Eighty Sermons, Christmas · Sermon 7
SERMON VII. Preached upon Chriſtmas day.
JOHN 10.10.
I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
THe Church celebrates this day, the Birth of our Lord and Saviour Chriſt Jeſus, bleſſed for ever; And though it fall amongſt the ſhorteſt dayes in the yeere, yet of all the Feſtivals in the yeere, it is the longeſt: It is a day that conſiſts of twelve dayes; A day not meaſured by the naturall and ordinary motion of the Sun, but by a ſupernaturall and extraordinary Star, which appeared to the Wiſemen of the Eaſt, this day, and brought them to Chriſt, at Bethlem, upon Twelfe day. That day, Twelfe day, the Church now calls the Epiphany; The ancient Church called this day (Chriſtmas day) the Epiphany. Both dayes together, and all the dayes betweene, This day, when Chriſt was manifeſted to the Jews, in the Shepheards by the Angels, and Twelfe day, when Chriſt was manifeſted to the Gentiles in thoſe Wiſemen of the Eaſt, make up the Epiphany, that is, the manifeſtation of God to man. And as this day is in ſuch a reſpect a longer day then others, ſo, if we make longer houres in this day, then in other dayes; if I extend this Sermon, if you extend your Devotion, or your Patience, beyond the ordinary time, it is but a due, and a juſt celebration of the Day, and ſome accommodation to the Text, for, I am come, as he, in whoſe Name and Power I came, came; and he tels you, that He came that you might have life, and might have it more abundantly.
God, who vouchſafed to be made Man for man, for man vouchſafes alſo to doe all the offices of man toward man.Mal. 2.10. He is our Father, for he made us: Of what? Of clay; So God is Figulus, Eſay 45.9. Rom. 9.21. Gen. 1.27. Gen. 3.21. Gen. 1.29.ſo in the Prophet; ſo in the Apoſtle, God is our Potter. God ſtamped his Image upon us, and ſo God is Statuarius, our Minter, our Statuary. God clothed us, and ſo is veſtiarius; he hath opened his wardrobe unto us. God gave us all the fruits of the earth to eate, and ſo is oeconomus, our Steward. God poures his oyle, and his wine into our wounds,Luke 10. 1 Cor. 3.6. Acts 20.32. Pſal. 127.1. Mat. 4.19. and ſo is Medicus, and Vicinus, that Phyſitian, that Neighbour, that Samaritan intended in the Parable. God plants us, and waters, and weeds us, and gives the increaſe; and ſo God is Hortulanus, our Gardiner. God builds us up into a Church, and ſo God is Architectus, our Architect, our Builder; God watches the City when it is built; and ſo God is Speculator, our Sentinell. God fiſhes for men, (for all his Iohns, and his Andrews, and his Peters, are but the nets that he fiſhes withall) God is the fiſher of men; And here, in this Chapter, God in Chriſt is our Shepheard. The book of Iob is a repreſentation of God, in a Tragique-Comedy, lamentable beginnings comfortably ended: The book of the Canticles is a repreſentation of God in Chriſt, as a Bridegroom in a Marriage-ſong, in an Epithalamion: God in Chriſt is repreſented to us, in divers formes, in divers places, and this Chapter is his Paſtorall. The Lord is our Shepheard, and ſo called, in more places, then by any other name; and in this Chapter, exhibits ſome of the offices of a good Shepheard. Be pleaſed to taſte a few of them. Firſt, he ſayes, The good Shepheard comes in at the doore, Joh. 10.1.the right way. If he come in at the window, that is, alwayes clamber after preferment; If he come in at vaults, and cellars, that is, by clandeſtin, and ſecret contracts with his Patron, he comes not the right way: When he is in the right way,Ver. 3. His ſheep heare his voyce: firſt there is a voyce, He is heard; Ignorance doth not ſilence him, nor lazineſſe, nor abundance of preferment; nor indiſcreet, and diſtempered zeale does not ſilence him; (for to induce, or occaſion a ſilencing upon our ſelves, is as ill as the ignorant, or the lazie ſilence) There is a voyce, and (ſayes that Text) is is his voyce, not alwayes another in his roome; for (as it is added in the next verſe) The ſheep know his voyce, which they could not doe, if they heard it not often,V. 4. if they were not uſed to it. And then, for the beſt teſtimony, and conſummation of all, he ſayes, The good Shepheard gives his life for his ſheep. Every good Shepheard gives his life,V. 11. that is, ſpends his life, weares out his life for his ſheep: of which this may be one good argument, That there are not ſo many crazie, ſo many ſickly men; men that ſo ſoon grow old in any profeſſion, as in ours. But in this, Chriſt is our Shepheard in a more peculiar, and more incommunicable way, that he is Paſtor humani generis, & eſca; firſt,Maxinus. that he feeds not one Pariſh, nor one Dioceſſe, but humanum genus, all Mankinde, the whole world, and then feeds us ſo, as that he is both our Paſtor, and our Paſture, he feeds us, and feeds us with himſelfe, for, His fleſh is meat indeed, and his bloud is drink indeed. Joh. 6. Lro.And therefore Honor telebratur totius gregis, per annua feſta paſtoris: As often as wecome to celebrate the comming of this Shepheard, in giving that honour, we receive an honour, becauſe that is a declaration, that we are the ſheepe of that paſture, and the body of that head. And ſo much being not impertinently ſaid, for the connexion of the words, and their complication with the day, paſſe we now to the more particular diſtribution and explication thereof, I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
In theſe words, our parts will be three; for, firſt we muſt conſider the Perſons,Diviſie. The Shepheard and the ſheep, God and Man, Him and Them, Them indefinitely, all them, all men, I came, ſayes Chriſt, I alone, that they, all they might have life: And ſecondly we conſider the action it ſelf; as it is wrapped up in this word, veni, I came; for, that is firſt, that he who was alwaies omnipreſent, every where before, did yet ſtudy a new way of comming, & communicating himſelf with man, veni, I came, that is, novo modo veni, I came by a new way; And then, that he, who fed his former ſtock but with Propheſies, and promiſes, that he would come, feeds us now with actuall performances, with his reall preſence, and the exhibition of himſelf. And laſtly we ſhall conſider the end, the purpoſe, the benefit of his comming, which is life: And firſt, ut daret, that he might give life, bring life, offer life to the world, (which is one mercy) and then, ut haberent, that we might have it, embrace it, poſſeſſe it, (which is another) and, after both, a greater then both, that we might have this life abundantiùs, more abundantly; which is, firſt, abundantiùs illis, more abundantly then other men of this world, and then abundantiùs ipſis, more abundantly then we our ſelves had it in this world, in the world to come; for, therefore he came, that we might have life, and might have it more abundantly.
