recited In Apolog. ad Guliel Abbatem S. Theodorici prope finem O vanitas vanitatum saith he sed non vanior quam insanior Fulget Ecclesia in parietibus in pauperibus eget suos lapides induit auro suos filios nudos deserit de sumptibus egenorum servitur oculis divitum Inveniunt curiosi quo delectentur non inveniunt miseri quo sustententur Where vpon he concludes afterward Proh Deum Si non pudeat ineptiarum cur vel non piget expensarum By which it is cleare that vnnecessary structures superfluous charges ambitious pompe are the things they strike at where the painting of the house is the impouerishing of the houshold Otherwise they applauded the worke Sainted in a manner the Founders acknowledge the Iewes comendation of the Centurion with our Saviours approbation to bee a notable warrant and encouragement Hee is worthy for whom thou shouldest doe this for he loueth our Nation and hath built vs a Synagogue Luke 7.5 4 They are not worthy therefore to bee confuted or scarce deserue to be mentioned who in hatred of a Nation or Religion or in heat of faction overthrowe Gods houses such as were Nabuchadnezzar Antiochus Dioclesian the Maniches Messalians and Eustathius reckoned vp by n = a De cultu sanct l. 3. c. 1. Bellarmine de cultu sanct l. 3. c. 1. With whom when he ranketh the Petrobrusians Waldenses Wickleuists Taborites a man may chuse whether he will beleeue him For it is no new practise for Papists to make their opposites odious by fastning vpon thē such groundlesse calumniations Faine also to the same purpose he would find somewhat against the n = b Porro Lutherani Calvinistae admittunt Templa sed solum ad concionandum sacramento administranda reprehendunt autem quòd fiant templa adorandum quod consecrentur certoritu quod dignis sumptibus ornentur De cultu sanctor l. 3. c. 1. Lutherans and Calvinists but their innocency is so apparent and his mouth so toothlesse that hee snarleth rather then biteth He would giue vs forsooth a n = c Ibid. c. 3. modell how we should build our Churches First they must bee like Solomons Temple consisting of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a Porch a Body and a quire otherwise all is out of frame and the workemen and contriuers shall bee shent Then if they point not most an end to the East for direction of our faces that way in Prayer our devotion is like to finde cold comfort It were pitty to omit those fiue pretty reasons hee brings from the depth of Schoole Divinity to proue it The first is Geographicall Paradise was towards the East though not according to the Vulgar yet according to the Septuagints Translation and therefore we should pray towards the East n = d Aq. 2.2 q. 84. art 3. I maruell whether this plot must hold also with his consorts in the East-Indies and China for if their faces likewise in prayer must be setled East-ward Paradise for ought I know will be cast at their backs The second reason is Astronomicall Because the Heauen begins his motion from the East which if the scripture confirme not Claevius vpon Sacrobosco will make it good The third is Propheticall Christ is named vir oriens n = e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zach. 6. And therefore with great reason should be looked for in the East The fourth is in some sort morall Christ vpon the Crosse looked Westward and therefore to looke him in the face wee must set our faces Eastward Also toward the East he ascended into Heauen and from the East he shall come as lightning Mat. 24.27 And is not this enough to make all suppliants in their Prayers looke Eastward His last inducement is altogether Politicall Exod. 26. The Iewes prayed toward the West should not wee therefore to crosse them pray toward the East Vt significemus as he adds eorum esse Literam occidentem n = f Bellar. de cultu sanct lib. 3. c. 3. nostrum autem spiritum vivificantem to signifie that they haue the Westerne Letter and wee the Easterne Spirit for so it must be rendred to make sense in the point he vrgeth it These are the great Cardinals reasons for Church architecture which I refute not but leaue for their conversion who affect to direct their Prayers by the Rumbes in the Compasse The thing we disallow not as in it selfe meerely indifferent yet imbrace it not on such Iesuiticall inducements but in regard of a commendable conformity Notwithstanding Tom. 1. p. 932. An. 443. n. 5. we may take notice by the way that Pope Leo the fourth as Binius and Baronius acknowledge in opposition to the Maniches praying to the Sunne East-ward made a Decree that Catholici ad occidentem conversi Deum colerent Catholickes should worship God with their faces toward the West Whom Bellarmine might haue done well to haue reconciled Durand de ritib. l. 5. c. 2. with his successour Vigilius who not long after as Durand tels vs first determined the contrary De cultu sanctorum lib. 3. cap. 2. vid. Hospinianum de Templis lib. 7. cap. 1. 6. Better are his forces imployed against the Anabaptists who though they maintaine a worse opinion against the building of Churches yet they iustifie it with more probability then Bellarmine doth their situation Arguments of the Anabaptists They vrge vs with the practise of the Patriarkes who occasionally erected Altars where they thought meetest and pleased God by their sacrifices yet never so much as dreamed of a Church They presse vs with the impossibility of the attempt and that from Gods owne mouth Isai 66.1 Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstoole where is the house you will build vnto me which they backe with these places of the New Testament Act. 7. God dwelleth not in Temples made with hands neither is worshipped with mens hands as if he needed any thing Which S. Paul repeateth to the Athenians cap. 17. And had not our Saviour catechised the woman of Samaria before Ioh. 4. That Gods worship vnder the Gospell should not be restrained to the Mountaine of Samaria or Temple of Ierusalem but left free as the Apostle dispenseth I will therefore that men pray every where lifting vp pure hands without wrath or doubting 1. Tim. 2. They conclude therefore that the Iewish Temple was but a type of Christ to vanish therefore not a patterne for Christian Churches and that the light of nature taught divers Heathens that which the Stoicks delivered positiuely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Answere to the first Churches for the Gods are not to bee built at all But all this is soone answered The Patriarchs case and ours is not alike their owne habitations for the most part were moueable Tents their families parochiall Congregations fixed houses therefore for
more famous then that for goodnes and Integrity And in what haue wee read in succeeding age of the like abominations Who more proud then some of their Popes and Cardinalls and who more stupidly deboisht then some of their Friers Anachorites Few haue generally more learning then the Iesuits and commonly few more Ignorance then their common Masse Priests Their Cleargy and Monkes must not marry to avoid pollution yet concubines and somewhat worse shall finde Advocates to plead for them and Indulgences to allow them A Nunnery and a stewes the silent Carthusian with the Capuchine an frollick Iacobine the Neat Iesuit and the nasty Franciscan shall finde a ioynt entertainement in the large lappe of Mother Church The Souldier shall haue his sword the Melancholy his Cell the Superstitious his Beades and bayre cloath the dissolute his pardon and absolutions the incestuous his dispensation the Scholler his Library and the Ambitious his preferment Every humour shall be pleased to giue all content that all may speake for them So that I may well conclude as the Oratour did of Catiline Cic. pro Coelio There had never beene that advantage gotten vpon the Common-wealth of Rome as it then stood Nisi tot vitiorum tanta immunitas quibusdam facilitatis patientiae radicibus niteretur And so it was impossible that the Pride incroaching and Tyranny of the Pope and his Complices should haue put the Church of God to such a plunge but that they masked all their villanies with a varnish of devotion and humility 6 But this is not that humility which the Apostle makes the groundworke for true exaltation The Prophet David advanced from a sheephooke to a scepter hits right vpon it Lord I am not high minded Psal 131. I haue no proud lookes I doe not exercise my selfe in great matters which are too high for me but I refraine my soule aad keepe it low as a child that is weaned from his mother yea my soule is even as a weaned child Such a child our Saviour set in the midst of his disciples Math. 18. that contended for superiority and lesson'd them vpon it Mat. 18. Verily I say vnto you except ye be converted and become as litle children ye shall not enter into the kingdome of heaven S. Augustine discussing the poynt why simple people in primitiue times were more forward to receiue Christianity then the learned Phylosophers renders this for the apparant reason Quia Christus humilis Illi autem superbi Because Christ was humble and meek but they supercilious and presumptuous This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Basil termes it haughty and contemptuous carriage in Augustine the Monke Epist 10. when he came to treat with our playner Brittish Bishops Bed Eccles Hist l. 2. c. 2. breakes off all Christian communication betweene them to the great distraction and almost destruction of the poore Church in this I le And I pray God the like causelesse strangenesse and statelinesse of some so different from Apostolicall humility to their meaner and weaker brethren haue not made more Schismatiques and as we call them Puritans then all the vantages that could bee evertaken against gainst the sacred order of our Reverend Bishops or any part of our Church-discipline or ceremonies Tell yee the daughter of Sion Behold thy King commeth vnto thee meeke and sitting vpon an Asse Zach. 9.9 but now most of this meeke Kings followers will stomacke to be so meanly mounted Pride makes vs ashamed of our humble Masters lowlinesse we like well of the promised Crowne but shunne the burden and yoke that leads vnto it Enter wee would willingly into the heavenly mansions but had loth striue and stoope to contract our selues and bow at the streight gate But alas Beloued what finde we in our selves to make vs proud or obserue in others that we should much envy or despise them Our roote taynted our birth lamentable all the dayes of our Pilgrimage few and evill not assured so much of any thing as of infinite vncertaintyes Those that haue most may quickly part with it and those that know most vnderstand not their own ignorance we forget that which is past stagger at the present and ambiguously expect that which is to come What a presumption therefore is it to talke of merits supererrogation naturall abilityes to doe all or more then is required or the like No Beloued our approches to Gods tribunall must be by humble Petition with feare and trembling in regard of our owne vnworthinesse Abraham hath taught the way Gen. 18. Behold now I haue taken vpon me to speake vnto the Lord which am but dust and ashes Come let vs worship and fall downe kneele before the Lord our maker Iacob treads the same path O God of my father Abraham God of my father Isaac I am not worthy of all thy mercyes and all the truth Gen. 32. which thou hast shewen vnto thy servant Deut. 26. Moses hath a forme for it A Syrian ready to perish was my father and he went downe into Egypt and soiourning there with a few there was evill intreated thence was with a mighty hand deliuered now brings vnto thee O Lord the first fruits 2 Sam. 15. which thou hast given me David most Pathetically practised it in his flight from Absolon If I shall finde favour in the eyes of the Lord thus and thus will he doe as it there followes But if hee say thus I haue no delight in David behold here I am fiat voluntas tua let him doe to me as it seemeth good vnto him Such bruised reedes such smoaking flaxe such broken and contrite hearts Humbling and prostrating and begging and by such meanes offring violence to the kingdome of Heaven the bowells of the tender compassion of the most highest will not breake quench or despise But shew his strength in their weaknesse by extending his mighty hand which assureth the Patrones ability in the next place to be considered 7 Humble your selues therefore vnder the mighty hand of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As it abateth our presumption to finde our selues vnderlings so the mighty hand of God must needes make vs confident This Might appeareth in a twofold manner first in plucking downe those who proudly exalt themselues next in exalting the humble against all oppositions Whence God is said by some to haue two hands the one to depresse the other to lift vp Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezar felt the first and the Church distressed by them the second The Bush may bee on fire but consumeth not the heat of the furnace seaven fold augmented yet sindgeth not the vpper garments of the children cast into it whom the mighty hand of God protecteth Whence we may safely gather that God hath inough in store to guard and supply all suiters to their full content To make this good vnto vs who are too much bent by nature to dote vpon our owne plots and to distrust any
