cwlis, To the perfect fruition of the siht of God in heaven; yet the mot useful, snd best followed scceptation is, this dy of the coming of the I-Ioly Ghost. Tat Jay we ce|ebrte this day; and we cn never find the Christian church (so far as we can judge by the evidence of story) to bave been without this festival day. The reason of ail festi-als in the church, was, and is, 2Ve volumie temporum, ingrata subrel, at oblirio", Lest after many ages involved, and wrapped up in one another, God's particular benefits should be involved, and wrapped up in unthankfulness. And the benefits received this day, were such, as should never be forgotten: for, without this day, ail the test had been evacuated, and ineffeetual: if the apostles by the coming of the Holy Ghost had not been established in an infallibility in themselves, and in an ability, to deal with ail nations, by the benefit of tongue, the benefit of Crist's passion had not been derived upon ail nations. And therefore, to this day, and to JEaster day, ail publie baptisms, in the Primitive church, were reserved; none were baptized (except in cases of necessity)but upon one of these two days: for, as there is an exaltation, a resurrection given us in baptisa, represented bv Easter; so there belongs to us a confirmation, an establishing of grace, and the increase thereoï, represented in Pentecost, in the coming of the Holy Ghost. As the,lews had an Easter, in the memory of their deliverance ïrom Egypt, and a Pentecost in the memo T of the law given at Mount Sinai; so at Easter we celebrate the memory of that glorious passover when Christ passed from the grave, and hell, in his resurreetion, and at this feast of Penecost we celebrate his giving of the law fo ail nations, and his investing and possessing himself of his kingdom, the church: for this is Fest««m adolotionis, as St. Chrysostom calls it, The eheerful feast of out adoption, in which, the Holy Ghost con-eying the Son of God to us, enables us to be the sons of God, and to cry, Abba, Father. This then is that day, when the apostles being with oe accord, adin onelolace ', (that is, in one fitith, and in one profession oïthat ïaith, not only without heresy, but without schism too) the Holg Ghost as a mighty wbd, filled tem all, and gave t]em utterace; Augustine. Acts iL as. cind, to note a powerful working; and he fllled them, to note the abundance; and ha Rave ttem utteran¢e, fo infer that which we spoke of belote, the communication of that knowledgo, which they had received, to others. This wa that Spirit, whom it concerned the apostles so much to bave, as that Christ himself must go from them, fo send him to them; Iflgo hot away, says Christ, te Comforter «cill hot corne to |you. How great a comfort must this necessarily be, which must so abundantly recoinpense the loss of" such comfort, as the presence of" Christ was. This is that Spirit, who though he were tobe sent by the Father, and sent by the Son, yet he cornes hOt as a messenger from a superior, for he was always equal to Father and Son: but the Father sent him, and the Son sent him, as a tree sends forth b]ossoms, and as those blossoms send forth a sweet smell, and as the sun sends forth beams, by an emanation from itself; He is,çpiritus quem emo {nterprdari potest, says St. Chrysostom; He bath him hot, that doth hot see he bath him, nor is any man vithout him, who, in a rectified conscience, thinks he bath him: Illo prhetw illu, trantur, illo idlotw condiuntur, says the saine father, The prophets, as high as their calling was, saw nothing without the Spirit, and with this Spirit, a simple man understands the prophets. And therefore doth St. Basil attribute that to the Holy Ghost, which seems tobe peculiar to the Son he calls him Verbum Dal, because, says he,,.'liritus inter]res Filii, dcu Filius Patris, As the Son hath revealed to us the will of the Father, and sois the word of God to us, sothe Holy Ghost applies the promises, and the merits of the Son to us, and sois the word of God to us too, and enables us to corne to God, in that voice of his blessed servant, St. Augustine, 0 1)eus, secretisdrne, et pate:tissime, Though nothing be more mysterious than the knowledge of God in the Trinity, yet nothing is more manifest unto us, than, by the light ofthis person, the Holy Ghost, so much of both the other persons, as is necessary for out salvation, is. Now it is hot only to the apostles that the Holy Ghost is descended this day, but, as St. Chrysostom says of the annunciation, 2Von ad am tenture a»inmrn, It is hot only to one person, that the angel said then, Tlw Holy Gkost shall corne pon tlee, ad orer, hadow tee, but says he, that Holy Ghost bath said, I rill pour out myself «ll men , so I say of this day, this day, if you be ail in this place, (concentred, united here in one faith, and one religion) if you be of one accord, (that is, in perfect charity) the Holy Ghost sha fill you ail (according to your measure, and his purçose) and give you utterance, in your lires and convemations. Qtti ira çacat oratioibus, ut di9nts.fiat illo ekementi,Siritu, semler kabet diem P nteet: He that lo'es the exereise of prayer so earnestly, as that ill prayer lle feels this vehemence of the Holy Ghost, that man dwel]s in an ever]asting Vhitsunday: for so he does, he hath it always, that ever had it aright: Odit eoa Deux, 9«i uuam puta«t diem, festum Domiui, God hates that lan, says Origen alw, that eelebrates any holyday of his but one day: that never thinks of the incarnation of Christ but upon Christmas day, nor upon his passion, and resurrection, but upon Easter, and Good Friday. If you deal so with your souls, as with your bo&es, and as you elothe yourselves with your best habits to-day, but return again to yom" ordinary apparel tnlorrow: so for this day, or this hour, you divest the thought of your sius, but retm'n ater to your vomir, you hve hOt eelebrated this day of Penteeost; you have not bn truly in this place, for your hearts bave been visiting your profits, or pleases; you have hot been llere with one aeeord, you have not truly and sineel'ely joined with the eoninlunion of saints; Christ hath sent no eonlfoer to you this day, neither will he send any, till you be better prepared for hinl. But if you haro brought your sins hither in your menlory, and leave thelll llere in the blood of your Savioul', always flowing in his ehul'eh, and ready to reeeive them, if you be eome to that heavenly knowledge, that there is no eonlfort but in hiln, and in him abundant consolation, then you are this day capable of th great legaey, this knowledge, whieh is all the Christian reli#on, That Christ in in the Fatker, and you i him, aud he it you. We are now eome to our third part, Onr portion in this legaey, the nleasure of the knowledge of these mysteries, whieh we are to reeeive: of whieh, St. Chrysostom says well,,S2ietiw maynum açumetttum et, uolle omnia scire, It is a good arment, that that mu knows mtxeh, who desires hot to know ail; in pur- Joel Ofin.
