Fifty Sermons, Sermons · Sermon 37
SERMON XXXVII.
Preached at St. Pauls on Midsommer day. 1622.
JOHN 1. 8.
He was not that light, but was sent to beare witnesse of that light.
OF him, who was this light, which Iohn Baptist is here denyed to be, I spoke out of these words, and out of this place, the first time that I ascended to it, upon the great Epiphany, (as the first Church used to call it) the manifestation of Christ Iesus in the flesh, Christmas day; I reserved the rest of the Text, which concernes Iohn Baptist himself, and his office, for this day, in which the Church celebrates his memory, who, though he were not that light, was sent to beare witnesse of that light.
We shall make our parts but two, Testem, and Testimonium, the person, and the Office; first, who the witnesse is, and then what he witnesses. In the first, we shall consider first, the dignity, the fitnesse of the person, implyed in the first word of this part of our Text, but; he was not that light; that is true, but yet he was something towards it; he was nothing considered with Christ, but he was much considered with any other man. And then we shall see his title to his office, Missus est, as he was fit in himself, so he was sent by him that had power to give Commission; and from these two, in which we shall determine our first part, the consideration of his person, we shall descend to the other, his office; and therein stop but upon two steps neither; first, why any testimony was required to so cleare a thing as light, and such a light, that light; and then, what kinde of testimony Iohn Baptist did give to that light. So have you the designe, and frame of our building, and the severall partitions, the roomes; passe we now to a more particular survey, and furnishing of them.
The first branch of the first part, is the Idoneus, 1 Part. Idoneus.that he was fit to be a witnesse. If we should insist upon the nobility of his race, his father and mother, (his father a Priest, and his mother also descended of Aaron) (and, as all Nations have some notes and marks of nobility,Philo Iud. (Merchandize, or Arms, or Letters, amongst the Jewes Priesthood was that, the Priesthood enobled men) in all well policed States, caeteris paribus, if they were not otherwise defective, they have ever thought it fittest to imploy persons of good families, and of noble extraction, as well because, in likelihood they had had the best education, from their parents, and the best knowledge of things that concerne the publique, by having had their conversation with the best, and most intelligent persons; as also, because they have for the most part, more to lose them inferiour persons have, and therefore are likelier to be carefull and vigilant in their imployment; And againe, because they draw a better respect from those to whom they are imployed, (which is of great importance in such negotiations, to send persons acceptable to them to whom they are sent) and yet, do not lye so open to the tentations and corruptions of their Ministers, as men of needy fortunes, and obscure extractions do.
This fitnesse Iohn Baptist had, he was of a good family and extraction. It addes to him, that as he had a noble, he had a miraculous birth … for, to be born of a Virgin, is but a degree more, then to be borne of a barren woman. A birth, which onelyonly of all others the Church celebrates; for, though we finde the dayes of the Martyrs still called, Natalitia Martyrum, their birth-dayes, yet that is always intended of the dayes of their death; onelyonly in Iohn Baptist it is intended literally of his naturall birth; for, his spirituall birth, his Martyrdome, is remembred by another name, Decollatio Ioannis, Iohn Baptists beheading. If we should enlarge all concerning him, as infinitely, as infinite Authors have done, or contract all as summarily,Luk. 7. 28. as Christ hath done, (Amongst those that are borne of women, there is not a greater Prophet then Iohn the Baptist) yet we should finde that Saint Augustine had done all this before,August. Non est quod illi adjiciat homo, cui Deus contulit totum, What man can adde more, where God said all, and he hath said of Iohn Baptist, Spiritu Sa…cto replebitur, He shall be filled with the holy Ghost.
Two things especially make a man a competent witnesse: First, that he have in himselfe a knowledge of the thing that he testifies; else he is an incompetent witnesse: And then, that he have a good estimation in others, that he be reputed an honest man; else he is an unprofitable witnesse. If he be ignorant, he sayes truth, but by chance; if he be dishonest, and say truth, it is but upon designe, and not for the truths sake; for, if those circumstances did not leade him, he would not say truth. Iohn Baptist had both, knowledge and estimation.
