The shaking of the olive-tree the remaining works of that incomparable prelate Joseph Hall D. D. late lord bishop of Norwich : with some specialties of divine providence in his life, noted by his own hand : together with his Hard measure, vvritten also by himself.

DIVINE LIGHT, AND REFLEXIONS. IN A SERMON Preacht to his MAJESTY at WHITE-HALL On Whitsunday. 1640.

By JOS. EXON.

1 John 1.5.

God is Light.

IF ye mark it, your very Calender, so as the wisdom of the Church hath contrived it, is a notable Catechism. And surely, if the plain man would but ply his Almanack well, that alone would teach him Gospell enough to show him the history of his Saviour; If one day teach another, all dayes would teach him; There should he see his blessed Saviours conception Annuntiated by the Angel. March 25. Fourty weekes after that he should see him born of the Virgin accordingly, at the feast of the Nativity; eight dayes after that circumcised, on New years day; then visited and adored by the Sages, in the Epi∣phanie; then presented into the Temple, on the day of Purificati∣on; then tempted and fasting fourty dayes, in Lent; He should

see him usher'd in by his fore-runner, the holy Baptist, six Moneths before his Nativity; attended by his twelve Apostles in their seve∣rall ranks, and Thomas the last, for his unbelief: And, at last, af∣ter infinite and beneficiall miracles, he should see him making his Maundy with his disciples on the Thursday, and crucified on Good-Friday; he should see that on Easter Morning, God the Fa∣ther raises up his Son Jesus from the dead (Act, 5.30.) On As∣cention day God the Son mounts up to Heaven in glory, Act. 1.9. On Whitsunday God the holy Ghost descends upon the Apostles. Act. 2.3.4. And his belief in all these summed up in the celebra∣tion of the blessed Trinity, the Sunday following.

I shall not over-labour to reduce the Text to the day? Fire and light have so near affinity that they are scarce ever separated; The same Spirit of God who appeared as this day in the shape of fierie tongues to the disciples may be now pleased by my tongue to mani∣fest himself to your souls in light: And as that fire was very light∣some, else it could not have been seen in the day-time; so may this exhibition of light be accompanied with a fire of holy zeal both in my tongue, and your hearts. In my last Sermon at the Court I gave you the Character of man, I shall now indeavour to give you some touches of the Character of God;

There is nothing in this world so much concerns a man as to settle his heart in a right apprehension of his God; which must be the ground of all his piety and devotion; without which all his pretenses of Religion are so nothing worth, as that in them, God is made our Idoll, and we the mis-worshippers of him; without which shortly, our whole life is mis-spent in error and ig∣norance, and ends in a miserable discomfort: Whence it is that this dear disciple makes it the summ of all the Apostolicall mission, which he had from his Lord and Saviour, to informe the World what to think of God; This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare to you, that God is light. Would ye know the message which the Apostles received from Christ; would ye know the message which they delivered from Christ to the World, it is in these three syllables of my Text. God is light.

It is not possible that our finite conceit should comprehend God essentially, as he is in himself; No motion of our weak humanity can thus reach his infiniteness; our ambition must be only to conceive

of him, according to those expressions which he hath made of him∣self; wherein it hath pleased his wisdom to condescend to our shallow capacity, by borrowing from those creatures which come nearest to his most pure, simple, spirituall nature; Amongst which none is more proper, or more frequent then this of Light; Not only therefore hath it pleased God to expresse those Heavenly spi∣rits of his by the title of Angeli lucis, Angels of Light; not only hath the Son of God, God and man justified himself Lux mundi, the Light of the World, but God absolutely, and indistinct••y in re∣spect of persons vouchsafeth to make himself known to us by this name, That God is Light: Hereupon it is, that even in this sense the children of God are called the Sons of Light; because he is Light, whose Sons they are; But that of the Athanasian Creed is most pregnant, that the eternal Son of God, God the Son, is God of God; Light of Light: Neither doth our Apostle here say, God is resembled by Light; But, as our Saviour said of God, God is a Spirit, so here, our Apostle, God is Light: How then is God Light? Far be it from us that according to the stupidity of the Manichees, we should take this literally of a sensible and materiall Light; that is but a creature, though indeed the first, and exceeding glorious, but yet a creature, and therefore infinitely below the purity and perfection of the Creator; but sure God would have us by this to be led to the conceit of the transcendent glory of his incompre∣hensible Deity; and would have us when we think of him to be put in mind of admiring an increated, immateriall, super-intelligible uprightnesse of a glory, so much above all spiritual natures, as the Light is above the bodily and visible; whereupon it is that when the spirit of God by his Apostle describes the habitation of God, he doth it in these termes that he dwells in a Light that none can approach unto; and when he describes the Heaven of the elect,* 1.1 he calls it, the inheritance of the Saints in Light; so as when that place of blisse, and the God whose presence makes it such, come into our thoughts,* 1.2 we must elevate our thoughts above this dark sphere of mortality; and represent unto our selves a glorious light∣somnesse, as much above this materiall Light, as Light is above Darknesse; abandoning that gloomie and base opacity of conceit, wherewith our earthly mindes are commonly wont to be over∣clouded; for surely it is easie and familiar to observe, that the

