CONFIRMATION REVIVED.

THE Scripture, saith a Father, is like unto a large compleat City wherein are many stately houses, and every house has it's severall Door, and each Door it's proper Key, which alone can open it, and give the Commer a free, and fair Admission.

But what if all these Keys be clapt together in one cluster? then, out of the whole Bunch to single, and find out Illam aptam, propriam, & congruam clavem, Hilar. Prolo [...] in Psalm. explan. as the same Father hath it, to hit upon the right Key; [Page 2] Maxima ignaro affertur difficultas, it must needs be matter of very much puzzle and perplexity unto the Ignorant, and unskilfull Attempter.

Now, we all know this Book of Psalms to be one of the Goodliest Buildings in all this great City of God; and our business at present lying in this first Psalm, which is the Fore-gate, as it were, to the rest of this Harmonious Range, amongst those many Bunches of Keyes, which are brought by several Interpreters, to unlock the door of this one Verse, we that are yet sadly ignorant, God knows, and too much unacquainted with his Mysteries, (alas!) how shall we be ever able to find out the Right Key, whereby we might un-erringly follow the Recesses of God's Spirit in this Scripture, unless the Great Key-Keeper of Scripture, He that has the Key of David, be pleased to put David's own Key Rev. 3. 7. into our hands, and open unto us?

Therefore it is good for us to draw nigh unto God; yea, that's certain; but how shall we get neer him? why, the best way is to stand at the Door and knock: Though we have done it already, let us doe it again; and having no Key of our own, unless he please to lend us one, Let us earnestly beseech him, who is within to open, and take us in, who are without; and (as the Spouse begs) to Tell us where he makes his rest at Noon, i. e. whereabouts and in which sence is his Can. 1. 7. brightest abode, and what may be the fullest and cleerest importance of the words now read unto you▪ And he shall be like a tree, &c.

The whole Psalm, as S. Hilary affirms, contains in it many Articles, and grand points, of the Christian Faith; Sacramentum Dei corporati docet, &c. Hil. in prolog.

It acquaints us with the mystery of Christ Incarnate, [Page 3] promises the [...]mmunion of Saints in glory; affirms the Resurrection both of the Righteous, and of the ungodly; and lastly, it assures a Reward to the one, and denounceth an heavy Judgment upon the other: and all this on purpose to perswade men to holiness of life. Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the Counsel, &c. without which holiness (as 'tis there described in the Verse 1. two first Verses) non shall see the Lord.

But we shall not need to fetch in any Forrein help from other parts of this Psalme; the Text it self, I suppose, affording matter enough for this your present task, and mine.

The Prophet sang unto his beloved a Song of his Isa. 5. 1. Vineyard; we, changing the note a little, must now deliver you a discourse of his Nursery, and Orchard; and why may not the Root and the Trunk, the sap and the leaf, the Bark and the Branch, be as serviceable in the Christian Church, as Ramm-skins, Badger-skins, Exod. 35. 6. and Goat's Hayr, in the Jewish Tabernacle?

Thus the Lamps of the Temple were fed by that [...]ec. 4. 12. oyle which issued from the Olive-trees, and emptied it self through Golden Pipes for that purpose.

And had we but those Golden Pipes, and conveyan­ces, no doubt, the Tree here in the Text would afford Spiritual Juyce in abundance, that might help to Main­tain, and keep alive, the Lamps of God's Sanctuary, so as their shinings might serve in some measure to Lighten themselves and others.

For, as David professeth of himself, I am like a Psal. 52. 8. Green-Olive tree in the house of God; the same we may say of the Psalms of David, They are like unto Green-Olive trees in Gods house, and have Heavenly Oyle enough in them, for Light, Comfort, and Nou­rishment, [Page 4] to the Humble, Constant, and growing Soul; provided, as it comes within, so it Keepes with­in that House of God, where this Green Olive grows, and does not wickedly depart from it.

And should we give further sufferance for this dis­course, freely to run after the resemblance here be­fore us, and pursuing the severall properties of trees, shew their serviceableness, and correspondency to Christians, in the Application; I doe not doubt, but this Tree of ours, like that which Nebuchadnezzar dream'd of, would yield very much Fruit, and in it might be Meat for all, Dan. 4. 12.

But our business is not the Planting of Groves, or [...]an. 4. 12. Setting of Orchards; but the Confirming of Christians. And indeed (as some observe) a Grove, or the like, should not be planted too neer a Temple, for fear of too much Umbrage, and Darkishness: and should we [...]ir Fr. B. resolve still to follow, and make after this Metaphor, the discourse, I am afraid, would be too chill and shadowy.

Our employment here at this time is a Preaching, not a Planting Employment, unless so as S. Paul planted, and so as Apollos watered; and albeit our Sa­viour Cor. 3. 6. Christ was once content to be Mistaken for a Gardiner, [she supposing him to be the Gardiner;] John 20. 15. Yet who had not rather be counted an In­different Divine, than a very good Engraffer? [...]oh. 20. 15.

Therefore by a too minute pursuance of every par­ticular in this sacred similitude betwixt this Tree and Davids Blessed man, that Divine Plant-animal, lest our discourse of this Tree should blossom it self to death, or run out too much into Leaves, and so quite forsake the Text, which tells us, that the Tree [Page 5] must not only bring forth leaves, but Fruit in his Season; therefore I say, lest it should be so, we'l give over talking of Trees, and betake our selves to discourse of men, so leading you forth from a silent Grove, into a Vocall Forest; and that with some particular regard to the sacred business of this dayes Solemnity; and only as we goe, give observance to the simile, so far as may be applicable thereunto.

And how far that is, will soon appear in these following Propositions, which doe naturally grow here upon David's Plantation: In speaking whereof, we'l omit the Bark and Bulk of the Letter, and move after the Sap and Juyce of the Spirit, accor­ding as we shall hear (as David did) any sound of Gods going in the Tops of the Trees. 2 Sam. 5. 24. 2 Sam. 5. [...]4.

First, the Proposition is, That a Right Plantation is a Prop. 1. good Preparative for a fixt and stedfast Confirmation, in Spirituall matters. As here this Tree of ours was not at first planted a Tree; but a young slip, or a little Graff: yet if a Graff be well set, by Rivers of Waters, it may in time grow up to be a Tree, arrive to a well-rooted and Confirm'd steadiness in God's Paradise; therefore, if we observe, it is not, He is like a tree; but, being once well planted, He shall be like a tree, &c. that's the first.

Secondly, As a right Planting is a good Preparative Prop. 2. to a Confirm'd Standing; so this Confirmed standing is pre-requir'd unto, and must needs be attended with a Spiritual Fruit-bearing. A good Graff is like to make a good Tree, and a good Tree must bring forth good Fruit: If a Tree be planted by Rivers of Waters, 'tis not enough, that the Root still lyes sucking and Bibbing below, while the Lazy Bulk stands Idle above, and [Page 6] yields nothing, but becomes a meer Burthen to the Earth that bears it. No; a Tree set to such advan­tage, planted by the Rivers, 'tis expected it should be a Fruit-bearing tree. He shall be like a tree that brings forth his fruit. That's the second.

Thirdly, Christian Fruitfulness should alwaies be Prop. 3. duely manifested in it's proper Seasonableness. Every tree, for the putting forth the fruit thereof, has it's pe­culiar Season. The Graff indeed must grow, but 'tis the Tree that must yield fruit; and that, not before, but In it's own Season. He shall be like a tree that brings forth his fruit in his Season. That's the third.

Fourthly, Spiritual Firmness, Fruitfulness, Seaso­nableness, Prop. 4. all should be attended with an Undecaying Comeliness. This Tree should as well be beautifi'd with Leaves, as Burthened with fruit; as it is his own Fruit, so also is it, His own Leaf, and that a never-withering one. His leaf also shall not Wither. That's the fourth.

Or else thus; we may take the words as they lye before us in the Text; where First, we have a Right Im­planting; and, sure, most of us have had That. He shall be planted, &c. Secondly, A well establish'd Confirm­ing; and many, I suppose, come now to receive that, He shall be like a tree planted. Thirdly, A sea­sonable Fructifying; and of some it's high time now we should Expect it, That brings forth his fruit in his Season. Lastly, here are the Persevering Beau­ties, and ornaments of Holy living, shaded over with the leaves of this Tree. For as all things must be Fruitful; so every thing is, or should be, Beautifull in Eccl. 3. 11. it's Season. Inward holiness must be attended with outward Comeliness: His leaf also shall not wither.

[Page 7] From the first General, our Implanting, we shall consider: First, the Supernaturalness of the thing. Secondly, the Earliness of the time. Thirdly, the Ad­vantage of the place; Planted by Rivers of Waters.

From the second General, our Confirming, we shall reflect upon, first, the Antiquity; secondly, the Solem­nity; thirdly, the great usefulness, and expediency thereof; Bowing the Tree, here, still to the business in hand, and that, I hope, without much violence; He shall be like a tree planted, &c.

From the third General, our Spiritual Fructifying, we shall take notice, first, of the Proportion; secondly, of the Propriety; thirdly, of the Tempestivity thereof. After all these plantings, and waterings, somewhat it must yield, worthy the name of Fruit, and this his own fruit, and that in his own Season.

Lastly, we should exhort all to those never-withering ornaments, and unfading Flourishings, of a holy Chri­stian Conversation, and so conclude.

We begin with the First, our Implanting; and there first, consider the Supernaturalness of the thing.

'Twas the practice of Rufus, an old Philosopher, al­waies Arrian. Epict. to begin with some Apotrepticall discourses to his Scholars, still disswading them from Philosophy, using that as a [...] of the [...] and the [...], the Ingenuous, and dis-ingenious, amongst them: The same method must we use, even with our best-natur'd Dis­ciples, though we need not much Dehort them from Philosophy; yet from vanity, and folly, anger and pride, &c. from all those sins, which have gotten the early possession of their Souls, we must dehort them. For, as it was with Christ, at his coming in the Flesh; The Inne was full of other Company: so is it still [Page 8] with his coming in the Spirit; he finds the Soul full of Ignorance, full of averseness and perversness; yea so full of all manner of wickedness, that untill he makes it himself, There is no Room for him in the Inne. Luc 2. 7.

And this has so universall a vote in Antiquity, that concerning the Preparatives for the first Reception of grace, Aquinas himself resolves it; Nemo potest per Aquin. 1 a. 2 ae Iu. 109. a. 6. Seipsum praeparari, &c. No one, without the help of grace, can of himself prepare himself to receive grace.

Grace is a plant, that grows not on every ground; and where it does grow, it grows not of it self; but must be Engraffed, and that by the Hand, the Right Hand, of God Almighty. The Vineyard, which thy own Right hand hath planted, Psal. 80. 15. So that, planted Psal. 80. 15. it must be; and this also, by the High hand of Heaven; else the Richest Soyl in nature will never yield it. Na­ture is productive of the man; but somewhat else above nature must give the Fiat to the Christian. Therefore, in the office of Baptism, our Church ex­horts us to pray, that God would grant to these Children that thing which by nature they cannot have. For, after nature's planting, we must be transplanted into some Fresh Mould of Grace; else we can never prosper to any perfection.

And so we have it, in Isa. 5. 1, 2. Though it be a choice vine, and a choice plot of ground, A vineyard in a Isa. 5. 1. very fruitfull hill; yet the vine grows not of it self upon it. No, but first God must Fence it, and pick it, and plant it too; then (and not till then) he expects to receive some good Grapes from it, Verse 2.

Grace, indeed, may be engraffed upon the stock of Pa­rentage, Advanc'd by Education, and good examples; but it grows not naturally upon any the Best stumps in nature.

[Page 9] For the Kernel of the best fruit, if from a Crab-stock, some say, brings forth nothing but a Crab-tree, because the best stocks have still somewhat of a Natural Crab­bishness within them; and so it is with the best of men. 'Tis true, we read (in the worlds beginning) of the Earth bringing forth Trees, and Trees bringing forth fruit after their kind, before the Sun and Moon were in Being, and so, without the Ayd of any of those Pro­lifick Influences of Heaven: But yet, we find an Al­mighty Dixit went before that fructifying, even that Word of God, which was far more warming, and more working, than ten thousand Suns, or Moons. And God said, Let the earth bring forth Grass, and fruit Trees, &c. Gen. 1. 1 [...].

