number of all the Jews that were saved, which certainly is hOt St. John's purpose in tbat place; but in the greatness of that number, to declare the largeness of God's goodness to that people) considering I say, tbat divers of these expositors, have extended their interpretation beyond the number of four, we make account that we do best, if ve do both; if we stop npon the number of four, and yet pass on to a greater numher too. And so we shall well do, if we interpret these four creatures, to be first and priucipa|ly the four evangelists, (and that is the most common interpretation of the ancients) and then enlarge it to ail the ministers of the Gospe|, which is (for the most ]»art) the interpretation of the later men. So then, the action being an open and a contimml profession of the whole Christian religion, in tbe celebration of the Trinity, which is the distinctive character of a Christian, the persons that do this, are all they that constitute the hierarchy, and ordcr of the church; ail they that execute the ministry, and dispensation of the Gospel; which Gospel is laid down, and settled and established radically in the four evangclists; all they arc these four creatures. And farther we ne«d hot carry this first branch, which is the notification of these persons; for their qualification is the larger consideration. And before we corne to their qualification, in the text, first, as they are said fo lare six winys, and then as they are said to be full of eyes, we look npon them, as they are formed, and designed to us, in the veine innnediateh" before tbe text; wbere, the first of these four creatures hath the face of a lion, the second of a ca/.f or an o.r, the tldrd of a man, and the.fourth of an eayle. ov, Quatuor anlmalia sunt eccleslce doctores, says St. Ambrose; These four creatures are the preachcrs of the Gospel; that we had established afore; but then, we add with St. Ambrose, Eandem $çqniflcationem habet primum an imal, quod secundum, quod tertium, quod quartum, All tbcse four creatures make up but one creaturc; ail their qualities concur to the qualification of a minister; every minister of God is to have ail, that ail four had; the courage of a llon, the laboriousness of an ox, the perspicuity and clear sight of the eagle, and the humanity, the discourse, the reason, the affability, the appliableness of a man. St. Dionys the A reopaglte had the saine consideration as St. Ambrose had, belote him. He imprints it, he expresses it, and extends it thus; In leone ia indomabilis; In every minister, I look for sueh an invincible courage, as shou]d be of proof, against perseeution, whieh is a great, and against preferment, whieh is a greater temptation; that neither fears, nor hopes shake his eonstancy; neither his ChrisoEian constancy, to stagger him, nor his ministerial constancy, to silence him; for this is ris indomabilis, the courage required in the minister as he is a lion. And then says that father In bore vis salutaris, In every minister, as he is said to be an os', I look for labour; that he be hot so over-grown, nor stall-fed, that he be thereby }azy he must labour; and then, as the labour of the ox is, his labour must be employed upon useful and profitable things, things that conduce to the clearing, hOt the perplexing ofthe understanding and to the collecting, the uniting, the fixing, and hot the scattering, the dissolving, the pouring out of a fluid, an unstable, an irresolved conscience; things of edification, hOt speculation; for this is that vis salutaris, which we require in every minister; that he labour st the plough, and plough the right ground; tbat he preach for the saving of souls, and hot for the sharpening of" wits. And theu again, in aquila ris speculatrix; as the minister is presented in the notion and quality of au es.oie, we require both an open eye, and a piercing eye; first, that he date look upon other men's sins, and be hot fain fo wink st their faults, because he is guilty of the sanie himself, and so, for fear of a recrimination, incur a prevarication; and then, that he be hot so dim-sighted, that he must be fain to sec ail through other men's spectacles, and so preach the purposes of great men, in a factious popularity, or the fancies of new men, in a schismatical singularity; but, with the eagle, be able to look to the sun; to look upon the constant truth of God in lais Scriptures, through his church; for this is vis speculatrix, the open and the piercing eSC of the eagle. And then lastly, in homine ris ratiocinatrix; as the nfinister is represented in the notion and quality of a man, we require a gentle, a supple, an appliable disposition, a reasoning, a persuasive disposition; that he do hot always press all things with authority, with censures, with excommunieations; that he put hot all points of religon, always upon that one issue, Quicunque eult mlrus esse, If you will be saved, you must believe this, ail this, and çui wn creJiJerit, damnabit«r, if you doubt of this, any of this, you are infal|ily, necessarily damned; ut, that he e a|so content to descend to mens reason and to work ul)on their understanding, and their natural faculties, as well as their faith, and to give them satisfaction, and reason (as far as it may be had) in that which they are to beliive; that so as the apostle, though he had authority to command, yet did Priy tem C]rists stead fo be reconciled fo God, so the minister of God, though (as he is bound to do) hi do tell them what they are bound to believe, yet he also tets them. why they are to beliive it; for this is zis ratiocinatriæ, the holy gentleness and al»pliableness, impliid in that form of a man. And so you have this man composed of his four elements; this creature ruade of these four creatures; this minister ruade of a lion, an ox, an eagle, and a man; for no one of these, nor all these but one, will serve; the lion alone, without the eagle, is hot enough; it is hOt enough to bave courage and zeal, without clear sight and knowledge; nor enough to labour, except we apply ourselves to the capacity of the hearer; ail must have all, or else ail is disirdered; zeal, labour, knowledge, gentleness. Now besides these general qualifications, laid down as the foundation of the text, in the verse belote it, in the text itself these four creatures, being first the four evangelists, and consiquintly, or by a just and fair accommodatio]li all the preachers of the Gospel, which limit thcmselves in the doctrine laid dow in the four evangelists, have also wi.q$ added unto them; wings, first for their own behoof and benefit, and then, wings for the benetït and behoof of others. They have wings fo raisi themselves from the earth; that they do hot entangle themselves in the business of this world; but still to keep themselves upon the wing, il a heavenly conversation ever remembering that they bave another element than sea or land, as men whom Christ Jesus hath set al)art, and in some measure ruade mediators between him and other men, as his instruments of their salvation. And then as for themselves, so bave they wings for others too, that they may be always ready to succour ail, in all their siiritual nicessities. For as those words are well understood by many of the ancients, To th6 woman er.¢ven two wiffs an eafle , that is, to the chrch vere given able and scient ministers, to cay an convey er over te nations: so are those wors wich are spoken of God himselt: appliable to his ministers, that firoe, Tv eagle tiretk p ber ne»t the preoeher stirs and moves, and agitates the holy affections of the conegation, that they dumber hOt in a senselessness of that which is said, The eayle »tirreth up ker net, and then it is added there,,S'keflutteretk orer keryounç; the preaeher makes a holy noise in the conscience of the congregation, and when he bath avakened them, by irring the nest, he casts some claps of thunder, some intimidations, in denouncing the judgments of God, and he flings open the ates of lleaVen, that they may hear, and look up, and see a man sent by God, with power to inthse his fear upon thenl;,ço »he fluttereth oer ker youto; but then, as it foows there,,e spreadeth ab'd ber u'bqs; she over-shadows them, she enwraps them, she ams them with ber wings, so as that no other terror, no other fluttering but that which comcs tm her. can corne upon them; the reacher doth so infuse the fear of God into his auditory, that fir, they shall tm" nothing but God, and then they shall fear God, but so, as he is God; and God is mercy; God is love; and his minister shall so spread his wings over his people, as to defend them ri'oto all inordinate fear, from ail suspicion and jealousy, tOln ail diffidence and distrust in the mercy of Ood; which is farther expressed in tlmt clause, which tbllows in the saine place,,S'he tabeth them and beareth th«m tpon ber riçqs; when the minister hath awakened his floek by the stirring of the nest, and put thenl in tbis holy fear, by this whieh the Holy Ghost calls a fluttering; and then l)rovided, by spreading his wings, that upon this fear there tbllow hot a desperation; then he oets them upon the top of his best wings, and shows them the best treasure that is eommitted to his stewardship, he shows them heaven, and God in heaven, sanctiing ail their crosses in this wofld, inanimating ail their worldly blessings, raining down his blood into their emptine, and his balm into their wounds, nmking their bed in ail their sickness, and preparing their seat, where he stands olieiting ev. 14. s Deut. . 13.
