Neginoth's and Mahaloth's Tehillah's and Tephillah's must be framed by the Learned Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. 10. And here if the matter it selfe rowze not your meditations little helpe can bee expected from any vncomposed straines You that haue read of so many heathenish tyrannies and Turkish cruelties you that haue had occasion to travell amongst any barbarous nations or sauage Cannibals you that haue heard of the most prodigious treasons and massacnes that euer were attempted or thought on vnder the Sunne haue you ever read or seene or heard of any monstrous immanity comparable to this of the Powder-Treason Haue ever Turkes or Tartars any Nero'es or Caligula's made vse of powder or such engines of furie to ruine whole States at one blow Nay to blow vp their owne darlings their owne Patrons their owne innocent kinred that never offended them but onely these spuria vitulamina these bastard imps of the Whore of Babylon If the ruine of your liuing Countrymen had no way affected you what had the monuments of the dead deserued that so many sepulchres of ancient Kings must be laid on heapes and vtterly defaced what fault was in the dumbe stones and stately Edifices of your forefathers that they should be left as spectacles of your merciles crueltie But now perchance they repent it and are ashamed of the Actors and their courses O no that scarlet Harlot hath not learned to blush They are pictured for Confessours and Martyres their zeale is commended the State condemned for punishing their Ring-leaders vniustly and their Proselytes here amongst vs which I grieue to speake of follow the same doctrine that led them vnto it and are animated to the like attempts when their ability shall grow sufficient For marke but these few words of Bannes a Spanish Schooleman whom a man would take to be none of the worst especially in comparison of the Iesuites Angli saith he sunt excusandi quia nonse eximunt à Superiorum potestate nec bellum contra eos gerunt quia non suppetunt ill is vires ad consequentia pericula In 2.2 Aquin. q. 12. art 2. The English Catholikes are to be excused for not taking armes against their Superiours because they want sufficient power to goe through with the businesse Tolerate them then but to grow to a head and to make their party good and their natural bond to Prince or Country should little dismay them from venturing vpon the like Powder-plots Where be then our Higgaions Selah's Beloued for the stopping of this brood of vipers that their force should not bee answerable to their malice As the Israelites had their Pascha and Purim Holydaies set apart for the acknowledgement of their grand deliuerance frō Pharaoh and Hamans treason why should not this dayes solemnity bee continued with everlasting thankfulnesse for the miraculous discouery of the Powder-plot Let the people learne from our Pulpits with what kinde of Salt-peter their Catholicisme is powdred let our children vnderstand in our streets the barbarousnesse of the plot the profession of the actours the danger that would haue falne on their innocent heads If the Lord in Iudgement to the enginers and in mercy to vs had not prevented it and snared the wicked in the worke of their own hands At the mentioning of our Church or King at the beholding or remembrance of our Parliaments and chiefe places of Iustice let the villany of the Powder-proiect bee never forgotten In the celebrating of the holy Eucharist let our thankfulnesse for this deliuerance bee an especiall part of our Sacrifice Finally let vs joyntly conclude as our Prophet here beginneth this Psalme Wee will prayse thee O Lord with our whole heart we wil shew forth all thy wonderous Workes Wee will bee glad and reioyce in thee wee will sing prayse to thy Name O thou most High For our enemies are turned backe they haue falne and perished at thy presence for thou hast maintained our right and our cause thou sittest in the Throne iudging right Now to this God the Father God the Sonne and God the Holy Ghost three Persons and one Lord who is knowne by the Iudgement which he executeth and hath snared the wicked in the worke of his owne hands be ascribed with Higgaion and Selah all praises power and glory from this time forth for evermore AMEN HEZEKIAHS SICKNESSE AND RECOVERY A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE KINGS MAIESTIE at Woodstocke By IOHN PRIDEAVX Doctor of Divinity Regius Professor and Rector of Exeter Colledge OXFORD Imprinted by LEONARD LICHFIELD Anno Salutis 1636. HEZEKIAHS SICKNESSE AND RECOVERY 2. CHRON. 32. 24. In those daies Hezekiah was sicke to the death and prayed vnto the Lord and hee spake vnto him and he gaue him a signe 1. MY Text is a type of the Worlds vncertainty Mans security and Gods mercy to those that depend on him Wherein wee haue a view of our misery with the meanes and Author of our surest deliverance The instance is in Hezechiah a King a fit patterne for the best the remedy Prayer the chiefest refuge for the devoutest Which is effectuall onely by the good will of him in the bush who relieueth ever at a pinch by speaking and giuing a signe for our convenient comfort I will not trespasse on your patience by a tedious rehearsall of the connection with that which went before let it suffice therefore to take in by the way for an entrance First a touch of Hezechiah's laudable life expressed more at large in the 2. of Kings the 18. and 19. chapters all one in a manner with the 36. the 37. and 38. of Isaiah And secondly of his wonderfull deliverance whereof I am now to speake His goodnes and zeale is summarily here compriz'd First towards the Church The Levites must carry the filthinesse out of it verse 5. The Priests must rowze themselues vp to bee carefull in their places My sonnes saith he be not now negligent for the Lord hath chosen you to stand before him and serue him verse 11. He restoreth the Church-goods and sacrifices by strict command vers 19. and 24. and reviueth the auncient solemnities of Trumpets and Church-musicke ordained and ordered by his predecessor David verse 27. and 30. And surely the best method in a reformation beginneth ever with God for from thence proceeds a Blessing to prosper all that followes His care for the Common-wealth in the next place comes not short of this He fortifies his citty saith the sonne of Syrach and by digging thorow a hard rocke with Iron brought water into the middest thereof Chap. 48. Hee built the wall that was broken and raysed vp the towers and another wall without prepared Millo made darts and shields in abundance set Captaines of warre over his people by the councell of his Princes and Mighty men and his owne comfortable encouragements verse the 3. and forward It were his Courtiers and the men of Iudah no doubt by his example and good directions that copyed
thesis That subjects may rebell against those whom God hath advanced to bee their lawfull Kings they come in with the hypothesis to inueigle the weake or malecontents that Kings excommunicated by the Pope are devested of that dignity as Sampson was of his strength by the shauing of Dalilah and therefore they may be dealt with as other men who are publique enemies to Christianitie Thus they cease not most diuelishly to spread in their slaunderous pamphlets virulent libels and secret whisperings which must goe by tradition from hand to hand to mislead simple women and worke on desperate humours who discontented that all things runne not as they would haue it assure themselues of redresse in any change whatsoeuer Now what is this in effect but to preach on Sheba's text We haue no part in David nor any inheritance in the sonne of Iesse What other conclusion doe they driue at in all their Volumes against the Kings Supremacy and subjects Oath of allegiance but to make their followers conceit that they haue no part in King Iames nor any inheritance in the lawfull Successour of blessed Queene Elizabeth This doctrine it should seeme the Earle Gowrie had learned and brought from Italy who in many things may be paraleld with Sheba to make vp the conclusion 10. As Sheba was vnus ex proceribus according to Strigelius Nobilis and celebris saith O siander Nobly and Honourably descended so was Gowrie Sheba liued in a place of note and credit amongst those of his Tribe and Countrey Gowrie herein was not much inferiour There neuer appeared other then good correspondence before betweene Sheba and King David the like was betweene Gowrie and our Soueraigne For after the just execution of his father in his Majesties minoritie he restored this traytour his sonne his lands and dignities advanced two or three of his Sisters to wait on the Queene in her privie chamber vsed that wretch Alexander graciously who so wretchedly was the chiefe actour in the plot But fauours rather exasperate then winne where a poysoned heartturnes all to the worst For as Sheba as it should seeme ever bore a secret grudge to David for a wrong conceaued offered to the house of Saul So did Gowrie to the King for the death of his Father Thus both played the hypocrites both watched but the opportunity both violently tooke it being offered both attempted and both by the providence of the King of Kings were wonderfully defeated Sheba is set down in my text to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a dissolute son of Belial moulded in gall and venome without conscience to vndertake any villany And what can we make better of Gowrie a meere Atheist without any sense or touch of Religion as Sprott afterward confessed at his arraignment 1608 his complices Rashtiltaig Bowre of the same stamp his recourse to Necromancers and inchanted characters found at his death about him testifie no lesse So that Sheba here comes behind him for ought we finde as being not linked to Belial in so firme a band Last of all as Sheba sped afterward so Gowrie had his due at the first onset King Iames being deliuered as David to magnifie the Deliverer in the imitation of David which he there did presently vpon his knees in the midst of his owne servants they all kneeling round about him in the place of his deliuerie and hath celebrated this day ever since for a thankfull remembrance And now Beloued what remaineth for vs but to vnite our hearts and prayers in a thankfull congratulation David will well helpe vs to expresse our selues as in most of his Psalmes of thanksgiuing so most compendiously for this purpose in the 21. The King shall reioyce in thy strength O Lord exceeding glad shall he be of thy salvation His honour is great in thy salvation glory and great worship shalt thou lay vpon him And why Because the King putteth his trust in thee O Lord and in thy mercy we trust he shall never miscarry Let all his enemies O Lord feele thy hand let thy right hand finde out them that hate him Make them like a fierie ouen in the time of thy wrath Thou Lord shalt destroy them in thy displeasure and the fire shall consume them Their fruit shalt thou root out from the earth and their seed from among the children of men For they intended mischiefe against thine Anointed imagined such adevice as they were notable to performe Therefore hast thou put them to flight and the stringes of thy bow were made ready against the faces of them Bee thou therefore exalted O Lord in thy own strength that wee may ever sing and prayse thy power To whom three persons in one Deity Father Sonne and Holy Ghost bee ascribed all Honour and Glory Might Majesty and Dominion both now and evermore Amen Higgaion Selah FOR THE DISCOVERY OF THE POWDER-PLOT A SERMON PREACHED AT St MARIES IN OXFORD the fift of November By IOHN PRIDEAVX Doctor of Divinity Regius Professor and Rector of Exeter College OXFORD Imprinted by LEONARD LICHFIELD Anno Salutis 1636. HIGGAION ET SELAH PSALME 9.16 The Lord is knowne by the iudgement which hee executeth the wicked is snared in the worke of his owne hands Higgaion Selah THere is no man that compares the words of my text with the occasion of this dayes assembly but-will straight-way acknowledge the fitnesse of this acknowledgement as at all times never to bee forgotten so especially vpon this day and occasion with an Higgaion and Selah to be remembred The Lord is knowne by the iudgement which hee executeth the wicked is snared in the worke of his owne hands This perchance will receiue the more life when it snall appeare that David in this whole Psalme may well bee made our spokes-man as composing it for a celebration of some extraordinary deliuerance and leauing it to the Church as a patterne for imitation And so much may bee collected from the title it selfe that in the originall is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our last Translators as you may see frame to the chiefe Musician and his instrument Iunius to the tune of treble or countertenor an excellent applying of such faculties which now most commonly are abused But others either by disioynting the words or straining the poynts or taking vantage of inversion of letters and divers significations of the same roote as n = a In hunc locum Moller and Lorinus at large informe bring it about either to be a thankesgiuing for Pharaoh's destruction and the first borne of Egypt or Goliah's overthrow or Nabals fall or Hanun's discomfiture for abusing Davids messengers or according to Saint Hierome and Aquinas expressed in the vulgar edition out of the Septuagint pro occult is filij for the discouering and punishing of the secret plots of Absalom his sonne For those that expound it of Christs Victory over death and Satan mistake an application for an interpretation as Burgensis well taxeth Lyra And others obserue not the
