by yeilding not by fighting but by dying Pilate had heard that he was a King it was the accusation which was fram'd against him that he bear himself as King of the Iews but because he saw no pomp no train no guard about him he took it but as an idle report To put him therefore out of doubt our Saviour assures him that he is a King but of such a Kingdom as he could not skill of My Kingdom is not of this world c. For the better unfolding of which words first we will consider what the meaning of this word Kingdom is for there lies an ambiguity in it Secondly we will consider what Lessons for our instruction the next words will yeild Not of this world First of this word Kingdom Our Saviour is a King three manner of ways and so correlatively hath three distinct several Kingdoms He is first King in the largest extent and meaning which can possibly be imagined and that is as he is Creatour and absolute Lord of all creatures Of this Kingdom Heaven Earth and Hell are three large Provinces Angels Men and Devils his very enemies every creature visible and invisible are subjects of this Kingdom The glory and strength of this Kingdom consists least of all in men and man is the weakest part of it for there is scarcely a creature in the world by whom he hath not been conquer'd When Alexander the Great had travell'd through India and over-ran many large Provinces and conquer'd many popular Cities when tidings came that his Soldiers in Grece had taken some small Towns there he scorn'd the news and in contempt Me-thinks said he I hear of the Battel of Frogs and Mice Beloved if we look upon these huge Armies of Creatures and consider of what wonderful strength they are when the Lord summons them to Battel all the Armies of men and famous Battels of which we have so large Histories in the comparison of these what are they but a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but Homer's tale a Battel of Frogs and Mice Infinite Legions of Angels attend him in Heaven and every Angel is an Army One Angel in the Book of Kings is sent out against the Army of the Assyrians and in one night fourscore thousand persons die for it Base and contemptible creatures when God calls for them are of strength to conquer whole Countreys He over-runs Egypt with his Armies of Frogs and Flies and Lice and before his own people with an Army of Hornets chases the Canaanites out of the Land Nay the dull and senseless Elements are up in Arms when God summons them He shoots his Hail-shot with his Hail-stones from Heaven he destroys more of the Canaanites then the Israelites can with their swords As for his Armies of Fire and Water what power is able to withstand them Every creature when God calls is a soldier How great then is the glory of this Kingdom of which the meanest parts are invincible Secondly again our Saviour is a King in a more restrain'd and confin'd sense as he is in Heaven attended on by Angels and Archangels Powers Principalities and all the heavenly Hosts For though he be Omni-present and fills every place both in Heaven and Earth yet Heaven is the Palace Throne of this Kingdom there is he better seen and known there with more state and honour served and therefore more properly is his Kingdom said to be there And this is called his Kingdom of glory The Rules and Laws and admirable Orders of which Kingdom could we come to see and discover it would be with us as it was with the Queen of Saba when she came to visit Solomon of whom the Scripture notes that when she heard his wisdom and had seen the order of his servants the attendance that was given him and the manner of his table There was no more spirit left in her Beloved Dum Spiritus hos regit artus whilst this Spirit is in us we cannot possibly come to discern the Laws and Orders of this Kingdom and therefore I am constrain'd to be silent Thirdly our Saviour is a King in a sense yet more impropriated For as he took our nature upon him as he came into the world to redeem mankind and to conquer Hell and Death so is there a Kingdom annext unto him A Kingdom the purchase whereof cost him much sweat and Bloud of which neither Angels nor any other creature are a part onely that remnant of mankind that Ereptus titio that number of blessed Souls which like a brand out of the fire by his death and passion he hath recovered out of the power of sin and all these alone are the subjects of that Kingdom And this is that which is called his Kingdom of Grace and which himself in Scripture every where calls his Church his Spouse his Body his Flock and this is that Kingdom which in this place is spoken of and of which our Saviour tells Pilate That it is not of this world My Kingdom is not of this world Which words at the first reading may seem to savour of a little imperfection for they are nothing else but a Negation or denial Now our Books teach us that a Negative makes nothing known for we know things by discovering not what they are not but what they are yet when we have well examin'd them we shall find that there could not have been a speech delivered more effectual for the opening the nature of the Church and the discovery of mens errours in that respect For I know no errour so common so frequent so hardly to be rooted out so much hindring the knowledge of the true nature of the Church as this that men do take the Church to be like unto the World Tully tells us of a Musician that being ask'd what the Soul was answered that it was Harmony is saith he à principiis artis suae non recescit He knew not how to leave the principles of his own Art Again Plato's Scholars had been altogether bred up in Arithmetick and the knowledge of Numbers and hence it came that when afterward they diverted their studies to the knowledge of Nature or Moral Philosophy wheresoever they walked they still feigned to themselves somewhat like unto Numbers the World they supposed was framed out of Numbers Cities and Kingdoms and Common-wealths they thought stood by Numbers Number with them was sole Principle and Creatour of every thing Beloved when we come to learn the quality and state of Christ's Kingdom it fares much with us as it does with Tullie's Musician or Plato's Scholars difficulter à principiis artis nostrae recedimus Hardly can we forsake those principles in which we have been brought up In the world we are born in it we are bred the world is the greatest part of our study to the true knowledge of God and of Christ still we fancy unto us something of the world It may seem but a light thing that I shall say yet
paria faciat to clear accounts with men here who otherwise might seem to claim something at his hand at that great day It is the question Ahasuerus makes What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this God is more careful of his honour then Ahasuerus was none more careful then he to reward every service with some honour Nebuchadnezzar was no Saint I trow yet because of his long-service in the subduing of Tyre God gives him Egypt for his reward they are the Prophet Ezechiel's words when therefore thou seest God willing to bring the world upon thee to enrich thee to raise thee to honours suspectam habe hanc Domini indulgentiam as Tertullian saith be jealous of this courtesie of God or rather cry out with St. Bernard Misericordiam hanc nolo Domine O Lord I will none of this kind of mercy for how knowest thou whether he reward not thee as he did Nebuchadnezzar onely to even accounts with thee and shew thee that he is not in thy debt that thou mayest hear at the last either a Recepisti or an habes mercedem thou hast thy reward O quanta apud Deum merces si in praesenti praemium non sperarent saith St. Hierom O how great a reward might many men receive at the hand of God if they did not anticipate their reward and desire it in this life Why do we capitulate with him for our services Why not rather out of pious ambition desire to have God in our debt He that doth God the greatest service and receives here from him the least reward is the happiest man in the world There goes a story of Aquinas that praying once before the Crucifix the Crucifix miraculously speaks thus unto him Eene de me scripsisti Thoma quam ergo mercedem