where divers candles or torches in a roome concurre to enlighten the place the light of them remaineth impermixt as the Optickes demonstrate by their severall shadowes so all the divine graces conjoyne their lustre and vertue to adorne and beautifie the inward man yet their nature remaines distinct as their speciall effects make it evident to a single and sharp-sighted eye God was in the bush that burned and consumed not yet God was not the bush The holy Ghost was in the fiery cloven tongues yet the holy Ghost was not the tongues The spirits runne along in the arteries with the purer and refined blood yet the spirits are not the blood The fire insinuateth it selfe into all the parts of melted metall and to the eye nothing appeareth but a torrent of fire yet the fire is not the metall in like manner zeale shineth and flameth in devotion love godly jealousie indignation and other sanctified desires and affections it enflameth them as fire doth metall it stirreth and quickeneth them as the spirits doe the blood yet zeale is not those passions neither are all or any of them zeale howsoever the schooles rather out of zeale of knowledge than knowledge of zeale have determined the contrary 2 Secondly zeale is defined to bee not a morall vertue but a divine gift or grace of the Spirit the Spirit of God is the efficient cause and the Spirit of man is the subject which the Apostle intimates in that phrase i Rom. 12.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being fervent or zealous in Spirit This fire like that of the Vestals is kindled from heaven by the beames of the Sunne of righteousnesse not from any kitchen on earth much lesse from hell They therefore qui irae suae stimulum zelum putant they who imagine the flashes of naturall choler are flames of spirituall zeale toto coelo errant are as farre from the marke as heaven is distant from the earth No naturall or morall temper much lesse any unnaturall and vitious distemper can commend us or our best actions to God and men as zeale doth The fire of zeale like the fire that consumed Solomons sacrifice commeth downe from heaven and true zealots are not those Salamanders or Pyrausts that alwayes live in the fire of hatred and contention but Seraphims burning with the spirituall fire of divine love who as Saint Bernard well noteth kept their ranke and station in heaven when the other Angels of Lucifers band that have their names from light fell from theirs Lucifer cecidit Seraphim stant to teach us that zeale is a more excellent grace than knowledge even in Angels that excell in both Howbeit though zeale as farre surpasse knowledge as the sunne-beame doth a glow-worme yet zeale must not be without knowledge Wherefore God commandeth the Priest when hee k Exod. 30.8 lighteth the lamps to burne incense though the fire bee quicke and the incense sweet yet God accepteth not of the burning it to him in the darke The Jewes had a zeale as the l Rom. 10.2 Apostle acknowledgeth and the Apostle himselfe before his conversion yet because it wanted knowledge it did them and the Church of God great hurt No man can bee ignorant of the direfull effects of blind zeale when an unskilfull Phaeton takes upon him to drive the chariot of the sunne hee sets the whole world in a combustion What a mettled horse is without a bridle or a hot-spurred rider without an eye or a ship in a high winde and swelling saile without a rudder that is zeale without knowledge which is like the eye in the rider to choose the way or like the bridle in the hand to moderate the pace or like the rudder in the ship to steere safely the course thereof Saint m Inser 22. in Cant. Bernard hits full on this point Discretion without zeale is slow paced and zeale without discretion is heady let therefore zeale spurre on discretion and discretion reyne zeale fervor discretionem erigat discretio fervorem regat Discretion must guide zeale as it is guided by spirituall wisedome not worldly policy and therefore Thirdly I adde in the definition of zeale that it quickeneth and enflameth all our holy desires and affections according to the direction of spirituall wisdome For wisdome must prescribe zeale when and where and how far and in what order to proceede in reforming all abuses in Church and State and performing all duties of religious piety and eminent charity What Isocrates spake sometime of valour or strength is as true of zeale viz. n Isoc ad Dem. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that zeale and resolution with wisedome doth much good but without it doth much mischiefe to our selves and others like granadoes and other fire-works which if they be not well looked to and ordered when they breake do more hurt to them that cast them than to the enemie Yet that we be not deceived in mistaking worldly policy for wisdome I adde spirituall to difference it from carnall morall or civill wisedome for they are too great coolers they will never let zeale exceed the middle temper of that * Vibius Statesman in Tiberius Court who was noted to bee a wise and grave Counseller of a faire carriage and untainted reputation but hee would o Juven sat 4. Ille igitur nunquam direxit brachia contra torrentem never strike a stroake against the streame hee would never owne any mans quarrell hee would bee sure to save one Such is the worldly wise man hee will move no stone though never so needfull to bee removed if hee apprehend the least feare that any part of the wall will fall upon himselfe The p Cic. de orat l. 1. Tempus omne post consulatum objecimus iis fluctibus qui per nos à communi peste depulsi in nosmetipsos redundarunt Romane Consul and incomparable Oratour shall bee no president for him who imployed all his force and strength to keepe off those waves from the great vessel of the State which rebounded backe againe and had neere drowned the cocke-boate of his private fortune Hee will never ingage himselfe so farre in any hot service no not though Gods honour and the safety of the Church lye at stake but that he will be sure to come off without hazzard of his life or estate Hee hath his conscience in that awe that it shall not clamour against him for not stickling in any businesse that may peradventure reflect upon his state honour or security In a word peradventure he may bee brought with much adoe to doe something for God but never to suffer any thing for him This luke-warme Laodicean disposition the lesse offensive it is to men the more odious it is to God who is a jealous God and affecteth none but those that are zealous for his glory he loveth none but those that will bee content to expose themselves to the hatred of all men for his names sake Hee q
to his long home and the moâ—rners goe about the streets long home and a greater than Solomon when he informeth his Disciples that in his u Joh 14.2 Fathers house there are many mansions that is standing or abiding places Such are many in heaven built upon precious stones but none on earth here we have onely stands for an houre or boothes for a Faire or bowers for a dance or at the most Innes for a bait x Eccles 3.2 There is a time saith the wise man to bee borne and a time to die what and no time betwixt sometimes none at all as in those that are still-borne if it be any as sometimes it is he makes no reckoning of it but joynes death immediately to our birth as if they were contiguous and our cradles stood in our grave The space betweene our birth and death be it extended to the longest period is but a moment in respect of eternity and yet ex hoc momento pendet aeternitas upon the well or ill employing of this moment dependeth our eternitie I will tell you a strange thing saith y Sen ep ad Lucil. Seneca Many die before they begin to live I can tell you a stranger thing many die before ever they thinke of the true life These howsoever they may carry the name of wise and great States-men yet when it will be too late they shall see their folly farre to exceed that of the simplest Idiot in the world when at the houre of their death finding that they have laid out their whole stocke of wealth and wit in purchasing and furnishing a chamber in a thorough fare and provided themselves no house in the Citie where they are for ever to abide shall cry out in the bitternesse of their soule either with z Carion in Cron. Severus Omnia fui nihil profui I have beene all things and yet have done no good at all or with Adrian a Sphinx Philos O animula vagula blandula hospes comesque corporis quae nunc abibis in loca c. O my pretty soule the pleasant guest and companion of my bodie into what places shalt thou now goe naked cold and trembling or with the afflicters of the righteous b Wisd 5.8 9 10.13 What hath pride profited us or what good hath riches with our vaunting brought us All these things are passed away like a shadow and like a post that hasteth by And as a Ship that passeth over the waves of the water which when it is gone by the trace thereof cannot bee found neither the path-way of the keele in the waves Even so wee in like manner as soone as wee were borne began to draw to our end and had no signe of vertue to shew but were consumed in our owne wickednesse I like well of his resolution who said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I hate that wise man whose wisedome reflects not upon himselfe who is no whit bettered by his wisedome Hee cannot bee wise who is not provident hee is not provident who prepares not a place for his soule after shee is dislodged of the bodie Hee is no thriftie man who lavisheth out his time and spendeth his strength in pursuing shadowes when with lesse paine and cost hee might have purchased a substantiall and indefeisable estate hee is no good husband who taketh perpetuall care for his temporall affaires and taketh little or none at any time for his spirituall and eternall who gathereth treasure upon earth where rust and a Matth. 7.19 moth doth corrupt and theeves breake thorough and steale and layeâ—â— up no treasure in heaven where neither rust nor moth doth corrupt and theeves doe not breake thorough and steale who drives a great and rich trade in forraine parts and returnes no money by letters of exchange sent by the hands of the poore to be repaid him upon his return into his country in heaven who travels sea and land to dig into the bowels of the earth yea and sometimes rakes hell also for unrighteous b Luke 16.9 Mammon and when he hath great store of it makes no friends with it that when he failes they may receive him into everlasting habitations 2. The second precept is to informe our selves certainely how we stand in the Court of heaven whether recti in curia or no to know by the reflection of grace in our soules whether Gods countenance shine upon us or there be a cloud betweene it and us For as the c Plin. nat hist l. 9. c. 35. Coeli iis major societas est quam maris inde nubilum trahunt colorem aut pro claritate matutina serenum Margarite or pearle hath such affinity with the skie that if it be bred at the opening of the shell fish in a cleere morning the colour thereof is cleere and the stone most orient but if in a duskie evening or when the heaven is over-cast with clouds the colour thereof is darker and the stone lesse precious so the hidden man of the heart is lightsome and cheerefull when Gods face shines upon him but sad and dejected when heaven lowres upon him Without assurance that we are in the state of grace and reconciled to God in Christ there is no comfort in life and death because no sound joy nor settled peace within Neither is it so easie a matter as some imagine to get this assurance or the knowledge thereof For not onely the sicke patient but also sometimes the skilfull Physician is deceived in the state of our bodie though all ordinary diseases have their certaine symptomes by which they may be knowne even to sense how much more difficult a thing is it certainely to judge of the state of our soule A man may set a good face on it as Tiberius did and brave it out yea and riot also who yet hath such a secret disease which will make an end of him in a few houres Nay a man may take infection or receive some bruise inwardly or spring some veine and yet not know of it till it be too late to cure it in like maner a man that maketh great profession of Religion and carrieth a great appearance of piety and sanctity both at Church and in his owne house feeling no inward gripe of conscience may yet have taken some infection of Heresie or have still in him some poyson of malice or bruise of faction or rupture of schisme or corrupt humours of luxurie and daily decay in grace and be in a spirituall consumption and yet perceive it not I have no commission to ransacke any mans conscience nor to make privie search for concealed Idols or masqued hypocrisie or vailed impudencie or closely conveyed bribery or secretly vented luxurie or statutable usurie or legall simonie or customary sacriledge Onely I will bee bold to say the least breach which any of the above named sinnes make in the conscience is like a small leake in the bottome of a Ship which if it be not
stopped in time will drowne the greatest vessell fraught with the richest merchandise Your experience sheweth you that Bristow and Cornish stones and many other false gems have such a lustre in them and so sparkle like true jewels that a cunning Lapidarie if he be not carefull may be cheated with them such are the enlightning graces which shine in hypocrites they so neerly resemble the true sanctifying and saving graces of the Elect that the eye of spirituall wisedome it selfe may mistake them if it be not single and looke narrowly into them Are not repentance from dead workes faith in Christ peace of conscience and joy in the holy Ghost the proper characters of a regenerate Christian and an elect childe of God Yet Esau counterfeited the first the d Heb 12.17 Apostle saith that after he had sold his birth-right he sought it with teares Simon Magus the second St. Luke saith he e Acts 8.13 beleeved The man possessed in the Gospell the third our Saviour saith all things were in f Luke 11.21 peace in his house The Jewes the fourth the text saith they g Joh. 5 35. rejoyced at St. Johns preaching Here then is worke for spirituall wisedome to discerne h Gib in Cant. Qualis unguentorum artifex est satanas qui de mortis olla vitae vapores exire simulat venenum quasi balsamum facit spâ—are a sented poyson from Balsamum to distinguish tears of repentance such as Peters were from teares of discontent and revenge such as * Heb. 12.17 Esau's were a temporarie faith such as i Act. 8.13 Simon Magus his was from a justifying such as k Luke 9.9 Zacheus his was a feared conscience such as the l Luke 11.21 When a strong man armed keepeth his Palace his goods are in peace possessed man had from a secured conscience such as St. m Acts 24.16 Pauls was lastly a sudden exultation of the spirit such as the n John 5 â—5 Ye were willing for a season to rejoyce in his light Jewes was from true joy in the holy Ghost such as o Psal 4.7 Davids was 3. The third point of spirituall wisedome is to consider what infirmities and maladies of minde our naturall constitution state place or profession or course of life maketh us most subject unto and to furnish our selves with store of remedies against them to mark where we lie most open to temptation and there to have our ward readie For Satan playeth alwayes upon advantage