Fifty Sermons, Sermons · Sermon 5
SERMON V.
Preached at a Christning.
EPHES. 5. 25, 26, 27.
Husbands love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church, and gave himselfe for it, that he might sanctisie it, and cleanse it, by the washing of water, through the Word: That he might make it unto himselfe a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, on any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without blame.
ALmighty God ever loved unity, but he never loved singularity; God was always alone in heaven, there were no other Gods, but he; but he was never singular, there was never any time, when there were not three persons in heaven; Pater & ego unum summi; The father and I are one, says Christ: one in Esseuct, and one in Consent; our substance is the same, and our will is the same; but yet, Tecum fui ab initio, says Christ, in the person of Wisdome, I was with thee, disposing all things, at the Creation, As then God seemes to have been eternally delighted, with this eternall generation, (with persons that had ever a relation to one another, Father, and Sonne) so when he came to the Creation of this lower world, he came presently to those three relations, of which the whole frame of this world consists; of which, (because the principall foundation, and preservation of all States that are to continue, is power) the first relation was between Prince and Subject, Gen. 1. 28.when God said to Man, Subjecite & dominamini, subdue and govern all Creatures; The second relation was between husband and wife, 2. 23.when Adam said, This now is house of my bone, and flesh of my flesh; And the third relation was between parents and children, when Eve said, that she had obtained a Man by the Lord, that by the plentifull favour of God,4. 1. she had conceived and borne a sonne: from that time, to the dissolution of that frame, from that beginning to the end of the world, these three relations, of Master and Servant, Mans and Wife, Father and Children, have been, and ever shall be the materialls, and the elements of all society, of families, and of Cities, and of Kingdomes. And therefore it is a large, and a subtill philosophy which S. Paul professes in this place, to shew all the qualities, and properties of these several Elements, that is, all the duties of these severall callings; but in this text, he handles onelyonly the mutuall duties of the second couple, Man, and Wife, and in that consideration, shall we determine this exercise, because a great part of that concernes the education of Children, (which especially occasions our meeting now.)
The generall duty, that goes through all these three relations,v. 12. is expressed, Subditi estate invicevs, Submit your selves to one another, in the feare of God; for God hath given no Master such imperiousnesse, no husband such a superiority, no father such a soverainty, but that there lies a burden upon them too, to consider with a compassionate sensiblenesse, the grievances, that oppresse the other part, which is coupled to them. For if the servant, the wife, the sonne be oppressed, worne out, annihilated, there is no such thing left as a Master, or a husband, or a father; They depend upon one another, and therefore he that hath not care of his fellow, destroys himselfe.
The wife is to submit herselfe; and so is the husband too: They have a burden both, There is a greater subjection lies upon her, then upon the Man, in respect of her transgression towards her husband at first: Eyen before there was any Man in the world, to sollicite, or tempt her chastity, she could sinde another way to be salfe and treacherous to her husband: both the husband, and the wife offended against God, but the husband offended not towards his wife, but rather eate the Apple,Hier. Ne contristaretur delicias suas, as S. Hierome assignes the cause, left by refusing to cate, when she had done so, he should deject her into a desperate sense of her sinne. And for this fault of hers, her Subjection was so much aggravated, Thy desire shall be subject to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee, But if she had not committed that fault, yet there would have been a mutuall subjection between them; as there is even in Nature, between both the other couples; for if Man had continued in innocency, yet it is most probably thought, that as there would certainly have been Mariage, and so children, so also there would have been Magistracy, and propriety, and authority, and so a mutuall submitting, a mutuall assisting of one another, in all these three relations.
Now, that submitting, of which the Apostle speakes of here; is a submitting to one another, a bearing of one anothers burthens: what this submission is on the wives part, is expressed in the two former verses; And I forbeare that, because husbands at home, are likely enough to remember them of it; but in the duty, in the submitting of the husband, we shall consider first, what that submitting is, and that is love, Husbands love your wives; Even the love of the husband to the wife, is a burthen, a submitting, a descent; and secondly, the patterne and example of this love, Even as Christ loved his Church.
