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.

The Eighth SERMON. (Book 8)

PART II.

1 PET. V. 6.

Humble your selves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.

IN these words we have 1. a Duty, Humble your selves: 2. Reasons enforcing it; one pointing to the hand of God, his mighty hand; another implied in the note of Illation, Therefore, which reflecteth upon the verse before my Text; Where Pride meeteth with check, God resisteth the proud. If we will not hum∣ble our selves under his hand, his hand will humble us. So that Humble your selves therefore is the con∣clusion, and the Power and the Will of God are the Premisses, both ae∣ternae veritatis, of necessary and eternal truth; and all make up a perfect Demonstration. But such is our weakness and ignorance, nay such is our perversness, that we thwart principles; and, whatsoever the Premisses are, stand out against the Conclusion. Of God's Power we may cry out with the Prophet, Who hath believed our report? or to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? And his Will we do but pray it may be done, and ful∣fil our own. What now will move us? Our last part presenteth a most winning motive: And it is God's hand still, but his hand not armed with a thunder-bolt, but holding out a reward, an Exaltation stronger then a Demonstration. Goodness is more persuasive then Power, and a Pro∣mise more rhetorical then a Command. Omnes mercede ducimur. He that commandeth with promise, he that cometh with a reward, shall more prevail then seven wise men that can render a reason.

Of the Duty we have spoken already in general. We called it an Ex∣ercise; and we shewed you in what it doth consist. We gave you the extent of it, and told you that it is an exercise full of pain and toilsome, in which we fight against principalities and powers and spiritual wicked∣ness, and against the wantonness of the flesh; beating down imagina∣tions, all aversness in the Understanding, and all frowardness in the Will; subduing both Soul and body to the obedience of the truth; working wonders in the Soul, and manifesting it self also in the outward man, in a cast-down eye, in a weak hand, in a feeble knee, glorifying God both in soul and body. Let us now descend to a more particular delineati∣on. And there is a word in my Text which, if well and rightly pla∣ced, giveth all the lines and dimensions of it; and that word is but a

Preposition, and the Preposition but a monosyllable. But the sound of it is harsh in our ear, and findeth no better entertainment and welcome with us then if it were a Satyre or a Libel. It is the Preposition SUB. We must humble our selves under. Et quantum turbat monosyllabon? How are we troubled with this one monosyllable? Our nature is stiff and stubborn, and this Preposition, this monosyllable, is a yoke. SUB TUTORIBUS, under tutors, a hard Text for the Heir.* 1.1 O how doth he expect and long for the appointed time, when he shall be his own man and Lord of all! SUB POTESTATE DOMINI, under the power of the Master, so should Servants be.* 1.2 But they are not so al∣wayes, with good will doing service. It is many times but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the down-cast of the eye. You see them on the ground, at your feet; but in their mind they are on horse-back. SUB POTESTATE VIRI, under the power of the husband,* 1.3 is scarce good Scripture with every Wife. No: set the Servant on horse-back, make the Heir a Lord, and the Wife the head; either no coming under, no SUB at all, or else misplace it. But SUB PRAECEPTO, under the Command, there we should be. For as that was made for us, so were we elemen∣ted and made up and sitted for that, for a Law and Precept: Which whilest we keep under, we are in the way to perfection. In Religion there is Order, and in Order there is a SUB, a coming under. Here there is a precept, Humble your selves. How come we under it? No o∣therwise then if we were brought under a yoke. Every command is our captivity, every injunction an imprisonment. Lex ligat; Enact a Law, and we are in fetters. Nay, Lex occidit; the Law is a killing letter in this sense too: He that bringeth us a command might as well present us with poison or a sword, and bid us kill our selves. At the first hearing one goeth away sorrowful, another angry; another laborem fingit in praecepto, hath seen a lion, some perillous difficulty, in the way. Every man is ill-affected, and wisheth him silenced that bringeth it. Nay further yet; The Gospel of peace, an Angel bringeth it; yet we know what enter••ainment it found. Nay, how was he intreated who is α and ω, the Beginning and the End, the Author and Finisher of the Gospel? Let him be crucified, say the Jews. Ecquis Christus cum suâ fa∣bula? say the Heathen; Away with Christ and his Legend. And now we, who name Christ, and delight in that name, and make our boast of the Gospel all our life long, how do we struggle and strive under it, as dying men do for breath! Deny your selves; Take up your cross; they are the voice of Wisdom crying out unto us, and no man regardeth it. Not SUB LEGE, under the Law; the Gospel hath taken away that SUB: but not SUB GRATIA, we are unwilling to come under Grace, and SUB CHRISTO, under Christ himself. The shadow of his wings is as full of terrour to us as the shadow of Death. This, this was it which killed God's Prophets, stoned his Messengers, burned his Martyrs, crucified the Lord of life himself, and at this day crucifieth him afresh, and putteth him to open shame, our want of Humility, our falling out with and not obeying the Gospel of Christ. It is the Apostle's phrase.* 1.4 This trampleth under foot the bloud of the new Testament, as if it were a pro∣fane and unholy thing.

