Prophet Elijah shew his thankfulnesse so to the place where hee was for a while nourished and shall Hee who is the God of all compassion bee more ungratefull more unkinde more cruell to the place of his nativity Flesh and blood would certainely interpret this to be ingratitude and cruelty For although he was not the efficient Cause of this massacre yet hee was the procuring Cause and withall had power if hee had pleased to have prevented it and therefore by that Maxime of the Civilians may in some sort stand guilty of it What shall wee thinke Is there cruelty or injustice with God God forbid that we should entertaine such a thought No the fault without all question is in our apprehension of this thing wee doe not judge rightly of it No doe we not judge rightly let us therefore joyne all the rest of the parts behind together and runne through them And indeed I durst keepe them asunder no longer for if I should have handled them all in order disioyntedly I should have beene forced to give yee to a great a potion of Wormwood in this time of Roses Let us see then whether wee doe not apprehend it aright or no. Wee have a griefe here and the subject of this griefe is Rachel that is the women of Bethleem The vbi the place of this griefe Ramah or Bethleem and the adjacent Countrey the place of Christs Nativity there the women grieve The quality of this griefe it is mourning weeping and lamentation the quantity of this griefe it is great great lamentation shee would not be comforted the object or cause is the death of their children they were not Doe we not yet apprehend it aright It seemes to me that we doe The lamentation was great and the cause was great it proceeded from the slaughter of their children and this was done in Bethleem the Citie wherein Christ was borne and it was done for his sake for Christs sake who had power to have prevented all this Doe we not yet apprehend it aright We will for a while suspend our censures Mee thinks I have a perfect Picture of that lamentable spectacle before mine eyes now and behold those women of Bethleem full of amazement mixing their lamentations with the churlish language of the Souldiers death appearing to them in as many severall shapes as there were Ministers or Instruments of death Here one whil'st her onely Sonne to innocent that yet it hath not learned so much as to feare is ravished from her breasts and dâ—â—t against the stones crying to the Executioner in St. Augustines words Quid seperas a me quem â—enâ— ex me Cruell and bloudy man why doest thou seperate him from mee who was borne of me and whilest the sterne Souldier charges her with a countenance of death shee answers him as Andromâ—cha did Vlâ—ses in the Tragedy Sâ— vis cogeâ— Andromacham metu Vitam mâ—nare nam mori votum est mihi What doest thou tell me of death if thou desirest to strike a feare into me threaten me with life for as for death I number it amongst the greatest of blessings There another with disheveld haire crying Meme quae feci What hath this poore Innocent done The crime was mine in bringing of a man-childe into the world the crime was mine I claime the punishment as my due Or if he be guilty too for being born junge mortem we are both offenders let us both dye Thus doth the poore Mother court the bloudy Cut-throat for death who shewes a new kinde of cruelty to her in being mercifull Then was the time if ever wherein a man might have said it is a happinesse to be borne a Woman for they are past by and onely the male children are slaine The Souldiers of Herod like cunning Woodmen pursue the best game and let the Herde passe by untouched I must not dwell upon this sight but these and a thousand other severall shapes of mourning weepings and lamentation were to be seene in Bethleem In Bethleem the Citie of Christs Nativity and all this was done for his sake too who had power and yet did not prevent it Shall wee call Christ ingratefull for this no Est quidem injustus dolor rerum aestimator Griefe is but a false Judge of things Certainly then we doe not apprehend this aright For Saint Augustine is of another minde accounting the slaughter of these children a blessednesse Beata es ò Bethlam terra Iuda saith hee quae Herodis regis immanitatem in puerorum extinctione perpessa quae sub uno tempore candidatam plebem impellis infantiae deo offerre meruisti Blessed art thou O Bethleem in the land of Iuda for suffering the cruelty of the King God was pleased to send a Present a Token of his love unto the Sonnes of men the Babe Iesus and thou alone of all the Cities of the world wert found worthy to send back againe to heaven as it were in exchange a Present a Troupe of immaculate and candidate Infants It was blessed also for the Mothers who now are proved fruitfull to heaven and are called the Mothers of Martyrs Most blessed of all it was for the Infants themselves for besides the courtesie the Souldiers did them in taking them from a troublesome and painfull life they had hereby the neerest Cut to heaven that it was possible for them to have Quam faeliciter nati saith St. Augustine in primo nascendi limine aeterna vita obviam venit vix dum gustaverant praesentem statim transeunt ad futuram nondum ingressi infantiae Cunas jam perveniunt ad Coronas rapiuntur quidem à complexibus matrum sed redduntur gremiis Angelorum O how blessed were these Children in their birth saith that Father who were scarcely stepd over the Threshold of this mortall life but the life eternall met them at the doore who had scarce time to tast what the Present was before they were tralated to the future who were crowned with eternity even in their Cradles who were indeed snatched from the embraces of their Mothers but in stead of that given into the bosome of Angells to be cherished Had they lived peradventure some of them for ought we know not to meddle with that media Scientia might have proved murtherers themselves some theeves others riotous persons and most of them having run a tedious and troublesome course in this life at the last have gone downe with sorrow into the Grave but Herod thinking utterly to undoe them by his cruelty conferres the greatest benefit on them that mortality was capable of sends them post unto Heaven For whom and all other thy Martyrs and Saints departed in thy feare we praise thy holy name O Lord humbly entreating thee to give vs of thy grace so to frame our lives according to their good example that when we depart this life whether it be by a naturall death or any other speedier way which thou hast appointed for us wee may rest with them in everlasting
Lord which caus'd this leaping But I shall be constrained for brevities sake to joyne the Quid the Qui and the Quomodo together the action the subject and the manner of the action Richardus de Sancto Victore and others who are for the mysticall sense of this Scripture by the rammes and lambes will understand two Hierarchies of the Angels conteining sixe of the Orders of the nine so that according to him the rammes signifie the first Hierarchy the Seraphius the Cherubin the Throni the young sheepe the last Powers Arch-Angels and Angels Sic parvis componere magna By the Mountaines and the Hills must bee meant saith hee Contemplative and speculative men and by the plaine fields which are implied here men of Action Qui hujus vitae plana non deserunt dum terrenis actibus inserviunt in camporum morem ad hujus vitae usum in terrenis lucris quasi quosdam terrae fructus ferunt Who by reason of their secular imployments are said never to forsake the Plaines of the Earth but as the fertile fields to bring forth fruit for the use and service of man Whereas the Contemplative man who is compared unto the Mountaine is commonly barren to the Earth brings no fruit to the Common wealth wherein he lives except hee joynes action to his Contemplation but yet like the Mountaine hee is a great deale nearer heaven hath a nearer accesse and acquaintance with the Lord and is more fruitfull to heaven and God although the fields active men bee more fruitfull to the earth and man The leaping of the soules of these Contemplative and speculative men meant by the mountaines and hills is a metaphor borrowed from a bodily action Now we know that to leape corporally is totum corpus a terra suspendere to take the whole body and for a while to remove it from the touch of the Earth so that for a little space it hangs as it were in the aire Et quid est aliud saith one saltus spiritualis quam spiritum totum quod spiritus est a terrenis altenare and what else is it to leape in the spirit but to remove the spirit and the soule from all earthly cogitations and to climbe up to the contemplation of things invisible The minde of man while it hath before its eyes incorporeall substances whether of Angels or the soules of men and discourses within it selfe about the nature of them is said ad se vel ad sua redire per planum ire to returne to it selfe it is then in its owne proper place and goes in a plaine course without either rises or falls because the nature of that of which he discourses is in plaine or in rancke with himselfe but when ever hee fixes a contemplative eye upon God who is the creating Nature of all things and suffers his soule to be busie upon meditation of his power his excellence his wisedome his eternity his mercy his justice then is the mind said quasi dato saltu supra semetipsam ire as by a leape given to goe above it selfe And these leapers are either the Mountaines or the Hills or Contemplative as I told ye or speculative men They are called Contemplative quibus datum facie ad faciem videre to whom it is given to see God face to face whose knowledge is not clouded in riddles aenigmas in shadowes types and allegories but behold the glory of God in nuda sua simplicitate The speculative are they qui per speculum in aenigmate vident who see God and his power and his wisedome and his greatnesse as it were by reflection presented in a glasse which is the Creator of the whole world and the preservation and governement of it But here is mention made of three things in that part of the Text which is the Coppy or Originall of rammes of sheepe and of lambes Sicut aerietes sicut agni ovium like rammes and like the lambes of the sheepe and therefore in the other part of the Text which is the Transcript we are to finde three things too to poise in the comparison against the three other and they I told yee were the mountaines the hills and the plaine or even fields for although they be not mentioned yet they are implied But here will arise a doubt seeing that in this comparison the rammes and the mountaines do hold the highest place the sheepe and the hills the second the lambes and the plaines the lowest degree of all Why then being that the mountaines are compared to rammes are not the hills compared rather to the sheepe which were to observe the true order in the comparison then to the lambes We answere that there is a great and excellent