that nothing of that which he had, not an hoof of any beast, not a thread of any garment, should be singed with that fire. In the morning the Angels fail not to call him up, and to hasten him forward; "Arise, take thy wife and thy Gen.

daughters which are here,

that they be not destroyed in the
The Angels having spoken again
lingereth out the time still, till at

xix. 15.

punishment of the city." and again, Lot for all this length they were forced to take "both him, and his wife, and ver. 16. his daughters, by the arms (the Lord being merciful unto him), and to carry them forth, and set them without the city."

5. Was there ever any father thus careful to save his child from the flame? A man would think, that now being spoken unto to escape for his life, and not to look behind him, nor to tarry in the plain, but to hasten to the mountain, and there to save himself, he should do it gladly. Yet behold, now, he is so far off from a cheerful and willing heart to do whatsoever is commanded him for his own weal, that he beginneth to reason the matter, as if God had mistaken one place for another, sending him to the hill, when salvation was in the city: "Not so, my Lord, I beseech thee; behold, ver. thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life. I cannot escape in the mountain, lest some evil take me and I die. Here is a city hard by, a small thing; O, let me escape thither (is it not a small thing?) and my soul shall live." Well, God is contented to yield to any conditions: "Behold, I have received thy request con- ver. 21, cerning this thing also, I will spare this city for which thou hast spoken; haste thee, save thee there; for I can do nothing till thou come hither."

6. He could do nothing! Not because of the weakness of his strength (for who is like unto the Lord in power?), but because of the greatness of his mercy, which would not suffer him to lift up his arm against that city, nor to pour out his wrath upon that place, where his righteous servant had a fancy to remain, and a desire to dwell. O the depth of the riches of the mercy and love of God! God is afraid to offend us, which are not afraid to displease him. God can do nothing till he have saved us, which can find in our hearts rather to do any thing than to serve him. It contenteth him not to exempt us when the pit is digged for the wicked; to comfort us at every mention which is made of reprobates

18-20.

22.

and Godless men; to save us as the apple of his own eye, when fire cometh down from Heaven to consume the inhabitants of the earth; except every Prophet, and every Apostle, and every servant whom he sendeth forth, do come loaden with these and the like exhortations, "O beloved, edify yourselves in your most holy Faith: give yourselves to prayer in the Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."

7. "Edify yourselves." The speech is borrowed from material builders, and must be spiritually understood. It appeareth, in the sixth of St. John's Gospel, by the Jews, that their mouths did water too much for bodily food; [John vi. "Our fathers (say they) did eat manna in the Desert, as it is written, He gave them bread from Heaven to eat; Lord, evermore give us of this bread." Our Saviour, to turn their appetite another way, maketh them this answer,

31, 34.]

[ver. 35.] " I am the Bread of Life; he that cometh to me shall not hunger; and he that believeth in me shall never thirst."

Matt.

vi. 20.

8. An usual practice it is of Satan, to cast heaps of worldly baggage in our way, that whilst we desire to heap up gold as dust, we may be brought at the length to esteem vilely that spiritual bliss. Christ, in the sixth of Matthew,

to correct this evil affection, putteth us in mind to lay up 1 Tim. treasure for ourselves in Heaven. The Apostle, misliking 11.9, 10. the vanity of those women which attired themselves more

costly than beseemed the heavenly calling of such as professed the fear of God, willeth them to clothe themselves with shamefacetness and modesty, and to put on the apparel of good works. "Taliter pigmentatæ, Deum habebitis amatorem," saith Tertullian. Put on righteousness as a garment; instead of civet, have Faith, which may cause a savour of life to issue from you, and God shall be enamoured, he shall be ravished with your beauty. These are the ornaments, bracelets, and jewels which inflame the love of Christ, and set his heart on fire upon his spouse. We see how he breaketh out in the Canticles at the beholding of this attire; "How fair art thou, and how pleasant art vii. 6.] thou, O my love, in these pleasures!"

[Cant.

9. And perhaps St. Jude exhorteth us here not to build our houses, but ourselves, foreseeing by the Spirit of the Almighty which was with him, that there should be men in the last days like to those in the first, which should encourage and stir up each other to make brick, and to burn it in the fire, to build houses huge as cities, and towers as high as Heaven, thereby to get them a name upon earth; men that should turn out the poor, and the fatherless, and the widow, to build places of rest for dogs and swine in their rooms; men that should lay Houses of Prayer even with [the] ground, and make them stables where God's people have worshipped before the Lord. Surely this is a vanity of all vanities, and it is much amongst men, a special sickness of this age. What it should mean I know not, except God have set them on work to provide fuel against that day, when the Lord Jesus shall shew himself from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire. "What good cometh [Eccles. unto the owners of these things (saith Solomon), but only the beholding thereof with their eyes?" thou busiest thyself about many things; one thing is neces-42.] sary." Ye are too busy, my brethren, with timber and brick; they have chosen the better part, they have taken a better course that build themselves. "Ye are the temples of the [2 Cor. living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and will walk in them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God."

v. 11.]