Firſt then, in our firſt part, we conſider the Perſons, The Shepheard and the Sheepe,1 Part. Perſone. Him and Them, God and Man; of which Perſons, the one for his Greatneſſe, God, the other for his littleneſſe, man, can ſcarce fall under any conſideration. What eye can fixe it ſelf upon Eaſt and Weſt at once? And he muſt ſee more then Eaſt and Weſt, that ſees God, for God ſpreads infinitely beyond both: God alone is all; not onelyonly all that is, but all that is not, all that might be, if he would have it be. God is too large, too immenſe, and then man is too narrow, too little to be conſidered; for, who can fixe his eye upon an Atome? and he muſt ſee a leſſe thing then an Atome, that ſees man, for man is nothing. Firſt, for the incomprehenſibleneſſe of God, the underſtanding of man,Deus. hath a limited, a determined latitude; it is an intelligence able to move that Spheare which it is fixed to, but could not move a greater: I can comprehend naturam naturatam, created nature, but for that natura naturans, God himſelfe, the underſtanding of man cannot comprehend. I can ſee the Sun in a looking-glaſſe, but the nature, and the whole working of the Sun I cannot ſee in that glaſſe. I can ſee God in the creature, but the nature, the eſſence, the ſecret purpoſes of God, I cannot ſee there. There is defatigatio in intellectualibus, ſayes the ſaddeſt and ſoundeſt of the Hebrew Rabbins,R. Moſes. the ſoule may be tired, as well as the body, and the underſtanding dazeled, as well as the eye. It is a good note of the ſame Rabbi, upon thoſe words of Solomon, fill not thy ſelfe with hony, leſt thou vomit it, that it is not ſaid, that if thou beeſt cloyd with it, thou maiſt be diſtaſted,Pro. 25.16. diſaffected towards it after, but thou maiſt vomit it, and a vomit works ſo, as that it does not onelyonly bring up that which was then, but that alſo which was formerly taken. Curious men buſie themſelves ſo much upon ſpeculative ſubtilties, as that they deſert, and abandon the ſolid foundations of Religion, and that is a dangerous vomit; To ſearch ſo farre into the nature, and unrevealed purpoſes of God, as to forget the nature, and duties of man, this is a ſhrewd ſurfet, though of hony, and a dangerous vomit. It is not needfull for thee, to ſee the things that are in ſecret, ſayes the wife man; nonindiges, Ecclus. 3.23.thou needeſt not that knowledge: Thou maiſt doe well enough in this world, and bee Gods good ſervant, and doe well enough in the next world, and bee a glorious Saint, and yet never ſearch into Gods ſecrets.Pſ. 65.1. Te decet Hymnus, (ſo the vulgar reades that place) To thee, O Lord, belong our Hymnes, our Pſalmes, our Prayſes, our cheerefull acclamations; and conformably to that, we tranſlate it, Praiſe waiteth for thee, O God in Sion: But if we will take it according to the Originall, it muſt be, Tibi ſilentium laus eſt, Thy praiſe, O Lord, conſiſts in ſilence: That that man praiſes God beſt, that ſayes leaſt of him; of him, that is of his nature, of his eſſence, of his unrevealed will, and ſecret purpoſes. O that men would praiſe the Lord, is Davids provocation to us all, but how? O that men would praiſe the Lord, and declare his wondrous works to the ſons of men! but not to goe about to declare his unrevealed Decrees, or ſecret purpoſes, is as good a way of praiſing him, as the other. And therefore, O that men would praiſe the Lord, ſo, forbeare his Majeſty, when he is retired into himſelfe, in his Decrees, and magnifie his Majeſty, as he manifeſts himſelfe to us, in the execution of thoſe Decrees; of which, this in our Text is a great one, that he that is infinitely more then all, deſcended to him, that is infinitely leſſe then nothing; which is the other perſon whom we are to conſider in this part, ille illis, I to them, God to us.
The Hebrew Doctors almoſt every where repeat that adage of theirs, lex loquitur linguam filiorum hominum, Illis.God ſpeakes mens language, that is, the Holy Ghoſt in the Scriptures deſcends to the capacity and underſtanding of man, and ſo preſents God in the faculties of the minde of man, and in the lineaments of the body of man. But yet, ſay they, there is never braine, nor liver, nor ſpleene; nor any other inward part aſcribed to God, but onelyonly the heart. God is all heart, and that whole heart, that inexhauſtible fountaine of love, is directed wholly upon man. And then, though in the Scriptures, thoſe bodily lineaments, head and feet, and hands, and eyes, and eares be aſcribed to God, God is never ſaid to have ſhoulders; for, ſay they, ſhoulders are the ſubjects of burdens, and therein the figures of patience, and ſo God is all ſhoulder, all patience; he heares patiently, he ſees patiently, he ſpeakes patiently, he dyes patiently: And is there a patience beyond that? In Chriſt there is, he ſuffers patiently a quotidian Crucifying; we kill the Lord of Life every day, every day we make a mock of Chriſt Jeſus, and tread the blood of the Covenant under our feet every day: And as though all his paſſion, and blood, and wounds, and heart, were ſpent by our former oathes, and blaſphemies, we crucifie him dayly by our dayly ſins, that we might have new blood, and heart, and wounds to ſweare by; and all this hee ſuffers patiently, and after all this, ille illis, to this man, this God comes.
He to us, God to man; all to nothing: for upon that we inſiſt firſt, as the firſt diſproportion betweene us,Illis, qui nihil. Eſay. 40.15. and ſo the firſt exaltation of his mercy towards us. Man is, ſayes the Prophet Eſay, Quaſi ſtilla ſitulae, As a drop upon the bucket. Man is not all that, not ſo much as that, as a drop upon the bucket, but quaſi, ſomething, ſome little thing towards it; and what is a drop upon the bucket, to a river, to a ſea, to the waters above the firmament? Man to God? Man is, ſayes the ſame Prophet in the ſame place, Quaſi momenntum ſtaterae; we tranſlate it, As ſmall duſt upon the balance: Man is not all that, not that ſmall graine of duſt; but quaſi, ſome little thing towards it: And what can a graine of duſt work in governing the balance? What is man that God ſhould be mindfull of him? Vanity ſeemes to be the lighteſt thing, that the Holy Ghoſt could name; and when he had named that, he ſayes, and ſayes, and ſayes, often, very, very often, All is vanity. But when he comes to waigh man with vanity it ſelfe, he findes man lighter then vanity: Take, ſayes he,Pſ. 62.9. great men, and meane men altogether, and altogether they are lighter then vanity. When that great Apoſtle ſayes of himſelfe, that he was in nothing behinde the very chiefeſt of the Apoſtles, 2 Cor. 12.11.and yet, for all that, ſayes he was nothing; who can think himſelfe any thing, for being a Giant in proportion, a Magiſtrate in power, a Rabbi in learning, an Oracle in Counſell? Let man be ſomething; how poore, and inconſiderable a ragge of this world,L. 1. de rerum generatione. is man? Man, whom Paracelſus would have undertaken to have made, in a Limbeck, in a Furnace: Man, who, if they were altogether, all the men, that ever were, and are, and ſhall be, would not have the power of one Angel in them all, whereas all the Angels, (who, in the Schoole are conceived to be more in number, then, not onelyonly all the Species, but all the individualls of this lower world) have not in them all, the power of one finger of Gods hand: Man, of whom when David had ſaid, (as the loweſt diminution that he could put upon him) I am a worme and no man, He might have gone lower,Pſ. 22.6. and ſaid, I am a man and no worm; for man is ſo much leſſe then a worm, as that wormes of his own production, ſhall feed upon his dead body in the grave, and an immortall worm gnaw his conſcience in the torments of hell. And then, if that which God, and God in the counſaile and concurrence, and cooperation of the whole Trinity hath made thee, Man, be nothing, canſt thou be proud of that, or think that any thing which the King hath made thee, a Lord, or which thy wife hath made thee, Rich, or which thy riches have made thee, an Officer? As Iob ſayes of impertinent comforters, miſerable comforters, ſo I ſay of theſe Creations, miſerable creations are they all. Only as thou maiſt be a new creature in Chriſt Jeſus, thou maiſt be ſomething; for that's a nobler, and a harder creation then the firſt; when God had a clod of red earth in his hand, to make me in Adam, he had more towards his end, then when he hath me, an unregenerate, and rebellious ſoule, to make a new creature in Chriſt Jeſus. And yet Ille illis, to this man comes this God, God that is infinitely more then all, to man that is infinitely leſſe then nothing, which was our firſt diſproportion, and the firſt exaltation of his mercy; and the next is, Ille illis, Illis qui hoſtes, that this God came to this man, then when this man was a profeſſed enemy to this God.
