th [...] Name, [...]nd blesse in the Name of all three, all three must in substance be the same God.

2 [...], or three Persons.

And this self same argument will also prove that they are three persons, and not three qualities in the same G [...]dhead. For, shall any man blesse, or baptize, or believe in, or give glory to an Attribute? These are acts, and speci­all acts of a Divine worship, and therefore may not be given to any but a per­son really existent in the Divine essence. And of this argument Saint Basil makes this excellent use, Quomodo baptizamur, ita & credimus; & quo­modo credimus, ita glorificamus; & quomodo glo ificamus, ita & bene­dicimus.

1. Then let us go to the Font, and consider how we are baptized. There, there is expresse mention of all three persons. A. B. I baptize thee in the name of the Father, the Sonne, and of the Holy Ghost. We mean not I hope to renounce our Baptisme; and if not that, we must beleeve all three per­sons.

[Page 94]2. And as we are baptized, so we beleeve, and the Canon of our faith is this, I beleeve in God the Father, &c. I beleeve in God the Sonne, &c. I beleeve in the Holy Ghost.

3. Now all believers are bound to give glory to God; and as they believe, so to give glory. This the Catholick Church, and every part of it, hath done, till of late, to all three persons; The Conclusion of their Psalms and Hymns being that Doxology, Dr. Hammond. Vind. of the Liturgy. Glory be to the Father, to the Sonne, and to the Holy Ghost; which, (as there is for it good authority) was composed by the first Nicene Council, and appointed by them to be used in the Church, as a lesser Creede, against the Arrians. As it they had also learned of the Cherubims to sing,Isa. 6.2. Holy, Holy, Holy, out of which Anthem the old Jewes prov'd the Trinity.

4. So it is in our Baptisme, so in our Creed, so in our Thanks, and is so yet in our blessing, and I hope ever shall be so. We end our service with the Blessing of God Almighty, the Father, Sonne, and Holy Ghost; and we dismisse you after Sermon with The Grace of o [...]r Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the holy Spirit: 2 Cor. 13.14. 'Tis as if we said, God in nature one, in persons three, blesse you, be with you, remaine with you. These you see are no high speculations, not far fet; You cannot remember your Baptisme, you cannot say your Creede, you can never be bless'd as you desire, nor de­part with a blessing from this Congregation as you ought, but still you are put in mind of the three persons. And it must be confessed, that either the Ca­tholick Church hath been very much out in their whole Service, or else the truth of this Article must stand immovable.

2. But I proceed. Actiones sunt suppositorum. Individuals only exist, and are alone active, especially about such works as the Scripture attributes to these three. To create is the work of a person. To take a body, to redeem, to reconcile, to govern, the work of a person. To sanctifie, to be Lord, to speak, to teach, to reprove, to comfort, to be a witnesse, to place Bishops, to make Decrees in Councils, are all personal acts; actions all of a person ex­istent, working, living, endued with understanding and will. But all these are the actions of the blessed Trinity, and therefore it is necessary that there be three Persons.

3. Of the person of the Father, there is no doubt: it is the Personality of the Sonne and the Holy Ghost that is oppos'd. But no man who believes the Scriptures, can call that in question. Not the person of the Sonne, since of him it is written, His going forth hath been of old, from everlasting, or the dayes of eternity. Micah 5.2. And again, Jesus Christ, yesterday, and to day, and the same for ever. Not of the Person of the Holy Ghost, since we read of him, and of his gifts and graces;Heb. 13.8. as two distinct things. There be diversity of gifts, but the same Spirit; and then he and his gifts cannot be one and the same. Farther yet tis evident,1 Cor. 12.4. that he appeared in the forme of a Dove, and of fiery tongues,Matth. 3.16. Acts 1.3. which were substantial appearances, no qualities, and therefore he who was pleased to descend in those formes, must have an existence.

3. These Persons are distinct.

Persons then they must be, and one Person they are not, but three distinct.

1. Distinct in Number. For the Father is the Father, and not the Sonne. The Son is the Son, and not the Father. The Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost, and not the Father, nor yet the Son. From which respect, that which we call distinction in the Trinity doth arise, which though it makes not [...], another thing, yet the person is [...], another person.

2. And this Number was represented thus distinct to sense at Christs Bap­tisme. [Page 95] The Father in the voice presented to the eare. The Son in the flood presented to the hand. The Holy Ghost in the Dove presented to the eye.Matth. 3.16.

3. Again, this distinction intimated in Christs promise, I will aske the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter. John 14.16. Where we meet with three distinct Per­sons. Ego, Ille, Alium. I, the Son praying; He, the Father giving. Another third Person comforting, named here the Paraclete. A plain distinction.

This Trinity in Unity, and Unity in Trinity, the Fathers of the Church have found out many similitudes to illustrate, though it must be acknowledged, that they are no more than Similes, which are [...], in many things unlike. They have thought upon the soul of man; in which you have three principal parts, the Memory, Understanding, the Will, which all three yet make but one soul.Tertul. cont. Praxeam. Cypr. in Symb. Augustin. Tertul. Cyprian. Lactant. Tertul. Cont. Praxeam. Symb. Nic. Just. Martyr. Cyprian. Of the Emanation or effluence of water, in which you meet with the Springs, the Rill, and the River, three distinct names, and yet the water the same. Of a Tree, in which we finde the Root, the Trunk, and the Boughs, three diffe­rent parts, but yet the same Tree, the Root depending of none, the Stock of the Root, the Boughs of both. Of Light, which the three hundred and eigh­teen Fathers of Nice made choise of, to the creation or production rather of which, we know there concurs the Sun, the Beame, and the Shine.

But these Similes were not produced by them fully to unfold this Mystery, but only that it might be someway shewed that it was not altogether absurd, or impossible that there should be one & one three, in different respects. And ther­fore I presse them no farther.

The Father.

This word is [...]. A word of Relation, and must then upon necessi­ty carry our thoughts to its Correlative a Son. For Relatorum est mutuum iter. Relative termes are always reciprocal, and terminate are the other. He is no father, that hath no son, nor he no sonne, that hath no father. So many wayes then God may be said to be a Father, as he may have sons, which being doub [...]e, either by Nature or Grace, such must his children be also.

1. One son only he hath by Nature, upon whom he hath set a note of di­stinction.Psal. 2.7. Matth. 3.17. John 1.14. Heb. 1.3. I have said, Thou art my Son. And again, This is my beloved Sonne. Thou art, that is, in such a manner as no other is, [...], my only begotten Sonne, [...], The brightnesse of my glory, and the expresse image of my person. His essence being the same with his, though his existence be diverse. And this Son is our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ.

2. That the whole world besides are his children by indulgence and favour; For as the Apostle tells the Athenians out of Aratus, [...], We are all his off-spring.

The meaning of the point is, that the power of the glorious and great God is effectual to the production of all things.

It is usual to call him the Father of the family, from whom all that family is derived, and by whose counsel and power it is guided and protected. And in this sense we call God the Father of the Universe,Deut. 32.6. in that he makes, governs, and by his providence orders the whole. Hence is that question proposed by Moses, Mal. 2.10. Is not he thy Father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee? But shorter in Malachi, Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us?

This is a favour imparted at large, even to the least flye, much more to the worst man;Matth. 5.45. for he feeds, preserves, maintains, adorns, even Publicans and sinners; to him, those that every day blaspheme him, are more beholding for the expression of these paternal acts, than to their parents that begat them. Be­sides then this common favour, there must be one more peculiar, by which all the acts of a Father are performed unto sons, but in a farre higher and more [Page 103] excellent degree than unto other creatures, or unto other men. And such there be.

For to some he gives that power and honour to be, and to be called the sons of God: He is well pleased that some lay their claime, and call him Abba, John 1.12. Father: He hath ordained some to be Heirs, even Co-heirs annexed with Christ. These he begets by his Word and Spirit, which are the Principles of their New and Celestial life. These he assists with his Grace,1 Cor. 4.15. John 1.13. which is able to continue and preserve what he hath begotten. No father can be more care­full of his sons education, than he is of their breeding; and to that purpose he guids their feet, where the way is dangerous, and opens their eyes, where the path is dark; and prevents a temptation, when it is too powerful; and quickens them up, when they are heavie and dull, and have no mind to learn.1 Pet. 1.3, 4. But this is not all neither, when they are past their minority, which lasts as long as his life lasts; he hath provided an inheritance for them, not by the death of the Fa­ther, but by the Purchase of the Son, of which he hath given these his children an assurance of his Spirit, and will put them into possession in another world.

Me thinks it cannot satisfie to huddle up so many acts of Grace, and such inestimable indulgences, and to present them thus in grosse. It will not then I hope seeme tedious unto you, that I sort these particulars, and offer them to your view one by one, it must needs chear up the heart of every gracious child, to hear that he hath so good and munificent a Father.

1. I passe by here how out of a lump of red earth,Gen. 1.27. & 2.7. and Virgin-clay he fra­med man to no other likenesse, than that of himself. Out of which pattern for succeeding posterity, when our enemy by temptation had prevail'd to blot Gods image, our gracious Father began to think how it might be restored as at first. And no other way being found to effect it, he that was the expresse image of his person, offered himself to become like man, that so man again might become like God.

2. And when He again left the world, and departed to his Father, He sent down his Spirit to dwell with us, to abide with us, to renew us, to reform us,Joh. 14.16, 17. Tit. 3.5. Heb. 9.10. 1 Thes. 5.23. to work all manner of sanctity in our hearts. The secret preventions, the inward and quick excitations, those sobs and throbs of heart, those powerful assistances, those calls and motions to good, are to no other end, but that you put off the old man, with his deeds, and that you put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him. Colos. 3.9, 10. The Holy Ghost then does but the same work for which the Son of God was born, viz. That we might be reborn, and have the holy image of our Father once more stamped upon us, and look like our Fathers children.

3. And we, who are his Embassadours, make all our addresses to you for the same purpose. We employ all our studies, art, industry, we spend our spirits,2 Cor. 5, 20. and torture our braines, only to make you again look like God your Father. It hath pleased the great Lord that sent us,1 Cor. 4.15. Gal. 4.19. to honour us with the title of spiri­tual fathers; and what is now our desire? but to beget you again by the Gospel, that so Christ might be once again formed in you.

For I must tell you, you are by nature the children of wrath: Or,Ehpes. 2.3. John 8.44. as Christ told the Pharisees, Of your Father the Devil, and the lusts of your father ye did: If it be now better with you, blesse the Spirit of God, who hath re­generated you by the Ministry of the Church. Among the chaffe you lay,Matth. 3.12. Matth. 13.30. 'tis the fan in our hand as under-workmen that hath purg'd you. You sometimes grew among the Tares, that you escape the fire, thank God who hath sent forth skilful Labourers to gather you: Rough, knotty, and unpolished timber you were, our axe, our plaine, point and edge hath gone upon you, and fitted you for the building. Of this God, by Hosee minds the Jews, and I you. Dedo­lavi per prophetas. I have hew'd you by the Prophets, Ego, per: Hos. 6.5. The work [Page 104] then is Gods,1 Thes. 3.2. he hews, shapes, fashions, smooths you for his Temple, to dwell in; but yet it is by us, we are fellow-labourers, we are instrumental; the axe, the saw, the plaine, which it pleaseth God to make use of, is put into our hand; and I pray let it not offend, that as we see occasion, we use the one and the o­ther; for till the knots and ruggednesse be chipt off, and the proud risings be taken down, you are not capable of your Fathers face, that image of righte­ousnesse and holinesse, the which to the life our desire and labour is to set up­on you.

3. And because want is oftentimes an hinderance to the undertaking of many worthy actions, that neither we be discouraged in the execution of our Embassay, nor you deterred from your filial obedience, like a good Father he hath furnished us with all temporal necessaries. We may mistake our corne and wine, our cloaths and meat, and take it for our own, and of our own pro­vision: But I know whose it is, and who hath provided it for us. The pro­perty is our Fathers, the use only ours; like an indulgent and wise father, he may passe over a Lease during pleasure of these temporals; but the right he still retains in his own hand.Ezek. 16.18. His Title you shall hear him plead; Thy Oyle is mine, thy Incense is mine, thy meat is mine, thy flower is mine, thy gold is mine, thy silver is mine, thy sons are mine, and thy daughters are mine. And upon the disobedience of his children, he threatens to make a re-entry. Because she knew not that I gave her corne, Hos. 2.8, 9. and wine, and oyle, and multiplyed her silver and gold, therefore I will returne, and take away my corne in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and I will recover my wooll and my flax given to cover her nakednesse.

Lord how much mistaken was the Churle Nabal, and so are all other Churles with him,1 Sam. 25.11. when they cry out My meat and my bread, and my water, and my shearers; for these things our bountiful Father in heaven hath only set out to his children on earth, and when they are behind with him for their rent of thanks, or else commit waste in his possessions, he may lawfully revoke his grant, and does often find another Tenant.

Matth. 5.45.The Sunne that ripens our corne is his, the aire that we breath is his; not a shower that comes from heaven but he begets it, for he is Pater pluviae, the Father of the raine:Job 38.28. Matth. 6, 11. Ezek. 4.16. The bread also which we eate is his, ours only when we have begg'd it of him; and when we have it, it will not be the staffe of bread to prop up these tabernacles of our bodies, till he hath given the power of nu­trition to. Your heavenly Father feedeth you, Mat. 6.26.

And if this courtesie seeme too common, because all creatures share in it, (for even the Ravens eate of our Fathers meat as well as we) then behold a farther honour. Every one of us are beholding to him for our preferment. After he had laid the foundation of the earth, watred it with rivers and springs, erected the walls of the elements, clapped on the roof of heaven, and furnish­ed it with lights from above; at last he brought in man, not to be a vassal or utensile,Gen. 1, 26. as the rest of the creatures, but to be a great Lord, to be a Superinten­dent, and to master all. Dominari, To have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fouls of the aire, and over the cattel, and over all the earth; was there ever the like Patent! David is so amaz'd at it, that he cries out, O Lord our Governours, how excellent is thy name in all the world! So he begins,Psal. 8.1. ult. so he ends the Psalm.

4. But I presse these temporals no farther, though I might do well in it; for most of us are too too earthly-minded, and think those our farhers white sons that have the largest portion assigned them on earth. But the Apostle calls me to a far higher contemplation: It being not so much his providence, by which God hath shewed himself a Father unto us, as in that he hath gi­ven us

1. The Spirit of Adoption.

Adoption is an act of Grace, found out for the comfort of those who have no children, or if they have, yet out of some deep dislike have cast them off. By this the person so chosen, is put in the place, and honoured with the title of a sonne, and intended to be the heire. This is the indulgence of men; but we finde the God of heaven far more indulgent in this act. For this spiritual Adoption far exceeds that which is civil, and with us usual.

1. The civil was found out by man. This proceeded from God.Ephes. 1.5. God the Father destinated us unto the adoption of children, &c. 2. The civil was brought in for the comfort of a father that wants children and heires; this for the comfort of a child, that wants a father. 3. In the civil no man adopts, that hath a son and heire, or that hath not for some enormity judged him un­worthy of his inheritance: but in this, the father had a son and heire, and there was no dislike, nor no reason for it, and yet he adopts strangers to be coheires with his son. 4. The civil often hath its rise from some outward motive, ei­ther nearnesse of blood, or consideration of some rare parts in the person adopted, or blind affection: But this had no such cause, it was not from faith or works foreseene, nor for any mans righteousnesse, nor uprightnesse of heart,Deut. 9.5. nor for any proximity; for we were aliens and strangers to him; It proceed­ed meerly ex motu proprio; he adopted us according to the good pleasure of his will. 5. Lastly, in the civil,Ephes. 1.5. the manners and conditions of the adopted is not chang'd; make choice of an Ethiop, and adopt him for your son, and he remains as black as before; whereas in this adoption the man becomes a new man, his life is bettered, his ways of another fashion; he is so sanctified, so cleansed, that should you compare him with what he was, and what he is, you would scarce take him to be the same man. And that you wonder no­thing at it, at the instant of the Adoption, they

2. Receive the Spirit.

Do not think it in vain, that the Apostle phraseth it thus. He might have said Adoption barely, but that he doth not, but puts us in mind of the Spirit that comes to our Adoption, and that for weighty reasons.

1. Because this Spirit transforms the man,Rom. 8.1. and makes him walk not accor­ding to the flesh, but by the conduct of the Spirit. No sooner shall you finde a man admitted into this catalogue of sons, but you shall find him a new man.Acts 9. Luke 7. Luke 10.39. Saul is made a Paul; Mary the City sinner, or as Ambrose hath it, the Cities sinne, is turned into Mary the devout. Are thy wayes foul, vitious, sottish, profane, whorish? The foul spirit is yet in thee. Art thou humble, penitent, meek, circumspect? thy own spirit brought thee not to that; it was this Spirit of Adoption.

2. Or secondly, because till he comes, there is none of our Fathers work done in any child of God; The natural man perceives not the things of God, 1 Cor. 2.9. to 16 the understanding is dark, the will perverse, the affections bent to evil. He, and He alone makes us partakers of the divine nature; Illuminates, renewes,2 Pet. 1.4. teacheth, incites, confirms, prayes in us, and makes us do all the duties of sons;Rom. 8.27. Ephes. 4.30. in one word, seals us to the day of redemption.

3. And that Sealing is to us the Spirit of Adoption. For Adoption hath to us no Spirit, life or heart in it, till it come to that. The name of a Fa­ther, and the inheritance made over unto us, are but like an Indenture fairly drawn, from which we have no assurance that we shall receive any benefit, till the seale be set. That being once done, then we may be confident that [Page 106] what is contain'd in the Deed, is made over to us. Very precious promises our gracious Father hath made to all his Adopted children; and that they nothing doubt of the enjoyment of them, he hath given them his Spirit to be a Witnesse, Rom. 8.16. Eph. 4.30. Eph. 1.14. a Seale, a Pledge, an Earnest to secure the Inheritance. And all who are his Sonnes have receiv'd this Spirit; not Adoption only, but the comfort of Adoption, which at one time or other is brought home, and laid up in their bosome.

When David was offer'd Sauls daughter to Wife, he thought himself too mean for that Honour; in humility he disparages his birth, and blood; he labours to put it off with,1 Sam. 18.18. Who am I, that I should be a Sonne in law to a King? And I pray what are all we? from what Race are we sprung? are we not potsheards of the earth? Isa. 45.9. how comes then this about that we should not only be sons in law, but adopted sons? not to an earthly father, but to the King of all the earth? It had been a great favour to have been reckoned in the number of his menial servants; David boasted of that Title,Psalm 116.16. James 2.23. 1 Kings 20.33. John 1.3, 7. I am thy servant; a greater to have been the friend of God, as was Abraham; To be a Brother so great an honour, that one King greedily catcht at it from another, Thy Brother Benhadad. Qualem ergo chari­tatem, I ask you what kinde of love this was? teach me I pray, for I know not of what quality it is, or how to expresse it; I ask againe, what kinde of love is this,Rom. 5.6.8.10. Ephes. 2.12. Gen. 18.27. John 15.15. John 20.17. that we who were Enemies, Sinners, Ungodly, Impotent, Aliens and Strangers, the highest that can be said of us but men; and men are but dust and ashes; That we I say, should be admitted, not for servants, but friends; not only servants and friends, but brethren, nay Sons, Sons and Heirs to our Father in heaven!

Had this been the first houre that these Titles had been sounded in your eares, I feare that would have befallen me, which happened to Paul at A­thens, Acts 17.18. I should have been taken for [...] for some vaine babler; It so far passeth Humane reason, that a sinful man should be thus dignified. Admired it would be, that Tantus tantillos, tantum, that so great a Maje­sty should ever love such Minims as we were, so much, as of enemies to entertaine us for servants, of servants to make us brethren, from brethren to adopt us sonnes, and of sonnes to make us Heires, yea while his own on­ly Sonne the Heire of all was yet alive. But this is now become the common Report of every Evangelist, of every Apostle; there is not a Book extant, in which we finde not the Original Indenture betwixt God and man running in these termes of Relation: The Inheritance being passed in a Fathers Name to his adopted Sonnes: Which because it is stale News, we slight, un­dervalue, and little regard.

Uses.Well then, be the esteem what it will, yet I will be bold to minde you of your duty; and teach you what obedience the Name of a Father impo­ses upon you, and what comfort you may reap from it. It may be you may grow wiser by it, and value this Inestimable Indulgence at a higher Rate.

Mal. 1.6.1. If I be a Father, saith God by the Prophet Malachi, where's my honour? as if it were not possible for any man to acknowledge God for his Father,Ephes. 6.2. who doth not yield him the obedience of a Sonne. Honour thy fa­ther and mother, is the first Commandment with promise; the Law of na­ture bindes to that duty; and therefore if we will be accounted the Sonnes of our Father who is in Heaven, like good Sonnes that would alwayes please, we must do what we can to honour him.Luke 15. Rom. 2.24. Isa. 52.5. Nothing so much grieved the Pro­digal, as that he had offended his father; this also must be our grief, that our Fathers Name should be blasphemed by us▪ and for us, that he who hath [Page 107] adopted us for his Sonnes, should be so vi [...]ified by us. No dishonour then for a Fathers sake.

2. But rather affection and imitation; for it behoves children out of love, to tread in their fathers steps. [...],Isoc. ad Dem. For it is absurd for Pain­ters to set out to the life the fairest proportions of common creatures, and for children not to imitate their fathers vertues. Are you persecuted? pray for them who despitefully use you, that y [...]u may be the children of your Fa­ther which is in heaven. Have you abilities? be pitiful, be merciful, Mat. 5.45. be a father to the fatherlesse, a husband to the widow, eyes to the blinde, Job 29.15, 16. feet to the lame, a father to the poor. For these distressed people are your Brethren; and to a Brother you owe Consilium & auxilium, Alms and coun­sel. In all things labour to be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect.

