whence comes it that they stand so much upon State and Ceremony in the Church Is it not from hence that they think the Church must come in like Agrippa and Bernice in the Acts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Luke speaks with a great deal of pompe and train and shew and vanity and that the service of God doth necessarily require this noise and tumult of outward State and Ceremony Whence comes it that We are at our wits ends when we see persecution and sword and fire to rage against the true professors of the Gospel Is it not because as these bring ruine and desolation upon the kingdoms of the world so we suppose they work no other effect in the kingdom of Christ all these conceits and many more of the like nature spring out of no other fountain then that old inveterate error which is so hardly wiped out of our hearts that the State of the Church and Kingdom of Christ doth hold some proportion Some likeness with the state and managing of temporal kingdoms wherefore to pluck out of our hearts Opinionem tam insitam tam vetustam a conceit so ancient so deeply rooted in us our Saviour spake most excellently most pertinently and most fully when he tells us that his Church that his Kingdom is not of this world In which words of his there is contained the true art of discovering and knowing the true nature and essence of the Church For as they which make Statues cut and pare away all superfluities of the matter upon which they work so our Saviour to shew us the true proportion and feature of the Church prunes away the world and all superfluous excrescencies and sends her to be seen as he did our first Parents in Paradice stark naked As those Elders in the Apocryphal story of Susanna when they would see her beauty commanded to take of her mask so he that longs to see the beauty of the Church must pull of that mask of the world outward shew For as Juda in the book of Genesis when Thamar sate vail'd by the way side knew not his daughter from an whore so whilst the Church the daughter and spouse of Christ sits vail'd with the world and pompe and shew it will be an hard matter to discern her from an harlot But yet further to make the difference betwixt these kingdoms the more plainly to appear and the better to fix it in your memories I will briefly touch some of these heads in which they are most notoriously differenced The first head wherein the difference is seen are the persons and subjects of this kingdom For as the Kingdom of Christ is not of this world so the subjects of this Kingdom are men of another world and not of this Every one of us bears a double person and accordingly is the subject of a double Kingdom The holy Ghost by the Psalmist divides heaven and earth betwixt God and man and tells us as for God he is in heaven but the earth hath he given to the children of men So hath the same spirit by the Apostle Saint Paul divided every one of our persons into heaven and earth into an outward and earthly man and into an inward and heavenly man This earth that is this body of clay hath he given to the sons of men to the Princes under whose government we live but heaven that is the inward and spiritual man hath he reserved unto himself They can restrain the outward man and moderate our outward actions by edicts and laws they can tie our hands and our tongues Illa se jacâ—â—et in aula AEolus Thus far they can go and when they are gone thus far they can go no farther But to rule the inward man in our hearts souls to set up an Imperial throne in our understandings wills this part of our government belongs to God to Christ These are the subjects this the government of his Kingdom men may be Kings of Earth bodies But Christ alone is the King of Spirits and Souls Yet this inward government hath influence upon our outward actions For the Authority of Kings over our outward man is not so absolute but that it suffers a great restraint It must stretch no further then the Prince of our inward man pleases for if secular Princes stretch out the skirts of their Authority to command ought by which our souls are prejudiced the King of Souls hath in this case given us a greater command That we rather obey God then men The second head wherein the difference betwixt these Kingdoms is seen is in their laws For as the kingdoms the lawgivers so are their laws very different First in their Authors the laws by which the Common-wealth of Rome was anciently govern'd were the works of many hands some of them were Plebiscita the the acts of the people others were Senatus-consulta the decrees of the Senate others Edicta Praetorum the verdict of their Judges others Responsa Prudentum the opinions of Wisemen in cases of doubt Others Rescripta Imperatorum the Rescripts and answers of their Emperors when they were consulted with But in the kingdom of Christ there are no Plebiscita or Senatus-consulta no people no Senate nor wisemen nor Judges had any hand in the laws by which it is governed Only Rescripta Imperatoris the Rescripts and Writs of our King run here these alone are the Laws to which the Subjects of this Kingdom owe obedience Again the Laws of both these kingdoms differ in regard of their quality and nature For the laws of the Kingdom of Christ are Eternal Substantial Indispensable but Laws made by humane authority are but light superficial and temporary For all the humane authority in the world can never enact one eternal and fundamental Law Let all the Laws which men have made be laid together and you shall see that they were made but upon occasion and circumstance either of time or place or persons in matters of themselves indifferent and therefore either by discontinuance they either fell or ceased of themselves