where should we so happily finde our Elder Brother CHRIST IESVS but at the right hand of his and our Father where he makes continuall intercession for vs Let our Pater noster therefore ever goe before our dayly bread the hallowing of his name before the prosecuting of our owne designes the promoting of his kingdome before all earthly promotions That of little ones here wee may become great ones in heaven with Angels and Archangels and all the blessed company of heaven alwaies to behold his face Evermore praysing him and saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory glory be to thee O Lord Father Sonne and Holy Ghost three persons one God most high AMEN AMEN IDOLATROVS FEASTING A SERMON PREACHED AT THE COVRT BY IOHN PRIDEAVX Rector of Exceter Colledge His MAIESTIE's Professor in Divinity in the Vniversity of OXFORD OXFORD Imprinted by LEONARD LICHFIELD Anno Salutis 1636. 1. COR. 10.7 Neither be yee Idolaters as were some of them as it is written the people sate downe to eat and drinke and rose vp to play THERE are no enemies more dangerous to a Christian man then those he hath within him Lactantius termeth them three Furies Divinar Instit Epit. c. 2. that set all in a combustion without respect of danger or discredit The first is Anger hot vpon revenge The second Covetousnesse eager vpon pelfe The third is Lust never satisfied with pleasures These the Stoicks would haue rooted out The Peripatetiques moderated But the good Christian set in a right course That Anger should be for breach of Gods lawes Covetousnesse for heaping vp heavenly treasures and our greatest desire should be to enioy that satisfying presence which will afford vs innumerable and everlasting felicity Our Apostle here had to doe with the Corinthians at that time an vnderstanding rich and flourishing state though now the case be altered for their humiliation and others example Those hee found supercilious in censuring scrupulous in doubting Itching for innovations Heady in abusing their Christian libertie to the scandall of their weaker brethren It was the harder taske therefore for him so prudently to deale in such points with such a people to keepe them in the right in which he had instructed them and make them sensible how insensibly they might be wrought from it Thus as he had indeavoured to doe in the former Chapter by his owne example in this he presseth more fully out of the Fathers the Church of Israel You Corinthians indeed haue great reason to stand vpon the preaching of the word and seales of the Sacraments that so gratiously haue beene afforded vnto you But Brethren I would not haue you ignorant that all our Fathers the Iewes had their Baptisme also vnder the Cloude and in the passage through the sea and the Lords Supper likewise in their Manna from Heaven and water out of the Rock But when they became Idolaters Fornicators Tempters of Christ Murmurers did these priviledges beare them out were they not slayne by their Brethren stung by Serpents destroyed by the destroyer to make them take heed from falling into further inconveniences Now these things were our examples to the intent we should not lust after evill things as they also lusted Neither bee Idolaters as were some of them As it is written the people sate downe to eat drinke and rose againe to play 2. My Text then you see falls fully against Idolatry the first begotten of lust and here comes not alone but hath fornication tempting of God murmuring attending on it wherein may it please you To take notice of 1 A Prohibition Neither be yee Idolaters as were some of them 2 A specification As it is written the people sate downe to eat and drinke and rose againe to play The first expresseth what is forbidden Idolatry The second particularizeth wherein it consisted In eating drinking playing very common things amongst vs all and we hope without offence It is a fashion now adayes and vse hath brought it at length to be little excepted against to call Heretick or Puritan on Papist at every bout when God knowes those that are fullest of those termes haue most commonly least insight how the case standeth Religion Charity and Ingenuity will first haue a sure ground before they censure and then will not runne on headlong to condemne and shew not wherefore Dixit Manicheus abiit say the word and away as S. Augustine notes of Manichee Our Apostles practise here may be a patterne vnto vs all Hee accuseth not all for the faults of some Neither be yee Idolaters as were some of them and them hee calls not so without a reason but shewes distinctly wherein they were Idolaters Neither takes he vp here vox populi the common same to make good what hee sayes or holds his owne coniecture or suspition to bee sufficient but hath a Scriptum est for his warrant as it is written to justific his Prohibition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first member of my Text which by Gods most gratious assistance and your patience according to my plaine way I intend to handle as it lyeth 3 Neither bee yee Idolaters as some of them To cleare this passage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it