°9 PRE&CHID ON' &LLoSAINT DAY. [SEP,. XLIII. perpetua]; if was limited with a donec, til] something were done in the behalf and favour of the world, and that was, till th« ser- 'ants of God were sealed D their foreeads, which is our lt consideration. The servants of God bein sealed in their foreheads in the sacrament of baptism, when hey are received into the care of the church, all flose means which God bath provided for his servants, in his church, to resist afflictions and tcmptations, are intended tobe conlerred upon them in tllat seal: this sealing of them is communicatin to them all those assistances of the Christian church: then they have a wav of prevention of sin, by hearin a way to absolution, bv confession a wav to reeoneiliation, bv worthy reeeiving the body and blood of Christ Jesus: and these helps of the Christian ehureh, thus eonferred in baptism, keep open still, (if these be rightly tLsed.)that other seal. the seal of the Spirit:.4.fter ye heard tke Gosloel, and beliered, ye wera sealed with tke Hol!!,ç'pirit of promise»: and so also, (;od kath anointed us, and ealed u.«, and giren us tke earnest of ki,,'pirit in out heart ». So that besides the seal in the forehead, whieh is an interest and title to all the assistanees and benefits of ehureh, publie prayer, preaehing, saeraments and sacramental helps, there is a seal of the Spirit of God, that that Spirit bears witness with m.v spirit, that I perform the conditions passed hetween Goal and nie, under the first seal, my baptism. But beeause this second seal. (thc obsignation and testifieation of tho inward spirit) depelf'ds upon the good use of the first seal, (the participation of the he]ps of the ehureh, given me in baptism) therefore the donec in out text, (Hurt them tot till the.q be *ealed) reaehes but to the first seal, the seal of baptism, and in that, of all God's ordinary graces, ordinarily exhibited in his ordinanees. So then, this angel takes eare of us, till he bave delivered us over to the sweet and powerfttl helps of that church, whieh God hath purehased with his blood; when he hath plaeed us there, he looks that we should do something for ourselves, which, before we were there, and ruade partakers of God's graees in his ehureh by baptlsm, we eould not do; for in this, this angel's commission Ephe L 13. -'* 2 Co: L 22.
deternfines, that we be sealed in the forcheads, that we be taken from the common, into fod's inclosures, impaled in his park, recei-ed into his chureh, where ottr sal'ation depends upon the good use of those mea,s. Use therefore those means well; anti put hOt God to save thee, by a miracle, without means. Trust hot to an irresistible grace, that atone rime or other God will have thee, whether thou wilt or no. Tolle vobtntatem, et wn est ierus; If thou couhlst quench thine own will, thou hadst quenched hell; if thou couldst be content, willing to be in hell, hell were not hell. So, if God save a man against his will, hea'en is hOt heaven; if he be loath to corne thither, sorry tllat he shall be there, he bath hot the joy of heaven, and then hea'en is hot heaven. Put not God to save thee by miracle; God tan save an image by miracle; bv miracle he tan make an image a man; if man can make God of bread, certainly God can make a man of an image, and so save him; but God hath ruade thêe his own image, and aflbrded thee means of salvation: use them. God compels nd man. The nlaster of the feast invited martyr°; solemnly, befi)re hand; they came not: he sent his servants to call in the poor, upon the sudden; and they came: so he receives late comers. And there is a compella ittrare, he sends a ser'ant to compel some to corne in. But that was but a servant's work, the toaster only invited; he conlpelled none. We the ser'ants of God, bave certain compulsories, to bring men hither; the denouncing of God's judgments, the censures of the church, exconununications, and thc test, are compulsories. The state bath coml)ulsories too, in the penal laws. But ail this is but to bring thelu into the bouse, to church; compelle itrttre. "Ve can compel theln to corne to the first seal, to baptism; we tan conlpel men, to bring their childrcn to that sacrament; but to sah'ation, only the toaster brings; and (in that parable) the toaster does only invite; he coml)els none: though his corrections may seem fo be compulsories, yet even his corrections are sweet invitations; his COl'rections are so far from compelling men to corne to heaven, as that they put many nlen further out of their way, and work an obduration, rather than an obsequiousness. » Bernard. t0 Luke xiv. 23.
Vith those therefore that ne|ect the means, that ho bath brouht them to, in sea|ing thcm in the forehead, this ange| bath no more to do, but gives them over to the power of the four destroyin anels. Vith those that attend those means, he proceeds and, in thcir behalf, his donec, (SI)are them till I bave sealed them) becomes the blessed Virgin's donec «, she was a Virgin till she had her child, and. Virn after too and it becomes out blessed Saviour's donec °t, Ho sits at his Fathcr's riht hand, till his enemies be ruade his footstool, and after too; so these destroying angels, that had o power over them till they werc sealed, shall bave no power over them.fter they are sealed, but they shall pass ri'oto seal to seal; after that seal on the tbrehead, We erubezcant era».oelium, ( lf'e iyn Mm witlt tle i.on f tIe cro., in tog'en t/ot l«rea.t't,r le lall hot be alamed to con.tèss tle.tàit o.f ('rist crttci.fied ) he shall corne also to those seals, which out Saviour recommends to his spouse,,Set me as a seal on tIy l«art, and as a seal on t/tine arm*'; St. Ambrose collects them, and connects them together, 8iynaculum Ckristl in corde, nf dili.oamus, in.fronte,,tt confit«amur, in bracMo,,tt operemur; (;od seals us in the heart, that we might love him, and in the forehead, that we might profi:ss it, and in the hand, that we miht declare and praetise it; and then the whole pnrpose of this blessed angel in out text, is perfected in us, and we ourselvcs are ruade partakers of the solemnity of this day, whieh we celebrate, for we ourselves enter in the communion of saints, bv these three seals, ofbelief, of profession, of works and practice.
Acrs ix. 4. And he fell to the earth, and heard a volte, saying, Saul, Saul, hy perseeutest thou me? L.r ts now praise famous nen, and our fathers (sys the wise man) that is, that assisted out second generation, our spiritual regeneration; let us praise them, commenmrate them. The Lord bath wrou.qht yreat glor poncer fron the be.ainni».q, says he there, that is, it hath always been the Lord's way to glorify hi:nself in the conversion of mcn, by the nfinistry of men. For he adds, The 5 were leaders of the people by their counsel, an4 by their knowled.ae and learniaff meet for the people, wise and eloquent men in their instructions; and that is, that God who gives these gifts bl" flfis purpose, looks fir the employment of these gifts, to the e,lifieation of others, to his glory. There be of them, that hare llft a naine behind them, (as it is also added tu that place) that is, that though God ean a;nply reward his servants in the uext world, yet he does it sometimes in tlfis world; and, though not with temporal happinesses, in their life, yet with honour, and eonmmmorations, and eelebrations of them, after they are gone out of t|lis lire, they leave a naine behind them. And amongst them, in a high plaee, shines our blessed and glorious apostle St. Paul, whose conversion the ehureh eelebrates now, and br the eelebration thereoç hath appointed this part of Seripture ri'oto whenee this text art.ses, to be the epistle of the da)', A nd he./èll to the earth, and heard a ' ç'. loersecutest thou me roice, sayinff, 8aul,,_aul, whff. There are v¢ords in the text, that will reaeh to all the story of St. Paul's eonversiou, embraee all, involve and enwrap all; we nmst eontraet them; into less than three parts, we eannot well: those wiil be thesc; first, the person, Saul, he, he ]'cll to tke earth; and then, lais hunfiliation, lais exinanitiin of himself, his divesting, putting off of himsel] he fell to tke earth; and lastly, z Eeelus. xliv. 1, his investing of Christ, his putting on of Christ, his rising again by the power of a new inanimation, a new soul breathed into him t?om Christ, l[e heard a roiee, sayi«.o,,S'aul, çattl, why tersecutest tho,t m«? Nosv, a re-distribution, a subdivisiotx of these parts, into their bra,,ches, we shall present to you anon, more opportunely, as we shall corne in due order to the handling of the parts themselves. In the first, the branches will be but these; Saul's indisposition when Christ took him in hand, and Christ's work upon him; what he tbund him, what he lett him, will determine our first part, the person. First then, what he was af that rime, the Holy Ghost gives evidence enough against him, and he gives enough against himselt Of that which the Holy (;host gives, you may see a great mauy heavy pieces, a great many appliable circumstances, if at any rime, at home, you do but paraphrase, and spread to yourselves the tbrmer part of this chapter, to this text. Take a little preparation from me: Adlu sp/rans, says the first verse,,'tul yet br«atli,y treatenit,gs and slauyter, then when he was in the height of his fur)', Christ laid hold upon him. It was, fbr the most part, Crist's nethod of curing. Then when the sea was in a tempestuous rage , when the waters covered the ship, and the storm shaked even that which could remove mountains, the faith of the disciples, then Christ rebukes the wind, and coinrounds a cahn. Then when the sun was gone out to rnn his race as a giant, (as David speaks) then God by the mouth of another, of Joshua, bids the snn stand still. Then whên that mclean spirit foamed, and fumed, and rote, and rent the possessed persous, then Crist comlnanded them to go out. Let the fes'er alone, say our physicians, till some fits be passed, and then we shall, sec further, and discern better. The note is St. Crysostom's and he applies it to Chrisçs proceeding with Saul; e.rloecta'it ut fatiyatus debacchado ansuesceret, says he, Christ stayed hot till Saul being ruade drunk with blood, were cast into slumber, as satisfied with the blood of Christians;,S'ed i media ftisania sqerarit, but in the midst of his fit, he gave him physic, in the midst of his madness, he reclaims him. So is it also part of the evidence that the Holy (khosg gives against him,
SEI. XLIV.] THIi: CONVERSOr OF ST. P*Vr. 999 19etiit etgiStOlaS, that he sued to the state for commission to perscrute Christians. Vrhen the state will put men to some kind of necessity of concurring to the endamaging or endangering of the cau of Christ, and will be displeased with them, if they do not, men make to themselves, and to their consciences some faint colour of excuse: but when they themselves set actions on foot, which are not required at their hands, where is their e,asion. Then when Saul sued out this conmission, That ifhe fotud any of that way, (that is, Christians) (for he had so scattered them belote, that he was not sure to find any, they did hOt appear in any whole body, dangerous, or suspicious to the state) but, if he round any, Any man or woman, that he might bave the power of the state, so as that he need not fear men, that he might bave the impartiality, and the inflexibility of the state, so as that he need not pity women, then xvhen his glory was to briu.q them bound to Jerusalem, that he might magnify his triumph and greatness in the eye of the xvorld, then, says Crist, to this tempest, Be calm, to this unclean spirit, Corne out, to this sun, in his own estimation, f3o no further. Thus much evidence the Holy Ghost gives against him; and thus much more himself, I ]oersecuted tMs way unto tle death; I bound and delit, ered nto prison, botl men and tcomen; and after, more than this, I punisl, ed them, and that oft, and, in et'er!! synayoyuê, and, compelled tltem to blasplteme, and, was exceedi»yly mad ayainst them, and ]oersecuted them eren unto straçqe cities'. XVhat could he say more ainst himself. And then, says Christ, to this tempest, Quiesce, Be still, to this glaring sun,,S'iste, Stand still, to this unclean spirit, l'eni foras, Colne forth. In this sense especially doth St. Paul call himselfAborticum, a person born out of season , that whereas Chrisçs other disciples and apostles, had a breeding under him, and came first ad disciptlatum, and then ad apostolatum, first to be disciples, and after to be apostles; St. Paul was born a man, an apostle, hOt carved out, as the rest, in time; but a fusil apostle, an apostle poured out, and cast in a mould; as Adam was a perfect man in an instant, so vas St. Paul ami apostle, as soon as Christ took him in hand. /qow, beloved, wilt thou make this perverse use of this pro- Arts x.xii. 4. Acts xvl. 11. 1 Cor. xv. 2.
