Fifty Sermons, Sermons · Sermon 15
SERMON XV.
Preached at Lincolns Inne.
1 COR. 15. 50.
Now this I say Brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdome of God.
SAint Gregory hath delivered this story;Moral. 14. 29. That Eutychius, who was Bishop of Constantinople, having written a book of the Resurrection, and therein maintained that errour, That the body of Christ had not, that our bodies, in the Resurrection should not have any of the qualities of a naturall body, but that those bodies were, in subtilitatem redacta, so rarifyed, so refined, so atten…ated, and reduced to a thinnesse, and subtlenesse, that they were aery bodies, and not bodies of flesh and blood. This error made a great noise, and raised a great dust, till the Emperour, to avoid scandall, (which for the most part arises out of publick conferences) was pleased to hear Eutychius, and Gregory dispute this point privately before himself, and a small company; And, that upon conference, the Emperour was so well satisfyed, that hee commanded Eutychius his books to bee burnt. That after this, both Gregory and Eutychius fell sicke; but Eutychius dyed; and dyed with this protestation, In hâc carne, in this flesh, (taking up the flesh of his hand in the presence of them that were there) in this flesh, I acknowledge, that I, and all men shall arise at the day of Judgement. Now, the principall place of Scripture, which in his book, and in that conference Eutychius stood upon, was this Text, these words of Saint Paul; (This I say brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdome of God.) And the directest answer that Gregory gave to it was, Caro secundum culpam non regnabit, sed Caro secundum naturam; sinfull flesh shall not, but naturall flesh, that is, flesh indued with all qualities of flesh, all such qualities as imply no defect, no corruption, (for there was flesh before there was sin) such flesh, and such blood shall inherit the Kingdome of God.
As there have been more Heresies about the Humanity of Christ, then about his Divinity, so there have been more heresies about the Resurrection of his body, and consequently of ours, then about any other particular article, that concerns his Humiliation, or Exaltation. Simon Magus strook deepest at first, to the root; That there was no Resurrection at all; The Gnosticks, (who took their name from knowledge, as though they knew all, and no body else any thing, which is a pride transferr'd through all Heretickes: for, as that sect in the Roman Church, which call themselves Ignorantes, and seem to pretend to no knowledge, doe yet believe that they know a better way to heaven, then all other men doe, so that sect amongst them, which called themselves Nullanos, Nothings, thought themselves greater in the Kingdome of God, then either of the other two sects of diminution, the Minorits, or the Minims did) These Gnosticks acknowledged a Resurrection, but they said it was of the soul onelyonly, and not of the body, for they thought that the soul lay dead (at least, in a dead sleep) till the Resurrection. Those Heretickes that are called the Arabians, did (as the Gnosticks did) affirm a temporary death of the soul, as well as of the body, but then they allowed a Resurrection to both soul, and body, after that death, which the Gnostickes did not, but to the soul onelyonly. Hymeneus and Philetus, (of whom Saint Paul speakes) they restrained the Resurrection to the soule,2. Tim. 2. 18. but then they restrained this Resurrection of the soule to this life, and that in those who were baptized, the Resurrection was accomplished already. Eutychius, (whom wee mentioned before) enlarged the Resurrection to the body, as well as to the soul, but enlarged the qualities of the body so far, as that it was scarce a body. The Armenian hereticks said; that it was not onelyonly Corpus hum…num, but Corpus masculinum, That all should rise in the perfecter sex, and none, as women. Origen allowed a Resurrection, and allowed the Body to be a naturall body; but the contracted the time; he said, that when we rose we should enjoy the benefits of the resurrection, even in bodily pleasures, for a thousand years, and then be annihilated, or absorpted and swallowed up into the nature, and essence of God himselfe; (for, it will be hard to state Origens opinion in this point; Origen was not, herein, well understood in his owne time; not doe we understand him now, (for the most part) but by his accusers, and those that have written against him.) Divers of these Heretiques, for the maintenance of their severall heresies, perverted this Scripture, (Flesh and bloud cannot inherit the kingdome of God) and that occasioned those Fathers who opposed those heresies, so diverse from one another, to interpret these words diversly, according to the heresie they opposed. All agree, that they are an argument for the resurrection, though they seem at first, to oppose it. For, this Chapter hath three generall parts; first, Resurrectionem esse, that there shall be a Resurrection, which the Apostle proves by many and various arguments to the thirty fifth verse. And then Quati corpore, the body shall rise, but some will say, How are the dead raised, and with what body, doe they come? in that thirty fifth verse: And lastly, Quid de superstitibus, what shall become of them, who shall be found alive, at the day? We shall all be changed, verse fifty one. Now, this text is the knot, and corollary or all the second part, concerning the qualities of the bodies in the resurrection; Now, says the Apostle, now that I have said enough to prove that a resurrection there is, now, now that I have said enough what kind of bodies shall arise, now, I show you as much in the Negative as I have done in the Affirmative, now I teach you what to avoid, as well as I have done what to affect, now this I say brethren, that flesh and bloud cannot inherit the kingdome of God.
