a generall and indifferent one Every one Fifthly because it is so just and profitable a one One another Lastly because it is prest by such a rare example as the world never had the like As I have loved you You see the eares that stand above the rest which by the example of the Apostles on the Sabbath I will d Mat. 12.1 rubbe in the handling of them to stay your spirituall hunger a while A new The first word in my Text is new and even this may seem new and strange that Christ calleth here this commandement of love a new commandement which is as old as the Law of Moses nay as the law of nature For before Christ made love Gospel Moses made it written Law and before Moses made it written Law God made it a branch or rather the root of the law of nature before the Evangelist wrote this precept in the Gospel Moses wrote it in the Law and before Moses wrote it in the Law God wrote it with his owne finger in tables of stone and long before that in the fleshly tables of Adams heart How then doth our Saviour here terme it a new commandement which is so old that Saint e John 3.11 This is the message that ye received from the beginning that yee love one another John himselfe commendeth it from the antiquity As Saint Ambrose spake of the Cherubins in Ezekiels vision Si stabant quomodo movebant si movebant quomodo stabant If they stood still how did they move if they moved how did they stand still may not we likewise argue the case thus If the duty of mutuall love be a message received from the beginning either of the promulgation of the Law or the Creation it selfe how is it here stiled new If it be so new in Saint Johns Gospel how is it so old in his Epistle Every answer shaped by the Interpreters to this question may serve for a severall exposition of this Text and a speciall motive to this duty of mutuall love First f Mald. in Mat. Multa dum vobiscum versatus sum dedi mandata multa documenta nunc dabo unum quod instat est omnium Maldonat resolveth it to bee an Hebraisme in which language new rare and most excellent are synonimaes A new name Apoc. 2. is a most honourable name A new song Psal 69. a most excellent song New wine Matth. 26.29 vinum praestantissimum alterius generis the best wine so here a new commandement is a rare a choice a speciall a remarkable one as if our Lord had said Unum praeque omnibus unum One above all other Calvin g Calvin in hunc loc Vult hujus mandati perpetuò vos esse memores ac si lex esset recens nata Scimus leges initio diligentiûs servari sensim verò labi ex hominum memoriâ donec tandem obsolescant ergo Christus quo magis infigat charitatem suorum animis à novitate eam commendat varieth not much from Maldonat paraphrasing thus Christ would have us perpetually mindfull of this his precept as if it were a law newly enacted For wee know saith hee that lawes at the first making of them are carefully looked unto and diligently observed but by degrees weare out of mens memory and in the end grow quite into dis-use therefore Christ the more to fasten love in the minds of his commendeth it unto them as a new commandement The most of the Ancients conceive this commandement to be termed new because it is propounded here novâ formâ in a new form In the Law it runs thus Love thy neighbour as thy selfe but in the Gospel Love one another as I have loved you that is in some case more than your selves For indeed so did Christ laying downe his life for us Yet Saint h Aug. in hunc loc Novum dicitur ab effectu quod nos renovet exuto vetere novo induat Austin hath a new way by himselfe hee saith that the commandement of love is here said to be NEW from the effect because it renewes us and by it we put off the old man and put on the new Let us strike all these strings together and make a chord of them What account ought we to make of how carefully to observe the commandement of our Saviour which is a rare and singular one and so new renewed and revived by Christ in the Gospel and so new delivered in a new manner and after a new forme and so new enforced by a new president and so new lastly which maketh us new in our mindes in our inward and outward man and so new The most fluent and currant sense of the words seemeth to be this Christ had before called his Disciples children and fore-told them that hee was shortly to leave them therefore hee giveth them here such counsels and precepts as fathers usually give their children when they are to take a long journey Children I am now to leave you who have been your greatest stay and comfort now therefore you must bee a mutuall help and comfort one to another My peace I leave with you my love I commend unto you I give you now my last and newest commandement to love one another as I have loved you I have loved you 1. Freely for you chose not i John 15.16 mee but I chose you 2. Sincerely for I have left my Father and a Kingdome in Heaven to live with you 3. Exceedingly for I have resolved to lay k John 15.13 downe my life for you 4. Constantly for having loved mine owne which were in the world I loved them to l John 13.1 the end Let your love bee such one to another that all that see you may know you by this badge to be my Disciples This cognisance was so bright to bee seen in the livery of the Christians of the Primitive Church that by their love-feasts and charitable contributions and having all things in common and visiting their sicke in time of infection and having recourse one to another in prisons and dungeons and dens and caves of the earth and accompanying one another to the racke to the gibbet to the blocke to the fire to all sorts of most exquisite tortures and torments the Heathen knew a man to be a Christian But this badge grew in after ages dimmer and now it is in a maner quite worn out Which that it might not come to passe our Saviour in m Gorth in hunc loc Ideo novum dicit mandatum quia semper debet recens esse in corde quia semper debet dilectio innovari ac nunquam per interruptionem aut negligentiam inveterari Gorrhams judgement proposeth this precept of love in this forme of words A new commandement I give unto you that is such a one as ought to be alwaies fresh in your mind and memory and never to waxe old or be blotted out of your heart by any dis-use or negligence