300 'E St-XDAY Ar-rEa [SEm XLV. ceeding, God is rich in mercy, therefore I annot miss mercy. V(onldest thou say, and hot be thought mad for saying so, God bath created a Vest Iudies, therefore I cannot want gold. VCilt thou be so ill a logician to thyself, and to thine own damnation, as to conclude so. God is always the same in himself, therefore he must be alwavs the saine to me . So il] musiciau ms to say, God is all concord, therefore ho and I can never disagree. "So ill a historian as to say, God hath called Saul, a persecutor, then when he breathed threatenins and slaughter, then when he sued to the state for a commission to persecute Christ. God hath called a thief, then when he was at the last gasp; and thercfore if he bave a mind to me, he will deal so with me too, and. if he have no such mind, no man Call imprint, or infuse a newmind in God God forbid. Itis not sale concluding out of single in.*tances. It is truc, that if a sour, and lleaX.'y, and severe man, will add to the discomfooEs of a disconsolate soul, and in that soul's sadness, and dejection of splrit, will heap up examples, that God bath still suflbred ]li,,.,h-minded sinners to proceed and to perish in their irreligious ways, and tell that poor soul, (.as Job's company did him) It is truc, vou take God aright, God never pardons such as you, in these cases, these singular, these individual examples, that God bath donc otherwise once, hare their use. One instance to the contrary destroys any perenlptory rule, no man must say, God nevcr doth it; he did it to Saul here, he did it to the thief npon the cross. But to that presunlptUOUS sinncr, who sins on, because God showed mercy to one at last, we must say, a miserable comforter is that rule, that affords but one example. Nay, is there but one examp]e. Tlle conversion of Saul a persecutor, and of the thief upon the cross is become prorerbium peccatorum*, the simler's proverb, and serves him, and sati.fies him in ail cases. But is there anv such thing. Such a.story there is, and it is as truc as gospel, it is the truth of gospel itself; but was this a late repentance. Answer St. Cyril, Ro.ao te])'ater, Tell me. beloved, thou that deferrest thy repentance, doest thon do it upon confidence of these examples. Von in.fine, sed in principio conversus latro; thou deludest thine own soul; the thief was hot converted at last, but at first; as soon as God afforded him anv call, he came; and at how many lights hast thou wlnked And to how many calIs hast thou stopped thine ers, that deferrest thy repent- nce Christ said to him, Hdie ecum eris, TMs day tou s«lt be u'it/ e ar«dise; when thou cnst find such nother dy, look for such another mercy; day that cleft the grave-stones of dead men; dy that cleft the temlfle itself; day that the sun durt hot see; day tlmt saw the soul of God (nmy we hOt sy so, since tllat mm was God too) depart from man; there shall be no moro such dys; and thereforo l»resume hOt of that voice, od;e, this dy thou shalt be with me, if thou make thy last nlhmte that dy, though Christ, to nlaguify his mercy, and his glol'y, and to talle away ll occasion of absolute desl)ertion, did here, under so many disadvantaes, call, and draw St. Pul to him. Bu we sy no more of tlm, of the danger of sinning by precedent, and presuming of mercy by exemple; we pss from our tiret consideration, fronl what, to the other, to what, Christ brought tllis persecutor, this Sul. He brought him to tllat remrkable heigllt, as that the church celebrates the conversion of no man but this. Mny bloody executioners were converted to Christ, even in the act of that bloody executlon; then when they took delight in tearing the bowels of Christians, they were received into the bowels of Christ Jesus, and became Christians. Men that rode to market, and sav n execution upon the way; men that opened window to take air, and sw an execution in the street; the ecclesiastical story abounds with exemples of occ- sional convertites, and upon strange occasions; but yet the church celebras no conversion but this. The church doth not consider the nlartyrs as born till they die; till the world sec hov tlley persevered to the end, she takes no knowledge of dmm; therefore she calls the days of their deaths, natalitia, their birth-days; then she makes account they re born, when they die. But of St. Paul the church makes llerself assured the first mhmte; and therefore celebrates hls conversion, and none but his. Here was truc transubstantiation, and a new sacrament. These fev words, Stul,,Sul, wh!/persecutest thou me, are words of consecration; aher these words, Saul was no longer Saul, but he was Christ: Virit in me Ckristtts, says he, It is hot I that lire, hOt I
302 THE suv [sri. XLffiv. that do anything, but Cris i w. It is but a little way that St. Chrysostom oes, when he speaks of an ilferior transuhstantiation, of a change of affections, and says Aynus ex lupo, That here ]s another manner of |ycanthropy, than when man is ruade a wolf; for here wolï is ruade a lamb, Ex lo aynus. v«ribus aceus, sys that father A bramle is ruade a vine; E" zizanies fi'»w»tm, Cockle and tares ecome wheat Ex irata yubermtor, A pirate becomes a safe pilot; ]'z ot'i#simo ]rimus, The lees are eome to swim on the top, and the last is grown first and Ex abortizo ]er/ëctus, He that was born out of time, bath hot only the pe%etiol, but the excellency of all his lineaments. St. Chrysostom goes fmoEher than this, 1 blapt os Clristi, et lyra spiritusi He that was the mouth of blasphemy, is become the mouth of Christ. ho that was the instrument of Satan, is now the organ of the Holy Ghost. He oes vcrv far, when he says, In coelis homo, in têrris ayel, Being yet but upon earth, ho is an angel, and being yet but man, he is already in heaven. Yet St. Paul was another manner of sacrament, and had another manner of transubstantiation, than all this as he was ruade idem spiritu cure ])omio, the samc spirit with the Lord, so in his veloE body, ho had stiymata, the very marks of the Lord Jesus . From such a lownes, raised to such a height, as that Origen says, Many did believe, that gt. Paul had been that Holy Ghost, which Christ had promised to tho world, after his departing from it. It is but a littlc way that St. Jerome hath carried his commendation neither, when he calls him Ruoitum l«onis, Thc roaring of a lion, if we eonsidcr how little forest the roaring of a lion is determined; but that he call him Bu.oitum leoni nostri, The roaring of out lion, of thc lion of the tribe of Juda, that as tr as Christ is heard, St. Paul is heard too: Quem çuoties le.oo, on ,«rba miM 'ideor audire, sed tonitrua, SVheresoever I open St. Paul's Epistles, I meet hot words, but thunder, and universal thunder, thunder that passes through ail the world. For, ezeweatio totius orbis illtmiatio , That that was donc upon him, wrought upon all the world; he was struck blind, and ail the world saw the better for that. So universal a priest (says St. Gal. ri. 17. Theodoret.
Ch'sostom, who loves fo be speaking of St. Paul) as that he sacriced, not sheep and goats, »ed seipsum, but himself; and hot only that, sed roture udu», ho prepared the whole world, as a crifice to God. He built an ark, that is, established a church; and to this day, receives, hot eight, but all into that ark; and whereas in Noah's ark, Q««em corvum recepit, corr«m enisit, If ho came in a raven, ho went out a raven; St. Pau], in his ark, Ex ilvis]àclt cob«mbas, as himself w, so he transubstantiates ail them, and makes them dores of ravens. Nay, so over-absolutely did he sacrifice himself, and his state in this world, for thisworld, as that he sacrificed his reversion, his futut state, the glory and joy of heaven, for his brethren, and chose rather to be «uathema, separated tom Christ, than they should. I love thee, says St. Chrysostom to Rome, for many excellencies, many greatnesses; but I love thee so well, says he, therefore because St. Paul loved thee so well. Q«alem rosam Roma Cristo, (as he pursues this contemplation) What a fragrant rose shM1 Rotne present Christ with, when he cornes to judment, in re-delivering to him the body of St. Paul Ad though he join them both together, Juati bores ecclesi, That St. Peter and St. Paul were that yoke of oxen that ploughed the whole church, though he say of both, Quot c«eres saoEcatis? How many prisons bave you two cons crated, and ruade prisons churches Quot catenas illstratis How many fetters and chains of iron bave you two changed into chains of gold Vet we may observe a différence in St. Chr) sostom's expressing of persons to equal to one another, Quid Petro majtts? says he, but, Q«M PaMo Far.fùit? Vhat ean exceed Peter, or what ean equal Paul Still be all this far from occasioning any man to presume upon God, because he afforded so abundant mercy to a persecutor: but still ri'oto this, let every thint soul establish itself in a confidence in God; God that would find nothing to except, nothing to quarrel af, in St. Paul, will no lie heavy upon thy soul, though thou must say, as he did, Quorum effo maxin«us, That thou art a greater sinner than thou knowesg any other man to be. We are, in out order proposed at first, devolved now to our second part; fi'OlU the person, attd in that: what he was fouud a vehement perseeutor, and then, what he was ruade, a laborious apostle, to the manner, his humiation, C«idit sup« terrain, l[e ll, and he fill fo the groutM, and fill blind, bv the histo', and eontext appears. XVo used to eall every declination, of anv kind, and in anv subjeet, a falling; for, for our bodies, we y a man is fallen sick, and for his state, fallen poer; and for his mind, fallen mad, and for his conscience, fallen desperate; we are born low, and yet we fall eveç- way lower, so universal is our fallen siekness. Sin itself is but a falling; the irremediable sin of the angels, the undetemlinable sin of Adam, is ealled but , The fall of Adam, the fall angeS. And therefore the effeetual visition of the Holy Ghost to man, is eaHed a falling too; we are fkllen so low, that when the Holy Ghost is pleased to feteh us ain, and to infuse h graee, ho is still id to fall pon ug. But the fall which we eonsider in the text, is nota figative falling, hot in a decay of este, nor dey of health, nor a spiritual tlling into sin, a decay of graee; but itis a medieinal falfing, a falling der G's hand, but sueh a falling der his hand, as that he takes hot off his hand from him that is faHen, but throws him down therefore that he may raiso him. To this pture he brings Pa, now, when he w to reanimate him with his spirit; rather, to prvinanimate him; for, indoed, no man bath a soul tiH he bave graee. Christ, who in his han nature bath received from tho Father ail judent, and power, and dominion over this world, bath reeei'ed aH this, un that condition that he shl govern in this manner, A,k e, and I kall gire thee tke heathen for tMne inherita,« , ys the Father; how is he to use them, when he bath them [ Thus, thou gkalt break them with a rM iron, and daoh them in piece like a potteF eeoel, h'ow, God meant weH to the nation, in th bruising and breang of them; God intended not an annihilation of the nations, but a refoation; for Christ the nations for an inheritanee, not for a triph; therefore itis intended of his wav of governing them; and his way to bse and beat them; that is, first to et them down, before he eau ise them up, first to break them before ho ean make them in his fashion. Arit Domini eultrare ad amoeem«; The Lord, and ouly the Lord knows how to wod , ' P 8. o