will bee requisite first to be truely informed what Idolatry is and secondly who were those that are here taxed for it Vpon a due survey of which premises our Apostles prohibition will appeare the more legall and our deductions therevpon the more applicable Idolatry is defined by the Schoolemen to be Aq. 2.2 q. 94. a kind of superstition in which Divine honour is attributed to any Creature Valent. de Idolat l. 2. c. 1. as vnto God himselfe This the Apostle termeth the changing of the glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible man and to birds and fowre-footed beasts and creeping things Rom. 1.25 where to waue curiosities which here might scrupulously be waighed May it please you to take notice that as the greate Cardinall Bellarmine fits such a definition to the Catholique Church De 3. Eccles l. c. 2. that except the Pope be head there shall be no true Church at all so the great Schooleman Gregory of Valentia in his 5 Bookes concerning Idolatry straightneth so much the extent of this superstition that none of their palpable will-worship shall come within compasse of it For where the true God saith hee is made the obiect of the worship the worshipping by Jmages or other interveniēt Mediators make it not Idolatry they are Theologi sanè simplices very simple Divines they are the termes of the forenamed Iesuite that are perswaded otherwise Lib. 1. c. 1. But 't is knowne whose censure this is better is a poore man that walketh in his simplicity as their Dowists translate the vulgar then a rich writhing his lippes Ambulans in simplicitate and is vnwise or as we read it is a foole Prov.
some would haue to end precisely at Christs passion others at the overthrow of Ierusalem by Titus and Vespasian Origen Driedo Iansenius Vid. Willet in Daniel pag. 295. Iohn 1. and Melancthon at his Nativity when the Romanes out of their Sybills Herod frō the Iewes the Iewes out of their Prophets the Easterlings from Balaam's starre were so possessed with expectation of such a King to be borne that it was not the question of the Iewes alone but the inquisition almost of all the world Who art thou Art thou Elias Art thou that Prophet Art thou hee that should come or doe wee looke for another Then in this fulnesse of time appeared the morning of the day of His power Gal. 4.4 wherein the seede of the Woman advanced forward to breake the serpents head The place which Hee honoured with His birth was not ruling Rome or glorious Ierusalem but little Bethlem little incomparison of many thousands of Iudah Mich. 5.2 There was another Bethlem in Galilee neere Nazareth Hieronym in 2. Matth. where Ioseph and the Blessed Virgin great with childe then dwelt but all the world must bee taxed by Augustus that ruled all Luke 2. to occasion a removall of this holy couple that so prophecies might be accomplished by Gods secret hand that guideth the proiects of the greatest and Statesmen vnwittingly bring to passe what he had before determined That which politique Augustus and oruell Herod never dreamt of and the proud Scribes and Pharisees would haue held madnesse to haue noted poore Ioseph and Mary for King David foresaw in the Spirit and truely gaue notice of it Psal 132. Loe we haue heard of it at Ephrata and found it in the fields of the wood And where could this bread of life bee more conveniently borne faith Gregory then at Bethlem which is by interpretation the house of bread in a little towne and hovell to shew the vanity of pompous and luxurious buildings as a pilgrim in an Inne and stable to minde vs of our condition in this life from whence he came to reduce vs to the many mansions of his Father Thirdly the manner of his birth was so meane Psal 22.6 Esay 53.2 that the Scripture be fulfilled that from the bottome of humility hee might the more gloriously ascend to the top of power that the great ones of this world may bee hence lessoned not to swell in such outward vanities and disdaine their poore brethren That the difference might bee the more conspicuous and apparent betwixt his First and his Second comming and to teach vs to expect our portions and dividends not here where he had nothing but hereafter where in all abundance hee hath provided for vs. Last of all the manifestation of this gloriously-meane Nativity was so disposed of by the Fathers providence that though the most neglected it all notwithstanding had that notice which might leaue them vnexcusable The Shepheards in the fields and the wise-men of the East Iews and Gentiles Herod and all Ierusalem were troubled at it King and Subiects Bethlem and all those coasts were filled by the relation of the Shepheards Towne and Countrey In the Temple aged Simeon and Anna spake to all that looked for redemption in Ierusalem men and women Luke 2. And it is worth the noting to consider how it pleased God to vary the manner of this manifestation and to fit it according to mens divers conditions and capacities The Easterne Astronomers shall haue directions from a Starre Herod a stranger from strangers the Priests and Scribes from the Prophets wherein they were best studied holy Simeon and