and for the most part boweth us that way to which we incline of our selves through the weakenesse of our nature he sailes ever with the wind Is our knowledge in matter of faith deficient he tempts us to error Is our conscience tender he tempteth us to scrupulositie and too much precisenesse Hath our conscience like the eclipticke line some latitude he tempteth us to carnall libertie Are we bold spirited he tempteth us to presumption Are we timorous and distrustfull he tempteth us to desperation Are we of a flexible disposition he tempteth us to inconstancie Are we stiffe he labours to make obstinate Heretikes Scismatikes or Rebels of us Are we of an austere temper he tempteth us to crueltie Are we soft and milde he tempteth us to indulgence and foolish pitie Are we hot in matter of Religion he tempteth us to blind zeale and superstition Are we cold he tempteth us to Atheisme and flat irreligion Are we moderate he tempteth us to Laodicean lukewarmednesse The Camelion when he lieth on the grasse to catch flies and grashoppers taketh upon him the colour of the grasse as the Polypus doth the colour of the rock under which he lurketh that the fish may boldly come neere him without any suspition of danger in like maner Sathan turnes himselfe into that shape which we least feare and sets before us such objects of temptation as are most agreeable to our humours naturall desires and inclinations that so he may the sooner draw us into his net St. p Greg. l. 29. mor. in Job c. 38. Prius conspersionem uniuscujusque antiquus adversarius perspicit tunc tentationis laqueos apponit alius namque laetiâ— alius tristibus alius timidis alius claris moribus existit Quâ— ergo occultus adversarius facile capiat vicinas conspersionibus deceptiones parat Quia enim laetitiae voluptas juxta est laetis moribus luxuriem proponit quia tristitia in iâ—am facile labitur tristibus poculum discordiae porrâ—git paventibus terrores intâ—ntat quia ela os extolli laudibus conspicit eos blandis favoribus trahit singulis igitur hominibus vitiis convenientibus insidiatur Gregorie long agoe noted this subtle device of the wily serpent he hath saith he fit allurements for all sorts of men as fishermen have baits for fishes for the luxurious he baiteth his hooke with pleasure for the ambitious with honor for the covetous with gain for the licentious with libertie for the factious with schisme for the studious with curiosity for the vaine-glorious with popularity Here then is our spirituall wisedome seene to be strong alwayes there where our enemie is like to lie in ambush and where he goeth about to undermine us to meet him with a countermine To unfold this precept of wisdome even to the meanest capacity Art thou by nature a lover of pleasure bend thy whole strength against the sin of luxurie Art thou of a fiery disposition lay all upon it to bridle thy passion of anger and desire of revenge Hast thou too much earth in thy complexion and art given to the world furnish thy selfe continually with spirituall levers to lift up thy heart and raise thy thoughts and affections to heaven and heavenly objects Doth the eminencie of thy place bring thee in danger of high mindednesse let thy whole study bee humility Doth thy profession incline thee to contention study peace to dissembling and cousening study honesty to extortion and exaction study charity and practise restitution to corruption and receiving the wages of iniquity let all thy prayers and endeavours be for integrity Socrates was wont say facile est Athenienses Athenis laudare that it was no unpleasing argument to commend the vertues of the Athenians at Athens neither will it seeme burthensome I hope to recommend yet more instructions of wisedome to you that are wise God hath spread abroad the heaven and the earth as large samplars before our eyes wherein every act of his speciall providence in governing the affaires of the world is as a flower or curious piece of drawne-worke which a wise man ought to take out by observation and worke it in his owne life by imitation 4. The fourth lesson therefore which wisedome readeth to all those that have eares to heare is to observe the carriage of all affaires in this great City of the world and to set a marke upon Gods wonderfull protection and care over the godly and his fearefull judgements
not to make satisfaction so long as he held the sterne right and guided it by the compasse in like maner though our actions and good intentions miscarrie in the event we are not to be blamed if we steered our course by the compasse of Gods word though the barke be cast away as St. Pauls was the lives of all in it shall be safe and our temporall losses shall alway turne to our spirituall and eternall advantage Yea but God is in heaven we are upon earth how may we come to have speech with him or open our case to him or receive answer from him The Jewes had two meanes to receive answer from him either by the mouth of the Prophets when the spirit was on them or from the Priests when they had put on the breast-plate of judgement we have no such meanes now to enquire the will of God neither are visions nor dreames by which men in former times understood the pleasure of God now either frequent or undoubted oracles of truth yet have we still meanes to advise with God both by prayer and consulting the holy Scriptures Of the former St. James speaketh Å¿ Jam. 1.5 If any man lacke wisedome that is counsell and direction in his affaires let his aske it of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shal be given him But let him aske in faith nothing wavering c. Of the second the Prophet David t Psal 119.24 Thy testimonies are my delight and my counsellers in the Hebrew men of my counsell Having now composed the presse what remains but to clap it to the sheets and labour by a word of exhortation to print some of these rules in your harts Be wise now c. Be wise 1. In the choice of your wisdome 2. Be instructed in the means of your instruction make choice of the wisdome that commeth from above from the Father of lights not that which commeth from beneath from the Prince of darkness receive instruction from the spirit not from the flesh from God not from the world so shall you be wise unto salvation and instructed to eternal life Be your selves clients and sutors to God before your clients and sutors have accesse unto you ask counsel of him before you give counsell to them and content not your selves with the waters of the brooke or rivelet but have recourse to the u Cic. de orat l. 2. Tardâ— est ingeniâ— rivulos consectari fontes rerum non videre fountain Now the fountaine of all law is the wisedome of God as the wisest of the heathen Law-givers in effect acknowledged it Zamolxis ascribing the lawes he delivered to the people to Vesta Zoroaster to Hormasis Trismegistus to Mercurie Lycurgus to Apollo Solon to Minerva Numa to the Nymph Aegeria Minos to Jupiter If time be well spent in searching records of Courts and evidences of conveyances and titles of lands how much better in searching the holy Scriptures which are the records of heaven the deeds of Almighty God and evidences of our salvation Who would not search where he may be sure to find treasure In Scriptures you may be sure to finde it wherein all the treasures of wisedome and knowledge are hid the treasures of naturall Philosophy in Genesis of morall Philosophy in Exodus Deuteronomie and Ecclesiastes of the Politickes in the Judicials of Moses and the Proverbes of Solomon of Poetry in the Psalmes of History in the bookes of Chronicles Judges and Kings of the Mathematickes in the dimensions of the Arke and Temple of the Metaphysickes in the bookes of the Prophets and the Apocalyps Doe you desire that the tree of your knowledge in the Law should spread farre and neere and that all men should shade themselves under your boughes Water the root of the tree which beareth up your lawes and sendeth sap and life to all the branches thereof and that is true religion for x Psal 111.10 the feare of the Lord is the beginning of wisedome and a good understanding and care have all they that follow after it First to look to the maine chance and provide for their eternall estate in another world next to learne certainly that they are in state of grace here thirdly to observe where they are weakest and there to strengthen themselves against the assaults of the enemie fourthly to make use of the historie of the world and comment upon the speciall workes of Gods providence lastly to entertaine God his Prophets and Apostles for their learned counsell to direct them in all their suits in the Court of heaven and managing all their weightiest affaires on earth so shall they be sure to attain that which David so earnestly sought of God by prayer saying y Psal 73.24 Guide me by thy counsell and after that receive me to thy glory To whom c. THE JUDGES CHARGE A Sermon preached at the Readers Feast in LINCOLNES Inne THE NINTH SERMON PSAL. 2.10 Be instructed or learned yee Judges of the earth Right Honourable Right Worshipfull c. AT the siege of Tarentum a Aelian de Var. hist l. 5. when the Citizens were driven by extremitie of famine to the point of yeelding themselves into the hands of the Romans they were strangely relieved by the charity of their neighbours at Rhegium who every tenth day fasted themselves and sent in their provision for that day to the Tarentines In memory of which reliefe they kept ever after a feast which they called Jejunium oâ— Festum jejunii the Fasts feast or a feast grounded on a fast Such is the Feast bid at this time in this place gained by a long prescription out of the Lent Fast It may rightly be called Festum Jejunii the Feast of the Fast a Feast of the Law beside if not contrarie to the Law of Feasts appointed by the Church Wherein yet I conceive according to the right meaning of the first founders of this exercise and Feast the Ecclesiasticall cannons of the Church and locall statutes of these houses doe not harshly clash one against the other but rather like strings tuned alike and dexterously touched make a perfect chord and strike full unisons both intending Festum Jejunii the one a spirituall the other a scholasticall the one an Evangelicall the other a Legall Feast in the time of Fast For the Church appointeth more frequent exercises of pietie and devotion Prayers Lectures and Sermons which are the soules dainties at this time than any other season of the yeere And agreeable hereunto in the Universities which are the Nurseries of Religion and Arts and in these noble Seminaries of justice and knowledge in the lawes the most solemne and profitable exercises for the proficiencie of students whether readings disputations or determinations have beene time out of minde and are yet performed in the Lent wherein the eye of the soule is the more apt and single for the contemplation of divine and humane knowledge by how much it is
in Lambeth Chappell A.D. 1622. March 23. THE TENTH SERMON JOHN 20.22 And when hee had said this hee breathed on them and saith unto them receive yee the holy Ghost Most Reverend Right Honourable Right Reverend Right Worshipfull c. A Diamond is not cut but by the point of a Diamond nor the sunne-beame discerned but by the light of the beame nor the understanding faculty of the soule apprehended but by the faculty of understanding nor can the receiving of the holy Ghost bee conceived or delivered without receiving in some a Aug tract 16. in Joh. Adsit ipse spiritus ut sic eloqui possimus degree that holiest Spirit b Ciâ— de mat Qui eloquentiam laudat debet illam ipsam adhibere quam lâ—â—dat Hee that will blazon the armes of the Queen of affections Eloquence must borrow her own pencill and colours nor may any undertake to expound this text and declare the power of this gift here mentioned but by the gift of this power Wherefore as in the interpretation of other inspired Scriptures wee are humbly to intreat the assistance of the Inspirer so more especially in the explication and application of this which is not onely effectivè à spiritu but also objectivè de spiritu not onely indited and penned as all other by the spirit but also of the spirit This of all other is a most mysterious text which being rightly understood and pressed home will not only remove the weaker fence betweene us and the Greeke Church touching the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Sonne but also beat downe and demolish the strong and high partition wall betweene the reformed and the Romane Church built upon S. Peters supremacy For if Christ therefore used the Ceremony of breathing upon his Apostles with this forme of words Receive yee the Holy Ghost as it were of set purpose visibly to represent the proceeding of the holy Spirit from himselfe why should not the Greeke Church acknowledge with us the eternall emanation of the holy Ghost from the Sonne as well as the Father and acknowledging it joyne with us in the fellowship of the same spirit Our difference and contestation with the Church of Rome in point of S. Peters primacy is far greater I confesse For the head of all controversies between us and them is the controversie concerning the head of the Church Yet even this how involved soever they make it may be resolved by this text alone For if Christ sent all his Apostles as his Father sent him if he breathed indifferently upon all if he gave his spirit and with it full power of remittting and retaining sinnes to them all then is there no ground here for S. Peters jurisdiction over the rest much lesse the Popes and if none here none elsewhere as the sequell will shew For howsoever Cajetan and Hart and some few Papists by jingling Saint Peters c Mat. 16.19 Keyes and distinguishing of a key 1 Of knowledge 2 Of power and this 1 Of order 2 Of jurisdiction and that 1 In foro exteriori the outward court 2 Foro interiori the inward court of conscience goe about to confound the harmony of the Evangelists who set all the same tune but to a different key yet this is confessed on all sides by the Fathers Hilary Jerome Austine Anselme and by the Schoole-men Lumbard Aquinas Allensis and Scotus alledged by Cardinall d Bellar. de Rom. pont l. 1. c. 12. Bellarmine that what Christ promised to Peter e Mat. 16. he performed and made good to him here but here the whole f Hieronymus adver Lucifer Cuncti claves accipiunt super omnes ex aequô ecclesiae fortitudo solidatur bunch of keyes is offered to all the Apostles and all of them receive them all are joyned with S. Peter as well in the mission as my Father sent mee so I send you as in the Commission Lastly as this text containes a soveraigne Antidote against the infection of later heresies so also against the poyson of the more ancient and farther spread impieties of Arrius and Macedonius whereof the one denyed the divinity and eternity of the Sonne the other of the holy Ghost both whose damnable assertions are confuted by consequence from this text For if Christ by breathing giveth the holy Ghost and by giving the holy Ghost power of remitting sinne then must Christ needs bee God for who but God can give or send a divine person The holy Ghost also from hence is proved to be God for who can g Mar. 2.7 or Esay 43.25 forgive sinnes but God alone So much is our faith indebted to this Scripture yet our calling is much more for what can bee spoken more honourably of the sacred function of Bishops and Priests than that the investiture and admittance into it is the receiving of the holy Ghost * Primum in unoquoque genere est mensura regula caeterorum The first action in every kind of this nature is a president to all the rest as all the furniture of the Ceremoniall law was made according to the first patterne in the Mount such is this consecration in my text the originall and patterne of all other wherein these particulars invite your religious attention 1 The person consecrating Christ the chiefe Bishop of our soules 2 The persons consecrated The Apostles the prime Pastours of the Church 3 The holy action it selfe set forth 1 With a mysterious rite he breathed on them 2 A sanctified forme of words receive ye the holy Ghost 1 First for the person consecrating All Bishops are consecrated by him originally to whom they are consecrated all Priests are ordained by him to whom they are ordained Priests the power which they are to employ for him they receive from him to whom h Matth. 28.18 all power is given both in heaven and in earth By vertue of which deed of gift he maketh i Matth. 10.2 choice of his ministers and hee sendeth them with authority k Jâ—h 20.21 as my Father sent me so I send you And hee furnisheth them with gifts saying receive yee the holy Ghost and enableth them with a double power of order to l Matth. 28.19 Teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost 1 Cor. 11.24 This do in the remembrance of me preach and administer both the sacraments and of jurisdiction also Matth. 18.18 Verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall bee bound in heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven And that this sacred order is to continue in the Church and this spirituall power in this order even till Christ resigneth up his keyes and kingdome to God his Father S. Paul assureth us Eph. 4.10.11.12 Hee that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things and he gave some