To this purpose it is, that the Church (i. e. every Gracious Soul) is resembled to an Orchard, a Garden, an enclosed Garden: 'tis not the Lord's wast-ground, Can. 4. 12, 13. or a large Common, where Nature wildly sprouts up at her own pleasure. No; though the Grass, Herbs and Trees of themselves grow out of the ground; yet when Moses speaks of Paradise, a Type of the Church, he comes with another distinct expres­sion, and sayes, The Lord God Planted a Garden East­ward, Gen. 2. 8. &c. which Garden, as beforesaid, was a peculiar Figure of the Church of Christ.

And as it is with the fruits of the Earth, some she Nurses her self at home, as those which come of Ker­nells, and such are good for nothing but stocks: and stocks, if not Engraffed, are fit for little else, but the Flames. Others again she Nurses not her self Imme­diately, but puts them forth to Nurse, as Graffs, and the like; and yet the fruit, that comes of a Graff, is far more pleasant than that which comes of a Kernel, Sir Fr. Bacon's Nat. Hist. for all natures care in Nursing it her self; because, as [Page 10] that Learned man observes, the nourishment, which feeds the Graff, receives some little chewing, and pre­paring from the stock; whereas the other comes al­together Crudely from the cold Earth, and so must needs render the fruit more Raw, harsh, and unkind, than the former.

So is it with all mankind, those [...] some Nature undertakes to Nurse her self, as Heathens, &c. who know no other nourishment, but what flowes im­mediately from those Fontinels of Nature : Others again are set forth and sent abroad to Nurse; such as are Engraffed into other stocks, and live at some di­stance from the Bosom of their own Mother.

Such are all true Christians, whose Souls are as weaned Children, whose nourishment comes not from Raw Earth, but from the Stock of the Cross, from Scriptures, Sacraments, Faith in Christs blood, and such other heavenly conveyances, which God has ap­pointed to purify, and prepare our feeding for us.

And therefore, whereas the Former are like the Prophets Naughty figs, so bad, they cannot be Eaten: Jer. 24 2. these Later are like the fruit of the Vine, which Glads the heart of God and man, and has this one distinct pro­perty, the Earlier it is taken, the more Tastfull, and Pleasant it is. Which brings us to the second thing proposed (i. e.) the earliness of the Time, which now comes to be spoken of.

Secondly; He shall be planted (i. e.) tender and young, before it be too deeply Rooted in that other Soile, wherein it grows by nature. For Christianity is not a mere Implanting; but a kind of Transplanting, whereby the Soul is taken out of Natures Nursery, and Removed into the Orchard, and Paradise of Grace. [Page 11] Now we know [...], is past into a Pro­verb for its perilousness. There's no stirring of an Old Tree, if you do (as you shall have much adoe) after all, the stubborn sullen old Trunk dyes in the removal. Isa. 60. 21.

Thus we find the Church is styled of God, not the full grown Tree, but the Branch of my Planting; and to let us know, what kind of Branch it is, and how it comes to Thrive so well, there he tells us in the 22 v. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation, &c.

These thousands, and Ten thousands, this strong and mighty Nation of Christians, all (sure we are most of all) arose from these small ones, these little ones, these little little ones, or the least of small ones, as the doub­ling of the words may, & their force in Hebr. do's imply.

These are they, who in great multitudes, Follow the Rev. 14. 4. Lamb, wherever he goes. These have Fill'd up the Com­panies of Saints; These have Recruited, and Com­pleated the Armies of Martyrs; ever since the first footing of Christianity, most of the Churches Addi­tions have been made up of These Little ones, whereas your Great ones, those that choose the time of full-grown Christians for their implanting have never since the time aforesaid, come in any such considerable numbers : nor are they ever likely to doe so.

For, if we look upon the present Face of that way, (though, 'tis confess'd, much wash'd of late, smooth'd over, and made Fineish, in comparison of those ugly Outlandish looks, which at first it began withall:) how­ever they may seem to have got the start of others, in some flashes of Zeal and Knowledge, with some little shewes of Outward Holiness; yet it may be feared, that Ambition and Self-Love, Perversness and Disobedi­ence, [Page 12] Fierceness and Scornfulness, Implacableness and Unpeaceableness, yea Robbing and Murdering of men, (rather than fail) to make Sacrifice and Burnt-Offe­rings for God. I say all these, and more such as these, if lay'd in the other Ballance, I doubt, will weigh down all those Light flashes and Insubstantial shewes of a wel­personated Piety, which seem to Stuffe and Fill up the other Scale. But, if any still be otherwise minded, God, I hope, will in his time, reveal this unto them.

To our business, a business of Religion, though sometimes necessarily folded up in these Garden-fi­gures, wherein whatever Improprieties have been, or may be met withall, I beg your pardon, as being a pro­fess'd stranger to those kind of studies.

For the Earliness of our Admission, (the subject now in hand) let us consider, our being Christians, is not only a Planting or Transplanting, both which be­speak the young, and yielding Tenderness of the thing so planted, or transplanted; but it also supposes a sa­cred kind of Engraffing: as our Church teaches us to say of Baptized Children, They are Graffed into the body of Christ's Congregation. Which Engraffing may be signified by the Hebr. [...] here in the Text, as well as Implanting: yea, if that Rule be true, that your choicest Fruit-trees are still Engraffed, the Psal­mist here speaking of a Fruit-bearing tree, and that of the best sort, it must needs presuppose this Engraffing, and be thus resolved, viz. That this blessed big-grown Tree, in the Text here before us, was at first but a little tender Twig, graffed into such a Stock as was Planted by the Rivers of Waters, &c. And if so, then it must be a little one indeed; for, I think, men don't usually Engraffe▪ your Thick truncheon-Trees, or your Tall [Page 13] full-grown Branches, but your lesser younger Springs of a span-long; according to that other Rule, which I am told of, that the least Twig that grow's on the Trees top, and looks Easterly, and first sees the Mor­ning-Sun; such a one, qualified with all these com­binations of Early circumstances, is absolutely the best for that purpose: all which does secretly insinuate the Earliness of our Spiritual Engraffing.

And as this Early-Engraffing was here thus pre­figur'd by our Prophet: so was it uninterruptedly practised down along all the Primitive times. For this, even that of Tertullian, Quid festinat innocens aetas, &c. His nice questioning, why it should be so, contains a so­lid Proof, that indeed it was so.

I will say no more of the Earliness of the time: but, whereas the Lord hath spoken by the mouth of his ser­vant David,—Those that be planted in the house of Psal. 92. 13. the Lord shall flourish in &c. Let us only turn that Pro­mise into a Prayer, and beg of God that those who have been thus planted in Gods House, may not here­after unroot, and dance after the Pipe of any Orpheus whatever, but still flourish in the Courts of that same House where at first they were planted: Which brings me to the third thing proposed, The Advantage of the place, in these words, —By the Rivers of Waters,—He shall be like a Tree &c.

3. As for the Hebrew here [...] whether it be best rendred by Divisiones, as some: Decursus, as o­thers: or Rivos Aquarum, Rivers of Waters, as ours translate it, we shall not Dive too Daringly, nor be Curious in the Enquiry, but content our selves to be like the Tree we speak of, Secus non Intus, stand by the Banks, not Plunge into the Bottome of these Wa­ters. [Page 14] If Scriptures and Sacraments, with the unwea­ried workings and strivings of Gods blessed Spirit, if the former and later Rain of his preventing and assisting Graces, together with the continual droppings of all his Ordinances: I say, if all these may pass for Rivers of Waters, (as the Word of God does frequently so call them) surely then our standing is so advantageous, and comfortable, that blessed be God, we have not wanted any of those Waters. However we have been to God, he has not been a Wilderness to us, Rivers of such wa­ters Running through every street.

Theophrastus cites it for an old saying, [...], [...]ib. 8. de Plant. 'tis the Season, not the Soyle; the Heavens, not the Earth that produces plenty, and abundance: as it is in the 65 Psal. v. 9, 10. Thou enrichest the earth, Thou providest for it, Thou waterest the Rigdes, Thou softenest and settlest the Furrows; yet for all that, if the heavens Plow and do all for us, 'tis not without the Earth's Heifer; using, and blessing the means; and a great matter it is, when that Heifer is Tractable, and Towardly; I mean, when the Earth is kind, and good-natured.

I will hear the Heaven, the Heaven shall hear the Earth, [...]os. 2. 21. &c. but then as the Heavens have an Eare to hear, so the Earth must have a Tongue to speak; which if like Davids, It cleaves to the Roof of the mouth and be Parch'd and Dry'd up for want of Moisture, so that the Lord doe's not Water it from his Chambers above, nor yet from his Cellars below; sure the Mower will nere fill his hand with That Harvest, nor he that bindes up the sheaves his bosome.

To prevent which droughts and Barrennesses in spi­ritual concerns, the God of heaven is never wanting, the [Page 15] Bottles of Heaven are never Empty, Scriptures and Prayers, Sermons and Sacraments, an holy Discipline and decent Ceremonies, Every lock of Christ is full of Can. 5. 1. dew-drops, had we but the Hand of Faith, and due de­votion, to Squeez and wring them.

When Solomon had made him Gardens and Orchards, Eccles. 2. 5. at the very next Verse, saith he, I made me Pools of Water, &c. In like manner our Saviour Christ, in the 5 ^th of Canticles, when he had styl'd the Church, An inclosed Garden; and an Orchard of Pomegranats, at the 12 and 13 Verses: presently at the 15 Verse, He calls himself, A Fountain of Gardens, A well of Living Wa­ters; to intimate unto us, how that the One cannot be without the Other; and that his [...].— Pindar. the Excellency and absolute necessity of VVater holds good, not only in Earthly but Heavenly plan­tations.

But some kind of Biting there is by a Mad beast, [...]. that presently causes the Bitten party to be a [...], he dares not come nigh any water: And if any amongst us are yet affraid to come near the Publick Ordinan­ces, our Sermons and Prayers, those wholsome stre [...]ms of Gods Church—Alas poor souls! they have been Bitten and Breathed upon (it's doubt) by some Ve­nom-mouth'd creature, or other: hence it is, they are affraid where no fear is, but where the only fear is, there alone they are confident.

What saith the Prophet? —Ho, every one that Isa. 55. 1. thirsts, Come ye to the waters—Blessed be God, that we may come, and having hitherto Escaped those Bi­tings,—Blessed be God, that we dare come. What with a wholsom Catechism, to Water the Roots be­neath, [Page 16] (and cherish the Foundations) what with whole showres of Sermons, still dropping upon the Branches above, we have had our share in these waters, and been like that Vineyard, of which God sayes, I will water it [...]a. 27. 3. every moment. For, in the 68 Psal. v. 9. what is there spoken of the Lords own Inheritance, may be said of us, —Thou, O God, didst send a plentifull Rain—Thou didst confirm thine Inheritance when it was weary: so that besides this Plentiful Rain, there must follow a Confirming, which brings us to the second General, —He shall be like a tree.

'Tis said of that half-light, and half-dark man in the Gospel, that in the first Peep-a-day, and dawning of his Eye-sight, he lookt up, and beheld men as Trees. [...]ar. 8. 23. And blessed were the Eyes of a Blindish generation, whose eyes are yet but half-shut, and half-way open, if our beginnings to see might be hansel'd with such steady Objects, that with him we could behold men as Trees (not for their Stiffeness and unyeilding sturdiness (too much of that, but) perfectly Fixed as to the Concerns of Publique peace, firmly settled in the sense of duty, and obedience to Superiours, Rooted, and Grounded in all charity, and love unfeigned, one towards another. This were a Good Tree indeed; but though every Reverst tree is like a man; yet every Perverse man is not like this Tree; for (the more's the pity) such Trees as this have not of late grown so kindly upon our En­glish ground, in which whole Forests of Natives, have only had this sad resemblance of a Tree, that the Heels and Arms have Triumph'd above, while the poor Head lay grovelling below.