or by reason of alteration of occasion and circumstance were necessarily revoked Those main fundamental Laws upon which all the Kingdoms of the world do stand against theft against murther against adultery dishonouring of Parents or the like they were never brought forth by man neither were they the effects of any Parliamentary Sessions they were written in our souls from the beginning long before there was any authority Regal extant among men The intent of him who first enacted them was not to found a temporal but to bring men to an eternal Kingdom and so far forth as they are used for the maintaining of outward state they are usurp'd or at the best but borrowed So that in this work of setling even the Kingdoms of this world if we compare the Laws of God with the Laws of men we shall finde that God hath as it were founded the palaces and castles and strength
of them but men have like little children built houses of clay and dirt which every blast of wind overturns The third head by which they may be seen is in the notes and marks by which they may be known For the Kingdoms of the world are confin'd their place is known their subjects are discernable they have badges and tokens and Arms by which they are discovered But the Church hath no such notes and marks no Herauld hath as yet been sound that could blazon the arms of that Kingdom AEsculus the Poet in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 describing the captains that came either for the siege or defence of the City of Thebes in Beâ—â—tia brings them in in their order every one with his shield and upon his shield some device and over that device a Motto or word according to the usual fancies of men in that kinde but when he comes to Amphiraus he notes of him that he had no device in his shield no impress or word and he gives the reason of it because he affected not shew but to be that which others profest But to carry marks and notes and devices may well beseem the world which is led by fancy and shew but the Church is like Amphiarus she hath no device no word in her shield mark and essence with her are all one and she hath no other note but to be And but that learned men must have something to busie their wits withal these large discourses de notis Ecclesiae of the notes and marks by which we may know the Church might very well lie by as containing nothing else but doctas ineptias Laborious vanities and learned impertinences For the Church is not a thing that can be pointed out The Devil could shew our Saviour Christ all the kingdoms of the earth and the glory of them I hope the Church was none of these It is the glory of it not to be seen and the note of it to be invisible when we call any visible company of professors a Church it is but a word of courtesie Out of charity we hope men to be that which they do profess and therefore we so speak as if they were indeed that whose name they bear where and who they are that make up this kingdom is a question unfit for any man to move For the Lord only knoweth who are his It is but popish madness to send men up and down the world to finde the Church It is like unto the Children of the Prophets in the second of Kings that would needs seek Elias or like the nobles in Hierusalem that would needs go seek Jeremie the Prophet but could not finde him because the Lord had hid him For in regard of the profession The Church as our Saviour speaks is like a City set upon an hill you may quickly see and know what true Christianity is But in regard of the persons the Kingdom of Heaven is as our Saviour again tells us like a treasure hidden in a field Except the place of their abode and their persons were discernable who can tell we go thus to seek them whether we do not like false hounds hunt Counter as the hunters phrase is and so go from the game when Saul went to seek his Fathers Asses he found a Kingdom Let us take heed least the contrary befal us least while we seek our Fathers Kingdom thus we finde but Asses Will you know where to find the Kingdom of Christ our Saviour directs you in the Gospel The Kingdom of Heaven saith he cometh not by observation neither shall ye say Lo here or lo there but the Kingdom of Heaven is within you Let every man therefore retire into himself and see if he can finde this kingdom in his heart For if he finde it not there in vain shall he finde it in all the world besides The fourth head wherein the difference of these kingdoms is seen is outward state and ceremony for outward pompe and shew is one of the greatest stays of the Kingdom of this world Some thing there must be to amaze the people and strike them into wonderment or else Majesty would quickly be contemned The Scripture recounting unto us King Solomons Royalty tells us of his Magnificent buildings of his Royal throne of his servants and his attendants of his cup-bearers of his meats and these were the things which purchased unto him the reputation of Majesty above all the Kings of the earth Beloved the Kingdom of Christ is not like unto Solomon in his Royalty It is like unto David when he had put of all his Royalty and in a linnen Ephod danced before the Ark and this plain and natural simplicity of it is like unto the Lillies of the field more glorious then Solomon in all his Royalty The Idolatrous superstitions of Paganism stood in great need of such Pompous Solemnities Ut opinionem suspendio cognitionis aedificent atque ita tantam majestatem exhibere vide antur quantaÌ„ praestruxerunt cupiditatem as Tertullian tells us For being nothing of themselves they were to gain reputation of being something by concealment and by outward state make shew of something answerable to the expectation they had raised The case of the