Exposition of the Apostles Creed

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Omnipotent, Almighty.

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

Every where in the Scripture this powerful Word is set as a Bar to all diffidence and distrust. Abraham was promised a son, he was old, and his Wife past children, but he considered not his own body now dead, nor the deadness of Sarah's womb; he staggered not, but was strong in faith; why so? what kept him from wavering? what? God's power. He was fully persuaded, that what God had promised, he was able to perform. The rejected Jews (Saint Paul opens to us that mystery) shall be called and engraffed again into the natural Olive. This the Gentile it seems was not apt to believe. The Apostle commands us never to distrust it upon this reason, For God is able to graff them in again; Nothing may be thought impossible to him who is able to raise of stones, children unto Abraham.

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

To Create the world of nothing, to Redeem from hell, to make a Mother remain a Virgin, to descend and to triumph over the infernal powers, to arise from the grave, to ascend far above all heavens, to come again in the Clouds to judge quick and dead, are all Acts of power. These things are marvelous in our eyes, yet credible they are, believe them we may and must, for he that is Almighty hath done them. When anything is impossible to God, then let these seem impossible to you. Farther yet, to forgive sins is an Act of power; for who can forgive sins, but God only? To raise the body of a dead man, whose very ashes have admitted of various forms, causing each bone to come to its bone, sinew to unite to sinew, and to call for a cover of new flesh, and a fresh skin: yea, over and above to this flesh so quickened to indulge eternal life, can proceed from none but from that Almighty hand, who hath the keys of hell and death. Since then all these are without the verge of human capacity; since flesh and blood cannot conceive them feizable, and yet must necessarily be believed by every Christian: God himself to stay our infirmity, and settle our wavering minds when we hear of such miracles, hath in the front of our Creed acquainted us who it is that doth all these great and wonderful things. It is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , qui potens est, he that is mighty: It is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , he that can do whatever he pleaseth in heaven and in earth. Impossible that cannot be, which God, that is Almighty, hath done, and means to do.

The demand of the mere natural man in things improbable is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , how can this thing be? Let an Angel from heaven tell Sarah of a Son to be born to her in her old age, she smiles at it as an impossible thing, saying, What, after I am waxed old, and my Lord also? but what saith the Angel? Shall anything be impossible to the Lord? Let the Prophet foretell of the incredible plenty in famished Samaria, that two measures of Barly shall be sold for a shekel, and a measure of fine flower for a sh • kel, tomorrow about this time in the Gate of Samaria. Some Lord upon whose hand the King leans will answer, Now behold, if the Lord should make windows in heaven, could this thing be? But the Prophet will tell him, Thou shalt see it with thy eyes. When these Murmurers in the Psalm fell a lusting, and wept, and asked, Who shall give us flesh to eat? Can God prepare a Table in the Wilderness? See how God answers their question with another, Is the Lord's hand waxed short? Thou shalt see whether my word shall come to pass or no; and upon it this Almighty sent them meat for a month together, till it came out again at their nostrils. Who is able sufficiently to speak of the wonderful works of the Lord, or to set forth the miraculous effects of his power? Enoch translated, Elijah taken up, Noah saved in the Ark, and saving a seed for the world, that it might be peopled with better inhabitants. The unexpected ruin of the impious by a shower of fire and brimstone, and of pious L • t the more unexpected deliverance. The Pillar of Salt. Joseph made a God to Pharaoh. The plagues of Egypt. The Sea divided with the rod, and coming together with a word. The Pillar of a cloud sending forth a cool shade by day, and the Pillar of fire giving light by night. Amalek beaten down with a prayer. The Sun commanded to stand still, and the Moon to stay her course. The earth and the fleece interchangably dried and moistened. The power of the hair equal to a whole army. Corah, Dathan, and Abiram swallowed up. The Lions mouths stopped, and the three children in the midst of the fire delivered, with many more, are all effects of this Omnipotency. Whethersoever we cast our eyes, either upon the strange punishments inflicted upon his enemies, or upon the miraculous courtesies and preservations of his servants, we must confess that he is Almighty; and sing with David, with his own right hand, and with his holy arm he hath gotten himself the victory.

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

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

1. In their Confession observe

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

2. In their Murmur or Distrust, take notice of

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

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

1. Behold.

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

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

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

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

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

2. He smote.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3. He smote the Rock.

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

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

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

4. Waters gushed out, and streams overflowed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

His power you see; and learn then first to submit to it; next, never to despair in your greatest pressures. Our fear ariseth both in sin and danger, that we look to ourselves, and leave out God: Then we inquire, Whether he is in the midst of us or no? Indeed there is some reason to suspect it, when we look upon our ways and doings. We live as if there were no overseer of our actions, no Censor or Revenger of our misdoings, or manners. If then you would have him be with you, you must be with him; if to be with you to save you, you with him to serve him, with him in your obedience, with him in your prayers, with him in your praises; it holds reciprocal as in all duties of love, God with you, and you with God. And if God be with you, you need not fear, for he will be a Sanctuary; the avenger of blood shall not overtake you; he is an umbrage, a shadow; the heat of the fiery Trial shall not scorch and consume you. God (say the Philistines) is come into the Campe; Woe unto us, woe unto us; who shall deliver us out of the hands of these mighty God's! The pot of Manna, Aaron's Rod, the two Tables, signs only of God's presence, gave courage to Israel, occasion of fear to the enemy; and though at that present he hid his face, yet it was not long but he shown his power; The head and stump of Dagon, the sore disease in their Cities, the plague of Emerods forced them to send back the Ark with shame and sorrow, and confess that the owner of the Ark was a mighty God indeed.

