XXX sermons lately preached at the parish church of Saint Mary Magdalen Milkstreet, London to which is annexed, A sermon preached at the funerall of George Whitmore, Knight, sometime Lord Mayor of the City / by Anthony Farindon.

PART I.

MICAH v. 6.

Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow my self before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings? &c.—

MICAH v. 8.

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to doe justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

THere be many who say, Who will shew us any good? saith the Pophet David, Ps. 4.6. For Good is that which men naturally desire; and here the Prophet Micah hath fitted an Answer to this Question, He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good. And in the discovery of this Good, he useth the same method which the Philosopher doth in the descri∣ption of his Morall Happinesse; First shews us what it is not, and then what it is: And as the Philosopher shuts out Honour, and Riches, and Pleasure, as being so little necessary, that we may be happy without them; so doth the Prophet, in the verses going before my

Text, in a manner, reject and cast by burnt offerings, and all the Ceremoniall, and Typicall part of Moses law, all that outward, busie, expensive and sacrificing Religion, as no whit essentiall to that good, which he here fixeth up, as upon. a pillar for all eyes to look upon; as being of no great alliance or nearnesse, nor fit to Incorporate it self with that piety, which must commend us to God: and as a true Prophet, he doth not onely discover to the Jews the common error of their lives, but shews them yet a more excellent way, * 1.1 first asking the question, will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rammes? whether sacrifice be that part of Religion with which we may appear and bow before our God, and be ac∣cepted? and then in his answer, in the words of my Text, quite excluding it, as not absolutely necessary, and essentiall to that which is indeed Religion.

And here the question, will the Lord he pleased with sacrifice? adds Emphasis and Energy, and makes the Denyall more strong, and the Conclusion in the Text more positive and binding then if it had been in plain termes, and formally denyed; then this Good had been shewed naked and alone, and not brought in with the spoyles of that Hypocrisie, which supplants and overthrowes it, and usurps both its place, and name; shall I come before him with burnt offerings? is in effect, I must not do it; That which is good, that which is Religion hath so little relation to it, that it can subsist with∣out it; and most times hath been swallowed up, and lost in it. It was in the world before any command came forth for Sacrifice; and it is now most glorious, when every Altar is throwne down, and hath the sweetest favour, now there is no other smoke. The Questi∣on puts it out of all question, That this good is best without it. What will the Lord do to the Husbandmen, that killed the heire? Math. 21.41. Our Saviour puts it up by way of question; and you know how terrible the answer is; what will he doe? what will he not do? * 1.2 He will miserably destroy those Husbandmen. Is it comely that a woman pray uncovered? Judge in your selves: you cannot say it is comely. As the Athenians used to ask the guilty person who was arraigned before them, and by sufficient evidence convict of the crime; Are you not worthy of death? That they might first give sen∣tence against themselves, and acknowledge the sentence to be just, which was to passe upon them: so doth the Prophet here ask the sacrificing Jews, who so doted on outward Ceremony, that they scarce cast an eye, or look towards that, which was truly the ser∣vice of God, as if there were no more required at their hands, then that which was to be done at the Altar: shall you bring burnt offerings? shall you offer up your first-born, the fruit of your body for the sinne of the Soul? your selves shall be witnesse against your selves, and out of your own mouth shall you be condemned. O ye Hypocrites!

you cannot be so ignorant as to think, nor so bold as to professe, that this is the true service of God. I remember Gregory Nazianzen calls man 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (and we may call this good in the Text so) a spirituall heavenly statue; and as the statuary by his art and with his Chezell doth work off all that is unnecessary and superflu∣ous, and having finisht and made it compleat in every part, fixeth it, as the lively representation of some God or Goddesse, or Heroick person whose memory he would perpetuate in the minds of those, who are to look upon it; so doth the Prophet Micah here, being to delineate and expresse the true servant of God in his full and per∣fect proportion, first out of the Lump and Masse, which made up the body of the Jews Religion, strikes off that which was least ne∣cessary, and most abused; all that formality, and outward ceremo∣ny in which they most pleased themselves; Burnt offerings and calves of an year old, these he layes aside, as that which may be best spa∣red, as that which God did not require for it self, or for any good there was naturally in it, and then draws him out in every part, in those parts, which do indeed make him up in that perfection, in which he may shine, as a great example of eternall happinesse. Wherewith shalt thou come before the Lord? and bow thy self before the high God? not with burnt offrings; those he puts by, as no essenti∣all materialls, as the scurfe, and least considerable part of Religion; but with thy heart, and with thy will and affections; with a Just, and mercifull, and Broken heart; with these thou shalt walk with him, or before him, even with Justice, and Mercy, and Humility, with those graces, which will make thee like unto him, and transforme thee into the Image of God, and set thee up as a faire statue, and representation of thy maker; He hath shewed thee O man, what is good, &c.

Or if you please, you may conceive of true piety and that which is good, as of a tree of life planted in the midst of Paradise, in the midst of the Church, spreading as it were its Branches, whereof these 3. in the Text are the fairest: 1. Justice and uprightnesse of conversation; a streight and even Branch bearing no fruit, but its own; 2. Mercy, and Liberality, yielding much fruit to those weary and faint soules, who gather it, and are refresht under the shadow of it: and 3. Hu∣mility, a Branch well laden, full, and hanging down the head.

More plainly, and for our better proceeding, thus. He taketh away the one, that he may establish the other: He taketh away Ceremony and Sacrifice, that he may set up true piety, and that which is Religion indeed, which here is first termed That which is good in it self and for it self; which sacrifices and all other Ceremonious parts of Gods worship were not. 2ly. Manifested and pointed out to as with a finger; Indicavit tibi, God by his Prophet hath shewed

it. 3ly. Publisht and promulged as a law: What doth the Lord require of thee? and lastly, charactered, and drawne out in its principall parts: 1. Justice and Honesty: 2ly. Mercy and Liberality. 3ly. Humility, and sincerity of mind, which is the Beauty and Glory of the rest, and commends tem; makes our Justice and Mercy shine in the full beauty of Holinesse, when we are this, and do this, as with, or Be∣fore the Lord. He hath shewed thee O man what is good, &c.

