A Key Opening Mysterious Texts of Scripture

THE BRUISED REED. A Sermon preached before his Grace, and the rest of his Majesty's Commissioners in causes Ecclesiastical, Decemb. 4. An. Dom. 1617. at Lambeth. THE FIRST SERMON.

I Would not presume to found a bruised Reed, or wind a cracked Pipe in this place, destinated and appointed for the silver Trumpets of Zion; nor blow my smoking Flaxe here, where the clearest Lights of the Sanctuary usually shine, if the Text of Scripture, even now read in your ears, encouraged me not thereunto, teaching the strongest and tallest Cedars of Lebanon, by the example of the Highest, not to fall upon, and break the bruised Reed: and likewise the brightest burning Lamps of the Church not to do ut, and quench the smoking, or (as the Hebrew bears it) the dimly burning Flaxe of their brethren's obscurer parts and labors. A bruised Reed, &c.

Whether by bruised Reed, with S. Gregory, we understand the broken Scepter of the Jewish Kingdom; and by smoking Flaxe, the Aaronicall Priesthood, destitute of the light of Faith, and now ready to go out and expire; or by Arundinem conquassatam, the shaken Reed (as S. Jerome reads the words) we conceive the wavering faith of the Jews to be meant; and by the smoking Flaxe, the momentary fervor of the Gentiles, which is Tertullian's exposition, seconded by Rhemigius: or we take the bruised Reeds in Saint Hilaries construction for the maimed bodies of such as were brought to Christ; and smoking Flaxe, for their troubled minds and distressed consciences: or we be carried with the main current of later Interpreters, who are all strongly for all penitent sinners oppressed with the heavy burden of their sins, and stricken with the horror of God's judgments, in whom there remains any spark of grace, to be shadowed under the Metaphors of the bruised Reed and smoking Flaxe.

The descant is somewhat different, the ground is the same; all warbling the sweet note of our Redeemers most gracious and merciful disposition, who was so meek in his speeches, that he never strained his voice to exclaim bitterly, and inveigh vehemently against any; Ver. 19. He shall not cry, nor lift up his voice: and so mild and altogether innocent in his actions, that he never brake so much as a bruised Reed, nor trode out a smothering Week, or smoking Flaxe.

To clear then the meaning of this Scripture from all mists of obscurity, arising from variety of Interpretations, give me leave, as it were, to melt many small wax lights into a great Taper, by a general Paraphrase upon the words. He, that is, Jesus, the second person in Trinity, our Mediator and Savior (as S. Matthew, by applying this Prophecy unto him, consequently expoundeth it) Shall or will not break 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , that is, destroy or cast away a bruised Reed or Cane, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , that is, an afflicted and contrite sinner, be he Prince or Priest, in Saint Gregory's sense; Jew or Gentile, according to Tertullian's interpretation; afflicted in body or in mind, agreeable to S. Hilaries exposition.

And smoking flax he shall or will not quench, that is, he will not dishearten or discourage any Puny or Novice in his School; but on the contrary he will cherish the smallest seeds of grace, and weak beginnings in new converts: neither will he take away his Spirit from any relapsed and languishing Christian, exhaling bitter and dark fumes of sighs for his sins, if there remain any light of faith in him, though never so obscure: any heat of true zeal and devotion, though very weak, and scarce sensible. Behold here then store and abundance of the Balm of Gilead, dropping from this sweet Cane in my Text. A Reed; what so weak? and that bruised; what so unprofitable? yet shall not be broken: And Flaxe, or the week of a lamp or candle; what so vile? and that smoking; what so loathsome? yet shall not be quenched. By this cursory interpretation and illustration of the words you may easily distinguish in them,

• 1. Two members of this Prophetical sentence.
  • A bruised, &c.
  • A smoking, &c.
• 2. Two subjects answerable to the two members.
  • Reed,
  • Flaxe.
• 3. Two attributes proper to these subjects.
  • Bruising,
  • Smoaking.
• 4. Two acts suitable to these attributes.
  • Break,
  • Quench.

both removed from, and denied of Christ, he shall not break, he shall not quench. Of these, by the concurrence of God's assistance, with your patience, now and hereafter, according to the order of the words in the original: A reed bruised he shall not break.

A reed. Although the reed in my Text may seem hollow, and consequently empty of matter fit for our use; yet if you please to look narrowly into it, you shall find it like that precious staff which Brutus offered to Apollo, in the hollow whereof much massy gold was enclosed. To open this horn or cane, that we may find the treasure hid in it, may it please you to take notice of a four-fold Reed described in holy Scriptures:

• 1. Mystical.
• 2. Artificial.
• 3. Natural.
• 4. Moral.

Of the Mystical you have heard already out of the Fathers. The Artificial reed is a golden instrument to mete withal, mentioned, Ezek. 40.5. Apoc. 21.15. I need not speak of the Natural reed, it is so well known to be a watery plant, or tree, wherewith nature fenceth the banks of rivers and brooks, placing them thick about the flagges, as it were so many pikes in an Army about the ensigns or streamers. The great Naturalist setteth forth this plant in the richest colors of Rhetoric, out of a kind of gratitude, as being indebted to it for his pen and pensill, which were anciently made of canes, as now of quils. The people of the East use reeds in their wars, of these they make deadly darts, these they wing with feathers, and they let them fly in such abundance, that they over-shadow the Sun. To these reeds the Prophet Isaiah pointeth: The reeds and flagges shall wither. But our Savior evidently alludeth to a Moral reed: What went you out into the wilderness to see? a Reed shaken with the wind? that is, a timorous and inconstant man. No, John was no such reed, he was not light nor unstable, nor must we be, if we expect one day to be made pillars in the Temple of God.

Of these four kinds of reeds, which sorteth best with the meaning of this Scripture? the Artificial cannot be here meant; for that's a perfect straight cane: but this a bowed or bruised. Maldonado glaunceth at the Natural, and thus (as he imagineth) hitteth the sense: He will tread so warily and lightly, that if a bruised reed were under his feet, he would not break it, or crush it in pieces. But St. Jerome sweetly playeth upon the Mystical reed: By the shaken and bruised reed, saith he, the Evangelist understandeth the people of the Jews, which in former time were sound and entire, and sweetly sounded out the praises of God; but now falling upon the corner stone, were cracked: and therefore are fitly termed a bruised reed, running into their hands who lean upon it.

And Gorran addeth, that the Jewish people might in this also be compared to reeds, that they stuck to the letter of the Law, and were inwardly hollow, that is, empty of the spiritual sense and meaning. Yet the same Saint Jerome in his Commentaries upon St. Matthew, understandeth Reed in my Text morally, taking it for a frail and weak man, whereof what fitter emblem can be devised than a reed? 1. A reed hollow within, and man by nature empty and void of all inward grace. 2. A reed apt to make a pipe to sound, or cane to write; and man likewise fitted with a tongue to sound out, and a hand to write his Makers praises. 3. A reed dry or unfruitful, though planted and growing by the river side; and man dry and unfruitful in good works, though continually watered with the dew of God's blessings. 4. A reed ever wagging of it self, or shaken, and man so unstable, that Plato defines him 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a changeable creature. 5. A reed so weak, that it yieldeth to the least puff of wind, and is blown down to the ground with a violent blast; and man so feeble, that he is moved with the least blast of temptation, and if it grow more violent, is not only shaken, but quite bowed and bruised by it, as this in my Text.

Bruised. A reed, as I have shown, is an emblem of frail man; but a bruised reed seemeth to me a proper emblem of a Christian: the Motto or word you have in John the 16. In mundo pressuram habebitis: In the world you shall have, word for word, bruising, that is, grievances, and bruises, or pressures, some inward, some outward, some in the body, some in the soul, some from the yoke of Tyrants, some from the burden of your sins, some from the weight of God's judgments. Whereunto S. Austin sweetly alluding, saith, The fairest and ripest grapes are pressed, that they may yield their sweetest juice. The hint of which conceit he may seem to have taken from Saint Cyprian: Ye are goodly branches of the true Vine, hanged with clusters of ripe grapes; secular persecution is your treading upon and pressing, your wine-press is the prison, and instead of wine, your blood is drawn from you. The honey-combes are pressed and bruised, to squeeze out of them the thickest honey; the ripe and full ears are smitten and bruised with the flail, to beat the corn out of them: the rich Ore is beat and bruised in the stamping mils, and afterwards tried by fire, before there come of it precious and pure metal: the corn is bruised and ground to make flower. Whereunto the blessed Martyr Ignatius fitly resembling the death whereby he was then to glorify God, when he heard the hungry Lions roaring for their prey, and gaping wide to devour him, said, I am Christ's corn, and straight-ways shall be ground with the teeth of beasts, that I may be served in as fine manchet at his table in heaven. When the hottest spices are bruised and brayed in the mortar, they yield a most fragrant smell; and a box of ointment, after that it is broken, sweetly perfumeth the whole room: Even so those prayers and meditations are most fervent and fragrant in the nostrils of Almighty God, which rise from a bruised spirit, and a broken and contrite heart, through inward and outward affliction. It is the proper evil and (if I may so speak) misery of earthly happiness, that it maketh the heart fat, and dulleth and deadeth the spirits of zeal and devotion: and contrariwise, it is a kind of happiness which misery bringeth, that it quickens us, and maketh us seek diligently after God.

In their affliction they will seek me diligently. When by any grievous fit of sickness, or great loss, or sore wound in our reputation, we are touched to the quick, then we begin to be sensible of our own infirmities, and compassionate of other men's calamities; then we offer up prayers with strong cries; then, like bowed and bruised reeds, we fall flat down to the ground, then our hearts swell with grief, and our eyes are big with tears, and if God's hand lie very heavy and long upon us, we bid defiance to all worldly pleasures and comforts, which fail us in our greatest extremity: we grow weary of this life, and in our desires run to meet death the half way, and sigh, and mourn, and pine away till we be quite dissolved, that we may be with Christ. In regard of these and such like wholesome fruits, which meekness and patience gather from the cross, I dare undertake to make good that seeming Paradox of Demetrius concerning evils, Nihil eo infoelicius, cui nihil infoelix contigit; None is so miserable as he who in this life never tasted any misery: For, besides that continual pleasures glut his senses, and his very happiness cloyeth him, he wanteth many improvements of his wisdom, many trials of his faith, many exercises of his patience, many incentives of his zeal, many preservatives against sin; and, which weigheth all down, many arguments of God's love towards him, and care over him. If the Schoolmasters eye be always upon his Scholar to observe him, if he still check and correct him for his faults, it is a sign he beareth a singular affection to him, and hath a special care over him; but if he let him loiter and play the trewant, and abuse his fellows, and never call him to an account for it, it is evident thereby, that he intendeth to leave, or hath already left the tuition of him. In like manner, whiles the Physician prescribes to his patient unpleasing diet and bitter potions, and is ever trying some medicine or other upon him, the friends of the sick are in good hope; but when the Physician leaves prescribing physic, and forbids his patient nothing that he hath a mind unto, though he grow still worse and worse, then all that are about him take on grievously, and shed tears in secret, as knowing well that their friend is given over by the Doctor for desperate. Which Saint Bernard seriously considering, delivereth this strange, yet most true Aphorism, Illi vere irascitur Deus, cui non irascitur: God is angry indeed with him, to whom he shows it not by rebuking and chastening him for his sin. For whom he mends not by chastening in this world, he certainly purposeth to condemn in the other: This is a ruled case in Divinity, Dives is a president for it.

