Fifty Sermons, Sermons · Sermon 38
SERMON XXXVIII.
Preached at Saint Pauls 13. Octob. 1622.
JOHN 1. 8.
He was not that light, but was sent to beare witnesse of that light.
THis is the third time that I have entertained you (in a businesse of this nature, intended for Gods service, and your edification, I must not say, troubled you) with this Text. I begun it at Christmas, and in that darke time of the yeer told you who, and what was this light which Iohn Baptist is denied to be. I pursued it at Midsommer, and upon his owne day, insisted upon the person of Iohn Baptist, who, though he were not this light, was sent to beare witnesse of this light. And the third consideration, which (as I told you then) was not tied nor affected to any particular Festivall, you shall (by Gods grace) have now, the office of Iohn Baptist, his testimony; and in that, these two parts; first, a problematicall part, why so evident a thing as light,Divisio. and such a light, that light, required testimony of man: and then a dogmaticall part, what testimony this man gives of this light. And in the first of these we shall make these two steps, first, why any testimony at all, then why, after so many others, this of Iohn.
First then God made light first, ut innotescerent omnia, that man might glorifie God in seeing the creature, and him in it;1 Part. Cur testis. Ambrose. for, frustra fecisset, (says the same Father) it had been to no purpose to have a world, and no light. But though light discover and manifest every thing else to us, and it selfe too, if all be well disposed, yet, in the fifth verse of this chapter, there is reason enough given, why this light in our text, requires testimony; that is, the light shines in darknesse, and the darknesse comprehends it not; and therefore, Propter non intelligentes, propter incredulos, propter in…rmos, Sol lucernas quaerit; August. Propter non intelligentes.for their sakes that are weak in their understanding, and not enlightned in that faculty, the Gentiles; for their sakes who are weake in their faith, that come, and heare, and receive light, but beleeve not; for their sakes that are perverse in their manners, and course of life, that heare, and beleeve, but practise not, sol lucernas quaerit, this light requires testimony. There may be light then and we not know it, because we are asleep; and asleep so,Mat. 9. 24. as Iairus daughter was, of whom Christ says, the maid is not dead but asleep. The maide was absolutely dead; but because he meant forthwith to raise her, he calls it a sleep. The Gentiles, in their ignorance, are dead; we, in our corrupt nature, dead, as dead as they, we cannot heare the voice, we cannot see the light; without Gods subsequent grace, the Christian can no more proceed, then the Gentile can beginne without his preventing grace. But, because, amongst us, he hath established the Gospell, and in the ministery and dispensation thereof, ordinary meanes for the conveyance of his farther grace, we noware but asleep and may wake. A sodain light brought into a room doth awaken some men; but yet a noise does it better, and a shaking, and a pinching. The exalting of naturall faculties, and good morall life, inward inspirations, and private meditations, conferences, reading, and the life, doe awaken some; but the testimony of the messenger of God, the preacher, crying according to Gods ordinance, shaking the soule, troubling the conscience, and pinching the bowells, by denouncing of Gods Judgements, these beare witnesse of the light, when otherwise men would sleep it out; and so propter non intelligentes, for those that lye in the suddes of nature, and cannot, or of negligence, and will not come to heare, sol lucernas, this light requires testimony.
These testimonies,Propter incredulos. Gods ordinances, may have wakened a man, yet he may winke, and covet darknesse, and grow weary of instruction, and angry at increpation; And, as the eye of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, Iob 24. 15.so, the eare of this fastidious and impatient man, longeth for the end of the Sermon, or the end of that point in the Sermon, which is a thorne to his conscience; But as, if a man wink in a cleare day, he shall for all that discerne light thorough his eylids, but not light enough to keep him from stumbling: so the most perverse man that is, either in faith or manners, that winkes against the light of nature, or light of the law, or light of grace exhibited in the Christian Church, the most determined Atheist that is, discernes through all his stubbornnesse, though not light enough to rectifie him, to save him, yet enough to condemne him, though not enough to enable him, to reade his owne name in the book of life, yet so much, as makes him afraid to read his own story by, and to make up his owne Audit and account with God. And doth not this light to this man need testimony, That as he does see, it is a light, so he might see, that there is warmth and nourishment in this light, and so, as well see the way to God by that light, as to see by it, that there is a God; and, this he may, if he doe not sleep nor winke; that is, not forbeare comming hither, nor resist the grace of God, always offred here, when he is here. Propter incredulos, for their sakes, who though they doe heare, heare not to beleeve, sol lucernas, this light requires testimony; and it does so too, propter infirmos, for their sakes, who though they doe heare, and beleeue, yet doe not Practise.
If he neither sleep, Propter infirmos.nor wink, neither forbeare, nor resist, yet how often may you surprise and deprehend a man, whom you thinke directly to look upon such an object, yet if you aske him the quality or colour of it, he will tell you, he saw it not? That man sees as little with staring, as the other with winking. His eye hath seen, but it hath returned nothing to the common sense. We may pore upon books, stare upon preachers, yet if we reflect nothing, nothing upon our conversation, we shall still remaine under the increpation and malediction of Saint Paul, Act. 28. 26.out of Esay, Seeing yee shall see, and shall not perceive; seeing and hearing shall but aggravate our condemnation, and it shall be easier at the day of Judgement, for the deaf and the blinde that never saw Sacrament, never heard Sermon, then for us, who have frequented both, propter infirmos, for their sakes, whose strength though it serve to bring them hither, and to beleeve here, doth not serve them to proceed to practise, sol lucernas, this light requires testimony.
