ever a heaven on earth beyond the Poëtry of the Millenaries But can this earthly heaven agree with our Saviour's Ascension will not this want its intended effect if by the vertue of this the righteous also the members of his mysticall body shall not ascend when therfore it is said there shall be new heavens and a new earth wherein dwels righteousnesse we may understand it not only of the Heavens though some margents would so instruct us but also of the Earth though with this difference that in the new heavens there shall be righteousnesse and in the new earth there shall be no more unrighteousnesse the wicked and consequently wickednesse being taken away But whither shall the wicked at last depart some have placed their Hell next under the Sphere of the Moone induced by mistake of the parable of Lazarus and the Rich man between whom because there is express'd a discourse they have thought that Hell borders upon Heaven But parables being in effect Similitudes are not so properly intended for stories of truth as for the Illustration of it Besides we need not for proofe of the possibility of the dialogue imagine a neighbourhood of these different places since it were as easy for the divine power to make the Ear to heare from heaven to hell as it was to make the eie of his martyr Stephen accurately to discerne from earth to heaven Besides though their Imagination were granted it would not halfe serve the turn the distance from the concave of the Moone to the highest heavē so much exceeding the space between the earth and the Moone Most men then considering the extreme opposition of the just and wicked have accordingly suppos'd the places prepard for them to be at an extremity also of distance The wicked then must depart from the face of the Lord and this is their pain of losse whither shall they depart but into everlasting fire This is their pain of sense The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath and the fire shall devoure them Psal 21 2. And so indeed some literally thinke as Abulensis that the earth shall open and swallow them up into hell and then shall close upon them as it befell the three rebels Corah Dathan and Abiram In prosecution of which supposall some imagine that in the midst of the earth there shall be prepar'd a hollownesse of capacity sufficient for the multitude of the wicked and that since their bodies naturally heavy must descend towards the center they shall there make one unhappy masse or lumpe in eternall sorrow But such wild phansy we may rather restrain with the sobriety of that wise Jew the Authour of the second book of Esdras chap. 9. v. 13. Bee thou not curious how the ungodly shall be punish'd that is to know what God would not have thee know The humane wisdome of Aristotle did indeed examine the curious errours of the Philosophers about the Soule and the Christian wisdome of the learned Irenaeus studied the depths and madnesse of the Valentinians counting the knowledge of them as usefull as the defence vile and teaching us more happily to escape them then to understand them Led then by Scripture we may severely know that with fire the wicked shall be tormented the power of which we must acknowledge though we know not the kind and to them it may be said as it is in Isaiah chap. 5. 11 Behold all yee that kindle a fire that compasse your selves about with sparkes walke in the light of your fire and in the sparkes that you have kindled This shall ye have of my hand ye shall lie down in sorrow Yet does not the same Prophet crie-out again chap. 33.14 Who amongst us shall dwell with the devouring fire who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings He implies not yet the impossibility of them but the horrour For in sorrow they shall lie down they shall dwell with fire they shall dwell with death with Eternall death Seneca though a Heathen could say Mors timenda erat si tecum esse possit Death were a terrible thing indeed if it could be a part of a man's houshold if it could inhabite with a man And there it is so death feeds upon them It was the Lord that said Deutr. 32.41 42. If I whet my glittering sword and my hand take hold on judgment I will render vengeance to my enimies and will reward them that hate me I will make mine arrowes drunke with blood and my sword shall devoure flesh Here is the execution of the threatning The worme of Conscience shall feed on them that worm bred out of the Corruption of their owne foule sinnes Death shall feed on them Like sheepe they are layd in the grave death shall feed on them Psal 49.14 These sheepe shall become pasture and as Innocentius sayes as grasse when it is fed on is not pull'd-up by the rootes but only the blade of it is cropt that so it may perpetually renew so shall the wicked as the pasture of death perpetually renew to be fed-upon And this apprehension of Eternity is that which breaks the heart of the wicked The perpetuall hills did bow his wayes are everlasting sayes the Prophet Habakkuk