Sermon XXIX

SERMON XXIX.
Preached At St. Pauvs, Upon f^HitsuNDAv, 1629.

Genesis, i. 2.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.'

The church of Gdd celebrates this day the third person of the holy, blessed, arid 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 entire, the only comforter; and more than all ^rthat, the comfort itself. That is an attribute of the Holy Ghost, comfort; and then the office of the Holy Ghost is to gather, to establish, to illumine, to govern that church which the Son of God, from whom together with the Father, the Holy Ghost proceeds, hath purchased with his blood. So that, as the Holy Ghost is the Comforter, so is this comfort exhibited by him to us, and exercised by him upon us, in this especially, that he hath gathered us, established us, illumined us, and does govern us, as members of that body, of which Christ Jesus is the head; that he hath brought us, and bred us, and fed us with the means of salvation, in his application of the merits of Christ to our souls, in the ordinances of the church.

In this text is the first mention of this third person of the Trinity; and it is the first mention of any distinct person in the Godhead; in the first verse, there is an intimation of the Trinity, in that Bara Elohim, that Gods, Gods in the plural are said to have made heaven, and earth; and then, as the church after having celebrated the memory of all saints, together in that one day, which we call All Saints^'-day, begins in the celebration of particular saints, first with St. Andrew, who first of any applied himself to Christ out of St. John Baptist's school after Christ's baptism; so Moses having given us an intimation of God, and the three persons altogether in that Bara Elohim, before, gives us first notice of this person, the Holy Ghost, in particular, because he applies to us the mercies of the Father, and the merits of the Son, and moves upon the face of the waters, and actuates, and fecundates our souls, and generates that knowledge, and that comfort, which we have in the knowledge of God. Now the moving of the Holy Ghost upon the face of the waters in this text, cannot be literally understood of his working upon man; for man was not yet made; but when man is made, that is, made the man of God in Christ; there, in that new creation, the Holy Ghost begins again, with a new moving upon the face of the waters in the Sacrament of Baptism, which is the conception of a Christian in the womb of the church.

Therefore we shall consider these words, And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters; first, literally in the first, and then spiritually in the second creation; first how the Holy Ghost moved upon the face of the waters in making this world for us, and then how he moves upon the face of the waters again, in making us for the other world. In which two several parts we shall consider these three terms in our text, both in the macrocosm, and microcosm, the great and the lesser world, man extended in the world, and the world contracted, and abridged into man; first, Quid Spiritus Dei? what this power, or this person, which is here called the Spirit of God, is, for whether it be a power, or a person, hath been diversely disputed; and secondly, Quid ferebatur? what this action, which is here called a moving, was; for whether a motion, or a rest, an agitation, or an incubation, of that power, or that person, hath been disputed too; and lastly, Quid super faciem aquarum? what the subject of this action, the face of the waters, was; for, whether it were a stirring, and an awakening of a power that was naturally in those waters, to produce creatures, or whether it were an infusing a new power, which till then those waters had not, hath likewise been disputed. And in these three, the person, the action, the subject, considered twice over, in the creation first, and in our regeneration in the Christian church after, we shall determine all that is necessary for the literal, and for the spiritual sense of these words, And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

First then, undertaking the consideration of the literal sense, and after, of the spiritual, we join with St. AugustineSint castrn deliciw mew Scripturw tuw; Lord I love to be conversant in thy Scriptures, let my conversation with thy Scriptures be a chaste conversation; that I discover no nakedness therein; offer not to touch anything in thy Scriptures, but that, that thou hast vouchsafed to unmask, and manifest unto me: Nec faliar in eis, nec fallam ex eis; Lord, let not me mistake the meaning of thy Scriptures, nor mislead others, by imputing a false sense to them. Non frustra scribuntur, says he⁴, Lord, thou hast writ nothing to no purpose; thou wouldst be understood in all: but not in all, by all men, at all times; Confiteor tibi quicquid invenero in libris tuis; Lord, I acknowledge that I receive from thee, whatsoever I understand in thy word; for else I do not understand it. This that blessed father meditates upon the word of God; he speaks

¹ Aug. Conf, xi. 2, ⁸ Ibid.

