Sermons (LXXX Sermons etc.); Holy Sonnets

GENESlS xviii. 25. Shall not the Judge of al1 the earth do right? TnESE words are the entrance into that prayer and expostulation, which Abraham ruade to and with God, in the behalf of Sodom, and the other cities. He that is, before Abraham was, Christ Jesus himself, in that prayer, which he bath proposed to us, hath laid such a foundation, as this is, such a religious insinuation into him, to whom we make that prayer; before we ask anything, we say, O«r T'ather, which art in heaven: if he be out Father, a father whe hi8 so asks bread, will hot give him a sto»el; God hath a fatherly disposition towards us; and if he be our Father in heaven, I./'evil./àthêrs now how to yire yood thigs unto t]teir cMhlren, ]ow mtwlt ore shall your heavenly t;'ather.qi¢e the,S'pirit to t/rem t]tat ak him? Shall your Father, which is in heaven, deny you any good thing . sys Christ there; It is impossible: b'hall.wt the Jt«lye o.fall t]e earth do right? says Abraham here; it is as impossible. The history which occasioned and induced these words, I know you know. The Holy Ghost by Moses hath expressed plainly, and your meditations have paraphrased to yourselves this history, that God appeared to Abraham, in the plain of lIamre, in the persons of three men; three men so glorious, as that Abraham gave them a great respect: that Abraham spoke to those three as to one person: that he exhibited all offices of humanity and hospitality unto them: that after they had executed the first part of their commission, which was to ratify, and to reduce to a more certainty of rime, the promise of Isaac, and consequently of the iXlessiah, though Abraham and Sarah were past hope in one another; that they imparted to Abraham, upon their departure, the indignation that God had conceived against the sins of Sodom, and consequently the imminent destruction of that city; I Luke xi. 12.

sm. XL.] PREACHV OS TmTV SVSVAV. 207 that this awakened Abraham's compsion, and put zeal, and vehemence; for, ail the while, he is said, to u.t Mm tat spore to Mm , and yet, now it rew near , he came up close to God, and he says, Peradventure, (I ara hOt sure of it) but peradventure, there my be some righteous in the city, and if there should be so, it should be absolutely unjust to destroy flem; but, since it may be so, it to corne to a present execution; Abst a tatfarfrom t; an he repeats it twice; and upon the reason in our text,,çhall hot the Jdye of all the earth do riyht? Firut then, the person who is the Jud9e of all the earth, submits us to a necessity of seeking, who it and so, who they were that appeared to him: whether they were three men, or three angels, or two angels, and the third, to whom Abrahalu especially addressed himself, were Christ: or whether in these three persons, whatsoever they were, there were any intimation, any insinuation ven, or any apprehension taken by Abraham, of the tllree blesoed Persons of the glorious Trinity. A nd then, in the second part, in the expostulation itselt we shall see, first, the descent, and easiness of God, that he vouchmfes to adlnit an expostulation, an admonition from his servant, he content that Abraham remember him of his office: and the expostulation lies in this, that he is a Judge, and shall hot a jt«dye do riyht? But more in this, that he is Jge OE all the earth, and, if he do wmng, there is no appeal from hiln, and sh«ll not tke «e of all the earth do rçqht? And from thence we shall fall upon this consideration, what was that rqht, which Abraham prises upoll God here: and we hall find it twofold: for, first, he thinks it unjust, that God should wrap up just and unjust, righteous and unrighteous, all in one condemnation, in one destruction, Absit, Be thi»farfrom God: and then, he bath a farther aire than that, that God for the righteouç sake, should spare the unrighteous, and so forbear the wllole city. And though this Judge of the whole earth, might bave done right, though he had destroyed the lnost righteous peinons amongst them, much more, though he had hot spared the unrighteous, for the righteou2 ake, yet we shall see at last, the abundant lneure oi" God's overflowing  Ver. 22.  Ver. 23.

mercy to bave declared itself so far, as if there had been any rihteous, he had spared the whole city. Out parts then are but two: but two such, as are high parts, and yet growing rich, and yet improving, so fr, as that the rst is above man, and the extent of his tesson, the mystery of the Trluity and the other is above God so, as that it is above all his works, the innlteness of his mercy. To corne to the several branches of these two main parts, rst, in the first, we sk,  n r, Vhether these three tht appered to Abraham, xvere men or no. Now, between Abralmms apprehension, who xv flfis done, and ours, who know it xvas donc, because we read it here in Mosess relation, here is  great differencc. Moses who informs us now, what was done then, says expressly, ],paruit Domhus, Th Lord, apTeared`, and therefore we know they were more than ordinary men; but when Moses tells us hoxv Abraham appreheded it, Ecce t'es r, IIe 1 q his ees, and he sa« three en, he ok them to be but men, and therefore exhibited to them ail offices of humanity and eourtesy: where we note also, that even by the saints of Ood, civil beha.viour, and fait language is eonveniently exereised: lnan does not therefore lnn ill, beeause he speaks well:  man lnust hot therefore ho suspeeted to perforln nothing, beeause he promises mueh: sueh phrases of humility, and diminution, and undervaluing ofhimself, as David uttel to Saul; sueh phrases of magnifying, and glorifying the prinee, as Daniel uses fo the king, pel'ehalee no seeular tol'y, perehanee no modern eour will afford; neither shall you find in those plaees, more of that whieh we ell compliment, tllan in Abigail's aeeess fo David, in the behalf of her foolish husband', wllell sll cornes to intereede for him, and to deçreeate his thult. Harshness, and morosity in behaviour, rustieity, and eoarseness oflanguage, are no arguments in themselves, of a plain, and a direet lneaning, and of  simple hea.rt. Abraham was an hundred years old, and tht might, in the general, indispose him; and it was soon after his eireulneision, whieh also might be a partieular disabling; he was sittin 9 still, and so not only enjoying his bodily ease, but his meditation, (for his eyes xvere eas down) bu as soon as he 1oE ul» hie eee, and had occasion presented him to do a courtesy, for ail his age, and infirmity, and possession of test, he runs to them, and he bous himself to them, and salutes them, with words hot only of courtesy, but of reverence: Explorat itinera, says St. Ambrose, He searches and inquires into their journey, that he might direct them, or accompany, or ccommodate them; Adest mon uwrentibus, He prevents them, and offers belote they ask; JaTitprwterffressuros, When they pretended to go farther, he forced them, by the irresistible violence of courtesy, to stay with them, and he calls them, (or one amongst them) Dominum, Zord, and professes himself their ervant. But Abraham did hot determine his courtesy in words, and no more: we must not think, that because only man of ail creatures can speak, that therefore the only duty of man is to speak; fair apparel makes some show in a vm'drobe, but hOt half so good as when it is upon a body: fait language does ever well, but never so well as when it apparels a real courtes3,: Abraham entreated them fait, and entertained them well: he spoke kindly, and kindly performed ail offices of ease, and refocillation to these wayfaring strangers. Now here is out copy, but who writes after this copy. Abraharo is pater mMtitudinis a father of large posterity, but he is dead without issue, or his race is failed; for, who bath this hcspital care of relieving distressed persons now. Thou seest a needy person, and thou turnest away thine eye: but it is the pqnce of darkness that casts this mist upon thee; thou stoppest thy nose at lais sores, but they are thine own incompassionate bowels that stink within thee; thou tellest him, he troubles thee, and thinkest thou hast chidden him into a silence.; but he whispers still to God, and shall trouble thee worse at last, when he shall tell thee, in the mouth of Christ Jesus, I was hugry and ye fed me hot: still thou sayest to the poor, I bave not for you, when God knows, a great part of that which thou hast, thou hast for them, if thou wouldst exocute God's commission, and dispense it accordingly, as God hath ruade thee his steward for the poor. Gi'e really, and give gently; do kindly, and speak kindly too, for that is bread and honey. Abraham then took these for men, and offered courtesies proper for men: for though he called him, to whom he spoke, Dominum, VOL. 1I. P

2]0 PREAC'ED 0.' TIIN|T r SUNDAYo or, yet it is hot that name of the Lord, which implies divinity, it is hOt Jehowh, but onai; it is the sme naine, and the sme word, which his wife Sarah, after, gives hhn. And Ma Malen when she was at Christ's sepulchre , speaks of Christ, and speaks to the gardener (as she though 0 in one and the saine word: Tulerun Dominum, she says of Christ, Tey aken away my Lord, and to the gardener she says, Domin, susulisti: fin" «ftoç, which is the word in both plac, was but a naine of civil oeurtesy, and is well enouh translated by out men, in that latter place,,ir, sir, f you are take im aw/, kc. Abraham then, at their first appearing, had no evidence that they were other than men  but we bave; for that place of the apostle, Be no for9eoEul to entertaln tranger, for thereby ome bave entertained a»çol» unaware» , bath evermore, by ail expositors, had reference to this oetion of Abraham's; which proves both these first branches, that he knew it hOt, and that they vere angds. The apostle's principal purpe there is, to reeomlnend to us hospitality, but limited to sueh hospitality as night in likelihood, or in possibility, be an occasion of entertaining angds, that is, of angelicl men, good and holy men. Hospitality is a virtue, more rommended by the writers in the primitive church, thon any other viue: but upon this reason, That the poor flock of Christ Jesus, being by persecution then scattered Ul)Ot the face of the earth, men were nessarily tobe exeited, with much vehemence, to suecour and rdieve them, and to reive them into their bouses, as they travelled. Tertullian says well, That the whole church of God is one househohl: he says, every particular church is Eccle»ia apo»tolica, quia soboles apostolicarum, An apostolical church, if it be an offspring of the apostolical churches: he does rot say, Quia soboles apotolicw, Because that church is the offspring of the apostdieal church, as though there were but one such, whieh must be the mother of all: for, says he, Omnes primw, et omnes apostolicw, Every church is a supreme church, and every church is an stolical church, Du» omws unam probant unitatem, As long they agree in the unitv of that doctrine which the apostles taught, and adhere to the supreme head of the whole church, Christ  J«,hn x. « lleb. xiii. 2-

