SERMON IV.
Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes bave seen thy alvation.
THE whole life of Christ was a continual passion; others die martyrs, but Christ,vas born a martyr. He found a Golgotha (where ho was crucified) even in Bethlehem, where he was born; for to his tenderness then the straws were almost as sharp as the thorns after, and the ma.ger as nneasy at first as his cross at
PBEACIIED ON CIIB[STM,8 DAY. [SE. 1. last. His birth and his death were but one continual act, and his Christmas-day and his (ood Friday are but the evening and morning of one and the saine day. And as even his birth is his death, so every action and passage that manifests Christ to us, is his birth, for Ep;pAany is nmnoEèmtion; and therefore, though the chuoeh do now call Twelfth-day Epiphany, because upon that day Christ was mauifested to the Gentiles in those wise men who came then fo worship him, yet the ancient church called this day (the day of Christ's birth) the Epiphany, because this day Christ was manifestcd to the world, by being boa this day. Every manifestation of Christ fo tho world, to thc church, to a particular soul, is an Epiphany, a Christmas-day. Now the is nowhere a more es'ident manifestation of Christ than in that whieh indueed this text, Lord, now lettet thou thy serrant, 'c. It had been revealed fo Simeon (whose words these are) that he should s Christ before he died; and actually and really, ubstantially, essentially, bodily, presentially, permnally he does see him; so it is Simeon's Epiphany, Simeon's Christmas-day; so also tllis day, in whieh we commemorate and celebrate the general Epiphany, the manifestation of Christ to the xvhole world in his birth, ail we, we, who besides our interest in the univerml El»il»hany and nlanifestation ilnplied in the very day, have ts day reeeived the body and lood of Christ in his holy and blesoed Saerament, have had another Epiphany, another Christmas-day, another manifestation aml-application of Christ to orsdves. And as thc church prepares out devotiou bcfore Christmas-day, with four 8undays in Advent, which brings Christ nearer and nearer unto us, and relnembers us that he is eoming, and then contilmes that renlembranee again with the celebration of other festivals with it, and after it, as St. Stepllelh St. John, and the test that f, llow; so for this birth of Christ in your particular souls, for this Epiphany, this Christnms-day, tllis manifestation of Christ which you have had in the most blessed Sacrament this dy, as vou wel prepared belote by that which was said befo, so it belongs fo the thorough eeleblation of the day, and fo the dignity of that mysterious act, and to the blessedness of worthy and tlle danger of unworthy reeeivers, to press that evidence in your behalf, and fo enable you, by a farther examination of ss. v.] o rH rvv. 59 yourselres, to depart 19eace, because your eyes hare e alration. To be able to eonclude to yourselves, that beeause you have had n Christmas-day, n manifestation of Christ's birth in your souls by the Saerament, you shall have n svhole Good Friday, a crucifying and a consummatum est, a measure of corrections and joy in those corrections, temptations, and the issue with the temptation; and thnt you shall hnve resurrection and an ascension, an inchoation, and an unremovable possession of heaven itself in this world. Make good your Christmas-day, that Christ by a worthy reeeiving of the Sacrzment be born in you, and he that died for you will lire with you all the year, and ail thc years of your lires, and inspire into you, and receive from you at the ]ast gasp, tllis blessed acclamation, Lord, now lette.et tho thy serrant, 'c. The end of ail digestions and concoctions is assimilation, that the meat lnny become out body. The end of ail consideration of ail the actions of such leading and excmplary men as Simeon was, is assimilation too, that we may be likc that nmn; therefore we sllall nmke it a first part, to take a picture, to give a character of this man, to consider how Simeon was qualified and preparcd, matured and disposed to that eonfidellce, tiret he could desire to depart in peace, intimated in that first xx'ord now; now, that all that I look for is accomplished, and farther expressed in the first xvord of the other clause, For; b" mine eyes hare seen thy salration; ow, noxv the time is fulfi]led, For, ybr mine eyes hare seen. And then enters the second part; what is the greatest happiness that tan be well wished in this wodd, by a man well prepnred, is, that he may dcpart in peace: Lord, noc &ttes thou, 4"c. And all the way, in every step that we make, in his light (in Simeon's light) 'e shall sec light; we shall considcr that that preparation and disposition, and acquiescence which Simeon lmd in his Epiphany, in lais visible seeing of Christ then is offered to us in this Epiphany, in this nlanibstation and application of Christ in the Sacramellt; and that therefore every peuitent, and dex'out, and reverend, and worthy receiver hath had in that holy action his %w, there are all things accomplished to llim and his For,]br his files hare seen his salration and so may be coutcnt, nay glad, to del»«rt in Teace.