A more evident sign of a Bastard Brood there cannot be, than to degene­rate from, and shame the blood of our Progenitours. If therefore you be Sons of so great a Father as God is, dishonour not your Royal descent by a base and vitious life.

3. Lastly, If God be your Father, then you must learn to suffer patiently under his hand, if it please him at any time to afflict and cross you. For he hath not a Sonne whom one way or other, at some time or other, he doth not chastise; so it must be; for should it fall out otherwise,Heb. 12.6, 7, 8. we were Bastards and not Sonnes.Origen. Hieron. Hos. 4.14. Ezek. 16.42. Bern. Ser. 4. in Cant. Will you heare the most terrible words that ever fell from the mouth of God? it is that in Hosea, I will not punish your Daughters when they commit whoredome: Or that in Ezekiel, My jealousie shall depart from thee, I will be quiet, I will be angry no more. Bernard confesseth that he could never reade this Text without extream horrour. Contremisco solo au­ditu, I shiver, saith he, to heare that God will not be angry, that he will not punish, that he will not visit; I will none of this mercy; supra omnem iram est haec miseratio, this pity is beyond all anger: For how can I ever be assured that I am his Childe, if I never receive any correction from him? What father can you name, that gave not, or caused correction to be given to his childe? I never read of any but one who scaped the Rod, and he pro­ved a Traytour. Adoniah was the childe that David never displeased at any time, or said so much to him as Why hast thou done so? 1 Kings 1.5. and he would needs be in his fathers Throne, before his fathers head was laid up in his grave. A dangerous indulgence then it is in a father not to frown, and miserable mercy in God not to punish. Sometimes to shew his anger, is a greater evidence of his love; which when this our kinde Father doth toward his untoward chil­dren, if they beare it patiently, no surer Argument of their adoption. For whom he loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every Son that he receiveth. 1 Pet. 2.21. Heb. 12.6. Frown and fight he may, but cast off and hate he will not. And therefore it becomes us to be patient. In regard then of your adoption, and his Fa­therhood, do the duties of Sonnes. Take all things in good part that come from his hands; tread in his steps, and readily and heartily obey his com­mands (which three are the true properties of good children) and upon the performance of these, there will arise to you divers consolations and solid comforts. For as a fathers name is a memento for duty, so is it also a stay and ground-work of hope.

First, Upon the endeavour to walk in your fathers steps, his love will beare with, and pass by many wants and imperfections in a childe. For as a father spares his own Son, so will God spare them that feare him; Psalm 103.13. and a­gaine [Page 108] you may reade in Malachi, Mal. 3.16.17. That a Book of remembrance was written before him, for them that feared the Lord, and thought upon his Name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my Jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spares his own Son that serveth him. It is not for nothing that we reade of a distinction of spots; the spots of the Leopard,Jer. 13.23. Deut. 32.5. and the spots of Sonnes; those are the spots of a beast, these of a childe. 'Tis not the Herb Borith, nor Fullers sope can purge the first, for their spot is not the spot of children; but our brothers blood will purge the last,Numb. 23.21. so that God will not see iniquity in Jacob, not see it to impute it, not see it to punish it; no more than a father will the distorted Characters and blots in his childs Copy, when he is fully perswaded of his utmost en­deavour.

Secondly, Farther yet, a strong hope we have from this name that we shall not lose our reward. It cannot be denyed, that for our untowardness we de­serve to lose our Inheritance; but the comfort is, that if we returne, our Fa­ther will not disinherit us. For the childe he loves once, he loves for ever. Though Absolom were an ungracious childe,Jer. 31.3. 2 Sam. 18.5. yet in the very height of his Treason, David his father loved him still, he commanded the Captaines to use him kindly for his sake; and upon the Relation of his unlucky death, be­took him to his Chamber,33. and wept, and cry'd, O Absolom my sonne! So it is with our gracious Father even at the instant of our Rebellions, though our Treasons make him pursue us, yet he loves when he strikes, and sighs when he punisheth any of his. Ah, I will be avenged. And his work then is to purge away thr drosse, Isa. 1.24, 25. and take away the tinne.

Isa. 49.13, 14, 15.16. Sing O heaven, and be joyful O earth, and break forth into singing O Mountaines, for God hath comforted his people, and will have mercy on his afflicted. But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. So pusillanimous and diffident a childe of God sometimes is. To which our Father might have answered, I have not forgotten thee, I have not forsaken thee; but he returns his answer in more powerful and effectual words,1 King. 2.26. Can a woman forget her sucking childe, that she should not have com­passion on the sonne of her womb? Let one of the Harlots that pleaded before Solomon decide that doubt. But put case such a thing happen. Yea, they may forget, yet I will not forget thee. His love to us is wonderful, passing the love of women.2 Sam. 1.26. Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before me.

The comfort of this place is beyond expression. Thou cryest sometimes perhaps, The Lord hath forgotten me, my fa [...]her hath forsaken me; but it cannot be, for the memorials engraven, not barely written, in his hands; the memorial in his eyes, the love of a mother which containes all loves in it, are against it. Lay to heart this his fatherly affection in the greatest of thy temptations, when the world, the devil, and thy own heart shall endeavour to perswade thee, that thou art cast out of the eyes of thy Heavenly Father, Say yet with Job, Job 13.15. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him; for I know he can no more forsake me, than a mother her sucking childe. When my father and mother forsake me, Psalm 27.10. yet t [...]e Lord taketh me up; as if he had said, Though Parents here sometimes do, yet my Father in Heaven will never put off that Fatherly and Motherly affection he beares me. Into his displeasure his children may fall, but Totally and Finally they never shall lose his Love.

Thirdly, This name brings them home when they are gone astray, this name animates their petitions, this name conveys their soules to Heaven. God is a Name of Majesty, Lord of power, both may deter us in our approa­ches to him; but Father is a Name of mercy, that calls us into the Mount. [Page 109] The Kings children may come into his presence, when others in contemplati­on of his Majesty and greatness, must stand without.

When you petition, Our Father is to be the first word;Mat. 6.9. Luke 15.21. Luke 23.34. Mat. 6 12. Luke 23.46. when you con­fess your sinnes, Pater, peccavi, is a good forme to begin with; in your in­tercessions, Pater ignosce, Father forgive, hath authority from our Savi­ours lips. When you part with the world, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit, is an excellent ejaculation to end with: So that Praying, Confessing, Repenting, Interceding, Dying, we finde comfort in this Name.

I shall repeat it over againe while we are here; if we cry Abba Father, he is ready to receive our prayers while we are here; if we acknowledge, Father I have sinn'd against heaven, and against thee, he is ready to receive our confession: While we are here, if at any time we repent, and say with the Prodigal, I will arise, and go to my father, he is ready to receive us to grace; and when we go hence, can we but say with our Saviour,John 16.10. Col. 1.2. John 2.3. Gal. 1.3. Ephes. 1.17. James 1.17. I go to my Father, he is ready to receive us to glory. Grace is from God the Father, and mercy is from God the Father, and peace is from God the Father, and glory is from God the Father. There is no gift, or perfect gift, but comes down from this Father of lights.

Fourthly, I see I must break from this point, or else I shall never get from it. For I confess I have found an honey-comb, and I could be content to suck it for ever. But I have one Use more to make of this Name, and so I will end. To shut up all then, is God a Father? then without question he will provide for his children; for the children lay not up for the fathers, 2 Cor. 12.14. but the fathers for the children. Many things are necessary for our bodies, many things for our souls; but our Father provides his of both; food and cloathing the two principles for the body; his Word and the Sacrament the nourishments for the soul; When we profess to believe in God the Father, we also believe his providence.

Our Saviour would not have his followers over careful what they should eat, or what they should drink, or wherewith they should be cloathed; Mat. 6.30, 31, 32. for­tifying his counsel with this reason, For your heavenly Father knoweth where­of you stand in need; and therefore [...], be not anxious, distract, divide not the minde about it; for this is a shrewd signe that we do not be­lieve as we ought, that God our Father who gives us life and bodies, wi [...] allow us means to sustaine the one, and cloath the other; or at least that we do [...], hang betwixt two opinions,Luke 12.29. not knowing on which to re­solve, whether our Father will do this for us or no, which our Saviour calls want or littleness, or defect of faith. To remove then this little Infidelity, let every good childe use prayer, labour, and thirst, as his Father in Heaven hath directed, and then never doubt but he shall be provided for. That God who fed Eliah with Ravens, will never starve a childe, that greatr Povider who cloaths the Lillies, will never suffer a son to go naked.1 Kings 17.6. If men will yet be solicitous and careful, a matter there is of more weight; and he puts Gods children to be careful of that, viz. Mat. 6.33. That they be careful to seek the Kingdome of God, and its righteousnesse; which either they must gaine, or be unhappy for ever. This is that same one necessary thing, without the purchase of which all other things are but loss. First seek that then, and other things [...], shall be cast in over and above.

Now such is the love of our Heavenly Father, that he hath provided us sufficient meanes to attaine this Kingdome, to gaine this righteousness.Luke 16.29. They have Moses and the Prophets, said Abraham once from Heaven, let them heare them. But you have, say I, Moses and the Prophets, and over and above, the Evangelists and Apostles, let all these be heard; for this is [Page 110] the provision your Heavenly Father hath made for you. Parata sunt omnia, All things are ready;Luk. 14.17, 18. invited you are; make no, excuses upon pretence of the Wife, the Oxen, and the Farme; come to your fathers great Supper, Eat, O friends, Cant. 5.1. drink, yea, drink abundantly, O Beloved.

To care for the world I need not exhort you, for that you are so solicitous already, as if you did distrust your Fathers providence. It shall be then my Petition at this time to you, that you would depose some of these worldly thoughts,Col. 3.1. and instead thereof entertaine Heavenly; that you would set your affections on things above, where Christ your Elder Brother sits on the right hand of God. There your Heavenly Father hath provided for you also, yea, and far better things than these transitory vanities, a Crown, a Kingdome, a Throne,1 Pet. 1.3, 4. an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you; For if we be Sonnes, then are we Heires, and co-heires to such an Inheritance which earth cannot afford. Ours here, the greatest are subject to three foule inconveniences, Corruption, Soyle, and Fading. They corrupt in the substance; are defiled and full of soyle in the quality; and fade in the beauty. Whatsoever we can inherit here below, is subject to one, nay to all these. It corrupts, takes soyle, fades. But that Inheritance which our Father hath prepared for us, is in danger of none of these. It is uncorrupt, and will hold its being, none ever shall disherit or disseize us of it. Undefiled, and shall hold the test, none ever shall embase it with any mixture.Jonah 4.7. Fade or decay it will not; Jonahs worme shall not bite it, but it shall hold out its prime perfection and beauty.

Now blessed be God, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who ac­cording to his abundant mercy,1 Pet. 1.3, 4. hath begotten us (which is the act of a father) to a lively hope of this Inheritance: And blessed be our Elder Brother Jesus Christ, who hath purchased this Inheritance for us: And blessed be the Spirit of God, who hath set to the Seale, and given us security, that this In­heritance is reserved for us in Heaven.

Kept for us it is, and kept in Heaven, which is well for us; for had it been kept on earth, it might have gone the same way that Paradise did. Now since that is kept for us, let us also keep our selves for it, keep from all dis­obedience, keep from all wilfull contempts of our Father, as little as we can transgress any of his Commands; and when that falls out, fall down at his feet, and cry, Pater peccavi, Father I have sinned. For upon our sub­mission,Luke 15.18, 20 confession, and amendment, still the Inheritance shall be ours. While we are yet a great way off, our Father will see us on the way, he will have compassion on us, runne and make haste to meet us, fall on our neck and embrace us, and give us a kiss, a sure Token of our Reconciliation. He will call together his friends and neighbours, Saints and Angels, and say unto them, Verse 6. Verse 32. It is meet that we should be merry, and be glad; for this my son your brother was dead in trespasses and sinnes, but he is alive againe; he was lost, but is found.

[...], Omnipotent, Almighty.

Power then and Dominion he hath over all. And because this his power is a Transcendent, therefore we joyn Omnis, or all to it. Other great Prin­ces in the World have had swelling Titles added to them; as the Assyrian was stiled [...], The great King; and Alexander, and Pompey, and Caesar, and Charles were called Magni, The great. High and mighty Prin­ces they were, and much, and great things they did, and were able to do; but as mighty as they were, their power was circumscribed and limited. Al­mighty not one of them was. For they must all cast down their Crowns,Rev. 4.10. and 19.16 and stoop their Scepters in the presence of him who is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Let him then have his Title alone, [...], for he hath power over all. Let him enjoy this Attribute alone, Omnipotent, Psalm 135.6. for he doth what­soever he will in heaven and earth.

Every where in the Scripture this powerful Word is set as a Bar to all dif­fidence and distrust.Rom. 4.19, 20, 21. Abraham was promised a son, he was old, and his Wife past children, but he considered not his own body now dead, nor the deadness of Sarahs womb; he stagger'd not, but was strong in faith; why so? what kept him from wavering? what? Gods power. He was fully per­swaded, that what God had promised, he was able to performe. The rejected Jews (Saint Paul opens to us that mystery) shall be called and ingraffed a­gaine into the natural Olive.Rom. 11.23, 25 This the Gentile it seemes was not apt to be­lieve. The Apostle commands us never to distrust it upon this reason, For God is able to graffe them in againe; Nothing may be thought impos­sible to him who is able to raise of stones, Mat. 3.9. children unto Abraham.

So that it is not without reason, why omitting the other Attributes of God, mercy, justice, &c. in the beginning of the Creed, the Apostles made choice of this. For many particulars follow here, which could no otherwise be brought to pass, but by a mighty hand.

To Create the world of nothing, to Redeem from hell, to make a Mo­ther remaine a Virgin, to descend and to triumph over the infernal powers, to arise from the grave, to ascend far above all heavens, to come againe in the Clouds to judge quick and dead, are all Acts of power. These things are marvelous in our eyes, Psalm 118.23. yet credible they are, believe them we may and must, for he that is Almighty hath done them. When any thing is impossible to God, then let these seem impossible to you. Farther yet, to forgive sins is an Act of power;Mark 2 7. for who can forgive sinnes, but God only? To raise the body of a dead man, whose very ashes have admitted of various formes, cau­sing each bone to come to its bone, sinew to unite to sinew, and to call for a cover of new flesh,Ezek. 36. and a fresh skinne: yea, over and above to this flesh so quickned to indulge eternal life, can proceed from none but from that Al­mighty hand,Rev. 1.18. who hath the keyes of hell and death. Since then all these are without the verge of humane capacity; since flesh and blood cannot con­ceive them feizable, and yet must necessarily be believed by every Christian: God himself to stay our infirmity, and settle our wavering mindes when we heare of such miracles, hath in the front of our Creed acquainted us who it is that doth all these great and wonderful things. It is [...], qui potens est, he that is mighty: It is [...], he that can do whatever he plea­seth in heaven and in earth. Luke 1.49. Impossible that cannot be, which God, that is Almighty, hath done, and means to do.

The demand of the meer natural man in things improbable is [...], how can this thing be? Let an Angel from heaven tell Sarah of a Sonne to be born to her in her old age, she smiles at it as an impossible thing, saying, What, Gen. 18.12, 14 after I am waxed old, and my Lord also? but what saith the An­gel? Shall any thing be impossible to the Lord? Let the Prophet foretell of the incredible plenty in famished Samaria, 2 Kings 7.18, 19. that two measures of Barly shall be sold for a shekel, and a measure of fine flower for a sh [...]kel, to morrow about this time in the Gate of Samaria. Some Lord upon whose hand the King leans will answer, Now behold, if the Lord should make windows in hea­ven, could this thing be? But the Prophet will tell him, Thou shalt see it with thy eyes. Num. 11.4, [...]3. When these Murmurers in the Psalme fell a lusting, and wept, and ask'd, Who shall give us flesh to eat? Can God prepare a Table in the Wilderness? See how God answers their question with another, Is the Lords hand waxed short? Thou shalt see whether my word shall come to pass or no; and upon it this Almighty sent them meat for a month together, till it came out againe at their nostrills. Who is able sufficiently to speak of the wonderful works of the Lord,Gen. 4.24. 2 Kings 2. Gen. 7.23. or to set forth the miraculous effects of his power? Enoch translated, Eliah taken up, Noah saved in the Ark, and [Page 113] saving a seed for the world, that it might be peopled with better inhabitants.Hesd. 14.6. Gen. 19. The unexpected ruine of the impious by a shower of fire and brimstone, and of pious L [...]t the more unexpected deliverance. The Pillar of Salt. Joseph made a God to Pharaoh. The plagues of Egypt. The Sea divided with the rod,Exod. 7. &c. Exod. 14. Exod. 13.21. Exod. 17.11. Josh. 10.12. Judg. 6.37. & 16.17. Numb. 16.31. Dan. 6.22. Tit. 3.26, 27. and coming together with a word. The Pillar of a cloud sending forth a coole shade by day, and the Pillar of fire giving light by night. Amalek beaten down with a prayer. The Sun commanded to stand still, and the Moon to stay her course. The earth and the fleece interchangably dryed and moistned. The power of the haire equal to a whole army. Corah, Dathan, and A­biram swallowed up. The Lions mouths stopped, and the three children in the midst of the fire delivered, with many more, are all effects of this Omni­potency. Whethersoever we cast our eyes, either upon the strange punish­ments inflicted upon his enemies, or upon the miraculous courtesies and pre­servations of his servants, we must confesse that he is Almighty; and sing with David, with his own right hand, Psal. 98.1. and with his holy arme he hath gotten himself the victory.

Of some of these, these Israelites had heard; of many of these they had ex­perience, and yet like Infidels they aske in scorne, Can he give bread also? &c. In the words I commend unto you these two generals.

• 1. An open Confession of his power. Behold he smote the Rock, and the waters gushed out.
• 2. A distrust of his help at present, and a questioning of that power they confess'd. But can he give bread also? &c.

1. In their Confession observe

• 1. The Action. He smote the Rock.
• 2. The Miracle, Or Consequent of the blow: Waters gush'd out, streams overflow'd.

2. In their Murmur or Distrust, take notice of

• 1. The calling in question his power and providence, Can he give bread? Can he provide flesh?
• 2. What they murmured for, bread and flesh.
• 3. Their sottishnesse, that they should acknowledge themselves his peo­ple, and yet doubt of his provision in so small a matter as Victuals.

3. Both which, that it may come the warmer to your heart, is ushered in with an Ecce.

1. Behold.

This word calls for our eye to see, and for our eare to hear, and be attent to what is spoken. It is never set by the Holy Ghost, but before matter of more than ordinary note. So it is here; Set it before the first clause, and it presents to your eye a Miracle. Ecce percussit rupem, Behold he smote the Rock, and the, &c. Set it before the second, and it shewes a Wonder, an untoward dispo­sition of a stubborne people, asking in a geering way. But can he give bread also, &c?

He smote the Rock, that's confest; But can he give bread? that's que­stion'd; and which is the greater wonder, is hard to judge; either his smiting, or their doubting; for to confesse his power in giving water, and with the same breath to question his power in giving bread, is matter of wonder, since the experience of the one, should have staid their diffidence of the other.

That then which I shall call you to behold first, is the froward nature of man, who is never well pleased, nor full nor fasting; if God do not for him as he would have it, he is presently discontented;

Let Jupiter raine or not, he cannot please all. Of one whom thou sawest yesterday, thou mayest ask the next, Who is he? he is much chang'd in his thoughts.Jonah 4.6, 9. This was true in Jonah, who is quickly angry, and quickly pleas'd, and all for a poor Gourd; the herb came up over his head, and he was exceed­ing glad;Num. 11.5, 6. the same withers and he is exceeding sad. The Israelites I doubt not were wonderfully pleased with the streams flowing from the Rock; but being a little straitned for bread and flesh, they murmure, and prefer Egypt before their present condition. But to take off this untoward passion, or else to abate it, know we should, that the condition of our lives is such, that there are many things that must happen to us, while we are in our journey to the celesti­al Canaan, for which we may change our names, and say with Naomi, Call me not Naomi, that is, beautiful, or pleasant; but call me Marah, for the Al­mighty hath given me much bitternesse, Ruth. 1.20. dealt very bitterly with me. But if we remember withal that this is the work of our Almighty Father to humble us, it may teach us patience, and submission. For to whom do we owe the sub­jection of our spirits but to him, who loads us with benefits, to informe us how easily he can bestow them, and take them away, that we may know how little we deserve them?

Upon this ground Saint Paul learned to want, and to abound; upon this old Eli to be content,Phil. 4.11. 1 Sam. 3.18. It is the Lord; that thought quieted his soul, and put to silence all that might be objected. Were it an enemy, possible it were to hide our selves from him: Were it the son of man, possibly some resistance might be made against him; Were it any creature of God, means perhaps might be used to redresse our sufferings; but if it be the Lord that doth it, sub­mission is our duty, patience our shield. This holy Job took, and how many fiery darts did he repulse with it? Satan expected that he should have cursed God to his face, and his wife another Satan in his bosome tried to perswade him to it; but there fell from his lips no other besides these gracious words, Blessed be the name of the Lord: Job 1.21, 11. Job 2.9, 10. The witnesse is true which is there given, In all this did not Job sinne, nor charge God foolishly. I conclude this observati­on with that of Tertullian, Totum licet seculum pereat, dum patientiam lucri­faciam. Let me lose all, so I may retaine my patience, for I am sure to be a gainer by it.