Now, though those words be primarily, principally intended of the last Resurrection, yet in a secondary respect, they are appliable in themselves, and very often applied by the ancients,Tertull. to the first Resurrection, our resurrection in this life. Tertullian hath intimated, and presented both together, elegantly, when he says of God, Nobis arrhabonem spiritus reliquit, & arrhabonem à nobis accepit, God hath given us his earnest, and a pawn from him upon earth, in giving us the holy Ghost, and he hath received our earnest, and a pawn from us into heaven, by receiving our nature, in the body of Christ Jesus there. Flesh and bloud, when it is conformed to the flesh and bloud of Christ now glorified, and made like his, by our resurrectien, may inherite the kingdome of God, in heaven. Yea flesh and bloud being conformed to Christ by the sanctification of the holy Ghost, here, in this world, may inherit the kingdome of God, here upon earth; for, God hath a kingdome here; and there is a Communion in Armes, as well as a communion in Triumph. Leaving then that acceptation of flesh and bloud, which many thinke to be intended in this text, that is, Animalis caro, flesh and bloud that must be maintained by eating, and drinking, and preserved by propagation and generation, that flesh, and that bloud cannot inherit heaven, where there is no marying, nor giving in mariage, but Erimus sicut Angeli, we shall be as the Angels, (though such a heaven, in part, Mahomet hath proposed to his followers, a heaven that should abound with worldly delights, and such a heaven the Disciples of Origen, and the Millenarians, that look for one thousand years of all temporall felicity, proposed to themselves; And, though amongst our latter men, Cajetan doe thinke, that the Apostle in this text, bent himselfe upon that doctrine, non caro, non Animalis caro, flesh and bloud, that is, no carnall, no worldly delights are to be looked for, in heaven,) leaving that sense, as too narrow, and too shallow for the holy Ghost, in this place, in which he hath a higher reach, we shall determine our selves at this time, in these too acceptations of this phrase of speech;Divisio. first, non caro, that is, non caro corrupta, flesh and bloud cannot, sinfull flesh, corrupt flesh, flesh not discharged of sinfull corruption here, by repentance, and Sanctification, and the operation of Gods spirit, such flesh cannot inherit the kingdome of God here. Secondly, noncar…, is non car… corruptibilis, flesh and bloud cannot, that is, flesh that is yet subject to corruption, and dissolution, and naturall passions and impressions, tending to defectivenesse, flesh that is still subject to any punishment that God lays upon flesh, for sinne, such flesh cannot inherit the kingdome of God hereafter; for our present possession of the kingdome of God here, our corrupt flesh must be purged by Sanctification here, for the future kingdome, our naturall Corruptiblenesse must be purged by glorification there. We will make the last part first, as this flesh, and this bloud, by devesting the corruptiblenesse it suffers here, by that glorification, shall inherit that kingdome; and, not stay long upon it neither. For, of that we have spoken conveniently before, of the resurrection it selfe. Now we shall looke a little into the qualities of bodies in the resurrection; and that, not in the intricacies, and subtilties of the Schoole, but onelyonly in that one patterne, which hath been given us of that glory, upon earth, which is the Transfiguration of Christ; for, that Transfiguration of his, was a representation of a glorified body in a glorified state. And then in the second place, we shall come to our first part, what that flesh and bloud is that is denied to be capable of the inheritance of that kingdome here, that is, that earnest of heaven, and that inchoation of heaven which may be had in this world; and, in that part we shall see, what this inheritance, what this title to heaven here, and what this kingdome of God, that heaven which is proposed to us here, is.
First then,1. Part. Melancthon. for the first acceptation, (which is of the later resurrection) no man denies that which Melancthon hath collected and established to be the summe of this text, Statuit resurrectionem in corpore, sed non quale jam corpus est; The Apostle establishes a resurrection of the body, but yet not such a body as this is. It is the same body, and yet not such a body; which is a mysterious consideration, that it is the same body, and yet not such as it selfe, nor like any other body of the same substance. But, what kind of body then? We content ourselves with that, Transfiguratio specimen appositissimum Resurrectionis, Musculus.the Transfiguration of Christ, is the best glasse to see this resurrection, and state of glory in. But how was that transfiguration wrought? We content our selves with Saint Hieromes expressing of it,Hierom. non pristinam amisit veritatem, vel formam corporis; Christ had still the same ture, and reall body, and he had the same forme, and proportion, and lineaments, and dimensions of his body, in it selfe. Transfiguratio non faciem subtraxit, sed splendorem ad didit, sayes he; It gave him not another face, but it super-immitted such a light, such an illustration upon him, as, by that irradiation, that coruscation, the beames of their eys were scattered, and disgregated, dissipated so, as that they could not collect them, as at other times, nor constantly, and confidently discerne him. Moses had a measure, a proportion of this; but yet when Moses came down with his shining face,Exod. 23. 