fine brasse will discerne their vaine-glorious pride and stampe them and their Idols to powder To close up this note though not so fit for this quire yet not to be skipt because prickt in the rules of my text let all the Dispencers of Gods holy mysteries by the Apostles example strive in their preaching to winne soules to Christ not applause to themselves to pricke the heart not tickle the eare to leave in their hearers minds a perswasion of their doctrine not opinion of their learning and eloquence that is in the Apostles phrase to esteeme to know nothing save Jesus Christ JESUS d Maâ—t Epigâ— l. 9. Nomen cum rosis violisque natum Quod hyblam sapit atticosque flores Quod nidos olet avis superbae Nomen nectare dulcius beato A name sweeter to the smell of the soule than roses or violets or all the Arabian spices in the Phoenix nest and sweeter also to the taste than the Athenians hony or Nectar it selfe Nothing relished St. Augustine without it Ignatius calleth Jesus his love and onely joy Jesus amor meus crucifixus Jesus my love is crucified This name Jesus was imposed by an Angel e Mat. 1.21 Mat. 1. and acknowledged by the Divel f Act. 19.15 Jesus â—e know Act. 19. and highly advanced by God himself above all names g Phil. 29. A name aboâ—t all names Phil. 2. Three in the old Testament bare this name and they were all types of Christ Jesus Nave or Josua was a type of Christ as a King Jesus in Zechary as a Priest and Jesus the son of Syrach as a Prophet to reveale the secrets of his Fathers wisdome As all Josephs brethrens sheaves rose up did homage to Josephs sheafe so all the attributes of God and other names of our Redeemer after a sort rise up and yeeld a kind of preheminence to this name which the Apostle stileth a g ver 10. a name above all names at which every knee must bow And the reason hereof is evident to all that have yeelding hearts and bending knees and are not like the pillars in the Philistims Temple which were so fast set in their sockets that they needed a Sampson to bow them For there is majesty in God there is independent being in Jehovah there is power in Lord there is unction in Christ there is affinity in Immanuel intercession in Mediator helpe in Advocate but there is h Act. 4.12 salvation in no name under heaven but the name of Jesus Doct. 2 Which may bee taken either as a proper name or as an appellative if it bee taken as a proper name it exhibiteth to the eye of our faith infinity defined immensity circumscribed omnipotency infirme eternity borne that is God incarnate It designeth a single person of a double nature create and increate soveraigne and subject eternall and mortall It is the name of the Sonne of God begotten of a Father without a Mother and borne of a Mother without a Father God of God and Man of woman God sent from God Man sent to man God to save man Man to satisfie God God and Man to reconcile God and man Doct. 3 If the word Jesus be taken appellatively it signifieth Saviour or him that saveth us from 1 The wrath of God 2 The power of Satan 3 The guilt and dominion of sinne 4 The sentence of the law 5 The torments of hell And to know Jesus in this acception is to know a soveraigne salve for every sore of the conscience a remedy against all the diseases of the minde a sanctuary for all offences a shelter from all stormes a supersedeas from all processe and an impregnable fortresse against all the assaults of our ghostly and bodily enemies and can you then blame the Apostle for making so much of the knowledge of Jesus which is also Christ Christ that is anointed a blessed and tender hearted Physitian professing his manner of curing in his name which is by unction not by ustion by salving and plaistering not burning and lancing Vulnera nostra non ustione urans sed unctionâ— To know Christ is to know our King Priest and Prophet For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth a thrice sacred person anointed with oyle above all his brethren and appointed by God Doct. 4 1 A Prophet to us 2 A Priest for us 3 A King over us 1 A Prophet to teach us by his Word 2 A Priest to purge us by his Blood 3 A King to governe us by his Spirit Of Christs propheticall function Moses prophecieth saying i Deut. 18.15 A Prophet shall the Lord God raise up unto you like unto me unto him ye shall hearken his Priesthood God confirmeth to him by k Psal 110.4 oath his Kingdome the Angell proclaimeth l Luk. 1.32.33 The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his Father David and hee shall reigne over the house of Jacob for ever and of his Kingdome there shall bee no end Priests were anointed as Aaron by Moses and Prophets as Elizeus by Elias and Kings as Saul by Samuel Christ was therefore thrice anointed as King Priest and Prophet yet is hee not three anointeds but one anointed And it is not unworthy our observation that Christs three functions are not onely mystically figured but also after a sort naturally represented in the oyle wherewith hee was anointed 1 Oyle maketh a cheerefull countenance so doth Christ as a Prophet by preaching the glad tidings of the Gospell unto us 2 Oyle suppleth and cureth wounds so doth Christ as a Priest the wounds of our conscience by anointing them with his blood 3 Oyle hath a predominancy amongst liquors if you powre wine water and oyle into the same vessel the oyle will bee uppermost so Christ as a King is above all creatures and is Soveraigne over men and Angels This his Kingly office typically shined in the Myter of Aaron as his Priesthood was engraven in the Jewels of his breast-plate as for the third office of our Lord his propheticall function it sounded in the golden bels hanging with the pomegranats at the high Priests skirts By this glympse you may see know what it is to know Jesus Christ This Jesus had not bin a Jesus to us if he had not bin Christ that is anointed by God and enabled by his threefold office to accomplish the perfect worke of our redemption neither could Christ have beene our Christ if hee had not beene crucified to satisfie for our sinnes and reconcile us to God his Father by his death upon the crosse therefore the Apostle addeth and him crucified Crucified And so I fall upon my last Note a Note to bee quavered upon with feare and trembling in the Antheme set for Good-friday yet it will not be amisse to tune our voice to it at this time For this is also a Friday and next unto it and in sight of it and wee all know that if there bee many Instruments on a
after what order our Popist Priests are made whether after the order of Aaron or Melchizedek If after the order of Aaron then are they to offer bloudie sacrifices and performe other carnall rites long agoe abrogated if after the order of Melchizedek then they are very happie For then they are to be Kings and Priests then they are not to succeed any other nor any other them then as hath beene shewed they are singular everlasting and royall Priests We may put a like interrogatorie to many of our Brownists or Anabaptisticall Teachers who run before they are sent and answer before they are called being like wandering starres fixed in no certaine course or wilde corne growing where they were not sowne or like unserviceable pieces of Ordnance which flie off before they are discharged If men though endowed with gifts might discharge a Pastorall function or doe the worke of an Evangelist without a lawfull mission St. Pauls question had beene to little purpose u Rom. 10.15 How shall they preach unlesse they be sent What calling have these men ordinarie or extraordinarie If ordinarie where are their orders if extraordinarie where are their miracles If Christ himselfe would not take upon him the Priesthood till he was called thereunto as Aaron what intolerable presumption is it in these not to take but to make their owne commission and to call men by the Gospell without a calling according to the Gospell It is not more unnaturall for a man to beget himselfe than to ordaine himselfe a Priest But because these men will not be ordered by reason I leave them to authority and come to the Sixth observation which is the Prerogative of Christ Obs 6. who was ordained a Priest of Melchizedeks order whereby he was qualified to beare both offices Kingly and Priestly For that Christ alone may execute both charges besides the faire evidence of this Scripture Uzziahs judgement maketh it a ruled case who presuming to burne incense to the Lord incensed the wrath of God against himselfe A rare and singular judgement and worthy perpetuall memorie he who not content to sway the royall Scepter would lay hold on the Censer and discharge both offices was for ever discharged of both and even then when he tooke upon him to cleanse the people was smitten with a foule and unclean x 2 Chr. 26.20 disease So dangerous a thing is it even for Soveraigne Princes the Lords Annointed to encroach upon the Church and assume unto themselves and usurpe Christs prerogative Whereof the Bishops of Roane and Rhemes were bold to bid their Sovereigne Lewis the then French King beware informing him Quod solus Christus fieri potuit Rex Sacerdos that it was the prerogative of Christ alone to beare both offices And Pope y Causab l. de libert Eccles Gratian. dist 96. cum ad verum Nicolas himselfe concurreth with them in judgement When the truth that was Christ saith he was once come after that neither did the Emperour take upon him the Bishops right nor the Bishop usurp the Emperours because the same Mediatour of God and man the man Christ Jesus distinguisheth the offices of each power assigning unto them proper actions to the end that the Bishop which is a souldier of Christ should not wholly intangle himselfe in worldly affaires and againe the Prince which is occupied in earthly matters should not be ruler of divine things viz. the preaching of the Word and administration of the Sacraments To make a medley saith z Syn. â—p Synesius of spirituall