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.

1 COR. XII. 3.

Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God, calleth Jesus accursed; and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the holy Ghost.

THat Jesus is the Lord was seen in his triumph at Easter, made manifest by the power of his Resurrection. The earth trembled, the foundations of the hills mo∣ved and shook; the graves opened at the presence of this Lord. Not the Disciples onely had this fire kindled in their hearts, that they could not but say, The Lord is risen, but the earth opened her mouth, and the Grave hers: And now it is become the language of the whole world, Jesus is the Lord. All this is true: But we ask with the Apostle, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, What profit is it? What profit is it if the Earth speak, and the Grave speak, and the whole World speak, if we be dumb? Let Jesus be the Lord; but, if we cannot say so, he may and will be our Lord indeed, but not our Jesus; we may fall under his power, but not rise by his help. If we cannot say so, we shall 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, fall cross with him, nay 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, speak the quite contrary. If we cannot call him Lord, then with the accursed Jew we do indeed call him Anathema, we call the Savi∣our of the world an accursed thing. Si confiteamur, exsecramur; If we con∣fess him not, we curse him: And he that curseth Jesus needeth no greater curse. We must then, before we can be good Christians, go to school., and learn to speak not onely Abba, Father, but Jesus the Lord. And where now shall we learn it? Shall we knock at our own breasts, and awake our Reason to lead us to this saving truth? Shall we be content with that light which the Laws and Customs of our Country have set up, and so cry him up for Lord as the Ephesians did their Diana, for company? and sit down and rest our selves in this resolution, because we see the Jew hated, the Turk abhorred, and Hereticks burned, who deny it? Shall we alienis o∣culis videre, make use of other mens eyes, and so take our Religion upon trust? These are the common motives and inducements to believe it. With this clay we open our eyes; thus we drive out the dumb Spirit:

And when we hear this noise round about us that Jesus is the Lord, our mouth openeth, and we speak it with our tongue. These are lights indeed, and our lights, but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, deceitful. My Reason is too dim a light, and cannot shew me this great conjunction of Jesus and the Lord. Education is a false light, and misleadeth the greatest part of Christians, even when it leadeth them right. For he that falleth upon the Truth by chance, by this blind felicity, erreth, when he doth not erre, having no better assu∣rance of the Truth then the common vogue: He walketh indeed in the right way, but blindfold: He embraceth the Truth, but so as for ought he knoweth it may be a lye. And last of all, the greatest Authority on earth is but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a faint, uncertain and failing proof, a windy testi∣mony, if it blow from no other treasury then this below. No: we must have a surer word then this, or else we shall not be what we so easily per∣suade our selves we are. We must look higher then these. Cathedram habet in coelo; Our Master is in heaven. And JESUS IS THE LORD is a voice from heaven, taught us, saith the Apostle, by the holy Ghost, who is vicarius Christi, as Tertullian calleth him, Christ's Vicar here on earth, and supplieth his place, to help and elevate our Reason, to assure and con∣firm our Education, and to establish and ratifie Authority. Would you have this dumb spirit dispossessed? The Spirit who as on this day came down in a showre of tongues must do it. Would you be able to fetch breath to speak? The holy Ghost must spirare, breathe into us the breath of spiritual life, inable us by inspiration. Would we say it? we must teach it. If we be ignorant of this, the Apostle here 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, would have us to understand, that No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the holy Ghost.

And now we have fitted our Text to the Time, the Feast of Pentecost, which was the Feast of the Law. For then the old Law was given, then written in tables of stone. And whensoever the Spirit of the living God writeth this Law of Christ, THAT HE IS THE LORD, in the fleshly ta∣bles of our hearts, then is our Pentecost, the Feast of the holy Ghost; then he descendeth in a sound to awake us, in wind to move and shake us, in fiery tongues to warm us and make us speak. The difference is; This mi∣nistration of the Spirit is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as the Apostle speaketh, far more glo∣rious. And as he came in solemn state upon the Disciples this day, in a manner seen and heard; so he cometh, though not so visibly, yet effectu∣ally, to us upon whom the ends of the world are come: Though not in a mighty wind, yet he rattleth our hearts together: Though no house totter at his descent, yet the foundations of our souls are shaken: No fire ap∣peareth, yet our breasts are inflamed: No cloven tongues, yet our hearts are cleft asunder. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Every day to a Christian should be the day of Pentecost, the Feast of the holy Ghost. We may now draw the lines by which we are to pass, and take our Text into those material parts it will afford. And they are but three: 1. the Lesson we are to learn, To say Jesus is the Lord; 2. the Teacher, the holy Ghost; 3. his Pre∣rogative, he is not onely 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, our chief Instructer, but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, our sole Instructer: Not onely none to him, but none but him. With∣out him all other helps are obstacles, all directions deceits, all instructions but noise, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith the Apostle, None can say, Jesus is the Lord, but by the holy Ghost. Of these parts in their order.