Yet, if we be neither dead, nor asleep, nor winke, nor looke negligently, but doe come to some degrees of holinesse in practise for a time,Propter Relapsos. yet if at any time, we put our selves in such a position and distance from this light, as that we suffer dark thick bodies to interpose, and eclipse it, that is, sadnesse and dejection of spirit, for worldly losses; nay, if we admit inordinate sadnesse for sinne it selfe, to eclipse this light of comfort from us, or if we suffer such other lights, as by the corrupt estimation of the world, have a greater splendour to come in; (As the light of Knowledge and Learning, the light of Honour and Glory, of popular Applause and Acclamation) so that this light which we speake of, (the light of former Grace) be darkned by the accesse of other lights, worldly lights, then also you shall finde that you need more and more Testimony of this light. God is light in the Creature, in nature; yet the naturall Man stumbles and falls, and lies in that ignorance, Christ bears witnesse of this light, in establishing a Chrishian Church; yet many Christians fall into Idolatry and Superstition, and lie and die in it. The Holy Ghost hath born further witnesse of this light, and, (if we may take so low a Metaphore in so high a Mystery) hath snuffed this candle, mended this light, in the Reformation of Religion; and yet there is a damp, or a cloud of uncharitablenesse, of neglecting, of defaming one another; we deprave even the fiery, Act. 2. 3.the claven tongues of the Holy Ghost: Our tongues are fiery onelyonly to the consuming of another, and they are cloven, onelyonly in speaking things contrary to one another. So that still there need more witnesses, more testimonies of this light. God the Father is Pater Luminum the Father of all Lights; God the Sonne, is Lumen de lumine, Light of light, of the Father; God the Holy Ghost is Lumen de luminibus, Light of lights, proceeding both from the Father, and the Sonne; and this light the Holy Ghost kindles more lights in the Church, and drops a coale from the Altar upon every lamp, he lets fall beams of his Spirit upon every man, that comes in the name of God, into this place; and he sends you one man to day, which beareth witnesse of this light ad ignaros, that bends his preaching to the convincing of the naturall man, the ignorant soul, and works upon him. And another another day, that bears witnesse ad incredulos, that fixeth the promises of the Gospell, and the merits of Christ Jesus, upon that startling and timorous soul, upon that jealous and suspicious soul, that cannot beleeve that those promises, or those merits appertain to him, and so bends all the power of his Sermon to the binding up of such broken hearts, and faint beleevers. He sendeth another to bear witnesse ad infirmos, to them who though they have shaked off their sicknesse, yet are too weake, to walke, to them, who though they doe beleeve, are intercepted by tentations from preaching, and his Sermon reduces them from their ill manners, who thinke it enough to come, to hear, to beleeve. And then he sendeth another ad Relapsos, to bear witnesse of this light to them who have relapsed into former sinnes, that the merits of Christ are inexhaustible, and the mercies of God in him indefatigable: As God cannot be deceived with a false repentance, so he cannot resist a true, nor be weary of multiplying his mercies in that case. And therefore thinke not that thou hast heard witnesses enow of this light, Sermons enow, if thou have heard all the points preached upon, which concerne thy salvation. But because new Clouds of Ignorance, of Incredulitie, of Infirmitie, of Relapsing, rise every day and call this light in question, and may make thee doubt whether thou have it or no, every day, (that is, as often as thou canst) heare more and more witnesses of this light; and bless that God, who for thy sake, would submit himselfe to these Testimonia ab homine, these Testimonies from men, and being all light himselfe, and having so many other Testimonies, would yet require the Testimony of Man, of Iohn; which is our other branch of this first part.
Christ,A seipso. (who is still the light of our Text, That light, the essentiall light) had testimony enough without Iohn. First, he bore witness of himselfe. And though he say of himself, (If I beare witnesse of my self, my witnesse is not true) yet that he might say either out of a legall and proverbiall opinion of theirs,Iohn. 5. 31. that ordinarily they thought, That a witness testifying for himself, was not to be beleeved, whatsoever he said; Or, as Man, (which they then took him to be) he might speake it of himselfe out of his own opinion, that, in Iudicature it is a good rule, that a man should not be beleeved in his own case. But, after this, and after he had done enough to make them see, that he was more then man,8. 13. by multiplying of miracles, then he said, though I beare witnesse of my selfe, my witnesse is true. So the onelyonly infallibility and unreproachable evidence of our election, is in the inward word of God, when his Spirit beares witnesse with our Spirit, that we are the Sonnes of God; for, if the Spirit, (the Spirit of truth) say he is in us, he is in us. But yet the Spirit of God is content to submit himselfe to an ordinary triall, to be tried by God and the Countrey; he allowes us to doubt, and to be afraid of our regeneration, except we have the testimony of sanctification. Christ bound them not to his own testimony, till it had the seale of workes, of miracles; nor must we build upon any testimony in our selves, till other men, that see our life, testifie for us to the world.
He had also the testimony of his Father, (the Father himselfe which hath sent me, beareth witnesse of me.) But where should they see the Father,A Patre. or heare the Father speak? That was all which Philip asked at his hands,Iohn. 5. 37. 14. 8. (Lord show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.) He had the testimony of an Angel, Ab Angelo.who came to the shepheards so, as no where in all the Scriptures, there is such an Apparition expressed, (the Angel of the Lord came upon them,Luke 2. 8. and the glory of the Lord shone round about them) but where might a man talke with this Angel, and know more of him? As Saint Augustine says of Moses, Scripsit & abiit, he hath written a little of the Creation, and he is gone; Si hîc esset, tenerem & rogarem, if Moses were here, says he, I would hold him fast, till I had got him to give me an exposition of that which he writ. For, beloved, we must have such witnesses, as we may consult farther with.A stella. I can see no more by an Angel, then by lightning. A star testified of him, at his birth. But what was that star? was it any of those stars that remaine yet? Gregory Nissen thinkes it was, and that it onelyonly then changed the naturall course, and motion for that service. But almost all the other Fathers thinke, that it was a light but then created, and that it had onelyonly the forme of a star, and no more; and some few, that it was the holy Ghost in that forme. And, if it were one of the fixed stars, and remaine yet, yet it is not now in that office, it testifies nothing of Christ now. The wise men of the East testified of him,A Magis. too; But what were they, or who, or how many, or from whence, were they; for, all these circumstances have put Antiquity it selfe into more distractions,A Simeone. and more earnest disputations, then circumstances should doe. Simeon testified of him,Luke 2. 25. who had a revelation from the holy Ghost, that he should not see death, till he had seen Christ.Ab Anna. And so did the Prophetess Anna, who served God, with fasting and prayer, Ambrose.day and night. Omnis sexus & aetas, both sexes, and all ages testified of him; and he gives examples of all, as it was easie for him to doe. Now after all these testimonies, from himselfe, from the Father, from the Angel, from the star, from the wise men, from Simeon, from Anna, from all, what needed the testimony of Iohn? All those witnesses had been thirty years before Iohn was cited for a witnesse, to come from the wildernesse and preach. And in thirty years, by reason of his obscure and retired life, in his father Iosephs house, all those personall testimonies of Christ might be forgotten; and, for the most part, those witnesses onelyonly testified that he was borne, that he was come into the world, but for all their testimony, he might have been gone out of the world long. Before this, he might have perished in the generall flood, in that flood of innocent blood, in which Herod drowned all the young children of that Countrey. When therefore Christ came forth to preach, when he came to call Apostles, when he came to settle a Church, to establish meanes for our ordinary salvation, (by which he is the light of our text, the Essentiall light shining out in his Church, by the supernaturall light of faith and grace) then he admitted, then he required Testimonium ab homine, testimony from man. And so, for our conformity to him, in using and applying those meanes, which convay this light to us, in the Church, we must doe so too; we must have the seale of faith, and of the Spirit, but this must be in the testimony of men; still there must be that done by us, which must make men testifie for us.