Jesus. Which St. Cyprian expresses more clearly, nus et, The whole church is but one bishopric, in »oldm ¥«;'» teet;', Every bishop is bishop of the whole cburch, and no one more than another. The church then was, and should be, as one household; and in this household, says Tertullian there, there was first Cmm»cat/(wi, A peaceable disposition, a charitable interpretation ofone another's actions: and then there was AIIellatiofrateriati, says he; That if they differ in some things, yet they esteemed themselves sons of ono Father, of God, and by one mother, the Catholie church, and did hot break the bantl of brotherhood, nor separate from one another tbr every difl'erence in opinion  and lastly, says he, there was Contesseratio ho¢loitalitatis, A waxrant for their reception and entertainment in one another's bouses, wheresoever they traveiled. Now, because for the benefit and advantage of this case, and accommodation in travelling, men counterfeited themselves to be Christiaas that were hot, the Council of Nice ruade such provision as,cas possible; (though that also were deluded ai'ter) which was, that there should be Literw formatæ, (as they called them) Certain testimonial letters, subscribed with four characters, denoting Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and those letters ahould be contesseratio hOSlpitalitatis, a warrant tbr their entertainment wheresoever they came. Still there was a tare of hospitality, but such, as angels, that is, angelical, good and religious men, and truly Christlans, might be received. Beloved, baptism in the naine of the Father, Sou, and Holy Ghost, is this contesseration; ail that are truly baptized are of this household, and should be relieved and received: but certainly there is a race that bave hot this contesseration, hot these testimonial letters, hOt this outward baptism: anaongst those herds of vagabonds, and incorrigible rogues, that fill porches, and barns in the country, a very great part of them was never baptized: people of a promiseuous generation, and of a mischievous edueation; ill brought into the world, and never brought into the church. ]No man receives an angel unawares, for receiving or harbouring any of these  neither have these any interest in the household of God, for they bave hot their first contesseration: and as there are sis which wo are hot bid to ]oral/for, so there are beggars P 2 which we are hot hid to ve to. God appeared by angels in the Old Testament, and he appears bv angels in the New, in his messengers, in his ministers, in his servants: and that hospitality, and those feasts which caunot receive such angels, those ministers and messengers of God, where hy reason of excess and drunkenness, hy reason of scurril and licentious discourse, hy reason of wanton and unchaste provocations, by reason of execrable and hlasphemous oaths these angels of God cannot he present, but they must either off'end the compauy hy reprehension, or prevaricate and hetray the cause of God hy their silence, this is hot Abraham's hospitality, whose commendation was, that he received an.qe.¢. Those angels came, and stood before Abraham, but till he lift q bi» eyes, and tan fortk to tem, they came hot to him: the anels of the Gospel eome within their distance, but if vou will hOt reeeive them, they ean break open no doors, nor save you against your will: the angel does, as he that sends him,,5'rand af the door, and knock, if the door be opened, ke cornes in, and sups with him; VChat gets he by that.  this; He SUlS witk me too, says Christ there; he brings his dish with him; he feeds his host, more than his host himn. This is true hospitality, and entertainment of angels, both when thou feedest Christ, in his poor members abroad, or when thou feedest thine own soul at home, with the eompany and conversation of true and religious Christians at thy table, for these are angels. Abraham then, took these three for men, and no more, when as they were angels: but were they all angels, and no more . was hot that one, to whom more particularly Abraham addressed himself, and called him Lord, the Son of God, Christ Jesus.  This very many, very learned amongst the ancients, did hot only ask bv way of problem, and disputation, but affirm doctrinally, by way of resolution. Irenoeus thought it, and expressed it so elegantly, as it is almost pity, if it be not true; Inseminatus est bique in 8cripturis, l«ilius Dei, says he: The Son of God is sowed in every furrow, in every place of the Scripture, you may see him grow up; and he gives an example out of this place, Cure Abraham loquens, cum Abraham comesurus, Christ talked; Rev. iii. 20.

s.a. xL.] VnECHEO ON IT" SVN». 213 with Abraham, and he dined with him. And they will say, that whereas itis said in that place to the Hebrews, Tat Abraara recelved angel», the word angel must hot be too precisely taken: for sometimes, anel in the Scriptures, signifies less thau angel, (as John, and Ma|achi are called aels)and sometimes ael signifies more than angel, as Christ himself is called, the Ayel of the yreat co[acil , according fo the Septuagint: so therefore they will say, That thouh Christ were there, Christ himselï might be called so, aa A»yel; or it may be justly said by St. Paul, that Abrahara dld recelve a:.(]el», hecause there were two, that were, without question, angels. This led Hilary fo a direct, and a present resolution, that Abraham saw Christ, and to exclaim gratulatorily in his behalf, Qz«ata ride vis, «t i» ldiscr«ta assisteutium sTecle, Christm izt«rosceret! Vhat a perspicacy had Abraham's faith, who, where they were ail alike, could disceru one to be al)ove them all! lIake this then the question, whether Christ ever appeared fo men upon earth, hefore his incarnation; and the Scriptures not determining this question at al], if the fathers shall be callcd to judge it, it will still be a perplexed case, for they will be equal in number, and in weiht. St. Auustine (who is one of them that deny it) says iïrst, for the general, the greatest work of all, the promulgation of the law, was done by angels alone, without concurrence of the Son; and for this particulari says he, concerning Ahraham, they who thinl that Christ appeared to Abraham, ground themselves but upon this reason, that Ahraham speaks to ail, in the sinular numl)er, as to one perso; And then, says that father, they may also ol)serve, that when this one Person, whom they conclude to he Christ, was departed from the other two, and that the other two went up to Sodom, there Lot speals to those two, in the singular numher, as to one person , as Abraham did hefore. From this argumentation of St. Augustine's, this may well he raised, that when the Scriptures may be interpreted, and God's actions well understood, by an ordinary way, if is never necessary, seldom safe to induce an extraordinary. It was then an ordinary, and familiar way for God, to proceed with those his servants by angels; but by Iris Son, so extraor-  Isalah i.  Gen. xix.

3 PIEA.CHED ON "/I'I'IY SUNDA.Yo [SERo "XLo dinary, as that it is not clear, that ever it was done; and therefore it needs hot be said, nor admitted in this place. In this place, this falls properly to be noted, that even in these three glorious angels of God, there was an eminent difference one of them seemed to Abraham, to be the principal man in the commission, and to that one, he addressed hlmself. Amongst the other ange]s, which are the ministers in God»s church, one may have better abilities, better faculties than another, and it no error, no weakness in  man to desire to confer with one rather thar with another, or to hear one rather than another. But Abraham did hot so apply himself to one of the three, that he neglected the other two: no man must be so cherished, so followed, as that any other be thereby either defrauded of their due maintenance, or disheartened for want of due encouragement. We have not the greatest use of the greatest stars; but we have more beneflt of the moon, which is less than they, because she is nearer to ns. It is not the depth, nor the wit, nor the eloquence of the preacher that pierces us, but his nearness; tbat he speaks to my conscience, as thouh he had been bebind the hangings when I sinned, and as thouh he had read the book of the day of jndgment alrea.dy. Somethin Abraham saw in this ange] above the test, which drew him, which Moses does hot express; somethin a man finds in one preacher above another, which he cannot express, and he may very ]awfully make his sl)iritual benefit of that, so that tlat be no occasion of neg|ecting due respects to others. This bein then thus fixed, that Abraham received them as men, that they were in truth no other than ange]s, there remains, for the shuttin np of this part, this consideration, whether after Abraham came to the knowledge that they were angels, he apprehended hot an intimation of the three Persons of the Trinity, by these three angels. Vhether Godes appearing to Abraham (which Moses speaks of in the first verse)were rnanifested to him, when Sarah lauhed in hersclf , and yet they knew that she laughed; or whether it were manifested, when they imparted their purpose, concerning Sodom'; (for in both these places, they are ealled neither men nor angels, but by that naine, te o Ver. 13.  m Ver. 17.

Zord, and that Lord which is Jehovah) whether, I say, when Abraham discerned them to be such Angels, as God appeared in them, and spoke and wrought by them, whether then, as he discerned the divinity, he discerned the Trinity in them too, is the question. I know the explicit doctrine of the Trinity was hot easy to be apprehended then; as it is hot easy to be expressed now. It is a bold thing in servants, fo inquire curiously into their maer's pedigree, whether he be well descendcd, or wcll allied: it is a ld thing too, to inquire too curiously into the eternal generation of Christ Jesus, or the eternal pression of the HolyGhost. Vhen Gregory Nazianzen was pressed by one to assign a difference between those words, beyotten, and proceedfny, Dic tu iM, says he, q«id sit yen'atio, et ego dicam tibi, quid sit r,do, ut ambo inaaniamua: Do thou tell me, what this beffe& tinff is, and then I will tell thee, what this prediny is; and all the world will find us both mad, for going about fo express inexpressible things. And as every manner of phrase in expressing, or e'ery eomparison, does hot manifest the Trinity; so every place of Seripture, whieh the fathers, and later men bave ap#ied to that purpose, does hot prove the Trinity. And therefore, those men in the ehureh, who have eried do that way of proeeeding, to go about to prove the Trinity, out of the first words of Genesis, Creavit Dii, That bause God in the plural is there joined fo a verb in the singular, therefore there is a Tl'inity in unity; or fo prove the Trinity out of this place, that beeause God, who is but one, appeared fo Abraham in three Persons, therefore there are three Persons in the Godhead; the men, I say, who bave eried down sueh manner of arguments, bave reason on their side, when these arments are emp]oyed against the Jews, for, for the most part, the Jews tmve pertinent, and sueicnt answers to those arguments. But yet, between them, who make this place, a distinct, and a literM, and a eone]uding argument, to prove the Trinity, and them who ery out a#nst it, that it bath no relation to the Trinity, out ehuoeh bath gone a middle, and  moderate way, when by appointing this Seripture for this day, when we eelebrate the Trinity, it deelares that to us, who bave been baptized, and eateehised in the naine and faith of tho Trinity, it is a refrcshing, it is a chcrishing, it is an awakening of that former knowledgc hich wc had er thc Trinity, to hear tt our only od th manifest mse to Abraham in three Persons. Luther ys we upon is text, If thcre werc no other prf of the Tnity but this, I should hot believc thc Trinity; but yet says he, This is igu[ar tionium Je articu[o Trlnitis, Though it be not  concluding arment, yet it is a great testimony of the Trinity. Fateor, says he, istorico sensu niMl concludiprwter opitalitatem, I confess, in the literal sense, therc is notng but  recommendation of hospitality, and therefore, to the Jews, I would urgc no more out of this place: Sed non sic agendum cure auditoribu, ac cure adrersarii, We must hot pr eeed alike with friends and 5th enemies. There aoe plaees of Scriptures for direet proofs, and there are plaees to exereise our meditation, and devotion in things, for whieh we need hot, nor ask hot any new proof. And for exercise, says Luther, Rudi lçqno ad formam yladii ntimur, We content ourselves with a foil, or with a stick, and we require hot a sharp ord. To eut off the enemies of the Trinity, we bave twedged swords, that is, undeniable arguments: but to exereise our o devotions, we are content -ith similitudinary, and comparative remous. He psues it faher, to go use: the story doth not teach us, that Sarah is the Chriatian church, and Hagar the synayaue; but St. Paul proves that, fmm that stoo-ffi  he proves it from thenee, though he call it but an allçqory. It is true that St. Austine says, Figura nihil probat, A figure, an allegory prores nothing; yet, says he, Addit lem, et ornat, It makes that which is true in itself, more evident and more acceptable. And therefom it is  lovely and a religious thing, to find out veiyia Trinitatis, impressions of the Trinity, in as many things as we tan; and it is a reveoent obedienee to embrace the wisdom of our ehureh, in renewing the Trinity to out eontemplation, by the reading of this Seripture, this das, for, even out of this Seripture, Philo Judoeus, (althouEh he knew hot the true Trity aright) found a threefold manifestation of God to man, in this aparing of God to Abraham: for,  he is called in this story, Jehovah, he eonsiders him, Fontem essentiw, To be the fountaiu fiER. XL.] PI1EACHED ON TRINITY fiUNDAY. 217 of ail being; as he is ealled Deus, God, he considers him, in the administration of his ereatures, in his providence; as he is ealled Dominus, Lord, and King, he considcrs him in the judgrnent, glorifying, and rejecting aecording to their merits: so, though he round hOt a Trinity of Persons, he round a Trinity of actions in the Text, ereation, providence, and judgment. If he, who knew no Trinity, could find one, shall hOt we, who know the truc one, meditate the more effectually upon that, by occasion of this story . Let us therefore, with St. Bernard, consider Trinitatem creatrlcem, and Trinitatem creatam, A creating, and a created Trinity; a trinity, which the Trinity in heaven, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, hath created in our souls, reason, lnemory, and will; and that we bave super-created, added another trinity, suggestion, and consent, and delight in sin: and that God, after ail this infuses another trinity, faith, hope, and charity, by which we return to our first; for so far, that father of meditation, St. Bernard, carries this considertion of the Trinity. Since therefore the confession of  Trinity is that which distinguishes us from Jews, and Turks, and all other professions, let us diseeru that bem of the Trinity, which the church hath showed us, in this text, and with the -ords of the chureh, conclude this part, 0 bob.l, ble88eà, and yloriou8 Trlnity, tkree Per8on8, and one God, hare merc.l u]oon ts, miserable sinners. We are deseended nov to our second part, what passed between God and Abraham, after he had thus maniïested hilnself unto him; where we noted first, that God admits, even expostulation, from his servants; almost rebukes and chidings ïroln his servants. We need not wonder at Job's humility TM, that he did not despise his man, nor his nmid, when they eontended with him, for Goal does hot despise that in us. God would have gone ri'oto Jacob when he wre8tleà, and Jacob eould hot let him 9o , and that prevailid with God. If ve hare an apprehension when we begin to pray, that God doth not hear us, not regard us, God is content that in the ïervour of that prayer, we say with David, Eei.qila Domine, and 8ur9e Domine, Awake 0 Lord, and.4fise 0 Lord; God is content to be told, that he was in bed, and asleep, when he shou]d hear us. If we bave hot  present deliverance ri'oto  Job xxxi. 13. . Gen. xx.xil, 26, out enemies, God is content that we proceed with David, Erips raanura de sinu, Pluck out ty .ad eut of ty tmsom; God is content fo be told, that he is slack and dilatory when he should deliver us. If we bave hot the sarne estimation in the world, that the children of this world bave, God is content that we sav with Arnos, Pauperera pro caIceamentis, that 15é are sold for a pair of hoes*'; and with St. Paul, that lVe are the off-s¢ourin 9 of the world: God is content to be told, that he is unthrifty, and prodigal of his servants" lires, and honours, and fortunes. Now, Offer this fo one of your prince,, says the prophet, and ee whether he will take it. Bring a petition to any earthly prince, and say to hirn, ErOila, and ur9e, XVould vaut rnajesty would awake, and read thts petition, and sa insirnulate hirn of a former drowsiness in his governrnent; say unto hirn, Eriye manum, Pull thv hand out of thy bosorn, and exeeute justice, and sa insirnulate hirn of a former rnanaeling and slurnbering of the laws; sav unto hirn, We are becorne as old shoes, and as ofl=seourings, and sa insirnulate hirn of a diminution, and dis-estimation fallen upon the nation by hirn, what prince would hOt (and justly) eoneeive an indignation against sueh a petitioner. whieh of us that heard him, would hOt pronounee hirn to be mail, to rase hirn of a heavier irnputation. And vet our long-suffering, and out patient God, (rnust we say, out humble and obedient God .) endures all this: he endures more; for when Abraharn carne to this expostulation, 8all sot the Jud.«e o.f all tbe earth da ri.qht? God had said nec'er a word, of any purpose fo destroy Sodom, but be said only. He would.qo ser, wtether thé. had doae aItoffether, accordeoEa to that er.u, whech,cas came up a.oainst them; and Abraharn cornes presentlv to this vehemeney: and might hot the supreme Ordinary, Goal hirnself, go this visitation! rnight hot the suprerne Judge, God himself, go this circuit.  But as long as Abraharn kept hirnself upon this foundation, It is impossible, tkat the Jud.ae o.f all tke earth skouM hot da right, God mis-interpreted nothing at Abraham's hand. but reeei'ed even his expostulations, and heard hirn out, to the sixth petition. Almost such an expostulation as this, Moses uses towar&s God; he aaks God a reason of his anger, Zord. why doth tky a» Amas il. 6.

