attribute being more proper and essentiall unto God then any whatsoever That Tyrian proved the wisest in the end who having concluded in the Evening with his fellowes that he which could first in the next morning behold the Sun which they worshipped as a God should be King looked not toward the East where he riseth but towards the western mountains where his rayes did first appear We will follow his Example and seeing we cannot seek into the fountain at which the Cherubs did cover their faces let us behold it in the mountains that is the Prophets and Apostles as Jerome expounds the word or the mountains that is the creatures and works of God in all which it doth most clearly shine there is no work of God in which there do not appear such manifest Characters of his mercy that he which runneth may read them Those benefits intended towards his children as namely Election before all time creation in the beginning of time Vocation Redemption Justification in the fulnesse of time Glorification after all time c. To prove them to be so many rivers of the bottomlesse Ocean of Gods never dying mercy it were but to busie my self about a principle which I hope none of you will call into question Gods almighty power is manifested unto us in that he hath created the world of nothing and made all the hoast of heaven by the breath of his mouth and it is a property in describing of which Gods Secretaries do strive to be eloquent Job to shew it faith that hee spreadeth out the heavens like a Canopie and walketh upon the height of the Sea that he maketh the starres Arcturu and Orion and Pleiades and the climates of the South Elihu sets it forth under Behemoth whose taile is like a Cedar and his bones like staves of brasse yet the Lord leadeth him whither soever he will and under Leviathan which makes the depth to boile like a pot and the sea like a pot of ointment and yet the Lord can put a hoâ—k in his nose and pierce his jawes with an Angle David to shew it faith that he maketh the mountains to skippe like Rammes and the little hils like young sheep Esay to expresse it saith that all nations before him are as a droppe of a bucket and are counted as the dust of the ballance that hee taketh away the Isles as a little dust that he hath measured the waters in his fist and counted heaven with a span comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in a weight and the hils in a ballance and yet his mercy goeth beyond his power in that his omnipotency hath made nothing but what his mercy moved him to create and it comes after too in preserving and guiding and protecting by his heavenly providence a branch of his mercy whatsoever his powerfull hand hath made if he should but once stop the influence of his mercy all the works of his hands should presently be annihilated The earth is full of the mercies of the Lord saith the Psalmist hee saith not the heavens saith Austen Quia non indigent misericordia ubi est nulla miseria they needed no mercy where there is no misery and yet in another place hee addeth the heavens too thy truth an other of his attributes goeth unto the clouds there it stayeth but thy mercy goeth further it reacheth unto the heavens in fewer words It is over all his works But my text leads me to entreat of his mercy as it hath reference unto his justice where you shall finde that of two infinites one doth infinitely surpasse an other to bee called a mercifull God and the father of mercy is a title wherein God especially delighteth but he is almost never called the God of judgement here how hee proclaimeth himself The Lord the Lord strong there is one Epithete of his power merciful gracious slow to anger abundant in goodnesse and truth reserving mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin there are six of his mercy Then comes his justice in punishing of offences not making the wicked innocent visiting the iniquity of the Fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation there he confines his justice hee saith unto it as he doth unto the seas in Job Hither shalt thou goe and thou shalt go no further here shalt thou stay thy raging waves it shall not passe the fourth generation and that is more then Ordinary if it come so farre it is but as a high spring upon such as hate him but his mercy flowes like a boundlesse Ocean upon thousands of those that love him Nay the Prophet tels us that to punish is with God a rare and extraordinary work The Lord saith he shall stand as in mount Perazim hee shall be angry as in the valley of Gibeon that hee may do his work his strange act This is an act of judgement where you see that to punish with him is an uncouth and strange work an act indeed unto which without compulsion of justice hee could not be drawn he is more loath to put out his hand for to inflict a judgement then ever was Octavius to subscribe his name to the execution of any publike offender whose usuall speech was this Vtinam nescirem literas I would to God I could not write How oft doth miserable man offend against his maker surely if the just man fall seven times then the wicked falleth seventy times seven times and yet he maketh his Sunne