325 SERMON CXXX. PREACHED AT ST. DUNSTAN'S UPON NEW-YEAR'S DAY, 1624. GENESIS XVii. 24. Abraham himself was ninety-nine years old, when the foreskin of his THIS is the place where circumcision began, and this is the day, when circumcision ended; in this Scripture it was instituted, in the person of Abraham; and upon this day it was perfected and consummated in the person of Christ Jesus: for, though circumcision were admitted in a few cases, in the apostles' time, after Christ, yet that was, as dead herbs are re-admitted into medicines in the winter, when fresh and green herbs cannot be had of that kind so circumcision was sometimes admitted for peace, and to avoid scandal, and the better to propagate the church, after the virtue thereof was extinguished in Christ. In the institution thereof in this text, we will consider Abraham's ready, and exact obedience: in the consummation thereof, in the person of Christ, we will consider that, to which, this circumcision had relation, that is, the spiritual circumcision of our hearts. It is a text well handled, and it is a day well spent, if the text teach us to obey God readily, and immediately, what inconveniences soever present themselves in the way, and if the celebration of the day, teach us to come this day, to that which is the true circumcision, the circumcision of the heart. In the first, in Abraham's example, we shall pass by these steps: first, that though there be allowed to us an omnia probate, a trial of all things, and a spirit to discern spirits; yet when once it appears to us, to be a commandment of God, there is a fine levied, all title concluded, no more claim to be made by our understanding, our reason, but a present, and an exact obedience must be given to it. Secondly, that in particular men, and in particular cases, there may arise temptations, objections, reasons, why a man might forbear altogether, or at least defer the execution of such a commandment, as there may have done in Abraham's case, as we shall see anon. Thirdly, that though such temptations do arise in us out of our infirmities, yet God gives his children strength to overcome those difficulties, and to oppose stronger reasons against those reasons, and so to come to a willing obedience to his will. And then lastly, the triumph that belongs to this victory; which we shall find in considering what benefit Abraham received by this obedience in his circumcision: and these will be the branches of our first part, rising out of the institution of circumcision, in the person of Abraham at that great age, first, that God's manifest will, must not be disputed, nor reasoned upon: secondly, that man's corrupt nature will offer reasons against it: thirdly, that God will give the issue with the temptation, reason above that reason and lastly, he will accompany that victory, with other blessings too. First then, for our exact obedience to that which God exacts of us, it is well said by Luther, Depuerascendum est, cum agitur de obedientia Dei: when the question is, whether this, or this be commanded by God or no, when traditions and additions of men, are imposed upon us, as commandments of God, here is no depuerascendum in this case, this is no child's-play; then, Viriliter agendum, (as the apostle speaks) we must quit ourselves like men, we must dispute like men, (like learned men) preach like men, (like zealous men) pray like men, (like devout men) resist like men, (like valiant men) or at least, (in cases where we may not resist) suffer like men, (like constant Christian men.) But when the question is, De obedientia Dei, that this is agreed to be the will of God, and all the question is, whether God might not be content to accept an obedience to some part of it, or to all of that hereafter, but not now, whether God would not forgive the debt, or at least give day for the payment of it; either when we are old, or by legacies to pious uses, when we die, when this is the question, Depuerascendum est, we must grow children again: we must not only, not argue, not dispute against it (which are acts of men, of strong and able understandings) but we must return to the first weakness of children, to be speechless, to be thoughtless; we must not utter a word, not conceive a thought against it, Periculosa et pestilens quæstio, quare; says Luther also, It is a dangerous and infectious monosyllable, how or why: if I will ask a reason, why God commands such a thing; first, Periculosum est, It is dangerous; for, I have nothing to answer me, but mine own reason, and that affords not lead enough, nor line enough, to sound the depth of God's proceedings, nor length enough, nor strength enough to reach so far, and therefore I may mistake the reason, and go upon false grounds. So, Periculosum est, It is a dangerous question, and a lost question, because I can have no certain answer; and it is an infectious question too, for here is one coal of the devil's fire, of his pride, kindled in me; as the devil said, Similis ero altissimo, I will be like the Highest, and see whether I may not stand by myself, without any influence from God, without any dependence upon God: so, in our case, I will be so far equal to God, as that I will measure his actions by my reason, and not do his commandments till I know why he commanded them: and then, when the infection is got into a house, who can say, it shall end here in this person, and kill no more; or it shall end this week, and last no longer? So if that infectious inquisition, that quare, (why should God command this or this particular?) be entered into me, all my humility is presently infected, and I shall look for a reason, why God made a world, or why he made a world no sooner than six thousand years ago, and why he saved