gather them under her shadow there shall the vultures also be gathered every one with her mate Seek in the book of God and read none of these shall fayle For more confirmation hereof consider the subversion of Abbies they were founded by religious men in their generations to a good purpose their situation was as the garden of the Lord like the land of Egypt as thou goest unto Zoar as Moses speaks of the plaine of Jordan before the destruction of Sodome and Gomorrah they stretched their towers up to the heavens like the Pyramides of Egypt but behold the Lord hath wiped them as a man wipeth a dish which he wipeth and turneth up side downe They are now the fittest places for the raven to build in habitations for Dragons and courts for Ostriches they stand but as Aristotle saith quod stat movetur they stand so as they are moving to a fall in the plasantest vallies of the land as the reliques of Babel in the vallie of Sinar or like a cottage in a vineyard like a lodge in a garden of cucumbers and like a besieged and defaced city dropping down by joynts as a thief rotteth from the gibbet What were their sinnes which brought so heavy a judgement upon them suppose they were as they were indeed the sinnes of Sodome pride fulnesse of bread mercilesnesse towards the poor and abundance of idlenesse Now if these sins of some few or suppose the greater part certain it is that all were not such som were industrious som humble som merciful towards the needy some of a moderate and spare dyet if these sinnes I say brought so heavy a judgement upon those houses that they are in comparison of that they were before like the stump of Dagon when his head and the two palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold in Ashdod or the remainders of Jezabel when the hungry dogges had eaten her up so that there was no more found of her then the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands insomuch that none can say this is Jezabel these be the houses they were before shall we think that their houses shall continue for ever which turn Bethel into Bethaven the house of God into a house of vanity which take the childrens bread and cast it unto dogges which with the consecrated things of the altar maintain their own pompe feed their Hawkes their Horses keep but I stay my self 18. After the Church-robber comes the grinding oppressour another great plague which sits sore upon the skirts of our land He saith unto his gold thou art my God and to the wedge of gold thou art my confidence And instead of counting godlinesse great gain he accounteth gain great godlinesse he addeth house to house and land to land as if the way to the spiritual Canaan laid all by land and not through a red sea of death He brayeth the people as in a mortar and grindeth the faces of the poor He selleth the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of shooes he eateth up the poor as if they were bread Vtpisces saepe minutos Magnu ' comest ut aves enecat accipiter As a Pike devoureth the little fishes and as a goshauk kils the smaller birds hee gathereth the livings of the poorer sort into his own hands as the great Ocean drinketh the rivers hee enhaunceth his rents and pilleth his poor tenants and doubleth yea treableth their fines telling them with young Rhehoboam that his little finger shall be heavier then his fathers loynes Not contented with this cruelty he thrusteth them out of their houses and depopulateth whole townes and villages making those streets which used to be sown with the seed of men Pastures for the sending out of bullocks and for the treading of sheep One justly complaineth of our English sheep that whereas in former times they were the meekest beasts of the field and contented themselves with a little are now become so fierce and greedy that they devour men and town-fields and houses and villages and lay all waste insomuch that that which the Psalmist speaketh of Israel spoiled by his enemies may be verified of our Jacob also They have devoured Jacob and laid waste his dwelling places Surely the very stone out of the wall doth cry against these men and the beam out of the timber doth answer it woe unto him that buildeth his house with bloud and erecteth his wals by iniquity While the spleen swelleth the body languisheth and it may justly be feared that if our good Physitian do not in time purge these tumorous and swelling members they will cause a lienterie in the body politick God forbid that this flourishing kingdome which sometime hath deserved that title which Cyneus Embassadour unto Pyrrhus gave unto Rome when he called it a City of Kings should ever deserve that title which one gives unto France when he cals it a kingdome of asses by reason of the burdens that are laid upon the baser sort by their superiours 19 Therefore it behoves you and as many as sit at the sterne of justice not to sleep with Jonas while the ship is tossed with these mighty winds nor to be carelesse in a matter so neerly concerning the good of this Common-wealth Gird you with your swords upon your thighes O yee men of might according to your worship and renown ride on because of the word of truth and righteousnesse and let your right hand teach you terrible things But if you shall be negligent herein surely as Mordecai said to Hester help and deliverance shall come from another place For doubtlesse the crie of the afflicted is already ascended into the eares of the Lord of hosts and he will take the matter into his own hand Believe it it is his own promise Now for the comfortlesse troubles sake of the needy and because of the deep sighing of the poor I will up saith God and will deliver him from such as vex him and will restore him to rest I will prosecute this point no further onely let me tell these locusts that their goods whereunto they trust are but a broken staffe of reed whereunto if a man leane it will peirce into his hand that their pleasures are but as Dalilab was to Samson even gyevs and fetters of Satan to entangle them that their gold will be as a milstone about their necks to carry them down headlong into the pit that their hands and goods are as a bunch upon a Camels back which will not suffer them to enter in at the needles eye the narrow way that leadeth to heaven that those goods which by grinding and oppressing they have scraped together the Lord will fan them away with the fan of 〈◊〉 unlesse as Daniel said to Nabuchadnezzar they break off their sinnes by righteousnesse and their iniquity by mercy towards the poore and that which they
third heaven and it was this that men died in that Citie of Kings as well as in other places But it may be truly said of this that it is not Vrbs regum but regnum regum a Kingdome of Kings not the meanest doore-keeper there but weares a Crown beset with more precious jewels then the Jaspâ—r and the Onix stone And here is that which makes up their felicity that the Crown shall never â—ade as appears by that which hath been spoken their joy shall never faile their Sunne shall never set their life shall never end Is not here honour enough Indeed neither houses nor Cities nor wealth nor honours will satisfie some unlesse they may fare well and have store of dainties therefore it s elsewhere likened to a wedding feast of a Kings sonne where nothing is wanting which may delight the heart of man 1. Costly apparell 2. Curious and exquisite musick 3. Great provision of all kinds of dishes c. All these which I have named are but spoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherby the holy Ghost would have us gather the unspeakable joys of this Kingdom as Pythagoras from the print of Hercules his foot in the games of Olympus did gather the bigness of his whole body This is not all faire houses goodly Cities wealth and riches honours and Kingdoms so rich apparell delicate fare c. joyne them all together and without good neighborhood they are like Jericho 2 Kin. 2. whose situation was pleasant but the waters naught When Themistocles was about to sel an house in Athens he made the Cryer proclaim that he that would buy that house should have a good neighbour with it He that gets this House this Citie this Kingdome wee have spoken of shall be sure of a good neighbour he shall have the society of innumerable Angels and the spirits of just and perfect men and of God the Judge of all and Jesus the Mediator of the New Testament who can wish better company An unwise man doth not consider these things and a foole cannot understand them The reason is he wants a spirituall eye and spiritual things must be spiritually discerned and thinks himselfe never rich enough another thinks he hath never preferment enough another is so addicted to the pleasures of this world that he never thinks he hath enough every one is desirous to have his abode here It was Peters errour Bonum est esse hic Let us here build us tabernacles Here will I dwell for I have a delight herein And the holy Ghost saith of Peter That hee wist not what he said Mar. 9. 6. It 's true of us too we wote not what we say we make not that comparison wee should between this present and future life we think of the moment any pleasures of the one which notwithstanding is mingled with much bitternesse we think not upon peradventure we believe not the eternity of the other Like bruit Beasts the most are carried with carnall sensuality and regard the present they consider not that which is to come If a Beast could speak he would say that hee is in a more happy estate then men the reason is because he feeleth his owne pleasures but he hath not the wit to consider the felicity of man Man can speak and he saith at least in his heart he thinketh that he is in a more happy estate then the Angels in heaven he feels his owne felicity which indeed is a misery and no felicity he wants a spiritual understanding to judg of theirs I remember what Aelian reports of Nicostratus an excellent Painter this Nicostratus seeing the picture of Helena which was painted by Zeuxis did very earnestly look upon it being much amazed at the curiousnesse of the work-manship An ignorant man that had no skill in painting and therefore thought that he had seen many pictures as good as that came unto him and asked him the reason why he did so much admire that image Oh quoth Nicostratus if thou hadst mine eyes thou wouldst never ask me that question but be as much astonied with it as I am The faithfull Christian looking with the eyes of faith upon this Kingdom mentioned in my Text Explorimentem nequit ardescitque tuendo and prizeth it above 1000. worlds all of gold and pearl the carnall man seeing him laughs at him and calls him a Gods fool he seeth no reason why he should be so astonied at the contemplation of that which is so high above his reach and so far beyond his horizon as hee by his naturall understanding cannot attaine unto I am better perswaded of you that hear me this day though I speak these things only for conclusion let me exhort you nay with Austin hortor vos omnes clarissimi â—eque ipsum that seeing the riches of this Kingdome is such as cannot be valued the excellency such as cannot be expressed the joyes such as cannot be conceived the durance such as cannot be ended let us not with Aesops Cock prefer a barly-corne the transitory trash of this world before this precious pearle for which the wise Lapidary will part with all he hath that he may purchase it Let us not with Esau preferre a messe of Pottage before our Birth-right nay with the Israelites accompt more of the stinking Garlick and Onions of Aegypt then of the Milke and Honey of this spirituall Canaan but as the Spies which were sent from the Danites to view Laish Judg. 18. said to their brethren at their returne We have seene the land and surely it is very good arise and let us not be sloathfull to goe and enter to possesse it And if the old Gaules adventured their lives over the rocky Alpes and encountered all their cruell Enemies the Italians that they might have their fill of the Hetrurian Wine and Figs of Tuscanie And if the Queen of the South adventured her selfe from Sheba or Meroe in Aethiopia through the vast Wildernesses in Africk and the sandy Desarts of Arabia to Jerusalem to see Solomon and to conferre with him shall not wee with patience swallow up all those calamities which may befall us in the wildernesse of this world And in despight of all opposition by evill or Devill let us boldly hold on our journey to the new and holy Jerusalem which is above where we shall see and conferre with the true Solomon Jesus Christ the righteous the mighty God the everlasting father the King of peace Isa 9. of whom we may more truly say then shee did of that Solomon It was a true word that I heard in mine owne land of thy sayings and of thy wisdome but loâ— the one halfe was not told mee Happy are the men happy are thy servants which stand ever before thee and heare thy wisdome For the better performance of our duties in this journey let us remember that every one hath a double calling one general another particular in both these let us do our utmost endeavor to spend that little time which
