The Sacrifice of Thankfulness, Sermon 5 – Title page 3
THE THREE DIVINE SISTERS.
1. COR. 13. 13.
Now abideth Faith, Hope, Charitie, these three: but the greatest of these, is Chatitie.
WHen those three Goddesses, say the Poets, stroue for the golden ball, Paris adiudged it to the Queen of LoueLove. Heere are three celestiall graces, in an holy emulation, if I may so speake, striuing for the chiefedome; and our Apostle giues it to LoueLove. The greatest of these is Charity.
Not that other Daughters are blacke, but that Charity excels in beauty. Wee may say of this Sister, as it was sayd of the good Woman,Pro. 31. 29. Prou. 31. Many daughters hauehave done vertuously, but thou surpassest them all. Paul doth not disparage any, when he sayth, Charity is the greatest. All starres are bright, though one starre may differ from another in glory. 1. Cor. 15.Wee may say of graces, as of the Captaines of the sonnes of Gad; the least can resist a hundred, the greatest a thousand. Or as the song was of Saul and Dauid. Saul hath slaine his thousand, Dauid his ten thousand. Faith is excellent, so is Hope; but the greatest of these, is Charitie.
Mee thinkes these three Theologall Vertues may not vnfitly bee compared to three great Feastes, which wee celebrate in the yeare; Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas. Faith, like Easter, beleeues Christ dead for our sinnes, and risen againe for our Iustification. Hope, like Pentecost, waites for the comming of the holy Ghost, Gods free Spirit of grace to come into vsus, and to bring vsus to Heauen. And Charitie lookes like Christmas, full of louelove to our neighbours, full of hospitality, and mercy to the poore.
These are three strings often touched; Faith, whereby wee beleeue all Gods promises to bee true, and ours: Hope, whereby we waite for them with patience: Charitie, whereby vee testifie, what wee beleeue and hope. Hee that hath faith cannot distrust: hee that hath hope, cannot bee put from anchor: he that hath charity, will not lead a licentious life; for, LoueLove keepes the commandements.
For Methods sake, wee might first conferre them all, then preferre one. But I will speake of them according to the three degrees of comparison. 1. Positiuely. 2. Comparatiuely. 3. Superlatiuely. The greatest of these is Charitie.
Faith
IS that grace, which makes Christ ours, and all his benefites.1. Cor. 12. 9. God giues it.Rom. 10. 17. 1. Cor. Phil. 1. 29.12. Faith is giuen by the spirit. By the Word preached. Rom. 10. Faith comes by hearing. For Christ his sake. To you it is giuen for Christ his sake, to beleeue in his name. This vertue is no sooner giuen of God, but it giues God. So soone as thou beleeuest, Christ is thine and all his. For he that giues vsus Christ, Ro. 8. 22.will also with him giuegive vsus all things.
Without this, Heb. 11. 6.it is impossible to please God: Let vsus not otherwise dare to come into his presence. There is nothing but wrath in him, for sinne in vsus. Ioseph charged his brethren, that they should come no more in his sight, vnlesse they brought Beniami… with them. Wee come at our perill into Gods presence, if wee leaue his beloued Beniamin, our deare Iesus behind vsus. When the Philosopher heard of the inraged Emperours menace, that the next time hee saw him▪ hee would kill him; he tooke vp the Emperours little sonne in his armes, and saluted him with a potes ne? Thou canst not now strike mee. God is angry with eueryevery man for his sinnes; happie is hee that can catch vp his sonne Iesus: for in whose armes soeuer the Lord sees his sonne, he will spare him. The men of Tyre are faine to intercede to Herod by Blastus. Act. 12.Act. 12. 20. Our intercession to God is made by a higher and surer way; not by his seruant, but by his sonne.
Now this Mediator is not had without a medium, Faith. Fides medium, à quo remedium. Faith is that meanes, whereby wee lay hold on this Christ. Diffidence shall neuer hauehave Iesus for the Aduocate. Though euerie man may say; I beleeue, Lord helpe my vnbeleefe.
Saint Paul vseth one word, that very significantly expresseth Faith; calling it the Euidence of things not seene. Heb. 11. 1. Heb. 11.Fides est credere quod non vides; cuius merces est videre quod credis, Faith is to beleeue what thou seest; whose reward is to see what thou beleeuest. Now the Metaphore may be extended thus.
