cannot do any thing nor will any thing Isidorus l. 1. c. 10. Aug. de fide ad petrum c. 3. contrary to the Will of God as both Isidorus and Saint Augustine do most fully and excellently declare Error 2 2. For that a vail or covering cannot be sufficient to keep any thing from the sight of a Spirit who doth so perfectly penetrate into all inferiour objects as that he knoweth them quantum cognoscibilia sunt so far as they are knowable And therefore touching this first opinion of their fall and sin as this Inference is insufficient so the foundation of it is not firm Zanch. de operibus Dei l. 4. c. 2. and I will not say with Zanchius that this opinion is nimis stulta and the Authors of it nimis stupidi as Theodoret in his forty seventh Question upon Genesis because that should be sermo nimis durus The double reason against the error of this first opinion too rigorous a censure upon those worthy men that held it But I say they were mistaken in a double respect 1. Because that there is no mention in the Scripture of this sin of carnal Concupiscence or fleshly Lusts until almost a thousand years after the Creation of the World but it is Reason 1 most certain that there were many other sins both of the Angels and Men long before this sin For the â—cripture teacheth us saith Saint Chrysostome that before Adam was formed the Devil fell away from his dignity And the Wise man saith That by the envy of the devil death entred into the world Therefore he sinned before Adam sinned for otherwise if he fell not before man was made how could he remaining in so great a dignity in Heaven envy man here on Earth It is not likely but it is against all reason to think that an Angel incorporeal placed in the height of glory and in the sight of God should envy man that bare a body of earth about him and lived here on earth but he being cast down from Heaven and to be chained in extream ignominy and seeing man in such great dignity then his malice saith Saint Chrysostome Non potuit non graviter ferre aliorum foeâ—icitatem could not endure the sight of others happiness without envy 2. Because that the Lord God himself saith Gen. 6.3 My Spirit Reason 2 shall not alwayes strive with man for that he is but flesh yet his dayes shall be an hundred and twenty years At natura incorporea carnes non habet But the Spirits have no flesh neither have the Angels a life defined or determined by time Theodoret q. 47. in Gen. seeing they are immortal saith Theodoret. Therefore the sin of these foul Spirits could not be any carnal Lust 2. Opinion is of them which say 2. Opinion of their fall Eccles 10.13 That pride caused them to fall That the first sin of Satan was Pride according to that of Syracides Initium omnis peccati est superbia Pride is the beginning of sin and the beginning of pride is to depart from God when the heart turneth away from his Maker Whereupon Saint Augustine saith Aug. in vet Test That the Devil elatione inflatus puffed up with pride would needs be counted and so taken for God And so Saint Chrysostome saith Chrysostome in Isai ad hom 3. That Satan Per superbiam factus est Diabolus qui antea Diabolus non erat by his pride was made a Devil which before he became proud was no Devil A good Lesson for proud fantastical men to think on what their pride will bring them to which brought the Angels of Heaven to be Devils in Hell Hierom in c. 28. Ezek Ambros in Psal 118. Ser. 3. Nazian Orat. 1. de pace Fulgent ad Monimum l. 10. Esay 14.13 14. 1. Reason to prove pride to be their sin Job 41.34 Ezek. 28.2 14.15 And this was the opinion of St. Hierom and of St. Ambrose and of St. Nazianzen Fulgentius Athanasius Theodoret and many more And this their opinion may be confirmed both out of the Old and New Testament For 1. In the old Testament it is said Cogitavit apud semetipsum He thought with himself to exalt his throne above the stars of God and said I will ascend above the height of the clouds and I will be like the most High The like whereof we find in Job under the name of the Leviathan who is said to be the king over all the children of pride And the very like in Ezekiel under the title of the Prince of Tyrus whose heart was lifted up and he said I am a god and I sit in the seat of God and the Prophet in the person of God saith of him Thou art the annointed Cherub that covereth and I have sâ—t thee so thou wast upon the holy mountain of God thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire and thou wast perfect in thy wayes from the day that thou wast created until iniquity was found in thee For though I am not ignorant that the place of Esay is literally to be understood of the King of Babylon and that of Job of the Whale and the other place of Ezekiel is spoken of the King of Tyrus yet this can be no hinderance but that mystically these places may signifie the Devil who is the head and the grand Captain of all the children of pride Rupertus de victoria verbi Dei 2. Reason to prove it Luke 10.18 as Rupertus Tuitiensis doth most excellently declare 2. The same may be proved out of the new Testament where our blessed Saviour for the repressing of this detestable sin of pride alledgeth the fall of Satan saying I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven and therefore take heed of being proud that the foul Spirits are subject unto you lest you fall likewise even as he did And so Saint Paul sheweth That he which is puffed up with pride 1 Tim. 3.6 falleth into the snare and judgment or condemnation of the devil that for his pride was adjudged and condemned to hell And let all proud Gallants take heed of the like judgment and condemnation 3. Opinion is of them which say 3. Opinion of their fall That the first sin of the Devil was Envy when he saw man that was formed of the dust of the earth to be made in the Image of God and to confirm the same they alledge Athenagoras Petrus Alexandrinus and especially that place in the Book of Wisdom where the Wise man saith That Per invidiam Diaboli Sap. 2.24 mors intravit in mundum through the envy of the Devil death came into the world But this saith Zanchius crosseth not the truth of the former opinion but may well agree with it and proceed from his pride seeing as Aquinas saith Thom 12. q. 84. ar 20. 22. q. 77. art 5. Envy is a branch of pride Quando bonum
be but that many and many great men will frett and chafe and be discontented at your doings though you do never so justly but it is your duty to do that which is just and in doubtful cases when evidences on both sides are in aequilibrio to encline to that which tendeth to the service of God's Church and the honour of the King's Majesty Sap. 1.1 and you ought always to remember what the Wiseman saith Love righteousness yee that be Judges of the Earth for righteousness exalteth a Nation Proverb And this righteousness you cannot preserve unless you be like Lions without fear either of threatnings or of dangers And as the Magistrates so the Ministers and Preachers of God's word should be like Lions to do their duties without fear for so the Lord saith unto Ezechiel I send thee to a rebellious Nation but thou son of man Ezech. 2.6 be not afraid of them neither be afraid of their words nor dismayed at their looks Quia timiditas Predicantis est calamitas Audientis Because the fear of the Preacher is the calamity of the Hearer when the fear of reproving mens sins hardeneth them in their sins and encourageth them to sin more and more And therefore I say that we should remember what the Lord commandeth us Cry aloud and spare not Esay 57.1 lift up thy voice like a trumpet and shew my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins And if the great men of the world threaten us to rob us of our lands or deprive us of our liberties let us look what the Lord saith I Esay 51.12 13. even I am he that comforteth you and who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall dye and of the son of man which shall be made as grass and forgettest the Lord thy maker that hath stretched forth the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor as if he were ready to destroy And it is well that he saith I even I am he that comforteth you seeing it is with us as it was with Ezechiel Ezech. 2.3 4. that Bryars and thorns are with us and we dwell among scorpions a rebellious Nation that are impudent and stiff-hearted for I must humbly crave leave to tell you a story of truth and no fiction When I came first to lie in the Bishops house in Kilkeny I dreamed that the Bishops Court was full of people Citizens Souldiers and Gentlemen with Drumms Swords and Muskets and being affrighted with the sight of them before they had entred the house or done any hurt I presently awaked and looking out at the window for them I saw none then for many dayes I often mused what this meant at last I sound that the Citizens of Kilkeny on the one side the Souldiers on the other side and the Knights and Gentlemen round about came about me like Bees to rob God of his honour and the Church of her right by dividing her Revenues amongst themselves as the Souldiers did the Garments of Christ And I neither fear nor care what any man thinks of what I say my duty telling me what I should say But though they threaten to be my ruine and to cause me to spend what I intended to the repair of the flat-fallen Church to preserve the Revenues of the Bishoprick yet seeing the Lord saith I even I am he that comforteth thee and that have delivered thee from so many dangers and so many times from the hands of most mercyless Rebels and bids me not to fear I must not be dismayed but as Elias told Ahab and J. Baptist told Herod of their faults without fear so I and all others that are God's Ministers ought to be bold as Lions to reprove the sins of the people and especially those sins that are most frequently committed and are most prejudicial to the service of God and most pernicious to their souls least as Lucian saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by escaping the smoak of mans anger we shall fall into the fire of God's fury when we fear men more then God And therefore my dear brethren I had rather you should blame me for my boldness then that God should punish me for my fearfulness and I know that as the Drunkard cannot endure to be told of his drunkeness or the proud man of his pride or the Rebel of his rebellion so no more can these sacrilegious persons abide to hear of their sacriledge And must we therefore hold our peace for fear of their sayings jeeres or threats By no means 2. As we should be bold as Lions without fear so we should be diligent and painful in our places like the Oxen without laziness to pray continually and to preach constantly and as the Apostle saith in season and out of season that is not so frequently as our late Fanatiques would have us to preach Sermons full of words without substance but as St. Augustine expounds it Volentibus nolentibus For to the willing hearers it comes in season and to the unwilling it comes out of season whensoever it cometh And when we do this then 2. That the Magistrates and Minist should be like the Ox painful and diligent to doe their duties as the mouth of the Ox that treadeth out the corn should not be muzzled so ought not we to be molested nor detained and held with vexatious suits to hinder us to discharge our necessary duties lest the punishment of our neglect should fall upon the heads of them that cause it For we are sure that our God is so just that he will not punish any one for not doing that which he is not suffered to doe as for not going into his Church when the wayes are so stopt that he cannot possibly pass it 3. We should be not like the horse and mule 3. The Magistrates should be like men sober and rational and not voluptuous like Beasts that have no understanding and whose mouths must be holden with bitt and bridle lest they fall upon thee but we should be endued with reason like unto rational men that as Cicero saith Agere quicquam nunquam debent cujus non possunt rationem probabilem reddere ought never to do any thing whereof they could not yield a very probable reason And God knows how many things we do for which we can yield no reason at all For what reason had we to wax weary of our peace and of our happiness and to rebel against a most gracious King to destroy our selves And what reason have we to expect God's blessing and yet to continue sacrilegious to rob God of his dues Or is there any reason that any Common-wealth should keep Souldiers to protect them and not regard them nor countenance them nor pay them their wages Surely they are very necessary to preserve our peace and they ought not to be slighted and John Baptist saith
