SERMON CXLVIII.
W. may consider tvo great virtues, one for the society of this lire, thankfulness, and the other for attaining the next lire, repentance; as the two precious metals, silver and go]d: of silver (of the virtue of thankfulness) there are whole mines, books written by philosophers, and a man may grow rich in that metal, in that virtue, by digglng in that mine, in the precepts of moral men; thls go]d (this virtue of repentance) there is no mine in the earth; in the book of philosophers, no doctrine of repentance; "" Pstdm xxxii. 6. VOL. vI. ç
]8 IaREACHED AT LINCOLNS INN. [mER. CXLVIII. this gold is for the most part in the washes; this repentance in matters of tribulation; but God directs thee to it in this text, hefore thou corne to those waters of tribulation, rememlaer now thy Creator belote those evil days corne, and then thou wilt repent tbe hot remembering him till now. Here tben the Itoly Ghost takes the nearest way to bring a man to God, by awaking his memory; for, for the understanding, that requires long and clear instruction; and the will requires an instructed understanding belote, and is in itself the blindest and boldest faculty; but if the memory do but fasten upon any of those things which God hath done for us, it is the nearest way fo him. Remember therefore, and remember now, though the memory be placed in the hindermost part of tlm brain, defer hot thou thy remembering to the hindermost part of thy lire, but do that now in dle, in the day, whilst thou hast light, now i dlebus, in the days, whilst God presents thee many lights, nmnymeans; and i diêbusjuventutis, in the days of thy youth, of strength, whilst thou art able to do that which thou purposest to thyself; and as the word imports, becltttrotheica , iz diebus electiot«m tt«arum, in tbe days of thy choice, whilst thou art able to make thy choice, whilst the grace of God sbines so brightly upon thee, as thou mayest choose the way, and so l)owerfully upon thee, as that thou mayest walk in that way. low, in this day, and in these days remember first the Creator, that all these things which thou labourest for, and delightest in, were created, nmde of nothing; and therefore thy memory looks hot far enough back, if it stick only upon the creature, and reach not to the Creator, remember thy Creator, and remember tby Creator; and in that, first that he ruade thee, and then what he ruade thee; he made thee of nothing, but of that nothing he hath ruade thee such a thing au cannot return to nothing, but nmst remain for ever; whether happy or miserable, that depends upon thy rememberin.q th:,u Creator now in the days of thy yo«th. First remember; which word is often used in the Scripture for considering and taking care: for, God remembered loah and every beast with him in the ark; au the word which is contmry ' -».'}Fl -:1, from "}, elegit.—Er. Gen. viii. i. «- .: - ses. cxr, vm.] raACHD ^T «.'eOLS'S m« 19 te that, forgetting is also for the affection contrary te it, it la neglecting, Can a oman forffet er cMld, a hot are comFasdon on te son OE er omb'? But bore we take hOt remembering so largely, but restrain it to the exercise of that one aeulty, the memory; for it is aomac. animw. The memory, says St. Bernard, is the tomaeh of e soul, it reeeives and digests, and turns into goed blood, all tho benefits formefly exhibited to us in paieulr, and exhibited to tho whole ehureh of God: present that whieh belongs m the understanding, to that feulty, and tho understanding is »ot presently scttled in it; psent any of tho propheeies mo in tho eaptivity, and a Jew's understmding tales thom for deliverances from Babylon, and a Christian's understanding takes them for doliverances frein sin and death, by tho Messias Christ Jesus; psent any of tho prophecies of the Revelation concerning antichrist, and a papist will understand it of a single, and momentane, and transitory man, that must last but three years and a hall; and a protestant may understand it of a succession of men, tiret haro laed se ono thousand years already: prescrit but the naine of bishop or of elder, out of tho Acts of the Apostles, or their epistles, and other men will tako it for a naine of equality, and parity, and wo for a naine and oco of distiuction in tho hierarchy of God's church. Thus it is in tho understanding that is oKen perplexed; consider tho other faculty, the will of man, by those bittemesses which have passed between tho Jesuits and tho Donfinicans, (amongst other things belonging te the will) whether the saine proportion of gmce, oflbred te men aliko disposed, must necearily work aliko uln both thoir wills And amongst persons nearer te us, whether that proportion of grace, which doth convert a man, nfight net havo been resisted by perverseness of his will By ail these diculties we may seo, how untractable, and untameable a faculty the will of ma» is. But corne net with marrer of law, but matter of fact, Let God m«Le his wondeid wors te be «d in rembr«ce': present the history of God's protection of his children, frein the beginning, in tho ark, in both captivities, in infinito dangers; prescrit this te the memo, and howsver tho understandlng be leclouclett, or the,viii perverted, yet ])oth Jew and Christian, Papist and Protestant, Purltan and Protestant, are affected with a thankful aclnovledgment of hls former mercies and benefits tlis issue of that faculty of their memory is alike in then all: and therefore God in giving the law, works upon no other faculty but thls, I ara t]w Lord t]y God u.Iicl bro.q]t tlee ott of t]w lazd of" E.