seemeth more secure than sitting in a chaire yet Judge e Aug de civit Dei l. 22. c. 22. Quid videtur sedente securius de sella cecidit Eli mortuus est Ely fell out of his chaire and brake his necke Wherefore since Judges themselves are as subject to the lawes of humane frailty as other men since for ought they know they are as neere death as the prisoner whom they have newly condemned to dye let them look above them not about them let them feare God not man let them deliver nothing at the bench which they are not assured in their consciences that they are able to make good before the Judge of quicke and dead from whose face heaven and earth fled away and their place could no where be found Judges may be considered either as of a particular circuit of the earth and so they must receive instruction from the King or Lord of that land or as Judges of the earth at large and in that regard must take their Commission and receive Instruction from the Lord of the whole earth who requireth in his Judges 1 Religion f Exod. 18.21 thou shalt provide out of all the people able men such as feare God 2 Moderation g Gal. 6.1 to restore such as are overtaken in a fault in the Spirit of meeknesse 3 Learning and knowledge in the lawes of which before 4 Integrity they must h Num. 11.24 hate covetousnesse i Exod. 18.21 Deut. 16.19 they may not take a gift c. 5 Indifferency they k Deut. 1.17 must not respect persons in judgement but heare the small c. 6 Attention and diligent enquiry they l Deut. 1.16 13.14 19.18 must heare causes and make search c. 7 Expedition m Zech. 7.9 to execute true judgement and not delay justice 8 Resolution and courage not to n Deut. 1.17 feare the face of man 9 Equity to o Deut. 1.16 Joh. 7.24 judge equally and righteously betweene every man and his brother 1 Want of Religion makes a prophane Judge 2 Want of Moderation an unmercifull Judge 3 Want of Learning an unsufficient Judge 4 Want of Integrity a corrupt Judge 5 Want of Indifferency a partiall Judge 6 Want of Attention a rash Judge 7 Want of Expedition a tedious Judge 8 Want of Resolution a timorous Judge 9 Want of Equity an unrighteous Judge Lastly Want of any of these an Incompetent Judge want of all these an unsufferable and execrable Judge 1 Religion is required in a Judge without which there will be no conscience of doing justice where injustice may be borne out and because even religious men are subject to passion to religion a Judge must adde 2 Moderation and governement of his passions and because a man of temper fit for a Judge may mistake his marke if he be not expert in the Law to moderation he must adde 3 Learning and knowledge in the Law according to which he is to give sentence and because bribes blinde the p Deut. 16.19 eyes of the wisest and learnedst Judges to learning he must adde 4 Integritie and incorruption a sincere heart and cleere hands and because where bribes cannot open the hand yet favour may enter at the eye to his Integrity he must adde 5 Indifferencie free from all kinde of partiality and because a Judge though never so religious temperate learned incorrupt and impartiall cannot yet give right judgement without a full hearing and exact discussing of the cause before him to indifferencie he must adde 6 Patient Attention and diligent q Deut. 19.18 inquisition and because the plaintife or defendant are nothing benefited by the Judges hearing of or searching into the cause if after examination there follow not a sentence to Attentition he must adde 7 Expedition for delayed justice oftentimes as much wrongeth the plaintife as injustice and because after enquiry and hearing though the Judge be expert and readie yet judgement may be stopped if a great person appeare in the cause to Expedition he must adde 8 Courage and Resolution and because if a Judge strike too hard with the sword of justice he may breake it as also because the sentence of the law may be just in generall yet in regard of difference in circumstances may wring and wrong a man in particular to all the former vertues a compleat Judge must adde 9 r Levit. 19.15 In equity shalt thou judgethy neighbour Equity and stayed discretion which holdeth steedily the gold weights of justice and addeth or taketh away a graine or more to make the piece and weight perfectly agree 1. Religion Alvares reporteth that the Aethiopians place many chaires about the Judges seat not out of State but out of Religion supposing that their Gods fit there with their Judges That which they suppose we certainely know that God and his Angels are present at the Assises and that he judgeth among the Å¿ Psal 82.1.7 gods that is the Judges or Princes How religious then ought Judges to be who are Almighty Gods Assessours So neere is the affinity betweene Justice and Religion that as Priests are called Judices sacrorum Judges of Religion and causes Ecclesiasticall so Judges are by Ulpian stiled Sacerdotes justitiae Priests of justice And not only the high Priests among the Jewes but also the Archontes of the Athenians the Archiflamines and t Cic prò domo suâ ad Pontifices Cum multa divinitus Ponâ—ifices a majoribus nostris in venta atque instituta sunt tum nihil praeclarius quam quod vos cosdem religionibus deorum immortalium summae reipublicae prae esse voluerunt Pontifices of the Romanes the Muphteyes of the Turkes the Brameres of the Indians the Druides of the ancient Brittaines were trusted with Justice as well as Religion and that for important considerations For sith mortall men cannot prescribe against God nor dispence with his commandements sith the divine law is the supreme law to which lyeth an appeale from all humane statutes and ordinances they who by their calling are Interpreters of that law might well be thought fit Umpires in all controversies concerning the equity of lawes and conformity to the divine especially in such points wherein the lawes trench upon holy things But I list not in the heat of modern oppositions to drink of the waters of strife let that question passe whether sacred persons expert in the divine law are not fittest to judge in secular causes of greatest moment this I am sure Judges must be if not in orders yet eminently religious and skilfull in the law of God for the judgement they are to give is u Deut. 1.17 Gods If a Judge be not religious he will never be zealous for Gods honour nor severely punish the breaches of the first Table If a Judge feare not God hee will feare the face of man and flye backe when he should stand out for a poore
