The first of these is the knowledge of distinction of persons, and so of the Trinity. Principale munus scientiæ est, cognoscere Trinitatem, saith Origen: The principal use and office of my knowledge, is to know the Trinity; for, to know an unity in the Godhead, that there is but one God, natural reason serves our turn; and to know a creation of the world of nothing, reason serves us too; we know by reason, that either neither of them is infinite, if there be two Gods, (and then neither of them can be God) or if both be infinite, which is an impossibility, one of them ⚫ is superfluous, because whatsoever is infinite, can alone extend to all. So also we can collect infallibly, that if the world were not made of nothing, yet that of which the world shall be pretended to have been made of, must have been made of nothing, or else it must be something eternal, and uncreated; and whatsoever is so, must necessarily be God itself. To be sure of those two, an unity in the Godhead, and a creation of the world, I need no Scriptures; but to know this distinction of persons, that the Son is in the Father, I need the Scriptures, and I need more than the Scriptures, I need this Pentecost, this coming, this illustration of the Holy Ghost, to inspire a right understanding of these Scriptures into me. For, if this knowledge might be had without Scriptures, why should not the heathen believe the Trinity, as well as I, since they lack no natural faculties which Christians have? And if the Scriptures themselves, without the operation of the Holy Ghost, should bring this clearness, why should not the Jews and the Arians conform themselves to this doctrine of the Trinity, as well as I, since they accept those Scriptures, out of which I prove the Trinity to mine own conscience? We must then attend his working in us; we must not admit such a vexation of spirit, as either to vex our spirit, or the spirit of God, by inquiring farther than he hath been pleased to reveal.

If you consider that Christ says here, You shall know that I am in the Father, and doth not say, You shall know how I am in the Father, and this to his apostles themselves, and to the apostles after they were to be filled with the Holy Ghost, which should teach them all truth, it will cut off many perplexing questions, and impertinent answers which have been produced for the expressing of the manner of this generation, and of the distinction

one.

of the persons in the Trinity; you shall know that it is, you shall
not ask how it is. It is enough for a happy subject to enjoy the
sweetness of a peaceable government, though he know not Arcana
Imperii, The ways by which the prince governs; so is it for a
Christian to enjoy the working of God's grace, in a faithful be-
lieving the mysteries of religion, though he inquire not into God's
bed-chamber, nor seek into his unrevealed decrees. It is Odiosa
et exitialis vocula, Quomodo, says Luther, A hateful, a damnable
monosyllable, How, how God doth this or that: for if a man
come to the boldness of proposing such a question to himself, he
will not give over till he find some answer: and then others will
not be content with his answer, but every man will have a several
When the church fell upon the Quomodo in the sacrament,
How, in what manner the body of Christ was there, we see what
an inconvenient answer it fell upon, that it was done by transub-
stantiation; that satisfied not, (as there was no reason it should)
and then they fell upon others, in, sub, and cum, and none could,
none can give satisfaction. And so also have our times, by asking
Quomodo, How Christ descended into hell, produced so many
answers, as that some have thought it no article at all, some have
thought that it is all one thing to have descended into hell, and
to have ascended into heaven, and that it amounts to no more,
than a departing into the state of the dead. But Serrate deposi-
tum, Make much of that knowledge which the Holy Ghost hath
trusted you withal, and believe the rest. No man knows how
his soul came into him; whether by infusion from God, or by a
generation from parents, no man knows so, but that strong argu-
ments will be produced on the other side; and yet no man doubts >
but he hath a soul. No man knows so, as that strong arguments
may not be brought on the other side, how he sees, whether by
reception of species from without, or by emission of beams from
within; and yet no man doubts whether he see or no. The
Holy Ghost shall tell you, when he tells you the most that ever
he shall tell you, in that behalf, that the Son is in the Father,
but he will not tell you how.

Our second portion in this legacy of knowledge, is, That we are in Christ; and this is the mystery of the incarnation. For since

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* the devil had so surprised us all, as to take mankind all in one lump, in a corner, in Adam's loins, and poisoned us all there in the fountain, in the root, Christ, to deliver us as entirely, took all mankind upon him, and so took every one of us, and the nature, ⚫ and the infirmities, and the sins, and the punishment of every singular man. So that the same pretence which the devil hath against every one of us, you are mine, for you sinned in Adam, we have also for our discharge, we are delivered, for we paid our debt in Christ Jesus. In all his tentations, send him to look upon the records of that process, of Christ's passion, and he shall find there, the names of all the faithful recorded: that such a day, that day when Christ died, I, and you, and all that shall be saved, suffered, died, and were crucified, and in Christ Jesus satisfied God the Father, for those infinite sins which we had committed and now, second death, which is damnation, hath no more title to any of the true members of his mystical body, than corruption upon natural, or violent death, could have upon the members of his natural body.

