Fifty sermons preached at the parish-church of St. Mary Magdalene Milk-street, London, and elsewhere whereof twenty on the Lords Prayer / by ... Anthony Farindon ... ; the third and last volume, not till now printed ; to which is adjoyned two sermons preached by a friend of the authors, upon his being silenced.

The Seventeenth SERMON. PART. II. (Book 17)

Luk. X. 5, 6.

And into whatsoever House ye enter, first say, Peace be to this House.

And if the Son of peace be there, your Peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again.

THE Salutation hath already sounded in your ears; Peace be to this House; even all manner of Peace; but especially the Peace of the Gospel, the Peace of the Prince of Peace, that Peace which passeth all un∣derstanding. This the Disciples of Christ here do breath forth in every place, to bring along with them to every House. And this is to be done 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, in the first place; it being the method of our Saviour first to offer terms of Peace; not to question us before he invites us; not to war against us till we have renounced peace; not to strike us as enemies, till we cast him from us, and will not be his Friends. This have we dilated upon at large. Now this Peace is a great benefit. This Salutation is worth our best welcome and acceptation. Peace be unto this House, is that which in a manner builds the house; it is the foundation of the foundation, that which makes it compact and at unity with it self. Yet that befalls this Peace which doth all other benefits of God: Like to the Sum and Rain, it shines and falls both upon good and bad; sometimes upon unthankful persons, who, when God speaks of Peace, are bent to war, and somettmes upon those who sing prayses to the God of Peace for evermore. Sometimes it falls up∣on a Son of Peace, whose heart is fitted and prepared, who listneth and harkens after it; and there it rests and multiplies, and brings forth the fruits of Peace in all righteousness and holiness. The Text sayth, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, it shall rest upon him, as upon its proper place. Some∣times it falls upon a stubborn and perverse heart, a heart hardned against Peace; and then it seems to fall away and be lost, because it finds no enter∣tainment nor rest there: But yet though it fall here, it is not lost. For 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, it shall turn back again to those who sent it. And this is the high prerogative of this Peace; it will either rest, or return. This is the crown and rejoycing of all those who bring glad tidings of Peace; their PAX DO MUI HUIC, their Salutation, can not be lost. It is but first saying, Peace be to this House: And if the Son of Peace be there, your Peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again.

In these words are discovered to the Disciples, First, two sorts of men they should meet with in the discharge of their duty; some that were sons of peace, others that were not. Secondly, the nature or property of the Saluation; On the one sort it will rest, from the other it will return: And that the Publishers may not think it lost, it will return to them again. For, we may consider, 1 a Prediction, that their Salutation, though it be Peace, will not find welcome with all, but only with the sons of Peace; 2 an En∣couragement, that for all this they may not be affraid of their Message, affraid to say, Peace be to this House; For whither it rest, or not, return it will to them again. Upon the sons of Peace it will rest, and so rest as not to leave them: and if it meet with those on whom it cannot rest, it will look back, and return to the Disciples again. But for our more plain and or∣derly proceeding, and for your better instruction, we will draw up all, and bound our discourse within the compass of these three positions; 1 That as at the first preaching of the Gospel, so alwaies there will be this difference, of Good and Evil; of Sons of Peace, and Enemies to Peace; of Willing and Obstinate hearers of this Message. 2 That this Peace will rest on none but those who are fit to receive it. 3 That though it do not rest, yet it is not lost but will return to those who pub∣lish it. And with these we shall exercise your Devotion at this time.

In the first place, that a difference there will alwaies be, of Good and Evil, not only in the world, but also in the Church, not only amongst those who have not heard of the name of Christ, but among those also who have heard the Salutation of Peace sound in their ears, our Saviour himself hath shewed us in the parable of the Good seed and the Tares, and of the Draw-net; which being cast into the Sea draweth of every kind, Puto me non timere dicere, sayth St. Augustine, alios sic esse in domo Dei ut sint domus Dei; * 1.1 alios sic esse in domo Dei ut non pertineant ad compaginem domus. It is no rashness to say that some are so in Gods Church that they are Gods Church, and others are so in the Church that they are not so much as a part of the building. Some are sons of peace, and some there are on whom Peace cannot rest: Some there are to be amended and brought to repentance, as Peter; some to be suffered and born with, as Judas; and some who lye hid and unknown to the world till that great day of manifestation, till the day of gathering the Corn from the Tares; till that day of separation, of se∣vering the Goats from the Sheep. Boni nusquam soli sunt nisi in coelo; & mali nusquam soli sunt nisi in inferno, saith Gregorie; the good are never a∣lone, but in Heaven, and the bad are never alone, but in that place where they are tormented together. The Earth as it is placed in the midst between Heaven and Hell, so is it a common receptacle both of those who are citi∣zens of Heaven, and of those who are to have their portion with the De∣vil and his Angels.