Jud. 5.23 Curse ye Meros curse yee bitterly the inhabitants thereof because they came not to the helpe of the Lord against the mighty accurseth all those in the name of Meros that refuse to come in their best equipage to aide the Lord against the mighty r Magdeburg Cent. 5. Pomp. Laetus compend hist Rom. Anastasius the Emperour for his luke-warmnesse in the Catholicke cause and endevouring to reconcile the Arrians and Orthodoxe or at least silence those differences was strucken to death with a hot thunder-bolt No Sacrifice is acceptable to God that is not salted with the fire of zeale which guided by wisedome quickneth and enflameth all the inward desires as well as the outward actions that appertaine to religion for the chiefe seat of zeale is the fountaine of heat and that is the heart there it ſ Psal 45.1 bubbled in David there it t Luk. 24.32 Did not our hearts burne when hee opened to us c. burned in the disciples it u Psal 22.15 My heart is dried c. consumed and dryed up the very substance of the heart in Christ If our zeale burne not inwardly as well as outwardly as well upwards towards God as downewards towards the world if it enflame not our charity as well as incense our piety if the heat of it bee cooled by age or slacked by opposition or extinguished even by floods of bloody persecution it is no true Vestall fire nor such as becommeth Gods altar for that might never this did never go out sincerity it selfe is not so opposite to hypocrisie as zeale Sincerity without zeale is a true but a cold and faint-hearted zeale is an eager fierce hot and couragious enemy of all hypocrites whom shee brandeth with an eternall note of infamy But because all fires are in a manner alike to the eye how should wee know holy fire from prophane heavenly from earthly that is zeale from enraged hypocrisie pretending with Jehu that hee is zealous for the Lord of hostes I answer as a precious Diamond is valued by three things 1 Inward lustre 2 Number of caracts 3 Solidity of substance and thereby is distinguished both from counterfeit gemmes and those that are of lesse value so true zeale is distinguished from hypocriticall by 1 Sincerity 2 Integrity 3 Constancy all which notes are discernable in holy * Psal 119.2 Davids zeale 1 Sincerity I have loved thy testimonies with my heart ver 6. yea my whole heart 2 Integrity I have had respect unto all thy commandements ver 34. all false wayes I abhorre 3 Constancy I have kept thy lawes unto the end ver 44. When the face and hands and outward parts burne as in a feaver the heart is so cold that it quaketh and shivereth so it is with the hypocrite his tongue alwayes and his hands too sometimes burne x Persius satyr Sed pone in pectore dextram Nil calet If you could put your hand into his bowels you should finde his heart like Nabals as cold as a stone True zeale if it bee transported it is in private devotion to God si insanimus Deo insanimus in outward carriage towards men it proceeds resolutely indeed and undauntedly but yet deliberately and discreetly it burneth within most ardently it scarce ever flameth or sparkleth outwardly like those bathes in the Pythecusian Ilands whereof y Balnea in Pythecusiis insulis fervent supra modum calore vi igneâ nec tamen flammam emittunt Vide Aristot mirabilium auscult Aristotle writeth that they are hot above measure and of a fiery nature yet send forth no flame Secondly as insincerity discries the hypocrite so also want of integrity Take the hypocrite that maketh the fairest offer to zeale though hee outstrippe some it may bee in some works of piety and duties of the first Table you shall take him tardy in most acts of charity and duties of the second Table Peradventure he will slay smaller sinnes with the sword of the Spirit like the meanest of the Amalekites but hee will spare Agag and the principall his gainefull sinnes of simony sacriledge usury and oppression hee is never Totus teres atque rotundas Goe he as upright as hee can you shall perceive him to limpe and halt with God or man or both If the point of controversie in the Church no way touch his free-hold hee takes it no more to heart than z Act. 18.17 Gallio did the uproare about Saint Pauls preaching then difference about articles of faith are but contentions about words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but if it rubbe upon his profit or credit with his owne faction then hee never leaveth crying out great is a Act. 19.28 Diana of the Ephesians You may finde an hypocrite zealous against Idolatry but you shall finde him very moderate against sacriledge if he have a moneths minde to Rome he will stickle for the authority of the Church but the scripture is very cheape to him hee will deliver prayers by tale to God the blessed Virgin and Saints but for Sermons hee holds it a kinde of merit to heare few of those of his owne sect and none of any other On the contrary if hee hath beene brought up at the feete of Cartwright or Brown then he is all for Scriptures and nothing at all for the Church all for preaching and nothing for prayer unlesse it be an abortive issue of hi◠owne brain an extemporary indigested incomposed inconsequent ejaculation in which he is never out because he is never in As for the premeditated penned advised and sanctified forme of Service appointed by the Church it is to him like the white of an egge that hath no tast in it But the most certain and infallible character of an hypocrite and his zeale is the soon cooling and abating thereof and in the end evaporating into ayre like a blazing starre he glareth for a time but in a short space playes least in sight like fire-works of danke powder hee never leaves shooting off on these and the like watch-towers whilest his matter lasteth but when that is spent goeth out in a fume or stench True beauty beareth off all weathers but paint is washed off with a shower or discovered by the fire Saint Basil's embleme was columna ignea a fiery pillar fiery there 's his zeale a pillar there 's his constancy I doubt whether nature can present such a stone as the name Asbestus in the original signifieth that is a stone of fire that nothing can extinguish but I am sure grace can and that is this jewell of zeale I have beene so long in describing for it burneth alwayes in the heart and can never be quenched I would bee loath to be thought to goe about to quench the smoaking flaxe or discourage any man in whom there is a sparke of this fire covered with ashes yet I should deceive them or suffer them to be mis-led with an ignis fatuus if I should
