Use 1. Is it so that religion is a mystery ? Then, first of all, do not tvonder that it is not known i)i the tvorld : and that it is not only not known, but persecuted and hated. Alas ! it is a hidden thing. Men know not the excellency of it. As great men's sons in a foreign country, they find not entertainment answerable to their worth, but as they are apprehended to be by strangers : so these divine truths they find little acceptance in the world, because they are mysteries ; not only mysteries in the tenet, but in the practice. Therefore the practice finds such opposition in the world : * Father, forgive them,' saith our blessed Saviour, < they know not what they do,' Luke xxiii. 34. The world knows not what they do, when they hate and persecute religion and religious persons. The church is a mystical thing, and religion is a mystery. It is hid from them. Shall we be moved with the disgraceful speeches of carnal men ? They speak they know not what. The thing they speak against is a mystery. Therefore what should we regard the speeches of the world, or follow the example of the world, in embracing religion ? Keligion is a mystery. Let the world be never so great, it is not the knowledge of great men, or of rich men, it is the knowledge of godly men ; it is a ' mystery of godliness.' Shall we follow the example of the world in reUgion when it is a mystery, and a mysterj
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* of godliness,' that only godly men know and embrace ? Look not, there- fore, to the greatness of place, or parts, &c. It is a mystery.
Use 2. Again, If it be a mystery, then it should teach us to carry ourselves suitable to it. Natm-e taught even the heathens to carry themselves reve- rently in their mj-steries ; Procul este j^rofani, Away, begone all profane {a). Let us carry ourselves therefore reverently toward the truth of God, towards all truths, though they be never so contrar}^ to our reason. They are mysteries altogether above nature. There are some seeds of the law in nature, but there are no seeds in nature of the gospel. Therefore we should come to it with a great deal of reverence. St Paul teacheth us an excellent lesson, Rom. xi. 33. When he entered into a depth that he could not fathom, doth he cavil at it ? No. ' Oh the depth ! Oh the depth ! ' So in all the truths of God, when we cannot comprehend them, let us with silence reverence them, and say, with him, 'Oh the depth!' Divine things are mysteries ; the sacraments are mysteries. Let us carry ourselves towards them with reverence. What is the reason that there is one word in the Greek {V) and in other languages to signify both common and profane ? Because those that come with common affections and common carriage to holy things, they profane them ; because as the things are great, so they require a suitable carriage, not a common carriage. We profane the sacrament if we take the bread and wine as a common feast,; as St Paul saith, ' You discern not the Lord's body,' 1 Cor. xi. 29. We profane mysteries when we discern not. Beasts and beast-like men discern not the relation of things ; that these outward elements have reference to great matters, to the body and blood of Christ. They do not discern them from common bread and wine, though they be used to raise up our souls to the bread of life.
So likewise when we come to the word of God, and ' look not to our feet,' Eccles. v. 1, but come to the church as if we went to a play or some common 'place, without prayer, without preparation ; when we come with common aflections, this is to come profanely. Here we come to mysteries, to high things, to great matters. Therefore when we come to converse with God we must not come with common affections ; we must carry our- selves holily, in holy business, or else we ofier to God ' strange lire,' Num. xxvi. 61. ' God was in this place,' saith Jacob, ' and I was not aware of it,' Gen. xxviii. 17. So when we come to hear the word, when we go to pray, when we receive the sacrament, God is here, and mysteries are here, and we are not aware of it. It is a shame for us not to labour to bring suitable dispositions. It is a matter of that consequent, life or death depends upon it. You know what St Paul saith, 1 Cor. xi. 30, ' For this very cause some are sick, and some weak, and some sleep,' some die. Why ? For coming with common affection, for ' not discerning the Lord's body,' for not examining ourselves, for not having answerable dispositions to the greatness of the mysteries we go about. Let us not think it enough to come to the sacrament, and then let the reins loose to all kind of vanity. The very heathens would be ashamed of that. It is the bane and blemish of religion, and such a thing for which we may fear that God will give whole Christendom a purge, I mean, for our excess.