482 SERMON CXXXIX. PREACHED TO THE HOUSEHOLD AT WHITEHALL, APRIL 30, 1626. MATTHEW ix. 13. I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. SOME things the several evangelists record severally, one, and no more. St. Matthew, and none but St. Matthew, records Joseph's jealousy and suspicion', that his wife Mary had been in a fault, before her marriage; and then his temper withal, not frequent in that distemper of jealousy, not to exhibit her to open infamy for that fault; and yet his holy discretion too, not to live with a woman faulty that way, but to take some other occasion, and to put her away privily in which, we have three elements of a wise husband; first, not to be utterly without all jealousy and providence, and so expose his wife to all trials, and temptations, and yet not to be too apprehensive and credulous, and so expose her to dishonour and infamy; but yet not to be so indulgent to her faults, when they were true faults, as by his connivance, and living with her, to make her faults, his: and all this we have out of that which St. Matthew records, and none but he. St. Mark, and none but St. Mark records, that story, of Christ's recovering a dumb man, and almost deaf, of both infirmities in which, when we see, that our Saviour Christ, though he could have recovered that man with a word, with a touch, with a thought, yet was pleased to enlarge himself in all those ceremonial circumstances, of imposition of hands, of piercing his ears with his fingers, of wetting his tongue with spittle, and some others, we might thereby be instructed, not to under-value such ceremonies as have been instituted in the church, for the awakening of men's consideration, and the exalting of their devotion; though those ceremonies, primarily, naturally, originally, fundamentally, and merely in themselves, be not absolutely and essentially necessary: and this we have from that which is recorded by St. Mark, and none but him. St. Luke, and none but St. Luke, records the * Mark vii. 33. 1 Matt. i. 19. ally come; and then, venit sponte, he is come freely, and of his goodwill; we assign, we imagine no cause in us, that should invite him to come, but humbly acknowledge all to have proceeded from his own goodness: and that is the action, he came. And then the errand, and purpose for which he came, is cocare, he came to call: it is not, occurrere, that he came to meet them, who were upon the way before; for no man had either disposition in himself, or faculty in himself, neither will nor power to rise and meet him, no nor so much as to wish that Christ would call him, till he did call him: he came not occurrere, to meet us; but yet he came not cogere, to compel us, to force us, but only vocare, to call us, by his word, and sacraments, and ordinances, and lead us so; and that is his errand, and purpose in coming. And from that, we shall come to the persons upon whom his coming work where we have first a negative, a fearful thing in Christ's lips; and then an affirmative, a blessed seal in his mouth first, an exclusive, a fearful banishment out of his ark; and then an inclusive, a blessed naturalization in his kingdom: Non justos, I came to call, not the righteous, but sinners. And then lastly, we have, not as before, his general intention and purpose, to call; but the particular effect and operation of this calling upon the godly, it brings them to repentance. Christ does not call us to a satisfaction of God's justice, by ourselves; that is impossible to us: it is not ad satisfactionem; but then it is not ad gloriam, he does not call us to an immediate possession of glory, without doing any thing before; but it is Ad resipiscentiam; I came to call, not the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. And so have you the whole frame marked out, which we shall set up; and the whole compass designed, which we shall walk in: in which, though the pieces may seem many, yet they do so naturally flow out of one another, that they may easily enter into your understanding; and so naturally depend upon one another, that they may easily lay hold upon your memory. : First then, our first branch in the first part, is, that Christ justified feasting, festival and cheerful conversation. For, as St. Ambrose says, frustra fecisset, God, who made the world primarily for his own glory, had made light in vain, if he had made no creatures to see, and to be seen by that light, wherein he might our nature, and working our salvation in that, the Holy Ghost hath recorded, and repeated this protestation of our Saviour's, I came to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Which words, being spoken by Christ, upon occasion of the Pharisees murmuring at his admitting of publicans and sinners to the table with him, at that feast which St. Matthew made him, at his house, soon after his calling to the apostleship, direct our consideratiou upon the whole story, and do, not afford but require, not admit but invite this distribution; that, first, we consider the occasion of the words, and then the words themselves: for of these twins is this text pregnant, and quick, and easily delivered. In the first, we shall see the pertinency of Christ's answer; and in the second, the doctrine thereof: in the first, how fit it was for them; in the other, how necessary for us: first, the historical part, which was occasional; and then the catechistical part, which is doctrinal. And in the first of these, the historical and occasional part, we shall see, first, that Christ by his personal presence justified feasting, somewhat more than was merely necessary, for society, and cheerful conversation: he justified feasting, and feasting in an apostle's house: though a churchman, and an exemplar man, he was not deprived of a plentiful use of God's creatures, nor of the cheerfulness of