2. He smote.

And that which may confirme us in our patience, is, that as he brings his people sometimes into want and necessity, so he knows his time of help and succour. Israel in the Desert shall not perish for want of a little water; rather than so, he will do a miracle, He smote the Rock.

He, saith our Psalmist, He smote it, and yet if we look into the story, we shall finde that it was Moses his servant that gave the blow.Num. 20. But Almighty God oftentimes ownes those actions which are done by his especial instru­ments. If there be an obliquity in them, as was in this, we must be charged with that; but the power by which we do ought, proceeds from him; The fault and error is ours, the action as natural is his. And there is reason for it; For if an instrumental cause have no power in it self to produce an effect, but by the vertue of the Principal, especially when the instrumental depends upon the principal both for its essence and ability to work: Let God then have the honour both of the action and effect, so that what is amisse in it, and erroneous, be charged upon his servant Moses. For, if we survey the story, finde we shall, that it was he that smote, and not God.

He smote; And in that he passeth his Commission. He was commanded to speak only to the Rock,Num. 20.8, 11. and he gave it two blows; he was charged only to call for water, and he would as good as force and presse it out of the stone.

The best of Gods servants have their imperfections; even Moses that meek man hath his bag of gall, and when it overflows, he goes beyond his Warrant; In this action of his there were these obliquities.

1. A distrust of Gods Word and Providence;Numb. 20.12. with that God chargeth him and his brother Aaron, Ye believed me not.

2. Then his impatience, He spake unadvisedly with his lips. Psal. 106.33. This was his saying, Hear now ye Rebels, shall we being you water out of this Rock? Tantum apud se ceperat indignationis, ut placide Dei mandatum non audiret. Numb. 20.10. Moller. So angry he grew, that he could not execute Gods command with an even and composed Spirit: The hesitation of his heart was fault enough; but so far to give way to his passion, as to suffer it to break out upon his tongue, heightens the offence. This is, acsi faetor stomachi aperto ore profundatur, as if a man should vomit what offends the stomach at his mouth,Musculus in loc and bring up and out the sin that is conceived within.

3. The dishonour by this his rash and unadvised over-cholerique expression done to God; for thereby his Name was blasphemed, as if Moses rod and blow had done the miracle, and not Gods immediate hand; with this also God char­geth them, Ye did not sanctifie me in the eyes of the children of Israel. Numb. 20.12. These were the errors of Moses and his brother Aaron; and the punishment fol­lows in the same verse; Therefore you shall not bring this Congregation into the Land which I have given them. And hence we may collect the great­nesse of the offence, that God for it did not spare his choycest servant. That we are to make of it, is this.

1. To beware we transgresse not our Commission, and do that for which we have no Warrant. Even actions in their own nature good, change and alter, become stark naught, and offend God in a high degree that cannot be warrant­ed. The self-same action, that is commendable in one, is sinful in another, being done without a Vocation. To offer sacrifice is in it self good, but it was punished in Saul, and in Ʋzziah, because they would invade the Priests office,1 Sam. 13.8, 9. 2 Chron. 26.19 and for a Scepter take a Censer. The Sword is allowable in the Superiours hands, not so in Peters, for he is commanded to put it up, having no warrant from his Master to draw it. And so must all that are in Peters case,John 18.11. keep the sword in its place, and never drawn but upon command; for in that place it is cursed, when otherwise taken forth. Ex officio, upon a warrantable call men, are bound to do what they do; and then again not exilire limites, not to trans­gresse their authority.

2. For secondly, we must take heed that anger and choler transport us not, no not in Gods cause. Zeal doth well, so it be regulated; but mixt with our own passions and interests, it drives on like Jehu; Fury it i [...] rather than zeale,2 Kings 9. [...]0. and God dislikes it, nay punisheth it. Ye know not saith Christ, of what spi­rit you are; he would not have his disciples to be any of the Jewish zealots. Those were to be out of date in the time of the Gospel. True indeed,Luke 9.15. it is good to be zealous in a good matter, but the matter must be good for sub­stance and circumstance, or else the zeale is stark naught.Gal. 4.18. So it was here in Moses.

3. Lastly, Maxima ill [...]cebra peccandi spes impunitatis, hope of impuni­ty is the strongest motive to offend; that this fasten not upon any, see here Moses the favorite of God not spared; He smote the Rock, and he is smit­ten. But what and if this Rock be Christ? as the Apostle teacheth us it is,1 Cor. 10.4. then we have a fearful example not to give him a blow; For those who smote him, have been smitten ever since. Gnammi they were, but for the blow they gave him, they are become Lo-gnammi; of his people, not his people, nay scarce a people. To chastise one, is to shew mercy to many; since,Hos. 1.9. though the stripes fall but on one mans back, yet the terror and fear may be upon others.

And yet here admire the bowels of our heavenly Father, who ever punish­eth citra condignum, Deut. 34.1. not according to our defers, but in judgment remem­bers mercy. Moses is not presently snatcht away in anger, but is delayed, and brought to the top of mount Nebo, whence he might see the land, into which he might not enter; and though not into that Canaan, yet into that which is above he might. Thus God deals with his servants, presently he takes them not away upon their sinne, but delays them, and gives them a time of repen­tance; yea sometimes debars them of their milk and hony, that they may see and confesse what they have deserved to lose; yet upon their return, for an earth­ly Cannan which they have deserved to lose, they shall enter into a celestial, of which that was but a type.

3. He smote the Rock.

But now to the Rock I come. A dry, stony Rock, whence a man would ra­ther look for fire than water, especially in that Countrey, which for the flinty mountains, is to this day call'd Arabia the stony. For be it, that out of great Rocks sally forth store of lively streames, yet these rather drill down by the sides of them, than issue out of the matter and substance of them. This was è Petra, Verse 16. non per Petram, out of it, not rilling down by and through it. A miracle then here was done, that no man dreamt of a natural cause; whether it were by conversion of the substance of the Rock into water, or by giving pas­sage there to some river before inclosed and streaming in the bowels of the earth, I dispute not. A miracle I say, God to content his people did, and then too, when they had little care to content him.

At this time they were sojourners in the Wildernesse of Zin, where they began to mutiny; the mixt multitude began first, and the Israelites followed, as if they meant to obey no longer than their turns were serv'd. Flat Rebels Moses calls them. It repented them of their chang'd estates, and grieved them to remember those lost delicates, Garlick and Onions, and flesh to boot while they Were in Egypt: where they rather contented themselves to be full fed, and beaten after the manner of beasts, than to suffer a little necessary want in expectation of the Promise and freedome of Religion.

What Boanerges would not here call for fire from heaven to consume them, or an opening of the earth again to swallow them! But behold the tender mercy and long-suffering of God: In stead of fire to consume, see here wa­ter to coole their unquiet appetite: In stead of opening to swallow, the earth opens, and that in the hardest part a rock to fill their mouths. To fill I say, for they might drink their fill, the waters came forth in such abundance.

4. Waters gushed out, and streams overflowed.

Such was the bounty of God the giver, that he proportions his bounty to their wants. Had some little rill drain'd out of the Rock, or some few drops followed upon the stroke, the stone might have seemed rather to have sweat a little, and distill'd them, than that it had been an act of divine power: And then again they might have doubted that they should not have enough to quench their thirst. But that nor his power should be question'd, nor his care thought to be lesse than their wants, the Psalmist saith not that the waters dropt down the Rock, but that there were full spouts of them. They gushed out, they overflowed.Num. 20.11. The water came out abundantly, and the Congregation drank, and their beasts also.

Saint Paul tells us, that the Rock followed them. Some of the Jewes take this litterally,1 Cor. 10.4. affirming that the Rock became movable, and of its own accord removed whither they removed, and staid still where they rested. Others th [...]t [Page 117] it became so little, that Miriam, Moses Sister carried it in her bosome, that so oft as they pleased, they might go to her and fetch water: But these are Jewish fables. That which is most like to truth, is, that these waters that flowed out of the Rock did not presently dry up; but being derived into many rills and streams, accompanied the I [...]raelites wherever they pitched their Tents, untill they came into another Land of waters, by which they might be supplied. Thus Tertullian understands the words,Tertul. de pati­ent. cap. 5. and therefore calls it Petrae aqua [...]ilem sequelam; which sense may well be warranted out of the Psalme, He opened the Rock, and the waters gushed out, so that Rivers ran in dry places. Psalm 105.41.

And now give me leave to ask you, Amici, ad quid venistis? my friends, wherefore are you come? only to heare of Israel thus plentifully satisfied with water? only to reade a miracle how great streams gushed out of a Rock? This were to see other men cooled, and your selves to remain in a flame still. And therefore drink you also and be satisfied; for this Rock was Christ; 1 Cor. 10.4. not in substance, but in signification; and the water that came from thence, a type or shadow of our Saviours blood.

This Rock was smitten, and so was he. Moses smote the Rock, and it was the Law that gave him the blow. In Moses Rod was the hand of God, and in his sufferings Gods hand was also;Lam. 1, 12. John 19.34. Psalm 130.7. for thus it was done to him in the fierceness of his wrath. Out of the Rock there gushed water, and streams o­verflowed; and out of his side there issued a flow of water, and a streame of blood, that we might have Copiosam Redemptionem, not only Redemption, but Redemption in abundance from all the enemies we stood in feare of; from sinne, from the grave, from hell, from the devil: Water enough to refresh our thirsty souls, and blood enough to bath and wash away our pollutions: Water enough to quench the fire of Hell, and blood enough to deliver us from the power of darkness.

With one mouth Interpreters after the Apostle teach us, that this Rock was the Type of Christ, a Rock that upholds the whole Fabrick of his Church; and he was smitten by the Jews, of whom Moses may be a figure; and up­on the blow he received at his death there sprung a fountaine of grace, with which his Church hath been refreshed ever since. What word is that which hath slipt my mouth Ever since? I must recall it;Zach. 13.1. for I said too little of this Fountaine; they that lived before it was opened, as well as we who have lived since the Water and Blood gushed out, have been the better for it.

The Covenant made with them and us the same, the person in whom it was made the same; the Sacraments by which it was Sealed in substance the same, the conditions on which it was to be made good the same, viz. Re­pentance and Faith, which had the same object, the seed of the woman; Gen. 3.15.22.18. to them foretold, to us performed; so that their faith and ours in this may be said to differ, That they believed in Christ to come; we, That he is come. But to return back againe to the Rock, this very place of Saint Paul, 1 Cor. 10. were there no other, doth signally shew the concord of the Old and New Sacraments, and consequently, the truth of all I said.

For the Sacraments of the Old Testament, circumcision and the Paschal Lamb did signifie Christ, as well as ours; Theirs obscurely, ours more plain­ly. Of ours there is no question; of theirs the Apostle in this place affirms, that they all eat the same spiritual meat, and they all drank of the same spi­ritual drink, which was Christ; so that in both Sacraments, Old and New, Christ must be res significata, the thing signified. Neither can there be gi­ven any other reason, why the Holy Ghost doth so fit the Old to the New, and the New to the Old, except on purpose he intended to shew the mutual [Page 118] concordance betwixt the Old and the New in the thing signified, and the A­greement and Harmony in the use of both. For as he saith here, the fathers were baptized; Col. 2.11, 12. 1 Cor. 5.7. so elsewhere he saith, that we were circumcised; and as they did eat the same spiritual meat, and drink the same spiritual drink, so Christ our Passeover was sacrificed for us. Why so? except his purpose had been to informe us that the old Patriarchs had the same communion with Christ, which we believe; and that there was one faith, and one Church, both built upon the same Rock, and both refreshed, clensed, sanctified, and sa­tisfied with the same water.

To come to this Fountain he calls us by his Prophet Isaiah, Ho every one, Isa. 55.1. that is, that is thirsty, come to the waters and drink. Thither they that thirsted before us came, and thither we that come after them must come, if we meane to cool our heat. Enough there was for them, and enough there is for us; it flows; and if we draw it by a lively faith, a Well it will be in us springing up to eternal life. Lord, evermore give us of this water, that we faint not in our greatest thirst. John 4.14, 15.

And so much be spoken of the first General; I now come to the second, for which I made choice of this Verse; In which I finde the Israelites to question Gods power.

But can he give bread also? Can he provide? &c.

A malicious question; one would think at the next word they should ask, Whether he were? It being as possible for God not to be, as not to be Om­nipotent: Not to be their Father, as not to give bread. They then in ef­fect deny the Conclusion of the Lords prayer, Thine is the power. They fall from the first Article of our Creed, I believe in God the Father Al­mighty; and so do as many who with them ask, Whether he can give bread, or provide flesh.

And yet such is the froward nature of man, that the least wants prove strong Arguments to perswade him to ill thoughts. If God do not follow the torrent of our humours, then we apprehend him anxious, spiteful, or weak; never as a Father, but alwayes as a Judge; seldome bountiful, but for the most part close-handed. Then we are at the Israelites Quaere, Can he do this? or Can he do that? Tertul. Donec Deus homini placuerit, Deus non erit, God shall be God no longer than he pleaseth man.

Isa. 36.20.This is a doubt fit to be proposed by none but a Rabshekah, Is your God able to deliver you? And it may receive an Answer from one of his own Nation to one in as desperate a case as a man might be, to one in a Lions Den,Dan. 6.16, 22. The God whom thou servest, is able to deliver thee; and deliver him he did, for he sent his Angel, and shut the Lions mouths: The Prophet retur­ning from thence as whole as he descended thither.

Go to the stocks and stones, the Gods of the Heathen (which indeed were no Gods) and the question is proper,Jer. 2.11. Isa. 46.1, 2. What can they? Nebo is fallen, Bel is bowed down; their Idols are upon the beasts; Gods and all are gone into cap­tivity, they could not deliver. Go to the Gods of the earth (for such they are upon Gods esteem,Psal. 82.6. how basely soever man thinks of them) and the que­stion is proper againe, Can they? One among them acknowledged it; for being sent to cure a sick man,2 Kings 5.7. Am I God, saith he, to kill, and make alive, that this man doth send to me to cure a man [...]f his leprosie? Mortal Gods they are,Isa. 2.22. their breath is in their nostrils, and they must breath it forth like other men. Their power how great soever, is circumscribed, and they can only do what this power permits them. The Quaere had been right of Moses, Can he give bread? and as true of the Rock, Can it give water? or of all other [Page 118] creatures, Can they give, or be food? But to fasten it upon the Creatour, who is able to do whatsoever he will in heaven and in earth, Psal. 135.6, Mat. 4.3. Mark 6.41. 2 Kings 7.2. that can turn stones in­to bread, and multiply loaves and fishes, and convert elements into flesh, is a spiteful and malicious question, much like his that ask'd, If God should make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?

Though then these stubborn Israelites made a doubt of it, yet never let a­ny good Christian move it more. For Gods words are words of power and authority; whatsoever he calls for, must be done without delay.Gen. 1.3, 6. Dixit & fa­cta sunt. He calls for famine, and behold famine appears;Jer. 29.17, 18. he calls for plen­ty, and behold plenty crowns the earth; he calls for pestilence, and behold the plague; he hisseth for the flie of Egypt, and the Bee of Assyria, Isa. 7.18. and they come up, and trouble, and sting a Nation. All men, beasts, and Angels, are at his beck; they are his creatures, and they must obey.

His power you see; and learn then first to submit to it; next, never to de­spaire in your greatest pressures. Our feare ariseth both in sinne and danger, that we look to our selves, and leave out God: Then we enquire, Whether he is in the midst of us or no? Indeed there is some reason to suspect it,Exod. 17.7. when we look upon our wayes and doings. We live as if there were no over­seer of our actions, no Censor or Revenger of our misdoings, or manners. If then you would have him be with you, you must be with him; if to be with you to save you, you with him to serve him, with him in your obedience,2 Chron. 15.2. with him in your prayers, with him in your praises; it holds reciprocal as in all dutyes of love, God with you, and you with God.Isa. 8.14. And if God be with you, you need not feare, for he will be a Sanctuary; the avenger of blood shall not overtake you; he is an umbrage, a shadow; the heat of the fiery Trial shall not scorch and consume you. God (say the Philistims) is come into the Campe; Wo unto us, wo unto us; 1 Sam. 4.7, 8. who shall deliver us out of the hands of these mighty Gods! The pot of Manna, Aarons Rod, the two Tables, signes only of Gods presence, gave courage to Israel, occasion of feare to the enemy; and though at that present he hid his face, yet it was not long but he shewed his power; The head and stump of Dagon, Cap. 5. & 6. the sore disease in their Cities, the plague of Emerods forced them to send back the Ark with shame and sorrow, and confess that the owner of the Ark was a mighty God indeed.

Feare not then little flock; for though you be destitute of all outward help, yet his promise we have, that he will be with us to the end of the world; Luke 12.32. Mat. 28 20. Rom. 8.31. John 18.5. Isa. 7 4. and if he be with us, what matter is it who be against us? As if he alone with one Ego sum, one word of his mouth, could not blow them all down, could not make them all, as the tailes of a couple of fire-brands that smoke a little, spend themselves, and so go out. Nay, nay, if he be with us, we need not fear what these two, nay, what all the fire-brands of hell can do a­gainst us.

And sure it is, that the Saints of God have taken great courage and com­fort from the assurance of Gods presence with them. Go, saith Esay, Isa. 8.10. take your counsel, but it shall be brought to naught; pronounce a Decree, but it shall not stand, for God is with us. And upon this confidence the Apostle enters into the lists, as it were, with his ghostly enemies, and gives a chal­lenge to them all, to heights, to depths, to things present, to things to come, Rom. 8.37, 38, 39. to all; professing, that none of them should be able to separate him from the love of God, &c. And this out of an assurance that God was with him; in whose power he was fully perswaded not only to conquer, but [...] to be more than a Conquerour.

Split not then your faith upon this Rock, Can he? for he both can and will give, if you trust to him, what shall be for your good. Si non ad volun­tatem, [Page 120] tamen ad salutem, If not to your minde, yet to your eternal salvati­on, and let that content you. Though God afflict his people, and long de­lay his people to shew them any comfort, yet at last he will clear up all, and shew himself in as kind words as Joseph did to his brethren, It is I, I your brother Joseph, that hath imprisoned you, be not afraid. It is I, your Father Almighty,Gen 45.4, 5. John 14.1. that hath afflicted you, brought you into distress and want, l [...]t not your heart be troubled. Never ask with the Israelites the second question,

2. Can he provide?

Propose this question to the Lillies, propose it to the fowles of the Aire, and the beasts of the earth. Ask the Lillies of the field how they come by their glory, the young Ravens how they come by their meat, the Lions how they come by their prey. The answer will quickly be return'd, Deus provi­dit, God hath provided for them their rich attire, God hath provided for them several nourishments. Whence Providence is represented to us in the Medals of Probus, by a Lady in a rich Robe, bearing in her right hand a Scepter, in her left a Cornucopia, resting her self upon the Globe of the earth. His meaning was, That the eye of Providence with one hand guided, and with the other bestow'd her gifts, and in that various manner, as the earth and creatures in it had need of.

For man then endued with reason, to ask, Can he provide? is to descend a step below the Creatures, or at least not to consider what his provision is for them. To them it is that our Saviour sends us. A Sermon he preacheth on this Common place,Mat. 6. à 25. ad finem cap. that for Gods care for them, our heart be not disquiet­ed. Shall not he who cloaths the Lillies of the field in more various and more curious colours than ever Solomon carried in Robes, much more cloath you, O ye of little faith? Job 38.41. Psal. 147.9. Gregor. Shall not he who feeds the young Ravens that call upon him, give meat to man, to whom he hath given a tongue to call in sobriety and modesty? Qui diem dedit, non dabit quae in diem necessaria? He that hath given the day, shall not he give necessaries for the day? Therefore be not in suspence, or over thoughtful, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink? where shall we have bread, or where shall we have flesh, or how shall we come by water in this dry Wilderness? for your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. Go on, and pray, and labour in an honest Vocation, and never doubt of his providence. Be not so base-minded as to think, that he who bestows such liber [...]l gifts, and provides such large sustenance for all other creatures, will eave man (the Lord of these) negle­cted, as if he were the only creature in disgrace and contempt with his Maker. Is not the life of man (their Lord and King) worth ten thousand of theirs? Had men acquired but as much Religion, reliance, and dependance on God, after so much preaching the Gospel, as nature teacheth the young Ravens af­ter they are hatcht, the Mammonish Idol would soon fall, and all those jealous trayterous feares that betray us to the world, and instead thereof a cheerful and comfortable dependance on heaven would be erected with an o­bedient submission to, and prosecution of the meanes he directs; and then if we perish, Esther 4.16. we perish; which yet we need not suspect, since we have his Word and promise for it that needful things shall not be wanting.

Take no thought then for to morrow, because the time to come, for which we desire to lay in before hand, will be able when it comes, to take care and make provision for it self.Exod. 16.19. Your heavenly Father that provided Manna for this day, will cause it to fall to morrow. Every day it descends; on the pro­per day then go out to gather it. The same providence of God which hath brought you in a present store, will (upon your labour and industry which [Page 121] must be subservient to his providence) be ready to do the like for the remain­der of your lives. The trouble, the labour, and sweat that belongs to every day for the maintenance of it self, is sufficient for that one day; it were but folly to load it with the burden and toyle of another, and so lay a double weight upon it, to provide for it self, and the next also, which may divert us from the duties of piety to these baser and inferiour drudgeries.

