harvest in future time; and let men not fay, I will repent and turne to God hereafter, but doe it prefently in feare and trembling. Boaft not of time; why doeft thou deferre the time? thou breakeft into the Lords right,and oftentimes he cuts thee off for it, because thou breakest into that, which doth nothing belong unto thee.

(***)

THE

!

THE

TENTH

SERMON.

EXODVS 3. 13, 14.

13 And Mofes faid unto GOD; Behold, when I come unto the Children of Ifrael, and fall fay unto them; The GOD of your Fathers bath fent mee unto you, and they shall (ay unto me, What is bis Name? what fball 1 fay unto them?

14 And GOD faid unto Mofes, I AM THAT IAM. And bee faid, Thus fhalt thou [ay unto the children of Ifrael; I Am bath/ent me unto you.

E come now to the next Attribute; The fourth Atand that is the simplicitie of GOD: tribuse of God, hee is without all compofition: His Simplicitia without any parts, not having foule and body, as wee have, not being compounded of fubftance and accident,

A a

as

God a Spirit.

John 4.24.

What kind of Spirit,

4 Properties

of a Spirit.

Invifible,

as we are, but he is fimple,without all compofition. Which I gather out of thefe words, IA м WHAT I AM, that is, whatfoever is in me, it is my felfe. I am a pure act, all being, a whole entire, fimple and uniforme being, without parts, not like to the creatures: for the best of them is compounded of actions and qualities, but whatfoever is in me, it is my felfe.

Now in this fimplicity, and immixture of GOD, wee will firft fall upon that which the Scripture fets downe in plaine words, Toh.4. 24. God is a Spirit: that is, hee is not mixt, he is not compounded of body and foule, as men are, but hee is a Spirit. The word Spirit, both in the Hebrew, Greeke, and Latine Tongue, doth fignifie, breath. A breath is indeed a body, but because it is the finest body, the moft fubtile, and most invifible, therefore immateriall fubstances, which wee cannot otherwife conceive, are reprefented to us under the name fpirit, or breath.

Befides, this is to be added, though God bee faid to be a fpirit, yet hee is not properly a spirit as Angels are; for an Angell is a creature, and though it want a body, and a fpirit, yet it is a created fubstance:but nevertheleffe,because that is neereft to the pure and incompounded nature of God, therefore he calls himfelfe a fpirit, as Angels, and our foules are.

Tofhew you what a fpirit is,thefe foure things are to be confidered:

1. It is proper to a spirit to be invisible, im

palpable,

palpable,not to be difcerned by any fenfe. Therefore Christ bids his Difciples to feele him; Behold Luke 24. 39my hands and my feet, (faith he) that it is I my felfe, handle and fee, for a Spirit hath not flesh and bones,as I have. A Spirit is that which is withdrawne from the perceivance of any corporeall fense whatsoever; and in this fenfe God is called a Spirit, because he is invifible: and therefore Mofes is called to see him that is invifible, not by any bodily eye,but by the eye of faith.

2

It moves it felfe and other

2 Every Spirit moves it felfe, and other things alfo: The Body is but an earthly piece, that is not able to stirre it felfe at all, as you fee it is, things. when the foule is gone out of it; it is the Spirit, that both moves it felfe, and carries the body up and downe, where it lifteth; and it moves it felfe with all speed,and agilitie,because it findes no refiftance. Bodies, befide their elementarie motion upward and downeward, have no voluntarie motion; they cannot move themselves whither they will, as Spirits doe: And this I gather out of Lohn 3. 8. where the Holy-Ghost loba 3.8. is compared to the winde, that blowès where it listeth.

3

force and ftrength.

It moves with

Efay 31.3.

3 It is the propertie of every Spirit to move with exceeding great force and ftrength, and with much vehemencie; fo that it farre exceedes the strength of any Body. Therefore in Esay 31.3. fpeaking of the ftrength of the Egyptians, heena faith, that they are flesh, and not spirit: As if hee fhould fay, all flesh is weake, but a Spirit is ftrong. Therefore you fee, the Devils, that A a 2

are

n