SER. XKVn|.] PIEAC||ED ON NV||ITS|'NDAro 563 suing true knowledge, he is gone a good way, that knows where to give over. Vhen that eat Manichean Felix would needs prove to St. Angustine, that Manes t-as the Ho]y Ghost, because it was said that the Holy Ghost shonld teach ail trnths, and that Manes did so, because he taught many things that they wero ignorant of beibre, concerning the fame, and motion, and nature of the heavens, and their stars, St. Augustine answered, 'piritus,anct«s facit Christiano», ntm mathematico», The Holy Ghost makes us Christians, net mathematieians. If any man think, by having his station at court, that it la enough for him te bave studied that one book, and that if in that book, the knowledge of the court, he be corne to an apprehension, by what means and persons businesses are likeliest to be carried, if he by his foresight have provided perspective glasses, to see objects afar off, and can make almanacs tbr next year, and tel] hot" matters wiil fall out then, and think that o he bath received his portion, as much knowledge as he needs, A_'pirit«,'anctus facit Clristianos, non politicos, he must remember that the Holy Ghost makes Christians, and hot politicians. So if a man bave a good foundation of a fortune tom his parents, and think that al] his study must be, to proceed in that, aud still to add a cipher more to accounts, to make tens, hundreds, and hundreds, thousands, Spiritus Sanctus facit Christianos, non arithmeticos, the Holy Ghost makes Christians, and net such arithmeticians. If men who desire change in rdigion, and yet think it great wisdom, te disguise that desire, and te temporize, lest. they should be maAe less able te effect their purposes, if they should munifest themselves; but yet hope te see that transmutation of religion, frein that eopper, whieh they esteem ours te be, te that gold, whieh (perehanee for the venality thereof) they esteem theirs: if others, t'ho are also working in the fire, (though net in the tire of envy and of powder, yet in the tire of an indisereet zeal, and though they pretend net te change the substance of the metal, the body of out religion, yet they labour te blow away mueh of the eere mony, and eircumsanees, whieh are rehlcula, and adrainicula, if net habitacula reliffionis, they are, though net the very fuel, yet the bellows of religion) if these men, I say, of either kind, they who call.11 difiring frein themselves, errer, and all errer 0.02
56 PIEACI|ED ON VHITSUND&o [SER° XXVIII. damnable or they, who, as Tertullian expresses their humour, and indiosition proçhetica]]y Ibw, sipliciatem, Which call the alishing and extermination of ail disciçline and ceremony, purcness and holiness; if they think they bave received their çoion of this legacy, their sure of true knowledge, in lbourin only to cuse, nd reform, and refine others,,irit Sanctus wit Cristian, non chymies, the Holy Ghost makes men Christians, and not alehymists. To eontract this, if a man know ways enow to disioe ail his sns, if no exchequer ke hold of his usmqous eontracts, no high commission of his lieentiousness, no sr-ehamber of his misdemeanors, if he wi not fo sleep, till he van hold up his eyes no longer, for fear his sins should meet him in his bed, and vex his conscience there, if he will not corne to the saerament, but at that time of the year, when laws eompel him, or good company invite him, or other civil respts and reaoens provoke him, if he have avoidances, to hide his sins fi'om others, and fmm himself too, by ch disises, this is ail but decetio risns, a blinding of his own internal eyes, and,çpirtns,Snct.facit Christian, non circulatores, the Hdy Ghost makes men Chri tians, and hOt jugglers. This knowledge then xvhich xve speak of, is to know the end and the way, heavell and Christ, the kingdom fo which lle is gone, and the means which he hath taught us to follow. Noxv, in ail our xvays, in ail out journeys, a moderate pave brings a man most surely to his journey's end, and so doth a sober knowledge in matters of divinity, and in the mysteries of religion. And therefore the fathers say, that this eonling of file Hdy Ghost upon the apostles, this day, though it were a vehement eoming, did hot give them ail kind of knowledge, a knowledge of partieular arts, and sciences; but he gave them knowledge enough for their preoent work, and withal a faithfd confidence, that if at any time, they shodd have to do with learned heathens, with philphers, the Holy Gho xvould either instantly furnish them, with sueh knoxvledge, in many relations in the eeelesitieal story, that men spoke upon the sudden, in divers ees, otherwise, than in any reaoen their educatioR eould promise or afford)or ehe he would blunt the
SEIo XXVIII.] /REACHED ON' WHITS[3NDAYo 565 sharpness of the adversaries" weapons, and cast a damp upon their understandings, as we see he did in the Council of Nice, when ai'ter many disputations, amongst the great men oir great estimation, the weakest man in the council rose up, and he, of whom his own party were ai'raid, lest his discourse should disaAvantage the cause, overthrew, and converted, that great advocate, and deirender oir Arius, whom ail the test could never hake; for though this man said no more than other men had said, yet God at this time disposed the understanding, and the abilities of the adversaries, otherwise than belote; sometimes God will bave glory, in arming his fi'iends, sometimes in disarming his enemies, sometimes in exalting our abilities, and sometimes in evacuating or enfeebling theirs..And so, as the aposles were, as many of us, as celebrate this da)', as they did, are filled with te Ho( Gko«t, that is, with so much knowledge, as is necessary to God's purpose in us. Enough for ourselves, if we be private men, and enough tbr others, if we bave charge of others: private men shail bave knowledge enough where to seek for more, and the priest shall bave enough to communicate his knowledge to others..And though this knowledge were delivered to the apostles, as from a print, from a stamp, ail at once, and to us, but as by writing, letter after letter, syllable ater s)'llable, by catechisms, and serinons, yet both are such knowledges, as are sucient for each. As the glory of heaven shall fall upon us all, and though, we be hot all of equal measure and capacity, yet we shall be equaily full of that glory; sothe way to thut glory, this knowledge, shall be manifest to us ail, and infallible to us ail, though we do hOt ail know alike; the simplest soul thut hears me, shall know the way of his salvation, as well as the greatest of those fathers, whom he hears me cite and upon us ail (so disposed) the Holy Ghost shall fall, as he did here, infire, and in toytes; in tire, to inflame us in a religious zeal, and in tongues, to utter that in confession, and in profession, that is, to glorify God, both in out words and actions. This then is out portion in this legucy, a sober seeking after those points of knowledge which are necessary for out salvation, and these, in this text, Christ derived into these three, That I ara i my Fatker, Tha$?/ou are in e, That I ara in you.