29. Mat. 17. though they were not able to looke long upon him, they knew him to be Moses. When Christ was transfigured in the presence of Peter, Iames and Iohn, yet they knew him to be Christ. Transfiguration did not so change him, nor shall glorification so change us, as that we shall not be known. There is nothing to convince a man of error, nothing in nature, nothing in Scriptures, if he beleeve that he shall know those persons in heaven, whom he knew upon earth; and, if he conceive soberly, that it were a lesse degree of blessednesse, not to know them, then to know them, he is bound to beleeve that he shall know them,Aquin. for he is bound to beleeve, that all that conduces to blessednes shall be given him. The School resolves, that at the Judgement, all the sins of all, shall be manifested to all; even those secret sinfull thoughts that never came out of the heart. And, when any in the School differs or departs from this cōmon opinion, they say onelyonly,Lombar. that those sins which have been, in particular, repented, shall not be manifested: all others shall. And therefore it is a deep uncharitablenes, to reproach any man, of sins formerly repented; and a deep uncharitablenesse not to beleeve, that he whom thou seest at the Communion, hath repented his former sins; Reproach no man, after thou hast seen him receive, with last years sins; except thou have good evidence of his Hypocrisie then, or of his Relapsing after; For, in those two cases, a man remaines, or becomes againe guilty of his former sinnes. Now, if in heaven they shall know the hearts of one another, whose faces they never knew before, there is lesse difficulty in knowing them, whom we did know before. From this transfiguration of Christ, in which, the mortall eye of the Apostles, did see that representation of the glory of Christ, the Schooles make a good argument, that in heaven we shall doe it much more. And though in this case of the Transfiguration, in which the eyes of mortall men could have no proportion with that glory of heaven, this may bee well said to have been done, either Moderando lumen, (that God abated that light of glory) or Confortando visum, (that God exalted their sense of seeing supernaturally) no such distinctions, or modifications will bee needfull in heaven, because how highly soever the body of my Father, or of my friend shall bee glorifyed there, mine eyes shall be glorifyed as much, and we are both kept in the same proportion there, as wee had towards one another here; here my naturall eye could see his naturall face, and there mine eye is as much mended, as his body is, and my sense as much exalted as mine object; And as well, as I may know, that I am I; I may know, that He is He; for, I shall not know my selfe, nor that state of glory which I am then in, by any light of Nature which I brought thither, but by that light of Glory which I shall receive there. When therefore a man finds, that this consideration does him good in his conversation, and retards him towards some sinnes; how shall I stand then, when all the world shall see, that my solicitation hath brought such a woman to the stews, to the Hospitall, to hell, who had scap'd all this, if I had not corrupted her at first, (which no man in the world knew before, and all shall know then.) Or that my whispering, and my calumny hath overthrown such a man in his place, in his reputation, in his fortune (which he himself knew not before, and all shall know then.) Or, that my counsell, or my example hath been a furtherance to any mans spirituall edification here. He that in rectified reason, and a rectified conscience finds this, in Gods name let him beleeve; yea, for Gods sake let him take heed of not beleeving that we shall know one another, Actions and Persons, in the Resurrection, as the Apostles did know Christ at the Transfiguration, which was a Type of it.
This Transfiguration then upon earth; was the same glory, which Christ had after, in heaven.Transfiguratio. Hierom. Qualis venturus, talis apparuit; such as all eyes shall see him to be, when he comes in glory at last, those Apostles saw him then, but of the particular circumstances, even of this transfiguration upon earth, there is but little said to us. Let us modestly take that which is expressed in it, and not search over-curiously farther into that which is signifyed, and represented by it; which is, the state of glory in the Resurrection. First, his face shin'd as the Sunne, says that Gospell, he could not take a higher comparison,Sol. Mat. 17. 2. for our Information, and for our admiration in this world, then the Sunne. And then, the Saints of God in their glorifyed state are admitted to the same comparison. The righteous shall shine out as the Sunne in the Kingdome of the Father; the Sunne of the firmament which should be their comparison,13. 43. will be gone; But the Sun of grace and of glory, the Son of God shall remain; and they shall shine as he; that is, in his righteousnesse.
In this transfiguration,Nix. his clothes were white, says the text; but how white, the holy Ghost does not tell us at once, as white as snow, says Saint Mark, as white as light, says Saint Matthew. Let the garments of the glorifyed Saints of God be their bodies, and then,9. 3. their bodies are as white as snow, as snow that fall's from heaven, and hath tou…ht no pollution of the earth. For, though our bodies have been upon earth, and have touched pitch, and have been defiled, yet that will not lye in proof, not be given in evidence; Though he that drew me, and I that was drawen too, know, in what unclean places, and what unclean actions, this body of mine hath been, yet it lyes not in proof, it shall not be given in evidence, for, Accusator fratrum, The accuser of the brethren is cast down, Apoc. 12. 10.the Devill shall find nothing against me; And if I had spontaneum Daemonem, as Saint Chrysostome speaks, a bosome Devill, and could tempt my self, though there had been no other tempter in this world, so I have spontan…um Demonem, a bosome accuser, a conscience that would accuse me there, if I accuse my self there, I reproach the mercy of God, who hath seal'd my pardon, and made even my body, what sins soever had discoloured it, as white as snow.
As white as snow, Lux:and as white as light, says that Gospel. Light implies an active power, Light is operative, and works upon others. The bodies of the Saints of God; shall receive all impressions of glory in themselves, and they shall doe all that is to bee done, for the glory of God there. There, they shall stand in his service, and they shall kneel in his worship, and they shall fall in his reverence, and they shall sing in his glory, they shall glorifie him in all positions of the body; They shall be glorified in themselves passively, and they shall glorifie God actively, sicut Nix, sicut Lux, their beeing, their doing shall be all for him; Thus they shall shine as the Sun; Thus their garments shall be white, white as snow, in being glorified in their own bodies, white as light, in glorifying God in all the actions of those bodies.