ardebat cor vestrûm in vobis cùm exponeret vobis Scripturas The second jewel was a Saphir according to the Hebrew derivation from Sepher a booke wherein we may reade both the doctrine and graces of the second Speaker Hic lapis ut perhibent educit corpore vinctos saith Vincentius and was not his doctrine a Jayle-delivery of all deaths prisoners It is a constant tradition among the Rabbins that the tables of stone Bellar. l. 2. de Verb. Dei wherein the ten Commandements were written with the finger of God were of Saphir For although Pliny affirmeth Nat. hist l. 37. that the Saphir is a stone altogether unfit for sculpture yet this can be no just exception against this tradition sith the engraving of the ten Commandements was done by the finger of God above nature Moreover it is cleare out of this Text that the name of one of the Patriarchs was written in the Saphir Such a Saphir was the second Speaker having the Lawes of God imprinted in his heart The third jewell is a Diamond in Hebrew called Jahalom because it breaketh all other stones in Greek Adamas that is unconquerable because it can neither be broken by the hammer nor consumed in the fire nay the fire saith Zenocrates hath not so much power as to stain the colour much lesse impeach the substance of this stone Call to mind among the vertues of a Magistrate conspicuous in this divine Oratour his unconquerable courage unstained integrity and the comparison is already made Pliny reporteth Adamantem sideritem alio Adamante perforari thinke you not that if a man could have a heart as hard as the Adamant this Adamant pointed with sacred eloquence could breake it and make it contrite Lastly Pliny addeth that the Diamond is a soveraign remedy against poyson Et ideò regibus charissimus iisque paucis cognitus in high esteem with Princes if as our gracious Soveraigne hath so all Christian Princes had such Diamonds as this if such Preachers were their eare-rings they should be free from the danger of all poysoned and hereticall doctrine If as the stones placed in the second row agree with the gifts of the Speaker so they sort as well with the doctrines of his Text I am sure you wil all say that this second order of stones is not out of order A most remarkable story of the Carbuncle we have that cast in the fire among live coals it seemeth to have no grace in it but quench the other coals with water it shineth more gloriously in the ashes than ever before so our Saviour in the brunt of his passion while he was heat by the fire-brands of hell Scribes Pharisees Jewes Romans seemed to be dead and lose all his colour beauty nay was indeed dead according to his humane nature his soule being severed from his body but after the consummation of his passion and the extinction of the fiery rage of his persecuters with his bloud in his resurrection he shewed himself a most glorious Carbuncle shining in majesty burning in love After his resurrection in the day of his ascension hee taketh possession of his throne in heaven which Chap. 1. V. 26. in Ezekiel is said to bee like a Saphir stone now sitting at the right hand of God the Father having conquered sin death hell made all his enemies his footstoole he is become the only true orient Diamond in the world whether you take the name from the Greek ἄδαμασ ab ά δαμαω or the Hebrew ×להי from ×לה being invincible himselfe and overcomming all adverse power breaking his obstinate enemies in pieces like a potters vessell with a rod of iron The embossment of gold in which these gems of divine doctrine were set was his Text taken out of A Sermon preached by Doctor John King then Dean of Christ-Church and Vicechancellor of the University of Oxford afterwards Lord Bishop of London upon Easter day in Saint Peters Church in Oxford ESAY 26.19 Thy dead men shall live together with my body shall they rise awake and sing yee that dwell in dust for the dew is as the dew of herbes and the earth shall cast up her dead IT would aske the labour of an houre to settle this one only member I finde such a Babel of tongues at odds about so few words Variae lectiones Whereas we reade terra projiciet or ejiciet the earth shall cast up or bring forth as it doth her herbs and winter prisoners Junius hath Dejecisti in terram Castalio terram demoliris the Seventy Terra cadet S. Jerome Dejicies in terram the Chaldee paraphrase Trades in infernum and for mortuos in Hebrew * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rephaim from a word signifying to cure per antiphrasin the Seventy reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wicked or ungodly S. Jerome Gigantes stout and robustious against God But to set you in a right and inoffensive way I reduce almost an infinity of distractions to two heads For all of them either speak of the resurrection of the dead indefinitely which they doe that say Terra ejiciet to wit postquam in terram dejecisti For the earth cannot cast up that it hath not and Manium terram demoliris or of the destruction of the wicked one only species of the dead which the Seventy call impios others Giants mighty to transgresse both senses as the Northern and Southern rivers running from contrary points meet in the Ocean so these from sundry and discrepant conceits run into one common place of the generall resurrection save that the latter adde a straine to the former of Gods vengeance and wrath prepared for the wicked Sense twofold Thus having set the letters of my Text together accorded the words it remaineth that their scope and intent be freed from question There is not one of the learned Scribes old or new Jew or Christian whose spirit and pen hath not fallen upon one of these two senses viz. that the Prophet either speaketh of the resurrection of the dead at the last day or of the restitution and enlargement of the people from their present straights in which say they calamity is a kind of death captivity as the grave Gods people as the seed in the ground Gods grace and favour as the comfortable dew to revive and restore them to their wonted being Of these two companies some goe after the literall grammaticall sense lending not so much as the cast of their eye toward the allegory as Strigelius Clarius Brentius Others on the other side of the banke standing for the shadowed resurrection are not so peremptory but si quis aliter sentire mavult per me liber hoc faciat and Calvin himself in his commentary layes out as it were a lot as well for the true as the typicall resurrection Falluntur Christiani qui ad extremum judicium restringunt Prophetatotum Christi regnum ab initio ad finem