If things stand thus in this world, let no Christian flatter himself with a vain hope of uninterrupted prosperity, and unmixed joys in this life: Invicem cedunt dolor & voluptas, pleasures and sorrows have their turns; as sorrows end in joys, so joys in sorrows. There is a cup of trembling which cannot pass, but first or last we must taste of it: & since we must; let us look for it, and when it comes to us, cheerfully off with it; the rather, because our Lord and Savior hath begun in it deep unto us. O ye Favorites, and (if I may so speak) Minions of Fortune, who are driven with a prosperous gale, and bear a lofty sails, swelling with the pride of a high mind, strike sails in time, look soon for a bitter storm: Though the smooth sea smile upon thee, and seem to be no other than a standing pool, though the top of the water by the wind be not so much as cast into bubbles, like the curles of thy hair, trust not the deep; the plain thou seest hath many mountains in it, the present calm will prove in the end a tempest: or else assure thyself thou sailest not in Christ's ship; for that was tossed in the sea, and even covered with waves, yet not drowned:

How should the ship be drowned or cast away upon the rocks, wherein Christ is the Pilot, the Scripture the Card, his Cross the main Mast, his promises, ( I will be with you to the end of the world, and, Hell gates shall not prevail against it) the Anchors, his holy Spirit the Wind? This maketh the Church bold, not only to check and repress the insolency of her enemies, saying, Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy, though I fall I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me: but also glory in the Lord, and insult over them, saying, Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth up, but they have not prevailed against me: Nay, In all things we are more than Conquerors, through him that loved us. David often harpeth upon this sweet string, The Lord hath chastened me sore, but he hath not given me over unto death: the righteous falleth, yet shall not be utterly cast down. What an excellent harmony doth St. Paul make of seeming discords! 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not altogether without means; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed: that is (to set the Prophets ditty to the Apostles tune) We are continually bruised, yet not broken. He shall not break.

I fore-see what you may object, That many of God's servants, and Christ's soldiers have had their flesh torn with whips, their joints hewn asunder, their bones broken on the rack, and sometimes ground to powder with the teeth of wild beasts; nay, their whole body burnt to ashes, and these ashes cast into the river: how say we then, the bruised reed is never broken, nor the smoking flax quenched?

For this blow we have a four-fold ward:

1. We are to understand, that God's promises of delivering his Saints are principally and simply to be taken of their eternal deliverance; but of temporal secondarily, and conditionally, as it standeth with his glory, and their greater good.

2. We are to note, that many of the promises above mentioned concern the entire body of the Church, not every particular member. The bruised reed may be broken in some part, yet not through the whole: Tyrants may waste and destroy the Church partially, but not totally, for the reasons intimated by Tertullian and S. Leo, because the blood of Martyrs spilled upon the ground is like spiritual seed, from whence spring up new Martyrs: and the grains of corn which fall one by one, and die in the earth, rise up again in great numbers. Persecution serveth the Church in such stead, as pruning doth the Vine, whereby her branches shoot forth farther, and bear more fruit. Therefore S. Jerome excellently compareth the militant Church, burning still in some part in the heat of persecution, and yet flourishing, to the bush in Exodus, out of which God's glory shined to Moses, which burned, yet consumed not.

3. We are to distinguish between corporal and spiritual destruction: Though the cane be crushed to pieces, yet the air in the hollow of it is not hurt; though the tree be hewn, the beam of the Sun shining upon it is not cut or parted in sunder. Fear not them, saith our Savior, which can kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Could the Philosopher say, tundis vasculum: Anaxarchi, non Anaxarchum, Thou beatest the vessel, or strikest the coffin of Anaxarchus, not Anaxarchus himself, O Tyrant? Shall not a Christian with better reason say to his tormentors, Ye break the box, ye spill not any of the ointment; ye violate the casket, ye touch not the jewel? neither have ye so much power as utterly and perpetually to destroy the casket (viz.) my body; for though it be beat to dust, and ground to powder, yet shall it be set together again, and raised up at the last day, and made conformable to Christ's glorious body by the power of God, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself.

4. And lastly, it is not here said simply the bruised reed shall not be broken, but shall not be broken by him, He shall not break the bruised reed.

He shall not break: for he came not to destroy, but to save; not to burden, but to ease; not to lay load upon us, but to carry all our sorrows; not to break the bruised reed, but rather to have reeds broken upon him, wherewith he was smote. Pliny observeth, that those that are stricken by Scorpions, are ever after privileged from the stings of Wasps or Bees. The beasts that were torn or hurt by any accident, might not be sacrificed or eaten. It is more than enough to be once or singly miserable: whereupon he in the Greek Poet passionately pleads against further molestation,

For God's sake disease not a diseased man, press not a dying man with more weight. Which because the enemies of David had the hard hearts to do, he most bitterly cursed them: Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them; let their habitation be desolate, and let none dwell in their tents: for they persecute him whom thou hast smitten, and talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded. O how grievously doth S. Cyprian complain against the inhumane cruelty of the persecutors of Christians in his time, who laid stripes upon stripes, and inflicted wounds upon sores, and tortured not so much the members of God's servants, as their bleeding wounds! Verily for this cause alone God commanded, that the name of Amalek should be blotted out from under heaven, because they met Israel by the way when they were faint, and smote the feeble among them. For not to comfort the afflicted, not to help a man that is hurt, not to seek to hold life in one that is swouning, is inhumanity; but contrarily, to afflict the afflicted, to hurt the wounded, to trouble the grieved in spirit, sua sponte cadentem maturiùs extinguere vulnere, to strike the breath out of a man's body who is giving up the ghost, to break a reed already bruised, to insult upon a condemned man, to vex him that is broken in heart, and add sorrow to sorrow, Oh this is cruelty upon cruelty; far be it from any Christian to practice it, and yet further from his thoughts, to cast any such aspersion upon the Father of mercy. How should the God of all consolation drive any poor soul to desperation? he that will not break a bruised reed, will he despise a broken heart? He that will not quench the smoking flax, will he quench his Spirit, and tread out the sparks of his grace in our souls? No, no, his Father sealed to him another commission, to preach good tidings to the meek, to bind up the broken hearted, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to give unto them that mourn in Zion beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. And accordingly he sent by his Prophet a comfortable message to the daughter of Zion, Tell her, behold the King cometh unto thee meek, and riding upon an Ass: a bruised reed he shall not break, he did not break; and smoking flax he shall not quench, he did not quench. Was not Peter a bruised reed when he fell upon the rock of offense, and thrice denied his Master, and went out and wept bitterly? Was not Paul like smoking flax in the worst sense, when he breathed out threats against the Church, and sought by all violent means to smother the new light of the Gospel? yet we all see what a burning and shining lamp Christ hath made of this smoking flax: what a noble cane to write the everlasting mercies of God to all posterity he hath made of the other, a bruised reed: But what speak I of bruised reeds not broken? the Jews that crucified the Lord of life, the Roman soldier that pierced his side, were liker sharp pointed darts than bruised reeds; yet some of these were saved from breaking. Such is the virtue of the blood of our Redeemer, that it cleansed their hands that were imbrued in the effusion thereof, if they afterward touch it by faith: so infinite is the value of his death, that it was a satisfaction even for them who were authors of it, and saved some of the murderers of their Savior, as St. Cyprian most comfortably deduceth out of the second of the Acts: They are quickened by Christ's blood who spilled it. Well therefore might St. Bernard demand, What is so deadly which Christ's death cannot heal? Comfort then, O comfort the fainting spirits, and strengthen the feeble knees, revive the spirit of the humble, raise up the prostrate and dejected soul. Be of good cheer ye that have received the sentence of death in yourselves. There is no malady of the soul so deadly, against which the death of Christ is not a sovereign remedy; there is no sore so great nor so festering, which a plaster of Christ's blood will not cleanse and heal, if it be thereto applied by a lively faith.

Thus, as you see, I have made of the bruised reed a staff of comfort for a drooping conscience to stay it self upon; extend but your patience to the length of the hour, and I will make of it a strait rule for your actions and affections. Though all the actions of our Savior are beyond example, yet ought they to be examples to us for our imitation; and though we can never overtake him, yet we ought to follow after him. His life is a perfect samplar of all virtues, out of which if we ought to take any flower, especially this of meekness, which himself hath pricked out for us, saying, Learn of me that I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls, which also he richly setteth forth with a title of blessedness over it, and a large promise of great possessions by it; Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Neither is this virtue more acceptable in the sight of God, than agreeable to the nature of man. Witness our sleek and soft skin without scales or roughness; witness our harmless members without horns, claws, or stings, the offensive weapons of other creatures; witness our tender and relenting heart, apt to receive the least impression of grief; witness our moist eyes, ready to shed tears upon any sad accident:

Shall not grace imprint that virtue in our souls, which nature hath expressed in the chief members of our bodies, and exemplified in the best creatures almost in every kind? Even among beasts, the tamest and gentlest are the best; the master Be either hath no sting at all, or (as Aristotle testifieth) never useth it. The upper region of the air is always calm and quiet, inferiora fulminant, saith Seneca, men of baser and inferior natures are boisterous and tempestuous: The superior spheres move regularly, and uniformly, and the first mover of them all is slow in his proceedings against rebellious sinners; he was longer in destroying Jericho, than in creating the whole world. And when Adam and Eve had sinned with a high hand, reaching the forbidden fruit, and eating it, it was the cool of the evening before the voice of the Lord was heard in the garden, and the voice that was heard, was of God walking, not running: to verify those many attributes of God, Merciful, gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin.

Is God merciful, and shall man be cruel? is the master meek and mild, and shall the servant be fierce and furious? shall he give the Lamb in his Scutchion, and they the Lion? If he who ruleth the Nations with a rod of iron, and breaketh them in pieces like a potters vessel, will not break the bruised reed, shall reeds break reeds? The Heathen Poet giving charge to his wooden god to look to his garden, useth this commination, See thou look well to my trees, Alioqui & ipse lignum es, Otherwaies know that thou art wood thyself, that is, fit fuel for the fire. Suffer, I beseech you, the word of exhortation; Look to it that you break not Christ's bruised reeds, Alioqui & ipsi estis arundines, Otherwaies know that you yourselves are but reeds, and what measure you mete unto others, shall be measured unto you again. Stand not too much upon your own innocence and integrity: For, Woe be to the commendable life of men, if it be searched into without mercy, and scann'd exactly. The Cherubims themselves continually look towards the Mercy-seat: and if we expect mercy at the hands of God or man, we must show mercy; for there shall be judgment without mercy, to him that will show no mercy: which menacing to the unmerciful, though it point to the last judgment, and then take it's full effect, yet to deter men from this unnatural sin against their own bowels, it pleaseth God sometimes in this life to make even reckonings with hard hearted men, and void of all compassion. As he did with Appius, of whom Livy reporteth, that he was a great oppressor of the liberties of the commons, and particularly that he took away all appeals to the people in case of life and death. But see how Justice revenged Mercies quarrel upon this unmerciful man; soon after this his decree, he being called in question for forcing the wife of Virginius, he found all the Bench of Judges against him, and was constrained for saving his life to prefer an appeal to the people, which was denied him with great shouts and out-cries of all, saying, Ecce provocat, qui provocationem sustulit; who sees not the hand of divine Justice herein? He is forced to appeal, who by barring all appeals in case of life and death, was the death of many a man. Let his own measure be returned upon him. And as Appius was denied the benefit of appeals, whereof he deprived others, and immediately felt the stroke of justice; so Eutropius, who gave the Emperor counsel to shut up all Sanctuaries against capital offenders, afterwards being pursued himself for his life, and flying to a Sanctuary for refuge, was from thence drawn out by the command of S. Chrysostom, and delivered to the ministers of justice, who made him feel the smart of his own pernicious counsel. I need the less speak for mercy, by how much the more we all need it: and therefore I pass from the act to the proper subject of mercy, The bruised reed. If mercy should be shown unto all men, no place would be left for justice; therefore St. Jude restraineth mercy to some, Of some have compassion, making a difference. The difference we are to make is of

• 1. Sin.
• 2. Sinners.

For there are sins of ignorance, and sins against conscience; sins of infirmity, and sins of presumption; sudden passions, and deliberate evil actions; light stains, and fowl spots: some sins are secret and private, others public and scandalous; some silent, others crying; some prejudicial only to the delinquent, others pernicious to the Church and Common-wealth. For the former, mercy often intercedeth, seldom or never for the latter.

