A Century of Sermons

I am ashamed to say there is so much iniquity in the nature of man: But it is too true, that a small kindness, as it will work no good, so it will work no hurt upon the worst men, whereas a multitude of benefits provokes ingratitude to hate the Author. Beneficia eo usque laeta sunt dum videntur exolvi posse, says Tacitus; That which may be repaid is well accepted of, but some are so devilish, that instead of good will, they return hatred, when they know they must die ingrateful. So did this false Apostle, who, not contented to be an under confederate, was Dux eorum, says St. Peter, Acts i. 16. the Ringleader, the Captain of them that took Jesus. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , says my Text, He did lift up and exalt his power; Magnificavit dolum, says the Chaldee Paraphrase. He did advance his treachery, not like Dan, An Adder in the path lurking to bite the horse heels, to make the rider fall backward, Gen. xlix. 17. no such lurking Adder, but as a flying Serpent, magnificavit dolum, he lift up his heel, he triumphed in his ungodliness. And yet will you know what interest he had in his Masters favor? Comedebat panes meos, he did eat of my bread.

If we follow the interpretation of the Gloss, it is to be understood de buccellâ quam intinxerat Jesus, of the sop which was dipt, and given into his hands with this reproach, To whom I give the sop he shall betray me, John xiii. 26. If we follow Cassiodor, he says this bread is Doctrina in quâ spiritualiter epulamur, Christ's continual preaching and instruction, which is the food of the soul. So David, repeating my Text in a Paraphrase, p. 55. turns it thus, We took sweet counsel together, there was the trust; and walked in the house of God as friends, there was the bread which was eaten. But if we follow St. Jerome, and a list of Worthies after him, it is to be understood of the blessed Sacrament. Say it were the Sop, and did you ever hear of a Conscience so feared up? That durst be treacherous when he was branded with the suspicion, Tu es homo, Thou art the man. Say it were the preaching of the Word, and what Adder would have stopped his ears except this Serpent? When that voice charmed him so often, at which the Angels are astonished, and hide their faces. Say it were the bread of the Celestial Communion, and how stubborn was this unbeliever that could not relish how precious the body of Christ was before he did betray it.

Beloved, I would that Judas were to be blamed alone. But if we could consider what things the Lord hath done for our peace; who is he among us all that hath not had his • op, that is, some particular token, some especial means, God's hand reaching out a good occasion unto us as well as unto Judas? We have not the lively voice of the very Oracle, but we have the Letter of the very Oracle, and the true Prophets of the very Oracle, reading the Law in the Congregation, expounding faith and good works from the Pulpit, giving to you all 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the portion of your food. And we cannot say but there is a Pot of Manna in the Ark; the holy Supper provided at solemn Feasts, heavenly meat dispensed in due season, whereof we have been partakers. Now if after particular warning, a token best known to every man's conscience, if after the Word preached, if after the Sacrament of Christ's own body, we wax stubborn and rebellious, as David charged Achitophel, as Christ impeached Judas, so will God endite thee, Yea mine, &c.

Had I not read of the poisoning of an Emperor with the Cup of the Eucharist, and of a suspicion that a Pope was made away with the consecrated Host, I should have thought that none had come to the Communion Table with a murderous heart, but only Judas. But now I have considered, that to enter into conspiracies with the Sacrament set before them, is as solemnly kept, and as usual with the Jesuits, as to tune Instruments before Music. I can give an instance for what I say in that execrable Powder Plot; they that have transubstantiated the Wine into blood, and the Cake into raw flesh, are fed for nothing but to prey upon the flesh of their enemies, like Diomedes horses, and to drink their blood. Tam bibit hoc avide, quàm bibit ante merum. They are not beholding to the Devil for his temptation, Mat. iv. To turn stones into bread. Let the Devil rather be beholding to them, and learn how to turn bread into stone, and brain there our familiars. Melchizedek brought forth bread and wine for Abraham after the slaughter of his enemies, if you would moralize it, after the mortification of his sins; but was ever such an holy Table spread to furnish any man to go out to battle to kill his Friends and Confederates? I have not many words to speak against this violent sin, the extinguisher of all grace, and the shame of nature; but I will speak home. Whosoever frequents this Supper, and beats out Plots upon this Table as upon the Anvil of malice, like Judas, like the Jesuits, the root is Hell, and the fruit is certain condemnation.

St. Austin, in his twelfth Sermon upon St. John, hath given me the hint to go one step further; The good members of the Church, says he, are set forth in the person of St. Peter, In Judae personâ reprobi, the lost part, the Reprobates are charactered in the person of Judas. Wherefore there is great reason from hence to cry after collapsed Heretics who renounce the Faith which once they professed in sincerity, and to summon those discontented Runnagates who fall off from our Church to the glorious superstition of the Papacy with this compassionate verse, Yea, mine own familiar friends; yea, my Children that have sucked my breasts have drawn blood from me: such upon whom I have laid hands of Ordination have broken the Covenant, and smote me with the Palms of their hands, their Pen hath wounded me with bitter Motives: Such as have eaten my bread, and compassed my Communion board like Olive branches of peace round about my Table, they have called me the Seed-plot of new Doctrine, and the Mother of Sacrilege, they have lift up their heel against me, and kissed the proud feet of my Adversaries. We have no such enemies against our peace, no such slanderers of our Church, no such forgers of Calumniations almost incredible, as among those fugitives that have skulked to Rome and Downy, to worship the God's of the Groves. As if they could not prove themselves to have forsaken us, unless they had forsaken natural affection, and the ingenuous color of modesty.

Away with them rebellious tongues, let them pack to other Kingdoms, we are not afraid as Pyrrhus was, that they who spoke evil of him at home, would backbite him worse if they were banished and sent abroad. No, I am glad there is Sea enough about the Island to purge away such filth from the shore retrimenta populi. Let them who abide with us be more courageous, like the remnant of Gideon's army, and be confident, that although some, which were harnessed and carried Bows, have turned their backs from us in the day of battle, yet by the hands of the residue the Lord will give victory to his chosen people. But as Cyrus in Xenophon speaks of the manner of the Median hunting beasts in Gardens, that they did 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , hunt beasts that were bound; so to follow these turncoat Fugitives, which have sheltered themselves in Cloisters, and are sworn to do us mischief, it were vincta venari, to pursue that which was entangled, therefore I leave them with Judas and this brand upon both their foreheads, concluding the second part of my Text, &c.

I am now descended in the third place to the stratagem of this day, and am fallen upon the haters of my Lord the King. A King who is an uniter of Kingdoms into one body as David was of Judah and Israel, none more zealous, no not David himself, for the prosperity of Jerusalem, and the magnificence of the holy Temple. Under Christ not only the Supreme Head, but under Christ the most careful Watchman of our Churches; and as Christ did tenderly affect his Apostles above all other men, so the Successors of the Apostles, the Reverend and most holy Bishops of our Church, have found not the smallest place in the love of our gracious Sovereign. Surely above all men if the Clergy be not careful to set forth the honor of this day with great joy and solemnity, it is their ignorance, or their negligence. Ignorance is the very annihilating of a Scholar, negligence the foulest fault in a Labourer.

Had these furious Sword-men that laid their weapons to his throat sound an austere Master, nay, a Tyrant, they must have born with it, and not touch the man that bears the character of the Lord's Anointed. But his Peers are vere par • s, welcome as his equals, his familiar friends. Had they been out of the lists of counsel, not acquainted with secret affairs, what should they do but be thankful for the peace which they enjoy without trouble, and pray for that Government which fills them with plenteousness without their labor, but they were familiars in whom he trusted, adventuring his Royal Person not only under their roof, but under their locks and custody. Lastly, had his bounty no way flown into their Coffers, (and whose bounty among all the Kings of the earth hath replenished more?) yet their bodies are secure by the protection of his Laws, their souls secure by his maintenance of true Religion, their goods secure by his Courts of Justice, and yet his own, &c.

Did eat of his bread, that is true. But to feed upon the Kings hospitality is a courtesy every day common to thousands that visit the Court: But for a mighty Monarch to grace his Subjects Table with his Royal Presence, and to eat of his bread, this is not the felicity of everyone; Pauci quos aequus amavit Jupiter, it is a respect of high honor where it lights, and the glory of an illustrious Family. And out of doubt that mind must be very sordid and avaricious, that esteems it not the more noble grace, to make their service find acceptation that they may expend somewhat rather than receive somewhat of a mighty Potentate. I can spare no more time to publish the black sin of the Authors of this treachery. It was Dionysius his saying to Plato, that if he should dismiss him, and give him leave to depart for Greece, Plato would make him the common talk of Athens; Do not think O King, says Plato, that we have so little care of learned conference that we would choose you for our discourse. So I hope, beloved, that our hearts are so full charged with thankfulness to God for this days deliverance, that in twenty years and more we have no leisure as yet to think of the Malefactors. Let this day be spent, and many days following, only in Prayer, and Supplication, and Thanksgiving to that God who hath given victory to his Anointed, and will do to his Seed for evermore.

Nay, let me add one thing coronidis vice, and I have quite done; we have found this verse to tax Achitophel, to condemn Judas, and lastly, to lie at their door who perished deservedly this day in their own fury. Bonaventure hath yet smelt out another enemy, and such a one, as none more familiar, none more intimate to any of us all. Is not this fair warning beloved? And will you know who it is? O man it is thyself. He that prays to God to bless him from his enemies is afraid of malice, indeed it is a dreadful thing. He that prays to God to bless him from his friends is afraid of treachery, and indeed no mischief less avoidable. But let me pray to God to bless me from myself; no enemy so full of flattery, so like to prevail, so cunning in temptation. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , it is the Civil War which wastes the inward parts, it is the carnal man against the spiritual. Self-love is every man's disease. Why? You are your own familiar friend. Confession of sins can hardly be extorted from us. Why? We trust to ourselves too much. Gluttony and Riot are within our Walls. Why? We feed ourselves, and are our own carvers. From our enemies defend us O Christ, from Forain Invasion, from Domestical Conspiracy, from the malice of Satan, and from the corruption of this vile Flesh, the body of death which we carry about, Good Lord deliver us. AMEN.

THE FIRST SERMON UPON THE Fifth of November.

W E have two sorts of Holy-days and Festivals to call Assemblies together into the Church of God: Some in honor of the Saints who are our friends, that their Piety may redound to our imitation: Some occasioned by the malice of our enemies, to sing praises for our preservation; both are useful, if we advise aright. And who knows, whether King David was instructed better from Hushai his Friend, or from Shimei that reviled him? He that would be safe, says Plutarch, and walk sure, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , he must either have true Friends, or bitter enemies. And, as God would have it, the Church hath plenty of both sorts: Saints of honor in heaven, spiteful men to undermine it upon earth: darkness beneath to complot treachery, light above to reveal it: There is both manus fodiens, an hand digging into Hell against us, and manus educens, the eternal hand that fashioned all things on our side, to take them out. Beloved, here are two chief instructions from two main ways to inform our faith, blessed is everyone that hath duly prepared one heart to receive them.

Which that we may the better do, I pray observe what a lofty Hyperbole the whole verse doth consist of, threatening the ungodly, that they shall neither have advantage by Heaven nor Hell. Though they dig, &c. They that go about to cast away themselves, are not in their way except they wander. And that you may know how sinners straggle whithersoever they go, mark what several interpretations the words do bear. Hugo the Cardinal his Exposition is thus: Si descendero in infernum, hoc est si profundum malorum confiteri nolo; If I keep close in my breast the secret of my sin, yet God will reveal it to my confusion: Si ascendero in coelum, si de justitiâ meâ superbiero; Though I extol my own works as high as my Savior's merit, yet my righteousness shall be found an abomination. The Chaldee Paraphrase leads us to this interpretation; when the Army of the King of Babylon shall come, though you hide yourselves in Vaults and Caves, yet your flight shall be in vain; Quamvis ad aras fugitis, though you clime up to the Altar as Joab did, yet the Sword of Benaiah shall cut you short. Lyra 's opinion is the third, and divers from the others; Si recurrerint ad consulendum Daemones pro suâ evasione sicut Saul fecit; Though they dig into Hell, and consult with Witches and Sorcerers, as Saul did, yet all shall come to naught: and then, Si ascenderint in coelum sanctos invocando; though they call upon all the Saints in heaven, yet shall not that superstition help their cause.

But had Lyra or Hugo lived in these our days, or for eighteen years past had any wrote upon Amos but a Jesuit, one interpretation beyond all these must needs have met them in the face, they could not shun it. For to dig into Hell, and to climb up into heaven, they are all in all, both root and branches of that most execrable Powder-plot. Wherefore you may conceive as if the Prophet Amos had thus spoken: Though they dig into Hell, or though they undermine our Kingdom with vaults, and Sellarage, their impious labor shall come to nothing, but to their own utter shame. Yea, though they climb up into Heaven, though they canonize the enemies of God, and the King, and make Saints and Martyrs of them whom justice did execute, yet their sin shall be revealed in this world, and remembered to their condemnation in the world to come. If thy body were equal to thy mind, says one to Alexander, Alterâ manu orientem alterâ occidentem tetigisses; A short reach, and nothing to this stratagem. Never was any work composed of such contrarieties, that had the Devil at one end, and the Saints at the other, Hell at the bottom, and Heaven at the top. They mount up to heaven, they go down again to the deep, says David, Psa. cvii. And in the next verse he concludes, that Mariners upon such giddy motions stagger like drunken men, and are at their wits end. What, Shall I not much more be bold to say of these men, that dive into Hell, and would be inthroned in Heaven, are not they at their wits end? Are they not drunk with the cup of abominations?

You see then I have two ways to seek out these Powder Conspiratours; toward Hell, and thither you may trace them by their digging: toward Heaven, but they never came thither for all their climbing. Were there no more Garnets upon earth, nay, no more well-wishers to such treasons in this our Realm, than there are in Heaven, it were a blessing that would deserve the solemnity of another Holy-day, wherefore I will turn me to the left hand only, and seek them out where I am sure I shall not miss, that is in the first part of the verse, Though they dig, &c. Who they were, whom the Prophet Amos speaks of, it bears no great sway in our present occasion. Who indeed but the Children of Israel? Being now in God's sight as Ethiopians in the seventh verse of this Chapter, Idolaters that swore by the God of Dan and Beersheba, and by the sin of Samaria in the latter verse of the former Chapter. And you know now-adays who are like unto them, that were once an elected Church, and the Israel of God, but now have almost overtaken the Heathen in a kind of mimical Idolatry: But let them pass with that fault, and God amend them, it is not pertinent to the work of this day. My provision upon these words shall be laid out in this rank and order: 1. Here is the negotiation of the wicked that they dig: there wants no pains, there wants no secrecy. 2. Here is the object of their employment, and that is Hell. 3. There is a twofold end implied, why they undertake such a business; either for their own refuge, as I told you out of Hugo and the Chaldee Paraphrase: Or rather to undermine others, which is more agreeing to Lyra. 4. Here is the frustrating, and the defeating of their work, Thence my hand will take them out; snatch them from their thievish corners, and take his Chosen out of all their trouble. Beloved, to what toil iniquity puts men to? 1. They dig and labor. 2. To what secrecy? What dread of conscience? They dig into Hell. 3. How unprofitable is the event? For when all is done they are apprehended by the hand of God, not unlike St. Peters fishing, Luk. v. 5. Master, says he, we have toiled hard, and all the night, and caught nothing. Which is like St. Paul's gradation, who calls them works, unfruitful works, and works of darkness, Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.

I begin with the Action, wherein two things are to be observed, the labor, and the Secresie. Digging it imports labor; sin itself it is called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and most burdensome it is to them who are servants to obey it. Whatsoever we do, as we are men, it is an action under one of these three heads: For it is either an action of Phansie, and prevents the concurrence of the will, and is neither good nor bad: Or secondly, it is an action of the will, but rash and sudden, and prevents advice and deliberation, which impeacheth both the value of a good deed, and diminisheth the malice of a bad: (for as touching sudden passions, and temptations that take us unawares, there hath always been some mitigation in the Laws of Man; and pardon, no question, before the judgment of God. ) Or lastly, the will hath dwelt some time upon her object, and consulted, and delighted in it, and then if the work be amiss, this is that which, as St. Paul says, makes sin exceeding sinful. And now, beloved, this is that which our great Adversary desires in us, to make us lay the Cockatrice Egg, and hatch it, and bring it up; to put us to fodere, to dig and take pains to be sinful: To make the Prodigal Son bind himself Prentice, and feed Swine, a strange homage, and a most base attendance, to plow up iniquity, as the Prophet speaks, and to reap ungodliness.