But we must remember that this SUB, this neglected and scorned Preposition, is that we hold by, all we can shew, all the Patent we have for heaven. Had not Christ come SUB TEGMINE CARNIS, as Arnobius speaketh, under the covert of our flesh, in the form of a ser∣vant; had he not been made SUB LEGE, under the Law; had he not been brought SUB CULTRO, under the knife, at his circumci∣sion;

had he not been SUB CRUCE; undergone the Cross, we had been SUB PECCATO, under sin, under the cross, and as low as Hell it self. It it most true; Nothing but Humility could save us. And when we could not bring an Humility equal to our Pride, nor a Repen∣tance answerable to our Disobedience, then He that was above all was made under the Law,* 1.5 and humbled himself. But yet there be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, something behind, of the afflictions and humility of Christ. Not that his Humility was imperfect; but, that ours be also, his required. For an humble Head and proud Members, an humble Christ and a stiff necked Christian, is a foul incongruity, a monster made up of God and Belial. Something then of Christ's Humility is behind, not that his Humility was imperfect, but that ours is also requisite; not ex parte operationis suae, as if he had not fully accomplished the work of our Redemption, but ex parte cooperationis nostrae, in respect of something to be performed by us: not that it was his Talent, and our mite; his three parts, and our one. No: he payed down the price of our Redemption at one full and en∣tire payment, and that de suo, of his own; he borrowed not of us. His SUB, his Humility, was able to raise a thousand worlds: and yet our Humility must come in with a SUB too; we must be under his yoke, under his afflictions, under his cross, and under him in all obedience, that so we may be conformable to his death, and die to sin, as he died for it. Humility without Obedience, without a SUB, without Subjection, is a cross Humility, nay it is the very height of pride. In Humility there is a SUB,* 1.6 a coming under; and by it the Christian liveth, and moveth, and hath his being. His whole life is Humility, every motion of his is in Humility, and his very essence and being is Humility. This is the new and living way, hard and rough, but leading to life. And in this the Christian moveth and walketh humbly before his God, not opening his eyes, but to see the wonders of his Law; not opening his mouth, but in Hallelujahs; not opening his ears, but to his voice; not ordering his steps, but with fear and trembling; being (as he defined a Monk) assi∣dua naturae violentia, nothing else in himself but a continued and assi∣duous violence, and beating down of the corruptions and swellings of the flesh. This spreadeth and diffuseth it self through every vein and branch, through every part and action of his life. When he casteth his bread upon the waters, his hand is guided by Humility. When he speaketh to God in prayer, Humility conceiveth the Petition. When he fasteth, Humility is in capite jejunii, beginneth the fast. When he ex∣horteth, Humility breatheth the exhortation forth. When he instructeth, Humility dictateth. When he correcteth, Humility maketh the rod. Whatsoever he doeth, he doeth as under God. Nay, in his Faith is Hu∣mility: for it is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith Theodoret, a voluntary sub∣mission of his soul: In his Hope is Humility: for it waiteth in expecta∣tion,* 1.7 waiteth even against Hope it self. In his Charity is Humility a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, it endureth all things. Proprii actus singularum virtutum, say the Schools, Virtues both Moral and Theological, like the celestial Orbs, have their peculiar motion proceeding from their internal forms, but Humility is the Intelligence which keepeth and perpetuateth that moti∣on; as those Orbs by some are said to have the conservation of their motion by some assistent Form without. Behold, I shew you a Para∣dox; A Christian is the freest and the most subject creature in the world, set at Liberty, and yet kept under. Even our Christian Liberty hath its SUB, admitteth of a restraint, is brought under, and bindeth us ab illicitis semper, quandoque & à licitis, from unlawful things alwayes, and sometimes from that which is lawful. S. Paul, I am sure, was as