they are zealous without discretion some have salt but want fire they are discreet but without zeale The Papists have fire fervent zeale but they want salt direction from Gods word and judgement to discerne betweene reasonable service and will-worship and for want of this salt their devotions are tainted with much superstition The conformable Protestant hath store of salt wholsome directions from Gods word to season his spirituall sacrifices but doth hee not want fire is hee as zealous for Christ as the other is for Anti-christ doth hee contribute as freely to the pure worship of God as the other doth to the garish service of the Masse are his eyes as often fixed on Christ in heaven as the others are on his crucifixe doth hee keepe the Lords day as strictly as the other doth our Ladies and other Saints Although the Papist hath no command for hallowing any day to Saints especially such as wee finde in the Romane Kalendar wee have both the command of God and the injunctions of the Church to devote this day n Homily of the time and place of prayer wholly to the service of God yet how many Clients on this day besiege your doores when you and wee all should bee Clients onely unto God Should God deale so with us in our portion of time on the weeke-dayes as wee deale with him in his should hee restraine the light of the sunne and take away so many houres from every day in the weeke as wee defaulk from his service on this day what darkenesse what out-cryes what horrour what confusion would bee in all the world When o Xen Cyr. paed l. 2. Cyrus was young Sacas was appointed by his Grandfather to bee his moderatour both in his diet recreations and all expence of time but when hee grew riper in yeeres hee became a Sacas to himselfe and tooke not so much liberty as Sacas would have given him Where the law seemeth too laxe there every man ought to bee a Sacas to himselfe and for the health of his soule forbeare something that is permitted to the recreation of his body Againe those who are of the stricter and preciser sort have fire in their invectives against Popery in their reproofe of sinne and their voluntary and extemporary devotions but they want many a graine of salt and therefore offer often times with Nadab and Abihu strange fire upon Gods altar they distinguish not betweene Episcopall Hierarchy and Papall tyranny superstitious rites and comely ceremonies decent ornaments and meretricious painting of Christs spouse They are alwayes Boanerges and seldome or never Barnabasses alwayes Sons of thunder and seldome or never Sons of consolation And when they are Sonnes of thunder and cast forth their lightning it is not like the lightning whereof p Plin. nat hist c. 51. l. 2. Martia gravida icta partu exanimato vixit Pliny writeth which killed Martia's childe in her wombe but hurt not her at all that is destroy sinne in the conscience but no way hurt the person in his reputation but contrariwise they blast the person but kill not the sin Their prayers are all fiery indeed burning with zeale and therein commendable but for want of salt of discretion they make all things fuell for this sacred fire like fire their devotion keeps within no bounds As the ringing so the praying now adayes in request is all upon the changes the round of a set forme is utterly despised and as ringers in the changes so these in their extemporary orisons goe up and downe backward and forward are often at a stand use vaine q Mat. 6.7 repetitions prohibited by our Saviour and by clashing phrases as the Apostle speaketh make r 1 Tim. 1.6 vaine janglings Suffer I beseech you yet one word of exhortation it shall bee but a Monosyllable sal we live in a most t Juven sat 1. Et quando uberior vitiorum copia quando major avaritiae patuit sinus c Nil erit ulterius quod nostris moribus addat Posteritas corrupt age and therefore never more need of salt than now Et vos est is sal you are the salt of the commonwealth as wee of the Church si sal infatuatus fuerit if the salt grow unsavoury through the corruption of heresie bribery simony or vitious living quo salietur wherewith shall it be seasoned I hope it is not so I pray God it bee never so but that wee may bee alwayes like pure and wholsome salt preserving our selves and others from corruption The good will of him who appeared in the fiery bush salt our persons with the fire of the Word Spirit and seasonable Afflictions and season our sacrifices with the salt of faith and discretion that God may have alwayes respect to us and our sacrifice for the merits of Christs infinite sacrifice offered on the Altar of the Crosse To whom c. THE SPIRITUALL BETHESDA A Sermon preached at a Christening in Lambeth Church the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Duke of Buckingham being God-Fathers October 29. Anno Dom. 1619. THE SIXTEENTH SERMON MARKE 1.9 And it came to passe in those dayes that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized of John in Jordan BEing to treate of a subject agreeable to the occasion of our present meeting I have made choice of this Scripture representing unto us the baptisme and if I may so speake the christening of Christ himselfe 1 Because the baptisme of Christ here related by the Evangelist cleansed the holy Font and sanctified the river Jordan and other waters to the spirituall ablution of the soule and fetching out of stains and spots out of the conscience not by the infusion of any supernaturall quality into the water but by annexing a gratious promise to the religious use of the element according to his ordinance For to this end especially as Saint a Aug. Ser. de temp 30. Non ut sibi munditiem acquireret sed ut nobis fluenta purgaret Austine observeth our Saviour would bee baptized To sanctifie the Font in himselfe not to cleanse himselfe in the Font. In which respect wee may rightly tearme Christ his baptisme baptisma baptismatis the christening of baptisme it selfe in as much as our Lord by the descending into the water raised it above it's owne pitch and of a corporall Bath made it a spirituall Laver of an earthly Element an heavenly Sacrament and this I take to bee the riches which that holy Father saith Christ put into the river Jordan in like manner as the Geographers report that the Indians yeerely throw in a great masse of gold and silver into the river Ganges Christs body saith hee b Aug. ser 1. de Epiph. Attactu corpora tinguntur fluenta ditantur vitalemque gratiam non corpus ex flumine sed flumen mutuatur ex corpore was washed and the streame thereby was enriched the body received not vertue from the water but the water from
delicate fruits they who overcome not eat not x Apoc. 2.17 the hidden Manna as they partake not of the Spouse her graces so neither have they any right or title to her titles They are no Temples but rather styes no dove-cotes but cages of uncleane birds no habitations for the holy Ghost but rather haunts of uncleane spirits They indeed live and move in God for out of him they cannot subsist but y Gal. 2.20 Neverthelesse I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me Rom. 8 9. 2 Cor. 6.16 God himselfe liveth and moveth in the godly God is in all places and abideth every where yet hee z Ephes 3.17 dwelleth onely in the hearts of true believers For they and they onely are the Temple of the living God Doctr. 4 Are. In the Romane Kalendar no Saints are entred till many miracles be voiced upon them after death but in Gods Register wee finde Saints in the Church on earth among the a Rom. 1.7 Romanes b 1 Cor. 1.2 Corinthians c Eph. 1.1 Ephesians d Phil. 1.1 Philippians at e Act. 9.32 Lydda and elsewhere But what Saints and how Saints by calling Saints by a holy profession and blamelesse conversation Saints by gratious acceptation of pious endeavours rather than of performances Saints by inchoation Saints by regeneration of grace Saints by daily renovation of the inward man Saints by devotion and dedication of themselves wholly to God Saints by inhabitation of the holy spirit in them which maketh them a holy Temple of the living God In this life we are f 1 Cor. 3.23 Gods for all things are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods in the life to come g Apo. 21.22 And I saw no Temple therein for the Lord God almighty and the Lambe are the Temple thereof God is ours In this life wee are Gods Temple but in the life to come God is g Apo. 21.22 And I saw no Temple therein for the Lord God almighty and the Lambe are the Temple thereof ours Now God dwelleth with us and is but slenderly entertained by us but there wee shall dwell with him and have fulnesse of all things yet without satiety or being cloyed therewith Doctr. 5 The Temple Not the Temples but the Temple Gen. 1.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As the learned Hebricians from the construction of the noune plurall with a verb singular as if you would say in Latine Dii or Numina creavit gather the trinity of persons in the unity of the divine nature so from the construction here of a singular adjunct with a subject plurall wee may inferre the plurality of the faithfull in the unity of the Church For wee that are many yet are truely one many graines one bread many sheepe one fold many members one body many branches one vine many private oratories or chaplets but one Temple The parts of the Catholike Church are so farre scattered and dissevered in place that they cannot make one materiall yet they are so neare joyned in affection and fast linked with the bonds of religion that they make but one spirituall Temple They are many soules and must needs have as many divers naturall bodies yet in regard they are all quickned guided and governed by the same spirit they make but one mysticall body whose head is in heaven and members dispersed over the earth Can unity bee divided If wee are rent in sunder by schisme and faction Christ his seamelesse coate cannot cover us all The Philosophers finde it in the naturall the States-men in the politicke and I pray God wee finde it not in the mysticall body of Christ h Cyp. de simplic prel A velle radium à sole divisionem lucis unitas non capit ab arbore frange ramum fructum germinare non poterit à fonte praecide rivum prorsus arescet That division tends to corruption and dissolution to death Plucke a beame if you can from the body of the sunne it will have no light breake a branch from the tree it will beare no fruit sever a river from the spring it will soone bee dryed up cut a member from the body it presently dyeth cast a pumice stone into the water and though it bee never so bigge while it remaines entire and the parts whole together it will swimme above water but breake it into pieces and every piece will sinke in like manner the Church and Common-wealth which are supported and as it were borne up above water by unity are drowned in perdition by discord dissention schisme and faction It is not possible that those things which are knit by a band should hold fast together after the band it selfe is broken How can a sinew hold steddy the joint if it bee sprayned or broken or cut in sunder Religion beloved brethren is the band of all society the strongest sinew of Church or Commonwealth God forbid there should bee any rupture in this band any sprayne in this sinew The husbandman hath sowed good seede cleane and picked in this Kingdome for more than threescore yeeres and it hath fructified exceedingly since the happy reformation of Religion in these parts O let no envious man sow upon it those tares which of late have sprung up in such abundance in our neighbour countries that they have almost choaked all the good wheat Let no roote of bitternesse spring up in our Paradise or if it bee sprung let authority or at least Christian charity plucke it up Wee are all one body let us all have the same minde towards God and endeavour to the utmost of our power to i Eph. 4 3. preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace that our spirituall Jerusalem may resemble the old Byzantium the stones whereof were so matched and the wall built so uniformely that the whole City seemed to bee but one stone continued throughout It was the honour of the k Psal 122.3 Jerusalem is builded as a City that is compacted together old let it bee also of the new Jerusalem that it is a City at unity in it selfe Doctr. 6 I have held you thus long in the Porch let us now enter into the Temple Glorious things are spoken of you O ye chosen of God yee are tearmed vessels of honour lights of the world a chosen generation a royall priesthood a peculiar people a celestiall society yet nothing ever was or can be more spoken to Your endlesse comfort and superexcellent glory than that you are Children of the Father Members of the Sonne and Temples of the holy Ghost Seneca calleth the world Augustissimum Dei Templum a most magnificent Temple of God David the heaven Solomon the Church Saint Paul the Elect in the Church and in a sense not altogether improper we may tearme the world the Temple of the Church the Church the Temple of our bodies our bodies the Temples of our soules and our soules most peculiarly the Temples of the