their case, af the riht hand of his Father. And se the nfinister bath the wins of an eagle, that every seul in the conregation may sec as much as he secs, that is, a particular interest in all the mercies of God, and the merits of Christ. Se then, these ministers of God have that double use of their eagle's wings; first, Ut tolet ad escam', (as it is in Job)That they may fly up te receive their own food, their inoEructious at the mouth and word of God; and then, Tt ubi çadaver sit, ibi statim adsit', (as it is in Job also) whcre the dead are, they also may be; that whero any lie, Pro mortt«is °, (as St. Paul speaks) For dead, as good as dead, ready te die, upon their deathbed, they may be ready te assist them, and te minister spiritual physic, opportunely, seasonably, proportionably te their spiritual necessiries; that they may pour out upon such sick seuls, that naine of Jesus, which is oleum e2?'usum, an oil, and a balm, always pouring, and always spreading itself Ul)on all green wounds, and upon all old sores; that they may minister to one in his hot and pestilent preurnptions, an opiate, of Christ' tristis anima, a remembrance, that even Christ himself had a sad soul towards his death, and a quare der«liquisti, solne apprehcnsion, that God, though his God, had forsaken him. And that therefore, no man, how righteous soever, may presume, or pass away withou; fear and trembling; and then, to minister to another, in his lethargies, and apoplexies, and damps, and ilmrdinate dejections of spirit, Christ's ordials, and restoratives, in hic clari.fica me Pater, in au assurance, that his Father, though he bave laid him dowu here, whether in an inglorious forttllle, or in a discousolate bed of sickness, will raiso him, in his rime, to everlasting glory. So these eagles are to bave ings, to fly ad cadarer, to the dead, to those who are so dying a bodil'y death, and also, where any lie dead in the practice and custom of sin, to be industrious and earnest in cal]ing them to life again, so as Christ did Lazarus, by calling aloud; hot aloud in the ears of other men, so to expose a sinner to shame, and confusion of face, but aloud iii his ovli ears, to put home the judgments of God, thereby to plough and harrow that stubborn heart, which will hOt be kneaded, nor otherwise reduced to an ui)rightness. For these uses, to raise themselves to heavenly contemplations, and to nmke baste to them that need their assistance, the ministers of God bave wings; wiugs of great use; esi)ecially now, when there is coluber in via, a snake in every I)ath, a seducer in every bouse; when as the devil is busy, because he knows his rime is short, so his instruments are busy, because they thiuk their time is beglnning agaln; therefore the minister of God hath wings. And then, their wings are numbered in out text; they have six winys. For by the consent of most exi)ositors, those whom St. John I)resents in the figure of these.four creatures here, and those whom the proi)het Isalah calls,er«p£im , are the saine I)ersons; the saine office, and the saine voice is attributed unto those serapMm there, as unto these.fvur creatures here; those as well as these, sl)end thelr tlme in celebrating the Trinity, and in crylng, Holy, oly, ]oly. The Holy Ghost sometimes I)resents the ministers of the Gosi)el, as serapMm in glory, that they might be known to be the ministers and disi)ensers of the mysteries and secrets of God, and fo corne a latere, from his counsel, his cabinet, his bosom. And then on the other side, that you might know, that the disi)ensation of these mysteries of your salvation, is by the hand and means of men, taken from amongst yourselves, and that therefore you are not to look for revelations, nor ecstasies, nor visions, nor transeortations, but to rest in God's ordinary ineaus he brings those persons down again from that glorious rei)resentatlon, as the »eral)lffm, to ereatures of an inferior, of an earthly nature. For, though it be by the sight, and in the quality and capacity of those glorious seral)him, that the minister of God receives his commission, aud instructions, his orders, and his faeulties, yet the execution of his eomnfission, and the pursuing of his instructions towards you, and in your behalf, is in that nature, and in that capacity, as they bave the courage of the llon, the laboriousness of the ox, the perspicuity of the eagle, and the affability of man. These winged persons then, (winged for their own sakes, and winged for yours) these ministers of God, (thus deslgned by Es.y, as heavenly seral)]dm, to I)rocure them reverence from you, s-m XLm] nCF. O. TmT SV.'.'. 257 and by St. John, as earthly creatures, to teach you, how near to yourselves God bath bronght the means of yonr salvatiÇn, in his visible, and sensible, ilt his al»pliable, aud apprehensible ordinanees) are, in both places, (that oï Esay, and this in our text) said to haro six wigs; and siz, to this use, in Esay, with two the. coter t]éir faee, cith two tttéb" feet, a»d witlt two tley.@. They coter their face; hot ail o'eç; for thon, neither the prophet there, nor the erangelist here, could bave known them to ha-e had these likenesses, and these proportions. The nfinisters of God are hot so covered, so remored from us, as that we bave hot meaus fo know them. We know them bv their face; that is, by that declaration which the church bath giron of them to us, in giving them their orders, and their power orer us; and we kuow them by their voire; that is, by their preaching of such doctrine, as is agreeable to those articles which we bave sucked in from out infancy. The nfinister's face is hot so corered with these wings, as that the people have no means to know him; for his ca}ling is manifest, and his doctrine is open to proof and trial: but they are said to cover their face, because they dare hot look confidently, they cannot look fully upon the majesty of the mysteries of God. The erangelists themselves, and they that ground their doctrine upon them, (ail which together, as we have often said, make up these four persons, whom Esay calls seraphim, and St. John inferior creatures) bave hOt see ail that belongs fo the nature and essence of God, hot ail in the attributes and properties of God, hOt ail in the decrees and purposes of God, no, not in ail the execution of those purposes and decrees; we do hot know ail that God intends to do: we do hot know ail that God intends in that which ho hath donc. Out faces are covered ïrom ha,'ing seen the manner of the eternal generation of the Son, or of the eternal proceeding of the Holy Ghost, or the manner of the presence of Christ in the saerament. The ministers of God are so far open-faced towards you, as that you may know them, and try them by due means to be such; and so far open-faced towards God, as that they bave seen in him and receired from him, ail things necessary for the salvation of your souls; but yet, their faces are corered too; some things concerning God, they VO/,.!1. S have hot seen themselves, nor shonld go about to reveal, or teach to you. And it is hot on|y their faces t|mat are covered, but their ïeet too. Their covered faces are especially directed to God; denoting their modesty in ïorbearing unrevea]ed lnysteries: their covered ïeet are especially directed to you; they should hot be cnrious in searching into ail God's actions, nor you in searching into ail thcim's; teir ways, their actions, their rives, their conversations should hot be too cnrionly searced, too narrowly pryed into, too severely inte]'preted by private men as thev are but snc, because in so doing, the danger and thc detriment is thns far likelv to fall npon yourselvcs that when the infirnfities of te nfinister, and yonr infim'mities, that is, their ïanlt and yonr uncaritable censnres of their ïanlts, meet toether, that may prodnce this i]l effect, that personal matters my be cast npou te ministerial ïnnction, and so the faults of a nfinistcm" be impnted to the ministry and by such a prejndice, and conceit of one mans iii lire, yon may lose the tastc and coinfort of his, and perchance of others is corered shall be ruade matët, says Christ; you shall know all thei" faults, and you sllall know thenl then, when it shall most eonfound theln, and least endange" you, when it shall aggravate their torlnent, and do you no harm: that is, at the dav of judgment. In the mean rime, beeause le might hurt you to know thei" faults, God bath eovered thei, feet so far, as that he would hot have you looking upon their feet, diveoE you ri'oto depending upon their mouths, as long as by his permis.ion they sit in lIoses" chair, and exeeute (od's commission. If they employ thei" middle wings, whieh were ordained for theln to tir withal, if they do their duties in breaking the bread of lire, and dispensing ehe word and saeraments, and assisting the siek in body, and siek in soul, though God have, in paf't, eovered their faces, that is, hot inlparted to theln sueh gift, or sueh an open sight into deep points, as perehanee you desire, yet he hath eovered eheir feee too; he hath tb" vour sakês removed their faults from.rouf survey, as you are but private men. Take the benefi of their two middle wings, their willingne.s to assi.st you with their labours, and in their other four wings, be net too curious, too eensorious, too severe, either their thee-wings, that is, the depth of their learning, or their feet-wings, that is, the holiness oftheir lires. They have six wiugs te these several purposes; and Sinynli enas, says our text, Erery one of them bath ix u'iff/. For, for the first couple, the faee-wings, howsoever seine of the ministers of God have gifts above their fllow% ho'soever they have gained the nalnes of 1)octorea,ç'eraphici, and Doctorea Illuminati, (with which titles they abound in the Roman chm'ch) yet their faces are in part covered, they must uot think they sec all, understand ail-; the lcarnedest of ail hath defects, even in matter of learnilJg. And Ibr the second couple, the feet-vings, howsoever seine may make shil tbr the reputation of being nmre pure, more sanctified than their fellov.% yet the best ofthem ail need a covering fbr their feet too; ail their steps, ail their actions will net endure examination. But for the last couple, however there may be seine intimation given ot" a great degree of perfection in marrer oi" kuow]edge, and in mattcr of manuers, (fer in those creatures which are mentioned in the fir.t of Ezekiel (which aise siguify the ministers of God) therc are but |but wings spokcn o| se that there are uo |hce-wings, tbey have an abum]ant measure of learning and knowledge, and the «herubim (which mav aise signify the saine persons) bave but two wings, no covering upon |hce or |ber; te denotc, that seine may be witllout ail)- remarkable exception i] their doctrine, and in their umnners too))'et |br the last couple, the two middle wings, by which they fly, and address tllemselves te evel T particnlar seul that ueeds their spiritual assistance, the ministers of God are never in auy figure but represented. Better they wanted face-'«ings, and |bet-wings, (discretion te cover either their insufficiency in knowledge, or their infirmity in manners (thau that they should want their middlewiugs, that is, a disposition te alTly themselves te their flock, and te be ahvays ready te distribute tlle promises of God, and the seals of his pronlises, the word and sacraments, amongst them. And this nmy be conveniently intended in their winys. New as.they were (dati, they were oculati in our text; they bave eyes as well as winys; they fly, but they know hither they fly. In the doctrine of implicit obedience in the Roman chtlrch, to believe as file church believes, or as that confessor which understand hot what the church believes make vou believe the chtlrch believes, in their doctrine of that wlnch they call Blind Obedience» that }s to pursue and execute any comnmndment of any superior, without an" consideration; in both these there are wins enouh but there are no eyes: they fly from hence to ome, and Roman juridictions, and they fly over hither aaln, after statures, after proclamations, after banishments iterated upon them; so that here are wings enov, ut they lack those eves by which thev shouhl di«ern between religion and rebellion, bctween a t'aitor and a martyr. And to take out consideration fronm them, and reflect upon ourselres, they that tir hih t matter of mystery, and leave out matter oç edificatlon, they that fly over sea for platforms of dscipline, and leave ott that church that bred them, thev that flv close to the service of reat mens affections and lmrposes, and do the vor of God coloey, and faint]y, they may be «loti, but they are hOt ocult/, they may fly hih, and fly fat, and fly far, and flv close in the wavs of preçerment, but they see hOt their end not only hot the end that they shall corne to, but hot the end that the" are put upon; hot onlv hot their own ends but hot the}r ends whose instruments they are. Thoe birds whose eves m'e sealed, and sewed up, fly hilmest; but they are ruade a pey: God exposes not his servants to such daners he i'es them vins, that is, means to do their oce; but eyes too, that }s, dioeretion and reliious wisdom how to do it. And this is that which they seem to need most, for thei, wings are limited, but their eyes are not; 8i winys, but Jdl of eye, says out text. They must bave eves in their tongues; thev must see, that they apply not blinoey and inconsideratelv God's graeious promises to the presumptuous, nor his heavy judgments to the broken-hearted. They must have eves in their ears; they must see that they hearken neither to a superstitious sense from Rome, nor to a seditious sense of Scriptures from the separation. They must have eyes in their hands; they must see that they uch hot upon any such benefits or rewards, might bind them to an S other toaster than to God himself. They must have eyes in their eyes; spiritual eyes in their bodily eyes; they mu see that they make a charitable construction of such things as they - sec other men do, and this is that fulness of eves which our text speaks of. But theu eSlJecially, says our text, Thé! werefull ofeyés within; the fulness, the abundance of eyes, that is, of providence and discretion in the ministers ofGod, was intimated before: in the sixth verse it was said, That they were.fll o.f eyes be.t'ore and béltlnd: that is, cireunlspect and provident for ail that were about them, and committed to them. But ail is determined and summed up in this, that Tke!/u'ere full of tes witkin. For as there is no profit at all (noue to nie, noue to God) if I get ail the world and lose mine own soul, so there is no profit to me, if I win other men's souls to God, and lose urine own. Ail my wiugs shall do me no good, ail mine e.ves beîore aud behind shall do nie no good, if I have no prospect inward, no eyes vithin, no care of my particular and personal safety. Aud so we bave donc with out first general part, the persons denoted in these four creatures, and the duties of their ministrv; in which wc bave therefore iusistcd thus long, that having so declared and uotified to you our duties, you also might be the more willing to hear of your owu duties, as well as ours, and to join with us in this opeu, and incessant, and total profession of vour religiou, which is the celebration of the Trinity iu this acclamation, lloly, holy, koly, Lord God.llmi.qkty, wkic is, u'hich was, and whiek is to corne. To eome therefore now to the seeoud part, and taking the fore" evangelists to be prineil,ally iutended here, but secondarily thc preaehers of the Gospel too, aud hot oui! they, but iu t fair extensiou and aecommodation the whole ehureh of £od, tiret we noted their ingenuity and openness in the profession of their religion, they did it dicentes, saying, declal'ing, publishing, manifestiug their devotion, without any disguise, an! modification. ]11 that song of the three ehildl'en in the furllaCe, 0 ail ye u'orks of tke Lord, &e., there is nothing presented speechless: to every thing that is there, there is given a tongue; uot only ail those ereatul'es which have all being, but even privations, privatiollS that bave no being, that are nothing in themselves, (as the niykt, ami darkness) are there ealled upon to bless the Lord, to praise
9__(j- PRE.CHED Or TRI.I'rY SISNDA'. ESER. XLI|. t)im, and raa.a,! t)im.for erer. i3ut towards the end of that song,.vou may see that service drawn into a narrower eompass;.ou nmy see to whom this speeeh, anti (]eel,ration doth principally appeloEain; for after he hatl ealled upon aun, alld raoo, and eartt), attd sea, and fo«l, and flst)es, and lolata, alld f'.qt)t, and da,''»ess, to praise tle Lord, to bleàs t)im. ad mag»df,! erer, then he cornes to O ye cldldret of nten, prlmo.qe»iti Del, God's beloved ereatures, his eldest sons, and first-born, in his intention: and then, Domtts Israel, 0./e t)ottse of I,rael, you whom God bath hOt onlv ruade lnell, but C'hristian lllen. Ilot only planted in the world, but in t]le chureh, hot onlv endued with reason, but inspired with religiol: and then again, O _priests of tke Lord, 0.le sereatts o.t" tke Lord, those of God's portion, hOt olllv iii the ehurch, but of the ehureh, and appointed by him to deal between hiln and other nlell: and then also, O sloirits and souls o.f tlw 'i.altteous, those whom those instruments of Go(i had powerfull)" and clTeetually wrought upon, u|)oll those espeeially, those men, tho.e Christian men. those priests, thoso sal;ctified nlell, upon those he ealls to bless tle Lord, to_praise,ttrd ma.qniJ] t)im for erer. This obligation the Holà" Ghost lavs upon us all, that the more God does for us, the nlore we shouhl deelare it to other Illell; God would bave us tell him out sins; (od would have us tell other men his mercies; it was uo excuse foi" loses that he was of u,circumcis«d li]s*; no excuse for Jeremv to say, D Lord (;od, b«t)oM 1 cannot sieak,.for I aa, a child', Uredidi, lroi, têrea locutus su», is I)avid's form of argulnellt, [ ldiÇred, and tt)êre.fore I sl»d,-e. If thou dost not love to speak of God. and of |lis benefits, thou (iost Ilot believe in (¢od, llor that tho.e benefits came frolll him. Remenlber that when thou wast a child, and presented to God in baptism, God Cre thee a tongue in other nlen's mouths, and ena|)led thee, bv them, to establish a eovenant, a contraet betxveeu th.".oul, and him then. And therefore sinee God spake fo thee, when thou eouhlst hOt hear him, in the faith of the ehureh; inee God heard thee when thou eouldst hOt speak fo him, in the mouth of thy sureties; sinee that God that ereated thee was Cbum, the XVord, (tbr, DLcit, et f«cta unt, God spake, and all o -E.xod. v. 12. tder. i. 6.