daies 15 yeares and I will deliuer thee and thy City out of the hand of the King of Assyria and I will defend this City for mine own sake and for my servant David's sake This was more then could be expected but thus it pleased the Lord to dispence his favours Some one perchance in Isaiah's place would haue here repined at such a message Good Lord what meanest thou by this art thou so soone changed or hast thou a double will one contrary to the other Can it stand with thy immutability so suddenly to doe and vndoe or with my reputation to vnsay that so quickly which by thy expresse command I so lately deliuered The King and Courtiers may hold me for a false prophet who vpon mine owne head spake that so confidently which now I must recall But Isaiah was no Arminian he knew it was no manners for him to make a question of Gods doings Hee was acquainted so farre with his proceedings that most commonly hee reveales not all that hee himselfe meanes to doe but so much onely as his Ministers are bound to teach and servants to learne Whence that distinction of Divines into voluntatem signi beneplaciti His revealed will toward vs and his secret in His eternall Counsell notes not two distinct wills in God as Lombard well obserues and the Schoolemen on him at the 45. Dist of the first booke of the sentences but divers formes of speaking concerning the acts and effects of the same will Hence among the Ancients there runnes a saying which is fathered on Gregory Deus mutat sententiam sed non consilium Gods revealed denunciation may bee altered but never his eternall purpose For the first may bee vttered according to the disposition of second causes or our deserts as Zanchius well gathereth out of Saint Augustine whereas the latter depends vpon eternall immutability and therefore in no respect can admit any shadow of change Now these are not opposite but subordinate the revealed to the secret as part to the whole the revealed expressing the meanes whereby the secret is fulfilled Salomons carriage in the famous cafe betweene the two harlots giues an instance of the like in men Did he intend thinke you the barbarous dividing of the infant that had no way offended Yet his words at first are Bring mee a sword divide the liuing child in two giue halfe to the one and halfe to the other But his intent which he concealed is afterward expressed Giue the true Mother the liuing child and in no wise slay it and all Israell saw that this was the wisdome of God in him His first command then included not his purpose but a tryall to finde out the truth And so God here not peremptorily sets downe what should bee but what the Prophet was to deliuer concealing both from King and Prophet what should ensue vpon it Where there is no more contrariety then in our Saviours inquiry for provision for the multitude Iohn 6. hee asked Philip as it were doubtfully where so much bread might be bought but this he said to proue him saith the text for he himselfe knew what he would doe The Prophets deadly message therefore was true in relation to the second causes referred to their proper effect yet subordinate to Gods secret purpose in reference to the end the ground of all which is closely layed in the 17. Article of our Church to which we subscribe Gods decrees for the end include alwaies the meanes and therefore such threatnings serue Gods children to stirre them vp to vse them 8 This vse David made 2. Sam. 12. The commande was peremptory The child that is borne vnto thee shall surely dy Yet the King ceased not to fast and weepe as long as breath was in it onely vpon this ground Who can tell whether God will be gracious vnto mee that the child may liue I had not dwelt so long vpon this but that the vnsetled wauering of divers learned men amongst vs had giuen iust cause Hence you may ghesse beloued how little reason the Arminians had to take part with the Papists and Lutherans to slander our Church as for many other things in this that we make God to haue two distinct wills the one dashing the other This they referre to our Crypticall Divinity as it pleaseth those Theologasters to terme it as though wee maintained any points in secret that wee dare not publikely to justify before all the World Iunius at the beginning gaue them good counsell for the peace of the Church Consilium de pace Ecclesiae Crocius hath particularly answered Bertius to this calumny in the second and third Chapter of his Parenaeticus and all of them of late by Gods providence and your maiesties especiall furtherance I trust haue met with their Masters at Dort For such imputations are no newes to those who are acquainted with the obiections of the Pelagians and Semipelagians against Saint Augustine Prosper and their followers the Bickerings betweene the Germane Bishops and the French in the cause of Godescall and Erigena Scotus the later stirres betweene Luther and Erasmus the Pseudolutherans and their opposites Beza and Castalion Peter Baro our English Divines the Iesuites and the Dominicans which contention is yet fresh on foote and the Pope for all his infallibility often vrged thereunto dares not to decide it but lets it still runne on Old Cumel tells Vasquez the Iesuite in playne termes that most commonly those that stand most vpon their sharpe wits are found in the conclusion most repugnant to grace Rispolis hath set forth a picture of Aquinas bearing downe with his Buckler and stabbing those with his pen that in any sort shall deny the whole determination of the second causes by the first or contingent effects by Gods immutable decree Nugno comes vpon them for wresting authors contrary to their meaning and addes that hee verily thinkes they will serue him so too when once he is dead notwithstanding his direct writing against them But to recall my selfe from this digression whereof I am sensible Aluarez Bannes Cabrera Ripa with the forenamed authors sufficiently shew if a man would goe no farther That the soundest Schoolemen successiuely haue ever defended in substance concerning Gods purpose and mans will his grace and our abilities that which our Church of England at this day maintaineth For in this they shew them Schoolemen as they are commonly tearmed whereas otherwise they play the schoole-boyes where the Popes decrees over-awe them Their learning generally being as an over-growne wood amongst many thornes and bushes which are good for nothing but fuell Much good ancient timber may bee found out to serue in the Lords building whereas on the other side Vorstius's Libertas Prophetandi and Arminius Meditatio sine lectione which they and their schollers practise so much and plead for without religious and discreet restraint would set all in a combustion How much better is it therefore for vs Beloued to hearken with Hezekiah
let him haue thy cloake also That is rather then seeke private revenge which belongeth vnto the Lord and not to thee bee content to lose a garment or more of thy temporall goods for he easily contemneth such saith Chrysostome who hopeth for eternall treasures in heaven In Mat. c. 5. hom 11. Gen. 39.12 Hee will leaue his garment with Ioseph in the hand of his mistresse to escape vnspotted with the vaile of honesty And if wee must forgoe such necessaries saith Saint a Side necessarijs imperatum est quantò magis superflua contemâ—ere conuenit Ser. Dom. in mont l. 1. Augustine as coat or cloke or the like for quietnesse sake how much more should we contemne things of lesser value especially at the command of such a Lord and Master who will certainely see we shall be no losers by it 9 This is counsell beloued of the Great Law-giver not varying with the times but as a law of the Medes and Persians that altereth not Hest 1.19 Which if we could be content to follow by curbing and overtopping our impatient affections would saue vs much travell great charges hot bickerings infinite discontents and ever end our causes to our truest advantage Plutarch in Pyrrh Wee read in Plutarch in the life of Pyrrhus of one Cyneas a man of great imployment about that King who vnderstanding that at the Tarentines entreatie the King his master was resolued to make war on the Romans tooke occasion to discourse with him in this sort It is reported O King saith hee that the Romans are great Warriers and haue large command of puissant nations put case wee overcome them what benefit shall wee get thereby Pyrrhus answered That is a question which few wise men would aske why then all Italy Greece are straight at our command Cyneas pawsing a while replied But when wee haue Italy and Greece what shall wee doe then Pyrrhus not finding his meaning Sicily saith he thou knowest is hard adjoyning to vs and very well may be our next conquest But hauing that quoth Cyneas shall our warres be ended That were a jest quoth Pyrrhus for who would not then to Affricke and so to Carthage the passage is not dangerous the victory assured True indeed saith Cyneas but when we haue all in our hands what shall wee doe in the end Then Pyrrhus breakes out a laughing We will then good Cyneas quoth hee be quiet and take our ease and make feasts every day and be as merry one with another as wee can possibly Then Cyneas hauing that hee would thus closeth with him and what letteth vs now my Lord to be merry and quiet together sith wee enioy that present without farther travell trouble which we are now a seeking with such bloudshed and danger and yet we know not whether ever wee shall attaine vnto it after that wee haue suffered and caused others to suffer infinite sorrowes and calamities The application is so manifest that I need not stand vpon it For aske but our contentious wranglers what they aime at by their going to Law and their vexing one another their answere can bee no other but to right themselues that at length they may liue quietly But quiet thy bosome-enemies at home whosoever thou art and thy cause shall bee ended before the action bee entred For through pride man maketh coÌ„tentions Prov. 13.10 Prov. 13.10 Couldst thou but once take order with this malitious affection Discordia filia inanis gloriae Greg. Mor. lib. 13. c. 31. Aquin. 2 a. 2 ae q. 37. art 2. Eph. 4.26 't were easy to compound with thy greatest adversary But thou canst not bee so base as to yeeld vnto him and yet wilt thou be so base as to yeeld vnto the Divell Harken to the blessed Apostle Let not the sunne goe downe vpon thy wrath Eph. 4.26 and it immediatly followeth Neither giue place vnto the Devill But thine adversary provokes thee to strife and thou canst not endure it But thy Saviour commands thee to agree and wilt not obey him But should I lose mine owne to buy his favour But wouldst thou wreake thy anger to lose a Kingdome Loue suffereth all things 1. Cor. 13.7 it beleeueth all things it hopeth all things it endureth all things it seeketh not its owne but the things that are of God If thy cause be good and thy conscience vnspotted thou hast an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous 1. Iohn 2.1.2 This was the Kings Attorny that David retained plead thou my cause O Lord with them that striue with me Psalm 35.1 and fight thou against them that fight against me But wee must haue writ vpon writ and Action vpon Action to vndoe our selues that we may vex our brethren Eseck and Massah Meribah Gen. 26.20 Exod. 17.7 Esa 8.6 the waters of strife and contention are those we delight to drinke of the gentle Shiloah runneth too softly for our turbulent humours whose counsell doe we follow in this Beloved but his who was a liar and a murtherer from the very beginning Are we Sheepe of the Lords pasture and yet like Dogs Psalm 100. and Swine will be barking and biting one another Mat. 24.29 and shall that servaunt speed well at his masters comming Luk. 12.45 who is taken molesting and smiting his fellow-servants Hence therefore let Tale-bearers and those Attournies learne who set neighbours together by the eares and egge them onward to contentions whose Apparitours and Agents they bee For if blessed bee the Peace-makers Mat. 5.9 for they shall be called the children of God then cursed be such Brawle-makers for they shall be called the Children of the Divell Mat. 5.9 But of you deare Christian brethren I am perswaded better things you haue learned of the Wise man Prov. 17.14 Prov. 17.14 that the beginning of strife is as the opening of waters which will quickely drowne if they bee not stopped Take vp therefore such contentions as now or at any time shall arise amongst you conferre together lay aside all malice vse the helpe of your neighbours and all other good lawfull meanes What is it so that there is not a wise man among you No not one that can iudge betweene his brethren But a brother goeth to law with a brother as the Apostle complaineth of the Corinthians 1. Cor. 6.5 and I may adde most commonly for a matter of small moment Rather make a friend of thy adversary to ioyne with thee in league against thy spirituall enemies and that effectually and that quickly without any farther prolonging which is the third circumstance I observed in the precept will quickly here by Gods grace your ChristiaÌ„ patience indevour to run it over 10 Agree with thine adversary quickly Maturè saith Castalion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 citò say the other interpreters all coÌ„meth to one seasonably or presently the present being ever most seasonable Because in actions of