Nor doth this proceed from any decree of God, but that of Permission. For nothing is more contrary to the Will of God, than Sin. Yet the Per∣mission of sin is a positive act of his Will: For God decreeth to permit it. For as he made Man upright, so he made him also mutable, so that he might incline to either side, either embrace evil, or resist it. And though we cannot say that by the Providence of God it comes to pass that some men are evil: (for he speaks peace to every man) yet the providence of God orders and directs the actions of the wicked. He circumscribes them in their time and duration, that they last no longer than his Wisdom shall think fit. He bounds them in their encrease and greatness: Hitherto they shall go, and no further. He directs and limits them from that object to which they are carried to something else, and makes them serve, not to that

end which the Sinner proposes, but to that which he himself hath set up Out of that Sin which the Sinner commits to satisfie his lust, will God ma∣nifest his glory: Upon his Unrighteousness he will build up the glory of his Justice. By that sin which was a Tempest to beat down and overthrow, will God establish his Church; and by those evil men whom the Devil pla∣ceth as thorns and pricks in the eyes of the righteous, will God try and purge his chosen ones. In a word, God makes not Sin, but he makes it use∣ful and advantageous. And to this end he suffereth and permitteth this mixture and composition of Good and Evil, he suffers the Tares and the Corn to grow together till the time of the Harvest. Qui semel aeternum judi∣cium destinavit, non praecipitat discretionem, saith Tertullian; He who hath ap∣pointed and ordained a day of separation, doth not make that separation until that day. And this he doth, not only to magnifie his Justice and Wis∣dom, which out of so great darkness can draw wondrous light, and can ex malis faecundare bona, make use of Sin as the Husbandman doth of Dung to manure and fatten his ground, that it may bring forth a more plentiful harvest; but for other reasons also, which Christ hath laid open in his Gospel.

I. To shew his patience and longanimity towards sinners, who fight against him, towards those who are offended with his Salutation, that they may yield at last, and become sons of Peace. For the long suffering of God is Salvation, sayth the Apostle. He doth not say it worketh, or * 1.2 brinketh forth, but positively, it is Salvation: It is for this end, and if it be not hindred it will produce this effect. That we prolong our dayes on earth, that we number more sins than days, nay then hours, than minutes, is not from any want of knowledg in God, that he sees us not; or from want of strength, that he cannot put the hook into our nostrils; but from his patience and longanimity, who gives us many times the longer life, that we may at last recal ourselves, and turn back unto him. Non ille perdidit potentiam, sed malos reservat ad paenitentiam; He hath not lost his power, but he keeps evil men to the day of repentance. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, He first exhorts, then promises, then threatens, then chides, then prepares his dead∣ly weapons, then puts them up again; and then again he threatens; but he never strikes till he hath opened an effectual door, and made a way for us to safety. As he is Lord of hosts in regard of his strength, so he is in this respect also, that as an Host or Army he comes on but slowly, by degrees in his march, and makes a shew before he strikes; nec accedit ad decretorium stilum nisi plus sit quod timet quàm quod damnat; He doth not bid battel, till there is no hope of reconcilement. Nor doth he punish, till that be more which he fears than that which he blames. He makes no end of his suffering till he sees there will be no end of Sinning.

