Twenty-Six Sermons, Sermon 25

Twenty-Six Sermons · Sermon 25

p. 357ASerm. 25. SERMON Preached at the SPITTLE Ʋpon Eaſter-Munday, 1662. SERMON XXV.

2 Cor. 4.6.

For, God who commanded light to ſhine out of darkneſs, hath ſhined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jeſus Chriſt.

THe firſt Book of the Bible, begins with the beginning; In principio, ſays Moſes, in Geneſis; In the beginning God created heaven and earth: and can there be any thing prius principio, before the beginning? Before this beginning, there is. The laſt Book of the Bible, (in the order as they were written) the Goſpel of St. John, begins with the ſame word too; In principio, ſays St. John; In the beginning was the Word: and here, Noviſsimum primum, the laſt beginning is the firſt; St. John's beginning, before Moſes; Moſes ſpeaking but of the Creature, and St. John of the Creator; and of the Creator, before he took that name, before he came to the act of Creation; as, the Word was with God, and was God from all Eternity. Our preſent Text is an Epitome of both thoſe beginnings: of the firſt beginning, the Creation, when God commanded light to ſhine out of darkneſs; and of the other beginning, which is indeed the firſt, of Him, in whoſe face we ſhall have the knowledge of the glory of God, Chriſt Jeſus.

The firſt Book of the Bible, is a Revelation, and ſo is the laſt, in the order as they ſtand, a Revelation too. To declare a production of all things out of nothing, (which is Moſes his work;) that when I do not know, and care not whether I know or no, what ſo p. 358contemptible a Creature as an Ant is made of, but yet would fain know what ſo vaſt, and ſo conſiderable a thing as an Elephant is made of; I care not for a muſtard ſeed, but I would fain know what a Cedar is made of; I can leave out the conſideration of the whole Earth, but would be glad to know what the Heavens, and the glorious bodies in the Heavens, Sun, Moon and Stars are made of; I ſhall have but one anſwer from Moſes for all, that all my Elephants, and Cedars, and the Heavens that I conſider, were made of nothing; that a Cloud is as nobly born, as the Sun in the Heavens; and a begger, as nobly, as the King upon Earth; if we conſider the great Grand-father of them all, to be nothing: to produce light of darkneſs thus, is a Revelation, a Manifeſtation of that, which, till then, was not: this Moſes does. St. John's is a Revelation too: a Manifeſtation of that ſtate, which ſhall be, and be for ever, after all thoſe which were produced of nothing, ſhall be return'd and reſſolv'd to nothing again; the glorious ſtate of the everlaſting Jeruſalem, the Kingdom of Heaven. Now this Text is a Revelation of both theſe Revelations: the firſt ſtate, that which Moſes reveals, was too dark for man to ſee; for it was nothing: The other, that which St. John reveals, is too bright, too dazling for man to look upon; for it is no one limited, determined Object, but all at once, glory, and the ſeat and fountain of all glory, the face of Chriſt Jeſus.

The Holy Ghoſt hath ſhewed us both theſe, ſeverally in Moſes, and in St. John, and both together in St. Paul, in this Text: where, as the Sun ſtands in the midſt of the Heavens, and ſhews us both the Creatures that are below it, upon Earth, and the Creatures that are above it, the Stars in Heaven; ſo St. Paul, as he is made an Apoſtle of the Gentiles, ſtands in the midſt of this Text, (God hath ſhin'd in our hearts:) Ours, as we are Apoſtolical Miniſters of the Goſpel; and he ſhows us the greatneſs of God, in the Creation which was before, when God commanded light out of darkneſs; and the goodneſs of God which ſhall be hereafter, when he ſhall give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Chriſt Jeſus.

So that this Text, giving light, by which we ſee, light commanded by God out of darkneſs; and the Object which we are to ſee, the knowledge of the glory of God; and this Object being brought within a convenient diſtance to be ſeen in the face of Jeſus Chriſt. And a fit and well-diſpoſed Medium being illumin'd, through which we may ſee it, God having ſhin'd in our hearts, eſtabliſhed a Miniſtry of the Goſpel: for that purpoſe, if you bring but eyes, to that which this Text brings, Light, and Object, and Diſtance, and Means, then, as St. Baſil ſaid of the Book of Pſalms, upon an impoſſible ſuppoſition, If all the other Books of Scripture could periſh, there were enough in that one, for the catechiſing of all p. 359that did believe, and for the convincing of all that did not: ſo if all the other Writings of St. Paul could periſh, this Text were enough to carry us through the body of Divinity, from the Cradle of the world, in the Creation, when God commanded light out of darkneſs, to the Grave; and beyond the Grave of the world, to the laſt Diſſolution; and beyond it, when we ſhall have fully, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Chriſt Jeſus. Now, whilſt I am to ſpeak of all this, this, which is Omne ſcibile, all, and more then can fall within the comprehenſion of a natural man; for it is the beginning of this world, and it is the way to the next, and it is the next world it ſelf, I comfort my ſelf at my firſt ſetting out, with that of St. Gregory, Purgatas aures, & hominum gratiam nanciſci, nonne Dei donum est? I take it for one of Gods great bleſſings to me, if he have given me now an Auditory, Purgatae auris, of ſuch ſpiritual and circumciſed Ears, as come not to hear that Wiſdom of Words, which may make the Croſs of Chriſt of none effect; much leſs ſuch itching Ears, as come to hear popular and ſeditious Calumnies and Scandals, and Reproaches, caſt upon the preſent State and Government. For, a man may make a Sermon, a Satyr; he may make a Prayer, a Libel, if upon colour of preaching, or praying, againſt toleration of Religion, or perſecution for Religion, he would inſinuate, that any ſuch tolerations are prepared for us, or ſuch perſecutions threatned againſt us. But if for ſpeaking the myſteries of your ſalvation, plainly, ſincerely, inelegantly, inartificially; for the Gold, and not for the Faſhion; for the Matter, and not for the Form, Nanciſcor populi gratiam, my ſervice may be acceptable to Gods people, and available to their Edification; Nonne Dei donum, ſhall not I call this a great Bleſſing of God? Beloved, in him, I muſt; I do. And therefore, becauſe I preſume I ſpeak to ſuch, I take to my ſelf, that which follows there, in the ſame Father, that he that ſpeaks to ſuch a people, does not his duty, if he conſider not deliberately, Quibus, Quando, Quantum loquatur; both to whom, and at what time, and how much he is to ſpeak. I conſider the perſons; and I conſider that the greateſt part, by much, are perſons born ſince the Reformation of Religion, ſince the death of Idolatry in this Land; and therefore not naturaliz'd by Converſion, by Tranſplantation from another Religion to this, but born the natural children of this Church; and therefore, to ſuch perſons, I need not lay hold upon any points of controverted Doctrine. I conſider alſo Quando, the time; and I conſider, that it is now, in theſe days of Easter, when the greateſt part of this Auditory, have, or will renew their Hands to Chriſt Jeſus in the Sacrament of his Body, and his Blood; that they will rather looſe theirs, then lack his: and therefore towards perſons, who have teſtified that diſpoſition in that ſeal, I need not depart into any vehement, or p. 360paſſionate Exhortations to conſtancy and perſeverance, as though there were occaſion to doubt it. And I conſider laſtly, Quantum, how much is neceſſary to be ſpoken to ſuch a people, ſo diſpoſed; and therefore, farther then the cuſtom, and ſolemnity of this day, and place, lays an Obligation upon me, I will not extend my ſelf to an unneceſſary length; eſpecially, becauſe that which ſhall be ſaid by me, and by my Brethren which come after, and were worthy to come before me, in this place, is to be ſaid to you again, by another, who alone, takes as much pains, as all we, and all you too: Hears all, with as much patience as all you; and is to ſpeak of all, with as much, and more labour, then all we. Much therefore for your eaſe, ſomewhat for his, a little for mine own, with ſuch ſuccinctneſs and brevity, as may conſiſt with clearneſs, and perſpicuity, in ſuch manner, and method, as may beſt enlighten your underſtandings, and leaſt encumber your memories, I ſhall open unto you that light, which God commanded out of darkneſs, and that light by which he hath ſhin'd in our hearts; and this light, by which we ſhall have the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Christ Jeſus.

Diviſio.Our parts therefore in theſe words, muſt neceſſarily be three; three Lights. The firſt, ſhows us our Creation; the ſecond, our Vocation; the third, our Glorification. In the firſt, We, who were but, (but what?) but nothing, were made Creatures: In the ſecond, we, who were but Gentiles, were made Chriſtians: In the third, we, who were but men, ſhall be made ſaints. In the firſt, God took us, when there was no world: In the ſecond, God ſuſtains us, in an ill world: In the third, God ſhall crown us, in a glorious and joyful world. In the firſt, God made us; in the ſecond, God mends us; in the third, God ſhall perfect us. Firſt, God commanded light out of darkneſs, that man might ſee the Creature; then he ſhin'd in our hearts, that man might ſee himſelf; at laſt, he ſhall ſhine ſo in the face of Chriſt Jeſus, that man may ſee God, and live; and live as long, as that God of light and life ſhall live himſelf. Every one of theſe Parts, will have divers Branches; and it is time to enter into them. In the firſt, the Creation, becauſe this Text does not purpoſely and primarily deliver the Doctrine of the Creation, not prove it, not preſs it, not enforce it; but rather ſuppoſe it, and then propoſe it by way of Example and Compariſon; (for when the Apoſtles ſays, God, who commanded light out of darkneſs, hath ſhin'd in our hearts, he intimates therein, theſe two Propoſitions: firſt, that the ſame God that does the one, does the other too; God perfects his works; and then this Propoſition alſo, As God hath done the one, he hath done the other: God himſelf works by Patterns, by Examples.) Theſe two Propoſitions ſhall therefore be our two firſt Branches in this firſt Part. Firſt, Idem Deus, the ſame God goes through his works; and p. 361therefore let us never fear that God will be weary: and then Sicut Deus, as God hath done, he will do again; he works by pattern, and ſo muſt we: and then from theſe two, we ſhall deſcend to our third Propoſition, Quid Deus, what God is ſaid to have done here; and it is, that he commanded light out of darkneſs. In theſe three, we ſhall determine this Part; and for the Branches of the other two Parts, our Vocation, and our Glorification, it will be a leſs burden to your memories, to open them then, when we come to handle the Parts themſelves, then altogether now. Now we ſhall proceed in the Branches of the firſt Part.Part 1. Memb. 1. Idem Deus.

In this, our firſt Conſideration is, Idem Deus, the ſame our God goes through all. Thoſe divers Hereticks who thought there were two Gods, (for Cordon thought ſo, and Marcion thought ſo too; the Gnostiques thought ſo, and the Maniches thought ſo too) though they differ'd in their miſtakings, (for errour is always manifold, and multiform) yet all their errours were upon this ground, this root, They could nor comprehend that the ſame God ſhould be the God of Juſtice, and the God of Mercy too; a God that had an earneſtneſs to puniſh ſin, and an eaſineſs to pardon ſin too. Cordon, who was firſt, though he made two Gods, yet he uſed them both reaſonable well; for with him, Alter Bonus, Alter Juſtus; Iren. 1.28.29.one of his Gods is perfectly good, merciful; and the other, though he be not ſo very good, yet he is juſt. Marcion, who came after, ſays worſe; becauſe he could not diſcern the good purpoſes of God in inflicting Judgements, nor the good uſe which good men make of his Corrections; but thought all acts of his Juſtice to be calamitous and intolerable, and naturally evil: therefore with him, Alter Bonus, Alter Malus; he that is the merciful God, is his good God; and he that is ſo juſt, but juſt, is an ill God. Hence they came to call the God of the New Teſtament, a good God, becauſe there was Copioſa Redemptio, plentiful Redemption in the Goſpel: and the God of the Old Teſtament, Malum Deum, an ill God, becauſe they thought all penalties of the Law, evil. They came lower; to call that God, which created the Upper Region of man, the Brain, and the Heart, (the preſence and privy Chamber of Reaſon, and conſequently of Religion too) a good God, becauſe good things are enacted there; and that God that created the Lower Region of man, the ſeat and ſcene of Carnal Deſires, and inordinate Affections, an ill God, becauſe ill actions are perpetrated there. But Idem Deus, the ſame God that commanded light out of darkneſs, hath ſhin'd in our hearts: The God of the Law, and the God of the Goſpel too; The God of the Brain, and the God of the Belly too; The God of Mercy, and the God of Juſtice too, is all one God.