this nature the contrary to our common proverbe is found most true the more hast the better speed whence I gather that delay in any Christian duty is alwaies dāgerous To die well saies one is a long art of a short life and a speedy beginning is the shortest cut to this longest art Behold saith the blessed Apostle now is the accepted time 2. Cor. 6.2 behold now the day of salvation and to day if yee will heare his voice harden not your hearts but exhort one another daily while it is called to day Heb. 3.13 There is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to day Heb. 3.13 or now in all the mandats almost of the King of heaven So the Prophet Esaiah's search Esai 55.6 Esa 55.6 Mar. 13.37 our Saviours Watch. Mar. 13.37 the Wisemans memento Ecclesiast 12.1 containe no other thing then that wise sonne of Syrach so much beateh vpon Ecclesiast 5.7 Ecclus. 5.7 Make no long tarrying to turne vnto the Lord and put it not off from day to day All excuses are refusals and delayes are denials when our Saviour saith vnto vs Come and follow mee For though his mercy afford vs often-times many yeeres to repent yet his Iustice permits vs not one houre to sin Peccanti crastinum non promisit saith Gregory he promiseth not to morrow to the offender who is alwaies ready to forgiue the penitent And therefore Matthew was no sooner called Mat. 9.9 Mat. 9.9 but presently hee arose and followed Hastily came Zacheus downe from the Tree and receaued our Saviour ioyfully when notice was once giuen Luk. 19.6 that hee would bee his ghest that day and no sooner had he looked backe vpon Peter Mat. 26.75 Matthew 26.75 but hee went out saith the Text and wept bitterly 11 I will not stand longer for the proofe of a point so evident but come to apply it to our selues These things are written for our instruction to admonish vs to beware how wee deferre our repentance It is strange to obserue our shifts herein how cunningly wee can cozen our selues and abuse Gods long suffering for our longer sinning But had wee but the grace to consider what true conversion is and the manifold difficulties that alwaies crosse it most evidently it would appeare that all these are augmented and strengthened by delay and that by this deceit more doe perish then by all the guiles and subtilties of Satan besides For better considereth that old Serpent then we doe how that one sinne draweth on another how he that is not fit to day will be lesse fit to morrow how that custome groweth into nature and old diseases are hardly cured He knoweth the longer we persist in sinne the more God plucketh his grace and assistance from vs. Our good inclinations are the weaker our vnderstanding the more darkned our will the more perverted our appetite the more disordered all our inferiour parts and passions the more strengthened and stirred vp against the rule of reason whereby his footing is the stronger and our case the more desperate Last of all hee is privie to the vncertainetie and perils of our life to the dangers that may befall vs to the impediments that will alwaies crosse vs so that if once he winne vs to delay a little hee doubteth not but to gaine our whole time from vs. Now shall we see this net Prov. 1.17 and yet bee entangled Knowe this guile of this old writhing serpent and yet neuer endeauour to prevent it Most commonly there is no man so yron-hearted but hee hath a purpose in time to amend his life And when hee seeth another to liue religiously and heareth the commendation of the Saints of God he wisheth in his heart he were also such a one Num. 23.10 and groneth oft-times in conscience that hee hath never endeauoured so to bee But alas my good Christian brother what letteth at this instant that this course should not bee taken What inconvenience would follow if presently this were practised which for euer should doe vs good Thou shouldest preuent the evill day which suddenly may over-take thee thou shouldest haue thy lamp ready whensoeuer the Bridegroome passeth by thee thou shouldest be furnished of a wedding garment when the Master of the feast commeth to take notice of thee The outward pleasures which thou seemest here to abridge should bee recompenced in this life with the peace of conscience and hereafter with eternall felicitie And if for the present by such meanes thy gaine bee neglected thou shalt surely finde the increase another where Now can there bee a waightier matter then thy saluation Seest thou not by others ruines the vncertaintie of thine owne estate And are not these things true which out of Gods sacred Word I haue proued vnto you What senselesnesse is it then for vs Beloued to make that the taske of our old age which should bee the practice of all our life and to settle our euerlasting our only our surest making or marring vpon so tottering and sinking and sandy a foundation We see and knowe by experience that a ship the longer it leaketh the harder it is to be emptied a house the longer it goeth to decay the worse it is to repaire or a nayle the farther it is driuen in the harder it is to plucke out againe And can wee perswade our selues that the trembling ioynts the dazeled eyes the fainting heart the fayling legs of vnweildy drouping and indisciplinable old age may empty repayre plucke out the leakes and ruines and nayles of so many yeeres flowing fayling and fastening But suppose wee came to that age which is an extraordinary blessing of God and not granted to many and retaine in it that vigour which happeneth to very few and enjoy that grace of God which now and heretofore wee so often haue despised Imagine I say the best that may bee hoped for that thou mayest haue time hereafter to repent and ability to vse that time and desire to vse that ability and grace to prosper that desire whereby thou mayest vanquish Satan at the strongest when thou thy selfe art at the weakest yet consider herein thy foolishnesse which in matters of lesse moment thou wouldest bee loath to commit each day thou knittest knots which once thou must vndoe againe thou heapest that together which once thou must disperse againe thou eatest and drinkest that hourely which once thou must vomit vp againe to omit thy vngratefull dealing with thy Lord and Master Christ Iesus whom thou seruest thus at length with the Divels leauings and then for sooth wee will turne to bee religious when time will scarce permit vs to bee wicked any longer We see therefore beloued brethren the waight and importance of this one word quickly Though there be twelue houres in the day Ioh. 11.9 wherein men may walke no wisdome it is for vs to post ouer our repentance to the last cast Non semper manet in foro
paterfamilias saith Saint Augustine The Lord of the vineyard is not alwaies in the Market to set thee a worke and no maruaile saith Saint Gregory if at the last gaspe he forget himselfe Ser. 1. de sanctis who in all his life neglected to remember God Let vs attend therefore to open when it pleaseth him to knocke And not as Felix did Paul so answer his messengers Goe thy way for this time Act. 24.26 and when I haue convenient time I will call for thee againe but rather with David to be ready when hee saith Come presently to reply Lo I come When he saith Psalm 40.7 Seek my face to eccho immediatly againe Psalm 27.8 Thy face Lord will we seeke Samuels answere must bee ours at the first call Speake Lord for thy servant heareth 1. Sam. 3.10 and that not onely quickly but also when we are in the way which is my fourth and last circumstance before obserued and commeth now briefly in the conclusion to be considered 12. Agree with thine Adversary quickly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which all translate whiles thou art in the way with him Alluding perchance to countrymen saith Illyricus who came some distance for judgement from their houses into the city in which they had fit opportunity betweene themselues to discusse and take vp all matters But citizens in my opinion haue no lesse they dwell neere together and may more conveniently meete and daies of hearing come not so fast but space and place may bee had to compose in good sort such businesse But figuratiuely in Scripture this word Way hath three especiall significations First it is taken for doctrine as Psalm Psalm 23.3 23.3 Shew me thy waies O Lord and teach me thy paths Which Hebraisme the Schoolemen haue taken from the Arabians when they put viam Thomae or viam Scoti for Thomas or Scotus doctrine Secondly it signifieth the manner of liuing counsels behaviour or endeavours of men so Gen. 6.12 Gen. 6.12 All flesh had corrupted his way that is their manners and the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous Psalm 1.6 Psalm 1.6 that is the counsels actions or endevours of the righteous or wicked Lastly it is taken for a mans life as Ioshua 23.14 This day I enter into the way of all the world Iosh 23.14 and so in this place whiles thou art in the way with him that is in the dayes of this thy pilgrimage whiles thou art aliue Which directeth vs especially to this conclusion that After this life there remaineth no place for repentance or reconciliation 12 For alia est saith Musculus on this place praesentis alia futurae vitae conditio The condition of this life and the next are not both alike Here there may bee had a composition but there the Iudge will proceed according to law as the next words following my text doe sufficiently confirme thou shalt be cast into prison and thou shalt not come out vntill thou hast paid the vtmost farthing Here is no mention at all of pardon but all of payment pay or stay infinite hath beene thy offence and so must be thy punishment not a dogge to licke a sore not the tip of a finger dipt in water to coole a tongue can be there obtained with an Ocean of teares How much lesse Indulgences or pardons or Masses or Pilgrimages or any Intercession of the liuing can alter the estate of the dead But of this hereafter in the reason when we come to speake of the prison which the Papists imagine to bee their Purgatory Now a word or two by the way for applying this doctrine taken from the way mentioned in my Text and so I will commit you to God 13 This may serue Beloued to hasten that speedy conversion which in the point before I so earnestly vrged For if this life bee the appointed place and no other wherein this quicke reconciliation is to be sought and wrought then all excuses are cut off whatsoeuer the Divels sophistry or mans backsliding tergiversations can imagine Otherwise some peeuish conceit might humour it selfe with such an idle contemplation There is a great space betweene Heauen and Earth Gods judgement seat and the place wee goe from and can this bee passed in a moment Besides who can tell whether my judgement shall bee immediate vpon my departing May not others bee first examined May not I bee repriued till the last day of judgement and hauing that respit to bee reconciled so sue out a pardon But our Saviour meeteth with all such humane fancies and earthly cogitations No saith hee this agreement must not only bee quickly in regard of the time but also in this life whiles thou art in the way and thy adversary with thee both together in respect of the place Iust as that noble Romane Popilius dealt in his ambassage with King Antiochus the history is recorded by Liuie hee maketh a circle with his rod Decad. 