to shine upon them both he makes his rain to fall upon them both still almost he containeth the sword of his justice within the sheath of his mercy If in case he be enforced to draw it he is as it were touched with a feeling of that which the wicked suffer hear himself speak Therefore thus saith the Lord of hoasts the holy one of Israel ah I will ease me of mine adversaries and avenge me of mine enemies it is a kinde of ease to be avenged of thine enemie and therefore God when the Jews continue still to provoke him to his face will ease himself by inflicting his judgements upon them I will ease me of mine enemies but it comes with an ah or alas it is pain and grief to him he is wounded to the very heart his bowels are rolled and turned within him a few tears might have made him sheath his sword and deferre his punishments the history of Ahab will prove as much who was one that had sold himself to work wickednesse that provoked the Lord more then all the Kings of Israel that were before him then Baasha then Omri then Jeroboam the son of Nebat that made Israel to sin therefore the Lords sends unto him the Prophet Eliah telling him that in the field where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth they should lick his blood also and that he would wipe
fulfilled the Commandements of God yet wantest thou one thing for that work which must merit must be Opus indebitum Now obedience to every branch of Gods law is a debt which we are owing to God by the law of creation and God may say to every one of us as Paul said to Philemon Thou owest to mee even thine owne selfe Doth a Master thank that servant which did that which he was commanded to do I trow not so likewise When yee have done all things which were commanded you say we are unprofitable servants we have but done that which was our duty to do Inutilis servus vocatur saith Austin qui omnia fecit quia nihil fecit ultra id quod debuit And Theophylact upon that place The servant if he work not is worthy of many stripes and when he has wrought let him be contented with this that he hath escaped stripes 3. That work by which thou must merit must be thine own but thy good works if thou look to the first cause are not so Quid habes quod non accipisti 1 Cor. 4. It s God that worketh both the will and the deed Phil. 2. 13. Not I but the grace of God in me 1 Cor. 13. So then put case thou couldst fulfill the law and it were not a payment of debt yet is no merit due to thee but to him whose they are Dei dona sunt quaecunque bona sunt Every good and perfect gift comes from above even from the father of lights And Deus sua dona non nostra merita coronat 4. Admit it were in thy power to fulfill the law that it were no debt that thy works were wholly thine and God had no part in them this is not enough there must be some proportion between the work and the reward or no proper merit Now between thy best works and the Kingdome of heaven promised to Christs little flock there is not that proportion that is Inter stillam muriae mare Aegeum as Tullie speaks between the light of a candle and the light of the Sunne between the least grane of sand that lies on the Sea-shore and the highest heaven as shall presently appear 5. Last of all that thy work may merit at Gods hands some profit or honour must thereby accrue to him But my goodnesse saith David O Lord reacheth not unto thee but to the saints that are on the earth If thou be righteous saith Elihu what givest thou to God or what receiveth he at thine hand Job 35. Who hath given unto him first Rom. 11. 35. All these five things are requisite for the merit of works but not onely some but all of them are wanting to our best works and therefore we must with the Scriptures ascribe our whole salvation to the grace of God and acknowledge nothing inherent in us to be the prime cause of all his graces but his owne good will and pleasure I count the afflictions of this world not worthy the glory that shall be revealed Rom. 8. And in another place he tells us That wee deserve hell for our evill workes The wages of sinne is death but not heaven for our good deeds and sufferings but of Gods bounty and mercie Eternall life is the gift of God Rom. 6. Not by the works of righteousnesse which wee had done but according to his mercie he saved us Tit. 3. And ye are saved by grace through faith not of your selves it is the gift of God Eph. 2. And how doth he prove that Abraham was justified by faith and not by works because Ei qui operatur merces non imputatur secundū gratiam sed secundum debitum And if Abraham had been justified by works he had wherein to rejoyce but not with God Rom. 3. These are places of Scripture and let me build upon this occasion to produce an assertion which once I brought upon another point which some that I see here present were pleased to except against as savouring of blasphemy though the words excepted against were none of mine but of Justin Martyr who lived above 1400. years agoe and confidently brought by him in his discourse with Tryphon a Jew if any I will not say Pelagian or Arminian or Papist but if all the Fathers of the Primitive Church if all the