In the first part we must consider, first, What the Lesson is; secondly, What it is to say it. The Lesson is but short, Jesus is the Lord; but in it is comprised the sum of the whole Gospel. Here is JESUS, a Saviour; and DOMINUS, the Lord: And as they are joyned together in one Christ, so no man must put them asunder. If we will have Christ our Saviour, we

must make him our Lord: And if we make him our Lord, he will then be our Saviour. Now to hear of a Saviour is Gospel, the best news we can hear. Gospellers we all would be: and when this trumpet soundeth, then, Hear, O Israel, is a good preface, and we are willing to be attentive: But the Lord is a word that startleth us; that carrieth thunder with it, calleth for our knee and subjection: As if we were again at mount Sinai, and the mountain smoking, we remove our selves, and stand afar off. A Saviour is musick to every ear, but a Lord is terrible. In the first and best times of the Church, the first and greatest labour was to win men from Idols to the living God, to teach them to love that Name besides which there is no other name under heaven to be saved by. No strife or variance then, unless it were whose zele should be most fervent, whose devotion most intensive, who should most truly serve him as a Lord whom they believed to be their Saviour. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Onely Piety and Profaneness divided the world. But when the Church had stretched the curtains of her habitati∣on, and peace had sheathed the sword which had hewen down thousands that professed the Gospel, and sealed their Profession with their bloud, then arose hot debates and contentions about the Person of Christ; his Godhead and his Lordship were called into question. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 was become 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, DOMINUS, DOMINICUS; the Lord but half a Lord▪ The word indeed S. Augustine himself had used, but after retracted it. Some would mak him 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a mere man, adopted to the participation of Divine honour. Some contracted him, some divided him; like men who had found a rich Diamond, and then fell to quarrel what it was worth. In all ages Christ hath suffered 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,* 1.1 the contradictions of sin∣ners. For every sinner standeth in a contradiction to Christ: not onely Judas who betrayed him to the Jews; and the Jews, which crucified him; but the sinner, who for less then thirty pieces of silver selleth and betrayeth him every day. Not onely the Heretick, who denieth him to be the Lord; but the Hypocrite, who calleth him Lord, Lord, and doeth not his will; the Wanton, who betrayeth him for a smile; the Covetous, that giveth him up for bread, for that which is not bread; the Ambitious, that selleth him for breath, for air; and the Superstitious, that selleth him for his pi∣cture, for an Idol, which is nothing. For we know, saith S. Paul, that an Idol is nothing in the world. Every sin, every sinner is a contradiction to this Lord. Not onely Judas and Christ, and Pilate and Christ, are terms contradictory; but the rich man and Christ, the profane person and Christ. Not onely they that persecute him, but even they that fight for him; not onely they who say he is not the Lord, but they who cry, Lord, Lord, may stand at as great a distance from him as that which is not doth from that which hath a being. For in this respect they are not, they have no Entity at all. They have nothing of Christ, nothing of his Innocency, his Meek∣ness, his Goodness. And as an Idol is nothing in the world, so are they no∣thing in the Church. All the being they have is to be without God in this world, which is far worse then not to be. How many give to themselves flattering titles? They call themselves the Regenerate, the Elect, the Chil∣dren, Servants, Friends of this Lord, when they are but contradictions to him, as contradictory to him as Nothing is to Eternity, as that which is worse then Nothing is to Goodness and Happiness it self. To this day there are that make his Honour not their practice but dispute, and whilest they are busie to set the bounds of his Dominion, let Jesus slip, and lose him in controversie. Nor did ever Christian Religion receive more wounds then from them who stood up as champions in her defence; who let go the Law, in the bold inquisition after the Law-giver; and forget the service which they owe, by putting it too often to the question, How

