Works

ISAIAH 2. 2, 3, 4.

HILLS or Mountains are States, Kingdoms or Societies of men; which consisting of degrees, rising unto a height one above another, are compared unto Mountains raised above the ordinary Plain and Level of the Earth.

The mountain of the Lord's House is that State and Society of men which is called the Church and People of God: Regnum Coelorum, the Kingdom of Heaven; that is, a Kingdom whose both King and King's Throne have their residence and place in the Heavens.

These words therefore are a Prophesy or prophetical Promise of the glorious exaltation, wonderful enlargement, and unheard-of prosperity of this Society of men, called the Church, above all other States or Societies of men whatsoever.

The glory and exaltation is expressed in the words, The Mountain of the Lord's House shall be one day exalted, yea mounted, not only above the lesser Hills, but the highest Mountains, though at this time it were depressed and trampled underfoot by the proud enemies thereof.

The enlargement and ampleness thereof, in the words, All Nations shall flow unto it: that is, Though, at the time of this Prophecy, it were reduced to a small remnant; yet the time was to come, when it should not only consist of the one Nation of the Jews, as then it did, but of all Nations under the whole heaven.

The prosperity thereof begins to be described from these words in the 4 ^th verse, They shall beat their swords into plow-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks, &c. that is, Although the greatest part of Jacob were already captive, and Judah and Jerusalem in a continual fear and no less danger of the arms and invasion of the King of Babel; yet the time should one day come, that the People or Church of God should not only be the most exalted State upon the earth, and the most ample and universal Dominion that ever was in the world, but the most peaceable, quiet and flourishing State that ever was since man was first created.

This is the Prophecy. But now comes the Question, Whether this, as we have described it, be and hath already been fulfilled; or whether the time thereof be yet to come; or if already any ways fulfilled, whether it be not in part only performed, and the full accomplishment reserved for the time to come.

Our Adversaries would fain find here the constant and perpetual Visibility of the Church. And I must needs grant them that it is meant of a time when the Gentiles shall be called; for the words of the Text, viz. [ All Nations ] tell us so. But, without doubt, he that will have this place for his purpose, must show us not only, ••• aked and single Visibility, but more than that, a glorious Visibility; yea, the most glorious among the sons of men. For a Visibility is one thing, and a glorious Visibility is another: for many things are visible which are not glorious to look upon; and oftentimes good and rich metal may be within, when the outside glisters not. We must therefore, when we talk of the Church's Visibility, distinguish between these two, and not confound them. The Church might be Visible, though it were but a Hill; much more if it be a Mountain: but here it is to be established on the tops of Mountains, and exalted above the Hills; so that no other State shall overtop or overlook it, much less trample it under feet. Now whether there were ever yet such a time, when this was completely fulfilled, though all be granted our Adversaries they can ask, yea and that the Romish Church be that Church here spoken of, I leave it to any man's indifferent judgment, who can compare the Description of the Prophet with the Stories of forepast and present Times.

But, suppose it were to be fulfilled and fully accomplished in the times which have already been; and I will not deny but in part it hath been so; yet how doth it follow from this Prophesy, that this glorious Visibility should be constant and continual, and never interrupted or eclipsed?

Is not the Prophesy true, and hath not God made his Promise good, if he hath at any time performed the thing here spoken of; though it neither were done all at once, and though this exaltation and glory did not always continue? If one skillful in Divination or Astrology should meet with a private man for the present in great want, distress, contempt and misery; and should tell him, that it was his fortune to rise to the greatest honors, and to become the greatest man that was in the Kingdom: If this fell out so at any time of his life, according as it was foretold him, though perhaps it proved not long durable (as such exaltations use not to be,) had he any reason to say that the Astrologer had lied unto him in that he had foretold him? I think any man in reason will think him unjustly charged. Why then may not the like be said and thought of the Church, and (as I may so speak, with reverence) of the prediction of the Church's fortune? But if the time of the full performance of this Prediction be yet to be expected, as perhaps it is, then it will serve our Adversaries to far less purpose: For were not Joseph's dreams and visions true, that the Sun, Moon and twelve Stars should worship him, and all his brothers sheaves should bow to his sheas? was not this true (I say,) though his brothers first sold him, though he became afterward a slave, and long a prisoner in a strange Land, before he was so suddenly exalted to be the great Viceroy under Pharaoh King of Egypt? Or would you have an Example of a glory afterwards eclipsed and almost extinguished? Were not God's first Promises made to the Israelitish Nation, That he would make them a renowned Kingdom, fully performed in the days of Solomon, when there was no kingdom upon the earth like unto it for glory and magnificence; though this so great glory lasted not long, but began a little to be obscure in the end of Solomon's days, and afterwards was quite eclipsed and clouded, the Sun but now and then (as it were) showing itself through a cloud? And what is the Church of the Gentiles, or what privilege have they above the Church of the Jews, that the like should not befall it which we are sure besel them? and yet nevertheless God always made good his Promises unto them, and no word of his mouth failed.

When we therefore talk of the Church's Visibility and glory, we must distinguish of Times; and know that there are Times when the Church is indeed visible, but not glorious; secondly, Times when it is neither visible nor glorious; thirdly, Times when it is to be both visible and glorious.

In the Times immediately after Christ's passion, or (if you will) at his Passion, I think any man will grant, that it was then neither visible nor glorious. In the Times of the persecuting Emperors, when the Church had taken foot among the Gentiles, and the Nations began flow unto it, it was a society indeed visible, but not glorious: I am sure, it was not in the tops of the Mountains; but the Imperial Mountain of Rome not only overtopped it, but ever trampled it under their feet. For we must know here, that we speak all this time of the external glory, for that is the thing whereabout the quarrel is. In the Times of Constiantine and thereabouts, after three hundred years cruel persecution, the Sun seemed as it were to break forth of a cloud, and the Christian society became for a while both visible and glorious; but presently after, even as it was in the end of Solomon's reign, this glory of the Church was not only eclipsed, but even the visibility thereof, in a manner, covered and altogether darkened with that thick and universally-overspreading cloud of Arianism. And thus far our Adversaries will go with us: But we require they should grant us something more, namely, That this Arian cloud was no sooner blown over, but another great cloud of that fore-prophesied Apostasic of the Church began to arise; whereby the Church's glory was not only eclipsed, but at length again the Visibility thereof wholly overshadowed with the thick darkness of Idolatrous Antichristianism; until that after a long day of darkness, and a black night, it pleased God, even of late, somewhat to dispel the cloud, whereby the Society of true Believers became again outwardly visible and conspicuous unto the world. And we hope, when the cloud shall be wholly consumed by the beams of the Sun of the Gospel, it shall become not only more visible than yet it is, but far more glorious than ever hitherto it hath been, when the fullness of the Gentiles (as S. Paul speaks) shall come in. But of this more hereafter.

In the mean time, that you may the better understand what is already discoursed concerning the Visibility of the Church, as likewise know what was the State of true Believers when this Visibility was overshadowed, take this which followeth; viz. That there hath been in all Ages since Christ, without interruption, a Company or Society of Christian men, agreeing or joined together in the inward and invisible communion of the Faith, concerning such Divine Truths as we profess needful to Salvation. And, for so much of this Faith as was not acknowledged by the rest of erring men, called Christians, in that respect this Society was a distinct Society from them: yet nevertheless, for so much of this their true Faith as was still acknowledged by those erring ones we speak of, they were a part of the same Society with them: For the Apostasy of the Church was not total, and therefore in all the sound parts of their Faith our true-believing Society neither was nor is divided from them.

But if the Question be asked of a Visible Christian Society professing the same Essential Faith with us, Whether such a one hath always been; First, we must know that by Visible Society, in this question, is meant, A society of Christian Believers joined together in one external Communion, of the same public profession, use of Sacraments, and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction or Government: For these make the outward Form, whereby this Society is discernible from other Societies of men; and a Society by this outside severed and distinguished from other Societies, is a Society visible and conspicuous to other Societies of men.

The Question therefore is, Whether that Society of men, agreeing together in the Points of our Christian Belief, hath been in all Ages, in this kind and sort, joined, and distinguished from other companies, not only of the world, but even of Christian men: or in shorter terms thus, Whether the Society of men of our Christian Belief hath in all Ages been, for the outside, a distinct Corporation from all other Societies and States of men.

My Answer is, That for divers of the First Ages, as before was shown, it was in that manner visibly distinguished; but after an Apostasy had overspread and deformed the beautiful Spouse of Christ, then was the Society or Belief, as it were, covered and involved with the same external mantle with them, and as it were hidden in that dark cloud, and so not a distinct external Society from the rest. But though in the inward communion of the sincerer Faith it was diverse and distinguished, yet it still for the most part continued a member of the same external (I say, external ) body with them; being begotten by the same Sacrament of Baptism, taught in some part, by the same Word and Pastors still continuing amongst them, and submitting to the same Jurisdiction and Regiment, so far forth as these or any of these had yet some soundness remaining in them: But for the rest, whether in Doctrine or Practice, that was not compatible with their sincerer Faith, either wisely avoiding all Communion with it; or if they could not, then patiently suffering for their Conscience sake under the hands of Tyrants termed Christians.

For understanding this, take this Simile: When good Gold is mixed with a greater quantity of counterfeit metal, so that of both becomes one mass or lump; though each metal still retains and keeps his nature diverse from the other, yet can they not outwardly be discerned asunder by the eye; (for because they are incorporated into one external body, the outside, or visible dimensions which are seen are one and the same:) But when the Refiner comes and severs them, then will each metal appear in his own outside and his own proper colors, whereby they are easily discerned a sunder one from the other. Such must the State of the Church needs be, when an Apostasy shall rise out of the bowels thereof; and such do we affirm was the State of the Church of Christ in that great prevailing Apostasy, from which we are separated, viz. The purer metal of the Christian body was not outwardly discernible from the base and counterfeit, while one outside covered them both; but when the time of refining came, them was our Church, not first founded in the true Faith, (God forbid;) but a part of the Christian body newly refined from such corruptions as Time had gathered: as Gold refined begins not then first to be Gold, though it began then first to be refined; so our Church began not a hundred years ago to be a Church, though then it first began to be a Reformed Church.

And is this anything more than that which besel the Jewish Church in her frequent Apostasy? Was the seven thousand that had not bowed their knees to Baal, a visibly-distinguished Society from the rest of the body of Israel? were they such as were outwardly known unto others who were not of their Communion? nay were they known one to another? yea to Elias himself? I think no man will easily affirm it: Yet were they a distinct Society joined in the Communion of the same true Worship, and in that respect separate from the rest of that Idolatrous body: yet nevertheless, as far as there was anything which was found yet remaining for the external Regiment and Ceremonies, it is most certain that they could not but be to the eyes of the world of one external body with the rest, as receiving the same Circumcision, and living under the same Priests and Ceremonies, so far forth as any soundness in either of them remainded.

Nay do not our Adversaries themselves in their good mood grant us as much as we have said, though it be because they cannot will nor choose (as is the Proverb?) For it is a thing chiefly to be considered and remembered in this Quarrel between them and us about the Visibility of the Church, it is (I say) to be considered, That when all granted and pleaded on both parts is well examined, the point of difference between them and us is only this, They hold the glorious Visibility of the true Church to be in present; and the overshadowing of the light, and eclipsing of the glory thereof under Antichrist, to be yet to come; at which time of his being in the world they grant and affirm more of the eclipsing and overshadowing of the true Church than we do for our hearts. He that reads their conceits of Antichrist shall easily find this to be true: For they hold that then the public exercise of Christian Religion, saying of Mass, and all shall utterly cease, until Antichrist's days be out: this is their Tenet. We on the contrary hold this clouding of the Church's visibility to have been already, and the greatest glory (in probability,) or at least some part thereof, to be yet to come. So that we both agree, That in the great Apostasy the Church's visibility and glory should cease; but we say that this Apostatical time hath been already; they say it is yet to come: we say that that time was to last many ages; they say that when it comes, it shall be but three single years and a half.

Why then are they not ashamed to choke us with this Argument of the Church's Visibility and glory, as though the Church could never be without it, when yet themselves confess that there is a time to come, when the case will be such, that the same Argument may be alleged against the true Church, though it were theirs, as is now alleged against ours? This is too great partiality.

Seeing therefore the whole Controversy lies in this, Whether the Churches great Apostasy be already past, or in being, or yet to come; It is a great deal the quicker course for them and us to examine the condition and quality of both Religion by the Scriptures, and not to distract ourselves with every point of differences; (for every Error is not a part of this Apostasy: ) But let us examine our Religion in that point alone, wherein the Scripture itself places and limits the quality of this Apostasy, namely, that it should be Spiritual Fornication or Idolatry; for Babylon is not called the Liar of Babylon, the • yrant of Babylon, the Heretic of Babylon, the • urtherer of Babylon, but the Whore of Babylon. It is very like indeed, that as Whores have commonly many other foul qualities, so may the Spiritual Whore have also: Yet as every ill quality of a Whore is not a part of her Whoredom; no more is every Error of the Spiritual Whore, how gross soever, a part of Spiritual Fornication. Let us therefore examine her by the Mark which God sets upon her, and by that Abomination for which only in a manner (if we observe the Scripture) God did use to punish, and wrathfully compla • n of his old people Israel, though (no doubt) they had many other corruptions besides; but had they been faithful in that one, God could have winked at many other. As we know a Husband. if his Wife be faithful and true to him in that point which so nearly toucheth his jealousy, he will the easier bear with other shrewish conditions.