Si contrarium Deo quaeras nihileſt, ſaies S. Auguſtine. If thou aske me what is contrary to God, I cannot ſay, that any thing is ſo; for, whatſoever is any thing, hath a beeing,Illis qui Hoſtes. and whatſoever hath ſo, hath in that very beeing ſome affinity with God, ſome aſſimilation to God; ſo that nothing is contrary to God. If thou aske mee, Quis hoſtis, who is an enemy to GOD, I cannot ſay that of any thing in this World, but man. That viper that flew at Saint Paul, was not therein an enemy to GOD;Acts 28. that viper did not direct it ſelfe upon S. Paul, as S. Paul was a uſefull, and a neceſſary inſtrument of Chriſt; But S. Paul himſelfe was a direct enemy to Chriſt himſelfe, Tu me, thou perſecuteſt me, ſaies Chriſt himſelfe unto him. And if we be not all enemies to God in ſuch a direct oppoſition, as that we ſinne therefore becauſe that ſinne violates the majeſty of God, (and yet truly every habituall, and deliberated ſinne amounts to almoſt as much, becauſe in every ſuch ſinne, we ſeeme to try concluſions, whether God can ſee a ſinne, or be affected with a ſinne, or can, or cares to puniſh a ſinne, as though we doubted whether God were a preſent God, or a pure God, or a powerfull God, and ſo conſequently whether there be any God or no) If we be not all enemies to God, in this kind, yet in adhering to the enemy we are enemies; In our prevarications, and eaſie betrayings, and ſurrendring of our ſelves to the enemy of his kingdom, ſatan, we are his enemies. For ſmall wages, and ill paid penſions we ſerve him; and leſt any man ſhould flatter and delude himſelfe, in ſaying, I have my wages, and my reward before hand, my pleaſures in this life, the puniſhment, (if ever) not till the next, The Apoſtle deſtroyes that dreame, with that queſtion of confuſion, What fruit had you then in thoſe things, Rom 6.21.of which you are now aſhamed? Certainly ſin is not a gainfull way; without doubt more men are impoveriſhed, and beggered by ſinful courſes, then enriched; what fruit had they? ſays the Apoſtle, and ſin cannot be the way of honour, for we dare not avow our ſins, but are aſhamed of them, when they are done; fruitleſneſs, unprofitableneſs before, ſhame and diſhonor after, and yet for theſe we are enemies to God; and yet for all this God comes to us; Ille illis, the Lord of Hoſts, to naked and diſarmed man, the God of peace to this enemy of God. Some men will continue kinde, where they finde a thankfull reciver,Luke 6.35. but God is kinde to the unthankfull, ſayes Chriſt himſelfe. There may be found a man that will dye for his friend, ſayes he; but God dyed for his enemies: Then when ye were enemies, you were reconciled to God by the death of his Son. To come ſo in-gloriouſly, he that is infinitely more then all, to him that is infinitely leſſe then nothing, (that was our firſt diſproportion, and the firſt axaltatation of his mercy) to come, (ſhall we venture to ſay ſo) ſo ſelfe proditoriouſly, as to betray himſelfe and deliver himſelfe to his enemies, (that was our ſecond) is equalled, at leaſt, in a third, ille illis, he to them, that is unus omnibus, 2 Cor. 5.14.he alone for the ſalvation of all men, as it is expreſly ſaid, for this word in our Text, they, hath no limitation, I came, I alone, that they, all they might be the better.
Some of the ancient Fathers, delivering the mercies of God, ſo,Illis omnibus. as the articles of our Church enjoyne them to bee delivered, that is, generally, as they are delivered in the Scriptures, have delivered them ſo over-generally, that they have ſeemed loth to thinke the devill himſelfe excluded from all benefit of Chriſts comming. Some of the later Authors in the Roman Church, (who, as pious as they pretend to be towards the Fathers, are apter to diſcover the nakedneſſe of the Fathers, then we are) have noted in Iuſtin Martyr, and in Epiphanius, and in Clement of Alexandria, and in Oecumenius, (and Oecumenius is no ſingle Father, but Pater patratus, a manifold Father, a complicated father, a Father that collected Fathers) and even in S. Ierome himſelfe, and S. Ambroſe too, ſome inclinations towards that opinion, that the devill retaining ſtill his faculty of free will, is therefore capable of repentance, and ſo of benefit by this comming of Chriſt; And thoſe Authors of the Roman Church, that modifie the matter, and excuſe the Fathers herein, excuſe them no other way but this, that though that opinion and doctrine of thoſe Fathers, bee not true in it ſelfe, yet it was never condemned by any Councell, nor by any ancient Father. So very far, did very many goe in enlarging the mercies of God in Chriſt, to all. But waiving this over-large extention and profuſion thereof, and directing it upon a more poſſible, and a more credible object, that is, Man; S. Cyril of Alexandria, ſpeaking of the poſſibility of the ſalvation of all men, ſaies, by way of objection to himſelfe, Omnes non credunt, How can all be ſaved ſince all doe not beleeve? but, ſaies he, Becauſe actually they do not beleeve, is it therefore impoſſible they ſhould beleeve? And for actuall beleefe, ſaies he, though all doe not, yet ſo many doe, utfacilè qui pereant, ſuperent, that, by Gods goodneſſe, more are ſaved, then loſt, ſaies that Father of tender and large bowels,Moſes. S. Cyril. And howſoever he may ſeeme too tender, and too large herein, yet it is a good peece of counſaile, which that Rabbi whom I named before, gives, Ne redarguas ca falſitatis, de quorum contrariis nulla eſt demonſtratio, Be not aptto call any opinion falſe, or hereticall, or damnable, the contrary whereof cannot be evidently proved. And for this particular, the generall poſſibility of ſalvation, all agree that the merit of Chriſt Jeſus is ſufficient for all. Whether this all-ſufficiency grow ex intrinſeca ratione formali, out of the very nature of the merit, the dignity of the perſon being conſidered, or grow ex pacto, & acceptatione, out of the acceptation of the Father, and the contract betweene him and the Son, for that, let the Thomiſts, and the Scotiſts, in the Roman Church wrangle. All agree, that there is enough done for all. And would God receive enough for all, and then, exclude ſome, of himſelfe, without any relation, any conſideration of ſinne? God forbid. Man is called by divers names, names of lowneſſe enough, in the Scriptures; But, by the name of Enoſh, Enoſh that ſignifies meere miſery, Man is never called in the Scriptures, till after the fall of Adam. OnelyOnly ſinne after, and not any ill purpoſe in God before, made man miſerable. The manner of expreſſing the mercy of God, in the frame and courſe of Scriptures, expreſſes evermore the largeneſſe of that mercy. Very often, in the Scriptures, you ſhall finde the perſon ſuddenly changed; and when God ſhall have ſaid in the beginning of a ſentence, I will ſhew mercy unto them, them, as though he ſpoke of others, preſently, in the ſame ſentence, he will ſay, my loving kindneſſe will I not draw from thee; not from thee, not from them, not from any; that ſo whenſoever thou heareſt of Gods mercy propoſed to them, to others, thou mighteſt beleeve that mercy to bee meant to thee, and whenſoever they, others heare that mercy propoſed to thee, they might beleeve it to be meant to them. And ſo much may, to good purpoſe, be obſerved out of ſome other parts of this Chapter, in another tranſlation. In the third verſe it is ſaid, His ſheepe heare his voice, In the Arabique tranflation it is Oves audit, His ſheepe in the plurall, does heare, in