These be the particulars: we begin with the first, That Piety and True Religion is here Termed Good, in it self and for it self, in opposition to the sacrifices and Ceremonies of the Law.

And first, the Sacrifices, and Ceremonious part of Gods wor∣shp were good, but ex instituto, because God for some reason was pleased to institute and ordain them, otherwise in themselves they were neither good nor evil. They were, before they were enjoyn∣ed; and men offered them up, * 1.3 not in reference to any command, but out of a voluntary zeal and affection to the honour of God, which they exprest and shewed forth in this especiall act, in devoting that unto him, which was with them of highest esteem, as more due to the Giver of all things then to them for whose use they were given. God did not command, but did accept them for the zeal and affection of them who offered them up; and he tells them so him∣selfe, I speake not to your Fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning Burnt-offerings or sa∣crifice: But this thing I commanded them, saying, Obey my voyce. Jerem. 7.22,23.

Secondly, when they were commanded, they were commanded not for any reall goodnesse there was naturally in them, (for what are Blood and smoke to the God of spirits?) but brought in for that good effect which the wisdome of God could work out of them, which had nothing of Good in them, nor which might com∣mend them, but the end for which they were ordained. And therefore he commanded them, not as desireable in themselves, but by way of condescension, submitting himself, as it were, to the present infirmity and condition of the Jews, who were so strongly affected to this kind of worship; Populum pronum Idololatriae, ejus∣modi officiis religioni suae voluit astringere, saith Tertullian; God put this command, * 1.4 as it were a bridle into their mouths, who were too prone to run out beyond their limits; and that they might not offer unto Idols, he confines and tyes them up, to do it to him alone.

And so they were good, but ex comparatione, but by being com∣pared with something that was worse: If they will sacrifice, it is

better they sacrifice to God then to Devils; better do this then worse; better do that, which had it not been commanded, had been neither good nor evil, then that which is absolutely evil; bet∣ter do that which God can beare with, then that which he hates; better they should be under the restraint and managing of an In∣dulgent hand, then that they should run into those abominations which a Father cannot pardon, and which will make a loving and tender God, a consuming fire. Thus they are Good being com∣pared with something that is worse, and being put into the scales together, are valuable, because they outweigh them: Et quale est Bonum, quod mali comparatio commendat? saith Tertullian; what good is that, which were not so, if the evil which it shuts out, and with which it is compared, did not commend it.

3. That which is good in it self and its own nature, is alwaies so; piety and true Religion is older then the world, for it is a part and beame of that wisdome which was with God from Everlasting, and it shines forth from one end of the world to the other; hath the same splendor and brightnesse, when the fashion of the world changeth every day; and binds alike all the men in the world, and ends not but with it, and in its effects continues, when that shall be dissolved, even to all eternity: as it was breathed from God, and flows from his eternall law, so it is alwaies the same, and re∣maines the same, till it end in glory. For this there is no consum∣matum est, there is no end. The vaile of the temple is rent in twaine, the temple it self is buried in ruine, and not a stone left upon a stone; every Altar is throwne down, the sacrifices and Ce∣remonies abolisht, but quicquid condidit virtus, coelum est, That which is truely good is as lasting as the heavens: heaven and earth may passe away, but not one tittle of this good shall fall to the ground.

4. These Ceremonies were confined to time and place; you observe dayes and moneths, saith the Apostle, Gal. 4. yea and you obseve places too: you say, That Jerusalem is the place, saith the woman of Samaria to our Saviour, John 4. but that which is truely good, and in it self, is of that nature, that time and place have no power or influence on it, either to shrink it up and contract it, or to bound or circumscribe it, or to put a period to it, and cut it off. It is never out of season, never out of its place. Every day is the good mans holiday, and his sacrifice may be offered up at any time: It stayes not for the new moone, or Sabbath day, but is res omnium horarum, may shew and display it self at any day, in every houre of that day, and every minute of that houre. Ever yay, every houre, every minute is the good mans Sabbath and rest. And as it is not tied to time, no more is it to place: All the ends of the world shall

remember the Lord, saith the Psalmist; and this good in the Text may be set up in any part of it. The Church is the place, and the Market is the place, and the Prison may be the place; piet as in plate is sibi secretum facit, Religion may build it self an oratory, a chappel in the midst of the streets, nay in a stews, in Sodom it self, (for there Lot was;) and 'tis the greatest commendation to be good amongst the worst.

Last of all: This Ceremonious part of Religion was many times omitted, many times dispensed with; but this good which is here shewn, admits no dispensation: Circumcision was dispensed with; sacrifice was dispensed with; the Sabbath was dispencsed with; but the true service of God was ever in force: who ever was dis∣pensed with in a morall and positive law? who ever had this indul∣gence granted him to defraud or oppresse his brother, to be cruell and unmercifull to him, or to walk contrary to his God? who ever was unjust on earth by a grant and prerogative from hea∣ven? Aliud sunt imagines, aliud definitiones; Imagines prophetant, definitiones gubernant, * 1.5 saith Tertullian. OUr lives are not regulated by Ceremonies, which passe away as a shadow, but by that law of God, which is indispensable: God himself hath dispensed with the one, but never with the other. When Sacrifices were omitted, and the Sabbath for some reasons was not observed, God complai∣ned not; we find that in a manner he doth disclaim Sacrifice, as in this place, and in the 1. of Isaiah, and in the 50. Psal. but where doth he hold a controversie with his people for omitting it? What Cere∣mony was there almost, which was not at some time, and upon some just occasion neglected? How many Easters? How many Jubilees doe we read of? But that Good, which is the Rule of Life, is indi∣spensable; No occasion must withdraw us, no place can bind us, no time hinder us, no necessity force us from it, ecause it requires o more then our will, which is the same in every place, and at every time, and is imputed to us as the Deed it selfe, when we cannot doe it, when we have no tthat power which will-reach so far as to bring it into act. That which is good in it self 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, is so to every man, * 1.6 and at all times, and in every place; is like to him who is the ountain and Author of it, is so yesterday, and to day, and the same for ever.

