Fifty Sermons, Sermons · Sermon 33
SERMON XXXIII.
Preached at Denmark house, some few days before the body of King Iames, was removed from thence, to his buriall, Apr. 26. 1625.
CANT. 3. 11.
Goe forth ye Daughters of Sion, and behold King Solomon, with the Crown, wherewith his mother crowned him, in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladnesse of his heart.
IN the Creation of man, in that one word, Faciamus, let VsUs make man, God gave such an intimation of the Trinity, as that we may well enlarge, and spread, and paraphrase that one word, so farre, as to heare therein, a councell of all the three Persons, agreeing in this gracious designe upon Man, faciamus, let us make him; make and him, mend him, and make him sure: I, the Father, will make him by my power; if he should fall, Thou the Sonne shalt repayr him, re-edify him, redeem him; if he should distrust, that this Redemption belonged not to him, Thou, the Holy Ghost, shalt apply to his particular soule, and conscience, this mercy of mine, and this merit of the Sonnes; and so let us make him. In our Text there is an intimation of another Trinity. The words are spoken but by one, but the persons in the text,Divisio. are Three; For first, The speaker, the Director of all, is the Church, the spouse of Christ, she says, Goe forth ye daughters of Sion; And then the persons that are called up, are, as you see, The Daughters of Sion, the obedient children of the Church, that hearken to her voice: And then lastly, the persons upon whom they are directed, is Solomon crowned, That is, Christ invested with the royall dignity of being Head of the Church; And in this, especially, is this applyable to the occasion of our present meeting (All our meetings now, are, to confesse, to the glory of God, and the rectifying of our own consciences, and manners, the uncertainty of the prosperity, and the assurednesse of the adversity of this world) That this Crown of Solomons in the text, will appear to be Christs crown of Thornes, his Humiliation, his Passion; and so these words will dismisse us in this blessed consolation, That then we are nearest to our crown of Glory, when we are in tribulation in this world, and then enter into full possession of it, when we come to our dissolution and transmigration out of this world: And these three persons, The Church, that calls, The children that hearken, and Christ in his Humiliation, to whom they are sent, will be the three parts, in which we shall determine this Exercise.
First then,1 Part. the person that directs us, is The Church; no man hath seen God, and lives; but no man lives till he have heard God; Ecclesia.for God spake to him, in his Baptisme, and called him by his name, then. Now, as it were a contempt in the Kings house, for any servant to refuse any thing, except he might heare the King in person command it, when the King hath already so established the government of his house, as that his commandements are to be signifyed by his great Officers: so neither are we to look, that God should speak to us mouth to mouth, spirit to spirit, by Inspiration, by Revelation. for it is a large mercy, that he hath constituted an Office, and established a Church, in which we should heare him. When Christ was baptized by Iohn, it is sayd by all those three Evangelists, that report that story, in particular circumstances, that there was a voice heard from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased: and it is not added in any of those three Evangelists, that that voice added, Hear him: for, after that Declaration, that he, who was visibly and personally come amongst them, was the Sonne of God, there was no reason to doubt of mens willingnesse to hear him, who went forth in person, to preach unto them, in this world; As long as he was to stay with them, it was not likely that they should need provocation, to hear him, therefore that was not added at his Baptisme, and entrance into his personall ministery: But when Christ came to his Transfiguration, which was a manifestation of his glory, in the next world, and an intimation of the approaching of the time of his going away, to the possession of that glory, out of this world, there that voyce from heaven sayes,Mat. 17. 5. This is my beloved Sonne, in whom I am well pleased, heare him: When he was gone out of this world, men needed a more particular solicitation to heare him; for how, and where, and in whom should they heare him, when he was gone? In the Church, for the same testimony that God gave of Christ, to authorize and justifie his preaching, hath Christ given of the Church, to justifie her power: The holy Ghost fell upon Christ, at his Baptism, and the holy Ghost fell upon the Apostles, (who were the representative Church) at Whitsontide: The holy Ghost tarried upon Christ then, and the holy Ghost shall tarry with the Church, us que ad consummationem, till the end of the world, And therefore, as we have that institution from Christ, Dic Ecclesiae, when men are refractary and perverse, to complaine to the Church, so have they who are complained of to the Church, that institution from Christ also, Audi Ecclesiam, Hearken to the voyce of God, in the Church; and they