Fifty Sermons, Sermons · Sermon 4
SERMON IV.
Preached at a Christning.
REVEL. 7. 17.
For the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throns, shal… g…vern them, and shall leade them unto the lively furnteins of maters, and God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes.
IF our conversation be in heaven, Phil. 3. 30.as the Apostle says his was, and if that conversation be, (as Testullian reads that place) Municipatus noster, our City, our dwelling, the place from whence onelyonly we receive our Laws, to which onelyonly we direct our services, in which onelyonly we are capable of honours, and offices, where even the office of a doore-keeper was the subject of a great Kings ambition; if our conversation be there, even there, there cannot be better company met, then we may see and converse withall in this Chapter. Upon those words, doth the Eagle mount up at the Cominandement, Iob 33. 30.or make his nest on high; S. Gregory says, Videamus aquilam, nidum sibi, in arduis construentem; Greg. Moral. 31, 34.Then we say an Eagle make his nest on high, when we heard S. Petter say so, Our conversation is in heaven; and then doth an Eagle mount up at our commandement, when our soul, our devotion, by such a conversation in heaven, associates itself with all this blessed company that are met in this Chapter, that our fellow ship may be with the Father, and with his Son Iesus Christ, 1 Iohn 1. 3.and with all the Court and Quire of the Triumphant Church. If you go to feasts, if you goe to Comedies, fometimes onelyonly to meet company, nay if you come to Church sometimes onelyonly upon that errand, to meet company, (as though the House of God, were but as the presence of an earthly Prince, which upon solemne Festivall days must be fill'd and furnished, though they that come, come to doe no service there) command year Eagle to mount up, and to build his nest on high, command your souls to have their conversation in heaven by meditation of this Scripture, and you shall meet company, which no stranger shall interrupt, for they are all of a knot, and such a knot as nothing shall unty, as inseparably united to one another, as that God, with whom they are made one Spirit, is inseparable in himself.
Here you shall see the Angell that comes from the East, Rev. 7. 2.(yea, that Angel which is the East, from whence all beams of grace and glory arise, for so the Prophet calls Christ Iesus himself,Zecha. 6. 12. (as S. Hierome reads that place) Eccevir, Oriens nomen ejus, Behold him, whose name is the East) you shall see him come with the seal of the living God, and hold back those Angels which had power given them to hurt the Sea, and the Earth, and you shall her him say,Rev. 7. 3. Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in the forecheads. And as you shall see him forward, so you shall see him large, and bountifull in imprinting that Seal,vers. 4. you shall see an hundred and forty four thousand of the Tribes of the Children of Israel, and you shall see a great multitude, which no man can number, of al Nations,verse 9. & 10. and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stand before the Throne, and before the Lamb, and cry out, and say, Salvation commeth of our God, that sitteth upon the Throne, and of the Lamb: and you shall see all the Angels stand round about the Throne, and about the Elders,verse 11. and the four Beasts, all falling upon their faces, and worshipping God, saying,verse 12. Amen, praise, and glory, and wisdome, and thanks, and honour, and power, and might be unto our God, for evermore, Amen. And this is good company, and good Musique.
And lest you should lose any of the Joy of this conversation, of this society, by ignorance what they were, one of the Elders prevents you;verse 13. and (as the Text says) answers you, saying, what are these that are araid in white? he answers by a question, which is some what strange; but he answers before any question, which is more strange: but God fees questions in our hearts before he hears them from our lips; and as soon as our hearts conceive a desire to be informed, he gives a full and a present satisfaction; he answers before we ask; but yet he answers by a question, that thereby he may give us occasion of farther discourse, of farther questioning with him. There, this Elder shall tell thee, that those are they which are come out of the Tribulations of this world,verse 14. and have made their Robes white in the blood of the Lamb, that therefore they are in the presence of the Throne of God, that they serve him day and night in the Temple, that they shall hunger no more, thrist no more, nor be offended with heat, or Sun; That is, as many as are appointed to receive this Seal of the living God upon their foreheads, though they be not actually delivered from all the incommodities of this life, yet nothing in this life shall deprive them of the next. For as you see the Seal given in this Chapter, and the promise of all these blessings annexed to it, so you see in this Text the reason of all this, for the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall govern them, and shall leade them unto the lively fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes.