II. Gods suffers this mixture of Evil with Good, that the evil may be re∣formed by the Good. For as he is able out of stones to raise up children unto Abraham, so by the sons of peace he gains more children unto peace, there proceeding a kind of virtue from their good example, as there did from Christs garment to cure those who were diseas'd. Aristotle in his Pro∣blemes makes a question, Why Health doth not infect as well as Sickness; Why men grow sick many times by unwary conversing with the diseases, but no man grows well by accompanying the healthy. And indeed it is so with the healthiness of the Body: It hath no transient force on others. But the strength and healthiness of the Mind carries with it a gracious kind of in∣fection; and common experience teacheth us that nothing profits evil men more than the company of the good. How many Saints may the holy con∣versation of one man beget? How many Martyrs hath the patience and silence of one man brought to the stake? How many Evil men have lost them∣selves

and their evil in the company of the Good? We must not therefore make the separation before the time. For we may be in Societate impio∣rum, in the company of evil men, but in solitudine vitiorum, in respect of their evil be alone. We may be with them in participatione sacramentorum, sayth Augustine, in the participation of the same sacraments, but not in consensione factorum, in our consent to their evil deeds. We may be like the Ark of Noah, in the deluge, yet not drown'd; like Mose's Bush in the fire, yet not burnt. We may carry about with us 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as Plato calls it, a kind of charm and spell, which may slumber our turbulent affections and those motions which are so ready to subvert our Reason, that we may be near enough to them to help them, but yet at such a distance that no poyson which is breathed from them shall hurt us. I Please all men in all things, sayth St. Paul, all men, even evil men, not by fashioning himself to them, * 1.3 but by reforming them to the copie of his own innocency. For what saith Tertullian? Numquid Saturnalia celebrans hominibus placebat? did he please men by celebrating the same heathenish idolatrous Feasts with them? No; but by gravity and patience, by modesty and integrity. Again, I was made all things to all men. Numquid idololatris idololatres? What? was he * 1.4 made an idolater to idolaters, a heathen to heathens, and a carnal man to carnal men? No; there was no such friendship between St. Paul and evil men. He was not drawn by them, but made it his industry to draw them unto him: He made not himself like unto them, but made them like unto himself: He pleased evil men, but it was to make them good. And in this manner licet convivere, commori non licet; We may live with evil men but we may not die with them,; We may possess the world with them, but not their error. And this is it by which we of the reformed Churches justify our separation from the Church of Rome. We do it not as the Donatists did of old, and our Separatists now a dayes, only to avoid the commu∣nion of bad men, but to free our selves from a necessity of joyning with bad men in their impieties. We go not from them, but from their dan∣gerous errors. We divide not our selves from them, (for our hearts de∣sire is that they may repent, and be saved) but from their superstition. And thus to divide our selves is no Schism, but Christian animosity. And in this case we say with Cyprian, Pereant sibi solis qui perire volunt; If they will perish, let them perish to themselves alone.

III. God suffers this mixture of Good and Evil men not only for the reformation of the Evil, but also for the benefit of the Good. For mali bonis prosunt, saith the Father; Evil men may prove advantageons to the good. They may awake many glorious virtues in them which otherwise would be but as the seed in the ground, not yet in the ear and blossome. Plutarch hath written a Book How togather profit from an enemy, How to make our selves better by them who would make us worse. But Christ in the Book of his Gospel hath taught us yet a more excellent way, How to improve our Virtue by other mens sin; How to increase more and more in good by the very sight of evil; How to make those sins which press o∣thers down to Hell as a Scale and Ladder to lift us up to Heaven; so that we may make friends not only of the unrighteous Mammon, but even of unrigh∣teous men, to lift us up unto those everlasting habitations. Some men there are who for want of skill in this book and through ignorance of this art put upon themselves a strange behaviour, and at the very thought of wicked men are so troubled and transported that they forget they are men, and sub∣ject to the same infirmities; that they forget they are Christians, who should work a cure upon them, and not murder them. You may behold them angry and fierce, cruel and bloudy, breathing forth nothing but curses and exsecrations. As with a Sword in my bones my enemies reproach me,