have from him that commination, If you disobey them, you disobey God; in what fetters soever they binde you, you shall rise bound in those fetters; and, as he who is excommunicated in one Diocese, should not be received in another; so let no man presume of a better state, in the Triumphant Church, then he holds in the Militant, or hope for communion there, that despises excommunication here. That which the Scripture says, God sayes, (says St. Augustine) for the Scripture is his word; and that which the Church says, the Scriptures say, for she is their word, they speak in her; they authorize her, and she explicates them; The Spirit of God inanimates the Scriptures, and makes them his Scriptures, the Church actuates the Scriptures, and makes them our Scriptures: Nihil salubrius, says the same Father, There is not so wholsome a thing; no soule can live in so good an aire, and in so good a diet, Quàm ut Rationem praecedat authoritas, Then still to submit a mans owne particular reason, to the authority of the Church expressed in the Scriptures: For, certainly it is very truly (as it is very usefully) said by Calvin, Semper nimia morositas, est ambitiosa, A frowardnesse, and an aptnesse to quarrell at the proceedings of the Church, and to be delivered from the obligations, and constitutions of the Church, is ever accompanied with an ambitious pride, that they might enjoy a licentious liberty; It is not because the Church doth truly take too much power, but because they would be under none; it is an ambition, to have all government in their own hands, and to be absolute Emperors of themselves, that makes them refractary: But, if they will pretend to believe in God, they must believe in God so, as God hath manifested himself to them, they must believe in Christ; so if they will pretend to heare Christ, they must heare him there, where he hath promised to speake, they must heare him in the Church.
The first reason then in this Trinity, 2 Part.the person that directs, is the Church; the Trumpet in which God sounds his Iudgements, and the Organ, in which he delivers his mercy; And then the persons of the second place, the persons to whom the Church speakes here, are Filiae Sion, The daughters of Sion, her owne daughters. We are not called, Filii Ecclesiae, sonnes of the Church: The name of sonnes may imply more virility, more manhood, more sense of our owne strength, then becomes them, who professe an obedience to the Church: Therefore, as by a name, importing more facility, more supplenesse, more application, more tractablenesse, she calls her children, Daughters. But then, being a mother, and having the dignity of a Parent upon her, she does not proceed supplicatorily, she does not pray them, nor intreat them, she does not say, I would you would go forth, and I would you would looke out, but it is Egredimini, & videte, imperatively, authoritatively, Do it, you must do it: So that she showes, what, in important and necessary cases, the power of the Church is, though her ordinary proceedings, by us, and our Ministery, be, To pray you, in Christs stead, to be reconciled to God. In your baptisme, your soules became daughters of the Church; and they must continue so, as long as they continue in you; you cannot devest your allegiance to the Church, though you would; no more then you can to the State, to whom you cannot say, … will be no subject. A father may dis-inherit his son, upon reasons, but even that dis-inherited childe cannot renounce his father. That Church which conceived thee, in the Covenant of God, made to Christians, and their seed, and brought thee forth in baptisme, and brought thee up in catechizing, and preaching, may yet, for thy misdemeanor to God in her; separate thee, à Mensa & Toro, from bed and board; from that sanctuary of the soule, the Communion Table, and from that Sanctuary of the body, Christian buriall, and even that Christian buriall gives a man a good rise, a good helpe, a good advantage, even at the last resurrection, to be laid down in expectation of the Resurrection, in holy ground, and in a place accustomed to Gods presence, and to have been found worthy of that Communion of Saints, in the very body, is some earnest, and some kinde of first-fruits, of the joyfull resurrection, which we attend: God can call our dead bodies from the sea, and from the fire, and from the ayre, for every element is his; but consecrated ground is our element. And therefore you daughters of Sion, holy and religious souls, (for to them onelyonly this indulgent mother speaks here) hearken ever to her voice; quarrell not your mothers honor, nor her discretion: Despise not her person, nor her apparell; Doe not say, she is not the same woman, she was heretofore, nor that she is not so well dressed, as she was then; Dispute not her Doctrine, Despise not her Discipline; that as you sucked her breasts in your Baptism, & in the other Sacrament, when you entred, and whilst you stayd in this life, so you may lie in her bosome, when you goe out of it. Hear her; & a good part of that, which you are to hear from her, is envolv'd & inwrapped in that wch we have propos'd to you, for our third part, Goe forth, & behold Solomon, &c.