Now if the Church of Rome be not an Idolatress or a Spiritual Whore, prostituting herself to other gods, to stocks and stones, and many ways breaking her Faith to her one Lord and Mediator Christ Jesus, by committing fornication with (I know not how many) other Mediators; there never was a Whore in the world.

And certainly, if the Church of Rome may herein be justified, the Church of Israel had but hard measure to be condemned, who could as truly plead that she never forsook the true God altogether, only she would worship him in Calves and such Images as other her neighbor-Nations used to do; and that though she was for variety, yet she reserved the chief place for her Jehovah, and in all other respects could as well as the present Roman Church excuse her practice in that kind. And yet we know how she is branded by the Prophets for a Whore; and not a simple fornicating Whore, but an Adulteress, and is threatened to be proceeded with and judged as those that break wedlock and shed blood are judged, to have blood given her in fury and jealousy. And such an Example of God's fury and jealousy hath he made them to all the world, as no other people (how great soever their Idolatries) have ever equal'd or come near their sufferings.

And thus far we have in a manner yielded to our Adversaries for a time, That the time of fulfilling this Prophecy hath already been; for we would deny them no favor willingly which we could lawfully yield them. Nevertheless I verily believe that this Prophecy hath never yet received his full accomplishment, nor is to do, Until (as S. Paul saith, Rom. 11. 25.) the fullness of the Gentiles be come in; and so all Israel shall be saved.

For we shall find in the Prophecies of the Scriptures, that there are two Sorts and Times of the Calling of the Gentiles: The first is that which should be with the rejection and casting off of the Jews, and (as S. Paul saith) to provoke them to jealousy: such a Calling as should be in a manner occasional, that God might not want a Church the time the Jews were to be cast • out; for this is that which S. Paul means, Rom. 11. 15. That the casting away of the Jews is the calling of the Gentiles or reconciling of the world: whence we may see, that the Apostles were not to preach Christ to the Gentiles, until being first offered to the Jews, they refused him. And this is that Calling of the Gentiles which hitherto hath been for many Ages.

But there is a second and more glorious Calling of the Gentiles to be found in the Prophecies of Scripture; not a Calling, as this is, wherein the Jews are excluded; but a Calling wherein the Jews shall have a share of the greatest glory, and are to have a preeminence above other Nations, when all Nations shall flow unto them, and walk in their light: For the calling of the remainder of the world which is not yet under Christ, is reserved for the solemnizing of the Jews restitution. This is that Calling and that Time which he calls the Fulness of the Gentiles; I would not brethren (saith he) have you ignorant of this mystery; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in; and so all Israel shall be saved. This is that Time whereof he speaks, that if the present fall of the Jews be the riches of the world, and their decay the riches of the Gentiles, how much more shall their fullness be the fullness of the Gentiles? This is that glorious Time which the Prophecy of this Text principally, if not altogether, intended: For if the fullness of the glory and enlargement of the Church be here described, then it must needs be that the time hereof hath never yet been, because as yet the Fulness of the Gentiles, whereof S. Paul speaks, is not come in. While the Romans and Iron part of Nebuchadnezzar's Image was yet standing, a Stone was hewn out of the mountain without hands: This is the First state of the Kingdom of Christ, and Calling of the World; which hath been hitherto. But at length this Stone • when the time of the Image's brittle feet came, smote the Image upon those feet, so that the wind blew the whole Image away, and there was no more place found for any part thereof: which was no sooner done, but the Stone which smote the Image, swelled into a great Mountain, and filled the whole earth: This is the Time of the Fulness of Christ's Kingdom, the Fulness of the Gentiles: This is the Time when the Mountain of the Lord's House should be established upon the tops of the Mountains; namely, when the small Stone of Christ's Kingdom, which is now in being, shall smite the brittle feet of the last Remainder of the Roman State now subsisting in the Popedom, in whom the divided Toes of too many Kingdoms are in a sort (though but brittlely) united together, and so that great seven-hilled City still Ladies it over the Nations of the Earth.

IUDGES 1. 7.

THESE are the words of Adonibezek, one of the Kings of Canaan, whom the sons of Judah and Simeon having taken prisoner in war, they cut off the thumbs of his hands, and great toes: The justness of which punishment so evidently sampling his fore-past sin, forced him, though with a heavy heart, to give glory unto God, and say, Threescore and ten Kings, having their thumbs and great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: As I have done, so God hath requited me.

These words (without any longer Preface) may be considered two ways; either simply or ab • olutely in themselves, or with reference to him who spake them. In themselves they are an Affirmation or Historical narration, That as Adonibezek had done, so God requited him. If we consider them with reference to the speaker, they are a Confession, as being spoken by him who did the fact, and suffered now the punishment; Adonibezek himself it is who saith, As I have done, so God hath requited me.

[unspec I] In the First Consideration I observe four things.

1. That God punisheth sin with temporal punishment in this life, as well as with eternal in the life to come. Thus this miserable King here feels the hand of God fall so heavy upon him, while he was yet in the world, that it makes him bitterly cry out, I have done cruelly, and God hath even here requited me.

2. That God doth not always presently inflict his Iudgments, while the sin is fresh, but sometimes defers that long which • e means to give home at the last. So saith our King here, As I have done; not as I did even now, but as I did long ago, and thought by this God had forgotten me, yet now I see he requiteth me.

3. That these Divine Iudgments by some conformity or affinity do carry in them as it were a stamp and print of the sin for which they are inflicted. So saith this unhappy King, As I have done; even just as I have done to others, now I suffer myself: Seventy Kings thumbs in my cruelty I cut off, and in my pride made them to feed like dogs under my table: now the measure which I mete unto others, is measured unto myself; for just as I have done, so God hath requited me.

4. That the Profit and Pleasure which men aim at when they commit sin will not so much as quit cost even in this life: For if God's punishments be requitals, certainly the profit we have gotten by sin he will make us lose in the punishment; the pleasure we hope to find, and seek after in sin, will be over-poised in the pain we are sure to feel when the just hand of the Almighty shall requite us.

And thus have you heard already the Summ of what I mean to speak of in the First consideration of these words. Now I will return again, and speak more largely of them all, and that in the same order I gave them out.

The first Collection therefore which I made was, That God punisheth the sins of men with temporal punishment in this life, as well as with eternal in the life to come. This verity (to use the words of Zophar, Job 20. 4.) was known in the days of old, and found true ever since man was placed upon the earth. For as the Apostle saith of righteousness, that it hath both the promise of this life and of the life to come; so it is most true of unrighteousness, that it hath the curse of this life as well as of the life to come.

The first sin of our first Parents, whereof we all stand guilty, was thus punished, as it were to be a Rule and Law of what God would do after. I say, the first sin of our first Parents was punished with a curse in things of this life. From hence come all the outward calamities and miseries of mankind, wherein the happiest man on earth hath his share; hence our labor and vexation of spirit; hence our pain, our want, and all our trouble wherein we travel under the Sun. No man in the world is exempted from this Law; all of us as well feel a present punishment here in this life, as fear that which shall be to come hereafter in the world to come.

Now as the universal misery we all feel is a temporal punishment of an universal sin; so the clods of daily sin, which we add unto this great mountain of transgression, doth usually bring us under some special kind of punishment, above that which we have in common with other men. The whole History of the Bible, if we look well into it, is most part taken up in Examples of this one Maxim: whosoever thinketh otherwise, he hath taken too slight a view and too short a survey of the world's affairs. Perhaps he sees the person of a Tyrant, of an Oppressor, of a Blasphemer, to live long in jollity, and to end his days in tranquility; or, to use the words of Job in the same argument, to spend their days in wealth, and in a moment (without anymore trouble) go down into the grave. How is it then true, That God requiteth sin in this life, or that any regard should be had to any temporal calamities or worldly disasters; since these come alike to the just and unjust, to the fool and to the wise, to those whom God favoreth as well as those he favoreth not?

But for Answer hereunto, we must know, That the way of God in temporal punishments is one, and his way in eternal and spiritual another; he deals not after the same fashion in both. For eternal punishments in the world to come, the person which sinneth shall alone suffer, and no other for him; but as for temporal punishments, which are seen in this world, sometimes God lays them upon the person, sometimes upon the posterity of the offender, or sometimes upon others which in such like respects are near unto them, as he sees best in his wisdom. When therefore thou seest a man live in open and gross sins, confine not thine eye unto his person only, but look farther about him, survey his whole family; if nothing appear while he is living, yet after his death consider of his posterity, and thou wilt find the ways of God to be just and glorious in the avenging of sin and wickedness.

This question was long debated between Job and his friends, and at last came to this very issue, Job himself determining and assoiling it after this manner; I will teach you (saith he, chap. 27. ver. 11, &c.) by the hand of God; that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal. Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it, why then are you thus altogether vain? This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty. If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword, and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread, &c.

The reason of this difference between temporal punishments and eternal is to be gathered from the several and differing Ends of them both: Because they are for divers Ends and Purposes, therefore the way of God is diverse in the execution of them. The End of eternal punishments is to satisfy the justice of God, in avenging sin; but the End of temporal punishments chiefly exemplary; that is, for example and warning unto others, that they might hereby know that God regardeth and observeth the actions of men, and therefore fear lest the like might come unto themselves which they have seen to have befallen other men.

Now for such an End as this, it is not always requisite that God should punish every offender in his own person; because the punishment here respecteth not so much the person of the offender himself, as others who have been witnesses of his sin, that they might take heed of committing the like. Now this End may be as well attained in the punishment of a man's posterity, subjects, servants, as of his own person: For by both alike may others see that God observeth the sins of men, and hath plagues in readiness for those which commit them: And by both alike will men be afraid of the hand of God; seeing most men do most vehemently wish the good and happy condition of their posterity and others having like relation unto them; Kings the weal of their Subjects, Fathers the good of their Children, Husbands the good of their Wives; and therefore will refrain from doing that which they see by experience of others may bring a plague or a curse upon any of them.

Yea God so much regardeth this exemplary End in temporal punishments, that I think this to be one chief reason why God forgiving the sin, and consequently eternal punishment, yet he remitteth not temporal plagues and chastisements; lest when the sin is notoriously known and scandalous, those who saw the sin, and could not so well know of the inward reconciliation between God and the sinner, might stumble and doubt in their hearts Whether there were a God or no, who observeth the ways of men. In this sort, and for this end, was David punished; whom though upon his humble repentance Nathan had told, The Lord hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die: yet nevertheless did God raise up evil against him out of his own house, he took his wives from before his eyes, and gave them unto his neighbor, and the sword never departed from his house, according as the Lord had spoken. The reason hereof follows in the Text, in the words of Nathan; Because, saith he, by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also which is born unto thee shall surely die. The child also; that is, all the former plagues, together with the death of the child, shall come upon thee for this end.

This then being so plain, what End God chiefly aims at in his outward and visible judgments; we ought hence to learn what to do as often as we see the hand of God fall heavy upon any open and known sinner; namely, to accomplish in ourselves the End which God a • ms at, to examine our actions past, to amend our lives, lest as bad, if not a worse thing, befall us or ours. And if at any time we see an Example of this upon one of God's own children, as we heard of David before, a man after God's own heart; let us learn to fear and tremble, and say, If such things befall those whom God most loveth. what shall become of us if we sin likewise? Again, when we see God thus punishing sin in the eyes of the world, let us acknowledge his All-seeing Providence, and say with those, Rev. 15. 3, 4. Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of Saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy Name, when thy judgments are made manifest? and with David, Psal. 9. 16. and Psal. 11. 7. The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth; for the righteous Lord loveth righteousness.

AND thus I come to the second thing I observed, namely, That God often forbears and defers his punishments. As I did long ago (saith Adonibezek ) yea again and again, seventy times one after another; so long and so often, that I thought God had either not seen, or quite forgotten me: yet now I see he requiteth me.

How true this Observation is, is sufficiently witnessed by their experience who have little less than stumbled and staggered hereat. This made Cato, a Heathen man, to cry out, Res divinae multum habent caliginis, The disposals of Divine providence are not a little cloudy and dark. This made David, a man after God's own heart, to confess and say, My feet were almost gone, my steps had well-nigh slipped. This made Jeremiah cry out from the bottom of an amazed soul, Righteous art thou, O Lord when I plead with thee; yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments. Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? why are they happy that deal very treacherously? Yea those Martyred Saints, Rev. 6. 10. are heard to cry from under the Altar, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell upon the earth?

Now as these forenamed have stumbled at God's delaying and forbearing his judgments, so others there are who have been quite deceived, verily believing that with God Quod differtur, ausertur, what was forborne, was also forgotten. Such as one was Adonibezek here, who having escaped so long, thought to have escaped ever. And such were those whereof David spake, Psal. 10. 6. Who say in their hearts, We shall never be moved, we shall never be in adversity. Such an one is the great Whore of Babylon, that sings, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , I sit like a Queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Such an one was Pherecydes Syrius, master of Pythaegoras, and a famous Philosopher, and one that is said to have been the first Philosopher that taught among the Greeks the Soul to be immortal; and yet among all his knowledge had not learned this one Principle, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. For as AElian reports, he used among his scholars to vaunt of his irreligion after this manner, saying, That he had never offered sacrifice to any God in all his life; and yet had lived as long and as merrily as those who had offered several Hecatombs. But he that thus impiously abused the longsuffering of God, came at length to an end as strange as his impiety was unusual; for so they report of him, that he was stricken (like Herod, by the Angel of the Lord) with such a disease, that Serpents bred of the corrupt humors of his body, which eat and consumed him being yet alive.