some care of a Godly life and to repent them of their wickedness And therefore well did Moses and we with Moses wish that men would consider their latter end And yet this is not the end of all for after death comes judgement And so Secondly 2 Judgment and that two sold This judgement is either 1 Particular or 2 General 1. As soon as ever the soul is parted from the body 1. Particular before the body is laid in the grave the soul of the wicked is fetched by the Devils and carried into the place of torments and the soul of the godly is received by the Angels into Abrahams bosom Luke 16.22 23. as our Saviour sheweth most plainly in the story of Dives and Lazarus And 2 Because the whole world 2. General both of men and Angels might see and approve the just judgement of God and that the whole man both body and soul might receive the full reward of their due deserts the Lord hath appointed a day saith the Apostle in the which he will judge the world in righteousnes Act. 17 31. that is by Jesus Christ And this is that day which Christ and his Apostles and all the faithful preachers of Gods word would have all men always to remember and to set it before their eyes For so Saint Hierom saith Whatsoever I doe whether I eat or drink or whatsoever else I am about me thinks I hear that dolefull voice of the Arch-angel sounding in mine eares and saying surgite mortui venite ad judicium arise you dead and come to judgement saith the Holy Father I tremble all my body over and so Felix though he was but a Heathen trembled Act. 24.25 as Saint Paul reasoned of righteousness temperance and judgement to come And so indeed it should make any heart to tremble that would seriously consider but these two things Two things to be considered concerning this judgment 1 The manner of Christ his coming For 2 The terror of his proceeding For First in that day there shall be signs in the Sun and in the Moon and in the Stars The Sun shall be darkned the Moon shall not give her light the Stars shall fall from the skies and all the powers of heaven shall be moved the Elements shall be dissolved with heat and the earth shall be consumed with fire Whereby you may see what a dreadful thing is sin for what have these senseless creatures deserved that they should be thus severely punished and thus travel in sorrow and pain but because they rose not up against us when we rose up against God He will therefore fight against them because they did not fight against us when we doe fight against him And what a fearful contagion of sin is this that subjecteth the very heavens unto vanity And therefore most wretched are we in whom dwelleth nothing else but heaps of sin and iniquity But to go on The distress of Nations how great Then the distress of nations shall be great and men shall wither away for fear saith our Saviour for when destruction shall be dispatched as a whirlwind and God shall burn the earth as Holophernes did the Countrey of Damascus what fears think you shall then affright the hearts of men and what heapes of perturbations shall run upon the damned sort when they shall see all these things playing their last act upon the fiery stage of this world And then they shall see the son of man cloathed with the clouds as with a garment riding upon the heavens The glorious manner of Christ his coming as upon an horse and coming flying as upon the wings of the wind in the glory of his father with his Angels and what manner of glory is that Moses tells you that the Lord our God is a God of Gods Deut. 10. and a Lord of Lords a great God mighty and terrible that accepteth no person nor taketh reward and Daniel describing the great Majesty of God saith that his garments were as white as snow the haires of his head like the purest wool his throne like the fiery flame and his wheeles like burning fire Dan. 7.9 10. and there issued forth a fiery stream and went out from before him a thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him And it is recorded of the Angels that one of them slew all the first-born of Egypt in one night and that another of them made such a havock in the army of the Assyrians that a hundred fourescore and five thousand of them were all slain in one night and were laid on the ground as corn by a sickle And if one Angel could do such Tragick feates The great power 〈◊〉 the Angels what shall become of the enemies of God and wicked men when Christ like a man of warr shall buckle his harness unto his side and come in the glory of his Father with so many myriads of heavenly Angels attending him Eusebius Emysenus demandeth Si talis tantus sit terror venientis quis poterit terrorem sustinere judicantis if his coming be such and so terrible who shall be able to endure the terror of his judgement And if the Israelites durst not abide his Majesty when he came to deliver the Law how shall the wicked abide and stand before him when he cometh to render vengeance unto them for transgressing his Lawes And yet they must endure it And it will be very terrible unto them For 2. In that day saith our Saviour He i. e. God shall send his Angels with the sound of Trumpets and with a mighty cry to raise the dead and to gather together the Elect from the four windes and from the one end of the world to the other and to bring all men before the judgment seat of Christ for I have sworn by my self saith the Lord the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness Esay 45.23 and shall not return that every knee shall bow unto me and not one man shall be hidden from my presence Alas beloved if all the bodies of one Army did lie naked upon one heap what a ruthfull sight would it make And what a spectacle then will that be when so many myriads of men like the sand of the Sea shall stand quaking and trembling before the face of Christ For Then their eyes shall be opened and what shall the wicked see but all things crying vengeance against them for above them shall be an angry Judge beneath them Hell like a boyling furnace ready to receive them on the right hand their sins accusing them How the wicked shall be encompassed with miseries on the left hand the devils ready to torment them within them a guilty conscience like Prometheus vulture continually gnawing them without them all damned souls bewailing and on every side the world burning O good God what will these wicked wretched sinners do being thus enclosed with
giving unto them which by continuance in well doing seek glory and honour and immortality eternal life he sheweth himself most gracious and merciful in bestowing upon them what they could not challenge from him and in rendring vengeance to them that obey not God and in plaguing them both in this life and in the life to come he doth but what is most just and upright and therefore the Prophet Esay after he had set down many of Gods Judgements against the wicked addeth That the Lord of Hosts should be exalted in judgment Esay 5.16 and the holy God should be sanctified in justice that is that he should be acknowledged by all men to be most pure and holy and commended for his justice in punishing the wicked according to their deserts And this doctrine of Gods holiness and purity should put us in mind of our duty to be not as the Devil corrupt and unjust but as God commandeth us to be holy as he is holy and to be as he is if we desire to be where he is where no impure thing shall ever come And so much for the first Attribute here expressed 2. Attribute is Gods rule and authority 2. The next Attribute is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord and he is said to be the lord of any thing Qui jus autoritatem dominium habet in aliquam rem which hath right authority and rule over any thing and whose own proper thing is that of which he is said to be lord for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth Authority Zanc. de nasura dei l. 1. c. 17. saith Pasor and the Latine word Dominus dicitur à domo saith Zanchius because the Master of the house was wont to be called the Lord of it And this name Lord saith he in the Writings of the Apostles is ascribed to Christ idque millies about a thousand times because he ruleth and governeth not only the little house of his Church Heb. 1.2 3. but also the great house of this whole World as the Apostle sheweth Reason 1 Why the Father is stiled God and the Son Lord. And the reason why the name of God is usually attributed to the Father and the name of Lord commonly ascribed to the Son is twofold 1. Because the Father is the fountain of the whole Deity therefore is he usually termed God and the Son is termed Lord because he is appointed of his Father to be Lord of all things John 17.2 and all power is given unto him over all flesh Reason 2 2. The Father is called God most usually because that in the mystery of our redemption the Father remained still in his Majesty and gave his Son only to be our Redeemer and the Son though he was in the form of God yet was he content not to remain with his Father in that equal Majesty Phil. 2.7 which he had with him from all eternity but He made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and so with the laying down of his Glory he laid down also the Name of God and by taking unto him the form of a servant he took also the name of a servant that is in respect of his Father to whom as a servant be became obedient in all things unto death and therefore the Father calleth him his Servant saying Ecce servus meus Behold my servant Esay 42.1 Matth. 12.18 Whom I have chosen whom I uphold which is interpreted of Christ But in respect of us the Son is said to be our Lord and so he is called every where because we are given unto him for his inheritance that we should serve him and acknowledge him for our Lord and Master and so as he is made our Lord the name of Lord is given unto him of his Father And therefore though Christ indeed remained alwayes God and in the form of God wherein he was from all eternity yet because he was appointed by the Father Christ laid aside the Name of God and took two other names The first in respect of his Father and contented himself to be the Saviour of all mankind he humbled himself unto death and unto death he laid down the Name of God and took unto himself two other names As 1. The name of a Servant in regard of his Father to whom he was made obedient as a servant and for which cause he alwayes calleth upon him as a servant calleth upon his Master and referreth all things unto him as to his Lord and Master 2. He took upon him the name of Lord The second in respect of us in regard of us and that is due unto him in a foursold respect that is By right 1. Of Inheritance Christ is our Lord in four respects 2. Of Redemption 3. Of Wedlock 4. Of Creation For 1. He is the Lord our God 1. By right of Inheritance and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hands and the Father said unto him Psal 2.8 Dabo tibi gentes in haereditatem tuam I will give the Gentiles for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession And therefore St. Peter saith Let all the house of Israel know for certain or assuredly that God hath made the same Jesus Act. 2.36 whom you have crucified both Lord and Christ And in this respect also he is Lord of the wicked Reprobates though they will not obey him for the Prophet David saith Psal 8.5 6. Heb. 2.8 Omnia subjecisti sub pedibus ejus Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet and the Apostle saith this was spoken of Christ And again the same Prophet speaking of him Psal 110.1 saith that the Lord said unto him Sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool Yea more then this he is the Lord of all things whatsoever for Him hath God appointed and made heir of all things Heb. 1. as the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews teacheth and our Saviour himself saith Matth. 28 18. John 18.15 All power is given unto me both in heaven and in earth And again All things that the Father hath are mine Whereby you may see that Jure haereditario by right of inheritance as his Fathers Heir he is the Lord 1. Of the Elect. 2. Of the Reprobates And 3. Of all the things in the world 2. By right of purchase 1 Cor. 6.19 20. 1 Pet. 1.18 19. 2. He is our Lord by right of redemption or of purchase for so the Apostle saith You are not your own because you are bought with a price And St. Peter sheweth what price it was that redeemed us and was paid for us No corruptible thing as silver and gold but the pretious bloud of Jesus Christ And therefore seeing Christ hath bought us and redeemed us out of the hands of our enemies he may
Throne of David and to govern the people of God and this he proveth by many Arguments As 1 Argument from his Pedegree Ambrosius in Luc. 3. 1. A Frosapia from his Progenitors for he deriveth him lineally from King David and he reckoneth fourteen Kings in his Pedegree and after that he brings him from Zorobabel in the bloud royal unto Joseph Whereupon Saint Ambrose saith that St. Matthew deriving his generation by and from Solomon and St. Luke by Nathan they seem to shew Alteram regalem alteram sacerdotalem Christi familiam the one family to be from the Kings and the other from the Priests Quia fuit verè secundum carnem regalis sacerdotalis familiae because he was both of the Royal and of the Priestly family Et sic Rex ex Regibus Sacerdos ex Sacerdotibus and so both a King and a Priest 2. 2 Argument from the doings of the Magi. Numb 24. Saint Matthew proves him to be a King ab adoratione Magorum from the doings of the Wise-men for the Star of the Messias being prophesied of by Balaam and left as a Tradition among the Gentiles by Zorcastres King of the Bactrians that was excellent in all learning that it should appear to shew the birth of this King of Kings though Virgil flatteringly and falsly applyed it to Augustus saying Ecce Dionaei pracessit Caesaris astrum Yet these Magi being as St. Chrysostom writeth upon the Mountain Victorialis worshipping their God a Star did appear unto them in the likeness of a little childe Fulgent fol. 657. in serm de Epiphan and they rejoycing thereat conceived that as Fulgentius saith Puer natus novam stellam fabricavit the long-expected childe being now born did create this fore-prophesied star to testifie his birth unto the world and therefore they did forthwith begin their journey to Jerusalem And how they came so great a journey in thirteen dayes after his nativity Rhemigius answereth Puer How the Magi came so speedily to Jerusalem ad quem properaverunt potuit eos in tam brevi spatio temporis ad se adducere The child to whom they hastned was able to help them in so short a space to come unto him and St. Augustine saith that Tres Magi iter unius anni in tredecim diebus peregerunt They performed in thirteen days the journey that might well require a whole year to finish it especially if you consider that these Magi were Kings themselves Cypr. in serm de Baptismo Chrysost hom 6. in Matth. 