Fifty Sermons

SERMON XLVII.

An Anniversary Sermon preached at St. Dunstans, upon the commemoration of a Parishioner, a Benefactor to that Parish.

T His is God's malediction upon the Serpent in Paradise, There in the Region, in the Store-house of all plenty, he must starve; This is the Serpents perpetual fast, his everlasting Lent, ( Dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. ) There is a generation derived from this Serpent, Progenies viperarum, a generation of Vipers, that will needs in a great, and unnecessary measure, keep this Serpents Lent, and bind themselves to perform his fact; for, the Carthusian will eat no flesh, (and yet, I never saw better bodied men, men of better habitudes and constitution, howsoever they recompense their abstinence from flesh) and the Fueillans will eat neither flesh nor fish, but roots, and fallets, (and yet amongst them, amongst men so enfeebled by roots, was bred up that man, who was both malicious courage, and bodily strength, to kill the last King, who was killed amongst them) They will be above others in their fasts, Fish, and Roots will they eat, all the days of their life, but their Master will be above them in his fast, ( Dust must he eat all the days of his life. )

It is Luther's observation upon this place, That in all Moses his Books, God never spoke so long, so much together, as here, upon this occasion. Indeed the occasion was great; It was the arraignment of all the world, and more; of mankind, and of Angels too; of Adam, and Eve, (and there were no more of them) and then of the Serpent, and of Satan in that, and of all the fallen Angels in him. For the sentence which God, as Judge gave upon them, upon all these Malefactors, of that part which fell upon the woman, all our mothers are experimental witnesses; they brought forth us in sorrow and in travail. Of that part of the sentence which fell upon man, everyone of us is an experimental witness, for in every calling, in the sweat of our face, we eat our bread. And of that part of the Judgment, which was inflicted upon the Serpent, and Satan in him, this dead brother of ours who lies in this consecrated earth, is an experimental witness, who being by death reduced to the state of dust, for so much of him, as is dust, that is, for his dead body, and then, for so long time, as he is to remain in that state of dust, is in the portion, and jurisdiction, and possession of the Serpent, that is, in the state which the Serpent hath induced upon man, and dust must he eat all the days of his life.

In passing thorough these words, we shall make but these two steps; first, What the Serpent lost, by this judgment inflicted upon him; and secondly, What man gained by it; for these two considerations embrace much, involve much; first, That God's anger is so intensive, and so extensive, so spreading, and so vehement, as that in his Justice, he would not spare the Serpent, who had no voluntary, no innate, no natural ill disposition towards man, but was only made the instrument of Satan, in the overthrow of man. And then, that God's mercy is so large, so overflowing, so super-abundant, as that even in his Judgment upon the Serpent, he would provide mercy for man. For, as it is a great weight of judgment upon the Serpent, that the Serpent must eat dust, so is it a great degree of mercy to man, that the Serpent must eat but dust, because man's best part is not subject to be served in at his table, the soul cannot become dust, (and dust must he eat all the days of his life. O, in what little sin, though but a sin of omission, though but a sin of ignorance, in what circumstance of sin, may I hope to scape Judgment, if God punished the Serpent who was violently, and involuntarily transported in this action? And in what depth, in what height, in what heinousness, in what multiplicity of sin can I doubt of the mercy of my God, who makes judgment itself the instrument, the engin, the Chariot of his mercy? What room is there left for presumption, if the Serpent, the passive Serpent were punished? What room for desperation, if in the punishment, there be a manifestation of mercy? The Serpent must eat dust, that is his condemnation, but he shall eat no better meat, he shall eat but dust, there is man's consolation.

First then, as it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, so is it an impossible thing to scape it. God is not ashamed of being jealous; he does not only pronounce that he is a jealous God, but he desires to be known by none other name, (The Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God) so jealous, as that he will not have his name uttered in vain; not only not blasphemed, not sworn by, but not used indifferently, transitorily, not Proverbially, occasionally, not in vain. And if it be, what then? Even for this, he will visit to the third, and fourth generation; and three and four are seven, and seven is infinite. So jealous, as that in the case of the Angels, not for looking upon any other Creatures, or trusting in them, (for, when they fell, (as it is ordinarily received) there were no other creatures made) but for not looking immedidiately, directly upon God, but reflecting upon themselves, and trusting in their own natural parts, God threw those Angels into so irrecoverable, and bottomeless a depth, as that the merits of Christ Jesus, though of infinite, super-infinite value, do not boy them up; so jealous a God, is God, so jealous, as that in Adams case, for over-loving his own wife, for his over tender compassion of her, foreating the forbidden fruit, ne contristaretur delicias suas, (as Saint Jerome lays his fault) left he should deject her into an inordinate and desperate malancholy, and so make her incapable of God's mercy, God threw the first man, and in him, all, out of Paradise, out of both Paradises, out of that of rest, and plenty here, and that of Joy, and Glory hereafter. Consider Balaam's sin about cursing God's people, or Moses sin about striking the rock, and wouldst not thou be glad to change sins, with either of them? Are not thy sins greater, heavier sins; And yet, wouldest thou not be sorry, to undergo their punishments? are not thy punishments less? Hast thou found honey, says the holy Ghost in Solomon; and, he says it promiscuously, and universally, to everybody; eat, as much as is sufficient. Every man may. And then, Jonathan found that honey, and knew not that it was forbidden by Saul's proclamation, and did but taste it, and that in a case of extreme necessity, and Jonathan must die. Any man might eat enough, He did but taste, and he must die. If the Angels, if Adam, if Balaam, if Moses, if Jonathan did, if the Serpent in the text, could consider this, how much cheaper God hath made sin to thee, then to them, might they not have color in the eye of a natural man, to expostulate with God? Might not Ananias, and Sapphira, who only withheld a little of that, which, but a little before, was all their own, and now must die for that, have been excusable if they had said at the last gasp, How many direct Sacrileges hath God forborne, in such and such, and we must die? Mighty not E • , and Onan, after their unclean act upon themselves only, for which they died, have been excusable, if they had said at the last gasp, How many direct adulteries, how many unnatural incests hath God forborne in such and such, and we must die? How many loads of miserable wretches mayest thou have seen suffer at ordinary executions, when thou mightest have said with David, Lord I have done wickedly, but these sheep what have they done? What had this Serpent done?

The Serpent was more subtle then any other beast. It is a dangerous thing to have a capacity to do evil; to be fit to be wrought upon, is a dangerous thing. How many men have been drawn into danger, because they were too rich? How many women into solicatation, and temptation, because they were too beautiful? Content thy self with such a mediocrity in these things, as may make thee fit to serve God, and to assist thy neighbor, in a calling, and be not ambitious of extraordinary excellency in any kind; It is a dangerous thing, to have a capacity to do evil. God would do a great work; and he used the simplicity of the Ass; he made Balaam's Ass speak; But the Devil makes use of the subtlety, of the craft of the Serpent; The Serpent is his Instrument; no more but so, but so much he is, his instrument. And then, says S. Chrysostom, Pater noster execuratur gladium, as a natural father would, so our heavenly father does hate, that which was the instrument of the ruin of his children. Wherein hath he expressed that hate? not to bind ourselves to Josephus his opinion, (though some of the ancients in the Christian Church have seconded that opinion, too) that at that time the Serpent could go upright, and speak, and understand, and knew what he did, and so concurred actually and willingly to the temptation and destruction of man, though he were but another's instrument, he became odious to God. Our bodies, of themselves, if they had no souls, have no disposition to any evil; yet, these bodies which are but instruments, must burn in hell. The earth was accursed for man's sin, though the earth had not been so much as an instrument of his sin; Only because it was, after, to conduce to the punishment of his children, it was accursed, God withdrew his love from it. And in the law, those beasts with which men committed bestiality, were to be stoned, as well as the men. How poor a plea will it be, to say, at the last day, I got nothing by such an extortion, to mine own purse, it was for my master; I made no use of that woman whom I had corrupted, it was for a friend. Miserable instrument of sin, that hadst not the profit, nor the pleasure, and must have the damnation! As the Prophet calls them, that help us towards heaven, Savior's, ( Savior's shall come up on Mount Zion ) so are all that concur instrumentally to the damnation of others, Devils. And, at the last day, we shall see many sinners saved, and their instruments perish. Adam, and Eve both God interrogated, and, gave them time, to meditate and to deprecate; To Adam, he says, Where art thou, and, who told thee that thou wast naked? And to Eve, What is this that thou hast done? But to the Serpent no such breathing; The first words is, Quia fecisti; no calling for evidence whether he had done it or no, but, Because thou hast done it, thou art accursed. Sin is Treason against God; and in Treason there is no Accessory; The instrument is the Principal.

We pass from that first Part, the consideration of heavy Judgments upon faults, in appearance but small, derived from the punishment of the Serpent, though but an Instrument. Let no man set a low value upon any sin; let no man think it a little matter to sin someone sin, and no more; or that one sin but once, and no oftener; or that once but a little way in that sin, and no father; or all this, to do another a pleasure, though he take none in it himself (as though there were charity in the society of sin, and that it were an Alms to help a man to the means of sinning.) The least sin cost the blood of the Son of God, and the least sinner may lose the benefit of it, if he presume of it. No man may cast himself from a Pinnacle, because an Angel may support him; no man may kill himself, because there is a Resurrection of the body; nor wound his soul to death by sin, because there may be a resurrection of that, by grace. Here is no room for presumption upon God; but, as little for desperation in God; for, in the punishment of the Serpent, we shall see, that his Mercy, and Justice are inseparable; that, as all the Attributes of God, make up but one God (Goodness, and Wisdom, and Power are but one God) so Mercy and Justice make up but one act; they do not only duly suceed, and second one another, they do not only accompany one another, they are not only together, but they are all one. As Manna, though it tasted to one man like one thing, to another like another, (for it tasted to every man like that, that that man liked best) yet still was the same Manna; so, for God's corrections, they have a different taste in different persons; and howsoever the Serpent found nothing but Judgment, yet we find mercy even in that Judgment. The evening and the morning make up the day, says Moses; as soon as he had named evening comes in morning, no interposing of the mention of a dark, and sad night between. As soon as I hear of a Judgment, I apprehend Mercy, no interposing of any dark or sad suspicion, or diffidence, or distrust in God, and his mercy; and to that purpose we consider the Serpents punishment, and espcially as it is heightened, and aggravated in this Text, Dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.

There are three degrees in the Serpents punishment; First, Super pectus, He must creep upon his belly; And secondly, Inimicitias ponam, I will put enmity, God will raise him an enemy. And thirdly, Pulverem comedes, Dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And, in all these three, though they aggravate the judgment upon the Serpent, there is mercy to us; For, for the first, that the Serpent now does but creep upon his belly, S. Augustine, and S. Gregory understands this belly to be the seat of our affections, and our concupiscencies; That the Serpent hath no power upon our heart, nor upon our brain, for, if we bring a temptation to consideration, to deliberation, that we stop at it, think of it, study it, and forsee the consequences, this frustrates the temptation. Our nobler faculties are always assisted with the grace of God to resist him, though the belly, the bowels of sin, in sudden surprises, and ebullitions, and foamings of our concupiscencies, be subject to him: for, though it may seem, that if that be the meaning, (which, from S. Augustine and S. Gregory we have given you) That the Serpent hath this power over our affections, and that is intended by that, The belly, it should rather have been said, super pectus vestrum, He shall creep upon your belly, then upon his own, yet, indeed, all that is his own, which we have submitted and surrendered to him, and he is upon his own, because we make ourselves his; (for, to whom ye yield your servants to obey, his servants you are. ) So that if he be super pectus nostrum, if he be upon our belly, he is upon his own. But he does but creep; He does not fly; He is not presently upon you, in a present possession of you; you may discern the beginning of sin, and the ways of sin, in the approaches of the Serpent, if you will. The Serpent leaves a slime that discovers him, where he creeps; At least behind him, after a sin, you may easily see occasion of remorse, and detestation of that sin, and thereby prevent relapses, if you have not watched him well enough in his creeping upon you. When he is a Lion, he does not devour all whom he finds; He seeks whom he may devour; He may not devour all, nor any but those, who cast themselves into his jaws, by exposing themselves to temptations to sin.

He does but creep; why, did he anymore before? was his form changed in this punishment? Many of the Ancients think literally that it was; and that before the Serpent did go upon feet; we are not sure of that; nor is it much probable. That may well be true, which Luther says, fuit suavissima bestiola, till then it was a creature more lovely, more sociable, more conversable with man, and, (as Calvin expresses the same) Minus odiosus, man did less abhor the Serpent before, then after. Beloved, it is a degree of mercy, if God bring that, which was formerly a temptation to me, to a less power over me, then formerly it had; If deformity, if sickness, if age, if opinion, if satiety, if inconstancy, if anything have worn out a temptation in that face, that transported me heretofore, it is a degree of mercy. Though the Serpent be the same Serpent, yet if he be not so acceptable, so welcome to me, as heretofore, it is a happy, a blessed change. And so, in that respect, there was mercy.

It was a punishment to the Serpent, that, though he were the same still as before, yet he was not able to insinuate himself as before, because he was not so welcome to us. So, the having of the same form, which he had, might be a punishment, as nakedness was to man after his fall; He was naked before, but he saw it not, he felt it not, he needed no clothes before; Now, nakedness brings shame, and infirmities with it. So, God was so sparing towards the Serpent, as that he made him not worse in nature, then before, and so merciful to us, as that he made us more jealous of him, and thereby more safe against him, then before. Which is also intimated pregnantly, in the next step of his punishment, Inimicitias ponam, That God hath kindled a war between him and us. Peace is a blessed state, but it must be the peace of God; for, simeon and Levi are brethren, they agree well enough together; but they are instruments of evil; and, in that case, the better agreement, the worse. So, war is a fearful state; but not so, if it be the war of God, undertaken for his cause, or by his Word. Many times, a State suffers by the security of a Peace, and gains by the watchfulness of a War. Woe be to that man is so at peace, as that the spirit fights not against the flesh in him; and woe to them too, who would make them friends, or reconcile them, between whom, God hath perpetuated an everlasting war, The seed of the woman, and the seed of the Serpent, Christ and Belial, Truth and Superstition. Till God proclaimed a war between them, the Serpent did easily overthrow them, but therefore God brought it to a war, that man might stand upon his guard. And so it was a Mercy.