Now,Societas. there is thus much more considerable, and applyable to our present purpose, in this tranfiguration of Christ, that there was company with them. Be not apt to think heaven in an Ermitage, or a Monastery, or the way to heaven a sullen melancholy; Heaven, and the way to it, is a Communion of Saints, in a holy cheerfulnesse. Get thou thither; make sure thine own salvation; but be not too hasty to think, that no body gets thither, except he go thy way in all opinions, and all actions.
There was company in the transfiguration;Quaesocietas. but no other company then Moses, and Elias, and Christ, and the Apostles; none but they, to whom God had manifested himself otherwise then to a meer naturall man, otherwise then as a generall God. For, in the Law, and in the Padagogie, and Schoolmastership, and instruction thereof, God had manifested himself particularly by Moses, In Elias and the Prophets, whom God sent in a continuall succession, to refresh that manifestation which he had given of himself in the Law, before, in the example of these rules, in him, who was the consummation of the Law, and the Prophets, Christ Iesus; And then, in the Application of all this, by the Apostles, and by the Church established by them, God had more particularly manifested himself, then to naturall men. Moses, Elias, Christ, and the Apostles, make up the houshold of the faithfull; and none have interest in the Resurrection, but in, and by these; These, to whom, and by whom, God hath exhibited himself, to his Church, by other notions, then as one universall God; For, nothing will save a man, but to believe in God; so as God hath proposed himself, in his Son, in his Scriptures, in his Christ.
These were with him in the transfiguration,Communicatio. and they talked with him, says that text. As there is a Communion of Saints, so there is a Communication of Saints. Think not heaven a Charter-house, where men, who onelyonly of all creatures, are enabled by God to speak, must not speak to one another. The Lord of heaven is Verbum, The word, and his servants there talk of us here, and pray to him for us.
They talked with him; but of what? They talked of hi… Decease, Quae communicatio. Luke 9. 31.(says the text there) which he should accomplish at Jerusalem, all that they talked of, was of his Passion. All that we shall say, and sing in heaven, will be of his Passion, accomplished at Jerusalem, in that Hymn,Apoc. 5. 9. 12. This Lamb hath redeemed as to God, by his blood; Worthy is the Lamb that was slaine, to receive power, and riches, and wisdome, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing, Amen. Even our glory in heaven, at last, is not principally for our selves, but to contribute to the glory of Christ Jesus. If we inquire further then this, into the state of our glorifyed bodies, remember that in this reall Parable, in this Type of the Resurrection,Mar. …. 6. the transfiguration of Christ, it is said, that even Beter himself wist not what to say; and remember too, That even Christ himself forbad them to say any thing at all of it,Mat. 17. 9. till his Resurrection. Till our Resurrection, we cannot know clearly, we should not speak boldly, of the glory of the Saints of God, nor of our blessed endowments in that state.
The summe of all is,Tertull. Fiducis Christianorum est resurrectio mortuorum; My faith directs it self first upon that which Christ hath done, he is dead, he is risen; and my hope directs it selfe upon that which shall bee done, Luther.I shall rise again. And yet says Luther, Papa, Cardinales & primarii viri, I know the Pope, the Cardinals, the Bishops are I…genio, doctrinâ, ratione, prudentiâ excellentes, they abound in naturall parts, in reading, in experience, in civill wisdome: yet says he, si tres sunt, qui hunc …ticulum indubitanter …redunt, If there be three amongst them. that do faithfully and undoubtedly believe this article of the Resurrection of the body, three are more then I look for amongst them. Beloved, as no things are liker one another, then Court and Court, the same ambitions, the same underminings in one Court as in another, so Church and Church is alike too; All persecured Churches are religious, all peaceable Churches are dissolute, when Luther said that of the Church of Rome, (That few of them believed the Resurrection) the Roman Church wall owed in all abundances, and dissolutenesse… and scarce a man, (in respect) opened his mouth against her, otherwise then that the holy Ghost, to make his continuall …, and to interrupt their prescription, in every age raised up some to declare their impieties and usurpations. But then, when they bent all their thoughts entirely, and prosperously upon possessing this world, they thought they might spare the Resurrection well enough; As hee that hath a plentifull fortune in Europe, cares not much though there be no land of perfumes in the East, nor of gold, in the West-Indies; God in our days, hath given us, and our Church, the fat of the glory of this world too, and we also neglect the other: But when men of a different religion from them, (for they