and that he is very cunning and artificiall to worke strangely in all the regions of the aire to stirre up meteors lightning thunder wind raine haile as appeareth from the story of Iob neither will I deny but that Witches and Conjurers by the helpe of the Devill with whom they are in league may raise stormes and tempests in the aire which may easily be discerned from naturall tempests in respect of the sudden and violent raising thereof but this is certaine the providence of God ex endeth it selfe to all even most minutiall things and neither Devill nor Conjurer can doe any exploit but by limitation and leave not being able to exceed one haires bredth beyond that is granted unto them Wherefore whether we be letted hindred or hurt by sea or land with any storme or â—mpest let us assigne all to the providence of God depend on him for safetie and give him the honour due to his name for such great workes Herein was Iob well taught who said The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away But though God be the Author yet he hath ordinary meanes and instruments subserving to his pleasure in raising of stormes and those either supreme as by his permission Satan or inferiour as slaves and expirations from the cavernes and cranies of the earth where the aire being imprisoned and labouring to get out as it maketh a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and earthquake so on sea a great concussion and shaking but most commonly by wind which if it blow vehemently doth greatly worke upon that liquid and â—luid plaine patent body but specially if it be contrary to the naturall flâ—x and motion of it which wee call the Tide So David describing a tempest by sea saith Hee commandeth and raiseth the stormie wind which lifteth up the waves thereof And God sent out a great wind and there was a mightie tempest on the sea And Saint Paul describing the tempest he was in saith It was caused by a tempestuous wind called Euroclydon That this Tempest was caused by a wind is cleare for Saint Marke saith There arose a great storme of wind And S. Luke saith There came a storme of wind upon the lake And our Euangelist saith Christ rebuked the winds yea the other two Euangelists tell us the name of this wind which receiveth not denomination from the quarter from whence it bloweth as the Scriptures doe speake of East-wind West-wind and others both cardinall and collaterall but of the vehemencie of it yea not properly one wind but a conflict of many winds A whirle-wind such a wind as at once smote all the foure corners of the house wherein Iobs children feasted such a wind as was neither side nor contrary but at once smote every part of the ship and brought the waves every way upon it as if at once it would have buried it and all the passengers therein in the surges So much for the Sense Here for instruction we may learne that there is no creature so good and necessarie vsefull and serviceable for man but God can make it his scourge What more necessarie and comfortable than fire yet with it hee destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and two Captaines with their fifties What more necessary than water yet with it hee destroyed the old world and Pharaoh and his hoasts The wind also a most comfortable and usefull creature as it were Gods fanne for purging of the aire growth of all vegetables and passage by sea and God hath used it as an instrument in some of his most renowmsd miracles With a strong East-wind he dried up the Red sea Brought Quailes and God himselfe is said to flie upon the wings of the wind But with an East-wind God brought locusts upon the Land of Aegypt Overthrew the house on Iobs children Iob 1. 19. and brake the ships of Tarshish and like to have drowned Ionah and Paul yea Christ and all the passengers with them as it hath done many thousands Wherefore it behoveth us not to rest contented that we have the creature we stand in need of but to pray to God for the sanctified use thereof else we may eat of the best and yet not be nourished be clothed with the costliest and yet not be warmed yea our table become a snare and our prosperity our ruine that which may be to others a blessing may become to us a curse Secondly hast thou beene endangered by fire wind or water blesse God for thy deliverance Hast thou sustained losse cry not out on Chance or Fortune do not raile and curse but humble thy selfe it was Gods hand even the winds doe blow according to his pleasure So much for the Letter There arose By the rising of this tempest on the sea is shadowed out the arising of troubles in the Church of God As God was the Author of the one the winds and all creatures being subordinate to his pleasure so is he of this both Devils in Hell and Men on Earth being but his instruments who cannot move an haire from the heads of his children but according to his good pleasure There is no evill done in the Citie and the Lord hath not done it Even the Medes Persians are called Gods sanctified ones Esay 13. 3. Ashur that afflicteth and leadeth the people of God into captivitie is but the rod of Gods wrath And the mightie staffe of his anger The ungodly man is but Gods sword Rabshakeh said to Ierusalem Am I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it the Lord said to me Goe up against this land destroy it And Pharaoh Necho King of Egypt comming up to fight against Carchemish at Euphrates and Iosiah going out against him he sent Ambassadors to him saying What have I to doe with thee thou King of Iudah I come not against thee this day but against the house wherewith I have warre for God commanded me to make haste forbeare to meddle with God who is with me that he destroy thee not but Iosiah would not heare but went and fought with him in the valley of Megiddo and there was slaine Oh doth the providence of God extend it selfe to most minutiall things as the blowing of winds falling of raine flying of birds numbring of haires clothing of grasse growing of plants biting of wormes swimming of fishes Yea doth Gods providence order and dispose things most contingent and casuall as the flying off of the Axes head from the helve whereby a man is slaine and an arrow shot at random yet should hit the King Ahab betwixt the ioints of his Brigandine and slay him Yea if the Lot be cast into the lap even the whole disposition thereof is it from the Lord And shall any be so ignorant and faithlesse as to thinke that any stirres and troubles can arise in
Antichrist all light of Ecclesiasticall Order shall lie buried the Priests lament the Church emptie the Altars forsaken and none come to the Lambs solemnitie Many others as Pererius Suarez Ovandus and others speake to this purpose I conclude with that of the Rhemists It is verie like that the externall state of the Roman Church and publike entercourse of the faithfull with the same shall cease With what face then can the Romanists denie our Church to be the true Church of God because of the covering or obscuritie thereof whereas they doe acknowledge their owne subject to the same Thirdly note that it is said the ship was covered with waves but not broken or dashed in peeces or sunke into the waves No no the waves may tosse and shake and cover but cannot breake nor sinke this Ship Your third lesson then is Persecutors may by cruell and bloody practices warres murthers and massacres trouble and disquiet the Church lessen the number of professors hypocrites falling away as the Corne which wanteth moisture withereth when Sunne shineth hot They may destroy for a time the visibilitie of the Church and make such as have publikely served God in his Temple now either serve God privatly in their Houses or Chambers or in Wildernesses Woods Caves Dennes and solitarie places All this they may doe but to destroy the true people of God they cannot They may cut them off and put hundreds and thousands of them to death but as they fall by unities they will rise by multitudes The blood of the Mattyrs will be the seed of the Church Nothing more dangerous to the Church than prosperitie Herem is the Proverbe true the Daughter devoureth the Mother Religion bringeth prosperitie and prosperitie