In which second part, as sometimes the accessory is greater then the principall, the Symptome, the accident, is greater then the disease, so that from which the comparison is drawn in this place, is greater then that which is illustrated by it; the love of Christ to his Church requires more consideration, then the love of the husband to the wife; and therefore it will become us to spend most of our thoughts upon that; and to consider in that, Quod factum, and Quis sinis; what Christ did for his Church; and that was, a bounty, which could not be exceeded, seipsum tradidit, he gave, he delivered himselfe for it; And then, secondly, what he intended that should worke; and that was, first, that he might make it to himselfe a glorious Church, and without spot and wrinkle, in the Triumphant state of the Church at last; And then, that whilst it continues in a Militant state upon Earth, it might have preparations to that glory, by being sanctified and cleansed by the washing of water, through his Word; he provides the Church meanes of sanctification here, by his Word, and Sacraments.
First then De Amoremaritali, Amor.of this contracting a Mans love to the person of a wife, of one woman, as we find an often exclamation in the Prophets, Onus visionis, The burden of my prophecy upon Nineveh, and Onus verbi Domini, The burden of the word of God upon Israel, so there is Onus amoris, a burden of love, when a Man is appointed whom he shall love.Gen. 38. When Onan was appointed by his father Iudah, to goe in to his brothers widow, and to doe the office of a kinsman to her, he conceived such an unwillingnesse to doe so, when he was bid, as that he came to that detestable act, for which God slew him. And therefore the Panegyrique, that raised his wit as high as he could, to praise the Emperour Constantine, and would expresse it, in praising his continence, and chastity, he expressed it by saying that he waried young; that as soon as his years endangered him, formavit animum maritalem, nihil de concessu atati voluptatibus admittens: he was content to be a husband, and accepted not that freedome of pleasure, which his years might have excused. He concludes it thus, Novum jam tum miraculum, Iuvenis …xorius; Behold a miracle, such a young Man, limiting his affections, in a wife. At first the heates and lusts of youth overflow all, as the waters overflowed all at the beginning; and when they did so, the Earth was not onelyonly barren, (there were no Creatures, no herbs produced in that) but even the waters themselves, that did overflow all, were barren too; there were no fishes, no fowls produced out of that; as long as a Mans affections are scattered, there is nothing but accursed barrennesse; but when God says, and is heard,Gen. 1. 9. and obeyed in it, Let the waters be gathered into one place, let all thy affections be setled upon one wife, then the earth and the waters became fruitfull, then God gives us a type, and figure of the eternity of the joyes of heaven, in the succession, and propagation of children here upon the earth. It is true, this contracting of our affections is a burden, it is a submitting of our selves; All States that made Lawes, and proposed rewards for maried Men, conceived it so; that naturally they would be loth to doe it. God maried his first couple, as soone as he made them; he dignified the state of Mariage, by so many Allegories, and figures, to which he compares the uniting of Christ to his Church, and the uniting of our soules to Christ, and by directing the first Miracle of Christ, to be done at a Mariage. Many things must concurre to the dignifying of Mariage, because in our corrupt nature, the apprehension is generall, that it is burdenous, and a submitting, and a descending thing, to mary. And therefore Saint Hierome argues truly out of these words,Hier. Husbands love your Wifes, Audiant Episcopi, audiant presbyteri, audiant doctores, subjectis suis se esse subjectos, let Bishops, and Priests, and Doctors learne in this, that when they have maried themselves to a charge, They are become subject to their Subjects. For by being a husband, I become subject, to that sex which is naturally subject to Man, though this subjection be no more in this place, but to love that one woman.
Love then, when it is limited by a law, is a subjection, but it is a subjection commanded by God;Plinius Trajano. Nihil majus à te subjecti animo factum est, quam quod imper are coepisti… A Prince doth nothing so like a subject as when he puts himselfe to the pain to consider the profit, and the safety of his Subjects; and such a subjection is that of a Husband, who is bound to study his wife, and rectify all her infirmites; Her infirmities he must bear; but not her sins; if he bear them they become his own. The pattern, the example goes not so far; Christ maried himself to our Nature, and he bare all our infirmities, hunger, and wearinesse, and sadnesse, and death, actually in his own person; but so, he contracted no sin in himselfe, nor encouraged us to proceed in sin. Christ was Salvator corporis, A Saviour of his body, of the Church,v. 23. to which he maried himselfe, but it is a tyranny, and a devastation of the body, to whom we mary our selves, if we love them so much, as that we love their Sin too, suffer them to goe on in that, or if we love them so little, as to make their sin our way to profit, or preferment, by prostituting them, and abandoning them to the solicitation of others. still we must love them so, as that this love be a subjection; not a neglecting, to let them doe, what they will, nor a tyrannizing, to make them doe what we will.