811t. (JlV] TIIE CONV]RSlO.'' Ol ,r. P.I.U|.. 905 out of love; more thau that, how te wound us into love; more than ail that, te wound us into love, net ouly with him that -ouuds us, but into love with the wound itself, with the very aiction that he inflicts upon us; the Lord knows how te strike us se, as that wc shall lay hold upon that hand that strikes us, and kiss that hand that wounds us. 4d it««m iterflcit, ad exaltationem lrosternit, says the saine father; No man kills his enemy therefore, that his enemy might ha,-e a better lire iu heaven; that is net his end in killing him: it is God's end; therefore he brings us te death, that by that gare he might lead us into life everlasting; and he hath net discovered, but ruade that northern passage, te pass by the toze sea of calamity, and tribulation, te paradise, te the hea'enly Jerusalem. There are fruits that ripen net, lmt by frost; there are natures, (there are scarce any other) that dispose net themselves te God, but by aiction. And as nature loeks for the season for ripening, and does net ail before, se grace looks for the assent of the seul, and does net peffect the whole work, till that corne. It is nature that brings the season, and it is grace that brings the assent; but till the season for the fruit, till the asseut of the seul corne, ail is net donc. Theretbre God began in this way with Saul, and in this way he lcd him ail his lire, Ter Tert«gt vwrtes, quot vixit dies , He died as-many deaths, as he lived days; for se himself says, Q«otidie nwrior, I di« daily; God gave him suck in bloed, and his owu blood was his daily drink; he catechised him with calamities at first, and calamities were his daily serinons, and meditations after; and te authorize the hands of others upon him, and te accustom him te submit himself te the hauds of others without murmuring, Christ himself strikes the first blo-, and with that, cecidit, e fell, (which was our first conideration, lu his humiliation) and then, cecidit i terrain, he yèll te the yrou»d, which is our next. I take no further occasion front this circumstance, but te arm you with cousolation, how low soever God be pleased te cast you, though it be te the earth, yet he does net se much cast you down, in doing that, as bring you home. Death is net a banishing of you out of this world; but it is a visitatiou of your kindred that lie Chrysostom.. VOL. II. X in the earth; neither are any nearer of kin to you, than the earth itsclf, and tbe worms of the earth. ¥ou heap ealoEh upou your souls, anti encumbcr them with more and more flcsh, by a superfluous and luxuriant diet; you add earth to earth in nev purchases, anti measure hot by actes, but by manors, nor by nlanors, but by shh'es; and thcre is a little uillet, a little close, worth ail these, a quiet grave. And therefore, when thou readest, That (od makes thv bed in thy sickness, rejoiee m this, net ouly that he makes that l»ed, vhere tbou dost lie, but that bed where thou shalt lie; that that God, that ruade the whole earth, is new makiu.g thy bed in the earth, a quiet grave, where thou shalt sleep lu peace, till the angel's trullipet wake thee al the resurrection, te that judgment where thy peaee,hall be ruade belote thou eolnest, and writ, and sealed, lu the blood of the Lamb. Saul falls te the earth; se far; but he falls no lower. God brin-s his sel'vallts te a great lowness here; but he brings llpOll 110 lllall a perverse sense, or a distrustful suspicion of falling lower hereaftcr; tlis hand strikes us te the earth, by way of humiliation; but il is net his hand, that strikes us into hell, by vay of desperatiou. V'ill 3-ou tell lUe, that you have observed aud studied God's way upou you all your life, and out of that cal] eonelude what God lneans te du witll)ou aller this lire. That God look away.veut l)arelits in your iltfhue}', and left you orphans theu, that he bath erossed.ou in ail your labours iii veut ealling, ever since, that he bath opened you te dishonours, and ealumuies, and misinterpretations, in things well intended by.vou, that he bath multiplied sieknesses upon)'ou. and given)ou tberebv an assurance of a miserable, and a short lire, of fcw, and evil days; nay, that he hath sufléred)-ou te fall into sins, that.,,'ou yourse]ves bave hated, te continue in sins, that)'ou yourselves bave been weary of, te relapse into sins, that)'ou yourselves bave repented; and will you conelude out of this, that God had no good purpose upon)'ou, that if ever he had nleant te de vou good, he would never haro gone thus far, iii heaping of evils upon you Upon what dost thou ground this. Upon thyself. Beeause thou shouldest net deal thus with an 3" lnall, wholll t]lOit meanest well to How poor, how
SES. XMV.] Trie CONVERSO O" sa'. P,t-.. 307 narrow, how ilnpious a measure of God, is this, t]mt he must as thou wou]dst do, if thou wert God! God hath hot ruade a week, without a Sabbath; no tentation, without an issue; God inflicts no calamity, no cloud, no eclipse, without light, to see ease in it, if the patient will look upon that which (od bath done to him. in other cases, or to that which Gotl bath done to others, at other rimes.,aul.ëll to thê yround, but ho fcll no ]ower God brings us to humiliation, but hot to desperatiou. lIe fell; ke fe/l to tke.o.routd, and he fell blind; for so it is evident in the story. Christ had said to the l'harisees, I came into the world, tkat tkey u'hich see, mi.okt be ruade bliud; and the Pharisees ask him, Hae!tou been able to do so on.us? A.re u'e blind? Here Christ gives them an example; a real, a literal, an aetual eX,lnple; Saul, a Pharisee, is ruade blind. He that will fill a vessel with wine, must take out the vater; he that will fill a eovetous naan's hand with gold, lnust take out the silver that was there before, says St. Chrysostom. Christ, who is about to infuse new light into Saul, withdraws that light that was in him before; that light, by whieh Saul thought he saw all before, and thonght himself a eompetent judge, whieh was the only truc religion, and that all others were to be perseeuted, even to death, that were hot of his way.,S'tultus)'àctus est omnis homo à scientia, says Goal in the prophet , Every man that trusts in his own wit, is a tbol. But let him become a fool, tk«t ke ma!/ be u'ise, ays the Apostle"; let him be so, in his own eyes, and God will give lfim better eyes, bettel" light, better unde'standing. Saul was struek bliud, but it was a blindness eontl'aeted ri'oto light; if was a iight that stl'uek hiln blind, as you see in his story. This blindness whieh we speak of, whieh is a sober and telnperate abstinence from the inmodel'ate study, and eurious knowledges of tl:is world, this holy siml, lieity of the soul, is hot a darkness, a dimness, a stupidity in the understanding, eontraeted by living lu a eol'ner, it is uot an idle retiring iuto a monastery, or into a village, o" a eountry solitude, it is not a lazy affectation of ignorance; hot darkness, but a greater ligbt, must make us blind.
The sight, and the contemplation of God, and out present benefits bv him, and out future interest in him, must na.ke us blind to the world so, as that we look upon no face, no pleasure, no knowledge, with such an affection, such an ambition, such a devotion, as upon God, and tJe ways to him. Saul had such a blindness, as came from light; we must affect no other simplicity, than arises from the knowledge of God, and his religion. And then, Saul had a blindness, as that he fell with it. There are birds, that when their eves are sealed, still soar up, and up, till they have spent ail their strcnh. Men blinded with the lights of this world, soar still into higher places, or higher knowledges, or higher opinions; but the light of heaven humbles us, and lavs fiat that soul, which the leaven of this world had pnfld and swelled up. That powerful light felled Saul; but after he was fallen, his own sight was restored to him again; Ananias says to him, Brotker,'aul, receive ty siyt. To those men, who employ their natural faculties to the glory of God, and their own, and others" edification, God shall afford an exaltation of those natural faculties; in those, who use their learning, or their wealth, or thcir power, well, God shall increase that power, and that wealth, and that learning, even in this world. You have secn Saul's sickness, and the exaltation of the disease, then when he brcathcd threatenings, and slaughter, then xvhen he wcnt in his triuml,h; and you have seen his death, the death of the righteous, his humiliation, efdl to te eart; and there remains yet his resurrection; the angel of the great counsel, Crist Jesus, with the trumpet of his own mouth, raises him, with that,,S'aM,,_'aul, wky l,ersecutest thou me Fiïst, he affortls him a eall, a roice. Saul eould not sec; therefore he deals hot upon him by visions. He gives a voiee; and n voiee that he might hear; £od speaks often, when we do not hear; he heard it, and heard it saying; not n voiee only, but a distinct, and intellifible voiee; and sayi» 9 unto kim, that is, applicable to himself; and then, that that the voiee raid to him, was,,S'aul,,aul, wky persecutêst tkou me? We are unequal enemies, thou seest I ara too hard for thee, V(hy wilt thou, thou in this weakness oppose me. And then, we might be good friends, thou seest I offer parley, I offer treaty, flElt. XLIV.] TIIE CONVI'.'It810.'q OF ST. PAL'L. 309 Cur tu me? XVhy wilt thou oppose me, me that deelare 8uch disposition tobe reeoneiled unto thee. I, this so great a disadvantage on thy part, xvhy wilt thou star at all. ha this so great a peaeeableness on my part, why wilt thou star against me. Cur tu me? l|Tq/ peraecute,t thou »te? First then, God sl)eaks: for, beloved, we are to eonsider God, hOt as he as in himself; but as he works npon us: the first thing tiret we ean eonsider in out way to God, as his word. Our regenemtion as by his word; that as, hy faith, whiçh cornes by hearing; Te aeed ia t/te word oJ" God, says Christ himself'; even tlm seed of faith. Carry it lfigher, the creation was by the word of God: Dixit, et.tàct« attnt, God spoke, and all things were ruade. Carry it to the highest of all, to eternity, the eternal generation, the eternal production, the eternal procession of the second Person in the Trinity, was so mueh by the word, as that he is tlm word; I,rbum caro, It was that word, that was ruade flesh. So that God, who cannot enter into bands to us, hath giron us security enough; he bath giron us his word; his written word, lais Scriptures; his cssential word, his Son. Out principal, and radical, and fimdamental security, as his essential word, his Son Jesus Christ. But how many millions of generations was this word in hcavcn, and never spoke[ The word, ('hrist himse]f, bath been as long as God bath becn: but the uttering of this word, speaking hath beêu but since the crcation. Peter says to Christ, To whom sall we.qo? Thou hast the word, of eternal lift . It as hot only, tlmu art the word of eterlml life; (Christ as so) but thou hast it; thou hast it, where ve may come to thee for it; in thy treasury, in thine ordinance, in thy Church; thou hast it, to derive it, to convey it tapon us. Here then is the first step to SauFs cure, and of ours, that there was hot only a word, the word, Christ himself, a Son of God in heaven, but a voice, the word uttered, and preached; Christ manifested in his ordinance: he heard a voice. He heard it. How often does God speak, and nobody hears the voice. He speaks in his cannon, in thunder, and he speaks in out cannon, in the rumour of vars. He speaks in his music, in the harmonious promises of the Gospel, and in our music, in Luke viii. 11. « John ri.