with his own hands No lesse comfort will it be to us when we can perswade our owne soules that such trees we have planted in the Lords garden such sheep we have brought into Christs sheepfold if every of us can say to the great Arch-bishop of our souls when he shall keep his visitation Here am I and the children thou hast given me Adde last of all that Crown of righteousnesse wherewith our service shall be rewarded at the last day Those that have beene his faithfull witnesses here on earth when the earth shall be no more shall be as the Moon and as the faithfull witnesse in heaven And whereas those which follow wisdome shall shine ut expansum as that which is stretched out over our heads the Firmament those that turne many unto righteousnesse and let no painful Minister be discouraged if the fruit of his labours fall short of his expectation We are but Gods Instruments Except the Lord keep the Citie the watch-man watcheth but in vaine Except the Lord build the house their labour is but lost that build it Paul may plant and Apollos water but to no purpose unless God give an encrease Jeremiah thundered out Gods judgments against the sins of Jerusalem the space of 50. yeares and she was more obstinate in the end then at the beginning Esay preached 64. some say 74. years and profited little for all his pains Noah preached 120. years to the old World and we do not read of one person he converted Let it be our desire and studie to turne many unto righteousnesse and our reward shall be with our God He that accepteth the will for the deed will as surely reward us as if we had done the deed So then as I was about to say whereas those that follow wisdome shall be as the thinner parts of heaven or as the Lacteus Circulus which is caused of the confluence of the beames of those heavenly torches Those that turne many unto righteousnesse shall be as the thicker parts of the celestiall Orbe and shall shine as the starrs of heaven for evermore The sixth Sermon JER 22. 3. Thus saith the Lord Execute yee Judgement and Righteousnesse THREE things there were amongst the Gentiles to which they dreaming they had them from God trusting too much disadvantaged themselves and gave occasion of rejoycing to their Enemies First their twelve Ancilia or Targets one of which they say fell from Jupiter into the hands of Numa Secondly their Palladium which fell from Heaven into a certain Temple in Phrygia being then without Roofe Thirdly and the Image of Pessinuntia dea or Idaea mater the Mother of their Gods which the Romans with great cost and paines brought from Pesinuns a Town in Asia the lesse to Rome and placed in the Temple of their Goddesse Victoria as a meanes to perpetuate and eternize the felicity of that State The Jewes likewise had three things which they said and said truly they had from God The Temple and the Ark and the Law which because they looked no further into then the out-side and externall Superficies of them as if a man should busie himselfe with picking and licking the Shell of a Nut and neglect the Kernell or rest satisfied with keeping a true measure and ballance in his house and never use them or as if a Scholler should content himselfe with looking on the Cover and Strings of his Book and never open it nor learn the Contents thereof brought many Calamities upon them and at length proved their destruction as long as the Temple was in the City and the Ark in the Temple and the Law in the Ark they thought all sure they themselves were called the people of God their City the City of God in it they had the Temple of God and the Ark of God and the Law of God What was wanting verily as much as is wanting to a good Souldier when he hath his Sword hanging by his side and never offers to draw it when the Enemy assaults him or to the Office of a Judge when he sits on the Bench having the Scales painted over his head but speaks not a word Against this remisnesse not to give it a worse name the Prophet exclaimes the Law is dissolved then the Letters remain in the Book the practise is perished Judgment never goes forth Defluxit lex Hab 14. its a metaphor borrowed from the Pulse a mans bodily constitution may be known by his Pulse if it be fallen down and give over beating the man is in the pangs of Death or dead already if vehement he is in a hot Feaver if temperate he is in good health The Law is the Pulse of the Common-Wealth if it move not the Body Politick is dead if its motion be violent its sick of a hot Ague if moderate and equall it s well affected In the dayes of our Prophet the Pulses of the Law were quiet no more motion in them then in the dead Sea which neither ebbs nor flowes Judgment was fallen and Justice could not enter the faithfull City was become an Harlot her Princes Rebells and Companions of Theeves every one loved Gifts and followed after Rewards they judged not the Fatherlesse neither did the cause of the Widow come before them Isa 1. They had altogether broken the Yoke and burst the Bonds Jer. 5. 5. Whereupon the Lord sends his Prophet to the King of Judah and his Servants that is his chiefe Officers and Magistrates with this Charge that if they desired to continue their Possessions in that good Land which he had given them and to escape a miserable slavery and captivity under cruell Tyrants in a strange and Idolatrous Country into which for their sinnes he was ready to bring them they should put life into the Law that the Pulses thereof might be perceived to move Execute Judgment And because the corruption of mans nature commonly runs from one extream to another in vitium ducit culpae fuga here quires that this Judgment be not too violent but moderate and equitable Execute Judgment and righteousnesse that is righteous Judgment For the Law like a mans shooe Si pede major erit subvertit si minor urit if it be too wide it will give Liberty to the Foot to tread awry if too strait it will pinch it But what hath a private man to do in matters of State what Commission hath Jeremy a Priest to come to the Court of a mighty King and to tell him and his Nobles of their duties Surely a very strange one He who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords had set him over Nations and over Kingdomes to pluck up and to root out Jer. 1. sends him now as his Embassadour into the Kings house and gives him instruction what he shall speak Thus saith the Lord God esteem not my Message according to the quality of my person for though I be meane in place and of small reputation yet my Errant is of another nature I
SERMONS PREACHED UPON Severall Occasions BY LANCELOT DAWES D. D. Now Minister of Barton in Westmorland and sometimes fellow of Queens Colledge in Oxford MATH 23. 37 38. O Jerusalem Jerusalem how often would I have gathered c. LONDON Printed for Humphrey Robinson at the three Pigeons in St. Pauls Church-yard MDCLIII The Contents First Sermon Gods Mercies and Jeusalems miseries Ieremie 5. 1. Runne to and fro by the streets of Jerusalem and behold now and know and inquire to the open places thereof If yee find a man or if there be any that executeth Judgment and seeketh the truth and I will spare it pag. 1. Second Sermon Matth. 26. 15. What will yee give me and I will deliver him unto you pag. 53. Third Sermon Matth. 27. 3 4. Then Judas which betrayed him saw that he was condemned repented himself and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the Chief Prieâ—ts and Elders saying I have sinned betraying the Innocent bloud but they said what is that to us see thou to that and when he had cast down the silver pieces in the Temple c. pag. 89. Fourth Sermon Psal 82. 6 7. I have said ye are gods but you shall dye like men pag. 105. Fift Sermon Galat. 3. 10. As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse for it is written cursed is every man that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them pag. 139. Sixt Sermon preached at the funeral of Dr. Senhouse Bishop of Carlile Job 14. 14. If a man die shall he live again all the dayes of my appointed time will I wait till my changing come pag. 159. The second part Four Sermons on this Text. Luk. 12. 32. Fear not little flock for it is your fathers pleasure to give you the kingdome pag 1. The second Sermon upon the same pag. 30. The third Sermon upon the same pag. â—5 The fourth Sermon upon the same pag. â—â— Fifth Sermon Matth. 7. 22 23. Many will say unto me that day Lord Lord have not we by thy name prophesied and then I will professe to them I never knew you pag. 93. Sixth Sermon Jer. 22. 3. Thus saith the Lord Execute yee Judgement and Righteousnesse pag. 129. GODS MERCIES AND IERVSALEMS MISERIES JEREMIE 5. 1. ¶ Runne to and fro by the streets of Jerusalem and behold now and know and inquire to the open places thereof if ye can find a man or if there be any that executeth Judgement and seeketh the Truth and I will spare it MAny means did the Lord use to reclaim Jerusalem from her rebellion against him by sundry commemorations of his benefits he wooed her by the sweet promises of the Gospel he incited her by the captivity of her sister Samaria he forewarned her but yet she continued like her forefathers a faithlesse and stubborn generation a generation that set not her heart aright she runs still on a wrong Bias in stead of being a faithfull Spouse she becomes a filthie harlot and playeth the Whore upon every hie mountain and under every green tree her wine is mixed with water her silver is become drosse her Princes rebels and companions of theeves and as she growes in years so she increaseth in all impieties she which at the first did onely pull little sinnes with the small cordes of vanity doth now draw greater transgressions with the huge cartropes of iniquity so that now from the sole of her foot to the crown of her head there is nothing sound in her but wounds and swellings and sores full of corruption In this case God which cannot abide wickednesse neither can any evil dwell with him as the Psalmist speaketh begins to loath her and to give her up into the hands of her most savage and cruell enemies the Chaldeans who shall defile the holy Temple and make Jerusalem a heap of stones Oh but shall the husband be so unkind to his Spouse whom he hath married unto himself shall a Father be so severe to his child shall the God of mercy be so unmerciful unto his chosen Shall not the judge of the world do right farre be it from God that hee should slay the righteous with the wicked God answereth that there is no reason why she should repine against him or accuse him of cruelty her Apostasie is so generall her disease like a Gangraena is spread through every member of the body her malice is so incurable that he cannot without impeachment of his justice spare her any longer Runne to and fro by the streets of Jerusalem c. as if he had said O yee men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem do not say that your teeth are set on edge because your fathers have eaten sowre grapes do not object that my wayes are not equal it is your wayes that are unequal it is your sins that brings this heavy doom upon your heads whether this be so or not you your selves be Judges for I beseech you seek up and down not in the Countrey towns onely and villages of Judah but in the Metropolis of the whole Kingdome in the holy City run through every corner of it search and enquire in the houses and allies and back-lanes and high streets thereof marke their conditions observe their practises consider their behaviour take a full view of their whole carriage if after such enquiry there be found but one man amongst the whole multitude that feareth me or maketh any conscience of his wayes and I will spare the whole City for that one mans sake but if after you have sought man by man there be not one godly man found amongst them all think it not cruelty if now at length I inflict in justice my judgements upon her the summe is contained in this short proposition I will spare Jerusalem if there can one righteous man be found in her Wherein wee may observe these two principall points Gods mercy in that hee would have spared Jerusalem for one mans sake Jerusalems misery in that not one righteous man can bee found in her the former I deliver in this proposition Gods mercy in sparing doth exceed his justice in punishing and with this wee will beginne But alas who am I dust and ashes that I should intreat of this Subject it is a bottomelesse depth who can dive into it it is an unaccessible light who can behold it if the Heathen Simonides after three dayes study how to describe God was further from any resolution in the latter end then when he first began nay if Moses a man more familiar with God then any that ever lived upon the face of the earth when he was put in a clift of a rock and covered with Gods hands could not behold the glory of his face then may it not seem strange if the tongues of men and Angels faile in describing the very back parts of this one