kingdoms of the world is the same For all this State and Magnificence used in the Managing of them is nothing else but Secular Idolatry used to gain veneration and reverence unto that which in comparison of the Kingdom we speak of is meer vanity But the scepter of the Kingdome of Christ is a right scepter and to adde unto it outward state and riches and pomp is nothing else but to make a Centaure marry and joyn the Kingdome of Christ with the Kingdome of the world which Christ expresly here in my text hath divorced and put a sunder A thing which I do the rather note because that the long continuance of some ceremonies in the Church have occasioned many especially of the Church of Rome to think that there is no religion no service without these ceremonies Our books tell us of a poor Spartan that travelling in another countrey and seeing the beams and posts of houses squared and carved askt if the trees grew so in those countreys Beloved many men that have been long acquainted with a form of worship squared and carved trick't and set out with shew and ceremony fall upon this Spartans conceit think the trees grow so and think that there is no natural shape and face of Gods service but that I confess the service of God hath evermore some ceremony attending it and to our Fathers before Christ may seem to have been necessary because God commanded it But let us not deceive our selves for neither is ceremony now neither was sacrifice then esteemed necessary neither was the command of God concerning it by those to whom it was given ever taken to be peremptory I will begin the warrant of what I have said out of St. Chysostome for in his comments upon the tenth
extraordinary courtesie in your kinde invitations I could not be so fitted in my mourning apparel as I would before Saturday at night besides we must now narrowly look to the Canons which are sent to us by the Deputies of the Synod for we are required upon Tuseday next to give in our observations upon them my L. of Landaffe being one of the Deputies hath already delivered his opinion of them and therefore his L. may here be spared till Wednesday next the rest of us have not and it being the main business of our coming hither we must plie it so as it may be done to some good purpose My L. of Landaffe his comming to your L. telleth me that the writing of any occurrences here are needless so with the continuance of my best wishes for your L. health and happiness I take my leave and shall ever account it a great part of my temporal happiness if your L. shall be pleased to account me as I am Dordrecht this 29. of March Stylo loci Your L. in all dutiful respect and service Walter Balcanqual My very Good Lord THis place is yet still barren of news but I make no question but my next letters shall send your L. some The Deputies appointed by the Synod have taken pains I must needs confess to give our Colledge all satisfaction besides the second Article some of our Colledge have been earnest to have this proposition out Infideles damnabuntur non solum ob infidelitatem sed etiam ob omnia alia peccata suatam originale quam actualia Because they say that from thence may be inferred that original sin is not remitted to all who are baptized which opinion hath been by more then one councel condemned as heretical they have therefore at their request put it out so I know now of no matter of disagreement among us worthy the speaking of the morrow there is a Synod one way or other we shall determine what shall become of the Canons what we do your L. by Gods grace with the first occasion shall understand I have here sent your L. my speech made in the Synod I know your L. experience will pardon the imperfections of a discourse delivered upon less then two days warning Now my Lord to write a History of Dr. Goad his journey and mine own between Roterdam and Dort that night on which we came from your L. would move too much pity especially if you should make relation of the same to my Lady the compend of it is this that a little after five a clock in the afternoon we took ship at Roterdam and about a little after one of the clock in the night we arrived at Dort but could get no entrance and therefore until half an houre past five in the morning we sometime lay in the ship sometime walked on the Bulwark if we were not sufficiently assaulted with cold and watching we know our selves Mr. Downs his wooing in Greek was never so cold as we were that night Letters I have received from England the summe of the news are that the Spanish Navie is dissipated and that it never exceeded 60. sayles The King of Spain hath written large letters with his own hand to our King in which he protesteth that he never intended any thing against England nor any Christian Kingdom The talk of the Spanish match hath of late been very fresh again in England but this is certain that the other day at Theobalds the King asking a gentleman of good note what the people talked of the Spanish Navie received of him this answer Sir the people is nothing so much affraid of the Spaniards powder as of their match My Lord I can but thank your L. for all your courtesies especially your L. great kindeness at my last being with you which since my fortune will not give me leave to requite I must take leave to acknowledge With the remembrance of my best duty and service to your L. and your worthy Lady and my faithful wishes for both your happiness I take my leave hoping your L. will believe that there liveth no man of whom you may more freely dispose then of Dort this 4 14 of April Your L. most faithful and respectful in all true service Walter Balcanqual My very Good Lord DOctor Davenant his coming to your L. saveth me the writing