But that we may neither distrust the righteous ways of God, nor prevent his unsearchable counsels with our over-hasty expectation, let us a little consider of the Ends why God oftentimes de • ers and prolongs his Iudgments. These Ends I suppose may be referred unto four heads.

1. For the sake of godly ones, for whom God useth to forbear even multitudes of sinners. So had there been but ten righteous persons in Sodom, Sodom had never been destroyed; I will not destroy it (saith God) for tens sake. So for good Josiah's sake God de • erred the plagues he had decreed to bring upon that people, that Josiah might be first gathered unto his fathers in peace, and his eyes might not see all the evil that he was to bring upon that place: as it is 2 Kings 22. 20. For as the new wine (saith the Lord, Esa. 65. 8.) is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it; even so will I do for my servants sakes, that I may not destroy them all: That is, I will spare a whole cluster of men, even for one or two blessed servants of mine which I shall find therein. This is the first End; and this is most, if not only, found in public judgments and common sins, such as concern whole societies of men; for in such properly doth God, for the sake of godly ones, forbear a multitude of sinners.

2. The second End is, To give time of repentance and amendment: For the Lord is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, as it is 2 Pet 3. 9. This is shown by the parable of the Fig-tree, Luke 13. 7. Three years the husbandman came to seek fruit, and found none; and the fourth year he expected, before he would cut it down. An hundred and twenty years the old world had given them before the Flood came. And Jonah proclaimed (not, Yet one day, but) Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed. This End concerns such punishments as deprive men of life, and of the means of salvation and of amendment of life: For such as these only can God be said to forbear, to give time of repentance. For as for other punishments (not the forbearance, but) the hastening of them rather would cause repentance; seeing men then use to remember and call upon God when they are in misery and affliction.

3. The third End of God's deferring his punishments is, The opportunity of example by them unto others, and of manifesting his own glory. God is Lord of Times; and as he created them, so he alone knows a fit Time for all things under the Sun. He therefore who knows all occasions, when he seeth a fit Time for his Iudgments, to profit other men by example, and most of all to set forth his own glory, then he sends them forth, and till then he will defer them.

4. The fourth End or Reason hath some affinity with this, and it is, When God intending some extraordinary judgment, suffers men's sins to grow unto a full ripeness, that their sin may be as conspicuous unto the world as his purpose is their punishment shall be. Thus God punished not the Canaanites in Abraham's time, but deferred it till Israel's coming out of Egypt; and that (as himself witnesseth, Gen 15. 16.) Because the iniquity of the Am • rites was not yet full. And therefore is not this last End to be looked for in all God's delays; but it seemeth proper to his extraordinary punishments: when God meaneth, as it were, to get himself a name amongst men, then God stays to have the sin full, upon which he will pour a full vial of wrath and indignation.

Having thus seen how many Ends there are why God should oftentimes defer the execution of his Iudgments; the consideration hereof may be a double lesson unto us. 1. A lesson of spiritual wisdom, that we should not think with Epicures and children of this world, That God's delay in punishing for a time is any argument he means not to punish at all. But, with wise Solon, let us account no man happy, but him who ends happily. 2. We may learn here also a lesson of Christian Patience. When we behold the prosperity of wicked men, let it not grieve us to see sin a while lie unrevenged; let it not grind our hearts to see those who make a trade of wickedness a while to triumph, and be, as it were, at defiance with Heaven itself: For either God doth it for the good of some of his Saints; and then how can we but bless him? Or else to give them time of repentance; and then who art thou, O man, that repinest at the mercifulness of thy God? Or else to wait a fit time when thyself and others may be the most edified thereby, or his own glory most illustrated, or when men may take greatest notice of his Justice. Admire therefore his Wisdom, and let the expectation of that renown which God will one day purchase to himself, make thee rest in hope and possess thy soul in quietness. Why should the Heathen go before us in this duty? They knew not so much as we have heard this day, and yet could they rest themselves in an assured expectation of God's justice, though a while it were deferred: As is very observable in the words of Agamemnon, expressed by Homer, Iliad. 4. upon occasion of the Trojans perfidious perjury;

Though, saith he, the God of heaven avenge not this presently, yet sure at last he will do it.

For of this I am sure,

that there will be a day when stately Troy shall be overthrown:

Though God doth not always presently inflict his judgments upon offenders, yet he will pay them home at last; and the punishments he defers long, are the more grievous when they come. What could Job, David, or Jeremiah have spoken more freely in such a case? Methinks I durst almost apply the words of our Savior concerning the Centurion, We shall scarce find so great Faith in Israel.

BUT now I pass unto the third point I observed (and it is chiefly to be observed) in these words, namely, The conformity between the Sin and the Punishment: Temporal punishments have for the most part, as it were, a character stamped upon them, in which men may read their sins as well, oftentimes, as if they heard God himself to speak from heaven. Adonibezek could do it with small learning; he saw his punishment so evidently branded with the mark of his sin; Threescore and ten kings (saith he) having their thumbs and great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: As I have done, so God hath requited me.

Which rule of God's Justice appears by those words of our Savior, With what measure ye mete unto others, the same shall be measured unto you: and by that of the Prophet Obadiah, verse 15. thus threatening Edom, As thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee; thy reward shall return upon thine own head.

[unspec 1] But for the better discerning of this Conformity with the Sin which God stampeth upon the punishment thereof, we must know that it is of Four several kinds. The first is, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , When we suffer by the hand of God the very same things ourselves which we have done to others. Such was Adonibezek's punishment here, and such was that wherewith Habakkuk, chap. 2. 8. threatens the Chaldeans; Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee: and Ezekiel the Edomites; As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee; Thou shalt he also desolate. Thus Pharaoh, who commanded all the males of the Hebrews to be drowned as soon as they were born, himself with all his Hoast was drowned in the Red Sea. The depths covered them, they sunk unto the bottom like a stone, Exod. 15. 5. David committed Adultery with the wife of Uriah; his own son Absalom did the like with his Concubines in the sight of the Sun and face of all Israel. Joram like a villain slew all the sons of his Father; and so did the Arabians by the will of God slay all his sons likewise, only Jehoahaz excepted. Jehoiakim, who slew Vrijah the Prophet, Ier. 26. 23. and would not suffer his body to have honest burial, himself (according as Jeremiah had foretold, Chap. 22. 19.) was likewise slain, and buried with the burial of an Ass, being cast forth beyond the gate of Jerusalem. I shall not need trouble you with profane stories, or tell you how Brutus and Cassius were forced to slay themselves with the same swords wherewith they slew Caesar; with many other like:

[unspec 2] But I come unto the second kind of Conformity, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , When we suffer not the very same, but yet that which hath some Analogy and resemblance with our sins. Thus the universal overflowing of sin in the Old world was punished with an universal overflowing of waters. It was the common punishment of the Jews, when they served other God's besides their own, for God to make them serve other Lord's and Kings besides their own. Look in the Scripture, and see whether this were not the regular punishment of Idolatry, with God, thus to requite his people with that which resembled their sin; to give them over to serve other nations, when they served other God's besides himself. As Ier. 5. 19. Like as ye have forsaken me, (saith the Lord) and served strange God's in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours. So also, 2 Chron. 12. 5. Ye have forsaken, or left [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ] me, and therefore have I also left you [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ] in the hand of Shishak. And after they had humbled themselves, the Lord says by Shemaiah the Prophet, verse. 7. They have humbled themselves, therefore I will not destroy them, but grant them some deliverance, &c. verse 8. Nevertheless they shall be his servants, that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries: Vulg. Vt sciant distantiam servitutis meae & servitutis regni Terrarum, That they may know the difference between my service and the service of the kingdoms of the lands.

And certainly, if we look into the condition of the Church since Christ's time, we shall find the way of God's dealing in this case to have been the same. The Saracens, who spoiled and subdued so great a part of Christ's Church, were never heard of till six hundred years after Christ, even at the time when Christians began generally to fall to Idolatry, and to worship Images, Saints and Angels: Then God first gave us over to serve other Nations, when we began to serve other God's besides the Lord our God. The Turkish fury could never be stayed from casting more and more this yoke of bondage upon our necks, until Judah (I mean the now Reformed Churches) began to put away her Idols, someone hundred years since: From that time unto this, that God which would have spared Sodom for ten righteous sakes, hath spared the remnant of Christendom for their sakes who have turned again to the Lord their God to serve him as he would be worshipped.

But to go on: Solomon, when he divided that worship which was due unto the Lord alone, between him and the Idols of Zidon, Moab and Ammon, the Lord, to give him the same measure, divided his kingdom, and that allegiance which was only due to him and his posterity, between himself and his servant Jeroboam: Because he served God with an imperfect heart, God left him an imperfect kingdom; Because he bestowed divine honor upon the vassals of the Lord of heaven, the Lord also bestowed his honor upon his vassal Jeroboam.

Nebuchadnezzar, who had lived like a Beast in his Palace, God made him to eat grass like an Ox in the field, till he knew the most High ruled in the kingdoms of men, Dan. 4. 25, 32, 34.

Otho Bishop of Mainz, in a time of famine shut up a great number of poor people in a Barn, promising to give them some relief: But when he had them fast, he set the Barn on fire; and hearing then the most lamentable and piteous cries and shreekings of the poor in the midst of the flames, he scoffingly said, Hear ye how the mice cry in the Barn. But the Lord, the just revenger of cruelty, sent a whole Army of Mice upon him, which haunted him a great deal worse than the Frogs did King Pharaoh; not only coming into his bed-chamber and upon his bed, but following him into a Tower which he had built for his last refuge in the midst of the River Rhene, never leaving him till they had quite devoured him.

So • rates hath a memorable story of one Cyricius Bishop of Chalcedon, who in a meeting of many Bishops inveighed very bitterly against good S. Chrysostom, and amongst other spiteful language called him often 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a kneeless fellow, because in a good cause he would never be gotten to bow and crouch to obtain the favor of men, which Cyricius accounted a stubborn and obstinate disposition. But when he had thus uttered his malice, Marathas another Bishop by chance trod upon his toe; which being at the first esteemed (as it was indeed) a very small hurt, yet afterwards so ranckled, that for the safety of the rest of the body his leg was fain to be cut off; which done, the other leg also was in like manner affected, and that so, that being otherwise incurable, it was fain to feel the same remedy the other had done. Thus he who called the holy man a kneeless fellow in one sense, God made him a kneeless Bishop in another. By which and the former Examples we see how God in punishing requites men with that which hath some resemblance with their Sin. And so much for 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .

I come now to the third kind, which is Conformitas subjecti, The Conformity of [unspec 3] subject; When though we suffer not the same, nor perhaps like unto that we have done unto others, yet are we punished in that subject wherein and whereabout we have sinned. Thus Adam our first Parent sinned in eating the fruits of the earth; and he and all his posterity are punished in the curse of the same, in that now in sorrow we eat of them all the days of our life. Touching God's dealing with Israel in this kind, see Wisdom chap. 11. verse 7, 13. Korah and his company sinned in offering strange fire unto the Lord, and were punished by a strange destruction: The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up quick; and there came out a fire from the Lord, and consumed the men that offered incense, Numb. 16. verse 32, and verse 35. The Levites wise in Judges, sinned in the Commission of Fornication, and therefore died by the same, being forced to death by the men of Gibeah. Eli, by too much indulgence towards his sons, sinned against God, and was punished in them, being slain by the Philistines, and the Ark of God taken, which they had carried with them. David gloried in the number of his people, and was punished in the Consumption of seventy thousand of them by the pestilence, 2 Sam. 24. 1, 15. Hezekiah, who sinned in showing by way of ostentation his treasures and riches unto the Ambassadors of the King of Babylon, had his punishment threatened by the same things, that all he had thus gloriously shown should one day be carried unto Babylon, 2 Kings 20. 13, 17. Lastly, The Jews, who crucified our Savior by the hands of the Romans, had their City and Temple rased by the same hands.

[unspec 4] Now I come unto the last kind of Conformity, which I call Conformity of circumstance; When the Time and Place of Punishment agrees with the Time and Place of the Sin. Of the agreement of Place I find these Examples. The first of Ahab and Jezebel, in the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, they licked the blood of Ahab and Jezebel; 1 Kings 21. 19. and 2 Kings 9. 36. In the place where Baal's Priests had committed Idolatry, were their bones, being dead, and the bodies of those who were alive, flain and burnt by Josiah upon the Altar of Bethel, 2 Kings 23. 16.

Examples of concurrence of Time I find these. At the same time of the year wherein the Jews crucified Christ, happened that fatal and final siege by the Romans, when that heavy curse fell upon them, His blood be upon us and our children. The Spies, which brought an evil report upon the land, had spent forty days in searching it; and therefore God for this sin, that Time might agree with Time, made them wander up and down forty years in the wilderness. They are the words of God himself, According unto the number of days (saith he) in which ye searched the land, even forty days, (each day for a year) shall ye bear your iniquities. Last of all, (because I will not be tedious in Examples) Pompey the great is reported to have died most miserably upon the very same day he triumphed for the spoil of Jerusalem.