c. 3.6 Incurvati sunt colles mundi ab itineribus aeternitatis ejus sayes the Latine Interpreter which some do mystically understand of mighty sinners that even the proudest and mightiest sinners in the world stoope and are heart-broken with the remembrance of the eternity of hell-torments Nor shall they have in that journy of eternity any companions to comfort them they shall have no companions but such as hunger thirst watching fire darknesse devils and desperation Yet will the Lord cast-off for ever and will he be favourable no more Is his mercy clean gone for ever doth his promise faile for evermore Hath God forgotten to be gracious hath he in anger shut-up his tender mercies as the Prophet David askes Psal 77. v. 7.8.9 You shall have the Lord 's owne answer by his Prophet Ezechiel c. 7.4 Mine eie shall not spare thee neither will I have pitty but I will recompence thy wayes upon thee O then let us tremble at God's judgment that we may never tremble under it Let us avoid it by meeting it He that by meditation continually feares hell has least need to feare Remember that instruction of our Saviour Pray that your flight be not in winter or on the Sabbath-day Matt. 24. That is sayes S. Chrysostome that it be not in such a time wherin thou canst make no escape In the winter the weather hinders thee from flying and on the Sabbath the Commandement stayes thee To all that are unready in their account in that day of judgment it shall prove a winter a Tempest And they shall find a severer command than on the Sabbath they must stay whether they will or no. Let us therfore judge our selves that wee may not be judg'd and that so when the Lord Iesus shall appeare
Speech of S. Gregory In natura humanitatis novit Christus diem judicii sed non ex natura humanitatis He knows it being man not as he is man But this day was a secret which he reveal'd not to his Disciples but to stay their curiosity told them It was not for them to know the times and seasons which the father had kept in his own power Upon which words saies S. Austin In vain is all search to know the end of the world since Truth it self had made known unto us thus much for truth that this truth is not to be known Dreadfull also is this judgment for the Sodainesse The former dreadfullnesse which was from the secrecy was in respect of our Knowledge but this from the Sodainesse shall be in respect of Preparation A man may be prepar'd against many things that shall come secretly but this shall also come sodainly the world shall not be prepar'd In such an houre as you thinke not the Sonne of man comes Matt. 24.44 The day of the Lord so comes as a theefe in the night for when they shall say Peace and safty then sadaine destruction comes upon them as travaile upon a woman with child and they shall not escape 1 Thess 5.2 3. As in the dayes of Noah and of Lot there was water and fire though not to purifie but confound so shall it be by fire in the day of the Lord. Indeed when he comes what should stay his Judgment for when he comes shall he find faith on the earth As in the dayes of Noah but eight righteous persons were found and as in the dayes of Lot but halfe so many in the Cities which were then destroy'd so shall it be in the day of the Lord though not strictly so few yet but very few shall then escape the wicked becomming fuell in that fire and their number increasing it when therfore the signes of that day come the world shall be surpriz'd with fear and horrour with such feare and horrour as shall be their first Hell Dreadfull is this Judgment for the Preparation also there shall be preparation for it in the Heavens in the Aire in the Seas in the Earth Preparation in the heavens in the Sunne and Moone They shall now be signes not of comfort but of Judgment The Sunne shall be turn'd into darknesse and the moone into blood before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come Joel 2.31 Which gastly darknesse in the Sunne and Moone the wicked shall not be able to neglect And though they did in this life neglect the signes of Gods Mercy yet shall they not be able to neglect these signes of his Justice They shall not escape this darknesse by a figure taking the Sunne and Moone for the Church which in the time of Antichrist shall be Obscur'd or phantastically making the Sunne to signifie the Devill and the Moone the Reprobate as Origen implies though this last would be no comfort to them They shall not escape this darknesse by saying the Sunne and Moone shall Seeme to be dark'ned because they shall be Out-shind by the Glory of Christ at his comming no this darknesse shall be a signe before the glorious comming of Christ They shall not escape this darknesse by making it only a kind of speech to signify the Calamity of that time for this were to make the signes rather in the earth than in the heaven But our Saviour sayes expressely There shall be signes in the Sunne and Moone Now what signes were in them if there were no Change in them