successe we apprehend no evidence for in the second causes the Attribute of Father Almighty is set in the forefront of our Creed as the primò creditum the first principle to bee taught and learned in religion To assure vs at the first entrance that as God is our Father and therefore willing so hee is also Almighty and therefore able to giue vs what wee want and to augment what hee hath given vs and to furnish vs further with whatsoeuer hee shall see convenient for vs. Surely as an earthly Prince will hardly afford him a kindnesse that shall question his ability or authority so much lesse will the king of kings be bountiful to those that make a doublt of the All-sufficiency of his mighty hand This appeared by his expostulation with Moses distrusting how more then 600000 should bee provided for with flesh in the wildernesse Num. 11. Is the Lords hand waxed short Thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to passe Reinforced in Isaias Chap. 5. Is my hand shortned at all that it cannot redeeme or haue I no power to deliuer Math. 9. whence our Saviour indents with the blind men before he cure them Beleiue that I am able to doe this There needes no further proofes to iustify a truth so confessed Vnthankfull men may sacrifice to their owne nets Iob. 22. proud men may set their nests in the tops of Cedars and pile vp mountayne vpon mountayne with Gyants to beleiger heaven But I will stretch out my hand vpon thee sayth God and rowle thee downe from the rockes Ib. 51. The right hand of the Lord will haue the preheminence the right hand of the Lord bringeth mighty things to passe Psal 118. At his stroake the heads of Dragons and Leviathans flye in peeces and what can ward the blow when this mighty hand is whirled about to take vengeance This doctrine Beloued as it is best for direction to bee sure to speed so it ministreth the like comfort to encounter any crosse that may thwart vs. S. Iames so ioyneth in one verse this submission to Gods mighty hand with our resisting the Divell as though the fayling in the first were the falling into rebellion by the second Wherevpon hee calls vpon the double minded sinners to cleanse their hands and purifye their hearts and so humble themselues in Gods sight that not only doing but speaking ill of another should be vtterly bannished from amongst Christians 8 This wee acknowledge to be true and like the Apes in the fable arrayed in mans apparell can daunce our measures at times very demurely but the least oportunity of commodity or competition for preferment as nuts cast in among them sets vs all a scrabling Ioab for ought we finde loved his cosen Amasa well enough before he had the place of Captayne of the host which he conceiued belonged to himselfe but afterward hee never rested till he treacherously layd him at his feete So far is the mighty hand of God forgotten in matters of revenge and in emulation we talke of Gods mighty hand but walke as the world leades vs. Fowre faults in this behalfe especially haue beene ever here declaimed against but yet finde continuall entertaynment sometimes by those especially who would seeme most to oppose them Flattery and Bribery to make our owne markets calumniating and supplanting to marre other mens The first most commonly passeth smoothly vnder the veile of discreet obseruance The second is either excused by equivocating or commended as a provident or civill kind of thankfullnesse The third is borne out vnder pretence of zeale to the common cause and the last is made as it were an exercise pro forma to passe from one degree to an other Thus when Gods mighty hand should lead vs and his rod and staffe direct vs we slip as much as in vs lyeth from betweene his fingers Every disciple for his vantage will outrunne Peter and rather then fayle offer with Simon Magus or driue the bargayne with Iudas whatsoeuer curse or Acheldama may be purchased by it But when all our plottings and shiftings and shewes and shouldrngs are out of breath this mighty hand of God will alwayes prevayle to the shame of those that oppose it If it appeare not in the beginning but let men runne along it will bee manifest in the end to the astonishment of all contemners O that flesh and bloud therefore would seeke no further but rest contented to bee wholly guided by this mighty hand of God! That we would bend our wits and vse all manner of effectuall policyes to be neare and deare vnto this patrone who hath every moment enough in store to furnish vs and will fit vs better then our owne hearts can imagine Ioseph by this policy only came to bee a Prince in Egypt Samuel to bee a Iudge David a King Hester a Queene In such cases the man of God told old Eli whereto hee should trust Those that honour me sayth God I will honour and those that despise me 1 Sam. 2. howsoeuer in the eye of the world they flourish for a season in the end shall bee as the grasse on the house top Psal 129. whereof the mower filleth not his hand nor the passenger wisheth them good lucke Now if experience tell vs that these are tried cases our conscience tell vs that these things are true and that other courses are but vagrant that here lyes the certayntie what vnaduisednesse wil it then prooue in vs Beloued to shunne or oversee so direct and streight a path to involue puzzle our selues in endles inextricable Labyrinths Where our vnguided ambitious designes draw on vnnecessary troubles troubles finde crosses Crosses Cares Cares discōtentmēts leaue vs to vntimely diseases or vnwelcome old age that to a disquieted cōscience that to death that to an vnauoydable reckoning And then perchance this hand of God wil be as terrible to strike as now it is mighty to doe vs good 9 Last of all this doctrine may season vs with patience to take all in good part that may befall our selues and not to murmure or repine at any advancement of others but settle at length vpon the Apostles moderation that in what estate soeuer wee are therewith to bee content It was a cutting message that Samuel brought his Master Eli 1 Sam. 3. that his ruine should not bee prevented nor his house purged by sacrifice or offerings for ever But what was the humble mans answeare It is the Lord let him doe whatsoeuer seemeth good vnto him Whatsoeuer his mighty hand disposeth wee must bee content Ioseph had the vantage to be quits with his bretheren that sold him after his fathers death and they shrewdly feared it but considering the mighty hand of God had turned their malice to his advancement what an admirable resolution haue wee from him fit to bee thought vpon of all great ones when ye thought evill against me God meant it good
Gen. 50. Now therefore feare ye not I will bee so farre from taking revenge that I will nourish you and your little ones he comforted thē spake kindly vnto them Small amends had Iob receiued and little ease it would haue beene to his vexed heart by rayling at the Sabeans and the Chaldeans that bereft him of his Asses Camells and Oxen Iob. 1. or storming against the windes that tumbled his house vpon his children Wherefore rowsing himselfe higher in the consideration of Gods providence and that the mighty hand of God had the managing of all these matters how patiently doth he sit downe vnder the Crosses crushing him The Lord gaue Ib. 5. and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. How easily might king David haue righted himselfe vpon rayling Shimei It was but to haue given the word and Abishai would haue had off the head of that dead dogge as he termed him But the humbled King feeling Gods mighty hand vpon himselfe for his passed sinnes and assuring himselfe that that at length would guid al to the best Let him alone saith he and let him curse for the Lord hath bidden him It may be that the Lord will requite good for his cursing this day For want of this devout recourse to Gods mighty hand sterne Tertullian vpon some hard measure offered him by the Romane Cleargy tooke part with the Montanists Aerius as Epiphanius relates fayling to get a Bishoppricke opposed that sacred calling So one Iulian a witty man against whom S. Augustine wrote vpon the like occasion became an Advocate for the Pelagians And how many of our owne knowledge vpon the like discontent haue made shipwracke of a good conscience holding themselues vndervalued at home to work a poore reveng haue turn'd to the adversary Whereas if they had but the grace to haue lighted vpon this or the like meditation It is the mighty hand of God that disposeth all these businesses for ends best knowne to himselfe though not apparant to vs In prosperity they would haue beene more thankfull in adversity more patient for the present more cheerefull for the future more secure and never haue fretted themselues into a scandalous Apostacy vpon the crossing mutability of second causes But haue resolued in this very case with good King David It is good for me let the world goe how it will to sticke fast by God and to put my trust in the Lord God and to fit my selfe wholy Psal 73. by my faithfull constant services to him that he may exalt me Which leades to the successe of the businesse and the 3. part of my division that succeedes in order to entertaine your attentions 10. That he may exalt you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As the course of our Saviour is described Philip. 