which the former was a dark shadow is the third Heaven which for the fulness of pleasure and joy is so called Hierom comforting a young Hermite bade him look up to Heaven Paradisum mente deambulare to take a few turns in Paradise by his meditations assuring him that so long as he had Paradise in his mind and Heaven in his thought Tamdiu in eremo non eris He should not be sensible of his solitariness To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life Rev. 2.7 which is in the midst of the Paradise of God Of the Sea Sea THE Sea is the seat and source of waters Mare quast amarum because the Sea-water is bitter and salt There are three things in it specially considerable viz. 1. The turbulency of it so stormy and turbulent that it threatneth to overwhelm all To overwhelm the ships sailing upon it to overwhelm the dry land encompassing of it and it would do both if God did not bound it saying Hitherto shalt thou come but no further here shall thy proud waves be stayed Did not God put an everlasting Law upon it it would be lawless 2. There is a wonderful capaciousness in the Sea the water they say is ten times bigger than the earth the Air ten times greater than the water and the fire than the Air. It is so big and broad so extensive and vast that it takes in all the waters that come off the land into its bosome and yet feels no access 3. The Sea is of mighty strength Though we say Weak as water water is a weak element in one sense yet in another water is a strong element so strong that it bears down all before it and bears all the storms that rage upon it Canutus confuted his flacterers who told him that all things in his Dominions were at his beck and check by laying his command on the sea to come up no higher into his Land but it obeyed him not Illi rebor as triplex Circa pectus erat Horat. Od. 1.1 3 Virgil. qui fragilem truci Commisit pelago ratem Primus nec timuit praecipitem Africum c. Tollimur in Caelum curvato gurgite Gen. 1.10 iidem Subduct â ad manes imos descendimus undâ Hence some have doubted whether Mariners were to be reckoned amongst the living or the dead But wisely said he Qui nescit orare discat navigare He that cannot pray let him go to Sea and there he will learn And the gathering together of the Waters Gen. 1.21 called he Seas Fish The power of God is great in forming the fishes of the Sea Especially if we consider three things about them 1. Their number Inter omaes bestias nibil est faecundius piscibus igitur tranâ—fertur ad multiplicationâ— immensum as tous they are infinite Therefore how emphatically is their encrease exprest When God created them it is said The Waters brought forth abundantly No sort of creatures that multiply so fast as fishes Who is able to report the number of these Sea-inhabitants 2. If we consider their various kinds Naturalists observe that there is no creature upon the earth but hath as I may say its representative in the Sea besides those that have nothing like them on the earth 3. Many of these inhabitants of the waters are wonderful for the vastness and greatness of their bodies The greatest of all living creatures are in the Sea We will only instance in the Leviathan unto whom the Elephant is little Pliny tells of one taken that was 600. foot in length and 360. in breadth Plin. lib. 32. cap. 1. when they swim and shew themselves above water Annare insulas putes saith the same Author you would think them to be so many Islands so many Mountains saith another who also addeth that when they grow old they grow to that bigness and fatness that they keep long in a place Insomuch as ex collectis condensatis pulveribus frutices erumpere cernantur the dust and filth gathered upon their backs seems to be an Island which while shipmen mistake and think to land at they incurre a great deal of danger The great and Wide Sea wherein are things creeping innumerable Ps 104.25 26. both small and great beasts There is that Leviathan made to play therein Ships The use of ships was first shewed by God in Noah's Ark whence afterwards No art which helps more to enrich a Nation Audax Japeti genus Japhets off-spring sailed and replenished the Islands Of the Low-Countrey-men it is said Peterent Coelum navibus Belgae si navibus peti posset A ship is a fabrick for the Sea a house upon the Sea a moveable house and as it moveth variably so it moveth swiftly the inconstancy of the winds makes the motion of the ship unconstant and the strength of the winds makes the motion of the ship swift Whatsoever they do who are within the ship the ship moves on if they prepare it for motion Labitur uncta vadis abies Virgil. The ship seems willing to be at the Haven as soon as may be Let our souls be like a ship that is made little and narrow downward but more wide and broad upward Let them be ships of desire hasting heaven-ward and then let our days pass away as they can we shall be but the sooner at home Mortality shall appear to be no small mercy There go the ships They that go down to the Sea in ships Psa 14.26.107.23 24. that do business in great waters These see the Works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep c. Homo NVllum animal morosius est nullum majore arte tractandum Senec. quà m homo Nay which is worse Homo homini lupus homo homini Daemon Therefore saith David Let me not fall into the hands of men as though they were like Cadmus souldiers ad internecionem nati Yet man is magnum miraculum mundi Epitome imaginis image Imago mundi in corpore Dei in animâ In mans composition there is a shadow of the Trinity for to make up one man Ea fere bominum natura 〈◊〉 omnes sua mirentur aliena despiciant Julian there is an elementary body a divine soul and a firmamental spirit Here is the difference in God there are three Persons in one essence in us three essences in one person So in the soul there is a Trinity of powers vegetable sensitive and rational The former would only be the second be and be well the third be well and be for ever O excellent Nature in which Cabinet ten thousand forms may sit at once Vocabulum Homo est duorum substantiarum fibula Man is a heavenly thing for his soul though earthly in regard of his body Man being Lord of these graces should sit no longer in the vale of tears but ascend the Mountain of glory he should fly to the Trumpet calling to
him without the camp bearing his reproach for here we have no continuing City Heb. 13.13 14 15. but we seek one to come by him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name who is the Author and finisher of our salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be ascribed all honour glory power and dominion in heaven and in earth by men and Angels both now and for ever world without end Amen The Necessity of CHRISTS PASSION AND Resurrection ACTS 17.3 Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead GLory which is the proper scope of a noble disposition and the intended end of honourable intents did Christ make to be the necessary consequence of his fore-running passion His life seem'd to the worlds eye inglorious in that he affected not popularity so did his death to those that knew not the mystery of our Redemption By general judgment he was reputed the most unhappy breathing he was rejected and despised of men Yet in this his rejected and contemptible condition was sowen his immortal happiness which indeed was sowen in weakness but was raised in power sowen in dishonor but raised in glory For as by the eternal constitution of the Almighty he ought to have been brought to the lowest degree of misery by suffering divers and fearful punishments so ought he not perpetually to abide in that state but at length to be elevated thence to the highest pitch of glory In order to which as Christ must needs have suffered so also must he rise again from the dead The point now by divine assistance to be discust is part of Christs exaltation a theame of an high nature And herein first of the person exalted Christ Christ was exalted according to both natures 1. In regard of his Godhead 2. In regard of his Manhood The exaltation of the Godhead of Christ was the manifestation of the Godhead in the Manhood mightily declaring therein that he was the Son of God Which manifestation was altogether active no way passive the effects produced by him having no other proper agent but God For who could overcome Satan death the world the grave but God And albeit the Divine nature be thus exalted yet it is without all manner of alteration For to speak properly in it self it cannot be made the subject of exaltation but as it is considered joined with the Manhood into the unity of one person For albeit Christ from the very time of the assumption of our nature whereby he was incarnate was both God and man and his Godhead all the time he liv'd dwelt in his Manhood yet from the hour of his Nativity unto the hour of giving up the Ghost and a while after the Godhead did little shew it self The glorious majesty of his Deity whiles he was in the for me and low state of a servant lay hid under the vaile of his flesh as the soul doth in the body when a man is sleeping And in the time of his passion the brightness of the glory of the sun of righteousnesse was obscured as the sun running in the height of heaven oftimes over clouded or eclipsed by a darker body thereby in 〈◊〉 humane nature to undergo the curse of the law and perfect the work of our redemption in subjecting himself to the death even the cursed death of the crosse But as soone as this work was finished and happily accomplished he began by degrees to make known the power of his Godhead in his Manhood And so to rise again Secondly Christ was exalted in regard of his Manhood which consisteth in these two things In depositione servilis suaâ—conditionis in laying down and quitting himself from all the infirmities that 〈◊〉 mans nature which he submitted himself unto except sin so long as he remained in the state of a servant he was subject to weariness to hunger to thirst to fear to death from all which in this state of exaltation he is perfectly delivered his natural body is a glorious body those wounds and stripes which in his body he suffered for our sins remain not in him as testimonies of that compleat conquest to be obtained over his and our enemies But are rather quite abolished because they were a part of that ignominious condition wherein our Saviour was upon the crosse whereof in his glorified state he is not to be partaker Yet if they still remain as some think they do they are no deformity to the glorious body of the Lord but are in him in some unspeakable and to us unknown manner glorified In susceptione donoxum in receiving such graces and qualities of glory as bring with them ornament beauty perfection happiness exceeding the or 〈◊〉 beauty perfection and happiness of any other creature in heaven or earth 〈◊〉 to his soul and body As for his soul look upon the intellectuall part you shall find a mind enrich with as much knowledge and understanding as well in respect of the act as the habit as a creature can possibly be capable of the measure of it being more than all men and Angels put together have Look upon his will and affections you shall find them furnished with the fulness of grace and compleatly adorned with the invaluable riches and incomparable gifts of Gods holy Spirit As for his body it is not now subject to dissolution from being natural it is become spiritual not by the destruction of the essence but by the alteration of the qualities Aquinas Est ejusdem naturae sed alterius gloriae said Thomas for God would not suffer his holy one to see corruption The nature and essential proprietles of a true body as length breadth thickness locality still remain in him the addition of glory and brightness not changing the nature of it so that it is free from all bodily imperfections and made bright and glorious a resemblance whereof was his transiguration on the mount Matth. 17. where his face did shine as the sun and his rayment was as white as the light the purity whereof is unblemished the agility whereof such as is indifferent to move upward or downward the brightness thereof cannot be obscured nor the strength thereof match't by any creature For by his power he shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body Hhil 3.21 according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself These gifts of glory in Christ's body are not infinite but bounded within limits because his humane nature being but a creature and therefore finite could not receive infinite graces and gifts of glory To make then infiniteness ubiquity and omnipotency incommunicable attributes of God attributes of Christ's glorified body is to destroy the nature of a body and say that the body of Christ is transformed into the Deity or Deified and that he is all
the twelve Tribes of Israel He went into the Sanctum Sanctorum once a year and offered up the prayers of the people Besides him there were a great number of Priests and Levites throughout all the towns and Cities of Israel they offered the sacrifices of the people and made attonement for them before the Lord they taught the people and instructed them in the ways of the Lord. Yet all these are nothing to our Saviour Christ he excells them as much as the Sun doth the Starres or the body the shadow They were all but shadows of him he is the true high-Priest They were but men he is God and man they sinful he without sin they mortal he immortal their sacrifices were but figures of his sacrifice the blood of Lambs Goats offered by them took away no sin his blood purgeth us from all sin they received tithes of their brethren but they themselves paid tithes to Christ they prayed for the people in the Temple Christ prayes for us in heaven Wherein we may behold the supereminent dignity of Christ his Priest-hood It cannot be denied but that Aarons Priest-hood was most glorious As the Psalmist speaketh of the Church many glorious things are recorded of it There was a costly Tabernacle a sumptuous Temple the wonder of the world there was an admirable Altar many oblations and sacrifices there were sundry Sabbaths and new Moons divers festival days the feast of unleavened bread of the blowing of Trumpets of Tabernacles of Dedication c. Which were kept with wonderful solemnity there were many washings and purgings for the clensing of the people Therefore let us magnifie God for this our high-priest by whom we have an entrance into the Kingdom of heaven The high Priest went into the Holy of Holies himself but he carried none of the people with him they stood without Our high-Priest is not only gone into heaven himself but he hath also brought us thither That high-priest offered Bulls Calves Lambs for the sins of the people this high-priest offered himself for us all Therefore let us honour and reverence this our high-priest yea let us subject our selves to him in all things which hath made us Kings and Priests to God his Father that we may reign with him for ever and ever The Lord hath sworn and will not repent thou art a Priest for ever Psal 110.4 after the order of Melchisedeck For such an high-Priest became us who is holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners and made higher than the heavens Hebr. 7.26 27. Who needeth not daily as those high-Priests to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins and then for the peoples for this he did once when he offered up himself Seeing then that we have a great high-Priest that is passed into the heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our profession Heb. 4.14 16. And let us come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need Of Christs Prophetical Office Christ is said to be a Prophet like unto Moses that is both in the Participation of nature and of office A true man and a true Mediatour Similes they are but not Pares Christ being worthy of more glory than Moses Christ is a Prophet and more than a Prophet the Arch-Prophet to whom Moses and all must vail bonnet Let our mind then be wholly fixed on Christ consider that in him all the treasures of wisdom lie hid he is a rich and plentiful store-house in whom we may find all the pearls and jewels of wholesome doctrine In him there is salvation and in no other therefore all other teachers set aside listen to him When the Judge of an Assizes gives the charge all that be present especially they of the grand Inquest consider seriously what is spoken Christ Jesus the Judge of the whole world gives a charge by his Ministery When the King makes a Speech in Parliament the whole House considers earnestly what he sayes Christ Jesus the King of kings speaks to us in the Ministery of the Word The Queen of Sheba observed Solomon well Behold here is a greater than Solomon therefore let us diligently consider him Besides the matters which this great Prophet declareth are of great moment touching the eternal salvation of our souls If one should talk to us of gold or silver we would be attentive Christ speaks to us of that which surpasseth all the riches in the world what mad-men are we that regard him no more But alas since the Fall every man hath Principium lasum his brain-pan crackt as to heavenly things neither can he recover till Christ open his eyes and give him light Moses truly said unto the Fathers Act 3.22 Quinque dicuntur de Deo Paternitas in nascibilitas filiatio proc ssio communis spiratio Aug. Paternitas innascibilitas conveniunt solum modò Patri Filiatio tantum modò Filio Spiâ—itâ—i verò Sancto processio Communis Spiraâ—io Patri filio respectu Spiritus Sancti A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever I shall say unto you De Spiritu Sancto THE Holy Ghost is the third Person in Trinity proceeding from the Father and the Son being himself most holy and the worker of holiness in all Angels and good men He is distinct from the Father and the Son equal unto the Father and the Son and the same God in Nature and Essence with the Father and the Son though not the same person He is called The Spirit The Holy Spirit A Spirit because he is that essential vertue proceeding and as it were spired or breathed from the Father and the Son Or from his effect who blowing where he listeth inspireth holy motions and graces into the hearts of the Elect. Or because he is a spiritual invisible and incorporeal essence And Holy Spirit 1. For distinction sake for Gods Spirit is holy that is it hath all holiness and it hath it in it self not by illumination from any higher cause and so are not the spirits of Men or Angels holy mens spirits have sin in them on earth And the Angels and blessed souls in heaven have no holiness but what they received 2. Gods Spirit is holy by effect for it is his proper work to sanctifie the Elect and so to work holiness upon the spirits of men by spiritual regeneration The Holy Ghost is oft-times in Scripture signified by Fire Water We shall find it according to the nature of fire 1. To illighten us 1. Mat. 3.11 Isa 4.4 as the least spark of fire lightens it self at least and may be seen in the greatest darkness 2. To enliven and revive us fire is the most active of all other elements as having much form little matter so whatsoever is born of the Spirit is Spirit that is nimble and active full of life and motion