higher we go, the more Light we shall find; In the center of the Earth there is nothing but perfect darknesse; nearer the upper re∣gion of that great body where any overture is made; there is a kind of imperfect twilight; In this lower air there is a better Light, but mixed with foggs and Vapors, In the higher regions, there are lesse mists, and more clearnesse, yet not without some dimness of exhalations; In the starry Heavens, a purer Light, yet not without some eclipses; In the empyreall, nothing but pure and perfect Light; justly therefore are our hearts lift up with our eyes to a con∣templation of a Light above those Heavens more pure and excel∣lent then theirs. Away then with all dull and darksome imaginations when we addresse our selves to the throne of Grace; and let us adore an infinite Spirit dwelling in an unaccessible Light, atten∣ded with millions of Angels of Light, and glorified spirits of his Saints in a Light unspeakable and glorious; this shall be the first glimpse of our inlightned understanding when we would comforta∣bly appear before God; In which regard I fear many of us Christians are much defective in our holy devotions, speaking unto God, and thinking of him, sullenly and sadly, as shut up in some remote and unknown darknesse on the other side of the World, or at least without the lively apprehension of that wonderfull radi∣ance of glory wherewith he is invested; misconceiving herein of that Deity whom we implore; who hath revealed himself unto us by the name of Light.

And surely, as none but an Eagle can look upon the Light of the Sun; so none but the confirmed eyes of an illuminated Chri∣stian can behold God in this notion of his celestiall splendor; which we must so labour to attain unto, and settle in our minds, as that we should no more think of the blessed Deity without the con∣ceit of an infinite resplendence, then we can open our eyes at noon-day without an incurrence and admission of an outward Light.

But this, how ever requisite to be conceived, and done, is not the main drift of our Apostle; who goes not about here so much to make any description of God, or prescription of the wayes of our understanding, or representation of his glorious presence, as to lay the grounds of our holy disposition, and pure and Heavenly carriage before him: For so is the Light here affirmed of God, as

the darkness is disavowed of him; and both of them are men∣tioned with an intention of drawing in an exhortation to that purity which we should affect and the avoydance of all the state and works of spirituall darkness which we should abhorre. God then is Light, as in himself, so in relation to us; and this predication of Light serves to inferre our conformity to God in this behalf: It is not for us therefore to inquire so much into those absolute termes wherein God stands with himself, as what he is in pattern unto us: Thus is he Light, either qualita∣tively, or causatively;

The Light hath a quality (for it matters not to search into the essence of it, and indeed, it is more then we can do to find it out) of clearnesse, of purity: Of clearness for the use of mani∣festation; Of purity, and untaintedness in respect of any mixture of corruption; In both these is God Light. Causatively in that he is the Authour of all Light; communicating it to his Creatures in what kind soever; not without reference to the diffusive quality of Light in the illuminating of this vast body, and dila∣ting it self to all the World in an instant: In these three regards therefore is God Light here; 1. Of absolute clearness in his infinite knowledg and wisdom. 2. Of exact purity in the per∣fect rectitude of his will. 3. Of gracious diffusion, in the com∣municating of himself to his Creatures, and to us in speciall; so, as to inlighten us with competent knowledg in our understand∣ing, and sincere disposition of our will and affections; And be∣cause God is thus Light, all that will claim to partake of him, must be in their measure, clear in understanding, pure in will and affections, diffusive of their knowledg and graces to others.