destroieth Religion Gods Church is like the Aire the more it is fanned with the Winds the sweeter it is like Water the more it runneth on Stones the wholsomer like Gold and Silver the oftner tried in the Fire the purer it is like Camomill the more troden on the deeper it rooteth and thicker it groweth like the Lawrell the more oppressed with waight the further it spreadeth like the Vine the nearer cut the more Fruit it beareth like Spice the more it is beaten and bruised the sweeter it smelleth The more the Aegyptians sought to destroy the more the people of God multiplied being like the Bush all in flaming fire but consumed not After the cruell decree of Haman that all the Iewes should be destroied many of the people of the Land became Iewes Never so glorious a Church for zealous profession in England as immediatly after the daies of Queene Mary in whose daies Gods people had beene as dry Stubble before the flaming Fire and one would have thought but few left Never more Protestants in France then since their massacre nor never more Protestants in the Christian world then since the league for to destroy them and that the Iesuites have so farre prevailed with Princes to seeke utterly to root them out and destroy them These are the Israel of God that may truly say Often they have afflicted me from my youth up but they have not prevailed against me Christ is in this Ship and though on sleepe yet it is great weaknesse in Faith to feare the drowning of it But all other Ships though sailing faire for a while shall suffer shipwrack Atheisme Arrianisme Turcisme Iudaisme Anabaptisme Libertinisme Papisme and if there were as many Religions in the world as there are Orders and sorts of Friers in Rome yet shall they all consume and vanish nothing shall continue and abide in the waves and outride all stormes and tempests but the pure Religion of the Gospell of Christ So saith Christ in another Metaphor Every plant which mine heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted out Such Trees may for a time yea a long time take deepe root and flourish and spread but the Axe is at the root they must downe and into the fire To conclude seeing Poperie is no plant of Gods planting but a wilding a composition of novelties a miscellanie of heresies brought in by packing and ambition of some God may suffer it to spread and flourish to saile faire for a while but it shall one day be overturned with the breath of God and sinke into the waves Christ is in the Feild with all his Armies the Beast and false Prophet shall be taken An Angel standing in the Sun hath bid the guests to the supper of the great King and told them their cheere even the flesh of Kings and Captaines All Kings that make warre against the Gospel must to it To shut up all in a word know that not one drop of water can come into the Ship but according to Gods pleasure and therefore that he suffereth such a storme and tempest as the Ship even to be covered with waves is doubtlesse for his glorie and the spirituall good of his Church No affliction saith the Apostle for the present is joyous but grievous Oh Lord how grievous and enough to draw teares from that heart which is not harder than the neather Mill-stone that enemies should come with Fire and Sword to ruinate and waste whole Countreys and Provinces take away the liues of so many and utterly undoe moe make many a widow and fatherlesse child But see the good of it by this meanes he hath made many smite on brest and thighes and shed many a teare breathe out many a sigh powre out many a praier which otherwise God had never heard of How doth the miserie of Gods Church covered with waves abroad cause in England Scotland Ireland and other places where by Gods mercy they enioy a calme to be thankfull and pray Verily if the covering of the Ship with waves do not wonderfully affect you and doe you good it is not well with you but I trust it doth and the Lord turne it to more good So much for the first circumstance aggravating their danger The ship was even covered with waves The second followeth But he was asleepe Sleepe properly taken signifieth the rest of the bodie and is a sweet blessing of God as David saith He giveth his welbeloved sleepe yet ordinarily caused by naturall meanes For as the Physitians say the evaporations of meats from the stomacke being condensate and thickned with the cold of the braine doe stop the passages of the spirits and so locke vp the senses from execution of their functions and stay all the parts and members of the body from their labour And this is that sweet dew of nature the repast of the body and the greatest comfort that nature hath and without which no liuing creature can long continue And sleepe hath two degrees either it is weake and remisse such as in sicke persons or aged people who as Salomon saith awake at the chirping of the bird this is called a
did arise Then is this societie a shadow or figure of the visible Church By visible and invisible I do not mean two distinct Churches as our Adversaries falsly charge us as if a member of the visible were not also a member of the invisible but I distinguish the divers considerations of the same Church which is visible in respect of profession and use of the Word and Sacraments but invisible in respect of saving grace wherein only elect doe communicate and whose bodies profession is visible but saving grace invisible unknown of us saving in the judgement of charity As all men might know Nathaniel to be an Israelite but to be a true Israelite in whom was no guile that Christ only knew so that many of the invisible lie hid in the visible as a part in the whole which visible Church may be thus described viz. It is a mixed company that professe that doctrine which is according to godlines having the word of God for matters fundamentall purely preached Sacraments for substance sincerely administred And I say this is a mixed company For in such a company may be ludas and many unregenerate and hypocrites in the visible which are not of the invisible Church This Church was shadowed out by Noahs Arke wherein were both cleane and uncleane beasts by a floare having a heape of corne and chaffe mingled together a field wherein wheat and tares grow together a draw-net gathering all sorts of fishes good and bad a wedding wherein are guests that have the wedding garment and that want it by a company wherein are both wise and foolish virgins the one having lampes and oyle the others lampes onely a flocke of sheepe and goats Matth. 25. 32. a great house wherein there are vessels of gold and siluer so also of wood and earth some to honour and some to dishonour And this visible Church is two-fold Vniversall and Particular the Vniversall visible Church is the company of all such as professe the doctrine of godlinesse and enioy the ministerie of the Word and Sacraments wheresoever in the world they be A Particular visible Church is a company professing as before but receiving denomination from the Countrie Kingdome or Citie as the Church of England Scotland Bohemia Corinth Galatia Ephesus Philippi which is the reason why particular visible Churches are so affected with ioy or griefe at one anothers prosperitie or adversitie because in effect they are even the same and as members of the same bodie parts of the whole Thus we have shipped the passengers Now as friends at parting have commonly some loving Charge or other suffer me before they launch forth to give to them and in them to you and us all a double warning viz. Beware of departure from and of division among I say beware of departure and division goe not out fall not out For the first howsoever Iudas the covetous wretch and who afterwards was Traitor be in the company yet let none depart from the ship and forsake the fellowship of Christ and the rest of the disciples for his sake it had been no lesse dāgerous to the bodie of any of them to have gone out of the ship into the sea than it is to the soule of any to depart from a true visible Church where Christ and his Disciples are I doe not deny but for many respects it may be warrantable for a man to depart from one visible Church to become