A Century of Sermons, Sermon 1

A Century of Sermons · Sermon 1

p. 893THE FIRST SERMON UPON

JOHN iv. 13, 14.

Whoſoever drinketh of this water, ſhall thirſt again.

But whoſoever drinketh of the water that I ſhall give him, ſhall never thirſt.

THere is not a more ſuperficial part of Science than an Emblem, when a moral Leſſon is delivered in the Riddle of a Picture, yet in thoſe ſhadows of invention if rules of wiſdom be not better underſtood, I am ſure they are better remembred. My Text well conceived is but an Emblem, for your fancy muſt apprehend as if it ſaw two fountains, the one a deep Lake, ſalt, and unſavoury, which carries the tranſitory joys and riches of this world upon it, and they that lap at it are never content: The other a cryſtal ſtream, running with heavenly bleſſings, and thoſe that taſte of it their ſoul is ſatisfied. Satan ſhewed our Saviour all this world, and the glory of it in the twinkling of an eye, our Saviour hath ſhewn the woman of Samaria all the vaninity, that is, the glory of this world, and the happineſs of a better as it were in two Pitchers of water. The whole Scripture is a living fountain, and this Text is fons in fonte, a ſweet ſpring running by it ſelf out of that great fountain of life. It is impoſſible to match it with a better ſimilitude, and I think, as the caſe ſtands, it would be hard to fit our ſelves with a more convenient. For the Similitude it ſelf, it lays two contraries ſo fairly together, that it makes the good part ſhine much the better; and by ſetting the grace of God, which is the immortal ſeed in our ſoul, againſt the meat which periſheth, it invites the appetite, which is not altogether unreliſhable, to the better banquet. To our ſelves it is thus proper, for ſeveral exhortations belong to the miſerable times of perſecution, and to the plentiful days of peace. When dreadful calamities are rife, men muſt be taught to be contented with their loſſes; when peace brings in abundance, take heed ye thirſt not after too much, then men muſt be taught to be contented with their gains. I learn this difference from my Saviours mouth, Mat. xvi. 24. againſt the days of ſorrow thus he prepares his Diſciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himſelf, and take up his croſs and follow me. In the next verſe againſt the days of peace and riches, What is a man profited if he ſhall gain the whole world and loſe his ſoul? In Evang. Serm. 32.Gregory frames this clear Meditation upon it, Perſecutionis tempore ponenda eſt anima, pacis tempore frangenda▪ ſunt deſideria; In the time of perſecution loſe your life that you may gain Chriſt, (that Leſſon, God be praiſed, is out of date with us) in the time of peace loſe your vaſt concupiſcence that you may gain content. Here comes in our part, who have leiſure to gather great ſtore, and peaceable ſecurity to enjoy and increaſe it; for that we may lay our deſires level with a moderate fortune, it is fit above all things to know, that you ſhall never meaſure theſe earthly things to the bottom, and you cannot meaſure the joys of heaven to the top, ſo ſaid our Saviour to the Samaritan as I have read it unto you, &c.

Now to bring on the diviſion of the Text I lay this ground: Man is a moſt deſiring, and a wiſhing creature; his heart doth reach it ſelf forth ſo much to get and gain, that it reſembles nothing better than an houſe with a deep Mote round about it: but for the moſt part the mote is full of puddle water, if that were caſt p. 894out, which is the firſt part to be handled, a water which makes us always thirſt, there is a ſluce to let in better, which is contained in the ſecond. For theſe two ſhall be the general heads to which I will refer all that I ſhall ſpeak, the lading out of bad waters from our ſoul, and the letting in of better. I will not venture beyond the former of theſe two at this time; Whoſoever drinketh of this water ſhall thirſt again. And St. Auſtin preaching upon thoſe words did thus divide them, Et verum eſt ſecundum hanc aquam, & verum eſt ſecundum quod ſignificat haec aqua. It is true being ſpoken upon thoſe waters drawn out of Jacobs well, and upon any other water; and it is true being ſpoken upon that unto which the Element of water did allude, that is, the riches and glory of this world; according to the very waters which our Saviour lookt upon when he preacht. I will ſpeak to theſe three points: 1. That all the refection of our body is commended in the phraſe of drinking waters. 2. Heat conſumes our moiſture and makes us thirſt, which is the puniſhment of our nature. 3. We thirſt, and thirſt again, which is the puniſhment of our ſenſual appetite. According to the water unto which our Saviour alluded, I have three things more to obſerve. 1. That all theſe worldly things are compared to waters which ſlide away. 2. Here is the greedineſs of our heart to be filled with them, we would pour them in, and drink them down. 3. Here's their emptineſs, they will never fill us; for drink both much and often, yet whoſoever drinketh of this water ſhall thirſt again.