some, and why but some, and I shall examine God upon all the interrogatories that I can frame, upon the creed, (why I should believe a Son of a Virgin without a man, or believe the Son of God to descend into hell) or frame upon the Pater noster, (why I should worship such a God, that must be prayed to, not to lead me into temptation) or frame upon the Ten Commandments, why after all is done and heaped, for any sinful action, yet I should be guilty of all, for coveting in my heart another man's horse or house. And therefore Luther pursues it farther, with words of more vehemence, Odiosa et exitialis vocula, quare, It is an execrable and damnable monosyllable, why; it exasperates God, ruins us: for, when we come to ask a reason of his actions, either we doubt of the goodness of God, that he is not so careful of us, as we would be; or of his power, that he cannot provide for us, so well as we could do; or of his wisdom, that he hath not grounded his commandments so well as we could have advised him: whereas St. Augustine says justly, Qui rationem quærit voluntatis Dei, aliquid majus Deo quærit, He that seeks a reason of the will of God, seeks for something greater than God. It was the devil that opened our eyes in paradise, it is our parts to shut them so far, as not to gaze upon God's secret purposes. God guided his children as well by a pillar of cloud, as by a pillar of fire, and both, cloud and fire, were equally pillars: there is as much strength in, and as safe relying upon some ignorances, as some knowledges; for God provided for his people, as well in this, that he hid Moses' body from them, as that he revealed other mysteries to them, by him. All is well summed and collected by St. Augustine, Dominus cur jusserit, viderit; faciendum est à serviente, quod jusserit: Why God commands anything, God himself knows; our part is, not to inquire why, but to do what he commands. This is the rule: it is true, there should not be but yet is there not sometimes, in the minds and mouths of good and godly men, a quare, a reasoning, a disputing against that which God hath commanded or done? The murmuring of the children in the desert, had still this Quare, quare eduxisti, Wherefore have you brought us hither to die here, in this miserable place, where there is no seed, no figs, no vines, no pomegranates, no water1? Saul had this quare, this rebellious inquisition, upon that commandment of God against the Amalekites, Slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass2: and from this quare, from this disputation of his, arose that conclusion, that it were better to spare some for sacrifice, than to destroy all: but though his pretence had a religious colour, that would not justify a slackness in obeying the manifested will of God; for, for this, God repented that he made him king, and told him that he had more pleasure in obedience, than in sacrifice. But, to come to better men than the Israelites in the wilderness, or Saul in his government, Job, though he, and his friends held out long, (they sate upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spoke a word) yet at last fell into these quares, Why did I not die in the birth? or, Why sucked I the breast? Peter himself had this reluctation; and though that were out of piety, yet he was chidden for it, Quare lavas, says he, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Thou 1 Numb. xx. 5. 2 1 Sam. xv. 3. shalt never wash my feet3: till Christ was fain to say, If I wash thee not, thou shalt have no part with me. Upon this common infirmity; inherent in the best men that may (and not unlikely) be, that when God commanded Abraham, at that great age to circumcise himself, there might arise such quares, such scruples and doubts, as there, in Abraham's mind, (for, as St. Paul says of himself, If any man think he hath whereof to trust in the flesh, much more I, circumcised, an Hebrew, an Israelite, a Pharisee, a zealous servant in the persecution, and in righteousness unblameable*:) so if any man might have taken this liberty to have disputed with God, upon his precepts, Abraham might have done it; for, when God called him out to number the stars', (which was, even to art, impossible) and promised him, that his seed should equal them, (which was, in nature, incredible) for all this incredibility and impossibility, Abraham believed, and this was accounted to him for righteousness: and Abraham had declared his easy, and forward, and implicit faith in God, when God called him, and he went out, not knowing whither he went": and therefore when God offered him a new seal, circumcision, Abraham might have said, Quare sigillum? What needs a seal between thee and me? I have used to take thy word before, and thou hast tried me before: but Abraham knew that obedience was better than wit or disputation; for, though obedience and good works, do not beget faith, yet they nurse it; Per ea augescit fides, et pinguescit, says Luther, Our faith grows into a better state, and into a better liking, by our good works. Again, when Abraham considered, that it was, mandatum in re turpi, that this circumcision, in itself, was too frivolous a thing; and, in that part of the body, too obscene a thing, to be brought into the fancy of so many women, so many young men, so many strangers to other nations, as might bring the promise and covenant itself into scorn, and into suspicion, that should require such a seal to it as that was, he might have come to this, Quare tam turpe, quare tam sordidum? Why does God command me so base and unclean a thing, so scornful and mis-interpretable a thing, as circumcision, and circumcision in that part? Again, when he considered, that 3 John xiii. 6. 4 Phil. iii. 4, 5, 6, 3 Gen, xv, 5, 6 Heb. xi. 8. |