Antiquitates christianæ, or, The history of the life and death of the holy Jesus as also the lives acts and martyrdoms of his Apostles : in two parts.

THE LIFE Of our Blessed Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST. (Book 1)

[illustration]

The Evangelical Prophet

Behold a Virgin shall conceive & beare a son and shall call his name Immanuel Isa 7 14. Mat 1 22 23

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The Annunciation.

S. LUKE. 1. 28

Haile, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee; Blessed art thou among women.

SECT. I. The History of the Conception of JESVS.

1. WHen the fulness of time was come, after the frequent repetition of Promi∣ses, the expectation of the Jewish Nation, the longings and tedious wait∣ings of all holy persons, the departure of the Scepter from Judah, and the Law-giver from between his feet; when the number of Daniel's Years was accomplished, and the Egyptian and Syrian Kingdoms had their period; God ha∣ving great compassion towards mankind, remembring his Promises and our great Ne∣cessities, sent his Son into the world to take upon him our Nature, and all that guilt of Sin which stuck close to our Nature, and all that Punishment which was consequent to our Sin: which came to pass after this manner.

2. In the days of Herod the King, the Angel Gabriel was sent from God to a City of Gali∣lce named Nazareth, to a holy Maid called Mary, espoused to Joseph, and found her in a capacity and excellent disposition to receive the greatest Honour that ever was done to the daughters of men. Her imployment was holy and pious, her person young, her years florid and springing, her Body chaste, her Mind humble, and a rare repository of divine Graces. She was full of grace and excellencies. And God poured upon her a full

measure of Honour, in making her the Mother of the 〈◊〉〈◊〉. For the Angel came to her and said, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 thou that art highly 〈◊〉〈◊〉, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women.

3. We cannot but imagine the great mixture of innocent disturbances and holy pas∣sions that in the first address of the Angel did rather discompose her settledness, and in∣terrupt the silence of her spirits, than dispossess her dominion which she ever kept over those subjects, which never had been taught to rebel beyond the mere possibilities of natural imperfection. But if the Angel appeared in the shape of a Man, it was an un∣usual arrest to the Blessed Virgin, who was accustomed to retirements and solitariness, and had not known an experience of admitting a comely person, but a stranger, to her closet and privacies. But if the Heavenly Messenger did retain a Diviner form, more symbolical to Angelical nature, and more proportionable to his glorious Message, al∣though her daily imployment was a conversation with Angels, who in their daily mi∣nistring to the Saints did behold her chaste conversation coupled with 〈◊〉〈◊〉, yet they used not any affrighting glories in the offices of their daily attendances, but were seen only by spiritual discernings. However so it happened, that when she saw him she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of Salutation this should be.

4. But the Angel, who came with designs of honour and comfort to her, not willing that the inequality and glory of the Messenger should, like too glorious a light to a weaker eye, rather confound the Faculty than enlighten the Organ, did, before her thoughts could find a tongue, invite her to a more familiar confidence than possibly a tender Virgin (though of the greatest serenity and composure) could have put on in the presence of such a Beauty and such a Holiness. And the Angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call his name JESUS.

5. The Holy Virgin knew her self a person very unlikely to be a Mother: For al∣though the desires of becoming a Mother to the MESSIAS were great in every of the Daughters of Jacob, and about that time the expectation of his Revelation was high and pregnant, and therefore she was espoused to an honest and a just person of her kin∣dred and family, and so might not despair to become a Mother; yet she was a person of a rare Sanctity and so mortified a spirit, that for all this Desponsation of her, according to the desire of her Parents, and the custom of the Nation, she had not set one step to∣ward the consummation of her Marriage, so much as in thought; and possibly had set her self back from it by a vow of Chastity and holy Coelibate. For Mary said unto the Angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

6. But the Angel, who was a person of that nature which knows no conjunctions but those of love and duty, knew that the Piety of her Soul and the Religion of her chaste purposes was a great imitator of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Purity, and therefore perceived where the Philosophy of her question did consist; and being taught of God, declared, that the manner should be as miraculous as the Message it self was glorious. For the Angel told her, that this should not be done by any way which our sin and the shame of Adam had unhallowed, by turning Nature into a blush, and forcing her to a retirement from a publick attesting the means of her own preservation; but the whole matter was from God, and so should the manner be: For the Angel said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and the power of the Highest shall over shadow thee: therefore also that Holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

7. When the Blessed Virgin was so ascertain'd that she should be a Mother * 1.1 and a Maid, and that two Glories, like the two Luminaries of Heaven, should meet in her, that she might in such a way become the Mother of her Lord, that she might with better advantages be his Servant; then all her hopes and all her desires received such satisfaction, and filled all the corners of her Heart so much, as indeed it was fain to make room for its reception. But she to whom the greatest things of Religion and the transportations of Devotion were made familiar by the assiduity and piety of her daily practices, however she was full of joy, yet she was carried like a full vessel, without the violent tossings of a tempestuous passion, or the wrecks of a stormy imagination: And as the power of the Holy Ghost did descend upon her like rain into a fleece of wool, without any obstre∣perous noises or violences to nature, but only the extraordinariness of an exal∣tation: so her spirit received it with the gentleness and tranquillity fitted for the entertainment of the spirit of love, and a quietness symbolical to the holy Guest of her spotless womb, the Lamb of God; for she meekly replied, Behold the

handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according unto thy word. And the Angel departed from her, having done his message. And at the same time the holy Spirit of God did make her to conceive in her womb the immaculate Son of God, the Saviour of the World.

Ad SECT. I. Considerations upon the Annunciation of the Blessed MARY, and the Conception of the Holy JESVS.

1. THat which shines brightest presents it self first to the eye; and the devout Soul in the chain of excellent and precious things which are represented in the coun∣sel,* 1.2 design and first beginnings of the work of our Redemption, hath not 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to at∣tend the twinkling of the lesser Stars, till it hath stood and admired the glory and emi∣nencies of the Divine Love, manifested in the Incarnation of the Word eternal. God had no necessity in order to the conservation or the heightning his own Felicity, but out of mere and perfect charity and the bowels of compassion sent into the world his only Son for remedy to humane miseries, to ennoble our Nature by an union with Di∣vinity, to sanctifie it with his Justice, to inrich it with his Grace, to instruct it with his Doctrine, to fortifie it with his Example, to rescue it from servitude, to assert it into the* 1.3 liberty of the sons of God, and at last to make it partaker of a beatifical Resurrection.

2. God, who in the infinite treasures of his wisdom and providence could have found out many other ways for our Redemption than the Incarnation of his eternal Son, was pleased to chuse this, not only that the Remedy by Man might have proportion to the causes of our Ruine, whose introduction and intromission was by the prevarication of Man; but also that we might with freer dispensation receive the influences of a Savi∣our with whom we communicate in Nature: although Abana and Pharpar, Rivers of Damascus, were of greater name and current; yet they were not so salutary as the wa∣ters of Jordan to cure Naaman's Leprosie. And if God had made the remedy of humane nature to have come all the way clothed in prodigy, and every instant of its execution had been as terrible, affrighting, and as full of Majesty as the apparitions upon Mount Sinai; yet it had not been so useful and complying to humane necessities, as was the descent of God to the susception of Humane Nature, whereby (as in all Medicaments) the cure is best wrought by those instruments which have the fewest dissonancies to our temper, and are the nearest to our constitution. For thus the Saviour of the world be∣came humane, alluring, full of invitation and the sweetnesses of love, exemplary, humble and medicinal.

3. And if we consider the reasonableness of the thing, what can be given more ex∣cellent for the Redemption of Man, than the Bloud of the Son of God? And what can more ennoble our Nature, than that by the means of his holy Humanity it was taken up into the * 1.4 Cabinet of the mysterious Trinity? What better Advocate could we have for us, than he that is appointed to be our Judge? And what greater hopes of Recon∣ciliation can be imagined, than that God, in whose power it is to give an absolute Pardon, hath taken a new Nature, entertained an Office, and undergone a life of Po∣verty, with a purpose to procure our Pardon? For now, though as the righteous Judge he will judge the Nations righteously; yet by the susception of our Nature, and its ap∣pendant crimes, he is become a party: and having obliged himself as Man, as he is* 1.5 God he will satisfie, by putting the value of an infinite Merit to the actions and suffer∣ings of his Humanity. And if he had not been God, he could not have given us reme∣dy; if he had not been Man, we should have wanted the excellency of Example.

4. And till now Humane nature was less than that of Angels; but by the Incarnati∣on of the Word was to be exalted above the Cherubims: yet the * 1.6 Archangel Gabriel being dispatched in embassie, to represent the joy and exaltation of his inferiour, in∣stantly trims his wings with love and obedience, and hastens with this Narrative to the Holy Virgin. And if we should reduce our prayers to action, and do God's Will on earth as the Angels in Heaven do it, we should promptly 〈◊〉〈◊〉 every part of the Divine Will, though it were to be instrumental to the exaltation of a Brother above our selves; knowing no end but conformity to the Divine Will, and making simplici∣ty of intention to be the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and exterior borders of our garments.

5. When the eternal God meant to stoop so low as to be fixt to our centre, he chose for his Mother a Holy person and a Maid, but yet 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to a Just man, that he might not only be secure in the Innocency, but also provided sor in the Reputation of his holy Mother: teaching us, That we must not only satisfie our selves in the purity of our purposes and hearty Innocence, but that we must provide also things honest in the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of all men, being free from the suspicion and semblances of evil; so making provision for private Innocence and publick Honesty; it being necessary in order to Charity and edification of our Brethren, that we hold forth no impure flames or smoaking fire∣brands, but pure and trimmed lamps, in the eyes of all the world.

6. And yet her Marriage was more mysterious: for as, besides the Miracle, it was an eternal honour and advancement to the glory of Virginity, that he chose a Virgin for his Mother; so it was in that manner 〈◊〉〈◊〉, that the Virgin was betrothed, lest honourable Marriage might be disreputed and seem inglorious by a positive rejecti∣on from any participation of the honour. Divers of the old Doctors, from the autho∣rity* 1.7 of 〈◊〉〈◊〉, add another reason, saying, That the Blessed Jesus was therefore born of a woman betrothed, and under the pretence of Marriage, that the Devil, who knew the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 was to be born of a Virgin, might not expect him there, but so be ignorant of the person, till God had serv'd many ends of Providence upon him.

7. The Angel in his address needed not to go in inquisition after a wandring fire, but knew she was a Star fixt in her own Orb: he found her at home; and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 that also might be too large a Circuit, she was yet confined to a more intimate retirement, she was in her Oratory private and devout. There are some* 1.8 Curiosities so bold and de∣terminate as to tell the very matter of her Prayer, and that she was praying for the Salvation of all the World, and the Revelation of the 〈◊〉〈◊〉, desiring she might be so happy as to kiss the feet of her who should have the glory to be his Mother. We have no security of the particular: but there is no piety so diffident as to require a sign to create a belief that her imployment at the instant was holy and religious; but in that disposition she received a grace which the greatest Queens would have purchased with the quitting of their Diadems, and hath consigned an excellent Document to all wo∣men, that they accustom themselves often to those Retirements, where none but God and his Angels can have admittance. For the Holy Jesus can come to them too, and dwell with them, hallowing their Souls, and consigning their bodies to a participati∣on of all his glories. But recollecting of all our scattered thoughts and exteriour extra∣vagances, and a receding from the inconveniences of a too free conversation, is the best circumstance to dispose us to a heavenly visitation.

8. The holy Virgin, when she saw an Angel, and heard a testimony from Heaven of her Grace and Piety, was troubled within her self at the Salutation, and the man∣ner of it. For she had learn'd, that the affluence of Divine comforts and prosperous successes should not exempt us from fear, but make it the more prudent and wary, lest it intangle us in a vanity of spirit: God having ordered, that our spirits should be af∣fected with dispositions in some degrees contrary to exteriour events, that we be fear∣ful in the affluence of prosperous things, and joyful in adversity; as knowing that this may produce benefit and advantage; and the changes that are consequent to the other are sometimes full of mischiefs, but always of danger. But her Silence and Fear were her Guardians; that, to prevent excrescencies of Joy, this, of vainer complacency.

9. And it is not altogether inconsiderable to observe, that the holy Virgin came to a great perfection and state of Piety by a few, and those modest and even, exercises and external actions. S. Paul travelled over the World, preached to the Gentiles, disputed against the Jews, confounded Hereticks, writ excellently-learned Letters, suffered dangers, injuries, affronts, and persecutions to the height of wonder, and by these vio∣lences of life, action and patience, obtained the Crown of an excellent Religion and De∣votion. But the holy Virgin, although she was ingaged sometimes in an active life, and in the exercise of an ordinary and small oeconomy and government, or ministeries of a Family, yet she arrived to her Perfections by the means of a quiet and silent Piety, the internal actions of Love, Devotion and Contemplation: and instructs us, that not on∣ly those who have opportunity and powers of a magnificent Religion, or a pompous Charity, or miraculous Conversion of Souls, or assiduous and effectual Preachings, or exteriour demonstrations of corporal Mercy, shall have the greatest crowns, and the ad∣dition of degrees and accidental rewards; but the silent affections, the splendors of an in∣ternal Devotion, the unions of Love, Humility and Obedience, the daily offices of Pray∣er and Praises sung to God, the acts of Faith and Fear, of Patience and Meekness, of Hope and Reverence, Repentance and Charity, and those Graces which walk in a

veil and silence, make great ascents to God, and as sure progress to favour and a Crown, as the more ostentous and laborious exercises of a more solemn Religion. No 〈◊〉〈◊〉 needs to complain of want of power or opportunities for Religious perfections: a devout woman in her Closet, praying with much zeal and affections for the conversi∣on of Souls, is in the same order to a shining like the stars in glory, as he who by excel∣lent discourses puts it into a more forward disposition to be actually performed. And possibly her Prayers obtained energy and force to my Sermon, and made the ground fruitful, and the seed spring up to life eternal. Many times God is present in the still voice and private retirements of a quiet Religion, and the constant spiritualities of an ordinary life; when the loud and impetuous winds, and the shining fires of more labo∣rious and expensive actions are profitable to others only, like a tree of Balsam, distilling precious liquor for others, not for its own use.

The PRAYER.

O Eternal and Almighty God, who didst send thy holy Angel in embassy to the Blessed Vir∣gin-Mother of our Lord, to manifest the actuating 〈◊〉〈◊〉 eternal Purpose of the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of Mankind by the Incarnation of thine eternal Son; put me, by the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of thy Divine Grace, into such holy dispositions, that I may never impede the event and effect of those mercies which in the counsels of thy Predestination thou didst design for me. Give me a promptness to obey thee to the degree and semblance of Angelical alacrity; give me holy Puri∣ty and Piety, Prudence and Modesty, like those Excellencies which thou didst create in the ever-blessed Virgin, the Mother of God: grant that my imployment be always holy, unmixt with worldly affections, and, as much as my condition of life will bear, retired from secular interests and disturbances; that I may converse with Angels, entertain the Holy JESUS, conceive him in my Soul, nourish him with the expresses of most innocent and holy affections, and bring him forth and publish him in a life of Piety and Obedience, that he may dwell in me for ever, and I may for ever dwell with him in the house of eternal pleasures and glories world without end.

Amen.

SECT. II. The Bearing of JESUS in the Womb of the Blessed Virgin.

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MARY visiting ELIZABETH

S. LUKE. 1. 43.

And whence is this to me that y^e Mo∣ther of my LORD should come to me.

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Josephs Dreame.

S MAT: 1. 20.

Joseph, thou son of David, Feare not to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 unto thee Mar•••• thy wife; for that 〈◊〉〈◊〉 is conceived in her is of the Holy 〈◊〉〈◊〉

1. ALthough the Blessed Virgin had a faith as prompt and ready as her Body was chast and her Soul pure; yet God, who uses to give full measure, shaken to∣gether and running over, did by way of confirmation and fixing the confi∣dence of her assent give an instance of his Omnipotency in the very particular of an ex∣traordinary Conception: For the Angel said, Behold thy Cousin Elizabeth hath also con∣ceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month with her that was called barren: For with God nothing shall be impossible. A less argument would have satisfied the necessity of a Faith which had no scruple; and a greater would not have done it in the incredu∣lity of an ungentle and pertinacious spirit. But the Holy Maid had complacency enough in the Message, and holy desires about her to carry her understanding as far as her affections; even to the fruition of the Angel's Message; which is such a sublimity of Faith, that it is its utmost consummation, and shall be its Crown when our Faith is turned into Vision, our Hopes into actual Possessions, and our Grace into Glory.

2. And she, who was now full of God, bearing God in her Virgin-Womb, and the Holy Spirit in her Heart, who had also over-shadowed her, enabling her to a super∣natural and miraculous Conception, arose with haste and gladness, to communicate that joy which was designed for all the World; and she found no breast to pour forth the first emanations of her over-joyed heart so fit as her Cousin Elizabeth's, who had received testimony from God to have been righteous, walking in all the Commandments of the Lord blameless, who also had a special portion in this great honour; for she was de∣signed to be the Mother of the Baptist, who was sent as a fore-runner to prepare the ways of the Lord, and to make his paths straight. And Mary arose in those days, and went into the Hill-countrey with haste into a City of Judah.

3. Her Haste was in proportion to her Joy and desires, but yet went no greater pace than her Religion: for as in her journey she came near to Jerusalem, she turned in, that she might visit His Temple whose Temple she her self was now; and there, not

only to remember the pleasures of Religion, which she had felt in continual descents and showers falling on her pious heart for the space of eleven years attendance there in her Childhood, but also to pay the first-fruits of her Thanks and Joy, and to lay all her glory at his feet whose humble hand maid she was in the greatest honour of being his blessed Mother. Having worshipped, she went on her journey, and entred into the house of Zasharias, and saluted 〈◊〉〈◊〉.

4. It is not easiè to imagine what a collision of joys was at this blessed Meeting: two Mothers of two great Princes, the one the greatest that was born of woman, and the other was his Lord, and these made Mothers by two Miracles, met together with joy and mysteriousness; where the Mother of our Lord went to visit the Mother of his Servant, and the Holy Ghost made the meeting festival, and descended upon Elizabeth, and she prophesied. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 in Heaven was there more joy and ecstásie. The persons, who were Women, whose fancies and affections were not only hallowed, but made pregnant and big with Religion, meeting together to compare and unite their joys, and their Eucharist, and then made prophetical and inspired, must needs have discour∣sed like 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and the most ecstasied order of Intelligences; for all the faculties of Nature were turned into Grace, and expressed in their way the excellent Solemnity. For it came to pass when Elizabeth heard the Salutation of Mary, the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 leaped in her Womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost.

5. After they had both prophesied and sang their Hymns, and re-saluted each other with the religion of Saints and the joys of Angels, Mary abode with her cousin Elizabeth about three mouths, and then returned to her own house. Where when she appeared with her holy burthen to her Husband Joseph, and that he perceived her to be with child, and knew that he had never unsealed that holy fountain of virginal purity, he was trou∣bled. For although her deportment had been pious and chaste to a miracle, her car∣riage reserved, and so grave, that she drave away temptations and impure visits and all unclean purposes from the neighbourhood of her holy person: yet when he saw she was with child, and had not yet been taught a lesson higher than the principles of Na∣ture, he was minded to put her away, for he knew she was with child; but yet privily, because he was a good man, and knew her Piety to have been such that it had a most done violence to his sense, and made him disbelieve what was visible and notorious, and therefore he would do it privately. But while he thought on these things, the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a Dream, saying, Joseph thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy 〈◊〉〈◊〉, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the Angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his Wife.

Ad SECT. II. Considerations concerning the circumstances of the Interval between the Conception and Nativity.

1. WHen the Blessed Virgin was ascertained of the manner of her becoming a Mo∣ther, and that her tremblings were over upon the security she should pre∣serve her Virgin purity as a clean oblation to the honour of God, then she expressed her consent to the Angelical message, and instantly she conceived the Holy Jesus in her Womb, by the supernatural and divine influence of the Holy Ghost. For she was highly zealous to reconcile her being Mother to the 〈◊〉〈◊〉, with those Purities and holy Coelibate which she had designed to keep as advantages to the interests of Religi∣on, and his honour who chose her from all the daughters of Adam, to be instrumental of the restitution of grace and innocence to all her Father's family. And we shall re∣ceive benefit from so excellent example, if we be not so desirous of a Priviledge as of a Vertue, of Honour as of Piety: and as we submit to the weight and pressure of sad∣nesses and infelicities, that God's will may be accomplished; so we must be also ready to renounce an exteriour grace or favour, rather than it should not be consistent with exemplar and rare Piety.

2. When the Son of God was incarnate in the Womb of his Virgin-Mother, the Holy Maid arose; and though she was superexalted by an honour greater than the world yet ever saw, she still dwelt upon the foundation of Humility; and to make that vertue more signal and eminent, she arose and went hastily to visit her Cousin Eli∣zabeth, who also had conceived a son in her old age: for so we all should be curious and watchful against vanities and transportations, when we are advanced to the gaye∣ties of prosperous accidents, and in the greatest priviledges descend to the lowest, to exercise a greater measure of Vertue against the danger of those tentations which are planted against our heart to ruine our hopes and glories.

3. But the Joys that the Virgin-Mother had were such as concerned all the world, and that part of them which was her peculiar she would not conceal from persons apt to their entertainment, but go to publish God's mercy toward her to another holy person, that they might joyn in the praises of God; as knowing, that though it may be conve∣nient to represent our personal necessities in private, yet God's gracious returns and the blessings he makes to descend on us are more fit, when there is no personal danger col∣laterally appendent, to be published in the Communion of Saints; that the Hopes of others may receive increase, that their Faith may have confirmation, that their Cha∣rity and Eucharist may grow up to become excellent and great, and the praises of God may be sung aloud, till the sound strike at Heaven, and joyn with the Hallelujahs which the Morning-stars in their Orbs pay to their great Creator.

4. When the Holy Virgin had begun her journey, she made haste over the Moun∣tains, that she might not only satisfie the desires of her joy by a speedy gratulation, but lest she should be too long abroad under the dispersion and discomposing of her retire∣ments: And therefore she hastens to an inclosure, to her Cousin's house, as knowing that all vertuous women, like Tortoises, carry their house on their heads, and their Chappel in their heart, and their danger in their eye, and their Souls in their hands, and God in all their actions. And indeed her very little burthen which she bare hin∣dred her not but she might make haste enough; and as her spirit was full of chearful∣ness and alacrity, so even her body was made aiery and vegete: for there was no Sin in her burthen to fill it with natural inconveniences; and there is this excellency in all spiritual things, that they do no disadvantage to our persons, nor retard our just tempo∣ral interests. And the Religion by which we carry Christ within us is neither so peevish as to disturb our health, nor so sad as to discompose our just and modest chearfulness, nor so prodigal as to force us to needs and ignoble trades; but recreates our body by the medicine of holy Fastings and Temperance, fills us full of serenities and complacencies by the sweetnesses of a holy Conscience and joys spiritual, promotes our temporal in∣terests by the gains and increases of the rewards of Charity, and by securing God's pro∣vidence over us while we are in the pursuit of the Heavenly Kingdom. And as in these dispositions she climb'd the mountains with much facility; so there is nothing in our whole life of difficulty so great but it may be managed by those assistances we receive from the Holiest Jesus, when we carry him about us; as the valleys are exalted, so the mountains are made plain before us.

5. When her Cousin Elizabeth saw the Mother of her Lord come to visit her, as the Lord himself descended to visit all the world in great humility, she was pleased and transported to the height of wonder and prophecy, and the Babe sprang in her womb and was sanctified, first doing his homage and adoration to his Lord that was in presence. And we also, although we can do nothing unless the Lord first prevent us with his gra∣cious visitation, yet if he first come unto us, and we accept and entertain him with the expresses and correspondencies of our duty, we shall receive the grace and honour of Sanctification. But if S. Elizabeth, who received testimony from God, that she walk∣ed in all the Commandments of the Lord blameless, was carried into ecstasie, wondring at the dignation and favour done to her by the Mother of her Lord; with what prepa∣rations and holy solemnities ought we to entertain his addresses to us by his Holy Sacra∣ment, by the immissions of his Spirit, by the assistances of his Graces, and all other his vouchsafings and descents into our hearts?

6. The Blessed Virgin hearing her Cousin full of spirit and prophecy, calling her blessed, and praising her Faith, and confirming her Joy, instantly sang her hymn to God, returning those praises which she received to him to whom they did appertain. For so we should worship God with all ourpraises, being willing upon no other condi∣tion to extend one hand to receive our own honour, but that with the other we might transmit it to God, that as God is honoured in all his Creatures, so he may be honour∣ed in us too; looking upon the Graces which God hath given us but as greater instru∣ments

and abilities to serve him, being none of ours, but talents which are intrusted into our Banks to be improved. But as a precious Pearl is orient and medicinal, be∣cause God hath placed those excellencies in it for ends of his own, but it self is dcad to all apprehensions of it, and knows no reflexions upon its own value; only God is mag∣nified in his work: so is every pious person precious and holy, but mortified to all vainer complacencies in those singularities and eminencies, which God placed there because he was so pleased, saying, there he would have a Temple built; because from thence he would take delight to receive glory and adoration.

7. After all these holy and festival joys which the two glad Mothers feasted them∣selves withal, a sad cloud did intervene and passed before the face of the Blessed Virgin. The just and righteous Joseph, her espoused Husband, perceiving her to be with child, was minded to put her away, as not knowing the Divinity of the fountain which watered the Virgin's sealed and hallowed Womb, and made it fruitful. But he purposed to do it privily, that he might preserve the reputation of his Spouse, whose Piety he knew was great, and was sorrowful it should now set in a sad night and be extinct. But it was an exemplar charity, and reads to us a rule for our deportment towards erring and lapsed persons, that we intreat them with meekness and pity and fear; not hastening their 〈◊〉〈◊〉, nor provoking their spirit, nor making their remedy desperate by using of them rudely, till there be no worse thing for them to fear if they should be dissolved into all licentiousness. For an open shame is commonly protested unto when it is reme∣diless,* 1.9 and the person either despairs and sinks under the burthen, or else grows impu∣dent and tramples upon it. But the gentleness of a modest and charitable remedy pre∣serves that which is Vertue's girdle, Fear and Blushing; and the beginning of a punish∣ment chides them into the horrour of remembrance and guilt, but preserves their meek∣ness and modesty, because they, not feeling the worst of evils, dare not venture upon the worst of sins.

8. But it seems the Blessed Virgin, having received this greatest honour, had not made it known to her Husband Joseph; and when she went to her Cousin Elizabeth, the Virgin was told of it by her Cousin before she spake of it her self, for her Cousin had it by revelation and the spirit of prophecy. And it is in some circumstances and from some persons more secure to conceal Visions, and those heavenly Gifts which create estimations among men, than to publish them, which may possibly minister to vanity; and those exteriour Graces may do God's work, though no observer note them but the person for whose sake they are sent: like rain falling in uninhabited Valleys, where no eye observes showers; yet the Valleys laugh and sing to God in their refresh∣ment without a witness. However, it is better to hear the report of our good things from the mouths of others than from our selves: and better yet, if the beauty of the Tabernacle be covered with skins, that none of our beauties be seen but by worship∣pers, that is, when the glory of God and the interests of Religion or Charity are con∣cerned in their publication. For so it happened to be in the case of the Blessed Virgin, as she related to her Cousin Elizabeth; and so it happened not to be, as she referred to her Husband Joseph.

9. The Holy Virgin could not but know that Joseph would be troubled with sorrow and insecure apprehensions concerning her being with child; but such was her Inno∣cence and her Confidence in God, that she held her peace, expecting which way God would provide a remedy to the inconvenience: for if we commit our selves to God in well doing as unto a faithful Creator, preserving the tranquillity of our spirits and the even∣ness of our temper in the assault of infamy and disreputation, God, who loves our In∣nocence, will be its Patron, and will assert it from the scandal, if it be expedient for us; if it be not, it is not fit we should desire it. But if the Holy Jesus did suffer his Mo∣ther to fall into misinterpretation and suspect, which could not but be a great affliction to her excellent spirit, rarely temper'd as an Eye, highly sensible of every ruder touch; we must not think it strange, if we be tried and pressed with a calamity and unhand∣some accidents: only remember, that God will find a remedy to the trouble, and will sanctifie the affliction, and secure the person, if we be innocent, as was the Holy Virgin.

10. But Joseph was not hasty in the execution of his purposes, nor of making his* 1.10 * 1.11 thoughts determinate, but stood long in deliberation, and longer before he acted it,* 1.12 because it was an invidious matter, and a rigour: He was first to have defam'd and accus'd her publickly, and, being convicted, by the Law she was to die, if he had gone the ordinary way; but he who was a just man, that is, according to the style of Scripture and other wise Writers, a good, a charitable man, found that it was more

agreeable to Justice, to treat an offending person with the easiest sentence, than to put things to extremity, and render the person desperate and without remedy, and provo∣ked by the suffering of the worst of what she could fear. No obligation to Justice does force a man to be cruel, or to use the sharpest sentence. A just man does Justice to every man and to every thing; and then, if he be also wise, he knows there is a debt of mercy and compassion due to the infirmities of a man's nature, and that debt is to be* 1.13 paid: and he that is cruel and ungentle to a sinning person, and does the worst thing to him, dies in his debt, and is unjust. Pity, and forbearance, and long-suffering, and fair interpretation, and excusing our brother, and taking things in the best sence, and passing the gentlest sentence, are as certainly our duty, and owing to every person that does offend and can repent, as calling men to account can be owing to the Law, and are first to be paid; and he that does not so is an unjust person: which because Jo∣seph was not, he did not call furiously for Justice, or pretend that God required it at his hands presently, to undo a suspected person; but waved the killing letter of the Law, and secured his own interest and his Justice too, by intending to dismiss her pri∣vately. But before the thing was irremediable, God ended his Question by a heaven∣ly demonstration, and sent an Angel to reveal to him the Innocence of his Spouse, and the Divinity of her Son; and that he was an immediate derivative from Heaven, and the Heir of all the World. And in all our doubts we shall have a resolution from Hea∣ven or some of its Ministers, if we have recourse thither for a Guide, and be not hasty in our discourses, or inconsiderate in our purposes, or rash in judgment. For God loves to give assistances to us, when we most fairly and prudently endeavour that Grace be not put to do all our work, but to facilitate our labour; not creating new faculties, but improving those of Nature. If we consider warily, God will guide us in the determi∣nation: But a hasty person out-runs his guide, prevaricates his rule, and very often en∣gages upon error.

The PRAYER.

O Holy Jesu, Son of the Eternal God, thy Glory is far above all Heavens, and yet thou didst descend to Earth, that thy Descent might be the more gracious, by how much thy Glories were admirable, and natural, and inseparable: I adore thy holy Humanity with humble veneration, and the thankful addresses of religious joy, because thou hast personally united Humane nature to the Eternal Word, carrying it above the seats of the highest Cheru∣bim. This great and glorious Mystery is the honour and glory of man: it was the expectation of our Fathers, who saw the mysteriousness of thy Incarnation at great and obscure distances: And blessed be thy Name, that thou hast caused me to be born after the fulfilling of thy Pro∣phecies, and the consummation and exhibition of so great a love, so great mysteriousness. Ho∣ly Jesu, though I admire and adore the immensity of thy love and condescension, who wert plea∣sed to undergo our burthens and infirmities for us; yet I abhor my self, and detest my own im∣purities, which were so great and contradictory to the excellency of God, that to destroy Sia, and save us, it became necessary that thou shouldest be sent into the World, to die our death for us, and to give us of thy Life.

2.

DEarest Jesu, thou didst not breath one sigh, nor shed one drop of bloud, nor weep one tear, nor suffer one stripe, nor preach one Sermon for the salvation of the Devils: and what sadness and shame is it then, that I should cause so many insufferable loads of sorrows to fall upon thy sacred head? Thou art wholly given for me, wholly spent upon my uses, and wholly for every one of the Elect. Thou in the beginning of the work of our Redemption didst suffer nine months imprisonment in the pure Womb of thy Holy Mother, to redeem me from the eternal servitude of Sin and its miserable consequents. Holy Jesu, let me be born anew, re∣ceive a new birth and a new life, imitating thy Graces and Excellencies by which thou art beloved of thy Father, and hast obtained for us a favour and atonement. Let thy holy will be done by me, let all thy will be wrought in me, let thy will be wrought concerning me; that I may do thy pleasure, and submit to the dispensation of thy Providence, and conform to thy holy will, and may for ever serve thee in the Communion of Saints, in the society of thy redeemed ones, now and in the glories of Eternity.

Amen.

SECT. III. The Nativity of our Blessed Saviour JESVS.

[illustration]

The Birth of LESUS.

And she brought forth her first borne son, and wrapped him in swadling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no roome sor them in the Inne. Luk. 2. 7.

[illustration]

The Virgin MOTHER

S LUKE. 11. 27

Blessed is the Womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast Sucked. v. 28. Yea, rather Blessed are they that heare the word of God and keep it.

1. THE Holy Maid longed to be a glad Mother, and she who carried a burthen whose proper commensuration is the days of Eternity counted the tedious minutes, expecting when the Sun of Righteousness should break forth from his bed, where nine months he hid himself as behind a fruitful cloud. About the same time God, who in his infinite wisdom does concentre and tie together in one end things of disparate and disproportionate natures, making things improbable to cooperate to what wonder or to what truth he pleases, brought the Holy Virgin to Bethlehem the City of David, to be taxed with her Husband Joseph, according to a Decree upon all the World issuing from Augustus Caesar. * 1.14 But this happen∣ed in this conjunction of time, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet Micah, And thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah art not the least among the Princes of Judah; for out of thee shall come a Governour that shall rule my people Israel. This rare act of Providence was highly remarkable, because this Taxing seems wholly to have been ordered by God to serve and minister ((a) 1.15 to the circumstances of this Birth. For this Taxing was not in order to Tribute: Herod was now King, and received all the Revenues of the Fiscus, and paid to Augustus an appointed Tribute after the manner of other Kings, Friends and Relatives of the Roman Empire: neither doth it appear that* 1.16 the Romans laid a new Tribute on the Jews before the Confiscation of the goods of Ar∣chelaus. Augustus therefore sending special Delegates to tax every City, made onely an inquest after the strength of the Roman Empire in men and moneys; and did him∣self* 1.17 no other advantage, but was directed by him who rules and turns the hearts of Princes, that he might, by verifying a Prophecy, signifie and publish the Divinity of the Mission and the Birth of Jesus.

2. She that had conceived by the operation of that Spirit who dwells within the ele∣ment of Love, was no ways impeded in her journey by the greatness of her burthen,

but arrived at Bethlehem in the throng of strangers, who had so filled up the places of hospitality and publick entertainment, that there was no room for Joseph and Mary in the Inne. But yet she felt that it was necessary to retire where she might softly lay her Burthen, who began now to call at the gates of his prison, and Nature was ready to let him forth. But she that was Mother to the King of all the creatures could find no other but a Stable,* 1.18 a Cave of a rock, whither she retired; where when it began to be with her after the manner of women, she humbly bowed her knees, in the po∣sture and guise of worshippers, and in the midst of glorious thoughts and highest spe∣culation* 1.19 brought forth her first born into the world.

3. As there was no sin in the Conception, so neither had she pains in the Production, as the Church from the days of Gregory Nazianzen untill now hath piously believed; though before his days there were some opinions to the contrary, but certainly neither so pious, nor so reasonable. For to her alone did not the punishment of Eve extend,* 1.20 that in sorrow she should bring forth: For where nothing of Sin was an ingredient, there Misery cannot cohabit. For though amongst the daughters of men many Conceptions are innocent and holy, being sanctified by the Word of God and Prayer, hallowed by Marriage, designed by Prudence, seasoned by Temperance, conducted by Religion towards a just, an hallowed and a holy end, and yet their Productions are in sorrow; yet this of the Blessed Virgin might be otherwise, because here Sin was no relative, and neither was in the principle nor the derivative, in the act nor in the habit, in the root nor in the branch: there was nothing in this but the sanctification of a Vir∣gin's Womb, and that could not be the parent of sorrow, especially that gate not ha∣ving been opened by which the Curse always entred. And as to conceive by the Holy Ghost was glorious, so to bring forth any of the fruits of the spirit is joyful, and full of felicities. And he that came from his grave fast tied with a stone and signature, and into the College of Apostles the doors being shut, and into the glories of his Father through the solid orbs of all the Firmament, came also (as the Church piously believes) into the World so, without doing violence to the virginal and pure body of his Mother, that he did also leave her Virginity entire, to be as a seal, that none might open the gate of that Sanctuary, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the Pro∣phet,* 1.21 This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the Lord God of Israel hath entred by it, therefore it shall be shut.

4. Although all the World were concerned in the Birth of this great Prince, yet I find no story of any one that ministred at it save onely Angels, who knew their duty to their Lord, and the great Interests of that person; whom, as soon as he was born, they presented to his Mother, who could not but receive him with a joy next to the rejoy∣cings of glory and beatifick vision, seeing him to be born her Son who was the Son of God, of greater beauty than the Sun, purer than Angels, more loving than the Sera∣phims, as dear as the eye and heart of God, where he was from eternity engraven, his beloved and his onely-begotten.

5. When the Virgin-Mother now felt the first tenderness and yernings of a Mother's bowels and saw the Saviour of the World born, poor as her fortunes could represent him, naked as the innocence of Adam, she took him, and wrapt him in swadling cloaths; and after she had a while cradled him in her arms, she laid him in a manger: for so was the design of his Humility; that as the last Scene of his life was represented among* 1.22 Thieves, so the first was amongst Beasts, the sheep and the oxen; according to that mysterious Hymn of the Prophet Habakkuk, His brightness was as the light, he had horns coming out of his hand, and there was the hiding of his power.* 1.23

6. But this place, which was one of the great instances of his Humility, grew to* 1.24 be as venerable as became an instrument, and it was consecrated into a Church, the Crib into an Altar, where first lay that Lamb of God which afterwards was sacrificed for the sins of all the World. And when Adrian the Emperour, who intended a great* 1.25 * 1.26 despite to it, built a Temple to Venus and Adonis in that place where the Holy Virgin∣Mother and her more Holy Son were humbly laid; even so he could not obtain, but that even amongst the Gentile inhabitants of the neighbouring Countries it was held in an account far above scandal and contempt. For God can ennoble even the meanest of creatures, especially if it be but a relative and instrumental to Religion, higher than the injuries of scoffers and malicious persons. But it was then a Temple full of Reli∣gion, full of glory, when Angels were the Ministers, the Holy Virgin was the Wor∣shipper, and CHRIST the Deity.

Ad SECT. III. Considerations upon the Birth of our Blessed Saviour JESVS.

1. ALthough the Blessed Jesus desired with the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of an inflamed love to be born, and to finish the work of our Redemption; yet he did not prevent the period of Nature, nor break the laws of the Womb, and antedate his own sanctions which he had established 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ever. He staid nine months, and then brake forth as a Giant joyful to run his course. For premature and hasty actions, and such counsels as know not how to expect the times appointed in God's decree, are like hasty fruit, or a young person snatcht away in his florid age, sad and untimely. He that hastens to enjoy his wish before the time, raises his own expectation, and yet makes it unpleasant by im∣patience, and loseth the pleasure of the fruition when it comes, because he hath made his desires bigger than the thing can satisfie. He that must eat an hour before his time, gives probation of his intemperance or his weakness; and if we dare not trust God with the Circumstance of the event, and stay his leisure, either we disrepute the infini∣ty of his Wisdom, or give clear demonstration of our own vanity.

2. When God descended to earth, he chose to be born in the Suburbs and retirement of a small Town; but he was pleased to die at Jerusalem, the Metropolis of Judaea: Which chides our shame and pride, who are willing to publish our gayeties in Piazza's and the corners of the streets of most populous places; but our defects and the instru∣ments of our humiliation we carry into desarts, and cover with the night, and hide them under ground, thinking no secrecy dark enough to hide our shame, nor any theatre large enough to behold our pompous vanities; for so we make provisions for Pride, and take great care to exclude Humility.

3. When the Holy Virgin now perceived that the expectation of the Nations was arrived at the very doors of revelation and entrance into the World, she brought forth the Holy Jesus, who, like Light through transparent glass, past through, or a ripe Pome∣granate from a fruitful tree, fell to the earth, without doing violence to its Nurse and Parent: She had no ministers to attend but Angels, and neither her Poverty nor her Piety would permit her to provide other Nurses; but her self did the offices of a ten∣der and pious Parent. She kissed him and worshipped him, and thanked him that he would be born of her, and she suckled him, and bound him in her arms and swadling∣bands; and when she had 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to God her first scene of joy and Eucharist, she softly laid him in the manger, till her desires and his own necessities called her to take him, and to rock him softly in her arms and from this deportment she read a lecture of Piety and maternal care, which Mothers should perform toward their children when they are born, not to neglect any of that duty which nature and maternal piety re∣quires.

4. Jesus was pleased to be born of a poor Mother in a poor place, in a cold winter's night, far from home, amongst strangers, with all the circumstances of humility and poverty. And no man will have cause to complain of his course Robe, if he remembers the swadling-clothes of this Holy Child; nor to be disquieted at his hard Bed, when he considers Jesus laid in a manger; nor to be discontented at his thin Table, when he calls to mind the King of Heaven and Earth was fed with a little breast-milk. But since the eternal wisdom of the Father, who knew to chuse the good and refuse the evil, did chuse a life of Poverty, it gives us demonstration, that Riches and Honors, those idols of the World's esteem, are so far from creating true felicities, that they are not of themselves eligible in the number of good things; however, no man is to be ashamed of innocent Poverty, of which many wise men make Vows, and of which the Holy Jesus made e∣lection, and his Apostles after him made publick profession. And if any man will chuse and delight in the affluence of temporal good things, suffering himself to be transported with caitive affections in the pleasures of every day, he may well make a question whe∣ther he shall speed as well hereafter; * 1.27 since God's usual method is, that they only who follow Christ here shall be with him for ever.

5. The Condition of the person 〈◊〉〈◊〉 was born is here of greatest consideration. For he that cried in the Manger, that suck'd the paps of a Woman that hath exposed himself to Poverty and a world of inconveniences, is the Son of the living God, of the same substance with his Father, begotten before all Ages, before the Morning-stars;

he is GOD eternal. He is also, by reason of the personal Union of the Divinity with his Humane nature, the Son of God; not by Adoption, as good Men and beatified Angels are, but by an extraordinary and miraculous Generation. He is the Heir of his Father's glories and possessions, not by succession, (for his Father cannot die,) but by an equality of communication. He is the express image of his Father's person according to both Na∣tures; the miracle and excess of his Godhead being, as upon wax, imprinted upon all the capacities of his Humanity. And after all this, he is our Saviour; that to our du∣ties of wonder and adoration we may add the affections of love and union, as himself, besides his being admirable in himself, is become profitable to us. Verè Verbum hoc est abbreviatum, saith the Prophet; The eternal Word of the Father is shortned to the di∣mensions of an infant.

6. Here then are concentred the prodigles of Greatness and Goodness, of Wisdom and Charity, of Meekness and Humility, and march all the way in mysterie and incom∣prehensible mixtures; if we consider him in the bosome of his Father, where he is seat∣ed by the postures of Love and essential Felicity; and in the Manger, where Love also placed him, and an infinite desire to communicate his Felicities to us. As he is God, his Throne is in the Heaven, and he fills all things by his immensity: as he is Man, he is cir∣cumscribed by an uneasie Cradle, and cries in a Stable. As he is God, he is seated upon a super-exalted Throne; as Man, exposed to the lowest estate of uneasiness and need. As God, clothed in a robe of Glory, at the same instant when you may behold and won∣der at his Humanity wrapped in cheap and unworthy Cradle-bands. As God, he is in∣circled with millions of Angels; as Man, in the company of Beasts. As God, he is the eternal Word of the Father, Eternal, sustained by himself, all-sufficient, and without need: and yet he submitted himself to a condition imperfect, inglorious, indigent and necessitous. And this consideration is apt and natural to produce great affections of love, duty and obedience, desires of union and conformity to his sacred Person, Life, A∣ctions, and Laws; that we resolve all our thoughts, and finally determine all our reason and our passions and capacities upon that saying of St. Paul, He that loves not the Lord* 1.28 Jesus Christ, let him be accursed.

7. Upon the consideration of these Glories, if a pious soul shall upon the supports of Faith and Love enter into the Stable where this great King was born, and with affecti∣ons behold every member of the Holy Body, and thence pass into the Soul of Jesus, we may see a scheme of holy Meditations, enough to entertain all the degrees of our love and of our understanding, and make the mysterie of the Nativity as fruitful of holy thoughts as it was of Blessings to us. And it may serve instead of a description of the Person of Jesus conveyed to us in imperfect and Apocryphal schemes. If we could be∣hold his sacred Feet with those affections which the Holy Virgin did, we have transmit∣ted to us those Mysteries in story which she had first in part by spiritual and divine infu∣sed light, and afterwards by observation. Those holy Feet, tender and unable to sup∣port his sacred Body, should bear him over all the Province of his Cure with great zeal for the gaining of Souls to the belief and obedience of his holy Laws; those are the Feet that should walk upon seas and hills of water as upon firm pavement; at which the Lepers and diseased persons should stoop, and gather health up; which Mary Magdalen should wash with tears, and wipe with her hair, and anoint with costly Nard, as expressions of love and adoration, and there find absolution and remedy for her sins; and which finally should be rent by the nails of the Cross, and afterwards ascend above the Heavens, making the earth to be his foot-stool. From hence take pat∣terns of imitation, that our Piety be symbolical, that our Affections be passionate and Eucharistical, full of love, and wonder, and adoration, that our feet tread in the same steps, and that we transfer the Symbol into Mystery, and the Mystery to Devotion, pray∣ing the Holy Jesus to actuate the same mercies in us which were finished at his holy feet, forgiving our sins, healing our sicknesses; and then place our selves irremoveably, becoming his Disciples, and strictly observing the rules of his holy Institution, sitting at the feet of this our greatest Master.

8. In the same manner a pious person may (with the Blessed Virgin) pass to the con∣sideration of his holy Hands, which were so often lifted up to God in Prayer; whose touch was miraculous and medicinal, cleansing Lepers, restoring perishing limbs, opening blind eyes, raising dead persons to life; those Hands which fed many thousands by two Miracles of multiplication, that purged the Temple from prophaneness, that in a sacra∣mental manner bare his own Body, and gave it to be the food and refreshment of elect Souls, and after were cloven and rent upon the Cross, till the Wounds be∣came (after the Resurrection) so many transparencies and glorious Instruments

of solemn, spiritual and efficacious benediction. Transmit this meditation into affections and practices, lifting up pure hands in prayer, that our Devotions be united to the merits of his glorious Intercession; and putting our selves into his hands and holy providence, let us beg those effects upon our Souls and spiritual Cures which his precious hands did operate upon their bodies, transferring those Similitudes to our ghostly and personal advantages.

9. We may also behold his holy Breast, and consider, that there lay that sacred Heart, like the Dove within the Ark, speaking peace to us, being the regiment of love and sor∣rows, the fountain of both the Sacraments, running out in the two holy streams of Bloud and Water, when the Rock was smitten, when his holy Side was pierced: and there with St. John let us lay our head, and place our heart, and thence draw a treasure of holy revelations and affections, that we may rest in him onely, and upon him lay our bur∣thens, filling every corner of our heart with thoughts of the most amiable and beloved JESUS.

10. In like manner we may unite the Day of his Nativity with the day of his Passion, and consider all the parts of his Body as it was instrumental in all the work of our Re∣demption, and so imitate, and in some proportion partake of, that great variety of sweet∣nesses and amorous reflexes and gracious intercourses which passed between the Blessed Virgin and the Holy Child, according to his present capacities, and the clarity of that light which was communicated to her by Divine Infusion. And all the Members of this Blessed Child, his Eyes, his Face, his Head, all the Organs of his Senses afford variety of entertainment and motion to our Affections, according as they served in their several imployments and cooperations in the mysteries of our Restitution.

11. But his Body was but his Soul's upper garment, and the considerations of this are as immaterial and spiritual as the Soul it self, and more immediate to the mystery of the Nativity. This Soul is of the same nature and substance with ours; in this inferiour to the Angels, that of it self it is incompleat, and discursive in a lower order of ratiocinati∣on; but in this superiour: 1. That it is personally united to the Divinity, full of the Holy Ghost, over-running with Grace, which was dispensed to it without measure. (And by the mediation of this Union, as it self is exalted far above all orders of Intelligences, so we also have contracted alliance with God, teaching us not to unravel our excellencies by infamous deportments.) 2. Here also we may meditate, that his Memory is indeter∣minable and unalterable, ever remembring to do us good, and to present our needs to God by the means of his holy intercession. 3. That his Understanding is without igno∣rance, knowing the secrets of our hearts, full of mysterious secrets of his Father's King∣dom, in which all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God are hidden. 4. That* 1.29 his Will is impeccable, entertained with an uninterrupted act of Love to God, greater than all Angels and beatified spirits present to God in the midst of the transportations and ravishments of Paradise: That this Will is full of Love to us, of Humility in it self, of Conformity to God, wholly resign'd by acts of Adoration and Obedience. It was moved by six Wings; Zeal of the honour of God, and Compunction for our sins, Pity to our miseries, and Hatred of our impieties. Desires of satisfying the wrath of God, and great Joy at the consideration of all the fruits of his Nativity, the appeasing of his Father, the redemption of his brethren. And upon these wings he mounted up into the throne of Glory, carrying our nature with him above the seats of Angels. These second considerations present themselves to all that with Piety and Devotion behold the Holy Babe lying in the obscure and humble place of his Nativity.

The PRAYER.

HOly and Immortal Jesus, I adore and worship thee with the lowest prostrations and hu∣mility of Soul and body, and give thee all thanks for that great Love to us whereof thy Nativity hath made demonstration; for that Humility of thine expressed in the poor and ig∣noble circumstances which thou didst voluntarily chuse in the manner of thy Birth. And I present to thy holy Humanity inchased in the adorable Divinity my Body and Soul; humbly desiring, that as thou didst clothe thy self with a Humane body, thou mayest invest me with the robes of Righteousness, covering my sins, inabling my weaknesses, and sustaining my mortality, till I shall finally in conformity to thy Beauties and Perfections be clothed with the stole of Glory. Amen.

2.

VOuchsafe to come to me by a more intimate and spiritual approximation, that so thou mayest lead me to thy Father; for of my self I cannot move one step towards thee. Take me by the hand, place me in thy heart, that there I may live, and there I may die: that as thou hast united our Nature to thy Eternal Being, thou mightest also unite my Person to thine by the interiour adunations of Love, and Obedience, and Conformity. Let thy Ears be open to my prayers, thy merciful Eyes look upon my miseries, thy holy Hands be stretched out to my relief and succour: let some of those precious distilling Tears which nature, and thy com∣passion, and thy Sufferings did cause to distill and drop from those sacred fontinels, water my stony heart, and make it soft, apt for the impressions of a melting, obedient and corresponding love; and moisten mine eyes, that I may upon thy stock of pity and weeping mourn for my sins, that so my tears and sorrows, being drops of water coming from that holy Rock, may in∣deed be united unto thine, and made precious by such holy mixtures. Amen.

3.

BLessed Jesus, now that thou hast sanctified and exalted Humane nature, and made even my Body precious by a personal uniting it to the Divinity, teach me so reverently to ac∣count of it, that I may not dare to prophane it with impure lusts or caitive affections, and un∣hallow that ground where thy holy feet have troden. Give to me ardent desires, and efficaci∣ous prosecutions of these holy effects which thou didst design for us in thy Nativity, and other parts of our Redemption: give me great confidence in thee, which thou hast encouraged by the exhibition of so glorious favours; great sorrow and confusion of face at the sight of mine own imperfections, and estrangements, and great distances from thee, and the perfections of thy Soul; and bring me to thee by the strictnesses of a Zealous and affectionate imitation of those Sanctities which, next to the hypostatical Union, added lustre and excellency to thy Hu∣manity, that I may live here with thee in the expresses of a holy life, and die with thee by mortification and an unwearied patience, and reign with thee in immortal glories world without end. Amen.

DISCOURSE I. Of Nursing Children, in imitation of the Blessed Virgin-Mother.

1. THese later Ages of the world have declined into a Softness above the effeminacy of Asian Princes, and have contracted customes which those innocent and healthful days of our Ancestors knew not, whose Piety was natural, whose Charity was operative, whose Policy was just and valiant, and whose Oeconomy was sincere and proportionable to the dispositions and requisites of Nature. And in this particular the good women of * 1.30 old gave one of their instances; the greatest personages nurst their own Children, did the work of Mothers, and thought it was unlikely women should become vertuous by ornaments and superadditions of Morality, who did de∣cline the laws and prescriptions of Nature, whose principles supply us with the first and most common rules of Manners and more perfect actions. In imitation of whom, and especially of the Virgin Mary, who was Mother and Nurse to the Holy Jesus, I shall endeavour to correct those softnesses and unnatural rejections of Children, which are popular up to a custom and fashion, even where no necessities of Nature or just Reason can make excuse.

2. And I cannot think the Question despicable, and the Duty of meanest conside∣ration; although it be specified in an office of small esteem, and suggested to us by the principles of Reason, and not by express sanctions of Divinity. For although o∣ther actions are more perfect and spiritual, yet this is more natural and humane; other things being superadded to a full Duty rise higher, but this builds stronger, and is like a part of the foundation, having no lustre, but much strength; and however the others are full of ornament, yet this hath in it some degrees of necessity, and possibly is

with more danger and irregularity omitted than actions which spread their leaves fair∣er, and look more gloriously.

3. First, here I consider, that there are many sins in the scene of the Body and the matter of Sobriety which are highly criminal, and yet the Laws of God expressed in Scripture name them not; but men are taught to distinguish them by that Reason which is given us by nature, and is imprinted in our understanding in order to the conservation of humane kind. For since every creature hath something in it sufficient to propagate the kind, and to conserve the individuals from perishing in confusions and general disorders, which in Beasts we call Instinct, that is, an habitual or prime disposi∣tion to do certain things which are proportionable to the End whither it is designed; Man also, if he be not more imperfect, must have the like: and because he knows and makes reflexions upon his own acts, and understands the reason of it, that which in them is Instinct, in him is natural Reason, which is, a desire to preserve himself and his* 1.31 own kind, and differs from Instinct, because he understands his Instinct and the reason∣ableness of it, and they do not. But Man being a higher thing even in the order of creation, and designed to a more noble End in his animal capacity, his Argumentative Instinct is larger than the Natural Instinct of Beasts: for he hath Instincts in him in order to the conservation of Society, and therefore hath Principles, that is, he hath natural desires to it for his own good; and because he understands them, they are cal∣led Principles, and Laws of Nature, but are no other than what I have now declared; for Beasts do the same things we do, and have many the same inclinations, which in us are the Laws of Nature, even all which we have in order to our common End. But that which in Beasts is Nature and an impulsive force, in us must be duty and an invi∣ting power: we must do the same things with an actual or habitual designation of that End to which God designs Beasts, (supplying by his wisdom their want of understand∣ing) and then what is mere Nature in them, in us is Natural reason. And therefore Marriage in men is made sacred, when the mixtures of other creatures are so merely na∣tural, that they are not capable of being vertuous; because men are bound to intend that End which God made. And this, with the superaddition of other Ends, of which Marriage is representative in part, and in part effective, does consecrate Marriage, and makes it holy and mysterious. But then there are in marriage many duties which we are taught by Instinct; that is, by that Reason whereby we understand what are the best means to promote the End which we have assigned us. And by these Laws all un∣natural mixtures are made unlawful, and the decencies which are to be observed in Mar∣riage are prescribed us by this.

4. Secondly, Upon the supposition of this Discourse I consider again, that although to observe this Instinct or these Laws of Nature (in which I now have instanced) be no great vertue in any eminency of degree, (as no man is much commended for not killing himself, or for not degenerating into beastly Lusts;) yet to prevaricate some of these Laws may become almost the greatest sin in the world. And therefore although to live according to Nature be a testimony fit to give to a sober and a temperate man, and rises no higher; yet to do an action against Nature is the greatest dishonour and impiety in the world, (I mean of actions whose scene lies in the Body) and disentitles us to all relations to God, and vicinity to Vertue.

5. Thirdly, Now amongst actions which we are taught by Nature, some concern the being and the necessities of Nature, some appertain to her convenience and advantage: and the transgressions of these respectively have their heightnings or depressions; and therefore to kill a man is worse than some preternatural pollutions, because more de∣structive of the end and designation of Nature, and the purpose of instinct.

6. Fourthly, Every part of this Instinct is then in some sense a Law, when it is in a direct order to a necessary End, and by that is made reasonable. I say [in some sence] it is a Law, that is, it is in a near disposition to become a Law. It is a Rule without ob∣ligation to a particular punishment, beyond the effect of the natural inordination and obliquity of the act; it is not the measure of a moral good or evil, but of the natural, that is, of comely and uncomely. For if in the individuals it should fail, or that there pass some greater obligation upon the person in order to a higher end, not consistent with those means designed in order to the lesser end, in that particular it is no fault, but sometimes a vertue. And therefore although it be an Instinct, or reasonable towards many purposes, that every one should beget a man in his own image, in order to the pre∣servation of nature: yet if there be a superaddition of another and higher end, and con∣trary means perswaded in order to it, (such as is holy Coelibate or Virginity in order to a spiritual life, in some persons) there the instinct of Nature is very far from passing ob∣ligation

upon the Conscience, and in that instance ceases to be reasonable. And there∣fore the Romans, who invited men to marriage with priviledges, and punished morose and ungentle natures that refused it, yet they had their chaste and unmarried Vestals; the first, in order to the Commonwealth; these, in a nearer order to Religion.

7. Fifthly, These Instincts or reasonable inducements become Laws, obliging us in Conscience and in the way of Religion, and the breach of them is directly criminal, when the instance violates any end of Justice, or Charity, or Sobriety, either designed in Nature's first intention, or superinduced by God or man. For every thing that is unreasonable to some certain purpose is not presently criminal, much less is it against the Law of Nature, (unless every man that goes out of his way sins against the Law of Na∣ture;) and every contradicting of a natural desire or inclination is not a sin against a law of Nature. For the restraining sometimes of a lawful and a permitted desire is an act of great Vertue, and pursues a greater reason; as in the former instance. But those things only against which such a reason as mixes with Charity or Justice, or something that is now in order to a farther end of a commanded instance of Piety, may be without errour brought, those things are only criminal. And God having first made our instincts reasonable, hath now made our Reason and Instincts to be spiritual; and having some∣times restrained our Instincts, and always made them regular, he hath by the intermix∣ture of other principles made a separation of Instinct from Instinct, leaving one in the form of natural inclination, and they rise no higher than a permission or a decency, it is lawful, or it is comely so to do: (for no man can asfirm it to be a Duty to kill him that assaults my life, or to maintain my children for ever without their own industry, when they are able, what degrees of natural fondness 〈◊〉〈◊〉 I have towards them; nor that I sin, if I do not marry, when I can contain) and yet every one of these may proceed from the affections and first inclinations of Nature; but until they mingle with Justice, or Charity, or some instance of Religion and Obedience, they are no Laws; the other that are so mingled being raised to Duty and Religion. Nature inclines us, and Reason judges it apt and requisite in order to certain ends; but then every particular of it is made to be an act of Religion from some other principle: as yet, it is but fit and reason∣able not Religion and particular Duty, till God or man hath interposed. But whatsoever particular in nature was fit to be made a Law of Religion, is made such by the superad∣dition of another principle: and this is derived to us by tradition from Adam to Noah, or else transmitted to us by the consent of all the world upon a natural and prompt rea∣son, or else by some other instrument derived to us from God, but especially by the Chri∣stian Religion, which hath adopted all those things which we call things honest, things comely, and things of good report, into a law and a duty, as appears Phil. 4. 8.

8. Upon these Propositions I shall infer by way of Instance, that it is a Duty that Wo∣men should nurse their own Children. For first, it is taught to women by that Instinct which Nature hath implanted in them. For, as Favorinus the Philosopher discoursed, it is but to be half a Mother to bring forth Children, and not to nourish them: and it is* 1.32 some kind of Abortion, or an exposing of the Infant, which in the reputation of all wise Nations is infamous and uncharitable. And if the name of Mother be an appellative of affection and endearments, why should the Mother be willing to divide it with a stran∣ger? The Earth is the Mother of us all, not only because we were made of her Red clay, but chiefly that she daily gives us food from her bowels and breasts; and Plants and Beasts give nourishment to their off-springs, after their production, with greater tender∣ness than they bare them in their wombs: and yet Women give nourishment to the Embryo, which whether it be deformed or perfect they know not, and cannot love what they never saw; and yet when they do see it, when they have rejoyced that a Child is born, and forgotten the sorrows of production, they who then can first begin to love it, if they begin to divorce the Infant from the Mother, the Object from the Affection, cut off the opportunities and occasions of their Charity or Piety.

9. For why hath Nature given to women two exuberant Fontinels, which like two Rocs that are twins feed among the Lilics, and drop milk like dew from Hermon, and hath* 1.33 (a) 1.34 invited that nourishment from the secret recesses where the Infant dwelt at first, up to the Breast where naturally now the Child is cradled in the entertainments of love and maternal embraces; but that Nature having removed the Babe, and carried its meat after it, intends that it should be (b) 1.35 preserved by the matter and ingredients of its constitu∣tion, and have the same diet prepared with a more mature and proportionable digestion? If Nature intended them not

for Nourishment, I am sure it less intended them for Pride and wantonness; they are needless Excrescences and Vices of Nature, unless imployed in Nature's work and pro∣per intendment. And if it be a matter of consideration of what bloud Children are derived: we may also consider, that the derivation continues after the birth, and there∣fore, abating the sensuality, the Nurse is as much the Mother as she that brought it forth; and so much the more, as there is a longer communication of constituent nourishment (for so are the first emanations) in this than in the other. So that here is first the In∣stinct or prime intendment of Nature.

10. Secondly, And that this Instinct may also become humane and reasonable, we see it by experience in many places, that Foster-Children are dearer to the Nurse than to the Mother, as receiving and ministring respectively perpetual prettinesses of love, and fondness, and trouble, and need, and invitations, and all the instruments of indear∣ment; besides a vicinity of dispositions and relative tempers by the communication of bloud and spirits from the Nurse to the Suckling, which makes use the more natural, and nature more accustomed. And therefore the affections which these exposed or de∣relict Children bear to their Mothers have no grounds of nature or assiduity, but civility and opinion; and that little of love which is abated from the Foster-parents upon pub∣lick* 1.36 report that they are not natural, that little is transferred to Mothers upon the same opinion, and no more. Hence come those unnatural aversions, those unrelenting dis∣positions, those carelesnesses and incurious deportments towards their Children, which are such ill-sown seeds, from whence may arise up a bitterness of disposition and mutual provocation. The affection which Children bear to their Nurses was highly remarked in the instance of Scipio Asiaticus, who rejected the importunity of his Brother Africanus in behalf of the ten Captains who were condemned for offering violence to the Vestals, but pardoned them at the request of his Foster-sister: and being asked why he did more for his Nurse's Daughter than for his own Mother's Son, gave this answer, I esteem her rather to be my Mother that brought me up, than her that bare me and forsook me. And I* 1.37 have read the observation, That many Tyrants have killed their Mothers, but never any did violence to his Nurse; as if they were desirous to suck the bloud of their Mother raw, which she refused to give to them digested into milk. And the Bastard-Brother of the Gracchi, returning from his Victories in Asia to Rome, presented his Mother with a Jewel of Silver, and his Nurse with a Girdle of Gold, upon the same account. Some∣times Children are exchanged, and artificial Bastardies introduced into a Family, and the right Heir supplanted. It happened so to Artabanus King of Epirus: his Child was changed at nurse, and the Son of a mean Knight succeeded in the Kingdom. The event of which was this: The Nurse too late discovered the Treason; a bloudy War was commenced, both the Pretenders slain in Battel, and the Kingdom it self was usurped by Alexander the Brother to Olympias, the wife of Philip the Macedonian. At the best, though there happen no such extravagant and rare accidents, yet it is not likely a Stran∣ger should love the Child better than the Mother: and if the Mother's care could suffer it to be exposed, a Stranger's care may suffer it to be neglected. For how shall an Hire∣ling endure the inconveniences, the tediousnesses and unhandsomnesses of a Nursery, when she, whose natural affection might have made it pleasant, out of wantonness or softness hath declined the burthen? But the sad accidents which by too frequent ob∣servation are daily seen happening to Nurse-children give great probation, that this in∣tendment of Nature designing Mothers to be the Nurses, that their affection might se∣cure and increase their care, and the care best provide for their Babes, is most reasonable, and proportionable to the discourses of Humanity.

11. But as this instinct was made reasonable, so in this also the reason is in order to grace and spiritual effects; and therefore is among those things which God hath separa∣ted from the common Instincts of Nature, and made properly to be Laws, by the mix∣tures of Justice and Charity. For it is part of that Education which Mothers as a duty owe to their children, that they do in all circumstances, and with all their powers which God to that purpose gave them, * 1.38 promote their capacities and improve their faculties. Now in this also, as the temper of the Body is considerable in order to the inclinations of the Soul, so is the Nurse in order to the temper of the Body: and a Lamb sucking a Goat, or a Kid sucking an Ewe, change their fleece and hair respectively, say Naturalists. For if the Soul of Man were put into the body of a Mole, it could not see nor speak, because it is not fitted with an Instrument apt and organical to the faculty: and when the Soul hath its proper Instruments,

its musick is pleasant or harsh according to the sweetness or the unevenness of the string it touches: for David himself could not have charmed Saul's melancholick spirit with the strings of his Bow, or the wood of his Spear. And just so are the actions or disposi∣tions of the Soul, angry or pleasant, lustful or cold, querulous or passionate, according as the Body is disposed by the various intermixtures of natural qualities. And as the care∣lesness of Nurses hath sometimes returned Children to their Parents crooked, consump∣tive, half starved, and unclean from the impurities of Nature: so their society and their nourishment together have disposed them to peevishness, to lust, to drunkenness, to pride; to low and base demeanours, to stubbornness. And as a man would have been unwil∣ling to have had a Child by Harpaste, Seneca's wife's Fool; so he would in all reason be as unwilling to have had her to be the Nurse: for very often Mothers by the birth do not transmit their imperfections, yet it seldome happens but the Nurse does. Which is the more considerable, because Nurses are commonly persons of no great rank, certainly lower than the Mother, and by consequence liker to return their Children with the low∣er and more servile conditions: and commonly those vainer people teach them to be peevish and proud, to lie, or at least seldom give them any first principles contrariant to the Nurse's vice. And therefore it concerns the Parents care, in order to a vertuous life of the Child, to secure its first seasonings; because, whatever it sucks in first, it swal∣lows* 1.39 and believes infinitely, and practises easily, and continues longest. And this is more proper for a Mother's care, while the Nurse thinks that giving the Child suck, and keeping its body clean, is all her duty. But the Mother cannot think her self so easily discharged. And this consideration is material in all cases, be the choice of the Nurse never so prudent and curious: and it is not easily apprehended to be the portion of her care to give it spiritual milk, and therefore it intrenches very much upon Impiety and positive relinquishing the education of their Children, when Mothers expose the spirit of the Child either to its own weaker inclinations, or the wicked principles of an un∣godly Nurse, or the carelesness of any less-obliged person.

12. And then let me add, That a Child sucks the Nurse's milk, and digests her con∣ditions, if they be never so * 1.40 bad, seldom gets any good. For Vertue being superaddi∣tion to Nature, and Perfections not radical in the body, but contradictions to and me∣liorations of natural indispositions, does not easily convey it self by ministrations of food, as Vice does, which in most instances is nothing but mere Nature grown to Custom, and not mended by Grace: so that it is probable enough, such natural distemperatures may pass in the rivulets of milk, like evil spirits in a white garment, when Vertues are of harder purchase, and dwell so low in the heart, that they but rarely pass through the fountains of generation. And therefore let no Mother venture her child upon a stranger, whose heart she less knows than her own. And because few of those nicer women think better of others than themselves, (since out of self-love they neglect their own bowels) it is but an act of improvidence to let my Child derive imperfections from one of whom I have not so good an opinion as of my self.

13. And if those many blessings and holy prayers which the Child needs, or his ask∣ings or sicknesses, or the Mother's fears or joyes respectively do occasion, should not be cast into this account; yet those principles which in all cases wherein the neglect is vi∣cious are the causes of the exposing the Child, are extremely against the Piety and Cha∣rity of Christian Religion, which prescribes severity and austere deportment, and the la∣bours of love, and exemplar tenderness of affections, and piety to children, which are the most natural and nearest relations the Parents have. That Religion which commands us to visit and to tend sick strangers, and wash the feet of the poor, and dress their ulcers, and sends us upon charitable embassies into unclean prisons, and bids us lay down our lives for one another; is not pleased with a niceness and sensual curiosity (that I may not name the wantonnesses of lusts) which denies suck to our own children. What is more humane and affectionate than Christianity? and what is less natural and charitable than to deny the expresses of a Mother's affection? which certainly to good women is the greatest trouble in the world, and the greatest violence to their desires, if they should not express and minister.

14. And it would be considered, whether those Mothers who have neglected their first Duties of Piety and Charity can expect so prompt and easie returns of Duty and Piety from their Children, whose best foundation is Love, and that love strongest which is most natural, and that most natural which is conveyed by the first ministeries and im∣presses of Nourishment and Education. And if Love descends more strongly than it as∣cends, and commonly falls from the Parents upon the Children in Cataracts, and returns back again up to the Parents but in gentle Dews; if the Child's affection keeps the

same proportions towards such unkind Mothers, it will be as little as atoms in the Sun, and never express it self but when the Mother needs it not, that is, in the Sun-shine of a clear fortune.

