LXXX sermons preached at the parish-church of St. Mary Magdalene Milk-street, London whereof nine of them not till now published / by the late eminent and learned divine Anthony Farindon ... ; in two volumes, with a large table to both.

PART I.

JOHN V. 14.

Afterward Jesus findeth him in the Temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

GLorious things are spoken of our Saviour Jesus Christ; yet all come short of his glory. S. Peter in his Ser∣mon to Cornelius, comprehendeth all in this, that God anointed him with the Holy Ghost,* 1.1 and with pow∣er; and that he went about doing good. As he cu∣red mens bodies of diseases, so he purged their souls of sin: and he was miraculous in both. The one he did by his word, and in an instant; the other by his word too, but by degrees, making use of one miracle to further another, beginning the cure of the soul by giving health to the body, in both restoring feet to the lame, speech to the dumb, and eyes to the blind; so letting his bow∣els and compassion drop on both that both body and soul might be heal∣ed. The miracle on the body is as a forerunner to prepare the way and draw on the miraculous renewing of the soul.

In this Chapter we have a man healed of an infirmity under which he had layn eight and thirty years. Jesus looketh upon him with an eye of pi∣ty, prepareth him for the cure by asking him whether he would be made whole; and then speaketh the word, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a wonder in a wonder, as Basil speaketh. He that had none to put him into the pool when the Angel troubled the water, found one that did but speak, but bid him rise, and raised him up. The cure is now wrought, the man is made whole, and hath taken up his bed, and walketh. All is done. The man maketh haste to the Temple, to offer up his sacrifice of praise.* 1.2 And Jesus is withdrawn, hath conveyed himself a∣way; because of the multitude. Every trifle we do must be rung up with applause: but Christ withdraweth, not willing to hear a noise from the people, though he had wrought a miracle. For he did no mi∣racle, as the Father speaketh, ad simplicem ostentationem potestatis, onely to shew his power: nec miracula tantùm propter miracula faciebat; nor did he work miracles, saith Augustine, for the miracles sake, but to glorifie his Father, to confirm and ratifie his Doctrine, to cure mens bodies. That

is done: but that is not enough. Christ hath a further end, to do a cure upon their souls: for he is the Saviour of both body and soul; and when he sheweth his power in the one, he doth it to promote his power in the other. These things he did that they might believe and be saved. And therefore that mercy which looked upon this man when he lay in one of the porches by the side of the pool, is awake still; and Christ hath him in his thought though he be removed from his eye. He seeketh, and followeth, and findeth him in the Temple, there as it were to interpret his miracle, and declare the end for which he had wrought it, to shew the meaning of it, to make it didactical and instructive. And this was seasonable, in time of health to remember him of his disease, and acquaint him with that which before haply he was ignorant of the cause of it, Sin. Nemo aeger diligit concionantem medicum; When we are sick, a preaching Physician is as troublesome as our disease. Diseases must be removed by the virtue of herbs, and not of Rhetorick. But when we are up, and walking, then admonitions and cautions and prescripts are necessary to keep us from the like disease or a worse. At the pool's side Christ doth but look upon the man, and ask him a question; but afterward he pour∣eth forth himself, and more fully instructeth him in the Temple. First he stirreth him up with an ECCE; Behold, thou art made whole. Consider that thou walkest, and consider that thou hast been sick thirty and eight years. Consider thy health, and remember thy disease. Then he bring∣eth in a Caveat, and teacheth him to beware of that which had made him so impotent; NOLI AMPLIUS PECCARE; Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee.

Here we may see Christ's Mercy distilling as the honey-comb, every cell dropping sweetness. Here is 1. misericordia solicita, or prosequens; mercy solicitous to complete and perfect the cure; Jesus findeth him in the Temple. 2. Misericordia excitans; mercy stirring and rowsing the man up to remember and consider his former and present condition; Behold, thou art made whole. 3. Misericordia praecipiens; mercy teaching and prescribing for the future; Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee: The mercy of a Saviour, who is a Friend, to find us out; a Monitor, to admonish and remember us; and a Doctor, to teach us. In these three we have the full pourtraiture and face of Mercy. Mercy can do no more then follow and find us out, and remember us, and instruct us. Her last act is in the other world; If we now hearken to her voice, she will then crown us. Of these three here we shall speak in their order; 1. that Christ found him; 2. that he put him in remembrance; 3. that he taught him.

Afterward Jesus findeth him in the Temple. He found him there, not by chance, but by counsel and providence and of set purpose, seeking him there where he knew he should find him. This was done by chance, is the language of the lower world, of mortal men, whose eye of providence is not so quick but that many things befall them not looked for, and for which they can give no reason. S. Augustine had used those words, FORTE and FORTUITUM; but at last he retracteth, and thinketh them words not fit to be heard in the school of Christ. Who though he were in the flesh, and in a manner cast our nature over his Divinity as a veil, did act by the power of God, but in the form of a servant; spake as never man spake, and did as never man did, but yet as a man.* 1.3 He knew thoughts. He knew what was in man, the inwards of their souls,* 1.4 the heart of their hearts. H•• ••••w Nathanael when he saw him not,* 1.5 when he was un∣der the figtree. He seeth us when we see not him, thinketh of us when we think not of him, and is with us when we are yet afar off. He biddeth the woman of Samaria call her husband,* 1.6 and yet telleth her that he whom

