Clerum onely yet her Maiestie being informed thereof declared her displeasure so as that scarce any houres before the Sermon was to haue been there was a Countermaund an Inhibition to the Preacher for medling with any of those poynts Not that her Maiestie made her selfe Iudge of the Doctrines but that nothing not formerly declared to be so ought to bee declared to be the Tenet and Doctrine of this Church her Maiestie not being acquainted nor suplicated to giue her gracious allowance for the publication thereof His sacred Maiestie then is herein vpon the steps of the Kings of Iudah of the Christian Emperors of the Kings of England of all the Kings of England that embraced the Reformation of Queene Elizabeth her selfe and he is vpon his owne steps too For it is a seditious calumny to apply this which is done now to any occasion that rises but now as though the King had done this now for satisfaction of any persons at this time For some yeares since when he was pleased to call the Heads of Houses from the Vniuersity and intimate to them the inconueniences that arose from the Preaching of such men as were not at all conuersant in the Fathers in the Schoole nor in the Ecclesiasticall Storie but had shut vp themselues in a few later Writers and gaue order to those Gouernours for remedy herein Then he began then he laid the foundation for that in which hee hath proceeded thus much further now to reduce Preaching neerer to the manner of those Primitiue times when God gaue so euident and so remarkable blessings to mens Preaching Consider more particularly that which he hath done now His Maiestie hath accompanied his most gracious Letter to the most Reuerend Father in God my Lords Grace of Canterbury with certaine Directions how Preachers ought to behaue themselues in the exercise of that part of their Ministerie These being deriued from his Grace in due course to his reuerend Brethren the other Bishops our worthy Diocesan euer vigilant for the Peace and vnitie of the Church gaue a speedy very speedy intimation thereof to the Clergie of his Iurisdiction so did others to whom it appertain'd so to doe in theirs Since that his Maiestie who alwayes taking good workes in hand loues to perfect his owne works hath vouchsafed to giue some Reasons of this his proceeding which being signified by him to whom the State and Church owes much The right Reuerend Father in God the Bishop of Lincolne Lord Keeper of the great Seale and after by him also who began at first his Maiesties pleasure appearing thereby as he is too Great and too Good a King to seeke corners or disguises for his actions that these proceedings should be made publique I was not willing only but glad to haue my part therein that as in the seare of God I haue alwaies preached to you the Gospell of Christ Iesus who is the God of your Saluation So in the testimony of a good Conscience I might now preach to you the Gospel of the Holy ghost who is the God of peace of vnitie and concord These Directions then and the Reasons of them by his Maiesties particular care euery man in the Ministery may see write out in the seuerall Registers Offices with his owne hand for nothing and for very little if hee vse the hand of another Perchance you haue at your conuenience you may see them When you do you shall see That his Maiesties generall intention therein is to put a difference between graue and solid from light and humerous preaching Origen does so when vpon the Epistle to the Romanes he sayes There is a great difference Inter praedicare docere A man may teach an Auditory that is make them know something that they knew not before and yet not Preach for Preaching is to make them knowthings appertaining to their saluation But when men doe neither neither Teach nor Preach but as his Maiestie obserues the manner to bee To soare in poynts too deepe To muster vp their owne Reading To display their owne Wit or Ignorance in medling with Ciuill matters or as his Maiestie addes in rude and vndecent reuiling of persons this is that which hath drawen downe his Maiesties piercing Eye to see it and his Royall care to correct it Hee corrects it by Christs owne way Quid ab initio by considering how it was at first for as himselfe to right purpose cites Tertullian Id verum quod primum That is best which was first Hee would therefore haue vs conuersant in Antiquitie For Nazianzen askes that question with some scorne Quis est qui veritatis propugnatorem vnius diei spatio velut e luto statuam fingit Can any man hope to make a good Preacher as soone as a good Picture In three or foure dayes or with three or foure Books His Maiesty therfore cals vs to look Quid primum what was first in the whole Church And againe Quid primum when we receiued the Reformation in this Kingdom by what meanes as his Maiestie expresseth it Papistry was driuen out and Puritanisme kept out and wee deliuered from the Superstition of the Papist and the madnesse of the Anabaptists as before hee expresseth it and