he saw the ladder that reached from heaven to earth; it is much to have this egress and regress to God, to have a sense of being gone from him, and a desire and means of returning to him; when we do fall into particular sins, it is well if we can take hold of the first step of this ladder, with that hand of David, Domine respice in testamentum, O Lord, consider thy covenant", if we can remember God of his covenant, to his people, and to their seed, it is well; it is more, if we can clamber a step higher on this ladder to a Domine labia mea aperies, if we come to open our lips in a true confession of our wretched condition and of those sins by which we have forfeited our interest in that covenant, it is more; and more than that too, if we come to that inebriabo me lacrymis, if we overflow and make ourselves drunk with tears, in a true sense, and sorrow for those sins, still it is more; and more than all this, if we can expostulate with God in an Usque quo Domine, How long, O Lord, shall I take counsel in myself, having weariness in my heart'? These steps, these gradations towards God, do well; war is a degree of peace, as it is the way of peace; and these colluctations and wrestlings with God, bring a man to peace with him; but then is a man upon this stone of Jacob, when in a fair, and even, and constant religious course of life, he enters into his sheets every night, as though his neighbours next day were to shroud and wind him in those sheets; he shuts up his eyes every night, as though his executors had closed them; and lies down every night, not as though his man were to call him up next morning, or to the next day's sport, or business, but as though the angels were to call him to the resurrection; and this is our third benefit, as Christ is a stone, we have security and peace of conscience in him.

The next is, that he is lapis David, the stone with which David slew Goliah, and with which we may overcome all our enemies; Sicut baculus crucis, ita lapis Christi habuit typum'; David's sling was a type of the cross, and the stone was a type of Christ, we will choose to insist upon spiritual enemies, sins; and this is that stone that enables the weakest man to overthrow the strongest sin, if he proceed as David did: David says to Goliah,

7 Psalm LXxiv. 20.

9 Psalm xiii. 2.

8 Isaiah xvi. 9.

10 Augustine.

Thou comest to me with a spear and a shield, but I come to thee in the name of the God of the hosts of Israel, whom thou hast railed upon", if thou watch the approach of any sin, any giant sin that transports thee most; if thou apprehend it to rail against the Lord of hosts, (that is, that there is a loud and active blasphemy against God in every sin) if thou discern it to come with a sword, or a spear, (that is, persuasions of advancement if thou do it, or threatenings of dishonour, if thou do it not,) if it come with a shield, (that is, with promises to cover and palliate it, though thou do it,) if then this David, (thy attempted soul) can put his hand into his bag (as David did) (for Quid cor hominis nisi sacculus Dei? A man's heart is that bag in which God lays up all good directions) if he can but take into his consideration his Jesus, his Christ, and sling one of his works, his words, his commandments, his merits, this Goliah, this giant sin, will fall to the ground; and then, as it is said of David, that he slew him when he had no sword in his hand, and yet in the next verse, that he took his sword and slew him with that: so even by the consideration of what my Lord hath done for me, I shall give that sin the first death's wound, and then I shall kill him with his own sword, that is, his own abomination, his own foulness shall make me detest him. If I dare but look my sin in the face, if I dare tell him, I come in the name of the Lord, if I consider my sin, I shall triumph over it, Et dabit certanti victoriam qui dedit certandi audaciam, That God that gave me courage to fight, will give me strength to overcome.

The last benefit which we consider in Christ, as he is a stone, is, that he is petra, a rock; the rock gave water to the Israelites in the wilderness"; and he gave them honey out of the stone, and oil out of the hard rock": now when St. Paul says, That our fathers drank of the same Rock as we, he adds that the same Rock was Christ; so that all temporal, and all spiritual blessings to us, and to the fathers, were all conferred upon us in Christ; but we consider not now any miraculous production from the rock, but that which is natural to the rock; that it is a firm defence to us in all tempests, in all afflictions, in all tribulations;

11 1 Sam. xvii. 45. 14 Num. XX..

12 Gregory.

15 Deut. xxxii. 13.

13

Augustine. 16 1 Cor. x. 4.

and therefore, Laudate Dominum habitatores petræ, says the prophet", You that are inhabitants of this rock, you that dwell in Christ, and Christ in you, you that dwell in this rock, Praise ye the Lord, bless him, and magnify him for ever. If a son should ask bread of his father, will he give him a stone, was Christ's question? Yes, O blessed Father, we ask no other answer to our petition, no better satisfaction to our necessity, than when we say, Da nobis panem, Give us this day our daily bread, that thou give us this stone, this rock, thyself in thy church, for our direction, thyself in the sacrament, for our refection; what hardness soever we find there, what corrections soever we receive there, all shall be easy of digestion, and good nourishment to us; thy holy spirit of patience shall command, That these stones be made bread; and we shall find more juice, more marrow in these stones, in these afflictions, than worldly men shall do in the softness of their oil, in the sweetness of their honey, in the cheerfulness of their wine; for as Christ is our foundation, we believe in him, and as he is our corner-stone, we are at peace with the world in him; as he is Jacob's stone, giving us peace in ourselves, and David's stone, giving us victory over our enemies, so he is a rock of stone, (no affliction, no tribulation shall shake us). And so we have passed through all the benefits proposed to be considered in this first part, as Christ is a stone.