ancient Councels if Moses and all the Prophets if Paul and all the Apostles if an Angel from heaven nay if God himself these are the words of Justin the Martyr should deliver any doctrine repugnant to that which is contained in this booke I would not believe him Agreeable unto these places of Scripture was the doctrine of the ancient Church Gratia evacuatur si non gratis donatur sed meritis redditur Aug. Epist 105. Non dei gratia erit ullo modo nisi gratuita fuerit omni modo And in a third place Non pro merito quidem accipimus vitam aeternam sed tantum pro gratia Tract 3. in Ioh. And thus have I confirmed my proposition by reason by Scriptures and by the testimonie of the Church and Contra rationem nemo sobrius contra ecclesiam nemo pacificus contra scripturas nemo Christianus senserit as a Father saith Unto all these might be added if it were needfull the confession of the learnedst of our Adversaries let our Enemies be Judges who cry down this blasphemous doctrine of Merit God saith one of them doth punish Citra condignum but rewards Vltra condignum and Scotus as Bellar confesseth holds that Bona opera ex gratia procedentia non sunt meritoria ex condigno sed tantum ratione pacti acceptationis divinae And of the same opinion saith he were other of the old Schoolmen and of the new Writers Andreas Vega. Ferus as in many other points between us the Pontificians so in this he is as sound a Catholique and as good a Protestant as Calvin himselfe or any that hath written on this subject in Math. cap. 20. vers 8. Gratis promisit gratis reddit si dei gratiam favorē conservare vis nulla meritorum tnorum mentionem facito And in Acts 15. Qui docet in operibus confidere is negat Christi meritum sufficere Both which places many others of the same Author their Index Expurgatorius hath wiped out using him the ancient fathers as Tereus dealt with Progne who cut out her tongue lest she shold tel the truth Yea and Bellarmine himselfe after he hath spent seventeen leaves in defence of merit of works and scrapt and catcht and drawn in by the shoulders whatsoever he could out of the Scriptures or ancine Fathers for colouring that Tenent at length brings this Orthodoxall conclusion with which I will conclude this point Very Orthodoxall indeed if two letters be transposed Propter incertitudinem propriae justitiae let it be Propter certitudinem propriae injustitiae propter periculum inanis gloriae tutissimum est fiduciam totam in sola Dei misericordia benignitate
in the end of Q. Curtius goes under Alexanders name to tell the Athenians that they should overcome their Enemies the Dorenses and the Lacedemonians that they should prevaile against the Persians if their King should be slain in the field and Brutus that hee should have the government of Rome who should first kiss his old Mother the Earth they be things purely contingent and such as the Devill by his owne knowledge could never reach unto What shall we say of the Sybills and their Prophesies peradventure some of them are spurious and illegitimate such as that of Sybilla Erithraea in Eusebius and Augustine where the first letter of every verse being put together make up these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And that of the same Sibyll which Munster hath borrowed I know not out of what Author In ultima aetate humiliabitur deus humanabitur proles divina unietur humanitati divinitas jacebit in faeno agnus puellari educabitur officio and that of I know not which Sibylla cited by Lactantius and Austin In manus iniquas infidelium veniet dabunt deo alapas manibus incestis impurato ore expuent venenatos sputus c. He shall come into the hands of the wicked and they shall buffet him with their fists and with impure mouths shall spit upon him c. All which and many such like were I am perswaded forged by Christians to make the Gospel more passable amongst the Gentiles especially seeing amongst none of Gods Prophets no not in Isaiah himselfe whom Hierom calls not only a Prophet but an Apostle and Evangelist are extant such clear testimonies touching Christ Yet surely that in Virgils Eglogs was never as yet questioned by any which the Poet finding in the books of Sibylla Cumaea and gathering by the first letter of every verse as Ludovicus Vives thinkes that the time was at hand when that Prophesie should take place applyed that to Saloninus the sonne of Asinius Pollio which can be fitted to none save Christ the redeemer of the world Vltima Cumaei venit jam carminis aetas What Verses be these Let us heare them at least let us have the sense of them A strange exchange in course of things This present time unto us brings The Maide is come'd the Iron age is spent A new borne Babe Gods dearest Son From highest Heaven is sent Magnus ab integro seclorum nascitur ordo Jam redit virgo redeunt Saturnia regna Jam nova progenies caelo dimittitur alâ—â— Chara dei soboles And what benefit shall he bring to mankinde He shall save his people from their sins Hoc duce si qua manent sceleris vestigia nostri Jrrita perpetuà solvent formidine terras And as it followes a little after The Serpent shall be kil'd and th' of poyson dead Our