Nor shall they escape it by quarrelling with the manner of effecting it which shall not be as some have ridiculously phansied by the vast clouds of smoake that ascend from the burning of the world this darknesse shall be before that fire or els there would be no body left to see that darknesse but it is said that at that dreadfull sight mens hearts shall faile them Nor shall this darknesse be effected by an eclipse the Astronomers can tell us that by an eclipse the Sunne and Moone cannot both at once be darkned the Sunne being eclips'd by the interposition of the Moone between his light and our eie the Moone being eclips'd by the interposition of the earth between the Sunne and Moone Nor need we suppose the interposition of some cloudes or the like darke bodies in that day to hinder their light He is able to deprive those glorious bodies of their light nay which is a greater wonder he is able leaving them their light to take from them their power of sending-forth their light as he tooke away the power of burning from the fiery furnace into which the three children were cast But shall we define the wayes of the Allmighty and appoint him his Counsailes No more may we appoint the Continuance of this darknesse which whether it shall be longer then the darknesse in Aegypt which lasted three dayes or shorter then the darknesse at our Saviour's Passion which lasted but three houres we have no more use of such knowledge then knowledge of the Continuance But this we know that it shall be long enough to prove the instant approach of the Lord 's comming and to drive the wicked not into repentance but into desperation But yet there must be more preparation in the heaven whiles preparation in the Starres For the Starres shall fall from heaven Matt. 24.29 though Reason and the Astronomer will undertake to demonstrate that a starre is of that bignesse that the whole earth is not able to intertaine a starre or two Besides that the heaven is incorruptible and the starres fix'd in that incorruptible body Indeed there is no absolute necessity to understand this Literally but yet S. Austin thought it not improbable and S. Chrysostome not only thought it probable but alleadges also that of the Prophet Isaiah 34.4 All the host of heaven shall be dissolved and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll and all their host shall fall downe as the leafe falls off from the vine and as a falling fig from the figtree What is this sayes that Father the Starres shall fall from heaven as the leaves fall from the vine whiles the vine has fruite so long it requires the use of leaves to protect it but afterwards the leaves fall away so whiles there are inhabitants on the earth the Starres in heaven will be needfull for the earth but when night it selfe shall cease to be then likewise the Starres shall be no more Which interpretation does no way disagree either with the wonder of that day which shall be a day of wonder or with the omnipotency of God who can easily make them lesse and make them fall who of nothing made them into this bignesse Irreverent it were for us to examine whether he will doe it by a miraculous compression of the substance of a starre or otherwise who can performe it so many wayes beyond the feeble and ridiculous guesse of Reason
Which literall interpretation if any man lesse like of he may take S. Anstin's who by the falling of the Starres understands the preparation that shall be against that day in the Aire For he thinkes it more probable that by this speech is meant that the Lightnings flames and fiery exhalations which shall be before the last day shall be so dreadfull that one would thinke the very Starres did fall from heaven And easily may the world be thus affrighted when as there shall be preparation in the very Powers of heaven which shall be shaken Matt. 24.29 The powers of heaven that is as the Holy Fathers teach us to expound it The blessed Angells of God in heaven shall tremble with reverent feare before the day of judgment at those dreadfull wonders which God will declare in the very heavens There shall be also preparation in the Seas The Sea and the waves shall roare Luk. 21.25 The height of the waves shall frighten those that dwell by the shoare and the Out-crie of the waves shall frighten those that dwell afarre off There shall be preparation also on the Earth The Sibylls tell us that at that time the beasts shall rune belowing and roaring through the fields and Cities that the Trees shall sweat blood and that the Sea shall throw-up fish on the drie ground Nay the Scripture tells us that Men shall be more amas'd that their hearts shall faile them for feare and for looking after those things that are comming on the earth Luk. 21.26 A sinner shall then be like a bird that has flowen about in the pleasure of the fields and at last falls into a nett So shall the sinner fall into a snare he shall be caught The pleasures of the wicked shall be like Jonah's gourd they shall