Again, some offenders are like heart of oak; which many strong blows of an axe will scarce enter; others like the Balsamum of Judea, which you kill if you touch but the rine of it with an iron instrument: and therefore they which keep them, provide instruments of glass, or knives of bone to prune them. The former resemble the Adamant, which can be cut or pointed by nothing but an Adamant; the latter the Pyrrhite, a precious stone, which may be gently ground or cut with a sharp tool, but if you press it hard, or handle it rudely, it burneth the fingers. For the latter mercy sometimes intercedeth, not so for the former. Lastly, after the offense committed, some are like bruised reeds, falling down upon the earth, and imploring mercy: Others like a stiff or strait cane, never so much as bowing; some stand in defense of that they have done, others ingenuously confess their fault; some glory in their sin, others are confounded with it: in a word, some are obstinate, some are penitent; those mercy disclaimeth, these she often taketh to her protection. They who in former times like pipes of reeds have sweetly sounded out the praises of God, but now are cracked with some pardonable error in judgment, or slip in manners, if they be truly bruised with the weight of their sin, and thoroughly contrite, may plead the privilege of the bruised reed in my Text, not to be broken by any over hard and severe censure or sentence, not the Atheistical scoffer, not the impudent Adulterer, not the obstinate Recusant, not Jesuited Papists, which like the Egyptian reeds mentioned by the Prophet, run into the hands and sides even of Kings and Princes. They who have formerly shined before their brethren, both in their pure doctrine and good example, though now by the violent blast of some fearful temptation, are blown out as it were, and send up bitter fumes of sorrowful lamentations for their sinful iniquity or impurity, in some cases are not to be quenched; what therefore are not heretical apostataes, and schismatical boutefieus and fire-brands of Church and State, not to be quenched and trode out, which if they be not quenched in time, will set all in a combustion in the end?

To conclude, as I began, with the words of my Text; it is the bruised reed that is not to be broken, not the poisoned dart; it is the smoking flax that is not to be quenched, not the burning match. A bruised reed he shall not break. Behold in the reed your frailty, in the bruised reed your condition; in the not breaking the bruised reed, a singular rule for your direction, of which I spake but now, and a strong staff of comfort, of which before.

God grant that we may all acknowledge our frailty, as being no other than reeds, and to arm ourselves with patience against manifold pressures and tribulations, as being reeds that are or shall be bruised; and when we are afflicted or oppressed, not to despair of help and ease, but to trust in God's mercy, and hope for a joyful deliverance, as bruised reeds that yet are not to be broken: and lastly, expecting mercy for ourselves, show mercy with discretion unto others, as being reeds, therefore not broken, that we may learn by the example of our Lord and Master not to break the bruised reed. To whom, &c.

THE SMOAKING FLAXE. A Sermon preached at Lambeth before his Grace, the Lord Bishop of London, and other his Majesty's Commissioners in causes Ecclesiastical, Decemb. 5. 1618. THE SECOND SERMON.

THe sweet temper, and gracious disposition of our blessed Redeemer, is as the sap in the root, which conveyeth life to the two branches of this Scripture. For by it the d • y and bruised reed is nourished, as with moisture supplied; and the smoking flax and dying lamp is refreshed, as it were with oil: That, he will not break, this, he will not quench.

He, who came to heal the broken hearted, and set at liberty them that are bruised, will not break the bruised reed. He, who was sent to give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, will not quench the smoking flax, or dimly burning week. He, who bare all our infirmities, and carried our sorrows, will not lay too heavy a burden upon those that are truly humbled, but will so lightly pass over their sins, that he will not break or crush in pieces the bruised reed, nor tread out the smoking flax.

This Text speaketh peace and much comfort, yet not to all, but to the contrite soul only. The bruised and soft reed shall not be broken, but the stiff and hard reed, like that wherewith Christ was smitten, shall be broken. They who after their sins committed relent not at all, they who are not troubled in conscience, nor crushed with fear of judgment, but stand in justification of their sins, and excuse their profane sports on the Lord's day, saying, they use but lawful recreations, and their defiling the flesh, by pretending that it is but a trick of youth, and their drunkenness, that it is but good fellowship, and their sacrilege, that it is the custom to pay no more; and cover other vices with the like cloaks, may challenge no interest in this promise: but the bruised reed, that is, the contrite sinner, he who is displeased with himself, because he hath displeased his gracious God; he whose spirit grieveth, because he hath grieved God's holy Spirit; he who because he hath done that which God abhorreth, abhorreth himself in dust and ashes; he who when God chasteneth him for his sins, kisseth his heavenly Fathers rod, and acknowledgeth that he deserveth far smarter blows than those which yet he feels; he who goeth mourning all the day long, and will never be at peace with himself, till he hath made his peace with his Maker; he who always feeling the weight of his sins, sigheth and groaneth under them, and never ceaseth to offer up prayers to God with strong cries, till he be eased of them. Are we such bruised reeds? We often instead of denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, have with Peter denied our Master; but do we weep bitterly with him, and (as he) whensoever he heard the Cock crow after the denial of his Master, fell on weeping afresh; so, do the wounds of our consciences bleed afresh at the sight of every object, and hearing of every sound, which puts us in mind of our crimson sins? We have polluted our beds with David, but do we cleanse them as he did? do we make our couches to swim with tears of repentance? We have entertained with Mary Magdalene many soul sins, like so many unclean spirits; but have we broken a box of precious ointment upon Christ's head, or kneeled down and washed his feet with our tears? If we have done so, then are we bruised reeds indeed, and shall not be broken; but if other ways we be not bruised in heart for our sins, and break them off by mature repentance, we shall be either broken for them by sore chastisements in this world, or (which is worst of all) like unfruitful and rotten trees, be reserved to be fuel for Hell fire.

But because the bruised reed was the measure of my former discourse, I will now fall to blow the smoking flax, which Christ will not quench. To quench the light, especially the light of the spirit in our hearts, seemeth to be a work of darkness, how then may it be ascribed to the Father of lights, or what meaneth the Prophet to deny that Christ will do that which is so repugnant to his nature, that if he would, he could not do it? Religiously learned antiquity hath long ago assoiled this doubt, teaching us, that God quencheth as he hardeneth, Non infundendo malitiam, sed subducendo gratiam, not by pouring on anything like water to quench the flame, but by taking away that oyly moisture which nourisheth it. Our daily experience showeth us, that a lamp or candle may be extinguished three manner of ways at least:

• 1. By a violent puff of wind.
• 2. By the ill condition of the week, indisposed to burn.
• 3. By want of wax, or defect of oil to feed it.

Even so the light of the Spirit may be quenched in us by three means: either by a violent temptation of the evil spirit, as it were a puff of wind; or by the inbred corruption of our nature, repelling grace, which fitly resembleth the indisposition of the week to take fire, or keep in it the flame; or lastly, by subtraction of divine grace, which is the oil or sweet wax that maintaineth this light. By the first means the Devil, by the second man himself, by the third God quencheth the light of the spirit in them who love darkness more than light; but such are not those, who in my Text are compared to smoking flax. For though they have small light of knowledge to shine to others, yet they have heat of devotion burning in themselves: they are such, saith St. Hilary, Who conceiving in themselves a small spark of faith, because they are in part still flesh, burn not clearly, but as it were smoakily, whom Christ will not quench, but kindle in them the fire of perfect charity. St. Gregory by smoking flax understandeth the Aaronicall Priesthood now dimly burning, and ready to go out, he thinketh the flax to have some reference to the Priests linen garments made of it. Tertullian paraphraseth the smoking flax, Momentaneum gentium fervorem, The momentary fervor of the Gentiles, in whom the light of nature by sinful filthiness being extinct, exhaleth most pestiferous fumes of noisome lusts. St. Chrysostom and St. Austin through the smoke discern the Scribes and Pharisees, and other enemies of Christ, their envy and malice which soultred within them, but brake not out into an open flame. Whom Christ quenched not, that is, destroyed not, though he could have as easily done it, as break a reed already bruised, or tread out a stinking snuff cast upon the ground. But these expositions in the judgment of later Divines seem either constrained and forced, or at the lest too much restrained and narrow. They therefore extend the meaning of them to all weak Christians, either newly converted or relapsed, In quibus tamen relucet aliquid bonae spei. Scintilla aliqua pietatis veluti moribunda. Tepidi ad opus bonum, habentes tamen aliquid gratiae. Extinctioni vicini. Qui sceleribus gravissimis, seu fumo quodam oculos bonorum offendunt, & veluti foetore corruptae famae mores piorum infestant: Breathing out bitter fumes for their sins, offending the godly with the ill savor of their lives, luke-warm to good works, near extinction, in whom yet remains some light of faith and hope, though very obscure, some warmth of charity, some spark of grace. Comfort then, O comfort the fainting spirits, and cheare up the drooping conscience, say to the bruised reed that is now unfit to make a pipe to sound, or a cane to write the praises of God, thou shalt not be broken; and to the smoking flax, which gives but a very dim light, and with the fume offendeth the eyes of the godly, and with the stench their noses, thou shalt not be quenched. Nothing is so easy as to break a reed already bruised, the least weight doth it; nothing so facile as to quench smoking flax, the least touch doth it: yet so mild was our Savior, that he never brake the one, nor quenched the other. The flax or week smoaketh, either before it is fully kindled, or after it is blown out. If we consider it in the first condition, the moral or spiritual meaning of the Text is, that Christ cherisheth the weak endeavors, and small beginnings of grace in his children. For we must know, that in our first conversion the measure of grace is but small in us, and mixed with much corruption, which if Christ should quench, there would be found never a clear burning lamp in his Church; but he most graciously preserveth it, and augmenteth it, because it is a spark from heaven kindled by his own spirit: and it much illustrateth his glory, to keep it from going out, notwithstanding the indisposition of the week to burn, and continual blasts of temptation ready to blow it out. I said in my haste, quoth David, I am cast out of thy sight: there is smoke in the flax, yet was not the flax quenched; for he addeth, yet thou heardest the voice of my prayer. Jonas in like manner cries, I am cast out of thy sight: there is smoke in the flax, yet was not the flax quenched; for he addeth immediately, yet I will look again to thy holy Temple. If thou wilt, thou canst, said one poor man in the Gospel. Lord, if thou canst, said another; both these were as the smoking flax in my Text. For the former doubted of God's power, the latter of his will, yet neither of both were quenched. O miserable man that I am, saith S. Paul, in the person of a Christian travelling in his new birth, who shall deliver me from this body of death? here is a cloud of smoke, yet it is blown away in an instant, and the flame breaketh out, and blazeth into God's praises; Thanks be unto God, who hath given us victory through Jesus Christ. Man for a little smoke will quench the light; but Christ everywhere cherisheth the least spark of grace, and bloweth it gently by his spirit, till it break forth into a flame. To encourage us the more, he accepteth the will for the deed, and a good assay for the performance. If thou canst but shed a tear for thy sins, he hath a bottle to put it in; if thou steal a sigh in secret, he hath an ear for it; if thy faith be but as a grain of mustard seed, it shall grow to a great tree. Nathanael at the first had but a small ground to believe that Christ should be the Messias; but afterwards Christ made good his words unto him, he saw greater things to build his faith upon: Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig-tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. Apollos at the first was but catechized in Johns Baptism, but afterwards Aquila and Priscilla expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly, and he helped them much which had believed through grace: for he mightily convicted the Jews, and that publicly, showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ. Joseph of Arimathea, richer in grace than wealth, and a great dispreader of the Gospel, and (as many ancient Writers report) the first planter of Christian Religion in this Island, yet till Christ's death had small courage to profess him; but when the evening was come, which was the preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, he went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. Saint Augustine at the first was drawn to the Church by the luster of Saint Ambrose his eloquence, as himself confesseth: but afterwards he was much more taken with the strength of his proof, than the ornaments of his speech; and God by his Spirit so blowed the spark of divine knowledge in this smoking flax, that the Church of God never saw a clearer lamp burning in it since it had him.