cursed persons To cleare the meaning of our Saviour it will bee requisite briefly to declare first how man is capable of blessednesse at all secondly how farre in this life truly termed by St. Austin the region of death Blessednesse is a soveraigne attribute of God and as p Nyss hom de â—â—at Nyssen teacheth primarily and absolutely and eternally belongeth to him onely Creatures are blessed but in part derivatively and at the most from the terme of their creation Beauty first shineth in the living face and countenance that which is resembled in the image or picture is but a secondary or relative beauty in like manner saith hee the primary blessednesse is in God or to speake more properly is God himselfe the blessednesse which is in man made after Gods image is but a secondary blessednesse For as the image is such is his beauty and blessednesse but the image of God in man since his fall is much soiled and defaced and consequently his blessednesse is very imperfect and obscure Yet they that rubbe off the dust of earthly cares and dirt of sinne and by spirituall exercises brighten the graces of God in their soule as they are truly though not perfectly beautifull within so they may be truly though not absolutely stiled blessed even in this life 1. First because they are assured of Gods love and they see his countenance shine upon them which putteth more q Psal 4.7 gladnesse into their heart than is or can be in the heart of them whose corne and wine is increased For if it bee deservedly accounted the greatest happinesse of a subject to bee in continuall grace with his Prince what is it to bee a Favourite of the King of kings 2. Secondly because they have an r 1 Pet. 1.4 inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in the heavens for them A great heire though hee may sometimes pinch for maintenance and bee driven to hard exigents yet hee still solaceth himselfe with this hope it will bee better with mee and I shall one day come to my lands and such comfort have all Gods Saints in their greatest perplexities and extremities 3. Thirdly because they enjoy the peace of a good conscience which Solomon calleth a continuall feast And Saint Paul a cause of t 2 Cor. 1.12 For our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience Rom. 8.28 triumph and joy 4. Fourthly because all things work together for their good and tend to their eternall happinesse The joyes of the wicked are grievous their pleasures are paine unto them but on the contrary the sorrowes of the righteous are joyous and the paines which they endure for Christ are pleasures unto them The gaines of the worldly are indeed losses unto them because they help on their damnation whereas the losses of the godly are gaine and advantage unto them because they further their salvation 5. Fifthly because they enjoy God wherein consisteth the happinesse of a man in some measure and degree even in this life For it cannot be denied but that devout Christians even whilest the soule resides in the body have a comfortable fruition of the Deity whose favour is better than life by faith in the heart by knowledge in the understanding by charity in the will by desire in the affections by sight in the creatures by hearing in the Word by taste in the Sacraments by feeling in the inward motions and operations of Gods Spirit which fill them with exceeding and unspeakable joy and comfort Saint u Apoc. 21. John setting forth the blessednesse of the triumphant Church and depainting the joyes of Heaven in golden colours describeth a City situate in Heaven whose temple is God and light the Lambe and walls Salvation and courts praise and streets gold and foundations gemmes and gates pearles twelve in number in a relation to the Lambes twelve Apostles Answerable to the gates in price though not in number are the steps up to them which our Saviour who is the way directeth us unto they are eight in number made of so many whole pearles that is divine Vertues 1. The first step is humility poore in spirit upon which when we stand we may easily get upon the next godly sorrow mourning for sinne none so apt to mourne for their sinnes and humble themselves under the mighty hand of God in sackcloth and ashes as the poore in spirit 2. When we are upon this step we readily get up upon the next which is tender compassion and meeknesse none so compassionate and meeke towards others when they slip into the mire of sinne as those who continually bewaile their fowle falls and wash their defiled soules with their teares 3. When we are upon this third step we may soone get up the fourth which is hungering and thirsting for righteousnesse for those who are most sensible of their owne wants and continually bewaile their corruptions and are compassionately affected towards others when they are overtaken with any temptation must needs hunger and thirst for righteousnesse both in themselves and others 4. When we are upon this fourth step we may soone climbe up to the other three Mercy the fifth Purity the sixth and Peace the seventh for they who eagerly pursue righteousnesse shall certainly meet with these three her companions Lastly they who have attained unto righteousnesse and are enamoured with her three companions Mercy Purity and Peace will suffer any thing for their sake and so ascend up the highest step of Christian perfection which is constant patience and zealous striving for the truth even unto bloud which is not only saved but cleansed also by being spilt for Christs sake The lowest greece or staire and the first step to Heaven is poverty in spirit that is as the Fathers generally interpret Humility which is the ground-colour of the soules beautifull images the graces of the spirit The ground-colours are darke and obscure yet except they be first laid the wooll or stuffe will not receive much lesse retaine the brighter and more beautifull Such is lowlinesse of minde of no great lustre and appearance in itselfe yet without it no grace or vertue will long keep colour and its beauty and therefore Christ first layes it saying Blessed are the Poore in spirit These poore in spirit are not to bee understood poore in spirituall graces such cannot come neere the price of the Kingdome of Heaven and therefore the spirit adviseth them under the type of the Church of * Apoc. 3.18 Laodicea to buy of him gold tryed in the fire that they may bee rich c. nor are they necessarily poore in state much lesse such as are poore in state onely for bare poverty yea though it bee voluntary is but a weake plea and giveth a man but a poore title to a Kingdome in Heaven Wee heare indeed in the Gospel of Lazarus the x Luke 16.22 Beggar in Heaven but wee finde him there in the bosome of rich Abraham to
thirsteth for righteousnesse and therefore is satisfied The modest man hath no opinion of his owne wit or wisedome and therefore willingly bringeth every thought into captivity and every affection to the obedience of the Gospel The lowly in heart esteemeth more vilely of himselfe than the world can and therefore hee chearfully taketh up his crosse and followeth Christ Thus have I cleared the title of the poore in spirit to the Kingdome of Heaven which is so sure and unquestionable that our Saviour saith not Theirs shall be in the future but in the present tense Theirs is the Kingdome of Heaven And likewise Suffer little children and forbid them not to come unto mee for of such r Matth. 19.14 is the Kingdome of Heaven As we say of such an one that hath the advowson of a Benefice or reversion of an Office under seale or of an heire to a wealthy father such a Lordship or such a Mannour or such an Office or such a Benefice is his either because hee is as sure thereof as if he were possessed of it or because he hath actually jus ad rem though not in re a right to it though not in it so in regard of the poore in spirit their undoubted right to and their present interest in some of the priviledges and profits of their heavenly Fathers Kingdome that Kingdome is said here to be theirs already When Cyneas the Embassadour of Pyrrhus after his returne from Rome was asked by his Master what hee thought of the City and State he answered that it seemed to him Respublica Regum A State of none but great States-men and a Common-wealth of Kings Put the same question to Saint John concerning Jerusalem that descended from God he will answer you in like manner Videri rempublicam Regum that it is no other than a Parliament of Emperours or a Common-wealth of Kings For in the Kingdome of grace upon earth all Kings are subjects but in the Kingdome of glory in Heaven all subjects are Kings Every humble and faithfull soule is coheire with Christ and hath a robe of honour and a scepter of power and a throne of majesty and a crowne of glory If you peruse the records and evidences of Heaven exemplified in holy Scripture you shall finde no estates there but inheritances no inheritances but kingdomes no houses but palaces no meales but feasts no noyse but musicke no rods but scepters no garments but robes no seates but thrones no head ornaments but crownes these inheritances these palaces these feasts these songs these scepters these thrones these robes these crownes God bring us unto and possesse us with through poverty in spirit in the right and title purchased for us by our elder brother Christ Jesus To whom c. THE COGNISANCE OF A CHRISTIAN OR CHRIST HIS NEW COMMANDEMENT A Sermon preached in VVooll-Church THE TWENTIETH SERMON JOH 13.34 A new commandement give I unto you That ye love one another as I have loved you that yee also love one another Right Worshipfull c. ALL that by a Christian vocation are severed from the world and cut as it were out of the common rock of mankinde and by faith relye upon Christ are like so many hewen stones laid upon the chiefe a Eph. 2.20 corner stone rising to a spirituall building reaching from the earth to heaven The line by which they are built is the Word of God the cement wherwith they are held fast together is Christian charity the soder of mindes the couple of dispositions the glew of affections and the bond of all perfection which to fasten the more strongly among all that gave their name to Christ the Primitive Church in the daies of the Apostles added a double tye 1. Sacred 2. Civill The sacred was the frequent receiving of the Lords Supper the civill was the celebrating their Agapae's or keeping their love-feasts Which though they were in after ages taken away by reason of manifold abuses and disorders committed in them even in the place of holy assemblies yet it were to be wished that all our feasts were truly love-feasts I meane that the rich among us would imitate holy Job and not eat their morsels alone but invite those of the poorer sort to their Tables whom Christ bids to his board or at least that they would defaulke a great part of that charge which is spent in furnishing these luxurious feasts wherein this City exceedeth all in the Christian world and convert it to the refreshing of the bowels of poore prisoners or clothing the naked or redeeming captives or to some other pious and charitable use so should your City and Company feasts be true Agapae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 love-feasts and you testifie to all the world what account you make of Christ his new commandement in my Text Love one another Of all speeches we ought to give most heed to those of our Saviour of all speeches of our Saviour to his commands of all commands to this of Christian charity 1. Because it is a rare and choice one A new 2. Because it is a sweet and easie one To love 3. Because it is a just and reasonable one One another 4. Because wee have such a singular President for it As I have loved you c. Wee have all Athenian eares thirsting after newes behold a new Wee all professe obedience to Lawes behold a commandement Wee all acknowledge Christ to bee our supreme Lord who hath absolute power of life and death hearken then to his Proclamation I give unto you If hee had laid a heavie burthen and hard yoke upon us wee must have submitted our neckes and shoulders to it and wee have all reason so to doe For hee tooke b Esay 53.4 Surely be hath born our griefs and carried our sorrowes upon him our infirmities and bare our sorrowes how much more when hee layeth so sweet a yoke upon us as to love so light a burthen as to love one another Nothing more agreeable to our nature than to love nothing more needfull to our condition than to love one another Wee all stand in need one of another this need is supported by love this love is commanded by Christ this command of Christ is new As c M. Tul. Cicer. Orator Numerum verborum numero sententiarum complexus est Tully spake of Thucydides his stile that in his Orations every word was a sentence And as Saint Jerome observeth in the Apocalyps Quot verba tot sacramenta that there are so many mysteries in it as words so wee may say of this Text Quot verba tot argumenta so many words so many arguments so many notions so many motions or motives to this duty of mutuall love To which we ought to have a speciall eye and extraordinary regard First because it is a new commandement Secondly because it is Christs commandement I give unto you Thirdly because it is an amiable and easie one To love Fourthly because it is
us they may receive us into everlasting habitations 5. To seeke the Lord whilest hee may bee found and not to deferre our repentance from day to day 6. To be sure to provide for our eternall state whatsoever becommeth of our temporall and to preferre the salvation of our soule before the gaining of the whole world 7. To examine daily our spirituall estate and to informe our selves truly how we stand in the Court of Heaven in Gods favour or out of it 8. To observe to what sinnes wee are most subject and where wee are weakest there continually to fortifie against Sathans batteries 9. In all weighty occasions especially such as concerne our spirituall estate to aske counsell of God and take direction from his Word 10. To consider the speciall workes of Gods providence in the carriage of the affaires of this world and make use thereof to our selves 11. Lastly to meditate upon the Law of God all the dayes of our life and consider their blessed end that keep it with their whole heart and their accursed death that transgresse it And so I fall upon the second branch of my Text Observ 3 They would consider I have already proposed wisedome to your desires now I am to commend consideration to your wisedome The Schoole Divines make this the speciall difference between the knowledge of men and Angels that the knowledge of Angels is intuitive but of men discursive they see all things to which the beame of their sight extendeth as it were on the sudden with one cast of the eye but we by degrees see one thing after another and inferre effects from causes and conclusions from principles and particulars from generalls they have the treasures of wisedome and knowledge ready alwayes at hand we by reading hearing conference but especially by meditation must digge it out of the precious mynes where it lyeth In which regard Barradius alluding to the sound of the word though not to the Grammaticall originall saith meditatio est quasi mentis ditatio meditation is the enriching of the soule because it delves into the rich mynes of wisedome and maketh use of all that wee heare or reade and layeth it up in our memories Seneca fitly termeth it rumination or chewing of the cud which maketh the food of the soule taste sweeter in the mouth and digest better in the stomacke By the Law of God the u Levit. 