These three qualities of clearness, purity, diffusion, together with three answerable reflections upon us shall be the matter of our following discourse, and challenge your best attention,

Those things which (whether in nature or art) are wont to pass for the carriages of Light have in them sometimes, at least in re∣spect of our sight, some kind of dimness and opacity. The can∣dle hath his snuffe, the fire his smoke, and blackness of indigestion, the Moon her spots, the very Sun it self, his Eclipses; Neither is it said that God is lightsome, but light it self in the abstract, then which nothing can be convinced more clear, and piercing; and

therefore it is purposely added for the further Emphasis, In him is no darkenesse; Oh the infinite clearnesse of the Divine knowledg, to which all things lye open, both past, present, and to come; which doth not only reach in one intuition to all the actions, moti∣ons, events of all Creatures that have been, are, shall be; but which is infinitely more then all these, extends to the full comprehension of himself, his whole Divine nature and essence; to which the World (though full of innumerable varieties) is lesse then nothing: The Sun is a goodly globe of Light; The visible World hath no∣thing so glorious, so searching; and yet there are many things lye hid within the bosome of the Earth and Sea which his eye never saw, never shall see; Neither can it ever see more then half the World at once; darkness the while enwraps the other; nor indeed of any much lesser (if round) body; And though it give light unto other Creatures, yet it gives not light to it self; like as our eye sees all o∣ther objects, but it self it cannot see. And though it enlighten this materiall Heaven both above and below it self, as also this lower Air and Earth, yet the Empyreal Heaven transcends the beames of it, and is filled with a more glorious illumination: But, God, the Light of whom we speak, who is the Maker of that Sun, sees the most hidden secrets of Earth and Hell; sees all that is done in Earth and Heaven at one view; sees his most glorious self; and by his presence makes Heaven. Most justly therefore is God Light, by an eminence.

Now the reflection of the first quality of Light upon us, must be our clear apprehension of God, the World, and our selves; and by how much more exact knowledg we shall attain unto of all these, by so much more do we conform our selves to that God who is Light: and by how much less we know them, so much more darkness there is in us, and so much less fellowship have we with God; If the eye have not an inward Light in it self, let the Sun shine never so bright upon it, it is nevertheless blind, What are we the better for that which is in God, if there be not an inward Light in our Souls to an∣swer and receive it? How should we love and adore God if we know him not? How shall we hate and combat the World, if we know it not? How shall we value and demean our selves, if we know not our selves? Surely the want of this Light of knowledg is the ground of all that miserable disorder which we see daily break

forth in the affections, in the carriages of men. I know the common word is, that we are fallen into a knowing age; such as wherein our speculative skill is wont to be upbraided to us, in a disgracefull comparison of our unanswerable practise; our forward young men out-run their years, & bragg that there is more weight in the down of their chins then in the gray beards of their aged Grandsires; Our artifi∣cers take upon them to hold argument with, and perhaps control their Teachers; neither is it any newes for the shop-board to contest with the schooles, every not Knight, or Rook only, but Pawn too, can give check to a Bishop; The Romish Church had lately her Shee-Preach∣ers, till Pope Urban gagg'd them; and our Gossips now at home, in stead of dresses, can tattle of mysteries, and censure the Pulpit in stead of neighbours: Light call you this? No these are fiery flashes of conceit, that glance through vain minds to no purpose, but idle ostentation, and satisfaction of wild humours, without stability, or any available efficacy to the soul: Alas we are wise in impertinen∣cies; ignorant in main truths; neither doth the knowledg of too many go any deeper then the verge of their brains, or the tip of their tongue: I fear true solid knowledg is not much less rare, then when our unlett'red Grand-fathers were wont to court God Almighty with false Latin in their devotions; For did the true Light shine in∣to the hearts of men in the knowledg of God, the World, them∣selves, how could they, how durst they live thus. Durst the leud tongues of men rend the holy name of God in peices with oaths and blasphemies, if they knew him to be so dreadfull, so just, as he hath revealed himself? Durst the cruell oppressors of the World grind faces, and cut throats, and shed blood like water, if they were perswaded that God is a sure revenger of their outrages? Durst the goatish adulterer, the swinish drunkard wallow in their beastly un∣cleannesse, if they knew their is a God to judge them, an Hell to fry in? Durst the rebellious seditionary lift up his hand against the Lords Anointed; and that under a colour of religion, if the fool had not said in his heart, There is no God? Could the covetous fool so admire and adore his red and white Earth? could the ambitious so dote upon a little vanishing honour, as to sacrifice his soul to it, if he knew the World? could the proud man be so besotted with self-love, as that he sees his God in his glass, if he knew himself? Surely then the true Light is as rare as it is precious; and it is as precious

