Cron. 3.4 1 Chro 29.4 Silver and Gold in no small proportion ten thousand talents at least to overlay the walls of it besides the very beames and posts and doores o'respread with Gold Gold of Parvaim no other would serve the turne garnisht within with pretious stones and graved Cherubins 2 Chron 3. Cherubins of Gold too â—â—â—e Gold so sayes the Text vail'd over with blue and purple and crimson and fine Linnen nothing wanting for lustre or riches for beautie and magnificence for the house of a God the King would have it so Salomon the wise King and he would have it so for Ornament and not for Worship except for the worship of his God and that his God approves of with a fire from heaven 2 Chron. 7.1 And now my Brother what capitall offence in the Image of a Saint or Martyr historically or ornamentally done in the house of the Lord It invites not our knee but our eye not our Observance but our Observation or if perchance our Observance not our Devotion Though we honour Saints we doe them no worship and though sometimes wee sing of we sing not unto them wee sing of their Sufferings not of their Power and in so singing we sing unto God Sing first of his Power that he hath made them such Champions for Him and then Sing aloud of his Mercy that they were such Lights unto us And here what danger of Idolatry what colour for Offence what ground for Cavill or exception Our dayes of Ignorance and blind zeale are long since past by but it seemes not of Peevishnesse or Contradiction And certainely if Fancie or Spleene had not more to doe here than Judgement this Quarrell might be ended without Bloud We are so curious in Tything of Mynt and Cummin that we let goe the waightier matters of the Law and whilst we dispute the indifferencies of a painted roofe or window we sometimes let downe the very walls of a Church And I dare say if a Consistory did not more scarre some than a Conscience Temples would stand like those Aegyptian Monuments I know not whether a Modell of Antiquity or Desolation 'T is a misery when the life of Religion shall lye in the Tongues of men and not in their Hands or if in their Hands sometimes not in their Hearts The times are so loud for Faith Faith that the noyse thereof drownes sometimes the very Motion of good Workes and even there too where Faith is either begotten or at least strengthened in the House of the Lord That stands Naked and sometimes Bare-headed as if it begged for an Almes when our Mansions swell in pride of their Battlements the beauty of their Turrets and yet their Inhabitants still cry as the mad people did after the Floud Come Gen. 11.4 let us make Bricke let us Build But all this while No noise of an Axe or a Hammer about the House of the Lord Their project is to lift their Earth unto Heaven and it matters not though the Heaven here below lay levell with the Earth they sing of a City and a Tower to get them a Name They care not for a Temple to sing aloud in to the Name of their God And hence it is that this God makes that sometimes a way to their confusion which they intended a meanes to their Glory I have observ'd three speciall sorts of Builders in our Age and three sorts of singing by them Some build up Babel with the stones of Jerusalem Adorne their owne Mansions by demolishing of Churches and such sing onely Requiems to their owne name and are so farre from singing unto Gods that he cries out against them by his Prophet Though you build aloft Obad. 4. and nestle among the Cloudes yet I will bring you downe into the dust of the Earth Others build up Ierusalem with the stones of Ierusalem repaire one Church with the ruines of another Take from that Saint and Give unto this And in this they thinke they sing aloud unto God but hee heares not their voice or if hee heare he rebukes it Away with your sacrifices I will none of your burnt offerings Isa 1.13 they are abomination unto me saith the Lord God Others build up Ierusalem with the stones of their Babel Repaire the ruines of Gods house with their owne costs and materialls and not onely repaire but beautifie it as you see And such not onely sing unto God but sing Psalmes unto him Talke and doe to the Glory of his Name And blessed is the man that doth it doth it as it should be done without froth of ostentation or wind of Applause or pride of Singularity But from the uprightnesse and integrity of a sound heart Psa 69.9 can Sing aloud to his God 'T is my zeale to thy house that hath thus eaten me up And doubtlesse he that is so zealous for the house of the Lord the Lord also will be mercifull unto His and hee that so provides for the worship of Gods name God also will provide for the preservation of His Deut. 28. Blessed shall he be in the City and Blessed in the field Blessed in his comming in and Blessed in his going out Blessed in his basket and in his store Blessed in the fruit of his cattell and the fruit of his ground Gods speciall Providence shall pitch his Tents about him the dew of Heaven from above and the flowers of the Earth from below Before him his Enemies flying behind him Honours attending about him Angels intrenching on his right hand his fruitfull Vine on his left his Olive-branches without Health of body within Peace of Conscience and thus Psal 25.12 His Soule shall dwell at Ease and his Seed shall inherit the Land And whilst he sings unto Heaven Blessed be the Name of the Lord for his mercy endureth for ever Heaven shall rebound to the Earth and the Earth sing aloud unto him Blessed is he that putteth his trust in the Lord for Mercy shall incompasse him on every side And now O Lord it is thy Blessings which we want and thy Mercies which we beg Let thy Blessings and thy Mercies so fall upon us as we doe put our trust in Thee Lord in Thee have we trusted let us never be confounded Amen Gloria in excelsis Deo Amen FINIS The Christian Duell IN TWO SERMONS Ad Magistratum Preached at two severall ASSIZES held at TAUNTON in Sommerset Anno Domini 1634. 1635. By Humphrey Sydenham ROM 8.5 Qui secundum Carnem sunt quae Carnis sunt sapiunt Qui verò secundum Spiritum quae Spiritus sunt Vellem quidem et carnem meam esse in vita sed quia non potest sit vel Spiritus meus sit vel Anima mea D. Aug. Serm. 6. de Verbis Domini LONDON Printed by IOHN BEALE for Humphrey Robinson at the Signe of the Three Pigeons in PAULS Church-yard 1637. TO THE TRVLY NOBLE BOTH BY BLOVD and VERTVE Sir IOHN POULETT KNIGHT Sonne and Heire
swadling band Iob 26.11 breakes up for it his decreed place and sets barrs and gates and saies Hither to shalt thou come no farther and here shall thy proud waves bee stayed Iob 38.9 10. Shall we yet step a staire lower and opening the Jawes of the bottom lesse pit see how powerfully hee displayes his Eanners in the dreadfull dungeon below Behold Hell is naked before him Iob 26.6 and destruction hath no covering This made our Prophet sing more generally The Lord is above all Gods whatsoever pleased him that did He in Heaven and Earth and in the Sea and in all deepe places Psal 135.6 Psal 135.6 Thus you heare God is in the world as the Soule is in the body life and government And as the soule is in every part of the body so is God in every part of the world No Quarter-master nor Vice-gerent He but universall Monarch and Commander Totus in toto Totus in qualibet parte A God every where wholly a God and yet one God every where onely One whom the vaine conjectures of the Heathen dreaming to be moe gave in the Skie the name of Iupiter in the Ayre Iuno in the Water Neptune in the earth Vesta and sometimes Ceres the name of Apollo in the Sunne in the Moone Diana of Aeolus in the windes Ex D. August Hot kerus Eccles pol. l. b. 1. Sect. 3. of Pluto and Proserpine in Hell And in fine so many guides of Nature they imagin'd as they saw there were kinds of things naturall in the world whom they honour'd as having power to worke or cease according to the desires of those that homaged and obey them But unto us there is one onely Guide of all Agents naturall and he both the Creator and Worker of all in all alone to be bless'd honour'd and ador'd by all for evermore And is God the Lord indeed Is he chiefe Soveraigne of the whole world Hath his Power so large a Jurisdiction Doth it circuit and list in Water Earth Aire Fire nay the vaster Territories of Heaven and Hell too How then doth this fraile arme of Flesh dare list it selfe against Omnipotence Why doth it oppose or at least incite the dreadfull Armies of him who is the great Lord of Hosts Why doe we muster up our troupes of Sinnes as if we would set them in battel-aray against the Almighty Scarce a place where he displaies the Ensignes of his Power but man seemes to hang out his flag of Defiance or at least of Provocation and though he hath no strength to conquer yet he hath a will to affront If he cannot batter his Fort he will be playing on his Trenches anger his God though not wound him In the earth he meetes him by his groveling Sinnes of Avarice oppression violence rapine Sacriledge and others of that stye and dunghill In the Water by his flowing sinnes of Drunkennesse Riots Surfets Vomitings and what else of that frothy Tide and Inundation In the Aire by his windy sinnes of Ambition Arrogance Pride Vain-glory and what vapour and exhalation else his fancie relisheth In the Fire by his flaming sins of Lust Choller Revenge Bloud and what else sparkles from that raging furnace In Heaven by his lofty Sinnes of Prophanation Oathes Blasphemies Disputes against the Godhead and the like And lastly as if Hell were with man on earth or man which is but Earth were in Hell already by his damned sins of Imprecations Curses Bannings Execrations and others of that infernall stampe which seeme to breath no lesse than Fire and Sulphure and the very horrors of the burning Lake Thus like those Monsters of old wee lift our Pelion upon Ossa Tumble one mountaine of transgressions upon another no lesse high than fearefull as if they not onely cryed for thunder from above but also dar'd it But wretched man that thou art who shall deliver thee from the horrour of this death 2 Thes 1.8 When the Lord shall reveale himselfe from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that feare him not what Cave shall hide 2 Sam. 22.9.16 or what Rocke cover them At his rebuke the foundations of the world are discovered even at the blast of the breath of his displeasure Out of his mouth commeth a devouring flame and if he do but touch these mountaines they shall smoake Psal 104.32 if he but once lift up his iron Rod he rends and shivers and breaketh in pieces like a Potters vessell he heweth asunder the snares of the ungodly and his enemies he shall consume like the fat of Lambes Psal 37.20 O then let all the earth feare the Lord let all the Inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him let Kings throw downe their Scepters at his feet and the people their knees and hearts at those Scepters from the Cedar of Libanus and the Oke of Basan to the shrub of the Valley and the humble Hysope on the wall let all bow and tremble Princes and all Iudges of the Earth both young men and Maidens old men and children let them all seare and in searing praise and in praising sing of the Name and Power of the Lord God for his Name onely is excellent Psal 148.13 and his power and Glory above Heaven and Earth On the other side is the Lord Omnipotent indeed Hath his Power so wide a Province and extent Is the glory of his mighty Acts thus made knowne to the sounes of men Is his Kingdome not onely a great but an everlasting Kingdome His Dominion through and beyond all Generations Psal 145.13 Doth hee plant and root up prune and graft at his owne pleasure Psal 147.6 Doth hee raise the humble and meeke and bring the ungodly down to the ground Is he with his Ioseph in the prison with Eliah in the Cave with Shadrach in the Furnace with Daniel in the Den Doth hee deliver his anoynted from the persecution of Saul His Prophet from the fury of Iezcbel his Apostle from the bonds of Herod His Saint from the Sword and Fagot of the Insidell Psal 104.21 Doth hee cloath the Lillies of the field Have Lyons roaring after their prey their food from him Doth he give fodder unto the Cattell quench the wild Asses thirst feed the young Ravens that call upon him Doth he stop the mouthes of wilde beasts Quench the violence of fire Abate the edge of the Sword Shake the very powers of the Grave and all for the rescue and preservation of his servants his faithfull his beloved servants Why art thou then so sad O my soule why so sad and why so disquieted within thee Trust in God Psal 147.3 he healeth those that are broken in heart and giveth medicine to heale their sick enesse Though thy afflictions be many thy adversaries mighty thy temptations unresistable thy grievances unwieldie thy sinnes numberlesse their weight intollerable yet there is a God above in his provident watch-Tower a God