he is the Lord. For the greatest errour is in our practice; and as it is more dangerous, so it is more universal. Salvian will tell us of the Arians in his time, Errant, sed bono animo errant; non odio, sed affectu Dei; They erred indeed, but with a good mind; not out of hatred, but affection to Christ. And though they were injurious to his Divine Generation, yet they loved him as a Saviour, and honoured him as a Lord. But we are more puzzled in agendis quàm in credendis, in our Practicks then in our Creed, and are sick rather in the heart then in the head. Preach the Go∣spel; we are willing to hear it, and we kiss the lips that bring it: But let Christ speak to us as a Lord, Keep my commandments, we are deaf, and place all Religion in bringing the very principles of Religion into questi∣on, and make that our argument which should be our rule. Or, if we give him the hearing, the Good news hath swallowed up the Law; the Gospel, our Duty; and Jesus, the Lord. The truth is, our Religion for the most part wanteth a rudder or stern, to guide and carry us in an e∣ven course between Love and Fear, between God's Goodness and his Power. As Tully said, Totum Caesarem, so we, Totum Christum non no∣vimus, We know not all of Christ. When we hear he is a Saviour, we fetter our selves the more: And when we are told he is a Lord, we sit down a••d dispute. As he is a Saviour, we will find him work enough: but as he is a Lord, we will do nothing. When we hear he is a Stone, we think onely that he is LAPIS FUNDAMENTALIS, a sure stone, to build on; or LAPIS ANGULARIS, a corner stone, to draw together, and unite things naturally incompatible, as Man and God, the guilty person and the Judge, the Sinner and the Law-giver; and quite forget that he may be LAPIS OFFENSIONIS, a stone of offence, to stumble at, a stone on which we may be broken, and which may fall upon us and dash us to pieces. And so not looking on the Lord we shipwreck on the Saviour. For this is the great mistake of the world, To separate these two terms, Jesus and the Lord, and so handle the matter as if there were a contradiction in them, and these two could not stand together, Love and Obedience; nay, To take Christ's words out of his mouth, and make them ours, MISERI∣CORDIAM VOLO, NON SACRIFICIUM, We will have mercy, and no sacrifice. We say he is the Lord; it is our common language. And though we are taught to forget our Liturgy, yet we remember well enough, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, our Lord, have mercy. And here Mercy and Lord kiss each other. We say the Father gave him power, and we say he hath power of himself.* 1.2 Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thy inheritance, saith God to Christ. And Christ saith, I and the Father are one. We be∣lieve that he shall judge the world,* 1.3 and we read that the Father hath com∣mitted this judgment to the Son. Dedit utique generando, non largiendo; God gave him this commission when he begat him, and then he must have it by his eternal generation as the Son of God. So Ambrose. But S. Au∣gustine is peremptory, Whatsoever in Scripture is said to be committed to Christ, belongeth to him as the Son of Man. Here indeed may seem to be a distance; but in this rule they meet and agree: God gave his commis∣sion to Christ as Man; but he had not been capable of it it he had not been God. As he is the Son of God, he hath the capacity; as the Son of man, the execution. Take him as Man, or take him as God, this Je∣sus is the Lord. Cùm Dominus dicatur, unus agnoscitur, saith Ambrose. There is but one Faith,* 1.4 and but one Lord. In this chapter, operations are from God, gifts from the Spirit, and administrations from the Lord. Christ might well say, You call me Lord, and Master: and so I am; a Lord, as in many other respects, so jure redemtionis, by the right of Redemption, and jure belli, by way of conquest. His right of Dominion by taking us out