reason for this The mountaines and the rammes contemplative men and Angels of the first Hierarchy are compared together to shew that there is a similitude betwixt the leapes of the spirit of man and the leapes of those sublime and intellectuall Essenses but for feare lest any man should thinke that this might bee comparatio ad gradum a comparison of equality and from hence bee bold to affirme that the first order of men contemplatives doth ex pari respondere primo gradui Angelorum directly equall the first Hierarchy of Angells the second order of men which is the speculatives the second Hierarchy and the third order of men which are the men of Action and secular imployment the third Hierarchy therefore the Pen of David here which was certainely guided by the holy Spirit doth rather choose to inâ—ringe the order and method of the comparison and compares the Hills which are the second in order amongst men unto the lambes which are the third and last amongst the Angels And the same answere gives Richardus although in other words Quod ergo dictum non est tacuit Propheta saith hee pro removenda suspicione aequalitatis ut id quod dictum intelligatur pro ratione similitudinis But before we can learne truely after what maner the mountaines and the hills doe leape we must first looke upon the patterne after which they doe leape By those forenamed living creatures I told yee wee might in a mysticall sense understand the three Hierarchies of Angels The first three orders Seraphim Cherubin Throni which are likened unto the mountaines are they which are immediately joyned to God who doe inlighten all the inferiour orders but doe receive no illumination from any save from God The three second orders which here lie in method in the similitude although not observed by the Psalmist against the Hills are Dominations Vertues and Principalities and these doe both receive illumination from the higher orders and give to the inferiour The three last orders are Powers Arch-angels and Angels and these receive light or knowledge from the superiour Hierarchies but have no orders below them to whom to communicate any illumination Now for every one of these orders to leape in his kinde is supra semetipsos
more exalted notions approaching neere unto the contemplation of Angells then he doth from the Hills and Plaines For to whom much is given of him shall much be required So that as Saint Paul said of himselfe concerning preaching of the Gospell Woe is me if I preach not the Gospell so may I say of my self and of all our whole Tribe the Tribe of Levi with me of all the Priests of the Lord the Sonnes of the Prophets who are as it were a portion set apart for God himselfe and like the mountaines neerer heaven are or at the least should be farther removed from the plaines of the earth worldly cares imployments to the end that being freed from these outward destractions and disturbances wee should the more intend the honour of God and the good of his people Woe he unto us if wee above other men doe not leape for joy doe not sing songs of deliverance unto the God of our redemption In the next place O yee Hills praise yee the Lord. 'T is Davids counsell Psalme 148. Yee speculative men who are not yet growne up to the altitude of mountaines yee who are not able yet to climbe into a simple contemplation of God but doe behold his wisedome and power in the Glasse of the creature in the Creation Government of the world O doe yee leape too and although yee cannot yet fetch such Masculine leapes as the Rammes do let not this discourage yee Here is a degree of comparison for you too doe it like the Lambes or the young ones of the Flock Nor must we exempt the Fields the Plaines of the Earth from bearing a part in this joy the men of action and secular businesse they must come in for their share too and although they cannot leape or skip like the mountaines or the hills yet we will finde out an imployment for them too Whilst the mountaines and the hills dance before the presence of the Lord and trace it in comely figures together the fruitfull vallyes shall sing unto them as they passe and this I am sure they are able to doe For David in one of his Psalmes brings them in in the very same action and makes the moving cause of it to bee onely the fruitfulnesse of the Earth The vallyes saith he stand so thick with corne that they doe laugh and sing But wee have a greater cause then the fruitfulnesse of the Earth to move us the fruitfulnesse of heaven is fallen upon us and the Day-spring from on high hath visited us Hee whom the other day wee left hanging upon the Crosse the scorne and laughter of Passengers and hath lyen as imprisoned in the house of death for three dayes and three nights hath now broken from the prison of the Grave and to our endlesse comfort and eternall Salvation loosed and shaken off the bands of death not onely for himselfe over whom death shall have no more dominion but also for us too For now since his conquest Death hath lost his strength nor shall the Grave be able now to hold any of us hereafter The force of the Prison wall is decayed and through the breach which his blessed Resurrection hath made therein shall we finde a way unto eternity of living Let us therefore who are the Vallyes Plaines of the Earth though we are not able to leape and skip after the manner of the mountaines and hills who have higher and purer revelations then our selves although wee cannot sing unto the honour of our Saviour in so heavenly a straine or in so wel penn'd Anthemes as they yet let us not faile to doe our endeavours though it bee in a more homely Musick for the Lord doth not despise the Musick even of an oaten reede tuned to his Praise and he can discover a sweetnesse even in the harsh note of a sigh or a groane which is pointed to him Let us therefore for this present joyne our selves in Chorus with old Zachary Luke 1. and say Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for hee hath visited and redeemed his people Amen THE THIRD SERMON PREACHED Upon Saint Peters Day JOHN 21. VER 17. He said unto him the third time Simon the sonne of Jona lovest thou mee and Peter was sory because he said unto him the third time lovest thou me and said unto him Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee Iesus said unto him Feede my Sheepe VPon the day dedicated to the memory of St. Peter wee have made choyce of a Text wherein we finde St. Peter sorrowfull and indeede wee should doe wrong to the holy Apostle if we should at all remember him without his sorrow Never feare that sorrow for sinne will ever spoile the face of a good Christian 't is the comeliest thing about him and he doth St. Peter the most honour who pictures him weeping Alas to call to minde onely the sinnes and imperfections of this holy man onely to mention how shamefully he denied his Master and to leave out his bitter weeping and his repentance which is the best part of the story were to bring him upon the stage onely to disgrace him but that man doth St. Peter right who remembers his repentance as well as his sinne Wee have in this Scripture then these three things 1. Peters sorrow Hee was sory saith the Text Secondly The cause of his sorrow And that is we see our Saviours saying unto him the third time lovest thou me Thirdly The effect of St. Peters sorrow And this is double Neerer or farther off The effect which I call the neerer is St. Peters answer Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee The effect of his sorrow which I call the farther off is the reply of Christ unto Peters answer Iesus said unto him Feede my Sheepe 1. Peter was sory What Peter might this be That Peter who in the Gospell read for this day by reason of that cleare Confession Thou art Christ the Sonne of the living God was pronounced blessed by the mouth of Christ That Peter to whom were given the Keyes of the Kingdome of heaven so that whatsoever he bindes on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever he looses on earth shall be loosed in heaven Yes Even the very same Peter even the very same Simon the sonne of Ionas whom our Saviour himselfe in that 16. of St. Mathew proclaimed blessed He is sorrowfull First Peter the blessed is sorrowfull Certainly then it is not altogether such an accursed and hatefull thing to endure affliction and troubles here upon earth as it is supposed it is Be comforted then thou who art in misery art persecuted or afflicted for thou seest that Saint Peter here who was in the opinion of no lesse then Christ a blessed man hee was in sorrow hee was griev'd which did not a whit diminish his blessednesse but rather encrease it Secondly Peter the holy is sorrowfull O then it is in vaine to looke for true felicity here
he followed him that even into the high Priests Hall Where it is true hee told them he knew not the man but this also is as true that he did tell them so The other Disciples knew not the man and were so fearefull that they durst not come neere to tell them so but Peter is so couragious that hee stands out a threefold deniall In his very deniall he was valâ—anter then all the rest Let us therefore ascribe unto St. Peters God for St. Peters faith for St. Peters love for his valour for his doctrine for his life for his repentance for his death and martyrdome all which are set up as so many Sea-markes to guide us into the Haven of eternall rest as due is all praise honour power majestie c. Amen THE FOVRTH SERMON PREACHED Upon St. John Baptists Day LVK. 1. Part of the 66. verse What manner of Childe shall this be I Cannot tell whether I should more commend the former Ages of the Church or lament our owne they in the Primitive times were so carefull to take all possible occasions to glorifie God in Himselfe in his Sonne â—e his holy Spirit in his Saints that they did dedicate set dayes on purpose for his worship as the day of the Nativity of our Saviour the day of his Passion of his Resurrection which was indeed the great day of the yeare which did quite abrogate the Jewish Sabbath the day also of the Ascension and the Feast of Pentecost wherein the Comforter was sent to the Disciples Nor did their devotion stop here but because they might let slip no occasion to praise the Lord they also did set apart certaine dayes wherein God should be glorified in the anniversarie memory of his Saints At ipsa sanctitas sanctorum simul memoria frigidis his nostris temporibus exulant But our times frozen with a certaine new upstart discipline blowne from Geneva are so farre from affording any honourable mention of Gods Saints that many of us quarrell the very name And indeed to say the truth what have they to doe with the word when the thing which the word signifies is banished from them I doe acknowledge that the Church of Rome is something too ceremonious too complementall in regard of the Saints and doth bestow too much honour upon them many times even to the prejudice of Gods glory But shall we therefore like