and heat The Sun is called light by an excellency Gracè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. splendore â— Orus Pscud Epid. p. 248. The Egyptians call him Orus from the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We are not able to look into the body of the shining Sun Quia nimiùm sensibile ladit sensum Furthermore In this Distinguisher of Time as Doctor Brown terms it the Sun besides its glory and other benefits the artifice of its Maker is much illustrated from two considerations especially 1. In its motion that it moveth at all for had it stood still and were fixed like the Earth there had been then no distinction of times either of Day or Year of Spring of Autumn of Summer or of Winter for these seasons are defined by the motions of the Sun 2. No less wonderful also in contriving the line of its revolution which God hath so effected that by a vicissitude in one body and light it sufficeth the whole Earth and that is the line Ecliptick all which to effect by any other circle it had been impossible As for its swiftness Bellarm saith Such is his velocity that he runneth in the eight part of an houre 7000 miles Si tanta pulchritudo in creaturâ quanta in ereatoreâ— This dumb creature saith a Divine gives check to our dulness as Balaam's Ass did also to the Prophets madness And for beauty it is compared to a Bridegroom coming out of his chamber If a creature be so glorious how much more is the Creator And surely if Solomon in all his glory was not like a Lilly of the field much less can earthly glory be like that of the Sun in the Heavens The Sun-shine is a sweet mercy but not prized because ordinary as Manna was counted a light meat because lightly come by But should we be left in palpable darkness as were the Egyptians for three days together so that no man stirred off the stool he sate on this common benefit would be better set by And certainly Solem è mundo tollere is to make the World a Cyclops a huge body without eyes Sol in mundo sicut cor in corpore The Sun in the world Aben-Ezra is as the heart in the body All things feel the quickning heat of the Sun not only the roots of trees plants c. but metals and minerals in the bowels of the earth Of the two great Luminaries the Sun is the greater indeed being as Astronomers resolve though rather upon probable conjecture than certain demonstration One hundred and sixty six times greater than the earth God made two great lights the greater light to rule the day Gon. 1.16 Deut. 33.14 The precious fruits brought forth by the Sun In them hath he set a tabernacle for the Sun which is as a Bridegroom coming out of his chamber Psal 19 4 5 6. and rejoyceth as a strong man to run a race His going forth is from the end of the heaven and his circuit unto the ends of it and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof Psal 104.19 Psal 136.8 The Sun knoweth his going down The Sun to rule by day He maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good Truly the light is sweet Eccl. 11.7 1 Cor. 15.41 and a pleasant thing is it for the eyes to behold the Sun There is one glory of the Sun another of the Moon and another of the Stars Of the Moon The Moon is one of those two great lights which God created Luna à lucendo Tully quia solâ lucet nocte Varro But though she is so called and in appearance seems the greatest next the Sun yet she is the least but one and that is Mercury of all the Planets and of far narrower compass than the fixed stars Nevertheless the Moon being the lowest of these shining bodies it appeareth to be bigger in quantity and ministreth more light to mans use than any of the single stars of the greatest magnitude yea than all of them together when it is at the full yet this fulness of light is for a great part of it but a borrowed brightness from the body of the Sun which the Moon receiveth and reflecteth like a Looking-glass God seems saith a Doctor therefore to have set it lowest in the Heavens and nearest the Earth that it might daily put us in mind of the constancie of the one and inconstancie of the other herself in some sort partaking of both though in a different manner of the one in her substance of the other in her visage The meer Irish saith Grimston Hist p. 34. for they are divided like unto the Scottish kneel down when they see the New Moon and speaking unto her say Leave us in as good health as thou hast found us The superstitious Jews offered cakes unto the Moon and worshipped her by the name of Regina Caeli the Queen of Heaven as the Papists do the Virgin Mary Surely saith a Wit she deserves to be deposed from her regency if willingly accepting of this usurped title and their unlawful offerings But seeing mans importunity forced them upon her against consent she is free from idolatry The World is compared unto the Moon for its changes and chances Rev. 12.1 which the Woman in the Revelations is said to tread under her feet And certainly it is good and necessary that every Child of that beautiful Mother keep it there for if it once get into the heart or head it makes them lunatick The lesser Light to rule the night Gen. 1.16 Psal 135.9 Psal 104.19 He made the Moon to rule by night He appointed the Moon for seasons Of Eclipses Eclipses are disappearings of the Sun or Moon which though they come in a course of nature and are by natural light foreseen many years before they come yet there is somewhat in them which should fill us up with high thoughts of the power of God Of a dismal one Lucan saith Ipse caput medio Titan cum ferret Olympo Lucan lib. x. Condidit ardentes atrâ caligine currus InvolvÃtque orbem tenebris gentésque coegit Desperare diem And that they are terrifying and prodigious another sings sadly Signa dabant luctus Superi haud incerta futuri Ovid. Metavs lib. 15. Saepe faces visae solis qucque tristis imago Caerulus vultum ferrugine Lucifer atrâ Sparsus erat sparsi lunares sanguine currus Though an Eclipse be no miracle yet God once made one and can do so again when Christ the Sun of Righteousness was shamefully crucified the Sun in the Heavens as ashamed to look upon that act as from man of prodigious cruelty and injustice hid his face and provided as it were a veil for the nakedness of Jesus that the women might be present and himself die with modesty That Eclipse was miraculous 1. Both in the manner because the Moon was not then in conjunction
of the earth it causeth an inward warmth to it and so maketh it very fruitful In which respects the Rabbines say That one day of snow doth more good than five of rain Gregory allegorizing those words Gregor Job 38.22 sheweth that earthly treasures are treasures of snow We see little children what pains they take to rake and scrape together snow to make a snow-ball Right so they that scrape together the treasure of this world have but a snow-ball of it so soon as the Sun shineth and God breatheth upon it and so entreth into it by and by it cometh to nothing He saith to the snow Be thou on the earth Hast thou entred into the treasures of the snow Job 37.6 Cap. 38.22 Psa 147.16 He giveth snow like Wooll Frost It is the excess of cold by the blowing of the coldest winds which are sometime called the breath of God These congeal the waters and turn them into ice contracting them into a narrower room Hence it is that as any Countrey is more Northerly so it is colder the Sea also is frozen and unpassable The hoar-frost heateth and drieth the cold and moist earth nipping the buds of trees Vnde pruina dicitur à perurenda Hence also perhaps is that Psal 147.16 He scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes Cinis monet ignem subesse quem foveat By the breath of God frost is given Job 37.10 and the breadth of the Waters is straitued Dew Est vapor subtilior tenuior qui levi miti frigore in terrae aut herbarum superficie adeo compactus est tum adeaâ— fovendum recreandumque à flacciditate aestu contract â tum ad juvandum terrae foecunditatem tum etiam ad aërem ipsum in quo versamur refrigerandum These round orient pearls that come from heaven in a clear night do sweetly refresh whatsoever groweth in fields and meadows The dew 1. It comes when the air is clear 2. It refresheth and cherisheth the dry and fady fields plants and herbs thereby recover life and beauty 3. It allayeth great heats and moisteneth and mollifieth the earth that it may fructifie Who hath begotten the drops of dew Job 38.28 Isa 26.19 Thy dew is as the dew of herbs I will be as the dew unto Israel As the dew of Hermon Hos 14.5 Psal 133.3 Prov. 3.20 and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion By his knowledge the depths are broken up and the clouds drop down the dew Of all these Meteors watery windy fiery whether pure or mixed c. I say with Brentius Fides non in ordinem operis sed in Authorem oculos suos dirigit All these are of the Lord and faith seeth God in all Fowls of Heaven It is very observable that birds though they have more of the earth than of the other three elements for out of the earth was every fowl of the air formed as well as every beast of the field Gen. 2.19 yet are light which is a wonder delighting in high-flying which is innate to them Of Birds mentioned in Scripture these are some The Eagle Called the Queen of fowls She is famous 1. For her loftiness Aquila non captat muscâ—â— she minds great things flies and petty things she looks not after 2. Swiftness of flight and motion 3. Strength herein they are the chief of all have wings 4. Sagacity looking intently upon the Sun without being dazled and by that property makes proof of her young ones A 〈◊〉 â—nectus Prov. 5. Vivacity renewing her youth and health till she come to be very old Aug. observeth that when her bill is over-grown that she cannot take in her meat she beateth it against a Rock Excâ—tit onus rostri striking off the cumbersome part and thereby recovereth her eating Thy youth is renewed like the Eagles Psal 103 5. Peacock Priding himself in his feathers and is all in changeable colours like friends now adays as often changed as moved Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the Peacocks Job 39.13 Pelican Reported to open her breast with her bill and feed her young ones with the blood distilling from her Therefore an Hiereglyphick of piety and pity among the Egyptians However a melancholy bird living in lonely places and crying out dolefully I am like a Pelican of the Wilderness Psal 102.6 Ostrich Called by reason of his bigness Elianâ— Cumâ—interim tot â coâ—poris mole promiâ—eat Plin. Peremptores potius quam Parentes Struthio-Camelus He is very swift of foot but so foolish that being pursued if he can hide his head only so as to see no body he thinks himself safe and that no body seeth him though his great bulk be all in sight Her leaving her eggs makes her the Hieroglyphick of unnatural and careless therefore cruel Parents The Ostrich Job 39.13 which leaveth her eggs in the earth c. Raven Their young ones are fed of God when forsaken of their dams and lest bare and destitute For out of their dung and carrion saith Aristotle brought before to the nest ariseth a worm which creepeth to their mouth and feedeth them Who feedeth the young Ravens which cry Psal 147.9 I forbear to mention any more Only much of Gods wisdom power and goodness may be seen in these inhabitants of the air in the admirable variety of their colours tunes tastes c. Also to these creatures God sends us to learn setting before us as in a picture the lively resemblance of many excellent vertues which we ought to pursue and practice The fowls of the air they shall tell thee Job 12.7 Jer. 8.7 Mat. 6.26 The stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming Behold the fowls of the air for they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly Father feedeth them Are ye not much better than they Of the Earth BY earth I understand not that great material mass made up of the two heaviest elements earth and water whereof all terrestrial and celestial bodies were made Gen. 1.2 But the earth as distinctly severed from the other parts of the world which was not made untill the third day vers 10. Elementum siccae frigidaeque naturae densum in medio mundi collocatum râ—undum in proprio loco immobile The earth is round as an apple is notwithstanding some knots and bunches in it and therefore naturally apt for motion as the heavens are that yet therefore it should stand firm and unmoveable is admirable It is upheld by the infinite and Almighty power of God The air will scarce bear a feather because it will descend unless kept up by a breath of wind Ponderibus librata sais and yet this vast globe of earth and water hangs as a Ball in the air Terra pilae similis nullo fulcimine nixa Ovid. Aere sublato