of slavery and bondage is an easie Speculation: For who will not be willing to call him Lord who by a strong arm and mighty power hath brought him out of captivity? Our Creation cost God the Father no more but a DIXIT: He spake the word, and it was done. But our Re∣demption cost God the Son his most precious bloud and life, onely that we might fall down and worship this our Lord; A Lord that hath shaken the powers of the Grave, and must shake the powers of thy soul; A Lord, to deliver us from Death, and to deliver us from Sin; to bring life and immortality to light, and to order our steps, and teach us to walk to it; to purchase our pardon, and to give us a Law; to save us that he may rule us, and to rule us that he may save us. We must not hope to divide Jesus from the Lord: for if we do, we lose them both. Save us he will not, if he be not our Lord, and if we obey him not. Our Lord he is still, and we are under his power; but under that power which will bruise us to pieces. And here appeareth that admirable mixture of his Mercy and Justice tempered and made up in the rich treasury of his Wisdom: his Mercy, in pardoning sin; and his Justice, in condemning sin in his flesh,* 1.5 and in our flesh, his Mercy, in covering our sins; and his Justice, in ta∣king them away: his Mercy, in forgetting sins past; and his Justice, in preventing sin that it come no more: his Mercy, in sealing our pardon; and his Justice, in making it our duty to sue it out. For as he would not pardon us without his Son's obedience to the Cross, no more will he par∣don us without our obedience to his Gospel. A crucified Saviour and a mortified sinner, a bleeding Jesus and a broken heart, a Saviour that died once unto sin, and a sinner dead unto sin,* 1.6 these make that heavenly composition, and reconcile Mercy and Justice; and bring them so close together that they kiss each other. For how can we be free, and yet love our fetters? how can we be redeemed from sin, that are sold under sin? how can we be justified, that resolve to be unjust? how can we go to hea∣ven with hell about us? No: Love and Obedience, Hope and Fear, Mercy and Justice, Jesus and the Lord, are in themselves, and must be con∣sidered by us, as bound together in an everlasting and undivided knot. If we love his Mercy, we shall bow to his Power. If we hope for favour, we shall fear his wrath. If we long for Jesus, we shall reverence the Lord. Unhappy we if he had not been a Jesus! and unhappy we if he had not been a Lord! Had he not been the Lord, the world had been a Chaos, the Church a Body without a Head, a Family without a Father, an Army without a Captain, a Ship without a Pilot, and a Kingdom without a King. But here Wisdom and Mercy and Justice, Truth and Peace, Re∣concilement and Righteousness, Misery and Happiness, Earth and Hea∣ven meet together and are concentred, even in this everlasting Truth, in these three words, JESUS EST DOMINUS, Jesus is the Lord. And thus much of the Lesson which we are to learn.

We come now to our task, and to enquire What it is to say it. It is soon said: It is but three words, JESUS EST DOMINUS, Jesus is the Lord. The Indian saith it, and the Goth saith it, and the Persian saith it, & totius mundi una vox CHRISTUS est; Christ Jesus is become the lan∣guage of the whole world. The Devils themselves did say it,* 1.7 Jesus thou Son of God. And if the Heretick will not confess it, dignus est clamore dae∣monum convinci, saith Hilary; What more fit to convince an Heretick then the cry of the Devils themselves?* 1.8 The vagabond Jews thought to work miracles with these words. And we know those virgins who cried, Lord, Lord, open unto us, were branded with the name of fools and shut out of doors. Whilest we are silent, we stand as it were behind the wall, we lie hid in the secret pavilion of our thoughts; but the Tongue is the

door by which we go out, and manifest and expose our selves to the publick view. But even this gate, this door, may be a wall, a pavillion to skreen us; and many times we are least seen when we are most exposed. For words are deceitful upon the balance. When you come to weigh them, those words which went for ta∣lents weigh not a mite; and though they present unto us the soft∣ness of butter, yet upon the touch and trial they have an edge, and wound like swords. To bless with the mouth and curse with the heart is the Devil's lecture, who in these last Atheistical times hath set the heart and tongue at such a distance that they hold no intelligence. Hosanna is the word, when we wish Christ on the cross; and we call him Lord, when we trample him under our feet. If we look upon the greatest part of Christendom, we may take them not for a Church, but rather 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 for a convention or congre∣gation of idle talking men, who say it, and never say it; say it often but never speak it as they should. To say it then is of a more spreading signification, and taketh in the Tongue, the Heart, the Hand; taketh in 1. an outward Profession, 2. an inward Persuasion, 3. a constant Practice answerable to them both. This is the best language of a Christian, when he speaketh by his Tongue, his Eye, his Ear, his Hand, by every member that he hath.