AND thus having spoken of the three first Observations, I come now to the fourth and last Observation, namely, That the Profit and Pleasure which men seek for in the works of sin, will not so much as quit cost in this life: Because God's Punishments are requitals; the Profit gotten by sin we shall lose wholly, if not doubly, in the Punishment thereof; the Pleasure found in sin will be overpoised in the pain of sorrow we shall undergo for the same. It is hard to conceive that a man should be so much the son of Belial, as to commit sin only for his mind sake, without any aim to a farther end. But rather we may think, That as all actions are done for some End, so even in sinful and wicked actions men have some Ends why they commit them: And it is the conceit and apprehension of some such thing to be gotten by sin, which makes that which is indeed Evil to have a shadow of an appearing Good. To be short, The Ends men aim at in the commission of sin are those two bastard goods, Vtile & Iucundum, worldly Profit and carnal Pleasure. Within the compass of which two fall all those kinds of false Happiness whereabout the Philosophers were so divided, Riches, Honors, Pleasures, Bodily ease, &c. All are comprehended within the verge of these two, Vtile & Iucundum, Profit and Pleasure.

These are verily those two baits of the Devil wherewithal he inveigleth the Souls of men; with these two he ensnared our First Parents in Paradise. Our mother Eve saw the forbidden fruit, that it was like to be as pleasant to the taste as it was pleasing unto the eye: on the other side, Knowledge like unto God, which she hoped to attain hereby, was a thing exceeding commodious and worth the compassing: Upon these Motives therefore she fell miserably: and upon the like do we fall every day. Nay the Devil thought with these to have tempted our Savior Christ himself to worship him; for he shown him (as we read) All the kingdoms of the earth, with the glory of them. In a kingdom all kinds of Profit and means of wealth abound; and for Pleasure, what delight is equal unto that which is to be found in the glory of a Kingdom?

To speak of them severally: What power and force a Motive of Gain and Profit hath to sway our affection to commit sin, S. Paul hath told us, 1 Tim. 6. 9. Those, saith he, that will be rich, fall into temptation and a snare; and verse 10. that Covetousness is the root of all evil. The same also is apparent by the words of our Savior, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God, Matth. 19. 24.

And for the other, to wit, carnal Pleasure; so forcible it is, so much prevailing in tempting and drawing us unto evil, that the wise Son of Sirach sticked not to say, He that resisteth pleasures, crowneth his own soul. Besides, these Ends are so nearly linked together, that the one of them is commonly desired for a Means unto the other; for therefore do many desire wealth, that they might have means to live voluptuously.

But be they as they will be, Is this be all the good men do or can expect from the works of sin; if these only be those fair Ends we strive to attain by so foul a means; and when we have gotten them, if the just God requites the Pleasure we expect, with pain and sorrow; and the Gain we hoped for, with an equal yea with a greater loss: if the Pleasure of a moment be entertained with a remaining sorrow; if a single Gain be rewarded with a double loss, and that in this world: Surely it will not quit the cost to commit the most gainful or pleasing sin in the world. But certain it is that God useth thus to meet with our intendments, and to make us always fall short, first or last, of what we hoped for by Sin.

For as for Pleasure and Hearts-ease, as we call it, alas! whoever found this gotten by sin to be worth the while? To overpass such requiting pains as fall within the observation of other men's eyes; as when God makes our pain and sorrow to grow even from those members, those hands, those things from which we sought delight, as I shown you in the last Observation: I will, I say, omit these, and put you in mind only of that secret pain, which no man knows but he that feels it, The sting of Conscience. Is there any man that finds not the honey of sin mingled with this gall? Surely the sting of Conscience never leaves a sinner, but is in all our pleasure like unto those wild gourds, 2 Kings 4. 39, &c. wherewith the young Prophets of Gilgal spoiled their whole pot of pottage: We cannot taste so much as one spoonful of this false pleasure, but presently we must cry as they cried, Mors in olla, Death is in the pot.

As for Profit and Wealth; It is even gotten into vulgar experience, that what in this kind is gotten by sinful and bad means, is nothing durable. Treasures of wickedness (saith Solomon, Prov. 10. 2.) profit nothing; and wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished, Prov. 13. 11. Yea as the feathers of an Eagle are said to consume the feathers of other birds; so a little gotten by indirect and bad means often consumes a man's whole substance. I cannot stand to enlarge upon this point: I will only show in the example of our first Parents, how God in this manner requited them.

First, They looked for Pleasure in the taste of so pleasing a fruit. This hope God repai'd them with pain and sorrow; I will multiply thy sorrow, (saith he unto the woman) and in pain shalt thou bring forth children: and to the man, In sorrow shalt thou eat the fruits of the earth all the days of thy life. They looked, secondly, to have gained much, and to have profited themselves exceedingly, as namely, to have gotten more knowledge than God had given them. This hope God requited, not only with the loss of that knowledge they had before, but even of the outward things they enjoyed in Paradise. Primum in unoquoque genere est mensura consequentium, The First in every kind is the measure of that which follows. Thus God dealt with them, and thus will he deal with us unto the world's end. Sin is utterly unprofitable; whatsoever is gotten thereby is like the change Diomedes made with Glaucus; like that which Rehoboam made of the shields in the house of the Lord, shields of brass for shields of gold.

Let us therefore hence learn to withstand such foolish Motives and such vain Hopes: when we are in danger to be ensnared by these baits, let us thus reason with ourselves, What will it profit a man to enjoy an hour's pleasure, for many a year's pain? What will the sweet do us good, which is mixed with so much four? What will it profit a man to be rich in his youth, and a beggar in his age? What will it profit a man by guile and oppression to raise his house while he liveth, by that which shall most certainly ruin it when he is dead and gone? And lastly, if none of all this were, yet What will it profit a man to win the whole world, and lose his own soul?

[unspec II] NOW having done with the First consideration of these words, I come unto the Second, which is with relation to him that uttered them, and so they are a Confession. In which I observe Three things.

1. That the suffering of punishment extorts the Confession of sin. Thus this miserable King is made, for all his pride and stomach, to lament with an Ego • eci, with an I have done.

2. God's Justice in the punishing of sin visibly is one of the strongest Motives to make an Atheist confess there is a God. Adonibezek, who scarce believed, or perhaps not well remembered, that there was a God till now, is here forced to confess, The unresistible God, that crusheth down the proud, he hath requited me.

3. As the Punishment in general bringeth sin to mind, which else would be forgotten: so the fashion and kind thereof well considered may lead us, as it were by the hand, to know the very sin we are punished for. Many sins had Adonibezek committed; the condition and manner of his punishment made him remember his cruel usage of the seventy kings, and say, As I have done, &c.

To begin with the First; I say, The suffering of punishment extorts the confession of sin. The reason whereof is the very nature of Punishment, which always implieth some offense, and therefore is a good remembrancer of the same. Thus Joseph's brethren, when they were distressed in Egypt, cried, We are verily guilty concerning our brother. Proud Pharaoh, when he saw the plague of hail and thunder, said, I have now sinned; the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. The proud stomachs of the Israelites came down, when once the fiery serpents stung them, and then they came to Moses, and said, We have sinned; for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee. Manasseh, whom all the threatenings of God's Prophets in fifty years space could never move, yet when he was bound in fetters, and carried prisoner unto Babylon, Then he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. Whosoever therefore he be that feels not this fruit, and makes not this use of his crosses and afflictions, is worse than hard-hearted Pharaoh, worse than cruel Adonibezek. But if by this means we come to see and acknowledge our sin, then may we say with David, It is good for me that I was afflicted; and give thanks and praise unto our God, who is able out of such hard rocks as these to make flow the saving waters of repentance.

And thus I come to my second Observation, which is, That God's judgment for sin is one of the strongest motives to make an Atheist confess there is a God. Those who say, There is no God, David accounts them in the number of fools: The fool saith in his heart, There is no God, Psal. 53. 1. Now Solomon styleth Punishment Eruditio stultorum, the Schoolmaster of fools. If for all fools, then also for Atheistical fools, that they either by their own, or by example of God's plagues upon others, may be taught to put away their folly.

Most certain it is, The not observing of God's judgments, or the supposed examples of some who seem to escape the hand of God in the greatest sins, is a main occasion of Atheism. This made David himself to say, My feet were almost gone, my steps had well-nigh slipped: For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. It is reported of Diagoras Melius, surnamed the Atheist, that at the first he was very devout, and a great worshipper of the God's; but having committed some certain money unto a friend's keeping, and afterwards demanding it again, his friend, loath to forgo such a booty, forswear that he ever received any: whom when Diagoras saw, notwithstanding this horrible perjury, to thrive and prosper, and no divine judgment to fall upon him, he presently turned Atheist and enemy to the God's, and labored by all means to bring other men to the like impiety.

For this cause therefore David, as jealous of God's honor, and knowing what force God's Iudgments have to keep Atheism from creeping into the hearts of men, desireth God ( Psal. 59. 13.) that he would avenge himself of evil-doers, even for this end, that it might be known he was the Lord: Consume (saith he) in thy wrath, consume them, that they may not be; and let them know (that is, that men may know) that God ruleth in Jacob, unto the ends of the earth. And hence it is also that God often in Ezekiel doth plainly affirm this to be the End of his judgments, That it might be known that he was the Lord. As in chapter 6. v. 6. thus he threatens Israel, Your cities shall be laid waste, and your high places shall be desolate, &c. v. 7. And the slain shall fall in the midst of you; and you shall know that I am the Lord. And again, v. 12, 13. He that is far off, shall die by the pestilence; and he that is near, shall fall by the sword. Then shall ye know that I am the Lord. And chap. 25. 17. concerning the Philistines, I will execute great vengeance upon them, saith the Lord, with furious rebukes: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them. If this then be so as ye have heard, let us learn hence a good preservative against Atheism, and all the ill motions of the devil and our flesh drawing thereunto: not lightly, as most men do, to pass over the Iudgments of God upon sin; but duly and diligently to observe them: if in ourselves, then more severely; if in our neighbors, curiously, but charitably.

And so I come to the third and last point, which is, That as Punishment in general bringeth sin to mind, which else would be forgotten: so the fashion and kind thereof well considered may lead us, as it were by the hand, to know the very sin we are punished for. I have shown already at large, That God's visible judgments have usually in them a stamp and mark of conformity with the sin for which they are inflicted: For either we suffer the same thing ourselves that we have done to others, or some resembling or like unto it; or else are punished about the same thing wherein our sin was; or lastly, in the place or time where and when we sinned. I am persuaded there is no judgment which God sends for any special sin, but it hath one of these marks in it. Come therefore to Adonibezek, and let us learn of him, by God's stamp in our punishment to find out what sin he aims at. If we would once use to read this Hand-writing of God in our crosses and afflictions, what a motive would it be to make us leave many a sin wherein the Devil nuzzles us the greatest part of our life without sense and feeling? For if anything would rouse us and scare us from sin, sure this would, to hear word from God himself what the sin is he plagues us for, and so sharply warns us to amend. Whensoever therefore any cross or calamity befalls us or any of ours, either in body, goods, or name, or in the success of anything we take in hand, let us not rebel against God with an impatient heart, or fret at the occasion or author of our misery; but let us take a just account of our life past, and thus reason with ourselves, This is surely none other but the very Finger of God; I am punished, therefore have I sinned: I am punished thus and thus, in this or that sort, in this or that thing, in this or that place or time; therefore God is angry with me for something I have done, the same with that I suffer, or something like unto it, or because I sinned in this thing, or at this time, or in this place, when and where I now am punished: As I have done, so surely God hath requited me. Therefore I will not look any longer upon any other cause or occasion of this misery, of this cross or calamity, but look unto my sin, and give glory unto God, who sent the hand which hath done all this unto me.

Thus did the sons of Jacob, having no doubt learned of their good father to make this use of their crosses and afflictions: For when they saw themselves so roughly entertained in Egypt, being challenged for spies of the country; when their brother Simeon was to lie in prison in a strange land; and not only this brother, but another brother, so dearly beloved of his father, must needs be taken from him, and come into the like jeopardy; when all this distress fell still upon the head of a brother, and nothing but a brother; they presently discovered the Hand-writing of God, and cried out, We are guilty, and therefore is this evil come upon us: Behold the Finger of God. All this evil still lights upon one or other of our brethren; for we are verily guilty concerning a brother, our brother Joseph, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us. Ah! said Reuben, I told you, I spake unto you that you should not sin against the child, but you would not hear: therefore behold his blood is now required. Yea this writing of God is yet more evident, for we sinned in the dearly-beloved of our Father, Joseph, and now are we distressed about our brother Benjamin, the child whom our Father loveth: As we have done, so God hath requited us.

This is the last point I observed in these words, and it contains the Use of all the former. Verbum sapienti, one word is enough to him that is wise, and one Example is sufficient for him that is willing to follow it.

S. MATTHEW 11. 28, 29.

I SHALL not need trouble you with prefacing of the coherence: The words I have read are an entire sense of themselves, without dependence on what went before. For the matter, they are such, as I might call them an Epitome or Brief sum of the whole Gospel, containing in few words the complete method of Salvation, and as in a small map a full view of the way to the gates of Eternal life; whither he is most unworthy to come who will not learn so small a Catechism as this. They are propounded unto us by way of an Invitation, consisting of Three parts: 1. The Thing, 2. The Persons, 3. The Benefit.

1. The Thing invited to, which is double, to wit, Christ and his yoke. Come unto me, saith he, and take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly.

2. The Persons invited, Those that labor and are heavy laden: Come all ye that labor and are heavy laden.

3. The Benefit to those who embrace the invitement, Rest and Ease; which you shall find in every corner of this Invitation. I will give you rest, or, I will ease you: again, Ye shall find rest unto your souls: and in conclusion, My yoke is easy, and my burden is light. A Benefit so transcendent, as might allure any car, that is not wholly stopped up with spiritual deafness, to listen after the means whereby it is attained.