566 PREACHED ON 'HITSINDAYo [ER. XXVIIIo The rst of these is the lnowled,e of distinction of persons, and so of the Trinity. Principal« mz«n sciertw est, c.qnoscer Tritatern, saith Origen: The principal use and olce of my llnowledge, is to lnov the Trinity: for, to know an unity in the Godhead, that there is bt one God, natural reason serres our turn: and to know a creation of the world of nothingi reason serres ris too; we know by reason, that either neither of them is infinite, if there be two Gods, (and then neither of them can be God) or if both be infinite, which is an impossibility, one of them is superfluous, becanse whatsoever is infinite, can alone extend to ail. So also we can collect infallibly, that if the world were hot made of nothing, yet that of which the world shall be pretended to have been made of, rnust bave been ruade of nothing, or else it must be something eternal, and uncreated; and whatsoever is so, must necessarily be God itself. To be sure of those two, an unity in the Godhead, and a creation of the world, I need no Scriptures; but to know this distinction of persons, that the Son is in the Father, I need the Scriptures, and I need more than the Scriptures, I need this Pentecost, this coming, this illustration of the Holy Ghost, to inspire a right understanding of these Scriptures into me. For, if this knowledge might be had without Scriptures, why should hot the heathen believe the Trinity, as we]] as I, since they lack no natural faculties xvhich Christians bave. And if the Scriptures themselves, without the operation of the Ho]y Ghost, should bring this clearness, why should hOt the Jews and the Arians conform themselves to this doctrine of the Trinity, as well as I, since they accept those Scriptures, out of which I prove the Trinity to mine own conscience. Ve must then attend his working in us; we must hot admit such a vexation of spirit, as either to vex out spirit, or the spirit of God, by inquiring farther than he bath been pleased to reveal. If you consider that Christ says here, You slall ilnow tlat I ara in te Ièater, and doth hOt say, You slali oenoto lurw I ara in te Father, and this to his apostles themselves, and to the apostles after they were to be fil]ed with the Holy Ghost, which should teach them ail truth, it will cut off many perplexing questions, and impertinent answers g'hich bave been produced for the expressing of the manner of this generation, and of the distinction of the peroens in the Trinity; you shall know that it is, you shM1 hot sk how it is. Itis enouh for happy subject to enjoy the sweetness of peaceble govermet, though he know hOt rca Imp«ii, Te wys by whic the pnce goves sois it for Chriin fo enjoy tire working E God's gmce, in faithful b ]ieving the mysteries of religion, thouh he inquire hot into God's bed-ctmmber, nor seek into his unreveled deces. Itis OJios« e exitialls vocul«, Quomodo, says Luther, A hateful, dmnahlo monosyable, How, how God doth this or that: for if a man como to the boldne of proposing eh a question to himself, ho will hot givo over till ho find mo aner: and then others wilI hot be content with his answer, but every man will bave a veral one. When the church fell upon the Quodo in the sacrement, How, in what nmnner the dy of Christ w there, we see what an inconvenient answer it fell upon, that it ws done by transu stantiation tht satied hot, (as thero w no on it should) and then they fell upon others, it, sut,, and cm, and none eould, noue ean give satisfaction. And also have out rimes, by asing Quomodo, How Christ descended into hell, produeed so many answers, that sonm haro thought it no aiele t all, me havo thought tht it is all one thing to hve deseended into hell, and to havo aseended into heaven, and that it amounts to no more, than depaing into tho state of the dead. But,'ereate depositutu, Mke mueh of that knowledye which tho Holy Ghost hth trusted you withal, and believe the test. o man knows how his soul came in him; whether by infusion from God, or by a generation from parents, no man knows , but that strong arguments will be pmduced on the other side; and yet no man doubts but he hath a soul. No man knows so, s that stng argumen may not bo buht on the other side, how ho sees, whether by reeeption of speeies from without, or by emission of beams from thin; and yet no man doubts whether ho sec or no. The HoIy Ght shH tell you, when he tells you tho mo that ever ho shaH tell you, in that behaIf, tht the Son is in the Father, but he will hot teE you how. Out second poion in this legacy of knowledge, is, That we ar¢ ia 6'hrit; and this is the mystery of the incarnatiou. For since the devil had so surçrised us a, to take mannd a in one lp, in a coer, in Adam's loins, and poisoned us ail there in the founin, in the root, Christ, to deliver as entirely, took ail mankin upon m, an so took every one of us, n the nature, an the inmitie and the sins, an the punishment of every singer n. So tht te me pretence whic the devil hth ait every one dE us, you are mine, for you sinned in Aam, we hve lso for out discharge, we e deliveoed, for we paid out deÇt in Christ Je. In all his tentations, send him to loek upon the oecos of that çroee of Christ's çsion, and he shall find theoe, the names dE ail the fai&f recorded: that such a day, that day when fist died, I, and you, and all that shll be v suffered, died, and were crucified, and in Cist Jesus satied God the Father, for those infinite sins which we had committed: and now, sond d, which is mnation, bath no more title to any of the tme members of his myic body, than corruption upon natal, or violent death, could hve upon the membe of his natural body. The surance of this ows from the third pa of this knowlge, Tat Crit is in s; for that is such a knowledge of Christ's geneml redemption of mankind, as that it is ao an appcation of it to us in paicar. For, for his incarnation, by which we are in him, that may have ven a diity to out bureau natu; but Quw beficiorm 5nit«do fuie er5a o, i o- inem olu»do, 9uem aumseat, alard'? What eat benefit owever the diity had been eat to all mankind) h mankind h, if Cist had ved no more than tt one peon whom he sumed [ The largeness and boty of Ct is, to We us of his best treasure, knowledge, and to We us moet at la to know Chri in me. For, to know that he is in his Father, this may serve me to convince another, that deniea the Tfinity; to know tht we are in Christ, so that he took our natuoe, this may show me an honour donc to us, more than the ange; but what gets a lame xxTetch at the poel, how soverei eever the water be, if no body pro him in What gets a naked beggar by ong that a de man bath left nmch to pious uses, if the executor« take no kncwlede o him Wat et I by my knoledge o Christ in the Father, and o us in Chrt so if find net Christ in me Ho then is Christ in ere the queio De moo, it is, is lawful: for he ath revealed it tous. It is, by out obe- ence tois inspiration, and by or oeverent use o tose visiblc means, which he hath odained in his ehureh, his wod and sraments: as our flesh is in him, by his paicipation thereof, so his flesh is in us, by our communication therf; and so is his divinity in us, by making us paakers of his divine nature, and by making us one spirit with himself, which he doth at this Pentecost, that is, vhensoever the Holy Ghoet sits us with his eflèctual grace: for this is an union, in which, Christ in his purpose bath marfied himself to oto souls,, insepoeably, and olutione i.ncdi, Without any intention of divorce on his pa: but if ve vill separate him à nwnsa et toro, If either we take the bed of licentiousnem, or the oed of voluptuousness, or if when we eat or drink, or sleep or wake, ve do hot a to the glory of God, if we separate, he will divorce. If then ve be thus come to this knowledge, let us make eientia eocientiam, Enlarge science into conscience: for, Conscientia est sylloyismus practicus, Conience is a syllogism that cornes to a conclusion; then only hath man truc knowledge, when he tan conclude in his own conscience, that his practiee, and conversation hath expoessed it. Who will believe that we know there is a ditch, and know the danger of falling into it, and dwning in it, if he sec us run hong towards it, d fart into it, and continue in it Who tan believe, that he that separates himself from Christ, by continug in his sin, bath any knowledge, or sense, or evidenee, or testimony of Christ's being in him As Christ proeeeds by enlarging thy knowledge, and maMng thee wiser and wiser, so enlrge thy testimony of it, by ng better and better, and let him that is holy, be more hdy. If thou have psed over the first heats of the day, the wantonneses of youfl, and the second heat, the tire of anabition, if the be quenched in thee, by pmventing aee, or by oepenting aee, be more and more lloly, tbr thine age will meet another sin of eovetousne, or of indevotion, tt needs as much resistanee. God smid not in
570 PagAcu o wmusv. Issu. xxvm. any less degree ofknow]edo towards thee, than in brining himself" to theo; do hOt thou sty by th« way neither hOt in consideration of Goal ajonc, for that oel arr«, al] creaure dcclare it; stay not at the Trinity; every conng to church, nay thy first being brought to church, at thy haptism, is, and was profession of that; stay hot at the incarnation; that the devi] knows, and testifies: but corne to know that Christ is in thee, and express that knowledge in a sanctified life: for though he bo in us all, in the work of his redemption, so as that he bath poured out balm enough in his blood, to spread over all mankind, yet only he can enjoy the cheerfulness of this unction, and the separab]eness of this union, who, (as St. Augustine pursues contemplation) I[abe$ in memoria, e serra$ in rira, who always remembers that ho stands in the presenee of Christ, and behares himself worthy of that glorious presenee; Qui labet in «ermonibus, et servat in vperibus, That hath Christ always at his tongue's end, and always at his fingers" ends, that loves to diseourse of him, and to aet his discourses; Qui habet aJiendo, e serrat faeiendo, That hears Godes will here in his bouse, and does his will at home in his own bouse; Qui habet.?àciendo, et servat persererando, who having done well from the benning, perseveres in well doing to the end, he, and ho only shaii fmd Christ in him.