He knew,Scientia. per scientiam infusam, by infused knowledge; as he was a Prophet; for so Christ testifies that he was. But all Prophets knew not all things; therefore he was more then a Prophet, Matth. 11.9.which is also testified by Christ, in his behalfe. More then any former Prophet.Hierom. And yet, the Prophet Esaiah was (even in his Prophecy) an Evangelist, his Prophecy of Christ was so cleer, so particular, as that it was rather Gospell, and History, then Prophecy. Iohn Baptist was more then that; for, he did not onelyonly declare a present Christ, (in that, Esay may seem to come neer him) but he was Propheta Prophetatus, A Prophet that was prophesied of; even Esay himself bore witnesse of this witnesse;Esay 40. 3. (A voyce cried in the wildernesse, Prepare the way of the Lord.) And the Prophet Malachi bore witnesse of this witnesse too,Mal. 3. 1. (Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me.) So he hath the restimony of the first and last of the Prophets; and of him too, who was the first and the last, the cause and the effect, the moving and fulfilling of all prophecy, of Christ himself,Matth. 11. 10. (This is he, of whom it is written,) and so he cites those words of Malachi concerning Iohn Baptist. Iohn Baptist then had this competency, by knowledge infused by God, declared in former Prophecies, he knew the matter, which he was to testifie. Which is so essentiall, so substantiall a circumstance in matter of testimony, in what way soever we will be witnesses to God, as that no man is a competent witnesse for God, not in his preaching, not in his living, not in his dying, (though he be a witnesse in the highest sense, that is, a Martyr) if he do not know, upon what ground, he sayes, or does, or suffers that, which he suffers, and does, and sayes. Howsoever he pretend the honour of God in his testimony, yet, if the thing be materially false, (false in it self, though true in his opinion) or formally false, (true in it self, but not known to be so, to him that testifies it) both ways he is an incompetent witnesse. And this takes away the honour of having been witnesses for Christ, and the consolation and style of Martyrs, both from them, who, upon such evidence, as can give no assurance (that is, traedi tions of men) have grounded their faith in God, and from them, who take their light in corners, and conventicles, and not from the City set upon the top of a hill, the Church of God. Those Roman Priests who have given their lives, those Separatists which have taken a voluntary banishment, are not competent witnesses for the glory of God; for a witnesse must know; and qui testatur de scientia, testetur de modo scientiae, sayes the Law, He that will prove any thing by his knowledge, must prove how he came by that knowledge; The Papist hath not the knowledge of his Doctrine from any Scripture, the Separatist hath not the knowledge of his Discipline from any precedent, any example in the primitive Church.
How farre then is that wretched and sinfull man, from giving any testimony or glory to Christ in his life, who never comes to the knowledge, and consideration, why he was sent into this life? who is so farre from doing his errand, that he knowes not what his errand was; not whether he received any errand or no. But, as though that God, who for infinite millions of ages, delighted himself in himself, and was sufficient in himself, and yet at last did bestow six dayes labour for the creation, and provision of man, as though that God, who when man was sowr'd in the lumpe, poysoned in the fountaine, withered in the roote, in the loins of Adam, would then ingage his Sonne, his beloved Sonne, his onelyonly Sonne to be man, by a temporary life, and to be no man, by a violent and a shamefull death, as though that God, who when he was pleased to come to a creation, might have left out thee, amongst privations, amongst nothings, or might have shut thee up, in the close prison, of a bare being, and no more, (as he hath done earth and stones) or, if he would have given thee life, might have left thee a Toad, or, if he would have given thee a humane soule, might have left thee a heathen, without any knowledge of God, or, if he had afforded thee a Religion, might have left thee a Iew, or, though he had made thee a Christian, might have left thee a Papist; as though that God that hath done so much more, in breeding thee in his true Church, had done all this for nothing, thou passest thorough this world, like a flash, like a lightning, whose beginning or end no body knowes, like an Ignis fatuus in the aire, which does not onelyonly not give light for any use, but not so much as portend or signifie any thing; and thou passest out of the world, as thy hand passes out of a basin of water, which may bee somewhat the fouler for thy washing in it, but retaines no other impression of thy having been there; and so does the world for thy life in it. When God placed Adam in the world, he bad him fill it, and subdue it, and rule it; and when he placed him in paradise, he bad him dresse, and keepe paradise; and when he sent his children into the over-flowing Laud of promise, he bad them fight, and destroy the Idolaters; to every body some task, some errand for his glory; And thou comest from him, into this world, as though he had said nothing unto thee, but Go and do as you see cause, Go, and do as you see other men do.