of any news here for he will perfectly relate them to your L. we are full of trouble about things altogether unnecessary they are so eager to kill the Remonstrants that they would make their words have that sense which no Grammar can finde in them upon Tuseday in the afternoon we had a Session in which were read the Canons of the first and second Article and were approved except the last of the second Article which we never heard of till that houre and the second heterodox in that same Article what they were Dr. Davenant will inform your L. the last was such as I think no man of understanding would ever assent unto On Thursday morning we had another Session in which was nothing done but that it was reasoned whither that last heterodox should be retained our Colledge in that whole Session maintained dispute against the whole Synod they condemned the thing it sâ—â—lâ—â— as a thing most curious and yet would have it retained only to make the Remonstrants odious though they finde the very contrary of that they would father upon them in their words That day in the afternoon was another Session in which were read the Canons of the 3. 4. and 5. Articles and were approved the particular passages of these Sessions I will send your L. by the next occasion they were no great matters in them yet when I send your L. the next Sessions in which it is like that something will be done I will send a note of them too yesterday there was no Session but the Deputies met for taking order about the Preface and Epilogue of the Canons and mending those things in the Canons which were thought fit to be amended and have sent them worse then they were in case we stand and what need of counsel we have this worthy Dr. will sufficiently inform your L. My Lord I have had a great deal of talk with Mr. Douglas about the controversies in this Church and finde him unquestionably sound in them also that there is no fear of his opinions if otherwise he be found sufficient I much wonder that we do not hear of my L. of Doncaster There is here in the Synod a report of our King his mortal disease it cometh from Sculâ—â—etus but I hope it is but the Goute with the remembrance of my best duty and service to your good L. and my Lady I take my leave and rest ever Dort this 9 19 of April Your L. in all true respect and service Walter Balcanqual My very Good Lord NOw at last we have made an end of our business of the five Articles what trouble we have had in
in this kind that ever was made was enacted by Theodosius against the Donatists but with this restraint that it should extend against none but only such as were tumultuous and till that time they were not so much as toucht with any mulct though but pecuniary till that shameful outrage commited against Bish. Maximian whom they beat down with bats and clubs even as he stood at the Altar so that not so much the error of the Donatists as their riots and mutinies were by Imperial laws restrained That the Church had afterward good reason to think that she ought to be salubrior quam dulcior that sometimes there was more mercy in punishing then forbearing there can no doubt be made St. Austine a man of as milde and gentle spirit as ever bare rule in the Church having according to his natural sweetness of disposition earnestly written against violent and sharp dealing with He 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being taught by experience did afterward retract and confess an excellent use of wholsome severity in the Church Yet could I wish that it might be said of the Church which was sometimes observed of Augustus In nullius unquam suorum necem duravit he had been angry with and severely punisht many of his kin but he could never endure to cut any of them off by death But this I must request you to take only as my private wish and not as a censure if any thing have been done to the contrary When Absolom was up in arms against his Father it was necessary for David to take order to curb him and pull him on his knees yet we see how careful he was he should not die and how lamentably he bewail'd him in his death what cause was it that drove David into this extream passion Was it doubt of heire to the Kingdome That could not be For Solomon was now born to whom the promise of the Kingdom was made was it the strength of natural affection I somewhat doubt of it Three year together was Absolom in banishment and David did not very eagerly desire to see him The Scripture indeed notes that the King long'd for him yet in this longing was there not any such fierceness of passion for Absolom saw not the Kings face for two years more after his return from banishment to Hierusalem What then might be the cause of his strength of passion and commiseration in the King I perswade my self it was the fear of his sons final miscarriage and reprobation which made the King secure of the mercies of God unto himself to wish he had died in his steed that so he might have gain'd for his ungracious childe some time of repentance The Church who is the common mother of us all when her Absoloms her unnatural sons do lift up their hands and pens against her must so use means to repress them that she forget not that they are the sons of her womb and be compassionate over them as David was over Absolom loath to unsheath either sword but most of all the temporal for this were to send them with quick dispatch to Hell And here I may not pass by that singular moderation of this Church of oursâ—â— which she hath most christianly exprest towards her adversaries of Rome here at home in her bosome above all the reformed Churches I have read of For out of desire to make the breach seem no greater then indeed it is and to hold communion and