3. Bread and Flesh, Can he provide bread and flesh also?

For when all's done, all this toyle, all this labour, all this carking care is for little more th [...]n for what these Israelites here longed for, Bread and flesh. No great matter certainly, and yet for this they murmur, about this they mourn. They first wanted water, now bread, and flesh to their bread. Be­fore this they had Quailes sent them,Exod. 16.13. and eat till it came out at their No­strils; us{que} ad vomitum, ti [...]l they spued it up againe: At this time they had Manna, bread from heaven to sustaine them,Wisd. 16.20. Num. 11.6. Exod. 12.38. but that (which was able to con­tent every mans delight, and was agreeable to every taste) was in their e­steem but light bread. There is, say they, nothing but this Manna before our eyes. Besides they had store of Herds and Cattle which they brought out of Egypt; wherefore then did they yet lust? wherefore did they yet murmur? Doubtless out of that extravagant desire of man, who never thinks himself well dealt with, except God bestows upon him over and above his necessa­ries, somewhat to revel and riot in excess.Numb. 11.4. And this appears out of their own words, Who shall give us flesh to eat? we remember the flesh that we did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers, melons, and the leeks, and the onyons and garlick; we then had meat and variety of sauces, but now our soul is dryed away; there is nothing at all but this Manna before our eyes; a little light bread, one and the same dish, and that continually, day after day; and who would not loath to be thus dyeted?

But Israel might have remembred, and we with them, that bread and flesh were ordained for nourishment, and not meerly to please the palate; to re­paire the decayes of nature, and not to pamper it. God hath not given to man the gullet of a Crane, which the Glutton Philoxenus wished for, but a shorter passage, that he should quickly chew and [...]et down his meat, and not melt it into pleasure upon his tongue. This is lust and wantonness, no act of temperance, with which God here chargeth Israel, Psalm 78.30. They were not estranged from their lusts. Lust then it was in them that caused this murmur; and though there were over and above for their necessities, yet there was not enough for their lusts.

Now when our desires thus degenerate, they provoke God to plague us with sundry kindes of diseases, as it did him to punish this murmuring peo­ple, that had these dainties with a ve [...]geance; for while the meat was yet in their mouths, the heavy wrath of God was yet upon them; and he slew the Wealthiest of them, Verse 31. and smote down the Chosen Men that were in Israel.

Learn then hence we may, to bottome our desires, not upon lust but rea­son; to beg of our God what nature requires (which is not much) not what our appetite suggests. Let us be sober in asking, sober in using; for sobriety is a kinde of progress and step to other vertues. It alwayes teacheth a man to be content with what he hath,Phil. 4.11. 1 Tim. 6 8. Heb. 13.5. and not to urge God farther than he is content to bestow: And he that thinks otherwise, let him consider in what relation he stands to God, that he is one of his people, a Title that Isra [...]l in their greatest murmur would not omit. His people they would needs be for all that.

[Page 122]2 But before I come to their Claime, I will give you one note more which heightens their sinne.Vese 18. At ver. 18. we read that they tempted God, and of this temptation we have a manifest in the next; They spake against God, saying, Can God prepare a table in the wildernesse? Verse 19. A Table, 'twas dainties you may see they would have, and their impiety proceeded so far, that what was in their heart, floated upon their tongue. They first thought, then spake it openly, im­pudently, Can he?

But about this temptation Interpreters are divided; for some expound it of his power, others of his will, Basil conceives that they doubted of his power, as if they had said [...], &c. it is easie and facile for him to cause water, which is hid in the bowels and caverns of the earth to issue out of any rock. No great wonder this, of which it is possible to give many instan­ces. But to give bread, the materials of which must have time to grow, and to bring flesh, which starts not from the ground in an instant, this we doubt whe­ther he can do or no? Especially in such a place, in a Desert, where there is nothing but penury; Especially in such a quantity, as might satisfie such a mul­titude.Numb. 11.21. Hear what Moses saith, The people are six hundred thousand foot­men, and thou hast said I will give them flesh that they may eate a whole moneth. Shall the flocks and herds be slaine for them to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the Sea be gathered together for them to suffice them? To which the Lord returns this answer; Is the Lords hand waxed short? which is an evidence, how grosse soever the temptation seemes, that yet they doubted of his power.

Musculus. Mollerus.And yet some Modern Interpreters encline rather to think that they doubt­ed of his will. As if they had said, we confesse indeed that he brought waters for us out of the Rock; but we may well doubt whether he will give us bread and flesh,Deut. 1.27. for he bears us no good will at all; He hates us. Such was their dif­fidence. Of what kinde this temptation was, whether of the first sort, or the last, or both, I will not contend; this I am sure, to have an experiment of one or both, they desired.

So that this temptation seemes to me to be very like that of the evil and adulterous generation that came to Christ,Matth. 12.38. and said, Master, we would see a sign from heaven. Signs they had seen enough before, miracle after mira­cle, a dumb man cured in his tongue, a blinde man in his eyes. So had these men seene a sign before, water flowing out of a Rock, that I name not all the wonders in Egypt, and the miracles ever since: Those yet would have a signe from heaven, and so would these, bread on a sudden rained from thence, and flesh to descend out of the aire, or else nothing would content them.

2 Thes. 3.2.What shall we say to this? but as the Apostle doth, all men have not faith. God sent his Patriarchs, and found not faith; his Prophets, and found not faith; last of all his Son approv'd to the world by great works, wonders, and signes, yet found no faith, And when the Son of man comes, shall he finde faith on the earth? Luke 18.8. A man would judge, that the time of his coming cannot be far off, since faith hath taken her wing, and left these lower regions. Sure the most men beleeve not that the presence of God is over their actions, they speak so loftily,Psal. 52.1. and 94.20. and encourage themselves in mischief. They b [...]leeve not their Fathers providence, they trust so much to their own wits and arme of flesh in provision for themselves. They beleeve not his power, they so little leane to him, and rely upon him in their distresses.

Of you, my brethren, I hope better things, and that I shall not need to exhort you, that you speak not against God, that you never aske Can he, or Can he? 1 Sam. 12.22. For I presume that you beleeve he Can, and I hope you are perswaded of his good will also, that he never will forsake his people. Beleeve his Word that is already written; beleeve the Miracles written in that Word; seek not [Page 123] after new and airy signes; run not after new and strange lights, here is enough to ground your faith, to confirme your faith, to crown your faith. Happy are they who are of the number of his people.

4. For his People.

From this hold Israel would not be beaten; even in their highest rebellion they thought themselves the people of the Lord.Numb. 16. They that the earth swallow­ed, were forsooth the people of the Lord. Nothing more frequent in their mouths than the people of the Lord, the people of the Lord. But whether they were truly such or no, let Moses be heard to speak, for he knew them better than any man. 'Tis a foolish and unwise people saith he.Deut. 32.6. Exod. 32.22 Exod. 33.3. Exod. 32.7. And his bro­ther Aaron seconds him, 'tis (saith he) a people set u [...]on mischief; and if their word may not be taken, God himself I hope may be beleeved, who calls them a people of a stiffe neck: Moses people, and not his, after their Idola­try. Go, get thee down, for thy people, whom thou hast brought out of the Land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. And yet notwithstanding all their folly, foolery, mischief, stiffnesse, no nay but they would be his people still.

Not this people only, but all other is a strange creature,1 Kings 19.10. whether they rebel against heaven or not; whether they obey God, or obey him not, pull down his Altars, kill his Priests, slay his Prophets with the edge of the sword, yet angry they will be if any man say, that they are not Gods people, they not the godly, they not the Saints, they not the meek on earth! But as our Saviour told the Jews, If you were the children of Abraham, John 8.39. you would do the works of Abraham; so also I say to such, if they were the people of God, they would do the works of Gods people.

Is it for any of Gods people to murmure against Moses and Aaron, to tell them, when they do their duty, they take too much upon them? Numb. 16.3. 1 Sam. 2.13, 14 Rev. 12. à 1. ad 7. Is it for any of Gods people to take a flesh-hook in his hand, and fasten it to the consecra­ted thing, and look what ever comes up, to take it for his own? Is it for any of Gods people to drive the woman clothed with the Sun into the Wilderness, and to stand by till she be delivered, and devour her children?1 Kings 13.33. Isa. 58.4. Is it for any of Gods people to make the lowest of the people Priests to the most high? Is it for any of Gods people to fast, that they smite with the fist of iniquity, to seize upon mens inheritances, to drive them from their habitations,Jer. 9 à 4 ad 9. & 7.9. to op­presse, to defraud, to dissemble, to swear falsly, by right or wrong to acquire pos­sessions?

Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgement. John 7.24. Either forbear these works, or give over the Title; [...], a bare name is but a boasting and lying witnesse; For to such God will say,Hos. 1.9. as he did to Isra­el, when he did revolt, Call his name Lo-ammi, far ye are not my people, neither will I be your God. And upon this they shall want bread and flesh;Prov. 12.27. Psal. 69.22. Hab. 2.9, 10, 11. want it I say; for they shall want content. For the wicked shall not roast what he got in hunting. While the meat is yet in their mouths, the heavie wrath of God shall fall upon them. Their very table shall be a snare. Hear what God hath said by his Prophet Habakkuk; Wo to him that coveteth an evil co­vetousnesse to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil. Thou hast consulted shame to thy house, by cutting of many people, and hast sinned against thy soul; 12.15.18. For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beame out of the timber shall answer it. And yet there is another Woe, and another, and another, and these woes must come; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

Boast not then of the bare Name, without the properties that belong to it. [Page 124] This title ought to be operative, quick, and lively; and imposes a Duty, nay many Duties. The people of the Lord ought to be obedient to their Lord, to serve their Lord,Mark 12.30. to fear their Lord, to love their Lord with all their soul, with all their heart, with all their strength; to submit to his command, to resigne themselves to his will and wisdome, to beleeve him, and to rely upon him. These Duties being done, or endeavoured to be done, will justly entitle us to the Name, really shew we are of that People and Society, who live under that law by which his People are to be guided.

Which being observ'd, then there is no doubt, but as he can, so also he will give meat; he can and will provide flesh. For the Lions, a ravenous beast, do lack and suffer hunger;Psal. 34.10. but they that fear the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good. Behold what comfortable words he hath left upon record! Isa. 46.3, 4. Hearken to me O [...]ouse of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb. Isa. 46.3, 4 And even to your old age I am he, and even to hoar haires I will carry you, and I will deliver you. There is bread, and there is the staffe of bread. By bread a man lives not alone; that it be a staffe and a stay to us,Levit. 26.26. Psal. 105.16. Ezek. 14.13. upon which we may leane from the womb to our old age, his assistance must be sought. His blessing must come to our bread, or it will never nourish.

Do then your duty, and he will performe his promise. He that hath given us his Son, that living bread that came down from heaven, how shall he not with him give us all things? Joh. 6.51, 58. Rom. 8.32. All things necessary for our pilgrimage, while we travel through the Deserts of this world, and all things that are ne­cessary in our way to the celestial Canaan; which is not a Land flowing with Milk and Honey, but with such pleasures, that nor eare hath heard, nor eye hath seene, 1 Cor. 2.9. neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive. Be then truly of his people, and besides his blessing here, you shall not want those there. These are reserved for his, of which number if you be, you shall be happy.

1. But as for me.

And here we must make the first pause; for But is particula adversativa, ever a note of discretion, or else distinction, and adviseth us to put a difference betwixt person and person, thing and thing; somewhat that is said or done be­fore, and somewhat that is to follow after. It doth so here; notice out to us a manifest resolution in Joshua, in case the Israelites should revolt from God, not to be like them. Possible it was, that they and their posterity might fall away from the true service of God, as indeed they did; But he and his would never do it. Let them run their own course, another way he was resolved to take. They theirs, He his. That way they, But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Yea, but what folly was this in a wise man, and what want of policy? What, one Joshua wiser than a whole Nation? What one single tribe or family more precise than a whole State? Yea, than the whole world, when it leaves the world to serve God;Psal. 111.10. Prov. 1.7. & 15.13. Rom. 1.30. Matth. 7.14. 1 Kings 9.10. & 12.28. 2 Sam. 22.24. For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wis­dome; with that a man must begin, or else they may be witty, but never wise. Witty to finde out many inventions, not so wise to follow [...], the beaten, but strait and narrow way that leads to life. The broad is not the way to heaven, and yet in it most run; But he that leaves it, and turnes from it to the strait, is wiser than a whole Nation.

Who had the wit, Eliah, or the ten Tribes, when he stuck to God, and they revolted to Baal? Who wiser, Jeroboam that set up his Calves, or David, who served his God with an upright heart? Who was the greater Politique, Noah, [Page 126] or the whole world? they who perished, or he who was saved in the Ark? The Sodomites that were burnt up, or Lot that was one of the ten righteous persons in those wicked Cities? Let the matter then be well examin'd, and Religion will be found to be the best policy; and constancy in and to the Truth, the strongest foundation for security, peace, and prosperity.

Mat. 26.33.Saint Peters resolution then was very commendable, Although all men shall forsake thee, yet will not I; of which minde the rest of his fellows were, for likewise said they all. For let it be granted, that out of weakness they stood not to it when the time came, yet their purpose was praise-worthy. Now the same minde ought to be in every one of Christs followers, never to fol­low a multitude to do evil,Exod. 23.2. but to be resolute in the old and good way, firm­ly resolving within himself, Though all men forsake the truth, and worship their own imaginations,Gen. 49.6. Psalm 26.8. yet will not I. My soul shall not come into their secr [...]t, nor to their assembly mine honour shall not be united. My foot standeth right, I will praise the Lord in the great Congregation.

1 Cor. 4.9, 13.Be it, that for this thou be esteemed [...], the off-scouring of the world, a spectacle to men and Angels; be it that thou be the musick of a prophane eare, and hooted at as some strange thing. Be it, that they which sit in the gate speak against thee, esteem'd as Saint Paul, a pestilent fellow,Psalm 69.12. Acts 24 5. 1 Kings 17.18. Luke 9.62. Job 31.36. Rev. 3.16. Tit. 2.14. Ephes. 5.15. Matth. 5.29. Isa. 58. Matth. 11.12. Jer. 15.19. Ephes. 2.2. 1 Peter 4.2. Rom. 12.2. or as Elijah, a troubler of Israel; yet having put thy hand to the Plough, look not back, but hold it thy greatest honour to be dignified and stiled with Joshua, Servus Domini, Verse 29. The Servant of the Lord. Binde it as a Crown to thy head, to be singled out for a good man, and to make conscience of those duties which other men never shrink at, or think on; as to be hot in Religion; to be zealous in good works; to walk circum­spectly; to pluck out the right eye; to make the Sabbath a delight; to take heaven by force. For God exacts in his children an excellency beyond other men, and that they hold a strange counter-motion to the courses of the World; They are the precious separated from the vile; and therefore must differ from the course of this World, from the lusts of men, and from the corrupti­on of the times.

Christians ought to be men of singularity; singular I say in holiness, in purity, in charity, in meekness, peace, humility, but not in faction, schism, and furious zeale. And here the counsel of Saint Paul is of singular use, It is good to be zealously affected in a good matter. Gal. 4.18. The thing must be good, or else the zeale will be stark naught.

Now zealots there be too many; who, let authority command what it may lawfully, start aside with rebellious Co [...]ah, and cry, We will not come up. God forbid that we should obey man.Num. 16.12. Ego & domus mea serviemus D [...]mi­no. Live and dye we will, that's sure, with a cleare conscience. But Sci­ence is the ground of conscience; and if that knowledge may be nick-na­med, and so no knowledge, indeed much more may conscience, which ap­plieth that knowledge to particular acts.1 Tim. 6.20. A polluted and defiled conscience there is, which begets a vaine and defiled Religion. There is Asinina con­scientia; there is Lupina. The conscience of the Ass, and the conscience of the Wolf. A conscience so simple, that it will straine at a gnat, make a scruple at every thing indifferent in it self, especially if commanded by a Su­periour. Then there is will-worship, or else superstition, or I know not what in it; away with it; others may, but I will not come neare it. By the help of God,Acts 4.19. Judges 8.33.9.4. 1 King. 12.28. Dan. 3.5. Mat. 26.15. I and my house will serve the Lord. The Lord, and not man; for whether it be fit to obey God or man, judge ye. Another con­science there is, that no Wolves Throat is wider; any thing enjoyn'd, be it right or wrong, will down with it. The worship of Baalberith, the Calves in Dan and Bethel, Nebuchadnezzars golden Image, Judas's thirty pieces [Page 127] of silver, the Pharisees Corban, what you will shall be swallowed.Mark 7.11. And here indeed, and none but here, is the right Application of this Text, and this example; that, command who will, upon a certaine evidence of consci­ence that God commands otherwise, refuse we may, nay must; For Si ali­ud Deus, aliud imperator jusserit, contempto hoc, obtemperandum est Deo, August. If God commands one thing, and the Emperour the flat contrary, we must despise man, and obey God.

And such was this present case, not a dispute of Rites and Ceremonies, not a matter of decency and order, of Unity and Uniformity in the worship of God; but in effect whether Jehovah should be God; and as God worship­ped, or the Idols of the Amorites be set up. Now in such a case not to be stout and zealous, were either flat Apostacy, or at best Neutrality. Both impieties that God hates. Joshuah in such a case was too stout to yield. A party he shew'd himself, being zealously bent to stand it out single, yea, though it were against all Israel. Desert me if you will, choose another God if you please; resolv'd I am, that the Lord of heaven shall be my God. Come on't what will, I will serve him.

2. But as for me. I, Ego.

As I am the first man in the State, and the chiefest man in my family, so I'le be the formost man in the service. And will you mark me one thing by the way? and mark it you shall do well; for it is almost a miracle, that Ego should meet together with Serviam. For it is a wonder that so great a per­son, and such a duty should kiss each other. Usual it is not with such an I per se I as Joshuah, such a Grandee, so Valiant a Captaine, so mighty a Ge­neral and Conquerour, to entertaine a thought of this service. They, with the great Alexander will be Gods themselves;Arrian, Sueton, Tacit. or with the Romane Augu­stus, suffer Altars and Temples to be erected to their Deities forsooth, be adored and not adore; served and not serve;

For such with Pharaoh ask proudly, Who is the Lord, that a people should be let go to serve him? Exod. 5.2. Isa. 36.20. or with that eloquent and bitter-tongu'd Rab­shekah, What's the God of Israel more than the Gods of other Nations, that such high and mighty things as they should fall down and worship him? Christ is no more with them than a bare Galilean, the Carpenters Sonne, and his Gospel a gainful story. For Popes can blaspheme, and Princes can be pro­phane; and these earthly Gods, scoff at the God of the whole earth. This they can do, and some of them have done; But not one of them but had cause enough to repent it. The hand of this mighty Lord was upon the proud­est Sir of them all, and force them to confess, that it had been far better to have been his servants.

The time came when the proud Pharaoh himself is glad to put his mouth in the earth, and speak in a low voice, God is righteous, and I am wicked. Exod. 9.27. And when haughty Senacharib shall flie with a hoook in his nostrils,Herod. lib. 2. and write for all posterity to reade, [...], Let a man look upon me, and learn to feare God. And that great Conquerour of the East when he sees his blood, confesses it to be [...], not [...], blood, the very same for substance that flows out of other mens veines,Hom. Il. not that thin and serous distillation that was wont to flow from the wounded Deities, as the Poets feign'd, and his flatterers would make him believe. To be brief, that Rene­gado [Page 128] Julian may end with this desperate acknowledgement, Ʋieisti Gali­laee, O Galilean thou hast overcome, with the same breath professing his own ma [...]ice, and Christs power. His inveterate malice by the scorne, but the power of this Galilean in his victory over him. At which time, had you been by, when these fearful plagues fell upon these proud monsters that would be none of Gods Servants, you might have seen their Servants and Sycophants that we [...]e wont to glory in these great Lords,Isa. 8.22. and more to serve them than God, perhaps to curse their King and their God, and look upward.

Better it is to do that for love, to which a man may be brought for feare. Though men be the greatest Potentates and Grandees upon the earth; yet with Joshua to write themselves Servus Domini, and with David to acknowledge, I am thy servant Lord, I am thy servant; and with Saint Paul to subscribe, The Servant of Jesus Christ, Psalm 116.16. Rom. 1.1. Tit. 1.1. and day by day to do him homage. Con­ceive what you list, shame it is none, nay, 'tis the greatest honour to finde an Honourable Personage honouring God upon his knees. For this is the Triumph of Religion, to bring down the greatest Lords, and make them Servants.

2. And God is best pleased when he sees the great man at his service; for the meanest will be sure to follow him; Honour they will him, that their Master honours; and despise him, whom he despiseth. Great reason then there is, that as Ego, I, stands in the Text, so he go before Domus, the House; that he be first in his service, as he is in his place.

First, And that first in respect of his Receipt; more he hath receiv'd than any of his family, and therefore is richer in Obligations. Oblig'd for more wealth and for more honour, bound for the fat of the earth, and the dew of heaven conferr'd upon him Centuplum, Gen. 27.28. an hundred to one more than any of his houshold; and is it reason then that his payment of thanks, and return of service be less? Somewhat proportion'd, questionless, these would be; More acknowledgements, where greater blessings are bestow'd.

Secondly, More in respect of his Accompt; for he that hath received much,Matth. 25.16. must give an accompt for much; for no less than five Talents, who hath received five. Now suppose that these are laid out for that use they were given, in the service of God, and the advancement of his glory, then the accompt shall be with joy. But if upon his own lusts, at the General Audit no quietus est will be had,Heb. 13.17. Matth. 25.26. the accompt will be with grief. Out of his Lords mouth whom he should have serv'd, he will heare, Ah serve ne­quam, Luke 12.47. Wisd. 6.6. Rev. 18 6. O thou wicked servant! Thus I did by thee, and thus and thus thou deal'st with me; his reward will be stripes, many stripes; for the mighty men shall be mightily tormented.