But the greatest mercy is in the last, and that which belongs most directly, (though all conduce pertinently and usefully) to our present occasion;) Dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. He must eat dust, that is, our bodies, and carnal affections; He was at a richer diet, he was in better pasture before; before, he fed upon souls too; But for that his head was bruised, in the promise of a Messias, who delivers our souls from his tyranny; But the dust, the body, that body, which for all the precious ransom, and the rich, and large mercy of the Messias, must die, that dust is left to the Serpent, to Satan, that is, to that dissolution, and that putrefaction, which he hath induced upon man, in death. He eats but our dust, in our death, when he hath brought us to that; that is a mercy; nay he eats up our dust before our death, which is a greater mercy; our carnal affections, our concupiscencies are eaten up, and devoured by him; and so, even his eating is a sweeping, a deansing, a purging of us. Many times we are the better for his temptations. My discerning a storm, makes me put on a cloak. My discerning a temptation, makes me see my weakness, and fly to my strength. Nay, I am sometimes the safer, and the readier for a victory, by having been overcome by him. The sense, and the remorse of a sin, after I have fallen into it, puts me into a better state, and establishes better conditions between God and me then were before, when I felt no temptations to sin. He shall eat up my dust, so, as that it shall fly into mine eyes; that is, so work upon my carnal affections, as that they shall not make me blind, nor unable to discern that it is he that works. It is said of one kind of Serpent, that because they know, by an instinct they have, that their skin is good for the use of man, (for the falling sickness) out of Envy, they hide their skin, when they cast it. The Serpent is loath we should have any benefit by him; but we have; even his temptations arm us, and the very falling exalts us, when after a sin of infirmity, we come to a true, and scrutiny of our conscience. So he hath nothing to eat but our dust, and he eats up our dust so, as that he contributes to our glory, by his malice. The Whale was Jonah Pilot; The Crows were Elias caters; The Lions were Daniel's sentinels; The Viper was Paul's advocate; it pleaded for him, & brought the beholders in an instant, from extreme to extreme, from crying out that Paul was a murderer, to cry that he was a god. Though at any time, the Serpent having brought me to a sin, cry out, Thou art a murderer, that is, bring me to a desperate sense of having murdered mine own soul, yet in that darkness I shall see light, & by a present repentance, & effectual application of the merits of my Savior, I shall make the Serpent see, I am a God, thus far a God, that by my adhering to Christ, I am made partaker of the Divine Nature. For, that which S. Chrysost. says of Baptism; is true too in the second Baptism, Repentance, Deposui terram, & coelum indui; then I may say to the Serpent, Your meat is dust; and I was dust; but Deposui terram, I have shak'd off my dust, by true repentance, for I have shak'd off myself, and am a new creature, and am not now meat for your Table. I am terra non sum, sed sal, says the same Father, I am not now unsavory dust, but I am salt; And, Sal ex aqua & vento says he; Salt is made of water and wind; I am made up of the water of Baptism, of the water of Repentance, of the water that accompanies the blood of Christ Jesus, and of that wind that blows where it list, and hath been pleased to blow upon me, the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, and I am no longer meat for the Serpent, for Dust must he eat all the days of his life. I am a branch of that Vine, (Christ is the Vine, and we are the branches ) I am a leaf of that Rose of Sharon, and of that Lily of the valleys; I am a plant in the Orchard of Pomegranates, and that Orchard of Pomegranates is the Church; I am a drop of that dew, that dew that lay upon the head of Christ. And this Vine, and this Rose, and Lily, and Pomegranates, of Paradise, and this Dew of heaven, are not Dust, And dust must thou eat all the days of thy life.

So then, the Prophecy of Isaiah fulfils itself, That when Christ shall reign powerfully over us, The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, (Saul and Ananias shall meet in a house, (as S. Jerome expounds that) and Ananias not be afraid of a Persecutor.) The Lion shall eat straw like the Bullock, says that Prophet in that place, Tradent se rusticitati Scripturarum, says the same Father, The strongest understandings shall content themselves with the homeliness of the Scriptures, and feed upon plain places, and not study new dishes, by subtleties, and perplexities, and then, Dust shall be the Serpents meat, says the Prophet there, The power of Satan shall reach but to the body, and touch a soul wrapped up in Christ. But then, it is Totâ vitâ, all his life. His diet is impaired, but it is not taken away; He eats but dust, but he shall not lack that, as long as he lives. And how long lives the Serpent, this Serpent? The life of this Serpent is to seduce man, to practice upon man, to prevail upon man, as far, and as long as man is dust. And therefore we are not only his dust, whilst we live (all which time we serve in our carnal affections, for him to feed upon) but when we are dead, we are his dust still. Man was made in that state, as that he should not resolve to dust, but should have passed from this world to the next, without corruption, or resolution of the body. That which God said to Adam, Dust thou art, belonged to all, from the beginning, he, and all we were to be of dust, in his best integrity; but that which God adds there, & in terram revertêris, (dust thou art, and to it thou shalt return ) that the Serpent brought in, that was induced upon man by him, and his temptation. So that when we are living dust here he eats us, and when we are dead dust too, in the grave, he feeds upon us, because it proceeds from him both that we die, and that we are detained in the state of exinanition, and ingloriousnesse, in the dust of the earth, and not translated immediately to the joys of heaven, as but for him, we should have been. But as, though he do feed upon our living dust, that is, induce sicknesses, and hunger, and labor, and cold, and pain upon our bodies here, God raises even that dust out of his hands, and redeems it from his jaws, in affording us a deliverance, or a •••• itution from those bodily calamities here, as he did abundantly to his servant, and our example Job, so, though he feed upon our dead dust and detain our bodies in the disconsolate state of the grave, yet, as the Godhead, the divine nature did not depart from the body of Christ when it lay dead in the grave, so neither doth the love and power of God, depart from the body of a Christian, though resolved to dust in the grave, but, in his due time, shall recollect that dust, and recompact that body, and reunite that soul, in everlasting joy and glory. And till then, the Serpent lives; till the Judgment, Satan hath power upon that part of man; and that's the Serpents life, first to practice our death, and then to hold us in the state of the dead. Till then we attend with hope, and with prayers God's holy pleasure upon us, and then begins the unchangeable state in our life, in body and soul together, then we begin to live, and then ends the Serpents life, that is, his earnest practice upon us in our life, and his faint triumph in continuing over our dust. That time, (the time of the general Resurrection) being not yet come, the devils thought themselves wronged, and complained that Christ came before the time to torment them; and therefore Christ yielded so much to their importunity, as to give them leave to enter into the swine. And therefore, let not us murmur nor over-mourn for that, which as we have induced it upon ourselves, so God shall deliver us from, at last, that is, both death, and corruption after death, and captivity in that comfortless state, but for the resurrection. For, so long we are to be dust, and so long lasts the Serpents life, Satan's power over man; dust must he eat all the days of his life.

In the mean time, (for our comfort in the way) when this Serpent becomes a Lyon, yet there is a Lyon of the Tribe of Judah, that is too strong for him. so, if he who is Serpens serpens humi, the Serpent condemned to creep upon the ground, do transform himself into a flying Serpent, and attempt our nobler faculties, there is Serpens exaltatus, a Serpent lifted up in the wilderness, to recover all them that are stung, and feel that they are stung with this Serpent, this flying Serpent, that is, these high and continued sins. The creeping Serpent, the groveling Serpent, is Craft; the exalted Serpent, the crucified Serpent, is Wisdom. All you worldly cares, all your crafty bargains all your subtle matches, all your diggings into other means estates, all your hedgings, in of debts, all your planting of children in great allyances; all these diggings, and hedgings and plantings savor of the earth, and of the craft of that Serpent, that creeps upon the earth: But crucify this craft of yours, bring all your worldly subtlety under the Cross of Christ Jesus, husband your farms so, as you may give a good account to him, press your debts so, as you would be pressed by him, market and bargain so, as that you would give all, to buy that field, in which his treasure, and his pearl is hid, and then you have changed the Serpent, from the Serpent of perdition creeping upon the earth, to the Serpent of salvation exalted in the wilderness. Creeping wisdom, that still looks downward, is but craft; Crucified wisdom, that looks upward, is truly wisdom. Between you and that ground Serpent God hath kindled a war; and the nearer you come to a peace with him, the farther ye go from God, and the more ye exaspetate the Lord of Hosts, and you whet his sword against your own souls. A truce with that Serpent, is too near a peace; to condition with your conscience for a time, that you may continue in such a sin, till you have paid for such a purchase, married such a daughter, bought such an annuity. undermined and eaten out such an unthrift, this truce, (though you mean to end it before you die) is too near a peace with that Serpent, between whom and you, God hath kindled an everlasting war. A cessation of Arms, that is, not to watch all his attempts and temptations, not to examine all your particular actions, A Treaty of Peace, that is, to dispute and debate in the behalf and favor of a sin, to palliate, to disguise, to extenuate that sin, this is too near a peace with this Serpent, this creeping Serpent. But in the other Serpent, the crucified Serpent, God hath reconciled to himself, all things in heaven, and earth, and hell. You have peace in the assistance of the Angels of heaven, Peace in the contribution of the powerful prayers, and of the holy examples of the Saints upon earth, peace in the victory and triumph over the power of hell, peace from sins towards men, peace of affections in yourselves, peace of conscience towards God. From your childhood you have been called upon to hold your peace; To be content is to hold your peace; murmur not at God, in any corrections of his, and you do hold this peace. That creeping Serpent, Satan, is war, and should be so; The crucified Serpent Christ Jesus is peace, and shall be so forever. The creeping Serpent eats our dust, the strength of our bodies, in sicknesses, and our glory in the dust of the grave: The crucified Serpent hath taken our flesh, and our blood, and given us his flesh, and his blood for it; And therefore, as David, when he was thought base, for his holy freedom in dancing before the Ark, said he would be more base; so, since we are all made of red earth, let him that is red, be more red; Let him that is red with the blood of his own soul, be red again in blushing for that redness, and more red in the Communion of the blood of Christ Jesus; whom we shall eat all the days of our life, and be mystically, and mysteriously, and spiritually, and Sacramentally united to him in this life, and gloriously in the next.

In this state of dust, and so in the territory of the Serpent, the Tyrant of the dead, lies this dead brother of ours, and hath lien some years, who occasions our meeting now, and yearly upon this day, and whose soul, we doubt not, is in the hands of God, who is the God of the living. And having gathered a good Gomer of Manna, a good measure of temporal blessings in this life, and derived a fair measure thereof, upon them, whom nature and law directed it upon, (and in whom we beseech God to bless it) hath also distributed something to the poor of this Parish, yearly, this day, and something to a meeting for the conserving of neighborly love, and something for this exercise. In which, no doubt, his intention was not so much to be yearly remembered himself, as that his posterity, and his neighbors might be yearly remembered to do as he had done. For, this is truly to glorify God in his Saints, to sanctify ourselves in their examples; To celebrate them, is to imitate them. For, as it is probably conceived, and agreeably to God's Justice, that they that write wanton books, or make wanton pictures, have additions of torment, as often as other men are corrupted with their books, or their pictures: so may they, who have left permanent examples of good works, well be believed, to receive additions of glory and joy, when others are led by that to do the like: And so, they who are extracted, and derived from him, and they who dwelt about him, may assist their own happiness, and enlarge his, by following his good example in good proportions. Amen.

SERMON XLVIII.

Preached at St. Dunstans.

Y OU remember in the history of the Passion of our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus, there was an Ecce homo, a showing, an exhibiting of that man, in whom we are all blessed. Pilate presented him to the Jews so, with that Ecce homo, Behold the man. That man upon whom the wormwood and the gall of all the ancient Prophecies, and the venom and malignity of all the cruel instruments thereof, was now poured out; That man who was left as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground, without form, or beauty, or comeliness, that we should desire to see him, as the Prophet Isaiah exhibits him; That man who upon the brightness of his eternal generation in the bosom of his Father, had now cast a cloud of a temporary and earthly generation in the womb of his mother, that man, who, as he entered into the womb of his first mother, the blessed Virgin, by a supernatural way, by the overshadowing of the holy Ghost, so he vouchsafed to enter into the womb of her, whom he had accepted for his second mother, the earth, by an unnatural way, not by a natural, but by a violent, and bitter death, that man so torn and mangled, wounded with thorns, oppressed with scorns and contumelies, Pilite presents and exhibits so, Ecce homo, Behold the man, But in all this depression of his, in all his exinanition, and evacuation yet he had a Crown on, yet he had a purple garment on, the emblems, the Characters of majesty were always upon him. And these two considerations, the miseries that exhaust, and evacuate, and annihilate man in this life, and yet, those sparks, and seeds of morality, that lie in the bosom, that still he is a man, the affilictions that depress and smother, that suffocate and strangle their spirits in their bosoms, and yet that unsmotherable, that unquenchable Spirit of Adoption, by which we cry Abba Father, that still he is a Christian, these Thorns, and yet these Crowns, these contumelies, and yet this Purple, are the two parts of this text, I am the man, that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. For, here is an Ecce, behold; Jeremiah presents a map, a manifestation of as great affliction, as the rod of God's wrath could infflict; But yet it is Ecce homo, Behold the man, I am the man, he is not demolished, he is not incinerated so, not so annihilated, but that he is still a man; God preserves his children from departing from the dignity of men, and from the sovereign dignity of Christian men, in the deluge, and inundation of all afflictions.

And these two things, so considerable in that Ecce homo, in the exhibiting of Christ, that then when he was under those scorns, and Crosses, he had his Crowns, his purples, ensigns of majesty upon him, may well be parts of this text; for, when we come to consider who is the person of whom Jeremiah says, I am the man, we find many of the ancient Expositors take these words prophetically of Christ himself; and that Christ himself who says, Behold and see if there be any sorrow, like unto my sorrow, says here also, I am the man, that hath seen affliction, by the rod of his wrath. But because there are some other passages in the Chapter, that are not conveniently appliable to Christ, (it is not likely that Christ would say of himself; That his Father shut out his prayer, even then when he cried and shouted; not likely that Christ would say of himself, That his Father was to him, as a Bear in the way, and as a Lion in secret places; not likely that Christ would say of himself, That his Father had removed his soul far from peace ) therefore this chapter, and this person cannot be so well understood of Christ. Others therefore have understood if of Jerusalem it self; but then it would not be expressed in that Sex, it would not be said of Jerusalem, I am the man. Others understand if of any particular man, that had his part, in that calamity, in that captivity; that the affliction was so universal upon all of that nation of what condition soever, that every man might justly say, Ego vir, I am the man that have seen affliction. But then all this chapter must be figurative, and still, where we can, it becomes, it behooves us to, maintain a literal sense and interpretation of all Scriptures. And that we shall best do in this place, if we understand these words literally of Iermy himself, that the Minister of God, the Preacher of God, the Prophet of God, Jeremiah himself, was the man; the Preacher is the text, Ego vir, I am the man: As the Ministers of God are most exposed to private contumelies, so should they be most affected with public calamities, & soonest come to say with the Apostle, Quis infirmatur who is weak, and I am not weak too, who is offended, and I am not affected with it? when the people of God are distressed with sickness, with dearth, with any public calamity, the Minister is the first man, that should be compassionate, that should be compassionate, and sensible of it.