Ô10 THE S'DAY AFTER [SEHo XL|Vo e temporal blessins of ece, and plenty; and we hear a noise in his judgments, and we hear a sound in his mercies; but we hear no voice, we do hot discern that this noise, or this und cornes from anv certain persou; we do hot feel them to be mercies, nor to be judgments uttered from (od, but natural accidents, easual occurrences, emergeut contingencies, whieh as an atheist might thiuk, would fall out though there were no God, or no commerce, no dealing, no speaking between God and man. Though Saul came hot instantlv to a perfect discerning 'ho poke, yet he saxv instantly, it was a Person abox'e nature, anti therefbre speaks to him in that phrase of submission, Q««i, es Domine? Lord, n'ho a't thon? And afer, with trembling and astonishment, (as the text says) Domine quid me vis fiwere? Lord, rhat w;It tho« hare me to do? Then we are truliest said to hear, when we knoxv fom whence the volte cornes. Princes are t;otl's trumpet, and the Church is God's organ, but Christ Jesus is his x'oice. XVheu he speaks in the prince, whcn he speaks in the Church, there we are bound to hear, and happy if we do hear. Man hath natural way to eomc to God, by the eye, bv the creature; so,isible thhas shoxv the inri, ible God7: Lut then, God hath superinduced supernatural way, bv the car. For, though hearing be natural, yet that fhith in God should eome by hearing a man preach, is supernatural. God slmt up the natural way, in Saul, seein he struck him blind; but he opcned the supernatural way, he enabled him to hear, and to hear him. God would lmve us beholden to graee, and uot to nature, and to eome fi)r out salvation, to his ordinances, to the preaehing of his word, and hot to any other means. Though he xvere blind, even that blindness, as it was a humiliation, and a diverting of his former glaring lights, was a dcee of mercy, of preparative mercy; yet there wa8 a voice, which w another de,ce; and a voiee that he heard, which was degree ave that and far we are gone; and he heard it, sayiny, that is distinctly, and intelligibly, which is out next circumstance. lte hears him ayiny, that is, he hea him so, as that he knows what he ys, so, as that he undetands him; for he that hears the word: and understands it hot, la subjeet to that whieh 7 om. L
Christ says, That the wicked one cornet, and catcket away that that cas sown . St. Augustine purs himself earnestly twon the eontemplation of the ereation, as Moses bath delivered if; he finds if hard to eoneeive, and he says , 8i esset atte me zIoses, If Moses who w, it this were here, Tenerem eum, et per te obsecrarem, I would hold him fast, and beg of him, for thy sake, O my Go,l, that ho would deelare this work of the ereation more plaiuly unto me. But then, says that blesed father,,çi IIebr«a rote loqtêretur, If Moses should speak Hebrew to me, mine ears might hear the sound, but my mimi would hot hear the voiee; I might hear him, but I shonld uot hear what he said. This was that that ditinguished between St. Paul, and those who vere in Iris eompany af this rime; St. Luke savs in this ehapter ", That they keard the «o&e, and St. Paul relating the story again «, after says, They heard hot the voice qf him that spoke fo me; they heard eonfused sound, but they distinguished it not to be the voiee of (od, nor diseerned God's purpose lu it. Iu the twelfth of.Iohn , There came a «o&e ri'oto tlearen, from God himself, and thepeople sa;d, It tknndered. So apt is natural man to aseribe even (od's immediate and miraeulous actions to natural causes; apt to rest and determine in nature, and leave out God. The poet ehides that wiekedness, (as he ealls it) to be afraid of G's judgments, or to eall natural aeeidents jud.ents; Quo morbo mentem coneuaae? timore eorum, says he he sa The conscience may be over tender, and that 8ueh timorous nlen, are siek of the tçar of ({od, but i is a blessed disease, the tar of G, and the truc way to truc health. And though there be a moral eonstaney tha beeollle8 a Chritian well, not to be eaily 8hakeu with the variations and revolutions of this world, yet it beeomes him to establish his eonstaney in this, that God hath a good purpose in that action, hOt that God hath no hand in that action; tha G will produee go out of i, no that God bath uothing to do in it. The magieians themselves were foreed to eontçss Diitum Dei, The finger of ({od , in a small maer. Never think it a weakness, to eall that a judgment of God, whieh other determine in nature; do so, so far as works * Matt. . 19. * Coes. L i. e. . m Ver. 7. «* Acts 9. * Vr. 28. m Exod. . 16.
1 THE SI'NDAY AFTER [SEIIo XLIVo to thv edification, who seest that jdnevt, to hot so far, as to arue, an conclude the final condemntion of tat au uon whom that judeut is fallen. Certainly, we vere better call twenty natural accidents judments of çod, tan frustrate Godes puose in any of his powerïl deliverances, by calling it a natral accident, and surfer the thin to vanish so, and God be left ngloried in it, or is Church medified by it. Then we hear God, when we unfler»tand what ho savs; and therefore, as we are bound to bless God, that he speaks to us, and hears us speak to him, in a lanuae which we understand, and hot in such a strane ]anae, as that a straner, who hou]d corne in and hear it, would think the conreation ruade'; so also let us less him for that holy tederncss, to be apt to feel his hand in every accident and to diseern his presence in everything that befalls us. »ul eard te o[ce, sayiç; He understood what it said, and by that, found that it was.directed to M, which is also another step in this last part. This is an impropriation without sacrilege, and an enclosure of a common whhout damae, to lnake God mine own, to find that all that God says is spoken to me, and al that Christ suffered was suffered for me. And as Saul round this voice at first to be directed to him, ever after he ends his eye the saine vay, and observes the workin of God especially upon himself; as at the bcinnin, so in the way too: particularly there y te yrace of God [ ara tkat I am; and then, His race wa, beatowed o me, and hot in.ain; and again, I haee laboured more abundantly than all; and after ail, still he eonsiders himself, and finds himseff to be the greatest sinner, (duorttm effo maximtts. It is ealled a greatness of spirit, or eonstaney, but it is indeed an ineorrigible height of pride, when a man will not believe that he is meant in a libel, if he be hot named in that libel. It la a fearful obduration, to be sermou-proof, or hot to take knowledge, that a judgment is denounced against him, because he is hOt named in the denouncing of that judent. Is not thy naine Simon Magus, if thou buy and sert spiritual things thyself. And is not thy servanFs naine Gehazi, if he exact after Is hOt thy naine Cain, if thou rise up against thy brother And is hot thy naine Zaccheus, if thou 1 Cor. v, 23. » 1 Cor. xxç 10.
sB. XLV.] ïne COVl:aOX 0: ct. P.CL. 313 mu]tiply thy wea]t]l by oppression! ]s hot thy naine Dinah, if thou gad abroad, to sec who will.olieit thee. And is not the naine of Potipl,ar's wife upon thee, il" thou stay st home and solieit thy servants. Postdate the whole Bible, and whatsoever thou hem'est spoken of sueh, as thou art, belote, believe all that to be.poken but now, and spoken to thee. This was one happiness here, that 8aul round this voies to be direeted to him; and another (whieh is ont la.st eonsideration) is what this voies said; if said,,S'«ul, 8aul, wk!! persecuteat tkou me? IIere, to lnake sure of him, God ealls hiln by his naine, that he should not be able to transfer the summons upon any other, or rsay it was hot he. 'lley av that out noctambulonea, men that walk in their sleep, will wake if they be ealled by their usines. To vake 8aul out of this dream, (for, to think to oppose Christ and his cause, is, in the highest person of the world, of what power or of what eounsel oeve', but a vertiginous dream, and a giddy vapour) to wake him, he ealls him by ]lis lmlne, to let him know he meallS him; and to wake him thoroughly, he ealls him twiee, 8aul, and Saul again. The eat desolation whieh was fo fall upon tha land, God intimates.. (ï3od internfinates, God intonates with sueh a vehemeney, T rra, terra, terra, Eartk, earth, earth hear tke u'ord of tke Lord '. God should be heard a first, believed st first; but sueh is his abundant goodness, as that he ingeminates, multiplies his " " " arnmgs; and to this whole land he bath said, Tera, terra, terra, Earth, earth, earth hear the word of the Lord; once in an invasion, once iii a powder-treason; and again, and again in pestilential contagious; and to every one of us, he hath said oftener than so, Dust, dust, dust whv doest thou lift up thyself against thy hlaker.,S'aul,,S'aul why p, rsecutest thou me? Here Christ ealls the afflictions of those tha are his, in his purpose, his afflictions. Christ will not absolutely veri/y his own words, to his own esse; he had said belote this, upon the cross, 6'oaummatum est, Ail i.«flni.«hed; bnt though ail were finished in his person, he hath a daily passion in his saints still. This language whieh the apostle learnt of Christ here, himself praetised, ,Jet, xxii. 20.
l TIIE 8UNDAY AFTER [sEIo XL1Vo and spake after, Il'ho oflènded, and Ibur not? Since Christ does surfer in our suflbrings, be this out eonsolatiou, till he be weary, we should hot be weary, nor faint, nor murmur under out burdens; and this too, that when he is weary, he will dcliver us even for Iris own for he, though he cannot suflçr pain, may sntçer dishonour in out suflçrings; thcrefore atnd his leisure. We eu,1 ail in this, Cm" tu me IVhy doest tkou persecute m? Vhy Saul Christ Put it upon nation, (what is any Saul, any one man to a nation ) Put it upou ail the nations of the wodd, and yon sh:dl hear God ak with an indignation, Quarefi'em«w- 'uut 9eutee? ll'h 9 do the heathen r«ç«te, u'kff do the people imayine a rai tki»9? Vhy will they do it what em they get lte tkat eitt«th in the k«aeens derision. Cris came into the Temple and dispued with the doetor; but he did hot despise them, he did no laugh at them. Vhen all the Midianites, and ail the Amalekites, and ail tho ehildren of the East, were in a dy against Israel, God did hot laugh at them. Gideon hie general, mustered two and thirty thousaud against them *. God would hot employ o many in the day of battle, yet he did no laugh at them, he did hot whip them out of the field, he nmde the fee were but tlne hundred. But when God ean ehoose hi way, he ean eall in nation aga.inst nation, he ean east damp upon any nation, and make them ataid of one auother, he ean do an exeeution upon them by tllemlçes, (I psune you remember those stories in the Bible, where God did proeeed by neh wa)) or ho ean it still in a eorn, and let them melt way of themselve when he ean eas down Saul to the earth, and never appert in the cause, benigh his noon, frustrae his purpose, evaeuae his hopes, annihilae him in the height of his glory, Cor tt me? Vhy will any 8aul, any nation, any world of Sa'e pereute Christ, any sinner tempt him, who is Cor me? Vhy doest thou mueh too hat'd fo tbee, would yet fain he fi'iends wid thee and therefore came to a parley, to a treay for, lçrba hoEc, non 2 Cor. . 29, tare «l:q«entis, q«am defendêntle, savs St. Chrysostom: These are hot so nm,:h offcusive as defensive words; ho would hot confound Saul, but he wouhi not betray his own honour. To many nations God bath never spoken; to the Jews he spoke, but suffered them to mistake him; to some whole Christian churches he speaks, but he lets them speak too; he ]ets them make tbeir word equal to his; to many of us he hath Sloken, and chidden, but given over befiwe we are cured; as he says of Israel, in a manner, that she is not worth his anger, not worth his punishing, A people ladert wlth sine, wky should they any nore be smltten* Vhy should I go about to reeover them But if God sak to thee still, and speak in a tnixed voiee, of correction, aud consolation too, 5ul,,S'ad, u'kypersecutest thou me? Him that reeeives so little benefit by thee, and yet is so loath to lose thee, him that ean so easily spare thee, and yet makes thy soul more preeious than his own life, him that ean resolve thee, seatter thee, annihilate thee with a word, and yet a)rd so many words, so many hours" eonfereuees, so many serinons to reelaim thee, why peroeeutest thou him ¢ Answer this question, with Saul's answer to this question, by another question, Donine quid me is facere? Lord what wilt thot bave ne do Deliver thyself over to the will of God, and God shall deliver thee over, as he did Saul to Ananias; provide thee bv his ministry in his ordinanee, means fo reetify thee, in ail dejeetion of spi6t, light to elear thee in ail perplexities of conscience, in the vavs of thy pilgrimage, and more and more effeetual seals thereof, at the hour of thy transmiation into his joy, and thine eternal test.