,zax Iwt ayast hy people«. tte tells him a reason, why he should hOt do so, For thou hatt brought them forth with a yreat power, and u'ith a mighty hand: and he tells them the inconveniences that might follow, The Egyptlane wili eay, He brou.oht thém out for mischief, to slay them in the nountain: he imputes even pe]Ul T to God hilnself, and brech of covenant, to Abrahanl, Isaac, and Jacob, whieh were feoffees in trust, between God and his people, and he says, Tkote eu'eareet to them, t thine own self, that thou wouldeet hot deai thte with them; and therefore he coucludes all with that vehemence, T«rn from tky fierce wratk, and repent tkls evii purpose againt tkem. But we find a prayer, or expostulation, of much more exorbitant vehemence, in the stories ofthe Roman church, towards the blessed Virgin, (towards whotn they use to be more mannerly aud respective than towards ber Son, or his Father) when at a siege of Constantinople, they came to her statue, with this protestation, Look you to the drowning of out enemies' ships, or we will drown you:,S'i ris ut ima.qinem tuam non neryamue in nari, ter.qe illoe. The farthest that Abraham goes in this place, is, that God is  Judge, and therefore must do riyht: for, Far be wickedneee from God, and iniquity from the Almight; eurel God wili hot do wickedl!t, neither wili the Almlyhtff perrert judment . An usurer, an extortioner, an oppressor, a libeller, a tllief, and adulterer, yea a traitor, makes shift to find some excuse, some flattery to his eonseienee; they say to themselves, The ]aw is open, and if any be grieved, they may take their remedy, and I must endure it, and there is an end. But, since nothing holds of this oppressor, and nlanifold malefactor, but the sentence of the Judge, shall hot the Judge do right. how must this necessarily shake the frame of all. An arbitrator or a chancellor, that judges by submission of parties, or according to the dictates of his own understanding, may bave some excuse, he did as his conscience led him: but shall hot a j«dye, that hath a certain law to judge by, do riyht? especially it he be such a judge, as is Judye of tke whole earth? which is the next step in Abraham's expostulation. Now, as long as there lies a certiorari from  higher court, or an appeal to an higher court, the case is hot so desperate, if the e Exod. xxxii. 11.  Job xxxii. 10.

judge do hot right, for there is a future remedy to be hoped: if the whole state be incensed against me, yet I can find an escape to another country; if al] the world persecute me, yet, if I be an honest man, I bave a supreme court in myselt', and I ara at peace, in being acluitted in mine o,,m conscience. But God is the Jude of ail the earth; of this which I tread, and this earth which I carry about me; and when he udges me, my conscience turns on his side, and confesses his udgment to be riht. And therefore St. Paul's affinent, seconds, and ratifies Abraham's expostulation; Is God nriyhteous? God forbid; for then, says the apostle, how hall Godjudpe tle world'? The pope may err, but then a council may rectify him: the king may err; but then, God, in whose hands the king's heart is, can rectify him. But if God, that judges ail the earth, judge thee, there is no error to be asied in his judgment, no appeal from God hot thoroughly informed, to God better informed, for he always knows ail cridente, belote it lac given. And therefore the larger the jurisdiction, and the higher the court is, the more careful ought the judge to be of wrong jttdgment; for Abraham's exposttdation reaches in a measure to them,,çhall tot the Judpe of ail (or of a great part of the earth) do rlylt? 'ow what is the wrong, which Abraham dissualed, and deprecated here . first, zVejuti curn imloiis, That Goal would hot destroy the just with the tmjust, hot make both their cases alike. This is an injustice, xvhich never any bloody mên upon earth, but those, who exceeded all; lu their infamous purposes, the authors, and actors in the powder trêason, did ever delilaerately and advisedly, upon debate whether it shotdd be so, or no, resolve, that ail of both religions should perish promiscuously in the blowing up of that bouse. Here the devil wotdd be God's ape; and as God had presented to St. Peter, a sheet of ail sorts of creatttres, clean and unclean, and bade him take his choice, kil] and eat; so the devil would make St. Peter, in his imaginary saccessor, or his instruments, present God a sacrifice of clean and unclean, catholics and heretics, (in their denomination) and bid him take his choice; which action, whosoever forgets so, as that he forgets what,vas intended in it, forgets his religion, and * t{om. ii£ 6.

whosoever forgets it so, as that he forgets vhat they would do again, if they had power, forgets his reason. But this is hot the way of God»s justice; God is a God of harmony, and consent, and in a musical in»trument, if some strings be out of tune,,ve do hot presently break ail the strings, but reduce and tune those, which are out of tnne. As gold whilst it is in the mine, in the bowels of the earth, is good for nothing, and when it is out, and beaten to the thinness of leaf-gold, it is wasted, aud blown way, and quickly cornes to nothing; but when it is tempered with such Mloy, as it may reccive a stamp and impression, then it is current and useful: so whilst Godes justice lies in the bowels of his own decree and purpose, and is hot executed at ail, we take no knowledge that there is any such thing; and when God»s justice is dilated to such an expausion, as it oveflows all alike, whole armies with the sword, vhole cities with the plague, whole countries with famine, oftentimes we lose the consideratiou of God's justice, and fMI upon some natural causes, because the calamity is fallen so indirferently upon just and unjust, as that, we think, it could not be the act of God: but when God's justice is so alloyed with his wisdom, as that we see he keeps a Goshen in ETt, and saves his servants in the destruction of his enemies, then we corne to a rich and profitable use of his justice. And therefore Abraham presses this, with that vehement word, Chalilah, absit: Abraham serres a prohibition upon God, as St. Peter would have done upon Christ, when he was going up to Jerusalem to surfer, Absit, says he, Thott salt hot do this. But the word signifies more properly Trophanatiocem, polb«tionem: Abraham intends, that God should know, that it would be a profaning of his holy honour, and an occasion of having his naine blasphemed amongst the nations, if God should proceed so, as to wrap up just and unjust, righteous and unrighteous, all in one condemnation, and one execution; Absit, Be this./àr from thee. But Abraham's zeal extended farther than this; his desire and his hope was, that for the righteous' sake, the unrighteous might be spared, aud reserved to a time of repentance. This therefore ministers a provocation to every man, to be as good as he can, hot only for his own sake, but for others too. This ruade St.

Ambrose say, Qant muru patriw, vlr bonus: An hone and eligio man, is  wall to  whole city,  se fo  whole island. Vhen our Saour Christ observed, that they would press him with that proverb, 3ledice, cura teipum, Pysician, eal tyse , we sec there, that himselfwas hot his person, but his country was himself; for that is it that they intend by that proverb, tAal thyse take care of them tt are near thee, do that which thou doest here h Capernaum, at home; preach these serinons there; do the miracles there; cure thy country, and that is curing thysel£ Lire so, that thy example may be a precedent to others; lire so, that for thy sake, God may spare others; and then, and hot till then, thou hast donc thy duty. God spar sometimes, ob commixtiowm tçuinis, for kindred's sake, and for alliance; and therefore it behoves us  mke tare of out alliances, and planting our chilien in relious familles. How many judents do we escape, because we are tho se of Abraham, and ruade paakers of the covenant, which the Gentiles, who are hot so, are ovehelmed under God spares sometimes, ob cohabitatiowm, for good neighbourhood; he will not bring the tire near a good man's hoe: as here, in our text, ho would bave donc in Sodom, and  he did save many, only because they were in the me ship with St. Paul 'c. And therefore,  in the other religion, the Jews have streets of their own, and the stews have streets of their own; so let us choose to make out dwellings, and out conversation of out own, and hot aflbct the neighbourhoed, nor the con]merce of them who aoe of evil communication. Be good then, that thou mayest communicate thy goedness to others; and consooE with the good, that thou mavest participate of their goodness. Omnis sai« ulti  rede»tio, is excellently said by Philo, A wise man is the saviour and reedemer of a fool; and, ( the saine man ys)though a physician when he is called, discern that the patient cannot be recovered, yet he will prefibe something, A% ob us eyliyentiam «iiss« videatur, Lest the world should thi he died by his neghgence; how incurable, how incorrible soever the world be, be thou a religious honest man, lest some child in thv hou, or some seant of thine be damned, which might have been ved, if fltou hadst given goed » Le iv. 23.  Acts x.