This Good then in the Text, may subsist in its full beauty and perfection, though no Altar smoke; but a Hecatomb, all the Beasts in the Forrest offered up, Ten thousand rivers of oyle, will not make up a just & merciful man. For it was observed even by some of the Jews themselves, That the greatest Sacrificers were most com∣monly the greatest Sinners, who conversing so much with shadows, and lost in the admiration of them, had no thought left empty

enough to entertain the more substantiall and harder parts of the Law, were so busie on the one, that they cast no look on the other; but in the strength of their Sacrifice, and a high conceit of this their formall worship, walkt carelesly, and delicately over them, even to that which they forbad; So that to say, He is a true Israelite, becausehe is frequent at the Altar, is no better an Argu∣ment, then that which the Stoick so much derides, He hath a long Cloak and Beard, Therefore he is a great Philosopher: * 1.7 For neither is Sacrifice the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the matter and businesse of the Israelite to which his profession binds him, but justice and mercy; nor a grave out-side of a Philosopher, but Reason, and the End, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as the Stoick calls it of the Israelite, is to doe justice, and love mercy, as the Philosophers is in all his actions to make Reason his Rule. Cast but your eye back upon some former passages in this Prophecy, and you shall find that these Sacrificers were Idolaters, Chap. 1. That they were Oppressors, Chap. 2. That in the night they did study iniquity, and in the morning practice it: That they did covet Fields, and take them by violence; oppresse a man and his house, even a man and his heritage, ver. 1, 2. That they were cruell, and bloudy-minded; That they did eate the flesh of the peo∣ple, and flay their skins from off them, Chap. 3. ver. 5. That they were unjust, and ignorant, and ungratefull in this Chapter, all which they did beare with ease, when they led their Sacrifice to the Al∣tar, and there laid them to vanish aay with that smoke. It is a wonderfull thing to observe, how soon and easily we are perswaded to think well of our selves in our worst condition; how a forme of Religion will secure us to tread it under our feet; how the doing that which is not good in it self, will lift us up and make us active and cheerfull in doing that which is absolutely evil; how the nee∣rer we come unto hell, the lesse we feare it; bring a sacrifice, set fire to your incense, bowe the knee, call upon that God, whom you blaspheme, and there will then be no more conscience of sinne. And therefore in this so great abuse, God is forced to give a check to his own command, and precisely to except against that Cere∣mony, that part of worship which himself for some reasons had en∣joyned: when their hands were full of blood, then Satur est, then is he also full, troubled and wearied with their burnt offrings, Es. 1.14. then he asks the Question by his Prophet; will I be pleased with thousands of Ramme? that is, I will not. * 1.8 Incense is an abominati∣on; he that killeth a bullock is as if he slew a man; he that sacrifi∣ceth a sheep as if he cut off a dogs neck. Es. 66. and that of the Histo∣rian proves true, plura peccant dum demerentur, quam dum offen∣dunt, Their devotion is turned into sinne; their Ceremonious diligence doth violate the majesty of God; They provoke him to wrath with their peace-offrings, and never offend him more, then when they worship him.

We may then learn thus much from the Prophets Question, That the Ceremonious part of Gods worship, though enjoyned by God, and performed most exactly by men, yet if it be not driven to that end, for which it was commanded, is so far from finding ac∣ceptance with God, that it is odious and hatefull in his sight. For some Duties there are which are Relativi juris, which are comman∣ded for some farther end, as Sacrifice, and Prayer, and Hearing, and Fasting, which if they end in themselves, are but smoke, but words, but noyse, but shews; I may say, but sins. Others there are, that have their 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, (as Aristotle speaks of sapience) their end in themselves, as denying our selves, Crucifying the old man, Justice and Mercifullnesse, and Humility; These are done for themselves, for they have no other end, unlesse it be glory. The first alwaies have reference to the lasT, and if they come alone, or with no bet∣ter a retinue then those sinnes and irregularities which they coun∣tenance, then God removes them, as he did the high places; cuts them down as he did the groves; looks upon them with the like de∣testation as he doth upon Idols; * 1.9 as he did upon the brazen serpent, when the people did burn Incense to it, which, though it was lifted up in the wildernesse by his command, yet by his command it was pulled down and broken to pieces by Hezekiah, and made Nehushtan, a lump of brasse.

For 1. these outward performances of some part, and the ea∣siest part of the law, were not done out of any love to the law or the Law-giver. For love is of a quick and operative nature, and cannot rest in shews and formalities, but will draw them home to the end for which they were ordained: Love presents the gift, and the heart also, and (before he comes to the Altar) makes the worshipper himself a sacrifice. Love doth not stay at the porch, but enters the Holy of Holyes; doth not stay in the beginnings, but hasteth to the end; doth not contract the duty, but extends it to the utmost; doth not draw pictures, but men; doth not sacrifice the beast onely, but offers and consumes us, binds us wholly to the work, forceth, and constrains us; never lets us rest, till we have fulfilled the will of him that commands; Improves sacrifice to obedience; hearing, to practice; fasting, to humility and repentance; Love may begin, but never ends in ceremony. And this is the reason why Religion hath so many professors, and so few friends; so many salutes, and so many contempts flung upon her; why she is so much spoke of, as the bird of Jupiter, that eagle which must carry us to heaven, but hath no more regard, then the sparrow on the house top or the owle in the desart; why it is so much talkt of and so little practiced; for men do not love it, but because it carries a kind of majesty and beauty along with it, and strikes eve∣ry eye that beholds it; because men speak well of her in the gates,

and we cannot but speak well of her, whilest we are men; there∣fore we are willing to give her a salute in the midst of all those horrid and hellish offices which are set up against her; we give her a bowe and let her passe by, as if her shadow could cure us; or we lay hold on the skirts of her garment, touch and kisse them; are loud and busie in the performance of the easiest part of it; bind the sacrifice with cords to the hornes of the Altar, but not our lusts and irregular desires, but let them fly to every object, every vanity; which is to sacrifice a beast to God, and our selves to the devil.