1. Christ dying, made a Will or a Testament, scaling it with his owne bloud, wherein hee bequeathed a certain Legacie of Inheritance to his brethren with himselfe. Ioh. 17.Iohn. 17. 24. Father, I will that they whom thou hast giuen mee, bee with mee where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast giuen me. This is the substance of his Will and Testament.
2 The Conueyance of this Will is the Gospell, Whosoeuer beleeues, and is baptized, shall bee saued. A large Patent, a free and full grant. There is no exception of persons; eyther in regard of state, quality, or Country. There is neyther Iew nor Greeke, Galat. 3. 28.bond nor free, male nor female: for yee are all one in Christ Iesus. The conueyance is of an ample latitude.
3. The Executor or Administrator of this Will, if I may so speake, is the holy Ghost: that Comforter which Christ promised to send, Ioh. 14. 16.that should lead vsus into all truth. This Spirit begets faith & sanctification in our hearts, puts Abba into our mouthes, applyes the merites of our Sauiour to our soules; and indeed seales vsus vp to the day of redemption. Eph. 4. 30.Without his assistance wee could appropriate no comfort by his Will; nor challenge any Legacie therein bequeathed.
4. Lastly, the Euidence, whereby eueryevery particular man apportions to himselfe this title and interest, is his Faith. Thou vnregenerate soule pleadest a Legacie in this Will: Goe to, let vsus ioyne issue, & come to tryal. Where is thy Euidence? Here it is, my Faith. This Euidence, as all other, must hauehave some witnesses: produce thine; and before the Barre of the great Chiefe Iustice, the Kings Bench of Heauen, let them not lie.
The first is thy Conscience. Alas! giuegive this leaue to speake without interruption (and one day it shal not flatter thee.) This sayth thy Euidence, is false & counterfeit; forged by a wretched Seriuener, flesh and bloud: for thy heart trusts in vncertainely good riches, or in certainely bad vanities, more then in the liuing God.
The next, is thy life. Alas! this is so speckled with sinnes, so raw and sore with lusts: that as a body broken out into blaines and biles, argues a corrupted liuer or stomacke within: so the spottes and vlcers of thy life demonstrate a putrified heart. Loe now thy witnesses. Thou art gone at the common Law of Iustice: It is onelyonly the Chancerie of mercy that must cleare thee. What wilt thou now doe? What, but humble thy selfe in repentance for thy false faith; take prayer in thy company, for pardon of former errors; goe by the word preached; for the Minister is, as it were, the Register, to ingrosse the deed; and desire God on the humbled knees of thy soule, to giuegive thee a new and a true Euidence. Let this instruct vsus to some vses.
1. Be sure that thy Euidence is good. Satan is a subtill Lawyer, (and thou doest not doubt of his malice) and will soone picke holes in it; find out tricks and cauils against it. He will winnow and sift thee, grain after graine: take heed, lest thou run not all to chaffe. There is a Faith of Saints.Gal. 2. 20. Gal. 2. Now liue not I, but Christ liueth in mee: and the life that I liue, I liue by the Faith of the Sonne of God. And there is a faith of Deuils. Iam. 2.Iam. 2. 19. Thou beleeuest, thou doest well: the Deuils beleeue and tremble. There is a faith, which cannot perish. Ioh. 3.Ioh. 3. 15. Whosoeuer beleeueth in him, shall not perish. And there is a faith, that in the time of temptation fals away. Luk. 8.Luk. 8. 13 The rockie ground receiues the Word, and for a while beleeueth, but in the time of temptation fall away. There is a faith which the world ouercommeth; such was the faith of Demas. And there is a faith that ouercommeth the world. 1. Ioh. 51. Ioh. 5. 4. This is the victorie whereby wee ouercome the world, euen our faith. There is a dead, idle, and infructuous faith, Iam. 2. 14. And there is a liuely, actiue, working faith. Gal. 5.Gal. 5. 6. Faith worketh by louelove. Bee sure then, that thy faith will endure the toucheuen the fiery tryall.