The business whereupon we now are is, that after all these Movings, and Removings, we may at last [Page 17] become well-grounded, and Confirmed Christians. For our furtherance wherein, that the Good Lord might not be wanting by any means to Perfect that which con­cerns us, and our Salvation, and as (we hope) he has begun a good work in us, so to Establish the same unto the Comming of the Lord Jesus. Behold here this holy Apostolical Rite of Confirmation, (after a long and sad Interruption (most justly due to our sins) now at last Restor'd into its Ancient Channel, through which it had run down from the first and best times (till of late) by an unbroken succession for many generations. For as Aquinas sayes, Epistola quae a Notario scribitur, a Do­mino Signatur. A Clerk may Write; but the Master himself must Seal the Letter. VVe are the Lord's Epi­stle, however at first Written by the office of Presby­tery; yet 'tis the Bishops own hand, that renders us Complete and Authentick Christians, which is no other­wise then what S. Cyprian long before had said, speak­ing of being confirmed —A praepositis, Ecclesiae S. Cyprian Ep. 73. Dom. signacula consummantur.

It is one of the admired Excellencies of Christs Go­vernment, that —Those that dwell in the Wilderness Psal. 7 [...]. 9. shall bow before him. Though the Wilderness to some may seem a Paradise; yet the most, I suppose, will say, that for this 20 Years long we have dwelt in a Wilderness, where we have not lived as Men, by, but as Wild-beasts upon one another. For such to come and bow before him, and be obedient to that Government, he has set over us, —This would be the Lords doing, and Marvailous in our Eyes.

And however, when Gods Eye is good, the Eyes of some will be Evill: Yet I tell you of a truth, Many good Souls (and O that my Soul were where they are!) [Page 18] many good Souls, I say, have desired to see one of these daies, and have not seen them; which I speak the rather, that none should despise the day of small things.

For the Solemnity whereof, (though I have not met with any, that write exactly of it) yet you may take a guess of it, by this description, viz. That it is an Ancient rite of the Church, whereby Baptized Persons of good Life, sound Faith, and competent Knowledge, when come to Years of discretion, are brought unto the Bishop, before whom or others▪ deputed by him, after some satisfactory Discoveries of their knowledge, life, and belief, they make a Solemn and credible pro­fession of their Faith; acknowledge, and renew their Baptismal Vow; take upon themselves (through Gods help) the performance of the same; and so, by prayer and Imposition of hands, Spiritual strength is implored, and the said persons so admitted unto a Fuller Capa­city of the Lords Supper, and whatever priviledges be­long to full-grown Christians: For as * that Learned man affirms —Sub his tantum auspiciis, ad mensam Do­mini Dr. Hammond aspiramus—This alone gives us a right Conduct, and the most safe admission, to the Lord's Table.

In speaking whereof, I promised to say somewhat of these three things: its Antiquity, its Sacred Solem­nity, and its great Usefulness and Expediency: which must be done very briefly.

First its Antiquity; for that, we may say of it, as Saint Paul of Timothy,—Let none despise thy youth—we meet with it often in the Acts of the Apostles,—Confirming the Souls of the Disciples, &c. Phi­lip [...]ct. 14. 22. &c▪ [...]ct. 8. 15, 17. Baptizes, and the Apostles came after and Con­firm'd. And in that 6th Chap. to the Hebr. ver. 1, 2. there treating of the principles of Christ's doctrine, a­mongst [Page 19] the rest, presently after Baptism, we find men­tion of the laying on of hands: whereby it is not to be doubted but this Solemnity was signified; as Anselme upon this place —Laying on of hands, that is, saith he —Episcoporum in Confirmatione Neophytorum. Ansel. in Ep. [...] Hebr.

S. Cyprian his testimony you have heard already; hear him also who was before him, and whom he calls his Master, Tertullian, as he is worthily styl'd—That great Depositary of Church-Antiquities. Caro manus Tertullian. Lib. de Resur. impositione adumbratur, ut anima Spiritu Illuminetur: Imposition of hands, saith he, shades the Body, that the Descent of the Spirit may Enlighten the Soul.

Which Solemnity (as is judged) was also received by our Saviour himself; the Divine feet of the holy Dove descending, and standing on his head, being in Lieu of the Laying▪ on of John Baptists hands, or what other Creature he might have advanc'd to that honour.

Secondly, It's Sacredness, and Solemnity. Confir­mation, in the Primitive style is known by the name of [...] and [...], the complete Consumma­tion of a Christian. Indeed for the esse of a Christian (as Schoolmen speak) we were Compleat by Baptism; but for the Bene esse, the Bettering of that being, it was ever thought that Confirmation was very requisite. In reference whereunto it had the name of [...], that which made, and Perfected other Christian my­steries.

In short, so Sacred, and Solemn a Rite, this was ever held, that, so far as I can find, the Christian was not ac­counted perfectly Consummated without it, if he might have it—But most desperate was the condition of all despisers.

[Page 20] Thirdly, for the great Expediency hereof, First if any Christian should have received a vain, or improper name, at the Font, I think the Bishop has power to take Cognizance thereof, and, as he sees good to change it into one that is fitter, and of a more Christian signi­ficancy.

Besides this, hereby triall is made, how Children, and the younger sort, have improv'd their time, and what progress they have made in knowledge and pra­ctise of that doctrine, which is according to godliness. And therein also we take a view of the Care of the Na­tural, and the Conscience of the Spiritual Parents, in the discharge of their duties: And in many other re­spects, (if duly perform'd and receiv'd) it cannot sud­dainly be said, of what advantage it would be to the truth and power of Religion.

In particular, how would it stop the mouths of Ana­baptists, that fatal affliction of these Western Chur­ches? Insomuch as that Great Ornament of the En­glish Church affirms, —Ad perenne Christi obsequium, [...]r. Hammond. &c. Nothing in the world, if well perform'd, does more strictly, and strongly Oblige a Soul to the perpe­tual Service of Christ Jesus; but if miserably negle­cted, or slightingly receiv'd, —Hinc magna, & perni­tiosa pietatis dispendia, &c. Hence, saith He, arise those great, and undoing Decayes in Christian Religion; which have so far provoked Gods judgments upon us, that no wonder it is to have such turnings, and Over-tur­nings, amongst us, when Confirmation it self could not stand.

I should now in method proceed to the third gene­rall Branch of this Tree, i. e. the Fruitfulness thereof, and therein consider it's Proportion, Propriety, and Tempestivity.

[Page 21] But what might grow upon this Branch, the small allowance of time remaining, has made it a kind of a Forbidden Fruit; yet so, that whereas Adam and Eve Tasted, and the Eyes of them both were opened, Gen. 3. 7. If you that have Freely Eaten of the Former, should but Tast what grow's upon this Branch, your Eyes might be shut and your Eares closed. For as through an un­avoidable longsomness (in reference to my self) —The Daughters of musique would be brought low, so I doubt, Those that look out at your windows would be darkned, and the Doors shut in the streets.

Therefore our Subject being a Fruit-bearing Tree, lest the Immoderate Droppings thereof (by a too tedious discourse) should of Fruitfulness cause Barren­ness (as they say it will) I shall here take leave of my former Road, and make a short Turn toward you in a few words of Application; wherein, amongst other things, I may speak somewhat of Fruitfulness in gene­rall, and so conclude.

Some we read have been perswaded to become Beasts: that's nothing; any Circean Sensuality can do that; yea many Souls can with too much easiness, perswade themselves into such a Brutish Transfor­mation. God forbid, I should attempt any such Me­tamorphosis, as to Sollicite men to turn Bruits; yet pray pardon me, if I perswade men to turn Trees, such Blessed ones, as this Text yeilds, Trees of Gods own planting.

In particular, I beseech you all, emulate Trees in these four properties—their Straightness, Firmness, Unitedness, and Fruitfulness.

First Straightness, God never Plants but he Guards and Fences his young Plant from forein violence. For [Page 22] that, we may observe here our Tree is planted by the Water-side; not by the way-side; for then it would be apt to be wrencht and writhed by every Passenger; And such is the Condition of our ordinary Hedge, and High-way Christians, that cannot endure any Retire­ment to the Rivers, to —Sit down and weep there (as they did) but presently cast themselves into any Com­pany, [...]sal 137. mixt with any multitude, and so carelesly expose themselves to the violent wrestings, and distortings of every temptation; whereby they lose their straightness, and come for ever to be Crooked Souls.

The which quality, as it has a natural, but much more a Spiritual deformity: so on the contrary, the Straightness we now speak of, is so Graceful and Beco­ming to a Christian, that Christ himself is willing to be compared to an Arrow—He hath made me a polished shaft—A shaft, for his Smoothness, as well as Swiftness, [...]sa. 49. 2. and (as there it is) for his Politeness, no less than his Piercingness; Not only as swift, but as straight as an Arrow.

And as was the second, so was also the first Adam, at his first making. Though the Rows of Eden, stood all upright, and even, Not one Bow-backt plant in all Gods Orchard: yet at first, Adam himself was the Straightest Tree in all Paradise, His Soul, and body both pointed directly toward heaven, according to that of Solomon,—God made man upright, but they have Eceles. 7. [...]9. sought out many Inventions.

Him that Overcomes, will I make a Pillar in the Rev. 3. 12. Temple of my God. We know Pillars are upright and proper for Houses, as there the Temple is God▪s house; though any Bowed, or Crooked Timber may happily serve in a Ship or Sea-vessel, which will not [Page 23] serve at all in the Supporting of a house; and those Rumpled pieces, which will not be usefull for Pil­lars (for those must be straight) may yet be put into Plow-timber, and such low kind of Implements: In like manner, we doubt not, but God knows how to make use of the Warping Infirmities of his Saints, and the Down-right Deformities of Sinners; Those Crooked pieces may serve in an Arch, or Vault, which will not doe well in an Upright building; yea the most Crooked Logs that are, will be useful to Burn, and bad Timber (they say) may yet make good Fewell.

Though some have wish'd to be no higher than Door-keepers, and well if some others were so high as Door-sills, in God's House: yet for all that, every Christian should Reach at Christ's promise, and strive to be a Pillar in the House of God; whose straight Top, as it Exactly Poynts upward from Earth to Heaven, so should our Eyes and Hearts be ever toward the Lord, from whom cometh our Salvation.

'Tis observ'd by the Philosopher-de animalibus, that whereas all Beasts in the closing of their eyes begin with the letting down of the upper eye-lid, and so first lose the sight of heaven, and all objects above; But on the contrary, Birds begin first to draw up the lower-lid; and so by degrees grow dark to the Earth, while the Up­per part of the Eye has still some little Glimpses of Heaven.

For our parts, let us be rather like the Birds of Heaven, than the Beasts of Earth, those beasts that perish. Let us begin to Draw up the nether-lid, pro­vided the upper part of the Souls Eye be still uncover'd, and Fixt above; no matter though we grow dimme, and darke unto all these dirty concernments here below.

[Page 24] Straight is the gate, (saith Christ) and narrow is the way, that leadeth unto life: You may walk at large in Iat. 7. 13. a Wide way, and a broad Gate will admit▪ of broad shoul­ders. But we must strive to enter in at the strait Gate, where none can enter but straight Souls, nor they nei­ther without striving.

The Hill of God is an High hill.—No Coming thi­ther without Climing, only here is the difference, Men too oft make use of Crooked wayes, and wind­ing Circles, as to Climb Hills, so by degrees to Clam­ber up to Riches and Honours, those Mountains of this world, whereas none but the upright Walker comes, none but the straight Walk brings directly, to Gods Holy Mountain. Let's all Labour to be Straight and Upright Christians; that's the First.

2. For the Second. Having dispatch'd the Straight­ness, I have therein Impli'd also the Strongness of this Tree, which was the second Commendable property proposed unto you. For as it is in nature, the upright posture is the strongest posture: And so in Art, which imitates nature, your straightest Tower stands the su­rest; whereas on the other side —Bowing and Totter­ing go both together, Psal. 62. 3. God has joynd them, who can sever them? And this we often see in your leaning buildings; their own weight Confederates with the wind to their Down-fall.

The same rule also, viz. that the uprightest is the surest posture, holds good in Divinity.

