and hastening forward in the way to God content's not herselfe with leggs hardly with wings For it 's not euery wing that will serue her turne but shee must haue either Pennas aurorae the wings of the morning Psal 139.8 whose winged light flyeth from East to West in an instant and filleth the whole Hemispheare with her brightnes or else Fennas Columbae the wings of a Doue which are Pernicissimae vt eam accipiter assequi non possit so admirably swift Pellicaa Emman Sa that she infinitely out-flye's the hawke So shee summe's not vp her wish with wings but in the third place shee must haue wings like vnto a Doue 3 SICVT COLVMBAE As God of all the fowles of Heauen hath chosen to himselfe but one Doue so the faithfull soule 2 Esdr 5 26. of all the fowles wings hath chosen onely the Doues wings For not birds of euery feather can reach so high as Heauen The soule that will fly thither must haue not onely Pennas wings but Pennas Sicut Columbae Doue-like wings And Sicut not onely Similitudinis but Aequiparantiae like them not for shew onely but for vse too There 's a great family of Sicut's in the world Many that are onely Sicut collum Columbae like the Doue in nothing but in her neck As that hath in it Colores Iridis all the colours of the raine-bow so haue they colores veritatis all the colours of truth honesty that may bee But veritas sine fuco est true honesty as it feareth so it loueth no colours because the more colours the less honesty Sayde I in nothing like her but in her neek Yes in her voice too For so is the Church of Rome hauing vocem columbinam but vitam corvinam Numfred confut Campian rat 3. the voice of a Doue praetending nothing but simplicity but the life of a crow vivens cadaveribus liuing by the death and downefall of Princes Againe There are many that haue Pennas and Pennas Sicut wings and wings like hut like to what Not Sicut columbae like vnto a Doue but 1 Sicut Cicadae like vnto a Grasshopper Pennas quibus à terrâ elevari non possunt Gerson medit 70 circa Ascens Dam Wings that cannot lift them vp from the earth Or if they do it is but Per saltum not Per volatum they onely serue them to hop not to fly with No sooner vp from the earth but by and by downe againe Such are they whose devotion is soone hott soone colde againe They could like it well to go to heauen Per saltum as it were at one iump without more adoo but Per volatum by flying by a cōstant course of well-doing that 's too-laborious for them they cannot they will not endure it 2 Or Sicut Milui like vnto a Kyte Quisursum volat ut praedam in terrâ commodiùs despiciat Which mount's high that he may the better espy a prey below vpon which he praesently dismount's againe and liue's vpon spoile and rapine either of liue pullen or of dead carrion Such are they that make a goodly shew of mortification of holines of retirednes from the world euen as if they were rapt vp into St Paul's third heauen Yet none whose Ey and whose heart is more firmely fixed vpon the world than theirs 3 Or Sicut Falconis like vnto a Falcon which can finde no rest for his wings because he is euer buisy in pursuite of a prey Such are they that greedily rise by others ruine of whom the Lord complaineth Ier 2 34 by a metaphor taken from birds that steine their wings with prey Ier 2 34 In alis tuis inventus est sanguis In thy wings is found the bloude of the soules of the poore innocents Or Sicut Struthionis like vnto an Ostrich which is a bird-beast halfe a bird of the aër Calvin in Iob 39 16 Aquin 12a q. 102 art 6. and halfe a beast of the earth and he hath such a weighty body that he cannot mount vp to fly aloft but flickereth in such-wise as he cannot be out gone Such are those holy-vnholy worldlings that will needes mingle heauen and earth together that will seeme to haue their conversation in heauen when yet their affections weigh them downe to the earth that contrary to the Apostle's rule 2 Tim 2 4 2 Tim 2 will Deo militare saeculo se implicare be God's souldiours and the world's solicitours Nay Matt 6 24. contrary to our Sauiour's rule Mat. 6 will Deo Mammonae servire diuide their seruice betwint God and Mammon 5 Or Sicut Pavonis like vnto a Peacock whose pleasant