accipies Thou hast written well of me Thomas what reward dost thou desire To whom Aquinas is made to answer Nullam Domine praeter Teipsum No reward Lord but thy self 'T is great pity this Tale is not true it doth so excellently teach what to ask of God for our reward in his service Let God but assure thee of this reward caetera omnia vota Deo remittas thou mayest very well pardon him all the rest Let us therefore amend our language and leave off these solecisms and misapplied denominations of blessings and favours and rewards names too high for any thing under the Moon and at our leisure find out other names to express them as for this great esteem which we make of the things below it comes but from this that we know not the value of things above did we beleive our selves to be the heirs and the sons of God and knew the price of our inheritance in heaven it could not be that we should harbour so high and honourable conceits of earthly things It is a famous speech of Martin Luther Homo perfecte credens se esse haeredem filium Dei non diu superstes maneret sed statim immodico gaudio absorbereâ—â—r Did a man indeed beleive that he is a son and heir unto God it could not be that such a man should long live but forthwith he would be swallowed up and die of immoderate joy And certainly either our not beleiving or not rightly valuing the things of God or howsoever not knowing them is the cause of this our languishing and impatient longing after earthly things It is but a plain comparison which I shall use yet because it fits the person to whom I will apply it and because it is Theophylact's in his Comments on St. Luke's Gospel I will not be ashamed to make use of it Swine saith he have their eyes so fram'd that they cannot look up to Heaven their Keepers therefore when they find themselves troubled with their crying are wont to cast them upon their backs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so make them cease their crying for that Beast being amazed to see the frame and beauty of Heaven which before he had never seen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being stricken with admiration forgets his crying The eyes of many men seem to be framed like those of Swine they are not able to cast them up to Heaven for would they but cast themselves upon their backs turn their face from earth and veiw the beauty of things above it could not be but all this claim or rather clamour after earthly things should utterly cease Again yet the more to quicken one to the neglect of these things below among many other fallacies by which they delude us I have made choice of one more They present themselves unto us sometimes as Necessaries sometimes as Ornaments unto us in our course of virtue and happiness whereas they are but meer impertinences neither is it any way material whether we have them yea or no Virtus censum non requirit nudo homine contenta est Virtue and happiness require nothing else but a man Thus says the Ethnicks and Christianity much more For it were a strange thing that we should think that Christ came to make Virtue more chargeable In regard of Virtue and Piety all estates all conditions high and low are alike It is noted by Petronius for the vanity of rich men Qui solas divitias extruere curant nihil voluntinter homines melius credi quam quod ipsi tenent Those men whose minds are set upon wealth and riches would have all men beleive that it is best so to do But riches and poverty make no difference for we beleive him that hath told us there is no difference Iew and Gentile high and low rich and poor all are one in Christ Iesus Non naturae paupertas sed opinionis est saith S. Ambrose Poverty as men call it is but a phansie there is no such thing indeed it is but a figment an Idol men first framed and set it up and afterward feared it Oculi nostri tota haec lunuria est as some Naturalists tell us that the Rain-bow is oculi opus a thing framed onely by the eye so this difference betwixt rich and poor is but the creature of the eye Smyndyrides the Sybarite was grown so extremely dainty that he would grow weary with the sight of another mans labour and therefore when sometime he saw a poor man digging and painfully labouring he began to faint and pant and requires to be removed Beloved when we are thus offended to see another man meanly clad meanly housed meanly traded all this is but out of a Sybaritish ridiculous daintiness for all this is but to grow weary at the sight of another man's labour Would we follow our Saviour's precept and put out this eye of ours the greatest part of all this vanity were quite extinguish'd for what were all outward state and pomp imaginable were no eye to see or regard it Now Beloved yet to see this more plainly what is the main end of our life what is it at which with so much pain and labour we strive to arrive
with them but needs they will be his hearers this their pertinacy he took for a sure token of a mind throughly settled and led as it were by instinct to their studies If God should use this method to try who are his and bring on us those temptations which would make the man of a temporary faith to shrink think we that all those who in these times of peace have born the name of Christ unto their graves would have born unto the rack unto the sword unto the fire Indeed to man who knows not the thoughts of his freind some trials sometimes are very necessary But he that knew and foretold David what the resolution of the men of Keilah would be if Saul came to them knows likewise what the resolution of every one of us would be if a fiery trial should appear Who knows therefore whether God hath numbred out the Crowns of life according to the number of their souls who he foreknew would in the midst of all temptations and trials continue unto the end For what difference is there betwixt the Faith that fails upon occasion or that would fail if occasion were offered for the actual failing of Faith is not that that makes it temporary it is onely that which detects it which bewrays it unto us to be so The Faith therefore of that man which would have sunk as fast as St. Peter did if tempests had arisen notwithstanding that through the peace of the Church he dies possess'd of is no better then a temporary and cometh short of a saving Faith Durus sermo it is a hard speech some man may say but let him that thinks thus recount with himself that Dura via it is a hard way that leads to life Beloved deceive not your selves heaven never was nor will be gotten without Martyrdom In a word my Brethren try therefore your selves whether you have in you true resolution summon up your thoughts survey every path in which your affections are wont to tread see whether you are prepared to leave all for Christ If you find in your selves but one affection looking back to Sodom to the things of this life remember Lot's wife her case is yours you are not yet sufficiently provided for the day of Battel CHRISTIAN OMNIPOTENCY Philip. IV. 13. I can do all things through Christ that enableth or that strengtheneth me FRom henceforth let all complaint concerning the frailty and weakness of Man's nature for ever cease For behold our weakness swallow'd up of strength and Man is become Omnipotent I can do all things saith my Apostle The strongest reason which the subtilest above all the beasts of the Feild could invent to draw our first Parents from their allegeance was this Ye shall be like gods Our Saviour who is infinitely wiser to recall us then our adversary was to seduce us takes the same way to restore as he did to destroy and uses that for Physick which the Devil gave for poison Is this it saith he unto us that hath drawn ye from me that ye would be like unto gods why then return again and ye shall be like gods by a kind of Communicatio idiomatum by imparting unto you such excellencies as are proper unto my self As I my self do all things so shall you likewise be enabled to do all things through me Falso queritur de Natura sua Genus humanum quod imbecillis sit It was the observation of the Heathen Historian That it is an errour in men thus to complain of the infirmities and weakness of their nature For man indeed