conversation. And then he justified feasting in the company of publicans and sinners; intimating therein, that we must not be in things of ordinary conversation, over-curious, over-inquisitive of other men's manners: for whatsoever their manners be, a good man need not take harm by them, and he may do good amongst them. And then lastly, we shall see the calumny that the Pharisees cast upon Christ for this, and the iniquity of that calumny, both in the manner, and in the matter thereof. And in these branches we shall determine that first, the historical, the occasional part: and in the second, the catechistical and doctrinal, (I came to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance) we shall pass by these steps: first, we shall see the actions; venit, he came; that is, first, venit actu: whereas he came by promise, even in Paradise; and by frequent ratification, in all the prophets; now he is really, actually come; venit, he is come, we look for no other after him; we join no other, angels nor saints, with him: cenit, he is actu : ally come; and then, venit sponte, he is come freely, and of his goodwill; we assign, we imagine no cause in us, that should invite him to come, but humbly acknowledge all to have proceeded from his own goodness: and that is the action, he came. And then the errand, and purpose for which he came, is vocare, he came to call it is not, occurrere, that he came to meet them, who were upon the way before; for no man had either disposition in himself, or faculty in himself, neither will nor power to rise and meet him, no nor so much as to wish that Christ would call him, till he did call him: he came not occurrere, to meet us; but yet he came not cogere, to compel us, to force us, but only vocare, to call us, by his word, and sacraments, and ordinances, and lead us so; and that is his errand, and purpose in coming. And from that, we shall come to the persons upon whom his coming work where we have first a negative, a fearful thing in Christ's lips; and then an affirmative, a blessed seal in his mouth first, an exclusive, a fearful banishment out of his ark; and then an inclusive, a blessed naturalization in his kingdom: Non justos, I came to call, not the righteous, but sinners. And then lastly, we have, not as before, his general intention and purpose, to call; but the particular effect and operation of this calling upon the godly, it brings them to repentance. Christ does not call us to a satisfaction of God's justice, by ourselves; that is impossible to us: it is not ad satisfactionem; but then it is not ad gloriam, he does not call us to an immediate possession of glory, without doing any thing before; but it is Ad resipiscentiam; I came to call, not the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. And so have you the whole frame marked out, which we shall set up; and the whole compass designed, which we shall walk in: in which, though the pieces may seem many, yet they do so naturally flow out of one another, that they may easily enter into your understanding; and so naturally depend upon one another, that they may easily lay hold upon your memory. First then, our first branch in the first part, is, that Christ justified feasting, festival and cheerful conversation. For, as St. Ambrose says, frustra fecisset, God, who made the world primarily for his own glory, had made light in vain, if he had made no creatures to see, and to be seen by that light, wherein he might receive glory: so, frustra fecisset, God, who intended secondarily man's good in the creation, had made creatures to no purpose, if he had not allowed man a use, and an enjoying of those creatures. Our mythologists, who think they have conveyed a great deal of moral doctrine in their poetical fables, (and so indeed they have) had mistaken the matter much, when they make it one of the torments of hell, to stand in a fresh river, and not be permitted to drink; and amongst pleasant fruits, and not to be suffered to eat; as if God required such a forbearing, such an abstemiousness in man, as that being set to rule and govern the creatures, he might not use and enjoy them: privileges are lost, by abusing; but so they are, by not using too. Of those three opinions, which have all passed through good authors, whether, before the flood had impaired and corrupted the herbs and fruits of the earth, men did eat flesh or no; of which, the first is absolutely negative, both in matter of law, and in matter of fact, no man might, no man did; and the second is directly contrary to this, affirmative in both, all men might, all men did; and the third goes a middle way, it was always lawful, and all men might, but sober and temperate men did forbear, and not do it: of these three, though the latter have prevailed with those authors, and be the common opinion; yet the latter part of that latter opinion, would very hardly fall into proof, that all their sober and temperate men did forbear this eating of flesh, or any lawful use of God's creatures, God himself took his portion in this world so, in meat and drink, in his manifold sacrifices; and God himself gave himself in this world so, in bread and wine, in the blessed sacrament of his body and his blood: and the very joys of heaven after the resurrection, are conveyed to us also, in the marriage-supper of the Lamb. That mensa laqueus, which is in the Psalm3, is a curse: Let their table be made a snare, let their plenty and prosperity be an occasion of sin to them, that is a malediction: but for that mensa propositionum, the table of shewbread, where those blessings which God had given to man, were brought again, and presented in his sight, upon that table; the loaves were great in quantity, and many in number, and often renewed: God gives plentifully, richly, and will be served so himself. In all those |