and temporall power is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is great difference between the Scepter and the Censer the Chaire of Moses and the Throne of David the tongue of the Minister and the hand of the Magistrate the materiall sword that killeth and the spirituall that quickeneth To the King saith St. a De verb. Esa Chrysostome are the bodies of men committed to the Priest their soules the King pardoneth civill offences and crimes the Priest remitteth the guilt of sinne in the conscience the King compelleth the Priest exhorteth the Kings weapons are outward and materiall the Priests inward and spirituall A like distinction St. b Hieron ad Heliod Rex nolentibus praeest Episcopus volentibus c. Jerome maketh betweene them The King ruleth men though unwilling the Bishop can doe good upon none but those that are willing the King holdeth his subjects in awe with feare and terrour the Priest is appointed for the service of his flocke the King mastereth their bodies with death the Priest preserveth their soules to life But the farthest of any St. c Bern. de consid ad Eugen. Reges gentium dominanturâ—â—s vos non sic aude ergo usurpare aut Dominus Apostolatum aut Apostolicus Dominatum Bernard presseth this point and toucheth Pope Eugenius to the quicke It is the voice of the Lord Kings of the Nations rule over them c. But it shall not be so with you goe to then usurp if thou dare either an Apostleship if thou art a Lord or Lordlike dominion if thou art an Apostle thou art expressely forbid both if thou wilt have both thou shalt lose both But why doe I prosecute this point Doth it concerne any now adayes Doth any one man beare both these offices I answer affirmatively the High-priest at Rome doth For he compasseth his Mitre with a triple Crown and as if he bare this name written upon his thigh King of Kings and Lord of Lords challengeth to himselfe a power to depose Kings and dispose of their Kingdomes Doth any one desire to know who is that man of sinne spoken of by the d 2 Thes 2.3 Apostle who opposeth and exalteth himselfe above all that is called God Let him learne of the Prophet who are called gods Dixi dii estis e Psal 82.6 I have said ye are gods and it will be no matter of great difficultie to point at him who accounteth that hee doth Kings a great honour when he admitteth them to kisse his feet hold his stirrop serve him at table and performe other baser offices prescribed in their booke of ceremonies I can tell you who it was that made the Emperour Henrie the fourth with his Queene and young Prince in extreme frost and snow to waite his leisure three dayes barefooted and in woollen apparell at the gates of Canusium it was Gregory the seventh otherwise called Hildebrand I can shew you who set the Imperiall Crowne upon the head of Henrie the sixt not with his hand but with his foot and with the same foot kicked it off againe saying I have power to make Emperours and unmake them at my pleasure it was Pope Coelestine I can bring good proofe who it was that would not make peace with Frederick the first till in the presence of all the people at the doore of St. Markes Church in Venice the Prince had cast his body flâ—t on the ground and the Pope
CLAVIS MYSTICA A KEY OPENING DIVERS DIFFICULT AND MYSTERIOUS TEXTS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE HANDLED IN SEVENTY SERMONS preached at solemn and most celebrious Assemblies upon speciall occasions in ENGLAND and FRANCE By DANIEL FEATLEY D.D. PROV 2.4 Seeke knowledge as silver and search after understanding as for hid treasures Chrysost in Gen. orat 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Senec. Ep. 23. Levium metallorum fructus in summo est illa opulentissima sunt quorum in alto latet vena assiduè pleniùs responsura fodienti AVSPICANTE DEO LONDON Printed by R.Y. for Nicolas Bourne at the South entrance of the royall Exchange An. Dom. 1636. TO THE KINGS MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTIE CHARLES BY THE GRACE OF GOD KING OF GREAT BRITAINE FRANCE AND IRELAND DEFENDER OF THE FAITH Most gracious and dread Soveraigne I Would not presume to present these crude conceptions and expressions to your Highnesse if I had not offered them before to an higher Majestie in whose Courts with how much the more feare and trembling I delivered them so much the greater hope I conceive of your Majesties gracious acceptance The Texts of Scriptures here expounded are all select and most of them mysticall in the declaration whereof if my observations second not your Majesties thoughts yet I perswade my selfe they will occasion more divine raptures in your royall heart The Crocodiles which besiege the bankes of Nilus and way-lay those that travell into Egypt a Caussinus parab hist l. 8. c. 31. Compertum est Crocodilum improbissimum animal si penna Ibidis defricetur adeò obtorpescere debilitari ut immobilis reddatur if they be rubbed or but pricked with the quill of the Ibis are so weakened and stupified thereby that they cannot stirre and in like manner experience teacheth that the presentest remedies against those venemous Serpents which infest the Church of Christ whether Heretickes or Schismatickes are the pens of Orthodoxe Writers For that which is spoken commeth but to a few that are within hearing and stayeth not by them but that which is written and much more that which is printed presenteth it selfe to the view of all and is alwaies ready at hand and as it receiveth so it maketh an impression Which consideration among others induced mee to give way to the desires of some friends for the bringing of these illustrations of darker places of Scripture to light especially because therein the proper Heresies of these times are encountred and the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England maintained by the Oracles of God and the joynt testimony of prime Antiquity In this Worke I owne nothing but the labour of many moneths nay rather yeeres in culling choice of flowers out of many hundreds of gardens and platting them into a garland for Christ his Spouse From which I humbly beseech Almighty God that your Majestie and all that touch any leafe thereof may smell a savour of life unto life The price and worth in all things maketh not the dedication but in some the dedication maketh the price Plin. praef nat hist Multa in pretio habentur quia sacris dicata And if there appeare in these unpolished lines any lustre it is no other than that they receive from the beames of your Majesties eye if your Majestie vouchsafe a glaunce thereof on them for which as we are all otherwise most bound I shall ever fixe my eyes and devotions on Heaven and uncessantly pray for the continuance and encrease of your Majesties temporall and assurance of eternall happinesse Your Majesties most loyally and humbly devoted Subject DANIEL FEATLEY ⧠THE TABLE The bruised Reed page 1. A Sermon preached before his Grace and the rest of his Majesties Commissioners in causes Ecclesiasticall December 4. An. Dom. 1617. at Lambeth TEXT Matthew 12. 20. ex Esa 42.3 A bruised reed shall he not breake and smoaking flaxe shall he not quench till he send forth judgement unto victory Or as we reade in Esay He shall bring forth judgement unto truth The smoaking Flaxe page 12. A Sermon preached at Lambeth before his Grace the Lord Bishop of London and other his Majesties Commissioners in causes Ecclesiasticall December 5. 1618. Matthew 12.20 And smoaking flaxe shall he not quench The still Voice page 28. A Sermon preached before the high Commission in his Graces Chappell at Lambeth Novemb. 20. 1619. Matthew 12.19 He shall not strive nor cry neither shall any man heare his voice in the streets The Lambe turned Lion page 41. A Sermon preached in his Graces Chappell at Lambeth December 6. 1619. before his Majesties high Commissioners there assembled Matthew 12.20 Till he send forth judgement unto victory The Traitours Guerdon page 53. A Sermon preached on the Gowries conspiracie before his Grace and divers Lords and persons of eminent quality at Croydon August 5. 1618. Psal 63. Vers 9 10 11. 9. But those that seeke my soule to destroy it shall goe into the lower parts of the earth 10. They shall make him run out like water by the hands of the sword they shall be a portion for Foxes 11. But the King shall rejoyce in God every one that sweareth by him shall glory but the mouth of them that speake lies shall be stopped The Lord Protectour of Princes page 69. A Sermon appointed to be preached before his Grace at Croydon August 5. 1620. Psal 21.1 The King shall joy in thy strength O Lord and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoyce Or as we reade in the Bishops Bible The King shall rejoyce in thy strength O Lord exceeding glad shall he be of thy salvation Pandora her boxe or Origo omnium malorum pa. 80. A Sermon preached before the high Commission in his Graces Chappell at Lambeth Hosea 13.9 O Israel thou hast destroyed thy selfe but in mee is thy helpe The Characters of heavenly wisedome page 93. A Sermon preached before his Grace and divers other Lords and Judges spirituall and temporall at Lambeth Psalme 2.10 Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the earth The Judges charge page 105. A Sermon preached at the Readers feast in Lincolnes Inne Psalme 2.10 Be instructed or learned ye Judges of the earth The Apostolick Bishop page 122. A Sermon preached at the Consecration of the Lord Bishop of Bristoll before his Grace and the Lord Keeper of the great Seale and divers other Lords spirituall and temporall and other persons of eminent quality in Lambeth Chappell March 23. 1622. John 20.22 And when he had said this he breathed on them and saith unto them Receive yee the holy Ghost The faithfull Shepherd page 131. A Sermon preached at the Consecration of three Bishops viz. of Oxford Bristoll and Chester in his Graces Chappell at Lambeth May 9. An. Dom. 1619. 1 Peter 5.2 3 4. 2. Feed the flocke of God which is among you taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a