is a creature of great strength and if at any time he find himself weak it is through his fault not through his nature But he that shall take into consideration these words of my Text shall far better then any natural man be able to perceive that man hath no cause to complain of his weakness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Aristophanes It was a tale that passed among some of the Heathen that Vulcan offended with the men of Athens told them that they should be but fools but Pallas that favoured them told them they should be fools indeed but folly should never hurt them Beloved our case is like to that of the men of Athens Vulcan the Devil hath made us fools and weak and so we are indeed of our selves but the Son of God the true Pallas the Wisdom of the Father hath given us this gift that our weakness shall never hurt us For look what strength we lost in Adam that with infinite advantage is suppli'd in Christ. It was the Parable of Iphicrates that an Army of Harts with a Lion to their Captain would be able to vanquish an Army of Lions if their Captain were but an Hart. Beloved were Mankind indeed but an Army of Harts were we Hinnuleo semiles like unto the fearful Hinde upon the Mountains that starts at every leaf that shakes yet through Christ that strengtheneth us having the Lion of the Tribe of Iudah for our Captain and Leader we shall be able to vanquish all that force which the Lion that goeth up and down seeking whom he may devour is able to bring against us Indeed we do many times sadly bemoan our case and much rue the loss which through the rechlesness of our first Parents hath befallen us Yet let us chear up our selves our fear is greater then our hurt As Elkanah speaks unto Hannah in the first of Samuel Why weepest thou am not I better unto thee then ten sons So will we comfort our selves in the like manner Let us sorrow no more for our lofs in Adam for is not Christ ten-fold better unto us then all the good of Paradise The Mulberry-tree indeed is broken down but it is built up again with Cedar The loss of that portion of strength wherewith our Nature was originally endued is made up with fulness of power in Christ it is past that conclusion of Zeba and Zalmana unto Gideon in the Book of Iudges As the man is so is his strength for now Beloved as is God so is our strength Wherefore as St. Ambrose spake of St. Peter's fall Non mihi obfuit quod negavit Petrus immo profuit quod emendavit So may we speak of the Fall of our first Parents it hurts not us that Adam fell nay our strength and glory is much improved that by Christ we are redeemed Our natural weakness be it never so great with this supply from Christ is far above all strength of which our Nature in its greatest perfection was capable If we survey the particulars of that weakness which we drew from the loins of our first Parents we shall find the cheifest part of it to be in the loss of Immortality For as for the loss of that pleasant place the blindness of understanding and perverseness of will being suppos'd to betide us immediately upon the Fall these seem weaknesses far inferiour to our mortality For God forbidding us the fruit of the
which they are made vanishes and dies But Beloved prayer is a strange thing it can never want matter It will be made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 è quolibet out of any matter upon any occasion whatsoever whatsoever you do wheresoever you are doth minister occasion of some kind of prayer either of thanksgiving unto God for his goodness or of praising and admiring his greatness or of petitioning to him in case of want or distress or bewailing some sin or neglect committed Is it the consideration of God's benefits that will move us to thankfulness Then certainly our thankfulness ought to be perpetual there is no person so mean no soul so poor and distressed and miserable but if he search narrowly he shall find some blessing for which he ows thankfulness unto God If nothing else yet his very misery and distress is a singular blessing if he use it to that end for which it was sent Is it the consideration of distress and affliction and some degree of the curse of God upon us that will stir our devotion Indeed this is it with most men that kindles the fire of prayer in our hearts Men for the most part are like unto the unslak'd Lime which never heats till you throw water upon it so they never grow warm in devotion till somewhat contrary to their wishes and disposition begins to afflict them then certainly our petitions to God ought never to cease For never was there man in any moment of his life entirely happy either in body goods or good name every man hath some part of affliction Blessing and cursing though they seem to be enemies and contrary one to another yet are never severed but go hand in hand together Some men have more of one some of another but there is no man but hath some part of both wherefore as it seems not onely prayer in general but all kind all sort of prayer ought to be continual Prayer must not be as it were of one threed we must blend and temper together all kind of prayer our praise or thanks our sorrow and make our prayer like Ioseph's party-coloured coat like a beautiful garment of sundry colours So then as fire goes not out so long as it hath matter to feed on so what shall be able to interrupt our devotion which hath so great and everlasting store of matter to continue it Secondly many things in the world are necessarily intermitted because they are tied to place or times all places all times are not convenient for them but in case of prayer it is otherwise it seeks no place it attends no time it is not necessary we should come to the Church or expect a Sabbath or an Holy-day for prayer indeed especially was the Sabbath ordained yet prayer it self is Sabbathless and admits no rest no intermission at all If our hands be clean we must as our Apostle commands us lift them up every where at all times and make every place a Church every day a Sabbath every hour Canonical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As you go to the market as you stand in the streets as you walk in the feilds in all these places ye may pray as well and with as good acceptance as in the Church for you your selves are temples of the holy Ghost if the grace of God be in you more precious then any of those which are made with hands The Church of Rome hath made a part of her Breviary or Common-prayer-book which she calls Itinerarium Clericorum and it is a set form of prayer which Clergy-men ought to use when they set out in a journey and are upon their way why she calls it Itinerarium Clericorum and impropriates it unto the Clergy I know not she might for ought I see have called it Itinerarium Laicorum The Itinerary of the Laity since it is a duty belonging unto them as well as to the Minister Yet thus much the example of that Church teaches that no place no occasion excludes Prayer We read in our Books that one of the Ethnick Emperours was much taken when he saw a woman going in the streets with a vessel of water on her head her child at her girdle her spindle in her hand twisting her threed as she went he thought it a wonderful portion of diligence thus to employ all paces and times indifferently Beloved if it be thus with bodily labour how much more should it be so with the labour of the soul which is far more easie and needs not the help of any bodily instrument to act it And how welcome a spectacle will it be think you unto the great King of Heaven and Earth when he shall see that no time no occasion is able to interrupt the labour of our devotion Is it the time of Feasting and Jollity which seems to prescribe against prayer Indeed prayer is a grave and sober action and seems not to stand with sport and merriment yet notwithstanding it is of so pliable a nature that it will accommodate and fit it self even to feasts and sportings We read in the Book of Daniel that when Belshazzar made his great and last Feast to his Princes and Lords that they were merry and drank wine in bowls and praised the gods of gold and silver of brass and of iron of wood and of stone Beloved shall Ethnick feasts