2. These formall worshippers do not onely not love the com∣mand, but they do it for the love of something else: They love oppression, and blood, and injustice better then sacrifice; and all this heat and busie industry at the Altar proceeds not from that love which should be kindled and diffused in the heart, but as the unruly tongue, is set on fire by hel;; hath no other originall, then an ungrounded, and unwarranted love of those profitable and hono∣rable evils, which we have set up as our mark, but cannot so fairely reach to, if we stand in open defiance to all Religion. And there∣fore when that will not joyne with us, but looks a contrary way to that to which we are pressing forward with so much eagernesse, we content our selves with some part of it, with the weakest, with the poorest and beggerlyest part of it, and make use of it to go along with us, and countenance and secure us, in the doing of that which is opposite to it, and with which it cannot subsist; and so well and feelingly we act our parts, that we take our selves to be great favourites, and in high grace with him whose laws we break; and so procure some rest and ease from those continuall clamors, which our guiltinesse would otherwise raise within us, and walk on with delight and boasting, and through this seeming, feigned para∣dise post on securely to the gates of death. In what triumphant measures doth a Pharisee go from the Altar? what a harmelesse thing is a cheat after a Sermon? what a sweet morsell is a widdows house after Long Prayers? what a piece of Justice is oppression after a fast? After so much Ceremony, the blood of Abel himself, of the justest man alive, hath no voice.

For in the 3. place; These outward performances, this for∣mality in Religion, have the same spring and motive with our grea∣test and foulest sinnes. The same cause produceth them, the same considerations promote them, and they are carried to their end on the same wings of our carnall desires. Do you not wonder that I should say, The formality and outward presentments of our devo∣tion may have the same beginnings with our sinnes, may have their birth from the same womb; That they draw the same breasts,

and like twins, are born, and nurst, and grow up together? doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water, and bitter? No; It cannot, but both these are salt and brinish; our sacrifice as ill smelling as our oppression, our fast as displeasing as our sacriledge: and our hearing and Prayers cry as loud for vengenace as our oppres∣sion. We sacrifice, that we may oppresse; We fasT, that we may spoile our God; * 1.10 and we pray, that we may devour our brethren: Like Mother, Like Daughter, saith the Prophet Ezekiel; They have the same evil beginning, and they are both evil: Ambition was the cause of Absoloms Rebellion, and Ambition sent him to He∣bron to pay his vow, 2 Sam. 15. Covetousnesse made Ahab and Je∣zebel murderers, and Covetousnesse proclaimed their fast, 1 King. 21. Lust made Shechem, the sonne of Hamor, a Ravisher, and lust made him a Proselyte and Circumcised him, Gen. 34. Covetousnesse made the Pharisee a Ravening wolf, and Covetousnesse clothed him in a lambs skin. Covetousnesse made his Corban, and Cove∣tousnesse did disfigure his face, and placed him praying in the Syna∣gogues, and the corner of the streets: Ex his causam accipiunt, quibus probantur, saith Tertullian; They have both the same cause; for the same motives arise and shew them both; The same reason makes the same man both devout and wicked; both abstemious, and greedy; both meek and bloody; a seeming Saint, and a ra∣ging Devil; a Lamb to the eye, and a Roaring lion: Scit enim Dia∣bolus alios continentiâ, alios libidine, occidere, saith the same Father, The devil hath an art to destroy us with the appearance of virtue, assoone as with the poyson of sin.

For in the fourth place; This formality in Religion stands in no opposition with him, or his designes, but rather advances his king∣dome, and enlarges his dominion. For how many Sacrificers, how many attentive hearers, how many Beadsmen, how many Professors are his vassalls? how many call upon God, Abba, Father, who are his children? how many openly renounce him, and yet love his wiles? * 1.11 delight in his craft which is his malice? how many never think themselves at liberty, but when they are in his snare? and doth not a faire pretence make the fact fouler? doth not sacrifice raise the voice of our oppression, that it cryes louder? doth not a forme of Godlinesse make sin yet more finfull? when we talk of heaven, and love the world, are we not then most earthly, most sensuall, most divelish? is the divel ever more divel, then when he is transformed into an Angel of light? And therefore the divel himself is a great promoter of this art of pargetting & painting, and makes use of that, which we call Religion, to make men more wicked; loves this foule and monstrous mixture of a Sacrificer and an Oppressor; of a Christian, and a Deceiver; of a Faster and a Blood-thirsty man: And as he was most enraged, and impatient, a•• Tertullian

tells us, to see the works of God brought into subjection under man, who was made according to his image; so is it his pride and glory to see man and Religion it self brought under these transitory things, & even made fervants and slaves unto them: O! to this ha∣ter of God and man, it is a kind of heaven in hell it self, and in the midst of all his torment, to see this man, whom God created and redeemed, to do him the greatest service in Christs livery; to see him promote his Interest in the name of Christ and Religion; to see him under his power and dominion most, when he waits most diligently and officiously at the Altar of God. The Pharisee was his beloved disciple, when he was on his knees with a dissigured face: These Jews here were his disciples, who did run to the Altar, but not from their evil waies; who offered up the blood of beasts to God, and of the innocent to him; he that fasts and oppresses, is his dis∣ciple, for he gives God his body, and the Devil his soule: He that prayes much, and cozens more, is his disciples; for he doth but flat∣ter God, and serves the enemy, speaks to a God of truth with his lips, but hearkens to the Father of lyes and deceit. I may say the divel is the great Alchymist of the world to transelement the worst things, to make them more passible, to add a kind of esteeme and glory to them. We do not meet with Counterfeit Iron or Cop∣per, but gold and precious stones, these we sophisticate, and when we cannot dig them out of the mine, or take them from the rock, we strive to work them by art out of Iron, or Copper, or glasse, and call them gold and diamonds. Thus doth the Devil raise and sublime the greatest impiety, and gild it over with a sacrifice, with a fast, with devotion, that it may appeare in glory, and deceive, if it were possible, the very elect: we see too many deceived with it, who having no Religion themselves, are yet ready to bowe down to its Image wheresoever they see it, and so fix their eye and devotion upon it, that they see not the theef, the oppressor, the Atheist, who carries it along with him, to destroy that of which it is the Image; but take it for that which it represents, as little children and fooles take pictures and puppets for men. Is he unclean? who sees that, when he is at the Altar? doth he defraud his brother? who would say so, that should see him on his knees? hath he false weights and ballances? It is impossible, for you may see him eve∣ry day in the temple: are his feet swift to shed blood? It can∣not be, for he fasteth often, behold how he hangs down his head like a bulrush. The veine of gold is deep in the earth, and we cannot reach it but with sweat and industry: true piety and that which is good is a more rare and precious thing then gold, and the veines of it ly deep; its originall is from heaven in Christ, at a huge distance from our carnall desires and lusts, and so requires great anxiety, strong contention, and mighty strivings to reconcile it to our wills. This pearle is as it were in a far country, and we must sell