Christian fellowship with her so far as we possibly can we have done nothing to cut of the favourers of that Church The reasons of their love and respects to the Church of Rome we wish but we do not command them to lay down their lay-Brethren have all means of instruction offered them Our Edicts and Statutes made for their restraint are such as serve only to awake them and cause them to consider the innocency of that cause for refusal of communion in which they endure as they suppose so great losses Those who are sent over by them either for the retaining of the already perverted or perverting others are either return'd by us back again to them who dispatcht them to us or without any wrong unto their persons or danger to their lives suffer an easie restraint which only hinders them from dispersing the poyson they brought And had they not been stickling in our state-business and medling with our Princes crown there had not a drop of their blood fallen to the ground unto our Sermons in which the swarvings of that Church are necessarily to be taxt by us we do not binde their presence only our desire is they would joyn with us in those Prayers and holy ceremonies which are common to them and us And so accordingly by singular discretion was our Service-Book compiled by our Fore-fathers as containing nothing that might offend them as being almost meerly a compendium of their own Breviary and Missal so that they shall see nothing in our meetings but that they shall see done in their own though many things which are in theirs here I grant they shall not finde And here indeed is the great and main difference betwixt us As it is in the controversie concerning the Cononical books of Scripture whatsoever we hold for Scripture that even by that Church is maintained only she takes upon her to adde much which we cannot think safe to admit so fares it in other points of Faith and Ceremony whatsoever it is we hold for faith she holds it as far forth as we our ceremonies are taken from her only she over and above urges some things for faith which we take to be error or at the best but opinion and for ceremony which we think to be superstition So that to participate with us is though not throughout yet in some good measure to participate with that Church and certainly were that spirit of charity stirring in them vvhich ought to be they would love and honour us even for the resemblance of that Church the beauty of which themselves so much admire The glory of these our proceedings even our adversaries themselves do much envy So that from hence it is that in their vvritings they traduce our judiciary proceedings against them for sanguinary and violent striving to persvvade other nations that such as have suffered by course of publick justice for religion only and not for treason have died and pretend we what we list our actions are as bloody and cruel as their own wherefore if a perfect pattern of dealing with erring Christians were to be sought there were not any like unto this of ours In qua nec saeviendi nec errandi per eundique licentia permittitur which as it takes not to it self liberty of cruelty so it leaves not unto any the liberty of destroying their own souls in the error of their lives And now that we may at once conclude this point concerning Hereticks for prohibiting these men access to religious disputations it is now too late to
and expectation when we finde the ears of God not so open to our requests When Josephs brethren came down to buy corn he gave them but a course welcome he spake roughly unto them he laid them in prison yet the text tells us that his bowels melted upon them and at length he opened himself and gave them courteous entertainment Beloved when we come unto God as it were to buy corn to beg at his hands such blessings as we need though he speak roughly though he deal more roughly with us yet let us know he hath still Josephs bowels that his heart melts towards us and at length he will open himself and entertain us lovingly And be it pâ—â—dventure that we gain not what we look for yet our labor of prayer is not lost The blessed souls under the Altar of which I spake but now though their petition was not granted yet had they long white garments given them Even so beloved if the wisdom of God shall not think it fit to perform our requests yet he will give us the long white garment something which shall be in liev of a Suit though nothing else yet patience and contentment which are the greatest blessings upon earth FINIS John 18. 36. Jesus answered my Kingdome is not of this world If my Kingdome were of this world then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews c. AS in the Kingdomes of the world there is an art of Courtship a skill and mystery teaching to manage them so in the spiritual Kingdom of God and of Christ there is an holy policie there is an art of spiritual Courtship which teaches every subject there how to demean and bear himself But as betwixt their Kingdomes so betwixt their arts and Courtship betwixt the Courtier of the one and the Courtier of the other there is as Abraham tells the rich man in St. Luke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great distance a great difference and not only one but many Sundry of them I shall have occasion to touch in the process of my discourse mean while I will single out one which I will use as a prologue and way unto my text In the Kingdomes of earthly Princes every subject is not fit to make a Courtier yea were all fit this were an honour to be communicated only unto some Sic opus est mundo There is a necessity of disproportion and inequality between men and men and were all persons equal the world could not consist Of men