And firſt a few words litterally of that outward Element, which the Woman of Samaria came to draw in her Pitcher; upon which this is the former obſervation, that all the refection of our body, eſpecially that which cools our thirſt, is delivered in the phraſe of drinking waters. Indeed before temperance was perverted this phraſe was well underſtood of all men to drink waters From the Creation to the Floud, above ſixteen hundred years, it is affirmed by divers, ſcarce denied by any, that the World knew not what belonged to Wine, or to any artificial liquor, the great Rivers of the Earth were all their Sellarage, and they filled their Cup from thence without coſt or labour. Therefore in the firſt of Geneſis God ſtinted our firſt Parents and their Poſterity what they ſhould eat, namely the fruits of ſeveral Trees, all but one, and the Herbs of the Field; but they were not ſtinted what they ſhould drink, becauſe their nature was inclined to nothing but to the Fountain Element. And Noah having never perceived the malignity and headineſs of too much Wine, neither in himſelf, nor any other perſon, ſurely not out of intemperance, we may well excuſe him that, but out of ignorance he became drunken. It is too much perhaps to look back ſo far as before the Deluge, now we are ſure that every Creature of God is ſanctified by Prayer and Thankſgiving to them that uſe it well; it is the Lord that makes the Vine to ſwell with comfortable juyce, that men may take it for infirmity of health, and upon occaſions of chearfulneſs: yet the good Patriarchs would never lay down the primitive ſobriety of the World. I will go no further to ſhew it than the verſe before my Text. Says the Woman, Art thou greater than our Father Jacob, who drank himſelf of this Well, and his Children, and his Cattle? The Flocks and Herds quenched their thirſt with no worſe than their Maſter did: according to which ſimplicity of diet, God in the beginning allotted the ſame food for the Beaſts that he made for Man, Gen. i. 30. I have given you, ſays He to Adam, every herb bearing ſeed, which is upon the face of all the earth, &c. and to every beaſt of the earth, and to every foul of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life: I have given every green herb for meat; and it was ſo. We and the Cattle you ſee had once the ſame allowance, or there was very little to chooſe between our Paſture and theirs.

I will wind about no longer, the ſcope is to let you ſee the difference between the frugal inſtitutions of nature, and the monſtrous inventions of that luxury which at this time prevails among us. Why doth the Scripture expreſs all manner of Beverage in forty places by the name of water, but to inſinuate ſobriety? Why doth Gods word in an hundred places call the whole repaſt of the belly by the name of bread, but to inſinuate frugality? The Scripture makes but two words of that, whereof affected gluttony hath made twenty thouſand. The Apoſtles did break bread from houſe to houſe, and eat their meat with gladneſs, Acts 2.46. foreign, alimentum non delicias, ſays St. Chryſoſtom, plain neceſſary nouriſhment is meant, which nature earns for, and cannot want; not piled diſhes one upon another, to the intolerable ſcorn of God Almighty's firſt Laws, as if you did not ſet, but build a Banquet. Our Saviour will condemn you out of your own mouth if you pray his Prayer as you ought, Give us this day our daily bread; if the word be a Synechdoche one p. 895part of ſuſtenance for all Gods gifts, I know it is ſo, yet it circumſcribes our deſires to ask a little, and no exceſs: and if you pray with Chriſts words, and not with Chriſts meaning, God will not bleſs, but curſe your ſupplications. As the Fable goes of Dido, that ſhe asked no more Land than an Ox Hide would compaſs; but ſhe cut that Hide into ſmall thongs, and took in as much ground as to build a City: ſo it is a cheat to ask God for bread and water, and to mean all manner of ſuperfluity. The Moralliſts and Poets of the Heathen were wiſe men, and when they character the beſt and happieſt times of the World, I am not preſumptuous, but confident of my knowledge, that they all inſiſt upon this, that the men of that Age ſtudied not for their Diet, but took the voluntary Offerings of the Springs and Mountains. Now we have left that praiſe and happineſs to the Beaſts and Fowls of the air, who take the next thing they light upon to ſatisfie their thirſt and hunger. Non fuit noverca nobis natura, ut homo ſine tot artibus non poſſit vivere. Seneca.It is our own fault that we conſume our Revenues, and ſpend all our labour, as the Wiſe-man ſays, for the belly; Nature is not ſo much a Stepdame to us alone, that no leſs than two hundred Arts and Trades may be reckoned before his Table can be magnificently furniſhed.

This is the only conveniency of great ſins, which are very expenceful, though not for the ſin, yet for the charge ſake they uſe to vaniſh away by little and little, I have the more hope my labour ſhall not be fruitleſs, to exhort you to fall back to ſome laudable meaſure of ancient frugality. Though it be a thing grown quite out of the conſtitution of your bodies to thirſt for water, as my Text ſays, yet I would you would thirſt leſs for wine: and as one ſaid, though once our Saviour was ſo gracious to turn water into wine, yet it were happy now on our part, if he would infuſe ſuch temperance into us, as to turn our wine into water. See into what luxury we have ſopt our Souls in the revolution of time: ſee how we are metamorphoſed in our appetite; thoſe Wines which were wont to be ſold by the Apothecaries, for a Drug, are now become every Meals liquor at our Tables; and Water which was the ordinary drink of man, now it is never uſed but as a Potion, and for ſome Medicinal operation: So that which was our Phyſick is become our ordinary Drink, and that which was our daily Drink is become our Phyſick.Lucan. lib. 4. Pharſ. Satis eſt populo fluviuſ que Cereſque; though bread for hunger, and water for thirſt are but a bare enough, yet ſuch expreſſions from our Saviour, who knows what is fitteſt for us; will make the moſt of us I hope aſhamed, when we compare it with an Epicures too much.