of this beginning of the book of Genesis; and he speaks lamenting, Scripsit Moses et abiit, a little Moses hath said, and alas he is gone; Si hic esset, tenerem eum, et per te rogarem, If Moses were here, I would hold him here, and beg of him, for thy sake to tell me thy meaning in his words, of this creation. But says he, since I cannot speak with Moses, Te, quo plenus vera dixit, veritas, rogo, I beg of thee who art truth itself, as thou enabledest him to utter it, enable me to understand what he hath said. So difficult a thing seemed it to that intelligent Father, to understand this history, this mystery of the creation. But yet though he found, that divers senses offered themselves, he did not doubt of finding the truth: for, Deus meus lumen oculorum meorum in occulto, says he, 0 my God, the light of mine eyes, in this dark inquisition, since diverse senses, arise out of these words, and all true, Quid mihi obest, si aliud ego sensero, quam sensit alius, eum sensisse, qui scripsit? What hurt follows, though I follow another sense, than some other man takes to be Moses' sense? for his may be a true sense, and so may mine, and neither be Moses'. He passes from prayer, and protestation, to counsel, and direction; In diversitate sententiarum verarum, concordiam pariat ipsa Veritas, Where diverse senses arise, and all true, (that is, that none of them oppose the truth) let truth agree them. But what is truth? God; and what is God? Charity; therefore let charity reconcile such differences. Legitime lege utamur, says he, let us use the law lawfully; let us use our liberty of reading Scriptures according to the law of liberty; that is, charitably to leave others to their liberty, if they but differ from us, and not differ from fundamental truths.

Si quis quwrat ex me, quid horum Moses senserit, If any man ask me, which of these, which may be all true, Moses meant, Non sunt sermones isti confessiones, Lord, says he, that this I say is not said by way of confession, as I intend it should, if I do not freely confess, that I cannot tell, which Moses meant; but yet I can tell, that this that I take to be his meaning is true; and that is enough. Let him that finds a true sense of any place, rejoice in it, let him that does not beg it of thee, JJt quid mihi molestus est? Why should any man press me, to give him the true sense of Moses here, or of the Holy Ghost, in any dark place of Scripture? Ego illuminem ullum hominem, wnientem in mundum? says he³; Is that said of me, that I am the light, that enlightened every man⁴, any man, that comes into this world? So far I will go, says he, so far will we, in his modesty and humility accompany him, as still to propose, Quod luce veritatis, quod fruge utilitatis excellit, such a sense as agrees with other truths, that are evident in other places of Scripture, and such a sense as may conduce most to edification. For to those two, does that heavenly Father reduce the four elements, that make up a right exposition of Scripture; which are, first, the glory of God, such a sense as may most advance it; secondly, the analogy of faith, such a sense as may violate no confessed article of religion; and thirdly, exaltation of devotion, such a sense, as may carry us most powerfully upon the apprehension of the next life; and lastly, extension of charity, such a sense, as may best hold us in peace, or reconcile us, if we differ from one another. And within these limits we shall contain ourselves, The glory of God, the analogy of faith, the exaltation of devotion, the extension of charity. In all the rest, that belongs to the explication or application, to the literal, or spiritual sense of these words, And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, to which having stopped a little upon this general consideration, the exposition of dark places, we pass now.

Within these rules we proceed to inquire, who this Spirit of God is, or what it is; whether a power, or a person. The Jews who are afraid of the truth, lest they should meet evidences of the doctrine of the Trinity, and so of the Messias, the Son of God, if they should admit any spiritual sense, admit none, but cleave so close to the letter, as that to them the Scripture becomes Litera occidens, A killing letter, and the savour of death unto death. They therefore, in this Spirit of God, are so far from admitting any person, that is, God, as they admit no extraordinary operation, or virtue proceeding from God in this place; but they take the word here (as in many other places of Scripture it does) to signify only a wind, and then that that addition of the name of God (the Spirit of God) which is in their language a denotation of a vehemency, of a high degree, of a superlative, (as

when it is said of Saul, Sopor Domini, A sleep of God was upon him, it is intended of a deep, a dead sleep) enforces, induces no more but that a very strong wind blew upon the face of the waters, and so in a great part dried them up. And this opinion I should let fly away with the wind, if only the Jews had said it. But Theodoret hath said it too, and therefore we afford it so much answer, That it is a strange anticipation, that wind, which is a mixed meteor, to the making whereof, diverse occasions concur with exhalations, should be thus imagined, before any of these causes of winds were created, or produced, and that there should be an effect before a cause, is somewhat irregular. In Lapland, the witches are said to sell winds to all passengers; but that is but to turn those winds that nature does produce, which way they will; but in our case, the Jews, and they that follow them, dream winds, before any winds, or cause of winds was created; The Spirit of God here cannot be the wind.

It cannot be that neither, which some great men in the Christian church have imagined it to be; Operatio Dei, The power of God working upon the waters, (so some) or, Efficientia Dei, A power by God infused into the waters; so others. And to that St. Augustine comes so near, as to say once in the negative, Spiritus Dei hic, res Dei est, sed non ipse Deus est, The Spirit of God in this place is something proceeding from God, but it is not God himself; and once in the affirmative, Posse esse vitalem creaturam, quw universus mundus movetur; That this Spirit of God may be that universal power, which sustains, and inanimates the whole world, which the Platonics have called the soul of the world, and others intend by the name of Nature, and we do well, if we call the Providence of God.