Egypt was the Type, and Figure, the very platform of Satan's Kingdom. There is nothing but gathering stubble, and groaning under task-masters, making brick, and more brick if we flinch under the burden. And the heathen when they would make us believe that they had peep'd into Hell, and seen all, make no relation but of toil, and hard usage that the souls were put to. One at the wheel, another drawing water: some rolling stones, and some twining cords: every corner full of fretful industry. For if Satan himself take no rest, shall his instruments look for ease and softness? Six days thou shalt labor, God requires no more. Nay, thou shalt labor seven days, Sunday and every day alike, and break the Sabbath, that is the Doctrine of the Tempter. I speak to them that can judge of the secrecy of States, and the wisdom of the world, what a Labyrinth Matchiavel hath put his disciples into to learn his mysteries and principles of treachery? How many Centuries of Rules to be observed? (Which I know not, but by the Index) it will ask brains to dig and delve for that invention of iniquity, but pure Religion, and undefiled may be comprehended in the smalest Medal, Love thy neighbor as thyself. All Liquors, that are wholesome for the sound are for the most part simple, and unmixed; but how many extractions go before, how many distillations and decoctions follow after to make a Poison? Cariùs venenum quàm vinum bibitur. It is an easy matter to tread the Vintage, and press out the juice of the Grape in great plenty: but you must attend the fire and furnace to confect a drachm of poison. So the service of Baal is but vassalage, his Priests roar from Morning to Evening, they lance and wound their Carkasses, fodiunt ad inferos, they dig to Hell; but the service of the Lord passeth away with joy and melody. A sacrifice of Prayer at Morning, and a sacrifice of praise at Evening▪ an heart without guile towards men, a steadfast belief in Jesus Christ, this is all. And yet will you say, the ways of the Lord are grievous.

The forbidden fruit, you know, it was not planted in the skirts of Paradise, near to the hedge, where any man might reach it; but in penetralibus, in the midst of the garden; as if God had hidden sin from man, but that the Serpent made him industrious to find it out. Quid irâ laboriosius, says Seneca? Look upon the pale face of anger and envy; Is not that sin a labor? Consider the loathing of surfeit and drunkenness: is not that sin a labor? Go to the Hospitals of incontinent lascivious persons, see how their marrow and their bones are consumed; is not that sin a labor? Will you laugh a little at the pitiful object of a covetous man? (No, we will not sport ourselves with his vanity, the Lord shall have him in derision; ) but when he denies sleep to his eyes, and meat to his belly, and rest to his bones, to scrape in a mite more to his heap; is not that sin a labor? Finally, let us look upon our Parliament Pioneers, such another Band as Judas brought from the High Priest with Lanthorns and Staves to betray Christ; three years they kept this Fox in their bosom, till at last it eat out their bowels. Three years, O Lord, they did behold thy heavens above, and all that time did never think of Hell that was within them: Did they not plow up the Seas to and fro in conference with foreign Nations? Did they not plow up the Land with their own arm, and possessed vaults with all Munition, as if they had belonged to the Devils Armory: When were any Gentlemen daintily bread put more to labor? What use shall we make now of all these instances? But cast off the bondage of iniquity; be not vassals to the Prince of darkness, since Christ hath made you free.

O but you will say, the work of Godliness is very great; the Gospel is a yoke, the way to glory is straight and narrow. So it is. And no question if you look not upon the reward to come, every course in the world is painful. Life and death, the fear of God, and the power of sin, all are vexation of spirit in this corruptible flesh. But, Beloved, who gave you feet and hands? Who did frame your body woven with veins, and strengthened with sinews? What may God Almighty say that did all this? As that Roman did to his Son? Non te genui Catilinae sed patriae. Since you needs must work either in my Vineyard, or in the Devils Dunghil, turn unto him that gave you limbs to work, they were not made to dig into Hell, but for my employment, and my glory.

And so much for the tedious labor to the which the ungodly do enthral themselves. Now secondly, digging doth imply that they cast about for conveyance and secrecy; a thing that God did always reprove, ever since he divided between the light and darkness. The Ferret, the Mole, and the Cony, those creatures that dig into the ground were unclean food to God's children, Lev. xi. Spiritus movebatur super expansum, Gen. i. the face of the world lay open before God, when the Spirit moved upon it; but there are an evil sort of men, whose Spirit never moves upon the face of the earth, but live as if they were strangers in our Horizon, and traded with our Antipodes: close, and subtle, fearful of nothing but a revelation; you can scarce fathom how deep their soul lies within their body. When Saul inquired for the Prophet Samuel, every Maiden whom he found carrying a pitcher of water could certify him, that the Man of God did sacrifice on the top of the hill, 1 Sam. ix. But he was fain to inquire and search over all the Land to find out the Witch of Endor. Apemantus the Cynic, says Plutarch, never thought himself better than in the company but of one more; his Partner Timon never thought himself more cheerful than when he was quite left alone. The face of man will ever carry so much reverence, so much of the Image of God, that outrageous sins will turn away, and be loath to appear before it. Herodotus reports of certain Indians, that were wont to blaspheme the bright Sun when it rose in glory, as if the nights were too short to commit filthiness. Why, but our very name is enough to dispel darkness from our actions. We are called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 say the Greeks, as if men, and day-children did not differ one letter; and they that lurk, and retire, like Sisera in the Tent of Jael; and live like Meteors, the imperfect bodies of nature, in a cloud, they seem 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , to repine at their birth and creation, which hath brought them to the light. Besides that the substance of our nature is more naked from the womb than any beast, without hair or feathers, without scales or shell to cover us, like the Fishes of the Sea: Besides this, I say, Nature hath provided that the Countenance of no creature doth betray the inward disposition so much as the face of man. Then let Herod the Fox know, and the profound Craftsmen of our age, that God hath half opened the heart of man in the complexion of his visage, as Isaac did open the two Wells in the Valley of Gerar, and if you dam and stop up the windows of your breast, as the Philistines did the Fountains, let us call them as he did, The Wells of hatred and contention, Gen. xxvi.

There was great devotion no doubt in the Vigils of the Primitive Church, praying, and singing Psalms in the dead hours of darkness, as if they were prepared to meet the Bridegroom at midnight; but because this custom smelt of too much secrecy, it was wisely left off as an offensive Ceremony. And, that all may be done in the face of the Congregation, though we allow, and exhort you unto private Prayer in your secret Chambers; yet the chief part of the Liturgy, I mean the Lord's Supper, it is a Communion of Saints, and but in case of sickness or extremity never to be dispensed in private Families. And now, I pray you, call to mind the bloody conjuration of this day, to whose secrecy those desperate Pseudo Catholics swore even at the Table of the Lord. Was not Religion turned topsie turvy, when those sulphurious traitors, and their Father Jesuits, turned the Communion of our Savior to a non-communion, to link and combine themselves in eternal silence? That Sacrament of Charity, the strongest tie of love that ever God made, became an Oath to unite the malice of Satan:

And thus they thought to carry their stratagem, as the High Priests Servants did, when they blinded our Savior, and smote him, saying, Ariolare nobis quis te percussit, prophesy if you can who they were that smote you down. It was commended for plain dealing in Agesilaus, that he was wont in his travels abroad to take up his lodging in the Temple where he lighted, as if he that revealed himself to men by day, would not conceal himself to the very Idols by night. Alas how can they expect to shine hereafter like stars in glory that are openly seen, whose actions are as unknown to the world as hidden qualities? Or how can they make St. Paul's word good, that the veil is taken away under the Gospel, that have taken away all knowledge from the people, and instead of explicit faith profess mystery?

For if ever false wares were sold to ignorant people under dark lights, the Lay part of Rome have been so abused; the Jesuits shall carry it for the best Jugglers that ever practiced. Such tricks are pretended to enthrall their Novices in belief, that if you resolve their cause into the last principles, the unnurtured people have nothing but Templum Domini for their share. First, Every Prayer they say it is a Creed, somewhat indeed they mutter in an unknown tongue, but for ought they know, instead of a Prayer it may be a Blasphemy. And is not that Religion maskt in secrecy? Yet if the Church doth not teach them explicitly, the Word of God will teach them to pray: but as the Spirit said to Christ, so do they to the Scriptures, Quid nobis & tibi? What have we to do with thee thou Book of God? It were as good for the Philistines to bring the Ark into the house of Dagon, 1 Sam. v. And is not that imperfect Religion maskt in secrecy? Well fare the Fathers; yet they talked of them much: to much purpose indeed, when like the Feast of King Saul, many Guests are there, but David's place is empty. Index expurgatorius hath left the Parable behind, and spung'd out the Moral. As when one painted a Cock untowardly, says Plutarch, to his no great commendation, his Friends advised him to drive away all true Cocks from coming near it; so Falshoods are maintained, and Truth must not stand cheek by soul in the Fathers; and is not this Religion maskt in secrecy? Well, though the Doctrine of the Fathers be brewed and spoiled with their compositions, yet hold fast your Traditions, say the Tridentine Bishops, and all is well. And how came they (do you think) into credit? No question, says Salmeron, but our Savior delivered them to St. Peter in the forty days between his Resurrection and Ascension. No question but Salmeron can never prove it; and is not this Religion maskt in secrecy? Nay, says Melchior Cano, Heretics may be busy with other proofs, yet the Schoolmen will stand the shock against all incursion of Adversaries. Those are of good use many times, but many times, and perchance more often, the winding stairs, where you are still going down from conclusion to conclusion, and never see the bottom; and is not all this Religion maskt in secrecy? The sum of the first part of my Text is this, in the actions of the wicked there is nothing but labor in the undertaking, and shame, which makes them dig to shroud themselves. Now I come to their object, ad inferos fodiunt, Though they dig into Hell, &c.

Why, but God hath made you sensible and passive. Why are you so willful, O ye desperate ones, to cast Heaven at your back, and when Hell is before you, and the eternity of damnation, to out-stare the Devil, and dig into his Kingdom? Mark how Hell itself cannot open its mouth so wide as the wicked would have it; they dig a bigger pit to enter in. Non expectamus tentationem in multis sed praevenimus, says St. Austin. We are in many things of our own accord so hasty to do evil, that we do not wait for bad suggestions, but even prevent temptations.

All Nations whom thou hast made shall worship, coram te, before thee O Lord, says David, Psal. lxxxvi .9. If you look upon God your faces shall shine with innocence like Moses in Horeb, Stephens at Martyrdom, or our Savior's at his transfiguration: And then you must not dig downward, but say to the Tempter, get thee behind me Satan, and leave it to treacherous men to beat their brains out with knocking their heads against the gates of Hell. Vultures ad odorem putredinis statim convolant, incorruptum corpus non attingunt, (says Plutarch; ) Vultures will flutter about a putrefied carcass: but they have nothing to do with that which is clean and sincere. Therefore Idolaters are in their right way, and whither should they dig but into Hell?

Which Phrase of the Prophet Amos may be grounded upon these four Reasons: Sinners dig into Hell, 1. Propter infinitatem peccati, Iniquity is infinite like Hell, and hath no bottom. The waves of ungodliness will take a man in the first conceit to the ankles, in the delight unto the knees, in the act unto the middle, in the custom to the neck, in the contumacy the stream will go over our soul. When we set foot into any bad action, who knows his journeys end? Labitur & labetur in omne volubilis aevum. The Romans had an order in their Court, to cut off a suit of intricate debate, and called it Ampliùs, when they would thereafter determine more of the matter. Such an Ampliùs was in David's Adultery, such an Ampliùs in St. Peters denial. Like a Cylindrus rolled down an hill, so is the sin of our heart; if you once let it go, who can stop it? As it is said of fluxus puncti, that the least point may run into infinite, so can Satan malleate transgressions broader and broader, and bring in seven devils more, where there was but one before; and draw out as it were one Ox hide into many thongs to compass a City.

2. This Phrase doth note sterilitatem peccati, the unfruitfulness of sin. They that dig would find it foundation; they that dig into Hell miss their aim, and find none. As when one that sleeps thinks he eats, but when he wakes his appetite is hungry: So worldlings have nothing but in a dream, and when they awake they grasp nothing. That World which the Devil promised to our Savior could be but some phantastical representation, because he shown it in the twinkling of an eye. Sin is like the tomb of Queen Semiramis, that talks of a treasury to be hid within it, but he that digs into it shall lose his labor, and be laughed at for his covetousness. Satan's Sophistry never had good conclusion; and when you gather his harvest all is but Tares. Wherefore out sins are compared to the hairs of our head, and the sands upon the Sea shore. What are the hairs of our head? Neither blood nor marrow, but the excrements of our body. What are the sands of the Sea? But the barren wash which the Land hath spewed out. Such are the Sins that entangle us.

But for such sinners as we have to deal with, there is today a third reason why they dig into Hell. Propter similitudinem cum damnatis, for their resemblance to the evil spirits, and the damned. Those unhappy souls (says Aquinas ) in whom all good must needs be extinguished, Volunt ex invidiâ omnes illud malum perpeti quod ipsi patiuntur; they desire that all the world may sink into the same Lake of fire with themselves. And whereas the rich man requested to have somebody sent to convert his brethren. Ay says that learned Doctor, he knowing that a remnant must necessarily be saved, out of the root of envy had rather his own should escape harmless than another, though they least deserved it, but absolutely they wish the damnation of all. Our Parliament underminers, how like are they to these envious prisoners of darkness? In whose eyes no life found grace to be preserved, neither King, nor Progeny: Judah, nor Levi: Nobles, nor Communalty: the Reformed, nor the Romish. They did not thirst for one draught, but for a bath of blood. Again, says Ales, the Fiends of Hell are so malicious, Ut synteresis in iis extincta sit; that the light of well-guided reason is extinguished in them. And his Argument is this▪ Quia in gohennâ se vellent esse, potiùs quàm non esse, ut pugnent contra Deum; They had rather remain so tormented than be quite abolished: that the red Dragon and his Angels might fight against God. Was it not thus with those Romish Priests, the main actors in this intended Tragedy, who chose to lurk within this Island in despite of Laws awd terror, only to stir up Treason and Rebellion, rather than to take fair leave granted to depart, and to pack forever.

Lastly, There is a fourth reason noted by Lyra, why some are said to dig to Hell, because they use Sorceries, and enchantments, vain miracles to deceive, and in the power of Antichrist strong delusions. When a Thessalian Strumpet was accused to Olympias for enchanting her husband Philip's affections; she hath a smooth painted face, and an alluring tongue, says Olympias, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 there needs no other Witchcraft. Neither will I accuse the Roman Church for dealing with familiar Spirits (yet deluding Miracles are the next wall to Witchcraft) but golden Promises, and ambitious Titles Have been their Sorcery to entice away some discontented persons from us, and then they glory in their victory and conversion. It is well known, you may get Fish enough with poisoned baits, but what are those fish good for when you have them? All that came to the Inchanteress Circe she won them to be her own; a slender purchase, when they degenerated into Hogs and Asses. Neither let it move you, beloved, to hear a Jesuit boast, that they have won the flower of our Gentry and Clergy at several times, and left the ignorant part behind. When the Athenian Orator called the Lacedaemonians unlearned; true indeed, says Plistonax, we are the only Greeks that have learnt no ill manners from you. It is our own case God be praised, who of all Nations are least seasoned with the Tridentine Leaven. But let them use their arts, and inveigle them who were lost from the beginning, dig into Hell; yet surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel, says Balaam, Num. xxiii. 27.

Were our foes spiritual powers of darkness in high places, as they are but men, yet for our comfort, first says St. Austin, Devils can do no more than God permits, Quare nec propitiandos, nec timendos existimamus; They are not worth our fear, or our courtesy, never flatter and claw them with kindness to bind their hands. Secondly, Upon the speech of the Prophet Elisha to his Servant, Plures nobiscum sunt, Hugo concludes that we have the better side, and that the number of good Angels exceeds the bad. And Aquinas is not without a reason for it:

Thirdly, Our Countriman Ales gives us this courage. Thirdly, That although the Devil, who began the quarrel but with a Serpents sting, and in these last days is grown more fierce, and will end it with a Lions paw; yet, Major est Christi gratia ad ligandum quàm fuit priùs; the virtue of Christ is more efficacious now than ever before to bind him fast. What shall I say then, since the worst of Devils are but God's Serjeants, not executioners by their own power. Since Michael and his Angels are the better number, and more courageous, since Christ hath the key of the bottomless pit to bind the binders, Quamvis ad inferos fodiunt, though they dig into Hell, Zion shall dwell in safety.

Having dispatched the Action, and the Object, it is to be examined what use these Fugitives can make of Hell. Why 1. To escape danger, and betake themselves to safety, says Hugo. 2. To inchant and complot against the innocent, says Lyra. Beloved, let your patience stay a little, and only see what the wicked would have. Every creature under the Sun hath a natural inclination and propensity to save itself, and to avoid that which may destroy it. The Lamb yeaned but yesterday makes hast from the Wolf; the Chicken newly hatched hides itself from the gliding of the Kite. As for Sinners and Reprobates, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , they are so foolish, that when destruction doth threaten them, they dig into Hell for Savior's. Like a runagate servant that was well-nigh overtaken, and ran away to hide him in a Mill, Ubi te occuparem nisi in pistrino, says his Master, it is the very place I wisht to find you in. Somewhat like to that which Phocion said of his bitter enemy Aristogiton, whom he visited in prison, Ubi congrediare cum Aristogitone libentiùs quàm in carcere? In all the world the jail was the fittest place to encounter Aristogiton. So these Fugitives have chosen their rendezvous where God would have them; fodiunt ad inferos, &c.