çvlot; ]le only presents to their menlory what he lla«l doue for thcm. And so lu delivering tbe Gospel in one princil)al seal thereof, tbe sacrament of his body, he recommende«l it only to tbeir nemory,/9o t]tis re»embrace of" e. Thls is the faculty that God desires to work upon; and therefore if thiue understanding cannot reconcile differeuces in a|l chttrches, if thy will cannot submit itself to the or(|iuances of tbille o'u chul'ch, go to thine own menlory; for as St. Ber]lard calls tbat the stoulach of the soul, we llay be bold to call it the gallery of the soul, hanged,vith so many, and so lively pictures of the goodness and nlercies of t]ly God to thee, as that eery one of theul shall be a catechism to thee, to iusti'uct thee in ail thy duties to hinl fol" those mercies: and as a well-]nade, and wellplaced picture, looks always upon hinl that looks upon it; so shall thy God look upon thee, whose memory is thus contenlplating bin, and shine upon thlne understanding, and rectify thy will too. If thy memory cannot coml)rehend his mercy at large showed fo his whole cturch, (as it is almost an incomprehensible thing, that in so few years he nade us of the Reformation, equal even in llumber to out adversaries of the loman chul-ch,) if thy menlory have hot held that picture of out general deliverance from the avy; (if tbat mercy be written in the,rater and in the sands, where it was performed, and hot in thy heart) if thou remember hot out deliverance fronl that artificlal he]l, the vault, (i 'hich, thougl his istrtuents failed of their plot, they did hot blov us up; yet file devil.oes for'ard with his plot, if ever he can blow out; if he can get that deliverance to be forgotten.) If these be too la'ge pictures for tby gallery, for thy memory, yet every nan hath a pocket-pictlre about hin, Emanuel, a bosom book, and if he will turn over but one ]eaf, and remenlber what God bath doue for him even since yesterday, he shall find even by that
Illo CXLV|I|.] PnEACliED AT L|NCOLNqS INN. 21 ]ittle branch a navigable river, to sali into that great and eudless sca of God's mercies towards him, from the beginning of his heing. Do but remember, but remember now: Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be as the first fruits of his creatures': that as we consecrate all his creatures to him, in a sober, and religious use of them, so as the first fruits of ail, we should principally cousecrate ourselves to his service betimes. Now there were three payments of first fruits appointed by God to tbe Jews: the first was, primltlw spicarum, of their ears of corn, and this was early about Easter; the second v«as prlmiticv panum, of loaves of bread, after their corn was converted to that use; and this, though it were not so soon, yet it was early too, about VVhitsuntide; the third w.s Trimitiw fruyum, of all their fruits and revenues; but this was very late iu Autumn, at the rail of thc leaf, in the end of the year. The two tàrst of these, which were offercd early, were offered partly to God» and partly to man, to the priest; but in the last, which came late, God had no part: he had his part in the corn, and in the loaves, but none in the latter fruits. Offer thyself to God; first, as l»'imitias 1i - car«m, (whether thou glen in the wodd, or bînd up whole she.ves, whether thy increase be by little and little, or apace;) and offer thyself, as prlmitia pamon, when thou hast kneaded up riches, and honour, and favour in a settled and established fortune, offer at thy Easter, whensoever thon hast any resurrection, any sense of raising thy soul from the shadow of death; offer at thy Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost visits thee, and descends upou thee in a fiery tougue, and melts thy bowels by the power of his word; f. if thon defer thy offering till thy fall, till thy winter, till thy death, howsoever they may be thy first fi'uits, beeause they be the first that ever thou gavest, yet they are sueh, as are hot acceptable to God; God hath no portion in them, if they be hot offered till then; oflbr thyself now; for that is an easy request; yea offer to thyself now, that is more easy; Vi.rimus mundo; vieamus reliquum nobis ipolo«; Thus long we bave served the world; let us serve ourselves the test of out rime, that is, file best part of ourselves, out suls,;Expectas ut febris te eocet ad a James i. 18. e En,il.