Thou knowest not, that is, considerest not, what thou wast sent to doe, what thou shouldest have done, but thou knowest much lesse, what thou hast done. The light of nature hath taught thee to hide thy sinnes from other men, and thou hast been so diligent in that, as that thou hast hid them from thy self, and canst not finde them in thine owne conscience, if at any time the Spirit of God would burne them up, or the blood of Christ Jesus wash them out; thou canst not finde them out so, as that a Sermon or Sacrament can work upon them. Perchance thou canst tell, when was the first time, or where was the first place, that thou didst commit such or such a sinne; but as a man can remember when he began to spell, but not when he began to reade perfectly, when he began to joyne his letters, but not when he began to write perfectly, so thou remembrest when thou wentest timorously and bashfully about sinne, at first, and now perchance art ashamed of that shamefastnesse, and sorry thou beganst no sooner. Poore bankrupt! that hast sinned out thy soule so profusely, so lavishly, that thou darest not cast up thine accounts, thou darest not aske thy selfe whether thou have any soule left; how farre art thou, from giving any testimony to Christ, that darest not testifie to thy selfe, nor heare thy conscience take knowledge of thy transgressions, but haddest rather sleepe out thy daies, or drinke out thy daies, then leave one minute for compunction to lay hold on; and doest not sinne alwaies for the love of that sinne, but for feare of a holy sorrow, if thou shouldest not fill up thy time, with that sinne. God cannot be mocked, saith the Apostle, nor God cannot be blinded. He seeth all the way, and at thy last gaspe, he will make thee see too, through the multiplying Glasse, the Spectacle of Desperation. Canst thou hope that that God, that seeth this darke Earth through all the vaults and arches of the severall spheares of Heaven, that seeth thy body through all thy stone walls, and seeth thy soul through that which is darker then all those, thy corrupt flesh, canst thou hope that that God can be blinded with drawing a curtain between thy sinne and him? when he is all eye, canst thou hope to put out that eye, with putting out a candle? when he hath planted legions of Angels about thee, canst thou hope that thou hast taken away all Intelligence, if thou have corrupted, or silenced, or sent away a servant? O bestow as much labour, as thou hast done, to finde corners for sin to finde out those sinnes, in those corners where thou hast hid them. As Princes give… pardons by their own hands, but send Judges to execute Justice, come to him for mercy in the acknowledgement of thy sinnes, and stay not till his Justice come to thee, when he makes inquisition for blood; and doe not think, that if thou feel now at this present… a little tendernesse in thy heart, a little melting in thy bowels, a little dew in thine eyes, that if thou beest come to know, that thou art a sinner, thou dost therefore presently know thy sinnes. Thou wouldst have so much tendernes, so much compassion, if thou knewest that he that fits next thee, were in this danger of Gods heavy indignation; thou wouldst commiserate thy neighbours wretched condition so much. But proceed with thy self further, bring this dawning and breake of day to a full light, and this little sparke to a perfect acknowledgement of thy sinnes. Go home, with this spark of Gods Spirit in you, and there looke upon your Rentalls, and know your oppressions, and extorsions; looke upon your shop-bookes, and know your deceits and falsifications; looke upon your ward-robes, and know your excesses; looke upon your childrens faces, and know your fornications. Till then, till you come to this scrutiny, this survey, this sifting of the Conscience, if we should cry peace, peace, yet there were no peace. The Oratour said, Imposuimus populo, & Oratores visi sumus; we have cousened the people, and they say we are excellent Oratours, powerfull, well spoken men. We might flatter you, and you would say, we were sweet, and smooth, and comfortable Preachers, and we might perish together. But if you study your selves, reade your own History, if you get to the knowledge of your errand hither, and the ill discharge of those duties here, the sorrow and compunction which will grow from thence, is a faire degree of Martyrdome, (for as Saint Hierome Hierom.saith of Chastitie, Habet pudicitia servata, Martyrium suum, Chastity preserved is a continuall Martyrdome, so a true remorse, if that Chastity have not been preserved, and likewise a true remorse for every sinne, is a fair degree of Martyrdome) for, Martyr is Testis, the very name of Martyr signifieth a Witnesse; and this Martyrdome, this true remorse and sorrow, and compunction for your sinnes, becomes a witnesse to your selves of your reconciliation to God in the merits of Christ Jesus. But we may carry this branch no further, that Iohn Baptist being a competent witnesse therefore, because he understood the matter hee testified, before wee can bee competent witnesses to our owne Consciences, of our Reconciliation to God, wee must understand, (and therefore search into our particular sinnes) not onelyonly that wee are sinners, but sinners in such and such kindes, such times, such places, such persons; for that Soule, that is content to rest in generalls, would but deceive it selfe. Iohn Baptists other qualification was, That as hee knew the matter about which hee was sent, so hee had, (and justly) a good estimation amongst them, to whom hee was imployed.