a member of another yea for a time to dwel where no visible Church is but to depart because of some corruptions specially in discipline or manners is the dangerous departure condemned by the Scriptures and the ancient Fathers in Donatists Novatians Catharists and such like Separatists of all whom S. Iohn hath pronounced They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had beene of us they would no doubt haue continued with us neither shall such departers ever satisfie their blind and preposterous zeale There never was nor will be a visible Church in this world without great blemishes faults and corruptions Looke upon the state of the Church from the beginning of the world and you will finde it so yet in all the Scriptures there is no precept rightly understood commanding to depart nor warrantable example of any that have so departed A thing also which the Fathers in their times haue exceedingly declamed against Not that we should sit downe carelesse and not take to heart the corruptions of Church or Common-wealth or as if Magistrates and Ministers by word and sword should not endeuour reformation Indeed the Master said to his servants Let both grow together till the harvest which place the Anabaptists abuse amongst others to proue a toleration and S. Augustines opinion was so at the first as himselfe confesseth and gave his Reason lest professed Heretikes should become dissembling Hypocrites but Luther hath both shortly and soundly expounded the place saying It is not a sentence of approbation but of consolation that we should not endevour reformation but a comfort when we cannot so reforme but still there will be corruptions yet for them not to forsake the fellowship as the manner of some is But these things I have more largely handled and pressed in this place hereto fore from some other Scriptures and because such departure is not now so hot and common as it hath beene I passe it over with this touch and caution in few words given The second charge I give is the same that Ioseph gave to his brethren Beware of division and falling out All division is dangerous be it of Kings Cities or Families as our Saviour saith Every kingdome divided against it selfe shall be brought to desolation and every citie or house divided against it selfe shall not stand but no division so dangerous as that in a ship and specially in a storme what doth that threaten but ship wrack and destrucction to them all Wherefore there is nothing that Sathan more laboureth and wherein he doth more hurt than by causing of divisions and nothing more commanded than peace amitie and unitie Have salt in your selves and have peace one with another The Angels at Christ his comming into the world proclaimed peace and Christ at his going out of the world bequeathed peace My peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you The Apostles still wished Grace and Peace to those Churches to which they wrote and inioyned the Saints If it be possible and as much as lieth in them to liue peaceably with all men yea to follow peace with all men and to striue to keepe the unitie of the Spirit in the bond of peace And here I cannot sufficiently wonder at the Romanists that considering our unite and the great and grievous divisions in the Synagogue of Rome yet the Romanists are not ashamed
sleeve and they depend on his mouth what to beleeve and doe and receive his decrees with greater reverence pietie and devotion than that of Christ himselfe it being most true in them that Christ imputed to the Pharisies they made the Commandement of God of none effect through their traditions yea teach for doctrine the commandements of men and do glory to be called Papists acknowledging the Pope to be their Nauclerus or Pilot we leave that to the Franciscans Dominicans Benedictines Iesuits and many other sorts which some of the best writers of our Adversaries well know as Orladius Salmeron D. Carr. pag. 158 Iansenius that have verbatim transcribed whole leaves and Pighius reading Calvin upon Iustification by Faith with a purpose to confute him was converted by him as Tapperus in his 2. Tom. 8. Artic. confesseth who sometimes was his fellow-pupill under Adrian the sixt What need I tell you what wonderfull testimonie Thuanus D. Stapleton and Panygirolla have given him though Doctor Carrier a seduced malecontent doe spight him a man not worthy to light his candle when he went to his studie More precisely observing the rules of their order and following the prescripts of their Founders than they doe of Christ As for Master Calvin and Luther whom they doe so extremely hate for that they have given an incurable wound to Popery we know they were learned men and singular instruments of Gods glory such as lived and died godly notwithstanding that lying Cochlaeus and Bolsecus most wickedly slandered them and Bellarmine in his Oration prefixed to his 4. Tome would make the world beleeve hee and his followers are the wickedest men in the world but we neither follow them no nor Saint Paul himselfe further than they followed Christ and so farre we have good warrant for Saint Paul biddeth Be followers of me and looke on them which walke so as you have us for an example And againe Be yee followers of me even as I am of Christ He nor they never required more to him nor them we never yeelded more we doe not make Master Calvin our Nauclerus Let men be never so learned and holy yet in this life wee know but in part are sanctified but in part never any so deare to God but have had their errors and blemishes none ever wrote so faire but blurred his copie only Christ is the perfect copie for doctrine and conversation and him only wee teach and perswade you to follow Oh follow follow him And thus that I have directed you in what societie to ship your selves and shewed you what men are Now be pleased that I encourage al such as are godly minded to this following of Christ whereunto I exhort them Which I shal the better doe if I remove such lets and hinderances which the Devill the world and their owne corrupt reason doe cast in their way to hinder them First me thinketh I heare some complaine Alas Christ is so perfect and absolute an example I cannot come neere him so faire a copie I am cleane out of heart to write or once to take pen in hand I answer that in following Christ requireth qualitie but not equalitie a similitude but not proportion a perfection indeed as Christ saith You shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect but a perfection of parts not of degrees what we doe let vs doe it in truth and sinceritie be loving humble diligent zealous without hypocrisie and the Lord will accept according to that which wee have so there be an holy and honest endevour with godly sorrow that wee come so farre short and with Peter that we follow so farre off and heartie and continuall prayer with the Church Draw Lord and wee will runne after thee Hee knoweth what pase wee are able to make better than ourselves he will beare with our limping and halting and accept of the will for the deed Wherefore so there be truth and sinceritie in the inner parts let vs not be out of heart with our weaknesse but follow after though we creepe with the Snaile What dulnesse did David finde in himselfe when he said My soule cleaveth to the dust oh quicken me And I shall runne the waies of thy Commandements when thou hast enlarged mine heart How did our holy Mother Church finde her soule and affections fettered and shackled with worldly cares carnall pleasures vaine delights when shee prayed Christ to draw her with his Word Spirit Mercies Corrections Therefore streng then the weake hands and comfort the â—eebleknees Whosoever followeth with an holy endevour shall be sure to obtaine A good Scribe will beare with his scholar if against his will and purpose he make a blot or deformed letter and if he eye his copie and have a care and desire to imitate he will guide his hand but no man on earth hath that loving regard to his scholar that Christ hath to the weaknesse of all such as follow him Oh but hereby I shall expose my selfe to many euils checkes mockes taunts disgraces it may be persecution to