she then had was not her husband, to wit, according to the Law. It is said of the Isle of Rhodes, that there is no day in the year so cloudy, but the Sun one time or other is seen in it: So Christ's Majesty displayed its beams as occasioned required, and manifested it self in our flesh. To know mens thoughts, to see them where the eye could not reach them, to discover what no man could know, these speak him to be a most excel∣lent Person. The woman in the fourth of John could not but perceive he was a Prophet; but she might have cried out with Peter, Thou art the Christ,* 1.7 the Son of the living God. Again, he he found him in the Temple; he found him where he knew he was; and this, to finish his work, to per∣fect his cure. Though the miracle be done, yet there is more to do, e∣ven a greater miracle then this. Though the man rise, and walk, and go to the Temple, yet he carrieth with him a paralytical soul, luxatum judicium rationis, his Understanding and Will, the faculties and parts of his soul, loose and out of joynt, which, like a dead limb, though they did not grieve him, yet did not help him or bring him forward to that end for which the miracle was wrought. Therefore the same providence and mercy which raised him up at the pool's side, found him out in the Tem∣ple, to make yet deeper impressions in him, to open his understanding, that he might know what he was yet ignorant of, who it was that had made him whole, and so believe in him and be saved. For indeed we are too ready to gaze so long on the miracle till we forget the hand that wrought it, to delight our selves so much in health as not to think of the Physician, and to lose a benefit by our enjoying of it. Christ must there∣fore appear a second time, again and again, and find us out, or we shall lose him and our selves for ever. Christ will find them, will be found of them, that seek him not, that they may learn to seek him. His love is ne∣ver weary, and yet never resteth, but in its end. He worketh miracles; and can he do more? Yes; give light to the miracle, and make it a les∣son to instruct us; even sow his miracles, that we may reap the fruit of them; cure our eyes, that our understandings may be opened to know him; give us ears, that we may hearken to his word; restore our limbs, that we may take up our cross, and follow him; that the diseases of our bo∣dies being cured may be to us as the serpent in the wilderness was to the Israelites, to be looked upon that we may be healed; that our former deafness may make us more ready to hear what God will say, our former blindness may make us more delight to behold the wonders of his Law, our former palsie may teach us not to be wavering or double-minded, but to move regularly in the wayes of God, and to persevere therein unto the end. The miracle is even cast away if it have no further operation then on our bodies: Christ's love is cast away if we take his loaves, and feed not on him; if we behold his miracles, and not believe; if he give us sight, and we see him not; if he give us life, and we be dead to him; if he give us health, and we make our strength the law of unrighteousness; if we draw not down his miracles to that end for which he wrought them. Rise, saith he, take up thy bed, and walk. The lame impotent man doth so, and goeth his way: but Christ followeth him, as if the miracle were yet nothing; followeth him to the Temple and then beginneth his cure when the man was whole.* 1.8 When he first put his hands upon the blind man, he saw men walking as trees. This was miraculous, but not a miracle. But Christ again put his hands upon his eyes; and then he looked up, and saw every man clearly. Christ ever worketh to perfe••••••on. He came into the world, that they that see not may see, and that they that are lame may go: but he doth not leave them when they but see men walk like trees, in a weak and uncertain knowledge of him: he doth not begin, and de∣sist,

but followeth his cure, presseth upon us, giveth us daily visits, lea∣veth no means unassayed, no way untroden, nothing unattempted, which his wisdom thinketh fit. His end is to drive up every thing to the end; to make his miracles, his benefits, his miraculous birth, his glorious oeco∣nomy, his victorious death and passion, powerful to attain their end, to wit, the glory of his Father, and the salvation of our souls. If I do not love the Creatou•• ••••••t is all the beauty of the Universe? If I do not re∣pent, what are a•• 〈◊〉〈◊〉 glories of the Gospel? If I do but walk, and go, and rejoyce in my health, what is the miracle of curing?

How should this love of Christ affect and ravish our souls! how should this fire kindled in our flesh inflame and incite us to cooperate with him, and to help him to his end! Nor will he take it as a disparagement, if, when he hath wrought what he pleased, we put to our hand, and work what we ought; if when he hath wrought a miracle, we do our duty; if when he hath made us whole, we flye that sin as a serpent which first bit us and struck us lame; if when he hath provided us materials to our hand, and taught us to be workmen, we build up our selves in our most holy Faith. Oh it is a foul and sad ingratitude to defeat Christ of his end, and, when he would finish his work, to hinder him; when he maketh his benefits a reason why we should sin no more, to be so unreasonable as to sin more and more; to look no further then the miracle which is done, then the benefit we receive; to feel our blood dancing in our veins, to see our garners full, to have our bodies cured, and our estates cured, and then think all is done. Behold, Christ still followeth after us, to find us out; nor will he leave us so. For most true it is, he would not work miracles but for this end. Where he saw unbelief ready to step in be∣tween the miracles and the end, he would not do them.* 1.9 He did not ma∣ny mighty works there, because of their unbelief. No: whatsoever he did, whatsoever he spake, was for us men, and for our salvation. As he said of the voice of the Angel which was heard as thunder from heaven.* 1.10 This voice came not for me, but for your sakes; so all his miracles, all his benefits, even the Creation it self, are for our sakes. He made not the world for himself: For his happiness is in himself. Patuit coelum antè quàm via, saith the Father: He made heaven for Man, and then shevved him the way to enter into it and take possession of it. Whatsoever he doth in heaven and in earth tendeth to dravv us nearer to him. He vvould not thunder, but to make us melt; he would not come towards us in a tem∣pest, but to teach us to bow to his power, and so make it a buckler to de∣fend us; he would not shine upon us, but to draw us to the true light; he would not have sent his Prophets, he would not have sent his Son, to vvork vvonders amongst us, but to dravv us vvith these cords of love to himself, and that we might believe God to be the onely true God, and him whom he hath sent, Jesus Christ. For this end Christ found this man, and for this end he seeketh out us, that all his miracles and benefits and pro∣mises may have their end. And why then should he still suffer such contra∣diction of sinners? Why do we then rejoyce at our health, and be afraid of his precepts? be willing to be raised, and yet sti•••• carry that enemy about with us which first cast us down? rise and walk, and then sin a∣gain? This is to defeat the miracle, to abuse the mercy, and to resist the power of Christ, that though it work what we wonder at, yet it shall not work to the end, and have that effect which was intended, and is proper to it. Again, if Christ urge forvvard his vvork, and desisteth not, but follovveth us still to find us out vvhen vve think all is done, maketh a mi∣racle but the preface and forerunner of a greater vvork, it vvill concern us to uphold this course of love both to others and our se••••es. 1. To