15. This then is amongst those Instincts which are natural, heightned first by Rea∣son, and then exalted by Grace into the obligation of a Law: and being amongst the Sanctions of Nature, its prevarication is a crime very near those sins which Divines, in detestation of their malignity, call Sins against Nature, and is never to be excused but in, cases of * 1.41 Necessity or greater Charity; as when the Mother cannot be a Nurse by rea∣son of natural disability, or is afflicted with a disease which might be 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in the milk, or in case of the publick necessities of a Kingdom, for the securing of Succession in the Royal Family. And yet concerning this last Lycurgus made a Law, that the No∣blest amongst the Spartan women, though their Kings Wives, should at least nurse their Eldest son, and the Plebeians should nurse all theirs: and Plutarch reports, that the se∣cond son of King Themistes inherited the Kingdom in Sparta, only because he was nur∣sed with his Mother's milk, and the eldest was therefore rejected because a stranger was his Nurse. And that Queens have suckled and nursed their own children, is no very unusual kindness in the simplicity and hearty affections of elder Ages, as is to be seen in Herodotus and other Historians. I shall only remark one instance out of the Spanish Chro∣nicles, which Henry Stephens in his Apology for Herodotus reports to have heard from thence related by a noble personage, Monsieur Marillac; That a Spanish Lady married into France nursed her child with so great a tenderness and jealousie, that having under∣stood the little Prince once to have suck'd a stranger, she was unquiet till she had forced him to vomit it up again. In other cases the crime lies at their door who inforce neglect upon the other, and is heightned in proportion to the motive of the omission; as if Wan∣tonness or Pride be the parent of the crime, the Issue, besides its natural deformity, hath the excrescencies of Pride or Lust to make it more ugly.

16. To such Mothers I propound the example of the Holy Virgin, who had the ho∣nour to be visited by an Angel yet, after the example of the Saints in the Old Testament, she gave to the Holy Jesus drink from those bottles which himself had filled for his own drinking; and her Paps were as surely blessed for giving him suck, as her Womb for bear∣ing him; and reads a Lecture of Piety and Charity, which if we deny to our children, there is then in the world left no argument or relation great enough to kindle it from a cinder to a flame. God gives dry breasts, for a curse to some, for an affliction to others; but those that invite it to them by voluntary arts, love not blessing, therefore shall it be far from them. And I remember that it was said concerning Annius Minutius the Censor, that he thought it a prodigy and extremely ominous to Rome, that a Roman Lady refused to nurse her Child, and yet gave suck to a Puppy, that her milk might with more safety be dried up with artificial applications. Let none therefore divide the interests of their own Children: for she that appeared before Solomon, and would have the Child divided, was not the true Mother, and was the more culpable of the two.

The PRAYER.

O Holy and Eternal God, Father of the Creatures, and King of all the World, who hast imprinted in all the sons of thy Creation principles and abilities to serve the end of their own preservation, and to Men hast superadded Reason, making those first propensities of Nature to be reasonable in order to Society, and a conversation in Communities and Bodies politick, and hast by several laws and revelations directed our Reasons to nearer applications to thee, and per∣formance of thy great End, the glory of our Lord and Father; teach me strictly to observe the order of Creation, and the designs of the Creatures, that in my order I may do that service which every creature does in its proper capacity. Lord, let me be as constant in the ways of Religion as the Sun in his course, as ready to follow the intimations of thy Spirit as little Birds are to obey the directions of thy Providence and the conduct of thy hand; and let me never by evil customs, or vain company, or false persuasions, extinguish those principles of Morality and right Reason which thou hast imprinted in my understanding, in my creation and education, and which thou hast ennobled by the superadditions of Christian institution: that I may live according to the rules of Nature in such things which she teaches, modestly, temperately and affectionately, in all the parts of my natural and political relations; and that I, proceeding from Nature to Grace, may henceforth go on from Grace to Glory, the crown of all Obedience, prudent and holy walk∣ing, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

SECT. IV. Of the great and glorious Accidents happening about the Birth of JESVS.

[illustration]

The Angels appearing to the Shepherds.

S. LUKE. 2. 14.

Glory to God in the highest, and on ea∣rth peace, good will towards men.

[illustration]

The Epiphanie.

S. MAT: 2. 11.

When they had opened their treasures, th∣ey presented unto him gifts, Gold, and Frank incense, and Myrrhe.

1. ALthough the Birth of Christ was destitute of the usual excrescences and less necessary Pomps which used to signifie and illustrate the birth of Princes; yet his first Humility was made glorious with Presages, Miracles, and Sig∣nifications from Heaven, which did not only, like the furniture of a Princely Bed∣chamber, speak the riches of the Parent, or greatness of the Son within its own walls, but did declare to all the world that their Prince was born, publishing it with figures and representments almost as great as its Empire.

2. For when all the world did expect that in Judaea should be born their Prince, and that the incredulous world had in their observation slipt by their true Prince, because he came not in pompous and secular illustrations; upon that very stock Vespasian was* 1.42 nurs'd up in hope of the Roman Empire, and that hope made him great in designs, and they being prosperous made his fortunes correspond to his hopes, and he was indeared and engaged upon that fortune by the Prophecy which was never intended him by the Prophet. But the fortune of the Roman Monarchy was not great enough for this Prince design'd by the old Prophets. And therefore it was not without the influence of a Divinity, that his Decessor Augustus about the time of Christ's Nativity refused to be called LORD: possibly it was, to entertain the people with some hopes of restitu∣tion * 1.43 of their Liberties, till he had grip'd the Monarchy with a stricter and faster hold; but the Christians were apt to believe, that it was upon the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of a Sibyll fore∣telling the birth of a greater Prince, to whom all the world should pay adoration; and that the Prince was about that time born in Judaea, the Oracle which was dumb to Au∣gustus's* 1.44 question told him unask'd, the Devil having no tongue permitted him, but one to proclaim that an Hebrew child was his Lord and Enemy.

3. At the Birth of which Child there was an universal Peace through all the World. For then it was that Augustus Caesar, having composed all the Wars of the* 1.45

World, did the third time cause the gates of Janus's Temple to be shut; and this Peace continued for twelve years, even till the extreme old age of the Prince, until rust had sealed the Temple doors, which opened not till the Sedition of the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and the Rebellion of the Dacians caused Augustus to arm. For he that was born was the Prince of Peace, and came to reconcile God with man, and man with his brother; and to make, by the sweetness of his Example, and the influence of a holy Doctrine, such happy atonements between disagreeing natures, such confederations and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 be∣tween Enemies, that the Wolf and the Lamb should lie down together, and a little child * 1.46 boldly and without danger put his finger in the nest and cavern of an Asp: and it could be no less than miraculous, that so great a Body as the Roman Empire, consisting of so many parts, whose Constitutions were differing, their Humours contrary, their In∣terests contradicting each others greatness, and all these violently oppressed by an usurping power, should have no limb out of joynt, not so much as an aking tooth or a rebelling humour in that huge collection of parts: but so it seemed good in the eye of Heaven, by so great and good a symbol to declare not only the Greatness, but the Goodness of the Prince that was then born in Judaea, the Lord of all the World.

4. But because the Heavens, as well as the Earth, are his Creatures, and do serve him, at his Birth he received a sign in Heaven above, as well as in the Earth beneath, as an homage paid to their common Lord. For as certain Shepherds were keeping watch over their slocks by night, near that part where Jacob did use to feed his cattel when he was in the land of Canaan, the Angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them. Needs must the Shepherds be afraid, when an Angel came ar∣rayed in glory, and clothed their persons in a robe of light, great enough to confound their senses and scatter their understandings. But the Angel said unto them, Fear not, for I bring unto you tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. The Shepherds needed not be invited to go see this glorious sight; but lest their fancy should rise up to an expecta∣tion of a Prince as externally glorious as might be hoped for upon the consequence of so glorious an Apparition, the Angel, to prevent the mistake, told them of a Sign, which indeed was no other than the thing 〈◊〉〈◊〉; but yet was therefore a Sign, be∣cause it was so remote from the common probability and exspectation of such a birth, that by being a Miracle, so great a Prince should be born so poorly, it became an in∣strument to signifie it self and all the other parts of mysterious consequence. For the Angel said, This shall be a sign unto you, Ye shall find the Babe wrapt in swadling-cloaths, lying in a manger.

5. But as Light, when it first begins to gild the East, scatters indeed the darknesses from the earth, but ceases not to increase its 〈◊〉〈◊〉 till it hath made perfect day: so it happened now in this Apparition of the Angel of light, he appeared and told his mes∣sage, and did shine, but the light arose higher and higher, till midnight was as bright as mid-day; for suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly 〈◊〉〈◊〉: and after the Angel had told his Message in plain-song, the whole Chorus joyned in de∣scant, and sang an Hymn to the tune and sence of Heaven, where glory is paid to God in eternal and never-ceasing offices, and whence good will descends upon men in perpetu∣al and never-stopping torrents. Their Song was, Glory be to God on high, on earth peace, good will towards men: by this Song not only * 1.47 referring to the strange Peace which at that time put all the World in 〈◊〉〈◊〉, but to the great Peace which this new-born Prince should make between his Father and all Mankind.

6. As soon as these blessed Choristers had sung their Christmas Carol, and taught the Church a Hymn to put into her Offices for ever in the anniversary of this Festivity, the Angels returned into Heaven, and the Shepherds went to Bethlehem, to see this thing which the Lord had made known unto them. And they came with haste, and sound Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Just as the Angel had prepared their expectati∣on, they found the narrative verified, and saw the glory and the mystery of it by that representment which was made by the heavenly Ministers, seeing GOD through the veil of a Child's flesh, the Heir of Heaven wrapt in Swadling-clothes, and a person to whom the Angels did minister laid in a Manger; and they beheld, and wondred, and worshipped.

7. But as precious Liquor warmed and heightned by a flame first crowns the vessel, and then dances over its brim into the fire, increasing the cause of its own motion and extravagancy: so it happened to the Shepherds, whose hearts being filled with the oil of gladness up unto the brim, the Joy ran over, as being too big to be consined

in their own breasts, and did communicate it self, growing greater by such dissemina∣tion: for when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And (as well they might) all that heard it wondred. But Mary, having first changed her joy into wonder, turned her wonder into entertainments of the mystery, and the mystery into a fruition and cohabitation with it: For Mary kept all these sayings, and pondered them in her heart. And the Shepherds having seen what the Angels did upon the publication of the news, which less concerned them than us, had learnt their duty, to sing an honour to God for the Nativity of Christ: For the Shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

8. But the Angels had told the Shepherds that the Nativity was glad tidings of great joy unto all people: and, that the Heavens might declare the glory of God, and the firma∣ment shew his handy-work, this also was told abroad even to the Gentiles by a sign from Heaven, by the message of a Star. For there was a Prophecy of Balaam famous in all the Eastern Countrey, and recorded by Moses, There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and* 1.48 a Scepter shall arise out of Israel: Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion. Which although in its first sence it signified David, who was the conqueror of the Moabites; yet, in its more mysterious and chiefly-intended sence, it related to the* 1.49 Son of David. And in expectation of the event of this Prophecy, the Arabians, the sons of Abraham by Keturah, whose portion given by their Patriarch was Gold, Fran∣kincense and Myrrh, who were great lovers of Astronomy, did with diligence expect the revelation of a mighty Prince in Judaea at such time when a miraculous and extra∣ordinary Star should appear: And therefore when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in the days of Herod the King, there came wise men, inspired by God, taught by Art, and perswaded by Prophecy, from the East to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his Star in the East, and are come to worship him. The Greeks suppose this which was called a Star to have been indeed an Angel in a pil∣lar of fire, and the semblance of a Star; and it is made the more likely, by coming and standing directly over the humble roof of his Nativity, which is not discernible in the station of a Star, though it be supposed to be lower than the Orb of the Moon. To which if we add, that they only saw it, (so far as we know,) and that it appeared as it were by voluntary periods, it will not be very improbable but that it might be like the Angel that went before the sons of Israel in a pillar of fire by night, or rather like the little shining Stars sitting upon the Bodies of 〈◊〉〈◊〉, Tharacus and Andronicus, Martyrs, when their bodies were searched for, in the days of Diocletian, and pointed at by those bright Angels.

9. This Star did not trouble Herod, till the Levantine Princes expounded the myste∣riousness of it, and said it declared a King to be born in Jewry, and that the Star was his, not applicable to any signification but of a King's birth. And therefore although it was * 1.50 no Prodigy nor Comet, foretelling Diseases, Plagues, War, and Death, but only the happy Birth of a most excellent Prince; yet it brought affrightment to Herod and all Jerusalem: For when Herod the King had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And thinking that the question of the Kingdom was now in dis∣pute, and an Heir sent from Heaven to lay challenge to it, who brought a Star and the Learning of the East with him for evidence and probation of his Title, Herod thought there was no security to his usurped possession; unless he could rescind the decrees of Heaven, and reverse the results and eternal counsels of Predestination. And he was re∣solved to venture it, first by craft, and then by violence.

10. And first, he calls the chief Priests and Scribes of the people together, and demanded of them, where CHRIST should be born; and found by their joynt determination that Bethlehem of Judaea was the place designed by ancient Prophecy and God's Decree. Next he enquired of the Wise men concerning the Star, but privily, what time it appear∣ed.* 1.51 For the Star had not motion certain and regular, by the laws of Nature; but it so guided the Wise men in their journey, that it stood when they stood, moved not when they rested, and went forward when they were able, making no more haste than they did, who carried much of the business and imployment of the Star along with them. But when Herod was satisfied in his questions, he sent them to Bethlehem, with instru∣ctions to search diligently for the young child, and to bring him word, pretending that he would come and worship him also.

11. The Wise men prosecuted the business of their journey, and having heard the King, they departed, and the Star (which, as it seems, attended their motion) went before them, until it came and stood over where the young Child was; where when they

saw the Star, they rejoyced with exceeding great joy. Such a Joy as is usual to wearied Travellers when they are entring into their Inne, such a joy as when our hopes and greatest longings are laying hold upon the proper objects of their desires, a joy of cer∣tainty immediately before the possession: for that is the greatest Joy, which possesses before it is satisfied, and rejoyces with a joy not abated by the surfeits of possession, but heightned with all the apprehensions and fancies of hope, and the neighbourhood of fruition; a joy of Nature, of Wonder, and of Religion. And now their hearts la∣boured with a throng of spirits and passions, and ran into the house to the embrace∣ment of Jesus even before their feet: But when they were come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary his mother. And possibly their expectation was something les∣sened and their wonder heightned, when they saw their hope empty of pomp and gay∣ety, the great King's Throne to be a Manger, a Stable to his Chamber of presence, a thin Court, and no Ministers, and the King himself a pretty Babe, and, but that he had a Star over his head, nothing to distinguish him from the common condition of children, or to excuse him from the miseries of a poor and empty fortune.

12. This did not scandalize those wise persons, but being convinced by that Testi∣mony from Heaven, and the union of all Circumstances, they fell down and worshipped him, after the manner of the Easterlings when they do veneration to their Kings; not with an empty Ave and gay blessing of fine words, but they bring presents, and come into his Courts; for when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts, Gold,* 1.52 Frankincense, and Myrrh. And if these Gifts were mysterious beyond the acknow∣ledgment* 1.53 of him to be the King of the Jews, and Christ that should come into the world; Frankincense might signifie him to be acknowledged a God, Myrrh to be a Man, and* 1.54 Gold to be a King: Unless we chuse by Gold to signifie the acts of Mercy, by Myrrh* 1.55 the Chastity of minds and Purity of our bodies, to the incorruption of which Myrrh is especially instrumental, and by 〈◊〉〈◊〉 we intend our * 1.56 Prayers, as the most apt pre∣sents and oblations to the honour and service of this young King. But however the fan∣cies of Religion may represent variety of Idea's, the act of Adoration was direct and re∣ligious,* 1.57 and the Myrrh was medicinal to his tender body; the Incense possibly no more than was necessary in a Stable, the first throne of his Humility; and the Gold was a good Antidote against the present indigencies of his Poverty: Presents such as were used in all the Levant, (especially in Arabia and Saba, to which the growth of Myrrh and Frankincense were proper) in their addresses to their God and to their King, and were instruments with which under the veil of Flesh they worshipped the Eternal Word; the Wisdom of God under infant Innocency, the Almighty Power in so great Weakness, and under the lowness of Humane nature the altitude of Majesty and the in∣finity of Divine Glory. And so was verified the prediction of the Prophet * 1.58 Esay under the type of the son of the Prophetess, Before a child shall have knowledge to cry, My Fa∣ther and my Mother, he shall take the spoil of Damascus and Samaria from before the King of Assyria.

13. When they had paid the tribute of their Offerings and Adoration, Being warned in their sleep by an Angel not to return to Herod, they returned into their own countrey ano∣ther way: where, having been satisfied with the pleasures of Religion, and taught by that rare demonstration which was made by Christ, how Man's Happiness did nothing at all consist in the affluence of worldly Possessions, or the tumours of Honour; having seen the Eternal Son of God poor and weak, and unclothed of all exteriour Ornaments; they renounced the World, and retired empty into the recesses of Religion, and the delights of Philosophy.

Ad SECT. IV. Considerations upon the Apparition of the Angels to the Shepherds.

1. WHen the Angels saw that come to pass which Gabriel the great Embassador of God had declared, that which had been prayed for and expected four thousand years, and that by the merits of this new-born Prince their younger bre∣thren and inferiours in the order of Intelligent creatures were now to be redeem∣ed, that Men should partake the glories of their secret habitations, and should fill

up those void places which the fall of Lucifer and the third part of the Stars had made, their joy was great as their understanding, and these mountains did leap with joy, be∣cause the valleys were filled with benediction and a fruitful shower from Heaven. And if at the Conversion of one sinner there is jubilation and a festival kept among the Angels, how great shall we imagine this rejoycing to be, when Salvation and Redemption was sent to all the World? But we also, to whom the joy did more personally relate, (for they rejoyced for our sakes) should learn to estimate the grace done us, and believe there is something very extraordinary in the Piety and Salvation of a man, when the Angels, who in respect of us are unconcern'd in the communications, rejoyce with the joy of Conquerors, or persons suddenly 〈◊〉〈◊〉 from tortures and death.

2. But the Angels also had other motions: for besides the pleasures of that joy which they had in beholding Humane nature so highly exalted, and that God was Man, and Man was God; they were transported with admiration at the ineffable Counsel of God's Predestination, prostrating themselves with adoration and modesty, seeing God so humbled, and Man so changed, and so full of charity, that God stooped to the condi∣tion of Man, and Man was inflam'd beyond the love of Seraphims, and was made more knowing than Cherubims, more established than Thrones, more happy than all the orders of Angels. The issue of this consideration teaches us to learn their Charity, and to exterminate all the intimations and beginnings of Envy, that we may as much rejoyce at the good of others as of our selves: for then we love good for God's sake, when we love good whereever God hath placed it; and that joy is charitable which overflows our neighbours fields, when our selves are unconcerned in the personal ac∣cruements; for so we are made partakers of all that fear God, when Charity unites their joy to ours, as it makes us partakers of their common sufferings.

3. And now the Angels, who had adored the Holy Jesus in Heaven, come also to pay their homage to him upon Earth; and laying aside their flaming swords they take into their hands instruments of musick, and sing, Glory be to God on high. First signi∣fying to us, that the Incarnation of the Holy Jesus was a very great instrument of the glorification of God, and those divine Perfections in which he is chiefly pleased to com∣municate himself to us were in nothing manifested so much as in the mysteriousness of this work. Secondly, And in vain doth man satisfie himself with complacencies and ambitious designs upon earth, when he sees before him God in the form of a servant, humble, and poor, and crying, and an infant full of need and weakness.

4. But God hath pleased to reconcile his Glory with our eternal Benefit; and that also was part of the Angels song, In earth peace to men of good will. For now we need not with Adam to fly from the presence of the Lord, saying, I heard thy voice, and I was afraid, and hid my self; for he from whom our sins made us once to flie now weeps, and is an infant in his Mother's arms, seeking strange means to be reconciled to us, hath forgotten all his anger, and is swallowed up with love, and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 with irradiations of amorous affections and good will: and the effects of this good will are not referred on∣ly to persons of heroical and eminent graces and operations, of vast and expensive chari∣ties, of prodigious abstinencies, of eremitical retirements, of ascetical diet, of perfect Religion, and canoniz'd persons; but to all men of good will, whose Souls are hallowed with holy purposes and pious desires, though the beauties of the Religion and holy thoughts were not spent in exterior acts, nor called out by the opportunities of a rich and expressive fortune.

5. But here we know where the seat and regiment of Peace is placed, and all of it must pass by us and descend upon us as duty and reward. It proceeds from the Word Incarnate, from the Son of God undertaking to reconcile us to his Father; and it is mi∣nistred and consigned unto us by every event and act of Providence, whether it be de∣cyphered in characters of paternal Indulgence, or of Correction, or Absolution. For that is not Peace from above, to have all things according to our humane and natural wishes; but to be in favour with God, that is Peace; always remembring, that to be chastised by him is not a certain testimony of his mere wrath, but to all his servants a character of love and of paternal provision, since he chastises every son whom he receives. Whosoever seeks to avoid all this world's Adversity, can never find Peace: but he only who hath resolved all his Affections and placed them in the heart of God, he who denies his own Will, and hath killed Self-love, and all those enemies within that make Affli∣ctions to become Miseries indeed and full of bitterness, he only enjoys this Peace; and in proportion to every man's Mortification and Self-denial, so are the degrees of his Peace: and this is the Peace which the Angel proclaimed at the enunciation of that Birth which taught Humility, and Contempt of things below, and all their

vainer glories, by the greatest argument in the world, even the Poverty of God incar∣nate. And if God sent his own, natural, only-begotten and beloved Son, in all the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of Poverty and contempt; that person is vain who thinks God will love him better than he loved his own Son, or that he will express his love any other or gentler way than to make him partaker of the fortune of his eldest Son. There is one other postern to the dwellings of Peace, and that is, good will to Men; for so much Charity as we have to others, such a measure of Peace also we may enjoy at home: For Peace was only proclaimed to Men of good will, to them that are at peace with God and all the World.

6. But the Angel brought the Message to Shepherds, to persons simple and mean and humble, persons likely to be more apprehensive of the Mystery, and less of the Scandal, of the Poverty of the Messias: for they whose custom or affections dwell in secular Pomps, who are not used by Charity or Humility to stoop to an Evenness and conside∣ration of their brethren, of equal natures though of unequal fortunes, are persons of all the world most indisposed and removed from the understanding of spiritual excellencies, especially when they do not come clothed with advantages of the world, and of such beauties which they admire. God himself in Poverty comes in a prejudice to them that love Riches, and * 1.59 Simplicity is Folly to crafty persons, a Mean birth is an ignoble stain, Beg∣gery is a scandal, and the Cross an unanswerable objection. But the Angel's moral in the circumstance of his address, and inviting the poor Shepherds to Bethlehem, is, That none are fit to come to Christ but those who are poor in spirit, despisers of the world, simple in their hearts, without craft and secu∣lar designs; and therefore neither did the Angel tell the story to Herod, nor to the Scribes and Pharisees, whose ambition had ends contradictory to the simplicity and poverty of the Birth of Jesus.

7. These Shepherds when they conversed with Angels were watching over their flocks by night; no Revellers, but in a painful and dangerous imployment, the work of an honest Calling, securing their Folds against incursions of wild beasts, which in those Countries are not seldom or infrequent. And Christ being the great Shepherd, (and possibly for the analogie's sake the sooner manifested to Shepherds,) hath made his Ministers overseers of their Flocks, distinguished in their particular Folds, and con∣veys the mysteriousness of his Kingdom first to the Pastors, and by their ministery to the Flocks: But although all of them be admitted to the ministery, yet those only to the interiour recesses and nearer imitations of Jesus who are watchful over their Flocks, assiduous in their labours, painful in their sufferings, present in the dangers of the Sheep, ready to interpose their persons and sacrifice their lives; these are Shepherds who first converse with Angels, and finally shall enter into the presence of the Lord. But besides this symbol, we are taught in the significations of the letter, That he that is diligent in the business of an honest Calling, is then doing service to God, and a work so pleasing to him who hath appointed the sons of men to labour, that to these Shep∣herds he made a return and recompence by the conversation of an Angel; and hath ad∣vanced the reputation of an honest and a mean imployment to such a testimony of ac∣ceptance, that no honest person, though busied in meaner offices, may ever hereafter in the estimation of Christ's disciples become contemptible.

8. The signs which the Angel gave to discover the Babe were no marks of Lustre and Vanity, but they should find, 1. a Babe, 2. swadled, 3. lying in a Manger: the first a testimony of his Humility, the second of his Poverty, the third of his Incommo∣dity and uneasiness; for Christ came to combate the whole body of Sin, and to destroy every Province of Satan's Kingdom; for these are direct antinomies to the Lusts of the flesh, the Last of the eyes, and the Pride of life. Against the first Christ opposed his hard and uneasie Lodging; against the second, the poorness of his Swadling-bands and Mantle; and the third is combated by the great dignation and descent of Christ from a Throne of Majesty to the state of a sucking Babe. And these are the first Lessons he hath taught us for our imitation; which that we may the better do, as we must take him for our pattern, so also for our helper, and pray to the Holy Child, and he will not only teach us, but also give us power and ability.

The PRAYER.

O Blessed and Eternal Jesu, at whose Birth the Quires of Angels sang praises to God, and proclaimed peace to Men, sanctifie my Will and inferiour Affections; make me to be within the conditions of Peace, that I be holy and mortified, a despiser of the world and exteri∣our vanities, humble and charitable; that by thy eminent example I may be so fixed in the de∣signs and prosecution of the Ends of God and a blissful Eternity, that I be unmoved with the terrors of the world, unaltered with its allurements and seductions, not ambitious of its ho∣nour, not desirous of its fulness and plenty; but make me diligent in the imployment thou gi∣vest me, faithful in discharge of my trust, modest in my desires, content in the issues of thy Providence: that in such dispositions I may receive and entertain visitations from Heaven, and Revelations of the Mysteries and blisses Evangelical; that by such directions I may be brought into thy presence, there to see thy Beauties and admire thy Graces, and imitate all thy imitable Excellencies, and rest in thee for ever, in this world by the perseverance of a ho∣ly and comfortable life, and in the world to come in the participation of thy essential Glories and Felicities, O Blessed and Eternal Jesus.

Considerations of the Epiphany of the B. Jesus by a Star, and the Adoration of Jesus by the Eastern Magi.

1. GOD, who is the universal Father of all Men, at the Nativity of the Messias gave notice of it to all the World, as they were represented by the grand Divi∣sion of Jews and Gentiles; to the Jewish Shepherds by an Angel, to the Eastern Magi by a Star. For the Gospel is of universal dissemination, not confined within the li∣mits of a national Prerogative, but Catholick and diffused. As God's Love was, so was the dispensation of it, without respect of persons: for all being included under the curse of Sin, were to him equal and indifferent, undistinguishable objects of Mercy. And Jesus, descended of the Jews, was also the expectation of the Gentiles, and there∣fore communicated to all: the Grace of God being like the air we breathe, and it hath* 1.60 appeared to all men, saith S. Paul; but the conveyances and communications of it were different in the degrees of clarity and illustration. The Angel told the Shepherds the story of the Nativity plainly and literally: The Star invited the Wise men by its rare∣ness and preternatural apparition; to which also, as by a foot-path, they had been led by the Prophecy of Balaam.

2. But here first the Grace of God prevents us; without him we can do nothing; he lays the first Stone in every Spiritual Building, and then expects by that strength he first gave us that we make the Superstructures. But as a Stone thrown into a River first moves the water, and disturbs its surface into a Circle, and then its own force wafts the neighbouring drops into a larger figure by its proper weight: so is the Grace of God the first principle of our spiritual motion, and when it moves us into its own fi∣gure, and hath actuated and ennobled our natural Powers by the influence of that first incentive, we continue the motion, and enlarge the progress. But as the Circle on the face of the waters grows weaker till it hath smoothed it self into a natural and even current, unless the force be renewed or continued: so does all our natural endeavour, when first set a-work by God's preventing Grace, decline to the imperfection of its own kind, unless the same force be made energetical and operative by the continuation and renewing of the same supernatural influence.

3. And therefore the Eastern Magi, being first raised up into wonder and curiosity by the apparition of the Star, were very far from finding Jesus by such general and in∣definite significations; but then the goodness of God's Grace increased its own influ∣ence;* 1.61 for an inspiration from the Spirit of God admonished them to observe the Star, shewed the Star that they might find it, taught them to acknowledge it, instructed them to understand its purpose, and invited them to follow it, and never left them till they had found the Holy Jesus. Thus also God deals with us. He gives us the first Grace, and adds the second; he enlightens our Understandings, and actuates our Fa∣culties,

and sweetly allures us by the proposition of Rewards, and wounds us with the arrows of his Love, and inflames us with fire from Heaven; ever giving us new assi∣stances or increasing the old, refreshing us with comforts or arming us with patience; sometimes stirring our affections by the lights held out to our Understanding, some∣times bringing confirmation to our understanding by the motion of our Affections, till by variety of means we at last arrive at Lethlehem, in the service and entertainments of the Holy Jesus. Which we shall certainly do, if we follow the invitations of Grace and exteriour assistances which are given us to instruct us, to help us, and to invite us, but not to force our endeavours and cooperations.

4. As it was an unsearchable wisdom, so it was an unmeasurable grace of Provi∣dence and dispensation which God did exhibit to the Wise men, to them, as to all men, disposing the Ministeries of his Grace sweetly, and by proportion to the capacities of the person suscipient. For God called the Gentiles by such means which their Cu∣stoms and Learning had made prompt and easie. For these Magi were great Philoso∣phers and Astronomers, and therefore God sent a miraculous Star to invite and lead them to a new and more glorious light, the lights of Grace and Glory. And God so blessed them in following the Star, to which their innocent Curiosity and national Cu∣stoms were apt to lead them; that their Custom was changed to Grace, and their Learning heightned with Inspiration, and God crowned all with a spiritual and glori∣ous event. It was not much unlike, which God did to the Princes and Diviners among the Philistines, who sent the Ark back with five golden Emrods and five gol∣den Mice; an act proportionable to the Custom and sense of their Nation and Religi∣on: yet God accepted their opinion and divination to the utmost end they designed it, and took the plagues of Emrods and Mice from them. For oftentimes the Custom or the Philosophy of the opinions of a Nation are made instrumental, through God's ac∣ceptance, to ends higher than they can produce by their own energy and intendment. And thus the Astrological Divinations of the Magi were turned into the order of a grea∣ter design than the whole Art could promise, their imployment being altered into Grace, and Nature into a Miracle. But then when the Wise men were brought by this means, and had seen Jesus, then God takes ways more immediate and proportio∣nable to the Kingdom of Grace: the next time God speaks to them by an Angel. For so is God's usual manner to bring us to him; first, by ways agreeable to us, and then to increase, by ways agreeable to himself. And when he hath furnished us with new capacities, he gives new Lights in order to more perfect imployments: and, To him that hath shall be given full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over; the eternal kindness of God being like the Sea, which delights to run in its old Chanel, and to fill the hollownesses of the Earth which it self hath made, and hath once wate∣red.

5. This Star, which conducted the Wise men to Bethlehem, (if at least it was pro∣properly a Star, and not an Angel) was set in its place to be seen by all; but was not observed, or not understood, nor its message obeyed, by any but the three Wise men. And indeed no man hath cause to complain of God, as if ever he would be deficient in assistances necessary to his Service; but first the Grace of God separates us from the common condition of incapacity and indisposition, and then we separate our selves one from another by the use or neglect of this Grace: and God doing his part to us, hath cause to complain of us, who neglect that which is our portion of the work. And however even the issues and the kindnesses of God's Predestination and antecedent Mer∣cy do very much toward the making the Grace to be effective of its purpose, yet the manner of all those influences and operations being moral, perswasive, reasonable and divisible, by concourse of various circumstances, the cause and the effect are brought nearer and nearer in various suscipients; but not brought so close together, but that God expects us to do * 1.62 something towards it; so that we may say with S. Paul, It is not I, but the Grace of God that is with me: and at the same time, when by reason of our cooperation we actuate and improve God's Grace, and become distinguished from other persons more negligent under the same opportunities, God is he who also does distin∣guish us by the proportions and circumstantiate applications of his Grace to every sin∣gular capacity; that we may be careful not to neglect the Grace, and yet to * 1.63 return the intire glory to God.

6. Although God, to second the generous design of these wise personages in their* 1.64 Enquiry of the new Prince, made the Star to guide them through the difficulties of their journey, yet when they came to Jerusalem the Star disappeared; God so resol∣ving to try their Faith, and the activity of their desires; to remonstrate to them

that God is the Lord of all his Creatures, and a voluntary Dispenser of his own favours, and can as well take them away as indulge them; and to engage them upon the use of ordinary means and ministeries when they are to be had: for now the extraordinary and miraculous Guide for a time did cease, that they being at Jerusalem might enquire of them whose office and profession of sacred Mysteries did oblige them to publish the MESSIAS. For God is so great a lover of Order, so regular and certain an exactor* 1.65 of us to use those ordinary ministeries of his own appointing, that he having used the extraordinary but as Architects do frames of wood, to support the Arches till they be built, takes them away when the work is ready, and leaves us to those other of his designation; and hath given such efficacy to these, that they are as perswasive and operative as a Miracle; and S. Paul's Sermon would convert as many, as if Moses should rise from the grave. And now the Doctrines of Christianity have not only the same truth, but the same evidence and virtue also they had in the midst of those prime demonstrations extraordinary by Miracle and Prophecy, if men were equally dispo∣sed.

7. When they were come to the Doctors of the Jews, they asked confidently, and with great openness, under the ear and eye of a Tyrant Prince, bloudy and timorous, jealous and ambitious, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? and so gave evidence of their Faith, of their Magnanimity, and fearless confidence and profession of it, and of their love of the mystery and object, in pursuance of which they had taken so trouble∣some and vexatious journeys: and besides that they upbraided the tepidity and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 baseness of the Jewish Nation, who stood unmoved and unconcerned by all the Cir∣cumstances of wonder, and stirred not one step to make enquiry after or to visit the new-born King; they also teach us to be open and confident in our Religion and Faith, and not to consider our temporal, when they once come to contest against our Religious interests.

8. The Doctors of the Jews told the Wise men where Christ was to be born, the Magi they address themselves with haste to see him and to worship, and the Doctors themselves stir not; God not only serving himself with truth out of the mouths of im∣pious persons, but magnifying the recesses of his Counsel and Wisdom and Predestina∣tion, who uses the same Doctrine to glorifie himself and to confound his enemies, to save the Scholars and to condemn the Tutors, to instruct one and upbraid the other; making it an instrument of Faith, and a conviction of Infidelity: the Sermons of the Doctors in such cases being like the spoils of Bevers, Sheep and Silk-worms, design'd to clothe others, and are made the occasions of their own nakedness, and the causes of their death. But as it is a demonstration of the Divine Wisdom, so it is of humane Folly; there being no greater imprudence in the world, than to do others advantage, and to neglect our own. If thou dost well unto thy 〈◊〉〈◊〉, men will speak good of thee:* 1.66 but if thou beest like a Chanel in a Garden, through which the water runs to cool and moisten the herbs, but nothing for its own use; thou buildest a fortune to them upon the ruines of thine own house, while after thy preaching to others, thou thy self dost become a cast-away.

9. When the Wise men departed from Jerusalem, the Star again appeared, and they rejoyced with exceeding great joy: and indeed to new Converts and persons in their first addresses to the worship of God such spiritual and exterior Comforts are often in∣dulged, because then God judges them to be most necessary, as being invitations to Du∣ty by the entertainments of our affections with such sweetnesses, which represent the glory of the reward by the Antepasts and refreshments dispensed even in the ruggedness of the way, and incommodities of the journey. All other delights are the pleasures of Beasts, or the sports of Children; these are the Antepasts and preventions of the full Feasts and overflowings of Eternity.

10. When they came to Bethlehem, and the Star pointed them to a Stable, they en∣tred in, and being enlightned with a Divine Ray proceeding from the face of the Holy Child, and seeing through the cloud, and passing through the scandal of his mean Lodging and poor condition, they bowed themselves to the earth; first giving them∣selves an Oblation to this great King, then they made offering of their Gifts; for a man's person is first accepted, then his Gift; God first regarded Abel, and then accepted his Offering: which we are best taught to understand by the present instance; for it means no more, but that all outward Services and Oblations are made acceptable by the prior presentation of an inward Sacrifice. If we have first presented our selves, then our Gift is pleasant, as coming but to express the truth of the first Sacrifice; but if our Persons be not first made a Holocaust to God, the lesser Oblations of outward Presents

are like Sacrifices without Salt and Fire, nothing to make them pleasant or religious. For all other sences of this Proposition charge upon God the distinguishing and accepta∣tion of Persons, against which he solemnly protests: God regards no man's Person, but according to the doing of his Duty; but then God is said first to accept the Person, and then the Gist, when the Person is first sanctified and given to God by the vows and habits of a holy life, and then all the actions of his Religion are homogeneal to their principle, and accepted by the acceptation of the man.

11. These Magi presented to the Holy Babe Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh, pro∣testing their Faith of three Articles by the symbolical Oblation: By Gold, that he was a King; by Incense, that he was a God; by Myrrh, that he was a Man. And the Presents also were representative of interiour Vertues: the Myrrh signifying Faith, Mortification, Chastity, Compunction, and all the actions of the Purgative way of Spiritual life; the Incense signifying Hope, Prayer, Obedience, good Intention, and all the actions and Devotions of the Illuminative; the giving the Gold representing Love to God and our Neighbours, the Contempt of riches, Poverty of spirit, and all the eminencies and spiritual riches of the Unitive life. And these Oblations if we pre∣sent to the Holy Jesus, both our Persons and our Gifts shall be accepted, our Sins shall be purged, our Understandings enlightned, and our Wills united to this Holy Child, and entitled to a communion of all his Glories.

12. And thus in one view and two Instances God hath drawn all the world to him∣self by his Son Jesus, in the Instance of the Shepherds and the Arabian Magi, Jews and Gentiles, Learned and Unlearned, Rich and Poor, Noble and Ignoble; that in him all Nations, and all Conditions, and all Families, and all persons might be* 1.67 blessed; having called all by one Star or other, by natural Reason or by the secrets of Philosophy, by the Revelations of the Gospel or by the ministery of Angels, by the Illuminations of the Spirit or by the Sermons and Dictates of spiritual Fathers; and hath consigned this Lesson to us, That we must never appear before the Lord empty, offering Gifts to him by the expences or by the affections of Charity, either the worshipping or the oblations of Religion, either the riches of the World or the love of the Soul: for if we cannot bring Gold with the rich Arabians, we may with the poor Shepherds come and kiss the Son, lest he be angry; and in all cases come and serve him with fear and reverence, and spiritual rejoycings.

The PRAYER.

MOst Holy Jesu, Thou art the Glory of thy people Israel, and a light to the Gentiles, and wert pleased to call the Gentiles to the adoration and knowledge of thy sacred Person and Laws, communicating the inestimable riches of thy holy Discipline to all, with an uni∣versal undistinguishing Love; give unto us spirits docible, pious, prudent and ductile, that no motion or invitation of Grace be ineffectual, but may produce excellent effects upon us, and the secret whispers of thy Spirit may prevail upon our Affections in order to Piety and Obedi∣ence, as certainly as the loudest and most clamorous Sermons of the Gospel. Create in us such Excellencies as are fit to be presented to thy glorious Majesty; accept of the Oblation of my self, and my entire services: but be thou pleased to verifie my Offering, and secure the pos∣session to thy self, that the enemy may not pollute the Sacrifice, or divide the Gift, or question the Title; but that I may be wholly thine, and for ever, clarifie my Understanding, sanctifie my Will, replenish my Memory with arguments of Piety; then shall I present to thee an Ob∣lation rich and precious as the treble gift of the Levantine Princes. Lord, I am thine, re∣ject me not from thy favour, exclude me not from thy presence; then shall I serve thee all the days of my life, and partake of the glories of thy Kingdom, in which thou reignest gloriously and eternally.

Amen.

SECT. V. Of the Circumcision of JESUS, and his Presentation in the Temple.

[illustration]

The Circumcision of Iesus.

S. LUKE. 2. 21.

And when eight daies were accomphshed for the circumcising of the Child, his name was cal¦led Iesus, which was so named of the angel, be∣fore he was conceived in the Wombe.

[illustration]

The Purification and Presentation.

S. LUKE. 2. 22.

And when the dayes of her purification were accomplished, they brought him to Ierusalem, to present him to the Lord.

1. AND now the Blessed Saviour of the World began to do the work of his Mission and our Redemption: and because Man had prevaricated all the Divine Commandments, to which all humane nature respectively to the persons of several capacities was obliged, and therefore the whole Nature was obnoxi∣ous to the just rewards of its demerits; first Christ was to put that Nature he had assu∣med into a saveable condition, by fulfilling his Father's preceptive will, and then to reconcile it actually, by suffering the just deservings of its Prevarications. He there∣fore addresses himself to all the parts of an active Obedience, and when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the Child, he exposed his tender body to the sharpness of the circumcising stone, and shed his bloud in drops, giving an earnest of those ri∣vers which he did afterwards pour out for the cleansing all Humane nature, and ex∣tinguishing the wrath of God.

2. He that had no sin, nor was conceived by natural generation, could have no ad∣herences to his Soul or Body which needed to be pared away by a Rite, and cleansed by a Mystery: neither indeed do we find it expressed, that * 1.68 Circumcision was ordain∣ed for abolition or pardon of original sin, (it is indeed presumed so) but it was institu∣ted to be a Seal of a Covenant between God and Abraham, and Abraham's posterity, a seal of the righteousness of Faith, and therefore was not improper for him to suffer who was the child of Abraham, and who was the Prince of the Covenant, and the author and finisher of that Faith which was consigned to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in Circumcision. But so my∣sterious were all the actions of Jesus, that this one served many ends. For 1. It gave demonstration of the verity of Humane nature. 2. So he began to fulfil the Law. 3. And took from himself the scandal of Uncircumcision, which would eternally have prejudiced the Jews against his entertainment and communion. 4. And then he took upon him that Name which declared him to be the Saviour of the World; which as it was consummate in the bloud of the Cross, so was it inaugurated in the bloud of Cir∣cumcision:

For when the eight days were accomplished for circumcising of the Child, his name was called JESUS.

3. But this holy Family, who had laid up their joys in the eyes and heart of God, longed till they might be permitted an address to the Temple, that there they might present the Holy Babe unto his Father; and indeed that he, who had no other, might be brought to his own house. For although, while he was a child, he did differ no∣thing from a servant, yet he was the Lord of the place: It was his Father's house, and he was the Lord of all; and therefore when the days of the Purification were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, to whom he was holy, as being the first-born; the first-born of his Mother, the only-begotten son of his Father, and the first-born of every creature. And they did with him according to the Law of Moses, offer∣ing a pair of Turtle-doves for his redemption.

4. But there was no publick act about this Holy Child but it was attended by some∣thing miraculous and extraordinary. And at this instant the Spirit of God directed a holy person into the Temple, that he might feel the fulfilling of a Prophecy made to himself, that he might before his death behold the Lord's CHRIST, and imbrace the glory and consolation of Israel and the light of the Gentiles in his arms: for old Simeon came by the Spirit into the Temple, and when the Parents brought in the Child Jesus, then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and prophesied, and spake glorious things of that Child, and things sad and glorious concerning his Mother; that the Child was set for the rising and falling of many in Israel, for a sign that should be spoken against; and the bit∣terness of that contradiction should pierce the heart of the holy Virgin-Mother like a Sword, that her joy at the present accidents might be attempered with present revela∣tion of her future trouble, and the excellent favour of being the Mother of God might be crowned with the reward of Martyrdom, and a Mother's love be raised up to an ex∣cellency great enough to make her suffer the bitterness of being transfixed with his love and sorrow as with a Sword.

5. But old Anna the Prophetess came also in, full of years and joy, and found the re∣ward of her long prayers and fasting in the Temple; the long-looked-for redemption of Israel was now in the Temple, and she saw with her eyes the Light of the World, the Heir of Heaven, the long-looked-for Messias, whom the Nations had desired and expected till their hearts were faint, and their eyes dim with looking farther and ap∣prehending greater distances. She also prophesied and gave thanks unto the Lord. But Joseph and his Mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.

Ad SECT. V. Considerations upon the Circumcision of the Holy Child JESVS.

1. WHen eight days were come, the Holy Jesus was circumcised, and shed the first∣fruits of his Bloud, offering them to God like the prelibation of a Sacrifice, and earnest of the great seas of effusion designed for his Passion, not for the expiation of any stain himself had contracted, for he was spotless as the face of the Sun, and had contracted no wrinkle from the aged and polluted brow of Adam; but it was an act of Obedience, and yet of Choice and voluntary susception, to which no obligation had passed upon him in the condition of his own person. For as he was included in the vierge of Abraham's posterity, and had put on the common outside of his Nation, his Parents had intimation enough to pass upon him the Sacrament of the National Covenant, and it became an act of excellent Obedience: but because he was a person extraordinary, and exempt from the reasons of Circumcision, and himself in person was to give period to the Rite, therefore it was an act of Choice in him, and in both the capacities becomes a precedent of Duty to us, in the first of Obedience, in the se∣cond of Humility.

2. But it is considerable, that the Holy Jesus, who might have pleaded his exem∣ption, especially in a matter of pain and dishonour, yet chose that way which was more severe and regular; so teaching us to be strict in our duties, and sparing in the rights of priviledge and dispensation. We pretend every indisposition of body to excuse us

from penal duties, from Fasting, From going to Church; and instantly we satisfie our selves with saying, God will have mercy, and not sacrifice; so making our selves Judges of our own privileges, in which commonly we are parties against God, and therefore like∣ly to pass unequal sentence. It is not an easie argument that will bring us to the severi∣ties and rigours of Duty, but we snatch at occasions of dispensation, and therefore pos∣sibly may mistake the justice of the opportunities by the importunities of our desires. However, if this too much easiness be in any case excusable from sin, yet in all cases it is an argument of infirmity, and the regular observation of the Commandment is the surer way to Perfection. For not every inconvenience of body is fit to be pleaded against the inconvenience of losing spiritual advantages, but only such which upon prudent account does intrench upon the Laws of Charity; or such whose consequent is likely to be im∣pediment of a duty in a greater degree of loss than the present omission. For the Spirit being in many perfections more eminent than the Body, all spiritual improvements have the same proportions; so that if we were just estimators of things, it ought not to be less than a great incommodity to the Body which we mean to prevent by the loss of a spiritual benefit, or the omission of a Duty: he were very improvident, who would lose a Finger for the good husbandry of saving a Ducat; and it would be an unhandsome excuse from the duties of Repentance to pretend care of the Body. The proportions and degrees of this are so nice and of so difficult determination, that men are more apt to untie the girdle of Discipline with the loose hands of dispensation and excuse, than to strain her too hard by the strictures and bindings of severity; but the errour were the surer on this side.

3. The Blessed Jesus refused not the signature of this bloudy Covenant, though it were the Character of a Sinner; and did Sacramentally rescind the impure reliques of Adam, and the contractions of evil customes; which was the greatest descent of Humi∣lity that is imaginable, that he should put himself to pain to be reckoned amongst sin∣ners, and to have their Sacraments and their Protestations, though his Innocence was pu∣rer than the flames of Cherubim. But we use arts to seem more righteous than we are, desiring rather to be accounted holy, than to be so; as thinking the vanity of Reputation more useful to us than the happiness of a remote and far distant Eternity. But if (as it is said) Circumcision was ordained, besides the signing of the Covenant, to abolish the guilt of Original sin, we are willing to confess that, it being no act of humiliation to con∣fess a crime that all the world is equally guilty of, that could not be avoided by our time∣liest industry, and that serves us for so many ends in the excuse and minoration of our actual impieties: so that as Diogenes trampled upon Plato's pride with a greater fastu∣ousness and humorous ostentation; so we do with Original sin, declaim against it bitter∣ly, to save the others harmless, and are free in the publication of this, that we may be in∣structed how to conceal the actual. The Blessed Jesus had in him no principle of Sin, original nor actual, and therefore this designation of his in submitting himself to the bloudy Covenant of Circumcision, which was a just express and Sacramental abscission of it, was an act of glorious Humility; yet our charging of our selves so promptly with Adam's fault, what-ever truth it may have in the strictness of Theology, hath (forsitan) but an ill end in Morality; and so I now consider it without any reflexion upon the pre∣cise Question.

4. For though the Fall of Adam lost to him all those supernatural assistences which God put into our Nature by way of Grace, yet it is by accident that we are more prone to many sins than we are to Vertue. Adam's sin did discompose his Understanding and Affections; and every sin we do does still make us more unreasonable, more violent, more sensual, more apt still to the multiplication of the same or the like actions: the first rebellion of the inferiour Faculties against the Will and Understanding, and every vi∣ctory the Flesh gets over the Spirit, makes the inferiour insolent, strong, tumultuous, do∣mineering and triumphant upon the proportionable ruines of the spirit, blinding our Reason and binding our Will; and all these violations of our Powers are increased by the perpetual ill customes, and false principles, and ridiculous guises of the World; which makes the later Ages to be worse than the * 1.69 former, unless some other accident do intervene to stop the ruine and declension of Vertue, such as are God's Judgments, the sending of Prophets, new imposition of Laws, messages from Heaven, diviner Insti∣tutions, such as in particular was the great Discipline of Christianity. And even in this sense here is origination enough for sin, and impairing of the reasonable Faculties of hu∣mane Souls, without charging our faults upon Adam.

5. But besides this, God, who hath propounded to Man glorious conditions, and de∣sign'd him to an excellent state of Immortality, hath required of him such a duty as shall

put man to labour, and present to God a service of a free and difficult obedience. For therefore God hath given us Laws which come cross and are restraints to our natural inclinations, that we may part with something in the service of God which we value. For although this is nothing in respect of God, yet to Man it is the greatest he can do. What thanks were it to man to obey God in such things which he would do though he were not commanded? But to leave all our own desires, and to take up objects of God's propounding contrary to our own, and desires against our Nature, this is that which GOD design'd as a sacrifice of our selves to him. And therefore God hath made many of his Laws to be prohibitions in the matter of natural pleasure, and restraints of our sensitive appetite. Now this being become the matter of Di∣vine Laws, that we should in many parts and degrees abstain from what pleases our senses, by this supervening accident it happens that we are very hardly wea∣ned from sin, but most easily tempted to a Vice. And then we think we have rea∣son to lay the fault upon Original sin and natural aversation from goodness, when this inclination to Vice is but accidental, and occasional upon the matter and san∣ction of the Laws. Our Nature is not contrary to Vertue, for the Laws of Na∣ture and right Reason do not only oblige us, but * 1.70 incline us to it; but the in∣stances of some Vertues are made to come cross to our Nature, that is, to our na∣tural appetites, by reason of which it comes to pass that (as * 1.71 S. Paul says) we are by nature the children of wrath, meaning, that by our natural inclinations we are disposed to contradict those Laws which lay fetters upon them, we are apt to satisfie the Lusts of the Flesh, for in these he there instances.

6. But in things intellectual and spiritual, where neither the one nor the other 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the sensual part, we are indifferent to Vertue or to Vice, and when we do amiss, it is wholly and in all degrees inexcusably our own fault. In the Old Law, when it was a duty to swear by the God of Israel in solemn causes, men were apt enough to swear by him only; and that sometimes the Israelites did swear by the Queen of Heaven, it was by the ill example and desires to comply with the neighbour Nations, whose Daughters they sometime married, or whose armes they feared, or whose friendship they desired, or with whom they did negotiate. It is indifferent to us to love our Fathers and to love strangers, according as we are determined by custom or education. Nay, for so much of it as is natural and original, we are more inclined to love them than to disrepute them; and if we disobey them, it is when any injunction of theirs comes cross to our natural de∣sires and purposes. But if from our infancy we be told concerning a stranger that he is our Father, we frame our affections to nature, and our nature to custome and education, and are as apt to love him who is not, and yet is said to be, as him who is said not to be, and yet indeed is our natural Father.

7. And in sensual things, if GOD had commanded Polygamy or promiscuous Concubinate, or unlimited Eatings and Drinkings, it is not to be supposed but that we should have been ready enough to have obeyed God in all such impositions; and the sons of Israel never murmured when God bad them borrow jewels and ear-rings; and spoil the Egyptians: But because God restrained these desires, our duties are the harder, because they are fetters to our Liberty, and contradictions to those natural in∣clinations, which also are made more active by evil custom and unhandsome educati∣ons. From which Premisses we shall observe in order to practice, That sin creeps up∣on us in our education * 1.72 so tacitely and undiscernibly, that we mistake the cause of it, and yet so prevalently and effectually, that we judge it to be our very nature, and charge it upon A∣dam, to lessen the imputation upon us, or to increase the licence or the confidence, when every one of us is the Adam, the man* 1.73 of sin, and the parent of our own impurities. For it is noto∣rious that our own iniquities do so discompose our naturals,* 1.74 and evil customs and examples do so incourage impiety, and the Law of God enjoyns such Vertues which do violence to Na∣ture, that our proclivity to sin is occasioned by the accident, and is caused by our selves; * 1.75 what-ever mischief Adam did to us, we do more to our selves. We are taught to be revengeful* 1.76 * 1.77

in our Cradles; and are taught to strike our Neighbour as a means to still our froward∣ness, and to satisfie our wranglings. Our Nurses teach us to know the greatness of our Birth, or the riches of our Inheritance, or they learn us to be proud, or to be impatient, before they learn us to know God, or to say our Prayers. And then, because the use of Reason comes at no definite time, but insensibly and divisibly, we are permitted such acts with impunity too long, deferring to repute them to be sins, till the habit is grown strong, natural and masculine: and because from the infancy it began in inolinations, and tender overtures and slighter actions, Adam is laid in the fault, and Original sin did all: and this clearly we therefore confess, * 1.78 that our faults may seem the less, and the misery be pretended natural, that it may be thought to be irremediable, and therefore we not engaged to endeavour a cure; so that the confession of our original sin is no imi∣tation of Christ's Humility in suffering Circumcision, but too often an act of Pride, Care∣lesness, Ignorance and Security.

8. At the Circumcision his Parents imposed the Holy Name told to the Virgin by the Angel, his Name was called JESUS; a Name above every name. For in old times God was known by names of Power, of Nature, of Majesty: But his name of Mercy was reserved till now, when God did purpose to pour out the whole treasure of his Mercy by the mediation and ministry of his Holy Son. And because God gave to the Holy Babe the name in which the treasures of Mercy were deposited, and exalted this name above all names, we are taught that the purpose of his Counsel was, to exalt and magnifie his Mercy above all his other works,* 1.79 he being delighted with this excellent demonstration of it, in the Mission, and Manifestation, and Crucifixion of his Son; he hath changed the ineffable Name into a name utterable by man, and desirable by all the world, the Majesty is all arrayed* 1.80 in robes of Mercy, the Tetragrammation or adorable Mystery of the Patriarchs is made fit for pronunciation and expression when it becometh the name of the Lord's CHRIST. And if JEHOVAH be full of majesty and terrour, the name JESUS is full of sweetness and mercy. It is GOD clothed with circumstances of facility, and opportunities of approximation. The great and highest name of GOD could not be pronounced truly, till it came to be sinished with a Guttural that made up the name given by this Angel to the Holy Child; nor God received or entertained by men, till he was made humane and sensible by the adoption of a sensitive nature, like Vowels pronunciable by the intertexture of a Con∣sonant. Thus was his Person made tangible, and his Name utterable, and his Mercy brought home to our necessities, and the Mystery made explicate, at the Circumcision of this Holy Babe.

9. But now God's mercy was at full Sea, now was the time when God made no re∣serves to the effusion of his mercy. For to the Patriarchs and persons of eminent San∣ctity and imployment in the elder Ages of the World, God, according to the degrees of his manifestation or present purpose, would give them one letter of this ineffable Name. For the reward that Abraham had in the change of his name was, that he had the honour done him to have one of the letters of Jehovah put into it; and so had Joshua, when he was a type of Christ, and the Prince of the Israelitish Armies: and when God took a∣way one of these letters, it was a curse. But now he communicated all the whole Name* 1.81 to this Holy Child, and put a letter more to it, to signifie that he was the glory of God, the express image of his Father's person, God Eternal; and then manifested to the World in his Humanity, that all the intelligent world who expected Beatitude, and had treasu∣red all their hopes in the ineffable Name of GOD, might find them all with ample re∣turns in this Name of JESUS, which God hath exalted above every name, even above that by which God in the Old Testament did represent the greatest awfulness of his Majesty. This miraculous Name is above all the powers of Magical Inchantments, the nightly rites of Sorcerers, the Secrets of Memphis, the Drugs of Thessaly, the silent and mysterious Murmurs of the wise Chaldees, and the Spells of Zoroastres: This is the Name at which the Devils did tremble, and pay their inforced and involuntary adorations, by confessing the Divinity, and quitting their possessions and usurped habitations. If our prayers be made in this Name, God opens the windows of Heaven, and rains down be∣nediction: at the mention of this Name the blessed Apostles, and Hermione the daughter of St. Philip, and Philotheus the son of Theophila, and St. Hilarion, and St. Paul the E∣remite, and innumerable other Lights who followed hard after the Sun of Righteous∣ness.

wrought great and prodigious Miracles: Signs and wonders and healings were done by the Name of the Holy Child JESUS. This is the Name which we should ingrave in our hearts, and write upon our fore-heads, and pronounce with our most harmoni∣ous accents, and rest our faith upon, and place our hopes in, and love with the over∣flowings of charity, and joy, and adoration. And as the revelation of this Name sa∣tisfied the hopes of all the World, so it must determine our worshippings, and the ad∣dresses of our exteriour and interiour Religion: it being that Name whereby God and God's mercies are made presential to us, and proportionate objects of our Religion and affections.

The PRAYER.

MOst Holy and ever-Blessed Jesu, who art infinite in Essence, glorious in Mercy, my∣sterious in thy Communications, affable and presential in the descents of thy Humani∣ty; I adore thy glorious Name, whereby thou hast shut up the abysses, and opened the gates of Heaven, restraining the power of Hell, and discovering and communicating the treasures of thy Father's mercies. O Jesu, be thou a JESUS unto me, and save me from the pre∣cipices and ruines of sin, from the expresses of thy Father's wrath, from the miseries and un∣sufferable torments of accursed spirits, by the power of thy Majesty, by the sweetnesses of thy Mercy, and sacred influences and miraculous glories of thy Name. I adore and wor∣ship thee in thy excellent Obedience and Humility, who hast submitted thy Innocent and spotless flesh to the bloudy Covenant of Circumcision. Teach me to practise so blessed and holy a precedent, that I may be humble and obedient to thy sacred Laws, severe and regular in my Religion, mortified in my body and spirit, of circumcised heart and tongue; that what thou didst represent in symbol and mysterie, I may really express in the exhibition of an exem∣plar, pious and mortified life, cutting off all excrescences of my spirit, and whatsoever may minister to the flesh, or any of its ungodly desires; that now thy holy Name is called upon me, I may do no dishonour to the Name, nor scandal to the Institution, but may do thee honour and worship and adorations of a pure Religion, O most Holy and ever-Blessed JESU.

Amen.

DISCOURSE II. Of the Vertue of Obedience.

1. THere are certain Excellencies either of habit or consideration, which Spiritual persons use to call General ways, being a dispersed influence into all the parts of good life, either directing the single actions to the right end, or managing them with right instruments, and adding special excellencies and formalities to them, or morally in∣viting to the repetition of them; but they are like the general medicaments in Physick, or the prime instruments in Mathematical Disciplines: such as are the consideration of the Divine presence, the Example of JESUS, right Intention; and such also is the vertue of Obedience, which perfectly unites our actions to God, and conforms us to the Divine will, which is the original of goodness, and sanctifies and makes a man an ho∣locaust to God, which contains in it eminently all other Graces, but especially those Gra∣ces whose essence consists in a conformity of a part or the whole, (such are Faith, Hu∣mility, Patience and Charity;) which gives quietness and tranquillity to the spirit, and is an Antepast of Paradise, (where their Jubilee is the perpetual joys of Obedience, and their doing is the enjoying the Divine pleasure;) which adds an excellency and lustre to pious actions, and hallows them which are indifferent, and lifts up some actions from their unhallowed nature to circumstances of good and of acceptation. If a man says his prayers or communicates out of custome, or without intuition of the Precept and divine Commandment, the act is like a Ship returning from her voyage without her venture and her burthen, as unprofitable as without stowage: But if God commands us either to eat or to abstain, to sleep or to be waking, to work or to keep a Sabbath;

these actions, which are naturally neither good nor evil, are sanctified by the Obedi∣ence, and rank'd amongst actions of the greatest excellency. And this also was it which made Abraham's offer to kill his Son, and the Israelites spoiling the Egyptians, to become acts laudable, and not unjust: they were acts of Obedience, and therefore had the same formality and essence with actions of the most spiritual Devotions. God's command is all our rule for practice, and our Obedience united to the Obedience of Jesus is all our title to acceptance.

2. But by Obedience I do not here mean the exteriour execution of the work, for so, Obedience is no Grace distinct from the acting any or all the Commandments: but besides the doing of the thing, (for that also must be presupposed) it is a sacrifice of our proper Will to God, a chusing the duty because God commands it. For beasts also carry burthens and do our commands by compulsion: and the fear of slaves and the ri∣gour of task-masters made the number of bricks to be compleated, when Israel groaned and cried to God for help. But sons that labour under the sweet paternal regiment of their Fathers, and the influence of love, they love the precept, and do the imposi∣tion, with the same purposes and compliant affections with which the Fathers made it. When Christ commanded us to renounce the World, there were some that did think it was a hard saying, and do so still; and the young rich man forsook him upon it: but Ananias and Sapphira, upon whom some violences were done by custome, or the excellent Sermons of the Apostles, sold their possessions too, but it was so against their will, that they retain'd part of it: but St. Paul did not only forsake all his secular for∣tunes, but counted all to be dross that he might gain Christ; he gave his Will, made an offertory of that, as well as of his goods, chusing the act which was enjoyned. This was the Obedience the Holy Jesus paid to his heavenly Father, so voluntary, that it was meat* 1.82 to him to do his Father's will.

3. And this was intended always by God, [My son, give me thy heart;] and parti∣cularly by the Holy Jesus, for in the saddest instance of all his Precepts, even that of suffering persecution, we are commanded to rejoyce, and to be exceeding glad. And so did those holy Martyrs in the primitive Ages, who upon just grounds, when God's glory or* 1.83 the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of the Church had interest in it, they offered themselves to Tyrants, and dared the violence of the most cruel and bowelless hang-men. And this is the best ob∣lation we can present to God. To offer Gold is a present fit to be made by young beginners* 1.84 in Religion, not by men in Christianity; yea, Crates the Theban threw his gold away, and so did Antisthenes: but to offer our Will to God, to give our selves, is the act of an Apostle, the proper act of Christians. And therefore when the Apostles made challenge of a reward for leaving all their possessions, Christ makes no reply to the instance, nor says, You who have left all, but, You who have followed me in the regeneration, shall sit upon twelve thrones, and judge the twelve Tribes of Israel: meaning, that the quitting the goods was nothing; but the obedience to Christ, that they followed Jesus in the Rege∣neration, going themselves in pursuit of him, and giving themselves to him, that was it which intitled them to a Throne.

4. And this therefore God enjoyns, that our offerings to him may be intire and com∣plete, that we pay him a holocaust, that we do his work without murmuring, and that his burthen may become easie, when it is born up by the wings of love and alacrity of spirit. For in effect this obedience of the Will is in true speaking and strict Theology nothing else but that Charity which gives excellency to Alms, and energy to Faith, and acceptance to all Graces. But I shall reduce this to particular and more minute con∣siderations.

5. First, We shall best know that our Will is in the obedience by our prompt under∣taking, by our chearful managing, by our swift execution; for all degrees of delay are degrees of immorigerousness and unwillingness. And since* 1.85 time is extrinsecal to the act, and alike to every part of it, no∣thing determines an action but the Opportunity without, and the desires and Willingress within. And therefore he who deliberates beyond his first opportunity, and exteriour deter∣mination and appointment of the act, brings fire and wood, but wants a Lamb for the sacrifice; and unless he offer up his Isaac, his beloved Will, he hath no ministery prepared for God's acceptance. He that does not repent to day, puts it to the Question whether he will repent at all or no. He that de∣fers Restitution when all the Circumstances are fitted, is not yet resolved upon the duty. And when he does it, if he does it against his will, he does but do honorary Penance with a Paper upon his hat, & a Taper in his hand; it may satisfie the Law, but not satisfie

his Conscience; it neither pleases himself, and less pleases God. A Sacrifice without a Heart was a sad and ominous presage in the superstition of the Roman Augurs, and so it is in the service of God; for what the exhibition of the work is to man, that the pre∣sentation of the Will is to God. It is but a cold Charity to a naked begger to say, God help thee, and do nothing; give him clothes, and he feels your Charity: But God, who is the searcher of the heart, his apprehension of actions relative to him is of the inward motions and addresses of the Will; and without this our exteriour services are like the paying of a piece of mony in which we have defaced the image, it is not currant.

6. Secondly, But besides the Willingness to do the acts of express command, the readi∣ness to do the Intimations and tacite significations of God's pleasure is the best testimony in the world that our Will is in the obedience. Thus did the Holy Jesus undertake a Nature of infirmity, and suffer a Death of shame and sorrow, and became obedient from the Circumcision even unto the death of the Cross; not staying for a Command, but because it was his Father's pleasure Mankind should be redeemed. For before the susception of it he was not a person subjicible to a Command: It was enough that he understood the inclinations and designs of his Father's Mercies. And therefore God hath furnished us with instances of uncommanded Piety to be a touchstone of our Obe∣dience. He that does but his endeavour about the express commands hath a bridle in his mouth, and is restrained by violence: but a willing spirit is like a greedy eye, de∣vours all it sees, and hopes to make some proportionable returns and compensations of duty for his infirmity, by taking in the intimations of God's pleasure. When God commands Chastity, he that undertakes a holy Coelibate hath great obedience to the command of Chastity. God bids us give Alms of our increase; he obeys this with great facility that sells all his goods, and gives them to the poor. And, provided our hasti∣ness to snatch at too much does not make us let go our duty, like the indiscreet loads of too forward persons, too big, or too inconvenient and uncombin'd, there is not in the world a greater probation of our prompt Obedience, than when we look farther than the precise Duty, swallowing that and more with our ready and hopeful purposes; nothing being so able to do miracles as Love, and yet nothing being so certainly accep∣ted as Love, though it could do nothing in productions and exteriour ministeries.

7. Thirdly, but God requires that our Obedience should have another excellency to make it a becoming present to the Divine acceptance; our Understanding must be sacri∣ficed too, and become an ingredient of our Obedience. We must also believe that whatsoever God commands is most fitting to be commanded, is most excellent in it self, and the best for us to do. The first gives our Affections and desires to God, and this also gives our Reason, and is a perfection of Obedience not communicable to the duties we owe to Man. For God only is Lord of this faculty, and, being the fountain of all wis∣dom, therefore commands our Understanding, because he alone can satisfie it. We are bound to obey humane Laws, but not bound to think the Laws we live under are the most prudent Constitutions in the World. But God's Commandments are not only a lantern to our feet, and a light unto our paths, but a rule to our Reason, and satis∣faction to our Understandings, as being the instruments of our address to God, and con∣veyances of his Grace, and manuductions to Eternity. And therefore St. John Climacus defines Obedience to be

An unexamined and unquestioned motion, a voluntary death and sepulture of the Will, a life without curiosity, a laying aside our own discretion in the midst of the riches of the most excellent understandings.

8. And certainly there is not in the world a greater strength against temptations than is deposited in an obedient Understanding, because that only can regulary produce the same affections, it admits of fewer degrees, and an infrequent alteration. But the acti∣ons proceeding from the Appetite, as it is determined by any other principle than a satis∣fied Understanding, have their heightnings and their declensions, and their changes and mutations according to a thousand accidents. Reason is more lasting than Desire, and with fewer means to be tempted; but Affections and motions of appetite, as they are procured by any thing, so may they expire by as great variety of causes. And therefore to serve God by way of Understanding is surer, and in it self, unless it be by the acciden∣tal increase of degrees, greater, than to serve him upon the motion and principle of passi∣ons and desires; though this be fuller of comfort and pleasure than the other. When Lot lived amongst the impure 〈◊〉〈◊〉, where his righteous Soul was in a continual agony, he had few exteriour incentives to a pious life, nothing to enkindle the sensible flame of burning desires toward Piety; but in the midst of all the discouragements of the world, nothing was left him but the way and precedency of a truly-informed Rea∣son and Conscience. Just so is the way of those wise souls who live in the midst of a

crooked and perverse generation: where Piety is out of countenance, where Austerity is ridiculous, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 under persecution, no Examples to lead us on; there the Under∣standing is left to be the guide, and it does the work the surest, for this makes the duty of many to be certain, regular, and chosen, constant, integral, and perpetual: but this way is like the life of an unmarried or a retired person, less of grief in it, and less of joy. But the way of serving God with the affections, and with the pleasures and entertain∣ments of desires, is the way of the more passionate and imperfect, not in a man's power to chuse or to procure; but comes by a thousand chances, meeting with a soft nature, credulous or weak, easie or ignorant, softned with fears or invited by forward desires.

9. Those that did live amidst the fervours of the primitive Charity, and were war∣med by their fires, grew inflamed by contact and vicinity to such burning and shining lights. And they therefore grew to high degrees of Piety, because then every man made judgment of his own actions by the proportions which he saw before him, and believed all descents from those greater examples to be so many degrees from the Rule: And he that lives in a College of devout persons will compare his own actions with the Devotion and customes of that Society, and not with the remisness of persons he hears of in story, but what he sees and lives with. But if we live in an Age of Indevotion, we think our selves well assoiled if we be warmer than their Ice; every thing which is above our example being eminent and conspicuous, though it be but like the light of a Gloworm or the sparkling of a Diamond, yet if it be in the midst of darkness, it is a goodly beauty. This I call the way of serving God by desires and affections: and this is altered by example, by publick manners, by external works, by the assignment of 〈◊〉〈◊〉, by designation of conventions for prayer, by periods and revolutions of times of duty, by hours and solemnities; so that a man shall owe his Piety to these chances, which although they are graces of God and instruments of Devotion, yet they are not always in our power; and therefore they are but accidental ministeries of a good life, and the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 constant or durable. But when the principle of our Piety is a conformity of our Understanding to God's Laws, when we are instructed what to do, and therefore do it because we are satisfied it is most excellent to obey God; this will support our Piety against objections, lead it on in despight of disadvantages; this chuses God with Reason, and is not determined from without: and as it is in some degree necessary for all times, so it is the greatest security against the change of Laws and Princes, and Re∣ligions and Ages: when all the incentives of affection and exteriour determinations of our Piety shall cease, and perhaps all external offices, and the daily sacrifice, and Piety it self shall fail from the face of the Land; then the obedience founded in the Understand∣ing is the only lasting strength is left us to make retreat to, and to secure our conditions. Thus from the composition of the Will and Affections with our exteriour acts of obedi∣ence to God, our Obedience is made willing, swift and chearful; but from the composi∣tion of the Understanding, our Obedience becomes strong, sincere and persevering; and this is that which S. Paul calls our reasonable service.