for a time sit under the shadow of their honours of their wealth of their pleasure but these shall all passe away and leave them to the fury of the Sunne of righteousnesse God shall arme all heaven against them and a flood of fire after all shall be as a tenth wave for there shall come also a flood of fire unto which the Prophet David seem'd to allude Psal 50.3 Our God shall come and shall not keep silence a fire shall devoure before him and it shall be very tempestuous round about him But the Prophet Malachi is more evident cap. 3.1 Behold the day comes that shall burne as an oven and all the proud yea and all that doe wickedly shall be stubble and the day that comes shall burne them up sayes the Lord of hosts S. Paul told his Thessalonians as much 1 Epist. 1.7 8. That when the Lord Iesus shall be reveal'd from heaven he shall take vengeance in flaming fire S. Peter is more particular The earth and the workes that are therein shall be burnt-up 2 Pet. 3.10 and the elements shall melt with fervent heat And the heaven it selfe is reserv'd unto fire against the day of judgment 2 Pet. 3.7 nay that the heaven shall be sett on fire and be dissolv'd vers 12. and that the heavens shall passe away with a great noise vers 10. well therfore may we remember what the Lord said by the Prophet Joel 2.30 I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth blood and fire and pillars of smoake Yet concerning the order of this flood of fire S. Austin places it in the end of the day of Judgment though others would have it before that this face of the world may be destroyd before that great Session And then shall the signe of the Sonne of man appeare in heaven which some thinke shall be some insigne of our Saviour's Victory Some more particularly though without warrant thinke that it shall be the signe of the Crosse and that when darknesse shall have overcast the world there shall appeare in the East a Crosse of Light to foreshew the comming of the Lord. Others thinke this signe shall be the glorious wounds in our Saviour's body at which sight in the day of Judgment the Jews especially may be confounded Yet some others thinke it shall be that Prerogative Glory with which our Saviour shall then appeare But since the interpretation of this signe is kept as secret as the day in which it shall appeare Let us consider how dreadfull the Session it selfe shall be A Session which shall be usherd with the mighty voice of an Archangell and of a Trumpet It was the voice of a Trumpet which the Jews did use in their warres in their Temple in their Feasts in their Assemblies Numb 10. It was with the voice of a Trumpet that the Law was given at Mount Sinai but here the dead shall heare this Trumpet and this voice calling them unto judgment And then shall they see the Sonne of man comming in the Clouds with power and great Glory Matt. 24.30 They shall see that humane nature which was prophan'd on earth they shall see him come to be their Judge whom once they judg'd The Jewes that would not know him and the Heathen and wicked Christians that car'd not to know him shall now behold him not without horrour whom once they beheld not without hate or neglect But now they shall see him come in the cloudes with power and glory with glory for he shall come upon a throne of cloudes with power for he shall come upon a throne of cloudes the worke of his own hands yea all the wonders of that day shall be the works of his power and he shall come with power to judge the quicke and the dead He shall come with glory such glory that all the Angels shall with reverent obedience waite upon him upon him whom none but impudent and obdurate sinners durst contemne Will you see his glory Moses shall shew it to you as it appear'd to the Elders of Israel who saw the God of Israel and there was under his feet as it were a paved worke of a Saphire stone and as it were the body of heaven in his clearnesse Fxod 24.10 Will you see his glory S. John shall shew it to you as it appear'd to Him who saw a great white throne and him that sate on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them Rev. 20.11 Will you see his glory you shall see his Kingdome for then shall be fullfill'd that petition in our prayer Thy Kingdome come That shall be the first day of his glorious Reigne Behold his Assistants Angells Saints more especially the Apostles He shall come with all his holy Angells Matt. 25.31 Heaven shall be empty sayes S. Chrysostome in the day of judgment when all the Angells and the Saints of heaven shall descend from heaven to attend the Lord Iesus unto judgment O glorious judgment O dreadfull Judge before whom all the persons that have been from the creation and shall be till that day shall in that day all at once appeare when sinne shall have no cloake