tam grave pendet onus Of this great wonder the Philosophers after much study can give no good reason because ignorant of this that God hath appointed it so to be Psal 104.5 Heb. 1.3 The Poets fable that Atlas beareth up heaven with his shoulders the Lord our God by his Word alone beareth up heaven and earth Non fundamentis suis nixa subsistit terra nec fulchris suis stabilis perseverat Ambros l. 1. Exam. c. 16. sed Dominus statuit terram fundamento voluntatis suae continet The earth hath no pillar God hath not hanged it upon any thing but himself who is indeed infinitely more than all things The greatness of this work of God saith Merlin appeareth hereby that men cannot spread aloft the thinnest curtain absque fulchris without some solid thing to uphold it and therefore this must needs be the finger of God and an Argument of his Almightiness That was an odd conceit of Plato's that the earth was a kind of living creature having stones for bones rivers for veins trees for hairs c. But that was worse of Aristotle teaching the worlds eternity The earth is the element which is so much beneath man that he treadeth it under his feet is called terra à terendo from breaking and wearing And yet this which is so trampled upon abideth when man passeth away Eccl. 1.4 The earth as a Stage whereon the several generations act their parts and go off as the center of the world and seat of living creatures it stands firm and unmoveable The earth standeth saith Hugo de sanct vict Vt venientes mittat In Eccl. Hom. 1. pertranseuntes portet discedentes recipiat To send away those people that come to bear those that are passing away and to receive those that are gone And God said Gen. 1.9 10. Job 26.7 Psal 104.5 Eccl. 1.4 Hebr. 1.3 Let the dry land appear and it was so And God called the dry land Earth He hangeth the earth upon nothing He hath laid the foundations of the earth that it should not be removed for ever The earth abideth for ever that is untill the end Vpholding all things by the Word of his power Earth-quakes These subterraneous thunders are caused say some when sulphureous and nitrous veins being fired upon rarefaction do force their way through bodies that resist them Where if the kindled matter be plentiful and the mine close and firm about it subversion of hills and towns doth sometimes follow if scanty weak and the earth hollow or porous there only ensueth some faint concussion or tremulous and quaking motion Others tell us for Philosophers dispute much about it this is the reason in nature When there is a strong vapour included or imprisoned in the bowels of the earth that vapour seeking vent maketh a combustion there and so the earth shakes Histories are full and many mens experience can give instances of such terrible shakings of the earth In the dayes of Vzziah King of Judah Antiq l. 9 c. 11. Amos 1.1 Zech. 14.5 so terrible was that earth-quake that the people fled from it Of the horror of it Josephus relateth and telleth us That half a great Hill was removed by it out of its place and carried four furlongs another way so that the High-way was obstructed and the Kings Gardens utterly marred At Bern Folan Syntag. 841. Anno 1584. near unto which City a certain Hill carried violently beyond and over other Hills is reported by Polanus who lived in those parts to have covered a whole village that had 90. families in it one half house only excepted wherein the Master of the Family with his Wife and Children were earnestly calling upon God At Plevres in Rhetia Alst Chronol Anno 1618. Aug. 25. the whole town was overcovered with a Mountain which with its most swift motion oppressed 1500 people In Herefordshire Camd. Brit. Anno 1571. A great hill lifted up it self with a huge noise carrying along with it trees flocks of cattel sheep-coats c. God by such extraordinary works of his sheweth his justice and displeasure against sin as also his special mercy to his praying people I will shake the heavens Isa 13.13 Psal 18.7 and the earth shall remove out of her place in the wrath of the Lord of hosts and in the day of his fierce anger Then the earth shook and trembled the foundations of the hills moved and were shaken because he was wroth Stones A stone is nothing but hardned earth and hath the properties of the earth out of which it is generated Viz. 1. Siâ—city Citiùs è Pumice aquam Prov. or dryness Hence it was a miracle to bring water out of the Rock 2. Frigidity or coldness As cold as a stone we say 3. Gravity or heaviness As it is nothing but a product of the earth so it hath an inclination to descend to fall downwards Stones are naturally scattered upon the face of the earth hindring Travellers One part of Arabia was called Arabia Petrâ—a because it was full of stones and so uneasie either for tillage or travel Lopis à ladeâ—do pede 〈◊〉 haber They lie naturally hidden in the bowels of the earth or under the earth and are a trouble to the husbandman in tilling the ground And they are so dangerous that the Latine word is derived from hurting the foot They sank into the bottom as a stone Exod. 15.5 Minerals Many precious things are digged out of the earth as Gold Silver Brass Effodiuntur oyes c. Iron c. which God hath there hid and men have found out Though the vein lie low and far out of sight yet Mortals are quickly become Metallaries Some of the Ancients have wished that we had never found out these metals Et Plutonem brevi ad superos adducturos because of the great abuse of them Strabo saith that Phaletius feared lest in digging for Gold and silver men would dig themselves a new way to Hell and bring up the Devil amongst them Some sâ—y that he haunteth the richest mines and will not suffer them to be searched sure it is that by the inordinate love of these metals he drowneth many a soul in perdition and destruction Remember we that these things though never so much admired are but that which the basest element yields the guts and garbage of the earth It is observable that God appointed the Snuffers and Snuff-dishes of the Sanctuary to be made of pure Gold to teach us to make no account of that that he put to so base offices and is frequently given to so bad men Yet there is no hurt in having these metals so they have not us and get within us so we make not our gold our God saying to the fine gold Thou art my confidence Crates the Theban Philosopher is said to have cast his gold into the Sea to avoid as he pretended the hurt it doth man-kind saying Ep. ad Julian
Mount Tabor where he shall be transfigured for ever Give thy possession on earth for expectation in Heaven Not as that French Cardinal who said He would not give his part in Paris for his part in Paradise Man is to be considered in a four-fold estate In statu 1. Confectionis as he was created 2. Corruptionis as he was corrupted 3. Refectionis as he was renewed 4. Perfectionis as he shall be glorified In the first estate we give to man a liberty of nature Adamus habuit pâ—sse si vellet sed non habuit velle quod posset In the third we grant a liberty of grace for if the Son make you free ye shall be free indeed And in the fourth estate we confess a liberty in glory All the doubt betwixt us and the Papists is of the second estate how man corrupted is renewed how he cometh into regeneration after degeneration And yet herein we consent that the will of man is turning unto God and in doing good is not a stock or stone in all and every respect passive for every man is willingly converted and by Gods grace at the very time of his conversion he willeth his own conversion And so the will of man is in some sort co-worker with grace for this cause Paul exhorteth us not to receive the grace of God in vain And to this purpose that saying of Austin is very remarkable Qui fecit te sine te nen justificabit te sine te Fecit nescientem justificat volentem The difference then is this they write that our will is a co-worker with grace by the force of nature we say that it works with grace by grace we will indeed but God worketh in us both to will and to work Man is called earth thrice by the Prophet Jeremiah Cap. 22.29 O earth earth earth hear the Word of the Lord that is as Bernard expounds Earth by 1. Procreation 2. Sustentation 3. Corruption Alas what is man Nothing I had almost said Somewhat less than nothing embarqued nine months in a living vessel at last he arives in the world Lord of the Land yet weeps at his possession in infancy and age fourfooted in youth scarce drest makes not his Will till he lie a dying and then dyes to think he must make his Will O quà m contempta res est homo nisi supra humana se erexerit Tantus quisque est quantus est apud Deum And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground Gen. 2.7 and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul After the man is the woman made Gatak as a yoke-fellow standing on even ground with him though drawing on the left side Mulier quasi mollior the weaker vessel therefore to bo born withal Origen speaks somewhat contemptibly of women When Christ came into the Coasts of Tyrus and Sidon In Mat. 15.22 Behold a Woman Mira res Evangelista A strange thing O Evangelist that is the Author of transgression the mother o sin the weapon of the Devil the cause of our expulsion out of Paradise But Christ honoured women in lying in the womb of a woman He appeared first to women after his Resurrection and made them Apostolas apostolorum Apostles to preach his Resurrection to the Apostles There have been women of special note Sarah the Mother of the Faithful Hester the Nurse and preserver of the Faithful Women that ministred to Christ of their own substance c. There have been learned women Theano Crotoniatis was a Philosopher and a Poor too Pythagoras learned his natural Philosophy of his sister Themistocleas Clem. Alex. Olympia Fulvia Morata an Italian of the City of Ferrara taught the Greek and Latine tongues at Heidelberg Anno 1554. Aratha read openly in the Schools at Athens Leoptia wrote against Theophrastus c. Neverthelesse neither is the man without the woman 1 Cor. 11.11 neither the woman without the the man in the Lord. Mans Body PVulchrum corpus infirmis anima Isocrat est tanquam bonum navis malus gubernator The Philosophers say in respect of the substance of the body it consists most of earth and water but in respect of the vertue and efficacie it consists more of fire and ayre and so the body is kept in an equal temperature in the operation of the elementary qualities Omnia operatus est Dominus in pondere numero mensurâ that the humours may keep a proportionable harmony amongst themselves if this harmony be broken it bringeth destruction to the body As if the heat prevail then it bringeth Feavers if the cold prevail then it bringeth Lethargies if the moist prevail then it bringeth Hydropsies So that the extreme qualities heat and cold must be temperate by the middle qualities moist and dry For the body of man is like a Clock if one wheele be a misse all the rest are disordered the whole fabrick suffers Bodine observeth that there are three regions within mans body besides all that is seen without answerable to those three regions of the world Elementary Etherial and Caelestial His entrails and whatsoever is under his heart resemble the elementary region wherein only there is generation and corruption The heart and vitals that are divided from those entrails by the Diaphragma resemble the etherial religion As the brain doth the heavenly which consisteth of intelligible creatures Austin complaineth that men much wonder at the high mountains of the earth Hugo waves the sea deep falls of rivers the vastnesse of the Ocean the motion of the Starres Et relinquunt seipsos nec mirantur but wonder not at all at their wonderful selves And truly the greatest miracle in the world is that little world or rather Isle of man in whose very body how much more in his soul are miracles enow betwixt head and feet to fill a volume The body is not one member but many 1 Cor. 24.44 Head The head is the most excellent part of the body therefore the chief part of any thing is called the head Christ is called the Head of the Church and the Husband the head of the Wife And Israel is promised upon obedience to be made the head and not the taile Hence we uncover our head when we do homage to any man to signifie that our most excellent part reverenceth and acknowledgeth him In the head our reason and understanding dwells and all the senses are placed in the head except the touch which is spread thorow the whole body Besides the head is supereminent above the rest of the body and giveth influence to it There is also a conformity betwixt the head and the rest of the body And thus it is betwixt Christ and his Church he hath graces above the rest of his members he giveth influence and grace to them and he is like them The hair of the head as also the nails is an excrement 1 Cor. 11.14 and not to be
one member is deficient another suppheth the defect of it as when a man wants feet he walks upon his hands Moreover one member defends another as when the head is in danger the hand casts it self up to save it Besides the members of the body help one another the superior rule the inserior as the eyes the whole body The inferior uphold and support the superior as the feet the leggs the thighs support the who'e body And the middle members defend the body and provide things necessary for it as we see in the hands and arms And great grief in one member makes the pain of the other member seem the less which all shew the sympathy amongst the members The variety of the members of the body sheweth also the wisdom of God 1 Cor. 12.17 for as the Apostle saith If the whole body were an eye where were the hearing if the whole were hearing where were the smelling I will praise thee Psâ 139.14 for I am fearfully and wonderfully made The Soul of Man PHilosophers confess Creando insunditur infundendo creatuc Anima quaeque intelligimus tamen quae sit ipsa intelligere non valemus It is a spiritual substance in man created by God which can exist when seperated from the body Leo decimus concluded atheistically of the soul Et redit in nihilum qued fuit ante nihil Eccl. 3.21 But Solomon tells us the spirit of man that goeth upward whereas the spirit of a beast that goeth downward to the earth The spirit of a beast is only vital mans spirit is both vital and rational The spirit of a beast is perishable mans spirit is immortal And thus the preacher by comparing the spirits of men with the spirits of beasts By going upward understandeth the immortality of the spirits of men and by going downward to the earth the perishing of the spirits of beasts Furthermore by the manner of this Phrase he seems to compare the spirit of a man unto a purer exhalation which ascending upward continueth in the Ayre The spirit of a beast unto a thick and black vapour Abducitur dum absum videtur opere discedens non vigore actu languent non statu comparer cessat non esse De animâ c. 53. which being dissolved into rain descendeth and falleth to the earth The spirit of a man therefore dieth not as doth the spirit of a beast As Tertullian speaketh It is but carried away when it seemeth to vanish away and failing in his work not in his strength departing in respect of actuating the body not in respect of its own natural existence ceaseth only to appear to be not ceaseth to be It is with the Soul of man as it is with the needle of a compass which alwayes trembleth and shaketh till it turn to the North Pole but being turned directly thitherwards it is quiet and standeth still So the Soul of man being by sin turned away from God is never at rest till by true repentance it return to him again And truly as the soul is the life of the body so God is the life of the soul When the soul departs the body dies and when God departs the soul dies Quod intus est homo est The first work of Physick in a diseased body Prosper is to repell the venemous humours from the Heart because a disease once seated in this Metropolis is incurable And the first care of the members in man is to ward a blow made at the Head Art and Nature in preserving and defending those two noble parts are to be imitated of a Christian in guarding the Soul that part of chiesest importance the peace whereupon consisteth the main of all our business God hath given us two Hands c. and but one Soul That once gone and all is gone Yet There are that Sell Pawn Lose Give their Souls Some sell their souls As it is said of a Lawyer that hath linguam venalem so it may be said of the Covetous man that he hath animam vendlem The Voluptuous man doth sell his soul for Pleasure as Esau sold his birthright for pottage And the Proud man doth sell his soul for Advancement as Alexander the sixth is said to have done for his Popedom Some pawn their souls Albeit they be not so given over to commit sin with greediness as to fell their souls right out yet for profit and pleasure they will be be content to pawn them David did as it were pawn his soul in committing adultery Noah in being drunk and Peter in denying Christ These redeemed their souls with bitter repentance Let us take heed how we play the Merchant-venturers in this case Da mihi animas caetera tolle tibi Gen. 14.21 Some lose their souls As carnal and careless Gospellers ignorant negligent people that mispend their time standing all the day idle And some give away their souls As the malicious and envious person For whereas the Ambitious man hath a little Honor for his soul a Covetous man a little Profit for his soul and a Voluptuous man a little Pleasure for his soul the Spightful wretch hath nothing at all for his soul O blockish stupidity Will you keep your Chickens from the Kite your Lambs from the Wolf your Fawn from the Hound your Pigeons and Conies from 〈◊〉 Vermine and not your Souls from the Devil What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul Mat. 16.26 or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul Vnderstanding The soul is enamelled with four excellent faculties two superior viz. Understanding and Will and two inferior viz. the part irascible and concupiscible The Understanding is an essential faculty in the soul whereby it knoweth judgeth and discerneth naturally truth from falshood Man hath a reasonable soul and a natural judgment whereby he differeth from bruit beasts And some there are that do animam excolere improve their natural abilities by Art and so go far beyond others in worth differing from the unlearned as much almost as a man doth from a beast Which yet amounteth not to wisdom without the concurrence of Gods good Spirit to sanctifie all as the Altar sanctifieth the gold of the Altar They that are destitute of which their abilities are vain and to such we may say as Austin once wrote to a man of great parts Ornari abs te Diabolus quaerlt But though men have the faculty yet God giveth the light As the Dial is onely capable of shewing the time of the day when the Sun shineth on it He illightens both the organ and object He anoints the eyes with eye-salve and gives both sight and light There is a spirit in man Job 32.8 and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding Will. The Will is an essential faculty in the soul working freely having liberty to choose refuse or suspend Not determinate to one thing Humane reason and understanding