Ladies Rose from Syâ—ian land through all the World shall spread Occidet Serpens fallax herba veneni Occidet Assyrium vulgo nascetur amomum What is this Serpent but that wily Serpent that deceived our first Parents What 's this Fallax herba veneni but sinne And what is this Assyrium amomum but the Balme of Gilead or to give it its English name our Ladies Rose or the Herbe of Jerusalem the Gospel of Christ begun to be Preached at Jerusalem a City in Assyria for Palaestina was then vulgarly accounted part of Assyria according to Christs direction and thence dispersed into every corner of the World See Constantines Oration Ad Caelum sanctorum fidelium cap. 20. in Eusebio These things are so plaine that a learned Rabbin amongst our Adversaries unto whom we appeale in this point Let our enemies be Judges Deut. 32. is not ashamed to confesse that Prophetae demonum non semper loquuntur ex demonum revelatione sed interdum ex inspiratione divinâ And another that God sometimes permitted amongst the Gentiles some Prophets to foretell future things And a third in his Commentary upon this Text that false Prophets have truly Prophesied The truth of this Proposition being confirmed unto us by such a cloud of witnesses I wonder what came in Bellarmines head to make Lumen Propheticum a mark of the true Church especially where he proposeth to speak of such notes by which it may most easily be distinguished from all false Religion of Jewes Hereticks and Pagans and such as are proper and againe such as though they make it not evidently true which is the true Church yet they make it evidently credible not probable onely for that 's the weaknesse of our Notes as he saith nay amongst those which admit the Scriptures and Histories and Writings of the ancient Fathers and all these we admit Faciunt etiam evidentiam veritatis Shall we count him a Master in Israel that speaks thus Doth that make it evidently appeare which is the true Church doth that difference true Religion from all false Religion of Jewes Hereticks and Pagans or is that proper Quarto modo to the Church which all Sectaries Apostates Hereticks Jewes Gentiles Devils may challenge But let us follow Bellarmine a little further and leave these slippery Snakes no think to creep out at I demand had the Gentiles no true Prophesies amongst them Imo multa falsa saith he but because they had many false had they therefore none true Speak plainly were there no true predictions of future things amongst the Pagans No forsooth Nisi forsaâ— fierent in testimoniuÌ„ nostrae fidei ut fuerunt vaticinia Sibyllarum Baalami Very well And if these were true how is lumen prophetitum proper to the true Church But we will not stand upon this advantage let us grant that there were no true Predictions amongst the Ethnicks save onely such as were for the confirmation of the Catholick faith and that all others were of such things as had naturall causes though unknowne to men known to Spirits by reason of their subtill nature and quick apprehension Verily seeing neither the reasons thereof were knowne nor the Spirit from which this knowledge proceeded could be discerned they might and may as truely be tearmed Prophesies as any of those which the Papists brag of and if they were not Prophesies indeed yet were they so in the opinion of men Saltem ipsorum opinione is a strong argument with Bellarmine to infringe the Notes which our Divines have set downe Let some of his side answer it Thales for seeing by Astronomicall Observation the abundance of Olives which would be the next yeare might by the Chians and Milesians which knew not the reason of it be counted a Prophet Columbus was for a lesse prediction little lesse respected by the barbarous Indians then Paul and Barnabas was by them of Lystra when they called Barnabas Jupiter and Paul Merourie This man being in great distresse in an Island the Inhabitants denying him all kinde of releife he understanding that shortly after there would
and peradventure from worse exercise they shall both benefit their hearers and receive at least some tincture of Divinity as he that tarries long in an Apothecaries shop will carrie the smell of it about him and hee that walkes in the Sun will be coloured by the heat of it The second sort is of such as will not my censure must be sharper against these then against the former Hee that hath his Garners full of graine and will not bring it out to the Market in such a yeare as this but rather suffer the people to starve then sell a bushell unlesse he may have an excessive price for it is worse in the judgment of all men then a poore man that doth not furnish the Market because he wants The mother is worse that hath breasts full of milke and will not give suck which the Dragons deny not the young ones Lam. 4. 