If we consider the smoking flax in the second condition, to wit, after the lamp is blown out, the spiritual meaning is, That those in whom there was ever any spark of saving grace, shall never be quenched; or that after the most fearful blast of temptation, there remains yet some divine fire in the heart of every true believer, which Christ will never quench. Christ will not quench the smoking flax, if there be any spark of divine fire in it: yet if this spark be not blown, and the week enlightened again, it will die; in like manner if we do not according to the Apostles precept, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , stir up the grace of God in us, and use the utmost of our religious endeavors to kindle again the lamp of faith in our souls, that spark of divine faith and saving grace which we conceive that we have, will die. As it is not presumption, but faith, to be confident in God's promises when we walk in his Ordinances; so it is not faith, but presumption, to assure ourselves of the end, when we neglect the means of our salvation. We may no otherwise apprehend or apply unto ourselves the gracious promises made to all true believers in the Gospel, than they are propounded unto us, which is not absolutely, but upon conditions by us to be performed through the help of divine grace, namely, to wash ourselves, to make us clean, to put away the evil of our doings from before God's eyes, to cease to do evil, to learn to do well, to seek judgment, to relieve the oppressed, to judge the fatherless, and to plead for the widow, to break off our sins by righteousness, and our iniquity by showing mercy to the poor, to abhor ourselves, and repent in dust and ashes, to remember from whence we are fallen, and do our first works, to be zealous and amend, and to bring forth fruits meet for repentance. To argue from a strong persuasion of our election, and from thence to infer immediately assurance of salvation, is, as Tertullian speaketh in another case, aedificare in ruinam. The safe way to build ourselves in our most holy faith, and surely fasten the anchor of our hope, is to conclude from amendment of life, repentance unto life: from our hatred of sin, God's love unto us: from hunger and thirst after righteousness, some measure of grace: from godly sorrow and son-like fear, and imitation of our heavenly Father, the adoption of sons: from continual growth in grace, perseverance to the end: from the fruits of charity, the life of our faith: and from all, a modest assurance of our election unto eternal life. Not curiously to dispute the Scholastical question concerning the absolute impossibility of the apostasy of any Saint, and the amissibility of justifying faith, which many learned Doctors of the Reformed Churches hold fitter to be extermined than determined, or at least confined to the Schools, than defined in the Pulpit: that wherein all parties agree is sufficient to comfort the fainting spirits, and strengthen the feeble knees of any relapsed Christian; That God will never be wanting to raise him, if he be not wanting to himself. But if when he is returned, with the Sow to his wallowing in the mire, he taketh delight therein, and never striveth to pluck his feet out of it, nor rise up out of the dirt, if he never cry for help, nor so much as put forth the hand of his faith, that Christ may take hold of it, and by effectual grace draw him out of the mud: he will certainly putrefy in his sins. He that heareth the Word of God preached, and assenteth thereunto, and is most firmly persuaded of God's love to him for the present, if through the rebellion of the flesh against the spirit, or the suggestions of Satan, or by the wicked counsels and examples of others, he chargeth himself with any foul sin, either of impiety against God, or iniquity against men, or impurity against his own body, doth not his conscience tell him, that God is highly displeased with him? doth he not feel the effects of his wrath in his soul, and oftentimes in his body and estate also? and if the hand of God upon him bring him not to a sight, and a sense, and an acknowledgement, and a detestation also of his sin, dare any man secure his salvation? On the contrary, if after his relapse, his heart smite him, and he feels the prick of conscience, if there be any spark in the week, any bitter fume drawing tears from his eyes, any fervor of zeal, any heat of love in him, any vehement desire of saving grace, though he receive the sentence of death in himself, and breathe out his last gasp in a disconsolate sigh, and with a lamentable groan; yet none doubteth, but that he may pass even by the gates of Hell into Heaven. There is nothing so easy or frequent, as for a man to slip or fall who walketh upon the ice; and what is this world, compared by Saint John to a sea of glass, but slippery ice? in which though they who go most warily slide often, and receive grievous falls; yet they may take such hold on the one side upon the promises of God, (I will not turn away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me:) and on the other side upon Christ's prayer, (I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not) that they fall not irrecoverably, or so dangerously, as that they die of their fall. For whose comfort in their fearfullest conflicts with despair, I will lay such grounds of confidence, as will amount to a hope that maketh not ashamed, and at least to a moral assurance of the recovery of their former estate.

In the ninth of Proverbs and the first, we have a description of a house built by Wisdom: Wisdom, saith he, hath built her an house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars. By this house, albeit some of the Ancients understand the incarnation of the Son of God, who is the Wisdom of his Father, and might be said then to build him an house, when he framed a body to himself; yet may it be applied to the spiritual house, which every Christian buildeth by faith upon the rock Christ Jesus; for as that, so this standeth upon seven pillars:

• 1. The constancy of God's love in Christ.
• 2. The certainty of his decrees.
• 3. The truth of his promises.
• 4. The power of regenerating grace.
• 5. The efficacy of Christ's prayer and intercession for all Believers.
• 6. The safeguard of the Almighty's protection.
• 7. The testimony of the true ancient Church, which the Apostle himself graceth with the title of the pillar and ground of truth.

The first pillar to support this building is the constancy of God's love to all that are in Christ; which may be thus hewn to our purpose. They upon whom God setteth such an especial affection in Christ, that he maketh a covenant of peace, and entereth into a contract of marriage with them, can never be cast utterly out of favor, much less grow into eternal hatred and detestation, in such sort that they become the objects of endless misery, and subjects of everlasting malediction. For this kindness, whereby the Lord our Redeemer hath mercy on us, is everlasting. The covenant of this peace is immovable, this contract is indissoluble: I will betroth thee unto me forever; I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies. I will betroth thee unto me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord. But all true believers are embraced with this love, comprised within this covenant, parties in this contract. What then can steal their hearts from Christ, or alienate his love from them? What shall separate them from this love of God in Christ? shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril? No, neither death, nor life, nor Angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That fire which generateth and produceth its own fuel can never go out; and what is the fuel which nourisheth this heavenly flame, but grace and virtue in us, which it self continually worketh in all them that are new creatures in Christ? Men affect others because of worth: but contrariwise, God's affection causeth worth in all who are endeared unto him. All the spiritual beauty they have wherewith he is enamored, is no other than the reflection and glisening of the beams of his grace, which beginneth and consummateth all good in us, working in us both the will & the deed. Philosophy teacheth that the celestial and superior bodies work upon the terrestrial and inferior, but not on the contrary. The storms or calms in the air change not the motions or influence of the stars: but contrariwise the motions, conjunctions and influences of the Stars cause such variety in the air and earth. The rays of the visible Sun are not moved at all by the motion of the object, but immoveably flow from the body of that Planet; and though blustering winds tyrannize in the air, and remove it a thousand times out of its place in an hour, yet they stir not therewith: in like manner, though our affections are transported with every gale of prosperity and storm of adversity, and our wills somewhat yield to every wind of temptation; yet God's affections, like the beams of the Sun, remain immovable where they are once fixed. We play fast and loose even with those oftentimes to whom we are bound in the strongest bonds of duty and love; we praise and dispraise with a breath, frown and smile with a look, love and hate with a conceit: but God's affections are not like ours, nor are his thoughts our thoughts. For having loved his own which were in the world, he loveth them unto the end: and though we believe not, yet he abideth faithful; he cannot deny himself.

The second pillar is the certainty of God's decree for the salvation of the Elect; and thus I rear it up. The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. How should he not know them whom he fore-knew before the world began, and wrote their names in the book of life? A glorious type whereof was the engraving the names of the twelve Tribes in twelve precious stones, with the point of a Diamond, never to be razed out. To seduce any of the Elect, our Savior's If supposeth it to be impossible, for this were to pluck Christ's sheep out of his hand, which none can do. All the Elect are those blessed ones on Christ's right hand, to whom he shall say at the day of Judgment, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world was laid: they are the Church of the first borne, which are written in heaven. Now although all that yield their assent to supernatural verities revealed in Scripture, may not presume that their names are written in the book of life; for Simon Magus believed, yet was he in the gall of bitterness, and bond of iniquity: nay the Devils themselves, as St. James teacheth us, believe, who are reserved in chains of darkness, unto the judgment of the great day: yet they who believe in God embrace the promises of the Gospel, with the condition of denying of ungodliness, and worldly lusts; and living godly, righteously, and soberly in this present world, and lay fast hold on Christ, have (no doubt) attained that faith, which Saint Paul styleth, the faith of God's Elect: and Saint Luke maketh an effect of predestination to eternal life: for such a faith purifieth the heart, justifieth before God, putteth us into the state of adoption, worketh by love, and is accompanied with repentance unto life: which gifts are never bestowed upon any reprobate, if we will believe the ancient Fathers. The seed of this faith being sown in good ground, taketh deep root downward in humility, and groweth upward in hope, and spreadeth abroad by charity, and bringeth forth fruits of good works in great abundance: it resembleth the true Amaranthus, which, after all the flowers are blown away, or drop down at the fall of the leaf, being watered at the root, reviveth and serveth to make winter garlands: even so a firm and well grounded belief, after the flowers of open profession of Christ are blown away by the violent blasts of persecution and temptation, being moistened with the dew of grace from heaven, and the water of penitent tears, reviveth again, and flourisheth and furnisheth the Church, Christ's Spouse, as it were with winter garlands, unlooked and unhoped for.

The third pillar. The love of God is not more constant than his decrees are certain; nor his decrees more certain than his promises are faithful: Therefore in the third place I erect for a third pillar, to support the doctrine delivered out of this Scripture, the promise of perseverance; which I need not hew nor square for the building, it fitteth of it self. For it implieth contradiction, that they who are endued with the grace of perseverance, should utterly fall away from grace. Constancy is not constancy if it vary, perseverance is not perseverance if it fail. And therefore S. Austin acutely determines, that this gift may be obtained by humble prayer, but after what it is given, it cannot be lest by proud contumacy: for how should that gift it self be lost, which keepeth all other graces from being lost, which otherwise might be lost? When I name the gift of perseverance in the state of grace, I understand with that holy Father, such a gift, not only without which we cannot persevere, but with which we cannot but persevere. Such an heavenly grace, whereby the infirmity of man's will is supported in such sort, that it is led by the spirit unfailably and unconquerably, so that though it be weak, yet it never faileth, nor is overcome by any temptation, but cleaveth most steadfastly to that which is good, and cannot by any power be drawn to forsake it. This gift of the faithful is shadowed out by those similitudes (whereto the godly and righteous man in Scripture is compared) viz. of a tree planted by the river side, whose leaf shall not wither. Of the hill of Zion, which may not be removed, but standeth fast forever, Psal. 125.1. Of a house built upon a rock, Quae

Upon which though the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on it, yet it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock: but it is fully, plainly, and most evidently expressed, & promised in those words of Jeremy, I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good, and I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. Which Text of the Prophet is by the Apostle applied to the faithful under the Gospel, and thus expounded by S. Austin: I will put my fear in their hearts, that they depart not from me, what is it else than to say, the fear which I put in their hearts shall be such, and so great, that they shall assuredly or perseveringly cleave unto me?

They whose hearts are kept always in this fear, need never fear final Apostasy from God. Counterfeit things are discovered by their discontinuance & variation, but true by their lasting. That which glareth for a time in the air, and out-braveth the stars, even of the first rank or magnitude, but after a few days playeth least in sight, is a Comet, no true star:

Likewise that which glistereth like gold, yet endureth not the fire, is Alchymy stuff, no precious metal. The stone that sparkleth like a Diamond, yet abideth not the stroke, is a cornish or counterfeit, not a true orient Diamond. It is artificial complexion and mere painting, not true beauty, which weareth out in a day, and is washed off with a shower. Feigned things, and false, saith the Orator, soon fall like blossoms; true glory taketh root, and spreadeth it self. The truth himself, our Lord and Savior, maketh perseverance a certain note of true Disciples: If ye continue in my word, then are you my Disciples indeed. Would any of you know whether he be a true son of God, and member of Christ? he can by nothing so infallibly find it in himself, as by the gift of perseverance. This St. John giveth for a touch-stone of a true Apostle, They went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not of us. Saint Paul of a true member of Christ, or temple of the holy Ghost: But Christ is a son over his own house, whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. Saint Augustine of the true children of God: Then they are truly what they are called (the sons of God) if they continue in that for which they are so called.

The fourth pillar I named unto you was the power of regenerating grace, whereby we are begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us. That which is incorruptible cannot be destroyed or perish; that which is reserved for us, cannot be taken away from us. Now if any demand what preserveth faith in the soul, in such sort that it is never habitually lost, though the act thereof be sometimes suspended; I answer:

• 1. Outwardly, the powerful ministry of the Word and Sacraments.
• 2. Inwardly, renewing grace infused into the soul at the first moment of our conversion.

This grace is by the holy Ghost termed the engraffed word, sometimes the annointing that abideth in us, sometimes the spirit dwelling in us, sometimes a Well of water springing up to everlasting life, sometimes God's seed remaining in us, sometimes incorruptible seed: whence we may frame an argument like to that of our Savior's to Nicodemus, As that which is borne of corruptible seed, is corruptible; so that which is borne of incorruptible seed, is incorruptible. How can he that is borne of incorruptible and spiritual seed be corrupted, and die spiritually? how can he that hath in his belly a Well of ever-springing water, thirst eternally? how can he in whom the annointing S. John speaketh of abideth, putresie in his sins? how can he in whom the spirit dwelleth, be estranged from the love of God? how can he that is borne of God, become a child of the Devil? Saint John strongly argueth against it: Whosoever is born of God cannot commit sin, because he is borne of God. I conclude this argument with that daring interrogation of Saint Austin; Against so clear and loud sounding trumpet of divine truth, what man of a sober and watchful faith will endure to hear any voices or words from man?