2 Doe not loose such a Legacie, as Christ hath bequeathed, for want of faith. Glorious is the inheritance, but where is thy Euidence? Flatter not thy soule with hope of this possession, without the assurance of faith. Christ giues his life for his sheepe: What is this to thee that art a Wolfe, a Swine, a Goate? God dresseth his Vineyard, pruneth it, watereth it, is prouident ouer it: What's this to thee, that art a thorne, and no branch of the Vine? Looke thou to be weeded vp, and throwne out. The bloud of Christ runnes fresh: but where is thy pipe of faith, to deriue it from his side to thy conscience? Say, it should showre mercy, yet if thou wantest faith, all would fall besides thee. There would be no more fauour for thee, then if there was no Sauiour.
Let then no miseries of earth, much lesse pleasures, quench thy faith. Satan seeing this sparke of fire kindled in thy heart, would blow it out with stormes, or worke thee to smother it thy selfe with vanities, or to rake it vp in the dead embers of cold security: but beleeue against sight and sense. As Dauid prophesied, that hee should be a King. Eo plus habet fides meriti, quo minus argumenti. Faith shall hauehave so much the more recompence, as it had the lesse argument to induce it.
Hope.
IS the sweetest friend, that euer kept a distressed soule company: it beguiles all the tediousnesse of the way, all the miseries of our Pilgrimage.
Iam mala finissem letho; sed eredula vitam
Spes fouet, & melius cras foresemper ait.
Therefore dum spiro spero, sayes the Heathen: but dum, expiro spero, sayes the Christian. The one, whilest I liue, I hope; the other, when I dye, I hope: so Iob, I will hope in thee, though thou killest …ee. It tels the soule such sweet stories of the succeeding ioyes; what comforts there bee in heauen; what peace, what ioy, what triumphes, mariage-songs, and Halleluiahs, there are in that Country, whether shee is trauelling; that shee goes merrily away with her present burden.
It holds the head whilst it takes, and giues invisible drinke to the thirsty conscience. It is a liberty to them that are in prison, and the sweetest Physicke to the sicke. Saint Paul calles it an Anchor. Let the windes blow, and the stormes beat, and the waues swell, yet the Anchor stayes the shippe.Heb. 6. 19. It breakes through all difficulties, and makes way for the soule to follow it. It teacheth Abraham to expect fruit from a withered stocke; and Ioseph in a dungeon, to looke for the Sunne and Starres obeysance. It counsels a man, as Esdras did the woman;2. Esd. 10. 17. that hauing lost her sonne, would needs dye languishing in the disconsolate fields. Goe thy way into the City to thine husband. Mourne not wretch for the losse of some worldly and perishing delight: sit not downe and die, though the fruit of thy wombe bee swallowed into the earth. But goe home to the citie, the City of mercy; to thine husband, euen thy husband Iesus Christ; let him comfort thee: This is the voyce of hope.
Though misery be present, comfort absent, though through the dimme and waterish humor of thy heart, thou canst spie no deliuerance; yet such is the nature of Hope, that futura facta dicit: It speakes of future things, as if they were present. Rom. 8.Rom. 8. 24. Wee are saued by hope. Yet sic liberati, vt adhuc speranda sit haereditas, postea possidenda. Nunc habemius ius adrem, nondum inre. Wee hauehave our inheritance, in hope; which giues vsus the right of the substance, though not the substance of the right: assurance of the possession, though not possession of the thing assured. This tels vsus, that Nemo valde dolebit & diu, no man should grieue much and long. God making our misery, aut tolerabilem, aut breuem, eyther sufferable or short.
These are the comforts of Hope. Now, that you may not bee deceyued, there is (as I sayde before of Faith) a thing like Hope, which is not it.
There is a bold and presumptuous Hope, an ignorant security, and vngrounded perswasion, the very illusion of the Diuell; who, when hee cannot preuaile with downe-right euill, cozens with the shadowes of goodnesse: that how wickedly and wretchedly soeuer a man shall liue, though hee sucke the poisonous dugs of lust, though hee surres himselfe warme with poore mens hearts, though hee forbids his braines (as on couenant) one sober houre in the yeaae to thinke of heauen, though hee thirst for carowses of bloud, though he striues to powder a whole Kingdome with the cornes of death and massacre, though hee carries halfe a dozen impropriate Churches on his sacrilegious backe, though hee out-thunder heauen with blasphemies, though hee trample vnderunder his profane foote the precious bloud of Gods sonne; yet still hee hopes to bee saued by the mercy of God. But wee will sooner cast pearles to swine, and bread to dogges, then the comforts of Sion to such. Wee say not, Reioyce & tremble, but tremble without reioycing. Wee sing not to them, with the Lord is mercy, that hee might bee feared: but with the Lord is iudgement and vengeance, with him is plague and pestilence, storme and tempest, horrour and anguish, indignation and wrath, that hee may bee feared. Against this Hope, wee shut vp the bosome of consolation, and the promise of safety by the merites of Christ; and so farre as wee are charged, the verie gates of euerlasting life.