all to purchase it; the whole man must lose, and deny it self to search and find it out; we must lay down all that we have, our un∣derstandings, our wills and affections at his feet that sells it: And therefore that we may not trouble, nor excruciate our selves too much, that we may not ascend into heaven, or go down into hell for it, that we may not undergoe so much labour, and endure so much torment in attaining it, e take a shorter way, and work and fashi∣on something like unto it, which is most contrary to it, and transele∣ment impiety it self, and shadow it over with devotion, and pub∣lish it to others, and say within our selves, this is it. For what Seneca said of Philosophy is true of Religion, Adeo res sacra est, ut siquid illi simile sit, etiam mendacium placeat, It is so sacred and venerable a thing, that we are pleased with its resemblance, and that shall soone have its name that hath but its likenesse; that shall be the true pearle, which is but counterfeit; and by this means all Reli∣gion is confined to the Altar, and that shall consecrate that which is not good, and make it appeare so. That piety which came from the bosome of the Father, and was conveighed to us by the wis∣dome of the Sonne, must be shut up in outward worship, in forma∣lity, and Ceremony, and shew, and that which quite destroyes it, and tramples it under our feet; must go under that name, and make us great on earth, though it make us the least in the king∣dome of heaven, so that we shall have no place there, but be tum∣bled down into the lowest pit. As the Prophet Isaiah speaks in his first chapter; Argentum nostrum versum est in scoriam, our silver is become drosse, our wine is mixt with water, nay our best silver, our most refined actions are drosse; our wine is gall and bitternesse, or as he speaks in another place c. 30. all our Righteousnesse (and he means such formal, counterfeit righteousnesse,) is as a menstruous cloth.

Again in the last place: This formality, and insincerity is most opposite to God, who is a God of truth, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, unissimus, a most single and uncompounded essence, with whom there is no vari∣ablenesse, nor shadow of changing, saith Saint James; no mixture nor composition of divers or contrary things: His justice doth not thwart his mercy, nor his mercy disarme his justice; his provi∣dence doth not bind his power, nor his power check his providence; what he is he alwaies is, like unto himself in all his waies. Tertullian gives him these two proprieties, * 1.12 simplicitatem & potestatem, simpli∣city or uncompoundednesse, and power: He is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the singlenesse of all that are of a pure and single heart; * 1.13 and hence the strictest Christians in the first times were called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith the Father, viri singulares, men that were one in themselves, & of a single heart; who did strive and presse forward as far as mortality and their fraile condition would suffer them, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to the divine

unity, to be one in themselves, as God is ever most one, and unity it self. For God who gave us our soul, looks that we should re∣store it to him, one and entire; not contemplating heaven, and wallowing in the mire; not feeding on Ceremony, and loathing of purity; not busie at the Altar, and more busie in the world. The Civilians will tell us, dicitur res non reddita, quae deterior redditur, That cannot be said to be restored, which is returned worse then it was, when it was first put into our hands: and what can accrew to a soul by sacrifice, by Ceremony, by any outward formality, if it receive no deeper impressions then these can make? if we return it back to him with nothing but words, and noise and shews, in the posture of a bragging coward with his scarfs and ribbons, and big words, and glorious lyes? with no better hatchments then these, we return it far worse then we received it, worse then it was when it was as a smooth unwritten table, when it was such a soul, qualem habent qui solam habent, such a one which they have, * 1.14 who have it onely as other creatures have, to keep them alive and in being, and no more; and better we had breathed it out when it was first breathed in, then that we should thus keep and retain it, and then return it with no better furniture, no better endowed and filled, then with shadows and lyes. That which adornes, and betters a soul, and makes it fit to be returned, must be as spirituall as it self; Self-denyall, Sincerity, and Honesty, love of mercy, humility; these are the riches and glories of a soul, which must make it fit to be presented back again into the hands of its Creator. For these, for the advancement of these, were all outward Ceremony and Formality ordained, and without these sacrifice is an abominati∣on, and the Brownists calumny or rather blasphemy will be a truth, our preaching will be but Preachments; our time of preaching but disputing to an houre-glasse; our Pulpits prescript places; our solemn fasts but stage playes, wherein one acts sinne, another Judg∣ment, a third Repentance, and a fourth the Gospel; and the blessed Sa∣crament will be but as a two-peny-feasT. Or, which is worse, our outward formality and busie diligence in those duties which require the least, will but serve Contenebrare incesta, as the Father speaks, * 1.15 to cast a mist and darknesse upon our impurities, which may hide them from our own eyes, whom it most concerns to see them, and for a while from others, who see the best of us (which indeed is the worst of us, because it makes us worse and worse) whilest the evil they shadow and hide, is in our very bowels, and spreads it self, and works on insensibly, but most strongly and certainly to our ruine; and then it appeares more ugly and deformed to his pure and all-seeing eye, who never hates an oppressor more then when he sees him at the Altat, and is most offended with that fraudulent man, who is called Christian. We read in the Historian, when Nero had but set his foot into the temple of Vesta, he fell into a fit