Thirdly, To return to what I begun this point with; first in respect of his Family; for they'le all be the better if he be the first, and all be the worse when hee's the last. As then Joshuah, or any in Joshuahs place is chief in the House, so it becomes him to be the chief example in the House: The first Servant of God. Philo the Jew tells us, that God placed the fifth Com­mandment [...], as it were, in the Confines of both Tables, be­cause the practique part of both Tables did much depend upon it; the service to God,1 Kings 14.16. 2 Chron. 31.20 Amos 5.24. and the service to man. Jeroboam sinnes, and he causes all Israel to sinne with him. Hezekiah did that which was good and right, and truth before the Lord his God, and in his time judgement did run down like waters, and righteousness as a mighty streame. The Lacedemonian Souldiers being ask'd, Which way they, who being wont to live by forrage and spoile, be­came on a sudden so honest and abstenious? answered, We are the same now and heretofore, [...], but we have now another General than we had before;Xenoph. 3. graec. hist. for instead of a thievish Thymbri­on, [Page 129] we have a just and modest Dercyllus. For too true it is, the example of the Master is the Servants Rule; the Lords l [...]fe, his followers Law.Claud.

For whether this be done out of flattery or no, it is not certaine; For by assimilation he hopes to strengthen himself in his Masters affection, with­out which he knows that love cannot long last; for Idem v [...]lle, Plutarch. Cicero de ami­cit. & idem nol­le ea dem [...]m firma [...]micitia. Hence it is that his Masters life is his glasse; and he assures himself to please most, when he most resembles him: Or whether it proceed out of a presumption of great wisdome and judgement in those they follow, that direct them, as they conceive to make the best choice; or else, which is most likely, a feare to displease. For, for a poor Servant to dislike wha [...] his Master loves, and practice what he hates, were to upbraid his course and choice, cast him out of favour, and pull upon himself what was laid to Jos [...]phs charge, though falsely, The H [...]brew servant that thou broughtst in unto us, c [...]me into to mock us. Gen 39.14.

For some of these reasons, or all these, the poor servant wil [...] be obser­v [...]nt of his Masters way; ait, aio; negat, nego; say what he sayes,Terent. and unsay what he de [...]es; depend upo [...] his Masters tongue, his Masters eye, his Masters nod, sh [...]pe himself wholly to his Ma [...]ters Religion and fashion, ‘Ʋt trahitur nervis alienis mobile lignum.Horat.’

Tell me now, whether Ego, Joshuah the Lord of the Land, had not need be at service, when the good life and Religion of his family depend upon his example and devotion?

To what the [...] shall I liken such a man, or to what shall I compare him? To me he seems to resemble the brazen Serpent set up by Mo es in the Wil­derness, that heal'd, being o ly beheld.Num. 21.9. Conceive you [...]aw a great multitude thronging about that exalted picture, some hea [...]ed▪ some to be healed, others wond [...]ring which way this could be, that the sight of a piece of b [...]ass raised upon the top of a pole, could heale a mortal wound, and yet blessing the Name of God, when they saw (without any torment of the disaffected par­ty, or help of Art, or length of time) the malignity of the ve [...]ome i [...] a moment to abate, the sting pull'd out, and the languishi g man cured. Be pleased to compare every great personage with this Brazen Serpent, and you shall see greater things than these; except you suppose it a lesse matter to re­paire the sores of a vitious soul, than of a wounded body. Look on him all you that are under him, and you shall see a living salve set on h gh, which without any cost or long study, Art or Rule, will cure by the sight, and heal by an insensible motion. In the face and practice of an eminent person, there is such force and vertue, that he heals where he is but seen; and more mira­culously, in an instant works upon an invenom'd and a poysoned soule, than either the straitest prohibition of the wisest Law-givers, or the studied Rules and Precepts of the gravest Philosophers, or the Thunder and Lightning of the most powerful Divi [...]es. Where he comes, he dashes sinne out of counte­nance, and gives life to Religion, Odium peccandi non metum facit, Seneca. his fol­lowers more hate sinne, than feare it. And when he enters in o the Temple, [...], a Canon and Rule goes in with him,Naz. de Basil. and example to o­thers how they ought to behave themselves at the [...]r devotions. That by his reverence they learn to enter in a reverent manner, fall upon th [...]ir k [...]ees and bless God, when they see him humbly on his knees, and hear, and learne [Page 130] their duties, when they behold their Master attentively to learn his. That will fall out, what the Senate with one voice in a publick acclamation pro­fess'd to Severus, Xiphilin. in Se­vero. [...]. All will do all things well, because thou dost begin well.

3. My House.

Let then Ego the Master be sure to serve the Lord. But all the service must not lie upon him. Domus the family must do its part also. Serve rhey must as well, nay indeed better than before their Master. For the Master and the man have both dependance on a h [...]gher Lord, and in Relation to him the homage must be done by both. The great Lord must not omit, nor the menial servant must not be behinde; Joshua enters the Covenant not for him­self alone, but for his house too, I and my house will serve.

But because the servant is very like to follow when the Master goes before, I shall need to say the less of it; and yet a word in their eare will not do amiss. For first,

1. What is the house? what save a little Kingdome containing all the So­cieties of Husband and Wife, and Father and Sonne, and Master and Servant in it? Or if you had rather, a body compacted of many members, of which the Master is the Head, the rest the parts, an eye, an eare, a hand, a foot, in a higher,Obstetrixon ajo­rum. in a lower place, as their worth is; for by these names the Persians were wont to call their servants.

Now if the eye be evil, you know what will follow; the head will have but a dimm and a dark light to see by; or if the hand be wither'd, or the foot lame,Ephes. 6.6. Col. 3.22. the service will be according. The endeavours will be lame, and the obedience blinde, where the Inferiour serves with eye-service, and not from the heart. Let the man then serve a Lord above, as well as a Lord below, and be taught, that he hath a duty to do out of conscience as well as feare, or else he may wait at the Table, and hang on for his meat, but he will fall off, or be shak'd off, as a leaf from a Tree in the downfall of Winter, when there is most reason to stick fastest on. I will never be perswaded, that he will ever be a true servant to man on earth, that is not a devout and Religious servant to God in heaven. If he be false to his God, how can it be expected that he should be true to his Image? Religion and conscience must make him what he should be,Mat. 26.49. or else with Judas, he may bring an Ave in his mouth, when he harbours villany in his heart.

2. Besides it stands every Servant upon, that his Masters business be pro­moted, and thrive well under his hand. Now what can his diligence do with­out Gods blessing?Prov. 10.4, 22. The diligent hand makes rich, saith Solomon; And the blessing of God makes rich, saith he in the same Chapter. Diligence with Gods blessing; with both these the work may well go on; but without either, very slowly, and without the last never. For exclude the blessing, and 'tis but in vain to rise early,Psalm 127.2. and so late take rest. And I pray which way can a blessing be brought upon our labour, but by falling on the knee and asking it? God being serv'd, he will serve them and their Master; whereas if they disserve God, their Masters necessities may for their impiety receive a check from heaven. Take notice of it, you shall find how God blessed the Master, when the Servant pleased God.Gen. 30.27. Laban was the better, when Jacob was with­in his doors, though a very churle; yet he had learn'd this by experience, That the Lord had blessed him for Jacobs sake. Gen. 47.20. How was Pharaohs estate improv'd by the wise service of Joseph? I forbear more examples. Let then every servant that bears any good-will to his Master and his prosperity, first serve God. So what he undertakes may prosper, not otherwise.

[Page 131]3. But if he love not his Master, yet let him love himself. God hath made him of the same mould that he made his Master, though he raised his Lord to be a vessel of honour. His Lord a vessel, and the man a vessel too, and therefore both for service. In his degree and place then, he, as well bound to serve as his Lord. A soul he hath to save, and an accompt to make for his time, his duty, as well as the greatest Potentate on earth. He shall be no more past by and forgotten, than those great ones; and therefore he must be diligent to do his duty. A Vision Saint John had,Rev. 20.12 and in it he saw the dead gr at and small stand before God. Look upon those at the Bar, and you shall not only finde the Grandees there. You that stand and wait now, must await your doom then. The meanest person must appear; the small as well as the great; the man as well as the Master; He at the Table, and that other in the Stable must then stand forth, and give an accompt how they have serv'd this Lord. Your own accompt, your Masters prosperity, your [...], or eye-service which then must be answered for, will I hope, be sufficient mo­tives to you of the family, that you serve God.

4. I and my House.

Hitherto have I consider'd the Lord and his Servant single and apart. Now I come to speak of them joyntly; for in Gods publick service disjoyn'd they must not be. The Commandment runnes in this form, Thou and thy Son, Exod. 20.10. and thy Daughter, thy man servant, and thy maid servant, &c. When the Sabbath comes, and the service to be done out of the house, the Master must not appear alone in the Church, and the servant left to his corner. Nor when publickly in the house, the Master must not petition in his Closet, and the servant apart in his Chamber; It is as it should be, when both meet, and joyn their force. This same Et is [...], a Conjunction Copulative, and it knits them both together.

And together they would be kept united in Gods house, as they are hous'd under one roof. For as in the body natural it fares betwixt the stomach and the head; a Rheumatick head marrs the stomach by continual distillations; and a cold stomach fills and offends the head with raw vapours: So is it here; the Master neglecting to serve God, as the head, distills a neglect that marrs and cooles the whole house; and the house by him dis-affected, sends up most ill-favour'd vapours, that too often disquiets and distempers his brain. Great quietness, content and ease there is in the family, when they both joyn in di­vine service. The father of the faithful may be in this case a pattern to the faithful. A peremptory command he layes upon his children and his houshold to keep in Gods way, and to be just and upright; and God takes notice of it, and upon it makes him à secretioribus, of his Privy Council,Gen. 18.19. I know A­braham that he will command, &c. and therefore shall I hide ought from him that I am to do? He will not hide my wayes from his, and therefore I will not hide my wayes from him.

Joshuah was for his house as well as himself; Moses for the whole peo­ple, Thou shalt teach, whet, or sharpen my Statutes upon thy children. Deut. 6.7. Pauls care was to instruct all the Churches. Davids call general, Come, 2 Cor. 11.28. Psal. 95.1, 6. l [...]t us kneele, &c. Come, let us go together to Gods worship. That permission of Pharaoh will work coldly, Go ye, go to Church, and serve the Lord. Da­vids call is of more power, Come with me to serve God; come my Wife, Exod. 8.25. come my Son, come my Kinsman, come my servant, go along with me, and joyn with me in Gods service. This, this is it which will add much life and heat to our publick devotions.

And here will I sing unto you of mercy and judgement, being a Psalm [Page 132] set by David to tune his houshold, and if we learn it, and give good eare to it, it will keep our families in tune too.Psal. 101. First, for Ego, the Master.

• 1. That he behave himself in a perfect way, verse 2.
  Verse 2.
• 2. That he walk in his house with a perfect heart.
• Verse 3.
  3. That he set no wicked thing, or of Belial before his eyes.
• 4. That he hate the works of them that turne aside, never cleave to them.
• Verse 4.
  5. That wicked persons be not known to him, no dealing, no acquaintance with them, no counsel to be taken from them.

Thus wary he ought to be over himself, and after let him reflect upon his fami­ly, to which he is to extend his mercy and his justice; For those are the other two straines of the Psalme.

Verse 6.1. Mercy and favour to be extended to him that deserv'd it. Could he but hear of a faithful man in the Land, his eye should be presently cast upon him, that he might dwell with him. He that walk'd in a perfect way, he was a ser­vant for him. Thus favourable would he be to good men.

2. But as for the naughty persons, they were like to taste of his justice.

1. Were any retainer of his a pickthank, one that privily slandereth his neighbour,Verse 5. he was resolv'd to cut him short.

2. Were a man of a proud look, and a proud heart, one who would not o­bey,Verse 8. and submit, he should not be endured. I will not suffer him.

Verse 7.3. Did he work deceit, he must seek him another Master; for he should not dwell within his house.

4. Were he a lyar, out of his sight he must, under his roof there was no stay­ing for him.

This was the Musique that David sung to his family, and if you would be pleased to call for the Song oftner, and put every straine thereof in practice, you might finde far better harmony within dores, than perhaps you do; there would not be such jarting and discord in the house. For these tell-tales and high, proud, surly servants, these deceitful, bloody men and lyars, set all out of order. Set then your families to the tune of this Psalme. Let the Master as it were the Base set himself in tune, and to himself tune all the lesser instru­ments. The truer strings let him winde up to a just height by rewards and mer­cy. The false and uneven let him break or cast aside by severity and justice. O then quam bonum & jucundum, Psal. 133.1. how sweet and pleasant will be that Musique which he and his family will make in the eare of God,Cicero. de Senec. and unexpressible is that content which he will take in it himself; when his servants fear him, his children reverence him, old and young respect, love, honour him! Deare he will be to all, because he is deare to his God. This, this will be the effect of his piety. 'Tis wisdome then to put on Joshua's resolution, and to perform what he here undertakes, I and my house will serve the Lord.

5. Serviemus Domino. Serve the Lord

All this while I have only prepared the men, but now I shall set before them their duty, Bring down the Lord and make him a servant; and raise the servant, and make him a little Lord, a free-man at least; for Servire huic Domino liber­tas, To serve this Lord is the sole liberty. He is no drudge to the world, no slave to the Devil, no captive to the flesh, which is Gods servant. The Law of Jesus Christ hath made him free.Rom. 6.18 22. 1 Cor. 7.22. Luke 1.74. Liberati serviamus, Being then freed, let us serve.

Serve with true and religious service; for fashionable and complemental this Lord cares not for. Would that be taken, he should have as many servants al­most as men, dissemblers good store, that would come and crouch, and make their mouth kisse their hand;Job 31.27. ready to subscribe, engage, and professe, your [Page 133] servant Lord, you servant, I am the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

With such complements men may be deluded, but Jesus Christ will not; for not every one that saith Lord, Lord, shall presently be inroll'd in his service;Matt. 7.21. as the planter expects from his tree more than fair blossomes, or green leaves, so doth he expect from his servants more than specious word. Works he calls for, and real service, which whether it be so or no, necessary it is, that it be ex­amined according to the Act, the Rule, the Fountain, the Object; the very act that we do, the rule by which it is to be done, the fountain whence it flows, and the object upon which we reflect in the doing of it.

1. In one word the Acts are the whole worship of God, begun and conti­nued within, expressed and performed without. The service of the heart, the service of the eare, the service of the knee, tongue, hand; Faith, Hope, Love, Feare, Trust, Honour, Humility, Obedience, Patience, Prayer, Thanksgiving, Almes, Fasting. And all these exhibited sincercly, entirely, constantly. Sin­cerely, and so not polluted with carnality, nor blended with hypocrisie; entire­ly, and then not choosing in what we will serve, in what we will not serve; and constantly, and then not waiting upon him to day, and falling off to morrow, as pleasure or profit call upon us.

2. The limbs only, and lineaments of your work I have, as it were, with a back coale, set before you; I must leave it to you to fill up the empty spaces; which that you may the easilier do, I next present you with the rule you are to work by: Which is not one of your own making, but made to your hand. We setting light by the rule of God, thinking it a goodly matter to be witty, and to finde out things of our selves how to serve him; This makes men not to for­bear even in things that pertaine unto Gods worship, but every day to devise new tricks, opinions, fashions, newly and fresh taken up, which their fathers never knew of; or else to revive and renew the old imaginations, and mingle and card them with Gods commands, that men may fall down, adore and wor­ship them.

But God hath taken order to the contrary, You shall not do every man what seemes good in his own eyes, or findes out in his own braines,Deut. 12.8. but what I command you, that only shall you do. Nay, Moses himself the Law-giver, who brought an order for this service, might do no other;Exod. 25.40. & 26.30. secundum formam in monte, according to the patterne in the Mount he was to prescribe and do all things; and shall any man then dare to forge another?2 Kings 17. There were indeed some who attempted to bring in a new forme, to fear the Lord, and serve their own gods also; but God sent Lions among them to destroy them: For that was not the manner of the God of the Land. Served he will be, and only so ser­ved as he hath prescribed in his Word.

3. Now the fountain from which this service must spring is Devotion,Thom. 2. 2. q. 82. Art. 1. which makes a man quick and ready to piety, and wakeneth and disposeth him to do his duty with facility and easinesse. The greatest hindrance in our ser­vice, is, the corruption of our nature, from which there proceeds a great in­clination to be obstinate and rebellious. This makes every command of our Lord difficult, and to our apprehension impossible. Now against this difficul­ty and heavinesse, our good Lord hath provided a most fit and convenient re­medy, to wit, the vertue and assistance of devotion. For even as the North­wind scatters and dissolves the clouds, and leaves the aire bright and clear, so true devotion shakes off from our soul all this heavinesse and difficulty, and leaves her afterwards ready and disposed to do any thing that our Lord com­mands. Non fingit laborem in praecepto. It talks not of a Lion,Prov. 26.13. Mark 16.3, 4. Acts 9.6. or I know not of what perilous beast in the way, it goes on though there be a great stone at the mouth of the Sepulchre; asham'd it is to confesse that any command is too hard for it, and therefore it sayes with Saint Paul, Lord, what wilt thou [Page 134] have me to do? How fit devotion makes a man to work, appears in one of Gods best servants,Psal. 119.32. that thus professeth before his Lord, I will run the way of thy Commandments, when thou hast set my heart at liberty.

4. But nor the alacrity, nor the service is to any purpose, if it be placed upon a wrong object. Better a great deale forborne, than exhibited; for the more zealous any man is, the more officious in the service of a false God, the more trayterous, the more false to his true Lord. That you gad not then about so much to change the way,Jer. 2.36. listen to Joshua, he will tell you whom you must serve. It is the Lord.

A Lord then, that is, every Lord that comes in your way, you may not serve: Nor Baal, nor Ashteroth, nor Milcom, nor Dagon, nor any of the gods of the Nations; nor Mammon, nor your belly, nor the image of the beast, later erected Idols.Matth. 6.24, Phil. 3.19. Rev. 16.2. Rev. 17.14. But you must serve the Lord, The Lord, [...], him who is the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.

Them, why should you serve? for they are no gods; see what names of shame and scorne this Lord hath put upon them. Gelilim, gods of dung, Shi­kutsim, Ezech. 20.8. Dan. 9.27. or [...], abominations, loathsome pieces, that defile the con­science, and are of as much account in his eye, as dung and excrements is in ours. This they are in themselves; but to their followers and servants they become Emim, 1 Chron. 15. Jer. 50.38. Isa. 45.16. gods that fright them into their duties; or Zirmi, Tormina, such as are upon women in child-birth, to theirr servants they bring nothing but sor­row. They that serve them are guilty of folly. Loammi, no people, or at best a foolish people;Hos. 10.15. Hos. 1.9. Deut. 32.11. Hos. 10.13. Hos. 8.10. Exod. 20.2. foolish indeed that eate the bread of lies, foolish that put their trust in the Spiders web; for such their confidence is a net which the wind breaks, or broome sweeps down. Such gods then you must not set up nor serve coram eo, gnal pani, before his face, so long as he lives, so long as he is, you shall choose no other God. For in opposition to these it is, that Jo­shua makes here his protestation.

He remembers what Moses had left upon record, with which our Saviour chased away the Devil;Deut. 10.20. Matth. 4.10, 11 It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Him, and him alone. For though the Hea­then gods were good fellows, and could be content to share in each others servives; yet our Lord is a jealous God, and will have all or no part of our service; he never made any deed of gift, by which he set over any parcel of his honour to another.

And to my understanding, two motives are couched in these two words, to quicken us in his service. The first is in the Act, Serviemus, the other in the Object,Scaliger in Var­ronem ex Ju­risconsultis. Domino. 1. Servire is by Grammarians derived from servare to save, from whence comes servus, or servando; For they were first called Servi, who were Servati, being taken by the Soul­dier, had their lives saved, in regard of which favour servants they must be to that man who saved their lives. In respect of which favour Joshua might very well covenant for himself, for he knew what it was to be a bondslave; he was one of those that burnt the brick.Exod. 1.14. This Lord had saved him, and then he had reason to serve him. And in his delivery, the liberty of his posterity was purcha­sed also, and the freedom of the other Israelites in the setting at large of their fathers. Being then saved from Pharaohs fury, and the Egyptian power, saved since from Og King of Bashan, Verse 6.7.8.9, 10.11.13. and from Sihon the Amoritish tyrant. Sav'd from Balaaks craft, and Baalams curse; Sav'd again at Jericho from the confe­deracy of seven Princes; Sav'd only? nay enrch'd too by a gift of land, for which they did not labour, and of Cities which they never built, and Vine­yards and Olive-yards which they never planted. And what shall we make of all this? tell me, can it amount to lesse than a bond or an obligation? Would not every weak understanding draw Joshua's conclusion out of such premises? [Page 135] Now therefore serve the Lord. Servati you are, therefore it is fit you should be Servi. Sav'd, and therefore by the Law of equity and Nations,14. to be at his command that sav'd you.