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

And sure it is, that the Saints of God have taken great courage and comfort from the assurance of God's presence with them. Go, saith Isaiah, take your counsel, but it shall be brought to naught; pronounce a Decree, but it shall not stand, for God is with us. And upon this confidence the Apostle enters into the lists, as it were, with his ghostly enemies, and gives a challenge to them all, to heights, to depths, to things present, to things to come, to all; professing, that none of them should be able to separate him from the love of God, &c. And this out of an assurance that God was with him; in whose power he was fully persuaded not only to conquer, but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to be more than a Conqueror.

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

2. Can he provide?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What shall we say to this? but as the Apostle doth, all men have not faith. God sent his Patriarchs, and found not faith; his Prophets, and found not faith; last of all his Son approved to the world by great works, wonders, and signs, yet found no faith, And when the Son of man comes, shall he find faith on the earth? A man would judge, that the time of his coming cannot be far off, since faith hath taken her wing, and left these lower regions. Sure the most men believe not that the presence of God is over their actions, they speak so loftily, and encourage themselves in mischief. They b • leeve not their Fathers providence, they trust so much to their own wits and arm of flesh in provision for themselves. They believe not his power, they so little lean to him, and rely upon him in their distresses.

Of you, my brethren, I hope better things, and that I shall not need to exhort you, that you speak not against God, that you never ask Can he, or Can he? For I presume that you believe he Can, and I hope you are persuaded of his good will also, that he never will forsake his people. Believe his Word that is already written; believe the Miracles written in that Word; seek not after new and airy signs; run not after new and strange lights, here is enough to ground your faith, to confirm your faith, to crown your faith. Happy are they who are of the number of his people.

4. For his People.

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

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

Is it for any of God's people to murmur against Moses and Aaron, to tell them, when they do their duty, they take too much upon them? Is it for any of God's people to take a flesh-hook in his hand, and fasten it to the consecrated thing, and look what ever comes up, to take it for his own? Is it for any of God's people to drive the woman clothed with the Sun into the Wilderness, and to stand by till she be delivered, and devour her children? Is it for any of God's people to make the lowest of the people Priests to the most high? Is it for any of God's people to fast, that they smite with the fist of iniquity, to seize upon men's inheritances, to drive them from their habitations, to oppress, to defraud, to dissemble, to swear falsely, by right or wrong to acquire possessions?

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

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

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

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

1. But as for me.

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

Yea, but what folly was this in a wise man, and what want of policy? What, one Joshua wiser than a whole Nation? What one single tribe or family more precise than a whole State? Yea, than the whole world, when it leaves the world to serve God; For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; with that a man must begin, or else they may be witty, but never wise. Witty to find out many inventions, not so wise to follow 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the beaten, but strait and narrow way that leads to life. The broad is not the way to heaven, and yet in it most run; But he that leaves it, and turns from it to the strait, is wiser than a whole Nation.

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

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

Be it, that for this thou be esteemed 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the off-scouring of the world, a spectacle to men and Angels; be it that thou be the music of a profane ear, and hooted at as some strange thing. Be it, that they which sit in the gate speak against thee, esteemed as Saint Paul, a pestilent fellow, or as Elijah, a troubler of Israel; yet having put thy hand to the Plough, look not back, but hold it thy greatest honor to be dignified and styled with Joshua, Servus Domini, Verse 29. The Servant of the Lord. Bind it as a Crown to thy head, to be singled out for a good man, and to make conscience of those duties which other men never shrink at, or think on; as to be hot in Religion; to be zealous in good works; to walk circumspectly; to pluck out the right eye; to make the Sabbath a delight; to take heaven by force. For God exacts in his children an excellency beyond other men, and that they hold a strange counter-motion to the courses of the World; They are the precious separated from the vile; and therefore must differ from the course of this World, from the lusts of men, and from the corruption of the times.

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

Now zealots there be too many; who, let authority command what it may lawfully, start aside with rebellious Co • ah, and cry, We will not come up. God forbid that we should obey man. Ego & domus mea serviemus D • mino. Live and die we will, that's sure, with a clear conscience. But Science is the ground of conscience; and if that knowledge may be nick-named, and so no knowledge, indeed much more may conscience, which applieth that knowledge to particular acts. A polluted and defiled conscience there is, which begets a vain and defiled Religion. There is Asinina conscientia; there is Lupina. The conscience of the Ass, and the conscience of the Wolf. A conscience so simple, that it will strain at a gnat, make a scruple at everything indifferent in itself, especially if commanded by a Superior. Then there is will-worship, or else superstition, or I know not what in it; away with it; others may, but I will not come near it. By the help of God, I and my house will serve the Lord. The Lord, and not man; for whether it be fit to obey God or man, judge ye. Another conscience there is, that no Wolves Throat is wider; anything enjoin'd, be it right or wrong, will down with it. The worship of Baalberith, the Calves in Dan and Bethel, Nebuchadnezzar's golden Image, Judas 's thirty pieces of silver, the Pharisees Corban, what you will shall be swallowed. And here indeed, and none but here, is the right Application of this Text, and this example; that, command who will, upon a certain evidence of conscience that God commands otherwise, refuse we may, nay must; For Si aliud Deus, aliud imperator jusserit, contempto hoc, obtemperandum est Deo, If God commands one thing, and the Emperor the flat contrary, we must despise man, and obey God.

