Fifty Sermons, Sermons · Sermon 47
SERMON XLVII.
An Anniversary Sermon preached at St. Dunstans, upon the commemoration of a Parishioner, a Benefactor to that Parish.
GEN. 3. 24.
And dust shalt thou eat all the dayes of thy life.
THis is Gods malediction upon the Serpent in Paradise, There in the Region, in the Store-house of all plenty, he must starve; This is the Serpents perpetuall fast, his everlasting Lent, (Dust shalt thou eat all the dayes of thy life.) There is a generation derived from this Serpent, Progenies viperarum, a generation of Vipers, that will needs in a great, and unnecessary measure, keep this Serpents Lent, and binde themselves to performe his fact; for, the Carthusian will eat no flesh, (and yet, I never saw better bodied men, men of better habitudes and constitution, howsoever they recompense their abstinence from flesh) and the Fueillans will eat neither flesh nor fish, but roots, and fallets, (and yet amongst them, amongst men so enfeebled by roots, was bred up that man, who was both malicious courage, and bodily strength, to kill the last King, who was killed amongst them) They will be above others in their fasts, Fish, and Roots will they eat, all the dayes of their life, but their Master will be above them in his fast, (Dust must he eat all the dayes of his life.)
It is Luthers observation upon this place, That in all Moses his Books, God never spoke so long, so much together, as here, upon this occasion. Indeed the occasion was great; It was the arraignment of all the world, and more; of mankinde, and of Angels too; of Adam, and Eve, (and there were no more of them) and then of the Serpent, and of Satan in that, and of all the fallen Angels in him. For the sentence which God, as Judge gave upon them, upon all these Malefactors, of that part which fell upon the woman, all our mothers are experimentall witnesses; they brought forth us in sorrow and in travaile. Of that part of the sentence which fell upon man, every one of us is an experimentall witnesse, for in every calling, in the sweat of our face, we eat our bread. And of that part of the Judgement, which was inflicted upon the Serpent, and Satan in him, this dead brother of ours who lyes in this consecrated earth, is an experimentall witnesse, who being by death reduced to the state of dust, for so much of him, as is dust, that is, for his dead body, and then, for so long time, as he is to remaine in that state of dust, is in the portion, and jurisdiction, and possession of the Serpent, that is, in the state which the Serpent hath induced upon man, and dust must he eat all the dayes of his life.
In passing thorough these words,Divisio. we shall make but these two steps; first, What the Serpent lost, by this judgement inflicted upon him; and secondly, What man gained by it; for these two considerations imbrace much, involve much; first, That Gods anger is so intensive, and so extensive, so spreading, and so vehement, as that in his Justice, he would not spare the Serpent, who had no voluntary, no innate, no naturall ill disposition towards man, but was onelyonly made the instrument of Satan, in the overthrow of man. And then, that Gods mercy is so large, so overflowing, so super-abundant, as that even in his Judgement upon the Serpent, he would provide mercy for man. For, as it is a great waight of judgement upon the Serpent, that the Serpent must eat dust, so is it a great degree of mercy to man, that the Serpent must eate but dust, because mans best part is not subject to be served in at his table, the soule cannot become dust, (and dust must he eate all the dayes of his life. O, in what little sinne, though but a sinne of omission, though but a sinne of ignorance, in what circumstance of sinne, may I hope to scape Judgement, if God punished the Serpent who was violently, and involuntarily transported in this action? And in what depth, in what height, in what hainousnesse, in what multiplicity of sin can I doubt of the mercy of my God, who makes judgement it self the instrument, the engin, the Chariot of his mercy? What room is there left for presumption, if the Serpent, the passive Serpent were punished? What room for desperation, if in the punishment, there be a manifestation of mercy? The Serpent must eate dust, that is his condemnation, but he shall eate no better meat, he shall eate but dust, there is mans consolation.