That the same argument concludes us, I need not doubt, who were sav'd as many wayes as ever Isra [...]l. Our ignorance in times past was beyond that dark­nesse of Egypt; sav'd we were from that; sav'd again from the powder you know where; and sav'd from the Armado, you know when; and yet we expect a day of redemption. But all these deliverances laid together are nothing to the Suprema Salus, A safety promised to Israel, Rom 6.17, 18. 2 Tim. 2.26 Luke 4 18. Ephes. 2.3, 4. but purchased and conveyed to us by the blood of Christ. Servants we were of sinne, and sav'd we are, and made servants of righteousnesse. In captivity we were to Satan, taken by him at his will; but Christ hath preached deliverance to the captives. Chil­dren of wrath we were, but saved from that, and become sons of his love, Prisoners we were, tied wi [...]h the chains of our sins, and with the bonds of ini­quity, and sitting in the darknesse and shadow of death.Luke 1.79. But he hath knocked off the chains, and broken these bonds, dispelled this darknesse, and brought us into his marvellous light, and therefore servati serviamus, being so mira­culously saved, and from such and so many dangers,1 Pet. 2.9. let us vow to bestow our whole lives in the service of that Lord who hath out of meer mercy and love saved and delivered us.

2. Bound we are to serve then, so oft as we reflect upon his goodnesse; yea, and bound to serve again, when we consider his greatnesse. Dominus est, Psal. 145.3. It is the Lord, of whose greatnesse there is no end, and why then should there be any end of our service? So that in this word Lord, the [...]e is, as I conceive, a second motive couched to perswade our homage: Adoration being due to Lordship and Dominion. In earth we serve none, either with natural, mo­ral, or civil reverence, except a Superiour, him whom the Law stiles father, one to whom this grand Lord hath imparted some of his power.

That we serve these with a civil and humane honour,Nazianz. it is because they are Representatives of this Lord, some in full and well proporion'd Statues, as Kings, others in pictures down to the middle, as greater Lords; others in lesser meddals to the shoulders only, as all inferiour Magistrates. To these we must submit, to these we must bend, because they are hi [...]her powers;Rom. 13.1. which shewes evidently, that where no Lordship, no service is due, but with the title the duty is annexed.

Inseparably annexed I say, it is, and to be paid, not upon courtesie, but upon due debt Due to all those earthly Lords after and under [...]od, because their Dominion is not absolute, nor their Lordship supreme. It is à De [...], sub D [...]o, in Deum. But due to this Lord absolutely without any limitation, because he is the Lord Paramount of heaven and earth. Even Angels and Saints may not be sharers in this service; and why so?Heb. 1. Rev. 19. because though they have Grace and Glory above men, yet Dominion they have not; ministring Spirits they are; Ministers then, not Lords; brethren and fellow-serva [...]ts, not Masters and Commoners, and therefore uncapable of divine honour. For no man ever offered such a service to a y, quem non aut Deum sc [...]vit, aut p [...]tavit, [...]ut finxit, whom he thought not, or knew, or fain'd not to be a God.

Weigh then the strength of this last reason, God is the Lord, the Lord ab­solute without any condition, the sole Lord without compare: Lord of men and Angels, Lord of death and Devils, Dominus dom [...]norum, Lord of al earthly Lords and Subjects; and therefore as is his Lordship, so let his service be, absolute, sole, supreme. No other serv'd in stead of him, no other serv'd together with him.

And of this we will soon agree, that this Lord is to be served, and solely to be served; I would to God, that men would as easily do it, as agree that it is to be done. Were it perform'd, our good Lord would have no reason to complaine to this day, as he sometimes did, If I be a Lord, where's my feare? Mal. 1.6.

Two duties he calls to us for. First, To heare his voice; and his voice will direct us in all duties of piety,Deut. 5 1. Luke 9.35. and charity. Now with him for that we will not much stick: For an houre, or two, or three, as the Preacher is longer or shorter winded, we can be content to lend him our eare, suppo­sing then that we are [...]f his most dutiful servants. This I condemn not; yet I would not have any servant mistaken, to take that for sole service, which at the best is but the rule of his service. For Preaching is doctrina cultus, not cultus ipse. It [...]s only a doctrine that teacheth, and the way that leadeth to the service of God, but not properly the service it self. This was neces­sarily to be noted, because that many now think that they have sufficiently serv'd their Lord, when they have heard a Sermon, which gave occasion to the Adversary to scoff, that the Religion of the Hereticks (for so those of Rome stile us) was a meer preach.

A second service then there is, and it consists in doing of our Lords will after we have heard it; James 1.22. to which Saint Paul was so inclineable, that imme­diately upon the voice,Acts 9.6. he ask'd, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? what service is it your pleasure to command me? It is service that denominates the Servant, and doing his will that honours the Lord. And it is so absurd a matter to think otherwise, that Christ in admiration asks, With what face a­ny man could call his Father Lord,Luke 6.46. and not do as he was bid? How call you me Lord, and do not as I will you? As much as to say, which in another place he expresseth, 'Tis to no purpose to say, Domine, Domine, Lord, Lord. Lord in thy Name we have cast out devils. Mat. 7.21, 22, 23. Lord, Lord, in thy Name we have prophesied: Lord, in thy Name we have done wonderful works. All I say is in va [...]n, if yet we be workers of iniquity.

Well then, how goes our service? What it is in our Closet, I ask not. For it is in secret, and he that sees in secret can best judge of it; I pray God it be daily and not intermitted;Psalm 99.5.132.7. 2 Chron 29.29. August. in Psa. 98. fervent, and not interrupted. The Lord God add to our prayers, how many soever they be. What it is in publick we see. In old time Moses bowed before the Ark, and Hezekiah worshipped and bow'd the head in the Temple; and in the purer times nemo manducabat nisi prius adoret.

But now the indecency of the place first shews that we are like to be slo­venly servants. Next our approaches are very irreverent; in we come, our hat is not moved, and down we clap, and dishonour our head, our Head Christ more;1 Cor. 11.4. we seal not our prayer, for our Amen is silent, the lips scarce move, nor the knee can be got to bow. Homly God wot, and familiar our behaviour is, it cannot be called service, there is so little of a servant in it.

Asham'd I am to insist longer upon this; it were to upbraid you with your whole service. For very shame then out of the Church I go, to view your lives abroad; And there I feare me, I shall find you too loose, when your service in your Lords nearer presence is so profane. It fareth with us, not as if God were the Lord, and we to do his Will, but as if we were the Lords, and he to do ours. May he not renew his old complaint taken up against a [Page 137] people that he had entertain'd for his mental servants? Thou hast made me to serve with thy sinnes, thou hast wearied me with thine iniqui ies. Isa. 43.24. 'Tis a homely word, but I cannot fo [...]bear it, that you may forbear to do it, we make him lacquey to our vile affections.

There be that lay the whole burden of their sinnes upon God, and make his Name serve for their own ends. In his Name they speak, and would be reputed his best Servants, that they may gaine repute and credit. 'Tis old, but true, In nomine D mini inc [...]pit omne malum. They would have men believe they are drawing h s Will, when it is their own. It was forsooth the will of God that Jehu was doing, when by the blood of Ahabs Sonnes, he was thirsting after a Crown.2 Kings 10.15. 2 Sam. 15.7. It was the will of God that commanded Abso­lom to Hebron, to pay his vow, when he stole the hearts of the people, and meant to dethrone his Father. No such great mischief ever attempted, per­fected, as that which hath had the Name and Will of God affixed to it.

The covetous Pharisee comes in the Name of God,Mat. 23.14. and fools the poor Widow into a belief, that God hath not such another devout servant upon the earth as he; under which colour he creeps into the silly womans house, and with a long prayer, and a leven'd face, devoures her. Said it is, that the Romish Jesuite, and the preciser brother, are cozen Germans to this old Hypocrite; the one making as good a Market of his dirges, trentalls, and hallowed graines; the other of his groans and sighs, and Oh Lord God, and good Father, as ever that Viper did of his tedious Orizons. The leud Strum­pet too, she looks as demurely as the chast Susanna, who would conceive no less upon a groan fetch'd at a Sermon, but she were at least the hand-maid of the Lord, when she is Mary the City sinner, or rather the Cities sinne, making this Religious Face to serve her turne, and her Lord to serve her lust.

And as if this were a small matter thus to counterfeit our Lords Name, there be that reject him, as if he were not worth the serving, and professedly set up another Lord; in their l [...]ves I am sure, be their words what they will. Ever since Our Father which art in heaven hath been cast aside, I believe in God hath been banished with it; and that which makes me think so, is, because 'tis evident that the greatest part of the godly fall low in the wedge of gold, and devoutly worship: Though Christ tells them, that it is [...] im­possible, Ye cannot serve God and Mammon; be godly, and covetous: Mat. 6.24. Let the Catalogue of Gods Servants be call'd over, and though you may brand many of them for foul enormities, yet you cannot say that one of them was a Mammonist. Again, there be that serve their sense and appetite, whose God is their belly, their Kitchin is their Temple, their dainties the sacrifice,Phil. 3.19. their Cook their Priest, and their Paunch the Altar. Every where sin is a great Lord, and hath a long train of Servants; This same Agrestis & fu­riosus Dominus, as Sophocles calls him, raigns and wears a Crown, makes Laws, and is obeyed in every Corner.Rom. 6.18, 20. Though there is an [...] for that too; If you be the servants of sinne, you cannot be the servants of righ­teousness.

And heare you? Our Joshua is at his Non potestis also,Verse 19. You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God, he is a jealous God, he will not forgive your trespasses and your sinnes. How? not serve the Lord? No, not the Lord and Baalim, other Lords, for that is his meaning; not the Lord and your belly, not the Lord and your purse, not the Lord and your sinne, not the Lord with a mask and a visour on. For he is

1. An holy Lord; What should he do with unclean, impure, u [...]holy, and voluptuous Servants? His purity will not away with their impurity; his Sanctity with their pollutions. If the belly and sinne, Bacchus and Ʋ [...]us be [Page 138] Masters, he scorns your offer of service to him. Down these must, where he is set up.

2. And as he is holy, so is he jealous too; his glory he will not give t [...] another. No Husband more impatient of a corrival in his bed, than he of a Co-partner in his Service.Isa. 1. [...], He abominates that the dirty Lord Mammon should be served with him, much more preferr'd before him. Down this Idol must, and all other false Gods, or else no Servants of his.

3. And from his jealousie proceeds his fury. This puts him into such a rage,Isa. 28.21. & 27.4. Bern. Serm. 5. de natali Dom. Tertul. ad Mar. lib. 2. cap. 11. Et de Resurr. carnis. c. 14. that he will not forgive. It forceth him to do his work, his strange work; to bring to pass his Act, his strange Act. In the former Chapter of Isaiah he tells us, that anger is not in him. That his nature is to pardon; this is ingenita, proceeds from his bowels; to that other he is constrain'd; and therefore the effect of his Justice is opus alienum, call'd a strange work. Ita prior Dei bonitas secundum naturam, severitas posterior secundum causam, So then the goodness of God is first in him according to his Nature, his severity is after according to the cause that he findes in us. For when once his Servants come to this,Jer. 42.20. James 1.8. Isa. 2.9. Jer. 18.23. Rev. 3.16. that they dissemble with him, carry a double heart, use his Name, and abuse his service, he will not forgive, he will not pardon. Holy he is, and he will not be prophaned; jealous he is, and he may not be consorted; severe he is, and he will not be hypocritically served; for such a Laodicean he will spue out of his mouth. The Jews have to this day this Say­ing commonly in their mouths, Non tibi O Israel accidit ulla ultio, in quâ non sit uncia de iniquitate vituli; i. e. O Israel, there is no punishment which befalls thee, in which there is not one ounce weight of the Golden Calf. So it is not; however in their judgement it justifies Joshua's word, that he is a jealous God, and he will not pardon.

And now I put you to your Option, as Joshua did these Israelites, Eli­gite vobis, choose you whether you will serve this great Lord or your selves; this Father Almighty, or your own imaginations. And methinks I hear you reply as they did, Absit, God forbid that we should serve any other. Nay, we will serve the Lord by all means. Servants of the Lord we will be. Oh that there were such an heart in you alwayes! Deut. 4.6. & 5.29. for this would be your wis­dome and understanding in the sight of the people with whom you live. But if this be your minde, then this day renew the Covenant, which you made when you became Gods servants.

A bond you gave at your Baptisme to forsake all the enemies of this your Lord, and to serve him; and of this, that stone, the Font is a Witness; and Surety you gave for performance of this Bond. Pay therefore what you have vow'd, serve this Lord, obey this Lord whom you have chosen to be your God; for to your obedience are the promises made; The blessing in the City, and the blessing in the field:Deut. 28. The blessing to the fruit of your body, and the blessing to the fruit of your ground; the blessing to your Kine, and the blessing to your Flock. These I after Moses, propose as good powerful motives on­ly. There is a blessing promised beyond all these, purchased and assured by the blood of Christ, to every good and faithful Servant. Serve then out your time, and your Lord will surely pay you better wages than any earth can afford. He will call unto you, Euge, Well done thou good and faithful servant, enter into thy Ma­sters joy. His joy it will be to Crown thee, thy joy to be Crown'd at that day; when with the rest of thy fellow Servants, he shall call unto thee, saying, Come ye Blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdome prepared for you from the begin­ning of the world. Which God grant, &c.

1. The desire of the old Church earnest.

The prayers of the old Church were neither Trepidae, nor Tepidae; bold­ly they came to the Throne of grace; for they were arm'd with faith, and fervently th [...] [...]ent up their petitions from thence, for they were wing'd with Love. Where the love is cold, the prayer is cold; whereas from a heart warm'd with this passion, the petition is earnest. Heate a man once with the fire of the Spirit, and he will speak to God in sighs and groans that cannot be uttered;Rom. 8.26. as the old Saints did in this case. David fetcheth one grone a­bout it,Psal. 14.7. Isa. 64 1. Cant 8.1. O that thou wouldst give salvation to Israel out of Sion. Isaiah another, Oh that thou wouldst rent the heavens. And the Spouse a third, Oh that [...]hou wert as my brother. And this here, Let him kiss me, is no faint desire.

When you pray then, pray thus. Thus as the Spouse with heat and love; be earnest and serious with God; and conceive not that God will heare you, when you heare not your selves. True it is, that the prayer of the righteous man prevailes much; James 5.16. but it must then be fervent; for if cold, it freezeth in the Clouds, and comes not to heaven; whereas a zealous prayer mou ts higher,Gen. 32.24, 26 wrestles with God, and will not let him alone. It is an Argument that a man is not much touch'd with the sense of what he wants, or wanti [...]g asks, when his suit is heavily commenced; for every one that truly feels his own necessity, will be importunate, he will press his friend even after a deni­al;Luke 18.3. So it was with the poor Widow, which cried, and cried still after the un­just Judge, till she made him heare; an example that our Saviour hath left upon Record, that we should be earnest, importunate, and zealous in our prayers, and not petition as if we cared not much whether what we ask'd were granted or not; so did not the Spouse, for she was transported with the [Page 145] love of what she wanted and sued for, and would not be satisfied without she sped. Let him kiss me.

2. There be that observe here again her humility and reverence in her suits, in that she said, Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, not with the kisses of thy mouth; that phrase she thought too familiar, homely and unman­nerly; which will check their impudence, that take upon them to command God, when they should intreat. Thus I have seen their Petitions printed, Thou Lord shalt do this for us, Thou must do it, We command thee to do it; ground­ing their bold pride and confidence upon that place of the Prophet Isaiah; And concerning the work of my hands command ye me; Isa. 45.11. which is an Ironical Sarcasme to the Babylonians, Jun. & Trem. in locum. that thought they might lay an interdict upon God, and stay his Decree for the return of the captivity, and no warrant for a brazen-fac'd prayer. Sure I am, that the cream of Gods servants have petiti­oned, not commanded, and thought it a great happiness, if upon a suit ten­dered with all submission, humility and reverence, they might be heard, and dismissed with Be it unto thee as thou desirest. Familiarity begets contempt,Mat. 15.28. and contempt draws on anger; and in anger I deny not, but a Petition may be signed; but better it were for him, it were denied; for it proceeds à Deo irato non propitio; and what is so granted, is given as the Israelites Quails, far better be without it. Faith, though it be confident, yet it is not impudent; it blusheth when it asks; though it desires a kiss, yet it shall be modestly, sub­missively done, approaching not as a bold Whore, but as a chaste Spouse, being prepared rather to receive, than to command a kiss.

A kisse, or kisses: And that was a great matter, as I shall by and by make evident to you. This teacheth us, that so often as we approach the Throne of Grace, we sue not for Trifles; it becomes not the Majesty of heaven to attend such Suits: Tu cum oras, magna ora: When you pray, ask for great things.Ambrose in Psal. 118. Mat. 6.33. First seek the Kingdom of God, and the righteousness of that Kingdom, which are the kisses the Spouse sues for in this place, and then for other matters: For one temporal ask five eternal; this is the method by which we are taught to pray, in which we have but one single petition for daily bread, but five for this one, for those things that concern Gods honour, and our souls wealth. Tran­sitory things then would be put into our petitions, as they stand in our Pater noster, not too oft repeated, nor too much insisted on; as for heavenly and spiritual, they cannot be too frequently, too earnestly pressed, because they properly concern our happiness. And among these, this especially, which the Church here asks to be reconciled to God through his Son, a work that could never have been done, had he not become the Son of man; for how should he ever have given a kiss, that had no lips? how should he speak peace, that had no mouth? when then she desires a kiss, or kiss from his mouth, her mind no question was, that he would appear in the shape of man, which was that same Magnum I hinted to you, and to that now I come.

2. The object of the Churches desire, which was, to see Christ in the flesh.Gen. 3.15. Gen. 12. Gen. 49. Acts 10.43. Numb. 24.17. Deut. 18.18. Psal. 2.7. Isa. 7.14. Jer. 23.5. Ezek. 34.23. Dan. 9.25. Micah 5.2. Zach. 3.8. Rev. 19.20. 2 Pet. 1.19.

Long before such a kiss was promised, or else she had never presumed to de­sire it. What did God else mean by the seed of the woman? What else by the blessing to come from Abrahams seed? What by Jacobs Scepter? which was not to depart till he came. Infinite it were to insist upon all the Prophe­sies of him; for to him give all the Prophets witness. Baalam by a Star: Moses by a Prophet: David by a son: Esay by a child: Jeremy by a just God, Jehovah our righteousness: Ezekiel by a Pastor: Daniel by the Messi­ah: Micah by a Governour: Zachary by a branch: So that the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophesie; this is the light that shines in a dark place, to which he that gives heed must needs be brought to Christ.

And to him again give all the Types and Sacrifices witness; the Paschal Lamb, the Brazen Serpent, the Scape-goat, the Red Cow, and I know not how many more of them, so that the testimony of Jesus are the Types of the old Law. But all Prophesies hang in suspense till the fulfilling of them; and all Types are but shadows, empty things, till the substance be exh bited. And yet this was all the light that the old Church had; a Saviour rather shadowed out darkly, than clearly expressed; and therefore she is desirous to know fully what those darker Prophesies aimed at, and what those obscure Types intended; petitions to God to open them, and fulfill them.

'Tis as if she had said, Quo mihi semiverbia illa Prophetarum ora? What comfort can I take in those half and cloudy expressions of the Prophets?Exod. 4.10. Isa. 6.5. Jer. 1.6. I'le hear Moses no longer, he is a man of a stammering tongue, and no way eloquent. Isaiah's lips are polluted. Jeremy is a childe, and knows not well how to speak. As for Visions and Dreams, and Types, I wot not what to make of them; and therefore ipse loquatur, quem loquuntur, let him come himself and speak of whom they speak so much, and speak to me, and kiss me with his own mouth; so may the mystery that hath lyen hid from the begin­ning of the world be made known to me.

But it was not curiosity only that made the old Synagogue to be so earnest to see the promise fulfilled; a farther matter there was in it. God and the world for mans disobedience were fallen out; God was become angry with man, and man was an enemy to God; and betwixt both fore-told it was, that there should be a peace concluded by the lips of the womans seed:Micah 4.3, 4. Isa. 9.6. Micah said it, that when he came, peace should be in our Land. Isaiah before him, that he should be Shar-shalon, the Prince of peace, the first that should take that burden upon his shoulders.

This was the promise, but where's the performance? some mockers there were which said, You Prophets cry peace peace, but we find no peace; How long do you torment our souls? If he your Child, your Messias will have us perswaded of his good will so often signified by you his servants, then let him come down and make the peace, make your words good, and pacifie all in heaven and earth.

Upon this Angeli pacis amarè flebant, those Messengers of peace began to weep bitterly; and as well to stop the mouths of these mockers, as to as­sure their own peace, they were very earnest with God. David would have the heavens bowed:Psal. 144.5. Isa. 64.1. &, 41.8. Bow the heavens O Lord, and come down. Isaiah would have them rent and broken: O that thou wouldst break the heavens; rather those celestial orbs suffer violence, bow and rend, and dissolve to dew, than he should not descend to make up their and our peace; nay, such was the ear­nestness of Daniel, that he was stil'd Vir desideriorum, a man of desires; and whether think you that Balaam had not a months mind this way, when he pas­sionately laments,Numb. 24.23. Luke 2.25, 38. Numb. 6.25. Alas, who shall live when God doth this? those that lived near his coming, as Zachary, Simeon, Anna, were always looking and expecting this day. Considerable also it is, what the Jews meant by that common salutation, Ostendat tibi Dominus faciem suam; the Lord make his face to shine upon thee; for what was the face of God, but the Son of God, the very Image and Character of his brightness, whose appearance and manifestation they prayed for, by this form of speech as is conceived?