[unspec 1] Let us therefore consider these Three points in order; and first, that which must first be known and learned, The quality of the persons invited; Those that labor and are heavy laden. Which before I tell you what they mean, I must first tell you how to construe them, viz. by the Figure called Hendiadis, understanding the conjunction [ and ] causally; and so contriving the two things named into one, in this manner, labor and heavy laden, into laboring of being heavy laden: As if it had been said, Come unto me all ye that labor of, or by, being heavy laden; All you that are toiled with, and weary of, your heavy burden, come unto me, and I will ease you.

For after this manner are many things in Scripture which are uttered conjunctionwise to be understood. I will multiply thy sorrow and thy conception, (saith God unto the woman. Gen. 3. 16.) that is, I will multiply thy sorrows of conception, or the sorrows which come of conception. You shall find often in Scripture, Do judgment and righteousness; that is, Do judgment according to righteousness, Do such judgment as proceeds from justice and righteousness. Psal. 116. 1. I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplication, that is, the voice of my supplication, Ier. 29. 11. The Lord promiseth his people to give them an end and expectation, that is, the end of their expectation, or the end they look for. In this Gospel, saith S. John the Baptist, chap. 3. verse 11. He that cometh after me, shall baptize you with the holy Ghost and with fire, that is, with the fire of the holy Ghost. So in my Text, weary and heavy laden, is weary of being heavy laden; such as labor, such as are toiled and tired out by the weight of their loading. And thus are the words to be construed.

Now to the meaning of them. Those that labor of being heavy laden, are such as grieve and groan under the burden of their sins. According to the Law, none should appear before the Lord empty: what offering, what sacrifice then must we bring when we come in to Christ, but that which David (who well knew) tells us Psal. 51. 17. The sacrifice of God (saith he) is a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Thus must they come furnished whom Christ inviteth. For this is that which S. Paul calls, 2 Cor. 7. 10. a sorrow after God, or a godly sorrow, which, saith he, worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of. For understanding therefore of this Metaphor in my Text, we must know, That Sin is compared in Scripture unto a burden, wherewith every sinner is loaden, yea overcharged; a burden intolerable. So Psal. 38. 4. Mine iniquities, saith David, are gone over mine head; as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me. Ver. 6. I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly. Ver. 8. I am feeble and sore broken; I have roared because of the disquietness of my heart. S. Paul followeth the manner of speech, when he tells us, 2 Tim. 3. 6. of silly women laden with sin, and led away with divers lusts. This loading and pressure of sin is in respect of a twofold weight which oppresseth the Soul, the one of Punishment, the other of Loathsomness. For the weight of Punishment; it is the ordinary style of the Prophets to term God's Iudgments for sin by the name of burdens. Jehu calls his execution upon Jehoram, the burden which the Lord laid upon his father Ahab, 2 King 9. 25. So S. Paul saith, Gal. 6. 5. that everyone shall bear his own burden. For the other, the Loathsomness of sin, that also weighs heavy. Ah sinful Nation! (saith the Prophet Isaiah, ch. 1. 4.) a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers — and it follows, v. 6. From the sole of the foot, even unto the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores. This also is a part of David's burden, Psal. 38. 5. My wounds stink and are corrupt, because of my foolishness. I am troubled (or wryed, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Incurvatus sum,) I am bowed down greatly.

Is Sin indeed so heavy a thing? how then do we make it so light a matter? Nullum onus (saith Ambrose Ep. 18.) gravius est quàm sarcina peccatorum & pondus flagitiorum, No burden is more heavy, no load more pressing to the Soul, than the weight and load of Sin. If everything that presseth down be heavy, how heavy is that which presseth down to Hell, that is, unto that depth of woe whose bottom can never be fathom'd! Is Sin so heavy a thing indeed? how comes it then to pass we feel it not? Our case is so much the more fearful and dangerous. For, saith Chrysosiome, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , The evil is so much the greater, by how much it seems to be the lesser. For Physicians all agree, that those are most dangerously sick who have no sense and feeling of their sickness; whereas on the contrary, to be sensible of pain is a sign the sickness is not deadly. Happy therefore are those who can add the other word to this, being not only 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 laden, but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ; laboring under the weight of their burden. These are those whom Christ calleth; and these are those whose condition we are now to consider, that we may know it, and whether ourselves be any of that number.

That a man therefore may truly be said to labor and be weary of his burden, two things are requisite: First, That he feel and be sensible of the weight thereof; Secondly, That he desire to be rid thereof.

[unspec 1] He must feel and be sensible of the weight thereof. Now the weight of sin, as I told you, is twofold: First, The weight of Punishment; and secondly, The load of Loathsomness. The first and soonest felt is that of Punishment; which as it is the grossest weight, so may it be felt while the sense of the Soul is yet but gross and dull: But to feel the other, that is, to loath our sin, requires a quicker and more tender sense; which is not easily attained to, unless the Soul be first well rubbed and galled with the weight of Punishment. The entry therefore and, as it were, the porch of Penitence, are those Terrors and Pangs of the Soul affrighted with the apprehension of the Wrath of God for Sin, and of the danger we are in therefore. When the piercing sting of an accusing conscience upbraids us, and tells us we are in a state to be damned eternally: That if I should die this day, this night, this hour, I must go to the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, there to yell and howl with devils in pains unspeakable, and be tormented forever and ever. When our Soul is stricken with horror, to think how long we have lived in this danger, and how little we thought thereof; nay, how securely we increased our score, as though we should never have come to a reckoning for the same; how often God might have taken me away in the midst of my sins, and where had I been then? yea what shall become of me, if he should do it now? O how am I afraid of this moment, who feared nothing so many years! These are those arrows of the Almighty, which must go through our Souls at the beginning of our Repentance. That we may take up the words of David, Psal. 38. 1. O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. v. 2. For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore, v. 3. There is no soundness in my flesh, because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones, because of my sin.

This is a good beginning; but is no more than a beginning: for yet we labor not enough; yet we are not weary enough for Christ to call us unto him. This is but as the prick of a needle, making way for the thread. We must go further, else this will do us no good. For thus far, as to be sensible and affected with the punishment due for sin, to be terrified with the weight of the wrath of God which lies upon us for the same, thus far he may come who shall be damned. For it is common to the desperate reprobate, as well as to the children of God; to Judas, who hanged himself; to Cain whom God drove out from his presence; for he could say and confess to God himself, My punishment is greater than I can bear, Gen. 4. 13. Let us therefore see what we are further to add unto it.

And that is a sense and feeling of the foulness, loathsomeness and odiousness of Sin. If If we feel not ourselves affected with this weight, the former groaning will be accounted no better with God than hypocrisy and slavish fear; for this is the soul and the life of a godly sorrow indeed, without which the other is but a carcass, if it be alone. But if by rubbing and galling our Hearts, it makes them at length so tender as to be sensible not only of the punishment, but to loath Sin itself as a foul and ugly thing; then indeed it begins to live and give some proof it will be sincere. For as a surfeit of meats, how dainty and delicate soever, will afterward make them loathsome: So if we be indeed surcharged with the burden of our sins, the appetite of the Soul will begin to loath them, though they have been never so full of delight; yea, it will make us loath ourselves, and cry out in a mournful manner with S. Paul, Rom. 7. 24. O miserable man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death? Even as a man who is covered over with noisome boils and sores, is not affected only with the bodily pain caused by them, but even abhors the sight and smell of that which causeth it, as filthy and ugly: so must it be in this leprosy of sin. And indeed, were our eyes once open to see it, Sin is the most ugly, beastly, filthy and noisome thing in the world: For being wholly opposite to God, the most glorious Beauty and most delectable Good; it is contrary to whatsoever is any way seemly, comely, graceful and beautiful: for all these carry in them some Image and resemblance of him; but Sin, none at all. Nay, it is a distasteful and loathsome thing to the Reasonable nature of man, as appears by the continual upbraiding and griping of the Conscience, which can never down with it. In meats, if any go against our stomach, we abhor and loath them: how much more loathsome is that which the Conscience cannot digest, the stomach and taster of our souls? O how nice and dainty we are, that no loathsome and unpleasant meat should offend (so much as by the sight thereof) our fleshly appetite, which is common to us with Beasts! but our Souls, our nobler part, whose safety so much concerns us, we cram and choke with the loathsome filthiness of Sin, and perceive it not. But as those who cannot endure a cat or a mouse, or the like, by Antipathie of nature, when any such thing comes within their sight or near their person, presently they start, and show some extremity of passion or other; and if they cannot fly it, it casts their body into a cold sweat: So must we labor under the sight of our sins, that we may be of those whom Christ here calleth for. O Lord, supple our hearts with thy quickening grace, that they may be so tender as to feel this part of their butthen as well as the other.

[unspec 2] Thus have we heard the first requisite of such as may be truly said to labor, and be weary of their burden; namely, To feel and be sensible of a double weight thereof.

Now follows the next and last requisite, A desire to be rid thereof. He that truly and unfeignedly labors under the burden of his sin, he that is indeed weary thereof, will desire to be rid of it: For Sorrow is so much against the good liking of Nature, that he that is pressed with the burden thereof, will earnestly desire to be eased; will endeavor to shake off his burden, and remove that which procures his Sorrow. He therefore that is not so far toiled with the pressure of his sins as to have a purpose to forsake and leave them, is no true penitent, none of those who are yet weary enough to go unto Christ for ease.

And lest we might deceive ourselves, and think we have a purpose to leave our sins, when we have not; let us examine ourselves by these three Rules following.

• 1. That this purpose must be general, without reservation of any darling sin: For he that retains any sin, is not yet weary enough of his burden. He that looks for a forgiveness of all his sins, must purpose to forsake them all; he must not with Herod in the Gospel have a reservation of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife: God will not be served with halves; he will have our whole Hearts, or none.
• 2. He that devises not how to cast off the burden of his sin, though it pains him, but how to carry it more handsomely and conveniently, by qualifications and distinctions, and the like, he is perhaps heavy laden, for he feels his shoulders pinched; but he is not weary of carrying; but thinks to ease himself as he in the Fable did his horse of the plough, who sitting still upon his horse back, carried the plough on his own neck: So was the horse eased by a distinction; for now his master carried the plough, and not he.
• 3. He that hath indeed a purpose to cast off the burden of his sin and to forsake it, is willing to make amends where he hath wronged; as we see by the example of Zacchaeus in the Gospel. For he that cannot wish from the bottom of his heart that what he hath done were undone, and if it were to do again, he would never do it, is no true penitent, nor heartily sorry for his sin. But how can he say thus who hath ill-gotten goods, and will not restore them; who hath power in his hands yet in some sort to undo his sin, as far as the injury concerneth man, and yet will not do it?

And thus you have seen How the persons must be qualified, and what preparation is required of them who are capable of this sweet Invitation of our Savior, Come unto me all ye that are weary or labor of being heavy laden, and I will ease you.

But you will say, How should a man come to be thus affected? How should he come to be touched with remorse for sin? and what means is to be used? I answer, By a serious and often meditation upon the Law of God, which is a Glass wherein to behold the deformity of sin and depth of our misery. Dost thou in deed and good earnest believe that God Almighty hath given this Law to men? Dost thou believe thou hast transgressed and broken every part thereof? Dost thou believe (tell me truly) that all those who have done so, are under the wrath of God and in the state of eternal damnation, to be tormented with the devil and his angels forever? Dost thou, or canst thou, believe all this, and thy heart not yield and bleed to think how woeful and fearful a condition thou art in? If it doth not, I say thou dost not yet fully and in earnest believe any of these things. Thou mayst perhaps lay so, and think so too; but thou deceivest thine own heart: The devil deludes thee. I say again, Thou believest not; thy persuasion is too slight: For every unrepentant sinner, that knows and hears the law of God without sorrow and contrition of heart is a piece of an Infidel; and it is Vnbelief, and nothing but Vnbelief, which makes his Heart so immovable and unrelenting.

If a Proclamation came from an earthly Monarch, that whosoever had at any time committed such and such misdemeanors, should have his estate confiscated, or suffer some grievous and exquisite torments, as a Traitor unto his Prince: if I should see a man deeply liable unto all this, who could hear of such a Proclamation securely, without trouble and astonishment, that could sleep quietly, and be no whit dejected or cast down therewith: might I not justly think, either he believed himself not guilty of any of the crimes there mentioned, or took it for a counterfeit, or only some scarecrow never meant to be put in execution? I know yourselves would think so. How then is it possible that a man should firmly and seriously give credence to the Law of God and the Threats contained therein, and yet his Heart never smite him, his Soul be never touched with remorse? No, without doubt, this Legal faith (for so I call the belief I speak of) is yet a weak one, a superficial and unsettled persuasion (perhaps,) but no grounded or firm impression. Wouldst thou amend it? wouldst thou drive it deeper? Rub thy Heart continually with a fixed and frequent meditation of the severity of God's Law, of the number and greatness of thy transgressions, of the dreadfulness of wrath and vengeance due for the same. Never cease doing this until thy Heart shall yield, and thy bowels melt within thee. One drop of water weareth not a stone, but continual dropping will do it. Gutta cavat lapidem, &c. If one meditation will not melt thy Heart; yet a continuance therein will do it. Those who let blood will rub the Vein often to make it swell: so must thou rub thy Heart often to make it bleed. A hard skin, with often grinding and fretting, will at length grow thin and tender.