2. Ps 72.10 as St. Cyprian delivereth from the tradition of the Church and St. Chrysost dissenteth not much from his opinion when as the Prophet David saith to intimate the same thing The Kings of Arabia and Saba shall bring gifts And now when these Magi these three Kings had found out this King they fell down and worshipped him for though as St. Chrysost saith Viderunt puerum hominem They saw this childe to be a man yet Agnoverunt redemptorem they acknowledged him to be their Redeemer What the Magi did And though he was In gremio pauperis matris positus pannis vilibus involutus nullum regiae dignitatis humanae signum habens lying in the lap of his poor mother and wrapped in vile clouts and without any sign of royal Majesty yet as both Chrysostom and Fulgentius say Ex stella didicerunt eum esse regem They were taught by the Star to understand that he was a King and therefore they did homage to him as to the king of kings and they offered to him gold myrrhe and frankincense the gold to shew his regal dignity the frankincense his deity quia thus ad honorem divinum concrematur and myrrhe to shew his mortality because they use to put myrrhe to the bodies of the dead And so by this their action they shewed 1. Their humility quia preciderunt because they fell down 2. Their Faith quia adoraverunt because they worshipped him And 3. Their Charity quia munera obtulerunt because they offered these their gifts unto him Why the Magi do neglect Herod and adore Christ But how cometh this to pass quod volunt adorare regem nuper natum infantem lactantem non adorant regem ante annos aliquot ordinatum populos imperantem That they will worship the King newly born and an infant sucking on his mothers breasts and worship not the King that was ordained long before and was ruling and commanding all the people What is this quod ille natus in palatio contemnitur iste natus in diversorio quaritur that he which is born in the palace and laid in a bed of silver is neglected and he that is born in the stable and laid in the manger is enquired after and adored It is answered because that this child which is but parvus in praesepio est immensus in caelo smal in the cratch is great and immeasurable in heaven and he whom these Magi call King of the Jews is the Lord and Creator of the Angels And so you see how Saint Matthew by the testimony of these Magi and the worship that they doe unto him doth prove him to be a King The third Argument that he useth to prove him to be a King is drawn ab Herodis timore from the fear of Herod 3 Argument From the fear of Herod for when the Magi came near unto Hierusalem abscondita est stella saith Saint Chrysostom quod ante apparuit rarsus disparuit and that which appeared before was vanished again saith Saint Basil And that for three speciall reasons 1. That the Star being hid they should be forced to enquire concerning Christ that as they were first moved to seek him by a celestial sign so secondly they should be confirmed by the prophetical saying and the answer of the Hebrew Doctors saith Saint Chrysostom Chrysost supra Mâ—â— Basil Se m. de humana Christi generatione fol. 138. 2. That the testimonies of Christs enemies might be longe praestantiora fideque digniora saith Saint Basil received without question 3. That they that is the Magi enquiring after him that they might first honour him the Jews should be justly condemned qui illum cruci affixerunt quem alieni adoraverunt Strange that his own Countrymen should crucifie him when these strangers came to adore him Therefore the Star was obscured and they enquired where is he that is born King of the Jews Whereupon Herod though it should have moved him to cast his Crown at his feet yet was he vexed with grief at the heart and troubled with horrible fear which the Magi brought to this King of the Jews by their enquiring after another late-born King of the Jews And therefore being full of fear least this spiritual King should take away his temporal Kingdom as he had formerly slain Hyrcanus Joseph l. 15. c. 9. 11. Aristobulus and his three Sons in his furious rage so
and domineered over most and almost all the Nations of the World that the Jews will they nill they may see that omne mundi regnum omnis mundana sapientia omnia divinae legis sacramenta testantur quia Jesus est Rex every kingdom of the earth all the wisdom of the World and all the sacraments of the divine law do bear witness that Christ is King and this Lion here spoken of in this Text. And the difference betwixt this Lion and all other Lions is that as Franciscus Vallesius de sacra Philosophia c. 55. saith Mos Leonis est sibi tantum pradam capere non Leaenae but Christ took the prey for his Church and not for himself And we finde that his kingdome by three special prerogatives excelleth all other kingdomes of the world that is 1. Preheminence of Christs kingdome threefold 1. Eternity 2. Purity 3. Largity 1. The Prophet saith thy Throne O God Psal 110. is for ever and ever and thy Dominion shall endure throughout all Ages but transibit gloria mundi all other Kings within so many years shall not govern and after so many dayes they shall not be for death spareth none but sceptra ligonibus aequat And as Nazianzen saith Constantinus Imperator famulus meus ossa Agamemnonis Thyrsitis death makes no difference betwixt the bones of King Agamemnon and base Thyrsites the Emperour Constantine and my servant but when their race is run and their glass is out we may say of each of them as Horace saith of his Friend Torquatus Non Torquate genus non te facundia non te Horat. Restituet pietas But this King hath a prerogative above them all for he was Rex à seculo a King from everlasting and he shall be a King in secula seculorum world without end Luke 1.33 for so the Angel Gabriel testifieth that of his kingdome there shall be no end And this should batter down the pride of Tyrants that say with Nebuchadnezzar Is not this great Babel that I have built For mene mene tekel peres their glory is but as the grass of the field or otherwise if they were immortal they were intolerable And this should teach us to labour to become the Subjects of this King in whose kingdome there shall be Aug. l. 1 c. 10. de Trinitate as Saint Augustine saith requies sempiterna gaudium quod nunquam anferetur à nobis An everlasting rest and joy that shall never be taken from us 2. Preheminence The second preheminence of his kingdome is purity for of this King the Prophet speaketh thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity and the scepter of thy kingdome is a scepter of righteousness For this King is not like Ahab that would take away Naboths Vineyard nor like Rehoboam that would oppress his Subjects with over-grievous Taxes but he is a righteous King and a most just Judge far unlike some Judges of former dayes that for a word have made a man a transgressour and for a syllable or one letter have quite overthrown a mans cause and right and so have made the Laws a nose of wax to bend and turn as they pleased and to be rete Vulcanium like Vulcans iron net to catch the poor and friendless but tela aranea like the spiders web so easie for the rich and powerful to passe through it But blessed be God for it we have few such now and we hope we shall not provoke God so far as to send such amongst us for if you suffer oppression and wrongs when as the Poet saith Mensuraque juris vis erit Then surely peaceable men shall not be able to live in the Common-wealth But the equity and justice of this King should perswade all other Kings to follow his Example and as the wise man saith Sep. 1.1 to love righteousness all they that are Judges of the earth 3. Preheminence The third preheminence of his kingdome is that God anointed this King with the oyle of gladness in all things above his fellows for their time hath an end their dominion a limitation but his time is not limited and his rule hath no marches but exivit in omnem terram it hath gone forth into all Lands because he is the King of all the earth and when as all other Kings are but Reges Gentium Kings of some few Nations he is Rex Regum Dominus Dominantium the King of all other Kings and the Lord of all Lords And therefore Eusebius saith that the distinction or difference betwixt this true Christ and the other imaginary Christs that were anointed Kings before him may truely and very easily be discerned Euseb l. 1. c. 1. Eccl. Histor quia illi priores Christi nulli penè nisi genti propriae cogniti sunt those former Kings were scarce known to any but to their own proper people but not onely the name but also the rule power and kingdome of this true King is extended over all Nations per universum orbem terrae and through the compasse of the round world And though when the Jewes would have crowned him King Rex fieri noluit he refused the same yet to shew that this Dominus Angelorum was also Rex Judaeorum Beda l. 5. in c. 19. Luc. as Beda speaketh when he rid to Jerusalem upon the Asse he willingly permitted the people to cry Hosanna and to intitle him King of the Jewes and he confessed as much himself unto Pilat that he was a King And what meaneth this saith the Venerable Bede that he now willingly embraceth quod prius fugicudo declinavit that which before he declined and fled from it and the kingdome that while as yet he lived in the world he would not accept he now denieth not to take it when he is by and by ready to go out of the world He answereth that he formerly refused it Beda l. 3. in c. 11. S. Mar. because of the gross imagination of the Jewes that conceited him to be a temporal King like unto others but he doth now accept it to shew quod non temporalis terreni sed aeterni in coelis Rex esset imperii that his kingdome was not of this world as himself said unto Pilate but as the King of Heaven he ruled all the world Well then What we may learn from this Doctrine that Christ is our King seeing Saint Matthew doth by so many inanswerable arguments prove Christ to be a King and that he is a perpetual universal and principal King and here exprest by the Lion in this Text we may collect and draw matter both of comfort and fear both of joy and of grief For 1. Seeing Christ is King then as the Psalmist saith Psal 97.1 exultet terra let the earth rejoyce for if we will obey him and be ruled by him he will appoint over us such Viceroyes and under-rulers that will lead us sicut
saith O God thâ—u art my God early will I seek thee and so the women that sought Christ came early while it was yet dark unto the Sepulchre And so all worldlings are diligent enough and have wings like Pegasus to flie about the affairs of this world Currit mercator ad Indos The Merchant runs to get Commodities unto the Indians and the Oppressours are most greedy to rob both God and man and the malicious man hath his feet swift to shed bloud and the Fanatick schismatick flieth about and compasseth Sea and Land to make a Proselyte and yet we that professe to journey towards Heaven do walk as it were upon leaden feet For you may see the Citizens of this World how diligent they are and spare no cost to repair and beautifie their own houses in the fairest manner and how slow they are and how backward to do any thing to set up the houses of God upon their feet But are like the Dog in the manger that will neither eate hay himself nor suffer the Oxe to eate it so they will neither raise the Church themselves 1 Chron. 29.1 2 3. nor suffer those that would to injoy the Revenues of the Church to raise the same But you know how heavily the Lord complaineth of those that dwell in sieled houses themselves Hag. 1.4 and suffer the house of God to lie waste and that use their wings to flie about their own worldly affairs and have scarce any feet to walk in Gods wayes How diligent the vvorldlings are about their ovvn affairs And therefore our Saviour tels us that the children of this World are wiser in their generation then the children of light because they omit no opportunity to gain their wicked ends and we neglect all the furtherances that may help us forward to the Kingdome of Heaven For so you see how Judas watched and walked unto the High Priests and from the High Priests to the Garden and from the Garden to the High Priests again and from the High-Priests to the gallowes and most of this while Saint Peter and the rest of the Disciples slumbered and slept But the reason why we are so slow in our flight towards heaven is because our wings that should carry us are bird-lim'd and entangled with abundance of cares about worldly wealth or drowned in the vain delights of sinful pleasures or pressed down with the weight of those vanities whereof the least is heavy enough to sink a ship that being burdened with such hinderances and hindered with such burdens we cannot serve God with that readiness as we ought to do For is it not strange to consider how many mens hearts are filled with the cares of this World and their heads loaded with a world of vanities and how should they fly about Gods service that are thus fettered with such obstacles What hindereth our readiness to serve God and our diligence in his service And therefore as we see the birds that flie will carry no more weight upon their backs but what necessity doth require And as the runners of a race will ease themselves of all heavy burdens so we being to flie up to Heaven and to run our race towards the spiritual Canaan should cast away both deliciarum putredinem curarum magnitudinem our worldly cares and our sinful delights and all other things that may hinder us to run readily to do the Lords service and to flie with the Cherubims and these Beasts about the Lords affairs Which if we do we shall be crowned not with a garland of flowers as the Romans used but with a crown of eternal glory as the Apostle speaketh And if this cannot allure us to be ready and diligent in Gods service but still to load our selves with the garbages of the earth then I must turn from the Apostles promise to the Prophets threatning and say Jerem. 48.10 Cursed shall all those be that do the work of the Lord negligently cursed in this life and cursed in the life to come cursed for a time and cursed for ever And therefore if we desire to avoid this curse let us with these beasts use two of our wings to flie about the service of God with all readiness and rather strive to be the first in the Church of God then the last for so we shall gain the blessing for ever And so much for the wings of these beasts and the use that they made of them 2. 2 The next part of their description is that they vvere full of eyes You must observe about the next part of their generall description which is common to each one of them that they are said First To be full of eyes And Secondly More particularly that they were full of eyes 1. Within v. 8. 2. Before v. 6. 3. Behind v. 6. For so it is in the 6. v. that they were full of eyes before and behind and here in this verse that they were full of eyes within First then you see that they were full of eyes which sheweth their illumination that they could see like Argos every way and our Saviour saith that the light of the body is the eye and those beasts being full of eyes Matth. 6 22 c. 5.14 they are rightly said to be the light of the World And here I might Philosophically dilate unto you the nature quality and excellency of this little part of the body which is the eye and the inestimable benefit of our sight which is the chiefest of all the five sences but to explain all these my time will not permit me And therefore I will onely say that as these beasts were full of eyes to see all things and to enlighten all others so should all Christians be like unto them full of eyes and especially 1 All Magistrates 2 All Ministers 1 That all the Magistrates and Ministers of justice should be full of eyes All the Magistrates and all the Judges of the earth should be full of eyes because they are not onely to look unto themselves and to see to their own ways but they are also to guide and to lead many others And if they be blind yet undertake to lead the blind the blind Magistrates to lead the blind people they both shall fall into the ditch as of late amongst us both have done because both wanted their eyes and so both were blind and he is blind saith Saint Chrysostom that hath not both his eyes in his head And these two eyes in a Magistrate and a Judge are What are the two eyes of the Magistrate 1. The eye of Knowledge and understanding of the Law and of all cases and causes that shall come before them 2. The eye of doing justice and executing judgement according to the truth and merit of every cause And for the first point 1 The eye of knowledg and understanding the truth of the cause that is brought before them in every circumstance thereof the understanding of