Every Christian is a state, a common-wealth to himselfe, and in him, the Scripture Scripturas esse.is his law, and the conscience is his Iudge. And though the Scripture be inspired from God, and the conscience be illumined and rectified by the holy Ghost immediately, yet, both the Scriptures and the Conscience admit humane arguments. First, the Scriptures doe, in all these three respects; first that there are certaine Scriptures, that are the revealed will of God. Secondly, that these books which we call Canonicall, are those Scriptures. And lastly, that this and this is the true sense and meaning of such and such a place of Scripture. First, that there is a manifestation of the will of God in certain Scriptures, if we who have not power to infuse Faith into men, (for that is the work of the Holy Ghost onelyonly) but must deal upon the reason of men, and satisfie that, if we might not proceed, per testimonia ab homine, by humane Arguments, and argue, and infer thus, That if God will save man for worshipping him, and damne him for not worshipping him, so as he will be worshipped, certainly God hath revealed to man, how he will be worshipped, and that in some visible, in some permanent manner in writing, and that that writing is Scripture, if we had not these testimonies, these necessary consequences derived even from the naturall reason of man to convince men, how should we convince them, since our way is not to create Faith, but to satisfie reason? And therefore let us rest in this testimony of men, that all Christian men, nay Iewes and Turkes too, have ever beleeved, that there are certain Scriptures, which are the revealed will of God, and that God hath manifested to us, in those Scriptures, all that he requires at our hands for Faith or Manners. Now, which are those Scriptures?
As for the whole body intirely together,Hos eos libros esse. so for the particular limbs and members of this body, the severall books of the Bible, we must accept testimonium ab homine, humane Arguments, and the testimony of men. At first, the Jewes were the Depositaries of Gods Oracles; and therefore the first Christians were to aske the Jewes, which books were those Scriptures. Since the Church of God is the Master of those Rolls, no doubt but the Church hath Testimonium à Deo, The Spirit of God to direct her, in declaring what Books make up the Scripture; but yet even the Church, which is to deal upon men, proceedeth also per testimonium ab homine, by humane Arguments, such as may work upon the reason of man, in declaring the Scriptures of God. For the New Testament, there is no question made of any Book, but in Conventicles of Anabaptists; and for the Old, it is testimony enough that we receive all that the Jews received. This is but the testimony of man, but such as prevails upon every man. It is somewhat boldly said, (not to permit to our selves any severer, or more bitter animadversion upon him) by a great man in the Romam Church, that perchance the book of Enoch, which S. Iude cites in his Epistle,Melchilanus. was not an Apocryphal book, but Canonicall Scripture in the time of the Iews. As though the holy Ghost were a time-server, and would sometimes issue some things, for present satisfaction, which he would not avow nor stand to after; as though the holy Ghost had but a Lease for certain years, a determinable estate in the Scriptures, which might expire, and he be put from his evidence; that that book might become none of his, which was his before. We therefore, in receiving these books for Canonicall, which we do, and in post-posing the Apochryphall, into an inferior place, have testimonium ab homine, testimony from the People of God, who were, and are the most competent, and unreproachable witnesses herein: and we have Testimonium ab inimico, testimony from our adversary himself,Idem ex Aquin. Perniciosius est Ecclesiae librum recipere pro sacro, qui non est, quàm sacrum rejicere, It is a more pernicious danger to the Church, to admit a book for Canonicall, which is not so, then to reject one that is so. And therefore, ne turberis novitie, Cajetan.(saith another great Author of theirs) Let no young student in Divinity be troubled, si alicubi repererit, libros istos supputari inter Canonicos, if he finde at any time, any of these books reckned amongst the Canonical, nam ad Hiero. limam, verba Doctorum & Concilio rum reducenda, for saith he, Hieroms file must passe over the Doctors, and over the Councels too, and they must be understood, and interpreted according to S. Hier. now this is but testimonium ab homine, S. Hier. testimony, that prevailed upon Cajetan, and it was but testimonium ab homine, the testimony of the Iews, that prevailed upon S. Hierom himself.
It is so for the whole body,Sensus locorum. The bible; it is so for all the limbs of this body, every particular book of the Bible; and it is so, for the soul of this body, the true sense of every place, of very book thereof; for, for that, (the sense of the place) we must have testimonium ab homine, the testimony, that is, the interpretation of other men. Thou must not rest upon thy self, nor upon any private man. Iohn was a witnesse that had witnesses, the Prophets had prophesied of Iohn Baptist. The men from whom we are to receive testimony of the sense of the Scriptures, must be men that have witnesses, that is, a visible and outward calling in the Church of God. That no sense be ever admitted, that derogateth from God, that makes him a false, or an impotent, or a cruell God, That every contradiction, and departing from the Analogy of Faith, doth derogate from God, and divers such grounds, and such inferences, as every man confesses, and acknowledges to be naturally and necessarily consequent, these are Testimonia ab homine, Testimonies that passe like currant money, from man to man, obvious to every man, suspicious to none. Thus it is in the generall; but then, when it is deduced to a more particular triall, (what is the sense of such or such a place) when Christ saith, Scrutamini Scripturas, Iohn 5.39.search the Scriptures, non mittit ad simplicem lectionem, sed ad scrutationem exquisitam, It is not a bare reading, but a diligent searching, that is enjoyned us. Now they that will search, must have a warrant to search; they upon whom thou must rely for the sense of the Scriptures, must be sent of God by his Church. Thou art robbed of all, devested of all, if the Scriptures be taken from thee; Thou hast no where to search; blesse God therefore, that hath kept thee in possession of that sacred Treasure, the Scriptures; and then, if any part of that treasure ly out of thy reach, or ly in the dark, so as that thou understandest not the place, search, that is, apply thy self to them that have warrant to search, and thou shalt lack no light necessary for thee. Either thou shalt understand that place, or the not understanding of it shall not be imputed to thee, nor thy salvation hindred by that Ignorance.