the losse of goods libertie life Indeed it is true it many times fareth better here with those that follow the Devill world flesh that protesse any doctrine follow the Pope and Mahomet and live never so prophanely than it doth with the holy servants of Christ professing the Gospell in sinceritie and striving to live accordingly wherein Christ and his Apostles have dealt faithfully deceiving none with vain hopes he said his Kingdome is not of this world and telling him that with an earthly mind offered his service Master I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest The Foxes have holes and birds of the aire have nests but the Sonne of Man hath not whereon to rest his head And called Zebedees sonnes from the crowne to the crosse Are yee able to drinke of the cup and be baptised with the Baptisme I must be baptised with Whosoever will be my disciple must take vp his crosse daily and follow me Yea He that doth not forsake father and mother wife children house and lands for my sake and the Gospels cannot be my disciple And therefore would have all men to sit down and cast their account what it will cost them because to set hand to Gods plough and looke backe maketh a man utterly vnfit for Gods Kingdome And it were better never to have knowne the waies of godlinesse than afterwards to depart from the holy Commandements given unto them Oh no marvell that so many are so loth to goe from home and so hard a taske to get them aboord But see oh see the happie reward of all followers in the end Behold saith Peter in the name of all the Apostles yea of all disciples wheÌ„ ever living that for action or affection can truly say with him we have forsaken all and followed thee what shal we
the Sunne in the darknesse though things differ never so much in colour yet they seeme all alike but when light commeth then the varietie of colours is soone descried In the time of ignorance men may thinke they accord in unitie of Iudgement and Affection but when the light of the word commeth the thoughts of many hearts are opened and then the diversitie of humours and varietie of affections and dispositions appeareth The very wicked doe see this truth and abuse it to a wrong end laying all the blame on the Gospel and the preaching of it What more common in these daies than to heare men say whilst all were obedient to the Pope and Church of Rome what great peace what warres but against the Turke the common enemy But since the preaching of the Gospell what sects warres tumults what divisions what killing murthering massacring and burning of one another giving advantage to the common enemy to incroach and in the end to prevaile greatly What more common than to heare country people complaine So long as we had nothing but Service or Reading we lived very lovingly peaceably and neighbourly every man medling but with his owne businesse but since we have had so much preaching there is nothing but siding and partaking all good fellowship is lost nothing but strife and contention and quarrelling of neighbour against neighbour yea many times division in the same house and father and sonne yea husband and wife divided and varying in opinion It is like enough that the most of this is true but what is properly the cause is the Question Is it Christ and his Gospell and the preaching of it So too many conceive and are not ashamed to say and wish they had lesse of it and they thinke they should have peaceable and golden times and then take occasion to open their blacke mouthes and raile upon it and the Preachers and professors of it accusing them for factious humorous turbulent seditious as Ahab to Eliah It was he that troubled all Israel 1 King 18. 17. and Tertullus accused Paul for a pestilent fellow and mover of sedition Acts 24. 5. Good Lord how clamorous are Atheists and Papists in this kinde But let me tell you Christ is the prince of peace his word the Gospell of peace his Ministers the preachers of peace his Disciples men of peace so far as is possible seeking to have peace with all men and striving to keepe the unitie of the spirit in the bond of peace Wherefore these are no causes but by accident no more than Christ and his Disciples in this ship were the cause of this storme in the Sea Alas saith David what have the righteous done Christ must die but his Iudge said he found no cause worthy of death in him You know what an uprore was in Ephesus raised by Demetrius and the Silver smiths against Paul what a confusion there was some crying one thing and some another and Gaius Aristarchus and Alexander like to be murthered but what saith the Towne-Clarke We are in danger to be called in question for this daies uprore for there is no cause of such a concourse no cause indeed given by Paul and his companions Will you then know and see whence are those stormes and tempests that doe so commonly follow the preaching and profession of the Gospell I pray you looke to the letter of your storie what caused this tempest The Winds and Seas Christ rebuked them and then there was a great calme he found no fault with any in the ship Even so there are two causes of these troubles viz. The first is Sathan the Prince that ruleth in the aire who so soone as the Gospell beginneth to be preached which is the power of God to salvation he presently bloweth and pufâ—eth and raiseth mighty winds of false doctrine and heresie he stirreth up false Brethren Sophisters and Tyrants by policie and power fraud and force and every way that he can to hinder the course of the Gospell and overthrow the Church it is He that by Gods permission raiseth these winds as he did for the overthrow of Iobs house The second is the Sea i. the corrupt and unregenerate nature of man which cannot abide the word but if Sathan blow upon it it will rage like the Sea as our Saviour saith He that doth evill commeth not to the light to have his works made manifest but hateth it The man or woman that have any sinne reigning in them though for some sinister respects they may shew a faire countenance yet doe hate the word and if occasion serve will storme and rage and procure all the trouble they can for it is as a fire they cannot endure it as we reade in the booke of the Revelation that fire went out of the mouthes of the two witnesses and tormented them that dwelt on the earth That fire is the word of God which being sincerely and powerfully preached by the two witnesses i. the Ministers of Christ doth torment and vex the Inhabitants of the earth i. unregenerate earthly carnall and worldly-minded men and this maketh them procure all the trouble they can and so to rejoyce and send gifts one to another when they are dead Oh let Sathan and mans corrupt nature be blamed for these stormes and tempests To conclude Christ and his Disciples are shipped and under saile and behold a tempest even as great a tempest as ever was so generally knowne in the Christian Sea The Lord awake and rebuke the winds and waves that make it preserve and make us thankfull for our calme which affordeth so safe harbour to so many Saints as flie hither for succour S. Ierome hath truly said There are tempests of the minde as well as of the Sea I have spoken of the tempest of the Sea according to the letter of my Text and also of the generall tempest of the Church through persecutions of Tyrants in the last Lecture Give me leave now to speake of the tempest of the minde of the inward billowes surges and waves of a troubled soule wherewith a mans particular Vessel or Cock-boat is even covered with waves of fearefull distresse and is like even every moment to sinke and be cast away Wherein for more orderly and profitable proceeding I will first speake of the tempest that the wicked have and then of the tempest that the godly are many times tried withall For the first Howsoever the wicked and ungodly may seeme most merry and joyfull and as if their consciences were marvellous quiet peaceable and calme yet the Holy Ghost assureth us their soules are ever in a tempest their very tranquillitie is a tempest There is no peace to the wicked saith my God but they are like the troubled Sea which cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt and Salomon saith Their laughter is but from the lips the heart is sorrowfull