Here are two duties enjoyn'd; at least two steps,3 Part. two degrees; Egredimini, Go forth, and then, Videte, Behold, contemplate; And, after the duty, or wrap'd in the duty, we have the Object, which we are to look upon, & in that, divers things to be considered; as we shall see in their order.Egredimini. First, when we are bid to Go forth, it is not to go so far, as out of that Church, in which God hath given us our station; for, as Moses says, That the word of God is not beyond Sea; so the Church of God, is not so beyond Sea, as that we must needs seek it there, either in a painted Church, on one side, or in a naked Church, on another; a Church in a Dropsie, overflowne with Ceremonies, or a Church in a Consumption, for want of such Ceremonies, as the primitive Church found usefull, and beneficiall for the advancing of the glory of God, and the devotion of the Congregation. That which Christ says to the Church it selfe, the Church says to every soule in the Church: Goe thy way forth,Cant. 1. 8. by the footsteps of the flocke; Associate thy selfe to the true shepheard, and true sheep of Christ Jesus, and stray not towards Idolatrous Chappels, nor towards schismaticall Conventicles, but goe by the footsteps of the flock; there must be footsteps, some must have gone that way before, take heed of Opinions, that begin in thy selfe; and the whole flock must have gone that way, take heed of opinions vented by a few new men, which have not had the establishment of a Church. And truly the best way to discerne footsteps, is Daniels way, Daniels way was to straw ashes, and so their footsteps that had been there, were easily discerned: Walke in thine own ashes, in the meditation of thine own death, or in the ashes of Gods Saints, who are dead before thee, in the contemplation of their example, and thou wilt see some footsteps of the flock, some impressions, some directions, how they went, and how thou art to follow, to the heavenly Jerusalem. In conversing evermore, with them which tread upon Carpets, or upon Marbles, thou shalt see no footsteps, Carpets and Marbles receive no impressions; Amongst them that tread in ashes, in the ways of holy sorrow, and religious humiliation, thou shalt have the way best marked out unto thee. Goe forth, that is, goe farther then thy selfe, out of thy selfe; at least out of the love of thy self, for that is but a short, a giddy, a vertiginous walk how little a thing is the greatest man? If thou have many rooms in thy selfe, many capacities to contemplate thy selfe in, if thou walke over the consideration of thy selfe, as thou hast such a title of Honour, such an Office of Command, such an Inheritance, such a pedegree, such a posterity, such an Allyance, if this be not a short walke, yet it is a round walke, a giddy, a vertiginous proceeding. Get beyond thine own circle; consider thy selfe at thine end, at thy death, and then Egredere, Goe further then that, Go forth and see what thou shalt be after thy death.
Still that which we are to look upon,Videte. is especially our selves, but it is our selves, enlarg'd & extended into the next world; for till we see, what we shall be then, we are but short-sighted. Wouldst thou say, thou knew'st a man, because thou hadst seen him in his Cradle? no more canst thou be said, to have known thy self, because thou knowest the titles, and additions, which thou hast received in this world; for all those things wch we have here, are but swadling clouts, & all our motions, & preferments, from place, to place, are but the rocking of a cradle. The first thing that Christ says to his spouse in the Canticles, is, If thou know not thy selfe, 1. 8.(for so all the Ancients read it, and so the Originall beares it) If thou know not thy selfe, O thou fairest of women; she might know, that she was the fairest of women, and yet not know her selfe; Thou mayst know, that thou art the happyest of men, in this world, and yet not know thy self. All this life is but a Preface, or but an Index and Repertory to the book of life; There, at that book beginnes thy study; To grow perfect in that book, to be dayly conversant in that book, to find what be the marks of them, whose names are written in that book, and to finde those marks, ingenuously, and in a rectified conscience, in thy selfe, To finde that no murmuring at Gods corrections, no disappointing of thy hopes, no interrupting of thy expectations, no frustrating of thy possibilities in the way, no impatience in sicknesse, and in the agony of death, can deface those marks, this is to goe forth, and see thy self, beyond thy self, to see what thou shalt be in the next world. Now, we cannot see our own face, without a glasse: and therefore in the old Temple,Exod. 38. 8. In, or about that laver of brasse, where the water, for the uses of the Church was reserved, Moses appointed looking-glasses to be placed; that so, at the entring into the Temple, men might see themselves, and make use of that water, if they had contracted any foulnesse, in any part about them. Here, at your coming hither now, you have two glasses, wherein you may see your selves from head to foot; One in the Text, your Head, Christ Iesus, represented unto you, in the name and person of Solomon, Behold King Solomon crowned, &c. And another, under your feet, in the dissolution of this great Monarch, our Royall Master, now layd lower by death then any of us, his Subjects and servants.