But there is more of God, in this action, than the instrument of God, Nature, or the viceroy of God, {Providence; for as the person of God, the Son, was in the incarnation, so the person of God, the Holy Ghost, was in this action; though far from that manner of becoming one and the same thing with the waters, which was done in the incarnation of Christ, who became therein perfect man. That this word the Spirit of God, is intended of the person of the Holy Ghost, in other places of Scripture, is evident, undeniable, unquestionable, and that therefore it may be so taken here. Where it is said, The Spirit of God shall rest upon him⁶, (upon the Messiah) where it is said hy himself, The Lord and his Spirit is upon me, and, the Lord and his Spirit hath anointed me, there it is certainly, and therefore here it may be probably spoken of the Holy Ghost personally. It is no impossible sense, it implies no contradiction; it is no inconvenient sense, it offends no other article; it is no new sense; nor can we assign any time, when it was a new sense: the eldest fathers adhere to it, as the ancientest interpretation. St. Basil says not only, Constantissime asseverandum est, We must constantly maintain that interpretation, (for all that might be his own opinion) not only therefore, Quia verius est, (for that might be, but because he found it to be the common opinion of those times) but Quia a majoribus nostris approbatum,- because it is accepted for the true sense, by the ancients; the ancients, says that ancient father Basil; which reason prevails upon St. Ambrose too, Nos cum sanctorum, et fidelium sententia congruentes, We believe, and believe it, because the ancients believed it to be so, that this is spoken generally of the Holy Ghost. St. Basil and St. Ambrose assume it, as granted, St. Hierome disputes it, argues, concludes it, Vi-eificator, ergo Conditor, ergo Deus; This Spirit of God gave life, therefore this Spirit was a Creator; therefore God. St. Augustine prints his seal deep; Secundum quod ego intelligere possum, ita est, as far as my understanding can reach, it is so; and his understanding reached far. But he adds, Nec ullo modo, fyc. Neither can it possibly be otherwise. We cannot tell, whether that poem which is called Genesis, be Tertullian^'s, or Cyprian's; it hath been thought an honour to the learnedest of the fathers, to have been the author of a good poem; in that poem this text is paraphrased thus, Immensusque Deus super wquora vasta meabat; God, God personally moved upon the waters. Truly the later school is (as they have used it) a more poetical part of divinity, than any of the poems of the fathers are, (take in Lactantius's poem of the Phoenix, and all the rest) and for the school, there Aquinas says, Secundum sanctos, intelligimus Spiritum Sanctum, As the holy fathers have done, we also understand this personally of the Holy Ghost.

* Isaiah xi. 2.

To end this, these words do not afford such an argument for the Trinity, or the third person thereof, the Holy Ghost, as is strong enough to convert, or convince a Jew, because it may have another sense; but we, who by God's abundant goodness have otherwise an assurance, and faith in this doctrine, acknowledge all those other places, Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, and they are created", By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens1, and the rest of that kind, to be all but echoes from this voice, returns from Job, and from David, and the rest, of this doctrine of all comfort, first, and betimes delivered from Moses, that there is a distinct person in the Godhead, whose attribute is goodness, whose office is application, whose way is comfort. And so we pass from our first, that it is not only the power of God, but the person of God, to the second, in this branch, his action, ferebatur.

The action of the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, in this place, is expressed in a word, of a double, and very diverse signification; for it signifies motion, and it signifies rest. And therefore, as St. Augustine argues upon those words of David, Thou hiowest my down sitting, and my uprising", That God knew all that he did, between his down sitting and his uprising; so in this word which signifies the Holy Ghost's first motion, and his last rest, we comprehend all that was done in the production, and creation of the creatures. This word, we translate, As the eagle fluttereth over her young ones", so it is a word of motion; and St. Hierome upon our text expresses it by Incubabat, to sit upon, her young ones, to hatch them, or to preserve them, so it is a word of rest. And so, the Jews take this word to signify, properly the birds hatching of eggs. St. Cyprian unites the two significations well, Spiritus Sanctus dabat aquis motum, et limitem; The Holy Ghost enabled the waters to move, and appointed how, and how far they should move. The beginnings, and the ways, and the ends, must proceed from God, and from God the Holy Ghost: That is, by those means, and those declarations, by which God doth manifest himself to us, for that is the office of the Holy Ghost, to manifest and apply God to us. Now the word in our text is not truly ferebatur, the Spirit moved, which denotes a thing past;

° Psal. civ. 30. ⁷ Job xxvi. 13. ⁶ Psal. cxxxix. 2.