10. Fourthly, To which if we add that our Obedience be universal, we have all the qualifications which make the duty to be pious and prudent. The meaning is, that we obey God in all his Sanctions, though the matter be in common account small and in∣considerable, and give no indulgence to our selves to recede from the Rule in any mat∣ter whatsoever. For the veriest minute of Obedience is worth our attention, as being by God esteemed the trial of our Obedience in a greater affair. He that is unjust in a little* 1.86 will be unjust in a greater, said our Blessed Saviour. And since to God all matter is alike, and no more accrues to him in an Hecatomb than in a piece of gumm, in an Ascetick se∣verity than in a secular life, God regards not the matter of a precept, but the Obedience, which in all instances is the same; and he that will prevaricate when the matter is 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and by consequence the temptations to it weak and impotent, and soon confu∣ted, will think he may better be excused when the temptations are violent and impor∣tunate, as it commonly happens in affairs of greater importance. He that will lie to save sixpence, will not stick at it when a thousand pound is the purchase; and possibly there is more contempt and despite done to the Divine authority, when we disobey it in such particulars wherein the Obedience is most easie, and the temptations less trouble∣some: I do not say there is more injustice or more malice in a small Disobedience than in a greater, but there is either more contempt, or more negligence and dissolution of discipline, than in the other.

11. And it is no small temptation of the Devil soliciting of us not to be curious of scruples and grains, nor to disturb our peace for lighter Disobediences; persuading us

that something must be indulged to publick manners, something to the civilities of soci∣ety, something to nature, and to the approaches of our passions, and the motions of our first desires; but that we be not over-righteous. And true it is, that sometimes such sur∣reptions and smaller undecencies are therefore pardoned and lessened almost to a nullity, because they dwell in the confines of things lawful and honest, and are not so notorious as to be separated from permissions by any publick, certain and universal cognisance, and therefore may pass upon a good man sometimes without observation. But it is a temptation when we think of neglecting them by a predetermined incuriousness, upon pretence they are small. But this must be reduced to more regular Conclusions.

12. First, Although smaller Disobediences, expressed in slight mis-becoming actions, when they come by surprise and sudden invasion, are through the mercies of God dash∣ed in the very approach, their bills of accusation are thrown out, and they are not estee∣med as competent instruments of separation from God's love; yet when a smaller sin comes by design, and is acted with knowledge and deliberation, (for then it is properly an act of Disobedience) Malitia supplet defectum aetatis, The malice of the agent height∣ens the smalness of the act, and makes up the iniquity. To drink liberally once, and something more freely than the strict rules of Christian sobriety and temperance permit, is pardoned the easier, when without deliberation and by surprise the person was abused, who intended not to transgress a minute, but by little and little was mistaken in his proportions: but if a man by design shall estimate his draughts and his good fellowship, and shall resolve upon a little intemperance, thinking, because it is not very much, it is therefore none at all, that man hath mistaken himself into a crime; and although a little wound upon the finger is very curable, yet the smallest prick upon the heart is mortal: So is a design and purpose of the smallest Disobedience in its formality as malicious and destructive, as in its matter it was pardonable and excusable.

13. Secondly, Although every lesser Disobedience, when it comes singly, destroys not the love of God; (for although it may lessen the habit, yet it takes not away its natural being, nor interrupts its accepta∣tion,* 1.87 lest all the world should in all instants of time be in a damnable condition) yet when these smaller obliquities are re∣peated, and no repentance intervenes, this repetition combines and unites the lesser till they be concentred, and by their accu∣mulation make a crime: and therefore a careless reiterating and an incurious walking in mis-becoming actions is deadly and damnable in the return, though it was not so much at the setting forth. Every idle word is to be accounted for, but we hope in much mercy; and yet he that gives himself over to immoderate * 1.88 talking will swell his account to a vast and mountainous proportion, and call all the lesser escapes into a stricter judgment. He that extends his Recreation an hour beyond the limits of Christian prudence, and the analogie of its severity and imployment, is accountable to God for that improvidence and waste of Time; but he that shall mis-spend a day, and because that sin is not scandalous like Adultery, or clamorous like Oppression, or unusual like Bestiality, or crying for revenge like detaining the portion of Orphans, shall there∣fore mis-spend another day without revocation of the first by an act of repentance and redemption of it, and then shall throw away a week, still adding to the former account upon the first stock, will at last be answerable for a habit of Idleness, and will have con∣tracted a vain and impertinent spirit. For since things which in their own kind are lawful become sinful by the degree; if the degree be heightned by intention, or become great like a heap of sand by a coacervation of the innumerable atoms of dust, the acti∣ons are as damnable as any of the natural daughters and productions of Hell, when they are entertained without scruple, and renewed without repentance, and continued with∣out dereliction.

14. Thirdly, Although some inadvertencies of our life and lesser disobediences acci∣dentally become less hurtful, and because they are entailed upon the infirmities of a good man, and the less wary customes and circumstances of society, are also consistent with the state of Grace; yet all affection to the smallest sins becomes deadly and damnable.* 1.89 He that loves his danger shall perish in it, saith the Wise man; and every friendly enter∣tainment of an undecency invites in a greater Crime: for no man can love a small sin, but there are in the greater crimes of its kind more desirable flatteries, and more satis∣factions of sensuality than in those suckers and sprigs of sin. At first a little Disobedi∣ence is proportionable to a man's temper, and his Conscience is not fitted to the bulk of a rude Crime: but when a man hath accepted the first insinuation of delight and swal∣lowed it, that little sin is past, and needs no more to dispute for entrance; then the next

design puts in and stands in the same probability to succeed the first, and greater than the first had to make the entry. However, to love any thing that God hates is direct enmity with him; and whatsoever the Instance be, it is absolutely inconsistent with Charity, and therefore incompetent with the state of Grace. So that if the sin be small, it is not a small thing that thou hast given thy love to it; every such person perishes like a Fool, cheaply and ingloriously.

15. Fourthly, But it also concerns the niceness and prudence of Obedience to God to stand at farther distance from a Vice than we usually attend to. For many times* 1.90 Vertue and Vice differ but one degree, and the neighbourhood is so dangerous, that he who desires to secure his Obedience and Duty to God will remove farther from the dan∣ger. For there is a rule of Justice, to which if one degree more of severity be added it degenerates into Cruelty; and a little more Mercy is Remissness and want of disci∣pline, introduces licentiousness, and becomes unmercifulness as to the publick, and un∣just as to the particular. Now this Consideration is heightned, if we observe that Ver∣tue and Vice consist not in an indivisible point, but there is a latitude for either, which is not to be judged by any certain rules drawn from the nature of the thing, but to be estimated in proportion to the persons and other accidental Circumstances. He that is burthened with a great charge, for whom he is bound under a Curse and the crime of Infidelity to provide, may go farther in the acquisition, and be more provident in the use of his mony, than those persons for whom God hath made more ample provisions, and hath charged them with fewer burthens and engagements oeconomical. And yet no man can say, that just beyond such a degree of Care stands Covetousness, and thus far on this side is Carelesness, and a man may be in the confines of death before he be aware. Now the only way to secure our Obedience and duty in such cases is, to remove farther off, and not to dwell upon the confines of the enemies Countrey. My meaning is, that it is not prudent nor safe for a man to do whatsoever he lawfully may do.

16. For besides that we are often mistaken in our judgments concerning the lawful∣ness or unlawfulness of actions, he that will do all that he thinks he may lawfully do, if ever he does change his station and increase in giving himself liberty, will quickly arrive at doing things unlawful. It is good to keep a reserve of our liberty, and to re∣strain our selves within bounds narrower than the largest sense of the Commandment, that when our affections wander and enlarge themselves, (as sometime or other they will do) then they may enlarge beyond the ordinary, and yet be within the bounds of lawfulness. That of which men make a scruple and a question at first, after an ha∣bitual resolution of it stirs no more; but then their question is of something beyond it. When a man hath accustomed himself to pray seven times a day, it will a little trouble his peace if he omits one or two of those times; but if it be resolved then that he may please God with praying devoutly though but thrice every day, after he hath digested the scruples of this first question, possibly some accidents may happen that will put his Conscience and Reason to dispute whether three times be indispensably necessary: and still if he be far within the bounds of lawfulness, 'tis well; but if he be at the mar∣gent of it, his next remove may be into dissolution and unlawfulness. He that resolves to gain all that he may lawfully this year, it is odds but next year he will be tempted to gain something unlawfully. He that, because a man may be innocently angry, will never restrain his passion, in a little time will be intemperate in his anger, and mistake both his object and the degree. Thus facetiousness and urbanity entertained with an open hand will turn into jestings that are uncomely.

17. If you will be secure, remove your tent, dwell farther off. God hath given us more liberty than we may safely use; and although God is so gracious as to comply much with our infirmities, yet if we do so too, as God's goodness in in∣dulging liberty to us was to prevent our sinning, our complying with our selves will engage us in it: But if we imprison and confine our affections into a narrow∣er compass, then our 〈◊〉〈◊〉 may be imperfect, but will not easily be crimi∣nal. The dissolution of a scrupulous and strict person is not into a vice, but into a less degree of vertue: he that makes a conscience of loud Laughter, will not ea∣sily 〈◊〉〈◊〉 drawn into the wantonnesses of Balls and Revellings, and the longer and more impure Carnivalls. This is the way to secure our Obedience; and no men are so curious of their health, as they that are scrupulous of the Air they breathe in.

But now for our Obedience to Man, that hath distinct considerations, and apart.

18. First, All obedience to Man is for God's sake; for God imprinting his Authority

upon the sons of men, like the Sun reflecting upon a cloud, pro∣duces* 1.91 a Parelius, or a representation of his own glory, though in great distances and imperfection: it is the Divine Autho∣rity, though character'd upon a piece of clay, and imprinted up∣on a weak and imperfect man. And therefore obedience to our Superiours must be universal in respect of persons; to all Superiours. This precept is expresly Apostolical, Be subject to every constitution and authority of man for the Lord's sake: It is for God's* 1.92 sake, and therefore to every one, Whether it be to the King, as supreme, or to his Ministers in subordination. That's for Civil government. For Ecclesiastical this; Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit your selves; for they watch for your souls, as they that* 1.93 must give account. All upon whom any ray of the Divine Authority is imprinted, whe∣ther it be in greater or smaller Characters, are in proportion to their authority to be o∣beyed; to all upon the same ground; [for * 1.94 there is no power but of God.] So that no in∣firmity of person, no undervaluing circumstance, no exteriour accident is an excuse for* 1.95 disobedience: and to obey the Divine authority passing through the dictates of a wise, excellent and prudent Governour, but to neglect the impositions of a looser head, is to worship Christ onely upon the Mount Tabor, and in the glories of his 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and to despise him upon Mount Calvary, and in the clouds of his inglorious and humble Passion: Not onely to the good and gentle, (so * 1.96 S. Peter,) but to the harsh and rigid. And it was by Divine providence that all those many and stricter precepts of obedience to Governours in the New Testament were 〈◊〉〈◊〉 by instances of Tyrants, Persecutors, Idolaters, and Heathen Princes; and for others amongst whom there was variety of disposition, there is no variety of imposition, but all excuses are removed, and all kinds of Governours drawn into the sanction and sacredness of Authority.

19. Secondly, Not onely to all Governours, but in all things we must obey. Children, obey your Parents in all things: and Servants, obey your Masters in all things. And this* 1.97 also is upon the same ground; Do it as unto Christ; as unto the Lord, and not unto men. But then this restrains the universality of obedience, that it may run within its own cha∣nel; as unto the Lord, therefore nothing against the Divine Commandment. For if God speaks to us by man, transmitting Laws for conservation of Civil society, for 〈◊〉〈◊〉 policy, for Justice and personal advantages, for the interests of Vertue and Re∣ligion, for discountenancing of Vice, we are to receive it with the same Veneration as if God spake himself to us immediately. But because by his terrour upon Mount Sinai he gave testimony how great favour it is to speak to us by the ministration of our bre∣thren, it were a strange impudence, when we desire a proportionable and gentle instru∣ment of Divine commands, we should for this very proportion despise the Minister; like the frogs in the Apologue insulting upon their wooden King. But then if any thing come contrary to a Divine Law, know it is the voice of Jacob, of the Supplanter, not of the right Heir; and though we must obey man for God's sake, yet we must never dis∣obey God for man's sake. In all things else we finde no exception; but according as the Superiours intend the obligation, and express it by the signature of Laws, Customes, In∣terpretations, Permissions, and Dispensations, that is, so far as the Law is obligatory in general, and not dispensed with in particular, so far Obedience is a duty in all instances os acts where no sin is ingredient.

20. Thirdly, And here also the smalness and cheapness of the duty does not tolerate disobedience; for the despising the smallest Injunction is an act of as formal and direct Rebellion as when the prevarication is in a higher instance. It is here as in Divine Laws, but yet with some difference: For small things do so little cooperate to the end of humane Laws, that a smaller reason does by way of interpretation and tacite permis∣sion dispense, than can in a Divine Sanction though of the lowest offices. Because God commands duties not for the end to which they of themselves do co-operate; but to make sacred his Authority, and that we by our obedience may confess him to be Lord: But in humane Laws the Authority is made sacred not primarily for it self, but princi∣pally that the Laws made in order to the conservation of Societies may be observed. So that in the neglect of the smallest of Divine Ordinances we as directly oppose God's great purpose and intendment as in greater matters; God's dominion and authority (the* 1.98 conservation of which was his principal intention) is alike neglected: But in omitting an humane Imposition of small concernment the case is different; it is certain there is not any considerable violence done to the publick interest by a contemptible omission of a Law: the thing is not small, if the Commonwealth be not safe, and all her great ends secured; but if they be, then the Authority is inviolate, unless a direct contempt were intended, for its being was in order to that end, not for it self, as it is in the case of Di∣vine Laws, but that the publick interest be safe.

21. And therefore as great matters of humane Laws may be omitted for great rea∣sons, so may smaller matters for smaller reasons, but never without reason: for, causelesly and contemptuously are all one. But in the application of the particulars, either the Laws themselves, or Custom, or the prudence of a sincere righteous man, or of a wise and dis∣interest person, is to be the Judge. But let no man's confidence increase from the smal∣ness of the matter to a contempt of the Authority; for there are some sins whose malig∣nity is accidentally increased by the slightness of the subject matter; such are Blasphe∣my, Perjury, and the contempt of Authority. To blaspheme God for the loss of an Asper or a peny, to be forsworn in judgment for the rescuing of a few Maravides or a five∣groats fine, is a worse crime than to be perjur'd for the saving ten thousand pounds; and to despise Authority, when the obedience is so easie as the wearing of a garment or do∣ing of a posture, is a greater and more impudent contempt, than to despise Authority im∣posing a great burthen of a more considerable pressure, where humane infirmity may tempt to a disobedience, and lessen the crime. And let this caution also be inserted, that we do not at all neglect small Impositions, if there be direct and signal injunction in the par∣ticular instance. For as a great Body of Light transmitting his rays through a narrow hollowness, does by that small Pyramis represent all the parts of its magnitude and glo∣ry: so it may happen that a publick Interest, and the concernments of Authority, and the peace of a Church, and the integral obedience of the Subjects, and the conservation of a Community, may be transferred to us by an instance in its own nature inconsider∣able; such as are wearing of a Cognizance, remembring of a Word, carrying a Branch in time of War, and things of the same nature: And therefore when the hand of Au∣thority is stretced out and held forth upon a Precept, and designs the duty upon parti∣cular reason, or with actual intuition; there is not the same facility of being dispensed with, as in the neglected and unconsidered instances of other duties.

This onely I desire to be observed; That if death or any violent accident, imprison∣ment, loss of livelihood, or intolerable inconveniences be made accidentally consequent to the observing of a Law merely humane, the Law binds not in the particular instance. No man is bound to be a Martyr for a Ceremony, or to die rather than break a Canon, or to suffer Confiscation of goods for the pertinacious keeping of a civil Constitution. And it is not to be supposed that a Law-giver would have decreed a Rite, and bound the Lives of the subjects to it, which are of a far greater value than a Rite; not only because it were tyrannical and unreasonable, but because the evil of the Law were greater than the good of it, it were against the reason of all Laws, and destroys the privileges of Na∣ture, and it puts a man into a condition as bad as the want of all Laws; for nothing is civilly or naturally worse than Death, to which the other evils arrive in their proporti∣on. This is to be understood in particular and positive Precepts, introduced for reasons particular, that is, less than those are which combine all Societies, and which are the ce∣ment of all Bodies political; I mean Laws ritual in the Church, and accidental and e∣mergent in the State. And that which is the best sign to distinguish these Laws from o∣thers, is also the reason of the assertion. Laws decreed with a Penalty to the transgres∣sours cannot bind to an evil greater than that Penalty. If it be appointed that we use a certain form of Liturgy under the forseiture of five pound for every omission, I am bound in Conscience to obey it where I can; but I am supposed legally to be disabled, if any Tyrant-power shall threaten to kill me if I do, or make me pay an hundred pound, or any thing greater than the forfeiture of the Law. For all the civil and natural pow∣er of the Law is by its coercion, and the appendent punishment. The Law operates by rewards and punishments, by hope and fear, and it is unimaginable that the Law under a less penalty can oblige us in any case or accident to suffer a greater. For the compul∣sion of the Tyrant is greater than the coercion of the Law-giver; and the Prince think∣ing the penalty annexed to be band sufficient, intended no greater evil to the transgres∣sour than the expressed penalty; and therefore much less would he have them that obey the Law by any necessity be forced to a greater evil: for then, Disobedience should e∣scape better than 〈◊〉〈◊〉. True it is, every disobeying person that pays the penalty is not quite discharged from all his Obligation; but it is then when his disobeying is criminal upon some other stock besides the mere breach of the Law, as Contempt, Scan∣dal, or the like: for the Law binds the Conscience indirectly and by consequence; that is, in plain language, God commands us to obey humane Laws, & the penalty will not pay for the contempt, because that's a sin against God; it* 1.99 pays for the violation of the Law, because

that was all the direct transgression against Man. And then who shall make him re∣compence for suffering more than the Law requires of him? Not the Prince; for it is certain, the greatest value he set upon the Law was no bigger than the Penalty; and the Common-wealth is supposed to be sufficiently secured in her interest by the Penalty, or else the Law was weak, impotent, and unreasonable. Not God; for it is not an act of obedience to him, for he binds us no farther to obey hu∣mane Laws than the Law-giver himself intends or declares; who cannot reason∣ably be supposed so over-careful, as to bind Hay with cords of Silk and Gold, or sumptuary Laws with the threads of Life; nor a Father commanding his Child to wait on him every Meal, be thought to intend his Obligation, even though the House be ready to fall on his head, or when he is to pass a sudden or unfoordable floud before he can get to him. And that it may appear Man ought not, it is certain God himself doth not oblige us in all cases and in all circumstances to observe every of his positive Precepts. For, assembling together is a duty of God's commanding, which* 1.100 we are not to neglect: but if Death waits at the door of these Assemblies, we have the practice of the Primitive and best Christians to warrant us to serve God in Retirements, and Cells, and Wildernesses, and leave the assembling together till better opportunities. If I receive more benefit, or the Common-wealth, or the Church and Religion any greater advantage by my particular obedience in these circumstances, (which cannot easily be supposed will be) it is a great act of charity to do it, and then to suffer for it: But if it be no more, that is, if it be not expresly commanded to be done, (though with* 1.101 loss of life or confiscation) it is a good charity to save my own life, or my own estate:* 1.102 And though the other may be better, yet I am not in all cases obliged to do that which is simply the best. It is a tolerable in 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and allowed amongst the very 〈◊〉〈◊〉 permissi∣ons of Nature, that I may preserve my Life, unless it be in a very few cases, which are therefore clearly to be expressed, or else the contrary is to be presumed, as being a case most favourable. And it is considerable, that nothing is worse than Death but Dam∣nation, or something that partakes of that in some of its worst ingredients; such as is a lasting Torment, or a daily great misery in some other kind. And therefore since no humane Law can bind a man to a worse thing than Death, if Obedience brings me to death, I cannot be worse when I disobey it, and I am not so bad, if the penalty of death be not expressed. And so for other penalties in their own proportions.

This Discourse is also to be understood concerning the Laws of Peace, not of War; not onely because every disobedience in War may be punished with death, (according as the reason may chance) but also because little things may be of great and dangerous consequence. But in Peace it is observable, that there is no humane positive superindu∣ced Law but by the practice of all the world (which, because the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of the Prince is certainly included in it, is the surest interpretation) it is dispensed withall, by ordinary necessities, by reason of lesser inconveniences and common accidents: thus the not saying of our Office daily is excused by the study of Divinity, the publishing the banns of Matrimony by an ordinary incommodity, the Fasting-days of the Church by a little sickness or a journey; and therefore much rather if my Estate, and most of all if my Life be in danger with it: and to say that in these cases there is no interpretative permission to omit the particular action, is to accuse the Laws and the Law-giver, the one of unreasonableness, the other of uncharitableness.

22. Fourthly, These Considerations are upon the execution of the duty: but even towards Man our obedience must have a mixture of the Will and choice, like as our in∣junction of obedience to the Divine Command. With good will doing service (saith the A∣postle,) for it is impossible to secure the duty of inferiours but by conscience and good will; unless provision could be made against all their secret arts and concealments and escapings, which as no providence can foresee, so no diligence can cure. It is but an eye∣service whatsoever is compelled and involuntary: nothing rules a man in private but God and his own desires; and they give Laws in a Wilderness, and accuse in a Cloister, and do execution in a Closet, if there be any prevarication.

23. Fifthly, But obedience to humane Laws goes no farther, we are not bound to o∣bey with a direct and particular act of Understanding, as in all Divine Sanctions: for so long as our Superiours are fallible, though it be highly necessary we conform our wills to their innocent Laws, yet it is not a duty we should think the Laws most prudent or convenient because all Laws are not so; but it may concern the interest of humility and self-denial to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 subject to an inconvenient, so it be not a sinful, Command: for so we must chuse an affliction when God offers it, and give God thanks for it, and yet we may cry under the smart of it, and call to God for ease and remedy. And yet it

were well if inferiours would not be too busie in disputing the prudence of their Gover∣nours, and the convenience of their Constitutions: Whether they be sins or no in the execution, and to our particulars, we are concern'd to look to; I say, as to our particu∣lars; for an action may be a sin in the Prince commanding it, and yet innocent in the person executing: as in the case of unjust Wars, in which the Subject, who cannot, ought not to be a Judge, yet must be a Minister; and it is notorious in the case of exe∣cuting an unjust sentence, in which* 1.103 not the Executioner, but the Judge is only the unjust person; and he that serves his Prince in an unjust War is but the executioner of an unjust sentence: But what-ever goes farther, does but undervalue the person, slight the Government, and unloose the golden cords of Discipline. For we are not intrust∣ed in providing for degrees, so we secure the kind and condition of our actions. And since God having derived rays and beams of Majesty, and transmitted it in parts upon several states of men, hath fixed humane authority and dominion in the golden candle∣stick of Understanding, he that shall question the prudence of his Governour, or the* 1.104 wisdom of his Sanction, does unclasp the golden rings that tie the purple upon the Prince's shoulder; he tempts himself with a reason to disobey, and extinguish the light of Majesty by overturning the candlestick, and hiding the opinion of his wisdom and un∣derstanding. And let me say this; He that is confident of his own understanding and reasonable powers, (and who is more than he that thinks himself wiser than the Laws?) needs no other Devil in the neighbourhood, no tempter but himself to pride and vanity, which are the natural parents of Disobedience.

24. But a man's Disobedience never seems so reasonable as when the Subject is for∣bidden* 1.105 to do an act of Piety, commanded indeed in the general, but uncommanded in certain circumstances. And forward Piety and assiduous Devotion, a great and un∣discreet Mortifier, is often tempted to think no Authority can restrain the fervours and distempers of zeal in such holy Exercises; and yet it is very often as necessary to restrain the indiscretions of a forward person, as to excite the remissness of the cold and frozen. Such persons were the Sarabaites spoken of by 〈◊〉〈◊〉, who were greater labourers and* 1.106 stricter mortifiers than the Religious in Families and Colledges; and yet they endured no Superiour, nor Laws. But such customs as these are Humiliation without Humili∣ty, humbling the body and exalting the spirit, or indeed Sacrifices and no Obedience. It was an argument of the great wisdom of the Fathers of the 〈◊〉〈◊〉: when they heard* 1.107 of the prodigious Severities exercised by 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Stylites upon himself, they sent one of the Religious to him, with power to enquire what was his manner of living, and what warrant he had for such a rigorous undertaking, giving in charge to command him to give it over, and to live in a community with them, and according to the common institution of those Religious families. The Messenger did so, and immediately 〈◊〉〈◊〉 removed his foot from his Pillar, with a purpose to descend; but the other according to his Commission called to him to stay, telling him his station and severity was from God. And he that in so great a Piety was humble and obedient, did not undertake that Strictness out of singularity, nor did it transport him to vanity; for that he had re∣ceived from the Fathers to make judgment of the man, and of his institution: where∣as if upon pretence of the great Holiness of that course he had refused the command, the spirit of the person was to be declared caitive and imprudent, and the man 〈◊〉〈◊〉 from his troublesom and ostentous vanity.

25. Our Fasts, our Prayers, our Watchings, our Intentions of duty, our frequent Communions, and all exteriour acts of Religion, are to be guided by our Superiour, if he sees cause to restrain or asswage any 〈◊〉〈◊〉. For a wound may heal too fast, and then the tumour of the flesh is proud, not healthful; and so may the indiscretions of Religion swell to vanity, when we think they grow towards perfection: but when we can indure the causticks and correctives of our Spiritual Guides in those things in which we are most apt to please our selves, then our Obedience is regular and humble, and in other things there is less of danger. There is a story told of a very Religious* 1.108 person, whose spirit in the ecstasie of Devotion was transported to the clarity of a Vision, and he seemed to converse personally with the Holy Jesus, feeling from such enter∣course great spiritual delights and huge satisfactions: in the midst of these joys the Bell call'd to Prayers, and he, used to the strictness and well instructed in the necessi∣ties of Obedience, went to the Church, and having finished his Devotions, return∣ed, and found the Vision in the same posture of glories and entertainment; which also said to him, Because thou hast left me, thou hast found me; for if thou 〈◊〉〈◊〉 not left me, I had presently left thee. What-ever the story be, I am sure it is a 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Pa∣rable; for the way to increase spiritual comforts is, to be strict in the offices of humble

Obedience; and we never lose any thing of our joy by laying it aside to attend a Duty: and Plutarch reports more honour of Agesilaus's prudence and modesty, than of his gal∣lantry and military fortune;* 1.109 for he was more honourable by obeying the Decree of the Spartan Senate recalling him from the midst of his Triumphs, than he could have been by finishing the War with prosperous success and disobedience.

26. Our Obedience, being guided by these Rules, is urged to us by the consignation of Divine Precepts and the loud voice of thunder, even seal'd by a signet of God's right* 1.110 hand, the signature of greatest Judgments. For God did with greater severity punish the Rebellion of Korah and his company, than the express Murmurs against himself, nay, than the high crime of Idolatry: for this Crime God visited them with a sword; but for Disobedience and Mutiny against their Superiours, God made the Earth to swallow some of them, and fire from Heaven to consume the rest; to shew that Rebel∣lion is to be punished by the conspiration of Heaven and Earth, as it is hateful and con∣tradictory both to God and Man. And it is not amiss to observe, that obedience to Man, being it is for God's sake, and yet to a person clothed with the circumstances and the same infirmities with our selves, is a greater instance of Humility, than to obey God immediately, whose Authority is Divine, whose Presence is terrible, whose Power is infinite, and not at all depressed by exterior disadvantages or lessening appearances: just as it is both greater Faith and greater Charity to relieve a poor Saint for Jesus sake, than to give any thing to Christ himself, if he should appear in all the robes of Glory and im∣mediate address. For it is to God and to Christ, and wholly for their sakes, and to them that the Obedience is done, or the Charity expressed; but themselves are persons whose awfulness, majesty and veneration, would rather force than invite Obedience or Alms. But when God and his Holy Son stand behind the cloud, and send their Servants to take the Homage or the Charity, it is the same as if it were done to them, but receives the advantage of acceptation by the accidental adherencies of Faith and Humility to the se∣veral actions respectively. When a King comes to Rebels in person, it strikes terrour and veneration into them, who are too apt to neglect and despise the person of his Mi∣nisters, whom they look upon as their fellow-subjects, and consider not in the exaltation of a deputed Majesty. Charles the Fifth found a happy experience of it at Gaunt in Flan∣ders, whose Rebellion he appeased by his presence, which he could hardly have done by his Army. But if the King's Authority be as much rever'd in his Deputy as it is sa∣cred in his own Person, it is the greater Humility and more confident Obedience. And as it is certain that he is the most humble that submits to his inferiours; so in the same proportion, the lower and meaner the instrument upon which God's authority is born, the higher is the Grace that teaches us to stoop so low. I do not say that a sin against hu∣mane Laws is greater than a prevarication against a Divine Commandment; as the instances may be, the distance is next to infinite, and to touch the earth with our foot within the Octaves of Easter, or to tast flesh upon days of Abstinence, (even in those pla∣ces and to those persons where they did or do oblige) have no consideration, if they be laid in balance against the crimes of Adultery, or Blasphemy, or Oppression: because these Crimes cannot stand with the reputation and sacredness of Divine Authority; but those others may in most instances very well consist with the ends of Government, which are severally provided for in the diversity of Sanctions respectively. But if we make our instances to other purposes, we find, that to mutiny in an Army, or to keep private As∣semblies in a Monarchy, are worse than a single thought or morose delectation in a fancy of impurity; because those others destroy Government more than these destroy Charity of God or Obedience. But then though the instances may vary the Conclusion, yet the formal reason is alike, and Disobedience to Man is a disobedience against God; for God's Authority, and not Man's, is imprinted upon the Superiour; and it is like sacred fire in an earthen Censer, as holy as if it were kindled with the fanning of a Cherub's wing, or placed just under the Propitiatory upon a golden Altar; and it is but a gross conceit which cannot distinguish Religion from its Porter, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 from the Beast that carri∣ed it: so that in all Disobedience to Men, in proportion to the greatness of the matter, or the malice of the person, or his contradiction to the ends of Government and combi∣nations of Society, we may use the words by which the Prophet upbraided Israel, 〈◊〉〈◊〉* 1.111 it not enough that you are grievous unto men, but will you grieve my God also? It is a con∣tempt of the Divinity, and the affront is transmitted to God himself, when we de∣spise the Power which God hath ordained, and all power of every lawful Superiour is such; the Spirit of God being witness in the highest* 1.112 measure, Rebellion is as the sin of 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and stub∣bornness as Idolatry.* 1.113 It is spoken of Rebellion against

God, and all Rebellion is so, for,* 1.114 He that despiscth you, de∣spiseth me, saith the Blessed Jesus; that's menace enough in the instance of Spiritual regiment. And, You are gathered together against the Lord, saith Moses to the rebellious Princes in the conspiracy of Dathan; that's for the Temporal. And to encourage this Duty, I shall use no other words than those of Achilles in Homer,* 1.115 They that obey in this world are better than they that command in Hell.

A PRAYER for the Grace of Holy OBEDIENCE.

O Lord and Blessed Saviour Jesus, by whose Obedience many became righteous, and re∣parations were made of the ruines brought to humane Nature by the Disobedience of Adam; thou camest into the world with many great and holy purposes concerning our Salva∣tion, and hast given us a great precedent of Obedience, which that thou mightest preserve to thy Heavenly Father, thou didst neglect thy Life, and becamest obedient even to the death of the Cross: O, let me imit ate so blessed example, and by the merits of thy Obedience let me obtain the grace of Humility and Abnegation of all my own desires in the clearest Renunciation of my Will; that I may will and refuse in conformity to thy sacred Laws and holy purposes; that I may do all thy will chearfully; chusingly, humbly, confidently, and continually; and thy will may be done upon me with much mercy and fatherly dispensation of thy Providence. Amen.

2.

LOrd, let my Understanding adhere to and be satisfied in the excellent 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of thy Com∣mandments; let my Affections dwell in their desires, and all my other Faculties be set on daily work for performance of them: and let my love to obey thee make me dutiful to my Superiors, upon whom the impresses of thy Authority are set by thine own hand; that I may never despise their Persons, nor refuse their Injunctions, nor chuse mine own work, nor mur∣mur at their burthens, nor dispute the prudence of the Sanction, nor excuse my self, nor pre∣tend 〈◊〉〈◊〉 or impossibilities; but that I may be 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in my desires, and resigned to the will of those whom thou hast set over me; that since all thy Creatures obey thy word, I alone may not disorder the Creation, and cancel those bands and intermedial links of Subordi∣nation whereby my duty should pass to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and thy glory, but that my Obedience being united to thy Obedience, I may also have my portion in the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of thy Kingdom, O Lord and Blessed Saviour Jesus.

Amen.

Considerations upon the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple.

1. THE Holy Virgin-Mother, according to the Law of Moses, at the expiration of a certain time came to the Temple to be purified: although in her sacred Par∣turition she had contracted no Legal impurity; yet she exposed her self to the publick opinion and common reputation of an ordinary condition; and still amongst all genera∣tions she is in all circumstances accounted blessed, and her reputation no tittle altered, save only that it is made the more sacred by this testimony of her Humility. But this we are taught from the consequence of this instance; That if an End principally de∣signed in any Duty should be supplied otherwise in any particular person, the Duty is nevertheless to be observed; and then the obedience and publick order is reason enough for the observation, though the proper End of its designation be wanting in the single person. Thus is Fasting designed for mortification of the flesh and killing all its unruly* 1.116 appetites; and yet Married persons who have another remedy, and a Virgin whose Temple is hallowed by a gift and the strict observances of Chastity, may be tied to the Duty: and if they might not, then Fasting were nothing else but a publication of our impure desires, and an exposing the person to the confidence of a bold temptation, whilst the young men did observe the Faster to be tempted from within. But the Holy Virgin

from these acts (of which in signification she had no need, because she sinned not in the Conception, nor was impure in the production) expressed other Vertues besides Obe∣dience; such as were humble thoughts of her self, Devotion and Reverence to publick Sanctions, Religion and Charity, which were like the pure leaves of the whitest Lily, fit to represent the beauties of her innocence, but were veiled and shadowed by that sacramental of the Mosaick Law.

2. The Holy Virgin received the greatest favour that any of the Daughters of Adam ever did, and knowing from whence and for whose glory she had received it, returns the Holy Jesus in a Present to God again; for she had nothing so precious as himself to make oblation of: and besides that, every first-born among the Males was holy to the Lord; this Child had an eternal and essential Sanctity, and until he came into the World, and was made apt for her to make present of him, there was never in the world any act of Adoration proportionable to the honour of the great God; but now there was, and the Holy Virgin made it, when she presented the Holy Child Jesus. And now, besides that we are taught to return to God whatsoever we have received from him, if we unite our Offerings and Devotions to this holy Present, we shall by the merit and excellency of this Oblation exhibit to God an Offertory, in which he cannot but delight for the combination's sake and society of his Holy Son.

3. The Holy Mother brought five Sicles and a pair of Turtle-doves to redeem the Lamb of God from the Anathema; because every first-born was to be sacrificed to God, or redeemed if it was clean; it was the poor man's price, and the Holy Jesus was never set at the greater prices when he was estimated upon earth. For he that was Lord of the Kingdom chose his portion among the poor of this World, that he might advance the poor to the riches of his inheritance; and so it was from his Nativity hither. For at his Birth he was poor, at his Circumcision poor, and in the likeness of a sinner; at his Presentation poor, and like a sinner and a servant, for he chose to be redeemed with an ignoble price. The five Sicles were given to the Priest for the redemption of the Child; and if the Parents were not able, he was to be a servant of the Temple, and to minister in the inferiour offices to the Priest; and this was God's seizure and possession of him: for although all the servants of God are his inheritance; yet the Ministers of Religion, who derive their portion of temporals from his title, who live upon the Corban, and eat the meat of the Altar, which is God's peculiar, and come nearer to his Holiness by the addresses of an immediate ministration, are God's own upon ano∣ther and a distinct challenge. But because Christ was to be the Prince of another Mini∣stry, and the chief Priest of another Order; he was redeemed from attending the Mo∣saick Rites, which he came to 〈◊〉〈◊〉, that he might do his Father's business in esta∣blishing the Evangelical. Only remember, that the Ministers of Religion are but God's 〈◊〉〈◊〉: as they are not Lords of God's portion, and therefore must dispense it like Stewards, not like Masters; so the People are 〈◊〉〈◊〉 their Patrons in paying, nor they their Beneficiaries in receiving Tithes or other provisions of maintenance; they owe for it to none but to God himself: and it would also be considered, that in all sacri∣legious detentions of Ecclesiastical rights God is the person principally injured.

4. The Turtle-doves * 1.117 were offered also with the signification of another mystery. In the sacred Rites of Marriage, although the permissions of natural desires are such as are most ordinate to their ends, the avoiding Fornication, the alleviation of Oecono∣mical cares and vexations, and the production of Children, and mutual comfort and support; yet the apertures and permissions of Marriage have such restraints of modesty and prudence, that all transgression of the just order to such ends is a crime: and besides these, there may be degrees of inordination or obliquity of intention, or too sensual complacency, or unhandsom preparations of mind, or unsacramental thoughts; in which particulars, because we have no determined rule but Prudence, and the analogy of the Rite, and the severity of our Religion, which allow in some cases more, in some 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and always uncertain latitudes, for ought we know, there may be lighter trans∣gressions, something that we know not of: and for these at the Purification of the wo∣man it is supposed the Offering was made, and the Turtures, by being an oblation, did deprecate a supposed irregularity; but by being a chast and marital Embleme, they professed the obliquity (if any were) was within the protection of the sacred bands of Marriage, and therefore so excusable as to be expiated by a cheap offering: and what they did in Hieroglyphick, Christians must do in the exposition; be strict observers of the main rites and principal obligations, and not neglectful to deprecate the lesser un∣handsomenesses of the too sensual applications.

5. God had at that instant so ordered that, for great ends of his own and theirs, two very holy persons, of divers Sexes and like Piety, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and Anna, the one who lived an active and secular, the other a retired and contemplative life, should come into the Temple by revelation and direction of the holy Spirit, and see him whom they and all the World did look for, the Lord's CHRIST, the consolation of Israel. They saw him, they rejoyced, they worshipped, they prophesied, they sang Hymns; and old Simeon did comprehend and circumscribe in his arms him that filled all the World, and was then so satisfied that he desired to live no longer: God had verified his promise, had shewn him the Messias, had filled his heart with joy, and made his old age honour∣able; and now after all this sight, no object could be pleasant but the joys of Paradise. For as a man who hath stared too freely upon the face and beauties of the Sun is blind and dark to objects of a less splendor, and is forced to shut his eyes, that he may through the degrees of darkness perceive the inferiour beauties of more proportioned objects: so was old Simeon, his eyes were so filled with the glories of this Revelation, that he was willing to close them in his last night, that he might be brought into the communica∣tions of Eternity; and he could never more find comfort in any other object this world could minister. For such is the excellency of spiritual things, when they have once filled the corners of our hearts, and made us highly sensible and apprehensive of the in∣teriour beauties of God and of Religion, all things of this World are flat and empty, and unsatisfying vanities, as unpleasant as the lees of Vineger to a tongue filled with the spirit of high Italick Wines. And until we are so dead to the World as to appre∣hend no gust or freer complacency, in exteriour objects, we never have entertained Christ, or have had our cups overflow with Devotion, or are filled with the Spirit. When our Chalice is filled with holy oyl, with the Anointing from above, it will en∣tertain none of the waters of bitterness; or if it does, they are thrust to the bottom, they are the lowest of our desires, and therefore only admitted, because they are natu∣ral and constituent.

6. The good old Prophetess Anna had lived long in chast Widowhood, in the ser∣vice of the Temple, in the continual offices of Devotion, in Fasting and Prayer; and now came the happy instant in which God would give her a great benediction, and an earnest of a greater. The returns of Prayer and the blessings of Piety are certain; and though not dispensed according to the expectances of our narrow conceptions, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 shall they so come, at such times and in such measures, as shall crown the Piety, and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the desires, and reward the expectation. It was in the Temple, the same place where she had for so many years poured out her heart to God, that God poured forth his heart to her, sent his Son from his bosom, and there she received his benediction. Indeed in such places God does most particularly exhibit himself, and Blessing goes along with him where-ever he goes: In holy places God hath put his holy Name, and to holy per∣sons God does oftentimes manifest the interiour and more secret glories of his Holiness; provided they come thither, as old Simeon and Anna did, by the motions of the holy Spirit, not with designs of vanity, or curiosity, or sensuality; for such spirits as those come to profane and desecrate the house, and unhallow the person, and provoke the Deity of the place, and blast us with unwholsom airs.

7. But Joseph and Mary wondred at these things which were spoken, and treasured them in their hearts, and they became matter of Devotion and mental Prayer, or Meditation.

The PRAYER.

O Eternal God, who by the Inspirations of thy Holy Spirit didst direct thy servants Si∣meon and Anna to the Temple at the instant of the Presentation of the Holy Child Je∣sus, that so thou mightest verifie thy promise, and manifest thy Son, and reward the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of holy people, who longed for Redemption by the coming of the Messias; give me the perpe∣tual assistance of the same Spirit to be as a Monitor and a Guide to me, leading me to all holy actions, and to the embracements and possessions of thy glorious Son; and remember all thy faithful people, who wait for the consolation and redemption of the Church from all her mi∣series and persecutions, and at last satisfie their desires by the revelations of thy mercies and Salvation. Thou hast advanced thy Holy Child, and set him up for a sign of thy Mercies, and a representation of thy Glories. Lord, let no act or thought or word of mine ever be

in contradiction to this blessed sign, but let it be for the ruine of all my vices, and all the pow∣ers the Devil imploys against the Church, and for the raising up all those vertues and Graces which thou didst design me in the purposes of Eternity: but let my portion never be amongst the 〈◊〉〈◊〉, or the scornful, or the Heretical, or the profane, or any of those who stumble at this Stone which thou hast laid for the foundation of thy Church, and the structures of a vertuous life. Remember me with much mercy and compassion when the sword of Sorrows or Afflictions shall pierce my heart; first transfix me with love, and then all the Troubles of this world will be consignations to the joys of a better: 〈◊〉〈◊〉 grant for the mercies and the name sake of thy Holy Child Jesus.

Amen.

DISCOURSE III. Of Meditation.

1. IF in the Definition of Meditation I should call it an unaccustomed and unpractised Duty, I should speak a truth, though somewhat inartificially: for not only the interior beauties and brighter excellencies are as unfelt as Idea's and Abstractions are, but also the practice and common knowledge of the Duty it self are strangers to us, like the retirements of the Deep, or the undiscovered treasures of the Indian Hills. And this is a very great cause of the driness and expiration of mens Devotion, because our Souls are so little 〈◊〉〈◊〉 with the waters and holy dews of Meditation. We go to our prayers by chance, or order, or by determination of accidental occurrences; and we recite them as we read a book; and sometimes we are sensible of the Duty, and a flash of lightning makes the room bright, and our prayers end, and the lightning is gone, and we as dark as ever. We draw our water from standing pools, which never are filled but with sudden showers, and therefore we are dry so often: Whereas if we would draw water from the Fountains of our Saviour, and derive them through the chanel of diligent and prudent Meditations, our Devotion would be a continual cur∣rent, and safe against the barrenness of frequent droughts.

2. For Meditation is an attention and application of spirit to Divine things; a searching out all instruments to a holy life, a devout consideration of them, and a pro∣duction of those affections which are in a direct order to the love of God and a pious con∣versation. Indeed Meditation is all that great instrument of Piety whereby it is made prudent, and reasonable, and orderly, and perpetual. For supposing our Memory instructed with the knowledge of such mysteries and revelations as are apt to entertain the Spirit, the Understanding is first and best imployed in the consideration of them, and then the Will in their reception, when they are duly prepared and so transmitted; and both these in such manner and to such purposes, that they become the Magazine and great Repositories of Grace, and instrumental to all designs of Vertue.

3. For the Understanding is not to consider the matter of any meditation in itself, or as it determines in natural excellencies or unworthiness respectively, or with a purpose to furnish it self with notion and riches of knowledge; for that is like the Winter-Sun, it shines, but warms not; but in such order as themselves are put in the designations of Theology, in the order of Divine Laws, in their spiritual capacity, and as they have influence upon Holiness: for the Understanding here is something else besides the In∣tellectual power of the Soul, it is the Spirit, that is, it is celestial in its application, as it is spiritual in its nature; and we may understand it well by considering the beatifical portions of Soul and body in their future glories. For therefore even our Bodies in the Resurrection shall be spiritual, because the operation of them shall be in order to spiritu∣al glories, and their natural actions (such as are Seeing and Speaking) shall have a spiritual object and supernatural end; and here as we partake of such excellencies and cooperate to such purposes, men are more or less spiritual. And so is the Understanding taken from its first and lowest ends of resting in notion and ineffective contemplation, and is made Spirit, that is, wholly ruled and guided by God's Spirit to supernatural ends and spiritual imployments; so that it understands and considers the motions of the Hea∣vens, to declare the glory of God, the prodigies and alterations in the Firmament, to de∣monstrate his handy-work; it considers the excellent order of creatures, that we may not disturb the order of Creation, or dissolve the golden chain of Subordination. Aristotle

and Porphyry, and the other Greek Philosophers, studied the Heavens to search out their natural causes and production of Bodies; the wiser Chaldees and Assyrians studied the same things, that they might learn their Influences upon us, and make Predictions of contingencies; the more moral AEgyptian described his Theorems in Hieroglyphicks and phantastick representments, to teach principles of Policy, Oeconomy, and other prudences of Morality and secular negotiation: But the same Philosophy, when it is made Christian, considers as they did, but to greater purposes, even that from the Book of the Creatures we may glorifie the Creator, and hence derive arguments of Worship and Religion; this is Christian Philosophy.

4. I instance only in considerations natural to spiritual purposes; but the same is the manner in all Meditation, whether the matter of it be Nature or Revelation. For if we think of Hell, and consider the infinity of its duration, and that its flames last as long as God lasts, and thence conjecture, upon the rules of proportion, why a finite creature may have an infinite, unnatural duration; or think by what ways a material fire can torment an immaterial substance; or why the Devils, who are intelligent and wise creatures, should be so foolish as to hate God from whom they know every rivulet of amability derives; This is to study, not to meditate: for Meditation considers any thing that may best make us to avoid the place, and to quit a vicious habit, or master and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 an untoward inclination, or purchase a vertue, or exercise one: so that Meditation is an act of the Understanding put to the right use.

5. For the Holy Jesus, coming to redeem us from the bottomless pit, did it by lift∣ing us up out of the puddles of impurity and the unwholsome waters of vanity; He redeemed us from our vain conversation; and our Understandings had so many vanities, that they were made instruments of great impiety. The unlearned and ruder Nations had fewer Vertues, but they had also fewer Vices than the wise Empires, that ruled the World with violence and wit together. The softer * 1.118 Asians had Lust and Intempe∣rance in a full Chalice; but their Understandings were ruder than the finer Latines, for these mens understandings distilled wickedness as through a Limbeck, and the Ro∣mans drank spirits and the sublimed quintessences of Villany, whereas the other made themselves drunk with the lees and cheaper instances of sin: so that the Understanding is not an idle and useless faculty, but naturally drives to practice, and brings guests into the inward Cabinet of the Will, and there they are entertained and feasted. And those Understandings which did not serve the baser end of Vices, yet were unprofitable for the most part, and furnished their inward rooms with glasses and beads, and trifles fit for an American Mart. From all these impurities and vanities Jesus hath redeemed all his Disciples, and not only thrown out of his Temples all the impure rites of Flora and Cybele, but also the trifling and unprofitable ceremonies of the more sober Deities, not only Vices, but useless and unprofitable Speculations, and hath consecrated our Head into a Temple, our Understanding to Spirit, our Reason to Religion, our Study to Meditation: and this is the first part of the Sanctification of our Spirit.

6. And this was the cause Holy Scripture commands the duty of Meditation in pro∣portion still to the excellencies of Piety and a holy life, to which it is highly and aptly* 1.119 instrumental. Blessed is the man that meditates in the Law of the Lord day and night. And the reason of the Proposition and the use of the Duty is expressed to this purpose; Thy words have I hid in my heart, that I should not sin against thee. The placing and fix∣ing* 1.120 those divine Considerations in our understandings, and hiding them there, are de∣signs of high Christian prudence, that they with advantage may come forth in the ex∣presses of a holy life. For what in the world is more apt and natural to produce Hu∣mility, than to meditate upon the low stoopings and descents of the Holy Jesus, to the nature of a Man, to the weaknesses of a Child, to the poverties of a Stable, to the ignobleness of a Servant, to the shame of the Cross, to the pains of Cruelty, to the dust of Death, to the title of a Sinner, and to the wrath of God? By this instance Poverty is made honourable, and Humility is sanctified and made noble, and the contradictions of nature are amiable and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 for a wise election. Thus hatred of sin, shame of our selves, confusion at the sense of humane misery, the love of God, confidence in his Promises, desires of Heaven, holy resolutions, resignation of our own appetites, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to Divine will, oblations of our selves, Repentance and mortification, are the proper emanations from Meditation of the sordidness of sin, our proneness to it, our daily miseries as issues of Divine vengeance, the glories of God, his infinite unalterable Veracity, the satisfactions in the vision of God, the rewards of Piety, the rectitude of the Laws of God, and perfection of his Sanctions, God's supreme and paternal Domi∣nion, and his certain malediction of sinners: and when any one of these Considerati∣ons

is taken to pieces, and so placed in the rooms of application, that a piece of duty is conjoyned to a piece of the mystery, and the whole office to the purchase of a grace, or the extermination of a vice, it is like opening our windows to let in the Sun and the Wind; and Holiness is as proportioned an effect to this practice, as Glory is to a perse∣vering Holiness, by way of reward and moral causality.

7. For all the Affections that are in Man are either natural, or by chance, or by the incitation of Reason and discourse. Our natural affections are not worthy the enter∣tainments of a Christian; they must be supernatural and divine that put us into the hopes of Perfection and Felicities: and these other that are good, unless they come by Meditation, they are but accidental, and set with the evening Sun: But if they be produced upon the strengths of pious Meditation, they are as perpetual as they are rea∣sonable, and excellent in proportion to the Piety of the principle. A Garden that is watered with short and sudden showrs is more uncertain in its fruits and beauties than if a Rivulet waters it with a perpetual distilling and constant humectation: And just such are the short emissions and unpremeditated resolutions of Piety begotten by a dash of holy rain from Heaven, whereby God sometimes uses to call the careless but to taste what excellencies of Piety they neglect; but if they be not produced by the Reason of Religion, and the Philosophy of Meditation, they have but the life of a Fly or a tall Gourd, they come into the World only to say they had a Being, you could scarce know their length but by measuring the ground they cover in their fall.

8. For since we are more moved by material and sensible objects than by things mere∣ly speculative and intellectual, and generals even in spiritual things are less perceived and less motive than particulars: Meditation frames the understanding part of Religi∣on to the proportions of our nature and our weakness, by making some things more circumstantiate and material, and the more spiritual to be particular, and therefore the more applicable; and the mystery is made like the Gospel to the Apostles, Our eyes do see, and our ears do hear, and our hands do handle thus much of the word of life as is prepa∣red for us in the Meditation.

9. First, And therefore every wise person, that intends to furnish himself with affe∣ctions of Religion, or detestation against a Vice, or glorifications of a Mystery, still will proportion the Mystery, and fit it with such circumstances of fancy and applicati∣on, as by observation of himself he knows aptest to make impression. It was a wise design of Mark Antony when he would stir up the people to revenge the death of Caesar, he brought his body to the pleading-place, he shewed his wounds, held up the rent mantle, and shewed them the garment that he put on that night in which he beat the Nervii, that is, in which he won a victory, for which his memory was dear to them; he shewed them that wound which pierced his heart, in which they were placed by so dear a love, that he made them his heirs, and left to their publick use places of de∣light and pleasure: and then it was natural, when he had made those things present to them which had once moved their love and his honour, that grief at the loss of so honourable and so lov'd a person should succeed; and then they were Lords of all, their sorrow and revenge seldom slept in two beds. And thus holy Meditation produces the passions and desires it intends, it makes the object present and almost sensible, it renews the first passions by a fiction of imagination; it passes from the Paschal Parlour to Ce∣dron, it tells the drops of sweat, and measures them, and finds them as big as drops of bloud, and then conjectures at the greatness of our sins; it fears in the midst of Christ's Agonies, it hears his groans, it spies Judas his Lantern afar off, it follows Jesus to Gabbatha, and wonders at his innocence and their malice, and feels the strokes of the Whip, and shrinks the head when the Crown of Thorns is thrust hard upon his holy brows, and at last goes step by step with Jesus, and carries part of the Cross, and is nailed fast with sorrow and compassion, and dies with love. For if the Soul be prin∣ciple of its own actions, it can produce the same effects by reflex acts of the Understand∣ing, when it is assisted by the Imaginative part, as when it sees the thing acted: only let the Meditation be as minute, particular and circumstantiate as it may; for a Wi∣dow by representing the caresses of her dead Husband's love produces sorrow and the new affections of a sad endearment. It is too sure, that the recalling the circumstances of a past impurity does re-inkindle the flame, and entertain the fancy with the burn∣ings of an impure fire: And this happens not by any advantages of Vice, but by the nature of the thing, and the efficacy of Circumstances. So does holy Meditation pro∣duce those impresses and signatures which are the proper effects of the Mystery, if pre∣sented in a right line and direct representation.

10. Secondly, He that means to meditate in the best order to the productions of Pi∣ety, must not be inquisitive for the highest Mysteries, but the plainest Propositions are to him of the greatest use and evidence. For Meditation is the duty of all, and there∣fore God hath fitted such matter for it which is proportioned to every understanding, and the greatest Mysteries of Christianity are plainest, and yet most fruitful of Medita∣tion, and most useful to the production of Piety. High Speculations are as barren as the tops of Cedars; but the Fundamentals of Christianity are fruitful as the Valleys or the creeping Vine. For know, that it is no Meditation, but it may be an Illusion, when you consider Mysteries to become more learned, without thoughts of improving Piety. Let your affections be as high as they can climb towards God, so your conside∣rations be humble, fruitful, and practically mysterious. Oh that I had the wings of a Dove, that I might flie away and be at rest, said David. The wings of an Eagle would have carried him higher, but yet the innocent Dove did furnish him with the better Embleme to represent his humble design; and lower meditations might sooner bring him to rest in God. It was a saying of AEgidius, That an old and a simple woman, if she loves Jesus, may be greater than was Brother Bonaventure. Want of Learning and disa∣bility to consider great secrets of Theology does not at all retard our progress to spiritual perfections; Love to Jesus may be better promoted by the plainer understandings of honest and unlettered people, than by the finer and more exalted speculations of great Clerks that have less Devotion. For although the way of serving God by the Under∣standing be the best and most lasting, yet it is not necessary the Understanding should be dressed with troublesom and laborious Notions: the Reason that is in Religion is the surest principle to engage our services, and more perpetual than the sweetnesses and the motives of Affection; but every honest man's Understanding is then best furnished with the discourses and the reasonable parts of Religion, when he knows those myste∣ries of Religion upon which Christ and his Apostles did build a holy life, and the super∣structures of Piety; those are the best materials of his Meditation.

11. So that Meditation is nothing else but the using of all those arguments, motives and irradiations which God intended to be instrumental to Piety. It is a composition of both ways; for it stirs up our Affections by Reason and the way of Understanding, that the wise Soul may be satisfied in the Reasonableness of the thing, and the affectionate may be entertained with the sweetnesses of holy Passion; that our Judgment be determined by discourse, and our Appetites made active by the caresses of a religious fancy. And therefore the use of Meditation is, to consider any of the Mysteries of Religion with purposes to draw from it Rules of life, or affections to Vertue, or detestation of Vice; and from hence the man rises to Devotion, and mental Prayer, and Entercourse with God; and after that he rests himself in the bosom of Beatitude, and is swallowed up with the comprehensions of Love and Contemplation. These are the several degrees of Meditation. But let us first understand that part of it which is Duty; and then, if any thing succeed of a middle condition between Duty and Reward, we will consider also how that Duty is to be performed, and how the Reward is to be managed, that it may prove to be no Illusion: Therefore I add also this Consideration.

12. Thirdly, Whatsoever pious purposes and deliberations are entertained in the act of Meditation, they are carefully to be maintained and thrust forward to actual performances, although they were indefinite and indeterminate, and no other ways decreed but by resolutions and determinations of Reason and Judgment. For God assists every pious action according to its exigence and capacity, and therefore blesses holy Meditations with results of Reason, and prepossessions dogmatically decreeing the necessity of Vertue, and the convenience of certain exercises in order to the purchase of it. He then that neglects to actuate such discourses, loses the benefit of his Meditati∣on; he is gone no farther than when he first set out, and neglects the inspirations of the Holy Spirit. For if at any time it be certain what spirit it is that speaks within the Soul, it is most certain that it is the good Spirit that moves us to an act of Vertue in order to acquisition of the habit: and when God's grace hath assisted us so far in our Meditation that we understand our Duty, and are moved with present arguments, if we put not forth our hand and make use of them, we do nothing towards our Duty; and it is not certain that God will create Graces in us as he does the Soul. Let every pious person think every conclusion of Reason in his Meditation to have passed an obli∣gation upon him: and if he hath decreed that Fasting so often, and doing so many Re∣ligious acts, is convenient and conducing to the production of a Grace he is in pursuit of; let him know that every such decree and reasonable proposition is the Grace of God, instrumental to Piety, part of his assistance, and therefore in no case to be extinguished.

13. Fourthly, In Meditation let the Understanding be restrained, and under such prudent coercion and confinement that it wander not from one discourse to another, till it hath perceived some fruit from the first; either that his Soul be instructed in a Du∣ty, or moved by a new argument, or confirmed in an old, or determined to some ex∣ercise and intermedial action of Religion, or hath broke out into some Prayers and in∣tercourse with God in order to the production of a Vertue. And this is the mystical design of the Spouse in the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of Solomon: I adjure you, O you daughters of Jeru∣salem,* 1.121 by the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and by the Hinds of the field, that you stir not up nor awake my love till he please. For it is lightness of spirit to pass over a field of flowers and to fix no-where, but to leave it without carrying some honey with us; unless the subject be of it self barren and unfruitful, and then why was it chosen? or that it is made so by our in∣disposition, and then indeed it is to be quitted. But (it is S. Chrysostom's Simile) As a Lamb sucking the breast of its dam and Mother moves the head from one part to ano∣ther till it hath found a distilling fontinel, and then it fixes till it be satisfied, or the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 cease dropping: so should we in Meditation reject such materials as are barren like the tops of hills, and six upon such thoughts which nourish and refresh, and there dwell till the nourishment be drawn forth, or so much of it as we can then temperately digest.

14. Fifthly, In Meditation strive rather for Graces than for Gifts, for affections in the way of Vertue more than the overslowings of sensible Devotion; and therefore if thou findest any thing by which thou mayest be better, though thy spirit do not actu∣ally rejoyce or find any gust or relish in the manducation, yet chuse it greedily. For although the chief end of Meditation be Affection, and not Determinations intellectu∣al; yet there is choice to be had of the Affections, and care must be taken that the af∣fections be desires of Vertue, or repudiations and aversions from something criminal; not joys and transportations spiritual, comforts and complacencies, for they are no part of our duty: sometimes they are encouragements, and sometimes rewards; some∣times they depend upon habitude and disposition of body, and seem great matters when they have little in them, and are more bodily than spiritual, like the gift of tears, and yerning of the bowels; and sometimes they are illusions and temptations, at which if the Soul stoops and be greedy after, they may prove like Hippomenes's golden Apples to Atalanta, retard our course, and possibly do some hazard to the whole race. And this will be nearer reduced to practice, if we consider the variety of mat∣ter which is fitted to the Meditation in several states of men travelling towards Heaven.

15. For the first beginners in Religion are imployed in the mastering of their first Appetites, casting out their Devils, exterminating all evil customs, lessening the pro∣clivity of habits, and countermanding the too-great forwardness of vicious inclinati∣ons; and this, which Divines call the Purgative way, is wholly spent in actions of Repentance, Mortification and Self-denial: and therefore if a penitent person snatches at Comforts, or the tastes of sensible Devotion, his Repentance is too delicate, it is but a rod of Roses and Jessamine. If God sees the spirit broken all in pieces, and that it needs a little of the oyl of gladness for its support and restitution to the capacities of its duty, he will give it; but this is not to be designed, nor snatched at in the Medita∣tion: Tears of joy are not good expressions nor instruments of Repentance; we must not gather grapes from thorns, nor figs from thistles; no refreshments to be looked for here, but such only as are necessary for support; and when God sees they are, let not us trouble our selves, he will provide them. But the Meditations which are prompt to this Purgative way and practice of first beginners are not apt to produce delicacies, but in the sequel and consequent of it. Afterwards it brings forth the pleasant fruit of righ∣teousness, but for the present it hath no joy in it, no joy of sense, though much satisfaction to Reason. And such are Meditations of the Fall of Angels and Man, the Ejection of them from Heaven, of our Parents from Paradise, the Horrour and obliquity of Sin, the Wrath of God, the severity of his Anger, Mortification of our body and spirit, Self-denial, the Cross of Christ, Death, and Hell, and Judgment, the terrours of an evil Conscience, the insecurities of a Sinner, the unreasonableness of Sin, the troubles of Repentance, the Worm and sting of a burthened spirit, the difficulties of rooting out evil Habits, and the utter abolition of Sin: if these nettles bear honey, we may fill our selves; but such sweetnesses spoil the operations of these bitter potions. Here therefore let your addresses to God and your mental prayers be affectionate desires of Pardon, humble considerations of our selves, thoughts of revenge against our Crimes, designs of Mortification, indefatigable solicitations for Mercy, expresses of shame and

confusion of face; and he meditates best in the purgative way that makes these affecti∣ons most operative and high.

16. After our first step is taken, and the punitive part of Repentance is resolved on, and begun, and put forward into good degrees of progress, we then enter into the Il∣luminative way of Religion, and set upon the acquist of Vertues, and the purchase of spiritual Graces; and therefore our Meditations are to be proportioned to the design of that imployment: such as are considerations of the Life of Jesus, Examples of Saints, reasons of Vertue, means of acquiring them, designations of proper exercises to every pious habit, the Eight Beatitudes, the gifts and fruits of the Holy Ghost, the Promises of the Gospel, the Attributes of God as they are revealed to represent God to be infinite, and to make us Religious, the Rewards of Heaven, excellent and select Sentences of holy persons, to be as incentives of Piety: These are the proper matter for Proficients in Religion. But then the affections producible from these are love of vertue, desires to imitate the Holy Jesus, affections to Saints and holy persons, con∣formity of choice, subordination to God's will, election of the ways of Vertue, satis∣faction of the Understanding in the ways of Religion, and resolutions to pursue them in the midst of all discomforts and persecutions; and our mental prayers or entercourse with God, which are the present emanations of our Meditations, must be in order to these affections, and productions from those: and in all these yet there is safety and piety, and no seeking of our selves, but designs of Vertue in just reason and duty to God, and for his sake, that is, for his commandment. And in all these particulars, if there be such a sterility of spirit that there be no end served but of spiritual profit, we are ne∣ver the worse; all that God requires of us is, that we will live well, and repent in just measure and right manner, and he that doth so, hath meditated well.

17. From hence if a pious Soul passes to affections of greater sublimity, and intimate and more immediate, abstracted and immaterial love, it is well; only remember that the love God requires of us is an operative, material, and communicative love; If ye love me, keep my Commandments: so that still a good life is the effect of the sublimest Meditation; and if we make our duty sure behind us, ascend up as high into the Mountain as you can, so your ascent may consist with the securities of your person, the condition of infirmity, and the interests of your duty. According to the saying of * 1.122 〈◊〉〈◊〉, Our empty saying of 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and reciting verses in honour of his Name, please not God so well as the imitation of him does advantage to us; and a devout 〈◊〉〈◊〉 pleases the Spouse better than an idle Panegyrick: Let your work be like his, your Duty in imitation of his Precept and Example, and then sing praises as you list; no heart is large enough, no voice pleasant enough, no life long enough, nothing but an eternity of duration and a beatifical state can do it well: and therefore holy David joyns them both, Whoso offereth me thanks and praise, he honoureth me; and to him that ordereth his* 1.123 conversation aright I will shew the salvation of God. All thanks and praise without a right-ordered conversation are but the Echo of Religion, a voice and no sub∣stance; but if those praises be sung by a heart righteous and obedient, that is, singing with the spirit and singing with understanding, that is the Musick God de∣lights in.

18. Sixthly, But let me observe and press this caution: It is a mistake, and not a little dangerous, when people religious and forward shall too promptly, frequently and nearly spend their thoughts in consideration of Divine Excellencies. God hath shewn thee merit enough to spend all thy stock of love upon him in the characters of his Power, the book of the Creature, the great tables of his Mercy, and the lines of his Justice; we have cause enough to praise his Excellencies in what we feel of him, and are refreshed with his influence, and see his beauties in reflexion, though we do not put our eyes out with staring upon his face. To behold the Glories and Perfections of God with a more direct intuition is the priviledge of Angels, who yet cover their faces in the brightness of his presence: it is only permitted to us to consider the back parts of God. And therefore those Speculations are too bold and imprudent addres∣ses, and minister to danger more than to Religion, when we pass away from the direct studies of Vertue, and those thoughts of God which are the freer and safer communica∣tions of the Deity, which are the means of entercourse and relation between him and us, to those considerations concerning God which are Metaphysical and remote, the formal objects of adoration and wonder, rather than of vertue and temperate discour∣ses:

for God in Scripture never revealed any of his abstracted Perfections and re∣moter and mysterious distances, but with a purpose to produce fear in us, and therefore to chide the temerity and boldness of too familiar and nearer enter∣course.

19. True it is that every thing we see or can consider represents some perfections of God; but this I mean, that no man should consider too much and meditate too fre∣quently upon the immediate Perfections of God, as it were by way of intuition, but as they are manifested in the Creatures and in the ministeries of Vertue: and also when-ever God's Perfections be the matter of Meditation, we should not ascend up∣wards into him, but descend upon our selves, like fruitful vapours drawn up into a cloud, descending speedily into a shower, that the effect of the consideration be a design of good life; and that our loves to God be not spent in abstractions, but in good works and humble Obedience. The other kind of love may deceive us; and therefore so may such kind of considerations which are its instrument. But this I am now more particu∣larly to consider.

20. For beyond this I have described, there is a degree of Meditation so exalted, that it changes the very name, and is called Contemplation, and it is in the unitive way of Religion, that is, it consists in unions and adherences to God; it is a prayer of quietness and silence, and a meditation extraordinary, a discourse without variety, a vision and intuition of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Excellencies, an immediate entry into an orb of light, and a resolution of all our faculties into sweetnesses, affections and starings upon the Divine beauty; and is carried on to ecstasies, raptures; suspensions, elevati∣ons, abstractions, and apprehensions beatifical. In all the course of vertuous medita∣tion the Soul is like a Virgin invited to make a matrimonial contract, it inquires the condition of the person, his estate and disposition, and other circumstances of amabili∣ty and desire: But when she is satissied with these enquiries, and hath chosen her Hus∣band, she no more considers particulars, but is moved by his voice and his gesture, and runs to his entertainment and sruition, and spends her self wholly in affections, not to obtain, but enjoy his love.

Thus it is said.

21. But this is a thing not to be discoursed of, but felt: And although in other Sci∣ences the terms must first be known, and then the Rules and Conclusions scientifical; here it is otherwise: for first the whole experience of this must be obtained, before we can so much as know what it is; and the end must be acquired first, the Conclusion before the Premises. They that pretend to these Heights call them the Secrets of the Kingdom; but they are such which no man can describe, such which God hath not re∣vealed in the publication of the Gospel, such for the acquiring of which there are no means prescribed, and to which no man is obliged, and which are not in any man's pow∣er to obtain, nor such which it is lawful to pray for or desire, nor concerning which we shall ever be called to an account.

22. Indeed when persons have been long sostned with the continual droppings of Religion, and their spirits made timorous and apt for impression by the assiduity of Prayer, and perpetual alarms of death, and the continual dyings of Mortification; the Fancy, which is a very great instrument of Devotion, is kept continually warm and in a disposition and aptitude to take fire, and to flame out in great ascents: and when they suffer transportations beyond the burthens and support of Reason, they suffer 〈◊〉〈◊〉 know not what, and call it what they please, and other pious people that hear 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of it admire that Devotion which is so eminent and beatified, (for so they esteem 〈◊〉〈◊〉) and so they come to be called Raptures and Ecstasies, which even amongst the A 〈◊〉〈◊〉 were so seldom, that they were never spoke of; for those Visions, Raptures and Intui∣tions of S. Stephen, * 1.124 S. Paul, S. Peter, and S. John, were not pretended to be of this kind, not excesses of Religion, but prophetical and intuitive Revelations to great and signi∣ficant purposes, such as may be and are described in story;* 1.125 but these other cannot: for so Cassian reports and commends a saying of Antony the Eremite, That is not a perfect Prayer* 1.126 in which the Votary does either understand himself or the Prayer; meaning, that persons eminently Religious were Divina pati∣entes, as Dionysius Areopagita said of his Master Hierotheus,

Paticks in Devotion, suffering ravishments of senses, transported beyond the uses of hu∣manity* 1.127 into the suburbs of beatifical apprehensions: but whether or no this be any thing besides a too intense and indiscreet pressure of the faculties of the Soul to inconve∣niences of understanding, or else a credulous, busie and untamed fancy, they that think best of it cannot give a certainty. There are and have been some Religious who have acted Madness, and pretended Inspirations; and when these are destitute of a Prophe∣tick spirit, if they resolve to serve themselves upon the pretences of it, they are disposed to the imitation, if not to the sufferings of Madness; and it would be a great folly to call such Dei plenos, full of God, who are no better than phantastick and mad People.