In which words, we shall consider for order and distincton,Divisio. first the matter, and then the form: by the matter we mean the purpose and intention of the Holy Ghost in these words; and by the form, the declaring, the proving, the illustrating, and the heightning of that purpose of his. For the matter; we take this imprinting or the Seal of the living God in the forehead of the Elect,vers. 3. and this washing in the blood of the Lamb,verse 14. to be intended of the Sacrament of Baptisme: In that which we call the form, which is the illustrating of this, we shall first look upon the great benefits and blessings which these servants of God so sealed, and so washed, are made partakers of; for those blessings which are mentioned in the verses before, are rooted and enwrapped in this particular of this Text, Quoniam, for; they are blessed; for the Lamb shall dòe this and this for them; And then we shall consider what that is which this Lamb will doe for them; first, Reget illos, He shall govern them, take them into his care, make them heirs of the Covenant, breed them in a visible Church: secondly, Deducet eos, He shall lead them to the lively fountains of waters; give them outward and visible means of Sanctification; thirdly, Absterget omnem lachtymam, He shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; even in this life he shall settle and establish a heavenly joy in the faithfull appreliension of the joyes of heaven here.
First then to speak of the matter, Materia.that is of the purpose and intention of these words, it is true, they are diversly understood: They have been understood of the state of the Martyrs, which are now come to the possesion of their Crown in heaven, because they are said to have made their long Robes white in the blood of the Lamb; verse 14.And so S. August. Aug.and S. Gregory Gregor.(when, by occasion of the subject which they were then in hand with, they were full of the contemplation of Martyrdome, and encouragements to that) doe seem to understand these words, of Martyrs. But since it is not said, that they washed their robes in their own blood, which is proper to Martyrs, but in the blood of the Lamb, which is communicated to all that participate of the merit of Christ, the words seem larger then so, and not to be restrained onelyonly to Martyrs. Others have enlarged them farther then so, beyond Martyrs: but yet limit them to the Triumphant Church; that because it is said, that they are come out of great tribulation, and that they are in the presence of the Throne of God, and that they shall hunger no more, they see no way of admitting these perfections, in this life. But S. Paul saw a way, when he said of the Elect, even in this life, God which is rich in mercy, Ephes. 2. 4.Convivificavit, conresuscitavit, considere fecit, he hath quickned us, he hath raised us, he hath made us fit together in the heavenly places, in Christ Iesus: That is, as he is our Head, and is there himself, and we with Christ Jesus, as we are his Members; we are with him there too. In the same place where the Apostle says, That we look for our Saviour from heaven, Phil. 3. 20.(there is our future, our expectation) he says also, our conversation is in heaven, there is our present, our actuall possession. That is it which S. Augustine Aug.intends, Dilexisti me Domine plusquam te; Lord thou hast loved me more then thou hast loved thy self: Not onelyonly that thou gavest thy self for me, that thou didst neglect thy self to consider me, but whereas thou hadst a glory with the Father, before the world was made, thou didst admit a cloud, and a slumber upon that glory, and staiedst for thy glory till thy death, yet thou givest us, (naturally inglorious, and miserable creatures) a reall possession of glory, and of inseparablenesse from thee, in this life. This is that Copiosa redemptio, Psal. 130. 7.there is with the Lord plentifull redemption; though that were Matura redemptio, a seasonable redemption, if it should meet me upon my deathbed, and that the Angels then should receive my soul, to lay it in Abrahams bosome, yet this is my Saviours plentifull redemption, that my soul is in Abrahams bosome now whilest it is in this body, and that I am already in the presence of his Throne, now when I am in your sight, and that I serve him already day and night in his Temple, now when I meditate, or execute his Commission, in this service, in this particular Congregation.
Those words are not then necessarily restrained to Martyrs, they are not restrained to the state of the Triumphant Church, they are spoken to all the Children of righteousnesse, and of godlines; and godlinesse hath the promises of the life present, and that, that is to come. 1 Tim. 4. 8.That which involves all these promises, that which is the kernell, and seed, and marrow of all, the last clause of the text, God shall wipe all teares from their eyes, those words, that clause, is thrice repeated intirely in the Scriptures: When it is spoken here, when it is spoken in the one and twentieth Chapter of the Revelation, and at the fourth verse, in both places, it is derived from the Prophet Esay, 25. 8.which is an Eacharisticall chapter, a Chapter of thanksgiving for Gods deliverance of his children, even in this world, from the afflictions, and tribulations thereof, and therefore this text belongs also to this world.