men of courage bold as the Lion to do justly and to stand for the right Interest be it of the Jew or of the Gentile without fear of the greatest and not caring what the meanest or the vulgar say of them quia nec meliores si laudaverint nec deteriores si vituperaverint because their praise makes them never a whit the better if they do unjustly nor their dispraise one jot the worse when they do right which is the onely thing that all men ought to do without fear And by their just and unpartial dealing betwixt party and party I doubt not but they will as they have hitherto shew themselves to be full of eyes to see to every thing to search into every caâ—â—e and to find out the truth of every matter and every cha ge that shall be brought before them THE THIRD SERMON REVEL 4.8 And the four Beasts had each of them six wings about them and they were full of eyes within c. 2. AFTER that they are said to be full of eyes 2. The distribution of their eyes the Evangelist tells us more particularly that they were full of eyes within and in the precedent 6. v. 6. v. it is said that they were full of eyes before and behinde so they were Full of eyes 1. Within 2. Before 3. Behinde 1. They were full of eyes within 1. Why these beasts were full of eyes within Jer. 17.9 and that was to look into their own hearts and consciences for the heart of man is deceitfull above all things It is but a little member vix ad unius milvi refectionem sufficere possit scarce sufficient to serve one Kite for his break-fast and yet as Hugo saith magna cupit Hugo l. 3. de anima totus mundus ei non sufficit it affecteth great things and as Juvenal saith of Alexander the whole World will not suffice that Pellaean youth And it is very true that In omni creatura quae sub sole vanitâ—tibus mundâ—nis occupatur nihil humano corde sublimius nihil nobilius nihilque Deo similius reperitur quapropter nihil aliud quaerit à te Deus nisi cor tuum In all the creature which under the sun is occupied in these worldly vanities there is nothing more sublime then mans heart nothing more noble and nothing more like to God himself and therefore God requireth nothing of thee but thy heart when he saith My son Pro. 23.26 give me thy heart But then the heart must be pure and sincere free from all vanities and void of all iniquity for otherwise qui de suo partem faciunt Deo partem diabolo iratus Deus quia sit ibi pars diabâ—lo discedet totum diabolus possidet They that give part of their hearts to God and part to the Devil God being angry that any part is left for the Devil departeth and leaveth all unto the Devil S. Aug. in Johan Matth. 5.8 as St. Augustine speaketh And therefore the Scripture saith blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God quia Deus non exterioribus oculis sed puro corde videtur saith Saint Augustine because God is not seen with our outward eyes but with a pure and upright heart But Vae duplici corde woe to him that hath a double heart Quod ingratum est ad beneficia infidum ad consilia saevum ad judicia inverecundum ad turpia impâ—vidum ad pericula Bernard l. 5. de considerat which saith one thing with his tongue and thinks otherwise in his heart and woe to him that hath a wicked heart which speaketh friendly unto his neighbour but meaneth mischief in his heart and woe to him indeed which hath a hard heart which as St Bernard saith nec compunctione scinâ—itur nec pietate mollitur nec precibus movetur which is neither broken with compunction nor mollified with piety nor moved with prayers nor terrified with threatnings nor yet yielding with any judgements but is unthankfull for all benefits regardless of all counsell and senseless of all dangers and so still growing worse and worse untill like Pharaoh he be quite destroyed And yet how many men have we that are double hearted and false hearted and more deceitfull then the wilie Greeks that lurked in the belly of the Trojan Horse or the subtle Serpent that beguiled Eve And that which is worst of all which do deceive and betray their own souls For as of all murders felo de se is most impardonable so of all deceits he that deceives his own soul is most desperate and in the most wofull condition And yet as Apollodorus the tyrant dreamed that he was taken and flead by the Scythians and his heart thrown into a boyling Caldron should say unto him I am the cause of all this my self because I have deceived thee in all thy wayes and in all thy plots and projects so how many simple foolish and beguiled souls are in the world that in all their wicked plots and practices and in all their covetous designs and mercyless oppressions of the poor John 16.2 do beguile themselves and betray their souls unto the Devil When as our Saviour saith they shall put his servants out of the Synagogues out of their places and offices as they have done of late and out of their means and maintenance as you do still amongst us and shall kill them and put them to death and think that they doe God good service and believe that they have the Eagles wiâ—gs to mount up the readyest way to Heaven when as indeed they ride Post upon Pegasus the broad way to Hell And therefore seeing the heart of man is so deceitful as many times to perswade him he holds God by the hand when the Devil hath him fast fettered by the heeles it is requisite that we should be like these Beasts full of eyes within to look into our own hearts that they do not deceive us and to examine our own wayes that we be not mistaken in them lest while we aim to go to Jerusalem the City of God we shall with the Army of the King of Syria that he sent to Dotham to fetch Elisha 2 Reg. 6.19 be carryed blindefold into the midst of Samaria the City of our greatest Enemy for so the Prophet David saith he did commune with his own heart Ps 77.5 and his spirit made a diligent search that is into his actions lest his own heart should deceive him and so he adviseth us to doe the like Ps 4.4 saying Stand in awe and sin not commune with your own heart that is to examine diligently whether the things that you doe be sins or not and do not trust the suggestions and suppositions of your hearts until you make a search and a diligent inquisition into the true nature of them because many men do think they doe not sin at all when they doe most highly offend the Lord.
taedebat apprehendere quia priusquam pene teneretur avolabat if any prosperous thing in this world did seem to smile and offer it self unto me I was loath to take it because that before I could scarce enjoy it it was presently snatched from me For 1. Friends are like the waters of Tenia sliding away and turning as the wheele of your fortune turneth 2. Riches saith the wise man betake themselves to their wings as an Eagle and the sea can drown it fire consume it servants waste it and thieves bereave us of it Prov. 23.5 3. Honour is but Vertues shadow a winde that maketh fooles to swell but cannot satisfie any wise man 4. Beauty is such a thing as the Daughters of Vanity can tell you that the Sun will tanne it a scarr will blemish it sickness waste it and age consume it away as we read fair Helen wept when she saw the wrinckles of her old face which all your black patches cannot make young 5. And for our Health which is the greatest happiness in this life we see mans body is subject to a thousand diseases fraught with frailties within wrapped in miseries without uncertain of life and sure of death And so all the things of this world are but like the Apples of Sodome pleasant to the eyes and provoking to the appetite but vanishing into smoak when they are touched with the teeth And therefore our whole life is but painted over as some Ladies do their faces with vain semblances of Beauty and Pleasure and it is attended on the one side with whole troopes of sorrows sicknesses wants and discontents and on the other side with uncertainty of continuance and certainty of dissolution And 2. The uncertainty of our state Rom. 9.21 2. For our state all is in the hand of God as the clay is in the hand of the Potter who can of the same lumpe make one vessel to honour and another to dishonour and the Heathens conceived all was at the disposing of fortune which they according to their ignorance took for God and said Te facimus fortuna Deam When they saw that as the Poet saith Vna eademque manus vulnus opemque tulit The same hand that hath cast us down can raise us up and the same God that raised us to honour can bring us down to the dust and can either prolong our dayes or cut them off at his pleasure And who then would not serve such a Master and be affraid to offend such a Lord as hath our life our wealth and our woe in his own hands and at his own disposing O consider this all you that forget God and think of it lest he take you away and tear you all to pieces or if this cannot move you to fear God Then 2. Cast your eyes before you 2. To look unto the things that are to come to look unto the things that are to come and must fall upon the world and they are many but especially and inevitably these four 1. Death 2. Judgement 3. Heaven 4. Hell And these are quatuor novissima terribilissima the four last things and the most terrible things that can be to all wicked men to think of them and they may serve as four excellent Preachers to disswade and terrifie all men from evil and to call them continually to the service of God For the Son of Syrach saith Whatsoever thou takest in hand Eccles 7.36 remember the end and thou shalt never do amisse And 1. Death makes an end of our life 1. Of death and before it shuts the eyes of our bodies it commonly openeth the eyes of our consciences And then every man shall see his owne state though he seldome or never thought of the same before For 1. The state of the wicked Revel 12.12 1. The wicked man shall see all his sins set before his face and Satan will now bestir himself to gain his soul for he knoweth that his turn is short and therefore he will tell him that if he would have entred into life Rom. 2.13 he should have kept the commandments that not the hearers but the doers of the Law shall be justified that if the just shall scarce be saved where shall he being such a wicked wretch as he is appear when as the Apostle tells him plainly that neither adulterer nor fornicator nor covetous person nor the like Traytor Rebel Perjurer 1 Cor. 6.9 10. or such other shall inherit the kingdome of God and so what the Preachers of God now cannot beat into the thoughts of these careless men this damned spirit will then irremovably settle in their deepest considerations O then what agonies and perplexities will tear the wofull hearts of these wicked men In that day saith the Lord I will cause the Sun to go down at noon Amos 8.9 10. and I will darken the earth in the clear day I will turn their feasts into mournings and their songs into lamentations that is I will make all those things that were wont most sweetly to delight them now most of all to torment them for now that pleasure which they had of sin shall turn to be as bitter as gall when they do see that as the Father saith transit jucunditas non reditura manet anxietas non peritura and now they must die and live they can no longer and Satan whose will they did and whose wayes they followed all their life will not forsake them at their death but will say Me you have served and from me you must expect your wages For so we read that the Devil assailed some of the best Saints as Saint Martin Saint Bernard Ignatius Eusebius and others and if these things be done in a green tree what shall be done in a withered saith our Saviour If he be so busie about the Saints what will he do to sinners And this is the state of a wicked man at his dying day 2. The state of the godly But 2. In the death of the godly it is not so for having served God all his life he hath hope in his death and he knoweth not whom he needs to fear Prov. 14.32 2 Tim. 1.12 because he knoweth whom he hath believed and when his body is weakest his faith is strongest and therefore with Saint Paul he desires to be dissolved and he longs for death that he may be with him which was dead and is alive and liveth for evermore and he is well contented that his body shall go to the grave that his soul may go to glory and that his flesh shall sleep in the dust that his spirit may rejoyce in heaven And this is the state of the godly man at the day of his death And therefore if men would seriously consider this before they come to this then certainly the fear of the most fearful death of the wicked and the love of the most comfortable death of the godly would make them to have