fountain near Monacris in Arcadia Nat. Hist l. 2. c. 103. of which whosoever drinks presently falls down dead the name of the fountain is Styx so called because it was of all men abhorred So should we be affected to the evil of sin as to a thing that brings present death Man drinks iniquity like water but every draught slayes the soul as the water of Styx the body As thou wouldest not drink poyson so beware of it The Poets have feigned a river to be in hell called by the same name Rom. 12.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which sometime is taken for hell it self Art thou afraid of hell be also as much afraid of evil Pro peccato magno paululum supplicii satis est pati Thinks the sinner a small punishment may serve for a great offence But if God do punish the punishment shall have the same proportion with the offence God proportions the punishment of man with his sin and that two manner of wayes 1. In the quality and manner of it 2. In the quantity or degree of it The justice of God is visible in both Adonibezek was and so have many others been punished in the same manner that he had sinned But all shall be punished in the same degree that they have sinned 〈◊〉 abyssus 〈◊〉 a invocat When the iniquity of the Amorite is full he shall have his fill of wrath When God is pressed with sin as a cart with sheaves then he layes on load in judgment If sin be great so shall the punishment of it be Gods judgments against sinners are feathered from themselves as a fowl shot with an arrow feathered from her own body Which is according to Julians Motto Propriis pennis perire grave est No sooner had man sinned but the earth was cursed for his sake It was never beautiful nor chearful since and lookes to be burnt up shortly with her workes But yet the Punishment of sin may come long after the comitting of sin The one is a seed-time the other a reaping-time betwixt which there is a distance of time Job 4.8 The seeds of sin may lye many years under the furrowes A man may commit a sin in his youth and not find the harvest of it till old age The strongest sinner shall not escape punishment There are no sons of Zerviah too hard for God God desires in a special manner to be dealing with these for they in the pride of their spirits think themselves a match for God though indeed their strength is but weaknesse and their wisdom foolishness hence like Pharoah they send defiance to Heaven and say who is the Lord When God sees the hearts of men swoln to this height of insolent madnesse he delights to shew himself and grapple with them that the pride of man may be abased and every one that is exalted may be laid low that he onely may be exalted and his name set up in that day Behold Numb 32.23 ye have sinned against the Lord and be sure your sin will find you out Evill shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him Psal 140.11 Evil pursueth sinners Pro. 13.21 The wicked is driven away in his wickednesse Cap. 14.32 Thine owne wickednesse shall correct thee Jer. 2.19 and thy back-slidings shall reprove thee know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God and that my fear is not in thee saith the Lord God of hosts Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee Cap. 4.18 this is thy wickednesse because it is bitter because it reacheth unto thine heart If thou doest not well Gen. 4.7 sin lieth at the door Supplicium imminet idâ— proximum et presentissinium saith Junius there Then when lust hath conceived Jam. 1.15 it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death What fruit had ye then in those things Rom. 6.21 Whereof ye are now ashamed For the end of those things is death For the wages of sin is death vâ—s 23. Free-will THere are a generation of men The Motto Mâ—hi solâ—d beo that will needs hammer out their own happiness like the Spider climbing by a thread of her owne weaving But Sub laudibus naturae latent inimicigratiae saith Aug. The friends of free-will are enemies to free-grace But whoever doth well weigh Auâ— observes our Saviour saith not pâ—rfâ—â—re but facere John 6.44 with cap. 15.5 and other places of Scripture must needs conclude that down goes the Dagon of free-will with all that vitreum acumen of all the Patrons thereof whether Pagans or Papagans Pelagians or Semipelagians c. Pareus in Revel 22.17 Whosoever will let him take the water of life freely glosseth thus He saith whosoever will he saith not that it is in the power of free-will but requires the will to receive it The will is ours but the will of receiving is not in us it is the gift of grace For what have we that are have not received 1 Cor. 4.7 Mind but the case of Paul Act. 9. and of Lydia cap. 16. and it will be clear that God comes into the heart while the doors of it are shut The Arminians and Papists as to that great and special truth which the Orthodox maintain against them will grant an irresistable work of light from God upon the understanding they will grant also a potent work upon the affections but this they will not yield that God makes the will to will that is so boweth and changeth the heart that it readily imbraceth what once it abhorred yet in all that are converted this power so efficacious must needs be acknowledged for will not experience witnesse that every mans will before converting grace came was as opposite to God and as averse to all holinesse as any natural mans in the world Simpliciter velle hominis est malè velle corruptae naturae Bern. bene velle supernaturalis gratiae Quem trahit Deus volentem trahit saith Chrysostom Vbi non est Spiritus Domini non est libertas arbitrii Aug. To which August Certum est nos velle cum volumus sed ille facit ut velimus qui operatur in nobis velle Therefore he addes Da Domine quod jubes jube quod vis Cyrus had this written upon his Tomb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I could do all things as Arrianus reports So could Paul too but it was through Christ strengthening him Phil. 4.13 To which the same Apostle addes elsewhere Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. 3.5 No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him Joh. 6.44 For without me ye can do nothing Cap. 15.5 For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2.13
5. Laodicea was therefore proud because ignorant Rev. 3. Those question-sick Phantasticks were proud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 knowing nothing 1 Tim. 6.4 But humble Agur though full of heavenly light yet vilifies and nullifies himself to the utmost Pro. 30.2 Exemplifying that of Solomon cap. 11.2 With the lowly is wisdom Pride was anciently pourtrayed Pope-like with three crowns on her head Upon the first was written Transcendo upon the second Non obedio upon the third Perturbo Many are like Dionysius the Tyrant to whom when Aristippus petitioned he received no answer until he fell at his feet as if his ears had been there Thou reprehendest me of pride said Aristippus to Diogenes for wearing my apparel neat but I see thy pride in thy slovenly attire and affected beastliness Multo deformior est illa superbia quae sub quibusdam humililatis signis latet Hier. l. 2. Ep. 22. Cypr. Venustas tribuitur à naturâ corrumpitur ab arte Lucifers Motto Eâ—o fimilis Altissimo Isa 14.14 spying it through that rent and torne mantle of thine They which out of pride do paint colouring themselves white and red begin betimes to prognosticate of what colour they shall be in Hell Again Qui se pingunt in hoc seculo aliter quà m creavit Deus metuant ne cum venerit resurrectionis dies artifex creaturam suam non recognoscat The sinfulness of this sin appears 1. It blinds the mind and hardens the heart of man Dan. 5.20 2. All other sins fly from God but Pride flies upon God Jam. 4.6 3. It 's the root of other sins Prov. 13.10 Ezek. 7.10 4. It is Morbus Satanicus 1 Tim. 3.6 5. It 's that sin which makes God abhor man Pro. 16.5 cap. 6.16 17. Psal 119.21 c. Pride precedes a fall As swelling is a dangerous symptom in the body so is pride in the soul As the swelling of the sails is dangerous for the overbearing of a little vessel so is the swelling of the heart by pride Nebuchadnezzar's fall may be an example that Pride is the certain way to ruine for the same man that would be like God God made him unlike a man a beast until he lifted up his eyes to heaven The like of Pharaoh Adonibezek Agag Haman Herod c. It was a great foretoken of Darius his ruine when in his proud Embassy to Alexander he called himself the King of Kings and Cousin of the Gods but for Alexander he called him his Servant Sigismund the young King of Hungary beholding the greatnes of his Army said What need we fear the Turk who need not at all to fear the falling of the Heavens being able with our spears and halberds to hold them up He afterwards shortly received a notable overthrow being himself glad to get over Danubius in a little boat to save his life Major sum quà m cui possit fortuna nocere Yea Bajazet the Terror of the world and as he thought superior to Fortune yet in an instant overthrown into the bottom of misery and despair Prov. 16.18 Pride goeth before destruction and an haughty spirit before a fall If a man saith one have a bladder that is full of wind the way to let it out is either to unty it or prick it or rend it So the way to let pride out of the heart is Act. 2.37 Joel 2.13 1. To unloose our high conceit of ourselves and our own worth 2. To prick it with hearty remorse and godly sorrow for sin 3. If that will not do it to rend it even in peeces with the remembrance of Gods fearful judgments due unto it Proud Gerard. O earth and ashes Sperma foetidum vas stercorum esca vermium A filthy seed an unsavoury vessel meat for worms Wo to the crown of pride Isa 28.1 My soul shall weep in secret places for your pride Jer. 13.17 Behold this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom Pride Knowledge Intelligentia est fons scientiae sapientiae Alsted Est habitus partim naturalis partim acquisitus naturalis quoad inchoationem acquisitus quoad perfectionem 'T is fitly compared to the Israelites Jewels whereof they made a Calf As the same gold being in Jewels was precious but being cast into an Idol became odious So the wit of man which in the days of his innocency was good and gracious is in his corrupted state become vain and vicious 'T is also compared to an untilled field not only lying barren but yielding the thorns weeds and brambles of sin and error till husbanded by the good Spirit of God The best Minerals have their poisons till extracted the sweetest flowers their faeces till separated so the best wits their folly till by Gods Spirit refined In relation to spiritual things the understanding being weighed will be found like Belshazzar too light lighter than vanity it self Let not then the wise man glory in his wisdom Jer. 9.23 The Knowledge of man is as the waters some descending from above and some springing from beneath the one informed by the light of nature the other inspired by divine revelation The light of nature consisteth in the notions of the mind and the reports of the senses For as for the knowledge that man receives by teaching it is cumulative and not original as in a water that beside its own spring-head is fed with other springs and streams And according to these two illuminations or originals Knowledge is divided into Divinity and Philosophy Mans Knowledge hath three beams 1. There is Radius directus which is referred to nature 2. Radius refractus which is referred to God and cannot report truly because of the inequality of the Medium 3. Radius reflexus whereby man contemplateth himself There is Scientia intuitiva Scientia discursiva or abstractiva as the School-men have it And both these do admit of further subdivisions But Weems doth very well illustrate them I have the abstractive knowledge of a Rose in winter in my mind I have the intuitive knowledge in my mind when I see the Rose in June The first creature made at the first creation was Light and the first work of the Spirit in mans heart at the second creation is to beat out new windows there and to let in light 2 Cor. 4.6 And then as Aenaeas Silvius said Semper in sole sita est Rhodos qui calorem colorem nobis impertit Knowledge is 1. Intellectual 2. Experimental Some knowing men are nothing the better for all they know The Devils are full of objective knowledge but they get no good by it No more do those men that draw not their knowledge into practice but detain the thuth in unrighteousness It swimmeth in their heads but sinketh not into their hearts Therefore let thy knowledge be not only apprehensive but affective experimental and practical And beg this of God For well said Austin Quando Christus magister quà m citò discitur quod
said You may throw my body from this steep hill yet will my soul mount upward again Your blasphemies more offend my soul than your torments do my body Fabrianus said That every drop of his blood should preach Christ and set foâ—th his praise Doctor Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury said Act. â—on Forasmuch as my hand offended in writing contrary to the heart my hand shall be punished therefore for may I come to the fire it shall first be burned Which accordingly he did and held his right hand so stedfast and unmoveable saving that once with it he wiped his face that all men might see his hand burned before it touched his body It is the Evening that crowns the Day and the last Act that commends the Scene Be thou faithful unto death Apoc. 2.10 and I will give thee a crown of life Inconstancy The unconstant man treadeth upon a moving earth and keeps no place He hath not patience to consult with reason but determines meerly upon fancy No man so hot in the pursuit of what he liketh no man sooner weary He is fiery in his passions his Heart is the Inne of all good Motions wherein if they lodge for a night it is well by morning they are gone and if they come again he entertains them as guests not as friends He is good to make an Enemy of ill to make a Friend In an unconstant man Senec. lib. de Tranquil there is first Nusquam residentis animi voluntatio uncertain rollings of spirit and then vita pendens a doubtful and suspensive life For our actions do oft bear the image and resemblance of our thoughts A double-minded man is unstable in all his wayes Jam. 1.