examp]e. God's ordinary way is to save man by man; and Abraham thought it hot out of God's way, to save man for man, to save the tmjust for the juS, the uurighteous, for the righteous" 8ke. But if God do uot ake this way, if he do wmp up the jus nd the tmjttst in the saine judgment, is God therefore unjust $ God forbid. All thinys com alik to all, says Solomon; on eret fo the riyhteou», azd to th wicked, to the clean, and to th nclean, to im tkat »acr(ceth, and fo hiz tkat sacrificeth ot  as i» tke yood, so i» th sinner, md he tkat »wearth, as he tat areth an oath ". Tere i o eent of ail, says he; but, says he, Thi is az evil, that it is so: but xvhat kind of evil  an evil of vexation; becattse the weak are sometimes scandalized that it la so, and the glo of God seems for  time to be obscured, when it is so, because the good are hot discerned from the evil. But yet God, who knows best how to repair his own honottr, suffers it, nay appoints it to be so, that just and unjust are wrapped up in the saine judgment. The corn is as much beaten in the threshing, as the straw is; the just are  much punished here as the tmjust. Because Goal of his infinite gooduess, bath elect me from the begiuning, therefore must he provide that I have another manner of birth, or another manner of death, than the reprobate bave  Must ho provide, that I be born into tho world, withottt original sin, of a virgin, as his Sou was, or that I go out of the wofld, by being takeu away, as Enoch was, or as Elias $ And though we bave that one example of aueh a coming into the xvorld, and a few examples of such a going out of the world, yet we have no example (hOt in the Sou of God himself) of pmsing through this wofld, without taking part of the miseries and calamities of the world, common to just and unjust, to the righteous and unrighteous. If Abraham therefore should bave intended only temporal degruction, his argument might have been defective: for Ezekiel, and Daniel, and other just men, were carried into captivity, as well as the unjust, and yet God is hOt unrighteous; God does it, and avows it, and profses at he will do it, and do it jusfly; Oc¢idam in te jutum t injustum, I u'ill cut off the riyhteou and nriyhteou togeter ". There is no man ao righteous, upon whom s Eccles. ix. 2. « Ezek. x. 3.

God migllt hot justly inflict as heavy judgments, in tllis world, as upon the most unrighteous; tllough he llave wrapped llinl in the righteousness of Christ Jesus himself, for tlle next world, yet lle nmy justly wrap him up in any common calamity falling upon the unrighteous here. But the difference is only in spiritual destruction. Abrahaln migllt justly açprehend a fear, that a sudden and unprepared death might endanger them for their future state; and therefore he does hot pray, that they might be severed from that judgment, because, if they died with the unrighteous, tlley died as the unrighteous, if they passed the saine way as tlley, out of this world, they therefore passed into the saine stars as they, in tlle next world, Abrahalll could hOt conclude so, but because the best men do always need ail means of making them better, Abrahaln prays, that God would hot cut them off, by a sudden destruction, from a considering, and contelnplating the ways of his proceeding, and so a pl'eparing themselves to a willing and to a thankful embracing of any way, whieh they should so discern to be his way. The wicked are suddenly destroyed, and do not ses what lland is upon them, till that lland bury them in llell; tlle godly may dis as suddenly, but yet he sees and knows it to be the hand of God, and takes hold of that lland, and by itis carrried up to heaven. 1Now, if God be still just, though he punish the just with the unjust, iu this lire, nmch more nmy he be so, though he do hOt spare the unjust for the righteous" sake, which is the principal drift of Abraham's expostulation, or deprecation. God can preserve still, so as he did in Eg)Tt. God bath the sanie receipts, and the saine antidotes whicl1 he had, to repel the flames of burning furnaces, to bind or stupify the jaws of hungry lions, to blunt the edge of swords, and overflowing armies, as he had heretofore. Christ was invisible to his enelnies, when he would escape away'; and lle was impregnable to his enenlies, when in his manifestation of himself, (I ara e) they fell down before him; and he was invulnerable, and immortal to his enemies, as long as he would be so, for if he had not opened himself to their violence, no man could bave taken away his soul; and where God sees such deliverances conduce more to his honour than our suffering  John viiL,J; xviii. 6.

does, he wi|l deliver us so in tlae times of persecution. So that God bath another way, and he had another answer for Abrahaln'S petition; he might bave said, There is no iii construction, no hard conclusion to be made, if I shou|d take away the just with the unjust, neither is there any necessity, that I shouhl spare the wicked for the righteous: I can deætroy Sodom, and yet æave the r[ghteous; I can destroy the righteous, and yet make death an advantage to them; which way soever I take, I can do nothing unjustly. But yet, though God do hot bind himself to spare the wicked for the righteous, yet he descends to do so at Abraham's request. The jaw-bone of an ass, in the hand of Samson, was a devouring sword. The words of nmn, in the mouth of a faithful man, of Abrahanl, are a cannon against God himselï, and batter down all his severe and heavy purposes for judgments. Yet, this cornes not, God knows, out of the weight or force of our words, but out of the easiness of God. God puts himself into the way of a shot, he meets a weak prayer, and is graciously pleased to be wounded by that: God sers up a light, that we direct the shot upon him, he enlightens us with a knowledge, how, and when, and what to pray for; yea, God charges, and dischaa'ges the cannon himself upon himself; he fills us with good and religious thoughts, and appoints and leaves the Holy Ghost, to discharge thcm upon him, in prayer, for it is the Holy Ghost himself that prays in us. Mauzzim, which is, Te 9od of.forces ., is hot the naine of out God, but of an dol; out God is the God of peace, and of sweetness; spiitual peace, spiritual honey to out souls; his naine is Deus optimus maximus; he is both; lle is all greatness, but he is ail goodness first: he cornes to show his reatness at last, but yet his goodness begins his naine, and can never be worn out in lais nature. He made the whole world in six days, but he was seven in destroying one city, Jericho. God threatcns Adam, 12" tho eat that fruit, in tat day, 3Iorte morieris, Thou shalt die the death; here is a double death interminated in one day: now, only one of these deaths is spil'itual death, and Adam never died that death; and for the other death, the bodily death, whieh lnight have been executed that day, Adam was reprieved above nine hundred years. •  Dan. xi. 38. VOL, 1I. Q

) PREACHED ON TRINITY SUNDA'. [SER. XL- To lead ail to oui" present purpose, God's descending fo Abrahanfs petition, to spare the wieked for a few just. is first alld prineipally to advanee his merey, that sometimes in abundant merey, he does so; but it is also fo deelare, that there is none just and righteous. Run to and fro throuyh the etreets of Jertsalem, (says God in the prophet ') attd sed{" in tke broad plaees, If ye can flnd a man, if tbere be aay that executeth jud9ment, that seeketh truth, and I will pardon it. XVhere God does hot intimate, that he were unjust, if he did hot spare those that were unjust, but he deelares the general flood and inundation of unrighteousness upon earth, that npon earth there is hot a righteous nmn to be round. If God had gone no farther in his promise to man, than that, if there were one righteous man, he would save all, this, in effeet, had been nothing, for there was never any man riehteous, in that sense and acceptation; he promised and sent one who was absolutely righteous, and for his sake bath saved us. To eolleet ail, and bind up all in one bundle, and bring it home to your own bosoms, remember, that though he appeared in men, it was God that appeared to Abrahmn; though men preaeh, though men remit sins, though men absolve, God himseff speaks, and God works, and God seals in those men. I{enlember that nothing al,peared to Abraham's apprehension but men, yet angels were in bis l,resenee; though we bind 3"ou not to a neeessity of believing that every man hath a partieular angel to assist him, (enjoy your Chri.tian libeloEV in that, and think in that point so as you shall find vour derotion most exalted, by thinking that it is, or is hot so) yet know, that you do ail that you do, in the presenee of God's angels; and though it be in itself, and should be so to us, a stronger bridle, to eonsider that we do all in the presence of God, (who secs clearer than they, for he secs secret tboughts, an,l can strike immediate|y, which they cannot do, without commission ri'oto him) yet since the presence of a ma- strate, or a preacher, or a father, or a husband, keeps men often from ill actions, let this prevail something with thee, to that purpose, that the angels of God are always present, though thou discern them hOt. lemember, that though Christ himself were not amongst the three angels, yet Abraham apprehended a greater s» Jerem, v. 1,

8EI. XL.] PREACIIED ON TI?INITY 8UNDAY. dignity, and gave a greater respect to one than to the test; but yet without negleeting the rest too: apply thyelf to sueh ters of God, and sueh phyieians of thy soul, as thine owu conscience tells thee do most good upon thee; but yet let no partleular afl'eetion to one, defl'aud another in hi duriez, nor impair another in Iris estimation. And remember too, that though God's appenring thus in three persou, be no irrefmgble rgumeut to prove the Trinity aginst the.Iews, yet h is a eonvenient illustration of the Trhfity to thee that art a Chritinn: and therefore Ie hot too curions in earehhg reason, and demontrations of the Trhfity, but yet eeustom thyself to meditations upon the Trinity, in all occasions, and ind hnpresions of the Trinity, in the three faeultie of ttfine own son], thy re.son, thy vill, and thy memory; and eek a repartion of tht thy Trinity, by a ne Trinity, by fith in Christ Jeus, l»y hope of him, nd by  eharitblo delivering him to others, in  holy nd exemplar life. Deseend thon into thysel|; s Abraham aseended to God, nd adroit tlfine ovn expostulafions, s God did Iris. Let thine own conscience tell thee hot only thy open n«l evident rebellions aginst God, but even the mmoralities,.nd ineivilties that thon dost towards men, in scandalizing them, by fly sins; and the absurdities that thou eommittest against thyselï, in sinning against thine ovn reason; and the uncleannesses, and eonse«luently the treachery that thot eommittest against thie ovn body; and tlmu shalt see, that thou hadst been hot on]v in better ])eaee, but in better state, and I»etter health, and in better reputation, a better friend, and better eompany, if thou hadst sinncd less; beeause some of thy sins have been such as bave violated thc bad of friendship; and some sueh as have marie thy eompany and conversation dangerous, either for temptation, or af least for deïamation. Tell thyself that thou art thejudge, a Abraham told God that he was, and that if thou wilt judge thyself, thou shalt scape a severer judgment. He told God that he was judge of ail the earth; judge all that earth that thou art; judge both thy king.. dores, thy goul and thy body; judge all the provinces of both kingdom, all the senses of thy body, and all the facultie of thy oul, and thou shalt leave nothing for the last judoaaaent. Mingle hot the jtmt and the unjust together; God did hot so; do hot think good and bad ail one; do hot think alike of thy sins, and of thy good deeds, as though when God's grace had quickened them, still thy goed works were nothing, thy prayers nothing, thine altos nothing in the sight and acceptation of God: but yet spare not the wicked for the just, continue not in fly beloved sln, because thou makest God amends some other way. And when all is done, as in God towards Abraham, his mercy was above all, so after ail, liserere animw t«w, Be mercifid to thine own soul and when the effectual Spit'it of God hath spoken peace and coinfort, aud sealed a reconciliation to God, to thy soul, rest in that blessed peace, and enter iuto no such new judglnent with thyself again, as should ovcrcome thiue own mercy, with new distrac: tions, or new suspicions that thy repcntance was hot accepted, or God hot fidly reconciled unto thee. God, because ho judges all the earth, calmot do wrong; if thou judge thv earth and earthly affections so, as that thou examine clearly, and judge truly, thou dul'st not do right, if thou cxtend hot mercy to thyself, if thou receive hot, and apply hot cheerfuHy and confidently to thy soul, that pardon and remission of all thy sins, which the Holy Ghost, in that blessed state, hath given thee commission to pronounce to thine own soul, and to seal with his seal.