This imprinting then of the seale in the forehead, this washing of the robes in the bloud of the Lambe, Ambr.S. Ambrose places conveniently to be accomplished in the Sacrament of Baptisme: for this is Copiosissima Redemptio, this is the most plentiful redemption, that that be applied to us, not onelyonly at last in Heaven, nor at my last step towards heaven, at my death, nor in all the steps that I make in the course of my life, but in my first step into the Church, nay before I can make any step, when I was carried in anothers armes thither, even in the beginning of this life; and so do divers of the later Men, and of those whom we call ours, understand all this, of baptisme; because if we consider this washing away of teares, as Saint Cyprian says, young children doe most of all need this mercy of God and this assistance of Man, because as soone as they come into this world Plorantes, ac flentes, nihil aliud faciunt, quam deprecantur, they beg with teares something at our hands, and therefore need this abstersion, this wiping. For though they cannot tell us, what they aile, though (if we will enter into curiosities) we cannot tell them what they aile, that is, we cannot tell them what properly, and exactly Originall sin is, yet they aile something, which naturally disposes them, to weep, and beg, that something might be done, for the wiping away of teares from their eyes. And therefore though the other errors of the Anabaptist be ancient, 1000. year old, yet the denying of baptisme to children, was never heard of till within 100. years, and lesse. The Arrians, and the Donatists did rebapsize those who were baptized by the true Christians, whom they counted Heretiques; but yet they refused not to baptize children: The Pelegians denied originall sin in children; but yet they baptized them. All Churches, Greek, and Russian, and Ethiopique, howsoever they differ in the body of the Church, yet they meet, they agree in the porch, in Limine Ecclesiae, in the Sacrament of baptisme, and acknowledge that it is communicable to all children, and to all Men; from the child new borne to the decrepit old Man, from him that is come out of one mothers wombe, to him that is going into another, into his grave, Sicut nullus prohibendus à baptisme, Augustin.it a nullus est qui non peccate moritur in baptismo, As baptisme is to be denied to none, so neither is it to be denied, that all, that are rightly baptized, are washed from sin. Let him that will contentiously say, that there are some children, that take no profit by baptisme, shew me which is one of them, and qui testatur de scientia, testetur de mode scientiae; If he say he knowes it, let him tell us how he knowes that which the Church of God doth not know.
We come now to the second part; in which we consider first, this firstword,2. Part. quoniam, for, which is verbum praegnans, a word that includes all those great blessings, which God hath ordained for them, whom in his eternall decree, he hath prepared for this sealing and this washing. Those blessings, which are immediately before the text, are, that in Gods purpose, they are already come out of great tribulations, they have already received a whitenes by the bloud of the Lambe, they are already in the presence of the threne of the Lambe, they have already overcome all hunger, and thirst, and heat. Those particular blessings we cannot insist upon; that requires rather a Comment upon the Chapter, then a Sermon upon the text. But in this word of inference, for, we onelyonly wil observe this: That though all the promises of God in him, are Yea, and Amen, 2 Cor. 1. 20.certain, and infallible in themselves, though his Name, that makes them be Amen, (Thus saith Amen, the faithfull and true witnesse) and therefore there needs no better security,Revel. 3. 14. then his word, for all those blessings, yet God is pleased to give that abundant satisfaction to Man, as that his reason shall have something to build upon, as well as his faith, he shall know why he should beleeve all these blessings to belong to them who are to have these Seales, and this washing. For God requires no such faith, nay he accepts, nay he excuses no such faith, as beleeves without reason; beleeves he knows not why. As faith witout fruit, witout works, is no faith; to faith without a roct, without reason, is no faith, but an opinion. All those blessings by the Sacrament of Baptism, & all Gods other promises to his children, and all the mysteries of Christrian Religion, are therefore beleeved by us, becuase they are grounded in the Scriptures of God; we beleeve them for that reason; and then it is not a worke of my faith primarily, but it is a worke of my reason, that assures me, that these are the Scriptures, that these Scriptures are the word of God. I can answer other Mens reasons, that argue against it, I can convince other men by reason, that my reasons are true: and therefore it is a worke of reason, that I beleeve these to be Scriptures.