If I have a prejudice against a Man,Integritas. and suspect his honestie, I shall not bee much moved with his Testimony. The Devill testified for Christ; but, if there were no other Testimony but his, I should demurre upon the Gospell, I should not die for that Faith. Iohn Baptist was a credible person amongst them. How was this credit acquired? It seemeth Iohn Baptist did no Miracles; Whether hee did or no, is not a cleare Case; for that which is said, (Iohn Baptist did no miracles) is not said by the Evangelist himselfe; Saint Iohn doeth not say,Iohn 10. 41. that Iohn Baptist did no miracles; but those that resorted to him at that place, said that (He doth no miracles) for they had seene none. If he did none,Aquin. that reason may be good enough, ne aequalis Christo putaretur, it was forborne in him, that he might appeare to be inferiour to Christ. And, if he did none, yet there were miracles done by him. The reformation of manners, and bringing men to repentance, is a miracle. It is a lesse miracle to raise a man from a sick bed, then to hold a man from a wanton bed, a litentious bed; lesse to overcome and quench his fever, then to quench his lust. Ioseph that refused his mistris was a greater miracle then Lazarus raised from the dead. Of these resurrections, we have divers examples, Iosephs case, (I thinke) is singular. There were miracles done so, by Iohn Baptist preaching to others; and there were miracies done upon himself; & early; for, his springing in his mothers womb, August.was a miracle; and a miracle done for others: Significatio rei à majoribus cognoscende, non à minori cognitae; The child catechized his elders, in that which himselfe understood not; that is, the presence of his Saviour, in the virgin then present, Divinitus in infante, non humanitus ab infante, says the same Father; it was not a joy, and exultation in the child, but an institution, an instruction to the rest. But miracle or no miracle is not our issue; witnesses for Christ, require not wonder, but beliefe; we pretend not miracles, but propose Gods ordinary meanes, we look not for Admiration, but Assent. And therefore forbeare you acclamations and expectations of wonderfull good preachers, and admirable good Sermons. It was enough for Iohn Baptist that even they confessed, that all that he said was true. Content thy selfe with truths evident truths, fundamentall truths, let matter of wonder and admiration alone.
He was a witnesse competent to them for his truth, Austeritas.and integrity, and he was so also for the outward holinesse of his life; which, for the present, we consider onelyonly in the strict and austere manner of living, that he embraced. For, certainly, he that uses no fasting, no discipline, no mortification, exposes himselfe to many dangers in himselfe, and to a cheape and vulgar estimation amongst others. Caro mea jumentum meum, says S. Augustine, August.my body is the horse I ride; iter ago in Ierusalem, my businesse lies at Ierusalem; thither I should ride; De via conatur excutere, my horse over pampered casts me upon the way, or carries me out of the way; non cohibebo jejunio, says he; must not that be my way, to bring him to a gentler riding, & more command, by lessening his proportions of provender?1 Cor. 9. 27. S. Augustine meanes the same that S. Paul preached, I beat down my body, says he, and bring it in subjection; And, (as Paulinus reades that place) Lividum reddo, I make my body blacke and blue; white and red were not Saint Pauls colours. Saint Paul was at this time departed, (in outward profession) from the sect of the Pharisees, and from their ostentations of doing their disciplines in the sight and for the praise of man; but yet, being become a Christian he left not his austerity; And it is possible for us, to leave the leaven of the Papist, the opinion of merit, and supererogation, and doing more then we are bound to doe in the ways of godlinesse, and yet nourish our soules, with that wholesome bread of taming our bodies. Saint Paul had his Disciplines, his mortifications; he tells us so, but he does not tell us what they were; lest perchance a reverence to his person, and example, might binde mis-devout men, to doe punctually as Saint Paul did. The same Rule cannot serve all; but the same Reason may.
The institution of friars under a certain Rule, that all of them, just at this time, shall doe just thus, cannot be a rule of Iustice; but the generall doctrine, that every body needs at some times, some helpes, some meanes, is certainly true. Shall the riotous, the voluptuous man stay till this something bee a surfet or a fever? 'Tis true, this surfet and this fever, will subdue the body, but then thou doest it not. Shall a lascivious wanton stay, till a consumption or such contagious diseases as shall make him unsociable, and so, unable to exercise his sinne, subdue his body? These can doe it,Ambrose. but this is Perimere, non subjugare, not a subduing of the body alone, but a destroying of body and soule together. Moderate disciplines subdue the body, as under the government of a King, a father of his people, that governs them by a law. But when the body comes to bee subdued, by paines, and anguish, and loathsome diseases, this becomes a tyranny, a conquest; and he that comes in by conquest, imposes what lawes hee will; so that these subduings of the body brought in by sinne, may worke in us, an obduration; we shall feel them, but not discerne the hand of God in them; or, if his hand, yet not his hand to that purpose, to relieve us, but to seale our condemnation to us. Beloved, because our Adversaries of the Romane heresie, have erroneously made a pattern for their Eremiticall and Monasticall life in Iohn Baptist, and coloured their idlenesse, by his example; some of the Reformation have bent a little too far the other way, and denied, that there was any such austerity in the life of St. Iohn, as is ordinarily conceived: They say that his conversation in the Desert, may well be understood to have been but a withdrawing of himself from publique and civill businesses, home to his fathers house; for, his father dwelt in that Desert, and thither went Mary to salute Elizabeth. Luc. 1. 4….And Ioab had his house in this Desert; 1 Reg. 2. 23.and in this Desert are reckoned five or fixe good Townes;Ios. 1. …1. so that indeed it was no such savage solitude as they fancie. But yet, for a Sonne of such Parents, an onelyonly Sonne, a Sonne so miraculously afforded them, to passe on with that apparell… and that diet, is certainly remarkable, and an evidence of an extraordinary austerity, and an argument of an extraordinary sanctity.