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

2. But as for me. I, Ego.

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

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

The time came when the proud Pharaoh himself is glad to put his mouth in the earth, and speak in a low voice, God is righteous, and I am wicked. And when haughty Sennacherib shall fly with a hoook in his nostrils, and write for all posterity to read, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Let a man look upon me, and learn to fear God. And that great Conqueror of the East when he sees his blood, confesses it to be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , not 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , blood, the very same for substance that flows out of other men's veins, not that thin and serous distillation that was wont to flow from the wounded Deities, as the Poets feigned, and his flatterers would make him believe. To be brief, that Renegado Julian may end with this desperate acknowledgement, Uieisti Galilaee, O Galilean thou hast overcome, with the same breath professing his own ma • ice, and Christ's power. His inveterate malice by the scorn, but the power of this Galilean in his victory over him. At which time, had you been by, when these fearful plagues fell upon these proud monsters that would be none of God's Servants, you might have seen their Servants and Sycophants that we • e wont to glory in these great Lord's, and more to serve them than God, perhaps to curse their King and their God, and look upward.

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

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

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

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

Thirdly, To return to what I begun this point with; first in respect of his Family; for they will all be the better if he be the first, and all be the worse when he's the last. As then Joshua, or any in Joshuas place is chief in the House, so it becomes him to be the chief example in the House: The first Servant of God. Philo the Jew tells us, that God placed the fifth Commandment 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as it were, in the Confines of both Tables, because the practique part of both Tables did much depend upon it; the service to God, and the service to man. Jeroboam sins, and he causes all Israel to sin with him. Hezekiah did that which was good and right, and truth before the Lord his God, and in his time judgment did run down like waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. The Lacedaemonian Soldiers being asked, Which way they, who being wont to live by forage and spoil, became on a sudden so honest and abstenious? answered, We are the same now and heretofore, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , but we have now another General than we had before; for instead of a thievish Thymbrion, we have a just and modest Dercyllus. For too true it is, the example of the Master is the Servants Rule; the Lord's l • fe, his followers Law.

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

For some of these reasons, or all these, the poor servant will • be observe • nt of his Masters way; ait, aio; negat, nego; say what he says, and unsay what he de •• es; depend upo • his Masters tongue, his Masters eye, his Masters nod, sh • pe himself wholly to his Ma • ters Religion and fashion,

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

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

3. My House.

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

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

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

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

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

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

4. I and my House.

Hitherto have I considered the Lord and his Servant single and apart. Now I come to speak of them jointly; for in God's public service disjoin'd they must not be. The Commandment runs in this form, Thou and thy Son, and thy Daughter, thy man servant, and thy maid servant, &c. When the Sabbath comes, and the service to be done out of the house, the Master must not appear alone in the Church, and the servant left to his corner. Nor when publicly in the house, the Master must not petition in his Closet, and the servant apart in his Chamber; It is as it should be, when both meet, and join their force. This same Et is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a Conjunction Copulative, and it knits them both together.

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

Joshua was for his house as well as himself; Moses for the whole people, Thou shalt teach, whet, or sharpen my Statutes upon thy children. Paul's care was to instruct all the Churches. David's call general, Come, l • t us kneel, &c. Come, let us go together to God's worship. That permission of Pharaoh will work coldly, Go ye, go to Church, and serve the Lord. David's call is of more power, Come with me to serve God; come my Wife, come my Son, come my Kinsman, come my servant, go along with me, and join with me in God's service. This, this is it which will add much life and heat to our public devotions.

And here will I sing unto you of mercy and judgment, being a Psalm set by David to tune his household, and if we learn it, and give good ear to it, it will keep our families in tune too. First, for Ego, the Master.

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

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

1. Mercy and favor to be extended to him that deserved it. Could he but hear of a faithful man in the Land, his eye should be presently cast upon him, that he might dwell with him. He that walked in a perfect way, he was a servant for him. Thus favorable would he be to good men.

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

1. Were any retainer of his a pickthank, one that privily slandereth his neighbor, he was resolved to cut him short.

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

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

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

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

5. Serviemus Domino. Serve the Lord

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

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

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

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

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

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

3. Now the fountain from which this service must spring is Devotion, which makes a man quick and ready to piety, and wakeneth and disposeth him to do his duty with facility and easiness. The greatest hindrance in our service, is, the corruption of our nature, from which there proceeds a great inclination to be obstinate and rebellious. This makes every command of our Lord difficult, and to our apprehension impossible. Now against this difficulty and heaviness, our good Lord hath provided a most fit and convenient remedy, to wit, the virtue and assistance of devotion. For even as the North wind scatters and dissolves the clouds, and leaves the air bright and clear, so true devotion shakes off from our soul all this heaviness and difficulty, and leaves her afterwards ready and disposed to do anything that our Lord commands. Non fingit laborem in praecepto. It talks not of a Lion, or I know not of what perilous beast in the way, it goes on though there be a great stone at the mouth of the Sepulcher; ashamed it is to confess that any command is too hard for it, and therefore it says with Saint Paul, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? How fit devotion makes a man to work, appears in one of God's best servants, that thus professeth before his Lord, I will run the way of thy Commandments, when thou hast set my heart at liberty.

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

A Lord then, that is, every Lord that comes in your way, you may not serve: Nor Baal, nor Ashteroth, nor Milcom, nor Dagon, nor any of the gods of the Nations; nor Mammon, nor your belly, nor the image of the beast, later erected Idols. But you must serve the Lord, The Lord, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , him who is the King of Kings, and Lord of Lord's.