his religious and iudicious eye sees clearly That all that Doctrine which wrought this great cure vpon vs in the Reformation is contained in the two Catechisines in the 39. Articles and in the 2. Bookes of Homilies And to these as to Heads and Abundaries from whence all knowledge necessarie to saluation may abundantly be deriu'd hee directs the meditations of Preachers Are these new wayes No way new for they were our first way in receiuing Christianity and our first way in receiuing the Reformation Take a short view of them all as it is in the Catechismes as it is in the Articles as it is in the Homilies First you are called backe to the practise of Catechising Remember what Catechising is it is Institutio viua voce And in the Primitiue Church when those persons who comming from the Gentiles to the Christian Religion might haue beene scandalized with the outward Ceremoniall and Rituall worship of God in the Church for Ceremonies are stumbling blockes to them who looke vpon them without their Signification and without the reason of their Institution to auoyd that daunger though they were not admitted to see the Sacraments administred nor the other Seruice of God performed in the Church yet in the Church they receiued Instruction Institution by word of mouth in the fundamentall Articles of the Christian Religion and that was Catechising The Christians had it from the beginning and the Iewes had it too for their word Chanach is of that signification Initiare to enter Traine vp a child in the way he should goe and when he Pro. 22.6 is olde hee will not depart from it Traine vp sayes our Translation in the Text Catechise say our Translators in the Margin according to the naturall force of the
Gods cause and doe not thinke that they haue done all or done enough if they haue done something some one time The Morall man hath said well and well applied it Plutar. A Ship is a Ship for euer if you repaire it So sayes hee Honour is Honour and so say wee A good Conscience is a good Conscience for euer if you repaire it But sayes he well Aliquid famae addendum ne putrescat Honour will putrifie and so will a good Conscience too if it be not repaired He that hath done Nothing must begin and hee that hath done something for Gods cause must doe more if hee will continue his name in the Booke of Life though God leaue no one particular action done for his glorie without glorie as those who assisted his glorie heere haue a glorious Commemoration in this Song In the fifteenth verse Princes haue their place The Princes of Issachar were with Deborah when the King goes to the field Many who are in other cases Priuiledged are by their Tenures bound to goe It is a high Tenure to hold by a Crowne And when God of whome and whome onely they hold that hold so goes into the field it becomes them to goe with him But as God sits in Heauen and yet goes into the field so they of whome God hath said Yee are Gods the Kings of the Earth may stay at home and yet goe too They goe in their assistance to the Warre They goe in their Mediation for Peace They goe in their Example when from their sweetnesse and moderation in their Gouernement at home their flowes out an instruction a perswasion to Princes abroad Kings goe many times and are not thanked because their wayes are not seene and Christ himselfe would not alwayes bee seene In the eight of Iohn he would not be seene When they tooke vp stones to stone him he withdrew himselfe inuisibly hee would not be seene When Princes find that open actions exasperate they doe best if they be not seene In the sixth of Iohn Christ would not bee seene When they would haue put vpon him that which was not fit for him to take when they would haue made him King he withdrew himselfe and was not seene When Princes are tempted to take Territories or possessions in to their hands to which other Princes haue iust pretences they doe best if they withdrawe themselues from engagements in vnnecessarie Warres for that that onely was Iofiahs 2. Reg. 23.29 ruine Kings cannot alwayes goe in the sight of Men and so they lose their thankes but they cannot goe out of the sight of God and there they neuer lose their reward For the Lord that sees them in secret shall reward them openly with peace in their owne States and Honour in their owne Chronicles as here for assisting his cause hee gaue the Princes of Issachar a roome a straine in Deborah and Barakes Song And in the ninth verse the Gouernors the great Officers haue their place in this praise My heart is towards the Gouernors of Israel that offered themselues willingly It is not themselues in person Great Officers cannot doe so They are Intelligences that moue great Spheares but they must not bee mou'd out of them But their glorie here is their willingnesse That before they were inquired into how they carried themselues in their Offices before they were intimidated or soupled with fines and ransomes voluntarily they assisted the cause of God Some in the Romane Church