I COME now to the Second thing I propounded in this Invitation, The thing [unspec II] invited to; which is double, Coming unto Christ, and Taking his yoke upon us. I begin with the first. This coming unto Christ is the approaching to him by Faith; which is manifested by those places of Scripture where coming and believing are interchangeably [unspec I] used as one and the same thing. He that cometh to God (saith S. Paul, Heb. 11. 6.) must believe that God is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek him. John 6. 35. I am (saith our Savior) the bread of life: He that cometh to me, shall never hunger; he that believeth on me, shall never thirst. Here coming is expounded by believing. Ver. 37. All that the Father giveth me, shall come unto me; and he that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. In John 1. 12. it is called a receiving of Christ: But as many as received him, to them gave he power (or privilege) to become the Sons of God, even to them that believed on his Name.

Here therefore observe, That a Saving Faith, a Faith which makes Christ our own, and hath promise of ease by him, in a word, that Faith which gives us an interest in Christ Jesus, is more than a bare assent or persuasion that the Gospel is true, which says that Christ is the Son of God and the Redeemer and Savior of mankind. It is a coming Belief, a coming Faith; that is, an assent inclining the Soul to Christ, to be made partaker of the Benefits through him. Not a bare Speculative assent, which remains in the Brain, and proceeds no farther; but such an assent as rests not there, but worketh a motion in the Will, to seek and embrace that which is believed. Such an assent as not only believes the Promises made in Christ, but goes unto him, relies upon him, clings unto him for them. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden; and I will ease you.

To believe the Gospel is true, that Christ Jesus is the only means of Salvation ordained by God, I grant it to be a Faith, though it go no farther: But it is an insufficient Faith, an imperfect and impotent Faith, which is usually called Historical Faith; which I make no question but you all have: But if you stay here, the Devil believes as much as you do. But a Saving Faith, though it begins with this, yet it stays not there: It stands not only gazing upon Christ, but is effectual and powerful upon the Soul, to make it apply and betake itself unto him. This height of Faith the Devils have not, nor can have. They can believe, as well as we, that Christ is a Savior; but never so far or so much as to have any hope, affiance, or confidence in him. For if a King should proclaim a general pardon to a number of known rebels, and vow execution without mercy upon some principal offenders who had cunningly and maliciously seduced the rest; both of them might equally believe the Proclamation to be true: yet the one would be encouraged to rely upon the King's clemency, and to sue out his pardon; but the other would be utterly disheartened, as being uncapable. Such altogether is the case of men and wicked Angels in the Proclamation of the Gospel: Men hearing Christ took the woman's Seed, are encouraged with hope of pardon; the Devils knowing he in no wise took the nature of Angels, the better they believe his Incarnation, the less are their hopes of their own redemption.

Come we therefore to application. He that cometh unto God (saith S. Paul) must believe that God is, and that he is a Rewarder of them that seek him: So say I, He that cometh unto Christ must believe that he is, and that he is the Easer of them that seek unto him. He that believes this sufficiently, cannot but go unto Christ. You therefore that labor, and are heavy laden with your sins, do you believe that Christ is, and that he is the Easer of them that being weary of their sins seek unto him? How can your Soul then but fly unto him with trust and confidence in him? Yea but will some men say, I believe that Christ is, and that he is the Easer of them that seek him; yet for all this I can put no trust and confidence in him. Yea, but dost thou believe it so well as to find thy Soul on wing toward him, to seek and sue for pardon? If thou findest this, thou hast some trust and confidence in him, more or less: For didst thou quite despair of Ease from him, thy Heart could never seek to him: for where a man utterly despairs to obtain, he will not so much as stir a foot to make a suit.

The motion or flight of the Soul is Desire. He that out of a true sense and feeling of his sin (for no other can do it in good earnest) desires Christ, he goes unto him. And Christ thou • eest requires no more, but that all those who are weary and heavy laden should thus come unto him, and he will ease them. And this is the first degree of a Faith which is Justifying, and gives interest in Christ Jesus: For this Faith is not barely Historical and in speculation, but a Faith in motion, and able to walk and go unto Christ Jesus whom it believeth; which, if cherished, will in time gather such further strength as will fill the Soul with a full and steadfast confidence.

But if thou sayest, Thou believest that Christ is, and that he is the Easer and Savior of those which seek him, and yet thy Soul is not on wing, nor any motion in thy Heart advancing to him; I say then, either thy Sorrow for thy sin is not true, and therefore thou yet feelest no need of him; or thy Belief is deficient. Whatsoever thou sayest and thinkest of thyself, thou believest not yet thoroughly and indeed, that Christ Jesus is a Redeemer and Savior of those that come unto him. For, as I told you before that he believed not the Law thoroughly and indeed, that could hear it without remorse of Conscience and contrition of Soul, so he believes not the Gospel thoroughly and firmly, who being laden and grieved for his sins, yet is not able to fly and betake himself unto Christ for mercy. For if you saw a man condemned to die, and in great affliction for the same, who hearing of a Pardon proclaimed for all in his case who would demand it, should nevertheless sit still, and never go about to seek it; who would think but that either he misdoubted the report, or gave but little credence to the word of the King? Such is the case here: There is certainly some defect in believing: And this must be cured after the same manner as that in believing the Law; namely, by a sober and frequent meditation, reading, hearing, and thinking of that great mystery revealed of Redemption in Jesus Christ, and of the gracious Promises of the Gospel in and through him. This is Faith's whetstone, which, if it be blunt, will make it keen. This is the only means to establish thy Belief, if it be deficient or unsettled; if there be any metal in it, this will give it an edge; if there be any sparkles, this will blow them into a flame.

Thus you have heard what Coming to Christ is, that is, what a Saving Faith is; namely, so firmly and effectually to believe that Christ is a Savior of those that seek him, as doth incline thy Heart to go unto him, to sue out a Pardon and rely upon him for mercy and Redemption.

NOW follows the Benefit, Ease and Rest to thy Soul; I will ease you, or give you [unspec III] rest; that is, I will free you of your burden, I will ease you of your sin, I will acquit you. And this is that we call Justification of a sinner, which is an Absolution or remission of sins by the only merits and satisfaction of Christ accepted for us and imputed to us: An acquitting and cancelling of all bonds and obligations of transgression for Christ's sake, through the only merit of his death, passion, and shedding of his blood. For he that hath right to Christ, hath right in Christ to be partaker of his righteousness and of whatsoever satisfaction he hath undergone for the sins of mankind; whereby he is justified, that is, acquit before God of the guilt of sin, and of the punishment according to the Law due for the same. For God (saith S. Paul, 2 Cor. 5. 21.) made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Rom. 5. 19. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners: so by the obedience of one many are made righteous.

This is the Ease, this is the Rest here mentioned, the unlading and unburthening of a sinner, where Christ dischargeth him of his loading, and beareth him upon his own back. For he (saith Isaiah, chap. 53. 4, 5, 6.) hath born our griefs, and carried our sorrows: He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed — The Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all. Thus he eased Peter, when his heart was ready to break for denying him: Thus he eased Mary Magdalene, a woman laden with sins, when she bathed his feet with tears, Luke 7. 48. Thus he refreshed trembling Saul, the persecutor, Acts 9. 6. And still he casteth the eyes of his mercy upon everyone that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at his word, Esa. 66. 2.

See therefore here to whom alone a troubled soul is to have recourse for Ease. Neither to Angels nor Archangels: For those who do so, hold not the head, Col. 2. 19. Neither to Saints nor Martyrs, to Peter nor Paul, no not to the blessed Virgin her self: For Abraham is ignorant of us, and Israel knows us not, Esa. 63. 16. and, Cursed is he that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord, Ier. 17. 5. Nor to the Law given by Moses: For the Law worketh (not ease but) wrath, Rom. 4. 15. Nor will our merits and good works, pilgrimages, fastings or almsdeeds, purchase this Ease: For although we could do all we ought to do, yet must we say we are unprofitable servants, and that we have done but that which was our duty to do, Luke 17. 10. It is Christ Jesus, and only Christ Jesus, who can give Rest to a troubled soul, that Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world.

AND thus you have in part had a view of the Three points considerable in this Invitation: 1. The Persons, who; 2. The Invitation or Thing invited to, what; and 3. The Benefit to be attained. But I must call you to the Second point again, there being one part thereof not yet spoken of. For I told you The thing here invited unto was double, Christ himself, and His yoke. The first, concerning [unspec 2] Christ himself, I have spoken of in those words, Come unto me. Now it remains to speak of the second, Take my yoke upon you. Those who come unto Christ, must also take his yoke upon them. But what is this yoke? even the yoke of obedience; which should have been ours, but Christ for our sakes took it upon him, and made it his. Yet not that we should draw our necks out of the collar, but still do our endeavors by denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, to live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope to come. As therefore in coming unto Christ you had Faith in the Ease by him, Acquitting or Justification: so in the taking his yoke ye have Sanctification or Holiness of life. All which are so linked together, that neither must they nor can they be put asunder. No man comes to Christ by Faith, but shall be eased; but no man can ever truly and seriously come unto him to be eased by him, but he must take his yoke upon him: No man puts on Christ to be justified, but he takes on his yoke also to be sanctified. That which God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.

True it is, and nothing more true, That no works of ours in this life can abide the Touch-stone of God's Law, and therefore not able to justify us in the presence of God, but to condemn us. But it is true also, That we are therefore justified through Faith in the blood and righteousness of Christ, that in him we might do works pleasing and acceptable to Almighty God, which out of him we could not do. For as the blood and sufferings of Jesus Christ, imputed to us through Faith, cleanseth and acquitteth us of all the sins whereof we stood guilty afore we believed: so the imputation of his righteousness when we believe makes our works (though of themselves far short of what they should be, yet) to be acceptable and just in the eyes of the Almighty; Christ supplying out of his Riches our poverty, and by communication of his obedience continually perfecting ours where we fail; that so we might receive the reward of the righteous of him that shall reward every man according to his works. Being therefore in Christ, we are so much the more bound to frame our lives in holy obedience unto God's Commandments; in that before we were justified we could not, but now henceforth we are enabled to do that which for Christ's sake will be acceptable and pleasing to Almighty God our Father.

This is that which S. Peter tells us, 1 Epist. 2. 24. That Christ his own self bare our •• s in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness. So S. Paul, Tit. 2. 11, &c. The grace of God (saith he) that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men; (wherefore?) Teaching us, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Savior Jesus Christ, ver. 14. Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Here you may see, that Christ is therefore given us to be a propitiation for our sins and to justify us, that in him we might walk before God in newness of life; so to obtain a crown of righteousness in the world to come.

But if this be not enough to persuade us to take on this yoke of Christ, yet I hope this consideration will do it; when I shall show you, that That Faith can never be true which is not attended with these fruits. Nor is there any other mean to assure us we are truly come to Christ, and engraffed in him, but this. If we have taken up this yoke of Christ, we may know then we have put on him: If we have never put our necks to his yoke, we never put on him. It is S. John's express assertion, 1 Epist. 1. 6. If we say we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the the truth. Ch. 2. 3. Hereby we know that we know him, (viz. to be our Advocate with his Father, and the propitiation for our sins) if we keep his commandments.

The Reason is plain; Because the one follows the other, as the heat doth the Fire, or the light the Sun. Which I thus demonstrate, both on Christ's part and ours. On ours thus: He that sincerely sues to and seriously relies upon another for a Favor which nearly concerneth him, and no other can do for him, will by all means endeavor to avoid whatsoever he knows may distaste his Patron, and do his best to approve himself in whatsoever he can learn is most pleasing unto him. If you should see a man having a Suit to some great Courtier for a pardon of his life, and yet showing no care of doing in his presence what he knew would deeply offend him, and willfully neglecting that he knew would give him the best content; would you think such a man in earnest, and sufficiently perplexed with fear of death, and seriously relying upon that man to save it? I know you would not. If therefore, out of a true affrightment and sense of the wrath of God for sin, with a sincere and serious Faith, thou suest unto and reliest upon Christ for mercy and redemption, as the only name under heaven whereby thou canst be saved; how canst thou but love him with all the Powers of thy Soul, and therefore do thy best to please him upon whom thou dependest for so great and invaluable a benefit? If thou dost not, surely thou hast not yet weighed thy misery sufficiently, thy Faith is insufficient and counterfeit, it never yet came home to Christ, that he might ease thee.

The same appears on Christ's part: For unto whomsoever Christ is given for Justification, through the imputation of his merits and righteousness, in him God creates a new heart, and reneweth a right spirit (as the Psalmist speaketh, Psal. 51. 10.) that is, by virtue of this union he conferreth upon him the grace of his Spirit, for the abolishing of the body of sin, and enabling the Soul in some measure against the assaults thereof, to abandon at least the more eminent, notorious, enormous and mortal sins, though sins of ordinary infirmity shall not be quite subdued in this life. If therefore I see a man run still without restraint into gross and open sins, and walk not blameless in the eyes of men, I conclude he hath not this Spirit of grace within him, and therefore was never engraffed into Christ by a true and lively Faith. Wheresoever therefore is a true faith and unfeigned, 1 Tim. 1. 5. there follows a new life. He that cometh to Christ sincerely, takes his yoke upon him too. Labor therefore, as S. James saith, to show your Faith by your works; For not everyone that saith, Lord, Lord, but he that doth the will of my Father (saith Christ) shall inherit the kingdom of heaven.

S. MATTHEW 11. 29.

THese Words are a continuing of the former Exhortation to take upon us the yoke of Christ: First, in general, That we follow his Example, Learn of me: Then in particular, wherein we should follow him, In Meekness and Lowliness; For I am (saith he) Meek and Lowly in heart. Then the Profit we shall reap thereby; Do this, And ye shall find rest unto your souls.