In the first part then, in which we collect some marks and qualities in Simeon "«hich prepared him to a ¢luiet death; qualities applicable to us in that capacity, as we are fitted for the Sacrament, (for in that way on|y we shall walk throughout this exercise,) we consider first the action itself, what was done at this time. At this tirae, our Saviour Christ, according to the law, by which all the first born were to be preseted to God in the temple oe a certain time after thcir birth, was presented to God in the temple, and there acknowleded to be his, and then bouht of him again by his parents at a certain price prescribed in the law. A lord could hot exhihit his son to his tenants, and say, this is your landlord; nor a king, h]s son to his subjects, and say, this is your prince; but first he was to be tendered to God his, they were all. He that is lmt Godes first is hot truly his kings, nor his owm And then God does hot sell him back aain to his parents, at a racked, at an improved price. He sells a lord or a kin bacl again to the world as cheap as a'yeoman; he takes one and the saine price for all. God ruade all mankind of one blood; and with one blood, the blood of his son, he bought all mankind again; at one price, and upon the same conditions, he hath delivered over all into this world; tantttnmodo crede, and then, ]àc ]toc, et rires, is the price of all; believe, and lire well. More he asks hot, less he takes hot for an), man, upon any pretence of any unconditioned decree. At the time of this presentation there were to be offered a pair of turtles, or a pair of pigeons; the sacrifice was indifferent. Turtles that lire solitarily, and pigeons that lire sociably, were all one to God. God in Christ may be had in an active and sociable lire, denoted in the pigeon, and in the solitary and contemplative life, denoted in the turtle. Let hot SVestminster despise the church, nor the church the exchange, nor the exchange and trade desPise arms; God in Christ may be had in every lawful calling. And then, the pigeon was an emblem of fecundity, and fruitfulness in marriage; and the turtle may be an emblem of chaste widowhood, for, I think we find no bigamy in the turtle. But in these sacrifices we find no emblem of a natural, or of a vowed barrenness; nothing that countenances a vowed virginity, to the dishonour or undervaluing of marriage. Thus was our Saviour presented to God; and in this especially was that fulfilled, The.olory of tke latter house 8hall be #reater tha the glory of the former'; the latter temple exceeded the former in this, that the Lord, the God of this house, was in the house bodily, as one of the congregation; and the little body of a sucking child was a chapel in that temple, intïnitely more glorious than the temple itself. How vas the joy of 1Noah, at the return of the dove into the ark, nmltiplied upon Simeou, at the bringing of this dove into the temple! At how cheap a price was Christ tumbled up and down in this world! It does ahnost take off our pious scorn of file low price at which Judas sold hiln, to consider that his Father sol4 him to the world tbr nothing; and then, when he had him again, by this new title of prlmogeniture and presentation, he sold him to the world again, if hot for a turtle, or for a pigeon, yet at most for rive shekels, which at most is but ten shillings. And yet you have had him cheaper than that, to-day in the Sacrament: whom bath Christ cost rive shekels there. As Christ wus presented to God in the temple, sois he presented to God in the Sacrament; hOt sucking, but bleeding. And God gives him back again to thee; and at what price. upon this exchange; take his first born, Christ Jesus, and give him thine. Who is thine. Cor primo.qenltum, says St Augustine. The heart is tlm first part of the body that lires; give him that; and then, as itis in nature, it shall be in grace too, the last part that dies; for it shall never die. If a man eat the bread that coraeth down from heaven, he shall hot dle , says Christ. If a man, in exchange of his heart, receive Christ Jesus himself, he can no more die, than Christ Jesus himself can die. That which Eschines said to Socrates adlnits fait accoummdation here. He saw every body give Socrates some present, and he said, Because I have nothing else to give, I will give thee myself. Do so, says Socrates, and I will give thee back again to thyself, better than when I reeeived thee. If thou bave truly given thyself to hiln in the Sacrament, God bath given thee thyseff back, so much mended, as that thou hast received thyself and him too; thyself, in a holy liberty, to walk in the world in a calling, and himself, in giving llag. ii. 9. Jolm ri. 50.
a blessing upon ail the works of thy calling, and imprinting in thee a holy desire to do ail those works to his glory. And so has'ing thus Far ruade this profit of these circumstances in the action itself, applicable to us as receivers of the Sacrament, that, as the child Jesus was first presented to God in the temple, so for your children, (the children of your bodies, and the children of your minds, and the children of your hands, ail your actions, and intentions,) that you direct them fil'st tlpon (od, and God in the temple, that is, God manifested in the church, before you assign them, or determine them ni)on any other worldly courses, and then, that as God returned Christ, as all other children, at a certain pl'ice, so God delivers man upon certain and upon the same conditions; he cornes hOt iJltO the world, nor he cornes hot to the Sacrament, as to a lottery, where perchance he may draw salvation, but it is ten to one he misses, but upon these few and easy conditions, believe and love, lle may be sure and then also, that the sacrifice, pigeons or turtles, was indifferent, so it were ofi'ered to God, for any honest calling is acceptahle to God, if God's glory be intended in if: that