the ſingular. God is a plurall God, and offers himſelfe to all, collectively; God is a ſingular God, and offers himſelfe to every man, diſtributively. So alſo is it ſaid there, Nominibus ſuo, He cals his ſheepe by their names; It is names in the plurall, and theirs, in the ſingular: whatſoever God propoſes to any, he intends to all. In which contemplation, S. Auguſtine breaks out into that holy exclamation, O bone omnipotens qui ſic cur as unumquemque noſtrûm, tanquam ſolum cures, & ſic omnes tamquam ſingulos, O good and mighty God, who art as loving to every man, as to all mankind, and meaneſt as well to all mankind, as to any man. Be pleaſed to make your uſe of this note, for the better imprinting of this largeneſſe of Gods mercy. Moſes deſires of God,Exod. 33.13. V. 18. V. 19. that he would ſhew him Vias ſuas, His waies, his proceedings, his dealings with men; that which he calls after, Gloriam ſuam, His glory, how he glorifies himſelfe upon man, God promiſes him in the next verſe, that he will ſhew him Omne bonum, All his goodneſſe, Exod. 346.God hath no way towards man but goodneſſe, God glorifies himſelfe in nothing upon man, but in his owne goodneſſe. And therefore when God comes to the performance of this promiſe, in the next Chapter, he ſhowes him his way, and his glory, and his goodneſſe, in ſhewing him that he is a mercifull God, a gracious God, a long-ſuffering God, a God that forgives ſins and iniquities, and (as the Hebrew Doctors note) there are thirteen attributes, thirteen denotations of God ſpecified in that place, and of all thoſe thirteen, there is but one that taſts of judgement, (That he will puniſh the ſins of Fathers upon Children.) All the other twelve are meerly, wholly mercy; ſuch a proportion hath his mercy above his juſtice, ſuch a proportion, as that there is no cauſe in him, if all men be not partakers of it. Shall we ſay, (ſayes S. Cyril) Melius agriculturam non exerceri, ſi quae nocent tolli non poſſunt, It were better there were no tillage, then that weeds ſhould grow, Melius non creaſſe, better that God had made no men, then that ſo many ſhould be damned. God made none to be damned; And therefore though ſome would expunge out of our Litany, that Rogation, that Petition, That thou wouldſt have mercy upon all men; as though it were contrary to Gods purpoſe to have mercy upon all men; yet S. Auguſtine enlarges his charity too far, Libera nos Domine, qui jam invocamus te, deliver us O Lord, who do now call upon thee, Et libera eos qui nondum invocant, ut invocent te, & liberes eos, and deliver them who do not yet call upon thee, that they may call upon thee, and be farther delivered by thee. But it is time to paſſe from this firſt part, the conſideration of the Perſons, Ille Illis, that God who is infinitely more then All, would come to man who is infinitely leſſe then nothing; that God who is the God of peace, would come to man his profeſſed enemy; that God, the only Son of God, would come to the reliefe of man, of all men, to our ſecond generall part, the action it ſelf, ſo far as it is enwrapped in this word, Veni, I came; I came that they might have life.
Through this ſecond part, veni, I came, we muſt paſſe apace; becauſe, upon the third,2 Part. the end of his comming, (that they might have life) we muſt neceſſarily inſiſt ſometime. In this therefore, wee make but two ſteps; And this the firſt, that that God who is omnipreſent, alwayes every where, in love to man, ſtudyed a new way of comming, of communicating himſelfe to man; veni, I came, novo modo, ſo as I was never with man before. The rule is worth the repeating, lex loquitur linguam filiorum hominum, God ſpeakes mans language, that is, ſo, as that he would be underſtood by man. Therefore to God, who alwayes fills all places, are there divers Poſitions, and Motions, and Tranſitions aſcribed in Scriptures. In divers places is God ſaid to ſit; Sedet Rex, The Lord ſitteth King for ever. Howſoever the Kings of the earth be troubled, and rayſed,Pſal. 29.10. and throwne downe againe, and troubled, and raiſed, and throwne downe by him, yet the Lord ſitteth King for ever. Habitat in Coelis, ſayes David, Pſal. 102.13.and yet ſedet in circulis terrae, ſayes Eſay, The Lord dwelleth in the heavens, and yet hee ſits upon the compaſſe of this earth: Where no earth-quake ſhakes his ſeat;Eſay 40.22. for ſedet in confuſione (as one Tranſlation reads that place, Pſal. 29.10.) The Lord ſitteth upon the flood, (ſo wee reade it) what confuſions ſoever diſorder the world, what floods ſoever ſurround and overflow the world, the Lord ſits ſafe. Other phraſes there are of like denotation.Eſay 26.21. Exit de loco, Behold the Lord commeth out of his place; that is, he produces, and brings to light, things which he kept ſecret before. And ſo, Revertar ad locum, I will goe, Hoſe. 5.15.and returne to my place; that is, I will withdraw the light of my countenance, my preſence, my providence from them. So that heaven is his place, and then is he ſaid to come to us, when he manifeſts himſelf unto us in any new manner of working. In ſuch a ſenſe was God come to us, when he ſaid, I lift up my hands to heaven, and ſay, I live for ever. Deut. 52.40.Where was God when he lifted up his hands to heaven? Here, here upon earth, with us, in his Church, for our aſſurance, and our eſtabliſhment, making that proteſtation (denoted in the lifting up of his hands to heaven) that he lived for ever, that he was the everliving God, and that therefore we need feare nothing. God is ſo omnipreſent, as that the Ubiquitary will needs have the body of God every where: ſo omnipreſent, as that the Stancariſt will needs have God not only to be in every thing, but to be every thing, that God is an Angelin an Angel, and a ſtone in a ſtone, and a ſtraw in a ſtraw. But God is truly ſo omnipreſent, as that he is with us before he comes to us: Q…id peto ut venias in me, Auguſt.qui non eſſem, ſi non eſſes in me? why doe I pray that thou wouldſt come into me, who could not only not pray, but could not bee, if thou wert not in me before? But his comming in this Text, is a new act of particular mercy, and therefore a new way of comming. What way? by aſſuming our nature in the bleſſed Virgin. That that Paradoxa virgo, (as Amelberga the wife of one of the Earls of Flanders, who lived continently even in mariage, and is therfore called Paradoxa virgo, a Virgin beyond opinion) that this moſt bleſſed Virgin Mary ſhould not only have a Son, (for Manes, the Patriarch of that great Sect of Heretiques, the Manichees, boaſted himſelfe to be the ſon of a Virgin, and ſome caſuiſts in the Romane Church have ventured to ſay, that by the practice and intervention of the devill there may be a childe, and yet both parents, father and mother remain Virgins) But that this Son of this bleſſed Virgin, ſhould alſo be the Son of the eternall God, this is ſuch a comming of him who was here before, as that if it had not ariſen in his own goodneſſe, no man would ever have thought of it, no man might ever have wiſhed, or prayed for ſuch a comming, that the only Son of God ſhould come to die for all the ſons of men.Auguſt. For Aliud eſt hîc eſſe, aliud hîc tibi eſſe; It is one thing for God to be here in the world, another thing to be come hither for thy ſake, born of a woman for thy ſalvation. And this is the firſt act of his mercy wrapped up in this word, Veni, I came, I who was alwayes preſent, ſtudied a new way of comming, I who never went from thee, came again to thee.