Ac'rs xx. ")5. And now, Behold, I kuow, that ail ye among whom ][ bave gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall sec ny face no more. 'HEN St. Cllrvsostom cal]s Christmas day,)letropolin omniura festorum, The metropolitan holiday, the principal festival of the chureh, he is likely to intend only those festivals whieh were of the church's latcr institution, and means not to enwra 1) the Sabbath in that conTarison. As St. Augustine says of the sacrament of baptism, that it is Limen ecclesiw, The threshold over which we stêp into the church; so is Christmas day, Limen ristorum, The threshold over which we step into the festival celebration of some other of Christ's actions, and passions, and victorious overcomings of ail the acts of his passion, such as his resurrection, and ascension; for, but for Christmas day, we could celebrate none of these days; and so, that day is Limen.tèstorum, The threshold over which we pass to the rest. But thc Sabbath is hot OII]V Limen, or Jottta ecclesia', The door bv which we enter into the ehureh, and into the eonsidel'ativn what the ehm.eh bath done, but Limen mundi, The door by whieh we enter into the eonsidel'ation of the world lion-, and when the world was ruade of nothing, at the ereation, without whieh, we had been so far from knowing that there had been a ehureh, or that there had been a God, as that we OUl'selves had had no being at ail. And therefore, as oui" ver), being is before all degrees of wellbeing, so is the Sabbath, whieh remembers us of our being, before ail other festivals, that present and refresh to us the memory of onr well-being: espeeially to us, to whom it is not only a Sabbath, as the Sabbath is a da)" of rest, in respect of the ereation, but Dies Dominicus, The Lord's day, in respeet of the redernption of the world, beeatLse the eousummation of that work of redemptio, fol" ail that was to be donc in this world, whieh was
BER. XLV.] T/IE CO.NVERION OF ST. laAU/J. 317 the resurrection of out Lord and Saviour Christ Je.us, was accompli.sllcd upou that day, which is our Sabbatll. But yet, as It did please God, to accompany the great day, the Sabbath, with other solemn days too, the Passover, aud Pcntecost, tnmlpcts, and tabernacles, aud others, and to call those other days Sabbaths, as well as the Sabbath itself; so, since he is pleased that in the Christiau church, other days of lloly convocations should also be instituted, I make accouut, that iu sonne measure, I do both offices, both for observing those particular festivals that £dl in the week, and also for tlle making of those particular festivals to serve the Sabbath, when upon the Sabbath ensuing, or preceding such or such a festival in the week, [ take occasion to speak of that festival, which fell iuto the coml)ass of that week; for, bv this course, tllat festival is not l)retermitted, nor neglected, the particular festival is renlembered: and then, as God receives honour in the honour ofhis saints, so the Sabbath hath an honour, when the festivals, and commemorations of those saints, are reserved to wait upou tlle Sal,l)ath. Hence is it, that as elsewhere, I often do so, that is, celebrate some festival that falls in the week, Ul)OU the Sabbath: so, in this place, upon this very da),, I have done the like, and return now, to do so again, that is, to celebrate the memory of our apostlc St. Paul to-day, though there be a day past, since his day was, in the ordiuary course, to have been cclcbrated. The last time that I did so, I did it in handling those words, And hefell to t/te carte, and heard a voice, sa!lin.q,,Saul,,S'aul, wh!l ]»ersecutest thou me? Vllich was the very act of his conversiou; a period, and a passage, which the church celebrates iu lmne but lu St. Paul; though many others were strangely convertcd too, she celcbrates none but his. Iu tlle words chosen for this day, And nozc behold I bnou,, &c., we shall reduce to vour mcmories, first, his proceeding in the church after he was called, (I hare.qone l,.eachiff the kin.qdom of God amon.e you) and then the case, the reposedness, the acquiescence tbat he had in that knowledge, which God by his Spirit had givert him, of the al)proach of llis dissolution, and del)arture out of this life; ([ knoc that all you shall sec m!t.thce no more). As those things which we see iu a glass, ibr the most part, must be behind us, so that that makes
318 THE IUNv&Y &FTER [SEBo XLVo out transmigration in death comfortable unto , must be behind us, in the testimony of a goed conscience, for things formerly donc; %w bèold, ] know, that ail ye, aoç wbom ] b:«e yone, e. In handling ofwhich words, out ethod shall ho thîs; out general pars, being (as we have already iutimated)theso two, his way, and his end, his inful course, and Iris eheeul finishing of his course; his laborious battle, and his vietorious triumph: in the first, ( I qre 9one preachln te g'inydom of (/OE amo you) we shall see first, That there is a transiri, as xvell as a requii acceptable to God; a dischae of a duty, as well in going from one place to another, as in a perpetual residenee upon one: Tra,siei, says out apostle, I are gone amo,g yo*. But then, in a second eonsideration, in that first part, That that lllaes his going acceptable to God, is, beeause he goes fo preaeh, Transivi prwdicas, Iaregonepreacbing; and then lastly, in that first part, That that, that makes his preaehing acceptable, is, that he preaehed the kingdom of God, Tr«siei prwdicans regu» Dei, I bare gone amo«/,«t you, preaching te ki:qom " God. And in these th,e eharaeters of St. Paul's ministry, first, labour and assiduity; and then, labour bestowed upon the right means, preaching; and latly, preaching to the right end, to edification, and advaneing the kingdom of God, we shall determine out first part. In out second pa, we pass çroHl his transition, to his transmi'ation; from his going up and dowu iii the world, to his departing out of the world. Ad ww, bedd, I g'ow, tIzat ye all aee myàce w »ore. h which, we shall look first, how St. Paul eoutraeted this knowledge, how he kuew it; and seeondly, tiret the knowledge of it, did hot disquiet him, hot disorder him; he takes knowledge of it, wifli a confidence, and a eheerfillness. Vhen he says, I g-now it, ho seems to say, I ara glad of it, or at least hot troubled xvith it. And lastly, that St. Paul continues here, that way, and method, whieh he always uses; that is, to proeeed by the understanding, to the aflèetions, and so to the conscience of those that hear him, by such 111ean$ oç persuasion, as are most ap#iable to them, to hom he then speaks; and therefore knowing the power and eeaey of a dying, a departing man's words, he makes that imprsion in them, Observe, recof fiER, XLV.] THE CONVEi.qION OF fiT. PAt'L. 5]9 lect, remember, practise that whih I bave delivered unto you, for, I 'now, t]tat ail ye sall see ,yl face w more. And so we shall bring up that circle, which was begun in heaven in out last exercise, upon this occasion, in this place, when Christ said from thence,,%cul,,T«nl, wy] persecutest to« me? up into heaven again, in that E«e boue serre, which Christ hath said siuce unto him, I[rell doue [/ood and ]àith]d serrant, enter into t@ Maaer's jTt; and our apostle, whom, in out tbrmer exercise, for exampl of out hulniliatio, we round fallen to tire earth, lu this, to tlm assistanc of out exaltation, in his, we hall find, and leave, upon the last stop of Jacob' ladder, that is, entering into heavcu, by the gate of death. First then, in out first part, out first branch is, That there is a transiri as acceptable to God, as a re7uieei; that God was served in St. Paul, by applying his laboure to mauy places, as well as iflle had lsided, and bcstowed hilnself entirely upon anyone. SVhen Christ mauifested himself at first unto him, trembling and tonished, hc said, Lord, what wilt tho« hare me to do? And when Christ had tohl him, That in Dalnascus, ff'oto Ananias, ho should rcceivc his instructions, which werc, That he should bear his »ame, bore te Gentil«s, aud kinys, and the cMIdren of Israel, aher this COlllnli88on was exhibited hy Ananias, and acccpted by St. Paul, that prol.hetical Scripture laid hold upon him, by way of acclamation, ruRarit ut [/(qas ad cnrreudum viam , Ho rcjoîccd as a strong man to rUll a race, tle labonred more abund«ntl/ t«n they all:', tre carried the GosT«l ri'oto J«rusa/cm to Illlricum', that is, as Hicroule surve)'s it, A mari rtbro ad oc«annm, Froln the ed Sea (a sea withlu land) to the ocean without, from ail within, to all without thc covenant, Geutiles as well as Jcws, Dçficieute eum prins terfa, qnom studio pr«'dicandi, He round au end of the world, but he found lin end of his zeal, but preached as long as he round auv to preach to. And as he exceeded in action, so did he in passion too; he joins both together, In l«bovrs more «bundant, (there vas his coutinual preaching) in stripes abore me«snre, and then, in prisons more fi'eçuent, in deats qfleu . Vho dies more than once $ Yet he dies ofien. Acts ix. 6. Psal. x. 6. a i Cor. xv. 10. * Ro xv. 19. 2 Cor. . 23.
How offert eath that is ever)" Ofller man*s everlastiug fast fills hhn hls mouth with eart, was St. Paul*s partis çuotidianus, his daily Lread, protest, says he, your rejoicin, cMc n Christ, I die daily. Though therefi»re we cannot give St. Paul a greater uame than an apostle, (except there be some extraordinary height of apostleship enwrapped in that which he savs of himsel£ Paul an apostle, wt of men, teiter by men, btt bg Jesus (']trist «, that in that l,lace he glo T in a holy exultation, that he was ruade an apostle bv Jesus Christ, then when Jesus Christ was nothing but Jesus Christ, then when he was glorified in heaven, and hOt a mortal man upon earth, as he was when he ruade his other apostles and that in his beiug an apostle, there entered uo such act of men, as did in the election of Matthias to that oee, though Matthias were ruade after the ascension as well m he, in whose election those men presented God two names, and God directed that lot upon him, and so Matthias was reckoned amongst the eleven apostles ) though we need not procure to him, uor imagine çor him, anv other naine than an apostle, yet St. Paul was otherwise an universal soul to the whole church, than many of the other apostles were, and had a larger libey to communicate himself to all places, than anv of them had. That is it which St. Chrysoston intends, when he exteuds St. Paul's dignity,.4ngdis dirersw entes commissoe, To particular angels particular nations are comnfitted ,ç«d nullus a»çelo»um, savs that father, 'o angel governed his particular nation better thau St. Paul did the whde church. St. Chrysostom carries it so high Isodore modifies it thus he brings it from the angels of heaven, to the angds of the church, indeed the archangels of the church, the apostles themselves, and he says, 4postolormn 9ti.,9ue reionem mctus nicam, Everv apostle xvas desied to some paicular and ceain compass, and did but that, in that, which St. Paul did i the whole world. But St. ('hTsostom and Isidore both take their grouud for that which they say, from that which St. Paul savs of hmse]f, Besides tese tbçs chic are wlthout, that which cometh «pon me dai(,[, te care of all the chtrc]tes; ]br, « . i.!.; Acts i. ult. 2 Cor. . 28.
says he wo [s u'e , nd ara ot wea that is, who lacks anythin, but I ara redy to do it for him Vho stters nytin but I bve compassion for him Vc recei'e by fait tradition, nd we cntertin with a fait credulity, the other apostles to he been bishops, nd thereby to ]mve hd a more certain centre, to which, nturally, that is, by the nture of their oce, they vere to incline. 'ot tht notlfin nmy excuse a bishops absence ri'oto Iris sec; for natura] thins, e'en naturaHy, do dcprt from those places to w]lich they are naturally designed, and natura]ly affected, for the conoervation of the whole ri'ame and course of nature; for, in such cases, water will ascend, and air will descend; which motion is donc naturally, though it be a motion ri'oto that place, to which they are naturally aflcted; and may bishops ri'oto their particar churches; for, iscoptts in ecclesia, et eccle«ia in episcopo', Every bishop hath a superintendency, and a residence in the whole church, and the whole church a residence, and a confidence in him. Therefore it is, that in some decretal, and somc synodal letters, bishops are called motarckte, monarchs, not only with relation to one diocese, but to the whole church; hot onlv regal, but imperial monarchs. Thc chm'ch of ome makes bishops every day, of dioceses, to which they know those bishops tan never COnle; hot on]y in the dominions of princes in thc Reformed religion, (whic]l are hot likely to adroit them) but in the domiuions of the Turk himselE And into the Council of Trent, they threw and thrust, they shoved ad shove]led in sucll bishops in abundance: tlley created (that their numbers might carry ail) new titular bishops of e'ery place, in the Eastern, the Greek church, where there had ever been bishops before, though those very places were nov no cities; hot only not within his jurisdiction, but hot at al], upon the face of the eart]l. But in better times t]lan these, (though times, in which the church was much affiicted too) St. Cril of Alexdria mentions six thousand bishops at once, against estorius. Now if the church had six thousand bishops at once, certainly ail of them had hot dioceses fo reside upon; sometimes co]lateral necessities enforce a departing fi'ona exact regu]arity, in matter of government. So it did, when St. Ambrose was chosen bishop of C)2rian. N'Of,. ll.