taking the houses of God in their owne possession a fearfull and most shamefull end What gained k 1 Kin. 22.31 2 Kin. 9.33 Ahab and Jezabel by Naboths vineyard the vine of Sodom and the grapes of Gomorrah it cost them their lives and their kingdomes What gained l Dan. 5.28 Balthasar by the plate of the Temple the division of his crown betweene the Medes and Persians What gained m Act. 5.5 10. Ananias and Sapphira by their fraudulent keeping backe part of the price for which they sold their possessions a sudden and most fearfull death What gained n Mat. 27.5 Judas by his thirty pieces of silver which hee received to betray innocent blood a halter to hang himselfe As Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar o Dan. 4.19 this dreame bee to the Kings enemies so I will be bold to say such gaine as is made by commerce with Satan be to Gods enemies Godlinesse hath the promises of this life and the life to come ungodlinesse of neither but contrariwise threats of judgements in both which sometimes fall upon the estate of those that are rich and not in God sometimes upon their bodies but alwayes upon their soules either God suddenly bloweth them away from their great estates or hee bloweth upon their estates and the fruits of their labours and they subscribe probatum est to the Latine proverbs Malè part a malè dilabuntur and De malè quaesitis non gaudet tertius haeres ill gotten goods prosper not The officers whom p Suet. in Vesp. Vespasian employed like spunges to sucke in the blood of the subjects he after they were full squiezed them till they were dry And how often doe we see the great spoylers of others spoyled themselves and the secret underminers of other mens fortunes undermined themselves the cruellest exacters upon their tenants exacted upon by their superiour Lords In the second place I treated of the second attribute or consequent of sin shame and by evidence of Scripture and testimony of every ones conscience proved that sin shameth us three manner of waies 1 Within our selves making us seeme most vile filthy lothsome and odious to our selves 2 In the world staining our credit and branding us with a note of infamy 3 At the tribunall of Christ before God Angels and men when our consciences which now like a scrole of parchment lye folded together shall bee opened and spread abroad that all men may read what is written there If the consideration of the unfruitfulnesse and shame of sinne affect us not much nor make any sensible alteration in our lives and conversations behold yet stronger physicke which will worke with us if we be not dead already The end of those things is death Here are three bitter pills that are to bee taken by all them that surfeit in sinfull pleasures and worldly vanities whether they bee lusts of the flesh or lusts of the eye or appertaine to the pride of life 1 These things will have an end The end 2 The end of these things is fearfull Death 3 This death is the second death and hath no end I see saith David q Psal 119.96 that all things come to an end but thy commandements are exceeding broad yea so broad that all wayes and courses besides the path of Gods lawes come to a speedy end and very short period What the Historian observed concerning the race of men Vita hominum brevit principum brevior pontificum brevissima that the life of man is shorter than of other creatures of Princes than of other men of Popes than of Princes may be applied thus to our present purpose The lives of men are but short their actions and endevours of a shorter date but indirect and sinfull courses of the shortest duration of all All the fruit that comes of them like the fig-tree cursed by our Saviour withers suddenly Crassus enjoyed not long the fruit of his covetousnesse but was slain in war and had melted gold poured into his mouth by the Parthians Julius Caesar enjoyed not long the fruit of his ambition but was stabbed with twenty five wounds in the Senate Heliogabalus enjoyed not long the fruit of his pleasure but was slaine and throwne into a jakes Dionysius enjoyed not long the fruit of his sacriledge and tyrannie but was constrained to change his scepter for a ferular and teach Scholars for a small stipend to keepe him from starving If the prosperity of the wicked be an eye-sore unto us as it was sometimes unto David r Psal 73.17 18 19. Let us enter into the sanctuary of God and wee shall see the end of these men namely that God doth set them in slippery places and casteth them downe to destruction How are they brought into desolation as in a moment they are utterly consumed with terrours Achan spent not his wedge of gold nor ware out his Babylonish garment but was soone discovered and stripped of all hee had and came to a fearfull end It was not long after Ahab and Jezabel purchased a vineyard at the deare rate of the blood of the owner but they watered it with their owne blood Belshazzar had scarce concocted the wine in his stomacke which hee carowsed in the bowles of the Sanctuary before hee saw a hand writing his doome on the wall and soone after felt the arme of Cyrus executing it upon him Achitophel his policy tooke not long for within a short space after he had animated the sonne against the father his counsell was rejected and hee hanged himselfe The price of innocent blood was not long in Judas his hands before with the same hands hee fitted his owne halter Titus exhibited to the people stately pageants pompes carosels and triumphant festivities for an hundred dayes Asuerus kept royall feasts for halfe a yeere together of both after the prefixed tearm was expired nothing remained but infinite spoile of Gods creatures and an excessive bill of charge Hee that thriveth most by sinfull courses and gurmandizeth all sorts of pleasures and keepeth continuall holy-dayes a great part of his life yet before hee goeth out of the light of this world seeth an end of all his worldly happinesse and there remaines nothing unto him but a sad remembrance distempers in his body wounds in his conscience and a fearfull account to bee given to his Lord and Master for thus lavishing out his goods and wasting his substance in riotous living Pleasures like blossomes soone fall the garlands of honour are withered in a few yeeres the treasures of wickednes soon rust all lewd and sensual all base and covetous all proud and ambitious all false and deceitfull wayes have a short period and a downfall into a lake that burneth with fire and brimstone ſ In ep ad Rom. Servitutis culpae triplex est incommoditas primo quia cum damno multo secundo quia cum fructu nullo tertiò quia cum fine malo Gorrhan summeth up all briefly thus There is