are not afraid to approach to the throne of the judge of heavē earth with powerfull tears which overcome him that is almighty which power vouchsafe O Lord most powerfull to shew in the weaknesse of our tears that by thy mercy their weaknesse may thus overcome thy power Change our heads into waters that they may be clean change our eies into a fountain a fountain of tears so pure that thou mayst see thine own image in them that so thou mayst delight in them that we may for ever delight in thee delight with thee To whom O Father of mercies with thy dear Sonne our Saviour and thy Holy Spirit our Comforter in all our sorrows be ascrib'd all thanks for thy Power and Mercy for evermore FINIS OF The Christian's Strife A SERMON BY BARTEN HOLYDAY Doctor of Divinity OXFORD Printed by Leonard Lichfield 1657. 1 Corinth 9. 25. Every man that strives for the Mastery is temperate in all things Now they doe it to obtain a corruptible crown but we an incorruptible MAN since his fall is much like the Devill before his fall he has a great desire unto mastery in which desire he does but confesse his fall by which he has chang'd that mastery it selfe which he had only into a desire of the mastery which he had He had by creation a mastery over all the creaturs of this inferiour world but by his fall he fell not only from the mastery of them but also of himself and is now become aslave to his own desires to the distraction of his desires his way and his eie never being together His way is still downward still farther from that perfection from which he fell but his eie is still upwards towards that perfection from which he fell But as his nature is corrupt so is his desire a desire of mastery not because it is a perfection but because it is a Glory and therfore he does more truly desire the crown then the strife Yet this desire in man though but like a vertue yet because like a vertue finds opposition in man and is kept down by greater vice And therfore though divers have an appetite to the mastery in divers things yet if their feare or sloth be greater then their desire their desire yeilds to their fear or sloth But this naturall desire when most able being not able to aime at the true mastery diverting to meaner objects corrupts it self into inferiour and triviall appetites and insteed of seeking for mastery in the true perfections of the mind it either descends to strive for the mastery in the vanities of the mind or for the vain mastery in the abilities of the body Which trifling desires brake forth into the actions of those naturall men the Ancient Heathen especially the Greeks and not only in their businesse but also in their games Wherby they did prove indeed that labour is a part of man's curse which they increas'd whiles to their labour they added vanity For wheras it is one releefe against the punishment of labour that man may propose to himself an end which shall abundantly recompence his labour they were as Vain in the choise of their End as they were unhappy in their labour Which vanity our Apostle perceiving in them takes occasion to teach Christian wisdome from their Heathenish folly by rectifying both their labour and their purpose and that we might the better understand his instruction he drawes it from the nature of their practises Amongst the Corinthians were celebrated the Isthmian Games in which after a great deale of preparation they took a great deale of toile and all for a crown as corruptible as their bodyes he teaches them therefore by a wise emulation how to Imitate that Labour and Correct it He does not forbid them still to continue their preparation he does not forbid thē still to continue their strife but he changes the kind of them whiles he changes the reward of them and proposes a crown which they might obtaine as much exceeding the crown which they proposed to obtaine as Heaven and eternitie exceed earth and time That therfore we may understand this instruction of our Apostle we may first consider the strife it selfe the strife for the Masterie then the Preparation for the good performance of that strife A Temparance in all things And lastly the End and purpose of that strife a Crown for them Corruptible but for us Incorruptible Behold then first the Strife The Grecians a people of rare naturall excellency and Vanity were so transported with the appetite of Mastery that there was scarce any thing done amongst them without great strife without great comparison or to draw a word from our Apostle in this place without great Agonie for so in effect he speaks whiles he saies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it may be rendred Every one that is in an agonie for the mastery which contentions sometimes were even in vile things as at this day amongst us as for the mastery in drinking or Eating most for there was amongst them their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Athenaeus tells us To which contentions amongst others the Apostle it seems did allude when excellently he said that Their glory was their shame But in this place he intends such bodily exercises as were rather Vaine then Vile their various exercises drawn from the severall