The other act of his mercy enwrapped in this word,Veni actu. veni, I came, is this, that he that came to the old world but in promiſes, and prophecies, and figures, is actually, really, perſonally, and preſentially come to us; of which difference, that man will have the beſt ſenſe, who languiſhes under the heavy expectation of a reverſion, in office, or inheritance, or hath felt the joy of comming to the actuall poſſeſſion of ſuch a reverſion. Chriſt was the Lamb ſlain from the beginning of the world; appointed for a Sacrifice from that firſt promiſe of a Meſſias in Paradiſe long before that; from all eternity. For, whenſoever the election of the elect was, (date it when you will) Chriſt was at that election; and not only as the ſecond perſon in the Trinity, as God, but Chriſt conſidered as man, and as the propitiation and ſacrifice for man; for whoſoever was elected, was elected in Chriſt. Chriſt was alwayes come in Gods purpoſe; and early come in Gods promiſe; and continually comming in the ſucceſſion of the Prophets; with ſuch a confidence, as that one of them ſayes,Eſay 9.6. Puer datus, filius natus, A childe is given unto us, a Son is born unto us; Born and given already; becauſe the purpoſe of God, in which he was born, cannot be diſappointed; the promiſe of God, by which he was given, cannot be fruſtrated; the Prophets of God, by whom he was preſented, cannot be miſtaken. But yet, ſtill it was a future thing. Chriſt is often called the Expectation of the world; but it was all that while, but an Expectation, but a reverſion of a future thing. So God fed that old world with expectation of future things, as that that very name by which God notified himſelf moſt to that people,Exod. 3.14. in his commiſſion by Moſes to Pharaoh, was a future name; howſoever our Tranſlations and Expoſitions run upon the preſent, as though God had ſaid Qui ſum, my name is I am, yet in truth it is Qui ero, my name is I ſhall be. They had evidences enow that God was; but God was pleaſed to eſtabliſh in them an aſſurance that he would be ſo ſtill; and not only be ſo ſtill as he was then; but that hee would be ſo with them hereafter as he was never yet, he would be Immanuel, God with us ſo, as that God and man ſhould be one perſon. It was then a faire aſſurance, and a bleſſed comfort which the children of Iſrael had in that of Zechary, Zech. 9.9.Ecce venit rex, Rejoyce ye daughters of Sion, and ſhout ye daughters of Ieruſalem, Behold thy King commeth riding unto thee, upon an Aſſe. But yet this aſſurance, though delivered as in the preſent, produced not thoſe acclamations,Mat. 21.9. and recognitions, and Hoſannaes, and Hoſanna in the higheſt, to the Son of David, as his perſonall, and actuall, and viſible riding into Jeruſalem upon Palme-Sunday did. Amougſt the Jews there was light enough to diſcern this future bleſſing, this comming of Chriſt; but they durſt not open it, nor publiſh it to others. We ſee the Jews would dye in defence of any part of their Law, were it but the Ceremoniall; were it but for the not eating of Swines fleſh; what unſufferable torments ſuffered the ſeven brothers in the Maccabees, for that? But yet we never finde that any of them dyed, or expoſed themſelves to the danger, or to the dignity of Martyrdome for this Doctrine of the Meſſias, this future comming of Chriſt. Nay, we finde that the Septuagint, who firſt tranſlated the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, for King Ptolome, diſguiſed divers places thereof, and departed from the Originall, rather then propoſe this future comming of the Son of God to the interpretation of the world. A little Candle they had for themſelves, but they durſt not light anothers Candle at it. So alſo ſome of the more ſpeculative Philoſophers had got ſome beames of this light, but becauſe they ſaw it would not be beleeved,De verarelg. cap. 4. they let it alone, they ſaid little of it. Hence is it that S. Auguſtine ſayes, ſi Platonici reviviſcerent, if Plato and his Diſciples ſhould riſe from the dead, and come now into our ſtreets, and ſee thoſe great Congregations, which thruſt and throng every Sabbath, and every day of holy convocation, to the worſhip of our Lord and Saviour Chriſt Jeſus, Hoc fortaſſe dicerent, This it is likely they would ſay, ſayes he, Haec ſunt, quae populis perſuadere non auſi, conſaetudini ceſsimus, This is that religion, which becauſe it conſiſted ſo much in future things, we durſt not propoſe to the people, but were fain to leave them to thoſe preſent, and ſenſible, and viſible things, to which they had been accuſtomed before, leſt when we had ſhaked them in their old religion, we ſhould not be able to ſettle, and eſtabliſh them in the new; And, as in civill government, a Tyranny is better then an Anarchy, a hard King better then none, ſo when we conſider religions, Idolatry is better then Atheiſme, and ſuperſtition better then profaneneſſe. Not that the Idolater ſhall any more be ſaved then the Atheiſt; but that the Idolater having been accuſtomed to ſome ſenſe and worſhip of God (of God in his eſtimation) is therefore apter to receive religious impreſſions, then the Atheiſt is. In this then conſiſts this ſecond act of Chriſts mercy to us in this word veni, I am actually, really, perſonally, preſentially come, that thoſe types and figures and ſacrifices, which repreſented Chriſt to the old world, were not more viſible to the eye, more palpable to the hand, more obvious to the very bodily ſenſes, that Chriſt himſelf hath been ſince to us. Therefore S. Iohn does not only reſt in that, That which was from the beginning, 1 John 1.1.(Chriſt was alwayes in purpoſe, in prophecy, in promiſe) nor in that, That which we have heard, (the world heard of Chriſt long before they ſaw him) but he proceeds to that, That which we have ſeen, and looked upon with our eyes, and handled with our hands, that declare we unto you. So that we are now delivered from that jealouſie that poſſeſſed thoſe Septuagint, thoſe Tranſlators, that they durſt not ſpeak plain, and delivered from that ſuſpition that poſſeſſed Plato, and his diſciples, that the people were incapable of that doctrine. Wee know that Chriſt is come, and we avow it, and we preach it, and we affirm, that it is not onelyonly as impious, and irreligious a thing, but as ſenſleſſe, and as abſurd a thing to deny that the Son of God hath redeemed the world, as to deny that God hath created the world; and that he is as formally, and as gloriouſly a Martyr that dyes for this Article, The Son of God is come, as he that dyes for this, There is a God. And theſe two acts of his mercy, enwrapped in this one word, veni, I came, (firſt, that he who is alwayes preſent, out of an abundant love to man, ſtudied a new way of comming, and then, that he who was but betrothed to the old world by way of promiſe, is married to us by an actuall comming) will be farther explicated to us, in that, which only remaines and conſtitutes our third, and laſt part, the end and purpoſe of his comming, That they might have life, and might have it more abundantly. And though this laſt part put forth many handles, wee can but take them by the hand, and ſhake them by the hand, that is, open them, and ſo leave them.