In these words then, ( I am the man &c. ) these are our two parts; first the Burden, and then the Ease, first the weight, and then the Alleviation, first the Discomfort, and then the Refreshing, the sea of afflictions that overflow, and surround us all and then our emergency and lifting up our head above that sea. In the first we shall consider, first, the Generality of afflictions; and that first in their own nature, And then secondly in that name of man. upon whom they fall here, Gheber, Ego vir, I am the man, which is that name of man, by which the strongest, the powerfullest of men are denoted in the Scriptures; They, the strongest, the mightiest, they that thought themselves safest, and sorrow-proof, are afflicted. And lastly, in the person, upon whom these afflictions are fastened here, Jeremiah the Prophet, of whom literally we understand this place: The dearliest beloved of God, and those of whose service God may have use in his Church, they are subject to be retarded in their service, by these afflictions. Nothing makes a man so great amongst men, nothing makes a man so necessary to God, as that he can escape afflictions. And when we shall have thus considered the generality thereof, these three ways, In the nature of affliction it self, In the signification of that name of exaltation Gheber, And in the person of Jeremiah, we shall pass to the consideration of the vehemency and intenseness thereof, in those circumstances that are laid down in our Text, First, that these afflictions are Ejus, His, The Lord's, And then they are in virga, in his rod, And again, In virga irae, in the rod of his wrath. And in these two branches, the extent and the weight of afflictions, and in these few circumstances, that illustrate both, we shall determine our first part, the burden, the discomfort. When we shall come at last, to our last part, of comfort, we shall find that also to grow out into 2 branches; for, first, Vidit, he saw his affliction, ( I am the Man that hath seen affliction ) Affliction did not blind him, not stupefie him, affliction did not make him unsensible of affliction, (which is a frequent, but a desperate condition) vidit, he saw it; that is first; And then, Ego vir, I am the man that saw it, he maintained the dignity of his station, still he played the man, still he survived to glorify God, and to be an example to other men, of patience under God's corrections, and of thankfulness in God's deliverance. In which last part, we shall also see, that all those particular that did aggravate the affliction, in the former part, (That they were from the Lord, from his Rod, from the Rod of his wrath ) do all exalt our comfort in this, That it is a particular comfort that our afflictions are from the Lord, Another that they are from his Rod, and another also, that they are from the Rod of his wrath.

First then in our first art, and the first branch thereof, The Generality of affliction, considered in the nature thereof: We met all generally, in the first Treason against ourselves; without exception all; In Adams rebellion, who was not in his loins? And in a second Treason, we met all too; in the Treason against Christ Jesus, we met all; All our sins were upon his shoulders. In those two Treasons we have had no exception, no exemption. The penalty for our first Treason, in Adam, in a great part, we do all undergo; we do all die, though not without a loathness and colluctation at the time, yet without a deliberate desire to live in this world forever. How loath soever any man be to die, when death comes, yet I think, there is no man that ever formed a deliberate Prayer, or wish, that he might never die. That penalty for our first Treason in Adam, we do bear. And would any be excepted from bearing anything deduced from his second Treason, his conspiracy against Christ, from imitation of his Passion, and fulfilling his sufferings in his body, in bearing cheerfully the afflictions and tribulations of this life? Omnis caro corruper at; and thou art within that general Indictment, all flesh had corrupted his way upon Earth. Statutum est omnibus mori; and thou art within that general Statute, It is appointed unto all men once to die. Anima quae peccaverit, ipsa morietur: and thou art within that general Sentence, and Judgment, Every soul that sinneth shall die, The death of the soul. Out of these general Propositions thou canst not get; And when in the same universality there cometh a general pardon, Deus vult omnes slavos, God will have all men to be saved, Because that Pardon hath in it that Ita quod, that condition, Omnem filium, He sc • urgeth every son whom he receiveth, wouldst thou lose the benefit of that Adoption, that Filiation, that Patrimony and Inheritance, rather then admit patiently his Fatherly chastisements in the afflictions and tribulations in this life? Beloved, the death of Christ is given to us, as a Hand-writing: for, when Christ naild that Chirographum, that first hand-writing, that had passed between the Devil and us, to his Cross, he did not leave us out of debt, nor absolutely discharged, but he laid another Chirographum upon us, another Obligation arising out of his death. His death is delivered to us, as a writing, but not a writing only in the nature of a piece of Evidence, to plead our inheritance by, but a writing in the nature of a Copy, to learn by; It is not only given us to read, but to write over, and practice; Not only to tell us what he did, but how we should do so too.

All the evils and mischiefs that light upon us in this world, come (for the most part) from this, Quia fruimur utendis, because we think to enjoy those things which God hath given us only to use. God hath given us a use of things, and we set our hearts upon them. And this hath a proportion, an assimilation, an accommodation in the death of Christ. God hath proposed that for our use, in this world, and we think to enjoy it; God would have us do it over again, and we think it enough to know that Christ hath done it already; God would have us write it, and we do only read it; God would have us practice the death of Christ, and we do but understand it. The fruition, the enjoying of the death of Christ, is reserved for the next life; To this life belongs the use of it; that use of it, to fulfill his sufferings in our bodies, by bearing the afflictions and tribulations of this life. For, Priùs Trophaeum Crucis erexit, deinde Martyribus tradidit erigendum; first Christ set up the victorious Trophy of his Cross himself, and then he delivered it over to his Martyrs to do as he had done. Nor are they only his Martyrs that have actually died for him, but into the signification of that name, which signifies a Witness, fall all those, who have glorified him, in a patient and constant bearing the afflictions and tribulations of this life. All being guilty of Christ's death, there lies an obligation upon us all, to fulfill his sufferings. And this is the generality of afflictions, as we consider them in their own nature.

Now, this generality is next expressed, in this word of exaltation, Gheber, Ego vir, I am the man; It was that man, that is denoted and signified in that name, that hath lien under affliction, and therefore no kind of man was likely to scape. There are in the Original Scriptures, four words, by which man is called; four names of man; and any of the others, (if we consider the origination of the words) might better admit afflictions to insult upon him, then this, Gheber, vir, I am the man. At first, man is called Ishe; a word, which their Grammarians derive à sonitu, from a sound, from a voice. Whether man's excellency be in that, that he can speak, which no other creature can do; or whether man's impotency be in that, that he comes into the world Crying, in this denomination, in this word, man is but a sound, but a voice, and that is no great matter. Another name of man is Adam, and Adam is no more but earth, and red earth, and the word is often used for blushing. When the name of man imports no more but so, no more but the frailty of the earth, and the bashful acknowledgement and confession of that frailty, in infinite infirmities, there is no great hope of scaping afflictions in this name, Adam. Less in his third name, Enoch: for Enoch signifies aegrum, calamitosum, a person naturally subject to, and actually possessed with all kinds of infirmities. So that this name of man, Enoch, is so far from exempting him, as that it involves him, it overflows him in afflictions: He hath a miserable name, as well as a miserable nature, Put them in fear, O Lord, (says David) that they may know they are but men; but such men, as are denoted in that name of man, Enoch, (for there that name is expressed) weak and miserable men. Now, (to collect these) as man is nothing but a frivolous, an empty, a transitory sound, or but a sad and lamentable voice, (he is no more in his first name Ishe) As man is nothing but red earth, a moldring clod of infirmities, and then, blushing, that is, guilty, sensible, and ashamed of his own miserable condition, (and man is no more, as he is but Adam) As man is nothing but a receptacle of diseases in his body, of crosses in his estate, of immoderate griefs for those crosses in his mind, (and man is no more as he is but Enoch) so there is no wonder, why man in general should be under affliction, for these names import, these names enforce it: As Adam gave names to the creatures according to their natures, so God hath given names to man, according to his nature, miserable names, to miserable wretches. But when man is presented in this Text, in this fourth and great name, Gheber, which denotes excellency, Excellency in virtue, (his mind rectified) Excellency in wealth, (his estate enlarged) Excellency in power, (his authority extended) Excellency in favor, (all seas calm on the top, and foordable at the bottom to him) when man is expressed in that word, which Isaac used to Jacob, in his abundant blessing, Be Lord over thy brethren, and let thy mothers sons bow down to thee: And then, in this heighth, this heighth of virtue and merit, of wealth and treasure, of command and power, of favor and acclamation, is thrown down into the pit of misery, and submitted to all afflictions, what man can hope to be exempted? Man carries the spawn and seed and eggs of affliction in his own flesh, and his own thoughts make haste to hatch them, and to bring them up. We make all our worms snakes, all our snakes vipers, all our vipers dragons, by our murmuring. And so have you this generality of affliction, considered in this name of Exaltation Gheber.

Now, in our third consideration of this extent of affliction, in that this person, this Prophet Jeremiah, (for, of him literally we understand these words, Ego vir, I am the man) is thus submitted to these extraordinary afflictions, we see first, that no man is so necessary to God, as that God cannot come to his ends without that man; God can lack, and leave out any man in his service. If Christ had revealed to his Apostles, before he called them to be Apostles, or qualified them for that service, that he had a purpose to subdue and convert the whole world, by the labor and the means of twelve men, would it ever have fallen or entered into their imaginations, that any of them, should have been any of those twelve? Men of low rank, and estimation, men disfurnished, not only of all helps of learning, but of all experience in Civil or in Ecclesiastical affairs? And as Christ infused new abilities into these men that had none, so can he effect his purposes without them, who think they have all. And therefore, when he had chosen his twelve Apostles, and had endowed and qualified them for that service, when in their sight some of his Disciples forsook him, because he preached Duros sermons, Doctrines hard to flesh and blood, Christ was not afraid to say to the twelve, Numquid & vos vultis abire, Will ye also go away? He says it to the twelve; and he does not say, Will any of you, but will you, you twelve, all, go away? I can do my work without you. And therefore let no man go about to promove or advance his own fancies, his own singularities, his own Schismaticall opinions, because he hath done God service before, because he hath possessed himself of the love of that Congregation, because no man's preaching is so acceptable there, as his, and that the Church cannot be without him; for, no man hath made God beholden to him, so far, as that he should be afraid to offend him. So also let no man be disheartened nor discouraged, if he have brought a good conscience, and faithful labor to the service of God. Let him not think his wages the worse paid, if God do mingle bodily sickness, temporal losses, personal disgraces, with his labors; Let him not think that God should not do thus to them that wear out themselves in his service; for the best part of our wages is adversity, because that gives us a true fast, and a right value of our prosperity. Jeremiah had it; the best of his rank must.

In his example, we have thus much more, that no man is excused of subsequent afflictions, by precedent, nor of falling into more, by having born some already. Elias reckoned too hastily, when he told God, Satis est, now it is enough, Lord take away my life; God had more to lay upon him. A last years fever prevents not this, nor a sickness in the fall, another in the Spring. Men are not as such Copises, as being felled now, stand safe from the Axe for a dozen year after; But our Afflictions are as beggars, they tell others, and send more after them; Sickness does but usher in poverty, and poverty contempt, and contempt dejection of spirit, And a broken spirit who can bear? No man may refuse a privy seal, because he hath lent before. And, though Afflictions be not of God's revenue, for, Afflictions are not real services to God) yet they are of his Subsidies, and he hath additional glory out of our Afflictions; and, the more, the more. Jeremiah had been scornfully and despitefully put in the stocks by Pashur, before; He had been imprisoned in the Kings house, before; He had been put in the dungeon, & almost starved in the mire, before; And yet he was reserved to this farther calamity. Affliction is truly a part of our patrimony, of our portion. If, as the prodigal did, we wast our portion, (that is, make no use of our former affliction) it is not the least part of God's bounty and liberality towards us, if he give us a new stock, a new feeling of new calamities, that we may be better emproved by them, then by the former; Jeremiah's former afflictions were but preparatives for more; no more are ours.

And, in his example we have this one note more, That when the hand of God had been upon him, he declared, he published God's hand-writing: not only to his own conscience, by acknowledging that all these afflictions were for his sins, but by acknowledging to the world, that God had laid such and such afflictions upon him. There is not a nearer step to obduration, nor a worse defrauding of God of his glory, then to be loath to let the world know, what God hath laid upon us. Say to yourselves, These afflictions are for my sins, and say to one another, Ego vir, I am the man whom God hath thus, and thus afflicted. For, as Executions in Criminall justice, are done as much for example of others, as for punishment of delinquents, so would God fain proceed that cheap way, to make those afflictions which he lays upon thee, serve another too; as they will, if thou be content to glorify God, in letting others know, how he hath afflicted thee. Shut we up this first branch of this first part (The extent and universality of afflictions) which we have considered first in the nature of the case, (we have all contributed to the afflictions of Christ, and therefore must all fulfill his sufferings in our flesh) And then secondly, in this name of Exaltation, Gheber, (man, in the highest consideration of man, is the subject of affliction) And lastly, in the person of Jeremiah, in whom we have made our use of those three observations; First, That no man is so necessary to God, as that God cannot be without him, Then, That no man is excused of future calamities, by former, And lastly, That he whom God hath exercised with afflictions, is bound to glorify God in the declaration thereof; shut we up this branch, with that story of S. Ambrose, who, in a journey from Milan to Rome, passing sometime in the evening with his Host, and hearing him brag that he had never had any cross in his life, S. Ambrose presently removed from thence to another house, with that protestation, That either that man was very unthankful to God, that would not take knowledge of his corrections, or that God's measure was by this time full, and he would surely, and soundly, and suddenly pour down all together. And so we pass to our other branch of this first part, from the extent and generality of afflictions, to the weight and vehemence of them, expressed in three heavy circumstances, That they are His, the Lord's, That they are from his Rod, That they are from the Rod of his wrath: I am the man, that have seen afflictions, by the rod of his mouth.

First, they are aggravated in that they are Ejus, His, The Lord's. It is ordinary in the Scriptures, that when the Holy Ghost would express a superlative, or the highest degree of anything, to express it, by adding to it, the name of God. So, in many places, fortitudo Domini, and timor Domini, The power of the Lord, and the fear of the Lord, do not import that power which is in the Lord, nor that fear which is to be conceived by us of the Lord, but the power of the Lord, and the fear of the Lord denote the greatest power, and the greatest fear that can be conceived. As in particular, when Saul and his company were in such a dead sleep, as that David could enter in upon them, and take his spear, and his pot of water from under his head, this is there called sopor Domini, the sleep of the Lord was upon him, the heaviest, the deadliest sleep that could be imagined. so may these Afflictions in our Text be conceived to be exalted to a superlative heighth, by this addition, that They, and the Rod, and the wrath, are said to be His, The Lord's. But this cannot well be the sense, nor the direct proceeding, and purpose of the Holy Ghost, in this place, because where the addition of the name of God constitutes a superlative, that name is evidently and literally expressed in that place, as fortitudo Det, sopor Dei, and the rest; But here, the name of God is only by implication, by illation, by consequence; All necessary, but yet but illation, but implication, but consequence. For, there is no name of God in this verse; but, because in the last verse of the former chapter, the Lord is expressly named, and the Lord's Anger, and then, this which is the first verse of this chapter, and connected to that, refers these afflictions, and rods, and wrath to Him, (The rod of his wrath) it must necessarily be to him who was last spoken of, The Lord, They are Ejus, His, and therefore heavy.