23. This we are sure of, that many Illusions have come in the likeness of Visions, and absurd fancies under the pretence of Raptures, and what some have called the spirit of Prophecy hath been the spirit of Lying, and Contemplation hath been nothing but Me∣lancholy and unnatural lengths, and stilness of Prayer hath been a mere Dream and hy∣pochondriacal devotion, and hath ended in pride or despair, or some sottish and dange∣rous temptation. It is reported of Heron the Monk, that having lived a retired, morti∣fied and religious life for many years together, at last he came to that habit of austerity or singularity, that he refused the festival refection and freer meals of Easter and other Solemnities, that he might do more eminently than the rest, and spend his time in great∣er abstractions and contemplations: but the Devil, taking advantage of the weakness of his melancholick and unsettled spirit, gave him a transportation and an ecstasie in which he fansied himself to have attained so great perfection, that he was as dear to God as a crowned Martyr, and Angels would be his security for indemnity, though he threw himself to the bottome of a Well. He obeyed his fancy and temptation, did so, bruised himself to death, and died possessed with a persuasion of the verity of that Ec∣stasie and transportation.

24. I will not say that all violences and extravagancies of a religious fancy are Illu∣sions, but I say that they are all unnatural, not hallowed by the warrant of a Revelation, nothing reasonable, nothing secure: I am not sure that they ever consist with Humility, but it is confessed that they are often produced by Self-love, Arrogancy, and the great opinion others have of us. I will not judge the condition of those persons who are said to have suffered these extraordinaries, for I know not the circumstances, or causes, or at∣tendants, or the effects, or whether the stories be true that make report of them; but I shall onely advise that we follow the intimation of our Blessed Saviour, that we sit down in the lowest place, till the Master of the Feast comes and bids us sit up higher. If we enter∣tain the inward Man in the purgative and illuminative way, that is, in actions of Repen∣tance, Vertue and precise Duty, that is the surest way of uniting us to God, whilest it is done by Faith and Obedience; and that also is Love: and in these peace and safety dwell. And after we have done our work, it is not discretion in a servant to hasten to his meal, and snatch at the refreshment of Visions, Unions, and Abstractions; but first we must gird our selves, and wait upon the Master, and not sit down our selves till we all be called at the great Supper of the Lamb.

25. It was therefore an excellent desire of St. Bernard, who was as likely as any to have such altitudes of Speculation, if God had really dispensed them to persons holy, phantastick and Religious; I pray God grant to me peace of spirit, joy in the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Ghost, to compassionate others in the midst of my mirth; to be charitable in simplicity, to rejoyce with them that rejoyce, and to mourn with them that mourn; and with these I shall be content: other Exaltations of Devotion I leave to Apostles and Apostolick men; the high Hills are for the Harts and the climbing Goats, the stony Rocks and the re∣cesses of the earth for the Conies. It is more healthful and nutritive to dig the earth, and to eat of her fruits, than to stare upon the greatest glories of the Heavens, and live upon the beams of the Sun: so unsatisfying a thing is Rapture and transportation to the Soul; it often distracts the Faculties, but seldome does advantage 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and is full of danger in the greatest of its lustre. If ever a man be more in love with God by such instruments, or more indeared to Vertue, or made more severe and watchful in his Re∣pentance, it is an excellent grace and gift of God; but then this is nothing but the joys and comfort of ordinary Meditation: those extraordinary, as they have no sense in them, so are not pretended to be instruments of Vertue, but are like, Jonathan's

arrows shot beyond it, to signifie the danger the man is in towards whom such ar∣rows are shot; but if the person be made unquiet, unconstant, proud, pusillani∣mous, of high opinion, pertinacious and confident in uncertain judgments, or de∣sperate, it is certain they are temptations and illusions: so that, as all our duty con∣sists in the ways of Repentance and acquist of Vertue; so there rests all our safe∣ty, and by consequence all our solid joys; and this is the effect of ordinary, pious, and regular Meditations.

26. If I mistake not, there is a temptation like this under another name amongst persons whose Religion hath less discourse and more fancy, and that is a Familia∣rity with God, which indeed, if it were rightly understood, is an affection conse∣quent to the Illuminative way, that is, an act or an effect of the vertue of Religion and Devotion, which consists in Prayers and addresses to God, Lauds and Eucha∣rists and Hymns, and confidence of coming to the throne of Grace upon assurance of God's veracity and goodness infinite: so that Familiarity with God, which is an af∣fection of Friendship, is the entercourse of giving and receiving blessings and gra∣ces respectively; and it is produced by a holy life, or the being in the state of Grace, and is part of every man's inheritance that is a friend of God. But when familiarity with God shall be esteemed a privilege of singular and eminent persons not communicated to all the faithful, and is thought to be an admission to a nea∣rer entercourse of secrecy with God, it is an effect of Pride, and a mistake in judg∣ment concerning the very same thing which the old Divines call the Unitive way, if themselves that claim it understood the terms of art, and the consequents of their own intentions.

27. Onely I shall observe one Circumstance, That Familiarity with God is no∣thing else but an admission to be of God's Family, the admission of a servant or a son in minority, and implies Obedience, Duty and Fear on our parts; Care and Providence and Love on God's part: And it is not the familiarity of Sons, but the impudence of proud Equals, to express this pretended privilege in 〈◊〉〈◊〉, unman∣nerly and unreverent addresses and discourses: and it is a sure rule, that whatsoe∣ver heights of Piety, union or familiarity any man pretends to, it is of the Devil, unless the greater the pretence be, the greater also be the Humility of the man. The highest flames are the most tremulous; and so are the most holy and eminent Religious persons more full of awfulness, and fear, and modesty, and humility: so that in true Divinity and right speaking there is no such thing as the Unitive way of Religion, save onely in the effects of duty, obedience, and the expresses of the precise vertue of Religion. Meditations in order to a good life let them be as exalted as the capacity of the person and subject will endure, up to the height of Contemplation; but if Contemplation comes to be a distinct thing, and some∣thing besides or beyond a distinct degree of vertuous Meditation, it is lost to all sense and Religion and prudence. Let no man be hasty to eat of the fruits of Para∣dise before his time.

28. And now I shall not need to enumerate the blessed fruits of holy Meditati∣on; for it is a Grace that is instrumental to all effects, to the production of all Vertues, and the extinction of all Vices, and, by consequence, the inhabitation of the Holy Ghost within us is the natural or proper emanation from the frequent exercise of this Duty, onely it hath something particularly excellent, besides its general influence: for Meditation is that part of Prayer which knits the Soul to its right object, and confirms and makes actual our intention and Devotion. Me∣ditation is the Tongue of the Soul and the language of our spirit; and our wan∣dring thoughts in prayer are but the neglects of Meditation, and recessions from that Duty; and according as we neglect Meditation, so are our Prayers imperfect, Meditation being the Soul of Prayer, and the intention of our spirit. But in all other things Meditation is the instrument and conveyance; it habituates our affe∣ctions to Heaven, it hath permanent content, it produces constancy of purpose, despising of things below, inflamed desires of Vertue, love of God, self-denial, hu∣mility of understanding, and universal correction of our life and manners.

The PRAYER.

HOly and Eternal Jesus, whose whole Life and Doctrine was a perpetual Sermon of Holy life, a treasure of Wisedom, and a repository of Divine materials for Me∣ditation; give me grace to understand, diligence and attention to consider, care to lay up, and carefulness to reduce to practice all those actions, discourses and pious lessons and in∣timations by which thou didst expresly teach, or tacitly imply, or mysteriously signifie our Duty. Let my Understanding become as spiritual in its imployment and purposes as it is immaterial in its nature: fill my Memory as a vessel of Election with remembrances and notions highly compunctive, and greatly incentive of all the parts of 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Let thy holy Spirit dwell in my Soul, instructing my Knowledge, sanctifying my Thoughts, guiding my Affections, directing my Will in the choice of Vertue; that it may be the great imployment of my life to meditate in thy Law, to study thy preceptive will, to un∣derstand even the niceties and circumstantials of my Duty, that Ignorance may neither occasion a sin, nor become a punishment. Take from me all vanity of spirit, lightness of fancy, curiosity and impertinency of inquiry, illusions of the Devil and phantastick de∣ceptions: Let my thoughts be as my Religion, plain, honest, pious, simple, prudent and cha∣ritable, of great imployment and force to the production of Vertues and extermination of Vice, but suffering no transportations of sense and vanity, nothing greater than the capa∣cities of my Soul, nothing that may minister to any intemperances of spirit; but let me be wholly inebriated with Love, and that love wholly spent in doing such actions as best please thee in the conditions of my infirmity and the securities of Humility, till thou shalt please to draw the curtain and reveal thy interiour beauties in the Kingdom of thine e∣ternal Glories: which grant for thy mercie's sake, O Holy and Eternal Jesu.

Amen.

[illustration]

The goodly CEDAR of Apostolick & Catholick EPISCOPACY, compared with the moderne Shoots & Slips of divided NOVELTIES, in the Church before the Introduction of the Apostles Lives

[illustration]

In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation and weeping and great mourning, ••••••hel weeping for her Children, and would not be Comforted because they are not.

SECT. VI. Of the Death of the Holy Innocents, or the Babes of Bethlehem, and the Flight of JESVS into Egypt.

[illustration]

The killing the Infants

S. MAT. 2. 18

In Rama was there a voice heard Lamentation and weeping and great mourning Rachel wee¦ping for her children and would not be con∣forted because they are not

[illustration]

The flight into Egipt

S. MAT. 2. 14.

When he arose he took the young Child and his mother by night and departed into egipt

1. ALL this while Herod waited for the return of the Wise men, that they might give directions where the Child did lie, and his Sword might find him out with a certain and direct execution. But when he saw that he was mocked of the Wise men, he was exceeding wroth. For it now began to deserve his trouble, when his purposes which were most secret began to be contradicted and diverted with a pre∣vention, as if they were resisted by an all-seeing and almighty Providence. He began to suspect the hand of Heaven was in it, and saw there was nothing for his purposes to be acted, unless he could dissolve the golden chain of Predestination. Herod believed the divine Oracles, foretelling that a King should be born in Bethlehem; and yet his Ambition had made him so stupid, that he attempted to cancel the Decree of Heaven. For if he did not believe the Prophecies, why was he troubled? If he did believe them, how could he possibly hinder that event which God had foretold himself would certain∣ly bring to pass?

2. And therefore since God already had hindered him from the executions of a distin∣guishing sword, he resolved to send a sword of indiscrimination and confusion, hoping that if he killed all the Babes of Bethlehem, this young King's Reign also should soon de∣termine. He therefore sent forth and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 all the children that were in Bethlehem and all the coasts thereof from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the Wise men. For this Execution was in the beginning of the se∣cond* 1.128 year after Christ's Nativity, as in all probability we guess; not at the two years end, as some suppose: because as his malice was subtile, so he intended it should be secure; and though he had been diligent in his inquiry, and was near the time in his computa∣tion, yet he that was never sparing of the lives of others, would now to secure his King∣dom, rather over-act his severity for some moneths, than by doing execution but just to the tittle of his account hazard the escaping of the Messias.

3. This Execution was sad, cruel and universal: no abatements made for the dire shriekings of the Mothers, no tender-hearted souldier was imployed, no hard-hearted person was softned by the weeping eyes and pity-begging looks of those Mothers, that wondred how it was possible any person should hurt their pretty Sucklings; no con∣nivences there, no protections, or friendships, or consideration, or indulgences; but Herod caus'd that his own child which was at nurse in the coasts of Bethlehem should bleed to death: which made Augustus Caesar to say, that in Heroa's house it were better to* 1.129 be a 〈◊〉〈◊〉 than a Child; because the custome of the Nation did secure a Hog from Heroa's knife, but no Religion could secure his Child. The sword being thus made sharp by Herod's commission killed 14000 pretty Babes, as the Greeks in their Calendar, and the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of AEthiopia do commemorate in their offices of Liturgy. For Herod, crafty and malicious, that is perfectly * 1.130 Tyrant, had caused all the Children to be gathered together; which the credulous Mothers (supposing it had been to take account of their age and number in order to some taxing) hindred not, but unwittingly suffered them∣selves and their Babes to be betrayed to an irremediable 〈◊〉〈◊〉.

4. Then was 〈◊〉〈◊〉 that which was spoken by Jeremy the Prophet, saying, Lamenta∣tion and weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted. All the synonyma's of sadness were little enough to express this great weep∣ing, when 14000 Mothers in one day saw their pretty Babes pouring forth their blood into that bosome whence not long before they had sucked milk, and instead of those pretty smiles which use to entertain the fancy and dear affections of their Mothers, no∣thing but affrighting shrieks, and then gastly looks. The mourning was great, like the mourning in the valley of Hinnom, and there was no comforter; their sorrow was too big to be cured till it should lie down alone and rest with its own weariness.

5. But the malice of Herod went also into the Hill-countrey, and hearing that of John the son of Zachary great things were spoken, by which he was designed to a great mini∣stery about this young Prince, he attempted in him also to rescind the Prophecies, and sent a messenger of death towards him; but the Mother's care had been early with him, and sent him into desart places, where he continued till the time appointed of his manife∣station unto 〈◊〉〈◊〉. But as the Children of Bethlehem died in the place of Christ, so did the Father of the Baptist die for his Child. For Herod 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Zachary between the Temple and the Altar, * 1.131 because he refused to betray his son to the fury of that rabid Bear. Though some persons very eminent amongst the Stars of the Primitive Church (a 1.132) report a Tradition, that a place being separated in the Temple for Virgins, Zachary suf∣fered the Mother of our Lord to abide there after the Birth of her Holy Son, affirming her still to be a Virgin; and that for this reason, not Herod, but the Scribes and Phari∣sees did kill Zachary.

6. Tertullian * 1.133 reports, that the bloud of Zachary had so 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the stones of the pavement, which was the Altar on which the good old Priest was sacrificed, that no art or industry could wash the tincture out, the dye and guilt being both indeleble; as if, because God did intend to exact of that Nation all the bloud of righteous persons from Abel to Zacharias, who was the last of the Martyrs of the Synagogue, he would leave a character of their guilt in their eyes to upbraid their Irreligion, Cruelty and 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Some there are who affirm these words of our Blessed Saviour not to relate to any Zachary who had been already slain; but to be a Prophecy of the last of all the Martyrs of the Jews, who should be slain immediately before the destruction of the last Temple and the dissolution of the Nation. Certain it is, that such a Zachary the son of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 (if we may believe Josephus) was slain in the middle of the Tem∣ple a little before it was destroyed; and it is agreeable to the nature of the Prophecy and reproof here made by our Blessed Saviour, that [from Abel to Zachary] should take in all the righteous bloud from first to last, till the iniquity was complete; and it is not imaginable that the bloud of our Blessed Lord and of S. James their Bishop (for whose death many of themselves thought God destroyed their City) should be left out of the account, which yet would certainly be left out, if any other Zachary should be 〈◊〉〈◊〉 than he whom they last slew: and in proportion to this, Cyprian de 〈◊〉〈◊〉 expounds that which we read in the past tense, to signifie the future, ye slew, i. e. shall slay; according to the style often used by Prophets, and as the Aorist of an uncertain signifi∣cation

will beat. But the first great instance of the Divine vengeance for these Execu∣tions was upon Herod, who in very few years after was smitten of God with so many plagues and tortures, that himself alone seemed like an Hospital of the 〈◊〉〈◊〉: For he was tormented with a soft slow fire, like that of burning Iron or the cinders of Yew, in his body; in his bowels with intolerable Colicks and Ulcers, in his natural parts with Worms, in his feet with Gout, in his nerves with Convulsions, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of breathing; and out of divers parts of his body issued out so impure and ulcerous a steam, that the loathsomness, pain and indignation made him once to snatch a knife with purpose to have killed himself, but that he was prevented by a Nephew of his that stood there in his attendance.

7. But as the flesh of Beasts grows callous by stripes and the pressures of the yoak; so did the heart of Herod by the loads of Divine vengeance. God began his Hell here, and the pains of Hell never made any man less impious: for Herod perceiving that he must now die, * 1.134 first put to death his son Antipater, under pretence that he would have poisoned him; and that the last scene of his life might for pure malice and exalted spight out-do all the rest, because he believed the Jewish nation would rejoyce at his death, he assembled all the Nobles of the people, and put them in prison, giving in charge to his Sister Salome, that when he was expiring his last all the Nobility should be slain, that his death might be lamented with a perfect and universal sorrow.

8. But God, that brings to nought the counsels of wicked Princes, turned the design against the intendment of Herod; for when he was dead, and could not call his Sister to account for disobeying his most bloudy and unrighteous commands, she released all the imprisoned and despairing Gentlemen, and made the day of her Brother's death a perfect Jubilee, a day of joy, such as was that when the Nation was delivered from the violence of Haman in the days of 〈◊〉〈◊〉.

9. And all this while God had provided a Sanctuary for the Holy Child Jesus. For God seeing the secret purposes of bloud which Herod had, sent his Angel, who appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise and take the young Child and his Mother,* 1.135 and fly into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy him. Then he arose, and took the young Child and his Mother by night, and departed into Egypt. And they made their first abode in Hermopolis in the* 1.136 Countrey of Thebais, whither when they first arrived, the Child Jesus being by design or providence carried into a Temple, all the Statues of the Idol-gods fell down, like Dagon at the presence of the Ark, and suffered their timely and just dissolution and dishonour, according to the Prophecy of Isaiah, * 1.137 Behold the Lord shall come into E∣gypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence. And in the Life of the Prophet Jeremy, written by Epiphanius, it is reported,

that he told the Egyptian Priests, that then their Idols should be broken in pieces, when a Holy Virgin with her Child should enter into their Countrey:

which Prophecy possibly might be the cause that the Egyptians did, besides their vanities, worship also an Infant in a manger, and a Virgin in her bed.

10. From Hermopolis to Maturea went these Holy Pilgrims in pursuance of their safety and provisions, where it was reported they dwelt in a garden of balsam, till Joseph being at the end of seven years (as it is commonly believed) ascertain'd by an Angel of the death of Herod, and commanded to return to the land of Israel, he was obedient to the heavenly Vision, and returned. But hearing that Archelaus did reign in the place of his Father, and knowing that the Cruelty and Ambition of Herod was 〈◊〉〈◊〉 or in∣tail'd upon Archelaus, being also warned to turn aside into the parts of Galilee, which was of a distinct jurisdiction, governed indeed by one of Herod's sons, but not by Archelaus, thither he diverted, and there that Holy Family remained in the City of Nazareth, whence the Holy Child had the appellative of a Nazarene.

Ad SECT. VI. Considerations upon the Death of the Innocents, and the Flight of the Holy JESVS into Egypt.

1. HErod having called the Wise men, and received information of their design, and the circumstances of the Child, pretended Religion too; and desired them to bring him word when they had found the Babe, that he might come and worship him; mean∣ing

to make a Sacrifice of him, to whom he should pay his Adoration; and in stead of investing the young Prince with a Royal purple, he would have stained his swadling∣bands with his bloud. It is ever dangerous when a wicked Prince pretends Religion, his design is then foulest by how much it needs to put on a fairer out-side: but it was an early policy in the world, and it concerned mens interests to seem Religious, when they thought that to be so was an abatement of great designs. When Jezabel designed the robbing and destroying Naboth, she sent to the Elders to proclaim a Fast; for the exter∣nal and visible remonstrances of Religion leave in the spirits of men a great reputation of the seeming person, and therefore they will not rush into a furious sentence against his actions, at least not judge them with prejudice against the man towards whom they are so fairly prepared, but do some violence to their own understanding, and either disbe∣lieve their own Reason, or excuse the fact, or think it but an errour, or a less crime, or the incidencies of humanity; or however, are so long in decreeing against him, whom they think to be religious, that the rumour is abated, or the stream of indignation is di∣verted by other laborious arts intervening before our zeal is kindled, and so the person is unjudged, or at least the design secured.

2. But in this, humane Policy was exceedingly infatuated: and though Herod had trusted his design to no keeper but himself, and had pretended fair, having Religion for the word, and called the Wise men privately, and intrusted them with no imployment but a civil request, an account of the success of their journey, which they had no reason or desire to conceal; yet his heart was opened to the eye of Heaven, and the Sun was not more visible than his dark purpose was to God, and it succeeded accordingly: the Child was sent away, the Wise men warned not to return, Herod was mocked and enraged; and so his crast became foolish and vain: and so are all counsels intended against God, or any thing of which he himself hath undertaken the protection. For although we under∣stand not the reasons of security, because we see not that admirable concentring of infi∣nite things in the Divine Providence, whereby God brings his purposes to act by ways unlook'd for, and sometimes contradictory; yet the publick and perpetual experience of the world hath given continual demonstrations, that all evil counsels have come to nought; that the succeeding of an impious design is no argument that the man is prospe∣rous; that the curse is then surest, when his fortune spreads the largest; that the contra∣diction and impossibilities of deliverance to pious persons are but an opportunity and en∣gagement for God to do wonders, and to glorifie his power and to exalt his mercy by the instances of miraculous or extraordinary events. And as the Afflictions happening to good men are alleviated by the support of God's good Spirit; and enduring them here are but consignations to an honourable amends hereafter: so the succeeding Prosperities of fortunate impiety, when they meet with punishment in the next or in the third Age, or in the deletion of a people five Ages after, are the greatest arguments of God's Provi∣dence, who keeps wrath in store, and forgets not to do judgment for all them that are op∣pressed with wrong: It was laid up with God, and was perpetually in his eye, being the matter of a lasting, durable and unremitted anger.

3. But God had care of the Holy Child; he sent his Angel to warn Joseph with the Babe and his Mother to fly into Egypt. Joseph and Mary instantly arise, and without inquiry how they shall live there, or when they shall return, or how be secured, or what accommodations they shall have in their Journey, at the same hour of the night begin the Pilgrimage with the chearfulness of Obedience, and the securities of Faith, and the confidence of Hope, and the joys of Love, knowing themselves to be recompensed for all the trouble they could endure, that they were instruments of the safety of the Holy Je∣sus, that they then were serving God, that they were encircled with the securities of the Divine Providence, and in these dispositions all places were alike; for every region was a Paradise where they were in company with Jesus. And indeed that man wants ma∣ny* 1.138 degrees of faith and prudence, who is solicitous for the support of his necessities when he is doing the commandment of God. If he commands thee to offer a Sacrifice, himself will provide a Lamb, or enable thee to find one; and he would remove thee into a state of separation, where thy body needs no supplies of provision, if he meant thou shouldest serve him without provisions: He will certainly take away thy need, or satisfie it: he will feed thee himself, as he did the Israelites; or take away thy hunger, as he did to* 1.139 Moses; or send ravens to feed thee, as he did to Elias; or make charitable people mini∣ster to thee, as the Widow to Elisha, or give thee his own portion, as he maintained the Levites; or make thine enemies to pity thee, as the Assyrians did the captive Jews: For whatsoever the World hath, and whatsoever can be conveyed by wonder or by provi∣dence, all that is thy security for provisions, so long as thou doest the work of God.

And remember that the assurance of Blessing and Health and Salvation is not made by doing what we list, or being where we desire, but by doing God's will, and being in the place of his appointment: we may be safe in Egypt, if we be there in obedience to God; and we may perish among the Babes of Bethlehem, if we be there by our own election.

4. Joseph and Mary did not argue against the Angel's message, because they had a confidence of their charge, who with the breath of his mouth could have destroyed Herod, though he had been abetted with all the Legions marching under the Roman Eagles; but they, like the two Cherubims about the Propitiatory, took the Child be∣tween them, and fled, giving way to the fury of Persecution, which possibly when the materials are withdrawn might expire, and die like fire, which else would rage for ever. Jesus fled, undertook a sad Journey, in which the roughness of the ways, his own ten∣derness, the youth of his Mother, the old age of his supposed Father, the smalness of their viaticum and accommodation for their voyage, the no-kindred they were to go to, hope∣less of comsorts and exteriour supplies, were so many circumstances of Poverty, and lesser strokes of the Persecution; things that himself did chuse to remonstrate the verity of his Nature, the infirmity of his Person, the humility of his spirit, the austerity of his un∣dertaking, the burthen of his charge, and by which he did teach us the same vertues he then expressed, and also consign'd this permission to all his Disciples in future Ages, that they also may fly from their persecutors, when the case is so that their work is not done, that is, they may glorifie God with their lives more than with their death. And of this they are ascertained by the arguments of prudent account: For sometimes we are called to glorisie God by dying, and the interest of the Church and the Faith of many may be concerned in it; then we must abide by it. In other cases it is true that Demo∣sthenes said in apology for his own escaping from a lost field, A man that runs away may* 1.140 fight again. And S. Paul made use of a guard of Souldiers to rescue him from the trea∣chery of the Jewish Rulers, and of a basket to escape from the Inquisition of the Gover∣nour of Damascus, and the Primitive Christians of Grotts and subterraneous retirements, and S. Athanasius of a fair Ladie's House, and others of desarts and graves; as knowing it was no shame to fly when their Master himself had fled, that his time and his work might be fulfilled; and when it was, he then laid his life down.

5. It is hard to set down particular Rules that may indefinitely guide all persons in the stating of their own case; because all things that depend upon circumstances are al∣terable unto infinite. But as God's glory and the good of the Church are the great con∣siderations to be carried before us all the way, and in proportions to them we are to de∣termine and judge our Questions; so also our infirmities are allowable in the scrutiny: for I doubt not but God intended it a mercy and a compliance with humane weakness when he gave us this permission, as well as it was a design to secure the opportunities of his service and the consummation of his own work by us. And since our fears, and the incommodities of flight, and the sadness of exile, and the insecurities and inconveniences of a strange and new abode are part of the Persecution; provided that God's glory be not certainly and apparently neglected, nor the Church evidently scandalized by our 〈◊〉〈◊〉, all interpretations of the question in favour of our selves, and the declension of that part which may tempt us to apostasie, or hazard our confidence, and the chusing the lesser part of the Persecution, is not against the rule of Faith, and always hath in it less glory, but oftentimes more security.

6. But thus far Herod's Ambition transported him, even to resolutions of murther of the highest person, the most glorious and the most innocent upon earth; and it repre∣sents that Passion to be the most troublesome and vexatious thing that can afflict the sons of men. Vertue hath not half so much trouble in it, it sleeps quietly without startings and affrighting fancies, it looks chearfully, smiles with much 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and though it laughs not often, yet it is ever delightful in the apprehensions of some faculty; it fears no man, nor no thing, nor is it discomposed, and hath no concernments in the great alte∣rations of the World, and entertains Death like a Friend, and reckons the issues of it as the greatest of its hopes: but Ambition is full of distractions, it teems with stratagems, as Rebecca with strugling twins, and is swelled with expectation as with a tympany, and sleeps sometimes as the wind in a storm, still and quiet for a minute, that it may burst out into an impetuous blast till the cordage of his heart-strings crack; fears when none is 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and prevents things which never had intention, and falls under the inevitability of such accidents which either could not be foreseen, or not prevented. It is an infinite labour to make a man's self miserable, and the utmost acquist is so goodly a purchase, that he makes his days full of sorrow to enjoy the troubles of a three years reign; for

Herod lived but three years, or five at the most, after the flight of Jesus into Egypt. And therefore there is no greater unreasonableness in the world than in the designs of Ambition: for it makes the present certainly miserable, unsatisfied, troublesome and discontent, for the uncertain acquist of an honour which nothing can secure; and be∣sides a thousand possibilities of miscarrying, it relies upon no greater certainty than our life, and when we are dead, all the world sees who was the fool. But it is a strange cai∣tiveness and baseness of disposition of men so furiously and unsatiably to run after perish∣ing and uncertain interests, in defiance of all the Reason and Religion of the world; and yet to have no appetite to such excellencies which satisfie Reason, and content the spirit, and create great hopes, and ennoble our expectation, and are advantages to Communi∣ties of men and publick Societies, and which all wise men teach, and all Religion commands.

7. And it is not amiss to observe how Herod vexed himself extremely upon a mistake.* 1.141 The Child Jesus was born a King, but it was a King of all the World, not confined with∣in the limits of a Province, like the weaker beauties of a Torch to shine in one room, but, like the Sun, his Empire was over all the World; and if Herod would have become but his Tributary, and paid him the acknowledg∣ments of his Lord, he should have had better conditions* 1.142 than under Caesar, and yet have been as absolute in his own Jewry as he was before: His Kingdom was not of this World, and he that gives heavenly Kingdoms to all his servants, would not have stooped to have taken up Herod's petty* 1.143 Coronet. But as it is a very vanity which Ambition seeks, so it is a shadow that disturbs and discomposes all its moti∣ons and apprehensions.

8. And the same mistake caused calamities to descend upon the Church, for some of the Persecutions commenced upon pretence Christianity was an enemy to Government: But the pretence was infinitely unreasonable, and therefore had the fate of senseless al∣legations, it disbanded presently; for no external accident did so incorporate the excel∣lency of Christ's Religion into the hearts of men, as the innocency of the men, their inoffensive deportment, the modesty of their designs, their great humility and obedience, a life expresly in enmity and contestation against secular Ambition. And it is to be feared that the mingling humane interests with Religion will deface the image Christ hath stamped upon it. Certain it is, the metall is much abated by so impure allay, while the Christian Prince serves his end of Ambition, and bears arms upon his neighbour's Countrey for the service of Religion, making Christ's Kingdom to invade Herod's rights: and in the state Ecclesiastical secular interests have so deep a* 1.144 portion, that there are snares laid to tempt a Persecution, and men are invited to Sacrilege, while the Revenues of a Church are a fair fortune for a Prince. I make no scruple to find fault with Painters that picture the poor Saints with rich garments; for though they deserved better, yet they had but poor ones: and some have been tempted to cheat the Saint, not out of ill will to his Sanctity, but love to his Shrine, and to the beauty of the cloaths, with which some imprudent per∣sons have of old time dressed their Images. So it is in the fate of the Church, Persecu∣tion and the robes of Christ were her portion and her cloathing, and when she is dressed up in gawdy fortunes, it is no more than she deserves, but yet sometimes it is occasion that the Devil cheats her of her Holiness, and the men of the world sacrilegiously cheat her of her Riches: and then when God hath reduced her to that Poverty he first promi∣sed and intended to her, the Persecution ceases, and Sanctity returns, and God curses the Sacrilege, and stirs up mens minds to religious Donatives; and all is well till she grows rich again. And if it be dangerous in any man to be rich, and discomposes his steps in his journey to Eternity; it is not then so proportionable to the analogy of Christ's Po∣verty and the inheritance of the Church, to be sedulous in acquiring great Temporal∣ties, and putting Princes in jealousie, and States into care for securities, lest all the Tem∣poral should run into Ecclesiastical possession.

9. If the Church have by the active Piety of a credulous, a pious and less-observant Age, been endowed with great Possessions, she hath rules enough, and poor enough, and necessities enough to dispend what she hath with advantages to Religion: but then all she gets by it is, the trouble of an unthankful, a suspected and unsatisfying dispensation; and the Church is made by evil persons a Scene of ambition and stratagem; and to get

a German Bishoprick is to be a Prince; and to defend with* 1.145 niceness and Suits of Law every Custom or lesser Rite, even to the breach of Charity and the scandal of Religion, is called a Duty: and every single person is bound to forgive injuries, and to quit his right rather than his Charity; but if it is not a duty in the Church also, in them whose life should be excellent to the degree of Example, I would fain know if there be not greater care taken to secure the Ecclesiastical Revenue, than the publick Charity and the honour of Religion in the strict Piety of the Clergy; for as the not ingaging in Suits may occasion bold people to wrong the Church, so the necessity of ingaging is occasion of losing Charity and of great Scandal. I find not fault with a free Revenue of the Church; it is in some sense necessary to Governours, and to preserve the Consequents of their Authority; but I represent that such things are occasion of much mischief to the Church, and less Holiness, and in all cases respect should be had to the design of Christia∣nity, to the Prophecies of Jesus, to the promised lot of the Church, to the dangers of Riches, to the excellencies and advantages and rewards of Poverty; and if the Church have enough to perform all her duties and obligations chearfully, let her of all Societies be soonest content. If she have plenty, let her use it temperately and charitably; if she have not, let her not be querulous and troublesome. But however it would be thought upon, that though in judging the quantum of the Church's portion the World thinks e∣very thing too much, yet we must be careful we do not judge every thing too little; and if our fortune be safe between envy and contempt, it is much mercy. If it be despicable, it is safe for Ecclesiasticks, though it may be accidentally inconvenient or less profitable to others; but if it be great, publick experience hath made remonstrance that it mingles with the world, and durties those fingers which are instrumental in Consecration and the more solemn Rites of Christianity.

10. Jesus fled from the Persecution; as he did not stand it out, so he did not stand out against it; he was careful to transmit no precedent or encouragement of resisting tyrannous Princes, when they offer violence to Religion and our lives: He would not stand disputing for privileges, nor calling in Auxiliaries from the Lord of Hosts, who could have spared him many Legions of Angels, every single Spirit being able to have defeated all Herod's power; but he knew it was a hard lesson to learn Patience, and all the excuses in the world would be sought out to discourage such a Doctrine by which we are taught to die, or lose all we have, or suffer inconveniences at the will of a Tyrant: we need no authentick examples, much less Doctrines, to invite men to War, from which we see Christian Princes cannot be restrained with the engage∣ments and peaceful Theorems of an excellent and a holy Religion, nor Subjects kept from Rebelling by the interests of all Religions in the world, nor by the necessities and reasonableness of Obedience, nor the indearments of all publick Societies of men; one word or an intimation from Christ would have sounded an alarm, and put us into po∣stures of defence, when all Christ's excellent Sermons and rare exemplar actions cannot tie our hands. But it is strange now, that of all men in the World Christians should be such fighting people, or that Christian Subjects should lift up a thought against a Christian Prince, when they had no intimation of encouragement from their Master, but many from him to endear Obedience, and Humility, and Patience, and Charity; and these four make up the whole analogy, and represent the chief design and meaning of Christianity in its moral constitution.

11. But Jesus, when himself was safe, could also have secured the poor Babes of Bethlehem, with thousands of diversions and avocations of Herod's purposes, or by dis∣covering his own Escape in some safe manner not unknown to the Divine wisedom; but yet it did not so please God. He is Lord of his Creatures, and hath absolute domi∣nion over our lives, and he had an end of Glory to serve upon these Babes, and an end of Justice upon Herod: and to the Children he made such compensation, that they had no reason to complain that they were so soon made Stars, when they shined in their little Orbs and participations of Eternity: for so the sense of the Church hath been, that* 1.146 they having dyed the death of Martyrs, though incapable of making the choice, God supplied the defects of their will by his own entertainment of the thing; that as the misery and their death, so also their glorification might have the same Author in the same manner of causality, even by a peremptory and unconditioned determination in these particulars. This sense is pious and nothing unreasonable, considering that all circum∣stances

of the thing make the case particular; but the immature death of other Infants is a sadder story: for though I have no warrant or thought that it is ill with them af∣ter death, and in what manner or degree of well-being it is there is no revelation; yet I am not of opinion, that the securing of so low a condition as theirs in all reason is like to be, will make recompence, or is an equal blessing with the possibilities of such an E∣ternity as is proposed to them who in the use of Reason and a holy life glorifie God with a free Obedience; and if it were otherwise, it were no blessing to live till the use of Rea∣son, and Fools and Babes were in the best, because in the securest, condition, and certain expectation of equal glories.

12. As soon as Herod was dead, (for the Divine Vengeance waited his own time for his arrest) the Angel presently brought Joseph word. The holy Family was full of content and indifferency, not solicitous for return, not distrustful of the Divine Provi∣dence, full of poverty, and sanctity, and content, waiting God's time, at the return of which God delayed not to recall them from Exile; out of Egypt he called his Son, and di∣rected Joseph's fear and course, that he should divert to a place in the jurisdiction of Phi∣lip, where the Heir of Herod's Cruelty, Archelaus, had nothing to do. And this very series of Providence and care God expresses to all his sons by adoption; and will deter∣mine the time, and set bounds to every Persecution, and punish the instruments, and ease our pains, and refresh our sorrows, and give quietness to our fears, and deliverance from our troubles, and sanctifie it all, and give a Crown at last, and all in his good time, if we wait the coming of the Angel, and in the mean time do our duty with care, and sustain our temporals with indifferency: and in all our troubles and displeasing accidents we may call to mind, that God by his holy and most reasonable Providence hath so ordered it, that the spiritual advantages we may receive from the holy use of such incom∣modities are of great recompence and interest, and that in such accidents the Holy Jesus, having gone before us in precedent, does go along with us by love and fair as∣sistences; and that makes the present condition infinitely more eligible than the great∣est splendour of secular fortune.

The PRAYER.

O Blessed and Eternal God, who didst suffer thy Holy Son to fly from the violence of an enraged Prince, and didst chuse to defend him in the ways of his infirmity by hiding himself, and a voluntary exile; be thou a defence to all thy faithful people when-ever Perse∣cution arises against them, send them the ministery of Angels to direct them into ways of se∣curity, and let thy holy Spirit guide them in the paths of Sanctity, and let thy Providence continue in custody over their persons till the times of refreshment and the day of Redemption shall return. Give, O Lord, to thy whole Church Sanctity and Zeal, and the confidences of a holy Faith, boldness of confession, Humility, content, and resignation of spirit, generous contempt of the World, and unmingled desires of thy glory and the edification of thy Elect; that no secular interests disturb her duty, or discompose her charity, or depress her hopes, or in any unequal degree possess her affections and pollute her spirit: but preserve her from the snares of the World and the Devil, from the rapine and greedy desires of Sacrilegious persons; and in all conditions, whether of affluence or want, may she still promote the interests of Religion: that when plenteousness is within her palaces, and peace in her walls, that con∣dition may then be best for her; and when she is made as naked as Jesus to his Passion, then Poverty may be best for her: that in all estates she may glorifie thee, and in all accidents and changes thou mayest sanctifie and bless her, and at last bring her to the eternal riches and abundances of glory, where no Persecution shall disturb her rest. Grant this for sweet Jesus sake, who suffered exile and hard journeys, and all the inconveniences of a friendless person, in a strange Province; to whom with thee and the eternal Spirit be glory for ever, and bles∣sing in all generations of the World, and for ever and ever.

Amen.

SECT. VII. Of the younger years of JESVS, and his Disputation with the Doctors in the Temple.

[illustration]

The House of Prayer.

It is written, My house shall be called of all Nations, the house of prayer. Mark. 11. 17. If they return, confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication before thee in this House: Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive. 2. Chron 6. 24. 26.

[illustration]

IESUS disputing with the Doctors

S. LUKE. 2. 46. 47.

They found him in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the Doctors both hearing them and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding & answers.

1. FRom the return of this holy Family to Judaea, and their habitation in Naza∣reth, till the blessed Child Jesus was twelve years of age, we have nothing transmitted to us out of any authentick Record, but that they went to Jerusa∣lem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when Jesus was twelve years old, and was in the Holy City attending upon the Paschal Rites and solemn Sacrifices of the Law, his Parents, having fulfilled their days of Festivity, went homeward, supposing the Child had been in the Caravan among his friends, and so they erred for the space of a whole day's journey; and when they sought him, and found him not, they returned to Jeru∣salem full of fears and sorrow.

2. No fancy can imagine the doubts, the apprehensions, the possibilities of mis∣chief, and the tremblings of heart which the Holy Virgin-Mother felt thronging about her fancy and understanding, but such a person who hath been tempted to the danger of a violent fear and transportation, by apprehension of the loss of a hope greater than a Miracle; her discourses with her self could have nothing of distrust, but much of sad∣ness and wonder, and the indetermination of her thoughts was a trouble great as the passion of her love: Possibly an Angel might have carried him she knew not whither; or it may be the son of Herod had gotten the prey, which his cruel Father missed; or he was sick, or detained out of curiosity and wonder, or any thing but what was right. And by this time she was come to Jerusalem, and having spent three days in her sad and holy pursuit of her lost jewel, despairing of the prosperous event of any humane dili∣gence, as in all other cases she had accustomed, she made her address to God, and entring into the Temple to pray, God, that knew her desires, prevented her with the blessings of goodness, and there her sorrow was changed into joy and wonder; for there she found her Holy Son sitting in the midst of the Doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions.

3. And when they saw him, they were amazed, and so were all that heard him, at his understanding and answers; beyond his education, beyond his experience, beyond his years, and even beyond the common spirits of the best 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 up to the height of a Prophet, with the clearness of an Angel, and the infallibility of inspirati∣on: for here it was verified in the highest and most literal signification, that out of the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of babes God had ordained strength; but this was the strength of 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and science of the highest Mysteries of Religion and secret Philosophy.

4. Glad were the Parents of the Child to find him illustrated with a Miracle, con∣cerning which when he had given them such an account which they understood not, but yet Mary laid up in her heart, as that this was part of his imployment and his Father's business, he returned with them to Nazareth, and was subject to his Parents; where he lived in all Holiness and Humility, shewing great signs of Wisdom, indearing himself to all that beheld his conversation, did nothing less than might become the great ex∣pectation which his miraculous Birth had created of him; for he increased in 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and stature, and favour with God and Man, still growing in proportion to his great begin∣nings to a miraculous excellency of Grace, sweetness of demeanour, and excellency of understanding.

5. They that love to serve God in hard questions, use to dispute whether Christ did truly or in appearance only increase in Wisdom. For being personally united to the Word, and being the eternal Wisdom of the Father, it seemed to them that a plenitude of Wisdom was as natural to the whole Person, as to the Divine Nature. But others, fixing their belief upon the words of the story, which equally affirms Christ as properly to have increased in favour with God as with Man, in wisdom as in stature, they appre∣hend no inconvenience in affirming it to belong to the verity of Humane Nature to have degrees of Understanding as well as of other perfections: and although the Hu∣manity of Christ made up the same Person with the Divinity, yet they think the Divi∣nity still to be free, even in those communications which were imparted to his inferi∣our Nature, and the Godhead might as well suspend the emanation of all the treasures of Wisdom upon the Humanity for a time, as he did the Beatifical Vision, which most certainly was not imparted in the interval of his sad and dolorous Passion. But whe∣ther it were truly or in appearance, in habit or in exercise of act, by increase of notion or experience, it is certain the promotions of the Holy Child were great, admirable, and as full of wonder as of Sanctity, and sufficient to entertain the hopes and expectati∣ons of Israel with preparations and dispositions, as to satisfie their wonder for the pre∣sent, so to accept him at the time of his publication, they having no reason to be scan∣dalized at the smalness, improbability, and indifferency of his first beginnings.

6. But the Holy Child had also an imployment which he undertook in obedience to his supposed Father, for exercise and example of Humility, and for the support of that holy Family which was dear in the eyes of God, but not very splendid by the opulency of a free and indulgent fortune. He wrought in the trade of a Carpenter, and when Joseph died, which happened before the Manifestation of Jesus unto Israel, he wrought alone, and was no more called the Carpenter's son, but the Carpenter himself. Is not this the Carpenter, the son of Mary? said his offended Countrymen. And in this condition* 1.147 the Blessed Jesus did abide till he was thirty years old; for he that came to fulfil the Law, would not suffer one tittle of it to pass unaccomplished; for by the Law of the Nation and custom of the Religion no Priest was to officiate, or Prophet was to preach, before he was thirty years of age.

Ad SECT. VII. Considerations upon the Disputation of JESVS with the Do∣ctors in the Temple.

1. JOseph and Mary, being returned unto Nazareth, were sedulous to enjoy the pri∣viledges of their Countrey, the opportunities of Religion, the publick address to God, in the Rites of Festivals and Solemnities of the Temple: they had been long grieved with the impurities and Idol-rites which they with sorrow had observed to be done in Egypt; and being deprived of the blessings of those holy Societies and im∣ployments

they used to enjoy in Palestine, at their return came to the offices of their Religion with appetites of fire, and keen as the evening Wolf; and all the joys which they should have received in respersion and distinct emanations, if they had kept their Anniversaries at Jerusalem, all that united they received in the duplication of their joys at their return, and in the fulfilling themselves with the resection and holy Vi∣ands of Religion. For so God uses to satisfie the longings of holy people, when a Per∣secution has shut up the beautiful gates of the Temple, or denied to them opportunities of access: although God hears the Prayers they make with their windows towards Je∣rusalem, with their hearts opened with desires of the publick communions, and sends them a Prophet with a private meal, as Habakkuk came to Daniel; yet he fills their hearts when the year of Jubilee returns, and the people sing In convertendo, the Song of joy for their redemption. For as of all sorrows the deprivations and eclipses of Religion are the saddest, and of the worst and most inconvenient consequence; so in proportion are the joys of spiritual plenty and religious returns, the Communion of Saints be∣ing like the Primitive Corban, a 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to feed all the needs of the Church, or like a Taper joyned to a Torch, it self is kindled, and increases the other's flames.

2. They failed not to go to Jerusalem: for all those holy prayers and ravishments of love, those excellent meditations and entercourses with God, their private readings and discourses, were but entertainments and satisfaction of their necessities, they lived with them during their retirements; but it was a Feast when they went to Jerusa∣lem, and the freer and more indulgent resection of the Spirit; for in publick Solemni∣ties God opens his treasures, and pours out his grace more abundantly. Private De∣votions and secret Offices of Religion are like refreshing of a Garden with the distilling and petty drops of a Water-pot; but addresses to the Temple, and serving God in the publick communion of Saints, is like rain from Heaven, where the Offices are descri∣bed by a publick spirit, heightned by the greater portions of assistance, and receive ad∣vantages by the adunations and symbols of Charity, and increment by their distinct title to Promises appropriate even to their assembling, and mutual support, by the pie∣ty of Example, by the communication of Counsels, by the awfulness of publick Observation, and the engagements of* 1.148 holy Customs. For Religion is a publick vertue, it is the li∣gature of Souls, and the great instrument of the conservation of Bodies politick, and is united in a common object, the God of all the World, and is managed by publick ministeries, by Sacrifice, Adoration, and Prayer, in which with variety of circumstances indeed, but with infinite consent and union of design, all the sons of Adam are taught to worship God; and it is a publication of God's honour, its very pur∣pose being to declare to all the World how great things God hath done for us, whether in publick Donatives or private Missives; so that the very design, temper and consti∣tution of Religion is to be a publick address to God: and although God is present in Closets, and there also distills his blessings in small rain; yet to the Societies of Religi∣on and publication of Worship as we are invited by the great blessings and advantages of Communion, so also we are in some proportions more straitly limited by the analogy and exigence of the Duty. It is a Persecution when we are forced from publick Wor∣shippings;* 1.149 no man can hinder our private addresses to God, every man can build a Chappel in his breast, and himself be the Priest, and his heart the Sacrifice, and eve∣ry foot of glebe he treads on be the Altar; and this no Tyrant can prevent. If then there can be Persecution in the offices of Religion, it is the prohibition of publick pro∣fession and Communions, and therefore he that denies to himself the opportunities of publick rites and conventions, is his own Persecutor.

3. But when Jesus was twelve years old, and his Parents had finished their Offices, and returned filled with the pleasures of Religion, they missed the Child, and sought him amongst their kindred, but there they found him not; for whoever seeks Jesus must seek him in the Offices of Religion, in the Temple, not amongst the engagements and pursuit of worldly interests: I forgat also mine own Father's house, said 〈◊〉〈◊〉, the Fa∣ther of this Holy Child; and so must we, when we run in an enquiry after the Son of David. But our relinquishing must not be a dereliction of duty, but of engagement; our affections toward kindred must always be with charity, and according to the en∣dearments of our relation, but without immersion, and such adherencies as either con∣tradict or lessen our duty towards God.

4. It was a sad effect of their pious journey to lose the joy of their Family, and the hopes of all the World: but it often happens that after spiritual imployments God seems to absent himself, and withdraw the sensible effects of his presence, that we may seek him with the same diligence and care and holy fears with which the Holy Virgin∣Mother sought the Blessed Jesus. And it is a design of great mercy in God to take off the light from the eyes of a holy person, that he may not be abused with complacencies and too confident opinions and reflexions upon his fair performances. For we usually judge of the well or ill of our Devotions and services by what we feel; and we think God rewards every thing in the present, and by proportion to our own expectations; and if we feel a present rejoycing of Spirit, all is well with us, the smoak of the Sacri∣fice ascended right in a holy Cloud: but if we feel nothing of comfort, then we count it a prodigy and ominous, and we suspect our selves, (and most commonly we have reason.) Such irradiations of chearfulness are always welcom, but it is not always anger that takes them away: the Cloud removed from before the camp of Israel, and stood before the host of Pharaoh; but this was a design of ruine to the Egyptians, and of security to Israel: and if those bright Angels that go with us to direct our journeys, remove out of our sight and stand behind us, it is not always an argument that the an∣ger of the Lord is gone out against us; but such decays of sense and clouds of spirit are excellent conservators of Humility, and restrain those intemperances and vainer thoughts which we are prompted to in the gayety of our spirits.

5. But we often give God cause to remove and for a while to absent himself, and his doing of it sometimes upon the just provocations of our demerits makes us at other times with good reason to suspect our selves even in our best actions. But sometimes we are vain, or remiss, or pride invades us in the darkness and incuriousness of our spirits, and we have a secret sin which God would have us to enquire after; and when we suspect every thing, and condemn our selves with strictest and most angry sentence, then, it may be, God will with a ray of light break through the cloud; if not, it is no∣thing the worse for us: for although the visible remonstrance and face of things in all the absences and withdrawings of Jesus be the same, yet if a sin be the cause of it, the withdrawing is a taking away his Favour and his love; but if God does it to secure thy Piety, and to enflame thy desires, or to prevent a crime, then he withdraws a Gift on∣ly, nothing of his Love, and yet the darkness of the spirit and sadness seem equal. It is hard in these cases to discover the cause, as it is nice to judge the condition of the ef∣fect; and therefore it is prudent to ascertain our condition by improving our care and our Religion; and in all accidents to make no judgment concerning God's Favour by what we feel, but by what we do.

6. When the Holy Virgin with much Religion and sadness had sought her joy, at last she found him disputing among the Doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions; and besides that he now first opened a fontinel, and there sprang out an excellent rivu∣let from his abyss of Wisdom, he consigned this Truth to his Disciples, That they who mean to be Doctors and teach others, must in their first accesses and degrees of disci∣pline learn of those whom God and publick Order hath set over us in the Mysteries of Religion.

The PRAYER.

BLessed and most Holy Jesus, Fountain of Grace and comfort, Treasure of Wisdom and spiritual emanations, be pleased to abide with me for ever by the inhabitation of thy in∣teriour assistances and refreshments; and give me a corresponding love, acceptable and un∣stained purity, care and watchfulness over my ways, that I may never, by provoking thee to anger, cause thee to remove thy dwelling, or draw a cloud before thy holy face: but if thou art pleased upon a design of charity or trial to cover my eyes, that I may not behold the bright rays of thy Favour, nor be refreshed with spiritual comforts; let thy Love support my spirit by ways insensible, and in all my needs give me such a portion as may be instrumental and incentive to performance of my duty; and in all accidents let me continue to seek thee by Prayers, and Hu∣miliation, and frequent desires, and the strictness of a Holy life; that I may follow thy ex∣ample, pursue thy foot-steps, be supported by thy strength, guided by thy hand, enlightned by thy favour, and may at last after a persevering holiness and an unwearied industry dwell with thee in the Regions of Light and eternal glory, where there shall be no fears of parting from the ha∣bitations of Felicity, and the union and fruition of thy Presence, O Blessed and most Holy Je∣sus.

Amen.

SECT. VIII. Of the Preaching of John the Baptist, preparative to the Manifestation of JESVS.

[illustration]

ELIAS

Luke: 1: 17. And he shall goe before him in the spirit and power of Elias.

[illustration]

S^t IOHN the Baptist

Luk: 1: 15 And as the people were in expectation. ve: 16 Iohn answered saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water but one mightier then I cometh y^e latchet of whose shooes I am not worthy to unloose he shall baptize you with y^e Holy Ghost and with fire

WHen Herod had drunk so great a draught of bloud at Bethlehem, and sought for more from the Hill-country, Elizabeth carried her Son into the Wilderness, there in the desert places and recesses to hide him from the fury of that Beast, where she attended him with as much care and tenderness as the affections and fears of a Mother could express in the permission of those fruitless Soli∣tudes. The Child was about eighteen months old when he first sled to Sanctuary;* 1.150 but after forty days his Mother died, and his Father Zachary at the time of his mini∣stration, which happened about this time, was killed in the Court of the Temple; so that the Child was exposed to all the dangers and infelicities of an Orphan, in a place of solitariness and discomfort, in a time when a bloudy King endeavoured his destru∣ction. But when his Father and Mother were taken from him, the Lord took him up. For,* 1.151 according to the tradition of the Greeks, God deputed an Angel to be his nourisher and Guardian, as he had formerly done to * 1.152 Ishmael who dwelt in the Wilderness, and to Elias when he fled from the rage of Ahab; so to this Child, who came in the spirit of* 1.153 Elias, to make demonstration that there can be no want where God undertakes the care and provision.

2. The entertainment that S. John's Proveditóre the Angel gave him was such as the Wilderness did afford, and such as might dispose him to a life of Austerity; for there he continued spending his time in Me∣ditations,* 1.154 Contemplation, Prayer, Affections and Collo∣quies with God, eating Flies and wild Honey, not clothed in soft, but a hairy garment, and a leathern girdle, till he was thirty years of age. And then, being the fifteenth year of Tiberius, Pontius Pilate being Governour of Judaea, the Word of God came unto John in the Wilderness. And he came into all the countrey about Jor∣dan, preaching and baptizing.

3. This John, according to the Prophecies of him and designation of his person by the Holy Ghost, was the fore-runner of Christ, sent to dispose the people for his enter∣tainment, and prepare his ways; and therefore it was necessary his person should be so extraordinary and full of Sanctity, and so clarified by great concurrences and wonder in the circumstances of his life, as might gain credit and reputation to the testimony he was to give concerning his LORD the Saviour of the World. And so it hap∣pened.

4. For as the Baptist, while he was in the Wilderness, became the pattern of solita∣ry and contemplative life, a School of Vertue, and Example of Sanctity and singular Austerity; so at his emigration from the places of his Retirement he seemed, what in∣deed he was, a rare and excellent Personage: and the Wonders which were great at his Birth, the prediction of his Conception by an Angel, which never had before hap∣pened but in the persons of Isaac and Sampson, the contempt of the world which he bore about him, his mortified countenance and deportment, his austere and eremiti∣cal life, his vehement spirit and excellent zeal in Preaching, created so great opinions of him among the people, that all held him for a Prophet in his Office, for a heavenly person in his own particular, and a rare example of Sanctity and holy life to all others: and all this being made solemn and ceremonious by his Baptism, he prevailed so, that he made excellent and apt preparations for the LORD's appearing; for there went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the regions round about Jordan, and were bap∣tized of him, confessing their sins.

5. The Baptist having by so heavenly means won upon the affections of all men, his Sermons and his testimony concerning Christ were the more likely to be prevalent and accepted; and the summ of them was Repentance and dereliction of sins, and bringing forth the fruits of good life; in the promoting of which Doctrine he was a severe repre∣hender of the Pharisees and Sadducees, he exhorted the people to works of mercy, the Publicans to do justice and to decline oppression, the Souldiers to abstain from plun∣dering, and doing violence or rapine: and publishing that he was not the CHRIST, that he only baptized with water, but the Messias should baptize with the holy Ghost and with fire; he finally denounced judgment and great severities to all the World of impe∣nitents, even abscission and fire unquenchable. And from this time forward, viz. From the days of John the Baptist, the Kingdom of Heaven suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. For now the Gospel began to dawn, and John was like the Morning∣star, or the blushings springing from the windows of the East, foretelling the approach of the Sun of Righteousness: and as S. John Baptist laid the first rough, hard and un∣hewen stone of this building in Mortification, Self denial and doing violence to our natural affections; so it was continued by the Master-builder himself, who propound∣ed the glories of the Crown of the heavenly Kingdom to them only who should climb the Cross to reach it. Now it was that Multitudes should throng and croud to enter in at the strait gate, and press into the Kingdom; and the younger brothers should snatch the inheritance from the elder, the unlikely from the more likely, the Gentiles from the Jews, the strangers from the natives, the Publicans and Harlots from the Scribes and Pharisees, who, like violent persons, shall by their importunity, obedience, watchfulness and diligence snatch the Kingdom from them to whom it was first offer∣ed; and Jacob shall be loved, and Esau rejected.

Ad SECT. VIII. Considerations upon the Preaching of John the Baptist.

1. FRom the Disputation of Jesus with the Doctors to the time of his Manifestation to Israel, which was eighteen years, the Holy Child dwelt in Nazareth in great obedience to his Parents, in exemplar Modesty, singular Humility, working with his hands in his supposed Father's trade, for the support of his own and his Mother's neces∣sities, and that he might bear the Curse of Adam, that in the sweat of his brows he should eat his bread: all the while he increased in favour with God and man, sending forth ex∣cellent testimonies of a rare Spirit and a wise Understanding in the temperate instances

of such a conversation to which his Humility and great Obedience had engaged him. But all this while the stream ran under ground: and though little bublings were dis∣cerned in all the course, and all the way men looked upon him as upon an excellent per∣son, diligent in his calling, wise and humble, temperate and just, pious and rarely temper'd; yet at the manifestation of John the Baptist he brake forth like the stream from the bowels of the earth, or the Sun from a cloud, and gave us a precedent that we should not shew our lights to minister to vanity, but then only when God, and publick order, and just dispositions of men call for a manifestation: and yet the Ages of men have been so forward in prophetical Ministeries, and to undertake Ecclesiastical im∣ployment, that the viciousness and indiscretions and scandals the Church of God feels as great burthens upon the tenderness of her spirit, are in great part owing to the neg∣lect of this instance of the Prudence and Modesty of the Holy Jesus.

2. But now the time appointed was come, the Baptist comes forth upon the Theatre of Palestine, a fore-runner of the Office and publication of Jesus, and by the great re∣putation of his Sanctity prevailed upon the affections and judgment of the people, who with much case believed his Doctrine, when they had reason to approve his Life; for the good Example of the Preacher is always the most prevailing Homily, his Life is his best Sermon. He that will raise affections in his Auditory must affect their eyes; for we seldom see the people weep if the Orator laughs loud and loosely; and there is no reason to think that his discourse should work more with me than himself. If his arguments be fair and specious, I shall think them fallacies, while they have not faith with him; and what necessity for me to be temperate, when he that tells me so sees no such need, but hopes to go to Heaven without it? or if the duty be necessary, I shall learn the definition of Temperance, and the latitudes of my permission, and the bounds of lawful and unlawful, by the exposition of his practice; if he binds a bur∣then upon my shoulders, it is but reason I should look for him to bear his portion too. Good works convince more than Miracles; and the power of ejecting Devils is not so great* 1.155 probation that Christian Religion came from God, as is the holiness of the Doctrine, and its efficacy and productions upon the hearty Professors of the Institution. S. Pa∣chomius, when he wore the military girdle under Constantine the Emperor, came to a City of Christians, who having heard that the Army in which he then marched was almost starved for want of necessary provisions, of their own charity relieved them speedily and freely. He wondring at their so free and chearful dispensation, inquired what kind of people these were whom he saw so bountiful. It was answered they were Christians, whose Profession it is to hurt no man, and to do good to every man. The pleased Souldier was convinced of the excellency of that Religion which brought forth men so good and so pious, and loved the Mother for the Children's sake, threw away his girdle, and became Christian, and Religious, and a Saint. And it was Tertullian's great argument in behalf of Christians, See how they love one another, how every man is ready to die for his brother: it was a living argument and a sensible demonstration of the purity of the Fountain, from whence such lympid waters did derive. But so John the Baptist made himself a fit instrument of preparation, and so must all the Christian Cler∣gy be fitted for the dissemination of the Gospel of Jesus.

3. The Baptist had till this time, that is, about thirty years, lived in the Wilder∣ness under the Discipline of the Holy Ghost, under the tuition of Angels, in conversa∣tion with God, in great mortification and disaffections to the World, his garments rug∣ged and uneasie, his meat plain, necessary, and without variety, his imployment prayers and devotion, his company wilde beasts, in ordinary, in extraordinary, mes∣sengers from Heaven; and all this not undertaken of necessity to subdue a bold lust, or to punish a loud crime, but to become more holy and pure from the lesser stains and in∣sinuations of too free infirmities, and to prepare himself for the great ministery of ser∣ving the Holy Jesus in his Publication. Thirty years he lived in great austerity; and it was a rare Patience and exemplar Mortification: we use not to be so pertinacious in any pious resolutions, but our purposes disband upon the sense of the first violence; we are free and confident of resolving to fast when our * 1.156 bellies are full, but when we are called upon by the first necessities of nature, our zeal is cool, and disso∣luble into air upon the first temptation; and we are not upheld in the violences of a short Austerity without faintings and repentances to be repented of, and enquirings af∣ter the vow is past, and searching for excuses and desires to reconcile our nature and our Conscience; unless our necessity be great, and our sin clamorous, and our Conscience loaden, and no peace to be had without it: and it is well if upon any reasonable grounds

we can be brought to suffer contradictions of nature, for the advantages of Grace. But it would be remembred, that the Baptist did more upon a less necessity; and possibly the greatness of the example may entice us on a little farther than the customs of the World or our own indevotions would engage us.

4. But after the expiration of a definite time John came forth from his Solitude, and served God in Societies. He served God and the content of his own spirit by his con∣versing with Angels and Dialogues with God, so long as he was in the Wilderness, and it might be some trouble to him to mingle with the impurities of Men, amongst whom he was sure to observe such recesses from perfection, such violation of all things sacred, so great despite done to all ministeries of Religion, that to him who had no ex∣perience or neighbourhood of actions criminal, it must needs be to his sublim'd and cla∣rified spirit more punitive and affictive than his hairen shirt and his ascetick diet was to his body; but now himself, that tried both, was best able to judge which state of life was of greatest advantage and perfection.

5. In his Solitude he did breath more pure inspiration, Heaven was more open, God was* 1.157 more familiar and frequent in his visitations. In the Wilderness his company was An∣gels, his imployment Meditations and Prayer, his Temptations simple and from with∣in, from the impotent and lesser rebellions of a mortified body, his occasions of sin as few as his examples, his condition such, that if his Soul were at all busie, his life could not easily be other than the life of Angels; for his work and recreation, and his visits, and his retirements, could be nothing but the variety and differing circumstances of his Piety: his inclinations to Society made it necessary for him to repeat his addresses to God; for his being a sociable Creature, and yet in solitude, made that his conver∣sing with God, and being partaker of Divine communications, should be the satisfa∣ction of his natural desires, and the supply of his singularity and retirement; the dis∣comforts of which made it natural for him to seck out for some refreshment, and there∣fore to go to Heaven for it, he having rejected the solaces of the World already. And all this besides the innocencies of his* 1.158 silence, which is very great, and to be judged of in proportion to the infinite extravagancies of our language, there being no greater ‖ 1.159 per∣fection here to be expected than not to offend in our tongue. It was solitude and retirement in which Jesus kept his Vigils, the Desart places heard him pray, in a privacy he was born, in the 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 he fed his thousands, upon a Mountain apart he was transfigured, upon a Mountain he died, and from a Mountain he 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to his Father; in which Retire∣ments his Devotion certainly did receive the advantage of convenient circumstances, and himself in such dispositions twice had the opportunities of Glory.

6. And yet after all these Excellencies the Spirit of God called the Baptist forth to a more excellent Ministery: for in Solitude pious persons might go to Heaven by the way of Prayers and Devotion, but in Society they might go to Heaven by the way of Mercy and Charity and dispensations to others. In Solitude there are fewer oc∣casions of Vices, but there is also the exercise of fewer Vertues; and the Temptations, though they be not from many Objects, yet are in some Circumstances more dange∣rous, not only because the worst of evils, spiritual Pride, does seldom miss to creep up∣on* 1.160 those goodly Oaks, like Ivy, and suck their heart out, and a great Mortifier with∣out some complacencies in himself, or affectations or opinions, or something of singu∣larity, is almost as unusual as virgin-purity and unstained thoughts in the Bordelli, (S. Hierom had tried it and found it so by experience, and he it was that said so;) but also because whatsoever temptation does invade such retired persons, they have * 1.161 pri∣vacies enough to act it in, and no eyes upon them but the eye of Heaven, no shame to* 1.162 encounter withal, no fears of being discovered: and we know by experience, that a Witness of our conversation is a great restraint to the inordination of our actions. Men seek out darknesses and secrecies to commit a sin; and The evil that no man sees, no man reproves; and that makes the Temptation bold and confident, and the iniquity easie and rea∣dy: So that as they have not so many tempters as they have abroad, so neither have they so many restraints; their vices are not so many, but they are more dangerous in themselves, and to the World safe and opportune. And as they communicate less with the World, so they do less Charity and fewer offices of Mercy: no Sermons there but when solitude is made popular, and the City removes into the Wilderness; no comforts of a publick Religion, or visible remonstrances of the Communion of Saints; and of all the kinds of spiritual Mercy, only one can there properly be exercised, and of the corporal none at all. And this is true in lives and institutions of less retirement, in proportion to the degree of the Solitude: and therefore Church story reports of divers very holy persons, who left their Wildernesses and sweetnesses of Devotion in their

retirement, to serve God in publick by the ways of Charity and exteriour offices. Thus S. Antony and Acepsamas came forth to encourage the fainting people to contend to* 1.163 death for the Crown of Martyrdom; and Aphraates in the time of Valens the Arian* 1.164 Emperor came abroad to assist the Church in the suppressing the flames kindled by the* 1.165 Arian Faction. And upon this ground they that are the greatest admirers of Eremitical life call the Episcopal Function the State of perfection, and a degree of ministerial and honorary excellency beyond the pieties and contemplations of Solitude, because of the advantages of gaining Souls, and Religious conversation, and going to God by doing good to others.

7. John the Baptist united both these lives, and our Blessed Saviour, who is the great Precedent of Sanctity and Prudence, hath determined this question in his own instance; for he lived a life common, sociable, humane, charitable, and publick, and yet for the opportunities of especial Devotion retir'd to prayer and contemplation, but came forth speedily; for the Devil never set upon him but in the Wilderness, and by the advantage of retirement. For as God hath many, so the Devil hath some op∣portunities of doing his work in our solitariness. But Jesus reconcil'd both, and so did* 1.166 John the Baptist in several degrees and manners: and from both we are taught, that Solitude is a good School, and the World is the best Theatre; the Institution is best there, but the Practice here; the Wilderness hath the advantage of Discipline, and Society opportunities of Perfection; Privacy is the best for Devotion, and the Publick for Charity. In both God hath many Saints and Servants, and from both the Devil hath had some.

8. His Sermon was an Exhortation to Repentance and an Holy life: He gave parti∣cular schedules of Duty to several states of persons; sharply reproved the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 for their Hypocrisie and Impiety, it being worse in them, because contrary to their rule, their profession and institution; gently guided others into the ways of Righteousness, calling them the streight ways of the Lord, that is, the direct and shortest way to the Kingdom, for of all Lines the streight is the shortest, and as every Angle is a turning out of the way, so every Sin is an obliquity, and interrupts the journey. By such 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and a Baptism he disposed the spirits of men for the entertaining the 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and the Homilies of the Gospel. For John's Doctrine was to the Sermons of Jesus as a Pre∣face to a Discourse; and his Baptism was to the new Institution and Discipline of the Kingdom as the Vigils to a Holy-day, of the same kind in a less degree. But the whole Oeconomy of it represents to us, that Repentance is the first intromission into the San∣ctities of Christian Religion. The Lord treads upon no paths that are not hallowed and made smooth by the sorrows and cares of Contrition, and the impediments of sin cleared by dereliction and the succeeding fruits of emendation. But as it related to the Jews, his Baptism did signifie, by a cognation to their usual Rites and Ceremonies of Ablution and washing Gentile Proselytes, that the Jews had so far receded from their duty and that Holiness which God required of them by the Law, that they were in the state of strangers, no better than Heathens, and therefore were to be treated, as them∣selves received Gentile Proselytes, by a Baptism and a new state of life, before they could be fit for the reception of the 〈◊〉〈◊〉, or be admitted to his Kingdom.

9. It was an excellent sweetness of Religion that had entirely 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the Soul of the Baptist, that in so great reputation of Sanctity, so mighty concourse of people, such great multitudes of Disciples and confidents, and such throngs of admirers, he was humble without mixtures of vanity, and confirmed in his temper and Piety against the strength of the most impetuous temptation. And he was tried to some purpose: for when he was tempted to confess himself to be the CHRIST, he refused it, or to be Elias, or to be accounted that Prophet, he refused all such great appellatives, and con∣fessed himself only to be a Voice, the lowest of Entities, whose being depends upon the Speaker, just as himself did upon the pleasure of God, receiving form and publication and imployment wholly by the will of his Lord, in order to the manifestation of the Word eternal. It were 〈◊〉〈◊〉 that the spirits of men would not arrogate more than their own, though they did not lessen their own just dues. It may concern some end of Pie∣ty or Prudence, that our reputation be preserved by all just means; but never that we assume the dues of others, or grow vain by the spoils of an undeserved dignity. Ho∣nours are the rewards of Vertue, or engagement upon Offices of trouble and publick use; but then they must suppose a preceding worth, or a fair imployment. But he that is a Plagiary of others titles or offices, and dresses himself with their beauties, hath no more solid worth or reputation, than he should have nutriment if he ate only with their mouth, and slept their slumbers, himself being open and unbound in all the Regions of his Senses.

The PRAYER.

O Holy and most glorious God, who before the publication of thy eternal Son, the Prince of Peace, didst send thy Servant John Baptist, by the examples of Mortification, and the rude Austerities of a penitential life, and by the Sermons of Penance, to remove all the impediments of sin, that the ways of his Lord and ours might be made clear, ready and expe∣dite; be pleased to let thy Holy Spirit lead me in the streight paths of Sanctity, without de∣slections to either hand, and without the interruption of deadly sin, that I may with facility, Zeal, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and a persevering diligence walk in the ways of the Lord. Be pleased that the Axe may be laid to the root of Sin, that the whole body of it may be cut down in me, that no fruit of Sodom may grow up to thy displeasure. Throughly purge the floor and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of my heart with thy Fan, with the breath of thy Diviner Spirit, that it may be a holy repository of Graces, and full of benediction and Sanctity; that when our Lord shall come, I may at all times be prepared for the entertainment of so Divine a Guest, apt to lodge him and to feast him, that he may for ever delight to dwell with me. And make me also to dwell with him, sometimes retiring into his recesses and private rooms by Contemplation, and admiring of his Beauties, and beholding the Secrets of his Kingdom; and at all other times walking in the Courts of the Lord's House by the diligences and labours of Repentance and an Holy life, till thou shalt please to call me to a nearer communication of thy Excellencies, which then grant, when by thy gracious assistances I shall have done thy works, and glorified thy holy Name, by the strict and never-failing purposes and proportionable endeavours of Religion and Holiness, through the merits and mercies of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

DISCOURSE IV. Of Mortification and corporal Austerities.