such miseries how can their hearts sustain these anguishes Our Saviour tells us that they shall cry to the Mountains that they would fall upon them and so hide them from the face of Christ but that cannot be for then Satan will begin to play his part How Satan will now play his part and say not bone Deus O good God to move him to clemency but juste Judex O just Judge to sharpen him to severity though these wretched men were thine by creation yet now they are mine by transgression and though thou hast suffered for them yet I have beguiled them for they have forsaken sacramenta tua thy holy sacraments and they have followed blandimenta mea my wicked allurements they would not be perswaded by thy Preachers but they would needs follow their own pleasures And therefore O thou just Judge seeing they belong unto me let them ev'n be condemned with me So he that before seemed to be an Angel of light is now become a Devil of darkness he that inticed them to all vanities will now bring them to all miseries and he that in paradise would make them like Gods doth now prove that he made them like devils And so now he sheweth himself to be a devil indeed and never so much a devil as now or rather he seemeth now to become a Saint because now he calls for justice Then the Lord will look upon them How wrathfully Christ will look upon the wicked but how shall they be able to endure his looks for fire is kindled in his wrath and it shall burne to the bottome of Hell out of his mouth goe lamps and sparks of fire leap out out of his nostrils cometh smoak as out of a boyling Caldron his countenance will be so grim his lips so burning and his face so full of indignation Job 14.13 that the very Saints will be afraid of his looks and holy Job crieth out who shall hide me untill the anger of God passeth over or as our last Translation hath it O that thou wouldst hide me in the grave that thou wouldst keep me secret until thy wrath be past Malach. 3.2 and the Prophet Malachy demandeth who may abide the day of his coming and who shall stand when he appeareth for he is like a refiners fire which is the quintessence of fire and like a Fullers sope which scoureth all things to the uttermost and leaves no filth behinde it and therefore how shall the wicked abide his looks and if not his looks how shall they abide his words For now they shall hear that fearfull sentence pronounced against them I lictor liga manus goe Satan thou executioner binde those Kings in fetters those Nobles with links of iron Ps 149.8 and goe ye all or depart ye accursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels and then they shall be adjudged to be cast into utter darkness Matth. 25.41 where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth This is the doom of the ungodly But upon the righteous and those godly men that served him he wil look with such an amiable and chearful countenance that the very sight of it will banish away their fear and replenish their hearts with joy and gladness and he will say unto them come ye blessed of my father you have walked in my wayes you were carefull of my service How Christ will look upon the righteous men that served him you have suffered for my sake and you have relieved and comforted my poor members therefore be you cloathed in white robes and receive the Kingdome which was prepared for you before the beginning of the world And this is the sentence of their absolution Well then if we were like these Beasts full of eyes before to look and to consider of these things now before they come to pass would it no whit move us to seek for the waies of godliness if not I would they that regard it not would look a little further and behold Gehinnon the place where they shall be carried to be tormented For 3. The torments of the wicked in Hell 3. The wicked being as I told you before adjudged by God to receive their doom according to their desert they shall be forthwith carried by the devils into a Lake or darksome Vault that is in the midst of the earth and which burneth with fire and brimstone for evermore And there in that Lake their musick shall be horrours and howlings their meat shall be balls of fire their drink shall be fountains of tears distilling down alwayes from their eyes their torments shall be intolerable their time endless and their companions devils for as Saint Augustine saith In inferno nec tortores deficient nec torti miseri morientur Aug. de tempore serm 55. sed per millia millia annorum cruciandi nec tamen in secula liberandi In Hell the tormentors shall never fail nor faint to punish nor the miserable wretches ever die but for thousand thousands of years punished and never to be delivered quia ibi erit semper velle quod nunquam erit Isidorus de summo bono The perpetuity of their miseries and semper nolle quod nunquam non erit for there shall be a will never satisfied and a nill never gratified never enjoying the ease they would and ever suffering the pains they would not And if you dive into the depth of that dolefull Tragedy of miserable Dives you shall see this truth more fully confirmed But 4. The joyes of Heaven 4. On the other side if you cast your eyes on the joyes of Heaven you shall finde that neither eye hath seen nor eare heard nor heart of man can conceive how inestimable and unexpressable it is for there our bodies shall be freed from all sorrowes and all teares shall be wiped away from our eyes and our mindes shall be satisfied with all the good that can be desired for if thou wouldst have riches riches and plenteousness are in his house if thou wouldst have pleasure in his presence is fulness of joy and at his right hand there is pleasure for evermore if thou wouldst have life he giveth thee a long life even for ever and ever and in brief there is a freedome from all evil and a full fruition of all good things Most happy are they that shall be there And so you have heard of the four things that are before us and that are so imminent hanging over our heads that we do not know how soon they may fall upon us And therefore we should be full of eyes before us that we might alwayes look for the coming of them before they come that when they come they may come to our comfort for either the continual consideration of these things will keep us from the wayes of wickedness or we are past all hope of true happiness and we may be pitied but not helped And therefore let us all most earnestly
est una quantum tres simul sunt in the holy Trinity one is as much as are all the three Persons nec plus aliquid sunt duae quam una res in se infinita sunt neither are two any thing more then one thing and in themselves are infinite Ita singuli sunt in singulis etiam omnia in singulis singula in omnibus omnia in omnibus unum omnia and so each of them are in each one and also all in each of them and each of them in all and all in all of them and one is all and again de verbis Domini he saith Videmus Solem in Coelo currentem fulgentem calentem We see the Sun in Heaven running shining and warming us and so in like manner the Fire saith he hath three things in it motum lucem fervorem motion light and heat Divide ergo si potes Arriane Solem vel ignem tunc divide Trinitatem and therefore if thou canst O thou Arrian divide the Sun or the fire then at length divide the Trinity And S. Gregory saith Tunc aperte videbimus quomodo unum indivisibiliter tria sunt indivisibiliter tria unum When we shall be so happy as to attain to the kingdom of Heaven we shall then plainly see what we now believe how the one that is Essence is indivisibly three that is Persons and the three that is Persons is indivisibly one that is Essence And as for the eternity of these three Persons That the three Persons are coetenal none is be before nor after the other but all are coeternal for seeing the Son is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. John calls him the Word and Speech of God and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Wisdom of God Luke 2.49 as S. Luke calleth him it followeth that aut Pater fuit absque Sapientiâ aut nunquam fuit absque Filio either the Father was sometimes without his Speech or without his Wisdom or he was never without his Son and seeing the Holy Ghost is amor nexus unitas Patris Filii the love connexion and unity of the Father and the Son it must needs follow that either the Father and the Son were without love and unity betwixt them or else they were never without the Holy Ghost That the three Persons are co-equal And so for the equality of these Persons there is none greater nor lesser then the other but as they are coeternal so they are co-equal And therefore they are deceived that think the Father is greater then the Son ratione nominis in that he is called the Father because the name of the Son in the blessed Trinity signifieth not a subjection but a relation and not such a relation as it signifieth among men but for our better notion and apprehension of these holy Persons that in regard of our weak understanding were so graciously pleased to condescend to make themseves known unto us by those Names Titles and Epithetes as we could best understand when as otherwise both the Essence and the Persons in themselves are every other ways incomprehensible And thus much of the Mysterie of the blessed Trinity Now followeth some special Attributes of the divine Essence and here are five of them Certain Rules to be observed concerning the divine attributes But touching these and the other Attributes of God before we proceed any further to treat of the particulars some certain Rules are to be observed For An Attribute is the Propriety of the Divine Nature which cannot be separated from the same because it is of the Essence of God when as Quicquid in Deo est Deus est Whatsoever is in God is God and therefore the Divines say 1 That we must consider Eas proprietates non esse qualitates 1. Rule and Observation Gods attributes are no qualities in him James 1.17 sed ipsam Essentiam Dei Those properties not to be any qualities in God but the very Essence of God because the nature of God is most simple and admitteth nothing of the predicaments when as nothing can be added unto it nothing can be taken from it but as S. James saith With him there is no mutation no change nor shadow of turning for in God there is nothing either by way of composition or by way of accident or by way of matter and form and therefore God is not called holy and just as a man is so called for holiness and justice in a man are qualities but in God they are his Essence from whence it cometh to pass that God is holy just and good without quality and he is infinite and immeasureable without quantity but neither Man nor Angel can be said to be holy just good or great without quality and quantity Even so God is present every where without moving Et sempiternus sine tempore and he is everlasting and eternal without time as being from all eternity before all times and so continuing for ever ever when there shall be no time He that would see more of this point let him look into S. Bernard Serm. 80. in Cant. and S. Augustin lib. 5. c. 1. de Trinit 2. We must consider that all the proprieties of God are in him most perfectly most equally and most incommutable 2. Rule and Observation Gods attributes are all perfect and equal in him but in Men and Angels they are inchoated measured and comprehended within certain bounds and degrees and they are mutable and imperfect so that to the holiness purity and justice of God the blessed Angels are neither holy nor pure nor just and to the goodness of God neither men nor Angels are good as both Job and our Saviour sheweth when he saith There is none good but God that is perfectly simply and absolutely good the Angels being not pure in his sight Job 15.15 Job 4.18 From hence it cometh to pass that these proprieties in God cannot suscipere magis aut minus Matth. 19 16. Vide S. Aug. Enchirid. that is grow greater or lesser or be augmented which they may do and do in any and every man And as these proprieties are most perfectly in God so they are most equally in him for neither is his mercy greater then his justice nor his justice any less then his mercy because he maketh not the wicked innocent Exod. 34.7 Ezek. 18.24 nor calleth evil good nor good evil so neither is his wisdom greater then his power nor his power any less then his wisdom because his power can do whatsoever his wisdom thinks fit and good to be done Yet I say that we by reason of our infirmities cannot perceive them to be equally in him but we perceive his mercy to be far greater then his justice though in God the one is neither greater nor lesser or better then the other And therefore the Lord is called Very mercifull Exod. 34.6 Ephes 2.4 and abundant in goodness
learning coldly and carelesly as indifferent whether they get little or much but as the woman that lost her groat lighted a Candle and swept the house and sought diligently for it till she found it so must we seek for this kingdom with all diligence and never leave seeking till we find it for Non mollis est via ad astra the way to heaven is not easie nor strewed over with sweet flowers but we must through many tribulations enter into the kingdom of Heaven How easie a matter it is to slide into hell Indeed the Poet can tell you that facilis descensus averni the way to hell is very easie and you may soone slide thither by any sin Sed revocare gradus superasque evadere ad auras Hic labor hoc opus est but to climb up to heaven requires labour and pains and they that think otherwise do but deceive themselves because there are many hindrances and rubs and obstacles in our way to keep us back from this kingdom as this present world that made Demas careless of the world to come How difficult to climb to heaven and our own flesh that like Dalilah lyeth in our bosome and is more dangerous than the world and the old Serpent the Devil that goeth about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour And therefore seeing it is so hard a matter to pass through the Pikes of these enemies Abjicienda est omnis desidia ignavia Chrysost hom 3. in Johan We must cast away all sloth and idleness saith Saint Chrysostom quia angusta via robustâ animâ opus est and because our enemies are so mighty we must be strong and of good courage that we may overcome the world subdue the flesh and resist the Devil who is Leo inter formicas a Lion among those that fear him but formica inter Leones a coward among Lions running away like Thyrsites before Achilles James 4.7 for if you resist the Devil he will flie from you saith the Apostle 2 Chron. 