First then, behold your selves in that first glasse, Behold King Solomon; Solomon the sonne of David, Solomon.but not the Son of Bathsheba, but of a better mother, the most blessed Virgin Mary. For, Solomon, in this text, is not a proper Name, but an Appellative; a significative word: Solomon is pacificus, the Peacemaker, and our peace is made in, and by Christ Jesus: and he is that Solomon, whom we are called upon to see here. Now, as Saint Paul says, that he would know nothing but Christ, (that's his first abridgement) and then he would know nothing of Christ, but him crucifyed, (and that's the re-abridgement) so we seek no other glasse, to see our selves in, but Christ, nor any other thing in this glasse, but his Humiliation. What need we? Even that, his lowest humiliation, his death, is expressed here, in three words of exaltation, It is a Crown, it is a Mariage, it is the gladnesse of heart: Behold King Salomon crowned, &c.
The Crown, which we are called to see him crowned with, his mother put upon him; The Crown which his Father gave him, Corona.was that glory, wherewith he was glorifyed, with the Father, from all eternity, in his divine nature: And the Crown wherewith his Father crowned his Humane nature, was the glory given to that, in his Ascension. His Mother could give him no such Crown: she her selfe had no Crown, but that, which he gave her. The Crown that she gave him, was that substance, that he received from her, our flesh, our nature, our humanity; and this, Athanasius, and this, Saint Ambrose, calls the Crown, wherewith his Mother crowned him, in this text, his infirm, his humane nature. Or, the Corwn wherewith his Mother corwned him, was that Crown, to which, that infirme nature which he tooke from her, submitted him, which was his passion, his Crown of thornes; for so Tertullian, and divers others take this Crown of his, from her, to be his Crown of thorns: Woe to the Crown of pride, whose beauty is a fading flower, says the Prophet;Esa. 28. 1. But blessed be this Crown of Humiliation, whose flower cannot fade. Then was there truly a Rose amongst Thorns, when through his Crown of Thorns, you might see his title, Iesus Nazarenus: for, in that very name Nazarenus, is involved the signification of a flower; the very word signifies a flower. Esay's flower in the Crown of pride fades, and is removed; This flower in the Crown of Thornes fades not, nor could be removed; for, for all the importunity of the Jews, Pilate would not suffer that title to be removed, or to be changed; still Nazarenus remained, and still a rose amongst thorns. You know the curse of the earth, Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee; It did so to our Solomon here, it brought forth thornes to Christ,Gen. 3. 18. and he made a Crown of those thorns, not onelyonly for himself, but for us too, Omnes aculei mortis, in Dominici Corporis tolerantia, …btusi sunt, All the thorns of life and death,… are broken, or blunted upon the head of our Solomon, and now, even our thorns, make up our Crown, our tribulation in life, our dissolution in death, conduce to our glory: Behold him crowned with his Mothers Crown, for even that brought him to his Fathers Crown, his humiliation to exaltation, his passion to glory.
Behold your Solomon, your Saviour again,Desponsatio. and you shall see another beam of Comfort, in your tribulations from his; for even this Humiliation of his, is called his Espousals, his marriage, Behold him crowned in the day of his Espousals. His Spouse is the Church, His marriage is the uniting of himselfe to this Spouse, in his becomming Head of the Church. The great City, the heavenly Jerusalem, is called The Bride, and The Lambs wife, 21. 19.in the Revelation: And he is the Head of this body, the Bridegroom of this Bride, the Head of this Church, as he is The first-borne of the Dead; Death, that dissolves all ours, made up this marriage. His Death is his Marriage, and upon his Death flowed out from his side, those two Elements of the Church, water and bloud; The Sacraments of Baptisme, and of the Communion of himself. Behold then this Solomon crowned and married; both words of Exaltation, and Exultation, and both by Death and trust him for working the same effects upon thee; That thou (though by Death) shalt be crowned with a Crown of Glory, and married to him, in whose right and merit thou shalt have that Crown.