2. He humbled himselfe and therevpon God exalted him The same may be the passage to all preferment which the mighty hand of God conferreth A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 goes before before a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 follow an vnder before an exaltation as you see in my text Our Saviour gaue the example and the servant is not greater then his Master Descendit vt ascendat hee stoopes to drinke of the brooke in the way Psal 110. before God lift vp his head Here we finde then no merit to challenge or plotting to compasse or thrusting to prevent or iustling to put by others or bargayning to make friends or any other Angleing of the like nature But the exalter God who doth it freely the exalted man who professeth his owne vnworthinesse And marke how the text runnes it is not he will or he shall exalt thee as though by a compact hee were tyde thereunto and could by no meanes goe from it But humble thou thy selfe vnder his mighty hand that he may exalt thee This must be thy qualification before thou maist expect his exaltation and then it comes not as due but at pleasure not by thy ambitious soliciting but his free and wise disposing Whence an Inference may bee made That exaltation in this world is not to be purposely sought for but thankefully to be accepted as it freely comes from the most mighty hand of God I say in this world first to difference this exaltation here from the state of glorification hereafter which if al faile here may make more then amends hereafter For in Gods presence is the fulnesse of ioy and at his right hand is pleasure for evermore And secondly from Adoption or spirituall son ship which hauing nothing possesseth all things and is a treasure beyond the purchase of all earthly riches Our Saviour himselfe layes downe this difference Math. 6. First seeke the kingdome of God and the righteousnesse thereof and all these things shall bee added vnto you Here we haue plainely distinguished Quaerenda from Addenda 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Things to be sought and Additions that came without seeking And therefore are to bee receiued only with thankfulnesse when they are put vpon vs. Gods Kingdome and righteousnesse are onely worth our seeking and therefore the search of thē is only inioyned Worldly advancements with their Appurtenances as honour and wealth were to Solomons wisedome come with an c. in the Additions as cast into the bargaine not as purchases of our owne but of Gods dedi gift In this case David strangely advanced to a scepter by Gods providence may be a sure Counsellour Promotion commeth saith he neither from the East nor from the West nor from the South for why The Lord is King Psal 75. he putteth downe one and setteth vp another What then may it then bee expected from the North for that seemes in the text not to bee excepted The Originall will here helpe vs which the note in our English translation in the Margine acknowledgeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Greeke nequè à desertis montibus as the vulgar from the desert mountaines which lying on both sides of Canaan include both North and South as the Chalday Paraphrase expounds it and therefore from no quarter of this world a latere but perpendioularly as it were from God it is to bee only hoped for The vse of this hee forgot not at the beginning of the 123. Psal Vnto thee doe I lift vp my eyes O thou that dwellest in the heauens As the eyes of servants looke vnto the hand of their Masters and as the eyes of a maiden vnto the hand of her Mistresse so our eyes wayt vpon the Lord our God vntill he haue mercy vpon vs. To such a song of degrees wee should tune all our ambitious thoughts if we would goe the right way to worke that should truely exalt vs. 11 But Alas Beloued wee may pipe long enough before any will dance to this tune which so long time hath beene out of request Jt was the Apostles precept to the stately Romanes in giving honour to preferre one
let him haue thy cloake also That is rather then seeke private revenge which belongeth vnto the Lord and not to thee bee content to lose a garment or more of thy temporall goods for he easily contemneth such saith Chrysostome who hopeth for eternall treasures in heaven In Mat. c. 5. hom 11. Gen. 39.12 Hee will leaue his garment with Ioseph in the hand of his mistresse to escape vnspotted with the vaile of honesty And if wee must forgoe such necessaries saith Saint a Side necessarijs imperatum est quantò magis superflua contemâ—ere conuenit Ser. Dom. in mont l. 1. Augustine as coat or cloke or the like for quietnesse sake how much more should we contemne things of lesser value especially at the command of such a Lord and Master who will certainely see we shall be no losers by it 9 This is counsell beloued of the Great Law-giver not varying with the times but as a law of the Medes and Persians that altereth not Hest 1.19 Which if we could be content to follow by curbing and overtopping our impatient affections would saue vs much travell great charges hot bickerings infinite discontents and ever end our causes to our truest advantage Plutarch in Pyrrh Wee read in Plutarch in the life of Pyrrhus of one Cyneas a man of great imployment about that King who vnderstanding that at the Tarentines entreatie the King his master was resolued to make war on the Romans tooke occasion to discourse with him in this sort It is reported O King saith hee that the Romans are great Warriers and haue large command of puissant nations put case wee overcome them what benefit shall wee get thereby Pyrrhus answered That is a question which few wise men would aske why then all Italy Greece are straight at our command Cyneas pawsing a while replied But when wee haue Italy and Greece what shall wee doe then Pyrrhus not finding his meaning Sicily saith he thou knowest is hard adjoyning to vs and very well may be our next conquest But hauing that quoth Cyneas shall our warres be ended That were a jest quoth Pyrrhus for who would not then to Affricke and so to Carthage the passage is not dangerous the victory assured True indeed saith Cyneas but when we haue all in our hands what shall wee doe in the end Then Pyrrhus breakes out a laughing We will then good Cyneas quoth hee be quiet and take our ease and make feasts every day and be as merry one with another as wee can possibly Then Cyneas hauing that hee would thus closeth with him and what letteth vs now my Lord to be merry and quiet together sith wee enioy that present without farther travell trouble which we are now a seeking with such bloudshed and danger and yet we know not whether ever wee shall attaine vnto it after that wee haue suffered and caused others to suffer infinite sorrowes and calamities The application is so manifest that I need not stand vpon it For aske but our contentious wranglers what they aime at by their going to Law and their vexing one another their answere can bee no other but to right themselues that at length they may liue quietly But quiet thy bosome-enemies at home whosoever thou art and thy cause shall bee ended before the action bee entred For through pride man maketh coÌ„tentions Prov. 13.10 Prov. 13.10 Couldst thou but once take order with this malitious affection Discordia filia inanis gloriae Greg. Mor. lib. 13. c. 31. Aquin. 2 a. 2 ae q. 37. art 2. Eph. 4.26 't were easy to compound with thy greatest adversary But thou canst not bee so base as to yeeld vnto him and yet wilt thou be so base as to yeeld vnto the Divell Harken to the blessed Apostle Let not the sunne goe downe vpon thy wrath Eph. 4.26 and it immediatly followeth Neither giue place vnto the Devill But thine adversary provokes thee to strife and thou canst not endure it But thy Saviour commands thee to agree and wilt not obey him But should I lose mine owne to buy his favour But wouldst thou wreake thy anger to lose a Kingdome Loue suffereth all things 1. Cor. 13.7 it beleeueth all things it hopeth all things it endureth all things it seeketh not its owne but the things that are of God If thy cause be good and thy conscience vnspotted thou hast an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous 1. Iohn 2.1.2 This was the Kings Attorny that David retained plead thou my cause O Lord with them that striue with me Psalm 35.1 and fight thou against them that fight against me But wee must haue writ vpon writ and Action vpon Action to vndoe our selues that we may vex our brethren Eseck and Massah Meribah Gen. 26.20 Exod. 17.7 Esa 8.6 the waters of strife and contention are those we delight to drinke of the gentle Shiloah runneth too softly for our turbulent humours whose counsell doe we follow in this Beloved but his who was a liar and a murtherer from the very beginning Are we Sheepe of the Lords pasture and yet like Dogs Psalm 100. and Swine will be barking and biting one another Mat. 24.29 and shall that servaunt speed well at his masters comming Luk. 12.45 who is taken molesting and smiting his fellow-servants Hence therefore let Tale-bearers and those Attournies learne who set neighbours together by the eares and egge them onward to contentions whose Apparitours and Agents they bee For if blessed bee the Peace-makers Mat. 5.9 for they shall be called the children of God then cursed be such Brawle-makers for they shall be called the Children of the Divell Mat. 5.9 But of you deare Christian brethren I am perswaded better things you haue learned of the Wise man Prov. 17.14 Prov. 17.14 that the beginning of strife is as the opening of waters which will quickely drowne if they bee not stopped Take vp therefore such contentions as now or at any time shall arise amongst you conferre together lay aside all malice vse the helpe of your neighbours and all other good lawfull meanes What is it so that there is not a wise man among you No not one that can iudge betweene his brethren But a brother goeth to law with a brother as the Apostle complaineth of the Corinthians 1. Cor. 6.5 and I may adde most commonly for a matter of small moment Rather make a friend of thy adversary to ioyne with thee in league against thy spirituall enemies and that effectually and that quickly without any farther prolonging which is the third circumstance I observed in the precept will quickly here by Gods grace your ChristiaÌ„ patience indevour to run it over 10 Agree with thine adversary quickly Maturè saith Castalion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 citò say the other interpreters all coÌ„meth to one seasonably or presently the present being ever most seasonable Because in actions of
presuming on God the third our securitie for not considering what may follow all our dulnesse coldnesse and benumb'dnesse in matters of the waightiest importance that ever may concerne flesh and bloud Giue mee leaue therefore Right worshipfull and beloued to summon our startling meditations to take some view before-hand of these fearefull Assises where wee know not how quickly wee all are to haue a triall It is Syracides good counsell Chap. 7.36 Eccles 7.36 Remember the end and thou shalt never doe amisse Sometimes Boanerges Mark 3.17 the sons of thunder who preach judgement must as well be heard Mat. 16.17 as Bar-iona or Barnabas the sonne of a Doue or consolation Let vs take therefore a copie of the Declaration Act. 4.36 that our defence may bee the directer and first of the first which is the rigorous proceeding of the Adversary in these words least thy Adversary deliver thee to the Iudge 3 About the first particle in my text which in the originall is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some scruple ariseth both for the reading and meaning The vulgar rendreth it by ne fortè which the Rhemists retaine in their least perhaps Preferring such broken cisternes before the Fountaines themselues But this is well corrected by Erasmus saith Beza both here In v. 25. and in divers other places the word signifying properly ne quando least at any time as our last Translatours expresse it and our former vnderstood it without any forte's or peradventures Lib. 1. cap. 1. for which Saint Augustine first censureth himselfe in his Retractations Howsoeuer this difference may seeme exceeding nice yet vpon it are grounded two severall interpretations Sic temperavit saith the ordinary glosse which Hugo and Lyra follow such a moderation is intimated by this particle fortè In hunc locū that the penitent may hope for an after remission ideo dicit fortè saith Gorram quia potest sieri quod non Auendano