"Martha, Martha, [Luke

x. 41,

vi. 16.]

10. Which of you will gladly remain or abide in a misshapen, a ruinous, or a broken house? And shall we suffer sin and vanity to drop in at our eyes, and at our ears, and at every corner of our bodies, and of our souls, knowing that we are the temples of the Holy Ghost? Which of you re- [1 Cor. ceiveth a guest whom he honoureth, or whom he loveth, and doth not sweep his chamber against his coming? And shall we suffer the chamber of our hearts and consciences to lie full of vomiting, full of filth, full of garbage, knowing that Christ hath said, "I and my Father will come and dwell with [John you?" Is it meet for your oxen to lie in parlours, and yourselves to lodge in cribs? Or is it seemly for yourselves to dwell in your settled houses, and the House of the Almighty to lie waste, whose house ye are yourselves? Do not our eyes behold, how God every day overtaketh the wicked in their journeys? How suddenly they pop down into the pit? How God's judgments for their crimes come so swiftly upon them, that they have not the leisure to cry,

alas? How their life is cut off like a thread in a moment? How they pass like a shadow? How they open their mouths to speak, and God taketh them even in the midst of a vain or an idle word? And dare we for all this lie down, take our rest, eat our meat securely and carelessly in the midst of so great and so many ruins? Blessed and praised for ever and ever be his name, who perceiving of how senseless and heavy metal we are made, hath instituted in his Church The Sa- a spiritual Supper and an Holy Communion, to be cele

crament of the Lord's

brated often, that we might thereby be occasioned often Supper. to examine these buildings of ours, in what case they stand. For sith God doth not dwell in Temples which are unclean, sith a Shrine cannot be a Sanctuary unto him; and this Supper is received as a seal unto us, that we are his House, and his Sanctuary; that his Christ is as truly united to me, and I to him, as my arm is united and knit unto my shoulder; that he dwelleth in me as verily as the elements of bread and wine abide within me; which persuasion, by receiving these dreadful mysteries, we profess ourselves to have; a due comfort, if truly; and if in hypocrisy, then woe worth us. Therefore ere we put forth our hands to take this blessed Sacrament, we are charged to examine and to try our hearts whether God be in us of a truth or no: and if by Faith and Love unfeigned we be found the Temples of the Holy Ghost, then to judge whether we have had such regard every one to our building, that the Spirit which dwelleth in us hath no way been vexed, molested, and grieved: or if it have, as no doubt sometimes it hath by incredulity, sometimes by breach of charity, sometimes by want of zeal, sometimes by spots of life, even in the best and most perfect amongst us, (for who can say his heart is clean?), O then to fly unto God by unfeigned repentance, to fall down before him in the humility of our souls, begging of him whatsover is needful to repair our decays, before we fall into that desolation, whereof the Prophet speaketh, saying, "Thy breach is great like the sea, who can heal thee?"

Lam. ii. 13.

11. Receiving the Sacrament of the Supper of the Lord after this sort (you that are spiritual, judge what I speak) is not all other wine like the water of Marah, being compared to the cup which we bless? Is not manna like to gall, and our bread like to manna? Is there not a taste, a taste of Christ Jesus in the heart of him that eateth? Doth not he which drinketh behold plainly in this cup, that his soul is bathed in the blood of the Lamb? O beloved in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, if ye will taste how sweet the Lord is, if ye will receive the King of Glory, " build yourselves."

12. Young men, I speak this to you, for ye are his House, because by Faith ye are conquerors over Satan, and have overcome that evil. Fathers, I speak it also to you, ye are his House, because ye have known him, which is from the beginning. Sweet Babes, I speak it even to you also, ye are his House, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. Matrons and Sisters, I may not hold it from you, ye are also the Lord's Building: and as St. Peter speaketh, "Heirs of the grace of life as well as we." Though [1 Pet. it be forbidden you to open your mouths in public assemblies, iii. 7.] yet ye must be inquisitive in things concerning this building which is of God, with your husbands and friends at home; not as Delilah with Samson, but as Sarah with Abraham ; whose daughters ye are, whilst ye do well, and "build yourselves."

13. Having spoken thus far of the exhortation, as whereby we are called upon to "edify" and build ourselves; it remaineth now, that we consider the thing prescribed, namely, wherein we must be built. This prescription standeth also upon two points, the thing prescribed, and the adjuncts of the thing. And that is, our most pure and "holy Faith."

14. The thing prescribed is "Faith." For, as in a chain which is made of many links, if you pull the first, you draw the rest; and as in a ladder of many staves, if you take away the lowest, all hope of ascending to the highest will be removed; so, because all the precepts and promises in the Law and in the Gospel do hang upon this, "Believe;" and because the last of the graces of God doth so follow the [Rom. first, that he glorifieth none, but whom he hath justified, nor justifieth any, but whom he hath called to a true, effectual, and lively Faith in Christ Jesus; therefore St. Jude exhorting us to Build ourselves, mentioneth here expressly only Faith, as the thing wherein we must be edified; for that Faith is the ground and the glory of all the welfare of this building.