It was the Elogy of Heraclitus the Philosopher, Vivis esse unum omnibus & communem mundum; all that are awake know they live in one world together; Dormientes in peculiarem mundum divertere; men that dream, and are in sleep, everyone in his fancy is in a world by himself. Give me leave to turn the River into my own Channel. The godly man that knows his sins and trespasses, knows he is in that world where God may take vengeance of him: But the presumptuous sinner, as foolish as the man that dreams, thinks his life secure, and that he is in a new-found world, where God cannot find him out. Whom God destines out to destroy, it is his providence to make them find out a place, instead of preservation, for their own destruction. I will begin with Catesby and his fellow Assassinates;

So one of the Cassii, being perfidious to his own Nation, and luckily discovered, fled to the sanctuary of a Temple, his own Father sentenced to have the door damm'd up, and so to starve him, there was his Sanctuary. Among five Kings of Canaan that were discomfited, Josh. x. in all likelihood, some or all might have escaped by flight, but they take a Cave at Makkedah over their head, and there they are enclosed. Jonah was sick with fear, and durst not walk upon the ground when God was displeased at him, then to make all sure he prepares for shipping: A strange resolution, as if the Sea had not as many deaths as there are winds that blow from all the corners of the world, as many graves as there are billows surging. How often have we seen our friends, like superstitions Gamesters, shift their ground, and remove into fresh air, and pleasant dwelling for their health, who have laid down their Carkass in that dust where they looked for recovery? In manus tuas Domine, in manus tuas; Into thy hands O Lord, into thy hands alone we commend all we have. Heaven is the only treasury where we may cast our two Mites safely, as the Widow did, I mean our soul and body.

This then is the first part of folly in these profligate persons to dig for Savior's into Hell. But secondly, they are a kind of men who cannot build except they pluck down; they purchase nothing but by other men's ruins, therefore they undermine, they would settle Religion by undermining the truth, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . We have had experience of such ill neighbors; alas, when we did stand before their faces, they did design us unto death, and we may say as David did living with Saul in his frenzy, As the Lord liveth there was but a step between us and death. Circa serpentis antrum positus diu non eris illesus, (says Isidor; ) here lurks a Serpent, and there a Viper, and who could tread anywhere and not be bitten? Quid gloriaris tyranne? Faithless men, why do you boast so much of your refined wits that you can do mischief? When Songs were sung in every Town of Greece, how King Philip had defaced the fair City Olynthus: But when will he build up such another City says a silly woman? That would be cared for. Take away conscience, and dispense with the Word of God, and every soft Spirit, and silly man could cheat as much as any promoter.

It was never otherwise from the beginning of the world, but that a blood-thirsty rabble have always treacherously opposed the new settling or reviving of the faith. The Israelites began to be a visible Congregation in Egypt to call upon God, let us deal subtly, says Pharaoh, and cut off the Male Children; there was one plot. The next change of their State was in Captivity; but finding favor in a strange Land, and growing to a competent number of religious souls, Haman had like to have cut them off in the twinkling of an eye; there was another plot. The next change after the Captivity was the Incarnation of our Savior. Sweet Babe, no sooner is he born but Herod calls for the wise men privily to destroy him; there is a third plot. Anon after our Savior's Ascension Ceremonies are evacuated, and Paul preacheth the Gospel, then their heads were busy to pluck down the Cedar, and plant the Heath-thorn, and more than forty men bind themselves with an oath to take away his life. Here are four plots, and since that time there have been four thousand. An honorable story for our reformed Zion, and if we glory let us glory in our infirmities, that for a long time the Monasteries of Friers, the Colleges of Jesuits, and the Consistories of Cardinals have been nothing but Conventicles to conspire against us. They seem to practice as against the eldest heirs of God's Inheritance, and they like younger Brothers by wile and by guile would fain succeed us.

So I have let you see the two ends, why the wicked spend their time about this fearful object, which is Hell. First, For their own safety, and therein they deceive themselves. Secondly, To undermine others, and therein God will deceive them. The frustrating of their end is the last part of my Text, in these words, Inde educet eos manus mea, &c. The preservation of the innocent doth necessarily follow upon the detection of their enemies; yet a question stands in my way, and I must remove it, both in this place, and elsewhere, Why God doth more often express how the treacherous-hearted are enclosed, than how his Children are delivered? Because their wickedness doth more deserve shame, and detection, than our slender righteousness can deserve preservation: and therefore they are pointed at more visibly, inde educet, &c.

Here are two discomforts for all those that lay baits against the soul of the righteous. 1. Inde educet; thence he will take them, God's eye is never off though they dig into Hell. 2. Manus ejus educet; though Hell be on their side, yet this hand is mightier, and will break them in pieces like a Potters vessel. For the first; The eyes of God are upon the conspiracies of men like burning-glasses, and cast a light upon those things which afterward they will consume to ashes.

The very Heathen, says Clemens of Alexandria, thought that nothing did more completely make a God than to see all things, and to be seen of no man; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Wherefore one says of the Crocodile, that the Egyptians in that vain Idol did resemble a God, Quia ex omnibus aquaticis habet oculos obtectos ut cernat, nec cernatur; It hath eyes so befilmed that perceives afar off, and is not perceived.

In vain then shall sinners earth themselves in Vaults, and make Sellers their secret Pavilions to hide their head. Though Mountains were tost upon Mountains between heaven and them, yet is not the eye of God's Divinity more active than Christ's Humanity? Though the doors be shut to enter in, and come unto them, I will search Jerusalem with Candles, saith the Lord, Zeph. i. 12. That is not all, the grave shall open, and give up her dead. The Grave is a place deep and hidden: but Hell is a darker corner than that, yet Satan himself appeared before the Lord. Job i. But above all darkness, the thoughts of the heart are most obscure; and the secrets of all hearts shall lie naked before him. Quo fugis Encelade, quascunque accesseris oras sub Jove semper eris. You are as near to God's eye in the utmost part of the Sea, as standing before his Altar.

But secondly, that the counsels of evil men may be of no effect, as the eye of God is always open, so is not his hand folded up in his bosom, but his hand shall take them thence; that hand which never any saw alone but King Belshazzar, and you know what followed, his Kingdom departed from him. Indeed, all the parts of the body which are made both for defense and offense are attributed unto God for the confusion of his enemies. From the arm to the hand, from the hand to the finger, from the finger to the least touch, if he do but touch the Mountains they shall smoke. Against great invasions there is brachium Domini, a stretched out arm to deliver Israel from Egypt: But when he will fashion out deliverance with wonderful salvation, as if a workman had wrought it curiously with a tool, then the Prophets speak of the hand of God: but when the Lord doth demonstrate his great affection, and give us to learn some godly lesson by deliverance, Vere digitus Detest hic, that is a token of the finger of God. His finger, beloved, doth always point, his arm is always stretched, his hand is always open. And as Vegetius said of Chariots armed with sharp Sithes; that at first they were made for terror, and afterward forscorn: So is it with all malicious practices, which are beaten a while upon the forge, and Blacksmiths are busy at the fire to hammer out some Engine for our affrightment, but the Lord comes down and brings victory to his Chosen, that he may go up on high like a Conqueror with a merry noise, and as the Lord of Hosts with the sound of the Trumpet.

Holy Bernard was touched with a spice of vain ambition in a godly Exercise, but recovering himself casts away Satan with these words, Nec propter te hoc opus coeptum est, nec propter te finietur. So we may be bold to say in the name of our God touching our Religion, it was neither reformed for Satan's sake, neither shall it be deformed by his Conspiracies. Propter salutem duorum hominum duo millia porcorum perierunt, says St. Austin upon Mat. viii. that two men might be saved from the Devils that possessed them two thousand Swine ran headlong and perished in the Sea: Much less will the Lord suffer so great a flock as he hath in this Kingdom to be yielded up to the prey of the hunter: or that the wild Boar of the wood should root it up, Quamvis ad inferos, though he should root and dig to Hell, &c.

When John and James would have called for fire from heaven, Christ rebuked them, saying, You know not what spirit you are of; as who should say, that is not the Spirit of the Gospel. O beloved, they that would call up for fire from Hell, what Spirit wot you are they of; Why, that that ever was, and ever will be the spirit of the Jusuite Papalins. God rebuke them. Lord, how often have I said with myself, surely the calamity of the poor Indians is much to be lamented, whom God hath delivered over into men's hands of such bloody Religion; certainly the report of those Millions whom they slew with the Sword is as true as lamentable. For what would they not do against savage men that worshipped Devils, and are forlorn of God, who would have caused the Channels to run with blood in that Kingdom where Christ is truly praised? But the hope of the Hypocrite, says Job, shall be swept away like the Spiders Web. Spiders Webs, you know, are spun from the vapor of their own poison, from within their secret bowels: So are the devices of the treacherous. Spiders Webs are woven in the darkest and most unfrequented corners of the house, so are the devices of the treacherous; Spiders Webs are long a framing, with much curiosity, but a feather sweeps them away in a moment, so shall be the devices of the treacherous.

But admit that God be so careful for us, and so powerful against tyrants that seek after our soul, Ut te ipsum serves non respicis; shall we cast all the burden of our safety upon God's providence? Because Christ is praying and watching in Mount Olive • , shall Peter sleep? Is it enough to have a Sermon of Thanksgiving today? And an Anthem to sing an holy Jubilee? And leave all the rest to God's hand? Shall we not remove the occasion which may bring us into bondage hereafter? Tant â sollicitudine petere audebis quod in te positum recusabis? Will you pray so heartily for that unto God, which you will not set hands to, when you may do it for yourselves? Arise Barak, and lead thy captivity captive thou Son of Abinoam. I see it methinks in all your Countenances, that every man is more willing to honor this day, than the very day wherein he was born into the world; for we are born in tears, we are preserved with laughter. God forbid that the enemy should have the upper hand, to make this day a by-word forever, and to be blotted out from among the days of solemnity. But whether they dig by Sophistry to pervert the weak and faithless: Or whether they give words as smooth as Oil, having War in their hearts; or whether they send over Emissaries, Boutefeaues to devise against Jerusalem, Lord keep thine anointed King in safety, make his Crown flourish long upon his own head, and upon the head of our most illustrious Prince, and forever uphold our Church and Commonwealth, that as thy truth hath brought it out of darkness of error, and thy hand hath protected it from dark Conspiracies, so it may shine in these Kingdoms forever as the Sun in the Firmament, and as the faithful Witness in heaven. Even so Lord Jesus. AMEN.

THE SECOND SERMON UPON THE Fifth of November.

I T comes to pass from our desire to see mankind multiplied, that almost no Infant is born into the world without the eyes of many to behold it; but if any one have escaped a jeopardy with the hazard of his life, as he is a creature new-born again from danger, so we cast our eyes more wishly upon the person. As many as the house could hold resorted to see Lazarus revived, John ii. Solomon 's Porch full met at once to see the Cripple use his Legs, Acts iii. All the Island ran together to behold St. Paul who had shook a Viper into the fire and felt no harm; and that self-same Miracle is the employment which your patience doth now attend upon. And though we regard the deliverance of others at the pleasure of our curiosity, as we use to say at our idle time, yet to see St. Paul preserved, it is as Socrates spake of Lysias his Oration, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , somewhat more than business. For that you may know him to be set up as a spectacle to look upon, how many petty deaths were round about our Apostle in the former Chapter? As if he should have gone out of the world, like Hermaphroditus, many ways at once: In a mighty Tempest, in a Famine of fourteen days, in the hands of violent Soldiers, surely his life had ended here but that God had determined he should die honourably by Caesar's Sword. Having satisfied the Sea, a little beast assaileth him on the shore: But excussit, all is well both here and there, and he is delivered.

And besides this, we may very well make it not St. Paul's case alone, it is like pure Gold which may be malleated, and drawn out a great deal larger, even to the entire profession of the whole Gospel. 1. Vipera, that there is a danger; and then 2. Excussit, both an easy and a joyful deliverance. Ecclesia in illo patiebatur, quando pro Ecclesiâ patiebatur, as St. Augustine said of our Savior; The Church was wounded in him when he was wounded for the Church. So St. Paul was an Ambassador to Caesar for the whole Church of God, and therefore the ignominy and comfort redounded to the whole Church both of his great perplexity, and likewise of his preservation.

To knit all this together, a Serpent was a very fit instrument if you will regard the nature of man in these four degrees: First, Adam was set upon by a Serpent in the Garden of Eden, and was stung to the quick, and corrupt nature afforded him no deliverance. Secondly, The Israelites under Moses Law were assaulted and stung, but found a remedy. 3. St. Paul in the New Testament is assaulted but felt no harm. Lastly, The Saints in glory shall not so much as be assaulted. To be vanquished in our conflicts is the misery of our poor nature, to be chastised by punishment is the rigor of the Law, to be threatened by affliction is the life of the Gospel, to be out of suspicion and fear of harm is the state of heaven. The times of Nature and Law are past, the days of Glory are not yet revealed, my Text therefore not unfitly is a representation only of the third, that is of the season of the Gospel. This is the sum of all. If neither life nor death, height nor depth, Viper nor any other creature can separate us from the love of Christ, then we boldly say without an error, Ego sum Paulus, thus was Paul, and thus am I delivered. Beloved, from this one venomous Serpent take notice of the whole brood of the Viper. Every torment is de crinibus anguis in the Poet, a kind of Serpent greater or less. If we complain, like Jonas, far more of a little worm that offends us, than of a great Whale that devours us, then affliction is Venenum patientiae, it festers and leaves a wound behind it: But if we be shod with the preparation of the Gospel, Super aspidem & basiliscum ambulare; Not to fly from harm as fast as our feet can carry us, but to walk at leisure upon the Lion and the Asp, then we bring the Text home to ourselves, then we shake beasts into the fire and feel no harm.

In which words may it please you to attend to these four parts: 1. Here is a perilous Adversary, known in this verse to be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , savage and hurtful, but better known in the former to be a Viper fastened on St. Paul's hand. 2. His safe deliverance in excussit, he shook off the worm. 3. Vengeance is shown upon this fatal creature, Excussit in ignem, he cast it off for destruction into the fire. Lastly, The barbarous people who beheld all this, they put us in mind of a fourth part, they thought that God was in the work, but mistook Paul for Paul's Creator; therefore for a conclusion, here is mirabile salutare, a plain Miracle from heaven. More likelihood for Paul to be killed there could not be, and yet he felt no harm.

So danger is the first thing in order in my Text, but scarce in time, deliverance the next part was not one whit behind it, in which there is Digitus Pauli, the singer of Paul to requite the Viper with the flames of fire; and Digitus Dei, strange help from God alone. I say the Barbarians did confess it. The corps of the Text it is a deliverance, now on the left hand behold peril and hazard of life, on the right hand justice and vengeance, and above head he that walked on the tops of the Mulberry trees, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , God a mechanic and workman of our salvation. The first part of the Text the Beast is like a place profaned, but excussit, he shook it off is like a Sanctuary. And as the Rooms of the Temple were one within another, and the inmost was the best, so I may proceed in the degrees of this preservation. Bare deliverance is but Atrium misericordiae, the outward Porch of Solomon the Prince of peace, but then we go on to the confusion of our enemies, to excussit, as unto the Altar whereon the beasts were slain, but the holy of holies, and the very Oracle of mercy, is to escape the breaking of a bone with our Savior, not to lose the lap of our Garment with Saul, or with our Apostle to feel no harm, Upon these three let us divide St. Ambrose his Hymn, Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabbath, and meditate with St. Austin, Quid non misericorditer à Deo hominibus praestatur a quo etiam tribulatio est beneficium? Wherein is not our God a merciful Father if our chastisement be our glory, if with St. Paul we shake beasts into the fire and feel no harm?

I must not separate the bark from the tree, the bark is the danger of the Apostle, and the first part of my Text; and there want not causes to wonder at the strangeness of the enemy. For though Adam gave names unto the Creatures, and Noah lent them a place of rest to be saved from the waters, yet the beasts are at enmity with Paul. Alas our Warfare is not honorable, but bellum servile, Zimri riseth up against his Master. We no longer God's Servants, the Creatures no longer ours. And what Creature is it but a Serpent? Hast thou found me out O mine enemy? Yes, from the Garden of trees wherein Eve was tempted to a handful of sticks which St. Paul gathered, here and everywhere upon an old quarrel we are sure to find the Serpent an adversary. While we live Wisdom is our glory, and so the Serpent is wise. When we die Resurrection is our glory, and you know the Serpent renews his youth. When we are buried our Tomb is our glory, and even there, say Philosophers, Serpents are begotten of the marrow of our bones. But if any venom be more hateful than other it is the Vipers; it was company fit for none in the Roman Laws but murderers of Fathers and Mothers, because, says Aristotle, when the brood is great, and the Viper every day brings forth but one at once, the latter of the brood eat through the womb of the Dam to be born the sooner. Well, to suffer these things it was no news to Paul, and why should it seem strange to us? All his Pilgrimage in this world was either fighting with men at Ephesus after the manner of beasts, or with beasts in my Text after the manner of men. As Cato being vanquished by Caesar, and flying into Africa was troubled with noisome Vermin. Pro Caesare pugnant dipsades, & peragunt civilia bella Cerastae; That the Snakes fought out the Civil Wars on Caesar's side: So the Vipers take part with the Pharisees against St. Paul, those Pharisees whom our Savior called in his Gospel, Generations of Vipers.