For the first, Learn of me: Observe, That Christ is given unto us not only for a Sacrifice for sin, but for an Example of life. They are the words of one of our Collects. For he is our Lord and King, and Subjects we know will naturally conform and fashion themselves unto the manners of their Princes;

And those which do so, are accounted the most devoted to them, and are the best accepted of them. If Christ then be our Lord and King, we must acknowledge him to be such by conforming to his Example, and endeavoring to follow his steps. Besides, since he took this yoke of obedience upon him out of love to us, how can we choose but offer our necks thereto ourselves, out of duty to him? If he hath done so much to make our yoke easy, which before was so unsupportable; should we now think much to put it on? Nay it is the very character of God's chosen ones, to carry in them a conformity and resemblance of Christ. For whom (saith S. Paul Rom. 8. 29.) he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren.

And this duty of conforming unto Christ consists not only in doing as he did, but suffering also as he hath done. 1 Pet. 2. 20. If when you do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently; this is acceptable with God. ver. 21. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an Example, that we should follows his steps. See also 1 John. 3. 17. And this conformity and sampling (as I may say) of Christ, extends not only to those Acts of his which he did as man, where the imitation is plain and direct; but in a certain sort to those supereminent ones, which exceed the nature of a mere man, and were done by the concurrence and power of his Godhead; which because otherwise unimitable, we must express by way of a mystical resemblance. Thus are we to imitate his expiatory Death and Burial, by our dying unto sin. Shall we continue in sin, (saith S. Paul, Rom. 6. 1.) that grace may abound? v. 2. God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? v. 3. Know ye not that so many of us as are baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death? To the same purpose, 1 Pet. 4. 1. Forasmuch, saith he, as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind; for he that hath suffered in the flesh, hath ceased from sin, &c. So likewise in suffering one for another, Eph. 5. 1. Be ye followers of God, as dear children, v. 2. And walk in love, as Christ hath also loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God. In the like manner must we imitate his Resurrection and Ascension. S. Paul Rom. 6. 4. Therefore (saith he) we are buried with him into death; that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Accordingly. Col. 3. 1. If then ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. All which you see are grounded upon this one Principle, Learn of me. Some Physiognomers conceit the Head of a man to be the model of the whole Body; and where there is any spot, wart, or like mark about the Face or other part of the Head, that there is another answerable to it in some suitable part of the Body; and upon this ground they will adventure to discover some hidden mark in the unseen parts of the Body. But whatsoever it be in the natural Body. I am sure it is true in the mystical Body of Christ, That every character in the Head, Christ, must have something answerable to it in his Body, the Church.

THUS much for the general, We must learn of Christ. But what is that here in my Text which Christ would have us learn of him? It followeth, I am Meek and Lowly in heart. And this we must learn of him; this is that yoke of his he would have us wear, that we may find rest unto our souls. For under these two words our Savior comprehends the whole Habit of Obedience, they being two such dispositions of the mind a • make it • actable and pliable to put on and wear the yoke he speaks of. As if he had said, I am wholly qualified to obedience, I am fitted for this yoke; learn of me to put it on, for I am meek and lowly.

Now though Lowliness and Meekness are of very near affinity, and such, as both of them do dispose a man for the duties of both Tables of God's Commandments; yet hath Lowliness (as I take it) a prerogative in our devotion to Godward, and Meekness is more proper for the duties we owe to our neighbors. I will therefore construe them here, as others have done before me, as dividing the whole Decalogue between them; Lowliness, as a mother, including the Duties of the First; and Meekness, those of the Second Table. Which are the two parts of that Yoke which Christ wore for us, and which everyone that cometh to him must learn to put on.

In the handling whereof I will therefore rather choose to follow the order of the Decalogue, and first begin with Lowliness, though it be last placed in the words. Lowliness therefore, as I said, stands here for the whole duty of the First Table, which is Cultus Dei, religious service or devotion towards God; or as the Scriptures phrase is, The fear of the Lord: Which as it is founded upon the acknowledgment of the Superlative and Transcendent Excellency of God in his Sovereignty of Power, Wisdom and Goodness; so the first and mother-disposition and affection of the Heart to his Worship and Service is Humiliation of the Soul and Lowliness of Mind: For all Eminency is worshipped with humility, reverence and submission; that is, as we sometimes, and rightly, speak, By keeping a distance: And the Sovereign or Supreme Excellency of God must be adored with the lowest demission of mind, and with the greatest stoop the Soul can make. We find by experience, that that disposition of the Eye which fitteth it to behold the visible Sun, makes a man blind when he looks down upon himself: So here the apprehension of the transcendent Excellency of God, ten thousand times brighter than the Sun, if truly admitted into our hearts, must needs darken all overweening conceit of any worthiness in ourselves. The greater we would apprehend his Power, the more sensible we must be of our own Weakness. The greater we acknowledge and adore his Goodness, the less Goodness must we see in ourselves. The more we would apprehend his Wisdom, the less we are to be pussed up with our own knowledge. As in a pair of scales, the higher we would raise the one scale, the lower we pull down the other: so the higher we raise God in our hearts, the lower we must depress ourselves. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And this is that Lowliness of heart which Christ would have us learn of him, Who being in the form of God—made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant —And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross, Phil. 2. 6, 7, 8.

Hence it comes That the humblest nature and the humblest condition are the fittest for devotion. For humble natures, experience shows them the most religious; whereas those which the world so much commendeth for high and brave spirits of all others do buckle the worst unto devotion. God seeth not as man seeth: It is not the tallest Eliab, but the humblest David, who is the man after God's own heart. He that humbleth himself as a little child, the same is the tallest and goodliest Soul in the kingdom of heaven. The Stars in the firmament, howsoever they here seem small to us, yet are bigger than the Earth: So he that is despicable and small here in the eyes of men, is there a great one in the eyes of God.

As the humblest nature, so the humblest estate and condition is best fitted for Religion; as the poor rather than the rich. Therefore Agur desired of God, not to give him riches, more than food convenient for him; lest being full, he should deny him, and say, Who is the Lord? Such likewise is the state of adversity and affliction, being a state of lowliness, and an estate wherein our hearts are taken down; and therefore more fit to bring us home to God than that of prosperity: whence you know that David says, Psal. 94. 12. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord; and Psal. 119. 67, 71. Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I have kept thy word. It is good for me that I have been afflicted.

For diseases (say the Physicians) must be cured by contraries. It was Pride which caused the disloyalty and rebellion both of Men and Angels against their Creator: whence is that of the Son of Sirach, Ecclus. 10. 12. The beginning of Pride is, when one departeth from God, and his heart is turned away from his Maker. ver. 13. Pride is the beginning of sin, and he that hath it, shall pour out abomination. If Pride then be the beginning of our rebellion against God, then must Lowliness be the proper disposition of those who fear and worship him. And, Tanto quisque est vilior Deo, quanto est pretiosior sibi; The higher any one is in his own esteem, the lower he is in God's.

Now from this near affinity and inseparable dependence between a Religious devotion and an Humble and Lowly mind, it is that the Scripture useth them as equipollent terms. Prov. 22. 4. By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, honor, and life. Prov. 3. 33. The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked; but he blesseth the habitation of the Just. Ver. 34. Surely he scorneth the scorners, but he giveth grace, or showeth favor, unto the lowly. Where scorners and the wicked on the one part, and the lowly and the just on the other, are interchangeably used for one and the same. In like manner speaks the son of Sirach, Ecclus. 12. 4, 5. Give to the godly man, and help not a sinner. Which in the next words he altereth thus, Do well unto him that is lowly, but give not to the ungodly. In the same notion of Humility and Lowliness, S. Paul tells the Ephesian Elders at Miletus, that he had served the Lord with all humility of mind, Acts 20. 19.

I have dwelt the longer upon this point, To show that Lowliness of mind is the proper disposition for devotion and the mother of a religious fear, because the present occasion if you examine it, is nothing else but the exercise of what I speak of. For the End of Fasting is to beget Lowliness and humbleness of mind, that so we might be rightly disposed and affected to approach the Divine Majesty, and tender our supplications unto him: Especially at such times when his dreadful rod is shaken over us, to bid us down and cry for mercy, lest we perish. Are they not some of the first words we uttered this day? O come, let us humble ourselves, and fall down before the Lord with reverence and fear. Hence Fasting and Humbling a man's self go in Scripture for equipollent terms. My clothing was sackeloth (saith David, Psal. 35. 13.) I humbled myself with fasting. So Ahab humbled himself, and thereby deferred his judgment, 1 King 21. 29. Hezekiah humbled himself both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 2 Chro. 32. 26. Manasseh likewise besought the Lord, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his Father, 2 Chron. 33. 12.

If we take a view of the Ceremonies of this Discipline which the Ancients used, and we in some part continue; they imply nothing else but Lowliness; either to express it, if we be already so affected; or to work and beget it in our hearts, if as yet we have it not. They are reducible to three heads: 1. of Habit, 2. of Gesture, 3. of Diet. For Habit, it was anciently Sackcloth and Ashes. By the coursness of Sackcloth they ranked themselves, as it were, amongst the meanest and lowest condition of men. By Ashes, and sometimes Earth, upon their heads, they made themselves lower than the lowest of the creatures of God: For the lowest of the Elements is the Earth, than which we use to say a man cannot fall lower.

For Gesture, they sat or lay upon the ground, which in the Primitive Church was called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 humicubatio, a natural ceremony both to express and ingenerate or increase, this disposition of Lowliness and abjection of ourselves; and as frequently practiced among the Christian Fathers, as it is seldom or never used among us. It were a thing most comely, and undoubtedly most profitable, if either these Ceremonies, or some other answerable to them, were revived amongst us at such times as these. If we were all of us this day attired (if not in Sackcloth, for perhaps it suits not with the custom of our Nation, yet) in the dolefullest habit of mourners if we lay all groveling upon the ground; would not such a ruful spectacle, would not the very sight of such an uncouth Assembly much affect us? The mournful hue of Funeral solemnities, we know by experience, will often make them to weep who otherwise had no particular cause of sorrow; how much more when they have?

But the Principal ceremony, and which we retain, is Abstinence from meat and drink, from which this whole exercise hath the name of Fasting: the End thereof being to bring down our Bodies, thereby the better to humble our Souls, or to express so much; I mean to express our sorrow and dejection, if we be already so affected. Mores animi sequuntur temperamentum corporis: If the Body be full and lusty, the Mind will be lofty and refractary, and most unfit to approach the Divine Majesty with reverence and fear. How uncomposed is that Heart to sue to God for mercy and aversion of his judgments, which is fraught with rebellious, unclean, proud and lustful thoughts, like so many dogs barking within it? But these are all engendered and cherished by full feeding, and cannot be easily quelled unless they be starved. When I fed Israel to the full, (saith the Lord, Ier. 5. 7, 8.) then they committed adultery, and assembled by troops in harlots houses, &c. Ieshurun (saith Moses in his prophetical song, Deut. 32. 15.) waxed fat and kicked, and forsook the Lord that made him, and lightly esteemed of the rock of his salvation.

Wherefore S. Paul was fain to pinch his Body, and bring it down with fasting: I keep under my body (saith he, 1 Cor. 9. 27.) and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached unto others, I myself should be a cast-away. Hilarion a religious young man, when after much abstinence and course diet he felt his flesh still unruly and rebellious, Ego, ( inquit) Aselle, faciam ut non calcitres, nec te hordeo alam, sed paleis, fame & siti te conficiam: thus threatening his Beast, (that is, his Body) that he would take an order with it, that it should not kick; and that he would no longer seed his Ass with corn, but give it a little chasse or straw; nay punish it with hunger and thirst. Such is the danger of a pampered Body, and such the necessity of keeping it under.

Thus you see what is the chief End we are to aim at in this our solemn abstinence; namely, to beget this lowliness in our hearts, this humiliation in our souls, to subdue the high-mounting flames of our unruly desires, by withdrawing the fuel which breeds and nourishes them. Which as it is at all times requisite in some measure, whensoever we approach the Majesty of God for mercy and forgiveness; so then especially and in a more than usual manner, When God shakes the rod of his judgments over our heads, and bids us down and prostrate both souls and bodies before him, left his judgments break us in pieces, if we bow not. He that attaineth this, hath fasted well: he that hath not, may thereby know he hath not done enough, or not as he should do. If the boiling of our lusts be cooled and calmed; if the swelling conceits of worth in ourselves be taken down, with a true and feeling apprehension of our vileness and wretchedness by reason of sin, which makes us the most unworthy creatures in the world; if those ramping weeds of contempt and despising of others be cropped and withered (and these, I can tell you, will quite spoil a garden where many good flowers grow;) if after this manner we be affected, then are we humbled: if not, we are not yet sufficiently taken down; all our service is hypocrisy, nor will our devotion be accepted of that All-seeing Majesty who resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.

THUS much of Lowliness, the mother of the duties of the First Table. Now I come to Meekness, which implies our obedience to the Second. What Meekness, or Mansuetudo, signifies in Ethics everyone knows, that Virtue which tempereth anger; or, as I may so call it, Vnangriness. But sometimes whilst we take words in Scripture according to our own or the Philosophical notion, we slip into a mistake; as it falls out in this word Meekness, whose notion in the Hebrew and Scripture use is as large well-nigh as of Virtue itself, so far as it hath respect to the Second Table. For it signifies, as I may so speak, yokeableness, or a pliableness and tractableness to be ordered; a certain tameness of disposition to obedience of laws, for untamed cattle are not fit for yoke; and may be expressed, as I think, by Ingenuity, or Ingenuous goodness; or, as we speak, Fair-conditioned; by which we understand a general disposition to be well ordered in such actions as are exercised in the conversation of men.