Especially to the Jewes it was so; amongst them this austerity of life, and abstaining from those things which other men imbraced, procured ordinarily a great estimation; We know that amongst them,Ioseph. the Essaei a severe Sect, had a high reverence: They did not marry, they did not eate flesh, they did not ease themselves by servants, but did all their own work, they used no proprietie, they possessed nothing, called nothing their own; Vicatim habitant, & urbes fugiunt, Philo. Iud.they forsake all great Townes, and dwell in Villages; And yet, flying the world, they drew the world so much after… them,Pliai. as that it is noted with wonder, per saeculorum Milia gens aeterna, in qua nemo nascitur; that there was an eternall Nation, that had lasted many Generations, and yet never any borne amongst them; I am foecunda illis aliorum vitae poenitentia, for, every man that was crossed or wearied in his owne course of life, applied himselfe to their Sect and manner of living, as the onelyonly way to Heaven. And Iosephus writing his owne life and forwardnesse, and pregnancy, (perchance a little too favourably or gloriously in his owne behalfe, to be throughly beleeved; for he saith, that when he was but fourteen yeares old, the greatest Doctours of the Law, came to him to learne penitiorem sensum juris, the secretest Mysteries of the Law; and their Law, was Divinity) thought himselfe unperfect till he had spent some time, in the strictnesse of all the three Sects of the Jewes; and after he had done all that, he spent three yeares more, with one Bannus an Ermit, who lived in the wildernesse, upon herbs and roots, Iohn Baptists austerity of life made him a competent and credible witnesse to them, who had such austeritie in estimation.
And truely, hee that will any way bee a witnesse for Christ, that is, glorifie him, hee must endevour, even by this outward holinesse of life, to bee acceptable to good men. Vox Populi, vox Dei, the generall voyce is seldome false; so also Oculi populi, Oculi Dei, In this case God looketh upon man, as man doth; Singuli decipi & decipere possunt, One man may deceive another, & be deceived by another; Nemo omnes, neminem omnes fefellerunt, no man ever deceived all the world, nor did all the world ever joyn to deceive one man. The generall opinion, the generall voyce, is for the most part, good evidence, with, or against a man. Every one of us is ashamed of the prayse and attestation of one, whom all the world besides, taketh to be dishonest; so, will Christ be ashamed of that witnesse, that seeketh not the good opinion of good men.
When I see a Iesuit solicite the chastity of a daughter of the house, where he is harboured, and after knowledge taken by the Parents, upon her complaint, excuse it with saying, that he did it but to trie her, and to be the better assured of her religious constancy; when I see a Iesuit conceale and foment a powder Treason, and say he had it but in Confession, and then see these men to proclaim themselves to be Martyrs, witnesses for Christ in the highest degree; I say still, the Devill may be a witnesse, but I ground not my Faith upon that Testimony: A competent witnesse must be an honest man. This competency Iohn Baptist had, the good opinion of good men; And then, he had the seale of all, Missus est, he had his Commission, He was sent to bear witness of that Light.