of trembling, facinorum recordatione, saith Tacitus, being shaken with the remembrance of his monstrous crimes; for what should he do in the temple of Vesta, who had defiled his own mother? And how shall we dare to enter Gods courts, unlesse we leave our sinnes be∣hind us? how dare we speak to a God of truth, who defraud so many? why should we fast from meat, who make our brethren our meat, and eat them up? at that great day of separation of true and false worshippers, when he shall bespeake those on his right hand, Come ye llessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom pre∣pared for you; The forme or reason is not, for you have sacrificed often, you have fasted often, you have heard much, you were fre∣quent in the temple; and yet these are holy duties, but they are ordinata ad aliud, they were ordained for those that follow, and therefore are not mentioned, but in them implyed: For I was hun∣gry, and you gave me meat; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was naked, and you clothed me; sick and in prison, and you visited me. Then outward worship hath its glory and reward, when it drawes the inward along with it; then the sacrifice hath a sweet-smelling savour, when a just and mercifull man offers it up; when I sacri∣fice and obey, heare and do, pray and endeavour, contemplate and practice, fast and repent: and thus we are made one, fit to be lookt upon by him who is Onenesse it self, not divided betwixt sacrifice and oppression; a forme of godlinesse, and an habituall course in sinne; a dissembling with God, and fighting against him; betwixt an Hosanna and a Crucifige, a professing Christ, and Cruci∣fing him. In this unnity and conjunction every duty and virtue, as the stars in the firmament, have their severall glory, and they make the Israelite, the Christian, a child of light: but if we divide them, or set up some few for all; the easiest and those which are most attempered to the sence, for those which fight against it; and bring in them for the maine, which by themselves are nothing; if all must be sacrifice, if all must be Ceremony and outward forma∣lity; if this be the conclusion and summe of the whole matter, If this be the body of our worship and Religion; then instead of a blessing and an Euge, we shall meet with a frown and a check; and God will question us for appearing before him in strange apparell, which he never put upon us; question us for doing his command, and tell us he never gave any such command, because he gave it not to this end: will he be pleased with burnt offerings? with Ceremony, and formality? he asks the question with some indig∣nation, and therefore 'tis plain he will not, but loaths the sacrifice, as he doth the oppressor, and unclean person that brings it.

We see then (that we may yet draw it neerer to us) that there was good reason why God should thus disclaime his own ordi∣nance, because he made it for their sakes, and to an end quite con∣trary

to that, to which the Jew carried it; we see the Prophet might well set so low an esteeme upon so many thousand rams, because Idolaters, and oppressors, and cruell blood-thirsty men offered them. We see Sacrifice and all out ward Ceremony and formality are but as the garment or shadow of Religion, which is turned into a disguise, when she weares it not; and is nothing, is a delusi∣on, when it doth not follow her. For oppression and sacriledge may put on the same garment; and the greatest evil that is, may cast Wuch a shadow. He that hates God may sacrifice to him; he that blasphemes him, may praise him; The hand that strips the poore may put fire to the incense, and the feet that are so swift to shed bloud, may carry us into the Temple. When all is Ceremo∣ny, all is vaine, nay lighter then vanity; for in this we doe not wor∣ship God, but mock him; give him the skin, when he looks for the heart; we give him shadows for substances, and shews for realities, and leaves for fruit; and we mortifie our lusts and affections, as Tra∣gedians die upon the Stage, and are the same sinners we were, as wicked as ever. Our Religion puts forth no thing but blossomes, or if it knit, and make some shew or hope of fruit, it is but as we see it in some Trees, it shoots forth at length, and into a larger proportion and bigness, then if it had had its natural concoction, and ripened kind∣ly, and then it hath no tast or rellish, but withers, and rots, and falls off. And thus when we too much dote on Ceremomy, we neglect the maine work, and when we neglect the work, we fly to Ceremony and formality, and lay hold on the Altar; we deale with our God, * 1.16 as Aristotle of Cyrene did with Lais, who promised to bring her back again into her country, if she would help him against his Adversa∣ries whom he was to contend with; and when that was done, to make good his oath, drew her picture as like her as art could make it, and carried that; and we fight against the devil, as Darius did against Alexander, with pomp, and gayetry, and gilded armor, as his prey, rather then his enemies; and thus we walk in a vain sha∣dow, and trouble our selves in vain, and in this Region of shews and shadows dreame of happinesse, and are miserable; of heaven, and fall a contrary way, as Julius Caesar dream'd that he soared up, * 1.17 and was carryed above the clouds, and took Jupiter by the right hand, and the next day was slain in the Senate-house.

I will not accuse the foregoing Ages of the Church, because as they were loud for the Ceremonious part of Gods worship, so were they as sincere in it, and did worship him in spirit and truth, and were equally zealous in them both; and though they raised the first to a great height, yet never suffered it so to over-top the other, as to put out its light; but were, what their outward expressions spake them, as full of Piety as Ceremony; and yet we see that high e∣steem which they had of the Sacraments of the Church, led some

of them upon those errors, which they could not well quit them∣selves of, but by falling into worse. It is on all hands agreed, that they are not absolutely necessary, not so necessary as the mortifying and denying of our selves, not so necessary as Actuall holinesse. It is not absolutely necessary to be baptized; for many have not passed that Jordan, yet have been saved; but it is necessary to have the Laver of Regeneration, and to clense our selves from sin. It is not absolutely necessary to eat the Bread, and drink the Wine in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper; for some crosse accident may in∣tervene, and put me by; but it is necessary to feed on the Bread of Life, as necessary as my meat, to doe Gods will. True Piety is absolutely necessary, because none can hinder me from that, but my selfe; but it is not alwayes in every mans power to bring himselfe to the Font, or approach the Lords Table; All that can be said, is, That when they may be had, they are absolutely necessary; but they are therefore not absolutely necessary, because they cannot alwaies be had; and when they stretcht beyond this, they stretcht beyond their line, and lost themselves in an ungrounded, and unwarranted admiration of these Ordinances, which (whilst we look upon them in their proper Orbe and Compasse) can never have honour and esteem enough. They put the Communion into the mouthes of In∣fants, who had but now their Being; and into the mouthes of the Dead, who had indeed a BEing, but not such a Being as to be fit Communicants; and Saint Austin thought Baptisme of Infants so absolutely necessary, that Not to be baptized, was to be Damned, and therefore was forced also to create a new Hell that was never before heard of, and to find out mitem damnationem, a more mild and easie damnation, more fit, as he thought, for the tendernesse and innocency of Infants.