wings Iob 39 16. as the holy man Iob call's them more pleasant to others than profitable to himselfe are more for ostentation than for vse Et dumpluma◠ostentat Fulgent Mythol posteriora turpitèr nudaet saith Fulgentius and whiles he spreade's out his gaudy plumes he displaye's the ouglines of his hinder-parts Such are our Angelicall Gospellers at this day who yet differ from the Peacock in this that whereas the Peacock is saide to houe Argus his Eyes in his tayle they it should seeme haue them in their heads Else how could they espy so many superstitious obliquities in our Church where our Eagle-eyed Praelates can see none These men while they spreade out their gay plumes Iactantiam in verbis arrogantiam in factis while they simper it devoutly and yet raile Iesuitically against Church and State while they heare Sermons pray giue almes make a sowre Lenten-face all to be seene of men Matt 6 5. Matt 6 onely they loue not to be seene to fast but with full bellies what do they but shew the ouglines of their hinder-parts bewray the fearefulnes of their later end 6 Or Sicut Sturni like vnto a Stare which first suck's vp the pigeon's eggs and then flyeth away Such were the thieuish Monkes in St Austin's time whome he thus derideth O si illis Dominus pennas daret Austin de opere Monach c 23. vt tanquā sturni fugarentur O that they had wings that they might be chased away like stares And such are the thieuish Iesuites and Seminaries at this day who creepe into widow's housen and leade captiue simple women laden with sin as the Apostle speake's 2 Tim 3 6. 2 Tim 3 and when they haue so done they are gone like that olde Seminary euen the Father of Seminaries the Diuel Qui super seminavit abijt who Matt 13 25. when he had sowed tares among the good corne went his way Of them I will not say as St Austin of the Monkes O si illis Dominus pennas daret but * Praised be the Lord for he hath heard the voice of my humble petitions Psa 28 7. Iunij 14 1624. O si illi Domino Regi paenas darent ut tanquam sturni fugarentur O that my Lord the King would giue
Quis of curious inquisition after his Essence which is vnsearchable but with a Quis of pious admiration in reguard of his Power which is vnspeakable And because there is nothing that he cannot but he can whatsoeuer he will therefore my Prophet saith not Who can but who will giue God whose Name is WONDERIVL Admiratione Esa 9 6. non ratione excipiendus est His Essence and his Power would be admired rather than inquired adored rather than discussed lest soaring too-buisily into so high mysteries with the wings of praesumption it fare with vs as with the fly about the cup or the moath about the candle the fate of the one being to be drown'd of the other to be burn'd 2ly If any shall aske me Quis est Quis Who is this Who Iob 21 15. which is all one with that Atheistical demaund Quis est Omnipotens who is the Almighty I will turne him to Dauid's Psalme of Qui's for his answere Qui facit mirabilia magna solus Qui fecit caelos in intellectu Qui firmavit terram super aquas with a number of Qui's besides Psal 135. Chrysost in Psal 53. That Qui is the Quis that is here meant St Chrysostome writing vpon those words Psalm 53 Quis exurget mecum contra iniustos saith it is Quasi perlustrâsset omnes creaturas as if my Prophet had taken a diligent survey of all the creatures of the world and finding among them all none to assist him is thereupon faine to fly vnto God vnder the name of Quis. And in like sort doth Ruffinus paraphrase my Text though applying it to the resurrection of Christ O father saith he raise me vp againe by thyne almighty power Ruffin in lâ—c Nam quis alius praeter te c. For who but thou alone is able to giue mee wings 3ly My Prophet in this Option or wish Quis det reade's vs an excellent Lecture of Humility to learne vs whence these wings are to be had that they are not Natiuae but Donatiuae we haue them not of our selues but are to beg them of God by prayer from whom euery good giuing and euery perfit gift cometh Iac 1 17 Aust l de vit innocent Semper enim petitur quod semper optatur For a Christian wish saith Austin doth euer include a prayer And Incassum laborat qui aliunde