others: To be instant in season and out of season, in our leisure and in our business; To stir up and quicken in them the beginings of grace; Not upon ill success to go back and fall off, but still to labour and travel with them, as S. Paul speaketh, till Christ, that is, all Christian duties, be fully formed in them; To be their solicitours, their advocates, their remem∣brancers, and vvh••n God hath vvrought a miracle, and delivered them from poverty or prison or death, to speak to them ••••••ok back and be∣hold. What though vve prevail not? yet let us 〈◊〉〈◊〉 desist. The hus∣bandman doth not take off his hand from the plough for one bad year, nor doth the merchant leave off navigation for one wreck at sea. Spar∣genda est manus, saith Seneca: succedet aliquando multa tentanti: We must scatter again and again: all will not be lost, after many attempts. The sower in the Gospel sowed his seed in four places, though it came up and yielded increase but in one.* 1.11 The word of the Lord, saith the Pro∣phet, was made a reproch unto me and a derision daily. Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But it followeth, His word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was wea∣ry with forbearing, and I could not stay. He then that cannot expect his brother, that cannot hope well of his brother, is neither a true Prophet nor a good Christian. That plain Axiom of S. Augustine is of good use, De nullo vivente desperandum; We may not despair of any man alive but whi∣lest he breatheth we must hope, we must pray for him, and find him out, and instruct him. That common speech of some in S. Chrysostom's time, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Leave off from admonishing and counselling these kind of men, the Father calleth 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the deceit of the Devil, an en∣gine made by him to undermine and shake all religion and piety. Some we have had of late who have pronounced it unlawful to pray for the salvation of all men; An errour of so monstrous a shape that former ages were afraid of it, and it was reserved for this last and worst age, to wait upon its mishapen damme, that ill-begotten phansie of the absolute de∣cree of Reprobation. I could not easily believe that any should take delight in such a speculation, which striketh off all hope of salvation, and all care of our brother withall, that he may go whither he will: For whi∣thersoever he goeth, he is lost for ever, never to be found. This do∣ctrine leaveth some men in worse case then the Swine in the Gospel. The Devils entered into them indeed, but presently carried them violently into the sea, and drowned them: but by this doctrine some men there be prepared on purpose to be an habitation of Devils for ever. But withall I see, they who cut off all hope of life from some, and with it the prayers and instructions of the Church, are all sheep themselves, pure and innocent, and so sure of their salvation that in this they rest as in a mira∣cle, as if nothing more were to be done, and therefore they will not work it out. They tell us, That some be vessels of wrath, and therefore that we ask and attempt an impossible thing; That the condemnation of many and the Salvation of all cannot both be brought to pass, because this implieth a contradiction. I answer; It is true, it implieth indeed a contradiction, that ••ll should be saved, yet many damned: but yet I see no force in the contradiction to fright us from our devotion, or shut up our mouths, that we may not instruct and remember every man of his pre∣sent condition; that when we have begun, we may not follow and find him out, and instruct him yet more fully. This foundation standeth very sure, The Lord knoweth who are his: But we do not read in Scripture that God hath any where imparted this knowledge unto any man. Suppose it were true that God doth indeed sit in heaven and pass an irreversible sen∣tence upon the lives of some certain men; yet doth this nothing concern

us, nor can we judge by any outward marks upon our brother what God doth in his secret closet and counsel. Judgement belongeth unto him, and duty unto us. Let God do what he please in heaven, or in earth; a necessity lieth upon us, and wo-will be unto us if we instruct not our brother. Nor is the secret will of God any rule of our actions, nor can it be. For it is the property of a Rule to be manifestly known; and if it be not known, it is not a Rule. The rule that concerneth us is as manifest as the light, That we must love our brother; That we must find him out, and instruct and save him; That we must begin and promote and, as far as in us lieth, perfect and finish this work; That we must seek the conversion of all men. Haec regula ab initio Evangelii decucurrit; This is a constant and everlasting rule, and hath run along in a continued stream of light ever since the Son of righteousness did arise in the hemisphere of the Church. But for what God will do with particulars, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, there is a thick cloud cast, a veil drawn before it, that no mortal eye can discern the least glimpse or scintillation of it. We read in the Scripture that the number of true believers is but small: but my duty to my brother, in praying for him, and promoting his spiritual health, is not grounded upon that act which apprehendeth the number of the elect to be but few, but upon that which apprehendeth the mercies of God to be infinite, and that it cannot stand with his goodness to make any man purposely to destroy him. And it is an act of our Charity, which, like some artificial glasses, multiplieth the object a thousand times. And this is a kind of privilege and prero∣gative which Charity hath above Faith. Christ hath already begun with my brother; the miracle is wrought; his wounds are still open, and they will drop their medicinal power and virtue upon the weakest member he hath, yea, upon him that is yet no member; and my care must be to help him to apply it. There is no heart so much stone which Christ's bloud cannot soften and out of it raise a child unto Abraham. No piece so crooked ever sprung from Adam's root but of it God can erect a statue of himself. None is so miserably desperate of whom we are not bound to nourish a hope. No man is so lost, but he may be restored. Whilest he is in this state of life, he is in statu merendi, or demerendi, in the way to bliss, or in the way to destruction. And if he were at the very brink, yet the hand of Mercy may pull him back. No fatal decree, no malig∣nant aspect from heaven hath so blasted him as to make him uncapable of thy help. If there be any such, ostendat scriptum Hermogenis officina, let the Predestinarian shew it. As God once said by his Prophet, Where is the bill of divorce? so may we, Where is the decree? And if we cannot shew it, it is to us as if there were none at all. There is nothing can con∣cern us but but what we may know; and that is our duty, writ in legible characters as with the sun-beams, Thou shalt love thy brother as thy self. It is a strange kind of Despair, to despair of our brother when we should cure him; a Despair flowing from the bitter fountain of Hypocrisie and Uncharitableness. For Love looketh many times on unwelcome truths, and is unwilling to read them as truths. Are we told our friend is dead? Amor noluit dictum, Love would have it unsaid. And can it then be mu∣sick in our ears to hear that some of our brethren are damned from all e∣ternity? that they were built up as men, after the image of God, on purpose to be made for hell? Why should we love to hear this? why should we delight to preach it? It is almost a miracle that we can believe it. We cannot think that all that Christ preached unto were saved; yet he who knew what was in man preached unto them. And therefore we must not look upon our brother in the volume of Eternity, but in the leaves of Time; and consider, not what he was, nor what he is, but what he may

be; not what a crooked piece he is, but what an image of Christ we may make him; and, by the example of our Saviour, follow him with our care, and find him out. Despair will stay us, Hope will send us after him. Forsitan & huic in sepulcro scelerum jacenti dicat Christus, Lazare, veni foràs: How know we whether Christ may not call unto him lying and rotting in his sin as in a grave, Come forth? Or if he should yet after all this care perish, yet thou shalt save thy self, because thou wouldest have saved him. Fac quod debes, & eveniat quod vult, is an old plain A∣rabian proverb, and will be good counsel to the world's end; Do what thou shouldest, and fall out what will: Do thy duty, and thou hast done all, though nothing be done. Coyn not suppositions, pretend not diffi∣culties or impossibilities, presage not ill success. How readest thou? That is the rule; and thou must walk by it. Look not on Christ in the bosom of his Father, but as he walked upon earth; and follow him, and by his example follow thy brother with thy counsel. If he hearken to thee, thou hast wone thy brother. If not; yet thou art doing Christs' work; which will sooner bring thee to him, then thy gazing back, and looking what God did from all eternity. That may settle thee to dwell in him, but this will strike thee with the spirit of giddiness. S. Chrysostom bringeth in even Judas himself, whom, though he was called the child of perdition, yet his Master ceased not by counsels and threatnings, by admonitions and bene∣fits, to have either perswaded or deterred him, by any means to have wone and kept him, from betraying him: And this, saith he, Christ did to teach us to perform our duty to our brother, whether he will hear, or whether he will forbear. Whatsoever the success shall be, blessed shall he be whom his Lord at his coming shall find so doing.