The fifth pillar is Christ's prayer for the perseverance of all true believers. The pillar is like to Jacob's ladder, that reacheth from earth to heaven; and though heaven and earth be shaken, yet this pillar will stand immovable. I know, saith Christ, that thou, O Father, hearest me always. If we obtain whatsoever we ask for Christ's sake, shall not Christ obtain what he asketh for us? If the Word of God sustain the whole frame of nature, shall not Christ's prayer be able to support a weak Christian? Doth God hear the softest voice, and lowest sigh and groan of his children upon earth, and will he not hear the loud cry of his Son in his bosom in heaven? What therefore if Satan seek to winnow us like wheat? Saint Cyprian biddeth us never to fear blowing away: It is empty chaff that is blown away with the wind, the corn still abides on the floor. Shall Satan's fanning be more powerful to scatter, than Christ's prayer to gather us? shall any wind of temptation be of more force to blow us out of the heap, than the breath of Christ himself to keep us in? Satan hath 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 sought to winnow you like wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. Upon which words Saint Austin thus enlargeth himself: When Christ prayed for Peter, that his faith might not fail, what did he pray for else, but that he might have a most free, a most firm, a most constant will to continue in the faith? Yea, but it may be excepted, that this prayer of Christ is a good protection for St. Peter, but not for us: he is thereby secured from Apostasy, not we. Why so? Peter is not here considered as the first precious stone in the foundation of the heavenly Jerusalem, shining in spiritual graces above his brethren; but as one grain or seed among others to be winnowed by Satan, which is the common case of all the faithful: & therefore what Christ prayed for Peter, he prayed for all of the same heap that then were, or hereafter shall be winnowed by Satan. Thus Saint Austin conceiveth of our Savior's prayer, when Christ said, I have prayed for thee, Peter, that thy faith fail not; let us understand it to be spoken to him that is built upon a rock: for hereby the man of God boasteth in the Lord, not only because he hath obtained mercy to become a believer, but also because faith it self faileth not. Nay, our Lord himself thus expoundeth himself: Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word, that they may be also one in us: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, &c. I will close this strain with a quaver, like to that of Pliny to Trajane, What a favor is this, what security, what happiness, he sweareth by whom we all swear? so may I say with far greater reason, What a favor doth God vouchsafe unto us, what security doth he give us, what a happiness is it for us, Orat is per quem oramus; He prayeth for us by whom we pray, nay, to whom we pray: by whom we pray as our Mediator; to whom we pray as God, and in whose name we obtain all that we pray for?

The sixth pillar is a pillar of brass, as strong as a castle of Diamond, to secure the person of the faithful, the safeguard of God's protection. This pillar is thus erected by Saint Peter, Those that are begotten again to a lively hope, are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation; and therefore cannot be drawn away through infidelity to perdition. The Patrons of the apostasy of Saints cannot infringe this argument, unless they could weaken or shorten the arm of the Almighty, who is able to keep that which is committed unto him against that day; and not able only, but faithful also to establish us, and keep us from evil, and confirm us, not for a time only, but to the end, that we may be blameless in the day in the Lord Jesus: which, according to his gracious promises, he most certainly performeth two manner of ways:

• 1. Partly by arming us continually with new strength of grace to resist temptation, in what kind soever.
• 2. Partly by inhibiting and restraining the assaults themselves, both in respect of
  • 1. The violence,
  • 2. The continuance of them.

To the first point Saint Gregory speaketh pertinently: Our gracious God for our health and safety knoweth how to keep that within bounds, which he suffereth in justice to go out against us, in such sort that the raging storm shall wash us all over, but shall not drown us.

The second point Saint Ambrose fully hitteth: God, saith he, doth so proportion the burden to our shoulders, that he suffereth not more to be laid upon any, than he knoweth may be borne, so that he permitteth not a man to be in durance the fourth day, whose patience he knoweth cannot hold out beyond the third. The Apostles words reach home to both: God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it: Hoc est scutum Vulcanicum, This is armor of proof indeed against darts, arrows, bullets, swords, or push of pike. If we shall never be tempted above our strength, we shall always be strengthened above temptation; and consequently, never be overcome of it. Pliny writeth of a strange kind of trees growing in the red sea, which being beat upon by the waves stand immovable, yea sometimes when in a full sea they are covered over with water: and it appears by many arguments, that they are bettered by the roughness of the waters; even so a Christian planted in the red sea by faith in Christ's blood, resisteth all the waves of temptation, and the more he is beat upon, yea and overwhelmed also sometimes with the billows of troubles and afflictions, the better he thriveth spiritually in grace.

The seventh and last pillar to uphold the doctrine delivered, is the judgment of the ancient Church, upon record in the authentical writings of the ancient Fathers that flourished within six hundred years after Christ. I will only allege such passages as upon this occasion I had time to examine.

Origen for antiquities sake shall begin the verdict. It is the manner of the Scripture to begin with those things which are sad and dreadful, and to end with those things which are cheerful and comfortable: God saith not, I will make alive, and I will kill; but I will kill, and I will make alive: for it is impossible that what God once quickeneth (he meaneth by spiritual grace) should ever be killed or destroyed, either by himself or any other.

Saint Cyprian secondeth Origen, who will have no man entertain any such thought, as if good men and true believers ever revolted finally from the Church: Let no man conceive, saith he, that good men can depart from the Church: the wind blows not away the wheat, neither doth the storm overthrow a tree sound at root; they are like empty chaff which are scattered away with a whirlwind, and weak and rotten trees which are blown down in a tempest.

Saint Chrysostom joineth upon the same issue, commenting upon the words of Saint Paul (by whom also we have access by faith unto this grace wherein we stand) thus, He saith well the grace wherein we stand: the phrase is worth the noting; for such indeed is the nature of God's grace, it is stable and constant, it hath no end, it knows no period, but proceeds always from lesser to greater matters. Those whom grace maketh to stand and grow continually, cannot fall totally nor finally.

Saint Ambrose accordeth with Saint Chrysostom in his observation upon the second Epistle to the Corinthians, chap. 3.3. The words of Saint Paul are, Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the Epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. St. Ambrose his note upon this place is; Here he toucheth upon or striketh at the old Law, which first being given in tables of stone, is abolished, the tables being broken under the Mount by Moses: but now the Law is written in the mind, not with a quill or pen, but by the spirit; because faith is an eternal thing, it is written by the spirit, that it may abide or still continue.

Saint Austin and Saint Gregory clearly conclude on our side, by excluding all from the number of Christ's Disciples, and Sons of God, and Saints, whose revolt and apostasy proveth their hypocrisy. Saint Austin speaketh definitively: Those who have not the gift of perseverance, as they are not truly Christ's Disciples, so neither were they ever truly the Sons of God, no not when they seemed to be so.

And Saint Gregory is as peremptory: It may, saith he, peradventure trouble a weak Christian, that this Leviathan hath such power that he can trample gold under his feet like dirt; that is, subject unto himself men shining in the brightness of holiness, by defiling them with vices: but we have an answer ready at hand, that the gold, which by wicked persuasions of the Devil can be laid under his feet like dirt, was never gold in the sight of God; and they who may be so seduced that they never return again, may seem to lose the habit of sanctity before the eyes of men, but before the eyes of God they never were endued with any such habit.

You see with a little blowing what a clear light the smoking flax in my Text giveth to this Theological verity (viz.) that regenerating grace and justifying faith cannot be utterly lost, or totally extinct. Feele, I beseech you now, what warmth it yieldeth to our cold affections, and sometimes benumbed consciences: and first to our cold affections. Is the ointment of the Spirit so precious, that the least drop of it saveth the life of the soul? Is the least seed of the Word incorruptible? Is the smallest spark of true charity unquenchable? Cannot justifying faith be ever lost; nor the state of grace forfeited? Why then do we not strive for this state? why do we not, with the rich Merchant in the Gospel, sell all that we have to gain this pearl of faith? When we have got it, why do we not more highly value it in ourselves and others? Other pearls and precious stones adorn but the body, or cover some imperfection in it; this beautifieth the soul, and covereth all the skarres and deformities therein. Other Jewels, be they never so rich, are but presents for earthly Princes; but with this pearl the King of Heaven is taken, and it is the price of that Kingdom. Other pearls have their estimation from men; but men have their estimation from this pearl. Other Jewels when they are got may be lost, and that very easily; but this Jewell of faith, if it be true and not counterfeit, after it is once gotten can never be lost. All the thoughts of worldly men are employed, all their cares taken up, all their time bestowed, all their means spent in purchasing, or some way procuring unto themselves a fortune (as they term it) as a beneficial office, or an estate of land of inheritance, or lease for term of years or lives; all which are yet subject to a thousand casualties. Why do they not rather look after and labor for the state of grace, which is past all hazard, being assured to us by the hand-writing of God, and the seal of his Spirit? An estate not for term of years, but for eternity; an estate not of land upon earth, but of an inheritance immortal, undefiled, reserved in heaven; an estate which cannot be spoiled or wasted by hostile invasion, nor wrung from us by power, nor won by law, nor mortgaged for debt, nor impaired by public calamity, nor endangered by change of Princes, nor voided by death it self. S. Chrysostom his eloquence exspatiateth in this field: A man, saith he, hath received rule glory, and power here, but enjoyeth it not perpetually, but very soon falls from it. For though no man take it from him; death will quite strip him of it. But the gifts of God are not such, or like to the gifts of Princes. For neither man, nor time, nor circumstances of actions, nor reason of state, nor the Devil himself, nay, nor death, can deprive him of them, or put him by them.

You see how the smoking flax being blown, kindles the heat of our zeal, and inflameth us on the purchasing the estate of grace by the price of Christ's blood. Feele now (I beseech you) in the second place, what warmth it yieldeth to a benumbed conscience, and a soul frozen in the dregs of sin. That the bruised reed shall not be broken, nor smoking flax be quenched, is a doctrine of singular comfort and use; yet must it be very discreetly handled, and seasonably applied to such and such only as are heavy laden, and bruised with the weight and sense of their sin, and through inward or outward affliction smoke for them: and are, as Arboreus speaketh, extinctioni vicini, near to be utterly quenched through inundation of sorrow. To tell a presumptuous sinner in the height of his pride, and heat of his lust, and top and top gallant of his vain glory, that he stands straight in the Court of heaven, is in the state of grace, and can never fall away from it, or become a cast-away, is to minister hot potions to a man in a burning fever, which is the ready way to stifle him, and as soon to rid him of his life as of his pain: hot cordials and strong waters are to be given in a languishing fit, and a cold sweat, when the patient is in danger of swouning. It is the part, saith S. Austin, of a deceitful or unskillful Physician or Chyrurgian, to lay a wholesome salve or plaster so on, that it do no good, nay, rather that it do hurt. Having therefore made a most sovereign salve out of the words of my Text for the sores of a wounded conscience, I am now to show you how to use, and when to apply it; viz. in deliquio spiritus, in a spiritual desertion or dereliction. As we sometimes feel in our bodies 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , deliquium animae, a trance and utter failing of the vital spirits; so is there also in the soul of a faithful Christian sometimes deliquium spiritus, an utter fainting and failing in all the motions and operations of grace; when God either to humble him, that he be not proud of his favors, or to make him more earnestly desire, and highly esteem the comforts of the Gospel, withdraweth the spirit from him for a season, during which time of spiritual desertion he lieth as it were in a swoon, feeling no motion of the spirit, as it were the pulse-beating, taking in no breath of life by hearing the Word, nor letting it out by prayer and thanks-giving, void of all sense of faith and life of hope, ready every hour to give up the holy Ghost. In this extremity we are to stay him with flagons, & comfort him with the apples in my Text, and as his fit of despair more & more groweth on him, in this sort and order to minister and give them unto him.

1. When he lamenteth in the bitterness of his soul after this manner: There was a time when the face of God shined upon me, and I saw his blessing upon all that I set my hand unto; but now he hath hid his face from me; and shut up his loving kindness in displeasure; he bloweth upon all the fruits of my labors, and nothing prospereth with me, my estate decays, and my friends fail me, and afflictions and calamities come thick upon me, like waves of the sea, riding one on the neck of the other, or like Jobs messengers, one treading on the heels of the other, and the latter bringing still worse tidings than the former. Apply thou this remedy: Many are the troubles of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all: he keepeth all his bones, so that not one of them is broken.