fooles or mad men in a wilde desire of opposition erre farther on the other hand because they honour them a little too much therefore shall wee dishonour them God hath beene pleased to glorifie them in heaven like the Starres in the Firmament The just shall shine as the Sunne in the Kingdome of their Father saith our Saviour in the 13. of Saint Mathew ver 43. And therefore certainely these are not fit objects of our scorne and neglect But to give if it be possible some satisfaction to the froward and ignorant concerning these dayes dedicated to the Saints If Antiquity would satisfie them I could send them to â—ertullian St. Ierome St. Augustine and of later times to Baronius Annales to Bellarmine who are not much branded for bearing false witnesse of the ancient times For certaine it is that this dedication of dayes unto the honour of the Saints or to the honour of God in the Saints choose yee which is of great Antiquity The Romanists have indeed abused this custome and have multiplied the number of their Saints beyond the number of their dayes it may bee have put in some into the number of their Saints when there hath beene neither such Saints nor such men But it is no good argument from the abuse of a Thing to conclude against the lawfull use But I will leave Antiquity which they care not for and will deale with them by reason I was too blame to tell them so I doubt my arguments will fare the worse for comming to them in that livery Carnall reasoning as they call it they cannot abide O that such people would but heare without prejudice For what is he who hath not lost all that is man about him when hee shall heare the reasons which are alleadged for the dedication of these dayes but must needes mee thinkes retract his lunacie and folly and call the former Ages wise and our selves happy them for first instituting and us for enjoying those blessed occasions and meanes to build us up in devotion The dayes therefore dedicated to the memory of the blessed Virgin St. Mary the holy Apostles and Martyrs have many profitable and religious uses First That upon those dayes wee might joyne our rejoycing with theirs communicate together in our joy and praises of God And for this it is that we beleeve and confesse in our Creed A communion of Saints Secondly that we might shew our thankfulnesse both unto God and to them who are so solicitous for our good and doe so thirst after and rejoyce at our salvation and glory There is joy in heaven for one sinner that repents Thirdly That wee contemplating their vertues and graces might be provoked to an imitation of their godly lives Fourthly That our Faith and Hope might by the consideration of them be established that as we verely beleeve that they are now glorified in Heaven who were once mortall men here on Earth subject to the same passions to the same infirmities with our selves so wee following their steps in vertuous and religious living shall one day also be removed from this earth and enjoy with them an everlasting vision of glory Fifthly That God thereby might be honoured For if we so honour the memory of the Saints certainly this very action of ours must needs acknowledge him to be more glorious more honourable who both made them men and made them Saints Sixthly That by meditating upon their happinesse and the beauty which they are now possest of we might be perswaded unto a hate of all earthly things and onely let our thoughts bee taken up with Heaven which while they lived here was their study now is their habitation And lastly That by the celebration of these Feasts meeting at Gods house as we ought to do praising and raying unto the Lord hearing his holy Word read or preached we might be builded up to further degrees of knowledge and devotion And were there no other reason but this me thinkes it might move a good Christian But I shall make a monster of this Childe of mine this discourse in making the head too bigg for the body so that I am afraid you will get to the Text before me and say of my Sermon as the people did here of St. Iohn the Baptist What manner of Child shall this be I therefore make haste to the Text. And all they that heard these things laid them up in their hearts saying What manner c. Our whole discourse at this time shall bee nothing else but an answer to this question And to whom is this question directed I perceive
rather where wee might have lyen for ever had God not bin as mercifull as hee is just but presently Christ adventures after us for although hee was not exhibited untill the fulnesse of time yet the vertue of his conception nativity passion and resurrection was in efficacie to beleeving Adam He who is immortall became mortall hee who is the Sonne of God and thinks it no robbery to be called equal with the Father became the Son of man took upon him the forme of a servant that wee who are the Sonnes of men might be made the Sonnes of God 2. Our next leape was into the Manger Wee became beast Man being in honour saith the Text that is in the state of innocence had no understanding but was likened unto the beast that perisheth Iumenta puto dicerent si loqui fas esset saith Saint Bernard Ecce Adam factus est quasi unus ex nobis Certainly saith that Father the very beasts themselves had God beene pleased to have bestowed upon them an articulate language as he did once upon Balaams Asse would have spoken those words simply without a figure which God did at that time figuratively and in a Sarcasme Behold man is become like one of us For indeed what was he else but Beast then having lost his excellence lost his understanding lost his immortality and in one word turned his glory the image of God wherein he was created into the similitude of a Calfe that eateth hay But doth Christ leave us here No. His mercy followes us hither too Inde est saith the same Father quod panis Angelorum factum est faenum positum in praesepio appositum nobis tanquam jumentis And therefore he that is the bread of Angells was made grasse became hay For the Word was made flesh Iohn 1. And Isay shall tell us in the fourth Chapter what all flesh is and yet not Isay neither but the spirit for a voyce said Cry and hee said What shall I cry All flesh is grasse and the grace thereof as the flower of the field hee was laid in a Manger to become foode for us who had through our owne disobedience made our selves beasts And therefore how well may we take up that holy rapture of St. Bernard immediatly following Heu tristis lachrymosa mutatio ut homo Paradise accola terrae dominus coeli civis domesticus Domini Sabaoth c. O sorrowfull and lamentable change that man the Inhabiter of Paradise the Lord of the earth a Citizen of heaven a houshold-servant of the Lord of Hoasts brother to the blessed Angells and co-heire with the coelestiall powers upon the sudden should finde himselfe for his infirmity lying in a Stable for the likenesse that hee holds with the Beast standing in neede of Fodder of grasse But much better and with a farre greater reason may wee turne the streame of this extasie and cry O grata stupenda lata mutatio ut Paradisi dominus coeli terrae conditor Dominus Sabaoth Rex Angelorum c. O happy change blessed and ever to be wondred at That the Governour and Maker of Paradise the Creator of all the world the Lord of Hoasts the King of Angells God blessed for ever should lay aside his Majestie come downe from heaven leave the innumerable company of holy Angells and be content to become a poore naked and distressed Infant whose best roome at his Nativity was a Stable a Manger his Cradle O the height and depth of the wisdome and mercy of God! He who was Lord of all the world chooses no better roome then a Stable Non quia non potuit sed quia homo noluit Not because he was not able but because Man would not suffer him A Paradox Would not man suffer him How then was he God Understand aright The sinne of man and his owne mercy would not suffer him The end of his comming was to seeke and to save that which was lost Mankind And where should he seeke for him but where he was Et ecce nunc de grege facta est egregia creatura For behold now Man who was once a glorious creature hath taken up his habitation with the beast Our third leape but stay wee should bee worse then beasts if wee should thus lightly skip over this blessed leape of our Saviour this time of preparation for that great approaching Feast instituted by the Church seeming to envite us to a further honourable mention O dies plena miraculorum saith St. Augustine Creator fit creatura qui immensus est capitur incorporeus carne vestitur videtur invisibilis c. O day full of wonders The Creator is become a creature he whom the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot containe is this day comprehended hee who is incorporeall is cloathed with flesh hee is handled now who cannot be touched hee who is the Ancient of dayes is this day become an Infant or if ye will have all in one word Nascitur Deus God himselfe is borne Qui natus est primò sine matre in coelis bodie natus est sine patre in terris Hee who was borne in the heavens from all eternity without a Mother is this day borne on earth without a Father Barbara Pyramidum sileat miracula Memphis Let Aegypt now cease to talke of her molehills of bricke the Ephesians of their Temple Babylon of her walls Rhodes of his Colosse Vnum pro cunâ—is fama loquatur opus And let this fill the mouth of all the world Nor is this all For then wee might indeed wonder but without any comfort to our selves now let us adde joy unto our wonder For natus est nobis puer There is borne to us a Child borne to us a Saviour This was that day to see which the holy Patriarches and Prophets of the old Testament so thirsted after Let him kisse me with the kisses of his mouth for thy love is better then wine Cant. Chap. 1. Abraham saw this day and that but in Landskip a farre off and yet for all that saith our Saviour he rejoyced And well was it called a day for then the Sunne of righteousnesse did rise to the world which before lay steeped in darknesse Blessed are the eyes saith Christ to his Disciples Luke 10.23 which see those things which yee see for I tell yee that many Kings and Prophets have desired to see the things that yee see and have not seene them Upon which words St. Bernard descants thus Quare nisi quia nox erat nondum venerat illud expectatum mane cui fuerat repromissa misericordia Why saith hee could they not see these things Because it was night as yet and that longed for morning was not broke which David so earnestly prayed for in his 143. Psalme Let me heare thy loving kindnesse in the morning for in thee is my trust How truely may wee call Iohn the Baptist the Morning-starre for as that ushers out the beautifull Sunne so did hee