whilst they daily say unto me, Where is thy God? saith David, Objurgant * 1.5 quasi oderint; their very reprehensions are Swords, and their exhortations the expressions of their hatred. With James and John, those Sons of Thun∣der, they are ready with their Domine, vis dicamus ut ignis descendat; If it were in their power, they would call down fire from heaven to destroy them * 1.6 as Elias did. To put off all bowels of compassion with them is to put off the Old man: So that, if we rightly consider it, they are greater Sinners than those they condemn; and it may be said to them as the one Thief said to the other, Do you not fear God, seeing you are in the same condemnation? Thus it is with evil men; They grow worse and worse, by that which should better them; and their ungrounded Zeal consumes not them, but their Cha∣rity. But he who is a Son of Peace hath learnt that thriving art, to be richer for other mens poverty, to rayse himself higher and higher at the sight of his brothers fall, to make others sin the occasion of many virtues in himself, to say unto himself, There they are fallen, that I may look to my steps. And here his Circumspection shews it self. He had broke the Law; and my eyes shall gush out with rivers of water. In those tears his Piety is res∣plendent. He is sore wounded; but I will powr oyl into his wounds. Here his Charity stretcheth forth her hand, even that Charity which shall hide a multitude of sins. Thus by the Wisdom and providence of God, Sin, which bringeth forth Death, may bring forth life; and the wicked many times are turned from the error of their way at the sight of those virtues which shine in glory at the sight of their Sin. In a word, the Good are made manifest by the Evil, and the Evil may be converted by the Good. Still this diffe∣rence there will be in the Church; and the Salutation here is directed to both, both to the Sons of peace, and to those who will not receive it. Into whatsoever house they goe, the Disciples must say, peace be unto this House. And, so much be spoken concerning the Difference of the Per∣sons.

We come now in the second place, to the Nature and Property of the Salutation, That it will rest on none but those who are prepared to receive it. Peace will rest on none but on a Son of Peace; on him who is worthy of peace; who is docile, and not averse from it, who is willing to hear of it. For, as Pothinus the Bishop of Lions, being ask'd by the Pre∣sident of the place, Who was the God of the Christians? made no other reply but this, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, You shall know, if you be worthy; so may we say of this Peace, They who are worthy, who are fitted and prepared, shall receive it. And if you ask on whom it will rest, I answer, It will rest on them that love it. Where is the place of my rest, saith God; The * 1.7 Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. All these things hath my hand made. But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. He that created all things, and made the Heaven and the earth, will not chuse out of these his seat, but leaves them all, and will rest no where, but in a contrite and broken heart, which divides and opens it self; and makes a way to receive him. And certain∣ly, as we see in Nature, we cannot put any thing into that, which is full already, no more will peace enter that heart which is filled with Satan, with malice, and with the very gall of bitterness. The Gospel will find no place in that Soul which is already filled and praepossessed with preju∣dice against the Gospel. Into a malicious Soul Wisdom shall not enter, saith * 1.8 the Wiseman, Or, if it do enter, it shall not dwell there; not dwell there, as a Lord, to command the Will and Affections; no not as a friend, to find a welcome for a time; but be thrust out as a stranger, as an enemy. What is the place for peace to rest in? Not in a Nabals heart, which is as stone; Not in the Wantons heart, which is as a troubled Sea; not on the Fool,