of marriage and of widowhood, we ha;e some typical intimations in the law, in the pigeon, and in the turtle, but of a vow of virginity, b%.mm in the parents for their temporal ends, and forcêd upon their children, fol" those ends, we have no shadow at all; that Christ, who was sold after by Judas for a little nmney, was sold in this l)resentation by his Father, for less, and yêt for less thau that to us this day in the Sacrament: having ruade thêse nses of thêse circumstances in the action itself, we pass on now to the consideration of some such qualities and disl)ositions of this person, Simeon, as may be applicable to us in our having received the Sacrament. First then, we receive it, though hot literally, and expressly in the story, yet by convenient implication there, and by general tradition ri'oto all, that Simeon was now corne to a great age, a very old man; for so St. Augustine argues, that God raised np two witnêsses for Christ in the temple, one of each sex, and both of much revêrênce for age; Anna, whose age is expressed, and Simeon, who is recommended in the saine respect, says that Father, for age too. And Nicephorus, and others with him, make him vêry old, a it is likêly he was, if he wêre, as Pêtêr sm. tv.] oN mE NArtVtTV. 63 Galatinus makes him, the son of Rabbi Hillel, Hillel the toaster of Gamaliel, the toaster of St. Paul. So then wc accept him, person in a reverend age. Even in nature, age was the centre of roverence; tho channel, the valley, fo which nll reverence flowed. Tempornl jurisdiction, and spiritual jurisdiction, the magistraey, and tho priesthoed, were appropriated to the eldest; almost in ail lgar languages, the naine of a lord or magistrate Imth no other derivation than , nu elder; seuior noster is a word tlmt passes freely, through the utllors of the middle age, for ont lord or onr king; and the same derivation bath the naine of priest, in a holy language, presbyter, an clder. So evennore in tho course of the Scripture 11 COUlsel and all government is plaeed in the elders; and ail the service of (od is expressed so, evcn lu heven toe, by the four-and—twenty elders . Thy Creator will be remembered in the days of thy youth; but God hath had longer experience of that mau, and longer conversation with that nmn, who is como to n holy age. That wise king, who couhl carry nothing to higher pitch in any comparison than to crown, ys, 4.qe i a crown of ylort, u'ken it is found i te u'al te rçohteou'; but iu the ways of righteousness, no blessing is a blessing; and in the ways of righteousness, wealth may be emwn of out labours, and health may be crown of out temperanee, but age is fle c»own of glory, of reverence. That crown, the erown of reverenee, the Lord, the righteous Judge, hath reserrd to that day, the day of our age, because out age is the seal of out eonstncy and perseverance, lu this blessed age, Simeon was thus dignified, admitted to this Epiphal]y, this manifestation of Christ; and, to be admitted to thy Epiphany, and manifest- tion of Christ in the Sacrement, thou lnust put off the young man and put on the od. God, to whose table thou art called, is represented s aut[quus dlerum., the Ancient of days; and his ests must be of mortified affections; he must be crucified the wofld, that will recelve him that was crucified for the world the lus of youth, the voluptuousness of youth, the revengefulness of)uth, must hve a holy damp, and a religious stupidity shed upon theln, that corne thither. Nay, it is hot enough to be suddenly old, to have sad nd mortified thoughts theu; no, nor a Rev. iv. 9. Prov. xvi.
to be sudden]y dead, to renounce the world then, that hour, that morning, but 9uatriàuani sit/s, you should bave been dead three days, as Lazarus; you should bave passed au examination, an ccusation, a condemnation of yourselves, divers days before you came to that table. God was most glorified in the raising of Lazarus, when he was long dead and putrefied. God is most glorified in g/ring a resurrcction to him that bath been longest dead; that is, longest in the contemplation of his own sinfu] and spiritua] putrefaction; for, he that stinks most in his own, by truc contrition, is the best perfume to God's nostrils, and a conscience troubled in itself is odor quietAo, as 1Noah's sacrifice was, a savour of test to God. This assistance we bave to the exaltation of our devotion, from that circumstance, that Simeon was an old man we bave another front another, that he was a priest, and in that notion and capacity the better fitted for this Epiphany, this Christmas, this manifestation of Christ. We have hot this neither in the letter of the story, no, nor so constantly in trmlition, that he was a priest, as that he was an old man but it is rooted in antiquity too, in Ath,nasius, in St. Cyril, in Epiphanius, in others, who argue, and iufer it fairly and conveniently, out of some priestly acts wh/ch Simeon seems to have donc in the temple, (as the taking of Christ in his arms, wh/ch belongs to the priest, and the blessing of God, wh/ch is the thanksgiving to God in the behalf of the congregation, and then the blessing of the people in the behalf of God, wh/ch are acts peculiar to the priest). Accepting him in tbat quality, a priest, we consider, that as the king takes it worse in his household servants, than in his subjects at large, if they go hOt his ways; so they who dwell in God's bouse, whose livelihood grows out of the revenue of his ehurch, and whose service lies within the walls of his church, are most inexcusable, if they have hOt a continual Epiphany, a continual manifestation of Christ. Ail men should look towards God, but the priest should never look off from God; and at the sacrament every mau is a prlest. I had rather that were hot said (wh/ch yet a ver)" reverend divine says"), that this Simeon might be aliqtis plebeius homo, some ordinary common man, that was in Calvin.