virtutes acquirendas putet quà m à domino virtutum Gregor He looseth his labour saith Gregory who thinkes to haue the wings of virtues vnless he haue them from the Lord of hosts the Lord of all virtues He it was that when the Dragon stood before the woman ready to devoure her childe so soone as shee should be delivered gaue wings to the woman to fly from him into the wildernes Apoc 12 14 The fowles of the aër I graunt are by an Hebraisme call'd Domini alarum Maisters of the wings Ecclesiastes 10 vlt But Dominus alarum dominus exercituum the true Lord and Maister of the wings is the Lord of hosts Psal 60 10. Our winged hosts For armies also are said to haue Alas wings because the side-parts thereof were so marshalled of olde Vt similitudinem volantis tota acies haberet that the whole army had the resemblance of a flying bird Insomuch that the Prophet Esay Esa 8 8 speaking of the mighty army of the Kings of Assyria describes it by this metaphor Extensio alarum the stretching out of his wings shal fill the breadth of thy land ô Immanüel that is the breadth of the land of Iuda He I say that is the Lord of hosts so of the wings of hosts he it is none but he that is the Lord of the wings the Doue-like wings of the Soule Nay more Idem dator redditor he is both the giuer the restorer of them St Austin will make it plaine Quia si desunt dat si ligatae sunt soluit because if the soule want wings he giue 's her wings Aust in Psal if her wings he tyed he looseth her wings For he that looseth the wings of a bird that are tyed Aut dat aut reddit illi pennas suas He either giue 's or restore's her wings For albeit she had wings yet after a sort she had them not while she could not command the vse of them But wings I am sure the Soule hath none nor none can haue either fast or loose vnless they be first giuen her by this Quis the Lord of the wings And so from the Author of the wings God I come to the Matter of the wish wings Who will giue me wings The righteous man being in a wonderful streight 2 PENNAS not knowing how or which way to turne himselfe what doth he Doth he grow so male-content within himselfe as in a desperate moode to say Who will giue me a knife and I will stab my selfe Or so furiously enraged against his enemies as in a bitter pang of impatience to cry out Who will giue me the horne of an Vnicorne that I may goare them Or the teeth of a Tygre that I may teare them Or the pawes of a Lyon that I may rend them Or the Ey of a Basiliske that I may slay them Or the Head of a Serpent that I may malitiously plott against them No such matter But who will giue mee wings like a Doue wherewith I may rid and expedite my selfe from them For Laert l 6 in vit Diogen albeit Plato defined Man to be Animal bipes implume a two-footed creature without feathers yet may wee truly affirme of the devout man that he is Animal bipes bipenne a two-footed and a two-winged creature Two-footed in respect of his body two-winged in respect of his soule And in this sense doth Theodorite terme him Animal alatum Theodorie a winged creature Quia quum in terris vt animal versetur vt avis tamen in sublime volat because though his body soiourne here on earth yet doth his soule Pie Mirandul Orat like a bird soare vp to heauen So doth Zoroastes in Picus Mirandula instruct his Scholars Animam esse alatam that the Soule of man is winged and that when those wings fall off Praeceps fertur in corpus then shee pitcheth downe headlong into the body but Illis succrescentibus ad superos revolat when they grow out againe then she flyeth vp againe And for the better growth of their wings he wisheth them to water them with the waters of life which he tell 's them must be drawne out of the foure riuers in Paradise Pishon Gihon Hiddekel and Perath Gen 2 11. by his interpretation Rectum Expiatio Lumen Pietas Rectitude of will Expiation of worke Light of knowledge and Piety of devotion Mons Dei mons excelsus Psalt 68 15. The mount of heauen is a high mount Vel scalis vel alis opus est The soule must either mount vp a Iacob's ladder Gen 28 12. or