To prove a beginning of the world, I need not the Scriptures, reason will evict it forceibly enough against all the world; but, when I come beyond all Philosophy, that for Adams fault six thousand year agoe, I should be condemned now, because that fault is naturally in me, I must find reason, before I beleeve this, and my reason is, because I find it in the Scrpiture; Nascimur filii Irae, and therefore, nifi renatus, we are borne children of wrath, and therefore must be borne againe. That a Messias should come to deliver Mankind from this sinne, and all other fins, my reason is, the Semen mulieris, the seed of the woman, for the promise, and the Ecce agnus Dei, Behold the Lambe of God, for the performance. That he should come, I reft in that, The seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpents head; And that he is come, I rest in this, that Iohn Baptist shewed the Lambs of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world. That this merit of his should be applied to certaine Men, my reason is in the Semini two, Gods Covenant, to Abraham, and to his seed; That we are of that number, included in that Covenant to Abraham, my reason is, in spiritu adoptionis, the spirit of adoption hath ingraffed us, inserted us into the same Covenant. When my reason tells me that the Seale of that Covenant, Circumcision is gone, (I am not circumcised, and therefore might doubt) my reason tells me too, that in the Scriptures, there is a new Seals, Baptisme: when my reason tells mee, that after that regeneration, I have degenerated againe, I have fallen from those graces which I received in Baptisme, my reason leades mee againe to those places of Scripture, where God hath established a Church for the remession and absolution of sinnes. If I have been negligent of all these helpes, and now my reason beginnes to worke to my prejudice, that I beginne to gather and heape up all those places of the Law, and Prophets, and Gospell, which threaten certaine condemnation unto such sinners, as I find my selfe to bee, yet if my reason can see light at the Nolo mortem peccatoris, at the Quandocunque resipiscct; That God would not the death of any sinner, That no time is unseasonable for repentance: That scatters the clands of witnesses againe; and to till my reason can tell me (which it can never doe) that it hath found places in Scripture, of a measure, and finitenesse in God, (that his mercy can goe no farther) and then of an infinitenesse in Man (that his finne can goe beyond God) my reason will defend me from desperation; I meane the reason, that is grounded upon the Scripture; still I shall find there, that Quia, which David delighted in so much, as that he repears it almost thirty times, in one Psalm,136. For his mercy endureth for ever.
God leaves no way of satisfaction unperformed unto us; sometimes he workes upon the phantasie of Man; as in those often …isions, which he presented to his Prophets in dreames; sometimes he workes upon the senses, by preparing objects for them; So he filled the Mountaine round about with horses,2 Reg. 6. 17. and chariots, in defense of Elisha; but alwayes he workes upon our reason; he bids us feare no judgment, he bids us hope for no mercy, except it have a Quia, a reason, a foundation, in the Scriptures. For God is Logos, speech and reasone He declares his will by his Word, and he proved it, he confirmes it, he is Logos, and he proceeds Logically. It is true, that we have a Sophistry, which as farre as concerns our owne destruction, frustrates his Logique; If Peter make a Quia, a reason why his fellowes could not bee drunke, Because it was but nine a Clocke, Act. 2. 15.wee can find Men that can overthrow that reason, and rise drunke out of their beds; If Christ make a Quia, a reason against fashionall, and Circumstantiall christians, that doe sometimes some offices of religion,Mat. 9. 16. v. 17. out of custome, or company, or neighborhood, or necessity, because no man peecethan old garment with new cloth, nor puts new wine into old vessells, yet since S. Augustine Augustin.says well, Carnalitas vetustas, gratia novitas, our carnall delights, are our old garments, and those degrees and beames of grace, which are shed upon us, are the new, we do peece this old with this new, that is, long habits of sin, with short repentances; flames of concupiscence, with little sparks of remorse; and into old vessells, (our sin-worne bodies) we put in once a year, some drops, of new wine, of the bloud of our Saviour Christ Iesus, in the Sacrament, (when we come to his table, as to a vintage, because of the season, and we receive by the Almanack, because it is Easter) and this new wine so taken in, breakes the vessells, (as Christ speakes in that similitude) And his breaking shall be,Esay 30. 14. as the breaking of a Potters pot, which is broken without pity, and in the breaking thereof is not found a shard, to take fire at the hearth, nor to take water out of the pit; No way in the Church of God, to repaire that Man, because he hath made either a Mockery, or at best, but a Civil action of Gods institution in the Church. To conclude this, all sin is but fallacy and Sophistry; Religion is reason and Logique; The devill hides, and deludes, Almighty God demonstrates and proves: That fashion of his goes through all his precepts, through all his promises, which is in Esay, Esay 1. 8.Come now, and let us reason together; that which was in Iob, Iob. 31. 13.is a bundantly in God, That he did not contemne the judgment of his servant, nor of his maid, when they did contend with him. Nec decet Dei judicium quicquid habere affine tyrannidi, Basil.we may not think that here is any thing in God, like a Tyran; and it is a Tyrannicall proceeding, as to give no reason of his cruelties, so to give no assurance of his benefits; and therefore God seales his promises with a Quia, a reason, an assurance.