in Purgatorie The Beasts of the Land that is the men of this world The fowles of the heaven that is the souls of the blessed which the Pope hath canonized Here are two swords that is the Pope hath the managing of both swords Civil and Ecclesiastical an Exposition not altogether so harsh as that which Baronius brought of late to prove that the Pope had authority not only to feed Christs Sheep but also to punish with death such as resist his Papal dignitie because he which said Peter feed my sheep said also Arise Peter and kill if he had pressed the Text a little further he might by the same Argument have proved his Holy Father to be an Antropophagus or Caniball because it is not simply said Arise Peter and kill but Arise Peter kill and eat unless he had Bellarmines wit who proveth the Popes Supremacy not from the first word kill but from the second word eat But the main fault in Religion which hastened Gods judgements upon Jerusalem was her idolatry She changed her God She forsook the fountain of living waters and digged unto her self even broken pits which would hold no water she played the harlot upon every high mountain and under every green tree She said unto a tree thou art my father and to a stone thou hast begotten me Whether Rome go not beyond her in this particular he that hath but half an eye may plainly see Cur natos toties crudelis tu quoque falsis Ludis imaginibus We do not read of many Idols that were famous amongst the Jews there was Ashtoreth the God of the Sidonians and Milcom the abhomination of the Moabites and Chemosh the abhomination of the children of Ammon and Baal and a few more but the Idols which Papists have invented are so many that Rome can scarce finde room for placing them She is more like to the old Gentiles who did acknowledge one chief Jupiter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Jupiter Omnipotens qui res hominumque Deûmque Aeternis regis imperiis But he had three hundred under him which they worshipped as gods though the Papists acknowledge one supreme power yet are there three hundred to whom they perform that worship which is due onely unto God and as they had twelve which they counted greater gods which Ennius containeth in these old verses Juno vesta Minerva Ceres Diana Venus Mars Mercurius Jovis Neptunus Vulcanus Apollo Whom they hold to be of Gods Privy Councel but many lesser gods and goddesses for particular purposes as for their waters Lympha for her Gardens Pomona for their grounds Terminus c So the Papists have the twelve Apostles which with the Platonists they use as Mediatours betweene them and the high God unto which they have added the Virgine Marie thinking especially by her intercession to have their desires as the Trojans in the Poet used the mediation of Venus to obtain favour of Jupiter Now for particular matters there is scarce any thing but they have a God or Goddesse for it When they are in feare of the plague they pray to Sebastian against the falling sicknesse to Valentine against sudden death to Christopher against the Ring-worm to Anthony Now then as Pythagoras from the print of Hercules his foote in the games of Olympus did collect the bignesse of his whole body So from these few things which have been spoken you may gather how far Rome hath declined from her former purity and how well she may paralel with Jerusalem in my Text. I might take occasion to speak of that preheminence which the Pope challengeth over all Christian Kings Gods immediate Deputies on earth by reason of a supposed Authority given unto Peter whose successor he pretendeth himselfe to be the very same argument in substance by which the Turk claimeth the Westerne Empire because he succeedeth Constantine or hee that married Tullies wife laid claim to his learning because hee had married his executor all Pinces must hold their Scepters from him all Nations must couch downe before him and all kingdomes must doe him service Here Jerusalem dare not stand out in comparison with Rome her high Priests were never come to that height of impudencie as to set up their heads above the Lords anointed When Tyberius observed the base servitude which the Romanes used towards him hee could not chuse but crie out O homines natos ad servitutem he that considereth how vilely and servilely she which sometime was the Emperesse of the World doth obey him which is stiled a servant of servants he may well use Tyberius his words or those of the Poet. Roma tibi quondam suberant domini dominorum Servorum servi nunc tibi sunt domini but this onely by the way From her religion let us come to her conversation and manner of living Ierusalem was as corrupt in life as she was in religion She did steale murther and commit adulterie and sweare falsly Her Inhabitants from the least to the the greatest were given to covetousnesse and from the Prophet unto the Priest they all dealt falsly In the wings was found the blood of souls of the poor innocents How farre Rome goeth beyond Ierusalem even in this also wee may have a little taste in our holy English Catholicks the remainder of the Romish Church and the onely true Professors if yee will believe them of the ancient faith in this Kingdome but trie them by the works of regeneration the principall bodie of true Christianitie and you shall finde that in prophanation of Gods Sabbath in swearing and blaspheming in lying and cozening in drunkennesse and whoredome in oppression and all unconscionable dealings they are for the most part the very scumme and excrements of this land And why should they make conscience of these sinnes seeing their holy Mother is as it were a faire royall Exchange where any sinne may be bought at a reasonable rate Nothing more common then what do you lack or what will you buy c. A pardon for your sinnes past or for any sinne you shall hereafter commit a toleration for common Stewes for but I dare not name it dispensation for incestuous marriages or any thing else you shall have it if you can agree for the price shall I say all in a word She is a hell of impieties a habitation of Devils and the hold of foul spirits and a cage of every uncleane and hatefull bird And therefore I lesse marvell why Friar Mantuan should be so bitter against her corruptions in his time Sanctus ager scurris venerabilis ara cinaedis Servit honorandae divum Ganimedibus aedes And he saith further Nullae hic arcana revelo It was no shriving secrets the Fryar did disclose but such things as all the world could witnesse to be true Bernard is more sharpe against the abuses of his time though the rotten hmours were but then in
gathering when he complaineth that the covetous luxurious ambitious incestuous sacrilegious and all such hellish Monsters did flock to Rome to get a warrant from the Apostolick Sea for their proceedings And that they made no more conscience of sinning then theeves after they had robbed a man by the high way are afraid to divide the spoile Curiae tua recipere honos magis quà m facere consuevit he speakes unto the Pope mali enim illic non proficiunt sed boni deficiunt I intend now to lay open her monstrous cruelties and bloody massacres of such as truly professe the Gospel of Christ in which point she doth very well resemble Shall I say Ierusalem which killed the Prophets and stoned them that were sent to her Nay rather old Rome under Nero as often as the Emperour gave commandement that any should bee slaine or banished saith Tacitus did they give thankes unto God and those things which in former time had been notes of some prosperous success were now the ensigns of publick slaughter Is not this her custom at this day are there any bloody butcherings of Christs flock any cruel murthering of Christian Princes by Romish Jebusites but it shall be received at Rome with Bonefires and Hymns in most triumphant manner all which things when I consider I am fully resolved that a learned Divine of later yeares doth not speak of any malicious humour when he saith that there be three points of divinity he calleth them Capita arcana Theologiae which go current in Rome The first that there is no God the Second that whatsoever is written of Christ is lies and deceits The third that the Doctrine of the resurrection and the last judgement is meerly fabulous now then this being the case of that great and glorious Citie we may well collect that her horrid desolation and fearfull downfall is at hand For there is no state so strong no Citie so fenced but the sinnes of the people will bring it unto destruction which is my third and last proposition out of the second generall branch of my Text whereof I am now by your patience to intreat That Kingdoms and Common-wealths have their periods and downfalls is a conclusion which the premises of all former ages do demonstrate learned Athens stately Sparta rich Babylon victorious Carthage ancient Troy proud Ninive and a thousand more have numbred their years and at this day have no stronger fence then Paper walls to keep their names from oblivion the great enemie of antiquitie Now for the true cause of their subversions it is a truth which the greatest wizards of this world after much study and many serious consultations with nature could never finde out The Epicures attribute it to Fortune the Stoicks to Destinie the Pythagorians to numbers Which last opinion Plato made such reckoning of that he will have numbers to be the sole cause of the transmutations of Common-wealths Whose words be so Aenigmatical that Tullie makes them a Proverb and Marcilius Ficinus invocateth not Oedipus but Apollo to unfold them Aristotle who of all others cometh nearest unto the truth maketh the cause to be a disharmonie in the bodie politick as too much wealth of some few the great miserie of many injurie fear c. I little marvel that Heathen Philosophers should shoot so wide when Christians have so grossely mistaken their mark Bodin how wittie is he in pleading for numbers what vertue doth he attribute to 7. or 9. or 12. and their squares and cubiques How doth he shift himself to prove his opinion sound by instances of the most Common-wealths that have been hitherto in account adding or detracting years at his pleasure from the Calculation of the best Chronologers to make the number square or cubick or spherical or at the least some way consisting of 7. or 9. or of their roots or squares Cardanus hangeth all upon the tail of the greater Bear The common sort of Astrologians refer it to the Planets and Stars making such a scheme at the first foundation of any Citie which made Varro as Plutarch witnesseth so earnest with Taruncius Firmanus to enquire the opposition and aspect of the Planets when Rome was first situated thinking here by to conjecture how long that Empire should endure Copernicus will have the conversion and motion of the center of his imaginary excentricle circle which circle according to him is not caused by the Heavens motion for the Heavens in his opinion are unmoveable but by the earth which he will have to be continually wheeled about to be the cause of these alterations of Common-wealths Thus while they groped in the dark they missed their mark as the Sodomites did Lots door and while they professed themselves wise they became fools And little marvel for the wisdom of this world is foolishnesse with God None of all these have happened on the true cause it is the sins of the people which bringeth every Common-wealth to ruine And how can it be otherwise for if thou lay more weight on the root then the piâ—â—ars can support the house must needs fall Now sin is of such an intollerable weight that no house nor citie nor common-wealth can stand under it but it will presse it down it is a burden to the whole earth and makes it reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man it is a burden to all the creatures and maketh them groan and travel in pain it is a burden to God himself which makes him cry out in the Prophet against the Jews that they had pressed him with their iniquites even as a cart is pressed with sheaves it lay so heavy upon Christs shoulders that it made him sweat drops of blood This burden of it self so heavy like a malefactor that is pressed to death cries for more weight to presse the sinner to the pit of Hell it calls to Heaven for the burden of the Lord that is for vengeance to be inflicted upon the impenitent sinner God in regard of his patience and long suffering is said to have leaden heels he cometh slowly even against his will to punish but in respect of his justice he is said to have iron hands He striketh with a witnesse when once he begins to smite in his proceedings against the sins of men he hath a double method sometimes and this method is most usual when he proceedeth against the sins of his children he comes to them as he came to Elias First he sendeth a mighty strong winde to blow down the tall cedars and cast them to the ground as Paul was before he was converted Then an Earth-quake to shake the flinty rocks I mean the stonie hearts of men and to make them tremble as Felix did when Paul disputed of the judgement to come then a fire to burn up the stubble and consume the bryars and then when these fore-runners like John Baptist have