SERMON XLI. PtIE.4CHED.4T ST. DUVST.4V'S, UPOV TIIVITY SUVDAY, 1624. I[.TTHEW iii. lî. And lo, a voice came from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I ara well pleased. IT hath been the custom of the Chrlstian church to appropriate certain Scriptures to certain days, for the celebrating of certain mysteries of God, or the commemorating of certain benefits from God: they who consider the age of the Christian church, too high or too low, too soon or too late, either in the cradle, as it is exhibited lu the Acts of the Apostles, or bedrid-in the corruptions of Rome, cither before it,vas corne to any growtb, when persecutions nipped it, or when it was so overgrown, as that prosperity and outward splendour swelled it, they that consider the church so,,viii ne'er find a good measure to direct out religious worship of God by, for the outward liturgies, and ceremonies of the church. But as soon as the Cristian church had a constant establishment under Christian emperors, and before the church had her tympany of worldly prosperity under usurping bishops, in this outward service of God, there were particular Scriptures appropriated to particular days. Particular men bave not liked this that it should be so: and yet that church which they use to take for their pattern, (I mean Geneva) as soon as it came to bave any convenicnt establishment by the labours of that reverend man, wbo did so much in the rectifying thereof, admitted this custom of celebrating certain times, by the reading of certain Scriptures. So that in the pnre times of the church, without any question, and in the corrupter times of the church, without any infection, and in the reformed times of the church, without anv suspicion of backsliding, this custom bath becn retained, which out church bath retained; and according to which custom, these words bave been appropriated to this day, for the celebrating thereof, «1 ml lo, a voice came, &c. In which words we ha'e pregnant and just occasion fo consider, first, the necessity of the doctrine of the Triuity; secondly, the way and means by which we are to receive our knowledge and understandiug of this mystery; and thirdly, the measure of this knowledge, how nmch we are to know, or to inquire, in that unsearchable mystery: the qr«id, what it is; the q«omodv, how we are to learu it; and the q,at«m, how far we are to search into it, will be out three parts. We consider the first of these, the necessity of that knowledge to a Christian, by occasion of the first particle, in the text, and; a particle of connexion, and dependance; and we see by this connexion, and dependance, that this revealing, this manifestation of the Trinity, in the text, was marie presently after the baptism of Christ; and that intimates, and infers, that the first, and principal duty of him, who hath engraftetl hinself into the body of the Christian church, by baptism, is to inform himself of the Trinity, in vhose naine ho is baptizcd. Sccondly, in the means, by which this kuowledge of the Trinitv is to be derived to us, in those wo»ds, (Lo, a roi« camefrom Ite««re«, sæt.lilr.r/) we note the first word, to be a word of correction, and ot" direction; Ecce, bt»]told, leave your blindness, look up, shake off your stupidity, look one way or other; a Cristian must hot go ou implicitly, inconsideratly, ildiflhrently, he must look up, he must intend a calling: and then, evct again, bêlold, that is, behold the true way; a Christian must hot think he hath done cnough, if he have been studious, and diligent in findi,g the mysteries of religion, if he have hOt sought them the right way: first, there is an ecce c,rri.q«ttis, we are chidden, if we be lazy; and then, there is an écce diriyeutis, we are guided if we be doubtful. And from this, we fitll into the way itself; xvhich is, first, a eoice, there must be something heard; fol', take the largest sphere, and compass of ail other kinds of proofs, for the mysteries of religion, which can be proposed, take it first, at the first, and weakest kind of proof, at the book of creatures, (vhich is but a faint knowledge of (;od, in respect of that kuowledge, with which we must know him) and thon, continue this first way of knowledge, to the last, and powerfullest proof of ail, which is the power of miracles, hot this weak begi|ming, not this powel.fltl end, not this all,lta of creatures, not this omt,ya of miracles, tan imprint in us that knowledge, which is our saviug knowledge, nor any other means tllan a voice; fol" this kn,»wing is believing, al|d, ltow sltouM they bdiere, excel, t tltey Itt.a"  says the apostle. It must be fo.r, a :oice, and fox «le coulis, a roice from Itearen: for, we bave had roces de terra, voiees of men, who have indeed but diminished the dignity of the doctrine of the Trinity, by going about to prove it by human reason, or to illustrate it by weak and low comparisons; and we have had :oces de ioEèris, voices from the devil himself, in the mouths of many heretics, blasphentously imlmgning this doctrine; we have had voces de profttdis, voices fetched from the deptll of the malice of the devil, heretics; and eoces de medio, voices taken front the ordinary strength of moral men, philosophers; but this is :ox «le excelsis, only that voice that cornes front heaven, belongs to us in this mystery: and then lastly, it is roz dicets, a :ol« sayig, speklug, whieh i8 proper to man, for nothing speaks but man; itis God's voiee, but presented to us in the ministry of man; and this is our way; to behold, that is, to depart ri'oto out owu blindness, and to behold a way, thgt is showed us; buç showed us in the word, and iu the word of G, and in that word of God, preoehed by man. And fter all this, we shall cousider the mesure of this knowledge, in those last words, This is my belored S'on, i whom I ara well &ased; for, in that word, flaere is the person of the Father; in the Filius, there is the person of the Son; and in the hic est, tbis fs, there is the person of tho Holy Ghost, for that is the action of the Iloly Ghost, in that word, he is pointed at, who was newly baptized, and upon whom the Holy Ghost, in the Dove, was descendcd, and had tarried. But we shall take those words in their order, when we corne to them. First then, we noted the necessity of knowing the Triuity, fo be pregnntly intimted in the firs word, et, and: this connects it to the former part of the history, which is Chl'ist's baptism, and presently upon that baptism, this manifestation of the holy Trinity. Consider a man, as a Christian, his first element is baptism, and his next is catechism; and in Iris catechism, the first is, to believe a Father, Son, and Hdy Ghost. There are in this man, this Christian, tr natiritates, says St. Gregory, three births; one, per ffenerationem, so we are boru of out natural mother; one, per regenerationem, so we are born of our spiritual mother, the church, by baptism; and a third, per resu,'rectionem, and o we are born of the general mother of us all, when the earth shall be dclivered, hot of twins, but of millions, wheu she shall empty herself of ail ber children, in the rcsurrectiou. And these three nativities our Saviour Chri»t Jesus had; of which three, IIodie alter,b'alatoris atalis, says St. Augustine, This day is the duy of Christ's second birth, that is, of his baptism. Not that Christ needed any regeneration; but that it was hi abundant goednes, to sauctify in his person, and in his exemplar action, that element, which should be an instrument of our regeneration in baptism, the war, fbr ever. Even ip Christ himself, Honoratior secunda, says that fhther, The second birth, which ho had at his baptism, wa the more honourable bh; for, Ab ill« se, pater çui putabatr, Jose excusat, At his first bh'th, Joseph, hls reputed father, did hot avow him for his son; In se, Pater qi non pttabatur, inMnuat, At this his second God, who was hot known tobe his Father before, declares that now: ]bi laborabat susicioibus ater, 9uia professioni deerat ater, There the mother's honour w in question, Lccause Joseph could hot pro[.ss hhnse]f the father of the chlhi; Hic enetrix, 9uia Fili«m l)i'iitas protetatr, Here ber honour repaired, and manified, hecause the Godhead itse]f, proc]aims itself to be the Father. If then, Christ himself chose to adroit an addition of diynity his haptism, who had an ete'nal generation in heaven, and an innocent conception without sin, upon earth, let us hot undervalue that disnity, whi«h is afforded us by baptism, thoth out children be born within the coçenant by being born of Christian i,arents fl)r the covemnt gives them jus ad rem, a right to hapt]sn; childreu of Christiau parents nmy clahn baptism, which aliens to Christ cannot do; but yet tlmy may hot leave out baptism: a man may be within  neral pardon, and yet have no benefit by it, if he sue it nt out, if he plead it hot; child may have l'ight to hal»tlsm, and yet be without tire benefit of it, if it be neglected. Christ began at baptism; natural things he did before; he fled into Eg'pt, to preserve hls lire ri'oto Herod's persecution, belote: and a miraculous thhg he did before; he overcame lu d]sputation, thc doctors in the temple, at twelve)'ears old; but yt't, neither of these, neither, before his circumcision, which was eiuivalent to baptism, fo this purpose; but before he accepted, or instituted baptism, he did some natural, and some niraculous things. But his ordinary 'ork which he came for, his preaching the Gospel, and thereby mising the ff'ame for out salvation, in his church, he began hot, but after his baptism: and then, after that, it is expressly and inunediate]y recorded, that when he came out of the waters, hepraed; nd then, the next thing the history is, that he.thsted, and upon that, Ms temptation in wilderness. I mean no more in this, but this, That no man hth any interest in God, to direct a prayer unto him, how devoutly soever, no man bath any assurance of any effect of his endevos in a good lire, how morally holv soever, but in relation to his baptism, in that seal of the covenaut, by whieh he is a Christian: Christ took this sacrament, his baptism, before he did any other thing; and he took this, threo years before the institution of the other sacrament of his body and blood: so that the Anabaptists obtrude a false necessity pon us, that we may hot take the first sacrament, baptism, till we be capable of the other sacrament too; for, first in nature: Prius nascimur, q,«am paschm«r Vt'e are born before we are fed; and so, in religion, we are first born into the church, (which is done by baptism) before we are ready for that other food, which is hot indeed milk for babes, but solid meat for strongcr digestions. They that h,ve told us, that the baptism, that Christ took of John, was hot the saine baptism, which we Christians take in the church, speak impertinently; for John was sent by God to baptize; and there is but one baptism in him. It is true, that St. Augustine calls John's baptism, Prtrcursorium ni»Hterium, As he was, fore-runner of Christ, his baptism was u fore-running baptism; it is true, that Justin Martyr calls John's baptism, l'].ra».qeliccv çratice prwh«llu», A prologm to the grace of the Gospel; it is true, that more of the fathers bave more phrases of expressing  difference between the baptism of John, and the baptism of Christ: but ail this is hot «le essetia, but de modo, hot of the substance of the sacrament, which is the washing of our souls in the blood of Christ, but the difference was in the relation; John baptized in Christ«m writ«tur,«»,, into Christ, who was to die, and we are baptized in Christ,«m nwrtu,«m, into Christ who is already dead for us. Damascene expresses it fully, C/ristus baptizatur suo baptismo: Christ was baptized with own baptism; it was John's baptism, and yet it was Christ's too. And so we are baptized with his baptism, and there neithcr is, nor was any other; and that baptism is to us, Ja,ua ecclesice, as St. Augustine calls it, The door of the church, at that we enter, and Ive, titura Crlstianismi, The investing of ('hristianity, as St. Bernard calls it, there we put on Christ Jesus; and, (as he, whom we may be bold to match with these two floods of spiritual cloquence, for his cloquence, that as Luther, expresses it) Puerpera regi coelorum, The church in baptism, as as a woman dclivered of child, and lier child as the kiugdom of hcaven, aud that ling(lom she delivers into lais arms who as truly baptized. This sacrament makcs us Christians; this denominates us, both ci'illy, and spirituay; there we receive our particular names, which distinguish us from om another, and there we receive that naule, which shall distinguish us flore the nations, iu the next world; at baptism we receire the naine of Christians, and there wc rcceive our Christian namcs. Vhcn the disciples of Christ, i gcneral, came to be callcd Christians , wc find. It was a llanic given upon great deliberation  Barnabas had œer¢aCllcd thcre, who was a good man, and fui[ of the Ho]y Ghost, and of faith, himsel£ But he went to ttch Paul too, a man of grcat gifts, and power in prcoehing; and both thcy continued a year prcaching in Antioch, and there, first of all, t]e disci]fles were c(«lled Christias; belote they were called fiJeles, and])'atres, and dlscipdi; the faitl,fid, and the brcthren, and the disciples, and (as St. Chrysostom says) De ia, Men that wcrc in the way; for ail the world besides, were bcside him, who was t]e ll5y, the Trth, ad the Lfè. But (l,y the way) we may wonder, what gave St. Chrystom occasion of that opinion or that conjecture, sance in the Ecclcsiastic Story (I think) there as no meutim of that naine, attributed to the Christians: and au t]m Acts of the Apostles, it as namcd but once; when Saul desircd lcttcrs to Damascus, to punish thcm, whom he round to be of that wayL Vhere we may note also, the zcal of St. Paul, (though then in a wrong cause) against them, who werc of that we«y, that is, that way inclined; and out stupidity, who startle hot at those nmn, who are hot only inclined another way, a cross way, but labour pestilcntly to incline others, and hope confident]y to sec ail incline that way again. Here then at Antioch, they ben to be called Christians; hot only out of custom, but, as it may seem, out of decree. For, if there belong any. credit to that council, which the apostles are said to lmve held at Antioch', (of which cocil there was a copy, whether truc r false, in Origen's sEn. XL1.] PRECnED O Rta'V SU». 235 library, within two hundred years after Christ) one canon in that council is, Ut credentes in Jesum, quos tune vocbant Galilwo, eocarentur Christiani, That the followers of Christ, who, till then, were clled Galileans, should then be ealled Christians. There, in genernl, we were all elled Christians; but, in partieular, I ara ealled  Christian, because I have pt on Christ, in baptism. Now, in eonsidering the infinite treasure whieh we reeeive in baptism, insinuated before the text, Tkat the hearens opened, that is, the myste'ies of religion are ruade aecessible to us, we may attain to them; and then, the tIoly Gho»t descend», (and he is Comforter, whilst we are in ignoranee, and he is  Sehoelmaster to teaeh us all truths)and he eomes as  dove, that is, brings peaee of eonseienee with him, and he tests upon us as  dove, that is, requires simplieity, and an humble disposition in us, that hot only as Elis opened and shut heaven, Ut pluviam eut emitteret, aut t«neret, That he might pour out or withhold the tain; but (as that father, St. Cln'ysostom, pursues it) Ita apertum, ip»e conscenda», et alio», si celles, tecum lerare», Heven is so opened to us in baptisn, as that we ourselves maf enter into it, and by out good lire, lead others into it too: as we eonsider, I say, wht wc have eeeived in bptism, so if we be hot only Dealbati Ckri.«tiai, (s St. Augustine speaks) Vhite-limed Christians, Christians on the outside, we must eonsider what wc a'e to do upon all this. We are baptized, In p&na et adulta Trinitate, mys St. Cyprian, Not in  Father without n Son, nor in either, or both, without a Holy Ghost, but in the fulness of the Trinity: and this mystery of the Trinity, is Reyulafidei, St. Hieome, It is the rule of out faith, this only regultes out faith, that we believe aright of the Trinity; it is Do9ma reliioni», says St. Basil, as though there were but this one article; It is, says he, thc foundation, the sum, it is all the Christian religion, to believe aright of the Trinity. By this we are distinfished from the Jews, who aeeept no plurality of Persons; and by this we are distinguished from the Gentiles, who make as many several persons, as there are several powers, nd attributes belonging to God. Our religion, our holy philosophy, our learning, as it is moted in Christ, so it is hot limited, hOt determined in Christ alone; we are hot baptized in his naine alone, Lut out study must Le the who]e Trinity; for, he that Lefiex'es uot h the o]y Ghost, s we]] as in Christ, is no Christian: and, as that is truc which St. Auustine says, c labo- ioius allçuid çuwritur, nec periclosius alicubi erratur, As there is hot so steepy  place to elamber up, nor so slippery  place to fall upon, as the doctrine of the Trinity; so is that also truc whieh he adds, Aefructuosius in renitur, There is hot so fulfilling, so aeeonplishing, so abundant an artiel as that of the Trinity, fi»r it is ail Christianitv. And therefore let us keep ourselves to that way, of the manifestation of the Trinity, whieh is revealed in this text; and that way is our second part. We must neeessarily pass faster through the branches of his part, than the diçnity of the subjeet, or th feeundity of words will well adnfit; but the elearness of the order mu reeompense the speed aad despateh. First then, in this way here is an ecce, an awaking, an alarum.  ealliug us up, ecce, bekoM. First, an ecce correctionis,  voiee of ehiding, of rebuking. If thu lie still in thv first bed, as thou art meoely a ereature, and thinkest with thyself, that sinee the lilv labours hot, nor spins, and yet is gl riouslv elothcd, sinee the fowls of the heavens sow not, nor reap, and yet are pleutifidly fed, thon mayest do so, and thou shalt be so; ecce animam, behohl thou hast an immortal soul, whieh must bave Slfiritual food, the bread of lire, and  more durable garment, tho garment of righteousness, and eannot be imprisoned and eaptivated to the eomparison of a lily that spins hot, or of a bird that sows not. If thou think thy soul sueiently fed, and sueiently e]othed at first, in thy baptism, that that manne, and thooe elothes shall last thee all thy pilrimage, all thv lire, that sinee thou art once haptized, thou art well enough, ecce jèrmetum, take heed of that learen of the Pharisees, take heed of them that put their confidence in the very aet and eharaeter of the erament, and trust to that: for there is a confirmation belongs to every man's baptism; not ny sueh confirmation as should intlmate an impoteney, or insufficieney in the saerament, but out of an obligation, that that saerament lays upon thee, that thou a bound to lire eeording to that stipulation and eontraet, mad in thy behalf, at thy receiving of that sacrament, there belongs  confirmation to that sacrament, a holy lit, to make sure that slva-