There is an Hope, sober, faithfull, well grounded, well guarded, well assured. This is like a house built on a rocke. The rocke, is Gods promised mercy; the building, Hope in Christ: it is (as it were) moted or intrenched about with his bloud, bulwarked and rampirde with the Sacraments, assured by the sweet testimonie of Gods Spirit to the Conscience: knowne by the Charity of the Inhabitants; for it keeps bread for the hungrie, clothes for the naked, entertainment for strangers. To this Hope wee open the dores of the kingdome of Heauen; and so farre as the Commission of the Keyes Ieades vsus, wee vnlocke the gates of eternall life, and allow entrance. Wee call this the Blessed Hope.
Charitie
IS an excellent vertue, and therefore rare: if euer in this contentious age; wherein Fratrum quo que gratia rara est: the vnfained louelove of brothers is strange. Wo is mee; before I am come to define what louelove is, I am falne into a declamation against the want of it: what is heere chiefly commended, is chiefly contemned: as if wee had no need of mutuall succour; nor could spare a roome in our hearts to entertaine Charitie, lest wee should expell our old loued guests, fraud, malice, and ambition. LoueLove hath two proper obiects, the one immediate and principall; the other, mediate and limitted.
The proper and immediate obiect of our LoueLove, is God. This is the great Commandement, Thou shalt louelove the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, with all thy soule, with all thy strength. As if hee would not leaue out the …east sinew or string of the heart, the least faculty or power of the soule, the least organ or action of the strength. So Bern. With all the heart, that is, affectionately. With all the Soule, that is, wisely. With all the strength, that is, constantly. Let the zeale of thy heart inflame thy louelove to God, let the wisedome of thy soule guide it, let the strength of thy might confirm it. All the affection of the heart, all the election of the soule, all the administration of the body. The Soule iudgeth, the Will prosecutes, the strength executes. God can brooke no riualles: no diuision betwixt him and Mammon, betwixt him and Melchom, betwixt him and Baal, betwixt him and Belial. Causa dilige… di Deum Deus est, modus sine modo. The cause and motiue to louelove God, is God: the manner, is without measure. Minus amatte, qui aliquid amat praeterte, quod non amat propter te, Hee poorely loues God, that loues any thing besides him, which hee doth not louelove for him.
The subordinate obiect of louelove, is man: and his louelove, is the effect of the former cause; and an actuall demonstration of the other inward affection. Waters comming from the sea, boyle through the veines of the earth, till they become springs, and those springs riuers, and those riuers runne backe to the sea againe. All mans louelove must be carried in the streame of Gods louelove. Blessed is hee that loues Amicum in Domino, inimicum pro Domino; his friend in the Lord, his enemy for the Lord. Rom. 13.Rom. 13. 8. Owe nothing to any man, but this, that yee louelove one another. Other debts, once truely payde, are no more due: but this debt, the more we pay it, the more wee owe it; and wee still doe acknowledge our selues debters to all, when wee are cleare with all; proverbially: I owe him nothing but louelove. The communication of this riches doth not impouerish the proprietary: the more hee spends of his stocke, the more hee hath.Pro. 1…. 24. There is that scattereth, and yet encreaseth. But hee that will hoord the treasure of his Charity, shall grow poore, empty, and bankerout. There is that withholdeth more then is meet, but it tendeth vntounto pouerty. LoueLove is the abridgement of the Law, the new precept of the Gospell. Luther cals it the shortest, and the longest Diuinitie: short for the forme of words; long, yea, euerlasting for the vse and practise; for Charity shal neuer cease.