respects unto the body as from the speed of it in Running as in the precedent verse he speakes of the Race or from the Strength of it as in wrestling as principally seemes to be intended in this verse But all was a strife nay we may call it a Fight for so our Interpreters render the same word 1 Tim. 6.12 Fight the good fight of Faith the word being there also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And that you may more fully apprehend the wisedome of our Apostle in this comparison it will be necessary to take a view of the agreement of these two kinds of Combats of those outward contentions of the Heathen Grecians and the inward contentions of a Christian If you will view the Place of their strife you shall find the Race was performed in their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a plot of ground containing in length an hundred twenty and five paces which just length was chosen because Hercules as their fable has it runne so farre at one breath And can any thing better expresse the place or length of our Christian life Our Strife against sinne as the Apostle calls it Hebr. 12.4 Is not our contention determin'd with the length of our life And is not life the life of the strongest usually determin'd within a hundred or sixcore yeares though some as stories tell us have out lived that number of yeares If you will likewise view that place in which their wrestling was performed which was their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Tertullian and S. Chrysostome call it you shall find that no man was admitted into it but he that
the golden the most excellent crown since he only has entred the fort of our enemy the Divell by his victory over Hell Thus then he only shall have the glorious crown and by his own merit Yet we also shall have crownes though all ours shall in effect be his Since then there is so Glorious a reward proposed unto us let us be temperate in all things that we may strive for the mastery that by getting the mastery we may get the crown And since that our crownes are due to Him let us imitate the Elders who sell down before him that sate upon the Throne and cast their Crownes before the Throne So let us in thankfull humility cast down our selves and our Crownes before his Throne and let us say Thy Kingdome come Our Kingdome come And let us tryumphantly say with them Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power who hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests To thee therefore with the Father and the blessed spirit be ascribed the Crown and the Kingdome for ever for ever FINIS OF God's Husbandry A SERMON BY BARTEN HOLYDAY Doctor of Divinity OXFORD Printed by Leonard Lichfield 1657. 1 Cor. 3.9 Ye are Gods Husbandry THE first cause of Husbandry was sinne the painfull tillage of the ground being imposed on man for his transgression since otherwise even good things had grown of their own accord And this punnishment was so necessarily layd upon man that as a labour it was made a duty God sending him forth of Paradice to till the ground Gen. 3.23 So that now for man not to manage the ground lookes like a sinne and thus all gentler laboures in other callings we may count but Indulgence by a gracious permission and exchange of penalty Yet God in his favour made this duty so honourable that he made it the frequent labour of the ancient Patriarchs And even the Heathen so honoured this profession that they highly honoured them that honoured this which was especially the practice of the Romans amongst whom even the chiefe families were descended from husbandmen witnesse their Names drawn from severall kinds of graine the subject of their employment as the Fabii the Lentuli the Cicero's and others of the like Labour and Honour But God himselfe did at last so honour this labour that as man was at first made a husbandman for the Guilt of sinne so God himself vouchsafed to make himselfe a husbandman to take away the Power of sinne Man is a husbandman about the Earth and God is a Husbandman about man The Earth is our Tillage we are God's Tillage Yet as in a large estate the Lord usually imployes his Baily so in the larger husbandry of man God is pleased to imploy his minister and by way of inferiour deputation continuall to imploy every man in the managing of himself Now whereas the professors of other Arts do cōmonly reserve the mysteries of their knowledge to themselves for which too often as well as for their skill they may justly and unhappily be called Crafts the Husbandman on the contrary delights to impart his knowledge that others may be instructed in their spirituall husbandry in the understanding of this duty they may chiefely consider the Nature of the Ground that is to be husbanded and the Manner of the Husbandry in which two we must imploy study and in which two we may then expect Blessing First then behold the Ground on which we are to bestow our labour which yet without labour we shall find to be man When God says