Firſt then in this laſt part, we conſider the gift it ſelf, the treaſure, Life,3. Part. Vita. That they might have life. Now life is the character by which Chriſt ſpecificates and denominates himſelfe; Life is his very name, and that name by which he conſummates all his other names, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; John 14.6.And therefore does Peter juſtly and bitterly upbraid the Jews with that, Ye deſired a murderer, (an enemy to life) to be granted unto you, and killed the Prince of Life. Acts 3.14. It is an honour to any thing that it may be ſworn by; by vulgar and triviall things men might not ſweare,Jer. 5.7. How ſhall I pardon them this? ſayes God, They have ſworn by things that are not gods. And therefore God, who in ſo many places profeſſes to ſweare by himſelf, and of whom the Apoſtle ſayes,Heb. 6.13. That becauſe he could ſweare by no greater, he ſwore by himſelfe, becauſe he could propoſe no greater thing in himſelf, no clearer notion of himſelf then life, (for his life is his eternity, and his eternity is himſelfe) does therefore through all the Law and the Prophets ſtill ſweare in that form, Vivo ego, vivit Dominus, As I live, ſaith the Lord, and as the Lord liveth; ſtill he ſweares by his own life; As that ſolemne Oath which is mentioned in Daniel, is conceived in that form too, He lift up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, Dan. 12.7.and ſwore by him that liveth for ever; that is, by God, and God in that notion as he is life. All that the Queen and the Councell could wiſh and apprecate to the King, was but that, Life, In ſempiternum vive, vive in aeternum, O King live for ever. God is life,Dan. 5. and would not the death of any. We are not ſure that ſtones have not life; ſtones may have life; neither (to ſpeak humanely) is it unreaſonably thought by them, that thought the whole world to be inanimated by one ſoule, and to be one intire living creature; and in that reſpect does S. Auguſtine prefer a fly before the Sun,1 Tim. 5.6. becauſe a fly hath life, and the Sun hath not. This is the worſt that the Apoſtle ſayes of the young wanton widow, That if ſhe live in pleaſure, ſhe is dead whilſt ſhe lives. So is that Magiſtrate that ſtudies nothing but his own honour, and dignity in his place, dead in his place; And that Prieſt that ſtudies nothing but his owne eaſe, and profit, dead in his living; And that Judge that dares not condemne a guilty perſon, And (which is the bolder tranſgreſſion) dares condemne the innocent, deader upon the Bench, then the Priſoner at the Barre; God hath included all that is good,Dcut. 30.15. in the name of Life, and all that is ill in the name of Death, when he ſayes, See, I have ſet before thee Vitam & Bonum, Life and Good, Mortem & Malum, Death and Evill. This is the reward propoſed to our faith,Hab. 2.4. Iuſtus fide ſua vivit, To live by our faith: And this is the reward propoſed to our works, Fac hoc & vives, to live by our works; All is life. And this fulneſſe, this conſummation of happineſſe, Life, and the life of life, ſpirituall life, and the exaltation of ſpirituall life, eternall life, is the end of Chriſts comming, I came that they might have life.
And firſt,Vt daret. ut daret, that he might give life, bring life into the world, that there might be life to be had, that the world might be redeemed from that loſſe, which S. Auguſtine ſayes it was falne into, Perdidimus poſsibilitatem boni, That we had all loſt all poſſibility of life. For, the heaven and the earth, and all that the Poet would call Chaos, was not a deader lump before the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, then Mankind was, before the influence of Chriſts comming wrought upon it. But now that God ſo loved the world, as that he gave his Son, now that the Son ſo loved the world, as that he gave himſelfe,Pſal. 19.6. as David ſayes of the Sun of the firmament, the father of nature, Nihit abſconditum, there is nothing hid from the heat thereof; ſo we ſay of this Son of God, the Father of the faithfull in a far higher ſenſe, then Abraham was called ſo, Nihilabſconditum, there is nothing hid from him, no place, no perſon excluded from the benefit of his comming. The Son hath paid, the Father hath received enough for all; not in fingle money, for the diſcharge of thy leſſer debts, thy idle words, thy wanton thoughts, thy unchaſt looks, but in maſſie talents, to diſcharge thy crying debts, the clamors of thoſe poore whom thou haſt oppreſſed, and thy thundring debts, thoſe blaſphemies by which thou haſt torne that Father that made thee, that Sonne that redeemed thee, that boly Ghoſt that would comfort thee.1 Reg. 5. There is enough given; but then, as Hiram ſent materials ſufficient for the building of the Temple, but there was ſomething elſe to be done, for the fitting, and placing thereof; ſo there is life enough brought into the world, for all the world, by the death of Chriſt, but then there is ſomething elſe to be done for the application of this life to particular perſons, intended in this word in our Text, ut haberent, I came that they might have life.
There is Ayre enough in the world,Vt haberent. to give breath to every thing, though every thing doe not breath. If a tree, or a ſtone doe not breathe, it is not becauſe it wants ayre, but becauſe it wants meanes to receive it, or to returne it. All egges are not hatched that the hen ſits upon;Matt. 23.37. neither could Chriſt himſelfe get all the chickens that were hatched, to come, and to ſtay under his wings. That man that is blinde, or that will winke, ſhall ſee no more ſunne upon S. Barnabies day, then upon S. Lucies; no more in the ſummer, then in the winter ſolſtice.Pſal. 130.7. And therefore as there is copioſa redemptio, a plentifull redemption brought into the world by the death of Chriſt, ſo (as S. Paul found it in his particular converſion) there is copioſa lux, Acts 22.6.a great & a powerfull light exhibited to us, that we might ſee, and lay hold of this life, in the Ordinances of the Church, in the Confeſſions, and Abſolutions, and Services, and Sermons, and Sacraments of the Church: Chriſt came ut daret, that he might bring life into the world, by his death, and then he inſtituted his Church, ut haberent, that by the meanes thereof this life might be infuſed into us, and infuſed ſo, as the laſt word of our Text delivers it, Abundantiùs, I came, that they might have life more abundantly.