thiags werc qmde) since that God that redeemed thee was l'erbure, the XVord, (tbr the ll'ord was ruade.flesh) since that God that sanctified thec is Verbm, the \Vord. (for therefore St. Basil calls the Holy Ghost Verbum Dei, quia interpres Filii, He calls the Holy Ghost the \Vord of God, because as the Son is the Vord, becauso he manifests the Father unto us, so the Holy Ghost is the Word, because he manifests the Son unto us, and enables us to apprehend, and apply to ourselves, the promises of God in him) since God, in all the three Persons, is lerbum, the XVord to thec, ail of them working upon thee, by speaking fo thee, Be thou lérbam too, a XVord, as God was; a speakiu.g, and a doing word, fo his glory, and the edification of others. If the Lord open thy lips, (and except the Lord open thcm, it were better they were luted with the clay of the grave) let it be to show forth his praise, and hot in blasphemous, hot in scurrile, hot iu profane language. If the Lord open thv hand, (and if the Lord open it not, better it were manac]ed with thv winding-sheet) let it be, as well to distribute his b]essings, as to rcceive them. Let thy mouth, let thv hand, let ail the organs of thv body, a]l the faculties of thy soul. concur in tbe pcrformauce of this duty, iutimated here, and required of ail God's saints, Ut dicant, That they speak, utter, declare, publisb the glory of God. For this is that ingenuity, that alacrity, which constitutes out first branch. And then the second is the assiduity, the constancy, the incessautness, They rest hot day nor »i.qht. But have the saints of God no vacation. ]90 they never cease . nay, au the word imports, requiem non habent, thcv have no test. Belovcd, God himself rested hot, till the seveuth da)'; be thou conteut fo stay for thy Sabbath, ti]l thou mavest have an eternal one. If we mderstand thi., of test mercl.v, of bodily rcst, the saints of God are least likely fo have it, in tbis lire; for, this lire, is to them especially, above others, a business, and a perplexed business, a warfare, and a bloody warhre, a voyage, ami a tempestuous voyage. If we understand this test fo be cessation, intermission, the saints in heaven have none of that, in this service. It is a labour that never wearies, to serve God there. As the sua is no wearier now, than when he first set out, six thouand years since as that anee], whlch God bath giçcn to protect thee, is not wearv of his office, for all thy perversenesses, so, howsoerer Go«l dea] with thee, be hot thou weary of hearing thy prt, in his choir here in the militant church. God will bave low -oices, as well as high God will be glorified de as vell as in e.rcelds; God will bave Iris tribute of praise, out of out adversity, as well as out of out prosperity. And that is it whlch is intimated, and especial]y intended in the phrase which follows, D,«y anJ ffyt. For, it is uot only that those saints of God who have their hearen upon earth, do prise ]tire in the n[ht according t,» that of St. Jerome,,'ancHs il»se or,tio; an,l that of St. Basil, tiam somnia sawtorum ]reces s,t; That holy men do l»raise God. and pray to God in their leep, and in their dreams nor ouly dmt which Dvid speaks of, of risin.g in the niht, and fixing stationary hours for prayer; but eçen in the depth of any spirituel night, in the shadow of death, in the midnight of aictions and tribulations, God brings liht out of darkness, and gires his saints occasion of glorlfying him, hot only in the dark, (thouh it be dark) but from the dark, (because it is dark.) This is way incouceivable by any, inexpressib]e to any, but those that haçe felt that manner of God's proceeding in themselves, that be the night what niht it will, be the oppression of what extension, or of what duration it can, all this retards hot their zeal to God's service; nay, thev sec God better in the dark, than they did in the light; their tribulation bath brouht them to a nearer distance ta God, and God to clearer manitstation to them. And so, to their ingenuity, that they profess God, and their religion openly, is added an assiduity, that they do it incessantly; and then also, n integrity, a totality, that they do hot depmoE with, nor modlfy in any aoeicle of their religion; which is entirely, and totally enwrapped in this acclamation of the Trinity, (which is our third, and last branch in this last part) Holy, holy, hoty, Lord God Atm(ahty,,chi«h,cas, and is, and is to corne. For the Trinity itself, it is lux, but h«.x inaccessibilis; it is light, for a t, hild at baptism profees to sec it; but then, it is so inaccessible a light, as that if we will make ntural rean out
8EI. XI,II.] PREAC|iED ON TFII.NITY SUNDAY. OE. medi«m, to discern it by, it will fall within that of David, I»o»«it t«nebras latibM«m sucre '°, God bath ruade darkness his secret ])laces; God, as God, will be seen in the creature; there, in the creature he is light; light accessible to our reason; but God, in the Trinity, is open to no other light, than the light of fait]l. To make rcpresentations of mon, or of otber creaturcs, we find two ways; statuaries have one way, and lminters have another: statuaries doit bv subtraction; they take away, they ])are off" SOllle parts of that stone, or that tituber, x'hich t|ley work Ul)On, and then that which they leave, becomes like that man, wh«m they would represent: painters doit by addition; whereas the cloth, oï table prescnted nothing be|bre, tlley add colours, and lights, and shadows, and so trhere arises a representation. Somethnes we represent God by subtraction, by negatiou, hy saying, God is tbat, which is hot mortal, hot passible, nor movealde: sometimes we preseut him hy addition; bv adding out" bodily lineaments to him, and saying, That God hath hands, and feet, and ears, and cyes; and adding out afflictions, and passions to him, saying, That God is glad, or sorry, angry, or reconciled, as we arc. Some such things may be donc towards the representing of God, as God; but towards the exl)ressing of the distinction of the Persons in tbe Trinity, nothing. Tllen when Abraham went up to the great sacrifice of his son ', he left his servants, and his ass bclow: though out natural reason, and human arts, serve fo carry us to the hill, to the entrance of the mysteries of religiou, yet to possess us of the hill itself, and to corne to sucll a knowledge of the mysteries of tligion, as must save us, we nlust leave out natural reason, and human arts at the hottom of the hill, and climb up only by the light, and strenh of faith, l)imitti me (l«ia h«escit, savs that angel that wrestled with Jacob; Let me.¢o,.for it.¢rou's light". If thou think to see me bv day-light, savs that angel, thou wilt be deceived; if we think to sec this mystery of the Trinity, by the light of reason, dimittemus, we shall lose that hold which we had before, out natural faculties, out reason will be perplexed, and enfeebled, and out supernatural, our thitll uot strengthened that wav. o Psal. xviii. 1!. Gen. xxli. 5. Gen. xxii..°6.
Those ttilnonies, and pfs of the Trînitç which are in the Old Testament, are many, and powerful in their direct line; but thev are truly, for the most pa. of that uature, as that they are rather illustrations, and confirmations to him that believed the Trinity before, than arguments of theudves, able to convince him that bath no such pre-conception. We that have been catechized, aud bught up in the knowledge of tlle Trillity, find Inuch strenh, and much comfort, in tt we find. iu the first line of the Bible, that Bara A'loim, crearit Dii, (ods create ren and earth; iu this, tbat there is the naine of (; in the plural, joined to a verb of the singular humer, we apprehend an intimation of divers persons lu one God; we that believe the Trinity befol'e, find this, in that phrase, and fo of speech; the Jews, which believe not tbe Trinity, find no such thing. So whec we find that plural phre, Faciamtts ominem, that God says, Let s, us in the plural. ke »mr, we are glad to final such a plural manner of expressing God, bv the Holy (;ht, as may concur with that. which we believed before; that is, divers persons in one God. To the me purpoee also is that of the pmphet Ey, where Goal says. ll'ht shall I send, or wko skall,o Jbr ts"? There we discern.¢kaH I sed? and a plurality of Petons Dut what man. that had not been catechised in that doctrine before, would have concei«ed au opinion, or established a faith in the Trinity, upon those phrases in 3Ioses, or in Esay. without other evidence [ ('eloEainly, it was the divine 1,uose of Goal, to reoerve and keep this mystery of the Trinity, uurevealed for long time. even from those, who were, generally, to bave their ]ight, and instruction front his word; thev haJ the law and the prophets, aud y they had no verv elear notions of the Trinity. For, this is edent, that in Trismestus, and in Zoroter, and in Plato, and me other authors of that air, there seeln to be clearer, and more literal expressings of the Trilfity, than are in ail the pro],hets of the Old Testament. 'e take the reason w be, that God reserved the fn]l manstation of this m} stery, for the diifying, and glorifying oï his Gospel. And therefore it is enough that we know, that they of the Old Testament, were sxvcd y thc saine faith in the Trlnity, that we arc; ow God wrouht that tith in thcm, amongst whom he had etahlished no outwal'd lnCans for th imprintiug of such a faith, let us hot too curiously in«lUirc. Let ll c contnt to rcceive out liht thcre, wherc od lmth been plecd to ve it that is, in thooe plxces of thc New Testxment, which adroit no Coltraictiou, nor disutation. As where Christ sa)'s, Go, aad t«ach all nations, baI»tiziny lu the name the Fate,', ad th,'on, a,,d the HoQl Ghost '. And where it is said, There are three that bear «'itness in heaen; tlw Father, the liard, and the tIoly Ghost; and these three are oneL There are obumbrations of the Trinity, in Imture, and illustrations of the Trinity, in the Old Testament; but the dcclaration, the mauifestation thereof, was reserved for the ospel. N,w, this place, this text, is in both, it is in the Old, and it is in the New Testament; here, and in Esay; and in both places, agreed by ail expositors, to be a confession of the Trinity, in that threefold repetition, ll,,y, holy, holy. Vhere (by the way) you mav have use of this note; that in the first place (in the Prophet Esay) we have a fai. intimation, that that use of subalternation lu the service of God, of that, which we hve called antiphones, and responsaries iii the church of God, (when in that se-ice, some things are said or sung by one side of the COllgl'egatiol, and then auswered bv thc otllcr, or said by one man, and then answered bv t]le wholc conregation) that this manner of scrving God, hath a pattern from the practiee of the triumphant church. For there, the seral»hlm crled to one another, or (a it is in the original) this serwhin to this, llol/, holy, holy; so that there was a 'oice giveu, and an answer ruade, and a reply l'eturned in tllis service of God. And as the pattern is.in the t'iulnphant church tbl" this holà- inalmer of praisiug God, so il the practiee thereof, the inilitant prescribes; for it hath been alwavs in use. And tlleretbre, that religious vehemence of Damaseene, (speaking of thiskind of service in the church in his rime) mav be allowed us, Hymuum dlc«mus, etsi dwmo»es disruml»antur; How much soever it anger the devi], or his devilish instruments of schism and sedition, we will serve God in this manner, -ith holy chee'- Matt. fiifi. 19. ] 1 Jo v. 7.