it not against true Virginitie but the fained shew of it when as the bodie is defiled with monstrous pollutions not against necessarie povertie but voluntary choise of it in opinion of more pleasing God not against good works but the proud conceit of meriting by them not against confession but against the abuses and corruptions thereof which are such as no Papist in the world can justifie by Scriptures Fathers or Reason as namely that it is enjoined of absolute necessitie and only of mortall sinnes and whatsoever such are not confessed are not forgiven That it must only be in the eares of his owne Priest and is of it selfe an act meritorious These foule corruptions being pared away we have Confession in right use amongst us As we begin our publike Service with confession of our sinnes and have remission of sinnes by Gods Minister pronounced to all such as truly repent and vnfainedly beleeve the Gospell So if any be troubled in Soule and cannot rightly apply the meanes of comfort on death-bead or at other times our Church in the second exhortation before the Communion exhorteth such to repaire to some godly and discreet Minister from whose praier counsell and advice they may receive comfort and the conscience may be quieted hath prescribed a forme of absolution and in the Canons of our Church are enjoined upon paine of irregularitie all lawfull secresie And this is a singular meanes which God and our Church hath prescribed for the quieting and calming of stormie and tempestuous Soules and which cannot be godly used without much comfort The third and last way for calming of these inward tempests in the minds of Gods Children is the voice and speech of Christ he rebuked the winds and Seas and so still doth speake to the troubled Soule Yea whatsoever benefits or friends or delights or pleasures any man have yet none nor all these can soundly comfort the distressed Soule but the word of Christ Therefore saith Ieremie Thy Word is the joy and rejoicing of mine heart And David saith The Statutes of the Lord are right and rejoice the heart And againe I had perished in my trouble if thy Lawes had not comforted me And againe This is my comfort in mine affliction for thy Word hath quickned me And therefore praieth Cause thou me to heare the voice of joy and gladnesse that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice Much more might be said to this purpose but this may suffice and therefore if ever thou wilt have the storme and tempest in thy Soule stilled and calmed thou must diligently hearken to the Word of God read and preached But me thinketh I heare some object against this and say Oh I was never troubled till I began to hearken to the Word till I got a Bible and delighted in reading and tooke delight to heare Sermons I thinke it was the hearing of the Word raised the Tempest I answer that the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God hath two edges it hurteth with the one and healeth with the other it cutteth with the one and cureth with the other it humbleth and exalteth it terrifieth and assureth it afflicteth and rejoiceth the heart Wherefore if it have wounded thee stick to it it will heale thee if it have raised a storme it will also calme and still it Oh but I have read it much and heard it often and yet still I am as much troubled and as comfortlesse as ever I was I say with David Oh tarie the Lords leasure be strong and he will comfort thine heart Our mother Church having lost Christ sought him in bed and found him not in streets and found him not met with many discouragements but found not him whom her Soule loved yet in the end she found him and laid hold on him Never any sought constantly comfort from Word and Sacraments but in the end found it Wherefore say with David I will hearken what the Lord God will say for he will speake peace to his people and to his Saints The Wind and Seas which cause thy storme and tempest are within thee bring them to Gods house first or last the Lord will with his Word rebuke them and thou shalt have a calme and praise God for thy peace And so much for the cause of their perill viz. a Tempest both according to the letter and mystery and that both generally in the Church where Christ his Gospel is professed and particularly in the Soule where the same is beleeved Now let vs proceed to the description of this Tempest Wherein the first thing to be considered is the quality of it It was sudden in this word There arose or according to the originall It was made it did not arise or was made by little or little but on the sudden there came such a gust and the sea did so rage that in an instant the ship was even covered with waves Whereof something is first to be said according to the letter and then the mystery According to the letter let us consider the Author and the meanes who and how this Tempest was made For the first It is out of all doubt he made this Tempest that stilled it The Scriptures plainly shew that God is the Author of stormes and tempests by sea and land So saith David They that goe downe into the sea in ships and occupie their businesse in great waters these see the workes of the Lord and hu wonders in the deepe And againe At the brightnesse of his presence the thicke clouds passed haile-stones and coales of fire the Lord thundred out of heaven and the highest gave his voice haile-stones and coales of fire he sent out his arrowes and scattered them he shot out his lightnings and discomfited them then the channels of water were seene and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke O Lord at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils See how lively the Prophet describeth a Tempest and ascribeth the glorie thereof unto God And againe It is the glorious God that causeth the thunder the voice of the Lord is a powerfull voice the voice of the Lord is full of Maiestie it breaketh the Cedars even the Cedars of Lebanon shaketh the wildernesse even the wildernesse of Kadesh And he withall declareth the use of storms and tempests thunder lightning and raine Give to the Lord the honour due to his name in his Temple let every man speake of his praise And againe hee saith Fire and haile snow and vapour stormy wind and tempest doe fulfill Gods word Oh then it is a great sinne for men to impute the raising of stormes and tempests winds and foule weather to the Devill Conjurers Witches and Wizards Aeolus c. Indeed I will not deny but that Satan is called the prince that ruleth in the aire
the Sea Yet the Booke of the Revelation doth teach us that this world is a very strange sea and and that in two principall properties viz. First it is like a sea of cristall glasse Of glasse because it is most brittle no mans estate in this world being more certaine than the glasse which now being whole and usefull faire and beautifull anon with a rap is broken all to peeces How quickly hath many mens great and faire estates beene utterly broken in one night in an houre how wealth honour health libertie life and all lost as a glasse which is broken all to pieces And of Cristall for howsoever there are many workes of darknesse in the world which the eye of man cannot see and behold yet is the world as cleare as a Cristall-glasse before him that sitteth upon the Throne All things are naked and oâ—en before his eyes with whom we have to doe He discerneth the very least obliquity and irregularitie of thoughts no man can more clearely see a blot in a cristall glasse than God doth the sinnes of men be they in thought word or worke and therefore we should strive to be holy as being ever in the eyes and sight of God Secondly it is a sea mingled with fire It is ordinary in Scripture by fire to signifie tribulations as when thou passest thorow the fire I will be with thee I went thorow fire and water And brethren thinke it not strange concerning the fiery triall The sea of this world is mixed with abundance of that fire wheresoever Gods children become they shal meet with hot and sâ—orching tribulation and afflictions yet shal this fire but scoure away the drosse to make them shine the brighter in Gods eyes the bush burned with fire but consumed not Exod. 3. 