PREACHED AT LINCOLN'8 |NN. [SER. CXL,'II|. yeitetlam? Hadst thou rather a sickness should bring thee to God, than a sermon. Hadst thou rather be beholden to a physician for thy salvation, than. to a preacher . Thy busiuess is to remember; stay hOt for thy last sickness, which may be lethargy in which thou mayest forger thino own naine, and his that gave thee the naine of a Christiatl, Christ Jesus himself: thy business is to remember, and thy rime is now, stay hOt till that angel corne which shall say and swear, that rime shall bo no more 7. Remember then, and remember now; In die, In the day the Lord will hear us In die qua invocaverimus, In the day that we shall call upon him; and in 9uac«n9ue die, In what day soever we call , and in Qttacttngue die elociter e.vattdiet », As soon as we ca]l in any day. But all this is opus diei, work for the day; for in the night, in our last night, those thoughts that fall upon us, they are rather dreams, than true rememberings we do rather dream that we repent, than repent indecd, upon out death-bed. To him that travels by night a bush seems a tree, and a tree seems a man, and a mar a spirit; nothing Imth the truc shape to him; to him that repents by night, on his deathbed, ncither his own sins, nor the mercies of God ha-e their trtm proportion. Fool, says Christ, this night they will fetch away thy soul; but he neither relis him, who they be that shall fetch it, nor whither they shall carry it; he hath no light but lightnings: a sudden flash of horror, first, and then he goes into tire without light, Aumquid Deu nobi i.qnem eacarit. Non, diaboo, etanyelis'= Did God ordain hell-fire for us. no, but for the devil, and his angels. And yet we that are vessels so broken, as that there is hot a sherd left, to fetch wter at the pif, that is, no means in ourselves, to derive one drolo of Christ's blood upon us, nor to wring out one tear of true repentance front us, bave plunged ourselves into this everlasting, and this d,rk tire, which was uot prepared for us; a wretched covetousness, to be intruders upon the devil; a wretched ambition, tobe usurpers upon damnation. God did not make the tire for us; but much less did he make us for that tire; that is, make us to damn us. Rev. x. 6. e Psalm xx. 9. ' Psalm cxxxviii. 3. » Psa]ra cil. 2. Chryostom.