But what speak I of particular men, when I have here the request of the whole Church? Osculetur me; let him kiss me, &c. All the kisses given before were but in words only, this real; they in hope, this in truth; they but like the Prophets staffe sent by Gehazi a servant, 2 Kings 4.31. Bern. and laid u [...]on the face of the childe without effect, without vertue. There was no voice, no life in the child; as yet he breaths not, moves not, looks not up. That great Prophet himself must come in person, he must put his mouth upon our mouths, and his [Page 147] hands upon our hands, and his eyes upon our eyes, or else we shall never reco­ver. Nam quod tactus baculi non potuit, tactus carnis mirabilitèr perficiet. For what the cold touch of the staffe could not do, that the touch of his flesh will in a wonderful manner bring to pass.

3. The end why the Fathers desired the Incarnation of Christ; it was, that he would kiss her.

And now let us see what those kisses were which she so much desired, for ma­ny they were; Oscula, a plurality of kisses; which when we know, confess we shall that not one of them could be spared, for we stood in need of them all.

1. The first kiss he gave to our nature whereby he took the seed of the wo­man, and join'd it to his Deity, so of two making one, of two natures, that of God, and that of man, one person. By this there was a stay made of that pollution or birth-sin that defiles our nature. By this an infusion of that pu­rity and holiness which was requisite in a Mediatour; for had he been any way defiled with sin himself, he never could have reconciled God to sinners.

In his person there was the grace of union, and the grace of unction; and because the first of union, therefore this latter of unction; the conjunction of our dust to his Deity, raised our clay to a higher pitch,Thom. Part 3. Q. 7. Art. 10. Viguerius. and gave to the seed of Abraham which he assumed, a sacred unction and ability, & intensivè, & extensivè, & quoad essentiam, & quoad virtutem; in the intensest and high­est degree that possibly grace may be had, and a faculty to use it unto all effects and purposes that grace can extend. 'Tis acutely observed by Rupert, Mat. 3.16. Acts 2.3. that the Holy Ghost descended upon our Saviour in the shape of a whole creature, a whole Dove; whereas it came upon the Apostles in the form of a parted and divided tongue. Because grace was bestowed upon him totally and perfectly, being habitually and formally inherent in his humane nature; whereas unto them there was a division made of those gifts, every one having his share, as was requisite for themselves; for the jointing of the Saints; Eph. 4.12. for the work of the Ministry, and for the edifying of the body of Christ. Psal. 45.7. Above his fellows he was to be in the work, and therefore to be anointed with the oyle of glad­ness above his fellows.

But because this work could never be done without this union,Psal. 49.7. therefore he decreed that these two natures should meet and kiss. Man cannot redeem his brother; it is a work too high for him, he must let that alone for ever; God is unapt to do it, as having no blood to shed,Hebr. 9.22. without which there can be no Re­demption. Could then there be a person of that wonderful composition found, who might be [...], God and man, this alone were he who were apt to stand up in the gap, and reconcile the disagreeing persons; that then he might be God to merit, and man to dye, and by both to bring salvation to those who were lost; his Deity did vouchsafe to humble it self, and kiss the seed of the wo­man; after which grace of union there followed kiss upon kiss; for many they are.

1. A kiss in Baptisme, when he first meets with us,Acts 2.38. and by water seals up­on our lips a pardon and remission of sins.

2. After this another kiss by the other Sacrament, when to our mouths he offers his body, and to our lips his blood,Mat. 26.28. 1 Cor. 10.16. as a sure pledge of our peace made with him.

3. These kisses at some particular times; but all our life long a kiss by his Spirit of love. He comes and calls, and knocks, and visits us day by day:Cant. 5.2. Rev. 3.20. 1 Cor. à 4. ad 11. 1 Cor. 1.5. 2 Tim. 4.2. Joh. 1.16. Upon some he bestows [...], gifts, and seals them on their lips; their eloquence, their utterance, their words spoken in season, and out of season, are of these ample testimonies; but to others he gives [...], graces, and seals them in their hearts, and by good works on their hands, and by good words on their tongues.

[Page 148]4. And yet we have another kiss from his lips, a kiss of Instruction, a pe­culiarity in this kiss; for the same word Nazak in the Original, that signifies to kiss, signifies to instruct also. Instructed he hath, and taught us now a new lesson, yea, and that from his own mouth; for saith the Apostle, God hath spoken to us by his Son. Hebr. 1.2. The old lesson we had from his Messengers and Ser­vants, Moses and the Prophets; but this not from any man of God, though never so eminent, but from the Lord of the Prophets; not from any servant, though never so great in place, but from the Son himself; from his mouth we have received notice of Gods will; he himself, ore tenus, gave us this kiss.

5. Now the last kiss he gives, is a parting kiss, a comfortable kiss indeed, without which we should take out farewel of the world with small content: Did not he come, when we are passing from these houses of earth, and seal upon our lips, Osculum pacis, the kiss of peace, pronouncing with a clear voice, and a serene countenance, Pax tibi frater, Peace be to thee my bro­ther; assuring us that through his blood our Father is reconciled to us, and we to him, without which we should pass hence with a sad and amazed soul. Did you ever behold the chearful look, and the Swan-like song of a Saint of God upon the approach of grim-fac'd death?Luke 2.29. that which caused him to sing his Nunc dimittis with such content, was the assurance of this kiss. On the other side, have you ever been by to hear the groans and pitiful complaints, not of men of the common sort, but of spirit and valour, that durst have looked death in the face,Isa. 38.1, 14. yet upon the Summons, Set thy house in order, for thou shalt dye, brought so low, that they mourn as a Dove, and chatter as a Swallow? That which struck them into this terror, was, that they could find no inward certifi­cate of this kiss. It is no light thing then that the Spouse here sues for, since to it is annexed all our comfort; since when it is either denied or with-held, there is nothing but the greatest discomfort and perplexity.

A kiss is the perfectest Symbol of love and amity, and given from the lips of Christ most sure. Among men it may be, as they are, deceitful; for there is a crafty and insinuating kiss,2 Sam. 15.5. Mat. 26.49. as was Absoloms; and a false and treacherous kiss, as was that of Judas; but in God there cannot be the least suspition of falshood, no ill intent; and therefore from his mouth a kiss given, must needs be Charitatis Symbolum, a sure sign of love and peace.

Luke 2.14. John 14.27. John 16.33. Eph. 2.13, 14, 15, 16. Luke 19.42. Isa. 53.5. Joh. 20.21, 26.When he was born, it was his Xenium, his New-years Gift, Peace be to men; when he dyed, it was his Legacy, My peace be with you. In his life he prayed for it, paid for it, wept for it. At his death he dyed for it, and at his rising he brought and bequeathed it, he stood in the midst and said, Peace be unto you: And when they are parting with the world, present he is with his, to dismiss them with a kiss of peace: In signo pacis facit de pace securos, by this love-token of peace, he makes them secure of his peace.

Yea, but what now, did not Abraham the friend of God, the Patriarchs and Prophets enjoy this? Had not they their kiss of peace and reconciliation long before he had any lips to give it? yes certainly, and they joyed at it; but yet their joy was not full; no more then his can be, who having a friends word past to him for a courtesie, yet is not wholly quiet in his mind till what is pro­mised is performed. Though then their assurance for the performance was as firm as ours, yet the way how it should be performed was not so clear and evi­dent; and this as it needs must abate of their content, so also it did very much fire and inflame their desires.Cicero de Senect. Nihil molestum est quod non desid [...]res; no­thing is troublesome that a man desires not; and then by the Rule of contra­ries it will follow, Omne molestum quod desideres; every thing puts a man to ttouble which he desires. Promise a man victory, and say he believes it, yet he is not satisfied till he know how it should be done. Let an Angel from hea­ven [Page 149] tell Sarah of a Son; or Mary, that she shall conceive,Gen. 18.10. Luke 1.31, 34. and enquired it will be, [...]; How can this be? and till that be known, the soul is rest­less: So it was in this case; Gods Word was past, that in time the Bridegroom should come, who should give his Spouse this kiss, which she believed, and yet desired; and so much the more desired, because it was but V [...]spertina notitia, a glimmering of light to our Sunshine which came to them.

For first it was brought to them by piece-meal, and not all at once. One piece to Adam in gross, that he should be the seed of the woman; no more.Gen. 3.15. Gen. 22.18. Gen. 49.10. Psal. 132.11. Then another piece to Abraham, that of his loins, his people; after of the Tribe of Judah, then last of the Family of David; his Pedegree was thus by degrees made known, and more clearly discovered. And for his Offices, these were not declared all at once neither, but sometimes to one, sometimes to another. To Moses that he should be a Prophet:Deut. 18.18. Psal. 110.4. To David that he should be a Priest: To Isaiah a Prince or King. And [...]ot to hold you long, the circumstances of his birth were by pieces delivered: To Isaiah, made known it was that his mother should be a Virgin. To Micah, Isa. 9.6. Isa. 7.14. Micah 5.2. Dan. 9.24. that the place of his birth must be Bethlehem: To Daniel, that the time must be after seventy weeks. A man in this piece of an houre may now come to as much knowledge of him, as they arrived to in some hundreds of years. Now how was it possible, but as they saw the light arise by little and little, so also they should still be desirous to see more of it, indeed to behold it in its full strength and beauty, without which they could not be satisfied? All they heard of him hitherto, except that intimation given to Adam and Abra­ham, was immediatly from the mouth of man. One word from his own lips were worth ten thousand of theirs; now this she, the Spouse here desires, and this in the last times he granted; for he came in the fulness of time, and spake by himself.

1. Ego Vos.

The estate of mankind as they are conjoyn'd in the Society of the Church, are presented unto us in the Book of God under divers notions;Luke 12.32. 1 Pet. 5.2. Mat. 13.24, 47. Isa. 5.1, 2. 1 Tim. 3.15. sometimes of a flock, one while of a field, a Net, a Vineyard, sometimes of a House, sometimes of Marriage. Now the stile of this Text runnes under this last, where we have a couple to be joyn'd, and a Minister to joyn them: Who had endeavoured to do his Office, and therefore he speaks in some passion, I am jealous of you; Verse 2. This being the speech of Paul the zealot. Ever a jealous soul is a loving soule; jealousie alwayes arising from love; whence it is very common in the mouth of the Italians, That there is no true love, where there is not a mixture of jealousie.

All which have their rise and fall from jealousie. Since then the Apostle doth not hide that passion, which they who are most guilty, are yet ashamed to own; and that this his affection reflects not upon the Ore of Corinth, but the persons who lived there:2 Cor. 12.14. Them, not theirs: Their souls, not their Wealth; and not any particular person neither, but them indifferently, and indefinitely: Methinks it should warme the blood of every one, who is employed to wo for Christ, and make a match for Christ, not to pursue and follow his suit in a cold careless manner.1 King. 19.10. 2 Cor. 11.14. Verse 3. But Zelando zelari, to be ex­ceeding jealous, lest the devil come in the shape of an Angel of light, and beguile, and commit fornicati [...]n with the poor soul, to which he makes love for Christ, as he sometime did with our mother Eve.

Jonah 4.5.'Tis not for a Prophet with Jonah, to get him out of the City, and set himself up a Booth, and sit at ease under the shadow of it. Whither he is sent, he must go, and upon every opportunity make a motion for him who sent him, and zealously attend, Ne quid Chris [...]us detrimenti capiat, lest his Master receive some prejudice by his coldness, and be crossed in his suit. The speech was profane, which some imployed upon this business used in Saint Au­stines dayes, Quid ad me pertinet? quis{que}, quod velit, agat; victus meus salvus sit, & lac, & lana. Satis sit mihi, Ecclesia Christi eat, qua po­test. Gen. 4.9. Luke 12.19. What is Abel to me? Soul thou hast enough; though the souls at Co­rinth be naked and poor, let them do as they can. Perhaps it was the jea­lousie [Page 177] of that devout Father, that there were such; and if any were, I hope they dyed with that age. Yet that none of that race revive and live with us, well it were Saint Paul were made an example:2 Cor. 5.20. who remembering that he was made an Embassadour for Christ, prayes for his children at Corinth, Preacheth the Gospel to them, bestows what he had received,Cap. 12.15. Cap. 11.29. freely upon them, yea and is content to be bestowed for them. He burns, when any one of them is scandalized; Like salt, melts himself to season them: like a Lamp wasts himself to give them light: Nay, is jealous and suspicious when all's done, lest he should fail of his purpose.

Magnes amoris amor. Love as a Loadstone attracts love:Use. So it should be. This love of Ego the Apostle, the Priest to the people, should move Ʋos, you the people to returne some love to the Priest, cause your love to be reciprocal, ebb back to us, make us more deare to you, and better thought on. What it should be is apparent; what it is we know and feele; even the self-same Saint Paul found at Corinth, the more we love,2 Cor. 12.15. the less we are be­loved. Jesuites are deare to their Proselytes, Seminaries to their Converts, Pastors to their collected Churches, Presbyters to their Congregations; scorn and contempt is cast upon none but those who desire to present you pure Vir­gins to Christ.Psal. 102.6. By Protestants the true Protestant Minister is made the Owl in the Wilderness.

Well, be it what it will, Saints you are by calling; God so loved you,1 Cor. 1.2. John 3.16. Eph. 5.2. that he hath given his Son; His Son so lov'd you, that he hath given his blood; and therefore we will not love you so little, as not to bestow our pains.

2. Ego vos Christo.

Now of what weight this motive is, will be best understood if we remove our station, and take a view of the second Relation, examining in what near­ness you are to Christ. He bone of your bone, and flesh of your flesh; Eph. 5.30. 1 John 4.13. Cyprian. and you flesh againe, quickned and enliven'd by his Spirit. Germanissima est haec societas; for a nearer conjunction there cannot be. 'Tis too cold and comfortless a bond, by which some would so unite Christ to us, as if this tye imported no more but the communication of our nature to him. He, and we both perfect men. For what man, even the veryest Pagan and Infidel, hath not a Relation to Christ in this sence! who is not man as he is? A nearer coherence then there must be than that of Nature. For the Church doth partake of Christ, as Eve did of Adam. Now God made Eve of the Rib of Adam; and his Church he hath built out of the very flesh, and bleeding side of the Sonne of God. That is as it were principium passivum, the mate­rial part; and this he doth actuate, enlive, and move by his own Spirit, which is principium activum, and the formal part, that truly dat nomen & esse, gives it its name, and makes it what it is. He took our pawn, and he gave us his; he took unto him our flesh the pawne from us,2 Cor. 1.22. & cap. 5.5. and he gave unto us his Spirit the Pawne from Him, upon that day that he made us His.

And I pray observe diligently, that I say He made; for we are facti, Heb. 3.14. Psal. 1.3. Rom. 11.24. not nati; made, not borne Christians. Trees of righteousness grow not of them­selves. A good tree is a tree planted, taken out of the wilde and common stock of Adam, and ingraffed into the true Olive, by which it becomes partaker of Christs Oyle.

And yet that you be not too bold or presumptuous upon this conjunction, you shall do well to know, that this as all other Relations are [...], or [...], that appeare to be, and are not; or that are indeed what they appear.

[Page 178] Rev. 3.1.1. There be that have given up their names to Christ; their bare names and no more; because they profess one Lord, one Faith, one Baptisme, they must by us be esteemed of the Corporation: when yet in truth they are but aequivocae partes, visible parts, and do receive no more vertue or spirit from Christ, than a wooden leg, or an eye of glass doth life or motion from the body, to which they are for fashion sake added. Keep in memory Judas, A­nanias, Sapphira, Hymeneus, Philetus, with the Catalogue of such hypocrites and formal Professors, and you cannot want instances of these reputed but a­dulterate members.

2. Now besides these Nominals, [...], Christians falsely so call'd, who have a name to live, and yet are dead, there be reals, qui verè nomi­nantur & sunt, are what they seem to be, true parts of Christ, and truly partaking of the Divine Nature.2 Pet. 1.4. Such the Apostle would have the Corinthi­ans to be, joyn'd truly and really to him, and not beare the world in hand to be so; chaste and Virgins indeed, and not assume the names where both are wanting. In such Ornaments he desires to present them, in which if clad, then they make good Spouses. And that he may the easier gaine their assent to the match, he commends his Master to them, and sets him forth in his Attributes and Endowments, that he is Unus, Vir, Christus. One, not such another; one that would not admit of Corrivals. Vir, a man, a Husband, that would do the Office of a Husband to her; and this one man Christ, that is, one anointed for that end, that he might be the Husband to his Church.

3. Ego Ʋos Ʋni.

One; One whose love was immutable unto her, and therefore her love should be immutable unto him.Jer. 31.3. Hos. 2.19. This he hath promised in Hosea thrice, one after another, I will betroth, I will betroth, I will betroth; and if this re­petition will not beare it out, sure I am the word following will, For ever; I will betroth thee to me for ever; for which he gives in his justice, and judge­ment, and mercy, and loving-kindness, and faithfulness for security: From which there never can be a divorce, except upon manifest adultery. This separated Israel from him,Jer. 3.8. and it may cause a Divorce of any Church.

If then you intend to be his Spouse, upon necessity you must keep your selves to One.Isa. 4.1. For no bed did yet admit of plurality of Husbands. In a scarce time, seven women laid hold of one man, and would be call'd by his name; but you shall never reade of seven men that gave a Coniugal name to one Woman. Polygamy in respect of the man no Nation hath admitted.

Goods, Lands, Mony, men are content to enjoy in common, but the Bed admits not of Coparcenary. Omnia communia preter uxores, saith Pla­to. I am content in my Common Wealth that all be common besides wives. 'Tis a plaine Book Case,Rom. 7.2. The Woman which hath a Husband, is bound by the Law to her Husband so long as he liveth: So that if she be married to another man, while her Husband liveth, she shall be called an Adulteress. The inference is evident, Vivit maritus vester, your first love is yet alive, and he will live for ever, Rev. 5.14. & 1.18. for he hath the keyes of death and hell; and must you not then by the Law keep you only to him?

Were he dead, you might make your own choice, but since he is yet alive,Gen. 20.16. he must be, as Abim [...]lech told Sarah, the covering of your eyes.

When you became his verbis conceptis & consultis, in solemne words, thus much you promised, and gave in Sureties for it. The day of your Baptisme was the very houre of the contract, and there and then you undertook to for­sake the devil, the world, &c. in effect to forsake all other, and keep you to this One, as long as you both should live.

I require and charge you all, as you will answer it at the dreadful day of Judgement, when the secrets of all hearts shall be opened, whether you were not espoused to Christ alone in this form? and if your hearts tell you thus much; how is it come to pass, that you are unsatiable,Ezek. 16.28. and have mu [...]tiplied your lovers?

Beware, vir vester est Deus zelotes, your God is a jealous God,Exod. 20.5. Ezek. 16.38. and he hath begun already to judge you, as a woman that hath broken wedlock. Go and ask the former age what he hath done in the like case. The wheele being turn'd, will bring up Hierusalem, the seven Churches of Asia, of Greece, of Afrique, nay, this of Corinth; every one in their times, which all, because they kept not their first faith and love given to this one,Lev. 2.4. have had their Bills of divorce. For their leudnesse God hath dealt furiously with them, serv'd them like harlots,Ezek. 23.15. and taken away their nose and their eares.

What we have deserv'd for our wantonnesse I know; how he hath dealt with us we feele; how further he will proceed I know not. Would we yet return to the guide of our youth, who can tell but he might returne?Jer. 3.1, 4. For such a case he hath put, that contrary to the fashion of all jealous husbands, he will come to his bed again, after it is defiled, so that it be first bath'd and wash'd with penitent tears. As we stand divided into fractions and factions, as we stand enamour'd on Cephas, Apollo; as we go a whoring after Presby­tery, Independency, Anabaptisme, a fifth Monarchy, and I know not what; there is very little, hope of it. Gad then no more about to change the way;Jer. 2 38. cast not your affection upon every new man, but keep close, Uni, to this One. To this One I say in that simplicity, which our mother, the Primitive Church, hath commended him unto us, and that was in those ornaments in which the Church of England, by her doctrine and discipline had attired him. The content and benefits which our ancient mother had from him, should methinks content us; which were, what any chast wife could expect from a husband, a Viro. For no husband could confer more honour, and a greater dowry upon a wife, then he hath done upon his Church, as will ap­pear by opening unto you the next notion in which the Apostle presents him, which is Vir.

4. Ego vos uni Viro.

For first he honours us with his Name; His own name, Christ.1 Cor. 12.12. Even so is Christ, saith the Apostle, meaning the Church. This is desponsatae nobilitas, it is the dignity to which any Spouse is raised, to be honour'd with her hus­bands name. The seven women in Isay, that I but now mention'd,Isa. 4.1. who would content themselves with one man, would not lose that honourable title, We will be call'd by thy Name. Their own bread they would eat, and their own apparel they would wear, not put their husbands to charge for maintenance (indeed it was too much to maintain seven) but however their Name they would take from him; This, as they thought, would take away their reproach. It is then our glory to be dignified by our husbands name, to be called Christians from Christ, a name first imposed at Antioch, Act. 11.26. and to this day continued; Catholique is our Name, Christian is our Sirname; [...].Naz. [...]. Let all the world [Page 180] know that we are Christians, that we are in heart Christians, as Julians soul­diers proclaimed to his teeth. And what service and duty this Name im­poseth upon us, you have heard in the former Sermon.

2. But Titles are but blasts of aire, with realities they beget respect. You shall now see then, what a Dowry this husband upon the match conveys over to keep up his Spouses honour. As the husband endows his wife with his worldly goods, so he makes over to his Spouse his spiritual Graces, and gives her a right to partake in what is his; Communio bonorum intercedit conjuga­tis, ita donis suis Deus cumulat fideles. His presence he vouchsafes her, and with that himself, and what is his, partly by imputation, and partly by real infusion.