And Behold him once again,Letitia. and you shall see not a beam, but a stream of comfort; for this day, which is the day of his death, he calls here The day of the gladnesse of his heart. Behold him crowned in the day of the gladnesse of his heart. The fulnesse, the compasse, the two Hemispheres of Heaven, are often designed to us, in these two names, Ioy and Glory: If the Crosse of Christ, the Death of Christ, present us both these,Heb. 2. 9. how neare doth it bring, how fully doth it deliver Heaven it self to us in this life? And then we heare the Apostle say, We see Iesus, for the suffering of Death, crowned with Honour and Glory: There is half Heaven got by Death, Glory. And then,12, 2. for the joy that was set before him, he indured the Crosse; There is the other half, Ioy; 1 Pet. 4. 16.All Heaven purchased by Death. And therefore, if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, saith the Apostle; but let him glorifie God, In isto Nomine, as the vulgate read it; In that behalfe, as we translate it. But, In isto Nomine, saith S. August: Let us glorifie God, in that Name; Non solum in nomine Christiani, sed Chriani patientis, not onelyonly because he is a Christian in his Baptisme, but a Christian in a second Baptisme, a Baptisme of bloud; not onelyonly as he hath received Christ, in accepting his Institution, but because he hath conformed himself to Christ, in fulfilling his sufferings. And therefore, though we admit naturall and humane sorrow, in the calamities which overtake us, and surround us in this life: (for as all glasses will gather drops and tears from externall causes,Matth. 26. 38. Luc. 22. 44. Iam. 1. 2. so this very glasse which we looke upon now, our Solomon in the Text, our Saviour, had those sadnesses of heart toward his Passion, and Agonies in his passion) yet count it all Ioy when you fall into tentations, saith the Apostle: All Ioy, that is, both the interest, and the principall, hath the earnest and the bargain; for if you can conceive joy in your tribulations in this world, how shall that joy be multiplied unto you, when no tribulation shall be mingled with it? There is not a better evidence, nor a more binding earnest of everlasting Joy in the next world, then to find Ioy of heart in the tribulations of this; fixe thy self therefore upon this first glasse, this Solomon, thy Saviour, Behold King Solomon crownd, &c. and by conforming thy self to his holy sadnesse, and humiliation, thou shalt also become like him, in his Joy, and Glory.
But then the hand of God,Rex. hath not set up, but laid down another Glasse, wherein thou maist see thy self; a glasse that reflects thy self, and nothing but thy selfe. Christ, who was the other glasse, is like thee in every thing, but not absolutely, for sinne is excepted; but in this glasse presented now (The Body of our Royall, but dead Master and Soveraigne) we cannot, we doe not except sinne. Not onelyonly the greatest man is subject to naturall infirmities, (Christ himself was so) but the holiest man is subject to Originall and Actuall sinne, as thou art, and so a …it glasse for thee, to see thy self in. Ieat showes a man his face, as well as Crystall; nay, a Crystall glasse will not show a man his face, except it be steeled, except it be darkned on the backside: Christ as he was a pure Crystall glasse, as he was God, had not been a glasse for us, to have seen our selves in, except he had been steeled, darkened with our humane nature; Neither was he ever so throughly darkened, as that he could present us wholly to our selves, because he had no sinne, without seeing of which we do not see our selves. Those therefore that are like thee in all things, subject to humane infirmities, subject to sinnes, and yet are translated, and translated by Death, to everlasting Ioy, and Glory, are nearest and clearest glasses for thee, to see thy self in; and such is this glasse, which God hath proposed to thee, in this house. And therefore, change the word of the Text, in a letter or two from Egredimini, to Ingredimini; never go forth to see, but Go in and see a Solomon crowned with his mothers crown, &c. And when you shall find that hand that had signed to one of you a Patent for Title, to another for Pension, to another for Pardon, to another for Dispensation, Dead: That hand that settled Possessions by his Seale, in the Keeper, and rectified Honours by the sword, in his Marshall, and distributed relief to the Poore, in his Almoner, and Health to the Diseased, by his immediate Touch, Dead: That Hand that ballanced his own three Kingdomes so equally, as that none of them