who hath no heart, whose conscience is defiled and judgment corrupted by many evil and vitious habits, ubi turpia non solum delectant, sed placent, who doth not only delight in that which is opposite to this Peace, but approves it as that without which he cannot be at Peace. No; the spirit of Peace and the unclean spirit may seem in this to agree: They will not enter the House before it be swept and garnished. Ill weeds must be rooted out before you can sow good corn. Every valley must be filled, and every mountain and hill must be brought low, all that inequality and repug∣nancy of our life must be taken away, and all made smooth, and even. For as the Prince of peace, so Peace hath a way to be prepared before it will enter. What is the reason that all the seed which the Sower sowed brought not forth fruit? Because some fell in stony places, where there was not much * 1.9 earth, where the Soul did not sympathize and bear a friendly correspon∣dence with the Word, as good ground doth with the seed; and some fell by the way-side, which was never plowed nor manured, and the fouls of the air, those sly imaginations which formerly prepossessed the Soul, devoured it up. Nothing can be well done when the mind is already taken up with some∣thing else. What room for the Gospel in the Jew, who maketh his boast of the Law? What room for Religion where it is accounted the greatest pi∣ety to be prophane? What room for Righteousness when we rejoyce in im∣piety? When the Prince of this world hath blinded our eyes with cove∣tousness, ambition and lust, what room is there for Peace? Non magìs quàm frugibus, terrâ sentibus & rubis occupatâ, as the Orator speaks; and they are the very words of our Saviour; No more than there is for good corn in the ground which is full of bryars and thornes: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉; Whither dost thou cast thy seed, thy good precepts, saith the Philosopher to one that read a lecture of Philosophy to a scornful person. Thou flingest it into a foul and stinking vessel, which corrupts every thing it receives, and takes no savour from it, but makes it relish of it self. Lord, what a rock is a pre∣possessed mind! What an adamant is a Stubborn and perverse heart! How harsh and unpleasant is this Salutation of Peace to those who are hardned against it! How Stoical and rigid and peremptory are they against their own Salvation! Obstrepunt, intercedunt, nè audiant; They are so far from receiving the Salutation, that they are troubled and unquiet at the very name of Peace, and desire they may not hear that word any more. The complaint in Scripture is, They will not understand, and The waies of Peace they will not know. Experience will teach us, that it is too common in the world to stand stiff upon opinion against all evidence whatsoever, though it be as clear as the Day. And it is the reason which Arnobius gives of the Heathens obstinacy, to whom this Salutation of Peace was, but as a fable, Quid facere possumus considerare nolentibus secumque loqui; What can we do, or say, or how can we convince them who will not be induced once to de∣liberate and consider, nor can descend to speak and confer with themselves and their own reason? A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump; and so doth a prejudicate opinion the whole mind of man: All our actions and re∣solutions have a kind of taste and relish of it. Whatsoever comes in to streng∣then an anticipated conceit, whatsoever walks within the compass of our desires or lustful affections, we readily embrace, and believe it to be true, because we wish it so. But if it thwart our inclination; if it run coun∣ter to our intendments, though it be Reason, though it be Peace, though it be a manifest truth, though it be written with the Sun-beams, we will not once look upon it. It is an easy matter, saith Augustine, to answer a fool; but it is not so easy to satisfie him. It is easy to confute, but not to reform him. For his Folly barreth him from seeking the meanes of understanding: and when light is offered, it shuts up his eyes, that he cannot receive it.

We have many domestick examples of this obstinacy (and I wish they were not so near us) of men who may be overcome, but cannot be perswaded; who will not yield to any strength of reason, nec cùm sciant id quod faciunt non licere, no, not though they cannot be ignorant that the course of their life runs with more violence and noyse than is answerable to the Peace of the Gospel; who know what they are, and yet will be what they are. And these we meet with quocunque sub axe, in every place, in every corner of the earth. These multiply and increase every day. For it cannot be but the greatest part of men will be the weakest. We have troops and armies of these; and the regiment consists of boys and girls, and women led away captive by their ignorance and lusts. And if there be aged men amongst them, you may soon discover that their greatest wisdom is their grey hairs. And will Peace rest upon these? It will rest as soon in a whirlwind, or in St. Judes cloud without Water, or in St James wave of the Sea tossed up and down with every wind. But I forbear, for I list not to be too particular. We read in our Books, of one Timotheus an excellent Musician, that he was wont to require a greater pay from those who had been taught by others be∣fore, than from those who came unto him rude and untaught. And his reason was, Dedocendi officium gravius & prius quàm docendi; That it was a greater task to unteach them what they had already ill learnt, and a necessity to be done before he could teach them his skill. Beloved, it is so with those who are to instruct others in the way of Peace: Geminatur onus; Whatsoever their reward is, their burden is doubled. It is not only enough to say, Peace be unto this House, but they must cleanse and purge the house, that Peace may enter. It is not enough only to salute, but they must make way for the Salutati∣on. The Jew must be untaught his beggerly elements and rudiments of the world, before he can be taught and instructed for the kingdom of Heaven: His Ceremonies and the Law must be rased out, before he can be the Apostle of Cbrist, before the Gospel of Peace can be written in his heart. The Gen∣tile must be untaught those lessons which even Nature is ashamed of, before he can receive the doctrine of Grace. The Carnal man must learn to cru∣cifie the flesh, before he can become spiritual. False principles must be destroyed, before you can build up true ones in their place. Whilst we please our selves in the errors of our life, whilst we rejoyce in our selves, and, as the Apostle speaks, measure our selves by our selves, we are not fit for this Evangelical Salutation, Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. No, These strong holds must be pulled down, these imaginations cast to the ground, and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God, every thought must be brought into captivity * 1.10 unto the obedience of Christ. Scio quibus viribus opus sit, saith St. Augustine, I know what power it must be that must perswade proud men that Humili∣ty is a virtue. And I know what power it must be that must perswade a carnal man that there is no peace but where the spirit fights and overcomes the Flesh. But non aliter haec sacra constant; This Salutation will not pass where this preparation is not made. This Peace will not enter into that Soul where there are tumults and thunders, noyse and destruction. Never did any plant grow up and flourish in the field of the Church which was not ramus propendens, as Nazianzene speaketh of his Father, a branch or bough hanging over and looking that way. Nor doth Gods saving Grace bring Peace, till his exciting and preparing Grace hath made a way for it. When we are Sons of Peace, when we have some title to the in∣heritance of Peace, when our hearts are hammer'd and softned and subjugated, when we are willing hearers, then this Salutation is brought home to our doors, and Peace will enter, and rest upon us. If the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him; if not, it shall re∣turn