2. It will concern us to do the same on our selves, to find our selves and all our defects out. Non emendabis te, nisi te deprehenderis; Till this we cannot mend and better our selves. If we do not see how little ground we have gone over, and how much still remaineth, if we do not reach forth,* 1.12 as S. Paul speaketh, to that which is before, we shall make no pro∣gress.* 1.13 We are not to rest on the principles and beginnings of piety, but to go on to perfection. If we begin with a miracle, with alacrity and cheerfulness in the profession of Christianity, and then flag and fail and fall back; if we rise up and walk, and then be worse paralyticks then be∣fore, the miracle is lost, the first grace and favour will change counte∣nance, and stand up and accuse us; and that which bespoke us to go, and might have promoted us to happiness, will appear to our condemnation. It is a dangerous thing to be the worse for Christ's goodness, more misera∣ble by his favours, more impotent when we are healed, more bold and daring after a miracle, to rest in beginnings as in the end, to riot it on be∣nefits, and to be brought back on those wings which should carry us on to perfection; Unto which we ought still to press forward as the Angels mounted to heaven on Jacob's ladder, step by step, rung by rung, by degrees.* 1.14 Commonly we are cured too soon. We begin to build, and are not able to finish. We do not sit down, and cast with our selves what will cost us. We do not weigh the labour, the dangers, the inconveniencies which attend this Profession, the loss of our goods, the hazard of our lives, the displeasure of friends, the daily wrestlings and fightings not onely with principalities and the powers of darkness, but with our selves. These are not in our thoughts. But to take the name of Christ, to give up our names unto him, to be called Christians, that is our 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, our Zenith, our perfection. When Christ hath bid us rise and walk, when he hath called us by his Gospel out of the world, when we can reckon our selves as members of his Church, we say as Esau did to his brother Jacob, Christ

hath dealt graciously with us, and we have enough; we walk on in a vain shadow, in an imagination, in a dream; comfort our selves, we bless our selves, we assure our selves, as if we were pressing forward in the wayes to happiness. And the truth is, we begin too soon, we are perfect too soon, comforted too soon, assured too soon. And we may justly fear that the greatest part of Christians are so soon in heaven that they will never come there. For how are we taken and delighted with the most slender performances! How doth the heart leap at the gift of a penny? What musick is there in a sigh, though breathed from an hallow heart? what refreshment in a fast, though it be to bloud and oppression? What a heaven do we feel when have we made a good profession? What a Sab∣bath day's journey have we taken when we have heard a Sermon? How doth one good action, one good word, one good thought exalt and ca∣nonize us? How are small beginnings, any thing, nothing, taken for that violence which must take the kingdome of heaven? And this is the bitter effect of hypocrisie. For when we will not be what we should be, we study to appear both to our selves and others what we are not. Thus are we content to tithe mint anise and cumin, and to omit the weightier matters of the Law, judgement, mercy and truth; to begin in the spirit, and end in the flesh. Outward profession, false shews, fair pretencces, profers and beginnings, these are the portion, the substance, the riches of the hypo∣crite: As the impotent man here, when he was made whole, went his way, and placed all his happiness in this, thought of nothing but this, that he was made whole. Therefore Christ's care, we see, was to find him out, and more fully to instruct him, to shew him a greater defect, the cause of the for∣mer, to discover a worse disease to be cured. So do we settle and fix our minds on common favours, on our calling, our profession, on good inten∣tions and good thoughts; and not look forward to the denial of our selves, to the crucifying of the flesh, to the purging of the soul; nor look backward upon these beginnings, or, if we do, we behold them on the wrong side, not as beginnings, but perfection it self. Even these begin∣nings are significant, if we would understand them, and they bespeak us to press forward: Every benefit is an obligation. Take up thy bed, and walk; the words are plain; but there is more understood then said. There is a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a depth, in them, which is not fathomed at first. When our Saviour cometh to interpret them, they will bear this sense, Sin no more. In a word, every beginning looketh forward to the end. For that which hath a beginning may have an end. For nothing can be done or be begun to be done, saith the Philosopher, which is impossible. A good bginning, if it be not brought to perfection, is an argument against us that we have left it as the Ostrich doth her eggs in the sand, never to be hatched and nourished, but to be crushed by every foot, and broke by every wild beast. Therefore if it be but one talent, one favour, one benefit, we must improve it. If it be Riches, thou must be rich in good works. If it be Strength, thou must labour in thy calling. If it be Length of dayes, thou hadst them from his right hand, and thou must not still be a child in understanding. If it be Health, thou must work out thy salvation. If Beauty, thou must not make it a snare. If Eloquence, thou must speak to the heart of the oppressed. If a Good profession, thou must make it good. If a Good thought, it was Christ that sent it, and thou must not be so unkind as to stifle it. If a Good resolution, it was his hand and power that raised it and it will be sacrilege for thee to pull it down. To conclude this; As Christ's love and care did still look forward, so must ours. As he findeth us out, so must we find out our selves. Nor must our endeavours end, no more then his loving kindness doth in this miracle.

And thus much we gather from Christ's care here in following and finding the man out; and further we carry not this considera∣tion.

We will now follow him into the Temple; Jesus findeth him in the Temple; a place proper and fit for the man that was healed to offer his sa∣crifice of praise in, and a place fit for Christ to teach and admonish him in. And it is as requisite sometimes to observe the Place as the Time. In his Temple,* 1.15 saith David, doth every one speak of his glory; and, I will praise thee in the midst of the great congregation; and, Oh worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Nor doth an hymn of praise sound so well or yield such musick in private as in the Temple, the place where God's ho∣nour dwelleth. Here we publish our gratitude, and by that teach others how they should tune their harps and set their songs. Here it goeth up with a shout; here we all render to God those things that are God's, Power, and Wisdom, and Mercy, and rejoyce and sing as it were in our selves that God is so wise and powerful and merciful, and so give him what we can, all honour and praise. Here the Angels are present, saith Basil, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as Scribes to register every word that we speak. Here are the tribes gathered together, even the tribes of the Lord; and every man speaketh of his wondrous works. Here God himself is present, weighing and pondering the thoughts and affections of men. For if where two or three be gathered together in his name,* 1.16 God be in the midst of them, present with them, and favour them; then certainly where ma∣ny are met together, he is at hand ready to receive their sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving. I cannot but think that this recovered Paralytick leaped for joy as soon as he could stand up; that he went along praising of God; that this thought came along with him, and brought him to the Temple. I acknowledge that of Tertullian to be true, In triviis habet pietas suum secretum, A pious and thankful heart hath its Oratory where∣soever it is: But yet Devotion is more proper in its proper place; it is more proper to praise God in the house of God; nor is any service so powerful as that which is tendered in publick. Thou canst not, saith the Father, praise God so well in thine own private house as in God's. There thou findest many fires to kindle thy zeal, the presence and example of o∣thers, the reverence of order, the presence of God. Here we meet to∣gether as an army, like that fulminatrix Legio, that thundering Legion, to besiege a•••• invade the Majesty of Heaven, to force God, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, say the Greek Fathers, to put him so to it that he cannot but accept us. And God not onely requireth modestum fidei, the modesty of our faith, and private devotion; but likewise he requireth these things to be done in publick by troups and sholes of men. Haec vis grata Deo; With this kind of force and violence God is well pleased. So acceptable is this to God, that when David had but a thought to build an house to this pur∣pose, God told him that he did well, when he had done nothing, neither might do any thing,* 1.17 onely had the design in his heart, and did think and resolve to do it. This man then did what was fit to be done, the work of the place in the place of the work; he did what others, what the Apo∣stles, what Christ himself did. He did not stay himself with this thought, That he might return to his own house, and perform his devotions there. No: he goeth to the Temple: And in the Temple Christ findeth him, and sheweth him yet a more excellent way.