of ordinary fashion and parts some must to the Plough some to their Merchandize some to their Books some to one Trade some to anotheâ—â— only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle calls them men of more then common wit and ability active choice pickt out of a thousand such must they be that bear honors attend on Princes persons and serve in their Courts The Scripture tells us that when King Solomon saw that Jeroboam was an active able and industrious young man he took him and made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph Again when David invited old Barzillai to the Court the good old man excuses himself I am saith he fourscore years of Age and can thy servant tast what I eat or what I drink can I hear any more the voyce of singing men and singing women Lo here my son Chimham he shall go with my Lord the King and do with him as shall seem good in thine eyes Jeroboam and Chimham strong and able and active persons such are they that dwell in Kings houses of the rest some are too old some too young some too dull some too rude or by some means or other unfit for such an end Thus fares it with the honors of the world they seem to participate of envy or melancholy and are of a solitary disposition they are brightest when they are alone or but in few make them common and they loose their grace like lamps they may give light unto few or to some one room but no farther But the honors in the Court of the great King of Heaven ore of another nature they rejoyce in being communicated and their glory is in the multitude of those that do partake in them They are like unto the Sun that rises non homini sed humano generi noâ—â— to this or that man but to all the world In the Court of God no difference between Jeroboam and Barzillai none too old none too young no indisposition no imperfection makes you uncapable of honors there Be but of his Kingdom and you are necessarily of his Court Every man who is a subject there is a Courtier yea more then a Courtier he is a Peer he is a King and hath an army of Angels at his service to pitch their tents about him to deliver him a guard of Ministring Spirits sent out to attend him for his safety It shall not therefore be unseasonable for the meanest person that hears me this day to hear as it were a Lecture of Spiritual policy and Courtship For no Auditory can be unfit for such a lesson Aristotle was wont to divide his lectures and readings into Acroamatical and Exoterical some of them contained onely choice matter and they were read privately to a Select Auditory others contain'd but ordinary stuff and were promiscuously and in publick exposed to the hearing of all that would Beloved we read no Acroamatick Lectures The secrets of the Court of Heaven as far as it hath pleased the King of Heaven to reveal them lie open alike to all Every man is alike of his Court alike of his Councel and the meanest among Christians must not take it to be a thing without his Sphere above his reach but must make account of himself as a fit hearer of a lesson in Spiritual and saving policy since if he be a subject in the kingdom of Christ he can be no less then a Courtier Now the first and main lesson to be learned by a Courtier is how to discover and know the disposition nature of the Lord whom he is to serve and the quality of that Common-wealth in which he bears a place ad consilium de republica dandum caput est That therefore our heavenly Courtier may not mistake himself but be able to fit himself to the place he bears I have made choice of these few words which but now I read words spoken by the King of that Common-wealth of which I am to treat unto such as mean to be his Liege-men there words which sufficiently open unto the Christian politician the state and quality of that Court in which he is to serve My kingdom is not of this world for if at were then would my servants fight which words seem like the Parthian horsmen whose manner was to ride one way but to shoot another way they seem to go apace towards Pilate but they aim and shot at another mark or rather like unto the speaker of them
unto our Saviour himself when he was in one of the Villages of Samaria Luke the ninth where the text notes that though he were in Samaria yet his face was set towards Hierusalem so beloved though these words be spoken to a Samaritane to an infidel to Pilate yet their face is toward Hierusalem they are a lesson directed to the subjects of his Spiritual Kingdom of that Hierusalem which is from above and is the Mother of us all In them we may consider two General parts First a Denuntiation and message unto us and Secondly a signe to confirme the truth of it For it is the manner and method as it were which God doth use when he dispatches a message to annex a signe unto it by which it may be known When he sent Moses to the Israelites in Egypt and Moses required a signe he gave him a signe in his hand in his Rod when he sent Gideon against Madian he gave him a signe in the Fleece of Wool which was upon the Floor when he sent the Prophet to Hieroboam to prophesie against the Altar in Bethel he gave him a signe that the Altar should rend and the ashes fall out when he sent Esay with a message to King Ahaz he gave him a signe Behold a Virgin shall conceive So Beloved in these words There is a Message There is a Signe The first words are the Message My Kingdom is not of this world c. The next words For if it were then would my servants fight c. These are Moses rod and Gideons Fleece they are the signe which confirm the Message The first part is a general proposition or Maxime the second is an example and particular instance of it For in the first our Saviour distinguishes his Kingdome from