It is but to a woman that Saint Hierome saith,Hierom. Ama Scripturas, & amabit te Sapientia, Love the Scriptures, and Wisdome will love thee: The weaknesse of her Sex must not avert her from reading the Scriptures. It is instruction for a Childe, and for a Girle, Idem.that the same Father giveth, Septem annorum discat memoriter Psalterium, As soone as she is seaven yeares old, let her learn all the Psalmes without book; the tendernesse of her age, must not avert her from the Scriptures. It is to the whole Congregation, consisting of all sorts and sexes, that Saint Chrysostome saith,Chrysost. Hortor, & hortari non desinam, I alwayes doe, and alwayes will exhort you, ut cum domi fueritis, assiduae lectioni Scripturarum vacetis, that at home, in your owne houses, you accustome your selves to a dayly reading of the Scriptures. And after, to such men as found, or forced excuses for reading them, he saith with compassion, and indignation too, O homo, non est tuum Scripturas evolvere, quia innumeris curis distraheris? Busie man, belongeth it not to thee to study the Scriptures, because thou art oppressed with worldly businesse? Imòmagis tuum est, saith he, therefore thou hadst the more need to study the Scriptures; Illi non tam egent, &c. They that are not disquieted, nor disordered in their passions, with the cares of this world, doe not so much need that supply from the Scriptures,Corn. Agrip. as you that are, doe. It is an Authour that lived in the obedience of the Romane Church, that saith, the Councell of Nice did decree, That every man should have the Bible in his house.Escalante. But another Authour in that Church saith now, Consilium Chrysostomi Ecclesiae nunc non arridet; The Church doth not now like Chrysostomes counsell, for this generall reading of the Scriptures, Quia etsi ille locutus ad plebem, plebs tunc non erat haeretica; Though Saint Chrysostome spoke that to the people, the people in his time were not an Hereticall people: And are the people in the Roman Church now an Hereticall people? If not, why may not they pursue Saint Chrystomes counsel, and reade the Scriptures? Because they are dark? It is true, in some places they are dark;August. purposely left so by the Holy Ghost, ne semel lectas fastidiremus, lest we should think we had done when we had read them once; so saith S. Gregory too,Gregor. In plain places, fami occurrit, he presents meat for every stomach; In hard and dark places, fastidia detergit, Hierom.he sharpens the appetite: Margarita est, & undique perforari potest; the Scripture is a Pearl, and might be bored through every where. Not every where by thy self; there may be many places, which thou of thy self canst not understand; not every where by any other man; no not by them, who have warrant to search, Commission from God, by their calling, to interpret the Scriptures, not every where by the whole Church, God hath reserved the understanding of some places of Scripture, till the time come for the fulfilling of those Prophecies; as many places of the Old Testament were not understood, till Christ came, in whom they were fulfilled. If therefore thou wilt needs know, whether, when Saint Paul took his information of the behaviour of the Corinthians, 1 Cor. 1. 11.from those of Chloe, whether this Chloe, were a woman, or a place, the Fathers cannot satisfie thee, the latter Writers cannot satisfie thee, there is not Testimonium ab homine, no such humane Arguments as can determine thee, or give thee an Acquittance; the greatest pillars whom God hath raised in his Church, cannot give a satisfaction to thy curiosity. But if the Doctrine of the place will satisfie thee, (which Doctrine is, that S. Paul did not give credit to light rumors against the Corinthians, nor to clandestine whisperers, but tells them who accused them, and yet, as well as he loved them, he did not stop his eares against competent witnesses, (for he tells them, they stood accused, and by whom) then thou maist bore this pearle thorough, and make it fit for thy use, and wearing, in knowing so much of Saint Pauls purpose therein, as concerns thy edification, though thou never know,Tertull. whether Chloe were a Woman, or a Place. Tantum veritati obstrepit adulter sensus; quam corruptor stylus; a false interpretation may doe thee as much harme, as a false translation, a false Commentary, as a false copy; And therefore, forbearing to make any interpretation at all, upon dark places of Scripture, (especially those, whose understanding depends upon the future fulfilling of prophecies) in places that are clear, & evident thou maist be thine own interpreter; In places that are more obscure, goe to those men, whom God hath set over thee, and either they shall give thee that sense of the place, which shall satisfie thee, by having the sense thereof, or that must satisfie you, that there is enough for your salvation, though that remaine uninterpreted. And let this Testimonium ab homine, this testimony of man establish thee for the Scripture, that there is a Scripture, a certaine book, that is the word; and the revealed will of God; That these books which we receive for Canonicall, make up that book; And then, that this and this is the true sense of every place, which the holy Ghost hath opened to the present understanding of his Church.
We said before,Conscientia. that a Christian being a Common-wealth to himselfe, the Scripture was his law, (and for that law, that Scripture, he was to have Testimonium ab homine, the testimony of man) And then, his Conscience is his Iudge, and for that he is to have the same testimony too. Thou must not rest upon the testimony and suggestions of thine owne conscience;Hierom. Nec illud de trivio paratum habere, thou must not rest in that vulgar saying, sufficit mihi &c. As long as mine owne Conscience stands right, I care not what all the world say. Thou must care what the world says, and study to have the approbation and testimony of good men. Every man is enough defamed in the generall depravation of our whole naturē: Adam hath cast an infamy upon us all: And when a man is defamed, it is not enough that he purge himselfe by oath, but he must have compurgators too: other men must sweare, that they beleeve he sweares a truth. Thine owne conscience is not enough, but thou must …atisfie the world, and have Testimonium ab homine, good men must thinke thee good. A conscience that admits no search from others, is cauterizata, burnt with a hot Iron; not cured, but seared; not at peace, but stupefied. And when in the verse immediately before our text, it is said, That Iohn came to beare witnesse of that light, it is added, that through him, (that is, through that man, through Iohn, not through it, through that light) that through him all men beleeve. For though it be efficiently the operation of the light it selfe, (that is, Christ himselfe) that all men beleeve yet the holy Ghost directs us to that that is nearest us, to this testimony of man, that instrumentally, ministerially works this beliefe in men. If then for thy faith, thou must have testimonium ab homine, the testimony of men, and maist not beleeve as no man but thy selfe beleeves, much more for thy manners, and conversation. Thinke it not enough to satisfie thy self, but satisfie good men; nay weake men; nay malicious men: till it come so far, as that for the desire of satisfying man, thou leave God unsatisfied, endeavour to satisfie all. God must waigh down all; thy selfe and others; but as long as thy selfe onelyonly art in one balance, and other men in the other, let this preponderate; let the opinion of other men, waigh downe thine owne opinion of thy selfe. 'Tis true, (but many men flatter themselves too far, with this truth) that it is a sin, to do any thing in Conscientiâ dubiâ, when a man doubts whether he may doe it, or no, and in Conscientiâ scrupulosâ, when the conscience hath received any single scruple, or suspicion to the contrary, and so too in conscientiâ opinante, in a conscience that hath conceived, but an opinion, (which is far from a debated, and deliberate determination) yea in conscientiâ errante, though the conscience be in an error, yet it is sin to do aright against the conscience; but then, as it is a sin, to do against the conscience labouring under any of these infirmities, so is it a greater sin, not to labour to recover the conscience, and devest it of those scruples, by their advise, whom God hath indued with knowledg, and power, for that purpose. For, (as it is in civill Iudicature) God refers causes to them, and according to their reports, Gods ordinary way is to decree the cause, to loose where they loose, to binde where they binde. Their imperfections, or their corruptions God knowes how to punish in them; but thou shalt have the recompense of thy humility and thy obedience to his ordinance, in hearkning to them, whom he hath set over thee, for the rectifying of thy conscience. Neither is this to erect a parochiall popacy, to make every minister a Pope in his own parish, or to re-enthrall you to a necessity of communicating all your sinnes, or all your doubtfull actions to him; God forbid. God of his goodnesse hath delivered us, from that bondage, and butchery of the conscience, which our Fathers suffered from Rome, and Anathema, 1 Cor. 16. 