prepared away for the Lord he comes himselfe in a soft voice the gratious and sweet promises of the Gospell to seale a pardon to such as by the former Judgements are dejected and humbled And this may be termed Gods Ordo compositivus Sometimes and this is more usuall especially when he proceeds against the wicked he taketh a contrary course First he comes in a soft and still voyce to wooe them to himselfe But when they harden their hearts and will not be reclaimed from their evill wayes then at length he will send a fire to devoure them and an Earthquak and mighty strong wind to scatter them away like chaff from the face of the earth and to blow them down even into the bottome of Hell and this I may fitly call Gods ordo resolutivus it is said of Alexander that when he besieged certaine Citie he held out a Lamp proclaiming a pardon to as many as would yeild themselves before the Lamp was burned so the Lord first holdeth out the Lampe of his word whereby he calleth them to submit themselves and gives them a time to deliberate if in the meane time they doe not yeild nothing remaines but death and destruction it is storied of Tamberlain the Scythian that whensoever hee besieged a Citie first he displayed a white flag in token of mercie if they would yeild themselves the second day a red flag threatning blood because they did not in time submit themselves if they continued untill the third day then came out his black flagg menacing utter ruine and desolations this is Gods method First he sets out his white flagg of peace if this be not regarded then comes his red flagge of correction though not of destruction if this will take no place with them then he sets out his black flagge bella horrida bella nothing but death and desolation Downe with it downe with it even to the ground tribulation and anguish fire and brimstone storm and tempest this shall be their portion to drink It s long before he be moved to anger but if the coals of his wrath be kindled O Lord God how terrible will this flame be it will lick up the Sea like dust and melt the mountains like wax and burne to the very bottome of Hell so that nothing in the world will quench it but the blood of the Lambe and the streaming teares of unfeigned repentance cast your eyes to the time of old for wee are but men of yesterday and our dayes on earth are like a shadow as Bildad speaketh in Job and you shall finde my conclusion proved by the occurrents of all ages Sodome that fruitfull and plentifull Citie which was for beautie and pleasure like the garden of God or as the valley of Aegypt as thou goest unto Zoar if the stinke of her sinnes ascend into heaven shall be converted into a stinking Fen for an everlasting remembrance of her iniquity Iericho a goodly place a City of palm-trees a fenced City whose walls reached up to Heaven if she be withall a sinfull and Idolatrous City she and all that is in her both man and woman young and old Oxe and Asse shall be utterly destroyed Babylon which Aristotle for the greatnesse cals rather a region then a City the Empresse of the earth the Princesse of Cities the glory of Kingdomes the beauty and pride of the Caldeans which said I sit as Queene I am no widdow and shall see no mourning If she continue in her sinnes shall bee as the destruction of God in Sodome and Gomorrah it shall not be inhabited for ever neither shall it be dwelled for ever from generation to generation but Zim shall dwell there and their houses shall be full of Ochim Ostriches shall dwell there and the Satyrs shall dance there and Iim shall cry in their Palaces Dragons in their pleasant places so that a man shall be more precious then gold even a man above the wedge of the gold of Ophir It is not her powerfull state nor rich Citizens nor strong wals nor high Towers nor magnificent buildings that shall free her from Gods punishing hand may Ierusalem in my ext the Vine that Gods right hand had planted the Citie of the Grâ—at King the holy place of the Tabernacle of the most high the beauty of Israel the glory of Nations and Princesses of Provinces if shee will not be awaked from her sinnes shall not be much better then the destruction of Sodome and the miserable desolation of dolefull Gomorrah her was shall be turned into heapes of dust her houses consumed her Temple burned her treasurie empty her inhabitants killed Quis cladem illius urbis quis funera fletu Explicet What heart is so flinty which will not melt into teares when it shall thinke of the miserie which did twise befall this one Citie Now all these punishments came upon them for an ensample and and are written to admonish you upon whom the ends of the world are come that you should be armed and warned that you should see and foresee before the time be past ut quorum facta imitamini eorum exitum perhorrescatis that if you tread in their foot-steps you should remember their downfals God is the same God still hee is as strong as ever hee was hee is as just to revenge as ever hee was his Arme is not shortened his strength is not abated his wrath is not turned away from sinne but his hand is stretched out still Sinne may bud in the spring but it withereth before Harvest it may flourish for a time but godlinesse endureth unto the end When the wicked thinketh himselfe the surest when he saith unto his soule Peace Peace and Soule take thy rest Even then there is but one step betweene him and destruction believe the kingly Prophet he speaketh it of his own experience I my selfe have seen the ungodly in great prosperitie and flourishing like a green bay tree what followeth I went by and loe he was gone I sought him and his place could no more be found Behold his covntenance he is but as the grasse upon the house top which withereth before it be pluckt up or as the foame upon the water or as a garment freted with mothes O how suddenly doth he fade perish and come to a fearefull end even as a dreame vanisheth when as one awaketh It is noted of Pyrrhus and Haniball that they could quickly conquer a Citie but they could never keep that which they had once subdued I little marvell that the wicked have great facility in heaping up of riches but I should thinke it strange if they could keep them till the third generation Their wealth is like a snow ball gathered in the fall not without labour and cold fingers and anon after it is melted with the Sunne or washedaway with the raine But alas alas beloved I may here take up the Prophets complaint
fellowes Come and bring wine and wee will fill our selves with strong drink and to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant But few or none will say with those good professors Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us his lawes and we will walk in his paths I think I cannot truly say with Hosea that the Lord hath a controversie with the inhabitants of this land because there is no knowledge of God in the land For our heads are not so sick as our hearts are heavie I mean our heads are not so void of knowledge as our hearts are of obedience but I dare boldly say that which followeth By swearing and lying and killing and stealing and wâ—oâ—ing they break forth and bloud toucheth bloud Will you heare the judgements annexed in the subsequent words Therefore shall the land mourne and every one that dwelleth therein shall be cut off This is a terrible curse and he that dwelleth in heaven still avert it from u but yet it is a conclusion which the Lord useth to inferre upon such premises Give me leave to repeat a paâ—able unto you My beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitfull hill and he hedged it and gathered the stones out of it and he planted it with the best plants and hee built a Tower in the midst and made a winepresse therein The Prophet in that place applieth it to the land of Judah Surely the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the land of Israel and the men of Judah are his pleasant plants me thinks I may not unfitly apply it unto this Island Surely the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the land of Britaine and the men of this land are his pleasant plants Now therefore O ye inhabitants of this land judge I pray you between him and his vineyard what could hee have done unto it that he hath not done He hath planted it with his own right hand he hath so hedged it about with his heavenly providence that the wilde boare out of the woods cannot root it up nor they that go by pull off his grapes He hath watered it most abundantly with the dew of heaven he hath gathered the stones of Popery and superstition out of it hee hath set the winepresse of his word therein hee hath given it a Tower even a king as a strong tower against his enemies whose raigne the Lord continue over us if it be his pleasure as long as the moon knoweth her course and the sun his going down and let all that love the peace of Britaine say Amen Now he hath long expected that it should bring forth grapes but behold it bringeth forth wild grapes Hee looked for judgement but behold oppression for righteousnesse but loâ— a crying These were the sinnes of Jerusalem and you know her judgements hee that was Jerusalems God is Britaines God too and therefore if shee parallel Jerusalem in her iniquities let her take heed shee taste not of her plagues God though he hath not yet begun to punish her in his fury yet hath he sundry times shaked his rod of correction over her if this will not worke amendment her judgement must be the greater Fearfull was the case of Samaria whom Gods punishments could not move to repentance I have given you cleannesse of teeth in all your Cities and scarcenesse of Bread in all your places yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord God I have withholden the raine from you when there was yet three moneths to the harvest and I caused it to raine upon one City and brought a drought upon another yet have yee not returned unto me saith the Lord. Pestilence have I sent amongst you after the manner of Egypt and yet ye have not returned unto me saith the Lord. I have smitten you with blasting and mildew c. yet ye have not returned unto mee saith the Lord God The Lord hath not hitherto dealt with us after our sinnes nor plagued us according to the multitude of our iniquities yet he hath made it manifest that he is displeased with us His mercy hath pulled back his hand from drawing his sword of vengeance against us yet he hath left us sundry tokens that he is angred with our sinnes It is not long since that the heavens were made as brasse and the Earth as yron nay the very waters became as yron or as brasse so that neither the heavens from above nor the earth or water from below did afford comforts for the service of man This extraordinary cold distemperature of the ayre might by an Antiperistasis have kindled some heat of zeal and devotion in our breasts when it had not the expected effect then he Called for a dearth upon the land and destroyed our provision of bread even such a famine that if we were not relieved from forrain countreys Ten women might bake their bread in one Oven as the Lord speaketh Levit. 26. 26. But all this hath not brought us upon our knees nor humbled our soules before our God therefore once againe hee hath put life in his messenger of death and set him on foot which hertofore of late years hath raged in this city like a man of warre and like a gyant refreshed with wine and bestirred himselfe though not with the like violence almost in every part of this kingdom I mean the pestilence that walketh in the darknesse and the sicknesse that hath killed many thousands at noon day all these are infallible tokens that he is offended with our sinnes Howbeit he is so mercifull that he will not suffer his whole displeasure as yet to arise Horum si singula duras Flectere non possunt poterint tamen omnia mentes If each of these by themselves cannot prevaile with us yet if they be all put together they may serve as a threefold cord to draw us unto repentance If these be not of force but still we continue to blow up the coales of his anger then let us know for a certainty that they are the forewarners of a greater evill as the cracking of the house is a forewarning of his fall these be but the flashing lightnings the thunder bolt will come after The cloud that is long in gathering will make the greater storme he is all this while in setting his stroke that hee may give the sorer blow Eurum ad se Zephirumque vocat hee is in bringing the windes out of his treasures that hee may rain upon our heads a showre of vengeance which shall be the portion of all the ungodly to drink I began like a Barnabas I will not end like Boanerges my song had an Exordium of mercy I am loath to bring for an Epilogue a thunderclap of judgement Wherefore my beloved Brethren now that you see the true causes of the ruines of every common-wealth and the judgement that