Then is an Affliction properly God's Affliction, when thou in thy Conscience canst impute it to none but God. When thou disorderest thy body with a surfeit, nature will submit to sickness; When thou wearest out thyself with licentiousness, the sin itself will induce infirmities; when thou transgressest any law of the State, the Justice of the State will lay hold upon thee. And for the Afflictions that fall upon thee in these cases, thou art able to say to thyself, that they would have fallen upon thee, though there had been no God, or though God had had no rod about him, no anger in him; Thou knowest in particular, why, and by whose, or by what means, these Afflictions light upon thee. But when thou shalt have thy Conscience clear towards such and such men, and yet those men shall go about to oppress thee, when thou laborest uprightly in thy calling, and yet doest not prosper, when thou studiest the Scriptures, hearkenest to Sermons, observest Sabbaths, desirest conferences, and yet receivest not satisfaction, but still remainest under the torture of scruples and anxieties, when thou art in S. Paul's case, Nihili conscius, That thou knowest nothing by thyself, and yet canst not give thyself peace, Though all Afflictions upon God's Children, be from him, yet, take knowledge that this is from him, more entirely, and more immediately, and that God remembers something in thee, that thou hast forgot; And, as that fit of an Ague, or that pang of the Gout, which may take thee today, is not necessarily occasioned by that which thou hast eaten today, but may be the effect of some former disorder, so the affliction which lights upon thee in thine age, may be inflicted for the sins of thy youth. Thy affliction is his, The Lord's; And the Lord is infinite, and comprehends all at once, and ever finds something in thee to correct, something that thou hast done, or something that thou wouldest have done, if the blessing of that correction had not restrained thee. And therefore, when thou canst not pitch thy affliction upon any particular sin, yet make not thyself so just, as that thou make God unjust, whose Judgments may be unsearchable, but they cannot be unjust.

This then is the first weight that is laid upon our afflictions, that they are His, The Lord's; and this weight consists in this, That because they are his, they are inevitable, they cannot be avoided, And because they are His, they are certainly just, and cannot be pleaded against, nor can we ease ourselves with any imagination of an innocence, as though they were undeserved. And the next weight that is laid upon them, is that they are, In virga ejus, in his rod. For, though this Metaphor, the Rod, may seem to present but an easy correction, such as that, If thou beat thy child with a rod, be shall not die, (It will not kill him) yet there is more weight then so in this Rod; for the word here is Shebet, and Shebet is such a Rod as may kill; If a man smite his servant with a Rod, so that he die under his hand, he shall be surely punished. Beloved, whether God's Rod, and his correction, shall have the savor of life unto life, or of death unto death, consists much in the hand, that is to receive it, and in the stomach that is to digest it. As in God's Temporal blessings that he rains down upon us, it is much in our gathering, and inning, and spending them, whether it shall be frumenti, or laqueorum, whether this shall prove such a shoure, as shall nourish our soul spiritually, in thankfulness to God, and in charitable works towards his needy Servants, or whether it shall prove a shoure of snares, to minister occasions of temptations; so when he rains afflictions upon us, it is much in our gathering, whether it shall be Roris, or Grandinis, whether it shall be a shoure of fattening dew upon us, or a shoure of Fgyptian hail-stones, to batter us in pieces, as a Potters Vessel, that cannot be renewed. Our murmuring makes a rod a staff, and a staff a sword, and that which God presented for physic, poison. The double effect and operation of God's Rod, and Corrections, is usefully and appliably expressed in the Prophet Zacharias: where God complains, That he had fed the sheep of slaughter, that he had been careful for them, who would needs die, say he what he could. Therefore he was forced to come to the Rod, to correction. So he does; And I took unto me, says he there, two Staves, the one I called Beauty, the oth • r Bands; Two ways of correction, a milder, and a more vehement. When his milder way prevailed not, Then said I, I will not feed you; I will take no more care of you; That which dieth let it die, (says he) and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; And I took my staff of Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my Covenant, which I had made with them. Beloved, God hath made no such Covenant with any State, any Church, any soul, but that, being provoked, he is at liberty to break it. But then, upon this, when the stubborn, and the refractory, the stiff-necked and the rebellious were cut off, The poor of the sheep (says God) that waited upon me, knew that it was the word of the Lord. It is not every man's case, to mend by God's corrections; only the poor of the sheep, the broken hearted, the contrite spirit, the discerner of his own poverty and infirmity, could make that good use of affliction, as to find God's hand, and then God's purpose in it. For, this Rod of God, this Shebet, can kill; Affliction can harden, as well as mollify, and entender the heart. And there is so much the more danger, that it should work that effect, that obduration, because it is Virga Irae, The rod of his wrath, which is the other weight that aggravates our afflictions.

In all afflictions that fall upon us from other instruments, there is Digitus Dei, The finger of God leads their hand that afflicts us; Though it be sickness, by our intemperance, though it be poverty, by our wastfulnesse, though it be oppression, by the malice, or by our exasperation of potent persons, yet still the finger of God is in all these. But in the afflictions which we speak of here, such as fall upon us, when we think ourselves at peace with God, and in state of grace, it is not Digitus, but Manus Dei, the whole work is his, and man hath no part in it. Whensoever he takes the Rod in hand, there is a correction towards; but yet, it may be but his Rod of Beauty, of his Correction, not Destruction. But, if he take his Rod in anger, the case is more dangerous; for, though there be properly no anger in God, yet then is God said to do a thing in anger, when he does it so, as an angry man would do it. Upon those words of David, O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, Saint Augustine observes, that David knew God's rebukes and corrections were but for his amendment; but yet, In Ira corrigi noluit, in Ira emendari noluit, David was loath, that God should go about to mend him in anger; afraid to have anything to do with God, till his anger were over-passed. Beloved, to a true anger, and wrath, and indignation towards his children, God never comes; but he comes so near it, as that they cannot discern, whether it be anger, or no. A Father takes a Rod, and looks as angerly, as though he would kill his child, but means nothing but good to him. So God brings a soul to a sad sense of an angry countenance in God, to a sad apprehension of an angry absence, to a sad jealousy and suspicion that God will never return to it again; And this is a heavy affliction, whilst it lasts. Our Savior Christ, in that case, came to expostulate it, to dispute it with his Father, Vt quid dereliquisti, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Do but tell me why. Fo • , if God be pleased to tell us, why he is angry, his anger is well allayed, and we have a fair overture towards our restitution. But, in our infirmity, we get not easily so far; we apprehend God to be angry; we cannot find the cause, and we sink under the burden; we leave the disease to concoct itself, and we take no Physic. And this is truly the highest extent, and exaltation of affliction, That in our afflictions we take God to be angryer then he is. For, then is God said to take his Rod in anger, when he suffers us to think that he does so, and when he suffers us to decline, and sink so low towards diffidence, and desperation, that we dare not look towards him, because we believe him to be so angry. And so have you all those pieces which constitute both the branches of this first part, The generality and extent of afflictions, considered in the nature of the thing, in the nature of the word, this name of man, Gheber, and in the person of Jeremiah, the Prophet of God, And then the intensene •• e, and weight and vehemency of afflictions, considered in these three particulars, That they are His, The Lord's, That they are from His Rod, And from the Rod of his anger. But to weigh down all these, we have comforts ministered unto us, in our Text, which constitute our other part.

Of these the first is Vidi, I have seen these afflictions, for this is an act of particular grace and mercy, when God enables us to see them: for, naturally this is the infirmity of our spiritual senses, that when the eyes of our understanding should be enlightened, our understanding is so darkened, as that we can neither see prosperity, nor adversity, for, in prosperity our light is too great, and we are dazzled, in adversity too little, none at all, and we are benighted, we do not see our afflictions. There is no doubt, but that the literal sense of this phrase, To see afflictions, is to feel, to suffer afflictions. As, when David says, What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death, and when Christ says, Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption, to see death, and to see corruption, is to suffer them. But then, the literal sense being thus duly preserved, That the children of God shall certainly see, that is, certainly suffer afflictions, receive we also that sweet odour and fragrancy which the word breaths out, That they shall see it, that is, understand it, consider it: For, as when the wicked come to say, The Lord does not see it, it is presently added, Neither doth the God of Jacob regard it, (It is a seeing that induces a regarding ) so when the godly come to see their afflictions, they come to regard them, to regard God's purpose in them. Vidisti Domine, ne sileas, says David, All this thou hast seen, O Lord, Lord do not hold thy peace. David presumed, that if God saw his afflictions, he would stir in them; when we come to see them, we stir, we wake, we rise, we look about us, from whence, and why these afflictions come; and therein lies this comfort, Vidi, I have seen afflictions, I have been content to look upon them, to consider them.

The Prophets in the Old Testament, do often call those sights, and those prenotions which they had of the misery and destruction of others, Onus visions, Onus verbi Domini, O the burden of this sight, O the burden of this message of God. It was a burden to them, to see God's judgments directed upon others; how much more is it a burden to a man, to see his own affliction, and that in the cause thereof? But this must be done, we must see our affliction in the Cause thereof. No man is so blind, so stupid, as that he doth not see his affliction, that is, feel it; but we must see it so, as to see through it, see it to be such as it is, so qualified, so conditioned, so circumstanced, as he that sends it, intends it. We must leave out the malice of others in our oppressions, and forgive that; leave out the severity of the Law in our punishments, and submit to that; and look entirely upon the certainty of God's judgment, who hath the whole body of our sins written together before him, and picks out what sin it pleaseth him, and punisheth now an old, now a yesterdayes sin, as he findeth it most to conduce to his glory, and our amendment, and the edification of others, We must see the hand of God upon the wall as Belshazzar did, (for even that was the hand of God ) though we cannot read that writing, no more then Belshazzar could. We must see the affliction, so as we must see it to be the hand of God, though we cannot presently see, for what sin it is, nor what will be the issue of it. And then when we have seen that, then we must turn to the study of those other particulars, for, till we see the affliction to come from God, we see nothing; There is no other light in that darkness, but he. If thou see thy affliction, thy sickness, in that glass, in the consideration of thine own former licentiousness, thou shalt have no other answer, but that sour remorse, and increpation, you might have lived honestly. If thou see thy affliction, thy poverty, in that glass, in the malice & oppression of potent adversaries, thou wilt get no farther, then to that froward and churlish answer, The Law is open, mend yourself as you can. But Iactate super Dominum, saith David, Lay all thy burden upon the Lord, and he will apply to thee that Collyrium, that sovereign eye-salve, whereby thou shalt see thy afffiction, (it shall not blind thee) And see from whence it cometh, (from him, who, as he liveth, would not the death of a sinner ) And see why it cometh, ( that thou mightest see and taste the goodness of God thyself, and declare his loving kindness to the Children of Men. ) And this is the comfort deduced from this word Vidi, I have seen affliction.

And this leadeth us to our other Comfort, That though these Afflictions have wrought deep upon thee, yet thou canst say to thy soul, Ego vir, I am that man; Thy Morality, thy Christianity is not shaked in thee. It is the Mercy of God, that we are not conumed, saith Jeremiah here; And it is a great degree of his mercy, to let us feel that we are not consumed, to give us this sense, that our case is not desperate, but that Ego vir, I am the man, that there remaineth still strength enough to gather more; That still thou remainest a man, a reasonable man, and so art able to apply to thyself; all those medicines and reliefs, which Philosophy and natural reason can afford. For, even these helps, deduced from Philosophy and natural reason, are strong enough against afflictions of this world, as long as we can use them, as long as these helps of reason and learning are alive, and awake, and actuated in us, they are able to sustain us from sinking under the afflictions of this world, for, they have sustained many a Plato, and Socrates, and Seneca in such cases. But when part of the affliction shall be, that God worketh upon the Spirit it self, and damps that, enfeebles that, that he casts a sooty Cloud upon the understanding, and darkens that, that he doth Exuere hominem, devest, strip the man of the man, Eximere hominem, take the man out of the man, and withdraw and frustrate his natural understanding so, as that, to this purpose, he is no man, yet even in this case, God may mend thee, in marring thee, he may build thee up in dejecring thee, he may infuse another, Ego vir, another Manhood into thee, and though thou canst not say Ego vir, I am that Moral man, safe in my Natural Reason and Philosophy, that is spent, yet Ego vir, I am that Christian man, who have seen this affliction in the Cause thereof, so far off, as in my sin in Adam, and the remedy of this affliction, so far off, as in the death of Christ Jesus I am the Man, that cannot repine, nor murmur, since I am the Cause; I am the man that cannot despair, since Christ is the remedy. I am that man, which is intended in this Text, Gheber. Not only an Adam, a man amongst men, able to convince me, though they speak eloquently against me, and able to prove that God hath forsaken me, because he hath afflicted me, but able to prevail with God himself, as Jacob did, and to wrestle out a blessing out of him, &, though I do halt, become infirm with manifold afflictions, yet they shall be so many seals of my infallibility in him. Now this comfort hath three gradations in our text, three circumstances, which, as they aggravated the discomfort in the former, so they exalt the comfort in this part, That they are His, The Lord's, That they are from his rod, That they are from the rod of his wrath.

We may compare our afflictions that come immediately from God, with those that come instrumentally from others, by considering the choice and election which David made, and the choice which Susanna made in her case. The Prophet G • d offers David his choice of three afflictions, War, Famine, or pestilence. It does not appear, it is not expressed, that David determined himself, or declared his choice of any of the three. He might conceive a hope, that God would forbear all three. As, when another Prophet Nathan had told him, The child shall surely die, yet David said, for all that determined assurance, Who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live, and he fasted a fast, and mourned and prayed for the childes life; Beloved, no commination of God, is unconditioned, or irrevocable. But in this case David intimates some kind of election, Let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercies are exceeding great, and not into the hands of men. Susanna, when she was surprised, (and in a straight too, though of another kind) she resolves that it is better for her to fall into the hands of men, (let men defame her, let men accuse her, condemn her, execute her) rather then sin in the sight of God, and so fall into his hands. So that, if we compare offenses, we were better offend all the Princes of the earth, then offend God, because he is able to cast body and soul into hell fire. But when the offense is done, for the punishment which follows, God forgives a treason, sooner then thy neighbor will a trespass; God seals thee a Quietus est, in the blood of his Son, sooner then a Creditor will renew a bond, or withdraw an Action; and a Scandalum magnatum, will lie longer upon thee here, then a blaspheme • against God, in that Court. And therefore, as it is one degree of good husbandry, in ill husbands, to bring all their debts into one hand, so doest thou husband thy afflictions well, if thou put them all upon thy debts to God, and leave out the consideration of Instruments; And he shall deal with thee, as he did with David there, that plague, which was threatened for three days, he will end in one; In that trouble, which, if men had had their will upon thee, would have consumed thee, thou shalt stand unconsumed. For, if a man wound thee, it is not in his power, though he be never so sorry for it, whether that wound shall kill thee, or no; but if the Lord wound thee to death, he is the life, he can redeem thee from death, and if he do not, he is thy resurrection, and recompenses thee with another, and a better life. And so lies our first comfort, that it is Ejus, His, The Lord's, And a second is, that it is In virga ejus, In his rod.