free as we; and yet he nameth some case wherein he humbleth and abridg∣eth himself so far as not to eat flesh whilest the world standeth. I say,* 1.8 our Christian Liberty hath its SUB; Nay, it hath many. And it is the great∣est part of our Humility to confine it. First, it cometh SUB SOBRIE∣TATE. Sobriety and Temperance must bound and limit the outward practice of it.* 1.9 God hath given every moving thing that liveth to be meat for us. He hath opened the Heavens, and and let all creatures down to us, as he did to Peter in his trance, and biddeth us rise, kill, and eat. All meats, all drinks are lawful. But there is a SUB. Humility must be our Carver and our Cup-bearer. And we must so eat and so drink that our hearts be not over-charged with surfeiting and drunkenness, that our table be∣come not a snare, and that we make not those things which God hath or∣dained for our health, an occasion of falling. So for apparel, we have freedom to use any cloth, any colour: but Humility must come in and check and limit this Liberty, that we abuse not the creature to pride and vanity. Next, our Christian Liberty cometh SUB CHARITATE, un∣der Charity, both to my self, and to my brethren. For our selves, we must remove every thing out of the way which may offend us, though as useful as our right Hand, or as dear as our right Eye. And so for others; we must not use the creature with offence or scandal to our weaker bre∣thren. LICET is a word of enlargement, and giveth us elbow-room; but NON EXPEDIT, It is not expedient, cometh in case of scandal to pinion us, that we reach not out our hand to things otherwise lawful. A NON EXPEDIT maketh a NON LICET. The questions and cases are infinite in particular, and multiplied more then needs by the pride, not weakness, of men, who will startle and cry out at a thing indiffe∣rent in it self and laudable in its use, and yet greedily swallow down the most mortal sin. But yet the position in general is plain, That in some things our Humility must pity others Pride, and that for their sakes we may and ought to condescend, and for Charitie's sake abridge our selves of some part of our Christian Liberty; which cometh SUB CHARITATE, under Charity, the mother of Humility.

There is another SUB, SUB AUTORITATE, under Autority. And, this, if you please to consult the verse immediately before my Text, you will think the Apostle especially meant. For he exhorteth the younger to submit themselves to the elder, and all of them to be subject one unto another, and to be clothed with Humility. And this may seem to be the most pro∣per SUB of all. For our Sobriety, we too often get above it, and tread it under our feet; and the bond of Charity we break as it were a thread at pleasure. But Autority carrieth with it a command; and when our Christian Liberty like a floud casteth down all before it, this steppeth in, and speaketh in the voice of God himself, Hitherto thou shalt go, and no further. It is true; where the Spirit is, there is freedom: and it is as true; where the Spirit is, there is obedience, and he is a Spirit of Obedi∣ence as well as of Truth. And if we make no better use of our Liberty then to fling it over our shoulders and wear it is a cloke of maliciousness, he is ready to pull it off and tell us our duty. That for all our Liberty we are to serve one another; That Christianity destroyeth not relations, of Son to Father, of Servant to Man, of Wife to Husband, of Inferiour to Superiour, but establisheth them rather,* 1.10 That we must submit to every ordinance of man, and that it is his will it should be so,* 1.11 The rule is certain and everlasting, Omne verum omni vero consonat; Not onely in Arts and Sciences, but in matters of practice and Christian discipline, there is a kind of harmony and dependency of Truths; one devoureth not ano∣ther: Nor is my Duty to my Superiour lost in my Christian Liberty.