* 1.9First, we are bound to say it. That we may be saved, we must confess with the mouth the Lord Jesus.* 1.10 God dwelleth in him that con∣fesseth Jesus is the Son of God. The Mouth is named by S. Paul in allusion to that of Moses, The word is in thy mouth. Where by a Synecdoche the Mouth is mentioned, when all the other parts of the body are understood. For if the Mouth were enough, if to say it were sufficient, there needed no holy Ghost to descend to teach it. We might learn to say Jesus is the Lord as the Pye or Parrot did to salute Caesar, and between our Jesu Domine and the birds Ave Caesar the difference would not be great. And indeed if we send our eyes abroad, and take a survey of the conversation of most Christians, we shall find that our Confession is much after the language of birds; To name Christ, and speak well of his name; To bless the child Jesus, and to curse the Jews; this is the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the total of our Say, of our Confession. And if we were to frame a Religion out of mens lives, as one is said to have done a Grammar out of Homer's works, we should find none but this. For what can we discover in most mens lives but noise and words? How good is the Lord! How beautiful are the feet of Jesus! Doth a∣ny man speak against Jesus? Ad ignem & leones; Let him die for it. And thus some say it because they are inwardly convinced and wil∣ling to think so. For not onely out of the mouths of babes and suck∣lings, but also out of the mouths of wicked men, hath God ordained strength. And Jesus is justified and magnified not onely by his chil∣dren, but also by his enemies. Again, some are Christians in a throng, and dare not but say it for very shame, dare not oppose it, lest the multitude of those they live with should confute or silence them, or stone them to death. Si nomen Christi in tanta gloria non esset, tot professores Christi sancta Ecclesia non haberet, saith Gregory; If the name of Christ had not been made glorious on the earth, the Church of Christ would fall short in her reckoning and number of Professours; where∣of the greatest part name him but for companie's sake. And that is the reason why so many fall from him in time of persecution, and are so rea∣dy to forget him. For that Religion which we take up by the way

will never bring us forward upon the point of the sword. Besides, the Heart doth not alwayes sympathize and keep time with the Voice, but is often dull and heavy when our Hosannas and Hallelujahs are loudest; nay, most times turneth away from that which our Pro∣fession tendeth to. The Voice may be for Jesus, and the Heart for Mammon; the Voice for Christ, the Heart on his Patrimony; the Voice for his miracles, the desire for his loaves: We may say he is the Lord, when are ready to crucifie him. O miserable dispropor∣tion and contradiction of Voice and Heart! Foolish men that we are, to profess the Gospel is true, and yet so live as it were most certain∣ly false! I did not well to mention this. For thus to say it, is not to say it. This Confession is at best but a beam cast forth from the light of Reason, but an acknowledgement against our wills; and we may truly say, Vox est, & preterea nihil; It is a voice, a sound of words, and no more. Thus they may name him who never name him but in their cursed oaths and exsecrations; who shall be said never to have named Jesus because they name him too often; and whom he will not know, because they have been too familiar with him. Thus the Profane person may say it, who teareth him pieces; the Sacrilegi∣ous person, who devoureth him; the Covetous, who selleth him; the Ambitious, who treadeth upon him; the Devil, who will have nothing to doe with him; and that white Devil, the Hypocrite, that trumpet of an uncertain sound, that monster with the voice of an An∣gel and the malice of a fiend. But this is not to say it. And we must learn to distinguish between Samuel and the Devil which the witch brought up in his mantle. Outward Profession will not reach home. But,

In the next place, as there is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a word floating on the tongue, so there, is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a word conceived and shaped in the mind, the word of the Heart, a kind of dialogue within our selves, as Plato calleth it, when by due examination and comparing one thing with another, and well weighing the inducements and evi∣dences which are brought, we are well persuaded of the Truth, and settle our selves upon this conclusion, That Jesus is the Lord. We commonly call it Faith; Which of it self is operative, as a fire in the bones, which will not be concealed. My heart was hot within me; and whilst I was musing, the fire burned:* 1.11 then spake I with my tongue, saith David, I believed, and therefore have I spoken. The love of Christ constraineth us, saith S. Paul. And indeed of its own nature so it will. For it is of an active nature. Sometimes we read of its valour; it stoppeth the mouths Lions: Sometimes of its policy; it is not ignorant of the Devil's enterprises: Sometimes of its strength, that it removeth mountains: And we find furta fidei, the thefts and pious depredations of Faith. But that Faith should be idle, or speechless, or dead, is contrary to its nature, and proceedeth from our depraved dispositions, from Love of the world and Love of our selves, which can silence it, or lull it asleep, or bury it in oblivion. Thus we may have Faith as if we had it not, and use it as we should use the world, as if we used it not: or worse, abuse it; not be∣lieve, and say it; but believe, and deny it: not believe, and be saved; but believe, and be damned. For the Devil can haereticare propositio∣nes, make propositions which are absolutely true, heretical. Be∣lieve, and be saved, is as true as Gospel; nay, it is the Gospel it self: but by his art and deceit many believe, and are by so much the bolder in the wayes which lead unto Death; believe Jesus to be the Lord,