First then,1 Part. as it is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the living God, so is it an impossible thing to scape it.Heb. 10. 31. God is not ashamed of being jealous; he does not onelyonly pronounce that he is a jealous God, but he desires to be known by none other name, (The Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God) so jealous,Exod. 34. 14. as that he will not have his name uttered in vaine; not onelyonly not blasphemed, not sworne by, but not used indifferently, transitorily, not Proverbially, occasionally, not in vaine. And if it be, what then? Even for this, he will visite to the third, and fourth generation; and three and foure are seven, and seven is infinite. So jealous, as that in the case of the Angels, not for looking upon any other Creatures, or trusting in them, (for, when they fell, (as it is ordinarily received) there were no other creatures made) but for not looking immedidiately, directly upon God, but reflecting upon themselves, and trusting in their own naturall parts, God threw those Angels into so irrecoverable, and bottomelesse a depth, as that the merits of Christ Jesus, though of infinite, super-infinite value, doe not boye them up; so jealous a God, is God, so jealous, as that in Adams case, for over-loving his own wife, for his over tender compassion of her, foreating the forbidden fruit, ne contristaretur delicias suas, (as Saint Hierome layes his fault) left he should deject her into an inordinate and desperate malancholy, and so make her incapable of Gods mercy, God threw the first man, and in him, all, out of Paradise, out of both Paradises, out of that of rest, and plenty here,Numb. 22. 5. 20. 11. and that of Joy, and Glory hereafter. Consider Balaams sin about cursing Gods people, or Moses sinne about striking the rock, and wouldst not thou be glad to change sinnes, with either of them? Are not thy sinnes greater, heavier sinnes; And yet, wouldest thou not be sorry, to undergoe their punishments? are not thy punishments lesse?Prov. 25. 16. Hast thou found hony, says the holy Ghost in Solomon; and, he says it promiscuously, and universally, to every body; eate, as much as is sufficient. Every man may.1. Sam. 14. 17. And then, Ionathan found that hony, and knew not that it was forbidden by Sauls proclamation, and did but taste it, and that in a case of extreme necessity, and Ionathan must die. Any man might eate enough, He did but taste, and he must die. If the Angels, if Adam, if Balaam, if Moses, if Ionathan did, if the Serpent in the text, could consider this, how much cheaper God hath made sinne to thee, then to them, might they not have colour in the eye of a naturall man, to expostulate with God? Might not Ananias, Act. 5. 8.and Saphira, who onelyonly withheld a little of that, which, but a little before, was all their own, and now must die for that, have been excusable if they had said at the last gaspe, How many direct Sacrileges hath God forborne, in such and such, and we must die? Mighty not E…, and Onan, after their uncleane act upon themselves onelyonly, for which they died,Gen. 38. 2. have been excusable, if they had said at the last gaspe, How many direct adulteries, how many unnaturall incests hath God forborne in such and such, and we must die? How many loads of miserable wretches maist thou have seen suffer at ordinary executions, when thou mightest have said with David, Lord I have done wickedly, but these sheep what have they done? What had this Serpent done?