write that the Cardinalls of that Church are so incorporated into the Pope so much of his body and so bloud of his bloud that in a feuer they may not let bloud without his leaue Truly the great Persons and Gouernors in any state are so noble and neere parts of the King as that they may not bleed out in any subuentions and assistances of such causes vnder-hand as are not auowd by the King for it is not euident that that cause is Gods cause at least not euident that that way is an assistance of Gods cause But a good and tractable and ductile disposition in all courses which shall lawfully bee declared to bee for Gods glorie then not Contra but Praeter not against but besides not in opposing but in preuenting the Kings will before hee vrge before he presse to be willing and forward in such assistances this giues great Persons Gouernors and Officers a verse in Baraks and Deborahs Song and Deborah and Baraks Song is the Word of God The Merchants haue their place in that verse too For as wee said before those who ride vpon white Asses which was as honorable a transportation as Coaches are now are by Peter Martyr amongst ours and by Serarius the Jesuit amongst others well vnderstood to be the Merchants The greatnesse and the dignitie of the Merchan of the East is sufficiently expressed in those of Babylon Thy Merchants were the great Men of the Earth And for the Merchants of the Apoc. 18.23 West we know that in diuers forraine parts their Nobilitie is in their Merchants their Merchants are their Gentlemen And certainly no place of the world for Commodities and Situation better disposed then this Kingdome to make Merchants great You cannot shew your greatnesse more then in seruing God with part of it you did serue before you were free but here you do both at once for his seruice is perfect freedome I am not here to day to beg a Beneuolence for any particular cause on foot now there is none but my Errand in this first part is first to remoue iealousies and suspitions of Gods neglecting his businesse because he does it not at our appointment and then to promoue and aduance a disposition to assist his cause and his glory in all wayes which shall bee declar'd to conduce thereunto whether in his body by relieuing the poore or in his house by repairing these walls or in his honour in employments more publique And to assure you that you cannot haue a better debter a better pay-master then Christ Iesus for all your Entayles and all your perpetuities doe notso nayle so hoope in so riuet an estate in your posteritie as to make the Sonne of God your Sonne too and to giue Christ Iesus a Childes part with the rest of your Children It is noted perchaunce but out of leuity that your Children doc not keepe that which you get It is but a calumny or but a fascination of ill wishers We haue many happy instances to the contrarie many noble families deriued from you One enough to enoble a World Queene ELIZABETH was the great granchild of a Lord Maior of London Our blessed God blesse all your Estates and blesse your posteritie in a blessed enioying therof But truly it is a good way to that amongst all your purchases to purchase a place in Barak and Deborahs Song a testimonie of the Holy Ghost that you were forward in all due times in the assistance of Gods cause That testimonie in this Seruice
shall proceede first the Warre which wee are to speake of here is not as before a Worldly warre it is a Spirituall War And then the Munition the prouision for this warre is not as before temporall assistance of Princes Officers Iudges Merchants all sorts of People but it is the Gospell of Christ Iesus and the preaching thereof Preaching is Gods ordinance with that Ordinance hee fights from heauen and batters downe all errors And thirdly to maintain this War he hath made Preachers Stars and vae simon woe be vnto them if they doe not fight if they doe not preach But yet in the last place they must fight as the Stars in heauen doe In their order in that Order and according to those directions which they to whom it appertaines shall giue them for that is to fight in Order And in these foure branches wee shall determine this second part First then we are in Contemplation of a Spirituall warre now though there be a Beatie Pacifici a blessing reserued to Peace-makers to the Peace-maker our Peaoe-maker who hath sometimes effected it in some places and alwayes seriously and chargeably and honourably endeuoured it in all places yet there is a spirituall Warre in which Maledicti Pacifici Cursed bee they that goe about to make Peace and to make all one The warres betweene Christ and Beliall Let no man seuer those whom God hath ioyned but let no Man ioyne those whom God hath seuered neyther and God hath seuered Christ and Belial and that was Gods action Ponam inimicitias The Seed of the woman and the Seed of the Serpent wee and the Deuill should neuer haue fallen out wee agree but too well but God hath put an enmity betweene vs. God hath put Truth and