5. l. 5. and passe wee must not the compasse thereof till we haue fully resolued on an absolute answere Such a circle wee are all in at this present Beloued and behold an vrgent ambassage from the King of Kings Peace or warre life or death hell or heauen are to bee determined on of vs in this instant and place and therefore let vs bethinke vs I beseech you what to doe Wee finde here no certaine habitation But onely as my Text intimateth a way to passe this passage hath all the dangers and more then can bee imagined The Divell as a theefe the world like a bawd the flesh like a false brother to assault entrap vs and leade vs into vtter darknesse every breathing we make is the shortning of our life euery step we goe is the hastning to our graue Sands of the Sea or Gnats in Summer or leaues in Autumne are not more innumerable then the heapes and swarmes mountaines of calamities which are every moment ready to fall vpon vs. And yet we like those outragious Sodomites Gen. 19.9 Gen. 19.9 wil not suffer our brethren to host quietly by vs but will haue them out to quarrell and deale worse with them though fire and brimstone fall on vs the next day after Good Lord that man should so hardly be brought to consider himselfe and remember thee and yet so quickly to joyne with his enemy and maligne his brother to forget whose he is whence he is where he is and which way he tendeth Wee account him an idle-headed fellow that will be building in every Inne where he may not dwell a foolish Pilote that will bee anchoring in every creeke where his businesse lies not and a most desperate and impudent thiefe that will stabbe when hee passeth along from the prison to his triall Our practise is the like but wee will not thinke of it Wee build where wee may not inhabite anchor where wee may not harbour quarrell and fall out in that very way nay in the very
businesse Puto hoc non antè sciri quà m videatur I thinke it cannot bee knowne before it be seene or at least revealed and St Augustine somewhere of originall sinne Never be so inquisitiue how thou hadst it from thy parents but labour to be cleared of it by the merits of thy Saviour may serue vs heere to curbe our curiosity Let it not bee thy care to conceiue where and when and with what circumstances this judgement is to be holden but there and then and by good assurances to bee deliuered from the horrible dammages thereof Two kindes of Iudgements the Scripture mentioneth on which wee may safely build The first a particular the second a generall This for the soule alone at every mans severall departure as that of Dives and Lazarus Luke 16.22.23 That for the soule body and all men together at the last day after the vniversall resurrectiō Heb. 9.27 The first respecteth vs saith Aquinas as private persons Vbi supra q. 88. art 5. the second as parts of mankind neither shall that be recalled or mitigated in the second which was determined in the first but rather published what there was privately passed and what was in the particular begun in the generall shall bee consummated by reuniting the soule and body everlastingly together 9 In both which could we but thinke of with deliberation the most strict and severe proceeding of Gods vnmoveable iustice it would coole our courages and take downe the presumption that now so lauishly runs on in the score of Gods mercy For though in this life his eares bee open to the petitions of the penitent yet hereafter when he returneth to execute Iudgement Mat. 25.26 hee acknowledgeth that he is a hardman Math. 18.6 reaping where hee never sowed gathering where he strowed not Who for offending a little one will inflict a heauier punishment vpon the guilty then the casting him into the sea with a milstone about his neck and for defect alone of a wedding garment wil adjudge an invited ghest to vtter darknes Math. 22.13 And now my beloued brethren was Adam so hardly censured as it is thought for one Apple The Angels for a thought Moses and Aaron for once doubting all Israel for Achans taking one wedge of Gold the whole Tribe of Beniamin for forcing of one woman shall wee thinke in that terrible Day of the Lord a day of darknesse and dimnesse a day of clowdes and stormes before so iust a Iudge so many accusers for so haynous voluntary and continued crimes it is possible for vs to escape vnpunished Act. 24.26 Foelix trembled when Paul preached of iudgement Lib. 2. de complex cap. 20. and Lemnius reports of a young man of the Emperour Charles his Court who for horrour of the execution hee was the next day to suffer in one night became white both in his head and beard But could wee but restraine a little our thoughts to the meditation of these fearefull Assises it would stop our lewd courses as the light from heauen did Saules and make vs to cry out with him Lord Act. 9.6 what wilt thou that we doe For alas how will all our Gallants and Swaggerers behaue themselues in that perplexity all our hypocrites extortioners all our drunkards and Adulterers when the Iudge shall come in this terrible majestie this to fanne this to purge this to separate the corne from the chaffe the wheat from the tares the Sheepe from the Goates without pitty pardon or partiality which way will they beturne themselues What Apologies will they make whose helpe and counsell can they vse in so desperate and suddaine an extremity who where what thing can yeeld consolation when the Lord once bloweth against them as the Prophet speaketh with the fire of his wrath Ezech. 21.31 Aboue them as Anselme describes it an angry Iudge ready to condemne them beneath a gaping Chaos with grisly fire and brimstone eternally to ingulfe them on the right hand their sinnes accusing on the left hand vgly fiends to dragge them to execution within a gnawing conscience without loath some companions the world burning all creatures amazed the last sentence thundred out in this dreadfull manner Math. 25.41 Goe yee cursed of my Father into everlasting fire prepared for the Divel his angels Vpon the pronouncing of which what imagination can conceaue or tongue of men and Angels expresse the ruthfull and dismall departing of the damned reprobates Parents from their Children Husbands from their Wiues Brothers and Sisters from each other so to be sundred that neuer pitty or comfort may afterward be expected this is that which should sticke closer to the brawny hearts of our carelesse worldlings Iudg. 3.22 then Ehuds dagger did to fat Eglons and awake them to looke about whiles space and place is granted O my deare Christian Brother then thou shalt truly finde that this is no Bugbeare wherewith wee are threatned at this present one cup of cold water giuen one pleasure abandoned Mat. 10.42 one injury endured here in this world for Christs sake but especially the treasure of an vnspotted conscience shall giue thee at that instant greater comfort then all the dignities and delights of a thousand worlds But thou supposest this farre off and therefore the lesse regardest it Senselesse and inconsiderate as wee are haue wee beene so often deluded and yet discerne not this last and deadliest bait of that old Serpent the Divell It is not for vs I confesse to knowe the times and seasons Act. 1.7 which the Father hath put in his owne power and therefore to particularize with some that the a Brightman in c. 9. Apoc. An. 1696. vltimus est terminus Turcici nominis Turkish Monarchy shall haue its period just 81. yeeres hence and the Papacy 71. or with b Napier prop. 14. c. 116. Alsted praec Theol. cap. 16 vbi vid. plura de fine Mundi pag. 526. others in like curiosity that the end of the world shall fall within the compasse of those doozen yeeres betweene 1688. and 1700. is more then my Algorithme findes demonstration for yet if by a cloud wee may conjecture of a storme and by the budding of a figge-tree that Summer is neere at hand warrantable it is to teach at this present which the Apostle S. Iohn did 1500. yeeres sithence that these are the c 1. Ioh. 2.18 last times which how much longer they are to last neither the d Mat. 24.36 Angels nor any creature can exactly assure vs. Ionas had for the Ninivites e Cap. 3.4 yet forty dayes but for ought we know within forty houres this time may come when time shall be no more For what signes thereof are mentioned in Scripture which are not already fulfilled or what summons haue beene omitted to warne vs to provide False Christs were to come and they haue beene discouered persecutions to arise and they haue beene endured Antichrist
But I must not trespasse so farre on your patience I will but lappe therefore with Gedoons souldiers at the river Iudg. 7. 1. Sam. 14. or touch the hony as Ionathan with the tippe of my rod and leaue the farther applying to your private religious meditations 16 Where first if I listed to bee contentious the Rhemists note on these words of my Text might giue sufficient occasion For Ephesus being here accused to haue left her first loue By this say they is plainely refuted that which some heretikes hold that a man once in grace and charity can never fall from it Onely to cleere the place and passe by purposely what otherwise might here bee sifted I answere briefly This note is a notable instance of the ignorant and perverse dealing of these glossers who either vnderstand not vs or the Text or their owne men or else of purpose catch at any thing to delude their simple Proselytes For doe not their owne men distinguish betweene the habit of Charitie and the act the cause and the effect the essence and the degrees the action and the manner of performing And haue not our men made it plaine enough that the grace wee affirme cannot be lost is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods working favour not mans inconstant worke depending not on mans free-will but Gods free election whose decrees are vnalterable and gifts without repentance But Satan may bee here set against Satan the Iesuites against the Rhemists Viegas words are Non amisit charitatem In textum ibid. sed de charitat is fervore nonnihil remisit the Angell fell not here from charity but was not so hot as before It was not privatio saith Pererius but a kinde of Laodicean lukewar menesse They performed not duely daily often earnestly to so many in so many things the good they were wont to doe which they further confirme to be the exposition of Are thas Abbas Ioachim Richardus a sancto Victore Lyra Pannonius Hugo Cardinalis Carthusian and that deduced manifestly from the very Text. For loue the Angell did but not as at the first grace hee had but not so working as at the beginning worke hee did but not with that alacrity and zeale hee was accustomed to doe Tzebi was flourishing Dan. 8.9 Deut. 32.15 but faultering Ieshurun was fat but lazy 17 A reproofe as necessarie for our times as our times are farre from the first reformation When the chiefe of the Fathers and ancient men that had seene the first Temple beheld how much the second was inferiour to it howsoeuer some juniors sang and shouted they wept aloud saith the Text Ezra 3.12 More our good Fathers would now lament if they liued but to see vs their degenerate posterity Mee thinkes wee should stand together in this comparison as the men of Chica in the Maps neere the straights of Magellane by our travailers of Europe they as the sonnes of Anak we as Grashoppers so farre from attaining their forwardnesse in Religion that diuers account it their glory to be snarling at them But such comparisons would proue odious to be farther prosecuted To say no more If Luther's zeale or Calvine's judicious painefulnesse could bee found in some mongrell temporizers that are so forward to censure them I should thinke among some professors our first loue were in some measure recovered Fathers and Brethren is this a time to make a doubt whether the Pope bee Antichrist or no seeing his hornes and markes are so apparantly discouered And must wee now fall backe to bee catechized by Lumbard and Aquinas as though our ownemens doctrine so evidently grounded on Scripture not