In all the Scriptures, you ſhall ſcarce find ſuch a Demonſtration of Gods Indignation, ſuch a ſevere Execution, as that upon p. 362the Syrians; when, after the ſlaughter of one hundred thouſand foot in the field in one day, the walls of the City, into which they fled, fell, and ſlew twenty ſeven thouſand more. The Armies of the Iſraelites were that day, but as little flocks of kids, ſays the Text there; and yet thoſe few, ſlew one hundred thouſand. The Walls of Aphak promiſed ſuccour; and yet they fell, and ſlew twenty ſeven thouſand. Now from whence proceeded Gods vehement anger in this defeat? The Prophet tells the King the cauſe; Becauſe the Syrians have ſaid, The Lord is God of the hills, but he is not God of the vallies. The Iſraelites had beaten them upon the Hills, and they could not attribute this to their Forces, for they were very ſmall; they muſt neceſſarily aſcribe it to their God; but they thought they might find a way to be too hard for their God: and therefore, ſince he was a God of the mountains, they would fight with him in the vallies. But the God of Iſrael is Idem Deus, one and the ſame God. He is Jugatinus and Vallonia both, as St. Aug. ſpeaks out of the Roman Authors: he is God of the mountains, he can exalt; and he is God of the Vallies, he can throw down. Our Age hath produced ſuch Syrians, too; Men, who, after God hath declared himſelf againſt them many ways, have yet thought they might get an advantage upon him ſome other way. They begun in Rebellions; animated perſons of great blood, and great place, to rebels their Rebellions God fruſtrated. Then they came to ſay, (to ſay in actions) Their God is God of Rebellions, a God that reſiſts Rebellions; but he is no God of Excommunications: then they excommunicated us. But our God caſt thoſe thunder-bolts, thoſe Bruta fulmina, into the Sea, no man took fire at them. Then they ſaid, He is a God of Excommunications, he will not ſuffer an Excommunication ſtollen out in his Name, againſt his Children, to do any harm; but he is no God of Invaſion, let's try him there: Then they procured Invaſion; and there the God of Iſrael ſhew'd himſelf the Lord of Hoſts, and ſcattered them there. Then they ſaid, he is the God of Invaſions, annihilates them; but he is not the God of Supplantations; ſurely their God will not pry into a Cellar, he will not peep into a vault; he is the God of water, but he is not the God of fire; let's try him in that Element; and in that Element, they ſaw one another juſtly eviſcorated, and their bowels burnt. All this they have ſaid, ſo as we have heard them; for they have ſaid it in loud Actions, and ſtill they ſay ſomething in corners, which we do not hear. Either he is not a God of Equivocations, and therefore let us be lying ſpirits in the mouthes of ſome of his Prophets, draw ſome men that are in great Opinion of Learning, to our ſide, or at leaſt draw the people into an Opinion that we have drawn them; or elſe, he is not the God of jealouſie and ſuſpition, and therefore let us ſupple and ſlumber him with ſecurity, and p. 361pretences and diſguiſes. But he is Idem Deus; that God who hath begun, and proceeded, will perſevere in mercy towards us. Our God is not out of breath, becauſe he hath blown one tempeſt, and ſwallowed a Navy: Our God hath not burnt out his eyes, becauſe he hath looked upon a Train of Powder: In the the light of Heaven, and in the darkneſs of hell, he ſees alike; he ſees not onelyonly all Machinations of hands, when things come to action; but all Imaginations of hearts, when they are in their firſt Conſultations: paſt, and preſent, and future, diſtinguiſh not his Quando; all is one time to him: Mountains and Vallies, Sea and Land, diſtinguiſh not his Ubi; all is one place to him: When I begin, ſays God to Eli, I will make an end; not onelyonly that all Gods purpoſes ſhall have their certain end, but that even then, when he begins, he makes an end: from the very beginning, imprints an infallible aſſurance, that whom he loves, he loves to the end: as a Circle is printed all at once, ſo his beginning and ending is all one.

Make thou alſo the ſame interpretation of this Idem Deus, in all the Viciſſitudes and Changes of this World. Hath God brought thee from an Expoſititious Child laid out in the ſtreets, of uncertain name, of unknown Parents, to become the firſt foundation-ſtone of a great family, and to enoble a poſterity? Hath God brought thee from a Carriers Pack, upon which thou cameſt up, to thy change of Foot-Cloathes, and Coaches? Hath God brought thee from one of theſe Blew-Coats, to one of thoſe Scarlet Gowns? Attribute not this to thine own Induſtry, nor to thine own Frugality; (for, Induſtry is but Fortunes right hand, and Frugality her left;) but come to Davids Acclamation, Dominus Fecit, It is the Lords doing: That takes away the impoſſibility:Pſal. 118.22.Ps 118:22 If the Lord will do it, it may be, it muſt be done; but yet even that takes not away the wonder; for, as it follows there, Domiminus fecit, & est Mirabile, though the Lord have done it, it is wonderful in our eyes, to ſee whom, and from whence, and whither, and how God does raiſe, and exalt ſome men. And then if God be pleas'd to make thee a Roll written on both ſides, a Hiſtory of Adverſity, as well as of Proſperity: if when he hath fill'd his Tables, with the ſtory of Mardoche, a man ſtrangely raiſed, he takes his Spunge, and wipes out all that, and writes down in thee, the ſtory of Job, a man ſtrangely ruin'd, all this is Idem Deus, ſtill the ſame God, and the ſame purpoſe in that God, ſtill to bring thee nearer to him, though by a lower way. If then thou abound,Luk. 12.19.Luke 12:19 come not to ſay with the over-ſecure man, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up, for many years, take thine eaſe, eat, drink and be merry: and if thou want, come not to that impatience of that Prophet, Satis eſt, Lord, this is enough, now take away my life: Nay, though the Lord lead thee into tentation, and do not deliver thee from p. 364Egypt, but let thee fall into a ſin, though he let thee fall ſo far, as to doubt of his mercy for that ſin, yet Idem Deus, all this while, all this is the ſame God; and even that voice, though it have an account of deſpair in it, is the voice of God; and though it be ſpoken in the mouth of the Devil, it is God that ſpeakes it; for even then, when the Devil poſſeſſes man, God poſſeſſes the Devil. God can make his profit, and thine, of thy ſin: he can make the horror of a ſin committed, the occaſion of thy repentance, and his mercy:Amos 3.6.Amos 3:6 for, Shall there be evil in a City, and the Lord hath not done it? God is no diſpoſer to ſin, but he is the diſpoſer of ſin: God is not Lord of ſin, as Author of ſin; but he is the Lord of ſin, as Steward of it: and he diſpenſes not onelyonly for our ſins, but the ſins themſelves. God imprints not that obliquity, infuſes not that venome that is in our ſinful Actions, but God can extract good out of bad, and Cordials out of Poyſon. Be not thou therefore too nimble a Sophiſter, nor too preſſing an Advocate againſt thine own ſoul: conclude not too ſoon, that God hath forſaken thee, becauſe he hath let thee fall, and let thee lie ſome time, in ſome ſin: you know who did ſo, and yet was a man according to Gods own heart; for God hath ſet his heart upon that way, to glorifie himſelf out of Davids repentance, rather then out of his innocence. In the Hills, and in the Vallies too; in ſpiritual, as well as in temporal proſperity and adverſity too; in the Old, and in the New Teſtament; in the ways of mercy, and of juſtice too, thou maiſt find the ſame God, who is in every change Idem Deus; God, that is, the ſame God, who commanded light out of darkneſs, hath ſhin'd in our hearts: And ſo we have done with the firſt Propoſition.

Sicut Deus.The next is, Sicut Deus; As God hath done the one, ſo he hath the other. God brings himſelf into compariſon with himſelf: Our unworthineſs changes not his nature: His mercy is new every morning; and, his mercy endureth for ever. One generation is a precedent to another, and God is his own Example; whatſoever he hath done for us, he is ready to do again. When he had once written the Law in ſtone-tables, for the direction of his people, and that Moſes in an over-vehement zeal and diſtemper, had broke thoſe Tables, God turn'd to his precedent, remembred what he had done, and does ſo again; he writes that Law again in new Tables. When God had given us the light of the Reformation for a few years of a young King, and that after him, in the time of a pious truly, but credulous Princeſs, a Cloud of blood over-ſhadowed us in a heavy perſecution, yet God turn'd to his precedent, to the example of his former mercy, and in mercy re-eſtabliſhed that light, which ſhines yet amongſt us; and (if the ſins of the people extinguiſh it not) ſhall ſhine as long as the Sun and Moon ſhall ſhine above. The Lords hand is not ſhortned, nor weakned p. 365in the ways of juſtice; and his juſtice hath a Sicut, a precedent, an Example too. There is Sicut Kore, If we ſin as Kore and his Complices ſinned, as Kore and his Complices, we ſhall periſh.Num. 16.40.Num 16:40 There is an Anathema Sicut illud, Deut. 7.26.Deut 7:26Thou ſhalt not bring an abomination into thy houſe, (not an Idolator into thy houſe) lest thou be an accurſed thing, Sicut illud, as guilty in the eye of God,Pſal. 83.9.Ps 83:9 as the Idolator himſelf. There is Sicut Midian; God can do unto the men of theſe times, as he did unto the Midianites, as to Siſera, as to Jabin, which periſhed, and became as the Dung of the earth. He can make their Nobles Sicut Oreb, Sicut Zeeb, like unto Oreb, like unto Zeeb, and all their Princes Sicut Zebah, Sicut Salmana. There are precedents of his juſtice too. But yet in the greateſt act of his juſtice that ever he did, which was the general drowning of the whole world, though that hiſtory remain as an everlaſting Demonſtration of his power, and of his juſtice, yet he would not have it remain as a precedent; but he records that, with that proteſtation, I will no more curſe the earth, nor ſmite any more, every living thing, as I have done: though I have ſhow'd that I can do it, and have done it, I will do it no more. God forbears, and wayes his own example in matter of juſtice; but God never ſhew'd any mercy, but he deſires that that mercy may be recorded, and produc'd, and pleaded to our Conſcience, to the whole Congregation, to God himſelf, as a leading and a binding caſe, as he commanded light out of darkneſs, ſo he hath ſhin'd in our hearts.

God proceeds by example, by pattern: Even in this firſt great act preſented in our Text, in the Creation he did ſo. God had no external pattern in the Creation, for there was nothing extant; but God had from all Eternity an internal pattern, an Idaea, a pre-conception, a form in himſelf, according to which he produc'd every Creature. And when God himſelf proceeds upon pre-conceptions, pre-meditations, ſhall we adventure to do, or to ſay any thing in his ſervice unpremeditately, extemporally? It is not Gods way. Now, it is a penurious thing, to have but one Candle in a room: it is too dim a light to work by, to live by, to have but Rule and Precept alone; Rule and Example together, direct us fully. Who ſhall be our Example?Hierom. Idaea novi hominis Christus Jeſus. If thou wilt be a new Creature, (and, Circumciſion is nothing, uncircumciſion nothing, but onelyonly to be a new Creature) then Chriſt is thy Idaea, thy Pattern, thine Original: for, Quid in eo non Novum? what was there in him that was not new? When was there ſuch a Conception, of the Holy Ghoſt? ſuch a birth, of a Virgin? ſuch a pregnancy to diſpute ſo, ſo young, with ſuch men? When ſuch a death as God to die? when ſuch a life, as a dead man to raiſe himſelf again? Quid in eo non Novum? To be produc'd by this Idaea, built up by this Model, copied by this Original, is truely, is onelyonly to be a new Creature. But that thou p. 366mayſt put thy ſelf into the way to this, it is uſefully ſaid, Enim vero, certum vitae genus ſibi conſtituere; Certainly to undertake a certain Profeſſion,Nazianz. a Calling in this world, and to propoſe to our ſelves the Example of ſome good, and godly man in that Calling, whoſe ſteps we will walk in, and whom we will make our precedent, Tanti Momenti eſſe duco, ſays that Father, is a matter of ſo great importance, as that upon that (ſays he) lies the building of our whole life. That little Philoſopher Epictetus, could give us that Rule; Whenſoever thou enter priſeſt, any action, ſays he, conſider what Socrates, what Plato, (that is, what a wiſe and religious man) would have done in that caſe, and do thou ſo. This way our Saviour directs us;Ja. 13.15. I have given you an example: It is not only Mandatum novum, but exemplum Novum, That ye ſhould do, even as I have done unto you. And this is the way that the Apoſtle directs us to,Phil. 3.13.Phil 3:13 Brethren, be followers of me: and becauſe he could not be always with them, he adds, Look on them which walk ſo, as you have us for an example. Love the Legends, the Lives, the Actions, and love the ſayings, the Apopththegms of good men. In all tentations like Joſephs tentations,Gen. 39.9.Gen 39:9 love Joſephs words, How can I do this great wickedneſs, and ſin againſt God? In all tentations like Jobs tentations, love the words of Job, Job 2.10.Job 2:10Shall we receive good at the hands of God, and ſhall we not receive evil? In all tentations like to Shidrachs and his fellow-Confeſſors,Dan 3.17.Dan 3:17 love their words, Our God is able to deliver us, and he will deliver us: but if not, we will not ſerve thy god, nor worſhip thine image. Certainly, without the practiſe, it is ſcarce to be diſcern'd, what eaſe and what profit there is, in propoſing certain and good Examples to our ſelves. And when you have made up your profit that way, rectified your ſelf by that courſe, then, as your Sons write by Copies, and your Daughters work by Samplars, be every Father a Copy to his Son, every Mother a Samplar to her Daughter, and every houſe will be an Univerſity. O in how bleſſed a nearneſs to their Direction, is that Child, and that Servant, and that Pariſhioner, who, when they ſhall ſay to Almighty God, by way of Prayer, What ſhall I do, to get eternal life? ſhall hear God anſwer to them by his Spirit, Do but as thou ſeeſt thy Father do, do as thou ſeeſt thy Maſter do, do as thou ſeeſt thy Paſtor do! To become a precedent, govern thy ſelf by precedent firſt; which is all the Doctrine that I intended to deduce out of this ſecond Propoſition, Sicut Deus, As God commanded light out of darkneſs, ſo he hath ſhin'd in our hearts: God did as he had done before: and ſo we paſs from the Idem Deus, and the Sicut Deus, to the Quid Deus, What that is which God hath done here, He commanded light out of darkneſs.