You must love them then, first, Quia vestrae, because they are yours; As we said at first, God loves Couples; He suffers not our body to be alone,Gen. 2. 20. nor our soule alone, but he maries them together; when that's done, to remedy the vae soli, left this Man should be alone, he maries him to a help meet for him… and to avoid fornication, (that is, if fornication cannot be avoided otherwise) Every Man is to have his wife,1 Cor. 7. 1. and every woman her own husband. When the love comes to exceed these bounds, that it departs à vestris, from a Mans own wife, and settles upon another, though he may think he discharges himselfe of some of his subjection which he was in before, yet he becomes much more subject, subject to houshold and forain Iealousies, subject to ill grounded quarrels, subject to blasphemous protestations, to treacherous misuse of a confident friend, to ignoble an unworthy disguises, to base satisfactions; subject, lastly, either to a clamorous Conscience, or that which is worse slavery, to a sear'd and obdurate, and stupefied Conscience, and to that Curse, which is the heavier because it hath a kind of scorn in it, Be not deceived, (as though we were co…sened of our souls) Be not deceived, for no adulterer shal enter into the kingdom of heaven. All other things, that are ours, we may be the better for leaving; Vade & vende, which Christ said to the yong Man, that seemed to desire perfection, reached to all his goods; Goe and sell them sayes Christ, and thou shalt follow me the better. But there is no selling, nor giving, nor lending, nor borrowing of wives; we must love them Quia nostrae, because they are ours; and if that be not a ty, and obligation strong enough, that they are Nostrae, ours, we must love them Quia nos, because they are our selves;v. 29. for no man yet ever hated his own flesh.
We must love them then, Quia nostrae, Vxor.because they are ours, those whom God hath given us, and Quia uxores, because they are our wives. Saint Paul does not bid us love them here, Quanquam uxores, but Quia, not though they be, but because they are our wives; Saint Paul never thought of that indisposition, of that disaffection, of that impotency, that a Man should come to hate her, whom he could love well enough, but that she is his wife. Were it not a strange distemper, if upon consideration of my soule, finding it to have some seeds of good dispositions in it, some compassion of the miseries of others, some inclination of the glory of God, some possibility, some interest in the kingdome of heaven, I should say of this soule, that I would fast, and pray, and give, and suffer any thing for the salvation of this Soule if it were not mine own soule, if it were any bodies else, and now abandon it to eternall destruction, because it is mine own? If no Man have felt this barbarous inhumanity towards his owne soul, I pray God no man have felt it towards his own wife neither, That he loves her the lesse, for being his own wife. For we must love them, not Quanquam, says Saint Paul, though she be so; That was a Caution, which the Apostle never thought he needed, but Quia, because in the sight of God, and all the Triumphant Church, we have bound our selves, that we would do so. Here Mariages are sometimes clandestine, and witnesses dye, and in that case no Man can bind me to love her… Quia ux…r, because she is my wife, because it lyes not in proofe, that she is so; Here sometimes things come to light, which were concealed before, and a Mariage proves no Mariage, Decepta est Ecclesia, The Church was deceived, and the poor woman loses her plea, Quia ux…r, because she is his wife, for it fals out that she is not so; but, if thou have maried her, in the presence of God, and all the Court, and Quire of heaven, what wilt thou doe to make away all these witnesses? who shall be of thy Councell to assign an Error in Gods judgement? whom wilt thoubribe to embezill the Records of heaven? It is much that thou are able to doe in heaven; Thou art able, by thy sins, to blot thy name out of the book of life, but thou are not able to blot thy wifes name out of the Records of heaven, but there remains still the Quia ux…r, because she is thy wife. And this Quia ux…r is Qua… diu ux…r; since thou art bound to love her because she is thy wife, it must be as long as she is so. You may have heard of that quinqu…nnium Neronis; The worst tyran that ever was, was the best Emperour that ever was for five years; the most corrupt husbands may have been good at first: but that love may have been for other respects: satisfaction of parents, establishing of hopes, and sometimes Ignorance of evill; that ill company had not taught them ill conditions; it comes not to be Quia uxor, because she is thy wife, to be the love which is commanded in this text, till it bring some subjection, some burthen. Till we love her then, when we would not love her, except she were our wife, we are not sure, that we love her Quia uxor, that is, for that, and for no other respect. How long that is, how long she is thy wife, never ask wrangling Controverters, that make Gypsie-knots of Mariages; ask thy Conscience, and that will tell thee that thou wast maried till death should depart you. If thy mariage were made by the D…vill (upon dishonest Conditions) the Devill may break it by sin; if it were made by God, Gods way of breaking of Mariages, is onelyonly by death.