o68 ,aexcH.no- Tm.T," SUb'h'C. [sv.u. XLH. fu]ness, with music, wlth antlphones, with responsaries, of which we bave the pattern from the triumphant, and the practiee ri'oto the primitive church. ow as this totality, and iutegrity of their religion whlch they protbss, first, with an ingenuity (openly) and then, with an assiduity, (ineegsantly) bath (as it were) this dilatation, this extension of God into three ]'ersons, (wh/ch is the character and speeification of the ('hristian religion; fi,r no religion, bnt the ('hristian, ever inclined to a plurality of Persons in one God) so hath it also such a contracting of this infinite power into that one (;od, as could hOt agree with anv other religion than the Christian, in either of those two essential circumstances; first, that that (;od should be omnipotent, and then, that he should be eternal; Tho Lord God Almighty, wic was, c«nd i, and i fo corne. All the heathen gods were ever subordinate to one another; that whieh one god eould hot, or wou]d hot do, another would, and eould; and this otkentimes, rather to anger another god, than to p]ease the party. And then there was a surveyor, a eontroHer over them all, whleh none of them eould resist, nor entreat, whieh svas theirfittum, their destinv. A nd so, in these snbsidiary gods, these oeeasiona] gods, there eouhl be no onmipotence, no ahnightiness. Out God is so omnipotent, ahnighty so, asthat his power hath no limitation but his own wi]].,Vikil impoe, ibile ti,i quod non tult «, He ean do whatsoever he will do; and he ean do more than that; tbr he eould have raîsed sons to Alwaharo, out of stones in the street. And as their gods were hot omnipotent, so neither were they eternal. They knew the history, the generation, the pedigree of all their gods; they knew where thev were horn, and where they went to sehoo], (as dustijl Martyr says, That Eseulapius, and Apo]lo their gods of physie, learned their physie of Chiron; o that the seholars were gods, and their masters none)and they knew where their gods svere buried; thev knew their parents, and their uneles, their wives and their ehildren, yea their bastards, and their eoneuhines; so far were they from being eternal gods; but if we remit and slacken this consideration of eternity (which is never to have had beginning) and consider on]y perpetuity (which is never to lmve end) these gods were not capable of a perpetual honour, an honour that shoul«l never end. For we see that of those three lnm«lred several Jupiters, which were worshipped in the world, belote Christ carne, thou._,:,h the world abound af this day with idolatry, yet there is not one ofthose idols, not one of those three hundred Jupiters celebrated with anv solemnity, no, hot known in anv obscure corner of the world. They were mortal beforc they were gods; they are dead in their persons: and they vere mortal when they were gods; thev are dead in their worship. In respect of eternity (which is ecessary in a god) perpetuity is btit Mobilis ima.oo (as Plato calls it) A faint and transitory shadow of eternity; and Pindarus makes it less; Idolum a, ternitatis; Pcrpetuity is but an idol compared to eternity; and, An idol is nothing, says the apostle. Our souls have a blessed perpetuity, our souls shall no more see an end, than God, that bath no beginning; and yet out souls are very far from being eternal. But those gods are so far from being eternal, as that, considered as gods (that is, celebrated with divine worship) they are not perpetual. But Go is out God.tbr eer and eer; ever, without beginning; and ever, without end. l/y days are like a skadow tkat f«deth, and I ara withered like 9rass; but thou 0 Lord dost remain for eeer, and tk remembrance from çeueration to 9e»eration; it is a remaining, and if is a remembrance; whieh words denote a former being. So that God, and our God, only hê, is eternal. To eonelude ail, with that whieh must be the eonelusion of all at last, this eternity of our ¢àod is expressed here in a phrase whieh designs and presents the last judglnent, that is, wkich u'as, and is, and is to corne. For though if be qui.loir, which was, and ui est, which is, yet i is hot qui futurus, chich is to be; but qui enturus, u'hich is to corne; that is, fo eome fo judgment; as it is in divers other plaees of this Book, qui enturus, u'hich is to corne. For though the last judieiary power, the final judgmen of the world, be fo be exeeuted by Christ, as he is the Son of man, visibly apparently in tha nature, yet Christ is thereiu as a delegate of the Trinity; it is in the virtue and power of that eommission, Data est miki omnls potestas; He bath all power, Psal. xLvili. 14. e PsaL cil. I 1.
but that power that he bath as the Son of man, is iven him. For, as the creation of the world was, so thc jud&mmnt of the world shall be the act of the whole Trinity. For if we consider the second Person in the Trinity, in both his natures, as he redeemed us, God and man, so if cannot be aid of him, that tle n-as; that is, that he,vas eternallv; for there was a time, when that God was hot that man; when that Person, Christ, was hot constituted. And therefore" this word, in our text, llTHch was, (which is also true of the test) is hot appropriated to Christ, but intended of the who]e Trinity. So that it is the whole Trinitv that is to corne, to corne to judgment. And therefore, let us reverently embraco such provisions, and such assistances as the church of God hath ordained, for retaining and celebrating the Trinity, in this particular contemplation, as they are to corne to judgment. And lot us at least provido so far, to stand upright in that judgment, as hot to deny, nor to disputo the power, or tbe l'ersons of those Judges. A man may make a petty larceny high treason so; if being called in question for that lesser ofl'ence, he will deny that there is any such power, any such sovereign, any such king, as can call him in question for it. he may turn his 'hipping into a quartering. At that last judg- nent, wo shall be arraigned for not clothing, not visiting, hot harbouring the poor; for our hot givi]g is a taking away; out withholding is a withdrawing; out keeping to ourselvcs, is a stealing from them. But vet ail this is but a petty larcen.v, in respect of that high treason of infidelity, of denying or douhting of the distinct Persons of the holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity. To believe in God, ont great, one universal, one infinite power, does but disinguish us from beasts; for thcre are mo men that do hOt acknowledge such a power, or that do hot believe in it, if they acknowledge it: even thev that acknowledge the devil to bo God, believe in tho devil. But that which di»oEinguishes man from mme. that which only makes his immortality a blessing, (for even immortality is part of their damnation that are damned, because it were an ease, it were a kind of pardon to them to bo mortal, to be capable of death, though after millions of generations) is, to conceivo aright of the power of tho Father, of the wisdom of the Son, of the goodness of the Holy Ghost of tho mercy of the Father, of the merits of the Son, of the application of the oy Ghost; of the creation of the Father, of the redemptio of the Son, of the sanctification of the Ho]y Ghost. Vithout this, all notions of God are but confused all worship of God is but idoatry, ail confvssion of Goal is but atheism; for so thv apostle ar,es, lUen you were witout Cbrist, yot were u'itout God. lVithout this, all moral virtues are but diseases; liberality is but a popular bait, and not 3 benefit, hot an altos; chastity is but a castmtion, and an ilnpotvncy, not temperance, hot mortification; active valour is but fury, whatsoever we do, and passive valour is but stupidity, whutsoever we surfer. Natural apprehensions of God, though those natural apprehensions mav bave much subtilty, voluntary electioas oç religion, though those voluntary elections may bave nmeh singularity, moral directions çor lire, though those moral directions may bave much severity, are all fi'ivolous and lost, if all determine hot in Christianity, in tlle notion of God, so as God hath manifested and conveyed llimself to us; in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Gllost, wholn this day we celebrate, in the ing nuity, and in the assiduity, and in the totality, recommended in this text, and in this acclamation of the text, Holy, boly, o, Lord G AImi[/ty, wMc was, and is, and if to corne.
And I w auother angel asceudiug from the East, "hich hatl the seal of the living God, and be eried with a loud voiee to the four angels, to wbom power was given to burt the eartb, and the sea, taying, tIurt ye hot the earth, neither the se'a, neither the trees, till we ha'e sealed the selwantsof our God in their foreheads.