s.. [v.] os T,m SXTtvrrx. 65 the temple at that time, when Christ vas brought. Ite, who is of another subdivision', (though in the reformed ehuoeh too,) eollects piously, that God chose extraordinary men to give testimony of [his Son; Nieodemus, a great nmgistrate, Gamaliel, a gl'eat doctor, Jairus, a ruler in the synagogue, and this Simeon, iii probability pmgnant enough, a priest. But was that any great addition to hiln, if he were so For holiness, eeainly it was; but for outward dignity and respect, it was so, too, amongst them. In omni natione, vertum aliquod tobilitatis ar9umentun, , Every nation hath some particular way of ennoblilig, and some particular evidence and declaration of imbility; arms for a great part is that in Spain, and mcrchandise in some states in Italy, and learning in France, where, besides file very many preferments by the church, in which some other nation may be equM to them, there are more preferments by other ways of learning, especially of judicature, than in any other nation. All nations, says Josephus, had some peculiar way; and amongst the Jews, says he, priesthoed was that way; priest was, even for civil privileges, a gcntleman. Therefore hath the aposfle, not kuighted nor ennobled, but croed every good soul widi that style, Re9a& sacerdotiunh that they are a royal priestood. To be royal without priesthood seemed hot to hiln dignity enough. Consider, then, that to corne to the connmmion table is to take ord's. Every man should corne to that altar as holy as the priest, for there he is a priest; and, 'aeerdotem nemo agit, qui Hbeiter «diud est, quam sacerdos , no man is truly a priest which is auy thiug else besides a priest; that is, that entangles himself in any other business, so as that it hillders his function in his priesthood. No man cornes to the Sacrament well, that is sorry he is there; that is, whom the penalty of the law, or observation of neighboum, or any collateral respect, brings thither. There thon art u priest, though thou beest but a layman at home; and then, no nmu that hath taken orders ean deprive himself or divest his ol'dem when he wiH: thon art bouud to continue in the saine holiness after in which thou presentest thyself at that table. As the sails of a ship, when they aoe spread and swolu, and file way that the ship makes, shows me the wiud, where it is, though the wind itself « Chemlficius. Josephus. Emus. VOL. 1. F
66 PREACHED ON' CYIRISTMAS DAY. be an invisible thing, so thy actions o-morrov, and the liçe thou leades ail the year, will show me with whac m[nd hou cames to the Sacrament o-day, though only God, and no I, tan sec dv mind. Lire in remembrauce, tha dou vas day (fr no nmn bath received Chris tha bath no scrificed himself) and lire as though thou wer a pries sti; and hen I say, with Shlonius Apollinaris, M«lo »ac«dotalem irum, »acdotem, ] had rather have one man tha lires as a pr[est should do, than a hundred priests tha lire no so. A worthy receiver slmll fise n judgmen agains an unworthy giver; Christ shall be the sacrifice still, and thou the pries, tha cames bu o receive, because thou has crificed thyself; and he the JuS, tha pretended to be dse priesL bause he hath berayed Chris o himself, and, as much as lay in him, evacuated the SacramenL and nmde it of none eflbct to thee. It is thrther added for his honour, and for his eompetency and fitness for this Epiphany, to sec his Saviour, that he was ajust and riyhteous man. This is a legal righteousness, a righteousness in which St. Paul says he was unreproaehable, that in the sight of ail the wodd. And fliis righteousne, even this outward righteousness, he must bring th him that cornes to this Epiphauy, to this manifestation and application of his Saviour to him in the Sacrament; it must stand well between hiln and all the world . If thou bring thy gift to the altar, says Christ, (if thou bring thyself to tho altar, says our case,) and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against theo, (it w iii donc hot to remember it before, but if thou remember it then,) Go thy way, savs Christ, first be reeonciled to thy brother, and then COlUe and oflbr thy giA, that is, oflçr thyoelf for tt sacrifice. Better corne a month after with a elear, than kneel out thcn with a pel'plexed conscience. It is, If thy brother have ought against thee, how little soever; if thou have but seandalized him, though thou have not injured him, yet venture hot upon flfis holy action till thou have satisfied him. Thou mayest ho good; good, so as that thou hast intended no iii to him. He may be good too; good, so that ho wishes no iH to thee. And yet some negligenee and remissness in thee may We struck upon Matt. v. 23.
ss. v.] o. z. «zvz. 7 weakness and tenderness in hm, so as that he may ho como o tlfink uncharitably f thee; ad though ths unclmrtableness be his fault, and ot thine, yet the negligence tht occasioned it wRs thine. Satisfy him, ad tlmt recties bth; it redeems thy neglgence, recovers hs weakness. Till thRt be done, neither f yu are Ibr his holy acto; God neither Rccepts tlmt man that is negligent of his tions, and eares not what others thinl, nor him that is over easy be scandalized, and misinteret actions otherwise idifferent; tbr, to them who study not this righteouess, to stand upright in the goed opinions of good men, God mys; Vhy takest thou my word into thy mouth so Christ shall say, to the shaling of that conscience, Why takest thou my body and bloed into thy hand This nmst be donc; he must be just, righteous in the eyes of arien; though more seem to be implied in his other characr, tlmt he was ti»oratus, which we translato devout. In tho former, his objet was man, though dly men; here itis God himseIL Man nmst be respected, but God especiMly. And this devotion lu well placed in tar, for B«sis verbi es timor mys St. Augustiue; and itis excellently said, if this be his meaning, that whatsoever I promise myself out of the word of God, yet the basis upon which that promise snds is my fear of God: if my fear of God fall, the word of God, so tkr as it is a promise to me, falls too. Tertulliau inten tho saine thing, when he ys, Fudamettttm sal«tis timor; though I have a holy confidence of my salvatiou, yet the foundation of this confidenco is nodest, and tender, and a rcvcrential fear, that I ara not diligent cnough in the performance of those conditions whieh are required to the establishing of it; tbr this eMabeia, whieh St. Hierolne ans]atea timoratum and we translate devout, is a middle disposition between a Pharisaical superstition and a negligent irreverence, and profanation of God's ordinance. I corne hot with this etdabeia, with Simeon's dissitiou, to my Epiphany, fo my receiving of my Saviour, if I think that bread my God, and superstitiously adore it, tbr that is Pharisaical and carnM; neither do I hring that disposition thither, if I thik God no otherwise present there, than in his own other ordinances, and so rethse sueh postures and actions of mverence, as ara mquired
ï PREACHEO ON CI|PI«TMAS DAYo [ER. to testify outwardly mine inward devotion, for these may well consist together;' I ara sure I receive him ectually whe I I Ioo upon his mercy* « ] ara afraid ] do hot receive him woRhily, when I Ioo upo mine own unwohiess.* We cannot pursue this auatomy of good old Simeon, this just and devout priest, so far as to show you all his pas, ad the use of them all i particular. His example, and the characters that are upon hhn, are our alphabet. ] shal] only hve time fo naine the rest of those characters; you must spell them and put them into their syllables; you must form them, ad put them into their wos; you must compose them, and put theh into their synmxis and seuteces; that is, you must pursue the imitation, that when I bave told you wht he was, you may present yourselves to God, such as he was. He was one that had the Holy Ghost upon him, says that story. The testimony given before, at he was j«st«, and tmorts, l'ighteous, and fearing God, was evidelme enough that the Holv Ghost was upon him. This addition is a testimony of a more paiculr presence and operation of the Holy Ghost in some cerin way, and the way is agreed by ail to be, la doo prohêtia', the Holy Ghost was upon him in the spirit of prophecy, so as that he ruade him at that time a prophet. Thou aloE a prophet Ul)On thyself, when thou comest to the communion; thou art able to foretell, and to pronounce upon thyself what thon shalt be for ever. Upon thy disposition, then, tlmu mayest couclude thine eternal state; then thou knowest which part of St. Paul's distribution falls upon thoe, whcther that tribt«latios ad attguish «po» every soM ma that doh eril, or that, bt«t ylory, ad bonjour, and pea to eery that worketh 9o °. Thou art this prophet; silence hot flfis pmphet; do hot chide thy conscience for chiding thee; sne hot this prophet; do not petrify and harden thy conscience against these holy su,2gestions. Say hot with Ahab to the pr phet, Hast thou round me out, 0 naine enemy when an unrepented sin cornes to thy menmry then, be hot thou sorry that thou rememberest it then, nor do hot say, I would this sin had hot troubled me now, I would I had hot remembered k till t morrow; for in that action, first, in thesi, for the rule, thon a o Rom. il. 9.