that can both protect and pardon infinite as well in Mercy as in Power Are thy wounds grievous there is balme in Gilead Thy ulcers in the eye of man incurable the Samaritan hath Oyle he searohes and poures in and bindes up and heales the maladies of those that seeke him with a true heart Psal 72.1 Ah quam bonus Israel Deus iis qui recto sunt corde saith the Psalmist Doubtlesse he that watcheth his Israel will neither slumber nor sleepe but preserveth his children as tenderly as the apple of that eye that watcheth them hee is their staffe and crutch and supportation in all their weakenesse he erects them if they fall directs them if they erre succours them if they want refresheth them in the heate of their persecutions mittigates the tempests of their sorrowes moderates the waves of their bitter passions smiteth their enemies upon the cheeke bone Psal 3.7 breakes the teeth of those that rage and grin so furiously upon them Insomuch that God hath sworne by his Prophet to have mercy upon the dwelling places of Iacob and all they that devoure her shall be devoured and they that spolle her shall bee made a spoile and all they that prey upon her shall be made a prey And he will restore health unto her and cure her of all her wounds Jer. 30.16 17. Jer. 30.16 17. This should arme us with resolution against that triple assault of the world flesh and divell and make us buckle on our harnesse as that good King of Israel did I will not be afraid saith hee for ten thousands which should compasse mee round about Afraid Psal 3.6 No for ten thousand of men and dangers If calamities hover over me God is my Tower if they would undermine me God is my Rocke if they come before me he is my Sanctuary if behind me he is my Castle if about me he is my Trench if on my right hand he is my Sword if on my left hand he is my Buckler if any way he is my shield and for tresse and mighty deliverer Then put not your trust in Princes nor in any child of man Psal 146.3 5 6. for there is no helpe in them Blessed is hee that hath the God of Iacob for his helpe and whose hope is in the Lord his God which made heaven and earth the Sea and all that therein is which keepeth his promise for ever This made our Prophet awake his Harpe and Lute and cheerefully sing that Magnificat of his Praise the Lord Psal 146.1 O my soule praise the Lord yea as long as I have any being I will sing praises unto my God I will bee like a greene Olive Tree in the house of my God my trust shall bee in the tender Mercie of God for ever and ever Psal 52.9 Once more and but once Is God thus indeed a God of power Questionlesse and only a God of power No the text tells us he is a God of mercy too his goodnes keepes pace with his greatnes his sanctity with his fortitude Luke 1.49 He that is mighty saith the blessed Virgin hath done great things for mee and holy is his Name Luk. 1.49 Vpon which place Stella hath an adverte lector A note it seemes worth observation Mary there to Gods name joyning both sanctity and power Quia imperiumet potestas fine sanctitate Tyrannis est Stella in 1. Lucae v. 49. saith he Commaund not season'd with holines is but Tyranny Let Nabuchedonozer and Pharoah stand for instance whose wickednesse got them the nick-name of Tyrants which by their power otherwise had the title of Gods Empire there fore must acknowledge it selfe indebted to religion godlines being the chiefest top and welspring of all true vertues even as God is of all good things So naturall is the union of true religion with power that wee may holdly deeme there is neither truely where both are not Insomuch that where there is commaund without holines there is not power properly but cruelty and therefore God is not only stiled powerfull but holy also Sanctum et terribile nomen ejus and Consiteantur nomini tuo magno quoniam sanctum et terribile est in the 98. and 110. Psalmes And 't is this mixture of Sanctus and Potens that divides betweene the God of Heaven and those others of Earth Power and sanctity conjoyn'd proclaime a God Power without sanctity sometimes a Divell Mistake mee not I come not here to schoole the gray haire to cast dirt in the face of the Magistrate no I remember well what Elibu said unto Iob Is it fit to say to Princes yee are ungodly Job 34.18 By nomeanes I leave such reproofes to those saucie and pragmaticke spirits which will undertake to catechize a God teach Divinity what it hath to doe for whom the reply of Iob to Zophar shall passe for a counter checke O that you would altogether hold your peace and it should bee counted your greater wisedome Job 13.5 My drift and purpose in this point is onely to shew you how prone and head-long those dispositions are to all manner of depravednes which project rather to bee great then Good and this an instance or two from antiquitie shall cleere in which the relation onely shall be mine the application as you bring it home to your owne brests yours It was but an itch of Ambition and a thirst of Greatnesse not rectified as it ought that was the ground worke and first staire of Iulians Apostacie his fiercest enemies did acknowledge that hee was once a man of rare dexterity and forwardnesse both in Wit Vertue and these not without their salt and seasoning of true Religion D. Aug. lib. 5. de C. D. cap. 21. Sed illam egregiem indolem 't is both Saint Augustines phrase and testimony Amore dominandi decepit Sacrilega detestanda curiositas his love of Empire and a little curiosity to boot blew off his devotions from Christianity to Paganisme So that the Altars and Oracles of the true God are now left for those doubtfull and false ones of the Heathens where instead of Prophets inspir'd from Heaven hee now consults with the very factors and promoters for the Divell Wizards and Necromancers incited principally thereunto by the suggestions of Libanius the Sophister So fatall sometimes it proves to unstable greatnesse that where men more subtle than sound hang at the eares of it there 's commonly a trench dig'd no lesse for ruine than innovation Who knowes not that Nero the meteor and comet of the times he mov'd in had at first his faire promises of youth the glowings as it were and sparks of future Clemency and Goodnesse For when he was to signe the death of a Malefactor which was a solemne custome among the Romanes his unwillingnesse to doe with an Vtinam literas nescirem was if hee dissembled not a great argument of his mercie But when his Power once began to mount his Cruelty tooke wing
because in his workes Ad extra he doth more use mercy in forgiving than justice in punishing offences Thus Misericordia Dei plena est terra Psal 119.64 The Earth is full of the mercy of the Lord and it need be full the mercifull Lord knowes for the earth wants it miserably wants it And Domine in coelo misericordia tua Psal 36.5 Thy mercy is in heaven also Heaven is full of it and yet heaven never wanted it for there is no misery but fulnesse of joy for evermore And are Heaven and Earth thus full of his mercy where then doth his justice raigne in both these but that his mercy is sometimes superintendent and so doth qualify the other though not impaire it When justice is at the barre mercy interposeth ventures on the very seate of judgement and not only sits by it but sometimes in respect of man over it It doth mellow and sweeten justice and takes away the acrimony and sharpnesse of it Gods threatnings I confesse have sometimes a fearful browe and like a skie troubled flak'd with red intimate fire and bloud but scatter none They are sparkles perchance of his indignation but not coales sent onely to menace not to destroy Or if his vengeance once begin to kindle indeed so that from his Throne proceed Hailestones and coales of fixe lightnings and hot thunderbolts yet his mercies are still sprinkled on those flames and the very dregs of the cup of Gods sury are temper'd with some compassion nay God is seldome seene in any of his workes or his Attributes but mercy is there either as an agent or looker on Mercy in his goodnesse fortitude providence wisedome Power nay in his very justice To bee mercifull and just and mercy and justice mercifull and mercy just and justice are one with God Essentialiter though not Denominativè Concretes and Abstracts alter not the God-head but are the same in substance though not denomination And therefore whereas some workes of his are said to be of Iustice others of Mercy Non diversitas subjacentis sed varietas sensuum effectuum in creaturis monstratur saith Lombard there is no diversitie express'd of the thing signified by the words but the variety of sences and effects manifested in the Creatures Moreover in some of his workes there are said to be effects of his mercy in others effects of his justice not that Iustice doth produce one thing Mercy another if we referre them to his essence but because of some effects hee is understoode to be Index of others Miserator or as some please Iustus et Misericors In every worke therefore of God secundum effectum mercy and justice doe not alwaies concurre but in some mercy in others justice in others mercy and justice as some of the Schoole-men would suggest us and yet withall confesse that whatsoever God hath done Misericorditer egit Iuste referring the reason of the speech to the will of God which is Iustice and Mercy not to the effects of Iustice and Mercy which are in things and yet others conjecture and they more rationally that as God is said to doe all his workes justly and mercifully so it is to be granted that in every such worke there is mercy and justice Secundum effectum too because there is no worke of God in which there is not an effect or at least a signe of equity and clemency either conceal'd or open for sometimes his clemency is apparent and his equitie hid and sometimes E converso as the Master of the Sentences more at large in his 4. Booke 66. distinction Now as Mercy and Iustice goe hand in hand in respect of God the Father so they doe also of God the Sonne Omnia quae Dei sunt Christus est saith Origen Christ is Gods All Wisedome Sanctity Providence Fortitude Iustice Mercy and all these One but one here as before by way of Essence not Denomination To be Iustice then is to be as Essentially Christ as to be mercy and to bee iust as to be mercifull wee cannot divorce nor sever them for loe mercy and truth here meet together righteousnesse and peace doe kisse each other meet and kisse in the same Christ Thus Isaiah calls him the Prince of peace Isai 9.6 and Ieremy The Lord our righteousnesse Jer. 23.6 Here Righteousnesse and Peace kisse againe and as they kisse mercy and iustice meet mercy as hee is the Prince of peace Iustice as the Lord our righteousnes One Prophet sayes that he is Fons misericordiae another that he is Sol iustitiae So that belike hee hath as well the face of a Lyon as of a man of a Judge as a Mediator and therefore hee came not onely to governe but to iudge the Nations Government presupposes mercy and iudgement truth and therefore he is called mercy and truth towards Israel Psal 98.3 Loe here mercy and truth kisse and as they kisse peace and righteousnesse meet meet and kisse in the glorious Bridegroome Christ Iesus Thus All the wayes of the Lord are mercy and truth Psal 25.9 Misericordia quâ placabilis est D. Aug. ad psal 24. v. 9 veritas quâ incorruptus est allam praebuit donando peccata hanc opera 〈◊〉 faith Saint Augustine 'T is mercy then makes God not implacable and 't is truth that speakes him not corrupt by the one he is ready to forgive by the other to censure and scanour Actions His mercy therfore still leaneth to his truth and his truth declines not from his iustice All the wayes of the Lord are heere all the waies by which he either descends unto us or by which we ascend unto him By his truth heaven first came down unto earth and by mercy earth climb's up again to heaven 't is truth qua a malo declinamus 't is mercy qua bonum facimus Lom lib. 4. dist 66. In these two are all Gods workes included and these two goe hand in hand with his iudgements Towards his Saints all his waies are mercy towards the wicked all his wayes are Truth Quià in judicando subvenit sic non deest misericordia in miserando id exhibet quod promisit nè desit verit as To all those then that hee doth either pardon or condemne all his wayes are Mercie and Truth Quià ubi non miseretur vindictae veritas datur as S. Augustine pleades it in his 19. Sermon upon the 5. of Matthew They then that would divide and sunder the Lord of Life and cleave as some doe his mercie from his Iustice deale with him as some curious Limners and Painters doe who commonly picture him with a halfe face That which is of mercy is transparent and lovely to the eye the other of Iustice is shadowed and understood But certainely they that would looke upon him as All mercy deale too much with the spectacle and the multiplying glasse where the thing they desire to see shewes greater than it is and so endeavouring to aseist the