TriE solemnity and festival with 'hieh the sons of the eatholic church of God celebrate this day, is much mistaken, even by them who think themselves the only catholics, and celebrate this
----'7 PREACHEO ON ALL-SAIN'i'S" DAYo [ER. XLIII. day, with a devotion, at least near to superstition in the church of Rome. For tey take if (for the most part) fo be a festival instituted by the church, iu contemlation of the saints in heaven only aud so carrv and employ all thcir devotions this day, upon consideration of those saints, and invocation of them only. But the institution of this day had this occasion. The heathen omans, who could hot possibly house all their gods in several tcmp]es, they were so over-many, aceordin to their law, Deos fruyi coltnto, To serve God as cheap as they could, ruade one temple for thom all. which tlley ealled Pantheon, To all the gods. This teuple Bouiface the pOl, e begged of the Etnperor Phocas; (and yet, bv the way, this was some hundreds of years after the donation of the Emper Constalltine, by which the bishops of Home pretend all that to be theirs; surcly they could not find this patent, this Çecord, this donation of Constantine, then when Boniface begged this temple in Rolne, this pantheon of the enaperol') and this temple, formerly the temple of ail their gods, that bishop consecratcd to the honour of all the martyrs, of all the saints ot" that kind. But after him, another bishop of the saine see, enlarged the consecration, and aceompanied it with tllis festival, which we celebrate to-day, in llonour of the Trinity, and angels, and apostles, and naartyrs, and confeors, and saints, and all the elect childrcn of God. So that it is trulv a festival, grounded upon that article of t]le Creed, The commurion 'saints, and unites in our devout contcmplation, the Head of the ehurch, God himself, and those two noble constitutive parts thereof, the triumphant, and the militant. And, accordingly, hath the ehurch applied this part of Scripture, to be read for the Epistle of this day, to show, fltat.41l-Açtint day hati relation to ail saints, both living and dead; for those serrants f God, whieh are here in this text, sealed in their Jbrelwads, are sueh (without all question) as receive that seal here, here iii the militant church. And therefore, as these words, so this festival, in their intendment, that al,plied these words to this festival, is also of saints upon earth. This day being then the day ofthe communion of saint% and this Seripture being reived for the epistle of this universal day, that exposition will best befit it, which makes it most uniçer]. And therefore, with very good attthority, such as the expositions of this bool of the Re«laton can receive, (of which book, no man will tmdertae to the Church, that he bath found the certain, and the literal sense as yet, nor is sure to do it, till the prophecies of this boek be accomldished, for ProphetioE içqenium, -tt in obscttro delitescnt, donec implecttur , It is the natm'e of prol,hecy to be secte, till it be fixlfilled, and therefore Daniel was bid to sk«t up the words, and fo seal the booh eeèn to the rime of tke en,1 , that is, to the end of the prophecy) with gd authority, ] say, we take that number of the s«eants " (¢od, wbich are said to be sealed in the fourth verse of this chapter, which is one kun&'ed forttt-ur thousattd, and that multite u'kick none co«ld tttmber, of all tations, which are mentioned in the ninth verse, fo be intended of one and the saine company; both these expressions denote the saine persons. In the fourth verse of the fouoeeenth chapter, this number of one hmdred]brty-]bur tkosand is applied to virlits, btt is intended of ail God's saints; for every holy soul is a virgin. And then this naine of Israel, which is meationed in the fouh verse of this chapr, (That there were so nmy sealed of the bouse of Israd) is oKen in Scripture applied to spiritual Israelites, to believers, (for every faiththl soul is an Israelite) so that this number of one k«ndred]brt-four tko«s«nd içais, and one hun&'ed fort/br tho«sad Israelites, whieh is hot a ceain number, but a number expressing a numberless multitude, this number, and that numberless multitude spoken of after, of a]l nations, which none couhl number, is ail one; and both making up the great and glorious bodv of ail saints, import and present thus much in general, That howsoever G-od iaflict great and hea T calamities in this world, to the shaking of the best moral and Christianly constancies and consciences, yet ail his saints, being eterna]ly known by him, shall be sealed by him, that is, so aured of his assistance, by a good using of those helps which he shall aflbrd them, in the Cristian Church, intended in this sealing on the tbrehead, that those ictions shall never separate them front him, nor frustrate his determination, nor disappoint his gracious purpose upon them, all them, this multitude, which no man could number. t Ireoeus. ' Dan. . 4. VO. II. T
Te corne then te the words themselves, we sec te safety, and çrotection of the saints of od, and his children, in the person and proceeding of out protectoL in that it is in the hands of an anel (I aw awter agel) and an angel of that place that came frein the east; the east that is the fountain of ail ]ight and glory, (I aw another an9el corne frein the east) and as tle g, ord doth naturally signify, (and is se rendcred in this last translation) ascendi» 9 J)'om tke eat, fret is, growing and increasing in strength; after that we shall consider our assurance in the commission and power of this angel, he ]«ad the eal 'te liriço God; and then in the execution of this commission; in which we shall sec first, who our enemies were; they were also angels, atel cried te oter atyels) able te de much by nature, because angels; then we shall sec their number, they were four angels, ruade strongcr by joining (tb açqel cried te toe four And besides their malignant nature, and united concord, two shrewd disadvantages, mihievoua and many, they had a power, a particular, an extraordinary power given them, at that rime, te do hm (four anpels, fo 'hom ower was ien fo hurt) and to do general, universal hun, (fou'er to vrt the earth, and the sea). After all this wo shall see this protector, against theso onemiea, and their commiion, oxecute his, first by declafing and publishing it, (]« cried with a loud voice) and then laly, what commission was; it was, to stay those four angels, for ail their commission, from ttrtig the earth, atd te sea, ad the treea. But yet, this is not for ever; it is but till the »ervat» qf God wer« sealed ht te forehead; that is, till God had afl;)rded them such helps, as that by a good use of them they might subsist which if they did hot, for ail their sealing in the forellead, this angel will deliver them over to the other ihur destroying angela. Of which sealing, that is, conferring of graco and helps against thoso spiritual enemies, tlero is a premnt intimation, that it is done by the benefit of tho Church, and in the power of the Church, which is no singular person, in that, upon the sudden, the person and the number is varied in our toxt; and this angel, which when he is said to a»cetd from the east, ad to cry with a loud voice, la still a sinlar angel, one angel, yet when ho cornes to the act of eali it the forehead, to the dispensing of sacra-
SER. XLIIIoJ PREACHED ON ALL-SAINTS' DAYo 75 ments, and sacramental assistances, he does that as a plural person, he represents more, the whole Church, and therefore sys here, Stay, hurt nothing, till we, we «re sealed te servants of out, out God ia theirrekeads. And by all these steps must we pass thmugh this garden of flowers, this orchard of fruits, this abundant text. First then, man being compassed with a cloud of witnesses of his own infirmities, and the manifold aictions of this life, (for, ies dlei eructat rerbum, D«y utdo dal/uttereth tke saine, and niflkt unto nækt teacketh knou'led9e", the bells tell him in the night, and bine tells him in the day, that ho himself melts and drops away piece-meal in fle departing of parents, and wife, and children out of this wodd, yea he her daily of a worse departing, he hears of the defection, and backsliding of me of his paiculnr acquaintance in matter of religion, or of their stiess and obduration in some course of sin, which is the worse eonmption, Dies diei eructat, every day makes him learneder than other in this sad knowlcdge, and he knows withal, Qtod cuiquam aceidere potest, cuisis potest, that any of their cases may bo his case too) ln:m that is compassed with sueh a cloud of such witnesses, had need of SOnle light to show him the right way, and some strength to enable him to walk fely in it. And this light and strenth is here pmposed in the assistance of an angel. Vhich being first understood of angels in general, aflbrds a eat measure of coinfort to us, bec,use the angels are sednli animw pedissequoE , faithful and diligent attendnnts upon ail out steps. They do so, they do attend the service and good of man, because it is illorum optimum, it is the best thing that angels (as angels) tan do, to do so: For evermore it is best for everything fo do tllat for which it was ordained and luade; and they were ruade angels for the service and sistance of mail Un.um rai et açqeli optimum est; Man and angels bave one and the saine thing in them, which is better than anything else that they bave; nothing bath it but they, and both tlley have it. Deus nihil s«i (timum habet; unum optimum totus; If is hot so th G; God bath nothing lu him that is best; but he is ahogether one entire best. But man and angels
î6 PRE.CltED ON ALL-SA|XTS DAA'. [ER. XLIlI. bave one thn common to them both, whch s the best thn tiret naturally cther of them hatln that is, reason, understandng, knowledge, discourse, cousideration. Angels and mex have graee too, flat is infinitely better than their reason; but though 'ace be the priacipal in the nature and dignity thereof, yet it but accessory to an angel, or to mau; grace is not in their nature at first, but infused by God, not to make them angcls and men, bt to make them good angels, and good men. This vory reason then, which is Illorum Ol»timttm, The best thing tllat agels, as angels, naturally have, teaches them, that the best thing that they can do, is the pertbrmance of that for which they were tamde. And then howsoever they were ruade sl»irits for a more glorious nse, to stand in the presenee of (od, and to ênjo.v the fulness of that conteulplation, yet he ruade his spirits angels, for the love which he had to be with the sons of nlen. illis, et pro ma.oo ]abeatt », Let this content the angels, and let them ma»-,nify God for this, Q«tod cure spiritaa aint coditiote, gratia f«cti sutt a[leli, That whereas by nature they are but spirits, (and the devil is so) by favour and by office they are ruade angels, messegers from God to man. xNow as the angels are hot defective in their best part, tlleir reason, and therefore do their oflàee in assisting us, so also let us exalt our best part, our reason too, to reverence them with a tare of doing such actiotls onlv as might hot be unfit tbr their presenee. Both angels and we have the iInage of God imprinted us; the angels bave it hOt i s«»mo, though they have it tttto; They have it hOt il the higllest degree, (for so £'hrist only is tire image of the irisible (;od ) but they have it in a deep impression, so as they ean neither lose it, nor deface it. We have tbis image of Got[ so as that we cannot lose it, but we may, and do defaee it; b'ri tootest, o exuri*; The devil bath this image lu him, and it cannot be burnt out in hell; for it is imprinted in the verv natttral faculties of the soul. But if we consider how many waters beat upon us in this world to wash off this image, how many rusty and habitual sins gnaw upon us, to eat out this image, how many files pass over our souls in cala- inities, and afflictions, in which though God havc a purpose, lfesculpere ima.qinem', to re-engrave, to refresh, to polish this image in us, by those corrections, yet the devil hath a harsh file too, that works a murlnuring, a comparing of out sins with other men's sins, and out punishnmnts with other men's punishments, and at last, eithcr denyitg of Providence; that things so unequally carried cannot he governed by God, or a wilful renouncing of it in desperation, that his Providence cannot be resisted, and thercfore itis ail one what we do, if we consider this, we had need look for assistants. Let us thercfore look first to that which is best in us naturally, that is, reason; )r if we lose that, out reason, our discourse, our considcration, and sink into au incapable and barren stupidity, thcre is no footing, no subsistence for grace. All thc virtue of corn is in the seed; but that will hot grow in vater, but only in the earth: all the goeel of nlan, considered supernaturally, is in grace; but that will hot grow in a washy soul, in a liquid, in a watery, and dissolute, and scattered mau. Grace grows it reason; in that alcali, and in that iniud, that considers the great treasurc, what itis to bave the image of God in him, naturally; for even that is our earncst of SUl)ernatural perfection. And this image of God, even in the angels, beiug reason, and the best act of rectified reason, the doiug of that for wbich they were ruade, it is that whicb the angcls are lmtul'allv inclined to do, tobe always present for tle assistance of lllll; for therefore they are angels. And since tbey bave a joy at the conversion of a sinner, and everything aflècts joy, and therefore they endeavour out conversion, yea, since they bave an increaoe of tbeir knowledge by being about us, (tbr, St. 1)aul says, Th«t he was ma(le a preacher f tke Gosel, to tke intent that angds miat know, l tke Church, the manbM wisdom God ) aud everything aflcts knowledge, these saints of God Ul)On earth, intended in out text, might justly promise thelnselves a strong and a l)lessed eomfort, and a happy isuuc in all tribulations, by this Seripture, if there were no more intended in it, but oldy the assistance of angels; I saw an anffel. But our seeurity of deliveranee is in a safer, and a stronger a Augnstlne. Eph. iii. 10, hand than this; net in these ministerial, and missi-e angels only; but iii h;s that sends them, yea, in his that ruade thelli; By wom, anti for wIwm, tey, and tl, e trones, and tiomidons, and priwil»alities, and powers, and all tinys were created, and in wom tloy consist '°. For, as the naine of angel is attributed te Christ, Ayéb«s Testrmenti, te a»yêl of tIw corênat; aud many of those luiraculous passages in the deli'erauces of Israel out of Egypt, which were donc by the second Person in the Trinity, by Crist, in Exod«s, are by Moses there, and in the abridgment of that story byStephen, after 12, attributed te «nyêls, se in this text, this a.oel, which doth se lnuch for (;od's saints, is, uot ilicOU- 'eniently, by many expositors, taken te be out Sa'iour Christ himself. And will anv man doubt of performance of conditions iu him. will any man look for better securitv tllall him, who purs two, aud two such into the hand, CIrist, and Jes«s; an anointed king, able, an actual Sa'iour, willing te discharge, net his, but our debt. He is a double person. God and man; He engages a double pawn, the Old, and the 1N'ew Testament, the law, and the Gospel; and you may be bold te trust him, that bath paid se well before; since you sec a performauce of the prophecies of the Old Testament. in the free and glorious preaching of the Gospel, trust also in a performance of the promises of the Gospel, in timely deliverances lu this lire, and an infallible, anl eternal reposeduess, in the lire te corne. He took our nature, that he llight know onr infirlnities experimentally; he brought down a better nature, that he might recel-er us, re»tore us powerfidly, effectually; and that he might be sure te accoml,lish his work, he brought ]nore te our reparation, than te our first building, the Godhead wrought as much lu out redemption, as iii our creation, and the mauhood more; for it began but then. And te take frein us all doubt of his power, or of his will iii out deliverance, he hath taken the surest way of giving satisfaction, he bath payed beforehand; l'erè tMit, He ath trul!! borne all our i.firmities ', He bath, already; And with is stripes are we lWaled; we that are here new. are healed by his stripes received sixteen hundred years since. Nay, he was Occisus ab o Col. i. 16, 17. ] l[aL iii. 1. ] Acts vil Isalah ii. 4.