Them, why should you serve? for they are no gods; see what names of shame and scorn this Lord hath put upon them. Gelilim, gods of dung, Shikutsim, or 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , abominations, loathsome pieces, that defile the conscience, and are of as much account in his eye, as dung and excrements is in ours. This they are in themselves; but to their followers and servants they become Emim, gods that fright them into their duties; or Zirmi, Tormina, such as are upon women in child-birth, to theirr servants they bring nothing but sorrow. They that serve them are guilty of folly. Loammi, no people, or at best a foolish people; foolish indeed that eat the bread of lies, foolish that put their trust in the Spiders web; for such their confidence is a net which the wind breaks, or broom sweeps down. Such gods then you must not set up nor serve coram eo, gnal pani, before his face, so long as he lives, so long as he is, you shall choose no other God. For in opposition to these it is, that Joshua makes here his protestation.

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

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

That the same argument concludes us, I need not doubt, who were saved as many ways as ever Isra • l. Our ignorance in times past was beyond that darkness of Egypt; saved we were from that; saved again from the powder you know where; and saved from the Armado, you know when; and yet we expect a day of redemption. But all these deliverances laid together are nothing to the Suprema Salus, A safety promised to Israel, but purchased and conveyed to us by the blood of Christ. Servants we were of sin, and saved we are, and made servants of righteousness. In captivity we were to Satan, taken by him at his will; but Christ hath preached deliverance to the captives. Children of wrath we were, but saved from that, and become sons of his love, Prisoners we were, tied wi • h the chains of our sins, and with the bonds of iniquity, and sitting in the darkness and shadow of death. But he hath knocked off the chains, and broken these bonds, dispelled this darkness, and brought us into his marvelous light, and therefore servati serviamus, being so miraculously saved, and from such and so many dangers, let us vow to bestow our whole lives in the service of that Lord who hath out of mere mercy and love saved and delivered us.

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

That we serve these with a civil and human honor, it is because they are Representatives of this Lord, some in full and well proporion'd Statues, as Kings, others in pictures down to the middle, as greater Lord's; others in lesser meddals to the shoulders only, as all inferior Magistrates. To these we must submit, to these we must bend, because they are hi • her powers; which shows evidently, that where no Lordship, no service is due, but with the title the duty is annexed.

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

Weigh then the strength of this last reason, God is the Lord, the Lord absolute without any condition, the sole Lord without compare: Lord of men and Angels, Lord of death and Devils, Dominus dom • norum, Lord of all earthly Lord's and Subjects; and therefore as is his Lordship, so let his service be, absolute, sole, supreme. No other served instead of him, no other served together with him.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3. And from his jealousy proceeds his fury. This puts him into such a rage, that he will not forgive. It forceth him to do his work, his strange work; to bring to pass his Act, his strange Act. In the former Chapter of Isaiah he tells us, that anger is not in him. That his nature is to pardon; this is ingenita, proceeds from his bowels; to that other he is constrained; and therefore the effect of his Justice is opus alienum, called a strange work. Ita prior Dei bonitas secundum naturam, severitas posterior secundum causam, So then the goodness of God is first in him according to his Nature, his severity is after according to the cause that he finds in us. For when once his Servants come to this, that they dissemble with him, carry a double heart, use his Name, and abuse his service, he will not forgive, he will not pardon. Holy he is, and he will not be profaned; jealous he is, and he may not be consorted; severe he is, and he will not be hypocritically served; for such a Laodicean he will spew out of his mouth. The Jews have to this day this Saying commonly in their mouths, Non tibi O Israel accidit ulla ultio, in quâ non sit uncia de iniquitate vituli; i. e. O Israel, there is no punishment which befalls thee, in which there is not one ounce weight of the Golden Calf. So it is not; however in their judgment it justifies Joshua's word, that he is a jealous God, and he will not pardon.

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

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

1. The desire of the old Church earnest.

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

When you pray then, pray thus. Thus as the Spouse with heat and love; be earnest and serious with God; and conceive not that God will hear you, when you hear not yourselves. True it is, that the prayer of the righteous man prevails much; but it must then be fervent; for if cold, it freezeth in the Clouds, and comes not to heaven; whereas a zealous prayer mou ts higher, wrestles with God, and will not let him alone. It is an Argument that a man is not much touched with the sense of what he wants, or wanti • g asks, when his suit is heavily commenced; for everyone that truly feels his own necessity, will be importunate, he will press his friend even after a denial; So it was with the poor Widow, which cried, and cried still after the unjust Judge, till she made him hear; an example that our Savior hath left upon Record, that we should be earnest, importunate, and zealous in our prayers, and not petition as if we cared not much whether what we asked were granted or not; so did not the Spouse, for she was transported with the love of what she wanted and sued for, and would not be satisfied without she sped. Let him kiss me.

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

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

2. The object of the Churches desire, which was, to see Christ in the flesh.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In his person there was the grace of union, and the grace of unction; and because the first of union, therefore this latter of unction; the conjunction of our dust to his Deity, raised our clay to a higher pitch, and gave to the seed of Abraham which he assumed, a sacred unction and ability, & intensive, & extensive, & quoad essentiam, & quoad virtutem; in the intensest and highest degree that possibly grace may be had, and a faculty to use it unto all effects and purposes that grace can extend. 'It is acutely observed by Rupert, that the Holy Ghost descended upon our Savior in the shape of a whole creature, a whole Dove; whereas it came upon the Apostles in the form of a parted and divided tongue. Because grace was bestowed upon him totally and perfectly, being habitually and formally inherent in his human nature; whereas unto them there was a division made of those gifts, everyone having his share, as was requisite for themselves; for the jointing of the Saints; for the work of the Ministry, and for the edifying of the body of Christ. Above his fellows he was to be in the work, and therefore to be anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows.