2. If he go on in his mournful ditty, saying; I am far from being righteous: therefore this comfort belongeth not unto me. Apply thou this salve: The whole need not the Physician, but they that are sick. This is a faithful saying, and by all means worthy to be received, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I am not come, saith Christ, to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

3. If he reply: Oh but I cannot repent; for I am not able to master mine own corruptions: Vitiis meis impar sum; I cannot shake off the sin that hangeth on so fast. I am like one in the mud, who the more he struggleth with his feet to get out, the deeper he sinketh, and sticketh faster in the mire. Apply this recipe: Yet be of good comfort, because thou delightest in the Law of God touching the inward man: thou strivest against all sin, and because thou canst not get the upper hand of some of thy bosom corruptions, thy life is grievous unto thee. Thou criest with the holy Apostle: O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? Thou hungerest and thirstest after righteousness: and, Blessed are they which hunger and thirst for righteousness; for they shall be filled.

4. If he sink deeper into the gulf of desperation, and say: I feel no such hunger nor thirst in me. Custom in sin hath drawn a caul over my conscience, and I am not now sensible of any incision. Reach thy hand to him, and support him with this comfort: Be of good cheare (good brother) for it is certain thou hast some sense, because thou art sensible of thy stupidity, and mournest in thy prayers, and art vexed for this thy dullness: and blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

5. If he yet sink deeper and lower, crying: Alas, I cannot mourn, my hard heart will not relent, my flinty eyes will not yield a tear for my sins: what hope then for me? Answer him, great; as great as thy sorrow, which is by so much the fuller, because it hath no vent. None grieveth more truly, than he who grieveth because he cannot grieve. A man that is borne dumb, or hath his tongue cut out, when he maketh offer to speak, moving his lips, but is not able to bring forth a word, beggeth after a more effectual manner, even because he cannot utter his prayer by speech, his very dumbness pleads for him; so the sorrow of a penitent sinner, which fain would express it self by tears, but cannot, which rendeth the heart continually, and maketh it evaporate into secret sighs, best expresseth it self to him of whom the Prophet speaketh: Lord, thou knowest all my desires, and my groaning is not hid from thee.

6. If he sink so low, that the pit is ready to shut her mouth over him, and he being now even swallowed up in the gulf of despair, breathe out his last sigh, and roars most fearfully, to the great dis-heartening of all that come about him, saying: I have no touch of remorse, no sense of joy, no apprehension of faith, no comfort of hope; My wounds stink, and are putrefied, and all the balm of Gilead cannot now cure me. The Spirit is utterly extinct in me; and therefore my case desperate. In this extreme fit of despair give him this cordial out of the words of my Text: Hast thou never felt any remorse of conscience in all thy life? Wast thou never pricked in heart at the Sermon of some Peter? Wert thou never ravished with joy, when the general pardon of all thy sins hath been exemplified to thee in the application of the promises of the Gospel, and sealed to thee by the Sacrament? Hast thou never had any sensible token of God's love? I know thou hast, & thou acknowledgest as much in confessing amongst other thy sins thine intolerable ingratitude towards the Lord that bought thee: then be yet of good comfort, the flax yet smoaketh, the fire is not clean out; thou hast lost the sense, but not the essence of faith. Thou art cast out of God's favor in thy apprehension, not in truth. Thou art but in a swoon, thy soul is in thee. Thou discernest no sign or motion of life in thee, but others may. Thy conscience will bear thee record, that sometimes thou didst truly believe, and true faith cannot be lost. God's covenant of grace is immovable, his affection is unchangeable, he whom God loveth, he loveth to the end; and he whom God loveth to the end, must needs be saved in the end: and so I end.

And thus have I blown the smoking flax in my Text, and you see what light it affordeth to our understanding, and warmth to our consciences: what remaineth but that

THE STILL VOICE. A Sermon preached before the high Commission in his Graces Chapel at Lambeth, Novemb. 20. 1619. THE THIRD SERMON.

IN these words we have set before us in the person of our Savior an Idea and perfect image of meekness; the characters whereof are three:

• 1. Calmenesse in affection, He will not strive.
• 2. Softnesse and lowness in speech, He will not cry, &c.
• 3. Innocency in action, He will not break, &c.

1. Impatience is contentious, He will not strive.

2. Contention is clamorous, He will not cry.

3. Clamour is querulous, No man shall hear his voice in the street.

If it be objected that he did strive, and that with such vehemency that he sweat blood: and that he did cry, and that very loud; for as we read ( Hebr. 5.7.) he offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears, unto him that was able to save him from death: and that his voice was heard in the streets; when he stood up in the last day, the great day of the Feast, and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink: we need not fly to Anselm and Carthusians allegory for the matter, who thus gloss upon the words of my Text: His voice shall not be heard in the streets, that is, in the broad way that leadeth to destruction. Such Delian divers may spare their pains: for the objections are but shallow, and admit of a very facile solution without any forced trope. He will not strive, viz. in revenge, but in love; he will not cry, in anger, but in zeal; neither shall his voice be heard in the street, viz. vox querelae, but doctrinae; no voice of complaint, but of instruction or comfort. So that the three members in this sentence, are like the three strings in a Dulcimer, all Unisons. Wherefore in the handling of this Text, I will strike them all together. Seneca in his books of clemency, which Queen Elizabeth so highly esteemed, that she gave them the next place to the holy Scriptures, reads a divine Lecture to a Prince in these words: Let thy sword not only be put up in the sheath, but also tied fast in it; be sparing of the meanest and basest blood. It is for men of lower condition to fall into quarrels and strifes, equals may exchange blows one with another without much danger; it standeth not with the Majesty of a Prince to engage himself in any quarrel or fight: because he hath no equal to contend with him: so far ought it to be from a Prince to brawl, or wrangle, that the straining of his voice is unbefitting him upon any occasion whatsoever. What the wise Philosopher prescribeth to a good Prince, the Prophet Isaiah describeth in our King Messias, who was so mild in his disposition, that he was never stirred to passion; so gentle in his speech, that he never strained his voice in choler; so innocent in his actions, that he never put forth his strength to hurt any. We read in the book of Kings, that there was a mighty wind, but God was not in the wind: and after the wind an earth-quake, but God was not in the earth-quake: and after the earth-quake a fire, but God was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice, in which God was. There God was in the still voice; but here the Evangelist out of the Prophet informeth us, that there was a small still voice in the Lord our Savior Jesus Christ. For he strove not, nor cried, nor was his voice heard in the streets. A still small voice naturally produceth no echo. For as a ball laid softly on the ground boundeth not up again; but if it be struck down with a vehement stroke riseth from the ground again and again; so a low and whispering voice, which gently moveth the air, is not returned again by an echo: but a strong and a loud sound, which forcibly smiteth the air, is reverberated from mountains & rocks by a double or treble echo. Yet here a still small voice is returned by an echo. For the words which I have read unto you in S. Matthew are no other than the echo of the voice of the Prophet Isaiah. As Isaiah of all the Prophets is most Evangelical, that is, most plainly delivereth the story of Christ his life and death by way of prediction; so S. Matthew of all the four Evangelists is most Prophetical, that is, alledgeth most passages out of the Prophets in his Gospel. None so frequently inserteth testimonies out of the Old Testament into his story as he, which he so pertinently applieth, that in his Gospel every man may discern the truth of that observation of the Ancients (viz.) that the New Testament is veiled in the Old, and the Old is revealed in the New. The Prophets & Evangelists being the organs of the same holy Spirit, like divers instruments of music playing the same tune, though in different keys. Or rather like opposite looking-glasses, reflecting the same image one upon the other, to wit, the brightness of God his glory, & the express image of his person. Or like thick & bright clouds on both sides of the Sun, which receiving the beams thereof, & with them an impression of the similitude of that Prince of the celestial lights, reflect the same one upon another, & make as if there were divers Suns in the sky, which are indeed but parelii pictures and representations of the self same Sun, the Sun of righteousness. The Prophet Isaiah pointeth to the Messias, as it were afar off, saying, Behold the servant of God whom he upholdeth, his Elect, in whom his soul delighteth, upon whom he hath put his spirit, he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles; he shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets; a bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he bring forth judgment unto truth. The Evangelist viewing Christ near at hand, findeth all those marks in him, by which the Prophet describeth him. Which you shall plainly descry, if you cast back your eye on the story set down a little above my Text. There shall you find Christ stretching out his hand of mercy to a withered hand, and healing it on the Sabbath day, and the Pharisees murmuring at it, and conspiring against him for it. Against whom notwithstanding he made no forcible resistance, nor so much as opened his lips, but giving place to their wrath, leaveth that country; and though he were so ill requited for his good deeds, and miraculous cures, yet he goes about still doing good in all places, healing their sick, curing their blind, lame, and deaf, and withal charging them, that they should not make him known, That it might be fulfilled, saith the Evangelist, &c. That it was fulfilled which God spake by the Prophet Isaiah, and how, it will evidently appear, by comparing the predictions of the Prophet with the history of the Evangelist: Behold my servant, saith the Prophet. The son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, saith the Evangelist. Mine Elect, saith the Prophet. Christ the chosen of God, saith the Evangelist. In whom I delight, saith the Prophet. In whom I am well pleased, saith the Evangelist. He shall bring judgment to the Gentiles, saith the Prophet. A light to lighten the Gentiles, saith the Evangelist. He shall not strive, saith the Prophet He did not strive, saith the Evangelist; neither here with the Scribes and Pharisees, nor in the garden with them that sought his life; but contrariwise, when St. Peter drew a sword in his defense, and struck off a servant of the high Priests ear, he rebuked him, saying, Put up thy sword, thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of Angels? but how then shall the Scripture be fulfilled? He shall not cry, nor lift up his voice, saith the Prophet. He was silent, and answered not a word, saith the Evangelist, but was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a Lamb dumb before the shearer. A bruised reed shall he not break, saith the Prophet. The Evangelist testifieth he did not. For the people which lay maimed and diseased, like bruised reeds upon the ground, he went not over, but raised them up; and the Scribes and Pharisees, whose malice smoaked against him, he did not destroy, or extinguish, when he might as easily have done it, as tread out the week of a candle on the ground with his shoe. For he came not to quench, but to kindle; not to destroy, but to save; not to launce, but to plaster; not to revenge, but to reconcile; not to punish, but to suffer; not to break the bruised reed, but to be beaten and bruised with reeds and whips, yea and to be broken also upon the cross.

You have heard how this Text is inferred. Now in the second place listen what it inferreth both against the Jew, and for the Christian.

1. It inferreth for the reproof of the Jew, that the first coming of the King Messias was to be private and silent, without any outward pomp or great noise.

2. For the instruction of Christians, that the members ought to be conformable to the head, and frame their dispositions to his most sweet and gracious temper.

3. For the comfort of all, that the Judge of all flesh is meek, mild, and merciful to all that bow to him, or fall down before him like bruised reeds.

First, we have here the character of the true Messias, and the manner (if I may so speak) of his stealing into the world at his first coming. Wherein judicious Calvin willeth us to observe the difference between the Messiah and other Kings and Princes. They when they ride in progress, send their Harbingers before to take up lodgings, and Martials to make way, and when they enter any City, it is with great noise and tumult, ringing of Bels, sound of Trumpets, peals of Ordnance, rattling of Speares, clattering of Coaches, and clamours of the People; but our King, the Prince of peace, entered the world in a far different manner. As in the building of the material Temple there was not heard the noise of any tool; so neither in the building of the spiritual Temple, I mean the Temple of Christ's body, and setting it up, was there any noise or sound heard. This privacy of his first entry into the world pleaseth not the carnal Jew, whose thoughts are all upon a temporal Monarch, that should buy out Croesus his wealth, and obscure Solomon in all his royalty, and extend his dominion as far as the Sun casteth his beams. No Messiah will please him, but such a one as comes in with great state and pomp: yet was Christ his quiet seizing upon his Kingdom most correspondent to the prediction of the Prophet, He shall come down like rain into a fleece of wool, or upon the mown grass, that is, not heard, and most agreeable to his title and kingdom. For what more consentaneous to reason, than that the Prince of peace should enter upon his Kingdom of grace in a quiet and silent manner. Had he come into the world like the two Scipio's, which were termed fulmina belli, with thundering and lightening, or like the Roman Emperors, or the grand Signiours, in the most pompous manner, with greatest ostentation of wealth, and pride of worldly honor, more feared he might have been, but less loved: there had been more state in his coming, but less merit for us; and consequently, less true comfort in it. The note that we are to take from it is, That Christ's Kingdom is not of this World: And the use we are to make of it is, Not to look for great estates, large revenues, or high preferments here; but to be content with a competency of means, not without a liberal allowance, sometimes of afflictions, crosses, and troubles. For delicate members, and such as must be continually wrapped in soft raiment, & that can endure no hardness, sort not well with a head crowned with thorns. By the Law, The feathers of such fowls as had been sacrificed, were cast in locum cinerum, into the place of ashes. What are all the pomps and vanities of this world, but like beautiful feathers? Projiciamus ergo in locum cinerum; Let us therefore strip us of them, and by true mortification cast them into the place of ashes, especially in this time of sorrow and penance, when sackcloth is or should be in fashion for apparel, and ashes for couches. Upon which when God seeth us, he will have compassion on us, and give us beauty for ashes, and the garment of gladness for the spirit of heaviness. As we are Christians we walk by faith, and not by sight; our life is hid with Christ in God: and when Christ which is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory.