SERMON XXIX. PREACHED,dT ST. P,4UL'S UPON IVHITSUND,4]Ç 1629. Gr.r.sls. i. 2. And the pirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. - THé. church of God celebrates this day the third person of the holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is the God, the spirit of comfort; a comtbrter; hot one amongst others, but the Comforter; hot the principal, but the entire, th on]y omforer; nd more thon all -tht, the coml'or tseff. Tht s n attribute oi" the Ho]y Ghost, coml'ort and then the office of the Holy Ghost is to gather, to establish, to illumine, fo govern that church which the Son of God, from whom together with the Father. the Holy Ghost proceeds, hath purchased with his blood. So that, as the Holy Ghost is the Comforter, sois this comtbrt exhibited by him fo us, and exercised by him upon us, in this especially, that he bath gathered us, established us, illullfined us, and does govern us, as members of that body, of which Christ Jesus is the head; that he bath brought us, and bred us, and îed us with the means o|" sah-ation, in his application of the merits of Christ to our souls, in the ordinances of the church. In this text is the first mention of this third person of the Trinity; and it is the first mention of any distinct person in the Godhead; in the first verse, there is an intimation of the Trinity, in that Bara Elohim, that (iods, Gods in the plural are said to have ruade heaven, and earth; and then, as the church ater having celebrated the memory of ail saints, together in that" ont day, which we call AH 8ailts'-da., beus in the celebratiou of particular saints, first with St. Andrew, who first of any applied himself to Christ out of St. John Baptisçs school ater Christ's baptism; so Moses havig given us an intimation of God, and the three persons altogether in that Bara EloMm, before, gives us first notice of tlfis person, the Holy Ghost, in particular, because he applies to us the mercies of the Father, and the merits of the Son, and moves upon the face " the waters, and actuates, and fecundates our souls, and generates that knowledge, and that comfort, which we have in the knowledge of God. Now the movinj of the Itoly Ghost upon the face of" the waters in this text, cannot be literally understood of his working upon man; for man was hot yet made; but when man is ruade, that is, ruade the man of God in Christ; there, in that new creation, the Holy Ghost begins again, with a new moving upon the face of the waters in the Sacrament of Baptism, which is the conception of a Christian in the womb of the church. Therefore we shall consider those words, Ad the,S'pirit of God moved UlaOn the.fac# o.f'the waters; first, literaily in the first, and then spiritually in the second creation; first how the Holy Ghost moved upon the face of the waters in making this world for us, and then how he moves upon the face of the waters again, in making us for the other world. In which two several parts we shall consider these three terres in our text, both in the macrocosm, and microco»m, the great and the lesser world, man extended in the world, and the world contracted, and abridged into man; first, Quid 'piritus Dei? what this power, or this person, which is here called ttw,_'pirit of God, is, for whether it be a power, or a person, hath been diversely disputed; and secondly, batur? what this action, which is here called a modny, wa; for whether a motion, or a test, an agitation, or an incubation, of that power, or that person, hath been disputed too and lastly, Q«id,uperfaciem aquarum? what the subjeet of this action, face of te cater,, was; for, whether it were a stirring, and an awakening of a power that was naturally in those waters, to produee creatures, or whether it were an infuiing a new power, whieh till then those waters had hOt, bath likewise been disputed. And in these three, the person, the action, the subject, eonsidered tee over, in the ereation first, and in our regeneration in the Cristian ehur«h after, we shall determine all that is necessary tr the literal, and for the spiritual sense of these words, And te,']irit of God moed upon te face of te waters. Fir then, undertaking the consideration of the literal sense, and after, of the spiritual, we join with St. Augustine',,S'int castw deliciw mecv,çcriyttrw ttw; Lord I love to be conversant in thy Scriptures, let my conversation with thy Scriptures be a chaste conversation; that I discover no nakedness therein; oflèr hOt to touch anything in thy Scriptures, but that, that thou hast vouchsafed to unmask, and manifest unto me: 2,"e fallar in eis, nec, fallam ex eis; Lord, let hot me mistake the meaning of thy Scriptures, nor mislead others, by imputing a false sense fo them. *onjîrustra scribtntur, says he', Lord, thou hast a'it nothing to no purpose; thou wouldst be understood in all: but hot in ail, by ail mon, at all times; Cofiteor tibi quicquid invenero in libris tuis; Lord, I acknowledge that I receive from thee, whatsoever I underand in thy word; for else I do hot understand it. This that blessed father meditates upon the word of God; he speaks sa. xxx.] ,acun o wmsc.,».,573 of this beginning of the boe of Genesis; and he sprats lamenting,,%ripsi oses e abi#, a litfle Moses bath said, and alas he is gone; »S'i M were here, 1 would hold hm here, and beg of him, for thy sae to tell me hy meaning in his words, of this creation. But says he, since I cannot eak with Moses Te, çuo plenus era dixit, verltas, 'çqo, I beg of thee who a truth itself, thou enabledt him to utter it, enable me to understand what he bath said. So dicult a thing seemed it to tht intelligent Father, understand this history, this mystery of the cretion. But yet though he round, tht divers senses offered themselves, he did hot doubt of finding the truth: for, Deus ooeulto, says he, 0 my God, the light of mine eyes, in this dark inquisition, since diverse senoes, arise out of the words, and all true, Quid mili obest, si aliud ¢o sensero, 9uam sensit alius, eum seisse, qui scripsit? Vhat hu follows, though I follow other sense, than some other mn takes to be Moses' oense[ for his my be a true sense, and so may mine, and neither be Moses'. He passes fm prayer, and protestation, to counsel, and dir- tion; I» diversitate senntiartm erarum, ncordiam pariat ipsa «eritas, Where diverse senses arise, and a true, (that is, that none of them oppose the tlth) let truth agree them. But what is truth$ God and what is God Charity therefore let charity reconcilo auch differences. Legitimè he, let us uao the law lawfully; let us use out liberty of reading Scriptures according to the law of Ebey that is, chitably to leave others to their libey, if they but differ from us, and hot differ fmm fundamental truths. 'i quls quwrat ez e, çuid horum 3[oses senserit, If any man ask me, which of these, which may be ail true, Mes meant, mz sunt sermones isti confessions, Lo, ys he, tt this I is not id by way of confession, as I intend it should, if I do hot freely confess, tlmt I OEnnot tell, which Moes meant; but yet I can tell, that this that I take to be his meaning is true; and that is enough. Let him that finds a true sense of any place, rejoice in it, let him that does hOt beg it of thee, Ut çuid mii olestus est? Why should any man press me, to give him the true sense of Moses here, or of the Holy Ghost, in auy dark place of Scripture Eyo illumin llum kin, ietem in mdum f ys he"; Is that said of me, that I ara the light, that enlightened every man', any man, that cornes into this world Se far I go, says he, se far wiH we, in his mMesty and huity company him, mill te propose, çuod lue eritatis, qd fruç,ttilitatis «zcellit, such a sense as aees with other truths, that are evident in other places of Scripture, and such a sense may conduce most te edification. For te those two, does that heavenly Father reduce the four elements, that make up a right exposition of Scripture; 'hich are, fit, the glory of God, such a sense may moet advance it; secondly, the analogy of faith, such a sense as may violate no confessed article of religion; and thirdly, exaltatio] of devotion, such a sense, as may car] T us most powerfully upou the apprehension of the next life; and lastly, extension of charity, such a sense, as may best hold us in peace, or reconcile us, if we differ frein one another. And within these limits we shall contain ourselves, The glory of God, the analogy of faith, the exaltation of devotion, the extension of charity. In ail the test, that belongs te the explication or application, te the literal, or spirituM sense of these words, Ad te,Sirit OE God tpon teface " te u'at«s, te which having stopd a little upon this general consideration, the exposition of dark places, we pass IIO'. Vithin these rul we proce fo inquire, who this »Sirit God i or what if is; whether a power, or a pern. The Jews who are fraid of the truth, le they shod meet exdences of the doctrine of the Trinity, and so of the Meias, the Son of God, if they should adroit any spiritual sense, adroit none, but eleave so close to the ]ter, as that fo them the Scripture beeomes Zitera oideu«, killin9 leer, and tke «aour of death death. They therefore, in this »Sirit God, are so far from admitting any rson, that is, God, as they adroit no extraordiny operation, or virtue proeeeding from G in this place; but they take the word here (as in many other places of Seripture does) fo iify only a wird, and then tt that dition of the naine of God (the »5irit of GOE) which is in their langage denotation of a vehemeney, of a high degree, of a superlative, Aug. CooE. i. . IO. $o i. 9.