2. This fire shall only consume the Reprobate And so much for the description of the Tempest now followeth the aggravation of it In so much that the ship was covered with waves Now the Euangelist doth aggravate the perils that Christ and â—iâ— Dâ—â—ciples were in by two maine Circumstances the first from the greatnesse of the tempest which was such that even the ship was covered with waves the word which Saint Marke useth signifieth to fâ—â—â— and is so translated so that the ship was now full Saint Luke also useth another word of the same signification and so also translated and they were filled for it is in the plurall They that is the ship which carried them by a Meâ—onimie of the adjunct and also by a Sinecdoche the ship for hatches which are but a part But our Euangelist useth another word which according to the proprietie of it signifieth to cover or hide a thing from sight as no man lighteth a candle and covereth it with a bushell and the Reprobate shall say at the day of judgement to the hills fall on us and cover us In which and many such like places in the new Testament we have the word of my text in it proper signification though the words be divers the sense and thing intended is all one viz. They were in so great jeopardie of drowning that the ship that is the upper part or hatches were even filled or covered that they could not be seene And wherewith was the ship covered not with wind but waves and in Saint Iude there is added an Epithite the raging waves of the sea And verily nothing in this world doth so rage and is so furious as the waves of the sea in a storme or tempest And so much be said of the Sense of the words Whether only that this ship wherein Christ and his Disciples passed was thus endangered and covered with waves and the rest safe or no is too hard â— question for me peremptorily to resolve because I am content to see no more than the eye of my Text hath described unto mee the Text saith The tempest came upon the sea therefore likely that all the ships on the sea at that time were endangered though possibly this ship was more endangered than the others both in regard of Christ his purpose and Satans malice The Letter teacheth us what great perils and jeopardies sea-faring men do many times fall into sometimes lifted up to heaven with one wave and sometimes falling even downe to hell and sometimes the ship as this even covered with waves that they see nothing but present death and are as David saith Even at their wits end and crie unto God in their distresse But of this sufficient From handling the Tempest the Circumstance according to Mysticall sense affording us three singular instructions concerning the state of the Church viz. First what ever hath beene is and will be the common condition of Gods Church and people viz. To be exercised with crosses tribulations afflictions publike and private yea and sometimes with sword of bloudie and persecuting foes and enemies which doctrine I have lately more largely handled with Reasons Vses Application and Exhortation and therefore doe now but barely propound it The second Doctrine is this That as this ship was covered with waves so as none but themselves knew they held out others might suppose they were drowned so a Church which hath beene visible in the publike ministrie of the Word and Sacraments may through persecution of Tyrants be so covered â—s become visible to most This is represented in the vision the Church resembled to a woman clothed with the Sunne and the Moone under her feet and upon her head a crowne of twelve Starres oh then was shee viâ—ible and conspicuous But at another time driven into the wildernesse out of the sight of men then was she covered Come to our owne Embleme A ship on the sea when it is calme is plainly seene yea it is one of the comely sights of the world a ship under saile in a prosperous gale but if there arise a great tempest it may be so overtopped with waves and for a time be betwixt them so as scarce the top of the mast is seene and most will thinke shee is drowned yet anon shee riseth upon the wave and is seene againe It is the condition of the Church of Rome sometimes visible and a glorious Church but now persecuteth the faith it professed the godly being covered with waves It is the condition of the Cities in Erance and it was the case of the Church of God in this Land which was glorious and visible in the daies of King Edward but covered with waves in the daies of Queene Mary but restored to former glory by Queen Elizabeth wherein for aboue sixtie yeeres it hath continued most eminent in the eyes of the world The Papists doe hold that the true Church of God is ever visible hath had and shall have a perpetuall Succession of Pastors and Ministers and of publike service and worship They also say that their
gladnesse there was not one feeble person and Egypt was glad Psal 105. 37. The Church had a great storme for 70 yeeres in Babylon when they sate by the rivers of Babylon and wept to remember Sion Psal 137. 1. but in the end a great calme when they had leave to returne then were their mouthes filled with laughter and their tongues with ioy Ps 126. 1. The Church had a great storme in the daies of Ahashuerosh when Haman had procured they should all be destroied then was fasting and mourning but in the end a great calme when Haman and his sonnes were hanged and the Iewes had Purim Great persecution in the daies of the Apostles but in the end God gave the Churches rest throughout Iudea Samaria and Galilee and the word of God increased and the number of disciples multiplied in Ierusalem exceedingly The Ecclesiasticall story witnesseth that howsoever God hath sometimes yea for a long time exercised his Church and people with hot cruell and bloudy persecutions yet in the end rebuking persecutors by death or otherwise as you have heard he hath given his Church peace and turned the tempest into a great calme For the outward estates of particular persons we have gracious promises I will not faile nor forsake thee Which though particularly and personally made to Ioshuah yet the Apostle teacheth every man how to make it his owne by the application of faith Call on me in the day of thy trouble and I will heare and deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me David saith Many are the troubles of the righteous but the Lord delivereth out of all Psal 34. 19. And the Apostle saith God is faithfull who will not suffer his to be tempted above that they are able but will with the temptation make a way to escape that they may be able to beare it And Christ promised to turne his disciples sorrow into ioy which in all ages he hath most graciously performed to his servants yea commonly in this life As Ioseph endured a great tempest when his brethren sold him his impudent mistresse falsly accused him his master cast him in prison he endured hunger and cold and the iron even entred into his soule but there came a great calme when the King sent and delivered him the Prince of the people let him goe free made him ruler of his house yea set him over all the land of Egypt and every one cried Abrech before him Great was the tempest that godly Mordochai endured when proud Haman so despised and intended mischiefe against him having set up gallowes to hang him thereon but there came a great calme when the King commanded Haman to put on him royall apparell which the King useth to weare to set him on the horse the King used to ride on and set the crowne roiall upon his head and proclaime before him Thus shall it be done to the man whom the King will honour Great was the tempest that David endured in that long time that Saul persecuted him and by all meanes sought to take away his life hunting him as a partridge upon the mountaines that he confesseth the flouds of ungodlinesse made him afraid and he said in his infirmitie I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul but there came a great calme when Saul being slaine David was anointed King and died full of daies riches and honour Iob endured a great tempest