It is then a Subjection, and it is such a subjection, as is a love; and such a love, as is upon a Reason, (for love is not alwayes so.) This is; Quiauxor, because our wife, and that implies these three uses; God hath given Man a wife, Ad adjutorium, ad sobolem, ad medicinam; for a Help, for Children, and for a Remedy, and Physick. Now the first, Society, and encrease, we love naturally; we would not be banish'd, we would not be robb'd, we would not be alone, we would not be poor; Society and encrease, every Man loves; but doth any Man love Physick? he takes it for necessity; but does he love it; Husbands therefore are to love wives Ad Sobolem, as the Mothers of their Children; Ad adjutorium, as the comforters of their lives; but for that, which is Ad medicinam, for physick, to avoid burning, to avoid fornication, that's not the subject of our love, our love is not to be placed upon that; for so it is a love, Quia mulier, because she is a woman, and not Quia uxor, because she is my wife. A Man may be a drunkard at home, with his own wine, and never goe out to Taverns; A man may be an adul…erer in his wives bosome, though he seek not strange women.
We come now to the other part,2. Part. the pattern of this love, which is Christ Jesus: we are commanded to be holy, and pure, as our Father is holy, and pure; but that's a proportion of which we are incapable; And therefore we have another Commandement, from Christ, Discite à me, learn of me; there is no more looked for, but that we should still be Scholars, and learners how to love; we can never love so much as he hath lov'd: It is still Discite; still something to be learnt, and added; and this something is, Quia mitis, learn of me, make me your pattern, because I am meek, and gentle; not suspitious, not forward, not hard to be reconcil'd; not apt to discomfort my spouse, my Church; not with a sullen silence, for I speak to her alwayes in my Word; not apt to leave her unprovided of apparell, and decent ornaments, for I have allow'd her such Ceremonies, as conduce to edification; not apt to pinch her in her diet; she hath her two Courses, the first, and the second Sacrament: And whensoever she comes to a spirituall hunger and thirst under the heat, and weight of sin, she knowes how, and where there is plentifull refreshing and satisfaction to be had, in the absolution of sinne. Herein consists the substance of the Comparison, Husbands love your wives, as Christ did his Church: that is, expresse your loves in a gentle behaviour towards them, and in a carefull providence of Conveniencies for them. The comparison goes no farther, but the love of Christ to his Church goes farther. In which we consider first, Quid factum, what Christ did for his spouse, for his Church.
It were pity to make too much hast, in considering so delightfull a thing,Quid factū. as the expressing of the love of Christ Jesus to his Church. It were pity to ride away so fast from so pleasant, so various a prospect, where we may behold our Saviour, in the Act of his liberality, Giving; in the matter of his liberality, Giving himselfe; and in the poor exchange that he took, a few Contrite hearts, a few broken spirits, a few lame, and blind, and leprous sinners, to make to himselfe, and his Spirit a Church, a house to dwell in; no more but these, and glad if he can get these.