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Perseverance God's elect child cannot fall finally Because he is held up by God's immutable will God's constant love and will is ever to be look'd upon as the onely cause of our safety which keeps our wills by grace against these over-mighty enemies And wretched were we if our wills were put to keep themselves by grace saith one For if Adam without sin resisted not the Principalities c. that opposed him how much less we that are burdened with a body of sin Because he hath an established faith his salvation is certain because saith is the evidence of things not seen Because there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus He is free from the law of sin and death If a son then no more a servant How dares flesh and blood say if a son yet again a servant Once a son and no more a servant once a son and a son for ever If a son then an heir A son saith Christ abides in the house for ever Aug. He that makes men good makes men to persevere in goodness Gods grace in his children is winning infallibly holding inseparably and leading indeclinably Dr. Field Perseverance in good beginneth not in the will but in Gods protecting grace that upholds the will from desisting Hence to every new work the will needs a new grace as Organs give sound no longer than while the bellows are blowing them Predestination gives a sure perseverance for none shall pluck Christs sheep out of his hand And though they may fall their slips are not final Sin reigns not in them wholly Or say they are punished it is a temporal Hell not eternal They are scourged that they may not be damned There are drops of displeasure for small sins and there is hot wrath for great sins but no whole displeasure without a whole reign of sin which cannot be We persevere in grace because built on the Rock Christ the Rock keeps us we keep not the rock yea the Rock keeps us that we keep the Rock For if it did not so the Rock did not keep us for if our keeping of the Rock were not kept by the Rock we should never keep it nor be kept But the Scripture saith we are kept from falling because we are grounded on the Rock and therefore the Rock doth keep us even from falling from the Rock faith a certain Author in his Ground of Arminianism Natural and Politick We should be like the Sun till Noon ever rising But there be many like Hezekiah's Sun that go back many degrees whose beginnings are like Nero's five first years full of hope and peace Or like the first moneth of a new servant Or like to the four Ages first golden then silver brasen iron Or to Nebuchadnezzars image begin gloriously but end basely Look to your selves this is a fearful sight a fearful condition Can he be ever rich that grows every day poorer Can he ever reach the goal that goes every day a step backward from it Alas how then shall he ever reach the goal of Glory that goes every day a step backward in Grace Successivorum non sâ—mul est esse perfectio saith Aquinas which accords to that of Tertullian Perfectio ordine posthumat But Multorum est incipere finire paucorum The Galatians began well so do many but Paul finished his course so do few Like the Diurnal-river in Peru so called because it falleth with a mighty current in the day but in the night is dry because it is not fed with a Spring but caused meerly by the melting of the Snow which lieth on the mountains thereabouts De Origine scribit Erasmus in vita ejus p. 1. Animum ejus plusquam adamantinum fuisse inde Adamantius dictus quem nec vitae austeritas nec perpetui labores nec dura paupertaâ— nec aemulorum improbitas nec suppliciorum terror nec ulla mortis facies à sancto instituto vel tantillum dimovere potuit Antiochus mustering all his Army in the presence of Hannibal much of their furniture being of glittering gold asked him If all this were not enough for the Romans meaning to overcome them Hannibal answered Enough were they the most covetous men in the world meaning to animate good souldiers Certainly Per finalem perseverantiam pertingitur ad praemium Innocent 3. l. 2. de sacr Altar Myst c. 41. Luk. 9.62 qui perseveraverit usque ad finem hic salvus erit No man having put his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God He that endureth to the end shall be saved Mat. 10.22 Gal. 6.9 Therefore let us not be weary in well-doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not Apostacy The just man falls seven times a day but he riseth again Ille propriâ— est aâ—ostata qui fidem veram antea professus ab eâ in totum recedit Apostata idem sonat quod desertor transfaga If a man fall on the bridge he may rise again if he fall besides it he is drowned All falling after knowledge is not the unpardonable sin Noah fell Lot David Solomon c. It is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The
hath seen 2. External an outward way of walking That speech of God to Abraham takes in both Gen. 17.1 Walk before me and be thou perfect Thus if we speak metaphorically that 's not onely a way which we tread with our feet but that 's also a way which we tread with our actions A right course of life is a right way Go here saith God it is a way of holinesse go there it is the way of justice Come hither this is the way of truth Thus God beckens and invites man into his way And surely there 's no safety out of Gods way many have died in Christs way but no man ever perished in it God knoweth the way that I take Job 23.10 Quality Worth is valued by the quality not by the greatnesse of a thing Pro. 30.25 26. Some feeble creatures have a notable forecast And others what they want in strength they have in wisedome The least measure of true faith if exerted and exercised will bring a man to heaven though he have not this or that faith to rely upon God without failing without feeling as resolving that neverthelesse God will hear him in that very thing that he prayes for Verily I say unto you if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed Mat. 17.20 ye shall Experience The requisites for a City or Incorporation are One to judge a law to rule power to defend wisedome to order and riches to communicate Man the City of God at his creation had these will for the King reason for the law free-will for power for wisedome knowledge for riches obedience and cogitations for Inhabitants But man triumphed gloriously in a chariot of glasse which was broken with an Apple And now man is deceived by Satan infected with sin banished from Paradise sweating in labour living in sorrow continuing in warre and fearful of death I have read of a monster having a head like a man teeth like a Lion wings like an Eagle tail and nails like a Dragon and breathed fire like a Devil The wicked man hath reason for his head presumption for his wings stiffnesse in wickednesse for his teeth temptation for his nails and envy for his breath Some sparks of the Deity were created in man in the beginning which he striving to blow into a flame blew them out And now what gets man in the Devils service but death what comfort in his conscience but horrours eyes flaming nostrils fuming eares glowing hands burning and heart trembling As the body of Cerberus supports three heads so the stem of sin sends forth three armes The concupiscence of flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life Delilah deceives Sumpson and the Philistines pull out his eyes Delilah is the flesh the Philistines bind him when reason yeilds to sensuality and pull out his eyes when sin perswades him to iniquity Fas est ab hoste doceri Lay thine hand upon him Job 41.8 remember the battel do no more Aeconomical Order Natura AS Galaton painted Homer vomiting Reliquos verò Poems â—a quae ipsâ—â—â—muisset haurientes To signifie saith Aelian that he was the first Poet and all the other as well Greek as Latine but his Apes In like manner Moses is called Oceanus Theologus from whom all other Writers as Armes are derived Aristotle was called Vltimus conatus naturk Nature the common mother breedeth divers effects according to the constitution of each body Many times by events and accidents divers deformities and blemishes appear which by nature were not decreed to be There is greatest cold in the bosome of the earth when the Sun with greatest vehemency shines on it to heat it even so our corrupt nature doth never shew it self more rebellious and stubborn than when the Law of God begins to rectifie it as an unruly and untamed horse the more he is spurred forward the faster he runs backward Rom. 7. so the perverse nature of man is so far from being reformed by the Law that by the contrary sin that was dead without the Law is revived by the Law and takes occasion to obey its concupiscence When we speak of sins against nature our meaning is against the light of nature not against the corruption of nature Naturally Homo est inversus Decalogus whole evil is in man and whole man in evil And there is never a better of us Therefore Christ came to dissolve the old frame and to drive out the Prince of darknesse who hath there entrencht himself We were by nature the children of wrath Eph. 2.3 even as others Marriage It is called In scripturis 〈◊〉 conjugalis 〈◊〉 tur Conjugium à conjungendo i.e. à jugo communi qâ—o vir 〈◊〉 simul in unam carnem veluti in unum hóminem junguntur Matrimoniam quasimatrem monens nam à matre dictum est Conubium numero plurali Nuptiae à nubendâ— i. e. tegends vel obtegendo quia sicut coelum interdum nubibus obtegitur sic untiquitus virgines dum ad vires dactbantur Gâ—dw Antiâ— belamine tegebantur idque ad testandum 1. Pudorâ—m verecundiâ—m 2. Subjectionem obedientiam sen alterius potestatem in se Some honour marriage too much as the Papists that make a Sacrament of it Sacramentum hoc magnum est Ephes 5.32 yet the Greek word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and if every mystery should be a Sacrament there should not be seven but seventy Sacraments and more Neither doth he speak of marriage but of the conjunction of Christ and his Church in that place A number there be also that have exceedingly disgraced it So Epiphanius recordeth oâ— him Marâ—â—on called Matrimony Inventionem diaboli Saturnius and Basilides blushed not to affirme that Nubere generare were à Satana And Hierom with Tertullian wrest some sentences of St. Paul to the disgrace of marriage But let them all say what they will The very first work God did after the very first creation was his marrying of man to woman and one of the first Miracles Christ wrought was in honour of marriage Here Bellurmine also toyes with a triple distinction such as that in his Treatise for Purgatory where Peter Martyr non-plust him A great scholar but were he as great as his great-Grandfather that came to our Saviour with scriptum est his greatnesse were nothing because it is against God who onely is great without quantity Great is Diana of the Ephesians yet nothing because an Idol Before marriage let us begin with God as Abrahams servant did Dos non Deus makes such marriages Forma bonum fragile est 〈◊〉 Res est forma fugaâ— Senec. send me good speed this day And make a Christian choice let not red angels and ruddy cheeks be the loadstones though the one is not wholly to be contemned and the other is an ornament much to be commended But rather grace and vertue remembring what the wise man saith Prov. 31.30 Favour is deceitful
There are some who have attained the last degree or step of old age who have not attained the first degree of wisdome And this is sad upon a double account 1 Because it is the duty of old men to shew forth wisdome 2. They have had a great opportunity to gather wisdome a price hath been in their hands though possibly they have not had hearts to make use of it How much time every one bath had such a talent he hath had and he shall be reckoned with answerably Time is not an empty duration God hath filled time with helps to eternity Turpis et ridiculus esi 〈◊〉 clementacius and with meanes to know him the onely true God which is life eternall An old man ignorant is more childish than a child It is bad enough when children and young men are ignorant but to see old men ignorant of the things of God with what teares should we lament it Old men are to be reverenced 1. Propter ipsam atatem Levit. 19.32 2. Propter prudentiam Job 12.12 3. Propter Experientiam 4. Propter Pietatem Pro. 16.31 Canities tunc venerabilis est quando ea gerit quae canitiem decent c. Cgrysost Else it is mucor potius qâ—à m canities As Manna the longer it was kept against the command of God the more it stanke Sâ—epe nigium cor est capâ—t album Mult a 〈…〉 câ—mveniunt in commoda Horat. The white rose is soonest cankered so is the white head soonest corrupted Satan got great advantage against old Solomon Asa Lot and others whom when young he could never so deceive The Heathens can warn us to look well to our old age as that which cometh not alone but is infected with many diseases both of body and mind To live long and dye in a full age is a blessing yet it is infinitely better to be full of grace than to be full of dayes but to be full dayes and full of grace too a venerable spectacle To be full of years and full of faith full of the fruits of righteousnesse which are by Christ this is comely and beautifull beyond all the beauty and comelinesse of youth Such may be truly said to have filled their dayes for those dayes are filled indeed which are full of Goodnesse Semper aliqrid novi ad poâ—taâ— Solet senâ—ctusesse deformis infirma obliviosa edulenta lucrosa indocilis et molesta saith Cato in Plutarch As Africa is never without some Monster so never is old age without some ailement Old age and misery are never seperated Therefore let no man be so besotted as to make that â—he talke of his old age which should be the trade of his whole life I have been young Psal 37.25 and now am old The evil dayes the years when it will be said I have no pleasure in them Eccl. 12.1 Cast me not off in the time of old age forsake me not when my strength faileth Psal 71.9 The World Mundus THE great body of the world Heil Geog. l. 1.31 like the body of man though it have many parts and members is but one body onely A body of so exact a forme and of so compleat a Symmetry in respect of the particular parts and all those parts so beautified and adorned by the God of Nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab ornatu mundus à munditie that from the Elegancy and beauties of it it was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Grecians and Mundus by the Latines both names declaring the composure of it to be full of ornament and all those ornaments conducting mankind of the knowledge of God There is 1. Mundus mundanus Act. 17.24 2. Mundus immundus 1 John 5.19 3. Mundus mundatus 2 Cor. 5.19 There are two sorts of men in the world 1. Of the world Psal 17.14 2. Not of the world John 17.16 The former are opposed to the Citizens of the new Jerusalem Terrigena fratres animam hà bentes triticeam such as have incarnated their souls are of the earth speak of the earth and mind earthly things as if they were born for no other purpose The latter indeed have their commoration on earth but their conversation is in heaven Pearls though they grow in the Sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet they have affinity with the heaven the beauty and brightnesse whereof they resemble That which the soul is in the body that are Christians in the world Chrysost for as the soul is in but not of the body so Christians are in but not of the world Two things occasion fashion in this world 1. Multitude 2. Greatnesse For as Cyprian said Insipit esse licitum quod solet esse publiâ—um Quod est consueâ—um praesumitur esse justum custome is not only another nurture but another nature What is done of many speak the Lawyers is at length thought lawful for any It is an Axiom in the Bible that amity with the world is enmity with God He that is a Parasite to men is not the servant of Christ it is an unhappy thing to converse in the tents of Kedar As in a Chess-play so long as the game is in playing all men stand in their order and are respected according to the place First the King then the Queen then the Bishops c. But when once the game is ended they are all confusedly tumbled into a bagge and perhaps the King is lowest Even so it is with us in this life the world is a Stage or Theatre Vâ—iversus mundus exercet Histriouem whereon some play the part of sicut supra but when our Lord shall come with his Angels to judge the world all are alike great men and mean persons in the same sin shall be bound together and cast as a fagot into hell Let us not then conform our selves according to the greatest for Ego Rex meus is no good plea when God shall reckon with us at the last dreadful day The world is both 1. Transitory and 2. Unsatisfactory The fashion of this world passeth away One of the Kings of Egypt minding one day to ride in pomp caused his Chariot to be drawn with four captive Kings the hindermost of which looking back nodded his head at one of the wheeles which the King observing asked him his reason he answered it did resemble the changable fortune and affaires of the world which the King seriously considering set them at liberty and restored them In mundo nihil constat in orbem vertitur orbis Quidmirum recti quod sit in orbe nihil Yea the ruine of the goodliest pieces in the world Arist Polit. foreshews the destruction of the whole How ill beseeming and unworthy a thing is it then for a Christian to set his heart on the things of this world Omnia praetereunt praeter amare Deum considering that they are vain and transitory rather shews and shadows of things than