Pythagoras compared our life to the combats of the Olympic Games, and so did our Apostle, both met in the Comparison, but not in the Application; to the Olympic Games, says Pythagoras, some men come to wrestle, some to make merry with their friends, but for his part he was among those who did but gaze upon the Wrestlers. O no, says St. Paul, only God and Angels are the lookers on, that do not sweat and fight to win the mastery. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 says Plato in Phaedon; which is all one with that of St. Paul, Nos spectaculum facti sumus; we are all combatants, and made a spectacle for the eyes of heaven. As Pelopidas said in Plutarch, Tantum duces in bello laudantur qui sunt sinc cicatrice non milites; A scar was a comely sight in an ordinary Soldier, but not in a General: So it agrees well with the blessed souls to be in peace, but for us to be in warfare. And happy are they, thrice happy who make the bitterness of this life but a gain of Wrestling, and though a severe sport, yet but a sport and recreation. A most reverend Bishop of our own Church, the first who saw some reformation of Religion, altered the ancient Arms of his Family from three Cranes to three Pelicans, his righteous soul divining before his Martyrdom, that he should feed the Church with his blood as a loving Pelican, and so contentedly he died, making his Coat of honor an Emblem of persecution.

If we will be anything, if we will be born at all it must be, in tears, and to be honestly born is to be a Son and not a bastard, that is to be chastened and not neglected. And to be nobly born is to give Arms such as Constantine and Theodosius did in their Military Ensigns the mourning Cross of Christ. Quis enarrabit generationem? Will you know how a Christian is begotten? St. Matthew makes a Pedigree, and fourteen Generations reach to King David, David is zeal and devotion. The next fourteen Generations reach to Captivity, and the waters of Babylon, and after Captivity the next fourteen Generations reach to Christ our Lord. It was a dastard mind not befitting Augustus of all things else to desire 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 that he might steal out of the world, and not feel the least gripe of a disease; it did rather become the beastly Epicurus, who when he felt his sickness desperate, drowned his stomach with immoderate Wine, and so knew not what it was to die, but went drunk to Hell. If we Christians were only anointed with oil, Oleo laetitiae supra socios, with the oil of gladness above our fellows, Satan might speak home to our shame, Doth Job serve God for naught? But we are first anointed with the Baptism of water unto the death of Christ; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 says Nazianzen. We are dipt like Iron into the water that our edge may be settled against all injuries. And we are ready to be anointed with blood, every day is the eighth day with us to be wounded and circumcised. Nay, if it be our destiny to be anointed with Pitch and Tar, In morem nocturni luminis, to waste away like a Taper, welcome glory. Or if it be our danger to be licked with the poisonous tongue of the Viper, Son of man, says Ezekiel, be not afraid though thorns and briers be with thee, nay, though thou live among Scorpions. For who would not venture with such a Charm as this is against any Serpent? Excussit, ho shook off the beast into the fire, it is the second part of my Text, and St. Paul's deliverance.

The Apostle indeed did shake his hand when so malicious a burden hung upon it, yet I do not see how he shook off the Viper, but I believe and know that it was the voice of the Lord which shaketh the wilderness, yea, the Lord that shaketh the wilderness of Cades. Excussit. What, no more words concerning this great deliverance? So great a work contracted into so small an Epitome? If the Children of men work deliverances, and strange ones too, the relation will ask a Book, perchance a Volume or a Legend to record it, but it is a blessing so frequent with God, that the world would not hold the Books of his preservations if it were not for excussit, and tetigit he touched the sore, and dixit he said the word as short as may be.

And yet to shake off a beast is such a sudden rescue, in the turning of an hand, that it is a most complete and more comfortable salvation. Monstra superavit priùs quàm nosse possit, as Seneca said of Hercules; that he slew a Serpent before he knew what a Serpent was. What a gentle cure it is? As easy as a slumber. For the most part it is sickness enough to be diseased with remedies. Like as a Philosopher said, being made whole after much Physic, that it was with him as with a pestilent air cleansed by a clap of thunder. And I make a doubt whose fortune was the worse, whether the poor woman's that took Physic but twelve years together for an issue of blood, or the sick man's that in thirty eight years sought after no help but from the Pool of Bethesda. Wherefore this is the sweetest mercy, not to cast off the Viper by loathsome Potions, but with no more hurt than Aaron cast forth his rod before Pharaoh from his hand which became a Serpent. Gen. vii. 10.

This deliverance from a Viper makes good the Promise of the Lord, Mar. xvi. If you take up Serpents they shall not hurt you. But as God was the chief Author, so Paul had the glory of the execution. What, Paul himself and no other? Indeed there was scarce a friend by to do it for him. Hasty Soldiers that even now would have killed him, and pitiless Barbarians, and Malefactors his fellow Prisoners, none of these were likely to relieve him, the honor was his own to shake off the beast; and yet inquire among all the other Apostles, and you shall not find that any one was made an instrument to preserve himself. St. Peter could not enter into the High Priests Hall but by a Damosel, nor get out of Prison but by an Angel. The ignominy was cast upon our Savior's self, He saved others, himself he cannot save. He saved others, bear with him in that I pray you, though he did not save himself, and perchance could not St. Peter. As it was said of Mucianus the Roman, Facilius erat ei dare imperium quàm accipere; it was easier for him to advance another man to the Empire than to exalt himself; so God hath ordained, to the end that Charity might abound in all things, even in the gift of Miracles, to give the Apostles the power of healing, not to cure themselves, but to cure their Brethren. No man must buy long life at so base a rate as Herodicus did, of whom Aristotle reports, that he rended nothing all his days but his own health. Of many examples we have but this one in holy Scripture where the Physician did cure himself.

Paul then did heal himself. But advise we well with every circumstance about the Text, and then I ask, did he not heal the infirmities of many more? Yes, and there were more Vipers than one in Melita, so many Barbarians as thought in their heart, but they were cruel thoughts, that Paul was a murderer; so many Vipers, every evil censure against our neighbor, it is Venenum charitatis, the poison of our charity, shake it off a God's name before it fasten. Qui istoc credis de homine potes & facere; even for this hard opinion of Paul I doubt Melita had many murderers. Yea, I am persuaded that this their uncharicableness did more afflict St. Paul than any evil Serpent could; as a more tender affection touched the heart of Romanus the Martyr, to see the cruelty of Heathen Tyrants than to feel his own pain. Quod lancinamur non dolet, dolet quod error pectori insedit suo. Thus the sin of the Barbarians hung upon the heart of the Apostle, the Viper only upon his hand, but one excussit did serve for both, the beast was cast into the fire, and then the uncharitable thoughts did vanish.

Well, I see there was some divinity in those hands which were so often lifted up to God in Prayer, those hands which wrote such divine Epistles to so many Churches: those hands which consecrated the two famous Bishops Titus and Timothy: those hands which gathered Alms for the poor Saints at Jerusalem, O those hands were blessed, no Serpent could envenom them. The first office that the courteous fire did afford to Fructuosus the Martyr, was to burn the cords which bound up his zealous arms, which fain he would lift up to heaven. Non ausa est cohibere paena palmas, in morem crucis ad patrem levandas, solvit brachia q • a Deum precentur, so sung Prudentius. And St. Jerome writes that Julian the wicked took up the body of John the Baptist, and burnt it to ashes, but his Head, wherein the voice of a Crier spake, and the Finger wherewith he pointed out, Ecce agnus Dei, Behold the Lamb of God, those could not be consumed. And I dare report it after so many Writers, that the heart of our most reverend Cranmer was preserved by God's Providence from the fire, in honor of his integrity, like the three Children in the Furnace. O why should we doubt, when God doth thus miraculously save the particular member of our body from harm, but that the whole man, in the whole entire body, our corruptible shall put on incorruption.

If some should answer to these examples as Diagoras in Tully said to one that presented many Pictures before him of those who had escaped Sea-danger by calling upon Neptune, Nusquam esse pictos qui in mari perierant & naufragium fecerant; There were more examples of them if they could be seen who were drowned in the Sea and yet called upon Neptune: So perhaps many faithful men may be named who were not always fortunate in their deliverance. Beloved, what deliverance do you mean? All this while you do not reckon how many miseries they prevent who are dispatched by one; is it no excussit? Do we shake off no small store of mischief when the soul doth uncase itself of this body of sin, that, with good King Josiah, we may not see the evil to come? Death is like the Angel set before the Garden of Eden, which with one blow lets him that passeth by into Paradise. When sinners and uncircumcised feel the wrath of God, their punishment, says Nazianzen, is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a Pillar of Salt erected up like a Trophy of his vengeance and their impiety. Not so the righteous, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , it is enough to chastise them to be wise and wary. St. Austin compares a regenerate man with Adam in innocence by an excellent parallel. Adam was privileged to be secure in all present delights and comfort while he was in Paradise, and so the faithful are not; but every regenerate man is sure of heaven in his greatest Agony, and so Adam in his pleasant Garden was not. O could an heathen man preach so much Gospel as this? Vere magnum habere fragilitatem hominis securitatem Dei. O what a royal thing it was to be corruptible as man, and yet to be secure as God! Expect not then from the Lord, that he should always turn aside his hand, as Ulysses did from his Son Telemachus. What if he make his furrow upon the back of his own Children if they lie in the way? Is there no time but the instant to be saved? Yes, St. Paul hath declined deliverance through all Tenses, 2 Cor. i. Who hath delivered us. Have you forgotten it? And doth deliver us. Perhaps you do not feel it. And will deliver us. I speak not I hope to such as do distrust it. Wherefore let this suffice for excussit, the deliverance of Paul. The third thing follows, which makes it mel in cuspide, honey on the point of Jonathan's Spear, and pleasant to be in jeopardy, his eye saw his desire upon his enemy, excussit in ig nem, he shook the beast into the fire, &c.

If there be Songs of deliverance, as David says there are, and that he was compassed about with songs of deliverance, then this is Canticum salutis; The Viper did not only lose her sting like the angry Be that loseth her weapon when she pricks her Adversary, and lives a Drone ever after; but Paul warms his hands at the fire whose fuel was the Viper, which even now would have slain him. Fire indeed by the judgment of our own Laws is a death appointed for Poysoners: and it is but one fire for another, only dry for moist. Paul was ready to be inflamed, so we read in the next verse, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , it was that the Islanders looked for, and therefore good reason the beast should fall into the fire. Who doth not count it a monument worth the seeing to read his jacet, an Epitaph upon his Enemies Tomb? The subtle Grecians would not live in fear to see the Infants of Troy survive their Father, they would see everything in ashes, Et nunquam satis Trojam jacentem; it is safety to escape, but security to want an adversary. Break their teeth, O Lord, in their mouths, saith the Psalmist, but lest new ones come up in their room, smite the jaw bones of the Lions, and when they shoot out their arrows let them be rooted out. If Shimei had lived, happily he might have cursed Solomon as well as David, and if Judas had not come quickly to his end, he might have betrayed St. Peter as well as Jesus.

Iniquity of itself is infinite, says Job xxii. 5. Wherefore says Aquinas, Homo peccat in suo aeterno quia voluntatem habet in infinitum peccandi; Every sinner hath a good will to sin forever. In circuitu ambulat, says David; and the way of him that goes in a circle is as new to begin tomorrow as it was today, Qui vitio modum ponit, idem facit ac qui e Leucade se praecipitans velit sistere, says the Stoic. A sinner falls down headlong, and Hell hath no bottom. Then God puts in his Sickle, and cuts down the Tares, that they may not overgrow the Wheat. Be of courage then O little Flock that flies away into the Wilderness, and think that the voice of the Angel unto Joseph is still in your ears, Return for they are dead that sought the life of Jesus.

And reason good that inquisitors after the blood of Christ, willful sinners should be cut off, or else the dumb beasts were hardly dealt with; the Viper knew not Paul, nor the mark of God upon him, she did but her kind, and yet she is consumed. The Lion knew not Samson, nor the Judge of Israel, hunger made him roar after his prey, and yet he died for it. Why should David wish revenge upon the pleasant grass for his beloved Jonathan? How could a Fig tree trespass when it bore not plenty of fruit for Christ and his disciples, that it withered and deflourished utterly? All these died to make up one lesson for us that nothing can offend the Saints of God without an evil recompense.

Some revengeful Spirit perchance would ask here, whether this be an Emblem for every man to endeavor to be as fortunate as Paul was, and to make away his enemy with his own hand? No, Beloved, there is no such moral in this Text, and it were unchristian to attempt it. Wrath is as a Serpent, revenge is like a Viper, shake them off a God's name, and then if Paul's hand were not moved, the finger of God will deliver us from our enemies. There is great difference in this point between heathen moral men, and praise-worthy Christians. Junius Brutus, the darling of the Romans, feigned himself mad before, but then he was mad indeed, Quando expiravit super Tarquinii filium quasi ad inseros sequeretur; when he bore malice unto death against his enemy, and died upon him, as if he would follow him to Hell. Like the young Son of Thyestes, wounded by his unnatural Uncle, cast the trunk of his body upon the murderer, as if he would have pressed him down like a Mountain. Cumque dubitasset dia, hâc parte, an illâ caderet in patruum cadit, says the Tragedian. So did not Zacharias the Son of Barachias, that fell between the Temple and the Altar. It may seem there rather than in another place for a Peace-offering to be reconciled to his adversary. So did not Stephen, who kneeled among the stones which were cast at his head like a Statue in a Monument, and prayed with more devotion for his enemies than for his own spirit. We must feed them that hate us, I keep open hospitality for such according to our Savior's construction. Si inimicus, if thou have an enemy feed him whosoever he be if he hunger, then wretched are they who feed themselves rather with the hunger of their enemy. As Vitellius boasted in Tacitus, Inimici morte spectatâ se pavisse oculos; that it glutted his eyes with delight to see his enemy tormented. They that feed so shall digest God's anger, till it come like water into our bowels, and like oil into our bones. We must not call for fire from heaven if we love not the Samaritans, but forgive them, and thou shalt heap coals of fire upon their head.

Chiefly let my speech drop as the soft dew upon the head of Aaron, and the Bishops of the Church that succeed St. Paul. Let them know that it is not in their hand to be avenged of the life of their Adversaries. The secular Sword in the Priests arm did never turn to the benefit of justice, but to scandal. And as St. Austin speaks of Sylla revenging the tyranny of Marius with greater cruelty, Vindicta, perniciosior fuit quam si scelera impunita relinquerentur; that it had been better the faults had been unchastised than so revenged; so say I to them, better vindicative justice should sleep than be awaked by the Clergy. Let the Priests of Baal be armed with Knives and Lancers to fill the ditches with blood as Elias did with water, let the Sacrificers of Bacchus give wounds to everyone that passeth by instead of blessing. But Christ's Disciples are sent about even without the protection of a little staff in their hand. If David would have a Sword in the Church, Ahimelech must answer, Non est hic, here is none save the Sword of Golias, which was kept there, not for any use of it, but for the memory. Our weapons are Prayers and Tears, and if we strike it is but vulnus calami, the stroke of our Pen, and that should always be Penna columbina; I would it were so, taken from the Doves wing, not unsavory reproaches, and Satyrical tants, as if our Writings were stuck with the quils of Porcupines. Angels were wont to fight against Jerusalem, and against Sennacherib, but did you ever hear in our days of a fighting Angel? The Shepherds when they saw an heavenly Host, Luk. ii. and pitched in the field, and coming suddenly upon them looked for no other but a battle, but quite beside the old manner they sung Praises to the Lord. Beloved, the Ministry of our Gospel it succeeds the Ministry of Angels. It is to be marked that St. Paul salutes the Corinthians, Ephesians, and the rest, with grace and peace only, but to Timothy and Titus, his two Bishops, he sends grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Popes Parasites never lin putting of him in mind, Girt thy Sword upon thy thigh O thou most mighty, good luck have thou with thy battles and renown, and shake the Vipers into the fire. And who shall determine who be Vipers? Who but the Pope? Who then kindle the fire to burn them? Who but the Jesuits? Gladiatores potiùs quàm clerici, Fencers rather than Priests of God. Rome while the Gentiles lived in it had for the Ensigns of their honor duos pugiones & pileum, two Daggers and a Cap, Junius Brutus was the Author. But see what time can do, and to what increase it brings everything, the two Daggers are become two Swords, and the Cap is turned into a Triple Diadem. Well, Ahimelech gave up his Sword to David the King. Peter and the Apostles are the salt of the earth, and have nothing to do with such instruments. Me thinks the Pope in this point had a very good answer from the Emperor, when expostulating why one of his Sons the Cardinals was slain in battle, the Emperor returned unto him the Cardinals Harness, and this word, Haec est tunica filii tui? Is this your Son Josephs Coat?

But I warrant you the Church is in a strange case if she may not sight her own battles. Truly no. St. Bernard thought it safe enough in the protection of the King. Uterque gladius, he speaks it to the Pope, non tuâ manu, sed tuo nutu est evaginandus. And tuo natu was too much, and smelt of the Age he lived in. But the intercession of the Church may obtain the Sword from the Defender of the Faith to maintain the Gospel. It cannot be so in Julians Reign, and in the time of wicked Princes, I grant it, why then let us forbish up our own Armory, Faith, and Prayers, and Tears. So did Nazianzen in the Churches distress, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , we entreat thy flaming sword O Lord to cut down thine enemies, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , we demand thy Plagues to light upon them, and is not this good security, God and the King?