First then, Ille dedit, IileHe gave, it was his own act; as it was he, that gave up the ghost, he that laid down his soule, and he that took it again; for no power of Man had the power, or disposition of his life. It was an insolent, and arrogant question in Pilate to Christ, Nescis, quia potestatem habc…, Knowest not thou that I have power to Crucifie thee, and have power to loose thee? If Pilate thought that his power extended to Christ, Ioh. 19. 10.yet Tua damnaris sententia qui potestate latrone… abs…lvis, autorem vitae interficis. His own words and actions condemned him, when having power to condemn and absolve,Ambr. Serm. 20 in P…. 119. v. 4. he would condemn the Innocent, and absolve the guilty. A good Judge does nothing, sayes he. Do…estice proposito voluntatis, according to a resolution taken at home; Nihil meditatum deme defert, he brings not his judgement from his chamber to the bench, but he takes it there according to the Evidence. If pilate thought he had power, his Conscience told him he misused that power; but Christ tels him he could have none, Nisi datum desuper, Except it had been given him from above; that is, except Christ had given him power over himselfe: for Christ speaks not in that place of Pilates generall power and Jurisdiction, (for so, also, all power is Desuper, from above) but for this particular power that Pilate boasts to have over him, Christ tels him that he could have none over him, except himselfe had submitted himselfe to it. So, before this passage with Pilat, Iud…s had delivered Christ; and there arose a sect of Heretiques, Iudaists, Philaster.that magnified this act of Iudes, and said that we were beholden to him for the hastning of our salvation, because when he was come to the knowledge that God had decreed the Crucifying of Christ for Mankind, Iudas took compassion of Mankind, and hastned their Redemption, by delivering up of Christ to the Iewes. But Iudas had no such good purpose in his hast; though our Iesus permitted Iudas to doe it, and to doe it quickly, when he said Quod facis fac citò. For out of that ground in the Schooles, Missia in divinis …st mov… operacio in Creatura, When any person of the Trinity,Iob. 13. 27. Aug. is said to be sent, that onelyonly denotes an extraordinary manner of working of that person: Saint Augustine sayes truly, that as Christ Misit seipsum, he sent himself, and Sanitificavit seipsum, he sanctified himselfe, so tradidit seipsum; Iudas could not have given him, if he had not given himselfe, Pilate could not give him, Iudas could not give him; nay, if we could consider severall wils in the severall Persons of the Trinity, we might be bold to say, That the Father could not have given him, if he had not given himselfe. We consider the unexpressible mercy of the Father, in that he would accept any satisfaction at all for all our Sinnes. We consider the unexpressible working of the Holy Ghost that brings this satisfaction and our soules together; for without that, without the application of the Holy Ghost, we are as far from Christ's love now, as we were from the Father's before Christ suffered. But the unexpressible and unconceiveable love of Christ is in this, that there was in him a willingnesse, a propensnesse, a forwardnesse to give himselfe to make this great peace and reconciliation, between God and Man; It was himselfe that gave himselfe; Nothing enclined him, nothing wrought upon him, but his own goodnesse.
It was then his Deed; and it was his gift; it was his Deed of gift: and it hath all the formalities and circumstances that belong to that; for here is a seale in his blood; and here is a delivering, pregnantly implied in this word, which is not onelyonly Dedit, Dedit.he gave, but Tradidit, he delivered. First, Dedit, he gave himselfe for us to his Father, in that eternall Decree, by which he was Agnus occisus ab origine mundi, The Lamb slain from the beginning of the world. And then Tradidit, he delivered possession of himselfe to Death, and to all humane infirmities, when he took our Nature upon him, and became one of us. Yea this word implies a further operativenesse, and working upon himself, then all this; for the word which the Apostle uses here, for Christ giving of himselfe, is the same word, which the Evangelists use still, for Iudas betraying of him: so that Christ did not onelyonly give himselfe to the will of the Father, in the eternall Decree; nor onelyonly deliver himselfe to the power of death in his Incarnation, but he offered, he exhibited, he exposed, (we may say) he betrayed himselfe to his enemies; and all this, for worse enemies; to the Iewes, that Crucified him once, for us, that make finne our sport, and so make the Crucifying of the Lord of life a Recreation.
It was a gift then, free, and absolute; Hee keeps us not in fear of Resumption; Seipsum.of ever taking himselfe from the Church again; nay he hath left himself no power of Revocation: I am with you, sayes he, to the end of the world. To particular men, he comes, & he knocks, and he enters, and he stays, and hesups, and yet for their unworthinesse goes away again; but with the Church he is usque ad consummationem, till the end; It is a permanent gift; Dedit, and Dedit seipsum; It was he that did it; That which he did was to give; and that which he gave, was himselfe. Now since the Holy Ghost, that is the God of unity and peace, hath told us at once, that the satisfaction for our sins is Christ himselfe, and hath told us no more, Christ entirely, Christ altogether, let us not divide and mangle Christ, or tear his Church in pieces, by froward and frivolous difputations, whether Christ gave his divinity for us, or his humanity; whether the divine Nature, or the humane Nature redeemed us; for