To make some use of this; I know the Temple is demolished; not a stone left upon a stone: But yet all places of publick worship did not fall with the Temple. Even common Reason doth teach all Nations to erect and set apart places for this end. For how can many meet toge∣ther

but in one place? Temples we still must have, where we may offer, though not beasts, as the Jews did, yet the calves of our lips, and the breathings and groans of a broken and contrite heart, which is a sacrifice that God will not despise; where we may worship the Father in spirit and in truth, and also present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service. Yet I do not plead the absolute necessi∣ty of our publick meetings in Churches. Indeed there is not, there can∣not be any such necessity. For God will not suffer necessity to lye upon any thing but that which is in our power. It is absolutely necessary that we should pray: For that we may do if our tongue were tacked to the roof of our mouth. It is necessary that we should eat the flesh and drink the bloud of Christ: For that we may do though we receive not the Sacrament. It is necessary that we should serve the Lord: For that we may do though every Church were beat down with axes and hammers. Necessitas, lex temporis; Necessity is the Law of the times: And whilest this Law is over us, we are free from all Law of Order or Ceremony, not tied to circumstances of Time and Place, neither to the Sabbath nor the Temple; which otherwise might well require our due observation. For where Necessity is of a truth, there in truth is no Law. Quicquid cogit, defendit; Whatsoever it compelleth us to do, it excuseth when it is done. Then a grot or a cave or an upper room may serve for a Church. But when the fetters of Necessity are once shaken off, and this Law cancel∣led, then even Convenience it self is Necessity, and that which is most advantageous for us bindeth us most. Then not to go to Church out of humour, or out of a groundless phansie that any other place is as holy, is to be a Recusant indeed, and in the worst sense.* 1.18 Then to forsake the assembling of our selves together, as the manner of some is, is a ridiculous schism, and the first step downwards to Apostasie. We see men run first from one congregation, and then from another, and at length from all, and so from Religion, from the Truth, from Christ himself. Stocks they are and stones who attribute Holiness to walls. And yet stocks they are and stones that do profane and disgrace them. What, are Churches holy? A stout question to be put up by the masters of the Assembly, a nail to be driven home to open the heart, and to discover a Papist or Prelati∣cal Protestant; Which terms have now the same signification. What, are Churches holy? Yes, they are; but no otherwise then as set apart for holy uses, no otherwise then in relation to the end. And then certainly they are as holy as they who are so witty to give them new names, and who prefer their Parlors or their Stables before them. For these will be as ho∣ly as they are, if men do not profane them; And they will serve for that end for which they were erected: but these men, ever wanton in their religion, and never religious but in wantonness and contention, set up o∣ther ends of their own, and soon forget and fly from that for which they were created, that they may overtake the other, and then write Holiness in their forhead, and proclaim it to all the world, th••t they are holy, and they alone. And no marvel they will not admit the Church, the place of publick worship, to be holy, who dare not call the Mother of Christ himself a Saint. The time was, Beloved, when this was counted a holy language, and holy men of God, the Doctors and Martyrs of the Church, spake it, and feared not to gain thereby that foul imputation of being superstitious. The time was when Sacrilege was a sin: But now men have learned an art to do what that Lamb of God never did, to take away sins by committing them; to take them away, and make them no sins; to take them away, and make them virtues. And to them nothing is holy. For first they look upon the Holy things as a prey and in a manner sweep

away the rest with them. For to compass this, the Word must be no more the Word of God, but what they will make it, a nose of wax, to be tempered and fitted to what form they please: Prayer is made a formali∣ty, a babling formality: The Sacraments are not so much as signs; The Water is dried up in the Font; and the Lord's Supper is no more then, what the Anabaptists heretofore called it, a twopeny feast: And for Dis∣cipline, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉; where is it? the very name of it is lost. First they con∣demn what they hate, because it standeth in the way in which Covetous∣ness leadeth them, and then they study arguments to ratifie and make good that sentence of condemnation; which if you be so bold as to an∣swer and confute, they pursue you as a troubler of Israel; as if they should give you a blow on the face, and tell you it were to this end, to keep you off from making a riot. Oh Folly, whence art thou come to cover the face of the earth, and to shake the pillars of the Church? How hath the Love of the world filled our mouths with arguments, with murmu∣rings and disputings,* 1.19 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, with bitter disputings, which adde not one cubit, one hair, to the body of Religion or growth of Piety? Where∣in when we have run never so far the one from the other, if common Rea∣son may prevail, we shall meet again, and find it nothing else but a quar∣rel and controversie about words. But how shall common Reason find a place in those hearts which are so filled with the World? And there∣fore men are bold to ask the question, Whether the Word of God be his Word or no; Whether there be a Temple, or a Church; Whether there be any Priests or Ministers of the Gospel; Whether every man may not take that Office upon him; What use there is of the Sacraments; When, and How, and By whom they are to be administred. God grant it be not at last put to the question, Whether there be any God, or no. But you will say, This will not fit, nor can it be set to, our Meridian. I wish it may not, nor to any other; but rather to any then ours. But sure∣ly I cannot see how Profaneness and Sacrilege can drive out Superstition. I will say no more; but methinks I see them opening a wide gate to let Irreligion and Atheism in. But from all Sedition and privy Conspiracy, from all false Doctrine and Heresie, from Hardness of heart, and Contempt of Gods Word and Commandment, Good Lord, deliver us. To conclude; To the Temple the man went who was made whole; and in the Temple Jesus found him. In the Temple he praised God; and in the Temple Christ instructed him.* 1.20 To the Temple went Peter and John at the hour of prayer. And into the Temple went up the Pharisee and the Publican, the one a Sectary, the other odious to a proverb; yet no scruple, no contention between them: both went up together to the Temple to pray. And as they had a Temple, so have we the Church: And if theirs was the Holy place, as it is called, so is ours, being ordained to the same end; I may say, to a better: Theirs, to offer up the flesh of beasts; ours, to offer up our selves: Theirs, for corporal and carnal; ours, for spiritual sacrifices: And why not ours then as Holy as theirs? God himself cannot imprint Holiness in a stone: All is from the end. The Church is a house of prayer; let it not be made a den of thieves, to rob God of his glory. It is Bethel, the House of God; let it not be made Bethaven, a House of vanity. Let our devotion, and not our vanity, here display it self. Let the contention be, not who shall be most vain, most phantastick; but who shall be most de∣vout, most humble, most reverent. It is a house of peace; oh what pity, what shame is it that we should from this place first hear the alarm to war! It is a house where God's Honour should dwell; let not Ziim and Ochim, satyrs and screech-owles, profane persons, dance and revel here. Last of all, it is a place consecrate, that is, set apart for God's