we are his Husbandry you see he does remember us that we are Earth Now the Earth we know is most remote from Heaven and is not man so meere naturall man Is he not most remote from the Gracious thoughts of divine affaires Yet as the earth is capable of the Heavenly Influences so is man capable of the influences of Grace The Earth is singularly fruitfull producing many excellent effects for which cause the Gentiles made it a Goddesse attributing unto it divine honours in like manner have some Philosophicall Christians been so farre inamour'd with the abilities of man that they esteemed the power of man's will in a manner equall to the power of God But as the fruitfullnesse of the Earth in the outward or inward parts of it in the production of Graine or Metall is begunne and finish'd by the influence of the Heaven so is the fruitfullnesse of man's soule by the influence of Grace And as the Earth is incompassed with the Sea by the penetrating moisture whereof as some think dry parts of it are made more firme and compact so is man as drie Earth the better compacted by the moisture of Grace The Earth the more it is plowed and stir'd the more fruitfull it is but if it be suffered to lie continually fallow insteed of fruit it shall bring forth weeds so the soule if exercised and dilligently dressed will prove very fruitfull but if it be left follow then shall it yeild nothing but the weeds of sloth When the ancients pictured the Earth they did adjoyne the picture of a key to signifie that the earth is opened in the Spring and shut in the winter and does not man so truely resemble the Earth Does he not shoot forth in the spring of his youth and is he not shut up againe in his old age The Earth was also anciently painted in the forme of a woman sitting and bearing a drumme which in their conceit well expressed the winds inclosed within the Earth this also does as aptly expresse the nature of man who is filled and disturbed with the passions of his Mind The Romans built unto Vesta in whom they express'd the Earth a round Temple in the midst of which was a perpetuall fire and does not this as truly expresse Man Is not his Body a consecrated Temple and is not his Soul as a perpetuall fire The same picture was also crown'd with white garlands to signifie the foaming waters that continually incompasse and beate the shoare and may not these as aptly signifie the continuall troubles that beset and offer violence unto man And as Earth does thus signifie man so does dust which we may call dead earth as having lost the livening moisture signifie dead man does not the Prophet imply as much Ps 30.9 Shall the dust praise thee O Lord Nor are men thus only like the earth in these properties but also for the many Differences of the earth some ground is Mountanous and some low some fruitfull and other barren the like differences in their conditions doe men admit some being proud and some humble some being fruitfull of good workes and others as barren Cato observ'd that kind of ground to be the best that lies open towards the Sunne so is that Soul the most happy that is truly inlivened with the warmth of grace Varro tels us that if in land there be stones sand gravel or the like it is over heated and
it seem'd to implie a divine excellency as is noted of the frantique ambition of Domitian the Roman Emperour who when he would be counted a God caused himselfe to be call'd Dominus Lord. But as the Name is due to our saviour so much more the power and as the power so our acknowledgement of his power And if Sozomen's Ecclesiasticall story be in no part Legend we may heare him relate that when Ioseph and the Blessed Virgin who fled into Aegypt with our Infant Saviour were ready to enter the gate of Hermopolis or Thebais a tree of singular size and beauty sudainly bended it self to the ground as in Adoration at the presence of the true Lord. This tree was before worshipped by the Heathen Aegyptians the name of which kind of tree was Persis as the historian says adding that this was the constant report of the Christian Inhabitants in his time as also that the fruit or Leaf or any part of the Bark of it heal'd the sick We may farther take notice that Plutarch long before said that this kind of tree was consecrated unto Isis that also the fruite of it was like a Heart and the Leaf like a Tongue which may to us Christians by a devout Embleme Aptly though not Articulately expresse that the Lord our Saviour should be worshipped and Acknowledged with heart and Tongue But with a certainty of Truth and Wounder declared he was to be the Lord by miracle and prophecie the prophet Micha saying ch 5.2 that he was to be Ruler in Israel the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implying Dominion a Proverbe this having then Dominion in speech Sometimes also it signifies a By-word as Ps 44.14 And thus also was our Blessed-Saviour a Lord and a Proverbe yea he was for a signe that should be spoken against Luke 2.34 Yet still