9.18 Six especial steps to the kingdom of heaven And if you strive to pass through these dangers and desire to know the way to Gods Kingdom you shall understand that as the ascent to Solomons Throne was Per sex gradus by six stairs so we have six special steps to ascend to the Throne of grace 1. Regeneration The first is by Regeneration Quia nascimur ad laborem renascimur ad salutem because we are born the children of wrath to labour and to miseries and therefore we must be born again that is by the washing of water and the working of Gods Spirit if you would walk towards this kingdom for Except you be born of Water and of the Spirit John 3. you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven saith our Saviour The second is by Outward profession that is 2. Outward profession Cant. 1.8 as Solomon saith by following the steps of the fleck unto the tents of the Shepherds and as they do to profess the Faith and never to be ashamed of the Cross of Christ The third is by Hearing Gods Word 3. Hearing Gods Word i. e. the truth of the holy Scripture and not the dreams and traditions of men for my Sheep hear my voyce saith Christ and if you hear his voyce your souls shall live saith the Prophet Isaiah Jer. 23.16 and c. 12.6 Deut. 13.3 John 10.5 Matt. 7.15 but the hearing of old newly revived Heresies is not the way to this kingdom but the way from it and therefore we are flatly forbidden to hear the doctrine of all such deceitfull teachers The fourth is by Believing Gods Word 4. Believing Gods word and giving credit unto his sayings even as Abraham credidit Deo believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness for otherwise if we believe not what we hear our hearing of it will avail us nothing but rather be a witness against us and yet as the Prophet Isaiah demands Isai 53.1 Who hath believed our report So I fear that of many which come to hear Gods word there be but few that believe what we say when as we have too many men like those whereof Tertullian speaketh Qui credebant Scripturis ut crederent adversus Scripturas i. e. to believe what they pleased out of the Scripture and many more that do lead their lives so lewdly and so dissolutely and follow after the vanities of the world so eagerly as if they believed there were neither heaven nor hell The fifth is By continual Prayers 5. By continual prayer and constant invocation upon God that he would open our ears that we might hear and so work in our hearts that we might believe the truth of God for so our Saviour biddeth us Ask and you shall have seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you and S. Augustine saith If any man would find out the truth agant orando et quaerendo et bene vivendo ut inveniant Let them pray to God and study hard and live holily and God will help them to understand the truth The sixth and last step of this Ladder that reacheth up to the Kingdom of Heaven is by doing the will of God and leading our lives according to Gods Laws for so the Apostle tells us Rom. 2.13 Not the hearers of the Law but the doers of the Law shall be justified And Christ saith Not every one that saith Lord Matth. 7.21 Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven So that to hear Sermons to understand Gods Word and to pray to God is all in vain unless we do study and strive withall to do our best endeavours to live according to Gods will And therefore 2. Our Saviour desirous to shew unto us the readiest way to come to this Kingdom of God Matth. 6.33 saith Seek ye the Kingdom of God and his righteousness that is the righteousness which is acceptable in his sight and that is as St. Paul saith To follow peace with all men Heb. 12.14 and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord And you must observe that righteousness here is to be referred to God and not to the Kingdom because as Cajetan well observeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of the feminine Gender and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the masculine Cajetan in loc and therefore must be referred ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto God and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Kingdom of God The which thing together with infinite such other doubtful and obscure places of Scripture doth sufficiently shew unto you that ignorant unlearned men that have neither Arts nor Language neither Greek nor Latine but do run to teach others before they have learnt any things themselves like those in the Canticles who watched over others but kept not their own flock are but blind
Guides of the people fitter to lead them into the ditch then to resolve them of any doubt or to convince any learned Heretick The righteousness of God taken four wayes And further you must observe that although the righteousness of God is specially taken four wayes in Scripture and signifieth 1. That distributive righteousness which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Way 1 or jus Dei whereby he punisheth the wicked and delivereth the innocent and whereof the Prophet saith Psal 9.4 Psal 119.137 Thou art set in the throne that judgest right And again Thou art just O Lord and righteous is thy judgement 2. That uprightness which is in God and is opposed to Way 2 iniquity as where the Prophet saith The Lord is righteous and loveth righteousness his face beholdeth the thing that is right 3. The truth of God as where himself saith I the Way 3 Lord speak righteousness that is nothing but the truth Esay 45.19 4. The mercy of God in Christ and through Christ towards Way 4 us as where the Prophet saith Psal 31.1 Deliver me in thy righteousness And again Psal 71.1 Judge me according to thy righteousness that is according to thy mercy and goodness shewed to us in Christ Jesus who is as the Prophet saith Jer. 23.6 Jehova justitiae nostra the Lord our righteousness and so the righteousness of God to us because as the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 5.21 He was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him that is that we might be freely justified before God through faith in his righteousness Yet by the righteousness of God here in this place we are to understand it saith St. Chrysostom in none of the foresaid significations but for Quid odit et quid amat What God loveth as just and righteous and what he hateth as wicked and unrighteous that so we might do what he loveth and shun what he hateth because as Aretius saith Aret. in loc there is a righteousness besides our justifying righteousness that is plainly necessary for the obtaining of the Kingdom of God for though as our Divines say Fides sola justificat Faith only justifieth us and we are freely justified by our faith in Christ that layeth hold on his righteousness which is imputed unto us yet Fides justificans nunquam est sola aut solitaria The iustifying faith is never alone separated from the works of that righteousness which is the inseparable adjunct and concomitant of the justifying faith And therefore if you desire to be Citizens of Heaven and Inheritors of the Kingdom of God you must be just and righteous men and your righteousness must not be like the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees in ostentation to deceive the world but in deed and verity in the sight of God for so Christ tells you plainly Except your righteousness that is not only the righteousness of Christ which is yours by imputation and which all men know doth by many thousand degrees exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees but except your own inherent righteousness which is wrought in you by the Spirit of Christ exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of God James 3.18 And truly the want of this righteousness and just dealing among men is the cause of all mischief and of all the greatest miseries of this world and of eternal damnation in the world to come and the performance of this righteousness would make all men happy both in this life and in the life to come For What is the cause of all mischief 1. What brings Wars the greatest of all the Plagues that are here on earth but unrighteous dealing For righteousness and peace have kissed each other saith the Prophet and thou saith St. Augustine dost love and desire peace which is the Crown of all worldly happiness though now the crown is fallen from our head woe unto us that we have sinned Sed justitiam non amabis Lam. 5.16 but thou wilt not follow after righteousness therefore peace shall be far from thee because there is no peace to the wicked Esay 48.22 saith my God no peace to them that shed innocent blood no peace for unrighteous dealing to them that take away a mans right and hold it still perforce But their unrighteousness will destroy them as indeed injustice and unrighteous dealing will undo any people when a Kingdom shall be translated from Nation to Nation because of unrighteousness and when the same shall be as it was said of Carthage fuller of sins then of men as we see the Monarchy of the Assyrians was translated to the Medes and Persians and the most famous Republick of the Romans spoiled when forgetting their pristine equity and just dealing whereby they became so great they began to be unjust and as the Poet saith Mensuraque juris Vis erat And they measured the Law and equity by their strength and he had the best right that was most powerful as the wicked proclaim it in the Book of Wisdom Let our strength be the Law of justice which hath been the ruine and subversion of many a Nation And so it will be with us of this Nation if we cast away all Justice and hold the truth in unrighteousness because God is no respecter of persons and we have no reason to think that he will deal any otherwise with us then he hath done with his own chosen people the Jews or with any other unrighteous Generation And as unrighteousness is the mother of wars and the bringer of destruction to Nations and Kingdoms so it is the nurse that breedeth strife and increaseth contentions and Suits of Law among neighbours and so becometh the greatest enemy to brotherly love which is the greatest vertue and the chiefest grace of all Christianity 1 Cor. 13. ult as Saint Paul sheweth And as unjust dealing thus pulleth down upon us all the plagues of Heaven so you may see Therefore let men take heed of maintaining wrongs and oppressions in the fifth Chapter of the Book of Wisdom and in Saint Paul and many other places of the holy Scripture how it excludeth all unrighteous men out of Heaven But 2. On the other side if you look upon righteousness and just dealing Plato The praise of just dealing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the divine Plato All men cry out with one mouth How beautiful a thing is temperance and righteousness Cicero calleth this righteousness the Lady and Mistress of all vertues Pindarus saith That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a golden eye and a golden countenance are alwayes to be seen in the face of Justice And Theoguis saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Even as the Latine Poet saith Justitia in sese virtutes continet omnes Justice is that vertue which comprehends all vertues in
it self For he that is a just man wrongeth no man And Solomon saith Prov. 16.12 The Kings throne is established by righteousness And again he saith Prov. 14 34. That Righteousness exalteth a Nation so that both King and Kingdom shall prosper through righteousness And he saith further That although evil pursueth sinners yet to the righteous good shall be repaid Prov. 13.21 And when the house of the wicked shall be overthrown Prov. 14.11 Chap. 3.33 the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish because God blesseth the habitation of the just And therefore the very Heathens erected a Temple unto Justice and ascribed divine worship unto Astraea which they termed the Goddess of Justice How just and righteous the Heathens were to the shame of our Fanatick and Cromwellian Christians in Ireland and many of them were very just most singular observers of justice for Homer saith That Sarpedon preserved the Kingdom of Licia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through justice and fortitude And Herodian saith of Pertinax That he was both loved and feared of the Barbarians as well for the remembrance of his vertues in former battels as also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because wittingly or willingly he never did wrong or injustice to any man Plutarch ascribeth the like vertues to Lucullus Cicero to Pompey Ovid to Erictthaeus Virgil to Aeneas Suetonius to Octavius Augustus his Father and many others of the Heathens are recorded to have been like Aristides exceeding just And I would to God all those that say they are Christians were as just aâ— these Heathens were or as righteous as the Scribes and Pharisees for they were so strict in their lives especially in shew and made so great account of justice that they would tythe Mynt and Rue and the rest of the very smallest things and therefore S. Paul saith that they were the strictest Sect of all the Jewish Religion and yet our Saviour saith Except your righteousness doth exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven So you see the way that leads you to the Kingdom of God is to be just and righteous and so honest men without which it is in vain to pray to God it is in vain to believe in Christ and in vain to rely on him because as the Prophet David saith you must offer to God the sacrifice of Righteousnes Psal 4.5 and then you may trust in the Lord. But wherein doth the sacrifice of Righteousness consist Q. or how shall we become just or righteous men Rsep and so acceptable in the sight of God I answer that to be just and righteous and to offer the sacrifice of righteousness is reddere unicunque quod suum est That is to render 1. To God 2. To our King 3. To our Neighbours 4. To our selves what belongs to each of these 1 Branch of Righteousness and these are like the four Rivers of Paradise watering the whole Garden of God that being well observed will make it a Paradise indeed 1. What belongs to God Our Fanatique Enthusiasts and Sectaries think that as God is a Spirit so he requires no more but to be served in Spirit and truth for as the Prophet saith If he be hungry he will not tell thee because all the Beasts of the Forrest are his and so are the cattel upon a thousand hills And therefore the Lord saith my Son give me thy heart and so worship me with Faith Hope Love and the like spiritual affections which are most correspondent to me that am a Spirit That God will be worshipped with all that we have But you must know that they are very much deceived for as God hath made both Body and Soul and hath given us all that we have Houses Lands Riches and whatsoever else we do possess so he will be served and worshipped by all that we have with our Hearts to love him with our Tongues to praise him with our Eys lifted up to behold his wonders with our Knees bowed down to submit unto him with our Hands to do the work that he requireth and with our Wealth and Riches to honour him as the Wise man commandeth Honour God with thy riches And so our Saviour when he biddeth us to render unto Caesar what was Caesars and to God what is Gods meaneth it of our Wealth and Riches that we ought to render unto God and not of these internal services and spiritual worship that we do likewise owe to God for here the question was of the Tribute and Mony that the Jews were to pay to Caesar and therefore the true sense of our Saviours answer was secundum materiam subjectam according to their question give that part of your Wealth and Riches to Caesar which belongs to Caesar and that part of it to God which is due to God that Caesar himself may not have that which belongs to God Q But then you will demand what is that part and portion which belongs to God out of that All which God gives unto us Resp Levit. 