Job would fain have come to a cessation of arms, before he came to a treaty with God; Let the Lord take away his rod from me, says he, and let not his fear terrify me; Them would I speak. As long as his rod was upon him, and his fears terrified him, it was otherwise; he durst not. But truly his fears should not terrify us, though his rod be upon us; for herein lies our comfort, That all God's rods are bound up with that mercy, which accompanied that rod that God threatened David, to exercise upon his son Solomon, If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men; (I will let him fall into the hands of men) This was heavy; Therefore it is eased with that Cordial, But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul. But for this mercy, the oppressions of men were merciless; But all God's rods are bound up with this mercy; and therein lies our comfort. And for the rods of other men, O my people be not afraid of the Assyrian, says God. Why, blessed Lord, shall • the Assyrian do thy people no harm? yes, says God there, He shall smite them with a rod, and he shall lift up his staff against them; Some harm he shall do; (He shall smite them with a rod) And he shall threaten more, offer at more (he shall lift up his staff) where then is the people's relief, and comfort? In this; The Lord of Hosts shall stir up a scourge for him. God shall appear in that notion of power, The Lord of Hosts, and he shall encounter his enemies, and the enemies of his friends, with a scourge upon them, against their rod upon us. God's own rods are bound up in mercy, (they end in mercy) And, for the rods of other men, God cuts them in pieces, and their owners, with his sword. God's own rods, even towards his own Children, are sometimes, as that rod which he put into Moses hand was, changed into Serpents. God's own rods have sometimes a sting, and a bitterness in them; but then, they are changed from their own nature; Naturally God's rods towards us, are gentle, and harmless: When God's rod in Moses hand, was changed to a Serpent, it did no harm, that did but devour the other Serpents: when God's rods are heaviest upon us, if they devour other rods, that is, enable us to put off the consideration of the malice and oppression of other Men, and all displeasure towards them, and lay all upon God, for our sins, these serpentine rods have wrought a good effect: When Moses his Rod was a Serpent, yet it returned quickly to a Rod again; how bitter so ever God's corrections be, they return soon to their natural sweetness, and though the correction continue, the bitterness does not: with this Rod Moses tamed the Sea, and divided that; but he drowned none in that Sea, but the Egyptians. God's rod will cut, and divide between thy soul, and spirit, but he will destroy nothing in thee, not thy Morality, not thy Christianity, but only thine own Egyptians, thy Persecutors, thy concupiscencies.

But all this while, we have but deduced a comfort out of thy Word, Quia Virga, though that be a rod; but this is a comfort Quia Virga, therefore, because that is a Rod: for, this word which is here a Rod, is also, in other places of Scriptures, an Instrument, not of correction, but direction: Feed thy sheep with thy Rod, says God; and there it is a Pastoral Rod, the direction of the Church; Virga rectitudinis virgaregni tui, says David; The Scepter of thy kingdom is a right Scepter; and there its a royal rod, the protection of the state: so that all comforts that are derived upon us, by the direction of the Church, and by the protection of the State, are recommended to us, and confer'd upon us in this His Rod. Nor is it only a Rod of comfort, by implication, and consequence; but expressly and literally it is so: Though I should walk thorough the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; Thy rod, and thy staff, they comfort me. He had not only a comfort, though he had the rod, but he had not had so much comfort, except he had had it; we have not so good evidence of the joys of the next life, except we have the sorrows of this.

The discomfort then lies not in this, That the affliction is ejus, his, the Lord's, (for we have an ease in that) nor, that it is In Virga ejus, in his rod, (for we have a benefit by that) but it is In virga irae, in that it is the rod of his wrath, of his anger. But truly, beloved, there is a blessed comfort ministered unto us, even in that word; for that word Gnabar, which we translate Anger, wrath, hath another ordinary signification in Scripture, which, though that may seem to be an easier, would prove a heavier sense for us to bear, than this of wrath and anger; this is, preteritio, conniventia, God's forbearing to take knowledge of our transgressions; when God shall say of us, as he does of Israel, Why should ye be smitten anymore? when God leaves us to ourselves, and studies our recovery no farther, by anymore corrections; for, in this case, there is the less comfort, because there is the less anger showed. And therefore S. Bernard, who was heartily afraid of this sense of our word, heartily afraid of this preterition, that God should forget him, leave him out, affectionately, passionately embraces this sense of the word in our Text, Anger; and he says, Irascaris mihi Domine, Domine mihi irascaris, Be angry with me ô Lord, O Lord be angry with me, lest I perish! for, till we have a sense of such an anger in God, towards us, as Children have from their Parents, that not only they correct them, but deny them some things that they ask, and keep them some time from their sight and presence, till we be made Partakers of this blessed anger of God, (for we do not pray, that God would not be angry, but that he would not be angry with us forever) till then we come not to see an affliction, that is, to discern, what, and whence, and why that comes: Nor we see that not like Men, like such Men, like Christian Men, not with a faithful and constant assurance, that all will have an end in him who suffered infinitely more for us, than he hath laid upon us.

SERMON XLIX.

A Sermon Preached at Saint Dunstan's upon New-years-day, 1624.

T His is the place where Circumcision began, and this is the Day, when Circumcision ended; in this Scripture it was Instituted, in the person of Abraham; and upon this Day it was perfected and consummated in the person of Christ Jesus: for, though Circumcision were admitted in a few cases, in the Apostles time, after Christ, yet that was, as dead berbs are re-admitted into medicines in the winter, when fresh and green herbs cannot be had of that kind: So Circumcision was sometimes admitted for peace, and to avoid scandal, and the better to propagate the Church, after the virtue thereof was extinguished in Christ. In the Institution thereof in this Text, we will consider Abraham's ready, and exact obedience: In the Consummation thereof, in the person of Christ, we will consider that, to which, this Circumcision had relation, that is, the spiritual Circumcision of our hearts. It is a Text well handled, and it is a Day well spent, if the Text teach us to obey God readily, and immediately, what inconveniences soever present themselves in the way, and if the celebration of the Day, teach us to come this Day, to that which is the true Circumcision, the Circumcision of the Heart. In the first, in Abraham's example, we shall pass by these steps: First, that though there be allowed to us an Omnia Probate, a Trial of all things, and a spirit to discern spirits; yet when once it appears to us, to be a commandment dement of God, there's a fine leavied, all Titles concluded, no more claim to be made by our under standing, our reason, but a present, and an exact obedience must be given to it. Secondly, that in particular Men, and in particular cases, there may arise temptations, objections, reasons, why a Man might forbear altogether, or at least differ the execution of such a commandment, as there may have done in Abraham's case, as we shall see anon. Thirdly, that though such temptations do arise in us out of our infirmities, yet God gives his Children strength to overcome those difficulties, and to oppose stronger reasons against those reasons, and so to come to a willing obedience to his will. And then lastly, the triumph that belongs to this victory; which we shall find, in considering what benefit Abraham received by this obedience in his Circumcision: And these will be the branches of out first part, rising out of the Institution of Circumcision, in the person of Abraham at that great age, First, that God's manifest will must not be disputed, nor reasoned upon: Secondly, that Mans corrupt nature will offer reasons against it: Thirdly, that God will give the issue with the temptation, reason above that reason: And lastly, he will accompany that victory, with other blessings too.

First then, for our exact obedience to that which God exacts of us, it is well said by Luther, Depuerascendum est, cum agitur de obedientia Dei: when the question is, whether this, or this be commanded by God or no, when traditions and additions of men, are imposed upon us, as commandments of God, here's no Depuerascendum in this case, this is no Childs-play; then viriliter agendum, (as the Apostle speaks) we must quit ourselves like men, we must dispute like Men, (like learned men) preach like Men, ( like Zealous Men) pray like Men (like devout Men) resist like Men, (like valiant Men) or at least, (in cases where we may not resist) suffer like Men, (like constant Christian Men.) But when the question is, De obedientia Dei, that this is agreed to be the will of God, and all the question is, whether God might not be content to accept an obedience to some part of it, or to all of that hereafter, but not now, whether God would not forgive the debt, or at least give day for the payment of it; either when we are old, or by legacies to pious uses, when we die, when this is the question, Depuerascendum est, we must grow Children again; we must not only, not argue, not dispute against it (which are acts of men, of strong & able understandings) but we must return to the first weakness of Children, to be speechless, to be thoughtlesse; we must not utter a word, not conceive a thought against it, Periculosa & pestilens quaestio, Quare; says Luther also, It is a Dangerous and Infectious Monasillable, How or Why: If I will ask a reason, why God commands such a thing; first, Periculosum est, It is Dangerous; for, I have nothing to answer me, but mine own reason, and that affords not Lead enough, nor Line enough, to sound the depth of God's proceedings, nor length enough, nor strength enough to reach so far, and therefore I may mistake the reason, and go upon false grounds. So, Periculosum est, It is a Dangerous question, and a lost question, because I can have no certain answer; and it is an infectious question too, for here is one coal of the Devils fire, of his pride, kindled in me; as the Devil said, Similis ere Altissimo, I will be like the Highest, and see whether I may not stand by my self, without any Influence from God, without any Dependance upon God: so, in our case, I will be so far equal to God, as that I will measure his actions by my reason, and nor do his Commandments till I know why he commanded them: And then, when the infection is got into a House, who can say, it shall end here in this Person, and kill no more; or it shall end this week, and last no longer? So if that infectious inquisition, that Quare, ( Why should God command this or this particular? be entered into me, all my Humility is presently infected, and I shall look for a reason, why God made a world, or why he made a world no sooner then 6000. years ago, and why he says some, and why but some, and I shall examine God upon all the Interrogatories that I can frame, upon the Creed (why I should believe a Son of a Virgin without a Man, or believe the Son of God to descend into Hell) Or frame upon the Pater Noster, (why I should worship such a God, that must be prayed to, not to lead me into temptation) Or frame upon the Ten Commandments, why after all is done and heaped, for any sinful action, yet I should be guilty of all, for covering in my heart another man's horse or house. And therefore Luther pursues it farther, with words of more vehemence, Odiosa & exitialis vocule, Quare, It is an Execrable and Damnable Monasillable, Why; it exasperates God, it ruins us: For, when we come to ask a reason of his actions, either we doubt of the goodness of God, that he is not so careful of us, as we would be; or of his power, that he cannot provide for us, so well as we could do; or of his wisdom, that he hath not grounded his Commandments so well as we could have advised him: whereas Saint Augustine says justly, Qui rationem quaerit voluntatis Dei, aliquid majus Deo quaerit, He that seeks a reason of the will of God, seeks for something greater then God. It was the Devil that opened our eyes in Paradise, it is our parts to shut them so far, as not to gaze upon God's secret purposes. God guided his Children as well by a Pillar of Cloud, as by a Pillar of Fire, and both, Cloud and Fire, were equally Pillars: There is as much strength in, and as safe relying upon some ignorances, as some knowledges; for God provided for his people, as well in this, that he did Moses body from them, as that he revealed other Mysteries to them, by him. All is well sum'd and collected by Saint Augustine, Dominus cur jusserit, viderit; faciendum est à serviente, quod jusserit: Why God commands anything, God himself knows; our part is, not to inquire why, by to do what he commands.

This is the Rule: 'It is true, there should not be: but yet is there not sometimes, in the minds and mouths of good and godly men, a Quare, a reasoning, a disputing against that which God hath commanded or done? The murmuring of the Children in the Desert, had still this Quare, Quare eduxisti, Wherefore have you brought us hither to die here, in this miserable place, where there is no Seed, no Figs, no Vines, no Pomegrantes, no Water? Saul had this Quare, this rebellious inquisition, upon that Commandment of God against the Amalekites, Slay both Man and Woman, Infant and Suckling, Ox and Sheep, Camel and Ass: And from this Quare, from this disputation of his, arose that conclusion, That it were better to spare some for Sacrifice, then to destroy all: But though his pretence had a religious color, that would not justify a slackness in obeying the manifested will of God; for, for this, God repented that he made him King, and told him that he had more pleasure in Obedience, then in Sacrifice. But, to come to better men then the Israelites in the Wilderness, or Saul in his Government, Job, though he, and his Friends held out long, (They sat upon the ground even days and seven nights, and none spoke a word) yet at last fell into these Quares, Why did I not die in the birth? or, why sucked I the breast? Peter himself had this reluctance; and though that were out of piety, yet he was chidden for it, Quare lavas, says he, Lord, doest thou wash my feet? thou shalt never wash my feet: till Christ was fain to say, If I wash thee not, thou shalt have no part with me.

Upon this common infirmity; inherent in the best men that may (and not unlikely) be, that when God commanded Abraham, at that great age to circumcise himself, there might arise such Quares, such scruples and doubts, as there, in Abraham's mind, (for, as Saint Paul says of himself, If any man think he hath whereof to trust in the flesh, much more I, Circumcised, an Hebrew, an Israelite, a Pharisee, a Zealous Servant in the persecution, and in righteousness unblameable: So if any man might have taken this liberty to have disputed with God, upon his precepts, Abraham might have done it; for, when God called him out to number the Stars, (which was, even to Art, impossible) and promised him, that his seed should equal them, (which was, in Nature, incredible) for all this Incredibilitie and Impossibilitie, Abraham believed, and this was accounted to him for Righteousness: And Abraham had declared his easy, and forward, and implicit faith in God, when God called him, and he went out, not knowing whither he went: And therefore when God offered him a new seal, Circumcision, Abraham might have said, Quare sigillum? What needs a seal between thee and me? I have used to take thy word before, and thou hast tried me before: But Abraham knew that Obedience was better then wit or disputation; for, though Obedience and good works, do not beget faith, yet they nurse it; Per ea augescit fidei, & pinguescit, says Luther, Our faith grows into a better state, and into a better liking, by our good works.

Again, when Abraham considered, that it was, Mandatum in re turpi, That this Circumcision, in it self, was too frivolous a thing; and, in that part of the Body, too obscene a thing, to be brought into the fancy of so many Women, so many young Men, so many Strangers to other Nations, as might bring the Promise and Covenant it self into scorn, and into suspicion, that should require such a seal to it as that was, he might have come to this, Quare tam turpe, quare tam sordidum? why does God command me so base and unclean a thing, so scornful and mis-interpretable a thing, as Circumcision, and Circumcision in that part? Again, when he considered, that to Circumcise all his family in one day, (as by the Commandment he must) which could not be (in likelihood) of less then 400. (for he went out before, to the rescue of Lot, with 318. borne and brought up in his House) he must make his House a Spittle of so many impotent Persons, unable to help one another for many days, (for such was the effect of Circumcision, as we see in their Story, when Simeon and Levi came upon the Shechemites three days after they had been, by their persuasion, circumcised, the Shechemites were unable to resist or defend themselves, and so were slain: Yea the sorenesse and incommodity upon Circumcision was so great, as that the very Commandment it self of Circumcision, was forborne in the Wilderness, because they were then put to sudden removes, which presently after a Circumcision, they could not have performed) Might not Abraham have come to his Quare tam molestum? Why will God command me so troublesome and incommodious a thing as this? And (to contract this) when he considered, That one principal reason of the Commandment of Circumcision, was, that that mark might be always a remembrance to them against intemperance and incontinency. Might not Abraham have come to his Quare mihi? What use is there of this, in my Body, which is now dried up and withered by 99. years? What Quares, what reluctations Abraham had, or whether he had any or no, is not expressed; but very religious and good men, sometimes, out of human infirmities, have them: But then, God brings them quickly about to Christ's Veruntamen, Yet not my will, but thine be done; and he delivers them from the temptation, and brings them to an entire obedience to his will, which is that which we proposed for the next Branch in this part.