spirit the very joints and the marrow Heb. 4.12 Is Piety then blossoming shall I not cherish it Is Wickednesse branching forth shall I not prune it shall I make a Pulpit the Throne of Falshoode shall I teach God to lye shall I bitter vertue and sweeten vice Call Light Darkenesse and Darkenesse Light Am I not Gods Embassadour his Herauld shall I proclaime Peace where there is open Warre deale with the Dulcimer and the Cymball when I should be at the Trumpet and the Fife shall I sing of mens providence when I should cry downe their Opression magnify their Religion when I should scourge their Hypocrisy shall I apply Lenitives and Oyles where Corrasives are more proper stroake a sore when I should bruize it Lastly shall I instead of the Rasor come with the Brush and the Combe when I should launce or cut off a growing Insolence shall I curle and frounse it No but as on the one side I condemne the rough hands of Esau so on the other the soft voyce of Iacob as well him that gripes the tender and relenting Conscience as him that will not scarifie the impostumated and corrupt There is a time as well for Lightning and Thunder as for Raine and all these from the cloudes above from the Ministers of God who are his spirituall cloudes upon which the Fathers have many a dainty flourish and continuing the Metaphor drive on to an Allegory and say that when God threatens by preachers Tonat per nubes when he doth wonders by them D. Aug. in Psal 35. v. 5. Coruscat per nubes when he promiseth blessings by them Pluit per nubes Thy mercy O Lord is in the Heavens and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds Psal 108.4 By Truth here Saint Augustine understands the Word and by the Clouds the Teachers and Dispencers of it Now how can we that are but Earth saith the Father know that Gods mercies are in the Heavens mittendo veritatemsuam usquè ad nubes by fending his truth unto the clouds by revealing his word to his faithfull Ministers which like those bright clouds Zac. 10.1 shal give their showers of rain to every grasse of the Field Every man that is but as the grasse of the Field shall know that these mercies of God are heavenly and provided for him if hee beleeve in the truth of that word which God reacheth unto his clouds or rather in that truth which is The Word that commeth with the clouds and every shall see Revel 1.7 Now though Pastors are so compar'd unto the clouds that they can lighten and thunder as well as raine yet the raine is most fruitfull to the pasturing of their Flockes It was a fearefull judgement God was preparing for Iudah his Plant and Israel his Vineyard when he threatned it with a Mandabo nubibus nè pluant super eam I will command the clouds that they raine not on it Isai 5.6 And certainely that Plant cannot but wither that Vineyard but grow into barrennesse and instead of the Grape brings forth the Thorne and the Brier which is not refreshed with the Dew of Heaven not watered with the droppings of these Clouds And therefore the Church had need to pray Jude 1 2. that her Pastors bee not such as Saint Iude calls Clouds without water dry and ignorant Pastors or Saint Peter 2 Pet. 2.17 Clouds carried withâ—â— tempest turbulent and factious Pastors but Iobs wel-ballanced clouds Job 37.16 those bottles of Heaven as hee stiles them which drop downe the fruitfull dew and send the joyfull raine on the inheritance Pastors that can feed as well by instruction as reprehension by knowledge as understanding As there was before a feeding by the Word 2. Exemplo so here a seeding by Example too our Life must preach as well as our Doctrine Action as Instruction Titus must not onely speake the things which become sound Doctrine but in all things besides Hee must shew himselfe a patterne of good workes Part. 1. past Tit. 2.17 Non deoet hominem ducatum suscipere qui nescit homines vivendo praeire saith Saint Gregory hee that hath the charge and governement of others should as farre out-strip them in Example as in Office Those whom the Scriptures so richly cloath with Titles of Lights and Candles and Burning Lamps should so shine before men that they may not onely heare their words but also see their good workes and then Glorificabunt patrem they shall glorifie their Father which is in Heaven Vocem virtutis dabis si quod suades prius tibi cognosceris persuasisse validior operis quam oris vox as Saint Bernard sweetly in his 59. Sermon upon the Canticles Hee that will worke a reformation in the miscarriages of others must first circumcise his owne Si me visflere dolendum est prius If I will be a curbe to others I must first be a bridle to my selfe The Pastor hath not so great a conflict with the eare of the multitude as with the eye which is more active and intent upon what hee practiceth than what he doth prescribe and this is rather their madnesse than their judgement since examples are not totally to carry them but precepts Nazianzene you know was wont to stile great men Speaking Lawes and unprinted Statutes they were first Lawes and Statutes to themselves and then they not only spake obedience to others but also impress'd and commanded what they spake Boni mores praedicantium Saleorum Doctrinae the integrity and manners of the Preacher is the salt of his Doctrine 2 Kings 2.20 And as that Salt which Elisha cast into the Spring made the waters sweet which were before bitter and unsavoury so shall his conversation sweeten his precepts though they seeme never so bitter and untooth some to the people He that will be great in the Kingdome of God must both teach and doe nay if he teach well he must first doe Mat. 5.19 and then teach Eusebius tells Damasus and Theodosius Facite posteapradicate Christ never said Qui praedicaverit voluntatem patris mei sed qui fecerit Not he that preacheth but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Mat. 7.21 shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven Subtilium verborum Dollor non operum est quaedam levis aurium inslatio 〈◊〉 Damâ—sum Thenâ—osium de vila â—â—ansiâ—u S. Hieronim sumus sine fructu pertransiens saith the same Father This feeding of a Flocke by words onely is but a slight fanning of the ayre a thin cloud of smoake that in the rising vanisheth and what is this to the substance of Religion Surely no more than the shadow of it Give then Camelians ayre and Men bread There are many intruders upon the Sanctuary of the Lord whose Bells tingle shrewdly but their Pomgranate buds not forth a noise wee heare of but no fruit Cant. 7.12 as if all Religion were planted in the tongue none in
or degrees of perfection in them in some of them not all Oculus corporis est anima animae mens the soule is the eye of the body and the minde is the eye of the soule and as the eye is the beautie of the face the bright Starre of that Orbe it moves in so is this the beautie and bright Starre of the soule and therefore that is called Mens quod emineat in Anima Minde because it shines in the soule as a light in the spheare it rolls in Hence some would derive the Etimology of Mens from the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 D. Aug. ut supra cap. 11. which signifies the Moone not so much for varietie of change as brightnesse or else Mens a mensurando from a dexteritie it hath in measuring or contriving Now Dijudicare mensurare estactus intellectus Parte 1. q. 79. Art 9. ad 4. sayes Thomas to judge and to measure is an art of the understanding and the understanding is the very forme and selfe-being of the soule or rather the soule of the soule as the apple of our eye is the very Eye of our eye so that the minde is the beame and splendor of the soule as the soule is of the body so neere Divinity and so much resembling it that the Romanes of old ador'd the Minde as a Goddesse and by Marcus Aemilius Scaurns there was a Temple dedicated Deae menti ut bonam haberent mentem as S. Augustine observes in his 4. Booke De civitate Dei 21. chapter Well then that we may now looke backe unto the Text we take not here the word Mens physically for reason and understanding as they are in Meris naturalibus but Theologically for the spirituall and regenerate part of man And so taken it stands at some distance with the word Anima though not with the word Spiritus For though every Soule be a kinde of Spirit yet every Spirit is not a Soule nor every Soule a Minde at least a Minde regenerate but Minde and Spirit for the most part kisse in Scripture Saint Paul in the latter end of this chapter calling that Mens which in the very beginning of the next he names Spiritus so that Minde and Spirit in a sacred sympathy goe hand in hand but soule and spirit doe sometimes justle My Soule doth magnifie the Lord and my spirit hath rejoced in God my Saviour Luk. 1.46 Here the blessed Virgin makes a difference betweene her * Non in hoc gemmo vocabule gemina substantia intelligitur sed cum ad distinctionem ponitur gemina vis ejusdem substantiae una superior per spiritum altera inserior per animam designatur in hac utique divisione anima quod animale est in imo remanet spiritus autem quod spiritale est ad summum evolat ab infimis dividitur ut ad summa sublimetur ab anima seinditur ut domino uniatur De Spiritu Anima cap. 34. soule and her spirit and why why It is called soule in respect of vivification spirit of contemplation Soule as it is a leiger and sojourner with the body quickning and informing that Spirit as it is mounted and imbarqu'd for Heaven and rapt with the beatitude of that caelestiall Host the soule doth onely magnifie God as a God the spirit rejoyceth in that God as a Saviour In a word the soule in man as it is a soule is like Fire raked up in embers the spirit like that fire extenuated and blowne into a flame the one glowing in our ashy part the other sparkling in our intellectuall And this distinction the great Doctour himselfe useth to his Thessalonians where after some benediction at length he prayeth that their whole spirit and soule and body may be preserved blamelesse to the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ 1 Thes 5.23 Marke hee begins with the spirit O culatissima hominis parte the Eagle part of man which eyes things divine that like another Mary alwayes sits at the feet of Iesus then comes the soule Stella in cap. 1. Lucae Quae naturales exercet ratiocinales this like another Martha is cumbred with much serving busied about Reason and the naturall faculties but the unum necessarium it hath not chosen yet And lastly the Body that villa Marthae the Village where our Martha dwells those earthly affections of ours which so taste of the body and earth that if they be not restrain'd make man as it were all body that is all carnall for which cause we finde some men call'd spirituall some animall and some carnall 1 Cor. 2.3 Thus the spirit is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a Pilot or Governour squaring and fashioning new motions in the regenerate and subjecting their will to the will of God The soule is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under whose Lee come the sensitive faculties Reason Iudgement not yet wash'd and purified by the spirit the body Organum illorum the engine and Instrument of both which they imploy in their diversities of actions and operations These three are the integrall parts of a man regenerate when of the earthly man there are only two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aret. in Ep. 1. Thess cap. 5. v. 23. soule and body no spirit he it is foolishnesse unto him Hence proceedes that double man so frequently mentioned in the Scriptures the one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Animall or carnall and lives yet in the state of Nature the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentall or spirituall and in the state of Grace shewing his profession by his Faith and his Faith by his Workes Now as with man there is a double man spirituall and secular so with the spirituall man there is a double man too inward and outward the one in the Text here call'd Minde the other Flesh that serving the Law of God and this the Law of sinne And here by the Law of God wee understand not that onely on Mount Sinai first promulgated by Moses and after him taught by the Prophets but that also on Mount Sion by Christ and his Apostles to wit The eternall will of God declared in the Doctrine of the Gospell which is no lesse a Law than the other and this Law every regenerate man doth serve serve though not fulfill serve with the minde a willing minde crying out with the Prophet My heart is ready Psal 42.1 my heart is ready so ready that it panteth and gaspeth for the water-brooke the Commandements of God which are as deepe waters But on the other side the Flesh playes the Craven and as if it had received some deadly wound makes him complaine with the same Prophet Thine Arrowes sticke fast in me there is no health in my flesh nor any rest in my bones by reason of my sinne Psal 38.3 You heare then how sinne still lyes at the doores of the Flesh though the Flesh be not properly the
