Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A02804
|
Ten sermons, preached vpon seuerall Sundayes and saints dayes 1 Vpon the Passion of our Blessed Savior. 2 Vpon his resurrection. 3 Vpon S. Peters Day. 4 Vpon S. Iohn the Baptists Day. 5 Vpon the Day of the blessed Innocents. 6 Vpon Palme Sunday. 7 and 8 Vpon the two first Sundays in Advent. 9 and 10 Vpon the parable of the Pharisee and publicane, Luke 18. Together with a sermon preached at the assises at Huntington. By P. Hausted Mr. in Arts, and curate at Vppingham in Rutland.
|
Hausted, Peter, d. 1645.
|
1636
(1636)
|
STC 12937; ESTC S103930
|
146,576
|
277
|
life great in his doctrine in his office great great in his sanctity in his dignity and Authority great in his death and great in his glory and yet for all these greatnesses was and is but the servant of thee who art the great God To thy greatnesse therefore O Father Sonne and holy Ghost we ascribe as due is all praise power majesty dominion from this time forth and for ever Amen THE FIFTH SERMON PREACHED Upon the blessed Innocents Day MATH 2.18 In Rama was a voyce heard mourning and weeping and great lamentation Rachel weeping for her Children and would not bee comforted because they were not YEe must not thinke it strange if in the midst of all your jollity amongst so many straines of joy the enlargers of the spirits and soule to qualifie your mirth the better and keepe it within the bounds of moderation we shall interpose one sad note of mourning Nor will it sound harsh to an eare that is truly Musicall for to have nothing but Sun shine and faire weather nothing but smooth and prosperous dayes while wee live here on earth were it a thing possible is the same Solaecisme in mans life which good Musitians observe amongst those who are but Smatterers in the Science who doe Nauseam creare nimia dulcedine beget a kinde of loathing and tediousnesse even out of the too much sweetnesse of their Notes and the frequencie of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nor can I judge my selfe guilty of any Incivility or want of good manners in that I have in such a time of rejoycing in stead of sprightfull Ayres presented yee with the argument of a Tragaedie For although I am not ignorant that it was the custome amongst the Ancients whensoever they were to come to a Feast Omnia tristia ad limen ponere to leave all sad and heavy conceits behinde them and bring nothing over the Threshold which should cause griefe either in themselves or in any who sate at meate with them Yet I rather approve of the way of that King or Philosopher shall I call him or both who continually amidst the multitude of his dainties had a deaths head served up in a Charger to put him in minde of his mortality It favoured of wisedome and Philosophy this although it was accounted no great point or Courtship And see if our Church doth not observe the very same way of service at this Festivall time The standing dish as I may call it Caput cardo festi the head and the hinge of the Feast is indeed the Birth-day of our blessed Saviour a day of mirth and of lifting up the heart but no sooner is this past but the next service is a head in a Charger St. Steven the first Martyr And although the day of St. Iohn the Euangelist bee the next in rancke of whom our Saviour saith to St. Peter If he tarry till I come what is that to thee and fitly hath the Church placed this day so neere and leaning as it were in the bosome of Christs day being celebrated in the honourable memory of that Disciple whom Jesus loved and did often leane upon the bosome of his Master yet no sooner is this gone but the very next service againe is not one but many deaths heads in a platter the day of the blessed Innocents and that is now Verse 16. Then Herod seeing that he was mocked of the Wise men was exceeding wroth and sent forth and slew all the male Children that were in Bethleem and in all the coasts thereof from two yeares old and under according to the time which hee had diligently searched out of the Wise men Then was that fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet Ieremiah saying in Rama was a voyce heard c. The place of the Prophet Ieremie which the Euangelist St. Matthew quotes for this Scripture is the 31. Chap. verse 15. And this Prophecy was fulfilled in the literall sense as Cajetane saith in the Captivity of the children of Israel or of those tenne Tribes which were commonly called Ephraim And the reason why the Prophet Ieremie brings in Rachel here as weeping for her children is because that Ephraim the sonne of Ioseph whom hee begot of Potipheras daughter the prince of On as ye may reade in the 41. of Genesis was lineally descended from Rachel the mother of Ioseph But this Prophecy in the mysticall sense was not fulfilled untill this cruell and bloody Massacre of these poore Innocent children by the command of Herod and therefore saith the Text verse 17. Then was that fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet Ieremie And the reason why Rachel is here mystically called the mother of these slaine Infants is because shee was buried neare unto this City of Bethleem as yee may see in the 35. of Gen. from whence shee was called Mater Bethlehemitarum the mother of the Bethlemites In Rama was a voyce c. I shall not need to trouble either you or my selfe much to lay open to yee so knowen a history for to doubt that any living especially as we doe in a Church where there is such plenty of knowledge should be ignorant of this is as much as to thinke that there may bee a kinde of people who know not whether the Sunne shines or not without a teacher But because it is possible that there may be such an ignorance amongst us I will in a word or two relate that unto yee which yee may finde set downe a great deale more fully and sweetly in the Chapter When our Saviour CHRIST according to the decree of God the Father from all eternity and according to all the predictions of the Prophets in the fulnesse of time being by the vulgar Computation in the 3949. yeare of the worlds creation and withall the 42. of Augustus Cesars reigne and of Herods about the 34. was borne in Bethleham a City of Judah there was a Starre sent by God to conduct certaine Wise men out of the East Countrey which is thought to be Persia and the reason which leades us to thinke this Countrey Persia is the very name Magi which is a Persian word and signifies as much as amongst the Romans Wisemen amongst the Grecians Philosophers amongst the Indians Gymnosophists who comming to Jerusalem and enquiring where hee was who was borne King of the Jews Herod presently and all the City with him were startled at the question and indeed according to the policie of this world and Herods principle he built upon which was that Christ was to bee an Earthly King and a King of Israel it was time for him to looke about him and to seeke by all meanes to crush this infant King in his Cradle and therefore immediately upon the arrivall of the Wise men there hee calls all his Wise men together too all the Priests and the Scribes of the people and demanded of them where it was that Christ should be borne and understanding by them that Bethlam in Iudea was the place