neither his divinity nor his humanity, is Ipse, He himselfe, and Dedit seipsum, He gave himselfe: Let us not subdivide him into lesse pieces, then those, God, and Man; and enquire contentiously, whether he suffered in soul, as well as in body, the pains of H…ll, as well as the sting of Death; the Holy-Ghost hath presented him unite, and knit together. For neither soul nor body was Ipse. He himselfe, and Dedit seipsum, He gave himselfe; let us least of all shred Christ Iesus into lesse scruples and atoms then these, Soul, and body; and dispute whether consisting of both, it were his active, or his passive obedience that redeemed us; whether it were his death and passion onelyonly, or his innocency, and fulfilling of the Law too; let us onelyonly take Christ, himselfe, for onelyonly that is said, he gave himselfe, It must be an Innocent person, and this Innocent person must die for us; seperate the Innocency, and the Death, and it is not Ipse, it is not Christ himselfe: and Dedit seipsum, it was himselfe. Let us abstain from all such curiosities, which are all but forc'd dishes of hot brains, and not sound meat, that is, from all perverse wranglings, whether God, or Man redeemed us; and then, whether this God, and Man suffered in soule, or in body; and then whether this person, consisting of soule and body, redeemed us, by his action, or by his passion onelyonly; for as there are spirituall wickednesses, so there are spirituall wantonnesses, and unlawfull and dangerous dallyings with mysteries of Divinity. Money that is changed into small pieces is easily lost; gold that is beat out into leaf-gold, cannot be coyned, nor made currant money: we know the Heathens lost the true God, in a thrust; they made so many false gods, of every particular quality, and attribute of God, that they scattered him, and evacuated him, to an utter vanishing; so doth true, and sound, and nourishing Divinity vanish away, in those impertinent Questions. All that the wit of Man adds to the Word of God, is all quicksilver, and it evaporates easily. Beloved, Custodi Depositum, sayes the Apostle, keep that which God hath revealed to thee; for that God himselfe cals thy Talent; it hath weight and substance in it. Depart not from thy old gold; leave not thy Catechism-divinity, for all the Schooldivinity in the world; when we have all, what would we have more? if we know that Christ hath given himselfe for us, that we are redeemed, and not redeemed with corruptible things but with the precious blood of Christ Jesus, we care for no other knowledge but that, Christ, and Christ crucified for us; for this is another, and a more peculiar and profitable giving of himselfe for thee, when he gives himselfe to thee, that is, when he gives thee a sense, and apprehension, and application of the gift, to thy self, that Christ hath given himselfe, to thy selfe.
We are come now to his exchange;Pro Ecclesia. what Christ had for himselfe when he gave himselfe; And he had a Church. So this Apostle, which in this place, writes to the Ephesians, Act. 20. 28.when he preached personally to the Ephesians, he told them so too, The Church is that Quam acquisivit sanguine suo, which he purchased with his bloud. Here Christ bought a Church, but I would there were no worse Simony then this. Christ received no profit from the Church, and yet he gave himselfe for it; and he stayes with it to the end of the world; Here is no such Non-residency, as that the Church is left unserved: other men give enough for their Church, but they withraw themselves, and necessary provision; And if we consider this Church that Christ bought, and paid so dearly for, it was rather an Hospitall, then a Church: A place where the blind might recover sight; that is, Men borne in Paganisme, or Superstition, might see the true God, truly worshipped: and where the lame might be established; that is, those that Halted between two Religions, might be rectified in the truth: where the Deaf might receive so quicke a hearing, as that they might discerne Musique in his Thunder, in all his fearefull threatnings; that is, mercy in his Judgments, which are still accompanied with conditions of repentance; and they might finde Thunder, in his Musique, in all his promises; that is, threatnings of Judgements, in our misuse of his mercies. Where the hereditary Leper, the new borne Child, into whose marrow, his fathers transgression, cleaves in originall sinne, and he that hath enwrapped Implicatos morbos, one disease in another, in Actuall sinnes, might not onelyonly come, if he would but be intreated to come, yea compelled to come, as it is expressed in the Gospell, when the Master of the feast sends into the streets, and to the hedges to compell blind and lame to come in to his feast. Luke 14. 21.A fountaine breaks out in the wildernesse, but that fountaine cares not, whether any Man come to fetch water, or no; A fresh, and fit gale blowes upon the Sea, but it cares not whether the Mariners hoise saile or no; A rose blowes in your garden, but it calls you not to smell to it. Christ Jesus hath done all this abundantly; he hath bought an Hospitall, he hath stored it with the true balme of Palestine, with his bloud, which he shed there, and he calls upon you all to come for it, Hoe every one that thirsteth; you that have no money, come buy Wine, and Milke without money: eate that which is good, and let your soules delight in fatnesse,Esay 55. 1. and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. This Hospitall, this way, and meanes to cure spirituall diseases, was all that Christ had for himselfe: but he improved it, he makes it a Church, and a glorious Church: which is our last consideration, Quis sinis, to what end, he bestowed all this cost.