11.3 7. beasts that chewed not the cud were reckoned among the unclean of which the people of God might not eate such are they in the Church that never ruminate or meditate upon those things they take in at the eare which is the soules mouth I know no difference more apparent between a wise man and a foole than this that the one is prometheus hee adviseth before the other is epimetheus he acteth first and deliberateth afterwards and * Hesiod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wardeth after hee hath received the wound the one doth all things headily and rashly the other maturely and advisedly A man that hath an understanding spirit calleth all his thoughts together and holdeth a cabinet councell in the closet of his heart and there propoundeth debateth deliberateth and resolveth what hee hath to doe and how before hee imbarke himselfe into any great designe or weighty affaire For want of this preconsideration most men commit many errours and fall into great inconveniences troubles and mischiefes and are often caught unawares in the Divels snare which they might easily have shunned if they had looked before they leaped and fore-casted their course before they entred into it It is a lamentable thing to see how many men partly through carelesnesse and incogitancie partly through a desire to enjoy their sensuall pleasures without any interruption suffer Sathan like a cunning Faulkner to put a hood upon their soules and therewith blind the eyes of the understanding and never offer to plucke it off or stirre it before hee hath brought them to utter darknesse O that men were wise to understand this cunning of the Divell Application and consider alwayes what they doe before they doe it and be they never so resolutely bent and hot set upon any businesse yet according to the advice of the x Cic. Orat. pro Pub. Quint. Si haec duo solùm verba tecum habuisses Quid ago respirasset credo cupiditas c. Orator to give their desires so long a breathing time till they have spoken these two words to themselves Quid agimus what doe we what are we about is it a commendable worke is it agreeable to the Word of God and sutable to our calling is it of good report and all circumstances considered expedient if so goe on in Gods name and the Lord prosper your handy-workes but if otherwise meddle not with it and put off all that the Divell or carnall wisedome can alledge to induce you unto it with these checkes of your own consciences saying to your selves Shall we offend God shall we charge our consciences shall we staine our reputation shall we scandalize our profession shall we despite the Spirit of grace shall we forfeit our estate in Gods promises and foregoe a title to a Kingdome shall wee pull downe all Gods plagues and judgements upon us in this life and hazzard the damnation of body and soule in hell and all this for an earthly vanity a fading commodity a momentary pleasure an opinion of honour a thought of contentment a dreame of happinesse Shall we bett with the Divell and stake our soules against a trifle shall we venture our life and put all the treasures of Gods grace and our crowne of glory in the Divels bottome for such light and vile merchandize as this world affordeth Is it not folly nay madnesse to lay out all upon one great feast knowing that we should fast all the yeere after to venture the boiling in the river of brimstone for ever for bathing our selves in the pleasures of sinne for an houre We forbid our children to eate fruit because we say it breedeth wormes in their bellies and if wee had the like care of the health of our soules as of their bodies wee would for the same reason abstaine from the forbidden fruit of sinne because it breedeth in the conscience a never dying worme O that we were wise to understand this and to Consider our later end I have proposed wisedome to your desires in the first place and in the second referred consideration to your wisedome now in the last place I am to recommend your later end to your consideration A wise man beginneth with the end which is first in the intention but last in the execution and as we judge of stuffes by their last so of all courses by their end to which they tend It is not the first or middle but the last scene that denominateth the play a tragedy or a comedy and it is the state of a man at his death and after upon which wee are to
eternity yet I deny that this is any good description of time because every description ought to be per notius by something that is more known whereas eternity is farre more obscure than time it selfe all men have a common notion of the one few or none of the other Neither doe they give any better satisfaction who define time by duration For albeit there is a time of duration of every thing and a duration also of time it selfe yet duration is not time duration is the existence of any thing in time not the terme or time it selfe They define time most agreeable to the Scriptures who affirme it to be the continuall fluxe of moments minutes houres dayes weekes moneths yeeres ages from the creation of the world to the dissolution thereof after which the u Apoc. 10.6 Angel sware that time should be no more But I need to speake no more of time at this time because the word in my text is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 time but season or as it is here rendered The accepted time The season is that in time which light is in the aire lustre in metals the flower in plants creame in milke quintessence in hearbs the prime and best of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now there being a threefold season 1. Naturall which Husbandmen observe in sowing Gardeners in planting and graffing Mariners in putting to Sea Chirurgians in letting bloud Physicians in purging c. 2. Civill of which the Poet speaketh Mollissima fandi tempora which all humble suppliants observe in preferring petitions to Princes and great Personages 3. Spirituall which all that have a care of their salvation must observe in seeking the Lord while he may be found The Apostle in this place pointeth to this third and his meaning is Behold now presse hard to get into the kingdome of heaven for now the gate is open now labour hard in Gods vineyard for now is the eleventh houre now put up your petitions to the Prince of peace for now is the day of audience now provide your selves of spirituall merchandize for now is the mart now cast your selves into the Bethesda of Christs bloud for now the Angel troubleth the water now get a generall pardon for all your sinnes under the broad seale of the King of heaven for now is a day of sealing When the King commeth saith St. x Chrys in hunc locum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysostome there is no time for sessions or assises but for pardon and favour Behold now the King is come to visit his subjects upon earth and from his first comming to his last the day of grace continueth Behold now is this accepted time He calleth it an accepted time saith St. y Ib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysostome because now God accepteth them to favour who a thousand times incurred his displeasure It is called in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a time of good will and favour as Calvin rendereth the words who biddeth us marke the order first a time of grace is promised and after a day of salvation to intimate unto us that salvation floweth from the meere grace and mercy of God We are active in sinne to our owne damnation but meere passive to the first grace we draw on damnation with the cart-ropes of vanity but God draweth us to salvation with the cords of love The speciall point of doctrine to which this ecce or index in my text pointeth is that we ought to take speciall notice of the time of grace beginning at the birth of our Saviour and ending to us at the day of our death and to all men that shall be upon the earth at the consummation of the world As the celestiall spheres are wrapt one in another and the greatest which the Philosophers terme the Primum mobile invelopeth all the rest so the parts of time are enclosed the lesser in the greater houres in dayes dayes in yeeres yeers in ages and ages in the time of the duration of the world To explicate then to the full the time of our Lords birth it will be requisite to treat 1 Of the age of the world 2 Of the yeere of the age 3 Of the day of the yeere in which the true z John 1.9 light that lighteneth every man that commeth into the world first shined on the earth 1 Of the age of the world The Jewes according to an ancient tradition received from the house of Elias make three ages of the world as it were so many stages of time 1 From the creation to the law 2 From the law to the Messias 3 From the comming of the Messias to the end of the world To each of these they allow two thousand yeeres counting thus 1 a Carion in Chron. Duo millia vacuum 2 Duo millia lex 3 Duo millia Messias post mundi deflagratio Saint y Aug. de civit Dei l. 22 c 30. Post hanc tan quam in die septimo requi escet Deus cum eundem septimum diem quod nos erimus in seipso faciet requiescere Austine doubleth these files and maketh reckoning of sixe ages 1 From Adam to the Deluge 2 From the Deluge to Abraham 3 From Abraham to Solomon 4 From Solomon to the captivity 5 From the captivity to Christs birth 6 From Christs birth to the day of judgement after which in the seventh we shall all keepe an eternall Sabbath in heaven By both which computations it appeareth that the birth of our Saviour fell late towards the declining and end of time as b Maxin Taur hom 6 de nativ In fine temporum natus est ille cujus aeternitatem nulla saeculorum tempora comprehendunt Maximus Taurinensis observeth Here the wit of man which like the Sea will still be working though oftentimes foaming out his owne shame curiously enquireth why the desire and joy of all mankind was so long delayed why he was so late born whose birth was of more importance than of all the Potentates Princes Kings Emperours and Monarchs of the whole world Was not Christ the bright morning starre how came it then to passe that he appeared not till the afternoone if not evening of the world Was not he the bridegroome whose * Marriage song Epithalamium Solomon by the spirit of prophesie endited in the booke of Canticles how could hee then heare his dearest Spouse breathe out so many sighes and shed such abundance of teares in so many ages still longing for his comming and crying c Cant. 1.1 Let him come into the flesh and kisse mee with the kisses of his lips Was not hee the good Samaritan which healed the wounded man after Moses the Levite and Aaron the Priest passing by left him as they found him and did him no ease at all how then could this tender hearted Chirurgian suffer wounded mankinde to lie so many ages weltring in his owne bloud and
Solomon So Dives at whose gates Lazarus lay is by some no meane ones ghessed to be Herod or some other King and so are Jobs friends termed by the Seventie Yea the rich is not onely a little King among his neighbours but dives quasi divus as a pettie god to his underlings yet Timothie hath authoritie to charge and command such rich That foolish shaveling soared too high a pitch when in his imperious Bull hee commanded the Angels but wee may safely say all powers below the Angels are liable to our spirituall charge and the power of the keyes which Christ hath given us But what now becommeth of them that I may not say in some of our hands they are suffered to rust for want of use in others as the Pontificians the wards are altered so as they can neither open nor shut Sure I am the power of them is lost in the hearts of many they have secret pickelockes of their owne making presumption and securitie whereby they can open heaven gates though double locked by our censures and shut the gates of hell at pleasure which their owne sinnes have opened wide to receive them What use then is there of us but in our chaire and there but to be heard and seene Even in this sense spectaculo facti sumus we are to gaze on and not to implie Yet it was well noted by one that the good father of the Prodigall though he might himselfe have brought forth the prime robe or have led his sonne into the wardrobe to take it yet he commands his servants to bring it forth because hee would have his sonne to be beholden to his servants for his glorie He that can save you without us will not save you but by us Hitherto the power implyed in the charge the sufficiencie followes This Evangelicus must be Parangelicus Like as the forerunner of Christ had a charge for all sorts so hath Timothie in this epistle a charge for wives for husbands for Bishops for Deacons for Widowes for Servants and here for the rich And I am perswaded that no Nation under heaven ever had more sufficient Timothies to instruct all sorts of men in the wayes of salvation than this our Land so that what Jerome spake sometime of Britaine is now most true comparing it with Jerusalem as it had beene De Hierosolymis de Britannia equaliter patet aula coelestis For the Northren parts since his sacred Majesty in his last journey as if the Sun did out of compassion goe beyond his tropicke line to give heat to that climate visited them are better provided of Preachers and maintenance for Preachers and both Pastours and people professe themselves mutually blessed in each other and blesse God and their King for their blessednesse And as for the Southerne when I behold them me thinkes I see the Firmament in a cleere night bespangled with goodly Starres of all magnitudes that yeeld a pleasant diversity of light unto the earth but above all this Citie is rich in this spirituall provision Other Cities may exceed you in the glory of outward structure in the largenesse of extent in the uniforme proportion of streets or ornaments of Temples but your pulpits are past theirs and if preaching can lift up Citizens to heaven yee are not upon earth Heare this O yee Citizens and bee not proud but thankefull unto God I adde also to your Preachers no vice more hatefull to God and man than ingratitude no ingratitude more abominable than to parents no parents ought to be dearer unto you than those who have begot you through the Gospell in Christ Charge them But whom The rich The rich Who are rich According to Moralitie and Christianity they that have enough with content so saith the Apostle Godlinesse is great gaine if a man be content with that which he hath St. Jerome saith victus vestitus divitiae Christianorum According to the vulgar use of the word they are rich who have more than is necessarie Now there is a double necessitie of nature of estate that is necessarie to nature without which wee cannot live that is necessarie to estate which is superfluous to nature and that which were superfluous to nature is not so much as necessary to estate nature goes single and beares little breadth estate goes ever with a traine the necessity of nature admits little difference especially for quantity the necessity of estate requires as many diversities as there are several degrees of humane conditions and severall circumstances in those degrees Thus understanding what is meant by the word come we now to the matter Man that came naked out of the womb of the earth was even then so rich that all things were his heaven was his roofe or canopie the earth his floore the Sea his pond the Sunne and Moone his torches all creatures his vassals and if he lost the fulnesse of this Lordship by being a slave to sinne yet we have still dominium gratificum as Gerson termeth it In this sense every sonne of Abraham is heire of the world but to make up the true reputation of wealth for thus we may be as having all things and possessing nothing another right is required besides spirituall which is a civill and humane right wherein I doubt not but our learned Wickliffe and Armacanus and Gerson have had much wrong whilest they are accused to teach that men in these earthly things have no tenure but grace no title but charitie which questionlesse they intended in foro interiori in the consistorie of God not in the common pleas of men in the court of conscience not in the courts of Law For it is certaine that besides this spirituall right there is a civill right in earthly things and the Scripture speaking secundum jus gentium whereon the division of these earthly possessions is grounded calleth some poore some rich The Apostle saith not charge men that they be not rich but charge the rich that they be not high minded The rich In this one word and as it were with one graspe the Apostle crusheth the heads of two heresies the ancient Apostolici who denied the lawfulnesse of earthly proprieties and our late Popish votaries who place holinesse in want and povertie Did these men never heare that the blessing of God maketh rich that the wise mans wealth is his strong Citie If Lazarus was poore yet Abraham was rich pium pauperem suscepit sinus divitis in divitiis cupiditatem reprehendit non facultatem saith Austine Bona est substantia si non sit peccatum in conscientia substance doth well in the hand if there be no evill in the heart Let the rich take heed how he became so Ecclus. 13.25 that God which can allow you to be rich will not allow you all wayes to your wealth hee hath set up a golden goale to which he allowes you all to runne but you must keepe the beaten rode of honestie justice charitie and truth If