Secondly, we have here the picture of meekness in the pattern of all perfection, Christ Jesus, drawn to the life for our imitation. What the Prophet Zacharias fore-told concerning the disposition and gracious temper of the Messias to come, saying: Tell the daughter of Zion, behold, the King cometh unto thee meek, &c. the same the Evangelist confirmeth through the whole Gospel, by the speeches and silence, actions and passions, life and death of the Lord of life. To begin with his speeches, if ever that Eulogue of the Greek Poet,

or the like of the Latin; Vernas afflat ab ore rosas, were verified: if ever the tongue of any dropped honey, and his breath were as sweet and savoury as Roses in the Spring, it was certainly our Redeemers, who is that he spake, and speaketh always that he is, the Word of God. The Father is as the mouth, the holy Spirit the breath, and Christ the word. Hear, I beseech you, verba Verbi, the words of the Word of life; Come unto me all that are heavy laden, and I will ease you. Son, be of good comfort, thy faith hath made thee whole. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The son of man came not to destroy, but to save. Go in peace, thy sins be forgiven thee. And, Come ye blessed of my Father, possess the Kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world was laid, &c. Yea, but these speeches he uttered to penitent sinners, or such as sued to him for favor and mercy; how did he demean himself towards those uncivil and inhumane Samaritans, who denied him lodging? Against whom James and John, the sons of thunder, were so incensed, that they would have called down fire from heaven to destroy them, by the example of Elias. Doth he curse them? doth he upbraid ingratitude, and inhospitality unto them: nay, rather he rebuketh his Disciples, whom zeal and love transported too far, and by telling them, they knew not of what spirit they were, he shown apparently what spirit he was, who when the Scribes and Pharisees laid Sorcery and Necromancy to his charge, saying: Say we not well thou art a Samaritan, and hast a Devil? he delivered them not to the Devil, as they deserved for this their blasphemous slander, nor sharply reproveth them; but mildly answereth, I have not a Devil, but I honor my Father, and ye have dishonored me. Perhaps he pitied their ignorance, or had respect to the dignity and place of the Scribes and Pharisees, who bare the greatest sway among the people, may some say. But what was there in his own Disciple Judas, that he should grace that damned caitiff, that traitorous servant, that son of perdition, with the title of Friend, when he came to play the most unfriendly and ungrateful part that ever was acted, even to betray his Lord and Master? Friend, wherefore art thou come? doest thou betray the son of man with a kiss? I have spoken of the speeches of our Savior, let me not pass in silence his meek silence, when he was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearers, so opened he not his mouth. When he was falsely slandered in the Judgment seat, shamefully handled in the Hall, most contumeliously reviled, and cruelly tortured upon the cross. When the Judge of all flesh was condemned, the beauty of Heaven spit upon, the King of glory crowned with thorns, the Maker of the world made a spectacle of misery to the whole world. When his Disciples forsook him, his own Nation accused him, the Judge condemned him, the servants buffeted him, the soldiers deluded him, the people exclaimed against him, the Scribes and Pharisees scoffed at him, the executioners tormented him in all parts of his body. When the Stars were confounded with shame, the Elements troubled, the Earth trembled, the Stones clave with indignation, the veil of the Temple rent it self, the Heaven mourned in sables, the Sun, that he might not behold such outrage done upon so sacred a person, drew in his beams. He who suffereth all this quatcheth not, stirreth not, nor discovereth his divine Majesty, no not when death approached. When all insensible creatures seemed to be sensible of the injury offered their Maker; he who feeleth all, seemeth to be insensible. For he maketh no resistance at all, and though he were omnipotent, yet his patience overcame his omnipotency, and even to this day restraineth his justice from taking full revenge of them who were the authors of his death, and of those who since crucify again the Lord of life, and trample under their feet the blood of the Covenant, as a profane thing. Whose thoughts are not swallowed up in admiration at this, that he who is adored in heaven, is not yet revenged upon the earth? You see meekness in his passions, behold now this virtue expressed to the life in his life and actions Actions, I say, whether natural or miraculous, so indeed they are usually distinguished; albeit Christ's miraculous actions were natural in him, proceeding from his divine nature: and most of his natural actions, as they are called, proceeding from his human nature, were in him wonderful and miraculous. For instance, to weep is a most natural action; but to weep in the midst of his triumph, and that for their ruin, who were the cause of all his woe: to shed tears for them, who thirsted after his blood, was after a sort miraculous. Who ever did the like? Indeed we read that Marcellus wept over Syracuse, and Scipio over Carthage, and Titus over Jerusalem, as our Savior did, but the cause was far different: They shed tears for them whose blood they were to shed; but our Savior for them who were ready to shed his. His bowels earned for them who thought it long till they had pierced his heart with a launce. When the high Priest commanded Paul to be smote on the face, he rebuked him, saying: The Lord shall smite thee thou painted wall: but when the Lord himself was smitten by the high Priests servant, he falls not foul upon him, but returns this mild answer: If I have done evil, bear witness of the evil; but if I have done well, why strikest thou me? The servant thinketh much to endure that from the Master, which the Master endures from the servant. The Apostles, on whom the Spirit descended in the likeness of fiery tongues, were often hot, and inflamed with wrath against the enemies of God, and brought down fearful judgments upon them; but our Savior, on whom the Spirit descended in the likeness of a Dove, never hurt any by word or deed. Elijah inflicted leprosy upon Gehazi by miracle. Christ by miracle cleansed divers lepers. Saint Paul took away sight from Elymas. Christ by miracle restored sight to many. Saint Peter miraculously with a word struck Ananias and Sapphira down dead. Christ by miracle raised many from death, insomuch that his very enemies gave this testimony of him: He hath done all well, giving to the lame feet, to the maimed strength, to the dumb speech, to the deaf ears, to the blind sight, to the sick health, to the dead life, to the living everlasting joy and comfort.

I have proposed unto you a notable example, shall I need to put to spurs of art to prick on your desires to follow it? the example is our Savior, and the virtue exemplified in him meekness. How excellent must the picture be which is set in so rich a frame? such a virtue were to be imitated in any person; such a person to be imitated in any virtue: how much more such a virtue in such a person? It is hard to say, whether ought to be the stronger motive unto us to follow meekness, either because it is the prince of virtues, or the virtue of our Prince, whose style is Princeps pacis.

Where the prince is the Prince of peace, and the kingdom the Kingdom of grace, and the law the Law of love, they must certainly be of a mild and loving disposition that are capable of preferment in it. If the Spirit be an ointment, as S. John calleth it, it must needs supple. If grace be a dew, it cannot but moisten and soften the heart, and make it like Gideon's fleece, Judges 6.37. which was full of moisture when all the ground about it was dry. What can be said more in the commendation of any virtue than meekness; and of it, than this, that God commandeth it in his Word, Christ patterneth it in his life and death, the holy Spirit produceth it in our hearts, our very nature inclineth us to it, and our condition requireth it of us? No virtue so generally commended as meekness. Follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness, be no brawler, but gentle, showing all meekness to all men. Walk worthy of the vocation whereunto you are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The wisdom that is from above, is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. No fruit of the spirit so sweet and pleasant as this: as on the contrary, no fruit of the flesh so tart and bitter as jealousy and wrath, which God curseth by the mouth of Jacob; but blesseth meekness by the mouth of our Savior, Matth. 5.5. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. The earth was cursed before it brought forth thorns, and thistles, and briars, which are good for nothing but to be burned. Wherefore let us hearken to the counsel of St. Cyprian: Let us weed out of our souls envy, wrath, and jealousy, and other stinging and pricking passions. And of the Apostle: Let no root of bitterness remain in us, that we may receive with meekness the engraffed Word, which is able to save our souls, James 1.21. Our carnal lusts are like so many serpents, and of all, wrath is the most fiery, which will set all in a combustion, if it be not either quenched by the tears of repentance, or slacked by the infusion of divine grace, especially the grace of meekness, which in the heart is tenderness, in the disposition softness, in the affections temper, in the mind calmness, in the carriage sweetness. Aristotle briefly defineth it, the Bridle of wrath; which because it is a passion of all other most head-strong, it requireth both a strong curb, and a skillful rider, for whose direction the Spirit of God in holy Scripture hath set down divers rules.

The first rule is, not to be suddenly or easily provoked. This is laid down for us by the Apostle St. James, Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. To follow this rule, it will be behoofull according to the advice of Hyperides, to prevent the occasion of quarrels, and stop the passages of wrongs, to nip the seeds of discords, because if anger take root, like an inveterate disease, it will hardly be cured. Seneca strikes the same note, though on a different string: Above all things, saith he, keep the enemy from entering the City: for if he once thrust his head into the gate, he will give thee the law, and not take it from thee. Ovid giveth it as a character of a gracious Prince, to be tardus ad iram; Slow to wrath. Certainly, it is no strong piece that will suddenly be out of frame: the bone was never well set, that easily slips out of joint. A man full of juice and sap of grace is like green wood, which is long before it be kindled: they who easily take fire, seem rather to be anointed with brimstone, than the sweet ointment of the spirit above mentioned.

The second rule is, to tolerate some infirmities in others, as likewise others tolerate us in many things: for, as St. Austin speaketh; Toleramus, & toleramur, we tolerate, and are tolerated ourselves: because all offend in many things, and many in all. This rule is laid down by St. Paul; Be are ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ: in which words he enjoineth us not only to bear light injuries, but those that are grievous and burthensome; and the more burdens we bear in this kind, the less we have upon our own conscience. How can we expect that Christ should put his shoulders to our crosses, if we withdraw our neck from his yoke?

The third rule is, to consider the nature of our brothers temptation, and accordingly to deal with him. This is laid down by the Apostle: If any man be overtaken in a fault, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Abraham lied to Abimelech, Peter denied his Master, Job uttereth speeches of impatience, Paul answereth very smartly to Ananias; The Lord smite thee thou painted wall: but this they did either transported in passion, or upon great provocation, or out of fear, to save their lives. The greater the temptation is, and the more forcible the assault of Satan upon the frailty of our nature, the less the sin is, or at least more pardonable. This sole consideration moved Saint Cyprian to take pity on some of them, that in time of persecution denied their Master, and were therefore deservedly excommunicated, whom he thus bringeth in pleading for themselves, not with tears, but with drops of blood falling from their tortured members: For a long time, say they, our resolution remained firm, and our faith strong, and we held out the fight against our tormenting pains: but when the malice and cruelty of the Judge was exasperated against us, and our savage tormentors fell afresh upon our wearied and worn-out body, sometimes tearing it with whips, sometimes bruising it with clubs, sometimes stretching it upon the rack, sometimes scorching it with fire, our flesh forsook us in the conflict, the weakness of our bowels gave place, and our body, not our soul, was in the end overcome with the violence of pain. Beloved, you were never yet brought to the fiery trial, that you might know how far the extremity of torment might work and prevail upon the infirmity of your flesh: thank God for it, and judge charitably of them, whose faith and constancy shone not so clearly in the midst of the fire, but that they might be compared to the smoking flax in the Verse following my Text.