he was the Lord. Our Saviour before his Incarnation was called God says Anastasius sometimes Bishop of Antiochia but since his Incarnation he is call'd Lord He is call'd Lord says he since he has come in the flesh wounded our enemies overcome death by death freed us from the power of the Devil taught the ungodly to acknowledge God receiv'd of his Father the Gentiles for an Inheritance possessed the utmost ends of the earth reigning from Sea to Sea and from the rivers to the bounds of the earth Since these victorys we may with truth and triumph call him the Lord Indeed he prov'd himselfe the Lord by Power and Mercy by destroying Sinne Death and Hell which were our enemies and by saving us who were his enemies and therefore he is not only the Lord but also Iesus this is his new name Apoc. 3.12 as Iehovah was his old name a name not known to Abraham Isaac and Iacob as God tells Moses Exod. 6.3 though it was know unto them as appeares Gen. 15.7 and in diverse other places as Gen. 26. 24 25.28.13 the meaning therefore was not that they knew it not at all but that they knew it not in the same respect that Moses knew it Iehovah expresses God's essence which is truth it selfe and therefore his truth in the fulfilling of his promises which were truth in Hope to the Patriarchs but truth in possession unto Moses Thus may we say that his new name Iesus was not known unto them of old not that they were ignorant either of the Name or the Promise but whereas They look'd Foreward to the Promise we doe look Back to the Joy and wounder of the performance That which was Faith in them is succeeded by sense in us and we may say in the words of Simeon Mine eys have seen thy Salvation Luk. 2.30 the Salvation of our Iesus the true Joshua Yet the first Ioshua was a type of Jesus in Name and Actions says S. Jerome Ioshua succeeded Moses our Saviour succeeded the Law Ioshua defended the Gibeonites our Saviour the weake in Temptations Ioshua brought the Israelites from the Wildernesse through Iordan into the Land of Promise our Joshua the elect Gentiles from Ignorance and Idolatrie through Baptisme into the Heavenly Canaan Lastly their Ioshua expell'd the Canaanites into the utmost parts of the West even to the Pillars of Hercules as they are call'd where they set up in their Phoenitian charracters an Inscription expressing this sense we are they who fled before the Robber Joshua the sonne of Nun as Procopius and before him Epiphanius relate But our Ioshua in victorious Mercy has not expelled the Gentiles but Gentilisme and we are this day the Inscription and Confession of his bountifull Triumph and to discover the Extent of his Mercy he has discovered a new West from whence no doubt many shall come that shall feast with Abraham in the Kingdome of Heaven An other Jesus also there was of good renown the Son Josedech the first High Priest after the captivity but our Iesus was much more our high priest after our greater Captivitie in sinne The name Iesus signifies a Saviour the shaddow of which sense was in others but in our Iesus the truth Yet the obstinate Iews formerly malicious against the person of our Saviour are now as malicious against his Name in the writing whereof they would leave out the letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without which it cannot signifie a Saviour when as for this cause it was given him by the Angel Mat. 1.21 So that it is neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as some would have it nor as the later Iewes would have it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is in the Hebrew Gospell of S. Mathew cap. 1. from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is written Isa 45. 8. which our English Interpreters render Salvation but the Latin has Salvatorem by the Person insteed of the Thing as also Genes 49 18. where the Latin has Salutare following the Greeks who have it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that so as it was in the concrete they may understand our Saviour which word is used also by S. Luke 2.30 in the song of Simeon Yet we may observe that the name of our Saviour is sometimes written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in the Hebrew Ep. of S. Paul to the Hebrews ch 1. which was the name of Ioshua the sonne of Nun ho being added by an epenthesis as Munster notes on the first of S. Mathew and thus our Saviour's right name imports a Saviour But the Iews themselves acknowledged him a Saviour even on the Crosse when they cryed out he that saves others let him save himselfe It was the fittest time to acknowledge him a Saviour he being then performing the great work his great work of our Salvation The benefit of which worke the worke of Iesus is most accurately expressed in those words of the Lord Exod. 34.7 He keeps mercy for thousands forgiving Iniquity and Transgression and Sinne. God spake then of Himselfe and so aptly of our Blessed Saviour Nor are the words emptie or confus'd but each has his