the kingdomes of the world and from all the fashions of them In the second amongst many other he chuses one instance Wherein particularly he notes that his Kingdome is unlike to earthly kingdomes For the kingdoms of the world are purchased and maintain'd by violence and blood but so is not his The reason why our Saviour fastens upon this reason of dissimilitude and unlikeness is because in gaining and upholding temporal Kingdomes nothing so usual as the sword and war No Kingdome of the world but by the sword is either gotten or held or both The sword in a secular common wealth is like the rod in a School remove that away and men will take their liberty It is the plea which the Tarquins used to King Porsenna in Livie Satis libertatem ipsam habere dulcedinis nisi quantâ vi civitates eam expetant tantâ regna reges defendant aequare summa infimis adesse finem regnis rei inter Deos hominesque pulcherrimae The taste of liberty is so sweet that except Kings maintain their authority with as great violence as the people affect their liberty all things will run to confusion and Kingdomes which are the goodliest things in the world will quickly go to wrack when God gave a temporal Kingdome unto his own people he sent Moses and Joshua before them to purchase it with the sword when they were possest of this Kingdome he sends then Gideon and Sampson and David and many worthies more to maintain it by the sword But now being to open unto the world another kinde of Kingdome of rule and government then hitherto it had been acquainted with he tells us that he is a King of a Kingdome which is erected and maintained not by Joshua and David but by Peter and Paul not by the sword but by the spirit not by violence but by love not by striving but by yielding not by fighting but by dying Pilate had heard that he was a King It was the accusation which was fram'd against him that he bare himself as King of the Jews But because he saw no pomp no train no guard about him he took it but as an idle report To put him therefore out of doubt our Saviour assures him that he is a King but of such a Kingdome as he could not skill of My Kingdome is not of this world c. For the better unfolding of which words first we will consider what the meaning of this word Kingdome is for there lies an ambiguity in it Secondly we will consider what lessons for our instruction the next words will yield Not of this world first of this word Kingdome Our Saviour is a King three manner of wayes and so correlatively hath three distinct several Kingdomes He is first a King in the largest extent and meaning which can possibly be imagined and that is as he is Creator and absolute Lord of all creatures Of this Kingdome Heaven Earth and Hell are three large provinces Angels Men and Devils his very enemies every creature visible and invisible are subjects of this Kingdome The glory and strength of this Kingdome consists least of all in men and man is the weakest part of it For there is scarcely a creature in the world by whom he hath not been conquer'd When Alexander the great had travelled through India and over-run many large provinces and conquer'd many popular Cities when tidings came that his Soldiers in Greece had taken some small towns there he scorn'd the news and in contempt me thinks said he I hear of the battel of Frogs and mice Beloved if we look upon these huge armies of creatures and consider of what wonderful strength they are when the Lord summons them to battel all the armies of men and famous battels of which we have so large histories in the comparison of these what are they but a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but Homers tale a battel of Frogs and Mice Infinite legions of Angels attend him in Heaven and every Angel is an Armie one Angel in the Book of Kings is sent out against the army of the Assyrians and in one night foure-score thousand persons die for it Base and contemptible creatures when God calls for them are of strength to conquer whole Countreys He over-runs AEgypt with his armies of Frogs and Flies and Lice and before his own people with an armie of Hornets chases the Canaanites out of the Land Nay the dull and senseless elements are up in arms when God summons them He shoots his Hail-shot with his Hail-stones from Heaven he destroyes more of the Canaanites then the Israelites can with their swords As for his armies of fire and water what power is able to withstand them every creature when God calls is a soldier How great then is the glory of this Kingdome of which the meanest parts are invincible Secondly again our Saviour is a King in a more restrain'd and confin'd sense as he is in Heaven attended on by Angels and Arch-angels powers principalities and all the heavenly hosts For though he be omnipresent and fills every place both in Heaven and Earth yet Heaven is the Palace and Throne of this Kingdome there is he better seen and known there with