He that walketh uprightly, walketh surely: and so in Philosophy—Linea Recta est Firmissima; your Prov. 10 9. Firmest bodies are made up of Direct lines: insomuch that you would wonder what a load (they say) will lye upon a straight Needle: whereas the least warping, or [Page 25] bending, presently betrays it to the mercy of its bur­then.

To this purpose it is, when the Prophet would set forth the Firm footing of God's servants, in this or in the other life: He thus expresseth it, —We are Risen, Psal. 20. 8. and stand upright—whereas the wicked, whose Souls grow Crooked by their Carnal pursuits and reliances, set forth in those words —Some put their trust in Cha­riots, Vers. 7. &c. (such trusts bring as it were the leaning and bowing of this Spiritual building) what follow's but this —There are they brought down and fallen. For further illustration of this, we need not stir beyond the Root of this Tree here before, us concerning which it is said, that in a strong Tree the Root must look directly down­ward: for if there be any Crooked up-turnings consi­derable, the Tree will prove weak and improsperous: The like we may say of many amongst our selves, whereas we have (perhaps) a little loftily turned up­ward, in some new toyes and Notions, had we grown downward, directly downward, in all lowliness and humble mindedness, sure we should not have had so many ill-grounded and slight -Rooted Christians, as it is at this day amongst us.—Let's all labour to be Luke 13. 6. strong Christians; that's the second.

Third Property is an united Compactedness. In a Vineyard where all should be Vines, what makes the Fig-tree there?—No wonder 'tis a barren one: consi­der, Luc. 13. 6. saith Christ, the Fowles of the Ayre—and the Lillies Mat. 6. 26, &c▪ of the Field, &c. As Christ send's us to Birds, and flowers, to learn an holy Carelesness: so he may send us to Stocks, and Trees, to take out a Lesson of Union, and Compactedness.

As in the Tree, there's the same ground, the same [Page 26] root, the same stock, the same Sap, Body, Bark and all: so for us Christians, do we not grow upon the same Ground of Faith? Are we not Rooted in the same Bro­therly Love and Charity? Graffed into the same stock of Christianity, nourisht with the same Sap of Scrip­tures, and Sacraments? One body of wholsome Do­ctrines, that contains all the necessary juice of a Chri­stian Soul? One Bark of a Religious worship, and Ser­vice, through which the said juice is conveid, to the supply and nourishment of every the meanest member?

For as it is said in the Art of Engraffing, you must not Ruffle, nor raise the Bark, but the young Graff must be perfectly joined to the Old stock: So the prudence of our Superiors (in order to this perfect Juncture, and Closure with the Church,) hath thought fit, that even in these Externalls of Gods worship, there should be an uniforme and compleat accordance amongst us. For, if but the Bark be once Raised, the Tree will hard­ly ever Thrive and prosper. Therefore God grant we may all be United and Compacted Christians. That's the third.

Fourth, Is Fruitfulness. —Who plant's Vine­yard [...] Cor. 9. 7. and does not eat of the fruit thereof? The Church has been at so great pains in Planting, I have been at some small pains in Watering, You I am sure have been at much Patience in attending; Fit it is we should now Tast, what Fruit may grow, upon this our new planta­tion. —Come my Beloved—Lets get up Early to Can. 7. 11, 12. the Vineyards—See if the Vine flourish, &c.

Trees if they be not good for Fruit, they may be for Timber; if not for Timber, they may serve for shade, and some are good for nothing else but shade, and yet even those (as I told you) may be as good as any [Page 27] for the Fire; so that the worst, you see, are good for something; though, better it were, that such who are only good in that way, were nothing.

How many of us have been set it a Rich Soile, and yet have hitherto afforded little else but a Fruitless shade, and so only Cumbred the very ground that bears us?

What saies S. Bernard—Securis & ignis debetur, &c. S. Bernard. nothing but the Axe and the Fire is that sad Debentur due to such unfruitful Trees. In that parable God was coming and going Three yeares seeking Fruit of that Luke 13. 7. Fig-tree, and found none. He comes in our Child-hood, there's nothing but Folly: he comes in our youth, there's nothing but vanity: he comes in our man-hood (that's his —Tertio jam venit) and there's little else but Greg. in loc. Villany: what has he found by these three years com­ing, Hos. 6. 7. but that now at last, we can Transgress like Men?

Or however otherwise we Reckon those three years, Certain it is that to some amongst us, he has come year after year now for these many three years, and has not found so much as leaves upon us. Now since it cannot be said for us, as it was said for that Tree, The Mar. 11. 13. time of Figs was not yet, What can we expect but the doom of that unhappy Tree, that at Christs coming was Laden with nothing but Leaves—Let no fruit Mat. 21. 19. grow on thee henceforward for ever.

For as the Thirst of a love-sick Soul must be stayd with Full Flagons, not empty pots, so the hunger of a love-sick Saviour must be Refresht with Apples, not deluded with Leaves. Stay me with Flagons, comfort Can. 2. 5. me with Apples.

Besides we observe, Christs travail had got him an early appetite, —He was hungry betimes in the Mor­ning Mat. 21. 18. when he came for food to that False, Deceitfull [Page 28] Tree: suppose we, he had come to many of us in the morning of our dayes; Alas! How sorrily had we treat­ed him? unless he could make a meal of a few Green leaves, our childhood and youth has nothing else to en­tertain him. If he please to come, and take a short Sup­per with us, when we are old, and have little else to do, perhaps we may think of Receiving him, at least so far as a Lord have mercy, or a few good words and 1 Sam. 2. 10. wishes will go, then if —Deus judicabit extrema terrae, Aug Civ. Dei, [...]. 7. c. 4. be onely —Extrema hominis, (as St. Augustine would have it) we may do well: But to come and take us in the morning of our age, and think as it were to find a Breakfast, and satisfie those his early hungerings upon us, alas! we should utterly disappoint him; unless, like Iohn Baptist, he can feed upon Locusts, and that Wild honey, which onely grows upon those our greener years.

Although we are not of their mind that say Confir­mation necessarily carry's an Indeleble character along with it; yet sure now it is high time by some mark or other to be known whose servants we are, and to whom we belong. If any Baal whatever be our God, then serve him, saith the Prophet; but if the Lord be our God, let him alone have our service.

For as the Tree is known (not by its Leaves nor its Blossoms, but) by its Fruit, of what sort soever it is: so the true Christian is not discernible onely by pious professions, fair shews, or the like, (these are mere leaves and blossoms) but by a life full of Obedience, Hu­mility, Charity, and Purity, &c. These are those Distinguishing Fruits; not such as onely drop from the lips, but grow upon the hands of a Christian.

Therfore when I read of that Tree in Ludolphus, whose leaves resembled a man's hand, it presently minded me [Page 29] of a Christian indeed, all whose words, promises and pro­fessions (which are in themselves but light and leafy-things) should be constantly referr'd to holy practises.

Leaves like the tongue of a Man, we see enough upon any tree: but every leaf of this tree must be like the hand of a Man, and not so only, but the Hand of a Christian.

We have been all, I presume, Baptiz'd into Christ, Conclusion and what he said to Saint Peter about His washing,—What I doe, thou knowest not now, but shalt know here­after: the same may be sayd concerning Ours, though John 13. 7. we knew not then, what was done, yet now I hope we do know; and yet, as if that Baptismal vow had been only wrote upon the Baptismal water, too many make a sad shift easily to forget themselves, and their Saviour.

You have now been Christs Probationers a long time, and have had many years of tryall: If you cannot away with this, or have found out some better service; say so, and be gone to it. If not, then let your Renounce­ment in Baptism be this day renewed, bid a conside­rate and fresh Defiance to the Devil, &c. and take up­on you the yoke of Christ Jesus.

When you were Infants, others took it for you: now you come to take it from off their Necks, and put it on your own, and to say to your God-fathers and God-mothers, as they did to the Woman of Samaria—Now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have John 4. 42. heard him our selves.

This day thou doest avouch the Lord to be thy God, Deut. 26. 17. &c. and to let the world know thou doest not repent of that Blessed bargain made for thee in thy minority: behold thou art here ready by Gods help to make good those undertakements of others. As said the blind mans parents, so say yours —He is of age, ask him, let him John 9. 21. now speak for himself.

[Page 30] Only be well advised what you speak, or have spoken: for as the Psalmist saith of his Tongue —It is as the pen of a writer—so should yours be —Nil agat incompositum, tanquam amus scri­tis, &c. ar. in loc. &c. Do nothing, speak nothing but with great delibe­ration and composedness, as the same Father hath it. You are now upon building a Towre, whose Top will reach heaven: sit down first, and consider what it will [...]ke 14. 28. cost you to be a Christian, and that you'l have by and by.

Those that are to be numbred, must be from twenty years [...]m. 1. 3. old and upward; provided, they are able to goe forth to war in Israel-whereupon Origen observes, All Women, Children, slaves, old Men; that is, all womanish, Chil­dish, Slavish & decrepit Souls—such as were below the heathen Agones, they are —Divinis Calculis prorsus in­digni-unworthy [...]e [...]. super [...]m. to be Reckon'd up by Gods Counters. So that such as those, like Gideon's Supernumeraries, may be spared, and sent every man to his own place. [...]dg▪ 7. 7.

For our business here this day is about a Spiritual warfare, such as are able for war in Israel; our Meeting a kind of Mustering. Behold here (pardon the expression) the Infantry of the Lord of Hosts. For as the Kings S [...]m. 11. 1. [...]ebr. of the Earth —Goe forth to Battell in the Spring—So also doe those Princes of Darkness: Not that they are Idle all the Autumne and Winter of our years, but now in the Spring, and Prime of our dayes; now is the chief time, wherein they choose to Lead forth their Armies against us.

The Unclean Spirit findes no rest in Dry places— [...]at. 12. 43. such was Christ: the Prince of this world comes, and has nothing in me: But when the Breasts are full of [...]ohn 4 30. Milk and the Bones of Marrow, there he comes and finds forrage, sits down, and layes siege to the Soul.

And now, what shall we doe? Per Baptismum rege­neramur [Page 31] in vitam, post Bapt. Confirmamur in pugnam: now is the time, we are making ready to Battell. If o­thers use Crosses, Chrismes, Balsams, and I know not what mixtures —Nobis sufficit quod Spiritu inungimur; with us, the Spiritual Oyntment is Preparative enough for a Spiritual Combate.

And so, though we have no Anoynting with Oyle, yet if we have the Anoynting with the Spirit, 'tis enough.

Here is no Chrism indeed, but yet a Ghostly Combate and a Good Christ to Conduct us through it.

No sweet-breath'd Balsams, but Fragrant prayers, and Devotions. No other Indelible Character we own, but that of Love. No Oyly mark upon the Head, or Forehead; but yet a Deep impression upon the Heart: a New life we hope, though not a New garment.

Let those of Rome, like Martha, Cumber themselves with those many things, while we, with Mary, choose the Better part, and so sit down at the Feet of JESUS.

It was an antient Canon —Ad Confirmationem non Cara [...]za de Concil. nisi Jejuni accederent—Fasting should accompany Confirming: however we doe by the Literal, pray God we all come with a Spiritual fast to this holy Or­dinance—If haply you have taken food into your Sto­machs; yet I hope no rancor, nor malice, into your minds, and then though you have not Fasting bodies, yet if truly Hungring souls, I doubt not but we shall Conform to the Intent of that Canon.

—Thou tookst me out of my Mothers Bowels, saith the Psal. 71. 6. Psalmist. You that are yet Unconfirm'd Christians, if you consider the Churches care, and mercy, in provi­ding for you sufficient Sureties (when you could not provide for your selves:) where have you been all this while, but in the Bowels of a Tender Mother? But [Page 32] now God is taking you out of the Bowels, and allowing you to Hang upon the Breasts of your Mother—Those Breasts of Consolation, there fully and freely to Suck the Sweetness of the Word, and both her Sacraments.

In regard whereof, we should all be Infants of Dayes, [...]sa 65 2 [...]. even as New-born Babes all our Dayes, still desiring that sincere Milk, still drawing like a Childe, feeding like a Childe, and when we are Men, yet we should never put away this Childish thing.