Law were under the curse for it is written saith he i Gal. 3.10 Cursed is every man that confirmeth not all things that are written in the Law to doe them Now there is no commandement which is not written in the booke of the Law to which whosoever k Deut. 4.2 addeth is accursed To these plaine and evident passages of Scripture may bee adjoyned three like unto them The l Ezek. 18.4 Rom. 6.23 1 Cor. 15.56 soule that sinneth shall dye The wages of sinne is death and The sting of death is sinne These pregnant testimonies the Cardinall endeavoureth to elude with these and the like glosses The soule that sinneth that is mortally shall dye and the wages of sinne that is of mortall sinne is death and the sting of death is sinne that is deadly sinne With as good colour of reason in all Texts of Scriptures wherein we are deterred from sinne he might interpose this his glosse and say eschue evill that is all deadly evill flye sinne that is mortall sinne and consequently deny that veniall sinnes are any where forbidden But as when wee reade in the common or civill law these and the like titles the punishment of felony murder treason fimony sacriledge we understand the law of all crimes of the same kind so in like manner when the Apostle saith indefinitely the wages of sinne is death we are to understand him of every sin for Non est distinguendum ubi lex non distinguit we must not distinguish where the law distinguisheth not For he that so doth addeth to the law or taketh from it and thereby incurreth the curse pronounced by the law-giver And though other Texts of Scriptures might brooke the like restriction yet not those above alledged For what is the meaning of this phrase Death is the wages of sin but that sinne deserveth death which is all one as to say that sinne is mortall Now adde hereunto Bellarmines glosse The wages of sinne that is mortall sinne is death and the soule that sinneth that is that sinneth mortally shall dye and the propositions will prove meere tautologies as if the Prophet had said The soule that sinneth a sinne unto death shall dye and the Apostle sinne that deserveth death deserveth death What is it to deprave the meaning of the Holy Ghost if this be not especially considering that the Prophet Ezekiel in the selfe same chapter ver 31. declareth his meaning to be of sinne in generall without any restriction or limitation Cast away from you all your transgressions and make you a new heart so iniquity shall not be your destruction Here ye see no means to avoid death but by casting away all transgressions for sith the Law requireth m Jam. 2.10 Whosoever shall keep the whole Law yet offendeth in one point is guilty of all entire obedience he that violateth any one commandement is liable to the punishment of the breach of the whole Law To smother this cleare light of truth it is strange to see what smoaky distinctions the adversaries have devised of peccatum simpliciter and secundùm quid and peccatum contra Legem and praeter Legem sinnes against the Law and besides the Law Veniall sinnes say they are besides the Law not against the Law Are not they besides themselves that so distinguish For let them answer punctually Doth the Law of God forbid those they call veniall sinnes or not If not then are they no sinnes or the Law is not perfect in that it meeteth not with all enormities and transgressions If the Law forbiddeth them then are they against the Law For sinne saith Saint John is the n 1 John 3 4. transgression of the Law If then veniall escapes are sinnes they must needs be violations of the Law and so not onely praeter besides but contra Legem against it The Law as Christ expoundeth it Matthew the fifth forbiddeth a rash word a wanton looke nay unadvised passion and what lesser sinnes can be thought than sinnes of thought therefore saith o Moral p. 1. l. 4. Azorius the Jesuit we must say that veniall sinne is against the Law as Cajetan Durand and Vega taught we must say so unlesse we will reject the definition of sinne given by Saint Austine and generally received by the Schooles dictum factum vel concupitum contra Legem aeternam that sinne is a thought word or deed against the eternall Law unlesse wee will contradict the ancient Fathers by name Saint p Greg. l. 8. in Job In praesenti mortem carnis patior tamen adhuc de futuro judicio graviorem morte destructionis tuae sententiam pertimesco quantâlibet enim justiciâ polleant nequaquam sibi ad innocentiam vel electi sufficiunt si in judicio districtè judicentur Gregory In the morning if thou seeke mee thou shalt not finde mee Now I sleep in dust that is in this present I suffer the death of the flesh and yet in the future judgement I feare the sentence of damnation more grievous than death for the Elect themselves how righteous soever they are will not be found innocent if God deale with them according to strict justice And Saint q Ep. 14. Omne quod loquimur aut de latâ aut de anguttâ viâ est si cum paucis subtilem quandam semitam invenimus ad vitam tendimus si multorum comitamur viam secundum Domini sententiam imus ad mortem Jerome Whatsoever we doe whatsoever we speake either belongs to the broad way or to the narrow if with a few we find out a narrow path we tend toward life if we keep company with many in the great road we goe to death And in his second r Lib. 2. cont Pel. c. 4. Quis nostrûm potest huic vitio non subjacere cum etiam pro otioso verbo reddituri simus rationem in judicio si ita sermonis injuria atque interdum jocus judicio coucilioque gehennae ignibus delegantur quid merebitur turpium rerum appetitio booke against the Pelagians where rehearsing the words of our Saviour He that is unadvisedly angry with his brother shall bee in danger of judgement thus reflecteth upon himselfe and his brethren Which of us can be free from this vice If unadvised anger and a contumelious word and sometimes a jest bringeth a man in danger of judgement councell and hell fire what doe impure desires and other more grievous sinnes deserve And Saint ſ Chrys com in Mat. 5. Mirantur multi hominem qui fratrem levem aut fatuum appellaverit sempiternae morti condemnari cum tertio quoque verbo alti alus id dicere soleamus Chrysostome who thus quavereth upon the same note Many are startled when they heare that he shall be condemned to eternall death who calleth his brother giddy-braine or foole sith nothing is so common among us wee hardly speake three words in disputing with any man but we breake