27.30 I answer that they are first the Tythes which God requireth to be payd unto him and secondly the Donations which his people do freely offer unto him and God doth most graciously accept them which is an unspeakable favour that the great God and creator of all things the giver of all things that owns all things and wants nothing should so graciously accept the small gifts of us his poor creatures far beyond the Clemency of Xerxes that did so curteously accept a little cold water that was presented unto him by a poor subject that had nothing else to offer him But when any Lands Houses or Monies or any other part of our Goods is offered unto God let us not be so unjust as to rob God thereof for you may see what the Prophet saith will a man rob his God yet you have robbed me Mal. 3.8 in Tythes and Offerings that is in converting the Tythes to your own uses which I commanded to be paid to uphold my services and taking those Lands and Houses into your own possessions which most pious men had offeâ—ed to maintain my Religion Or if we do this as I see it commonly don in Ireland and in too many places in England then let us take heed lest that quorum flagitium imitamur eorum exitum inveniamus we find not the like success as they found that had don this before us And what is that I will shew you some examples of good note And I will not insist upon the punishment inflicted upon Achan Gehezi Shisake King of Egypt Johas King of Israel Sennacherib King of Assyria and Belshazzar King of Babylon and others for their Sacriledg and Injustice against God because you may read the same at your leasure in the holy Scripture But I shall desire you to remember what Seneca Sen. de Benefic l. 5. c. 12. a man that
time of seeking God 3. The time when God may be found you must remember that the Prophet bids us Seek the Lord while he may be found and many men seek salvation in medio gehennae quae operata est in medio terrae and therefore mistaking their time they miss to find it for God allowed us no time to seek him but the time present during this life and no other time and you know the first Aphorism of Hippocrates is that Ars longa vita brevis Art is long and our Life is short yea so short Seneca de brevitat vita c. 1. that as Seneca saith Aristotle Theophrastus and others quarrelled with nature for giving beasts and plants so long an age and to man so short a time which as the Prophet saith is but a span long Psal 90.10 a dreame a thought a nothing so soon passeth our time away and we are gone And yet it is strange to see how men do spend that little time which they have to live aut nihil agendo aut malè agendo either in doing nothing or that evil which is indeed far worse than nothing for though you see no man willing to part with his money yet you may find how lavish every man is of his time which is more pretious than all wealth And Seneca tels us of divers men in his time Senec de bâ—evit vit c. 12. that spent every day an hour or two in the Barbers shop to cut down those hairs that grew the night before and were more curious of their locks than they were careful of the Common-wealth and others worse than these spend their time in gaming drinking and oppressing their poor Neighbours and they are very loath to consider how vainly and how wickedly they do wast their dayes for he that hath desired with ambition conquered with insolency cozened with subtilty plundered with covetousness and mis-spent all by prodigality must needs be affraid to review those things which must needs make him ashamed or if these men have so much grace to look back to see what they have mis-spent before they have spent all then shall you hear them say that if they were young again they would change their course and Seek the Lord that they might live and not lose their lives in following after lying vanities but alas that cannot be for as Plato saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 time and tyde stay for no man and as the Poet saith nec quae preteriit hora redire potest that which is past cannot be recalled again and Seneca saith that the greatest Poet that ever was tells us our happiest daies do pass from us first Eccles 12 1. And therefore I say to you young men remember your Creator in the daies of your youth and as Timothy had known the Scriptures 2 Tim. 3.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and was nursed up in the fear of the Lord so do you for what will it avail you to compose your speech according to the rules of Lilly and the Rhetorick of Cicero and not to have your lives answerable to the rules of charity and the precepts of the holy Scriptures to learn out of Aristotle the nature of the creatures and to remain ignorant of the will of the Creator and to have learned that whereby you may live richly here for a while and to neglect that whereby you may live happily hereafter for ever And I say to you old men that nunquam sera est ad paenitendum via it is never too late to repent if you can but truly repent for he that requireth your first fruits refuseth not your last age And I say to you all to day if you will hear his voice Psal 95. harden not your hearts for now is the time acceptable now is the day of Salvation semper nocuit differre vocatis When we ought most especially to seek the Lord. But though we ought at all times in all places to seek the Lord yet there are some times wherein we ought more especially and more earnestly to seek after him than at all other times and those are the times of troubles and adversities when God scourgeth us for losing him Psal 50 15. Mat. 11.28 for so God biddeth us call upon me in the time of trouble and Christ saith come unto me all you that travel and are heavy Laden and so the Brethren of Joseph sought unto God in their troubles and the Mariners that transported Jonas Jonas 1.5 7. though but heathens yet will they call every man upon his God when the Sea was ready to swallow them up Mat. 8.25 and the Disciples being in the like danger came crying unto Christ and said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord save us me perish and they that will not seek the Lord in their distress will never seek him for the Prophet speaking of the wicked saith fill their faces with shame Psal 83.16 that they may seek thy name and of them that will not then seek him the Lord saith Why should ye be stricken any more as if he had said Isa 1.5 you are now past all hope when your afflictions cannot make you seek the Lord but that you will revolt more and more and prove like Pharaoh that the more the Lord plagued him Exod. c. 8 c 9 c. 10. the more he hardened his own heart And therefore seeing the Lord hath now bent his bow like an enemy and set us as a mark for the arrow he hath set our necks under persecution and turned our songs into mournings and our happy and long continued Peace into cruel Wars though heretofore we have past our time in vanities and have neglected to seek the Lord yet if we have any grace let us now seek unto the Lord and say with the Prophet O Lord Lam. 5.23 21. wherefore dost thou forget us for ever and forsake us so long a time turn thou us unto thee O Lord and we shall be turned renew our daies as of old And 4. For the manner how we ought to seek the Lord 4 The manner how we ought to seek the Lord. 1 Totally with all parts 1 of our bodies 1 Cor. 6.20 it must be 1. Totally with all our parts 2. Carefully with all diligence 1. With all our parts of body and soul externally and internally with outward profession and with inward obedience For 1. Externally we are to glorifie God in our body that is with our members with bended knees with our eyes lifted up to Heaven and with our tongues praising God and confessing our own sins that God may be justified in his sayings and clear when we are judged otherwise as many ask and receive not because they ask amiss Rom. 3. â— James 4. â— that is aut praeter verbum aut non propter verbum either not according to Gods will or not for Christ his sake so many men do seek and find not because they seek
darkness and the like Quae omnia in ea quae sunt mera spectra res imaginariae non competunt all which things cannot be said of those things that are but meer phantasms and bare imaginarie things but of things onely which are verè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 truly real things indeed saith Lambertus Danaeus quò supra Observa ∣ tion 2 2. You are to note that as they are Substances and not Apprehensions onely as the Sadduces and some other Hereticks thought Apud Casman Angelograph part 1. c. 4. Lactant. Instit l. 2. c. 15. Two Reasons to prove they have bodies so they be spiritual substances and not compounded of matter and form as Symonius and Swingerus in his Aethick Tables and divers others do affirm for though Origen in his second Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Tertullian in his Book de carne Christi and Lactantius and Rupertus Tuitiensis and others do affirm that they have a body by which they do subsist though the same be more subtile and purer then the bodies of all other inferiour subjects and for proof thereof they do render a double reason Reason 1 1. For that they had access unto the Daughters of men as Clemens Alexandrinus Gen. 6. Clem. Alex◠Strom. l 3. Tertullian Lactantius and others do expound that place of Genesis but this they could not do unless they had some bodies and therefore they are not pure spirits Reason 2 2. For that they are tormented and to be punished in a corporeal fire as S. Augustine and others do affirm but a meer spiritual substance cannot be tormented by any corporeal thing therefore they must needs subsist of some corporeal matter or substance Yet the evidence is so plain That the Devils are altogether immaterial that they are altogether immaterial and pure spirits ab omni materia liberi without any concretion of matter or bodies as that indeed it cannot be contradicted if we look into the reasons of the Fathers which they produce out of the eighth Chapter of S. Luke and the eighth Chapter of S. Matthew and the 103. Psalm and the sixth Chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians as of Dionysius in his Book de Divinis Nominibus cap. 4. Ignatius in his Epistle unto the Trallians Nazianzen in his second Oration de Theologia Epiphanius in the 26. Heresie S. Chrysostom in his 22. Homily upon Genesis Theodoret in his Book de Divinis Decretis Greg. Nyss in his Book of the life of Moses Basilius Magnus Fulgentius and the Council of Lateran under Innocentius the Third and divers others both ancient modern Writers 1. Reason answered Aug. de Civit. l. 15. c. 22. Chrysost Hom. 22. in Gen. Cyril l. 9. advers Julian Suid. in vocabulo Seth. And therefore to the first Reason we answer with Saint Augustine S. Chrysostom S. Cyril and Suidas that by the Sons of God we are not to understand the Angels but the Posterity of Seth For as by the Daughters of men we understand by men that carnal crue of wicked tyrants which were the posterity of Cain and were both worldly minded and fleshly given and so wholly negligent of Gods service as you may see it in many places of the Psalms Even so by the Sons of God we ought to understand the godly seed of Seth that despised the world and called upon the name of the Lord and at length began to grow cold in the service of God and to follow after the lusts of the flesh and the vanities of this world and these were called the Sons of God as all the godly are and To the second Reason we answer 2. Reason answered that as the human souls be pure spirits and yet are tormented in a corporeal fire as it appeareth by the soul of Dives that confesseth it self to be tormented in that flame when his body was buried in the earth even so these infernal Spirits that have no bodies but are altogether immaterial may by the omnipotent power of the Almighty God Vide Greenwood in a Sermon entituled Tormenting Tophet be perpetually punished and tormented with a corporeal fire as S. Hierom and others have most plainly and largely declared 3. You are to observe that as they are spiritual substances Observa ∣ tion 3 immaterial and without any kind of bodies so we must understand that they were all created good Angels in heaven and not Devils in hell God never made such creatures for though the Peripateticks and the Priscillianists that were a kind of Hereticks did imagine that they were eternal Evils or Devils from all eternity Zanchius de Operibus Dei l. 2. c 5. as Zanchius noteth because as they alledge there is no sin in heaven and he that once goeth to heaven cannot sin when he is there being as it were ravished with the Beatifical Vision and the love of the divine goodness and therefore say they if they had been made in heaven they could not have fallen away from God Whereupon Manichaus taught that there were two Gods from all eternity the one good and the Authour of all goodness Danaeus Isogog c 6. Clem. Recog l. 3. Nicephor l. 5. c. 31. and the Creator of all the things that are good the other evil and the doer of all wickedness and the maker of all the things that are evil and this most heretical Opinion saith Nicephorus continued almost 300. years before it could be rooted out Yet not only this Opinion hath been exploded and condemned for a most wicked heresie but also the very reason and foundation of their Opinion is so weak that it may be very easily answered For although now the inhabitants of heaven cannot sin and those celestial Citizens shall never be banished from their mansions because they are now confirmed by grace and supported by Gods Spirit ne à veritate voluntatem averterent lest they should turn their wills and minds from the truth as S. Augustine speaketh Aug. de Civi◠Dei l. 12. c. 9. yet Non fuit sic ab initio it was not so from the beginning for if God had made them immutably good It is the property of God alone to be immutably good Malach. 3.6 he had made them Gods and not Angels because it is the priviledge and property of God alone to be immutably good as the Prophet sheweth Ego Deus non mutor I am the Lord and I change not as if he were not a God if he had the possibility to change or that therefore he is God because he cannot possibly change James 1. and so Saint James setteth down this for an incommunicable property of God to be unvariable or unchangeable and without any shadow of turning And therefore as man in Paradise was created Omnino ad imaginem Dei altogether according to Gods own Image and yet was left in the counsel of his own mind either to stand or fall to continue happy or to become most