accessary to the death of the Lord of life And not only those that committed high treason against the sacred person of the Lords Annointed and imbrued their hands and stained their consciences with that bloud which cleanseth us from all sinne 1 John 1.7 but also Nero and Domitian and Trajan and Antoninus and Severus and Maximinus and Decius and Valerianus and Dioclesianus and Maxentius and all other Emperours that employed their swords and Simon Magus and Cerinthus and Arrius and Nestorius and Manes and all other obstinate arch-Heretickes who employed their pens against him none have hitherto escaped the heavie judgement of God who have bid battell to the Christian Faith and have wilfully and of set malice given the Spouse of Christ the least wound or skarre either by a gash with their sword or a scratch with their pen. Bee wise now therefore O yee Kings Psal 2.10 11 12. bee instructed yee Judges of the earth Serve the Lord with feare and rejoyce with trembling Kisse the Sonne lest hee bee angry and yee perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him Some Interpreters by Judgement understand the spirituall government of Christ which is managed in his Church with excellent wisedome and judgement and by Victory the prevalent power of grace in the faithfull wherby they are victorious in all temptations in such sort that though Sathan labour with all his might to blow out a poore sparke yet hee shall not be able to quench it and that the smallest degree of faith like a grain of mustard seed is stronger than the gates of hell and is able to remove mountaines of doubts and oppositions cast up by Sathan and our rebellious hearts between God and us And from hence they inforce the Apostles exhortation to all the souldiers of Christ to be strong in the Lord Ephes 6.10 and in the power of his might not to looke who are their enemies but who is our Captaine not what they threaten but what hee promiseth who hath taken upon him as to conquer for us so to conquer in us These are sweet and comfortable notes but as I conceive without the rule of this Text for questionlesse the Donec or Untill is not superfluous or to no purpose but hath reference to some future time when Christs mild proceedings shall be at a period and he shall take another course with his enemies such as I have before described in the particular judgement of the Jewish Nation and the generall judgement of the whole World But if Judgement and Victory bee taken in their sense there needed no untill to bee added For Christ even from the beginning of his preaching when he strived not nor cryed nor brake the bruised reed nor quenched the smoaking flaxe sent forth judgment unto victory according unto their interpretation that is wisely governed his Church and gave victory to the faithfull in their conflicts with sinne and Sathan That therefore the members of this sentence bee not co-incident and that the donec or untill may have his full force I conceive agreeably to the exposition of the ancient and the prime of the later Interpreters that in this clause Till hee bring forth judgement unto victory the Prophet determineth the limits of the time of grace Whosoever commeth In between the first and second comming of Christ shall be received into favour but after the gates of mercy shall bee locked up Yet our gracious Ahasuerus reacheth out his golden Scepter to all that have a hand of faith to lay hold on it but then he shall take his Iron mace or rod in his hand to bruise his enemies and breake them in pieces like a potters vessell I must sing therefore with holy David of Mercy and Judgement mercy in this life and judgement in the life to come mercy during the day of grace but judgement at the day of the Worlds doom For although sometimes God meets with the Reprobate in this life yet that judgement which they feele here may bee accounted mercy in comparison of that which shall be executed upon them hereafter without all mitigation of favour release of torments or limitation of time Now the vials drop on them but then they shall bee poured all out upon them Wherefore let us all like the bruised reed fall downe to the earth and humble our selves under the mighty hand of God Let us like smoaking flaxe send forth bitter fumes of sighes for our sinnes assuring our selves that now whilst the day of grace lasteth hee will not breake the bruised reed nor quench the smoaking flaxe but if we neglect this time of grace and deferre our repentance till he send forth judgement unto victory we shall smoake for it Cogitemus fratres de tempore in tempore ne pereamus cum tempore Let us thinke of time in time lest we perish with time Let us imagine that we now saw the Angel standing upon the sea Apoc. 10 5 6. and upon the earth and lifting up his hand to heaven and swearing by him that liveth for ever who created heaven and the earth and the sea and the things that are therein that there should be time no longer Jonas 2.8 O let us not forsake our owne mercy but to day if wee will heare his voice harden not our hearts but mollifie them by laying them asoake in teares Let us breake off our sinnes suddenly by repentance and our iniquities by almes-deeds Now is the seed-time let us now therefore sow the seeds of faith hope mercy meeknesse temperance patience and all other divine Vertues and we shall reape a plentifull harvest in heaven Cypr. ad Dom. Hic vita aut amittitur aut tenetur hic saluti aeternae cultu Dei fructu fidei providetur Galat. 6.8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reape corruption but hee that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reape life everlasting Which God of his infinite mercy grant that we may all do in heaven through the merits of his Sonne by the grace of the holy Spirit to whom c. THE TRAITORS GUERDON A Sermon preached on the Gowries conspiracy before his Grace and divers Lords and persons of eminent quality at Croydon August 5. Anno Dom. 1618. THE FIFTH SERMON PSAL. 63. VER 9 10 11. 9. But those that seeke my soule to destroy it shall goe into the lower parts of the earth 10. They shall make him run out like water by the hands of the sword they shall be a portion for Foxes 11. But the King shall rejoyce in God every one that sweareth by him shall glory but the mouth of them that speake lyes shall be stopped Most REVEREND Right Honr. Right Wor sh c. WEe are at this present assembled with religious Rites and sacred Ceremonies to celebrate the unfortunately fortunate Nones of August which are noted in red letters in the Romane Calendar as
I ghesse to represent the bloud of many thousand Martyrs spilt upon them twenty three whereof were put to most exquisite torments by Dioclesian in Rome but deserve to be distinguished from other dayes by golden letters in ours in memory of two of the most renowned Princes that ever swayed Scepter in these Kingdomes wherein wee live the one received life the other escaped death on this day For a Bed Baron in Martyrolog mens August Beda and Baronius in their Church Rolls of Martyrs record on the fifth of August the nativity of King Oswald who united the b Which were after severed for many ages but â—ow by the speciall providence of Almighty God againe lye lovingly encompassing and embracing each the other Crownes of England and Scotland and after hee had much enlarged the bounds of Christs Kingdome with his owne in the end exchanged his Princely Diadem for a Crowne of Martyrdome and signed the Christian Faith with Royall bloud So happy an uniter of the Royall Diadems and Princely Martyr of our Nation should not be forgotten on this day yet may hee not every way compare with our Rex Pacificus who hath so fastened these Diadems together that we hope they shall never be severed againe Nor is the birth of any Prince by the usuall course of Nature so remarkable as the unheard of and little lesse than miraculous preservation of our Soveraigne his Royall person from the bloudy assacinate of the Earle Gowry and Alexander Ruthen his brother to the everlasting memory whereof our Church hath consecrated the publike and most solemne devotions of this day And therefore wee are now to change the old spell Quintam fuge and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Carefully shunne the fifth day into Quintam cole Religiously observe the fifth day of this Moneth if not for King Oswald yet for King James sake if not for the birth of the one yet for the safety of the other if not for the ordinary Genesis and entry of the one into the gate of life yet for the extraordinary Exodus or exit of the other out of the chambers of death Which wonderfull delivery of our gracious Soveraigne that I may print the deeper in your memories I have borrowed characters from King Davids royall presse as you see But those that seeke my soule c. Ver. 9 10 11. All which Verses together with their severall parts and commaes even to the least Iota or tittle by the direction and assistance of Gods holy Spirit I will make use of in my application if I may intreat * Here he bowed to his Grace your Gracious patience and * Here he turned to the Lords your Honourable attention for a while in their explication And first of the translation then of the relation of these words as well to the eternall destruction of the enemies to Christs Crosse as to the temporall punishments of the traitors to Davids Crowne They shall goe into the lower parts of the earth these shall goe into the nethermost hell They shall fall by the hands of men these shall fall into the hands of the living God They shall be a portion for Foxes these shall he a prey for Divels But the King shall rejoyce in God David in Christ Christ in his Father And all that sweare by him that is Christ to him that is David shall glory For the mouth of all that speake lyes against the