THE DOVE-LIKE SOVLE A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE PRINCE'S HIGHNES AT WHITE-HALL Febr. 19. 1618. BY I. R. D. D. and one of his MAIESTIES Chaplaines in Ordinary BERN. epist 341. Nonne aviculas levat non onerat pennarum sive plumarum numerositas ipsa Tolle eas reliquum corpus pondere suo fertur ad ima THE TEXT PSALME 55.6 Quis det or Quis dabit mihi pennas sicut columbael tunc volabo requiescam Oh that I had or who will giue mee wings like vnto a doue then would I fly away and be at rest KIng Dauid though for innocency not onely a Doue PRAEFACE but the Phaenix of Doues and so a notable Type of Christ vpon whom the Holy Ghost descended in the shape of a Doue Matt 3 16. yet was his whole life nothing else but Bellum sine inducijs a perpetual persecution without intermission Such was also the portion of Christ the Lord of Dauid And such to the world's end will euer bee the lott of those that are the heritage of Christ My Text import's no less which taken Historically is the voice of Dauid pursüed by his enemies Prophetically the voice of Christ at his passion Mystically the voice of that Mystical Doue the innocent Soule surrounded and invironed with the snares of Death Euen Generalis quaedam querela saith Pellican a general complaint of the malice of the wicked persecuting the righteous Pellican in loc For ahlas that so it should bee yet so it is Non rete accipitri tenditur Ter Phâ—â—… neque miluio Qui malè faciunt nobis illis qui nil faciunt tenditur The net is not pitched for ravenous birds as are the hauke and the kyte but for poore harmeles birds that neuer meditate mischiefe And Dat veniam corvis Iuvenal vexat censura columbas The Doue shall surely be shott at when the carrion Crow shall go shot-free It will then be no newes vnto you that here the faithfull Soule the Spouse the Loue the Doue of Christ when trouble and heavines take holde vpon her and the flouds of Belial compass her about Tanquam avis è cave â liberari cupit Austin de opere Monach as St Austin speakes of the cloyster'd Monkes in his time Desireth like a Bird to be loosed out of her cage Or that as Ionas by interpretation a Doue after three dayes and three nights imprisonment in the whales belly could not but long after his enlargement Ion 1 17 So the Doue-like Soule of man when not three but many dayes and moneths and yeares she hath ben imprisoned in the body hath a longing desire to be enlarged and to fly vnto God that made her And so mourning like a Dove in devoute supplication and mounting like a Dove in diuine speculation breake 's forth into these sad elegies Oh that I had wings and Ahlas that I have not wings Wo is me Psal 120 4. that I am constrein'd to dwel with Mesech and to have myne habitation among the tents of Kedar Psal 42 1. Like as the Hart desires the water-brooke so longeth my soule to be with thee O God I desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ Phil 1 23. Who will giue me wings c. Which is as if the poore distressed Soule PARAPHRASE pathetically bemoaning her forlorne estate of pilgrimage should thus more plentifully enlarge herself My Spouse is already asceÌ„ded higher than the winds than the clouds than the highest heavens and I poore Soule as a husbandles widow as a tutorles Orphan as a comfortles exile am left desolate and disconsolate in this valley of teares none to care for mee none to comfort mee till I have regained him whome I love and in whome I liue Nay which worse is this myne owne familiar friend this nearest and dearest companion of myne my body is euen a burden vnto mee The weight of it and of the sins that hang so fast on it doth so clogg and shackle mee so glew and nayle mee to the earth that I cannot raise or reare vp my selfe towards heaven Or let him therefore descend to relieue mee being Filia Sponsa Scror his Daughter and Spouse and Sister Or let him giue me wings wherewith I may ascend to him Psal 91 4. vnder the shadow of whose wings I shall surely rest in safety I must confess it was the very bitternes of extremity that first compell'd me to love him though of himselfe no less lovely than Love it selfe It was the sharpe sauce of afflictions that gaue edge to myne affections and sharpen'd myne appetite to that sweete meate that endureth to euerlasting life But now having had some