shadow Good Rulers we must obey as God bad for God Submit your selves to every ordinance of man 1 Pet. 2.13 for the Lords sake Superiors and Inferiors 'T is good for all that all are not alike The Universe could not be either so beautiful or so orderly if every particular had the same beauty or were of the same order And he that cannot be content to have less and to be lesser than another is altogether unfit not only to be as great or to have as much as another but to be or to have any thing at all Nor is any man fit to be more than he is than he that can rejoyce that another is more than he Look up to heaven and there are stars of divers magnitudes though they are all great yet not all of a greatness they are all glorious but not all alike glorious for star differeth from star in glory 1 Cor. 15.41 Look also down upon earth there we may behold Hills and Vallies Rocks and Pebles Cedars and Shrubs c. So that the very natural state of the Creature confutes Levelling principles Nay look upon our selves and if we consider the faculties of mans soul and the diverse members of the body we shall find they are composed and disposed of parts more noble and ignoble And yet in their use and situation there is a most comely and useful order So some to be rich some poor some high some low some of one quality and aptness some of another and so to be arranged together that they should mutually respect second and strengthen one another must needs be from a Divine beginning Both low and high rich and poor together Psal 49.2 Titles It hath been an usual thing to give fair titles to foul acts Thus would the Jews of old persecute godly men and molest them with Church-censures and then say Let the Lord be glorified Isa 66.5 The like did they to the poor man that was born blind whose eyes Christ had opened Joh. 9.24 Give God the praise Which expression as is conceived was some solemn form in use among that people when they required an oath of delinquents This the Hypocrites made use of Act. Mon. In nomine Domini incipit omne malum Luth. as when the Devils adjured Christ by the living God not to cast them out The Conspirators in King Richard the 2. time here in England endorsed all their Letters with Glory be to God on high on earth peace good will towards men But well answered Robert Smith the Martyr when Bonner began the sentence of death against him In Dei nomine You begin in a wrong name said he It hath also been an usual thing to speak unto great persons with circumlocution soothing and smoothing them up in sinful practises Semper Augustus is a Title still given to the German Emperors But Sigismund once Emperor In vita Alphon. when a fellow flattered him above measure Euseb in vita Const l. 4. c. 4. and extolled him to the skies gave the Flatterer a good box on the ear And when he asked Why smite you me he answered Why clawest thou me Likewise a Preacher called Constantine the Great Blessed to his face but he went away with a check Antiochus Epiphanes is called a vile person Dan. 11.21 And yet Josephus reports that the Samaritans writing to him because he tormented the Jews to excuse themselves that they were no Jews stiled him by flattery Antiochus the mighty God And the Jews by their Orator Most noble Felix Act. 24.3 when in truth they worthily hated him for his oppression and cruelty I yield against the unlearned Anabaptists who use that place Gal. 3.28 as an hammer to beat down all the seats of Superiority that men and women are to be respected according to those places of Honor whereunto God hath advanced them in the world Christ makes an honorable mention of the Queen of Sheba Luke dedicates his writings to Noble Theophilus To the most Noble Governor Felix saith Claudius Lysias Most Noble Festus saith Paul And John gives the vertuous woman the title of a Lady Whom God hath honored let us honor too Yea though the Persons be bad yet the Places are to be respected and they in regard of their places But empty Titles without Realities are but as cyphers without figures or empty sounds that signifie nothing Let me not Job 32.21 22. I pray you accept any mans person neither let me give flattering titles unto man For I know not to give flattering titles in so doing my Maker would soon take me away Tyrant Formerly Kings were called Tyrants But because many Kings oppressed their people therefore now oppressing Princes are only called Tyrants Tyrannica vis est Joseph de Macabaeis Pol. l. 4. Eth. 1. ad illa quenquam cogere quae lâ—x recusat ad justitiae non consentanâ—ae imperioso sermone compellere Aristotle defines a Tyrant thus Tyrannus est qui ita dominatur ut ad proprium commodum utilitatem omnia conferat He is one that rules so as to turn all to his own private benefit and profit He that governs so governs for himself whereas true Government seeks and respects the good of others Just Governors are a general blessing and their aim is the common not their private wealth For any man to oppress another is very wickedness But for a Governor or Magistrate who is set up to be a reliever of others a helper of the friendless and a Judge of the widow for him to oppress and grind the faces of the poor is most Tyrannical Agathocles the Tyrant caused a Frame of brass to be made wherein he might both scorch men and satisfie his eye with seeing them tormented I have read in Dr. Hall's Decads that a Martyr going to be burnt sung Psalms along the way in an heavenly courage and victorious triumph The cruel Officer envying his mirth and grieving to see him merrier than his tormentors No storm more fierce than the indignation of an impotent great person commands him silence He sings still the view of his aproaching glory bred his joy The enraged Sheriff causeth his tongue drawn forth to the length to be cut off neer the roots the poor Martyr dies in silence rests in peace Not many moneths after the butcherly Officer hath a son born having his tongue hanging down upon his chin like a Deer after long chase which never could be gathered up within the bounds of his lips O the Divine hand full of justice full of revenge It 's storied Macrâ—b l. 2. Saturn cap. 4. that among those babes of Bethlehem Herod slew his own son also Which Augustus Caesar hearing of said Melius est Herodis esse percum quà m filium It were better to be Herod's swine than his son Attilus King of Swedeland made a Dog King of the Danes in revenge of many injuries received The like did Gunno King of the Danes he made a Dog
all Believers die in Christ and are blessed and that presently then none are to be purged Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord Rev. 14.13 from henceforth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. è vestigio ab ipso mortis tempore à modo à modo jam Burial It is the last office of love to bring the deceased Saints honorably to their long home to lay them in their last bed to put them into the grave as into an haven and harbour where they may rest from their labours This is to deal kindly with the dead In hoc peccatur bifariam Lavat 1. Si prorsus contemnatur ut Diogeniani fatiunt jubentes se in aquis aut in sterqùilineum projici 2. Qui nimium tribuunt sepultura ut illi qui miris ceremoniis consecrarunt ut afficere dixerunt animam nisi in consecrato corpora fuerint sepulta Media tenenda via Si possimus habere honestam sepulturam nè contemnamus eam Si corpus avibus aut feris projiciendum intelligamus rem Deo committemus cujus ut Psaltes dicit terra est plenitudo ejus It hath been ever the fashion to be careful of Burial The Jews anointed their dead bodies wrapt them in Syndon laid them in covered Sepulchres hewed out of stone The Egyptians embalmed and filled them with odoriferous spices reserving them in Glass or Coffins the Assyrians in Wax and Honey The Scythians carried about the cleansed Carkasses to the friends of the deceased for forty days with solemn banquets The Romans used Funeral honors and ceremonies with ointments images bon-fires of most precious woods sacrifices and banquets burning their dead bodies wherein they were excessive until about the time of Theodosius laws were enacted to restrain the excess None neglected it but savage Nations In the womb a foot contents us three foot in the cradle though betwixt the cradle and the grave a whole world not contents us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sepulchrum domus mea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eccl. 12.5 Domus saculi sive aeternitatis as Bactrians which cast their dead to the dogs some varlet Philosophers as Diogenes who desired to be devoured of fishes some dissolute Courtiers as Mecoenas who was wont to say Non tumulum curo c. And as another said De terrâ in terram quavis terra sepulchrum The place of Burial is called by S. Paul seminatio in respect of the assured hope of Resurrection Of the Hebrews The house of the living As a Church-yard is called of the Germans Gods acre or field in the same respect In the like sense Tombs were called Requietoria Ossuaria Cineraria domus aternae Of Lucian Camps and Cottages of Carkasses scoffingly It is remarkable that the first purchase of possession mentioned in Scripture was a place to bury in not to build in Joseph of Arimathea had his Tomb in his garden to season his delights very like with the meditation of his end The Egyptians had a Deaths-head carried about the table at their feasts The Emperors of Constantinople had a Mason came to them on their Coronation-day with choice of Tomb-stones and these verses in his mouth Elige ab his saxis ex quo Invictissime Caesar Ipse tibi tumulum me fabricare velis Our first Parents made them garments of fig-leaves but God misliking that gave them garments of skins And such did the austere Baptist wear to discover our mortality Want of Burial Senec. ad Martiam the Jews accounted worse than death the Romans extreme cruelty Immanitatis est Scythicae non sepelire mortuos Alexander the Great lay unburied thirty days together His Conquests above ground purchased him no title for habitation under ground So Pompey the Great of whom Claudian Nudus pascit aves jacet en qui possidet orbem Exiguae telluris inops Of Tiberius the Emperor it is storied That he was so hated for his Tyranny that when he was dead some of the people would have had him thrown into the river Tiber some hang'd up in an ignominious manner others also made prayer to mother Earth to grant him now dead no place but among the wicked Contrarily when Dio died the people of Syracuse would have gladly redeemed his life with their own blood which because they could not they buried him very honorably in an eminent place of their city The Romans of old after the Funeral solemnities ended which were very many used to take their farewell of the dead body in these words Vale vale vale nos te ordine quo natura permiserit sequemur To have a comely burial is a great blessing It was threatned upon Jehojakim the son of Josiah as a curse that he should be buried with the burial of an Ass drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem Jer. 22.19 It is like that man had lived like a beast and God threatens him by name that when he died he should be used as a beast True it is they whose souls are with God in heaven Facilis jactura sepulchri may be without a burying place on earth The bodies of many of the servants of God have been and may be scattered upon the face of the earth like dung according to that Psal 79.2 Yet even then unto them there is this blessing reserved beyond the blessing of a burial They are laid up in the heart of God and he takes care of them yea He imbalms them for Immortality when the remains of their Mortality are troden under foot or rot upon a dunghill Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was Eccl. 12.7 and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it Resurrection It was not possible that Christ should be holden of death Act. 2.24 This impossibility sprang chiefly from an utter inconsistencie with the righteousness and goodness of God to suffer a Person so innocent and holy as Christ was and withall having fully accomplished what he undertook by dying to remain any longer in the bands and prison of death For this act of raising of Christ is to be looked upon as an act of righteousness and equity as well as of power Again there was necessity for it on Gods part too by way of design or wisdom viz. to accommodate the great end of glorifying himself in the salvation and condemnation of men They that are saved could not be saved at least on such terms without being justified Justified they could not be without believing Believe they could not but by and through the rising again of Christ from the dead Hence 1 Pet. 1.21 Rom. 4.25 Thus the righteousness and wisdom which together shine forth in it give as it were a gracious lustre and set off to the Power that appeared in it Basil saith that the Resurrection of the body is a Creation And he shews that there are three sorts of Creation 1. When a thing is made of nothing as in the first Creation 2. When
discharge their Canon-shot that the roaring of the one may lessen the terror of the other In like sort Satan hangs tinkling cymbals in our ears and delights us with the musick and vanities of this world that we may forget the sonnd of the last Trumpet There is a threefold Judgment saith Aquinas 1. Discussionis 2. Condemnationis 3. Absolutionis It 's good for every man to judge himself in the two first He must examine himself and upon examination condemn himself The certainty of Judgment may teach us not to be too curious or careless It is a kind of sacriledge to pry into Gods holy place his secret Sanctuary Non judicium luti sed figuli To determine who shall be saved and who shall be damned is not belonging to the Clay but the Potter in whose power it is to make of the same lump one vessel of honor another to dishonor Austin desired to see three things especially viz. 1. Rome in her glory 2. Paul in the Pulpit 3. Christ in the flesh So let us desire three things 1. The conversion or else confusion of Rome and Babylon 2. The consolation of Israel and all Gods chosen 3. The coming of Christ not in the flesh but unto Judgment Oh that happy and merry Day Act. Mon. said Robert Samuel Martyr It is called Eternal Judgment Heb. 6.2 Because 1. It is of things eternal Eternal life or eternal death 2. The Sentence of that Judgment is eternal Elect and Reprobate go eternally to the place appointed 3. The Judge is Eternal 4. The persons judged are eternal some to enjoy eternal happiness and some to suffer eternal punishment The Judgment it self is not eternal it lasteth not ever but the fruit and event of it is eternal Oh that the cogitation of this Judgment were deeply fixed in the hearts of us all Momentaneum est quod delectat aeternum quod cruciat What shall the Fornicator get enduring an ocean of torture for a drop or dram of pleasure The total sum is The breach of all the Commandments If these Accounts be not crost in this life we shall never have our Quietus est in the life to come The times of ignorance God winked at Act. 17.30 31. but now commandeth all men every where to repent Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Eternal Life Electra in Senec. movet hanc quaestionem Mortem aliquid ultra est Cui respondet Aegisthus Vita si cupias mori Ethnicus resurrectionem vel saltem vitam aeternam agnoscit Contemnenda est omnis injuria praesentium malorum Cypr. fiduciâ futurorum bonorum We that have received the first-fruits of the Spirit sigh and sob by these waters of Babylon because we cannot sing the Lords song in a strange land but then we shall sit and shine in the Kingdom of Heaven with Albs of innocency on our backs Palms of victory in our hands Crowns of glory on our heads and Songs of triumph in our mouths Then shall we enter into the Holy of holies then shall we celebrate the Sabbath of Sabbaths then shall we sing the Song of songs which none can learn but those that are redeemed from the earth Vita aeterna est vita vera Prima vita primum bonum ultimum malum Secunda vita primum malum ultimum bonum habet Hug◠de sanct vict The first life hath first good and afterwards that which is evil The second life hath first evil and afterwards good This life Christus 1. Promisit Luk. 12.32 2. Promeruit Rom. 6.23 3. Praeparavit Joh. 14.2 4. Inchoat Joh. 6.47 5. Reddet Joh. 11.25 This is the promise that he hath promised us Dav. in Coloss 1 Joh. 2.25 even eternal life Caelum Heaven is three-fold where 1. Fowles are the airy heaven Gen. 1.30 2. Starres are the firmament Gen. 1.17 3. Souls are the glorious or heaven of heavens 1 Kings 18.27 Heaven is not obtained by chance as the Milesian fisherman got the golden tripos Assurance of heaven is to be got three manner of wayes 1. By faith 1 Pet. 1.9 Receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your souls 2. By conformity to Christ Rom. 8.29 For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be made conformable to the image of his Son 3. By the sealing work of the Spirit Ephes 1.13 After that ye believed ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise cap. 4.30 unto the day of redemption In the world if a man purchase a Lordship his heart is alwayes there he pulls down he builds he plants Christ hath bought the Kingdom of Heaven for us and hath paid for it at an high rate even with his most precious blood Anselm where he hath prepared mansions for us that are Denisons All our joy therefore should be there Corpore ambulantes in terra corde habitantes in Caelo Nonius chose rather to lose all his honours and fortunes than to quit his Opal Ring to Anthony But a far fairer Jewel is the Kingdom of God so sweet and precious that it deserves the selling of all we have and running into any hazard for it Luther gave his opinion the day before his death that in heaven we shall know one another because Adam knew Eve at first sight Lay up for your selves treasures in heaven Mat. 6.20 where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal Heavens Glory The Christalline walks of that new City are not for muddy feet nor shall lust-infected eyes look within those holy doors Rev. 21.27 There is a room without for such cap. 22.15 a black room for black works God will not set a golden head on earthen feet give the glory of heaven to him that delights in the glory of earth The Angels those Caelestial porters that carry the souls of the Saints as they did the soul of Lazarus to Abrahams bosome have no commission to pull a wicked mans soul to heaven Trajane erected many monuments and buildings insomuch that Constantine the great in emulation was wont to call him Parietaria the Wall-flower because his name was upon so many walls Babels Tower raised an head of Majesty 5164 Heyl. Geog. paces frow the ground having its basis and circumference equal to the height the passage to go up went winding about the outside and was of an exceeding great breadth there being not only roome for horses carts c. to meet and turn but lodgings also for man and beast and as some report grasse and corn-fields for their nourishment Pharos a watch-tower in Egypt was built by Ptolomie Philadelph all of white marble Plin. l. 36. c. 12. The work of those famous Pyramides though it do not appear who were the founders was