one blasphemies against the other shall be stopped The vulgar Latine upon which the Romane Church so doteth that she is in love with the errours thereof as c Cic. de orat Naevus in puero delectat Alceum est deformitas in vultu illi tamen lumen videbatur Alceus was with the wirts in his boyes face rendereth the Hebrew thus Quaesiverunt in vanum animam meam introibunt in imâ terrae They have sought my soule in vaine they shall goe into the lowest parts of the earth Of which words in vanum inserted into the Text I may say as Aristotle doth of the ancient Philosophers discourse d Aristot Phys auscust c. de Vacuo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de vacuo of a supposed place voide of a body to fill it Their disputes faith he of this void or empty space are empty void and to none effect For neither are they found in any originall copy as is confessed neither serve they as artificiall teeth to helpe the speech which soundeth better without them yet Cardinall Bellarmine to helpe out the vulgar Interpreter with an officious lye beareth us in hand that his book was otherwise pointed than ours are and that where we reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he reades 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if Leshoath and Leshava the one signifying to destroy the other in vaine differed no more than in prickes or vowels and not in consonants and radicals or the sense were so full and currant they seeke my soule in vaine as they seeke my soule to destroy it or for the ruine or destruction thereof they shall goe to the lowest parts of the earth that is they that seek to overthrow me and lay mine honour in the dust they shall lye in the dust themselves They shall fall by the sword So wee reade in the last translation and the members of the sentence seeme better to fall and shoot one in the other if we so reade the words They shall fall by the edge of the sword they shall be a portion for Foxes than if we reade according to the Geneva Translation They shall cast him downe with the edge of the sword they shall bee a portion for Foxes Yet because Calvin Moller Musculus Tremelius and Junius concurre with the Geneva Translation Note understanding these words as a speciall prophecy of Sauls death who was Davids capitall and singular enemy and this translation and exposition fitteth better the application which I am to make of this Scripture to the present occasion but especially because the Hebrew Jaggirhu signifieth as the last Translators rightly note in the margent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They shall make him runne out like water by the hand of the sword that is his bloud shall be spilt by the sword I preferre the Geneva Translation before the last and as the Macedonian woman appealed from Philip to Philip so I appeale from the Translators in the Text to themselves in their Marginall note and reade the tenth Verse thus They shall cast him downe or slay him with the edge of the sword Thus having accorded the Translations I now set to such heavenly lessons as the Spirit of God hath pricked for us in the rules of this Scripture The first is pricked in the title of this Psalme A Psalme of David when hee was in the wildernesse of Judah and it is this Doctr. 1. That the wildernesse it selfe may be and is often a Paradise to the servants of God If the Poet could say of himselfe and his friend
the justification of King Davids lesson read in my text to Princes and Judges a quo tandem aequius est doceri Reges quam a Rege erudiri Judices quam a Judice Who so proper to tutour Kings as a King who might better give Judges their charge than the chiefe Judge and Soveraigne Justice in his Kingdome Not onely nature and bloud but arts also and professions make a kinde of brotherhood and an admonition that commeth from a man in place to another in like place and office that is spoken by authority to authority carrieth a double authority and cannot but be entertained with due respect and carefull regard Therefore God in his wisedome instructed the Prophet David by b 2. Sam. 7.3.5 Nathan a Prophet reproved the Apostle Saint c Gal. 2.14 Peter by Paul an Apostle informed John the d Apoc. 7.14 Elder by an Elder and here adviseth Kings by a King Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be learned yee Judges of the earth In this verse we have 1. A lesson applied Of wisedome to Kings Of instruction to Judges 2. A reason implied in the words of the earth that is Either Kings and Judges made of earth Or made Kings and Judges of earth Kings and Judges are but men of earth earthly and therefore in subjection to the God of heaven and they are made Kings and Judges onely of the earth that is earthly and humane affaires and therefore in subordination to divine and heavenly Lawes For the order first King David commendeth wisedome to Kings and then instruction or learning viz. in the Lawes to Judges Kings are above Judges and wisedome the glorie of a Prince above learning the honour of a Judge Kings make Judges and wisdome makes learned as the power of Kings is the source of the authoritie of Judges so wisedome is the fountaine of all lawes and consequently of all instruction and learning in them First therefore be wise O ye Kings to make good Lawes and then be learned O ye Judges in these Lawes and found Yee your wisedome Yee your learning in humility for it is earth not onely upon which your consistory stands but also of which you your selves consist As the tongue is moved partly by a muscle in it selfe partly by an artery from the heart so besides the motive to these vertues in this verse it selfe there is a reason drawne by the spirit to enforce these duties from the heart of this Psalme ver 6. which is like an artery conveying spirit and life to this admonition here Yet have I set my King c. as if the Prophet had said Behold O Kings a throne above yours set in the starres behold O Judges of the earth a tribunall or judgement seat above yours established in the clouds There is a King of heaven by whom all earthly Kings reigne and a Judge of quicke and dead to whom all Judges of the earth are accountable e Horat. od car l. 3. od 1. Regum timendorum in proprios greges Reges in ipsos imperium est Jovis Kings are dreadfull to their subjects God to Kings Judges call other men to the barre but Christ Jesus shall summon all Judges one day to his tribunall f Cyp. de mortal justissimè judicaturus a quibus est injustissimè judicatus most justly to judge Judges by whom both in himselfe and in his members he hath beene most unjustly judged O Kings The more excellent the office the more eminent the qualitie ought to be no vertue so befits a Prince as religious wisedome the Queen of all vertues be wise therefore O yee Kings excell in the grace which excelleth all others crowne your royall dignitie with all Princely vertues and chaine them all together in prudence with the linkes following Serve the Lord with feare feare him with joy rejoyce in him with love and love him with confidence First serve him not carelesly but sollicitously fearing to displease him Secondly feare him not servilely but filially with joy Thirdly rejoyce in him not presumptuously but awfully with trembling Fourthly Tremble before him not desperately but hopefully so feare him in his judgements that ye embrace him in his mercies and kisse him in the face of Jesus Christ Though he frowne on you in his anger yet still seeke to please him yea though he smite you in his wrath and kill you all the day long yet put your trust in him and you shall be happie Be wise Wisedome is the mindes g Arist Eth. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eye by which she pryeth into all the secrets of nature and mysteries of State and discerneth betweene good and evill and prudently guideth all the affaires of life as the helme doth a ship No good can be done without her direction nor evill bee avoyded but by her forecast She is the chiefe of the foure cardinall vertues and may rightly be stiled Cardinalium cardo the hinge that turnes them all about They advance not till she strikes an alarum nor retire till she sound a retreat What the Apostle speakes of the three heavenly graces now there h 1 Cor. 13.13 remaine these three faith hope and charity but the greatest of these is charitie may be in like manner affirmed concerning the preheminence of wisedome in respect of the other cardinall vertues now there remaine these foure 1. Wisedome to direct 2. Justice to correct 3. Temperance to abstaine 4. Fortitude to sustaine but the greatest of these is wisedome For wisedome informeth justice moderateth temperance and leadeth fortitude Wisedome giveth rules to justice setteth bounds to temperance putteth reines on fortitude Without wisedome justice hurteth others temperance our selves i Horat. od car l. fortitude both our selves and others k Isoc ad Demon. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vis consili expers mole ruit sua Saint l Bernard ser 85. in cant Sapientia a sapore dicta est quia virtuti velut condimentum accedens sapidam reddit Bernard deriveth sapientia a sapore sapience from sapour because wisedome giveth a good rellish to vertue Discretion is the salt of all our actions without which nothing that is done or spoken is savourie What doth pregnancie of wit or maturitie of judgement or felicitie of memorie or varietie of reading or multiplicitie of observation or gracefulnesse of deliverie steed a man that wanteth wisedome and discretion to use them In these respects and many more Solomon the wisest King that ever wore corruptible Crowne in his prayer to God preferreth wisedome to all other gifts whatsoever And indeed so admirable a vertue so rare a perfection so inestimable a treasure it is that the heathen who had but a glimpse of it discover it to be a beame of that light which no man can approach unto m Cic. Tus quaest haec est una hominis sapientia non arbitrarite scire quod nescias this is the chiefest point of mans wisedome saith Tully out of Socrates his mouth to