worship; then, if there be such a sin, it it will be foul sacrilege to pull it down. I will read to you some part of Psalm 83. Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. For lo, thy enemies make a tumult; and they that hate thee, have lift up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. —They said, let us take to our selves the houses of God in pessession. O my God, make them like a wheel, as the stubble before the wind. —Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek thy name, O Lord. —That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most High over all the earth. Tell me now, Is this a Psalm set to those times, or a Prophecy of ours? He that awaketh not, he that trembleth not at this thunder, is not asleep, but dead. Seneca speaketh of some who seem to be made, as serpents and vipers, for no other end but to hiss and trouble the world: And such are they who disgrace and profane places set apart for publick devotion. What is there in a Church that a religious mind can check at? If we must meet together, what scruple can arise concern∣ing the place? If any do arise, it riseth like a fog, and steameth from a foul and corrupt heart, from Pride the mother of Pertinacy and Con∣tradiction, which will not be brought down to conform to the counsels of the wise, no, nor to the wisdom of God himself, but calleth Truth Heresie, because others speak it; Bounty, waste, because others lay it out, Reverence, superstition, because others bow; and will pull down Churches, because others build them; kicketh at every thing that is received, nihil verum-putans nisi quod diversum, thinketh nothing true but that which is diverse and contrary; nothing true, but that which breatheth in op∣position against the Truth; as ridiculously but more maliciously scrupu∣lous then Tyridates in Pliny, who would not venture on ship-board, nor could endure navigation, because he thought it an unlawful thing to spit into the sea. For see; God hath rained down Manna upon us, and we startle, and ask, What is this? God hath given us his Word, and we quar∣rel it. He hath given us the Sacrament of Baptism, and we ask, By whom, At what ages and How we must be washed. It was a River, then a Font, now a Bason; and can you tell, can they tell who trouble these waters, what it will be next? If God prevent it not, it will be Nothing. Christ hath invited us to his Table, and we know not whether we should sit, or stand, or kneel; whether we must come as subjects, or as his fel∣lows and companions; whether we receive him really, or in a trope and figure; whether we may not do it too often. As Seneca speaketh of Philosophy, so may we of Christianity, Fuit simplicior aliquando inter minora peccantes; When men were more sincere, they were less scrupu∣lous, and had no leisure to find knots in every bulrush, in that which was made smooth and even to their hands. They did do their duty, and not run about the world and ask How and When they must do it, especially where the duty was open and easie to the understanding, that they might run and read it. They heard the Word, and obeyed it. They did sub∣mit to those who were supreme, and not ask How they should be govern∣ed; The great question of the world at this day, and that which troub∣leth the world. They honoured their Pastours, and were not busie to teach them how to teach them. They were baptized for remission of sins. They received the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and fed on Christ. They went into the Temple, the Church, to pray with and in the midst of the congregation, but never consulted nor asked counsel how to pull it down. In a word, they were religious, and did not seem so. Christ found the man he had cured in the Temple, and there taught and instructed him: And if he find us there, he will teach and in∣struct

us also by them to whom he hath committed the Oracles of God. Hitherto we have been in the Temple, and yet we are but in the porch of our Text. It is high time now to proceed, and to hear what the O∣racle, what Christ, doth say; Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worst thing come unto thee. Here mercy, having freed the man of his Palsie, spreadeth her wings further, to shadow and protect him from a worse disease, even Sin. Before she did but walk, and seek: now she speaketh, and poureth her self forth as a precious oyl upon his soul, to cleanse and heal it. And this (though we are not willing to think so) is the greater mercy of the two. There is far more mercy in the Re∣membrance,* 1.21 in the Precept, then in a Miracle. The grace of God which bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. A saving grace, and appear∣ing! Who is not willing to behold such an apparition? who doth not clap his hands and rejoyce, as if Heaven it self did open to take him in? But there it followeth, Teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. This indeed is the opening of heaven, but to flesh and bloud it is as the driving us out of paradise, a kind of excommunicating of us out of the world, a removing and separating of us from those delights which flat∣ter the sense, a sight we abhor to look upon, as full of horrour as hell it self. A saving Grace we love, but not a teaching Grace; a miracle, but not a prescript: And yet Grace cannot save us unless it teach us; and a miracle hath no power without a prescript and direction. If we would be saved, we must work out our salvation. Therefore, before we view the words in particular, and lay out the full extent of the Remembrance of what was done to the impotent person already, and the Prescription of that he was to do for the future, we shall observe that which is visible e∣nough to a discerning eye, the Difference between the corporal and spi∣ritual cure. In the first Christ's power alone did shew it self. He spake the word, and it was done. He bade him, Rise; and he did rise, and walk. But in the other he maketh him a party and co-agent: he biddeth him behold and consider what was done, and sin no more. Which is in effect, to watch and set a court of guard upon himself; to fly Sin, as that ser∣pent which first bit him; to fight against principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world; to fight against, nay, to crucifie, him∣self. It is a good rule and very useful which the Father giveth, That it is not good, but full of danger, for men sic omnia ad Dei voluntatem re∣ferre ut nihil putent esse in seipsis, so to refer all to the will and power of God as to imagine there is nothing for themselves to do; as if we were indeed, not compared to stones, but were altogether as sensless, as unca∣pable as they; as if we had, not an Understanding to be enlightned, but no Understanding at all; not a Will to be rectified, but no Will at all; not Affections to be crucified, but no Affections at all; as if the New man were not made out of Man, but, as Man was at first, created out of a lump of earth: or as if, being thus created, he did not understand, and will, and love, and hate, and grieve, and fear; did nothing but what was wrought in him by force and violence. It is not good thus to imagine, that all things we do, or see done, are the works of God's hand and the effect of that power which bringeth mighty things to pass. We cannot so far forget God, and his Wisdom and his Goodness, as to conceive that up∣on every action of man there is set a DIXIT, ET FACTUM EST, He spake the word, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. For we must know that some actions there be quas Deus nec vult, nec non vult, sed permittit, which God neither absolutely willeth, nor powerfully re∣sisteth, but in his wisdom permitteth to be done, which otherwise could not be done but by his permission: Others there be quas vult fieri, sed non