Beloved, the want of this SUB, of so much Humility as to keep our own place, hath cost Christiendom dear, and so shaken the Church of Christ that she hath fallen asunder by Schisms, mouldred into Sects, and crum∣bled into Conventicles, and found her greatest enemies in her own house. Christian Liberty, if we keep it within its bounds, is Christ's purchase and legacy, and the Christian's patrimony and inheritance. But if we suffer it to fly out and overflow, and break down its banks and limits, and to be driven on violently with every wind of doctrine, it will at last bring in a deluge of disorder, and the dissolution of the Church it self; and for a Congregation of Saints it will present us with a herd and rabble of Co∣rahs and Rabshakehs and Shebas, whose surname is Christian. No: Li∣berty must not onely have Sobriety and Charity to restrain it, but lawful Autority to countermand it. This is the full compass of our Christian Liberty, drawn out by the hand of Humility it self. And therefore we must not, as S. Basil speaketh, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, remove these everlasting bounds. For, if we run over them, or pluck them up, our LICET is a NON LICET; what is lawful is made sinful: our very Liberty en∣thralleth us, and we most rashly and unwisely enslave our selves with a privilege. And therefore I should tell you of another SUB to strength∣en this. And it is involved in it; and without it there is no Subjection, without Subjection no Coming under, and without that no Humility. I cannot tell whether I should call it a SUB, or no. For here is no de∣scent, no coming under. It is onely to be what we are, to keep our own places, and to know what rank or station we are in; That Corah rise not up against Moses, nor Absalom think his head fit for his father's crown; That every Artizan meddle not in our matters of Divinity; That Mechanicks teach not Superiours how to govern, nor Divines how to preach. A Subordination will do well. In the course of Na∣ture we plainly, see it; the Heaven stretched forth as a canopy to com∣pass the Air, the Air moving about the Earth, and the Earth keeping its Centre, and the Centre immoveable. The Sun knoweth his season, and the Moon her going down. The Stars start not out of their spheres. Heavy bodies asccnd not, nor do light bodies strive downwards. All the parts of the Universe are linked and tied together 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, by the law of Providence, and to this end that they may subsist and stand fast for e∣ver. It is so in the wayes of Grace, which entereth not violently, but by degrees, thy Faith under Hearing, and thy Obedience under Faith; thy Experience under Patience, and thy Hope under Experience. And it is so, or should be so, in every Body either Civil or Ecclesiastical. E∣very member must keep its place and office: The Foot is not to see, nor the Eye to walk, nor the Tongue to hear, nor the Ear to speak. Not all Prophets, not all Teachers, not all Apostles; but every man▪ in his own order. As a garden, saith Nazianzene, drawn out by a skilful hand presenteth the eye with more delight then one single flower doth and as the Heaven with all its ornaments is more glorious then one single Star, and as the Body is more beautiful then the Hand or Eye; so a well-ordered Church, where it is, is more glorious then one man of what eminency soever, more glorious then when every man will be a Church himself, and every man teach and grovern every man; it being the glo∣ry of the Church not to be one, but one of many, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith the Apostle, a body fitly joyned and compacted by that which every joynt sup∣plieth, and entire body made up of the collection of all the members into the unity thereof, so that each member hath its place and dependancy and subordination, and cannot subsist without it. We see what amazing effects are wrought when the Waters are lifted up into the Air, or when

the Air getteth into the caverns of the Earth. We hear it from above in thunders, and we feel it from below in earthquakes; Thunder and Earth∣quakes, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, names of perturbation and disorder. And what Thunder is in the air, that is Sedition in a Commonwealth; and what Earthquakes are, that are Schisms in a Church. They rent and tear the body of it, as we read that some Earthquakes have removed pieces of ground from one place to another. And all this is for want of Humility, for want of this SUB, Subordination; all because every wheel will not move in its own place, a wheel within a wheel, or a sphere with∣in a sphere, but every man in the first orb, the great wheel compassing all. A great evil this under the Sun: and if it hath not had edge enough to cut us to the heart, our hearts are stone, and therefore to be removed by Hu∣mility. Every man must learn to keep his SUB, his dependance, and not at pleasure, with the help of a pretence, leap over it. Every man, wherein he is called, ought there to abide, and not start aside into anothers place; not superbire. not superire: It is the School-man's Etymon; not be proud, and walk over his station, and then look down with contempt upon the place where he should stand. I may now perhaps seem to some to stand guilty of a foul neglect of those circumstances which should as it were stand about my Text and guard it; I may seem to have mistook both the Times and my Text. For in these times to speak of Subordi∣nation is in effect to chide the Winds, to whistle down a Tempest, to commend Order in a wilderness, and, when all is consumed with fire, conclamare cives, to call out to neighbours to help to quench it. But, Speciosum nomen Ordinis, saith Hilary; The name of Peace and Order is a fair and specious name, and the doctrine of it is never unseasonable. And if Confusion seem the best order to some, as Snow appeared black to Anaxagoras, yet it may still have the same face and countenance to others, at least put them in remembrance from whence they are fallen. But what is this to Humility? Yes, much, as the Apostle speaketh, every manner of way. You might expect perhaps that I should have shewed you the blushing Cheek, the drooping Eye, the cast down Countenance, the Head hanging down like a bulrush; that I should have commended to your Lowliness and Dejection of mind, Contempt and Hatred of our selves. And so I have, and I have done it in this, in commending to you practick Humility. For so a learned Writer paraphraseth my Text, Deo vos regendos permittite, Submit your selves to God's goverment, and walk in those wayes which he hath appointed for you. And if we look back upon particulars, we shall find it true. For the Servant to be under the Master, is to be under God: For, this is the will of God, saith the Apostle, For the Wife to be under the power of her Husband, is to be under God: For he so ordained it. For the Son to be under the Father,* 1.12 is to be un¦der God: It is his first command with promise. For Man to be under the Law, is to be under God: For the Law is nothing else but the mind of God. To be under the Gospel, is to be under God: For he is the Fa∣ther of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Author and Finisher of it. And then to bound our Christian Liberty, to bring it under, under Sobriety, Charity, Authority, is to place our selves under God, even under the shadow of his wings: For his wing and power spreadeth it self over all these. He gave us our Charter thus interlined, he past over this Liberty unto us with these exceptions and limitations, that it should not break the bounds of Sobriety and the rules of Charity, nor fly loose, and lift it self up a∣gainst Authority. And this we must do if we will put Humilitie's mantle, and be God's humble servants; we must have our SUB, we must come under, under the Precept, under the Gospel, under our selves, under