with old nor new with new nor new with old nor Schoole Doctor with Schoole Doctor nor Fryar with Fryar nor Priest with Priest nor Jesuite with Jesuite nor Pope with Councill nor Pope with Pope nor one with another nor any with God And therefore as he in Plutarch who when he cast a stone at a Dogg happened to light upon his Step-mother sayd That though it was besides his purpose yet it was not greatly amisse Or as the Printer of a learned Treatise when in stead of Cardinales he Printed Carnales although it was besides the intent of the Author yet was it neither incongruous Latine nor false English So if Bellarmine in setting downe the works and rules of the Catholique Romish Church when he made Vnitas for One if in writing of Vnitas he had over-reached a little with his Pen and added one Vowell more and made it Vanitas though it had been beside his owne intendment yet had it neither been beside nor against the truth this being a proper passion immediately flowing from the principles of that Church and consequently an inseparable mark whereby to discerne her But to leave the Papists and with an exhortation to all to make an end of all Is the whole Church of Christ but one flock then let us all which professe our selves to be members of this Church of what calling and condition soever we be bend all our endeavours nor for our owne particulars but for the peace and good and preservation of the whole even as the members of a mans body which is a fit embleme of Gods Church do not so much tender their owne good as the safety and preservation of the whole and because the bond of this Unity is Peace let it be the care of you that are Magistrates to maintaine peace and of us that are Ministers to Preach peace and of you that are Lawyers to procure peace and of you that are Jurors to conclude peace and let us all with joynt consents pray for the peace of this Jerusalem that plenteousnesse may be within her Pallaces and peace within her Walls peace in matters of opinion and peace in matters of action peace in matters of piety and peace in matters of equity peace with God and peace with our selves and peace with all men remembring that God himselfe is called the God of peace and his Gospell the Gospell of peace and his naturall Son the author of peace and his adopted Sons the children of peace But especially let me intreat yea and as an Embassadour of Jesus Christ charge you that are Magistrates of our Countrey Justices of the peace to make your practice agree with your names I use this exhortation the rather because I may use the same words to you which the Apostle did to the Corinthians It hath been certainely declared unto me that there are contentions among you and one saith I am Pauls another I am Apollos Who is Paul or who is Apollos but the servants of Christ and members with you of the same body let no man so respect one particular member as that he neglect the whole the whole Church militant and so every particular Church is like unto that Ship wherein Paul sayled under the Roman Centurion from Sidon towards Rome Caelum undique undique pontus Shee is amidst a glassie Sea every where beset with dangers Vna Eurusque Notusque ruunt The ayre thunders the winds blow the raine falls the Sea rageth the waves rise and beat upon the Ship Exoritur clamorque virum stridorque rudentum the ropes crack the men cry they are carryed up to the Heaven and downe againe into the deepe so that their soules even melt within them What must be done in this case Every man must shift for himselfe and his freind and leave the Shipp to the mercilesse Seas or as Parnus his Marriners did fall together by the eares about a rotten Shipp-board and hurt and wound and disgrace and displace one another No no but the Centurion must command the Pilot must guide the Compasse Paul must preach the Marriners must row every man in his place all private respects set aside must labour to bring the Ship to Land Let me then with the blessed Apostle beseech you that all injuries forgotten all wrongs forgiven all factions abandoned all contentions and discords buryed yee walke as the Elect of God holy and beloved put on tender mercy kindnesse humblenesse of minde meeknesse long suffering forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any man have a quarrell to another even as God for Christs sake forgave you and above all things put on Love which is the bond of perfection and let the peace of God rule in you and the God of peace shall be with you Once againe for conclusion of all let me with the same Apostle exhort you if there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the spirit if any compassion and mercy fulfill my joy my joy nay your owne joy and the joy of all Gods Elect children that yee be like minded having the same love that nothing be done through contention and vaine glory but that in meeknesse of minde every man esteem better of another then of himselfe supporting one another through love endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace being of one heart and one soule of one accord and one judgement even as the Church whereof we professe our selves to be members is but one Flock and the Governour of this Flock but one Shepheard and the milke of this Flock one Word and the soule of this Flock one Spirit and the inheritance of this Flock one Kingdome and that I may neither add to nor detract from the Apostles words As there is one hope of our Vocation one Lord one Faith one Baptisme one God and Father of all which is above all and through all and in us all consider what I say and the God of Gods give you wisedome to know and a conscionable endeavour to put in practise that which hath been sayd The second Sermon LVKE 12. 32. Feare not little Flock for it is your Fathers good pleasure c. CYRVS when he went against Babylon falling in his way upon Gyndes a Navigable River for his more speedy dispatch he caused it to be cut into many streames and the event was answerable to his expectation for by that meanes he found a safe and ready passage for his Army and Carriages When I first looked upon this River of God in hope of the like event I did the like but the successe hath proved different for whereas I might in an houres space have swimmed it over going in one Channell having cutt it into two streames and divided either into sundry smaller Rivers it hath proved like Elishaes Cloud ever bigger and bigger or like the waters that flowed out of the Temple in Ezekiels vision ever broader and deeper Caelum
to receive a marke in their right hands and in their fore-heads Apoc. 13. 16. And that all Nations should be drunk with the wine of the fornication of the whore of Babylon Apoc. 18. 3. Yet even then I make no doubt but God had his true Church because the gates of Hell shall never prevaile against it Although I could neither neither name the persons who nor the places where which notwithstanding I can do both as I doubt not but wee had all Ancestors living 120. yeares agoe and yet none of us can name either person or place or profession of any of them and I doubt not but there is a moone immediately after the change although I cannot point out the place with my finger and say here it is Now as this doctrine proves amplitude and multitude of Believers to be no true and infallible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Gods Church So it takes away an excuse which is common in the world to do as the most do wherein we may justly renew Seneca's complaint Inter causas malorum nostrorum est quod vivimus ad exempla nec ratione componimur sed multitudine abducimur Quod si pauci facerent nollemus imitari cum plures facere caeperunt quasi honestius sit quo frequentius sequimur recti apud nos locum tenet error ubi publicus est factus Here comes into my minde a story recorded by Munster in his discription of Frisland Carolus Mertellus Duke of Brabant coming into Frisland perswades Rapotus Duke thereof to embrace Christian Religion and to this purpose sent Wolfrancus a certaine Bishop to instruct him in the grounds of Christian Faith After a time Rapotus yeelds and going into the water with the Bishop to receive the Sacrament of Bapt. having one foot in the River where he was to have been baptized he demands of the Bishop whether more of his Progenitors were in Hell or in Paradise the Bishop replying in Hell presently the Duke steps back and refusing baptisme said I had rather be in Hell with the most then in Paradise with the fewest Many deride the folly of this man who follow his example rebuke the Adulterer for his dallying or the Drunkard for his carousing or the Swearer for his blaspheming or the Usurer for his grinding or the Sabboth-breaker for his prophaning What but universality of sinne must procure him a pardon but multitudâ— peccantium non parit erroris patrocinium saith Hierome and he that excuseth his fault by alledging of multitude saith St. Austin seeks not a patron for his cause but a fellow for his punishment and God hath commanded us not to follow a multitude to do evill and we have now learned that Christs Church is not a great but a little flocke It is a true saying of Livie major pars plerumque vineit meliorem In doing of good it is good to have company but where they leave the way of God we must leave their wayes It is the worst kind of good fellowship to go to Hell for company Bonum quo communius eâ— melius but malum quo communius eo pejus It 's more dangerous when a whole house is sick of the Plague then when only one of the family is infected worse when it is in a whole Towne but worst of all when it is spread through the whole Kingdome The universality of sin is an argument that Gods plague is wayting at the doors of that house or City or Kingdome to fall upon it and to destroy it Poets fable that a little before the Trojane warre the Earth made complaint to Jupiter that she was loaden with the sins of wicked men and could no longer beare them the offenders were â—o many Whereupon Jupiter stirred up the Trojan wars to ease of the earth of the multitude of offenders and indeed Warres are commonly Gods new brooms which sweep cleane whereby he purgeth this Augaeum stabulum and sweepeth away the common heaps of sinnes And in them it falls out according to the proverb Vt victor fleat victus intereat That both parties sustaine losse as then it fell out But wee have better examples then Poeticall fictions for illustration of this point What was the cause of the drowning of the old World See Gen. 6. 12. Universality of sinne All flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth What was the cause why Sodome was burned See Gen. 18. Community of sinne not ten righteous men could be found in five Cities For shame then plead not universality for sinne lest if thou be partaker with the multitude in their sinnes thou suffer with them in their punishments If Noah had been like unto them of the old world he had been drowned with them And if Lot had been like his neighbours of Sodome he had been burned with them If thou wilt enter into life be singular goe not with the most but with the best Abraham must come out of Chaldaea though none but his Wife accompanie him and Lot must leave Sodome though all his neighbours forsake him He that will follow the streame and current of Rivers shall at length come to the deep Sea and hee that will follow the stream and current of times shall at length come to the deep of Hell So much of the second the third followeth Feare not Of that feare whereby a man is moved either to obey God or depart from his precepts Peter Lombard sets downe 4. kinds Servile which hath poenam for its object it ariseth from the apprehension of Gods wrath and curses of the Law He that is the subject of this fear will abstaine from sinne and do that which is good Non virtutis amore sed formidine paenae as Horace speaks Non timore amittendi aeternum bonum quod non amat sed timore patiendi malum quod formidat as Austin notes This is a preparation or previall disposition to the next kind of feare which is called chast and filiall It is the beginning of wisdome as Solomon calls it and it is to filiall feare as the needle is to the thread so Austin illustrates it the needle makes way for the thread and draws it after it yet so as that the thread not the needle remaines in the cloath and tyes the parts together Filiall feare the second kind is joyned with faith and love of God and hath Culpam for its object this is a speciall part of Gods worship Thou shalt feare the Lord thy God and serve him Deut. 6. 13. The third is Initialis which doth not specifically but modally and gradually differ from filiall And indeed in the best of Gods children as all other vertues so also filiall feare is but Initiall Cunctorum in terris gementium imperfect a perfectio est saith Hierome they are pilgrims and a pilgrims motion is as all mutations are actus entis in potentia as the Philosopher defines motus The fourth is mundane and humane unto which we may referre that