when hee lost all his goods children and health but there came a great calme when all was restored double unto him againe Many a man hath endured a great tempest of povertie sicknesse ache imprisonment disgrace and God hath sent a great calme of wealth health ease liberty honour Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord and declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men What great and grievous conflicts have the learned Bishops and Fathers in their times had with Heretikes Athanasius and Hilarie with Arrius Basil with Eunomius Tertullian with Hermogenes Origen with Celsus Augustine with Faustus Pelagius Petilian Cyprian with Novatus yet painfully rowing with the Oares of Gods word these Doctors overcame all those boisterous and contrary winds and waves and used it as a proverbe After weeping commeth laughter and after banishment commeth Paradise After a tempest a calme Great also are the Internall tempests whereof Gods children have experience in their soules mindes and consciences but God hath promised most gracious calmes For a moment in mine anger have I turned away but with everlasting compassion have I imbraced thee Heavinesse may endure for a night but ioy commeth in the morning They that sow in teares shall reape in ioy Blessed are they that mourne for they shall be comforted Yea the meeke shall be refreshed with abundance of peace Psalm 37. 11. And these promises God hath in all ages most graciously performed David had a great tempest in soule when hee complained That all Gods waves had gone over him and hee had beene vexed with all his stormes Yea he had suffered from his youth up the terrours of God with a troubled mind But there was a great calme when he said Now returne to thy rest O my soule the Lord hath well rewarded thee and againe Thou hast delivered my soule from death mine eyes from teares and my feet from falling awaked at midnight to sing praises and called for his Lute and Harpe to awake Iob had a great tempest in his soule when hee complained God did write bitter things against him made him possesse the sinnes of his youth and Gods terrours came in battell ray against him but he had a great calme when hee k 〈…〉 Redeemer lived and would trust in God though he killed him and God gave him double all that he had There was as great a tempest in Ionahs soule as in the sea when he said I am cast out of thy sight and his soule fainted within him but hee had a great calme when the fish vomited out Ionah on the drie land and hee paid his vowes and sacrificed unto God the sacrifice of thanksgiving Oh many and great are the trials of Gods children in this kinde till the Lord rebuke Satan fearefulnesse distrust heavinesse c. and then sweet are the mercies and comforts wherwith the Lord refresheth their soules Oh then Art thou full of heavinesse mourning and sorrow in thy soule which maketh thee as a Pellican Owle in desart and Sparrow on house top alone thou minglest thy drinke with teares thy conscience doth rage in sight of sinne and sense of divine anger say as David did Oh my soule why art thou cast downe and why art thou so disquieted within mee still trust in God the storme will over and God will send a gracious calme But
doctrine As was his doctrine so was his life and conversation most holy for he never did sinne nor knew sinne his very enemies could not rebuke him of sinne He came not to breake but to fulfill the Law And he fulfilled all righteousnesse indeed His righteousnesse farre exceeded the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisies For it was the righteousnesse of God Now was that fulfilled though hee lay among pots yet had he silver wings and his feathers like gold Psal 68. 13. He did converse with sinners and yet was separated from them he touched pitch and yet was not defiled As he was most holy so most meeke he did not strive nor crie nor lift up his voice in the streets most patient being led as a sheepe to the slaughter and as a lambe dumbe before the shearer he opened not his mouth most humble he did not ride into Ierusalem like an earthly Emperour in Skarlet Purple glistering roabes cloth of gold not mounted on a lustie Palfrey with stately saddle and Princely trappings attended on with great troopes and guard in soft garments and with chaines of gold but he rode on an Asse used to the yoake a poore base contemptible and ridiculous beast in his poore seamelesse coat and in stead of any rich saddle sate upon some poore garments that his Disciples had spread under him attended by a few fisher-men and others of base qualitie in the world yet all the Citie was moved and said who is this And when you heare these things will yee not also marvell and say What manner of man is this so holy harmelesse meeke patient and humble Againe How glorious were his miracles in the eyes of the beholders which hee wrought Giving sight to the blinde hearing to the deafe speech to the dumbe strength to the lame cleansing Lepers casting out devils raising the dead Rebuking Fevers healing all manner of sicknesses and diseases rebuking winds and seas whereat the beholders were astonished And when you heare it wil not ye also marvell and say What manner of man is this for even the winds and the sea obey him How marvellous also in the Sacraments which he hath ordained and instituted for the use of his new Testaments Church Did the Iewes so marvell at their Passeover when but the bloud of a Lambe was shed saying What meane you by this service Exod. 12. 26. And will not you marvell at the Sacrament of the body and bloud of the Sonne of God Did they at the Type and will not you at the Truth Did they at the shadow and will not you at the body Oh marvell inquire and I will informe you I purpose not to sound the Trumpet to warre and perplex your minds with intricate questions and fruitlesse disputes which are endlesse about this subject Christ ordained them for the comfort of our soules and not for the exercise of our curious and subtill wits to seale up a sweet union with Christ and communion one with another not to occasion division and contention yet through Satans malice and our weaknesse it is come to passe that in nothing are Christians more divided nor have more bitter conflicts than about these things I will briefly lay downe the positive truth according to the Scriptures and the Tenet of our Church and labour to prepare you to the worthy receiving thereof And first let mee provoke you to admire the love of Christ and his desire of our salvation who not contented to speake unto our eares in his word doth adde Sacraments as the seales thereof for confirmation of our faith and let us see with our eyes what we heare with our eares the Sacraments being a visible word yea whereas the Word conveyeth grace to the heart but by the one sense of hearing the Sacrament of the Lords Supper conveyeth grace by seeing handling tasting that as David saith We may see and taste how good the Lord is and with the Apostle That which wee have heard and seene and handled These Sacraments properly so called are but two as ours and the other Reformed Churches doe truly teach I say properly so called because the Greeke word Mysterie by some translated Sacrament is of larger extent in the Scriptures and the Fathers in their writings call all Articles which are peculiar to the Christian faith and all duties of Religion containing that which sense or naturall reason cannot of it selfe discerne Sacraments but none are properly called Sacraments but such as have these three things viz. First an outward and visible signe Secondly an inward and invisible grace Thirdly the word of Institution all which doe onely concurre in the New Testament in two viz. Baptisme and the Lords Supper both instituted of Christ both having outward signes in Baptisme Water in the Lords Supper Bread and Wine and both of them one and the same invisible grace Christ being the invisible grace represented and exhibited in the Sacraments both of the Old and New Testament For they did eat the same spirituall meat and drinke the same spirituall drinke that wee doe Yet have the Sacraments some things peculiar to themselves