oriyine, The Lamb lain from the beyinni»y " the world; That day that the frame of the world was fidly set up in the making of man, that day that the fairest pieee of that frame fell down again, in the fll of Adam, that day that God repaired this ruin again, in the pronise of a Mesias, (ail which we take ordinarily to hvo fllen in oue day, the sixth day) that day, in that pro- nise, was this Lmb slain, and all the debts hot only of out forefathers, and ours, but of the last man, that shall be found alive at the last day, wero then paid, so long beforehand. Thi seeurity then, for out dcliveranee and protection, we haro in this angel in our text, ([,aw a, a,ffel) as this angel is Christ; but yet we bave alto another security, more immediate, and more applicable to us. As nen that lend money in the course of the world, have a desire to have a servant in the band with the toaster, hot that they hope for the money from bien, but that they know better how to call upon him, and how to take hold of him: so besides this general assistance of angels, and besides this all-sufficiency of the andel of the covenant, Christ Jesus, we bave, for our security, in this text, (I saw an ael) the servants of Christ too; this an.gel is the minister of his word, the administcrer of his sacraments, the mediator betweeu Christ anti man, he is this angel, as St..lohn, so often in the Rerelation, and the Holy Ghost in other places of Scripture, styles thcm; this angel is indeed, the whole ri'ame, and hicrarchv of the Christian Church. For though this angel be called in this text TheAnel, in the singular, set, (to make use of one note by anticipation now, though in out distribution of the branches, we reserved it to the end, because it fits properly our present consideration) though this angel be named in the singular, and so may seem to bc restrained to Christ alone, yet we see, the office, when it cornes to execution after, is diflhsed, and there are more in the commission; for those phrases, that we, we may seal, the servants of o«r, our God, hve a plurality in them, a consent, harmony, and imply congregation, and do better a7ree with the llfinistl'y of the Church, than with the person of Christ alone. So then, to let go none of our aistants, our suroties, our safety
'-)0 PREACHED ON AIL-SAIN'l'a* DAYo [«FIo XLIII. is in the Ange] of the Corenant. Christ Jesus, radica]ly, fundamental]y, meritoriou,ly; if is in the ministrv of thv mge]s of heaven invisibly but it is in the ('hurch of G, aud in the power of his miuisters there, manifestly, sensihly, diseernibly Tht houM,eeb te law at the prù,t mo«t£ ', (they should, and therefore they are to blame that do hot, but fly to private exp sition,). But whv should they Quia anffel«s dembd exercit««m, (as it follows there) Beca«se the priest is the ana«l of the Lord er Ilost.,. Yea, the Gosl*cl whieh they preaeh, is aboçe ail messages, which an angcl tan bring of himself: t'an a*gelfrom heaeen 1,rea& othrwise uato you, that we hure yrea&«d, be accumed'% The minist O of eelestial anzels is inferior to, the ministrv of the ecclesiastical; the Gospel (which behmgs to us) is truly eeaçadium, the good ministrv of good angels, the best ministrv of the best angels; for though we compare hot with those angds in nature, we compare with thcm in office; though out offices teud to the saine end (to draw you to God) yet they diflçr in the was; and thongh the service of those angels, enlighten your understanding, and assist your belief too, ver in the minlstrv of these angels in the church, there is n blessed fulfillig, and verification of thooe words,.Xw is aleatio, ne«rer, tha» wh,,n we bel;eeed '. You believe, because those celcstial angels havc vrought invisihlv upon you. aud dispersed your eloud, and remored impedimeuts, l'ou believe, because the great angel ('brist Jesus, hath left his hitory, his action, and l»asion written tbr vou; and that is a historical faith. But yct salvation nearer to you. in having all this applied to Sou, by them, who are like you, men. and there, where vou know how to feteh it. the church; that as 3ou b«.lieve bv reading the GOSl»els at home, that Christ died for the vorld, you mav believe, by hearing hure, that he died for you. This is God's l,lentcous redemption, Quod linauam meam assum,it in Ol»U, suttnl«; That having work fo do. as the salvation of souls, he would make use of mv tougue; and being to sare the world by his word, that I should speak that word. Docendo vos, pochent, That he calls me up hithçr, to teach you that which ho a» MaL . 7. R0m. xiiL 1 I. * Demrd, could teaeh you better, aud 8ooner, at home, by his Spirit; lndul-,qe,tia ejt:s e#t, non;ndiyent;,t, ]t is thc laellCSS of his nlercy towards you, hot any narrowness in his power that hc needs me. And so have you this angel in our text, which our expositors hve delivcred hiln: it is Christ, it is tho angels of hcavcn, it is the Ininistry of thc Gospel; and this angel, wbosoevel., whatsoever, St. Jolm s*w colnc ff'oin the East, (I saw an a»el corne ];'om tke East) which was oto" second bra.nch, and falls next into consideration. This addition is intcn,led fi»r a particu]ar additi.n to out coinfort; it is a pal'ticular endowment, or enlargemcnt of strength and power in this angel, tat he «omes])'om the Eust. If we take it, (to go the saine way that we wcnt betbrc) first of natural angels, even the western allgcls, Qui k,«bn«re ocea.un, Those angels which hvc had their sunset, their rail, they emne ri'oto the Est too; Quomodo cecidi.ti d« ca'fo, Luctbr filius ori«ntis l Ilow art thou fidlen ];'om heaeea, 0 Lucbr, the soo qf tbe morning l[e had his begetting, his ereation in the Es, in thc light, and there might bave stayed, for may neeessity of t]dling, that G,»d laid upon him. Take the angel of the text to be the angel of the eovenant, Cln'it 3esus, and his naine is the East; he eannot be known, he ennot l»e said to llave any west. tir, Oriens nomen Ous, (so the 'ulgnte reads that place) B, hold the ff, ln, u'hose n,me is the çt.t; vou ean call him nothing else; for so, the other Zaehary, the Zaehary of the New Testament ealls him too, Per riscer« misericordla', Throgh the temler bowds of his mercy, lïsitarit nos Orien., Tke East, the ri'oto on hiyh bath risited us; and he was derived à l»¢ttre luminum, He calne from the East, begotten from all eterlfity of thc Father of lights, I came out.'o the Father, and came ido the «'orld . Takc this angel to be the preaeher of the Gospel, literally, l'eall S, the Gospel calne out of the East, where Christ lived and died; and tylfically, firatively, Paradise, whi&» also figured the place, to which the Gospel is to car» T us, heaven, that also was planted in the East; and therefore St. Basil assigns that ibr thc rcason, why in the church service we turn to the East
O. PHEACHED ON ALL-8AINTS ' DAYo [8EHo XLIII. when we pray, Quia anti9uam re9uirlmus patrlam, We look towards out ancient country, where the Gospel of our lvation was literally acted, and aeeomplished, and where heaven, the end of the Gospel,,vas represented in Paradise. Every way the Gospel is an angel of the East. But tbis is that whieh we take to be prineipally intended in it, that as the East is the fountain of light, so all out illumination is to be taken from the Gospel. Spread we this a little thinner, and we shall better sec through it. If the calamities of the world, or the he.w eonsideration of thine own sins, bave benumbed and benighted thv soul in the raie of darkness, and in the shadow of death; if thou think to wrestle and bustle though these strong storms, and thick elouds, with a strong hand if thou think thy money, thy bribes shall conjure thee up stronger spirits than those that oppose thee; if thou seek case in thy ealamities, that way to shake and shipwreek thine enemies; in these cross winds, in these eountermines, (to oppress as thou art oppressed) ail this is but turning fo the north, to blow away and starter these sadnesses, with a false, an illusory, and a sinful eomfort. If thou think to case thyself in the eontemplation of thine honour, thine offices, thy favour, thy riches, thy health, this is but a turuing to the south, the sunshine of worldly prosperity. If thon.ink under thv afflictions, and eanst hot find nourishment, but poison, in God's corrections, nor justice, but cruelty, in his judgments, nor mercy, but slackness, in his forbearance till now if thon surfer thy soul to set in cloud, a dark eloud of ignorance of God's providenee and proceedings, or in a darker, of diffidence of his performance towards thee, this is a turning to the west, and ail these are perverse and awry. But turn fo the East. and to the angel that cornes from thenee, the ministry of the Gospel of Christ Jesus in his ehurch it is truc, thon mayest find some dark places in the Seriptures; and, Est dlentii slecies obscuritas , To speak darkly and obseurely is kind of silence, I were as good hot be spoken fo. a.s hot be ruade to understantl that which is spoken, yet fix thvself upon this angel of the East, the preaching of the XVord, the ordinance of God, and thine understanding shall be eulightened, and thy belief establihed, and thy conscience thus
SEl1. XLIlI.] PREACIIED OS ALL-SA|NTS" nAY. far unbrdened, tht thouh the sins which thou hast done, canhot be ndonc, yet neither shalt thou be ndone by them; thcre, wlmrc tho art afraid of them, in jdment, they shall never meet thee; bt as in the round ri-ame of the world, the farthest Vest is East, where the Vest ends, the East begins, so in thee, (who art a xvorld too) thy Vest and thy East slmll join, aud when thy sun, thy soul cornes to set in thy death-bed, the Sun of Grace shall suck it up into glory. Our angel cornes from the East, (a denotation of splendour, and illustration of understanding, and eonoeience) and there is more, he comes ascending, (I saw an angel ascend from te East) that is, still growing more clear, and more powerful upon us. Take the angel here of natural aagels; and then, when the witch of Endor (though an evil spirit appeared to her) yet saw him appear so, ascending, she attributes that glory to it, I see ods ascendin.q out of te eart '. Take the angel to be Christ, and then, his ascension -as F«li,r clatsula totits itine»rii , The glorious shutting up of ail his pmgress; and though his descending from heaven to earth, and his descending ti'om earth to hell gave us our title, his ascending, by which he carried up our flesh to the riht hand of his Father, gave us our possession; his descent, his humiliation gave us jns ad rem, but his ascension i». re. But as this angel is thc ministry of the Gospel, God gave it a glorious aseent in the primitive church, whe» as this sun vultarit rit igas ad ctrrêndam iam *, aoeended quickly beyond the reach of hereties" wits, and perseeuto" swords, and as glorious an aseent in the Reformation, when in no long rime, the number of them that had forsaken Rome, was as great as of them that stayed with her. Nov to give way fo this aseent of this angel in thyself, nmke the way smooth, and make thy soul supple; find thou a growth of the Gospel in thy faith, and let us find it in thy lire. It is not in thy power to say to this angel, as Joshua said to the sun, Siste, stand still'; it vill not stand still; if thou find it not ascending, it descends; if thy comforts in the Gospel of Christ Jesus grow not, they decay; if thou profit hOt by the Gospel, thou losest by s 1 Sain. xxqfi. 13. s# Beard. s« Psal. . 6. sz Josh. x. 12.