Falshood Jdolatrie and Sinceritie so farre asunder and infused such an incompatibilitie and imprinted such an implacabilitie betweene them as that they cannot flow into one another And therefore there Maledicti Pacifici It is an opposition against God by any colourable Modifications to reconcile opinions diametrally contrary to one another in fundamentall things Day and Night may ioyne and meet In Diluculis and in Crepusculis The dawning of the day in the Morning and the shutting in of the day in the Euening make day and night so much one as sometimes you cannot tell which to call them but Lux tenebrae light and darknes Midnight and Noone neuer met neuer ioynd There are points which passions of men and vehemence of disputation haue carried farther a sunder then needed and these indeed haue made the greatest noyse because vpon these for the most part depends the matter of profit and Beati pacifici blessed were that labour and that labourer that could reconcile those things and of that there might bee hope because it is often but the Persons that fight it is not the thing the matters are not so different But then there are matters so different as that a Man may sit at home and weepe and wish prayse God that hee is in the right and pray to God for them that are in the wrong but to thinke that they are indifferent and all one Maledicti Pacifici hee that hath brought such a Peace hath brought a curse vpon his owne Conscience and laid not a Satisfastion but a Stupefaction vpon it A Turke might perchance say in scorne of vs both They call you Heretiques you call them Idolaters why might not Idolaters and Heretiques agree well enough together But a true Christian will neuer make Contrarieties in fundamentall things indifferent neuer make foundations and superedifications the Word of God and the Traditions of men all one Euery man is a little world sayes the Philosopher Euery man is a little Church too and in euery man there are two sides two armies the flesh fights against the Spirit This is but a Ciuill warre nay it is but a Rebellion indeed and yet it can neuer be absolutely quenched So euery man is also a Souldier in that great and generall warre betweene Christ and Beliall the Word of God and the will of man Euery man is bound to hearken to a peace in such things as may admit peace in differences where men differ from men but bound also to shut himselfe vp against all ouertures of peace in such things as are in their Nature irreconcileable in differences where men differ from God That warre God hath kindled and that warre must bee maintain'd and maintain'd by his way and his way and his Ordinance in this warre is Preaching If God had not said to Noah Fac tibi Arcam and when he had said so if he had not giuen him a Deseigne a Modell a Platforme of that Arke we may doubt credibly whether euer man would haue thought of a Ship or of any such way of trade Commerce Shipping was Gods owne Inuention and therein Laetentur Insulae as Dauid sayes Let the Ilands reioyce So also if Christ had not said to his Apostles Ite praedicate Goe and preach And when he had said so said thus much more Qui non crediderit damnabitur Hee that beleeues not your Preaching shall be damned certainly man would neuer haue thought of such a way of establishing a kingdome as by Preaching No other Nation had any such Institution as Preaching In the Romane State there was a publique Officer Conditor Precum who vpon great emergent occasions deprecations of imminent dangers or Gratulations for euident benefites did make particular Collects answerable to those occasions And some such occasionall Panegyriques and gratulatory Orations for temporall benefites they had in that State But a fixt and constant course of conteining Subiects in their Religious and Ciuill duties by preaching onely God ordain'd onely his Children enioy'd Christ when he sent his Apostles did not giue them a particular command Ite orate goe and pray in the publique Congregation All Nations were accustomed to that Christ made no doubt of any mans opposing or questioning Publique Prayer and therefore for that he onely said Sic orabitis Not goe and pray but when you pray pray thus hee instructed them in the forme the dutie was well knowne to all before But for Preaching He himselfe was anointed for that The Spirit of the Lord is vpon me Esa. 61.1 because the Lord hath anoynted mee to preach His vnction was his function He was anoynted with that power and hee hath anoynted vs with part of his owne vnction All power is giuen vnto mee sayes hee in Heauen and in Earth and therefore as he addes there Goe yee and preach Because I haue all Math. 28 19. power for preaching take yee part of my power and preach too For Preaching is the power of God vnto Saluation and the sauour of life vnto life When therefore the Apostle sayes Quench not the Spirit Nec in te nec in alio 1 Thes. 5. 19. sayes Aquinas Quench it not in your selfe by forbearing to heare the Word preached quench it not in