Dignaris Domine, Abūdantiùs. Auguſt.ut eis, quibus debita dimittis, te, promiſsionibus tuis, debitorem facias; This, O Lord, is thine abundant proceeding; Firſt thou forgiveſt me my debt to thee, and then thou makeſt thy ſelfe a debter to me by thy large promiſes; and after all, performeſt thoſe promiſes more largely then thou madeſt them. Indeed, God can doe nothing ſcantly, penuriouſly, ſingly. Even his maledictions, (to which God is ever loth to come) his firſt commination was plurall, it was death, and death upon death, Morte morieris. Death may be plurall; but this benediction of life cannot admit a ſingular; Chajim, which is the word for life, hath no ſingular number. This is the difference betweene Gods Mercy, and his Judgements, that ſometimes his Judgements may be plurall, complicated, enwrapped in one another, but his Mercies are alwayes ſo, and cannot be otherwiſe; he gives them abundantiùs, more abundantly.
More abundantly then to whom?Illis, gentibus. The naturall man hath the Image of God imprinted in his ſoule; eternity is God himſelfe, man hath not that, not eternity; but the Image of eternity, that is Immortality, a poſt eternity there is in the ſoule of man. And then, man is all ſoule in Moſes expreſſion; For, hee does not ſay that man had, Gen. 2.7.but that man was a living ſoule. So that the naturall man hath life more abundantly then any other creature, (howſoever Oakes, and Crowes, and Harts may bee ſaid to out-live him) becauſe he hath a life after this life. But Chriſt came to give life more abundantly then this.
That he did, when he came to the Jews in promiſes, in Types, and Figures, and Sacrifices:Illis, Iudaeis. He gave life more abundantly to the Jew, then to the Gentile, becauſe he gave him better meanes to preſerve that life, better meanes to illuſtrate that Image of God in his ſoule, that is, to make his Immortality Immortall happineſſe, (for otherwiſe our Immortality were our greateſt curſe) better meanes to conforme himſelfe to God, by having a particular Law for the direction of all his actions, which the Gentiles had not. For, therein eſpecially conſiſted the abundant favour of God to the Jews, as it is expreſſed by Moſes, VntoUnto what Nation are their gods come ſo neare unto them, as the Lord our God is come unto us? And in what conſiſted this nearneſſe? In this, What Nation hath Lawes and Statutes ſo righteous as we have? God gave man life more abundantly then other creatures, becauſe he gave him Immortality; God gave the Jews life more abundantly then other men, by giving them a Law to make their Immortality Immortall happineſſe, and yet there is a further abundantiùs, Chriſt came to give us, us Chriſtians, life more abundantly then Gentile, or Jew.
Iuſtin Martyr denies, that ever any underſtood the true God, till Chriſt came.Illis, Chriſtianis. He goes upon the ſame ground that S. Paul does, Whilſt you were without Chriſt, you were without God; that is, without ſuch an evidence, ſuch a manifeſtation, ſuch an aſſurance of God, as faith requires, or as produces faith. For, the Ceremoniall Lawes of the Jewes caſt as many ſhadowes as it did lights, and burdened them in eaſing them. Whereas the Chriſtian Religion, is; as Greg. Nazianz. ſayes, Simplex & nuda, niſi pravè in artem difficilimam converteretur: It is a plaine, an eaſie, a perſpicuous truth, but that the perverſe and uncharitable wranglings of paſſionate and froward men, have made Religion a hard, an intricate, and a perplexed art; ſo that now, that Religion, which carnall and worldly men, have, by an ill life, diſcredited, and made hard to be beleeved, the paſſion, and perverſneſſe of Schoole-men, by Controverſies, hath made hard to bee underſtood. Whereas the Chriſtian Religion, is of it ſelfe Iugumſuave, a ſweet, and an eaſie yoak, and verbum abbreviatum, an abridgement and a contracted doctrine; for, where the Jews had all abridged in decem verba (as Moſes calls the ten Commandements, ten words) the Chriſtian hath all abridged in duo verba, into two words, love God, love thy neighbour. So Chriſt hath given us, us Chriſtians life abundantiùs, more abundantly then to the Gen tile, or to the Jew; but there is a farther abundance yet; all this is but abundantiùs illis, more abundantly then to others, but Chriſt hath given us life abundantiùs ipſis, more abundantly then to our ſelves.
That is, in the Chriſtian Church,Abundantiùs ipſis. he hath given us meanes to be better to day then yeſterday, and to morrow then to day. That grace which God offers us in the Church, does not onelyonly fill that capacity, which we have, but give us a greater capacity then we had: And it is an abuſe of Gods grace, not to emprove it, or not to procure ſuch farther grace, as that preſent grace makes us capable of. As it is an improvident, and dangerous thing to ſpend upon the ſtock, ſo is it to rely upon that portion of grace, which I thinke I had in my election, or that meaſure of Sanctification, which I came to in my laſt ſickneſſe. Chriſt gives us life abundantiùs illis, better meanes of eternall life then to Gentile or Jew, and abundantiùs ipſis; better, that is, nearer aſſurance, in our growth of grace, and encreaſe of Sanctification every day, then in the conſideration of any thing done by God, in our behalfe, heretofore.
Now, with theſe abundances (in which, we exceed illos, and ipſos, Eccleſta.others and our ſelves) Chriſt comes to us, in this, that he hath conſtituted, and eſtabliſhed a Church; and therefore wee conſider his abundant proceeding in that work. From this day, in which, the firſt ſtone of that building, the Church, was laid, (for, though the foundations of the Church were laid in Eternity, yet, that was under ground, the firſt ſtone above ground, that is, the manifeſtation of Gods purpoſe to the world was laid this day, in Chriſts birth) from this day, the Incarnation of Chriſt, (for, of all thoſe names, by which the ancients deſigne this day, Chriſtmas day, Athanaſius calling it the Subſtantiation of Chriſt; Tertullian, the Incorporation of Chriſt; Damaſcen, the Humanation of Chriſt; Of all thoſe fifty names, which are collected out of the Fathers, for this day, moſt concurre in that name, The Incarnation of Chriſt) from this day, God proceeded ſo abundantly in enlarging his Church, as that, within two hundred yeares, Tertullian was able to ſay, Ipſa hoſpitalia aegrorum, The very hoſpitals of the Chriſtians are more and more ſumptuouſly built, and more richly endowed, then the very Temples of the Idols, or then the Palaces of Idolatrous Princes. And ſtill abundantiùs, not to compare onelyonly with Idolaters, but with the Jews themſelves, and with them, in that wherein they magnified themſelves moſt, their Temple. That Church, which Iuſtinian the Emperour built at Conſtantinople, and dedicated to Sophia, to the wiſedome of God, (and the wiſedome of God is Chriſt, Chriſt is the Power of God, and the Wiſedome of God, 1 Cor. 1.24) is found by them, who have written that ſtory, in bigneſſe, and in beauty, to have exceeded Solomons Temple: Though in that, there were employed for many yeares, thirty thouſand Carpenters, and forty thouſand Maſons, and (other endowments of rich veſſell being proportionable to it) more then twenty thouſand Bowls, and Goblets of gold, and ſilver, yet Iuſtinians Church at Conſtantinople exceeded that: Unto the riches of this wiſedome of God, Chriſt Jeſus, flowed all the treaſure of the World, and upon this Wiſedome of God, Chriſt Jeſus, waited all the wiſedome of the World. For, at that time, when Chriſt came into the world, was learning at that heighth, as that accounting from Cicero and Virgil, (two great Maſters in two great kindes) to the two Plinies, (which may ſhut up one age) we may reckon in that one ſtate, under whoſe government Chriſt was born, Rome, Pſal. 118.24.ſeaven or eight ſcore Authors, more then ever they had before or after. This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoyce, and be glad in it. And as Conſtantine ordained, that upon this day, the Church ſhould burne no Oyle, but Balſamum in her Lamps, ſo let us ever celebrate this day, with a thankfull acknowledgment, that Chriſt, who is unctus Domini, The Anointed of the Lord, hath anointed us with the Oyle of gladneſſe above our fellowes, and given us life more abundantly then others, in making us partakers of theſe meanes of ſalvation in his Church.