Tu qui vas figuli, says the Apostle; whensoever any disputation against a commandment of God, arises in God's children, the Spirit of God smothers that spirit of Rebellion with that, Tu qui vas figuli, wilt thou who art but the vessel, dispute with the potter, that fashioned thee? If Abraham had any such doubts, of a frivolousnesse in so base a seal, of an obscenity in so foul a seal, of an incommodiousnesse in so troublesome a seal, of a needlessness in so impertinent a seal; if he had these doubts, no doubt but his forwardness in obeying God, did quickly oppose these reasons to those, and overcome them: That that part of the body is the most rebellious part; and that therefore, only that part Adam covered, out of shame, for all the other parts he could rule: Ad hominis inobedientiam redarguendam, suâ inobedientiâ quodammodo caro testimonium perhibet, to reproach Mans rebellion to God, God hath left one part of Mans body, to rebel against him; for though the seeds of this rebellion be dispersed through all the body, yet, In illa parte magis regnat additamentum Leviathan, says Saint Bernard, the spawns of Leviathan, the seed of sin, the leaven of the Devil, abound and reigns most in that part of the body; it is sentiva peccati, says the same Father, the Sewar of all sin; not only because all sin is derived upon us, by generation, and so implied, and involved in original sin; but because, almost all other sins have relation to this: for, Gluttony is a preparation to this sin in ourselves; Pride and excess is a preparation to it, in others, whom we would enveigle and assure, by our bravery; Anger and malice inclines us to pursue this sinful and inordinate love, quarrelsomly, so, as, that then, we do not quarrel for ways, and walls in the street, but we quarrel for our way to the Devil; and when we cannot go fast enough to the Devil, by wantonness in the chamber, we will quarrel with him, who hinders us of our Damnation, and find a way, to go faster in the field, by Duells, and unchristian Murder, in so foul a cause, as unlawful lust. In this rebellious part, is the root of all sin, and therefore did that part need this stigmaticall mark of Circumcision, to be imprinted upon it. Besides, (for the Jews in particular) they were a Nation prone to Idolatry, and most, upon this occasion, if they mingled themselves with Women of other Nations: And therefore, Dedit eft signum, ut admoverentnr de generatione pura, says Saint Chrysostom, God would be at the cost even of a Sacrament, (which is the greatest thing that passes between God and Man next to his Word) to defend them thereby against dangerous alliances, which might turn their hearts from God; God imprinted a mark in that part, to keep them still in mind of that law, which forbade them foraigne Marriages, or any company of strange Women: Custodia pietati servandae, ne macularent paternam Nobilitatem, left they should degenerate from the Nobility of their race, God would have them carry this memorial about them, in their flesh. And God foresaw that extreme Idolatry, that gross Idolatry, which that Nation would come to, and did come to, when Maachah the Mother of Asa worshipped that Idol, which Saint Jerome calls Belphegor, and is not fit to be named by us; and therefore, in foresight of that Idolatry, God gave this mark, and this mutilation upon this part. If Abraham were surprised with any suggestions, any half reasons against this commandment, he might quickly recollect himself, and see, that Circumcision was first, Signum memorativum, & monimentum isti faederis, it was a sign of the Covenant between God and Abraham; the Covenant was the Messias, who being to come, by a carnal continuance of Abraham's race, the sign and seal was conveniently placed in that part. And that was, secondly, Signum representativum, it represented Baptism, In Christ you are circumcised, says the Apostle, in that you are buried with him, through Baptism: And then, that was Signum Distinctivum; for, besides that it kept them from Idolatry, as the Greeks called all Nations, whom they despised, Barbares, Barbarians, so did the Jews, Incircumcisos, Uncircumcised: And that was a great threatening in the Prophet, Thou shalt die the death of the Uncircumcised; that is, without any part in the everlasting promise, and Covenant. But yet, the principal dignity of this Circumcision, was, that it was Signum figurativum, it prefigured, it directed to that Circumcision of the heart; Circumcise the foreskin of your heart, for the Lord your; God is God of God's, and Lord of Lord's. And for all the other reasons that could be assigned, of Remembrance, of Representation, of Distinction, Caret ubique ration Iudaica carnis Circumcisio, (says Lactantius) Nisi quod est Circumcisionis figura, quae est Cor Mundum: The Jewish Circumcision were an absurd and unreasonable thing, if it did not intimate and figure the Circumcision of the heart: And that is our Second part of this Exercise: But before we come to that, we are to say a word of the fourth branch of this part, That as there is no Quaere to be made nor admitted against God, (which was our first part) If Man, out of his infirmity, do fall into that, (which was our Second) God provides and furnishes them with Reasons against those Reasons, (which was our third.) And then, God rewards their fighting of that battle, (which is his own work) with victories, and crowns, and blessings here; (which must be our fourth branch.)

Of Examples of this, the Book of God is full: but we contract ourselves only to that, which God did to Abraham at this time, in contemplation of this obedience. We consider Abraham at the end of one Age, he was almost one hundred, ninety nine when he was Circumcised; and now was entering into another age, (for he lived seventy five years after this:) this therefore was as the Eve of his New-years-day, and God presents him thus many New-years-gifts: First, he gives him a new Name; in which change of his Name, from Abram, to Abraham, (besides that he was changed from Pater Magnus, to Pater Multudinis, from the Father of a great possession and family, to the Father of a great successession and posterity, for that diminishes any Greatness, to have no posterity to leave that to) this also arises to be noted, that God's Name Jehovah, having in that two Letters of one kind, two H H, God divides with his Servant, God affords one of those letters to the dignifying of Abraham's name, he adds an H of his own Name to his: Jehovah is his essential name; and in communicating any beam of that Essence, any letter of that Name, we become semen Dei, the seed of God; and filii Dei, the Sons of God; and participes divinae naturae, Partakers of the Divine nature; and idem spiritus cum Domino, the same spirit with the Lord; and Hearers of that voice; Ego dixi Dii estis, I have said you are God's: If we were careful to answer our old name, the name of Christians, in our conformity to Christ, and performance of Christianly duties, that were well, and other Names needed not, as remembrancers unto us: But God does give us new Names and additions of Offices, and Titles in School, or Court, or Common-wealth, as new testimonies of his love, and rebukes of our former negligences, and Remembrancers of our present Duties in those places, and Encouragers to a more careful proceeding in them. Secondly, God gave Abraham a new Wife: in which, the blessing was, that he took not from him that virtuous and obedient Wife which he had before, Sara, but now he made her a Wife unto him, and he supplied that only defect which was in her, Barrenness, and so made her fully a Wife, a Mother. Thirdly, he gave him a new Son; for, God who purposed to bless all Nations in Abraham's seed, would not only repair and furnish his old house, (that is, bless Ishmael with temporal blessings) but he would build him a new house, raise him up a new Son, Isaac: He would not only fulfill that petition of Abraham's, Oh that Ishmael might live in thy sight! not only preserve Ishmael, which signifies, Exauditionem Domini, that the Lord had heard that prayer, in the behalf of Ishmael; but he would give him an Isaac, which signifies, Risum, laetitiam, that is, he would give him a new, and true occasion of joy. Fourthly, he gave him a new promise; that as in Adam he had promised a Messias, in semine mulieris, in the seed of the Woman; now he contracts that promise to Abraham, in semine tuo, in thy seed shall all Nations be blessed; and so makes Abraham, not only a Partner with his other Children, in the Salvation of that Messias, but he makes Abraham a means to derive that Salvation upon others also, In semine tuo, thou shalt not only be blessed in the Seed of the Woman, but all Nations shall be blessed in thy seed. And lastly, he gives him a new seal; not only that seal, under which he was wont to deal with him, not only an inward seal in his heart, but he gives him a new seal, a visible seal, the seal of Circumcision. This being then the Dignity of God's precepts, that they require a present, and an exact obedience, without any counter-disputing; this being the infirmity of man's nature, that he is ever ready to object and oppose reasons, according to flesh and blood, against God's precepts; this being the overflowing measure of God's mercy to his Children, to give them the issue with the temptation; Reason above that Reason, victory at last, and alacrity in the performance of that precept; and this being his infinite bounty, to give us such rewards and retributions for those victories, of which, only his goodness, and his strength, was the Author in us, when we do perform those duties, (all which we have seen in Abraham's obedience to a fleshly Circumcision) that Circumcision being come to an end in the Circumcision of Christ, performed this day: Let us come to this Circumcision, of which, that was but a Figure, a Spiritual Circumcision, the Circumcision of the heart, and God shall give us new Names (new Demonstrations, that our names are written in the Book of life) and new Marriages (refresh his promise in the Prophet, that he will marry himself to us forever) and new Sons, new Isaac's (assurance of new Ioyes, Essentiall and Accidental, in the Kingdom of Heaven, and inchoative here in the way) and new promises, and new seals (new obligations of his Blessed Spirit) that that Infallibility of salvation which we have conceived, is well grounded.

We have done with our first part, with that which was occasioned by the Institution of Circumcision in Abraham; we pass to that, which is occasioned by the celebrating of this Day, in which this legal Circumcision taking an end, in the Person of Christ, we come aptly to consider Spiritual Circumcision, by which only we can be made conformable to our pattern and example, Christ Jesus: In which, we will charge your memory but with these two considerations; First, Quid sit, what this spiritual Circumcision is, (for in that is implied the Quomodo, how this Circumcision is to be wrought and effected) And Secondly, the Ubi, what part of a Man is to be circumcised in this Circumcision, for that implies Integritatem, that it is the whole Man in every part.

Briefly then, Spiritual Circumcision is to walk in the spirit; for then, says the Apostle, ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh; no Circumcision can bring us to this, that we shall not have them, for they are borne in us, and they will live in us, whilst we live; but this is this Circumcision, not to fulfill them. Neither was Abraham's race, which was to be circumcised, more numerous, more plentiful, more manifold, then is this issue of the flesh, Sin: How sudden, and how large a pedigree! A Child, at the first minute, when the soul enters, is as good a Sinner, that is, as absolute a Sinner, and hath as good title to Damnation, by being conceived in sin, as the eldest man; nay, he is as old a Sinner as the eldest man that is; nay, as the eldest man that ever was; for, he sin'd in Adam, and, though conceived but this night, sin'd 6000 years ago. In young Men, vanity begets excess; excess; licentiousness; licentiousness, envy, hatred, quarrels, murders; so that here is generation upon generation, here are risen Grandfather and Great-grandfather-sins quickly, a forward generation: And then they grow suddenly to be habits, and they come to prescribe in us: Prescription is, when there is no memory to the contrary; and we cannot remember when that sinful custom begun in us: yea, our sins come to be reverenced in us, and by us; our sins contract a majesty, and a state, and they grow sacred to us; we dare not trouble a sin, we dare not displace it, nor displease it; we dare not dispute the prerogative of our sin, but we come to think it a kind of sedition, a kind of innovation, and a troubling of the state, if we begin to question our Conscience, or change that security of sin which we sleep in, and we think it an easier Reformation to repent a sin once a year, at Easter, when we must needs Receive, then to watch a sin every Day.

There is scarce any sin, but that in that place of the Apostle to the Galatians, it comes within the name of works of the flesh; for, though he names divers sins, which are literally and properly works of the flesh, (as Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, wantonness) yet those sins that are against a man's own self, (as Gluttony and Drunkenness) those that are against other men, (as Contentions and Murders) those that are directed upon new God's (as Idolatry) those that are Contracts with the Devil (as Witchcraft) those that are offenses to the Church (as Heresy) are all called by Saint Paul in that place, works of the flesh: So that the object of this Spiritual Circumcision is all that concerns the flesh, the world, the Devil, or God, or man, or the Church; in every one of these we may find somewhat to circumcise. But because abundance and superfluity begets these works of the flesh, (for though we carry the Serpent about us, yet he does not sting, nor hiss, till he be warm: As long as poverty and wretchedness freezes our Concupiscences, they are not so violent) therefore spiritual Circumcision is well expressed by Saint Bernard; Moralis Circumcisio est, victum & vestitum habentem, esse contentum; A cutting off of these superfluities, is this moral, that is, this spiritual Circumcision.

Now for some understanding of these superfluities, we must consider, that sometimes a poor man, that hath no superfluity in his estate, is yet wasteful in his mind, and puts himself to superfluous expenses, in his diet, in his apparel, and in all things of outward show and ostentation: And on the other side, a covetous man, that hath a superfluous estate, yet starves him self, and denies himself all conveniences for this life: Here's a superfluous confidence in the one, that he cannot want, though he throw away money; and here's a superfluous fear in the other, that he shall want, if he give himself bread; and here's work for this spiritual Circumcision on both sides: But then the Circumcision is not necessarily to be applied to the riches of the rich man, so as that every rich man must necessarily cast away his riches (a Godly man may be rich) nor necessarily applied so to all outward expenses of the free and liberal minded man, as that he should shut up doors, and wear rags; for, a Godly man may fare in his diet, and appear in his garments, according to that Degree which he holds in that state: But the superfluity is, and (consequently the Circumcision is to be) in the Affection, in our Confidence, that whatsoever we wast, by one means or other, we shall have more; or in our diffidence, that if we lay not up all, we shall never have enough. These be the inordinate affections that must be Circumcised: But how? for that's intended in this part. We need inquire no farther, for the means of this spiritual Circumcision, then to the very word which the Holy Ghost hath chosen for Circumcision here, which is Mul and Namal; for that word hath in other places of Scripture, three significations, that express much of the manner, how this Circumcision is to be wrought: It signifies, Purgare, to purge, to discharge the Conscience: (and that is, by Confession of our sins) It signifies, Mundare, to cleanse and purify the Conscience: (and that is, by Contrition and Detestation of that sin) And it signifies, Succidere, to cut down, to weed and root out whatsoever remains in our possession, that is unjustly got (and that is) by Destitution.