3. then shee that hath dry breasts and cannot and is not he worse that hath a candle and hides it under a bushell and will not give light then he that is dark and cannot that hath eyes and winks and will not see then he that is blind and cannot that hath a tongue and will not speak then he that cannot because he is dumb It 's true of a Lawyer Scire tuum nihil si te scire hoc sciat alter If every man knew as much in the Laws as the Lawyer doth none would seek unto him for Counsell But it befits a Minister better if a ni be put to it as Persius hath it Scire tuum nihil est nisi te scire hoc sciat alter His knowledg must not be shut up in the Ventricles of his braine like Timons monie in his chest but like that precious oile that was poured on Aarons head it must discend to the skirts of his cloathing the meanest of them that are committed to his charge It must fall from the braine to the tongue and from thence Drop as the raine and still as the dew as the shower upon the Herbs and as the great raine upon the grasse Deut. 32. 2. The Priests lips must preserve knowledge Mal. 2. 7. The Lord hath given me the tongue of the learned to minister a word in season to him that is weary Isa 50. 4. And he that makes no conscience of this is liable to a double curse 1. A curse in his gifts they will rust and canker away The faithfull servant that employeth not his masters talent shall have it taken from him Matth. 25. This idoll Shepheard that feedeth not his flock shall prove a right idoll indeed for as he hath a tongue and speaks not so shall he have eyes and shall not see His arme shall be dryed up and his right eye shall be utterly darkned Zach. 11. ult 2. A curse upon his soule Matth. 25. Cast him into utter darkenesse I am not credulous in believing ill reports of any man especially of a Minister but if it be true which I have heard and by reason of the late Visitation I have somewhat more then a bare report it is to be lamented even with teares of blood that some of extraordinary gifts as they would be deemed and the greater their gifts are the greater shall their judgment be if they be found negligent do scarce once in 12. or 13. years visite a great part of their Flock Their little ones cry for bread and there is none to give them any And in the place where they reside like Atheists very often mew themselves up in their private houses when they should be in the house of God feeding their Flocks and when they go to the Church ordinarily continue there like images without a word speaking and so frustrate their poor hunger-starv'd sheep of their hopes Like as when a barren cloud hangs in the aire in time of a drought and yeelding no drops to water the dry and gasping Earth the expectation of the Husbandman is made frustrate If they afford them once in the year or at most once in the quarter a dish of Strawberries as Latimer spake in the same case it 's a dainty they must hold themselves contented I wish it were as good as a dish of Strawberries and not rather like Caligula's banquet where all the banquetting stuffe was made of gold which did only feed the eye but not the bellie this banquet is not of gold but for the most part of a worse mettall Latin which with a tinkling noise may tickle the eare but never fill the stomack Plinie writes of some people of Mount Atlas that were without names it seems these men think their Parishioners to be without souls or else that the calling of a Minister is not Virtutis exemplum sed vitae adjumentum atque subsidium non munus reddendae rationi obnoxium sed imperium liberum reddendarum rationum metu solutum as Nazianzen speaks Oh beloved brethren that I may speak to all let us beware of these things Let the doing of his will that hath sent us be our meat and drink our joy and crown and the gathering together of his dispersed Flock our game and advantage our names may put us in mind of our duties Conveniunt rebus nomina saepe suis We are called Shepheards If we love the great Shepheard of our soules let us feed his sheep feed his lambs We are watchmen let us stand upon our watch and give warning to the Citie of God of the approach of the Enemie We are lights of the world let us consume our selves that we may inlighten others We are voyces of cryers or crying voyces for Sions sake let us not hold our peace and for Jerusalems sake let us not keepe silence but lift up our words like Trumpets And tell the house of Jacob their transgressions and Israel their sins Let us be like that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nec Dedonaei cessat tinnitus aheni No more should we remembring that strict adjuration of the Apostle I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quicke and the dead at his appearing and in his kingdome preach the word be instant in season and out of season 2. Tim. 4. 1. We are Captains of the Lord of Hosts Let us fight a good fight and resist unto blood striving against sinne Where should a Captain dye but in the field and where should a Preacher die said learned Jewel but in the Pulpit Adde for a second Motive that joy and comfort which will attend us when we shall leave these houses of clay and these earthen pitchers shall be ready to be broken at the Well if our consciences can bear us witnes that we have continued faithful in our Masters service No doubt it was no small comfort to Cyrus when Lysander admired the sweetnesse of his Gardens and fit ordering of trees in his Groves that hee was able to tell him they were his own work and that he had planted them