Many, like Nero, have ripp'd up their Mothers Bo­wels; yet with a purpose contrary to His, viz: Never more to see that place, where once they lay; but rather to Curse the Womb that bare them, and the Paps that gave them suck.

Thus if the Great ones have gone astray, like lost sheep, it concerns the Churches care to gather the Lambs into her bosome. Indeed, what with those nipping Nor­therly winds, many of our old Fruit-bearing Trees have been so blasted, and Inrecoverably shattered, from that cold Corner, that now our greatest hopes are in the Suc­cesful Growings up of Gods Nursery.

Ye are Gods Nursery, and the Growing hopes of the Church, and however some of you may be but Children in understanding; yet I trust you are not men in malice, men in mischeife, nor I hope ever will be.

Ye have Born the yoke of Christ, in your youth; 'tis well; But yet, whereas David beseeches God —O cast me not off, when I am old—forsake me not, when I am Gray-headed; Let me beg of you,—O cast not God [...]sal▪ 71. 9. off in the time of your old age—and y [...]u that are Green proselytes, beware you prove not Gray-headed Apostatates.

DOOM'S-DAY BOOKS OPENED.

BEing resolved (what in me lies) to decline all particular reflections, I made choice of this Subject, which is of equal concern to all; for that all must dye, all must rise, all must appear, and stand before God, and those bosome-Books of ours, which are now fast shut, all must be opened. That Day will discover all. [...], 1 Cor. 3. 13.

The Text represents us with one Judge, and a Great Many Prisoners; the behaviour on this side, the manner of Proceedings on that, together with the [Page 36] clear and undoubted evidence of the whole matter.

The Judge is God —before God; the Prisoners are all mankind —the dead small and great; Their Beha­viour submissive and such as becomes Prisoners, they stood; the manner of Proceedings upon them —the Books were opened; Lastly, the Evidence made good, by a Divine and Infallible Affaedavit, S. John saw it—I saw the dead, &c.

And now, were I so Fit for this Text, as this Text you see might be Fitted for this time, perhaps some­what would be done upon it. But my encumbrances have of late been very many, and the going off of one beckoned the coming on of this other Service.

Many that are here this day, cannot but know that Publique Engagement, to the which, but a few daies since, I was elsewere commanded, and that upon a * Subject (not to speak of it's Novelty, or Difficulty) A Sermon [...]pon Confir­mation in [...]oventry. every way remote from the present occasion.

And although the Womb of one Cloud▪ may at once be big with Dark Waters and Bright flashes, Thunders and Lightnings, Hailestones and Coales of fire—and contain them all at one and the same time; [...]s. 18. 11, 12 yet I must needs acknowledge my Narrowness, not at all Receptive at once of such Contrarieties.

VVhatever that Fruitful Creature may Performe, or the more Fruitful Phancy of Pliny be allowd to Ima­gine, I am sure I never could hope, with any the least Pregnancy, to receive a Later, till fairly rid of a For­mer Burthen.

Beside, I have been strangely cut short of the ex­pected allowance for time, —The Judges stood at our door, when we did not think them gotten o're their own Threshold.

[Page 37] And indeed the unexpected suddainness of this Assize has much disabled me from Discoursing (as I ought) of that other here before us. So that I see plainly, I must of necessity take my leave of the Judge upon his Throne; and the Prisoners at the Bar: the Deportment of the one; and the Proceedings of the other, with the like passages of that fair road, into which the words did at first spread themselves; (the exact following whereof I confess is a business above my power at present) and so (without any more Prefacing) betake my self wholly to that other matter the Text affords us.

The which, being very Plain and Serious, I hope it will not be expected, the discourse should come forth in any other habit; but be suffered to go Plain, and every way suitable to the Subject it treats of, which is Death, the Resurrection, and Judgement.

It were too much Pharisaical to Paint a Sepulcre, why should we trouble our selves to make a Coffin of VVrought Carved work? 'Tis but lost labour (me­thinks) to stick, and dress a Dead Corpse with Rose­budds, and throw Flowres into a Grave.

VVho would be at the cost to Enamell and Gild a Death-head, or overlay a Charnel-house with Gold?

And as Death can well spare all kind of Pompe, as Su­perfluous; so in regard of the Resurrection or Judg­ment, it is not all requisite.

It is not the merry Dulcimer, the VVarbling Harp, or the Lute; but the shrill and doleful Trump, that bidds us Rise at the last day, when we shall behold Christ Jesus come down, not in a Sun-beam, but on a Cloud, to Iudgment. All which things seem to bespeak our greatest Seriousness in the Subject now before [Page 38] us. Concerning which, what we have to say, is wrapt up in these three propositions.

The First presents us with the Worlds Funeral (I [...]rop. 1. wish the Sermon might be clad in a Suit of Mourning, fit for it) thus—That we, and all that were before us (except Two or Three) and all that shall come after us, (except those that shall be found alive at Christs coming, For they shall not sleep at all, but be changed) Cor. 15. 51. all I say, in the eye of Prophecy are but a company of dead men —I saw the dead, &c.

Secondly, These dead men shall live, with their [...]rop. 2. Dead bodies shall they Arise again at the last day; which is expresly set down elsewhere;—and here also Im­plied, [...]. 16. 19. in that, though they were Dead, and are so styled, yet they are seen standing before God, which supposes they were Alive, and Risen again —I saw the dead—stand before God.

Thirdly, As there is an appointed time for all men, [...]rop. 3. once to Dye, and for all those same men, once to Rise againe; So it is most certain, that after those Appoin­ted times are come, then comes the Judgement; as here, no sooner did the Dead Arise and stand before God, but presently —the Books were opened.

Concerning which Iudgement (being most proper, and agreable to the present occasion) I shall enlarge upon these following Considerations, as they lye before us in the Text.

First, We shall consider the Generality of this Iudg­ment—The dead—that is, All at one time, All in one place, All were presented at once, to the View of S. Iohn, That Divine Eagle; who, Soaring a loft upon the Wings of an Extaticall Spirit, beheld a whole VVorld of Carkasses underneath him —He saw the dead, &c.

[Page 39] Secondly, The Impartiality of this Iudgment; High and Low, Rich and Poor, the Mean man and the Migh­ty man, one with another, one as well as another; All must come and stand before the same Iudge, all must abide the Doom of the same Books, all must equally pass through the Severities of the same Triall—The dead, both small and Great.

Thirdly, The Over-ruling Authority of this Iudgment, here intimated in that High and Low; Poor and Rich, the Mighty as well as the Mean man; all appear in the self same Humble deportment, in such a posture as be­comes Prisoners,—they all stood before God.

Fourthly, The deliberate and convincing Legality in all the Proceedings of this Iudgment; matters were not transacted and huddled over in the Dark; but all must be done above-board: No arbitrary Power, nor extravagant Humour, no adventurous Rashness nor supine Negligence, must carry businesses without-Book; but as all must go by the Book, so those Books shall be opened, that every one may read his own Endictment; —the Books were opened.

Lastly, the Certainty and Importance of the whole: the Certainty, the highest that may be, no less then ocular Demonstration, attested by no meaner a person then S. Iohn, whom we have here, though in a Higher Place, yet still in the old Posture, Leaning upon Iesu's Bosome, thence drawing and declaring all these secrets unto us —I saw—thus for the Certainty.

As for the Importance; It seems of no small con­cernement to us, for whom (and not for himself alone) he saw, whatever things he did see; the which 'tis apparent, he saw, so as you and I, and all the Chri­stian VVorld, might both hear and see, (as we do this [Page 40] day) and, if possible, become better thereby.

Thus we have laid our Foundation (large enough be sure) but how we shall be able to Finish God knows. I much fear my Lot may lye, in that Verse of the second Lesson for this Morning Prayer, even now read unto us, —This man began to Build, and was not able to Finish. Luc. 14. 30.

The disciples said —Whence should we have bread Mat. 15. 33. in the Wilderness to Fill so great a Multitude? I may well say, on the contrary, whence should I have matter amongst Crowdes and Throngs, so as to satisfy the just and natural Cravings of these several Parts and Pro­positions.

However, every Mouth must have its Meat, and God who has made the One, I trust will provide the other; Not to answer those Lustfull expectations, that look for Quailes: yet if we can be furnisht with Bread, (we must not talk of Philip's 100 or 200 penny­worths, but) with some few Pennyworths of wholsorne Bread, though it be but small Dole at the Worlds Joh. 6. Great Funerall,—Every one must be content to take a Little. [...]b. v 7.

And that our Distribution, though but Mean, may yet be Methodical, I begin with the First Proposition, viz. That however in our own Dim-sightedness we may seem to Live, Move, &c. yet in the view of this Prop. 1. Eagle-Ey'd Prophet, we are all but a Company of Car­kasses, a multitude of dead men—I saw the dead, &c.

The Dead he saw, and no doubt all us, that are here Alive, yea and himself too in the number, all helping to make up that great Congregation of the dead, then before him. Although there went abroad this saying among the brethren, that this Disciple should not dye— [...]o. 21. 23. yet he professeth, whom it most concerned to know [Page 41] the truth thereof)—that Jesus said not to him, that he should not dye, but, if I will, that he tarry till I come, Ibid. what is that to thee?

Indeed Christ was neer about Forty years a Coming, (i. e.) when He Came along with Titus, and the Ro­mane Army, to the final Ruine of Jerusalem; Christ, I say, was Forty years in so Coming, and S. Iohn was as long a waiting and tarrying for that Coming: yet at last, Christ he is Come, and S. Iohn he is Gone, and that the same way as Ioshua, and all went before him, —Even Jos. 23. 14. the Way of all the Earth.

Notwithstanding, Others could not Destroy him: for 'tis say'd, such was the Icie chastness of the Soul and Body of this Beloved Disciple—That he Quench'd the Violence of the Fire, Chill'd and Allay'd the Scal­dings of the Liquor, so that it could not hurt him.

But albeit (as I say'd before) they could not Take away his Life; yet when Old Age comes, he can Lay it down; and when Others cannot Kill him, at last This Long-liv'd Eagle, himself makes a shift to Dye.

The Vivacity of whose Quills (they say) had quite Consum'd all the Other Feather-bunch of his Twelve Brethren, and not so much as left behind him the Pen of One surviving Apostle to Write his Epitaph: But as Love (S. Iohn's Dear and Darling Vertue) Outlives 1 Cor. 13. [...] all her Sister-Graces: so the great Preacher of Love, the Loving and most Beloved Disciple, outlives all his Brother-Apostles.

Howbeit a long life is but a long Forbearance; and the [...]; Arr. Epict. [...] Stoick Laughs at those our self-contradicting de­sires, whereby we would have our friends Live long, and yet not see death, when that's the surest way to it.

The Principal is still owing, besides the use-money [Page 42] of Sicknesses and Sorrows; and though nature delayes the Peremptory demanding thereof, and so the Debt is sometimes a long while ere it be Discharged; yet at last a full and entire Payment must be made. As it was here with this Apostle, whom the slow, but sure hand of Death did at Length retrieve from the furthest Ba­nishment of his Life.

'Tis the opinion of an Ancient Father, that it pleased [...]ctan. God to shorten man's life on purpose after the Floud, lest by the former allowance of a longer time the sin of man might again rise up, and call for a second deluge. For no wonder the Waters of God swell above the highest Mountaines, when the sin of man stretcheth to the highest Heavens.

And whereas the Psalmist sayes —Thou hast made my dayes as a span long; and now such are the sins of [...]a. 39. 5. men, that the Good Old Span is shrunk and contracted to an Inch long, and that Inch too often Snapt a­sunder in the midst by an untimely death due to sin: yet for all that we are grown such huge Husbands, with these our Inches, that we can drive as great a Trade of Impiety, as they could do with thir Larger spans, and so sin our selves into a capacity of a second deluge, and bid as frankly for it under Fourscore, as others could do at two hundred yeares.

Therefore, as our dayes are Evill, (that's of mans making) so 'tis well they are short and contracted, that's of God's good contriving.

We shall not onely dye hereafter, but now we dye presently, and within a few years—What the Egypti­ans say'd hastily, we may say soberly —We be all dead men. [...]od. 12 33.

Old men are called Tripodes, and sometimes Qua­drupedes: [Page 43] because, counting their Crutches, they have Three or Four Feet to Carry them to their Graves.