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

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

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

3. These kisses at some particular times; but all our life long a kiss by his Spirit of love. He comes and calls, and knocks, and visits us day by day: Upon some he bestows 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , gifts, and seals them on their lips; their eloquence, their utterance, their words spoken in season, and out of season, are of these ample testimonies; but to others he gives 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , graces, and seals them in their hearts, and by good works on their hands, and by good words on their tongues.

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

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

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

When he was born, it was his Xenium, his New-years Gift, Peace be to men; when he died, it was his Legacy, My peace be with you. In his life he prayed for it, paid for it, wept for it. At his death he died for it, and at his rising he brought and bequeathed it, he stood in the midst and said, Peace be unto you: And when they are parting with the world, present he is with his, to dismiss them with a kiss of peace: In signo pacis facit de pace securos, by this love-token of peace, he makes them secure of his peace.

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

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

The Conclusion.

When I lay to heart the earnest desire of the old Jewish Synagogue for the Incarnation of the Son of God, and behold our coldness and negligence, our little regard and esteem of him, now that he is born and come amongst us, I wish that my head were a fountain of water, and my eyes wells of tears, that I might weep day and night for the security of the daughter of my people. For to which of us doth the grace of God which hath appeared, give so much content as the promise only that he was to appear, gave to them? Now tell me I pray why their joy should be greater than ours; the mouth which the old world begged to see, we have heard to speak to us; the lips which they desired to kiss, is at this Feast presented unto us, hanging and sucking at his Mothers breasts: Eye-witnesses then were enough that saw him, Angels, Shepherds, Wisemen, lying in a Cratch, crying in Swadling Cloaths, an infant of a Span long. And thus much Apostles, Disciples after affirmed and made good, by working of Miracles, and healing all manner of diseases among the people; and what they saw, they delivered; and what they handled of the Word of life, they wrote; and they wrote it, that we might believe.

Believing then what those old Fathers hoped for, there is no reason our thanks be less; and enjoying what they expected, a shame it were that our affections should be colder. In great love and greater humility he hath heard the desires of his old Saints, and is come down to kiss us; fit then it were that we met him half way, and kissed him. From him this is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a love-token indeed, but from us 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a due debt. Little children, and new-borne babes we are wont to kiss; and this day you may hear of him at Bethlehem, a pretty child hanging at his mothers breasts, and emptying those Virgin bottles. Some sour men may conceive what they list; but sure I am that it will please God, that at his birth we rejoice with the Shepherds, Sing a Charol with the Arch-Angel, run after the star, fall down with the wise men, and offer gold, incense, and myrrh; gold to our King, incense to our God, myrrh to our Redeemer.

Nazianzen Preaching on this day, thus begins his Sermon, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , &c. Christ is born, glorify him; Christ from heaven, go out to meet him; Christ upon the earth, exalt him; Christ in the flesh; be glad with fear, and joy; with fear, that your sins brought him down; with joy, for the hope of Reconciliation. And Cyprian long before him thus begins also, Adest multum desiderata & diu expectata Nativitas, adest solemnitas inclyta, & in praesentia Salvatoris grates & laudes visitatori suo per orb • m terrarum sancta reddit Ecclesia. In his days then it was a Solemnity, a famous Solemnity kept by the holy Church over all the world; in which they gave laude and thanks to him who came to visit them, and to give them a kiss. No man, I dare say, ever thought ill of the day, but he who grudgeth to perform the duty; That Eloquent Father is persuaded, that on this day the powers of heaven, because they honor God and love men, do 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , sing with, rejoice and keep this Solemnity with the Church. What they do, we can but guess at; what the prime and best Christians did, we know; and 'tis more wisdom to hear them to speak for, and celebrate a Christian Feast, than to hear the clamours of new men without sense, without reason against it. They thought on this day they were bound to do their duty, to return a kiss for his kiss, taking their direction from his lips, who spake by the mouth of the Prophet David, Kiss the Son: And now I shall acquaint you how it is to be done.

1. By a constant profession of his Name; this cannot be done without the lips; for the Apostle hath taught us, With the mouth confession is made to salvation. To this he requires that we stick close, hold fast the profession without wavering; and of it Saint Peter would have us ready to give an answer. This will distinguish us from Jews and Turks; to God they give a kiss; the Father they profess, but deny the Son; whereas we are bound not on • y to kiss the Father, but his Son also. This will distinguish us, if it be hearty, as it ought, from lukewarm Professors, Demas, Hymenaeus, and Philetus, who go away, and leave the Son, and give him no kiss at all in a hard time; whereas true Professors continue with him to the end, and cannot be beaten from his lips, no not in the time of the greatest trouble.

2. To kiss is to adore. Idolaters to that purpose kissed their God's. Tully tells us of Hercules brazen shrine, that the very chin and lips thereof were worn off by those who did adore him, Quia non solum in precibus & adorationibus adorare, sed & osculari solent. Solent, it was their custom in their prayers, not only to adore, but to kiss. And Pliny tells us, that in their adorations they turned the service of the right hand into a kiss. But what need I rake the Heathens to prove this, when the Scriptures note it in Ephraim and Baals servitours? Ephraim kissed the Calves. I have reserved unto me seven thousand, whose mouths have not kissed Baal. When they saw the Sun in his glory, and the Moon in her strength, their mouth kissed their hand; which Job did not. To kiss then is to adore; and so the old Translatour reads it, Adorate filium, not osculumini, Adore the Son.