22.and Anathema Maran-atha, cursed be he till the Lord comes, and cursed when the Lord comes, that should go about to bring us in a relapse, in an eddy, in a whirlepoole, into that disconsolate estate, or into any of the pestilent errors of that Church. But since you think it no diminution to you, to consult with a Physician for the state of your body, or with a Lawyer for your Lands, since you are not borne, nor grown good Physicians, and good Lawyers, why should you think your selves born, or grown so good Divines, that you need no counsell, in doubtfull cases, from other men? And therefore, as for the Law that governs us, that is, the Scripture, we go the way that Christ did, to receive the testimony of man, both for the body, that Scriptures there are, and for the limbs of that body, that these books make up those Scriptures, and for the soule of this body, that this is the sense of the holy Ghost in that place; so, for our Iudge, which is the conscience, let that be directed before hand, by their advise whom God hath set over us, and setled, and quieted in us, by their testimony, who are the witnesses of our conversation. And so we have done with our Problematicall part; we have asked and answered both these questions, Why this light requires any testimony, (and that is because exhalations, and damps, and vapours arise, first from our ignorance, then from our incredulity, after from our negligence in practising, and lastly, from our slipperinesse in relapsing, and therefore we need more and more attestations, and remembrances of this light) and the other question, Why after so many other testimonies, (from himself, from his Father, from the Angell, from the Star, from the Magi, from Simeon, from Anna, from many, many, very many more) he required this testimony of Iohn; and that is, because all those other witnesses had testified long before, and because God in all matters belonging to Religion here, or to salvation hereafter, refers us to man, but to man sent, and ordained by God, for our direction, that we may do well; and to the testimony of good men, that we have done well. And so we passe to our dogmaticall part, what his testimony was; what Iohn Baptist and his successors in preaching, and preparing the ways of Christ, are sent to do; he was sent to beare witnesse of that light.
Princes which send Ambassadors,2 Part. use to give them a Commission, containing the generall scope of the businesse committed to them, and then Instructions, for the fittest way to bring that businesse to effect. And upon due contemplation of both these, (his Commission, and his Instructions) arises the use of the Ambassadors judgement and discretion, in making his Commission, and his Instructions, (which do not always agree in all points, but are often various, and perplext) serve most advantagiously towards the ends of his negotiation. Iohn Baptist had both; therefore they minister three considerations unto us; first, his Commission, what that was; and then his Instructions, what they were; and lastly, the execution, how he proceeded therein.
His Commission was drawn up,Commissio. and written in Esa…, and recorded and entred into Gods Rolls by the Evangelists.Esa. 40. 3. It was, To prepare the way of the Lord, to make streight his paths, Mark 1. 2.that therefore every valley should be exalted, every mountaine made law; and all this he was to cry out, to make them inexcusable, who contemne the outward Ministery, and relie upon private inspirations. This Commission lasts during Gods pleasure; and Gods pleasure is, that it should last to the end of the world; Therefore are we also joyned in Commission with Iohn, and we cry out still to you to all those purposes.
First, that you prepare the way of the Lord. Praeparate viam.But when we bid you do so, we do not meane, that this preparing or pre-disposing of your selves, is in your selves, that you can prevent Gods preventing grace, or mellow, or supple, or fit your selves for the entrance of that grace, by any naturall faculty in your selves. When we speak of a co-operation, a joint working with the grace of God, or of a post-operation, an after working upon the virtue of a former grace, this co-operation, & this post-operation must be mollified with a good concurrent cause with that grace. So there is a good sense of co-operation, and post-operation, but praeoperation, that we should work, before God work upon us, can admit no good interpretation. I could as soon beleeve that I had a being before God was, as that I had a will to good, before God moved it. But then, God having made his way into you, by his preventing grace, prepare that way, not your way, but his way, (sayes our Commission) that is, that way that he hath made in you, prepare that by forbearing and avoiding to cast new hinderances in that way. In sadnesse and dejections of spirit, seek not your comfort in drinke, in musique, in comedies, in conversation; for, this is but a preparing a way of your owne. To prepare the Lords way, is to look, and consider, what way the Lord hath taken, in the like cases, in the like distresses with other servants of his, and to prepare that way in thy self, and to assure thy selfe, that God hath but practised upon others, that he might be perfect when he comes to thee, and that he intends to thee, in these thy tribulations, all that he hath promised to all, all that he hath already performed to any one. Prepare his way; apply that way, in which he hath gone to others, to thy self.
And then,Rectas facite semitas Dei. Tertull. by our Commission we cry out to you, to make streight his paths. In which we do not require, that you should absolutely rectifie all the deformities and crookednesse, which that Tortuositas Serpentis, the winding of the old Serpent hath brought you to; for, now the streame of our corrupt nature, is accustomed to that crooked channell, and we cannot divert that, we cannot come to an absolute directnesse, and streightnesse, and profession in this life; and, in this place, the holy Ghost speaks but of a way, a path; not of our rest in the end, but of our labour in the way. Our Commission then is not to those sinlesse men, that think they have nothing for God to forgive; But, when we bid you make streight his paths, (as before we directed you, to take knowledge what his wayes towards others had been) so here we intend, that you should observe, which is the Lords path into you, by what way he comes oftnest into you, who are his Temple, and do not lock that doore, do not pervert, do not crosse, do not deface that path. The ordinary way, even of the holy Ghost, for the conveying of faith, and supernaturall graces, is (as the way of worldly knowledge is) by the senses: where his way is by the care, by hearing his word preached; do not thou crosse that way of his, by an inordinate delight, in hearing the eloquence of the preacher; for, so thou hearest the man, and not God, and goest thy way, and not his. God hath divers wayes into divers men; into some he comes at noone, in the sunshine of prosperity; to some in the dark and heavy clouds of adversity. Some he affects with the musick of the Church, some with some particular Collect or Prayer; some with some passage in a Sermon, which takes no hold of him, that stands next him. Watch the way of the Spirit of God, into thee; that way which he makes his path, in which he comes oftnest to thee, and by which thou findest thy self most affected, and best disposed towards him, and pervert not that path, foule not that way. Make streight his paths, that is, keepe them streight; and when thou observest, which is his path in thee, (by what means especially he workes upon thee) meet him in that path, embrace him in those meanes, and alwayes bring a facile, a fusil, a ductile, a tractable soule, to the offers of his grace, in his way.