Quid Deus.The drowning of the firſt world, and the repairing that again; the burning of this world, and eſtabliſhing another in heaven, do not ſo much ſtrain a mans Reaſon, as the Creation, a Creation p. 367of all out of nothing. For, for the repairing of the world after the Flood, compared to the Creation, it was eight to nothing; eight perſons to begin a world upon, then; but in the Creation, none. And for the glory which we receive in the next world, it is (in ſome ſort) as the ſtamping of a print upon a Coyn; the metal is there already, a body and a ſoul to receive glory: but at the Creation, there was no ſoul to receive glory, no body to receive a ſoul, no ſtuff, no matter, to make a body of. The leſs any thing is, the leſs we know it: how inviſible, how intelligible a thing then, is this Nothing! We ſay in the School, Deus cognoſcibilior Angelis, We have better means to know the nature of God, then of Angels, becauſe God hath appeared and manifeſted himſelf more in actions, then Angels have done: we know what they are, by knowing what they have done; and it is very little that is related to us what Angels have done: what then is there that can bring this Nothing to our underſtanding? what hath that done? A Leviathan, a Whale, from a grain of Spawn; an Oke from a buried Akehorn, is a great; but a great world from nothing, is a ſtrange improvement. We wonder to ſee a man riſe from nothing to a great Eſtate; but that Nothing is but nothing in compariſon; but abſolutely nothing, meerly nothing, is more incomprehenſible then any thing, then all things together. It is a ſtate (if a man may call it a ſtate) that the Devil himſelf in the midſt of his torments, cannot wiſh. No man can, the Devil himſelf cannot, adviſedly, deliberately, wiſh himſelf to be nothing. It is truely and ſafely ſaid in the School, That whatſoever can be the ſubject of a wiſh, if I can deſire it, wiſh it, it muſt neceſſarily be better (at leaſt in my opinion) then that which I have; and whatſoever is better, is not nothing; whithout doubt it muſt neceſſarily produce more thankfulneſs in me, towards God, that I am a Chriſtian; but certainly more wonder that I am a Creature: it is vehemently ſpoken, but yet needs no excuſe, which Justin Marter ſays, Ne ipſi quidem Domino fidem haberem, &c. I ſhould ſcarce believe God himſelf, if he ſhould tell me, that any but himſelf created this world of nothing; ſo infallible, and ſo inſeparable a work, and ſo diſtinctive a Character is it of the Godhead, to produce any thing from nothing; and that God did when he commanded light out of darkneſs.

Moſes ſtands not long upon the Creation, in the deſcription thereof; no more will we: When there went but a word to the making it ſelf, why ſhould we make many words in the deſcription thereof? We will therefore onelyonly declare the three terms in this Propoſition, and ſo proceed; firſt, God commanded, then he commanded light, and light out of darkneſs.

p. 368For the firſt, that which we tranſlate here commanded, is in St. Pauls mouth, the ſame that is Moſes, Dixit, and no more; God ſaid it. But then if he ſaid it, Cui dixit? to whom did he ſay it? Procopius asks the Queſtion; and he anſwers himſelf, Dixit Angelis, He ſaid it to the Angels. For Procopius being of that opinion, which very many were of beſides himſelf, that God had made the Angels ſome time before he came to the Creation of particular Creatures, he thinks that when he came to that, he call'd the Angels, that they, by ſeeing of what all other Creatures were made, might know alſo of what ſtuff; themſelves were made, of the common and general nothing. Some others had ſaid, that God ſaid this to the Creature it ſelf, which was now in fieri, (as we ſay in the School) in the production, ready to be brought forth.Athanaſius. But then, ſays Athanaſius, God would have ſaid Sis Lux, and not Sit Lux: He would have ſaid, Be thou, O Light, or appear and come forth, O Light, and not Let there be Light. But what needs all this vexation in Procopius, or Athanaſius? When as Dicere Dei est intelligere ejus practicum: Dionyſius. Carthus.when God would produce his Idaea, his pre-conception into action, that action, that production was his Dixit, his ſaying. It is, as we ſay in School, Actus indicativus practici intellectus; Gods outward Declaration of an inward purpoſe by execution of that purpoſe, that his Dixit, his ſaying.R. Moſes. It is ſufficiently expreſſed by Rab: Moſes, In Creatione Dicta ſunt voluntates; In the act of Creation, the Will of GOD, was the Word of God; his Will that it ſhould be, was his ſaying, Let it be. Of which it is a convenient example which is in the Prophet Jonah, 2.10.The Lord ſpake unto the Fiſh, and it vomited Jonah upon the dry Land; that is, God would have the Fiſh to do it, and it did it. God ſpake then in the Creation, but he ſpake Ineffabiliter, ſays St. Aug. August.without uttering any ſound. He ſpake, but he ſpake Intemporaliter, ſays that Father too, without ſpending any time in diſtinction of ſyllables. But yet when he ſpoke, Aliquis ad fuit, as Athanaſius preſſes it;Athan. ſurely there was ſome body with him; there was, ſays he. VVho? Verbum ejus ad fuit, & ad fuit Spiritus ejus, ſays he, truly, the ſecond Perſon in the Trinity, his Eternal VVord; and the third Perſon, the Holy Ghoſt, were both there at the Creation, and to them he ſpoke. For, By the Word of the Lord were the heavens framed, and all the host of them; Spiritu oris ejus, Job 33.4.Job 33:4by that Spirit that proceeded from him, ſays David. The Spirit of God hath made me; 26. 13.and, By his Spirit he hath garniſhed the heavens. So that, in one word, thou, who waſt nothing, haſt employed and ſet on work, the heart and hand of all the three Per…ons, in the bleſſed and glorious Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghoſt, to the making of thee; and then what oughteſt thou to be, and to do in retribution? and not to make thee, that which thou art now, a Chriſtian, but even to make thee that, wherein … p. 369waſt equal to a worm, to a grain of duſt. Haſt thou put the whole Trinity to buſie themſelves upon thee? and therefore what ſhouldſt thou be towards them? But here, in this branch, we conſider not ſo much; not his nobleſt Creature, Man, but his firſt Creature, Light: He commanded, and he commanded Light.

And of Light, we ſay no more in this place, but this; that in all the Scriptures, in which the word Light is very often metaphorically applyed, it is never applyed in an ill ſence. Chriſt is called a Lyon; but there is an ill Lyon too, that ſeeks whom he may devour. Chriſt is the ſerpent that was exalted; but there is an ill ſerpent, that did devour us all at once. But Chriſt is the light of the world, and no ill thing is call'd light. Light was Gods ſignature, by which he ſet his hand to the Creation: and therefore, as Princes ſigne above the Letter, and not below, God made light firſt; in that firſt Creature he declared his preſence, his Majeſty; the more, in that he commanded light out of darkneſs.

There was Lumen de Lumine before; light of light, very God of very God; an eternal Son of an eternal Father, before: But light out of darkneſs, is Muſick out of ſilence. It was one diſtinct plague of Egypt, darkneſs above; and one diſtinct bleſſing, that the children of Iſrael had, light in their dwellings. But for ſome ſpiritual Applications of light and darkneſs, we ſhall have room again; when, after we ſhall have ſpoken of our ſecond part, our Vocation; as God hath ſhin'd in our hearts, poſitively, we ſhall come to ſpeak of that ſhining comparatively, That God hath ſo ſhin'd in our hearts, as he commanded light out of darkneſs. And to thoſe two Branches of our ſecond part, the poſitive and comparative Conſideration of that ſhining, we are in order, come now. In the firſt part, we were made; in this ſecond, we are mended:Part II. in the firſt, we were brought into this world; in this ſecond, we are led through it: in the firſt, we are Creatures; in this, we are Chriſtians. God hath ſhin'd in our hearts. In this part,Diviſio. we ſhall have two Branches; a poſitive, and a comparative conſideration of the words: Firſt, the matter it ſelf, what this ſhining is; and it is the converſion of Man to God, by the miniſtry of the Goſpel; and ſecondly, how this manner of expreſſing it, anſwers the compariſon, As God commanded light out of darkneſs, ſo he hath ſhin'd in our hearts. And in the firſt, the poſitive, we ſhall paſs by theſe few and ſhort ſteps: firſt, Gods action, Illuxit, he ſhine; it is evidence, Manifeſtation: And then, the time, when this day breaks, when this Sun riſes. Illuxit, he hath ſhin'd, he hath done enough already. Thirdly, the place, the ſphere in which he ſhines, the Orb which he hath illumin'd, in Cordibus: if he ſhine, he ſhines in the heart. And laſtly, the perſons, upon whom he caſts his beams, p. 370in Cordibus noſtris, in our hearts. And having paſt theſe four in the poſitive part, we ſhall deſcend to the comparative; as God commanded light out of darkneſs, ſo he hath ſhin'd in our hearts.

1. Lucet.Firſt then, for Gods action, his working in the Chriſtian Church, which is our Vocation, we conſider man to be all, to be all Creatures;Mar. 16.15.Mark 16:15 according to that expreſſion of our Saviour's, Go, preach the Goſpel to every Creature; and agreeable to that largeneſs in which he receiv'd it,Coloſ. 1.23.Col 1:23 the Apoſtle delivers it, The Goſpel is preached to every Creature under heaven: The properties, the qualities of every Creature, are in man; the Eſſence, the Exiſtence of every Creature is for man; ſo man is every Creature. And therefore the Philoſopher draws man into too narrow a table, when he ſays he is Microcoſmos, an Abridgement of the world in little: Nazianzen gives him but his due, when he calls him Mundum Magnum, a world to which all the reſt of the world is but ſubordinate: For all the world beſides, is but Gods Foot-ſtool; Man ſits down upon his right hand: and howſoever God be in all the world, yet how did God dwell in man, in the aſſumption of that nature? and what care did GOD take of that dwelling, that when that houſe was demoliſhed, would yet dwell in the ruines thereof? for the Godhead did not depart from the dead body of Chriſt Jeſus in the Grave. And then how much more gloriouſly then before, did he re-edifie that houſe, in raiſing it again to Glory? Man therefore is Cura Divini ingenii, Tertul.a creature upon whom, not onelyonly the greatneſs, and the goodneſs, but even the ſtudy and diligence of God is employed. And being thus a greater world then the other, he muſt be greater in all his parts, and ſo in his lights; and ſo he is: for, inſtead of this light, which the world had at firſt, Man hath a nobler light, an immortal, a diſcerning ſoul, the light of reaſon. Inſtead of the many ſtars, which this world hath, man hath had the light of the Law, and the ſucceſſion of the Prophets: And inſtead of that Sun, which this world had, a Son from God; man hath had the Son of God; God hath ſpoken to us by his Son; God hath ſhin'd upon us in his Son. The whole work of Almighty God, in the Converſion of man, is many times expreſſed by this act of ſhining;Act. 2.2.Acts 2:2 an effectual, a powerful ſhining. The infuſion of the Holy Ghoſt into the Apoſtles at Pentecoſt, was with fire: The light which ſhin'd upon St. Paul, going to Damaſcus, ſtruck him to the ground.Act, 9.4. And in both thoſe caſes, there were tongues too. The Apoſtles fire, was fiery tongues, and St. Pauls light, was accompanied with a voice; for then does God truely ſhine to us, when he appears to our eyes and to our ears, when by viſible and audible means, by Sacraments which we ſee, and by the Word which we he hear, he conveys himſelf unto us. In Pauls caſe, there were ſome that ſaw the light, but heard not the voice: God hath joyn'd them, ſeperate them not: Upon him that will p. 371come to hear, and will not come to ſee; will come to the Sermon, but not to the Sacrament; or that will come to ſee, but will not come to hear; will keep his ſolemn, and feſtival, and Anniverſary times of receiving the Sacrament, but never care for being inſtructed in the duties appertaining to that high Myſtery, God hath not ſhin'd. They are a powerful thunder, and lightning, that go together: Preaching is the thunder, that clears the air, diſperſes all clouds of ignorance; and then the Sacrament is the lightning, the glorious light, and preſence of Chriſt Jeſus himſelf. And in the having and loving of theſe, the Word and Sacraments, the outward means of ſalvation, ordained by God in his Church, conſiſts this Irradiation, this Cotuſcation, this ſhining. And we have done with that.