BER. XLI.] PREACnED ON TRINITY BUNDAYo 237 tion, sealed to thee at first. So a|so, if thou thiu thyseff sale, becau tho hast ]eft tlmt ]eaven, tlmt is, traditions of men, and livest in  t'etbnned, and orthodox church, yet, ecce Paradisum, behold Pat'adise itselt; even in Paradis, the bed of ail case, yet there xws labour l'equired; sois therc required diligence, and a laborious holiness, in flac right ehurch, and in the truc religion. If thou dfink fltou knowest ai1, beeause thou understandest all the articles of faith already, and ail the duties of a Christian life already, yet ecce sral«m, behold fle life of a Christian is a Jaeob's ladder, and till we corne up to God, still there are nmre steps to be ruade, mot'e way to be gone. Briefly, to the most learned, to him that knows most, to the most sanctified, to him dmt lires best, here is an ecce correctionis, there is a farther degree of knowledge, a farther degree of goodness, proposed to him, than he is yet attained unto. Soit is an ecce correctlonis, an ecce inst«r stimuli, God by ealling us up to behold, rebutes us because we did hot so, and provokes us to do so now: it is also m ecce directionis, an ecce instar lucern«, God by calling us to behold, gives us a light whereby we nmy do so, and may diseern our way: whomsover God calls, to him he affords so nmvh light, as that, if he proeeed not by that light, he hinself lmth winked at tiret light, or blow out that light, or suflred that light to waste, and go out, by his long negligence. God does not eall man with an Ecce, To behold him, and then hide himself from him; he does not bid him look, and then stt'ike him blind. Ve at'e ail born blind at first; in baptism God gives us that collyritm, that eye-salve, by which we may see, and actually by the power of that medicine, we do all see more than the Gentiles do. But yet, Ecce trabs in oculis , says Christ; Behold there is a beam in our eye, that is, natural infirinities. But for all this beam, when Christ bids us behold, we are able to see, by Christ's light, our own imperfections; though we bave that beam, yet we are able to see that we have it. And when this light which Christ gives ug (which is his fit'st grace) brings us to that, then Christ proceeds to that which follows there, Projice trabem, Cast out the beam that is in thine ee, and so we become able by that succeeding grace, to overcome out » Iatt. v. 4.

c)38 PKEACHED ON T'RINITY SUNDA'. [SEI. XLI. former impediments; if Christ bid us behold, he gives us ]ight, if he bid us cast out the beam, he gives us strenth. There is an Ecve mutus, cast upon Zachary, Behold tho shalt be dnmb «, Goal punished Zaclmry's incredulity with dumbness; but there is never an Ecce cwcus, Behold thou shalt be blind, that God should call man te sec, and then blow out the candle, or net show him a cand]e, if he were in utter darkness; for this is an ecce directionis, an ecce lucernw, God calls and he directs, and lightens out paths; never reproach God se impiously as te suspect, that when he calls, he does net mean that we should corne. SVell then, with what doth he enlighten thee. Why, Ecce vox, Beold a roice, sayin.a. New, for this volte in the text, by whom it was heard, as also by whom the Dove that descended was seen, is sometimes disputed, and with seine perplexity amongst the fathers. Seine think it was te Christ alone, because two of the evangelists, Mark and Luke, record the words in that phrase, T e8 Filius, hOt as we read it in our text, TM8 i8, but, Thou art  belored »$'on: but se, there had been no use, neither of the Dote, ner of the roice; for Christ himself lacked no testimony, that he was that Sou. Some think it was to Christ, and Johu Baptist, and hOt to the company; because, say they, The my.tery of the Trinity was hot to be presented to lhem, till a farther and maturer preparation; and therefore they observe, that the next manifestation of Christ, and se of the Trinity, by a like voice, was almost three years after this, in his transfiguration , after he had manifested this doctrine by a long preaching amongst them; and)'et, even then, it was but to his aposl|es, and but to a few of them neither, and those two forbidden to publish too; and how long.  till his resurrection; when by that resurrection he had coffirmed them, then it was time to acquaint them with the doctrine of the Trinity. But for the doctrine of the Trinity, as mysterious as it is, it is insinuated and eonveyed unto us, even in lhe first verse of the Bible, in that extraordinary phrase, Crearit 1)il, Gods, Gods in the plural, created hearen and eartl; there is an unity in the action, it is but crearit, in the singular, and)'et there is a plurality in the Persons, it la hot 1)eus, God, but Dii, Gods. The doctrine of the Trinity la the  Luke i. 20.: Iatt. xSi.