But whether temperate or intemperate, whether the poor Beggar that drinks of the running Brook, or the rich Glutton that quaffs the bloud of the Grape, at ſundry times they feel a ſcarcity, and want of moiſture, it is an affliction upon our nature that all men have their thirſt. The Schoolmen ask, and which is more, they contend among themſelves, whether hunger and thirſt had befallen Mankind, if they had never ſinned againſt the Lord? The Controverſy comes to this iſſue. This heavenly part of us which God breathed into the body it is both Anima and Spiritus; a Soul and a Spirit: and therefore it cauſeth both an animal life, which conſiſts in the faculties of nouriſhment, augmentation of every part, generation, &c. and it cauſeth by Gods gracious gift a ſpiritual life, making this corruptible fleſh of ours incorruptible, and transfuſing many more of its own excellencies into this groſs ſubſtance, and then it is a glorified Body. Theſe by the Divine ordination were appointed after a large ſpace to be one after another, ſo ſays St. Paul, 1 Cor. 15.46.1 Cor 15:46That was not firſt which was ſpiritual, but that which was natural, and afterward that which is ſpiritual. It was neceſſary therefore while it was a natural body, that ſuſtenance muſt be taken; and at ſuch a time when man knew right well by his own conſtitution, that it was fit to repair nature (he could not err, and be deceived in that in the ſtate of innocency) and at that time his appetite would call for it as a pleaſant and wholeſome thing to be taken; for you know what a loathing thing it is to take meat and drink into the mouth without an appetite. Here's the ſcruple plainly laid down before you, whether hunger and thirſt did provoke ſuch an appetite in man before he fell into diſobedience? I anſwer that this Controverſy is but a bare miſtaking of a word.Pererius in Geneſ. p. 147. If hunger and thirſt be largely taken for that ſenſe which a man hath, how the ſtomach muſt be repleniſht for the maintenance of life: ſo Adam before he fell had ſenſum indigentiae, a far more exacting feeling than we have, when nature was in indigency, and muſt be ſupplied: but ſtrictly and properly hunger and thirſt habent adjunctam moleſtiam & cruciatum, they come upon us with ſome moleſtiouſneſs and torment, and ſo they are only incident to wicked man, where puniſhment is manifold p. 896ways inflicted upon tranſgreſſion. Where heat doth dry up moiſture, and parch the juyce of the veins, there our thirſty ſoul doth gape like a barren and dry Land, that is, when one elementary quality doth feed upon another, and conſume it. But before ſin entred into the World: there was ſuch an orderly mixture of all parts in us, that the Elements were at peace in our Body, no quality did ſeek to over-maſter another, and corrupt it: but the pangs and girds of thirſt did enſue upon juſt revenge; Reaſon proved rebellious to the Law of God; the ſenſual appetite grew rebellious to reaſon, and the diſtemperature of the body grew rebellious to appetite. Shall I need to tell you how the Iſraelites in a ſore thirſt were ready to renounce God in the Wilderneſs? or how the ſtrength of Sampſon fainted, till the Jaw bone beſmeared with the bloud of his Enemies did run with water? or how Darius in extremity of drought was glad to drink of a moſt putrified puddle? Every man hath felt ſuch anguiſh in himſelf at ſome time or other; every little ſcarceneſs threatens death, or is worſe than death to them that want the friendſhip of God.

And as our appetite is never but ſick of longing, ſo the body troubles it with a perpetual craving; that which it takes to day is forgot to morrow, as if it never had been, Whoſoever drinketh of this water ſhall thirſt again. That which nouriſheth the Soul of man muſt be immortal like the Soul; but that which nouriſheth a corruptible Body, it ſelf is corruptible. One lean Harveſt in Egypt made ſeven rich ones be quite forgotten: A ſhort Faſt will gnaw the bowels, though Ahaſuerus his long Feaſt had gone before it. Whatſoever you taſte the pleaſure of it is not remembred in a minute, the ſtrength and virtue of it is gone in a few hours. A man that is grown to the end of a full age, if he would reckon by meaſure and proportion, how much waſte in threeſcore and ten years one Belly hath made, it would make him wonder, and ſay to himſelf, am I run on the ſcore ſo far for my daily ſuſtenance? is it not due that my Carkaſs ſhould rot in the Earth, or in the Sea, ſince my fleſh hath been the conſumption both of Sea and Land? And again, ſince we are born to that care and diſtreſs, that every day muſt have his ſeveral neceſſity of hunger and thirſt, be not luxurious upon one entertainment, as if at once you would ſpend all the brood of nature, and leave nothing for to morrow. To morrow muſt be cared for. You cannot ſay to your appetite, this is thy ſtint, and hereafter thou ſhalt have no more. It was but poor proviſion to ſend Hagar and her Child away with one Bottle of water into the deſart Wilderneſs: when the Bottle was ſpent her deſire did come again upon her like an armed man, for whoſoever, &c.