The Serpent was more subtile then any other beast.Quia instrumentum. It is a dangerous thing to have a capacity to doe evill;Gen. 3. 1. to be fit to be wrought upon, is a dangerous thing. How many men have been drawn into danger, because they were too rich? How many women into solicatation, and tentation, because they were too beautifull? Content thy selfe with such a mediocrity in these things, as may make thee fit to serve God, and to assist thy neighbour, in a calling, and be not ambitious of extraordinary excellency in any kinde; It is a dangerous thing, to have a capacity to do evill. God would do a great work;Num. 28. 22. and he used the simplicity of the Asse; he made Balaams Asse speak; But the Devill makes use of the subtilty, of the craft of the Serpent; The Serpent is his Instrument; no more but so, but so much he is, his instrument. And then, says S. Chrysostome, Pater noster execuratur gladium, as a naturall father would, so our heavenly father does hate, that which was the instrument of the ruine of his children. Wherein hath he expressed that hate? not to binde our selves to Iosephus his opinion, (though some of the ancients in the Christian Church have seconded that opinion, too) that at that time the Serpent could goe upright, and speak, and understand, and knew what he did, and so concurred actually and willingly to the temptation and destruction of man, though he were but anothers instrument, he became odious to God. Our bodies, of themselves, if they had no souls, have no disposition to any evill; yet, these bodies which are but instruments, must burn in hell. The earth was accursed for mans sin, though the earth had not been so much as an instrument of his sin; OnelyOnly because it was, after, to conduce to the punishment of his children, it was accursed, God withdrew his love from it. And in the law,Lev. 20. 15. those beasts with which men committed bestiality, were to be stoned, as well as the men. How poor a plea will it be, to say, at the last day, I got nothing by such an extortion, to mine own purse, it was for my master; I made no use of that woman whom I had corrupted, it was for a friend. Miserable instrument of sin, that hadst not the profit, nor the pleasure, and must have the damnation! As the Prophet cals them, that help us towards heaven,Obad. v. 21. Saviours, (Saviours shall come up on Mount Sion) so are all that concurre instrumentally to the damnation of others, Devils. And, at the last day, we shall see many sinners saved, and their instruments perish. Adam, and Eve both God interrogated, and, gave them time, to meditate and to deprecate; To Adam, he says, Where art thou, and, who told thee that thou wast naked? And to Eve, What is this that thou hast done? But to the Serpent no such breathing; The first words is, Quia fecisti; no calling for evidence whether he had done it or no, but, Because thou hast done it, thou art accursed. Sin is Treason against God; and in Treason there is no Accessory; The instrument is the Principall.
We passe from that first Part,2 Part. the consideration of heavy Judgements upon faults, in appearance but small, derived from the punishment of the Serpent, though but an Instrument. Let no man set a low value upon any sin; let no man think it a little matter to sin some one sin, and no more; or that one sin but once, and no oftner; or that once but a little way in that sin, and no father; or all this, to do another a pleasure, though he take none in it himself (as though there were charity in the society of sin, and that it were an Alms to help a man to the means of sinning.) The least sin cost the blood of the Son of God, and the least sinner may lose the benefit of it, if he presume of it. No man may cast himself from a Pinnacle, because an Angel may support him; no man may kill himself, because there is a Resurrection of the body; nor wound his soul to death by sin, because there may be a resurrection of that, by grace. Here is no roome for presumption upon God; but, as little for desperation in God; for, in the punishment of the Serpent, we shall see, that his Mercy, and Justice are inseparable; that, as all the Attributes of God, make up but one God (Goodnesse, and Wisdome, and Power are but one God) so Mercy and Justice make up but one act; they doe not onelyonly duly suceed, and second one another, they doe not onelyonly accompany one another, they are not onelyonly together, but they are all one. As Manna, though it tasted to one man like one thing, to another like another, (for it tasted to every man like that, that that man liked best) yet still was the same Manna; so, for Gods corrections, they have a different taste in different persons; and howsoever the Serpent found nothing but Judgement, yet we find mercy even in that Judgement. The evening and the morning make up the day, Gen. 1. 5.says Moses; as soon as he had named evening comes in morning, no interposing of the mention of a dark, and sad night between. As soon as I hear of a Judgement, I apprehend Mercy, no interposing of any dark or sad suspition, or diffidence, or distrust in God, and his mercy; and to that purpose we consider the Serpents punishment, and espcially as it is heightned, and aggravated in this Text, Dust shalt thou eate all the days of thy life.