8EII. XLI.] PREACHED ON TRINITY 8UNDAYo O9 first foundtion of out religion, and no time is too early for our faith, the simplest may helieve it; and all rime is too eady for out reason, the wisest cannot understand it. And therefore, as Chrysostom is well followed in his opinion, so he is well worthy tobe followed, that hoth the Doe was seen, and the olce was heard by all the company: for neither was neeessary to Christ himself; and the volte vas hot necessary to John Baptist, because the sign which was to govern him, was the Dote; He tk«t sent me, sald, Ul, on u'hom thou skalt see tke S)irit corne doyen, and tarrff still, itis he that bal, tlzeth u'ith the IIoly Gkost. But fo the eompany, ],ofl voiee and Dove were neeessary: for, if the voiee had eome a]one, they might have thought, that that testimony had been given of John, of whom they had, as)'et, a far more reverent opinion, than of Christ; and therefore God first points out the Person, and by the Dove deelares him to ail, whieh was he, and then, by that voiee deelares farther to them a]], what he was. This benefit they had by being in that eompany, they sa and they heard thin eonducing to their salvation; for though God work more effectua]ly upon those particular persons in the congregation, who, by a good use o his former graces, are better disposed than others, yet to the most graccless man that is, if he be in the congrcgation, God vouchsales to speak, and would he heard. They that differ in the persons, who heard it, aee in the reason; all dey heard it, in all their opinions, to 'hom it was necessary to hear it; and it is necessarv to ail us, to bave this means of understanding and believing, to hear. Thcrefore God gives to all tiret shall be saved, cocem, his voice. We consider two other ways of imprintlng the knowledge of God in man; first, in a dark and weak way, the way of nature, and the book of creatures; and secondly, in that powerfld way, the way of miracles. But these, and ail between these, are ineffectual without the word. Vhen David says of the creatures, Tere is no speeck nor languoye, «o'e theh" Çoice is hot eard , (the voice of the creature is heard over ail) St. Paul commenting upon those words, says, Te/ hare eard, aH the u'orld ath eard; but what [ The voice of the crcature; now that is true, so much  Pst. . 3.  Rom. x. 17.

OE0 PREACIlED ON TRINITY 8UNDAV.- [BER. XLI. al] the world had heard then, nd does hear sti]l: but the hering that St. Paul iutends there, is such a hearing as begetsfaith, and that the voice of créature reaches hot too. The voice of the creature alone, is but a faint voice, a low voice; nor any voice t]ll the voice of the word inanhnate it; for then when the word of God bath taught us any mystery of out religion, then the book of creatures illustrates, and establishes, and cherishes that which we bave received by faith, in hearing the word: as a stick bears up, and succours a vine, or any plant, more precious than itself, but yet gave it hot lifb at first, nor gives any nourishment to the root now: so the assistance of reason, and the voice of the creature, in the preaching of nature, works upon ont faith, but the foot, and the life is in the faith itself; the light of nature gives  glimmering before, and it gives a reflection after faith, but the meridional noon is in faith. Iow, if we consider the othcr way, the way of power, miracles, no man may ground his belicf upon that, which seems a miracle to him. Moses wrought miracles, and Pharaoh's instruments wrought the like: we knov, theirs were no true miracles, and we know Moses" were; but how do we know this.  By another voice, by the word of God, who cannot lie: for, for those upon whom those miracles were to work on both sides, Moses, and they too, seemed to the beholders, diversly disposed to do miracles. One rule in discerning, and judging a miracle, is, to consider whether it be donc in confirmation of a necessary truth: otherwise it is rather to be suspected for an illusion, than accepted for  miracle. The rule is intimated in Deuteronomy, where, though a prophet's prophecy do corne to pass, yet, if his end be, to draw to other gods, he must be slain °. V'hat miracles soever are pretended, in confirmation of the inventions of men, are to be neglected. God bath hOt carried us so low for out knowledge, as to creatures, to nature, nor so high, as to miracles, but by s middle way, by a voice. But it is vox de cwlis, a roice ])'om hearen. St. Basil applying (indeed with some wresting and detorting) those words in the Psal. 29. ver. 3, ( The voice o.]" the Lord is «pon the waters, the God o.f glory maeth it to thunder,) to this baptism of Christ, he to Dent. xiii.

says, Vooe uer açua Joanne, The words of John at Christ's baptism, were this voiee that David intends; and then that manifestation which God gave of the Trinity, (whatsoever it were) altogether, that was the thunder of his Majesty: so this thunder then, was zox de cwlis, a voice from heaven: and in this volte the Person of the Father was manifested, as he xv in the same volte at his transfiguration. Since this voiee then is from hven, and is the FatheFs volte, we must look for all our knowledge of the Trinity tom thence. For, (to speak of one of those Person of Christ) A man knoweth the,5%n, but tke ather"; Vho then, but he, tan make us know hiln  If any knew it, yet it is an inexpressible mystery, no man could reveal it; Fleh and blood Imth hot erealed it unto thee, but my Father u'hi is it heaven'; if any could revl it to us, yet none could draw us to believe it; No ma can corne to me, except the ather draw hlm': so that all our voiee of direetion must be from thenee, de coelis, om heaen. Ve have had oces de ieris, voiees from hell, in the blasphenfies of hereties; that the Trinity was but cera eztensa, but as a roll of wax spread, or a dough cake mlled out, and so divided unto persons: that the Trinity was but a nest of boxes, a lesr in a greater, and uot equal to one another; and en, that the Triuity was uot oly three Pcrsous, but tlu-ee Gods too; so far from the truth, and so far from one another have heretics gone, in the marrer of the Trinity; and Ceriuthus  far, in that one Peon, in Christ, as to say, That Jesus, and Christ, were two distinct Peons; and that into Jesus, who, says he, was the  of Joph, Christ, who was the Spirit of G, descended here at his baptism, and was hOt in him before, and withdrew himself from him again, at the time of his passion, and was hOt in him then; so that he was hot born Christ, nor suffer hot being Christ; but was oly Christ in his prehing, and in his miracles; and in all the test, he was but Jesm, says Cefinthus. We bave had oces de iteris, de proEundis, from the depth of h¢ll, in the malice of herefics, aud we have d oces de medio, n $Iatt. . 27. m 5att. x. 17. ma 5ohn . 44. VOL, II. 

2 PREACHED ON TRINITY 8UNDAY. SERo XLI. voices frein anaongst us, inventions of men, te express, and te nake us understand file Trinity, in pictures, and in comparisons: ail which (te contract this point) are apt te rail into that abuse, which ve will only note in one; at first, they used ordinarily te express the Trinity in four letters, which had no ill-purpose in it at first, but was a religious ease for their memories, in Catechisms: the letters were//, and T, and A, and //; the //was I-laTÇp, and the T was Tç, and the two last belonged te the last Person, for A was ATov, and//was ]-leîpa, and se there was Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as if we should express it in F, and ', and ], and G. But this came quickly thus far into abuse,-as that they thought, there could belo»g but three letters, in that picture, te the three Persons; and thereïore allowing se many te Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, they took the last letter , for Pet'us, and se nade Peter head of the church, and elual te the Trinity. Se that for out knowledge, in this mysterious doct'ine of thv Trinity, let us evermore test,/ oce de cœelis, in that voice which came f'om beau-en. But yet it is vox dices, a olce sayi(/, speaking, a voice that man is capable of, and may be benefited by. It is net such a voice as that was, (which came frein heaven too) when Christ prayed te God te 9lor.fy/is aw, that the people hould say, seine, That it was a t/u,der, seine That it was an «9el tat va'e c. They are the sons of thundel', and they are the ministerial autels of the church, frein whom we must hear this voice of heaven: uothin can speal, but nmn: no voice is unde'stood by man }rot the voice of man; it is net zo« dicens, that voice says nothing te me, that speaks net; and thereïore howsoever the voice il the text were miraculously formed by God, te give this lory, and dinity te this first nanifestation of the Trinity in the Person of Christ, yet because he bath left it for a permanent doctrine necessary te salvation, he bath left ordinary means for the couveyin of it; that is, the saine voice frein heaven, the sane 'ord of (od, 1 sl)eaking in the ministry of nan. And therefore ir out measure of this knowlede, (which is our third and last part) 'e are te see, how Christian men, whosv oflce it bath been to interpret Scriptures, that is, how the Catho|ic church hath understood these words, Hc est Filius, This is mg beloved Son, in wlwm I ara well pleased. ttow "«'e are to reeeive the knowledge of the Trlnity, Athanasius hath expressed as far as we ean go; ,Vhosoever will bo aved, he must believe it; but the manner of it is hOt exposed so far as to his belief. That question of tho prophet, Quis enarrabit? Who shall deelare this. earries the answer with it, 2Vemo enarrabit, No man shall deelare it. But a manifestation of tho Being of the Trinity, they lmve always apprehended in these words, Hic est Fillus, Tkie is my belored,ço». To that pm]ose therefore, we take, first, the words to be expressed by this evangelist St. Matthew, as the voice deli'ered them, rather than as they are expressed by St. Mark, and St. Luke; both which haro it thus, Ta es, Tho art mil belored,Son, and hot llic est, This is; they two being only careful of the sense, and not of the words, as it falls out often amongst the evangelists, who differ oftentimes in recording the words of Christ, and of other persons. But where the saine volte spake the saine words again, in the transfiguratioc, there ail the evangelists express it so, IIi est, This is, and hot Tu es, Thot art my belored,S'on; and so it is, where St. Peter makes use by application of that history, it is Hic est, and hot Tu es '. So that this lli est, This man, designs hina who bath that mark upon him, that the Holy Ghost was descended upon him, and tarried upon him; for so far,vent the sign of distinction given to John, the Holy Ghost was to deseend and tarry;.hlanet, says St. Hierome, The Holy Ghost tarries upon him, beeause he never departs from him, Sed operatur quando Christus ult, et quomodo ult, The Holy Ghost works in Christ, when Christ will, and as Christ will; and so the Holy Ghost tarried hot upon any of the prophets; they spoke what he would, but he wrought hot when they would. St. Gregory objects to himself, that there was a perpetual residence of the Holy Ghost upon the faithful, out of those words of Christ, The Comforter shall abide witk you for ever; but as St. Gregory answers himself, This is hot a plenary abiding, and Sevundum omnia dona, In a full operation, aecording fo ail his gifts, as he tarried upon Christ: neither  2 t'et. i. 17.

indeed is that promise of Christ's to particu|ar persons, but to the whole body of the church. ow this residence of the Holy Ghost upon Christ, was unction; woperly it was that, by which he was the Messiah, that he was anointed above his fe]lows; and therefore St. Hierome makes account, that Christ received his unction, and so his office of Messiah, at this baptism, and this descending of the Holy Ghost ttpon him: and he thinks it therefore, because presently after baptism, he went to preach in the synagogue, and he took for his text those words of the prophet Esay, Tke,ç.pirit of the Lord is upon me, because ke bath anointed me, that I should preack the Gospel to tke loor TM. And when he had read the text, he began his sermon thus, This day is tkis,S'cripture d)qlled in your ears. But we may be bold to say, flat this is mistaken by St. Hierome; for the unction of Christ by the Holy Ghost, by which he was anointed, and sealed into the office of Messiah, was in the over-shadowing of the Holy Ghost in his conception, in his assunfing our nature: this descending now at his baptism, and this residence, were only to declare, that there was a Holy Ghost, and that Holy Ghost dwelt upon this person. It is Hic, This Person « and it is Hic est, This is my Son; it is not only av«it, He was my Son, when he was in my bosom, nor only Erit, He shall be so, when he shall return to my right hand again; God does hOt only take knowledge of him in glory but est, he is so now; nov in the exinanition of his Person, now in the evacuation of his glory, now that he is preparing himself to surfer scorn, and scourges, and thorns, and nails, in the imaominious death of the cross, now he is the Son of the glorious God; Christ is hot the less the Son of God for this eclipse. Hic est, This is he, who for all this lowness is still as high as ever he was, and that height is, est Filins, he is the Son. He is hOt ser.rus, the servant of God; or hOt that only, for he is that also. Behold y serrant, (says God of him, in the prophet) I u'ill stay ulon him, mine elect, in u'hom my soul ddi9hteth; I bave lut my,çirit uon him, and he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentileo . But Christ is this Servant, and a Son too: and not a i« Isaiah Lxi. I. i Isalah xLii. I.