Now much of the strength of the assurance, consists in the person,Persona. whose seale it is; and therefore as Christ did, we aske next, Cujus inscriptio, whose Image, whose inscription is upon his seale, who gives this assurance? And it is the Lambe that is in the midst of the throne; If it werethe Lion, the Lion of the tribe of Iuda, is able to perform his promises: but there are more then Christ, out of this world, that beare the Lion; The devill is a Lion too, that seeketh whom he may devoure: but he never seales with that Lambe, with any impression of humility; to a Lambe he is never compared; in the likenesse of a lambe, he is never noted to have appeared, in all the Legends.
It is the Lambe, that is in the midst, thereby disposed to shed, and dispense his spirituall benefits on all sides; The Lambe is not immured in Rome, not coffined up in the ruines, and tubbidge of old wals, nor thrust into a corner in Conventicles. The Lambe is in the midst; & he is in the midst of the throne; though al his great, & glorious company be round about him, one hundred and forty foure thousand Israelites, innumerable multitudes of all Nations, Angels, and Elders, yet it is the Lambe, that is in the midst of them, and not they that are about him, that sheds down these blessings upon us; And it is the Lambe, that is there still, in the midst of the throne; not kneaded into an Agnus Dei, of wax, or wafer here, not called down from heaven, to an Altar, by every Priests charme, to be a witnesse of secrecy in the Sacrament, for every bloudy, and feditious enterprise, that they undertake; It is Agnus qui est in medio Throni, the Lambe that is there, and shall be so, till he come at last, as a Lion also, to devoure them, who have made false opinions of him to serve their mischievous purposes here.
This is the person then, that gives the assurance, that all these blessings belong to them who are ordained to be so sealed, and so washed; this is he that assures us, and approves to us, that all this shall be, first, Quia reget, because he shall govern them, secondly, Quia deducet, because he shall lead them to the fountaines of waters; thirdly, Quia absterget, because he shall wipe all teares from their eyes.
First, he shall govern them; Reget.he shall establish a spiritual Kingdome for them in this world; for to govern, which is the word, of the first translation, and to feed, which is in the second, is all one in Scriptures. Dominabitur gentium, he shall be Lord of the Gentiles; but Rex Israelis, he shall governe his people Israel, as a King, by a certain, and a cleare law; So that, as we shal have interest in the Covenant, as well as the Israclites, so we shal have interest in that glorious acclamation of theirs; Unto what nation are their Gods come so neare unto them, as the Lord our God, is come near unto us; what nation hath Laws, and ordinances so righteous as we have? for in that Paul & Barnabas express the heaviest indignation of God upon the Gentiles,Act. 14. 16. that God suffered the Gentiles to walke in their own ways; he shewed them not his ways, he setled no church, no kingdome, amongst them, he did not govern them. Except one of those Eight persons whom God preserved in the Arke, were here to tell us, the unexpressible comfort, that he conceived in his safety, when he saw that flood wash away Princes from their thrones, misers from their bagges, lovers from their embracements, Courtiers from their wardrobes, no man is able to expresse that true comfort, which a Christian is to take, even in this, That God hath taken him into his Church, and not left him in that desperate, and irremediable inundation of Idolatry, and paganisace that overflowes all the world beside. For beloved, who can expresse, who can conceive that strange confusion, which shall overtake, and oppresse those infinite multitudes of Soules, which shall be changed at the last day, and shall meet Christ Jesus in the clouds, and shall receive an irrevocable judgment, of everlasting condemnation, dut of his mouth, whose name they never heard of before, that must be condemned by a Judge, of whom they knew nothing before, and who never had before any apprehension of torments of Hell, till by that lamentable experience they began to learn it? What blessed meanes of preparation against that fearfull day doth he afford us, even in this, that he governes us by his law, delivered in his Church.