1. FRom the days of John the Baptist, the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force, said our Blessed Saviour. For now that the new Cove∣nant was to be made with Man, Repentance, which is so great a part of it, being in very many actions a punitive duty, afflictive and vindicative, from the days of the Bap∣tist (who first, by office and solemnity of design, published this Doctrine) violence was done to the inclinations and dispositions of Man, and by such violences we were to be possessed of the Kingdom. And his Example was the best 〈◊〉〈◊〉 upon his Text; he did violence to himself; he lived a life in which the rudenesses of Camel's hair, and the lowest nutriment of Flies and Honey of the Desart, his life of singularity, his retirement from the sweetnesses of Society, his resisting the greatest of Tentations, and despising to assume false honours, were instances of that violence, and explicati∣ons of the Doctrine of Self-denial and Mortification, which are the Pedestal of the Cross, and the Supporters of Christianity, as it distinguishes from all Laws, Religi∣ons, and Institutions of the World.

2. Mortification is the one half of Christianity; it is a dying to the World, it is a* 1.167 denying of the Will and all its natural desires: An abstinence from pleasure and sensual complacencies, that the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 being subdued to the spirit, both may joyn in the service of God, and in the offices of holy Religion. It consists in actions of Severity and Renunciation; it refuses to give entertainment to any vanity, nor uses a freer licence in things lawful, lest it be tempted to things unlawful; it kills the lusts of the flesh by taking away its fewel and incentives, and by using to contradict its appetite, does inure it with more facility to obey the superiour Faculties: and, in effect, it is nothing but a great care we sin not, and a prudent and severe using such remedies and instruments which in Nature and Grace are made apt for the production of our purposes. And it consists in interiour and exteriour offices; these being but instruments of the interiour, as the Body is organical or instrumental to the Soul, and no part of the Duty it self, but as they are advantages to the End, the mortification of the Spirit; which by whatsoever

means we have once acquired and do continue, we are disobliged from all other exte∣riour 〈◊〉〈◊〉, unless by accident they come to be obligatory, and from some other cause.

3. Mortification of the Will or the Spirit of Man, that's the Duty; that the Will of Man may humbly obey God, and absolutely rule its inferiour Faculties; that the inordinations of our natural desires, begun by Adam's sin, and continued and increased by our continuing evil customs, may be again placed in the right order; that since many of the Divine Precepts are restraints upon our natural desires, we should so deny 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Appetites that covet after natural satisfactions, that they may not serve them∣selves by disserving God. For therefore our own Wills are our greatest dangers and our greatest enemies, because they tend to courses contradictory to God. God com∣mands us to be humble; our own desires are to be great, considerable, and high; and we are never secure enough from contempt, unless we can place our neighbours at our feet: Here therefore we must deny our Will, and appetites of Greatness, for the pur∣chase of Humility. God commands Temperance and Chastity; our desires and natu∣ral promptness breaks the bands asunder, and entertains dissolutions to the licentious∣ness of Apicius, or the wantonness of a Mahumetan Paradise, sacrificing meat and drink-offerings to our appetites, as if our stomachs were the Temples of 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and ma∣king Women and the opportunities of Lust to be our dwelling, and our imployment, even beyond the common loosenesses of entertainment: Here therefore we must deny our own Wills, our appetites of Gluttony and Drunkenness, and our prurient beastly inclinations, for the purchase of Temperance and Chastity. And every other Vertue is, either directly or by accident, a certain instance of this great Duty, which is, like a Catholicon, purgative of all distemperatures, and is the best preparative and dispositi∣on to Prayer in the world.

4. For it is a sad consideration, and of secret reason, that since Prayer of all Duties is certainly the sweetest and the 〈◊〉〈◊〉, it having in it no difficulty or 〈◊〉〈◊〉 labour, no weariness of bones, no dimness of eyes or hollow 〈◊〉〈◊〉 is directly consequent to it, no natural desires of contradictory quality, nothing of disease, but much of comfort and more of hope in it; yet we are infinitely averse from it, weary of its length, glad of an occasion to pretermit our offices; and yet there is no visible cause of such 〈◊〉〈◊〉, nothing in the nature of the thing, nor in the circumstances necessarily appen∣dent to the duty. Something is amiss in us, and it wanted a name, till the Spirit of God by enjoyning us the duty of Mortification hath taught us to know that Immortifi∣cation of spirit is the cause of all our secret and spiritual indispositions: we are so incor∣porated to the desires of sensual objects, that we feel no relish or gust of the spiritual. It is as if a Lion should eat hay, or an Oxe venison, there is no proportion between the object and the appetite, till by mortification of our first desires our Wills are made spi∣ritual, and our Apprehensions supernatural and clarified. For as a Cook told Dionysi∣us the Tyrant, the black Broth of Lacedaemon would not do well at Syracusa, unless it be tasted by a Spartan's palate; so neither can the Excellencies of Heaven be discerned but by a spirit disrelishing the sottish appetites of the world, and accustomed to diviner banquets. And this was mystically signified by the two Altars in Solomon's Temple, in the outer Court whereof Beasts were sacrificed, in the inner Court an Altar of in∣cense: the first representing Mortification or slaying of our beastly appetites; the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the offering up our Prayers, which are not likely to become a pleasant offertory, unless our impurities be removed by the attonement made by the first Sacrifices; with∣out 〈◊〉〈◊〉 spirit be mortified, we neither can love to pray, nor God love to hear us.

5. But there are three steps to ascend to this Altar. The first is, to abstain from satisfying our carnal desires in the instances of sin; and although the furnace flames with vehement emissions at some times, yet to walk in the midst of the burning without being consumed, like the Children of the Captivity: that is the duty even of the most imperfect, and is commonly the condition of those good persons whose interest in secu∣lar imployments speaks fair, and solicits often, and tempts highly; yet they manage their affairs with habitual Justice, and a Constant Charity, and are temperate in their daily meals, chast in the solaces of marriage, and pure in their spirits, unmingled with sordid affections in the midst of their possessions and enjoyments. These men are in the world, but they are strangers here: They have a City, but not an abiding one; they are* 1.168 Proselytes of the House, but have made no Covenant with the world. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 though they* 1.169 desire with secular desires, yet it is but for necessaries, and then they are content; they use the creatures with freedom and modesty, but never to intemperance and

transgression: so that their hands are below tied there by the necessities of their life;* 1.170 but their hearts are above, lifted up by the abstractions of this first degree of Mortifi∣cation. And this is the first and nicest distinction between a man of the world and a man of God; for this state is a denying our affections nothing but the sin, it enjoys as much of the World as may be consistent with the possibilities of Heaven: a little less than this is the state of Immortification, and a being in the 〈◊〉〈◊〉, which (〈◊〉〈◊〉 the Apostle) cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. The flesh must first be separated, and the adherences pared off from the skin, before the parchment be fit to make a schedule for use, or to transmit a Record: whatsoever in the sence of the Scripture is 〈◊〉〈◊〉, or an enemy to the spirit, if it be not rescinded and mortified, makes that the Laws of God cannot be written in our hearts. This is the Doctrine S. Paul taught the Church: For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of* 1.171 the body, ye shall live. This first Mortification is the way of life, if it continues: but its continuance is not fecured, till we are advanced towards life by one degree more of this Death. For this condition is a state of a daily and dangerous warfare, and many inrodes are made by sin, and many times hurt is done and booty carried off: for he that is but thus far mortified, although his dwelling be within the Kingdom of Grace, yet it is in the borders of it, and hath a dangerous neighbourhood. If we mean to be safe, we must remove into the heart of the Land, or carry the war farther off.

6. Secondly, We must not only be strangers here, but we must be dead too, dead unto the World: that is, we must not only deny our Vices, but our Passions; not only* 1.172 contradict the direct immediate Perswasion to a sin, but also cross the Inclination to it. So long as our Appetites are high and full, we shall never have peace or safety, but the dangers and insecurities of a full War and a potent Enemy; we are always disputing the Question, ever strugling for life: but when our Passions are killed, when our de∣sires are little and low, then Grace reigns, then our life is hid with Christ in God, then we have fewer interruptions in the way of Righteousness, then we are not so apt to be surprised by sudden eruptions and transportation of Passions, and our Piety it self is more prudent: and reasonable, chosen with a freer election, discerned with clearer under∣standing, hath more in it of Judgment than of Fancy, and is more spiritual and Ange∣lical. He that is apt to be angry, though he be habitually careful and full of observa∣tion that he sin not, may at some time or other be surprised, when his guards are un∣diligent and without actual expectation of an enemy: but if his Anger be dead in him, and the inclination lessened to the indisferency and gentleness of a Child, the man dwells safe, because of the impotency of his Enemy, or that he is reduced to Obedi∣ence, or hath taken conditions of peace. He that hath refused to consent to actions of Uncleanness, to which he was strongly tempted, hath won a victory by sine force, God hath blessed him well: but an opportunity may betray him instantly, and the sin may be in upon him unawares; unless also his desires be killed, he is betrayed by a party within. David was a holy person, but he was surprised by the sight of Bathshe∣ba, for his freer use of permitted beds had kept the fire alive, which was apt to be put into a flame when so fair a beauty reflected through his eyes. But Joseph was a Virgin, and kept under all his inclinations to looser thoughts; opportunity, and command, and violence, and beauty did make no breach upon his spirit.

7. He that is in the first state of Pilgrimage does not mutiny against his Superiors, nor publish their faults, nor envy their dignities; but he that is dead to the world sees no fault that they have, and when he hears an objection, he buries it in an excuse, and rejoyces in the dignity of their persons. Every degree of Mortification endures reproof without murmur; but he that is quite dead to the world and to his own will feels no regret against it, and hath no secret thoughts of trouble and unwillingness to the suf∣fering, save only that he is sorry he deserv'd it.

For so a dead body resists not your violence, changes not its posture you plac'd it in, strikes not his striker, is not mo∣ved by your words, nor provoked by your scorn, nor is troubled when you shrink with horror at the sight of it; only it will hold the head downward in all its situati∣ons, unless it be hindred by violence:

And a mortified spirit is such, without indig∣nation against scorn, without revenge against injuries, without murmuring at low offices, not impatient in troubles, indifferent in all accidents, neither transported with joy nor deprest with sorrow, and is humble in all his thoughts. And thus he that is dead (saith the Apostle) is justified from sins. And this is properly a state of life, in* 1.173 which by the grace of Jesus we are restored to a condition of order and interiour beauty in our Faculties, our actions are made moderate and humane, our spirits are even, and our understandings undisturbed.

8. For Passions of the sensitive Soul are like an Exnalation, hot and dry, born up from the earth upon the wings of a cloud, and detained by violence out of its place, causing thunders, and making eruptions into lightning and sudden fires. There is a Tempest in the Soul of a passionate man; and though every wind does not shake the earth, nor rend trees up by the roots, yet we call it violent and ill weather, if it only makes a 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and is harmless. And it is an inordination in the spirit of a man, when his Passions are tu∣multuous and mighty; though they do not determine directly upon a sin, they discom∣pose his peace, and disturb his spirit, and make it like troubled waters, in which no man can see his own figure and just 〈◊〉〈◊〉 portions, and therefore by being less a man cannot be so much a Christian, in the midst 〈◊〉〈◊〉 so great indispositions. For although the Cause may hallow the Passion, (and if a man be very angry for God's cause, it is Zeal, not Fury) yet the Cause cannot secure the Person from violence, transportation and inconveni∣ence. When Elisha was consulted by three Kings concerning the success of their present* 1.174 Expedition, he grew so angry against idolatrous soram, and was carried on to so great de∣grees of disturbance, that when for Jehosaphat's sake he was content to enquire of the Lord, he called for a minstrel, who by his harmony might re-compose his disunited and troubled spirit, that so he might be apter sor divination. And sometimes this zeal goes besides the intention of the man, and beyond the degrees of prudent or lawful, and inga∣ges in a sin, though at first it was Zeal for Religion. For so it happened in Moses, at the waters of Massah and Meribah he spake foolishly; and yet it was when he was zealous for God, and extremely careful of the people's interest. For his Passion, he was hindred from entring into the Land of Promise. And we also, if we be not moderate and well∣tempered, even in our 〈◊〉〈◊〉 for God, may, like Moses, break the Tables of the Law, and throw them out of our hands with zeal to have them preserved; for Passion vio∣lently snatches at the Conclusion, but is inconsiderate and incurious concerning the Premises. The summ and purpose of this Discourse is that saying of our Blessed Savi∣our,* 1.175 He that will be my Disciple must deny himself; that is, not only desires that are sin∣ful, but desires that are his own, pursuances of his own affections, and violent motions, though to things not evil or in themselves contagious.

9. Thirdly, And yet there is a degree of Mortification of spirit beyond this: for the condition of our security may require, that we not only deny to act our temptations, or to please our natural desires, but also to seek opportunities of doing displeasure to our af∣fections, and violence to our inclinations; and not only to be indifferent, but to chuse a contradiction and a denial to our strongest appetites, to rejoyce in a trouble: and this was the spirit of S. Paul, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulations; and, We glory in it.* 1.176 * 1.177 Which joy consists not in any sensitive pleasure any man can take in asflictions and ad∣verse accidents, but in a despising the present inconveniences, and looking through the cloud unto those great felicities, and graces, and consignations to glory, which are the effects of the Cross: Knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experi∣ence,* 1.178 and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed; that was the incentive of S. Paul's joy. And therefore as it may consist with any degree of Mortification to pray for the taking away of the Cross, upon condition it may consist with God's glory and our ghostly profit; so it is properly an act of this vertue to pray for the Cross, or to meet it, if we understand it may be for the interest of the spirit. And thus S. Basil prayed to God to remove his violent pains of Head-ach: but when God heard him, and took away his pain, and Lust came in the place of it, he prayed to God to restore him his Head-ach again; that cross was gain and joy, when the removal of it was so full of danger and temptation. And this the Masters of spiritual life call being crucified with Christ; because as Christ chose the death, and desired it by the appetites of the spirit, though his flesh smarted under it, and groaned and died with the burthen; so do all that are thus mortified, they place misfortunes and sadnesses amongst things eligible, and set them before the eyes of their desire, although the flesh and the desires of sense are factious and bold against such sufferings.

10. Of these three degrees of interiour or spiritual Mortification, the first is Duty, the second is Counsel, and the third is Perfection. We sin if we have not the first; we are in danger without the second; but without the third we cannot be perfect as our heavenly Father is, but shall have more of humane infirmities to be ashamed of than can be excused by the accrescencies and condition of our nature. The first is only of abso∣lute necessity; the second is prudent, and of greatest convenience; but the* 1.179 third is excellent and perfect. And it was the consideration of a wise man,

that the Saints in Heaven, who understand the excellent glories and vast differences of state and capacities amongst beatified persons, although they have no envy nor sor∣rows, yet if they were upon earth with the same notion and apprehensions they have in Heaven, would not for all the world lose any degree of Glory, but mortifie to the great∣est 〈◊〉〈◊〉, that their Glory may be a derivation of the greatest ray of light; every degree being of compensation glorious, and disproportionably beyond the inconside∣rable troubles of the greatest Self-denial. God's purpose is, that we abstain from sin; there is no more in the Commandment; and therefore we must deny our selves, so as* 1.180not to admit a sin, under pain of a certain and eternal curse: but the other degrees of* 1.181 Mortification are by accident so many degrees of Vertue, not being enjoyned or counselled for themselves, but for the preventing of crimes, and for securities of good life; and therefore are parts and offices of Christian prudence, which whoso∣ever shall positively reject, is neither much in love with Vertue, nor careful of his own safety.

11. Secondly, But Mortification hath also some designs upon the Body. For the Body is the Shop and Forge of the Soul, in which all her designs which are transient upon external objects are framed: and it is a good servant, as long as it is kept in obe∣dience* 1.182 and under discipline; but he that breeds his servant delicately will find him con∣tumacious* 1.183 and troublesome, bold and confident as his son: and therefore S. Paul's pra∣ctice,* 1.184 * 1.185 (as himself gives account of it) was, to keep his body under, and bring it into sub∣jection,* 1.186 lest he should become a 〈◊〉〈◊〉-away; for the desires of the Body are in the same things in which themselves are satisfied so many injuries to the Soul, because upon eve∣ry one of the appetites a restraint is made, and a law placed sor Sentinel, that if we transgress the bounds fixt by the divine 〈◊〉〈◊〉, it becomes a sin; now it is hard for us to keep them within compass, because they are little more than agents merely natural, and therefore cannot interrupt their act, but covet and desire as much as they can without suspension or coercion but what comes from without, which is therefore the more troublesome, because all such restraints are against nature, and with∣out* 1.187 sensual pleasure. And therefore this is that that S. Paul said, When we were in the flesh, the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of sin which were by the Law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto Death. For these pleasures of the body draw us as loadstones draw iron, not for love, but for prey and nutriment; it feeds upon the iron, as the bodily pleasures upon the life of the spirit, which is lessened and impaired according as the gusts of the flesh grow high and sapid.

12. He that seeds a Lion must obey him, unless he make his den to be his prison:* 1.188 Our Lusts are as wild and as cruel Beasts, and, unless they feel the load of fetters and of Laws, will grow unruly and troublesome, and increase upon us, as we give them food and satisfaction. He that is used to drink high Wines, is sick if he hath not his proportion, to what degree soever his custom hath brought his appetite; and to some men Temperance becomes certain death, because the inordination of their desires hath introduced a custom, and custom hath increased those appetites, and made them almost natural in their degree: but he that hath been used to hard diet and the pure stream, his 〈◊〉〈◊〉 are much within the limits of Temperance, and his desires as moderate as his diet. S. Jerom affirms, that to be continent in the state of Widowhood is barder than to keep our Firgin pure: and there is reason that then the Appetite should be harder to be restrained, when it hath not been accustomed to be denied, but satisfied in its freer solicitations. When a fontinel is once opened, all the symbolical humours run thither, and issue out, and it is not to be stopped without danger, unless the humour be purged or diverted: So is the satisfaction of an impure desire, it opens the issue, and makes way for the emanation of all impurity, and, unless the desire be mortified, will not be stopt by purposes and easie desires.

13. Since therefore the Body is the instrument of sins, the fewel and the incentive, our Mortification must reach thither also, at least in some degrees, or it will be to small purpose to think of mortifying our spirit in some instances of Temptation. In vain does that man think to keep his honour and Chastity, that invites his Lust to an activeness by soft beds and high diet, and idleness and opportunity: Make the Soul's instrument un∣apt, and half the work is done. And this is true in all instances of Carnality or natural desires, whose scene lies in the lower region of Passions, and are acted by the Body; but the operation of the cure must be in proportion to the design; as the mortification of the Spirit is in several degrees, so the mortification of the Body also hath its several parts of prudence, injunction and necessity. For the prescribing all sorts of Mortifications cor∣poral indefinitely and indiseriminately to all persons, without separation of their ends

and distinct capacities, is a snare to mens Consciences, makes Religion impertinently troublesome, occasions some men to glory in corporal Austerity, as if of it self it were an act of Piety, and a distinction of the man from the more imperfect persons of the world, and is all the way unreasonable and inartificial.

14. First, Therefore such whose ingagements in the world or capacities of person confine them to the lowest and first step* 1.189 of Mortification, those who fight only for life and liberty, not for priviledges and honour, that are in perpetual contestation and close fightings with sin, it is necessary that their Body also* 1.190 be mortified in such a degree, that their desires transport them not beyond the permissions of Divine and humane Laws: let such men be strict in the rules of Temperance and Sobriety, be chaste within the laws of Marriage, cherish their body to preserve their health, and their health to serve God, and to do their offices. To these persons the best instruments of Discipline are the strict laws of Temperance, denying all transgressions of the appetite boiling over its margent and proper limit, assiduous Prayer and observation of the publick laws of 〈◊〉〈◊〉, which are framed so moderate and even, as to be proportionable to the common man∣ner of living of persons secular and incumbred. For though many persons of common imployments and even manner of living have, in the midst of worldly avocations, un∣dertaken Austerities very rude and rigorous, yet it was in order to a higher mortifica∣tion of spirit; and it is also necessary they should, if either naturally, or habitually, or easily they suffer violent transportation of Passions: for since the occasions of anger and disturbance in the world frequently occur, if such Passions be not restrained by greater violence than is competent to the ordinary offices of a moderate Piety, the cure is weak∣er than the humour, and so leaves the work imperfect.

15. Secondly, But this is coincident to the second degree of Mortification: for if either out of desire of a farther step towards perfection, or out of the necessities of nature or evil customs, it be necessary also to subdue our Passions as well as the direct invitati∣ons to sin, in both these cases the Body must suffer more Austerities, even such as di∣rectly are contrariant to every passionate disturbance, though it be not ever sinful in the instance. All Mortifiers must abstain from every thing that is unlawful; but these, that they may abstain from things unlawful, must also deny to themselves satisfaction in things lawful and pleasant: and this is in a just proportion to the End, the subduing the Passions, lest their liberty and boldness become licentious. And we shall easier deny their importunity to sin, when we will not please them in those things in which we may: such in which the fear of God, and the danger of our Souls, and the convictions of Reason and Religion do not immediately cooperate. And this was the practice of David, when he had thirsted for the water of Bethlehem, and some of his Worthies ventured their lives and brought it, he refused to drink it, but poured it upon the ground* 1.191 unto the Lord, that is, it became a Drink-offering unto the Lord; an acceptable Obla∣tion, in which he 〈◊〉〈◊〉 his desires to God, denying himself the satisfaction of such a desire which was natural and innocent, save that it was something nice, delicate and curious. Like this was the act of the Fathers in the mountain Nitria, to one of which a* 1.192 fair cluster of dried grapes being sent, he refused to taste them, lest he should be too sen∣sual and much pleased, but sent them to another, and he to a third, and the same con∣sideration transmitted the Present through all their Cells, till it came to the first man again; all of them not daring to content their appetite in a thing too much desired, lest the like importunity in the instance of a sin should prevail upon them. To these per∣sons the best instruments of Discipline are subtractions rather than imposition of Auste∣rities; let them be great haters of corporal pleasures, eating for necessity, diet 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and cheap, abridging and making short the opportunities of natural and permitted sola∣ces,* 1.193 refusing exteriour comforts, not chusing the most pleasant object, nor suffering delight to be the end of eating, and therefore separating delight from it as much as prudently they may, not being too importunate with God to remove his gentler hand of paternal correction, but inuring our selves to patient suffering, and indifferent accep∣tation of the Cross that God lays upon us, at no hand living delicately, or curiously, or impatiently. And this was the condition of S. Paul, suffering with excellent temper all those persecutions and inconveniences which the enemies of Religion loaded him withall; which he called bearing the marks of the Lord Jesus in his body, and carrying* 1.194 about in his body the dying or mortification of the Lord Jesus: it was in the matter of* 1.195 Persecution, which because he bare patiently, and was accustomed to, and he ac∣cepted with indifference and renunciation, they were the mortifications and the

marks of Jesus, that is, a true 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to the Passion of Christ, and of great effect and interest for the preventing sins by the mortification of his natural desires.

16. Thirdly, But in the pale of the Church there are and have been many tall Ce∣dars 〈◊〉〈◊〉 tops have reached to Heaven; some there are that chuse afflictions of the Body, that by turning the bent and inclination of their affections into sensual 〈◊〉〈◊〉, they may not only cut off all pretensions of Temptation, but grow in spiritual Graces, and perfections intellectual and beatified. To this purpose they served them∣selves with the instances of Sack-cloth, Hard lodging, long Fasts, Pernoctation in prayers, Renunciation of all secular possessions, great and expensive Charity, bodily Labours to great weariness and affiction, and many other prodigies of voluntary suffer∣ing, which Scripture and the Ecclesiastical stories do frequently mention. S. Lewis King of France wore Sack-cloth every day, unless sickness hindred; and S. Zenobius as long as he was a Bishop. And when Severus Sulpitius sent a Sack-cloth to S. Panlinus Bishop of Nola, he returned to him a letter of thanks, and discoursed piously concerning the use of corporal Austerities. And that I need not instance, it was so general, that* 1.196 this was by way of appropriation called the Garment of the Church, because of the fre∣quent use of such instruments of exteriour 〈◊〉〈◊〉: and so it was in other instan∣ces. S. James neither are flesh nor drank wine; S. Matthew lived upon acorns, seeds and herbs; and, amongst the elder Christians, some rolled themselves naked in snows, some upon thorns, some on burning coals, some chewed bitter pills and masticated gumms, and sipped frequently of horrid potions, and wore iron upon their skin and bolts upon their legs, and in witty torments excelled the cruelty of many of their per∣secutors, whose rage determined quickly in death, and had certainly less of torment than the tedious afflictions and rude penances of Simeon surnamed Stylites. But as all great examples have excellencies above the ordinary Devotions of good people, so have they some danger and much consideration.

17. First, therefore, I consider, that these Bodily and voluntary self-〈◊〉〈◊〉 can only be of use in carnal and natural Temptations, of no use in spiritual: for ascetick di∣et hard lodging and severe disciplines, cannot be directly operative upon the spirit, but only by mediation of the Body, by abating its extravagancies, by subtracting its main∣tenance, by lessening its temptations; these may help to preserve the Soul chaste or tem∣perate, because the scene of these sins lies in the Body, and thence they have their* 1.197 maintenance, and from thence also may receive their abatements. But in actions which are less material, such as Pride, and Envy, and Blasphemy, and Impenitence, and all the kinds and degrees of Malice, external Mortifications do so little cooperate to their cure, that oftentimes they are their greatest 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and incentives, and are like Cordials given to cure a cold fit of an Ague, they do their work, but bring a hot fit in its place: and besides that great Mortifiers have been soonest assaulted by the spirit of Pride, we find that great Fasters are naturally angry and cholerick. S. Hierom found it in himself, and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 felt some of the effects of it. And therefore this last part of corporal Mortification, and the chusing such Afflictions by a voluntary imposition, is at no hand to be applied in all cases, but in cases of Lust only and Intemperance or natu∣ral Impatience, or such crimes which dwell in the Senses: and then it also would be considered, whether or no rudeness to the Body applied for the obtaining Patience be not a direct temptation to Impatience, a provoking the spirit, and a running into that whither we pray that God would not suffer us to be led. Possibly such Austerities, if applied with great caution and wise circumstances, may be an exercise of Patience, when the Grace is by other means acquired; and he that finds them so, may use them, if he dares trust himself: but as they are dangerous before the Grace is obtained, so when it is, they are not necessary. And still it may be enquired in the case of temptati∣ons to Lust, whether any such Austerities which can consist with health will do the work. So long as the Body is in health, it will do its offices of nature; if it is not in health, it cannot do all offices of Grace, nor many of our Calling. And therefore although they may do some advantages to persons tempted with the lowest sins, yet they will not do it all, nor do it alone, nor are they safe to all dispositions: and where they are use∣ful to these smaller and lower purposes, yet we must be careful to observe, that the Mor∣tification of the spirit to the greatest and most perfect purposes is to be set upon by means spiritual and of immediate efficacy; for they are the lowest operations of the Soul which are moved and produced by actions corporal; the Soul may from those become lustful or chast, chearful or sad, timorous or confident: but yet even in these the Soul receives but some dispositions thence, and more forward inclinations: but nothing from the Body can be operative in the begetting or increase of Charity, or the Love of God,

or Devotion, or in mortifying spiritual and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Vices: and therefore those greater perfections and heights of the Soul, such as are designed in this highest degree of 〈◊〉〈◊〉, are not apt to be enkindled by corporal Au∣sterities. And Nigrinus in Lucian finds sault with those Phi∣losophers* 1.198 who thought Vertue was to be purchased by cut∣ting the skin with whips, binding the nerves, razing the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 with iron: but he taught that 〈◊〉〈◊〉 is to be placed in the Mind by actions internal and immaterial, and that from thence remedies are to be derived against perturbations and actions criminal. And this is determined by the Apostle in fairest intimation, Mortifie therefore your carthly members; and he instances in carnal* 1.199 crimes, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetous∣ness, which are things may be something abated by corporal Mortifications: and that these are by distinct manner to be helped from other more spiritual Vices, he adds, But now therefore put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication,* 1.200 and lying. To both these sorts of sins, Mortification being the general remedy, particular applications are to be made,* 1.201 and it must be only spiritual, or also corporal in proportion* 1.202 to the nature of the sins: he seems to distinguish the remedy by separation of the nature of the crimes, and possibly also by the differing words of [* 1.203 〈◊〉〈◊〉] applied to carnal sins, and [* 1.204 put 〈◊〉〈◊〉] to crimes spiritual.

18. Secondly, But in the lesser degrees of Mortification, in order to subduing of all Passions of the Sensitive appetite, and the consequent and symbolical sins, * 1.205 bodily Au∣sterities are of good use, if well understood and prudently undertaken. To which pur∣pose I also consider, No acts of corporal Austerity or external Religion are of themselves to be esteemed holy or acceptable to God, are no-where precisely commanded, no in∣struments of union with Christ, no immediate parts of Divine worship; and therefore to suffer corporal Austerities with thoughts determining upon the external action or imaginations of Sanctity inherent in the action, is against the purity, the spirituality and simplicity of the Gospel. And this is the meaning of S. Paul, It is a good thing that* 1.206 the heart be established with Grace, not with meats, which have not profited them which* 1.207 have walked in them; and, The kingdom of God consists not in meat and drink, but in righ∣teousness, and peace, and joy in the holy Ghost; and, Bodily exercise profiteth little, but* 1.208 Godliness is profitable unto all things. Now if external Mortifications are not for them∣selves, then they are to receive their estimate as they cooperate to the End: Whatso∣ever is a prudent restraint of an extravagant Passion, whatsoever is a direct denial of a sin, whatsoever makes provision for the spirit, or withdraws the fewel from the im∣pure fires of carnality, that is an act of Mortification; but those Austerities which Baal's Priests did use, or the 〈◊〉〈◊〉, an ignorant Faction that went up and down Villages whipping themselves, or those which return periodically on a set day of Di∣scipline, and using rudenesses to the Body by way of ceremony and solemnity, not di∣rected against the actual incursion of a pungent Lust, are not within the vierge of the grace of 〈◊〉〈◊〉. For unless the Temptation to a carnal sin be actually incum∣bent and pressing upon the Soul, pains of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and smart do no benefit to ward sup∣pressing the habit or inclination: for such sharp disciplines are but short and transient troubles; and although they take away the present fancies of a Temptation, yet unless it be rash and uncharitable, there is no effect remanent upon the body, but that the Temptation may speedily return. As is the danger, so must be the application of the remedy. Actual Severities are not imprudently undertaken in case of imminent dan∣ger; but to cure an habitual Lust, such corporal Mortifications are most reasonable whose effect is permanent, and which takes away whatsoever does minister more 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and puts a torch to the pile.

19. But this is 〈◊〉〈◊〉 a discourse of Christian Prudence, not of precise Duty and Religion; for if we do by any means provide for our indemnity and secure our inno∣cence, all other exteriour Mortifications are not necessary, and they are convenient but as they do facilitate or cooperate towards the 〈◊〉〈◊〉. And if that be well under∣stood, it will concern us that they be used with prudence and caution, with purity of intention, and without pride: for since they are nothing in themselves, but are hallowed and adopted into the family of Religious actions by participation of the End, the doing them not for themselves takes off all complacency and fancy reflecting from an opinion of the external actions, guides and purifies the intention and teaches us to be prudent in the

managing of those Austerities, which as they are in themselves afflictive, so have in them nothing that is eligible, if they be imprudent.

20. And now supposing these premises as our guide to chuse and enter into the acti∣on, Prudence must be called into the execution and discharge of it, and the manner of its managing. And for the prudential part, I shall first give the advice of Nigrinus in the discipline of the old Philosophers: He that will best institute and instruct men in the* 1.209 studies of Vertue and true Philosophy, must have regard to the mind, to the body, to the age, to the former education, and capacities or incapacities of the person; to which all such cir∣cumstances may be added as are to be accounted for in all prudent estimations; such as are national customs, dangers of scandal, the presence of other remedies, or disbanding of the inclination.

21. Secondly, It may also concern the prudence of this duty, not to neglect the smal∣lest inadvertencies and minutes of Lust or spiritual inconvenience, but to contradict them in their weakness and first beginnings. We see that great disturbances are wrought from the smallest occasions meeting with an impatient spirit, like great flames kindled from a little spark fallen into an heap of prepared Nitre. S. Austin tells a Story of a certain person

much vexed with Flies in the region of his dwelling, and himself* 1.210 heightned the trouble by too violent and busie reflexions upon the inconsiderableness of the instrument, and the greatness of the vexation alighting upon a peevish spirit. In this disposition he was visited by a Manichee, (an Heretick that denied God to be the Maker of things visible:) he being busie to 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 Infection upon the next thing he met, asked the impatient person whom he thought to be the Maker of Flies. He 〈◊〉〈◊〉, I think the Devil was; for they are instruments of great vexation and perpetual trouble. What he rather sansied than believed, or expressed by anger ra∣ther than at all had entertained within, the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉 by such arguments, to which his adversary was very apt to give consent by reason of his impatience and peevishness. The Manichee having set his foot firm upon his first breach proceeded in his Question, If the Devil made Flies, why not Bees, who are but a little bigger, and have a sting too? The consideration of the Sting made him fit to think, that the little difference in bigness needed not a distinct and a greater Efficient, especially since the same work-man can make a great as well as a little vessel. The Manichee proceeded, If a Bee, why not a Locust? if a Locust, then a Lizzard? if a Lizzard, then a Bird? if a Bird, then a Lamb? and thence he made bold to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to a Cow, to an Elephant, to a Man. His adversary by this time being insnared by granting so much, and now ashamed not to grant more, lest his first concessions should seem unreasonable and impious, confessed the Devil to be the Maker of all Creatures vi∣sible.

The use which is made of this Story is this Caution, that the Devil do not abuse us in Flies, and provoke our spirits by trifles and impertinent accidents: for if we be unmortified in our smallest motions, it is not imaginable we should stand the blast of an impetuous accident and violent perturbation. Let us not therefore give our Passions course in a small accident, because the instance is inconsiderable; for though it be, the consequence may be dangerous, and a wave may follow a wave, till the inun∣dation be general and desperate. And therefore here it is intended for advice, that we be observant of the accidents of our domestick affairs, and curious that every trifling inadvertency of a servant, or slight misbecoming action, or imprudent words, be not apprehended as instruments of vexation; for so many small occasions, if they be pro∣ductive of many small disturbances, will produce an habitual churlishness and immor∣tification of spirit.

22. Thirdly, Let our greatest diligence and care be imployed in mortifying our pre∣dominant Passion: for if our care be so great as not to entertain the smallest, and our resolution so strong and holy as not to be subdued by the greatest and most passionate desires, the Spirit hath done all its work, secures the future, and sanctifies the present, and nothing is wanting but perseverance in the same prudence and Religion. And this is typically commanded in the Precept of God to Moses and Aaron in the matter of Peor; Vex the Midianites, because they vexed you, and made you sin by their daughters: and Phinehas did so, he killed a Prince of the house of Simeon and a Princess of Midian, and God confirmed the Priesthood to him for ever; meaning, that we shall for ever be admitted to a nearer relation to God, if we sacrifice to God our dearest Lust. And this is not so properly an act, as the end of Mortification. Therefore it concerns the pru∣dence of the Duty, that all the efficacy and violence of it be imployed against the strongest, and there where is the most dangerous hostility.

23. Fourthly, But if we mean to be Matters of the field, and put our victory past dispute, let us mortifie our morosity and natural aversations, reducing them to an in∣differency, having in our wills no fondnesses, in our spirits no faction of persons or na∣tions, being prepared to love all men, and to endure all things, and to undertake all employments which are duty or counsel in all circumstances and disadvantages. For the excellency of Evangelical Sanctity does surmount all Antipathies, as a vessel climbs up and rides upon a wave; The Wolf and the Lamb shall cohabit, and a Child shall play and put his fingers in the Cavern of an Aspick; Nations whose interests are most contradicto∣ry must be knit by the confederations of a mortified and a Christian Spirit, and single persons must triumph over the difficulties of an indisposed nature, or else their own will is unmortified, and Nature is stronger than can well consist with the dominion and absolute empire of Grace. To this 〈◊〉〈◊〉 reduce such peevish and unhandsome nicenes∣ses in matters of Religion, that are unsatisfied unless they have all exteriour circum∣stances trimmed up and made pompous for their Religious offices; such who cannot pray without a convenient room, and their Devotion is made active only by a well∣built Chappel, and they cannot sing Lauds without Church-musick, and too 〈◊〉〈◊〉 light dissolves their intention, and too much dark promotes their melancholy; and be∣cause these and the like exteriour Ministeries are good advantages, therefore without them they can do nothing, which certainly is a great intimation and likeness to Im∣mortification. Our Will should be like the Candle of the Eye, without all colour in it self, that it may entertain the species of all colours from without: and when we lust after mandrakes and deliciousness of exteriour Ministeries, we many times are brought to betray our own interest, and prostitute our dearest affections to more ignoble and stranger desires. Let us love all natures, and serve all persons, and pray in all places, and fast without opportunities, and do alms above our power, and set our selves hearti∣ly on work, to neglect and frustrate those lower temptations of the Devil, who 〈◊〉〈◊〉 frequently enough make our Religion inopportune if we then will make it infrequent; and will present us with objects enough and flies to disquiet our persons, if our natures be petulant, peevish, curious, and unmortified.

24. It is a great mercy of God to have an affable, sweet and well-disposed nature, and it does half the work of Mortification for us; we have the less trouble to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 our Passions and destroy our Lusts. But then as those whose natures are morose, cho∣lerick, peevish and lustful, have greater difficulty; so is their vertue of greater excel∣lence, and returned with a more ample reward: but it is in all mens natures as with them who gathered Manna, They that gathered little had no lack, and they that gathered much had nothing over: they who are of ill natures shall want * 1.211 no assistance of God's grace to work their cure, though their flesh be longer 〈◊〉〈◊〉; and they who are sweetly tempered, being naturally meek and modest, chaste or temperate, will find work enough to contest against their temptations from without, though from within possibly they may have fewer. Yet there are greater degrees of Vertue and heroical excellencies, and great rewards to which God hath designed them by so fair dispositi∣ons, and it will concern all their industry to mortifie their spirit, which though it be malleable and more ductile, yet it is as bare and naked of imagery as the rudest and most iron nature: so that Mortification will be every man's duty; no nature, nor pie∣ty, nor wisdom, nor 〈◊〉〈◊〉, but will need it, either to subdue a Lust, or a Passi∣on; to cut off an occasion, or to resist a Temptation; to persevere, or to go on; to se∣cure our present estate, or to proceed towards perfection. But all men do not think so.

25. For there are some who have great peace, no fightings within, no troubles without, no disputes or contradictions in their spirit: but these men have the peace of tributaries or a conquered people, the gates of their city stand open day and night, that all the carriages may enter without disputing the pass: the flesh and the spirit dis∣pute not, because the spirit is there in pupillage or in bonds, and the flesh rides in tri∣umph, with the tyranny and pride and impotency of a female tyrant. For in the sence of Religion we all are Warriors or Slaves; either our selves are stark dead in trespasses and sins, or we need to stand perpetually upon our guards in continual observation, and in contestation against our Lusts and our Passions; so long denying and contra∣dicting our own Wills, till we will and chuse to do things against our Wills, having an eye always to those infinite satisfactions which shall 〈◊〉〈◊〉 our Wills and all our Faculties, when we arrive to that state in which there shall be no more contradiction, but only that our mortal shall put on immortality.

26. But as some have a vain and dangerous peace, so others double their trouble by too nice and impertinent scruples, thinking that every Temptation is a degree of Im∣mortification. As long as we live we shall have to do with Enemies: but as this Life is ever a state of 〈◊〉〈◊〉, so the very design and purpose of Mortification is not to take away Temptations, but to overcome them; it endeavours to facilitate the work, and secure our condition by removing all occasions it can: but the opportunity of a crime and the solicitation to a sin is no fault of ours, unless it be of our procuring, or finds entertainment when it comes unsent for. To suffer a Temptation is a misery, but if we then set upon the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of it, it is an occasion of Vertue; and never is criminal, unless we give consent. But then also it would be considered, that it is not good offering our selves to fire ordeal, to confirm our Innocence; nor prudent to enter into Battel without need, and to shew our valour; nor safe to procure a Temptation, that we may have the reward of Mortification of it. For 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of the spirit is not commanded as a Duty finally resting in it self, or immediately landing upon God's glory, such as are acts of Charity and Devotion, Chastity and Justice: but it is the great instrument of Humility and all other Graces; and therefore is to be undertaken to destroy a sin, and to secure a vertuous habit. And besides that to call on a danger is* 1.212 to tempt God, and to invite the Devil, (and no man is sure of a victory:) it is also great imprudence to create a need, that we may take it away again; to drink poison, to make experiment of the antidote; and at the best it is but a running back, to come just to the same place again: for he that is not tempted does not sin, but he that in∣vites a Temptation, that he might overcome it, or provokes a Passion, that he may allay it, is then but in the same condition after his pains and his 〈◊〉〈◊〉: He was not sure he should come so far.

The PRAYER.

O Dearest God, who hast framed Man of Soul and Body, and fitted him with Faculties and proportionable instruments to serve thee according to all our capacities, let thy holy Spirit rule and sanctifie every power and member both of Soul and Body, that they may keep that beautious order which in our creation thou didst intend, and to which thou dost restore thy people in the renovations of Grace; that our Affections may be guided by Reason, our Under∣standing may be enlightned with thy Word, and then may guide and perswade our Will; that we suffer no violent transportation of Passions, nor be overcome by a Temptation, nor consent to the impure solicitations of Lust; that Sin may not reign in our mortal bodies, but that both Bodies and Souls may be conformable to the Sufferings of the Holy Jesus; that in our Body we may bear the marks and dying of our Lord, and in our spirits we may be humble and mortified, and like him in all his imitable perfections; that we may die to sin and live to righteousness, and after our suffering together with him in this world, we may reign to∣gether with him hereafter, to whom in the unity of the most mysterious Trinity be all glory and dominion and praise for ever and ever.

Amen.

SECT. IX. Of JESVS being Baptized, and going into the Wilderness to be Tempted.

[illustration]

The Baptisme of Iesus

S. MAT. 3. 17.

And lo, a voice from heaven, saying This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Luc. 3: 23. And Iesus himselfe began to be about thirty yeares of age.

[illustration]

The Temqtation of Iesus

S. MAT. 4: 10

Get thee behind me Satan For it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou sarue

1. NOW the full time was come, Jesus took leave of his Mother and his Trade, to begin his Father's work and the Office Prophetical in order to the Re∣demption of the World; and when John was baptizing in Jordan Jesus came to John to be baptized of him. The Baptist had never seen his face, because they had been from their infancy driven to several places, designed to several imployments, and never met till now. But immediately the Holy Ghost inspired S. John with a dis∣cerning and knowing spirit, and at his first arrival he knew him, and did him wor∣ship. And when Jesus desired to be baptized, John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? For the Baptism of John, although it was not a direct instrument of the Spirit for the collation of Grace, neither find we it admi∣nistred in any form of words, not so much as in the name of Christ to come, (as * 1.213 ma∣ny dream) (because even after John had baptized, the Pharisees still doubted if he were the Messias, which they would not, if in his form of Ministration he had pub∣lished Christ to come after him; and also because it had not been proper for Christ him∣self to have received that Baptism whose form had specified himself to come hereafter; neither could it consist with the Revelation which John had, and the confession which he made, to baptize in the name of Christ to come, whom the Spirit marked out to him to be come already, and himself pointed at him with his 〈◊〉〈◊〉) yet it was a ceremo∣nious consignation of the Doctrine of* 1.214 Repentance, which was one great part of the Covenant Evangelical, and was a Divine Institution, the susception of it was in order to the fulfilling all righteousness, it was a sign of Humility, the persons baptized con∣fessed their sins, it was a sacramental disposing to the Baptism and Faith of Christ; but therefore John wondred why the Messias, the Lamb of God, pure and without spot, who needed not the abstersions of Repentance or the washings of Baptism, should de∣mand

it, and of him a sinner and his servant. And in the Hebrew Gospel of S. Mat∣thew* 1.215 which the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 used at 〈◊〉〈◊〉 (as S. Hierom reports) these words are added; [The Mother of the Lord and his brethren said unto him, John Baptist baptizeth to the Re∣mission of sins, let us go and be baptized of him. He said to them, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 have I sinned, that I should go and be baptized of him?] And this part of the Story is also told by Justin Mar∣tyr.* 1.216 But Jesus wanted not a proposition to consign by his Baptism proportionable enough to the analogy of its institution; for as others professed their return towards Innocence, so he avowed his perseverance in it: and though he was never called in Scripture [a Sinner,] yet he was made Sin for us; that is, he did undergo the shame and the punishment; and therefore it was proper enough for him to perform the Sacra∣ment of Sinners.

2. But the Holy Jesus who came (as himself in answer to the Baptist's question pro∣fessed) to sulfil all rightcousness, would receive that Rite which his Father had instituted in order to the manifestation of his* 1.217 Son. For although the Baptist had a glimpse of him by the first irradiations of the Spirit, yet John professed, That he therefore came baptizing with water, that Jesus might be ma∣nifested to Israel; and it was also a sign given to the Baptist himself, that on whomsoever he saw the Spirit descending and remaining, he is the person that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And God chose to actuate the sign at the waters of Jordan in great and religious assemblies convened there at John's Baptism, and there∣fore Jesus came to be baptized, and by this Baptism became known to John, who as before he gave to him an indiscriminate testimony, so now he pointed out the person in his Sermons and Discourses, and by calling him the* 1.218 Lamb of God prophesied of his Passion, and preached him to be the World's Redeemer, and the Sacrifice for man∣kind. He was now manifest to Israel, he confirmed the Baptism of John, he 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the water to become sacramental and ministerial in the remission of sins, he by a re∣al event declared, that to them who should rightly be baptized the Kingdom of Hea∣ven should certainly be opened, he inserted himself by that Ceremony into the society and participation of holy people, of which communion himself was Head and Prince; and he did in a symbol purifie Humane nature, whose stains and guilt he had undertaken.

3. As soon as John had performed his Ministery, and Jesus was baptized, he prayed, and the heavens were opened, and the air clarified by a new and* 1.219 glorious light, and the holy Ghost in the manner of a Dove alighted upon his sacred head, and God the Father gave a voice from Heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. This was the inauguration and proclamation of the Messias, when he began to be the great Prophet of the new Covenant. And this was the greatest meeting that ever was upon earth, where the whole Cabinet of the mysterious Trinity was opened and shewn, as much as the capacities of our present imperfections will permit; the Second Person in the veil of Humanity, the Third* 1.220 in the shape or with the motion of a Dove: but the First kept his primitive state, and as to the Israelites he gave notice by way of cau∣tion,* 1.221 * 1.222 Ye saw no shape, but ye heard a voice; so now also God the Father gave testimony* 1.223to his Holy Son, and appeared only in a voice without any visible representment.

4. When the Rite and the Solemnity was over, Christ ascended up out of the waters, and left so much vertue behind him, that, as Gregorius Turonensis reports, that creek* 1.224 of the River where his holy body had been baptized was indued with a healing quality, and a power of curing Lepers that bathed themselves in those waters, in the faith and with invocation of the holy Name of Jesus. But the manifestation of this power was not till afterwards, for as yet Jesus did no Miracles.

5. As soon as ever the Saviour of the World was baptized, had opened the Hea∣vens, which yet never had been opened to Man, and was declared the Son of God, Jesus was by the Spirit driven into the Wilderness, not by an unnatural violence, but by the efficacies of Inspiration, and a supernatural inclination and activity of resolution; for it was the Holy Spirit that bare him thither, he was led by the good Spirit to be temp∣ted by the evil: whither also he was pleased to retire, to make demonstration that even in an active life, such as he was designed to and intended, some recesses and temporary dimissions of the world are most expedient, for such persons especially whose office is Prophetical, and for institution of others, that by such vacancies in prayer and con∣templation they may be better enabled to teach others, when they have in such retire∣ments conversed with God.

6. In the Desart, which was four miles 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the place of his Baptism, and about twenty miles from Jerusalem, as the common computations are, he did abide forty days and forty nights, where he was perpetually disturbed and assaulted with evil spi∣rits, in the midst of wild beasts, in a continual fast, without eating bread or drinking water; And the Angels ministred to him, being Messengers of comfort and sustentation sent from his Father for the support and service of his Humanity, and imployed in re∣sisting and discountenancing the assaults and temporal hostilities of the spirits of dark∣ness.

7. Whether the Devils 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in any horrid and affrighting shapes is not certain; but it is more likely, to a person of so great Sanctity and high designation they would appear more Angelical and immaterial, in representments intellectual, in words and Idea's, temptations and inticements, because Jesus was not a person of those low weak∣nesses to be affrighted or troubled with an ugly 〈◊〉〈◊〉, which can do nothing but abuse the weak and imperfect conceptions of persons nothing extraordinary. And this was the way which Satan or the Prince of the Devils took, whose Temptations were reserved for the last assault, and the great day of trial; for at the expiration of his forty days, Jesus being hungry, the Tempter invited him only to eat bread of his own providing, which might refresh his Humanity and prove his Divinity, hoping that his hunger, and the desire of convincing the Devil, might tempt him to eat before the time appointed. But Jesus answered, It is written, Man shall not live by Bread alone, but by every word that 〈◊〉〈◊〉 out of the mouth of God; meaning, that in every word of God, whether the Commandment be general or special, a promise is either expressed or implied of the supply of all provisions necessary for him that is doing the work of God; and that was the present case of Jesus, who was then doing his Father's work, and promoting our interest, and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 was sure to be provided for: and therefore so are we.

8. The Devil, having failed in this assault, tries him again, requiring but a demon∣stration of his being the Son of God. He sets him upon the* 1.225 battlement of the Temple, and invites him to throw himself down, upon a pretence that God would send his Angels to keep his Son, and quotes Scripture for it. But Jesus understood it well; and though he was secured of God's protection, yet he would not tempt God, nor solicite his Pro∣vidence to a dereliction by tempting him to an unnecessary conservation. This assault was silly and weak. But at last he unites all his power of stratagem, and places the Holy Jesus upon an exceeding high mountain, and by an Angelical power draws into one Centre Species* 1.226 and Idea's from all the Kingdoms and glories of the World, and makes an admirable Map of beauties, and represents it to the eyes of Jesus, saying, that all that was put into his power to give, and he would give it him, if he would fall down and worship him. But then the Holy Lamb was angry as a provoked Lion, and commanded him away, when his temptations were violent, and his demands impudent and blas∣phemous. Then the Devil leaveth him, and the Angels came and ministred unto him, bringing such things as his necessities required, after he had by a forty days Fast done penance for our sins, and consigned to his Church the Doctrine and Discipline of Fast∣ing in order to a Contemplative life, and the resisting and overcoming all the Tempta∣tions and allurements of the Devil, and all our ghostly enemies.

Ad SECT. IX. Considerations upon the Baptizing, Fasting, and Temptation of the Holy JESVS by the Devil.

1. WHen the day did break, and the Baptist was busie in his Offices, the Sun of Righteousness soon entred upon our Hemisphere; and after he had lived a life of darkness and silence for thirty years together, yet now that he came to do the greatest work in the World, and to minister in the most honourable Embassie, he would do nothing of singularity, but fulfil all righteousness, and satisfie all Commands, and joyn in the common Rites and Sacraments, which all people innocent or penitent

did undergo either as deleteries of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 or instruments of Grace. For so he would needs be baptized by his servant; and though he was of Purity sufficient to do it, and did actually by his Baptism purifie the Purifier, and sanctifie that and all other streams to a holy ministery and effect, yet he went in, bowing his head like a sinner, uncloathing himself like an imperfect person, and craving to be washed, as if he had been crusted with an impure Leprosie: thereby teaching us to submit our selves to all those Rites which he would institute; and although 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of them be, like the Baptism of John, joyned with confession of sins and publication of our infirmities, yet it were better for us to lay by our loads and wash our ulcers, than by concealing them, out of vainer de∣sires of impertinent reputation, cover our disease till we are heart-sick and die. But when so holy a person does all the pious Ministeries of the more imperfect, it is a de∣monstration to us, that a life common and ordinary, without affectation or singularity, is the most prudent and safe. Every great change, every violence of fortune, all emi∣nencies and unevennesses whatsoever, whether of person or accident or circumstance, puts us to a new trouble, requires a distinct care, creates new dangers, objects more temptations, marks us out the object of envy, makes our standing more insecure, and our fall more contemptible and ridiculous. But an even life spent with as much ri∣gour of duty to God as ought to be, yet in the same manner of Devotions, in the suscep∣tion of ordinary Offices, in bearing publick burthens, frequenting publick Assemblies, performing offices of civility, receiving all the Rites of an established Religion, com∣plying with national Customs and hereditary Solemnities of a people, in nothing dis∣quieting publick peace, or disrelishing the great instruments of an innocent communi∣on, or dissolving the circumstantial ligaments of Charity, or breaking Laws, and the great relations and necessitudes of the World, out of fancy or singularity, is the best way to live holily, and 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and happily; safer from sin and envy, and more remo∣ved from trouble and temptation.

2. When Jesus came to John to be baptized, John out of humility and modesty re∣fused him; but when Jesus by reduplication of his desire, fortifying it with a com∣mand, made it in the Baptist to become a Duty, then he obeyed. And so also did the primitive Clerks refuse to do offices of great dignity and highest ministery, looking through the honour upon the danger, and passing by the Dignity they considered the charge of the Cure, and knew that the eminency of the Office was in all sences inse∣cure to the person, till by command and peremptory injunction of their Superiours it was put past a dispute, and became necessary, and that either they must perish instant∣ly in the ruines and precipices of Disobedience, or put it to the hazard and a fair ven∣ture for a brighter crown or a bigger damnation. I wish also this care were entailed and did descend upon all Ages of the Church; for the ambitious seeking of Dignities and Prelacies Ecclesiastical is grown the Pest of the Church, and corrupts the Salt it self, and extinguishes the lights, and gives too apparent evidences to the world that neither the end is pure, nor the intention sanctified, nor the person innocent, but the purpose ambitious or covetous, and the person vicious, and the very entrance into Church offices is with an impure torch, and a foul hand, or a heart empty of the affe∣ctions of Religion, or thoughts of doing God's work. I do not think the present Age is to be treated with concerning denying to accept rich Prelacies and pompous Digni∣ties; but it were but reasonable that the main intention and intellectual design should be to appreciate and esteem the Office and employment to be of greatest consideration. It is lawful to desire a Bishoprick, neither can the unwillingness to accept it be, in a prudent account, adjudged the aptest disposition to receive it, (especially if done in * 1.227 ceremony, just in the instant of their entertainment of it, and possibly after a long ambition:) but yet it were well if we remember that such desires must be sanctified with holy care and diligence in the Office; for the hony is guarded with thousands of little sharp stings and dangers, and it will be a sad account, if we be called to audit for the crimes of our Diocese after our own Talleys are made even; and he that believes his own load to be big enough, and trembles at the apprehension of the horrors of Dooms-day, is not very wise if he takes up those burthens which he sees have crushed their Bearers, and presses his own shoulders till the bones crack, only because the bundles are wrapt in white linen and bound with silken cords. He that desires the Of∣fice of a Bishop, desires a good work, saith S. Paul; and therefore we must not look on it for the fair-spreading Sails and the beauteous Streamers which the favour of Prin∣ces hath put to it, to make it sail fairer and more secure against the dangers of secular discomforts; but upon the Burthen it bears. Prelacy is a good work, and a good work well done is very honourable, and shall be rewarded; but he that considers the

infinite dangers of miscarrying, and that the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of the Ship will be imputed to the Pi∣lot, may think it many times the safest course to put God or his Superiours to the charge of a Command before he undertakes such great Ministeries: And he that enters in by the force of Authority, as he himself receives a testimony of his worth and aptness to the employment, so he gives the world another, that his search for it was not crimi∣nal, nor his person immodest, and by his weighty apprehension of his dangers he will consider his work, and obtain a grace to do it diligently, and to be accepted graciously. And this was the modesty and prudence of the Baptist.

3. When Jesus was baptized, he prayed, and the heavens were opened. External Rites of Divine Institution receive benediction and energy from above, but it is by the medi∣ation of Prayer: * 1.228 for there is nothing ritual, but it is also joyned with something mo∣ral, and required on our part in all persons capable of the use of Reason, that we may* 1.229 * 1.230 〈◊〉〈◊〉 that the blessings of Religion are works and Graces too; God therefore re∣quiring* 1.231 us to do something, not that we may glory in it, but that we may estimate the* 1.232 Grace, and go to God for it in the means of his own hallowing. Naaman had been stu∣pid, if, when the Prophet bade him wash seven times in Jordan for his cure, he had not confessed the cure to be wrought by the God of Israel and the ministery of his Pro∣phet, but had made himself the Author, because of his obedience to the enjoyned con∣dition; and it is but a weak sancy to derogate from God's grace, and the glory and the freedom of it, because he bids us wash before we are cleansed, and pray when we are washed, and commands us to ask before we shall receive. But this also is true from this instance, that the external rite 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Sacrament is so instrumental in a spiritual Grace, that it never does it but with the conjunction of something moral: And this truth is of* 1.233 so great perswasion in the Greek Church, that the mystery of Consecration in the vene∣rable* 1.234 Eucharist is amongst them attributed not to any mystical words and secret ope∣rations* 1.235 of syllables, but to the efficacy of the prayers of the Church, in the just imita∣tion of the whole action and the rite of Institution. And the purpose of it is, that we might secure the excellency and holiness of such predispositions and concomitant Gra∣ces, which are necessary to the worthy and effectual susception of the external Rites of Christianity.

4. After the Holy Jesus was baptized and had prayed, the Heavens opened, the holy* 1.236 Ghost descended, and a voice from Heaven proclaimed him to be the Son of God, and one in whom the Father was well pleased; and the same 〈◊〉〈◊〉 that was cast upon the head of our High Priest, went unto his 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and thence sell to the borders of his garment: for as Christ our Head felt these effects in manifestation, so the Church believes God does to her and to her meanest children in the susception of the holy Rite of Baptism in right, apt and holy dispositions. For the Heavens open too upon us, and the Holy Ghost de∣scends to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the waters, and to hallow the Catechumen, and to pardon the passed and repented sins, and to consign him to the inheritance of 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and to put on his mi∣litary girdle, and give him the Sacrament and oath of fidelity; for all this is under∣stood* 1.237 to be meant by those frequent expressions of Scripture, calling Baptism the Laver* 1.238 of Regeneration, Illumination, a washing away the filth of the flesh, and the Answer of a* 1.239 good conscience, a being buried with Christ, and many others of the like purpose and signi∣fication.* 1.240 But we may also learn hence sacredly to esteem the Rites of Religion, which he first sanctified by his own personal susception, and then made necessary by his own institution and command, and God hath made to be conveyances of blessing and mini∣steries of the Holy Spirit.

5. The Holy Ghost descended upon Jesus in the manner or visible representment of a Dove: either in similitude of figure which he was pleased to assume, as the Church more ge∣nerally hath believed; or at least he did descend like a Dove, and in his robe of fire hove∣red over the Baptist's head, and then sate upon him, as the Dove uses to sit upon the house of her dwelling; whose proprieties of nature are pretty and modest Hierogly∣phicks of the duty of spiritual persons, which are thus observed in both Philosophies. The Dove sings not, but mourns, it hath no * 1.241 gall, strikes not with its bill, hath no crooked talons, and forgets its young ones soonest of any the inhabitants of the air. And the effects of the Holy Spirit are symbolical in all the sons of Sanctification: For the voice of the Church is sad in those accents which express her own condition: but as the Dove is not so sad in her breast as in her note; so neither is the interiour condition of the Church wretched and miserable, but indeed her Song is most of it Elegy within her own walls, and her condition looks sad, and her joys are not pleasures in the pub∣lick estimate, but they that afflict her think her miserable, because they know not the sweetnesses of a holy peace and serenity which supports her spirit, and plains the

heart under a rugged brow, making the Soul festival under the noise of a Threne and sadder groanings. But the Sons of consolation are also taught their Duty by this Ap∣parition: for upon whomsoever the Spirit descends, he teaches him to be meek and charitable, neither offending by the violence of hands, or looser language. For the Dove is inoffensive in beak and foot, and feels no disturbance and violence of passions when its dearest interests are destroyed; that we also may be of an even spirit in the sad∣dest accidents, which usually discompose our peace: and however such symbolical in∣timations receive their efficacy from the fancy of the contriver; yet here, whether this Apparition did intend any such moral representment or no, it is certain that where∣ever the holy Spirit does dwell, there also Peace and Sanctity, Meekness and Charity, a mortisied will and an active dereliction of our desires do inhabit. But besides this hie∣roglyphical representment, this Dove, like that which Noah sent out from the Ark, did aptly signifie the World to be renewed, and all to be turned to a new creation, and God hath made a new Covenant with us, that, unless we provoke him, he will never destroy us any more.

6. No sooner had the voice of God pronounced Jesus to be the well-beloved Son of God, but the Devil thought it of great concernment to attempt him with all his malice and his art; and that is the condition of all those whom God's grace hath separated from the common expectations and societies of the world: and therefore the Son of Sirach gave good advice, My son, if thou come to serve the Lord, prepare thy Soul for temptation; for* 1.242 not only the Spirits of darkness are exasperated at the declension of their own Kingdom, but also the nature and constitution of vertues and eminent graces, which holy persons exercise in their lives, is such as to be easily assailable by their contraries, apt to be les∣sened by time, to be interrupted by weariness, to grow flat and insipid by tediousness of labour, to be omitted and grow infrequent by the impertinent diversions of society and secular occasions; so that to rescind the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of Vice made firm by nature and evil habits, to acquire every new degree 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Vertue, to continue the holy fires of zeal in their just proportion, to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the Devil, and to reject the invitations of the World, and the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 embraces of the Flesh, which are the proper employment of the sons of God, is a perpetual difficulty, and every possibility of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the strictness of a Duty is a Temptation, and an insecurity to them who have begun to serve God in hard battels.

7. The Holy Spirit did drive Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. And 〈◊〉〈◊〉 we are bound to pray instantly that we fall into no Temptation; yet if by Di∣vine permission or by an inspiration of the Holy Spirit we be engaged in an action or course of life that is full of Temptation and empty of comfort, let us apprehend it as an issue of Divine Providence, as an occasion of the rewards of Diligence and Patience, as an instrument of Vertue, as a designation of that way in which we must glorifie God; but no argument of disfavour, since our dearest Lord, the most Holy Jesus, who could have driven the Devil away by the Breath of his mouth, yet was by the Spirit of his Father permitted to a trial and molestation by the spirits of Darkness. And this is S. James's counsel, My brethren, count it all joy when ye enter into divers temptations,* 1.243 knowing that the trial of your Faith worketh Patience. So far is a Blessing, when the Spi∣rit is the instrument of our motion, and brings us to the trial of our Faith: but if the Spirit leaves us, and delivers us over to the Devil, not to be tempted, but to be abused and ruined, it is a sad condition, and the greatest instance of their infelicity whom the Church upon sufficient reason and with competent authority delivers over to Satan, by the infliction of the greater Excommunication.

8. As soon as it was permitted to the Devil to tempt our Lord, he, like fire, had no power to suspend his act, but was as entirely determined by the fulness of his malice as a natural agent by the appetites of nature; that we may know to whom we owe the happinesses of all those hours and days of peace in which we sit under the trees of Para∣dise, and see no serpent encircling the branches, and presenting us with fair fruit to ruine us. It is the mercy of God we have the quietness of a minute; for if the Devil's chain were taken off, he would make our very beds a torment, our tables to be a snare, our sleeps phantastick, lustful and illusive, and every sense should have an object of delight and danger, an Hyaena to kiss, and to perish in its embraces. But the Holy Jesus having been assaulted by the Devil, and felt his malice by the experiments of Humanity, is become so merciful a high Priest, and so sensible of our sufferings and danger, by the apprehensions of compassion, that he hath put a hook into the nostrils of Leviathan; and although the reliques of seven Nations be in our borders and fringes of our Countrey, yet we live as safe as did the Israelites, upon whom sometimes an inroad and invasion was made, and sometimes

they had rest forty years, and when the storm came, some remedy was found out, by his grace by whose permission the tempest was stirred up: and we find many persons who in seven years meet not with a violent temptation to a crime, but their battels are against impediments and retardations of improvement; their own rights are not di∣rectly questioned, but the Devil and Sin are wholly upon the defensive. Our duty here is an act of affection to God, making returns of thanks for the protection, and of duty to secure and continue the favour.

9. But the design of the Holy Ghost being to expose Jesus to the Temptation, he arms himself with Fasting, and Prayer, and Baptism, and the Holy Spirit against the day of battel; he continues in the Wilderness forty days and sorty nights without meat or drink, attending to the immediate addresses and colloquies with God, not suffering the interruption of meals, but representing his own and the necessities of all mankind with such affections and instances of spirit, love and wisdom, as might express the ex∣cellency of his person, and promote the work of our Redemption; his conversation being in this interval but a resemblance of Angelical perfecti∣on, and his * 1.244 Fasts not an instrument of Mortification, for he needed none, he had contracted no stain from his own nor his Parents acts; neither do we find that he was at all hun∣gry, or asslicted with his 〈◊〉〈◊〉, till after the expiration of forty days. He was afterwards an hungry (said the Evan∣gelist,) and his abstinence from meat might be a defecation of his faculties, and an opportunity of Prayer, but we are not sure it intended any thing else: but it may concern the pru∣dence of Religion to snatch at this occasion of duty so far as the instance is imitable, and in all violences of Temptation to fast and pray, Prayer being a rare antidote against the poison, and Fasting a convenient disposition to intense, actual and undisturbed Prayer. * 1.245 And we may remember also that we have been baptized and consign'd with the Spi∣rit of God, and have received the adoption of Sons, and the graces of Sanctification in our Baptisms, and had then the seed of God put into us, and then we put on Christ, and entring into battel put on the whole armour of Righteousness; and therefore we may by observing our strength gather also our duty and greatest obligation, to fight manful∣ly, that we may triumph gloriously.

10. The Devil's first Temptation of Christ was upon the instances and first necessities of Nature; Christ was hungry, and the Devil invited him to break his fast upon the expence of a Miracle, by turning the stones into bread. But the answer Jesus made was such as taught us, since the ordinary Providence of God is sufficient for our provi∣sion or support, extraordinary ways of satisfying necessities are not to be undertaken, but God must be relied upon, his time attended, his manner entertained, and his mea∣sure thankfully received. Jesus refused to be relieved, and denied to manifest the Di∣vinity of his Person, rather than he would do an act which had in it the intimation of a diffident spirit, or might be expounded a disreputation to God's Providence. And therefore it is an improvident care and impious security to take evil courses, and use vile instruments to furnish our Table, and provide for our necessities. God will certainly give us bread, and till he does, we can live by the breath of his mouth, by the Word of God, by the light of his countenance, by the refreshment of his Promises; for if God gives not provisions into our granaries, he can feed us out of his own, that is, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of the repositories of Charity. If the flesh-pots be removed, he can also alter the appe∣tite; and when our stock is 〈◊〉〈◊〉, he can also lessen the necessity; or if that conti∣nues, he can drown the sense of it in a deluge of patience and resignation. Every word of God's mouth can create a Grace, and every Grace can supply two necessities, both of the body and the spirit, by the comforts of this to support that, that they may bear each others burthen, and alleviate the pressure.

11. But the Devil is always prompting us to change our Stones into Bread, our sad∣nesses into sensual comfort, our drinesses into inundations of fancy and exteriour sweetnesses: for he knows that the ascetick Tables of Mortification and the stones of the Desart are more healthful than the fulnesses of voluptuousness and the corn of the valleys. He cannot endure we should live a life of Austerity or Self-denial:

if he can get us but to satisfie our Senses, and a little more freely to please our natural desires, he then hath a fair Field for the Battel; but so long as we force him to fight in hedges and morasses, encircling and crowding up his strengths into disadvantages, by our stone-walls, our hardnesses of Discipline and rudenesses of Mortification, we can with more facilities repell his flatteries, and receive fewer incommodities of spirit. But thus the Devil will abuse us by the impotency of our natural desires, and therefore let us go to God for satisfaction of our wishes: God can, and does, when it is good for us, change our stones into bread: for he is a Father so merciful, that if we ask him a Fish, he will not give us a Scorpion; if we ask him bread, he will not offer us a stone; but will satisfie all our desires by ministrations of the Spirit, making stones to become our meat, and tears our drink; which although they are unpleasant and harsh to natural appetites, yet by the operation and influences of God's Holy Spirit they are made in∣struments of health, and life, and Salvation.

12. The Devil, perceiving Jesus to be a person of greater eminency and perfection than to be moved by sensual and low desires, makes a second assault by a Temptation something more spiritual, and tempts him to Presumption and indiscreet confidence, to a throwing himself down from the pinnacles of the Temple, upon the stock of Pre∣destination, that God might secure him by the ministery of Angels, and so prove his being the Son of God. And indeed it is usual with the Devil, when severe persons have so much mortified their lower appetites that they are not easily overcome by an invitation of carnality or intemperance, to stir them to opinions of their own Sanctity, and make their first escaping prove their second and greater dangers. But that the De∣vil should perswade Jesus to throw himself down because he was the Son of God, was an invitation to no purpose, save only that it gave occasion to this truth, That God's Providence secures all his sons in the ways of Nature, and while they are doing their duty; but loves not to be tempted to acts unreasonable and unnecessary: God will pro∣tect his servants in or from all evils happening without their knowledge, or against their will; but not from evils of their own procuring. Heron, an inhabitant of the Desart, suffered the same Temptation, and was overcome by it; for he died with his fall, sinfully and ingloriously. For the caresses of God's love to his Saints and servants are security against all but themselves. The Devil and all the World offer to do them mischief, but then they shall be safe, because they are innocent; if they once offer to do the same to themselves, they lose their Protection, because they lost their Prudence and their Charity. But here also it will concern all those who by their eminent imploy∣ment and greater ministeries in Ecclesiasticals are set upon the pinnacle of the Temple, to take care that the Devil tempt not them to a precipice; a fall from so great a height will break the bones in pieces: and yet there also the station is less firm, the posture most uneasie, the prospect vertiginous, and the Devil busie and desirous to thrust us headlong.

