inconsiderate men; (and they that consider not themselves, consider not us, they ask not, they expect not this liberality from us) or else they are over confident, and presume too much upon God; or diffident, and distrust him too much. And with these two we meet often; but truly, with seven diffident, and dejected, for one presuming soul. So that we have much exercise of this liberality, of raising dejected spirits: and by this liberality we stand. For, when I have given that man comfort, that man hath given me a sacrament, he hath given me a seal and evidence of God's favour upon me; I have received from him, in his receiving from me ; I leave him comforted in Christ Jesus, and I go away comforted in myself, that Christ Jesus hath made me an instrument of the dispensation of his mercy; and I argue to myself and say, Lord, when I went, I was sure, that thou who hadst received me to mercy, wouldest also receive him, who could not be so great a sinner as I; and now, when I come away, I am sure, that thou who art returned to him, and hast re-manifested thyself to him, who, in the diffidence of his sad soul, thought thee gone for ever, wilt never depart from me, nor hide thyself from me, who desire to dwell in thy presence. And so, by this liberality I stand; by giving I receive comfort.

We follow our text, in the context, our prophet, as he places this liberality in the king, in the magistrate, in the people. Here, the king is Christ, the magistrate the minister, the people the people, whether collectively, that is, the congregation, or distributively, every particular soul. Afford your devotions a minute to each of these, and we have done. When we consider the liberality of our king, the bounty of God, to man in Christ, it is species ingratitudinis, it is a degree of ingratitude, nay, it is a degree of forgetfulness, to pretend to remember his benefits so, as to reckon them, for they are innumerable. Sicut in visibilibus est sol, in intelligibilibus est Deus"; As liberal as the sun is in nature, God is in grace. Bonitas Dei ad extra, liberalitas est; it is the expressing of the School, and of much use; that God is essential goodness, within doors, in himself; but ad extra, when he comes abroad, when this interior goodness is produced into action, then all God's goodness is liberality. Deus est voluntas omni

20 Nazianzen.

potens, is excellently said by St. Bernard; God is all Almightiness, all power; but he might be so and we never the better. Therefore he is voluntas omnipotens, a power digested into a will, as willing, as able to do us all, all good. What good? receive some drops of it in St. Bernard's own manna, his own honey; creans mentes ad se participandum, so good as that he hath first given us souls capable of him, and made us so, partakers of the Divine nature; vivificans ad sentiendum, so good as that he hath quickened those souls, and made them sensible of having received him; for, grace is not grace to me, till it make me know that I have it alliciens ad appetendum, so good as that he hath given that soul an appetite, and a holy hunger and thirst to take in more of him; for I have no grace, till I would have more; and then, dilatans ad capiendum, so good as that he hath dilated and enlarged that soul, to take in as much of God as he will. And lest the soul should lose any of this by unthankfulness, God is kind even to the unthankful, says God himself; which is a degree of goodness, in which God seldom is, nay, in which God scarce looks to be imitated, to be kind to the unthankful.

But if the whole space to the firmament were filled with sand, and we had before us Clavius's number, how many thousands would be; if all that space were filled with water, and so joined the waters above with the waters below the firmament, and we had the number of all those drops of water; and then had every single sand, and every single drop multiplied by the whole number of both, we were still short of numbering the benefits of God, as God; but then, of God in Christ, infinitely, superinfinitely short. To have been once nothing, and to be now co-heir with the Son of God, is such a circle, such a compass, as that no revolutions in this world, to rise from the lowest to the highest, or to fall from the highest to the lowest, can be called or thought any segment, any arch, any point in respect of this circle; to have once been nothing, and now to be coheirs with the Son of God: that Son of God, who if there had been but one soul to have been saved, would have died for that; nay, if all souls had been to be saved, but one, and that that only had sinned, he would not have contented himself with all the rest, but would have died for

21 Luke vi. 35,

that. And there is the goodness, the liberality of our King, our God, our Christ, our Jesus.