Our Commission reaches to the exalting of your valleys, Omnis Vallis exaltetur.Let every valley be exalted; In which, we bid you not to raise your selves in this world, to such a spirituall heighth, as to have no regard to this world, to your bodies, to your fortunes, to your families. Man is not all soule, but a body too; and, as God hath married them together in thee, so hath he commanded them mutuall duties towards one another; and God allowes us large uses of temporall blessings, and of recreations too. To exalt valleyes, is not to draw up flesh, to the heighth of spirit; that cannot be, that should not be done. But it is to draw you so much towards it, as to consider (and consider with an application) that the very Law, which was but the schoolmaster to the Gospell, was given upon a mountaine; Exo. 24. 29.That Moses could not so much as see the Land of promise, till he was brought up into a mountaine; D…ut. 32. 43.That the inchoation of Christ glory,Matth. 17. 2 14. 23. which was his transfiguration, was upon a mountaine; That his conversation with God in prayer; That his returne to his eternall Kingdom by his ascension, Acts 1. 10.was so too, from a mountaine; even his exinanition, his evacuation, his lowest humiliation, his crucifying was upon a mountaine; and he calls,Iohn 12. 32… even that humiliation, an exaltation, Si exaltatus, If I be exalted, lifted up, sayes Christ signifying what death he should die. Now, if our depressions, our afflictions be exaltations, (so they were to Christ, so they are to every good Christian) how far doth God allow us, an exalting of our vallies, in a considering with a spirituall boldnesse, the heighth and dignity of mankind, and to what glory God hath created us. Certainly man may avoid as many sinnes, by this exalting his vallies, this considering the heighth and dignity of his nature, as by the humblest meditations in the world. For,20. 8. Greg. upon those words of Iob, Manus tuae fecerunt me, Saint Gregory says, Misericordiae judicis, dignitatem suae conditionis opponit; Iob presents the dignity of his creation, by the hand of God, as an inducement why God should regard him; It is not his valley, but his mountaines, that he brings into Gods sight; not that dust which God took into his hands, when he made him, but that person which the hands of God had made of that dust. Man is an abridgement of all the world; and as some Abridgements are greater, then some other authors, so is one man of more dignity, then all the earth. And therefore exalt thy vallies, raise thy selfe above the pleasures that this earth can promise. And above the sorrowes, it can threaten too. A painter can hardly diminish or contract an Elephant into so little a forme, but that that Elephant, when it is at the least, will still be greater then an Ant at the life, and the greatest. Sinne hath diminished man shrowdly, and brought him into a narrower compasse; but yet, his naturall immortality, (his soule cannot dye) and his spirituall possibility, even to the last gaspe, of spending that immortality in the kingdome of glory, and living for ever with God, (for otherwise, our immortality were the heaviest part of our curse) exalt this valley, this cold of earth, to a noble heighth. How ill husbands then of this dignity are we by sinne, to forfeit it by submitting our selves to inferior things? either to gold, then which every worme, (because a worme hath life, and gold hath none) is in nature, more estimable, and more precious; Or, to that which is lesse then gold, to Beauty; for there went neither labour, nor study, nor cost to the making of that; (the Father cannot diet himselfe so, nor the mother so, as to be sure of a faire child) but it is a thing that hapned by chance, wheresoever it is; and, as there are Diamonds of divers waters, so men enthrall themselves in one clime to a black, in another to a white beauty. To that which is lesse then gold or Beauty, voice, opinion, fame, honour, we sell our selves. And though the good opinion of good men, by good ways, be worth our study, yet popular applause, and the voice of inconsiderate men, is too cheape a price to set our selves at. And yet, it is hardly got too; for as a ship that lies in harbour within land, sometimes needs most of the points of the Compasse, to bring her forth: so if a man surrender himselfe wholly to the opinion of other men, and have not his Criterium, his touchstone within him, he will need both North and South, all the points of the Compasse, the breath of all men; because, as there are contrary Elements in every body, so there are contrary factions in every place, and when one side cries him up, the other will depresse him, and he shall, (if not shipwrack) lie still. But yet we doe forfeit our dignity, for that which is lesse then all, then Gold, then Beauty, then Honour; for sinne; sinne which is but a privation, (as darknesse is but a privation) and privations are nothing. And therefore exalt every valley, consider the dignity of man in his nature, and then, in the Sonne of God his assuming that nature, which gave it a new dignity, and this will beget in thee a Pride that God loves, a valuing of thy selfe above all the tentations of this world.
But yet exalt this valley temperately,Omnis mons humiliabitur consider and esteem this dignity modestly, for our Commission goes farther, not onelyonly to the exalting of every valley, but, Omnis mons humiliabitur, every mountain must be made low: which is not to bring our mountainous, and swelling affections, and passions, to that flatnesse, as that we become stupid, and insensible. Mortification is not to kill nature, but to kill sinne. Bring therefore your Ambition to that bent, to covet a place in the kingdome of heaven, bring your anger, to flow into zeale, bring your love to enamour you of that face, which is fairer then the children of men, that face, on which the Angels desire to look, Christ Jesus, and you have brought your mountains to that lownesse, which is intended, and required here.
Now,In Deserto. this Commission, Iohn Baptist was, and we are, to publish in deserto, in the Desert, in the wildernesse; that is, as Saint Hierome notes, not in Ierusalem, in a tumult…ary place, a place of distraction, but in the Desert, a place of solitude, and retirednesse. And yet this does not imply an abandoning of society, and mutuall offices, and callings in the world, but onelyonly informes us, that every man is to have a Desert in himself, a retiring into himself, sometimes of emptying himself of worldly businesses, and that he spend some houres in such solitudes, and lay aside, (as one would lay aside a garment) the Lawyer, the Physician, the Merchant, or whatsoever his profession be, and say, Domine hîe sum, Lord, I am here, I, he whom thou madest, and such as thou madest him, not such as the world hath made me, Hî sum, I am here, not where the affairs of the world scatter me, but here, in this retirednesse, Lord, I am here, command what thou wilt; in this retirednesse, in this solitude, (but is not a Court, is not an Army, is not a Fair a solitude, in respect of this association, when God and a good soul are met?) but in this home solitude, in this home Desert, are we commanded to publish this Commission, as the fittest time to make impressions of all the parts thereof, Prepare the way of the Lord, make streight his path, exalt your vallies, and bring down your mountains. And this was Iohn Baptists Commission, What to do, And then he had Instructions with his Commission, how to doe it; which is another consideration.