Of the act Offer To offer is to exhibit and shew forth such workes before God as please him and testifie his power and goodnesse and we are sayd herein to offer unto him in regard of our intention herein to performe acceptable service unto him and our desire to glorifie him not as if God received any things at our hands for our goodnesse a Psal 16 2. Hier. ad Celant reacheth not to him If thou be righteous it is nothing to him what receiveth he at thine hand Obsequio nostro non indiget Deus sed nos illius indigemus imperio And albeit the Scripture attribute hands to God yet it is to give not to receive any thing from us O that our Demi-gods Judges and Magistrates had but such hands O that they were like unto Artaxerxes Longimanus not to take bribes nor extort but to reach justice What doth the c Chrys 2 Cor. hom 30. Sun receive from the eye which it enlighteneth or the d Aug. de civit Dei l. 10. fountain from the mouth which it refresheth and cooleth or the anchor from the ship which it foundeth and establisheth Notwithstanding though God receive nothing from us as any accession to his infinite perfection and his simplicity excludeth any addition thereunto yet he requireth our sacrifices as his rent and fee and we are continually to offer them unto him and that in a threefold respect 1 Of God e Tert. l. 4. cont Marcion Cui omne altum inclinat cui omnes debent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cui omne debemus quod sumus quod possumus from whom we f Jam. 1.17 receive all things 2 In respect of our own condition who are Gods workmanship and therefore ought to be serviceable to him his field and therefore ought to beare fruit unto him his royall Priests and therefore ought to offer spirituall sacrifices unto him 3 In respect of the benefit which redoundeth to us by these spirituall sacrifices Cast up any thing towards heaven it falls downe backe againe even so if we send up the savour of good workes to heaven it will distill downe againe like sweet waters upon our heads as on the contrary the sins of Sodome sent up a steame to heaven which congealed in the aire and turned into a storme of sulphur and rained downe upon their heads To offer unto God what is it else than to scatter seed on earth that we may receive fruit in heaven to open our laps and bosome that Gods treasure may fall into it to lay the sure foundation of a building not made with hands to stoope and kneele downe before God that he may put upon us a Crowne of glorie as Noblemen when they receive a Coronet from the King Herein note the difference between those things which are offered to God and those that are offered to the world those that are offered to God are preserved and returned backe upon us but those things that are offered to the world perish themselves and destroy us as a talent of lead sinkes it selfe and drownes him on whom it is cast Pereat ergo mundi lucrum ne fiat animae damnum There was never heard of such a bankrupt as the world which breaketh every weeke nay every day and undoeth thousands it useth the worldling as g Sueton. in Vesp c. 16. Vespasian did his catchpole officers who when they had filled themselves with rapines and spoyles picked some occasions to squieze them like spunges and crush out all that they had gathered and draw them drie Use 1 Whence we may learne how wise and happy they were who have beene benefactors to Hospitalls Colledges and the like places who whilest they lived offered sacrifices of righteousnesse to God For their gifts are doubly restored unto them in a name among men so long as one stone shall lie upon another in these buildings their praise shall be read secondly in an immarcessible crown in heaven As on the contrary you may discover their folly who offered all their wealth and meanes to the world to pride to lust to riot whose reward is vanity whilest they live rottennesse when they die shame and confusion when they arise 2 This may serve to stirre us up to exhibite willingly our offerings to God Offer of your selves God loveth a chearefull giver How chearfully doth the husbandman goe out to sow his seed yet after he hath sown it it is subject to many casualties How easily doe fruitfull trees part with their ripe fruit A full and frontie eare sheds of himselfe but on the contrary a withered and blasted eare crush it and beat it never so much it will yeeld nothing but chaffe and dust a perfect embleme of a greedy griper a sordid churle hammer him how you will straine him squieze him thump him yet you shall get nothing from him but that which is sordid and illiberall like himselfe 3 This may serve to reprove those qui non afferunt sed auferunt that are so farre from offering unto God that they take away from him either his glorie and worship as the Papists and all Idolaters doe or his tithes and oblations as our sacrilegious harpies of whom we may truly say Nihil tam sacrum quod non inveniat sacrilegum But let these Church-robbers remember that they swallow a golden hooke which shal be raked out of their bellies as Job speaketh Some part offerings between God and Mammon as S. Austin speaketh of Cain Sua Deo sibi seipsum dedit In sum there is a threefold abuse in things offered to God 1 Extreme niggardnesse and h Mal. 1.14 deceit which God accurseth 2 Bribery and corruption in ordering disposing of things offered unto God in conferring Benefices upon Church-men or bestowing places in Hospitals not upon the fittest for such offices and places but such as by their purse can make best friends 3 Diversion of things consecrated unto God to maintaine lust and pride A lamentable thing that Hospitals erected for the maintenance of the poore should not be free from oppression one Bell-wether carrieth away all the wooll and the fat and rangeth whither he pleaseth when the poore Bedesman is kept to his mathematicall line a small pittance God wot a penny a weeke or a morsell of bread a day Thus much of our first observation 2 The second observation from the act is that the word in the originall signifieth mactando offerre to offer as it were by slaughter which intimateth that we must use a kind of violence to our selves in the performances of these duties For we have many lusts and affections in us as envie contention pride covetousnesse which are more clamorous than any beggars and like horse-leaches sucke out all our estate and meanes besides we have many worldly occasions the belly craves the backe craves yea and braves it too the wife claimes yea and exclaimes children aske and friends challenge a great part that even in an ample state little or
compulsive meanes to bring men to the true service of God our Saviour delivereth a Parable of a certaine x Luke 14.16 man that made a great Supper and when the guests that were bid came not in the Master said to his servants Ver. 23. Goe to the high wayes and hedges to compell them to come in that my house may be filled On which ground St. y In hunc loc Non quia cogantur reprehendant sed quò cogantur attendant Austine thus descanteth What are the hedges here meant but schismes and heresies that make partitions and separations in the house of God from which when the sheepe of Christ are pulled let them not find fault because they are haled but looke whither they are haled into Christs sheepfold A prudent advice and seriously to be thought upon by all that murmure and repine at the Church and States proceedings against obstinate Recusants be they Papists or Brownists they could not mislike that they are compelled if they entered into a serious consideration whither they are compelled to goe to wit to a marriage Supper to partake of the Manna of the Word and Sacraments O happy violence that puls men out of hell fire happie bonds that tye us to Christs body happy fetters that hold our feet in the way of peace happy scourges and whips that drive us into heaven happy outward compulsion that workes inward compunction 7 Seventhly to these constraining arguments for compulsories against refractarie persons we may adde infinite examples of zealous Princes to counterpoize all the presidents brought before for connivencie at schisme or heresie I spake but even now of Josiah and Hezekiah after whom may be ranked z 2 Chr. 15.16 And all the people sware unto the Lord with a loud voyce with shouting trumpets and cornets that whosoever would not seeke the Lord God of Israel should be slaine Asa who deposed Maacath his mother from her Regencie because she had made an Idol in a grove which he brake downe and stamped to powder And Nebuchadnezzar made a Decree That every people nation and language which spake any blasphemie against the God of Shadrach Misach and Abednego should be drawne in pieces and their houses made a jakes Dan. 3.29 And that I may joyne Ecclesiasticall stories with the inspired I will relate some constitutions of the best Emperours which swayed the Roman Scepter a Euseb in vit Constant Constantine the Great appointed that all the Temples of Heretickes should be pulled downe and that it should not be lawfull for them to assemble together in publike or private And that Theodosius and later Emperours were as quicke against them it appeares by the Code of Justinian b Lib. 1. tit 5. Omnes vetitae legibus divinis imperialibus constitutionibê° haereses perpetuò conticescant Let all heresies forbidden by the law of God and Imperiall sanctions keepe silence for ever And againe c Tit. cunc Cuncti haeretici procul dubiò noverint omnia sibi loca adimenda esse Let all Heretickes understand that all places of meeting as well Churches as private houses are to be taken away from them let them be debarred from all service day and night the Lord Deputie to be fined a hundreth pound if he permit any such thing Will you heare yet sharper lawes Peruse the chapter of Manicheos d Manicheos meritissimâ severitate persequimur ac primum volumus publicum esse crimen quia quod in religionem divinam committitur in omnium fertur injuriam in eos severitatis nostrae aculei erigantur qui eos domibus suis damnandá provisione defendunt We prosecute the Manichees with most deserved severitie and first we determine that this heresie shall be held a publike crime because that which derogateth from the true worship of God cannot but be many wayes prejudiciall to the State These Manichees therefore we punish with confiscation of goods we debarre them from buying or selling bequeathing goods or lands by will or otherwise from recovering any legacies or enjoying their fathers inheritance and let them all be liable to the same penalties who keepe and foster such persons in their houses 8 Eighthly for the mitigation of which lawes when the Hereticks expected that S. Austine should mediate with the Emperor he falls thus foule upon them Yes forsooth what else I shall gainesay the constitution of the Emperour and intercâ—de that you lose not the things which you call yours and you without feare spoyle Christ of that which is his A reasonable demand is it not that the Roman lawes should permit you to make your last will and testament whilest you with cavelling and sophistry goe about to frustrate Gods last will and Testament that in buying and selling your contracts may be good and you the whilest share among you that which Christ bought when he was sold that you be not banished from the place of your abode when you as much as in you lieth drive Christ from the Kingdome purchased with his blood Tertullian is as peremptory in this point e Scorpiacum c. 2. Ad officium haereticos compelli non illici dignum duâ—â—tia vincenda est non suadenda utique satis optimum praeâ—udicatur quod probabitur a Deo constitutum We must deale roundly with Heretickes and overcome their obstinacie by more powerfull Rhetorike than perswasive speeches For that course must be thought the best which God himselfe hath taken St. f Cypr. ep 6. Cyprian pointeth to those texts of Scripture wherein God alloweth of yea and expressely commandeth severe proceedings against Heretickes and Idolatours with whom St. g Greg. com in Cant. Gregorie accords in his note upon those words Catch the foxes that spoyle the vines Of the same minde are h Hier. in Crâ—s Leo. ep 93. Hierome Leo and the Synod of Burdigala who all approve of Maximus his proceedings against the Hereticke Priscillian and Epiphanius and Cyrill who to strike a terrour in the hearts of Heretickes relate the fleaing of Manes the father of the Manichees by the King of Persia To fill up the ranke i Lib. 3. cont Parm. Optatus likeneth Macarius to Phineas and Elias for making a quicke dispatch with the Heretickes of his time Dioscorus Alexandrinus cries out in the Synod of Chalcedon that Heresie is to be purged with fire Haereticos flammâ dignos Clemens Alexandrinus wisheth all happinesse to the Scythian King who hung a Citizen and after commanded him to be shot through with arrowes for sacrificing to the mother of the gods after the manner of the Grecians k Ep. ad Ser. Procul dubio melius esset ut gladio coercerentur illius qui sine causà gladium non gestat Lastly St. Bernard after he had made mention of some private persons who ranne upon blasphemous Heretickes and tare them in pieces for rending the Church interposeth his owne judgement in this maner They should have done better to