nor doe I thinke it honourable enough for this Argument to bee handled in a discourse that is onely passant the greatnesse of the Theame duely chalenging a Tractate of its owne wherein it may command not serve as an Attendant And indeede so doe all the other but wee must not swell up Sermons into volumes my intent now being onely to give you a glance in my passage to leape onely upon these mountaines as I passe by and not to fixe or dwell upon any of them For should I affect largenesse here yee see I might take occasion from this Text to write the whole History of Christ Wee have brought him yee see to the Crosse and there he remaines the scorne and laughter of the multitude But shall we leave him so Pilat then and the Iews have done as much for him as wee Although wee are not able to help him in his misery and can onely with his acquaintance in 23. of S. Luke 49. Stand a farre off beholding those things yet this wee may doe too wee may joyne with those people in the 48. verse of that Chapter who came together to that sight and beholding the things that were done smote their breasts and returned O let us smite our breasts too as acknowledging all those blowes and stripes which fell upon his sacred body to be due to us Nos nos qui fecimus in nos convertite ferrum That Speare which pierced his blessed side ought to have beene pointed against our breasts for wee have sinned we have done wickedly but that Lambe what hath he done I had here broken off this discourse for this time but that I considered to suffer him to hang a weeke upon the Crosse had beene a greater cruelty then was showne by the Iews themselves who because it was the preparation of their Sabbath took him downe Let us therefore with the good and just Counseller Ioseph goe to Pilat and begge the body of Iesus and ere wee depart accompany him to the Grave where till we returne againe to draw the Curtaines and bid good morrow to the rising Sunne wee will wish his flumbers sweet and peaceable And so we are come to his 4. Leape De cruce in sepulchrum From the Crosse into the grave Into the grave O tell it not in Gath nor publish it in the streets of Askalon lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoyce lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph Ye mountaines of Gilboa upon you bee neither dew nor raine for there the shield of the mighty is cast downe Into the grave What should the Lord of life doe in the lodgings of death Sure hee hath no businesse of his owne there Yes Because his mercy is his owne therefore the businesse is his too Hee was that good Shepherd who leaving behind him the ninety and nine came in pursuit of that one which had strayed poore mankind And where should he seeke for man but where hee was In sepulchro positus Death had carried him away captive and Christ to redeeme him breaks into the strong hold of this mighty man and being mightier then he overcomes him binds him and sets the prisoner at liberty And this was all the businesse hee had in the grave Hee came not as owing any homage to the Lord of that darke mansion nor yet was it any debt of his owne which brought him thither but the end of his journey was to pay the ransome for captivated man who had taken a leape thither before him And as before he could not be at rest but thought every houre an Agâ— till hee was got upon the Crosse so when hee was there still hee hath a longing desire to goe forward on his journey and now is as earnest to bee in the grave as he was before to be upon the Crosse and therefore he cries out sitto I thirst Sitio art Christus non doleo saith St. Bernard and a little before the same Father Bone Iesu coronam spineam sustines de tua cruce vulneribus taces prosola fiti clamas dicens sitio O blessed Iesu thou hadst a crowne of Thornes upon thy Head thy wounds were all fresh and bleeding and yet not a word of them thou makest no mention at all of the pangs and torments thou enduredst thou criest out onely for a little thirst as if thou who wast able to suffer the piercing of the nayles couldest not suffer a little drinesse in thy body Say Lord what was it thou diddest thirst for so The same S. Bernard shal give you his answer Certe solam redemptionem hominis gaudium humanae salutis It was the salvation of man the consummation of his redemption which he so longed for and not the vinegar and the gall they gave him in the Crusa there could be but little pleasure in that But see Ioseph hath entreated Pilate for the body he hath prepared the linnen cloathes to wrap him in and a Tombe for him hewen out of a Rocke wherein yet was never man laid Here wee will leave him sleeping for a time desiring God of his goodnesse to make us truely sensible of these his mercies that as he leapt over these mountaines difficulties and thorny passages to come to us so wee may leape over all impediments of sinnes of innate corruptions of inward and outward temptations that we may skippe over all those hills barracadoes bulwarks and trenches which the world the flesh and the divell our three grand enemies doe cast up daily in our way to hinder our journey towards him that he may alter the speaking Person in this Dramaticall song and say of us as the spouse here said of him It is the voyce of my welbeloved behold shee too comes leaping upon the mountaines and skipping over the hills THE EIGHTH SERMON Being a continuation of the former Discourse upon the same words WE left CHRIST as ye may remember in the Grave being the fourth leape hee tooke in his journey to Mans redemption the Stone rolled before the mouth of the Sepulchre the Souldiers watching him O the Iewes verily beleeved that they had made sure worke with him now And let them enjoy that conceit a while it will not long continue with them But what sudden Calme dwells on the face of Hell The Lord of Heaven hath taken a leape thither too Hee hath triumphed over death and the devill already in his Portall as I may call it his outward house the grave and now he pursues him even into his inward Pallace his strongest hold of all and there hee conquers him too To use St. Augustines words in his Sermon De descensu Christi ad inferos Me thinks I see those legions of darknesse those multitudes of evill Spirits which fell and all the Common people of that gloomy habitation stand in a maze at the arrivall of Christ in that place and calling to one another in that Fathers words Quisnam est iste terribilis niveo splendore coruscus invasor iste non
Sion leapes like a young Hart and Syrion like an Vnicorne Hee is risen saith the Angel But who is this that is risen that the mountaines are so pleasant at the businesse Why it is the Lord and maker both of the mountaines and valleys that same great Lord who tells us that all the beasts of the forrest are his and the cattell upon ten thousand Hills Hee who in the pursuit after us leapt out of heaven into a stable indured the frailties and miseries of our Nature hee who suffered the reproaches of his enemies was scourged reviled spit upon crowned with thornes he whom but now we left in the grave guarded with Souldiers as if the fetters of death were not strong enough for him Hee is now risen The joyfullest newes that ever was heard upon earth This is the day which the Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad in it For if hee had risen no more but that Death had had the victory over him his miraculous conception his stupendious birth his cruell sufferings his ignominious death and all that hee hath endured for us had not a whit availed us But now wee see to our infinite comfort that the house of death was too weak a Prison for him and the gates of Hell were not able to prevaile against him Let not us therefore who have a greater interest in this blessed newes then all creatures whatsoever bee more stupid then the heavy mountaines which in an extasie of joy are found leaping and skipping Psalm 114. Not that the mountaines did really leape but by a kinde of Prosopopaea to intimate unto us that infinite joy those glad tidings which now were come unto men even the weighty mountaines themselves which are the unlikeliest part of the world for any such motion are brought in by the holy Spirit to trace it in a daunce Which figure doth first accuse us men both of ingratitude and stupiditie Secondly it doth incite us to shake off that drowsinesse It doth accuse us first For how can wee at all bee accounted worthy of that great benefit who suffer our selves to bee overcome even of senslesse creatures in expressions of joy Or goe farther and suppose that these mountaines were sensible that they were able to move out of their places yet what doth the rising of Christ concerne them Had hee never died at all or being dead had hee never risen wee may conjecture that their estate had beene all one the Sunne had sent as gentle rayes upon them as hee doth now they had had their vicissitudes of seasons and times as well as now the Starres had looked upon them with the same Aspects and the ayre which circumscribes them had beene as courteous to them as now The resurrection of Christ hath not purchased any blessednesse or immortality for them For they shall smoake when the Lord toucheth them and melt like waxe at the presence of God when he comes to judge the whole earth But let us looke into our selves and wee shall finde multitudes of arguments inducing us nay enforcing us to a thankfull acknowledgement of his mercies Hee was borne not for himselfe but for us hee endured misery not for himselfe but for us hee dyed for us not for himselfe for us he was buried for our sakes hee went downe into hell and came from thence in triumph and he rose againe for our justification Wee were before children of darknesse and of the night but now by his resurrection wee are made heires of the light and day Before we were the cursed children of Adam under the dominion of death and hell but now by his resurrection wee are adopted the blessed sonnes of God and made inheritours of life everlasting And are these small favours think yee that we take no more notice of them but sit still like Solomons sluggard with our hands in our bosomes and suffer the very hills to take our office from us Let us at least joyne our selves with them in this rejoycing for feare least hereafter for this neglect wee be glad to wooe those mountaines to fall on us and be denied and to cry unto the hills Cover us from the presence of that angry and just God whose loving kindnesse we have contemned We have our Graves too even while wee live here on earth to arise out of the graves of our sinnes There is a two-fold resurrection as well a resurrection from sinne as from death and let that man never hope to bee a partaker in the second which is from death unlesse hee have his part in the first in the rising from sinne And being risen from the graves of our sinnes let us leape upon the mountaines grow on from strength to strength from Altitude to Altitude from one degree of perfection to another untill at last wee come to leape upon those mountaines amongst which Ierusalem which is above is scituated Wee are now come to take our last farewell of Christs corporall presence till wee