Get ye then to your knees, with the wise men fall down and worship him; they did it when he was in a low estate, when a Child in the Inn, in the Stable, in the Manger, and therefore in no worshipful condition. You behold him on high, far above all heavens, sitting on the right hand of God; fall low then before him: And for the many kisses he hath given you, give him this one of honor.

2. This one? nay second it with another of Homage and Subjection. Homagers kiss the hands of their leige Lord's; and of old, Subjects were wont to kiss their Sovereigns. Samuel so soon as he had emptied his horn of oil upon Saul's head, kissed him, to signify that he was his Subject. And Phaeraoh when he made Joseph Lord over all Egypt, that he might assure him of his grant, told him, That according to his word all his people should Nasak, kiss, that is, be ruled.

Now such a kiss bring to your Savior, a Subjects kiss. Take every word as a favor that falls from his lips, and no sooner hear, but be as ready to obey. It is the truest Character of one of God's good Subjects, that in auditu auris, that he will no sooner hear than obey. Strange children may dissemble, hear and do nothing; but they who do truly submit to his government, pendent narrantis ab ore, hearken these will what the Lord God will say concerning ihem; To which the Spirit of God here exhorts in the judgment of the Septuagint and Chaldee Paraphrast; for the first read it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and the last recipite disciplinam, receive his doctrine, and follow your instruction, hear, submit, and be content to be taught by him. Erudimini, apprehendite di • ciplinam.

But Subjects are not all of one sort; some obey for fear, others for love; some do but flatter and dissemble with their double lips, others mean simply & plainly, give a true kiss of love. Now such must be the kiss you bring this child, if any; see it be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a true, friendly, hearty salute, or else forbear. Judas brought him a kiss, but it had been better kept; For a kiss from a false heart moves him not, except to wrath. Beware then, give not a kiss of complement, or for fashion, as the multitude; give him not a traiterous kiss, as the hypocrite; but if you intend to kiss him at all, be sure it be with a true lovers heart, or else abstain. Hurt yourselves you may; you shall not win him, if you play the Devils part in Samuel's mantle.

3. Lastly, since he is come to make our peace, be not 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , be not of that generation which will have no peace, that will admit of no reconciliation. He for his part hath signified his mind to bestow on you sculum pacis, a kiss of peace; I pray therefore kiss and be friends. Why should you stand out any longer? Testifie if you can, wherein he hath grieved you; that you have grieved his Spirit, and fretted him, is too too apparent, and yet as if the wrong and injury had been done by him, he seeks to man for his good will.

Prepare then to meet thy God O Israel, be ready to meet him in the things that concern thy peace. Meet him in his Gospel of peace; meet him in his ways of peace; meet him by faith in his Son, who is the Prince of peace; meet him in his Sacraments, which are his Conduits of peace; meet him in his Ministers, who are the Angels of peace: and never then doubt but thou shalt be dismissed at last with a kiss of peace, a certain evidence of reconciliation; which is properly the kiss of his mouth, not of ours. For he it is that must assure us that the peace is made, else we shall have no comfort in it. When the kind father had fallen upon the neck of his Prodigal, and kissed him, then he was sure that his pardon was signed, not before. The father gave it, the Son received it.

To kiss Christ's feet, or his hands, belongs to us; when we adore him, we kiss his feet; when we submit to him, we kiss his hands, and are both a duty in us: But to give a kiss with his mouth, that is to be reconciled to us, only belongs to him, and is no otherwise a duty laid upon us, but that we be earnest and instant to obtain it. And to say truth, the sole way to purchase this favor, is to begin with his feet, and go on to his hands.

Mary the penitent began at his feet; at his feet she sat with a broken spirit and a contrite soul, with blubbered eyes, and mournful sobbs; and what now, if we got us all thither, stooped down to his feet, and watered them with this contrite dew, and kissed them with our sorrowful lips? 'It is but our duty, and a readier way there is not to obtain a kiss from his mouth.

This kiss of the feet is for Penitents, which yet, when we have sadly given, it becomes us not presently to be over-hasty or presumptuous to challenge that of his mouth. Ther'es another kiss to be given by the way, a middle duty; the hand is then offered, and we must remember to kiss that. For what? thou wast but yesterday polluted with blood, and wilt thou presume to touch his lips? but now thou layst groveling at his feet loaden with, and confessing thy deformities, and wilt thou presently be so bold as to approach his mouth? Take his hand in the way, and kiss that; Pray humbly, that with his hand he may raise thee, with his hand uphold thee, with his hand assist thee, that thy hands which before were instruments of iniquity, may hereafter be hands of innocence, dedicated wholly to his service, to his honor.

When we have thus humbly done our parts, kissed his feet with penitent tears, and humble souls; and kissed his hands in acknowledgment of our dependence upon him, telying wholly upon the good hand of God for power to execute our begun resolutions: Then we may the more boldly come to the throne of grace, and beg a kiss of his mouth from him. Say it be that of Mary, Thy sins are forgiven thee. Say it be that to Saint Paul, My grace is sufficient for thee, yet there is great comfort in it; for as it follows in the close of this verse, his love is better than wine. A Pardon pronounced by his lips, and a sufficiency of grace assured by his promise, is far beyond the delights of all earthly delicates. Talk no more then of the clusters of Engeddi, name not to me the Valleys loaden with Wheat, nor the Fields with Olives; These may please and content for a time, be some comfort rather to a living, than a dying man. While I live and breath, and at that instant when I shall breath my last, the Lord afford me this kiss, and seal his love upon my lips and soul, that I may depart in peace.