litle fore-taste of him I am euen in an holy extasy Plaut so ravished so transported with a fervent desire of him and of his presence that Vbi sum ibi non sum vbi non sum ibi animus est Where I am there I am not and where I am not there am I. For Anima est vbi amat non vbi animat Erasm The soule is where it loueth not where it liueth Now sigh I not so much for the praesent dangers I would decline as because of my absent Loue whom I most desire Who will giue me wings c. In the scanning of which verse ye will obserue with mee 1 The Efficient PARTITION or Author of these wings God Who will giue mee Who that is who but God 2 The Matter of the wish Wings Who will giue mee wings 3 The Forme of those wings Doue-like Who will giue mee wings like vnto a Doue 4 The End Mediate Flying Then would I fly away 5 The End Vltimate Resting And be at rest 1 Who will giue mee There 's Christian Humility 2 Who will giue mee wings There 's prudent Celerity 3 Wings like vnto a Done There 's innocent Simplicity 4 Then would I fly away There 's devoute Sublimity 5 And be at rest There 's permanent Security 1 Who will giue mee Rogat potius quam interrogat 1 Quis det For Quia dabit mihi It 's rather a Request than a Quaestion an Optatiue than an Interrogatiue phrase of speach A phrase very frequent in the Old Testament But I will not loade you with instances I will quote you onely two The one Exod 16 3. out of Exod. 16.3 Quis det mortui essemus say the Israelites murmuring against Moses and Aaron in the wildernes Where the Septuagint reade it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vtinam 2 Sam 18 33. Oh that we had dyed by the hand of the Lord in the land of Aegypt The other out of 2 Sam. 18.33 where Dauid lamenting the death of his son Absolon cryeth out Quis det mihi ut pro te moriar Oh that I had ben so happy as to dy for thee 1 First then for his phrase Quis det It 's worth the observing that he speakes of God with a Quis. Not with a
else shee must haue wings to mount her vp thither Wings whose extension must be in the longitude of hope whose expansion in the latitude of loue whose elevation in the altitude of faith Wings ad erigendum to raise her vp to take her flight and Ad dirigendum to direct her flight to the marke and lastly Ad regendum to steere and guide her course in the way to the marke But I shall tell you a wonder The soule hath not 1 pare of wings onely as haue birds nor 3 pare as haue the Seraphins but 6 pare Esa 6.2 if we will belieue the learned 1 One pare I finde in Viegas to be Praeteritorum Dolor Cautio futurorum Viegas in Apoc 12. a godly sorow for sinnes past and a wise praevention of future sinnes the two parts of Repentance which cover the nakednes of the soule as wings do the nakednes of a bird's body 2 Another pare I finde in Gerson to be Spes Gerson ser 58. Timor Hope and Feare The right wing Hope because of the mercy and fauour and bounty of God the left wing Feare because of the misery and frailty and necessity of man And as a bird saith he by her wings is kept from falling to the ground so the soule while with these two wings shee is lifted aloft in prayer is kept from falling into sin 3 A third pare I finde in that greate Platonick Marsil Ficiâ— l. de Christian Relig. praefat sub iâ—â—â—t Ficinus to be Intellectus voluntatem illuminans voluntas intellectum accendens Vnderstanding or Reason illightening the will and will inflaming the vnderstanding Bernard de verb. Esa Proph. ser 4. Which by devoute Bernard the Father of devotion are otherwise termed Agnitio Devotio Knowledge and Devotion Neither of them can sublimate the soule without the other Devotion without Knowledge being but blinde zeale and Knowledge without Devotion but learned impiety Both therfore must Pari gressis in Deum tendere be yoake-fellowes as it were in the way to God For where the light of intellect is quite put out as in the Romish Liturgy which forsooth must be read in an vnknowne tongue there what warmth of zeale can be imparted to the cold affection of the ignorant Idiot And on the other side where there is knowledge without zeale which is not the least blemish of our English Professours there may that olde taunt