But new the judgment is given, Ite maledlcti, Go ye accursod; but yet this is the way of God's justice, and his proceeding, that his judgments are net always exeeuted, though they be given. The judgments and sentcnces of Medes and Persians are irrevocable, but the judgments and sentences of God, if they be given, if they be published, they are net executed. The Ninevites had perished, if the sentence of their destruction had net been gicen; and tho sentence preserved them; se eveu in this cloud of Ire malediai, Go ye accursed, we may sec the daybreak, and discern beams of saving light, even in thisjudgmcnt of eternal darkness; if the contemplation of his judgment bring. us te remember him in that day, in the light and apprehension of his auget and correction. For this circumstance is enlarged; it is net fn d/e, but fn bus, net in che, but in many days; for God affords us many days, many lights te sec and remember him by. This remembrance of (2od is our regenoration, by which we are new ereatures; sud therefore we may consider as many days in it, as in the flrst ereation. The flrst day was the making of light; and out fir.t day is the knowledge of him, who says of himself, /:oo s«m mundi, I ara the light of the world, and of whom St. John testiries, Erat luz,:era, Ho was tho truc light, that lighteth every man into tho world. This is then out first day thc truc passion of ('hrist Jesus. God ruade light first, that thc othcr crcatures might ho seen; 'ruara eent d on 'ideræntur fs, It had bccn to no purposo to haro nmdo ereatures, if there had been no light to manifest them. Our first day is the light aud love of the Gospel; for tho noblest ereatures of princes, (that is, the uoblcst actions of priuces, war, and peaco, and treaties)'u,tra s«d, they arc good for nothing, they arc uothing, if they be hOt showed and tried by this light, by the love and preservation of the Go.pcl of Christ Jesus: God made light first, that his other works might appear, and ho mado light first, that himself (for out example) might do all his other works in the light: that we also, as we had that light shed upon us in out baptism, so we might make ail our future actions justifiable by that light, and hot erubescere evanyeliam, hOt be ashamed of being toc jealous in this protbssiou of his
e PREACHED AT LICOLN'S!. [SER. CXL'IlI. truth. Then God saw that the light was good: the seeing implies a eonsideration; that a religion be hot accepted nor implicitly; and the seeing it tobe gd implies an election of that religion, which is simply gd in itsdf, and hot good by reason of advantage, or conveniency, or other cdlateral and rpects. And when God had seen the light, and seen that it was goed, then he severed light from darkness; and he severed them, non tanuam d.uoodtia, hot as two essential, and positive, and equal things, hOt so, as that a brighter and a darker religion, (a good and a bad) should both have a being together, but tanquam odtirum et ri»itiun, light and darkness are primitive, and positive, and figure this rather, that a true religion should be eg blished, and continue, and darkness utterly removed; and then and hot till then, (till this was done, light severed from darkne) there was a dav; and since God hath given us this day, thc brightness of his Gpel, that this light is first presented, that is, ail great actions begun with this consideration of the Gospel since all other things are ruade by this light, that is, all have relation to the continuance of the Gospel, since God bath given us such a head, as is sharp-sighted in seeing the several lights, wisc in discerning the true llght, powerful in refisting foreign darkne; since God hath given us this day, Qui noz /tumiliabit ani»»z uam n di«/tac, as 1oses speaks of the ys of Godçs institution , he that will hot remember God now, in this day, imlfiOUS to him, and unthank5d to that great instrument of his, by whom this day-spring from on high hath visited us. To make shorter days of the rest, (for we must pass through all the six da)'s in a few minutes) God in the second day me the fimzament to divide between the waters ahove, and the xvaters below; and this firmament in ng is termiu« ognoibilium, thc limits of those things whch God hath given man means and faculties to coneeive, and understand: he bath limited sur eyes with a firmament heset with stars, sur e'es ean see no farther: he hath limited sur understanding in matters of religion with a starry firmament t; that is, with the knowledge of those things, fuw ubiçue, fuw »ener, which those stars which he hath kindled in his church, the fathers and doctom, have ever from the begin-