His end was,Quis finis. that he might make it to himselfe a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle; Augstin. Retrac. l. 1. c. 7.but that end, must be in the end of all; here it cannot be: Cum tot a dicat ecclesia, quamdiu hîc est, Dimitte debita nostra, non utique hîc est sine macula et ruga, Since as yet the whole Church says, forgive us our Trespasses, the Church as yet is not without spots or wrinkles. The wrinkles are the Testimonies of our age; that is, our sinne derived from Adam; and the spots are the sinnes, which we contract our selves; and of these spots, and wrinkles, we cannot be delivered in this world. And therefore the Apostle says here, that Christ hath bestowed all this cost on this purchase, ut sisteret sibi Ecclesiam, that he might setle such a glorious, and pure Church to himselfe: first, ut sisteret, that he might setle it; which can onelyonly be done in heaven; for here in Earth, the Church will always have earthquakes. Opartet haereses esse; stormes, and schismes must necessarily be; the Church is in a warfare, the Church is in a pilgrimage, and therefore here is no setling. And then he doth it, ut sisteret sibi, to setle it to himselfe; for, in the tyranny of Rome, the Church was in some sort setled, things were carried quietly enough; for no Man durst complaine; but the Church was setled all upon the Vicar, and none upon the Parson: the glory of the Bishop of Rome, had eclipsed, and extinguished the glory of Christ Iesus. In other places we have seen the Church setled, so as that no man hath done or spoken any thing against the government thereof; but, this may have been a setling by strong hand, by severed discipline, and heavy Lawes; we see where Princes have changed the Religion, the Church may be setled upon the Prince, or setled upon the Prelates, that is, be serviceable to them, and be ready to promote and further any purpose of theirs, and all this while, not be setled upon Christ: this purpose, ut sisteret sibi, to setle such a glorious Church, without spot, or wrinkle, holy to himselfe, is reserved for the Triumphant time when she shall be in possession of that beauty, which Christ foresaw in her, long before when he said, Thou art all faire my love, and there is no spot in thee; Cant. 4.6.and when we that shall be the Children of the Mariage Chamber… shall be glad and rejoice, and give glory to him, because the Mariage of the Lambe is come, and his wife hath made her selfe ready; Apoc. 19 7.that is, we that are of that Church, shall be so clothed, as that our own clothes shall not defile us againe; as Io… complaines that they doe, as long as we are in this world; for, though I make me never so cleane, yet mine own clothes defile me againe, as it is in that place.
But yet, Beloved, Christ hath not made so improvident a bargaine, as to give so great a rate, himselfe, for a Church, so farre in reversion, as till the day of Judgement: That he should enter into bonds for this payment, from all eternity, even in the eternall decree between the Father, and him, that he should really pay this price, his precious bloud, for this Church, one thousand six hundred years agoe, and he should receive no glory by this Church till the next world… Here was a long lease, here were many lives; the lives of all the men in the world, to be served before him; But it is not altogether so; for he gave himselfe, that he might settle such a Church then, a glorious, and a pure Church: but all this while, the Church is building in heaven, by continuall accesse of holy Soules, which come thither, and all the way he workes to that end, He sanctifies it, and cleanses it, by the washing of water, through the word, as we find in our Text.