seate of finne but the soule and yet the soule new borne by the spirit serves principally the Law of God which is indeed rather a freedome than a service a perfect freedome sayes our Lyturgie and because made perfect by the Spirit the spirit of freedome too Non accepistis spiritum serviiutis sedlibertatis And if Christ have made us free we are free indeed otherwise our freedome is no better than a bondage Rom. 8.15 This made the Singer of Israel warble sweetly Psa 19.7 The Law of the Lord is an undefiled Law converting the soule And the Soule in this manner converted is a kinde of undefiled soule because it so serves the Law of the Lord. Thus He that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 One Spirit How Essentially no how then accidentally one in charity consent of will grace and glory too Cornel. Lap. 1. Cor. 6.17 Quae hominem saciunt quasi Divinum Deum which make a man as t were divine so farre forth God that with God he is as one and the same spirit And therefore a chaste and a holy soule the Fathers often stile Deisponsam the Betrothed of the Lord. Now Serm. 7. sup Cant. Sponsa and Sponsus as S. Bernard notes Maximè indicant internos animi affectus And doubtlesse God doth so intimately affect a religious and a sanctified soule that in his Armes he doth imbrace it even as his Spouse and with the Beloved in the Canticls doth even kisse it with the kisses of his mouth and therefore as at first in the matrimoniall Vnion betweene man and wife Cant. 1.2 Two were made as one flesh so in this mysticall union betweene God and the Soule two are become as one spirit Againe The Commandement of the Lord is pure and giveth light unto the eyes Psal 19.8 Light unto the Eyes what Eyes the eyes I told you of before the eyes of our intellectualls the eyes of our minde which being dimm'd and clouded by the fall of the first man God doth illuminate againe by the beames of the spirit and the Eyes thus opened behold instantly the wonderfull workes of his Law and so Psa 36.10 In lumine tuo videbimus lumen In this light wee shall see light Psa 119.105 the Light of his Word and Commandements which he called A Lanthorne unto our feet and a light unto our pathes and without which we grope in ignorance and error walking in blindnesse and in the shadow of Death the way of the wicked being darknesse saith Salomon and a continuall stumbling Prov. 4.18 19 but the way of the Just as a shining Light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day And therefore S. Peter cals the word of Prophecie which is the Word of God and of his Law A Light which shineth in a darke place untill the Dawne and the Day-starre arise in our hearts 2 Pet. 1.19 Our hearts which were but the Chambers of darknesse the couch and resting place of our blinded minde God who hath commanded light to shine out of darknesse hath shin'd into 2 Cor. 4.6 shin'd into the darker corners of them To give the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ who is the spirituall day-star that day-spring from on High Luk. 1.79 which through the tender mercies of God hath thus visited us giving light to them that sit in darknesse and guiding their feet in the way of everlasting peace Hereupon the Kingly Prophet ravish'd it seemes with the joy of the inward man tells us That the statutes of the Lord are right and rejoyce the heart Psal 19. V. 8. The heart which was before meerely sensuall a rude lumpe of flesh a cage of uncleane birds a bundle of sinfull and impure thoughts they new brush and sweepe and so garnish with spirituall gifts and graces that insteed of drooping they cheere and elevate it making that which was before the ground of Terror the meanes of rejoycing more desiring it now than gold than fine gold sweeter than the hony or the hony combe that to the mind regenerate the Law of God is not a service barely but a delight His delight is in the Law of God and in that Law doth he exercise himselfe day and night Psal 1.2 And indeed wherein should he be exercised what object more proper or more blessed what should the Spirit minde but the things of the Spirit what the Righteous aime at but his center and eternall resting point God hath created man for his own Glory and as Man is the end of the world so is God the end of man and his Glory of both And therefore he is call'd The Temple of the Living God and his minde the Sanctum Sunctorum in that Temple in which God is said not onely to dwell Serm. 27. Sup. Cant. but to walke 1 Cor. 6.16 O quanta illi Animae latitudo quanta meritorum praerogativa quae divinam in se praesentiam digna invenitur suscipere sufficiens capere saith S. Bernard That Soule is of a boundlesse circuit and goodnesse that can comprehend the incomprehensible God Cannot the greater World containe him and is he involv'd in the lesse Is the Minde a Temple for him to dwell in that dwelleth not in Temples made with hands Is there in Man a Tabernacle for his service at whose seete both Men and Angels fall downe and worship This then should mount him above the world and all the base Lees and dregs thereof disrobe him of his earthly garment make him put on the New man in Righteousnesse and Holines shake off the very dust from his feete those dusty corruptions which sticke so fast on his feet of frailty lifting himselfe above himselfe and retiring from all outward things into the Soule the soule unto the minde and the mind unto God may seeke his conversation in Heaven onely minding nothing but Heaven and Heavenly things every true sanctified soule being not only Heavenly saith S. Bernard but Heaven it selfe Sâ—rm 27. sup Cant. and sitting in the body tanquam Deus in suo mundo where his understanding shines as the Sunne his vertues as the Starres and his Faith as the Moone which he calls Psal 89.36 The faithfull witnes in Heaven And so Man being a kinde of Heaven to himselfe and having a God within him ruling and commanding it should alwayes have his Contemplation wing'd his thoughts towring upwards to the God of Gods in the Heaven of Heavens where there is joy unspeakeable for evermore And now you have heard what the Front of the Text meaneth by the word Mind what her office and properties and how they looke to the Law of God In the next ranke I am to sew you how the Flesh comes up with all her Forces and how that joynes with the Law of Sinne. PARS II. With the Flesh I serve the Law of Sinne. SOme Expositors leaving the Geneva Rode
and veines and the joynts swimming with marrow and fatnesse there is a kinde of macelency and famine and leannesse in the soule all goodnesse is vacant and banish'd then and Lust keepes her revell and rendevouz A fit caution and mements as I conceive for this place and meeting that those dayes which the Church hath of Old solemnely consecrated to the service of the Spirit we devote not another way in making provision for the Flesh to fulfill the Lusts thereof That the time shee hath set apart for Fasting and Prayer whereby we should magnifie the Lord upon the strings and pipe and so make the tongue Cymbalum jubilationis A wel-tun'd Cymball wee over-lavish not to feasting and excesse and so make our throate Sepulchrum apertum An open sepulchre I know that Noble assemblies require something extraordinary both for State and Multitude and let them have it But withall I beseech them to consider what Lent is Preached in Lent ad Magstratum and with what devout strictnesse observ'd by the Christian Church for many hundred yeeres together though in these dayes of Flesh cryed downe by some pretenders to the Spirit as a superstitious observation of our blinded Ancestours But let them know or if they doe not let them reade reade Antiquity in her cleere though slow streamings unto us not the troubled and muddy waters novelty hath cast upon our shore and then they shal know that it is a time of Sackcloth and Ashes and casting earth upon the Head for the humbling and macerating of the Sinner not of putting on the glorious apparell your vaine shinings in silkes and trssues for the ruffling of the Gallant A time like that in the mountaine of restraint and scarcity when a few barly loaves and some small Fishes should suffice a Multitude Ioh. 6.9 Not of pomp or magnificence when the stalled Oxe and the pastur'd Sheepe and the fallow Deere 1 King 2.4 and the satted Fowle are a service for the Lords Anointed For mine owne part I am not so rigid either in practise or opinion or if I were in both it matters not where a higher judgement and authority overballac'd me to deny sicknesse or age or in respect of travell or multitude of imployments the publike Magistrate what in this case were either convenient or necessary or enough however I desire them to remember that both the Sword and the Keyes have a stroke here and so that they would feed onely not cloy nourish not daintie up the body knowing that when it is cocker'd and kept too high the Soule it selfe is manacled and more than lame and heavie in sacred operations And therefore let us not be altogether men of Flesh but as the Father hath it occasionally on this Text D. Aug. 43. Ser. de verb. Dom. Vincat spiritus carnem aut certè nè vincatur a carne let the spirit have a sway too and though not wholly a Conquerour yet make her not a captive let our Devotions goe along with our entertainments our Acts of Charity with our Acts of Iustice Foeneratur Domino qui miseretur pauperis saith the Wiseman He that hath pitty upon the poore lendeth or as the Latine implies putteth to use unto the Lord Prov. 19.17 Now Qui accipit mutuum servus est foenerantis The borrower is a Servant to the lender Prov. 22.7 So that the Lord is as 't were a Servant unto him that hath pitty on the poore because in that pitty hee lendeth to the Lord. And indeed who would not be a lender to the Lord when his interest may be a Crowne and his reward everlastingnesse who would not exchange a morsell of bread for the celestiall Manna and almes for the food of Angels a few earthly ragges for the white Robe of the Saints Since most of these are not so properly a lending or benevolence as a due The gleanings of the Cor-field Levit. 23.22 and the shakings of the Vintage were a Legacie long since bequeath'd the poore man by the Law when the Gospel was yet in her non-age and minoritie But now it is not onely the crums and fragments from thy Table and so feed the hungry or the courser shearings of thy Flock and so cloath the naked But visit the sicke too and those which are in prison Mat. 25.26 So that our charity should not onely reach the impotent and needy but the very malefactor and legall transgressor The groanings of the prison should bee as well listned to as the complainings in the streets and at this time more specially more particularly that those bowels which want and hunger have even contracted and shrivel'd up and those bodies which cold and nakednesse have palsied and benumm'd not finding it seemes so much pitty as to cloath and feed them as they should whilst they were alive may at last meet with such a noble and respective charitie as to shroud and interre them like Christians when they are dead In the meane time I have that humble suit to preferre to the Gods of Earth here which David had of old to the God of Heaven Oh let the sorrowfull sighing of the prisoners come before you Psal 79.12 according to the greatnesse of your power have mercy on those which are appointed to dye Let your Vinegar be tempered with Oyle Iustice suger'd o're with some compassion that where the Law of God sayes peremptorily Thou shalt restore and not dye let not there the Law of Man be writ in blood and say except to the notorious and incorrigible offender Thou shalt dye and not live There will a time come when wee shall all appeare before the Iudgement seate of God 2 Cor. 5.10 And what then what The Sinners Plea will bee generally then Job 9.3 Lord I cannot answer thee one for a thousand And what if I cannot yet O Lord with thee there is mercy and plenteous redemption Psal 130.7 But now and then it falls out so unhappily at the Judgement seate of Man that parties arraign'd though they answer a thousand in one multitudes of inditements in one innocence yet sometimes naked circumstances and meere colourable conjectures without any solid proofe at all shall so cast them in the voyce of a dazled Iury that there is neither hope of mercy nor redemption Gen. 40.22 Esther 7.10 but Pharohs Baker must to the Tree and Haman to the Gallowes fifty cubits high But in this case Bee learned and wise yee Iudges of the Earth serve the Lord in feare and rejoyce to him in reverence Psal 2.10 But I have here digress'd a little and perhaps a little too sawcily in this point of charity let charity have the blame if shee have deserved it whilest I returne where I formerly left you and that was at a feast in time of fasting Good LORD how preposterously nay how rebelliously and in one act crossing both the civill and ecclesiasticke power which prohibite it And therefore since nature saies for the better