complained of one another, nor of him, and carried the Keyes of all the Christian world, and locked up, and let out Armies in their due season, Dead; how poore, how faint, how pale, how momentany, how transitory, how empty, how frivolous, how Dead things, must you necessarily thinke Titles, and Possessions, and Favours, and all, when you see that Hand, which was the hand of Destinie, of Christian Destinie, of the Almighty God, lie dead? It was not so hard a hand when we touched it last, nor so cold a hand when we kissed it last: That hand which was wont to wipe all teares from all our eyes, doth now but presse and squeaze us as so many spunges, filled one with one, another with another cause of teares. Teares that can have no other banke to bound them, but the declared and manifested will of God: For, till our teares flow to that Heighth, that they might be called a murmuring against the declared will of God, it is against our Allegiance, it is Disloyaltie, to give our teares any stop, any termination, any measure. It was a great part of Annaes prayse, Lue. 2. 37.That she departed not from the Temple, day nor night; visit Gods Temple often in the day, meet him in his owne House, and depart not from his Temples, (The dead bodies of his Saints are his Temples still) even at midnight; at midnight remember them, who resolve into dust, and make them thy glasses to see thy self in. Looke now especially upon him whom God hath presented to thee now, and with as much cheerfulnesse as ever thou heardst him say, Remember my Favours, or remember my Commandements; heare him say now with the wise man,Ecclus. 38. 22. Remember my Iudgement, for thine also shall be so; yesterday for me, and to day for thee; He doth not say to morrow, but to Day, for thee. Looke upon him as a beame of that Sunne, as an abridgement of that Solomon in the Text; for every Christian truely reconciled to God, and signed with his hand in the Absolution, and sealed with his bloud in the Sacrament, (and this was his case) is a beame, and an abridgement of Christ himselfe. Behold him therefore Crowned with the Crown that his Mother gives him: His Mother, The Earth. In an…ient times, when they used to reward Souldiers with particular kinds of Crowns, there was a great dignity in Corona graminea, in a Crown of Grasse: That denoted a Conquest, or a Defence of that land. He that hath but Coronam Gramineam, a turfe of grasse in a Church yard, hath a Crown from his Mother, and even in that buriall taketh seisure of the Resurrection, as by a turfe of grasse men give seisure of land. He is crowned in the day of his Marriage; for though it be a day of Divorce of us from him, and of Divorce of his body from his soul, yet neither of these Divorces breake the Marriage: His soule is married to him that made it, and his body and soul shall meet again, and all we, both then in that Glory where we shall acknowledge, that there is no way to this Marriage, but this Divorce, nor to Life, but by Death. And lastly, he is Crowned in the day of the gladnesse of his heart: He leaveth that heart, which was accustomed to the halfe joyes of the earth, in the earth; and he hath enlarged his heart to a greater capacity of Joy, and Glory, and God hath filled it according to that new capacity. And therefore, to end all with the Apostles words,1 Thess. 4. 13. I would not have you to be ignorant, Brethren, concerning them, which are asleepe, that ye sorrow not, as others that have no hope; for if ye beleeve that Iesus died, and rose again, even so, them also, which sleepe in him, will God bring with him. But when you have performed this Ingredimini, that you have gone in, and mourned upon him, and performed the Egredimini, you have gone forth, and laid his Sacred body, in Consecrated Dust, and come then to another Egredimini, to a going forth in many severall wayes: some to the service of their new Master, and some to the enjoying of their Fortunes conferred by their old; some to the raising of new Hopes … some to the burying of old, and all; some to new, and busie endeavours in Court, some to contented retirings in the Countrey; let none of us, goe so farre from him, or from one another, in any of our wayes, but that all we that have served him, may meet once a day, the first time we see the Sunne, in the eares of almighty God, with humble and hearty prayer, that he will be pleased to hasten that day, in which it shall be an addition, even to the joy of that place, as perfect as it is, and as infinite as it is, to see that face againe, and to see those eyes open there, which we have seen closed here. Amen.