out into such course language Yea but some will say What is the nodding at a Sermon the stealing a farthing the breaking of a jest such an hainous matter that it deserveth everlasting torments of body and soule in Hell I answer with Saint t Aug. l. 2. cont Donat. Non afferamus stateras dolosas ubi appendamus quod volumus quomodo volumus pro arbitrio nostro di centes hoc grave est hoc leve sed afferamus stateram divinam de Scripturis sanctis tanquam de thesauris Domini in illâ quid sit grave appendamus Austine in the estimation of sinnes we ought not to bring out deceitfull weights of our owne but out of the Scriptures golden weights sealed by God and in them see what is light and what is weighty In these scales wee shall find the least sinne to be heavie enough to weigh down to the ground yea to Hell for every offence committed against an infinite Majesty deserveth an infinite punishment every transgression of the eternall Law excludeth a man from eternall happinesse and deserveth eternall death Whosoever shall breake one of the least commandements saith our u Mat. 5.19 Saviour and teach men so shall be least in the Kingdome of heaven Here Bellarmine wisheth us to marke that Christ saith not simply hee that breaketh one of the least commandements but he that breaketh it and teacheth others to doe so We mark it well and that clause may serve to brand him and his fellow Priests and Jesuits for who teach men to break the least commandements if not they whose doctrine is that veniall sinnes are not against the Law nor simply and properly to be called sinnes but rather naevuli aspergines and pulvisculi that is dustings or spertings or small spots warts or blisters Yee all perceive how much this Text of Scripture maketh for us in our doctrine against Papists but I feare it maketh as much against us in our lives Doe we so live as if we were perswaded that the least sinnes inasmuch as they are committed against an infinite Majesty and are breaches of his eternall Law are exceeding great nay infinite Could we drink iniquity as the beast doth water if we thought it were deadly poyson Doe we make great account of small sinnes nay doe we not rather make small account of the greatest Who ever espyed an Adder thrusting his sting at him and started not backe Natures insensible of paine and ignorant of that danger doe no lesse For if any venemous thing be applyed to any part of our body the bloud as if it took notice of its deadly enemy flyeth back turneth it streams another way and shall not our conscience which hath knowledge and sense of the venome of sinne be much more fearfull of it It is no amplification of the malignant nature of sinne to compare it to a poyson it is rather a diminution For no poyson could ever yet be made so strong that the least imaginary quantity thereof was deadly the least thought of sinne yea the sinne of thought is so Poysons be they never so pernicious and deadly are pernicious and hurtfull to that part onely which of it selfe is mortall I meane our bodies but sinne killeth that part that naturally cannot dye it slayeth our immortall spirits There are many forcible arguments to deterre us even from small sins and to excite us to watch over them as 1. Quia difficiliùs caventur because it is a thing more difficult to avoid them than the greater Many are choaked with small bones of fishes but few with greater because they are usually felt in the mouth before they goe downe the throat Solinus writeth of a kind of * Polihist c. 8. Brevissima apud Amyclas vipera est ac propterea dum despectui est faciliùs nocet viper of a small quantity that doth much more hurt than the greater because the most part of men sleighten it 2. Quia difficiliùs curantur because the wound that is given by them is with more difficulty cured as a pricke made with a bodkin or a steeletto if it be deep is more dangerous than a wound given with a greater weapon because the flesh presently closeth up and the bloud issuing not forth runneth inwardly with greater abundance 3. Quia ad majora viam muniunt because they are a preparation and disposition to greater offences As the wimble pierceth the wood and maketh way for the auger so the smaller sinnes make a breach in the conscience and thereby a way to greater The least sins are as the little theeves that creep in at the windowes and open the doores to the greater that rifle the house and rob the soule of all her spirituall wealth whence is that observation of Saint x Lib. 9. mor. in Job Si vitare parva negligimus insensibiliter seducti majora etiam perpetramus Gregory If we sticke not at small sinnes ere we are aware we shall make no bones of the greatest 4. Quia parva peccata crebra ita nos praegravant ut unum grande because small sinnes with their multitude and number as much hurt the soule as great sinnes with their weight The Herrings though a weake and contemptible kind of fish yet by their number kill the greatest Whale What skilleth it saith Saint y Aug. ep 108. Quid interest ad naufragium an uno grandi fluctu navis operiatur an paulatim subrepens aqua in sentinam per negligentiam derelicta impleat navem atque submerguntur Et serm 10. de divers Quid interest utrum te plumbum premat an arena plumbum una massa est arenae minuta grana sunt nonne vides de minutis guttis impleri flumina minuta sunt sed multa sunt Austine whether a ship be over-whelmed with one great wave or drowned by a leake in the bottome unespyed in which the water entereth drop by drop What easeth it a man to be pressed to death with a heap of sands more than with a sow of lead Are not the greatest rivers filled by drops The sinnes we ordinarily commit minuta sunt sed multa sunt they are small but they are many and what they lose in the quantity they get in the number These indeed are important considerations yet mee thinkes there is more nay there is all that can be said in this clause of the Apostle The end of those things is death the smaller sinnes as well as the greater in their owne nature are mortall It is a more fearfull thing I confesse to be plunged into the bottome of a headlesse lake than to sinke a little under water yet he that is held under water how neere soever it be to the top till his breath is gone is as certainly drowned as he that is found dead in the bottome It is but a miserable comfort to bee put in hope of an upper roome in Hell and not to be thrust into the lowest dungeon Wherefore as yee