Yet this is not meant altogether to throw us into affliction, that we muſt cater for the ſtomach every day: It makes us often caſt down our eyes upon the neceſſities of the Poor; it makes us often lift up our eyes to the providence of our Heavenly Father; it compels the Societies of men to ſeek out many induſtrious Vocations, and to diſrelliſh idleneſs. In theſe regards it was an extravagant Prayer which the Woman of Samaria made in the next verſe, Sir, give me ſuch water to drink as I may not thirſt, neither come hither to draw. But in ſome particular perſons Gods vengeance is bent ſore to vex their appetite, where water nor wine, nor any liquor hath vertue to ſatiate their thirſt, when that which they drink doth them no good, but it is as if they had taken nothing. As God gave bread to the Iſraelites, but ſent leanneſs withal into their ſouls. So Haggai brought news of the Lords wrath unto the people, c. i. v. 6. Ye eat, but ye have not enough, ye drink, but ye are not filled. Some Heathen Lawgivers attempted to rate every private Family in their Cities what they ſhould ſpend at their Board, and at laſt one of the wiſeſt of them concluded, there could be no rule given in that caſe, becauſe an heavenly hunger ſometimes lights upon ſome men which devours in exceſs, and is not ſatisfied. It is the grace of God which gives meat in due ſeaſon, ſo that health and comfort go together with it. I will borrow this Similitude to give it light. Sometimes when we go to Phyſick for any Diſeaſe, we are bidden to ſeeth ſuch and ſuch herbs in running water, and then to drink the water. We know it is not the water helpeth the ſick man, but the decoction of the infuſion. So it is not bread or drink conſider'd barely in it ſelf which doth nouriſh the body, but the bleſſing of God infuſed into it. When the Lord is pleaſed not to bleſs your victuals with his goodneſs, ſoak what you can into your skin, you ſhall thirſt as if you never drank: and again, if He will let his power be ſhewed in our weakneſs, you ſhall have the gift to abſtain from all manner of liquors, as if you never thirſted.

p. 897Spiritus ſanctus aliquando ſupplet locum cibi & potus in corpore, ſays St. Hierom; the Holy Ghoſt is called our Food, not only in a myſtical ſenſe, but ſometimes God makes his Spirit ſupply the place of bodily refection, that we ſhall not need to ask for it. He that corroborated Elias to eat nothing for fourty days, could have continued that Miracle upon his Servant for ever. I will not reach for an inſtance beyond that Story which was the occaſion of my Text. Our Saviour came hungry and thirſty to Jacob's Well, ſent his Diſciples into the Town to buy proviſion, in the interim demands drink of a ſtrange Woman; yet falling into a Divine diſcourſe with this Woman, forgets his hunger and thirſt, and when food was come he did not regard it. And I am not incredulous of ſuch Stories, which report of long continued Faſts in devout men, who ſpent their time ſo earneſtly in Prayer, that they put their body to an agony, if not to an exſtaſie: in theſe the Spirit did ſupport the Fabrick of Nature, inſtead of corruptible things. It is a good thing, ſays St. Paul, that the heart be eſtabliſhed with grace, and not with meats, Heb. xiii. 9. To conclude this Argument, God ſhewed in his Prophet Elias, that he can find out ſundry ways to uphold the ſtate of our fleſh. One way Elias was fed by a miraculous multiplication of Oil and Meal with the Widow of Sarephath. 2. By the Miniſtry of the Ravens in the Wilderneſs. 3. By putting ſtrength into his bones, and marrow, forty days to need no reparation. And fourthly, by uſing the Creature with temperance and ſobriety at his daily repaſt: ſo he did feel the continual urging of the appetite, as all men do upon the face of the earth, For whoſoever drinketh, &c.