in themselves in themselves they never were without imperfection nor are since the fall of Adam without impurity and corruption but in him they are perfect without defect pure without pollution permanent and stable without any shadow of change in regard of which their eminent manner of subsistence in him they change their names and appellations and as that which in earthly bodies is matter the Philosophers call forme or * Zab. Phys lib. de coel materia formalis in heaven and parts degrees and beauty light or clarity and qualities influences so that which is accident in the creature is substance in the Creator and that which is called beauty in us is majesty in him life is immortality strength omnipotency wealth all-sufficiency delight felicity affection vertue vertue nature nature all things For a Rom. 11.36 of him and through him and in him are all things as the grand master of Philosophy discerned by the glimmering light of reason saying that it is manifest that the Deity is in all things Arist mor. ad Eud. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and all things in it in him the understanding apprehendeth all truth the will all good the affections all vertue and glory the senses all pleasure the desires all contentments and therefore it followeth And I desire nothing in the earth with thee The heart resembleth a perfect triangle but the figure of the world is circular and no more can it satisfie the heart of man than a circle can fill a triangle God onely who is a trinity in unity can fill all the corners of this triangle of his owne making For nothing can delight the spirituall nature of the soule but a pure spirit nothing can content the soveraigne faculty of the understanding but a soveraign object nothing can satisfie the infinite desires of the will but infinitum bonum which must be infinite foure waies 1. In power to remove all things that may be offensive or hurtfull to us 2. In bounty to supply all those good things that may bee delightfull or usefull to us 3. In essence to furnish us with infinite variety of delights 4. In continuance to perpetuate unto us the infinite variety of continuall delights and contentments Now what is there in heaven or in earth thus spirituall in substance soveraigne in place infinite in power goodnesse and essence everlasting in continuance but thou O Lord whom because we have in heaven we desire nothing on earth What should we desire there where wee find nothing to fixe our thoughts or afford us any solid comfort or contentment Who can aime steadily at a moving mark or build firmly upon sinking sand or hold fast a vanishing shadow or rest himself upon the wings of the wind as impossible is it to lay any sure ground of contentment or foundation of happinesse in the unstable vanities and uncertaine comforts of this life How can they fulfill our desires or satisfie our appetites which are not only empty but emptinesse it selfe How can they establish our hearts sith they are altogether unstable themselves How can they yeeld us any true delight or contentment which have no verity in them but are shadowes and painted shewes like the carved dishes Caligula set before his flatterers or the grapes drawn by Zeuxis wherewith he deceived the birds The best of them are no better than the apples of Sodome of which Pliny and Solinus write that they are apples whilest you behold them but ashes when you touch them or like the herb Sardoa in Sardinia upon which if a man feed it so worketh upon his spleen that he never leaveth laughing till he dyeth through immoderate mirth Honours riches pleasures are but glorious titles written in golden characters under them we find nothing but vanity under the title of nobility nothing but a brag of our parents vertue and that is vanity under honour nothing but the opinion of other men and this can be but vanity under glory but breath and wind and this is certainly vanity under pleasure but b Eras Apoph Demos Non emam tanti poenitere repentance folly and is not this vanity under sumptuous buildings rich hangings gorgeous apparrell but ostentation of wealth and outward pomp this is vanity of vanity Nobility in the originall of it is but the infamy of Adam for it knew not Hevah till after his fall grievous prevarication beauty the daughter of corruption apparrell the cover of shame gold silver the dregs of the earth oyles costly ointments the sweat of trees silkes velvets the excrements of wormes and shall our immortall spirit nobly descended from the sacred Trinity match so low with this neather world and take these toyes and trifles for a competent dowry And let this suffice to be spoken to the words for their full explication let us now heare what they speake to us for our further use and instruction 1. They speake to our faith that it be resolved upon God only 2. To our devotion that it be directed to God only 3. To our love that it be entirely fixed on God only 1. True faith saith Whom have I in heaven but thee to relye upon 2. True religion saith Whom have I but thee to call upon 3. True love saith Whom have I but thee to settle upon No Papist can beare a part with David in this song saying Whom have I in heaven but thee O Lord for they have many in heaven to whom they addresse their prayers in generall often solicite them upon speciall occasions as for raine for faire weather in a common plague in danger of child-birth in perills by sea in perills by land for their owne health and recovery and for the safety of their beasts cattell as appeares by the forms of prayers yet extant in their Liturgies Offices Manuels Service books Doubtlesse these monopolies were not granted to Saints in Davids time for he had recourse every-where to God immediately for any thing he stood in need of neither had the ancient Fathers any knowledge of so many new masters of requests in heaven to preferre their petitions to God for they addressed themselves all to one Mediatour betwixt God and man the man Christ Jesus who sitteth at the right hand of his Father to take all our petitions to recommend them unto him I can make no other construction of the words of c Lib. 8. cont Cel. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Origen Wee must religiously worship or invocate none but God and his only begotten Son We must call upon none but God saith d Hieron in Prov. l. 1. c 2. Neminem invocare nisi Deum debemus Jerome e Tertul. apol c. 30. Quaecunque hominis Caesaris vota sunt haec ab alio orare non possum quà m à quo scio me consecuturum quoniam ipse est qui solus praestat ego familus ejus qui eum solum invoco Tertullian goeth farther on our way
and travels prove in the end fruitlesse and unprofitable For in a circle though wee runne never so fast wee gaine no ground but the faster wee goe forward the nearer we come to the same point we set out at as we see the labouring horse or oxe in the mill travelleth all the day long and wearieth it selfe yet at night it is in the same place where it was in the morning so the wicked spendeth his strength and runneth himselfe out of breath in the wayes of vanity and yet maketh no progresse at all The second Embleme is a Spider weaving a curious web or a foolish man hatching the egges of a Cockatrice l Esa 59.4 5 6 They trust in vanity and speak lies they conceive mischiefe and bring forth iniquity They weave the Spiders web and hatch the Cockatrice egges he that eateth of their egges dyeth and that which is crushed breaketh out into a Viper Their webbes shall not become garments neither shall they cover themselves with their workes their workes are workes of iniquity and the act of violence is in their hands A third wee have drawne by the Prophet m Hos 8.7 Hosea a man going about to sow the winde They have sowne the winde and they shall reape the whirlewind it hath no stalke the bud shall yeeld no meale Desire you yet a fourth you shall finde it in the Prophet n Esa 29.8 Esay a man dreaming of great feasts and riotous banqueting all night long and in the morning finding his belly lanke and his stomacke empty Hee shall bee as when a hungry man dreameth and behold hee eateth but hee awaketh and his soule is empty or as when a thirsty man dreameth and behold hee drinketh but hee awaketh and behold hee is faint and his soule longeth for drinke Now although where wee have divine authority and humane experience for any truth wee need not crave ayde from reason yet to furnish you with all sorts of arguments against this most common yet most dangerous temptation of Satan whereby hee deludeth most men perswading them that the ready way to thrive is to enlarge their consciences and take fraudulent violent or unjust courses I will propose some arguments now and more hereafter to demonstrate sinne to bee altogether unfruitfull all things being reckoned together For if the pretended commodities accrewing by sinne no way countervaile the certaine losses growing from it it cannot bee denied that sinfull courses are unprofitable and disadvantageous What then is that which may bee gained by sinne if any thing may bee got by it Earthly commodities houses grounds money plate stuffe and the like But what loseth the sinner by it Heaven and the glory of an immarcessible garland so that as Demades sometime spake to the Athenians o Eras Apoph Cavete ne dum de coelo contendatis terram amittatis Take heed lest while yee strive about the heaven or situation you lose your land we may thus invert cavete ne dum de terrâ contendatis coelum amittatis taketh heed lest while ye strive for earth ye lose heaven What losse can be comparable to this except the losse of our own soules which commeth by sin also and p Mar. 8.36 what profiteth it a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soule or what shall he receive in recompence for his soule without which he is made uncapable of receiving any thing at all What good can melodious musicke or sweet oyntment or banqueting dishes or costly jewels doe to a carkasse and what are wee else when wee have lost our soules Dearely beloved Christians thinke of these words of our Saviour when the Divell openeth his packe and setteth out his counterfeit wares before you crying O come hither what lacke yee buy of mee honours and pleasures and lands and possessions and gardens of delight and stately palaces and rich furniture and what heart can desire Alas what will it advantage you to gaine these things and lose your soule what joy delight or comfort can these things bring to you when your soule is gone that is when you are not Moreover consider what are these wares whereof Sathan maketh such ostentation gilding them over with the names of honours riches and pleasures no other than such as you see in some Haberdashers shop feathers and glasses things of small value lesse use and no continuance and yet so impudent is hee that hee is not ashamed to aske for these trifles for these crepundia these Tricae apinaeque aut si quid vilius istis all the jewels and spirituall graces which enrich the soule nay a crowne of glory in heaven nay your very soule and yet he wanteth not Chapmen nay which all the teares that misery and compassion ever shed are not sufficient to be waile men throng and presse and strive who shall make the first bargaine with him I forbeare to number reasons and deliver you arguments as it were by tale I beseech you weigh these which I have brought in the scales of the Sanctuary and grieve not from henceforth though wicked men become q Psal 49.16 17. rich and the glory of their house bee encreased for they shall carry nothing away with them when they dye neither shall their pompe follow them they shall carry nothing with them but they shall be carried by evill Angels to the dungeon of hell neither shall their pompe follow them but shall rather goe before them to the place of mourning shricking and endlesse disconsolation Stoope not O stoope not to take up those golden apples which Satan casteth before you in your holy race to stay your course and deprive you of your garland for either they have but a shew of fruit and are not apples indeed or if they are true apples sinne beareth them not for God hath cursed the forbidden tree as Christ did the r Mat. 21.19 figge-tree in the Gospell saying Let no man gather fruit of thee for ever What fruit had ye Propound unto your selves Beloved often this question of the Apostle and the other of our Saviour What will it advantage a man to win the whole world and to lose his owne soule that yee may be ready with an answer when the Devill assaulteth you as hee did our Saviour with an Omnia dabo ſ Mat. 4.9 All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall downe and worship me Avoid Sathan father of lies thou give all these things neither doest thou give any thing but sellest at the dearest rate neither are those things thou offerest in thy hands but in Gods neither are they to bee gotten by worshipping thee but by serving him for thus it is written t Psal 25.13 He that feareth the Lord his soule shall dwell at ease and his seed shall inherite the earth u Psal 128.1 2 3. Blessed is hee that feareth the Lord and walketh in his wayes for hee shall eate the labour of his hands and happy
to worke wickednes in some degree appeased Gods wrath how much will inward outward humiliation of the redeemed of God prevaile with him to remove his heavie judgements from us which he inflicteth on us especially to humble us and if he find us humbled already hee will doubtlesse lay no more load upon us The last I gather from King Davids garden y Psal 2.12 Kisse the Son God hath a controversie with us as he had with the Israelites in the daies of * Hâ—sea 4.1 Hosea and no man can plead for us but our z 1 Joh. 2.1 Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous We have so far provoked the Almighty some by profanenesse some by superstition some by indifferency in point of Religion some by covetousnesse and extortion some by fraud and falshood some by quarrelling and contention some by swearing and blaspheming some by gluttony and drunkennesse some by chambering and wantonnesse that he hath already taken hold of his glittering sword and who in heaven or in earth can or dare treat for our peace but Christ our peace-maker who hath signed a league of amity between God all beleevers with his own bloud Wherefore as Themistocles understanding that King Admetus was highly displeased with him took up his young sonne into his armes and treated with the father holding that his darling in his bosome and thereby appeased the Kings wrath so let us come to the Father with Christ in our armes let us present our suites by him He is our a Amb. l. 2. de Isaac Ille oculus est per quem Deum videmus ille dextera est per quam Deo offerimus ille os nostrum est per quod Patrem alloquimur eye with which we see God our hand by which we offer to him he is our mouth by which we speake to him By this eye we look upon thee O thou that dwellest in the heavens by this hand we offer unto thee the incense of our zealous affections by this mouth we send up our prayers with our sighes unto thee O Lord turne thy face from our sins and looke on thy well beloved Son in thy bosome consider not our actions but his passions weigh not our transgressions but his merits regard not our sinfull pleasures but his painfull torments respect not our wicked life but his most innocent death heale us by his stripes cure us by his wounds free us by his bonds ease us by his torments comfort us by his agony and revive us by his death To whom with the Father c. Errata PAge 10. in marg line 10. reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 11. l. 5. dele not l. 16. dele to p. 32. l. 16. r. was of p. 58. l. 37 r. Busiris p. 61. in marg l. 3. r. ad l. 16. r. palpitabunt p. 92. l. 2. r. hoc in tristi p. 103. l. 35. r. let him p. 104. l. 23. d. and care p. 114. in marg l. 33. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 138. l. 23. d. not p. 143. l. 20. r. trumpets p. 157. in marg l. 28. r. contactum p. 170. l. 42. r. types p. 174. l. 45. r. and p. 193. l. 7. r. cabinet p. 208. l. ult r. ought to differ p. 221. l. 13. r. these p. 223. in marg l. 1. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 225. l. 40 r. the p. 239. in marg l. 3. r. gubernat p. 247. l penult in mar r. nam qui p. 253. in marg l. 19. r. nos p. 270. l. 45. r. this is p. 294. l. 30. d. it p. 297. in mar l. ult r. de fuga in persecutione p. 302 l 11. r. God his house p. 332. in mar l. 3. r. in primam secundae disp 214. p. 345. l. 21. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 397. in mar l. 4. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 362. l. 40. r. in aspiring p. 389. l. 14. r. from whom p. 395. l. 2. r. beauty l. 16. r. the flesh p. 518. l. 24. r. coelestis p. 527. l. 5. r. the opinion of some Reformed Churches p. 564. l. 20. r. Melchizedeck p. 567. in mar l. 25. r. Thuanus p. 585. l. 39. r. referendis p. 604. l. 3. r. verè l. 8. r. ut ut l. 14 r. aut l. 16. r. ut ut l. 20. r. adversus p. 605. l. 7. d. Anglo Genevensium p. 606. l. 26. d. Anglo Genevensium p. 696. l. 12. r. afflictions p. 699. l. 12. r. would p. 728. in mar l. 4. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 686. l. 3. 6. r. in the regency of Duke Richard p. 729. l. 13. r. which was p. 736. l. 29. d. whole p. 737 l 42. r. between some reformed Divines p. 738. l. 44. r. all his Disciples fled and forsook him p. 744. in mar l. 29. r. qui ubicunque p. 745. in mar l. 1. r. panegyr p. 754. l. 15. r. standest and holdest p. 779. l. 23. r. if not worse p. 808. in mar l. 10. r. ep 38. p. 820. l. 24. r. hard bound p. 844. l. 32. r. Oecumenius p. 845. l. 24. d. it p. 814. l. 21. r. other countries with ours p. 878. l. 25. d. of the besieged in Rochel p. 884. l. 29. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 890. l. 42. r. they p. 894. in mar l. 10. r. metaponto p. 895. l. 12. r. thus errours p. 903. l. 43. r. hath been