SES. CXLVlll.] I'REACHED AT LNCOLNS I.N. ning proposed as thlngs necessary to be explicit]y believed, for the salvatioa of out souls; for the eternal decrees of God, and bis unrevealed mysteries, and the inextricable perplexities of the school, they are waters above the firmament: here Paul plants, and here Apollos waters; here God raises up men to convey to us the dew of his grace, by waters under the tïrmament; by visible saeraments, and by the word so preached, and so interpreted, as it bath been constantly, and unafimously ff'cm the beginning of the church. And therefore this second da)" is perfeeted in the third, lu the co.qregetur a,lua,, let the waters be gathered together; God hath gathered all t]le waters, ail the waters of lire in one place; that is, ail the doctrine iecessarv for t]le lire to corne, into his church: and then ]rod«¢et terra, here in this world are produced to us all herbs and fruits, all that is necessary for the oul to feed upon. And in this third dav's work God repeats here that testimocy, :idet ¢luod bonum, he saw that it was good goed, t]lat here should be a gathering of waters in oue place, that is, no dtrine received that had hot bcen taught in the church; nd idet çuod bonum, he saw it was good, that all herbs and trees should be produced that re seed; ail doetrines that we to be proseminated and propagated, and to be continued to the end, should be taught in the church: but for doctrines which xverc but to vent the passion of vehement men, or to serve the turns of great men for a rime, which we ot seminal doctrines, doctrines that bore seed, and wcre to last from the beginning to tle end; for these interlineary doctl'ines, and narginal, which were no pa of t]le first text, here is no testimony that (od sees that they are good. Ald, I diebus iti, If in these two days, the (lay when God makes t]lee a firmament, «hows thee what thou art, to limit thine understaading and thy Iith upon, and the day where God make« t]lee a ses, a collection of the waters, («hows thee where these ecessary things must be taught in the church) if in those days thou wilt hot renlember thy Cretor, it is an irrecoverable lethargy. h the fourth day's work, let the nlaking of the sun fo l'ule the day be the testimony of God's love to thee, lu the sunshiue of temporal prosperity, and the making of the moen to shine by night, be tho refreshing of his comfortahle promises in the dark-
6 P/IEACHED AT LI'qCOLN l/q/q, [fllllo OELVII|o ness of adversity; and then remember that he tan rnake thy sun to set at noon, he can b]ow out t]]y taper of prospcrity when it burns brightest, and he can turn tho moon into blood he can rnake ail the promises of the {3ospel, which should comfort thee in adversity turn into despair and obduration. Let the first days work, which was the creation Om»ium relgtibilium, and Onlum rlatilium, Of ail creeping t]zings, and of ail flying things, produced out of water, signify and denote to thee, either thy humble devotion, in which thou sayest of thyself to God, l'e'mis eço et non ho»zo, I ana a worm and no man; or let it be the raising of thy soul in that, lezmas colu»zbw dedisti, that God hath gix'en thee the wings of a dove to fly to the wilderness, in a retiring from, or a resisting of temptations of this world; remember still that God can surfer even thy humility to stray, and deeenerate into an uncomely dejection and stupidity, and senselessness of the true dignity and true liberty of a Christian: and he can surfer this retiring thyself from the world, to degenerate into a contempt and despising of others, and an overvaluing of thine own perfections. Let the last day in which both nan and beasts were ruade out of the earth, but yet a living soul breathed into man, renember thee that this earth which treads upon thee, nust return to that earth which thou treadest upon, thy body, that loads thee, and oppresses thee to the gt'ave, and thy spirit to bim that ga;'e it. And 'hen the Sabbath-day bath also remcml»ered thee, that God hath given thee a tempot'al sabbath, placed thee in a land of peace, and an ecclesiastical sabbath, placed in. church of peace, perfect ail in a spiritual sabbath, a conscience of peace, by remembering now thy Creator, at least in one of these days of the week of thy regeneration, either as thou hast light created in thee, in thc first day, that is, thy knowledge of Christ; or as thou hast a firmanaent created in thee the second day, that is, thy knowledge what to seek concerning Christ, things appertaining to faith and salvation; or as thou hast a sea created in thee; the third day, that is, a church where ail the knowledge is reserved and presented to thee; or as thou hast a sun and naoon in the fourth da); thankfulness in prosperity, comt»rt in adversity, or as thou hast reltilem htmilitatem, or rol«tilem fidtwia»t, a humiliation in thyself, or an exaltation in