and Charon the ferry-man of hell And Aetua which they fancied to be hell Saxum ingens volvunt alii And hell it self to be a continual rowling of stones upon dead bodies with many other fancies Inque tuo sedisti Sisyphe saxo Ovid. Metam l. 10. But to let them passe such a woful place there must needs be 1. That so the wicked may receive proportionable punishment both in soul and body That of Jerom was not true Infernum nihil esse nisi conscientiae horr orem to the sins they committed here upon earth 2. Therefore of necessity there must be an hell to keep men to all eternity that by their everlasting torments Gods justice might be satisfied which otherwise it could not be 2 Thes 1.5 3. The very tetrors of conscience that are in wicked men at least when they are dying declare there is a hell a place of torment provided for them There are many words in Scripture by which hell is exprest 1. Sheol 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the grave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we lye buried there in a second death 2. Abaddon all are there in a perishing state 3. Tsalmaveth or the shadow of death death never triumphs so much in its strength as it doth in hell It s the strength and power of death 4 Etachtithrets signifying both the lowest and most inferior earth whence hell is called the bottomlesse pit And also it imports fear vexation and trembling hell is a land of trembling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is a land of fear 5. Bor shachath that is the pit of corruption though the wicked shall be raised immortal yet filthinesse shall be upon them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 6. Erets Nesciah the land of forgetfulnesse God will remember them no more to do them any good but to their torment and confusion he will remember them for ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 7. Erets choscec a land of darknesse Darknesse was their choyce in this life and it shall be their curse in the next 8. Gehinnom whence the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the valley of Hinnom in which the Idolatrous Israelites did sacrifice their children with horrible cruelty There are other terms which set out Hell this place of the damned As Unquenchable sire Dicitur stagnum quia ut lapis mari ita animae illue immerguatur Anselm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Kings 23.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 3.17 A Furnace of sire Matth. 13.42 A Lake of fire Rev. 19.20 Eternal fire Jude 7. Utter darknesse Matth. 22.13 The blacknesse of darknesse Jude 13. Chains of darknesse 2 Pet. 2.4 Damnation Mat. 23.33 A place of torment Luke 16.28 Wrath to come 1 Thes 1.10 A Prison 1 Pet. 3.19 Tophet Isa 30.33 A bottomlesse pit Rev. 9.1 The second death Rev. 2.11 Destruction Matth. 7.14 Everlasting punishment Matth. 25 46. Corruption Gal. 6.8 So that Hell is a place of torment ordained by God for Devils and reprobate sinners wherein by his justice they are deprived of his favour and confined to everlasting punishment both in soul and body If any ask whether Hell were created of God I answer Consider Hell as a place simply And it is very probable that Angels falling hell making was both together it was created at first by God when he distinguished all places but as it is Hell a place of torment it was not so by creation Satan and mans sin brought that name and use unto it And thus Tophet may be said to be prepared of old as a punishment for sin and a place for justice to be inflicted upon sin committed against God For the locality of Hell all agree in this that there is such a place only where that place of the damned should be Omnia entia sinita necesse est in aliquo ubi there are variety of opinions about it Gregory Nyssen and his followers hold it is in the air groundlesly grounding on Ephes 2.2 and cap. 6.12 Isidore but nothing probable will have it under the Globe of the earth A third confutable enough in the valley of Jehoshaphat from Joel 3.12 A fourth opinion owned of many learned men but without foundation from the Word is that Hell is in the very center of the earth Others with Keckerman that Hell is in the bottome of the Sea this they build upon that phrase Matth. 8.29 Luke 8.31 Aug. lib. 2. Retract c. 24. This indeed seems to carry some show of reason but cannot be the sense of the place Those that write with most sobriety say only in general Gehennam esse locum subterranenm The truth is Scripture doth not relate the very particular place where Hell is and perhaps it is concealed to prevent curiosity in many to keep faith in use and exercise as also to rouze men from security and to make them fearful of sin in every place yet there is warrant enough for the belief of two things in general 1. That there is such a place as Hell that is a place distinct from Heaven 2. That this place wherever it is it must be below Heaven Prov. 15.24 Luke 8.13 Rev. 14.11 Job 11.8 Deut. 32.22 Psal 55.15 If any should aske any farther I answer in anothers words Vbi sit sentient qui curiosiùs quaerunt where it is they shall find one day who over-curiously enquire At least I may say as Socrates did I was never there my self nor spoke with any that came from thence Let us labour more to avoid Hell than endeavour to find out the place where it is else Hell where-ever it is will find us out Though we know not the place for certain yet we may certainly know this that sin is the very high road to Hell and the direct way thither Prov. 7.26 And let us take heed of sin in every place seeing we know not where the particular place of Hell is Hell follows sin at the heels If we sin against God God knows how near Hell we are A guilty and galled conscience joyned with a profane wicked life is the lively picture of Hell it selfe Gebenuâ nihil grovius sed ejus meâ—â— nibil uâ—â—lius Hell is called by the Latins Infernus ab inferendo from the Devils continually carrying in souls to that place of torment I conclude with Chrysostom There is nothing more grievous than Hell but nothing more profitable than the fear of it Tophet is ordained of old yea for the King it is prepared Isa 30.33 he hath made it deep and large the pile thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it Hells Torments We silly fishes see one another jerked out of the pond of life by the hand of death but we see not the frying-pan and the fire that they are cast into that die in their sins and refuse to be reformed Cast they are into utter darknesse Vtinam ubique
flesh yet without sin to take away sin Heb. 2.17 18. Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco In all things it behoved him to be mâde like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful High-Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people who being tempted might be able to succour them that are tempted Now to participate of the nature of Mankind by propagation he was as was requisite born of a Woman an unspotted Maid whose womb was the seminary of our happiness according to the prediction Gen. 3. The seed of the woman shall break the serpents head And not to participate of Mans sin but to be Holiness to the Lord Armin. He was conceived by the Holy Ghost Quo nativitas saith one qua erat supra naturam sed pro naturâ mirabili excellentiâ naturam superans eandem virtute mysterii repararet Whereby the Birth which was above the sphere of Natures activity yet for nature surmounting Nature through the excellence of a miracle might repair the same by the unparallel'd virtue of an admired Mystery Thus the Word was made flesh by whose powerful word Flesh and all things visible and invisible in Heaven and Earth were made To him the Father of Heaven gave the order of Priesthood determining to have no other consideration or price for the ransom of transgressors but his flesh His righteous soul poured out for them should save theirs This was the reason why the Angel named him by command from Heaven JESVS At which reverend and holy Name carrying in it an intimation of our Redemption we the redeemed of the Lord in remembrance of the benefit purchased for as by him 1 Cor. 6.20 with a religious lowliness ought to bow to him the soul the body for the Lord Jesus hath bought both So that I may justifie with a forein Doctor Quòd faelix videri culpa possit quae talem meruit habere Redemptorem That sin may seem somwhat happy that stood in need of and obtained so prevalent so worthy a Redeemer To make good what hitherto hath been said of the Lords Messias I must pitch my thoughts upon two points 1. Upon the manner of ordering Christ Jesus our High-Priest 2. Upon his efficacious execution of this office He was ordered our High-Priest by covenant by oath The first was usual in the ordination of the Levitical Priests Cap. 2.5 My covenant saith the Lord by the Prophet Malachy was with Levi of life and peace This other is peculiar to the Priesthood of the Son of God after the similitude of Melchisedeck's For those Priestwere made without swearing of an oath but this by an oath by him that said unto him The Lord sware and will not repent Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck In the covenant on Gods side with Christ Jesus our High-Priest there are two things The demand of an act to be performed and the promise of a liberal remuneration The thing demanded of him was the laying down of life for the life of the world a voluntary submission to the death of the Cross to free us from the cross of the second death The thing promised upon performance was He should see his seed Isa 53.10 he should prolong his dayes the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hand He should remain a Priest time out of mind and that according to the order of Melchisedeck that is by the punctual exercise whereof he should be advanced to the Regal dignity The covenant again on our Saviours side with God consisted also in other two things answerable to the former A free promise of yieldance to the demand of his Father and the acceptation of the promised reward See his reply Heb. 10.9 Lo I come to do thy will O God Which done being the shedding of his blood for the remission of sins to the lowest step of humiliation and exact obedience God did highly exalt him unto glory to be King of righteousness and Prince of peace Mutus fit oportet qui non laudarit Herculem giving him a name which is above every name that at the name of JESVS every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth c. Such was his heroick spirit anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows that He endured the cross and despised the shame for the joy that was set before him Of this joy we with others that believe in him shall one day have an exuberant fruition For to this very end such an High-Priest became us To this Covenant of grace and peace God addeth an Oath which hath its use in this blessed Contract It tends 1. To the ratification of this Priesthood to make it sure 2. To the demonstration of the immutability and dignity of it For the first Albeit no word of God coming from his mouth can be taxt of the least inconstancy yet is he pleased to imitate men in their manner of contracting in matters of moment 1. To raise up our weak hopes to a sublime pitch of assurance in him 2. That our High-Priest trusting to a double Anchor that cannot be removed the one of Promise the other of an Oath might with an undaunted confidence sleight the reproach and undergo the pain that was to befall him For the second Gods oath exempts both this Priesthood and the second Covenant from all immutability containing in it a peremptory implicit decree for their eternity Quicquid juramento confirmat Deus id aeternum est immutabile Whatever God confirms with an oath is perpetual and unchangeable The reason why the Lord did not establish Levi's Priesthood and the first Covenant of Works with the sacred religion of a solemn oath was because he intended it an alteration in time to make the Lord Jesus a Surety of a better Testament not after the Law of a tarnal Commandement but after the power of an endless life By my self have I sworne said Abrahams God to him in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed This Seed is Christ proceeding from him after many successions of ages and generations this Blessing is the Redemption of Man-kind by that seed term'd the Son of Man in the execution of his Priestly Office which is irrecoverable A Saviour in solidum by which he is able to save them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the uttermost that come unto God by him Faelices nos quorum causà Deus jurare voluit miseros si ne juranti quidem credimus Happy are we for whose sakes God would swear Most unhappy we if when he swears we believe him not but be disobedient It makes also for the dignity and honour of this Priesthood 't is of an higher estimation than that of Levi for unto that were sinners called to this onely the most Holy the Son of God The sacrifices of that though many
whereon to found our Phanatick and furious alterations of hare-brain'd opinionists Deut. 27.17 They are like the fixed land-marks in the fields of our earthly inheritance the removing whereof is held accurst The Church of Christ is not to be reputed a common School for Sophisters to wrangle in but for Christs Disciples the faithful to be instructed in The Cannons also and constitutions of the Church concerning matters that are ceremonial and in themselves indifferent are not things to be slighted but to be obeyed God hath enabled the Church with authority to ordain what may tend to good and decent order which none ought to resist and shall any go about to disable it Let the Seperatist who upon such simple reasons as are alledged by him spurrs at the grave authority of the Church take heed that he deprive not himself of the communion of Saints through his sullen segregation and out of a needlesse nicety as one speaks be a thief to himself of those benefits which God hath allowed him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let him take heed be have not a bare shew of piety and deny the power thereof Nothing is more pestilent to the Church of God than froward wilfulness covered with fained holiness the one in disturbing Religion the other in deceiving the professors thereof especially the vulgar sort who judging according to the outward appearance which sometime beguileth the most prudent do verily think the most zealous in profession to be most religious in conversation when alas it is not so We may remember what Christ said of Wolves being in sheeps cloathing and what the Apostle too of Satans transforming into an Angel of light For mine own part I have ever vowed my study to be to studie to be quiet and to submit my self to reverent order I know how dangerous a thing it is to be a Church-rebel The Lord speaking of the Church of the Gentiles Cap. ult 12. said by the Prophet Isaiah I will extend peace to her like a river Who now should dare to stop the current which the Lord hath made and to instinge the peace that the highest hath decreed But to let this passe Besides this the Papists insult and triumph to see those those that professe themselves brethren to be at such deadly fewd among themselves Manasses against Ephraim and Ephraim against Manasses but both against Judah that is in their sense the Puritan against the Protestant the Protestant against the Puritan and both against the Papist Thinking our dissention a sufficient grace to their Church which maketh unity a special mark of verity I find that the end of Schisme is Heresie commonly the end of Heresie Atheisme the end of Atheisme utter desolation