refusing the touch of pure antiquity or any true schoole-learning were not conclusiue and acute inough for our abstractiue capacities Our first loue to Gods word was a great deale more fervent when so many burned in defiance of Romish mixtures O that the consideration hereof would rowze vp every one of vs in our seuerall places to remember whence wee are falne and to doe our first workes How happy would it bee for Ministers to shew their first loue to the truth for hearers to make good their first loue to their Ministers for both to joyne together in an holy emulation to professe and expresse the first loue of our zealous predecessors And if ever the Lord marched before his Church in a piller of clowd and fire Exod. 13. to guide them in the way they are to walke now hee doth before vs Beloued to minde vs of our vngratefulnesse and to set vs in a course to returne to our first loue What a blessing is it to haue a Royall King so able and resolute to withstand Popery a Clergy so eminent a People for the most part so forward that maugre Achitophels proiects Sanballets stops some Wolues among the Pastors some Foxes among the Lambs the maine notwithstanding goes constantly forward for the pursuit and recouery of this first loue Distractions I confesse may dismay and discontents affright the godly to make vs the more solicitous to hold fast that wee haue but comparing our helps with the assaults and our case with our neighbours that dwell about vs we shall finde cause to confesse with David Truly God remaineth yet louing to this our Israel Psal 73.1 Psal 147.20 and hee hath not done so to any nation For to returne home to our selues of this place doth not the late bounty of so many famous benefactors so fresh in our memories so obvious to our senses put all good men in comfort that this first loue By that Knight of immortall memory S. Thomas Bodley in divers of our daies is not altogether extinguished I cannot expresse it sufficiently Our Library built and furnished our Schooles mounting so many Colledges inlarged what arguments can be more evident that this first loue is revived in some to stirre it vp in others and to maintaine it in vs At this present the Lord hath given the Word 19. Doctors of Divinity Proceeders and behold the company of Preachers who as that Angel that came vp from Gilgal to Bochim Iudges 2. will for the most part I make no doubt be shortly amongst you Beloued to stirre and set you a weeping after your first loue And to end with that which followes my text Often to remember from whence wee are falne Vers 5. and repent and doe our first workes is the path our Saviour here preseribeth to lead vs to our first loue The meditation of his sudden comming and the indangering of our present happinesse are the motiues to hasten this first loue To hate the abominations of Popery Vers 6. as the Ephesians did here the deedes of the Nicolaitans is an evidence of a soule prepared for the entertaining and rellishing this first loue Hast thou a minde to the Tree of life Vers 7. which is in the midst of the Paradise of God O harken then to striue and striue to
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
inflicted vpon Israel The cause is plaine in the 47. verse Because thou seruest not thy Lord with ioyfulnesse and gladnesse of heart for the abundance of all things Agreeable to this was dying Davids exhortation to his here apparant Salomon 1. Chron. 28.9 And thou Salomon my sonne know thou the God of thy Fathers serue him with a perfect heart and with a willing minde The reason he addeth is pressiue For the Lord searcheth all hearts and vnderstandeth all the imaginations of the thought If thou seek him he will be foūd of thee but if thou forsake him hee will cast thee off for euer And what need wee in this point goe further then this our kingly Prophets royall practice Good God how extaticall in this kind are the flashes of his devotions Sometimes in chearing vp his owne dulnesse Why art so vexed O my soule and why art so disquieted in me Sometimes in exciting others O clap your hands together blow vp the trumpet in the new moone in our solemne assemblies bring hither the lute and harpe The Church could never meet with the like invitations as his O come let vs sing vnto the Lord let vs heartily reioyce in the strength of our saluation Let vs come before his presence with thanksgiuing and shew our selues glad in him with Psalmes And O bee ioyfull in the Lord all yee lands serue the Lord with gladnesse and come before his presence with a song In the virgin purity of the Primitiue Churches devotion when plaine Honestie was held the best policie and formalitie without sincerity as borrowed too scandalously from the stage was denied institution and induction into the Church of God then these things were as religiously applied as now they are often repeated But the world is altred though God Heauen and the way to it remaine continually the same The more too blame are those humorous schismatiques that snarle at this and the like festiuals and are come now at length to that Iewish nicenesse as to deny the dressing of meat vpon the Sabbath day I say no more from such the pooremay expect poore Christmasses Another sort runne in opposition to take vp all such times with gourmandizing and gambols in stead of these free-will Offerings in the beauty of Holinesse but neither of these are worthy to bee further mentioned Our course must bee in the meane according to Nehemiahs direction Chap. 8. verse 10. Who when the people that returned from the captivitie wept at the reading of the Law which they had so carelesly transgressed Goe your way saith hee eat of the fat and drinke the sweet and send portions vnto them for whom nothing is prepared And his reason is remarkable For this day is holy vnto our Lord neither be yee sorry for the ioy of the Lord is your strength This course if we tooke on such and the like Holy-dayes the fruit would appeare at length in the secret increase of the Faithfull which I haue signified to be meant in that which followes 8. The deaw of the birth is of the Wombe of the morning The exact vnfolding of which words may yeeld matter enough for another Sermon but I presume not so farre to trespasse vpon your patience and therefore will onely touch them and so conclude The differences that at the first entire doe here arise are first concerning the readings then the sense In the reading there growes a diversity both in the pointing and words For some would haue the kingly accent Athnach which is here vnder the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the morning to supply as vsually it doth the place of a colon or middle distinction and then the reading may be as our last translation hath it with Iunius In the beauties of holinesse from the Wombe of the morning and there stop Others take it as a note of the sentence onely inverted so Piscator Munster Moller and the most that I haue seene And Gesner giues instances of this reading which I follow without prejudice to the other The vulgar here againe is strangely besides the Text. For in stead of From the Wombe of the morning thou hast the deaw of thy birth it hath it as the Doway renders it From the wombe before he day-Starre I begate thee No colour is for it but from the Greeke I cannot stay of sift the ground of this mistake Read but onely Epiphanius in his 2d booke the 65. Heresie against Paulus Samosatenus and you shall see the inconvenience of depending too much vpon other mens references and taking vp things at the second hand That good Father in that place conferring all the Greeke copies of Aquila Symmachus Theodotion the first and sixt edition at last falls vpon the originall which he sets downe in Greeke letters with his owne interpretation word for word but his Hebrew is such that I thinke few Iewes would ever vnderstand or acknowledge For insteed of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the womb he hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the morning or from the morning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to thee the deaw 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One word which hee sets downe as Hebrew for deaw And last of all for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy birth hee hath put 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word never heard of Which I mention not for any disgrace to that learned Father who hath so well deserued of the Church but that it may appeare how much wee are beholding to those Linguists that haue spent their labours to make these fountaines more cleare for vs. For vpon these diversities of readings grew diuers expositiōs some referring it to the person of Christ others to his members In regard of the person of Christ Tertullian and Iustine Martyr Lib. 5. advers Marcion Dialog cum Triphon vnderstand it of his Incarnatiō as if by the womb of the morning were meant the Virgins womb wherein Christ was conceiued without the helpe of man and borne in the night before the rising of the day-starre Vid. Moller Melancthon and Gualter mislike not this but deduce it in another manner Athanasius Hilary Ambrose Augustine with most of the Ancients who follow them interpret this onely of Christs eternall generation and Bellarmine with Gesner striues to make it available against the old Heretiques In which case I say no more but wee haue no need to depend vpon such deductions Part. 1. q. 32. art 1. ib. q. 46. art 2. but that Aquinas his rule is good which Calvin of some hath been taxed for following Cùm quis ad probandam fidem Christianam adducit rationes quae non sunt cogentes cedit in irrisionem infidelium credunt enim quòd huiusmodi rationibus innitamur propter eas credimus Such arguments therefore are better spared in a choyce of divers more vrgent In regard whereof I take this with the current of our later writers to bee rather vnderstood of the propagation
of the Church by the seede of the Word Of which two things are here intimated first their secret increase as the Morning deaw which is found vpon the grasse though no vapour or cloud appeares from whence it hath discended and secondly their multitude which as the morning drops in euery age more multiply then man can take notice of The Spirit of God therefore never ceaseth from the propagating Christs Church though men neglect their duties and all the world oppose it And here I might take occasion to discourse how the Church is sometimes invisible and yet ever fruitfull sometimes personated by Hypocrites and yet springing still as the Corne among the Weeds in persecution flourishing in exile from one place entertayned ever in another knowne still to bee by her members but onely knowne to God how many the members be But I perceiue the time hath prevented me The application of the whole is This is the day of Christs power wherein we are to tender our free-will offerings prayers praise thankesgiuing vnto the Lord of Hostes in the beauties of holinesse now he cometh downe vnto vs as our Prophet speaketh like the raine into a fleece of wooll even as the droppes that water the earth Let vs conclude therefore with the end of that same 27. Psalme Blessed bee the Lord our God even the God of Israel which only doth wondrous things And blessed bee the name of his Maiesty for ever and let all the earth be filled with his Maiesty Amen Amen THE FIRST FRVITS OF THE RESVRRECTION A SERMON PREACHED ON EASTER DAY AT St PETERS in the East in Oxford By IOHN PRIDEAVX Doctor of Divinity Regius Professor and Rector of Exeter Colledge OXFORD Imprinted by LEONARD LICHFIELD Anno Salutis 1636. THE FIRST FRVITS OF THE RESVRRECTION 1. COR. 15.20 But now Christ is risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept THis day is this Scripture fulfilled in our eares B. and containeth the happiest tidings that ever was imparted to flesh and blood For fiducia Christianorum as Tertullian begins his booke de Resurrectione carnis is resurrectio mortuorum The chiefest string that Christians haue to their bow is their vndoubted perswasion that the dead shall rise againe This the truth saith he constraines vs to beleeue this truth is revealed in Gods Word this Revelation is no where exprest in shorter and plainer tearmes then in these words of the blessed Apostle which now I haue read vnto you I shall not need to wast time or suspend your patience with an over-logicall demonstration of the coherence with that which went before It may suffice by the way only to take notice of First the Apostles auditory Secondly his manner of proceeding His Auditors were the Corinthians great