as life it self; yea as life eternall; This is eternall life to know thee, and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ; What were the World without Light, and what the soul without the Light of knowledg? We condemne Malefactors to darkness, that is one great part of the horrour of their durance;* 1.3 and by how much more haynous their crime is, so much darker is their dungeon; Darkness of understand∣ing then is punishment enough alone; as it is also the entry into hell, which is described by blackness of darkness. None but savage Creatures delight in darkness; Man naturally abhorres it in all things; If our eyes be dim, we call for glasses, if our houses be dark, we make windows, if the evening grow dark we call for lights, and if those lights burn dim, we call for snuffers, and shall we avoid darkness in every thing, except our soules, which is our better, and more Divine part? Honourable, and beloved, as we love and tender those dear soules of ours, let us labour to furnish them with the Light of true and saving knowledg; What is this Gospell which shines thus daily and clearly in your faces, but the Vehiculum lucis the carri∣age of that heavenly Light to the World; Send forth thy Light and thy Truth, saith the Psalmist. Thy Word is Truth, saith our Savi∣our; that word of truth then is the body of that Light which God showes to men: Oh let it not shine upon us in vain; let us not trample upon the beams of it in our floore, as that foolish woman that St. Austin speaks of, did to those of the Sun, with a Calco Mani∣chorum Deum. But now, while God gives these happy opportunities, let us enlarge our hearts to receive it with all joy and thankfulnesse: And if Moses by conferring with God but 40 Dayes and Nights in the delivery of the law, had a glorious brightnesse in his face; Oh let us that more then fourty years have had conversation with God in his Gospell shine with the resplendent beames of heaven∣ly knowledg; And if the joyes of heaven are described by Light, surely the more lightsome our soules are here, the nearer they come to their blessednesse. Light is sown from the righteous, saith the Psalmist; Lo here is the seed-time of Light, above, is the har∣vest: If the Light of saving knowledg be sown in our hearts here, we shall be sure to reap the crop of heavenly glory hereafter. And this is the first quality of Light with the reflection of it upon us. The next followes which is purity.

Of all the visible Creatures that God hath made, none is so

pure and simple as the light; it discovers all the foulnesse of the most earthly recrements, it mixeth with none of them, neither is possibly capable of the least corruption; some of the best Inter∣preters therefore have taken this metaphor of Light to implie the purity and perfect goodness of God; In whom as there is an infi∣nite clearnesse of understanding, so also an infinite rectitude of will; in so much as his will is the rule of all right; neither doth he will ought because it is good, but therefore it is good because he wills it. Goodnesse hath no lesse brightnesse in it then truth, and wickedness as it is never without errour, so it is no lesse dark then it; Justly therefore is God all light, in that he is all pure and good; and the reflection of this quality upon us must be our holiness; For this is the will of God even our sanctification; The more holy then we are, the more we conform to him that is Light; The way of the just is as the shining Light, that shineth more and more; as contrarily; sins are the works of darkness, the mover of them is the Prince of darknesse the agents of them are the Sons of darknesse, and their trade is walking in darknesse, (as it followes in my text) and the end of them is utter darkness. Whiles he sayes then, Be Holy as I am Holy, he doth as good as say, Be ye Light as I am Light; Ye were dark∣ness, but now (it is Gods own phrase) Lux estis, ye are Light in the Lord, saith St. Paul to his Ephesians; justly therefore doth it follow walk as children of the Light; In right wayes, with straight stepps: And surely if God be Light, and we darkness, what interest can we claim in him? For what communion is there betwixt Light and darkness. Oh the comfortable and happy condicion then of those that are in God, they are still in Light; Truly the light is sweet, saith wise Salo∣mon, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the Sun; As on the contrary it is a wofull and disconsolate estate to live in any sin; this is no other then to be dungeon'd up in a perpetuall darknesse; The Egyptians were even weary of themselves for a three dayes dark∣nesse; how irksome had it been to have lived alwayes so? I have read a book of one Haitonus a monk of the order of the Praemon∣stratenses, a Cozen, as he saies, of the then King of Armenia, written some 340 Years agoe, set forth by one Nic. Salcon and dedicated to Pope Clement the 5th. where with much confidence he affirmes that in the Country of Georgia there was a certain province called Ham∣••en, of three daies journey about, so palpably dark continually, as