wheeles on the same bias with Thomas and the rest of that side except the learned Abulensis In textum who mainely stops it This fortè saith he is not put by way of doubting but as that in the third of Genesis Vers 3. ne fortè moriamur or the like in the seuenth of Matthew Vers 6. Cast not pearles before swine ne forte conculcent eas where there could be no doubt of consequence but that man should dye and swine would trample such treasures I should bee loath by playing too much the Critick on these particles to be thought to read Grammar Lecture The reconciling in my vnderstanding is very evident if wee take the exposition of the first with Chrysostome Theophilact and Euthymius in the literall sense and of the latter with Cyprian Hilary Ambrose Hierome and Augustine with the rest of the Fathers and Schoolemen in the parabolicall For in the processes of this life friends may interpose or mony prevaile or pitie sometimes hinder a just prosecution and therefore in regard of men a perhaps may haue his place but in reference to that greatest and last account Ne fortè is as much as alias which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Hebrew and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Syriack translation may very well also beare as though the whole had beene thus connected Agree with thine Adversary quickly whiles thou art in the way with him otherwise or if thou neglect to doe it Vid. Buccasen Beauxam thy Adversary will deliuer thee to the Iudge c. Secondly by Adversary I vnderstand not the divel with Tertullian a Hom. 35. in Lucam Origen and b In cap. 12. Luc Theophylact nor the flesh with others mentioned by Saint c Lib. de serm Dom. in monte Bellar. l. 1. de purgat cap. 7. Augustine nor conscience with Athanasius nor Sinne with Saint Ambrose nor the Holy Ghost with Chromatius nor God or his Law with Gregorie Augustine and Beda although all these as Buccasenus at large declares may haue a good meaning But as I tooke it in the precept with Hilary Vbi supra Anseme and Saint Hierome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dominum litis either party contending plaintiffe or defendant But here Saint Augustine obiecteth I see not by what meanes one man should deliver another to that Iudge before whom all are culpable besides put question I kill my Adversary can I then agree with him whiles wee are in the way whom by such meanes I haue made out of the way In hunc locuro The answeere of Abulensis and Maldonate sufficiently cleareth the first Lest thine adversary deliuer thee that is lest hee bee the occasion thou be deliuered Non repraesentativè saith Buccasenus as though hee personally there should present thee with a Corpus capias sed occasionaliter which is Hugoe's word Jbid. bee the occasion why Christ should passe sentence vpon thee For doe not the teares oft run down the widdowes cheeks Ecclus. 35.15 Ecclesiasticus 35.15 and from thence goe vp into heauen So Iohn 5.45 Moses is said to accuse and Saint Hilarie on this place Hilar. Manens in ea simultatis ira arguet The hatred shall accuse that remaines vnpacified Which if the case so stand that thou canst not personally appease by reason of his death with whom thou shouldest agree true repentance saith Abulensis may obtaine so much of God who accepteth in such necessities the will for the performance Which answereth fully Saint Augustines latter objection and giueth cleere passage to this doctrinall proposition that The breaking of Gods Law by any sinne whatsoeuer maketh vs liable to eternall damnation 4 For if the last jarre with our Adversary will beare such an action what breach of Gods Commandement can bee exempted Marke but the nature of the most petty fault that ever was committed and wee shall finde it high treason against an infinite Majestie For whether sinne bee a word or deed or thought against the eternall Law Vid. Aquin. 1.2 q. 71. ar 6. as Saint Augustine or a revolting from our alleagiance to Gods edict as Saint Ambrose or a straggling from a prescribed course to a due end against nature reason or Gods Word as Thomas and the Schooles define it it ever it includeth a rebellious contempt which by breaking the least commandement setteth vp as it were a Flagge of defiance against the Commander himselfe Faile but in one point of the Law Iam. 2.10 and thou art guilty of all Iam. 2.10 Aquin. 1.2 q. 73. art ad 1 um De operib Redempt lib. 1. cap. 8. ad Thes 2. Though non quoad conversionem ad creaturas as the Schoolemen restraine it yet quoad aversionem à Deo as Zanchius helpes them out qui tam contemnitur in vno praecepto quam in caeteris omnibus Wherefore the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all vngodlinesse Rom. 1.18 because such a one hath stretched out his hand against God and
particular to the words of my Text which he especially buildeth vpon First that they are symbolicall as himselfe confesseth and therefore according to Aquinas and their owne Schooles proue nothing Secondly whereas this particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or vntill may seeme to enforce a deliuerance from this prison and so by some shew of consequence their Purgatory the argument being thus framed Thou shalt not come out vntill thou hast paid the vttermost farthing therefore afterward thou mayst come out Saint Augustine as he acknowledgeth instanceth against this both by that place of the Psalmist Psal 110.1 Sit thou on my right hand vntill I make thine enemies thy foot-stoole as also in that of the Evangelist Mat. 1.25 Ioseph knewe not Mary vntill shee had brought forth her first begotten Where the first implyeth not that after Christs enemies were subdued hee should sit on Gods right hand no longer nor the latter helpeth the inference of Heluidius that after our Saviours birth Ioseph knewe his wife Saint Augustine therefore concludeth that donec in this place signifieth non finem poenae sed continuationem miseriae not an end of paine but the continuance of misery Semper solues saith Hugo out of Remigius nunquam persolues Thou shalt ever be paying yet never satisfie Which exposition Calvin and Bucer and Musculus doe not only embrace but Anselme and Beda Thomas and Gorram Ammonius and Avendano Maldonate and Iansenius with I know not how many of their owne consorts But Bellarmine vrgeth this farther and therefore we must farther follow him Vbi supra Exempla B. Augustini non satisfaciunt saith hee S. Augustines examples or instances satisfy not For in the first Sit thou on my right hand vntill I make thy enemies thy footstoole although I cannot inferre therefore afterward Christ shall not sit on Gods right hand yet this is a necessary consequence therefore there shall a time come when Christs enemies shall bee made his footstoole So in the second he knew her not vntill she had brought forth Though I cannot gather therefore he knew her afterward yet this I may argue therefore she was to bring forth And no other is the consequent in this place thou shalt not come out vntill thou hast paid the vtmost farthing Therefore there shall be a time when the vtmost farthing shall bee paid But to this vtmost straine of Bellarmines sophistrie a meane Logician may easily answer that all this concludeth but a a necessity of the thing to be done not a possibility of the party to be able to doe it In 26. ves 5. cap. Math. Ostendit debitum solvendum which I take to be the meaning of Piscators answer non debitorē solvendo If it argue the debt to be paid it inricheth not the debtor to bee able to pay it So that by equipollency it falleth to be such a connexiue proposition If thou pay the vtmost farthing then thou maist be deliuered which I deny any man can ever pay hauing by offending an infinite God deserved an infinite punishment and therefore must alwaies ly by it For if some paines may satisfie Gods Iustice in Purgatory for a small offence should not greater paines proportionably in hell doe the like for a greater offence and so by consequence the devils themselues which was Origens errour in time might be freed The Fathers father not howsoever Bellarmine marshall them this glowing and locall Purgatory but rightly vnderstood are as farre from it as it from truth For they make it not a hot-house for the soules of the elect farmed by the Pope to the Devill at a yeerely racke rent but abdita quaedam receptacula as Lombard hath rightly deliuered out of ancient learning certaine vnknowne places of repose 4. Sent. dist 45. where purged at their dissolution from the body by vertue of Christs passion they rest from their labours in expectance of the complement of that joy which they shall receiue together with the body at the reuniting againe in the generall resurrection wherefore Saint Augustine concludeth Non est vllus vlli locus medius Lib. de peccat Merit et Remiss cap. 28. Vid. Tabulam Mercat vnivers vt possit esse nisi cum diabolo qui non est cum Christo Iust therefore as some Geographers for proouing of a blacke rocke many hundred miles about directly vnder the North pole send vs to Gyrabdus Cambrensis hee to a Priest of Norway the Priest to an Oxford Magician who was carried thither to see it by the Devill if wee will beleeue the narration So the best proofes of our adversaries for their Subterranean Purgatory come by many deductions from the same Author as it appeareth by the divers apparitions they so confidently alleage for it But we taking parabolically this prison for no better place then Hell may resolue without difficulty on this position That the wicked shall be turned vnto Hell and all the people that forget God 11 I take it the words of the Prophet Psal 7.19 to cut off all occasion of farther proofe The vse is a terrour to carelesse worldlings that runne the broad way spoken of by our Saviour and never marke where it leadeth Come on therefore thou inconsiderate and retchlesse Christian and looke before thou leapest and if thou wilt needs to this prison see thy entertainment Horrible out of doubt was that storme of fire and brimstone which consumed Sodome and the Citties of the Plaine Gen. 19.3 And fearefull was that seventh plague of Egypt Thunder and Haile and Lightning running vpon the ground And inferiour to neither Exod. 9.23 was that prodigious death of Corah Dathan and Abiram when the earth opened her iawes Num. 16. and swallowed them aliue into the pit with all their goods and families but these are but a preface a sparke a drop a nothing to the everlasting tortures of Gods extremest vengeance Never eye hath seene nor eare hath heard nor heart of man hath conceiued the infinite bitternesse of these last vials of wrath A bottomlesse dungeon a lake of Gods wrath a poole of fire and brimstone a gastly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pitchy mists deadly fogges hideous confusion chaines of vtter darknesse Tophet prepared of old deepe and large burning with fire and much wood and the breath of the Lord kindling it as a river of brimstone These very names of this Prison mentioned in Scripture should daunt and amaze the most presumptuous worldling that by altering of his course of life hee might avoide the thing it selfe Of which should I but farther relate the fearefull descriptions frequent in Fathers and Schoolemen wherein all notwithstanding come too short I should not so much racke your patience with horrour by reason of mine owne insufficiency as abuse it with prolixitie by going beyond my time O God! to depart from thee to accompany the Devill and his angels to bee excluded from heauen into everlasting fire alwaies scorched and never consumed ever dying