⁸ Deut. xxxii. 11. VOL. I. 2 p but the word is movens, moving, a particle of the present; so that we ascribe first God's manifestation of himself in the creation, and then the continual manifestation of himself in his providence, to the Holy Ghost; for God had two purposes in the creation, Ut sint, ut maneant¹⁰, That the creature should be, and be still; that it should exist at first, and subsist after; be made, and made permanent. God did not mean that paradise should have been of so small use when he made it; he made it for a perpetual habitation for man. God did not mean that man should be the subject of his wrath when he made him; he made him to take pleasure in, and to shed glory upon him. The Holy Ghost moves, he is the first author; the Holy Ghost perpetuates, settles, establishes; he is our rest, and acquiescence, and centre; beginning, way, end, all is in this word, Recaph; The Spirit of God moved, and rested. And upon what? And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

St. Augustine observing aright, That at this time, of which this text is spoken, the waters enwrapped all the whole substance, the whole matter, of which all things were to be created, all was surrounded with the waters, all was embowelled, and enwombed in the waters; and so the Holy Ghost moving, and resting upon the face ol the waters, moved, and rested, did his office upon the whole mass of the world, and so produced all that was produced; and this admits no contradiction, no doubt, but that thus the thing was done, and that this, this word implies. But whether the Holy Ghost wrought this production of the several creatures, by himself, or whether he infused, and imprinted a natural power in the waters, and all the substance under the waters, to produce creatures naturally of themselves, hath received some doubt. It need not: for the work ascribed to the Holy Ghost here, is not the working by nature, but the creating, of nature; not what nature did after, but how nature herself was created at first. In this action, this moving, and resting upon the face of the waters, (that is, all involved in the waters) the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, hatched, produced then all those creatures; for no power infused into the waters, or earth then, could have enabled that earth, then to have produced trees with ripe fruits, in an instant,

¹⁰ Augustine.

nor the waters to have brought forth whales, in their growth, in an instant. The Spirit of God produced them then, and established, and conserves ever since, that seminal power which wo call nature, to produce all creatures (then first made by himself) in a perpetual succession.

And so have you these words, And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, literally, historically: and now these three terms, The Spirit of God, moved, upon the face of the waters, you are also to receive in a spiritual sense, in the second world, the Christian church: the person, the action, the subject, the Holy Ghost, and him moving, and moving upon the waters, in our regeneration.

Here, as before, our first term, and consideration, is the name, The Spirit of God; and here God knows, we know too many, even amongst the outward professors of the Christian religion, that in this name, The Spirit of God, take knowledge only of a power of God, and not of a person of God; they say it is the working of God, but not God working. Mira profunditas eloquiorum tnorum"; The waters in the creation, were not so deep as the word of God, that delivers that creation. Ecce, ante nos superficies blandiens pueris, says that father; We, we that are but babes in understanding, as long as we are but natural men, see the superficies, the top, the face, the outside of these waters, Sed mira profunditas, Deus meus, mira profunditas, But it is an infinite depth, Lord, my God, an infinite depth to come to the bottom. The bottom is, to profess, and to feel the distinct working of the three distinct persons of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Mara anima, quw cum de ilia loquitur, sciat quid loquatur^1*, Not one man, not one Christian amongst a thousand, who when he speaks of the Trinity, knows what he himself means. Natural men will write of lands of pigmies, and of lands of giants; and write of phoenixes, and of unicorns; but yet advisedly they do not believe, (at least confidently they do not know) that there are such giants, or such pigmies, such unicorns or phoenixes in the world. Christians speak continually of the Trinity, and the Holy Ghost, but alas, advisedly, they know not what they mean in those names. The most know nothing, for

want of consideration; they that have considered it enough, and spent thoughts enough upon the Trinity, to know as much as needs be known thereof, Contendunt et dimicant, et nemo sine pace vidit istam visionem^1", They dispute, and they wrangle, and they scratch, and wound one another's reputations, and they assist the common enemy of Christianity by their uncharitable differences, Et sine pace, And without peace, and mildness, and love, and charity, no man comes to know the Holy Ghost, who is the God of peace, and the God of love. Da quod amo; amo enim, nam et hoc tu dedistV; I am loath to part from this father, and he is loath to be parted from, for he says this in more than one place; Lord thou hast enamoured me, made me in love; let me enjoy that that I love; that is, the Holy Ghost: that as I feel the power of God (which sense, is a gift of the Holy Ghost) I may without disputing rest in the belief of that person of the Trinity, that that Spirit of God, that moves upon these waters, is not only the power, but a person in the Godhead.