Only one thing must be interposed for satisfaction in this point. Why should Nazianzen, or why should the Church curse her enemies with such a bitter curse? Is not that breach of charity? The Schoolmen very well, have collected their answers into five heads: 1. When you think the Prophets and holy Fathers cursed they did not curse but prophesy. It was St. Austin's Collection long ago, Solent figurâ imprecantis futura praedicere. So David prayed that another might take the Bishopric of Judas, which needs must be a Prophesy. 2. Their end is good and holy, that the heathen may know themselves to be but men, and in the bitterness of affliction seek the Lord. 3. Ad conformitatem divini judicii, in all things to say the will of the Lord be done. God hath spoken it in his holiness that he will cut off the wicked, and we must say Amen in obedience. 4. Ad regnum peccati destruendum, not so much to destroy sinners as to destroy the kingdom of sin. Curse your Meros, curse it bitterly, that the power of sin may fall with the fall of Kingdoms. Lastly, Ad consolationem infirmorum, for the comfort of weak ones, that they may know how the Church is the true Paradise by the flaming Sword which did defend it. As Nero spake excellently when he entered into the Empire, Nec odium, nec injurias, nec cupidinem ultion is ad regnum ferebat; There was no hatred in his mind, no revenge in his soul, no injury in his memory; so must we take the Kingdom of Heaven with the violence of love and not of hatred. Better might Moths, and Rust, and Canker be suffered to be in Heaven than Malice, and Revenge, and Envy.

Then hear you godly to discern God's finger from the hand of Paul. He did not cast the Viper into the fire, to show us a way to be avenged of our enemies. And hearken you ungodly, for in this Text is the very similitude of your condemnation, which shall appear by these circumstances: 1. St. Paul gathered the sticks for fuel, and so the good Angels shall gather the Tares in bundels for the fire. 2. The barbarous people kindled the fire, so shall the Devil and his Angels be your executioners. 3. The Viper drops into the flame, but we do not read it was consumed, I say it is not expressed in the Text, so tedious and everlasting is your misery.

In this world we mourn at every burial of our friends, because death hath entered in by sin into the world, Ubi mors nolentem animam pellit e corpore; where death cashiers the soul unwillingly out of the body, but in Hell-fire sinners shall bewail that there is no death; Ubi mors nolentem animam tenet in corpore; where death shall imprison the soul unwillingly in the body, says St. Austin. Did you think to burn like chaff and thorns, to be out with a blaze? The Scripture never meant it. Your torments shall belike a firy Oven, Psal. xxi. where heat is furious without the blessing of light. You shall be like the burning of Lime, Isa. xii. where the fire increaseth when you think to extinguish it. Nay, you shall be as Wax before the fire, Mic. i. melted and heated, but not consumed. Aetna was never cold, yet as if it were the stomach of the world, Montes uruntur & durant quid improbi & hosts Domini, says Tertullian. Yea, says the Atheist, Hills are but dirt and dross without life, they may last and burn. Then say we, the Salamander hath life, and yet is not consumed in the fire: So shall it be with the wicked. True, says the Atheist, such Creatures may play in the flames because it is their nature and delight, but can the wicked abide in pains unsufferable and not be consumed? St. Austin in this point hath outgone their Logic; says he, Mirabile est dolere in ignibus, & tamen vivere, sed mirabilius vivere in ignibus nec dolere. That is the miracle above the other, for the little beast to live unscorched without any pain among the burning coals, rather then as the damned to continue so in torment. Do you believe a vain story for the one, then believe the Scriptures for the other. But I leave those and many more the like Problems for the Schoolmen whose subtle heads have extracted such questions by distillation from Hell Furnace, as if they did not dispute but conjure. And I pass from this Song of deliverance how mischief lighted upon the Viper to Canticum Canticorum, the Song of Songs, even Deborahs song in this happy preservation, He shook the beast into the fire and felt no harm.

This was not a brand snatched out of the fire half saved half consumed. Not like your bloody Victories wherein the Conquerors may sit down and count their losses as well as the Conquered. As Pyrrhus said very well when twice he vanquished the Romans, but lost the flower of his own Army in the Victories, Si tertio vicerimus, if we overcome the third time we are undone forever. But it is Dalmaticus triumphus sine sudore & sanguine. The Viper left not so much smart behind it as the prick of a thorn or thistle.

He felt no harm! How would a Stoic interpret this now? Forsooth to be an obstinate contempt of grief, I will not call it patience: as if Paul were touched to the quick but would not feel it. So Taurus, the Philosopher in Gellius excused a sick person of his Sect that seemed to groan in his disease, Non est gemitus alicujus victi à dolore, sed anhelitus viri enitentis vincere; That is, pain and disease did not make him groan, as if it troubled him, but he fetched his wind short to over-master his sickness; this is robusta stultitia, madness, not manhood and Philosophy, to affect such stubbornness. Nature cannot but love itself, and retire from pain, and Reason will follow Nature. And this is enough to satisfy the most curious that trouble their heads why our Savior cast out those strong ejaculations of grief against the bitter cup, Mat. xxvi. Cum natura cogit etiam ratio data à naturâ cogitur. As I said before, Reason will follow Nature.

Wherefore to say that Paul felt no harm is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , he did not suffer any. He had been in the third heavens, and in this one act God gave his body incorruption upon earth. For so says Aquinas, that many worthy Saints have had a taste of heaven upon earth, not only by grace in their soul, but by some other excellent quality shining in these vile bodies. The properties of a glorified body are thus reckoned up by the same Author, first, that the Just shall shine like the Sun in the Firmament, that is Claritas in corpore. So the face of Stephen standing before the Council was bright as the face of an Angel. The second ornament is agilitas in motu, to be able to fly upon the wings of the wind, thus Philip was carried by the Spirit from Gaza in the Desert to Azotus suddenly, Thirdly, our corruption shall put on incorruption, as in this one act Paul suffered on his hand and felt no harm, for the last attribute of a glorified body which is called spiritualitas I do not recknon it, for according to the Schoolmens interpretation it doth quite destroy the nature of a body. But let us remember to keep our bodies pure and undefiled, since God hath given us a taste in this life, that hereafter they shall be refined in greater glory.

O we doubt it not but we should all prove as holy as Paul himself, if we were so dear to God as to feel no harm. Our luxurious Courtiers would sing Songs unto the Lord with Shadrach, Mesech, and Abednego if the Son of God would walk with them in the firy Furnace, and in the shadow of death that they might fear none ill. Our wanton Ladies, yea, and their Handmaids also would play upon Timbrels unto God as well as Miriam, if they might tread as safe upon the ground as she did and all Israel to fear none evil in the midst of the Sea. No, but if our danger did not come to be felt, to tangit & angit, I fear we would be impudent, and say there was no danger. Like ignorant people who presume when beasts are tamed by discipline that they have no teeth because they bite not. Jonah must be wakened to see the Tempest lest he sleep it out and deny it. And if Saul miss nothing else, yet he must lose his pot of water, that he might acknowledge his own preservation, and David's fidelity. As the Shepherd in Virgil was bitten by a Gnat to espy the hissing of a Serpent; and we ourselves try the edge of a Razor upon the nail of our finger, and so come to know that if it should miscarry it would cut our throat. And this is one cause why Paul did feel no harm, because we are chastened with some feeling, for they that be evil and feel no harm, would be too too evil and feel no benefit.

But let my second reason be the answer, and with your patience the conclusion for this time. Such Miracles and such deliverances were required in the days of St. Paul the Apostle which are not now to be expected in these our days. I call it a Miracle, and so it is, and in the nature of the greatest Miracles. Small ones are but such as either seldom be seen, and so come by their name, so our Savior wondered at the Centurions faith: Or those which it is no news to see, nor very hard to bring about, but only it is above our reason perchance to know the cause, as the turning of the point of the Loadstone to the North. But this is a more noble work, and therefore to be sought out in a higher rank. Great astonishments are quite above our nature, Aquinas hath contrived them into three sorts: First, The wonder lies in substantiâ facti, in the very thing done, as when the Sun went backward. Secondly, The thing may be natural in itself, but admirable and past our power if we consider the subject upon which it is wrought, as for the blind to see, for the dead to be raised up to life. Thirdly and lastly, Both the thing performed is ordinary, and done with ease upon the subject, but the manner of doing it makes the wonder, as for a Fever to be cured in a moment. Of all these three the first in order is the greatest in substantiâ facti, such was this in my Text, and no meaner, that it should not kill and empoyson. Aesculapius among the heathen the very deity of Physic his Emblem was a Serpent, as the glory of his Cures, and the very utmost of his Art.

Now when Miracles have but two ends, say the Schoolmen, to do honor to the Word of God, and to confirm it, that is the first; or to honor the life of him that works in the Ministry; in the justice of both causes never was there more need than at this time of a Miracle. Here was the poor Island of Melita which Publius and the Roman Army had found out long ago to destroy it, but the Gospel was not heard of before this day to save it. St. Paul that should plant the faith was cast ashore by shipwreck as one neglected of God, bound over a close Prisoner as one hated of his Countrymen, suspected by the Barbarians to be a Murderer, then his cause was tried by the word of the Lord, it was time to shake Vipers into the fire and feel no harm.

Thus Christianity began by a Miracle in the Island of Melita, and perchance long ago so it began with us, but now we do not so learn Christ when the boughs of the Church are grown and spread like the goodly Cedar trees. Nehemiah and all the People shouted for joy when the Foundation of the Temple was laid, but from thenceforth they built with silence, no exclamations were heard. When faith had scarce made entrance into Jerusalem our Savior came in strangely when the doors were shut, but being once in, he went plainly to work with Thomas, Put thy finger into my side, and be not faitless, but faithful.

This is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a fit wedge to drive out the juggling Divinity of the Papists, What do you tell us of your Legend of wonders in Compostella? Thousand Miracles and more thousand Murders in India? Images that turn their eyes about, and Statues that weep and sweat? Saints limb'd out in bloody straws? Strange Exorcisms of Devils? When the worst was but the Toothach or a Fever? As Apelles said to another Painter, none of the best workmen, but one of the quickest, that brag'd he made twenty Pictures every day, and shown the Patterns. I wonder, says Apelles, you do not make twice twenty of this sort. So the Miracle that I take hold of is this, why the learned Fatherhood invent no louder or more unlikely miracles. But take it to you, work Signs and Wonders, perchance by the secret operation of Satan, Et eorum spirituum operatione videbantur admirandi à quibus sunt damnandi, says their own Master Lombard. And they looked for admiration by the power of those Spirits by whom they shall receive damnation.

As the Rivers of Paradise are without Paradise, and run into divers parts of the world, so the gifts of Miracles, and the gifts of Tongues are like those Rivers which run both within and without the Church; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 says St. Chrysostom. Signs and Wonders are not so near to God's House, as the Porch is unto the Temple, except there be holiness to the Lord in Aaron's Breast, as well as Buds of Almonds in his Rod. Remember Jannes and Jambres, remember Simon the Sorcerer, yea, the very Devils do Miracles, says Lombard, Ne tale aliquid facere fideles pro magno desiderent; lest the Faithful should seem to desire to do the like, as if it were some great matter. If not Magnum, then surely not Maximum, the greatest note of a Church. Especially if it be true which St. Austin says, Omni miraculo quod fit per hominem majus miraculum est homo; If man be a greater wonder than can pass through the hands of man, then certainly a regenerate man is the greatest power of God, his Prayers, and Charity, and Faith are more excellent than to shake a Viper into the fire and feel no harm. Grant O Lord such Wonders unto thy Church whereby thy name may be glorified in true holiness, and clothe thy Priests with health as thou didst thy Servant Paul; and because we look for a greater deliverance, Quis me liberabit? Who shall deliver me from the body of this death▪ Let us say assuredly as he did, even Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.

THE FIRST SERMON UPON ENOCH.

D Ays appointed for Repentance and Humiliation (you know these to be of that institution) but those are times to do, and not to say; therefore I have read a Text unto you rather of Deeds than Sayings; an active Example, and not a verbal Exhortation. And it is an Example of no mean pitch, you will like it the better for that, one Star differs from another in glory, and one Saint differs from another in sanctity and perfection. There were Pillars in Solomon's Temple, and golden Chapiters on the top of the Pillars; so the Patriarchs of old, the Apostles in the Christian Ages were Pillars of the Church, all of them Pillars: but such as bore the chief praise, for using the gifts of grace with all advantage to God's glory, these are the golden Chapiters upon the tops of the Pillars. I will promise you to make it good by that which I shall say anon, that I have propounded unto you one of the golden Crowns upon the top of the Pillars, as heavenly and as happy a president as can be found out of a mere man; as complete a Pattern as can be chosen out of all the Sons of Adam; and who would not write by the best Copy?

In the most ancient Epistle of Clemens the Roman, written to the Corinthians, lately made public to the world out of the Princely storehouse of this Kingdom, that holy Father moves the Corinthians with this extimulation, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Let us look steadfastly towards them who have perfectly ministered in holy service to the excellent glory of God. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , not to the Catalogue of Saints in the middle Region, but to them that walked highest above this world. And in the very next words following, Ecce homo! behold the man of his choice to whom he gives precedency above all others, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , let us take out Enoch for our Lesson, that is his Text Letter upon which he flourisheth; Enoch is his Antesignanus, his Standard-bearer, that leads Noah, and Abraham, and many others after him; and the same that he offers to the Corinthians I commend to you. Such a Patriarch that the Holy Ghost hath made a great difference between him and other men: For it is the method of the Scripture to record the lives and deaths of the Saints, but upon this Person the style alters; he was a privileged man from death, which is the common condition of all that are born of woman; and Moses speaks of his double life, he could not speak of his death, his life of grace, and his life of glory. Ambulavit cum Deo, or coram Deo, he walked with God, that is the Summary Collection, how he lived the life of grace: And Non apparuit coram hominibus; He was not, for God took him; there is the Miracle how he was wrapped up into glory. In the dividing of the parts I will put no more upon my text than it was made to bear, and two Points I am sure, upon which only I will insist, are the very bowels of it; First, the Integrity of Enoch; Secondly, his Immortality. First, how uncorrupt he was in his ways, and Enoch walked with God; Secondly, that he suffered no corruption in the body, He was not, for God took him. In the one member is how he used this world; the other how he enjoyed a better: The one of faith, the other of fruition: The one for our imitation, the other for our consolation. And first, your patient attention how uncorrupt he was in his ways, And Enoch walked with God.

In a good Picture every Limb, nay, every shadow of it is worthy to be looked upon, and, in the story of such a Patriarch as Enoch was, every word that breaths upon his name is sweet and memorable. Now in holy Scripture, or in those books which are contiguous to holy Scripture, four things are remembered of him, which will make him better understood in both parts of this Verse. St. Jude in the fourteenth verse of his Epistle sets two marks upon him, first, in his Genealogy, he was the seventh from Adam; Secondly, in his divine knowledge, he Prophesied. The Son of Sirach also in his rehearsal of famous men hath given him two additions more, the one, that his virtue was most communicable, He was an example of repentance to all Generations, Eccl. xliv. 16. The other, that his virtue was most unparalleled, or inimitable, Upon the earth was no man created like Enoch, Chap. xlix. 14. I will dispatch these with a running hand. First, to be the seventh from Adam, what if that was no more than to be the fourth, or fifth, or any other number? For it is a general Rule, there is no prerogative to be born after the flesh; But God rested on the seventh day from all the work which he had made, and God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his work; therefore some Writers must needs fall upon this observation, as indeed divers have noted it▪ that Enoch the man of the seventh Generation was taken away to rest with God, which bids us labor in the works of mercy and repentance all the six days of this life, and after those days, like Enoch the seventh from Adam, we shall be translated into peace and tranquility forever. Some others go farther, a little more curiously than certainly, the Patriarchs for six descents all died, and were turned into earth again; Enoch the seventh from Adam was carried away from the world, and saw not death: So death shall reign through six Ages of the world, Septimâ immortalitas vigebit, in the seventh Age corruption shall be done away, and immortality shall take place forever. Such mysteries as these are but Speculations that tangle us, but plainly and directly this privilege came to Enoch, because he was the seventh from Adam, that he lived most happily in a brave society of wise men; it was no rude or barbarous Age, as if he alone had pleased God, for five of his Forefathers in a right line were then living, five the brightest Lamps of the Church, when the Lord translated him. A happy thing it is to be well taught by any single wisdom, but there is more affiance in a number of Counselors; Enoch the seventh from Adam had no less than six renowned Patriarchs to go in and out before him in the fear of the Lord.