shall enjoy it for ever For harke what the Spouse saith in the last verse of this second Chapter of the Canticles Vntill the day breake and the shadowes flye away returne my welbeloved and be like a Roe or a young Hart upon the mountaines of Bethel Returne my welbeloved He is now returned to the place from whence he came he came from Heaven first from Bethel from the house of God and as I told yee before to prove the circle of all figures to be the fullest of perfection he doth not leave moving untill he comes into heaven againe till hee leapes upon the mountaines of Bethel Lift up your heads O yee gates and be yee lift up yee everlasting doores and the King of glory shall come in Who is the King of glory The Lord strong and mighty even the Lord mighty in battell Quae vox utique non propter divinitatis potentiam saith St. Jerom sed propter novitatem carnis ascendentis ad dextram Dei ferebatur Which words were not spoken in regard of the power of the Deity But in respect of that new thing which was about to be done the placing of flesh at the right hand of the Father And this is the sixth and last leape I told yee of which Christ did take upon his journey towards mans redemption In the five first hee traced our footsteps who had leaped the same leapes before him but in this he leaves man behind him and makes hast before to prepare his Mansions for him In my Fathers house there be many Mansions This was that leape of which hee himselfe foretold his Disciples in the 16. of S. Iohn verse 16. ModicuÌ„ non videbitis me iteâ—modicum videbitis A little while yee shal not see me again a little while and yee shall see me for I goe to my Father O modicum modicum saith St. Bernard O modicum longum pie Domine modicum dicis quod non videmus te A little while and a little while Gracious God
how when from â—ence and by whom they were brought into our Church in a meere opposition and contempt of the Booke of Common-Prayers But why then brought in and why still continued in contempt of that I acknowledge I understand not for if we looke into the Order Method and Disposition of that Booke we shall finde it sweet and harmonious if into the sufficiencie of it rich and full for what thing is it thou would'st name in thy Prayers whether it bee by the way of Confession or thy sinnes or of Thankesgiving for Benefits received or of Petition for the future but thou mayst furnish thy selfe with there more perfectly lively and more compendiously exprest then all thy wit can possibly contrive They went both to pray And whether went they Why into the Temple Private Prayers are good thy Closet-Devotions when none are admitted into the Dialogue but onely God and thine owne Soule are good and acceptable to the Lord the Prayers of thy Family are pleasing to God too but the publike Prayers of the Congregation which are put up to God in the Temple in the place dedicated to his Worship are more pleasing more availeable for we know that he has promised his presence in a more especiall manner where two or three be gathered together which place may bee most fitly interpreted of the gathering together of the Congregation in Gods House For a Family cannot proproperly be sayd to be gathered together because they are but as one body which is compact and contiguous which needs no gathering A Gathering does presuppose things that are scattered and separated But now the Pharisie and the Publicane must here shake hands and it is to bee fear'd that they will never meet againe no not in Heaven FINIS THE SECOND SERMON Continuing the Discourse upon the same words The Pharisee stood I This is done like himselfe indeed he comes into the Temple to Worship and when he is there he stands He is too good it seemes to bow his Knee before the Lord. Thus did not MOSES and AARON who fell both upon their Faces before the Lord. Numb 16. Saying O God Numb 16. the God of the spirits of all flesh hath one man sinned and wilt thou be wroth with the whole Congregation Thus did not DANIEL who in his 6. Chap. no lesse then three times every day was downe upon his Knees praying to God Thus did not CHRIST himselfe who in the 22. Luke 22. of Saint Luke Kneeled downe and prayed And yet this sinfull proud Pharisee a worme of the Earth he comes into the presence of the Lord and out-faces him as it were in his owne House stands in a peremptory confidence of his owne merits with a daring countenance a stretched-out Necke and a Knee stiffer then the Pillers of Heaven for IOB tels us in his 26. Chap. That they tremble and quake at his reproofe O that we had not too many such Pharisees now adayes who come into the Church stiffe as the Pillers which underprop it For whom they reserve their Knees I cannot tell certaine I am they are very sparing of them towards God and whether the Lord has deserv'd to have their Knees or no I will put it to their owne judgement Hee made our Bodyes as well as our Soules and sure we owe him Reverence with them both But our bowing before the Altar towards the East end of the Church troubles our standing Pharisees very much If I could suppose that their prejudicate opinions would give them leave to hearken to reason I should endeavor to give them what satisfaction I am able The first thing then which they must grant whither they will or no is That God must bee worshipped with the Body as well as with the Soule And therefore that Argument is but frivolous to say that God is a Spirit and he must bee worshipped in Spirit and in Truth It is true God is a Spirit and he must be worshipped in Spirit but how Fundamentalitèr non exclusire Fundamentally the Foundation of thy worship must bee layd in the Spirit without which all the bowing in the world I acknowledge is worth nothing in the Eyes of God but not exclusively excluding the bodily Worship Nay it is impossible that thou shouldst worship God in Spirit and in Truth except it bee also exprest in the body never tell me of thy inward and bare Spirituall worship Can precious Oyntment be conceal'd Can fire in the midst of combustible matter lye hid The Body is but the Instrument and Servant of the Soule and followes her Dictates This being granted the next thing we must force yee to grant is that this bodily Worship is to bee given especially in the Church for therefore come we to Church and therefore were Churches built for the Worship of God Now what is Externall worship The Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comming from the Verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Congeniculo vel in genua procumbo to bow or to fall downe upon the Knees will tell us And yee shall finde that in most places where the vulgar Latine Translation renders it Adoravit it is as much in the Hebrew as Incurvatus est he was bowed or hee was bended in his body To Worship then outwardly is to boâ— the Knee or the Body and this ought to bee done and this ought to bee done in the Church especially But why then towards the East I will strive to satisfie yee in that too I hope yee will yeild that if we doe it at all we must needs doe it with our faces pointed to one particular place and why to that place rather then to an other the reasons are excellent and they be reasons which the Primitive â—nes â—ad The Heathens were all great worshippers of the Sunne and therefore they us'd to worship towards the East the place of the Sunnes Rising where their God appear'd to them first in the Morning But the Lord because he would not have his people the Iewes to imitate the Heathen therefore by his command the Arke was set in the West part of the Tabernacle and afterwards of the Temple when it was built in the holyest place of all And Aquinas gives another reason which he calles the Figurative reason and it is this Because the whole State of the former Tabernacle was ordain'd to signifie the Death of CHRIST and this is figured out unto us by the West according to that in the 68. Psalme Sing praise unto Him who rideth upon the Heavens as upon a Horse For so it is in the English but the truth of the Interpretation according to the Originall is Qui ascendit super occasum Dominus nomen illi Who rideth upon the West the Lord is his Name Who rides upon the West that is who tryumphs over Death signified by the West the place where the Sunne sets And indeed if yee observe yee shall finde almost all the Ceremonies all the Sacrifices of the old Law
to point onely at the West of CHRIST at his Death at the setting of our Sunne of Righteousnesse But no sooner had this Sunne who for a while was set unto the World recover'd the East and was Risen again from the Grave but immediately this West worship of the Iewes was abolished For His Death did set a Period unto all their Ceremonies Nay the Temple it selfe we know not long after was Destroyed as being now of no use because CHRIST had already suffered at whose Death the Worship of that Temple did point And therefore the Christians of the primitive times who now had a new Law the Law of the Gospell which did and does chiefly looke unto the East of CHRIST unto his Resurrection that they might acknowledge against the Iewes who were Enemies to CHRIST and denyed him to be come in the Flesh that he was both come dead and risen againe they did turne from the West to the East The Iewes even to this houre doe Worship towards the West still expecting when CHRIST should come and set and dye At nos a tergo ponimus mortem Christi a fronte Resurrectionem adventum ad judicium But we turne our Backs upon the West as professing CHRISTS Death to be past and behinde us and point towards the East as confessing his Resurrection and expecting his comming againe to Iudgement who shall come as he himselfe telles us in th 24. of St. Math vers 27 As the Lightning which commeth out from the East and shineth into the West and therefore the Câ—u â—n has thought fâ— in the buriall of Christian bodyes so to dispose of the scituation of them in the Grave that they are placed with theyr Faces as it were looking into the East expecting the comming againe of their Lord and Saviour in his Glory I might here adde that the East is the Nobler part of the World wherein Gods Greatnesse and Majestie does most appeare beeing manifested in the motion of the Heavens which is from the East I might also tell you that Paradise was scituated in that part of the World for so it was if we'll beleeve the Translation of the Septuagint in the 2d. of Gen. Quasi quaeremus ad Paradisum redire sayes Aquinas as if by worshipping thus we sought to returne backe to Paradise from whence the Sinne of our first Parents drove us I could adde also that the Sunne the Day and the Light have their blessed and comfortable inroades upon us from that Part of the World and being that we are to worship a God whose Infinite Majestie to us is invisible and onely yet to be seene in the Workes of the Creation therefore we bend our selves in this Religious action towards that Part of the Creation which is the most Glorious and