But we must look upon this liberality, as our prophet leads us, in the magistrate too, that is, in this part, the minister. As I have received mercy, I am one of them, as St. Paul speaks. And why should I deliver out this mercy to others, in a scanter measure, than I have received it myself from God? Why should I deliver out his talents in single farthings? Or his gomers in narrow and shallow thimbles? Why should I default from his general propositions, and against all grammar, and all dictionaries, call his omnes, his all, a few? Why should I lie to the Holy Ghost, (as St. Peter charges Ananias2), Soldest thou the land for so much? Yea, for so much. Did God make heaven for so few? yes, for so few. Why should I say so? If we will constitute a place for heaven above, and a place for hell below, even the capacity of the place will yield an argument, that God, (as we can consider him in his first meaning) meant more should be saved than cast away. As oft as God tells us, of painful ways, and narrow gates, and of camels, and needles, all that is done to sharpen an industry in all, not to threaten an impossibility to any. If God would not have all, why took he me? And if he were sorry he had taken me, or were wearied with the sins of my youth, why did he not let me slide away, in the change of sins in mine age, or in my sinful memory of old sins, or in my sinful sorrow that I could not continue in those sins, but still make his mercies new to me every morning? My King, my God in Christ, is liberal to all; he bids us, his officers, his ministers, to be so too; and I am; even thus far; if any man doubt his salvation, if any man think himself too great a sinner to attain salvation, let him repent, and take mine for his; with any true repentant sinner, I will change states; for, God knows his repentance, (whether it be true or no) better than I know mine.

Therefore doth the prophet here, promise this liberality, as in the King, in Christ, and in the magistrate, the minister; so in the people too, in every particular soul. He cries to us, his ministers, Consolamini, consolamini 23, Comfort, O comfort my people, and he cries to every one of you, Miserere animæ tuæ,

Have mercy upon thine own soul24, and I will commiserate it too; be liberal to thyself, and I will bear thee out in it. God asks, Quid potui, What could have been done more to my vineyards? Do but tell him, and he will do that. Tell him, that

he can remove this damp from thy heart; tell him, as though thou wouldst have it done, and he will do it. Tell him, that he can bring tears into thine eyes, and then, wipe all tears from thine eyes; and he will do both. Tell him, that he did as much for David, as thou needest; that he came later to the thief upon the cross, than thou puttest him to; and David's transtulit peccatum, shall be transferred upon thee, and that thief's hodie mecum eris, shall waft, and guard, and convey thy soul thither. Think not thy God a false God, that bids me call thee, and means not that thou hear; nor an impotent God, that would save thee, but that there is a decree in the way; nor a cruel God, that made thee, to damn thee, that he might laugh at thy destruction. Thy King, thy Christ, is a liberal God; his officers, his ministers, by his instructions, declare plentiful redemption; be liberal to thyself, in the apprehension and application thereof, and by these liberal things, we shall all stand.

It destroys

The King himself stands by it, Christ himself. the nature, the office, the merit of Christ himself, to make his redemption so penurious, so illiberal. We, his officers, his ministers, stand by it. It overthrows the credit, and evacuates the purpose of our employment, and our ministry, if we must offer salvation to the whole congregation, and must not be believed, that he that sends it, means it. The people, every particular soul stands by it. For, if he cannot believe God, to have been more liberal to him, than he hath been to any other man, he is in an ill case, because he knows more ill by himself, than he can know by any other man. Believe therefore liberal purposes in thy God; accept liberal propositions from his ministers; and apply them liberally, and cheerfully to thine own soul; for, The liberal man deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things he shall stand.

364

SERMON LXXVI.

PREACHED TO THE EARL OF CARLISLE, AND HIS COMPANY, AT SION.

MARK XVI. 16.

He that believeth not, shall be damned.

THE first words that are recorded in the Scriptures, to have been spoken by our Saviour, are those which he spoke to his father and mother, then when they had lost him at Jerusalem, How is it that you sought me? Knew ye not that I must be about my Father's business'? And the last words, which are in this evangelist recorded to have been spoken by him, to his apostles, are then also, when they were to lose him in Jerusalem, when he was to depart out of their presence, and set himself in the heavenly Jerusalem, at the right hand of his Father: of which last words of his, this text is a part. In his first words, those to his father and mother, he doth not rebuke their care in seeking him, nor their tenderness in sceking him, (as they told him they did) with heavy hearts: but he lets them know, that, if not the band of nature, nor the reverential respect due to parents, then no respect in the world should hold him from a diligent proceeding in that work which he came for, the advancing the kingdom of God in the salvation of mankind. In his last words to his apostles, he doth not discomfort them by his absence, for he says, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world: but he encourageth them to a cheerful undertaking of their great work, the preaching of the Gospel to all nations, by many arguments, many inducements, of which, one of the weightiest is, that their preaching of the Gospel was not like to be uneffectual, because he had given them the sharpest spur, and the strongest bridle upon mankind; Præmium et pænam, authority to reward the obedient, and authority to punish the rebellious and refractory man; he put into their hands the double key of heaven, and of hell; power to convey to the believer salvation, and upon him that believed not,