The next is the time, Illuxit, he hath ſhin'd already;Illuxit. and Illuxit Mundo, he hath ſhin'd; that is, manifeſted himſelf ſufficiently to the whole world. Illuxit Nobis, he hath done it fully to this Nation; and Illuxit Vobis, he hath ſhin'd ſufficiently upon every one of you. Firſt, upon the whole world; for, though at firſt he ſhin'd onelyonly upon the Jews, and left all the world beſide in darkneſs, and in the ſhadow of death; and even to the Jews themſelves, he ſhin'd but as a light in a dark place; the Temple it ſelf was but a dark room in reſpect of the Chriſtian Church; yet,2 Pet. 1.19.2 Pet 1:19 as ſoon as Chriſt had eſtabliſh'd that, illumin'd that, inanimated that, given it breath in his Word, the written Scriptures, and given it motion, and action in the preaching of that Word. and Adminiſtration of the Sacraments, when this was done, immediately there was Meridies, a full noon; the light was at the higheſt, the Sun was at the Tropique, it could go no further; no fundamental thing can be added by man to this light by which the Son of God hath ſhin'd in his Church. To ſet up Candles to Images, is a weakneſs in them that do it; but to ſet up Candles to God, is a preſumption; that God cannot or hath not ſhin'd out ſufficiently upon his Church, in his Inſtitutions, but that they muſt ſupply him with the traditions and additions of men. Lex Lux, ſays David, The Law of God, the Scripture, is a light, it is the light, it is all light; and therefore they who would take away this light, not ſuffer men to read the Scriptures; or if they will not ſnuff this light, not mend the Barbariſms, the Errours, the Contradictions which are in their Tranſlation, and let it ſhine according to the Original Truth, this is a ſhutting of their eyes againſt this Illuxit: For, God hath ſhow'd enough, and ſaid enough, and done enough, and ſuffer'd enough, for the ſalvation of his Church; he hath ſhin'd out upon all, and needs no ſupply of leſſer lights.

So he hath ſhin'd upon all; and Illuxit Nobis, he hath ſhin'd abundantly upon this Nation. He ſhin'd upon us betimes; this day ſprung, this Sun roſe in the Eaſt; in the Eaſt, Chriſt liv'd p. 372and preach'd in perſon; but in his Beams, his Meſſengers, he ſhin'd quickly into the Weſt too. And when he did ſo, he did not ſo ſhine upon the Weſt, upon Rome, as that that light was caſt upon us, as by reflection from a glaſs, from the walls of Rome: but we had it, as they had it, by perſons ordained by God, to convey it over the world. I diſpute not too earneſtly, I determine not too vehemently any matter of fact in this point. I confeſs ingeniouſly, we had many Aſſiſtances from Rome; but truely, ſhe hath been even with us ſince: and, Computatis Computandis, I think ſhe may be content to give us an Acquittance. God ſhin'd upon this Iſland early; early in the plantation of the Goſpel, (for we had not our ſeed-Corn from Rome, howſoever we may have had ſome waterings from thence) and early in the Reformation of the Church: for we had not the model of any other Forreign Church for our pattern; we ſtript not the Church into a nakedneſs, nor into rags; we deveſted her not of her poſſeſſions, nor of her Ceremonies, but received ſuch a Reformation at home, by their hands whom God enlightned, as left her neither in a Dropſie, nor in a Conſumption; neither in a ſuperfluous and cumberſome fatneſs, nor in an uncomely and faint leanneſs and attenuation: Early in the Plantation, early in the Reformation, Illuxit Nobis, and we have light enough, without either ſeeing other light from Rome, or more of this light from other places. God continue to us the light of this Reformation, without re-admitting any old Clouds, any old Clouts, and we ſhall not need any ſuch re-Reformation, or ſuper-Reformation, as ſwimming Brains will needs croſs the Seas for. The Word of God is not above thee, ſays Moſes, nor beyond the Sea. We need not clime up ſeven hills, nor waſh our ſelves ſeven times in a Lake for it: God make the practiſe of our lives agreeable to the Doctrine of our Church; and all the world ſhall ſee that we have light enough.

Illuxit Mundo, Illuxit Nobis, and Vobis too; God hath alſo ſhin'd ſufficiently upon every of you, that hear this, already: upon the greateſt part of you in both, upon all in one of his Sacraments. God hath been content to talk with you in your infancy, as Parents with their children, before they can ſpeak plain, in his Language of Catechiſms; and ſince you came to better ſtrength, in his ſtronger Language of Preaching. He hath admitted you to him in your private prayers, and come to you in your private readings of his Word. He hath opened your Ears to him, and his to hear you in the publick Congregation: and as he that waters his Garden, pours in water into that Veſſel at one place, and pours it out again at an hundred; God, who as he hath wall'd this Iſland with a wall of water, the Sea; ſo he waters this Garden with the waters of Paradiſe: the VVord of Life hath pour'd in this water, into that great, and Royal Veſſel, the Underſtanding, p. 373and the love of his truth, into the large and religious heart of our Soveraign, and he pours it out in 100, in 1000 ſpouts, in a more plentiful preaching thereof, then ever your Fathers had it; in both the ways of plenty; plentiful in the frequency, plentiful in the learned manner of preaching. Illuxit, he hath ſhin'd upon you before you were born, in the Covenant, in making you the Children of the ſeed of Abraham, of Chriſtian Parents. Illuxit, he hath ſhin'd upon you ever ſince you could hear and ſee, had any exerciſe of natural and ſupernatural faculties; and Illuxit, by his grace, who ſends treaſure in earthen veſſels, he hath ſhin'd upon ſome of you, ſince you came hither now. Conſider onelyonly now, after all this ſhining, that a Candle is as ſoon blown out, at an open door, or an open window, as in the open ſtreet. If you open a door to a Supplanter, an Underminer, a Whiſperer againſt your Religion; if there be a broken window, a woman loaden with ſin, as the Apoſtle ſpeaks, and thereby dejected into an inordinate melancholy, (for ſuch a melancholy as make Witches, makes Papiſts too) if ſhe be thereby as apt to change Religions now, as Loves before, and as weary of this God, as of that man; if there be ſuch a door, ſuch a window, a wife, a child, a friend, a ſojourner bending that way, this light that hath ſhin'd upon thee, may as abſolutely go out, in thy houſe, and in thy heart, as if it were put out in the whole Kingdom. Leave the publick to him whoſe care the publick is; and who, no doubt, prepares a good account to him, to whom onelyonly he is accountable. Look then to thine own heart, and thine own houſe; for that's thy charge. And ſo we have done with the action, ſhining, evidence; and with the time, Illuxit, there is enough done already; and we come to the place, in Corde; if God ſhine, he ſhines in the heart.

Fecit Deus Coelum & terram, Non lego quod requieverit, In Cordibus. St. Ambroſ.ſays that Father; God made heaven and earth, but I do not read that he teſted, when he had done that: Fecit Solem & Lunam, (as he purſues that Meditation;) He made the Sun and Moon, and all the hoſt of heaven, but yet he reſted not: Fecit hominem, & Requievit; When God had made man, then he reſted: for, when God had made man, he had made his bed, the heart of man, to reſt in. God asks nothing of man, but his heart; and nothing, but man, can give the heart to God.Gen. 8.21.Gen 8:21 And therefore in that ſacrifice of Noah after the flood, and often in the Scriptures elſewhere, ſacrifice is called Odor quietis, God ſmelt a ſavour of reſt: in that which proceeds from a religious heart, God reſts himſelf, and is well pleaſed. Loqui ad Cor Jeruſalem, to ſpeak to the heart of Jeruſalem, is ever the Scripture phraſe, from God to man, to ſpeak comfortably; and loqui…e Corde, to ſpeak from the heart, is an Emphatical phraſe, from man to God too. He that ſpeaks from his own heart, ſpeaks to Gods heart. Did not our hearts burn within us, while p. 374he opened the Scriptures? ſay thoſe two Diſciples that went with Chriſt to Emaus. And if your hearts do not ſo all this while, you hear but me;Luc. 24.32.Luke 24:32 (and, alas! who, or what am I?) you hear not God. But let this light, the love of the ordinary means of your ſalvation, enter into your hearts, and ſhine there; and then, as the fire in your Chymney grows pale, and faints, and out of countenance when the Sun ſhines upon it; ſo whatſoever fires of luſt, of anger, of ambition, poſſeſſed that heart before, it will yeild to this, and evaporate. But why do I ſpeak all this to others? Is it ſo clear a caſe, that the hearts in this Text, are the hearts of others; of them that hear, and not of our ſelves that ſpeak? That we are to ſee now; for that's the next, and laſt Branch in this part, who be the perſons: in Cordibus nostris, in our hearts.

Nostris.Certainly this word Nostris, primarily, moſt literally, moſt directly, concerns us; Us, the Miniſters of Gods Word and Sacraments. If we take Gods Word into our mouths, and pretend a Commiſſion, a Calling, for the calling of others, we muſt be ſure that God hath ſhin'd in our hearts. There is vocatio intentionalis, an intentional Calling, when Parents, in their intention and purpoſe, dedicates their children to this ſervice of God, the Miniſtry, even in their Cradle. And this is a good and holy intention, becauſe though it bind not in the nature of a Vow, yet it makes them all the way more careful, to give them ſuch an Education, as may fit them for that profeſſion. And then there is Vocatio Virtualis, when having aſſented to that purpoſe of my Parents, I receive that publick Seal, the Impoſition of hands, in the Church of God: but it is Vocatio radicalis, the calling that is the root and foundation of all, that we have this light ſhining in our hearts, the teſtimony of Gods Spirit to our ſpirit, that we have this calling from above. Firſt then, it muſt be a light; not a calling taken out of the darkneſs of melancholy, or darkneſs of diſcontent, or darkneſs of want and poverty, or darkneſs of a retir'd life, to avoid the mutual duties and offices of ſociety: it muſt be a light, and a light that ſhines; it is not enough to have knowledge and learning; it muſt ſhine out, and appear in preaching; and it muſt ſhine in our hearts, in the private teſtimony of the Spirit there: but when it hath ſo ſhin'd there, it muſt not go out there, but ſhine ſtill as a Candle in a Candleſtick, or the Sun in his ſphere; ſhine ſo, as it give light to others: ſo that this light doth not ſhine in our hearts, except it appear in the tongue, and in the hand too: Firſt, in the tounge, to preach opportune, and importune; in ſeaſon and out of ſeaſon; 2 Tim. 4.2. Auguſt.2 Tim 4:2that is, opportune Volentibus, importune Nolentibus: preaching is in ſeaſon to them who are willing to hear; but though they be not, though they had rather the Laws would permit them to be abſent, or that preaching were given over; yet p. 375I muſt preach. And in that ſenſe, I may uſe the words of the Apoſtle, As much as in me is, I am ready to preach the Goſpel to them alſo that are at Rome: at Rome in their hearts; at Rome, that is, of Rome, Rom. 1.15.Rom 1:15reconciled to Rome. I would preach to them, if they would have me, if they would hear me; and that were opportune, in ſeaſon. But though we preach importune, out of ſeaſon to their ends, and their purpoſes, yet we muſt preach, though they would not have it done: for we are debters to all, becauſe all are our Neighbours. Proximus tuus eſt antequam Christianus eſt: Auguſt.A man is thy Neighbor, by his Humanity, not by his Divinity; by his Nature, not by his Religion: a Virginian is thy Neighbor, as well as a Londoner; and all men are in every good mans Dioceſs, and Pariſh. Irrides odorantem lapides, ſays that Father; Thou ſeeſt a man worſhip an Image, and thou laugheſt him to ſcorn; aſſiſt him, direct him if thou canſt, but ſcorn him not: Ignoras quomodo illum praeſciverit Deus; thou knoweſt not Gods purpoſe, nor the way of Gods purpoſe upon that man; his way may be to convert that man by thee, and to bring that man to ſerve him? Religio tuis fortaſſe, quam tu qui irridebas; perchance more ſincerely then thou; not onelyonly when thou didſt laugh at him, but even when thou didſt preach to him. For braſs, I will bring gold, ſays God in Eſay; and for iron, ſilver. God can work in all metals, and tranſmute all metals: he can make a Moral Man, a Chriſtian; and a Superſtitious Chriſtian, a ſincere Chriſtian; a Papiſt, a Proteſtant; and a diſſolute Proteſtant, a holy man, by thy preaching. And therefore let this light ſhine in our hearts, in the teſtimony of a good Conſcience, in having accepted this Calling, but alſo ſhine in our tongues, preach. Though the Diſeaſe of St. Chryſostomes times, ſhould overtake ours,Nicepho. Qui quantum placuit tantum principibus diſplicuit; The more good he did by preaching, the more ſome great perſons were diſpleaſed with him; yet all this were but St. Paul's importune, a little out of ſeaſon: but out of ſeaſon we muſt preach. How much more now, now, when, as the Apoſtle ſays of God, we may ſay of Gods Lieutenant, In whom there is no change, nor ſhadow of change, no approach towards a change, no occaſion of jealouſie of it? How much were we inexcuſeable, if either out of fullneſs of fortunes, or emptineſs of learning; if either out of ſtate, or buſineſs, or lazineſs, or pretence of fear, where no fear is, we ſhould ſmother this light, which if it have truly ſhin'd in our hearts, will ſhine in our tongues too?