This is the person, without whom there is no Father, no Son of God to me, the Holy Ghost. And his action, his operation is expressed in this word, ferebatur, The Spirit of God moved; which word, as before, is here also a comprehensive word, and denotes both motion, and rest; beginnings, and ways, and ends. We may best consider the motion, the stirring of the Holy Ghost in zeal, and the rest of the Holy Ghost in moderation; if we be without zeal, we have not the motion; if we be without moderation, we have not the rest, the peace of the Holy Ghost. The moving of the Holy Ghost upon me, is, as the moving of the mind of an artificer, upon that piece of work that is then under his hand. A jeweller, if he would make a jewel to answer the form of any flower, or any other figure, his mind goes along with his hand, nay prevents his hand, and he thinks in himself, a ruby will conduce best to the expressing of this, and an emerald of this. The Holy Ghost undertakes every man amongst us, and would make every man fit for God's service, in some way, in some profession; and the Holy Ghost sees, that one man profits most by one way, another by another, and moves their zeal to pursue those ways, and those means, by which, in a rectified con

"C. 11. "Id. 1. 11. 2 and 22

science, they find most profit. And except a man have this sense, what doth him most good, and a desire to pursue that, the Holy Ghost doth not move, nor stir up a zeal in him.

But then if God do afford him the benefit of these his ordinances, in a competent measure for him, and he will not be satisfied with manna, but will needs have quails, that is, cannot make one meal of prayers, except he have a sermon, nor satisfied with his gomer of manna, (with those prayers which are appointed in the church,) nor satisfied with those quails which God sends, (the preaching of solid and fundamental doctrines,) but must have birds of Paradise, unrevealed mysteries out of God's own bosom preached unto him, howsoever the Holy Ghost may seem to have moved, yet he doth not rest upon him; and from the beginning, the office and operation of the Holy Ghost was double; he moved, and rested upon the waters in the creation; he came, and tarried still upon Christ in his baptism: he moves us to a zeal of laying hold upon the means of salvation which God offers us in the church; and he settles us in a peaceful conscience, that by having well used those means, we are made his. A holy hunger and thirst of the word and sacraments, a remorse, and compunction for former sins, a zeal to promote the cause, and glory of God, by word, and deed, this is the motion of the Holy Ghost: and then, to content myself with God's measure of temporal blessings, and for spiritual, that I do serve God faithfully in that calling which I lawfully profess, as far as that calling will admit, (for he, upon whose hand-labour the sustentation of his family depends, may offend God in running after many working-days sermons,) this peace of conscience, this acquiescence of having done that that belongs to me, this is the rest of the Spirit of God. And this motion, and this rest is said to be done super faciem, And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, which is our last consideration.

In the moving of the Spirit of God upon the waters, we told you before, it was disputed, whether the Holy Ghost did immediately produce those creatures of himself, or whether he did fecundate, and inanimate, and enable those substances, (the water, and all contained under the waters,) to produce creatures in their divers specifications. In this moving of the Spirit of God upon the waters, in our regeneration, it hath also been much disputed, how the Holy Ghost works, in producing man's supernatural actions; whether so immediately, as that it be altogether without dependence, or relation to any faculty in man, or man himself have some concurrence, and co-operation therein. There we found, that in the first creation, God wrought otherwise for the production of creatures, than he does now; at first he did it immediately, entirely, by himself; now, he hath delegated, and substituted nature, and imprinted a natural power in everything to produce the like. So in the first act of man's conversion, God may be conceived to work otherwise, than in his subsequent holy actions ; for in the first, man cannot be conceived to do anything, in the rest he may: not that in the rest God does not all; but that God finds a better disposition, and suppleness, and maturity, and mellowing, to concur with his motion in that man, who hath formerly been accustomed to a sense, and good use of his former graces, than in him, who in his first conversion, receives, but then, the first motions of his grace.

But yet, even in the first creation, the Spirit of God did not move upon that nothing, which was before God made heaven and earth: but he moved upon the waters; though those waters had nothing in themselves, to answer his motion, yet he had waters to move upon : though our faculties have nothing in themselves to answer the motions of the Spirit of God, yet upon our faculties the Spirit of God works; and as out of those waters, those creatures did proceed, though not from those waters, so out of our faculties, though not from our faculties, do our good actions proceed too. All in all, is from the love of God; but there is something for God to love; there is a man, there is a soul in that man, there is a will in that soul; and God is in love with this man, and this soul, and this will, and would have it. Non amor ita egenus et indigiis, nt rebus quas diligit subjiciatur, says St. Augustine excellently: the love of God to us is not so poor a love, as our love to one another; that his love to us should make him subject to us, as ours does to them whom we love; but Superfertur, says that father, and our text, he moves above us; he loves us, but with a powerful, a majestical, an imperial, a commanding love; he offers those, whom he makes his, his grace; but so, as he sometimes will not be denied. So the Spirit moves spiritually upon the waters; he comes to the waters, to our natural faculties; but he moves above those waters, he inclines, he governs, he commands those faculties; and this, his motion, upon those waters, we may usefully consider, in some divers applications and assimilations of water, to man, and the divers uses thereof towards man. We will name but a few; baptism, and sin, and tribulation, and death, are called in the Scripture, by that name, waters; and we shall only illustrate that consideration, how this Spirit of God, moves upon these waters, baptism, sin, tribulation, and death, and we have done.