there is one supreme cause which is God not tied to the pressure and incombrance of a body and fourty seven spirits subordinate to that supreme Cause according to the number of the motions which he observed in the celestial orbes of Heaven and Merc. Trismegistus as Aquinas cites him is of the same mind and denieth that there are any other spirits excepting those that wheel about the heavens for they thought that those heavenly bodies could not so ordinarily move except they were animated and quickned thereunto by some spirits of life which is very true and seems agreeable to what Ezekiel speaketh of the celestial bodies which he calleth wheels that the Spirit of life was in the wheels but they might have considered that if those spirits were necessary for the uniform uncessant motions of the celestial sphears which were created for the service of man then was it much more convenient that the first and supreme cause which iâ— God should have many more infinite numbers for his use and service and so Daniel saith that thousand thousands ministred to him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him Daniel 7. Vide Job 25. v. 3. and holy Job demands Is there any number of his armies and Rabbi Moses the Egyptian l. 2. c. 7. saith That they be as many as be the vertues of the heavens the Stars and all other inferiour things and the Platonicks say that they are so many that they are indefinite And if there be as it is most true so many good Angels waiting always upon God to do him service and to praise him and magnifie him for ever then questionless it is most certain that the number of the Devils is very very great and in all likelihood far greater then the number of the good Angels for as among men Magna plenitudo hominum sed magna solitudo bonorum the worser part is by far the greater part and the number of Reprobates is far more then the number of them that shall be saved as our Saviour testifieth so it is verisimile that the case is so betwixt the good and the bad Angels that more fell then stood for it is asserted by all the Schools that they fell from all the orders of Angels and Archangels principalities dominations virtues and powers Cherubims Seraphims and Thrones and it is most certain that quoad nos their number is infinite beyond number Mark 5.15 Luke 8.30 for a Legion of them which consisted of some thousands had entred into one man which made me oftentimes to wonder how many Legions of them were in the members of the long Parliament and how many indeed are in all the wicked men of the world when they could spare a Legion to reside in one man And therefore well might Saint Anthony see the whole world filled with Devils and covering the same with Nets and Snares which they have laid in every place and in every thing as snares in our meat snares in our drink snares in our cloaths and snares in every thing we do and in every path we walk and all to the end that they may catch us and catching us to destroy us And therefore how warily should we walk upon thorns and among snares and continually pray to God to give his good Angels charge over us to preserve us in all our ways from these wicked Spirits that otherwise will do worse then dash our heads against the stones when they destroy both our bodies and our souls in hell And so you have seen the nature the names and the number of the ingredients and now 2. The Ingression of the devils into men and women 2. The next point is their ingression or Entrance into the bodies of men and women to possess them and this is so plain when the subjects are fitted for them by their sins and wicked course of life and God in justice for the neglect of his Service or dishonour to his Name gives them leave so to do that more need not be spoken of it but as the fellow that fell into a Pit and his friend that saw him there began to question him How long he had been there and how he fell in and the like the poor man in the Pit answered I pray thee take care how to help me out and not to question how I came in so when we see so many men and women as we have seen of late while the long Parliament lasted possessed with such and so many Devils as they were the best course that we can take is speedily to use the best means to dispossess them and that is saith our Saviour by prayer and fasting which is the third Point that I am to treat of But before I could finish the handling of these two rare Graces and most powerfull Weapons to drive out these Devils I know not by what machination or by whose fascination I cannot tell onely Credo aliquis Daemon magna me facinat ira Percussitque senem dum sanguis rivulo fluxit I do verily believe some of these Devils followed me with great wrath and with a full intent to destroy me and it had not failed but he had done it had not the great Jehovah my continual Deliverer commanded his Angels to preserve me for as I was coming from Oxford to London at Wickham after Dinner the man of the house holding my Horse at the block side for â—e to get up and I ascending the steps to the top of the block as soon as ever I laid my foot upon the third step I found the same loose and lifted up and I was so forcibly suddenly and so strangely thrown down upon the pavement of Flint-stones that cut such a huge gash in my forehead that the bloud exceedingly gushed out upon the pavement and was able to dash out my brains and my whole thigh from my hip to my knee was so bruised that being lifted up I was not able to stand but was carried in betwixt two and recovered twice as they say with strong Waters when I fainted untill I was laid upon my bed * By the good man of the house and honest Master Parsons that rode in my company and was very carefull of me All which in so strange a manner as I found it done I do conceive and do verily believe could never accidentally be done but that some evil Spirit the Devil and Satanas did it purposely to end my life that I might no more oppose his dear limbs and adherents But as God had prepared a Whale to save Jonas as soon as ever he was cast into the Sea so God provided a Surgeon for me presently and he washed my wounds and did help me Blessed be God for it and God I beseech him to give me his grace never to forget this and all other his goodness and mercies and loving favours towards me but to serve him and praise him and magnifie him for ever through Jesus Christ our Lord To whom with the
Father and the Holy Ghost be ascribed all honour and glory for ever and ever Amen Jehovae Liberatori FINIS THE PERSECUTION AND OPPRESSION Which as Solomon saith is able to make a wise man mad OF JOHN BALE That was called to be Bishop of Ossory by the sole Election without any other mans Motion of that pious King Edw. 6. AND OF GRUFFITH WILLIAMS That was called after the same manner to the same Bishoprick by the sole Election without any other mans Motion of that most excellent pious King and glorious Martyr Charles I. Two Learned men and Right Reverend Bishops of Ossory LONDON Printed for the Author 1664. I. THis John Bale was a great Schollar and a Doctor of Divinity in the University of Oxford in the time of King Edward the sixth and he himself wrote a Book which the Right Worshipful and my much honoured Friend Sir James Ware lent me wherein he setteth down the vocation persecution and deliverance of himself and out of that Book I have drawn this Abstract of his life and persecution and expulsion from that very house from whence I was also expulsed and for which I am still oppressed and troubled 1. His Vocation was by the meer good will without any sollicitation of any other of that good King Edwards when he saw him in South-hampton he sent unto him by divers of his Nobility to bid him prepare himself to go to be the Bishop of Ossory which he obediently did and transported himself and his Family into Ireland and being consecrated at Dublin though with some opposition by reason of the Popish inclination of the Catholick Clergy he presently went to Kilkenny where 2. His Persecution did begin for he no sooner began to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ which he incessantly did but the most part of his Prebends and the Popish party opposed and contradicted him and within a very little while after the death of King Edw. 6. he was exceedingly persecuted by Barnaby Bolger and the Popish Priests and others that sought his death in his house this Bishops Court alias Holms Court Rich. Foster a Deacon Rich. Headly John Cage and the Maid where he saw five of his houshold Servants four men and a maid of sixteen years of age killed before his face and so had he been slain also had he not shut the Iron Grate of his Castle and kept the Kearnes out until the good suffereige of Kilkenny with a hundred horsemen and three hundred footmen brought him away in the night time and so delivered him out of their hands and forthwith sent him to Dublin from whence his life being there likewise hunted after he was conveyed away in a Marriners apparel and in his passage to Zealand was cruelly tossed by tempests and was taken at sea and carried to St. Ives in Cornwall where a wicked fellow named Walter accused our Bishop Bale of High Treason before the Justices there yet being not able to prove any thing against him the good God delivered him out of their hands And yet not long after one Martin an English Pirate did most falsly accuse him of many hainous crimes as the pâ—â—ting down of the Mass in England caused Doctor Gardiner Bishop of Winchester to be imprisoned and poysoned the King and many other hainous things which brought him abundance of troubles and vexations with the Captain of the ship wherein he passed towards Holland as himself relateth at large from fol. 38. of his Book of his persecution unto fol. 42. And because they are so fully exemplified and expressed by himself there together with the rest of his troubles and persecutions which he had in Ossory in Dublin and in his passage by Sea towards Germany in the Book that himself printed of his Vocation to the Bishoprick of Ossory and his persecution in the same I will set no more down here but refer my Reader to that Book II. GRiffith Williams born at Carnarvon at fourteen years old was sent to Oxford from whence by reason of the hard usage of him Junonis ob iram by an angry Juno that was his Unckles virago he was fain to betake himself within two years after alienas visere terras and failing to pass into France where he intended he was forced to retire into Cambridge where having no friends nor money a Country Gentleman of Harleton named Mr. Line having but one little Son about eight years old took affection unto me and entertained me into his house and table to tutor and teach that young Child and being there I got my self admitted into Jesus Colledge where as it came to my course I kept my Exercise and within two years after having gotten a Certificate from Christ-Church in Oxford of my study and good carriage there for two years before I had my degree Bachelour of Arts and within three years after I took my degree Master of Arts at 21 years of age and being admitted into the holy Orders of a Deacon by the Reverend Bishop of Rochester and of Priesthood by the Bishop of Ely after I had been a while Rector of Foscot in Buckingham-shire I became a Preacher and Lectorer in St. Peters the Proud in Cheapside and in the Cathedral Church of S. Paul For I found it so And then printed my first Book intituled The resolution of Pilate and my second Book intituled The delights of the Saints for the full space of five years I Lectored upon St. Pauls Epistle to the Romans and then began my persecution by the Puritans as they were then called and Fanaticks of those daies saving a little opposition that I formerly had by the same generation while I was Curate of Hanwel in Middlesex for now the more pains I took to study and to preach the truth boldly unto them as I ever did without fear the more mad they were against me and so mad that not only forty as they were against St. Paul but I believe above twice forty conspired together to work my death and most falsly accused me of such things as I never knew never did and never said yet they prosecuted the same so maliciously that I was bound over and they did their very best to hinder me to get any bayl to answer for my life at the Sessions house upon the Goal delivery of Newgate where I might demand tantenae animis terrestribus irae But he that dwelleth in the Heavens and knew mine Innocency and the cause of their malice laughed them to scorn and became to me as he is alwaies to them that fear him Deus in opportunitatibus a present help in trouble Who seeing that they would prefer no Bill against me quitted me and said they had forfeited and should pay their Recognizance as they well deserved to the King See the Epistle to the Reader before the seven Golden Candlesticks and delivered me with credit and honour out of the mouth of those Lions that were exceedingly blamed and checked by that worthy Judge