But it is not for Every man to Live so long, as to Run with three or four Legs to his Long Home.

Though in Searching for the Silver Cup, Ioseph's Steward began at the Eldest, and left off at the youngest: Gen. 44. 1 [...]. yet when Angels come to Rifle, and make Search for a Precious Soul, they Observe no such Order; but on the Contrary, oft-times begin at the Youngest, and leave off at the Eldest.

For as S. Iohn—came first to the Sepulchre, but Joh. 20. 4. & [...] S. Peter Went in before him: so, albeit your Old man comes first to the Grave's Mouth, and there stands a long while lingring, and wayting, by a weary painfull life, and with his Crutches is continually Rapping at the Gates of death: yet many times the Young man, that comes after him, makes a shift to goe in before him.

However, first or last, In we must all of us; as S. Iohn (you see there) enters the Sepulchre, as well (though not so soon) as S. Peter.

Death (they say) keeps no Calendar. Many years with him are but as one day, and one day as many years. If some do not live out Half their time—Half Psal. 55. 23. a day to others may be their whole time.

Every Soul must not think to dwell in such a Ripe slip-shel'd Body, as this old Apostle had; Nor are Gray hayres (those Church-yard-Flowers) designed to grow upon the turf of every Green head.

The holy Templar call's them the harbingers of death (That King of Terrors) sent aforehand (as it were) Mr. Herbert. to Mark and Score his lodgings; yet how often have we seen King Death, with all his black retinue, March in afore any of those his Messengers? Our Clay-houses, [Page 44] alwayes stand open to death, who too frequently (like that Evil Spirit) comes in with confidence, without any Knocking, or notice giving. As Elisha heares the [...] King. 6. 32. Sound of the Masters feet, before the Messenger came nigh to give him warning.

Some few Souls indeed, like full-fledg'd Birds, when they take Wing and be gone, leave an old Body, like a tottered rumpled Nest, behind them, whereas Christ arose Early in the Morning, and left his Sepulchre whole and unbroken. So the best (if not the most) like good Travellers are going betimes—they take the Wings of the Morning—fly away and be at rest —Sur­guntque cadavere Toto, they spring out of an entire and Un-battered body, while the Breasts are full of Milk, and the Bones of Marrow. Go but into the Church-yard, measure, and see how many shorter graves there be of those, who never lived to attain our age nor Stature.

And now we are speaking of Church-yards, what need we trouble Scripture, or other Arguments, to make further proof of our Mortality; For the fuller evidencing (if need be) and determining whereof, in­stead of Fathers, and Councils, we may repaire to Church-yards and Charnel-houses, which are therefore called the common dormitories of the dead, the general seed-plots of mankind; because, though we lye and sleep there awhile, yet the time will come, when we shall all be awakened: and being sowne there (rather then buried) at the last day we shall be sure to Spring up, and rise again.

Which brings me to the Second Proposition, contain­ing the Universal Resurrection, implied here in the word, stand—I saw the dead, &c. —Stand before God.

[Page 45] That a Resurrection (if it be) must be in order to Prop. 2. the fuil attainment of man's Final happiness, is gene­rally agreed upon by all parties.

But that there is any such thing at all, as a Resur­rection of the body, is deny'd by some, upon these grounds (whose Falshood and Weakness an Indifferent Eye may easily See through.)

1. That mans Happiness is attainable in This, and therefore what Need is there of Another Life? or of the Bodyes Rising, in order thereunto? thus Epicu­rus, and the rest of that Herd. There the Antecedent is false.

2. If there be another Life, and Happiness must be had there, and there Only, then it Concern's the Soul alone, and so to what purpose should the body be Di­sturb'd, which is so farre from Going Halfs with the Soul's Happiness, that it Hinders It? according to that Rule amongst them, viz. That all Corporeity is an E­nemy to Perfect felicity. Thus Porphyrius, and those of his way. But here we say the Consequence is false, and the Proof thereof, from that Position of Porphyrie, very infirm.

3. That as all Spiritual things are of God, so all Bo­dily things are from the Devil, or such like Evil Prin­ciple, and so cannot by a Resurrection be United to God, that onely Good Principle. Thus Manicheus, and his Followers. So that the Body is still Kept un­der, and Held down on all hands; all joyntly denying its Rising, but upon Foundations (you see) full of Weakness, Falshood, or Blasphemy.

Again, as Those Deny the Resurrection, Others Af­firm and Prove it: 1. From the Rising again of Christ our Head. 2. From the Natural tendency in Separted [Page 46] Souls toward a Re-union with the Body; which must not be to no purpose. 3. In that our Gain by Christ is greater than our Loss by Adam: and therefore, if —In Adam all dye, much more in CHRIST shall all Cor. 15. 22. be made alive.

By these and other Arguments of the Resurrection, Some Affirm, and Prove it; We Affirm, and Believe it: yet if we would goe about to Prove it, Arguments Come up as Thick as Grass-Spills in the Spring. Demonstrations naturally Grow and Hang upon every Green Hedge; yea —Day unto Day utters Speech, viz. of the Resurrection, which clearly discovers it self, in [...]sal. 19. 2. the Successive Dawnings thereof, and most apparently Dwells upon the Eye-lids of Every Morning.

And as Day unto Day utters this Speech: so Night unto Night shewes this Knowledge. He that Lyes down, has Slept out his Eyes and Senses, who does not behold [...]bid. It Standing by his Bed-side, when Ever he Arises.

So that, although we doe Believe it, yet as for that —Credibile quia Impossibile, i. e. 'tis merely Credible, because Impossible; we need not Take Refuge in any such Unhallowed Sanctuary, or Seek out so Shamefull a Covert for an Article of our Creed.

Concerning the Instantaneousness, or Successive­ness, of This our Rising; the Terminus A Quo, and Ad Quem therein, what is the Efficiency of GOD, and wherein lyes the Instrumentality and Subserviency of ANGELS.

And because GOD say'd to Adam—Dust thou art, and to Dust thou shalt Return. No doubt, He has had time enough for That Returning; (yet) whether or no Gen. 3. 19. He then Say'd so to All the Sons of Adam, and that Every Body (as well as His) must Suffer a Perfect Pul­verization; [Page 47] yea, that very Body, which was Buryed but a Day, or an Hour, before the General Resurre­ction, whether or no (according to the aforesaid Sen­tence) That must be Return'd into Entire Earth, and so Arise out of as Complete a Bed of Dust, as if it had layn as long as Adam a mouldring—These and many other Niceties I purposely pretermit.

We must needs dye, that's Certain; but, that we are as Water Spilt on the ground, which cannot be Gather'd 2 Sam 4. 14▪ up again, &c. there Ioab's Wise Widow speaks like one of Iob's Foolish Women: For when we shall be Pour'd out by the Hands of Death, and have Layn Soaking in the Earth never so many Centuryes; yet God will assuredly Recover again, and Gather up every Drop of This Water: in which regard (perhaps) it was that they call'd Death —A gathering unto their people. Gen. 49. 33.

This I verily believe (however some may think other­wise) that all those scattered parcels of the same body, that lye sleeping in several Parishes, perhaps in several parts of the World: As for example, Suppose a Soul­dier has Lost a Leg in Asia, an Arme in Europe, a Fin­ger is Burnt in the Fire, a Toe is Cut off and thrown into the Water,

—(Quid mirum toto si spargitur Orbe? M [...]rtial▪ Ep. why may nor the dead dust be a kind of [...], free of the whole World, as well as a Living body?)

This I say, that all those limbs, and parts of the Dispersion aforesaid, shall not only return —Bone to its own Bone, &c. but every the least Grain of dust to that very Place it had in the body, before its dissolution.

This I humbly conceive may most set forth the Wis­dome and Power of God in that day, which being styled a day of Restitution, the way of Particular restoring, [Page 48] (which now we speak of) methinks conduceth most to the fulness and exactness thereof.

For, as the Loadstone can, out of a common Heap of Dust, Extract all the little Fylings of Steel, or the like: Much more is God Almighty able, by His Mag­netick skill, out of the common Rubbish, to Single forth the Minutest Fylings (as it were) of these our Mortal bodyes, and Restore them all again to their proper places.

An Army I have heard of, whose Souldiers had eve­ry one such peculiar Marks, and Characters upon their Polyb. Shields, that by help thereof their Commander could at any time easily recover them out of the greatest Dis­order and Confusion. The Lord knows them that are His; and not so only, but, All that is Theirs: not­withstanding, 2 Tim. [...]1. 9. we are put to the greatest Rout and Dis­order by Death; yet such are Those privie Marks of God's wisdome upon us, that in the Resurrection He will compleatly Ralley again all these Ruines of Man­kinde.

—Then though the Worms destroy this body, yet in Job. 19. 26. Eccles. 12. 3. my Flesh—and with these my Eyes shall I see God. Though the Arms (those sorry House-keepers—) have not kept themselves, nor their House neither, but the Fingers are stray'd from that Hand, into which they were Engrafted, and the Hands dropp'd from those Arms, by which they were supported.

Though the Strong Men have bowed themselves, so as to be trod upon by Base Vermin; and the legs are run one from another; yea, though the Grinders themselves should be Grinded to pieces, and They that formerly Look'd out at the Windows, are now Leap'd out through those Windows, and those Two great [Page 49] Luminaries, which GOD had set up to give Light to this Lesser World, have not only Consum'd themselves, but their Sockets.

Yet in That Day of the Restitution of all things, when the Great KING shall disperse and send abroad his Writs, to Call that Last and General Convention of Mankind, and say to the Sea,—Give back, and to the Winds, Restore—though the Summon'd Members lye Scatter'd in several Shires and Countreys; yet Bone (as was say'd) shall return to it's Fellow-bone; each Vein shall Glide along the Old Channel. The right Foot shall not Miss its way, and Run to the Left; the Right Eye shall not mistake its own place, but be Lighted the Way to the Right Socket.

In a word, not an Hair of our head shall be Lost, or Misplac'd; but when God shall Renew the Face of This Earth, and Set forth a Second Edition of Mankind, all our Limbs, those Loose and Dispersed Leaves, shall be Carefully sought out, and Bound up together; so that we shall Come forth the same Volume, though in a much Exacter Print and Clearer Letter.

The Glory of the Second Temple shall be farre grea­ter than the Glory of the First, provided it prove in­deed to be Such; a Faire Temple, and not a Filthy Prison, which the following Judgment shall soon de­termine.

And so I pass on to the Third Proposition, viz. That Prop. 3. after the Death, and Rising again of all men, then comes the Judgment, imply'd in these words —And the Books were Opened.—

Wherein, according to the method proposed, we are first to consider, the Universality of this Judgment, —He saw the Dead (i. e.) All the dead, stand before God, &c.

[Page 50] Here I shall Endeavour not to be so Impertinent, as to trouble you with those Intricate enquiries, concern­ing the Time and Place of Judgment, the Form and habit of the Judge, the manner of Citation, the Method 1 Forma illa it Judex, quâ tit sub Ju­ [...]ce; Illa Iu [...]cabit quae Iu cata est. Aug. of particular Trials, the Execution of the General Sen­tence, &c. These things (and what else of the like na­ture) I shall either wholly omit; or else if it fall in my way, to make some little reflections upon any of them, I shall doe it very sparingly, and tread as Lightly as he does, that passes over an unsound piece of Earth, that shakes and trembles under him.

Thus much I take for granted, that although some say, it was the occasion of Cain's, and Abel's quarrel, whether there were such a thing as a Judgement to come, or no; yet that shall be no matter of Dispute among us; but without further stay to prove That, I may freely proceed to the Universality of the said Judgment, which now we are to consider.

If the Judges have past Sentence upon Socrates, Na­ture has past Sentence upon those Judges, and in that Circum­ [...]ance. respect, we are all a company of condemned Creatures, as well as Socrates—We must all appear before the Cor. 5. 10. Iudgment seat of Christ, &c. and then as God said to Abraham (when he had brought him abroad)—Look now towards Heaven, and tell the Stars, &c.

I may say to you (since God has also brought you Abroad)—Look ye now toward the Earth, tell the Grass that is ready for the Sythe, or the Corne ye have seen almost ripe for the Sickle, and consider ye of the worlds great Harvest.