So far upon the Text litterally, and upon no other waters, but ſuch as the Woman of Samaria drew out of Jacobs Well. In the Alluſion Interpreters make it extend to all kind of worldly pleaſure, wherein our heart rejoyceth. This one piece of natures ſtore, which gives but imperfect content, ſtands for all the reſt, qui unam noverit omnes noverit: It is in every thing elſe under the Sun as it is in this one Creature, our thoughts are not quiet when they have enjoyed them, no not a day; you cannot gulp ſo much down of theſe earthly delights but ye ſhall thirſt again. The firſt thing which muſt be noted hereupon is the ground of the Similitude, that all theſe vanities which we affect are juſtly compared to waters that ſlide away. Whatſoever thoſe fancies be that enſweeten your affections towards them, they come unto you like that young Prophet, whom Eliſha ſent to Jehu to Ramoth Gilead: ſays Eliſha, Thou ſhalt anoint him King over Iſrael, then open the door, and fly, 2 Ki. 9.3.and tarry not. Salute him with good luck, and be gone. Good fortune, as we call it, ſends no body of her errand, but they diſpatch as ſuddenly, and fly away. If any man that loves this World expoſtulate with himſelf that his pleaſures dodg him, as thus, When will my delights continue for a time? when ſhall I have reſt from thirſting after more, and enjoy that which is paſt? O ſays the Tempter it will come anon, you ſhall ſee it by and by. Alaſs what a ſickneſs is expectation, which is no better than a doting deluſion. As the Mother of Siſera looked out at a Window to ſee her Son come home in triumph, and ſhe ſpeaks to her wiſe Ladies in Debora's Song, Why are his Charriot wheels ſo long a coming? Look not after tranſitory delights, as if a thing which is always in fluxu could be made permanent, the Devil and all his Alchymiſtry cannot fix this Mercury. A River may be ſhut up by a Froſt, and when the Sun thaws the ice, the ſtream runs his current again: So if you can attain to mortifie your heart, as I think old Barzillai did, whoſe affections to all worldly alacrity were Ice and Marble, he cared not, he ſaid to David, for the pomp of Jeruſalem, nor for the taſte of Meats, nor for the noiſe of Muſick; then your inward delights are a River ſhut up, the waters of comfort flit not out of the channel. But if you deſire to have a Portion in this life, if you deſire to taſte a little of this honey, as Jonathan did, which hangs in the Trees round about you, plenus rimarum effluis, then the River opens, your earnings, and your deſires will break out in a thouſand Sluces.

If a Chryſtal Glaſs were durable, and not obnoxious to breaking with a fall, it would be as eſtimable perhaps as a Silver Plate, though the ſubſtance be not ſo precious. So the vanities of this World, which are but water, or rather froth that paſſeth away, had they been ſtable, and of long endurance, which God forbid (for then who almoſt could have withſtood their temptation, as baſe as they are in themſelves, I ſay, if they had not been ſo tranſitory, they had deceived many inſtead of that which our Saviour commends ſo highly, the water of Eternal Life. But there is not ſuch a terminus diminuens in nature, not any word of more rejectment, than to ſay, they conſume as faſt as they are born, they periſh in their making, p. 898and come to a perpetual end. If I ſee a Meteor make a fair ſhew in a bright Evening I may take it for a Star, but if it once glide in a flake of fire like a ſwift arrow, I contemn it for a putrid exhalation; ſo Honors and Riches make a gay ſight, but becauſe they are as tranſitory as dreams and ſhadows, I deſpiſe them. Shall I moil my ſelf like the Grecian Champions at Olympus for no more than a Garland of leaves that will wither before I go to bed, for a corruptible Crown as St. Paul calls it? How little did the recompenſe anſwer the danger? Theſe men, you will ſay were fit to be laught at: As they lived in a ſilly Age, ſo they ſped accordingly. But now the World's grown wiſer, they do not aim at a few flowers, but at the whole Garden, as Ahab did; not at leaves, but at fruit I warrant you, and the trees that bear the fruit, and the Lands and Lordſhips that the trees grow upon, both to them and to their Poſterity. This will come to ſome value, and not to be ſlighted like the labour of the Heathen for a Garland, or for a corruptible Crown. Yet for all this I will and muſt maintain, that worldlings deſerve the application both of this, and of a worſe Similitude. I confeſs that the Heathen in their emulatory Sports aimed at trifles, ſcarce fit to hang on the Poſts of their Doors, and no way comely for their head: yet trifles, as they were, they engaged but a trifle againſt them, their limbs and body: but you venture your ſoul, the Divine part of Man, for things that may ſtick as little by you as a flower of the Garden: Aut habebunt finem ſui, aut finem tui, either your pleaſure, or your life, or the whole World may paſs away in a moment. What a rotten pillar we lean upon, which is ſubject to the hazard of three imminent caſualties? where lies the wit now? they hazard Graſs for Graſs, their Body againſt a Garland; you hazard Heaven againſt Earth, your Soul for Honours and increaſe of Subſtance: you ſtake the hope of Salvation, to drink in a few pleaſing reliſhes of this World, which fall away like water that runneth apace.