Now this was but an error in speculation, the error of devout and pious men, who in honour to the Author of the Sacraments, made them more binding and necessAry then they were; and we may learn thus much by this over-great esteem the first and best Christians, and the most learned amongst them, had of them; that there is more certainly due, then hath been given in these latter times, by men who have learnt to despise all Learning, and whose great devotion it is to quarrell and cry down all Devotion: who can find no way to gain the reputation of Wisdome, but by the fierce and loud im∣pugning of that which hath been practiced and commended to suc∣ceeding Ages by the wisest in their Generation; by men who first cry down the Determinations of the Church, and then in a scornfull and profane pride and animosity deny there is any such Collection, or Body, as a Church at all.

But our Errors in Practice are more dangerous, more spreading,

more universall. For what is our esteem of the Sacraments? more a great deale then theirs, and yet lessE, because 'tis such which we should not give them, even such, which they, whom they are so bold to Censure, would have Anathematized. We Think, or Act as if we did, that the Water of Baptisme doth clense us, though we make our selves more Leopards, fuller of spots then before: That the Bread in the Eucharist will nourish us up to eternall life, though we feed on husks in all the remainder of our dayes. We baptize our children, and promise and voew for them, and then instill those thri∣ving and worldly principles into them, which null and cancell the vow we made at the Font: hither we bring them to renounce the world, and at home teach them to love it. And for the Lords Supper, what is commonly our preparation? A Sermon, a few houres of medita∣tion, a seeming farewell to our common affaires, a faint heaving at the heart that will not be lifted up, a sad and demure countenance at the time; and the next day, nay before the next day this mist is sha∣ken off, and we are ready to give Mammon a salute, and a cheerfull countenance, the world our service, to drudge and toyle as that shall lead us, to rayle as loud, to revenge as maliciously, to wanton it as sportfully, to cheat as kindly as ever we did long before, when we never so much as thought of a Sacrament. And shall we now place all Religion, nay any Religion in this? or call that good, that abso∣lutely good and necessary, for which we are the worse, absolutely the worse every day? Well may God ask the question, Will he be pleased with this? Well may he by one Prophet ask, who hath requi∣red it? and by another instruct us, and shew us yet a more excel∣lent way.

It was not the error of the Jew alone to forget true and inward sanctity, and to trust upon outward worship and formality; but sad experience hath taught us, that the same error which misled the Jew under his weak and beggerly Elements, hath in the fulnesse of time found admittance and harbour in the breasts of Christians un∣eer that perfect Law of Liberty, in which the grace of God hath appeared unto all men. I am unwilling to make the parallel; it carries with it some probability that some of them had that grosse conceit of God, that he fed on the flesh of bulls, and drunk the blood of goates; for God himself stands up and denies it in the fiftieth Psalme, will I eat the flesh of bulls, and drink the blood of goates? If I be hungry, I will not tell thee: if there were not such conceit, why doth God thus expostulate? And is there no sym∣ptome, no indication of this disease in us? do we not believe that God delights in these pageants and formalities? That he better likes the devotion of the ear, then of the heart? do we not mea∣sure out our devotion rather by the many Sermons which we have heard, then the many almes we have given? or which is better,

the many evill thoughts which we have stifled, the many unruly de∣sires we have supprest, the many passions we have subdued, the ma∣ny temptations which we have conquered? Hath not this been our Arithmetick, to cast uup our accounts, not by the many good deeds we have done, which may stand for figures or numbers; but by the many reproches we have given to the times, the many bitter Censures we have past upon men better then our selves; the many Sermons we have heard, which many times (God knowes) are no better then Cyphers, and by themselves signifie no more? Do we not please our selves with these thoughts, and lift our selves up into the third heaven? Do we not think, that God is well pleased with these thoughts? Do we not believe they are sacrifices of a sweet-smelling favour unto him? And what is this lesse, then to think that God will eat the flesh of bulls, and drink the blood of goates? nay may it not seeme far worse, to think that God is fed and delighted with our formalities, which are but lyes, and that he is in love with our hypocrisie? I may be bold to say, as grosse an error and as opposite to the wisdome of God, as the other. It is truely said, multa non illicita vitiat animus, That the mind and in∣tention of man may draw an obliquity on those actions which in themselves are lawfull; nay multa mandata vitiat, It may make that unlawfull, which is commanded. O! 'tis a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the living God; but how fearefull is it to have his hand fall upon us, when we stan dat his Altar? to see him frown and hear him thunder, when we worship him; in anger to question us, when we are doing our duty? What a dart would it be to pierce our soules through and through, if God should now send a Prophet to us, to tell us, That our frequenting the Church, and comming to his Table, are distastfull to him; That our fasts are not such as he hath chosen, and that he hates them as much as he doth our oppression and cruelty, to which they may be as the prologue; that he will have none of the one, because he will have none of the other? and yet if we terminate Religion in these outward formali∣ties, or make them waite upon our lusts, to bring them with more smoothnesse, with more state and pomp, and applause to their end, to that which they look so earnestly upon; if we thus appear before him, he that shall tell us as much of our hearing, and fasting, and frequenting the Church, shall be as a true Prophet as Micah the Morasthite was.