He therefore stays not so long, for our Sanctification, but that we have meanes of being sanctified here; Christ stays not so long for his glory, but that he hath here a glorious Gospell, his Word, and mysterious Sacraments here. Here then is the writing, and the Seale, the Word, and the Sacrament; and he hath given power, and commandement to his Ministers to deliver both writing, and Seale, the Word and Baptisme to his children. This Sacrament of Baptisme is the first; It is the Sacrament of inchoation, of Initiation; The Sacrament of the Supper, is not given but to them, who are instructed and presum'd to understand all Christian duties, and therefore the Word, (if we understand the Word, for the Preaching of the Word) may seeme more necessary at the administration of this Sacrament, then at the other. Some such thing seems to be intimated in the institution of the Sacraments. In the institution of the Supper, it is onelyonly said,Mat. 26. 26. Take, and eate and drinke, and doe that in remembrance of me; and it is onelyonly said that they sand a Pslame, and s… departed. In the institution of Baptisme there is more solemnity,Luke 11. 19. more circumstance; for first, it was instituted after Christs Resurrection, and then Christ proceeds to it,Mat. 28. 18. with that majesticall preamble, All power is given unto me in heaven, and in earth… and therefore, upon that title he gives power to his Apostles, to joine heaven and earth by preaching, and by baptisme: but here is more then singing of a Psalme; for Christ commands them first to teach, and then to baptize, and then after the commandement of Baptisme, he refreshes that commandement againe of teaching them, whom they baptized, to observe all things, that he had commanded them. I speake not this, as though Baptisme were uneffectuall without a Sermon; S. Angustines words, Accedat yerbum, & fiat Sacramentum, when the Word is joyned to the element, or to the Action, then there is a true Sacrament,Augustin. are ill understood by two sorts of Men… first by them, that say that it is not verbum Deprecatorium, nor verbum Conci…nat…riu…, not the word of Prayer, nor the word of preaching, but verbum Consecratorium, and verbum Sacramentale, that very phrase, and forme of words, by which the water is sanctified, and enabled of it selfe to cleanse our Soules; and secondly, these words are ill understood by them, who had rather their children dyed unbaptized, then have them baptized without a Sermon; whereas the use of preaching at baptisme is, to raise the whole Congregation, to a consideration, what they promised by others, in their baptisme; and to raise the Father and the Sureties to a consideration, what they undertake for the childe, whom they present then to be baptized; for therefore says Saint Augustine, Acoeda… verbum, there is a necessity of the word, Non qu…a dicitur, sed quia creditur, not because the word is pr…ached, but because it is beleeved; and That, Beleese, faith, belongs not at all to the incapacity of the child, but to the disposition of the rest; A Sermon is usefull for the congregation, not necessary for the child, and the accomplishment of the Sacrament.
From hence then arises a convenience, little lesse, then necessary, (in a kind) that this administration of the Sacrament be accompanied with preaching; but yet they that would evict an absolute necessity of it, out of these words, force them too much, for here the direct meaning of the Apostle is, That the Church is cleansed by water, through the word, when the promises of God expressed in his word, are sealed to us by this Sacrament of Baptisme: for so Saint Augustine answers himselfe in that objection, which he makes to himselfe, Cum per Baptis… fundati sint, quare sermoni tribuit radicem. He answers, In Sermone intelligendus Baptismus… Quia sine Sermone non perficitur. It is rooted, it is grounded in the word; and therefore true Baptisme, though it be administred, without the word, that is, without the word preached, yet it is never without the word, because the whole Sacrament, and the power thereof is rooted in the word, in the Gospell. And therefore since this Sacrament belongs to the Church, as it is said here (that Christ doth cleanse his Church by Baptisme) as it is argued with a strong probability, That because the Apostles did baptize whole families, therefore they did baptize some children, so we argue with an invincible certainty, that because this Sacrament belongs generally to the Church as the initiatory Sacrament, it belongs to children, who are a part, and for the most part, the most innocent part of the Church.
To conclude, As all those Virgins which were beautifull, were brought into Susan, Ad domum mulierum, to be anointed,Esther 2. and persumed, and prepared there for Assuerus delight, and pleasure, though Assuerus tooke not delight, and pleasure in them all, so we admit all those children which are within the Covenant made by God, to the elect, and their seed, In domum Sanctorum, into the houshold of the faithfull, into the communion of Saints: whom he chooseth for his Mariage day, that is, for that Church which he will settle upon himselfe in heaven, we know not; but we know that he hath not promised, to take any into that glory, but those upon whom he hath first shed these fainter beames of glory, and sanctification, exhibited in this Sacrament: Neither hath he threatned to exclude any but for sinne after. And therefore when this blessed child derived from faithfull parents, and presented by sureties within the obedience of the Church, shall have been so cleansed, by the washing of water, through the word, it is presently sealed to the possession of that part of Christs purchase, for which he gave himselfe, (which are the meanes of preparing his Church in this life) with a faithfull assurance, I may say of it and to it, Iam mundus es, Now you are clean…. through the word,Iohn 15. 3. which Christ hath spoken unto you: The Seale of the promises of his Gospell hath sanctified, and cleansed you; but yet, Mandatus mundandus, says Saint Augustine upon that place, It is so sanctified by the Sacrament, here, that it may be farther sanctified by the growth of his graces, and be at last a member of that glorious Church, which he shall settle upon himselfe, without spot, or wrinkle; which was the principall, and final purpose of that great love of his, whereby he gave himselfe for us, and made that love, first a patterne of Mens loves to their wives here, and then a meanes to bring Man, and wife, and child, to the kingdome of heaven. Amen.