Anna in the middest of their devotions had a Revelation from the holy Ghost which best fitted them But the ruder Shephards had the plainest message both by word and tokens as being vnfittest to beleeue or to bee beleeved without vncontroleable evidence 6 I need to hold you no longer in the point of the Incarnation so wonderfully foretold so precisely effected so plainely manifested in this day of the Lords power which here our Prophet speaketh of the application now should follow of all the circumstances if I thought your godly meditations in this behalfe had not prevented mee And yet I know not how Knowledge and Devotion are sometimes so farre sundred and estranged that the farther wee wade in the one without the especiall operation of Gods Spirit the lesse wee respect the other A man would haue thought the Iewes had had faire warnings enough of this day of this power to haue daunted them at least from such violent oppositions and persecutions and we are hot vpon the Scribes and Pharises as they were vpon their Ancestours Math. 23. If wee had beene in their daies and case we would haue hastened with the Shepheards followed the Starre with the Wise-men beene at Bethlem spent our dearest bloud to convey the Childe with his Mother from Herods tyranny told the Scribes and Priests to their teeth that they were Serpents and Vipers Thus wee crackle what wee would haue done in a wandring kinde of speculation but from performing at home what we should doe the very same temptation now hindreth vs which then inveigled and overthrew the Scribes and Pharises St Augustine in his tenth booke de Civitate Dei and 29. chapter indevouring to expresse the cause why Porphyrie and the rest of the Platoniques should be so averse from Christianity seeing they beleeved in their owne Philosophy things of as great impossibility falleth at length vpon this issue Huic veritati vt possis acquiescere humilitate opus erat quae cervici vestrae difficilimè persuaderi potest For the receiuing of the Christian Truth humility must be a preparatiue but that you hold a yoake too vneasy for your neckes Vpon which hee presseth them farther You can beleeue saith he Porphyrie in his booke de regressu animae and Plato shall haue credit in his assertions that the World and Sunne and Moone are liuing creatures and haue soules but when Christians tell you of a Resurrection you straight forget your selues and your owne Tenents But what is the cause of this diversity No other surely so apparent as this Christus humilitate venit vos superbi estis Christ came humbly into the World and you are proud This was also the very stumbling blocke of the Iewes They were so fastned to the earth and to the conceit of an externall Monarchy here below that it could never bee beaten into their braines but their Messias should bee an earthly Conquerour who should advance his followers to bee Magnifico's and Rulers over all the earth This conceite seemed also to haue possessed Zebedees children and therefore their mother must put in for a promise of places like to bee about our Saviour in his expected temporall Kingdome and the Disciples after the Resurrection were casting about some such matter Acts 1.6 Lord wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdome to Israel So naturall a thing it is
for flesh and bloud to plot for somewhat especially how to become great here howsoever it lose by the bargaine hereafter Thus we can obserue B. and reprooue in others but yet goe on to practise it our selues as though our estate and case were of a different nature otherwise why cannot a little content vs who shew our selues in the managing of that we haue to be worthy of nothing or why should a meane estate bee the subiect of scorne sithence our Saviours choyce hath thus graced it in the day of his power but that as Saint Augustine hath it He was humble but we are proud Should it not make vs tremble to cloath our selues with the Fleece and not feed the Flocke make it dainty to trouble our selues with winning foules which Christ hath purchased with his dearest bloud plot more for a poore preferment here then for a Kingdome hereafter take the purple robe vpon vs but turne off the Crosse to be vndergone by any Simon of Cyrene whom wee happen vpon in the way but that as S. Austin hath hit the right veine our pride looks ascue vpon our Masters humility It is this statelinesse that makes vs vnlike our Saviour and all his true Disciples that haue followed him and gone before vs. For to speake nothing of the Fathers and those men as it were of another world what is the reason wee come so farre short in learning gifts and zeale of our Reformers and Masters who haue gone as it were but yesterday day before Why is there such a sensible decay of Doctrine and Discipline among the best but for that we vye who should bee greatest and not who should bee holiest ayme more at the esteeme of men then the praise of God and still forget this lesson of our Saviours humility Hee was humble in the day of his power wee account our selues disgraced if wee bee told fully of our faults The remedy for all this is the direction