s«. v.] os precher fo thyself, and thou hast thy tex eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnatio fo him»e": and then in kypothe»i, fbr the application fo the partieular ee, thou art a prophet fo thyself; thou that knowet in thyoelf what thou doest then, canst sny to thyself what thou s]lalt soEer af ter, if thou do ill. There are more elements in the nmking up of this man; many more. He waited, says his story; he gave God his leisure. Simeon had informed himself, out of Danicl and the other prophets, that the rime of the Messiah's coming was near; as Daniel had informed hinself out of Jeremiah and the other prophe, that the rime of the deliverance ti'om Babylon was near. Both waited patiently, and yet both prayed for the accelerating of that which they waited for; Dafiel tbr the deliverance, Simeon for the Epiphany. Those consist well enough, patiently to attend God's rime, and yet earnestly to sdicit the hastening of that time, for that rime is God's tine, to which out prayers bave brought God; as that price was God's price for Sodom, to which Abraham's solicitation brought God, and hOt the first fifty. That prophet, who says, lle uto him that strireth wit is 3laker", that is, that presses God betbre his rime, says also, tbr ail tha, Oh that thou wouldest rend te hearens, and corne down '. Vhen thou comest to this seal of thy peace, the Sacrament, pray that God will give thee that light, that may direct and establish thee in necemary and fnndamental things, that is, thc light of faith to sec that the body and blood of Christ is applied fo thee in that action; but for the manner how the body and bloed of Crist is there, wait his leisure, if he have hOt yet tnanifested that fo thee. Grieve not at that, wonder not af that, press not for that; for he bath hOt manitsd that, hOt the way, hOt the manner of his presence in the Srament to the church. A peremp prejudice upma other meu's opinious, that no opinion but thine can be tme in the doctrine of the Sacrament, and an uncharitable condcmning of other men, or other churches, that may be of another persuasion than thou art in the marrer of the Sacrament, may t?ustrate and disappoint thee of ail tlat benefit, which thou mightest bave by an humble eceiving thereof, if thou wouldest tt 1 COr, xi. 20. t Isaiah xv. 9. ta Isaiah xiv. 1.
70 eRr..wnE» os «mST,XS n x,'. [SE. V. exerclse thy l'aith only here, and ]eax'e thy passion ai home, and rel'er thy reason and disputation te the sehoo]. He,vaited, sa's the story, and he waited for the consolation oi" Israe]. If is net an appropria.ting of" hopes, or possessions oi" those hopes, te himself, but a charitable desirc of a communication of' this consolation upon all the Israel of God. Therefore is the Sacrament a communion therefore is the church, which is built of u.% BMlt of lirel,.t stones"; and in such buildings, as stones do, rnttsqui.«qtte l»ortat alterum, et loot'tatut ab alteroS; every stone is supportcd by another, and supports another. As thou -ouldest be well interpretcd bv otbers, interpret others well; and, as when thou comest to beau'en, the joy aud the glol'y of e-ery soul shall be thy glory an«l thy joy; so, whcn tbou comest to the porch of the triumphant church, the door of heaven, the communion table, desire that tllat joy which thou feelest in thy soul then, may then be eommunieated to e'erv communicant there. To this purpose, to testify his devotion to the communion of saints, Simeon came into the temple, says the story; to do a holy work in a holy place. Vhen we sav that God is no accepter of persons, we do hot mean but that they 'hich are within his eo'enant, and thcy that ha-e preser-ed the seals of his grace, are more acceptable to him than they whieh are hot, or ha,'e hot. Vllen we say that God is not tied to places, we must hot mean but that fod is otherwise present, and works otherwise in plaees conseerated to his service, than in every profane place. SVhen I pray in my ehamber, I build a temple there that hour; and that minute, when I cast out a prayer in the street, I build a temple there; and when mv.soul prays without auy voiee, my very body is then a temple; and God, who knows what I ara doing in these actions, erecting these temples, he cornes to them, and l,rospers, and blesses my devotions; and shall hOt I eome to his tenlple, where he is always resident. My chamber were no temple, my bod-were no temple, exeept God came to it; but -hether I corne hither or no, this 'ill be God's temple. I may lose by my absence; he gains nothing by my eoluing. He that bath a cause to be heard will hOt go to Smithfield, nor he that 1 Peter il. i. Gregor.