find room for their idolatrous worship and praise of their golden brazen wooden gods and shall not our Christian Feasts yeild some place for the praise of the true God of Heaven and Earth Last of all is it time of sleep that seems to give a vacation and otium to prayer Beloved sleep is no part of our life we are not accountable for things done or not done then Tertullian tells us that an unclean dream shall no more condemn us then a dream of Martyrdom shall crown us and the Casuists do teach that loose dreams in the night shall never be laid to our charge if they be not occasioned by lewd thoughts in the day for they are Cogitationes injectae non aenatae they are not thoughts springing out but cast into our hearts by the Devil upon his score shall they go and we shall not reckon for them So then though sleep partake not of our devotion yet this hinders not the continualness of it Aristotle tells us that men who sleep perceive not any part of time to have passed because they tie the last moment of their watching with the first moment of their awaking as having no sense of what past betwixt and so account of it as one continued time Beloved if we do with our devotion as we do with our time if we shut up the last instant of our watching with a prayer and resume that prayer at the first instant of our waking we have made it one continued prayer without interruption Thirdly and last of all the greatest reason why many businesses of the world cannot be acted perpetually is because they must give
the behaviour of God in these cases to a slothful freind that is loth to leave his warm bed to do his freind a pleasure and here in my Text to an unjust Iudge that fears neither God nor man and secondly by his own behaviour toward the Canaanitish woman It is strange to observe how though he were the meekest person that ever was upon earth yet here he strives as it were to unnaturalize himself and lay by his natural sweetness of disposition almost to forget common humanity and puts on a kind of sullen and surly person of purpose to deterr her you shall not find our Saviour in all the New Testament in such a mood so bent to contemn and vilifie a poor suitour St. Austin comparing together St. Matthew and St. Mark who both of them record the same story and gathering together the circumstances out of them both tells us that first she follows our Saviour in the street and that our Saviour takes house as it were to shelter himself from her but she comes after and throws her self at his feet and he as offended with her importunity again quits the house to be rid of her and all this while deigns her not a word If any behavour could have dash'd a suit and broken the heart of a poor suitour this had been enough but here 's not all we have a civil precept that if we be not disposed to pleasure a suitour yet to give him good words and shape him a gentle answer it is hard if we cannot afford a suitour a gentle word We read of Tiberius the Emperour as I remember that he would never suffer any man to go sad and discontented from him yet our Saviour seems to have forgot this part of civility being importun'd to answer her gives her an answer worse then silence and speaks words like the peircing of a sword as Solomon speaks I may not take the childrens bread and cast it unto dogs And yet after all this strange copy of countenance he fully subscribes to her request Beloved God hath not onely express'd thus much in Parables and practised these strange delays upon Canaanitish women but he hath acted it indeed and that upon his dearest Saints David one of the worthiest of his Saints yet how passionately doth he cry out How long Lord wilt thou forget me how long shall I seek counsel in my soul and be so vexed in my heart Not onely the Saints on earth but even those in heaven do seem to partake in this demeanour of God We read in the Book of the Revelation that when the souls of the Martyrs under the Altar cried out How long Lord just and holy dost thou not avenge our bloud from off the earth they received this answer Have patience yet a little while It is storied of Diogenes that he was wont to supplicate to the Statues and to hold out his hands and beg of them that so he might learn to brook and devour denial and tediousness of suit Beloved let us but meditate upon these examples which I have related and we shall not need to practise any of the â—ynick's art For if the Saints and blessed Martyrs have their suits so long depending in the Courts of Heaven then good reason that we should learn to brook delays and arm our selves with patience and expectation when we find the ears of God not so open to our requests When Ioseph's brethren came down to buy corn he gave them but a course welcome he spake roughly unto them he laid them in prison yet the Text tells us that his bowels melted upon them and at length he opened himself and gave them courteous entertainment Beloved when we come unto God as it were to buy corn to beg at his hands such blessings as we need though he speak roughly though he deal more roughly with us yet let us know he hath still Ioseph's bowels that his heart melts towards us and at length he will open himself and entertain us lovingly And be it peradventure that we gain not what we look for yet our labour of prayer is not lost The blessed souls under the Altar of which I spake but now though their petition was not granted yet had they long white garments given them Even so Beloved if the wisdom of God shall not think it fit to perform our requests yet he will give us the long white garment something which shall be in leiu of a suit though nothing else yet patience and contentment which are the greatest blessings upon earth John xviij 36. Iesus answered My Kingdom is not of this world If my Kingdom were of this world then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Iews c. AS in the Kingdoms of the world there is an art of Courtship a skill and mystery teaching to manage them so in the Spiritual Kingdom of God and of Christ there is an holy policy there is an art of Spiritual Courtship which teaches every subject there how to demean and bear himself But as betwixt their Kingdoms so betwixt their Arts and Courtship betwixt the Courtier of the one and the Courtier of the other there is as Abraham tells the rich man in St. Luke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great distance a great difference and not onely one but many Sundry of them I shall have occasion to touch in the process of my discourse mean while I will single out one which I will use as a prologue and way unto my Text. In the Kingdoms of earthly Princes every subject is not fit to make a Courtier yea were all fit this were an honour to be communicated onely unto some Sic opus est mundo There is a necessity of disproportion and inequality between men and men and were all persons equal the world could not consist Of men of ordinary fashion and parts some must to the Plough some to their Merchandize some to their Books some to one Trade some to another onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle calls them men of more then common wit and ability active choice pick'd out of a thousand such must they be that bear Honours attend on Princes persons and serve in their Courts The Scripture tells us that when King Solomon saw that Ieroboam was an active able and industrious young man he took him and made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Ioseph Again when David invited old Barzillai to the Court the good old man excuses himself I am saith he fourscore years of age and can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women Lo here my son Chimham he shall go with my Lord the King and do with him as shall seem good in thine eyes Ieroboam and Chimham strong and able and active persons such are they that dwell in Kings houses of the rest some are too old some too young some too dull some too rude