to you again. And so I pass to my last Position; That though it do not rest, yet it shall not be lost, but shall return to those that pub∣lish it.

The word is spoken, the Salutation past, Peace be to this house; On the sons of peace it will rest; but on others it will not. And this is enough to take the word out of the Disciples mouths, and stop the message: for there is in every one of us 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a kind of flitting humour, which will not hold out long, but faints and falls to the ground at the sight of some gross event which may fall out. What? plow the winds, and sow the rocks? bring Peace to them who will not receive it? bring it thither where it will not rest? Who would willingly be employed in such a Message? For all this the word must be spoken, and the Salutation given: And that no groundless fear may seal up the Disciples lips, they are told that even there where the Salutation will not rest, it is not lost, but will return again; as David * 1.11 spake of his prayer for his malicious enemies, Though peradventure it do not prevail, yet it will return into their bosom. And this is it which stays and upholds us in the performance of all the duties of our life, the Assurance that nothing that we do is lost. Common∣ly, upon a pretense of doing little Good, we affect a kind of intem∣pestive prudence and unseasonable discretion in performing that lit∣tle good we do; which shews it self in us like the Sun in winter, long ere it arise, and quickly gone. We are unwilling to bear the Salutation; and at the first rub and opposition we are weary of it. If all be not Sons of Peace, we will no longer be preachers of Peace: But this Return of the Salutation adds spirit and courage to us, and makes us venture into every house, even into his who is an enemy to Peace. First then, for our comfort, lost this Salutation cannot be. For every good deed pays it self in the very doing. And therefore saith the Orator, Interest omnium rectè facere; It concerns every man to do his duty; and when he can reap no other fruit, to content him∣self with the very doing of it. Do not say the Word is cast a∣way because it met not with a son of Peace. It cannot be spoken, and cast away: For when it is spoken, all is done. Fac quod debes, & eveniat quod vult; it is an Arabick Proverb: Do that which thou shouldest, and let the Event be what it will. In the second place, to do our duty is all that is required at our hands. We are but to plant and water: the increase is from another hand. We can but say, Peace be to this House. It is not in our power to make it rest there. Laus imperatori victo; A skilful and wise Captain may deserve high honour and commendations, though he fall before his enemy, and an Orator may be famous for his eloquence, though his Client be condemned. The Philosopher in his Topicks will tell us, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉; It is not exacted from an Orator that he perswade, but that he frame those arguments and motives which are perswasive; nor of a Physitian, to heal those who are ill affected, but to prescribe those medicines which are soveraign. If the earth be brass, we can∣not say the dew of Heaven hath no virtue: nor, if we put out our eyes, can we say the Sun doth not shine. Son of man, saith God to his Prophet, if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wicked * 1.12 way he shall die in his iniquity, but, thou hast delivered thine own Soul. There is the Return of his Prophecy. Whether the Salutation rest, or not, it doth not vanish, Numquid consecrata perdimus? For can we think that lost which we consecrate to God? Still the Apostles incense smells even when it is out. We are unto God, saith St. Paul, a sweet * 1.13