Becauſe time is as tranſitory as theſe fickle things of fortune which I ſpeak of, therefore my diſcourſe ſhall paſs from this point without any longer trouble to you. Now St. Auſtin obſerves how the pleaſures of our natural life are not ſimply reſembled here to River waters, which you may take up with your hand, and are in every mans fight that paſſeth by. Our Saviour was now at Jacobs Well, and he that will drink of it, muſt draw it out from a deep bottom: Et voluptas ſeculi eſt aqua in puteo, ſeu profunditate tenebrosâ: ſo our terreſtrial pleaſures are waters in a deep pit, with which if you deſire to fill your Pitcher, (this Body I mean, which is an earthen Veſſel) you muſt beſtow your labour to fetch it up from a low Abyſſus, from a dark profundity. They that plunge themſelves into delights of all faſhions and conditions, are not able to tell you how deep their own concupiſcence is, nor how far it would deſcend into vanities. Tiberius the Emperor, I confeſs no common example, the worſt not of men, but even of four-footed beaſts. When he had run over all kind of pleaſure that was known and common, then he puts down the Bucket into the Well to fetch up rarities of ſenſuality, and was ſo witty in nothing as to find out new ſtudied pleaſures, unheard of to all former impiety. Novum inſtituit officium à voluptatibus, ſays Suetonius, he created an Officer to reward ſuch as brought forth new invented ſtratagems. Are you not afraid when you go ſo low into theſe vile earthly things, from one ſenſuality to another, deeper and deeper, I ſay are you not afraid that the next ſtep ſhould be into the bottomleſs pit? A fugitive Servant in Plutarch being well nigh overtaken, ran out of the way to hide himſelf in a Mill, and the Mill was in thoſe days inſtead of an Houſe of Correction to torment Runnagate Servants. O ſays the Maſter, ubi te occuparem niſi in piſtrino? This is the very place where I wiſht to find you. So ſhall the Lord ſpeak to thoſe Epicures that make a myſtery of their pleaſures, you are in the right way for my vengeance to find you out, when you run into the dark and ſecret corners of voluptuouſneſs, as if you digged into Hell.

The deeper we reach into the Well, Satan knows we muſt ſtoop down the more. David complains what a ſnare it is, when a man is enticed to dive as it were into a large bottom for his vanity, incurvaverunt animam meam, they have preſſed down my ſoul, Pſal. lvii. 7. like Corn that's beaten flat to the earth with a violent ſtorm, and when it is laid the Fowls of the air devour it. As the eye of Cain which looked down dejectedly upon the earth was a ſign of deſperation; is it not worſe when the will and deſire of the Soul tends downward to this baſe Element, and to theſe tranſitory joys. So it was with Iſrael, when the Lord had forſaken them, and left them to the dregs of their own carnal mind, Eſ. li. 23. I will put thee into the hand p. 899of them that have ſaid unto thy ſoul, bow down that we may go over thee. A certain Parable and a Story go together on this wiſe, Luke xiii. A woman had a ſpirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wiſe lift up her ſelf. And a Figtree was planted in a good ſoil, which for three years together bore no fruit. Here's the double condition of our ſinful nature, homo nec fructum ſervat operationis, nec ſtatum rectitudinis, the rectitude of innocency is turned crooked in us; and then it is impoſſible we ſhould bring forth the fruit of good works. The Soul ſtands upright when it deſires to be with Chriſt, but it is bowed down with a ſpirit of infirmity when our treaſure is upon earth.Jud. 7.5.Judg 7:5 You know how Gedeon's choice Souldiers did drink of the Brook, putting water in their hands, and lapping like a Dog; but the reſt bowed down to the River to drink upon their knees, ver. 6. Whereupon Gregory took occaſion to ſhew ſymbolically, what different poſtures our ſpiritual and our carnal appetite have in partaking thoſe things they love? mundi aqua bibitur facie pronâ in terram, fons aquae viventis facie ſupinâ; we drink the waters beneath with our face bowed down to the earth, we drink the waters of life with our face and eyes turned up to Heaven. To him that walks in a Valley every Shrub is tall that grows upon the top of a Mountain; ſo perhaps our pleaſures ſeem aloft to us, and not to lie ſo low as the bottom of a Well, becauſe we our ſelves do walk in the ſhadow of death, and in the valley of corruption. An ambitious man will ſcarce believe his ſoul is bowed down, when he ſeeks for honour, but rather that aſpiring to a grand Title doth lift up his thoughts: O that you did ſtand upon a Pinacle of faith, and from thence look up to Jeſus the Author and Finiſher of our faith, and you would then acknowledg that all theſe empty clouds did fly below you. Why do you not expect the grace of God, and pray often unto him, when wilt thou make good thy promiſe to me, O Lord, which thou haſt ſpoken to me, O Lord,Gregor. Moral. lib. 31. c. 34. Eſ. lviii. 14. Thou ſhalt delight thy ſelf in the Lord, and I will cauſe thee to ride upon the high places of the earth: Suſtollam te ſuper altitudines terrae. O that I could be exalted above the earth, then would I not bow down my ſoul to draw forth vanity from this deep Well, and nothing but the waters of bitterneſs.