for him to vary from such must either question his Mutability or weaknesse or both and if mutable how a God if weake how Omnipotent Hereupon the Master himselfe makes Gods Power principally discoverable in two respects Lib. 1. dist 42. lit E. Quod omnia facit quae vult nihils omnino patitur So that we take for granted there is nothing passive in the Almighty and that which is of Action is qualified by his will and the ground hereof is from the great Saint Augustine D. Aug. lib. 5. C. D. cap. 10. Deus dicitur omnipotens faciendo quod vult non patiendo quod non vult And againe Quod non possit omnia facere Lib. de spirit lit sed quia potest efficere quicquid vult So that belike Gods Omnipotence hath not so properly its denomination from his Omnia potest as from his Quicquid vult God can doe what hee will doe and therefore is Omnipotent And this is the maine string that Prophets Apostles and Fathers generally harpe on Omnia quae voluit sccit saith David Loe here his Will and Power meet Voluit he would doe there 's his Will Fecit he hath done it there 's his Power And this Power not limitted it seemes for there is an Omnia with the Voluit All that he would do he hath done Psa 135.6 Moreover Voluntati ejus quis obsistit saith S. Paul here his Will and his Power meet againe For here is an Obsistit aswell as a Voluntati no resistance because there is will that 's a Power with a non obstante none can hinder it a Power as before without limit intimated in the Interrogatory Quis Quis obsistit Who hath resisted his Will Rom. 9.19 'T is a beaten Principle in Philosophy In perpetuis non differunt esse posse In things perpetuall there is no difference betweene Power and Being Now the Will of God being perpetuall his Power is extended no farther than his Will So that onely what he wills he does and this doing ever order'd by his Will And here with one voyce Antiquity sweetly accords S. Chrysost Hom. in exposit symb Apost ad princip um Tom. 5. D. Aug. lib. 21. de Civ Dei cap. 7. Damasc lib. 1. de side orthod cap. 8. ipse est ergo omnipotens ut totum quod vult possit so Saint Chrysostome vocatur omnipotens quoniam quicquid vult potest so Saint Augustine credimus virtutem Dei propria voluntate mensuratam omnia enim quae vult potest so Damascen Hearke how the quire of Fathers chaunt it how one Saint warbleth to anothers quicquid vult Potest quicquid vult Potest His omniporence they all sing of but the burden of the song runne's much upon his will his vult beares a part with his potest still a part but not all God can doe all that hee will doe but sometimes hee will not doe all that hee can so that his will doth rather order his power then abridge it The text sayes plainly that God could doe nothing unto Sodome till Lot was escaped unto Zoar hee could not non posse dixit saith S. Augustine quod sine dubio poterat per poten tiam sed non poterat per justitiam * Quasi poterat quidem sed non volebat et ill a volunt as justa erat hee could doubtlesse but hee would not and yet his will just and his power still infinite so that his will is the rule and square of his justice and the rudder as it were and sterne of his power it doth manage dispose not lessen and contract it D. Aug. lib. 2. contra 2. Epist Gaudentij cap. 22. I shut up this dusky point with that of the great Schooleman and so involve one cloud in another Dicitur Deus omnipotens quia per se potest quicquid vult fieri et quicquid vult se posse et nihil vult se posse quod non possit et omne quod vult fieri vult se posse sed non omne quod vult se posse vult fieri si enim vellet sieret The words are like the Authour crabbed and full of knots and yet easier to be understood than render'd If any stutter at them let them consult Lombard in his first Booke 42. Distinction where they may finde matter that will both please and disturbe their Judgement and aswell take up the braines as the pen of the peruser Thus at length the Atheist and Infidell we have hush'd and all their Cavills examin'd and resuted let 's now heare the Christian speake what Dialect he uses how he sings of the Power of his Creator He enquires not so much what GOD can doe as admires what he hath done and still doth In divine Mysteries he thinkes it safer to beleeve than to discusse and to exercise the solidity and vigour of his Faith than any Acumen and Pregnancy of his reason And here is enough to employ all his faculties imbarque the whole man set all the engines and wheeles both of Soule and Spirit running and turne them in endlesse speculations Whatsoever is above him or below him without him or with in him is a fit object of Gods Power and his owne wonder When I consider saith our Prophet the Heavens the worke of thy fingers the Moone and Stars which thou hast ordained Lord what is man Psal 8. What is man Nay How is he Surely like one in a slumber or a dreame for as he that dreameth hath his fancie sometimes disturb'd with strange objects which are rather represented than judg'd of so in the view of those celestiall bodies the contemplative man stands as it were planet-strucken in his intellectualls whilst he considers the Heavens he loses them and that Moone and those Stars which should enlighten dazzle him The finger of God in them he doth acknowledge but not discover he made them by his power he confesses he ordain'd them but how he ordain'd or made them so his apprehension is at a stand or bay and transported beyond measure cries out with that afflicted Penitent Job 26.14 Tonitru potentiae ejus quis intelligat The thunder of his power who can understand Canst thou by searching finde out God Canst thou finde out the Almighty to perfection It is high as Heaven what canst thou doe Deeper than hell what canst thou know If he cut off or shut up or gather together who can hinder him Iob 11.9 10. If we lift up our eyes from the foot-stoole to the Throne of God and thus lifted up cast them backe againe Could they make an exact and uncontroul'd discovery of both Globes see all the wonders and secrets that nature hath there lock'd up in her vast store-house we should find in each cranny thereof the sway of his powerfull Scepter Water Fire Earth Ayre limit not his Commands but through the Territories of Heaven and Hell the Bonds of his Power obtaine a Jurisdiction Will you heare his
owne Secretaries speake The registers and pen-men of Divine story How they sing of his Power How they blazon his Omnipotence Loe Isa 40.12 He metes out Heaven with a span measureth the waters in the hollow of his hand comprehends the dust of the Earth in a measure weigheth the Mountaines in Scales and the Hills in a Ballance Isa 40.12 Here is the whole world circled in one verse and yet not his whole Power in that Circle his Power is his Godhead and God himselfe hath been call'd a Circle It is he that sitteth upon the Circle of the Earth and the Inhabitants thereof are as Grassehoppers before him Marke He sits there he is not contained there There no that were above miracle the greater Circle contain'd in the lesse The Heathens themselves could tell us God was an intelligible Spheare Empedocles without Dimensions a Circle whose center was every where no where his Circumference no where not in the whole World not in the Earth not in the Waters not in the Heavens that circle both The Waters you heare he measures in the hollow of his hand the Earth in the same measure the Heavens that containe these in a Span Here is but a Span and Handfull of his Power and yet this Handfull graspes the Vniverse This made our Prophet often sing and in his song close as he began How wonderfull is thy Name in all the World Psal 8.1 9. How wonderfull in all the World A double wonder indeed in respect of Man though of God not so God could not be so wonderfully Great if man had ability to expresse him and therefore having none hee expresses himselfe by himselfe or at least himselfe by his Prophets to whom himselfe hee dictates who like men infus'd and intranc'd Speake aloft in sacred Allegories such as beseeme the Majesty and Greatnesse aswell of the Pen-man as Inspirer And here Psa 104.2 what sublimity both of power and language He clothes himselfe with light as with a garment Isa 40.22 stretcheth out the heavens like a curtaine and spreadeth them as a tent to dwell in by his spirit hath he garnished the skie Job 26.10 and fashioned it like a molten looking glasse In them hath he set a tabernacle for the Sun Psal 19.5 which as a Bridegroome commeth out of his chamber Psal 103. and rejoyceth as a Gyant to run his course He he hath appointed also the Moone for seasons and at his pleasure sealeth up the starres Job 9.7 He bindes the sweet influences of the Pleiades Iob. 9.7 and loses the bonds of Orion brings forth Mazaroth in his season and guides Arcturus with his Sons Iob. 38.31.32 Heere all bumane Eloquence is befool'd Non vox hominum sonut Oh Dei certe Such an expression of God none could frame but God himselfe and this made our Prophet finge againe Psal 104.24 O Lord of hosts how wonderfull are thy workes In wisedome hast thou made them all who is a strong Lord like unto thee or to thy power and faithfulnesse round about thee Psal 89.8 Let us now leave the firmament and the Lord bowing the heavens and comming downe see what empire and dominion he hath in the regions of the aire There Psal 104.3 he layeth the beames of his chamber in the waters maketh the cloudes his chariot and rideth upon the wings of the winde Through the brightnes of his presence are coales of fire kindled lightnings and hot thunderbolts Psal 18. There he hath made a decree for the raine Iob. 38.28 en 37.16 the ballancings of the cloudes as Iob styles them and there hath he begotten the drops of dewe Thence he giveth snowe like wooll Psal 147.17 18 and scattereth the hoare frosts like ashes casteth out his ice like morsells There Iob. 28.25 he maketh waight for the windes he bindeth up the waters in a cloude as in a bottell Iob. 26.8 and the cloude is not rent under them This made our Prophet sing aloft Praise the Lord in the heights praise him fire and haile snowe and vapours stor my winde sulfilling his worde Psal 108.1 and 8. verses Let us descend once more and amongst those proud heapes of earth which seeme to lift their heads even to the very starres observe what sway his power carries there or rather what terror He shall thresh the mountaines and beate them smal Isai 41.15.16 and make the hills as chaffe he shall fanne them and with his whirle winde shall he scatter them Iob 28.10 and shall overturne them by the rootes Isai 40.16 If he be angry Lebanon is not enough for incense nor the beasts thereof for a burnt sacrifice The foundations of the round world are discover'd at his chiding Psal 18.15 at the blasting of the breath of his displeasure This made our Prophet sing againe The Lord is a great God and a great King above all Gods in his hands are all the corners of the earth and the strength of the hills is his also Psal 95.3.4 Shall wee yet stoope lower and descending this mount see how he is a Lord of the valleys and the inhabitants thereof Iob 38.6 Loe the foundation of the earth he hath wonderfully set Iob 9.6 and laid the corner stone thereof at his pleasure againe hee shaketh it out of her hindges Psal 114.8 and the pillars thereof tremble He turnes the hard rocke into a standing water and the flint-stone into a springing well The Nations before him are lesse then nothing they are accounted as the drops of a bucket Psal 149.8 and as the small dust of the ballance He bindeth Kings in chaines and Nobles in fetters of iron Isai 41.2 he gives his enemies as dust to the sworde and as driven stubble to his bow He shal rise up as in mount Perazim Iosh 10.12 He shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon that he may doe his worke his great worke Isai 28.21 and bring to passe his act his great act This made our Prophet sing againe The earth is the Lords and all that therein is the compasse of the whole world and all that dwell therein for he hath founded it upon the Seas and prepar'd it upon the floudes Psal 24.1 2. Shall wee now leave the earth and those that sojourne there and see the wonders of the Lord in the great deepe Psal 33.7 There he gathereth the waters of the Sea together and layes them up in store-houses At his commaund the flouds lift up their voyce the waves beginne to swell Iob 41.31 and he makes them boile like a pot of oyntment Againe he ruleth the raging of the Sea and the waters thereof he stilleth at his pleasure Psal 93.4 He bindeth the flouds from over flowing shuts up the Sea with doores when it breakes forth as if it issued out of the wombe makes the cloude a garment thereof and thicke darkenes a