13. S. Hierom here observes well, the Devil intending mischief to our Blessed Savi∣our, invited him to cast himself down. He may perswade us to a fall, but cannot precipi∣tate* 1.246 us without our own act. And it is an infinite mercy in God, that the Devil, who is of malice infinite, is of so restrained and limited a power, that he can do us no ghost∣ly disadvantage, but by perswading us to do it our selves. And then it will be a strange imprudence to lay violent and unreasonable hands upon our selves, and do that mischief which our strongest and most malicious Adversary cannot; or to be invited by the only Rhetorick of a dog's barking, to come near him, to untie his chain, to unloose his muzzle, for no other end but that we may be bitten. Just such a fool is every person that consents to the Temptations of the Devil.

14. By this time the Devil began to perceive that this was the Son of God, and de∣signed to be the King of all the World, and therefore resolved for the last assault to pro∣fer him the Kingdoms of the World; thinking Ambition more likely to ruine him, be∣cause he knew it was that which prevailed upon himself, and all those fallen Stars, the Angels of Darkness. That the Devil told a lie it is most likely, when he said, he had power to dispose the Kingdoms of the World; for originally and by proper inherent right God alone disposes all Governments: but it is also certain, that the Devil is a person capable of a delegate imployment in some great mutation of States; and many probabilities have been observed by wise personages, perswading that the Grandeur of the Roman Empire was in the degrees of increment and decrement permitted to the power and managing of the Devil, that the greatness of that Government, being in all appearance full of advantage to Satan's Kingdom, and imployed for the dis-im∣provement of the weak beginnings and improbable increase of Christianity, might give lustre and demonstration to it that it came from God, since the great

permissions of power made to the Devil, and acted with all art and malice in defiance of the Religion, could produce no other effect upon it but that it made it grow greater; and the greatness was made more miraculous, since the Devil, when his chain was off, fain would, but could not suppress it.

15. The Lamb of God, that heard him with patience tempt him to do himself a mis∣chief, and to throw himself headlong, could by no means endure it when he tempted to a direct dishonouring of God. Our own injuries are opportunities of patience; but when the glory of God and his immediate Honour is the question, then is the occasion and precise minute for the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of a clear-shining and unconsuming Zeal. But the care of God's Glory had so filled and imployed all the Faculties of Jesus, that he takes no notice of the offer: and it were well also that we had fewer opinions of the lustre of worldly dignities, or at least that we in imitation of our Blessed Master should resuse to accept all the World, when it is to be bought of the Devil at the expence of a deadly sin. For that Government cannot be very honourable that makes us slaves to the worst of Tyrants; and all those Princes and great personages, who by injury and usurpation possess and invade others rights, would do well to consider, that a Kingdom is too dear∣ly paid for if the condition be first to worship the Devil.

16. When the Devil could do no good, he departed for a time. If he could ever have spied a time of returning, he wanted not will nor malice to observe and use it: And although Jesus was a person without danger, yet I doubt not but the Holy Ghost described that circumstance, that we should not have the securities of a deep peace when we have had the success of conquerors, for a surprise is most full of horror and of more certain ruine; so that we have no security, but a perpetual observation; that, together with the grace of God, ( who takes care of all his servants, and will drive away the Tempter when he pleases, and help us always when we need) is as great an argument for our confidence and encouragement to our prayers and address to God, as it is safety to our person, and honour to our victory. And let us account it our honour, that the trials of Temptation, which is the greatest sadness of our condition, are hal∣lowed by the Temptation of Jesus, and our condition assured by his assistances, and the assistances procured by our Prayers most easily upon the advantage of his sufferings and compassion. And we may observe that Poverty, Predestination and Ambition are the three quivers from which the Devil drew his arrows which ( as the most likely to prevail) he shot against Christ: but now he shot in vain, and gave probation that he might be overcome; our Captain hath conquered for himself and us. By these instan∣ces we see our danger, and how we are provided of a remedy.

The PRAYER,

O Holy Jesus, who didst fulfil all Righteousness, and didst live a life of evenness and obe∣dience and community, submitting thy self to all Rites and Sanctions of Divine ordi∣nance; give me grace to live in the fellowship of thy holy Church, a life of Piety, and with∣out singularity, receiving the sweet influence of thy Sacraments and Rites, and living in the purities and innocencies of my first Sanctification. I adore thy goodness infinite, that thou hast been pleased to wash my Soul in the Laver of Regeneration, that thou hast consigned me to the participation of thy favours by the holy 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Let me not return to the infirmities of the Old Man, whom thou hast crucified on thy Cross, and who was buried with thee in Baptism; nor 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the crimes of my sinsul years, which were so many recessions from 〈◊〉〈◊〉 puri∣ties: but let me ever receive the emissions of thy Divine Spirit, and be a Son of God, a part∣ner of thine immortal inheritance; and when thou seest it needful, I may receive testimony from Heaven, that I am thy servant and thy child. And grant that I may so walk, that I neither disrepute the honour of the Christian Institution, nor stain the whitenesses of that In∣nocence which thou didst invest my Soul withall when I put on the Baptismal Robe, nor break my holy Vow, nor lose my right of inheritance which thou hast given me by promise and grace; but that thou mayest love me with the love of a Father, and a Brother, and a Husband, and a Lord, and I serve thee in the communion of Saints, in the susception of Sacraments, in the actions of a holy life, and in a never-failing love or uninterrupted Devotion; to the glory of thy Name, and the promotion of all those Ends of Religion which thou hast designed in the ex∣cellent Oeconomy of Christianity. Grant this, Holy Jesus, for thy mercie's sake, and for the honour of thy Name, which is and shall be adored for ever and ever.

Amen.

DISCOURSE V. Of Temptation.

1. GOD, who is the Fountain of good, did chuse rather to bring good out of evil, than not to suffer any evil to be: not only because variety of accidents and na∣tures do better entertain our affections and move our spirits, who are transported and suffer great impressions by a circumstance, by the very opposition and accidental lustre and eminency of contraries; but also that the glory of the Divine Providence in turn∣ing the nature of things into the designs of God might be illustrious, and that we may in a mixt condition have more observation, and after our danger and our labour may obtain a greater reward: for Temptation is the opportunity of Vertue and a Crown; God having disposed us in such a condition, that our Vertues must be difficult, our in∣clinations 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and corrigible, our avocations many, our hostilities bitter, our dan∣gers proportionable, that our labour might be great, our inclinations suppressed and corrected, our intentions be made actual, our enemies be resisted, and our dangers pass into security and honour, after a contestation, and a victory, and a perseverance. It is every man's case; * 1.247 Trouble is as certainly the lot of our nature and inheritance, and we are so sure to be tempted, that in the deepest peace and silence of spirit oftentimes is our greatest danger; not to be tempted is sometimes our most subtle Temptation. It is certain then, we cannot be secure when our Security is our enemy; but therefore we must do as God himself does, make the best of it, and not be sad at that which is the publick portion and the case of all men, but order it according to the intention, place it in the eye of vertue, that all its actions and motions may tend thither, there to be changed into felicities. But certain it is, unless we first be cut and hewen in the mountains, we shall not be fixed in the Temple of God; but by incision and contusi∣ons our roughnesses may become plain, or our sparks kindled, and we may be either for the Temple or the Altar, spiritual building or holy fire, something that God shall delight in, and then the Temptation was not amiss.

2. And therefore we must not wonder that oftentimes it so happens, that nothing will remove a Temptation, no diligence, no advices, no labour, no prayers; not be∣cause these are ineffectual, but because it is most fit the Temptation should abide for ends of God's designing: and although S. Paul was a person whose prayers were likely to be prevalent, and his industry of much prudence and efficacy toward the drawing out of his thorn; yet God would not do it, but continued his war, only promising to send him succour, My grace is sufficient for thee: meaning, he should have an enemy to* 1.248 try his spirit and improve it, and he should also have God's grace to comfort and sup∣port it; but as without God's grace the Enemy would spoil him, so without an Ene∣my God's grace would never swell up into glory and crown him. For the caresses of a pleasant Fortune are apt to swell into extravagancies of spirit, and burst into the disso∣lution of manners; and unmixt Joy is dangerous: but if in our fairest Flowers we spie a Locust, or feel the uneasiness of a Sackcloth under our fine Linen, or our Purple be tied with an uneven and a rude Cord; any little trouble, but to correct our wildnesses, though it be but a Death's-head served up at our Feasts, it will make our Tables fuller of health and freer from snare, it will allay our spirits, making them to retire from the weakness of dispersion, to the union and strength of a sober recollection.

3. Since therefore it is no part of our imployment or our care to be free from all the attempts of an enemy, but to be safe in despite of his hostility; it now will concern us to inform our selves of the state of the War in general, and then to make provisions and to put on Armour accordingly.

4. First, S. * 1.249 〈◊〉〈◊〉 often observes, and makes much of the discourse, that the Devil, when he intends a Battery, first views the Strengths and Situation of the place. His sence drawn out of the cloud of an Allegory is this; The Devil first considers the Constitution and temper of the person he is to tempt, and where he observes his natural inclination apt for a Vice, he presents him with objects, and opportunity, and argu∣ments 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to his caitive disposition; from which he is likely to receive the smaller opposition, since there is a party within that desires his intromission. Thus to Lustful

natures he represents the softer 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of Fornication; to the Angry and revengeful he offers to consideration the satisfactions and content of a full Revenge, and the emissions of anger; to the Envious he makes Panegyricks of our Rivals, and swells our fancies to opinion, our opinion to self-love, self-love to arrogance, and these are supported by contempt of others, and all determine upon Envy, and expire in Malice. Now in these cases, when our natures are caitive and unhandsome, it were good we were conscious of our own weaknesses, and by special arts and strengths of Mortification fortifie that part where we are apt and exposed to danger: we are sure enough to meet a Storm there, and we also are likely to perish in it, unless we correct those a versenesses and natural indispositions, and reduce them to the evennesses of Ver∣tue, or the affections and moderation of a good nature. Let us be sure that the Devil take not a helve from our own branches to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 his axe, that so he may cut the tree down: and certainly he that does violence to his nature, will not be easie to the entertainment of affections preternatural and violent.

5. Secondly, But the Devil also observes all our exteriour Accidents, Occasions and Opportunities of action; he sees what Company we keep, he observes what degrees of love we have to our Wives, what looseness of affection towards Children, how pre∣valent their perswasions, how inconvenient their discourses, how trifling their inte∣rests, and to what degrees of determination they move us by their importunity or their power. The Devil tempted Adam by his Wife, because he saw his affections too pliant, and encirling her with the entertainment of fondness, joy, wonder, and amo∣rous fancy: It was her hand that made the fruit beauteous to Adam; She saw it 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of it self, and so she ate; but Adam was not moved by that argument, but, The Woman gave it me, and I did eat: she gave vivacity to the Temptation, and efficacy to the argument. And the severity of the Man's understanding would have given a reasonable answer to the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of the Serpent; That was an ugly Beast, and his arguments not being of themselves convincing to a wise person, either must put on advantages of a fair insi∣nuation and representment, or they are returned with scorn: But when the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 hands of his young Virgin. Mistriss became the Orators, the Temptation was an amo∣revolezza,* 1.250 he kisses the presenter, and hugs the ruine. Here therefore it is our safest course, to make a retrenchment of all those excrescences of Affections which, like wild and irregular Suckers, draw away nourishment from the Trunk, making it as sterile as it self is unprofitable. As we must restrain the inclinations of Nature, so also of So∣ciety and Relation, when they become inconvenient, and let nothing of our Family be so adopted or naturalized into our affections, as to create within us a new concupi∣scence, and a second time spoil our nature: What God intended to us for a Help, let not our fondnesses convert into a Snare; and he that is not ready to deny the importu∣nities and to reject the interests of a Wife or Child or Friend, when the question is for God, deserves to miss the comforts of a good, and to feel the troubles of an imperious woman.

6. Thirdly, We also have Ends and designs of our own, some great purpose upon which the greatest part of our life turns; it may be we are to raise a Family, to reco∣ver a sunk Estate, or else Ambition, Honour, or a great Imployment is the great hindge of all our greater actions; and some men are apt to make haste to be rich, or are to pass through a great many difficulties to be honourable: and here the Devil will swell the hopes, and obstruct the passages; he will heighten the desire, and multiply the business of access, making the concupiscence more impatient, and yet the way to the purchase of our purposes so full of imployment and variety, that both the impla∣cable desire and the multitude of changes and transactions may increase the danger, and multiply the sin. When the Enemy hath observed our Ends, he makes his Temptati∣ons to reflect from that angle which is direct upon them, provoking to malice and im∣patience against whomsoever we find standing in our way, whether willingly or by ac∣cident; then follow naturally all those sins which are instrumental to removing the impediments, to facilitating the passage, to endearing our friends, to procuring more confidents, to securing our hopes, and entring upon possession. Simon Magus had a desire to be accounted some great one; and by that purpose he was tempted to Sorcery and Divination; and with a new object he brought a new sin into the world, adding Simony to his Sorcery, and taught posterity that crime, which till then had neither name nor being. And those Ecclesiasticks who violently affect rich or pompous Prela∣cies, pollute themselves with worldly Arts, growing covetous as Syrian Merchants, ambitious as the Levantine Princes, factious as the people, revengeful as 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and proud as Conquerors and Usurpers; and by this means Beasts are brought into the

Temple, and the Temple it self is exposed to sale, and the holy Rites as well as the beasts of Sacrifice are made venial. To prevent the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 inconveniencies that thrust themselves into the common and great roads of our life, the best course is to cut our great Chanel into little Rivulets, making our Ends the more, that we may be indiffe∣rent to any, proposing nothing great, that our desires may be little; for so we shall be better able to digest the troubles of an Enemy, the contradictions of an unhandsome ac∣cident, the crossing of our hopes, because our desires are even, and our ends are less considerable, and we can with much readiness divert upon another purpose, having another ready with the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 proportion to our hopes and desires as the 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Thus 〈◊〉〈◊〉 we propound to our selves an honest imployment or a quiet retirement, a work of Cha∣rity abroad or of Devotion at home, if we miss in our first setting sorth, we return to shoar, where we can 〈◊〉〈◊〉 with content, it being alike to us either to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 abroad with more gain, or trade at home with more 〈◊〉〈◊〉: But when we once grow great in our desires, fixing too earnestly upon one object, we either grow 〈◊〉〈◊〉, (as Rachel, Give me children, or I die;) or take ill courses and use 〈◊〉〈◊〉 means, (as Thamar, chusing rather to lie with her Father than to die without issue;) or else are 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in the loss and frustration of our hopes, (like the Women of Ramah, who would 〈◊〉〈◊〉 be comforted,) Let therefore our life be moderate, our desires reason∣able, our hopes little, our Ends none in eminency and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 above others: for as the rays of Light passing through* 1.251 the thin air end in a small and undiscerned Pyramis, but 〈◊〉〈◊〉 upon a wall are doubled and increase the warmth to a scorching and troublesome heat; so the desires of Man, if they pass through an even and an indifferent life towards the issues of an ordinary and necessary course, they are little and within command, but if they pass upon an end or aim of difficulty or ambiti∣on, they duplicate and grow to a 〈◊〉〈◊〉: and we have seen the even and tempe∣rate lives of indifferent persons continue in many degrees of Innocence; but the Temp∣tation of busie designs is too great even for the best of dispositions.

7. But these Temptations are crasse and material, and soon discernible; it will re∣quire some greater observation to arm against such as are more spiritual and immaterial. For he hath Apples to cousen Children, and Gold for Men; the Kingdoms of the World for the Ambition of Princes, and the Vanities of the World for the Intempe∣rate; he hath Discourses and fair-spoken Principles to abuse the pretenders to Reason, and he hath common Prejudices for the more vulgar understandings. Amongst these I chuse to consider such as are by way of Principle or Proposition.

8. The first great Principle of Temptation I shall note, is a general mistake, which excuses very many of our crimes upon pretence of Infirmity, calling all those sins to which by natural disposition we are inclined (though by carelesness and evil customs they are heightned to a habit) by the name of Sins of infirmity; to which men suppose they have reason and title to pretend. If, when they have committed a crime, their Conscience checks them, and they are troubled, and, during the interval and abate∣ment of the heats of desire, resolve against it, and commit it readily at the next oppor∣tunity; then they cry out against the weakness of their Nature, and think, as long as this body of death is about them, it must be thus, and that this condition may stand with the state of Grace: And then the Sins shall return periodically, like the revoluti∣ons of a Quartan Ague, well and ill for ever, till Death surprizes the mistaker. This is a Patron of sins, and makes the Temptation prevalent by an authentick instrument: and they pretend the words of S. Paul, For the good that I would, that I do not; but the evil* 1.252 that I would not, that I do. For there is a law in my members 〈◊〉〈◊〉 against the law of my mind, bringing me into captivity to the law of Sin. And thus the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of Sin is mistaken for a state of Grace, and the imperfections of the Law are miscalled the affections and necessities of Nature, that they might seem to be incurable, and the persons apt for an excuse therefore, because for Nature there is no absolute cure. But that these words of S. Paul may not become a 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of death and instruments of a temptation to us, it is observable, that the Apostle by a siction of person (as is usual * 1.253 with him) speaks of himself not as in the state of Regeneration under the Gospel, but under the 〈◊〉〈◊〉,* 1.254* 1.255 obscurities, insufficiencies and imperfections of the Law, which indeed he there con∣tends to have been a Rule good and holy, apt to remonstrate our misery, because by its prohibitions, and limits given to natural desires, it made actions (before indiffe∣rent) now to be sins, it added many curses to the breakers of it, and by an 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of contrariety it made us more desirous of what was now unlawful: but it was a Cove∣nant in which our Nature was restrained, but not helped; it was provoked, but not

sweetly assisted; our Understandings were instructed, but our Wills not sanctified, and there were no suppletories of Repentance; every greater sin was like the fall of an Angel, irreparable by any mystery, or express recorded or enjoyned. Now of a man under this Govenant he describes the condition to be such, that he understands his Du∣ty, but by the infirmities of Nature he is certain to fall, and by the helps of the Law not strengthened against it, nor restored after it; and therefore he calls himself under that notion a miserable man sold under sin, not doing according to the rules of the Law or the dictates of his Reason, but by the unaltered misery of his Nature certain to pre∣varicate. But the person described here is not S. Paul, is not any justified person, not so much as a Christian, but one who is under a state of direct opposition to the state of Grace; as will manifestly appear if we observe the antithesis from S. Paul's own cha∣racters. For the Man here named is such, as in whom sin wrought all concupiscence, in* 1.256 whom sin lived, and slew him, (so that he was dead in trespasses and sins;) and although* 1.257 he did delight in the Law after his inwardman, that is, his understanding had intellectu∣al complacencies and satisfactions, which afterwards he calls serving the Law of God* 1.258 with his mind, (that is, in the first dispositions and preparations of his spirit) yet he could act nothing; for the law in his members did inslave him, and brought him into cap∣tivity* 1.259 to the law of sin: so that this person was full of actual and effective lusts, he was a slave to sin and dead in trespasses: But the state of a regenerate person is such, as to have 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the flesh with the affections and lusts; in whom sin did not reign, not only in* 1.260* 1.261 the mind, but even also not in the mortal body; over whom sin had no dominion; in whom the old man was crucified, and the body of sin was destroyed, and sin not at all served. And to make the antithesis yet clearer, in the very beginning of the next Chapter the Apostle saith, that the spirit of life in Christ Jesus had made him free from the law of sin* 1.262 and death; under which law he complained immediately before, he was sold and killed, to shew the person was not the same in these so different and contradictory represent∣ments. No man in the state of Grace can say, The evil that I would not, that I do: if by evil he means any evil that is habitual, or in its own nature deadly.

9. So that now let no man pretend an inevitable necessity to sin: for if ever it comes to a custom or to a great violation, though but in a single act, it is a condition of Car∣nality, not of spiritual life; and those are not the infirmities of Nature, but the weak∣nesses of Grace, that make us sin so frequently; which the Apostle truly affirms to the same purpose, The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these* 1.263 are contrary the one to the other: so that [ye cannot] or [that ye * 1.264 do not do] the things that ye would. This disability proceeds from the strength of the flesh, and weakness of the spirit: For he adds, But if ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the Law: saying plainly, that the state of such a combate, and disability of doing good, is a state of a man under the Law, or in the flesh, which he accounts all one; but every man that is sanctified under the Gospel is led by the Spirit, and walks in the Spirit, and brings forth the fruits of the Spirit. It is not our excuse, but the aggravation of our sin, that we fall again in despite of so many resolutions to the contrary. And let us not flatter our selves into a confidence of sin, by supposing the state of Grace can stand with the Cu∣stom of any sin: for it is the state either of an animalis homo, (as the Apostle calls him) that is, a man in pure naturals, without the clarity of divine Revelations, who cannot* 1.265 perceive or understand the things of God; or else of the carnal man, that is, a person, who though in his mind he is convinced, yet he is not yet freed from the dominion of sin, but only hath his eyes opened, but not his bonds loosed. For by the perpetual analogy and frequent expresses in Scripture, the spiritual person, or the man redeemed by the spi∣rit of life in Christ Jesus, is free from the Law, and the Dominion, and the Kingdom, and the Power of all sin. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is* 1.266 life and peace.

10. But sins of Infirmity in true sence of Scripture signifie nothing but the sins of an unholy and an unsanctified nature, when they are taken for actions done against the strength of resolution out of the strength of natural appetite and violence of desire: and therefore in Scripture the state of Sin and the state of Infirmity is all one. For when we* 1.267 were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly, (saith the Apostle:) * 1.268 the condition in which we were when Christ became a sacrifice for us was certainly a condition of sin and enmity with God, and yet this he calls a being without strength, or in a state of weakness and infirmity; which we, who believe all our strength to be de∣rived from Christ's death, and the assistance of the holy Spirit, the fruit of his Ascensi∣on, may soon apprehend to be the true meaning of the word. And in this sence is that saying of our Blessed Saviour, The whole have no need of a Physician, but they that are

weak: for therefore Christ came into the world to save sinners, those are the persons of Christ's Infirmary, whose restitution and reduction to a state of life and health was his great design. So that whoever sin habitually, that is, constantly, periodically, at* 1.269 the revolution of a temptation, or frequently, or easily, are persons who still remain in the state of sin and death; and their intervals of Piety are but preparations to a state of Grace, which they may then be when they are not used to countenance or excuse the sin, or to flatter the person. But if the intermediate resolutions of emendation (though they never run beyond the next assault of passion or desire) be taken for a state of Grace blended with infirmities of Nature, they become destructive of all those purposes, through our mistake, which they might have promoted if they had been rightly under∣stood, observed and cherished. Sometimes indeed the greatness of a Temptation may become an instrument to excuse some degrees of the sin, and make the man pitiable, whose ruine seems almost certain, because of the greatness and violence of the enemy, meeting with a natural aptness: but then the question will be, whither and to what actions that strong Temptation carries him; whether to a work of a mortal nature, or only to a small irregularity, that is, whether to death, or to a wound: for what∣ever the principle be, if the effect be death, the man's case was therefore to be pitied, because his ruine was the more inevitable; not so pitied, as to excuse him from the state of death. For let the Temptation be never so strong, every Christian man hath assistances sufficient to support him, so as that, without his own yielding, no Tempta∣tion is stronger than that grace which God offers him; for if it were, it were not so much as a sin of infirmity, it were no sin at all. This therefore must be certain to us; When the violence of our Passions or desires overcomes our resolutions and fairer purpo∣ses, against the dictate of our Reason, that indeed is a state of Infirmity, but it is also of sin and death, a state of Immortification; because the offices of Grace are to crucifie the Old man, that is, our former aud impurer conversation, to subdue the petulancy of our Passions, to reduce them to reason, and to restore Empire and dominion to the superiour Faculties. So that this condition in proper speaking is not so good as the In∣firmity of Grace, but it is no Grace at all: for whoever are Christ's, have crucified the* 1.270 flesh with the affections and lusts: those other imperfect, ineffective resolutions are but the first approaches of the Kingdom of Christ, nothing but the clarities of lightning, dark as 〈◊〉〈◊〉 as light; and they therefore cannot be excuses to us, because the contrary weaknesses (as we call them) do not make the sin involuntary, but chosen and pur∣sued, and in true speaking is the strength of the Lust, not the infirmity of a state of Grace.

11. But yet there is a condition of Grace which is a state of little and imperfect ones, such as are called in Scripture Smoaking flax and bruised reeds; which is a state of the first dawning of the Sun of Righteousness, when the lights of Grace new rise upon our eyes; and then indeed they are weak, and have a more dangerous neighbourhood of* 1.271 Temptations and desires, but they are not subdued by them: they sin not by direct election; their actions criminal are but like the slime of Nilus, leaving rats half form∣ed; they sin but seldom, and when they do, it is in small instances, and then also by surprise, by inadvertency, and then also they interrupt their own acts, and lessen them perpetually; and never do an act of sinfulness, but the principle is such as makes it to be involuntary in many degrees. For when the Understanding is clear, and the dictate of Reason undisturbed and determinate, whatsoever then produces an irregular action excuses not, because the action is not made the less voluntary by it; for the action is not made involuntary from any other principle but from some defect of Understanding, either in act, or habit, or faculty. For where there is no such defect, there is a full de∣liberation according to the capacity of the man, and then the act of election that follows is clear and full, and is that proper disposition which makes him truly capable of pu∣nishment or reward respectively. Now although in the first beginnings of Grace there is not a direct Ignorance to excuse totally; yet because a sudden surprise or an inadver∣tency is not always in our power to prevent, these things do lessen the election and free∣dom of the action: and then because they are but seldom, and never proceed to any length of time, or any great instances of crime, and are every day made still more in∣frequent, because Grace growing stronger, the observation and advertency of the spi∣rit and the attendance of the inner man grows more effectual and busie; this is a state of the imperfection of Grace, but a state of Grace it is. And it is more commonly obser∣ved to be expressed in the imperfection of our good actions, than in the irregularity of bad actions: and in this sence are those words of our Blessed Saviour, The Spirit 〈◊〉〈◊〉 is willing, but the flesh is weak; which in this instance was not expressed in sin, but in a

natural imperfection, which then was a recession from a civility, a not watching with the Lord. And this is the only Infirmity that can consist with the state of Grace.

12. So that now we may lay what load we please upon our Nature, and call our vio∣lent and unmortified desires by the name of an imperfect Grace; but then we are dan∣gerously mistaken, and flatter our selves into an opinion of Piety, when we are in the gall of bitterness; so making our misery the more certain and irremediable, because we think it needs nothing but a perpetuity and perseverance to bring us to Heaven. The violence of Passion and Desires is a misery of Nature, but a perfect principle of Sin; multiplying and repeating the acts, but not lessening the malignity: But sins of Infir∣mity, when we mean sins of a less and lower malice, are sins of a less and imperfect choice, because of the unavoidable imperfection of the Understanding. Sins of Infir∣mity are always infirm sins, that is, weak and imperfect in their principle, and in their nature, and in their design; that is, they are actions incomplete in all their capa∣cities: but then Passions and periodical inclinations consisting with a regular and de∣termined and actual understanding must never be their principle; for whatsoever pro∣ceeds thence is destructive of spiritual life, and inconsistent with the state of Grace. But sins of infirmity, when they pretend to a less degree of malignity and a greater de∣gree of excuse, are such as are little more than sins of pure and inculpable ignorance; for in that degree in which any other principle is mixt with them, in the same degree they are criminal and inexcusable. For as a sin of infirmity is pretended to be little in its value and malignity: so it is certain, if it be great in the instance, it is not a sin of infirmity, that is, it is a state or act of death, and absolutely inconsistent with the state of Grace.

13. Secondly, Another Principle of Temptation pregnant with sin, and fruitful of monsters, is a weaker pretence which less wary and credulous persons abuse them∣selves withall, pretending as a ground for their confidence and incorrigible pursuance of their courses, that they have a Good meaning, that they intend sometimes well, and sometimes not ill, and this shall be sufficient to sanctifie their actions, and to hal∣low their sin. And this is of worse malice, when Religion is the colour for a War, and the preservation of Faith made the warrant for destruction of Charity, and a Zeal for God made the false light to lead us to Disobedience to Man, and hatred of Idolatry is the usher of Sacriledge, and the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of Superstition the introducer of Profane∣ness, and Reformation made the colour for a Schism, and Liberty of conscience the way to a 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and saucy Heresie: for the End may indeed hallow an indifferent action, but can never make straight a crooked and irregular. It was not enough for Saul to cry for God and the Sacrifice, that he spared the fat flocks of Amalek: and it would be a strange zeal and forwardness, that rather than the Altar of incense should not smoak, will burn Assa foetida, or the marrow of a man's bones. For as God will be honoured* 1.272 by us, so also in ways of his own appointment: for we are the makers of our Religion, if we in our zeal for God do what he hath forbidden us. And every sin committed for* 1.273 Religion is just such a violence done to it as it seeks to prevent or remedy.

14. And so it is if it be committed for an end or pretence of Charity as well as of Re∣ligion. We must be curious that no pretence engage us upon an action that is certainly criminal in its own nature. Charity may sometimes require our Lives, but no obli∣gation can endear a Damnation to us; we are not bound to the choice of an eternal ruine, to save another. Indeed so far as an Option will go, it may concern the ex∣crescences of Piety to chuse by a tacite or express act of volition to become Anathema for* 1.274 our brethren, that is, by putting a case and fiction of Law, to suppose it better, and wish it rather, that I should perish than my Nation. Thus far is charitable, because it is innocent; for as it is great love to our Countrey, so it is no uncharitableness to our selves: for such Options always are ineffective, and produce nothing but rewards of Charity, and a greater glory. And the Holy Jesus himself, who only could be and was effectively accursed to save us, got by it an exceeding and mighty glorification; and S. Paul did himself advantage by his charitable Devotion for his Countreymen. But since God never puts the question to us, so that either we or our Nation must be damned, he having xt every man's final condition upon his own actions in the vertue and obedience of Christ, if we mistake the expresses of Charity, and suffer our selves to be damned indeed for God's glory or our Brethrens good, we spoil the Duty, and ruine our selves when our Option comes to act. But it is observable, that although Religion is often pretended to justifie a sin, yet Charity is but seldom; which makes it full of suspicion, that Religion is but the cover to the Death's-head, and at the best is

but an accusing of God, that he is not willing or not able to preserve Religion without our irregular and impious cooperations. But however, though it might concern us to wish our selves rather 〈◊〉〈◊〉 than Religion, or our Prince, or our Country should perish, (for I find no instances that it is lawful so much as to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 it for the preservati∣on of a single friend;) yet it is against Charity to bring such a 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and by sin to damn our selves really for a good end either 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Religion or Charity.

15. Let us therefore serve God as he hath 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the way; for all our accesses to him, being acts of his free concession and grace, must be by his 〈◊〉〈◊〉 designation and appointment. We might as well have chosen what shape our 〈◊〉〈◊〉 should be of, as of what instances the substance of our Religion should consist.

16. Thirdly, a third Principle of Temptation is, an opinion of prosecuting actions of Civility, Compliance and Society, to the luxation of a point of Piety and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Duty: and good natures, persons of humane and sweeter dispositions, are too apt to dash upon this rock of offence. But the evil that I would note is, that there are some conditions of men to whom a Vice is so accustomed, that he that 〈◊〉〈◊〉 with them must handle the crime and touch the venome. There are some Vices which are Nati∣onal, there are some that are points of Honour, some are Civilities of entertainment; and they are therefore accounted unavoidable, because the understandings of men are degenerous as their manners, and it is accounted sottish and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 not to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in their accustomed loosenesses. Amongst some men all their first addresses are 〈◊〉〈◊〉, their entertainments intemperate beyond the permissions of Christian au∣sterity; their drink is humorous, and their humours quarrellous, and it is dishonou∣rable not to engage in Duel, and venture your Soul to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 an empty Reputation. These inconveniences 〈◊〉〈◊〉 upon false opinions and vain fancies, having no greater foun∣dation than the sottish discourses of ignorant and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 persons; and they have no peculiar and appropriate remedy, but a 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 of manners, and a considerati∣on what is required of us as Christians to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 against 〈◊〉〈◊〉 fonder customs and ex∣pectations from us, as we engage in the puddles of the world and are blended in so∣ciety.

17. To which purposes we must be careful not to engage too freely in looser compa∣ny, never without business or unavoidable accidents; and when we mingle in affairs, it will concern our safety to watch, lest multitude of talk, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of na∣ture, the delight of company, and the freedom and ill-〈◊〉〈◊〉 civilities do by degrees draw us away from our guards and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of spirit. For in these cases every degree of dissolution disarms us of our strengths; and if we give way 〈◊〉〈◊〉 far as we think it tole∣rable, we instantly and undiscernibly pass into unlawful and criminal. But our best defences are deposited in a severe and prudent understanding, and discerning the sot∣tishness of such principles which represent Vice in civil 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and propound a crime to you under the cover of kindness; which is just so much recompence as it is satisfa∣ction to a condemned person that he was accused by a witty Oratour, and sentenced by an eloquent Judge. Remember always, that the friendships of the world are enmity with God; and that those Societies which are combined by relations of drink, and wanton∣ness, and impertinency, and crimes, are either inconsiderable in civility, or reason, or reputation; no wise man is moved by their testimony or discourses; and they are so impotent, rude and undiscerning a theatre, that most commonly he is the best man who from thence is the worst reported and represented.

18. But in all the instances of this great evil, the very stating the question right is above half the victory. For it is a question between mistaken Civility and certain Duty; Piety on one side, and the disguises of Humanity on the other. God and Man are the parties interested: and to counterpoise the influence of the sight and face of Man, (which being in a visible communication, it is not in some natures to neglect or contradict) there are all the Excellencies of God, the effects of his Power, his certain Pre∣sence and Omniscience, the severities of his Judgment, and the sweetness and invitati∣on of his Mercies; besides the prudence, wisdom and satisfaction to the spirit when we wisely neglect such sottish and low abuses and temptations, to conform to the rules of Reason and Duty in compliance with the purposes of God and our own 〈◊〉〈◊〉.

19. Thirdly, These ill-managed Principles are dangers as universal as an infected air; yet there are some diseases more proper to the particular state of Religion. First, To young beginners in Religion he represents the Difficulties of Religion, and pro∣pounds the greater Examples of holy persons, and affrights them with those mountains of Piety, observing where and upon what instance of Severity his fancy will be most apprehensive and 〈◊〉〈◊〉: and this he fails not often to represent with a purpose, that

by believing no Piety less than the greatest can be good, he may despair of those heights, and retire into the securities and indifferencies of a careless life. But this is to be cured by all those instruments of Piety which in special are incentives of the love of God, and endearments of spiritual and religious affections; and particularly by consideration of the Divine goodness, who knows whereof we are made, and remembers that we are but dust, and will require no more of us than according to our powers and present capacities.* 1.275 But the subject matter of this Temptation is considered and refuted in the Discourse of the Love of God.* 1.276

20. But most commonly young beginners are zealous and high, and not so easily tempted to a recession, till after a long time by a revolution of affections they are abated by a defervescency in holy actions. The Devil uses to prompt them on, not that he loves the Piety and the progress, but that he would engage the person in imprudences and such forwardness of expresses, which either are in their own nature indiscretions, or from which, by reason of the incapacity of the person, it is necessary for him to re∣tire. A new Convert is like a Bird newly entred into a Net, through which possibly she might pass without danger, if her fears and unreasonable strivings did not intangle her; but when by busie and disturbed slutterings she discomposes the order of it, she is intangled and unpenned, and made a prey to her treacherous enemy. Such are the un∣discreet strivings and too 〈◊〉〈◊〉 enterprises of new Penitents, whom we shall observe too often undertaking great Austerities, making Vows and casting bands upon their liberty, and snares upon their persons, thinking nothing great enough to expiate their sin, or to present to God, or to endear their services, or secure their perseverance; and therefore they lay a load of fetters upon themselves, or rather cut off their legs that they may never go back; therefore laying an obligation of Vows and intolerable burthens on themselves, that by these they may by a compendium of Piety redeem the time, and by those make it impossible to prevaricate. But the observation of the sad events and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 accidents of these men hath given probation of the indiscretion of such furious ad∣dresses and beginnings. And it was prudently done of Mcletius of Antioch, when he* 1.277 visited the Dioceses of Syria, and the several Religious persons famous for severe under∣takings; espying that Simeon Stylites dwelt upon a Pillar, and had bound his leg with a strong chain of iron, he sent for a Smith, causing it to be knocked off, and said, To 〈◊〉〈◊〉 man that loves God, his Mind is a sufficient chain. For the loads of voluntary Austerities rashly undertaken make Religion a burthen when their first heats expire; and their Vows, which are intended to secure the practice and perpetuate the Piety, are but the occasions of an aggravate crime; and the Vow does not secure the Piety, but the weariness and satiety of the Duty tempts to the breaking of the Vow, or at least makes the man impatient, when he cannot persist with content, nor retire with 〈◊〉〈◊〉.

21. It therefore concerns all Spiritual Guides, to manage their new Converts with sober counsels and moderate permissions, knowing that sublime speculations in the Me∣taphysicks are not fit entertainment for an infant-understanding. There is milk for babes, and strong meat for men of riper Piety; and it will imploy all the regular strength of young beginners to contest against the reliques of those mischiefs which remain since the expulsion of the Old man, and to master those difficulties which by the nature of the state are certainly consequent to so late mutation. And if we by the furies of Zeal and the impatience of mistaken Piety are violent and indiscreet in the destroying of our Enemies, we probably may tread the thistle down, and trample upon all its appearan∣ces, and yet leave the root in the ground with haste and imprudent forwardness. Gentle and soft counsels are the surest Enemies to your Vice, and the best conservators and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of a vertuous state: but a hasty charge and the conduct of a young Lead∣er may engage an early spirit in dangers and dishonours. And this Temptation is of so much greater danger, because it 〈◊〉〈◊〉 a face of Zeal, and meets with all encourage∣ments from without; every man being apt to cherish a Convert, and to enflame his new 〈◊〉〈◊〉: but few consider 〈◊〉〈◊〉 inconveniences that are consequent to indiscreet begin∣nings, and the worse events usually appendent to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 inconveniences.

22. Indeed it is not usual that Prudence and a new-kindled Zeal meet in the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 person: but it will therefore concern the safety of new Converts, who cannot guide themselves, to give themselves up to the conduct of an experienced Spiritual person, who being disinterest in those heats of the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 apprehensions, and being long taught by the observation of the accidents of a spiritual life upon what rocks Rashness and Zeal usually do engage us, can best tell what degrees and what instances of Religion they may with most safety undertake: but for the general, it is best in the addresses of Grace

to follow the course of Nature; let there be an Infancy, and a Childhood, and a vigo∣rous Youth, and by the divers and distant degrees of increment let the persons be esta∣blished in Wisdom and Grace. But above all things let them be careful that they do not lay upon themselves Necessities of any lasting course, no Vows of perpetuity in any in∣stance of uncommanded action or degree of Religion: for he may alter in his capacity and exteriour condition; he may see by experience, that the particular engagement is imprudent; he may by the virtue of Obedience be engaged on a duty inconsistent with the conveniences and advantages of the other; and his very loss of liberty in an un∣commanded instance may tempt him to inconvenience. But then, for the single and transient actions of Piety, although in them the danger is less, even though the im∣prudence be great, yet it were well if new beginners in Religion would attempt a mo∣derate and an even Piety, rather than actions of eminency, lest they retire with shame, and be 〈◊〉〈◊〉 with scruple, when their first heats are spent, and expire in weariness and temptation. It is good to keep within the circuits of a man's affections, not stretching out all the degrees of fancy and desire, but leaving the appetites of Religion rather unsatisfied, and still desiring more, than by stretching out the whole faculty leave no desires but what are fulfilled and wearied.

23. Thirdly, I shall not need here to observe such Temptations which are direct in∣vitations to sin, upon occasion of the Piety of holy persons; such as are Security, too much Confidence, Pride and Vanity: these are part of every man's danger, and are to be considered upon their several arguments. Here I was only to note the general in∣struments of mischief. It remains now that I speak of such Remedies and general An∣tidotes, not which are proportioned to Sins in special, but such as are preventions or remedies and good advices in general.

24. First, Let every man abstain from all Occasions of sin as much as his condition will permit. And it were better to do some violence to our secular affairs, than to pro∣cure apparent or probable danger to our Souls. For if we see not a way open and rea∣dy prepared to our iniquity, our desires oftentimes are not willing to be troubled, but Opportunity gives life and activeness to our appetites. If David had not from his tow∣ers beheld the private beauties of Bathsheba, Uriah had lived, and his Wife been unat∣tempted; but sin was brought to him by that chance, and entring at the casements of his eyes set his heart on fire, and despoiled him of his robes of honour and innocence. The riches of the wedge of gold and the beauty of the Babylonish garment made Achan sa∣crilegious upon the place, who was innocent enough in his preceding purposes: and therefore that Soul that makes it self an object to sin, and invites an Enemy to view its possessions and live in the vicinage, loves the sin it self; and he that is pleased with the danger, would willingly be betrayed into the necessity and the pleasure of the sin: for he can have no other ends to entertain the hazards, but that he hath a farther purpose to serve upon them; he loves the pleasure of the sin, and therefore he would make the condition of sinning certain and unavoidable. And therefore Holy Scripture, which is admirable and curious in the cautions and securities of Vertue, does not determine its Precepts in the precise commands of vertuous actions, but also binds up our senses, obstructs the passage of Temptation, blocks up all the ways and avenues of Vice, com∣manding us to make a covenant with our eyes; not to look upon a Maid; not to sit with a wo∣man that is a singer; not to consider the wine when it sparkles, and gives its colour rightly in the cup; but to set a watch before our mouths, to keep the door of our lips, and many more instances to this purpose, that sin may not come so near as to be repulsed; as knowing sin hath then prevailed too far, when we give the denial to its solicitations.

25. We read a Story of a vertuous Lady, that desired of S. Athanasius to procure for her, out of the number of the Widows fed from the Ecclesiastical Corban, an old wo∣man, morose, peevish and impatient, that she might by the society of so ungentle a person have often occasion to exercise her Patience, her Forgiveness and Charity. I know not how well the counsel succeeded with her; I am sure it was not very safe: and to invite the trouble to triumph over it, is to wage a war of an uncertain issue for no end but to get the pleasures of the victory, which oftentimes do not pay for the trouble, never for the danger. An Egyptian, who acknowledged Fire for his God, one day doing his devotions kissed his God after the manner of Worshippers, and burnt his lips. It was not in the power of that false and imaginary Deity to cure the real hurt he had done to his devoutest worshipper. Just such a fool is he that kisses a danger, though with a design of vertue, and hugs an opportunity of sin for an advantage of Pie∣ty; he burns himself in the neighbourhood of the flame, and twenty to one but he may perish in its embraces: And he that looks out a danger that he may overcome it,

does as did the Persian, who 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the Sun, looked upon him when he prayed him to cure his sore eyes. The Sun may as well cure a weak eye, or a great burthen knit a broken arm, as a danger can do him advantage that seeks such a combate which may ruine him, and after which he rarely may have this reward, that it may be said of him, he had the good 〈◊〉〈◊〉 not to perish in his folly. It is easier to prevent a mis∣chief than to cure it; and besides the pain of the wound, it is infinitely more full of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to cure a broken leg, which a little care and observation would have preserved whole. To recover from a sin is none of the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 labours that concern the sons of men; and therefore it concerns them rather not to enter into such a narrow strait, from which they can never draw back their head, without leaving their hair and skin and their ears behind. If God please to try us, he means us no hurt, and he does it with great reason and great mercy; but if we go to try our selves, we may mean well, but not wisely: For as it is simply unlawful for weak persons to seek a Temptation, so for the more perfect it is dangerous. We have ene∣mies* 1.278 enough without, and one of our own within: but we become our own tempter, when we run out to meet the World or invite the Devil home, that we may throw holy water upon his flames, and call the danger nearer, that we may run from it. And cer∣tainly* 1.279 men are more guilty of many of their temptations than the Devil, through their* 1.280 incuriousness or 〈◊〉〈◊〉 doing as much mischief to themselves as he can: For he can but offer; and so much we do when we run into danger. Such were those Stories of S. Antony provoking the Devil to battel: If the Stories had been as true as the actions were rash & ridiculous, the Story had 〈◊〉〈◊〉 a note of indiscretion upon that good man; though now I think there is nothing but a mark of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 on the Writer.

26. Secondly, Possibly without 〈◊〉〈◊〉 we may be engaged in a 〈◊〉〈◊〉, but then we must be diligent to resist the first Beginnings: For when our strength is yet intire and unabated, if we suffer our selves to be overcome, and consent to its 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and weakest attempts, how shall we be able to resist when it hath tired our contestati∣on, and wearied our patience, when we are weaker and prevailed upon, and the Temptation is stronger and triumphant in many degrees of victory? By how much a Hectick Feaver is harder to be cured than a Tertian, or a Consumption of the Lungs than a little Distillation of Rheum upon the throat; by so much is it harder to prevail upon a 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Lust than upon its first insinuations. But the ways of resisting are of a different consideration, proportionably to the nature of the crimes.

27. First, If the Temptation be to crimes of Pleasure and Sensuality, let the resist∣ance* 1.281 be by flight: For in case of Lust, even to consider the arguments against it is half as great Temptation as to press the arguments for it: For all considerations of such al∣lurements make the Soul perceive something of its relish, and entertain the fancy. Even the pulling pitch from our cloaths defiles the fingers; and some adherences of pleasant and carnal sins will be remanent even from those considerations which stay within the circuit of the flames, though but with purpose to quench the fire and pre∣serve the house. Chastity cannot suffer the least thought of the reproaches of the spirit of impurity: and it is necessary to all that will keep their purity and innocence against sensual Temptations, to avoid every thing that may prejudice decorum. Libanius 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Sophister reports, that a Painter being one day desirous to paint Apollo upon a Laurel∣board, the colours would not stick, but were rejected: out of which his fancy found* 1.282 out this extraction; That the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Daphne (concerning whom the Poets feign that, flying from Apollo, who attempted to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 her, she was turned into a Laurel-tree) could not endure him even in painting, and rejected him after the loss of her sensitive powers. And indeed chaste Souls do even to death resent the least image and offer of impurity: whatsoever is like a sin of uncleanness, he that means to preserve himself chaste must avoid, as he would avoid the sin; in this case there being no difference but of degrees between the inward Temptation and the Crime.

28. Secondly, If the Temptation be to crimes of troublesome and preternatural de∣sires or intellectual nature, let the resistance be made 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉, by a perfect fight, by the amassing of such arguments in general and remedies in particular which are apt to become deleteries to the Sin, and to abate the Temptation. But in both these in∣stances the resistance must at 〈◊〉〈◊〉 be as soon as the attempt is, lest the violence of the Temptation out-run our powers: for if against our full strength it hath prevailed to the first degrees, its progress to a complete victory is not so improbable as were its successes at the first beginnings. But to serve this and all other ends in the resisting and sub∣duing

a Temptation, these following Considerations have the best and most universal influence.

29. First, Consideration of the Presence of God, who is witness of all our actions, and a revenger of all Impiety. This is so great an instrument of fear and Religion, that whoever does actually consider God to be present, and considers what the first conside∣ration signifies, either must be restrained from the present Temptation, or must have thrown off all the possibilities and aptnesses for Vertue; such as are Modesty, and Re∣verence, and holy Fear. For if the face of a Man scatters all base machinations, and we dare not act our crimes in the Theatre, unless we be impudent as well as criminal; much more does the sense of a present Deity fill the places of our heart with veneration and the awe of Religion, when it is throughly apprehended and actually considered. We see not God, he is not in our thoughts, when we run into darkness to act our impu∣rities. For we dare not commit Adultery if a Boy be present; behold the Boy is sent off with an excuse, and God abides there, but yet we commit the crime: it is because, as Jacob said at Bethel, God was in that place, and we knew not of it; and yet we neither breath nor move an artery but in him and by his assistance; (a 1.283) In him we live, and move, and have our being. And, (b 1.284) All things are naked and open in his sight. (c 1.285) The iniquity of my people is very great; for they say, The Lord seeth not. (d 1.286) Shall not he that made the eye see? (e 1.287) To him the night and day are both alike. These and many more to the same design are the voices of Scripture, that our spirits may retire into the behold∣ing of God, to the purposes of fear and holiness, with whom we do cohabit by the ne∣cessities of nature, and the condition of our essence wholly in dependence; and then on∣ly we may sin securely, when we can contrive to do it so that God may not see us.

30. There are many men who are servants of the eyes, as the Apostle's phrase is, who* 1.288 * 1.289 when they are looked on act vertue with much pompousness and theatrical bravery; but these men when the Theatre is empty, put off their upper garment, and retire into their primitive baseness. Diogenes* 1.290 endured the extremity of winter's cold, that the people might wonder at his austerity and philosophical patience: but Plato seeing the people admiring the man, and pitying the susse∣rance,* 1.291 told them, that the way to make him warm himself* 1.292 was for them to be gone and to take no notice of him. For they that walk as in the sight of men, serve that design well enough when they fill the publick voice with noises and opi∣nions, and are not by their purposes engaged to act in private; but they who are ser∣vants of the eyes of God, and walk as in the Divine presence, perceive the same re∣straints in darkness, and closets, and grots, as in the light and midst of theatres; and that consideration imposes upon us a happy necessity of doing vertuously, which pre∣sents us placed in the eyes of our Judge. And therefore it was not unhandsomely said of a Jewish Doctor, If every man would consider God to be the great Eye of the World watching perpetually over all our actions, and that his Hand is indefatigable, and his Ear ever open, possibly sin might be extirpated from off the face of the earth. And this is the condition of Beatitude; and the blessed Souls within their regions of light and felicity cannot sin, because of the Vision beatifical, they always behold the face of God: and those who partake of this state by way of consideration, which is essential to the condition of the Blessed, and derive it into practice and discourse, in proportion to this shall retain an innocence and a part of glo∣ry.

31. For it is a great declension of humane Reason, and a disreputation to our spirits, that we are so wholly led by Sense, that we will not walk in the regions of the Spirit, and behold God by our eyes of Faith and Discourse, suffering our course of life to be gui∣ded by such principles which distinguish our natures from Beasts, and our conditions from vicious, and our spirits from the World, and our hopes from the common satis∣factions of Sense and corruption. The better half of our Nature is of the same constitu∣tion with that of Angels; and therefore although we are drenched in Matter and the communications of Earth, yet our better part was designed to converse with God: and we had, besides the eye of Reason, another eye of Faith put into our Souls, and both clarified with revelations and demonstrations of the Spirit, expressing to us so visible and clear characters of God's presence, that the expression of the same Spirit is, We may feel* 1.293 him, for he is within us, and about us, and we are in him, and in the comprehensions of his embracings, as birds in the* 1.294 Air, or Infants in the wombs of their pregnant Mothers.

And that God is pleased not to communicate himself to the eyes of our Body, but still to remain invisible, besides that it is his own glory and perfection, it is also no more to us but like a retreat behind a curtain, where when we know our Judge stands as an Espial and a watch over our actions, we shall be sottish if we dare to provoke his jealousie, because we see him not, when we know that he is close by, though behind the cloud.

32. There are some general impressions upon our spirits, which by way of presum∣ption and custom possess our perswasions, and make restraint upon us to excellent pur∣poses; such as are the Religion of Holy places, reverence of our Parents, presence of an austere, an honourable, or a ver∣tuous* 1.295 person. For many sins are prevented by the company of a witness, especially if besides the ties of modesty we have also towards him an indearment of * 1.296 reverence and fair opi∣nion; and if he were with us in our privacies, he would cause our retirements to be more holy. S. Ambrose reports of the Virgin Mary, that she had so much Piety and Religion in her Countenance and deportment, that divers persons, moved by the veneration and regard of her Person, in her pre∣sence have 〈◊〉〈◊〉 commenced their resolutions of Chastity and sober living. However the story be, her person certainly was of so express and great Devotion and Sanctity, that he must needs have been of a very impudent disposition and firm immodesty who durst have spoken unhandsome language in the presence of so rare a person. And why then any rudeness in the presence of God, if that were as certainly believed and considered? For whatsoever amongst men can be a restraint of Vice or an endearment of Vertue, all this is highly verisied in the presence of God, to whom our Conscience in its very con∣cealments is as a fair Table written in capital letters by his own finger; and then if we fail of the advantage of this exercise, it must proceed either from our dishonourable opinion of God, or our own fearless inadvertency, or from a direct spirit of reprobation: for it is certain, that this consi∣deration* 1.297 is in its own nature apt to correct our manners, to produce the fear of God, and Humility, and spiritual and holy thoughts, and the knowledge of God and of our selves, and the consequents of all these, holy walking, and holy com∣forts. And by this only argument S. Paphnutius and S. Ephrem are reported in Church∣story to have converted two Harlots from a course of Dissolution to great Sanctity and Austerity.

33. But then this Presence of God must not be a mere speculation of the Understand∣ing; though so only it is of very great benefit and immediate efficacy, yet it must re∣flect as well from the Will as from discourse: and then only we walk in the presence of God, when by Faith we behold him present, when we speak to him in frequent and holy Prayers, when we beg aid from him in all our needs, and ask counsel of him in all our doubts, and before him bewail our sins, and tremble at his presence. This is an entire exercise of Religion. And beside that the Presence of God serves to all this, it hath also especial influence in the disimprovement of Temptations, because it hath in it many things contrariant to the nature and efficacy of Temptations; such as are Consideration, Reverence, Spiritual thoughts, and the Fear of God: for where-ever this consideration is actual, there either God is highly despised, or certainly feared. In this case we are made to declare; for our purposes are concealed only in an incuri∣ousness and inconsideration; but whoever considers God as present, will in all reason be as religious as in a Temple, the Reverence of which place Custom or Religion hath imprinted in the spirits of most men: so that as Ahasuerus said of Haman, Will he ravish the Queen in my own house? aggravating the crime by the incivility of the circum∣stance; God may well say to us, whose Religion compells us to believe God every∣where present; since the Divine Presence hath made all places holy, and every place hath a Numen in it, even the Eternal God, we unhallow the place, and desecrate the ground whereon we stand, supported by the arm of God, placed in his heart, and en∣lightned by his eye, when we sin in so sacred a Presence.

34. The second great instrument against Temptation is Meditation of Death. Rade∣rus* 1.298 reports, that a certain Virgin, to restrain the inordination of intemperate desires, which were like thorns in her flesh, and disturbed her spiritual peace, shut her self up in a Sepulchre, and for twelve years dwelt in that Scene of death. It were good we did so too, making Tombs and Coffins presential to us by frequent meditation.

For God hath given us all a definitive arrest in Adam, and from it there lies no appeal, * 1.299 but it is infallibly and unalterably 〈◊〉〈◊〉 for all men once to die, or to be changed, to pass from hence to a condition of Eternity, good or bad. Now because this law is ‖ 1.300 certain, and the time and the manner of its exe∣cution is uncertain, and from this moment Eternity depends, and that after this life the final sentence is irrevocable, that all the pleasures here are sudden, transient, and unsatisfying, and vain; he must needs be a 〈◊〉〈◊〉 that knows not to distinguish moments from Eternity: and since it is a condition of necessity, established by Divine decrees, and fixt by the indispensable Laws of Nature, that we shall after a very little duration pass on to a condition strange, not understood, then unalterable, and yet of great mutation from this, even of greater distance from 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in which we are here than this is from the state of Beasts;* 1.301 this, when it is considered, must in all reason make the same impression upon our understandings and affections which na∣turally all strange things and all great considerations are apt to do, that is, create resolutions and results passing through the heart of man, such as are reasonable and prudent, in order to our own 〈◊〉〈◊〉, that we neglect the vanities of the present Temptation, and secure our future condition, which will, till Eternity it self expires, remain such as we make it to be by our deportment in this short transition and passage through the World.

35. And that this Discourse is reasonable I am therefore confirmed, because I find it to be to the same purpose used by the Spirit of God, and the wisest personages in the world. My soul is always in my hand, therefore do I keep thy Commandments, said David:* 1.302 he looked upon himself as a dying person, and that restrained all his inordinations, and* 1.303 so he prayed, Lord, teach me to number my days, that I may apply my heart unto wisdom. And therefore the AEgyptians used to serve up a Skeleton to their Feasts, that the disso∣lutions* 1.304 and vapours of wine might be restrained with that bunch of myrrh, and the va∣nities of their eyes chastised by that sad object: for they thought it unlikely a man should be transported far with any thing low or vicious that looked long and often into the hollow eye-pits of a Death's head, or dwelt in a Charnel-house: And such conside∣rations make all the importunity and violence of sensual desires to disband. For when a man stands perpetually at the door of Eternity, and, as did John the Almoner, every day is building of his Sepulchre, and every night one day of our life is gone and passed into the possession of death, it will concern us to take care that the door leading to Hell do not open upon us, that we be not crusht to ruine by the stones of our grave, and that our death become not a consignation to us to a sad Eter∣nity. For all the pleasures of the whole world, and in all its* 1.305 duration, cannot make recompence for one hour's torment in Hell: and yet if wicked persons were to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in Hell for ever without any change of posture, or variety of torment beyond that session, it were unsufferable beyond the indurance of na∣ture: and therefore where little less than infinite misery in an infinite duration shall punish the pleasures of sudden and transient crimes, the gain of pleasure and the ex∣change of banks here for a condition of eternal and miserable death is a permutation 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to be made by none but fools and desperate persons, who made no use of a reasonable Soul, but that they in their perishing might be convinced of unreasonableness, and die by their own fault.

36. The use that wise men have made when they reduced this consideration to pra∣ctice is to believe every day to be the last of their life, for so it may be, and for ought we know it will; and then think what you would avoid, or what you would do, if you were dying, or were to day to suffer death by sentence and conviction; and that in all reason; and in proportion to the strength of your consideration, you will do every day. For that is the sublimity of Wisdom, to do those things living, which are to be desired* 1.306 and chosen by dying persons. An alarm of death every day renewed, and pressed earnest∣ly, will watch a man so tame and soft, that the precepts of Religion will dwell deep in his spirit. But they that make a covenant with the grave, and put the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 day far 〈◊〉〈◊〉 them, they are the men that eat spiders and toads for meat greedily, and a Temptation to them is as welcome as joy, and they seldom dispute the point in behalf of Piety or Mortification: for they that look upon Death at distance apprehend it not, but in such general lines and great representments that describe it only as future and possible, but

nothing of its terrors or 〈◊〉〈◊〉 or circumstances of advantage are discernible by such an eye that disturbs its 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and discomposes the posture, that the object may seem another thing than what it is truly and really. S. Austin with his Mother Monica was led one day by a Roman Prator to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the tomb of Caesar. Himself thus describes* 1.307 the Corps.

It looked of a blew mould, the bone of the nose laid bare, the flesh of the neather lip quite fallen off, his mouth full of worms, and in his eye-pits two hungry Toads feasting upon the remanent portion of flesh and moisture; and so he dwelt in his house of darkness.

And if every person tempted by an opportunity of Lust or in∣temperance would chuse such a room for his privacy, that company for his witness, that object to allay his appetite, he would soon find his spirit more sober, and his de∣sires* 1.308 obedient. I end this with the counsel of S. Bernard,

Let every man in the first ad∣dress to his actions consider, whether if he were now to die he might safely and pru∣dently do such an act, and whether he would not be infinitely troubled that death should surprise him in the present dispositions, and then let him proceed accordingly.

For since our treasure is in earthen vessels, which may be broken in pieces by the colli∣sion of ten thousand accidents, it were not safe to treasure up wrath in them; for if we do, we shall certainly drink it in the day of recompence.

37. Thirdly, Before, and in, and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 all this the Blessed Jesus propounds Prayer as a remedy against Temptations; Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: For* 1.309 besides that Prayer is the great instrument of obtaining victory by the grace of God, as a fruit of our desires and of God's natural and essential goodness; the very praying against a Temptation, if it be hearty, servent and devout, is a denying of it, and part of the victory: for it is a 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the entertainment of it, it is a positive rejection of the crime; and every consent to it is a ceasing to pray, and to desire remedy. And we shall observe that whensoever we begin to listen to the whispers of a tempting spirit, our Prayers against it lessen, as the consent increases; there being nothing a more di∣rect enemy to the Temptation than Prayer, which as it is of it self a professed hostility against the crime, so it is a calling in auxiliaries from above to make the victory more certain. If Temptation sets upon thee, do thou set upon God; for he is as soon over∣come as thou art, as soon moved to good as thou art to evil, * 1.310 he is as quickly invited to pity thee as thou to ask him; provided thou dost not finally rest in the petition, but pass in∣to action, and endeavour by all means humane and moral to quench the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 newly kindled in thy bowels, before it come to devour the marrow of the bones. For a strong Prayer, and a lazy, incurious, un∣observant walking, are contradictions in the discourses of Religion. * 1.311 〈◊〉〈◊〉 tells us a story of a young man solicited by the spirit of Uncleanness, who came to an old Reli∣gious person, and begged his prayers. It was in that Age when God used to answer Prayers of very holy persons by more clear and familiar significations of his pleasure than he knows now to be necessary. But after many earnest prayers sent up to the throne of Grace, and the young man not at all bettered, upon consideration and en∣quiry of particulars, he found the cause to be, because the young man relied so upon the Prayers of the old Eremite, that he did nothing at all to discountenance his Lust or contradict the Temptation. But then he took another course, enjoyned him Austeri∣ties and exercises of Devotion, gave him rules of prudence and caution, tied him to work and to stand upon his guard; and then the Prayers returned in triumph, and the young man trampled upon his Lust. And so shall I and you, by God's grace, if we pray earnestly and frequently, if we watch carefully that we be not surprised, if we be not idle in secret, nor talkative in publick, if we read Scriptures, and consult with a spiritual Guide, and make Religion to be our work, that serving of God be the busi∣ness of our life, and our designs be to purchase Eternity; then we shall walk safely or recover speedily, and, by doing advantages to 〈◊〉〈◊〉, secure a greatness of Religion and spirituality to our spirits and understanding. But remember that when Israel fought against Amalek, Moses's prayer and Moses's hand secured the victory, his Prayer grew ineffectual when his Hands were slack; to remonstrate to us, that we must cooperate with the grace of God, praying devoutly, and watching carefully, and observing pru∣dently, and labouring with diligence and assiduity.

The PRAYER.

ETernal God and most merciful Father, I adore thy Wisdom, Providence, and admirable Dispensation of affairs in the spiritual Kingdom of our Lord Jesus, that thou, who art infinitely good, dost permit so many sadnesses and dangers to discompose that order of things and spirits which thou didst create innocent and harmless, and dost design to great and spiritual perfections; that the emanation of good from evil by thy over-ruling power and excellencies may force glory to thee from our shame, and honour to thy Wisdom by these contradictory acci∣dents and events. Lord, have pity upon me in these sad disorders, and with mercy know my infirmities. Let me, by suffering what thou pleasest, cooperate to the glorification of thy Grace and magnifying thy Mercy; but never let me consent to sin, but with the power of thy Majesty, and mightiness of thy prevailing Mercy, rescue me from those 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of dangers and enemies which daily seck to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 that Innocence with which thou didst cloath my Soul in the New birth. Behold, O God, how all the Spirits of Darkness endeavour the extinction of our hopes, and the dispersion of all those Graces, and the prevention of all those 〈◊〉〈◊〉 which the Holy Jesus hath purchased for every loving and obedient Soul. Our very 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and drink are full of poison, our Senses are snares, our 〈◊〉〈◊〉 is various Temptatio.., our sins are inlets to more, and our good actions made occasions of sins. Lord, deliver me from the Malice of the Devil, from the Fallacies of the World, from my own Folly; that I be not devoured by the first, nor cheated by the second, nor betrayed by my self: but let thy Grace, which is suf∣ficient for me, be always present with me; let thy Spirit 〈◊〉〈◊〉 me in the spiritual 〈◊〉〈◊〉, arming my Understanding, and securing my Will, and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 my Spirit with resolutions of Piety, and incentives of Religion, and deleteries of Sin; that the dangers I am encompassed withall may become unto me an occasion of victory and trimph, through the aids of the Holy Ghost, and by the Cross of the Lord Jesus, who hath for himself and all his servants tri∣umphed over Sin and Hell and the Grave, even all the powers of Darkness, from which by the mercies of Jesus and the merits of his Passion now and ever deliver me and all thy 〈◊〉〈◊〉 people.

Amen.

DISCOURSE VI.

Of Baptism.

Part I.

1. WHen the Holy Jesus was to begin his Prophetical Office, and to lay the foun∣dation of his Church on the Corner-stone, he first temper'd the Cement with Water, and then with Bloud, and afterwards built it up by the hands of the Spi∣rit: Himself enter'd at that door by which his Disciples for ever after were to follow him; for therefore he went in at the door of Baptism, that he might hallow the en∣trance which himself made to the House he was now building.

2. As it was in the old, so it is in the new Creation; out of the waters God produ∣ced every living creature: and when at first the Spirit moved upon the waters, and gave life, it was the type of what was designed in the Renovation. Every thing that lives now is born of Water and the Spirit; and Christ, who is our Creator and Redeemer in the New birth, opened the fountains and hallowed the stream: Christ, who is our Life, went down into the waters of Baptism; and we, who descend thither, find the effects of life: it is living Water, of which whose drinks needs not to drink of it again, for it shall be in him a Well of water springing up to life eternal.* 1.312

3. But because every thing is resolved into the same principles from whence they are taken; the old World, which by the power of God came from the Waters, by their

own sin fell into the Waters again, and were all drowned, and only eight persons were saved by an Ark: and the World renewed upon the stock and reserves of that mercy consigned the Sacrament of Baptism in another figure; for then God gave his sign from Heaven, that by water the World should never again perish: but he meant that they should be saved by water; for Baptism, which is a figure like to this, doth also now save us* 1.313 by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

4. After this the Jews report that the World took up the doctrine of Baptisms, in remembrance that the iniquity of the old world was purged by water; and they wash∣ed all that came to the service of the true God, and by that Baptism bound them to the observation of the Precepts which God gave to Noah.

5. But when God separated a Family for his own special service, he gave them a Sa∣crament of Initiation, but it was a Sacrament of bloud, the Covenant of Circumcisi∣on: and this was the fore-runner of Baptism, but not a Type; when that was abro∣gated, this came into the place of it, and that consigned the same Faith which this professes. But it could not properly be a Type, whose nature is by a likeness of matter or ceremony to represent the same Mystery. Neither is a Ceremony, as Baptism truly is, properly capable of having a Type, it self is but a Type of a greater mysteriousness. And the nature of Types is, in shadow to describe by dark lines a future substance: so* 1.314 that although Circumcision might be a Type of the effects and graces bestowed in Bap∣tism, yet of the Baptism or Ablution it self it cannot be properly, because of the un∣likeness of the symbols and configurations, and because they are both equally distant from substances, which Types are to consign and represent. The first Bishops of Jeru∣salem and all the Christian Jews for many years retained Circumcision together with Baptism; and Christ himself, who was circumcised, was also baptized; and therefore it is not so proper to call Circumcision a Type of Baptism: it was rather a Seal and Sign of the same Covenant to Abraham and the Fathers and to all Israel, as Baptism is to all Ages of the Christian Church.

6. And because this Rite could not be administred to all persons, and was not at all times after its institution, God was pleased by a proper and specifick Type to consign this Rite of Baptism, which he intended to all, and that for ever: and God, when the family of his Church grew separate, notorious, numerous and distinct, sent them into their own Countrey by a Baptism through which the whole Nation pass'd; for all the* 1.315 Fathers were under the Cloud, and all passed through the Sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the Cloud, and in the Sea; so by a double figure foretelling, that as they were initiated to Moses's Law by the Cloud above and the Sea beneath, so should all the per∣sons of the Church, men, women and children, be initiated unto Christ by the Spirit from above and the Water below: for it was the design of the Apostle in that discourse, to represent that the Fathers and we were equal as to the priviledges of the Covenant; he proved that we do not exceed them, and it ought therefore to be certain that they do not exceed us, nor their children ours.

7. But after this, something was to remain which might not only consign the Co∣venant which God made with Abraham, but be as a passage from the Fathers through the Synagogue to the Church, from Abraham by Moses to Christ: and that was Cir∣cumcision, which was a Rite which God chose to be a mark to the posterity of Abraham, to distinguish them from the Nations which were not within the Covenant of Grace, and to be a Seal of the righteousness of Faith, which God made to be the spirit and life of the Covenant.

8. But because Circumcision, although it was ministred to all the males, yet it was not to the females, although they and all the Nation were baptized and initiated into Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea; therefore the Children of Israel by imitation of the Patriarchs, the posterity of Noah, used also Ceremonial Baptisms to their Women and to their Proselytes, and to all that were circumcised; and the Jews deliver, That Sa∣rah and Rebecca, when they were adopted into the family of the Church, that is, of Abraham and Isaac, were baptized: and so were all strangers that were married to the sons of Israel. And that we may think this to be typical of Christian Baptism, the Do∣ctors of the Jews had a Tradition, that when the Messias would come, there should be so many Proselytes, that they could not be circumcised, but should be baptized. The Tradition proved true, but not for their reason.

But that this Rite of admitting into Mysteries, and Institutions, and Offices of Reli∣gion by Baptisms, was used by the posterity of Noah, or at least very early among the Jews, besides the testimonies of their own Doctors, I am the rather induced to be∣lieve, because the Heathens had the same Rite in many places and in several Religions:

so they initiated disciples into the Secrets of(a) 1.316 Mithra; and the Priests of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 were called(b) 1.317 〈◊〉〈◊〉, because by Baptism they were admitted into the Religion; and they(c) 1.318 thought Muther, Incest, Rapes, and the worst of crimes, were purged by dipping in the Sea or fresh Springs; and a Proselyte is called in 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉, 〈◊〉〈◊〉, a Baptized person.

9. But this Ceremony of Baptizing was so certain and usual among the Jews in their* 1.319 admitting Proselytes and adopting into Institutions, that to baptize and to make Di∣sciples are all one; and when John the Baptist by an order from Heaven went to prepare the way to the coming of our Blessed Lord, he preached Repentance, and baptized all that professed they did repent. He taught the Jews to live good lives, and baptized with the Baptism of a Prophet, such as was not unusually done by extraordinary and holy persons in the change or renewing of Discipline or Religion. Whether 〈◊〉〈◊〉's Baptism was from heaven, or os men, Christ asked the Pharisees. That it was from hea∣ven the people therefore believed, because he was a Prophet and a holy person: but it implies also, that such Baptisms are sometimes from men, that is, used by 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of an eminent Religion, or extraordinary fame for the gathering of Disciples and admitting Proselytes: and the Disciples of Christ did so too; even before Christ had instituted the* 1.320 Sacrament for the Christian Church, the Disciples that came to Christ were baptized by his Apostles.