The fourth rule is, to admonish before we punish, and give warning before we strike. This is laid down by Moses: When thou comest nigh to a City to besiege it, first offer conditions of peace to it. This course God hath most strictly kept, sending Noah to the old World, Moses and Aaron to Egypt, Lot to Sodom, Obadiah to Edom, Jonah to Nineveh, the old Prophets and Christ himself to Jerusalem, that they might prevent God's judgments, by repenting them of their sin; as the Ninevites had the grace to do, who had certainly been destroyed, if destruction had not been threatened them by the Prophet. Whereat Saint Chrysostom standeth amazed, and in the end breaks out into this passionate exclamation: O new and admirable thing! the denunciation of death brought forth life; the prophecy of the overthrow overthrew the prophecy; the sentence of destruction made a nullity in the sentence. And if Jerusalem had known the things that belonged to her peace, even in that day in which our Savior fore-shown her fatal doom, his prophecy had fell, and the City had stood. For therefore God and man threaten to inflict severe punishment, that they may not inflict what they threaten; as Philostrates and Nazianzen observe.

The fifth rule is, first to use fair and gentle means before we take a more severe course. This is laid down by the Apostle (1 Corinth. 4.21.) What will you? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and the spirit of meekness? You see the soft drops of rain pierce the hardest stones, and the warm blood of a Goat dissolveth the Adamant. Nature seemeth to prescribe this method, which always sendeth a flash of lightening before we hear a clap of thunder; Et afflatur omne, priusquam percutitur: And nothing is struck, which is not blasted before. And Art also doth the like:

Si frustra molliora cesserint, ferit venam. For Physicians first minister weak and gentle potions, and as the disease groweth, apply stronger medicines. And good Surgeons, like Machaon in Homer, first lay plasters and poultesses to wounds and swellings, and never launce or burn the part till the sore fester, and other parts be in danger: whom good Magistrates ought to imitate, and never to use violent and compulsive remedies, but when they are compelled thereunto; nor to take extreme courses, but when the malady is extreme. Desperate remedies are never good, but when no other can be had: for they that are of a great spirit, if they be well given, will not; if they be ill, cannot be amended by such means. They resemble Jeat, which burneth in water, but is quenched with oil: or the Colossus at Tarentum, which you may move with your finger, but cannot wag, if you put your whole strength to it. As for those that are of a weaker spirit, and are easily daunted, harsh courses will do them more hurt than good: for they resemble tender plants, which die if they are touched with a knife or iron instrument.

The sixth rule is, to sweeten the sharpest censures with mild speeches. This rule is delivered by Lactantius, in these words: Circumlinere poculum coelestis sapientiae melle, when we minister a wholesome, but bitter potion, to anoint the side of the cup with honey: when we give the patient a loathsome pill, to lap it in sugar. The manner whereof the Spirit showeth us in divers letters sent to the Churches of Asia. First, we are to profess the good will we bear to the party, and make it known unto him, that whatsoever we do, we do it in love. I rebuke and chasten as many as I love. Secondly, to acknowledge their good parts, if they have any: I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them that are evil: nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Thirdly, to give them some good advice and counsel with our reproof: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear, and to anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see. Lastly, to promise them favor upon any token of amendment: Be zealous therefore and repent: behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Some there are who like best a resolute Chirurgian, who, be the patient never so impatient, will do his duty, and quickly put him out of his pain; though in the mean time he putteth the party to most intolerable torture. Give me a tender-hearted Chirurgian, who being to set an arm or leg that is out of joint, handleth it so gently, that the patient scant feeleth when the bone falleth in. Thus Nathan the Prophet handled King David, and by telling him first a parable of a poor man that had but one lamb, &c. and afterwards applying it unexpectedly to the King himself ere he was aware, as it were set not his body, but his soul in joint.

The seventh rule is, to keep the execution of justice within certain bounds, set by equity and mercy. This rule is laid down by the Prophet Micah: He hath shown thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requireth of thee, to do justice, and to love mercy: and by Solomon; Be not just overmuch. Cut not too deep, nor launce too far; Ne excedat medicina modum. It is better to leave some flesh a little tainted, than cut away any that is sound. It is more agreeable to God's proceedings to save a whole City for ten righteous men's sake, than after the manner of the Romans, when there was a mutiny in the Campe, to pay the tythe to justice, by executing every tenth man through the whole Army. For as Germanicus cried out in Tacitus, when he saw a great number of soldiers put to the sword for raising up sedition in the Army: Stay your hand, this is not an execution, but a slaughter; not a remedy, but a plague; not severity of justice, but extremity of cruelty. For which Theodosius the Emperor was justly excommunicated by St. Ambrose, and Aegyptus sharply censured by the Poet:

And Scylla was proscribed by the Historians and Poets of his time to all ages, because he was not content with the punishment of sixty thousand in Rome, who were executed with most exquisite torments; but entering afterwards into Praeneste, there left not a man alive: and else where also his cruelty raging in the end, as Lucan observeth, he let out the corrupt blood; but when there was in a manner no other blood left in the whole body of the Common-wealth: What was this else, than as Salust speaketh, to exhaust a city, not to purge it? I am not against the cutting off a rotten member, to preserve the whole body. I know the sword is the only cure of an incurable wound, which yet hath no place, when there is no sound part in the whole body. Bodine speaketh pertinently to this purpose: It doth not follow, that because it is good Surgery sometimes to burn out rotten flesh, or cut off a member to save the whole, that therefore if a gangrene overspread the whole, we are to apply a Razor or Cupping-glass. Seneca better adviseth: Let the clap fright all, the thunderbolt strike but a few. For as Cassiodore noteth, It is as great a shame for a Magistrate, as for a Physician, to have many die under his hand. Choose therefore the fattest of the beasts for sacrifice, that is, make the chief authors and ring-leaders in any sedition or riot a sin-offering for the rest, and an example unto all. This moderation Tully used in repressing the conspiracy of Cataline: Alexander in punishing the rebellion of the Articinae: Scipio in disciplinating his Army, as if they had all read that divine sentence of Seneca, To kill men pell mell, and murder multitudes together, is liker a ruin of a house, or the devouring of a common fire, than a moderate execution of justice: but on the contrary, To save whole multitudes of men, and that together from death and destruction, is an eminent work of the divine power.

The eighth rule is, to be touched with a fellow-feeling of another's misery. This is laid down by S. Paul: Weep with them that weep, put on the bowels of mercy, kindness, and meekness. A good Magistrate should not be like the iron instruments of Chirurgians, that have no sense at all of the intolerable pain which they cause in the part pricked or lanced; but like Zaleuchus, who put out one eye of his own, when he sentenced his son according to law to lose both his eyes. It should be a cut in their heart to cut deep into any member of Christ Jesus. Why hath God given us soft hearts, but to melt into compassion? why moist eyes, but to shed tears, as well for others grievous affliction, as our own sins? Tears, saith the Poet, are the most sensible, and best sensible parts we have; Nostri pars optima sensus: and they that have sap of grace in them are fullest of them.

If Augustus never pronounced a capital sentence, without fetching a deep sigh: If Marcellus wept before he set fire to Syracuse: If Scipio professed in an Oration to his Soldiers, that he drew a sword through his own bowels, when he put thirty of them to death, to expiate the trespass of eight thousand: Nay, if God himself, who is void of all passion, is yet full of compassion;

If he never pronounce the dreadful sentence of destruction against any City or Country, without great regret and seeming reluctance, How shall I give thee up, O Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, O Israel? How shall I make thee as Admah? How shall I set thee as Zeboim? My heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger;—for I am God, and not man, &c. Beloved brethren, how should we be affected, when any of his children, our brethren, are like to be ruined by our sentence? How loath should we be to draw blood one from another, who are members one of another, and fellow-members of Christ Jesus? Were Christ again upon earth, could you see him stripped stark naked, and flayed with whips, and pierced with nails, and racked on the cross, and not be pricked at heart with compunction, and wounded deeply with compassion? And doth he not assure us, that whatsoever is done, be it good or bad, to any of his little ones, is done unto him? Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Therefore never look that he will have mercy on you in heaven, if you have no compassion on him here, calling for food in his starved, sighing for home in his banished, groaning for ease in his burdened, mourning for liberty in his imprisoned, crying for pity in his grievously afflicted and tortured members.

I have applied this Text to instruction and correction: now a word of comfort from this, that the Judge of all flesh is so meek, as hath been shown. When Benhadad the King of Syria was discomfited, and utterly overthrown by the King of Israel, according to the advice of his servants, who told him that the Kings of Israel were merciful, he sent them clothed with sackcloth, with ropes upon their heads, to entreat for peace: now when the King of Israel saw their submission, he made a covenant of peace with them. Better advice I cannot give you, than to put in practice what they did: when you are overtaken with God's judgments, and affrighted with hell torments, cast yourselves down to the ground before him, and pour out your souls with a shower of tears, and put ropes upon your heads, that is, acknowledge what you have deserved for your sins, and sue day and night for pardon, and in the end you shall find by your own experience, that he that is over all is rich in mercy unto all that call upon him. For he will not only raise you up, and set you upon your feet, and pull the rope off your necks, but will farther decke you with golden chains of spiritual graces linked together: he will make you borders of gold with studs of silver. Nay, as when Tygranes threw first his crown, and after himself down at the feet of Pompey, that noble Commander, as Xiphiline writeth, taking pity on him, put his Diadem again with his own hands upon his head, and after took him by the hand, raised him from the ground, and set him in a chair of state by him: So the great Commander of heaven and earth, when he seeth your unfeigned humility, and lowest submission to him, will raise you up, put a crown of glory upon your head, and set you in a throne of majesty on his right hand, to sit with him in judgment upon the twelve Tribes of Israel. So be it. To God the Father, &c.

THE LAMBE TURNED LION. A Sermon preached in his Graces Chapel at Lambeth, Decemb. 6. Anno Dom. 1619. before his Majesty's high Commissioners there assembled. THE FOURTH SERMON.

THe words of Gideon to the Ephraimites, (Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?) may not unfitly be applied to the written Word of God in comparison of other books. Is not the gleaning of Scripture better than the vintage of all secular learning? For in these the presses of eloquence abound with leaves of words, and luxuriant stemmes of extravagant wit; but in it with spiritual senses and divine sentences, as it were the juice and blood of the ripest grapes of the Vine of Engeddi. It is a point of wisdom in man, who hath but little, to make it go as far as he can; and so thriftily instill it in his works, as Nature doth her influences in simples, a great quantity whereof is often distilled to extract one drop of pure quintessence: whereas on the contrary, no plant of Paradise, no branch of a plant, no flower of a branch, no leaf of a flower, but affordeth great plenty of the water of life, more precious than any quintessence that Art can force out of Nature. The finers of gold, as golden mouth St. Chrysostom teacheth us, deal not only with wedges, ingots, and massy pieces of gold, but with the smallest portions thereof. And the Apothecaries make singular use in divers confections even of the dust of gold. When Alexander the great managed his affairs in Judea, those whom he employed to gather the most precious oil of Opobalsamum, thought a whole Summers day well spent in filling a small shell, taking it as it fell drop by drop from the twig. And if a skillful Jeweller will not grind out a small spot, or cloud out of a rich stone, though it somewhat dim the bright luster thereof, because the substance is so precious; shall we lose, or slightly pass by any Iota, or tittle of the Book of God, which shall out-last the large volumes of the heavens? for heaven & earth shall pass away, but no one Iota or tittle of the Word of God shall pass. The Jewish Rabines say, that great mountains hang upon the smallest Jods in the Bible. And St. Chrysostom will not endure a devout Christian to let go any syllable in the Scripture, no nor prick, or point without observation. Surely, if God so carefully preserve the smallest parcels of Scripture, he would have us religiously observe them. Else if we content ourselves with a general handling of the Word of life, how shall we satisfy the Apostles precept of rightly dividing the Word of God? Shew thyself a workman, that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth. The word in the original is not 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , dichotomizing, (the Apostle tieth no man to a precise Ramisticall method;) yet is it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , rightly cutting, or dividing the Word of truth, which cannot be done, if any sensible part be omitted, be it but a conjunctive particle, as this Till in my Text, which standeth like an hinge in the midst of the sentence, turning the meaning divers ways. If it hath reference to the death and resurrection of our Savior, as Cajetan & Avendanus conceive it hath, (in which he brought forth judgment unto victory, by condemning the world, & conquering both death & hell) then the meaning of the whole is this,