There are three degrees in the Serpents punishment;Super pectus. First, Super pectus, He must creep upon his belly; And secondly, Inimicitias ponam, I will put enmity, God will raise him an enemy. And thirdly, Pulverem comedes, Dust shalt thou eate all the days of thy life. And, in all these three, though they aggravate the judgement upon the Serpent, there is mercy to us; For, for the first, that the Serpent now does but creep upon his belly, S. Augustine, and S. Gregory understands this belly to be the seat of our affections, and our concupiscencies; That the Serpent hath no power upon our heart, nor upon our brain, for, if we bring a tentation to consideration, to deliberation, that we stop at it, think of it, study it, and forsee the consequences, this frustrates the tentation. Our nobler faculties are always assisted with the grace of God to resist him, though the belly, the bowels of sin, in sudden surprisals, and ebullitions, and foamings of our concupiscencies, be subject to him: for, though it may seem, that if that be the meaning, (which, from S. Augustine and S. Gregory we have given you) That the Serpent hath this power over our affections, and that is intended by that, The belly, it should rather have been said, super pectus vestrum, Hee shall creep upon your belly, then upon his owne, yet, indeed, all that is his own, which we have submitted and surrendred to him, and hee is upon his own, because we make our selves his; (for, to whom ye yeeld your servants to obey, his servants you are. Rom. 6. 18.) So that if he be super pectus nostrum, if he be upon our belly, he is upon his own. But he does but creep; He does not fly; He is not presently upon you, in a present possession of you; you may discern the beginning of sin, and the ways of sin, in the approaches of the Serpent, if you will. The Serpent leaves a slime that discovers him, where he creeps; At least behinde him, after a sin, you may easily see occasion of remorse, and detestation of that sinne, and thereby prevent relapses, if you have not watched him well enough in his creeping upon you. When hee is a Lion, he does not devoure all whom he findes;1 Pet. 5. 8. He seeks whom he may devoure; He may not devoure all, nor any but those, who cast themselves into his jaws, by exposing themselves to tentations to sin.
He does but creep;An forma mutata. why, did he any more before? was his forme changed in this punishment? Many of the Ancients think literally that it was; and that before the Serpent did goe upon feet; we are not sure of that; nor is it much probable. That may well be true, which Luther says, fuit suavissima bestiola, till then it was a creature more lovely, more sociable, more conversable with man, and, (as Calvin expresses the same) Minus odiosus, man did lesse abhor the Serpent before, then after. Beloved, it is a degree of mercy, if God bring that, which was formerly a tentation to mee, to a lesse power over me, then formerly it had; If deformity, if sicknesse, if age, if opinion, if satiety, if inconstancy, if any thing have worn out a tentation in that face, that transported me heretofore, it is a degree of mercy. Though the Serpent be the same Serpent, yet if he be not so acceptable, so welcome to me, as heretofore, it is a happy, a blessed change. And so, in that respect, there was mercy.
It was a punishment to the Serpent,Inimicitias ponam. that, though he were the same still as before, yet he was not able to insinuate himself as before, because hee was not so welcome to us. So, the having of the same form, which he had, might be a punishment, as nakednesse was to man after his fall; He was naked before, but he saw it not, he felt it not, he needed no cloathes before; Now, nakednesse brings shame, and infirmities with it. So, God was so sparing towards the Serpent, as that he made him not worse in nature, then before, and so mercifull to us, as that hee made us more jealous of him, and thereby more safe against him, then before. Which is also intimated pregnantly, in the next step of his punishment, Inimicitias ponam, That God hath kindled a war between him and us. Peace is a blessed state, but it must be the peace of God; for, simeon and Levi are brethren,Gen. 49. 5. they agree well enough together; but they are instruments of evill; and, in that case, the better agreement, the worse. So, war is a fearfull state; but not so, if it be the war of God, undertaken for his cause, or by his Word. Many times, a State suffers by the security of a Peace, and gains by the watchfulness of a War. Wo be to that man is so at peace, as that the spirit fights not against the flesh in him; and wo to them too, who would make them friends, or reconcile them, betweene whom, God hath perpetuated an everlasting war, The seed of the woman, and the seed of the Serpent, Christ and Beliall, Truth and Superstition. Till God proclaimed a warre between them, the Serpent did easily overthrow them, but therefore God brought it to a war, that man might stand upon his guard. And so it was a Mercy.