10. And now we are come to the gates of Baptism. All these till John were but Types and preparatory Baptisms, and John's Baptism was but the prologue to the Bap∣tism of Christ. The Jewish Baptisms admitted Proselytes to Moses and to the Law of Ceremonies; John's Baptism called them to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in the Messias now appearing, and to repent of their sins, to enter into the Kingdom which was now at 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and preached that Repentance which should be for the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 os 〈◊〉〈◊〉. His Baptism remitted no sins, but preached and consigned Repentance, which in* 1.321 the belief of the 〈◊〉〈◊〉, whom he pointed to, should pardon sins. But because he was taken from his Office before the work was completed, the Disciples of Christ 〈◊〉〈◊〉 it: They went forth preaching the same Sermon of Repentance, and the approach of the Kingdom and baptized, or 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 or Disciples, as John did; only they (as it is probable) baptized in the Name of Jesus, which it is not so likely John did. And this very thing might be the cause of the (a) 1.322 different forms of Baptism recorded in the Acts, of (b) 1.323 baptizing in the Name of 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and at other times (c) 1.324 In the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of the Father, Son, and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Ghost; the sorm∣er being the manner of doing it in pursuance of the design of John's Baptism, and the latter the form of Institution by Christ for the whole Christian Church, appointed after his Resurrection; the Disciples at first using promiscuously what was used by the same Authority, though with some difference of Mystery.

11. The Holy Jesus having found his way ready prepared by the Preaching of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and by his Baptism, and the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 manner of adopting Proselytes and Disciples into the Religion a way chalked out for him to initiate Disciples into his Religion, took what was so prepared, and changed it into a perpetual Sacrament. He kept the Cere∣mony, that they who were led only by outward things might be the better called in and easier enticed into the Religion, when they entred by a Ceremony which their Nation always used in the like cases: and therefore without change of the outward act he put into it a new spirit, and gave it a new grace and a proper efficacy; he sublimed it to higher ends, and adorned it with Stars of Heaven; he made it to signific greater Mysteries, to convey greater Blessings, to consign the bigger Promises, to cleanse deeper than the skin, and to carry Proselytes farther than the gates of the Institution. For so he was pleased to do in the other Sacrament: he took the Ceremony which he found ready in the Custom of the Jews, where the Major-domo after the Paschal Supper gave Bread and Wine to every person of his family; he changed nothing of it without, but transferred the Rite to greater Mysteries, and put his own Spirit to their Sign, and it became a Sacrament Evangelical. It was so also in the matter of Excommunication, where the Jewish practice was made to pass into Christian discipline: without vio∣lence and noise old things became new, while he fulfilled the Law, making it up in full measures of the Spirit.

12. By these steps Baptism passed on to a Divine Evangelical institution, which we find to be consigned by three Evangelists; Go ye therefore, and teach all Nations, bapti∣zing* 1.325 them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. It was one of the last Commandments the Holy Jesus gave upon the earth, when he taught his

Apostles the things which concerned his Kingdom. For he that believes and is baptized* 1.326 shall be saved: but, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 a man be born of Water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into* 1.327 the Kingdom of Heaven; agreeable to the decretory words of God by Abraham in the Circumcision, to which Baptism does succeed in the consignation of the same Cove∣nant and the same Spiritual Promises, The uncircumcised child whose flesh is not circumci∣sed,* 1.328 that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my Covenant. The Mani∣chees, Selencas, Hermias, and their followers, people of a day's abode and small inte∣rest,* 1.329 but of malicious doctrine, taught Baptism not to be necessary, not to be used, upon this ground, because they supposed that it was proper to John to baptize with wa∣ter, and reserved for Christ, as his peculiar, to baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Indeed Christ baptized none otherwise; he sent his Spirit upon the Church in Pente∣cost and baptized them with fire, the Spirit appearing like a flame: but he appointed his Apostles to baptize with water, and they did so, and their successors after them, every-where and for ever, not expounding, but obeying the preceptive words of their Lord, which were almost the last that he spake upon earth. And I cannot think it needful to prove this to be necessary by any more Arguments; for the words are so plain that they need no exposition: and yet if they had been obscure, the universal practice of the Apostles and the Church for ever is a sufficient declaration of the Com∣mandment: No Tradition is more universal, no not of Scripture it self; no words are plainer, no not the Ten Commandments: and if any suspicion can be superinduced by any jealous or less discerning person, it will need no other refutation, but to turn his eyes to those lights by which himself fees Scripture to be the Word of God, and the Commandments to be the declaration of his Will.

13. But that which will be of greatest concernment in this affair is, to consider the great benefits are conveyed to us in this Sacrament; for this will highly conclude, that the Precept was 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ever, which God so seconds with his grace and mighty blessings; and the susception of it necessary, because we cannot be without those excellent things which are the Graces of the Sacrament.

14. First, The first fruit is, That in Baptism we are admitted to the Kingdom of Christ, presented unto him, consigned with his Sacrament, enter into his Militia, give up our Understandings and our choice to the obedience of Christ, and in all senses that we can become his Disciples, witnessing a good confession, and undertaking a holy life: and therefore in Scripture 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 are conjoyned in the significations, as they are in the mystery; it is a giving up our names to Christ, and it is part of the foundati∣on or the first Principles of the Religion, as appears in S. Paul's Catechism; it is so the* 1.330 first thing, that it is for babes and Neophytes, in which they are matriculated and adopted into the house of their Father, and taken into the hands of their Mother. Upon this account Baptism is called in antiquity 〈◊〉〈◊〉 janua, porta Gratiae, & primus in∣troitus* 1.331 Sanctorum adaeternam Dei & Ecclesiae consuetudinem; The gate of the Church, the door of Grace, the first entrance of the Saints to an eternal conversation with God and the Church. Sacramentum initiationis, & intrantium Christianismum investituram, S. Ber∣nard calls it; The Sacrament of initiation, and the investiture of them that enter into the Religion. And the person so entring is called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, one of* 1.332 the Religion, or a Proselyte and Convert, and one added to the number of the Church, in imitation of that of S. Luke, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, God added to* 1.333 the Church those that should be saved; just as the Church does to this day and for ever, baptizing Infants and Catechuments: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, they are added to the Church, that they may be added to the Lord, and the number of the Inhabitants of Heaven.

15. Secondly, The next step beyond this is Adoption into the Convenant, which is an* 1.334 immediate consequent of the first Presentation; this being the first act of man, that the first act of God. And this is called by S. Paul a being * 1.335 baptized in one spirit into one bo∣dy, that is, we are made capable of the Communion of Saints, the blessings of the faithful, the priviledges of the Church: by this we are, as S. Luke calls it, ‖ 1.336 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, ordained, or disposed, put into the order of Eternal Life, being made members of the mystical Body under Christ our Head.

16. Thirdly, And therefore Baptism is a new birth, by which we enter into the new world, the new Creation, the blessings and spiritualities of the Kingdom: and this is the expression which our Saviour himself used * 1.337 Nicodemus, Unless a man be born of Wa∣ter and the Spirit; and it is by S. Paul called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the laver of Regenera∣tion; for now we begin to be reckoned in new Census or account, God is become our Father, Christ our elder Brother, the Spirit the earnest of our Inheritance, the Church

our Mother, our food is the body and bloud of our Lord, Faith is our learning, Religi∣on our employment, and our whole life is spiritual, and Heaven the object of our Hopes, and the mighty price of our high Calling. And from this time forward we have a new principle put into us, the Spirit of Grace, which, besides our Soul and bo∣dy, is a principle of action, of one nature, and shall with them enter into the portion of our Inheritance. And therefore the Primitive Christians, who consigned all their affairs and goods and writings with some marks of their Lord, usually writing 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Saviour, made it an abbre∣viature by writing only the Capitals thus, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉; which the Heathens in moc∣kery and derision made 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, which signifies a Fish, and they used it for Christ as a name of reproach: but the Christians owned the name, and turned it into a pious Me∣taphor, and were content that they should enjoy their pleasure in the Acrostich; but upon that occasion Tertullian speaks pertinently to this Article, Nos pisciculi, sccundùm* 1.338 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 nostrum Jesum Christum, in aqua nascimur, Christ, whom you call a Fish, we knowledge to be our Lord and Saviour; and we, if you please, are the little fishes, for we are born in water, thence we derive our spiritual life. And because from hence∣forward we are a new Creation, the Church uses to assign new relations to the Cate∣chumens, Spiritual Fathers and Susceptors; and, at their entrance into Baptism, the Christians and Jewish Proselytes did use to cancel all secular affections to their tempo∣ral relatives. Nec quicquam priùs 〈◊〉〈◊〉 quàm contemnere Deos, exuere patriam, pa∣rentes,* 1.339 liberos, fratres vilia habere, said Tacitus of the Christians: which was true in the sence only that Christ said, He that doth not hate father or mother for my sake, is not worthy of me; that is, he that doth not hate them praeme, rather than forsake me, for∣sake them, is unworthy of me.

17. Fourthly, In Baptism all our sins are pardoned, according to the words of a Pro∣phet,* 1.340 I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness.

The Catechumen descends into the Font a Sinner, he arises purified; he goes down the son of Death, he comes up the son of the Resurrection; he enters in the son of Folly and prevarication, he returns the son of Reconciliation; he stoops down the child of Wrath, and ascends the heir of Mercy; he was the child of the Devil, and now he is the servant and the son of God.

They are the words of Venerable Bede* 1.341 concerning this Mystery. And this was ingeniously signified by that Greek inscription upon a Font, which is so prettily contriv'd, that the words may be read after the Greek or after the Hebrew manner, and be exactly the same; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Lord, wash my sin, and not my face only. And so it is in∣tended and promised: * 1.342 Arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, and call on the Name of the Lord, said Ananias to Saul; for ‖ 1.343 Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctifie and cleanse it, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 with the wash∣ing of water in the word, that is, Baptism in the Christian Reli∣gion: and therefore * 1.344 Tertullian calls Baptism lavacrum com∣pendiatum, a compendious Laver, that is, an intire cleansing the Soul in that one action justly and rightly performed. In the rehearsal of which Doctrine it was not an unpleasant Ety∣mology that 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Sinaita gave of Baptism, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, in which our sins are thrown off; and they fall like leeches when they are full of bloud and water, or like the chains from S. Pe∣ter's hands at the presence of the Angel. Baptism is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 an intire full forgiveness of sins, so that they shall never be called again to scrutiny.

—Omnia Daemonis armae His merguntur aquis, quibus ille renascitur Infans* 1.345 Qui captivus erat—

The captivity of the Soul is taken away by the bloud of Redemption, and the fiery darts of the Devil are quenched by these salutary waters; and what the flames of Hell are expiating or punishing to eternal ages, that is washed off quickly in the Holy Font, and an eternal debt paid in an instant. For so sure as the Egyptians were drowned in the Red Sea, so sure are our Sins washed in this Holy floud: for this is a Red Sea too; these waters signifie the bloud of Christ; These are they that have washed their Robes, and* 1.346 made them white in the bloud of the Lamb. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, The Bloud of Christ* 1.347 cleanseth us, the Water cleanseth us, the Spirit purifies us; the Bloud by the Spirit, the* 1.348 Spirit by the Water, all in Baptism, and in pursuance of that Baptismal state. * 1.349 These* 1.350 three are they that bear record in Earth, the Spirit, the Water, and the Bloud, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 these three agree in one, or are to one purpose; they agree in Baptism, and in the whole pursuance of the assistances which a Christian needs all the days of his life. And therefore S. Cyrill calls Baptism 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the Antitype of the Passions of Christ: it does preconsign the death of Christ, and does the infancy of the work of Grace, but not weakly; it brings from death to life; and though it brings us but to the birth in the New life, yet that is a greater change than is in all the periods of our growth to manhood, to a perfect man in Christ Jesus.

18. Fifthly, Baptism does not only pardon our sins, but puts us into a state of Pardon for the time to come. For Baptism is the beginning of the New life, and an admission of us into the Evangelical Covenant, which on our parts consists in a sincere and timely endeavour to glorifie God by Faith and Obedience; and on God's part, he will pardon what is past, assist us for the future, and not measure us by grains and scruples, or ex∣act our duties by the measure of an Angel, but by the span of a man's hand. So that by Baptism we are consigned to the mercies of God and the Graces of the Gospel; that is, that our Pardon be continued, and our Piety be a state of Repentance. And therefore that Baptism which in the Nicene Creed we 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to be for the remission of sins, is called in the Jerusalem 〈◊〉〈◊〉 The Baptism of Repentance; that is, it is the entrance of a new life, the gate to a perpetual change and reformation, all the way continuing our title to and hopes of forgiveness of sins. And this excellency is clearly recorded by S. Paul;* 1.351 The kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man hath appeared, Not by works of righ∣teousness which we have done: that's the formality of the Gospel-Covenant, not to be ex∣acted by the strict measures of the Law: but according to his mercy he saved us, that is, by gentleness and remissions, by pitying and pardoning us, by relieving and suppor∣ting us, because he remembers that we are but dust; and all this mercy we are admitted to, and is conveyed to us, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, by the laver of Regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. And this plain evident Doctrine was observed, explicated and urged against the Messalians, who said that Baptism was like a razor, that cuts away all the sins that were past, or presently adhering, but not the sins of our future life: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.* 1.352 This Sacrament promises more and greater things; It is the earnest of future good things, the type of the Resurrection, the com∣munication of the Lord's Passion, the partaking of his Resurrection, the robe of Righteousness, the garment of Gladness, the vestment of Light, or rather Light it self. And for this rea∣son it is that Baptism is not to be repeated, because it does at once all that it can do at an hundred times: for it admits us to the condition of Repentance and Evangelical mercy, to a state of Pardon for our infirmities and sins, which we timely and effectually leave; and this is a thing that can be done but once, as a man can begin but once; he that hath once entred in at this gate of Life is always in possibility of Pardon, if he be in a possibility of working and doing after the manner of a man that which he hath promi∣sed to the Son of God. And this was expresly delivered and observed by S. Austin:* 1.353

That which the Apostle says, Cleansing him with the washing of water in the word, is to be understood, that in the same Laver of Regeneration and word of Sanctification all the evils of the regenerate are cleansed and healed; not only the sins that are past, which are all now remitted in Baptism, but also those that are contracted afterwards by humane ignorance and infirmity: not that Baptism be repeated as often as we sin,* 1.354 but because by this which is once administred is brought to pass that pardon of all sins, not only of those that are past, but also those which will be committed after∣wards, is obtained.

The Messalians denied this, and it was part of their Heresie in the undervaluing of Baptism; and for it they are most excellently confuted by Isidore Pelusiot, in his third Book, 195 Epistle to the Count Hermin, whither I refer the Rea∣der.

19. In proportion to this Doctrine it is that the Holy Scripture calls upon us to live a holy life, in pursuance of this grace of Baptism. And S. Paul recalls the lapsed Ga∣latians to their Covenant, and the grace of God stipulated in Baptism: Ye are all* 1.355 children of God by faith in Jesus Christ; that is, heirs of the promise, and Abraham's* 1.356 seed; that promise which cannot be disannulled, encreased or diminished, but is

the same to us as it was to Abraham, the same before the Law and after. Therefore do not you hope to be 〈◊〉〈◊〉 by the Law, for you are entred into the Covenant of Faith, and are to be justified thereby. This is all your hope, by this you must stand for ever, or you cannot stand at all; but by this you may: for you are God's children by Faith, that is, not by the Law, or the Covenant of Works. And that you may remember whence you are going, and return again, he proves that they are the Children of God by 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in Jesus Christ, because they have been baptized into Christ, and so put on Christ.* 1.357 This makes you Children, and such as are to be saved by Faith, that is, a Covenant, not of Works, but of Pardon in Jesus Christ, the Author and Establisher of this Cove∣nant. For this is the Covenant made in Baptism, that being justified by his grace, we shall be heirs of life eternal: for by grace, that is, by favour, remission and forgiveness in Jesus Christ, ye are saved. This is the only way that we have of being justified, and this must remain as long as we are in hopes of Heaven; for besides this we have no hopes: and all this is stipulated and consigned in Baptism, and is of force after our 〈◊〉〈◊〉 into sin and risings again. In pursuance of this the same Apostle declares, that the several states of sin are so many recessions from the state of Baptismal grace; and if we arrive to the direct Apostasie, and renouncing of or a contradiction to the state of Bap∣tism, we are then unpardonable, because we are fallen from our state of Pardon. This S. Paul conditions most strictly in his Epistle to the Hebrews; This is the Covenant I will* 1.358 make in those days: I will put my Laws in their hearts; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin; that is, our sins are so pardoned that we need no more oblation, we are then made partakers of the death of Christ; which we afterwards renew in memory and Eucharist and represent∣ment. But the great work is done in Baptism; for so it follows, Having boldness to 〈◊〉〈◊〉* 1.359 into the Holiest by the bloud of Jesus by a new and living way, that is, by the veil of his flesh, his Incarnation. But how do we enter into this? Baptism is the door, and the ground of this confidence for ever: for so he adds, Let us draw near with a true heart in full assu∣rance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. This is the consignation of this blessed state, and the gate to all this mercy. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith, that is, the Religion of a Christian, the Faith in∣to which we were baptized; for that is the Faith that justifies and saves us: Let us there∣fore* 1.360 hold fast this profession of this Faith, and do all the intermedial works in order to the conservation of it such as are assembling in the Communion of Saints, (the use of the Word* 1.361 and Sacrament is included in the Precept) mutual Exhortation, good Example, and the like: For if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, that is, if we sin against the profession of this Faith, and hold it not fast, but let the Faith and the pro∣fession go wilfully, (which afterwards he calls a treading under foot the Son of God, ac∣counting the bloud of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and a doing* 1.362 despite to the spirit of grace, viz. which moved upon those waters, and did illuminate him in Baptism) if we do this, there is no more sacrifice for sins, no more deaths of Christ into which you may be baptized; that is, you are fallen from the state of Pardon and Re∣pentance into which you were admitted in Baptism, and in which you continue so long as you have not quitted your baptismal Rights and the whole Covenant. Contrary to this is that which S. Peter calls making our Calling and Election sure, that is, a doing all that which may continue us in our state of Baptism and the grace of the Covenant. And between these two states, of absolute Apostasie from, and intirely adhering to and secu∣ring, this state of Calling and Election, are all the intermedial sins, and being overtaken in single faults, or declining towards vicious habits, which in their several proportions are degrees of danger and insecurity; which S. Peter calls 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a forgetting our Baptism or purification from our sins. And in this sence are* 1.363 those words, The just shall live by Faith, that is, by that profession which they made in Baptism; from which if they swerve not, they shall be supported in their spiritual life. It is a Grace which, by virtue of the Covenant consigned in Baptism, does like a centre 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 to all the periods and portions of our life; our whole life, all the periods of our succeeding hopes are kept alive by this. This consideration is of great use, be∣sides many other things, to reprove the folly of those who in the Primitive Church de∣ferred their Baptism till their death-bed; because Baptism is a Laver of Sanctification, and drowns all our sins, and buries them in the grave of our Lord, they thought they might sin securely upon the stock of an after-Baptism; for unless they were strangely prevented by a sudden accident, a death-bed Baptism they thought would secure their condition: but early some of them durst not take it, much less in the beginning of their years, that they might at least gain impunity

for their follies and heats of their youth. Baptism hath influence into the pardon of all our sins committed in all the days of our folly and infirmity; and so long as we have not been baptized, so long we are out of the state of Pardon: and therefore an early Baptism is not to be avoided upon this mistaken fancy and plot upon Heaven; it is the greater security towards the pardon of our sins, if we have taken it in the beginning of our days.

20. Fifthly, The next benefit of Baptism, which is also a verification of this, is a Sanctification of the baptized person by the Spirit of Grace.

Sanctus in hunc coelo descendit Spiritus amnem, Coelestique sacras fonte maritat aquas:* 1.364 Concipit unda Deum, sanctámque liquoribus almis Edit ab aeterno semine progeniem.

The Holy Ghost descends upon the waters of Baptism, and makes them prolifical, apt to produce children unto God: and therefore S. Leo compares the Font of Baptism to the Womb of the Blessed Virgin when it was replenished with the Holy Spirit. And this is the Baptism of our dearest Lord: his Ministers baptize with Water, our Lord at the same time verifies their Ministery with giving the Holy Spirit. They are joyned together by S. Paul, We are by one Spirit baptized into one body; that is, admitted into* 1.365 the Church by baptism of Water and the Spirit. This is that which our Blessed Lord calls a being born of Water and of the Spirit; by Water we are sacramentally dead and* 1.366 buried, by the Spirit we are made alive. But because these are mysterious expressi∣ons,* 1.367 and, according to the style of Scripture, high and secret in spiritual significations, therefore, that we may understand what these things signifie, we must consider it by its real effects, and what it produces upon the Soul of a man.

21. First, It is the suppletory of original Righteousness, by which Adam was at first gracious with God, and which he lost by his prevarication. It was in him a principle of Wisdom and Obedience, a relation between God and himself, a title to the extraor∣dinary mercies of God, and a state of Friendship: When he fell, he was discomposed in all, the links of the golden chain and blessed relation were broken; and it so continu∣ed in the whole life of Man, which was stained with the evils of this folly and the con∣sequent mischiefs: and therefore when we began the world again, entring into the Articles of a new life, God gave us his Spirit to be an instrument of our becoming gra∣cious persons, and of being in a condition of obtaining that supernatural End which God at first designed to us. And therefore as our Baptism is a separation of us from un∣believing people; so the descent of the Holy Spirit upon us in our Baptism is a consign∣ing or marking us for God, as the Sheep of his pasture, as the Souldiers of his Army, as the Servants of his houshold: we are so separated from the world, that we are appro∣priated to God, so that God expects of us Duty and Obedience; and all Sins are acts of Rebellion and Undutifulness. Of this nature was the sanctification of Jeremy and John the Baptist from their mothers womb; that is, God took them to his own service by an early designation, and his Spirit marked them to a holy Ministery. To this also re∣lates that of S. Paul, whom God by a decree separated from his mother's womb to the Ministery of the Gospel: the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 did antedate the act of the Spirit, which did not descend upon him until the day of his Baptism. What these persons were in order to exteriour Ministeries, that all the faithful are in order to Faith and Obedience, con∣signed in Baptism by the Spirit of God to a perpetual relation to God, in a continual service and title to his Promises. And in this sence the Spirit of God is called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, * 1.368 a Seal, ‖ 1.369 In whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of Pro∣mise:* 1.370 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 The Water washes the body,* 1.371 and the Spirit seals the Soul, viz. to a participation of those Promises which he hath* 1.372 made, and to which we receive a title by our Baptism.

22. Secondly, The second effect of the Spirit is Light or Illumination; that is, the holy Spirit becomes unto us the Author of holy thoughts and firm perswasions, and sets to his seal that the Word of God is true, into the belief of which we are then baptized, and makes Faith to be a Grace, and the Understanding resigned, and the Will confi∣dent, and the Assent stronger than the premises, and the Propositions to be believed, because they are beloved; and we are taught the ways of Godliness after a new man∣ner, that is, we are made to perceive the Secrets of the Kingdom, and to love Reli∣gion, and to long for Heaven and heavenly things, and to despise the World, and to have new resolutions, and new perceptions, and new delicacies, in order to the esta∣blishment

of Faith, and its increments and perseverance. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 * 1.373 God sits in the Soul when it is illuminated in 〈◊〉〈◊〉, as if he sate in his Throne; that is, he rules by a firm perswasi∣on, and intire principles of Obedience. And therefore Baptism is called in Scripture 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and the baptized 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉; illuminated; Call to mind the former days, in* 1.374 which you were illuminated: and the same phrase is in the* 1.375 6. to the Hebrews, where the parallel places expound each other. For that which S. Paul calls 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 illuminated, he calls after, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a receiving the know∣ledge of the truth: and that you may perceive this to be wholly meant of Baptism, the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 expresses it still by Synonyma's, Tasting of the heavenly gift, and made partakers* 1.376 of the Holy Ghost, sprinkled in our hearts from an evil conscience, and washed in our bodies with pure water; all which also are a syllabus or collection of the several effects of the graces bestowed in Baptism. But we are now instancing in that which relates most properly to the Understanding, in which respect the Holy Spirit also is called Anointing* 1.377 or Unction; and the mystery is explicated by S. John, The Anointing which ye have re∣ceived* 1.378 of him abideth in you; and ye need not that any man teach you, but as the same Anoint∣ing teacheth you of all things.

23. Thirdly, The Holy Spirit descends upon us in Baptism, to become the principle of a* 1.379 new life, to become a holy seed, springing up to Holiness, and is called by S. John 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of God; and the purpose of it we are taught by him, Whosoever is 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of God (that is, he that is regenerated and entred into this New birth) doth not 〈◊〉〈◊〉 sin; for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of life; and now that he by the Spirit is born anew, he hath in him that principle which, if it be cherished, will grow up to life, to life eter∣nal. And this is the Spirit of Sanctification, the victory over the World, the deletery of Concupiscence, the life of the Soul, and the perpetual principle of Grace sown in our spirits in the day of our Adoption to be the sons of God, and members of Christ's body. But take this Mystery in the words of S. Basil.

There are two Ends proposed in Bap∣tism;* 1.380 to wit, to abolish the body of Sin, that we may no more bring forth fruit unto death; and to live in the Spirit, and to have our fruit to Sanctification. The Water represents the image of death, receiving the body in its bosom, as in a Sepulchre: but the quickning Spirit sends upon us a vigorous 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 power or 〈◊〉〈◊〉, even from the beginning renewing our Souls from the death of sin unto life: For as our Mortification is 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in the water, so the Spirit works life in us.

To this pur∣pose is the discourse of S. Paul, having largely discoursed of our being baptized into the death of 〈◊〉〈◊〉, he adds this as the Corollary of all, a 1.381 He that is* 1.382 dead is freed from sin; that is, being mortified and b 1.383 buried in the waters of Baptism, we have a new life of Righteousness put into us, we are quitted from the dominion of Sin, and are c 1.384 planted together in the likeness of Christ's Resurrection, d 1.385 that henceforth we should not serve sin.* 1.386

24. Fourthly, But all these intermedial Blessings tend to a glorious Conclusion, for Baptism does also consign us to a holy Resurrection. It takes the sting of death from us, by burying us together with Christ; and takes 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Sin, which is the sting of death, and then we shall be partakers of a blessed Resurrection. This we are taught by S. Paul, 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his* 1.387 Death? For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his Death, we shall be also in the likeness of his Resurrection. That declares the real event in its due season. But because Baptism consigns it, and admits us to a title to it, we are said with S. Paul, to be risen with Christ in Baptism; Buried with him in Baptism, wherein also you* 1.388 are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, which hath raised him from the dead. Which expression I desire to be remembred, that by it we may better un∣derstand those other sayings of the Apostle, of putting on Christ in Baptism, putting on the new man, &c. for these only signifie 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or the design on God's part, and the endeavour and duty on Man's: we are then consigned to our Duty, and to our Re∣ward; we undertake one, and have a title to the other. And though men of ripe∣ness and Reason enter instantly into their portion of Work, and have present use of the assistances, and something of their Reward in hand; yet we cannot conclude, that those that cannot do it 〈◊〉〈◊〉 are not baptized rightly, because they are not in capa∣city to put on the New man in Righteousness, that is, in an actual holy life; for they may put on the New man in Baptism, just as they are risen with Christ: which because it may be done by Faith before it is done in real event, and it may be done by Sa∣crament and design before it be done by a proper Faith; so also may our putting

on the New man be; it is done sacramentally, and that part which is wholly the work of God does only antedate the work of man, which is to succeed in its due time, and is after the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of preventing grace. But this is by the bye. In order to the present Article, Baptism is by 〈◊〉〈◊〉 called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a participation of the Lord's Resurrection.

25. Fifthly and lastly, By Baptism we are saved: that is, we are brought from death to life 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and that is the first Resurrection; and we are brought from death to life hereafter, by virtue of the Covenant of the state of Grace into which in Baptism we en∣ter, and are preserved from the second Death, and receive a glorious and an eternal life. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, said our Blessed Saviour; and, Accord∣ing* 1.389 to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of Regeneration and renowing of the Holy Ghost.

26. After these great Blessings so plainly testified in Scripture and the Doctrine of the Primitive Church, which are regularly consigned and bestowed in Baptism, I shall less need to descend to temporal Blessings, or rare contingencies, or miraculous events, or probable notices of things less certain. Of this nature are those Stories re∣corded in the Writings of the Church, that Constantine was cured of a Leprosie in Bap∣tism;* 1.390 Theodosius recovered of his disease, being baptized by the Bishop of Thessalonica; and a paralytick Jew was cured as soon as he became a Christian, and was baptized by Atticus of CP. and Bishop Arnulph baptizing a Leper also cured him, said Vincentius Bel∣lovacensis. It is more considerable which is generally and piously believed by very many eminent persons in the Church, that at our Baptism God assigns an Angel-Guar∣dian, (for then the Catechumen, being made a Servant and a Brother to the Lord of Angels, is sure not to want the aids of them who pitch their tents round about them that* 1.391 fear the Lord) and that this guard and ministery is then appointed when themselves are admitted into the inheritance of the Promises: and their title to Salvation is hugely agreeable to the words of S. Paul, Are they not all ministring spirits, sent forth to minister* 1.392 to them who shall be heirs of Salvation? where it appears, that the title to the inheritance is the title to this ministery, and therefore must begin and end together. But I insist not on this, though it seems to me hugely probable. All these Blessings put into one Syllabus have given to Baptism many honourable appellatives in Scripture and other* 1.393 Divine Writers, calling it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 * 1.394 Sacramentum 〈◊〉〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉〈◊〉 salutis: A New birth, a Regeneration, a Renovation, a Chariot* 1.395 carrying us to God, the great Circumcision, a Circumcision made without hands, the Key of the Kingdom, the Paranymph of the Kingdom, the Earnest of our inheritance, the Answer of a good Conscience, the Robe of light, the Sacrament of a new life and of eternal Salvation. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. This is celestial water, springing from the sides of the Rock upon which the Church was built, when the Rock was smitten with the Rod of God.

27. It remains now that we enquire what concerns our Duty, and in what persons or in what dispositions Baptism produces all these glorious effects: for the Sacraments of the Church work in the virtue of Christ, but yet only upon such as are servants of Christ, and hinder not the work of the Spirit of Grace. For the water of the Font and the Spi∣rit of the Sacrament are indeed to wash away our Sins, and to purifie our Souls; but not unless we have a mind to be purified. The Sacrament works pardon for them that hate their sin, and procures Grace for them that love it. They that are guilty of sins must repent of them, and renounce them, and they must make a profession of the Faith of Christ, and give or be given up to the obedience of Christ; and then they are rightly disposed. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, saith Christ; and S. Peter call'd* 1.396 out to the whole assembly, Repent, and be baptized every one of you. Concerning this* 1.397 Justin Martyr gives the same account of the Faith and practice of the Church; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉* 1.398 &c.

Whosoever are perswaded and believe those things to be true which are delivered and spoken by us, and undertake to live accordingly, they are commanded to fast and pray, and to ask of God remission for their former sins, we also praying together with them, and fasting. Then they are brought to us where water is, and are regenerated in the same manner of Regeneration by which we our selves are regenerated.

For in Baptism S. Peter observes there are two parts, the Body and the Spirit: that is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the putting away the 〈◊〉〈◊〉* 1.399 of the flesh, that is the material washing; and this is Baptism no otherwise than a dead corps is a man: the other is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the answer of a good conscience towards God, that is, the conversion of the Soul to God; that's the

effective disposition in which Baptism does save us. And in the same sence are those sayings of the Primitive Doctors to be understood; Anima non lavatione, sed 〈◊〉〈◊〉 sancitur, The Soul is not healed by washing, viz. alone, but by the answer, the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉* 1.400 in S. Peter, the correspondent of our part of the Covenant: sor that's the per∣fect 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of this unusual expression. And the effect is attributed to this, and denied to the other, when they are distinguished. So Justin Martyr affirms; The only Bap∣tism* 1.401 that can heal us is Kepentance, and the knowledge of God. For what need is there of that Baptism that can only 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the flesh and the body? Be washed in your flesh from wrath and 〈◊〉〈◊〉, from envy and hatred; and behold the body is pure. And Clemens Alex∣andrinus upon that Proverbial saying, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Be not pure in the laver, but in the mind, adds, I suppose that an exact and a firm Repentance is a suffici∣ent purification to a man; if judging and considering our selves for the facts we have done be∣fore, we proceed to that which is before us, considering that which follows, and cleansing or washing our mind from sensual affections and from former sins. Just as we use to deny the effect to the instrumental cause, and attribute it to the principal, in the manner of speaking, when our purpose is to affirm this to be the principal, and of chief 〈◊〉〈◊〉. So we say, It is not the good Lute, but the skilful hand, that makes the musick: It is not the Body, but the Soul, that is the Man: and yet he is not the man without both. For Baptism is but the material part in the Sacrament, it is the Spirit that gi∣veth life; whose work is Faith and Repentance begun by himself without the Sacra∣ment, and consigned in the Sacrament, and actuated and increased in the cooperation of our whole life. And therefore Baptism is called in the Jerusalem Creed 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, one Baptism of Repentance for the remission of sins: and by Justin Martyr, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,* 1.402 The Baptism of Repentance and the knowledge of God, which was made for the sins of the people of God. He explains himself a little after, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Baptism that can only cleanse them that are penitent. In Sacrament is 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 Fides credentium & professio, quae apud Act a conficitur An∣gelorum, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 miscentur 〈◊〉〈◊〉 & spiritualia semina; ut sancto germine nova possit renascen∣tium indoles procreari, ut dum Trinitas cum Fide concordat, qui natus fuerit seculo renasca∣tur spiritualiter Deo. Sic fit hominum Pater Deus, sancta fit Mater Ecclesia, said Op∣tatus: The Faith and Profession of the Believers meets with the ever-blessed Trinity, * 1.403 and is recorded in the Register of Angels, where heavenly and spiritual seeds are ming∣led; that from so holy a Spring may be produced a new nature of the Regeneration, that while the Trinity (viz. that is invocated upon the baptized) meets with the Faith of the Catechumen, he that was born to the world may be born spiritually to God. So God is made a Father to the man, and the holy Church a Mother. Faith and Repentance stript the Old man naked, and make him fit for Baptism; and then the Holy Spirit moving upon the waters cleanses the Soul, and makes it to put on the New man, who grows up to perfection and a spiritual life, to a life of glory, by our verification of our undertaking in Baptism on our part, and the Graces of the Spirit on the other. For the waters pierce no farther than the skin, till the person puts off his affection to the sin that he hath contracted; and then he may say, Aquae intraverunt 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ad animam meam, The waters are entred even unto my Soul, to purifie and cleanse* 1.404 it, by the washing of water, and the renewing by the Holy Spirit. The summ is this; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Being baptized we are illuminated, being illuminated we are adopted to the inheritance of sons, being adopted we are promoted towards perfection, and being per∣fected we are made immortal.

Quisquis in hos fontes vir venerit, exeat indè Semideus, tactis citò nobilitetur in undis.

28. This is the whole Doctrine of Baptism, as it is in it self considered, without re∣lation to rare Circumstances or accidental cases: and it will also serve to the right un∣derstanding of the reasons why the Church of God hath in all Ages baptized all persons that were within her power, for whom the Church could stipulate that they were or might be relatives of Christ, sons of God, heirs of the Promises, and partners of the Covenant, and such as did not hinder the work of Baptism upon their Souls. And such were not only persons of age and choice, but the Infants of Christian Parents. For the understanding and verifying of which truth, I shall only need to apply the parts of the former Discourse to their particular case, premising first these Propositions.

Of Baptizing Infants.

Part II.

1. BAPTISM is the Key in Christ's hand, and therefore opens as he opens, and shuts by his rule: and as Christ himself did not do all his Blessings and effects un∣to every one, but gave to every one as they had need; so does Baptism. Christ did not cure all mens eyes, but them only that were blind; Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners, to 〈◊〉〈◊〉: that is, They that lived in the fear of God, according to the Covenant in which they were debtors, were indeed improved and promoted higher by Christ, but not called to that Repentance to which he called the vicious Gentiles, and the Adulterous persons among the Jews, and the hypocritical Pharisees. There are some so innocent that they need no repentance, (saith the Scripture;) meaning, that though they do need Contrition for their single acts of sin, yet they are within the state of Grace, and need not Repentance as it is a Conversion of the whole man. And so it is in Baptism, which does all its effects upon them that need them all, and some upon them that need but some: and therefore as it pardons sins to them that have com∣mitted them, and do repent and believe; so to the others, who have not committed them, it does all the work which is done to the others above or besides that Par∣don.

2. Secondly, When the ordinary effect of a Sacrament is done already by some other efficiency or instrument, yet the Sacrament is still as obligatory as before, not for so many reasons or necessities, but for the same Commandment. Baptism is the first or∣dinary Current in which the Spirit moves and descends upon us; and where God's Spirit is, they are the Sons of God, for Christ's Spirit descends upon none but them that are his: and yet Cornelius, who had received the holy Spirit, and was heard by God,* 1.405 and visited by an Angel, and accepted in his Alms and Fastings and Prayers, was tied to the susception of Baptism. To which may be added. That the receiving the effects of Baptism before-hand was used as an argument the rather to administer Baptism. The effect of which consideration is this, That Baptism and its effect may be separated, and do not always go in conjunction; the effect may be before, and therefore much rather may it be after its susception; the Sacrament operating in the virtue of Christ, even* 1.406 as the Spirit shall move: according to that saying of S. Austin, Sacrosancto lavacro incho∣ata* 1.407 innovatio novi hominis perficiendo perficitur in aliis citiùs, in aliis taràiùs; and S. Ber∣nard, Lavari quidem citò possumus, sed ad sanandum multâ curatione opus est. The work of Regeneration, that is begun in the ministery of Baptism, is perfected in some sooner, in some later: We may soon be washed, but to be healed is a work of a long cure.

3. Thirdly, The Dispositions which are required to the ordinary susception of Bap∣tism are not necessary to the efficacy, or required to the nature of the Sacrament, but accidentally, and because of the superinduced necessities of some men; and therefore the Conditions are not regularly to be required. But in those accidents it was necessary for a Gentile Proselyte to repent of his sins, and to believe in Moses's Law, before he could be circumcised: but Abraham was not tied to the same Conditions, but only to Faith in God; but Isaac was not tied to so much; and Circumcision was not of Moses, but of the Fathers: and yet after the sanction of Moses's Law, men were tied to con∣ditions, which were then made necessary to them that entred into the Covenant, but not necessary to the nature of the Covenant it self. And so it is in the susception of Bap∣tism: If a sinner enters into the Font, it is necessary he be stripped of those appendages which himself sewed upon his Nature, and then Repentance is a necessary disposition: if his Understanding hath been a stranger to Religion, polluted with evil Principles and a false Religion, it is necessary he have an actual Faith, that he be given in his Understanding up to the obedience of Christ. And the reason of this is plain, Because in these persons there is a disposition contrary to the state and effects of Baptism; and therefore they must be taken off by their contraries, Faith and Repentance, that they may be reduced to the state of pure Receptives. And this is the sence of those words of our Blessed Saviour, Unless ye become like one of these little ones, ye shall not enter into the

Kingdom of Heaven; that is, Ye cannot be admitted into the Gospel-Covenant, unless all your contrarieties and impediments be taken from you, and you be as apt as chil∣dren to receive the new immissions from Heaven. And this Proposition relies upon a great Example, and a certain Reason. The Example is our Blessed Saviour, who was 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 debitor, he had committed no sin, and needed no Repentance; he needed not to be saved by Faith, for of Faith he was the Author and Finisher, and the great object, and its perfection and reward: and yet he was baptized by the Baptism of John, the Baptism of Repentance. And therefore it is certain that Repentance and Faith are not necessary to the susception of Baptism, but necessary to some persons that are baptized. For it is necessary we should much consider the difference. If the Sa∣crament by any person may be justly received in whom such Dispositions are not to be sound, then the Dispositions are not necessary or intrinsecal to the susception of the Sa∣crament; and yet some persons coming to this Sacrament may have such necessities of their own as will make the Sacrament ineffectual without such Dispositions. These I call necessary to the person, but not to the Sacrament; that is, necessary to all such, but not necessary to all absolutely. And Faith is necessary sometimes where Repentance is not, sometimes Repentance and Faith together, and sometimes otherwise. When Philip baptized the Eunuch, he only required of him to believe, not to repent. But S.Pe∣ter,* 1.408 when he preached to the Jews and converted them, only required Repentance;* 1.409 which although it in their case implied Faith, yet there was explicit stipulation for it:* 1.410 they had crucified the Lord of life, and if they would come to God by Baptism, they must renounce their sin; that was all was then stood upon. It is as the case is, or as the persons have superinduced necessities upon themselves. In Children the case is evi∣dent as to the one part, which is equally required, I mean, Repentance; the not do∣ing of which cannot prejudice them as to the susception of Baptism, because they ha∣ving done no evil are not bound to repent; and to repent is as necessary to the suscepti∣on of Baptism as Faith is: But this shews that they are accidentally necessary, that is, not absolutely, not to all, not to Insants: and if they may be excused from one duty which is indispensably necessary to Baptism, why they may not from the other, is a se∣cret which will not be found out by these whom it concerns to believe it.

4. And therefore when our Blessed Lord made a stipulation and express Command∣ment for Faith, with the greatest annexed penalty to them that had it not, He that be∣lieveth not shall be damned, the proposition is not to be verified or understood as relative to every period of time; for then no man could be converted from Insidelity to the Christian Faith, and from the power of the Devil to the Kingdom of Christ, but his present Infidelity shall be his final ruine. It is not therefore 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, not a Sentence, but a 〈◊〉〈◊〉, a Prediction and Intermination. It is not like that saying, God is true, and every man a lier, and, Every good and every perfect gift is from above; for these are true in every instant, without reference to circumstances: but, He that believeth not shall be damned, is a Prediction, or that which in Rhetorick is called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or a Use, because this is the affirmation of that which usually or frequently comes to pass; such as this, He that strikes with the sword shall perish by the sword; He that robs a Church shall be like a wheel, of a vertiginous and unstable estate; He that loves wine and oyl shall not be rich: and therefore it is a declaration of that which is universally or commonly true; but not so, that in what instant soever a man is not a believer, in that instant it is true to say he is damned; for some are called the third, some the sixth, some the ninth hour, and they that come in, being first called, at the eleventh hour, shall have their reward: so that this sentence stands true at the day and the judgment of the Lord, not at the judgment or day of man. And in the same necessity as Faith stands to Salvation, in the same it stands to Baptism, that is, to be measured by the whole latitude of its ex∣tent. Our Baptism shall no more do all its intention, unless Faith supervene, than a man is in possibility of being saved without Faith; it must come in its due time, but is not indispensably necessary in all instances and periods. Baptism is the seal of our Election and adoption; and as Election is brought to effect by Faith and its conse∣quents, so is Baptism: but to neither is Faith necessary as to its beginning and first en∣trance. To which also I add this Consideration, That actual Faith is necessary, not to the susception, but to the consequent effects of Baptism, appears, because the Church, and particularly the Apostles, did baptize some persons who had not Faith, but were Hypocrites; such as were Simon Magus, Alexander the Copper-smith, Demas and Diotrephes; and such was Judas when he was baptized, and such were the Gnostick Teachers. For the effect depends upon God, who knows the heart, but the outward susception depends upon them who do not know it: which is a certain argument,

That the same Faith which is necessary to the effect of the Sacrament is not necessary to its susception; and if it can be administred to Hypocrites, much more to Infants; if to those who really hinder the effect, much rather to them that hinder not. And if it be objected, that the Church does not know but the Pretenders have Faith, but she knows Infants have not: I reply, that the Church does not know but the Pretenders hinder the effect, and are contrary to the grace of the Sacrament, but she knows that Infants do not: The first possibly may receive the Grace, the other cannot hinder it.

5. But besides these things it is considerable, that, when it is required, persons have Faith: It is true, they that require Baptism should give a reason why they do; so it was in the case of the Eunuch baptized by Philip: but this is not to be required of others that do not ask it, and yet they may be of the Church, and of the Faith; for by Faith is also understood the Christian Religion, and the Christian Faith is the Christian Religion, and of this a man may be though he make no confession of his Faith, as a man may be of the Church, and yet not be of the number of God's secret ones; and to this more is required than to that: to the first it is sufficient that he be admitted by a Sacrament or a Ceremony; which is infallibly certain, because Hypocrites and wick∣ed people are in the visible Communion of the Church, and are reckoned as members of it, and yet to them there was nothing done but the Ceremony administred; and therefore when that is done to Insants, they also are to be reckoned in the Church∣Communion. And indeed, in the examples of Scripture, we find more inserted into the number of God's family by outward Ceremony than by the inward Grace. Of this number were all those who were circumcised the eighth day, who were admitted thi∣ther, as the woman's daughter was cured in the Gospel, by the Faith of their mother, their natural parents, or their spiritual; to whose Faith it is as certain God will take heed, as to their Faith who brought one to Christ who could not come himself, the poor Paralytick; for when Christ saw their faith, he cured their friend: and yet it is to be observed, that Christ did use to exact faith, actual faith, of them that came to him to be cured, [According to your faith be it unto you.] The case is equal in its whole kind.* 1.411 And it is considerable what Christ saith to the poor man that came in behalf of his son, All things are possible to him that believeth: it is possible for a son to receive the blessing* 1.412 and benefit of his father's faith; and it was so in his case, and is possible to any; for to Faith all things are possible. And as to the event of things it is evident in the story of the Gospel, that the faith of their relatives was equally effective to children and friends or servants, absent or sick, as the faith of the interested person was to himself: as appears beyond all exception in the case of the friends of the Paralytick, let down with cords through the tiles; of the Centurion, in behalf of his servant; of the nobleman, for his son sick at Capernaum; of the 〈◊〉〈◊〉, for her daughter: and Christ required* 1.413 saith of no sick man, but of* 1.414 him that presented himself to him, and desired for him∣self* 1.415 that he might be cured, as it was in the case of the blind man. Though they could not believe, yet Christ required belief of them that came to him on their behalf. And why then it may not be so, or is not so, in the case of Infants Baptism, I confess it is past my skill to conjecture. The Reason on which this farther relies is contained in the next Proposition.

6. Fourthly, No disposition or act of man can deserve the first Grace, or the grace of Pardon: for so long as a man is unpardoned, he is an enemy to God, and as a dead person, and, unless he be prevented by the grace of God, cannot do a single act in or∣der to his pardon and restitution; so that the first work which God does upon a man is so wholly his own, that the man hath nothing in it, but to entertain it, that is, not to hinder the work of God upon him. And this is done in them that have in them no∣thing that can hinder the work of Grace, or in them who remove the hinderances. Of the latter sort are all Sinners, who have lived in a state contrary to God; of the first are they who are prevented by the grace of God before they can chuse, that is, little Children, and those that become like unto little Children. So that Faith and Repen∣tance are not necessary at first to the reception of the first grace, but by accident. If Sin have drawn curtains, and put bars and coverings to the windows, these must be taken away; and that is done by Faith and Repentance: but if the windows be not shut, so that the light can pass through them, the eye of Heaven will pass in and dwell there. No man can come unto me, unless my Father draw him: that is, The first access to Christ is nothing of our own, but wholly of God; and it is as in our creation, in* 1.416 which we have an obediential capacity, but cooperate not; only if we be contrary to the work of Grace, that contrariety must be taken off, else there is no necessity. And

if all men, according to Christ's saying, must receive the Kingdom of God as little chil∣dren,* 1.417 it is certain, little children do receive it; they receive it as all men ought, that is, without any impediment or obstruction, without anything within that is contra∣ry to that state.

7. Fifthly, Baptism is not to be estimated as one act, transient and effective to single purposes; but it is an entrance to a conjugation and a state of Blessings. All our life is to be transacted by the measures of the Gospel-Covenant, and that Covenant is con∣sign'd by Baptism, there we have our title and adoption to it; and the grace that is then given to us is like a piece of Leven put into a lump of dough, and Faith and Re∣pentance do in all the periods of our life put it into fermentation and activity. Then the seed of God is put into the ground of our hearts, and Repentance waters it, and Faith makes it subactum solum, the ground and surrows apt to produce fruits: and therefore Faith and Repentance are necessary to the effect of Baptism, not to its suscep∣tion; that is, necessary to all those parts of life in which Baptism does operate, not to the first sanction or entring into the Covenant. The seed may lie long in the ground, and produce fruits in its due season, if it be refreshed with the former and the later rain, that is, the Repentance that first changes the state, and converts the man, and after∣wards returns him to his title, and recalls him from his wandrings, and keeps him in the state of Grace, and within the limits of the Covenant: and all the way Faith gives efficacy and acceptation to this Repentance, that is, continues our title to the Promise of not having Righteousness exacted by the measures of the Law, but by the Covenant and promise of Grace, into which we entred in Baptism, and walk in the same all the days of our life.

8. Sixthly, The Holy Spirit which descends upon the waters of Baptism does not in∣stantly produce its effects in the Soul of the baptized; and when he does, it is irregu∣larly, and as he pleases. The Spirit bloweth where it listeth, and no man knoweth whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth: and the Catechumen is admitted into the Kingdom, yet the Kingdom of God cometh not with observation: and this saying of our Blessed Savi∣our* 1.418 was spoken of* 1.419 the Kingdom of God that is within us, that is, the Spirit of Grace, the power of the Gospel put into our hearts, concerning which he affirmed, that it ope∣rates so secretly, that it comes not with outward shew; neither shall they say, Lo here, or lo there. Which thing I desire the rather to be observed, because in the same dis∣course, which our Blessed Saviour continued to that assembly, he affirms this Kingdom of God to belong unto little children, this Kingdom that cometh not with outward significa∣tions* 1.420 or present expresses, this Kingdom that is within us. For the present, the use I make of it is this, That no man can conclude that this Kingdom of Power, that is, the Spirit of Sanctification, is not come upon Infants, because there is no sign or expression of it. It is within us, therefore it hath no signification. It is the seed of God; and it is no good Argument to say, Here is no seed in the bowels of the earth, because there is nothing green upon the face of it. For the Church gives the Sacrament, God gives the Grace of the Sacrament. But because he does not always give it at the instant in which the Church gives the Sacrament, (as if there be a secret impediment in the sus∣cipient) and yet afterwards does give it when the impediment is removed, (as to them that repent of that impediment) it follows, that the Church may administer rightly even before God gives the real Grace of the Sacrament: and if God gives this Grace af∣terwards by parts, and yet all of it is the effect of that Covenant which was consigned in Baptism; he that desers some may defer all, and verifie every part as well as any part. For it is certain, that in the instance now made all the Grace is deferred; in In∣fants it is not certain but that some is collated or infused: however, be it so or no, yet upon this account the administration of the Sacrament is not hindred.

9. Seventhly, When the Scripture speaks of the effects of or dispositions to Baptism, it speaks in general expressions, as being most apt to signifie a common duty, or a ge∣neral effect, or a more universal event, or the proper order of things: but those gene∣ral expressions do not supponere universaliter, that is, are not to be understood exclu∣sively to all that are not so qualified, or universally of all suscipients, or of all the sub∣jects of the Proposition. When the Prophets complain of the Jews, that they are fal∣len from God, and turned to Idols, and walk not in the way of their Fathers; and at other times the Scripture speaks the same thing of their Fathers, that they walked per∣versly toward God, starting aside like a broken bow; in these and the like expressions the Holy Scripture uses a Synecdoche, or signifies many only, under the notion of a more large and indesinite expression: for neither were all the Fathers good, neither did all the sons prevaricate; but among the Fathers there were enough to recommend to po∣sterity

by way of example, and among the Children there were enough to stain the re∣putation of the Age; but neither the one part nor the other was true of every single person. S. John the Baptist spake to the whole audience, saying, O generation of 〈◊〉〈◊〉! and yet he did not mean that all Jerusalem and Judaea that went out to be baptized of him were such; but he, under an undeterminate reproof, intended those that were such, that is, especially the Priests and the Pharisees. And it is more considerable yet in the story of the event of Christ's Sermon in the Synagogue, upon his Text taken out of Isaiah, All wondred at his gracious words, and bare him witness; and a little after, All* 1.421 they in the Synagogue were filled with wrath: that is, it was generally so, but hardly to be supposed true of every single 〈◊〉〈◊〉, in both the contrary humors and usages. Thus Christ said to the Apostles, To have abidden with me in my temptations; and yet Judas was all the way a follower of interest and the bag, rather than Christ, and afterwards none of them all did abide with Christ in his greatest Temptations. Thus also, to come nearer the present Question, the secret effects of Election and of the Spirit are in Scrip∣ture attributed to all that are of the outward Communion. So S. Peter calls all the Christian strangers of the Eastern dispersion, Elect according to the sore-knowledge of God* 1.422 the Father; and S. Paul saith of all the Roman Christians, and the same of the 〈◊〉〈◊〉, that their Faith was spoken of in all the world: and yet amongst them it is not to be supposed that all the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 had an unreproveable Faith, or that every one of the Church of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 was an excellent and a charitable person; and yet the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 useth this expression, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you* 1.423 all towards each other aboundeth. These are usually significant of a general custom or or∣der of things, or duty of men, or design, and natural or proper expectation of events. Such are these also in this very Question, As many of you as are baptized into Christ, have put on Christ; that is, so it is regularly, and so it will be in its due time, and that is the order of things, and the designed event: but from hence we cannot conclude of eve∣ry person, and in every period of time, This man hath been baptized, therefore now he is 〈◊〉〈◊〉 with Christ, he hath put on Christ; nor thus, This person cannot in a spiritual sence as yet put on Christ, therefore he hath not been baptized, that is, he hath not put him on in a 〈◊〉〈◊〉 sence. Such is the saying of S. Paul, Whom he hath predestinated, them he* 1.424 also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified: this also declares the regular event, or at least the order of things, and the design of God, but not the actual verification of it to all persons. These sayings con∣cerning Baptism in the like manner are to be so understood, that they cannot exclude all persons from the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 that have not all those real effects of the Sacrament at all times which some men have at some times, and all men must have at some time or other, viz. when the Sacrament obtains its last intention. But he that shall argue from hence, That Children are not rightly baptized, because they cannot in a spiritu∣al sence put on Christ, concludes nothing, unless these Propositions did signifie univer∣sally, and at all times, and in every person, and in every manner: which can no more pretend to truth, than that all Christians are God's Elect, and all that are baptized are Saints, and all that are called are justified, and all that are once justified shall be saved finally. These things declare only the event of things, and their order, and the usual effect, and the proper design, in their proper season, in their limited proportions.

10. Eighthly, A Negative Argument for matters of fact in Scripture cannot con∣clude a Law, or a necessary or a regular event. And therefore supposing that it be not intimated that the Apostles did baptize Insants, it follows not that they did not; and if they did not, it does not follow that they might not, or that the Church may not. For it is unreasonable to argue, The Scripture speaks nothing of the Baptism of the Ho∣ly Virgin Mother, therefore she was not baptized. The words and deeds of Christ are infinite which are not recorded, and of the Acts of the Apostles we may suppose the same in their proportion: and therefore what they did not is no rule to us, unless they did it not because they were forbidden. So that it can be no good Argument to say, The Apostles are not read to have baptized Infants, therefore Infants are not to be bap∣tized: but thus, We do not find that Infants are excluded from the common Sacra∣ments and Ceremonies of Christian institution, therefore we may not presume to ex∣clude them. For although the Negative of a Fact is no good Argument, yet the Nega∣tive of a Law is a very good one. We may not say, The Apostles did not, therefore we may not: but thus, They were not forbidden to do it, there is no Law against it, therefore it may be done. No man's deeds can prejudicate a Divine Law expressed in general terms, much less can it be prejudiced by those things that were not done. That which is wanting cannot be numbred, cannot be effectual; therefore, Baptize all Nations,* 1.425

must signifie all that it can signifie, all that are reckoned in the Capitations and ac∣counts of a Nation. Now since all contradiction to this Question depends wholly up∣on these two Grounds, the Negative Argument in matter of Fact, and the Pretences that Faith and Repentance are required to Baptism; since the first is wholly nothing, and infirm upon an infinite account, and the second may conclude, that Infants can no more be saved than be baptized, because Faith is more necessary to Salvation than to Baptism; it being said, He that believeth not shall be damned, and it is not said, He that believeth not shall be excluded from Baptism: it follows, that the Doctrine of those that resuse to baptize their Infants is upon both its legs weak and broken and insuffici∣ent.

11. Upon the supposition of these Grounds, the Baptism of Infants, according to the perpetual practice of the Church of God, will stand firm and unshaken upon its own Base. For, as the Eunuch said to Philip, What hinders them to be baptized? If they can receive benefit by it, it is infallibly certain, that it belongs to them also to receive it, and to their Parents to procure it; for nothing can deprive us of so great a Grace but an Unworthiness, or a Disability. They are not disabled to receive it, if they need it, and if it does them good; and they have neither done good nor evil, and theresore they have not sorseited their right to it. This theresore shall be the first great Argument or Combination of inducements, Infants receive many benefits by the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and theresore in charity and in duty we are to bring them to Baptism.

12. First, The first Effect of Baptism is, That in it we are admitted to the Kingdom of Christ, offered and presented unto him. In which certainly there is the same act of Worship to God, and the same blessing to the Children of Christians, as there was in presenting the first-born among the Jews. For our Children can be God's own porti∣on as well as theirs: And as they presented the first-born to God, and so acknowledged that God might have taken his life in Sacrifice, as well as the Sacrifice of the Lamb or the Oblation of a Beast; yet when the right was consessed, God gave him back again, and took a Lamb in exchange, or a pair of Doves: so are our Children presented to God as forseit, and God might take the forfeiture, and not admit the Babe to the Pro∣mises of Grace; but when the Presentation of the Child and our acknowledgment is made to God, God takes the Lamb of the World in exchange, and he hath paid our forfeiture, and the Children are holy unto the Lord. And what hinders here? Cannot a Cripple receive an alms at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, unless he go thither him∣self? or cannot a Gift be presented to God by the hands of the owners, and the Gift be∣come holy and pleasing to God, without its own consent? The Parents have a portion of the possession: Children are blessings, and God's gifts, and the Father's greatest wealth, and therefore are to be given again to him. In other things we give some∣thing to God of all that he gives us; all we do not, because our needs force us to retain the greater part, and the less sanctifies the whole: but our Children must all be re∣turned to God; for we may love them, and so may God too, and they are the better our own by being made holy in their Presentation. Whatsoever is given to God is ho∣ly, every thing in its proportion and capacity; a Lamb is holy when it becomes a Sa∣crifice, and a Table is holy when it becomes an Altar, and an House is holy when it becomes a Church, and a Man is holy when he is consecrated to be a Priest, and so is every one that is dedicated to Religion: these are holy persons, the others are holy Things. And Infants are between both: they have the Sanctification that belongs to them, the Holiness that can be of a reasonable nature offer'd and destin'd to God's ser∣vice; but not in that degree that is in an understanding, chusing person. Certain it is that Infants may be given to God; and if they may be, they must be: for it is not here as in Goods, where we are permitted to use all or some, and give what portion we please out of them; but we cannot do our duty towards our Children unless we give them wholly to God, and offer them to his service and to his grace. The first does ho∣nour to God, the second does charity to the Children. The effects and real advanta∣ges will appear in the sequel. In the mean time this Argument extends thus sar, That Children may be presented to God acceptably in order to his service. And it was high∣ly preceptive, when our Blessed Saviour commanded that we should 〈◊〉〈◊〉 little children to come to him: and when they came, they carried away a Blessing along with them. He was desirous they should partake of his Merits: he is not willing, neither is it his Father's will, that any of these little ones should perish. And therefore he died for them, and loved, and blessed them: and so he will now, if they be brought to him, and pre∣sented as Candidates of the Religion and of the Resurrection. Christ hath a Blessing for our Children; but let them come to him, that is, be presented at the doors of the

Church to the Sacrament of Adoption and Initiation; for I know no other way for them to come.

13. Secondly, Children may be adopted into the Covenant of the Gospel, that is, made partakers of the Communion of Saints, which is the second Effect of Baptism; parts of the Church, members of Christ's Mystical body, and put into the order of eternal life. Now concerning this, it is certain the Church clearly hath power to do her offi∣ces in order to it. The faithful can pray for all men, they can do their piety to some persons with more regard and greater earnestness, they can admit whom they please in their proper dispositions to a participation of all their holy Prayers, and Communions, and Preachings, and Exhortations: and if all this be a blessing, and all this be the actions of our own Charity, who can hinder the Church of God from admitting In∣fants to the communion of all their pious offices, which can do them benefit in their present capacity? How this does necessarily infer Baptism, I shall * 1.426 afterwards dis∣course. But for the present I enumerate, That the blessings of Baptism are communi∣cable to them; they may be admitted into a fellowship of all the Prayers and Privi∣ledges of the Church, and the Communion of Saints, in blessings, and prayers, and holy offices. But that which is of greatest perswasion and convincing efficacy in this particular is, That the Children of the Church are as capable of the same Covenant as the children of the Jews: But it was the same Covenant that Circumcision did consign, a spiritual Covenant under a veil, and now it is the same spiritual Covenant without the veil; which is evident to him that considers it, thus:

14. The words of the Covenant are these, [I am the Almighty God, walk before me,* 1.427 and be thou perfect: I will multiply thee exceedingly: Thou shalt be a Father of many Nati∣ons: Thy name shall not be Abram, but Abraham: Nations and Kings shall be out of thee: I will be a God unto thee and unto thy seed after thee: and, I will give all the Land of Cana∣an to thy seed: and, All the Males shall be circumcised; and it shall be a token of the Cove∣nant between me and thee: and, He that is not circumcised shall be cut off from his people.] The Covenant which was on 〈◊〉〈◊〉's part was, To walk before God, and to be per∣fect; on God's part, To bless him with a numerous issue, and them with the Land of Canaan: and the sign was Circumcision, the token of the Covenant. Now in all this here was no duty to which the posterity was obliged, nor any blessing which 〈◊〉〈◊〉 could perceive or feel, because neither he nor his posterity did enjoy the Promise for many hundred years after the Covenant: and therefore as there was a duty for the po∣sterity which is not here expressed; so there was a blessing for Abraham, which was concealed under the leaves of a temporal Promise, and which we shall better under∣stand from them whom the Spirit of God hath taught the mysteriousness of this trans∣action. The argument indeed and the observation is wholly S. Paul's. Abraham and* 1.428 the Patriarchs died in faith, not having received the Promises, viz. of a possession in Ca∣naan. They saw the Promises afar off, they embraced them, and looked through the Cloud, and the temporal veil: this was not it; they might have returned to Canaan, if* 1.429 that had been the object of their desires, and the design of the Promise: but they desi∣red and did seek a Country, but it was a better, and that a heavenly. This was the object* 1.430 of their desire, and the end of their seach, and the reward of their Faith, and the secret of their Promise. And therefore Circumcision was a seal of the righteousness of Faith* 1.431 which he had before his Circumcision, before the making this Covenant; and therefore it must principally relate to an effect and a blessing greater than was afterwards expres∣sed in the temporal Promise: which effect was forgiveness of sins, a not imputing to us* 1.432 our infirmities, Justification by Faith, accounting that for righteousness: and these effects* 1.433 or graces were promised to Abraham, not only for his posterity after the flesh, but his children after the spirit, even to all that shall believe and walk in the steps* 1.434 of that faith of our father Abraham which he walked in being yet uncircumci∣sed.

15. This was no other but the Covenant of the Gospel, though afterwards other∣wise consigned: for so the Apostle expresly affirms, that Abraham was the father of Cir∣cumcision (viz. by virtue of this Covenant) not only to them that are circumcised, but* 1.435 to all that believe: for this promise was not through the Law of Works, or of Circumcisi∣on, but of Faith. And therefore, as S. Paul observes, God promised that Abraham* 1.436 should be a father (not of that Nation only, but) of many Nations, and the heir of the* 1.437 world; that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that* 1.438 we might receive the promise of the Spirit through Faith. And if ye be Christ's, then* 1.439 ye are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the Promise. Since then the Covenant of the Gospel is the Covenant of Faith, and not of Works; and the Promises are spiritual,

not secular; and Abraham the father of the faithful Gentiles as well as the circumcised Jews; and the heir of the world, not by himself, but by his seed, or the Son of Man, our Lord Jesus: it follows, that the Promises which Circumcision did seal were the same Promises which are consigned in Baptism; the Covenant is the same, only that God's people are not impal'd in 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and the veil is taken away, and the Temporal is passed into Spiritual; and the re∣sult* 1.440 will be this, That to as many persons, and in as many capa∣cities, and in the same dispositions as the Promises were applied and did relate in Circumcision, to the same they do belong and may be applied in Baptism. And let it be remembred, That the Covenant which Circumcision did sign was a Covenant of Grace and 〈◊〉〈◊〉; the Promises were of the Spirit, or spiritual; it was made before the Law, and could not be rescinded by the Legal Covenant; nothing could be added to it, or taken from it: and we that are partakers of this grace are therefore partakers of it by being Christ's servants, united to Christ, and so are become Abraham's seed, (as the Apostle at large and prosessedly proves in divers places, but especially in the fourth to the 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and the third to the Galatians.) And therefore if Infants were then admitted to it, and consigned to it by a Sacrament which they understood not any more than ours do, there is not any reason why ours should not enter in at the ordinary gate and door of grace as well as they. Their Children were circumcised the eighth day, but were instructed afterwards, when they could enquire what these things meant. Indeed their Proselytes were first taught, then circum∣cised; so are ours baptized: but their Infants were consigned first; and so must ours.

16. Thirdly, In Baptism we are born again; and this Infants need in the present cir∣cumstances, and for the same great reason that men of age and reason do. For our na∣tural birth is either of it self insufficient, or is made so by the Fall of Adam and the con∣sequent evils, that Nature alone, or our first birth, cannot bring us to Heaven, which is a supernatural end, that is, an end above all the power of our Nature as now it is. So that if Nature cannot bring us to Heaven, Grace must, or we can never get thither; if the first birth cannot, a second must: but the second birth spoken of in Scrip∣ture is Baptism, A man must be born of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and the Spirit. And therefore Baptism is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the laver of a new birth. Either then Infants cannot go to Hea∣ven* 1.441 any way that we know of, or they must be baptized. To say they are to be left to God, is an excuse, and no answer: for when God hath opened the door, and calls that the entrance into Heaven, we do not leave them to God, when we will not carry them to him in the way which he hath described, and at the door which himself hath opened: we leave them indeed, but it is but helpless and destitute: and though God is better than man, yet that is no warrant to us; what it will be to the children, that we cannot warrant or conjecture. And if it be objected, that to the New birth are re∣quired dispositions of our own, which are to be wrought by and in them that have the use of Reason: Besides that this is wholly against the Analogy of a New birth, in which the person to be born is wholly a passive, and hath put into him the principle that in time will produce its proper actions; it is certain that they that can receive the new birth are capable of it. The effect of it is a possibility of being saved, and arriving to a supernatural felicity. If Infants can receive this effect, then also the New birth, without which they cannot receive the effect. And if they can receive Salvation, the effect of the New birth, what hinders them but they may receive that that is in or∣der to that effect, and ordained only for it, and which is nothing of it self, but in its in∣stitution and relation, and which may be received by the same capacity in which one may be created, that is, a passivity, or a capacity obediential?

17. Fourthly, Concerning pardon of sins, which is one great effect of Baptism, it is certain that 〈◊〉〈◊〉 have not that benefit which men of sin and age may receive. He that hath a sickly stomach drinks wine, and it not only refreshes his spirits, but cures his stomach: He that drinks wine and hath not that disease, receives good by his wine, though it does not minister to so many needs; it refreshes, though it does not cure him: and when oyl is poured upon a man's head, it does not always heal a wound, but sometimes makes him a chearful countenance, sometimes it consigns him to be a King or a Priest. So it is in Baptism: it does not heal the wounds of actual sins, because they have not committed them: but it takes off the evil of Original sin: whatsoever is imputed to us by Adam's prevarication, is washed off by the death of the second Adam in∣to* 1.442 which we are baptized. But concerning original sin, because there are so many disputes

which may intricate the Question, I shall make use only of that which is confessed on both sides, and material to our purpose. Death came upon all men by Adam's sin, and the necessity of it remains upon us as an evil consequent of the Disobedience. For though death is natural, yet it was kept off from man by God's favour, which when he lost, the banks were broken, and the water reverted to its natural course, and our nature became a curse, and death a punishment. Now that this also relates to Infants* 1.443 so far is certain, because they are sick, and die. This the Pelagians denied not. But to whomsoever this evil descended, for them also a remedy is provided by the second Adam; That as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive; that is, at the day of Judgment: then death shall be destroyed. In the mean time, Death hath a sting and a bitterness, a curse it is, and an express of the Divine anger: and if this sting be not taken away here, we shall have no participation of the final victory over death. Ei∣ther therefore Infants must be for ever without remedy in this evil consequent of their Father's sin, or they must be adopted into the participation of Christ's death, which is the remedy. Now how can they partake of Christ's death, but by Baptism into his death? For if there be any spiritual way 〈◊〉〈◊〉, it will by a stronger argument admit them to Baptism: for if they can receive spiritual effects, they can also receive the out∣ward Sacrament; this being denied only upon pretence they cannot have the other. If there be no spiritual way extraordinary, then the ordinary way is only left for them. If there be an extraordinary, let it be shewn, and Christians will be at rest concerning their Children. One thing only I desire to be observed, That Pelagius denied Origi∣nal Sin, but yet denied not the necessity of Infants Baptism; and being accused of it in an Epistle to Pope Innocent the First, he purged himself of the suspicion, and allowed the practice, but denied the inducement of it: which shews, that their arts are weak that think Baptism to be useless to Infants, if they be not formally guilty of the preva∣rication of Adam. By which I also gather, that it was so universal, so primitive a pra∣ctice, to baptize Infants, that it was greater than all pretences to the contrary: for it would much have conduced to the introducing his opinion against Grace and Original Sin, if he had destroyed that practice which seemed so very much to have its greatest necessity from the doctrine he denied. But against Pelagins, and against all that follow the parts of his opinion, it is of good use which S. Austin, Prosper and Fulgentius argue; If Infants are punished for Adam's sin, then they are also guilty of it in some sence. Ni∣mis enim impium est hoc de Dei sentire 〈◊〉〈◊〉, quòd à praevaricatione liberos cum reis 〈◊〉〈◊〉* 1.444 esse 〈◊〉〈◊〉: So Prosper. Dispendia quae slentes nascendo testantur, dicito quo merito sub 〈◊〉〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉〈◊〉 judice 〈◊〉〈◊〉, sinullum peccatum 〈◊〉〈◊〉, arrogentur, said S. Austin. For the guilt of it signifies nothing but the obligation to the punishment; and he that feels the evil consequent, to him the sin is imputed; not as to all the same dishonour, or moral accounts, but to the more material, to the natural account: and in Holy Scripture the taking off the punishment is the pardon of the sin; and in the same degree the punishment is abolished, in the same God is appeased, and then the person stands upright, being reconciled to God by his grace. Since therefore Infants have the punishment of sin, it is certain the sin is imputed to them; and therefore they need be∣ing reconciled to God by Christ: and if so, then when they are baptized into Christ's Death and into his Resurrection, their sins are pardoned, because the punishment is ta∣ken off, the sting of natural death is taken away, because God's anger is removed, and they shall partake of Christ's Resurrection; which because Baptism does signifie and consign, they also are to be baptized. To which also add this appendent Considerati∣on, That whatsoever the Sacraments do consign, that also they do convey and minister: they do it, that is, God by them does it; lest we should think the Sacraments to be mere illusions, and abusing us by deceitful ineffective signs: and therefore to Infants the grace of a title to a Resurrection and Reconciliation to God by the death of Christ is conveyed, because it signifies and consigns this to them more to the life and analogy of resemblance than Circumcision to the Infant sons of Israel. I end this Consideration with the words of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. * 1.445 Our birth by Baptism does cut off every unclean ap∣pendage of our natural birth, and leads us to a celestial life. And this in Children is there∣fore more necessary, because the evil came upon them without their own act of reason and choice, and therefore the grace and remedy ought not to stay the leisure of dull Na∣ture and the formalities of the Civil Law.