Thus for the first degree of compariion, Positiuely. The second is Comparatiue; where, though it be sayd, Vertues and great men must not bee compared, yet we may without offence, bring them to a holy conference; els how shall wee perceyue the Apostles intended scope, the transcendency of Charity? I will therefore first conferre Faith with Hope; and then with them both Charity.
The distinction betweene Faith and Hope, is nice, and must warily bee discouered. I will reduce the differences into three respects, of Order, Office, and Obiect.
For Order, Paul giues Faith the precedencie. Hebr. 11. Faith is the ground of things hoped for. Faith alwayes goes before, Hope followes after; and may in some sort bee sayde to bee the daughter of Faith. For, it is as impossible for a man to Hope for that which hee beleeues not, as for a Painter to drawe a picture in the ayre. Indeed, more is beleeued then is hoped for; but nothing is hoped for, which is not beleeued. So that on necessity, in respect of order, Faith must precede Hope.
For Office; Faith is the Christians Logicke, Hope his Rhetorike. Faith perceiues what is to bee done, Hope giues alacritie to the doing it. Faith guides, adviseth, rectifieth; Hope couragiously encounters with all adversaries. Therefore Faith is compared to a Doctor in the Schooles, Hope to a Captaine in the warres. Faith discernes the truth, Hope fights against impatience, heauinesse of Spirit, infirmitie, deiectednesse, desperation. Divines hauehave alluded the difference betweene Faith and Hope in Divinity, to that betweene wisedome and valour in Philosophie. Valour without wisedome, is rashnesse: wisedome without valour, is cowardice. Faith without Hope, is knowledge without valour to resist Sathan: Hope without Faith, is rash presumption, and an vndiscreet daring. You see their different Office.
For Obiect; Faithes object is the absolute word, and infallible promise of God; Hopes obiect, is the thing promised. Fides intuetur verbum rei, Spes verò rem verbi: Faith lookes to the word of the thing, Hope to the thing of the word. So that Faith hath for the obiect,Alsted Systē. Theolog. lib. 3. Loc. 17. Aug. the Truth of God, Hope the Goodn…sse of God. Faith is of things both good and bad, Hope of good things onelyonly. A man beleeues there is a hell, as truely as he beleeues there is a heaven; but he feares the one, and hopes onelyonly for the other. Faith hath obiected to it things past, present, future. Past, it beleeues Christ dead for our sinnes, and risen againe for our Iustification. Present, that hee now sits at the right hand of his Father in heauen. Future, that hee shall come to iudge quicke and dead. Hope, onelyonly respects and expects things to come. For a man cannot hope for that which hee hath. You see how in some sense, Hope excels Faith. For, there is a faith in the Deuils; they beleeue the truth of God, the certainety of the Scriptures, they acknowledge Christ the Iudge of quicke and dead, therefore cry, Why tormentest thou vsus before the time? They hauehave faith ioyned with a Popish preparatory good worke, Feare; the Deuils beleeue and tremble: yea, they pray: they beseech Christ not to send them into the deepes; what then want they? Hope, a confident expectation of the mercy of God: this they can neuer hauehave. They beleeue, they cannot hope. This is the life of Christians, and the want makes Devils. If it were not for this hope, 1. Cor. 15. 19.wee of all▪ men were most miserable.
Charity, differs from them both. These three divine graces, are a created Trinity; and hauehave some glimmering resemblance of the Trinity vncreate. For, as there, the Sonne is begotten of the Father, and the holy Ghost proceedes from them both: so heere, a true faith begets a constant hope, and from them proceedes Charity. Thus is Gods Temple built in our hearts, sayth August. The foundation whereof is Faith, Hope the erection of the wals, Charity the perfection of the roofe.
In the godly all these three are vnited together, & cannot bee sundred. Wee beleeue in Gods mercy, wee hope for his mercy, and we louelove him for his mercy. Faith sayes, there are good things prepared: Hope sayes, they are prepared for me: Charity sayes, I endevour to walke worthy of them. So that, what good Faith beleeues, shall bee, Hope expects for her selfe, and Charity aymes at the way to get it, by keeping the commandements. Faith apprehends both reward and punishment: Hope onelyonly lookes for good things for our selues: Charity desires the glory of God, and the good of all our Brethren.