because it seems fitly to open my meaning I will not refrain to speak it Lucian when Priam's young son was taken up into heaven brings him in calling for milk and cheese and such countrey eates as he was wont to eat on earth Beloved when we first come to the Table of God to heavenly Manna and Angels food it is much with us as it was with Priam's young son when he came first into Heaven we cannot forget the milk and cheese and the gross diet of the world Our Saviour and his blessed Apostles had great and often experience of this errour in men When our Saviour preach'd to Nicodemus the doctrine of Regeneration and new birth how doth he still harp upon a gross conceit of a re-entry to be made into his mother's womb When he preach'd unto the Samaritan woman concerning the water of life how hardly is she driven from thinking of a material Elementary water such as was in Iacob's well When Simon Magus in the Acts saw that by laying on of hands the Apostles gave the Holy Ghost he offers them money to purchase himself the like power He had been trafficking and merhandizing in the world and saw what authority what a Kingdom money had amongst men he therefore presently conceited coelum venale Deumque that God and Heaven and All would be had for money To teach therefore the young Courtier in the Court of Heaven that he commit no such Solecisms that hereafter he speak the true language and dialect of God our Saviour sets down this as a principal rule in our Spiritual Grammar That his Court is not of this world Nay Beloved not onely the young Courtier but many of the old servants in the Court of Christ are stain'd with this errour It is storied of Leonides which was Schole-master to Alexander the great that he infected his non-age with some vices quae robustum quoque jam maximum Regem ab illa institutione puerili sunt prosecuta which followed him then when he was at man's estate Beloved the world hath been a long time a Schole-master unto us and hath stain'd our non-age with some of these spots which appear in us even then when we are strong men in Christ. When our Saviour in the Acts after his Resurrection was discoursing to his Disciples concerning the Kingdom of God they presently brake forth into this question Wilt thou now restore the Kingdom unto Israel Certainly this question betrays their ignorance their thoughts still ran upon a Kingdom like unto the Kingdoms of the world notwithstanding they had so long and so often heard our Saviour to the contrary Our Saviour therefore shortly takes them up Non est vestrum your question is nothing to the purpose the Kingdom that I have spoken of is another manner of Kingdom then you conceive Sixteen hundred years Et quod excurrit hath the Gospel been preached unto the world and is this stain spunged out yet I doubt it Whence arise those novel and late disputes de notis Ecclesia of the notes and visibility of the Church Is it not from hence they of Rome take the world and the Church to be like Mercury and Sofia in Plautus his Comedies so like one another that one of them must wear a toy in his cap that so the spectators may distinguish them whence comes it that they stand so much upon State and Ceremony in the Church Is it not from hence that they think the Church must come in like Agrippa and Bernice in the Acts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Luke speaks with a great deal of pomp and train and shew and vanity and that the service of God doth necessarily require this noise and tumult of outward State and Ceremony Whence comes it that we are at our wits ends when we see persecution and sword and fire to rage against the true professours of the Gospel Is it not because as these bring ruine and desolation upon the Kingdoms of the world so we suppose they work no other effect in the Kingdom of Christ All these conceits and many more of the like nature spring out of no other fountain then that old inveterate errour which is so hardly wiped out of our hearts That the State of the Church and Kingdom of Christ doth hold some proportion some likeness with the state and managing of temporal Kingdoms Wherefore to pluck out of our hearts Opinionem tam insitam tam vetustam a conceit so ancient so deeply rooted in us our Saviour spake most excellently most pertinently and most fully when he tells us that his Church that his Kingdom is not of this world In which words of his there is contained the true art of discovering and knowing the true nature and essence of the Church For as they which make Statues cut and pare away all superfluities of the matter upon which they work so our Saviour to shew us the true proportion and feature of the Church prunes away the world and all superfluous excrescencies and sends her to be seen as he did our first Parents in Paradise stark naked As those Elders in the Apocryphal story of Susanna when they would see her beauty commanded to take off her mask so he that longs to see the beauty of the Church must pull off that mask of the world and outward shew For as Iuda in the Book of Genesis when Thamar sate veil'd by the way-side knew not his daughter from an whore so whilst the Church the Daughter and Spouse of Christ sits veil'd with the world and pomp and shew it will be an hard matter to discern her from an harlot But yet further to make the difference betwixt these Kingdoms the more plainly to appear and the better to fix it in your memories I will breifly touch some of these heads in which they are most notoriously differenced The first head wherein the difference is seen are the persons and subjects of this Kingdom For as the Kingdom of Christ is not of this world so the subjects of this Kingdom are men of another world and not of this Every one of us bears a double person and accordingly is the subject of a double Kingdom The holy Ghost by the Psalmist divides heaven and earth betwixt God and man and tells us as for God He is in heaven but the earth hath he given to the children of men So hath the same Spirit by the Apostle St. Paul divided every one of our persons into heaven and earth into an outward and earthly man and into an inward and heavenly man This earth that is this body of clay hath he given to the sons of men to the Princes under whose government we live but heaven that is the inward and spiritual man hath he reserved unto himself They can restrain the outward man and moderate our outward actions by Edicts and Laws they can tie our hands and our tongues Illa se jactet in aula AEolus Thus far they can go and when they are
they bring them in some revenue that read Scripture for no other purpose but to cull out certain thrifty Texts to pretend unto their covetousness and distrust as that Charity begins from it self that he is worse then an infidel that provides not for his family But as for those other Scriptures that perswade us to be open-handed to lend looking for nothing again having two coats to part with him that hath none these we can gently pass by as Meteors and aiery speculations and think we have done God and men good service when we have invented some shifting interpretation to put them and remove them out of the way When Azahel wounded by Abner lay in the way wallowing in his own bloud the people which followed after Abner stood still as they came to Azahel till he was removed out of the way Men are willing to be Christians and yet unwilling to leave the thriving courses which the world takes when in their pursuit of gain they meet with these or the like places of holy Scripture cannot chuse but be much amused and stand still as it were at Azahel's body Now those that have been the Authours of certain mollifying Paraphrases and distinctions and the like have removed these harsher places of Scripture as it were Azahel's body and made the way open and clear to our covetous desires How scrupulous our fore-fathers were in expounding of these or the like Texts of Scripture themselves have left us notable Monuments St. Basil makes a strange Supposition and to it gives as strange an Answer Wert thou brought saith he unto those streights that thou hadst but one loaf of bread left and that thou knew'st no means to provide other when that is spent if there should come some poor and needy man and ask thee food what thinkest thou is thy duty to do Even to take that one loaf and put it into the hands of him that requires it and looking up unto heaven say Lord thou seest this one loaf thou