by consequence of greatest vertue to excite and inflame our present Devotion And this may give you some satisfaction concerning our turning towards the East at the Hymnes the Doxologies and Prayers For these and other Heavenly reasons has the Church thought good to make the East part of the Temple to imitate the Holyest place of the Iewes which was in the West and therefore there they have plac'd the Altar or Communion-Table where the Body and Bloud of our blessed Saviour is administred unto the people where the Prayers and Thankesgivings of the Congregation like a Sacrifice of Incense is by the mouth of the Priest offer'd unto God and before or towards this place doe we worship God It is a scandall and an ignorance grosse as Aegyptian darkenesse which may be felt to say that we bow to the Altar or Table No we bow to God and the having of that Table in my sight when I bow putting me in minde of the mercies and Sufferings of my Saviour cannot chuse but make me bow the lower Seeing that the stiffe knee of this Pharisee has put me into this discourse I would willingly give all the satisfaction I could possible and truly I would thanke that man who but would whisper an objection into me that I might by Gods assistance endeavor to answer it and I have receiv'd one already from which of yee it comes I know not and it is this We ought yee say when ever wee come into the Church to joyne with the Congregation presently if they be at Prayers then indeed to kneele with them if hearing the Lessons or the Sermon immediately to settle our selves to that if they be standing up confessing theyr Faith then to joyne with them and intend that What without so much as once taking notice what Place it is yee are come into Without so much as once acknowledging God to dwell in that House Yee durst not thrust thus rudely into the Presence Chamber of a King His Chayre of State would strike a greater awe into yee Yee ought to doe thus Who told yee that yee ought to doe thus I never heard any say so but your selves and I doe not hold your credit so good in Learning that your bare word should passe in a Controversie of this high Nature But suppose I yeeld that yee ought to doe thus I le tell yee of another thing which yee ought too and yee shall not onely take my Assumpsit for it yee shall have a Canon of the Church to backe it Yee ought also to joyne with the Congregation in comming to the Church betimes before divine Service is begun not to stay lurking 〈◊〉 your houses till the Confession and Absolution be past nay many times till the Psalmes be done because yee would prevent the standing up at the Doxologyes betwixt them nay sometimes till the Lessons and the Popery of the Letanie as yee call it be over and then come stealing in as if yee were sent for Spyes to see what Religion we are of This yee ought to doe also and then we will allow yee to joyne presently with the Congregation for so yee shall have time enough before yee come to the publike duty to worship God and acknowledge the ground â—ee stand upon to be Holy But I heare another object Will not presently Kneeling downe in my seate when I come into the Church and saying a private Prayer lifting up a private Ejaculation to the Lord serve the tuâ—ne without first bowing and prostrating my selfe before the Altar I answer doe but so and no man shâ—ll finde fault with thee thou doest well in doing it but yet he who does the other too and does it truly from his heart and withall knowes the reason why he does it does a great deale better And therefore untill thy judgement bee a little better inform'd at the least suspend thy censure of those men who doe it Be not too rash in accusing them of Popery or Superstition Who art thou that judgest anothers Servant For if thou wilt observe a little in coole bloud this Nuda genu flexio as I may call it this naked bowing before the Altar which is not accompanied with Prayer but is onely a
Praeludium or Preface to it besides the acknowledging of the ground to be holy and dedicated to God and besides the stirring up of mine owne devotions thed evotions of others by beholding that humble and reverend gesture thou shalt finde to be done not without a great deale of caution not without a great deale or reason and mysterie Yee will not be discontented I hope if I make it plaine to you that our Saviour CHRIST himselfe has taught us this very same Method of Adoration Looke but into the Lords Prayer Our Father which art in Heaven c. Hee first layes downe the Foundation of our Religion of our Devotion a Father we have a God there is a great God a God which is in Heaven This being done before we are taught eyther to pray for our owne Salvation in saying thy Kingdome come to us before wâ— are taught to pray for our Dayly bread for the forgivenesse of our Sinnes or for any thing which concernes our selves we are tâ—ght to say hallowed be thy Name VVâ— must first seeke and desire the glory of God and then â—uâ— owne Salvation and not onely so but we are to desire Gods glory first in the abstracted notion onely for and in regard of himselfe Sanctificetur it is St. Chrysostomes Note CHRIST does not teach us sayes he to say sanctificemus let us sanctifie thy Name but sanctificetur impersonally sanctified or hallowed bee thy Name without the joyning of any person to it to show us that we ought to desire Gods honour principally and in the first place without any respect unto our selves as He is the chiefe good and the chiefe happinesse which is a great deale more thanke-worthy then to doe it with relation to our owne happinesse as we are partakers of that chiefe good and happinesse And this very method doe we observe at our entrance into Gods House we doe not immediately fall downe to our Prayers for that were to worship God in respect of our selves but first of all before we come to lay any claime unto him by our Prayers we humbly prostrate our selves before the Altar as acknowledging him to be the great God in the abstracted notion without any respects unto us as if by that gesture we should repeate that first Petition of the Lords Prayer and say Hallowed bee thy name impersonally So that if there should be a Heathen amongst us in the Congregation and should but behold that reverent behaviour hee could not chuse but breake out and say Certainely there is a God in this place and I knew not of it When we bow then at our first Entrance into the Church we doe as it were acknowledge Gods Image and Superscription to be upon that House and in so doing we worship God as he is the great God but afterwards when wee Kneele downe and pray to him then we worship him as he is the Good the Gracious and the Mercifull God in relations to us Our first bowing without Prayer acknowledges his Omnipotencie and Independencie Our second bowing accompanyed with Prayers does confesse his Mercy and the Communication of his Goodnesse If thou wilt then fall directly upon thy Knees to thy Prayers is soone as thou enterest the Church and â—o worship God onely as a good and a gracious God to thee I blâ—e thee not for it enjoy thy Liberty Onely take heed thou beâ—st not too lavish in thy Censures against them who doâ— the other too and are able to show better reasons for the doing of it then thou for leaving it undone But all that I can doe will not bring the Pharisee I see to stoope we must be forc'd to leave him as we found him standing Let us heare what hee does more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Pharisee stood and pray'd thus with himselfe We have too many such Pharisees now adayes who pray with themselves by their good wils they would never joyne with the Congregationâ— But I have touch'd upon that already The thing which I 〈◊〉 from these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hâ— pâ—y'd with himselfe is this See what the effect of his standing of his Pride is The Prayers of the Iust and Humble doe use to pierce the Clouds and knocke at the Cares of Heaven for entrance and are admitted but this vaine glorious and proud man by boasting of his owne merits and standing with a stiffe Knee before the Lord has even clipâ— the wings of his Prayers so that instead of ascending unto God they remaine heavy things at home with him all that hee can doe cannot perswade them to take wing he pray'd with himselfe they went no farther God heard him not The Lord heareth not sinners hee esteemes 〈◊〉 of the Prayers of the proud and disobedient For although the reverent gesture of Kneeling or Prayers and at the blessed Eucharist and other â—re Câ—emonies of the Church be not absolutely and primarily of the Essence of Religion â—though secondarily they are for obedience is of the Essence of Religion and to doe those things the Church commands is Obedience yet it showes forth a great pride and a spirit of contradiction in them who refuse them It is acknowledg'd that the chiefest Sacrifice and which is most acceptable to the Lord is a Contrite heart yet I say againe that where the Heart is contrite there the Body will expresse Humilitie The Knee of that man cannot be stiffe whose heart is broken 't is both against Philosophie and Divinitie the heart is like the great wheele in a Clocke it sets all the other members a working Hee stood and prayed thus with himselfe Let us now heare what it is that he prayes O God I thanke thee that I am not as other men Extortioners vnjust Adulterers or even as this Publicane I fast twice in the Weeke I give Tithes of all that ever I possesse 'T is well the Holy Scripture tells us that this is a Prayer certainely we should hardly have believ'd it else It has a strange beginning nay the whole ayre of it is something harsh to be called a Prayer Iustus in principio accusator est sui The just and godly man he commonly begins his Prayer with an accusation of himselfe so ABRAHAM in the 18. of Genesis 27. praying for the Sodomites Ge. 18.27 Behold now I have begun to speake unto my Lord who am but dust and Ashes As if Abraham had sayd let not my Lord be angry although I who am a Sinner my selfe doe entreat for other Sinners So IACOB Gen. 32. O God of my Father ABRAHAM I am lesse then all thy Mercies So DAVID in the 2. of Sam. 18. Who am I O Lord God and what is my House that thou hast brought me hitherto So DANIEL chap. 9. O Lord Righteousnesse belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of Face And thus doe all Godly men begin their Supplications but the Pharisee he expresseth in other kinde of language God I thanke thee I am not as other men c. It