If I err in this my desire, I am content to err; neither am I willing, that either the motives of the ambitious, nor the incentives of the wanton, nor the wedge of the covetous, nor all the delights of the sons of men, ever persuade me from this error. For I am assured, that a kiss of reconciliation will be a better cordial to my now panting heart, and then parting soul, than all the pleasures of Solomon, or the treasures of Tyre. Evermore therefore Lord give me of this comfort, kiss me with the kisses of thy mouth, that I may live in peace, and die in peace, and rest in peace, and enjoy the fruits of this peace forever and ever. Far be it from your heart to imagine me so uncharitable, as that I have not included you in this my desire; for know that I wish you no worse than myself; why is it that I spend this breath, but that Christ should have his kisses from you, and you again your kisses from him? He his of adoration and submission, and you yours of reconciliation and peace. Go toward him, and make your tender of them, as did the Prodigal, and then though you be a great way off, he will fall upon your neck, and give you his kiss. Nothing can hinder you from it, but your undervaluing of it; which if you do, I shall hold you unworthy of so great a grace, so great love, so great a benefit, But I hope better things of you, and that you are as ambitious of it, as he ready to give it. Be content then to be reconciled to God, and he will be reconciled to you, upon which only depends your present, and your future happiness.

For till you be at peace with him, all the world is in war with you; The Angels have a drawn sword, and are ready to smite you. The Stars in their courses fight against you; God's mighty Army are in arms, and wait but for his sword to fall upon you: Whereas if you shall meet him, and kiss his Son, nay pray earnestly that he would kiss you, be willing that he apply his mouth to your mouth, and receive instructions from him, he will strike up with you a Covenant of peace. Peace you shall have in earth with all creatures; Peace within in your own hearts. And peace in heaven with your God. This will be the fruit of your reconciliation with Christ, and the end everlasting peace. Which God grant, &c.

2. But whom say you that I am?

But first a word of the question, which is here proposed to the Disciples, not to the people. In doubts and difficulties that arise in matters of faith, we are not to seek for resolutions from ordinary men, but apply ourselves to such as Christ hath taken nearer to him, and inquire of them. This man saith this, and the other man saith that, But what say you? Of the Lawyer we will inquire about our estate, and consult we will with the Physician about our health, and must the Divine be laid aside only, when a Quaere ariseth in his profession? Had this doubt here been moved to any of the people, 'tis evident what the answer had been; honest perhaps, and according to their knowledge, but yet far short of the Truth.

God hath ordained a higher Keeper of Divine Mysteries. The Priests lips, saith he shall preserve knowledge, preserve it and have it ready in store; and then follows the people's duty, and thou shalt inquire the Law at his mouth. In the Bases of the Temple there were Lions, Oxen, and Cherubims, of which a Father makes this Moral, those whom God has taken near to him, are the Bases of the Church, and endued they must be with the valor of Lions, the pains and patience of the Ox, and with the knowledge of a Cherub. Carry they must about them what the High Priest did in the Breastplate, Urim and Thummim, which Hieron expounds Doctrina & Veritas, Doctrine and Truth; There it is called the Breastplate of judgment; now no man in office receives power of Judicature for himself, but for the benefit of another. Doctrine is necessary that he judge wisely; and truth is requisite that he resolve honestly; but both these are of no farther use than to inform himself, if no man refer himself to his judgment. Remember then, it is not arbitrary in you, left to your choice whether you will ask or no, but a duty. His lips shall preserve; Thou shalt inquire. As he must be able by sound doctrine, both to exhort and to convince the gain-sayers: so must he (whom Saint Paul calls 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , in opposition to him, the unlearned) make use of his ab • lities to be exhorted, and for the conviction of gain-sayers.

Be it, that the malignant can spy moats in their eyes, which want of charity often swells into beams; yet as Christ told the Jews, The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses seat, and therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do. These are now set, not upon Moses seat, but upon Christ's; He by them teacheth you what you are to believe, what you are to do. 'It is his providence that these Pastors and Doctors shall not be wanting to the end of the World, by the light in whose eyes you may be kept from darkness; by whose truth from error. Especially in those truths which are absolutely necessary to salvation; Among which there is none of so great weight, as that upon which the question was here moved by Christ, and thus resolved by Saint Peter,

A short, but a full confession; in few words comprehending the whole Gospel of Christ, as well concerning his Natures, as his Offices.

1. His Natures; that of God, that of man.

• 1. Of man. Thou the Son of Mary art Christ, anointed; therefore a man.
• 2. Of God. For thou art, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the Son of the living God; therefore more than man.

2. His Offices; in that he was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , that Messiah that anointed, that was to come into the world; who was to be the Mediator to Reconcile God to Man: To be the Redeemer and Savior of His People.

Two points then out of these words naturally offer themselves to be discussed. 1. His Person. 2. His Offices; of which in their order. And first,

1. Of the Person. Thou art the Son of the living God.

Without question, great is the mystery of godliness; a mystery in many respects, but in this most mysterious, that God should be made manifest in the flesh. The Angels were astonished at it, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , stoop down, as desirous to look into it; and Gabriel that was sent to reveal it, shadows it out to us in an obscure word, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall over-shadow thee; therefore that holy One which shall be borne of thee, shall be called the Son of God. But faith Lynceos habet oculos, hath a quick eye; for Peter though he beheld Christ with his bodily eyes in the form of a servant as the Son of man, yet with his Spiritual eye of faith he pierced the veil, and perceived, and confessed that he was more than man, even the Son of the living God.