And now to conclude; If you ask me, wherewith shall you come before the Lord, and bowe your selves before the most High? Look further into the Text, and there you have a full and compleat di∣rectory; Do Justly, Love Mercy, and walk humbly with your God; with these you may approach his Courts, and appeare at his Altar. In aram dei Justitia imponitur, saith Lactantius, Justice, and mercy,

and sincerity are the best and fittest sacrifices for the Altar of God, * 1.18 which is the heart of man; an Altar, that must not be polluted with blood: Hoc qui exhibet, toties sacrificat, quoties bonum aliquid aut pium facit, The man that is just and mercifull doth sacrifice, as oft as he doth any just and mercifull act. Come then and appeare before him, and offer up these; nor need you feare that ridiculous and ungodly imputation, which presents you to the world under the name of meere morall men: Beare it as your Crown of Rejoycing; It is stigma Jesus Christi, a mark of Christ Jesus; and none will lay it upon you as a defect, but they who are not patient of any losse but of their honesty: who have learnt an art to joyne together in one the Saint and the deceiver; who can draw down heave to them with a thought, and yet supplant, and overreath their brother as cunningly as the devil doth them. Bonus vir Caius Seius, * 1.19 Caius Seius is a good man; his onely fault is that he is a Christian, would the heathen say; He is a good morall man, but he is not of the Elect, that is, one of our Faction, saith one Christian of another. I much wonder, how long a good morall man hath been such a mon∣ster. What is the decalogue, but an abridgement of morality? what is Christs Sermon on the mount, but an improvement of that? and shall civil and honest conversation be the marke of a reprobate? Shall nature bring forth a Regulus, a Cato, a Fabricius, Just and Honest men, and shall Grace and the Gospel of Christ bring forth nothing but zanies, but plaiers and actors of Religion, but Pharisees and hypocrites? or was the new creature, the Christian, raised up to thrust the morall man out of the world? Must all be election and regeneration? Must all Religion be carried along in phrases and words, and noise; and must Justice and Mercy be exposed as monsters, and flung out into a land of oblivion? Or how can they be elect and regenerate, who are not just and mercifull? No: the morall man that keeps the commandments is not far from the kingdome of God; and he that is a Christian, and builds up his morality, Justice and Mercy, upon his faith in Christ; he that keeps a good conscience, and doth to others what he would that others should do unto him, shall enter in and have a mansion there, when these speculative and Seraphick Hypocrites, who decree for God, and preordain there a place for themselves, shall be shut out of doores.

Come then and appeare before him with these, with Innocence, and Integrity, and Mercifulnesse Wash your hands in Innocency, and compasse his Altar. For Christ hath made us Priests unto his Father, Rev. 1.6. there is our Ordination: To offer up spirituall sacrifice, 1 Pet. 2.5. there is our duty and performance: By Jesus Christ, there is our seale to make good and sure our acceptance. Chrysostome, besides that great Sacrifice of the Crosse, hath found out many more; * 1.20 Martyr∣dome,

Prayer, Justice, Almes, Praise, Compunction and Humility; and he brings into the preaching of the World, which all make 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, * 1.21 saith Basil, a most magnificent and precious sacrifice. We need not cull out any more then these in the Text; for in offer∣ing up these, we shall find the true nature and reason of a Sacrifice observed. For to make any thing a true Sacrifice, there must be a plain and expressed change of the thing that is offered. It was a Bull or a Ram, but it is set apart and consecrate to God; and it is a Sacri∣fice, and must be slain. And this is remarkable in all these, in which though no Death befall us, (as in the Beast offered in Sacrifice) but that Death (which is our Life) our death to sin; yet a change there is, which being made to the honour of Gods Majesty, is very plea∣sing and acceptable in his sight. When we doe justly, we have slain the Beast, the worst part of us, our love of the world, our filthy lusts, our covetousnesse and ambition, which are the life and soul of fraud, and violence, and oppression, by which they live, and move, and have their being. When we offer up our Goods, there is a change; For how strong is our affection to them? how do we adore them as Gods? are they not in common esteeme as our life and blood? and do we not as willingly part with our breath as with our wealth? Now he that doth good and distribute, he that scatters his wealth, poures forth his very blood; binds the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the Altar, lets out all worldly desires with his wealth, and hath slain that sacrifice, saith Saint Paul, with which God is well pleased.

And last of all, Humility wasts and consumes us to nothing; makes us an Holocaust, a whole burnt-offering, Nothing in our selves, no∣thing in respect of God; and in htis our Exinanition, exalts all the graces of God in us, fills us with life and glory, with high apprehen∣sions, with lively anticipations of that which is not seen, but laid up for us in the Treasuries of heaven. These are the Good mans sacri∣fice, and they naturally flow from this Good which is here shewed in the Text, and are the parts of it. These were from the beginning and shall never be abolisht; and if we offer up these, we shall never be questioned, nor askt, will God be pleased with these? for he is plea∣sed onely with these, and for these, with whatsoever we offer; and he will love us for them, and accept us in him, who to sanctifie and present these, offered himself an offering, a sacrifice of a sweet-smel∣ling savour; even Jesus Christ the righteous, who is a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedeck.

Thus have we taken a view of this Good which is shewen in the Text, as it stands in opposition with the Sacrifices of the Law, and outward formality; and now the vail is drawn, we shall present it in its full beauty and perfection in our next.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Non satis est reprehendisse peccntem si non doceas recti viam. Columel. de Re Rust. l. 11. c. 1.
• * 1.2

  1 Cor. 11.
• * 1.3

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Re∣spons. ad or∣thod. in ope∣rib. Justini martyris. ad Interrog 83.
• * 1.4

  Tertull•…•…d v. Marcion. l. 2.
• * 1.5

  Tertull. de ma∣nogamia. c. 6.
• * 1.6

  Greg. Naz. or. de. mort.
• * 1.7

  Arrian. Epictet. l. 4. c. 8.
• * 1.8

  Tacitus 1. Nist
• * 1.9

  2 King. 18.4.
• * 1.10

  Ezek. 16.44.
• * 1.11

  Ex malitia in∣genium habet. Tertull. de Idololat.
• * 1.12

  Tert. de Bapt. c. 2.
• * 1.13

  Dionrs. de Divin. Nomin.
• * 1.14

  Tertull. de Testim. anim.
• * 1.15

  Tertull. Apol.
• * 1.16

  Clem. Alex∣ande. 3. strom.
• * 1.17

  Suet. Vit. C. Caesar.
• * 1.18

  Lactan••. de vere cultu. l 6. c. 24.
• * 1.19

  Tertull. Apolog.
• * 1.20

  Chrysost. in. Ps. 5••.
• * 1.21

  Basil. ep. 87.