' PREACHED ON -LL-SAINTt" DAY. [SER. XLIII'. it; if thou lire not by it, (nothing can redeem thee) thou diest bv it. We speak of going up and down a stair; it is all one stair; of goi»g to, and from the city; it is ail one way; coming in, and going out of a house; it is all one door: so is in the Gospel; but it is ail one (;ospel. If this angel of the East have appeared uuto thee, (the light of the Gospel bave shined upon thee) and it have not ascended in thee, if it have not ruade thee wiser anti wiser, and better a=td better too, thou hast stopped that light, vexed, zrie'ed, quenched that spirit; tbr the natural prt,gress of this angel of the East is to ascend; the natural moti«m and working of thc Gospel is, to make thee more and more confideut in God's dellverauce, less and le subject to relv upt, n the weak helps, and miserable comfi, rts of this world. To this l,urpose this angel ascends, that is, l,roceeds in the manifestation of his l,owcr, and of his readiness to succour us. (If his p»wer in this, that he hath the seals of the living God; I a»[lel ascendia[I.t'om the Et.«t, wich had the al of the liri»y God; whieh i out next consideratio». Qt" tlw l;rlua God. The gods of the nations are ail dead.gods; either sueh gods as never had lire, (stones, and gold and silver) or Sllçh gods at best, as were uever gods till thev were dead; for nlen that had benefited the worhl, in any public and general iuvention, or otherwise, were ruade gods after their deaths; whieh was a nfiserable deification, a miserable godllead that grew out of corruption, a uiiserable eternitv that begun at ail, but espoeially that begml in death; and they were hot gods till thev died. But out angel had the oeal of tlle living God. that is, power to lif tothers. Now. if we seek for this seal iii the natural augels, they llave it hot; for this seal is SOnle visible thing whereby we are assisted to salvatiou, and the angels bave 11o sueh. They are ruade keepers of this seal sometinles, but permanently tlley have it hot. This seal of eotuft, rt was put into an angel's hand, when he was to et a marZ" «yon te for««ads aH tem tat mourned; he had a visible thing, iuk, to mark thenl withal. But it was llot said to him, lde et sig«a omues creaturas, Go, and set this nlark upon every creature, as it was to th¢ minister of the Gospel t Ezek, . 4,
EH. XLIll.] PREACIlED ON ALL-SAINT ' D-Y. 25 Go, and],reach to eery cre«tureL If we scek this seal in thc great angel, the angel of the covenant, Christ Jesus: it is true he bath it, for, OmMs potestas data, AH power is icen uto me, inkearen, aud in earth °; and, Omne judicittm, Tke tk«r katk committed alljudyme«t to tke,%n; Christ, as the Son of man, exeeutes a judgment, and hath a power, whieh he bath not but by itL by eomnlission, by virtue of this seal, from his Father. But, beeause it is not OldV sO bi him, that he bath the seal of the living God, but he is this seal himse]t (He is the imaye f tke inri«ible God; ke le tke brçohtuess q" kL« (llory, and tke eaTress imate q" kis Petçona.) it is hot on]) his eommission t]lat is sealed, but Iris nature, he himoelf is sealed, (Hin h«tk God tke F«tker sea#d"',) sinee, I say, natural angels though t]ley have s»metilues this seal, they have it not always, they bave hot a commissiÇ,n ti'om God, to apply his mercies to nlan, by any ordinary and visible nleans, since the angel of the covenant, Christ Jesus» hath it, but hath it so, as that he is it too, the third sort of angels, the church-angels, thc luinisters of the Gospe], are they, who most properly tan be said to ]mve this seal by a fixed and permanent posscssion, and a power to app]y it to particular men, in ail emergent necessities, according to the institution of that living God, whose seal it is. Now the great power which is giveu by God, lu giving tbis seal to these angels, bath a ]ively representation (such as a slladow eau give) in the historv of Joseph. Pharaoh savs to him, Tkou skak be orer my bouse, atd over aY the land f E5ty/pt a, (steward of the kins bouse, and steward of the kingdom) And at thy word skall all my percale be armed, (constable and marshal too) and to invest hinl in all these, and more, Pharaoh gave him his rin9, his seal; hot his seal only to those several patents to himselt] but the keeping of that seal for the good of others; this temporal seal of Pharaoh was a representation of the seal of the living God. But there is a more express type of it in Exodus; Thou »h«l¢ 9rat'e (says God to Moses ) upor a pl«te " pure oohl as siynets are yrared, hollness to the Lord; and it shall be upon the a Mark xvi. 15. ao Iatt. xviii. 18. ai John v. 22. a Closs. i. 15. aa IIeb. i. 3. a John ri. 27 an Gen. xLi. 40. a« Exod. xviii. 36.
286 PREACHED ON" ALL-SANTS DAYo [8E1o XLIllo foreead of Aaron; what to do. T/at t/epeople may be accepte(] of Mm. There mnst be a holiness to the Lord, and that sented by Aaron the priest to God, that the people may be acceptable to t]¢e Lord; so tiret this sea| of the living God, in these angels of ont text, is, the sacraments of the ew Testamettt, and the absolution of sins, by 'hich (when God's people corne to holiness to the Lord, in trne repentance, and that that holiness, that is, that repentance, is ruade ko'n to Aaron, to the priest, and he presents it to the Lord) that priest, his minister seals to them, in those his ordinances, God's acceptation of this degree of holiness, he seals this reconciliaton between God and his people. And a contract of future concurrence, with his subsequent grace. This is the power given by God to this ascending angel; and we extend that no further, but hasten to his baste, his readiness to sueour us; in which, we proposed for the first consideration, that this angel of light manifested and discovered to us, who out enemies were: (He cried out to them who were ready to do mischief, wit] a loud voice) so that we might hear him, and know them. Though in all court cases it be hot good to take knowledge of enemies, (many times that ie better forborne) yet in all cases, it is good to know them. Espeeially in out case lu the text, because out enemies intended here, are of themselves, priwes of darg'- e»»; they can multiply clouds, and disguisings, their kingdom is in the darkness,,S'agittat in obscuro, They stoot i the dark *, (I ara wounded with a temptation, as with the plague, and know hot whenee the arrow came) Collocarit nw lu obscuri8, Tte eneny ]ath made my dwelli,.e dar]cw» , I have no xvindow that lets in li,,_,ht, but then this angel of light shows nie who they are. But them if we were leit to ourselves, it were but a little advantage to know who our enemies were, when we knew those enemies to be angels, persons so thr above out resistance. For, but that St. Paul mollifies and eases it with a milder word, nobis colluctatio "°, That we wrestle with enemies, (that thereby we might see out danger is but to take a thll, hot a deadlv wound, if we look seriously to out work; we cannot avoid falling into a,/Eph, ri. 12. PsaL xi. 2. Psal. cxziii. 3. 0 Eph. ri. 12.