and contemn him; believe him to be a Saviour, and upon presump∣tion of mercy make themselves uncapable of mercy; and because he saveth sinners, will be such sinners as he cannot save; because they believe he taketh away the sins of the world, will harden themselves in those sins which he will not take away. Many there be who do veritatem, sed non per vera, tenere, maintain the Truth, but by those wayes which are contrary to the Truth, make that which should con∣firm Religion destroy Religion, and their whole life a false gloss upon a good Text; having a form of godliness, but denying the power of it; crying, Jesus is the Lord, but scourging him with their blasphemies, as if he were a slave; and fighting against him with their lusts and affections, as if he were an enemy; sealing him up in his grave, as if he were not that Jesus, that Saviour, that Lord, but, in the Jews language, that deceiver, that blasphemer. But this is a most broken and imperfect language. And though we are said to believe it when we cannot believe it, to have the habit of Faith when we have not the use of Reason, and so cannot bring it forth into act, as some Divines con∣ceive; though it be spoke for us at the Font, when we cannot speak; and though, when we can speak it, we speak it again and again, as often almost at we speak, Lord, Lord; though we gasp it forth with our last breath, and make it the last word we speak; yet all this will not make up the Dicere, all this will not rise to thus much as to say JESUS IS THE LORD. Therefore,

In the third place, that we may truly say it, we must speak it to God as God speaketh to us, whose word is his deed, who cannot lie; who,* 1.12 if he saith it, will doe it; if he speak it, will make it good. And as he speaketh to us by his Benefits, which are not words but blessings, the language of Heaven, by his Rain to water the earth, by his Wool to clothe us, and by his Bread to feed us; so must we speak to him by our Obedience, by Hearts not hollow, by Tongues not deceitful, by Hands pure and innocent. Our heart conceiveth, and our obe∣dience is the report made abroad. And this is indeed LO QUI, to speak out, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to make our works vocal, and our words operative; to have lightning in our words; and thunder in our deeds, as Nazianzene spake of Basil; that not onely Men and Angels may hear and see and applaud us, but this Lord himself may under∣stand our dialect, and by that know us to be his children, and ac∣cept and reward us. In our Lord and Saviour's Alphabet these are the Letters, in his Grammar these are the Words, Meekness and Pati∣ence, Compassion and Readiness to forgive, Self-denial and Taking up our cross. This must be our Dialect. We cannot better express our Jesus and our Lord then idiomate operum, by the language of our works; by the language of the Angels, whose Elogium is, They doe his will, (the Tongue of Angels is not so proper as their Ministery, for indeed their Ministery is their Tongue;) by the language of the Innocents, who confessed him to be the Lord, not by speaking, but by dying; by the language of the blessed Martyrs, who in their tumul∣tuary executions, when they could not be heard for noise, were not suffered to confess him, said no more, but took their death on it. And this is truly to say Jesus is the Lord. For if he be indeed our Lord, then shall we be under his command and beck. Not a thought must rise which he would controll, not a word be uttered which he would silence, not an action break forth which he forbideth, not a motion be seen which he would stop. The very name of Lord must awe us, must possess and rule us, must inclose and bound us and keep us