and destruction of soul and body And lastly when men through discontent because their brain may not rule cut themselves off from the Church and so transgress the sacred Lawes of Christian sosciety they are spiritually dead It is S. Aug assertion Spiritus humanus nunquam vivificat membra nisi fuerint unitd Aug. de Civ Dei sic Spiritus sanctus nunquam vivificat membra Ecclesiae nisi fuerint in pace unita The soul of man never quickens but those parts that are united so neither doth the holy Ghost but those members of the Church that are at peace together Wherefore as in Solomons material temple all was covered with gold within and without so in Gods spiritual temple which temple we are let all be beautified with love and peace within and without Remember Christs coat was seamless let us not rent it in peices the souldiers did and what they did in it they did against Christ so Qui pacem Christi concordiam rumpit adversus Christum facit In lib. de unitat Eccl. saith Cyprian he that breaks the peace and concord of Christ opposeth Christ the authour of it I have read a speech of Cassiodorus worth noting Non inveniri potest expressior forma conversationes Angelieae quam unitas socialis Cassiodor in Psal There cannot be a more express form or a more perfect resemblance of an Angelical conversation than friendly unity Far be it then from any of our thoughts to fill the Church of Christ with destraction or in the least measure to oppose the peace thereof Lib. de cur◠Pastorali for it is most certainly true what Gregory the great saith Si Dei vocantur filij qui pacem faciunt proculdubio Satanae sunt filii qui pacem confundunt If they be called the sons of God that make peace and keep it Osiander questionless they are the sons of Satan that break it that confound it It was Osianders motion which I now make mine we are all one spiritual body let us therefore have all one spiritual mind It is unmeet that they should live at variance on earth who hope at last to meet and live together in heaven To conclude this whole point As those States are likely to flourish where execution follows good advice so is man when contemplation and attention are seconded by good action Contemplation and attention do generate Bernard action doth propagate without the first the latter is defective without the last the first is but abortive Barnard compares contemplation to Rachel which was more fair but action to Leah which was more fruitful Let me therefore for the mercies of Christ Jesus 1 Cor. 1.10 exhort men to practice what I have now propounded With Paul I will beseech you to do it I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment With the same Paul I will pray for you Rom. 15.5 6. that ye do it Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus that we may with one mind and one mouth glorify God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And thus much concerning the third kind of peace that by Christs coming came into the world which is peace one with another The last kind of peace comes now to be treated of which is peace with all Gods creatures of which succinctly After Adam had disobeyed God the creatures began to disobey Adam Enmity attends ever at the heeles of sin Rom. ◠The very creatures were sensible of mans apostasy being made subject by his offence unto vanity and therefore did they take their Creators part and turn enemy to rebellious man But as Christ our powerful Mediatour hath by his ever effectual obedience made our peace with God so by the same hath he made our peace with the Creatures All things work together for the good of those that are elect according to Gods purpose The Angels themselves who are the highest eminency and purest quality among creatures are reconciled to them that
these words I am discoursing on Which are a pious Exhortation directed to the Elders of the Church containing a twofold Caution 1. The one respecting themselves Take heed therefore to your selves 2. The other the Church of God And to all the Flock The arguments produc'd to back this Exhortation to a diligent Providence of Gods people are 1. Because they are Overseers of the Flock 2. Because they are called to the performance of that office by Divine election and constitution in these words Over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you Overseers 3. Because Gods intent in calling them to that office was to feed the Church of God 4. Because it is not a thing of a small value that is committed to their charge but that which God with his own blood purchased Which he hath purchased with his own blood Before I meddle with the two main particulars the onely matter intended my meditation shall reflect a little upon the ground hereof implied in the illative particle therefore which ever hath relation to a precedent matter Paul protells that he hath declared the whole counsel of God to them and that he is pure from the blood of all men in that he did conceal nothing from them that concerned their salvation Seeing then he leaves them in so good a state acquainting them with the Lords pleasure and counsel he chargeth the Elders to beware of themselves and of the flock Take heed therefore to your selves c. Where you may note how piously Paul is devoted to Religion how zealously affected to Gods Church how provident for their welfare Loth he was to depart until he had setled the affairs Ecclesiastical A Synod therefore assembled he lays himself open to all Like an indulgent Parent departing from his children could not part without an exhortation for preventing future perils He did undoubtedly conclude as well he might the improvidence of Ministers should be fatal to the Church Neglective carelesness hath evermore a dead stroke in the corruption or fall of Religion Where pride pranked with outward semblances goes for gravity where outward observances and ceremonious complements pass for inward zeal and devotion where humane eloquence perhaps impertinent to the matter in hand runs current for profound learning and is preferr'd before the demonstration of the Spirit where Hagar gets the preheminence of Sarah I mean where Philosophy shall coin Articles of Faith and prescribe rules to Divinity where Vice walks in the habit of Vertue where Avarice is counted Thristiness where gain of money and revenue is more desired than gain of souls Gods Vineyard must needs be neglected and without question down comes Religion Take heed therefore to your selves The Apostle in this illation hath yet a further reach In the precedent verse he doth aver that he is pure from the blood of all men and for his justification alleageth that he hath kept back from them no part of Gods counsel which he was pleased to reveal for their endless felicity Take heed therefore to your selves and to all the flock Do ye so likewise Hence it is requisite that you be industrious in the search of heavenly mysteries See that Earth make you not to forget Heaven and so slacken your care but let your studies be spent in finding knowledge that is able to save your souls and them that hear you in doctrine in exhortation in reproof aiming at the perfection of the Saints of God and his glory It is an unquestionable truth That the blood of them who receive little or no instruction of their Pastors or who fall away from the Truth through the Pastors neglect or careless carriage in their vocation will be required at the Pastors hand Ezekiel in his 33. chap. confirms this assertion O son of man I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth Fulmina non verba Eras and warn them from me When I say unto the wicked O wicked man thou shalt surely die if thou doest not speak to warn the wicked from his way that wicked man shall die in his iniquity but his blood will I require at thine hand If you intend the good of Zion if you prefix for your scope the glory of God if you hope for salvation quit your selves my Brethren from the guilt of blood of murdering souls through your negligence Attend to Pauls exhortation Take heed to your selves c. First take heed to your selves The prime care of a faithful Minister of Jesus Christ is how to behave himself in the Church of Christ which is the house of the living God It is an hard task I must confess he is put to a painful work that he takes in hand for the finishing whereof there must be a concurrence of conscience and skill If conscience be without skill the good will and honest intentions may win applause egregiam certe laudem but the Church is not profited If skill and no conscience whilst he teacheth others he himself becomes a reprobate Those instructions he imparts to others will in the end prove his own overthrow Take heed therefore to your selves It is the speech of Evagrius Scholasticus in his Ecclesiastical history Libr. 3. concerning an Emperor That an Emperor is not to be counted of thereafter as he governeth others but as he guideth and ruleth himself It behoveth him to suffer no lascivious motion to root within his breast but valiantly to encounter with Intemperancie and to make his life a pattern of vertue or a lanthorn for his subjects to follow after thereby to lead them to godly instruction This I may apply to the true Divine and true Man of God He must have an observing eye as well upon himself as others All his actions must be so ruled as that we may read piety in each of them and that they may serve for patterns of imitation to the people Surely Nunquam aliorum salutem sedulo curabit qui suam negliget saith one It can never enter into my heart to think much less to believe that he shall be careful for the salvation of others who shall neglect his own It is an argument beyond probability that that man will never respect any good that slights his proper except upon such terms as Moses wished his name blotted out of the book of life or as Paul himself accursed for his bretrhens sake But these were elevated to the highest pitch of zeal which few ever attained unto These were studious both of their own and others safety and of others safety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of their own See then as saith the Apostle that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise Eph. 5.15 Extraordinary circumspection transporting us above the common sphere must be used or else we shall be condemned of extraordinary folly The wise mans eyes are in his head faith Wisdom It is a point of the greatest wisdom for a man to have his wits
in the salvation of penitent and beleeving soules the glory of his justice in the condemnation of obdurate and perverse malefactors As it is a perfect law so it is a law of liberty oppos'd to the Mosaical which is lex senvitutis a law of thraldome The liberty of this law in respect of our twofold condition is twofold 1. Gracious here in the life of grace wrought by Christ the Son of the everliving God if the Son make us free we are free indeed Joh. 8.36 Wherefore we have a free accesse at all times to call upon the Father of mercys imploring his powerful assistance in holy actions and invincible protection from all evil 2. Glorious in the life of glory called Vindicationis libertas the liberty of compleat redemption the creature being delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God Phrasis qulgatissima est Deum colere Non secus at que agri fertiles inprimis optimi sic Dei cultus fâ—uctus fert ad vitam aternam uberrimos Of this twofold liberty there are these parts 1. A liberty from sin our submission to the Gospel and faithful embracing of the promises of God in Christ frees us both from the raigning power of sin and from the condemning power For being made free from sin we become servants to God and have our fruit unto holiness and the and everlusting life Rom. 6.22 2. A liberty from the yoke of the ceremonial law and bondage of the morall From the yoke of the ceremonial law which was so ponderous as that neither we nor our fathers were able to bear but now by Christ and the law of faith it is blotted out quite abolished and taken out of the way And from the bondage of the moral law in these ensuing particulars 1. From the curse and consequently from the punishment of sin the transgression of the law Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us Gal. 3.13 Rom. 8.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Apostle certifies us that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus 2. From the rigour and exaction of the law requiring of us for our justification perfect righteousness inherent in us and perfect obedience to be practis'd by us 3. From the terrour and coaction of the law which ingendereth servile fear in those who are under it and compelleth them through the horror of torment as bond-slaves by the whip or rack to the outward though unwilling performance of it But those that are under the law of grace are zealously addicted to good works and services of God which are over done by them with the free consent of a plous mind the original cause whereof is not any natural disposition but the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost which is given unto us 4. from the instigation of the law for which reason saith Pareus on 1 Cor. 15.56 it hath got the name of the strength of sin whereby sin appears more sinfull which is not caused by any fault in the law in it self good and condemning sin but through the viciousness of our unregenerate nature that takes occasion from the sacred prohibitions of it to transgresse which irritation is accidentall not essentiall to the undefiled law of the righteous Lord. Another part of this liberty is a liberty from death which is twofold the first and the second They that are effectually in subjection to the Gospel the glad-tidings of peace are free from the first death as it is a punishment And from the second over them the second death shall have no power Tollitur morâ— non ne fiat sed ne obsit Aug. To them the nature of the first death is changed and made but transitus ad vitam a passage from death to life it is the end of sin and misery and the beginning of our unspeakable happiness the high-way from the vale of teares to the Kingdom of glory and Celestiall joyes the Period of a mortall life and the innitiation of a life immortal Last of all there is a liberty from Sathan and the world granted to the sons of God adopted in the Son of God the Son of God hath over come the strong man Not imperium Principis but Carnificis à Lapide and bound him as being stronger than he thorough death he destroyed him that had the power of death that is the Devil and delivereth them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Heb. 2.14 Get thee behind us Satan as Christ said to Peter and let the wicked world follow thee which Christ hath over-come Joh. 16. ult And since O loving Saviour we live free men free from sin reigning condemning free from Satan and the world under the easy yoke of thy Evangelical Law and under the protection of thy wings We will with thy disciples follow thee whithersoever thou goest and run after thee whither thy good Spirit shall lead us Thus it is apparent how the Gospel of Christ is a perfect Law of liberty into which whoso looketh and continueth therein he being not a forgetfull hearer but a doer of the work shall be blessed in his deed From the bottome of the stairs or ladder we now go up the steps the first whereof is speculation whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty Joh. 5.39 Audite saeculares comparate vobis Biblia animae Pharmaca Chrysost Prono capite propenso collo accurate in trospieere 1 Pet. 1.12 It was a good advice blest be the mouth that gave it Search the Scriptures which is made good by the reasons rendred for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testify of me saith our Saviour hence this search must not be slight this speculation not vain this looking not perfunctory our Knowledge of Christ and eternal life depending on it This is intimated in the original word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying an exact and accurate prying into a thing as if one to find out somewhat difficult to find out should stand in this posture with his body or head bended towards the earth his eyes contracted and fixed upon some object as if he did intend to look it through and so to inform himself fully Thus when we attempt to look into the abstruse mysteries of divinity to acquaint our selves with the sacred Principles of Religion a superficial view is of no avail Profound matters require a serious and frequent meditation an indefatigable study hence the Apostle St Peter describing the desire of the Angels to know the hidden mysteries of salvation expresseth it by the same word the Angels desire to look narrowly into the things revealed to us by the Holy Ghost a work worthy their and our pains not to be posted over with a careless run but to be stuck close unto and prosecuted until finished and the mind in