vult facere, which he would have done, but will not do them but with us. And thus we see nothing is more resisted, more broken, then the will of God which he manifesteth in his commands. And his complaint a∣gainst the world, his condemnation of the world, is, That men will not obey, will not do what he would have them. Nor doth that will of Per∣mission thwart or fall cross with any other will of his. 1. Not his Abso∣lute will: For he absolutely permitteth them. He putteth life and death before the children of men; and when he hath done what his Wisdom and Goodness require, he leaveth them to their choice. 2. Not his Na∣tural will and inclination, by which he desireth the creatures good, and useth all means to bring it to happiness. For though by his natural and primitive will he would have all men happy, (For he created them to that end. He made not Hell for Man; much less did he make Man for Hell. What? make Man to damn him? God forbid!) though he for∣biddeth Sin, biddeth us sin no more, though he detesteth it as that which is most contrary to that Goodness which he is, and which maketh Men and Devils enemies to him, yet he may justly permit it. He command∣eth us to be good, and useth all means to make us so, but not violence. He commandeth us; but not as he doth the Sea and the Winds, who must obey and be still when Omnipotency speaketh. For if he thus command∣ed, then not onely the Ox and the Ass would know their Master's crib, but every Man would consider, and know his Maker: then, as the Stork and the Turtle and the Crane know their appointed times, so also would Man know the judgments of the Lord. This were indeed to break our hearts with his voice, as he doth the cedars of Libanus. Again, Man is not as God, qui sibi sufficit ad beatitudinem, who is all-sufficient and Happiness it self; and therefore he was placed in an estate where he might work out his own happiness, but with the help and assistance of God, and still with a possibility of being miserable. And herein, saith Tertullian, was the wisdom and goodness of God seen: Nec enim ratio sine bonitate ratio est, nec bonitas sine ratione bonitas; For neither can Reason subsist without Goodness, nor is that Goodness which Reason commendeth not. But God is infinite, as in power, so in wisdom and goodness: And therefore as from his goodness it is that he loveth his creature, so in his wisdom he hath placed before him good and evil, ut bonum non necessitate obiret, sed voluntate, that he might draw near to him, and be obedient, and so be blessed, not of necessity, but willingly. Nulla laus est non facere quod facere non potes, saith Lactantius. Will you say a Lion is a Lamb, when he is within the grates? Will you call an Eunuch, chaste? or a man in fetters, patient? Was Bajazet no Tyrant when he was in the iron cage? It is no commendation, saith the Father, not to do that which thou canst not do: Then it can be none, to do that which thou canst not but do. And in this consisteth our obedience, that we do that which many times is contrary to us, but alwaies that we do that which, if we would, we might not do. For it is impossible for any finite creature, which hath not his completeness and perfection in himself, to purchase heaven upon other terms then these, that he might have lost it. We need not look on any secret decree of God. If it be secret, it is out of our ken and reach, who scarce see things which are before our eyes, but consider men ut vi∣atores, as in their way. And we may without fear of imputation of er∣rour conclude that it was possible for the justest man alive to have been wicked. If not, why did he strive and labour and offer violence to himself? And that it was possible for the wickedest man alive to have been just; for Judas, not to have betrayed his master: Else, why do we condemn him of despair▪ and make that his greatest sin? Villicus, si

velit, omnia rectè facit, saith Columella of Husbandry; The farmer, if he will, may do all things in it as he should. And it is true in Divinity. Augustine, the great Champion for the Grace of God, saith, Homo potest peccare,* 1.22 & Deum negare; &, si nolit, non facit; Any man may sin, and deny God; but he doth not, unless he will. And to take the will from that to which it doth incline, and draw it to that which God command∣eth, is that which we call Obedience. In the wayes of Goodness God doth help us, but not force us: he useth all means which he in his eternal wisdom knoweth fittest, but doth not by his omnipotent power bind and constrain us. He that is necessarily good is not good: And it is impossi∣ble he should be evil who is fettered in the chains of impossibility of be∣ing good. In a word, God forbiddeth sin, but permitteth it; command∣eth obedience, but doth not force it. God biddeth us sin no more; but he doth not tell us we cannot sin again; for this were to take away the first by adding the second. For how can these two stand together, Sin no more, and, You cannot sin again? God doth what he can: and when he doth what he can in this respect, he doth not alwaies make us good. Say I this of my self? or doth not even the Scripture speak as much? Doth not God say as much?* 1.23 and he cannot blaspheme himself. Judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard He maketh the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah his and their own Judges. What could I have done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? He fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it; he omitted nothing which might make it fruitful. Hoc satìs est fecisse Deo. And could he have done any more? Yes, he might: he might have made it bring forth good grapes. God saith he could not, who is Truth it self. Nor doth this any whit derogate from his omnipotent Pow∣er. For even his Power doth seem to bow, and act by his Wisdom: And he can no more do what his Wisdom hath not set down then he cannot be wise, then he cannot be God. 3. That will of God's to permit sin, and not to intervene with his omnipotency to hinder it, doth not contradict that will which we call voluntatem praecepti, his will exprest in the Com∣mand which he layeth upon his creature: but the one supposeth the o∣ther. For he doth not command us not to sin, as he commanded the Pa∣ralytick to take up his bed and walk. For every law, as it supposeth a pos∣sibility of being kept, so supposeth a possibility of being broken; which could not be, if God thought fit to make use of his uncontrollable and absolute power. Lex justo non est posita. If Goodness had been as essen∣tial to Man as his Nature and Soul by which he is, if God's Omnipotency had interceded, and by its irresistable force opposed Sin, that it had not entered the world by Adam, nor been known to his posterity, the Jews had not heard the noise of the trumpet at the promulgation of the Law, nor the Disciples the Sermon on the mount under the Gospel; there had been no use of the comfortable breath of God's promises, nor of the terri∣ble sound of his threatnings. For who will make a Law against that which he knoweth will never come to pass? Last of all, God's Permissive will standeth in no shew of opposition to his Occasioned and Consequent will, by which he raineth down vengeance upon the disobedient. For we must suppose a power to obey; whether natural, or (as it is) given, we need not dispute: but a power there must be; but not such a power which is alwaies and infallibly brought into act. We must suppose Sin, or Obedience, before we can take up the least conceit of any will in God to punish, or to reward. Omnis poena, si justa est, peccati poena est, saith Au∣gustine; All punishment which is just is the punishment of sin: And there∣fore God, who biddeth Man sin no more, out of his justice willeth his de∣struction