The first thing, that the housholder in the parable, Mat. 21. 33.is noted to have done for his Vineyard was, Sepe circumdedit, he hedged it in. That, God hath done for us, in making us his Church;Eccles. 10. 8. he hath inlaid us, he hath hedged us in. But he that breaketh the hedge, a Serpent shall bite him, he that breaketh this hedge, the peace of the Church, by his Schisme, the old Serpent hath bitten, and poysoned him, and shall bite worse hereafter: and if God, having thus severed us, and hedged us in, have expected grapes, and we bring none, though we breake no hedge here amongst our selves, that is, no Papist breaks in upon us, no Separatist breakes out from us, we enjoy security enough, yet even for our own barrennes, Godwill take away the hedge, Esay 5. 5.and it shall be eaten up, he will breake the wall, and it shall be troden down. Surely, says the Prohet there, The Vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the Men of Indah are his pleasant plans: Surely we are the Church, which God hath hedged in; but yet if we answer not his expectation, certainly the confusion of the Gentiles, at the last day, (when they shal say to themselves of Christ Nescivi te, dost thou condemne us, and we know thee not?) shall not be so great, as out confusion shall be, when we shall hear Christ say to us, whom he bred in his Church, Nesiciovos, I know not whence you are. Even this, that the ill use of this mercy of having been bred in his Church, shall aggravate our condemnation then, shewes the great benefit, which we may receive now by this Quod regit nos, that he takes care of us in his Church; for how many in the world would have lived ten times more christianly then we do, if they had but halfe that knowledge of Christ, which we have?
When he hath then brought us into his kingdome,Deducet. that we are his subjects, (for all the heathen are in the condition of slaves) he brings us nearer, into his service; he gives us outward distinctions, liveries, badges, names, visible markes in Baptisme: yea he incorporates us more inseparably to himself, then that which they imagine to be done in the Church of Rome, where their Canonists, say; that a Cardinall is to incorporated in the Pope, he is so made one flesh, and bloud with him, as that he may not let bloud without his leave, because he bleeds not his own, but the Popes bloud: But of us it is true, that by this Sacramēs we are so incorporated into Christ, that in all our afflictions after we fulfill the sufferings of Christ in our flesh, and in all afflictions, which we lay upon any of our Christian brethren, our consciences hear Christ crying to us, Quid me persequerts? why persecutest thou me? Christs body is wounded in us, when we suffer, Christs body is wounded by us, when we violate the peace of the Church, or offend the particular members thereof.
First then deducet, he shall lead them, it is not he shall force them, he shall thrust them, he shall compell them; it implies a gentle, and yet an effectuall way, he shall lead them. Those which come to Christianity, from Iudaisme, or Gentisme, when they are of years of discreation, he shall lead them by instruction, by Catechisme, by preaching of his word, before they be baptized, for they that are of years & are baptized, without the word, that is, without understanding, or considering the institution, & vertue of baptisime, expressed in Gods word, and so receive baptisme onelyonly for temporall, and naturall respects, they are not led to the waters, but they fall into them: and so, as a Man may be drowned in a wholsome bath, so such a Man, may perish eternally in baptisme, if he take it, for satisfaction of the State, or any other by respect, to which that Sacrament is not ordained, in the word of God. He shall lead Men of years, by Instruction; and he shall lead young children in good company, and with a strong guard, he shall lead them by the faith of his Church, by the faith of their Parents, by the faith of their sureties and undertakers.