Though this word Missus est, Missus.He was sent, be not literally in the Text here, yet it is necessarily implyed, and therefore providently supplyed by the Translatours in this verse, and before in the sixt verse, it is literally expressed, There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The Law saith, concerning witnesses, Qui se ingerunt & offerunt, suspecti habentur, those that offer their testimony before they be cited, are suspicious witnesses. Therefore they must have a Mission, a sending. For, by Saint Pauls rule, How can they preach except they be sent? Rom. 10. 15Preach they may; but how? with what successe, what effect, what blessing? So that the good successe of Iohn Bapstists preaching,Luc. 3. 7. (For, the multitudes, The people came to him; and not light people carried about with every winde of rumour and noise,Matt. 3. 7. and noveltie, but Pharises, and Sadduces, men of learning, of sadnesse and gravity; and not onelyonly Scholars affected with subtilties, but, Publicans too,Luc. 3. 12. men intent upon the world; and other men, whose very profession submits them to many occasions of departing from the strict rules, which regularly binde other men, and therefore may be in some things, (which tast of injustice) more excusable then other men;14. The souldiers likewise came to him, and said, What shall we doe?) This his working upon all sorts of men, the blessing that accompanied his labours, was a subsequent argument of his Mission, that he was sent by God. God himself argues against them, that were not sent, so, They were not sent, for they have done no good. I have not sent those Prophets, Ier. 23. 21.saith the Lord, yet they ran, I have not spoken to them, and yet they prophecied; but, if they had stood in my counsell, then they should have turned the people from their evill wayes, and from the wickednesse of their inventions. This note God layes upon them, to whom he affords this vocation of his internall Spirit, that though others which come without any calling, may gather men in corners, and in Conventicles, and work upon their affections and passions, to singularity, to schisme, to sedition: and though others which come with an outward, and ordinary calling onelyonly, may advance their own Fortunes, and increate their estimation, and draw their Auditory to an outward reverence of their Persons, and to a delight in hearing them rather then other men, yet, those onelyonly who have a true inward Calling from the Spirit, shall turn the people from their evill wayes, and from the wickednesse of their inventions. To such mens planting and watering God gives an increase; when as others which come to declame, and not to preach, and to vent their own gifts, or the purposes of great men for their gifts, have onelyonly a proportionable reward, winde for winde, Acclamation for Declamation, popular praise for popular eloquence: for, if they doe not truly beleeve themselves, why should they looke that others should believe them? Qui loquitur ad cor, loquatur ex corde; he that will speake to the heart of another, must finde that that he saith in his own heart first.
Whether the Mission of the Church of Rome of Priests and Jesuites hither, be sufficient to satisfie their consciences who are so sent, and sent (in intendment of the Law) to inevitable losse of life here, hath been laboriously enough debated, and safely enough concluded, that such a Mission cannot satisfie a rectified conscience. What are they sent for?Baroni To defend the Immunities of the Church: that is, to take away the inherent right of the Crown, the supremacy of the King: What seconds them? what assures them?Alvarez. That which is their generall Tenent, that into what place so ever the Pope may send Priests, Azor.he may send Armies for the security of those Priests; and (as another expresses it) in all Cases,Maynardus. where the Pope may injoyne any thing, he may lawfully proceed by way of Warre against any that hinder the execution thereof. That these Missions from the Bishop of Rome are unlawfull,vide Pseudo-Mart. f. 154. is safely enough concluded, A priori, in the very nature of the commandement and Mission. For, it is to a place, in which he that sends hath no power, for it is into the Dominions of another absolute King; and it is of Persons; in whom he hath no interest, for they are the subjects of another Prince; and my neighbours setting his mark upon my sheep, doth not make my sheep his. Now, beloved, if that which they cannot make lawfull A priori, in the Nature of the thing, you will make lawfull in their behalf, A posteriori, in the effect and working thereof; that is, if when these men are thus sent hither, you will run after them to their Masses, though you pretend it be but to meet company, and to see who comes, and to hear a Church-Comedy; if, though you abstain your self, you will lend them a wife, or a childe, or a servant to be present there, A posteriori, by this effect, by this their working upon you, you justifie their unjust Mission, and make them thinke their sending and coming lawfull. So also, (to return to our former consideration) If you depart not from your evill wayes, and from the wickednesse of your own inventions: If for all our preaching you proceed in your sinnes, you will make us afraid, that our Mission, our Calling is not warrantable, for thereby you take away that consolation, which is one seale of our Mission, when we see a good effect of our preaching in your lives. It lyes much in you, to convince them, and to establish us, by that way, which is Gods own way of arguing, à posteriori, by the effect, by our working upon you. If you say God is God, we are sent; if you say Baal is God, you justifie their sending. Missus est, Iohn Baptist was sent, it appeared by the effect of his preaching; but it appeares too, by a divers and manifold citation, which he had received, upon some of which, there may be good use to insist a little.