that no man could see his hand in it; that the inhabitants of the borders of it might hear many times in the woods, the noise of men crying, of horses neighing, of cocks crowing, but no man durst venture to go unto it, because he could not find the way out again; which he saies with much earnestnesse that he saw; Neque Credi∣dissem, saith he, nisi propriis oculis perspexissem; reporting it to have been a miraculous judgment upon some Persian persecutors of the Christians in that place: I list not to inquire into the likelyhood of the story; it might be some temporary judgment (as that was upon Egypt for the time) and now long since vanished; but imagine ye the truth of that which he dares with so deep protestations avow; and conceive the condicion of all wilfull sinners; who live shut up in a region of thick darkness; whence they can no more get out, then they can be capable of any comfort within; and when they have wearied themselves in those wretched mazes of vanity, they are shut up in the utter darknesse of the dreadfull pit of eternall Death. Oh then that willing sinners, be they never so gay and glorious, could but apprehend the misery and horrour of their own estate in this behalf, certainly it were enough to make them either maz'd, or penitent. For what is darknesse but a privation of Light? Now God is Light; And sin deprives us of Gods presence and shuts us out from the face of God; and if in his presence be the fulnesse of joy, then in his absence is the fulnesse of sorrow, and torment; neither have the Schools determined amiss, that the pain of loss is more horrible then the pain of sense; so as that dark∣nesse which our sin causeth in the alienation, and absence of the Lighr of Gods countenance is without his great mercy, the begin∣ning of an utter exclusion from the beatificall face of God, and of that utter darknesse of hell. For us, as we professe our selves the Children of the Light so let us walk in the Light: And what Light is that? Thy law is a Light to my feet, saith holy David; Lo this is the Light wherein we must walk; that so walking in the Light of his law, we may happily enjoy the light of his counte∣nance,* 1.4 and may come at the last to the light of his glory; so, in his Light we shall see Light.

This, of the second quality of the Light, and the reflection of it; The third and last followes. It is this which Learned Estius thinks to be mainly driven at in this place, That God is therefore Light, be∣cause

he is the Fountain and cause of Light to all Creatures that do enjoy it; and indeed what Light is there which is not from him; Naturall, Morall, Divine? For the naturall; It was he that said, Fiat Lux; Let there be Light; in the first day; It was he that recol∣lected that diffused Light into the body of the Sun in the fourth day; that goodly Globe of Light receives from him those beames of Light which it communicates to the Moon, Stars, Skie, and this other inferiour World. What Light of intellectuall or morall vertue ever shined in the heart of any man, but from him?

The Spirit of man is the Candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly.* 1.5 What Light of Divine knowledg or holinesse e∣ver brake forth upon any Saint or Angel, but from his blessed irrada∣tion, and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Justly therefore is he Pater luminum the Father of Lights; and as the child oft-times resembles the Father, this qua∣lity the Light hath from God, that it is wondrously diffusive of it self; reaching forth it self largely in very quick and instantanie motions to all those things which are capable of it; Other Crea∣tures, though beneficiall, yet impart themselves more sparingly un∣to us: The Earth yields us fruit, but it is onely perhaps once a year, and that not without much cost and angariation, requiring both our labour, and patience; The Clouds do sometimes drop fat∣nesse, but at great uncertainties; other whiles they pour down fa∣mine upon our heads; the Sea yields us commodities both of pas∣sage and sustenance, but not without inconstancy and delaies and oft-times takes more in an hour then it gives in an age; his favours are locall, his threats universall; But the Light is bountifull in be∣stowing it self freely with a clear, safe, unlimited largesse upon all Creatures at once, indifferently, incessantly, beneficially.