bath eale o buy or sell, o Vesminster. H« Im bath bar.. gin to make or:news tell, should not corne to do that at church; nor ha that bath prayers to make, walk in the fields for his devotions. If I bave a gret friend, though in cases of necessity, sicness or other restraints, he w]ll vouchsafe to visit me, yet I must make mr suits to him at home, at his own house. In case of necessity, Christ in tho Sacrament voichsafes to corne hone to me; and the court is where the king is, his blessings are with his ordinauces wheresoever; but the place to which ho hth invited me, is, his house. Ho that madc tho great supper lu thc Gospel called in ncw gucsts; but he seut out uo meat fo them who had heen iuvited, and might haro corne, and camo hot. Chamber prayers, single or with your thmily, chaud»er Selon 1-111o118 read over there, and Cllanbr SaerallCltS, administered in neeessity there, are blessed assistauts and supplements; they are as dru alms at the gare, but the tast is within; they are as a eoek of water without, but the eistern is within; habenti dabitur; he that bath a handthl of devotion at home, shall hnve his devotion multlplied to a gomer here, for when he is beeome n part ofthe congregafiou, he is joint tenant with them, nnd the dcvotion of all the congregation, and the blessings upon nll the congrega.tion, are his blessings, and his devotions. He came to n holy place, aud lin came by a holy motion, by the spirit, says his evidenee; widout holiuess no man shall sec God; not so well 5thout holiuess of the place; but hot there neither, if he trust only to the holiness of thc place, and bring no hollness with him. Between that feafful occasion of coming fo church, which St. Augustine confesses aud laments, tha they came to make wanton bargains with their eyes, and met there, because they couhl meet uo where else; and that more fearful occasion of coming, when they came only to elude the law, and proceeding in their treacherous and traltorous religion in their heart, and yet communicatiug with us, draw God himself into their conspiraeies, and to nmck us, make n mock of God, and his religion too; between flese two, this licentious coming, and this treacherous coming, there are many comings to ehureh; eomings for company, for obserratiou, for music; and all these indispositions are ill at prayers; there tlmy are unwholesome, but at the Sacrament deadly. He that brings any collateral respect to prayers, loses the benefit of the prayer of the eongrogation; and he that brings that to a sermon, loses the bleaing of God's ordinance in that sermon: he hears but the logie, or the rhetoric, or the ethie, or the poetry of the sermon, but the sermon of the sermon he hears not; but he that brings this disposition to the Saerament, ends not in the loss of a benefit, but he acquires and procures his own damnation. Ail that we eonsider in Simeon, and apply from Simeon, to a worthy receiver of the Sacrament, is. how he was fitted to depart in peace. Ail tbose pieces which we bave named, conduce fo that; but all those are colleeted into that one which remains yet, lïderunt ocdi, that his eyes had seen that salvation; for tlmt was the accomplishment and fidfilling of God's word; accordi»y to thy worcl. All that God had said should be done, was done; for, as it is said, ver. 26, it was revealed unto hinl by the Holy Ghost, that he should hot see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ; and now his eves had seen that salvatlon. Abraham saw this belote, but onlv with the eyc of faith, and yet rejoiced to see it so; he was glad even of that. Sinleon saw it before this time, then, when he was illustrated with that revelation he saw it, but only with the eye of hope of such hope Abraham had uo such ground, no paoEicular hope, no promise, that he should see the Messiah in his rime; Simeon had, and yet he waited, he attended God's leisure. But hope deferred maketh the heal-t sck ', says Solonlon; but when the desire eonles, it is a tree of life. His desire was corne, he saw his salvation. Perchance hOt 80, as St. Cyprian seems to take it, that till this rime Simeon was blind, and upon this prcsentation of Christ in the temple, came to his sight again, and so saw this salvation for I think no one author but St. C.q3rian says 80, that Simeoll was blind till now, and now restored to sight. And I may ease St. Cyprian too of that singularity, for it is enough and abundantly evident, that that book in which that is said (whieh is Altêrcatio Jasonls et papieci de.lIessia) cannot possibly be St. Cyprian's. But wlth his bodily eyes, open fo other objects before, he saw the Lord's salvation, and his salvation; the Lord's, as it came front the
Lord, and his, as it vas applicable to big. He saw it, according to bis word: tbat is, so far as God ad promised e sbould see it. e saw hot ow tat God, wic was in this child, and wbic was this cild, was the son of God. Tbe manner of that eternal generation e w hot. c saw hot hov tbis Son of God becanle man in virgin's womb, wbonl no man klmw; the manner of this incarnation he saw not, for this eternal generation and tbis miraculous incarnation fell hot witbin that secundtm zerb«m, according to thy word. God had prolnised Simeon notbing conceming those mysteries; but Christ«n Doniti, tbc Lord's snlvation, and his salvation, that is, the person who was all that (which was all that was within the word and the promise) Simeon sw, and saw with bodily eyes. Beloved, in the blessed, and glorious, and mysterious Sacrement of the body and blood of Christ Jesus, thou seest Ckrist«»z Do»zi,i, the Lord's salration, and tby salvation; and tht thus far with bodily eyes, That bread which thou seest after the consecrtion is hot the saine bread which was resented before; not that it is transubstntiated to another substanoe, for it is bread still, (which is tho heretical riddle of the Roman ehurch, and Satan's sophistry, to dishonour miraclcs by the assiduity, and frequeucy, and multiplicity of them,) but that it is severed, and ppropriated by God in that