2. To be born in such a descent is an accidental thing, a contingency. But the next note upon him is that he had a Prophetical illumination, Enoch the seventh from Adam Prophesied. All the Sons of Adam in the good Race of Seth, whose names are filed in this Chapter, were Heads of the People, Lawgivers, Priests of the most high God. Noah more eminently than the rest a Preacher of righteousness in St. Peters phrase, yet Enoch stands by himself alone for a Prophet. And no marvel if we hear no tidings of his Prophesy till St. Jude divulged it in the last Epistle but one of all the Scripture; it seems to me that it stands there in the fittest place, because it is a Prophesy that concerns neither the first, nor the middle Age, but the very end of the world, Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints, to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that were ungodly. The heavens and earth were but in their first beginnings, men and women did but begin to multiply, yet that divinity was preached in those early days, Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of Saints to judge the world; the expectation of that coming draws nearer to us than it did to them; how much more should we prepare to see that with our eyes, which they did but hear with their ears? And to double our watchfulness and attention, as much as the Ages of the world since Enochs time have passed on and multiplied. Enoch prophesied that which Jude hath made Canonical Scripture; This hath troubled some to dispute it, whether ever he wrote such books as were once in the Canon of the Scripture? I hold the Negative, for though he were a Prophet, and had inspirations, yet Scripture is not only given by inspiration of God, but such inspiration as is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction of righteousness. Such Oracles were deposited by God with his Church, and never suffered to perish. How will it appear but St. Jude received those words by tradition? Or quoted them as he found them cited in some other Author? It were shame such antiquity should scape both Josephus and Philo, who never mention it. But at last some falsary, no man can guess him, authored a most vain Book upon Enoch; Origen, who perused it, gives us a taste of it in his last Homily upon Numbers, that it was stuffed with secrets of Philosophy about the motions of the Heavens, and the names of the Stars and Constellations, and with flat Romances about the good Angels falling in love with mortal Creatures, things most unworthy to be fathered upon Enoch, that walked with God. Therefore St. Jerome moderates the variance, Non probavit librum totum Judas, sed illud duntaxat testimonium. St. Jude did patronize no more of that Book, but that Prophesy which he copied out into his Epistle. As St. Paul gave no divine authority to certain heathen Poets, but only to those particular Verses which he borrowed. To come to a point; It sounds nearest to truth, that Enoch was no such Prophet as left Canonical Records, because Christ was wont to argue against the Jews from Moses and the Prophets, allowing Moses for the most ancient Prophet that delivered Scripture to the Church by inspiration. A late Capuchin Frier hath labored to prove (as he thinks solidly, as I think very superficially) that Monkish Fraternities and Covents were the first invention in the Church, and in his sense to be a Prophet is all one as if Enoch had been of some College or religious Order separated from the ordinary Sons of God. Out of his own conjectures he doth erect two strict sodalities of Religion in those ancient days: From Enos the Enoscaei, such as professed silence from all talk, and sequestration from all men; And from Cainan the Cinaei, or Kenites, such as lived in a regular, but an active Vocation. More of this in due time, but we read of no vow, or affected institution of life into which the Patriarchs entered, we read of some illuminated Prophets, or Prophet among them, and that was Enoch. As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets, which have been since the world began, Luk. i. 70.

3. His next mark of glory follows, That he was an example of repentance to all Generations. They that are careful to expound these words in Ecclesiasticus accurately are divided in the sense. Some have searched among the Rabbin's for their opinions of this, and one of them says, that wickedness did abound in the Age of Enoch, the foul crimes of Sorceries and Witchcrafts had begun to show their blade, and Lamech was the seventh from Adam in the Race of Cain a Bigamist, and a Murderer. His sins in all likelihood were scandalous and contagious at that time over a great part of the earth, and for these iniquities the Lord drowned the third part of the habitable world in Enochs time; and Enoch threatened an universal Deluge to all flesh, if they did not repent, which indeed came to pass; so his Doctrine and Prophesies gave notice of Repentance to all Generations. But Procopius says upon this Text, and he had it from some Jewish Scribes, that this holy man had been very incontinent and vicious before he begat Methusalah,, but after that he proved so relenting a Convert, laid hold so fast on God, because he knew what a misery it was to lose him; that his few years of repentance did God more faithful service than almost a thousand years of innocence in the best of the Patriarchs. Which aspersion upon this holy Saint, since it hath no ground to build upon, it is answered well enough by Cajetan; Enoch is twice commended in this Chapter, that he walked with God, in this Text, and within two Verses before it, the ingemination of that puts it into more probability that he was a constant follower of good works from his youth up, till the time that God translated him. Leaving these far-fetched conjectures, this is the most suitable exposition to the words, as I apprehend repentance is often taken for all that sanctification and righteousness which is in man that is born and conceived in sin, Acts v. 31. God hath exalted Christ to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins; but God gives a new heart, and a new spirit to Israel, and new obedience, when he gives them forgiveness of sins. To repent is properly reverti à peccato, to return from a sinful life, but sometimes it is avertere à peccato, to turn a side from the broad way which leadeth to perdition, though the Child of God never went astray in it. So Enoch having a corruptible body which pressed down the pious alacrity of the soul, and doing those things by frailty sometimes which he ought not to have done, his innocence and holiness is called repentance, whereupon the Son of Sirach calls him an example of repentance to all Generations.

4. To be a Prophet, to be an example of repentance; both of these gives us an introduction to understand this Phrase, that he walked with God; but the true key that opens it is the fourth thing, Upon the earth was no man created like Enoch, says the Son of Sirach. A Cedar among other fair trees, a great Star among other lesser lights, a most sanctified man among many just ones, like the man in the Parable that was the truest servant to his Master, exceeded him that gained but two Talents, exceeded him that gained five Talents, he made return of ten Talents to his Lord, and bore the praise away from them all that had done very well before him, upon the earth was no man created like Enoch. We commend those from our lips that are inter non pessime malos, not so bad as the worst: But God commends them from his mouth that are inter optimos praecipui, the most excellent of them that are the best. Reuben was kinder towards Joseph than the rest of his Brethren, (so Reuben tells them of it, Gen. xlii. 22.) yet he was but unnatural. Jehu was a truer worshipper of God than the Priests of Baal, yet wanted much of sincerity. Gamaliel was more favorable to the Apostles than the rest of the Judges, yet he did them unjustice, and was an unbelieving Pharisee. The Kingdom of heaven is not to be looked for, upon assurance that there are greater sinners than you: but hereby you shall try if the love of God be in you, when you pant and strive with all your soul, and with all your might that none may be better. It is a pitiful, and indeed a dishonorable praise to point out a man, and say he is religious, devout, or conscionable as the world goes. Hath God ever promised to take measure from that form as a bad world goes, how he will give a man an heritage with the Angels in the world to come? To be an Hercules among the Argonautes, I mean the first Champion in the Lord's cause in the first file, a Peter among the Disciples, Lovest thou me more than these? An Elias among Prophets, a Moses an Aaron among his Priests, and Samuel among such as called upon his name, an Enoch among the Patriarchs, upon the earth was no man created like him; this is the pitch we must desire to grow unto, and not to say with the Proverb, Occupet extremum scabies; All is well if you be not the worst of a wicked company. Whatsoever you know or hear of, that any Martyr or Confessor departed hath done for Christ's sake, it is a shame for you if you do not covet to do as much, or more than that, at least accuse yourself if you be not sorry that your frailties make you come short of the best. Lay your hand everyone upon his own conscience, and you may well say after me, sweet Jesu, should any of thy Creatures love thee better than I? Should any servant be more obedient than I? Any Martyr be willing to suffer more than I? Should Enoch that walked with God desire to please thee more than I? Never will I give over to try if I can run before them, for none of thine Elect is so much indebted to thy bloody Passion as I am, because none of them had so many sins to be forgiven. Press on to be the nearest of them that shall stand before the presence of the Lord, and account it among thy great sins if thy heart do not pant and yearn to be equal with the principal of the Saints. And make not your estimation of a good man by this rule, that his virtues are more than his vices. Or as Guicciardine says, who had cause to know what he wrote, that Popes are praised for their goodness, when they do not exceed the wickedness of other men? and trust not to that fleshly sloth, that a moderate competency of honesty is well enough; Non omnes possunt esse Scipiones & Maximi; All men cannot be anointed with the oil of gladness above their fellows. If Noah, and Abraham, and Moses, had roused up their spirit no better, what should the Church have done for exquisite Semplars of Zeal and Faith, but if it had wanted all these, an absolute pattern of holiness had remained in Enoch, upon the earth was no man created like him, we must therefore carry some transcendent sanctity in our notions, to know what it is to walk with God.

First, It commends him that he had much conversation, or, as it were, a familiar friendship with God. Can two walk together unless they be agreed? Amos iii. 3. Agreement is not all, it imports as much as an endearing, and a sociable benevolence. We took sweet counsel together, and walked in the house of God as friends, Psal. lv. 14. Let this embolden none to walk and strout it in the body of the Church while others are at their Prayers in the Choir; they are more bold and familiar with God than welcome. I know not what greater contempt could be shewn by a civil man if he were present at the time of sacred hours in one of the Mosques of Mahomet. But I will not digress; To walk with God is to go hand in hand like a loving Associate, and I need not mince it to say, like the friend of God. We are all servants properly naturâ & debito, in our Nature, and in our debt to the Law. Neither do we ever cease to be servants by the gift of grace, but it is an Evangelical privilege, that some of those that are servants, and obey his will in all things, should be called the friends of God. So our Savior says to his Disciples, after he had given them a taste of all saving knowledge, Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doth, but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Now although the condition that all men lived in before Christ came into the world was the state of servants, yet such Prophets and Patriarchs as were greatly illuminated with Evangelical faith, praeter rationem status, notwithstanding the bondage of Nature, and of the Law, were vouchsafed this Title the friends of God. A thrice blessed name, which vindicates us from Captivity, it breaks our bonds asunder, it makes us partakers of divine acquaintance, it consigns us an interest in the love of Christ, more than we dare boast of it. And is this the way to procure it, to walk with God? What say you to walking through Fire and Sword? What think you of walking through the Valley of the shadow of death? Break not hands with such a God, though it should come to a most bitter exigent. But in that ease and safety that we live now, few or none are put to any hardness for Christ's sake. No League in the world more sought for, more willingly accepted; no Amity less burdensome, or more beneficial. St. Austin in his Confessions brings in a couple that served the Roman Emperor, thus debating the matter: What can we look for in this Palace more than to be called the friends of the Emperor? This is no sure unmovable favor when we have it: and how long must we wait and attend before we get it? Amicus Dei si esse voluero, ecce nunc fio; Let me turn to God today, and desire to be his friend, it shall be done instantly and never delayed. So they resolved, though their courses were excentrick to the way of honor and preferment, they would walk in righteousness to be called the friends of Christ, and so Enoch walked with God.

Vera amicitia est idem velle, & idem nolle, says the Orator; A friendship will hold fast between them, that choose the same things, and refuse the same things, and agree in all things. So that to walk with God so far till it grow to the tide of a friendship is no more nor no less than Fiat voluntas tua, The will of the Lord be done. The fore-cited Clemens in his lately revived Epistle, instead of saying that Enoch walked with God, phraseth it thus, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , God found him to be a just man through all obedience, and so translated him; and the Chaldee Paraphrase, He walked in the fear of the Lord, turning neither to the right hand, nor to the left. I know the word being metaphorical may be varied, and followed in many senses, and all according to a godly Canou. Gregory the Great deviseth this distinction of the word out of his own ingenuity. Some walk from God as Apostates, and Demas that turned to the world. Some walk against God, or set their face against him, as the proud and rebellious; so the stiff-necked Israelites, Ye walk contrary to me, Lev. xvi. 21. But some on the laudable part may be said to walk before God, as the Prophets; so John the Baptist was a forerunner of Christ, He went before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways. Some walk after God, as humble Penitents, and those that take up their Cross and follow him. Finally, A religious Magistrate, that is solo Deo minor, whose power is from God, and useth that power as he ought, he walks with God, and he that despiseth him despiseth the Lord. Every whit of this may be maintained with good construction, but lest the phrase should be dissected too much to the loss of the sense, I will rather be rude in expression than subtle, to walk with God is to let him draw us after him, as far as his Commandments reach, and no further.

It is not material that there were neither Scriptures extant, nor the Tables of the Law divulged in the days of Enoch, certainly the Children of God in that Age were not left to themselves to woship in a wild undistinct way, without some divine prescription. Some Canon of Faith and good Works they had delivered them; it concerns the Providence of God, and that order which must necessarily be among them to say so, and by the extent of that revealed rule Enoch walked with God. Let all things be done according to the pattern which thou sawest in the Mount, so the Law-giver himself to Moses. Nothing must be changed, though you think for the better, but keep you close to the Pattern in every part and proportion. Honorato jucundissimus honor est quem ipse vult, it is St. Chrysostom's; The Majesty of God takes it for an honor to do him honor by his own Commandment. Peter thought he had shown himself a most obsequious Disciple, and reverenced his Master more than all the rest, when he would not let him wash his feet, but Christ shown him it must be so, and that particular recusancy of his was to dishonor him above his fellows. If you think that God will bate you one inch of that he hath commanded, you walk by yourself without him. Alas for that poor soul that is so deceived! whither will his feet carry him? Heaven and earth shall pass away before one tittle of the Law doth perish. Repent and turn to the Lord, and he will run forth to meet you; forgive one another, and Christ will forgive you, there he concurs with you; defraud no man and the righteous Lord will give you an inheritance, there he joins with you. Hold him fast to you in continual Prayer, and let him not go away till he give you a blessing, there he dwells with you. In all things bear in mind the will of the Lord be done, for no man walks with God, unless he be a complete obedient.

Above all other aberrations 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , or will-worship is that which strides quite over the way, and walks solitary by itself, and not with God. All holy service is fitly called new obedience. But can Will-worship, which is a start of a man's own invention be called obedience in any latitude? I think not. For how can a man be said to obey in that which was never enjoined him? Obedience, and somewhat bidden, and imposed to be done are relatives. His servants ye are to whom you obey, says St, Paul. Wherefore if you frame a Religion, or a part of Religion after your own fancy, you are your own servants and not God's, and you have no reason to look for wages from our heavenly Master. In vain do they worship me, teaching for Doctrines the Traditions of men. Vanum est quod fine suo destituitur; They that serve, serve for a reward, therefore a rewardless service, which is threatened against Will-worship, is a vanity. But who are comprised in this crime of Will-worship not to walk with God? Such as profess a proper, immediate, essential Worship of God of their own coining; but they want a great measure of understanding, or charity, that inveigh against arbitrary Ceremonies in that name, which are imposed as mere accidental and circumstantial parts of Religion, wherein not the proper Worship of God, but the manner of using the same is intended. Proper Worship of God is an action done immediately to the honor of God in the act itself, as Prayer and Preaching: Improper Worship is an act done with God's Service, not directly and by itself, but in conjunction with some proper act of Worship, as kneeling, holding up the hands and eyes, sever these by themselves, and they are no service of God at all. David danced before the Ark in a Linnen Ephod. To dance, to wear a Linnen Garment are things of a mixed use, and therefore can be no parts of God's proper immediate Worship, neither did David mean them so, but they are decencies, and laudable adjuncts of the very true Worship, and for their sakes, far be it from us to think that Enochs example is violated, who walked with God.

You have heard now that there is a familiar heavenly friendship, and a complete obedience, without all admixtion of Will-worship, in the holy life of this Patriarch, that kept even with God in all his ways. Now thirdly, it makes this sense, that Enoch was a principal upholder of that side that did sincerely profess the true faith, he opposed himself stiffly to the Cainites, that is, to the Synagogue of Satan; and he that condemns the evil world, and defies the faction of it, deserves this praise, that he walks with God. In vitia alter alterum trudimus, says the heathen; Every wicked man draws his next fellow after him, and the most live rather by custom than by rule and reason, running like those Swine in the Gospel, into which the Devil had entered, by whole herds into the Sea. But a man that esteems his soul by that price which his dear Redeemer paid for it, will dare to set his face in a good cause against plurality, and multitudes, and fears not to stand up alone against an host of the Priests of Baal, like Elias that walked solitary in the wilderness with the Lord, when Ahab and Jezebel had won the whole Land of Israel to Idolatry. Singularity, when it proceeds from self opinion and pertinency, it deserves to be hooted at; but to divorce from men of erroneous minds, of malicious and filthy conversation, to be cast off from such, like a Pelican in the Wilderness, and like an Owl that is in the Desert, is a singularity to be admired. As soon as ever the Devil left our Savior at the end of the three Tentations, the words following are, Behold Angels came and ministered unto him. Whereupon one doth thus meditate, Qui expelllit à se Satanam allicit ad se Angelos; Sort not yourself with those that have not the fear of God before their eyes, abandon impious Society, and you shall find heavenly comforters in your soul: Bid Satan get him hence, and the Angels take it for an invitation to come and walk with you. Lot lived like a stranger in his own City, he shut himself up, and barred his doors against those filthy people. What could he do more to keep the ungodly from his vexy sight? As David said. Thus estranging himself from the evil doings of those that were round about him, he was thought fit to give hospitality to Angels, and walked out of Sodom with those Angels, and when he lingered in that place, they laid hold of his hand, and pulled him away with some violence of love. Thus Enoch could not endure the Cainites, perhaps persecuted them, perhaps was persecuted by them, he would not partake of their fellowship, but shook off their dust from his feet, and so it came to be said that he walked with God.