have no opinion of his wisedome but to know that undoubtedly he knoweth nothing at least as he ought to know Justinian though a great Emperour could not avoid the censure of folly for calling his wife by the name of Sapientia because saith Saint Austin nomen illud augustius est quam ut homini conveniat because the name of wise and much more of wisedome in the abstract is too high a title for any on earth to beare What greater folly then can be imagined in any man or woman to assume wisedome to themselves whose greatest wisedome consisteth in the humble acknowledgement of their follies and manifold oversights Therefore Lactantius wittily comes over the seven wise masters as they are called whom antiquity no lesse observed than Sea-men doe the seven Starres about the North Pole When saith he n Lact. â— 4. divin institâ— 1. Sicaeterâ— omnes praeter ipsos stulti fuerâ—nt ne illi quidem sapientes quâ—aneâ—â— sapiens veâ—e stâ—ltorum judicio esse potest there were but seven wise men in all the world I would faine know in whose judgement they were held so in their owne or the judgement of others if in the judgement of others then of fooles by their owne supposition empaling all wisedome within the breasts of those seven if in their owne judgement they were esteemed the onely wise of that age then must they needs be fooles for no such foole as he who is wise in his owne conceit This consideration induced Socrates to pull downe his crest and renounce the name of a wise man and exchange Sophon into Philosophon the name of Sophister into Philosopher of wise into a lover of wisedome with which title all that succeeded him in his Schoole of wisedome contented themselves When the o Sphinx Philosoph c. 7. Gryphus Milesian Fishermen drew up in their net a massie piece of gold in the forme of a Table or planke there grew a great strife and contention in Law whose that draught should be whether the Fishermens who rented the fishing in that river or the Lords of the soyle and water In the end fearing on all hands lest this Altar of gold should melt away in law charges they deferre the judgement of this controversie to Apollo who by his Oracle answered that it neither appertained to the Fishermen nor to the Lord of the Mannor but ought to bee delivered as a present to the wisest man then living Whereupon this golden Table was first tendered to Thales the Milesian who sendeth it to Bias Bias to Solon Solon in the end to Apollo whom the heathen adored as the God of wisdome By this shoving of the Table from wise man to wise man and in the end fixing it in the Temple of Apollo they all in effect subscribed to the judgement of him who thus concludes his Epistle To p Rom 16.27 1 Tim. 1.17 To the King immortall invisible the onely wise God be honour and glory for ever and ever God onely wise bee glory for ever And questionlesse if wee speake of perfect and absolute wisedome it must bee adored in heaven not sought for on the earth Hee alone knoweth all things who made all things hee comprehendeth them in his science who containeth them in his essence Yet ought we to seeke for the wisedome here meant as for treasure and although wee may not hope in this life to be wise unto perfection yet may we and ought we to know the holy Scriptures which are able to make us q 2 Tim. 3.15 wise unto salvation In these we find a fourefold wisedome mentioned 1. Godly 1. Godly wisedome is piety 2. Worldly 2. Worldly wisedome is policy 3. Fleshly 3. Fleshly wisedome is sensuality 4. Divelish 4. Divelish wisedome is mischievous subtlety 1. Godly wisedome is here meant as the words following make it evident Serve the Lord with feare and reason makes it yet more evident For the Prophet needed not to exhort Princes to worldly wisdome the point of Policie is too well studied by them nor to fleshly wisdome for they mostly take but too much care to fulfill their lusts and maintain their Port and provide for their temporall peace and safetie As for divellish wisedome which makes men wise to doe r Jer. 4.22 evill so holy a Prophet as David was would not so much as have taken it in his lips unlesse peradventure to brand it with the note of perpetuall infamie The wisedome therefore which he here commendeth to Kings is a godly a holy and a heavenly wisedome A wisedome which beginneth in the feare of God and endeth in the salvation of man A wisedome that rebuketh the wisedome of the flesh and despiseth the wisedome of the world and confoundeth the wisedome of the Divell A wisedome that advertiseth us of a life after this life and a death after this death and sheweth us the meanes to attaine the one and avoid the other Morall or civill wisedome is as the eye of the soule but this wisedome the Spirit here preferreth to Kings is the eye of the spirit Ubi desinit Philosophus ibi incipit Medicus where the Philosopher ends there the spirituall Physician begins The highest step of humane wisedome is but the lowest and first of divine As Moses his face shined after he communed with God so all morall and intellectuall vertues after we have communion with Christ and he commeth neere to us by his spirit receive a new lustre from supernaturall grace Prudence or civill wisedome is in the soule as a precious diamond in a ring but spirituall wisedome is like Solis jubar the Sunnes rayes falling upon this Diamond wonderfully beautifying and illustrating it Of this heavenly light at this time by the eye-salve of the Spirit cleering our sight wee will display five beames 1. The first to beginne with our end and to provide for our eternall estate after this life in the first place For here we stay but a while and be our condition what it will be it may be altered there wee must abide by it without any hope of change Here wee slide over the Sea of glasse mentioned in the Å¿ Apoc. 15.2 And I saw as it were a sea of glasse Apocalyps but there we stand immoveable in our stations here we are like wandring starres erraticke in our motions there we are fixed for ever either as starres in heaven to shine in glorie or as brandirons in hell to glowe in flames Therefore undoubtedly the unum necessarium the one thing above all things to be thought upon is what shall become of us after we goe hence and be no more seene The heathen saw the light of this truth at a chincke as it were who being demanded why they built for themselves glorious sepulchres but low and base houses answered because in the one they sojourned but for a short space in the other they dwelt To this Solomon had an eye when hee termeth the grave mans t Eccles 12.5 Man goeth
take no pity on him To silence these curious questionists the most judicious Divines teach that albeit God hath speciall reasons of his will for every thing he determineth yet to us his will must stand for the last and best reason The fullest answer that can be given to that demand why Christ was borne in the dayes of the Roman Augustus about the two and fourtieth yeere of his reigne is that then was the fulnesse of time that is the time was fully come which God appointed before all time for the comming of his Sonne in the flesh And surely a fitter time could hardly have beene chosen whether we respect the condition of the patient or the quality of the Physician or the state of Judaea or of the whole world at that time First if we regard the condition of the patient before Adam fell and by his fall tooke his deaths wound there was no need of a Chirurgian or a Physician and after he was wounded it was fit that he should feele the smart of his wounds a while and by wofull experience find that he was not able to help himselfe With this reason d Summ. p. 3. q. 1. art 5. Non decuit à principio humani generis ante peccatum Deum incarnari non enim datur medicina nisi infirmis nec statim post peccatum conveniens fuit Deumincarnari propter conditionem primi peccati quod a superbia pervenerat unde comodo homo erat liberandus ut recognosceret se indigere liberatore Aquinas rested satisfied Secondly if we regard the quality of the Physician For no man sendeth for the greatest Doctour especially if he be farre off before he hath tried others that are neere at hand or the cure grow dangerous if not desperate Before the King commeth himselfe many Embassadours and Noble men are sent Nature and Art observe the like method proceeding from lesse noble to more noble workes from the egge to the chicke from the seed to the fruit from the kernell to the apple from the dawning to the day from childhood to youth and from youth to perfect age The painter in like manner first maketh a rude draught of a face after perfectly pourtrayeth it and last of all casteth beautifull colours upon it the Chirurgian first washeth the wound then poureth in wine to search it and after oile to supple and heale it in like manner the providence of God proceeded in the dispensing the meanes of mans salvation after the twylight of nature and dawning as it were of the day the day starre appeared more obscurely in the publishing of the law but manifestly in Saint John Baptists doctrine and then the Sunne arose in the preaching of the Gospell first God sent Priests and Prophets as messengers then Angels and the Archangell as it were Princes and Peeres of heaven and last of all he sent his Sonne the heire of all things Like a Chirurgian he first cleansed the sores of wounded man by pouring in the wine of the Law after he suppled and healed them by pouring in the oyle of the Gospell first he rough hewed us by Moses and after plained and smoothed us by Christ that we might be as the polished corners of the Temple Thirdly if we regard the state of Judaea which was now most deplorate being destitute both of King and Law-giver for Herod a stranger usurped the Crowne and destroyed the Sanedrim or great