The assurance of this grows from the third part of this knowledge, That Christ is in us; for that is such a knowledge of Christ's general redemption of mankind, as that it is also an application of it to us in particular. For, for his incarnation, by which we are in him, that may have given a dignity to our human nature; but Quæ beneficiorum magnitudo fuisset erga nos, si hominem solummodo, quem assumpserat, salvaret1? What great

benefit (however the dignity had been great to all mankind) had mankind had, if Christ had saved no more than that one person whom he assumed? The largeness and bounty of Christ is, to give us of his best treasure, knowledge, and to give us most at last, to know Christ in me. For, to know that he is in his Father, this may serve me to convince another, that denies the Trinity; to know that we are in Christ, so as that he took our nature, this may show me an honour done to us, more than the angels; but what gets a lame wretch at the pool, how sovereign soever the water be, if no body put him in? What gets a naked beggar by knowing that a dead man hath left much to pious uses,

if the executors take no knowledge of him? What get I by my knowledge of Christ in the Father, and of us in Christ so, if I find not Christ in me?

How then is Christ in us? Here the question De modo, How it is, is lawful: for he hath revealed it to us. It is, by our obedience to his inspiration, and by our reverent use of those visible means, which he hath ordained in his church, his word and sacraments: as our flesh is in him, by his participation thereof, so his flesh is in us, by our communication thereof; and so is his divinity in us, by making us partakers of his divine nature, and by making us one spirit with himself, which he doth at this Pentecost, that is, whensoever the Holy Ghost visits us with his effectual grace for this is an union, in which, Christ in his purpose hath married himself to our souls, inseparably, and Sine solutione vinculi, Without any intention of divorce on his part: but if we will separate him à mensa et toro, If either we take the bed of licentiousness, or the board of voluptuousness, or if when we eat or drink, or sleep or wake, we do not all to the glory of God, if we separate, he will divorce.

If then we be thus come to this knowledge, let us make Ex scientia conscientiam, Enlarge science into conscience: for, Conscientia est syllogismus practicus, Conscience is a syllogism that comes to a conclusion; then only hath a man true knowledge, when he can conclude in his own conscience, that his practice, and conversation hath expressed it. Who will believe that we know there is a ditch, and know the danger of falling into it, and drowning in it, if he see us run headlong towards it, and fall into it, and continue in it? Who can believe, that he that separates himself from Christ, by continuing in his sin, hath any knowledge, or sense, or evidence, or testimony of Christ's being in him? As Christ proceeds by enlarging thy knowledge, and making thee wiser and wiser, so enlarge thy testimony of it, by growing better and better, and let him that is holy, be more holy. If thou have passed over the first heats of the day, the wantonnesses of youth, and the second heat, the fire of ambition, if these be quenched in thee, by preventing grace, or by repenting grace, be more and more holy, for thine age will meet another sin of covetousness, or of indevotion, that needs as much resistance. God staid not in

any less degree of knowledge towards thee, than in bringing himself to thee; do not thou stay by the way neither; not in the consideration of God alone, for that Cæli enarrant, all creatures declare it; stay not at the Trinity; every coming to church, nay thy first being brought to church, at thy baptism, is, and was a profession of that; stay not at the incarnation; that the devil knows, and testifies: but come to know that Christ is in thee, and express that knowledge in a sanctified life: for though he be in us all, in the work of his redemption, so as that he hath poured out balm enough in his blood, to spread over all mankind, yet only he can enjoy the cheerfulness of this unction, and the inseparableness of this union, who, (as St. Augustine pursues this contemplation) Habet in memoria, et servat in vita, who always remembers that he stands in the presence of Christ, and behaves himself worthy of that glorious presence; Qui habet in sermonibus, et sercat in operibus, That hath Christ always at his tongue's end, and always at his fingers' ends, that loves to discourse of him, and to act his discourses; Qui habet audiendo, et servat faciendo, That hears God's will here in his house, and does his will at home in his own house; Qui habet faciendo, et servat persererando, who having done well from the beginning, perseveres in well doing to the end, he, and he only shall find Christ in him.

SERMON XXIX.

PREACHED AT ST. PAUL'S, UPON WHITSUNDAY, 1629.

GENESIS. i. 2.

And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

THE church of God celebrates this day the third person of the holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is the God, the spirit of comfort; a comforter; not one amongst others, but the Comforter; not the principal, but the