He shall lead them; and then, when he hath taken them into his government; for first it is Reget, he shall govern them, and then Deducet, that is, he shall lead them, in his Church; and therefore they that are led to baptisme, any other way then by the Church, they are misled; nay they are miscarried, misdriven, Spiritu vertiginis, Esay 19. 14.with the spirit of giddinesse. They that joyne any in commission with the Trinity, though but as an asstsant, (for so they say in the Church of Rome, baptisme may be administred,Aquin. in the name of the Father, Sonne, and holy Ghost, and the virgin Mary) they follow not, as Christ led in his Church, Non fuit sic ab initio, it was not so from the beginning: for quod extra hos tres est, totum Conservum est; though much dignity belong to the memory of the Saints of God, yet whosoever is none of the three Persons,…asil. Conservus est, he is our fellow-servant: though his service lie above staires, and ours below, his in the triumphant, ours in the militant Church, Conservus est, yet he, or she, is in that respect, but our fellow-servant, and not Christs fellow-redeemer. Exod. 15.So also, if we be led to Marah, to the waters of bitternesse, that we bring a bitter taste, of those institutions of the Church for the decency, and signification in Sacramentall things, things belonging to Baptisme, if we bring a misinterpretation of them, an indisposition to them, an aversnesse from them, and so nourish a bitternes, and uncharitablenesse towards one another, for these Ceremonies, if we had rather crosse one another, and crosse the Church, then, crosse the child, as God shewed Moses, a tree, which made those waters in the wildernesse sweet, when it was cast in, so remember that there is the tree of life, the crosse of Christ Iesus, and his Merits, in this water of baptisme, & when we all agree in that, that all the vertue proceeds from the crosse of Christ, the God of unity and peace and concord, let us admit any representation of Christs crosse, rather then admit the true crosse of the devill, which is a bitter and schismaticall crossing of Christ in his Church: for it is there in his Church, that he leads us to these waters.
Well then,Eos. they to whom these waters belong, have Christ in his Church to lead them; and therefore they need not stay, till they can come alone, till they be of age and years of discretion, as the Anabaptists say: for it is Deducet, and Deducet cos; generally, universally; all that are of this government, all that are appointed for the Seal, all the one hundred and forty foure thousand, all the Innumerable multitudes of all Nations Christ leads them all. Act. 2. 39.Be Baptized every one of you, in the name of Iesus Christ, for the remission of sinnes; for the promise is made unto you, and your children. Now all promises of God, are sealed in the holy Ghost; To whom soever any promise of God belongs, he hath the holy Ghost; and therefore Nunquid aquam quis prohibere potest? Can any Man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which havereceived the holy Ghost, as well as we? says S. Peter. And therfore the Children of the Covenant which have the promise, Act. 10. 47.have the holy Ghost, & all they are in this Regiment, Deducet cos, Christ shall lead them all.
But whither?Ad aquas. unto the lively, (says our first edition) unto the living, (says our last edition) fountaines of waters; In the originall, unto the fountaines of the water of life; now in the Scriptures nothing is more ordianry, then by the name of waters to designe and meane tribulations: so, amongst many other, God says of the City of Tyre, Ezek. 16. 19.that he would make it a desolate: City, and bring the deep upon it, and great waters should cover it. But then there is some such addition, as leads to that sense; either they are called Aqua multae, great waters, or Profunda aquarum, deep waters, or Absorbebit aqua, whirlepooles of waters, or Tempestas aquae, tempestuous waters,Ier. 8. 14. or Aqua Fellis, bitter water, (God bath mingled gall in our water:) but we shall never read fontes aquarum,Ier. 2. 13. fountaines of waters, but it hath a gratious sense, and presents Gods benefits. So, they have forsaken me the fountaine of living waters; So, the water, that I shall give,Ioh. 4. 14. shall be in him, a well of water, springing up unto everlasting life; and so, every where else, when we are brought to the fountaines, to this water, in the fountaine, in the institution, howsover we puddle it with impertinent questions in disputation, however we soule it with our finnes, and all conversation, the fountaine is pure; Baptisme presents, and offers grace, and remission of sinnes to all.