Councell they had now no Prophet or Seer to lead them in this time of thickest darknesse now therefore if ever the Messiah must come to set all right Fourthly if we regard the state of the whole world which at this time was most learned and thereby most capable of the doctrine of the Gospell Besides it being reduced to a Monarchy and the parts thereupon holding better correspondency one with the other a greater advantage was given for the dispreading of Christian doctrine through all the Provinces of the Roman Empire 2 Of the yeere of the age As God crowned the age in which our Lord tooke flesh with many remarkeable accidents so also the yeere of that age 1 First Herod this very yeere bereaving the Tribe of Judah of King and Lawgiver utterly abolished their grand Councell and thereby the Prophesie of Jacob was verified that c Gen. 49.10 the Scepter should not depart from Judah nor a Lawgiver from betweene his feet till Shilo come The substance of the Scepter if I may so speake was departed before and this yeere the shadow also remaining hitherto in the Sanedrim which had a kind of sovereign power to make lawes and execute them vanished away now therefore Shilo commeth 2 Secondly Moreover this very yeere Augustus Caesar d Luke 2.1 sent forth a Decree that the whole world should be taxed which was not without a mystery viz. that this yeere the world should be prized and an estimate made thereof when our Lord came into the world to redeeme it Little thought Augustus when he gave order for drawing that Proclamation of drawing Marie to Bethlehem that she might there be delivered according to the prophesie of e Micah 5.2 Micah yet so did Augustus his temporall Decree make way for Gods eternall determination of Christs birth in Bethlehem 3 Thirdly this very yeere the same Emperour shut up the Temple of f Functius in Chron. Janus where all the Roman warlike provision lay and established a peace through the whole world that so the Prince of peace might be borne in the dayes of peace 4 Fourthly this yeere also he enacted a law g Sethus Calvisius ex Dione Cassio De manumissione servorum of setting servants at liberty which might have some reference to the spirituall freedome which h John 8.36 Christ purchased for us whereof hee himselfe saith If the Sonne make you free you shall bee free indeed 5 Fiftly this yeere in a certaine Shop or Inne to be let in Rome a i Plat ex Eutrop paulo diac fountaine of oyle sprang out of the earth and flowed a whole day without intermission Magna taberna fuit tunc emeritoria dicta De qua fons olei fluxerat in Tiberim Which may seeme literally to verifie those words of the Prophet k Esay 10.27 It shall come to passe in that day that his burden shall be taken off thy shoulder and his yoake from off thy necke and the yoake shall be destroyed because of the oyle or annointing 6 Sixtly what should I speake of the falling downe of the Temple of l Magdeburg ex Petro comest Templum pacis corruit Romae ne alibi quam in Messiâ pax quaereretur peace in Rome about this time Might not that be an item that true peace was no where now to bee sought save in Jesus Christ our onely Peace-maker now come into the world to reconcile Heaven and Earth and establish a covenant of grace betweene God and man for ever 7 Seventhly neither is m Calvis
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
singular Priest an everlasting Priest a royall Priest a Priest who neither succeeded any nor any him a Priest for ever After the order of Melchizedek For the opening of this passage three points are to be cleared 1. The name 2. The person 3. The order or office of this singular and extraordinary type of Christ 1. Touching the name though it bee one word in the Greeke and Latine and carry the forme of a proper name yet in the originall it is two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and seemeth rather to be an appellative signifying my righteous Lord or the righteous Lord of my appointment as Psal 2.6 I have set my King c. Howbeit as the name of Augustus was the common stile of all the Romane Emperours yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sirname of Octavius from whom the rest received it so it is not unlikely that the stile of Melchizedek was at the first attributed to this famous King of Salem who met Abraham with a present as he returned from the slaughter of the Kings yet afterwards either by adulation or for other reasons it might be given to his successors Of the interpretation of this name we can make no doubt sith the Apostle hath construed it unto us viz. ſ Hebr 7.2 King of righteousnesse and after that King of Salem which is King of peace whence some gather consequently that the most righteous Kings are most peaceable and that hee can bee no King of peace who is not a King of righteousnesse Where righteousnesse doth flourish there shall be abundance of peace As in the name of Melchizedek King of Salem so in the heart of every good King righteousnesse and peace ought to kisse each other Now Christ is a King of righteousnesse in three respects 1. Administrando because he administreth 2. Operando because he wrought and still worketh 3. Imputando because he imputeth righteousnesse He administreth righteousnesse because hee ruleth his Church with a t Psal 45 6. The scepter of thy Kingdome is a right scepter scepter of righteousnesse he wrought righteousnesse in fulfilling the Law which is called u Mat. 3.15 Thus it becommeth us to fulfill all righteousnesse righteousnesse and by his grace also he enableth us to work righteousnesse and in some good measure to fulfill his commandements he imputeth righteousnesse when he justifieth the ungodly and accounteth faith for * Rom. 4.5 righteousnesse to him that worketh not but beleeveth for God made him that knew no sinne to be x 2 Cor. 5.21 sinne for us that wee might be made the righteousness of God in him that no flesh should glory in his presence for of him are y 1 Cor. 1.30 we in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisedome and righteousnes and sanctification and redemption 2. Tovching the person of Melchizedek there are sixe opinions the first 1. Of certaine Heretickes called the Melchizedekians who taught that Melchizedek was a z Epiph. haeres 55. power of God greater than Christ and that hee was the Mediatour and Advocate of Angels as Christ is of men 2. Of Hierax the Egyptian and his followers who taught that Melchizedek was a Ystella in Gen. 14. Christ himselfe who before his incarnation appeared in a humane shape to Abraham 3. Of the author of the booke q. Vet. N. Test who writeth that Melchizedek is the Holy Ghost 4. Of Origen and Didymus who thought Melchizedek to be an b Hieron ep ad Evag. Angel 5. Of Aben Ezra Bagud Haturim Levi Benyerson David Chimki and of the c Jer. Epiph loc sup cit Samaritans and Hebrewes generally who confidently affirme that Melchizedek was Shem the son of Noah 6. Of d Coel. hierarc c. 9. Haeres 55. in Gen. 14. Dionysius Areopagita Epiphanius Theodoret Hippolytus Procopius Eusebius Eustathius Calvin Junius Musculus Mercerus Pererius Pareus and divers others who hold it most probable that this Melchizedek was one of the Kings of Canaan In this variety of opinions backed with manifold authorities as Tully spake of the soule that it was lesse difficult to resolve what she is not than what she is so we may say of Melchizedek that it is a far easier matter to determine who he was not than who he was Refut 1 1. He was not any power of God greater than our Saviour or the Angels Advocate for neither is there any inequality between the divine persons neither have the evill Angels any Advocate to plead for them who are condemned already and reserved in chaines of darkness till the great day The text of Scripture which they wrested to their fancy no way advantageth them For Christ is said a Priest after the order of Melchizedek not because he was inferiour to him in person or office but because he succeeded him in time and bare an office framed after a sort according to the patterne of his Refut 2 2. He was not the Sonne of God the second person in Trinity for the type must needs be distinguished from the truth but Melchizedek was a glorious type of Christ and is said e Hebr. 7.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assimilari to be likened to the Son of God he was not therefore the Son of God but his fore-runner in the office of Priesthood Refut 3 3. He was not the Holy Ghost for Moses describeth him to bee a man that ruled in Salem and executed also the office of a Priest to God which cannot be affirmed of the Holy Ghost who never tooke our nature upon him nor is any where in holy Scripture termed a Priest of the most high God The onely footing which this opinion hath is upon that ground that Melchizedek is said to be f Hebr. 7.3 without father which ground no way supporteth this opinion For wee cannot argue from one attribute of Melchizedek affirmatively though we may negatively This argument is good He that hath a father reckoned among men is not Melchizedek but this is not so The Holy Ghost is without father therefore he is Melchizedek For God the Father the first person in Trinity is as also Adam the first man was without father or mother yet neither of them Melchizedek Refut 4 4. He was not an Angel for it is a thing unheard of in the Church of God that the angels of heaven should sway earthly scepters or discharge the function of Priests What have Angels of heaven to do with feasting armies or receiving tythes of spoyles as Melchizedek did from the hands of Abraham These foure opinions have been long agoe exploded the two remaining stand still in competition for the truth 5. The advocates for Sem plead hard Sem say they as appeareth in the story of Genesis lived to the time of Abrahams victory to him it was promised that the Canaanites should be his servants and consequently that Salem their Metropolis should be his seat where Melchizedek was King Neither was there any greater man than Abraham to