The second degree, giues way to the third, last, best; the Superlatiue. But the greatest of these is Charity. Time will not afforde mee to answere all the obiections, which subtill wits hauehave inconsequently deduced from these words. Neyther were it to other purpose, then to write Iliades after Homer: they hauehave been so soundly and satisfyingly answered already. I will only mention two, and but report a responsiue Solution.
1 The principall promises are made to beleeuers. Whosoeuer beleeues, and is baptized, shall bee saued. So no lesse a promise is made to Louers, Rom. 8. 28.Rom. 8. All things shall worke together to the best, to those that louelove God, &c. God, sayth the Psalmist, is neere to those that call vponupon him. Hee is close by all those that suffer for him: but he is within those that louelove him. Heere is Prope, …uxta, Intus. This same Intra, within is of the highest degree. 1. Ioh. 4. God is louelove, and hee that dwelleth in louelove, dwelleth in God, 1. Ioh. 4. 17.and God in him. O vnspeakable felicity!
2 If Charity be greater then faith, then is not man iustified by faith onelyonly. Inconsequent illation. Saint Paul commends not louelove for the vertue of Iustification: it may fayle in that particular action, yet receiue no impeachment to the excellency of it. By demonstration. A Prince doth excell a peasant: shall any man therefore inferre, that hee can plow better, or hauehave more skill in tillage. A Philosopher doth excell a Mechanicke; though he cannot grinde so well as a Miller, or lim so cunningly as a Painter. A man is better then a beast: who but a mad-man will therefore conclude, that hee can runne faster then a horse, draw more then an oxe, or carry a greater burden then an Elephant. Though he fayle in these particular arts, yet none will deny, but hee is better then a beast.
The truth is, that in Fàith stands originally our fellowship with God. Into that hand he powreth the riches of his mercy for salvation: and were the actions of Charity neuer so great, and (foolishly thought) meritorious; yet, if not the effects of a true sauing Faith, they are lost, and a man may for his Charitie goe to the Deuill. And though they would plead from the forme of the last iudgement, Math. 25. that God accepts men to life for their deeds of Charitie: feeding, clothing, releeuing. Yet the Scripture fully testifies, that God neither accepts these, nor our selues for these, further then they are the effects of a true faith. Our persons being first iustified by faith in Christ, then God will crowne our works. Yet a Christian must worke: for no nudifidian, so well as no nullifidian, shall be admitted into heauen. Therefore sayth the Apostle, Gal. 5. 6.Faith worketh by louelove. For Faith is able to iustifie of it selfe, not to vorke of it selfe. The hand alone can receiue an Almes: but cannot cut a peece of wood without an axe or some instrument. Faith is the Christians hand, and can without helpe receyue Gods giuen grace into the heart: but to produce the fruits of obedience, and to vorke the actuall duties required, it must hauehave an inst…ument; adde LoueLove to it, and it worketh by louelove. So that the one is our Iustification before God, and the other our Testification before men. Wherein then consists this high transcendency of Charity? In two priviledges, incommunicable to Faith and Hope; Latitude and Perpetuity.
1. For Latitude, LoueLove is the greatest. Faith and Hope are restrayned within the limits of our particular persons. The iust man liues by his owne faith: and hopes good to himselfe; but LoueLove is like the Vine, which God brought out of Egypt, Psal. 80. 8.and cast out the heathen to plant it, which couereth the mountaines with the shadow of the boughes, & spreads the branches vntounto the sea and the riuers: It is like the Sunne in the skie, that throwes his comfortable beames vponupon all; and forbeares not to warme euen that earth that beareth weeds. LoueLove extends to earth & heauen. In heauen it affecteth God the Maker and mover: the Angels, as our Guardians; the triumphant Saints, for their pious sanctitie. On earth, it imbraceth those that feare the Lord especially: it wisheth conversion to those that do not: it counsels the rich: it comforts the poore: it reverenceth superiors, respecteth inferiors: doth good to friends, no evill to foes: wisheth well to all. This is the latitude of Charity. The property of faith, is to receyue into it selfe: the property of louelove, to lay out it selfe to others. So that faith hath but narrow limits, but the extent of LoueLove is vniversall, not bounded with the world. Faith beleeues for thy selfe, but Charity deriues, & driues the effects of thy faith to others. Thy faith relieues thy self, thy charity thy brother.