The water of baptism, is the water that runs through all the fathers; all the fathers that had occasion to dive, or dip in these waters (to say anything of them) make these first waters, in the creation, the figure of baptism. Therefore Tertullian makes the water, Primam sedem Spiritus Sancti, The progress, and the settled house, the voyage, and the harbour, the circumference, and the centre of the Holy Ghost: and therefore St. Hierome calls these waters, Matrem Mundi, The Mother of the World; and this in the figure of baptism. Nascentem mundum infigura baptismi parturiebat, The waters brought forth the whole world, were delivered of the whole world, as a mother is delivered of a child; and this, In figura baptismi, To foreshow, that the waters also should bring forth the church; that the church of God should be borne out of the sacrament of baptism: so says Damascene, and he establishes it with better authority than his own, Hoc divinus asseruit Basilius, says he, this divine Basil said, Hoc factum, quia per Spiritum Sanctum, et aquam voluit renovare hominem; The Spirit of God wrought upon the waters in the creation, because he meant to do so after, in the regeneration of man. And therefore Pristinam sedem recognoscens conquiescit", Till the Holy Ghost have moved upon our children in baptism, let us hot think all done, that belongs to those children; and when the Holy Ghost hath moved upon those waters, so, in baptism, let us not doubt of his power and effect upon all those children that die so. Wo know no means how those waters could have produced a minnow, a shrimp, without the Spirit of God

¹⁵ Tertullian.

had moved upon them; and by this motion of the Spirit of God, we know they produce whales, and Leviathans. We know no ordinary means of any saving grace for a child, but baptism; neither are we to doubt of the fulness of salvation, in them that have received it. And for ourselves, Mergimur, et emergimus¹", In baptism we are sunk under water, and then raised above the water again; which was the manner of baptising in the Christian church, by immersion, and not by aspersion, till of late times: Affectus, et amores, says he, our corrupt affections, and our inordinate love of this world is that, that is to be drowned in us; Amor secnritatis, A love of peace, and holy assurance, and acquiescence in God's ordinance, is that that lifts us above water.

Therefore that father puts all upon the due consideration of our baptism: and as St. Hierome says, Certainly he that thinks upon the last judgment advisedly, cannot sin then, so he that says with St. Augustine, Procede in confessione, fides mm, Let me make every day, to God, this confession, Domine Deics metis, Sancte, Sancte, Sancte Domine Dens mens, O Lord my God, 0 Holy, Holy, Holy Lord my God; In nomine tuo baptizatus sum, I consider that I was baptised in thy name, and what thou promisedst me, and what I promised thee then, and can I sin this sin? Can this sin stand with those conditions, those stipulations which passed between us then? The Spirit of God is motion, the Spirit of God' is rest too; and in the due consideration of baptism, a true Christian is moved, and settled too; moved to a sense of the breach of his conditions, settled in the sense of the mercy of his God, in the merits of his Christ, upon his godly sorrow. So these waters are the waters of baptism.

Sin also is called by that name in the Scriptures, water. The great whore sittelh upon many icaters¹¹; she sits upon them, as upon eggs, and hatches cockatrices, venomous and stinging sins; and yet pleasing, though venomous; which is the worst of sin, that it destroys, and yet delights; for though they be called tcaters, yet that is said also, That the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk icith the nineTM. Sin is wine at first, so far as to allure, to intoxicate: it is water at last, so far as to suffocate, to strangle. Christ Jesus's way is to change water into wine;

¹⁸ Augustine. "Eev. 17. ¹⁸ Ver. 2.

sorrow into joy: the devil's way is to change wiuc into water; pleasure, and but false pleasure neither, into true bitterness. The waterish wine, which is spoken of there, and called fornication, is idolatry, and the like. And in such a respect, God says to his people, What hast thou to do in the way of EgyptTM? In the way of Egypt we cannot choose but have something to do; some conversation with men of an idolatrous religion, we must needs have. But yet, What hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink of the waters of Sihor? Or what hast thou to do in the tcays of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river? Though we be bound to a peaceable conversation with men of an idolatrous * persuasion, we are not bound to take in, to drink, to taste their errors. For this facility, and this indifferency to accompany men of divers religions, in the acts of their religion, this multiplicity will end in a nullity, and we shall hew to ourselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water^*0; we shall scatter one religion into many, and those many shall vanish into none. Praise we God, therefore, that the Spirit of God hath so moved upon these waters; these sinful waters of superstition and idolatry, wherein our forefathers were overwhelmed; that they have not swelled over us; for, then the cold north-wind blows, and the water is congealed into ice⁸¹; affliction overtakes us, damps us, stupifies us, and we find no religion to comfort us.