will needs call a differing from their errours, a different Religion, as though all their religion were errours, for (excepting errours) we differ in no point) when, I say, such men came to enquire into them, to discover them, and to induce or to attempt in divers parts of their government a reformation, then they shut themselves up closer, then they grew more carefull of their manners, and did reform themselves somewhat, though not thoroughly, and are the better for that reformat on which was offered to them, and wrought more effectually upon others? As we say in the School, that even the Devill is somewhat the better for the death of Christ, so the Roman Church is somewhat the better for the Reformation. Our assiduity of preaching hath brought them to another manner of frequency in preaching, then before the Reformation they were accustomed to, and our answers to their books have brought them to a more reserved manner of writing, then they used before. Let us therefore by their example, make as good use of our enemies, as our enemies have done of us. For, though we have no military enmity, no hostility with any nation, though we must all, and doe, out of a true sense of our duty to God, pray ever for the continuance of peace amongst Christian Princes, and to withhold the effusion of Christian blood, yet to that intendment, and in that capacity as they were our enemies in 88. when they provoked by their Excommunications, dangerous invasions, and in that capacity as they were our enemies in 603. when they bent their malice even against that place, where the Laws for the maintenance of our religion were enacted, so they are our enemies still, if we be still of the same religion. He that by Gods mercy to us, leads us, is as sure that the Pope is Antichrist, now, as he was then; and we that are blessedly led by him, are as sure, that their doctrine is the doctrine of Devils, now, as we were then. Let us therefore make use of those enemies, and of their aery insolences, and their frothy confidences, as thereby to be the firmer in our selves, and the carefuller of our children, and servants, that we send not for such a Physitian as brings a Roman Priest for his Apothecary, nor entertain such a School-master, as brings a Roman Priest for his Vsher, nor such a Mercer, as brings a Priest for his Tayler;) for, in these shapes they have, and will appear.) But in true faith to God, true Allegiance to our Prince, true obedience to the Church, true dealing with all men, make our selves sure of the Resurrection in the next life; In carne incorruptibili, in flesh that shall bee capable of no corruption, by having that resurrection in this life, in carne incorruptâ, in devesting or correcting the corruptions which cleave to our flesh here, that we bee not corrupted spiritually, (not disputed out of our Religion, nor jeasted out, nor threatened out, nor bought out, nor beat out of the truth of God) nor corrupted carnally by the pleasures or profits of this world, but that wee may conforme our selves to the purity of Christ Jesus, in that measure, which wee are able to attain to, which is our spirituall Resurrection, and constitutes our second part, That Kingdome of God, which flesh and blood may inherit in this life.
From the beginning we setled that,2. Part. That the primary purpose of the Apostle in these words, was to establish the doctrine of the last Resurrection. But in Tertullians exposition, Arrabonem dedit, & arrabonem accepit; That God hath left us the earnest of his Spirit upon earth, and hath taken the earnest of our flesh into heaven, it grew indifferent, of which Resurrection, spirituall, or bodily, first, or last, it be accepted. but take Tertullian in another place, upon the verse immediately preceding our Text (Sicut portavimus, portemus, (for so Tertullian reads that place, and so does the Vulgate) As we have born the image of the earthly, so let us beare the Image of the heavenly) there from Tertullian it must necessarily be referred to the first Resurrection, the Resurrection by grace in this life, for, says he there, Non refertur ad substantiam resurrectionis, sed ad pr…sentis temporis disciplinam; the Apostle does not speak of our glorious resurrection at last, but of our religious resurrection now. Portemus, non portabimus, Let us bear his image, says the Apostle; Let us now, not that we shall bear it at the last day. Praeceptive dictum, non promissive; The Apostle delivers it as a duty, that we must, not as a reward, that wee shall bear that image. And therefore in Tertulli… construction, it is not onelyonly indifferent, and probable, but necessary to refer this Text to the first Resurrection in this life; where it will be fittest, to pursue that order, which we proposed at first, first to consider Quid regnum, what Kingdome it is, that is pretended to; And then, Quid haeredetas, what estate and term is to be had in it: It is an Inheritance. And lastly, Quid care, & sanguis, what flesh and blood it is, that is excluded out of this Kingdome. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdome of God.