knowest the streights in which I am and that there is no other means but thy providence yet have I preferr'd the keeping of thy commands before mine own necessities Beloved this is a point of piety cujus non andeo dicere nomen I should scarcely durst to have taught it had I not had the warrant of so grave a man For in this Age we are taught that we must begin from our selves that we must not tempt God by making our selves destitute of means and other such thriving doctrines which strongly savour of love unto the world and distrust in God's promises There may be many reasons of mollifying some texts of Scripture and restraining them but amongst those let that be the last which is drawn from our commodity and so there be no other cause to hinder let not respect to our persons or to our purses restrain any Scripture from that latitude and compass of sense of which it is naturally capable I will yet draw a third reason why the wicked should thrive in the world above the rate of beâ—ter men and that is the negotiating of the Divil in these cases who doubtless busies himself exceedingly that those who do him service may have their hire and therefore whatsoever he can do in disposing of the things of the world he will effect and with all his might strive that their ambitious and partial and covetous desires may have good success Doubtless it was an overlashing speech which the Divil used unto our Saviour when he offered him all the Kingdoms of the world upon condition he would fall down and worship him For whatsoever the issue of the temptation had been he could not have made his promise good Yet certainly there are many cases unknown to us wherein the Divil by God's permission does dispose of the world Iob in his losses and afflictions takes notice of no such thing yet we all know that the divil had an especial hand in them Wherefore wicked men if God do not hinder doubtless have all the service that the world and the divil possibly can do them and on the contrary side could the divil and the world hinder good men should have nothing at all Needs therefore must they thrive that have the divil and the world to farther them and to do them all the good offices they can Many other reasons may you frame to your selves why the wicked should thus flourish in the world which I must leave to your private Meditations For I must not forget that there is yet a good part of my Text behind Now as Homer is wont to tell us when he speaks of Rivers and Mountains that men indeed call them thus and thus but the gods have other names for them so you must know that hitherto we have spoken of profit and gain as men are wont to like of it we will now speak of it in a sense that God and holy Saints are wont to use For besides this first there is a second profit of Godliness by which it doth reflect upon the former Care and industry without godliness brings in the things of the world upon us but in this case we cannot call them profits What profit is it for a man to gain the whole world and to lose his own soul Godliness it is therefore that makes even profit it self profitable For the true profit is the enjoying using and bestowing of them and this alone doth piety teach So that piety serves not onely as a Bayly to bring them in but as an Instructor to teach us how to lay them out For it is a greater part of wisdom wisely to dispend them when we have them then to get them at the first As one told Hannibal that he knew how to conquer better then how to use the Victory so many there are in the world who know how to gather but few that know how to use How many do our eyes see every day who make no end of heaping up wealth but never bethink themselves how to employ it By lying thus idly by us it gathers a rust as St. Iames tells us which rust eats out our soul but piety Abdita terris inimica lamnae washes off the rust of it and makes it bright by using it One onely true use there is of these outward blessings and that is it which our Saviour teaches in the Gospel Make ye friends saith he of the unrighteous Mammon The world I know makes it profit enough to have it but this other profit that comes by expence and laying it out it can hardly be brought to learn Many there are that can be content to hear that Godliness is profitable to them but that Godliness should make them profitable to others it should cost them any thing that they cannot endure to hear It was St. Basil's observation of old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I know many saith he that can with some ease be brought to fast to pray to lament and mourn for sin to perform all
us lays upon us a necessity of food and raiment from which necessity Angels are exempted because they have no bodies This onely excepted what difference is there betwixt us and Angels Having therefore food and raiment the rest we need no more then the Angels do And why then should we desire them any more then the Angels do Look then for what reason they are not necessary for the Angels for the same reason they are superfluous for us But here I see I may be question'd What then shall become of all these goodly things of the world which men so much admire riches pleasures and delights so many good creatures in the world were they not made to be enjoyed If Iacob's portion be nothing else but food and raiment why did God provide more then that Was it his pleasure that all the rest should run waste I answer I would be loth to oppose that common principle of Nature Deus Natura nihil faciunt frustra God and Nature are not wont to lose their labour There is use for those things but not that peradventure which we would make There goes a fable that when Prometheus had sâ—ol'n fire out of Heaven a Satyre as soon as he saw it would needs go kiss it There may be many good uses of Fire yet kissing none of them They who thus plead for the things of the world they would do as the Satyre did by the Fire they would kiss them and hug them and love them as their own soul. This is that use or rather abuse which if I could I would willingly remove will you know then the cheif use for which they were made It is somewhat a strange one and one of which you will have no great joy to hear They were made for Temptation They are in the world as the Canaanites were in Canaan to try and prove us whether we walk in the ways of God or no. For it was the purpose of God that the way to life should be narrow that man should be the subject of obedience and vertue and industry For this purpose by the very ordinance of God are so many enticements so many allurements so many difficulties ut fides habendo tentationem haberet etiam probationem as Tertullian speaks that our obedience and love unto God encountring and overcoming so many temptations so many difficulties might at length approve it self unto him Seems it so strange a thing unto you that God should make a thing onely for Tentation What think ye of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil it was a fair fruit it was beautiful to the eye yet was it made for no other use that is known to us but onely to be a trial of our obedience and that yet it should be more difficult God hath mingled these very temptations even with our necessities For this very Vow of Iacob how strict soever it may seem to be yet it is full of danger Food and raiment become temptations dangerous above all others For how easily do they degenerate into wantonness the one into pride the other into luxury So that as it seems we must circumcise and pare even this our Vow and covenant with God not in large terms of food and raiment but for no more of that also then is necessary As for those other glorious superfluities of the world he makes best use of them that least uses them and he sets the truest price of them that least esteems them DIXI CUSTODIAM A SERMON On PSAL. xxxvj 1. I said or resolv'd I will take heed to my ways BEfore of a Good desire Beati qui esuriunt sitint justitiam now it will follow well to make way for an Absolute Resolution here in two words These two words must ever be link'd together in this order 1. Dixi. Purpose and Resolution 2. Custodiam Practise and Execution First a setled purpose must