in on every side. Till this be done nothing is done, nothing is said. We are his purchase, and must fall willingly under his Dominion. For as God made Man a little World, so hath he made him a lit∣tle Commonwealth. Tertullian calleth him Fibulam utrius{que} substan∣tiae, the Clasp or Button which tieth together two diverse substan∣ces, the Soul and the Body, the Flesh and the Spirit. And these two are contrary one to the other, saith S. Paul, are carried diverse wayes; the Flesh, to that which is pleasing to it; and the Spirit, to that which is proportioned to it, looking on things neither as pleasing nor irksom, but as they may be drawn in to contribute to the per∣fection and beauty of the soul.* 1.13 They lust and struggle one against the other, and Man is the field, the theatre, where this battel is fought: and one part or other still prevaileth. Many times, nay most times, the Flesh with her sophistry prevaileth with the Will to joyn with her against the Spirit, against those inclinations and motions which the Word and the Spirit beget in us: And then Sin taketh the chair, the place and throne of Christ, and is Lord over us, reigneth, as S. Paul speaketh, in our mortal bodies. If it say, Go, we go; and if it say, Come, we come; and if it say, Doe this, we doe it. It maketh us lay down that price for dung with which we might purchase heaven. See how Mammon condemneth one to the mines, to dig for metalls and treasure, for that money which will perish with him. See how Lust fettereth another with a look and the glance of an eye, and bindeth him with a kiss, which will at last bite like a serpent. See how Self∣love driveth on thousands, as Balaam did his beast, on the point of the sword. And thus doth Sin 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,* 1.14 Lord it and King it over us. And in this bondage and slavery can we truly say, Jesus is the Lord, when he is disgraced, deposed, and even crucified again? Belo∣ved, whilest this fighting and contention lasteth in us, something or other will lay hold on us, and draw us within its jurisdiction, some∣thing or other will have the command of us, either the World, or the Flesh, or Jesus. Therefore we ought to consider what it is that beareth most sway in our hearts, what it is we are most unwilling to lose and afraid to depart from: Whether we had rather dwell in the world, with all its pomp and pageantry; in the flesh, in a Mahumeti∣cal paradise of all sensual delights; or with Jesus the Lord, though it be with persecutions. Suppose the Devil should make an overture to thee, as he did to our Saviour, of all the Kingdoms of the world; and the Flesh should plead for her self, (as she will be putting in for her share) and shew thee Pleasure and Honour and Power, and all that a heart of flesh can desire in those Kingdomes? and on the other side, Jesus the Lord should check thee (as he doth in his Gospel) and pull thee back, and tell thee that all this is but a false shew, that this present shew will rob thee of future realities, that the pleasures which are but for a season are not to be compared to that eternal weight of glory; that in this terrestriall Paradise thou shalt meet with the sword and wrath of God, and from this seeming paint∣ed heaven fall into hell it self: Here now is thy trial; here thou art put to thy choice. If thy heart can now truly say, I will have none of these; if thou canst say to thy Flesh, Who gave thee authority over me? What hast thou to doe with me? if thou canst say with thy Jesus, Avoid, Satan; and then bow to Jesus, and acknowledge no power in heaven or in earth, no Dominion, but his, then thou hast learned this ho∣ly language perfectly, and mayst truly say, JESUS EST DOMINUS, Je∣sus is the Lord.

And now to apply it in a word; Is it not pity, nay, a great shame, that Man, who was created to holiness, who was made for this Lord, as this Lord was made man for him, whose per∣fect liberty is his service, whose greatest honour is to be under his Dominion, and whose crown of glory it is to have Jesus to be his King, should wait and serve under the World, which passeth away; should be a parasite to the Flesh, which hath no better kin then Rottenness and Corruption; should yield and comply with the Devil, who seeketh to devour him; and fling off the service of Christ as the most loathsome, painful, detestable thing on earth, who is a Jesus to save him, and a Lord that hath purchased him with his bloud? Is Jesus the Lord? Nay, but the World is the Lord, and the Flesh is the Lord, and the Devil is the Lord. This is Vox populi, the language of the world. And therefore Saint Cyprian bringeth in the Devil thus bragging against this Jesus, and magnifying his power above his, and laughing us to scorn whom he hath filled with shame; Ego pro istis sanguinem non fudi, I have not spent one drop of bloud for these. I gave them wine, to mock them; I presented them beauty, to burn them; I made riches my snare, to take them; I flattered them to kill them: All my study was to bring them to death and everlasting de∣struction. Tuos tales demonstra mihi, Jesu; Thou that openedst thy bowels and pouredst forth thy bloud for them, shew me so many servants of thine, so ready, so officious, so ambitious to serve thee. And what a shame is this to all that bear the name of Christ, and call him both their Jesus and their Lord, that the malice of an enemy should win us, and the love of a Saviour harden us; that a Murtherer should draw us after him, and a Redeemer drive us from him; that Satan an Adversary and the Devil an Accuser should more prevail then Jesus the Lord! Lacrymis magìs opus est quàm verbis. Here let us drop our tears, and lay our hands upon our mouths, and ab∣hor our selves in dust and ashes, go into the house of mourning, the school of Repentance, and there learn this blessed dialect, learn it, and believe it, and speak it truly, JESUS EST DOMINUS, Jesus is the Lord.