the meanest thought we have. Our Christian Liberty must come under Sobriety, under Charity, under Authority. And this will make us De∣scendent right, in our right point and aspect, in our Nadir, even SUB DEO, under God himself.

Thus have we run the whole compass of the Duty, and at last brought you under the mighty hand of God. For that we may humble our selves, the Apostle here bringeth 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as Theodoret calleth it, the plow of Reason, to plow up the fallow-ground of our hearts, and dig up Pride by the very roots; and he calleth us to the consideration of God's Power, of his mighty hand, with which he bindeth Kings in chains, and Nobles with fetters of iron; with which he bruiseth the nations, and break∣eth them to pieces like a potter's vessel. And if any thing will strike reve∣rence into us, and melt and thaw our petrified hearts, God's Power will. If his Eye, his care and providence over us, if his Ear, his facility in hearing our complaints, if his Tongue, his Prophets and Teachers, will not, yet his powerful hand should humble us. Sure I am, this is the rule of Wisdom it self: and, if you will trust S. Peter and his keys, this is the low door of Humility; and the righteous must enter into it. Unto the Mighty bow we should: For what he will do we know not, but what he can do we know, even in a moment humble us so that we shall never lift up our heads again: And when we are advancing our plumes, and think∣ing what goodly creatures we are, he can humble that thought too, and strike us into a spiritual dejection; nay, annihilate that thought, and, which is worse, punish that thought, which hath but the continuance of a thought,* 1.13 everlastingly. The Lord uttered his voice, and the earth melted, saith the Psalmist. When Power speaketh, every thing, even the mountains and rocks, and those Hearts which are more exalted and hard∣er then they, should melt. We see how the Power of Man, of as near kin to the Worm and Rottenness as we, doth rule and awe us; how it doth unnaturalize and unprinciple and unman us, and even transform us into Beasts; how it fettereth the Hand, and naileth the Tongue to the roof of the mouth; how it maketh us kiss the hand that striketh us, wor∣ship what we hate, and fall down before any Idol it shall set up; how it maketh us to say that we do not think, to swear to that we know a lie, to do that which we were never resolved to do, to do that to day which we loathed and abhorred yesterday; We see how many proselytes it maketh, how he is able to baptize a Jew, and circumcise a Christian, and make them both at last turn Turks: And shall not the hand of God bow us, to whom all Power belongeth? Shall the breath of mortals make the earth to tremble and shake? and shall it be earth still, or a sensless and immoveable rock, when God is angry? Why are we so led by Sense, and yet so much commend the Eye of Faith as to give her a more certain knowledge then that of Sense, and yet fear that we see more then that we believe? fear the shaking of a mortal's whip more then the scorpions of a Deity? fear a prison more then Hell, and the frown of a man more then the wrathful displeasure of God? Why do we call him the mighty God, and make it an article of our Creed, when we do not believe it? And if we believe it, why do we sleep when God thun∣dereth, and startle when Man threateneth? Why do ye fear? Why do ye not fear? Why do you fear where no fear is, and not fear him who a∣lone is to be feared, O ye of little faith? Beloved, what can God do more then he hath done to make bare his arm and manifest his power? His Voice is in his thunder, his Power is in his judgments, his mighty Hand is alwayes over us. But hath it not of late been as visible as that Hand Belshazzar saw written upon the wall? Might we not even read a TEKEL