Son only; for so we observe divers filiations in the school; F;liationem vestiyii, that by which ail creatures, even in their very belng, are the sons of God, as Job calls God, P[«riev P«trem, Tke 'ather of tke tain; and so there are other fil/ations, oher ways of being the sons of God. ]3ut ic ee, this Person is, as the force of the article expresses it, aud presses it, file Fileur, the Son, that Son, which no son else is, neither can any else declare how he is that which he is. This Person then is still the Son, and JIeus Filius, says God, 2ffy ç'on. He is the Son of Abraham, and so within the covenant; as well provided by that inheritance, as the son of man can be naturally. He is the Son of a Virgin, conceived ithout generation, and therefore ordained for some great use. He is the Son of David, and therefore royally descended; but his dignity is in the Filius meus, that God avows him to be his Son; for, [5to wldch of the anyels said he at any rime, Thou art m.!,Yon'. But to Christ he says in the prophet, I k«re called thee b tky ame: and what is his naine . 2ffeus es tu, Tkou art mine. Quem a me non separ«t Deitas, says Leo, non diridit potest«s, non discernit wternitas: Mine so, as tha mine infiniteness gives me no room nor spaee beyond him, he reaehes as far as I, though I be infinite; My Ahnightiless gives me no power above him, he hath as mueh power as I, though I ha-ce ail; my eternity gives me no being befol-e him, though I were before all: in mine onmipotenee, in mine omnipresenee, in mine omniseienee, he is equal partner with me, and bath ail tha is mine, or tha is myself, and so he is mine. 2I!t,S'on, and JI!! belored Son; but so we are all, who are hls sons, Ddiciw ejus, savs 8olomon , His delight, and his contentment is fo be with the sons of men. But here the article is extraordinarily repeated again, Ille dilectus, That beloved Son, by whom, those, who were neither beloved, nor sons, beeame the beloved sons of od; for, there is so mueh more added, in the las phrase, In quo complacui, In rhom! ara 'ell pleased. low, these words are diversly read. St. Augustine says, some copies that he had seen, read them thus, £'yo hodie enui te, * Meb. i, 5. * Prov. vifi. 31.

is vny belored,S'on, this da!t hare I be9otten hlm: and with such copies, it seems, both Justin Martyr, and Irenoeus net, for they »ead these words so, and interpret then aeeordingly: but theso words are misplaeed, and mistransferred out of the second Psalm, where they are. And as they change the words, and instead of In quo complacui, In whom I ara weH pleased, read, This dt hae I beyoten thee; St. CTrian adds other words, to the end of these, whieh are, IIunc audite, IIear him: whieh words, when these words were repeated at the transfiration, were spokeu, but here, at the baptism, they were hot, what eopy soever misled St. C3Trian, or whether it were the failing of his own lnemory. But St. Chrysostonl g'es an express reason, why those words were spokc» at the transfitration, and not here: because, says he, Hcre was only a purpose of a manifestation of the Trinity, «o far, as to declare their Persons, who they were, and no more: at the transfiguration, where Moses and Elias appeared with Christ, fllere God had a purpose to prefer the Gospel above the law, and the prophcts, and therefore in that place he adds that, Hune audite, Hear him, who first fulfils all the law, and the prophets, and then preaches the Gospel. He was so well pleased in him, as that he was content fo 9ire ail them, that receired kim, power to become the sons of God, too; as the apostle says, B kis.qrace, ke bath ruade ts accepted in his belored °. Beloved, that you mav be so, corne up ff'oin your baptisln, as it is said that Christ did; rise, and ascend to that growth, which your baptism prepared you to: and tlm heavens «halI open, as then, even cataract,r ca4i, ail thc windows of hcaven shall open, and rain down blessings of all kinds, in abundance; and tlm HoIy Ghost shall descend upon you, as a dove, in his peaceful coming, in your simple, and sincere receiving him  and he shall test upon you, to effect and accomplish his purposes in you. If he rebuke you, (as Christ when he promises the HoIy Ghost, though he cal1 him a Comforter, says, That he shall rebuke tke world of divers things ') yet he shall dwell upon you as a dove, QuoE si mordet, osculando mordet, says St. Augustine: If the dove bite, it bites with kissing, if the HoIy Ghost rebuke, he rebukes with «o Eph. i. 6.  John xfi. 7.

comforting. And se baptized, and se pursuing the contract of your baptism, and se erowned with the residenee of his hlessed Spirit, in your holy conversation, he hall breathe a seul into your seul by that voice of eternal life, Yo« are my beloved on, b whom I ara well pleased.

And the four beasts had each of them six wings about kim, and they were full of eyes within; and they rest net day and night, saying, Iloly» holy holy, Lord Goal [mlghty, which was, and is, and is te corne.

Tt.s. words are part of that Scripture, which our church hath appointed te be read for the Epistle of this day. This day, which besides that it is the Lord's day, the Sabbath day, is aise especially consecrated te the memory, and honour of the whole Trinity. The feast of the nativity of Christ, Christmas day, which St. Chrysostom calls.lIetropolin omniumfestorum, The metropolitan festival of the church, is intended principally te the honour of the Father, who was glorified in that humiliation of that Son, that day, because in that, was laid the foundation, and first stono of that house and kingdom, in which God intende,l te g]orify himself in this world, that is, the Christian church. The feast of Easter is intended prineipally te the honour of the Son himself, who upon that da)', began te lift up his head above ail those waters whieh had surrounded him, and te shake off the chains of death, and the grave, and hell, in a glorious resurrection. And then, tho feast of Pentecost was appropriated te the honour of tho honour of the Holy Ghost, who by a personal falling upon the apostles, that day, enabled them te propagate this glory of tho Father, and this doath, and resurrection of tho Son, te tho ends

¢)8 PIREACHED ON TRINITY SUNDAY. [SEE. XLII. of the world, to the ends in extension, to all places, to the ends in duration, to all times. l'ow, as St. Augustine says, _hdlus eorum extra quemlibet eorum est, Evet T Person of the Trinity is so in every other person, as that you cannot think of a father, (as a father) but that there fa]ls a son into the saine thought, nor think of a person that proceeds from others, but that they, from whom he, whom ye think of. proceeds, tïd| into the saine thought, as every person is in eery person; and as these three Persons are contracted in thcir essence into one Godhead, so the church bath also contracted the honour belonging to them, in this kin(l of worship, to one day, in which the Father, Son, and tIoly Ghost, as they are severally, in those thrce several days, might be celebrated jointly, and altogether. It was long before the church did institute a particular festival, to this purpose. For, before, they ruade account that that verse, which was upon so many occasions repeated lu the Litur..', and ehureh service, (Glory be to the lather, a»d to the,S'o», and to the Holy Ghost) had a convenient sufficiency in it, to keep men in a continual remembrance of the Trinity. Bnt whcn by that extreme inundation, and increase of Arians, these notions of distinct Persons in the Trinity, came to be obliterated, and discontinued, the church began to refresh herself, in admitting into the forms of Common Prayer, some more particular notifications, and remembrances of the Trinity; and at last, (though it were very long first, for this festival of this Tri»it!!,qunda!, was not instituted above four hundred years sinee) thev came to ordain this da)'. XVhieh da)-, out ehureh, aeeording to that peaeeful wisdom, wherewithal the God of peaee, of unity, and eoneord, had inspired lier, did, in the Reformation, retain, and continue, out of lier general religious tenderness, and holy loathness, to innovate anything in those matters whieh might be safely, and without superstition eontinued and entertained. For out ehurch, in the Reformation, proposed hot that for her end, how she might go from Rome, but how she might eome fo the truth; nor to east awav all sueh things as Rome had depraved, but to purge away those depravations, and conserve the thin themselves, so restored to their first good use. For this day then, were these words appointed by out ehureh;

SER. XLIt.] PRE&CHFD ON TR[NITY SUNDAY. and therefore we are sure, that in the notion, and apprehension, and construction of our church, these words appertain to the Trinity. In them therefore we shall consider, first what, these four creatures were, which are notified, and designed to us, in the names, and figures of four beosts; and then, what these four creatures did; Their persons, and their action will he out two parts of this text. In each of which we shall bave threo branches; in the first these, first, simply who they were; and then, their qualification as they are furnished with wings, Each ofthem hod six wlnys; and then lastly, in that first part, what is intended in their eyes, for, They were full o.f eyes within; and iu these three, we shall determine that first part, the Persons. And then in the second, out first branch will be, their alacrity, their ingenuity, their free and open profession of their zeal to God's service; They did it, says the text, Dicentes,,Sayi».q, publishing, declaring, without disgnises or modifications. And out second branch, Their assiduity, that which they did, they did incessantly, The ceased hot da nor ui.qM, says our text; no occasional emergeneies, no loss, no trouble iuterrupted their zeal to God's service. And then the last is, that that whieh they did, first with so mueh ingenuity, and then with so ranch assiduity, first so opeuly, and then so constantly, was the eelebration of the Trinity, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almiyhty, «hich was, and is, and is to corne; whieh is the entire body of file Christian religion that they professed openly, and eonstantly, all the parts of their religion, are also the three branches, in wbieh we shall determine out second part, their action. First then, for out first braneh, in out first part, the persons intended in these four ereatures, the apostle says, ll'hatoerer thlnas are written aforetime, are written for out learnlng; but 3"et, not so fol" out learning, as that we should think always to learn, or always to have a clear understanding of ail that is written; for if is added there, That «ce, throu.ah Tatience, and comfor of the 5'crlptures, miaht bave hole; whieh may well adroit this exposition, that those things which we understand not yet, we may hope that we shall, and wo mnst have patience till we do. For there may bo many places in Scripture, (espeeially in prophetlcal Scripture) which, perchance, the church of God herself shall hot understand, till thosÇ propheeies be fulfilled, and aecomplished. In the understanding of this place, what, or who these four creatures are, there is so much diffieulty, so mueh perplexity, as that amongst the interpretations of very learned, and very reverend, and very pertinent expositors, it is easy to collect thirty several opinions, thirty several significations of these four ereatures. The multiplieity of these interpretations intinmtes thus mueh, that that man that believes the Trinity, ean searee turn upon anything, but it assists, and advanees, and illustrates that belief; as diverse from one another as their thirty expositions are, they alt agree, that be out four ereatures what tlley will, that which they do, is to eelebrate the Trinity; he that seeks proof for every mystery, of religion, shall meet with much darkness; but he that believes first, shall find everything to illustrate his fith. And then, this mŒEltiplieityof iuterpretations intimates thus much more, that sinee we cannot give sensum odoequatum, anv sueh interpretation of these four ereatures, but that another, as probable as it, mav be given, it may be suffieient, and it is best, (as in all cases of like intrieaey) to ehoose such a sense, as may most advanee the general purpose, and intention of the place, whieh is, in this place, the celebration of the Trinity. So therefore we shall do. And eosidering that amongst these manifold expositors, some bind themselves exaetly, rigidly, supereiliouslyi yea superstitiously to the number of four, and that therefore thesefour creatures must neeessarily signify something, that is limited in the number of four, no more, no less, (either the four monarchies, or the four patriarchs, or the four doetors of the ehureh, or the four cardinal virtues, or the four elements, or the four quarters of the world, into all whieh, and many more sueh, rather allusions, than interpretations, these rations expositors bave scattered themselves)and then considering also that divers others of these expositors out of a just observation, That nothing is more ordinary in this Book of the Revelation, than by a certain and finite number, to design and signify an uncertain and infinite, (for, otherwise when we are told, That there wera ttcele thousad sealed of eerg tribe, we should know the certain