savour in them that are saved. That we doubt not of. But it follows; and in them that perish: For neither Death nor Hell can take away the sweet and fragrant smell of this incense. Though many that heard St. Paul, did wax wanton against Christ, though many had their consci∣ences * 1.14 seared with an hot Iron; though many made shipwrack of their Faith, * 1.15 yet St. Paul is bold to proclaim it to the whole world, I have fought * 1.16 a good fight, I have finisht my course. All that is required at our hands is, that we speak the Word, though we be not heard. For though we speak, and be not heard; yet no other thing befalls us, than what befalls our Lord and Master, who knows and sees that his Sunshine and Rain is every day abused; and yet the Sun becomes not as a Sack, nor the earth as brass: Who calls, and calls aloud, and again and again to those deaf Adders which will not hear: Whose pro∣vidence many times watcheth over those who deny his Providence, and in a manner cast him out of the World. And therefore as he saith, Demus, etiamsi multa in irritum demus, Let us give, though we give many things in vain; so let us speak the word, let us preach the do∣ctrine of Peace though the event prove not answerable to our hopes.

For, in the third and last place, in vain it cannot be, though it be in vain; and lost it cannot be, though it be buried. Though it find not the effect to which it was principally ordeined, yet an ef∣fect it will have. Aut fiet in illis, aut de illis; It shall be accomplisht either in those to whom it is spoken, or upon them. For it is not the Disciples word, but the Masters; and when it is gone forth out of his mouth, it shall not return unto him voyd, it shall not fall to * 1.17 the ground,

Quicquid condidit virtus, coelum est,

sayth the Poet; Whatsoever is done by the hand of Virtue, is as lasting as the Heavens. But that which we do at the command of our Master, in the name and person of Christ, is more lasting than the Heavens; Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away: * 1.18 The Heavens shall be gathered together as a scrowle, but one iota or title shall in no wise pass from Gods word. That Word which we contemn and tread under our feet, shall rise up again, and rise up against us. That Word which we laught at, is still in being, and shall appear a∣gain to make us cry and howl. That Word for which we stoned the Prophets and killed those that brought it, shall be quick and active and vocal to condemn us. That Word for which Micah was smitten on the face, shall make that face as the face of an Angel. That Word which brought St. Paul unto the block, shall return and bring him in∣to Heaven, and put a crown upon his head. Whether it meet with honour or dishonour, with stripes, with imprisonment, with perse∣cution, with death, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, it will certainly return again. Cast thy * 1.19 bread upon the waters, sayth Solomon; for thou shalt find it after ma∣ny dayes, even find it there where it might be thought to perish and be lost. The wiseman seems to allude to the nature and property of some Rivers, which when they have run on sweetly, and watered some few Provinces, hide themselves under the earth, and at last break forth again, and rise and appear in other coasts. Cast thy bread, venture all thy dutys, upon these waters, which though they seem to run out of thy sight, and to bury themselves in the bowels of the earth, though they be covered over with calumnies and disgraces, with misery and affliction, yet will break forth and have their course a∣gain,

and bear thee before the Sun and the People to the land of the living. To shut up all in a word; Publish Peace, and whether thy Salutation meet with a son of Peace, or an enemy of Peace; whether it be entertained with reverence, or rejected with scorn; whether it meet with a pre∣pared heart, or a heart of stone; whatsoever the event be, thy labour is not in vain in the Lord. For though it seem to be lost, yet it will re∣turn again. It will return to thee in this life with an olive-branch, with peace of Conscience and joy in the holy Ghost. Nor will it leave thee so; but when thou art dead, it will follow thee to those new heavens, and that new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness and peace and joy un∣speakable for evermore.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Mat. 13, 47.
• * 1.2

  2 Pet. 3. 1••.
• * 1.3

  1 Cor. 10. 33.
• * 1.4

  1 Cor. 9. 22.
• * 1.5

  Psal. 41. 10.
• * 1.6

  Luk. 9. 54.
• * 1.7

  Isa. 66. 1.
• * 1.8

  Wisd. 1. 4.
• * 1.9

  Mat. 13.
• * 1.10

  2 Cor. 10. 5.
• * 1.11

  Psal. 35. 13.
• * 1.12

  Ezek. 3. 19.
• * 1.13

  2 Cor. 2. 15.
• * 1.14

  1 Tim. 5. 11.
• * 1.15

  1 Tim. 4. 2.
• * 1.16

  1 Tim. 1. 19.
• * 1.17

  Isa. 55. 11. 1 Sam. ••, 4. 1••.
• * 1.18

  Luk. 21. ••••▪
• * 1.19

  Eccl. 11. 1.