approued of our reformed Interpreters For howsoeuer the inscriptions be to the Angels onely who signifie according to most not celestiall spirits but the Pastors of those Churches yet the contents concerne their * In tantum Angelorum nomine Ecclesias Catholicas voluit intelligi vt iubeat Angelos poenitentiam agere Aug. in Apoc. Hom. 2. flockes as neere as themselues and therefore in the former Chapter wee haue verse 11. What thou seest write in a Booke and send to the seuen Churches which are in Asia Not that it is all one to write to the Church and to the Head Gouernour thereof as the a Inver â—um not marg Rhemists hence would gather to scrue in and interest their Pope to dispose of all things but rather to expresse the bond betwixt the people and Pastor whose faults he is to reproue or answere for and therefore it stands him vpon to communicate what hee receiues Now this particular Pastor heere of Ephesus b In hunc locuÌ„ Comment in ver 1. Lyra would haue to be Timothy Ribera labours to refute that out of Metaphrastes but Pererius and Alcazar take Lyra's part Others name Onesimus some Tychicus Bee it either or neither it matters not the Spirit of God being silent For the best may growe remisse and need dayly inciting Vid. D. Ioach. Vadian in epitom 1. Nat. hist l. 36. cap. 14. Euseb lib. 3. Hist Eccles cap. 18. Baron Annal. anno Christi 98. ver 2. ver 3. As Ephesus here the Metropolis of little Asia and glory of Ionia famous amongst the Gentiles for her situation and Temple which as Plinie reports was 220. yeeres in building famous amongst Christians for Saint Iohns residence and Saint Paules Epistle vnto them nay which our Saviour here commends in such ample tearmes for her forwardnesse in labour for her constancie in patience for her zeale in reforming manners for her discretion in dismasking Heretiques whose constancie patience labour and that for a right end for his names sake and that without failing or fainting are ingeminated with good approbation immediately before my Text may haue somewhat notwithstanding Chap. 1. v. 14. that is out of frame their friends may over-see it themselues may scarce perceiue it which the flaming eyes of Christ will pierce through to censure Neverthelesse I haue somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first loue 3 As though with his beloued Spouse hee had thus debated the matter Thinke not Ephesus but I take notice of all thy doings and sufferings thy labours please me well I approue thy works I pittie thy patience and cannot chuse but commend thy discipline but O that this first affection were seconded with the like alacrity for doe not I perceiue thy coldnesse in devotion thy carelesnesse in Preaching thy slacknesse in performing any deed of charitie Hast thou not begun in the Spirit and now art sinking backe to end in the flesh Ephesus I loue thee and therefore may not sooth thee much good thou seest I speake of thee yet somewhat I haue against thee I remember the kindnesse of thy youth it was hearty and thorow but time hath cooled it and thou art growne remisse My left hand is vnder thy heard Cant. 2.6 Jbid. v. 5. and my right hand doth embrace thee I dayly stay thee with Flaggons and comfort thee with Apples as thou hast occasion Cant. 1.7 but thou hast turned aside to the Flocks of thy Companions so that when I come with my bedewed head Cant. 5.2 and dropping lockes in the night to finde my accustomed entertainement saying Open vnto me my sister my Loue my Doue Ibid. ver 3. my vndefiled thou tellest me thy coat is off and thou canst not put it on that thy feet are washt and thou art loth to defile them such excuses thou hast to put me off and make mee withdrawe my selfe Ibid. ver 4. Whereat though thy bowels are sometimes moued yet stirring not to giue entrance as thou wert wont to doe pretend what thou mayst say what thou wilt dissemble how thou canst it is manifest thou hast left thy first heate of affection And this I taker to bee the complaint of our wronged heauenly Salomon included in the words I haue read vnto you The summe is 4. An Inditement of Ephesus for back-sliding and security Wherein obserue the 1 Exception Neverthelesse 2 Accusation I haue somewhat against thee 3 Fault because thou hast left thy first loue A Church militant cannot bee without Exceptions where exceptions are to be taken Christ sticketh not to accuse and accuse he doth never without a fault The first sheweth our infirmity the second our Saviours integrity and the third sinnes malignity That we may bee humbled in the first and directed by the second to correct the third Within these bounds I shall endeavour by Gods assistance and your Christian patience to confine my meditations He that hath an care to heare Reve. 2.7 let him harken what the spirit saith vnto the Churches to the Churches as well of great Brittaine as those of little Asia For howsoever wee flatter our selues our defections are more deepely to be accused and perfections as subiect to a Neverthelesse the note of exception to Ephesus notwithstanding all it's good parts which falleth here in order to be first considered Neverthelesse 5. As in Arts so in Acts of morality few veritiers are so generall that admit not exception If a Church might plead immunity Ephesus might here stand vpon our Saviours testimony For are not her labours in peace and patience in trouble as Aretius well obserueth once and againe repeated and commended In hunc locum Evill men should haue little ease in her for she could not beare them Dissemblers should not deceiue her ver 2. for shee would try them 1. Cor. 15.32 Act. 20.29 and finde them lyers The beasts that assaulted her she fought with the greevous Wolues that were prophecied to enter amongst them shee endured and resisted ver 20. Chap. 3.1 ver 14. Iezabel prevailed in Thyatira Sardis had a name without life Pergamus was taynted with Baalisme and Laodicea's luke-warmenesse was loathsome to Gods stomake Ephesus notwithstanding escapes all this Chap. 3.16 ver 6. Lib. 1. cap. 27. vid. Euseb lib. 3. hist Eccles cap. 26. Theod Heret Fab. lib. 3. Ignat. Epist 9. nay her hate to the Nicolaitans for their community of wiues and promiscuous lusts as Ireneus and Theodoret obiect vnto them is registred afterwards as an especiall commendation What could a man here picke out that hee might justly censure who would not esteeme such a Church to be in the rode way to happinesse yet when Christ comes with his Fanne there is Chaffe found amongst the Wheat Much is well yet somewhat worse then it was or ought to be the good is fostered the ill excepted at Neverthelesse Many things might bee here gathered for our instruction one especially from
in the variable ficklenesse of a wauering multitude and teach him to depend wholly on him and none other As on the other side who seeth not that Sheba's inveterate malice was ordred to be dis-vizord and punished by such a publike attempt and shame Howsoeuer this we may build vpon by the connection of these words with the latter end of the former Chapter that the heate betweene Israel and Iuda who should seeme most officious to their King gaue the hint to a false-hearted traytour to rayse a new rebellion Whence I inferre That hypocriticall traytours watch their times and are readie to vent their villanie vpon the least advantage 4. So Cain sets vpon his brother Abel when hee had seuered him from his parents and they two were alone in the field together Genesis 4.8 Simeon and Levi brethren in iniquitie take their time to murder the Sichemites when they were sore of their Circumcision Gen. 34. Dalilah knewe well enough that there was no shauing of Sampson till he was througly lulled asleepe Iudg. 24. But the most vnnaturall treason that a man in this kinde shall ever light on was that of Adramelech and Sharezar Senachribs sonnes who tooke the vantage of their father at his Devotions in the house of Nisroch his God the story is set downe 2. Kings 19.37 Where in stead of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his sonnes in the originall we finde the vowels set in the Text which is somewhat strange in that tongue without their consonants Perchance to intimate closely that so many circumstances concurring otherwise for the aggravating of the offence as subiects to lay violent hands on a King and that in the Temple and that at his devotions to adde further that it was done by his owne sonnes howsoeuer it bee more vocall then the bloud of Abel yet the manner of setting it downe should shew it also to bee scelus infandum a wickednesse too monstrous to be fully exprest And yet wee neede not goe farre to find the like among the people of God so farre doth Satan prevaile with the ambitious humours of irreligious miscreants Two sonnes there were that Dauid had whom hee especially as it were doted vpon aboue the rest of his children beautifull Absalom and gallant Adoniah and both of these take their vantages as farre as in them lay to tumble their aged Father downe from his throne and bury him aliue to make way for their prodigious and preposterous purposes The former by the peoples favour which he had gotten by his hypocritical popularitie the latter by his fathers feeblenesse backing himselfe by the countenance of violent Ioab and disloyall Abiathar This hard measure receaued good King David at the hands of those of whom he best deserued He saw the law of nature violated conscience of so hainous a fact contemned his indulgence repaid with monstrous ingratitude his tryed valour outbraued by his owne subject who could not bee ignorant of it But that which touched him neerest was that in his person and through his sides Religion and the name of God was blasp hemed among the heathen in comparison of which he held the virulent raylings of damned Shimei too slight to bee take any notice of Behold Chap. 16.11 saith hee to Abishai and the rest of his servants my sonne which came forth of my bowels seeketh my life how much more now may this Beniamite doe it Let him alone let him curse for the Lord hath bidden him Thus a broken and contrite heart standing at the barre of Gods Iustice and daunted at the multitude of it's owne inditements is willing to put vp any thing in lieu of his owne satisfaction Hee will speake for the diuellish traytour persisting in the height of his villany Intreat the young man Absalom gently for my sake He will lament his death as vntimely and vndeserued O my sonne Absalom my sonne my sonne Absalom would God I had died for thee O Absalom my sonne my sonne But the Iudge of all the World is not subject to such passions nor satisfyed most commonly in such a sort without exemplary punishment none shall touch his Anointed for evill but evill shall hunt those wicked persons to destroy them The traytour here in my Text could not be ignorant of this For if hee had never taken notice of Corah's conspiracy and the punishment thereof Chap. 4. Baanah's and Rechab's betraying of Ishbosheth and the end of it Yet Absalom's fact and judgement could not bee vnknowne vnto him Every one of the people could haue told him how miraculously his huge army was defeated by a small number with the losse of twenty thousand how strangely the Wood devoured more people that day then the sword It must needs then be in the mouth of every one that a senselesse thicke bough'd Oake performed the part of a good subiect to apprehend the traytour that his Mule left him to the gallowes who had renounced his allegiance to his King and Father that the earth refused to reccaue him Heauen was shut against him none of all his troupe left to guard him who had in so high a nature wronged the Creatour of all in his Anointed Vicegerent Last of all I make no doubt but divers also obserued and spake of the extraordinary hand of God expressed in Ioab's violence in the speedy dispatching him notwithstanding the Kings expresse charge to the contrary accompanied with his infamous buriall in a great ditch or pit like a carrion vnder a heape of stones whereas formerly hee had ambitiously provided a stately monument for that purpose to wit a Piramis or pillar in the Kings dale Some of which expresse tokens of Gods vengeance against such Rebels at the least all joyned together so lately acted so freshly bleeding so notoriously spread abroad and knowne might haue amated this traytour in my text from ventring againe so soone if hee had had the least sparke of grace or common humanity or policie in him But malice is blind desperatnesse admits not of discourse he must needs on whom the divell violently pusheth an opportunity was giuē Sheba's false heart was tender and must needs take fire Seing he hapned to be there when such an oceasion hapned to fall out he would take advantage to vent his malice whatsoeuer became of it 5. A lesson first for Kings and Magistrats not to rely too much vpon those that are of none or a suspected religion For howsoeuer they kisse cry Master with Iudas or professe they haue somewhat to say from God as Ehud told Eglon yet they carry a two-edged dagger vnder their rayment Iudg. 3. as there he did which is too loose in the scabberd as Ioabs was and will bee the readier to strike you vpon any advantage giuen them Gedaliah was too confident on his owne innocencie and the loyalty of those that spake him fayre wherevpon when hee was truely informed by Iohanan and others that Ismael the sonne of Nethaniah was suborned by Baalis