First, for this kingdome of God in this world, let us be glad that it is a kingdome, that it is so much, Regnum Dei.that the government is taken out of the hands of Saints, and Angels and re-united, re-annexed to the Crown, restoted to God, to whom we may come immediately, and be accepted. Let us be glad that it is a kingdome, so much, and let us be glad that it is but a kingdome, and no more, not a Tyranny; That we come not to a God that will dam…e us, because he will dam…e us, but a God that proposes Conditions, and enables us to performe those conditions, in such a measure as he will vouchsafe to accept from us; A God that governs us by his word, for in his word is truth, and by his law, for in his law is clearnesse. Will you aske what this kingdome of God is? What did you take it to be, or what did you mean by it, when, even now, you said with me, in the Lords prayer, Thy kingdome come? Did you deliberately, and determinately pray for the day of Judgment, and for his comming in the kingdome of glory, then?Hierom. Were you all ready for that, when you said so? Purae conscientiae, & grandis audaciae est, It is a very great confidence, and (if it be not grounded upon a very pure conscience) it must have a worse name, Regnum Dei postul are, & judicium non time…; To call upon God for the day of Judgment, upon confidence of our own righteousnesse, is a shrewd distemper; To say, V…ni Domine Iesu, come Lord Iesu… come and take us, as thou findst us, is a dangerous issue. But Adveniat regnum, and then veniat Rex, let his kingdome of grace come upon us, in this life, and then let himselfe come too, in his good time, and when his good pleasure shall be, in the kingdome of Glory: Sive velimus sive nolimus,Augustin. regnum Dei utique veniet, what need we hasten him, provoke him? says Saint Augustine; whether we will or no, his kingdome, his Judgment will come. Nay, before we called for it, even his kingdome of grace was come. Christ said to the Scribe,Mar. 12. 34. Luke 17. 21. Non longè, Thou art not far from the kingdome of God; And to the Pharisees themselves he said; Intra vos, the kingdome of God is among you, within you. But, where there is a whole Hospitall of three hundred blinde men together, (as there is at Paris) there is as much light, amongst them there, as amongst us here, and yet all they have no light, so this kingdome of God is amongst us all, and yet God knows whether we see it,Augustin. or no. And therefore Adveniat ut manifestet…r Deus, says S. Augustine, his kingdom come, that we may discerne it is come, that we may see that God offers it to us; and, Adveniat regnum, ut manefestemur Deo, his kingdome come so, that he may discernus in our reception of that Kingdom, and our obedience to it. He comes when we see him, and he comes again,Idem. when we receive him: Quid est, Regnum ejus veniat, quàm ut nos bonos inveniat? Then his Kingdome comes, when he finds us willing to be Subjects to that Kingdome. God is a King in his own right. By Creation, by Redemption, by many titles, and many undoubted claimes.Chrys. But, Aliud est Regem esse, aliud regnare, It is one thing to be a King, another to have Subjects in obedience; A King is not the lesse a King, for a Rebellion; But, Verè justum regnum est, (says that Father) quando & Rex vult homines habere sub se, & cupiunt homines esse sub …o, when the King would wish no other Subjects, nor the Subjects other King, then is that Kingdom come, come to a durable, and happy state. When God hath shewed himself in calling us, and wee have shewed our willingnesse to come, when God shewes his desire to preserve us,Psal. 97. 1. and we adhere onelyonly to him, when there is a Dominus regnat, Latetur terra, When our whole Land is in possession of peace, and plenty, and the whole Church in possession of the Word and Sacraments, when the Land rejoyces because the Lord reigns; and when there is a Dominus regnat, Laetentur Insulae, Because the Lord reigneth, every Island doth rejoice; that is, every man; that every man that is encompassed within a Sea of calamities in his estate, with a Sea of diseases in his body, with a Sea of scruples in his understanding, with a Sea of transgressions in his conscience, with a Sea of sinking and swallowing in the sadnesse of spirit, may yet open his eyes above water, and find a place in the Arke above all these, a recourse to God, and joy in him, in the Ordinances of a well established, and well governed Church, this is truly Regnum Dei, the Kingdome of God here; God is willing to be present with us, (that he declares in the preservation of his Church) And we are sensible of his presence, and residence with us, and that wee declare in our frequent recourses to him hither, and in our practise of those things which we have learnt here, when we are gone hence.
This then is the blessed state that wee pretend to,Haereditas. in the Kingdome of God in this life; Peace in the State, peace in the Church, peace in our Conscience: In this, that wee answer the motions of his blessed Spirit here in his Ordinance, and endevour a conformity to him, in our life, and conversation; In this, hee is our King, and wee are his Subjects, and this is this Kingdome of God, the Kingdome of Grace. Now the title, by which we make claim to this Kingdome, is in our text Inheritance: Who can, and who cannot inherit this Kingdome of God. I cannot have it by purchase, by mine own merits and good works; It is neither my former good disposition, nor Gods fore-sight of my future cooperation with him, that is the cause of his giving mee his grace. I cannot have this by Covenant, or by the gift, or bequeathing of another, by works of Supererogation, (that a Martyr of the primitive Church should send mee a violl of his blood, a splinter of his bone, a Collop of his flesh, wrapped up in a halfe sheet of paper, in an imaginary six-penny Indulgence from Rome, and bid mee receive grace; and peace of Conscience in that.) I cannot have it by purchase, I cannot have it by gift, I cannot have it by Curtesie, in the right of my wife, That if I will let her live in the obedience of the Roman Church, and let her bring up my children so, for my selfe, I may have leave to try a Court, or a worldly fortune, and bee secure in that, that I have a Catholique wife, or a Catholique child to pray, and merit for mee; I have no title to this Kingdome of God. but Inheritance, whence growes mine Inheritance? Ex semine Dei; because I am propagated of the seed of God, I inherit this peace. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit finne; 1 Ioh. 3. 9.for, his seed remaineth in him, and hee cannot sinne, because hee is born of God: That is, hee cannot desire to sinne; Hee cannot antidate a sinne, by delighting in the hope of a future sin, and sin in a praefruition of his sinne, before the act; Hee cannot post-date a sinne, delight in the memory of a pastsinne, and sin it over againe, in a post-fruition of that sinne; Hee cannot boast himself of sinne, much lesse bely himself in glorying in sinnes, never done; Hee cannot take sinnes dyet, therefore, that hee may bee able to sinne againe next Spring; Hee cannot hunger and thirst, and then digest and sleepe quietly after a sinne; and to this purpose, and in this sense Saint Bernard says, Praedestinati non possunt peccare, That the Elect cannot sinne; And in this also, That when the sinnes of the Elect, are brought to tryall, and to judgement, there their sinnes are no sinnes; not because they are none in themselves, but because the blood of Jesus covering them, they are none in the eyes of God. I am Heir then as I am the Son of God, born of the seed of God. But, what is that seed? Verbum Dei, Iames 1. 