After this that hath been spoken, I ought not to conceal from you any longer how the Septuagint have translated these words, upon which I insist, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , And Enoch pleased God. This must not be shuffled over without observation upon it, not only because St. Chrysostom, and such other Greek Fathers as I have perused, do so read the Text, nor only for the Son of Syrachs sake, Ecclus. xliv. 16. who consents with the lxxii. But for St. Paul's sake, in whom we find the same character of him, Heb. xi. 5. Before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. The wisdom of God alone best knows why there should be such a diversity of terms, a diversity I say, without any real difference, for it is but a Consequent put for an Antecedent; he that walks in new obedience, eschewing the company of the ungodly, and setting God always before him, consequently he shall please the Lord. If we had such a Master as Nabal was, so crooked and unpropitious that none could speak to him, or please him: If we served under the Lord as Jacob did under Laban, who had nothing but murmuring and persecution for all his fidelity, then we might cross our arms and say we had lost our oil and our labor. But our service is full of benevolence and encouragement, Euge bone serve, Well done good and faithful servant, every title chimes Alacrity. And yet it follows, that servant was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , faithful, what, In all words and works? No, faithful in a little. Enoch pleased, because God would be pleased with his imperfect righteousness, it is his indulgence to call things that are not, as things that are, he will give a days wages for an hours work in the Parable. If there be a willing mind it shall be commended according to that which a man hath, not according to that which he hath not; he that affects the right way, and would not swerve from it, shall carry this badge upon his name, that he pleased, and walked with God, Quamvis claudicet & labatur; though sometimes he limps, sometimes he stumbles through the infirmity of the flesh. Our renowned Patriarch in my Text was a sinner from his mothers womb, for Adam begat a Son in his own likeness, after his image, but that likeness was the similitude, yea, and the very essence, I may say, of sinful flesh. Yet such a Son of Adam doth please, being made by adoption and grace the Son of God.

But I have not said all, nay, not a moiety what it is to please our holy Father. For his love and complacency is not a bare affection like Man's, Amor Dei in effctu, non in affectu situs est. Where he is pleased he doth not affect a thing only Theorically, but will effect some good for it, as Aeneas said of his followers, Nemo ex hôc numero mihi non donatus abibit; All that did attend his very games should have some reward for their labor. God is not unrighteous to forget your love and your labor which you have shown toward his name, Heb. vi. 10. Please not yourself, even as Christ also pleased not himself, says St. Paul, Rom. xv. 3. And you shall walk before the Lord in the Land of the living, Psal. cxvi. 9. Placebo Domino, I shall please the Lord in the Land of the living, so the Vulgar Latin readeth it. More precisely to the cause. In some sense all the Creatures, and their natural operations do please the Lord, but in a supernatural order nothing doth please him, but that into which he hath put a supernatural bonity, and those good effects which are wrought in man by his own grace. He doth not only love and delight in them, but will remunerate them, with this sober restriction, which might pacify many hot contentions if the Devil were not too strong, Bona opera non habent condignitatem ad premium coeleste, sed quandam ordinabilitatem; that is, good works have no intrinsical worth or value to claim eternal life, but through the gracious promise of God they are ordained unto it. By Faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death. Faith indeed is an ambulatory thing, it hath no rest till it see God, and walks from one degree to another, from righteousness to righteousness, and never stands still, but in the clear Vision of the Beatifical Essence it walks no more, but stands before the face of the Lord forever.

From those notions which I have passed over grounded upon Text and Reason, I proceed last of all to give them a little room in my discourse, that have made either probable or unprobable divinations upon the word. The Jerusalem Targum instead of Enoch walked, reads it more at large, he served or labored in the truth before the Lord. Whether he were Ruler or Priest that Gloss decides it not, or both Ruler and Priest, as they were coincident in the person of Melchizedek, and I believe long before him, truth is a Princes care as well as a Prophets; he is Custos utrinsque tabulae, and shall answer to the King of Kings, how his people discharged their duty to God, as well as to their Neighbor. But by whomsoever that good work is wrought, that truth shall flourish upon the earth, by the power and authority of the Scepter, or by the diligence and painfulness of the Miter, such a one shall have a blessed name that he walks with God, that he is legatus à làtere, he stirs not from his side, he is set upon his right hand, and shall remain among the blessed at that right hand forever. But howsoever I may be persuaded that Enoch was a Ruler, and some great Government lay upon his shoulders, yet his interest was more than so in laboring for the truth, he was a diligent instructor of the people by word and communication, St. Jude hath rehearsed a piece of a Sermon that he made, wherein he preached of a better life to come. Here again I must have recourse to the Idiom of the Scripture, wherein I will show, that the very phrase to walk with God doth imply a pleasing or acceptable ministration of office before the Lord; as 1 Sam. ii. 30 I said indeed, it is a message to old Eli, that thy house, and the house of thy father should walk before me forever; that is, that thou and the house of thy Father should execute the office of a Priest, and offer sacrifice before me. And let it imprint this in your mind, what veneration is due to the divine Oracles of truth when they are delivered unto you. We are Ambassadors for Christ, says St. Paul, but you must abstract that word from any earthly similitude; we come indeed in the name of the King of heaven, not as from him that is absent, but invisible: We do not only come from him to speak to men (privilege enough to our person) but, in the very hour that we deliver the sacred will unto you with fear and reverence, we walk with God. This will not let me pretermit what Origen says, and Irenaeus likewise, was contained in the Apocryphal Book of Enoch, Legatione functus est ad Angelos, that he was sent an Ambassador from the Sages and Patriarchs of the world unto the Angels. I will not go further in the Fiction. The Hebrews had more leisure to tell strange stories than you have to hear them; I believe the meaning is, he walked to several places of the world to settle things in order in divers Kingdoms; as when Samuel judged Israel, he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizpah, and judged Israel in all those places. A wearisome labor for Governors to make a journey of so many days and months, but safety and the blessing of God certainly is upon it, because they give no rest to their body till they see with their eyes how Religion and Justice are managed in the remotest places of their dominions, this is to walk with God.

I am now making to the Conclusion for this time, with the improbable, and indeed impossible supposition of those Expositors that would make Enoch a Prior or Abbot, or at least a member of such a Society, some regular Canon that vowed stricter orders in obligation of inter-mutual obedience than all others that were called by the name of the Lord. It seems the Monks do greatly want good men of their livery that they would hedge in those into their body that never dreamt of their profession. And I wonder they would accept of Enoch for a Votary, who begat Sons and Daughters (and I hope they will acknowledge in lawful Matrimony) after he walked with God. St. Chrysostom draws no other Doctrine from my Text, and this very vehemently, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 : For Enochs sake let no man think that a married life is any impediment to please the Lord, Cornelius à Lapide the Jesuit could not let this observation alone, but tells us that Enoch shall live upon the earth again, before the day of judgment, for three years and half, and fight with Antichrist, and be slain, and then he shall be unmarried. I think so too, for if he should come into the world at this time (as all that tradition is a most sickly dream) but it he should, he must bear the age of four thousand years, and that were too old in conscience to marry. But put case upon his return he would marry again, how would the Jesuit forbid the Banes? Why he drives it to this case: Enoch was the Great-grand-father of Noah; Noah since the Flood, the common Progenitor of all flesh, therefore when Enoch appears again upon earth he shall be the Father of all women descending from him in a right line, and between such persons no Matrimony can be contracted. This is a subtlety as wisely laid, as the Sadducees question about the woman that had married seven husbands, Whose wise shall she be in the Resurrection? But because the Jesuits do so much commend Virginity above all things, I would their fathers in the flesh could have been persuaded to have kept it, then the Church had wanted them, who are the only impediment on that part, that probably no peace can be made among our Christian unchristian divisions.

Now they that do invent certain forms of Monastical Institutions from the beginning of the world, divide them into two Sects, the one from Cainan in an active life, such as sung sweet hymns, or ministered in sacrifices, and conversed with the world, Certainly these went the truer way, the active life is most charitable, and furthest from temptation. For as Daws and Bats will breed about an house where there is no inhabitant; so many sins will creep into a soul that is not operative. But they of the other order instituted by Enos, says a late Parisian Capuchin, lived not with men, but affected solitude; spake not to men, but affected silence. By this Description, it seems to me, he makes them abhor the two best properties of a man, who is animal sociabile, sermocinativum, the only creature on earth fit to unite himself in an orderly society, and the only creature on earth to whom God hath given speech to utter the conceptions of his mind. Their purpose is, I think, to commend a man dead unto the delights of the world, not taken with the baits of pleasure like a beast, and they make a beast of him by renouncing the best parts of humanity. To enjoy a man's days with some sweetness of delight is far from reprehension; pleasures indeed are to be mitigated, for a little pleasure is enough to season a man's life, as a little salt is enough with ones meat, therefore the excess is to be reproved as the origen of much iniquity; but this I will say in favor of a life that is lead with much alacrity, the most horrible sins that are do usually come to pass through sullen melancholy. Man was first put into Paradise to spend his days in content and joy. Why should he live so opposite to the state of Paradise as to spend all his Age in sowreness, and sad contemplations? Adam was appointed to dress the Garden of God, to keep the trees, and herbs, and grass well pruned, and shorn, and even. Is not the whole world now the Garden of God? And shall every elegancy, mirth, and pleasurable recreation in it be checked for wanton and abominable? Such censorious sour-looking Pharisees, of all the rest of the Jews, did least please our Savior. The great Rabbi Ben Maimon says, that Prophesy comes not upon men either when they are sorrowful, or when they are slothful, but when they are joyful. Therefore the Sons of the Prophets had before them Psalteries, and Timbrels, and Harps when they came down the Mountains, 1 Sam. x. 5. A good Christian therefore may walk with God with a cheerful merry heart, yea, and dance before God as Miriam and David did. Happy are they that can suffer tribulations for God's name without repining; and no less happy are they that drink of the brook in the way of comforts and pleasures without surfeiting. The Lord sanctify them both unto us through his holy Spirit and grace. AMEN.

THE SECOND SERMON UPON ENOCH.

W Hen I lately commended before you what a rich example of piety and perfection Enoch was, perhaps you thought this was wanting to make up the full sum, how he shut up his days in the love and favor of God. To make a blessed end is the Crown of all other praise that goes before it. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , says Aristotle; Let us look towards the conclusion of a man's days, as Solons rule was, and so pronounce him happy. But I can follow no such order in this subject which I have to handle. What passage Enoch had out of this world I can relate, but that he finished this life I cannot say it. His years are numbered before my Text like other men's, three hundred sixty five, just as many years as there be days in an usual year after the motion of the Sun; not that this reckoning is the term of his life, but the term of that time that he conversed with men; As Tertullian glosseth upon St. Paul's words, I am crucified with Christ; How crucified, and yet live? Per emendationem vitae, non per interitum substantia; by the reformation of his life, not by the loss of his life: So Enoch had a period when he left to be with men, Per emendationem vitae, non per interitum substantia; By an exaltation to a better life, not by the corruption of his body.

As the men of Israel would not let Jonathan suffer death, though Saul had given Sentence against him. What (say they) shall Jonathan die that hath wrought such great salvation in Israel? So when the Spirit of the Lord had testified what a Prophet Enoch was, a perfect obedient that abhorred Will-worship, a stiff maintainer of God's part against the Devil, and all his Instruments, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a friend, a familiar acquaintance, a walker with God. Upon this testimony Mercy opposeth Justice, and though the Lord had said to Adam, and to all that were in his loins, Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return: What says Mercy, shall Enoch die an example of repentance to all Generations? So the stroke of death was diverted that he saw not the Grave, and Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. The partition which I framed upon the whole Verse was on this wise, first, how uncorrupt Enoch was in his ways, he walked with God; and secondly, that he did not see corruption. And this second Point, which is reserved for this hours labor, is to be handled in two several heads; the former I will call Enoch's passage out of this world, He was not; The latter his reposure in another world, For God took him. His place was left empty among the Patriarchs below, and he filled a room among the Thrones and Angels above. Upon these two I shall handle many particular Doctrines before you.

And he was not; a concise phrase, you see, and brevity will breed obscurity, especially put this unto it, that it is a form of speech which is not used again in this sense, to my remembrance, in all the Scripture. But the sense is made plain by St. Paul, Heb. xi. 5. By Faith Enoch was translated, that he should not see death; He had a passage out of this world without any dissolution of the soul from the body. In the same body that he pleased God, says Irenaeus, he was translated, being never unclothed of the flesh that he might put on immortality. That this truth may be carried the clearer I will debate it a little with them that oppose it, and with them that qualify it. Some of the Hebrew Rabbin's as I find them quoted, because they consult not with the authority of the New Testament think they are not convicted by the Old Testament, but that they may conclude, how Enoch died, and was taken away in an early Age, (as those times went) much sooner than his Forefathers: As if this Verse did rather bemoan him for his untimely departure, than renown him for some glorious favor which did befall him. The phrase indeed, if we look no farther, will bear it, both in sacred and in heathen Writings, to say of one departed, fuit, he was, but is not; this was called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a fair way of language to avoid an unpleasing word. Yet the phrase doth not always stand in that sense, but hath a double acception, and both in one verse, that you may the better carry it away, Gen. xlii. 36. Jacob there bemoans himself for the waat of two Children, Joseph is not, and Simeon is not; the one he took to be dead indeed, the other to be in fast hold, and taken from his eyes: removed where he could not come at him, as Enoch was, but no more. So the Chaldee Paraphrase explains the meaning of Jacob, Joseph non superest, & Simeon non est hic. Joseph is quite lost, and Simeon is not here. The phrase then accords very well with that place of the Hebrews, by faith Enoch was translanted, that he saw not death: And my Text must incline to that exposition for two reasons: First, that the Lord took him, stands for a consequent that he was pleased in him; it is the reward as you would say, that he walked with God, not that there is a necessary and perpetual coherency in it, that whosoever walks with God should be exalted into Paradise, and not see corruption, but Enochs righteousness by a privilege of favor was so requited; a favor then being understood in those words, it cannot be the sentence of death upon him, it is impossible. Secondly, in this Chapter the last word that the Holy Ghost gives of Adam is, Et mortuus est, and he died, so of Seth, so of Enos, so of Cainan, so of all the Antecessors of Enoch; wherefore unless Enoch had some other issue out of this world diverse from the rest (which was by translation without death) why should it be said of him so differently from all others, he was not, for the Lord took him?

So I have corrected the great error of those Hebrew Doctors, who would lay Enochs honor in the dust. But I suppose the general Exposition of the Jews was right, and according to St. Paul's doctrine. For Paul wrote to the Hebrews that he saw not death, knowing the tradition was commonly so received among them, and the Chaldee Paraphrast, who lived straight after Christ, was of the same judgment: beside one of great note among them says he was disarrayed of the foundation corporal, and clothed with the foundation spiritual: which words, I conceive, do jump with those, who oppose not the Scripture, that he saw not death, far be it from them, but they have a qualification for the meaning of it, that death is taken two ways, most properly for the separation of one essential part of man from the other, the body from the soul; a loath to depart it is, a most unwelcome dissolution, a punishment upon the sin of our first Father, which was remitted to Enoch; improperly it is no more but the separation or extinction of corruptible qualities from the soul and body; one whom I named even now called it the disarraying of a man from the foundation corporal; and so Enoch was purified, altered, made quite another man in the very moment that he was wrapped up to heaven. This evacuation of corruptible qualities from the flesh is called death by some very good Authors in our own Church; and so Procopius much more ancient than they, Mirabili modo mortis defunctus est & ad vitam coelestem translatus; it was a rare and admirable kind of death he suffered, being caught up into the clouds to live with God forever. Their judgment is right, that he was disarrayed of all malignant qualities, sin and mortality which belong to the soul or body. But I wonder they should call these by the name of death; for it was no otherwise with Enoch than it shall be with all men and women whom Christ shall find upon earth at his second coming. St. Paul says they shall not die, but they shall be changed; that changing is no death, for change and death are membra dividentia in the Apostle, and cannot be confounded.

Now I have brought you out of all incumbrances of wrong opinions to the clear truth. Enoch was not. How? He ceased not absolutely to live, but he ceased to live any longer in a corruptible Tabernacle; he prevailed above the sentence which was pronounced against Adam by the Judge of quick and dead, Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Mortality came from disobedience against the Commandment, neither is it possible for any mere man to attain to such a measure of obedience as to deserve immortality; do not imagine this holy Saint was without sin so that death could claim no dominion over him. St. Chrysostom, who speaks much for Enoch, how the Lord rewarded his integrity with incorruption, says no more, but that he received God's Law, not that he kept it inviolably, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , God kept him alive that received the Commandment, that received it willingly, and with an earnest heart to keep it. But how was that Statute dispensed with, you will say, it is appointed to men once to die, and after that comes judgment? Heb. ix. 27. An easy dispensation will serve for that, for it was no otherwise with this man than it shall be with all the earth at the last day, when the Inhabitants of the world shall not be unclothed of skin and bone, but be changed into an incorruptible perfection in the twinkling of an eye. But that you may not wonder at Enochs case, as if justice had connived and forgot itself, remember this rule in St. James, There is one Lawgiver who is able to save, and to destroy, Jam. iv. 12. Mark that, there are Judges constituted under the Law, and it is not in them to save life where the Letter of the Law condemns, for the Law governs them, and not they the Law; but there is a regent and principal authority, whose clemency is above the Law. That speech of Seneca's is as trivial as any Proverb, Occidere contra legem nemo non potest, servare nemo praeter te; Every Varlet can kill a Citizen against the Law, none but the Supreme Magistrate can save a Citizen against the Law. You see then by what rectitude of justice Enoch might be exempted from death, albeit we were all sentenced to become dust and clay out of which we were made, because God is the most supreme independent Judge of all the world, and may mitigate the severity of his own decrees. Why should not his mercy preserve where it will? And if he will preserve who can destroy? Is there any curse but he can turn it into a blessing? Where the Lord pleaseth to sweeten a bitter cup, Poverty shall not be grievous, nor ignominy dishonorable, nor sickness painful, nor life mortal. A thousand fell before this Patriarch, and ten thousand at his right hand, but he was impassible, and did not die, He was not, for the Lord took him.