The reflection of this quality upon us should be our diffusivenesse; That we should so be lights, as that we should give light; so have light in our selves, that we should give it unto others. The Pro∣phet Daniel, who was a great Philosopher & Astronomer in his time, tells us of a double shining, or light, The one as of the Firmament, the other as of the Stars; The one a generall Light dispersed through the whole or body of the Skie, the other a particular one, compacted into the bodies of those starry globes which are wont to be called the more solid piece of their Orbe; Thus it is in the A∣nalogy of the spirituall light There is a generall Light common to

Gods Children; whereof our Saviour; Let your Light shine so before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in Heaven: Thus the great Doctour of the Gentiles exhorts his Philipi∣ans,* 1.6 that they be blameless and harmelesse, the Sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation, among whom (saith he) ye shine as lights in the world.

There is a particular light propper to severall vocations especially those that are publick and encharged with the care of others, whe∣ther spirituall, or civill.

Of the one you know what our Saviour said in the Mount, Vos estis lux mundi; of the other you know what God said in Davids case, I have ordained a Lampe for mine Anointed:* 1.7 that is a glorious successour.

To begin with the latter; Princes and Governours are and must be Lights by an eminence; for God is Light, and he hath called them Elohim:* 1.8 Gods: So as they must imitate God in shining to the World; sending forth the rayes both of good example; and of Justice and Judgment into the eyes of their People: An ordinary Star-light is not enough for them, they are the Vice-gerents of him who is Sol j••stitiae,* 1.9 the Sun of Righteousnesse; they must fill the world therefore with their glorious beams, and give so much more light, as their Orbe is higher, and their Globe more capacious: And blessed be God, what beams of light our Sun sends forth of Temperance, Cha∣stity, Piety, Mercy and Justice, let Malice it self say, let even Re∣bellion it self witness.

Now if he be the Sun, you great ones are our Stars, as you receive your Light from him, the light of your honour, and good example, so whilst you keep the one of them to your selves; so you must com∣municate the other to your inferiours. And if in presence his light dim, or extinguish yours, yet the World affords you darkness enough abroad to shine in: Oh shine you clearly in the dark night of this e∣vill World, that the beholders may see and magnify your brightness, and may say of one; there is a Mars of truly heroical courage, there is the Mercury of sound wisdom and learning, there the Jupiter of exemplary honour and magnificence, there the Phosphorus of Piety, and ante-lucan devotion; and may be accordingly sensible of bene∣ficiall influences to your Country: Far be it from any of you to be a fatall Sirius or Dog-star, which when he rises yields perhaps a little needless light, but withall burns up the Earth, and inflames the ayr,

puts the World in a miserable combustion; Far be it from you to be dismall and direfull comets, that portend nothing but horrour and death to the earth; or, if your light be of a lower accension; far, far be it from you to be any of those (ignes fatui) that do at once af∣fright and seduce the poor travailer, and carry him by leud guidance into a ditch; Such, such, alas there are: give me leave to complain (where can I do it better then at a Court, the professed Academy of honour?) That a strange kind of loose debauchednesse hath posses∣sed too many of the young Gallants of our time (I fear I may take in both sexes) with whom modesty, civility, temperance, sobriety are quite out of fashion, as if they had been sutes of their Grandsires wardrobe.