for by Baptisme we once receive Christ to new birth and Regeneration but in the Eucharist wee receive Christ to continuall nourishment of that spirituall life wee received in Baptisme and therefore that but once as we are but once borne this often as our bodies are often fed The outward Elements in the Lords Supper are but few and poore to the eye of flesh and bloud common and ordinary bread and wine in some Countries as common as bread and in all places of the knowne world to be had bread made of graine and wine without mixture of water a great corruption though ancient these continuing in their naturall substance to the end though the Papists in their metaphysicall faith beleeve Christ to be present I will not say really for that our learned Divines acknowledge and in candide construction as Reall is synonimall with truth and veritie I will not deny it may be warily and soberly used but corporally and that by Transubstantiation of the substance of bread and wine into the very flesh and bloud of Christ so as after words of Consecration there remaine not the substance of bread and wine but only the Accidents colour and taste No no the words of Consecration doe not change the nature or substance of the signes which once destroyed the Sacrament ceaseth but changeth the qualitie in separating them from a common to an holy use S. Paul to make that out of question doth in one Chapter after the Consecration thrice call it Bread Neither indeed is there any need that there should bee such a change as if Christ could not feed us or our soules be nourished without orall manducation for did the woman by her faith finde such good in touching but
sinners yea pierced that heart with a speare which devised all good for man And doe yee not marvell Doe you reade that the fountaine of living water thirsteth the light of the world put out Truth oppressed by false witnesses Discipline scourged He that beareth up all things faint under the Crosse He that is Iudge of quicke and dead judged by a mortall man Justice condemned Foundation hanged on a Tree Salvation wounded and Life killed and doe yee not marvell But alas these were lamentable things and in the eye and wisdome of flesh and bloud base and contemptible Behold then such things as are full of glory and majestie The Sunne ashamed of their doings pulled in his beames covered it face and refused to give light to such a work of darknesse The earth trembled as not able to beare the weight of such a sinne The vaile of the Temple rent asunder from the top to the bottome in detestation of such wickednesse The Centurion confesseth truly This was the Sonne of God Pilat whose hands were embrewed with his bloud writeth his inscription and publisheth his glory to Hebrewes Greekes and Latines This is Iesus of Nazareth King of the Iewes And will you not marvell at it Yea open the eyes of your mindes and you shall see the benefits hereof He was apprehended that we might escape scourged that we might be spared bound that we might be loosed disgraced that we might be honoured wearied with the burthen of the Crosse that wee might be eased of the burthen of the Curse fainted that we might be refreshed thirsted that we might be satisfied wounded that we might be healed humbled to the Crosse that we might be exalted to Thrones died amongst Theeves that we may live amongst Angels condemned that we may be justified killed that we may live And doe yee not marvell and say What manner of man is this Moreover when Christ was truly dead and buried and all made sure as they thought the wicked triumph and rejoyce and his Disciples full of sadnesse and sorrow Luk. 24. 17. loe he that had power to lay downe his life had also power to take it up againe Ioh. 10. 18. Hee loosed the sorrowes of death whereof it was impossible for him to be holden Acts 2. 24. having thorowly conquered death even in the grave it strongest hold fortresse or castle It was not the great sealed stone could keepe him in Matth. 27. ult but Sampson-like carrieth on his shoulders the brasen gates Iudg. 16. 3. and declared himselfe mightily to be the Sonne of God by his rising from the dead Rom. 1. 4. Death and Grave confesse their weaknesse and his dominion they are weary of their prey and hasten with the Whale to cast up this Ionah they are oppressed with an intolerable burthen and have swallowed so bitter a morsell as they would faine be rid of the earth is in travell till it be rid of him Moreover after that he had beene conversant with his Disciples for the space of forty daies after his resurrection and had instructed them concerning his kingdome he was received up into glory from the top of Mount Olivet in the sight of his Apostles he ascended into heaven that is his humane Nature by the power and vertue of his Godhead was truly and locally translated from earth into the highest heavens of the blessed where he is said to sit on the right hand of God to make continuall intercession for his Elect from whence he sent the Holy Ghost in likenesse of cloven tongues of fire within ten daies according to his promise from whence he powreth out his spirit on all flesh and specially on such as he hath called to the work of the Ministerie doth gather and protect his Church bridle and confound his enemies and at the appointed time shall come from thence in his owne glory and the glory of his Father and of the holy Angels to iudge both the quicke and dead when all his Saints shall be gathered from the foure corners of the world shall meet him in the aire and be with him in happinesse for ever whose kingdome shall have no end Oh most marvellous Redeemer Oh most glorious mysteries of the Gospell How are we bound for ever to that good God who hath revealed them by his word and Spirit unto us How poore and simple beggerly base and contemptible are all the Religions in the world compared with this What is Moses and all the Legall service and worship though ordained of God yet the time of Reformation being come the Apostle calleth them weake and beggerly elements What is that Impostor Mahomet with his Alcaron though a Religion so generally received and professed how carnall filthy and obscene What are his best promises but such as a godly minde would despise abhorre How many great Kingdoms do worship Sunne Moone Starres yea foure-footed beasts and creeping things And some worship the Devil himselfe How in Poperie are poore people deprived of the Scriptures nusled in ignorance and implicite faith taught to beleeve lying Legends counterfet miracles fed with old wives fables and abused with cosening tricks of deceitfull men Oh stand fast in the faith marvell and praise God who hath made knowne the Saviour and the way of salvation unto you You have marvelled at many things but I pray you forget not that which is the burthen of all What manner of Man It is Man yea true Man that is so marvellous in birth life doctrine death resurrection ascension Oh how highly hath God exalted humane nature Some love their flesh for the beauty of it and some for the comely shape and proportion some for the strength Here is the ground of true love to love it because in Christ it is the flesh of God and herein exalted above the nature of Angels It was a great honour was given to man at the Creation when he was made after Gods Image but it is a far greater honour given in Redemption God himselfe becomming man flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone Oh Christian acknowledge thy dignitie and doe not defile with a lewd conversation what God hath so highly honoured But me thinketh I heare some object this is a matter of offense that Christ was a man yea a weake and poore man I answer Indeed it is true if we behold him with a carnall eye and looke upon no more but his bare humanitie and wrapped up in great infirmitie it is a matter of offense and therefore Christ hath pronounced Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me The Prophet foretold hee should be a stone to stumble at and a rocke of offense And the Apostle saith We preach Christ a stumbling blocke to the Iewes and foolishnesse to the Gentiles But whoso well observeth the Gospell shal see in