First,1 Citation. he was cited, called, before he was at all; and called againe before he was borne; called a third time, out of the desert, into the world; and called lastly out of this world into the next; and by all these callings, these citations, these missions, he was a competent witnesse. His first citation was before he was any thing, before his conception. Out of the dead embers of Zacharies aged loins, and Elizabeths double obstacle, age and barrennesse, when it was almost as great a worke as a creation, to produce a childe out of the corners, and inwardest bowels of all possibility, and with so many degrees of improbability, as that Zachary, who is said to have been just before God,Luke 1. 6. and to have walked in all his commandments without reproofe, and had, without doubt, often considered the like promise of such a childe, made and performed to Abraham, was yet incredulous of it, and asked, how he should know it. Out of this nothing, or nothing naturally disposed to be such a thing, a childe, did God excite, and cite this Io. Baptist to beare witnesse of this light, and so made the sonne of him, who, for his incredulity, was strooke with dumbnesse, all voyce. And, beloved, such a citation as this, when thou wast meerly nothing, hast thou had too, to beare witnesse of this light, that is, to do something for the glory of God. When thy free will is as impotent and as dead as Zacharies loins, when thou art under Elizabeths double obstacle of age and barrennesse,(barrennesse in good works, age in ill) then when thou thinkest not of God, then when thou art walking for ayre, or sitting at a feast, or slumbring in a bed, God opens these doors, he rings a bell, he showes thee an example in the concourse of people hither, and here, he sets up a man, to present the prayer of the Congregation to him, and to deliver his messages to them; and whether curiosity, or custome, or company, or a loathnesse to incurre the penalties of Lawes, or the censures and observations of neighbours, bring thee hither, though thou hadst nothing to do with God, in comming hither, God hath something to do with thee, now thou art here, even this is a citation, a calling, by being personally here at these exercises of Religion, thou art some kinde of witnesse of this light. For, in how many places of the world hath Christ yet never opened such doors for his ordinary service, in all these 1600. yeers? And in how many places hath he shut up these doors, of his true worship, within these three or foure yeers? Quod citaris huc, That thou art brought hither, within distance of his voyce, within reach of his food, intra sphaeram Activitatis, within the spheare and latitude of his ordinary working, that is, into his house, into his Church, this is a citation, a calling, answerable to Iohn Baptists first calling, from his fathers dead loins, and his mothers barren wombe; and his second citation was before he was borne, in his mothers wombe.
When Mary came to visit Elizabeth, 2 Citation.the childe sprang in her belly, as soone as Maries voice sounded in her eares. Luke 1. 41.And though naturally, upon excesse of joy in the mother, the childe may spring in her; yet the Evangelist meanes to tell an extraordinary and supernaturall thing; and whether it were an anticipation of reason in the childe, (some of the Fathers think so, though St. Augustine do not, that the childe understood what he did) or that this were a fulfilling of that prophecy,Verse 15. That he should be filled with the holy Ghost from his mothers wombe, all agree that this was an exciting of him to this attestation of his Saviours presence,August. whether he had any sense of it, or no. Exultatio significat, sayes St. Augustine, This springing declared, that his mother, whose forerunner that childe should be, was come.Origen. And so both Origen, and St. Cyrill, Cyrill.refer that commendation, which our Saviour gives him, Inter natos Mulierum, Among those that were born of women, there was not a greater Prophet; that is, none that prophecyed before he was borne, but he. And such a citation, beloved, thou mayest have, in this place, and at this time. A man may upon the hearing of something that strikes him, that affects him, feel this springing, this exultation, this melting, and colliquation of the inwardest bowels of his soule; a new affection, a new passion, beyond the joy ordinarily conceived upon earthly happinesses; which, though no naturall Philosopher can call it by a name, no Anatomist assigne the place where it lyes, yet I doubt not, through Christ jesus, but that many of you who are here now, feele it, and understand it this minute. Citaris huc, thou wast cited to come hither, whether by a collaterall, and oblique, and occasionall motion, or otherwise, hither God hath brought thee, and Citaris hîc, here thou art cited to come neerer to him. Now both these citations were before Iohn Baptist was borne; both these affections, to come to this place, and to be affected with a delight here, may be before thy regeneration, which is thy spirituall birth; a man is not borne, not borne againe, because he is at Church, nor because he likes the Sermon, Iohn Baptist had, and thou must have a third citation; which was in him, from the desert into the publique, into the world, from contemplation to practice.
This was that mission, that citation,3 Citation. Luke 3. 2. which most properly belongs to this Text, when the word came to the voyce, (The word of God came to Iohn in the wildernesse, and he came into all the Countrey preaching the Baptisme of repentance.) To that we must come, to practise. For, in this respect, an Vniversity is but a wildernesse, though we gather our learning there, our private meditation is but a wildernesse, though we contemplate God there, nay our being here, is but a wildernesse, though we serve God here, if our service end so, if we do not proceed to action, and glorifie God in the publique. And therefore Citaris huc, thou art cited hither, here thou must be, and Citaris hîc, thou art cited here, to lay hold upon that grace which God offers in his Ordinance; and Citaris hinc, thou art cited from hence, to embrace a calling in the world. He that undertakes no course, no vocation, he is no part, no member, no limbe of the body of this world; no eye, to give light to others; no eare to receive profit by others. If he think it enough to be excrementall nayles, to scratch and gripe others by his lazy usury, and extortion, or excrementall hayre, made onelyonly for ornament, or delight of others, by his wit, or mirth, or delightfull conversation, these men have not yet felt this third citation, by which they are called to glorifie God, and so to witnesse for him, in such publique actions, as Gods cause for the present requires, and comports with their calling.