Experience teacheth us that what wee see in water seemeth greater than it is It is most true if we speake of the waters of Marah they make any thing that befalleth us appeare greater than it is See if there be any q Lam. 1.12 sorrow like unto my sorrow saith captive Judah I am the r Lam. 3.1 man saith Jeremy that hath seen affliction as if none but hee had seen the like in like manner David and after him Å¿ Jonah 2.3 4. Jonas All thy waves and stormes have gone over mee What more direct Text of Scripture to checke and reprove this fansie than this As many as I love I rebuke and chasten All Gods dearest children first or last are visited as well as we and those perhaps more grievously by whom it is least seen our affliction is in body theirs may be in their mind our losses may bee of transitory goods and worldly wealth theirs may be of spirituall graces or the like so that howsoever wee amplifie our miseries yet all things considered we shall have small reason to exchange them with any other As I love To many other reasons before touched two may be added why afflictions may proceed from Gods love The first because they make the mind soft and tenderly affected and thereby apter to receive a deep impression from love Excellent to this purpose is that meditation of St. t Gregor in Cant. 2.5 Corda nostra malè sâ—na sunt cùm nullo Dei amore sautiantur cùm peregrinationis erumnam non sentiunt cùm nullo erga proximum affectu languescunt sed vulnerantur ut sanentur quia amoris spiculis mentes Deus insensibiles percutit moxque sensibiles per ardorem charitatis reddit Gregory upon those words of the Spouse in the Canticles as he rendereth them vulnerata charitate ego I am sicke of love Our hearts are indisposed when they are not wounded with the love of God when they feele not the trouble and misery of our pilgrimage when they pine not away through ardent desires and longing to be with God but they are wounded that they may be healed God striketh our minds and affections with the darts of love that they may have more sense and feeling of celestiall objects The second is because affliction estrangeth our affections from the world and entirely fixeth them upon God which before were divided between him and the world Now it is most proper to love to appropriate the object beloved to it selfe whom we entirely affect we desire to have entire to our selves and none other to have part with us To draw towards an end those many whom Christ here chasteneth distributivè or one by one are collectivè the militant Church whose members we are her rebukes are our shame her chastenings our discipline her affliction our condition either by passion of griefe or compassion of love Behold then what is her usage in her pilgrimage upon earth her greetings are rebukes her visits chastenings her love-tokens crosses her bracelets manicles her chaines fetters her crisping-pins thornes and nailes her drink teares her markes blacke and blew wounds her true embleme u Mat. 2.18 Rachel mourning for her children and refusing all comfort because they are not A wife of pleasures had been no fit match for him who is described by the Prophet to be a man of sorrowes with a head crowned with thornes eyes bigge with teares cheekes swolne with buffets his heart pricked with a speare his hands and feet pierced with nailes his joynts set on the racke of the Crosse his whole body bruised with stripes and torne with whips and scourges Ecce homo Behold the man and judge whether is likelier to bee his consort the Whore of Babylon or the mother of our faith the one sitteth upon many waters the other is ready to be overwhelmed with a floud cast out of the mouth of the Dragon at her the one is arrayed with purple and scarlet the other in mourning weeds stained with her owne bloud the one adorned with chaines of gold the other clogged with fetters of iron the one for many ages treading on the neckes of Kings and Princes the other trodden downe by them at the foot of Christs Crosse But be of good cheare thou afflicted and disconsolate Spouse let not the pompe and beauty of thy corrivall be an eye-sore unto thee according to the * Rev. 18.7 measure of her pleasures shall her torments be It cannot now be long forbeare a while and shee shall be stripped of all her gay attire but thou clothed in a vesture of gold wrought about with divers colours when she shall be carried with sorrow and heavinesse to the dungeon of everlasting darknesse thou shalt with joy and gladnesse be brought into the Kings chamber thy cheekes now blubbered with teares shall be decked with rubies and thy necke with chaines hee will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver Here I might make an end for what out of the words of the Spirit in my Text hath bin spoken to cheare up the Spouse of Christ bewailing her deplorate estate belongeth to every faithfull soule that hath her part in her mothers griefes Howbeit more distinctly to propose the instructions and comforts laid out in this Scripture to your most serious consideration and apply them to those in particular whom they most concerne may it please you to sort with mee all the members of the militant Church into 1. Those that are comforted but in feare of affliction 2. Those that are afflicted but in hope of comfort All that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer affliction and therefore all necessarily fall under the members of this division for the former the Spirit in my Text pointeth to this exhortation Ye whom God hath enriched with store graced with preferments and honour prospered with all happinesse amidst your pleasures jollity and mirth remember the affliction of Joseph and despise not the condition of Lazarus but partake with them in their sorrowes by compassion and take part from them by your charitable reliefe their turne of sorrow is come and neere past yours is to come they are now rebuked and chastened yee may be nay yee shall be if yee are of those in my Text on whom God casteth a speciall eye of favour if yee are not of those then is your condition worse than that of the poorest Lazar. Beware of flattering tongues as of Serpents stings or rather more of those than these for those venome but the flesh and make it swell these corrupt the soule putrifie it with lust and make it swell with pride If honours riches and pleasures were certaine arguments of Gods love and favour the dearest of his children could not be so often without them as they are Value not your selves by these outward vanities but by inward vertues take heed how ye drinke deep of the sugered wine of pleasures set not your hearts upon the blessings of this life
was exalted according to both natures according to his humane by laying down all infirmities of mans nature and assuming to himself all qualities of glory according to his divine by the manifestation of the Godhead in the manhood which before seemed to lie hid But this seemeth not to be so proper an interpretation neither can it be well conceived how that which is highest can be said to be exalted but Christ according to his divine nature is and alwaies was together with the Holy Ghost most high in the glory of God the Father It is true which they affirme that the Deity more manifestly appeared in our Saviour after his resurrection than before the rayes of divine Majesty were more conspicuous in him than before but this commeth not home to the point For this manifestation of the Deity in the humane nature was no exaltation of the divine nature but of the humane As when the beames of the Sunne fall upon glasse the glasse is illustrated thereby not the beame so the manifestation of the Deity in the humane nature of Christ was the glory and exaltation of the manhood not of the Godhead I conclude this point therefore according to the mind of the ancient and most of the later Interpreters that God exalted Christ according to that nature which before was abased even unto the death of the Crosse and that was apparently his humane For according to his divine as he could not be humbled by any so neither be exalted as he could not die so neither be raised from death Having thus parced the words it remaineth that we make construction of the whole which confirmeth to us a principall article of our faith and giveth us thus much to understand concerning the present estate of our Lord and Saviour That because being in the forme of God clothed with majesty and honour adored by Cherubins Seraphins Archangels and Angels he dis-robed himselfe of his glorious attire and put upon him the habit and forme of a servant and in it to satisfie for the sins of the whole world endured all indignities disgraces vexations derisions tortures and torments and for the close of all death it selfe yea that cruell infamous and accursed death of the Crosse therefore God even his Father to whom he thus far obeyed and most humbly submitted himselfe hath accordingly exalted him raising him from the dead carrying him up in triumph into heaven setting him in a throne of Jasper at his right hand investing him with robes of majesty and glory conferring upon him all power and authority and giving him a name above all names and a stile above all earthly stiles King of Kings and Lord of Lords giving charge to all creatures of what rank or degree soever in heaven earth or under the earth to honour him as their King and God in such sort that they never speake or thinke of him without bowing the knee and doing him the greatest reverence and religious respect that is possibly to be expressed In this high mysterie of our faith five specialties are remarkable 1 The cause Wherefore 2 The person advancing God 3 The advancement it selfe exalted 4 The manner highly 5 The person advanced him Begin we with the cause Wherefore That which was elsewhere spoken by our