But the greatest mercy is in the last,Pulverem comedes. and that which belongs most directly, (though all conduce pertinently and usefully) to our present occasion;) Dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. He must eat dust, that is, our bodies, and carnall affections; Hee was at a richer diet, he was in better pasture before; before, he fed upon souls too; But for that his head was bruised, in the promise of a Messias, who delivers our souls from his tyranny; But the dust, the body, that body, which for all the precious ransome, and the rich, and large mercy of the Messias, must die, that dust is left to the Serpent, to Satan, that is, to that dissolution, and that putrefaction, which he hath induced upon man, in death. He eats but our dust, in our death, when he hath brought us to that; that is a mercy; nay he eats up our dust before our death, which is a greater mercy; our carnal affections, our concupiscencies are eaten up, and devoured by him; and so, even his eating is a sweeping, a deansing, a purging of us. Many times we are the better for his tentations. My discerning a storm, makes me put on a cloak. My discerning a tentation, makes me see my weaknesse, and fly to my strength. Nay, I am somtimes the safer, and the readier for a victory, by having been overcome by him. The sense, and the remorse of a sin, after I have fallen into it, puts me into a better state, and establishes better conditions between God and me then were before, when I felt no tentations to sin. He shall eat up my dust, so, as that it shall fly into mine eys; that is, so work upon my carnall affections, as that they shall not make me blinde, nor unable to discern that it is he that works. It is said of one kinde of Serpent, that because they know,Stellio by an instinct they have, that their skin is good for the use of man, (for the falling sickness) out of Envy, they hide their skin, when they cast it. The Serpent is loth we should have any benefit by him; but we have; even his tentations arm us, and the very falling exalts us, when after a sin of infirmity, we come to a true, and scrutiny of our conscience. So he hath nothing to eat but our dust, and he eats up our dust so, as that he contributes to our glory,Ion. 1. 17. by his malice. The Whale was Ionas Pilot; The Crows were Elias caters; The Lions were Daniels sentinels;1 Reg. 7. 6. The Viper was Pauls advocate; it pleaded for him, & brought the beholders in an instant,Dan. 6. 22. from extreme to extreme,Act. 28. from crying out that Paul was a murderer, to cry that he was a god. Though at any time, the Serpent having brought me to a sin, cry out, Thou art a murderer, that is, bring me to a desperate sense of having murdred mine own soul, yet in that darkness I shal see light, & by a present repentance, & effectual application of the merits of my Savior, I shall make the Serpent see, I am a God, thus far a God,2 Pet. 1. 4. that by my adhering to Christ, I am made partaker of the Divine Nature. For, that which S. Chrysost. says of Baptism; is true too in the second Baptism, Repentance, Deposui terram, & coelum indui; then I may say to the Serpent, Your meat is dust;2 Cor. 5. 17. and I was dust; but Deposui terram, I have shak'd off my dust, by true repentance, for I have shak'd off my self, and am a new creature, and am not now meat for your Table. Iam terra non sum, sed sal, says the same Father, I am not now unsavoury dust, but I am salt; And, Sal ex aqua & vento says he; Salt is made of water and winde; I am made up of the water of Baptism, of the water of Repentance, of the water that accompanies the blood of Christ Jesus,Ioh. 3. 8. and of that winde that blows where it list, and hath been pleased to blow upon me, the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, and I am no longer meat for the Serpent, for Dust must he eat all the days of his life. I am a branch of that Vine, (Christ is the Vine, Ioh. 15. 5.and we are the branches) I am a leafe of that Rose of Sharon, and of that Lilly of the valleys; Cant. 2. 1. 4. 14. 5. 2.I am a plant in the Orchard of Pomegranats, and that Orchard of Pomegranats is the Church; I am a drop of that dew, that dew that lay upon the head of Christ. And this Vine, and this Rose, and Lilly, and Pomegranats, of Paradise, and this Dew of heaven, are not Dust, And dust must thou eate all the dayes of thy life.