As for Piety and Godliness, they are so laid by, as if they were the cast rags of a despised frippery. He is no brave Spirit with too many that bids not defiance to good orders, that revells not without care, spends not withour measure, talks not without grace, lives not without God. Wo is me, is this the fruit of so long and clear a Light of the Gospel? Is this to have fellowship with the Divine Light? Now the God of Heaven be mercifull to that Wild and A∣theous licenciousnes, wherewith the World is so miserably over-run: and strike our hearts with a true sence of our grievous provocations of his name; that our serious humiliations, may fore-lay his too-well-deserved judgments: In the mean time, if there should be any one such amongst you that hear me this Day (as commonly they will be sure to be farthest off from good counsell) let Wise Solomon School him for me, Rejoyce O Young man in thy youth, and let thy heart chear thee up in the dayes of thy Youth, and walk in the wayes of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes, but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee to judgment: And let me add this, if he be not for the light, he shall be for the fire; for the same Spirit of God, which tells him here that God is Light, tells him elsewhere (which he shall once feel, though he will not believe) that our God is a consuming fire.

Now in the second place for us of the holy Tribe, we are stars too: And if not Stars, Revel. 1.16, Yet Candles, Matth. 5.13. However; Lights we must be, and that both in Life, and Doctrine: If the first, there are stars of severall magnitudes, some goodly and great ones that move in Orbes of their own; others small, and scarce vi∣sible in the Galaxy of the Church, but all are Stars, and no Star is

without some light: If but the Second; there are large Tapers, and Rush-candles, one gives a greater light then the other, but all give some: Never let them go for either Stars, or Candles that neither have nor give light: And wo is me, if the Light that is in us be darkness, how great, how dangerous is that darknesse. Blessed be God, we have a learned, able, and flourishing Clergy, as ever this Church had, or (I think I may boldly say) any other since the Gos∣pel look't forth into the World; there have not been clearer Lamps in Gods Sanctuary since their first lighting then our dayes have seen; yet why should we stick to confesse that which can neither be con∣cealed, nor denyed, that there are some amongst so many whose, wicke is too much for their Oyle, yea rather whose snuffe is more then their Light; I mean, whose offensive lives shame their holy Doctrines, and reproach the Glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; these as we lament, so we desire to have top't by just censures; but hear you, my worthy brethren, do not you, where you see a thiefe in the Candle call presently for an extinguisher: for personal faults do not you condemn an holy calling: Oh be you wisely charitable, and let us be exemplarily holy.

Lastly, for you Christian hearers; think not that this Light may be put off to publick and eminent persons only: Each of you must shine too, at the least tanquam faces, Philip. 2. If they be as Cities up-an Hill the meanest of you must be as Cottages in a Vally though not high-built, yet wind-tight, and water tight. If they be Beacons, you must be Lanterns; every one must both have a light of his own, and impart it to others. It is not a charge appropriated to publick Teachers that the Apostle gives to his Hebrewes, Exhort one another dayly while it is called to day, least any of you be hardened through the de∣ceitfulness of sin.* 1.10 Even the privatest person may shine forth in good counsell: he that is most obscure, may, and must do good works in his place, and improve his graces to others good: These, these, my beloved, are the light which we must both have and give; not to have, were to have no fellowship with God; to have and not to give it were to ingrosse, and monopolize grace which God cannot a∣bide: Hath any of you Knowledge? Let him communicate it, and light others Candle at his. Hath any man worldly riches, let him not be Condus but Promus, to do good, and distribute forget not; Hath any man Zeal? Zeal, I say, not fury, not frenzy; let him

not glow only but shine; let him say with Jehu, Come see my Zeal for the Lord: Hath any man true piety and devotion; let him, like a flaming brand enkindle the next; thus, thus shall we approve our selves the Sons of that infinite and communicative Light; thus shall we so have fellowship with the God, who is Light; that shining like him, and from him here in Grace, we may shine with him here∣after, above, in everlasting glory; which the same God grant to us for the sake of the Son of his love, Jesus Christ the righteous to whom with thee, O God the Father, and thy blessed Spirit, one in∣finite and incomprehensible Lord, be given all praise, honour and glo∣ry now and for ever. Amen.

Notes

• * 1.1

  1 Tim. 6.16.
• * 1.2

  Coloss. 1.12.
• * 1.3

  Jo. 17.••.
• * 1.4

  Ps. 36.10.
• * 1.5

  Prov. 20.27.
• * 1.6

  Philip. 2.15.
• * 1.7

  Ps. 132.17.
• * 1.8

  Exod. 22.28.
• * 1.9

  Malac. 4.2.
• * 1.10

  Heb. 3.13.