rist, in thy fifth day, or thou hast a contcmplation of thy mortality and immoality in the sixth dv, or spiritual sabath in the seventh, in those days remember thou thy Crcator. Now ail these dys re contracted into less diebs be«uroteica, is either, in te Joys OE ty yot or ele tonm tttarum, in the days of ty hearçs desire, when thou enjoye ail that thou couldest wish. First, therefore heard in Dvid's prayer; Delicta jueot«tis; ) Lord rcmember hot the sins of my youth"; remember to corne to this praycr, diebtts j«zentutis, In the days of thy yotlth. Job remembers with much rw, how he w in the days of his youth, when God's providence ' upon his tabernacle m: and it is consideration, to remember with what tenderne of conscience, what scrplcs, -hat remorses we entered into sins in our youth, how nmch we were afraid of all deees and circmnstances of sin for a ]ittle while, and how indiffent things they are grown to us, and how obdute we are gm in them now. This was Job's sorrov, and this was Tobiaç comfort m', when I was bt young, all my tribes fell away; but I alone wcnt after to Jerumlem. Thotlgh he lacked flic COtlnsel, and the example i his elders, yet ]le served God; for it is gd for man, that he bear his yoke in his youth m:: for even when God had dcli'ered over his people prposely to ho affiicted, yct himself complis i their behalf, That tke persecutor laid tke zery heaviest yoe tton tlte ancient: it is a lamentable thing to fall tmder a necessity of suffering lu out age, Labore fracta itstrumenta, ad Deum dwis qtornm ull«s usus "? Wouldest thou consecrate a chalice to God that is broken no man wodd present a lame horse, a disordered clock, a torn book to the king; Caro j«mottum thy best; and wilt thou present that to G, when it is lamed and tired with exce of wantonness Vhen thv clk, (the whole course of thy rime) is disordered with pons, and peurbations; when thy book (the history of thy lire,) is torn, a thousand sins of thine o'n torn out of thy memory, wi]t thou then present thyself thus defaced ad mangled to Almighty God Tenp m, Pm v. 7. m Job x. 4. m« Tobit i. 4. m . Si. 27. m« Isiah XLV 6. s Bii.:0 Aute.
rantla non temperaytia in senectute, sed imlootentia incontinentiæ ", Chastity is hOt ehastity in an old man, but a disability to be unchaste; and therefore thou dost not give God that which thou pretendest to give, for thou hast no chastity to give him.,5'enea: bi» louer; but it is hot bi» jureni», an old man cornes to the infirmities of childhood again; but he cornes hot to the strcngth of youth again. Do this then in diebu» juventuti», in thy best strength, and when thy natural f:tculties are best able to concur with grace; but do it; in di«bu» electionum, in the days when thou hast thy heaoE's de»ire; for if thou have worn out this word, in one sense, that it be too late nov, to remember him in the days of youth, that is, spent forgetfully, yet as long as thou art able to make new choice, to choose a new sin, that when thy heats of youth are hot overcome, but burnt out, then thy middle age chooses ambition, and thy old age chooses covetousness as long as thou art able to make thy choice thou art able to make a better than this; God testifies that power, that he bath given thee; I call hearen and e«rtk to record thi» dal/, tkat I kare set before you lire and deatk; cloo»e IoEet: if this choice like you hot, If it »rem eril tnto you to serre the Lord, saith Joshua, then clwo»e ye thi» day wkom ye wiIl »erre t. Here is the election day; bring that which ye would have, into comparison with that which ye should have, that is, ail that this world keeps from you, with that which God offers to you; and what will ye choose to prefcr before him. for honour, and favour, and health, and riches, perchance you cannot have them though you choose them but can you have more of them than they have had, to whom those very things have been occasions of ruin. The market is open till the bell ring; till thy last bell ring the church is open, gn'ace is to be had there: but trust hot upon that rule, that men buy cheapest at the end of the market, that heaven lnay be had for breath at la»t, when they that hear it cannot tell xvhether it be a sigh or a gasp, a religious breathing and anhelation after the next life, or natural breathing out, and exhalation of this; but find a spiritual good husbandry in that othcr rule, that the prime of the Da»il. * Deut. xxx. 19. " Joshua xxiv. 15.