So then,Totâ vitâ. the Prophecy of Esay Esay 65. 25.fulfils it self, That when Christ shall reign powerfully over us, The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, (Saul and Ananias shall meet in a house, (as S. Hierome expounds that) and Ananias not be afraid of a Persecutor.) The Lion shall eate straw like the Bullock, says that Prophet in that place, Tradent se rusticitati Scripturarum, says the same Father, The strongest understandings shall content themselves with the homelinesse of the Scriptures, and feed upon plain places, and not study new dishes, by subtilties, and perplexities, and then, Dust shall be the Serpents meat, says the Prophet there, The power of Satan shall reach but to the body, and touch a soul wrapt up in Christ. But then, it is Totâ vitâ, all his life. His diet is impaired, but it is not taken away; He eats but dust, but he shall not lack that, as long as hee lives. And how long lives the Serpent, this Serpent? The life of this Serpent is to seduce man, to practise upon man, to prevaile upon man, as farre, and as long as man is dust. And therefore wee are not onelyonly his dust, whilst wee live (all which time we serve in our carnall affections, for him to feed upon) but when we are dead, we are his dust still. Man was made in that state, as that he should not resolve to dust, but should have passed from this world to the next, without corruption, or resolution of the body.Gen. 3. 18. That which God said to Adam, Dust thou art, belonged to all, from the beginning, he, and all we were to be of dust, in his best integrity; but that which God adds there, & in terram revertêris, (dust thou art, and to it thou shalt returne) that the Serpent brought in, that was induced upon man by him, and his tentation. So that when we are living dust here he eats us, and when we are dead dust too, in the grave, he feeds upon us, because it proceeds from him both that we die, and that we are detained in the state of exinanition, and ingloriousnesse, in the dust of the earth, and not translated immediately to the joyes of heaven, as but for him, we should have been. But as, though he do feed upon our living dust, that is, induce sicknesses, and hunger, and labour, and cold, and paine upon our bodies here, God raises even that dust out of his hands, and redeemes it from his jaws, in affording us a deliverance, or a …itution from those bodily calamities here, as he did abundantly to his servant, and our example Iob, so, though he feed upon our dead dust and detain our bodies in the disconsolate state of the grave, yet, as the Godhead, the divine nature did not depart from the body of Christ when it lay dead in the grave, so neither doth the love and power of God, depart from the body of a Christian, though resolved to dust in the grave, but, in his due time, shall recollect that dust, and recompact that body, and reunite that soul, in everlasting joy and glory. And till then, the Serpent lives; till the Judgement, Satan hath power upon that part of man; and that's the Serpents life, first to practise our death, and then to hold us in the state of the dead. Till then we attend with hope, and with prayers Gods holy pleasure upon us, and then begins the unchangeable state in our life, in body and soul together, then we beginne to live, and then ends the Serpents life, that is, his earnest practise upon us in our life, and his faint triumph in continuing over our dust. That time,Mat. 8. 28. (the time of the generall Resurrection) being not yet come, the devills thought themselves wronged, and complained that Christ came before the time to torment them; and therefore Christ yeelded so much to their importunity, as to give them leave to enter into the swine. And therefore, let not us murmur nor over-mourne for that, which as we have induced it upon our selves, so God shall deliver us from, at last, that is, both death, and corruption after death, and captivity in that comfortlesse state, but for the resurection. For, so long we are to be dust, and so long lasts the Serpents life, Satans power over man; dust must he eate all the days of his life.