those vertues which so make you shine in the opinion of others and me The unworthiest of your Honourers HVM SYDENHAM Osculum CHARITATIS OR MERCY and JUSTICE KISSING PSAL. 85.10 Mercy and Iruth are met together Righteousnesse and Peace have kissed each other EVery Attribute of GOD is God himselfe and God himselfe is principally discovered by those Attributes Now where we finde Mercy and Truth and Righteousnes and Peace and all these meeting and kissing in one substance we cannot conceive lesse than a God there the true God for the true God is the God of all these Had the words run onely in the Concrete mercifull and true and righteous and peaceable David perhaps or who ever else was Author of this Psalme might have understood here some earthly God a King a Good King as David was for these also meet and kisse in a religious soveraignty But since they are in the abstract mercy and truth and righteousnes and peace there is a greater Majesty inshrin'd A King of Kings and a God of Gods And what is that God here In Generall and at large the * Triune Triune GOD the One God in Three persons In Speciall and more particularly the second person in that One God CHRIST For if we sunder and untwist the Attributes as they now lie folded in the Text and so set Righteousnesse to Truth wee shall finde God the Father if Mercy to Truth God the Sonne if Peace to Truth God the Holy Ghost In Righteousnesse there is the Creator in Mercy there is the Redeemer in Peace there is the Comforter in Truth All Three But if we ranke them again as they stood in their first order and so make Mercy Truth meet and Righteousnes and Peace kisse they kisse meet properly in the Anointed and the Saviour the King and the Priest the God and the Man and the Iudge betweene Both CHRIST JESUS Mercy there 's the Saviour Righteousnesse there 's the Iudge Truth there 's the King Peace there 's the Priest or if you will have it Peace there 's both King and Priest Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech Heb. 7.17 Now Melchisedech was King of Salem and Salem signifieth Peace so that he is not onely a Priest but a King of Peace a Priest and a King so for ever When the Earth was first in a generall Combustion and her sinfull Rebellions smoaking against Heaven when between God and Man or rather from God to Man there was nothing to be expected but Fire and Sword Christ stands betweene like Moses in the Gappe He is the Attoner and Pacifier the Propitiation and Reconciliation for all our sinnes 1 Joh 2.2 And here was Peace indeed and this Peace could not be procured without Mercy an infinite Mercy for a Sonne to interpose betweene an angry Father and an obstinate offender nay a wilfull enemy for so was Man then was an Argument of Mercy you 'll say But to hunger and to bleed and to dye for him and to dye ignominiously and in that death to beare the Curse due to the malefactor too was an infinite mercy Thus God commendeth his Love towards us his exceeding great Love that when wee were yet Sinners Christ dyed for us Rom. 5.8 I will not trouble the Text nor Time nor you nor my selfe with a Division what God hath thus ioyned together let not man separate Mercie and Truth meete Righteousnesse and Peace kisse and let them meete and kisse still onely give me leave to shew you How Mercy and Truth have met and in whom and How Righteousnesse and Peace kiss'd and For What. Mercy and Truth are met together Righteousnesse and Peace have kissed each other I beginne with Mercy and there doubtlesse we shall finde Truth Mercy and Truth have met together FOr Mercy here the Originall hath the word Rachen from Racham which signifieth Diligere to Love but such a Love as is inward and from the very Bowells Now the Bowells you know are the Seate of Mercy and therefore S. Paul presses his Collossians with an Induite viscera misericordiae Put on the Bowells of Mercie Col. 3.12 But because of this Mercie there are manifold Effects the Greeke hath it usually in the plurall Origen in cap. 12. ad Rom. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mercies Ad judicandam immensam Dei misericordiam To shew the Greatnesse saith Origen and not onely so but the Tendernesse of Gods Mercies And therefore wee reade sometimes Miserationes sometimes viscera miserationum sometimes Viscera miserationes so Phil. 2.1 If there be any Bowells and Mercies where the Text hath not only the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cornel. a lap in cap. 2. ad Phil. v. 1. which are the same with the Hebrew Rachamim miserationes for Viscera misericordiae So Christ when he saw the people scatter'd in the wildernesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sayes the Text His bowells did yearne or He had pitty on them Mar. 6. Hence compassionate men are call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bonorum Viscerum Men are good bowells which we translate Tender-hearted or mercifull Ephes 4.32 So mercifull that touch'd even at the marrow and intrails for the miseries of another they could poure out their very Bowells for him And such were the Mercies of God to Man when he powr'd out his owne Bowells His onely begotten Son for us So the Evangelicall Zachary Prophetically of Christ By the tender Mercies of God where the vulgar reades Per Viscera misericordiae Dei By the bowels of the mercy of God the Day-spring from on high hath visited us Luk. 1.78 And to this purpose Saint Paul labouring the conversion both of Iew and Gentile Rom. 12.1 doth beseech them by the mercies of God as tender-hearted mothers their immorigerous children per abera et ventrem suum Pet. Mart. in cap. 12. Rom. saith Peter Martyr by the wombe that bare them and by the paps that gave them sucke Nay more per viscera misericordiae by the bowells of mercy farther yet per viscera Iesu Christi by the bowells of Jesus Christ hee that is wombe and bowels and paps and all mercy God is my record how greatly I long after you all in the bowells of Iesus Christ Phil. 1.8 And certainely if there were ever bowells of mercy his were or ever miseries for those bowells to worke on ours were when hee not only pour'd out his affections but his very bloud for us us then his enemies and without him perpetuall captives and gally slaves to sinne and Sathan And therefore the Evangelist having it seemes no word more Emphaticall to expresse the mystery of incarnation by calls it mercy Luke 1. vide St llamin cap. 1. Lucae and the Apostle charity Rom. 8. Mercy and Charity the Analasis of heaven and earth God and man epitomiz'd nay God the man and therefore those two great vertues or rather attributes Symeon in his song calls salutare
altitudinem invocat One height cryes unto another this Height and Depth will make up Infinitenesse Now infinite Sinnes cry unto infinite Miseries there are the two Deepes Againe infinite Miseries cry upon infinite Mercies and infinite Mercies upon infinite Truth there are the two Heights Once more Shame is a consequent of Sinne and death of Shame and of such a Death Misery here is a Great deepe On the other side the strength of Goodnesse is Power and of Power God and of God Eternity There 's a Great Height Now between this Height and Depth what Medium have wee Mercy still and how this Mercy but from Truth and how this Truth but from God and how from God but as a Father And therefore S. Paul calls him Pater misericordiarum Deus totius consolationis The father of Mercies and God of all Consolation 2 Cor. 1.3 2 Cor. 1.3 Marke he is not barely Pater misericordiae but Misericordiarum Generall offences presuppose generall Pardons and therefore the Father of Mercies not of Mercie and he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Father of them there is no other Besides he is Deus totius consolationis Vniversall distresses require universall comforts S. Ber. Serm. 5. de Natal Dom. and therefore not only the God of This or That but the God of All comfort Againe he is call'd Miserationum non ultionum Pater The Father of Mercies not of Revenge For in this he were rather a God than a Father and a severe Judge than a God A Father then of Mercies not of Judgements Quià non tam decet patrem indignari quà m misereri filiorum saith S. Bernard Mercy is more proper in a Father than Indignation and therefore a Father of Mercies still or if these be sometimes mixt with Indignation Tamen miserendi causam sumit ex proprie ulciseendi ex nostro The cause of being mercifull is from Himselfe of being angry from us and our sinnes On the other side He is Deus totius consolationis The God of all Comfort S. Ber. ut supra Quià micificè dum misericordiam exercet omnes mortales consolatur He hath a Salve for every wound a Cordiall for every languishment for every calamity a Comfort And therefore according to the diversities of Benefits we receive from him we returne him as well diversities of Attributes as Thankes In Weaknesse wee call him Strength in Sicknesse Health in Misery Mercy in Distresse Comfort In time of War he is the Sword and the Bow Psal 18.2 of danger the Buckler and the Shield of Persecution the Castle and the Tower of Trouble Psal 27.1 the Rocke and the Sanctuary And here the Apostle belike calls him The God of hope and peace the God of Patience and comfort Rom. 15.5 13. Of Peace in Warre of Hope in Danger of Patience in Trouble of Comfort in Persecution Of all These he is a God that is Largitor saith Theophylact the Benefactor or Disposer his very Deity doth include Comfort Theoph. in loc and by his Essence he is not onely Tota but Totus consolatio or rather Totum consolationis a full Tide and Sea of Comforts which hee powres out in this life upon his Servants in Tribulation with such a bountifull hand that mortall heart is not capable either of receiving or expressing it but inforc'd to cry out with that blessed Martyr Satis est Domine Satis est Lastly he is call'd Pater misericordiarum intransitivè that is multum misericors or by the same Hebraisme Misericordissimus as both Cornelius and Carthusian glosse it Father of mercies Cornel. a lap in 15. cap Rom. v. 5.13 for most mercifull or full of mercies and in that sence he is said to be the Father of them as elsewhere hee is the Father of Raine Job 38.28 't is a quaint speculation the Iesuite hath because his blessings come in showers and are not so properly drop'd as powr'd downe upon his inheritance Iustin Gen. in 2 Cor. cap. 1. Moreover 't is the nature of raine to cherish and refresh the dry and barren ground and of Mercy the languishing and thirsting Soule And therefore the Psalmist cryes My soule gaspeth unto thee as a thirsty Land Psal 143.6 Psal 143.6 Now the thirsty Land gaspeth after him as the God of Raine but the thirstie Soule as the God of Mercy And yet these as they are one in substance so oftentimes in effect and operation too Mercy extends as well to the unjust as to the just Mat. 5.45 So doth the Raine He raineth saith the Evangelist as well on the unjust as the just Mat. 5.45 And doubtlesse both the just and the unjust want it and desire to be refresh'd with those two dewes of Heaven Providence and Mercy Hence is that elegant similitude of the Prophet As the Hart brayeth after the Rivers of waters so my soule panteth after thee Ps 42 1. Here the Sic wil answer punctually the Sicut the Hart you know for 't is a trodden observation when he is hard chas'd wounded immediately betakes himselfe to the next water or River which is to him both balme and refreshment and the heart of man when it is sore chas'd and wounded by his manifold sins flyes to the water and the River too the River of everlasting waters and these waters everlasting comforts comforts from him that is everlasting the God of comforts and who is that God of comforts but he that was before the Father of Mercies And who this Father of Mercy but he that is the Father of Raine From the noise of whose water-spouts streame all those blessings which we here call Mercies and Comforts and these sometimes both in measure and manner extraordinary And indeed it was requisite saith Saint Bernard that many should be Gods Mercies and Comforts because many were the tribulations of the just and so Miseria nostra multiplex non medo magnam misericordiam sed multitudinem quaerit miserationum as the Father in his 5. Sermon De natali Domini a manifold misery doth not onely require a great but a manifold Mercy And therefore David touch'd it seemes at the quicke with the smart and sence of his transgressions gives not off his suit with a single importunity but closely prosecutes the Lord with a Fac mihi gratiam fac mihi gratiam Domine Be mercifull unto me O Lord be mercifull unto me Psal 57.1 And why this doubling upon mercy except his miseries were double And doubtlesse they were doubly double and therfore be mercifull unto me be mercifull unto me why thus unto me unto me why Because my soul trusteth in thee in the 1. v. of that Psalm Now in what or in whom should it trust but in the Father of mercies Or from what or whō should it expect redresse but frō the God of comfort hereon the same Prophet wounded in soul and under the bitter pangs convulsions of a griping conscience dogg'd and pursu'd