SER. XXIX.] PRACHED ON HITSUND..yo 575 when it is said of Saul, 'oor Domin, A »1 of GoJ w uçon him, it is intended of deç, a dead sleeç) enforces, induces no more but tht very strong wind blew upon the face of the waters, so lu a great prt dried them uç. And this opinion I should let fly away with the wind, if only the Jews had said it. But Theodoret hth said it too, anoE theretbre we »rd it so much answer, That it is a strange anticipation, tht wid, which is mixed mvteor, m the making hereof divee oecasions concur wih exhalations, should be thus imagined, before any of these cus of winds were crted, or pduced, and tiret there should be an effect before a ca, is somewhat irrear. In Lapland, the witches are id m sell win to ail pengem; but that is but turn those win that nature does produce, which way they will; but in our co, the Jews, and they that follow them, dream winds, befom any nds, or came of winds was created; The,birit " God he cannot be the wid. It cannot be that neither, which some eat men in the Christian church bave imagined it to be; OTeratio Dei, The Tower OE God workig upou the waters, (so some) or, Ecietia Dei, A power by God izÇsed into the waters; so others. And to that St. Augustine cornes so nr, to say once in the negative, 5irits Dei h/e, res Dei est, sed non ie Deus est, The Spirit of God in this place is something proceeding from God, but it is hot God himself; and once in the armative, Posse se ritalem creaturam, q«w uzize's«s mud«s moret«r; That this Spirit of God may be that univerl power, which sustains, and inanimates the whole world, which the Planics bave cMled th sod OE u'orld, and othem intend by the naine of Nat«re, and we do we, if we caH the Proridence " God. But them is more of God, in this action, than the instrument of God, %t«re, or the viceroy of God, Provide»zce; for as the person of God, the Son, w in the incarnation, so the person of God, the Holy Ghost, xv in this action; though far from tt manner of becoming one and the saine thing with the waters, which was done in the incarnation of Christ, who became therein perfect man. That this word the,ç)irit " God, is intended of te persoa " te Holy G'hg«t, in other places of Scripture, evident, undeniable, unquestionable, and that therefore it may be so taken here. Where it is said, T]«,çpirit of Goc shall 'et upon Mm', (upon the Messiah) where it is said by himself, Th« Lord and ]is,çpirit /s pon me, and, the Lord an4 ]is 5'iri anoited me, there it is certainlyi and therefore here it may be probab|y spoken of the Holy Gho» personally. It is no impossible sense, it implies no contr3diction it is no inconvenient sense, it offends no other article; it is no new sense; ner can we any time, when it was new sense: the eldest fathers adhere te iti as the ancientest interpretation. St. Basi! sys net onl'y, Constantssimè asseveradu» est, We must constantly mainta]n that interpretation, (for all that miht le his own opinion) net only therefore, Quia eriu» st, (for that might be, but because he round it te be he common opinion of those rimes)lut Quia ajoribu ostris (pprobat«m, because it is accepted for the trie sense, lv the ancients; the ancients sys that ancient father Basil; which reason prevails upon St. Ambrose too, ,%s «ctor«m, et.fldelium sentntia «onyruetes, We believe and lieve it because the ancients believed it te le so, that this is spo]en generally of the Holy Ghost. St. Basil and St. Ambrose assume it as ranted, St. Hierome disiutes it, ares concludes it, Viviflcator, ergo Conditor, er.qo Deu; This Spil'it of God gave life, therefore this Sl)irit was a Creator; therefore God. St. Augustine prints his seal deep;,S'ecund}m quod ego intelligere posstm, ira est, as far as my understanding can reach, if is se and his understanding reached far. But he adds, Nec ullo mode, 4-c. Neiher tan it po»sibly be otherwse. Ve canner tell, whether that poem which is called Genesis, be Tertullian's, or Çyprian's; it bath been thought an honour te the learnedest of the fathers, te bave been the author of a good poem; in that poem this text is paraphrased thus, Immesusque Deu super wquora rasta meabat; God, God personaly moved upon the waters. Truly the Luter school is (as they bave used it) a more poetical part of di'inity, than alff of the poems of the fathers are, (take in Lactantius's poem of the Phoenix, and all the rest) and ibr the school, there Aquinas says, SecuMùn »atctos, iMelli.qimus _'piritum,S'awtum, As the holy fathers bave done, we also uuderstand this personally of the Holy Ghost.