EE2 TIIE SUNDA" AFTER [SEH. XI,Vo ]li]an in the Vest, and 1Nectarius bishop of Constantinople in the East, wheu they were both hot on]y laymen, but unbaptized. Dut yet, though the be divers cases in which bishops may justly be excused from resideuce, (for they are still resident upon the church of God, if hot upon the church of that city) yet naturally, and relarly an obligatiou tlling upon them, of redence, the apost]es were more und to certain limits, by being bi»hops, than St. Paul vas, of whom it does uot appear that he was cver o. I uov some later men bave thought St. Paul a bishop: and they bave round some sati»faction in that, that ier, and Lucius, and Manaen laid thêir hands upon Baruabas and Paul; ud that imposition of hands, say they, was a consecration; and this reason supplies them toe, that Paul did consecrate othcr bishops, as Timothy of Ephesus, and Titus of Crete . But sinco 'iger, and Lucius, and Manaen that laid their hands upon Paul, were not bihops themlves, Paul cannot therefore be concluded to be a bishop, because he laid his hands upon others. either hath any of those few authors, which have imagined him to be a t»ihop, ever assigned or named any place of which he should ho bishop; so that St. Paul had still auother mauner of liberty, and universality over the church, than the test had, and therefore still avows his trasiri, his peregrination, I have.qone «moy yot. So then out blessed Saviour haviug declared this to be his way for the propagation of the Gospel, that besides the men that rcside constantly upou certain places, there shouhl be bishops that should spead fanher than to a parish, and apostles hrther than fo a diocese, and a Paul farther than to a nation; as in thc first plantation Christ found this necessary, so may it be still convenient, that in me cases, some perns, at some times, may be admitted to forbear their seice, in some partlcular place, so they do hot detaud the whole church of God by that forbearance. For so St. Paul, though he accuse himlf, That he robbed other chuehes, taking wages of them TM, and yet sem'ed the Corinthians, thinks himself excusable in this, that he did this service in somc part of the church of Christ, though not always to them in particular, from whom he received that recompense. o Acts x. 3. Ti/. i. 5.) 2 Cor. . il.
SER. XLV.] 'ov as this codemns our roists abroad, that bave published their opinion to be That no particular church given to one mans cul, my consist of more persons than my always hear that man, all toether, so neither doth this afford any favour to those men, who absent themselves fom thei charge, unnece sarily; and m'eD'thin is unnecessary in a churchnmn, that is hot done for the faher advancement of the church of Goal general, and doth prejudice, or defraud a particular church. Therefore Prwdicari, I haro hOt rided in one place, I are gone a»ong you, but I bave gone among you prci,y. Athanius in his Epistle Draeontius, who refused be bishop, sas's, If ail men had been of your mind, who should have ruade you a Christian Vho should We been enabled to hav¢ ministered sacraments unto you, if there had been no bishop But when he saw that he refused it therefore, becauso men when they corne to that state, We themselves more liberty than such as laured in inferior places did, and Dracontius seemed loath to open himself to the danger of that temptation, Athanasius says, Zic«bit tibi i episcopatu esurire, Mtire, Fear not, I warrant you, you may be poor enough in a bishoprick, or if you be rich, no man will hinder you from living soberly in a plentif fortune; Avimus episcopos junates, says he, monachos ¢omedentes, I hare known a bishop fast, when a nlonk or an hermit, hath ruade a good meal; AC corona pro locis, sedpro Jàctis redditur, God doth hot cro every man that cornes to the place, but him only that doth tho duties of the place, when he is in it. And here one of the duties that induc¢ out crown, is preaching, I a¢e goe amog you preachig. Howsoever it be in practice in the church of Rome, that church durst hot appear to the world, but in that declaration, ProEcipuu» episcoporum munus est p'oedicatlo , The principal office of the bishop is to preach. And there is no chch in Christendom, (nay, let us maify God in the fulness of an evident truth) hot ail the churches of God in Christendom, bave more, or more useful preaching, than ours bath, from thoso to whom the cure of souls belongs: so neither were thero ever any time¢ in which » Conc. Td. Sess. v. c. 2. y2 more men were prel'erred l'or l'ormer preaehing, nor that eontinued it more, al'ter their prel'erments, than in these our rimes. There may be, there should be a tronirerunt, A passin l'rom place to place, but still itis as it should be, Proedicando, A passing l'or preaching, and a passing to preaching; and then, a preaching conditioned so, as St. Paul's was, I hare.oone amon.o preachiçq the kin.adom of God. The kingdom ol' God, is the Gospel ol' God; that Gospel whieh the apostle ealls tke 91orious Gospel of God. A kingdom eonsists hot ol' slaves; slaves that llave no will ol' their ovn. The ehildren ol' the kingdom have so a vill of their own, as that no man is danmed, but t'or that, whieh he would not avoid, nor saved against his will; so we preaeh a kingdom. A kingdom aeknowledges all their happiness l'rom the king; so do we all the good use of all our l'aeulties, will and all, l'fore the graee ol' the King of heaven; so we preaeh a kingdom. A kingdom is able to subsist of itself, without ealling in foreigners; the Gospel is so too, without ealling in traditions; and so we preaeh a kingdom. A kingdom requires, besides fimdamental subsistenee, grounded espeeially in offensive, and defensive wer, a supl,or also of honour, and dignity, and outward splendour; the ehureh oç God requires also, besides unaninfity in damental doetrines, an equanimity, and eharity, in handling problematieal points, and also requires order, and eomeliness in the outward çaee, and habi thereof; and so we preaeh a kingdom. So we preaeh a kingdom, as that we banish from thenee, all imaginary çatality, and all deeretory impossibility oç concurrence, and eo-operation to out own salvation, and yeg we banish all pride, and confidence, tha any natural faeulties in us, though quiekened by çormer graee, ean lead us to salvation, without a eontinual sueeesslon oç more and more graee; and so we preaeh a kingdom; so, as thag we banish all spiritual treason, in setting up new titles, or naking anhing equal to God, or his word, and we banish all spiritual çelonv or robbery, iii despoiling the ehureh, either oç discipline, or oç possessions, either oç order, or oç ornaments. Be tke kin[g b,tgkter ail 91orious tritin '; yet. all her glory is not within Plm xv, 13, for, « dotMny s of wroçq yoId, says that text. Still may she ]ory in ber internal lory, in the sincerity, and in the integrity of doctrinal truths, and lory too in her outward comeliness, and beauty. So pray we, and so ])reach we the kindom of God. And so ve have done with our first 1)art. Our second part, fo which in our order we are now corne, is a passionate valediction. Aow I tmow, tltat ail you sltall see ty face o »wre; where first we inquire how he knew it. But why do we inquire that. They that heard him did not so: they ]leard it, and believed it, and lamented it. Vhen St. Paul preached at Berea, his story says ', that he was better believed there, than at Thessalonica; and the reason is yiven, Tlt««t tlere were wbler persos tere; persons of better quality, of better natures, and dispositions, and of more ingenuity; and so, as it is added, T/ey reeeired the word witl all readbess of ff»d. Prejudices, and disaffections, and under-vahtations of the abilities of the preacher, in the hearer, disappoint the purpose of the Holy Ghost, frustrate the labours of tlte man, and injure and defraud the rest of the congregation, who would, and would justly, like that which is said, if they were hOt misled, and shaked by those hearers: and so work also such jealousies and suspicions, that though his abilities be good, yet lais end upoa his auditory, is hot their edification, but to work upon them, to other purposes. Though we require not an implicit faith in you: that)'ou be]ieve, because we say it, yet we require a holy nobleness in you, a religions good nature, conscientious ingenuity, that you remember from whom we corne, front the King of heaven, and in what quality, as his anabassadors; and so be apt to believe, that since we must return to him that sent us, and give him a relation of our negotiation, we dare not transgress our commission. The Bereans are praised for this, That tey searched the S'crilottres daily, whet]ter those thlnys that Paul sald were so; but this begun hOt at a jealousy, or suspicion in them, that they doubted, that that which he said, was hot so, nor proceeded not to a gladness, or to a deslre, that they might bave taken him in a lie, or nfight bave round, that that which he said, was hot so; but the searched the $'cril)ttres, u'hetter those tMgs were so, that so, having formerly believed him wh¢n ho a Acts xvii. 1o.
preached, they might establish that belief, which they had received, by that, which was the inthllible rock, and foundation of ail, the,S?riptures; they searched; but thcy searched for confirmation, and hot upou suspicion. In our preoent case, they to whom St. Paul id this, do hot ask St. Paul how he knew, that fley should sec his face no more; they believed as we do, that he had it by revelation from God and such knowledge is fai/h. Tricubitalis erat, et celt«m attinyit, says St. Chrysostom; St. Paul was a man of low ature; but four foot and a ha high, says he; and yet his head reached to the highest heaven, and his eyes saw, and his ears heard the eounsels of God. Scaree any anabassador ean show so many letters of his Master's oa hand, as St. Paul eould produee revelations; his King came to him, as often as other kings write to their ambassadors. He had his fir calling by Revelation; he had his commission, his aposfleship by Revelation; so he was diroeted to gerusalem, and so to Rome; to both by Revelation; and oe to Maeedonia also. So he was eonfirmed, and eomforted in the night, by vision, by Revdation; and so he was sured of the lives of ail them, that suffered shipwreck with him at Malta. Ail his eatechisms in the beginning, ail his dietates in his proeeeding, a his eneouragements at his departing, were ail revelation. Every good man hath his conversation in heaven, and heaven itself had a convention in St. Paul; and so, even the book of the Aets of the Apostles, is, as it were, a fir part of the book of Revelation; Revelations to St. Pa, as the other was to St. ohn. This is the way that Christ promised fo take with him, I will shoe him, how 9reat thin9s he mnst star for my sake «. And this y Christ pumued, Ai Csarea, Affabus a propk me.from Judeea to Paul, and took Pa«çs yirdle, and bound his own hands, and fed, and said, Thus gaith the bind the man that hands of the Gentiles . This then was his caoe in our text, (fo that revdation, by Agab's prophecy, of his soEering, was after this) he had revelation that he should never be seen by them mooe; but hen, or how, or where he 8hod die, he had hot had « Acts . 16. r Ac xx. 11.