of wholsome Lawes for the safety and peace of this Kingdome should have been made like to that old Tophet where is burning and much wood kindled as it were with a river of Brimstome Or as Aetna did of old Flammarum globos liquefactaque volvere saxa belching out flames of fire and heaps of stones not much unlike to the destructions of Sodome and the miserable desolations of dolefull Gomorrah When those true Professors which should have remained after such an overthrow should have been like a few scattered grapes after the vintage is ended and like Pellicans in the Wildernesse and could have expected for nothing but what was written in Ezechiels scrowle Lamentations and Mourning and Woes O daughter of Babylon worthy to be wasted with misery happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast deserved of us Yea blessed shall he be that taketh thy children and dasheth them against the stones Now did not he who hath said Feare not little flocke who keepeth us from the snare of the hunter keepe us from those snares which they had laid privily for us and from the traps of those wicked doers Did not he which taketh the wilie in their owne craftinesse and saveth the poore from the hand of the violent man as Eliphaz speaks in Iob Let these fall into their owne nets and let us ever escape them Yes doubtless it was the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes By this which hath been said the Doctrine is cleare let us now come to the Use Is Gods care and providence over his children such that they need not be discouraged by humane or mundane terrours and feares Oh then comfort thy selfe thou child of God whosoever thou art which art tossed with contrary winds in the tempestuous Sea and begin to say unto thy weary and distressed soule with the Kingly Prophet Why art thou so sad O my soule and why art thou so disquieted within my breast Doth he Who layes the beames of his chambers in the water and makes the clouds his chariots and walks upon the wings of the wind care for Agar and her brat and will he neglect Sarah and her sonne Doth he make his Raine to fall his Sunne to shine upon the unjust and will he suffer to famish the soule of the righteous Is he a Saviour of all men and will he forsake them that believe Doth he nonrish the roaring Lyon feed the young Raven give the little Wren her dinner provide for the poore Sparrows whereof two are sold for a farthing Mat. 10. that's too dear five for two farthings in this Chapter In a word doth he give food to all flesh and will he oversee his owne Doth his providence extend to senslesse creatures to the grasse and Lilie of the Field What will he not do for them for whose sakes these and all other creatures in the world were made Hee that hath given us his Son what will he deny us He that hath provided for us and promised us the Kingdom of Heaven will he deny us the Earth so far as it is expedient for us to have it Heaven and all creatures under it shall change their natures rather then this little Flock shall be left desolate The hungry Lion shall not touch the Lords Prophet The devouring Fire shall stay its burning The Whale shall preserve Ionas The Earth without labour shall yeeld her encrease The Sunne and Moone shall stand still The barren Wildernesse shall afford bread The raging Sea shall become dry ground and the flinty Rock shall be turned into a springing Well before the least Lamb of Christs little Flock shall be left destitute Go too then let Hell rage let fury swell let the men of this world threaten to swallow thee up quick when they are so wrathfully displeased with thee yet put thou thy trust confidence in him who hath said Fear not little flock and say In the Lord put I my trust how say ye then unto my soule that she shall flee like a bird into the hills The Lord is my strong rocke and my defence whom then shall I feare the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I then be afraid What if the greatest Potentates of the world shall joyne their Forces against thee he who hath said Feare not little flocke and I will not leave thee nor forsake thee is able though they had sinewes of iron and necks of brasse to break them with a rod of iron and to crush them in pieces like a Potters vesselâ— so that thou mayst boldly say I will not feare what man can doe unto me What if the boysterous sea carry thee up to to the heaven and downe againe into the deep What if the waters do compasse thy soule and the weeds be wrapped about thy head as Ionah speaks of himselfe Feare not any of these things that shall come upon thee for though the waves of this troublesome Sea be mighty and rage horribly yet the Lord that dwels on high is mightier So that they shall not be able to drown thee but as Noah's flood carried the Ark above the waters so they shall carry thy head above the water floods till they bring thee to the Rock that is higher then thee Come rock come tope come evill come Devill come what can come nothing can come amisse For he that hath given the barres and hath said unto it Hither shalt thou goe thou shalt goe no further here shalt thou stay thy raging waves He that can put a hook in the lips of Leviathan and peirce his jawes with an Angle though he make the depth to boyle like a pot and the Sea like a pot of oyntment as Iob speaks hath bound Leviathan that piercing Serpent as Esay calls him and all the powers of Hell in chaines of darknesse so that they shall not move one foot to hurt thee but as he permits them and looseth out their chains The spirituall Pharaoh may be a terrour to thee as he of Aegypt was to the Israelites but he shall not hurt her For though he be not cast into the bottome of the Sea lest thou shouldst be secure yet he is dead on the shore lest thou shouldst despair The world may be to thee as the Canaanites were to the Israelites thornes in thy sides and pricks in thine eyes but it shall not overcome thee Thy wife may be as Sampsons was to him fetters and snares of Satan to entangle thee but they shall not prevaile against thee Thy children may be as Absolom was to David a wicked and a rebellious off-spring but they shall not overthrow thee Feare not for as the Angel said to Gideon The Lord is with thee thou valiant man Thou art a branch of that Vine whereof the least sprig shall never be cut off Thou art a member of that body whereof the least part shall never be corrupted Thou art a Sheep of that little flock whereof not one
or their King or their Countrey as if they were borne to live on the Land as Leviathan in the Sea whom God hath made to take his pastime therein and that I may come to a second use superciliously scorne and contemn such as in meanes or lineage come short of them as if they were not in the same Predicament nor originally hewen out of the same Rock nor regenerate by the same Father Who art thou that contemnest a state of Paradise one of the blood-royal of heaven whom God hath adopted for his Son over whom he hath appointed the Angels to be his Protectors and Governours Psal 91. 10. Whose enemies he hath threatned to curse Gen. 12. Whose prayers hee hath promised to heare Psal 50. For whose sake he reproves Kings Psal 104. Whom he tendereth as the apple of his eye Zach. 2. The hairs of whose head he numbers the teares of whose eyes he bottles If a Kings son should come to us in Beggars attire like Codrus or lame and impotent of his feet like Mephibosheth or with any other imperfections of body or mind we would not scorn him because of his imperfections but yeild him all honour due to a Kings son Have thou the like respect to Christs little ones let their outward condition be never so mean subject to coÌ„tempt let them be poor ignorant of base parentage friendlesse servants bondslaves let them be all these or whatever else may cause contempt in the eyes of man if they believe in Christ for of these I speake they are sons to the King of Kings and consequently more noble then the Turke or Persian or the greatest Monarch of the world that is without Christ It 's not noblenesse of Parents nor Lands and Possessions nor riches nor humane wisdome nor worldly dignities that makes a man truly honourable and worthy of respect nor is it the want of these that makes a man contemptible but the want of Gods favour and adoption in Christ Stemmate si Thusco ramum Millessime ducis If thou couldst number thy Progenitors for a thousand generations if God be not in thy pedigree as I sayd thou art a bastard and no sonne Hadst thou all humane knowledg in the world and dost not know Christ crucified thou art but a foole Hadst thou all the riches in the world and wantest the great riches which the Apostle calls godlinesse thou art but a beggar Hadst thou all dignities and honours in the world and be not one of Gods houshold servants thou art base and of no respect in comparison of Christs little ones I doe not derogate from such as are well discended nor from such as are rich nor from such as excell in humane Acts and Sciences nor from such as are set over others in honours and worldly preferments God forbid I should I allow them that which of right pertains to them a civill honour because of some divine representations that are in them as of his eternity in such as can shew the antiquity of their stock of his dominion in such as are rich of his Soveraignty in such as are in authority c. But such must remember that it is no more then a civil honour that is due unto them for these And howsoever for these considerations they ought to have their due respects according to their places in the civill Regiment and to be honoured above others Yet in the spirituall Regiment the poorest Christian that believes with his heart and confesseth with his mouth that Christ died for his sinnes is their equall There is no difference saith the Apostle in the Kingdome of Heaven Saturnsâ—easts â—easts are continually kept Master and Servant are both alike There is neither Jew nor Grecian there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female c. Gal. 3. He that is called being a servant is the Lords free-man and he that is called being free is Christs servant All then of what state soever they be in the politicall Regiment must think of the poorest Christians as of their brethren and remember that rule given by God even unto Kings to read the book of the Law that their hearts be not lifted up above their brethren and imitate the example of holy Job who did not contemn the judgment of his servant nor of his hand-maid when they contended with him My third inference shall containe a double duty one we owe unto God as our Father the other to our Neighbours as sonnes of the same Father and consequently brethren one to another It 's the summe of Johns first Epistle and Synopsis of the whole Law and comprehended in one verse 1 John 3. 10. In this are the children of God known and the children of the Devill be that doth not righteousnesse is not of God neither he that loveth not his brother these are children of the Devill Gods are known by the practise of two affirmatives 1. Doing of righteousnesse 2. Loving of the Brethren Touching the first They that call God their Father must carry themselves as children of such a Father and without limitation obey him in whatsoever he commands A son honoureth his father If I be your Father where is mine honour saith the Lord of Hosts to the rebellious Jewes who called God their Father and neglected his precepts Many such Jewes are amongst us common Drunkards abhominable Idolaters blood-sucking Usurers prophane Atheists blasphemous Swearers filthie Whore-mongers and that hellish and damned crew of impenitent sinners that live within the bosome of the Church though they be no integrall parts of it no more then hairs and other excrements are parts of a mans bodie or dogs swine essential parts of a familie will call God their Father If God be your Father where is his honour where is that filial obedience you should perform to his commandements when the Jews told Christ that Abraham was their Father he tells them no Because it Abraham were your father yee would do the works of Abraham And when they said that God was their Father he proves it false If God were your father ye would love mee Ye are of your father the Devill and the lusts of your father yee will doe So say I to these miscreants If God were your father yee would doe the works of God If God were your father ye would love him and keepe his commandements Because ye walke in darknesse ye are of your father the Devill and the lusts of your father ye wil doe And if ye would speak aright yee should not say as Christ bids his brethren say when they pray Our Father which art in heaven But rather as Latimer speaks of such truly though somewhat plainly Our father which art in hell Beloved in Christ Behold what love the father hath shewed us that we should be called the sonnes of God Let us be followers of God as deare children and in all things study to resemble him Who hath called