S]Ho XX|X.] PHEACHED ON WH|Ts[NDAYo 577 To end thls, these words do hot aWoM such an argument for the Trinity, or the third per»on thereof, the Holy Ghost, as is rong enough to convert, or condnce a Jew, beoEuse it may bave another sense; but we, who by God's abunnt goodness have otherwise an assurance, and faith in this doctrine, acknowledge ail those other plaoes, Tho sendest fort thy,birit, an te are created', 9y is ;rit e at yarnised te eavens , nd the test of that kind, to be 11 but echoes ri'oto this voice, returns from Job, nd from Dvid, aud the test, of this doctrine of all comfo, first, and betimes delivered from Moses, tht thcre is a diinet pern in the Godhed, whose attribute is gdness, whose oce is application, whose wav is eomfort. Aud so we pass ri'oto out first, that it is hot only the power of God, but the person of God, to the second, in this branch, iris action, fir«batur. The action of the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, in this place, is expressed lu word, of double, and very diverse siguification; for it signifies otlon, and it signifies rest. And thereforc, as St. Augustine argues upon those words of David, Tou kwest my down sittlny, and my «rislny , Tht God knew all that he did, between his down sitting and his upriing; iu this word which signifies the Holy Ghost's first motion, and his last test, we conlprehend 11 that w doue in the pmductiou, aud creation of the creatures. This word, we translate, As te eayle utteret oer ker youç¢ones , so it is word of motion; and St. Hielme upon our xt expresses it by Zw«babat, to si on er youny ones, to atc tem, o" fo 'es«ve tem, so it is word of test. And so, the Jews take this word to signify, properly the birds hatehing of eggs. St. Cyprian unites the two siifictions well,,Siritus,Snctu.s dabat aquis mot«m, et limitem; The Holy Ghost enabled the wnters to more, and nppointed how, and how fnr they should more. The beginnings, and the ways, and the ends, must proceed from God, and fmm God the Holy host: That is, by those means, and those declavations, by which God doth manifest himself to us, for that is the offiee of the Holy Ghost, to mnnifest and apply God to us. Now the word in out text is hOt truly rebatu', the Spirit wed, whieh denotes a thing past; s Psal. civ. 30. Job xxvl. 13. Psai. cxxix, 2. Deut, i, 1 I. VOL. [. P
7 PR£ACED ON 'HITSUNDXY. [SER..XXIX. but the word is moe, oinç, a particle of the present; o tbat we ascribe first God's manifestation of himself in the creation, and then the contlnual manifestation of himself in his providence, to the Holy Ghost; ibr God had two purposes in the creatiou, Ut »int, ut maneant o, That the ereature should be, and be still; that it should exist st first, and subsist after; be marie, and made permanent. God did not mean that pal'Mise should bave been of so small use when he maAe it; he ruade it for a perpetua| habitation for man. God did hot meau that man should be the subject of his wrath when he ruade him; he ruade hiln to take pleasure in, and to shed glory upon him. The Holy Ghost moves, he is the first author; the Holy Ghost perpetuates, settles, establishes; he is our rest, and acquiescenee, and centre; benning, way, end, ail is in this word, Recaph; Tke 6'pirit of(;od moved, and rested. And upon what. And the,b'pirit of God movêd upon tke face of the waters. St. Augustine observing aright, That st this tinle, of whieh this text la spoken, the waters enwl'apped ail the who]e substauee, the whole matter, of whieh ail things were to be ereated, ail was surrounded with the waters, all was emboweiled, and ellwonlbed in the waters; and so the Holy Ghost moving, alld resting upon the lace ot the waters, moved, and lsted, did his office UiOll the whole mass of the world, and so pmduced ail that was pmduced; and this adnfits no contradiction, no doubt, but that thus the thiug was donc, and that this, this Wol.d impfies. But whether the Hoir Ghost wrou,,zht this production of the several creatures, bv himselt; or whether he infused, and imprinted a natural power in the waters, and ail the substance under the waters, to pmduce creatures naturalh" of themselves, bath received some doubt. It need hot: for the work ascribed to the Holy Ghost here, is not the working by nature, but the creating, of nature; hot what nature did after, but how nature herself was created at first. In this action, this moving, and resting upon the face of the waters, (that is, ail involved in the waters) the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, hatched, produced then ail those creatures; for no power infused into the waters, or earth then, could ha'e enabled that earth, then to bave produced trees with ripe fruits, in an instant, o Augttine.
SIo XIX.] PREACHED ON' WHITSUNDAYo 579 nor the waters hve ouht foh whales, in teir gmwth, in itant. The Spirit of God roduced them then, and est blished, and conseres eer since, tht seminal power which we call nature, to produce all creatures (then first ade by mself) in s peetual succession. And so ha-e you these words, Hzd o fac of waters, literally, historicay: and now these three terres, The irit God, mored, upo the foce of the waters, you are also to receive in a spifitual sense, in the second world, the Christian church: the person, the tion, the subject, the Holy Ghost, and him moving, and mong upon the wars, in our regeneration. Here, as before, our tiret te, and consideration, is the naine, T/ce Sirit 'God; and here God knows, we know too ulany, e-en anmngst the outward profeom of the Chfistian religion, that iu this naine, The 5irk God, take knowledge only of a power of God, and hot of a person of God; they sy it is the working of God, but hot God working.,llira pr»dita» doquiorum taorum ; The waters in the creafion, were not so deep as the word of God, that delivem that creation. Lce, ate upecie» bndlen» pueria, says that hther; Ve, we that ara but babes in understanding, long as we ara but natural men, see the superficies, the top, the face, the outside of these waters, 5d raira prudita¢ Deus meu¢ raira prnditoa, But it is an infinite depth, Lord, my God, an infinite depth to corne to the bottom. The bottom i¢ to pmfess, and to feel the stet working of the three distinct persons of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Rata adma, quw cure de illa luitur, sciat quid loqtatur , Not one man, hot one Christian amongst a thound, who when he speaks of the Tl'inity, knows what he himself means. atal men will xwite of lands of pigmies, and of lan of giants; and write of phoenixes, and of unicorns; but yet advlsedly they do hot believe, (at least confidently they do hot kuow) that there are such giants, or such pignfies, ch unicorns or phoenixes in the world. Chfistians speak continuay of the Trinity, and the Holy Ghost, but Mas, Mviseoey, they know hot what they mean in those names. The most know nothing, for Aug. Co. . c. 14. C. 30.
580 PREACHED ON XVHtTSUNDA- "t'- [fiER. XXIX. want of consideration; they that bave considered it enough, and spent thoughts enough upon the Trinity, to know as much as needs bo known thereof, Cont«ncluat et dimlcant, e nmo sln pae« vidit i»tam i»ionem ', They dispute, and they wrangle, and they scrateh, and wound one another's reputations, and they assist the coinmon enemv of Christianity by their uncharitable differonces, Et »inepace, And without peace, and mildness, and love, and charity, no man cornes to know the Holy Ghost, who is tho God of peace, and the God of love. Da çuod amo; amo enim, mTm et 1o tu dedlsti'; I ara loath to part ri.oto this father, and he is loath to b parted from, for he says this in more than one place; Lord thou hast eaamoured me, ruade me in love; lot me enjoy that that I love; that is, the Holy Ghost: that as I feel the power of God (which sense, is a gift of he Holy (;host) I may without disputing test in the belief of that person of the Trinity, that that Spirit of God, that moves upon these waters, is hot only tho power, but a person in the Gooeead. This is the perron, without whom there is no Father, no Son of God fo me, the Holv Ghost. A nd his action, his operation is expressed in tllis word, ferebat»', Tle,S';rit of God mored; which word, as belote, is here also a comprehensive word, and denotes both motion, and rest; heginnings, and ways, and ends. We may best consider the motion, the stirring of the Holy Ghost in zeal. and the test of the Holy Ghost il moderation; if we be without zeal, we have hot the motion; if we be without moderatioll, we have not the rest, the peace of the Holy Ghost. The moving of the Holy Ghost upon me, is, as the moving of the mind of an artificer, upon that piece of work that is then under his hand. A jeweller, if he xvould make a jewel to answer the form of any flower, or any other figure, his nfind goes along with his hand, nay prevents his hand, and he thinks in himself, a ruby will conduce best to the expressing of this, and an emerald of this. The Holy Ghost undertakes every man amongst us, and. would make every man fit for God's service, in some way, in some profession; and the Holy Ghost sees, that one man profits most by one way, another by another, and moves their zeal fo pursue those ways, and those means, by which, in a reetified eon- sC. II. " lId.L ll.2and22.