ordinance to another tme. It is other bread; so as a judge is another man upon the bench than he is at home in his own bouse. In the Roman church they multiply and extend miracles, till tbe miracle itself crack, and become none, but vanisb into nothing, as boys' bubbles, (wbich were but bubbles before at best,) by n overblowing become nothing; nay, they constitute such miracles as do not ouly destroy the nature of tbc miracle, but destroy hiln that sbould do that miracle, evcn God himself; for nothing proceeds farther to the destroying of God than to make God do contrary things, for contradictions hve falsehood, and so imply impotency and infirmity in God. There caunot be a deepcr atheism tbn to impute contradictions to God, neither doth any one thing so overcharge God with contradictions as the transubstantiation of the Roman churcb. There must be a body tbere, and yet nowhere; in no place, and yet in every place, where there is a consccration. The bread and the wine must nourish the body, nay the bread and the wine may poison a body, an,l yet there is no bread nor wine there. They multiply miracles, and -they give not over, till they make God unable to do a miracle, till they make him a contradictory, that is, an impotent God; and thereîore Luther inîers well, that since miracles are so easy and cheap, and obvions to them, as they bave induced a miraculous transubstantiation, they nJiht have donc well to bave procured ont miracle more, a trans-accidentation, that since the substance is changed, the accidents might have been ehanged too; and since there is no bread, there might be no dimensions, no colour, no nourishing, no other qualities of bread neither; for, these remaining, there is rather an annihilation of God, in making him no Goal by being a eontradictory God, than an annihilation of the bread, by making that which was fonnerly bread. God himself, by that way of transubstantiation. But yct though this bread be hot so transubstantiated, we refuso not the words of the fathers, in which they have expressed themselves in this mystery. Not Irenoeus's est corpus, that that bread is his bodv now; hot Tertullian's.tècit corpus, that that bread is ruade his body which vas hot so belote; hot St. Cyprian's mutatus, that that bread is changed; hOt Damasccn's supernaturaliter Itttt«s, that that, bread is hOt only changed so in the use, as when at the kiug's table certain portions of bread are ruade bread of cssay, t» pass over evcry dish, whether for safety or for majesty; not only so civilly changed, but changed supernaturally; no nor Theophylact's tranbrmatts est, (which seems to be the word that goes farthest of all,) for this traustbrming cannot be intended of the outvard form and fashion, for that is not changed; but be it of that internal form, which is the verv essence and nature of the bread, so it is transformed, _o the bread hath received a new fornl, a new essence, a lleV naturc because whereas the nature of bread is but to nourish the body, the nature of this bread now is nourish the soul; and therefore, Cure non dubitarit Dominus d;cere, Itoc est corlous meure, cure siffnum dater corlooris ', Since (Christ forbore not to say, This is my body, when he gave the sign of his body, why should we forbear to say of that bread, This is Christ's body, which is the Sacrament of his body. You would have sad, at noon, ths lght is tho sun, and you wll sy now ths lght the candle tht lght w hOt the Ull, ths lght s hOt the candle, but t s that portion of r wllich the sun did then, and whch the candle doth now, enlghten. We say the Sacramental bread is the body of Christ, because God bath shed lais ordinance upon it, and ruade it of another nature in the use, though not the substance. About six hundred years ago the Roman church ruade ]]erellarius swear,,ç'ensualiter taitur, agiter, teriter contus Christi, That the body of Christ was sensibly handled, aud broken, and chewed. They are ashamed of that now, and have mollified it with manv modifications; aud God knows whether, one hundred years hence, they will not be as much ashamed of their trauubstantiation, and seo as much unnatural absurdity in eir Trent canon or Laterau canon, as they do in Berengarius" oath. As they that deny the body of Christ fo be iu the Sacrament lose thcir footing in departing from their ground, the express Scriptures, so they that will asslgn a particular nlanncr how that body is there, bave no foeting, no ground at all, no Scriptnre to ancllor upon; and so, diving iu a b.)ttomless sea, they pop solnctimes above water to take breath, to appcar to sav somethiug, and then snatch at a ]oose proposition that swims upou the tk of the waters; and so the Roman church ha,l catchcd a traz, and others a co, and a stb, and an it, aud varied thcir poetry into a transubstantiation, and a consubstantlation, and thc rest, and rhymcd themselves beyond reason into absurdities and hercsics, and by a young figure of si»Hlit«r c««dets, they arc fallen alike into error, though the errors that they are fallcn into be hot of a like nature nor danger. $re oflr to go no fiu'thcr than according to his word; in the Sacrament our eves see his salvation, accordlng to that, so far as that hath manifested unto us, and in that light, we depart in peace, without scruple in out own, without oflnce to other nlell'S Conscieuces. tIavlng thus seen Simeon in these his dimensions, with thcse holy impressious, these blcsscd characters upon llim, first, (1,) a man in a reverend age, and thcn, (2,) in a holy flmction and calling, and with that, (3,) righteous in thc eyes of men, and withal, (4,) dcvout in the eyes of God, (5,) and ruade a prophet upon himself by the Holv Ghost, (60 still waiting God's time and his leisure, (7,)and in that dcsiring that his joy might be spread upon the whole Israel of God, (8,) frequenting holy places, the temple, (9.) and that upon holy motions, and there, (10,) seeing the salvation of thc Lord, that is, discerning the application of salvation in the ordinances of the church, (11,) and lastl.q