and a PERES in capital letters? Do we not see how little we weighed, and how much we lost? I will not ask now, Whose thoughts have troub∣led him? Whose joynts have been loosed? Whose knees have smote one a∣gainst another? But, What hath this Hand, this mighty Hand, this visible Hand, wrought in us? Hath it dulle•• the teeth of the Oppressour, or deaded the appetite of the Intemp••••ate? Hath it beat the deceitful weights out of the bag? Hath it bound the hand of the Sacrilegious, or stopt the mouth of the Blasphemer? Hath it plucked the phylacteries from the Pharisee, or the visour from the Hypocrite? Hath it turned our harp into mourning, or our purple into sackcloth? Miserable men that we are! and the more miserable that we feel it not, but lie under God's hand, nay feel the weight of it, and so behave our selves as if he had no hand at all! To be under his hand when he striketh, and not to bow; to be broken and bruised, and yet not humble; to be brayed as it were in a mortar, and be as very fools as before, O dolor! what a grief is this? saith the Father: nay, what a judgment is this? To be under God's hand, and not to bow; to be under judgment, and not to feel it, is the last and greatest judgment in this world.

But the best sight of God's Power is in his Mercy. For his Mercy hath a hand as well as his Justice; and there is a Crown and Diadem in the hand of the Lord, as well as a Thunderbolt.* 1.14 And indeed our Hu¦miliation is never so kindly, never so proper, as when it is the product of Mercy. There is mercy with thee, that thou mayest be feared,* 1.15 saith David. This was the end why the acceptable year of the Lord was preach∣ed, and a Jubilee proclaimed. God was reconciled to his enemies, that they might be friends; he bought them with a price, that they might bow before him; he was willing to forget their pride, that they might re∣nounce it: And that they may be low in their own conceit, he placeth them high in his favour, and entitleth them to a Kingdom: He sealeth their pardon, that he might sow Humility in their hearts. This was the true end why Repentance and Forgiveness of sins was published, to set a period to sin, and to destroy him who is King over the children of pride. For if the hand of God and eternal death had laid upon all mankind, if there had been no hope of mercy and reconciliation, there had been no place for Humility; but fad Despair of ever being high, and Certainty of being cast down for ever, had swallowed up all Humility and Religi∣on in victory. But now Deus sevit poenitentiam, saith Tertullian; God first sowed the seed of Repentance, that Humility might grow up with it; proclaimed pardon of sin, that men might be humbled for their sin; calleth himself a Father of mercies, that we his children might be the more willing to acknowledge our selves to be but dust and ashes. For we may observe that nothing hath more force and energie to conciliate and bow the hearts of men then Mercy and Beneficence. Nunquam ma∣gìs nomina facio, quàm cùm dono, saith Seneca; I never oblige men more then by giving. Who can swell under an obligation? Who can with∣stand these everlasting burnings? Who can rise up under that hand which is sealing his pardon? Who will not be his humble servant that will knock off his fettets and set him at liberty? Magnes amoris, amor; Love is the load-stone to draw on Love, even that Love which is the mother of Hu∣mility. And therefore we shall find that the Saints of God did never so humble (shall I call it, or disgrace?) themselves as when they were in greatest favour. If Jacob have an Angel sent unto him,* 1.16 then he straight contracteth and shrinketh himself, I am less then the least of thy blessings:* 1.17 for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands. When Nathan had pronounced David's pardon, then he lieth down on the

ground, washeth his couch with his tears, writeth those Penitential Psalms in perpetuam rei memoriam, and setteth them up as so many pillars of re∣membrance, that the generations which were not born might see his Hu∣mility, and praise the Lord. What am I? or what is my father's hou∣shold? saith he. And when S. Paul had received favour, I may ask, What was he? A servant of Christ; An elect vessel. And he was so; for God himself styleth him so. But what doth he write himself? what is his style?* 1.18 The very least of the Apostles; An abortive, born out of due time, such as they use to cast it away.* 1.19 The chief of sinners. In the register of God, a Saint: but in his own eyes, the greatest of sinners. Thus have all the Saints of God bowed themselves under the hand that raised them up, have been humbled with favours, never lower then when they have been in the third heaven, bended most when they have been laden with bene∣fits; like ears of corn in harvest, full and hanging down the head, Humble your selves therefore under the mighty hand of God; mighty to destroy you, and mighty to save you.