SER. X/X.] IIEACHED ON XVH|TSUNnAY. 581 science, they find most pro/if. And except a man hve this sense what doth him most good, and a desire te pursue that, the Holy Ghost doth net more, ner stir p a zel in him. Bt then if God de aflrd him the benetït of these his ordinances, in competent meastre for him, and he will net be stisfied with manna, but will needs bave qtails, that is, cannot mako one meal of prayers, cxeept he hve a oermon, ner satisfied with his gomer of manna, (with those prayers whieh are appointed in the ehurch,) ner satisfied with those quails whieh God sends, (the preaching of solid and fundamental doctrines,) but must have birds of Paradise, unrevealed mysteries out of God's own besoin preaehed unto him, howsoever the Holy Ghost may seem te have moved, yet he doth net rest upon him; and ri'oto the benning, the office and operation of the Holy Ghost was double; he moved, and rested upon the waters in the creation; he came, and tarried still upon Christ in his baptism: ho moves us te a zeal of laying hold upon the means of salivation which God effets us in the church; and he settles us in a peacetl conscience, tiret by having well used those means, we are ruade his. A holv hunger and thirst of the word and saeraments, a remorse, and compunction for former sins, a zeal te promote the cause, and glory of God, by word, and deed, this is the motion of the Holy Ghost: and then, te content myself with God's measure of temporal blessings, and tbr spiritual, that I de serve God faithfully in that calling which I lawfully profess, as far as that calling will adroit, (for he, upon whose hand-labour the sustentation of his family depends, may offend God in running after many working-days sermons,) this peaee of conscience, this aequiescence oï having donc that that belongs te me, this is the test of the Spirit of God. And this motion, and this test is said te be donc superfaclem, And the 'pirit " God mored uloo tke face " tke -waters, whieh is our last consideration. In the moving of the Spirit of God »pon the waters, we tdd you beïore, it was disp»ted, whether the Holy Ghost did immediately produce those creatures of himself, or whether he did ïec»ndate, and inanimate, and enable those substances, (the water, and ail contained under the waters,) te prod»ce ereatures in their divers specifications. In this moving of the Spirit of
58 PRIZACHED O. WHITSUNDAYo [SER. I'XII'o God upon the waters, in o regeneration, it bath ao boen much dispud, how the Holy host works, in uroducing man's supernatural actions whether so immedistely, as that it be altogether without dependence, or relation to any fulty in man, or man himse]f bave some concurrence, and peration therein. There we round, thst in the fir creation, God ouht otherwi for the production of creatures, than he does now; at fir he did it immiately, entirely, by himse; now, he bath deleated, and substituted nature, and imprinted natural power in evehing to pruce the like. So in the fir t dE msn's conversion, God may be concelved to work otheise, than in his subsuent holy actions; for in the fir, man cannot be conceived to do anythin, in the rest he may: hOt tt in the re od does hot ail; but that çod ds a better disposition, snd supp]eness, and maturity, and mellowin, to concur with his motion in that man, who hsth formerly been cusmed to a sense, and good use of his former grae, than in him, who in his first conversion, receives, but then, the fir motions of his gre. But yet, even in the first creation, the Spirit of God did hot more upon that nothing, which was before God me heaven and earth: but he mov un the waters; though those waters had nothing in themselves, to answer his motion, yet he had waters to more upon: though our faculties bave nothing in themseh-es answer the motions of the Spirit of God, yet upon o faeulties the Spirit of G wor; and as out of tho watt, those creatures did proeeed, though hot from thooe wars, so out of our fties, though hot from o fulties, do our go tions proceed o. AI1 in ail, is from the love of God; but there is something for G to love; there is a n, there is a soul in that man, there is a wl in that soul; and God is in love with this man, and th u and th wiH, and wod bave it. A amor ira eyenu* et idi, tt reb quas diliyit subjiciatur, y St. Auine exceendy: the lovo of God to us is hot so pr a lovo, our lovo fo one another; tt his lovo fo us shod mako him subjoet us, oto does to them whom wo lovo; but Bupfertur, says that father, and out text, he moves abovo us; he loves us, but th a werf, a majestical, an imperial, a commanding love; he offers thos% whom he mak h his gro; but so, as he sometimes will hot be denied. So the Suirit moves spirituaHy upon the wters; he cornes to the waters, to or natura] tu]ties; but he moves above those waters, he inclines, be goves, he commands those faculties; and tbi Iris motion, npon tbose wate, we may seflly consider, in me divers applications and assimilations of water, to man, and the uses thereof mwards man. We will naine but few; and sin, and tribu&tion, and death, are OElled in tho Scripture, by that naine, waters; and we shall only illustrate thgt eoideration, how this Spirit of God, moves upon theso waters, baætism, sin, tribulation, and dth, and we have donc. The wator of baptism, is the water that runs through all the fathers; all the fathers that had oeeasiou to dire, or dip in these wators (to sy anything of them) make these first waters, in the ereation, the fire of bpfism. Therefore Teullian makes the water, Primm sedem bfritus S'attai, Tho progress, and tho settled houso, the vo3go, and the barouf, the eireumferenee, and tho centre of the Holy Ghost: and therefore St. Hiem« ealls theso wate, Jlatrem Iundi, The Mother of tho XVorld; and this in the fire of baptism. rascentem mundum infl9ura baptismi part.uriebat, The wate brought fbh the whole world, were delivered of the wholo wor]d, as a mother is de]ivered of child and this, Infl.qura baptismi, To tbreshow, that the waters also should bring fotoEh tbe church; that the church of God should be borne out of the sacrament of bapt]: says Damascene, nd he estblishes it with betr authority than his ox, Ho divinus aerdt Basilius, he, this divine Basil said, Hoe Jàctum, quia per,)»iritum,mtum, aqnam roluit renoare kominem; Tho Spifit of God wrought upon tho watem in tho creation, becauso he meant to do so after, in tho regeneration of man. And thefore Pristinam sedem roynosu conquieseit , Till tho Holy Ghost haro moved upon our children in bapti, let us hot think all done, thnt belgs to those chilien; and when the Holy Ghost bath moved upon the waters, , in ba tism, let us hot doubt & his power and effeet upon ail those children that die . Wo know no mns how those waters eould haro produced a minnow, shrimp, vithout tho Spirit of Ten.