market is te be had at first: for howsoever, in thine age, there ma)' be by (od's strong worl, ing d/es firt«t/s, a da)" of yonth, in making thee thon a new creature; (for as God dirum se in his school no man is superannuated,))'et when age bath ruade a man impotent te sin that is net is net a dy of cholce; but remember God new, when timon hast a choice, that is, a power te advance thyself, or te oppress others by evil moins, new in die ele«ionum, in those thy happy and sunshine days, remember him. This is thon the faculty that is excited, thc memory; and this is the time, new, new whilst we bave power of election: the ohject is, tho Creator, remember thc Creator: first, because the memory can go no farther than the creation; and therefore we lmve uo means to concei'e, or apprehend anything of God belote that. Vhen me therefore speak of decrees of reprobation, decrees of co»demnatîon, belote decrees of creation; this is beyond the eounsel of the Holy Ghost here, 3lemelto Creatori, I{emember the Creator, for this is to remember God a condemner belote he was a Creator: this is to put a prefaee to Moses" Genesis, hot to be content with his in rin.ci]io, to know that in be.¢imdg God created earen and eart, but we must remember what he did ate ]riciium, belote any such beginning was. Moses" iz ]rinci]io, tiret beginning, the creation we can relnember; but St. John's in ]rinci£io, that beginning, eternity, we cannot we tan remember God's fiat in Moses, but hot God's erat in St. John: what God bath done for us, is the object of out memory, hot what he did belote we were: and thou hast a good and perfect memory, if it remember ail that the Holy Ghost proposes in the Bible; and it determines in the mento Creatori»: there begins the Bible, and there begins the ereed, I bdiere in God te Fat/er, mat'er of eare ad eart ç for when it is said, Tlw I[oly Ghost was wt piteux, because Jesu,cas wt ylorifled", it is net truly on erat datus, but non erat; for, non erat nobis ante9uam o]eraretur; it is net said there, the Holy Ghost was net given, but it is the Holy Ghost was net: for he is net, that is, he bath no being te us-ward, till he works in us whieh was first in the creation: remember the Creator then. beeause thou caust
0 PKEACHED AT LINCOLN'S INN. [SER. CXLVIII, remember nothing backward beyond him, and remember him so too, that thou mayest stick upon nothing on this side of him, that so neither kêiy, nor déptlq or any otler oreature may selarate tvefrom GodeS; hot only hot separate thee finally, but not separate so, as to stop upon the creature, but to make the best of them, thy way to the Creator; we sec ships in the river; but ail their use is gone, if they go hot to sea; we sec men freighted with honour, and riches, but ail their use is gone, if their respect be hot upon the honour and glory of the Creator; and therefore says the apostle, Let tem that su.fo', commi tteir ouls to God, a to a/àitkjd C%,ator««; that is, be ruade them, and therefore will have cure of them. This is the truc contraeting, and the truc extending of the memory, to remember the Creator, and stay there, because there is no prospect farther, and to remember the Creator, and get thither, because there is no sale footing upon the creature, till we come so far. ]Remember then the Creator, and remember thy Creator, for, Quis mayisfidelis Deo«. Vfho is so faithful a counsellor as God . Quisprudentior sa¥ieute? Who ean be wiser than wisdom. Quis «tilior bono. or better than goodness . Qui conjunctior 6'reatore? or nearer than our Maker . and therefore remember him. What purposes soever thy parents or thy prince bave to make thee great, how had ail those purposes been frustrated, and evacuated, if God had uot rnade thee belote: this vêry being is thy greatest degree; as in arithmetic how great a number soever a man express in many figures, yet when we corne to number ail, the very first figure is the greatest and most of ail; so what degrees or titles soever a man have in this world, the greatest and the foundation of ail, is, that he had a being by creation: for the distance ri'oto nothing to a little, is ten thousand times more, than fronl it to the highest degree in thîs life: and therefore remembcr thy Creator, as by being so, he bath donc more for thee than ail the world besides; and remember him also, with this consideration, that whatsoever thou art now, yet once thou wast nothing. He created thee, ex" nikilo, he gave thee a being, there is matter t» Rom. viii. uit. ae ] Pet. iv. uit.,7 ]asiJ.