Critikes prone to factions and emulations standing much vpon their Philosophy and straines of subtilities whereby the Apostles plaine course of teaching was contemned as vulgar his person vnderualued his Followers esteemed weake and simple as his apology discouereth in the foure first chapters Besides this they had gotten a tricke to bolster out one another for what misdemeanour soever and to vndergoe rather the frowne of any forraine iurisdiction then quietly to haue matters composed among themselues chap. 5. and 6. And now could this chuse but draw on greater scandals as quarrelling about Virginity and marriage which should haue the preeminence chap. 7. Abuse of Christian liberty to the overthrow of their weaker brethren chap. 8. and 9. Irreverent behaviour both of men and women at Prayers Sermons and receiuing of the Sacraments chap. 10. and 11. Odious comparisons betweene Preachers and Linguists tongues and miracles miracles and other spirituall gifts as if any of these were our owne or if other vse then to edify one another from the beginning of the 12. to the end of the 14. chapter No marvaile then if in a Church so tainted some fell out of their presumptuous profanenesse to question also the Resurrection which how the Apostle here meets within this 15. chapter may be noted farther as a patterne for disputants in divinity to imitate For first hee comes not vpon them with Philosophicall Quiddities or apocryphall fragments to justify an article of such consequence Nay saith he I haue deliuered vnto you first of all that which I also haue receiued how that Iesus Christ died for our sinnes according to the Scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose againe the third day according to the Scriptures verse 3.4 The Scriptures therefore are the grounds foundation of Apostolike building And that according to the Scriptures all things came to passe hee bringeth in eye-witnesses verse 5.6 Cephas the Foreman and if his word would not bee taken an eleuen more of the same ranke to justify it And in case also that these should bee excepted against vpon a suspition of partiality there are ready fiue hundred brethren besides which all saw Christ at once after his Resurrection and divers were aliue at that time to witnesse it And least our Apostle might bee noted as too confident vpon heare-say last of all hee was seene of mee also saith hee as of one borne out of due time the last and the least but all comes to one for whether it be I or they so we preach and so yee beleeued But here the Corinthians might except admitting these proofes as strong for the Resurrection of Christ Doth it thereupon also follow that our bodies shall likewise bee raised Yes saith the blessed Apostle otherwise there were no avoiding of those prodigious absurdities preaching and faith should bee vaine the Apostles found false witnesses the liuing in their sinnes the dead perished Christians of all professions the most miserable Let a Scholler then gather the arguments and he shall finde the first fairely categoricall That which the Scripture hath expressedly delivered and so many eye-witnesses beyond exception are ready to avouch must needs bee true without contradiction and cannot bee denied without impiety But Scriptures and witnesses are cleare for Christs resurrection therefore that is an argument beyond all exception The second is Hypotheticall forcing a number of intolerable absurdities If Christians are not to rise againe by vertue of Christs Resurrection as Christ did then the Preaching of the Apostles is a foppery the faith of Christians vaine the forgiuenesse of their sinnes a fancy the hope of their dead a delusion their estate in this life beyond all others the most wretched but such inferences are no way to bee indured therefore it must be ever firmely held that not onely Christ rose againe but that Christians by vertue of his Resurrection are also to be raised Vncontroleable therefore is this minor proposition which the Apostle here assumeth But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept I could not passe along this goodly Field of Corne B. without plucking some eares which were eminent aboue the rest for where may a man
Resurrection of the Bodie with such a clause that after it had risen once and so flourished for certaine ages it should againe bee dissolued and brought to nothing but Epiphanius cleareth Origen for this burthening him with the flatte deniall of the Resurrection of the body In regard whereof Alphonsus will credit neither of the relators because their testimonies saith hee concerning Origen doe not agree As little heede is to bee giuen to the imputations of Guido Garmelitanus against the Arminians putting on them that they hold Christ rose vpon the Saturday which Alphonsus makes the fourth Heresie For who findes not by Fryer Waldensis and Widdiford against Wickliffe Peter Cluniacensis against the Petrobrusians Bernard of Lutzenburg and others against the Waldenses what small trust is to be giuen to such relators when the Authors cannot be had to speake for themselues Last of all there wanted not those who affirmed that in the Resurrection no women should bee found but all then should bee turned into men abusing that place of the Apostle Ephes 4.13 of the growing of al vnto a perfect man vnto the measure of the fulnesse of the stature of Christ But Saint Augustine elegantly refutes them Decivitate Dei lib. 22. cap. 17. interpreting man in that place to include as homo both sexes and wittily concluding out of the 22. of Matthew where our Saviour tells vs that in the Resurrection they neither marry nor are giuen in marriage erunt ergo qui vel nubere hîc solent vel ducere vxores sed ibi hoc non faciunt Therefore shall then saith he bee the parties which on earth were married or marriageable but there they shall bee freed as the Angels from any such relations of man and wife Now partly to giue some satisfaction to curious demanders but more I thinke out of their itching humours to make worke for their wit the Schoolemen haue presumed to define of the qualities of those that shall rise againe of their stature age place appearance crownes and coronets more then our Apostle after his returne from the third heauen ever thought fit to acquaint vs with To better purpose a great deale the Fathers presse this point Iustine Martyr Athenagoras Tertullian to cōvince the Gentiles Irenaeus Ephrem and Augustine to stop the mouthes of Heretikes Gregory Nissene Chrysostome Cyprian and Ambrose labour especially in a concionatory and Paraeneticall kinde of straine wherein they were excellent to settle the conscience perswade the will and strongly to worke vpon the affection Saint Hierome binds himselfe against the particular errours of Iohn Bishop of Ierusalem Damascen the Greeke master of the sentences is full of collections out of the Ancients Lactantius Prudentius Hilarie and Paulinus tooke a delight to hallow their divine straine in Poetrie with so sacred a subject Sedulius though it not enough to intitle the memorable Story of the Bible which he had comprised in verse in foure bookes O pus Baschale Easter worke but needes hee must repeate the same againe in prose vnder the same title which the last Bibliotheca Patrum hath now also taken in from the Library of Peter Pithaeus The time allotted will scarce giue leaue to point but at the scope of each of them They never thought this doctrine of the Resurrection enough repeated or sufficiently taught or learned Their Philosophicall answeres out of the grounds of the Physickes to shew the possibilitie of it their reasons borrowed from the Ethickes to proue how it stands with conveniency and iustice and their excellent similitudes of the Phoenix corne corne the rifing of the Sunne after his setting and the like to illustrate the same are testimonies of their extraordinary learning paynes and piety and patternes for vs to follow in the due consideration of so Sacred a Mystery 11. But alas B. our thoughts for the most part are taken vp with other matters the commonnesse of this great treasure maketh vs all to vnder-value it wee can talke of it vpon occasion acknowledge it to bee an especiall Article of our Creede brand with the deserued note of Infidell him that in any sort should question it and yet come too short God wot in the due esteeme of our Saviours conquest of death the primarie and meritorious cause of it or of the vertue of the first fruits whereby the whole masse is hallowed or the happy condition of those who are not dead but sleepe and reposed in their graues as in a bed at the voyce of the last Trumpe to awake againe Surely our Apostle accounted all things but drosse and dung in regard of this Knowledge of Christ and the power of his Resurrection Philipp 3.10 But our aversnesse and neglect is such in this behalfe that I feare me such spiritual themes are least studied vpon and the Apostles price of this knowledge amongst the wittes of this age held somewhat too deare The consideration of our Forefathers devotion should set an edge on our dulnesse Good God! what adoe there was betweene the East Church and the West about the precise time of this solemnitie All were for the thing but the emulation was about the time who in every circumstance should be most exact Pope Victor and his adherents were for the Sunday in regard that it was the day of the weeke that our Lord rose from the dead Polycarpus and those of the East Church tyed themselues to the time of the Iewish Passeouer which might fall vpon any day of the weeke besides These pretended traditions from Iames and Iohn the other from Saint Peter and Saint Paul And when Irenaeus and other good men that interposed were not able to take vp the matter the Councell of Nice became so farre Vmpyre for the Sunday as wee finde related by Athanasius and Eusebius and Constantine the Emperour so strongly backed it with his Imperiall letter which is yet to shew in Socrates and Theodoret that the not-conforming to the Councels ordering in that behalfe was made abranch of the Quarto-desimanian heresie How justly this was done and vpon what grounds I censure not those that desire to bee farther informed in the point may read what Hospinian de origine Festorum Bellarmine in his 3d booke de cultu Sanctorum cap. 12. Morney in the beginning of his booke of the mysterie of iniquity haue gathered out of the Ancients only I may not omit that which a Reuerend Bishop of our Church hath farther obserued Should wee esteeme so highly of every Lords day that it may not be prophaned or because it is de iure divino by the Church altered And should Easter day which containeth the ground of the change from the Iewish Sabbath to our Sunday the archetype as he calls it or the prototype of all Sundaies in the yeere bee in any sort scanted of its due celebration What should I speake of the Cycli Paschales or the golden number sent by the Alexandrians to the Romans as a rare invention in golden letters for a directiue