It muſt ſhine there, and it muſt ſhine in our hands alſo, in our actions, in the example of our life. Chriſt ſays to his Apoſtles, Vos estis Lux, You are light: there they were illumin'd':Mat. 15.14, 16.Matt 15:14Matt 15:16 but to what uſe? It follows, That men may ſee your good works: For, as St. Ambroſe ſays of the Creation, Frustra feciſſet Lucem, Ambro.God had made p. 376light to no purpoſe, if he had not made Creatures to ſhow by that light: ſo we have the light of Learning, and the light of other abilities to no purpoſe, if we have no good works to ſhow, when we have drawn mens eyes upon us. Upon thoſe words of Solomons, Gregor.Tempus tacendi, tempus loquendi, St. Gregory makes this note, That Solomon does not ſay firſt, There is a time of ſpeaking, and a time of ſilence, that when a man hath taken that calling, that binds him to ſpeak, then he might prevaricate in a treacherous ſilence: but firſt there is a time of ſilence, of ſtudy, of preparation, how to ſpeak, and then ſpeak on in Gods Name. But howſoever there may be tempus tacendi, ſome time wherein we may be ſilent; yet there is not tempus peccandi; no circumſtance of time, no circumſtance at all can excuſe an ill life in an ill man, leſs in a leading and exemplar man, leaſt of all in a Church-man. To that which is vulgarly ſaid, Loquere ut te vidiam; ſpeak that I may ſee thee; I do not ſee thee, not ſee what is in thee, except I hear thee preach: Let me add more, Age ut te audiam, do ſomething that I may hear thee: I do not hear thee, not hear thee to believe thee, except I hear of thee in a good teſtimony of thy converſation. I hope our times, and our callings is far enough from that ſuſpition of St. Ambroſe, Ne ſit nomen inane, crimen immane in Sacerdotibus: God forbid the name of Prieſt ſhould priviledge any man otherwiſe obnoxious from juſt cenſure. He were a ſtranee Maſter of faculties to himſelf, that would give himſelf a Diſpenſation ſo; this were truly to incur a Premunire in the higheſt Kingdom, to forfeit all everlaſtingly; to appeal from our converſation, to our profeſſion; to make a holy profeſſion the Cloak, nay, the reaſon of unholy actions. But I ſpeak not now of enormous ill, but of omiſſions of good, and of too eaſie venturing upon things, in their own nature indifferent: For, as for our words, St. Bernard ſays well, Nugae in ore laici ſunt Nugae, in ore Sacerdotis blaſphemiae; Idle words, are but idle words in a ſecular mans mouth; but in a Churchmans mouth, they are blaſphemies. So for our actions; it may become us, it may concern us to abſtain from ſome indifferent things, which other men without any ſcandal may do.

Hierom.Vehementer deſtruit Ecclaeſiam Dei, laicos eſſe meliores Clericis: Nothing ſhakes the Church more, then when Church-men are no better then other men are.4. 10. Where we read in Geneſis, Vox ſanguinis, The voice of Abel's blood calls; it is in the Original, Vox ſanguinum, of bloods, in the plural; many bloods, much blood: the blood of a whole Pariſh, of a whole Province, cries out againſt the life of ſuch a man: for his Sermons are but his Texts; his life is his Sermon that preaches; Aaron and Moſes were joyned in Commiſſion; Aaron had the tongue, the power of ſpeaking; Moſes had the Rod, the power of doing great works. When the Lystrians call'd Paul, Act. 14.12.Acts 14:12Mercury, for his Eloquence, they call'd his p. 377Companion Barnabas, Jupiter; their eye was upon their great work, as well as their ſweet words. Clearly and ingenuouſly, we, we the Miniſters of the Goſpel, acknowledge our ſelves to be principally intended by the Apoſtle in this Text; this light, that is the knowledge, and the love of Gods truth, muſt ſhine in our hearts, ſincerely there; and in our tongues, aſſidiouſly there; and in our hands, evidently there; and ſo we are the perſons; but yet not we alone, though the Apoſtle expreſs it in that phraſe, in Cordibus noſtris.

When this Apoſtle ſpeaks of Hereditas nostra, our inheritance; and Pax noſtra, our peace; and Spes noſtra, our hope, as he does to the Epheſians, and often elſewhere, he does not ſo appropriate Chriſt, of whom he ſays all that, to himſelf, as that they to whom he writes, ſhould not have an inheritance, and a peace, and a hope in Chriſt, as well as he, or any Apoſtle. So when he ſays here in Cordibus noſtris, in our hearts, he intends that the Coloſsians, that people to whom he writes, (and he writes to all) ſhould have that light in their hearts, and conſequently in their tongues and hands too; in words and actions, as well as men of the Church. It is not onelyonly to Prieſts that St. Peter ſaid,1 Pet. 2.9.1 Pet 2:9 God had made them a Royal Prieſthood; not onelyonly of Prieſts that St. John ſaid, God hath made us Kings and Prieſts. There is not ſo Regal, ſo Soveraign,Ap. 5.10. ſo Monarchical a Prerogative, as to have Animum Deoſubditum, Leo.Corporis ſui Rectorem; That man who hath a ſoul in ſubjection to God, and in dominion over his own body, that man is a King. And then there is not ſo holy, ſo Prieſtly an Office, as Pietatis hoſtias de altari Cordis offerre. That man who from the Altar of a pure heart,Idem. offers ſacrifices of prayer and praiſe to God, that man is a Prieſt: ſo all you are or may be Kings; and all Prieſts. Nay,Chryſost. St. Chryſoſt. appropriates this rather to you, then to us; not to us at all; for he read this very Text, in Cordibus veſtris, in your hearts. Since then to this intendment you are Prieſts, as we are; ſince altogether make up Clerum Domini, the Lords Clergy, and his portion, do not you make us to be all of the inferiour Miniſtry, and all you ſelves to be Biſhops over us, to viſit us, judge us, ſyndicate us, and leave out your ſelves: Plus Sacerdotum vitam quam ſuum diſcutientes, as St. G. complains; that beſtow more time in examining the lives of their Paſtors, then their own.Aquin. Quid tibi Malus Minister, ubi bonus Dominus, ſays Aquinas upon this: As long as thou art ſure, that the Maſter of the houſe will receive thee kindly, what careſt thou though a ſurly Fellow let thee in at door? Sacramenta ab ſunt indigne tractantibus, ſays that Father:Auguſt. An hypocritical preaching of the Word, an unclean Adminiſtration of the Sacraments, ſhall aggravate the condemnation of that unclean Hypocrite; but yet Proſunt digne ſumentibus; a worthy Receiver, receives the vertue and benefit of the Word and Sacraments, though from an unworthy Giver.

p. 378I may be bold to ſay, that this City hath the ableſt preaching Clergy of any City in Chriſtendom; muſt I be fain to ſay, that the Clergy of this City hath the pooreſt intertainment of any City that can come into compariſon with it? it is ſo. And that to which they have pretences and claims to be farther due to them, is detained, not becauſe that which they have is enough, but becauſe that which they claim is too much: The circumſtance of the quantity and proportion, keeps off the conſideration of the very right: So that this Clergy is therefore poor, becauſe they ſhould be rich; therefore kept without any part, becauſe ſo great a part ſeems to belong unto them. Grieve not the Spirit of God; grieve not the ſpiritual man, the man of God neither:Aug. Ex triſtitia ſermo procedens, minus gratus eſt. He that preaches from a ſad heart, under the ſence of a great charge, and ſmall means, cannot preach cheerfully to you. Provide, ſays the Apoſtle,Heb. 13.17.Heb 13:17 that they who watch over your ſouls, may doe it with joy, and not with grief: for, ſays he, that's unprofitable for you. You receive not ſo much profit by them, as you might doe, if they might attend your ſervice intirely; when they are diſtracted with chargeable ſuites abroad, or macerated with penurious fortunes at home. Conſider how much other Profeſſions, of Arms, of Merchandiſe, of Agriculture, of Law it ſelf, are decay'd of late: and thence, (though not only thence) it is, that ſo many more in our times, then ever before, of Honorable and Worſhipful Families, apply themſelves to our Profeſſion, to the Miniſtry. Let therefore this light ſhine in your hearts, bleſs God for this bleſſed increaſe, and ſhine in your tongues; glorifie God in a good interpretation of the actions of his Miniſters, and ſhine in your hands; cheriſh and comfort them ſo, that they be not put to bread and water, that give you bread and wine; nor mourn in ſmoaky corners, who bring you the Sun-ſhine of the glorious Goſpel, the Goſpel of conſolation, into the congregation. And ſo we have done with all the four conſiderations, which made up this firſt branch, our Vocation by this Light, conſider'd poſitively, The Thing, the Time, the Place, and the Perſons. A little remains by debt of promiſe,Comparatio. to be ſaid of this Comparatively, As God commanded light, ſo he hath ſhin'd in our hearts. A little before the Text, the act of the Devil is to induce darkneſs; but God illumins. Deus hujus ſaeculi, ſays the Apoſtle, the God of this world, that is,1. 14. the Devil, blinds the eyes of men. Which words by the way give juſt occaſion of making this ſhort note, that many times by altercation and vehemence of Diſputation, the truth of the literal ſenſe is indangered: and therefore we ſhould rather content our ſelves with poſitive and neceſſary Divinity, then entangle our ſelves with impertinent controverſies. The Manichees, and thoſe other Hereticks, who conſtituted Duo Principia, and p. 379conſequently two Gods, one good, and one bad, made uſe of this Text for that opinion; That if the Devil were God of this world, and if any God did blinde the eyes of man, there was an ill God. And to elevate and take away that Argument of thoſe Hereticks, very many of the ancient Fathers, Irenaeus, litterally and expreſly, and expreſly and literally S. Chryſ. too, and S. Aug. ſays, moſt of the Orthodox Fathers would needs read that place with another diſtinction another interpunction then indeed belongs to it, not Deus hujus ſaeculi, The God of this world hath blinded man; but Deus, hujus ſaeculi mentes, God, that is, the true God, hath blinded the eyes of the men of this world. And ſo, for fear of giving the name of God to the Devil, they attribute the action of the Devil to God. I doe not mean that the Fathers doe it, they were far from it; but this ſhift, and this inconvenient manner of expreſſing themſelves, hath made ſome later men who think ſo, think, that the Fathers thought God to be really, poſitively, primarily, the author of the excaecation of the Reprobates. In what ſenſe that may be ſaid, how, and how far God concurs to this excaecation, we diſpute not now. We reſt in that of St. Aug. Aliud venit de aſtutia ſuadentis, aliud de nequitia nolentis, aliud de juſtitia punientis. Auguſt.God hath a part, a great part, in this; but not the firſt. Firſt, ſays St. Aug. Satan ſuggeſts, then man conſents; then enters God, by way of puniſhment, of Juſtice. And how far doth he puniſh? Deſerendo, he forſakes that ſinner, he withdraws his Grace: and then, as upon the departing of the Sun, darkneſs follows, but the Sun is not the cauſe of darkneſs; ſo upon departing of Grace, follows excaecation. God, our God, is the God of light, and lightneth every man that cometh into the world. So he begun in the Creation, ſo he proceeds in our Vocation, As he commanded light of darkneſs, ſo he hath ſhin'd in our hearts.

Firſt, He made light: There was none before; ſo firſt, He ſhines in our hearts, by his preventing Grace; there was no light before; not of Nature, by which any man could ſee, any means of ſalvation; not of foreſeen Merits, that God ſhould light his light at our Candle, give us Grace therefore, becauſe he ſaw that we would uſe that Grace well. He made light, he infus'd Grace.