2. For perpetvity and continuance. Faith laies hold on Gods gracious promise for everlasting salvation: Hope expects this with patience: but when God shal fulfil his word, & vsus with ioy, then Faith shall be at an end: hope at an end: but LoueLove shal remain between God & vsus, an everlasting bond. Therefore sayth the Apostle, Now abideth faith, &c. Now. Now three, then one: and that is Charity. When wee hauehave possession of those pleasures, which we hoped and beleeued, what longer vse is there of Faith or Hope? But our loues shall not end with our liues. Wee shall euerlastingly louelove our our Maker, Saviour, Sanctifier, Angels, & Saints; where no discontent shall breed any iarre in our Halleluiahs. If the vse of louelove bee so comfortable on earth, what may wee thinke it will be in heaven!
Thus sayth Chrysost: OnelyOnly louelove is eternall. Now Faith and Hope hold vp the hands of Charity, as Aaron and Hur helde vp the hands of Moses: but then their vse and office shall cease. Tunc non erit spes, quando erit spes. Hope shall not bee, when the thing hoped is. Hope shall bring in possession, possession shall thrust out Hope. Therefore sayth Augustine, is Charity greater; Et si non propter eminentiam, tamen propter permanentiam; If not for the excellency, yet for the perpetuity.
Thus to iustifie a man, Faith is greater, but in a man iustified, Charity is greater. Let Faith alone with the great worke of our salvation: but that finished, it shall end, & so yeeld superiority to LoueLove, which shall endure for euer.
Thus you hauehave commended to your soules these three sisters, Faith, Hope, and Charity. Faith wee must hauehave, or we are reprobates; Hope, or wretches, Charity, or not Christians. There is a promise made to Faith, that it shall hauehave accesse to God. Heb. 11.Heb. 11. 6. To Hope, that it shall not be ashamed, Ro. 5. 5Rom. 5. But to Charity, that it shall dwell in God, and hauehave God dwelling in it, 1. Ioh 4. 16.1. Ioh. 4.1. Ioh 4. 16.
I should now tell you, that as these three fayre Sisters come downe from heaven; so in a crosse contrariety, the Devill sends vp three foule fiends from hell. Against Faith, Infidelity: against Hope, Desperation: Against Charity, malice. He that entertaines the elder sister, vnbeleefe, I quake to speake his doome, yet I must; Hee is already condemned. Hee that embraceth the second vgly Hagge,Ioh. 3. 18. Despaire, barres vp against himselfe the possibility of all comfort: because hee offends so precious a nature, the mercy of God, & tramples vnderunder his desperate feete that bloud, which is helde out to his vnaccepting hand. He that welcomes malice; welcomes the Devill himselfe: hee is called the Envious, and loues extremely to lodge himselfe in an envious heart. These be fearefull, prodigious sisters; flie them, and their embraces: and remember, O yee whom Christ concernes, the commandement of your Saviour; LoueLove one another.
I will end with our Apostles exhortation to his Philippians. Ph…l 2. 1.If there bee any consolation in Christ; and there is consolation in him, when the whole world cannot afford it: If any comfort of louelove; and hee that knows not the comforts of louelove, knowes no difference betwixt man and beast: If any fellowship of the spirit, by whome wee are all knit into one Communion, and enriched with the same treasures of grace: If any bowels and mercies; if vncharitablenesse and avarice hath turned our intrals into stone and yron; if wee hauehave not forgotten the vse and need of mercy. Fulfill my ioy, that yee be like minded, and hauehave the same louelove. Fulfill the Apostles ioy onelyonly? the ioy of the Bride and Bridegroome, of the Church on earth, of the Saints in heauen; of the ioy of the blessed Angels; the ioy of the Father, Sonne, & holy Spirit; and last of all, the ioy of your owne hearts; that you LoueLove one another. Forget not that trite, but true saying.
They shall not want prosperitie,
That keepe Faith, Hope, and Charity.
FINIS.
THE TAMING OF THE TONGVE.
MATH. 12. 37.
By thy wordes thou shalt bee iustified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
BERN.
Lingua, quae facilè volat, facilè violat.
TP
LONDON, Printed by Thomas Purfoot, for Clement Knight, and are to be sold at his shop in Paules Church-yard, at the Signe of the Holy Lambe. 1616.