Affliction is as often expressed in this word, waters, as sin. When thou passest through waters I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not over/low thee". But then, the Spirit of God moves upon these waters too; and grace against sin, and deliverance from affliction, is as often expressed in waters, as either. Where God takes another metaphor for judgment, yet he continues that of water for his mercy; In the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against them''*, (speaking of enemies; but then speaking of Israel) I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean*''. This is his way, and this is his measure; he sprinkles enough at first to make us clean; even the sprinkling of baptism cleanses us from original sin; but then he sets open the windows of heaven, and he enlarges his flood-gates, / will

¹⁰ Jer. ii. 18. ⁸⁰ Ver. 13. ⁵¹ Ecclus. xLiii. 20.

"Isaiah xtiii. 2. "Ezek. xxxvi. 5. "Ver. 25.

pour out water upon the thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground": to them that thirst after him, he gives grace for grace; that is, present grace for an earnest of future grace; of subsequent grace, and concomitant grace, and auxiliant grace, and effectual grace; grace in more forms, more notions, and in more operations, than the school itself can tell how to name.

Thus the Spirit of God moves upon our waters. By faith Peter walked upon the waters⁸⁸; so we prevent occasions of temptation to sin, and sink not in them, but walk above them. By godly exercises we swim through waters; so the centurion commanded that they that could swim, should cast themselves into the sea⁸⁷; men exercised in holiness, can meet a temptation, or tribulation in the face, and not be shaked with it; weaker men, men that cannot swim, must be more wary of exposing themselves to dangers of temptation; a court does some man no harm, when another finds temptation in a hermitage. By repentance we sail through waters; by the assistance of God's ordinances in his church, (which church is the ark) we attain the harbour, peace of conscience, after a sin; but this ark, this help of the church we must have. God can save from dangers, though a man went to sea without art, Sine rate, says the vulgate⁸⁸, without a ship. But God would not that the work of his wisdom should be idle; God hath given man Prudentiam navifactivam, says our Holkot upon that place, and he would have that wisdom exercised. God can save without preaching, and absolution, and sacraments, but he would not have his ordinance neglected.

To end all with the end of all, death comes to us in the name, and notion of waters too, in the Scriptures. The widow of Tekoah said to David in the behalf of Absalom⁸⁹, by the counsel of Joab, The water of death overflows all; We must needs die, says she, and are as water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up again: yet God devises means, that his banished, be not expelled from him. So the Spirit of God moves upon the face of these waters, the Spirit of life upon the danger of death. Consider the love, more than love, the study, more than study, the diligence of God; he devises means, that his banished, those

whom sins, or death had banished, be not expelled from him. I sinned upon the strength of my youth, and God devised a means to reclaim me, an enfeebling sickness. I relapsed after my recovery, and God devised a means, an irrecoverable, a helpless consumption to reclaim me; that affliction grew heavy upon me, and weighed me down even to a diffidence in God's mercy, and God devised a means, the comfort of the angel of his church, his minister, the comfort of the angel of the great council, the body and blood of his Son Christ Jesus, at my transmigration. Yet he lets his correction proceed to death; I do die of that sickness, and God devises a means, that I, though banished, banished into the grave, shall not be expelled from him, a glorious resurrection. We must needs die and be as water spilt upon the ground, but yet God devises means, that his banished shall not be expelled from him.

And this is the motion, and this is the rest of the Spirit of God upon those waters in this spiritual sense of these words, He brings us to a desire of baptism, he settles us in the sense of the obligation first, and then of the benefits of baptism. He suffers us to go into the way of temptations, (for coluber in via, and every calling hath particular temptations,) and then he settles us, by his preventing, or his subsequent grace. He moves, in submitting us to tribulation, he settles us in finding, that our tribulations do best of all conform us to Jiis Son Christ Jesus. He moves in removing us by the hand of death, and he settles us in an assurance, that it is he that now lets his servants depart in peace; and he, who, as he doth presently lay our souls in that safe cabinet, the bosom of Abraham, so he keeps an eye upon every grain, and atom of our dust, whither soever it be blown, and keeps a room at his own right hand for that body, when that shall be re-united in a blessed resurrection; and so The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

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D.D„ Lord Archbishop of Down and Connor, Right Rev. R.

Mant, D.I), Lord Bishop of Dunkeld and Dumblane, Rt . Rev.

P. Torry, D D., Bishop of Dale, Rev. Thomas, St . Bride's Darnell, Rev. Prebendary, Durham

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SACRED MUSIC FROM THE FINEST WORKS OF THE GREAT MASTERS, BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

ARRANGED- AS SOLOS, AND CONCERTED PIECES FOR PRIVATE PERFORMANCE, WITH ACCOMPANIMENTS FOR THE PIANO-FORTE.