And then, He made light firſt of all Creatures: Ut innoteſcerent, ſays, St. Ambr. that by that light all his other Creatures might be ſeen: which is alſo the uſe of this other light, that ſhines in our hearts, that by that light, the love of the Truth, and the glory of Chriſt Jeſus, all our actions may be manifeſted to the world, and abide that tryal; that we look for no other approbation of them, then as they are juſtifiable by that light, as they conduce to the maintenance of his Religion, and the advancement of his glory: not to conſider actions as they are wiſely done, valiantly done, learnedly p. 380done, but onelyonly as they are religiouſly done: and ut abdicemus occulta dedecoris, v. 2.as the Apoſtle ſpeaks; That we may renounce the hidden things of diſhoneſty, and not walk in craftineſs: that is, not ſin therefore, becauſe we ſee our ſins may be hid from the world: For, ſays St. Ambroſe, ſpeaking of Gyges Ring, a Ring by which he that wore it, became inviſible; Da ſapienti; ſays that Father, Give a wiſe man, (a man religiouſly wiſe) that Ring, and though he might ſin inviſibly before men, he would not, becauſe God ſees. Nay,Seneca. even the moral man goes further then that, in that point; Though I knew, ſays he, hominem ignoraturum, & Deum ignoſciturum, that man ſhould never know it, and that God would forgive it, I would not ſin, for the very ſoulneſs that is naturally in ſin. As God commanded light for the Manifeſtation of his creatures, ſo he hath ſhin'd in our hearts, that our actions might appear by that light.

How then made he that light? Dixit, he ſaid it, by his Word. In which we note, firſt, the means: Verbo; he did it by his Word; and by his Word, the preaching of his Word, doth he ſhine in our hearts. And we conſider alſo the diſpatch, how ſoon he made light,Chryſost. with a word. Dixit, id eſt, ſumma cum celeritate fecit, his work coſt him but a word;Tertul. and then Cogitaſſe juſsiſſe est, his word coſt him but a thought. So if we conſider the diſpatch of Chriſt Jeſus in all his Miracles, there went but a Tolle, Take up thy bed and walk, to the lame man; but an Ephptata, Be opened, to the deaf man; but a Quid vides, What ſeest thou? to the blind man. If we conſider his diſpatch upon the thief on the croſs, how ſoon he brought him from reviling, to glorifying; and if any in this Auditory feel that diſpatch of the Holy Ghoſt, in his heart; that whereas he came hither but to ſee, he hath heard; or if he came to hear the man, he hath heard God in the man, and is better at this Glaſs, then he was at the firſt; better now, then when he came, and will go away better then he is yet, he that feels this, muſt confeſs, that as God commanded light out of darkneſs, ſo he hath ſhin'd in his heart: So, that is, by the ſame means, by his Word; and ſo, that is, with the ſame ſpeed and diſpatch.

Again, Deus vidit lucem, God ſaw the light; he looked upon it; he conſidered it: This ſecond light, even Religion it ſelf, muſt be looked upon, conſidered; not taken implicitely, nor occaſionally, not advantageouſly, but ſeriouſly and deliberately, and then aſſuredly, and conſtantly.

And then vidit quod bona, God ſaw that this light was good; God did not ſee, nor ſay that darkneſs was good; that ignorance, how near of kin ſoever they make it to Devotion, was good; nor that the waters were good; that a flui'd, a moving, a variable, an uncertain irreſolution in matter of Religion, is good; nor that that Abyſſus, that depth which was before light, was good; that it is p. 381good to ſurround and enwrap our ſelves in deep and perplexing School-points, but he ſaw that light, evident and fundamental Articles of Religion, were good, good to clear thee in all ſcruples, good to ſuſtain thee in all tentations. God knew that this light would be good, before he made it; but he did not ſay ſo, till he ſaw it. God knew every good work that thou ſhouldeſt doe, every good thought that thou ſhouldeſt think to thy end, before thy beginning, for he of his own goodneſs, imprinted this degree of goodneſs in thee; but yet aſſure thy ſelf, that he loves thee in another manner, and another meaſure, then, when thou comeſt really to doe thoſe good works, then before, or when thou didſt only conceive a purpoſe of doing them: he calls them good when he ſees them.

And when he ſaw this light, this good light, he ſeparated all darkneſs from it. When thou haſt found this light to have ſhin'd in thy heart, God manifeſted in his way, his true Religion, ſeparate all darkneſs, the dark inventions and traditions of men, and the works of darkneſs, ſin; and ſince thou haſt light, be night not thy ſelf again, with relapſing to either.

The compariſon of theſe two lights, created and infus'd light, would run in infinitum; I ſhut it up with this, that as at the firſt production of light, till light was made, there was a general, an univerſal darkneſs, darkneſs over all, but after light was once made, there was never any univerſal darkneſs, becauſe there is no body bigg enough to ſhadow the whole Sun from the Earth; ſo till this light ſhine in our hearts, we are wholly darkneſs; but when it hath truly and effectually ſhin'd in us, and manifeſted to us the evidence of our Election in Gods eternal Decree, howſoever there may be ſome Clouds, ſome Eclipſes, yet there is no total darkneſs, no total, no final falling away of Gods Saints. And in all theſe reſpects, the compariſon holds. As God commanded light out of darkneſs, ſo he hath ſhin'd in our hearts; and ſo we have done with all the branches of our ſecond part, which implies our Vocation here, and we paſs to the laſt, Our Glorification hereafter.

As in our firſt part we conſider'd by occaſion of the firſt Creature, light, the whole Creation, and ſo the Creation of man;Part III. and in our ſecond part, by occaſion of this ſhining in our hearts, the whole work of our Vocation and proceeding in this world: ſo in this third part, by occaſion of this glorious manifestation of God, in the face of Christ Jeſus, which is intended principally, by this Apoſtle, of, the manifeſtation of God in the Chriſtian Church; we ſhall alſo, as far, as that dazling glory will give us leave, conſider the perfect ſtate of glory in the Kingdom of Heaven: So that firſt, our branches in this third part, will be three, theſe three terms, 1 Knowledge, 2 Glory, and then, the face of Jeſus Chriſt. Diviſio.And p. 382then we muſt look upon all theſe three terms two ways, firſt, Inchoative, how we have an inchoation of this knowledge, of this glory, in this face of Chriſt Jeſus here in the Church; and then Conſummative, how we ſhall have a conſummation of all this hereafter.

Scientia.To us then, who were created of nothing, in the firſt part, and called from the Gentiles in the ſecond, in this third part, our preparation to glory, is knowledge. The Perſons in this part of the Text, are, as in the former; Not only we, we the Miniſters of Gods Word, but you alſo the hearers thereof: for there is a knowledge, an art of hearing, as well as of ſpeaking. Students make up the Univerſity, as well as Doctors: and Hearers make up the Congregation, as well as Preachers. A good hearer is as much a Doctor, as a Preacher: A Doctor to him that ſits by him, in example, whilſt he is here: a Doctor to all his Family, in his repetition, when he comes home: a Doctor, to that which is more then the whole world, to him, his own ſoul, all his life. Chriſt appear'd to this Apoſtle,Act. 26.16.Acts 26:16 and ſaid, I have appeared unto thee, for this purpoſe, to make thee a Miniſter and a witneſs, to open the Gentiles eyes, and to turn them from darkneſs to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. There he received his Degree, his learning, and the uſe of it; but when St. Paul came abroad into the world, when he comes to preach,1.12. and to write, he ſays to the Coloſ. The Father hath made us meet to be partakes of the inheritance of the Saints in his light. Us, ſays St. Chryſoſt, and ſo ſays Theophylact too, and many more then they two; Us, that is, all Us, Us that preach, you that hear; you are bound to ſtudy this knowledge, as well as we. And truly, a Hearer hath in ſome reſpects advantage of the Preacher: for, a Preacher, though in ſome meaſure, well diſpos'd, can hardly exuere hominem, put off the affections of man, by being a Preacher; they ſtick cloſer to him then his Hood and habit, even in the Pulpit. Some little Clouds, if not of oſtentation, and vain glory, yet of complacencie and ſelf-pleaſing, will affect him; the hearer hath not that tentation, but hath herein a more perfect exerciſe of the moſt Chriſtian vertue, Humility, then the preacher hath. Though therefore, when you caſt your eye upon this part of this Text, you ſee in your Book, a difference of Character, in this word, To give, to give light, &c. which ſeems to fix all upon the perſon of the Apoſtle, and conſequently of the Miniſter; yet that word is not in the Text, but the Text is only, for the inlightning; God hath ſhin'd, for the inlightning, &c. which is alike upon all; and therefore let us, all us, cast off the works of darkneſs, and put on the armor of light: light it ſelf is faith; but, the armor of light is knowledge; an ignorant man is a diſarm'd man, a naked man.

Ignorance then is not our Uſher into this preſence, to ſhew us the face of Christ Jeſus: almoſt in every one of the ancient Fathers, you ſhall find ſome paſſages, wherein they diſcover an inclination p. 383to that opinion, that before Chriſt came in the manifeſtation of his Goſpel (for, ſince that coming, every man is bound to ſee him there) many Philoſophers, men of knowledge, and learning, were ſav'd without the knowledge of Chriſt. Christus Ratio, ſays one of them, well, (for Logos, is, Ratio, and not only Verbum, Juſtin Martyr.as it is ordinarily tranſlated) Chriſt is Reaſon, rectified Reaſon; and ſecundum Rationem vixerunt, Chriſtiani ſemper, ſays he, Whoſoever lives according to rectified Reaſon, which is the Law of nature, he is a Chriſtian; and therefore, when that Father, Juſtin Martyr, who had been before a Philoſopher amongſt the Gentiles, came to be a Preacher amongſt the Chriſtians, he never left off his Philoſophers habit, becauſe that gave an impreſſion of his learning, and an eſtimation by it. That knowledge was a help to ſalvation, the Ancients thought: but that is a new Doctrine, that men ſhould make a title to God, by being ignorant: that whereas all the life of man, is either an active life, or a contemplative, they ſhould in the Romane Church make one Order, and call them Nullanos, men that did nothing, in contempt of the active life, and in contempt of the contemplative life; another Order, whom they call Ignorantes, men that know nothing. There is an annihilation in ſin; Homines cum peccam, nihil ſunt: Auguſt.Then when by ſin, I depart from the Lord my God, in whom only I live, and move, and have my being, I am nothing: and truly, in this ſinful profeſſion of thine, of doing nothing, of knowing nothing, they come too neer being nothing. What other anſwer can this knowing nothing, here, produce at the laſt day, from Chriſt Jeſus, but his Neſcio vos, I know not you? As David ſays of God,Pſal. 18.26.Ps 18:26 Cum perverſo perverteris, With the froward God will be froward; ſo, Ignorantes ignorabit, of the ignorant, God will be ignorant; not know them, that ſtudy not knowledge. The miracle that Chriſt wrought in the converſion of the World, was not, that he wrought upon men by Apoſtles, that were unlearned; for the Apoſtles were not ſo; they were never unprovided to give a pertinent and ſatisfactory anſwer to the learnedeſt of the Philoſophers amongſt the Gentiles, to any of the Gamaliels and Nicodemuſſes, who were true underſtanders of the Law amongſt the Jews; to any of their Scribes, the perverters of the Law; to any of the Phariſees, their Separatiſts, and Schiſmaticks; to any of the Sadduces, their formal Hereticks; nor to any of their Herodians, their State-Divines, who made Divinity ſerve preſent turns, and occaſions: The Apoſtles were no ignorant men, then, when they were imployed: but in this conſiſted the Miracle, that in an inſtant Chriſt by his Spirit, infus'd all knowledge, neceſſary for that great function, into them. If they had not had it, they could not have done his work. All muſt have it; Intelligite Reges, ſays David; for all their buſineſs, Kings muſt ſtudy for it: Erudimini p. 384Judices; with their other learning, Judges muſt have this. The Prophet denounces it for a heavy curſe, The Prophet ſhall be a fool; Pſa. 2. Oſe 9.7.Ps 2Hos 9:7he that ſhould teach, ſhall not be able to do it: and, as it follows, The ſpiritual man ſhall be mad; if he have knowledge, he ſhall not know how to uſe it. St. Hierome tranſlates that word, Arreptitius, he ſhall be poſſeſſed; poſſeſs'd with the ſpirit of fear, or of flattery; others ſhall ſpeak in him, and he become the inſtrument of men, and not of God. It was the Devils firſt advantage, knowledge, The Serpent was wiſer then any beast: It is ſo ſtill; Satan is wiſer then any man in natural, and in Civil knowledge. 'Tis true, he is a Lyon too; but he was a Serpent firſt; and did us more harm as a Serpent, then as a Lyon. But now, as Chriſt Jeſus hath nail'd his hand-writing, which he had againſt us, to the Croſs, and thereby cancelled his evidence; ſo in his deſcent to hell, and ſubſequent acts of his glorification, he hath burnt his Library, annihilated his wiſdom, in giving us a wiſdome above his craft; he hath ſhin'd in our hearts by the knowledge of his Goſpel.