be fitly taken vp Praevolat intellectus sequitur tardus aut nullus affectus The vnderstanding flyeth before but the affection cometh limping a long way after if at all 4 A fourth pare I find in Parisiensis Gul Paris ser in Aseens Dom to be Contemptus Mundi Amor Caelestis regni a contempt of the world and worldly things and a desire of heauen and heauenly things For neither can we be fully weaned froÌ„ this world vnless we be truly enamoured with that other world nor truly enamoured with that other world vnless we be fully weaned froÌ„ this world 5 A sift pare I finde in Hugo de S to Victore Hug de S Vict Iustit Monast ser 97 to be Gemina Charitas a two-fold Loue In Deum In Proximum the one towards God the other towards our Neighbour because as a bird is covered with her wings so doth Loue couer a multitude of sinnes Iac 5 20 Aust praefat in Psal 140 But Haec charitas non qualiscunque est saith Austin It 's not euery sick feather of loue that is fitt to be stuck in these wings For first our loue to God must be such as is God's to vs Voluntary not Mercenary then our loue to our Neighbours such as we would wish our Neighbour's should bee to vs sincere without hypocrisy Permanent without vncertainty and which must be the ground of both Religious without impiety For euen the wicked are leagued and linked together in the streightest bonds of a streined conscience and they are said entirely to loue one another impatiently to beare the absence one of another exceedingly to delight in the company and conference one of another But Amor iste Tartareus est This loue saith Austin is a hellish divelish loue Aust ibid Viscum habet quo deijciat in profundum non pennas quibus levet in caelum It hath in it bird-lime to catch and cast vs into hell not wings wherewith to elevate and lift vs vp to heauen 6 The sixt and last pare I finde in Petrus Blesensis Petr Blesens ser 51. to be Actio Contemplatio Action and Contemplations For in both these must a Christian man enterchangeably buisy himselfe His whole life must be as a Iacob's Ladder Gen 28 12. The foote of it fixed on the earth by Action but the top reaching vp to heauen by Contemplation One while he must be Angelus ascendens an Angel ascending to the service of God by Contemplation An other while Angelus descendens an Angel descending to the helpe of his Neighbour by Action The two Maister-feathers in the wing of Action are Obedience in the heart to obey what God commaundeth Psal 57 8. and Execution in the hand to performe what he enioyneth Psal 40 10. The two Maister-feathers in the wing of Contemplation are A Persuasion of God's Power to make vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luc 20 36. 1 Tim 2 4. aequall with the Angels and a Confidence in his Mercy that he will haue all men to be saued Lo the soule of the righteous hath sixe pare of wings The first pare A godly sorow for sinnes past and a wise praevention of future sinnes The second Hope and Feare The third Knowledge Devotion The fourth a Contempt of the world and worldly things and a Desire of heauen and heauenly things The fift the Loue of God and the Loue of our Neighbour The sixt and last Action and Contemplation Do ye wonder at this Aust in Psal St Austin make's this wonder yet more wonderfull For he saith plainely that Pennae sunt virtutes the wings of the soule are the virtues of the Soule and so consequently the soule hath so many wings as shee hath virtues For it is not with the soule as with other winged creatures of which the Naturalists observe that Volatilia imperfecta plures habent alas quà m perfecta Such as are imperfit haue more wings than the perfit as we see there are certeine imperfit insect flyes that haue foure or sixe wings whereas birds which are perfit creatures haue but two No the multiplicity of the soule 's wings is no argument of the imperfection but rather of the perfection of the soule which the more virtuous it is the more perfit it is and the more perfit it is the more eager it is to atteine to the highest pitch of perfection But because Properanti etiam celerit as mora est He that hasteneth think 's quicknes it selfe to be but slacknes therefore the devoute soule hying