His Commission was long before in Esay, Instructions.so he was Legatus natus, born an Ambassadour; his Instructions were delivered to him by God immediately, when The Word of God came unto John,Luc. 3. 2. in the wildernesse. Princes oftentimes vary their Instructions from their Commissions, and to perplex their Ambassadours, God proceeded with Iohn Baptist, and doth with us directly. Our Commission is to conform you to him, our Instructions are to doe that, that way, By preaching the Baptisme of Repentance, for the remission of sinnes. It is, in a word, by the Word and Sacraments. First, he sends us not as Spies, to lie, and learn, nor to learn and lie; but to deale apertly, manifestly, to publish, to preach; which as it forbids forcible and violent pressing the Conscience by secular or Ecclesiasticall authority, so it forbids clandestin and whispering Conventicles; It is a Preaching, a working by instructing and informing the understanding; it is a Preaching a publique avowing of Gods Ordinance, in a right Calling. He gives us not our Instructions to offer Peace and reconciliation to all, and yet he not mean it to all; He bids us preach unto all; he bids all hearers repent, and he allowes us to set to his seales of reconciliation, to all that come as penitents. He knowes who will, and who will not repent, we doe not; but both he knowes, and so doe we, that all may, so far as that, if they doe not, they finde enough in themselves to condemne themselves, and to discharge God and us. Our Instructions are to preach, that is our way, and to preach Repentance; there begin you in your own bosoms: He that seeks upwards to a River, is sure to finde that head; but he that upon every bubling spring, will think to finde a River, by that may erre many wayes. If thou repent truely, thou art sure to come up to Gods Decree for thy salvation; but if thou begin above at the Decree, and say, I am saved, therefore I shall repent, thou mayest misse both. Repent, and you shall have the Seals; the Seals are the Sacraments; Iohns was Baptisme; but to what? He baptized to the amendment of life. This then is the chain; we preach, you repent; then we give you the Seals, the Sacraments, and you plead them, that is, declare them in a holy life; for, till that (Sanctification) come, Preaching, and Repentance, atd Seals, are ineffectuall. A good life inanimates all. And so, having done with his Commission, what he was to do, and his Instructions, how he was to do it, we passe to our last branch, in this last part, The execution of his Commission, and Instructions, what, and how he did it, what Testimony he gave of this light.
First, he testified, se non esse, Se non esse.that he was not this light, this Christ, this Messias. And secondly, Christum esse, that this light, this Christ, this Messias was come into the world, there was no longer expectation: And lastly, hunc esse, that this particular person whom he designed and specified in the Ecce Agnus, behold the Lambe of God, was this Light, this Christ, this Messias. He was not, One was, Christ was; In these three consists his Testimony. First,Iob. 1. 20. he testified that himself was not the Messias, he confessed and denied not, and said plainly, I am not the Christ. Therefore, lest I. Baptist might be overvalued,August. and their devotions fixed and determined in him, S. Augstine enlarges this consideration, Erat Mons illustratus, non ipse Sol; Iohn Baptist was a hill, and a hill gloriously illustrated by the Sun, but he was not that Sun; Mirare, mirare, sed tanquam montem; Iohn Baptist deserves a respect, and a regard; but regard him, and respect him but as an hill, which though high, lis but the same earth; and mons …int …ebiis est nisi luce luce vestiatur, A hill hath no more light in it self, then the valley, till the light invest it; Si montem esse lucem putas, in monte naufragium facies; If you take the hill, because it shines, to be the light it self, you shipwrack upon the top of a hill. If we rest in the person, or in the gifts of any man, to what heighth soever this hill be raised in opinion, or in the Church, still we mistake; Iohn Baptist, men of the greatest endowments, and goodnesse too, are but instruments, they are not the workman himself. And therefore as they are most inexcusable, that put an infallibility in the breast of one man, (our adversaries of Rome) so do they transgresse too farre that way, that runne, and pant, and thrust after strange preachers, and leave their owne Church deserted, and their owne Pastour discouraged; for some one family, by the greatnesse thereof, or by the estimation thereof, may induce both those inconveniences. Truly, though it may seeme boldly said, it may be said safely, that we were better heare some weaknesses from our owne Pastour, then some excellencies from another; go farther, some mistakings from our own, then some truths from another; for, all truths are not necessary; nor all mistakings pernicious; but obedience to order is necessary, and all disorder pernicious. Now what a way had Iohn Baptist open to him, if he had been popularly disposed. Amongst a people, that at that time expected their Messias, (for, all the Prophecies preceding his comming were then fulfilled) and such a Messias as should be a Temporall King, and had invested an opinion, that he, Iohn Baptist, was that Christ, what rebellions, what earth-quakes, what inundations of people might he have drawne after him, if he would have countenanced and cherished their error to his advantage? They would have lacked no Scriptures, to authorize their actions. They would have found particular places of the Prophets, to have justified any act of theirs, in advancing their Messias, then expected. Therein he is our patterne; not to preach our selves, but Christ Iesus; not to preach for admiration, but for edification; not to preach to advance civill ends, without spirituall ends; to promote all the way the peace of all Christian Kingdomes, but to refer all principally to the Kingdome of peace, and the King of peace, the God of heaven. He confessed, and denied not, and said plainly, I am not the Christ; That was his Testimony; we confesse, and deny not, and say plainly, That our own parts, our owne passions, the purpose of great persons, the purpose of any State, is not Christ; we preach Christ Iesus, and him crucified; and whosoever preaches any other Gospell, or any other thing for Gospell, let him be accursed.
I am not the man,Esse Natum. Iohn 1. 26. sayes Iohn Baptist, for, that man is God too; but yet that man, that God, that Messias consisting of both, is come, though I be not he. There is one amongst you, whom you know not, whose shooe-latchet I am not worthy to loose. In which, he says all this; There is one among you; you need seek no farther; all the promises, and Prophecies, (the Semen mulieris, That the seed of the woman should bruise the Serpents head; the appropriation to Abraham, In semine tuo, In thy seed shall all Nations be blessed: the fixation upon David, Donec Shiloh, till Shiloh come; Esay's Virgo concipiet, Behold a Virgin shall conceive; Micah's & tu Bethlem, that Bethlem should be the place, Daniels seventy Hebdomades, that that should be the time,) all promises, all prophecies, all computations are at an end, the Messias is come.