Thus it is taken in that of our Savior, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth, Matt. 5. 5. Which appears out of Psal. 37. 10, 11. whence it is taken, where the meek and the wicked are opposed as terms of equal extent. For yet a little while (saith David) and the wicked shall not be: but the meek shall inherit the earth. Who seeth not that by meek is here meant the opposite party to the wicked? So I understand that, Psal. 76. 9. God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth; id est, omnes probos terrae, all the honest or virtuous of the earth. And Psal. 149. 4. For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people; he will beautify the meek with salvation. Zeph. 2. 3. Seek the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment, seek righteousness, seek meekness: It may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger. Amos 2. 6. For three transgressions and for four of Israel, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes. Vers. 7. That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek. Here that which in the first is expressed poor and righteous in the next is changed into poor and meek, showing meek and righteous to be equipollent terms. So S. James 1. 21, 22. as writing to Hebrews, useth the Hebrew notion; Wherefore (saith he) lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engraffed word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only. Again ch. 3. 13. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge amongst you? let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom: where it is evident that Meekness cannot be taken in that restrained sense of Philosophers, for that would be non-sense.

Yet I deny not but Meekness in Scripture also is taken for a special Virtue: and for the excellency of that Virtue amongst men, were all the rest denominate thereof: For it is an usual Trope of the Scripture, to make that which is taken for the most eminent and notable in any kind, to bear the name of the whole kind; as the Foreman speaks for the whole Jury, and Armies are comprised in the names of their Cheiftains. In the Decalogue it is a regular Synecdoche: Father and Mother, for all sorts of Superiors; Murder, for whatsoever hurt to the body of our neighbor; Adultery, for all sins of intemperance; Thest, all injuries in our neighbor's goods; The sanctifying of an holy day, to comprehend the holy usage of all things sacred and consecrate to divine uses. So Peace, the chief of blessings, stands in the Hebrew style for happiness; that is, all blessings whatsoever. Whence is their salutation, Peace be unto you. So Meekness, of near a-kin to Peace, stands here for a general name to all probity or honesty; as Lowliness did for Religious devotion. For the yoke of devotion to God hath its peculiar, to be taken on with stooping and humbleness; the yoke of a well-ordered converse with men, with this tameness or meekness. For as Meekness in the special sense is a virtue exercised only towards men: so in this general notion thereof, I extend it no farther; making, as I told you, Lowliness and Meekness to share the Decalogue betwixt them.

Here now I might observe at large, How Meekness seasoneth all our actions and carriage towards men, giving that genuine sweetness and relish of Virtue to them all; this being the reason of that so general acception of the word in the phrase of Scripture. I might also enlarge myself unto all the several offices and duties of this Virtue. But let me commend unto you those two which are most principal and immediate, and therefore expressly required in our Liturgy, as the truest tokens of Repentance; namely, forgiving of offenses, and satisfaction of injuries; both of them genuine off-springs of this Meekness.

HERE is that inestimable Benefit which befalleth those who take up Christ's yoke and learn of him to be meek and lowly; They shall find rest unto their souls. For the understanding whereof we must know, that there is a twofold Ease mentioned in this Invitation of our Savior. The one, to those who come unto him by Faith, Come unto me, &c. and I will ease you, or give you rest. The second, to those who take upon them his yoke, that is, the yoke of obedience to God's commandments; a yoke which Christ first wore for our sakes, and made it his, that so he might make it possible for us to wear it, whilst the main weight still rests upon his shoulders: Those who put their necks to this yoke, shall find rest unto their souls.

These two Rests are near of kin, but not the same: The first Rest is that which Christ gives; the second, the Rest which we shall find. All those who come and by Faith apply themselves to Christ, shall have Ease: But there is something else to be done before ourselves shall find and know it; we must put our necks into the collar, and take his yoke upon us, and then there shall not only be Rest obtained for us, but we shall find and feel ourselves eased.

For a Sinner hath a twofold Burthen; 1. The weight of his sin, and 2. The pain he feels thereby; for such is the condition, we know, of everyone that is laden. Answerable therefore to this twofold Burthen, there is a twofold Rest and Ease to be attained. The first is by taking off the burden by remission of our sin in our Justification, when Christ discharges those who come unto him of their load, and beareth it upon his own back, by justifying and acquitting them of sin. The second is the ceasing of the pain which the pressure of sin hath caused; when a sinner by wearing of the yoke of Christ finds peace of conscience, and ease and rest unto his soul. For the pain and aking of the Soul for sin doth not presently cease, though sin be taken off. A man condemned to die, doth not presently feel the comfort of his pardon as soon as it is obtained; for it may be gotten many days before he knows it, and till then his pain and discomfort will be as if it were not gotten at all. Also a man that hath overlong born a burden too heavy for him, is often we know, so benumbed, that he thinks he feels the pressure of his burden still, some while after it is taken off his back. So is the ease here; the pain of the soul will not presently cease when Christ hath taken off our sin, nor will the joy and comfort of our pardon be so soon found as our pardon is obtained.

[unspec 1] Let this then be the first Observation, That as those only are justified and discharged of their sin by remission who flee unto Christ by Faith: So only those have promise of rest and peace of conscience who take his yoke upon them; and being, as he was, meek and lowly, stoop unto God, and submit their lives unto his Commandments. Art thou heavy-laden, and wouldst thou be discharged of thy sin? Go unto Christ, and he will ease thee. Wouldst thou know thy sins are acquitted? wouldst thou have peace, and feel thy conscience sweetly comforted? Take this yoke upon thee, learn of him to be yokeable, to be meek and lowly, to walk in the ways of God; and thou shalt find rest to thy soul. By this, saith S. John, we know that we know him, (namely, to be our Advocate, and the propitiation for our sins) if we keep his Commandments. There is no way but this to feel and have notice thy sins are forgiven thee.

Many do trust all to a supposed Faith as a short and compendious cut to quiet their conscience: But never look to find peace with God so long as thou hast peace with sin: There is no peace unto the wicked, saith the Prophet. What Jehoram, 2 King. 9. 22. asked Jehu, Is there peace, Jehu? What peace (saith Jehu) so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many? So saith God to all such whose life and conversation is unreformed; What peace can be unto thy soul, so long as contempt of his worship, extortion, defrauding of thy neighbor, covetousness, drunkenness, backwardness to all good duties, reign still within thee? If thou wouldst have peace in thy soul; if thou wouldst have the wringing torments of a troubled conscience to be calmed within thee; If thou wouldst find out that peace of God which passeth all understanding; let thy whole life and conversation, as far as thou art able, be ruled by the Law of God; wear that yoke which Christ thy Savior hath made so easy; learn of him to be meek and lowly, and thou shalt find rest unto thy soul.

But some perhaps will say, What needs so much preciseness and strictness of life? For my part, I do as other men do; I can dispense sometime and take my pleasure in sin, and am not thus yoked (as you speak,) but take my liberty according as I see advantage, either for my profit or contentment; and yet am not disquieted, but find my soul at rest and ease without thus much ado.

I answer, It is hard to conceive that a man should give himself the reins to commit sin, and his Conscience not to twitch him more or less, though he useth all the means he can to smother it. But if it doth not, thy case is so much the more woeful and dangerous: For, alas! it is not a rest and ease of soul, as thou misdeemest, but hardness and deadness of heart, which thou mistakest for rest and quietness: A condition than which there cannot be a worse, and of all estates of the soul the most hopeless. And this is the fruit of a customary violation of the Conscience, which being often bruised, scratched at first with smaller sins, and at length rent and torn with greater, contracts one scar and brawn all over, and so becomes senseless and unfeeling. How dreadful therefore is it, if men would consider it, to adventure the Conscience upon the least violence? if it endure but a scratching once or twice, it is secretly, and before a man is aware, hardened to endure a wound. O let us be then tender to keep our Conscience tender, else we are undone. Is it therefore indeed so with thee, that thou canst take thy sinful liberty, and yet find no scruple check thee? Canst thou cast off the yoke of Christ, and yet thy heart be at rest within thee; or at the worst, if it pants a little, it will soon have done? O rouse it up in time, else the time will come, when thy Conscience will be so awaked, that all the world cannot quiet and still it. The longer it hath been smothered, the more dreadful and unquenchable will the flame be when it once breaketh out. No tongue of mortal man is able to express the terrors which then shall overwhelm thee.

In the daytime we know Spirits and Hobgoblins usually walk not, but in the nighttime, when darkness covereth the face of the earth: So in the brightness and Sunshine of health and pro • perity, what marvel though this terrible Fiend, an evil Conscience, doth not much haunt a dull and stupid heart? but in the darkness of sickness, in the midnight of death, when the black times of calamity shall surprise thee, then will this grifly and gastly Spirit begin to affright and scare thee; then will he roar in the chamber of thy soul, and most hideously rattle his chains about thine ears.

As the blows and bruises received in the flower of our youth, though then we feel them not, will pain us in the decay of our strength, in our declining years: So the blows and bruises given the Soul by sin in the days of our jollity and prosperity, will most grievously torment us when by sickness, fear of death, or other calamity, our wonted mirth and transitory contentment shall be eclipsed. Then as the carcass of him that is slain, though it seemed stark and stiff, is said to bleed afresh at the presence of the murderer: So when our former and unfelt sins, whereby the Soul was wounded and murdered, shall present themselves unto our view, as at such times they use to do, then our stark and benumbed Conscience will gush out streams of blood, and be in danger to bleed unto eternal death. What would a man then give for this Rest unto his soul? even all the gold of Ophir, all the riches of the East and West Indies; yea he would be content never to have had ease, never to have enjoyed any contentment (no not lawful) in these worldly and transitory things all the days of his life, so he might have but one dram of that comfortable quietness of Soul which a good conscience bringeth.

A good conscience therefore, from a life well led, is a Jewel invaluable, for which [unspec 2] a man should undergo the hardest task, and forgo all the contentments of the world, if it could not otherwise be gotten. Which is the Second thing I here observe. For our Savior we see propounds it as a Reward and Prize, such as he thought sufficient to allure any reasonable man, even to abandon his liberty and freedom, and to enter a bondage, and to take a yoke upon his neck; a yoke the sweetest that ever was worn, and far surpassing the greatest liberty in the world.

A good conscience, saith Solomon, Prov. 15. 15. is a continual Feast; that is, an everlasting Christmas. The twelve-days-Feast of our Blessed Savior's Nativity, how is it longed for beforehand? how welcomed when it comes? and yet it lasts but a short time. But a good conscience is a Feast that lasts all the year, yea all a man's life long; and that too without satiety, without fullness, without the least wearisomeness.

There are three things in a Feast which make it so pleasing and desirable, Mirth, good Company, and good Chear. In this Feast all three of them are superlative.

• 1. For Mirth, all the merriment and Music, all the wine and good cheer in the world will not make a man's heart so light and merry as the wine which is drunk at the Feast of a good conscience. This is no superficial matter, but rooted in the very Centre of the Soul. Whereas your Wine-mirth is but the smothering sometimes, if not drowning, of a deeper grief; like the lustick fit in some Countries of such as are going to execution. Give strong drink (saith Solomon) unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.
• 2. For Society and Company, what Feast in the world can afford the like this doth? For it hath not only exceeding good, but all suitable and homogeneal, where is no admixture of ill. Here you shall have no unruly persons blaspheming God or men, to make themselves or others pastime: no unsavory communication to stain and pollute by degrees the purity of the Soul, and make a reckoning unsupportable, when the day shall come wherein we must give accompt of every idle word. But a good Conscience hath ever good Company, and so good as will admit no ill. For the Father is with it, that great and mighty God who made us: The Son is with it, even Christ himself who redeemed us; they sup and feast together: The Holy Ghost is with it, who cheers up and sanctifies the hearts of all who come to this Table. What Feast in the world can show so honorable, so loving, so cheerful company as this?
• 3. And for the last thing which makes a Feast desirable, good Chear; it is a Table richly furnished with all Varieties and Dainties, a collection of all the Rarities and Delicacies, not which Sea and Land only, but which Heaven itself affords. Who would not come upon any invitation to partake of such a Feast as this?

ACTS 10. 4.

WHEN the Jews had crucified our Blessed Savior, the Lord and Prince of Life, though their impiety were most horrible, and such as might seem to admit of no expiation or atonement, yet would not God for that reject them; but after he was risen from the dead, his Apostles and Messengers were sent to offer and tender him once more unto them, if so be they would yet receive him as their Messiah and Redeemer which was promised to come: telling them that what they had formerly done unto him, God would (namely, according to our Savior's prayer upon the Cross, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do ) pass by it as done of Ignorance on their part, whilst himself was by the disposition of his Providence fulfilling that which was long before spoken by the mouth of all his Prophets, That Christ or Messiah should suffer death. All which you may read in the Sermon which S. Peter preached unto them in the Temple, Acts 3. 12, &c. Thus the Lord shown himself according to his style, A God gracious and merciful, longsuffering and slow to anger.

But when these Jews, notwithstanding this second tender, not only continued in their former obstinacy, refusing to accept him for their Redeemer, but also misused and persecuted his Ambassadors sent unto them; this their ingratitude was so hideous and heinous in the eyes of God, that he could bear with them no longer, but resolved thenceforth to