if that were all it were no great matter but thou robb'st God thou robb'st thine owne Soule both of Temporall blessings and also of Eternall Decima dives esto Tithe and be rich is the common Proverbâ— Thou drawest a curse upon thee when by saying thy Tithes truly thou mightst procure a blessing But for feâ—e thou mightst suppose t◠〈…〉 but onely the Arguments of us Clergy 〈…〉 yee I â—we for our owne profit for â—lt â—s which I have sayd I will deliver thee over to thâ— place of the Prophet Mal. 3.8 Will a man 〈…〉 Yet yee have robbed me but yee say wherein have 〈◊〉 robbed thee In Tithes and â—rings â—ee are 〈◊〉 with a curse for yâ—â—ave robbed mee even this whâ— Nation C◠〈…〉 Hebrew phrase 〈…〉 cursed had beene 〈…〉 cursed with a◠〈◊〉 it showes â—e greatnesse of it a double curse a curse of Soule and Body It follows in that Text of Malachi Bring yee all the Tithes into the Store-house that there may be meate in mine House and proove me now herewith sayes the Lord of Hosts if I will not open the windowes of Heaven unto you and powre yee out a blessing without measure Heere be cursings yee see and blessings layd before yee And I leave it to your owne discretions which yee will chuse If this will not work upon you goe on in your Sacriledge and grow fatte I have done the Pharisee wroâ— his in honest man now I thinke on 't better compar'd to many of our times Seeing that he cares not for the word paying it is well that he will give his Tithes 't is more then thousands will doe in our Age To give Tithes now is almost become a Prodigie Sacriledge is growne to that height Vertue and Religion become so frozen that those few honest Patrons who are left are afrayd to give their Parsonages freely for feare of being accounted but raw and simple men in the world No now they are become almost the Staple commoditie of the Kingdome and are sold as ordinarily as Wooll or Iron oâ— Horses To speake what other strange wayes there be of bargaines of waâ—ers of gratifying my Lady for her good wish of taking any false pretended Title at the first and then â—ully as they call it buying the tiâ— Title wâ— must be called for sâ—oth 〈◊〉 Title of Coreberatâ— or else of Aâ—vâ—ons passed in private to 〈…〉 the presentation of his Clarke who if he refuses to â—eâ—le to the â—eaâ—e is brought him upon that is presently outed of the 2000 l. bond which lyes by the Patron to keepe his Clarke in awâ— Citizens bookes are many times crost with them and they are to make the best Markets they can of them There 〈◊〉 the Symâ— of I some and you some There is the Symâ— of quietnesse when the Priest before he can get the presentation must enter into bond or promise holily all his life to be a Foole and a betrayer of the Church that is to be quiet and sit still till the Patron encloses depopulates and does what hee list with the Lordship Tillage is a troublesome thing alas it shal be better for the Parson he shall have a fine litle cloase or two layd next his house about the bignesse of that which Lupus give Martiall In quo nec Cucumis jacere rectus Nec serpens habitare tota possit Quod formica die comedit uno A cleanely sweet dwelling hee shall have and a quiet life fit for contemplation onely keepe a Maid and have 4 or 5. Cowes to live on and if hee prove a quiet and an humble man for that is the word they use which signifies in the true dialect base and will croutch to his Worship and preach what doctrine he pleases then it is likely he may have 2. or 3. meales a weeke at the Hall or the place as they These and many other sordid and devilish call it wayes there be which I swell to utter God of mercy deliver mee and every honest man from over knowing them but onely by hatred and 〈◊〉 We have now done with the Pharisee I con 〈…〉 have presented him to ye in long garments 〈◊〉 indeed we should have committed a Solecisme 〈…〉 dresse â—…n otherwise but we will make 〈…〉 is in the Publicane he shall appeare to yee in â—…r robes 〈◊〉 the Publicane standing a farre off would not 〈…〉 up so much as his eyes to Heaven but smote 〈…〉 est saying O God be mercifull to mee a 〈…〉 nner 〈◊〉 to be foure degrees we see in this Publicanes â—…mility 1. He stands afarre off 2. With a defected Countenance he does not lift up so much as his eyes to Heaven 3. He beats his brest And 4. as if that blow upon his breast had wake 〈…〉 heart which before slept in sinne and security â—…s lips and heart joyne together in this humble short yet powerfull Prayer O God be mercifull to me a Sinner 1 He stood afarre off The Pharisee stood too as well as hee but hee stood tâ—…dly For the holy Spirit in this Scripture by â—…ng barely and nakedly that the Pharisee stood 〈…〉 to accuse him for so standing as he did but heâ—… qua â—…tion which is and 〈◊〉 the Pubâ—… 〈…〉 of standing He 〈…〉 a â—…arrâ—… Observe heere the infinite Wisedome and Goodnesse of God who out of Sinne which is the filthyest and the most odious thing in the world does bring forth Humilitie one of the beautifull'st peeces amongst the Vertues That Workeman deserves admiration who can not onely of Gold and Silver it selfe but also out of the very drosse frame curious and rich workes Our Sinnes are as drosse nay we our selves are little better as we reade in the 22. of Ezek. 18. Sonne of man the house of Israel is unto me as drosse Ezek. 22 â— they are even the drosse of silver And yet such is the mercy and wisedome or our Heavenly Father that out of this drosse of our Sinnes many times does he make blessed workes wherefore sayes St. AVGVSTINE upon the 104. Psalme Deum non permissurum fore peccâ—tanisi si ab illis aliqua essent bona perventura God would never suffer sayes he sinnes to bee committed but that out of those very Sinnes he does produce some good as he did out of the sinnes of â—his Publicane he brought forth Humilitie He stood 〈◊〉 farre off To be a farre off from God is indeed the naturall place of a Sinner Sinne does make a man a stranger to God as it is in the Parable of the Prodigall Sonne he went into a farre Country and to stand a farre off to take notice of to be sensible of the great distance we have with God by reason of our Sinnes is the first step to our Conversion and Happinesse The Pharisee he enters boldly a great way into the Temple as it is naturally implyed for this word but is an opposition to every member of the verse but the Publicane he thinkes any remote corner in it
good enough for him And see the vertue that is in Humilitie The eyes of the Lord passe by the Pharisee as neare as he stood as being unworthy to be taken notice of and immediately finde out the Publicane as farre off as he was The eyeâ— of the Lord are upon those who are meeke in the Land He resisteth the proud and gives grace to the humble The 2. step of his Humility was his defected countenance Hee would not lift so much as his Eyes to Heaven Even for very shame hee was afrayd to looke up towards that part of the Creation wherein Gods glory does most appeare This is the true humility of the heart indeed this is the true submission when a man out of the consideration of his Sinnes does rise into a consideration of the divine Majesty against whom those Sinnes were committed and so trembles and quakes at the thought of it Thus did Esdras when hee prayed for the people O my God sayes he I am confounded and ashamed to lift up my face unto thee because our iniquities are multiplyed over our head and our sinnes are gone up before thee into Heaven Thus did MARY MAGDALENE in the 7. of St. Luke Shee accounted her selfe unworthy to appeare before CHRIST to looke up to the Heaven of his Face and therefore she got behinde his backe kneeled downe at his feet wash'd them with her teares and dryed them with the hayres of her head Nor would she arise from thence as if her eyes had beene in love with the Earth till shee heard that comfortable word till the heavie burthen of her sinnes which press'd her down was remov'd from her shoulders by the voyce of CHRIST saying Thy sinnes be forgiven thee and then shee rose up and went away in peace of Conscience His third step was He smote his brest He was angry with the Inhabitant and because he could not come at him he takes his revenge upon the house he lives in he knocks at his doore Cor credo evocaturus forà s and that with a great deale of indignation It was his heart which had offended him it was that which was the first entertainer nay the first contriver of all his Sinnes As our Saviour sayes in the 15. of St. Mathew Out of the heart come evill thoughts Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts False witnesses slanders It is therefore our owne heart and our owne perverse and froward wils which we ought to strike upon according to that in the Prophet Ioel. 2. cap. vers 13. Rent your hearts and not your garments and turne unto the Lord your God c. The fourth and last thing is his Prayer O God be mercifull to me a sinner It is a short Prayer this but it is full of life and efficacie And hâ—re be three things in this Prayer which ought to be in all our Prayers First he professeth both the Mercy the Power of God in acknowledging it to be he alone who both can and will forgive sinnes 'T is the Prerogative royall of God this as the Lord himselfe sayes by the mouth of the Prophet Isay 43.11 I even I am the Lord and beside mee there is no Saviour And at the 25. Verse I even I am hee who putteth away thine iniquities for mine owne sake and will not remember thy Sinnes For who can forgive Sinnes but onely he who is free from all Sinne. Secondly he confesses himselfe to be a Sinner with â—ce making mention of any good thing he had Not a word of his Fasting nor of his paying of â—es nor of any good worke that he had â—one All his hope all his confidence is placed in the Mercy of God And as he does first acknowledge God to be the Author of all forgivenesse and secondly confesse himselfe to be a Sinner So hee does in the third place acknowledge himselfe to be the onely Author of his owne Sinnes He does not accuse God as many doe who by countenancing that fatall Stoicall necessitie doe make even God the Author of their Sinnes he does not accuse the Divell he fals not out with the Starres about the matter nor does he post off his sinnes unto others as our first Parents did in Paradise ADAM he blames the Woman nay he is so bold as to lay the fault upon God himselfe for giving him such a troublesome woman The woman whom thou gavest me to be with me shee gave me of the Tree and I did eate The woman she posts it off againe to the Serpent No the Publicane goes no farther then to his owne breast He neyther strikes at God nor at the Divell nor at the Starres not at any of his companions who might entice him peradventure to wickednesse but he knew that his Enemies were onely those of his owne house and therefore he knocks onely at his owne doore he strikes upon his owne breast and sayes O G◠〈◊〉 mercifull to me a sinner I must leave CHRISTS censure of these two men untill another time but yet it is a verse of 〈◊〉 difficulty to be understood it desires rather a Pâ—raphrase then an expoâ—tion and surely the very â—ding of it to ye will give yee satisfaction enough The summe of all is this The Pharisee came into the Temple stiffely and proudly as if he meant to affront the Lord in his owne house his behaviour â—s stout his Language peremptory and daring he boast of his owne good workes he scornes and condemnes his brother The Publicane on the other side enters reverently humbly defectedly dares not so much as cast his eyes up to heaven the Throne of his offended God but as angry with himselfe for sinning against so gracious a Father he beates his breast as if hee meant to be reveng'd on his heart which was the first contriver of all his Transgressions he confesses his Sinnes and desires Gods mercy And now heare CHRISTS judgement of these two and that shall close up our discourse Vers 14. I tell yee this man departed to his house justified rather then the other For eveâ—ry man that exalteth himselfe shall be brought low and hee that humbleth himselfe shall be exalted FINIS A SERMON PREACHED At the Assizes at Huntington in the Shrievalty of Sir Capell Beedles Exod. 34. last verse And the Children of Israel saw the face of MOSES that the skin of MOSES face did shine and MOSES put the veyle upon his face againe untill he went in to speake with God THe Lord by the mouth of his Prophet DAVID in the 82 Psalme vers 2. speaking of Magistrates sayes I have sayd yee are Gods He who is the beginning of all things begins that verse nay he begins it after the same manner as hee began all things as he did when he drew the first draught of this faire Picture of the World Gen. 1.3 And God sayd let there be light and there was light And he begins the verse thus not onely to teach as how we should begin all our actions A love principâ— in all