Now for the first of these, the purging; the proper use and working of purging Physic, is, not that that Medicine pierces into those parts of the Body, where the peccant humor lies, and from which parts, Nature, of her self, is not able to expel it: the substance of the Medicine does not go thither, but the Physic lies still, and draws those peccant humors together; and being then so come to an unsupportable Mass, and burden, Nature her self, and their own weight expels them out. Now, that which Nature does in a natural body, Grace does in a regenerate soul, for Grace is the nature and the life of a regenerate man. As therefore the bodily Physic goes not to that part of the body that is affected; we must not stay till out Spiritual Physic (the Judgments of God) work upon that particular sin, that transports us: That God should weaken me with a violent sickness, before I will purge myself of my licentiousness; Or strike me with poverty, and loss of my stock, before I will purge myself of my usury; or lay me flat with disgraces and dis-favors of great Persons, before I will purge myself of my Ambition; or evict my land from me, by some false title, that God, in his just Judgment, may give way to, to punish my sins, before I will purge myself of my oppression, and racking of Tenants: But before these violent Medicines come, if thou canst take God's ordinary Physic, administered in the Word and Sacraments; if thou canst but endure that qualme of calling thyself to an account, and an examination; if thou canst draw all thy sins together, and present them to thine own Conscience, then their own weight will find a vent, and thou wilt utter them in a full and free Confession to thy God, and that is Circumcision; as Circumcision consists in the purging of the Conscience, to be moved upon hearing the Word preached, and the denouncing of his Judgments in his Ordinance, before those Judgments surprise thee, to recollect thy sins in thine own memory, and pour them out in a true Confession.

The next step in this Circumcision, (as they are intimated in that word, which the Holy Ghost uses here) is Mundare, to cleanse; and this is a Contrition for those sins, and a Detestation of those sins, which I have thus gathered in my Memory, and poured out in my Confession. A house is not clean, though all the Dust be swept together, if it lie still in a corner, within Dores; A Conscience is not clean, by having recollected all her sins in the Memory, for they may fester there, and Gangreen even to Desperation, till she have emptied them in the bottomless Sea of the blood of Christ Jesus: and the mercy of his Father, by this way of Confession. But a house is not clean neither, though the Dust be thrown out, if there hang Cobwebs about the Walls, in how dark corners soever. A Conscience is not clean, though the sins, brought to our memory by this Examination, be cast upon God's mercy, and the merits of his Son, by Confession, if there remain in me, but a Cobweb, a little, but a sinful de light in the Memory of those sins, which I had formerly committed. How many men sin over the sins of their youth again, in their age, by a sinful Delight in remembering those sins, and a sinful Desire, that their Bodies were not past them? How many men sin over some sins, but imaginarily, (and yet Damnably) a hundred times, which they never sinned actually at all, by filling their Imaginations, with such thoughts as these, How would I be revenged of such an Enemy, if I were in such a place of Authority? How easily could I overthrow such a wasteful young Man, and compass his Land, if I had but Money, to seed his humors? Those sins which we have never been able to do actually, to the harm of others, we do as hurtfully to our own Souls, by a sinful Desire of them, and a sinful Delight in them. Therefore is there a cleansing required in this Circumcision; such a cleansing as God promises, I will cleanse their blood, that is, the fountain, the work of all corrupt Desires, and sinful Delights. Now there is no cleansing of our blood, but by his blood; and the infusion, and application of his blood, is in the seal of the Sacrament; so that that soul only is so cleansed, as is required in this spiritual circumcision, that preserves it self always, or returns speedily, to a disposition of a worthy receiving of that holy and blessed Sacrament: He that is now in that disposition, as that, in a rectified Conscience, he durst meet his Savior at that Table, and receive him there, (which cannot be done without Contrition, and Detestation of former sins) hath admitted this spiritual Circumcision, so far, as is intended in the second signification of this word, which is, To cleanse.

But then there is a third action, which is, succidere, to cut up, to root out all, from whence this sin may grow up again, as the word is used in Job 18. His root shall be dried beneath, and all his branches shall be cut down. In this Circumcision, we must cut the root, the mother-sin, that nourishes all our sins, and the branches too, that if one sin have begot another, there be a fall of all our woods, of our timber wood, (our grown and habitual sins) and of our under-woods, (those lesser sins which grow out of them.) It is a cutting down, and a stubbing up, which is not done, till we have shak'd off all, that we have gotten by those Sins: It is not the Circumcision of an Excessive use of that sin, that will serve our turn, but such a Circumcision, as amounts to an Excession, a cutting off the root, and branch, the sin, and the fruits, the profits of that sin. I must not think to bribe God, by giving him some of the profit of my sin, to let me enjoy the rest: for, was God a venturer with me in my sin? Or did God set me to Sea, that is, put me into this world, to see what I could get by Usury, by Oppression, by Extortion, and then give him a part to charitable uses? As this word signifies Excedere, to cut of all that is grown out of sin, so from this word Namal, comes Nemâla, which is Formicae, an Ant, which the Hebrews derive from this word, out of this reason, That as an Ant doth gnaw all the Corn it lays up, upon one side, so that it may never grow again, so this spiritual Circumcision must provide, that that sin take no new root: but as long as thou makest profit, or takest pleasure in anything sinfully gotten, thy sin grows; so that this Circumcision is not perfected but by restitution and satisfaction of all formerly damnified. These then be all the ways that are presented in these significations and use of this word, which the holy Ghost hath chosen here, purging by Consideration and Confessing, cleansing by Contrition and Detesting, preventing of future growth by Satisfaction in Restoring. A little remains to be said (though it be also implied in that which hath been said) of the Ubi, the place where this Circumcision is to be applied. The Scripture speaks of uncircumcised hearts, and uncircumcised lips, and uncircumcised ears; And our eyes in looking, and coveting, and our hands in reaching to that which is not ours, are as far uncircumcised as ears, or lips, or hearts: Therefore we are to carry this Circumcision all over; we must Circumcise, says Saint Bernard, In carne, peccatum, the flesh, the body, the substance of the sin, in cute, operimentum, in the skin, all covers, and palliations, and disguises, and extenuations of the sin; and, in sanguine incentivum, in the blood all somentations and provocations to that sin: the sin itself, the circumstances of the sin, the relapses to or towards that sin must be circumcised: Judaeus ut parvulus, congruum accepit mandatum, exiguae Circumcisionis, says the same Father, The Jew was but in an infancy, in a minority, and God did not look for so strong a proceeding from the Jew, as from us, but led him by the arms, by the help of Ceremonies and Figures, and accordingly required but a Circumcision in one part of the body: but God looks for more, at the hands of Christians, to whom he hath fully manifested and applied himself. As Christ said to the Jews, Except your righteousness exeeed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, it is nothing: So except our righteousness exceed them that exceeded the Scribes, it is nothing; and therefore, Toto corpore baptizamur (says Bernard) quia totius hominis integra Circumcisio; to show, that it is the whole man that is to be circumcised; we are baptized, we are washed all over, (for so long, even to Bernard's time, it seems, that manner of Baptizing, by Immersion of the whole body, and not by Aspersion upon the face only, continued in the general practice of the Church.) So that if it be not an entire Circumcision of the whole man, that will fall upon us, which God threatens in the Prophet, I will visit all them which are circumcised, with them which are not circumcised; If we circumcise in part, leave some sins, and cleave to others, we shall be, in the sight of God, altogether uncircumcised; Adam was not the less naked in God's sight, for his Fig-leaf; half-repentances are no repentances; either we are in a privation, or in a habit; covered over with righteousness, or naked.

When therefore the Lord and his Spirit calls thee to this spiritual Circumcision, remember that Abraham did not say when he was called, Lord, I have followed thy voice, in leaving my Country; Lord, I have built thee an Altar, what needs more demonstration of my obedience? Say not thou, Lord, I have built an Hospital; Lord, I have fed the poor at Christmas; Lord, I have made peace amongst thy people at home; I have endowed an Alms-house; but persevere in doing good still, for, God takes not the Tree, where it grows, but where it falls; for the most part, the death of a man is such, as his life was; but certainly the life of a man, that is, his everlasting life, is such as his death is. Again, Abraham did not say of this, that it was a Commandment in a flight, and frivolous, and uncivil matter; do not thou say, that it is an impertinent thing in this spiritual Circumcision, to watch thy eating and drinking, and all such indifferent actions, and to see that all they be done to the glory of God; for, as the Apostle says, That the foolishness of God is wiser then the wisdom of man; so we may piously say, that the levity of God is graver then the gravity of all the Philosophers and Doctors of the world; as we may see in all his Ceremontall Laws, where the matter seems very light in many places, but yet the signification very important; and therefore apply this Circumcision, even in thy least, and most familiar action. So also Abraham was not diverted from obeying God, by the inconvenience of having all his family diseas'd at once; he did not say, I am content to circumcise my Son, but would spare my Servants yet, for necessary uses; do not thou say, thou art content to circumcise thine eldest Son, to abate somewhat of that sin which thou beganst with in thy youth, but wouldst fain spare some serviceable and profitable sins for a time, and circumcise them hereafter. To pursue this example, Abraham did not say, Cras Domine, Lord, I will do all this tomorrow; but, as the Commandment was given in that phrase of expedition, Circumcidendo circumcides, In Circumcising thou shalt circumcise; which denoted a diligent and a present dispatch; so Abraham did dispatch it diligently and presently that day. Do not thou say, Cras Domine, tomorrow, some other day, in the day of mine age, or of my Death, or of affliction and tribulation; I will circumcise all, for age, and sickness, and t • ibulations, are Circumcisions of themselves; a Feaver circumcises thee then, or an Apoplexy, and not thy Devotion; and incapacity of sinning is not sanctification: If any man put off his Repentance till death, Fateor non negamus quod petit, says Saint Augustine, I dare not deny that man, whatsoever God may be pleased to grant him; Sed non presumimus, quod been erit; I dare not presume to say, that that man died well, Non presumo, non vas fallo, non presumo, says that Father, with some vehemency, I dare not warrant him, let me not deceive you with saying that I dare, for I dare not: And, Beloved, that is but a suspicious state in any man, in which another Christian hath just reason to doubt of his salvation, as Saint Augustine doth shrewdly doubt of these late Repenters, Sicut ejus damnatio inoerta, it a remissio dubia; As I am not sure he is damned, so I am not sure he is saved, no more sure of one then of the other. It is true, we have the example of the Crucified Thief, but it is but a hard case, when a Thief must guide us and be our Example; we suspect wills that are made of temporal goods in that state, at the last gasp, and shall we think a Man to be compos mentis, of a perfect understanding for the bequeathing of his Soul at his last gasp? non presumo, non nos fallo, non presumo, I should deceive you, if I should say it, I dare not say it, says that Father. Come therefore to this Circumcision betimes, come to it, this Day, come this Minute: This Day thy Savior was Circumcised in the flesh, for thee; this Day Circumcise thy heart to him, and all thy senses, and all thy affections. It is not an utter destroying of thy senses, and of thy affections, that is enjoined thee; but, as when a Man had taken a beautiful Woman captive in the wars, he was not bound to kill her, but he must shave her head, and pare her nails, and change her garments, before he might marry her; so captivate, subdue, change thy affections, and that's the Destruction which makes up this Circumcision: change thy choler into Zeal, change thy amorousnesse into devotion, change thy wastfulnesse into Alms to the poor, and then thou hast circumcised thy affections, and mayest retain them, and mayest confidently say with the Apostle, we are the Circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Do this to day; as God this day gives thee a New year, and hath not surprised thee, nor taken thee away in the sins of last year; as he gives thee a new year, do thou give him a New-years-gift, Cor novum, a new and a Circumcised heart, and Canticum novum, a new Song, a delight to magnify his name, and speak of his glory, and declare his wondrous works to the Sons of men, and be assured that whether I, or any other of the same Ministry, shall speak to you from this place, this day twelve month, and shall ask your consciences then, whether those things which you heard now, have brought you to this Circumcision, and made you better this year than you were the last, and find you under the same uncircumcision still, be assured that God will not, God cannot be mocked, but as he will receive us, with an Euge bone serve, Well done my good and faithful Servant; so he will say to you, Perditio tua ex te, Your destruction is from yourselves: Enough hath been done for you by me, enough hath been said to you by my Servants, Quare moriemini, Why will you die ô house of Israel? And after a long despising of his graces, he will come to a final separation; you shall come to say, Nolumus hunc regnare, we will not have Christ Jesus to reign over us; and Christ Jesus shall come to say, Nescio vos, I know you not, nor whence you are. Hodie si vocem ejus, If you will hear his voice this day, Hodie eritis, This day you shall be with him in Paradise, and dwell in it all the year, and all the years of an Everlasting life, and of infinite generations. Amen.

SERMON L.

A Sermon Preached in Saint Dunstans.

W E read in the natural Story, of some floating Islands, that swim and move from place to place; and in them a Man may sow in one place, and reap in another: This case is so far ours, as that in another place we have sowed in tears, and by his promise, in whose tears we sowed then, when we handled those two words, Jesus wept, we shall reap in Joy: That harvest is not yet; it is reserved to the last Resurrection: But the Corn is above ground, in the Resurrection of our head, the first fruits of the Dead, Christ Jesus, and that being the first visible step of his exaltation, begins our exultation, who in him are to rejoice evermore. The heart knoweth his own bitterness; he and none but he; others feel it not, retain it not, pity it not; and therefore says the Text, A Stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy: He shall have a Joy which no stranger, not he himself whilst he was a stranger to God, and to himself, could conceive. If we ask, as Christ's Disciples asked of him, Quod signum? what shall be the sign of thy coming, of this Joy in the midst of thy bitterness? Ipsae lachrymae laetitiae testes, & nuncii: The tears themselves shall be the sign, the tears shall be Ambassadors of Joy; a present gladness shall consecrate your sorrow, and tears shall baptize, and give a new name to your passion, for your Wormwood shall be Manna; even then when it is Wormwood, it shall be Manna, for, Ga • debitis semper, you shall Rejoice evermore.

But our Text does more then imply a promise to us, for it lays a precept upon us: It is not, Gaudebitis, you shall Rejoice, by way of Comfort, but it is, Gaudete, Rejoice, see that you do Rejoice, by way of Commandment, and that shall be our first part. Cadit sub praecepto; It hath the nature of a commandment. Angels pass not from extreme to extreme, but by the way between; Man passes not from the miseries of this life, to the joys of Heaven, but by joy in this life too; for he that feels no joy here, shall find none hereafter. And when we pass from the substance of the precept, to the extent thereof (which will be our second part) from the first word, Rejoice, to the other, Rejoice always; we shall cleave that into two periods, Gaudete in bonis, Rejoice in your prosperity, and Gaudete in malis, Rejoice in your adversity too. But because it is in sempiternum, that must be in sempiterno, because it is always, it must be in him who is always, yesterday and today, and the same forever, Joy in God, Joy in the Holy Ghost, which will be another branch in that second part; of which Joy, though there be a preparatory, and inchoative participation and possession in this life, yet the consummation being reserved to our entrance into our Masters Joy, not only the Joy which he gives, that's here, but the Joy which he is, that's only there, we shall end in that, beyond which none can go, no not in his thoughts, in some dim contemplation, and in some faint representation of the Joyes of Heaven, and in that Contemplation we shall dismiss you.