18.the seed is the word of God, Of his own will beg at he us, (says that Apostle) with the word of truth; And our Saviour himselfe speaks very clearly in expounding the Parable;Luke 8. 11. The seed is the word of God. We have this Kingdome of God, as we have an inheritance, as we are Heirs; we are Heirs as we are Sons; we are Sons as we have the seed, and the seed is the Word. So that all ends in this; We inherit not this Kingdome if we possesse not the preaching of the Word; if we professe not the true …ligion still: for, the word of this text which we translate to inherit, for the most part, in the translation of the Septuagint, answers the Hebrew word, Nachal; and Nachal is Haereditas cum possessione; Exod. 34. 9. Hier.not an inheritance in reversion, but in possession. Take us O Lord for thine inheritance, says Moses; Et possideas nos, as Saint H…erome translates that very place; Inherit us, and Possesse us; Et erimus tibi, whatsoever we are, we will bee thine, says the Septuagint: You see then how much goes to the making up of this Inheritance of the Kingdome of God in this world, First, Vt habeamus verbum, That we have this seed of God, his word; (In the Roman Church they have it not; not that that Church hath it not, not that it is not there; but they, the people that have it not) and then, Vt possideamus, That we possesse it, or rather that it possesse us; that we make the Word the onelyonly rule of our faith, and of our actions; (In the Roman Church they do not so, they have not pure wheat, but mestlin, other things joyned with this good seed, the word of God) and lastly, Vt simus Deo, That we be his, that we be so still, that we doe not begin with God, and give over, but that this seed of God, of which we are born,11. 23. may (as Saint Peter says) be incorruptible, and abide for ever; that wee may be his so entirely, and so constantly, as that we had rather have no beeing, then for any time of suspension, or for any part of his fundamentall truth, be without it, and this the Roman Church cannot be said to do, that expunges and interlines articles of faith,Mal. 2: 15. upon Reason of State, and emergent occasions. God hath made you one, says the Prophet,Ribera. who bee the parties whom God hath maryed together, and made One, in that place? you and your religion; (as our expositors interpret that place.) And why One, says the Prophet there; That God might have a godly seed, says he, that is, a continuation, a propagation, a race, a posterity of the same religion; Therefore says he, Let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. Let none divorce himself from that religion, and that worship of God, which God put into his armes, and which he embraced in his Baptism. Except there be errour in fundamentall points, such as make that Church no Church, let no man depart from that Church, and that religion, in which he delivered himself to the service of God at first. Wo be unto us, if we deliver not over our religion to our posterity, in the same sincerity, and the same totality in which our Fathers have delivered it us; for that, that continuation, is that, that makes it an inheritance: for, (to conclude this) every man hath an inheritance in the Law, and yet if he be hanged, he is hanged by the Law, in which hee had his inheritance: so wee have our inheritance in the Word of God, and yet, if wee bee damned, we are damned by that Word;Deut. 30. 18. If thy heart turn away, so as that thou worship other Gods, I denounce unto you this day, that you shall surely perish. So then, wee have an inheritance in this Kingdome, if we preserve it, and we incurre a forfeiture of it, if wee have not this seed, (The Word, the truth of Religion) so as that we possesse it; that is, conform our selves to him, whose Word it is, by it, and possesse it so, as that we persevere in the true profession of it, to our end; for, Perseverance, as well as Possession, enters into our title, and inheritance to this Kingdome.
You see then,Caro & sanguis. what this Kingdome of God is; It is, when he comes, and his welcome, when he comes in his Sacraments, and speaks in his Word; when he speaks and is answered; knocks and is received, (he knocks in his Ordinances, and is received in our Obedience to them, he knocks in his example, and most holy conversation, and is received in our conformity, and imitation.) So have you seen what the Inheritance of this Kingdome is, it is a Having, and Holding of the Gospel, a present, and a permanent possession,Apoc. 3. 11. a holding fast, lest another (another Nation, another Church) take our Crown. There remains onelyonly that you see, upon whom the exclusion fals; and for the clearing of that, This I say brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdome of God.
It is fully express'd by Saint Paul,Rom. 8. 7. The carnall mind is enmity against God. It is not a coldnesse, a slacknesse, an omission, a preterition of some duties towards God, but it is Enmity, and that's an exclusion out of the Kingdome; for, (says the Apostle there) it is not subject to the Law of God; and no subjection, no Kingdome; it is not, says hee, neither can it be; It is not, that excludes the present; It cannot be, that excludes the future; so that it is onelyonly this incorrigible, this desperate state that constitutes this flesh, and blood, that cannot inherit the Kingdome of God; for this implies impenitablenesse, which is the sin against the holy Ghost. Take the word flesh, so literally, as that it be either the adorning of my flesh in pride, or the polluting of my flesh in wantonnes, whether it be a pampering of my flesh with voluptuous provocations, or a withering, a shriveling of my flesh with superstitious and meritorious fastings, or other macerations, and lacerations by inhumane violence upon my body; Take the word Bloud so literally, as that it be either an admiring and adoring of honourable blood, in a servile flattering of great persons, or an insinuating of false and adulterous blood, in a bastardizing a race, by supposititious children, whether it bee the inflaming the blood of young persons by lascivious discourse, or shedding the blood of another in a murderous quarrell, whether it be in blaspheming the blood of my Saviour, in execrable oathes, or the prophaning of his blood in an unworthy receiving thereof, all these ways, and all such, doth this flesh and blood exclude from the Kingdome of God; It is summarily, all those works which proceed meerly out of the nature of man, without the regeneration of the Spirit of God; all that is flesh and blood, and enmity against God, says the Apostle in that place.