Meaſure not thou therefore the growth and forwardneſs of thy Child, by how ſoon he could ſpeak, or go; how ſoon he could contract with a man, or diſcourſe with a woman: but how ſoon he became ſenſible of that great contract which he had made with Almighty God, in his Baptiſm: how ſoon he was able to diſcharge thoſe ſureties, which undertook for him, then, by receiving his confirmation, in the Church: how ſoon he became to diſcern the Lords Spirit, in the preaching of his Word, and to diſcern the Lords body, in the Adminiſtration of the Sacrament. A Chriſtian Child muſt grow, as Chriſt when be was a Child, in wiſdom and in ſtature: Luc. 2.Luke 2firſt, in wiſdom, then in ſtature. Many have been taller at ſixteen, then ever Chriſt was; but not any ſo learned at ſixty, as he when he diſputed at twelve. He grew in favour, ſays that Text, with God and man; firſt, with God, then with man. Bring up your children in the knowledge and love of God; and good, and great men, will know, and love them too.

It is a good definition of ill love, that St. Chryſost. gives, that it is Animae vacantis paſsio, a paſſion of an empty ſoul, of an idle mind. For fill a man with buſineſs, and he hath no room for ſuch love. It will fit the love of God too, ſo far, as that that love muſt be in anima vocante: at firſt, when the ſoul is empty, diſencumbred from other ſtudies, diſengaged in other affections, then to take in the knowledge, and the love of God; for, Amari niſi nota poſſunt, ſays St. August. truely; however we may ſlumber our ſelves with an opinion of loving God, certainly we do not, we cannot love him, till we know him; and therefore hear, and read, and meditate, and confer, and uſe all means whereby thou mayſt increaſe in knowledge. If ye know theſe things, happy are ye if ye do them, ſays Chriſt; p. 385you are not happy till you do them; that's true: but ye can never do them, till ye know them. Zeal furthers our ſalvation; but it muſt be Secundum ſcientiam, Zeal according to knowledge. Works further our ſalvation; but not works done in our ſleep, ſtupidly, caſually, nor erroniouſly, but upon ſuch grounds as fall within our knowledge to be good. Faith moſt of all furthers and advances our ſalvation; but a man cannot believe that which he does not know. Conſcience includes ſcience; it is knowledge, and more; but it is that firſt. It is, as we expreſs it in the School, Syllogiſmus practicus. I have a good Conſcience in having done well; but I did that upon a former knowledge, that that ought to be done. God hath ſhined in our hearts, to give us the light of knowledge, that was the firſt; and then, of the knowledge of the glory of God, that is our ſecond term, in this firſt acceptation of the Word. The light of the knowledge of the glory of this world,Gloria Dei. is a good, and a great peece of learning. To know, that all the glory of man, is as the flower of graſs: that even the glory,1 Pet. 1.24.1 Pet 1:24 and all the glory, of man, of all mankind, is but a flower, and but as a flower, ſomewhat leſs then the Proto-type, then the Original, then the flower it ſelf; and all this but as the flower of graſs neither, no very beautiful flower to the eye, no very fragrant flower to the ſmell: To know, that for the glory of Moab, Auferetur, Eſai 16.24.Isa 16:24it ſhall be contemned, conſumed; and for the glory of Jacob it ſelf, Attenuabitur, It ſhall be extenuated,17.…4. that the glory of Gods enemies ſhall be brought to nothing, and the glory of his ſervants ſhall be brought low in this word: To know how near nothing, how meer nothing, all the glory of this world is, is a good, a great degree of learning.

It is a Book of an old Edition, to put you upon the conſideration what great and glorious men have loſt their glory in this world: Give me leave to preſent to you a new Book, a new conſideration; not how others have loſt, but conſider onelyonly how you have got that glory which you have in this world: conſider adviſedly, and confeſs ingeniouſly, whether you have not known many men, more induſtrious then ever you were, and yet never attained to the glory of your Wealth? Many wiſer then ever you were, and yet never attained to your place in the Government of State; and valianter then ever you were, that never came to have your command in the Wars. Conſider then how poor a thing the glory of this world is, not onelyonly as it may be ſo loſt, as many have loſt it, but as it may be ſo got, as you have got it.Seneca. Nullum indifferens glorioſum, ſays that Moral man; In that which is ſo obvious, as that any man may compaſs it, truly this can be no glory.

But this is not fully the knowledge of the glory of this Text: though this Moral knowledge of the glory of this world, conduce to the knowledge of this place, which is the glory of God; yet p. 386not of the Majeſtical, and inacceſſible glory of the Eſſence, or Attributes of God, of inſcrutable points of Divinity: for ſcrutator Majeſtatis opprimetur a gloria, Prov. 25.27.Prov 25:27as St. Hiero, and all thoſe three Rabbins, whoſe Commentaries we have upon that Book, read that place: He that ſearches too far into the ſecrets of God, ſhall be dazled, confounded by that glory. But here, Gloria Dei, is indeed Gloria Deo; the glory of God, is the glorifying of God: it is as St. Ambro. expreſſes it, Notitia cum laude; the glory of God, is the taking knowledge, that all that comes, comes from God, and then the glorifying of God for whatſoever comes. And this is a heavenly art, a divine knowledge; that if God ſend a peſtilence amongſt us, we Come not to ſay, it was a great fruit year, and therefore there muſt follow a plague in reaſon: That if God ſwallow up an invincible Navy, we come to ſay, There was a ſtorm, and there muſt follow a ſcattering in reaſon: That if God diſcover a Mine, we come not to ſay, there was a falſe Brother that writ a Letter, and there muſt follow a diſcovery in reaſon; but remember ſtill, that though in Davids Pſalms, there be Pſalms of Prayer, and Pſalms of Praiſe; Pſalms of Deprecation, and of Imprecation too; how divers ſoever the nature of the Pſalm be, yet the Church hath appointed to ſhut up every Pſalm with that one Acclamation, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, &c. Whether I pray, or praiſe; depricate Gods Judgements from my ſelf, or imprecate them upon pods enemies, nothing can fall from me, nothing can fall upon me, but that God may receive glory by it, if I will glorifie him in it. So that then, in a uſeful ſenſe, Gloria Dei, is Gloria Deo; but yet more literally, more directly, the glory of God in this place, is the glorious Goſpel of Chriſt Jeſus: which is that which is intended, and expreſſed in the next phraſe, which is the laſt Branch; in this firſt acceptation of theſe words, in facie, The glory of God in the face of Jeſus Chriſt.

In facie.When our Saviour Chriſt charged the Sadduces with errour, it was not meerly becauſe they were ignorant; the Sadduces were not ſo:Mat. 22.29.Matt 22:29 but, Erratis neſcientes Scripturas, ſays Chriſt; You erre becauſe you underſtand not the Scriptures: All knowledge is ignorance, except it conduce to the knowledge of the Scriptures, and all the Scriptures lead us to Chriſt.Heb. 1.3.Heb 1:3 He is the brightneſs of his Fathers glory, Sap. 2. 26.and the expreſs image of his perſon. The brightneſs of the everlasting light, and the image of his goodneſs. And, to inſiſt upon a word of the fitteſt ſignification,Jo. 6. 27. Hillari.John 6:27 Him hath God the Father ſealed. Now, Sigillum imprimitur in Materia diverſa: A Seal graven in gold or ſtone, does not print in ſtone or gold: in Wax it will, and it will in Clay; for this Seal in which God hath manifeſted himſelf, we conſider it not, as it is printed in the ſame metal, in the eternal Son of God; but as God hath ſealed himſelf in Clay, in the humane Nature; but yet in Wax too, in a perſon ductile, pliant, p. 387obedient to his will. And there, Signatum ſuper nos Lumen vultus, tui, ſays David, The light of thy countenance, that is, the image of thy ſelf, is ſealed; that is, derived, imprinted, upon us, that is,Pſ. 4.Ps 4 upon our nature, our fleſh. Signatum eſt, id eſt, ſignificatum est: Tertul.God hath ſignified this pretence, manifeſted, revealed himſelf in the face of Jeſus Chriſt. For that is the Office, and ſervice, that Chriſt avows himſelf to have done; O Father, I have manifeſted thy Name: that is, thy Name of Father, as thou art a Father: for, Qui Solum Deum novit Creatorem, Cipri.Judaicae menſuram prudentiae non excedit. Knoweſt thou that there is a God, and that that God created the world? What great knowledge is this? The Jews know it too. Non eſt Idem, noſce Deum opificem eſſe, & habere filium. It is another Religion, another point of Faith,Chryſoſt. to know that God had a Son of eternal begetting, and to have a world of late making. God therefore hath ſhin'd in no mans heart, till he know the glory of GOD in the face of Jeſus Chriſt, till he come to the manifeſtation of God, in the Goſpel. So that, that man comes ſhort of this light, that believes in God, in a general, in an incomprehenſible power, but not in Chriſt; and that man goes beyond this light, who will know more of God, then is manifeſted in the Goſpel, which is the face of Chriſt Jeſus: the one comes not to the light, the other goes beyond, and both are in blindneſs. Chriſt is the Image of God, and the Goſpel is the face of Chriſt: and now, I reſt nor in Gods picture, as I find it in every Creature; though there be in every Creatare an Image of God; I have a livelier Image of God, Chriſt. And then I ſeek not for Chriſts face, as it was traditionally ſent to Agabarus in his life; nor for his face, as it was imprinted in the Veronica, in the womans Apron, as he went to his death; nor for his face, as it was deſcribed in Lentulus his Letter, to the Senate of Rome; but I have the glory of God in Chriſt, I, and I have the face of Chriſt in the Goſpel, Except God had taken this very perſon upon him, this individual perſon, me, (which was impoſſible, becauſe I am a ſinful perſon) he could not have come nearer, then in taking this nature upon him. Now I cannot ſay, as the man at the Pool, Hominem non habeo, I have no man to help me; the Heathen cannot ſay, I have no God; but I cannot ſay, I have no man; for I have a Man, the Man Jeſus; him, who by being Man, knows my miſery; and by being God, can and will ſhow mercy unto me.Rom. 13.12.Rom 13:12 The night is far ſpent, ſays the Apoſtle, the day is at hand; Gregor.Nox ante Chriſtum, Aurora in Evangelio, Dies in Reſurrectione. Till Chriſt all was night, there was a beginning of day, in the beginning of the Goſpel, and there was a full noon in the light and glory thereof; but ſuch a day, as ſhall be always day, and overtaken with no night, no cloud, is onelyonly the day of Judgement, the Reſurrection: And this hath brought us to our laſt ſtep, to the conſideration of theſe three terms; 1. knowledge; 2. glory; 3. the face of Chriſt Jeſus in that everlaſting Kingdom.