And that we may be active in this Christian exercise, in the last place, look upon the Motive and Reward; which might yield us matter for a large discourse, but must now serve onely for a conclusion. Humble your selves, and he shall exalt you. 1. This is God's method, his analytical method, by which he resolveth us into our principles, into a spiritual Nothing, and then raiseth us up into a new creature; first beateth down the sinner, and then raiseth up the Saint; first striketh us to the ground, and then ripeneth the heavens, and sheweth us Christ sitting at the right hand of God. It is his method, to heal us by contraries, to cure us by di∣seases, to raise us by ruine; first to wound, and then to kiss us. These two, Humility and Glory, stand well together, and we must not sepa∣rate them.

2. Nay, as Christ calleth his Cross his exaltation, so is Humility ours. We are lifted up upon it, as he was upon his Cross; lifted up above the errours and vanities of the world, lifted up to converse with Seraphim and Cherubim, nay to have fellowship with God himself. It lifteth up our Understanding to apprehend God. For the lower we are, the clear∣lier we see him. Humility seeth that which is veiled to Pride. It lifteth up the Will co embrace him. For Humility and Obedience are our em∣bracing of God. It lifteth up the Affections, and setteth them on things above. It lifteth us up, and buildeth us up a Temple, a receptacle for God.* 1.20 For he that dwelleth in the highest Heaven, will dwell also in the lowly spirit, in the highest heaven, which is his habitation above; and in the humble spirit, which is his heaven below. It is, saith the devout School-man, the most potent Monarchy in the world, making us rich by making us poor, making us strong by making us weak, making us Kings by making us servants, making us wise by making us fools, giving us all things by leaving us nothing, laying us at God's foot that we may sit in his bosom. Scio quibus viribus opus est, saith the Father; I know what strength I had need of to persuade high minded men to be humble, or that Heaven is so low-arched that we must stoop to enter. But the eye of Faith (I had almost said, of Reason) may soon discover Humility in these rayes of glory. And he that shall set himself seriously to this Chri∣stian exercise of Humbling himself under God, shall certainly find the force and omnipotency of this virtue, and what wonders it can work in his soul; shall feel it chearing his spirits, strengthning his hand, slumbring all tumults, filling his heart, and fortifying it against all assaults of the Ene∣my, against all the darts of Satan, against all those evils which could not hurt us, did we not stand so high, and think too well of our selves, as of

priviledged persons exempt from those temptations which are common to men. This is the power, the Monarchy of Humility;* 1.21 To raise up our Understandings to supernatural truths, to behold a loathsome World, which others dote on; delightful Statutes, which others are afraid of; blessed Afflictions, which others tremble at; To place our Wills under God's will, which is to make us one with him; To rouse our Affections to things above. And this it will do in our mortal bodies, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, when it is most seasonable, in these last times, these worst of times, these times of dark∣ness and blackness: And then when this earthly tabernacle is dissolved, when Time shall be no more, it will make our exaltation complete, and crown us with immortality and eternal glory.

Notes

• * 1.1

  G l 4.2.
• * 1.2

  Eph. 6.5.
• * 1.3

  Gen. 3.16.
• * 1.4

  2 Thes. 1.8.
• * 1.5

  Col. 1.24.
• * 1.6

  Heb. 10.20.
• * 1.7

  Rom 4.18.
• * 1.8

  1 Cor. 8.13.
• * 1.9

  Gen. 9.3.
• * 1.10

  1 Pet. 2.13.
• * 1.11

  Vers. 15.
• * 1.12

  Gen. 3.
• * 1.13

  Psal. 46.6.
• * 1.14

  Isa. 62.3.
• * 1.15

  Psal. 130.4.
• * 1.16

  Gen. 32.
• * 1.17

  Vers. 10.
• * 1.18

  1 Cor. 15.
• * 1.19

  1 Tim. 1.15.
• * 1.20

  Isa. 57.15.
• * 1.21

  1 Cor. 10.13.