yee the words of an Author of no small repute amongst them speaking of the very same comparison of the difference of faces and mindes Alii aliis non omnino assimulantur ideo privatim de anoquoque meminit Ecclesia sine aliquo mendacio Non est inquit similis illi c. Therefore saith hee doth the Church and that without any imputation of lying say of every Saint His like is not to be found Mat 22.30 Wee shall be in Heaven saith our Saviour Math. 22. as the Angels of God and the more holinesse there is in us the neerer we approach to the nature of Angels even while we live here upon earth Now Aquinas tells us that quilibet Angelus constituit speciem Every Angell doth make a severall species So that there is no numericall distinction of the Angels but a specificall And the reason of this is because those things which agree in the species and differ onely in number doe agree in the forme and are distinguished onely in regard of the matter But seeing the Angels are not compounded of matter and forme but are without that principium fundamentum distinctionis that beginning and foundation of numericall distinction which is matter therefore it is impossible that they should be distinguished any other way but in the species And the species are compared unto numbers Yee cannot say that one number is equall to another number the number of 6 is greater then the number of 4 and lesse then the number of 8. For as well in the species as in numbers there is no linea à latere but only the upwards the downward line which implies greater and lesse So it is in the Saints no equality one must needs be greater another lesse And therefore S. Chrisostome concludes substantially and subtilly If no man be greater then Iohn the Baptist all Saints compared amongst themselves are either greater or lesse therefore he who hath none greater then himselfe must needs be greater then all But I have bin too long amongst these School delicacies Here is one thing remains to be explained concerning his last greatnesse the greatnesse of his glory For our Saviour addes in that 7. of S. Luke Luk. 7.28 Neverthelesse hee who is least in the Kingdome of God is greater then he There be two answers given First That this spoken in comparison of the Angels who were onely yet the inhabitors of the Kingdome of God For say they when Christ spoke these words the Kingdome of Heaven was not open unto the soules and spirits of men the Key of that was the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ till then there were no men in Heaven As if our Saviour should have said neverthelesse all this greatnesse of Iohn which I have made mention of the least in the Kingdome of God i. the least amongst the Angels is greater then hee because Iohn notwithstanding all these commendations is but a man but the Angelicall nature is far greater then the nature of man But this answer carries along with it a point in controversie not yet determined amongst us as granted and therefore cannot fully satisfie Secondly The answer is That he who is the least in the Kingdome of God is greater then Iohn the Baptist meaning that hee is greater pro nunc greater while Iohn lived upon the earth And this greatnesse arises a securitate fruitione from security and fruition For hee who rides in his triumphant Chariot must needs be said to be greater and happier then he who is yet in the heate of the Battell although this last be farre the worthier and the valianter because this is yet in dubio certamine but the other being freed from the malice of his enemies weares his Garland upon his head in security and therefore it is not said here that he who is least in the Kingdome of God is holier or better then Iohn but is greater then hee which greatnesse proceedes from a present possession of happinesse Wee have hitherto Preached unto you of the greatnesse of this blessed Saint St. Iohn the Baptist And what harme I pray yee is there in all this now There be a Generation of People whether it be out of envie or ignorance or pride or from what other root it should proceede I know not who cannot endure to have any of the Saints of of God spoken well of No the mention of the blessed and immaculate Virgin Mary who was the Mother of our Lord and Saviour a rich Cabinet containing in it a farre richer Jewell whom the Angell of the Lord accosts with this strange salutation Haile Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee blessed art thou amongst women This holy name I say if it comes in usherd by the word Saint is distastfull to many of them such is their madnesse affording a more honourable mention of some of their new Saints in a Funerall Sermon then of her who was the Mother of Him who redeemed the World But these people certainly if they knew my thing must needs know that the greatnesse of the followers doth redound unto the greatnesse of their Lord who is able to make and to keepe such followers And when wee heare of the the greatnesse of St. Iohn the Baptist me thinks we should all be carried up into a consideration of his greatnesse who made St Iohn For if St. Iohn was so great that by the Testimony of Christ himselfe there was not a greater then hee amongst all who were begotten of Women O how much greater then must he needs be who was and is the Lord and Master of St. Iohn whose Herald whose forerunner whose Minister he was and as he himselfe confesses whose Shoo-latchet he was not worthy to unloose Let such of us therefore who have bin any whit faulty in this kind learne hereafter to have a more honourable esteeme of Gods Saints and of the holy dayes which are dedicated to their memory and not suppose with too many that they are dayes set apart onely for licentiousnesse and drunkennesse No the good intent of the Church was that there might be preserved an Anniversary memory of the Saints of their vertues and graces of their lives and deaths to the glory of God and our owne instruction who following their good examples shall one day come to be Saints our selves amongst them This was and is the religious use of holy dayes not excluding the Civill which is to permit honest and lawfull recreations only with this caution First serve God and then take thy honest and Christian liberty Let us then make an end of this discourse with praise and thanks-giving to Almighty God for all Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors Fathers whose lives and doctrine God hath set up as lights to guide us unto the Kingdome everlasting but especially as this day calls to our memory for the blessed Saint Saint Iohn the Baptist who was great in his conception great in his nativity great in his