usher the way Then the Action must follow hard at heels Mature facto opus est In these two our whole life is compris'd For man is by nature an active creature he cannot be long idle either for good or bad he must take up his Dixi and proceed to his Custodiam For he was born for labour as the sparks flie upward And well it is that he was so otherwise he would find as they do Qui transgrediuntur naturam in this point That Idleness is but a preparative and introduction to do evil and as fat grounds if you sow them not with good seed will quickly abound with weeds so the soul of man left empty and void of good purposes will soon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be over-spread and over-grown with evil intentions Neglectis urenda filix innascitur agris Therefore if Nature do not yet Christian wisdom at the least should move us quickly with David to take up our Dixi resolve for action David in that case sets the words thus Dixi custodiam he makes Resolution take the upper place and go before practise and Nature it self requires it should be so Yet it may be good Heraldry first to range them in this order Custodiam dixi to take heed to be well advised what we resolve for resolution is the immediate cause of Action the onely thing that sets us all on work Reason be it never so good is yet of no force without a strong resolution A strong resolution is of great force though the reasons be weak or none at all There is great reason we should be very careful upon what we set our resolutions For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dixi I am resolved is with most men a word of great weight Quod dixi dixi There were anciently a sect of Philosophers who thought themselves bound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make good whatsoever they had resolved We read of one of them in Epictetus of his time of his acquaintance that for no reason resolved to die by pining and abstaining from all necessary sustenance when he had begun to put it in practise being required a reason cur sic he answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have said I am resolved it shall be so and scarcely could his freinds perswade him to break his resolution This Sect of Philosophers is not yet extinguished more or less we are all of it Many men in most things all men in some things have no other reason but their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dixi they are resolv'd upon 't In such a posture have they voluntarily put themselves and in that they purpose to pass on Now a resolution if it be taken up in A Lightness and vanity is a singular Folly A Sin and wickedness is a singular Madness As being nothing else but pertinacy a reprobate sense and induration So è contra if it be taken up for the guiding of our actions to goodness for sanctity integrity and uprightness of life it is an admirable virtue and the very Crown of Christianity For that excellent virtue of perfect righteousness which is so
gone thus far they can go no farther But to rule the inward man in our hearts and souls to set up an Imperial throne in our understandings and wills this part of our government belongs to God and to Christ These are the subjects this the government of his Kingdom men may be Kings of Earth and Bodies but Christ alone is the King of Spirits and Souls Yet this inward government hath influence upon our outward actions For the Authority of Kings over our outward man is not so absolute but that it suffers a great restraint it must stretch no farther then the Prince of our inward man pleases for if Secular Princes stretch out the skirts of their Authority to command ought by which our souls are prejudiced the King of Souls hath in this case given us a greater command That we rather obey God then men The second head wherein the difference betwixt these Kingdoms is seen is in their Laws for as the Kingdoms and the Law-givers so are their Laws very different First in their Authours The Laws by which the Common-wealth of Rome was anciently govern'd were the works of many hands some of them were Plebiscita the acts of the people others were Senatus consulta the Decrees of the Senate others Edicta Praetorum the Verdict of their Iudges others Responsa Prudentum the opinions of Wise-men in cases of doubt others Rescripta Imperatorum the Rescripts and Answers of their Emperours when they were consulted with But in the Kingdom of Christ there are no Plebiscita or Senatus-consulta no People no Senate nor Wise-men nor Judges had any hand in the Laws by which it is governed Onely Rescripta Imperatoris the Rescripts and Writs of our King run here these alone are the Laws to which the Subjects of this Kingdom owe obedience Again the Laws of both these Kingdoms differ in regard of their quality and nature For the Laws of the Kingdom of Christ are Eternal Substantial Indispensible but Laws made by humane Authority are but light superficial and temporary For all the humane Authority in the world can never Enact one eternal and fundamental Law Let all the Laws which men have made be laid together and you shall see that they were made but upon occasion and circumstance either of time or place or persons in matters of themselves indifferent and therefore either by discontinuance they either fell or ceased of themselves or by reason of alteration of occasion and circumstance were necessarily revoked Those main fundamental Laws upon which all the Kingdoms of the world do stand against theft against murther against adultery dishonouring of Parents or the like they were never brought forth by man neither were they the effects of any Parliamentary Sessions they were written in our souls from the beginning long before there was any Authority Regal extant among men The intent of him who first Enacted them was not to found a temporal but to bring men to an eternal Kingdom and so far forth as they are used for the maintaining of outward state they are usurp'd or at the best but borrowed So that in this work of setling even the Kingdoms of this world if we compare the Laws of God with the Laws of men we shall find that God hath as it were founded the Palaces and Castles and strength of them but men have like little children built houses of clay and dirt which every blast of wind over-turns The third head by which they may be seen is in the notes and marks by which they may be known For the Kingdoms of the world are confin'd their place is known their subjects are discernable they have badges and tokens and Arms by which they are discovered But the Church hath no such notes and marks no Herald hath as yet been found that could blazon the Arms of that Kingdom AEsculus the Poet in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 describing the Captains that came either for the seige or defence of the City of Thebes in Beotia brings them in in their order every one with their sheild and upon his sheild some device and over that device a Motto or word according to the usual fancies of men in that kind but when he comes to Amphiarus he notes of him that he had no device in his sheild no impress or word and he gives the reason of it Because he affected not shew but to be that which others profest But to carry marks and notes and devices may well beseem the world which is led by fancy and shew but the Church is like Amphiarus she hath no device no word in her sheild mark and essence with her are all one and she hath no other note but to Be And but that learned men must have something to busie their wits withall these large discourses de notis Ecclesiae of the notes and marks by which we may know the Church might very well lie by as containing nothing else but doctas ineptias laborious vanities and learned impertinences For the Church is not a thing that can be pointed out The Devil could shew our Saviour Christ all the kingdoms of the earth and the glory of them I hope the Church was none of these It is the glory of it not to be seen and the note of it to be invisible when we call any visible company of professours a Church it is but a word of courtesie out of charity we hope men to be that which they do profess and therefore we so speak as if they