sEa. XLV.] TUv. co.vznsto. or s'r. VAtJL. 827 a partieular reveltion theu. He aays, little befor our text, I yo bound in te,çirit to Jerusalem t«: That is, so bound by Spirit, that if I should hot go, I shouid resist the Spirit; but, says he, I know hot the things that shall befall me there; hot at fferusalem; much less the last, and bitterest things, whieh were faher off; tlm things that should befall him at Rome, where ha died. But from the very first, he knew enouh of his death, to shake any ul, that were hot sustained by the Sl,irit of God; which is another brauch in this pa, that no rereltions, no apprehensions of death removed him from his holy iutrepidns, and religious constancy. We bave a sto in an author of St. Hierome's rime, Palladius, that in a monastery of St. Isidore's, every monk that died in that bouse, was able, and ever did tell all the society, thaç at such a rime he shouhl die. God doea extraordinarv things, for extraordinary ends; but since we see no such ends, nor use of this, we are at out liberty, fo doubt of tire thing itself. God tol«l Simeon, tat e sAo««M wt die, till e ad see ('r&EEt; but he did hot tell him, that he should die as sn as he had seen him; but so much as was told him, was enough to make him content to die, when he had seeu him, and to conm to his 2V«,c dimiis, to thaç cheerfulness, as to sing his own requiem. God accustomed St. Paul, no doubt, to such notifications from him, and such apprehenslons in himseff of deth, as, because it was hot nexv, it couhl not be terrible. Vhen St. Paul was able to make that protestation, I protest by your rejoiciçq, which I haee fa Christ Jesusoz«r Lord, I die dail!'; and again, I ara i prisos o], and ofle-t it deaths, I die oftea«; no executioner could bave told him, you must die to-morrow, but he could bave aid, alas I died yesterday, and yesterday was twelvemonth, and seven year, and every year, and month, and week, and day, and hour before that. There is nothing so near immortality, as to die daily for hot to feel death, is immoality; and only he shall never feel death, at is exercised in the continuM meditation thereof; continual modification is immoality. As cordials lose their virtue and become no cordials, if they be taken every day, so poisons do their renom too; if a man uue a Ver. 12. a 1 Cor. xv. 31. 2 Cr. . 23.
himself to them, in small proportions at first, he lnay grow to take any quantity: he that takes a drain of dcath to-day, may take an ounce to-morrow, and a pound aftcr; he that begins with that mortification of dcnying himself his delights, (which is a drain of death) shall be able fo surfer the tribulations of this world, (which is a greater measure of death) and then death itself, uot only patiently, but cheerfnlly; and to such a man, dcath is hOt a dissolution, but a redintegration; hot a divorce of body and soul, but a sending of both divers ways, (the soul upward to heaven, the body downward to tlle earth) to an indissoluble lnarriage fo him, who, for the salvation of both, assmned both, our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus. Thcrcfore docs St. Paul say of himself, If I be o.ffèred uTori the sacrifice, and s«reice of yotr fdth, I joy, aml rejoice witk you all ', that is, it is a just occasion of out common joy, on your part, and on lnine too; and therefore dors St. Augustine say in his behalf, whatsoever can be threatencd him,,S'i potest «irere, tolerabile est, Vhatsoever dors not take away life, lnav be endured; for, if it could hOt be endured, it would take away life; and,,qi non potest rieere, says he, If it do take away lire, what shall he feel, when ]le is dead. tic adds the reason of ail, Opus cumfine, merces si»efine; Dcath hath an end, but their reward that die for Christ, and their peace, that die in Christ, hath no end. Therefore was uot St. Paul ail'Md of melancholy alpreheusions, by drawing his death into contemplation, and into discourse; he was not afraid to thild,- nor to talk of his death; but then St. Paul had another end in doing so here, (which is out last consideration) to make the decper impression in them, to whom he preaehcd tlmn, by telling theln, that ke {ew they should ser his face no more. This that St. Paul says, he says to t]le Ephesians; but not at Ephesus: he was departed ri'oui thence the year before: for, UpOll the news that Claudius the Emperor, who persecuted the Chrisdans, was dead, he purposcd to go by Jerusalem to Rome. Iii that pemgrination and visitation of his, his way fell out after fo be by Miletus, a place hot far from Ephesus; He was bound in the STirit, as he says here, to go to Jerusalem; and therefore he could uot visit them at Ephesus. A man may have such obliga- Phil. ii. 17. Vel; 22.
SElf, XLV.] THE CONVERSION" OF ST. PAl'L. 529 tions, even for the service of God upon him, as that if shall not be in his power, fo do that se-ice which he nmy owe, and desire fo pay in some particular church. It was in part St. Paul's case: but yct hc did what ho could from Miletus lin seut to Ephesus ', to call the clders of that church thithcr; and then he l)rcachcd this short, but powerfil sermon. And, as his manner ever was, (though still without prevaricating or forbearing to denouncc the judgments of God upon them, in cases necesry) to nmle thosc whom he preachcd or writ to, as benevolent, and well-aflèctcd to him as he could, (for he was Omia omnibus,.lade all tis to allmeO fo which purpose if is that he speaks, and pours out himself, with such loving thankfulness to the Galatians, 1 receieed qne as cm ael God, eve as Christ Jesus hime"; pursuing, I say, this nmnncr of a nmtual endearing, and R reciprocal cmbowcllingof himself in the congregation, and tlie congregation in him, (as, certainly, if we considcr all unions, the natural union of parents and children, the matrimonial union of husband and wife, no union is so spiritual, nor so near fo that, by which we are ruade IJ«m Tiritus cure Domio, The saine spirit with the Lord, as xvhen u good pastor, and a good ock meet, aud are unitcd in holy aflbctions to one another) to unite himself to his Ephcsians iuseparably, even after his separation, to be still pr sent with then, in his everlasting absence, and to lire with thcm evcu ater death, to make the deeper impressions of all his l)aSt, and present instructions, he speaks to them as a d)ing man, I g,o,c you shall see my ce,o more. Why did he so St. Paul did hot die in elcven vears afker this: but he died to *hem, for bily presence, now; they werc to sec him no more. As the day of my death is the day ofjudgment to me, so this day of his depaRing was the day of his death to them. And for himself, from this time, when he gve this judgment of dcath upon himself, ail the test of his lire was but leading far off, fo the place of execution. For first, very soon Rf*er this, Agabus gave him notice of manifold aictions, in that girdle which we spake of belote. There he was bound, and prisoned at Jerusalem; from thcnce sent bound to Coesarea; prtised upon fo be killed by the wy; forced to appeal to Ver. 17. s GaL iv. 14.
30 THE 8UNDAY.t, rTEIt [SErt. XLV. Coesar; npon that appeal sent prisoner to Rome; shipwrecked npon the way at llalt,; imprisoned under emaard, though hot close prisoner, two years after his coming thither; and, thongh dismised, and so enabled to visit some chnrches, yet laid hold npon again by çero, and execnted. So th,t as it was ]iterally trne, that the Eplaesians never saw lais face, after thls valediction, so he may be said to have died then, in such a sense, as himsclf says to the Corinthians, That some men were baptized, Pro mortuis, çor dead ", that is, as good as dead, past ail hope of reeovery. So he died then. Now beloved, who hath seen a father, or a friend, or a neighbout, or a malefaetor die, and hath hOt been affeeted with his dying words . _Nay Father Abraham, says Dives, that will hot serve, Tkat they hare Ioses and tke prophets "; sermons will hot serve their turns; bttt if one u'ent to tkem from the dead, tke!t rould repent. And the nearest to this is, if one speak to them that is going to the dead. If he had been a minute in heaven thou wouldst believe lfim; and vilt thou hOt believe him nlinutebefore. Did hOt Jaeob observe the angels aseending, às well as deseen«lig upon that ladder. Trust a good soul going to God, as well as coming îrom God. And then, as out casuists say, That whatsoever a man is bound to do, In articulo mortis, at the point of death, by way of confession or otherwise, he is bound to do,,vhen he cornes to the saerament, or when he undertakes any action of danger, because then he should prepare himself as if he were dying: so, when you eome to hear us here, who are eome from Goal, hear us with such an affection, as if we were going to God, as if you heard us upon out death-beds. Thc pulpit is more than out death-bed; for we are bound to the saine truth, and sineerity here, as if,ve were upon out death-bed, and then God's ordinance is more expressly exeeuted here, than there. He that mingles îalsehood with his last dying words, deceives the world inexeusably, beeause he speaks in the person of an honest man, but he that mingles îalse informations in his preaehing, does so mueh more, beeause he speaks in the person of Goal himself. They to whom St. Paul spake there, are said all to ha:e u'ept, 1 Cor. xv, 29.
8Elt. XLV.] TIIE CON'VERSION OF ST. PAUL. 1 and to have fallen on Paul eck, and to kare ki.ed hm; but it is dded, theg orrowed mo.t of ag fr the u'ord, that the hould ee hiJce «o more. When ny of hose men, fo whom for their holy ealling, and their religious pains in their ealling, you owe and pay a reverence, are taken from you by death, or otherwise, there is a go(Hy sonxv due to that, and in a great proportion. In the death of one Elisha, King Joash apprehended a ruin of ail; He u'el»t over hLtce, and safd, 0 my fither, l father, the cha'iot of Israel, and tke horsemen thereof ; he lost thë solieitude of a father, he lost the power and strength of the kingdom, iii the loss of one sueh pvphet. Bu when you have so sorrowed for men, upon whom your devotion bath put, and justly put sueh valution, remember tha greer loss, than the loss of thousand sueh men may fall upon you. Consider the differenee between the eandle and the eandlestiek, between the preaeher of the Gospel, and the Gospel itself; beween religious man, and religion itself: the removing of the eandlestiek, and the with- «lrwing of the Gospel, and the profaning of religion, is infinitely greter loss, han if hundreds of the present lbourers should be tken awy frolll us. The ckildr«n " the kin9dom may be cast into ri#er darkne; nd that kin9dom may be yiren to others, chich.hag brbçq forth tke uits thereof; nd, The Lord nmy corne, and corne çuick 0 and remore out candle.tick llace"; pray we that in our dayshe may hOt. And truly where Goal threatens fo do so in the Revelation, if is upon a ehnreh, of whieh God himself gives good testimony, the ehureh of Ephesus; of ber labou, that is, preaehing; of ber patience, tha is, suflèring; of ber impat&nce, ber hOt suffering the evil, lat is, ber integrity and imparfiality, without eonnivanee or toleration; and of ber notfidntiny, that is, perseveranee; and of her hatin 9 the Nicolaitans, tha is, sineerity in the truth, and holy animosity again all false doetrines: and yeL s)'s he, I hare somethin 9 to sali a9ain. thee. SVhen thou hast ttified their siduiy in preehing, their eonstaney in suffering, heir slneerity in believing, their integrity r 2 Kgs. 14, $[att. i. 12. $[tt. x. 48.