You ſee what theſe waters are; there is no permanency in them, they flit away; and yet we draw them from the very depth of Hell, with much toil and carefulneſs, and it is diſputable with St. Auſtin, which of the two be more commodious to man, labor in hau…iendo affligens, aut ſitis crucians, but after the labour of our body to draw them forth follows the greedineſs of our heart to be filled with them, we drink them down. All things were made for man, the pleaſures of art and wit, the abundance of the whole World, the Myrrh and Frankincenſe of one India, the Gold and Silver of the other: Divinity muſt not deny you that which is your own. The great God is as liberal to us as He was to his own People, but he gave them the labours of the Heathen in poſſeſſion, that they might keep his Laws. Carnalis populus ſi parva non acciperet, magna non credoret, ſays Gregorianus: As Caleb and Joſhua brought a bunch or two of Grapes, to let the people ſee what a rich Land it was, which the Lord had promiſed; ſo a Modicum is allotted to us for our preſent uſe, that we may look for a real and more ſubſtantial treaſure in Heaven. And indeed this is the purpoſe of my Text, to commend the Grace of God above all things, but not altogether to contemn his Creatures.

The Crime reproved is to ſwallow them down, like drink that runs in all our veins and is preſently incorporated into our bloud and ſpirits: as a learned Author ſays, that a greedy heart hath animam triticeam, not an heavenly ſpirit, but a wheaten ſoul, altogether projecting for outward means, it muſt have bread, it muſt have ſtore, the Barn muſt be thwackt full, the proviſion muſt be able to ſerve many years; ſuch wheaten cogitations make a wheaten ſoul. By ſuch another Catechreſis I may ſay out of my Text, that a greedy tipling deſire makes a drunken ſoul: an unſatiated mind is as brutiſh a Monſter as Job's Behemoth, He drinketh up a river, Job 4….23.Job 4:23he truſteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth. David would not drink of that water which was brought from the Well of Bethel with the jeopardy of his Servants bloud, therefore he poured it out to the Lord; but our deſires fetch ſuch things unto us which are brought with the hazard of that which is better than life. David hath ſhewed us the way what is to be done, pour them forth unto the Lord; if they be ſinful pleaſures, by repentance; if they be riches, by alms and charity: By all means pour them forth, leſt they conſume us like thoſe waters in the Levitical Law, which the Prieſt gave to the Woman ſuſpected for Adultery; if ſhe were defiled the waters turn'd bitter, and did rot her thigh, and ſhe became a curſe among all p. 900the people. It is a prefiguration, I do verily think, of that diſeaſeful rottenneſs which doth oftentimes in theſe days befall Adultery. And as the rottenneſs goes before, ſo be ſure the curſe will come behind it.

I might be copious from this Allegory in my Text, that a wanton appetite is a drunken diſeaſe; but I will contract it by ſhewing one diſſimilitude, he that pours any liquor into his body it is to cheriſh himſelf; but the moſt men drink greedily of worldly things, to make others ſwell, and heap up riches, that their children may gather them: So the Son often times vomits up that wealth whereof the Father ſurſeited: for you ſhall never purchaſe ſo much as your Poſterity would ſell away in the third or fourth Generation. The good Father thought he ſaid enough to diſcipline an avaritious fool, when he bad him number his days which were very ſhort, and therefore cut ſhorter his covetous deſires, which were very long, Longa noſtra deſideria increpat vita brevis. Alas, ſays Nabal, I meaſure not my neceſſities by the ſpan of my own life, but according to the breadth and length of all my Poſterity, who muſt enjoy theſe things after me. I ſhall anſwer it with a Paradox, yet it is ſuch a rule as I never ſaw many exceptions againſt it. If your children love gains as well as you have done, they will thrive though you leave them but a little: If they regard not Parſimony as you have done, they will break and decay though you bequeath them a great treaſure. Lighten your ſelf therefore of theſe ſuperfluous burdens which you carry like a Camel for their ſakes that will never bear them after you: And if God have given you a large Iſſue, be you more bountiful in Alms-deeds and Charity, as St. Cyprian reaſons, Pro pluribus placandus eſt eleemoſynis; as Job offered Sacrifices to God according to the number of his Sons and Daughters: So muſt you offer up gifts unto the Lord to bleſs your Olive branches according to the number of your Poſterity. Therefore to end this Point, drink your waters for your own thirſt, and not for others, for he that deviſeth to leave an huge maſs behind him is ſure he ſhall take nothing at all away. Aeneas Sylvius celebrates this Story among the actions of Saladine the Great, he knew his end was at hand, and therefore bad a Souldier carry a winding-ſheet upon the top of a Spear through all his Army, and proclaim with a loud voice, Ex tantis opibus nihil aliud Saladinus ſecum tulit; Saladine carried nothing away with him but that of all his magnificent fortune. O bewitching vanity therefore to devour the Fatherleſs, and the Widow, to ſwallow down ill-gotten wealth to drink ſo greedily of theſe ſtoln waters, and out of ſo many Lordſhips it is well at laſt if your Heirs will allow you an handful of herbs and flowers to carry you ſweet to your grave.