more state and honour served and therefore more properly is his Kingdome said to be there And this is called his Kingdome of glory The rules and laws and admirable orders of which Kingdome could we come to see and discover it would be with us as it was with the Queen of Saba when she came to visit Solomon of whom the Scripture notes that when she heard his wisdome and had seen the order of his servants the attendance that was given him and the manner of his table There was no more Spirit left in her Beloved Dum Spiritus hos regit artus Whilest this Spirit is in us we cannot possibly come to discern the laws and orders of this Kingdome and therefore I am constrained to be silent Thirdly our Saviour is a King in a sense yet more impropriated For as he took our nature upon him as he came into the world to redeem mankinde and to conquer Hell and death so is there a Kingdome annext unto him A Kingdome the purchase whereof cost him much sweat and blood of which neither Angels nor any other creature are a part only that remnant of mankinde that Ereptus titio That number of blessed Souls which like a brand out of the fire by his death and passion he hath recovered out of the power of sin and all these alone are the subjects of that Kingdome And this is that which is called his Kingdome of Grace and which himself in Scripture every where calls his Church his Spouse his Body his Flock and this is that Kingdome which in this place is spoken of and of which our Saviour tells Pilate That it is not of this world My Kingdome is not of this world Which words at the first reading may seem to savour of a little imperfection for they are nothing else but a Negation or denial Now our Books teach us that a Negative makes nothing known for we know things by discovering not what they are not but what they are yet when we have well examin'd them we shall finde that there could not have been a speech delivered more effectual for the opening the nature of the Church and the discovery of mens errors in that respect For I know no error so common so frequent so hardly to be rooted out so much hindering the knowledg of the true nature of the Church as this that men do take the Church to be like unto the world Tully tells us of a Musician that being asked what the Soul was answered that it was Harmonie et is saith he à principiis artis suae non recescit He knew not how to leave the principles of his own art Again Plato's Schollers had been altogether bred up in Arithmetick and the knowledge of numbers and hence it came that when afterward they diverted their studies to the knowledge of Nature or Moral Philosophy wheresoever they walked they still feined to themselves some what like unto Numbers the world they supposed was fram'd out of numbers Cities and Kingdomes and Common-wealths they thought stood by numbers Number with them was sole principle and creator of every thing Beloved when we come to learn the quality and state of Christs Kingdome it fares much with us as it does with Tullies Musician or Plato's Schollers difficulter à principiis artis nostrae recedimus Hardly can we forsake those principles in which we have been brought up In the world we are born in it we are bred the world is the greatest part of our studie to the true knowledge of God and of Christ still we fancy unto us something of the world It may seem but a light thing that I shall say yet because it seems fitly to open my meaning I will not refrain to speak it Lucian when Priams young son was taken up into heaven brings him in calling for milk and cheese and such countrey cates as he was wont to eat on earth Beloved when we first come to the Table of God to heavenly Manna and Angels food it is much with us as it was with Priams young son when he came first into Heaven we cannot forget the milk and cheese and the gross diet of the world Our Saviour and his blessed Apostles had great and often experience of this error in men when our Saviour preach't to Nicodemus the doctrine of regeneration and new birth how doth he still harp upon a gross conceit of a re-entry to be made into his mothers womb When he preacht unto the Samaritane women concerning the water of life how hardly is she driven from thinking of a material Elementary water such as was in Jacobs well When Simon Magus in the Acts saw that by laying on of hands the Apostles gave the Holy Ghost he offers them money to purchase himself the like power He had been trafficking and merchandizing in the world and saw what authority what a Kingdome money had amongst men he therefore presently conceited coelum venale Deumque that God and Heaven and all would be had for money To teach therefore the young Courtier in the Court of Heaven that he commit no such Solecisms that hereafter he speak the true Language and dialect of God our Saviour sets down this as a principal rule in our Spiritual Grammar That his Court is not of this world Nay beloved not only the young Courtier but many of the old servants in the Court of Christ are stain'd with this error It is storied of Leonides which was School-master to Alexander the great that he infected his non-age with some vices quae robustum quoque jam maximum regem ab illa institutione puerili sunt prosecuta which followed him then when he was at mans estate Beloved the world hath been a long time a School-master unto us and hath stain'd our nonage with some of these spots which appear in us even then when we are strong men in Christ. When our Saviour in the Acts after his Resurrection was discoursing to his Disciples concerning the kingdom of God they presently brake forth into this question Wilt thou now restore the kingdom unto Israel Certainly this question betrays their ignorance their thoughts still ran upon a kingdom like unto the kingdoms of the world notwithstanding they had so long and so often heard our Saviour to the contrary Our Saviour therefore shortly takes them up Non est vestrum your question is nothing to the purpose the kingdom that I have spoken of is another manner of kingdom then you conceive Sixteen hundred years Et quod Excurrit hath the Gospel been preached unto the world is this stain spunged out yet I doubt it whence arise those novel late disputes de notis Ecclesiae of the notes visibility of the Church Is it not from hence that they of Rome take the world the Church to be like Mercury and Sosia in Plautus his comaedies so like one another that one of them must wear a toy in his cap that so the spectators may distinguish them