Nay not onelyonly, this fountaine of water, but the greatest water of all, the flood it selfe, Saint Basil Basil.understands, and applies to Baptisme, as the Apostle himselfe does,1 Pet. 3. 21. Baptisme was a figure, of the flood, and the Arke, Psal. 29. 10.for upon that place, The Lord sitseth upon the flood, and the Lord doth remaine King for ever, he says, Baptismi gratiam Diluvium nominat, nam deles & purgat; David calls Baptisme the flood, because it destroyes all that was sinfull in us; and so also he referrs to Baptisme, those words, (when David had confessed his sinnes) I thought I would confesse against my selfe my wickednesse, unto the Lord; and when it is added, Surely in the flood of great waters, they shall not come near him, peccato non appropinquabunt; says he, originall sinne shall not come neare him, that is truly baptized; nay all the actuall sinnes in his future life, shall be drowned in this baptisme, as often, as he doth religiously, and repentantly consider, that in Baptisme, when the merit of Christ was communicated to him, he received an Antidote against all poyson, against all sinne, if he applied them together, sinne and the merit of Christ; for so also he says, of that place, God will subdue all our iniquities, and cast our sinnes into the bottome of the Sea, Hoc est, in mare Baptismi, Mic. 7. 19.says Basil, into the Sea of Baptisme; There was a Brasen Sea in the Temple; 1 Reg. 7. 24.and there is a golden Sea in the Church of Christ, which is Baptistrisum, the font, the Sea, into which God flings all their sinnes, who rightly, and effectually receive that Sacrament.
These fountaines of waters then in the text, are the waters of baptisime: and if we should take them also, in that sense, that waters signifie tribulations, and afflictions, it is true too, that in baptisme, (that is, in the profession of Christ,) we are delivered over to many tribulations;Luke 24. The rule is generall, Castigat omnes, he chastiseth all; The example, the precedent is peremptory, Opertuit pati, Christ ought to suffer, and so enter into glory: but howsoever waters be affictions, they are waters of life, too, says the text; Though baptisme imprint a crosse upon us, that we should not be ashamed of Christ crosse, that we should not be afraid of our owne crosses, yet by all these waters, by all these Crosse ways, we goe directly to the eternall life, the kingdome of heaven, for they are lively fountaines, fountaines of life.
And this is intended, and promised,Absterget. in the last words, Absterget omnem Lachrymam, God shall wipe all teares from our eyes; God shall give us a joyfull apprehension of heaven, here in his Church in this life. But is this a way to wipe teares from the childes face, to sprinkle water upon it. Is this a wiping away, to powre more on? It is the powerfull, and wonderfull way of his working; for as his red bloud, makes our red soules, white, that his rednesse, gives our rednesse a candor, so his water, his baptisime, and the powerfull effect thereof; shall dry up, and wipe away Omnem …achrymam, all teares from our Eyes, howsoever occasioned. This water shall dry them up; Christ had many occassion of teares; we have more; some of our owne, which he had not: we must weep because we are not so good, as we should be: we cannot performe the law. We must weepe, because we are not so good, as we could be; our free will is lost; but yet every Man findes, he might be better, if he would: but the sharpest, and saltest, and smartest occasion of our teares, is from this, that we must not be so good, as we would be; that the prosanenesse of the Libertine, the reproachfull slanders, the contumelious scandalls, the seornfull names, that the wicked lay upon those, who in their measure desire to expresse their zeale to Gods glory, makes us afraid, to professe our selves so religious as we could find in our hearts to be, and could truly be if we might. Christ went often in contemplation of others; foreseeing the calamities of Ierualem, he wept over the City. comming to the grave of Lazarus, he wept with them, but in his owne Agony in the garden, it is not said that he weps; If we could stop the stood of teares, in our afflictions, yet there belongs an excessive griefe to this, that the ungodly disposion of other Men, is slacking of our godlinesse, of our sanctification too.Heb. 12. Christ Jesus for the joy that was set before him endured the Crosse; we for the joy of this promise, that God will wipe all teares from our eyes; must suffer all this, whether they be teares of Compunction, or teares of Compassion, teares for our selves, or teares for others; whether they be Magdalens teares, or Peters teares; teares for sinnes of infirmity of the flesh, or teares for weaknesse of our faith; whether they be teares for thy parents; because they are improvident towards thee, or teares for thy children, because they are disobedient to thee, whether they be teares for Church, because our Sermons, or our Censures pinch you, or teares for the State, that penall laws, pecuniary, or bloudy, lie heavy upon you, Deus absterget omneni lachryman, here's your comfort; that as he hath promised inestimable blessings to them, that are sealed, and washed in him, so he hath given you security, that these blessings belong to you: for, if you find, that he hath govened you, (bred you in his visible Church) and led you to his fountaine of the water of lifein baptisme, you may be sure, that he will in his due time, wipe all teares from your eyes, establish the kingdome of heaven upon you, in this life, in a holy, and modest infallibility.