But I bring it cloſer then ſo; now, and here, within theſe wals, and at this houre, comes Chriſt unto you, in the offer of this abundance; and with what penuriouſneſſe, penuriouſneſſe of devotion, penuriouſneſſe of reverence do you meet him here? Deus ſtetit, ſaies David, Pſal. 82.1.God ſtandeth in the Congregation; does God ſtand there, and wilt thou ſit? ſit, and never kneele? I would ſpeake ſo, as the congregation ſhould not know whom I meane; but ſo, as that they whom it concernes, might know I meane them; I would ſpeake: for, I muſt ſay, that there come ſome perſons to this Church, and perſons of example to many that come with them, of whom, (excepting ſome few, who muſt therefore have their praiſe from us, as, no doubt, they have their thanks and bleſſings from God) I never ſaw Maſter nor ſervant kneele, at his comming into this Church, or at any part of divine ſervice. David had ſuch a zeale to Gods ſervice, as that he was content to be thought a foole, for his humility towards the Arke. S. Paul was content to be thought mad; ſo was our bleſſed Saviour himſelfe, not onelyonly by his enemies, but by his owne friends and kinsfolke.John 10.20. Mar. 3.21. Indeed, the roote of that word Tehillim, which is the name of the Pſalmes, and of all cheerefull and hearty ſervice of God, is Halal, and Halal is Inſanire, To fall mad; And, if humility in the ſervice of God here, be madneſſe, I would more of us were more out of our wits, then we are; I would all our Churches were, to that purpoſe, Bedlams. S. Hieroms rule is not onelyonly frequenter orandum, to come often to prayers, but Flexo corpore orandum, to declare an inward humiliation by an outward. As our comming to Church is a teſtification, a profeſſion of our religion, to teſtifie our fall in Adam, the Church appoints us to fall upon our knees; and to teſtifie our Reſurrection in Chriſt Jeſus,Juſt. Mar. the Church hath appointed certaine times, to ſtand: But no man is ſo left to his liberty, as never to kneele. Genuflexio eſt peccatorum, kneeling is the ſinners poſture; if thou come hither in the quality of a ſinner, (and, if thou do not ſo, what doeſt thou here, the whole need not the Phyſitian) put thy ſelfe into the poſture of a ſinner, kneele. We are very far from enjoyning any one conſtant forme to be alwaies obſerved by all men; we onelyonly direct you, by that good rule of S. Bernard, Habe reverentiam Deo, ut quod pluris eſt ei tribuas. Doe but remember, with what reverence thou cameſt into thy Maſters preſence, when thou waſt a ſervant, with what reverence thou cameſt to the Councell table, or to the Kings preſence, if thou have beene called occaſionally to thoſe high places; and Quod plur is eſt, ſuch reverence, as thou gaveſt to them there, be content to afford to God here. That Sacrifice that ſtruggled at the Altar, the Ancients would not accept for a Sacrifice; But Caeſar would not forbeare a ſacrifice for ſtruggling, but ſacrificed it for all that. He that ſtruggles, and murmures at this inſtruction, this increpation, is the leſſe fit for a ſacrifice to God, for that; But the zeale that I bear to Gods houſe, puts ſo much of Caeſars courage into mee, as, for all that ſtruggling, to ſay now, and to repeat as often as I ſee that irreverence continued, to the moſt impatient ſtruggler, Deus ſtetit, God ſtands in the Congregation, and wilt thou ſit; ſit, and never kneele? Venite, ſaies David, Let us come hither, let us be here; what to doe? Venite adoremus, Pſ. 95.6.Let us come and worſhip; How? will not the heart ſerve? no; Adoremus & procidamus, Let us fall downe, and kneele before the Lord our Maker. Humiliation is the beginning of ſanctification; and as without this, without holineſſe, no man ſhall ſee God, though he pore whole nights upon the Bible; ſo without that, without humility, no man ſhall heare God ſpeake to his ſoule, though hee heare three two-houres Sermons every day. But if God bring thee to that humiliation of ſoule and body here, hee will emprove, and advance thy ſanctification abundantiùs, more abundantly, and when he hath brought it to the beſt perfection, that this life is capable of, he will provide another abundantiùs, another maner of abundance in the life to come; which is the laſt beating of the pulſe of this text, the laſt panting of the breath thereof, our anhelation, and panting after the joyes, and glory, and eternity of the kingdome of Heaven; of which, though, for the moſt part, I uſe to diſmiſſe you, with ſaying ſomething, yet it is alwaies little that I can ſay thereof; at this time, but this, that if all the joyes of all the Martyrs, from Abel t… him that groanes now in the Inquiſition, were condenſed into one body of joy, (and certainly the joyes that the Martyrs felt at their deaths, would make up a far greater body, then their ſorrowes would doe,) (for though it bee ſaid of our great Martyr, or great Witneſſe,Apoc. 1.5. (as S. Iohn calls Chriſt Jeſus) to whom, all other Martyrs are but ſub-martyrs, witneſſes that teſtifie his teſtimony, Non dolor ſicut dolor ejus, there was never ſorrow like unto his ſorrow,Lam. 3.12. Heb. 12.2. it is alſo true, Non gaudium ſicut gaudium ejus, There was never joy like unto that joy which was ſet before him, when he endured the croſſe;) If I had all this joy of all theſe Martyrs, (which would, no doubt, be ſuch a joy, as would worke a liquefaction, a melting of my bowels) yet I ſhall have it abundantiùs, a joy more abundant, then even this ſuperlative joy, in the world to come. What a dimme veſpers of a glorious feſtivall, what a poore halfe-holyday, is Methuſalems nine hundred yeares, to eternity? what a poore account hath that man made, that ſaies, this land hath beene in my name, and in my Anceſtors from the Conqueſt? what a yeſterday is that? not ſix hundred yeares. If I could beleeve the tranſmigration of ſoules, and thinke that my ſoule had beene ſucceſſively in ſome creature or other, ſince the Creation, what a yeſterday is that? not ſix thouſand yeares. What a yeſterday for the paſt, what a to morrow for the future, is any terme, that can be comprehendred in Cyphar or Counters? But as, how abundant a life ſoever any man hath in this world for temporall abundances, I have life more abundantly then hee, if I have the ſpirituall life of grace, ſo what meaſure ſoever I have of this ſpirituall life of grace, in this world, I ſhall have that more abundantly in Heaven, for there, my terme ſhall bee a terme for three lives; for thoſe three, that as long as the Father, and the Son, and the holy Ghoſt live, I ſhall not dye. And to this glorious Son of God, and the moſt almighty Father, &c.