The exclusive nature of nearly all existing collections of Sacred Music, and the high price at which novelties are in general produced, renders this work particularly desirable. Many fine productions, at present comparatively unknown, would be hailed with delight as additions to the stores of Sacred Harmony, could they be procured in a familiar form and ou reasonable terms. The design of the present work, therefore, is to place within the reach of families, and of persons unaccustomed to playing from score, really good^-practical music; classical, yet not laboriously aud uselessly learned; to introduce into the drawing-room many beautiful compositions of enduring value, which, if not altogether unknown, have rarely been heard except at Concerts or Oratorios; and thus to attract towards Sacred Mu3ic a portion of that patronage which is too generally bestowed, in so disproportionate a degree, upon works of a secular kind.

SUMMARY OF THE CONTENTS.

Allegri, a Miserere for Five Voices

Anonymous, a Sacred Round; a Sacred Song, ^' Thou to whom all power is given'

Arne, Dr., The Hymn of Eve

Attwood, Thomas, Two Anthems,
and a Vesper Hymn

Bach, Sebastian, a Choral, and a
Sacred Song i

Bach, Emanuel, a Song for Christ-
mas, and an Air

Bassani, Solo, ^'Ascribe unto the
Lord'

Batten, Anthem, 'Deliver us, O
Lord'

Battibhill, Trio, 'O Remember
not'

Beethoven, Three Sacred Songs, a

Trio, and a Quartett
Bernabei, Solo, * "Who can tell*
Blake, Dr., Duet, * Thou shalt

show me'
Blow, Dr., Anthem, * The Lord
. hear thee'

Boycb, Dr., A Sacred Song, an An-
them, two Duets, and a Sacred
Round
Carnaby, Dr., A Sanctus
Caldara, Antonio, A Terzetto,

and a Duet
Carissimi, Trio, * I am well pleased
Cherubini, a Chorus, and a Trio
Child, Dr., Anthem,,' O Lord, grant

the king a long life'
Clark, Jeremiah, Solo, * How long

wilt thou forget me?' Cooke, Dr., A Double Chant Crbyohton, Dr., Anthem, ^'I will

^ari3e>- flbb

Croft, Dr., a Solo, a Trio, and

three Anthems
Dupuis, Dr., Three Solos, a Trio,
an Anthem, and a Double Chant
Farrant, Richard, Two Anthems,

and a Gloria Patri
Galltard, John Ernest, Duet,

'Join voices, all ye living souls'
Gansbacher, Johann, Sacred Song
Gasparini, a Duet
Gibbons, Dr. Orlando, a Nunc
Dimittis, a Sanctus, and an An-
them

Gluck, Air, ' Maker of all!'
Greene, Dr. Maurice, Three An-
thems, four Solos, and a Duet
Handel, Eighteen Solos, four Re-
citatives and Airs, a Quartett,
and four Chorusses
Harwood, Ode, ' The Dying Chris-
tian to his soul'
Haydn, Joseph, a Hymn, Two

Duets, a Trio, and a Quartett
Haydn, Michael, Quartett, * O

Thou who kindly dost provide'
Haybs, Dr., Three Sacred Songs
Helwio, L., Air,' Bow down thine

ear, O Lord'
Hi Mm El, Choral, 'Come, Ocome,

with sacred lays*
Humphrys, Pelham, Grand Chant
Jomelli, Nicolo, Duettino
Kent, James, a Solo, a Trio, and

three Anthems
Lemon, Colonel, a Double Chant
Lock, Matthew, Anthem, 'Lord

let me know my end *
LuTHEn, Martin, Hymn, * Great
God! what do I see and hear!'

Marcello, A Solo, Three Duets,

and an Anthem Mason, Rev. William, Anthem,

^'Lord of all power and might*
Mbhul, Sacred Song
Mendelssohn, Sacred Song
Mozart, Three Airs, and three

Quartetts
Narks, Dr., A Solo, two Duets, and

three Anthems
Neukomm, A Sacred Song, and a

Sanctus

Peroolesi, A Motet and a Duet Porter, W. L, Solo, 'Like as the hart^'

Purcell, Henry, a Trio and two

Anthems
Purcell, Thomas, AFuneral Chant
Reynolds, John, Anthem, * My

God, my God, look upon me'
Righini, Quartett, ' now blessed

the man' Rogers, Dr., Anthem, ^' Teach me,

O Lord*

Romberg, Trio,⁴ Pater Noster*
Sarti, Terzetto

Schulz, Sacred Song, * Glory be to

God on high *
Soaper, Double Chant
Spohr, Hymn, Quartett, & Chorus
Steffani, a Duet and a Trio
Tallis, ^' Nunc Dimittis*
TRavers, Single Chant
Tye, Dr. Christopher, Motet
Werner, Sacred Song, 'Resigna-
tion*

Wise, Michael, Three Anthems
Winter, Air, ^'Father of Heaven'
ZiNOarKLLi, Sacred Song.

Prefixed to each Volume are Biographical Sketches of the Authors whose compositions it contains, together with Historical and Critical Accounts of the Works upon which their respective reputations are principally founded.