' [ OO THE SU.NDAY AFTER SER. XLVo in professing, their perseverance in continuing, their zeal in hating of ail error in others, when thou thyself hast given this evidence in their behalf, canst thou Lord Jesu bave anything to say against them? Vhat then shall we, we that rail in ail these, look to hear from thee. SVhat was their crime. Because th«y had bft tkelr.first love; left the fulness of their former zeal to God's cause. /ow, if out case be so ranch worse than theirs, as that we are hot only guilty of ail those sins, of which Christ dischargcs them, and have not only left out first love, but iii , manncr lost ail our love, all out zeal to his glory, and be corne to a lukewarnmess in his service, and a general neglect of the means of grace, how justly may we fear, hOt only that he will como, and corne quickly, but that he lnay possibly be upon his way already, to remove our candlestick, and withdraw the Gopel from us. And if it be a sad thing to yol, t.o hear Paul, holy man sa)-,)'ou shall see my.tàce no more, on this side the Ite maledicti, Go ge accursed into h«ll:fire, thcre cannot be so sad a voice, as to hear Christ Jesus say, Yott, shall see zny face no more. 1,'acies.Dei est, qua Deus wbis in»otescit, says St. Augustine, That is the face of God to us, by which God manifests himself to us. God mmfifests himoelf to us in the word, and in the sacraments. If we see hot them in their true lines and colours, (the word and sacraments sincerely and religiously preachcd and administered) we do hOt see them, but masks upon thcm; and, if wc do not see them, we do not see the face of Christ; and I could as well stand under his 2¥scio 'os, which he said to the negligent virgins, I J'now you ot, or his CcirÁ os, which ho said to those that boast of their works, I nerer J'new you, as under this feafful tlmnder from his mouth, You. sall see,yf«ce no more , I will absolutely withdraw, or I will surfer profaneness to enter into those means of your salvation, word, and saer,- ments, whieh I bave so long eontinued in their sineerity towards)'ou, and you bave so long abused. Blessed God sav hOt so to us yet; yet let the tree grow another year, belote thon eut it down; and as thon hast digged about it, by bringing judgments upon out neighbours, so water if with thy Matt. vii. 22.
former tain, the dew of thy grace, and with thy latter raln, the tears of our contrition, that we may sti]] sec thy face; here and hereafter; here, in thy kingdom of grace; hereafter in thy klngdom of glory, whlch thon hast purchased for us, with the inestimable priçe of thine incorruptible blood. Amen.
They changed their minds, and said, That he was a goal.
Tue scene, where this canonizatiou, this super-canonization, (for it was hot of a saint, but of a god) was transacted, was the islc of Malta: the person canonized, and proclaimed for a god, was St. Paul, at that time bv shipwreck cast upon that island. And having for some years heretofore continued that custom in this place, af this rime of the year, when the church celebrates the conversion of St. Paul, (as it doth this da)') to handle some part of his story, pu»suing that custom now, I chose that part. which is knit and womd up in this text, then t]tey c]ayed t]teir mitcls, an sald, He is a yod. St. Paul round himself in danger of being oppressed in judgment, and therebv was put to a necessity of appealing to Caîsar; by virtue of that appeal being sent to lome, by sea, he was surprised with such stonns, as threatened inevitable ruin; but the angel of Goal stood by him, and assured him, that none of those two hundred and seventv-six persons, which were in the ship with him, should perish; according to this assurance, though the ship perished, ail the passengers were saved, and recovered dfis land, Malta. "Vhere being courteously received by the inhabitants, though otherwise barbarians, St. Paul doing so nuch for himselfand for his company, as fo gather a bundle of sticks to mend the tire, there flew a viper from tl.e heat, and fstened on his hand. They thereupon said among thêmoelves, A doubt, thi» man i» a murderer, wom, thoul bd ae ezcaped the »ea, yet rengeance »uèrh hot to lire. But when he shaked off the qper into the tire, and reeeived no harm, and they had looked, that he should have swollen, md fallen down dead suddenly, after they had looked a 'eat while, and sw no harm corne to him, Then (and then enters our text) they cha»ged tbelr ind.«, and said, be is a çod. A]mighty God had bred up St. Paul so; so he had eatechised him ail the vay, with vicissitudes, and revolntions fl'om extreme to extreme. He had taught him how to want, and how to abound; hov to bear honour, and dishonour: he pemfitted an angel of Stan to buflbt him, (so he gave him some sense of hcll) he gve him a rapture, an eestasy, and lu that, au appropinquation, an approximation to hlmself, and so some possession of heaven in this lire. So God proceeded vith him here in Malta too; he passed him in their mouths from extreme to extreme; a viper seizes him, and they condemn him fbr a murd«rer; he shakes off the viper, and they change their minds, and say, He is a.qod. The first vords of ont text earry us neeessarily so far baek, as to vee from what they changed; and their periods are easily seen; tlleir terminus à quo, and their terminus ad quem, were these; first, that he was a murderer, then that he was a [/od. An error in morality; they censure deeply upon light evidence: an error in divinity; they transfer the name and estimation of a god, upon an unknown man. Place both the errors in divinity; (so you may justly do) and then there is an error in charity, a hasty and iuconsiderate condemning; aud an error in faith, a superstitious ereating of an imaginary god. Nov, ni)on these two general considerations wiH this exerei consist; first, that it is natural logic, an argumentation naturally imprinted in man, to argue, and eonclude thus, Great ealamities are inflieted, therefore God is greatly provoked; theso men of Malta were but natural men, but barbarians, ( St. Luke ealls them) and yet they argue, and conclude so; here is a judgment exeeuted, therefore here is evidence, that God is displeased. And so far they kept 5thin the linfits of humanity and piety too; but when they descended hastily and ineonsidemtely, to paieular, and personal
SF.a. XLVl.] rt'oN rn nA OF ST. 'Ai:L'S CO,VF.SO. 335 applications, this judent upon this man is an evidence of his guiltine in this offence, then they transessed the bounds charity that because a viper had seized PauPs hand, Paul must nceds be a mm'derer. And theu when we shall have psed those things, which belong te that first consideration, which consists of these two propositions, that te conc]ude angry, is natural, but hastily te apply this te the condemnation of particular persons, is uncharitable, we shall descend te out second consideration, te e what they did, when they changed their minds, Tey said, e is a.qod. And, as in the former part, we shall have sn, that there is in man a natural logie, but that "strays into uneharitableness; se in this we shall sec, that there is in man a natural religion, but that strays into superstition and iddatry; naturally man is se fnr fm being divested of the knowledge and sense of God, ri'oto thinking that there is no God, as tiret ho is pt te make more gods thnn he should, and te worship them for gods, whom he should net. These men of Ialm were but natural men, but barbarians, (sa St. Luke) yet they vere se far frein denng God, as that they mnltiplied gods, and because the viper did Paul no harm, they changed their minds, and id, I[e is a yod. And ri'oto these two general considerations, and these two branches in each, that there is in man a naturM logic, but that strays into fallacies; and a natural religion, but that strays into idolatry, and superstition, we shM1 derive, and deduce unto you, such things as we conceive most te conduce te your edificatiot, frein this knot, and summa abrident of this story, they chanyed tkeb" minds, and said, First then for the first proposition of out first part, that this is natural logic, an argumentation imprinted in every man, Goal strikes, therefore God is ange, he, whom they that even hate his naine, (out adversaries of the Roman persuasion) de yet se far citly reverence, that, though they will net naine him, they will transfer, and inoert his expositions of Scriptures, into their works, and pass them as their own, that as Calvin, he, Calvin, collects this proposition frein this story, Passim receptum omnibus swculis, in aH ages, and in all places this bath ever been acknow-
PREACHED IN TltE EVI.|NG [SER. XI.VI. ledged by all men, That when God strikes, God is ang T, and when çod is an'y, God strikes; and therefore, ys he, Quotie occurrit wmorabilis aliqua cula»itaa, simul in wntem reniat, As often as you sec any extraordinary calamity, conclude that God hath been extraordinarHy provoked, and hasten to those means, by which the anger and indication of God may be appeased again. So that for this doctrine, a man needs hot be preaehed nnto, a man needs not be catechised; a man needs hOt read the fathers, nor the councils, nor the schoolmen, nor the ecclesiastical stoçv, nor summists, nor casuists, nor canonist no, nor the Bible itself" for this doctrine; for this doctrine, That when God strikes he is angt'y, and when he is angt'y he stt'ikes, the natural man bath as fifll a library in his bosom, as the Christmn. Ve, we that are Christians have one author of ours, that tells us, Iïndicta mihi, Bereçqe is mie,,aith the Lord ; Ioses tells us so; and in that, we have a fit'st and a second leon; first, that since revenge is in God's hands, it will certainly fall upon the malefactor, God does not mistake his mark; and then, since revenge is in his hands, no man must take revenge out of his hands, or make himself his own magistrate, or revenge his own quarrel. And as we, we that are Christians, bave o attthor, los, that tells us this, the natural man bath his secular author, Theocritus, that tells him as much, B«perit Deus nocentes, God always finds out the guilty man. In which, the natural man hath also a first, and a second lesson too; first, that since God finds out the malefactor, he never escapes; and then, since God does find him at last, God sought him all the while; though Goal strike late, yet he pursued him long belote; and many a man feels the sting in his conscience, long belote he feels the blow in his body. That God finds, and therefore seeks, that God overtakes, aud therefore pursues, that God overthrows, and therefore reslsts the wicked, is a uatural conclusion as well as a divine. The me author of ours, ÆIoses, tell us, The Lord out God ia Lord OE lords, and God OE yod, and reyardeth no tn' peraon*. The natural man bath his author too, that tells him,,Snp ziryines fi«riw, The furies, (they whom they conceive to execute revenge upon malefactors) are alwavs virgins, that is, hot to be Dent. x. 35. Dent. x. 17.
$EI1. XLVI.] UPON THE DAY OF ST. PAUL'S CONVERSION. 337 corrupted by any soIicltations. That no dignity shelters a nmu from the justice of God, is a natural conclusion, as well as divine. We bave a sweet singer of Israel that tells us, dlmidiablt dies, Tke bloody and deceitful man shall mot lire out hall his days": and the natural man bath his sweet singer too, a learned poet that tells him, that seldom any enormous malefactor enjoys S'iccam mortem, (as he calls it) A dry, an unbloody death. That blood requires blood, is a natural conclusion, as well as a divine. Out sweet singer tells us again, Tkat 0" tle fly to tke fartkest ends of the ea,'th, or to tke sea, or to keaen, or fo hell, he skall find God tkere; and the natural lllall bath his author, that tells him, Qui.fuyit, non e.fuyit, He that runs avay from God, does hot eseape God. That there is no sanetuary, no privileged place against whieh God's (2uo warranto does hot lie, is a narre'al conclusion, as well as a divine; sanyuis Abel, is out proverb, tkat Abel's blood cries for rerenye, and sa»yuis Eso2i is the natural man's proverb, that 2Esop's blood cries for revenge; for 2Esop's blood was shed upon an indignation taken at sacrifice, as Abel's was. St. Paul's 1)eus remu.nerator, that there is a God, and that that God is a j«st rewarder of men's actions, is a natural conclusion, as wcll as a divine. When God speaks to us, us that are Christians, in the Scriptures, he speaks as in a primitive, and original language; when he speaks to the natural man, by the light of nature, though he speak as in a translation into another language, yet he speaks the saine thing; everywhere he offers us this knowledge, that where he strikes, he is angry, and xvhere he is angry, he does strike. Therefore Calvin might, as he doth, safely and piously establish his Quotles occurrit, as often a. you sec an extraordinary calamity, conclude that God is extraordinarily provoked: and he might as safely bave established more than that, that wheresoever God angry, and in that anger strikes, God secs sin belote; no punishment from God, where there is no sin. God may bave glory in the condemnation of man; but except that man were a sinful man, God could bave no glory in his condemnation. At the be#inniny o.f thy yrayer, the commandmet wet out, says Gabriel to Daniel'; but till Daniel 1)rayed, there went out no com- Psal. rv. 23. Dan. ix. 23. VOL. I I.