wretched and miserable and blind and naked Wherefore the Spirit n Ver. 17. counselleth them to buy of him gold tryed in the fire that they may be rich and white raiment that they may be clothed and that the shame of their nakednesse doe not appeare And to annoint their eyes with o Ver. 18. eye-salve that they may see 7. Lastly by the name Thyatira so called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying to runne mad after and spend ones selfe they may bee put in minde of those in Thyatira who ranne awhoring after Jezebel and spent their estates upon her and committed filthinesse with her Cap. 2. Ver. 20. which because the Angel winked at the Spirit sharply reproveth him And to the Angel of the Church in Thyatira write I know thy workes c. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee c. These Verses resemble the branches of the p Apoc. 22.2 tree of life which bare twelve maner of fruits 1. The first I gather from them is the dignity of the Ministers of the Gospel to whom the Son of God writeth stiling them Angels To the Angel of Ephesus of Smyrna c. 2. The second the difference of degrees in the Ministry for the Son of God endorseth his letter not to the inferiour Ministers which were many in each of these Churches but to the Angel in the singular number the Bishop or Super-intendent of the place to whom the government of the Church and ordering Ecclesiasticall affaires chiefly if not onely appertained 3. The third is the glorious majesty and divinity of our Saviour who was before stiled the Sonne of man but is here called the Sonne of God and described with eyes like a flame of fire piercing through the thickest darknesse and with feet like fine brasse walking through the midst of all the Churches and yet no way defiled according to the words of the Prophet the q Hos 14.9 waies of the Lord are undefiled 4. The fourth is mildnesse in just reproofe the physician of our soules who hath cured all our wounds with the smart of his prescribeth the weak Angel of Thyatira but one pill and that a gentle one yet see how he rowles it in sugar I know thy workes and thy love c. Of many faults he mentioneth but a few and of those few insisteth but upon one 5. The fifth is the condition of good workes to which foure things are required faith love service and patience they must be done in faith proceed from the love of God with a desire to doe him service thereby and lastly the performers of them must be constant in them and resolve patiently to endure all crosses and oppositions from men or Satan who seek to stay them in their godly proceedings 6. The sixth is growth in grace or proficiency in godlinesse those who were ever good are best at the last I know thy workes that they are more as the last than at the first 7. The seventh is the state and condition of the Church Militant which at the best is like the Moone at the full in which wee may discerne some blacke spots The sweetest r Eras Adag Omnibus malis punicis putridum granum inest Pomegranet hath some rotten graine the fairest beauty hath a freckle or wrinckle the most orient Ruby a cloud and the most reformed Church in the Christian world hath some deformity in her In ſ James 3.1 many things we offend all and many in all they are but a few against whom the Sonne of God hath but a few things Notwithstanding I have a few things 8. The eighth is the duty of a Magistrate who like a good Gardener is to plucke up noysome weeds by the rootes It is not sufficient for him to doe no evill he must not suffer it the Angel is not here blamed for any sin of commission or omission in himselfe but for the bare permission of evill in others I have somewhat against thee because thou sufferest 9. The ninth is a caution to looke to the weaker sexe for often the Divell maketh of them strong instruments to dispread the poyson of heresie t Hieron ad Ctes Simon Magus heresin condidit Helenae meretricis adjutus auxilio Nicolaus Antiochenus omnium immunditiarum repertor choros duxit foemineos Marcion Romam praemisit mulierem quae decipiendos sibi animos praepararet Simon Magus had his Helena Marcion his femall fore-runner Apelles his Philumena Montanus his Maximilla Donatus his Lucillia Elpidius his Agape Priscillian his Galla Arius the Prince his sister Nicolaus Antiochenus his feminine troupes and quires and all Arch-heretickes some strumpets or other to serve them for midwives when they were in travell with monstrous and mishapen heresies Thou sufferest the woman Jezebel Yet to doe the sexe right I willingly acknowledge with Flacius Illyricus that as the Divell hath used bad women in all times as Brokers to utter his deceitfull and dangerous wares so God hath made choice of many good women to be conduits of saving grace and great instruments of his glory Not to goe out of this City of Thyatira for instance we can produce a Lydia for a Jezebel where the Divell now vented poyson by the impure mouth of Jezebel God poured out before the sweet oyntment of the Gospel by the mouth of Lydia whose u Acts 16.14 heart he opened that shee attended to those things which were spoken of Paul 10. The tenth is an observation concerning the nature of Heresie which fretteth like a canker and if it be not looked to corrupteth the sound members of Christ Thou sufferest the woman Jezebel to seduce my servants 11. The eleventh is a consideration of the odious filthinesse of Idolatry which the Scripture termeth the soules naughtinesse and spirituall fornication To commit fornication 12. The last is a wholsome doctrine concerning the contagion of Idolatry which not only infecteth our bodies and soules but our meates and drinkes also and turneth the food of the body into the poyson of the soule to such as familiarly converse and table with Idolaters and feed upon the reliques of Idols sacrifices And to eate things offered unto Idols And to the Angel of the Church in Thyatira Glorious things are spoken of you O yee Ministers of the Word and Sacraments Yee are stiled Embassadours of the King of Heaven Stewards of the houshold of faith Interpreters of the Oracles of God Dispensers of the mysteries of salvation Keepers of the Seales of grace Yee are the Salt of the earth the Light of the world the Starres of the skie nay the Angels of Heaven To the Angel The Ministers of the Gospel resemble Angels in many things 1. Angels are x Heb. 1.14 ministring spirits and the Preachers of the Gospel are spirituall Ministers 2. Angels according to the derivation of their name in Greeke are y Matth. 11.10 Malac. 3.1 messengers of God and the Ministers of the Gospel are z 1 John
1.5 messengers of Christ 3. The dwelling of Angels is in Heaven and there is or ought to be the a Phil. 3.20 Our conversation is in heaven conversation of the Ministers of the Gospel 4. The life of Angels is a continuall b Matth. 18.10 beholding the face of God and what is the life of a good Minister but a continuall contemplation of the divine nature attributes and workes 5. The Angels gather c Mat. 24.31 the Elect from the foure windes and the Ministers of the Gospel gather the Church from all corners of the earth 6. The Angels d Apoc. 16.1 poure out the vialls of the wrath of God upon the earth and the Ministers are appointed to denounce Gods judgements and plagues to the wicked world 7. The Angels e 1 Cor. 15 52. sound Trumpets at the last resurrection and the Ministers of the Gospel at the first 8. When Christ was in an agony f Luke 22.43 there appeared an Angel strengthening him and when Gods children are in greatest extremity God sendeth the Ministers of the Gospel to g Job 33.23 If there bee a messenger with him an interpreter one among a thousand to shew to man his uprightnesse c. comfort them 9. The Angels carry the soules of them that dye in the Lord into Abrahams bosome Luke 16.22 and the Ministers of the Gospel give them their passe and furnish them with their last viaticum Now if it bee demanded why God so highly advanceth the dignity of the Ministry I answer to advance his glory He lifteth up the silver Trumpets of Sion on high that the sound of his praise may be heard the further As the visible Sunne casteth a more radiant and bright beame upon Pearle and Glasse which reflecteth them againe than upon grosse and obscure bodies that dead the rayes thereof even so the Sunne of righteousnesse casteth the fairest lustre upon that calling which most of all illustrateth his glory To other vocations God calleth us but this calleth us unto God all other lawfull callings are of God but of this God himselfe was and if it bee a great honour to the noblest orders of Knighthood on earth to have Kings and Princes installed into them how can wee thinke too worthily of that sacred order into which the Sonne of God was solemnly invested by his h Psal 110.4 Father I speake nothing to impeach the dignity of any lawfull profession make much of the Physicians of your body yet not more than of the Physicians of your soule yeeld honour and due respect to those that are skilfull in the civill and municipall Lawes yet under-value them not who expound unto you the Lawes of God At least take not pride in disgracing them who are Gods instruments to conveigh grace into your soules grieve not them with your accursed speeches who daily blesse you load them not with slaunders and calumnies who by their absolution and ghostly comfort ease you of the heavie burden of your sinnes goe not about to thrust them out of their temporall estate who labour by their Ministery to procure you an eternall It is not desire of popular applause or a sinister respect to our owne profit but the zeale of Gods glory which extorteth from us these and the like complaints against you For if Religion might bee advanced by our fall and the Gospel gaine by our losses and God get glory by our dis-esteeme we should desire nothing rather than to be accounted the off-scouring of all things on the earth that so wee might shine hereafter like precious stones in the foundation of the celestiall Jerusalem But if the Preachers and the Gospel the Word and Sacraments and the Ministers thereof Religion and Priests the Church and Church-men are so neere allies that the dis-reputation of the one is a great prejudice to the other and the disgrace of the one the despising of the other if the truth wee professe if our Religion if the Gospel if Christ if God suffer in the disgraces that are put upon our calling and the manifold wrongs that are done to it we must adjure you for your owne good and deeply charge you in Gods cause that as you looke to receive any good from him so you take nothing sacrilegiously from the Church as you hope to be saved by the Ministery preserve the dignity and estimation thereof be not cursed Chams in discovering the nakednesse of your ghostly fathers Alexander thought that he could not lay too much cost upon the deske in which Homers Poems lay and we daily see how those who take delight in musicke beautifie and adorn the instrument they play upon with varnish purfle gilt painting and rich lace in like maner if you were so affected as you should be at the hearing of the Word if you were ravished with the sweet straines of the songs of Sion ye would make better reckoning of the Instruments and Organs of the holy Spirit by which God maketh melodie in your hearts yee would not staine with impure breath the silver trumpets of Sion blowne not with winde but with the breath of God himselfe yee would not trample under foot those Canes that yeeld you such store of Sugar or rather of Manna Yee will be apt enough upon these and the like texts to teach us our dutie that we ought as Messengers of God to deliver his message faithfully and as neere as we can in his owne words as Angels to give our selves to divine contemplation and endevour to frame our lives to a heavenly conversation Let it not then be offensive to you to heare your dutie which is as plaine to be read as ours in the stile here attributed to the Pastour of Laodicea the Angell It is that you entertaine your diligent and faithfull Pastours as the i Gal. 4.14 Ye received me as an Angel of God even as Christ Jesus Galathians did St. Paul and as Monica did St. Ambrose tanquam Angelos Dei as the Angels of God receive them as Abraham and Lot did the Angels sent from God unto them defend them according to your power from wrong and make them partakers of the best things wherewith God hath blessed you Angelo to the Angel in the singular number chiefe Pastour or Bishop of the Church All Ministers as I shewed you before may challenge the title of Angels but especially Bishops who watch over other Ministers as Angels over men who are to order the affaires of the Church and governe the Clergie as the Peripatetickes teach that Angels direct and governe the motions of the celestiall spheres therefore Epiphanius and St. Austine and most of the later Interpreters also paraphrase Angelo by Episcopo illic constituto and verily the manner of the superscription and the contents of the letter and the forme of governement settled in all Churches at this time make for this interpretation For supposing more Ministers in London of equall ranke and dignitie as there are who would indorse a