contenting himself with so much therein as was according to his word, and hot inquiring farther than God had been pleased to reveal, and having reflected ail these several beams upon evcry worthy reeeirer of the Sacrament, the whole choir of such worthy reeeivers may join with Simcon in this antiphon, _ASmc dimittis, Lord ow lettest thou th!! serrat dpart in peace,,'c. St. Ambrose reads hot this place as we do, $Smc dimittis, but dimitte; hot, Lord, thou doest so, but, Lord, do so; and so he gives it the form of a prayer, and implies hot only a patience and a eontentedness, but a desire and an ambition that lac might die, at least sueh an indifferenev and equanimity as Israel had when he had seen Joseph: N'ow let lne die sinee I have seen thy faee; after he had seen his faee, the next face that he desired to see was the face of God. For howsoever there lnav be some disorder, some irregularity in St. Paul's,4nathema pro fi'atribus, that he desired to be separated ri'oto Christ rather than his brethren sllould, (that lnay searee be drawn into eonsequenee, or ruade a wish for us to ilnitate,) yet to St. Pad's Cupio dissolri, to an express and to a deliberate desire to be dissol'ed here, and to be united to Christ in heaven, (still with a prilnary relation to the glory of God, and a reservation of the will of God,) agodly, a reetified, and a well-disposed man may safely eome. And so, (I know hot npon what grounds,) Nieel,horus says Simeon did wish, and had his wish; he prayed that he might die, and aetually he did die then. ]N'either ean a man at any rime be fitter to make and obtain this wish, than when his eyes have seen his salvation in the Saerament. At least make this ail argument of your having been worthy reeeivers thereof, that)'ou are in wqttilibrio, in an evenness, in an indiffereney, in ail equanimity, whether ye die this night or no. For howsoever St. Ambrose seems to make it a direct prayer that he might die, he intends but sueh an s.R. v.] or," Tf. A'v'rv. 77 equanimity, sueh an indiflèreney: Quasi serru wn rit itoe obseqium, et quasi saiens luerum mortis amlectitur, says that father, Simeon is se good a servant, as that he is content te serre his old toaster still, in his old place, in this world, but yet he is se good a husband, too, as that he secs what a gainer he might be, if he mi«ht be inade ri'ce by death. If thou desire net death, (that is the case of very few, te de se in a rectified conscience, and without distemper,) if thou beest net equally disposed towards death, (that should be the case of ail, and yet we are fhr ri'oto condemning ail that are net corne te that equanimity,) yet if thou new fear death inordinately, I should fear that thine eyes have not seeu thy salvation to-day. Vho ean fear the darkne of death, that bath had the light of this world, and of the next, too who can fear death this night, that bath had the LoM of lire in his hand to-day [ It is a question of consternatiou, question that should strike him that shou]d answer it dumb, ( Christ's question, Amice, quomodo intrasti, Friend, ow cameat i». hiter? did him te whom that was said,) which Origen asks in this case, $Vhen vilt thou dare te go out of this vorld, if thou darest net go nov, when Christ Jesus hath taken thee by the hand te lead thee out [ This, then, is truly te depart in peace; by the gospel of peace, te the God of peace. My body is my prison, and I would be se obedient te the la,v, as net te break prison; I would net hasteu my death by starviug or nacerating this body; but if this prison be burnt down by continual fevers, or blo down with coutinual vapeurs, would uny man be se in love with that ground upon which that prison stood, as te desire rather te stay there than te go home $ Our prisons are fallen, our bodies are dead te mauy former uses; our palate dead in tastelessness; our stomach dead in an indigestibleness; our feet dead iu a lameness, and our invention in a dulness, and o memory in a forgetfulness; and yet, as a man that should love the ground where his prison stood, we love this clay, that vas a body in the days of out youth, and but out prison then, when it vas at best; we abhor the graves of our bodies; and the body, which, in the best vigour thereof, was but the grave of the seul, we over-love. Pharaoh's butler ' and his baker went both out of prison in a day, and in both cases Joseph, in the interpretation of thcir dreams, calls that (their ver)" discharge out of prison,) a lifting up of their heads, a kind of preferment. Death raises every man alike, so far as that it delivers every man frotn his prison, fro, n the incumbrances of this body; both baker and butler were delis'ered of their prison, but they passed into dis-ets states after, one to the restitution of his place, the other to an igno,ninious execution. Of thy prison thon shalt be delivered whether thon wilt or no; thon must die: Fool, this night thy soul mav be taken from thee, and then, what thon shalt be to-morrow, prophesy upon thysclf, hy that which thon hast donc to-day. If thon didst depart from that table in peace, thon canst depart from this world in pcace. And thc peace of that table is, to corne to it in ]oace desiderii, with a contented mind, and with an enjoying of those temporal blessings which thon hast, without maeerating thyself, without usurping upon others, without nmrmuring at God; and to be at that table, fit ]oace co.oitationis, in the peace of the church, without the spirit of contradiction or inquisition, without uneharitableness towards others, without curiosity in thyself. And then to corne from that table in pace domêstica, with a bosom peace in thine own conscience in that seal of thy reconciliation, in that Sacrament; that so, riding at that anchor, and in that ealm, whether God enlarge thv voyage by enlarging thv lire, or put thee into the harbour, by the breath, by the breathlessness of death, either way, east or west, thon mayest depart in peace according to Iris word, that is, as he shall be pleased to lnanifest his 1,1easure upon thee.