Sl. CXLVIII.] pRIAC/IED EE exaltation, and yet all this from nothig; thou wast a wo, there is marrer of humi]iation; but he did ot create thee od niMlum, to return to nothig aFin, ad there is marrer for thy cosideratio, and study, ho to make thine immortality profitable unto thee; for i is taliy mus serve thee for nothig toment. To ed all, that hot return to nothing, nor the being which we bave from men ncither. As St. Berna ys of the image of G in man's ul, [ri ote»t in 9eenna, on emuri, That ul that descends to he]], carries the image of God in the fulties of that ul thither, but fltere fltat image can never be burnt out, so thooe images and those impressions, which we bave received from men, fm nature, from the world, the image of a lord, the image of cotmciHor, the image of a bishop, shall ail burn in hell, and never burn out; hot only the men. but the oces are hot to return to nothing; but as their being from God, so their being from man, shall havc an everlasting being, to the aggravating of their condenmation. And therefore remember thy Creator, who, as he is so, by making thee of nothing, so he wi]l ever be so, by holding thee to his glory, though to thy confusion, from returning to nothing; for the court of heaven is hot like other cous, that after a surfeit of pleure or eatnes a man may retire; açter sttrfeit of sitt there is no such retiring, as a dislving of the sottl into nothing; but G is from the beginning the Creator, he gave ail things their being, and he is still thy Creator, thou shalt evermore bave that being, to be capable of his judgments. Now to make up a circle, by returning to out first word, remember: we remember God, so for his sake, let us remember one another. In my long ance, and far dhtance from hence, remember me, as I shall do you in the ea of that God, to whom file farthest et, and the farthest west are but as the right and left ear in one of us; we hear th both at once, and he hears in both at once; remember me, hot my abities; for when I cousider my apostleship that I was sent to you, I am in St. Paul's quorum, quorum eço sure minim te, the least of them that bave been sent; and when I consider my in.inities, I ara in quorum, in another commission, another way, quorurn e.oo naxi- nz«s'; the greatest of them; but remember my labours, and endeavours, at least my desire, to make sure your salvation. And I shall remember your religious cheerfulness in hearing the word, and your christianly respect towards ail them that bring that word mto you, and towards nyse]f in l»articular far above my merit. And so as your eyes that stay here, ad mine that nmst be far off, for ail that distance shall meet es'ery morning, in looking upon that saine sun, and meet every uigbt, in looking upon the saine moon; so our hearts may meet morning and evening in that God, which sees and hears everywhere; that you may corne thither to him with your prayers, that I, (if I may be of use for his glory, ald your edification iu this place) may be restored to you again; and may corne to hiln with my prayer, that what Paul soever plant amongst you, or what Apollos soever water, God hin» self svill give the increase: that if I never meet you again till we has'e al] paed the gare of deatb,)'et in the gates of heaven, I may meet you ail, and there say to my Saviour and your Saviour, that which he said to his Father and our Father, Of t/ose e/}om ttou hast yiren me, hae I ot lost oe. Remember me thus, you that stay in this kingdom of peace, where no sword is drawn, but the sword of justice, as I shall remember you in those kingdoms, where ambition on one side, and a necessary defence from unjust persecution on the other side hath draa many swords; and Christ Jesus remember us all in his kingdom, to which, though we must sail through a sea, it is the sea of his blood, where no soul suffcrs shipwreck; though we must be blown with strange winds, with sighs and groans for out sins, yet it is the Spirit of God that blows all this wind, and shall blow away all contrary winds of diflïdence, or distrust in God's mercy; where we shall be all soldiers of one army, the Lord of hosts, and children of one choir, the God of harmony and consent: where all clients shall retain but one counsellor, out advocate Christ Jesus, hot present him any other ïee but his own blood, and yet e-ery client bave a judgment on his side, not only in a hot guilty, in the remission of his sins, but in a venite beedicti, in being called to the participation of an immortal crown of glory: where there shall be no diflèrence in affection, nor in mind, but we shall agTee as fully and perfectly in our hallelujah, and yloria in excelis, as God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost agreed in thefaciamu8 omlnem at first: where we shall end, and yct begin but then; where we sha]l have continual rest, and yet never grow lazy; where we shall be stronger to resist, and yet have no enemy; where we shall lire and never die, xvhere we shall meet and never part.