First, a good husband hides the weaknesses and infirmities of his wife, and this man doth it to his Spouse. He imputes to her his whole innocent life, and casting his skirt over her,Ezek. 16.8. Rev. 7.13, 14. covers her all, veste talari, with his long white robe; long enough to cover all, and white enough to beautifie all, so that God cannot see iniquity in Jacob. Numb. 23.21. Aethiopissa haec, black of her self, and moorish in her complexion, yet betroth'd to him in loving kindnesse and mercy,Isa. 61.10. becomes faire, and draws Gods eye to her. These are the gar­ments of salvation in which she is cloathed, these the robe of righteousnesse in which she is covered; as a bridegroome decketh himself with his orna­ments,Ephes. 5.27. and as a bride adorneth her self with her jewels. In these he atires her, that he might present her unto himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.

Again, a husband must answer for his wife, for she is under covert-barn; and in Law there lies no Action against the wife, during the husbands life. This trouble also he put himself to, to answer for his Spouse. Trouble, did I say? my, pain and shame, and sorrow and death. This was his passive obedience, and he imputes this, and by it frees his Church from all forfeitures and penal­ties whatsoever. This is a comfortable point. For if the devil at any time enter his Action, and sue you for breach of Covenant; your answer may be, that the flesh and you are divorced, that you have made choice of another husband, virum Christum, the man Christ, who, as your Head, hath taken upon him to pay your debts; and therefore if the Plaintiff will reply and pro­ceed, let him sue him. And this is the first part of the Dowry, a discharge of the bond, and a discharge of the penalty; the one by his unspotted life, the other by his undeserved death, or rather both by both. So that nor debt, nor penalty, nor the breach of the directive, nor penal part of the obligation can light up­on his Spouse.

Secondly, but beside this imputed justice, it pleaseth him to adorne his Spouse with a world of graces. And in this he exceeds all other husbands. If they finde fair wives, well, but they make them not. No man can make a black face white,Cant. 1.5. a deformed comely; and all the Art us'd to do it, doth at last marre and wither it. But Christ comes to his Spouse, by nature deform­ed, in visage black, puts his beauty upon her, and with his gifts and graces makes her comely. He makes her wise with the one, and vertuous with the other:Psal. 45.11, 13. [...], by his graces and gifts the Kings daughter is all glorious within, and the King hath pleasure in her beauty.

More plainly, sanctification and holinesse of life, a vertuous and godly con­versation, the duties of piety and charity, are a good part of this dowry, to which he hath entituled every soul that shall be his Spouse. You were, saith the Apostle to these Corinthians, you were, before this marriage, fornicators, idolaters, 1 Cor. 6.9, 10, 11. adulterers, effeminate, &c. But now, since the match, you are washed, you are sanctified, ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

Thirdly, for upon the marriage the Church brings forth children to God.Mat. 5.9. Rom. 8.16. and 9.26. Joh. 1.13. Gen. 30.1. Isa. 54.1. No more then to the world, and the flesh. A main end of Wedlock, this. How passionate was Rachel in her barrennesse? Give me children, or else I die. A comfort then it is, and a great comfort for the Church of the Gentiles, that she, who before these espousals was barren, [...], and wanted a husband, had bestowed upon her gifts, that is, men enabled with gifts, Apostles, Prophets, and Evangelists for the time,Ephes. 4.11. but Pastours and Doctors to remain with her for ever, by whose means she hath brought forth more then she which had a husband.

5. Ego vos uni viro Christo.

But, unde hoc vobis? How came all this to passe, that he should thus affect,Ephes. 1.5. Jam. 1.18. thus honour and advance his Spouse? That he did thus affect, it was his meere good will; but that he might thus endow, we are beholding to Chri­stus; for nothing could he have done this way, had he not beene Christ.

Conceive it thus. The aptitude or faculty to match arose from his Per­son, and his Office; and by vertue of the anointing, he became such a person, and was capable of such a place.

1. That he was anointed, demonstrated that he was man, and this was ne­cessary, or else no matching; for all Matrimonial contracts must be betwixt those of the same kinde. A promise there was for this match many yeares before; but the solemnization of it was upon that day he took flesh, to which you are call'd in the Canticles. Go forth, O daughters of Zion,Cant. 3.11. Isa. 9.6. and behold King Solomon, that is Shar-solom, this Prince of peace, with his Crown wherewith his mother crowned him, i. e. that flesh which he assumed from his mother, the blessed Virgin Mary, in the day of his espousals.

The foundation then of this matrimonial union is in the flesh of Christ. A faithful man is first united to the humane nature, and afterwards by help of the humanity, [...], to the word, or divine nature. For though ful­nesse of salvation and life depends on the fulnesse of the Godhead of Christ, yet it is communicated to us by his flesh. For we can apprehend and elect, but as we know; but by the humanity we first come to the knowledge of Christ as a Mediatour, and therefore in the order and nature of faith, his flesh is the first thing we can reflect on, to which in our thoughts we joyne.

Thus God propos'd him to us, The seed of the woman. Gen. 3.15. Deut. 18.18. Thus Moses foretold him, A Prophet of your brethren like unto me. Thus the Prophets made mention of him; To you a Son is born, to you a child is given. Every­where, the seed, the Son of David, the root of Jesse. Saint John confesseth,Isa. 9.6.11.1.10. Joh. 1.14. 1 Joh. 1.1. That they saw his glory, as of the onely begotten Son of God; but before he ac­knowledgeth, that he took flesh, and dwelt in us: That he was the word of life, but such, that they saw it, and handled it. First they knew him to be man, then God.

His Deity no question is the fountain, from whence doth arise all our good, life, salvation, &c. but his flesh and humanity, is as it were the chan­nel, by which all these graces are derived to us. If then we know not the channel, by which these Graces are conveyed, we may thirst for ever. And the way to know this conduit-pipe, is to go along with God, and search for it as he hath propos'd, promis'd and reveal'd it unto us; that is, to begin at the seed of the woman, and thence ascend to his eternal generation; else Christ can be no Saviour, no Mediator, no Husband unto us.

Farther, in the Sacraments, as in two chrystal glasses, this doctrine is most apparent. Two parts there are of every Sacrament; the visible signe, and the invisible grace, res terrena, & coelestis. A faithful soul comes preparedly, and takes a share of both. But in what order? is it not in that, as they are proposed by God? First the visible, put case the water, the bread and wine: Then remission of sinne, and all Christ: As by this Divine dispensation, the material part is received first, and after in that, and by that the spiritual: So also in this case, you must reflect upon Christ as a perfect man, and in that nature, and be conjoyn'd to him, before you can be partaker, or have a­ny benefit from the Divine. And therefore the Apostles endeavour is to joyne you here to one husband, which is Christ the Messiah, the A­nointed, that is, to the Man Christ, as well knowing that God is not ca­pable of unction.

2. And this anointing fitted him for this Office, to be a King, and a Priest, and Prophet to his Church, and to make us Kings and Priests to God. For though he was anointed prae consortibus, farre above his fellows, yet it was pro consortibus, Psal. 45.7. Eph. 5.25, 26. for his consorts sake. He needed none of this sweet oyle for himself. But she, his Spouse, was in great want of it, and for her sake he would be Christus, the Messiah.

For had he not been united to our Nature, which is that grace of union; and had he not sanctified this our Nature,Verse 27. which is the grace of unction; there had been no Church to bear his Name; there had been no obedience, either active or passive, to be imputed to us; there had been no Gifts, no Graces sent down upon men: In one word, no Christian society to bring forth children to God.

All this while, as I conceive, there hath been nothing, but that you have been well enough content to hear. For the beauty of a bridegroom is glo­rious,Psal. 19.5. and draws eyes after him. And if ever any, then he who is unus, vir Christus. Eccles. 7.28. Dan. 7.10. Not Solomons one of a thousand, but one to whom among the thou­sand thousands of Israel there was not the like. Not one conceiv'd of the Holy Ghost, but he: Not one born of a pure Virgin, but he: Not one ever so endow'd, as he: One and singular in his conception. A Man by his incar­nation:Cant. 5.16. Christ from his unction: Now this is your beloved, this the man, this your friend; O daughter of Hierusalem; This is He. And now consi­der what you are to be. Conceive not that he your husband must be a man of perfections, and you left loose to be as leud as may be. On your parts a qualification is necessary, and without it the match cannot go forward. Requisite it is, that you be, what every man expects that marries a maid: Virgines & Castae, Virgins and Chast. Virgins at the time; Chast after the so­lemnity; Virgins for thoughts, Chast for deeds, in minde untoucht.

6. A Virgin.

Lev. 21.13, 14.Not to hold you in Generals. The first condition is, that you be a Virgin. In the old Law, the high Priest might not match but with a maid; and in the new,Rev. 2.4. Hos. 1.6, 9. our high Priest will not cohabit for ever, with any Church that will not remain a Virgin. Virginity is then preserv'd, when sincerity of faith is defended.Lyra. Euseb. Hist. lib. 3. c. 9. Virgo propter fidei sinceritatem. And therefore Eusebius tells us out of Egesippus, that so long as the Apostles lived, the Church remain'd a pure and uncorrupt Virgin.

Conceive not that God comes a wooing for your beauty, or that he is taken with your blood,Ezek. 16. your place, your honour; read the 16. cha [...]. of Ezekiel, and you will be of another minde. It is in much mercy, bowels of compassion, and faithfulnesse he hath espoused you. Hos. 2.20. All this matter concernes Religion. In [Page 183] faith and religious worship he would have you pure Virgins. As in the bed, so in the Church there may be adultery and fornication committed. Ser­ving of false gods is whoredome; the adorning of vain imaginations,Ezek. 16. and falling in love with every new man, and every new fancy, is wantonnesse at least. Christians should no more do it, then maids gadd abroad, and let their eyes wander after every goodly man they see.Cant. 4.1. The eyes of this Vir­gin are Doves eyes, single and direct as a Dove; not leering and squinting every way like a Fox:Plin. lib. 10. c. 34. and Pliny tells us that Doves never look with desire upon any male, except their own mate. A quality so essential to every one of Christs Doves; that the Fathers tell us, No Dove, no Church.

And great heed, they who mean to keep their Virginity for Christ, ought to take to their eyes.Job 31.1. Never more need to make a Covenant with your eyes then now, that they wander not after every lover; for suiters there are on all hands; and all, insidiantur virginitati, aim to defloure you.

1. Would it were but the young Levite, or Itinerant, Judg. 17. Mat. 24.23. that goes out to so­journ where he can a place, some reason that he cry, Loe here is Christ; for inde acquisitio, by that means he must get his living. The danger is great­er; an old subtile-pated Apostate prophet there was in Bethel, Act. 19.25. 1 Reg. 13.11, 18. and he is risen again, and he forsooth hath seen a vision; The Spirit of God hath spoken this and this unto him, nay, but Christ is there, when he lies unto you. Want, ambition, male-content, give many an assault to your Virginity. It behoves you then not to shew the least signe of lightnesse, least you become prostitutes to these importunate and factious spirits. Casta est, quam nemo rogavit.

2. But zealots there are from Rome, they speak as faire as the Apostle, though never with so honest an intention, [...], &c. Deceiv'd they would not have you, when it is their study to deceive. It is their whole labour to bring Vicariatum in conjugio, a Vicar for an husband, an Antichrist for Christ, and so to undo, at once, the true Essence of this nuptial bond, that dispenses not with a husband to supply his place by a Vicar.

Betwixt both will you know what to do? believe neither, yeild to neither; Let neither the Holy water of Tyber, nor the pure stream of the Leman lake too much affect you. You have a mother in England, she is a grave matron, aged and venerable, likest the time when the Church was a pure Virgin, of any Church in the Christian world; and I dare say, that if any Church remain illibata Virgo, an unspotred Virgin in her Doctrine, in her Discipline, it is she. Gad no more then after new Lovers, but hearken to her and obey her.Hos. 2.5, 10, 13 Behold she hath set forth the Apostolick age for a form of discipline to go­vern you. A C [...]techisme brief indeed, but full to instruct you. Two Testa­ments to feed you with the sincere milk of the Gospel.1 Pet. 2.2. Three Creeds to ground you. Four Councels to confirme you. The five first ages for Presidents to assure you. And what lack you yet? If this gravity, this antiquity, these foundations, these determinations, these patterns cannot settle your hearts, your love, I must needs then say, You are wantons.

7. A Chaste Virgin.

For the preservation of your Virginity I require no more; But to Chasti­ty there is somewhat else required. For as you must be Virgins, quantum ad fidei sinceritatem, as to the sincerity of faith: so you must be chaste, quan­tum ad morum integritatem, in integrity of manners. Your honest conver­sation must be suitable to your profession,Rom. 2.24. Ezek. 36.20, 23. or else you shall disgrace and dis­honour him you call your husband; occasions you will give to the enemies of our Lord to blaspheme. Christs Spouse is a Beauty more than ordinary, a [Page 184] precious part separated from the vile;Jer. 15.29. Eph. 5.27. a face without spot or wrinkle; Such, as though the eye of God may, yet an enemy should not finde a blemish in it.

Psal. 35.12.The envious spirit that is too apt to accuse the brethren, and lay to their charge things that they know not:

Ovid. Vixque tenet lachrymas, quia nil lachrymabile cernit. Being put to consider Job, Job 1.9. could not finde what to object; all that he could say was, That Job fear­ed not God for nought; that he feared God, was undeniable. He was so in his time,Gen. 6.9. Luk. 1.6. and so Noah before him, a perfect and just man, that walked with God; and so long after him Zachary and Elizabeth, both righteous before God, both blameless.

Ovid. Innocui ambo, cultores numinis ambo. And the Christian Church that succeeded in her younger days,Act. 2.41, 46. Plin. lib. 10. Epist. 103. Tertul. Apol. cap. 2. was as innocent. For the three thousand first converts did all in singlenesse of heart; and so to Plinies time harmlesse peo­ple they were, that rose before day to sing Psalmes and Hymns to God and Christ. Homicidium, fraudem, perfidiam, adulterium, &c. prohibentes; Mur­der, fraud, adultery, perfidiousnesse, and all wickednesse were hateful to them. Prisons might abound with heathenish malefactors,Tertul. Apol. cap. 44, 45. but in those Cages of unclean birds, not one Christian among that rabble, nisi tantum quod Chri­stianus, except because he was a Christian. So all along those golden dayes, their very enemies could not finde what to charge upon them but their Religion. So chaste, so holy, so pure was their conver­sation.

But the date of those holy souls is now worn out: As if such purity, and holiness, and integrity had been onely for those Baby and Infant Christi­ans, and they Babies onely that used it; we have molded Christianity to another fashion; more wit it seemes we have then those simple souls, and can finde a broader way to heaven then ever they dreamed of, or thought upon.Wisd. 2.11. Mic. 2.1. Mat. 5. Exod. 20. Providence is the rule we follow, and not Gods revealed will; and we make that lawful which the power of our hand can execute, not Christs Sermon on the Mount, or what God wrot with his own finger on Mount Sinai. The Apologies that those harmlesse souls wrote for their innocence and obedience, are derided by our new Lights. So that whatever the Poets told us of the iron age we see done, countenanced, defended in this. Vi­vitur ex rapto, &c. But I refraine my self; I said, I will take heed to my tongue, Psal. 39.1. while the ungodly is in my sight. For a man may follow truth so close at the heels, that he may have his teeth kicked out.

This is pain and grief to me. Yet thus much I dare say of those ancient Professors of Christianity; They thought that nulla parte decuit maechari vir­ginem, that a Virgin should not be unchast in any part, non lingua, non au­re, non oculo, non vultu, non nictu, non nutu. Not in tongue, not by the ear, not by the eye, not by a look, a wink, a nod; whereas we set the door o­pen to blasphemous words, and the windows to lascivious objects, we admit the devil to parle as Eve did,Gen. 3. and drink in his suggestions. And that after all this we set the hand to work is too apparent.

And are we not chast Virgins in the mean time, that have neither conti­nentes oculos, nor continentes manus, nor abstemious eyes, nor hands. Well, men may frame to themselves what speculations they please;2 Pet. 1.5. 1 Tim. 2.1. but sure I am, that Saint Peter joynes vertue to faith; and Saint Paul, honesty to godli­nesse; [Page 185] and the common Maxime must not be despised, That a good conscience and good manners must go together. Our Religion is ancient, and therefore it must be attired like a grave and ancient matron, in a civil, vertuous, sober, decent, modest and comely manner. The new fashions of these times neither for faith, nor manners become it; not the first, for it forceth her Virginity; nor the last, for it wrongs her chastity. And the Spouse of Christ, if we will believe the Apostle, must be a chaste Virgin.

I fear me, I have been tedious unto you. But I hope I shall the easilier ob­taine pardon, because it is the fashion of Suitors, who can never tell where to end. And a little more there is behinde, and methinks that should be told, this day, you are at leasure to heare it. 'Tis my desire, since God hath called me to th [...]s Office, [...], & [...], to fit, and so to present you.

8. [...].

Beza reads it aptarem, and aptly; for whatsoever is joyn'd, especially per [...], must be even and equal, because uneven parts will never well close together; Which God thought so necessary in this case, that in the first institution of marriage, he made for man a help meet for him. And many matches succeed very ill,Gen. 2.18. because there is not choice made of a meet person. Besides the virginity and chastity, I but now spoke of, this word seems to me to import a farther matter. Those are requisite, but not those only. Those qualities at large, even in a maid, whether she match, or no. Some other things there are more nearly to be respected, and sought after, when she intends to become a Bride; somewhat before, somewhat af­ter the marriage.

1. Before or at the time a free consent; then it is demanded of her, Wilt thou have this man to thy wedded husband? and upon an open profession of con­sent, the bond is tyed. For as much as A. B. have consented in Wedlock; I pronounce them to be man and wife together. The case is very like. For God makes no Covenant with the unwilling. Non salvabit te sine te. August. We never can aptare, fit you for this one husband till you give your consent. Say then, are you a ready and a willing people? Will you have this man,Isa. 1.19. or no? If that be your minde, we will not be backward to do our office; es­pouse you to Christ. Coactive power we have none, perswade onely we may, yet profess we do, that it is our whole desire to get your good will to this match.

2. After that you be resolv'd to live in love and peace with him; (For discords do not well in the marriage bed) that you be amiable as Rachel, wise as Rebeccah, faithful and obedient as Sarah, and in all quietnesse and peace submit to him, and learn of him all the days of your life.

3. For your affections must not be fickle and inconstant, as is that of ma­ny women, wonne to day and lost to morrow; it must be permanent. To that purpose it is that we sue: to that purpose he hath chosen you,Luk. 1.75. to serve so long as you have a day to live; omnibus diebus vitae, your life and your obe­dience must end together.

You now know the conditions, you see your duty; how to be qualified before, how at the time, how to behave your selves after the marriage; Which if you resolve to do, then we shall do our office for the present with comfort,Heb. 13.17. but at the last day with more joy, be bold

9. [...]. Present you to Christ.

In the mean time we are but [...], only friends of the Bridegroom;Joh. 3.29. [Page 186] all we do, is but [...], to fit you for this and that day. And know this, that there must be this same [...], this same espousal made by us on earth, or else there will be no [...], no presentation of you by us in heaven.

O happy you of the Laity, that are to present but one only! our case of the Clergy is farre more pitiful, who must present, and reckon for you too. Enough we shall have to do to present our selves, every one of us sav'd as through fire. But the Lord knows what we shall say, when we come to pre­sent you also. For except it appeare that every soul we present, be tam mo­ribus quam doctrina habilis & idonea, have a Virgin Faith, and a chaste life; carry a willing, loving, quiet, humble, reverent, and obedient heart, present we dare not: And how far every one of you is thus qualified, you best know.

[...], Zealous we are to have it so. And what is it you return for this heat of love, except it be a heat of fury, hatred, and suspicion! Zealous we are for you, and you for this jealous over us, and suspect the worst, that we would present you to one husband the Pope,Gal. 6.1. Arminius, Socinus, Anti­christ, and I know not to whom. Hence you fly from us your spiritual Fa­thers, and would be presented by a Super-intendent. If any amongst us have bent their wits that way, to present you to, or by any Vicar, or upstart He­retick or Scismatick,Gal. 1.7. Ez. 32.2. Josh. 7.25. Gal. 5.12. Lam. 3.45. 1 Cor. 4.13. they have troubled the Church, and God trouble them. Utinam abscindantur; Would they were cut off. But by that love that you beare to this your sole Husband Christ Jesus, let me beg this for the whole Tribe of Levi, that the whole be not made a [...] presented to scorne for their sakes. Hate not the whole Apostolique Colledge for one Judas.

Hab. 2.1. Heb. 13.17.Be so charitable to conceive, that the manifest part of those whom God hath set upon their Watch, do watch for your souls, as those who long to see this contract consummate, and the marriage Solemniz'd; you joyn'd to Christ, and Christ to you; you made one with Christ, and Christ with you.

For as the world began, so it must end; it began with a Wedding, and it must end with a Wedding.Gen. 2.23, 24. Rev. 19.7, 9. Isa. 62.5. Luke 15.7, 10. In Genesis it began with the Nuptials of the first Adam with his Eve: And in the Revelation it is foretold to end with the Nuptials of the second Adam with his Church. When that will not be wan­ting, which doth accompany all Weddings, joy, and gladness. For God will rejoyce in his Spouse. The Angels will rejoyce over the penitents, the Spouse shall rejoyce for her honour, and we the friends of the Bridegroome be glad at heart to present you there, and that we can give up our accompt with joy.Heb. 13.17. Neither will that joy be like that which accompanieth our marri­ages sometimes on earth; one merry day perhaps and no more, but joy in a perpetuity.