Saviour h Luk. 14.11 He that humbleth himselfe shall bee exalted is here spoken of our Saviour hee humbled himselfe to suffer a most accursed death therefore God highly exalted him to a most blessed and glorious life We are too well conceited of our selves gather too much from Gods love and gracious promises to us if we expect that he should bring us by a nearer way and shorter cut to celestiall glory than he did his onely begotten Son who came not easily by his crowne but bought it dearly with a price not which he gave but rather for which hee was given himselfe His conquest over death and hell and the spoyles taken from them were not Salmacida spolia sine sanguine sudore spoyles got without sweat or blood-shed for he sweat and he bled nay he sweat blood in his striving and struggling for them Wherefore if God humble us by any grievous visitation if by sicknesse poverty disgrace or captivity wee are brought low in the world let us not bee too much dejected therewith we are not fallen nor can fall so low as our Saviour descended of himselfe immediately before his glorious exaltation The lower a former wave carrieth downe the ship the higher the later beareth it up the farther backe the arrow is drawn the farther forward it flyeth Our affections as our actions are altogether preposterous and wrong in the height of prosperity we are usually without feare in the depth of misery without hope Whereas if we weighed all things in an equall ballance and guided our judgement not by sight but by faith not by present probabilities but by antecedent certainties we should find no place more dangerous to build our confidence upon than the ridge of prosperity no ground surer to cast the anchor of our hope upon than the bottome of misery How suddenly was Herod who heard himself called a god and not a man deprived of his kingdome life by worms and no men whereas David who reputed himselfe a worm and no man was made a King over men Moses was taken from feeding sheepe to feed the people of God but on the contrary Nebuchadnezzar from feeding innumerable flockes of people shall I say to feed sheepe nay to be fed as a sheepe and graze among the beasts of the field O what a sudden change was here made in the state of this mighty Monarch How was hee that gloried in his building of great Babel brought to Babel that is confusion he that before dropp'd with sweet ointment feasted all his senses with the pleasures of a King hath the dew of heaven for his oyntment the flowry earth for his carpets the weeds for his sallets the lowing of beasts for his musick and the skie for his star-chamber How great a fall also had the pride of Antiochus who riding furiously in his chariot against Jerusalem was thrown out of it on the ground and with the fall so bruised his members that his flesh rotted and bred wormes in great abundance i 2 Mac. 9.8 9. Hee that a little before thought that hee might command the waves of the sea so proud was he beyond the condition of man and weigh the high mountaines in a ballance was now cast on the ground and carryed in an horse-litter declaring unto all the manifest power of God So that the wormes came out of the bowels of this wicked man in great abundance and while hee was yet alive his flesh fell off with paine and torments and all his army was grieved with the stench The k Xen. Cyr. paed l. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. King of Armenia who had beene formerly tributary to Cyrus understanding that that puissant Prince was engaged
24. corruptible man but also of beasts and fowles and creeping things The difference which Cardinall Bellarmine maketh between an Image and an Idoll viz. that an Idoll is the representation of that which hath no existence in nature but an Image the likenesse of something really existent is false and repugnant to Scripture For the Cherubims in the Aâ—ke were Images yet never was there any thing in nature existent in such a forme as they were expressed viz. in the face of a childe with six wings And no man doubteth but that the Image which Aaron made the Nehustan which Hezekiah brake downe Bell and the Dragon Rempham Baal and Dagon were Idols and the worshippers of them Idolaters yet were these figures the representations of things existent in nature viz. of a King a Beast a Serpent a Starre the Sunne and a Fish and therefore what arguments the ancient Fathers Origen Arnobius Lactantius and Minutius Felix use against the Heathenish Idols will serve as strong weapons to knocke downe and batter in pieces all Popish Images What a q Divin instit l. 2. c. 2. Quae igitur amentia est aut ea fingere quae ipsi postmodum timeant aut timere quae finxerint Non ipsos inquiunt timemus sed cos ad quorum imaginem sunt facta quorum nominibus consecrata sunt nempè ideò timetis quod eos esse in coelo arbitramini Neque enim si dii sunt aliter fieri potest cur igitur oculos in coelum non tollitis cur ad parietes ligna lapides potiùs quà m illò spectatis ubi eos esse creditis Hominis imago tum necessaria videtur cùm procul abest supervaâ—uâ— futura cùm praesâ—o adest Dei autem cujus spiritus ac numen ubique dâ—â—â—â—sum aâ—esse nunquam poâ—â—st semper â—â—quâ—mago supervacanâ—a est madnesse is it saith Lactantius either to make that which they ought to feare or to feare that which themselves have made If yee worship the Images for themselves yee are more senslesse and blockish than they for they if they had life and sense as ye have would not suffer you to worship them but themselves would fall downe and worship you their makers But if as some will colour the matter yee worship not the Image but God by the Image why then lift yee not up your eyes to heaven where yee know God sitteth in his majesty why cast yee them downe why in offering up your prayers to him turne yee to a carved stone or painted post The use of an Image is to preserve the memory of those that are dead or absent therefore sith God is alwaies alive and present with us his image is alwaies superfluous And in our devotion to turne to it is all one as if a man in the presence of his friend or a servant in the presence of his master having a message to deliver to him-should turne from him and tell a tale to his picture And is it not a strange thing that sottish men should performe such a deale of respect and ceremony to the image bow downe before it bring presents and burne incense to it and yet all this while make no reckoning at all of the goldsmith whose creature it is Questionlesse there can bee no r Orig lil 8 cont Celsum Simulachra Deo dicanda non sunt fabrorum opera c. visible or bodily image made to resemble the nature of the invisible God but if wee will draw a picture of him it must be in the Å¿ Minutius Felix in dial Deus in nostro dedicandus est pectore quod simulachrum Deo fingam cùm fi recté existimes sit Dei homo ipse simulachrum table of our hearts by expressing his divine vertues and attributes t Lactant. loc supr cit Simulachrum Dei non est illud quod digitis hominis é lapide aut aerâ—â—lâ—â—â—e materiâ fabricatur sed ipse homo quoniam sentit movetur multas magnasque actioneâ— habet Recté Seneca in moral Simulachra deorum venerantur illis supplicant illis per totum assident diâ—m 〈◊〉 â—stant illis stipem jaciunt victimas cedunt cùm haec tantoperé suspiciunt fabros qui illa feceâ—â— contemnunt Is not man himselfe made after Gods image what an incongruity then were it for man to thinke of making or dedicating any other image to God who is it himselfe What abjectnesse and basenesse is it for him who beareth the image of the living God to cast himselfe downe before and adore the images of dead men and women We reade of a barbarous and savage act of a cruell tyrant who bound living men to dead carkasses till the one corrupted the other and both rotted together Is not the cruelty of those Heathen Emperours as barbarous who perforce couple the living images of God the soules of men to dead images to corrupt them thereby Which of these battell-axes is not as serviceable altogether to knocke downe Popish Images as to maule and deface Heathenish Idols And this may suffice for the paralleling of Baalites and Papists in generall as they are Idolaters let us now compare them in speciall 1. As the Papists plead for themselves that they worship not Idols that is the representation of things feigned and devised by man but images of things truly existent so the Baalites might varnish over their idolatry saying that the image they worshipped was not of any feigned deity but of that which all men and women saw which was not only visible but also most glorious to wit the Sunne 2. As the Baalites stood upon the multitude of Baals worshippers and ministers For to one Priest or Prophet of God that durst shew his head they had above foure hundred that followed the Court and had their table there albeit indeed there were more than seven thousand in Israel that never bowed the knee to Baal yet these played least in sight and there were more than seventy times seven thousand in all Israel that for ought appeares either willingly or by constraint bowed to him in like manner the Papists at this day brag of nothing so much as of the multitude of their professours and paucitie or latencie of those especially in former ages that professed the reformed religion or impugned the Roman faith 3. As the priests of Baal called him Baal Samen King or Lord of heaven so doe the superstitious Papists call the blessed Virgin the Queene of heaven 4. As the Baalites erected divers images to Baal which received names from the places where they stood as Bal Peor Baal Zephon Baal Tamar so have the Papists erected divers images to our Lady which they in like manner denominate from the cities where they are set up as the Lady of Loretto the Lady of Sichem the Lady of Mount Seratto the Lady of Hailes Nostre Dame de Paris de Rouen c. 5. As the servitours of Baal were distinguished into