And then Iohn Baptist had a fourth citation4 Citation. to bear witnesse for Christ, by laying down his life for the Truth; and this was that that made him a witnesse, in the highest sense, a Martyr. God hath not served this citation upon us, nor doth he threaten us, with any approches towards it, in the feare of persecution for religion. But remember that Iohn Baptists Martyrdome, was not for the fundamentall rock, the body of the Christian religion, but for a morall truth, for matter of manners. A man may be bound to suffer much, for a lesse matter then the utter overthrow, of the whole frame and body of religion. But leaving this consideration, for what causes a man is bound to lay downe his life, consider we now, but this, that a man lays downe his life for Christ, and beares witnesse of him, even in death, when he prefers Christ before this world, when he desires to be dissolved, and be with him, and obeyes cheerefully that citation, by the hand of death, whensoever it comes; and that citation must certainly be served upon you all; whether this night in your beds, or this houre, at the doore, no man knowes. You who were cited hither, to heare, and cited here, to consider, and cited hence, to worke in a calling in the world, must be cited from thence too, from the face to the bosome of the earth, from treading upon other mens, to a lying downe in your owne graves. And yet that is not your last citation, there is fifth.
In the grave, Iohn Baptist does, and we must attend a fifth citation, 5 Citation.from the grave to a Iudgement. The first citation hither to Church, was served by Example of other men, you saw them come, and came. The second citation, here, in the Church, was served by the Preacher, you heard him and beleeved. The third, from hence, is served by the law, and by the Magistrate, they binde you to embrace a profession, and a calling, and you do so. The fourth, which is from thence, from this, to the next world, is served by nature in death, he touches you, and you sinke. This fifth to Iudgement shall be by an Angell, 1 Thess. 4. 16.by an Archangell, by the Lord himself, The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voyce of the Archangell, and with the Trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise. This citation is not served by a bell, that tolls to bring you hither; not by a man that speaks to instruct you here; not by a law, that compells you to live orderly in the world; not by a bell, that rings out to lay thee in thy grave; but by the great shout of the Lord descending from heaven, with the voyce of the Archangel, 2 Chro. 9. 27.and with the Trump of God, to raise the dead in Christ. It is not the Apeperire fores, That the Levites have charge to open these doores every day to you, that you may come in, (that is your first citation,Psal. 51.15. hither) it is not the Domine labia mea aperies, That God opens our mouth, the mouth of the Preacher, to worke upon you, (that is your second citation, here,) it is not that aperuimus saccos, Gen. 43. 21.The opening of your sack of Corne, and finding that, and your money too, that is, your trading in this world, in a calling, Num. 16. 30.(that is your third citation from hence) nor it is not the Aperuit terra os situm, That the earth opens her mouth, and swallowes all in the grave, (that is your fourth citation from thence,) it is none of these Apertions, these openings; but it is the Aperta monumenta, Mat. 27. 52.The grave it self shall be open againe; and Aperti coeli, The heavens shall be open,Act. 7. 56. and I shall see the Sonne of man, the Sonne of God, and not see him at that distance, that Stephen saw him there, but see him, and sit down with him. I shall rise from the dead, from the darke station, from the prostration, from the prosternation of death, and never misse the sunne, which shall then be put out, for I shall see the Sonne of God, the Sunne of glory, and shine my self, as that sunne shines. I shall rise from the grave, and never misse this City, which shall be no where, for I shall see the City of God, the new Ierusalem. I shall looke up, and never wonder when it will be day,Apoc. 10. 6. for, the Angell will tell me that time shall be no more, and I shall see, and see cheerefully that last day, the day of judgement, which shall have no night, never end,Dan. 7. 9. and be united to the Antient of dayes, to God himselfe, who had no morning, never began. There I shall beare witnesse for Christ, in ascribing the salvation of the whole world, to him that sits upon the Throne, and to the Lamb, and Christ shall bear witnesse for me, in ascribing his righteousnesse unto me, and in delivering me into his Fathers hands, with the same tendernesse, as he delivered up his owne soule, and in making me, who am a greater sinner, then they who crucified him on earth for me, as innocent, and as righteous as his glorious selfe, in the Kingdome of heaven. And these occasions of advancing your devotion, and edification, from these two branches of this part, first, the fitnesse of Iohn Baptist to be sent, and then his actuall sending, by so divers callings, and citations in him, appliable, as you have seene, to us. More will be ministred, in due time, out of the last part, and the two branches of that; first, why this light required any witnesse, and then, what witnesse Iohn Baptist gave to this light. But those, because they leade us not to the celebration of any particular Festivall, (as these two former parts have done, to Christmas and Midsommer) I may have leave to present to you at any other time. At this time let us onelyonly beg of God a blessing upon this that hath been said &c.