thou art first bound as farre as thou canst to search out the Truth to receive thy informations attentively and seriously before thou goest out and then laying all by-respects a side to deliver thy conscience clearely and plainely For it is you who have a great stroake in making this Veile of Equity which is to cover the Face of the Magistrate He can but examine the Witnesses heare the testimonies inquests and arguings and afterwards give you an Information of all this T is you who are Vitae necis tam potentes Causarum in whose power the life and death of Causes doe chiefly consist The Magistrate or Iudge like the hand in a dyall may often times poynt to the wrong houre and yet no fault in him but in some of the wheeles which are out of Frame For it is his part to proceed and give sentence secundum probata tantum according to the Testimonies and Allegations onely 4. The next in order is the Councellor or Pleader and these is the Iudge upon the Bench is called a God may in some sort be called little Gods too But I wish I could not call a great part of this Tribe too truly the deities of Nilus the Gods of the Aegyptians Garlick and Onyons whose chiefest vertues are to force teares from the Eyes of theyr votaries O Sanctas Gentes quibus nascuntur in hortis Numina But I forgot my selfe I should have left out the first part of the verse for such are the abhominable corruptions which many of them use now adayes that we may call them the holyest and the happiest Nations who have no such Gods at all grow in their Gardens I do not speake against all mistake me not there be honest and worthy Lawyers amongst us Nor doe I go about any way to disparage the calling For the true use of it is honourable being to defend the oppressed to maintaine or else recover the right of such as have beene troden downe by theyr too potent Adversaries Put when Rhetorick I wrong the Science I must not call it so rheumaticke and obstreperous noise goes about to make the guilty innocent and the innocent guilty to Carusse ore the Blackamoore and to prove the Leopard to have no spots when a little bold wild and Sophisticate language is able to make head against Truth and overcome it and the cause Ad mensuram pulmonis Advocati aut Hares aut non flourisheth or languisheth according to the strength of the Advocates lungs and boldnesse or rather to the depth of the Clients purse and opennesse I doe not onely accuse these times this disease was ever rise amongst the ancient Romanes nay it has beene in use ever since Iupiter had a beard In Saturnes raigne peradventure it was otherwise Aut sub Iove nondum barbato But the Antiquity of it proves not the lawfulnesse yee have a saying in the Law Nullum tempus occurrit Regi No custome can prescribe against the King and by the favour of Law this is as true in Divinity no prescription against GOD the King of Heaven and Earth Hee brings but a weake argument who concludes what ought to be from what has beene Such a colour Murder might have for it selfe who is able to derive its pedigree as farre as Cain It is to no purpose for mee to lay open the sacred thirst of Gold that is in these men I might as well tell yee that there is a Sun or a Heaven which we all aknowledge nor can I hope if I should repeate it to be heard the Masculine delicious and charming harmony which the gold makes in the Bag I know would out-musicke me would sound sweetlier and lowder in theyr eares then all that I could utter The second branch of St. PAVLS distinction of Tongues would out-cry the first the Tongue of Angels would bee lowder then the Tongue of Men. But yet for the discharge of my duty I must let such men know but surely this is a very fruitfull place for controversie I see few of them at Church if they had nothing to doe it is likely they would be here who make the sacred place of Iustice no better then the Stage of a Mountebanke having received their Fee who leave the cause many times where peradventure the whole estate of the Clyent lyes at stake and fall upon theyr Brother pleader or upon the person of the man whose cause is in hand or upon the cloaths and behaviour of some of the witnesses or parties hunting after crude and indigested impertinances which walke like apparitions or ghosts in the shape of Iests thereby as I suppose to catch the easie care of the circumstant Iurer or Country Gentleman who will reserve them for his holy-day reports amongst his admiring neighbours that however these Musitians of Pythagoras these Angels who play upon the Spheares may for a time delight them and they may dance after theyr musick too yet at the latter end they shall have but a harsh close they shall end in a discord 5 And so for the Officer who by bribes taken in secret is corrupted to foyst in or take out what he please let him know also that there is an other which is a generall Assizes to come hereafter when he shall be put out of his office when the Bookes of his owne conscience shall be layd open before that great Iudge the Lord of Heaven and earth in which booke there shal be no enterlining no blotting out no putting in but all his actions shall appeare faire and in a full Character All these five sorts of men have a hand in the framing and making this Veyle which is to be put upon the Face of the Civill Magistrate but yet not altogether so but that the Iudge has the overseeing of this theyr Worke. If hee perceives that the Accuser brings materials unfitting and which will not conduce to the making of the Covering of Equitie he may so canvase the businesse eyther by examination or if that will not doe by delay so that at the last the Truth may bee found out For he does ill purchase to himselfe the title of a man of Expedition and Dispatch who hastens causes and ends them before they be ripe If he findes a palpable malice and confederacie in the Witnesse who is here in the second ranke of workmen it is in his power I take it for my want of experience in these matters will not suffer mee to be confident to deny him his Oath If hee perceives ignorance supinitie and negligence in the Iurer he may impannell new ones If Sophistry Cavelling or Meram Superbientem lasciviam verborum an unnecessary trifling and wantonnesse of of words in the Advocate his wisedome sharpe insight and experience peradventure hee himselfe once being a Pleader and so knowing the way of them the better may looke through that Veyle of forc'd language and view the realities and after those direct his sentence If in his Officer he finds Bribery and Corruption as the best Princes and Magistrates in the world sometimes cannot bee without bad Officers 't is in his power to rectifie that too But these things yee know better farre I confesse then I am able to direct yee yet it is not a bare knowledge of them that will benefit yee in the last day but Happy are yee if yee doe them It it not the knowledge that swims above in the braine but that which sinkes downe into the heart takes root in the affections and brings forth fruit in actions that will then profit thee For to whom much is given of him much shal be required not onely the Principall which was trusted to the understanding and Theorye but also the interest which is expected from the Practick part There is another kinde of Veyle too which is to be put upon the Face of MOSES which is the same that our Hieroglyphicks in the embleme put before the Face of Iustice whom they picture out by a woman having a Covering before her eyes and a payre of ballance in her hand and this is to denote unto us the impartiality that should be in a judge he should be blinded not his understanding for that cannot be too quick-sighted but to show us that there should be no respect of persons in him Exod. 23.3 Thou shalt not countenance no not a poore man in his Cause And if not a poore mâ—n much lesse does it become him to put off his Veyle that his Eyes may let in the greatnesse the favour the Friendship of the rich and potent For if the person of any man should be accepted certainly in all equity it is the person of the Poore but yee see here is a strict command against this Doe therefore all things as beeing assured that you your selves one day shall be ungodded againe for he who has sayd yee are Gods has also sayd that yee shall dye like men For the time shall come when a poore Vrne shall hold your Ashes all that little all which shall remaine of your voluminous greatnesse when that Eternall Iustice shall poize the ballance with an equall hand wicked AHAB shall then answer for NABOTHS Vineyard and IEZEBELL for the bloud of the Prophets Have but this therefore in your mindes and the God of all Iustice and mercy direct your actions labour to goe up into the Mountaine with MOSES and consult with the Lord 1 Be just and righteous let your faces reflect those cornua lucis those beams of light yee shall there receive from God and with MOSES your faces shall shine amongst the people yee shall be honour'd and reverenc'd ride on then and good lucke have yee with your honour and having past a glorious life here below the end of the Text shall be the end of your dayes Yee shall goe up againe and speake with God where your discourse shall never be interrupted so long as there is Eternity For if with MOSES yee live in the Mountaine and converse with GOD that is be imploy'd in his service and doe Iustice yee shall also with MOSES at the length heare that invitation of GOD to him in the 32. of Deutr. 50. verse Goe up into the Mountaine and dye yee shall depart this life in the favour of the Highest FINIS