thesis That subjects may rebell against those whom God hath advanced to bee their lawfull Kings they come in with the hypothesis to inueigle the weake or malecontents that Kings excommunicated by the Pope are devested of that dignity as Sampson was of his strength by the shauing of Dalilah and therefore they may be dealt with as other men who are publique enemies to Christianitie Thus they cease not most diuelishly to spread in their slaunderous pamphlets virulent libels and secret whisperings which must goe by tradition from hand to hand to mislead simple women and worke on desperate humours who discontented that all things runne not as they would haue it assure themselues of redresse in any change whatsoeuer Now what is this in effect but to preach on Sheba's text We haue no part in David nor any inheritance in the sonne of Iesse What other conclusion doe they driue at in all their Volumes against the Kings Supremacy and subjects Oath of allegiance but to make their followers conceit that they haue no part in King Iames nor any inheritance in the lawfull Successour of blessed Queene Elizabeth This doctrine it should seeme the Earle Gowrie had learned and brought from Italy who in many things may be paraleld with Sheba to make vp the conclusion 10. As Sheba was vnus ex proceribus according to Strigelius Nobilis and celebris saith O siander Nobly and Honourably descended so was Gowrie Sheba liued in a place of note and credit amongst those of his Tribe and Countrey Gowrie herein was not much inferiour There neuer appeared other then good correspondence before betweene Sheba and King David the like was betweene Gowrie and our Soueraigne For after the just execution of his father in his Majesties minoritie he restored this traytour his sonne his lands and dignities advanced two or three of his Sisters to wait on the Queene in her privie chamber vsed that wretch Alexander graciously who so wretchedly was the chiefe actour in the plot But fauours rather exasperate then winne where a poysoned heartturnes all to the worst For as Sheba as it should seeme ever bore a secret grudge to David for a wrong conceaued offered to the house of Saul So did Gowrie to the King for the death of his Father Thus both played the hypocrites both watched but the opportunity both violently tooke it being offered both attempted and both by the providence of the King of Kings were wonderfully defeated Sheba is set down in my text to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a dissolute son of Belial moulded in gall and venome without conscience to vndertake any villany And what can we make better of Gowrie a meere Atheist without any sense or touch of Religion as Sprott afterward confessed at his arraignment 1608 his complices Rashtiltaig Bowre of the same stamp his recourse to Necromancers and inchanted characters found at his death about him testifie no lesse So that Sheba here comes behind him for ought we finde as being not linked to Belial in so firme a band Last of all as Sheba sped afterward so Gowrie had his due at the first onset King Iames being deliuered as David to magnifie the Deliverer in the imitation of David which he there did presently vpon his knees in the midst of his owne servants they all kneeling round about him in the place of his deliuerie and hath celebrated this day ever since for a thankfull remembrance And now Beloued what remaineth for vs but to vnite our hearts and prayers in a thankfull congratulation David will well helpe vs to expresse our selues as in most of his Psalmes of thanksgiuing so most compendiously for this purpose in the 21. The King shall reioyce in thy strength O Lord exceeding glad shall he be of thy salvation His honour is great in thy salvation glory and great worship shalt thou lay vpon him And why Because the King putteth his trust in thee O Lord and in thy mercy we trust he shall never miscarry Let all his enemies O Lord feele thy hand let thy right hand finde out them that hate him Make them like a fierie ouen in the time of thy wrath Thou Lord shalt destroy them in thy displeasure and the fire shall consume them Their fruit shalt thou root out from the earth and their seed from among the children of men For they intended mischiefe against thine Anointed imagined such adevice as they were notable to performe Therefore hast thou put them to flight and the stringes of thy bow were made ready against the faces of them Bee thou therefore exalted O Lord in thy own strength that wee may ever sing and prayse thy power To whom three persons in one Deity Father Sonne and Holy Ghost bee ascribed all Honour and Glory Might Majesty and Dominion both now and evermore Amen Higgaion Selah FOR THE DISCOVERY OF THE POWDER-PLOT A SERMON PREACHED AT St MARIES IN OXFORD the fift of November By IOHN PRIDEAVX Doctor of Divinity Regius Professor and Rector of Exeter College OXFORD Imprinted by LEONARD LICHFIELD Anno Salutis 1636. HIGGAION ET SELAH PSALME 9.16 The Lord is knowne by the iudgement which hee executeth the wicked is snared in the worke of his owne hands Higgaion Selah THere is no man that compares the words of my text with the occasion of this dayes assembly but-will straight-way acknowledge the fitnesse of this acknowledgement as at all times never to bee forgotten so especially vpon this day and occasion with an Higgaion and Selah to be remembred The Lord is knowne by the iudgement which hee executeth the wicked is snared in the worke of his owne hands This perchance will receiue the more life when it snall appeare that David in this whole Psalme may well bee made our spokes-man as composing it for a celebration of some extraordinary deliuerance and leauing it to the Church as a patterne for imitation And so much may bee collected from the title it selfe that in the originall is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our last Translators as you may see frame to the chiefe Musician and his instrument Iunius to the tune of treble or countertenor an excellent applying of such faculties which now most commonly are abused But others either by disioynting the words or straining the poynts or taking vantage of inversion of letters and divers significations of the same roote as n = a In hunc locum Moller and Lorinus at large informe bring it about either to be a thankesgiuing for Pharaoh's destruction and the first borne of Egypt or Goliah's overthrow or Nabals fall or Hanun's discomfiture for abusing Davids messengers or according to Saint Hierome and Aquinas expressed in the vulgar edition out of the Septuagint pro occult is filij for the discouering and punishing of the secret plots of Absalom his sonne For those that expound it of Christs Victory over death and Satan mistake an application for an interpretation as Burgensis well taxeth Lyra And others obserue not the
so wayward never so ill deseruing to be tender ouer them and procure their good by this deauenly example In this good way these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these promiscuous Observers haue entred vs. The manner of their observation followes now in the third place 5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seeing or when they had seene It is almost as good nay perchance better to see nothing at all then to be an idle spectator and learne nothing God hath giuen vs our outward senses to informe our vnderstanding our vnderstanding to direct our will our will to carry a hand over our rebellious and sensuall appetites And if we make not this vse of them the divell will quickly cut out worke Greg. l. 7. ep 5.3 Nam quem Diabolus non invenit occupatum ipse occupat saith one therefore it is very commendable in these meaner and plainer people that they were not so wanting to themselues or disordered in their sudden concourse but that they tooke a care to see what was done They saw the barrennesse of the place the impossibility of supply the time passed their returne troublesome and dangerous the night drawing on And from the poore disciples what could they expect who had scarce provision for their owne necessities They tooke notice out of doubt of the little Ladde with his course and poore pittance of their owne great number of our Saviours conference with Philip and Andrew of their vncomfortable answere of his resolute command to haue them sit downe of the distinct ordering their sitting that all might see what was done that the least suspition might not remaine of any collusion In all this Seeing here were no evill eyes wandring eyes wanton eyes envious eyes proud eyes covetous eyes flattering eyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sand blind hypocriticall winking eyes 2. Pet. 1.9 staring one way and squinting another or the like And it were to be wished and it is to bee religiously endeavoured that no such eyes may bee found amongst vs He that opened so many eyes of the blinde invites vs to come to him for eye salue Rev. 3.18 I counsell thee to buy of mee gold tryed in the fire that thou maiest be rich and white rayment that thou maist be cloathed that the shame of thy nakednesse doe not appeare and annoint thy eyes with eye salue that thou maist see The reason of this is giuen by the best Oculist The light of the body is the eye Mat. 6.22 Luk. 11.34 If therefore thy eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light but if thine eye be evill thy body shall bee full of darknesse The eye therefore must be constantly directed to the scope we ought to aime at it must not glance aside to be too prying into things that belong not to vs or with watermen to looke one way and row another for this will bring in the end darknesse discontent confusion These plaine men as it should seeme regarded not to looke after at that time any other thing then was before them but fixed their eyes wholy on that and that was the Miracle which Iesus did the thing obserued in the third place 6 Miracles are vnvsuall events wrought aboue the course of nature saith Salmeron Salmer Tom. 6. Tract 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To bring in all what the Schoolemen and latter popish writers haue heaped vpon this point would be too tedious I shall take therefore only that my text here occasioneth and so passe