Protestants such carnal Gospellers prove themselves to be sonnes of God when they are matched and out-stripped by the sonnes of Satan when they are matched with Simon Magus in their baptisme and with Judas in receiving the Lords Supper and Pharaoh in hearing the word preached and with the Devill in believing and with Pagans and Infidels in the practise of civill and morall duties Nay when Judas goes beyond them in repentance and Ahab in sorrow and humiliation and Herod in delight in the Word and reverence of the Preacher and amendment of life and Jehu in zeale of Gods glory and Pharaoh in desiring the prayers of the godly and Foelix and the Devill in trembling at Gods judgements Oh pittiful If you should live I speak to them that are such and I doubt there are too many in this place the hearts of most are like this Country climate where they live cold and their brains more subject to Lethargies then Phrenfies If you should live amongst the Turks or Tartars where the sound of the Gospel is scarce heard if you had lived and dyed in those dayes when God gave his lawes to Jacob his statutes and Ordinances unto Israel and dealt not so with any Nation Or if you should live in Spain or Italie where the heavenly treasure is locked up from ignorant men in the closet of an unknown tongue and where no more is required of a sonne of the Church for that 's a term they are better acquainted with then a sonne of God then to be baptized to say his prayers in Latine to hear and see a Masse to keepe fasting dayes and to believe as the Collier told the Devill as the Church believeth you might have some excuse for your selves But now that you live where the judgments of the Law are denounced and the sweet promises of the Gospel proposed now that the Sun doth shine and no better blossoms of righteousnesse appeare in you how can you escape the hatchet of Gods wrath How can you call God your Father or Christ your Brother Shall Judas be sorrowfull and make confession of his sinnes and will not you Shall Ahab and the Ninivites be humbled and manifest their humiliation by fasting and sacke-cloath and tears and will not you be humbled for your sins Shall Herod amend many faults at the preaching of John Baptist and will not you reform your lives Shall the Devill believe and tremble and will not you believe with him Or if you believe with him will ye noâ— tremble with him Shall all these I have named be damned to hell and look you for the reward promised to Gods children the Kingdome of Heaven No assuredly no. I deliver unto you that which I have received from the Lord Except your righteousnesse shall exceed the righteousnesse of all these you cannot enter into thâ— Kingdome of heaven The spirit of adoption is not severed from the spirit of sanctification it 's one and the same individual spirit Holinesse becometh Gods house for ever It 's written over Heaven gates as it was over Plato's School door Let no man that is not a Geometrician enter this roome Let no man that hath not measured his life by the line of the Law that hath not this Motto written on the Table of his heart Holinesse to the Lord presume to come into Gods Tabernacle or rest upon his holy Hill That for the first duty we owe unto God as he is our Father and we his children The second is to our Neighbour For if God be our Father then all we which make profession of that faith which was once given to the Saints are brethren and should live as brethren and love as brethren And how brethren should be affected one to another we see in the members of our bodies our two feet are as it were two brethren one to support another two armes two eyes two ears one to help another the utmost part of the hand divided into five fingers one for assisting and strengthening another No otherwise even by the judgement of naturall men should one brother be affectioned to another Hence in Poets came the fable of Briareus with one bodie and 100. hands and of Geryon with one bodie and three heads by the first was meant fiftie by the second three brethren so linked together in the bands of brotherly love as if they had all been members of one and the fame individuall bodie And he that for his owne particular benefit seeks the losse and hurt of a brother doth as if one foot should supplant and trip up another or as if the fingers of the hand should fall out and one wrest another out of joynt Nay further a brother that forsakes his brother and joynes himselfe into society with a stranger saith Plutarch doth as if a man should cut off one of his owne legs and take a wooden leg in the room of it As their love is the greatest so their hatred if they fall out is noted to be the greatest so that of all others they are hardest to be reconciled For as those things that are glued together if they goe asunder may easily be reunited but a bodie that is all of one peece if it be broken cannot be so fastned againe but you may discern where the breach was When friends who by affections are joyned together if they dissent may easily be reconciled but brethre who are as it were one by nature can hardly be so united but there will remaine some scarre behind for which cause it concerns them to avoid the least occasions of disagreement Now that I may bring that which I have spoken home to my purpose grace is a stronger bond then nature If then naturall brethren should be thus affected one to another how much more brethren in Christ begotten by one father God bred in one womb the Church fed with one milke the Word animated by the same spirit justified by the same faith And this love must shew it selfe chiefly in two things 1. In pardoning wrongs without private revenge If the injury be little forget it if great yet must thou not be Judge in thine owne cause but as children say when they are wronged I will tell my Father so do thou All malice and private revenge lay aside out of a zeale of justice make thy complaint to those who are the Ministers of God to take vengeance on them that do evill 2. In supporting and relieving such as stand in need of thy help As the great stones that are laid in the bottome of a building beare the weight of the lesse that are laid above them or as a bundle of rods bound together to use Seleucus his comparison do one strengthen another Or as when a faggot of grove sticks is laid on the fire and warms and kindles another and that which he hath be ready to communicate to such as want those that are learned to instruct others that are ignorant those that be strong to support them that are
reponere A Kingdome Of this as Salust once said of old Carthage its better to say nothing then to say but a little and yet if I should say more then I am able to expresse it were nothing to that which might be said Non mihi si linguae centum sint oraque centum ferreae vox Had I a thousand mouthes and a thousand voyces had I a tongue of steele or spoke with the tongues of those thousands of thousands that waite about the Throne of God I were not able to set forth so much as the shadow or back parts nay the shadow of the back parts of those joyes which God hath prepared for them that love him Nature failes me reason failes you the whole Bible failes me in this point Paul was taken up into the third Heaven the Kingdome here meant and what saw he The glory was such that it did not only dazle his eyes but struck him blind that he could see nothing at all Acts 9 8. Well but what heard he Things that cannot be conceived neither is it possible for man to be uttered 2 Cor. 12. Saint Austin when he was young did thus de cant upon it Ibi erit summa certa securitas secura tranquillitas tranquilla jucunditas jucunda faelicitas faelix aeternitas c. There shall be certaine security secure safety safe delightsome happinesse happy eternity c. O gaudium supra gandium O gaudium vincens omne gaudium extrae quod non est gaudium quando intrabo in te ut videam Deum meum qui habitat in te ubi inventus nunquam senescit ubi vita terminuÌ„ nescit ubi dolor nunquam pallescit ubi amor nunquam tepescit ubi sanitas nunquam marcescit ubi gaudium nunquam decrescit ubi dolor nunquam sentitur ubi gemitus nunquam audit ur ubi triste nihil videtur ubi laetitia semper habetur c. Aust. Soliloqui O joy beyond all joy O joy without which there is no joy when shall I enter into thee that I may behold God which is in thee where youth never growes old De verbis Domini in Joh. Serm. 64. where love never grows cold c. After when he was growne somewhat old he takes a pause and demands this of himselfe after a long discourse What shall I say Surely I cannot tell but I know that God hath such things to bestow And facilius invenire possumus quid ibi non sit quam quid sit We may easilier finde what is not there then what is there Non ibi erit lassari dormire non ibi esurire sitire non ibi erit crescere senescere Behold what I have spoken and yet I have not spoken what is there Eccejam vita jam incolumitas est jam nulla fames nulla paena nulla si is nullus defectus tamen nondum dixi and yet I have not told you what is there that which eye hath not seen how can I discerne that which eare hath not heard how can I speak that which never came into the heart of man how can it come into my heart to declare and indeed to make a long discourse about this subject were but with the blinde man to discourse about colours He may talk long about them but with eyes he cannot know them and we may talke much of Heavens joyes but till we come there and see God we cannot see them Our knowledge is no more able to reach to the excellency of them then a new borne childe is to make a demonstration in the Mathematicks or he that is blinde to name every colour that is layd before him Eye hath not seen nor eare heard saith the Apostle Quicquid recipitur recipitur in modum recipientis A Quart will not containe a Gallon nor a Gallon an Hogshead nothing can receive more then its able to containe Our understandings are like Vessels of small capacity and therefore our heavenly Father who in the Scriptures is often pleased Balbutire cum pueris to condescend to the meannesse of his Childrens capacity expresseth these joyes by such things as their understandings are capable of The Jewes report of Manna that it gave a taste to every man according to their severall appetites and desires For the trueth of this Credat Judaeus apella non ego The Scripture tells us that the taste thereof was like Wafers made with Honey â—um 16. 31. But it may be truely sayd of this Kingdome that in the Scriptures its expressed by such names as may give satisfaction to every mans appetite Some are delighted with faire houses it 's therefore called an house 2 Cor. 5. and Solomons house 1 King 7. was a type of it but far short of the antitype Yea and the house of the Sun too Sublimibus alta columnis clara micante auro flammasque imitante pyropo It 's the house that wisdome hath built Prov. 9. a stately house with a witnesse for her stones are Carbunâ—les her foundation Saphirs its windows of Emeralds and all its gates of shining stones Isa 54. In a word It s a house made without hands eternall and that in the heavens 2 Cor. 5. Some it contents not to dwell in a fair house unlesse it be seated in a goodly Citie It 's therefore likened unto a Citie a Citie having a foundation that is a sure foundation all earthly Cities are founded in quag-mires they want a foundation they are like the house builded upon the sand which cannot endure the weather but downe it goes as Athens Lacedemâ—n Niniveh Babylon and others have done a Citie of the best structure Whose builder and maker is God Heb. 11. 10. A Citie having the glory of God a Citie of pure gold like unto cleare glasse Revel 21. Oh how excellent things are spoken of thee thou Citie of God But neither faire Houses nor goodly Cities will give contentment to some unlesse they may have wealth at will in which many place their chiefe felicity It 's therefore likened unto a pearle for which the wise Lapidariâ— sells all that hee hath to buy it A treasure which neither rust nor moth can corrupt nor thiefe steale All these will not satisfie the mindes of some unlesse beside them they may have honours and dignities heaped upon them Here is that that may give these contentment too it 's a Kingdome A kingdome that cannot be shaken Hebr. 12. and the greatest Kingdomes of the world have been often shaken and shivered in pieces A kingdome that shall have no end Luk. 1. Or as was foretold by the Prophet A kingdome that shall never be destroyed Dan. 7. 14. Pyrrgus said of Rome when as yet it was not Mistresse of all Italic That it was a Citie of Kings marry one thing was wanting to that Kingly Citie which Hormisda Legate to Constantine did wel observe when he saw the Emperour ravished with the beauty of it as if with Paul he had been wrapt up into the