when he sinneth and will not repent. Sic totus Deus bonus est, dum pro bono omnia est, saith the Father; Thus God is entirely good, whilest all he is, whether merciful or severe, is for good. Minus est tan∣tummodo prodesse, quia non aliud quid possit quàm prodesse; His reward might lose and not carry with it that infinite value, if he could not reach out his hand to punish as well as reward: And some distrust it might work in the creature that he could not do one, if he could not do both. In a word, neither is the Conversion nor the Induration of a sinner a work of God's incontrollable power, nor of that will by which he made the heaven and the earth, and by which he healeth the lame, and raiseth the dead: For when he speaketh the word, the lame shall walk; and when the trumpet soundeth the dead shall rise: But how oft is his will to save us resisted? How oft would I, saith Christ, and you would not? For if it were fulfilled, there could be no Hell at all. Again, the command is his will: and what moment is there wherein that is not resisted? We are those de∣vils which kindle that fire which he made not for us. We are those sons of Anak, those giant-like fighters against Heaven, which break God's commands with as much ease as Samson did his cords that bound him. We are those Leviathans which break those bounds which God hath set us: Which we could not do, if he were pleased, if he could be pleased, if his wisdom would permit him, to interpose his power to hinder us. But it may be said that we lye in sin, as this Paralytick did by the pool's side, not able to help our selves, and therefore have no power to work out our con∣version. We willingly grant it. And therefore we have need of new strength and new power to be given us. We deny it not. And therefore not onely the power but the very act of our conversion is from God. Who ever yet denyed it? But then, that Man can no more withstand his conversion then this man did his cure, or an infant can its birth, or the world could its creation, or the dead can the resurrection; that we are converted whether we will or no; is a conclusion which these premisses will not yield. This flint will yield no such fire, though you strike it never so oft. We are said sometimes to sleep, and sometimes to be dead in sin; and we are command∣ed to awake, and rise: but it is ill building conclusions upon no better a basis then a Figure; and because we are said to sleep, or be dead in sin, to infer a Necessity of rising when we are called. Nor doth God's power work after the same manner in the one as in the other: nor is our obedi∣ence to God's inward and outward call of the same nature with the obe∣dience of the creature to the voice and command of the Creatour. How many Fiats of God's have been frustrate in this kind? How often hath he called, and we answered not? How often hath he spoke the word to us, to be up and doing, and we have done nothing? How often hath he smote our rocky and stony hearts, and no water flowed out? How often hath he said, Let there be light, and we still remain in darkness? We are free a∣gents; and God made us so when he made us Men: and our actions are voluntary, not necessary. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith Basil; Goodness is the work of our Will, not of Necessity. If it could be wrought in us against our will, it could not be Goodness. What more vo∣luntary then Goodness? saith Augustine; which, if it were not voluntary, could not bear that name. They who would be wiser then God, and did seem to murmure that in their natural constitution there was not 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a necessity of being good, and an Impeccability, an impossibility of be∣ing evil, did neither love good nor hate evil. The Father telleth them in that book which he wrote, That God was not the authour of sin, that in this vain desire to raise man to that pitch which nothing but phansie could set up, they much dishonoured him, and that in seeking to make him

more then an Angel they made him less then a Man, and preferred a beast before him.* 1.24 It is true, God is said to work in us to will and to do of his good pleasure; but this is so far from taking away of our power that it is brought as a reason by S. Paul why we should work out our salvation with fear and trembling. God doth indeed work it in us, but he doth it by giving us the knowledge of his promises, by exciting and strengthening us by his Spirit. He worketh it who supplieth us with all sufficient means to work it. And the honour is due unto him who is the first Cause, who is α and ω, by whose grace we begin and perfect it. He useth his power, but not violence,* 1.25 working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight, stir∣ring us up unto it, and, when we thought not of it, preventing us with his grace; administring means and helps; suggesting occasions; cherishing and fomenting it in our hearts. Thus he doth it, but not without us. He doth it, but not whilest we lye like men asleep, or as dead men in their graves; non nobis nesciis, vel invitis, vel otiosis, saith the Father; not when we are ignorant of his working, or unwilling to receive his impressions, or stand∣ing idle all the day; but when we will entertain him, when we endeavour, and make use of those means which he hath plenteously afforded us, when we strive to enter in at that wide and effectual door which he hath opened. He hath opened his will, and he hath opened the heavens unto us, and shewed us all the beauties and glories thereof; but we must take it by vio∣lence. He shineth upon us, and striketh us on our sides; but we must shake off our fetters, and gird our selves, and follow after him.

I did at first think but to touch this: and indeed I have not spoken of it so largely as I might: But thus much I have spoken because I perceive the Devil hath made use not onely of the flying and fading vanities of this world, but of the best graces of God, to file and hammer them, and make snares of them, and hath wrought temptations out of that which should strengthen us against temptations. Faith is suborned to keep out Charity; the Spirit of truth is taught to lead us into errour; and the power of God's Grace hath lost its activity and energy by our unsavoury and fruitless panegyrick. We hear the sound and name of it, but the power is not visible in our motions; it floateth on the Tongue, but never moveth the Heart, or the Hand. For do we not lye still in our graves, expecting till this trump will sound? Do we not cripple our selves in hope of a miracle? Do we not settle upon our lees, and say, God can draw us out? Do we not wallow in our bloud, because he can wash us? Do we not love our sickness, because we have so skilful a Physician? and since God can do what he will, do not we what we please? This is a great evil under the Sun, and one cause of that evil which is upon the earth, and maketh us stand still and look on it, nay delight in it, and leave it to God alone and his power to remove it; as if it concerned not us at all, or it were too daring an attempt for us mortals to purge and cleanse that Au∣gean stable which we our selves have filled with dung; as if God's Wis∣dome and Justice did not move at all, and his Mercy and Power were a∣lone busied in the work.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Acts 10.38.
• * 1.2

  Vers. 13.
• * 1.3

  Mat. 12.25.
• * 1.4

  John 2.25.
• * 1.5

  John 1.48.
• * 1.6

  John 4.16.
• * 1.7

  Matth. 16, & John 6.
• * 1.8

  Mark 8.
• * 1.9

  Matth. 13.58.
• * 1.10

  Joh. 12.29, 30.
• * 1.11

  Jer. 20.8, 9.
• * 1.12

  Phil. 3.13.
• * 1.13

  Heb. 6.1.
• * 1.14

  Luke 14.30.
• * 1.15

  Psal. 29.9. Psal. 22.22. Psal. 96.9.
• * 1.16

  Matth. 18.20.
• * 1.17

  2 Chron. 6.10.
• * 1.18

  Heb. 10.25.
• * 1.19

  Phil. 2.14.
• * 1.20

  Acts 3.1.
• * 1.21

  Tit. 2.11.
• * 1.22

  Contra Faust. Manich. Lib. 22.
• * 1.23

  Isa. 5.3, 4.
• * 1.24

  P••••l. 2.13.
• * 1.25

  Hebr. 13.21.