were indeed that whose name they bear where and who they are that make up this Kingdom is a question unfit for any man to move for the Lord onely knoweth who are his It is but Popish madness to send men up and down the world to find the Church it is like unto the children of the Prophets in the second of Kings that would needs seek Elias or like the Nobles in Hierusalem that would needs go seek Ieremie the Prophet but could not find him because the Lord had hid him For in regard of the profession the Church as our Saviour speaks is like a City set upon an hill you may quickly see and know what true Christianity is but in regard of the persons the Kingdom of Heaven is as our Saviour again tells us like a treasure hidden in a feild except the place of their abode and their persons were discernable who can tell we go thus to seek them whether we do not like false hounds hunt Counter as the Hunters phrase is and so go from the game When Saul went to seek his father's Asses he found a Kingdom let us take heed lest the contrary befall us lest while we seek our Father's Kingdom thus we find but Asses Will you know where to find the Kingdom of Christ our Saviour directs you in the Gospel The kingdom of heaven saith he cometh not by observation neither shall ye say Lo here or Lo there but the kingdom of heaven is within you Let
every man therefore retire into himself and see if he can find this Kingdom in his heart for if he find it not there in vain shall he find it in all the world besides The fourth head wherein the difference of these Kingdoms is seen is outward state and ceremony for outward pomp and shew is one of the greatest stays of the Kingdom of this world Some thing there must be to amaze the people and strike them into wonderment or else Majesty would quickly be contemned The Scripture recounting unto us King Solomon's Royalty tells us of his magnificent Buildings of his Royal Throne of his servants and his attendants of his cup-bearers of his meats and these were the things which purchased unto him the reputation of Majesty above all the Kings of the earth Beloved the Kingdom of Christ is not like unto Solomon in his Royalty it is like unto David when he had put off all his Royalty and in a linen Ephod danced before the Ark and this plain and natural simplicity of it is like unto the Lilies of the field more glorious then Solomon in all his royalty The Idolatrous superstitions of Paganism stood in great need of such pompous Solemnities Vt opinionem suspendio cognitionis aedificent atque ita tantam majestatem exhibere videantur quantam praestruxerunt cupiditatem as Tertullian tells us For being nothing of themselves they were to gain reputation of being something by concealment and by outward state make shew of something answerable to the expectation they had raised The case of the Kingdoms of the world is the same For all this State and Magnificence used in the managing of them is nothing else but Secular Idolatry used to gain veneration and reverence unto that which in comparison of the Kingdom we speak of is mere vanity But the Sceptre of the Kingdom of Christ is a right Sceptre and to add unto it outward state and riches and pomp is nothing else but to make a Centaure marry and joyn the Kingdom of Christ with the Kingdom of the world which Christ expresly here in my Text hath divorced and put asunder A thing which I do the rather note because that the long continuance of some Ceremonies in the Church have occasioned many especially of the Church of Rome to think that there is no Religion no Service without these Ceremonies Our Books tell us of a poor Spartan that travelling in another Countrey and seeing the beams and posts of houses squared and carved ask'd If the Trees grew so in those Countreys Beloved many men that have been long acquainted with a form of worship squared and carved trick'd and set out with shew and ceremony fall upon this Spartan's conceit think the Trees grow so and think that there is no natural shape and face of God's service but that I confess the service of God hath evermore some Ceremony attending it and to our Fathers before Christ may seem to have been necessary because God commanded it But let us not deceive our selves for neither is Ceremony now neither was Sacrifice then esteemed necessary neither was the command of God concerning it by those to whom it was given ever taken to be peremptory I will begin the warrant of what I have said out of St. Chrysostom for in his comments upon the x. to the Hebrews he denies that ever God from the beginning requir'd or that it was his will to ordain such an outward form of Worship and asking therefore of himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how then seems he to have commanded it he answers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by condescending onely and submitting himself unto humane infirmity now this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this condescending of God wherein it consisted Oecumenius opens For because that men had a conceit that it was convenient to offer up some part of their substance unto God and so strongly were they possess'd with this conceit that if they offered it not up to him they would offer it up to Idols God saith he rather then they should offer unto Idols required them to offer unto him And thus was God understood by the holy men themselves who lived under the shadow of those Ceremonies for David when he had made his peace with God after that great sin of his opens this mystery For thou requirest not sacrifice saith he else would I have given it thee but thou delightest not in burnt-offerings The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit a troubled and a contrite heart O God dost thou not despise After the revolt of Ieroboam and the ten Tribes from the House of David there were many devout and religious persons in Israel and yet we find not that they used the outward form of Worship which was commanded Elias and Elizaeus two great Prophets in Israel did they ever go up to Hierusalem to worship Obadiah a great Courtier in King Ahab's Court and one that feared the Lord exceedingly the seven thousands which bowed not their knees to Baal when came they up to the Temple to offer a thing which doubtless they would have done if they had understood the commandment of God in that behalf to have been absolute indeed If we live in places where true religious persons do resort and assemble for the service of God it were a sin to neglect it But otherwise it is sufficient if we keep us from the pollutions of that place to which we are restrain'd Quid juvat hoc nostros templis admittere mores Why measure we God by our selves and because we are led with gay shews and goodly things think it is so with God Seneca reports that a Panto-mimus a Poppet-player and Dancer in Rome because he pleased the People well was wont to go up every day into the Capitol and practised his Art and dance before Iupiter and thought he did the god a great pleasure Beloved in many things we are like unto this Poppet-player and do much measure God by the People by the World A SERMON On 1 SAM xxiv 5. And it came to pass afterward that David's heart smote him because he had cut off Saul's skirt TEmptation is the greatest occasioner of a Christian's honour indeed like an Enemy it threatens and endeavours his ruine but in the conquest of it consist his Crown and Triumph Were it possible for us to be at league and truce with this Enemy or to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without danger of Gun-shot out of its reach like the Candle in the Gospel that is put under a bushel the brightest part of our glory were quite obscured As Maximus Tyrius spake of Hercules if you take from him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the savage beasts that he slew and the Tyrants whom he supprest his journeys and labours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you lop and cut off the manifest Arms and Limbs of Hercules's renown So take from a Christian his Temptations his Persecutions his Contentions remove him from the Devil from the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