What? All that have been? All that now are? All that ever shall be? must all, and every one Ap­pear? O what Throne will be able to hold that Judge. [Page 51] What Benches will be enough for those Assessors, even even those infinite numbers of Saints and Angels, which he brings along with him? what Dungeon is deep enough to contain the already condemned Devils? or what Bar will be big enough to hold the (now) Ar­raigned Prisoners?

Some speak of the Valley of Iehoshaphat, as the most convenient place, being near unto Mount Olivet, where Christ Ascended, and whereabouts, it is expected, he should also descend again, according to the Collection, they make from that passage —This same Iesus— Act. 1. 11. shall so come, in like manner, as ye have seen him goe into heaven.

But for that, supposing (as some think) the better sort shall be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the Aire, and so not at all trouble that Valley; yet as to the Wicked alone and their numbers, what was spoken of Samaria, may likewise be said of this Valley,—Surely the dust thereof will not suffice, for every self-condemned Soul, to take an handful, and stop his own 1 King. 20. 1 Mouth withall, when he appears in a guilty silence before his Judge.

No wonder, —An heaven of heavens cannot contain an 1 King. 8. 2 infinitely Blessed God, when a Hell of Hells is little enough to hold a company of his accursed Creatures; and if the Gaol be so well fill'd, the Bar must be sadly Throng'd.

For however many Angells (they say) may rest in one Point, as that Legion in one man; yet raised Bodies sure shall not lose their former Dimensions, so as one of them may be Unconfinedly in any place, or many of them crowded uncircumscribedly, into one Place.

Then reckoning from the First Adam, to the last [Page 52] Son of Adam, could we but consider, what those Slaugh­ter-Weapons of War, Famine, Plagues and Pestilential diseases, have done, and shall yet do; (not to speak of the daily work of common Mortality, still kept a going) did we but cast up what Hecatombs have been offered up to Earthquakes, Fires and Floods, viz. an entire Countrey swallowed at one morsell by an Earthquake, many Lebanons have not been sufficient for one of these burnt Sacrifices, whole Mountains of men suddainly carried into the Depths of the Sea, and there drowned forever.

Beside those many other Besoms of Destruction, all mankind (but Eight persons) was at once we know Swept off the Common stage by one deluge.

And if the Flames have often Practised upon Lesser Parcells, and thereby given us some cast (as it were) of their consuming-skill aforehand against the great burning at the last day: neither have the Waters been wanting, by frequent and violent Inundations, to let us know, they have not quite forgotten their Former over-flowings.

So for all those that are already Come & Gone in these Wayes: all those that are now a Going, and Every One, that is yet for to Come and Goe; for All these at once to Appear in the Same Place, and fall under One and the Same Prospect, we must needs say S. John here was mightily assisted with Those Divine Opticks. The Lesser could not Shrowd themselves under the Greater, so as to Escape him; the Greater cannot Over-shadow the Lesser, so as to Hinder him.

—Habes Tu literas meas, Ego Tuas—ante Tribunal [...]ypr. Ep. 69 Christi, Utraeque recitabuntur: the True Catholick, and the Perverse Schismatick, the Church-Governour, and [Page 53] the Church-Despiser, shall both stand before Christ's Tribunal: where it will be Impartially sifted, what Letters either of them have Brought in their Bosomes. Which leads me to the Second Circumstance conside­rable in this Judgment, viz. the Impartiality thereof, contain'd in those words —Small and Great.—I saw the Dead, Small and Great, Stand, &c.

The Great, as well as the Small, it seems, they all 2 Circumstance. must Stand before God. And if S. John sees them all here in the same posture of poor and wretched Prisoners, GOD (no doubt) beholds them all with the same Eye of a Just and Impartial Judge. There is not a Chaire afforded for the Ease of a Prisoner of quality, while the Poor man (his Fellow-Prisoner) bears upon his Legs, till he grows to the ground he stands on: No, they all stand before God.

The Athenians had a liberty to question their chie­fest Magistrates, though not in, yet after their Office: And the Egyptians, they sate upon the Carcases of Diod. Sic. their greatest Commanders. Here, the Books were all Indifferently Opened, and the Volume-Accounts of the Greatest were read and duely Stated, as well as the Smaller Papers of the Meanest person were produced.

Books, they say, are the Uprightest Iudges, and the most Faithful Counsellours, which (whatever men may doe) understand nothing of any Personal Distinctions, or Favourable Indulgencies unto any; in which regard the Text here makes use of them in the setting forth of this Judgment.

The Great mans Charge (wrote in Court-hand, or Characters) is not charily folded up, with a Seal of Fa­vour clapt upon it, or a clasp of Gold, while the lesser bills of a mean person, drawn at length, are laid open to [Page 54] publick View, so that he that runs may read them; No; but the Books of all, as they were equally view'd by the same Eye, so were they exactly Wrote, and Im­partially opened, by the same hand of Justice.

I have heard of one, who was content to have his Picture drawn, on condition he might hold his Finger over the Wart he had upon his face, while it was a drawing.

Too many such Imperfect▪ Pieces we meet withall, even from those Pencils, which should draw Justice to the Life, while the Soft Finger of affection is suffered to cover the deformities of the Foulest matters; But, when God once (to shame our deficiencies) undertakes to give us this exact draught of Judgment, he will put by the Kindness of the Finger; The narrow covering thereof must be removed in that day, and Blemishes as well as Beauties, all must be naked before him, with whom we have (then) to do.

If (as some are of opinion) the renew'd Heavens, [...]ixa [...]run [...] om­ [...]ia quae nunc [...]ventur ad [...]rvitium ho­ [...]inum. Ansel. and all the luminaries thereof, shall then leave off their rolling and be still. It may give us somewhat to con­ceive of that unmoved stillness there will be in the Lord of Heaven, and steadiness in the Father of those Lights, even in the Unchangeable God, who shall not suffer the least sway of Affection, or shadow of Turning.

Look not on his Countenance, nor the Heighth of his Sam 16. 7. stature, for I have refused him, saith the Lord, concer­ning Eliab; where also we have the reason of that re­fusal—For the Lord seeth not, as man seeth, &c. [...]bid.

On the other side, when God had said —By me Princes rule (as doubtless they doe) and Nobles, and all [...]rov. 8. 16. [...]. 17. Iudges of the Earth—it follows at the 17 ^th vers. I love them, that love me. 'Tis not, provided they be Nobles, [Page 55] or Iudges, or the like, before spoken of, but them indif­ferently, who ere they are —I love them, that love me.

Justice may well be allow'd to Wear, when in some regards she is a pair of Balances: he that weighs with them indeed, distinguisheth of the worth; but the Ba­lances themselves make no Difference in the weight of Gold or Lead.

And as it is in Weights, so is it in Measures, the same, I think, may serve as well for Silks as Sackcloths: In both which we have the Resemblance of an Even­handed and Unbyassed Justice.

Thus God himself sets an Equal Rate upon the A­tonement of all Souls —The Rich shall not give more, the Exod. 30. 15. Poor shall not give less than half a Shekell. For as the Heavens keep an Equi-distance from the Earth; how­ever they seem, yet they doe not stoop to Kiss the Tops of the Loftiest Mountains, nor doe they quite Disdain, and look aloof off from the Lower Valleys.

So it is with the GOD of Heaven—He is no Re­specter of persons, but in every nation, (and of every Act. 10. 34▪ Condition) He that fears him, is accepted of Him. If he does draw nigh to the humble, 'tis the Grace, and not the Man, that bowes him and Inclines him: If He does behold the proud afarre off, 'tis the Sin, and not the Psal. 138. 6. Soul, that estranges Him.

Whatever Others may think, I doe not believe we shall all Rise in the same stature; but Rise we must, and the Lofty-siz'd man jutt's no nearer to Him, nor doe those of Lower Measures sink at all the further from Him. The Sun-beams can assoon reach the depths of the most Depressed Hollows, as the heights of the most Exalted Mountains.

Nil apud Deum Magnum est, quod vel à Minimo dari S. Anselm. [Page 56] nequeat, the greatest Present to God may be offered by the meanest Hand. In the acceptance whereof He looks not at the Fine Glove, the Rich Perfume, or the Gold Ring upon the Finger, but only —The Cleanness of the Hand in His Eye-sight. Psal. 18. 24.

Pharaoh's Butler and Baker, the Heads of Both are Lifted up, though to a Several kind of Advancement: Gen. 40. 20. yet not for the Diversity of their Dreams, (the Gayest and Best things in this World are little better) but ac­cording to the Difference of their demerits.

Ioseph and Agag must both be brought out of Prison, but for several purposes and designations. Ioseph shaves and shifts himself, but Agag appears in delicate apparel. Gen. 41. 14. Both come forth with their Rayment chang'd, yet the One to be Advanc'd to the Throne, the Other to be Hewn in pieces. Now, as the Eye of Pharaoh did not at all respect the shaved Face, or the change of Rayment, in the Promotion of Ioseph: neither did the Sword of Samuel give any regard to those delicacyes of Habit in the Execution of Agag.

So shall it fare with all mankind in that Day: Iosephs and Agags, Slaves and Princes, the exalted Butler and the condemned Baker, rising men and declining men, we are all Deaths Captives, and at the Last day must all be brought forth of our several Prisons, and change our Garments, though in order to designs and purpo­ses very farre distant one from another.

Some (like Ioseph) to be Exalted unto Thrones in Heaven: Others (like Agag) to be Cut in pieces for those Infernal Cauldrons. Some with the Baker, to be made meat for those Hellish Fowles to Feed upon: while Others are Preferr'd to be Cup-bearers to the Great King: To tast again of the pure Blood of the Gen. [...]0. 19. [Page 49] Grape, and —Drink it anew with Christ in his kingdome. Matth. 26. [...]

And all this not according to Honour, Wealth, Wit, or any outward Wearing, but according to their outward and Inward Working; as here it followes in the Text —The dead were Judged according to their works.

Indeed, during the Night of this Life, one may chance to stumble, and Dash against the Tomb-stone of a great Man; and those Graves, that are worth a Coffin, we see for a time how they swell above their Fellows, while the Poor bare Winding-sheet is quickly made Level with the Earth, and sooner sinks into a Total dis-appea­rance.

But, in the Day-light of the next Life it shall be far otherwise; whatever difference there may seem in Graves, those Prison-houses here, there shall be no such distinction betwixt the Prisoners hereafter.

The Pharisee may Paint his Sepulchre to please Men, but (without the sad colours of a true repentant Sor­row) he can never paint his Soul, so as to please God.

Yea however, in the respect aforesaid, there may be some Inequality amongst Tombes, yet none at all amongst the Bones therein contained; and therefore death is called —A land of Darkness—and without any Job. 10. 2 [...] order. Could we go down into those Chambers of death, look amongst that Rubbish of mortality, and there behold those Pitifull Remaines of mans ruine: Alas! the Head of an Emperour retaines not the Print of the Imperial Diadem upon it: we can see no Cha­racter at all, no not of one of the three Crownes upon a dead Popes skull; no signe of these formidable and Majestique Robes upon the bone of a Judges shoulder. The renowned Ribband leaves no mark upon the back [Page 50] or Breast of Knights or Nobles; Nor does the Honou­rable Garter make any Lasting Impression, upon that shin-bone which used to wear it, and be adorned with it.

Which Impartial and undistinguishing Indifferency in the next World, is further imply'd in that, as we are Sentenc'd by The Book, so shall we be Summon'd by The Trumpet: Both which contain in them some Secret significations of this Impartiality. The former I have already touch'd upon.

For the Trumpet, Aquinas observes a Three-fold use thereof amongst the Jewes:—Congregabantur ad Con­cilium, [...]p. 3 aep. q. 76. [...]2. commovebantur ad Praelium, vocabantur ad Fe­stum, They were Summon'd therewith in Council, In­cited in Set Battels, Invited to Solemn Festivals.

To which we may adde a Three-fold use of it among Christians, viz. At Ordinary Meales, as in some Col­ledges and at your Sheriffs Tables; At Church Assem­blies, as in some Countries; at your General Assizes, as in this, and most other places; all is done by the sound of the Trumpet.

