there

He was the Prince of our falvation fore meet it was he should be like Saul,higher by the head and shoulders,yea,fully exalted above all Principalities and powers.

In refpect ofus chiefely, and our emptineffe;

that with his fulneffe he might replenish us and In refpe&t of our vacuity. Otherwife wee could neither have jus chiefely. feene, nor received it ofhim. Not have feene; for the glorious beauty of the Divinity was too bright for us to behold. Therefore it is reason that it should be put in the Lanthorne, and vaile of Chrifts humanity, that wee might beholdit. Neither could we have received it: for the Deity is an unacceffible fountaine : therefore it is reafon that Christs humanity fhould be a Cifterne to receive it for our use, and modell.

It may be you will fay that St. Stephen, and o- objection. ther Saints are faid to be full of the Holy Ghoft as Difference be well as Chrift; How then doe these two falnefles differ? Ianfwer, that they differ three waies. First, others are faid to be full according to their measure,but Chrift above measure.

As a little difh may be faid to be full as well as the Ocean: fo they are filled according to the nar rowneffe of their prefent capacity. Chrift was full according to all dimenfions, length, depth,bredth,and height of fulneffe.

、

twixt Chrifts fulnesie, and and others. Sol

I

Joh. 3.

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plenitudo.

Secondly, there was in them a fulneffe of the veffell, but in Chrift, a fülnieffe of the Spring. In to wai them was a derived and participated fulneffe, infant's. Christa fulneffe of a fountaine proceeding from himfelfe. This is well expreffed by the SchooleB 3

men,

I

men, when they fay, that Chrifts, and the Saints Ignis Ignita. fulneffe differ as fire, and things fet on fire. The fulneffe of the Ocean is too little to expreffe it: for if you take a drop or two from it, it is fo much the leffe; but the fulneffe of fire is fuch, as though you light a thousand Torches at it, it is not diminished.

3

Application. We are invited to come to Chrift to take

of his full heap.

Thirdly, their fulneffe was in them comparitively; St. Stephen was full in comparion of other lef fer Saints but in Chrift it is an abfolute fulnesse without limits, or comparisons.

What shall we now deduce from hence for our benefit? Foure confequences. First, that we ought to be invited to come to Chrift to take of his full heap.This Incentive S.Paul often ufeth to inflame the defires of theGentiles to come to Christ,even the riches of that fulneswhich is in him, wch in the fulnes of time was expofed to all commers;which was hidden before, but now (as he faith)'fully revealed;feene before but in Types and Shadowes, now with open face;before preached to a few,now to every creature under heaven; before given by his Spirit by drops, but now he that afcended up on high, and led captivity captive, hath foreceived for,and given gifts unto men, that hee hath filled all things. Let us therefore be exhorted, when we heare of fuch a fulneffe, not to take the grace of God in vaine,but labour to have our parts therein, that, with the Corinthians, we may be made rich in Chriftfilled with all knowledge, and every grace.

Content we not our felves to know this onely,

(for

(for that is our common fault to reft in the notion of fuch things without practife) but goes to Chrift,as Bees to a Meddow full of flowers, as Merchants to the Indies,that are full of Wines & Spices, that you may experimentally feele your felves returne from him full fraught with treafures of truth and grace.

In other things fulneffe invites us much;Jofephs full Barnes drew Tacob and his fonnes downe into Egypt. Canaan was a land full of milke and hony, and that invited the Ifraelites to feeke it.. Salomons aboundance and fulneffe of wifedome invited the Queen of Sheba to come out of the South to his Court: In every thing fulneffe doth much. allure and affect. The Covetous man though hee fpend but a little,yet he delights to take it from a De pleno tollefull beape. How much more then fhould the ful-re acerno. neffe of Chrift worke in us, feeing there is in him. not onely a repletive, but a defufive fulneffe,not onely plenty,but bounty?

But alas,if wee looke to the actions and lives of men, wee shall finde that they feeke a fulnes in every thing else almoft. A fulneffe in pleasure and delight; a fulneffe in honour and preferment; a fulneffe in profit and worldly incomes; but this full hony-combe is almost every where defpifed. Buthappy is he the bent of whofe heart God hath turned the right way, to feeke a fulneffe of faith and wifedome,a fulneffe of the Holy Ghoft.Happy he, who cares not to beempty of other things, fo he be ful of thefe,to be a loofer in other things, fo he be a gainer in this. Such an one hath indeed

chofen

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chofen the better part which shall never be taken from him. i

Secondly, we should therefore answer the fulWe muft an-neffe of Chrift with a fuineffe of affection fully to wer the ful- beleeve and truft in him, fully to love and adore with a fu'nes him, fully to joy and delight in him. For it is of affection. good reason that the affections should be anfwe

neffe of Chrift

rable to the Object. A little excellency deferves at our hands a little love and esteeme, more excellency more love, but when there is a fulneffe of excellency, we ought to profecute it with all fulneffe of affections.

All excellency of the creature in comparison of this, is but a drop to the Ocean, and as a fparke to the whole Element of fire. If therefore wee proportion our affections to the object (which ought to be the rule and fquare of them)we muft bestow upon the Creature but a drop of love and delight, but the full ftreame of our affections should runne after Chrift, in whom is all the fulneffe of perfection.

Itis true, as men hide treasure from theeves under straw, or fome other bafe covering,fo God hideth this full excellency from the World, under a bafe out fide,that his fecret ones only might find it: and that others,(truely blinded) might not fee but ftumble at it. So he hid Chrift himselfe under a Carpenters fonne: fo he hideth divine mysteries under the meane Elements of Bread and Wine: fo the wildome of God is hid under the foolishnes of preaching, and under Sheep-skins, and Goatskins,fuch as the world was not worthy of yet there

is a fulneffe of excellency notwithstanding. For if ever wee saw beauty in the Sunne, Moone, Starres, Men, Women, or any thing else; all must bee more aboundantly in God, who is the Maker, giver, and Author of all these things. As Davidreafoneth, Hee that made the eye, fhall not be fee? and be that made the eare, shall not bee heare? So he that made these things shall he not have them more eminently in himfelfe? For as the worth and value of many pieces of filver is in one peece of Gold: fo all the petty excellencies, which are scattered abroad in the creatures, are united in God, yea, all the whole Volume of perfections which is fpread through Heaven and Earth, is epitomized in him. Why doe wee not then with Saint Paul, trample on the glory of the World, for the excellent knowledge of Chrift? Why doe wee not with David turne our hearts, eyes, and affections from beholding vanities, and pitch them all in him? Why doe wee not recollect our affections, and gather up our thoughts, which are scattered abroad, and bufied about a thousand trifles, and bestow them all on him in whom is the fulneffe of all excellency, beauty, and perfection?

content and

Thirdly, let us alfo therefore bee content 3 with Christ, having our hearts fatisfied with We must be him and his fulneffe. First, in regard of fati fied with fpirituall things, goe not to the Brookes of fuli Chrift. Teman, the broken Cifternes of Rome, as Saints merits, Church Treasures, and the like.

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For