glory converting this Eratis olim tenebrae to a Lux estis in Domino making that which was sometimes darknesse to be now light in the Lord. Quaedam sunt quae Dens ordnat facit quaedam quae ord nat tantù D. Aug. ut sup There are some things which God both makes and ordaines and some which he ordaines only The just which are as light as the shining light saith Solomon which shineth more and more unto the perfect day God not only makes but ordaines The wicked which are as darknesse and a continuall stumbling he ordaines only not makes not makes them wicked but men So that although both are not made by him both are disposed of though in a different manner disposed of The one Ad dextram Dei On the right of God with a venite Benedicti Come yee blessed The other Ad sinistram On the lest with an Ite maledicti Goe yee cursed And indeed whither should light goe but to him that is Pater luminum The Father of lights Iames 1.17 Or whither should darkenesse tend but to him that is Princeps tenebrarum the Prince of the power of darkenes Mat. 9.34 You heare then that where light is there is life too and where there is darkenesse death And these two are as distant as the two poles as opposite as two contrary winds or tydes differing sicut nuditas vestimentum as nakednesse and a garment doth D. Aug. lib. de Genes ad lit imperfect Now as in scripture there is some Analogie betweene light and a garment so there is betweene nakednesse and darkenesse The Psaimist describing the majesty of God saies that he was Amictus lumine sicut vestimento cloath'd with light as with a garment Psal 104.2 Here garment and light shine both together and with them life Iob typifying unto us the fleeting and unstable condition of the Rich under the sudden losse of his goods and children with his mantle rent and his head shaven at length prostrates himselfe with a nudus exibo Naked came I out of my mothers wombe and naked I shall returne And what of this nakednesse what nay whither Ecce in tenebris instruo Cubile meum Behold Iob. 1.21 I have made my bed ready in the darkenesse Job 17.13 Here nakednesse and darkenesse sleepe together and with them death And hence I suppose it is that the Evangelist calleth darkenesse Vmbra mortis The shadow of death Luke 1.79 And the Prophet whence he had it Regionem umbrae mortis the Land of the shadow of death Isay 9.2 Death and shadow of death and the land of the shadow of death and of all these Darkenesse is an Hieroglyphicke or Embleme or both as if there were no other misery to expresse them by but darkenesse And indeed Darkenesse is a great misery and seldome mentiond in sacred story without intimation of some curse or punishment So for the unprofitable servant Math. 25.30 wee finde that the doome is Vtter darkenesse And for the Angells that fell Chaines of darkenesse Iude 6.13 And for the wandring starres Blackenesse of darkenesse for ever Nay when God himselfe speakes in terror to the world the Earth trembling and the foundation of the Hills shaking because he is wroth A smoake out of his nostrills and a devouring fire out of his mouth are not astonishment enough but as if there were nothing else to ripen horrour Hee makes darkenes his secret place his Pavilion round about darke waters and thicke cloudes of the skie Psal 18.11 And therefore in mount Sinay at the promulgation of the law lightning and thunder and the noise of the trumpe and the smoaking of the mountaine like a furnace were too light it seemes to cause a generall palsie and trembling in the campe of the Israelites But to make terror solemne and compleate and set her up in the chaire of state there must be a thicke cloude also and to make that thicknesse more dreadfull Thicke Darkenesse too Exod. 20.21 And lastly on mount Calvary at the satisfaction of the law when part of the world seemd to dye and part to resurge in the death of her Saviour the Temple cleaving the Earth quaking the Rockes rending the Graves opening and many Bodyes of the Saints which slept arising Yet in this there was not a full pompe either of forrow or wonder not mourning or miracle enough for the tragedy of a God But the heavens must be cloath'd with blacknesse and sackcloth shall be a covering And as if one light languish'd for the extinguishing of another The Sunne it selfe shall blend and looke heavy to see her maker eclipsed and Darkenesse like a sad manile shall over-spread the whole land from the sixth houre unto the ninth houre Matth. 27.45 By this time you may conceive what Darkenesse is and the miserable estate and condition of those that lye captiv'd under her bands and fetters Now 't is time to reflect more particularly upon the text and enquire what the darkenesse was that is there complain'd of what that which of olde so manacled the Ephesian Yee were sometimes Darkenesse Darkenesse here Beza Cornel alap in locum hath a metonimicall sence and is if you wil take the word of a Iesuite or if not his Beza's more then ordinarily emphaticall Tenebrae being vs'd for renebricosi Darkeues for those which are in the darke as wickednesse is oftentimes taken for those that are wicked but darke or wicked in a superlative way Now as before Darkenesse was an absence or privation of the light naturall so it is here of the light spirituall and is a type or figure of man in naturalibus a representation of the state of nature before grace and such a state is a very darkenesse in which there is not so much as a glimmering of this Lux estis in Domino yee are now light in the Lord But rather a blind relique of this olim tenebrae in the text here that darkenes which of old so be sotted our Ephesian And what is that darkenesse but ignorantia veritatis an ignorance of divine truth Aret. in locum and imports only caecitatem innatam caliginem mentit de Deo Divinis an inbred blindnesse cast as a mist upon the soule a mentall dimnesse and obscurity in respect of God and things divine So that where such ignorance dwelleth there is no light at all but darkenesse hangs like a thicke fog about it First Darkenesse in the eyes Psal 69.23 Then Darkenesse in the heart Rom. 1.21 And at last Darkenesse in the understanding too Ephes 4. And why this threefold darkenesse Darkenes in eye in heart and understanding why Because alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them at the 18. verse of the same chapter And here if we had neither light of Father nor In terpreter Scripture would comment upon scripture Palpvviūs sicut coeci parietem We groape for the wall like the blinde weè stumble at noone day
as in the night wee are in desolate places as dead men Isai 59.10 Now what causeth this blindnesse this groaping this stumbling at noone day this sicut mortui that wee are as dead men but the fearful night desolation ignorance carryes with it And indeed there is an ignorance which is no better then a desolation a dwelling for the Ostrich and a dancing roome for the Satyre Where the Beasts of the land and the Dragons crye Isay 13. men brutishly and barbarously and sometimes diabolically inclin'd and 't is a night too a night for the Batt to flutter and the owle to hoote in men of besotted and infatuated condition and t is not only nox but nox media saith S. Augustine the very depth of night and as it were a night in a night and because I will not be thought to coyne it I wil quote it from the Father in his 30. Sermon de verbis Domini Now as night is a time for Zijm and Ohim Isai 13.22 for the ranging of dolefull creatures and spirits that are wicked so is Ignorance a nightly haunt of Spirits that are dosefull and wicked also 1. Iohn 4 6 the Spirit of dulnesse and the Spirit of error and to make it nightly indeed the Spirit of slumber too 1. Tim. 4.1 Rom. 11.8 per noctes quaesivi quem diligit anima mea saith the Spouse in the Canticles In the nights I sought for him whom my soule loveth And what then I sought him but I found him not Cant. 3.1 Christ will not be met with in the darke Night is not a season to seeke Jesus in though perhaps to betray him the night either of Ignorance or Infidelity For what hath a Saviour to doe with him that knowes him not or with him that knowes him but beleeves him not or with him that beleeves him but beleeves him not as he should Againe the Text saies not per noctem quaesivi but per noctes not in the Night but in the Nights Now Ignorance is a double Night One of nature the other of grace Reason and Vnderstanding are darkned in the one Faith all spirituall operations in the other Habet mundus nectes suas non paucas saith Saint Bernard Scrm. 5. supcam The world hath her nights and too many Nay the world it selfe is but a night and totally involv'd in darknesse no light at all in it but what is influenc'd and beam'd downe from above And therefore Christ is called Lux mundi the light of the world Because where the knowledge of him shines not there is undoubtedly darkenesse the O lim tenebrae in the Text here Yee were sometimes Darknesse Againe Quot Sectae tot Noctes As many Schismes so many Nights Nox est Iudaica persidia Nox Haeretica pravitas Nox Catholicorum carnalis Conversatio Heresy and Iudaisme and the carnall Conversation of pretended Catholiques are all Nights On the other side Donatisme Anabaptisme nay the holy Catharisme or if that word bee too much antiquated Carthwritisme bragg of their Lux in domino what they list are Nights too They waite for light but behold obscurity for brightnesse but they walke in darkenesse Isai 59.9 And lastly which is the night of all those nights Nox Ignorantia Pagancrum 't is Saint Bernards againe Pagan or Ephesian Ignorance is a Night also Ve supra or if not a Night Darkenesse I am sure the Olim tenebrae the Text speakes off Darkenes sometimes though afterward made light in the Lord therefore as S. Paul saith elsewhere of his Thess Qui Ebrii sunt 1. Thess 5.7 Nocte Ebrii Those that are drunken are drunken in the Night So we may not improperly say here of our Ephesian Qui ignorant nocte ignorant Those that are ignorant are ignorant in the Night for Ignorance is nothing else but a mentall Darknesse or Drunkennesse and both these a busines of the Night causing us to groape without light as Iob speakes and to wander in a wildernesse where there is no way Iob 12.24 Errare eos faciet sicut Ebrios They are made to erre like a drunken man Iob 12.25 Here Error and Drunkennesse reele together and with them Ignorance and are as neere allyed as a Vertigo and an Epilepsie the one causing us to fall or stagger the other to some in our owne shame Now this disease had a long time dangerously infected the world this Darknesse fearefully overspread it before the Sun of righteousnesse began to arise untill Christ Jesus by the beames of his Gospell shin'd upon it Witnesse the woefull Blindnesse and perverse Judgement which possest the Gentiles in the time of Gentilisme even in those things which common reason and the law of nature prohibited The Persians tooke their Mothers Sisters and Daughters nefandis matrimoniis for so the Historian into matrimony shal I call it or incest Either damnable enough The Scythians were no better then Anthropophagi and made their owne Sexe their foode Sacrificing their children like those in the valley of Hinnon to the Tabernacle of Moloch Acts 7.43 or the starre of their God Remphan The Massagetae as Clemens Alexandrinus testifies feasted on the bodyes of their nearest Kinred Hircanae què admorunt ubera Tygres the Hircani and from thence I suppose the Poets Hircanae Tygres threw out their old men to the fowles of the Aire The Caspians to their dogs The Lacedemonians magnified theft as a project of wit and industry And Saint Ierom writing-against Iovinian tells him Apud multas Nationes licuisse Lib. 1. Epist parte Epist 6. cap. 36. that amongst many Nations many kindes of homicide were nor only conniv ' dat but allowed nay if we reflect a little on the lawes of Plato Plato the Divine as they style him how monstrous and abominable in giving full liberty to lyes to insanticide to community of wives to the unnaturall abuse of sicke men that were ready for the vrne and those brutish Edicts of Lycurgus also the great Lacedemonian Oracle Pueros impune prostitui Feminas licenter exponi Proclaiming an unpunish'd freedome of prostituting and exposing both Sexes to that which the Apostle calls Burning in lust and a worke which was unseemely Rom. 1.27 Insomuch that some strumpetted their owne wives unbracing them to their Guests in symbolum Hospitii as you may have it in a larger survey from Eusebius and Theodoret quoted by Cornelius a lapide on this place And if this kinde of Antiquity will not passe for Authentick please you to enquire a little at the Oracles of God and there you shal finde the mistredings of the Ammonite and Moabite and Ekronite nay of the Israelite himselfe no lesse damnable then the other Their abominations in respect of Earth as great and if possible of Heaven greater leaving that true God that made them and making Gods of their owne which were so farre from the True that they were none at all Sacrificing to stocks and