Because the Septuagint Translators concur with St. Paul in one reading, it is due to my Text to let it be known how they have enlarged this concise phrase, And he was not in their words is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , He was not found. And Clemens the Scholar of St. Peter and Paul, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , it was not found that he ever died. He appeared not, and yet the Lord killed him not; so the Chaldee Paraphrase. For as St. Jerome said figuratively of the sweet end that Nepotian made, that he did Migrare non mori. And St. Bernard as much of Hubertus, that he did Abire non obire. Those pious men might rather be said to have gone a journey out of the way than have died; so very properly, and without a Metaphor, it was true of Enoch, that he did not die, but was retired out of the way, where he could not be found. It seems he was much sought for, as certainly good men will quickly be missed. Antigonum refodio, as the honest man's saying was, he would have scrap'd the just King Antigonus out of his Grave when he was departed. Though Elias was manifestly taken away into heaven, yet the Sons of the Prophets besought Elisha that fifty strong men might go seek him, lest the Spirit of the Lord had cast him upon some Mountain, or into some Valley. I could not blame them to wish they might find him again. So says one upon that inquisition was made for Elias, Enochus cum raperetur fortasse diu inquisitus fuit; It may be Enoch was much inquired for in many places after God had took him. Selneccerus says, that the Lord exalted him up into the clouds, Coram totâ Ecclesiâ & praecipuis Patriarchis; a great Congregation of men, and the chief Patriarchs looking upon it. Bolducus the Capuchin more particularly (yet both altogether uncertainly using their own divinations) Tulit eum Deus in nube in quâ apparebat ministranti; God took him away in a cloud wherein he appeared as Enoch ministered unto him in the time of Sacrifice. If this were done before a throng of Witnesses, they might think it no more than a rapture for a little time, as Paul was taken up into the third heavens for a small space, and afterward restored to the Church. They might search, and hope to enjoy him again, but he was not found; the more was their loss that they wanted him, the more was his happiness, that he was quite gone, and wanted nothing. But Luther is of opinion, that he was retired alone to walk with God in Prayer, and sweet Meditations, and then the Lord lifted him away to the habitations of the blessed, when none were privy to it. Seth and all the other Fathers of the Church knew not what was become of him, his Son Methasalem and his Family looked for him with sad hearts, as Joseph and Mary sought for Jesus sorrowing; no doubt they suspected the malice of the Cai • ites, they thought he was slain, like innocent Abel, and privily buried. Perhaps it was not revealed in a long time after what was become of him. But as the Romans were highly discontented with the loss of Romulus their Founder, and would not be satisfied till Proculus swore he saw him carried away into Heaven: So when the Patriarchs had sat down sorrowing because they found not the very Gem of the Church, the righteous man Enoch, it made their gladness the greater when they knew the Lord had translated him alive into Paradise.

Now I proceed. The benefit of it, that he passed into heaven without death, is tw • fold, Quoad alios, quoad ipsum, partly in regard of others, partly in regard of him •• lf. In regard of others, what greater consolation upon the proof did befall the Church in that Age than from hence, that there was an apparent instance that after this life God had prepared another for his Saints. These are the very words of life, Non solùm in verbo sed in facto; God did not only give a promise, but took this man away as a real pawn of his favor, that Death should be swallowed up in victory. Two things had happened which shook the world with much fear: First, that Abel, who had offered a good and a pleasing Sacrifice, should be slain by Cain: Is this the reward of the Righteous? Shall Sinners always have the upper hand? Hold ye contented says God, do not ye see that Enoch is accounted worthy to decline Fate and Mortality, because he was found obedient and just in the sight of God? Put Abel's persecution in one scale, Enochs glorification in another, and you will find how equally the lives of the Saints are mixed with afflictions and consolations. The other discomfort was, that Adam the Father of all fl • sh was dead before their eyes, and this struck wonderful terror into their hearts, till their fears were mitigated in the Assumption of Enoch. For he that assumed body and soul together into heaven, for power he was able, and for mercy very willing, though he marred the bodies of his Children with corruption, to repair them again. There was Seth the fifth Patriarch above Enoch then living, far stricken in years, and every day looking for his dissolution, within fifty years after he was carried to the grave like a timely fruit dropping from the tree. What a comfort it was unto him to see a Son of his own loins caught up alive into the Mansions of Beatitude? As who should say, at last such honor have all his Saints. Such as love to put forth curious questions demand why Adams eyes were shut, that he never saw this blessing (for it fell out 150. years after his death) why he alone of all the good Patriarchs was excluded from this common consolation? It is ingenuiously answered, that he had as much comfort as that came to proper to himself, for he received the very words of the Covenant out of God's mouth, The Seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpents head; No man else was so happy to have the living Oracle of the Lord's voice sound in his ears, that Christ should prevail against the enmity of the Devil. Therefore to see or hear of the rapture of Enoch was not necessary for him, but for all others it was that had not heard the primitive consolation. Can you imagine but it kindled great desires in all them that believed, to fly away like a bird unto the hills, and to possess that requium which Enoch enjoyed? Did not their hearts burn within them to see that glory which one of their Brethren and Kindred enjoyed? How much more should the same mind be in us to be with Christ? Who is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the way-maker unto life, who is gone before to prepare a place for us. No Enoch, no Abel is our pattern, but Christ himself hath shewn us by his own Ascension, how our thoughts should ascend upward, to sit at the right hand of God for evermore.

Hitherto I have declared that Enochs rapture was a comfort to all true believers against the terrors of death; but I do not say, as some do, that the Resurrection of the body was any way exemplified in this man's translation. The Scripture hath left it out among the Arguments of the Resurrection, and the best instances are those which are applied by the Holy Ghost. As our Savior propounds the Prophet Jonas, who was three days and three nights in the belly of the Whale, and came forth alive. St. Paul proves it to the Romans by this Argument, If you have the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, he will also quicken your mortal bodies. As if he had said, being it is the same Spirit it will produce the same effects. And he persuades it to the Corinthians with many strong demonstrations, this is the principal, if Christ be risen from the dead, then are we also assured of our Resurrection; for it is not possible that the head should live, and we that are his members remain in death. These are Apostolical reasons, and we are not sent to learn this Lesson from the rapture of Enoch or Elias. For indeed those ensampies belong to another purpose, to that refining of the mortal body, and not putting off of the flesh, which shall befall them that shall be found alive at the great day of the Lord. The Mystery which was opened to the Thessalonians, The dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive, and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds; So says Tertullian, Enoch and Elias never slept with their Fathers, Quare documenta sunt futurae integritatis; therefore they show that body and soul shall be indissoluble (which he calls integrity) in them that shall be the last Generation of the world. And Irenaeus, The translation of Enoch makes it manifest that these gross bodies of ours shall be no impediment to meet the Lord in the clouds: For as the hand of God which made man of the dust of the earth put him into Paradise, so the same hand (though he be still but dust and earth) can exalt him to a better Paradise. And that exaltation, though it prove not the Resurrection so absolutely, yet directly it proves that the body is fit and capable to be carried away with the soul into the Kingdom of God.

Thus far upon the benefit quoad alios, which redounded unto others from meditating upon this story, that Enoch was not, and the Lord took him. I must join a little to this of the benefit quoad ipsum, how commodious and good it was to himself, for two respects. I told you in my last Sermon that instead of walking with God, the Jerusalem Targum reads it, and Enoch labored in the truth before the Lord; he was an assiduous Teacher of the wicked world to reclaim them from their vices, a Prophet that spent himself and his strength like a candle to give light to others; all the impediment was, that it is an hard matter to gain credit to good Doctrine from them that are hardened in their sins, and it is a great honor from God to the Labourer in his harvest when scornful men do not despise his Message. Therefore to win authority to Enochs Prophesies, the Lord did as it were stretch out his arm from heaven, and take him away in the Palm of his hand, this was a sure seal indeed to all people that his Doctrine was given by divine inspiration. Many false Prophets have commended their vain impostures to the world, giving out that they would ascend to Heaven, and talk familiarly about those things which they had delivered; so Simon Magus made ostentation of himself to the Romans; Muhammad promised as much unto the Thracians: that which they forged, but never came to pass, was fulfilled in the true Prophet Enoch, his doctrine was glorified with this miracle, that he was caught up into heaven.

Now this was a mixed benefit, equally shared between him, and those that were his Disciples, the other use and conveniency is wholly his own, that God took him away long before he came to the age of his Forefathers, that he might suffer no more under the afflictions of those wicked times. For as St. Austin says of Lot, that he lived in peace, and he lived in persecution among the Sodomites, in external peace, but their abominable sins were the persecution of Lot; so Enoch might live in dignity and renown, yet his righteous soul was vexed from day today with the unlawful deeds of the Sons of Cain. Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because men keep not thy Law, says David. What life can be sweet to a good man where the Lord of life is blasphemed, and those that are dearest to him suffer reproach, and are disesteemed? What an irksome thing is the world to a good man where most things he sees are thorns to his eyes, and the third part at least of that he hears is a grating and scandal to his ears? Iniquorum vita justi aures & oculos non delectando, sed feriendo tangit, says Gregory; the life and actions of Reprobates must fall upon the senses of conscionable men, nor to delight them, but to excruciate them. And is not a quiet egress out of this world a most desirable thing, to be a Saint joyfully received among Saints, rather than be a Saint maligned among Devils? As Priam said of his Son Hector, that he seemed to be descended of some God, rather than of a man, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , so Enoch was fit to be joined to God and Angels, rather than to converse with rebellious children. He was one of that list of whom St. Paul says the world was not worthy, Heb. xi. 38. Which words Theophylact puts into this sense, make a price and estimation of all things in this world beneath, collect them into one sum, and such a devout soul as Enoch is more worth than all of it. The sins of the earth are most vexatious, the momentary things which we enjoy most vile and unprecious, what should detain a good man here with any delight or complacency? The sooner Enoch was snatched away from those things, the more dear he was to the Lord his good deliverer.

I have yet another benefit of this translation to communicate unto you, not as a certain conclusion, but as a conjecture of some good Authors out of Wisd. iv. 10, 11. He pleased God, and was beloved of him, so that living among sinners he was translated, yea, speedily was he taken away, lest wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul. If this place aim at Enoch, as very learned ones modern and ancient will have it, and our last Translation doth so direct us in the Margin; then one special favor done to him to be speedily snatched away was that he might not slide back from that perfection to which he had attained. So St. Ambrose comforts himself for the loss of his brother Satyrus, that the Lord did abbreviate his days, to stop him from incurring those sins which he might have committed. I will not go far in this Doctrine, because a man that launcheth into it may quickly be tossed upon the waves of endless opinions. Conditional possible events are known of God, not only conjecturally, but certainly; and it is laid up in the storehouse of God's infinite wisdom (which man shall never know) whether a faithful man chopped off in the middle of his Age, was prevented of more good deeds, or more bad, if he had finished his course. Among twelve Conclusions, which St. Austin heaped together to confute Vitalis of Carthage, two of them are most fit to keep our knowledge within the bounds of Sobriety: The one is, that we shall all stand before the Tribunal of God, and every man shall receive according to that which he hath done in his own body, Non secundum ea quae gesturus fuerit, si diutius viveret, sive bonum, sive malum; Not according to those things which they might have done in the body, whether good or evil. Secondly, We know blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, Nec ad eos pertinere quicquid acturi fuerant, si tempore diuturniore vixissent; neither shall it prejudice their blessedness, whatsoever foul acts they might have committed upon longer space of life. I draw it up to this conclusion; It is beyond our intelligence to conceive how many iniquities Enoch escaped by his sudden rapture: but it is easy to conceive, that he was not present at many public miseries and calamities which he must have beheld with a grieved heart. As King Josiah out of God's great favor was prevented by an untimely death never to see the Captivity of Judah. St. Jerome says, that Anastasius, a good Bishop of Rome, was newly dead before Rome was sacked by the Goths, Ne orbis caput sub tali Episcopo truncaretur, that the Imperial Seat of the world might not be dishonored before his eyes. Merciful men are taken away, says the Prophet Isaiah, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come, Isa. lvii. 2.

One part of my Text was Enochs passage out of this world, I have done with that: The other part is his reposure in a better world, in these words, For the Lord took him. The Poets have their obscene Fables de raptu Ganimedis & Proserpinae, the ravishing of Ganimedes and Proserpina, rather than the raptures by their God Jupiter. Somewhat they imitate now and then out of holy Scripture, but they quite abuse it. To give their Fictions no longer the looking on, I come to those two questions that are much searched into, perhaps too much; The former demands to what place Enoch was taken, the latter debates whether ever he shall return again. If it were profitable to know these things exactly the Scriptures had revealed it, therefore to inquire into them pressingly is curiosity, to determine them resolutely is presumption, but to take a little say of them will be profitable for instruction. For the first question, Whither God took him? St. Cyprian, St. Chrysostom, and Gregory the Great lay their hand upon their mouth, and will say nothing to it. The Scholastical Doctors began to define it first without all reservation of modesty, proceeding to an Affirmative Sentence, that he was sequestered to Limbus Patrum, or Paradise, and to a Negative Sentence, that the Heavens did not receive him. When some of them tell us that he was reposed in Paradise, it is not worth the examination, for they will not tell us what they mean. It cannot be that Terrestrial Paradise out of which Adam was banished, it cannot be that, for the Flood prevailed above all the earth to waste and spoil it. And for figurative significations of the word they are endless, who can interpret them? But will you know the truth upon Eccles. xliv. 16. The Vulgar Latin, of such authentic credit with them, hath cogg'd in the word Paradise, Enoch pleased the Lord, and was translated into Paradise. The Arabic Version, I hear, upon the eleventh of the Hebrews hath used St. Paul's Text so, and inserted the word Paradise into it. Yet there is no such syllable in the 72, or in the Greek Text of the Son of Sirach, that is all one to them; where it serves their turn they make use of the Greek Copies before the Hebrew, and of the Latin before the Greek; the Roman Church can dignify what Language it pleaseth. But enough of this, it is a mere Latin error, which first seduced the Schoolmen to write, that Enoch was translated into Paradise.

Touching Limbus Patrum their Doctrine is more clear and explicit, that it is a place below the earth, called in large sense 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or Hell, a receptacle of the souls of those holy ones and good believers, that died before Christ ascended into heaven where they were at rest and peace, but enjoyed not the presence of God. And this they expound to be that bosom of Abraham, whither the Angels carried the soul of Lazarus. The latter instance, I suppose, is enough to confute the former, for the rich man looked up, and saw Abraham and Lazarus in the high places above him, a great gulf of exceeding distance being between them, therefore it could be no such Limbus, as they dream of, in the Confines or Suburbs of hell. And St. Austin dashed this opinion long since with an Argument not to be answered, I have searched the Scriptures, says he, and could never find that Hades or Hell was taken in good part; therefore to make a place of rest, and joyful habitation to be the fourth and best degree of hell, as all their Authors take it, is beyond his understanding.

But why not Enoch assumed into some part of heaven? Their reason for that? The Scripture says plainly, that Elias was carried up to heaven, not because any quiet Habitation may be called Heaven in respect of this world of misery, but forasmuch as verily he did change Earth for Heaven, and therein is made a Type of Christ's Ascension, as Jonas the Prophet was a Type of his Resurrection. So St. Ambrose (I should have remembered it before) upon the Funerals of Valentinian, allows Abraham's bosom to be the house of God above the Firmament. Certainly St. Paul would never have used that distinction, Whether in the body, or out of the body he knew not, if it had been impossible for the body of man to be exalted into the third Heavens. As Core and Dathan were swallowed quick into Hell, body and soul, for their great Rebellion, so Enoch and Elias were carried quick into heaven, body and soul, for their great obedience. The Greek Church keeps the Feast of Elias upon the twentieth of July, says Metaphrastes in his Catalogue. All that Lapide the Jesuit says unto it is, that Elias his name is honored upon that day by the Greek Church, but he is not worshiped or invocated on that day, because he is not in Heaven. I know not whether the Jesuit say truth in that, because I never saw the work of Metaphrastes, but if the Greek Church neither make Prayers unto him, nor give him religious honor, I am sure they are the wiser, and the farther from the Roman Superstition. They have one question among the Schoolmen maintained pro and con with bitter contentions (so God afflicts their wits that resist the truth) upon their supposition that Enoch and Elias are not yet in Patriâ & termino, not yet come to the consummation of their days, not yet in the receptacles of heaven, but in some other place, whither they be still in proficiency of holiness, waxing better and better, as when they lived upon earth; for then, say those Doctors,