For conclusion; Ye that approch the Table of the Lord to re∣ceive the Sacrament of his Body and Bloud, consider well whose Body and Bloud it is. Draw near; for it is Jesus: but draw near with reverence; for it is the Lord. And as he was once offered upon the Cross, so in these outward elements he now offereth him∣self unto you with all the benefits of his death. For here is com∣prehended not onely Panis Domini, but Panis Dominus; not onely the bread of the Lord,* 1.15 but also the Lord himself, who is that living Bread which came down from heaven. And how will ye appear before your Jesus, but with love and gratitude, and with that new song of the Saints and Angels.* 1.16 Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and bles∣sing? And how will ye appear before your Lord, but with humility and reverence, with broken hearts for your neglect, and strong and well-made, resolutions to fall down and worship and serve him all the dayes of your life? For if the ancient Christians, out of their high esteem of the Sacrament, were scrupulous and careful that not one part of the consecrated Bread nor one drop of the consecrated Wine should fall to the ground, but thought it a sin, though it were but a chance or misfortune; quanti piaculi erit Deminum negligere? what

an unexpiable crime will it be to neglect the Lord himself? If the Sacrament hath been thought worthy of such honour, what honour is due to Jesus the Lord? Bring then your offerings and oblations, and offer them here, as he offered himself upon the cross, your Gold and Frankincense and Myrrh, your Temporal goods, your Prayers, your Mortification, that this Lord may hold forth his golden sceptre to you, that you may touch the top of it, and be received into favour. For what else doth the Eucharist signifie? We call the Sacraments the signs and seals of the Covenant of Grace: But they are also, saith Contarene, the protestations of our Faith, by which we believe not onely the articles of our Creed, but the Divine Promise and Institution. And Faith is vocal, and will awake our Viol and Harp, our Tongue, and all the powers and faculties of our soul, and breathe it self forth in songs of thanksgiving. And they are the protestations of our Repentance also, which will speak in sighs and grones unutterable. And they also are the protestations of our Hope, which is ever looking for and rejoycing in and talking of that which is laid up. And they are the protestations of our Charity, which maketh the tongue and hand as the pen of a ready writer, whose words are more sweet, whose language is more delight∣ful then that which is uttered by the tongues of men and of Angels. And if ye thus speak in Faith, speak in the bitterness of your souls, speak in Hope, and speak in the heavenly dialect, which is Love, ye then truly say, JESUS EST DOMINUS, Jesus is the Lord. And this Jesus shall be your Jesus, shall plead and intercede for you, fill you with all the comforts and ravishments of his Gospel. And this Lord shall descend to meet you here, and welcome you to his Table: And when he shall descend with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel and with the trump of God, he will enable and encourage you to meet him in the air; and take you up with him into heaven, that ye may be and re∣joyce with Jesus the Lord for evermore. Which the Lord grant for his in∣finite mercy's sake.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Hebr. 12.3.
• * 1.2

  Psal. 2.
• * 1.3

  John 5.22.
• * 1.4

  Vers. 4, 5, 6.
• * 1.5

  Rom 8.3.
• * 1.6

  Rom. 6.10.
• * 1.7

  Matth. 8.29.
• * 1.8

  Acts 19.
• * 1.9

  Rom. 10.9.
• * 1.10

  1 John 4.15.
• * 1.11

  Psal 39. Psal. 116.
• * 1.12

  Numb. 23.19.
• * 1.13

  Gal. 5.17.
• * 1.14

  Rom. 6.12.
• * 1.15

  John 6.
• * 1.16

  Rev. 5.12.