stones and sometimes Divells as our Ephisian here did whose impietyes consisted most in the darker practises of Magicke and Idolatry the one a plaine trassicke with the Divell the other a tribute to him Now what is the cause of these prodigious aberrations but an invellectuall blindnesse a darknesse of the inward man A stupid ignorance of God and things divine And therefore as a wicked man is not quis but quasi quis or else non homo sed quasi cadaver hominis as Boetius hath it So an ignorant man is not a man properly but a quasi homo as it were a man Nay quasi cadaver hominis as a carkasse of a man that was And where is a fit place for a carkasse but in darkenesse So I told you before my bed is made in the darkenesse And what is this darkenesse but death I goe whence I shall not returne saith Iob And where's that To the land of darkenesse and the shadow of death Iob 10.22 Tolerabilior est poena vivere non posse quam nescire 'T is a calmer punishment to be depriv'd of life then knowledge For knowledge is a posting unto life and ignorance a lingring or hanging backe unto death And therefore Solomon tells us that the holy Spirit of discipline will remove from thoughts that are without understanding Wise 1.5 God dwells not with him that dwels not with himselfe that is Multi multa sciunt seipsos nesciunt cum tamen summa philosophia sit suipsius cognitio Hugo de sancto victore lib. 1. de Anima cap. 9. not with one that knowes not himselfe and his God too So that in every man there is a double knowledge not only requir'd but necessary unto life Dei Sui of God and of Himselfe Of which he that is ignorant comes within the lash of this Olim tenebrae and is not only Darkenesse but in the way to utter Darkenesse Such an Ignorance being not only dangerous or desperate but Ad perditionem Damnable too So sayes Saint Bernard in his 36. Sermon upon the Canticles Nosceteipsum was one of the proverbs of a secular wiseman and Reverentia Iehovae of a sacred First know thy Selfe that morality enjoynes and doth distinguish Man from Beast then know thy God and feare him too This Divinity requires and divides man from man makes that Spirit which was before-Nature and is no lesse then Caput scientiae The spring-head as well of life as knowledge Prov. 1.7 And indeed what hope of life without this knowledge or of this knowledg without humility and feare of humility in thy selfe which as it is the Mother of vertues so of happinesse of feare in respect of God which as it is the beginning of Wisedome so of divine Love Non potes amare quem nescias aut habere quem non amaveris S. Bern. 37. Serm. super Cant. thou canst neither love him whom thou knowest not nor enjoy him truely whom thou dost not love And therefore labour to know thy selfe that thou mayst feare God and so feare and know God that thou maist love him too In altero initiaris ad sapientiam in altero consummaris the one is the first step to wisdome the other the staire-head that as earth which is the footstoole this as Heaven which is the Throne of God Moreover as from the knowledge of God proceeds his feare so from the same knowledge love and from both hope which is the bloud and marrow of faith and saith of life and glory Fili mi Reverere Iehovam saith the Wiseman My son feare the Lord and what then Salutare erit umbilico tuo medulla ossibus tuis It shall be health to thy navell and marrow to thy bones And is this feare then of the Lord all No but get wisedome and understanding too and why why Longitudo dierum in dextra ejus in sinistra divitiae honor Length of dayes is in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honour Pro. 3.8 Now as knowledge doth mightily advance man and sets him up to God so simplicity pulls him downe and thrusts him below himselfe It unmans him makes him beast buries him in shame contempt and obloquie whither in a morall or civill or spirituall way The Stoicke will tell us Loco ignominiae est apud indignum dignitas Titles or Fortunes cast on a worthlesse and simple man tend more to his scorne than honour for hee is but Simia in tecto or Latro in scalis as Ludolphus hath it Apishnesse or robbery advanc'd De vita Christi part 1. cap. 68. and in the vote and opinion even of the multitude Non ad honorem sed ad derisionem he is rather expos'd to laughter than applause as if men by nature were taught to shun the presence of him in whom they perceiv'd not the lippes of knowledge Prov. 14.7 And indeed such a one is but a meere Bladder of honour some thing that time and Fortune have blowne up as children doe their bubbles to game and sport at a meere windy Globe which hath colour but no weight Titulus sine homine Contra Avaritiam lib. 2. p. 68. saith the sweet-tongu'd Salvian a Title without a man or a man without his Soule or a Soule without her ballace Reason and Vnderstanding Man that is in Honour and understands not what becomes of him Aske the Psalmist and he will tell you Similis fit jumentis hee is made like unto the beasts what Beasts Iumentis qui pereunt to the beasts that perish Psal 49.20 Other Beasts are not like or equall to him but beyond him Isai 1.3 God giving them a distinct preheminence the Oxe and the Asse before his Israel Nay the Storke the Turtle the Crane and the Swallow with the rest of that winged Common-wealth are better disciplin'd than he they know their appointed times and observe them too But Populus meus non intelligit my people doe not understand S. Bern. Serm. 37. in Cant. Ier. 8.7 An non tibi videtur ipsis Bestiis quodammodo bestialior esse home ratione vigens non vivens saith Saint Bernard A man endued with reason and not squaring his actions accordingly is hee not more brutish than the beast himselfe Yes questionlesse for though the one be steer'd altogether by sence reason being a peculiar property and prerogative of man yet man faltring either in the use of it or end the beast hath got the start of him and is become if not more rationall more regular than he Si ignor as ô pulcherrima foeminarum sayes the Beloved to the Spouse If thou knowest not O thou fairest amongst women if thou knowest not what then what Egredere post greges tuos Get thee behind the footsteps of thy Flocke and feed thy Kids besides thy Shepheards Tents Cant. 1.8 Marke the Text sayes not get thee out with thy Flocke or to it but behind it And Ad quid hoc saith Saint Bernard what meanes
Franeker with his Moles sine nervis 2 Tome 4. chapter But if this shall passe for Text and they can thus dis-myter Bishops to crowne their Presbyters how was it that Titus by the appointment of Saint Paul from God no doubt otherwise what had Saint Paul to doe to appoint Titus was left at Creet to ordaine Elders there in every City to reject Hereticks and to set in order the things which were amisse Tit. 1.5 And Titus was the Bishop the first Bishop of the Cretians Moreover how came it to passe Euseb lib. 3. cap. 4. that Timothy had by the same Saint Paul power committed unto him over Presbyters and counsell given him to admit an accusation or not to punish or not to punish 1 Tim. 5.19 And that Timothy was a Bishop too the first Bishop of Ephesus who can contradict Now Euseb lib. 3. cap. 4. what can these instances otherwise imply then a Superiority by divine law and yet this is againe lifted by the Brethren from Bishops to their Presbyters who may receive an accusation as they pretend no lesse then others And for any Priority Timothy had over the Elders of his time or any Authority to punish or not they stiffly deny not allowing Him or any other Bishop ullum forum Ecclesiasticum praeter forum conscientiae Vt supra Tom. 1. pag. 226. Amesius in great heate would awhile perswade mee so yet afterwards blowes his fingers acknowledging that there were in the Primitive Church besides those the Father styleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men eminent in the word Euseb lib. 7. cap. 13. certaine Presbyters Bishops he will not call them or if he doe he reconciles the Termes which did only attend Governement and for proofe hereof hee quotes Origen against Celsus Orig. Tom. 3. contra Celsum where the Heretique exprobrating the christian Doctors for their weake and simple Auditors the Father answers that the christian Teachers had first for their Schollars some that were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Probationers and after they were approved did institute two Orders Vnum Incipientium the one of Novists which they called Catechumeni Alterum perfectiorum the other of riper and maturer judgement Vide Amesium tom 2. cap. 4. pag. 108. de distinct Epis cap. presbyteri and amongst them some were praepositi which enquir'd only into the manners and life of others and those which were vitiously inclin'd they punished and cherish'd them which were otherwise dispos'd to vertue Thus whilst he would Enervare Bellarminum hee doth but Enervare Ecclesiam and playing too much with that Candle sindgeth his owne wings First he drownes the word Episcopus in Presbyter and makes them both one and so restraines them to those and onely to those whom he calls Laborantes in Doctrina yet afterwards he new ranks them againe and in one file places his Predicants in another Governours What 's this but that Prelates themselves will allow inferiour Pastors That there is Idem Ministerium but Diversa potestas and that they differ not Quoad virtutem Sacerdotii but quoad potentiam Iurisdictionis There are some and I would there were not turbulent Spirits in our Church which are at such defiance with the Romish See that they are impatient of any other and whilst they endeavour to dis-pope her they would un-Bishop all Christendome For mine owne part a Papall Iurisdiction I equally renounce and disapprove as a Prerogative both insolent and usurp'd but an Episcopall doth not onely ingage my consent but my obedience and that upon a double tye of Reason and Religion If I should not respect order I were a beast if not the Ordinance of my Church a Heathen Saint Paul requires subjection to higher powers on a strong ground Mat. 18.17 because there is no power saith hee but of God Rom. 13.1 no power no civill one you 'l say nay no Ecclesiasticke neither they are both the Ordinances of God He hath a finger in them They are after his owne Heart and he that doth oppose them the Apostle tells you what he purchaseth what Contempt yes and only so No Condemnation too Rom. 13.2 'T is well nigh growne proverbiall now in the English Church no Bishop no King and if neither Bishop nor King how a God God professeth Method and Order in his universall Governement and without these there would bee some manifest Breach and flaw in the carriage of inferior things He knowes that Equality lookes to Anarchy and Anarchy to Confusion And certainely Episcopall honour hath gone downe the winde since this dreame of parity first started in the Church since the Levite hath beene stript of his proper portion and fed with the naked benevolences of the people Geneva doubtlesse was well pleased when Bishopricks were first analiz'd into Pensions when the large revenewes of her Church were un-ravell'd to a stipend of 40. pounds per Annum The Layicke whose religion lieth most in his purse little cares how the Oxe bee muzl'd so he have the profit of treading-out the corne Insomuch that her great Presbyter Calvine himselfe who before had laid the Authority of the Church in the hands of the people and thereupon made stipendary in his commentaries on the lesser Prophets sadly complaineth of a short proportion and a slow Paie And in deed the Glory of the Pastor hath not a little wrap'd and declin'd since Divinity hath beene so much acquainted with the Stipend and the Trencher Wee raise Doctrines now-a-daies according to our pay fill others Eares as they our Hands or Belly put Honey in our Sacrifice instead of Salt sweeten our discourse to the palate of our Contributors Wee sing of their power and cry downe our owne Adde vigour and quicknesse to those temporall hands which can only binde and lose on Earth no more and shackle the vertue of those spirituall ones which as they lose or binde on Earth so they Lose and Binde in Heaven also Wee have so long untwisted the power of the Clergy and woon'd up that of the Layicke that now we are intangled in our owne webbe strucke through with our owne Darts Saint Paul had a time when he could not onely threaten his Corinthian with the Rod but the Galathian with the Sword too with an Abscindantur qui disturbant vos Let them bee cut off that trouble you Gal. 5.12 But now our Sword is not only Blunt or Rustie but wrested out of our hand and how to regaine or new-furbish it wee know not The Philistims have not left us so much as a Smith in Israell So that 1. Sam. 13.19 it speeds now with the poore Pastors as it did then with Saul's heartlesse souldiers who had neither Sword nor Speare for the day of Battle 1. Sam. 13.22 Wee have so long given advantage to the meere secular power that at length our Sword is beaten into the Sithe and our Speare into the pruning Hooke The penall statute hath a Jirke at us and