I have ſhewed what a vanity it is in man to have a greedy deſire to be filled with the vanities of this world: If you will be mocked, like Tantalus, you may dap at theſe waters, and always miſs: you may ſuck like an horſe-leech and never be ſatisfied; this I deduce from the laſt part of my Text, terra inanis, as I believe Moſes means myſtically, Gen. i. 2. The earth is void and empty, and all the joys upon earth have ſuch an emptineſs that they cannot fill, for whoſoever drinketh of this water ſhall thirſt again. Man diſquieteth himſelf in vain, ſo David begins; and St. Chryſoſtom deſcants thus upon the complaint, the Seas are rouled about with a ſtorm, and grow calm again within an hour: the Air is driven violently by the winds, and at laſt it is huſh: the earth ſometimes quakes and moves, and by and by it ſtands faſt upon his Pillars: only the heart of man is never at peace, never but hunting for ſome new-nothing which it had not before. So St. Chryſoſtom runs over three of the Elements, ſhewing that their diſquietneſs and troubles are compoſed again; now I had rather inſtance in the Element of the fire, which he omitted, than in any of the reſt; a devouring fire, though it be as great as Nebuchadnezzars Furnace, goes out by little and little; and every man knows how, not by throwing wood upon the Pile, but by drawing away the combuſtible ſtuff, ſo that it ſhall have no matter to ſpend: ſo the appetite of man hath an hot fume, and a ſcaulding fire within; will you go about to extinguiſh it as fools do, by throwing heaps upon it? Or rather by ſubſtraction of all ſuperfluities; and then it will go out of it ſelf.

Will you attend to thoſe reaſons which the heathen hammered out, why you ſhall never take the heart of man without a new and a changeable Wiſh? One ſpeaks Aſtronomically that the Planet of the Moon being the loweſt doth moſt predominate over the compoſition of man, and therefore her continual increaſings and decreaſings do lead our heart, Luna rurſus naſcitur, & impletur, ſed impleta non permanet, ſed rurſus minuitur. If this cauſe hit the nail right we ſhould ebb ſometimes as well as flow in our wiſhes, which is not incident to our continual thirſtineſs. Rather, ſays p. 901a ſecond, ſuch things as we deſire, their ſubſtance doth not enter into our heart, but ſimulacra & umbra earum, their colours, and ſhadows, and a ſhadow or a fancy takes no room, the place is as empty for all them as ever it was before. A third makes this ingenuous obſervation, Nemo noſtrûm ſe eſſe unum cogitat; Every man reckons of himſelf to be more than one, rather to be a great Troop than a ſingle Creature: And becauſe he may be a Sire of many Generations, he wearies himſelf with wiſhing much, as if he would provide for a multitude that could not be numbred. But take theſe two Reaſons in a Theological way, the greater part of men glut themſelves with pleaſures that ſtink in Gods noſtrils; they creep into the advancements of honour by undeſerving means; they grow rich by deceit and oppreſſion, wherefore the Lord ſends a diſturbance upon their Spirit, that they take as little pleaſure in that they have, as in that they have not: They drink the waters of bitterneſs, therefore they ſhall thirſt the more and be tormented. But where there are moderate and lawful pleaſures, well merited honours, juſt and godly gain, I dare ſay no ſuch vertiginous vexation ſhall fall upon them. When God gives riches he gives quietneſs withal unto the heart; The bleſſing of the Lord maketh rich, and he doth add no ſorrows with it, Prov. x. 22. Beſides, ſince we refuſe the Lord for the chief and principal content, his curſe comes down upon all things elſe that they ſhall never content us. When Julian did attempt to build up the Temple of Jeruſalem again, as many ſtones as were laid in the day were thrown down by God's vengeance in the night. In the day time every man is building a Babel in his own heart, and laying ſtone upon ſtone; after he hath ſlept, and is awake again, his heart begins to meditate upon new crotchets and devices, he vilifies all that he did intend before, unleſs he can frame it better, and thus every day brings new ſorrows and imaginations to the Appetite.

The Prophet Hoſea doth inſinuate this ſimilitude, that the heart doth itch after this delight, and the other, but never reſolve it ſelf where it will ſtay: As ſome Youngſters love to court and wooe their Miſtris many years, but never to conſummate a Marriage. So the Prophet, Chap. ii. 7. She ſhall follow after her Lovers, but ſhe ſhall not overtake them. Alas, how can we overtake what we would have, when we ſet our ſelves no bounds, but run after every thing that is before us? It is like the Fable of the Hare and the Hedghog; the Hedghog challenged the Hare to run: And becauſe the Hare was far the ſwifter, a thouſand Hedghogs laid themſelves in ſeveral diſtances in the way, and when the Hare had out-run an hundred, there were nine hundred ſtill before it. So if our covetous affections do prick us on to over-take every Hedghog that runs before, we ſhall put our ſelves to an endleſs labour, and weary our ſouls with vanity. Set your ſelf this ſhort Stage which I ſhall tell you, and it is quickly run. Whatſoever the Lord gives me in this life my heart ſhall be contented if he will give me himſelf. I ſhall be ſatisfied with his goodneſs as out of a River; and he that drinketh of thoſe waters which Chriſt ſhall give him, He ſhall never thirſt. AMEN.