18. Fifthly, The Baptism of Insants does to them the greatest part of that benefit which belongs to the remission of sins: For Baptism is a state of Repentance and Pardon for ever. This I suppose to be already proved; to which I only add this

Caution, That the Pelagians, to undervalue the necessity of Supervening grace, affirmed, that Baptism did minister to us Grace sufficient to live perfectly, and without sin for ever. Against this S. Jerome sharply declaims, and affirms, Baptismum praeteri∣ta* 1.446 donare peccata, non suturam servare justitiam; that is, non statim justum facit & omni plenum justitiâ, as he expounds his meaning in another place. Vetera peccata conscindit, novas virtutes non tribuit; dimittit à carcere, & dimisso, si laboraverit, praemia pollicetur. Baptism does not so forgive future sins that we may do what we please, or so as we need not labour and watch, and fear perpetually, and make use of God's grace to actuate our endeavours; but puts us into a state of Pardon, that is, in a Covenant of Grace, in which so long as we labour and repent, and strive to do our duty, so long our infirmi∣ties are pitied, and our sins certain to be pardoned upon their certain conditions; that is, by virtue of it we are capable of Pardon, and must work for it, and may hope it. And therefore Infants have a most certain capacity and proper disposition to Baptism: for sin creeps before it can go; and little undecencies are soon learned, and malice is be∣fore their years, and they can do mischief and irregularities betimes; and though we know not when, nor how far they are imputed in every month of their lives, yet it is an admirable art of the Spirit of grace, to put them into a state of Pardon, that their remedy may at least be as soon as their necessity. And therefore Tertullian and Gregory Nazianzen advised the Baptism of Children to be at three or four years of age; mean∣ing, that they then begin to have little inadvertencies and hasty follies, and actions so evil as did need a Lavatory. But if Baptism hath an influence upon sins in the suc∣ceeding portion, of our life, then it is certain, that their being presently innocent does not hinder and ought not to retard the Sacrament: and therefore Tertullian's Quid fe∣stinat* 1.447 innocens aetas ad remissionem peccatorum? What need Innocents hasten to the remission of sin? is soon answered. It is true, they need not in respect of any actual sins, for so they are innocent: but in respect of the evils of their nature derived from their original, and in respect of future sins in the whole state of their life, it is necessary they be put into a state of Pardon before they sin, because some sin early, some sin later; and therefore unless they be baptized so early as to prevent the first sins, they may chance die in a sin, to the pardon of which they have ••••t derived no title from Christ.

19. Sixthly, The next great effect of Baptism which Children can have is the Spir it of Sanctification; and it they can be baptized with Water and the Spirit, it will be sacri∣ledge to rob them of so holy treasures. And concerning this, although it be with them as S. Paul says of Heirs, The Heir so long as he is a child differeth nothing from a Servant, though he be Lord of all; and Children, although they receive the Spirit of Promise, and the Spirit of Grace, yet in respect of actual exercise they differ not from them that have them not at all: yet this hinders not but they may have them. For as the reason∣able Soul and all its Faculties are in Children, Will, and Understanding, Passions, and Powers of Attraction and Propulsion, yet these Faculties do not operate or come ahead till time and art, observation and experience have drawn them forth into action: so may the Spirit of Grace, the principle of Christian life, be infused, and yet lie with∣out action, till in its own day it is drawn forth. For in every Christian there are three parts concurring to his integral constitution, Body, and Soul, and Spirit; and all these have their proper activities and times; but every one in his own order, first that which is natural, then that which is spiritual. And what Aristotle said, A man first lives the life of a Plant, then of a Beast, and lastly of a Man, is true in this sence: and the more spiritual the principle is, the longer it is before it operates, because more things con∣cur to spiritual actions than to natural: and these are necessary, and therefore first; the other are perfect, and therefore last. And who is he that so well understands the Phi∣losophy of this third principle of a Christian's life, the Spirit, as to know how or when it is infused, and how it operates in all its periods, and what it is in its being and pro∣per nature; and whether it be like the Soul, or like the faculty, or like a habit; or how or to what purposes God in all varieties does dispence it? These are secrets which none but bold people use to decree, and build propositions upon their own dreams. That which is certain is, * That the Spirit is the principle of a new life, or a new birth. * That Baptism is the Laver of this new birth. * That it is the seed of God, and may lie long in the furrows before it springs up. * That from the faculty to the act the passage is not always sudden and quick. * That the Spirit is the earnest of our Inheritance, that is, of Resurrection to eternal life: which inheritance because Chil∣dren we hope shall have, they cannot be denied to have its Seal and earnest; that is, if they shall have all, they are not to be denied a part. * That Children have some effects of the Spirit, and therefore do receive it, and are baptized with the Spirit, and therefore

may with Water: which thing is therefore true and evident, because some Children are sanctified, as Jeremy and the Baptist, and therefore all may. And because all San∣ctification of persons is an effect of the Holy Ghost, there is no peradventure but they that can be 〈◊〉〈◊〉 by God, can in that capacity receive the Holy Ghost: and all the ground of dissenting here is only upon a mistake; because Infants do no act of Holiness, they suppose them incapable of the grace of 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Now 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of Children is their Adoption to the Inheritance of sons, their Presentation to Christ, their Consignation to Christ's service and to Resurrection, their being put into a possibili∣ty of being saved, their restitution to God's favour, which naturally, that is, as our Nature is depraved and punished, they could not have. And in short the case is this: * Original righteousness was in Adam 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the manner of Nature, but it was an act or effect of Grace, and by it men were not made, but born Righteous; the inferiour Facul∣ties obeyed the superiour, the Mind was whole and right, and conformable to the Di∣vine Image, the Reason and the Will always concurring, the Will followed Reason, and Reason followed the Laws of God; and so long as a man had not lost this, he was pleasing to God, and should have* 1.448 passed to a more perfect state. Now because this, if Adam had stood, should have been born with every child, there was in Infants a principle which was the seed of holy life here, and a blessed hereafter; and yet the children should have gone in the road of Nature then as well as now, and the Spirit should have operated at Nature's leisure; God being the giver of both, would have made them instrumental to and perfective of each other,* 1.449 but not destructive. Now what was lost by Adam is restored by Christ, the same Righ∣teousness, only it is not born, but superinduced, not integral, but interrupted; but such as it is, there is no difference, but that the same or the like principle may be deri∣ved to us from Christ as there should have been from Adam, that is, a principle of Obedi∣ence, a regularity of 〈◊〉〈◊〉, a beauty in the Soul, and a state of acceptation with God. And we see also in men of understanding and reason, the Spirit of God 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in them, (which Tatianus describing uses these words, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Soul is possessed with sparks, or materials, of the power of the Spirit) and yet it is sometimes ineffective and unactive, sometimes more, sometimes less, and does no more do its work at all times than the Soul does at all times understand. Add to this, that if there be in 〈◊〉〈◊〉 naturally an evil principle, a pro∣clivity to sin, an ignorance and pravity of mind, a disorder of affections, (as experi∣ence teacheth us there is, and the perpetual Doctrine of the Church, and the universal mischiefs issuing from mankind, and the sin of every man does witness too much) why cannot Infants have a good principle in them, though it works not till its own season, as well as an evil principle? If there were not by nature some evil principle, it is not possible that all the world should chuse sin. In free Agents it was never heard that all individuals loved and chose the same thing, to which they were not naturally inclined. Neither do all men chuse to marry, neither do all chuse to abstain; and in this instance there is a natural inclination to one part. But of all the men and women in the world there is no one that hath never sinned: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive our selves,* 1.450 and the truth is not in us, said an Apostle. If therefore Nature hath in Infants an evil principle, which operates when the child can chuse, but is all the while within the Soul; either Infants have by Grace a principle put into them, or else Sin abounds where Grace does not superabound, expresly against the doctrine of the Apostle. The event of this discourse is, That if Infants be capable of the Spirit of Grace, there is no reason but they may and ought to be baptized as well as men and women; unless God had expresly forbidden them, which cannot be pretended: and that Infants are capable of the Spirit of Grace, I think is made very credible. Christus infantibus infans 〈◊〉〈◊〉,* 1.451 sanctificans 〈◊〉〈◊〉, said Irenaeus; Christ became an Infant among the Infants, and does sanctifie Infants: and S. Cyprian affirms, Esse apud omnes, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Infantes 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ma∣jores 〈◊〉〈◊〉, unam divini muneris aequitatem; There is the same dispensation of the Di∣vine grace to all alike, to Infants as well as to men. And in this Royal Priesthood, as it is in the secular, Kings may be anointed in their Cradles. Dat (Deus) sui* 1.452 Spiritûs 〈◊〉〈◊〉 gratiam, quam etiam latenter infundit in parvulis; God gives the most secret Grace of his Spirit, which he also secretly infuses into In∣fants. And if a secret infusion be rejected, because it cannot be proved at the place and at the instant, many men that hope for Heaven will be very much to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 for a proof of their earnest, and need an earnest of the earnest. For all that have the Spirit of God cannot in all instants prove it, or certainly know

it: neither is it defined by how many indices the Spirit's presence can be proved or fig∣••••ed. And they limit the Spirit too much, and understand it too little, who take ac∣••••unts of his secret workings, and measure them by the material lines and methods of natural and animal effects. And yet because whatsoever is holy is made so by the Holy Spirit, we are certain that the Children of believing, that is, of Christian, Parents are holy. S. Paul affirmed it, and by it hath distinguished ours from the Children of unbelievers, and our Marriages from theirs. And because the Children of the Hea∣then, when they come to choice and Reason, may enter into Baptism and the Cove∣nant, if they will; our Children have no priviledge beyond the Children of Turks or Heathens, unless it be in the present capacity, that is, either by receiving the Holy Ghost immediately, and the Promises, or at least having a title to the Sacrament, and entring by that door. If they have the Spirit, nothing can hinder them from a title to the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ater; and if they have only a title to the water of the Sacrament, then they shall receive the promise of the Holy Spirit, the benefits of the Sacrament: else their privi∣ledge is none at all, but a dish of cold water, which every Village-Nurse can provide for her new-born babe.

20. But it is in our case as it was with the Jews Children: Our Children are a holy seed; for if it were not so with Christianity, how could S. Peter move the Jews to Christianity by telling them the Promise was to them and their Children? For if our Children be not capable of the Spirit of Promise and Holiness, and yet their Children were holy, it had been a better Argument to have kept them in the Synagogue, than to have called them to the Christian Church. Either therefore, 1. there is some Ho∣liness in a reasonable nature, which is not from the Spirit of Holiness; or else, 2. our Children do receive the Holy Spirit because they are holy; or if they be not holy, they are in worse condition under Christ than under Moses: or if none of all this be true, then our Children are holy by having received the holy Spirit of Promise, and consequently nothing can hinder them from being baptized.

21. And indeed if the Christian 〈◊〉〈◊〉, whose Children are circumcised, and made partakers of the same Promises and Title, and Inheritance and Sacraments, which themselves had at their Conversion to the Faith of Christ, had seen their Children now shut out from these new Sacraments, it is not to be doubted but they would have raised a strom greater than could easily have been suppressed, since about their Circumcisions they 〈◊〉〈◊〉 raised such Tragedies and implacable disputations. And there had been great reason to look for a storm; for their Children were circumcised, and if not baptized, then they were left under a burthen which their fathers were quit of, for S. Paul said, Whosoever is circumcised is a debtor to keep the whole Law. These Children therefore that were circumcised stood obliged, for want of Baptism, to perform the Law of Ceremo∣nies, to be presented into the Temple, to pay their price, to be redeemed with silver and gold, to be bound by the Law of pollutions and carnal Ordinances: and therefore, if they had been thus left, it would be no wonder if the Jews had complained and made a tumult: they used to do it for less matters.

22. To which let this be added, That the first book of the New Testament was not written till eight years after Christ's Ascension, and S. Mark's Gospel twelve years. In the mean time, to what Scriptures did they appeal? By the Analogy or proportion of what writings did they end their Questions? Whence did they prove their Ar∣ticles? They only appealed to the Old Testament, and only added what their Lord su∣peradded. Now either it must be said that our Blessed Lord commanded that Infants should not be baptized, which is no-where pretended; and if it were, cannot at all be proved: or if by the proportion of Scriptures they did serve God, and preach the Reli∣gion, it is plain, that by the Analogy of the Old Testament, that is, of those Scrip∣tures by which they proved Christ to be come and to have suffered, they also approved the Baptism of Infants, or the admitting them to the society of the faithful Jews, of which also the Church did then principally consist.

23. Seventhly, That Baptism, which consigns men and women to a blessed Resur∣rection, doth also equally consign Infants to it, hath nothing, that I know of, pretended against it, there being the same signature and the same grace, and in this thing all be∣ing alike passive, and we no way cooperating to the consignation and promise of Grace: and Infants have an equal necessity, as being liable to sickness and groaning with as sad accents, and dying sooner than men and women, and less able to complain, and more apt to be pitied, and broken with the unhappy consequents of a short life and a speedy death, & infelicitate priscorum hominum, with the infelicity and folly of their first Pa∣rents; and therefore have as great need as any: and that is capacity enough

to receive a remedy for the evil which was brought upon them by the fault of another.

24. Eightly, And after all this, if Baptism be that means which God hath appoin∣ted to save us, it were well if we would do our parts towards Infants final interest: which whether it depends upon the Sacrament and its proper grace, we have nothing to relie upon but those Texts of Scripture which make Baptism the ordinary way of en∣tring into the state of Salvation: save only we are to add this, that because of this law since Infants are not personally capable, but the Church for them, as for all others in∣definitely, we have reason to believe that their friends neglect shall by some way be sup∣plied; but Hope hath in it nothing beyond a Probability. This we may be certain of, that naturally we cannot be heirs of Salvation, for by nature we are children of wrath; and therefore an eternal separation from God is an infallible consequent to our evil na∣ture: either therefore Children must be put into the state of Grace, or they shall dwell for ever where God's face does never shine. Now there are but two ways of being put into the state of Grace and Salvation; the inward, by the Spirit, and the outward, by Water; which regularly are together. If they be renewed by the Spirit, what hinders them to be baptized, who receive the Holy Ghost as well as we? If they are not capable of* 1.453 the Spirit, they are capable of Water; and if of neither, where is their title to Heaven, which is neither internal nor external, neither spiritual nor sacramental, neither secret nor manifest, neither natural nor gracious, neither original nor derivative? And well may we lament the death of poor babes that are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, concerning whom if we neg∣lect what is regularly prescribed to all that enter Heaven, without any difference ex∣pressed or case reserved, we have no reason to be comforted over our dead children, but may weep as they that have no hope. We may hope when our neglect was not the hinderance, because God hath wholly taken the matter into his own hand, and then it cannot miscarry; and though we know nothing of the Children, yet we know much of God's goodness: but when God hath permitted it to us, that is, offered and per∣mitted Children to our ministery, what-ever happens to the Innocents, we may well fear 〈◊〉〈◊〉 God will require the Souls at our hands: and we cannot be otherwise secure, but that it will be said concerning our children which S. Ambrose used in a case like this,* 1.454 Anima illa potuit salva fieri, si habuisset purgationem, This Soul might have gone to God, if it had been purified and washed. We know God is good, infinitely good; but we know it is not at all good to tempt his goodness: and he tempts him that leaves the usual way, and pretends it is not made for him, and yet hopes to be at his journey's end, or expects to meet his Child in Heaven, when himself shuts the door against him, which, for ought he knows, is the only one that stands open. S. Austin was severe in this Question against unbaptized Infants, therefore he is called durus Pater Infantum: though I know not why the original of that Opinion should be attributed to him, since S. Ambrose said the same before him, as appears in his words before quoted in the mar∣gent.

25. And now that I have enumerated the Blessings which are consequent to Baptism, and have also made apparent that Infants can receive these Blessings, I suppose I need not use any other perswasions to bring Children to Baptism. If it be certain they may receive these good things by it, it is certain they are not to be hindred of them without the greatest impiety and sacriledge and uncharitableness in the world. Nay, if it be only probable that they receive these Blessings, or if it be but possible they may, nay, unless it be impossible they should, and so declared by revelation or demonstratively certain; it were intolerable unkindness and injustice to our pretty Innocents, to let their crying be unpitied, and their natural misery eternally irremediable, and their sorrows without remedy, and their Souls no more capable of relief than their bodies of Physick, and their death left with the sting in, and their Souls without Spirits to go to God, and no Angel-guardian to be assigned them in the Assemblies of the faithful, and they not to be reckoned in the accounts of God and God's Church. All these are sad stories.

26. There are in Scripture very many other probabilities to perswade the Baptism of Infants; but because the places admit of divers interpretations, the Arguments have so many diminutions, and the certainty that is in them is too fine for 〈◊〉〈◊〉 understand∣ings, I have chosen to build the ancient Doctrines upon such principles which are more easie and certain, and have not been yet sullied and rifled with the contentions of an adversary. This only I shall observe, That the words of our Blessed Lord [Unless a man be born of Water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven] cannot be expounded to the exclusion of Children, but the same expositions will also make

Baptism not necessary for men: for if they be both necessary ingredients, Water and the Spirit, then let us provide water, and God will provide the Spirit; if we bring wood to the Sacrifice, he will provide a Lamb. And if they signifie distinctly, one is ordina∣rily as necessary as the other; and then Infants must be baptized, or not be saved. But if one be exegetical and explicative of the other, and by Water and the Spirit is meant only the purification of the Spirit, then where is the necessity of Baptism 〈◊〉〈◊〉 men? It will be, as the other Sacrament, at most but highly convenient, not simply necessary; and all the other places will easily be answered, if this be avoided. But however, these words being spoken in so 〈◊〉〈◊〉 a manner are to be used with fear and reve∣rence; and we must be infallibly sure by some certain infallible arguments, that 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ought not to be baptized, or we ought to fear concerning the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of these decre∣tery words. I shall only add two things by way of Corollary to this Discourse.

27. That the Church of God, ever since her 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉, hath for very many Ages consisted almost wholly of Assemblies of them who have been 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in their Infancy: and although in the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 callings of the Gentiles the chiefest and most frequent Baptisms were of converted and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 persons and believers, yet from the begin∣ning also the Church hath baptized the Infants of Christian Parents; according to the Prophecy of Isaiah, Behold, I will list up my hands to the Gentiles, and set up a standard to the people, and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried* 1.455 upon their shoulders. Concerning which I shall not only bring the testimonies of the matter of 〈◊〉〈◊〉, but either a report of an Apostolical Tradition, or some Argument from the Fathers, which will make their testimony more effectual in all that shall relate to the Question.

28. The Author of the Book of Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, attributed to S. Denis the 〈◊〉〈◊〉, takes notice, that certain unholy persons and enemies to the Christian Re∣ligion think it a ridiculous thing that Infants, who as yet cannot understand the Di∣vine Mysteries, should be partakers of the Sacraments; and that Professions and Abre∣nunciations should be made by others for them and in their names. He answers, that Holy men, Governours of Churches, have so taught, having received a Tradition from their Fathers and Elders in Christ. By which answer of his, as it appears that he himself was later than the Areopagite; so it is so early by him affirmed, that even then there was an ancient Tradition for the Baptism of Infants, and the use of Godfathers in the ministery of the Sacrament. Concerning which, it having been so ancient a Constitution of the Church, it were well if men would rather humbly and modestly observe, than like scorners deride it, in which they shew their own folly as well as immodesty. For what 〈◊〉〈◊〉 or incongruity is it, that our Parents, natural or spiritual, should stipulate for us, when it is agreeable to the practice of all the laws and transactions of the world, an effect of the Communion of Saints and of Christian Oeconomy? For why may not Infants be stipulated for as well as we? All were included in the stipulation made with Adam; he made a losing bargain for himself, and we smarted for his folly: and if the faults of Parents, and Kings, and relatives, do bring evil upon their Children, and subjects, and correlatives, it is but equal that our children may have benefit also by our charity and 〈◊〉〈◊〉. But concerning making an agreement for them, we find that God was confident concerning Abraham, that he would teach his children: and there is no doubt but Parents have great power, by strict education and prudent discipline, to efform the minds of their children to Vertue. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 did expresly undertake for his houshold, I and my house will serve the Lord: and for children we may better do it, be∣cause, till they are of perfect choice, no Government in the world is so great as that of Parents over their children, in that which can concern the parts of this Question; for they rule over their Understandings, and children know nothing but what they are told, and they believe it infinitely. And it is a rare art of the Spirit, to engage Parents to bring them up well in the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and admonition of the Lord; and they are persons obliged by a superinduced band, they are to give them instructions and holy principles as they give them meat. And it is certain that Parents may better stipulate for their Children than the Church can for men and women: For they may be present Impostors and Hypocrites, as the Church story tells of some, and consequently are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, not really converted, and ineffectively baptized; and the next day they may change their resolution, and grow weary of their Vow: and that is the most that Children can do when they come to age: and it is very much in the Parents whether the Children shall do any such thing or no.

—purus & insons* 1.456 (Ut me collandem) si & vivo charus amicis, Causa fuit Pater his— Ipse mihi custos incorruptissimus omnes Circum Doctores aderat: quid multa? pudicum (Qui primus virtutis honos) servavit ab omni Non solùm facto, verùm opprobrio quoque turpi: —ob hoc nunc Laus illi debetur, & à me gratia major.

For education can introduce a habit and a second nature, against which Children can∣not kick, unless they do some violence to themselves and their inclinations. And al∣though it fails too 〈◊〉〈◊〉 when-ever it fails, yet we pronounce prudently concerning fu∣ture things when we have a less influence into the event than in the present case, (and therefore are more unapt persons to stipulate) and less reason in the thing it self, (and therefore have not so much reason to be confident.) Is not the greatest prudence of Generals instanced in their foreseeing 〈◊〉〈◊〉 events, and guessing at the designs of their enemies? concerning which they have less reason to be confident, than Parents of their childrens belief of the Christian Creed. To which I add this consideration, That Parents or Godfathers may therefore safely and prudently promise that their Children shall be of the Christian Faith, because we not only see millions of men and women who not only believe the whole Creed only upon the stock of their education, but there are none that ever do renounce the Faith of their Country and breeding, unless they be violently tempted by 〈◊〉〈◊〉 or weakness, antecedent or consequent. He that sees all men almost to be Christians because they are bid to be so, need not question the fittingness of Godfathers promising in behalf of the Children for whom they an∣swer.

29. And however the matter be for Godfathers, yet the tradition of baptizing In∣fants* 1.457 passed through the hands of 〈◊〉〈◊〉: Omnem aetatem sanctificans per illam quae ad 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 similitudinem. Omnes 〈◊〉〈◊〉 venit per semetipsum salvare, omnes, inquam, qui per 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 in Deum, infantes, & parvulos, & 〈◊〉〈◊〉, & juvenes, & seniores. Ideo per 〈◊〉〈◊〉 venit 〈◊〉〈◊〉, & infantibus infans factus, sanctificans infantes; in par∣vulis 〈◊〉〈◊〉, &c. Christ did sanctifie every age by his own susception of it, and si∣militude* 1.458 to it. For he came to save all men by himself, I say, all who by him are born again unto God, infants, and children, and boys, and young men, and old men. He was made an Infant to Infants, sanctifying Infants; a little one to the little ones, &c. And Origen is express, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 traditionem ab Apostolis suscepit 〈◊〉〈◊〉 parvulis dare Baptismum, The Church hath received a Tradition from the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to give Baptism to Children. And S. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in his Epistle to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 gives account of this Article: for being questi∣oned by some less 〈◊〉〈◊〉 persons whether it were lawful to baptize Children before the eighth day, he gives account of the whole Question: And a whole Council of sixty six Bishops upon very good reason decreed, that their Baptism should at no hand be de∣ferred; though whether six or eight or ten days, was no matter, so there be no danger or present necessity. The whole Epistle is worth the reading.

30. But besides these Authorities of such who writ before the starting of the Pelagian Questions, it will not be useless to bring the discourses of them and others, I mean, the reason upon which the Church did it both before and after.

31. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 his Argument was this: Christ took upon him our Nature to sanctific* 1.459 and to save it, and passed through the several periods of it, even unto death, which is the symbol and effect of old age; and therefore it is certain he did sanctifie all the peri∣ods of it: and why should he be an Infant, but that Infants should receive the crown of their age, the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of their stained nature, the sanctification of their persons, and the saving of their 〈◊〉〈◊〉 by their Infant Lord and elder Brother?

32. Omnis 〈◊〉〈◊〉 anima 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in Adam censetur, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in Christo recenseatur; 〈◊〉〈◊〉* 1.460 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉: Every Soul is accounted in Adam, till it be new ac∣counted in Christ; and so long as it is accounted in Adam, so long it is unclean; and we know no unclean thing 〈◊〉〈◊〉 enter into Heaven, and therefore our Lord hath desined it, Unless 〈◊〉〈◊〉 be born of Water and the Spirit, ye cannot 〈◊〉〈◊〉 into the Kingdom of Heaven; that is, ye cannot be holy. It was the argument of 〈◊〉〈◊〉; which the rather is to* 1.461 be received, because he was one less favourable to the Custom of the Church in his time of baptizing Infants, which Custom he noted and acknowledged, and hath also in the

preceding discourse fairly proved. And indeed, (that S. Cyprian may superadd his* 1.462 symbol) God, who is no accepter of persons, will also be no accepter of ages. For if to the greatest delinquents 〈◊〉〈◊〉 long before against God remission of sins be given when afterwards they believe, and from Baptism and from Grace no man is forbidden; how much more ought not an 〈◊〉〈◊〉 be forbidden, who being new born hath 〈◊〉〈◊〉 nothing, save only that being in the 〈◊〉〈◊〉, born of Adam, in his first birth he hath contracted the contagion of an old death? who therefore comes the easier to obtain 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of sins, because to him are forgiven not his own, but the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of another man. None ought to be driven from Baptism and the Grace of God, who is 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 gentle, and pious unto all; and therefore much less Infants, who more 〈◊〉〈◊〉 our aid, and more need the Divine mercy, because in the first beginning of their birth, crying and 〈◊〉〈◊〉, they can do nothing but call for mercy and relief. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 this reason* 1.463 it was, (saith 〈◊〉〈◊〉) that they to whom the secrets of the Divine 〈◊〉〈◊〉 were commit∣ted 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 their 〈◊〉〈◊〉, because there was born with them the impurities of sin, which did need material Ablution, as a Sacrament of spiritual purification. For that it may appear that our sins have a proper analogy to this Sacrament, the Body it self is called the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉〈◊〉: and therefore the washing of the Body is not ineffectual towards the great work of Pardon and abolition. Indeed after this Ablution there remains 〈◊〉〈◊〉, or the material part of our misery and sin: For Christ by his death only took away that which, when he did die for us, he bare in his own body upon the tree. Now Christ only bare the punishment of our sin, and therefore we shall not die for it; but the material part of the sin Christ bare not: Sin could not come so near him; it might make him sick and die, but not disordered and stained. He was pure from Original and Actual sins; and therefore that remains in the body, though the guilt and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 be 〈◊〉〈◊〉 off, and changed into advantages and grace; and the Actual are 〈◊〉〈◊〉 by the Spirit of Grace descending afterwards upon, the Church, and sent by our Lord to the same purpose.

33. But it is not rationally to be answered what S. Ambrose says, Quia omnis peccato* 1.464 〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉: For it were strange that sin and misery* 1.465 should seize upon the innocent and most 〈◊〉〈◊〉 persons; and that they only should be left without a Sacrament, and an instrument of expiation. And although they cannot consent to the present susception, yet neither do they refuse; and yet they consent as much to the grace of the Sacrament as to the prevarication of Adam; and be∣cause 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 under this, it were but reason they should be relieved by that. And* 1.466 it 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 (as Gregory 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉) that they should be consigned and sanctified without their own knowledge, than to die without their being sanctified; for so it happened to the 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 of Israel: and if the conspersion and washing the door-posts with the bloud of a Lamb did sacramentally preserve all the first-born of Goshen; it can∣not 〈◊〉〈◊〉 thought impossible or unreasonable, that the want of understanding in Children should hinder them from the blessing of a Sacrament, and from being redeemed and washed with the bloud of the Holy Lamb, who was 〈◊〉〈◊〉 for all from the beginning of the world.

34. After all this it is not inconsiderable, that we say the Church hath great power and authority about the Sacraments; which is observable in many instances. She ap∣pointed what persons she pleased, and in equal power made an unequal dispensation and ministery. The Apostles first dispensed all things, and then they left off exteriour ministeries to attend to the Word of God and Prayer: and S. Paul accounted it no part of his office to Baptize, when he had been separated by imposition of hands at Antioch to the work of Preaching and greater ministeries; and accounted that act of the Church the act of Christ, saying, Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel. They used various forms in the ministration of Baptism: sometimes baptizing in the name of Christ, sometimes expresly invocating the Holy and ever-Blessed Trinity; one while [〈◊〉〈◊〉 baptize 〈◊〉〈◊〉,] as in the Latine Church, but in the Greek, [Let the servant of Christ be baptized.] And in all Ecclesiastical ministeries the Church invented the forms, and in most things hath often changed them, as in Absolution, Excommunication. And sometimes they baptized people under their profession of Repentance, and then taught them; as it happened to the Goaler and his family; in whose case there was no explicit Faith 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in the mysteries of Religion, so far as appears, and yet he, and not only he, but all his house were baptized at that hour of the night when the Earth∣quake was terrible, and the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 was pregnant upon them; and this upon their Ma∣ster's account, as it is likely: but others were baptized in the conditions of a previous Faith, and a new-begun* 1.467 Repentance. They baptized in Rivers or in Lavatories, by dipping or by sprinkling: for so we find that S. Laurence did as he went to martyr∣dom;

and so the Church did sometimes to Clinicks; and so it is highly convenient to be done in Northern Countries; according to the Prophecy of 〈◊〉〈◊〉, So shall 〈◊〉〈◊〉* 1.468 sprinkle many Nations, according as the typical expiations among the Jews were usually by sprinkling. And it is fairly relative to the mystery, to the sprinkling with the 〈◊〉〈◊〉* 1.469 of Christ, and the watering of the furrows of our Souls with the dew of Heaven, to make them to bring forth fruit unto* 1.470 the Spirit and unto Holiness. The Church sometimes dipt the Catechumen three times, sometimes but once. Some Churches use Fire in their Baptisms; so do the Ethiopians;* 1.471 and the custom was ancient in 〈◊〉〈◊〉 places. And so in the other Sacrament: sometimes they stood, and sometimes kneeled; and sometimes re∣ceived it in the mouth, and sometimes in the hand; one while in 〈◊〉〈◊〉, another while in unlevened bread: sometimes the wine and water were mingled, sometimes they were pure; and they admitted some persons to it sometimes, which at other times they rejected: sometimes the Consecration was made by one form, sometimes by another: and, to conclude, sometimes it was given to Infants, sometimes not. And she had power so to do; for in all things where there was not a Commandment of Christ expressed or implied in the nature and in the end of the Institution, the Church had power to alter the particulars as was most expedient, or conducing to edification. And although the after-Ages of the Church, which refused to communicate Infants, have 〈◊〉〈◊〉 some little things against the lawfulness, and those Ages that used it found out some pretences for its 〈◊〉〈◊〉; yet both the one and the other had liberty to fol∣low their own necessities, so in all things they followed Christ. Certainly there is 〈◊〉〈◊〉 more reason why Insants may be Communicated, than why they may not be Baptized. And that this discourse may 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to its first intention; although there is no record extant of any Church in the world, and from the Apostles days inclusively to this very day ever refused to Baptize their Children, yet if they had upon any pre∣sent reason, they might also change 〈◊〉〈◊〉 practice, when the reason should be 〈◊〉〈◊〉; and therefore if there were nothing else in it, yet the universal practice of all Churches in all Ages, is abundantly sufficient to determine us, and to legitimate the practice, since Christ hath not forbidden it. It is sufficient confutation to disagreeing people to use the words of S. Paul, We have no such custom, nor the Churches of God, to suffer Chil∣dren to be strangers from the Covenant of Promise, till they shall enter into it as 〈◊〉〈◊〉 or Turks may enter, that is, by choice and disputation. But although this 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to modest and obedient, that is, to Christian Spirits, be sufficient, yet this is more than the question did need. It can stand upon its proper foundation.

〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 recentes ab uteris matrum baptizandos negat, anathema 〈◊〉〈◊〉.* 1.472 He that refuseth to baptize his Infants, shall be in danger of the Council.

The PRAYER.

OHoly and Eternal Jesus, who in thine own person wert pleased to sanctifie the waters of Baptism, and by thy Institution and Commandment didst make them effectual to excel∣lent purposes of grace and remedy, be pleased to verifie the holy effects of Baptism to me and all thy servants whose names are dedicated to thee in an early and timely presentation, and enable us with thy grace to verifie all our promises, by which we are bound, then when thou didst first make us thy own proportion and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in the consummation of a holy Covenant. O be pleased to pardon all those undecencies and unhandsome interruptions of that state of favour in which thou didst plant us by thy grace, and admit us by the gates of Baptism: and let that Spirit which moved upon 〈◊〉〈◊〉 holy Waters never be absent from us, but call upon us and in∣vite us by a perpetual argument and daily solicitations and inducements to holiness; that we may never return to the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of sin, but by the answer of a good Conscience may please thee and glorifie thy name and do honour to thy Religion and Institution in this world, and may re∣ceive the blessings and the rewards of it in the world to come, being presented to thee pure and spotless in the day of thy power when thou shalt lead thy Church to a Kingdom, and endless glories.

Amen.

Appendix ad Sect. 9. numb. 3. of JESUS being Baptized, &c.

Christ's Prayer at his Baptism.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉* 1.473

O Father, according to the good pleasure of thy will I am made a Man, and from the time in which I was born of a Virgin unto this day I have finished those things which are agreeing to the nature of Man, and with due observance have perform'd all thy Command∣ments, the mysteries and types of the Law: and now truly I am baptized, and so have I or∣dain'd Baptism, that from thence, as from the place of spiritual birth, the Regeneration of men may be accomplish'd: and as John was the last of the Legal Priests, so am I the first of the Evangelical. Thou therefore, O Father, by the mediation of my Prayer open the Heavens, and from thence send thy Holy Spirit upon this womb of Baptism; that as he did untie the womb of the Virgin, and thence form me, so also he would loose this Baptismal womb, and so sanctifie it unto men, that from thence new men may be begotten, who may become thy Sons, and my Brethren, and Heirs of thy Kingdom. And what the Priests under the Law until John could not do, grant unto the Priests of the New Testament, (whose chief I am in the oblation of this Prayer) that whensoever they shall celebrate Baptism, or pour forth Prayers unto thee, as the Holy Spirit is seen with me in open vision, so also it may be made manifest that the same Spirit will adjoyn himself in their society a more secret way, and will by them persorm the ministeries of the New Testament, for which I am made a Man; and as the High Priest I do offer these Prayers in thy sight.

This Prayer was transcrib'd out of the Syriack Catena upon the third Chapter of S. Luke's Gospel, and is by the Author of that Catena reported to have been made by our Blessed Saviour immediately before the opening of the Heavens at his Baptism; and that the Holy Spirit did 〈◊〉〈◊〉 upon him while he was thus praying: and for it he cites the Authority of S. Philoxenus. I cannot but foresee that there is one clause in it which will be us'd as an objection against the authority of this Prayer; viz. [as John was the last of Legal Priests:] For he was no Priest at all, nor ever officiated in the Temple, or at the Mosaick Rites. But this is nothing: because, that the Baptist was of the family of the Priests, his Father Zachary is a demonstration; that he did not 〈◊〉〈◊〉, his being imployed in another Ministery is a sufficient answer; that he was the last of the Priests is to be understood in this sence, that he was the period of the Law, the common term between the Law and the Gospel: by him the Gospel was first preached solemnly, and therefore in him the Law first ended. And as he was the last of the Prophets, so he was the last of the Priests: not but that after him many had the gift of Prophecy, and some did officiate in the Mosaical Priesthood; but that his Office put the first period to the solemnity of Moses's Law, that is, at him the Dispensation Evangelical did first enter.

That the Ministers of the Gospel are here called Priests, ought not to be a prejudice against this Prayer in the perswasions of any men; because it was usual with our Bles∣sed Saviour to retain the words of the Jews his Country-men before whom he spake, that they might by words to which they were used be instructed in the notice of per∣sons and things, offices and ministeries Evangelical, which afterwards were to be re∣presented under other, that is, under their proper, names.

And now all that I shall say of it is this: 1. That it is not unlikely but our Blessed Sa∣viour prayed when he was baptized, and when the Holy Ghost descended upon him; not only because it was an imployment symbolical to the Grace he was to receive, but also to become to us a precedent by what means we are to receive the Holy Spirit of God. 2. That it is very likely our Blessed Lord would consecrate the Waters of Bap∣tism to those mysterious ends whither he design'd them, as well as the Bread and Cha∣lice of the Holy Supper. 3. That it is most likely the Easterlings did preserve a re∣cord of many words and actions of the Holy Jesus which are not transmitted to us. 4. It is certain that our Blessed Lord did do and say many more things than are in the Holy Scriptures; and that this was one of them we have the credit of this ancient Au∣thor, and the Authority of S. Philoxenus. However, it is much better to make such good use of it as the matter and piety of the Prayer will minister, than to quarrel at it by the imperfection of uncertain conjectures.

The End of the First Part.

Notes

• * 1.1

  —〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 beato 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Matris babens 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 honore, 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 visa 〈…〉〈…〉.
• * 1.2

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 inter 〈◊〉〈◊〉 & Deum 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉 ad 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉 prior 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 nos 〈◊〉〈◊〉, qui 〈◊〉〈◊〉, ad 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Dei 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.3

  S. Greg.
• * 1.4

  Quod 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉: quod si 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉〈◊〉 alicujus 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉 in 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.5

  S. Primasius.
• * 1.6

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉. in Pythag.
• * 1.7

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. 6. in 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉. in 1 Matth. S. 〈◊〉〈◊〉, & 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.8

  S. Bernard.
• * 1.9

  —〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 su∣mit.
• * 1.10

  1 John 1. 9.
• * 1.11

  Psal. 111. 3.
• * 1.12

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Phi∣lostr. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 Appollon. l. 3. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 7.
• * 1.13

  Non 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ab 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉, sed 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ab 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 justifi 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. Ambros.
• * 1.14

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Euseb. l. 1. c. 6. Histor. Eccles. Anno scil. tertio Olympiad. 194. Caesare Augusto & Plautio Silano Coss.
• (a) 1.15

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. S. Chrysost. hom. 8. in Matth.
• * 1.16

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 Suidam in verbo 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Dio. lib. 50.
• * 1.17

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• * 1.18

  Juxta propheticum illud, Isa. 33. 16.
• * 1.19

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Sed hanc periodum Judaei erasirunt ex Hebraeo textu. Sic & Symm••••bus, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 my∣•••••••• Bethlehem, sive Domus panis, indig••tatur.
• * 1.20

  Vide Wad∣dingum pag. 270.
• * 1.21

  Ezek. 44. 2.
• * 1.22

  Hab. 3. v. 4. In medio ani∣malicum cognosceris.
• * 1.23

  Sic Lxx.
• * 1.24

  Vin. Beda de lotis sanctis, c. 8.
• * 1.25

  S. Hieron.
• * 1.26

  Epist. 48.
• * 1.27

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉; Diphi∣lus.
• * 1.28

  1 Cor. 16. 22.
• * 1.29

  Col. 2. 3.
• * 1.30

  Quod si pu∣dica 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 Domum 〈◊〉〈◊〉 dulces 〈◊〉〈◊〉: (Sabina 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 solibus 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉) Non 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉 Magis. &c. Hor. Epod. 2.
• * 1.31

  Naturale 〈◊〉〈◊〉: partim 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Joseph. Orig. 16. 10.
• * 1.32

  Apud A. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 l. 12. c. 1.
• * 1.33

  Cant. 4. 5.
• (a) 1.34

  〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉—Si prohibes, furit in mammis, 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 Miscet, & 〈◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊〉. Sammatth, 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• (b) 1.35

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 alimenta suis 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 bibunt 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉. Id.
• * 1.36

  Obliter 〈◊〉〈◊〉 & 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 elementis, 〈◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊〉 patrem atque 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉, mag∣nam partem non natural's ille 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 civilis & opinabilis.
• * 1.37

  Phavor. apud A. Gellium.
• * 1.38

  Nam Gracchorum 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 accepimus 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Matrem. Quint. l. 1. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 1. Protinus 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 factus, acrem 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 curam impendat, ante omnia 〈◊〉〈◊〉 sit vitio∣sus serme 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉, si 〈◊〉〈◊〉 posset, 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉. Quint. lib. 1. cap. 1. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, 〈◊〉〈◊〉. l. de 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Aristoph.
• * 1.39

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 proverb.
• * 1.40

  〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉. unt 〈◊〉〈◊〉 tigres. Vir. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• * 1.41

  Necessitat, 〈…〉〈…〉. Senec.
• * 1.42

  Sueton. in vita, V. sp. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 Ciceron. de Divin.
• * 1.43

  〈◊〉〈◊〉, 1. 6. 1. 22.
• * 1.44

  Suidas in 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Verb. Augustus.
• * 1.45

  Orosius.
• * 1.46

  Esa. 11. 6.
• * 1.47

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 to tempore, i. e. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 anno, quo 〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉 composuit, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 est Christus; 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 Pax 〈◊〉〈◊〉 famu∣lata 〈◊〉〈◊〉: in cu∣jus ortu audi∣entibus homi∣nibus exsul∣tantes 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉, Gloria in 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Dro, & in 〈◊〉〈◊〉 a Pax, &c. P. Orosius.
• * 1.48

  Num. 24. 17.
• * 1.49

  Epiphan. in Expos. sid. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. 8.
• * 1.50

  Et 〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉 in Timaeum Pla∣tonis.
• * 1.51

  Leo 〈◊〉〈◊〉: 4. de Epiphan.
• * 1.52

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. Ambros. in 2. Lu. 6.
• * 1.53

  Leo, 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉.
• * 1.54

  Theophil. in 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 2.
• * 1.55

  S. Bernard, in Serm. 2. de 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.56

  Phil. 4. 18. Psal. 141. 2.
• * 1.57

  Revel. 5. 8.
• * 1.58

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 8. 4. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 M. Dial. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. Tertul. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 3. contra Mar∣cion. c. 13.
• * 1.59

  〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 ipsas 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉 vas incrustare. 〈…〉〈…〉 homo, illi 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 pinguis damus—Simplicior si 〈◊〉〈◊〉—〈…〉〈…〉 planè 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.—〈◊〉〈◊〉 Serm. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 1. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 3.
• * 1.60

  Tit. 2. 11.
• * 1.61

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 intelle∣ctum qui 〈◊〉〈◊〉 signum. S. Leo, Ser. 1. de 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.62

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 AEschyl. Persis.
• * 1.63

  AEschyl. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• * 1.64

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• * 1.65

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.66

  Piaga 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 si 〈◊〉〈◊〉 puo 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 in 〈◊〉〈◊〉, & in 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉.
• * 1.67

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 animisqus duri, Et 〈◊〉〈◊〉 suâ Bessi 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 oves sacti, duce 〈◊〉〈◊〉, gregantur Pacis in 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Nox ubi quondam 〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉 Angelorum, Et 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Justus quibus ipse 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Vixit in autris. S. Paulinus in reditu 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.68

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. l. 9. c 22. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.69

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Porphyr. l. 4. de Non 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉
• * 1.70

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 2. 3.
• * 1.71

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 2. 3.
• * 1.72

  〈…〉〈…〉.
• * 1.73

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Arist. 2. Top. c. 3.
• * 1.74

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Stob. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 250.
• * 1.75

  —〈…〉〈…〉. Horat.
• * 1.76

  〈…〉〈…〉. l. 1. c. 2.
• * 1.77

  〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉.
• * 1.78

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ep. Timoth.
• * 1.79

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 JESV 〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈…〉〈…〉:
• * 1.80

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• * 1.81

  Isa. 21. 11. in casu 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉 H.
• * 1.82

  John 4. 34.
• * 1.83

  S. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. episs. ad 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Hispan.
• * 1.84

  Idem in 19. Matth, 28.
• * 1.85

  Fidelis 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 moras, fugit 〈◊〉〈◊〉, ignorat tarditatem, 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉, parat oculos visui, aures 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 voci, ma∣nus 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 pedes: 〈◊〉〈◊〉 se colligit, 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 colligat voluntatem. S. Bernard. Serm. de Obedient. Et barbaris 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ser∣vilis, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 exsequi Regium. Tacit. l. 6. Annal.
• * 1.86

  Luke 16. 10.
• * 1.87

  〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉 parva, tamen 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉, si collecta 〈◊〉〈◊〉 nos 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 nos 〈◊〉〈◊〉 & 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉 grande peccatum, S. Aug. l. 50. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 50. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 lib. de Poenit. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 venialla si 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 nostrum 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉, ut à 〈◊〉〈◊〉 sponsi 〈◊〉〈◊〉 nos 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.88

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.89

  〈◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊〉 quod non 〈◊〉〈◊〉 crimi∣nale dum 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. 25. sect. 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 S. August.
• * 1.90

  〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉 libidi∣num 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. Horat. Od. 18. l. 1.
• * 1.91

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. ad 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 1.
• * 1.92

  1 Pet. 13. 2.
• * 1.93

  Heb. 13. 7.
• * 1.94

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 in 〈◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊〉 ipsos imperium 〈…〉〈…〉. l. 3. Od. 1.
• * 1.95

  Rom. 13. 1.
• * 1.96

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• * 1.97

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 3. 20, 22. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 6. 5, 7.
• * 1.98

  〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉 l. x.
• * 1.99

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 pro 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 os hominis liberi 〈…〉〈…〉 assium 〈◊〉〈◊〉, & 〈◊〉〈◊〉 percusserat, jussit 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 25 asses, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 pro 〈◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Tab. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. A. Gel. l. 20. c. 1.
• * 1.100

  Heb, 10. 25.
• * 1.101

  Vide Par. 2.
• * 1.102

  Dise. 10, 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 11.
• * 1.103

  Is 〈…〉〈…〉. l. 130.
• * 1.104

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.105

  〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 in to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 est quod bonum 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. Sen. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 23.
• * 1.106

  Collat. 18. c. 17.
• * 1.107

  〈…〉〈…〉. l. 1. c. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. & 7. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. & 〈◊〉〈◊〉. ad. A. D. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.108

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 4. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. 20. & S. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉. S 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 35. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉. S. B 〈◊〉〈◊〉 D 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 & 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. c. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.109

  〈…〉〈…〉 in 〈◊〉〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.110

  A. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. l. 9. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 13.
• * 1.111

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 7. 13.
• * 1.112

  1 Sam. 15. 23.
• * 1.113

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.114

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• * 1.115

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• * 1.116

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 Rodriquez in 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉; and Sir Thom as More against 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.117

  〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 prima, & 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 con∣jugii sidem 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. Plin. l. 10. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 33.
• * 1.118

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Athen. l. 4.
• * 1.119

  Psal. 1. 2.
• * 1.120

  Psal. 119. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.121

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 3. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.122

  Serm. 1. de assumpt. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.123

  Psal. 50. 〈◊〉〈◊〉
• * 1.124

  Acts 10. 10. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and Chapter 11. 5. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 vidit 〈◊〉〈◊〉 dum 〈◊〉〈◊〉 averat.
• * 1.125

  —〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉, atque 〈◊〉〈◊〉 toto sibi 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉—quod de Apolline dixit Lucanus.
• * 1.126

  Qualis erat 〈◊〉〈◊〉 sive ecstasis Balaami, qui 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 vidit, excidens, sed retectis ocu∣lis, Num. 24. 4, 16.
• * 1.127

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Plato in 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 &c. ibid 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Plato in Apol.
• * 1.128

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 dit 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ordinaria: sd Onuphrius in Fastis ait 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 post Christum natum 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.129

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. lib. 2. cap. 4.
• * 1.130

  〈…〉〈…〉. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c.
• * 1.131

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. & 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Mar∣tyr 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 & 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• a 1.132

  〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉 23. in Evang. Matth. S. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. homil. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Humana Christi 〈◊〉〈◊〉, 〈◊〉〈◊〉. in 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Christi, Cyril. adv. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.133

  In 〈◊〉〈◊〉, cap. 8.
• * 1.134

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• * 1.135

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 2. 13.
• * 1.136

  Euseb. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. c. 20. S. Athanas. lib. 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉. Palladius 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 S. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.137

  Isa. 19. 1. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. Pal∣lad. in 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.138

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.139

  Heb. 13. 5, 6.
• * 1.140

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• * 1.141

  Dubia pro 〈◊〉〈◊〉 solent 〈◊〉〈◊〉 inere 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Seneca Oedip.
• * 1.142

  Hestis 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉, Christum 〈◊〉〈◊〉 quid times? Non 〈◊〉〈◊〉 terrestria Qui regna 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.143

  Qui 〈◊〉〈◊〉 duro saevus imperio regit, T 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉, metus in authorem eadit, 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.144

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.145

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 quae dixit Ammian. Marcel. l. 17. & Epistolas S. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 M. l. 4. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 32, 34, 36. & l. 6. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 30. l. 7. indict. 1. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 30. & Concil. Africanum, quo 〈◊〉〈◊〉 est Cael sti∣nus Papa, 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉 in 〈◊〉〈◊〉, quae lucem simplicitatis & 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 videre 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉, videa∣mur inducere.
• * 1.146

  AEtas 〈◊〉〈◊〉 habills ad 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 ad coronam; & ut appare∣ret innocentes esse qui pro∣pter Christum 〈◊〉〈◊〉, infantia innocens occisa est. S. Cyprian. Athenagoras dixit Infantes resurrectures, sed non ventures in judicium.
• * 1.147

  Mark 6. 3.
• * 1.148

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 privilegium 〈◊〉〈◊〉, ut 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 quod publicâ lege 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 quod 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 dependitur. Leo De 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 7. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 Serm. A. Publica 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 privatis, & 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 devotio, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉 unus est animus & 〈◊〉〈◊〉 sensus.
• * 1.149

  Heb. 10. 25.
• * 1.150

  Niceph, lib. 1. c. 14.
• * 1.151

  S. Chrys. Hom. de Nativ. S. Jo. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.152

  Gen. 21. 17.
• * 1.153

  1 King. 19. 5.
• * 1.154

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 curvi setis 〈◊〉〈◊〉 cameli, Contra 〈◊〉〈◊〉 molles 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 artus, As en 〈◊〉〈◊〉 graves 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉. Paulinus.
• * 1.155

  S. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. de S. Babyla.
• * 1.156

  Satiatis & expletis 〈◊〉〈◊〉 est carere quàm 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Cicero de 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.157

  In 〈…〉〈…〉.
• * 1.158

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• ‖ 1.159

  James 3. Pe∣trus Cellensis, l. 4. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 12.
• * 1.160

  In 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉. Ep. 4.
• * 1.161

  Non 〈◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊〉. Quint.
• * 1.162

  Maxims pars 〈◊〉〈◊〉 sol litur, 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉. Senec. S 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Ma∣lum quod 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉, nemo arguit; ubi 〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉, & 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉.
• * 1.163

  Euseb. hist. 11. 6.
• * 1.164

  c. 3. Theod. l. 4.
• * 1.165

  c. 23, 24. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 est illi 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 qui om∣nem 〈◊〉〈◊〉 mundum 〈◊〉〈◊〉 quod quid m in terris 〈◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊〉 hominum jure sociali, 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉. Cicer. Somn. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.166

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• * 1.167

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, S. Basil.
• * 1.168

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 11. 13
• * 1.169

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 Tim. 6. 〈◊〉〈◊〉
• * 1.170

  2. Cor. 5. 6.
• * 1.171

  Rom. 8. 13.
• * 1.172

  O quàm 〈◊〉〈◊〉 res 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 su∣per humana se 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.173

  Rom. 6. 7.
• * 1.174

  2 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 3 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.175

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 16 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.176

  2 Cor. 7. 4.
• * 1.177

  Rom. 5. 3.
• * 1.178

  Rom. 5. 3. 4.
• * 1.179

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Hierocl. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.180

  S. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.181

  〈…〉〈…〉.
• * 1.182

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 29 21.
• * 1.183

  1 Cor. 9. 27.
• * 1.184

  Rom. 6. 4.
• * 1.185

  Heb. 12. 1.
• * 1.186

  1 Pet. 2. 1. and 4. 1.
• * 1.187

  Rom 7. 5.
• * 1.188

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉, ad 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.189

  Huic 〈◊〉〈◊〉, vie 〈…〉〈…〉 super, 〈◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊〉.—
• * 1.190

  De Catone dixit 〈◊〉〈◊〉; & de 〈◊〉〈◊〉, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 rigidam in 〈◊〉〈◊〉 desc as 〈…〉〈…〉,
• * 1.191

  2 Sam. 23. 17.
• * 1.192

  Apud Pal'ad. in 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.193

  〈◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊〉, à 〈◊〉〈◊〉 plura 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Hor.
• * 1.194

  Gal. 6. 17.
• * 1.195

  2 Cor. 4. 10.
• * 1.196

  〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉, & 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉 est 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉, Fp. 20. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 l. 2. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. 22, 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Alex, 〈◊〉〈◊〉. l. 2. c. 1.
• * 1.197

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.198

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.199

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 3. 5.
• * 1.200

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 8.
• * 1.201

  Vt 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉 & 〈…〉〈…〉.
• * 1.202

  Vt 〈◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊〉?
• * 1.203

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• * 1.204

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• * 1.205

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 2.
• * 1.206

  Heb. 13. 9.
• * 1.207

  Rom. 14. 17.
• * 1.208

  1 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 4. 8.
• * 1.209

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.210

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 1. in 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.211

  〈…〉〈…〉. Si 〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉.
• * 1.212

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 Disc. of 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.213

  〈◊〉〈◊〉, Sotus, Scotus, &c.
• * 1.214

  Acts 19. 4. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• * 1.215

  Quast. ad Orthod. 37.
• * 1.216

  Dial. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. advers. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.217

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Clem. Constit. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 1. 7. c. 23.
• * 1.218

  Symbolum 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. Just. Mart.
• * 1.219

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Ebion.
• * 1.220

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• * 1.221

  Matth. 3. 16.
• * 1.222

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 1. 10.
• * 1.223

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Luke 3. 22.
• * 1.224

  Cap. 17. de glo∣ria Martyr.
• * 1.225

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• * 1.226

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• * 1.227

  In Pontifi∣cal Rom.
• * 1.228

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 Cor. 10. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 2. 3.
• * 1.229

  Gal. 3. 14. 27.
• * 1.230

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 Per. 3. 21.
• * 1.231

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 Cor. 12 7. 13.
• * 1.232

  Matth. 3. 2, 6.
• * 1.233

  Justin, Mart, 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. 2. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.234

  〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉.
• * 1.235

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. S. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. 3. c. 4. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.236

  〈…〉〈…〉. 1. c. 1.
• * 1.237

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 5. 26.
• * 1.238

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 10. 32.
• * 1.239

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. 3. 21.
• * 1.240

  Rom. 6. 4.
• * 1.241

  Scil. in 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 in 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.242

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 2. 1.
• * 1.243

  Jam. 1. 2.
• * 1.244

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. 3.
• * 1.245

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. in S. Bapt.
• * 1.246

  S. Hie. on. in 4. cap. Matt.
• * 1.247

  〈◊〉〈◊〉, mi 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉, si 〈◊〉〈◊〉 unquam 〈…〉〈…〉, S. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.248

  2 Cor. 12. 9.
• * 1.249

  〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉.
• * 1.250

  Habet 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 quandam ad∣monitio 〈◊〉〈◊〉, quum 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 quod 〈◊〉〈◊〉. S. Chrysost.
• * 1.251

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 Dii quoque 〈◊〉〈◊〉 In 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉 Omne 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.252

  Rom. 7. 19. 23
• * 1.253

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉, Rom. 3. 7.
• * 1.254

  Gal. 2 18.
• * 1.255

  1 Cor. 6. 12. & 10. 23, 29, 30. & 13. 2.
• * 1.256

  Rom. 7. 8, 11.
• * 1.257

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 22.
• * 1.258

  verse 25.
• * 1.259

  verse 23.
• * 1.260

  Gal. 5. 24.
• * 1.261

  Rom. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 6, 12, 14.
• * 1.262

  Rom. 8. 2.
• * 1.263

  Gal. 5. 17.
• * 1.264

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• * 1.265

  Rom. 7. 14.
• * 1.266

  Rom. 8. 6.
• * 1.267

  Rom. 5. 6.
• * 1.268

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, without strength, that is, ungodly.
• * 1.269

  Vide August. l. 2. c 17. de 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉, & Anchir. 81.
• * 1.270

  Gal. 5. 24.
• * 1.271

  S. August. lib. de 〈◊〉〈◊〉 & 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. c. 17. &c. 19.
• * 1.272

  Vide 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.273

  2 Sam. 6. cap. 6, 7, 8, 9. vers.
• * 1.274

  Rom. 9. 3.
• * 1.275

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 2. in Ex∣plicat. of the 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.276

  1. Com.
• * 1.277

  Theod. l. 5. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.278

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 quid 〈◊〉〈◊〉 omne malum mundique 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 ad 〈◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊〉 Ex 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉, genus, & 〈◊〉〈◊〉, & vim, Quid sint, 〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉. Prud. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.279

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 21. 27.
• * 1.280

  〈…〉〈…〉.
• * 1.281

  〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉 ca∣dere; 〈◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊〉. S. Aug.
• * 1.282

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• a 1.283

  Act. 17. 28.
• b 1.284

  Heb. 4. 13.
• c 1.285

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 9, 9. Jer. 23. 24.
• d 1.286

  Psal. 94. 9.
• e 1.287

  Psal. 139. 12.
• * 1.288

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 6. 6.
• * 1.289

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• * 1.290

  Non n. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ac studiis ut haberentur phils. sophi laberabant; sed 〈◊〉〈◊〉 & tristitiam, & dissentientem à cater is habitum, pessimis meribus praetendebant. Quintil. l. 1. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.291

  Ambitio & 〈◊〉〈◊〉 & impotentia sienam deside∣rans; sanabis ista, si 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Sence. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 95.
• * 1.292

  Magna vobis, si dissimular 〈◊〉〈◊〉 vultis, injecta 〈◊〉〈◊〉 probitatis, 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 agitis 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 judicis 〈◊〉〈◊〉 cernentis. Boeth. l. 5. Censol. presâ ult.
• * 1.293

  Acts 17. 27.
• * 1.294

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• * 1.295

  Aliquem habeat animus 〈…〉〈…〉. Quid prodest 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 Deo. Senec. l. 1. ep. 15.
• * 1.296

  〈…〉〈…〉 lera simulac 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 pudore & 〈◊〉〈◊〉, suo 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉, Tacit. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 6. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 51.
• * 1.297

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Sophocl.
• * 1.298

  Tota philoso∣phia nihil est 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉. Plato.
• * 1.299

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈…〉〈…〉 A. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. 2.
• ‖ 1.300

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 〈◊〉〈◊〉, Phil.
• * 1.301

  Dies 〈…〉〈…〉 quod ab 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 in 〈◊〉〈◊〉, in 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉. S. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 102.
• * 1.302

  Psal. 119. 109.
• * 1.303

  Psal. 90. 12.
• * 1.304

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 28.
• * 1.305

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉, & 〈◊〉〈◊〉, & 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 que 〈…〉〈…〉. l. 2. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 14.
• * 1.306

  〈…〉〈…〉.
• * 1.307

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉.
• * 1.308

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Theog. In 〈◊〉〈◊〉 monach.
• * 1.309

  Matth. 26. 41.
• * 1.310

  —His 〈…〉〈…〉. Hor. l. 2. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 18.
• * 1.311

  Lib. 3. 13.
• * 1.312

  John 4. 14.
• * 1.313

  1 Pet. 3 21.
• * 1.314

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉〈◊〉, imago in 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 in 〈◊〉〈◊〉. S. Ambr.
• * 1.315

  1 Cor. 10. 1, 2.
• (a) 1.316

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. de 〈◊〉〈◊〉. c. 40
• (b) 1.317

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. in 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. S. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 2. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 1.
• (c) 1.318

  〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉, qui 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉
• * 1.319

  〈◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊〉.
• * 1.320

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 4. 2.
• * 1.321

  〈…〉〈…〉.
• (a) 1.322

  〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 9. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 1.
• (b) 1.323

  Acts 8. 16. Acts 2. 38.
• (c) 1.324

  Matth. 28. 19.
• * 1.325

  Mat h. 28. 19.
• * 1.326

  Mark 16. 16.
• * 1.327

  John 3. 5.
• * 1.328

  Gen 17. 14.
• * 1.329

  S. Aug. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 46, 59.
• * 1.330

  Heb. 6. 1.
• * 1.331

  S. August. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 2. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 1. de Cat. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.332

  Just. Martyr. Apol. 2.
• * 1.333

  Acts 2. 47.
• * 1.334

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Cyril. Hierosol. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 2.
• * 1.335

  1 Cor. 12. 13.
• ‖ 1.336

  Acts 13. 48.
• * 1.337

  John 3. 5.Titus 3. 5. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Damasc. l. 4. Orth. fid. c. 10.
• * 1.338

  Lib. 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 1.
• * 1.339

  Lib 5. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.340

  Ezek. 36. 25. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Symb. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.341

  Lib. 1. c. 3. in 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.342

  Acts 22. 16.
• ‖ 1.343

  Eph. 5. 26.
• * 1.344

  Lib. 5. adv. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. c. 9. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Gr. prov. Annon 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉, quia 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉 ad 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉? Origen. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 15. in 〈…〉〈…〉 & expiare vix 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉 submersum est, & de 〈◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊〉 cum 〈◊〉〈◊〉 credito∣re transactum est. Ambros. lib. 1. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 7. de 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 in Baptismo non 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 in mari 〈◊〉〈◊〉. AEgyptios non 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. S. Greg. M. l. 9. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 39.
• * 1.345

  Arator l. 2. Hist. Apostol.
• * 1.346

  Rev. 7. 14.
• * 1.347

  1 John 1. 7.
• * 1.348

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 22. 16. Tu. 3. 5.
• * 1.349

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 John 5. 8.
• * 1.350

  Heb 9 14.
• * 1.351

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 3. 4, 5.
• * 1.352

  Theodor. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. de div. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. cap. de Bapt.
• * 1.353

  Lib. de 〈◊〉〈◊〉 c. 23. & 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 124. in Joan.
• * 1.354

  〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉. 13. p. 487.
• * 1.355

  Gal. 3. 26.
• * 1.356

  Verse 29.
• * 1.357

  Verse 27.
• * 1.358

  Heb. 10. 16, &c.
• * 1.359

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 19 &c.
• * 1.360

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. ad 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.361

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• * 1.362

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 29.
• * 1.363

  2 Pet. 1. 9. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Par. 2. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 9. of Re∣pentance, 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 9. ad 31.
• * 1.364

  Paul. Ep. 12. ad S••enum
• * 1.365

  1 Cor. 12. 13.
• * 1.366

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. 5.
• * 1.367

  S. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. de 〈◊〉〈◊〉. S. c. 15.
• * 1.368

  2 Cor. 1. 22.
• ‖ 1.369

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 1. 13.
• * 1.370

  Eph. 4. 30.
• * 1.371

  John 6. 27.
• * 1.372

  S. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Hie∣ros 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 3.
• * 1.373

  S. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. in 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 28.
• * 1.374

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 10. 32.
• * 1.375

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 4.
• * 1.376

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 6. 4.
• * 1.377

  1 John 2. 20.
• * 1.378

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 27.
• * 1.379

  1 John 3. 9.
• * 1.380

  〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉. 13.
• a 1.381

  Rom. 6. 7.
• * 1.382

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Plu∣tarch.
• b 1.383

  ib. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• c 1.384

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 5.
• d 1.385

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 6.
• * 1.386

  Vide Disc 9. of Repen∣tance, n. 46.
• * 1.387

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 6. 3, 5.
• * 1.388

  Col. 2. 12.
• * 1.389

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 16. 16. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 3. 5.
• * 1.390

  Niceph. 1. 7. c. 35. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. 5. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 6. 〈◊〉〈◊〉, lib. 7. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 7.
• * 1.391

  Psal. 34. 7.
• * 1.392

  Heb. 1. 14.
• * 1.393

  Basil. Theod. Epiphan. Na∣zianz. Col. 2.
• * 1.394

  2. Cyril. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Dionyl.
• * 1.395

  Areop. Aug. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 2. c. 13. con∣tra Crescon. Gram.
• * 1.396

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 16. 16.
• * 1.397

  Acts 2. 38.
• * 1.398

  〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉.
• * 1.399

  1 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 3. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.400

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 Res. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.401

  Ad 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Jul.
• * 1.402

  〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉.
• * 1.403

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 2. adv. Parm.
• * 1.404

  Clem. Alex, lib. 1. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. c. 6.
• * 1.405

  Acts 10. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.406

  Aug. de mori∣bus 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.407

  Cath. l. 1. c. 35. Bern. Serm. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 Dom.
• * 1.408

  Acts 8. 37.
• * 1.409

  Acts 2. 38.
• * 1.410

  Acts 3. 15.
• * 1.411

  Matth. 9. 29.
• * 1.412

  Mark 9. 23.
• * 1.413

  Matth. 8. 13.
• * 1.414

  Matth. 9. 28.
• * 1.415

  John 4. 50.
• * 1.416

  John 6. 44.
• * 1.417

  Mark 10. 15.
• * 1.418

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 17. 20.
• * 1.419

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 21.
• * 1.420

  Luke 18. 16.
• * 1.421

  Luke 4. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉;
• * 1.422

  1 〈◊〉〈◊〉 1. 2.
• * 1.423

  2 Thess. 1. 3.
• * 1.424

  Rom. 8. 30.
• * 1.425

  Eccles. 1. 15.
• * 1.426

  Sect. 25, &c.
• * 1.427

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 17. 1, &c.
• * 1.428

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 11. 13,
• * 1.429

  15.
• * 1.430

  14. 16.
• * 1.431

  Ron. 4. 11.
• * 1.432

  7, 8.
• * 1.433

  3, 5,
• * 1.434

  12.
• * 1.435

  Rom. 4. 11, 13.
• * 1.436

  17,
• * 1.437

  13.
• * 1.438

  Gal. 3. 14.
• * 1.439

  29.
• * 1.440

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉 l. 1. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 8. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.441

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 3. 5.
• * 1.442

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 5. 17, 18.
• * 1.443

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. 4. 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉. 4. 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉. 4.
• * 1.444

  Prosper 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉. 20.
• * 1.445

  〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉
• * 1.446

  Lib. 3. a lv. Pelag. Lib. 1. in initio.
• * 1.447

  Lib. de Baptis. c. 18.
• * 1.448

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉.
• * 1.449

  〈…〉〈…〉
• * 1.450

  1 John 1. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.451

  Ep. a l 〈◊〉〈◊〉, l. 3. ep. 8.
• * 1.452

  S. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 b. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 & 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 9.
• * 1.453

  Nisi quis 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉, &c. 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉, non in∣fantem, 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉. Ambr. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Abrah. Patr∣lib. 2. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 11.
• * 1.454

  Lib. 2. c. 11. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Abrah. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.455

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 49. 22.
• * 1.456

  Horat. l. b. 1. 8. at. 6.
• * 1.457

  L. 2 c. 39.
• * 1.458

  〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉. Cle∣mentis. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 5. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. c. 6. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 14. in 〈◊〉〈◊〉, & 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 8. Hom. 8. in 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.459

  〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.460

  〈◊〉〈◊〉,
• * 1.461

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. de 〈◊〉〈◊〉, c. 39, & 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.462

  S. Cyprian. op. ad Fidum.
• * 1.463

  〈◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊〉. c. 6.
• * 1.464

  〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉.
• * 1.465

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. l. 2. c. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.466

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 40. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 S. 〈◊〉〈◊〉
• * 1.467

  〈◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊〉 as 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 it.
• * 1.468

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 52. 15.
• * 1.469

  1 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 1. 2.
• * 1.470

  Aqua 〈◊〉〈◊〉. & 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 anima 〈…〉〈…〉. m. 23. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 2.
• * 1.471

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉. Alex.
• * 1.472

  Concil 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. 2.
• * 1.473

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 transcrip∣sit & transmi∣sit Eruditissi∣mus vir, & linguarum ori∣entallium 〈◊〉〈◊〉 gnarus, Du. 〈◊〉〈◊〉, J. V. D. & Juris 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 pub∣licus in Acade∣mia Dul 〈◊〉〈◊〉 apud Hi bernos, proses∣sor 〈◊〉〈◊〉 uarum Orientalium apud eosdem.