Calender to find out the true seat of Easter when Hyppolitus the Martyrs Prime for now we so commonly call it was found erroneous Dionysius also a Martyr and Bishop of Alexandria was ready to mend it and as farther processe of time discouered any sensible difference there wanted not care and study to set all right againe so Eusebius corrected Dionysius Theophilus of Alexandria Eusebius Prosper Theophilus Victor of Aquitaine Prosper Victor Capuanus and Dionysius Exiguus the former Victor And when about the yeare 454. neere vpon the Councell of Calcedon Easter fell so high in Aprill that that they doubted they were in the wrong what adoe keepes Leo in his Epistles to Paschasinus of Lilibaeum in Sicily to Iulian Bishop of the I le of Coos to the Emperour Martian himselfe and his wife Eudoxia to solicit Proterus Bishop of Alexandria to set all right againe Where I enquire not why the Popes infallibility should not serue him to keepe a true account in Ecclesiasticall matters as well as others The like thing fell out in Saint Ambrose's dayes and likewise in the time of Innocent the first Vpon which occasion we haue that Fathers 83. Epistle to the BB. of Aemilia and Innocents letter to Aurelius Bishop of Carthage intreating him to call a Synode that the matter might be more fully bated So highly they valued this times solemnity in regard of the first fruits consecrated in Christs Resurrection that they held the fayling in the smallest circumstance a note of ingratitude and a kinde of sacriledge To prevent therefore such inconveniences in calculation the taske at length was layd on those of Alexandria as held the best Mathematicians after Ptolemies time And hence we haue the Paschales as yearely Almanackes sent abroad by them to informe all other Churches and mainetaine vniformitie Eusebius mentioneth some of these Epistles sent first by Dionysius even vnder the persecution Three of that kinde are now extant vnder the name of Theophilus Alexandrinus translated into Latine by Saint Hierome and lastly reprinted in the last Bibliotheca Patrum at Colen containing besides the evidence of the custome of keeping Easter matter well worth the reading And to intimate that onely which time will not suffer mee farther to enlarge a man shall hardly turne ouer the Ancients but euer and anon hee shall fall vpon Sermons or Homilies for Easter questions and answers concerning the exact forme of keeping Easter Hymnes and Anthems composed for the celebration of Easter Facts of greatest consequence reserued as Baptizing of the Catechumeni Absoluing of the Excommunicated Receiuing of the Lords Supper in most solemne manner and all for the honour of this great Day The feast of first fruits this rosh hashanah containing many mysteries besides common solemnities this holy time of Easter It is strange to obserue how many bookes wee finde written together by the most devout men even in times of persecution by Anatolius Bishop of Laodicea Theophylus of Caesarea Baccillus of Corinth Meliâ—o of Sardis Irenaeus of Lions Hyppolitus the Martyr and the great Doctour Clemens Alexandrinus and all for the due maintaining of this custome of keeping Easter Chrysostome deposed and Athanasius wanting a fit place would needs notwithstanding keepe Easter the one in a spacious roome built for the publike Baths of Constantinople the other in a Church at Alexandria not consecrated So hainous a matter they thought it to neglect the due obseruing of Easter 12 And to come at length to our owne selues and customes derived from sacred antiquity what meanes our preparation by a Lent-fast the solemne repetition of these Easter Sermons rather then any other the extraordinary concourse to the Lords supper at this time of the yeere especially but to draw vs by all circumstances to reckon with him for our Easter duties that hath so effectually payed our first fruits for vs at this holy time of Easter What these duties are our Apostle elsewhere sheweth As Christ was raised vp by the Glory of the Father Rom. 6.4 so wee also should walke in newnesse of life And if wee bee risen with Christ why seeke we not those things which are aboue Col. 3.1 Our dulnesse in our vocations deadnesse in our devotions faintnesse at the approach of death and the graue are arguments that these Resurrection Sermons cannot be too often repeated Wherefore brethren be ye stedfast and immoveable alwaies abounding in this worke of the Lord for as much as you know that your labour is not in vaine in the Lord. For what crosse or temptation can amaze a Christian soule that can make but the true vse of this short text Christ is risen againe and become the first fruits of them that slept Turne such a man to fight with beasts after the manner of men present before him the stake or torture the assurance of his restoring by the Resurrection is a Supersedeas to him in all his trials Vpon this affiance he will professe with old Ignatius that it belongeth to Gods wheate to be ground with beasts teeth he will resolutely with Saint Laurence on the Gridiron offer both sides to bee broyled In Iosses in sicknesse in disgraces in all assaults of Satan in the pangs of death hee will bee alwaies repeating with Iob I know that my redeemer liueth Iob. 19. and that he shall stand at the latter day vpon the earth and though after my skin wormes destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God Last of all in the death of our parents and children brethren sisters or friends or any other who are neere and deare vnto vs what comfort so present as this so surely grounded so fit to be applyed That Christ is risen from the dead hath satisfied the vtmost farthing hath broken vp the prison turned the death of the faithfull into a sleepe out of which by vertue of his Resurrection they are to awake againe vnto a farre more happy estate Seeing therefore that Christ our Passeover hath beene thus sacrificed for vs and payed the first fruits whereby wee are restored and reconciled to God the Father let vs keepe this feast not with old leaven neither with the leauen of malice and wickednes nor dicing nor absurd dancing or ridiculous legendpreaching to make the people laugh which Durand and Beleth commend in their popish Bishops as Hospinian at large declareth but with the vnleauened bread of sincerity and truth This is the day which the Lord hath made let vs reioyce and be glad in it Let our hearts dance for ioy and in our songs let vs praise him Tell it out among the heathen and when our children or Iuniors shall aske what meane these solemnities at this time that the Church is so carefull to obserue before any other let vs amply relate vnto them how we were vtterly lost in Adam and became the prisoners of sinne death and hell but now is Christ risen againe the first fruits of them that sleepe for their everlasting recovery the benefit
his children Last of all all sorts may judge how to esteeme of such that vnder pretence of Religion sow the seed of flat rebellion learne of David a subject how to behaue themselues towards their Kings such as Dauid was who whē he had Saul at an advantage that against all right and Iustice sought his blood and might haue had him slayne but by a word 's speaking 1. Sam. 26. As the Lord liueth saith he the Lord shall smite him or his day shall come to dye or he shall descēdinto battle perish the Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lords Anointed To which purpose he had spokē to Abishai before whose fingers itched to helpe him Destroy him not for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords Anointed be guiltlesse In which doctrine if Bichri had wel catechized his son Sheba it might perchance haue restrained him frō blowing a trumpet and stirring rebellion by such a damned out-cry or proclamation Wee haue no part in David neither haue we inheritance in the son of Iesse Every man to his tents O Israel Which is the treason it selfe the last member of my text wherein I will striue to recompence my former tediousnesse 8. Those whom Belial once possesseth with Iudas and winnes to bee traytours shall haue counsell crafty enough suggested by the same master which in all likely hood might bring about their diuellish designes But hee that dwelleth in heauen hath such a booke in their nostrels that he twines them in and out as hee sees most convenient So that commonly their policies stead them no farther then Achitophels by an orderly disposing of all things to hasten their shamefull execution Sheba here is not to seeke for the managing of matters to his best advantage Wherefore first hee blowes a Trumpet the vnexpected sound of which in so clamorous a tumult and bickerings as was formerly shewed to bee betweene Israel and Iuda was the onely meanes to procure him audience That being once gotten hee presently falls to a forcible perswasion sorting it to the exasperated passions of the men of Israel which notwithstanding hee groundeth vpon the harsh speeches vsed by the men of Iudah This cannot be better vnderstood then by reflecting our eyes to the 3 last verses of the former Chapter David being freed from Absalom is to bee brought backe by his subjects with honour vnto Ierusalem Cap. 19.11.12 Now hee had secretly sent to the men of Iudah that they should bee the formost The other Tribes in an afficious emulation take this vnkindly and therevpon expostulate with the King Why haue our brethren the men of Iuda stolne thee away Doe they not thinke that wee are as faithfull subjects and affect our Soueraigne as well as they They of Iudah reply The King is neere kin to vs and in that respect wee challenge a preeminence Yea say the Israelites haue not we ten parts in him and in that respect more right Why then did yee despise vs that our advice should not bee first had in bringing backe our King How the men of Iudah put this off the text mentioneth not only it followeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 harder or fiercer were the words of the men of Iudah then the words of the men of Israel It might be they vsed some opprobrious speeches which the Israelites being great in number thought very disgracefull to endure Where the King holding it not safe to interpose hee being so lately shaken and the humours not throughly settled In comes this Sheba vpon the nicke and sets all againe in a combustion Doe the men of Iudah saith hee thinke so basely of vs as though we being tenne to one must giue way to them Cannot wee make good our owne parts without dependance on them for King or Counsell seeing they so arrogantly stand vpon that David is their Kinsman and therefore wholly theirs by inheritance so that our interest in him is a farre off or none at all let vs leaue him to them and let them knowe that whole Israel hath as fit men to raigne as that one Tribe of Iudah for what part may wee challenge in him who is wholly for his own kinred what was Ishai his father was he not an obscure mā yonder at Bethlem Ephrata and this David his shepheard shall wee then better descended continue to bee his vassals as though the father had beene King and the man succeeded as his lawfull heire apparent Iudah tells vs we haue no part in David and wee knowe that the kingdome of Israel was not Ishai's sonnes inheritance Every man therefore to his tents O Israel and stand vpon his owne guard wee shall quickly provide for our selues without being beholding to them And to this sense most Interpreters doe paraphrase Sheba's seditious speeches from the drift of which and effect wee may deduce this observation That there is not a more dangerous inducement to damnable Rebellion and Treason then to be possessed with a conceit that a lawfull King and his liege people may be in any case parted or that kingdomes are from the peoples choyce and not from Gods appointment made hereditary 9. This lesson of Sheba here first proposed to malecontents those men of Israel afterward in Reboboams time had gotten by heart and therefore when their young King answered them not according to their minde in the matter of taxes and subsidies which wicked Ieroboam had set on foote every one had ready at his tongues ende 1. Kings 12.16 What portion haue wee in David or what inheritance haue we in the sonne of Iesse To thy tents O Israel Now see to thine owne house David But had these men but remembred so well that which their wise King Solomon long after Shebae's destruction had left them for a better direction Prouerbes 8. where hee bringeth in the wisedome of the most High thus proclayming By mee Kings raigne Princes decree iustice By me Princes rule and Nobles euen all the Iudges of the earth they might haue found that the bond of obedience to Princes is not so loosely knit by God that subjects may dissolue it at their pleasure or vpon any discontent or injury whatsoeuer cry We haue no part and renounce our inheritance For as a head neuer so rheumatike and the fountaine of all diseases in the rest of the members may not bee therefore parted from them for feare of a worse inconvenience neither can the members vpbrayd it as the Apostle and Nature teach vs with these contemptuous termes I haue no need of thee So the head in the body politique must keepe his place howsoeuer till that highest authoritie take it off who first set it on to change it for a better The more pernitious in reformed States and Common-wealths is the wicked band of Antichrist who take vpon them to seuer those whom God hath so linked together where finding it too hard a taske against conscience and nature to perswade the