p. 388For this purpoſe did God command light out of darkneſs, that men might glorifie God in the contemplation of the Creatures; and for this purpoſe hath God ſhin'd in our hearts, by the Scriptures in the Church, that man might be directed towards him, here; but both theſe hath God done therefore, to this purpoſe, this is the end of all, that man might come to this light, in that everlaſting ſtate, in the conſummation of happineſs in Soul, and body too, when we ſhall be call'd out of the ſolitarineſs of the grave, to the bleſſed and glorious ſociety of God, and his Angels, and his Saints there.Nazianzen. Hoc verbo re-concinnor, & componor, & in alium virum migro: with that word, Surgite mortui, Ariſe yee that ſleep in the duſt, all my peeces ſhall be put together again, Reconcinnor; with that word, Intra in gaudium, Enter into thy Maſters joy, I am ſettled, I am eſtabliſhed, Componor; and with that word, Sede ad dextram, ſit down army right hand, I become another manner of man, In alium virum migro; another manner of Miracle, then the ſame Father makes of man in this world; Quodnam Mysterium, ſays he, What a Myſtery is man here? Parvus ſum & Magnus: I am leſs in body then many Creature in the World, and yet greater in the compaſs and extent of my Soul then all the World: Humillimus ſum, & Excelſus; I am under a neceſſity of ſpending ſome thoughts upon this low World, and yet in an ability to ſtudy, to contemplate, to lay hold upon the next: Mortalis ſum, & immortalis; in a Body that may, that muſt, that does, that did dye ever ſince it was made; I carry a Soul, nay, a Soul carries me, to ſuch a perpetuity, as no Saint, no Angel, God himſelf ſhall not ſurvive me, over-live me. And laſtly, ſays he, Terrenus ſum, & Coelestis; I have a Body, but of Earth; but yet of ſuch Earth, as God was the Potter to mold it, God was the ſtatuary to faſhion it; and then I have a Soul, of which God was the Father, he breath'd it into me, and of which no matter can ſay, I was the Mother, for it proceeded of nothing. Such a Myſtery is man here; but he is a Miracle hereafter; I ſhall be ſtill the ſame man, and yet have another being: And in this is that Miracle exalted, that death who deſtroys me, re-edifies me: Mors veluti medium excogitata, Cyril.ut de integro reſtauraretur homo: man was fallen, and God took that way to raiſe him, to throw him lower, into the grave; man was ſick, and God invented, God ſtudied Phyſick for him, and ſtrange Phyſick, to recover him by death. The firſt faciamus hominem, the Creation of man, was a thing incomprehenſible in Nature; but the Denuo naſci, to be born again, was ſtranger, even to Nicodemus, who knew the former, the Creation,Joh. 4.3.John 4:3 well enough. But yet the Immutabimur, is the greateſt of all,1 Cor. 15.57.1 Cor 15:57 which St. Paul calls all to wonder at, Behold, I ſhew you a Myſtery, we ſhall not all ſleep, but we ſhall all be changed: A Myſtery, which it Nicodemus had diſcern'd it, would have put him to more p. 389wonder, then the Denuo naſci; to enter into his mothers womb, (as he ſpeaks) to enter into the Bowels of the Earth, and lie there, and lie dead there, not nine months, but many yeers, and then to be born again, and the firſt minute of that new Birth to be ſo perfect, as that nothing can be better, and ſo perfect as that he can never become worſe, that is that which makes all ſtrange accidents to natural Bodies, and Bodies Politike too,Scientia. all changes in man, all revolutions of States, eaſie, and familiar to us; I ſhall have another being, and yet be the ſame man. And in that ſtate, I ſhall have the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Chriſt Jeſus. Of which three things being now come to ſpeak, I am the leſs ſorry, and ſo may you be too, if my voice be ſo ſunk, as that I be not heard; for, if I had all my time, and all my ſtrength, and all your patience reſerv'd till now, what could I ſay that could become, what, that could have any proportion, to this knowledge, and this glory, and this face of Christ Jeſus, there in the Kingdome of Heaven? But yet be pleaſed to hear a word, of each of theſe three words; and firſt, of Knowledge. In the Attributes of God, we conſider his knowledge to be Principium agendi dirigens, The firſt propoſer, and Director; This ſhould be done: and then his Will to be Principium imperans, the firſt Commander, This ſhall be done; and then his Power to be Principium exequens, the firſt Performer, This is done: This ſhould be done, this ſhall be done, this is done, expreſſes to us, the Knowledge, the Will, and the Power of God. Now we ſhall be made partakers of the Divine Nature, and the Knowledge, and the Will, and the Power of God, ſhall be ſo far communicated to us there, as that we ſhall know all that belongs to our happineſs, and we ſhall have a will to doe, and a power to execute, whatſoever conduces to that. And for the knowledge of Angels, that is not in them per eſſentiam, for whoſoever knows ſo, as the Eſſence of the thing flows from him, knows all things, and that's a knowledge proper to God only: Neither doe the Angels know per ſpecies, by thoſe reſultances and ſpecies, which riſe from the Object, and paſs through the Senſe to the Underſtanding, for that's a deceiveable way, both by the indiſpoſition of the Organ, ſometimes, and ſometimes by the depravation of the Judgment; and therefore, as the firſt is too high, this is too low a way for the Angels. Some things the Angels do know by the dignity of their Nature, by their Creation, which we know not; as we know many things which inſerior Creatures do not; and ſuch things all the Angels, good and bad know. Some things they know by the Grace of their confirmation, by which they have more given them, then they had by Nature in their Creation; and thoſe things only the Angels that ſtood, but all they, do know. Some things they know by Revelation, when God is pleaſed to manifeſt them unto them; p. 390and ſo ſome of the Angels know that, which the reſt, though confirm'd, doe not know. By Creation, they know as his Subjects; by Confirmation, they know as his ſervants; by Revelation, they know as his Councel. Now, Erimus ſicut Angeli, ſays Chriſt, There we ſhall be as the Angels: The knowledge which I have by Nature, ſhall have no Clouds; here it hath: that which I have by Grace, ſhall have no reluctation, no reſiſtance; here it hath: That which I have by Revelation, ſhall have no ſuſpition, no jealouſie; here it hath: ſometimes it is hard to diſtinguiſh between a reſpiration from God, and a ſuggeſtion from the Devil. There our curioſity ſhall have this noble ſatisfaction, we ſhall know how the Angels know, by knowing as they know. We ſhall not paſs from Author, to Author, as in a Grammar School, nor from Art to Art, as in an Univerſity; but, as that General which Knighted his whole Army, God ſhall Create us all Doctors in a minute. That great Library, thoſe infinite Volumes of the Books of Creatures, ſhall be taken away, quite away, no more Nature; thoſe reverend Manuſcripts, written with Gods own hand, the Scriptures themſelves, ſhall be taken away, quite away; no more preaching, no more reading of Scriptures, and that great School-Miſtreſs, Experience, and Obſervation ſhall be remov'd, no new thing to be done, and in an inſtant, I ſhall know more, then they all could reveal unto me. I ſhall know, not only as I know already, that a Bee-hive, that an Ant-hill is the ſame Book in Decimo ſexto, as a Kingdom is in Folio, That a Flower that lives but a day, is an abridgment of that King, that lives out his threeſcore and ten yeers; but I ſhall know too, that all theſe Ants, and Bees, and Flowers, and Kings, and Kingdoms, howſoever they may be Examples, and Compariſons to one another, yet they are all as nothing, altogether nothing, leſs then nothing, infinitely leſs then nothing, to that which ſhall then be the ſubject of my knowledge, for, it is the knowledge of the glory of God.

Gloria Dei.Before, in the former acceptation, the glory of God, was our glorifying of God; here, the glory of God, is his glorifying of us: there it was his receiving, here it is his giving of glory. That prayer which our Saviour Chriſt makes, Glorifie me, O Father, with thine own ſelf, Joh. 17.5.John 17:5with the Glory which I had, before the world was, is not a prayer for the Eſſential Glory of God; for, Chriſt in his Divine Nature was never deveſted, never unaccompanied of that glory; and for his humane Nature, that was never capable of it: the attributes, and ſo the Eſſence of the Glory, of the Divinity, are not communicable to his Humane Nature, neither perpetually, as the Ubiquitaries ſay, nor temporarily in the Sacrament, as the Papiſts imply. But the glory which Chriſt asks there, is, the glory of ſitting down at the right hand of his Father in our fleſh, in his humane Nature, which glory he had before the world, for he p. 391had it in his predeſtination, in the Eternal Decree. And that's the glory of God, which we ſhall know; know, by having it. We ſhall have a knowledge of the very glory, the Eſſential glory of God, becauſe we ſhall ſee Sicuti eſt, as God is, in himſelf; and Cognoſcam at cognitus; I ſhall know, as I am known: 1 Cor. 13.12.1 Cor 13:12that glory ſhall dilate us, enlarge us, give us an inexpreſſible capacity, and then fill it; but we ſhall never comprehend that glory, the Eſſential glory; but that glory which Chriſt hath received in his humane Natute, (in all other degrees, excepting thoſe which flow from his hypoſtatical union) we ſhall comprehend, we ſhall know, by having: we ſhall receive a Crown of glory, that ſadeth not:1 Pet. 5.4.1 Pet 5:4 It is a Crown that compaſſes round, no enterance of danger any way; and a crown that fadeth not, fears no winter: we ſhall have intereſt in all we ſee, and we ſhall ſee the treaſure of all knowledge, the face of Christ Jeſus. Then and there,In facio. we ſhall have an abundant ſatisfaction and accompliſhment, of all St. Auguſtines three Wiſhes: He wiſh'd to have ſeen Rome in her glory, to have heard St. Paul preach, and to have ſeen Chriſt in the fleſh. We ſhall have all; we ſhall ſee ſuch a Jeruſalem, as that Rome, if that were literally true, which is hyperbolically ſaid of Rome, In Urbe, in Orbe, that City is the whole world, yet Rome, that Rome, were but a Village to this Jeruſalem. We ſhall hear St. Paul, with the whole quire of Heaven, pour our himſelf in that acclamation, Saluation to our God, that ſitteth upon the Throne, Apoc. 7.10.Rev 7:10and to the Lamb: and we ſhall ſee, and ſee for ever, Chriſt in that fleſh, which hath done enough for his Friends, and is ſafe enough from his Enemies. We ſhall ſee him in a transfiguration, all clouds of ſadneſs remov'd; and a tranſubſtantiation, all his tears changed to Pearls, all his Blood-drops into Rubies, all the Thorns of his Crown into Diamonds: for, where we ſhall ſee the Walls of his Palace to be Saphyr, and Emerald, and Amethiſt,Apoc. 21.19.Rev 21:19 and all Stones that are precious, what ſhall we not ſee in the face of Chriſt Jeſus? and whatſoever we do ſee, by that very ſight becomes our. Be therefore no ſtrangers to this face: ſee him here, that you may know him, and he you, there: ſee him, as St. John did, who turned to ſee a voice: ſee him in the preaching of his Word; ſee him in that ſeal, which is a Copy of him, as he is of his Father;Apoc. 1.Rev 1 ſee him in the Sacrament. Look him in the face as he lay in the Manger, poor, and then murmur not at temporal wants; ſuddainly enrich'd by the Tributes of Kings, and doubt not but that God hath large and ſtrange ways to ſupply thee. Look him in the face, in the Temple, diſputing there at twelve years; and then apply thy ſelf to God, to the contemplation of him, to the meditation upon him, to a converſation with him betimes. Look him in the face in his Fathers houſe; a Carpenter, and but a Carpenter. Take a Calling, and contain thy ſelf in that Calling. But p. 392bring him nearer, and look him in the face, as he look'd upon Friday laſt; when he whoſe face the Angels deſire to look on, he who was fairer then the children of men,Pſa. 45.3. Eſai 52.14.53.3.Ps 45:3Isa 52:14Isa 52:53Isa 52:3 as the Prophet ſpeaks, was ſo marr'd more then any man, as another Prophet ſays, That they hid their faces from him, & deſpiſed him; when he who bore up the heavens bowed down his head, & he who gives breath to all, gave up the ghoſt: and then look him in the face again, as he look'd yeſterday, not lam'd upon the Croſs, not putrifi'd in the Grave, not ſinged in Hell, rais'd, and raiſed by his own power, Victoriouſly, triumphantly, to the deſtruction of the laſt Enemy, death; look him in the face in all theſe reſpects, of Humiliation, and of Exaltation too; and then, as a Picture look upon him, that look upon it, God upon whom thou keepeſt thine Eye, will keep his Eye upon thee, and, as in the Creation, when he commanded light out of darkneſs, he gave thee a capacity of this light; and as in thy Vocation, when he ſhin'd in thy heart, he gave thee an inchoation of this light, ſo in aſſociating thee to himſelf at the laſt day, he will perfect, conſummate, accompliſh all, and give thee the light of the glory of God, in the face of Chriſt Jeſus there.

This is the laſt word of our Text: but we make up our Circle by returning to the firſt word; the firſt word is, For; for the Text is reaſon of that which is in the Verſe immediately before the Text; that is, We preach not our ſelves, but Chriſt Jeſus the Lord, and our ſelves your ſervants, for Jeſus ſake. We ſtop not on this ſide Chriſt Jeſus; we dare not ſay, that any man is ſav'd without Chriſt; we dare ſay, that none can be ſaved, that hath received that light, and hath not beleev'd in him. We carry you not beyond Chriſt neither, not beyond that face of his, in which he is manifeſted, the Scriptures. Till you come to Chriſt you are without God, as the Apoſtle ſays to the Epheſians: and when you goe beyond Chriſt, to Traditions of men, you are without God too. There is a fine Deo, a left handed Atheiſm, in the meer natural man, that will not know Chriſt; and there is a ſine Deo, a right handed Atheiſm in the ſtubborn Papiſt, who is not content with Chriſt. They preach Chriſt Jeſus and themſelves, and make themſelves Lords over you in Jeſus, place, and farther then ever he went. We preach not our ſelves, but him, and our ſelves your ſervants for his ſake; and this is our ſervice, to tell you the whole compaſs, the beginning, the way, and the end of all, that all is done in, and by, and for Chriſt Jeſus, that from thence flow, and thither lead, and there determine all, to bring you, from the memory of your Creation, by the ſenſe of your Vocation, to the aſſurance of your glorification, by the manifeſtation of God in Chriſt, and Chriſt in the Scriptures, For, God who commanded light out of darkneſs, hath ſhin'd, &c.