But in another place,Gal. 5. 19. that Apostle leads us into other considerations; to the Galatians he says, The works of the flesh are manifest: And amongst those manifest works of the flesh, he reckons not onelyonly sins of wantonnesse, and sins of anger, not onelyonly sins in concupiscibili, and in irascibili, but in intelligibili, sins and errours in the understanding, particularly Heresie, and Idolatry are works of the flesh, in Saint Pauls inventory, in that place, Heresie and Idolatry, are that flesh and blood which shall not inherit the Kingdome of God. Bring wee this consideration home to our selves. The Church of Rome does not charge us with affirming any Heresie, nor does she charge us with any Idolatry in our practise. So far we are discharged from the works of the flesh. If they charge us with Doctrine of flesh and blood because we prefer Mariage before Chastity, it is a charge ill laid, for Mariage and Chastity consist well together; The bed undefiled is chastity. If they charge us that wee prefer Mariage before Continency, they charge us unjustly, for we do not so: Let them contain that can, and blesse God for that heavenly gift of Continency, and let them that cannot, mary, and serve God, and blesse him for affording them that Physick for that infirmity. As Mariage was ordained at first, for those two uses, Procreation of children, and mutuall assistance of man, and wife, so Continency was not preferr'd before Mariage. As there was a third use of Mariage added after the fall, by way of Remedy, so Mariage may well be said to be inferiour to continency, as physick is in respect of health. If they charge us with it, because our Priests mary, they doe it frivolously, and impertinently, because they deny that wee are Priests. We charge them with Heresie in the whole new Creed of the Councell of Trent, (for, if all the particular doctrines be not Hereticall, yet, the doctrine of inducing new Articles of faith is Hereticall, and that doctrine runs through all the Articles, for else they could not be Articles.) And we charge them with Idolatry, in the peoples practise, (and that practise is never controld by them) in the greatest mystery of all their Religion, in the Adoration of the Sacrament; And Heresie and Idolatry are manifest works of the flesh. Our Kingdome is the Gospel; our Inheritance is our holding that; our exclusion is flesh and blood, Heresie and Idolatry. And therefore let us be able to say with the Apostle, when God had called us, and separated us, immediately we conferred not with flesh and blood. Gal. 1. 16.Since God hath brought us into a fair prospect, let us have no retrospect back; In Canaan, let us not look towards Aegypt, nor towards Sodom being got to the Mountain; since God hath setled us in a true Church, let us have no kind of byas, and declination towards a false; for that is one of Saint Pauls manifest works of the flesh, and I shall lose all the benefit of the flesh and bloud of Christ Jesus, if I doe so, for flesh and bloud cannot inherite the kingdome of God.
We have done; Adde we but this, by way of recollecting this which hath been said now, upon these words, and that which hath been formerly said upon those words of Iob, 19. 26.which may seem to differ from these, (In my flesh I shall see God) Omne verum omni vero consentiens, whatsoever is true in it selfe agrees with every other truth. Because that which Iob says, and that which Saint Paul says, agree with the truth, they agree with one another. For, as Saint Paul says, Non omni… caro eadem caro, there is one flesh of man, another of beasts, so there is one flesh of Iob, another of Saint Paul; 1 Cor. 15. 39.And Iobs flesh can see God, and Pauls cannot; because the flesh that Iob speakes of hath overcome the destruction of skin and body by wormes in the grave, and so is mellowed and prepared for the sight of God in heaven; And Pauls flesh is overcome by the world. Iobs flesh triumphes over Satan, and hath made a victorious use of Gods corrections, Pauls flesh is still subject to tentations, and carnalities. Iobs argument is but this, some flesh shall see God, (Mortified men here, Glorified men there shall) Pauls argument is this, All flesh shall not see God, (Carnall men here, Impenitent men there, shall not.) And therefore, that as our texts answer one another, so your resurrections may answer one another too, as at the last resurrection, all that heare the sound of the Trumpet, shall rise in one instant, though they have passed thousands of years between their burialls, so doe all ye, who are now called, by a lower and infirmer voice, rise together in this resurrection of grace. Let him that hath been buried sixty years, forty years, twenty years, in covetousnesse, in uncleannesse, in indevotion, rise now, now this minute, and then, as Adam that dyed five thousand before, shall be no sooner in heaven, in his body, then you, so Abel that dyed for God, so long before you, shall be no better, that is, no fuller of the glory of heaven, then you that dye in God, when it shall be his pleasure to take you to him.