along S. Augustine puts a difference betwixt Miracula Miranda Miracles and Wonders Things that we wonder at are often performed by Divells Magicians and Impostors because not on a sudden wee conceiue the causes of them and in true miracles there is a reason giuen by Aquinas of their divers appellations 2.2 q. 178. art 1. they are termed Miracles in regard they exceede the bounds of nature Signes because somewhat else is signified besides what is done Prodigies for their excellency Portenta for intimating somewhat to come Virtues because Gods power is seene in them extraordinarily This wee haue here is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a signe A signe to be seene to manifest the omnipotency of him that did it and the truth of his teaching Two other ends of such signes are eminent in Scripture The one to convince perverse and obdurate men with whom no reason is prevalent so Moses convinced hard-hearted Pharaoh with his Magitians Exod. 8.19 and brought them at last to this acknowledgement This is the finger of God Elias droue the Baalites to the like confession by obtaining fire from heauen to consume not only the Sacrifice and wood but the stones dust and water about it 1. King 18.39 The Lord is the God the Lord is the God The second is to vindicate his people or particular servants from the hands of their enemies So the Sunne stood still and great hailestones were cast downe from heauen to giue a full overthrow to the Kings of Canaan Ioshua 10. that had banded themselues against Ioshua his followers and two shee Beares came out of the wood 2. Kings 2.24 and woried those forty and two children that mocked reverend Elisha But this difference betweene the Miracles of Christ and those of his Apostles or the former Prophets is to be obserued They wrought them not in their owne name and power So Elisha in a Miracle of the like nature to this when he fed a hundred men with twenty loaues and some full eares of corne 2. Kings 4.42 Giue the people that they may eate saith he For thus saith the Lord They shall eate and shall leaue thereof Acts 9.34 So S. Peter cures Aeneas Iesus Christ maketh the whole But our Saviour comes in a higher straine to the dead Damsell Talitha Cumi I say vnto thee arise to the stormy winds and seas peace and be still Mark 5.41 Ib. 4.39 Ib. 9.25 Luke 4.35 v. 10. to the raging divell in the possessed hold thy peace and come out of the man as here make the people sit downe and no more adoe He blesseth they eate and the little pittance served them with an overplus of fragments voided more then the whole was at first 7 The Divell finding it his best plea to be Gods ape in every thing he may haue scope and take vantage hath never neglected in all ages to furnish his followers with his miracles to winne himselfe credit and make them obstinate Iannes and Iambres 2. Tim. 2.8 Act. 8. are opposed to Moses Simon Magus to Peter Elymas to Paul and if that story of Prochorus be not counterfeit Tom. 1. in vita S. Iohannis ca. 28. 29. which they of Collaine haue set forth in the last edition of the Bibliotheca Patrum Cynops that dogs face coniurer for so the name signifies to the blessed Apostle S. Iohn Nay to disgrace the miracles of our Saviour which neither Iews nor Heathen durst doe
these our dayes who must haue all as they will or else all is out of frame but so launceth that he may heale so openeth that hee may binde vp againe and to the severall sores discovered applieth an agreeing remedy Idlenesse therefore must be shaken off by a willing and ready minde not to famish but feed the flocke which is not so much theirs as Gods ver 2. filthy lucre must not be thought vpon when a Crowne of Glory is proposed a Crowne that fadeth not to bee receiued from the chiefest shepheard vers 4. And what a cooling card next followes against the Lording over Gods inheritance This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned ver 3. younger saith hee submit your selues vnto your elders All of you bee subiect one to another ver 5. Submit be subiect No apparell so befits an honest hearty Christian as to bee clothed with humility If he be proud hee hath God for his enemy If humble Gods grace for his erection and protection Now because this swelling of Ambition is fed with such a confluxe of no cious humours that one dressing would scarce serue and it stood the Apostle vpon not to leaue the cure vnperfect Hee addes the words of my Text as a playster to doe the deed seeing that domineering is not for your profession Mutuall subiection is your truest badge Humility your best clothing God himselfe the opposer of the proud and the most gratious protector of those that are Humble Humble your selues therefore vnder the mighty hand of God that hee may exalt you in due time 2. Which according to the expresse words implyed consequences may thus bee paraphrased You reckon your selues to be Elders and I hope you take me for no lesse Wee witnesse what Christ hath suffered and beleeue what glory he hath provided for vs. But suppose you that his flocke is committed vnto vs thereby to feed our selues let that pine through want to pretend an over-sight and intend nothing lesse Is this the example we shew the Crowne wee ayme at The Humility we should bee clothed with No certainly my Brethren Christ hath suffered for vs and the servant is not greater then his master The inheritance is his and his stewards must not convert it to their private pompe and pleasure Words Outsides may not satisfie where reall performance is required If you haue an ayme at the highest preferment the way to attaine it is by faithfulnesse in a little No entrance to his Temple of honour but by the Gate of Humility Humble your selues therefore or he will make you stoope vnder his mighty hand or it shall pluck you downe And herein you shall not be your owne factors but hee will exalt you not when or where you affect but as he shall think fit in due time And this I take in generall to bee the meaning of this exhortation The summe is A never fayling Plot for the surest attaining of the best preferment Wherein wee meet with 1. A Rule to bee observed by way of Precept Humble your selues vnder the mighty hand of God 2. The successe depending vpon an implied promise That hee may exalt you in due time The Rule includeth an Action limited to its right obiest Humble your selues But to whom vnder the mighty hand of God The successe is not doubtfull but restrayned to a certainty He shall exalt you but when in due time It were small mastery vpon so good a ground to runne division but my ayme is playnenesse which I take will be best apprehended in these 4 particulars The 1. Suiters duty or indeavour Humble your selues 2. Patrones ability vnder the mighty hand of God 3. Businesse successe that he may exalt you 4. Fitnesse of oportunity In due time Many haue the hap to apply themselues to such as little respect them or are not of ability to doe them good some are earnest and able but occasion fayles or one rub or other frustrates the indeavour A third sort speed at length and haue that they looke for but it comes so vnseasonably that it scarce quits cost Now all these things here happily concurre beyond expectation to the preventing of all exceptions No straining beyond thy power but restraining thy selfe by Humility No striuing to make friends and please many where the hand of God wil exalt No importunity needfull that others should not prevent thee where hee sets downe the time All for easier recalling may be thus connected As thou shewest thy selfe humble so God will approue himselfe mighty in effecting that for others which surpasseth thy policy though not perchance when thou wilt who art ignorant what is best for thee yet in such due sort and time as shall doe thee most good Of these in their order as the time and your patience shall giue leaue And first of the first which is the suiters taske or Indeavour in these words 3. Humble your selues therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The particle Therefore includeth an Inference vpon somewhat that went before which is thus deduced God is no way to bee resisted but suedvnto for grace This is done by humility Humble your selues therefore As charity makes the breadth patience the length faith the height of our spirituall building So Humility must be vnderlaid all these saith Hugo as the surest foundation De claustris Animae l. 3. whence wee may inferre that There is no admission to Gods favour without humble submission The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the originall intimates no lesse which is not so rightly rendred passiuely by the vulgar Bee yee humble as well corrected by others and our latter Translation actiuely Humble your selues Any coaction here marres the Action which must bee altogether voluntary Wherevpon Humility is defined by the Schooles to be A voluntary deiection of a mans selfe vpon a view of his owne vnworthinesse and Gods infinite bounty and power Whence the Canonists rightly distinguish betweene Humiles Humiliatos Those that are truely humble those whose stubborne stomacks are violently pluckt downe The Hebrewes for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text Ps 9.13 Ps 9.13 which barely signifies poore and needy read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the margine according to the rule of their Keri and Cethib which not onely points out those who are deiected and in misery but such as are gentle modest and truely mortified Those will the Lord guide in iudgement Ps 25. and learne his way To such poore in spirit and meeke in heart our Saviour in his list of Beatitudes assures both heaven and earth Mat. 5. Math. 5. And if both Heaven and Earth be taken vp for the Humble saith Cassiodore in what place think you shall the proud be billetted Further delating in a Common place so beaten can neither be gratefull nor profitable For who hath not obserued that of the wise man How Humility vshers honour Prov. 15.33 Prov. 17.12 Prov. 15. as pride goes before destruction Prov. 17. The Publican therefore