and peradventure from worse exercise they shall both benefit their hearers and receive at least some tincture of Divinity as he that tarries long in an Apothecaries shop will carrie the smell of it about him and hee that walkes in the Sun will be coloured by the heat of it The second sort is of such as will not my censure must be sharper against these then against the former Hee that hath his Garners full of graine and will not bring it out to the Market in such a yeare as this but rather suffer the people to starve then sell a bushell unlesse he may have an excessive price for it is worse in the judgment of all men then a poore man that doth not furnish the Market because he wants The mother is worse that hath breasts full of milke and will not give suck which the Dragons deny not the young ones Lam. 4. 3. then shee that hath dry breasts and cannot and is not he worse that hath a candle and hides it under a bushell and will not give light then he that is dark and cannot that hath eyes and winks and will not see then he that is blind and cannot that hath a tongue and will not speak then he that cannot because he is dumb It 's true of a Lawyer Scire tuum nihil si te scire hoc sciat alter If every man knew as much in the Laws as the Lawyer doth none would seek unto him for Counsell But it befits a Minister better if a ni be put to it as Persius hath it Scire tuum nihil est nisi te scire hoc sciat alter His knowledg must not be shut up in the Ventricles of his braine like Timons monie in his chest but like that precious oile that was poured on Aarons head it must discend to the skirts of his cloathing the meanest of them that are committed to his charge It must fall from the braine to the tongue and from thence Drop as the raine and still as the dew as the shower upon the Herbs and as the great raine upon the grasse Deut. 32. 2. The Priests lips must preserve knowledge Mal. 2. 7. The Lord hath given me the tongue of the learned to minister a word in season to him that is weary Isa 50. 4. And he that makes no conscience of this is liable to a double curse 1. A curse in his gifts they will rust and canker away The faithfull servant that employeth not his masters talent shall have it taken from him Matth. 25. This idoll Shepheard that feedeth not his flock shall prove a right idoll indeed for as he hath a tongue and speaks not so shall he have eyes and shall not see His arme shall be dryed up and his right eye shall be utterly darkned Zach. 11. ult 2. A curse upon his soule Matth. 25. Cast him into utter darkenesse I am not credulous in believing ill reports of any man especially of a Minister but if it be true which I have heard and by reason of the late Visitation I have somewhat more then a bare report it is to be lamented even with teares of blood that some of extraordinary gifts as they would be deemed and the greater their gifts are the greater shall their judgment be if they be found negligent do scarce once in 12. or 13. years visite a great part of their Flock Their little ones cry for bread and there is none to give them any And in the place where they reside like Atheists very often mew themselves up in their private houses when they should be in the house of God feeding their Flocks and when they go to the Church ordinarily continue there like images without a word speaking and so frustrate their poor hunger-starv'd sheep of their hopes Like as when a barren cloud hangs in the aire in time of a drought and yeelding no drops to water the dry and gasping Earth the expectation of the Husbandman is made frustrate If they afford them once in the year or at most once in the quarter a dish of Strawberries as Latimer spake in the same case it 's a dainty they must hold themselves contented I wish it were as good as a dish of Strawberries and not rather like Caligula's banquet where all the banquetting stuffe was made of gold which did only feed the eye but not the bellie this banquet is not of gold but for the most part of a worse mettall Latin which with a tinkling noise may tickle the eare but never fill the stomack Plinie writes of some people of Mount Atlas that were without names it seems these men think their Parishioners to be without souls or else that the calling of a Minister is not Virtutis exemplum sed vitae adjumentum atque subsidium non munus reddendae rationi obnoxium sed imperium liberum reddendarum rationum metu solutum as Nazianzen speaks Oh beloved brethren that I may speak to all let us beware of these things Let the doing of his will that hath sent us be our meat and drink our joy and crown and the gathering together of his dispersed Flock our game and advantage our names may put us in mind of our duties Conveniunt rebus nomina saepe suis We are called Shepheards If we love the great Shepheard of our soules let us feed his sheep feed his lambs We are watchmen let us stand upon our watch and give warning to the Citie of God of the approach of the Enemie We are lights of the world let us consume our selves that we may inlighten others We are voyces of cryers or crying voyces for Sions sake let us not hold our peace and for Jerusalems sake let us not keepe silence but lift up our words like Trumpets And tell the house of Jacob their transgressions and Israel their sins Let us be like that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nec Dedonaei cessat tinnitus aheni No more should we remembring that strict adjuration of the Apostle I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quicke and the dead at his appearing and in his kingdome preach the word be instant in season and out of season 2. Tim. 4. 1. We are Captains of the Lord of Hosts Let us fight a good fight and resist unto blood striving against sinne Where should a Captain dye but in the field and where should a Preacher die said learned Jewel but in the Pulpit Adde for a second Motive that joy and comfort which will attend us when we shall leave these houses of clay and these earthen pitchers shall be ready to be broken at the Well if our consciences can bear us witnes that we have continued faithful in our Masters service No doubt it was no small comfort to Cyrus when Lysander admired the sweetnesse of his Gardens and fit ordering of trees in his Groves that hee was able to tell him they were his own work and that he had planted them
did impose this law upon himselfe telling the Pharisees that his Doctrine was not his owne but the Fathers that had sent him Now then if the Priests of the Law if the Prophets if the Apostles if Christ Jesus himselfe did not preach any Doctrine but what they received from God if they were tyed to the word and might not decline to the right hand nor to the left Much more are the Lords Ministers at this day tied not to deliver any Doctrine to their Hearers but what is evidently grounded upon the sacred Oracles of Truth They are to build the Kingdom of Christ to subvert the kingdome of Antichrist to feed the Lords Sheep to drive away the Wolves to comfort the weake and feeble knees to break the brazen and iron sinews of impenitent sinners to sing a song of mercie to penitent and humble soules to thunder judgments to forlorn miscreants To binde and to loose to plucke up and to roote out to destroy and to cast downe to build and to plant but all by the word of God The writings of Heathen men contain in them many excellent precepts of Morality but they are mingled with a number of untruths and vanities The writings of the ancient Fathers are of especiall use in the Church of God but they are not sufficient groun is for me to build my Faith upon them I may no more in all things follow their steps then I may be drunk with Noah or commit incest with Lot or be an Adulterer with David or an Idolater with Solomon or with Peter deny and forswear Christ I say of them all in respect of the Scriptures as Stankarus a Polonian Heretick spake of our Protestant Writers in respect of Peter Lombard Plus valet Petrus Lombardus quam Centum Lutheri c. One Peter Lombard is of more worth then 100. Luthers 200. Melanctons 300. Bullingers 400. Peter Martyrs and 500. Calvins But one plaine sentence of Scripture is more worth then 100. Austins 200. Cyprians 300. Jeremies 400. Ambroses 500. Gregories where their Doctrines are not warrantable by the word of God I say of them as Aristotle did of Socrates and Plato Socrates is my Friend and Plato my Friend but Truth is my greatest Friend And as Austin said of his Country-man Cyprian Cypriani literas non ut Canonicas lego sed ex Canonicis considero quod in ijs divinarum Scripturarum autoritati convenit cum laude ejus accipio quod non convenit cum pace ejus respuo I read Cyprian not as canonical Scripture but I examine his Writings by the canonicall and where I find them agreeing with his due commendations I receive them when repugnant with his good leave I will reject them To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this Word it is because they have no light in them Isa 8. 20. Quest Is it then unlawfull for a Minister to use humanity or secular learning in his Sermon Ans I have known many who have said that a Sermon is too barren and dry and not so learned nor so pleasant nor so powerfull nor so profitable if it consist meerly of testimonies from Scripture without some inspersions at the least of secular learning as if that were dry which is like the Raine that comes down from heaven and waters the earth that it may yeeld seed to him that soweth and bread to him that eateth or any thing were more learned then that which will make a man wise unto salvation or any thing more pleasant then that which is sweeter then honie or the honie-comb or any thing more powerfull then that which is lively And mighty in operation and sharper then any two-edged sword and entereth through even to the dividing of the soule and the spirit and of the joynts and the marrow or any thing more profitable then that which is given by inspiration from God and is profitable to Teach to reprove to correct and to instruct in righteousnesse that the man of God may be absolute being made perfect unto all good works Again on the other side I know many both Preachers and Hearers who distast as much a sentence borrowed from a prophane Writer as the children of the Prophets did of that branch of Coloquintida that was cast into the pot mors in olla One sentence in their conceit spoils a whole Sermon the thing otherwise never so good These men are verily perswaded that Hieroms dreame was in good earnest that he was wrapt into the third Heaven and miserably beaten before the Tribunall seate of God for reading of Tullie which although he writing to a certain Lady who was too much addicted to reading of secular Authors he relates as a story Yet when the same was objected against him by Ruffinus and without question Lactantius and Tertullian and Austin and some others of the Fathers deserved to lick of the whip for this as well as Hierome who were so throughly acquainted with all secular Writers that as he himselfe speaks of some of them a man cannot tell whether he shall more admire them for their secular learning or their knowledg in the Scriptures insomuch that as Julian complained of some of them De aquila pennas evellerent quibus aquilam configerent They pulled quills out of the Eagles wings the Roman Ensign wherewith they wounded and killed the Eagle My resolution then is this As I cannot approve of the former sort so can I not altogether of the latter my reasons are these 1. No Sermon is purum putum dei verbum meer Logick and Rhetorick and humane invention are used in the best and therefore if I shall sometimes borrow a sentence from a secular Writer be it Goats-hair or hay or stubble or call it what you will peradventure it may prove as good as any thing I can bring of mine owne 2. I take it to be a property of a foolish Captaine to scorn to use any stratagem which his Enemie hath used before It 's lawfull for the Hebrews to spoile the Aegyptians so that it be not to make a golden Calfe of the spoile 3. St. Paul himself sometimes brings sentences out of secular Writers as Tit. 1. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an heroicall verse out of Epimenides So Acts 17. We are his generation part of an heroicall verse out of Aratus and 1 Cor. 15. Evill words corrupt good manners a comicall verse out of Menander 4. There is but one truth and Omne verum est a Spiritu Sancto saith Ambrose so that if thou shalt alleadg that it is unlawfull to use it because it dropt from the tongue or penn of a Pagan I will reply that if it be true it is lawfull because it is originally from God but here these cautions are to be observed 1. It must not be a Doctrine but only an Illustration or amplification of a Doctrine 2. It must be sparingly used in popular Congregations 3. As an Israelite when he