In the meane time,Conclusio. (for our comfort in the way) when this Serpent becomes a Lyon,Apoc. 5. 5. yet there is a Lyon of the Tribe of Iudah, that is too strong for him. so, if he who is Serpens serpens humi, the Serpent condemned to creep upon the ground, doe transforme himselfe into a flying Serpent, and attempt our nobler faculties, there is Serpens exaltatus, a Serpent lifted up in the wildernesse,Numb. 12. 18. to recover all them that are stung, and feel that they are stung with this Serpent, this flying Serpent, that is, these high and continued sinnes. The creeping Serpent, the groveling Serpent, is Craft; the exalted Serpent, the crucified Serpent, is Wisdome. All you worldly cares, all your crafty bargaines all your subtill matches, all your diggings into other means estates, all your hedgings, in of debts, all your planting of children in great allyances; all these diggings, and hedgings and plantings savour of the earth, and of the craft of that Serpent, that creeps upon the earth: But crucifie this craft of yours, bring all your worldly subtilty under the Crosse of Christ Jesus, husband your farmes so, as you may give a good account to him, presse your debts so, as you would be pressed by him, market and bargaine so, as that you would give all, to buy that field, in which his treasure, and his pearle is hid, and then you have changed the Serpent, from the Serpent of perdition creeping upon the earth, to the Serpent of salvation exalted in the wildernesse. Creeping wisedome, that still looks downward, is but craft; Crucified wisedome, that looks upward, is truly wisedome. Between you and that ground Serpent God hath kindled a war; and the nearer you come to a peace with him, the farther ye go from God, and the more ye exaspetate the Lord of Hosts, and you whet his sword against your own souls. A truce with that Serpent, is too near a peace; to condition with your conscience for a time, that you may continue in such a sin, till you have paid for such a purchase, married such a daughter, bought such an annuity. undermined and eaten out such an unthrift, this truce, (though you mean to end it before you die) is too near a peace with that Serpent, between whom and you, God hath kindled an everlasting war. A cessation of Arms, that is, not to watch all his attempts and tentations, not to examine all your particular actions, A Treaty of Peace, that is, to dispute and debate in the behalf and favour of a sin, to palliate, to disguise, to extenuate that sin, this is too near a peace with this Serpent, this creeping Serpent. But in the other Serpent, the crucified Serpent, God hath reconciled to himself, all things in heaven, and earth, and hell. You have peace in the assistance of the Angels of heaven, Peace in the contribution of the powerfull prayers, and of the holy examples of the Saints upon earth, peace in the victory and triumph over the power of hell, peace from sins towards men, peace of affections in your selves, peace of conscience towards God. From your childhood you have been called upon to hold your peace; To be content is to hold your peace; murmure not at God, in any corrections of his, and you doe hold this peace. That creeping Serpent, Satan, is war, and should be so; The crucified Serpent Christ Jesus is peace, and shall be so for ever. The creeping Serpent eats our dust, the strength of our bodies, in sicknesses, and our glory in the dust of the grave: The crucified Serpent hath taken our flesh,2 Sam. 5. 14. and our blood, and given us his flesh, and his blood for it; And therefore, as David, when he was thought base, for his holy freedome in dancing before the Ark, said he would be more base; so, since we are all made of red earth, let him that is red, be more red; Let him that is red with the blood of his own soul, be red again in blushing for that rednesse, and more red in the Communion of the blood of Christ Jesus; whom we shall eat all the days of our life, and be mystically, and mysteriously, and spiritually, and Sacramentally united to him in this life, and gloriously in the next.
In this state of dust, and so in the territory of the Serpent, the Tyrant of the dead, lies this dead brother of ours, and hath lien some years, who occasions our meeting now, and yearly upon this day, and whose soul, we doubt not, is in the hands of God, who is the God of the living. And having gathered a good Gomer of Manna, a good measure of temporall blessings in this life, and derived a fair measure thereof, upon them, whom nature and law directed it upon, (and in whom we beseech God to blesse it) hath also distributed something to the poor of this Parish, yearly, this day, and something to a meeting for the conserving of neighbourly love, and something for this exercise. In which, no doubt, his intention was not so much to be yearly remembred himself, as that his posterity, and his neighbours might be yearly remembred to doe as he had done. For, this is truly to glorifie God in his Saints, to sanctifie our selves in their examples; To celebrate them, is to imitate them. For, as it is probably conceived, and agreeably to Gods Justice, that they that write wanton books, or make wanton pictures, have additions of torment, as often as other men are corrupted with their books, or their pictures: so may they, who have left permanent examples of good works, well be beleeved, to receive additions of glory and joy, when others are led by that to do the like: And so, they who are extracted, and derived from him, and they who dwelt about him, may assist their own happiness, and enlarge his, by following his good example in good proportions. Amen.