To come yet neerer to the native and genuine sense of the words a law may be said to be new out of a double consideration Either in respect of the thing commanded if it be such a thing as before never fell under any law and this is the meaning of our Proverbe Novus rex nova lex New lords new lawes because for the most part new governours and rulers bring in new customes proclaime new edicts and settle new orders in Church and Common-wealth Or in respect of the new act of commanding so an old Statute when it is revived may be called a new Statute as an old booke when it is re-printed or an old fashion laid aside for a long time when it is againe taken up passeth for new In both these respects this commandement in my Text may be said to be new 1. First in respect of the duty commanded For though mutuall love were long before this enjoyned yet not this love whereby Christians are required to love one another as Disciples of one Master nay as members of one mysticall body whereof Christ Jesus is the head 2. Secondly in respect of the new act of commanding expressed in these words I give unto you The promises of Christ in the Law are the Gospel of the Law as on the other side the precepts of Christ in the Gospel are the Law of the Gospel there is * James 4.12 one Law-giver who is able to save and destroy and this Law-giver is Christ the Judge of quicke and dead It belongs to Kings to give Lawes to their subjects Masters to their servants Parents to their children Christ was their n Matth. 2.1 King and their Master and their Father for he calleth them children saying Little o Joh. 13.13 33. children yet a while I am with you In which of these relations are we to God as our King or our Master or our Father are we subjects servants or children If wee are subjects let us obey our King If wee are his servants let us doe our Masters will If wee are children let us keep the commandements of our Father Had the p 2 Kings 5.13 Prophet saith Naamans servant bid thee to doe some great thing wouldest thou not have done it How much more when hee saith unto thee Wash and be cleane so may I say unto you If our Master our Father our King had laid a hard taske upon us wee ought to have done it how much more when hee saith but Love as I have loved you A new commandement I give unto you To love To q Arist 2. rhet ca. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 love is to beare good affection to another and to bee willing and ready to doe him all the good we can for his owne sake without any eye to our selves therein Otherwise if wee love him for our pleasure we love indeed our pleasure and not him if we love him for our profit we love our profit and not him if we love him for any end of our owne we love our selves not him The Flie loveth not the Apothecaries shop but the sweet oyntment there Craterus loved not Alexander but the Crown and therefore was termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Jewes loved not Christ but the r John 6.26 loaves which hee multiplyed by miracle Verily verily I say unto you yee seeke mee not because you saw the miracles but because you did eate of the loaves and were filled The Schooles therefore well distinguish of a double love 1. Amor concupiscentiae 2. Amor amicitiae A love of concupiscence and a love of friendship If the love of concupiscence exceed it degenerateth into either lust covetousnesse or ambition If it carry us inordinately to pleasure it is lust or sensuality If to gaine it is covetousnesse If to honour it is ambition The love of friendship is of another nature it loveth a person for himselfe not for any by respect or to speake more properly it loveth Christ in our Christian brother and may bee well termed the naturall heat of Christs mysticall body which conveigheth nourishment into all parts and performeth all vitall functions It is a spirituall grace knitting the hearts of the faithfull in affection one to another melting them in compassion one of another and dilating and enlarging them in delight and joy one in another In the delineation of this plant of Paradise I will imitate the Naturalists and describe it by the root the maine stocke the branches the blossomes the leaves the fruit The root is the knowledge of God For as the beames of the Sunne reflected from thicke glasses generate heat so the light of divine knowledge incident upon the understanding and reflected upon the will produceth in it the ardent affection of the love of God and from it as the maine arme of the tree issue two branches the love of our neighbour and of our selves The blossomes on these branches are good meanings desires and purposes to wish all good to our neighbour to think well of him to congratulate his felicity and to condole his misery The leaves are good speeches counsels and prayers The fruit are good workes and almes-deeds to correct him in his errours to comfort him in his troubles to visit him in his sicknesse and to relieve him in his necessities And to speake truth to love in truth is to love in deed and charitable deeds are the deeds and evidences that certainly prove a good conveighance of this affection Let us love saith the Apostle not in Å¿ 1 John 3.18 My little children let us not love in word not in tongue but in deed in verity word and in tongue but indeed and verity Deed and verity as you heare are all one and therefore word onely and vanity and hypocrisie must goe together as also the Latine phrase verba dare signifieth True t James 1. ult religion and undefiled before God even the Father is this to visit the fatherlesse and the widow in their affliction and to keep himselfe unspotted of the world I would all who professe religion were of this religion of Saint James For the religion which is I will not say professed but practised by most men is aptly set forth unto us in the Wezel quae aure u Adrian Jun. â—mhl concipit parturit ore which conceiveth at the eare bringeth forth at the mouth It conceiveth in the eare in the frequent if not perpetuall hearing of Sermons but bringeth forth onely at the mouth by discourses of religion pious counsels good words and liberall prayers such as these God helpe thee God relieve thee God comfort thee Alas poore soule alas poore comfort Words bee they never so adorned clothe not the naked be they never so delicate feed not the hungry be they never so zealous warme not him that is starved with cold be they never so soft cure not the wounded be they never so free set not free them