It is some degree of thankfulness, to stand long in the contemplation of the benefit which we have received, and therefore we have insisted thus long upon the first part. But it is a degree of spiritual wisdom too, to make haste to the consideration of our dangers, and therefore we come now to them, we may fall upon this stone, and be broken. This stone may fall upon us, and grind us to powder, and in the first of these, we may consider, quid cadere, what the falling upon this stone is: and secondly, quid frangi, what it is to be broken upon it: and then thirdly, the latitude of this unusquisque, that whosoever falls so, is so broken; first then, because Christ loves us to the end, therefore will we never put him to it, never trouble him till then; as the wise man said of manna, That it had abundance of all pleasure in it, and was meat for all tastes; that is, (as expositors interpret 18 Wisd. xvi. 24.

17 Isaiah XLii. 11.

it) that manna tasted to every one, like that which every one liked best so this stone Christ Jesus, hath abundance of all qualities of stone in it, and is all the way such a stone to every man, as he desires it should be. Unto you that believe, saith St. Peter, it is a precious stone, but unto the disobedient, a stone to stumble at: for if a man walk in a gallery, where windows, and tables, and statues, are all of marble, yet if he walk in the dark, or blindfold, or carelessly, he may break his face as dangerously against that rich stone, as if it were but brick; so though a man walk in the true church of God, in that Jerusalem which is described in the Revelation, the foundation, the gates, the walls, all precious stone, yet if a man bring a misbelief, a misconceit, that all this religion is but a part of civil government and order ; if a man be scandalized, at that humility, that patience, that poverty, that lowliness of spirit which the Christian religion inclines us unto; if he will say, Si rex Israel, If Christ will be king, let him come down from the cross, and then we will believe in him, let him deliver his church from all crosses, first of doctrine, and then of persecution, and then we will believe him to be king; if we will say, Nolumus hunc regnare, We will admit Christ, but we will not admit him to reign over us, to be king; if he will be content with a consulship, with a colleagueship, that he and the world may join in the government, that we may give the week to the world, and the Sabbath to him, that we may give the day of the Sabbath to him and the night to our licentiousness, that of the day we may give the forenoon to him, and the afternoon to our pleasures, if this will serve Christ, we are content to admit him, but nolumus regnare, we will none of that absolute power, that whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do, we must be troubled to think on him, and respect his glory in every thing. If he will say, Præcepit angelis, God hath given us in charge to his angels, and therefore we need not to look to our own ways, he hath locked us up safely, and lodged us softly under an eternal election, and therefore we are sure of salvation, if he will walk thus blindly, violently, wilfully, negligently in the true church, though he walk amongst the sapphires, and pearls, and chrysolites, which are mentioned there, that is, in the outward communion and fellowship of God's saints, yet he may

bruise and break, and batter himself, as much against these stones, as against the stone gods of the heathen, or the stone idols of the papists; for first, the place of this falling upon this stone, is the true church; Qui jacet in terra, He that is already upon the ground, in no church, can fall no lower, till he fall to hell; but he whom God hath brought into his true church, if he come to a confident security, that he is safe enough in these outward acts of religion, he falls, though it be upon this stone, he erreth, though in the true church. This is the place then, the true church; the falling itself (as far as will fall into our time of consideration now) is a falling into some particular sin, but not such as quenches our faith; we fall so, as we may rise again. St. Hierome expresseth it so, Qui cadit et tamen credit, He that falls, but yet believes, that falls and hath a sense of his fall, reservatur per pœnitentiam ad salutem, that man is reserved, by God's purpose, to come by repentance, to salvation; for this man that falls there, falls not so desperately, as that he feels nothing between hell and him, nothing to stop at, nothing to check him by the way, cadit super, he falls upon something; nor he falls not upon flowers, to wallow and tumble in his sin, nor upon feathers, to rest and sleep in his sin, nor into a cooling river, to disport, and refresh, and strengthen himself in his sin; but he falls upon a stone, where he may receive a bruise, a pain upon his fall, a remorse of that sin he is fallen into: and in this fall, our infirmity appears three ways: the first is Impingere in lapidem, to stumble, for though he be upon the right stone in the true religion, and have light enough, yet Impingimus meridie, as the prophet saith", even at noon we stumble; we have much more light, by Christ being come, than the Jews had, but we are sorry we have it: when Christ hath said to us for our better understanding of the law, He that looketh and lusteth hath committed adultery, he that coreteth hath stolen, he that is angry hath murdered, we stumble at this, and we are scandalized with it: and we think that other religions are gentler, and that Christ hath dealt hardly with us, and we had rather Christ had not said so, we had rather he had left us to our liberty and discretion, to look, and court, and to give a way to our passions, as we should find it

19 Isaiah L. 10.