58 PREACHED ON WHIrSlTNDAY. [SIR. XXIX. had moved upon them; and by this motion of the Spirit of God, we know they produce whales, and Leviathans. We know no ordinary means of any saving grace for a child, but baptism; neither are v«e to doubt of tle fulness of salvation, in them that bave received it. And for ourselves, leryimur, e emer.(?imu ', In baptism we are sunk under water, and then raised above the water again; which was the manner of baptising in the Christian church, by immersion, and hot by aspersion, till of late times: 4ffectus, et amores, says he, our corrupt affections, and out inordinat love of this world is that, that is to be drowned in us; lmor securitatis, A love of peace, and holy assurance, and acqniescence in God's ordinance, is that that lifts ns ahove water. Therefore that father puts ail upon the due consideration of out baptism: and as St. Hierome says, Certainly he that thinks upon the last judgment advisedly, cannot sin then, so he that says with St. Au-mstine, Procede in cotoEèssione, jïdes nea, Let me make every day, to God, this confession, ])omine ])eus mêt,,S'ancte,,ancte,,S'ancte ])omine ])eus meus, 0 Lord my God, O Holy, Holy, Holy Lord mv God; I omine tuo baptlzatus sure, I consider that I was baptised in thy naine, and what thou promisedst me, and what I promised thee then, and tan I sin this sin. Can this sin stand with those conditions, those stipulations "«hich passed between us then. The Spirit of God is motion, the Spirit of God is rest too; and in the due eonsideration of baptism, a trne Christian is moved, and settled too; moved to a sense of the breach of his conditions, settled in the sense of the mercy of his God, in the merits of his Christ, upon his godly sorrow. So these waters are the waters of baptism. Sin also is called by that naine in the Scriptures, water. Tke oreat hore sitteth upon many aters; she sits upon them, as upon eggs, and hatches cockatrices, venomous and stinging sins; and)'et pleasing, though venomous; -«hich is the worst of sin, that it destroys, and yet delights; for thongh they be called 'aters,)'et that is said also, That tke inhabitants of the earth 'ere ruade drunk rith the 'ine . Sin is cite at first, so far as to allure, to intoxicate: it is 'ater at last, so far as to suffoeate, to oerangle. Christ Jesus's way is to change water into wine; e Augustine. n lev. 17. e Ver. 2.
sorrow into joy: the devi]s way p]easure, and but fa]se p]easure neither, into truc bitterness. The waterish wine, which is spoken of there, and called fornication, is ido]atry, and the ]ike..And in such a respect, God says to his people, Wkat kat thou to do i the way of lz'.qypt »? In the way of Egypt we eannot ehoose but have something to do some conversation with mon of an idolatrous religion,,ve must nceds have. ]3ut)'et, B'hat hast thou to do in the eay of to drink of tke caters of,ikor? Or u'hat hast thot fo do in the eays of Asyria, to drink the waters of the rier? Though we be bound to a peaceable conversation with men of an idolatrous persuasion, we are hot bound to take in, to drink, to taste their errors. For this facility, and this indifferency to accompany men of divers religions, in the acte of their religion, this multiplicity will end in. nullity, and ce shall kew to ourselres cisterns, brokn cisterns,'that can hold w cater'; we shall scatter one religion into many, and those many shall vani»h into none. Praise we God, therefore, that the Spirit of God bath so moved upon these waters; these sinful waters of superstition and idolatry, wherein onr forefathers were overwhelmed; that they have hot swelled over us; for, then the cold north-wind blows, and the water is congealed into ice-; affliction overtakes us, damps us, stupifies us, and we find no religion fo comtbrt us. Affliction is as often expressed in this word, waters, as sin. lVlwn thou paest thro.qh -water l eill be u'ith thee, and throuyh the ri:ers, tkey shall not orer.floæ thee '. But then, the Spirit of God moves upon these waters too; and graeo against sin, and deliveranee from affliction, is as often expressed in waters, as either. SVhere God takes another metaphor for judgment, yet he continues that of watcr for his mercy; In the./ire of my jealo«»y kare I poke ayainst tem , (speaking of enemies; but then speaking of Israel) I eill sprinkleclean cater «pon you, and you shall be clean.'. This he sprinkles enough at first to make us elean; even the sprinkling of baptism cleanses us from original fin; but then he sets open the windows of heaven, and he enlarges his flood-gates, I will Jer. il. 18. s0 Ver. 13. Ecclus. w.iii. 20. s, Isaiah xziii. 2. Ezek. xxxvi. . Ver. 2.
pour t atr on to them tht thirst fter him, he gives grace for grace that is, present gre for an earnest of future grace; of subquent gmce, and concomint gmce in more forms, more notions, and in more operations, than the ehool itself can ll how to naine. Th the Sprit of God moves upon out waters. By faith Peter walked upon tbe watem«; so we prevent oecions of temptation to sin, and sink hot in them, but walk above them. By godly exercises we swim through waters; so the centurion commanded tlmt they that could swim, should ct themlves into the sea ; men exercised in holiness, can mt a temptation, or tribulation in the face, and hot be shaked with it; weaker men, men that cannot swim, nmst be more wary of exposing themselves to dangers of mptation a cou does some man no barre, when another finds temption in a henimge. By mpentance we sail through waters; by tbe assistance of God's ordinances in s church, (which church is the ark) we atin the harbour, peace of conscience, after a sia; but this ark, this help of the church we must have. God caa save fmm dangers, though a man went to s without a, 6'i« rate, ys the vulgate , thout a ship. But G would hot that the work of his wiom should be idle; God hath given n Prudetiam says out Holkot upon that place, and he would bave that wisdom exercised. God can save without prching, and absolution, and sacraments, but he would hot bave his ordinance neglected. To end all with the end of all, dth cornes to us in the naine, and notion of waters toe, in the Seripturea. The widow of Tekoeh id to David in the balf of Absalom , by the counl of Joab, The water of death overflows all; le must n& die, says she, ad are water ilt.upon t]e çround, w]ich canwt be 9athoeed nos exeldfvm him. So the Spirit of God moves upoa the face of these waters, the Spirit of life upon the danger of dth. Consider the love, more than love, the smdy, more thon study, the digence of God; he devises mns, that s baaished, thoso s xiv. 3, Matt. 14. Ac xx. 43, W& v. 4. 2 Snm, v. 14, whom sins, or death had banished, be not expelled from hlm. I sinned upon the strenh of my youth, and God devised a means to reclaim me, an enfeebling sickness. I relapsed after my recovery, and God devised a means, an irrecoverable, a helpless cousumption to reclaim me; that affliction grew heavy upon me, and weighed me down even to a diffidence in Godes mercy, and God devised a means, the comfort of the angel of his church, his minister, the comfort of the angel of the great council, the body and blood of' his Son Christ Jesus, at my transmigration. Yet he lets his correction proceed to death; I do die of that sickness, and God devises a means, that I, thouh banished, banished |nto the grave, shall hot be expelled from him, a glorious resurrection. IVemust neds diead be as water spilt upon tlte.e/round, but ye God devises méans, t]at Ici, banislwd tall hot be expélled from Mm. And this is the motion, and this is the rest of the Spirit of' God upon those waters in this spiritual sense of these words, Ho brings us to a desire of baptism, he settles us in the sense of tho obligation first, and then of the benefits of baptism. He suffers us fo go into the way of temptations, (for coluber in ia, and every ealling hath particular temptations,) and then he settles us, by his pïeventing, or his subsequent graee. He moves, in submitting us to tribulation, he settles us in finding, that out tribulations do best of ail conform us to his Son Christ Jesus. Ho moves in removing us by the hand of" death, and he settles us in an assurance, that it is he that now lets his servants depart in peace; and he, who, as he doth presently lay out souls in that fe cabinet, the bosom of Abraham, so he keeps an eye upon every grain, and atom of out dust, whither soever if ho blown, and keeps a room at his own right hand for that body, when that shMl be re-united in a blessed resurrection and so TAe,Sçiri of God moved upon the face of te waters.