SER. XLIII.J IREACHED ON ALL-SA|NTS sins of infirmity, but the death of haitual sin we oeni Jos ]»r«el but u'y will y Je, y o»e of ]sv«d ) it were a consideration enough to make us desperate of viCtory to hear im y tiret thm (though it be but a vrestling) is ot againt fleh and bloC, but açalnst Trincipalities, and ou'ers, and sTiritual u'icJ'ednesses hig places. None of us hath got the victory over flesh and blood, and yet we bave greater enemies than flesh and blood are. Some disciplines, some mortifications we have against flesh and hloed; we have St. l'auFsFrobatum ¢st, his medicine, (if we will use it) Ca»ti9o corpus, I keep under y body, and bring it into aubjectiou «; for that 'e have ome aistanee; even our enelnies heeome out friends; poverty or siekness will fight for us against flesh and bloed, agait our earnal lusts; but for these powers and prineipalities, I kllOW hOt where to wateh them, how to eneounter eln. I pass my time soeiably and merrily in eheerful conversation, in music, in feting, in eomedies, in wantonness; and I never hear all this while of any power or prineipality, my conscience spiea no such enemy in all this. And then a]one, between G and me at midnight, some bealn of his graee shines out upon me, and by that light I see this pl'inee of darkness, and then I find that I have been the subject, the slave of these powers and principalities, wheu I thought hot of them. Well, I see them, and I try then to dispossess myself of them, and I make my recourse to the powerftdlest exorcism that is, I turn to hearty and earnest prayer to God, and think) upon him, and before I period of my prayer, a power
I fix my thoughts strongly (as I bave perfected one petition, one and principality is got into me again. Spiritus soporis", The spirit of slumber eloses nfine eyos, and I pray drowsily; or spiritus rerti.oinis% The spirit of deviation, and vain repetition, and I pray giddily, and eireularly, and return again and again to that I have said before, and pereeive hot that I do so; and eseio eujus spirit.us sim «, (as out Saviour said, rebuking his disciples, who were so vehement for the burning of the Samaritans, you know wt of what spirit you are) I pray, and know hot of what spirit I ara, I consider hot mine
S PI'IEACHED ON ALL-SAINT.'J DAYo [SEH. own pu)ose in prayer; and by this ad'antage, this door ot inconsideration, enters,Tiritus errorio "», The edueing spirit, the spirit of error, and I pray hot only negligently, bu erroneously, dangelusly, for such things as diseonduce to the glory of God, and my true happiness, if they were graned. 'ay, even the prOl.,het Hosea's Olffritus.forn&ationum ", enters into me,.»irit 'fi, rnication, tha is, some remembrance of the vantonness of my youth, some misinterpretation of a word in my l»rayer, that mav bear an ill-sense, ome unelean spirit, some power or principality bath depra,'ed my prayer, and slaekened my zeal. And this is my greatest misery of all, that when that whieh fighs for me, and fights against me toe, sickness, hath laid me upon my las bed, then in my weakes estate, these powers and principaliries shall be in their full l»ractice agains me. And therefore it is one great advancement of thy deliveranee, tobe brought by thi angel, tha is, by the ministry of the Gospel of Christ, to know that thou hast angels to thine enemies; and then another is to know their number, and so the srenh of their eonfederacy; for, in the verse before the tex, they are expreed tobe four, (1 saw foo" anyds, &c.) Four legions of angels, four millions, nay, four creations of angels could do no mo harm, than is intended in these four; for, (as if is said in the former 'erse) They sto upon thefour corners f the earth, thev bestrid, they cantoned the whole world. Thou hast Opl,osite angels enow to batter thee eveL" where, aud to eut off and detçat ail suecours, ail supplies, that thou canst procure, or propose to thvself; ablute enemies to one another will meet and join to thv ruin, and even presumption will induce desperation. We need hot be so literal iu this, as St. Hierome, (who indeed in that followed Origen) to think that there la a particular evil angel over everx, sin; that because we find that mention of tke Slirit OE error, and the spirit OE shtmber, and the spirit brnication, we should therefore think that Christ meant by mammot', a particular sl,irit of covetousness, and that there be several princes over several sins. This needs hot; when thou art tempted, nex-er ask that spirit's naine; his naine is Leffion, for he is many'". Take thyself at the largest, as thou art a world, therc arc four angels at thy four coraers; let tby four corners bc thy worldly profession, thy calling, and another thy bodi|y refection, thy eating, and drinking, and sleeping, and a third thy honest and allowablc recreations, and a fourth thy religlous service of God in this place, (which t,vo last, that i.s, recreation, and religion, God hath been pleased to join t(,gether in the Sabbatb, in wlfich ha intended his own glory in out service of him, and then thc test of the creature too) let these four, thy calling, thy sleeping, thy recreation, thy religion be tbe four corners of thy world, and thou shalt find an angel of temptation at every corner; cven in thy sleep, aven in this housc of God thou hast met them. Thc devil is no recusant; ha will corne to church, and ha will la)" his snares there; l['/en Oat da cornes, tkat tke sons of God loresent themselees before the Lord,,S'ata cornes also amon 9 them% Not only so, St. Augustine confesses he met him at ehureh, ti earry wantin glanees between men and wimen, but ha is here, sometimes to work a mis-interpretation in thc hearer, sometimes to work an affectation in the speaker, and many rimes doth more harm by a good sermon th.n by a weak, by possessing the hearers with an admiration of the preacher's gifts, and neglecting Go&s ordinance. And then it is not only their natural power, as they are angels, nor their united power, as they are many, nor their politic power, that in the midst of that confusion which is amongst them, yet they agree together to ruin us, but (as it follows in our text) it is Potestas data, A particular power, wbich, besides their natural po,ver, God, af this rime, put into their hands; (IIe crleà to te four a.nyels, to wo»z 1Power was yiren to urt) ail other augels had it not, nor had these four that power at all times, which, in out distribution af first,ve malle a particular consideration. It was potestas data, a special commission that laid Job open to Satan's malice; it was lPotestas data, a special commission, that laid the herd of swine open to the devil's transportation much mor.e, no doubt, bave the particular saints of God in the assistances of the Christian church, (for Job had not that assist-
90 IRIACHED ON ALL-SAINTS DAY. [SlR. XLIIIo ance, being net within the covenant)and most of ail bath the church of God hcrself, an ability, in some measure, te defend itse|f again.t mauv machinations and practices of the devi|, if it werc net fi»r tlfis pot«stas data, that God, for his further glory, in the trial of his saints and his church, doth enable thc devil te raise whole armies ot" persecutors, whole swarms of heretics, te stin and wound the church beyond that ordinary power, which, the devil iu nature hath. That place, Curse net the ki.q, o, net n. tkouyht, Jbr that u'hich kath wings sball tell tke matter 5, is ordiuarily understood of angels; tiret angels shall reveal disloyal thoughts new, naturally angels de net understand thoughts; but, iu such cases, there is potetas data, a particular power given them te de it; aud se te evil angels, for the aeeomplishment of (;od's purposes, there is potestas data, a new power given, a new commission, that is beyond permission; for, though by God's permission mine eye sec, and mine car hear, yet my hand eould net sec ner hear by God's permission; for permission is but the leaving of a thing te the doing of that, whieh by nature, if there be no hinderanee iuterposed, it eould, and would de. This comfort then, and this hope of deliveranee hast thou here, that this angel in out text, that is, the ministry of the Gospel, tells thee, that that rage which the devil uses against thee new, is but iotestas data, a temporary power given him for the present; for, if thy afflictions were altogether from the natural malice aud power of the devil, inherent in him, that malice xvould never end, ner thy affliction neither, if God should leave ail te him. And thercfore though those our afflictions be heavier, whieh proceed ex eotestate data, when (od exalts that power of the devil, which naturally he hath, with new commissions, besides his permission te use his natural strenh, and natural malice, yet our deliverance is the nearer too, beeause all these aeeessory and oecasional commissions are for particular ends, and are limited, how far they shall extend, how long they shall endure. Here, thepotesta data, the pover which was given te these angels, was large, it was general, for, (as it is in the former verse) it was a power te hold the four winds of the earth, that tke wind should hot blow on the earth, tor on tke sea, or on ang tree. V'hat this withholding Eccles. x. 20.
of the wind signifies, and the damnification of that, is Dur next consideration. By the ]and, is commonly understood ail the inhabitants of the land; by the sea, islanders, and sea-ïaring rnen, ha]f inhabitants of the sea and by the trees, all those whorn persecution had driven away, and planted in the wilderness. The hinderance of the use of the wind, being taken byour expositors to be a general impediment of the increase of the earth, and of commerce at sea. But this Book OE the levelation must hot be so literally understood, as that file winds here should signiïy merely natm'al winds; there is more in this thau so; thus rnuch more, that this withholding of the winds, is a withho]ding of the preaching and passage of the Gospel: which is the heavicst rnisery that can ïall upon a nation, or upon a man, because thereby, by the misery of hot hearing, he loses ail liht, and rneans of discerning his own misery. Now s all the parts, and the style anti phrase of this Book is figurative and metaphorica], so is it no unusual rnetaphor, even in other Books of the Scripture too to call the miuisters, and preachers of Godes word by the naine of winds. Arise 0 orth, and corne 0,S'outl, and blow on my ffarden, that the pice thereof may flow ot , hath a]ways been understood to be an invitation, a compellation ïrom Christ to his ministers, to dispense and convey salvation, by his Gospel, to ail nations. And upon those words, Prod«cit ento, Ire brinyet cind» out o.[" IHs treasuries », and Educit nubes, I[e brin.qet clouds ]'rom the ends o]" tlw earth, ZPuto prwdlcatores et nubes et,entos, says St. Augustine, I think that the Holv Ghost means both by his clouds, and by his winds, the preachers of his word, the ministers of the Gospel, A'nbes prolater carnem, entos lrolter slgiritum; Clouds because their bodies are seen, winds because their working is felt; A'ubes cernuntur, venti sentiuntur; As clouds they embrace the whole visible ehurch, and are visible to it; as winds they pierce into the invisible church, the souls of the true saints of God, and "«'ork, though invisibly, upon them. So also those words, God rode laon a cherub, and did fly, he did [ly pon the n'inRs of the 'ind »', have been well interpreted of God's being pleased » Cant. iv. 16. »'Pal. cxxxv. 7. Psl. xviii. 10. u 2 to be carried from nation to nation, by the service of his ministers. 'ow this is the nature of this wind, (of îhe Spirit of God breathing in his nfinisters),S'pirat ubi 'ult », That it blows where it lists; and this is the malice of these evil angels, that it shall hOt do so. But this angel, which atk the seal of the liri.o God, that is, the ministry of the Gospel established by him, shall keep the winds at their liberty; and howsoever vaking dreamers think of alterations and tolerations, howsoever men that disguise their expectations with an outward conforlnity to us, may think the tilne of deelaring themselves grows on apaee howsoever the slumbering of capital laws, and reason of state may suffit such mistakem to flatter themselves, yet God hath ruade this augel of the East. this Gospel of his to aseend so far now, and to take so deep foot, as that now this one angel is strong enough for the other four, that is, the sincere preaching of the Gospel, in out settled and well disciplined church, shall prevail agaiust those four pestilent opposites, atheists, and papists, and sectaries, and earnal indifferent men, who all would hinder the blowing of this vind, the efl'ect of this Gospel. And to this purpose out angel in the text is said to bave eried with a loud voice, (He cried citl a loud 'oice to thefour agele). For out seeurity thereïore that this wind shall blow still, that this preaehing of the Gospel whieh we enjoy shall be ransferred upon our posterity in the saine sineerity, and the saine integrity, there is required an assiduiy, and an earllestness in us, who are in tha service now, in whieh this angel was then, in out preaehing. Clama:it, out angel eried, (i was his first aet, nothing lllUSt retard out preaehing)and Voce magna, He cried with a loud coite; (he gave no over with one ealling) "Wha is this erying aloud in our angel. Voci modum, audientiun neceita doEnit'«; The voiee mus so loud, as they, to whom we speak, are quiek or ghiek of hearing.,ubmia, quw ad uurrum propriè accedit, damnanda, A whispering voiee was hot the voiee of this angel, nor mus i be of those angels tha are figured in him; for that is a voiee of a eonventiele, hot a ehureh voiee. That is John iii. 8. BasiL a loud voiee that is heard by them whom it concerns. So the catechizing of children, though in a fami]iar manner, is a loud voice, though it be hot a sermon: so writing in defence of our religion, is a loud voice, though in the mean time a nlan intcrmit his preaching: so the speaking by another, when sickness or other s.ervices withhold him that should, and would speak, is a loud voice even from him. And therefore though there be no evident, no imminent danger of withholdiug these windg, of inhibiting or scanting the liberty of the Gospel, yet because it is wished by too many, and because we tan imagine no punishlnent too great for our neglecting the Gospel, it becomes us, the ministers of od, by ail these loud voices, of catechizing, of preaching, of writing, to cry, and to cry, (though hot with vociferations, or seditious jealousies and suspicions of the present go'ernlnelmt) yet to cry so loud, so assiduously, so earnestly, s ail whom it concerns (and it concerus ail) may hcar it: hurt not the earth, withhold hot the winds, be you no occasions, by your neglecting the Gospel of Christ Jcsus, that he suflbr it to be relnoved from you; and know withal, that you do neglect this Gospel, (how often soever vou hear it preached) if vou do not practise it. Nor is that a sufFicient practice of hearing, to dcsire to hear more, except thé" hearing bring thee to leave thy sins; without that, at the last day thou shalt meet thy serinons amongst thv sius; and when Christ Jcsus shall charge thec with false weights and measures in thy shop ail the week, with prevarication iu judgment, with cxtortion in thy practice, and in thine oflàce, he shall add to that, and besides this, thou wast at church twice that Sunday; when he shall bave told thee, Thou didst hot feed me, thou didst uot clothe me, he shall aggravate ail with that, Yet thou heardst two serinons that Sunday, besides thine interlineary week lectures. The means to keep this wind awake, (to continue the liberty of the Gospel) is this loud voice, (assiduous and pertinent preaching) but serinons unpractised are three-piled sins, and God shall turn, as their prayers, so their preaching, into sin. For this injunction, this inhibition which this angel serres upon the fonr angels, That they should not hurt the world by withholding the winds, that is, not hinder the propagation and passage of the Gospel, was hOt