which followeth Thy people shall offer thee free-will offrings with an holy worship which is the duty of the faithfull and second member of my text that followeth now in order briefly to bee considered 7 Thy people Thy implyeth a propriety People a Congregation at least a multitude except the people be Gods in vaine a holy worship is expected and singularity in this thing is not so acceptable or fit as the vnited devotions of a Congregation or people This people shall offer Here is their externall forwardnesse exemplarie to drawe on others They shall offer to Thee Not to others Saints Angells much lesse their shrines Our Prophet seemes not to bee acquainted with any such doctrine They shall offer thee free-will offrings This is the inward ground which Hee especially here respecteth that giueth to will and to doe and onely searcheth the hearts and reynes With a holy worship composed of inward synceritie and outward decency according to the first and second Commandement Thus I paraphrase the words as they lye in my translation Those that read it otherwise may frame some other deductions but in substance not much different The vulgar Latine is here wholly wide from the originall in rendring it Tecum principium which the Schoole-boyes of Doway for their childish translation out of the Latine credits them no further construe With thee the beginning The errour as it should seeme of the Greeke gaue some way to this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which divers of the Ancients afterward tooke for a ground to proue the Eternitie of the Sonne of God but by a meere mistake both in the pointing of the Hebrew and then reading 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with thee for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy people and next 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may signifie principality not beginning as the vulgar for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 devotionum saith Pagnine and Montanus spontancarum voluntatum according to Leo Iuda Munster Vatablus Ingenuitatum addeth Iunius and the rest different not which is sufficiently expressed in both our English translations Thy people shall bee willing or offer thee free-will offrings It may bee as Moller on my Text conjectures that the vulgar mistooke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 letters much alike and so came in the difference In hunc locum Bellarmine would faine justifie that reading by chopping and charging points and letters at his pleasure but his own men concurre not with him Such Criticismes I knowe are harsh in a Sermon but the Text must bee cleared that the ground bee sure That which followes with an holy worship some read in ornatibus sanctis referring it to the Priests Robes or garments so Moller and Piscator Others in decoribus or decorislocis Sanctuary in relation to Ierusalem and the Temple as Bucer Iunius and Calvin Saint Ierome seemes to mistake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore in stead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reades 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the mountaines of holinesse all which our last translation very well compriseth In the beauties of holinesse To fasten then vpon some certaintie Two things may be hence gathered as the graces and luster of all Christian worship Chearefulnesse in the vndertaking syncerity in the performance Both which as they concerne a setled Church or congregation must be set forth vnto the world in regard of the place the Temple appointed for that purpose for the more solemnity In respect of the administration in vestures or gestures or some marke of difference which shall be thought fittest for decency edification betweene the Priest and people There may be a holinesse without externall beautie and there is externall pompe enough not grounded vpon inward holinesse But such vnlawfull divorces should not dismay vs from a ready and voluntary striuing for regaining and maintaining this belssed match of beauty and holinesse This was God owne precept three times repeated in one chapter Deut. 12. The free-will offrings and the rest of that nature must not bee huddled vp in private but brought to the place which the Lord had chosen and there must they eate before the Lord and they must reioyce in all that they put their hand vnto they and their housholds vers 7. which is againe repeated to the like purpose vers 12. And yee shall reioyce before the Lord your God you and your sons and your daughters and your men servants and your mayd servants and the Levite that is within your gates And the third time at the 18. verse and thou shalt reioyce before the Lord in all that thou puttest thy hand vnto Surely dulnesse or murmuring or coldnesse or externall formalities aiming rather to please the world or stop mens censurings then proceeding of inward willingnesse is so farre from acceptation at the hands of God that hee pronounceth it worthy of all reproch and punishment What a volley of curses are there thundred forth Deut. 28. but when or for what offences are they especially