First then it is presented in the nature of a Commandment, and lays an Obligation upon all, at all times to procure to ourselves, and to cherish in ourselves, this Joy, this Rejoicing. What is Joy? Comparatur ad desiderium sic ut quies admotum; As Rest in the end of motion, everything moves therefore that it may rest, so Joy is the end of our desires, whatsoever we place our desires, our affections upon, it is therefore, that we may enjoy it; and therefore, Quod est in brutis in parte sensitiva Delectatio, in hominibus in parte intellectiva est gaudium: Beasts and carnal men, who determine all their desires in the sensual parts, come no farther then to a delight: but men, who are truly men, and carry them to the intellectual part, they, and only they, come to Joy. And therefore says Solomon, It is the joy of the just to do judgment; to have lain still, and done no wrong occasions, is not this Joy; Joy is not such a Rest, as the Rest of the Earth, that never moved; but as the Sun rejoiceth to run his race, and his circuit is unto the end of heaven; so this Joy is the rest and testimony of a good conscience, that we have done those things which belong to our calling, that we have moved in our Sphere. For, if men of our profession, whose Function it is, to attend the service of God, delight ourselves in having gathered much in this world; if a Soldier shall have delighted himself, in giving rules of Agriculture, or a Architecture; if a Counselor of State, who should assist with his counsel upon present emergencies, delight himself in writing Books of good counsel for posterity, all this occasions not this joy; because though there have been motion, and though there be Rest, yet that is not Rest after the Motion proper to them. A Man that hath been out of his way all the day, may be glad to find a good Inn at night; but yet 'tis not properly Joy, because he is never the nearer home. Joy is peace for having done that which we ought to have done: And therefore it is well expressed, Optima conjectura an homo sit in gratia est gaudere; The best evidence that a Man is at peace, and in favor with God, is, that he can rejoice. To try whether I be able by Argument and disputation to prove all, that I believe, or to convince the Adversary, this is Academia animae, the souls University, where some are Graduats, and all are not: To try whether I be able to endure Martyrdom for my belief, this is Gehenna animae, the rack, the torture of the Soul, and some are able to hold it out, and all are not: But to try whether I can rejoice in the peace, which I have with God, this is but Catechismus animae, the Catechism of the Soul, and every Man may examine him self, and every Man must; for it is a Commandment, Gaudete semper, Rejoice evermore.

It is, we cannot say the Office, but the Essence of God to do good; and when he does that, he is said to rejoice: The Lord thy God will make thee plenteous; (there is his goodness) and he will Rejoice again over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy Fathers. The Lord will love thee, there is his goodness; and rejoice in thee, and he will rest in his love. Such a joy as is a rest, a complacency in that good which he hath done, we see is placed in God himself. It is in Angels too: Their office is to minister to Men, (for by nature they are Spirits, but by office they are Angels) and when they see so good effect of their service, as that a Sinner is converted, There is joy in the presence of the Angels of God. Christ himself had a spiritual office and employment, To give light to the blind, and to inflict blindness upon those who thought they saw all. And when that was done, Exultavit in spiritu, in that hour Christ rejoiced in the Spirit, and said, I thank thee ô Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, &c. To have something to do, to do it, and then to Rejoice in having done it, to embrace a calling, to perform the Duties of that calling, to joy and rest in the peaceful testimony of having done so; this is Christianly done, Christ did it; Angelically done, Angels do it; Godly done, God does it. As the Bridegroom rejoiceth in his Bride, so doth thy God rejoice in thee. Example, as well as the Rule, repeats it to you, Gaudete semper.

But how far may we carry this joy? To what outward declarations? To laughing? Saint Basil makes a round answer to a short question. An in Universum ridere non licet? May a Man laugh in no case? Admodum perspicuum est, It is very evident, that a Man may not, because Christ says, Vae vobis, Woe be unto you that laugh; And yet Saint Basil himself in another place says (which we are rather to take in explanation, than in contradiction, of himself) that that woe of Christ is cast in obstreperum Sonum, non in sinceram hilaritatem: upon a dissolute and undecent, and immoderate laughting, not upon true inward joy, howsoever outwardly expressed. At the promise of a Son, Abraham fell on his face and laughed; a religious Man, and a grave Man, 100 years old, expressed this joy of his heart, by this outward declaration. Jerome's Translation reads it, Risit in Corde, he laughed within himself, because Saint Jerome thought that was a weakness, a declination towards unbelief, to laugh at God's promise, as he thinks Abraham did. But Saint Paul is a better Witness in his behalf; Against hope he believed in hope; he was not weak in faith; he staggered not at the promise of God, through unbelief. Quod risit, non incredulitatis, sed exultation is indicium fuit, his laughing was no ebb of faith, but a flood of joy. It is not as S. Jerome takes it, Risit in Corde putans celare deum, aperte ridere non ausus; he kept-in his laughing, and durst not laugh out; But as St. Ambrose says well, Risus non irrisio diffidentis, sed exultatio gratulantis; he laughed not in a doubtful scorn of God's promise, but in an overflowing of his own joy: It is well expressed, and, well concluded, O virum aeterno risu vere dignum, & sempiternae jueunditati been praeparatum, This was good evidence, that he was a man well disposed for the joys of heaven; that he could conceive joy in the temporal blessings of God, and that he thought nothing mis-becoming him, that was an outward declaration of this joy. It is a dangerous weakness, to forbear outward declarations of our sense of God's goodness, for fear of mis-interpretations; to smother our present thankfulness, for fear that some should say it was a levity to thank God so soon, till God had done the whole work. For God does sometimes leave half his work undone, because he was not thanked for it. When David danced and leaped, and shouted before the Ark; if he laughed too, it mis-became him not. Not to feel joy is an argument against religious tenderness, not to show that joy, is an argument against thankfulness of the heart: that is a stupidity, this is a contempt. A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance. If it be within, it will be without too. Except I hear thee say in thine actions, Gaudeo, I do rejoice, I cannot know that thou hast heard the Apostle say, Gaudete.

Joy for God's blessings to us, joy for God's glory to himself, may come ad Risum, and farther: Not only ad Ridendum, but ad Irridendum, not only to laugh in our own prosperity, but to laugh them to scorn that would have impeached it. They are put both together in God himself, Ridebo, and Irridebo, I will laugh at your calamities, and I will mock when your fear cometh. And this being in that place intended of God, is spoken in the person of Wisdom; It mis-becomes not wisdom and gravity to laugh in God's deliverances, not to laugh to scorn those that would have blown up God's Servants, when it is carried so high as to the Kings of the Earth, and the Rulers that take counsel against the Lord, and against his Anoynted, we may come Ad Gaudium, to joy in God's goodness, but because their place, and persons are sacred, we leave the Ridere and the Irridere to God: who says, ver. 4. That he will laugh at them, and hold them in derision. But at lower instruments, lower persons may laugh, when they fill the world with the Doctrine of killing of Kings, and mean that that should animate men against such Kings as they call Heretics, and then find in experience that this hath wrought only to the killing of Kings of their own Religion, we lament justly the event, but yet we forbear our Ridere and our Irridere, at the crossing and the frustrating of their plots and practices. Pharaohs Army was drowned, Et Cecinit Moses, Moses sung, Sisera was slain Et Cecinit Deborah, Deborah sung. Thus in the disappointing of God's enemies, God's servants come to outward manifest signs of joy. Not by a libellous and scurrill profanation of persons that are sacred, but in fitting Psalms and Sermons, and Prayers, and public Writings to the occasion, to proceed to a Ridere and Irridere, and as Saint Augustine reads that place of the Proverbs, Superridere, to laugh God's Enemies into a confusion to see their Plots so often, so often, so often frustrated. For so far extends Gaudete, Rejoice evermore.

Joy then, and cheerfulness, is Sub praecepto, it hath the nature of a commandment, and so he departs from a commandment that departs, and abandons himself into an inordinate sadness. And therefore David chides his soul, Why art thou cast down, O my soul, why art thou disquiesed within me? And though he come after to dispute against this sadness of the soul, which he had let in, Hope yet in God, and yet the Lord will command his loving kindness, and my prayer shall be unto the God of my life, yet he could not put it off, but he imagines that he hears his enemies say, Where is thy God? and when he hath wrestled himself weary, he falls back again in the last verse, to his first faintness, Why art thou cast down, O my soul, why art thou disquieted within me? For, As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather, so is he that singeth Songs to a heavy heart: That heaviness makes him uncapable of Natural, of Moral, of Civil, of Spiritual comforts, charm the Charmer never so wisely. Heli heard that the Battle was lost, and that his Sons were slain, and admitted so much sorrow for those, that when the last was added, The Ark was taken by the Enemy, he was too weak for that, and fell down and brake his neck. It was his daughter in Laws case too; she overcharged her soul with sadness for her husbands death, and her fathers death, and when the report of the Ark came, she fell into labor and died; and though the women told her, Fear not, thou hast born a Son, yet she answered not. Though the Ark of God, the worship of his Name, be at any time transferred from where it was, despair not thou of God's reducing it; for this despairing of others, may bring thee to despair in some accident to thyself: Accustome thyself to keep up the consideration of God's mercy at the highest, lodge not a sad suspicion in any public, in any private business, that God's powerful mercy can go but thus far: he that determineth God's Power and his Mercy, and faith here it must end, is as much an Atheist, as he that denieth it altogether. The Key of David openeth and no man shutteth; The Spirit of Comfort shineth upon us, and would not be blown out. Monastery, and Ermimitage, and Anchorate, and such words of singularity are not Synonym • with those plural words Concio, Coetus, Ecclesia, Synagoga & Congregatio, in which words God delivereth himself to us. A Church is a Company, Religion is Religation, a binding of men together in one manner of Worship; and Worship is an exterior service; and that exterior service is the Venite exultemus, to come and rejoice in the presence of God.

If in any of these ways God cast a Cloud upon our former joys, yet to receive good at God's hand, and not to receive evil; to rejoice in the calm, and not in the storm; this is to break at least half of the Commandment, which is, Gaudete semper. And so from the first part, which is the substance which we have passed by these steps, That this rejoicing hath the nature of a Commandment, it must be maintained, And that inward joy must be outwardly expressed, even to the disgrace and confusion of God's enemies, and to the upholding of a joyful constancy in ourselves: We pass now to the extent of the Commandment, Gaude • e semper, Evermore.

Did God mean that we should rejoice always; when he made six days for labor, and but one for rest? Certainly he did. Six days we are to labor, and to do all that we have to do: And part of that which we have to do, is to rejoice in our labor. Adam in the state of Innocency had abundant occasion of continual rejoicing; but yet even in that joyful state he was to labor, to dress and to keep the Garden. After the fall, when God made the labor of man more heavy in sudore vultus, that he should not eat, but in the sweat of his brow, yet God gave him not that penalty, that occasion of sadness, till he had first imprinted the root of true Joy, the promise of a Messias; that promise he made before he came to denounce the penalty, first came the Ipse conteret, and then in sudore vultus: upon those words, Thou shalt eat the labor of thy hand; Debuit dicere fructum, non laborem, saith Augustine, David should have said, he shall eat the fruit, not the labor of his hands. Sed ipsi labores non sunt sine gaudio, but the very labors, the very afflictions of good men, have joy in them. Si labor potest manducari & jucundari, manducatus fructus laboris qualis erit? And if labor itself, affliction itself, minister Joy, what a manner, what a measure of joy is in the full possession thereof in Heaven? And as the consideration of the words immediately after the Text, hath made more then one of the Fathers say, Etiam Somnia justorum preces sunt, Even the sleep of the righteous is a service to God, and their very Dreams are Prayers and Meditations, so much more properly, may we call the sleep, and the bodily rest, nay, the bodily torments of the righteous, joy, rejoicing. So that neither week day, nor Sabbath day nor night, labor nor rest interrupteth this continual Joy: We may, we must rejoice evermore.

Gaudete in bonis, Rejoice when God giveth you the good things of this world; First, in Temporalibus when God giveth you the good Temporal things of this world. Gaudete in Terra, Rejoice that God hath placed you in so fertile, in so fruitful a Land. Gaudete in pace, Rejoice that God hath afforded you peace to till the Land, Gaudete de Temporibus, Rejoice that God giveth good seasons, that the Earth may give her increase, and that Man may joy in the increase of the Earth: And Gaudete de amicitiis, Rejoice that God giveth you friendship with such Nations, as may take of your superfluities, and return things necessary to you. There is a joy required for Temporal things; for he that is not joyful in a benefit, is not thankful. Next to that detestable assertion (as Saint Augustine calleth it) That God made any man to to damn him, it is the perversest assertion, That God gives man temporal things to ensnare him. Was that God's primary intention in prospering Noah's Vineyard, That Noah should be drunken? God forbid.

Doth God give any man honor or place, Vt glorietur in malo, qui potens est, that his power might be an occasion of mischief and oppression? God forbid. God made light at first; but we know not what that light was: but God gathered all light into the Sun, and all the world sees it. God infuses grace and spiritual blessings into a man's heart, and no man sees that, but the Spirit that is in that man; but the Evidence, the great Seal, that he pleads in the Eye of the world, is God's temporal blessings. When Ahasuerus put the Royal Vesture and Ring, and Crown upon Mordecas, it was to show that he was in his favor; in the same intention proceeds God too, when he gives riches, or honor, or favor, or command; he would have that soul rejoice in these, as in testimonies of his favor. God loves hilarem datorem, a cheerful giver, but he that is not a cheerful receiver, is a worse natured man, and more dishonors, nay, reproaches his benefactor. They then disobey this Commandment, of rejoicing in temporal things, that employ not their industry, that use not all good means to attain them. Every man is therefore planted in the world, that he may grow in the world, and as venomous herbs delight in the shade, so a sullen retiring argues a murmuring and venomous disposition; To contemn God's temporal blessings, or to neglect or undervalue those instruments, those persons, by whom God sheds such blessings upon us, is to break that branch of this Commandment Gaudete semper, Rejoice evermore; for he does not rejoice in bonis temporalibus. So is it also, as not to seek them before, so not to use them when we have them. When in a fear of growing poor, makes us think God to be poor too, that if we spend this, God can give us no more, when for fear of lacking at our end, we lack all the way, when we abound and yet will pay no debts, not to our own bellies, our own backs, our own respect, and the decency that belongs to our rank, these men so sordid, so penurious, & suspicious of God's Providence, break this branch of this Commandment too, because they do not rejoice in bonis temporalibus. And as the not-seeker, and the not-user, so the abuser of these temporal blessings is in the same transgression. He that thinks all the world as one Jewell, and himself the Cabinet, that all was made for him, and he for none, forgets his own office, his Stewardship, by which he is enabled and bound to the necessities of others: to collect, he that seeks not, he that denies all to himself, he that denies all but himself, break this branch, for they do not rejoice in bonis temporalibus.

This we must do; but in bonis spiritualibus, in the spiritual good things of this world, much more we call those the spiritual good things of this world, which advance our devotion here, and consequently our salvation hereafter. The ritual and ceremonial, the outward worship of God, the places, the times, the manner of meetings, which are in the disposition of Christian Princes, and by their favors of those Churches, which are in their government: and not to rejoice in the peaceful exercise of those spiritual helps, not to be glad of them, is a transgression. Now the Prophet expresses this rejoicing thus,