The meaning of which words is this, That Jesus Christ is not only a man, nor took his beginning when he was borne of the Virgin Mary, but that he was the Eternal Son of God, that he was true God as the Father is, and hath the same nature, essence, will and power with him. Neither can the confession of Peter admit of a lower interpretation, as it is proved by Zanchi by many strong Arguments; of which this is the Sum.

1. By the addition of the Article, ὁ. Ille filius Dei, That, that Son of God by which he separates, and distinguisheth him from all of his Sons; They Sons by Grace, but Thou that his Son by Nature.

2. Because upon this confession our Savior pronounceth Peter blessed, Blessed art thou Peter. For could the confession of him to have been the Son of God, as other men were, have made Peter a blessed man? Necessary then it was, that Peter by this his confession, must acknowledge him more than another man, or else no Blessedness could have been annexed to it.

3. The reason by our Savior here added confirms it, For flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee. A Revelation it was from Christ's Father in Heaven, and such there needed none, to testify him to be such a Son as God had many, adorned with excellent and extraordinary gifts and graces. For these had been a sufficient witness.

4. Christ promiseth to Peter, 1. Constancy in his profession. 2. That he would build his Church upon this Rock, that is, hat faith which Peer had confessed. 3. That the gates of Hell should never prevail against it. 4. He gives him the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, power to bind and loose. And who can do all this but God only? He alone can give perseverance, he alone can build the Church, he alone can conquer the Gates of Hell; at his girdle the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven hang, and he alone can give power to remit or retain sins. Since therefore our Savior assumes to himself that power which belongs to God, and gives to Peter for this confession, that which God alone could bestow: it cannot be thought, but P • ter by his confession, Thou art that Christ the Son of the living God, intended more than that he was one of those Sons whom God adopted or sanctified with grace; but that he acknowledged him to be his only Son borne of God by Nature; and therefore true God with the Father from everlasting.

A Truth, which because the Arians long since opposed, therefore the 318. Bishops assembled at Nice, expounded in larger terms, viz. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , of one substance with the Father: And Athanasius again, God of the substance of the Father, perfect God, equal to the Father, as touching his God-head. What the Apostles had first delivered, that those pious Bishops explained, and Athanasius defended, which was no other than Peters confession in this place, Thou art the S n of the living God. And that this his Testimony was true, we have so • it the Word of God, Psalm 2.7. Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. The voice of God at Jordan, at Tabor, This is my beloved Son; and a Declaration of it by his Resurrection from the dead; besides other infinite Testimonies in the Gospels and Epistles, which for brevity I forbear.

But what Son, perhaps you will ask, is he? Let David be heard to speak, and he will tell you, that he is his begotten Son; Saint John, that he is his only begoten Son, his true Son; Saint Paul, that he is his own Son, his first borne; having to this purpose in the verse before, alleged that place of the Psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Some Sons of God there are who are not begotten, but come in some other way. Sons of love, Sons of age, Sons of Regeneration, Sons of Adoption. Sons at large they are, but not begotten any one of them all. This word then Begotten, is a distinguishing term; and makes Christ to be so God's Son, as is no other. They their way, he his. They by grace and favor, he by nature and essence, his sole, natural, singular Son, of the same substance that he is. Co-essential, Co-equal, Co-eternal with Him.

1. C • -essential; for he is his begotten Son; and ever the thing begotten is of the same essence and substance with that which begets it; for which we have his own words, I and the Father are one. Unum, not Unus. Not one in will, but in Nature.

2. Co-equal. For neither person is greater or lesser than other. The Apostle teacheth it plainly, He thought it no Robbery to be equal with God.

3. Co-eternal. If the Father from everlasting, then the Son also from everlasting, because God as a Father cannot be conceived but to have a Son. Thus it is extant in the Prophet, Out of thee shall come a Prince, whose going forth hath been from old, from everlasting. In the creature there is a priority both of order and time; for in both these, that which is doth beget, is before that which is begotten. But in the generation of the second Person of the Trinity, there is a priority only of order flowing from the Relation, and not of Time; for in Time they are both equal, neither being afore nor after other.

But this whole point is fully delivered by the Apostle, God, saith he, hath spoken by his Son, who was the brightness of his glory, and the engraved image of his person. I shall give light to this place in the very words of a pious and Learned Bishop; and I glory to borrow my light from one of the clearest Lamps that ever this Church had. Christ's Divine Nature hath no less than these three words to express it, Son, Brightness, Character.

1. In son there is a true Identity of Nature, upon it is grounded 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , being of one substance, even as a Son is with the Father.

2. But the Son comes after the Father in time, and that a good time: Amends is made for that in the next term Brightness. For it is not to be imagined that there ever was, or could be a light body, but in the same instant there must stream from it a brightness. Upon this term then is grounded Co-eternal.

3. But then there is some inequality between the light body itself, and the beam or brightness of it: The beam not full out so clear. This is the imperfection in the term Brightness. But that is supplied by the next term Character. For that is ever equal; neither greater, nor lesser, than the type or stamp that made it. And upon this is grounded Co-equal. Agreeable to these three, we believe of Christ, that he is consubstantial as the Son; co-eternal as is the Brightness; co-equal as the Character: against the new heads of the old