Is he come,Hunc esse. and amongst you, and do you not know him? what will make you know him? You beleeve you need a Messias; you cannot restore your selfe. You beleeve this Messias must come at a certaine time, specified by certaine marks; were all these marks upon any other? or lacks there any of these in him? Do you thus magnifie me, and neglect a person, whose shooe-latchet I am not worthy to loose. Iohn Baptist was a Prophet, more then a Prophet, The greatest of the sonnes of women: Who could be so much greater then he, and not the Messias? we must necessarily enwrap all these three in one another, and into one another they do easily and naturally fall: He testifies that he was not the man, (he preaches not himself) he testifies that that man is come; (future expectations are frivolous) and he testifies, that the characters and marks of the expected Messias, can fall upon none but this man, and therefore he delivers him over to them with that confidence, Ecce Agnus Dei, Behold the Lambe of God, there you may see him; and this is his Testimony.
These three,Conclusio. we, we to whom Iohn Baptists Commission is continued, testifie too. First, we tell you, what is not Christ; austerity of life, and outward sanctity is not hee; Iohn Baptist had them abundantly, but yet permitted not, that they should have that opinion of him. But yet, much lesse is chambring and wantonnesse, and persevering in sinne, that Christ, or the way to him. We tell you, stetit in medio, he hath been amongst you, you have heard him preached in your ears; yea yee have heard him knock at your hearts, and for all that, we tell you that you have not known him. Which, though it be the discomfortablest thing in the world, (not to have known Christ in those approches) yet we tell it you somewhat to your comfort; and to your excuse,I Cor. 2. 8. for, had you known… it, you would not have crucified the Lord of glory, Act. 17. 30.as we doe all, by our daily sinnes. And though God have winked at these times of ignorance, (pretermitted your former inconsiderations) now,Luke 19. 42. he commandeth all men every where to repent. And therefore, that thou maist know, even thou, (as Christ iterates it) at least in this thy day, the things which belong to thy Peace, we tell you who he is, and where he is; Ecce agnus Dei, Behold the lambe of God, Here, here in this his ordinance he supplicates you, when the Minister,2 Cor. 5. 20. how meane soever, prays you, in his stead, be yee reconciled to God. Here he proclaims, and cries to you, Venite omnes, come all that are weary and heavy laden. Here he bleeds in the Sacrament, here he takes away the sinnes of the world, in deriving a jurisdiction upon us, to binde and loose upon earth, that which he will binde and loose in heaven. This we testifie to you; Doe you but receive this testimony. Till you hear that voice of consummation in heaven, Venite benedicti, come yee blessed, you shall never heare a more comfortable Gospell then this, which was preached by Christ himselfe, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, to preach the Gospell to the poore, to heale the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and the acceptable yeare of the Lord: Luke 4. 16. Esay 61. 1.for, this was not a deliverance from their brick-making in Egypt, nor from their scornes and contempts in Babylon, but a deliverance from that unexpressible, that unconceivable bondage of sinne, August.and death, not by the hand of a Moses, but a Messias, Opt as dare qui praecipit petere, he that commands us to aske, would faine give: Cupit largiri, qui desider at postulari, he that desires us to pray to him, hath that ready, and a readinesse to give that, that he bids us pray for. If the King give a generall pardon, will any man be so suspiciously trecherous in his own behalfe, as to say, for all this large extent of his mercy, he meant not me, and therefore I will sue out no pardon? If the King cast a donative, at his Coronation, will any man lie still and say, he meant none of that money to me? Luke 14.When the master of the feast sent his servants for guests, had it become those poor, and mai…ed, and halt, and blind, to have stood and disputed with the steward, and said, Surely sir, you mistooke your Master, your Master did not meane us? Why should any man thinke that God meanes not him? When he offers grace, and salvation to all, why not to him? Should God exclude him as a man? Why, God made him good, and, as a man and his creature,August. he is good still. But, non Deus Esan hominem odit, fed odit Esau peccatorem? God did not hate Esau, as he was a man, but as he was a sinner. Should he exclude him as a sinner? Mar. 2. 17.Why then he should receive none, August.for we are all so; and he came for none but such, but sinners. Perfectiorum est nihil in peccatore odiisse praeter peccata, To hate nothing in a sinner, but his sinne, is a great degree of perfection; God is that perfection; he hates nothing in thee but thy sinne; and that sinne he hath taken upon himself, and sees it not in thee. Should he exclude thee because thou art impenitent, Chrysoft.because thou hast not repented? Doe it now. Peccasti, paenitere, Hast thou sinned? repent. Millies peccasti? millies poenitere? Hast thou multiplied thy sinnes by thousands? multiply thy penitent teares so too. Should he exclude thee, because thou art impenitible, thou canst not repent; how knowest thou thou canst not repent? Doest thou try, doest thon endevour, doest thou strive? why, this, this holy contention of thine is repentance. Discredit not Gods evidence; he offers thee Testimonium ab homine, the testimony of man, of the man of God, the Minister, that the promises of the Gospell belong to thee. Judge not against that evidence; confesse that there is no other name given under heaven, Act. 4. 12.to be saved, but the name of Iesus, and that that is. And then, when thou hast thus admitted his witnesses to thee, that his preaching hath wrought upon thee, be thou his witnesse to others, by thy exemplar life, and holy conversation. In this chapter, in the calling of the Apostles some such thing is intimated, when of those two Disciples, which, upon Iohns testimony, followed Christ, one is named, (Andrew) and the other is not named. No doubt,verse 40. but the other is also written in the book of life, and long since enjoyes the blessed fruit of that his forwardnesse. But in the testimony of the Gospell, written for posterity, onelyonly Andrew is named, who sought out his brother Simon, and drew him in, and so propagated the Church, and spread the Glory of God. They who testifie their faith by works, give us the better comfort, and posterity the better example. It will be but Christs first question at the last day, What hast thou done for me? If we can answer that, he will aske, What hast thou suffered for me? and if we can answer that, he will aske, at last, Whom hast thou won to me, what soul hast thou added to my Kingdome? Our thoughts, our words, our doings, our sufferings, if they bring but our selves to Heaven, they are not Witnesses; our example brings others; and that is the purpose, and the end of all we have said, Iohn Baptist was a witnesse to us, we are so to you, be you so to one another.