We have all these met together in the Text before us. Here is the Grand Council of the Kingdom to be kept, * Christs last Battel to be Fought; the Festivall of [...]ene dicitur [...]a Dei; quia [...]pugnam cùm [...]m [...]cis decre­ [...]am, venit [...]s. Lud. de [...]a Christi. [...]b. 12. 23. all Saints and Angels to be Solemniz'd; The great Supper of the Lamb to be celebrated; the general as­sembly and Church of the First-born to be congregated, and the worlds great Assizes to be held, by Christ the Judge of those Assizes. And 'tis not without cause, that all is transacted by the Trumpet: For as God is gone up with the sound of the Trumpet, we doubt not but [...]l. 47. 5. he will come down again in the same manner.

Now we know the Jewes had not one kind of Note, [Page 51] for the poor Pesant, and another peculiar strain, for the Princes of Israel; but all were summoned by the same note of the Trumpet.

Nor with us Christians is there one kind of call for the Governour, Another for the Servitour: no, but Tu­tor and Schollar to their Colledge-meales, Master and Servant to Church-meetings, the Commander and com­mon Souldier to Field-Services, the great Counsellour and the poorest Client to the general Assizes, all must listen to the same sound, and Summons of the Trumpet.

How much more, at the blowing up of the last Trump (by an impartial Severeness, and all Personal Irre­spectiveness) will God be sure to maintain the Uni­form, and undistinguishing usage thereof, when by the same blast of an Archangel, Judges and Justices, Coun­sellors and Clients, Jurors and Prisoners, Priest and People, all shall be summoned to the same Triall, all brought to the same Bar, all Commanded to the same Posture.

Which invites me to the third Circumstance con­siderable in this Judgement, viz. The Over-ruling Authority thereof, here signified, in that they all stood before God.

And so on to the fourth considerable, viz. The de­liberate, and convincing Legality of this Judgment —The Bookes were opened, and thence to the certainty and Importance of all these passages —I saw, &c.

Indeed when I first began to consider of this Subject, my main designes were set upon these last Observations, and had thought to have practically reduced all to the present occasion.

Especially my Eye was much upon the opening of these Books, in one whereof was wrote —Quaecunque [Page 52] fecimus, What we have done; In the other,—Quae­cunque fecisse debemus, What we should have done. And in them I saw was contained matter of most Pertinency to the business now before us.

First, I should have enquired, what's meant by these Books; and for that, I had willingly sate down at the Feet of S. Austin, Thomas Aquinas, and our Pious and most learned Champion of the Church of England, Dr. Hammond.

All which do unanimously agree, that by these Books here are signified the Court-rolls of Conscience, those bosom-records of all our thoughts, words and actions, there carefully reserved, and then fully and faith­fully to be Produced in that day.

Secondly, I had observ'd, that all things whatever are exactly Book'd down; we neither think, speak, nor act any thing without Book: If we can make a shift for Matter to fill those Books, God will be sure to be Furnish'd with Books to hold that Matter whatever it be. Which One thing, if but duely consider'd, as Ju­dah said concerning Benjamin,—How shall I goe up to my Father, and the Lad be not with me! We may say [...]en. 44. 34. concerning CHRIST,—How shall we dare to Goe up, and stand before Our Father, if The Holy Childe JESUS be not with us?

Lastly, That although these Books, in many secure Souls, are kept close shut, untill that Day (Their ope­ning now implies, they were shut till now) yet then they shall be suddainly, perfectly and entirely opened—Mira mentis celeritate, &c. saith S. Augustine. All shall be clearly seen, by one quick Glance of an En­lightned Soul. Conscience being that Divining-Cup, [...]id. 2. which God (as it were) has cramm'd within us, at our [Page 53] First making; and will, one day, as certainly discover our Thieveries, as our own proper goods and Trea­sures: whatever has been Bagg'd up in these our Mor­tall bodies, this Treacherous Cup Betrayes all.

And yet as Benjamin's Sack cannot throughly be search'd till the Beast be unladed, no more can these full Ibid. 11. discoveries be made within us till by death we have all laid down this Load and Luggage of Mortality.

But, you see I could not fairly come to this but by making a rude and immethodical climbing over those other Heads; and time will not allow of that just dis­course due unto all.

Therefore since we now cannot come so farre as the opening of these Books, and a most dangerous thing it is to goe away and leave them shut: Let us heartily be­seech God to open them unto us in mercy here, before He opens them to all the world in judgement hereafter.

Concerning which Judgement, I have some few words of Application, as to this dayes business, and so I shall conclude.

We have spoken all this while of a Iudgment to come, but what's that, may some say, to this present day of judgment?

I answer thus, We all profess to believe, That Christ shall come again to Iudge both the Quick and the Dead, &c. yet did we indeed really believe those, there would not be so much need of these Assizes.

Truth is, they are for the most part, a sort of Infidel (certainly, more than half-Heathen) Christians, that put our Honourable Judges to all this trouble.

Well; but if those General Assizes must be in that Day, as surely as These of ours are at this Day; of [Page 54] what mutuall concernment are they one to another? Briefly thus!

These should mind us of Those, Those should guide us in These; the Present should serve as a Prospect of the Future; the Future should serve as a Patern of the Present Judgment.

Thus, as Deep Calls unto Deep, and One Dolefull Creature Cryes unto Another:—such Correspondency [...]sa. 34. 14. there might be betwixt This, and That Judgment to come, that by a good improvement,—The Lesser may be Blessed of the Greater.

For the First, viz. that These should mind us of Those. Who can hear mention of a Publick Gaol-delivery, and the Iudges approach for that purpose, and not think of the Resurrection in the One, and the Co­ming of the Day of Iudgment in the Other?

Who can hear the Triumphant Sounding of the She­riffs Trumpets, or the Sad Clinking of the Prisoners Fetters, but must needs make some reflections upon The Trump of God in the One; and the Clattering of Those Everlasting Chains in the Other?

Who can be by at the Arraigning of the Prisoners, and the Reading of their Indictments, and not Con­template what S. John here saw, viz. The Dead Stand before God, and the Books Opened?

In a word, How can any one Stand and Observe the Witnesses Evidence, the Prisoners Plea, &c. at This day, without some apprehensions of Those our Thoughts Accusing or Excusing one another in That day? [...]om 2. 15. Or, is it possible one should be present in Body at Mans Pronouncing of Iudgment upon Condemned Prisoners, and at the same time not be present in Spirit at Gods Finall Sentence upon Damned Sinners, —Goe ye Cur­sed, &c?

[Page 55] Whoever he be that has the Advantage of the One, and yet receives no Benefit by the Other, is nothing more than a mere Idol that has Staring Eyes, but Sees not; wide Gaping Ears, but Hears not: and which is yet more, an Immortal Soul, but Understands not.

For the Second, viz. that Those should Guide us in These: To keep then to our Patern here before us—

First, Let Judgment be done Universally.

Solomon denies not the doing of Justice to Harlots; 1 King. 3. 16 nor does God refuse to hear the pleadings of the Devil. Job 1. 10.

'Tis not well, that Judgment should drop down like the Rain in Amos—One peice was rained upon, and the Amos 4. 7. piece whereon it rained not, withered.

And yet as one of our reverend Bishops observes, (con­sidering those infinite numbers of evil thoughts, plots, and purposes, &c. which go unpunisht) of those many hundreds of sins, that cry daily unto God, scarce one, or two are condemned by man.

Let our Judges make as clean work, as they can, 'tis certain God and his Angels will find somewhat to Glean after their sickles, else what need there Another Judgment, if this were altogether exact, and perfect?

But yet as the House of that Romane Magistrate, stood continually open, for all that came for Justice; so should there ever be, in the Frame, and purpose of your Wills, a readiness to Justice, a Willingness to Mercy, and in those regards, the doors of your hearts should still stand open to receive all Commers. That's for the Generality.

Secondly, Let it be done Impartially.

Of the Levites, it is said —Nec dextram, nec sini­stram cognoverunt Levitae, Utinam nec Iuristae!

[Page 56] It were well if Lawyer, Levite, and all were uncon­cerned in this Right and Left hand Knowledge.

In works of Charity, the Left must not know Mat 6. 3. what the Right hand does; but in Works of Justice, there should be neither right hand nor left; and there­fore with them of old, the statue of a Judge was [...] (i. e.) a meer handless statue; for what reason it is not hard to conjecture. This we are sure of, Bet­ter Herodot. is it for us to Enter handless into Heaven, then having two hands (full of Corruption) to be cast into Hell fire. That's the second Circumstance—Let all be done Impartially.

Thirdly, Let all be done Authoritatively.

I magnify mine office, saith S. Paul; As he did his Apostolical, 'twere well, if all would magnify their Iudi­ciall Rom. 11. 13. Proceedings; Nothing but sin can Vilify them. Facinus quos Inquinat, aequat—Sin is the greatest Lucan. Leveller in the world; It brings down the Bench and layes it even and level with the Lowest Barre.

If the giving of a Testimony may fetch down a Ju­stice and set him amongst the Witnesses, the Com­mitting of Iniquity hales him yet lower, and claps him up among the Prisoners, Conscience Impleading the One, all the while the Law Arraigns the Other. That's the third Circumstance.

Fourthly, Let all be done Deliberately, and with a convincing Legality, (together with what other mer­ciful and holy considerations, may be taken in by the opening of these Books) there we have them both in one Psal. 36. 6. Verse—Thy Righteousness is like the Great Mountains; Thy Iudgments are a great deep, (i. e.) In all Gods pro­ceedings there is a leisurable stilness, like the great deep; yet withall a Solid and Apparent Legalness like [Page 65] the great Mountains. I'l only speak of the First.

Do but observe here, the Throne is prepared, the Judge is come, the Benches set, the Boards filled, the Barrs made ready, witnesses, prisoners and all brought forth, yet no further proceedings, till the Books be ope­ned.—He that believes makes not haste; nor does a Isa. 28. 16. Wise man make too much haste in beleeving, much less does a good man, in condemning. He dares not give cre­dit, much less Sentence, without Book.

And in this the Iudges sword may learn of the Mowers Sythe; which however (as you come along) you may hear them Whetting, and Whetting again, yet not a blow is struck, but where 'tis fully ripe for Execution; and then, as we tear not off a Nayle, no nor Pluck up an Hair, without Pain: no more should the Vilest Excre­ment of a Kingdome, the most wretched Miscreant that is, perish without Pity.

After the flood, GOD can smell a sweet Savour, Gen. 8. 21. amidst a World of carkasses, that were spread like Dung upon the face of the Earth; but yet, that Savour A­rises not from the Reaking of the Bodies, but the bur­ning of the Altar; And should the sword of Justice be never so much bath'd in Blood, yet 'tis not the Carkasses Ibid. 20. of the dead, which smell well with God, but the holy burnings of the Living; such as alwayes warmed S. Pauls bosome —who is (not to say destroyed, but) offended and 2 Cor. 11. 2 I burn not?

If the Heavens will not, the Earth must weep, be­cause they will not; the Tears of a compassionate Judge, may (in a sacred manner) [...]. Dr. Hammond out of Basil. shame the dry Eyes of Heaven; so that God can't chuse but make them Then there had been a long time o [...] Drou▪ 1 [...]. Weep with them that Weep, and melt in showres, with them that melt in Teares.

[Page 66] —Ita feri, non ut se, sed ut te sentiat mori; so to strike that he may feel his own death, that's the part of cruel Tyrants: but so to strike, as if we our selves felt it, that's the part of good Iudges; who as you came with, so we hope you come like, the * Yesterday's Thun­der-Showre, Thunder and [...]ain at the [...]udges in­ [...]ming. not without a mixture of Majesty, and Mercy.

But I see my self irrecoverably lost in this one leaf of Mercy; what then will become of you, your great Pa­tience at present, and your weighty Affaires now following? all I doubt would be lost, should we adven­ture upon the Turning over of the other leaves of these Books; which in regard I perceive them of themselves most willingly opening at a Psalm of Mercy, I shall here Fold down the Leaf, for your more ready Finding, and so at last close up the Books, where First I found them open. So much for the Text.