our Combats watch when wee sleepe and stirre when wee neglect least the enemy approach to hurt vs or the Sonne of wickednesse to doe vs any violence 12 In all this that hath beene spoken nothing makes for the worshipping of Angels that the Romanists so much stand for for what can bee more plaine against them then that Coloss 2. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels intruding into those things which hee hath not seene or that of an Angel himselfe Rev. 16.10 see thou doe it not I am thy fellow servant worship God wherevpon S. Augustine in Psal 96. if you would rightly worship the Angels you should learne of thē not to worship them I am not ignorant what put-offs there are for these and the like evidences but they intangle rather then resolue The time clapsed wil not beare the discussing of the point I forbeare only this by the way and by way of Caution let the Angel-worshippers or Votaries take heed of mistakes least in their vnwarrantable devotions insteed of an Angel of light they meet sometime with a worse commodity then a light Angel for they know who can transforme himselfe 2. Cor. 11. And it may perchance so fall out that when according to the Iesuite Albertinus rules they haue the familiarity of their guardian Angel they bee fitted with a familiar they would faine be ridde of But for vs Beloved in a surer course what an incouragement might this bee in all our exigents to emboulden vs to be resolute whatsoeuer befals vs when Elishah's servant cried out in the middest of the Aramites Alas Master what shall we doe 2. Kings 6.16 feare not saith the man of God for they that are with vs are more then they that are with them The Mountaines are full of Horses Chariots of fire to rescue Gods litle ones against all opposers If Pharaoh bee at the heeles of Israel to doe them a mischiefe the Angel which was before in a pillar of cloude and fire will come behinde And if Rabshakeh rayle on good King Hezechiah and his Master Zenacherib beleager Hierusalem the Lord hath an Angel to raise the seige Thou considerest not thine owne priviledges whosoeuer thou art who neglectest that comfort which this Doctrine may yeeld vnto thee Though thy Birth bee never so base thy state never so meane thy reputation never so slighted at the hands of wordlings thou hast Angels to attend thee if thou attend to Gods precepts the dogges shall not only licke thy sores but the Angels convey thy soule into Abrahams bosome Lord what is man that thou art so mindful of him or the Sonn of man that thou so regardest him haue we bin so serviceable vnto thee that thy chiefest servants must so attend to performe vnto vs such service Last of all what a motiue should this bee vnto vs Beloved that out perversenesse grieue and driue not from vs these vnspotted assistants For as there is ioy in heaven amongst the Angels at the conversion of a sinner so they sorrow in earth no doubt when they finde vs set on mischiefe or carelesse what may befall hereafter If Sampson loose his sacred lockes in a Delilah's lappe Iud. 16. no marvaile if the spirit of th' Almighty forsake him And when Saul will not doe as the Lord inioyneth him insteed of protecting Angels an evill spirit may haunt him O quantum debet tibi hoc verbum inferre reverentiam afferre devotionem conferre fiduciam What reverence devotion and confidence saith S. Bernard should this kind of Doctrine administer vnto vs Reverence for their presence devotion for their loue confidence for their protection For if the presence of earthly Potentates exclude all vncivill behauiour and the over-sight of Iehoiada a subiect 2. King 12. could keepe King Ioash in order how much more then should we respect these Celestiall Tutors least as smoake doth Bees and an evill savour Doues so the stench of our sinnes as S. Basil notes should make these blessed guides loath our company this the Father would dislike who is in heaven and oversees all that is done the remainder of my text which in a word I shall endeauour to dispatch 13 The supposall of Gods absence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or not taking notice of our actions makes most too venturous either to act that which they should not or to neglect their duty Perversenesse might wrest my text to the fauouring of such conceipts as that my Father and being in heaven might be far enough from hauing much to doe with vs. But hee whom our Saviour termeth my Father and affirmeth to be in heaven otherwise shews to be our Father Mat. 5. Luc. 12. and your Father neither his being in heauen boundeth him from being every where My Father is vsed here and elsewhere to beat downe that surmise that he might be Iosephs sonne and rayse them to acknowledge his Godhead and the pointing to his heavenly being takes them off from sticking too much as commonly we doe to things here below It was not without cause therefore that our most learned and most Iudicious King Iames of blessed memory was so sharp against the two ring-leaders of perturbation in these our wanton times Conrade Vorstius and Iames Arminius Vorstius incroached too farre vpon libertas prophetandi liberty as hee calls it with the Anabaptist of prophecying Arminius vpon the strength of his wit was too confident vpon meditation without reading which savours too strongly of a private spirit Both slight Fathers and Schoolemen and our latter Reformers whereas God hath left their directions to be thankfully considered of vs and not to depart from them rashly to get a name What a daring Blasphemy was that of Vorstius to circumscribe Gods essence from being every where Arminius for ought I finde never went so far but in his course Gods vnsearchable prerogatiue to doe with his owne as he list his operatiue grace working all in all to say no more was little beholding to him Their reasons are for the discussing of Schooles where both sides may be fully heard in sifting of all particulars Preaching calls for application to the amendment of our liues in those things which are plainely manifested The chiefe reason why we most mis-carry in that behalfe is because our great spirits hardly condescend to become Gods little ones We thinke not as we should vpon that in our Church Liturgy sursum corda lift vp your hearts wee lift them vp vnto the Lord. We are onely to seeke him here to climbe vp by that we finde and apprehend his glory which is the complement of our happinesse Doe so many blessings descend daily vpon vs from him and should not we looke vp in thankfulnesse to the place from whence they come Is heaven the mark we ayme at and shall we cast our eyes another way Vnto thee will I lift vp mine eyes O thou that dwellest in the heauens for
where should we so happily finde our Elder Brother CHRIST IESVS but at the right hand of his and our Father where he makes continuall intercession for vs Let our Pater noster therefore ever goe before our dayly bread the hallowing of his name before the prosecuting of our owne designes the promoting of his kingdome before all earthly promotions That of little ones here wee may become great ones in heaven with Angels and Archangels and all the blessed company of heaven alwaies to behold his face Evermore praysing him and saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory glory be to thee O Lord Father Sonne and Holy Ghost three persons one God most high AMEN AMEN IDOLATROVS FEASTING A SERMON PREACHED AT THE COVRT BY IOHN PRIDEAVX Rector of Exceter Colledge His MAIESTIE's Professor in Divinity in the Vniversity of OXFORD OXFORD Imprinted by LEONARD LICHFIELD Anno Salutis 1636. 1. COR. 10.7 Neither be yee Idolaters as were some of them as it is written the people sate downe to eat and drinke and rose vp to play THERE are no enemies more dangerous to a Christian man then those he hath within him Lactantius termeth them three Furies Divinar Instit Epit. c. 2. that set all in a combustion without respect of danger or discredit The first is Anger hot vpon revenge The second Covetousnesse eager vpon pelfe The third is Lust never satisfied with pleasures These the Stoicks would haue rooted out The Peripatetiques moderated But the good Christian set in a right course That Anger should be for breach of Gods lawes Covetousnesse for heaping vp heavenly treasures and our greatest desire should be to enioy that satisfying presence which will afford vs innumerable and everlasting felicity Our Apostle here had to doe with the Corinthians at that time an vnderstanding rich and flourishing state though now the case be altered for their humiliation and others example Those hee found supercilious in censuring scrupulous in doubting Itching for innovations Heady in abusing their Christian libertie to the scandall of their weaker brethren It was the harder taske therefore for him so prudently to deale in such points with such a people to keepe them in the right in which he had instructed them and make them sensible how insensibly they might be wrought from it Thus as he had indeavoured to doe in the former Chapter by his owne example in this he presseth more fully out of the Fathers the Church of Israel You Corinthians indeed haue great reason to stand vpon the preaching of the word and seales of the Sacraments that so gratiously haue beene afforded vnto you But Brethren I would not haue you ignorant that all our Fathers the Iewes had their Baptisme also vnder the Cloude and in the passage through the sea and the Lords Supper likewise in their Manna from Heaven and water out of the Rock But when they became Idolaters Fornicators Tempters of Christ Murmurers did these priviledges beare them out were they not slayne by their Brethren stung by Serpents destroyed by the destroyer to make them take heed from falling into further inconveniences Now these things were our examples to the intent we should not lust after evill things as they also lusted Neither bee Idolaters as were some of them As it is written the people sate downe to eat drinke and rose againe to play 2. My Text then you see falls fully against Idolatry the first begotten of lust and here comes not alone but hath fornication tempting of God murmuring attending on it wherein may it please you To take notice of 1 A Prohibition Neither be yee Idolaters as were some of them 2 A specification As it is written the people sate downe to eat and drinke and rose againe to play The first expresseth what is forbidden Idolatry The second particularizeth wherein it consisted In eating drinking playing very common things amongst vs all and we hope without offence It is a fashion now adayes and vse hath brought it at length to be little excepted against to call Heretick or Puritan on Papist at every bout when God knowes those that are fullest of those termes haue most commonly least insight how the case standeth Religion Charity and Ingenuity will first haue a sure ground before they censure and then will not runne on headlong to condemne and shew not wherefore Dixit Manicheus abiit say the word and away as S. Augustine notes of Manichee Our Apostles practise here may be a patterne vnto vs all Hee accuseth not all for the faults of some Neither be yee Idolaters as were some of them and them hee calls not so without a reason but shewes distinctly wherein they were Idolaters Neither takes he vp here vox populi the common same to make good what hee sayes or holds his owne coniecture or suspition to bee sufficient but hath a Scriptum est for his warrant as it is written to justific his Prohibition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first member of my Text which by Gods most gratious assistance and your patience according to my plaine way I intend to handle as it lyeth 3 Neither bee yee Idolaters as some of them To cleare this passage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it will bee requisite first to be truely informed what Idolatry is and secondly who were those that are here taxed for it Vpon a due survey of which premises our Apostles prohibition will appeare the more legall and our deductions therevpon the more applicable Idolatry is defined by the Schoolemen to be Aq. 2.2 q. 94. a kind of superstition in which Divine honour is attributed to any Creature Valent. de Idolat l. 2. c. 1. as vnto God himselfe This the Apostle termeth the changing of the glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible man and to birds and fowre-footed beasts and creeping things Rom. 1.25 where to waue curiosities which here might scrupulously be waighed May it please you to take notice that as the greate Cardinall Bellarmine fits such a definition to the Catholique Church De 3. Eccles l. c. 2. that except the Pope be head there shall be no true Church at all so the great Schooleman Gregory of Valentia in his 5 Bookes concerning Idolatry straightneth so much the extent of this superstition that none of their palpable will-worship shall come within compasse of it For where the true God saith hee is made the obiect of the worship the worshipping by Jmages or other interveniēt Mediators make it not Idolatry they are Theologi sanè simplices very simple Divines they are the termes of the forenamed Iesuite that are perswaded otherwise Lib. 1. c. 1. But 't is knowne whose censure this is better is a poore man that walketh in his simplicity as their Dowists translate the vulgar then a rich writhing his lippes Ambulans in simplicitate and is vnwise or as we read it is a foole Prov.