Davids practice Ieremies Lamentations and our Saviours weeping for Lazarus and over Ierusalem are warranted to be Heroicall We haue more sinnes Beloued to bewaile but fewer teares to shead greater occasion to hide our faces but lesse contrition to doe it many Physitians shall bee first fee'd before this remedy bee thought vpon that Hezekiah prayed vnto the Lord. 6. Hee prayed Simon Magus had not the grace to pray himselfe but the face to intreat others I make no doubt but here the Prophet Isaiah prayed the Priests prayed the Courtiers and people prayed all were good helpes and it was their dutie yet this sufficeth not Hezekiah except hee pray himselfe hee could best plead his owne cause and commence his owne suit and haue the better audience But to whom doth hee pray Popery was not then on foot to pray to Saints departed before their images or buying Masses or applying reliques Isaiah had instructed them better that Abraham was ignorant of them and the Brazen Serpent was broken downe by the Kings command and called Nehushtan that no such praying should be vsed vnto it Hee prayed therefore as the text hath it vnto the Lord and none other him hee had onely offended his mercy hee had ever found ready his power hee was assured of he alone throughly knewe his wofull case and therefore not as much as dreamed of the mediation of any other The forme of his prayer is set downe in the twentieth of the 26. of Kings and Esay the 38. in the same wordes to teach vs to regard that the more which the Holy Ghost vouchsafeth so precisely to repeat From whence if our Puritans hope to drawe any instance for their extemporary brabbling and brawling against our set formes of prayer the text will shew them as repugnant to Hezekiah herein as commonly they are otherwise to all their lawfull Superiours For his prayer here was on his bed vpon his particular and extraordinary necessity they must vent theirs in the Church where no such occasion is offered to the excluding of better formes then their best premeditation can affoord vs. Hezekiah turned his face to the wall that this particular request of his might not bee heard or disturbed The gift of these men is vnder-valued if their proselytes be not about them to applaud and admire it More tolerable therefore it were that they troubled not the Church more by their prating then they helpe it by such praying In this case if their conceits were not too fleeting they might consider that prayer is of two sorts Publique or private Publique may be either solemne in the Church or more retired in a familie or some other occasioned assembly Now to thrust in here with sudden and vnconcocted flashes were not only to crosse Scripture Fathers and the continuall practice of all Christian Assemblies that euer deserved the name of Churches but also to abuse such Holy meetings by hindring the concurrence of devotions in knowne petitions wherein they ought to joyne and the saying Amen to that they must be sure is warrantable Private prayers I confesse are of another nature wherein divers notwithstanding may bee holpe what to say and directed what to aske by publike formes though such particulars may often fall out in regard of personall grievances sinnes or benefits that may dictate as it were an ejaculatory prayer as the occasion shall bee offered Such was Hezekiah's here and such were to be wished more rife among all sorts of people Notable examples herein wee haue of Iacob O Lord God of my Father Abraham and God of my Father Isaack Gen. 32.9 The Lord which saidst vnto me Returne into thy Countrey and to thy kinred and I will deale well with thee I am not worthy of the lest of all thy mercies all the truth which thou hast shewed vnto thy servant For with my staffe I passed over this Iordan and now I am become two bands Deliuer me I pray thee from the hand of my brother from the hand of Esau for I feare him So Sampson vpon his resolution to dye O Lord God saith he remember me Iud. 16 28. I pray thee and strengthen me onely this once O God that I may bee at once avenged of the Philistims for my two eyes And what are the most part of Davids Psalmes but a contexture of such heavenly wishes aptly composed for his owne vse and the direction of others that expect the same protection O how would it become the conversation of Christians in stead of corrupt communication and blasphemous oathes and cursings to haue their mouthes filled with such Prayses and Prayers How well doe such speeches sound from the mouthes of good subiects God saue the King or Giue the King thy Iudgements O Lord and thy righteousnes vnto the Kings Sonne In the warlike raigne of David wee haue a large description in Scripture of Captaines and Worthies but in Solomons succeeding Peaceable government of stately buildings notable examples of Iustice flourishing of the Arts trafficking with forraine Nations and the like All which are the extraordinary blessings of God and by his disposall haue their turnes and periods which most commonly are found in the body as the head is affected Where a King therefore makes the Lords Prayer the best Prayer the subject of his meditations with what face may subiects be backward in following such directions Hezekiah as wee all know wanted not titles nor treasure nor friends nor any other good parts that might grace a man and yet heere wee see in the vpshot of extremity his onely refuge is Prayer And this brings him to the speech of the Physitian which recouered him For when he had prayed vnto the Lord the Lord spake vnto him and hee gaue him a signe Where we haue the last words of my Text and third member of my division pointing at the Physitian and the course he tooke 7. And he spake vnto him and hee gaue him a signe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at sundry times and in divers manners hath it pleased the Lord of heaven to speake to men here vpon earth by his Sonne by his servants by Angels by men internally externally in dreames by open visions as Suarez vpon Aquinas's third part quest 30. Peucer in his commentary of the divers kinds of divination Mencelius in a peculiar tract of the knowledge of God doe at large declare This speaking here to Hezekiah was by Isaiah the Prophet as the text 2. Kings 20. clearely sheweth And as the extremity was great and vrgent so this speaking was quicke and comfortable in these most gracious tearmes Turne againe and tell Hezekiah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Captaine of my people Thus saith the Lord the God of Dauid thy Father I haue heard thy prayer I haue seene thy teares Behold I will heale thee on the 3d day thou shalt goe vp vnto the house of the Lord. Could there be better newes to a dying man Yet this is not all I will adde saith he vnto thy
his Incarnation and continued till the end of his passion The consideration of which exemplary humiliation for our imitation and advancement I trust at no time shall be thought vnseasonable especially now when we celebrate his first Advent or comming in the Flesh the first degree of his Humiliation and first member of my text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3 He shall drinke of the brooke in the way The words are figuratiue in a high straine far passing all humane Rhetorique and carry a Prophetique Maiesty in a retyred profoundnesse easier to bee adored then expressed Where obscurity hath bred variety and variety great difficulty to tract Interpreters Widest from the marke is the Chaldy Paraphrase of R. Ioseph Coecus who without the least warrant from the words thus blindly renders it from the mouth of a Prophet in the way he shall receiue knowledge Attributing that perversely here either to Abraham or David or Ezechiah and so misguides the latter Rabbins Which Ionathan in his Targum of Ierusalem Midras Tehillim and the ancients ascribe as we doe only to the Messias Of lesse importance is the difference in an old English translation commonly called Wickliffs Psalter of the strond in the way he dranke where the putting of the preter perfect tense for the future intimates rather a thing past then a prophecy of somewhat to come But to passe by such criticall cobwebs which may hide rather then hold The words being obvious in themselues and without difficulty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 knowne to all by their rootes yet in this place may be inforced with that advantage of circumstance that those that seeme most to dissent cannot be destitute of their severall reasons Diverse in relation to the slaughter mentioned in the two former verses continue the allegory in this by helping the text with a word Of the Torrent of bloud say they this Conquerour shall drinke consonant to that he shall wash his footsteps in the bloud of the vngodly Psal 58. And that thy foote may bee dipped in the bloud of thy enemies and that the tongue of the dog may be red through the same Psal 68. Which Phrases are well knowne in sacred Rhetorique to signify a victory as that of Israel against Pharaoh to the vtter ruine of the conquered In which sence the sword is said to be drunken with bloud in the day of the Lords vengeance Ier. 46. and the horses to wade vp to the bridles in bloud where the wine-presse of Gods wrath is trodden Apocalyp 14. This exposition howsoever followed by some later writers of good note relying too much vpon R. Iehudi and Kimchi the first authors of it will hardly notwithstanding be fitted to this place in regard the lifting vp of the head that followes presupposeth an immediate humiliation goeing before which the brandishing of a conquering sword and the bloud of Massacred Miscreants doe not so naturally represent Calvin thinkes the similitude drawne from the valiant leaders who in chase of their rowted enemies turne not aside as at other times to refresh themselues with ordinary provision but catch at a venture as they passe like Gideons lapping souldiers at the water of a brooke that thwarts them least delay giue vantage of a slip and hinder the pursuite of their conquest This Iunius and divers others take for good It was Trivets an old Minorite Friers long before as appeares in an old manuscript vpon this place and therefore Maldonate might haue spared to lash Calvin for it if his aime had not beene rather at the person then the opinion More ingenious is that of Moller That to drinke and especially of such a brooke are phrases that in Scripture designe extraordinary afflictions So Ier. 49. concerning Edoms doome thou shalt not goe vnpunished thou shalt surely drinke Can ye drinke of the Cup that I shall drinke of saith our Sauiour speaking of his sufferings to Zebedees children Math. 20.22 If drinking then in this place may any way resemble the hast of a Captaine the potion will proue more fulsome then the draught refreshing 4 I passe over other by expositions of the brooke of the law the brooke of Baptisme and the like which Lorinus busieth himselfe to repeat and censure That which Chrysostome Basil Theodoret and the Greeke Fathers severally restraine to our Saviours strict conversation in watching fasting lodging travelling preaching praying doing all manner of good without intermission or remission The Latines with greater reason extend to all the degrees of his Humiliation and sufferings to his Incarnation to his poverty to his dangers to his death The brooke of Gods anger for sinnes the Divels stratagems the Iewes despight the worlds contumelies and disgraces not only dashed against him but entered even in vnto his soule Heavy indignation lay hard vpon him and hee was vexed with all the stormes These stormes overtooke him in this deepe way this dangerous way which he met with here in this vale of misery when he tooke vpon him the progresse to deliver Man and did not abhorre the Virgins wombe And with this fall in the expositions of most of the Ancients and moderne he dranke of the brooke 1. of mortality by his Incarnation 2. of strictnesse and hardnesse in all his passage by his voluntary wants and poverty 3. of the strong potion of the Law by his exact obedience and subiection 4. of the Iewes malice by their continuall indignities 5. of the flouds of Belial by apparent vnknowne tentations 6. of the heaviest wrath of his Father by his vnspeakeable agony and bloudy sweat in the garden And last of all of death it selfe on the Crosse by his sad and extreamest passion 5 Haue ye no regard all ye that passe by this way See to what plunges thy Saviour was put to for thy sake in this brooke of vnconceiveable miseries how he drencheth himselfe in the middest to saue thee from drowning how hee struggles among the weeds and myre to land thee safe on the farther bankes Hee that King that Priest that Prophet must be liable as we see to his Fathers eternall Iniunction Shall as a man designed with Socrates to bee made away by vngratefull Citizens Drinke not by measure of a cup only but abrooke of sorrowes and that in an vncouth way destitute of any Ferryman to helpe him over or ford to giue him hope of easier passage or Inne for better provision or Companions to helpe him if need required and all this for vs wretched Rebels that desired no such kindnesse Now three Torrents in this dismall brooke put him especially to his plunges 1. The vngratefulnesse of his owne 2. The Rage of the powers of darknesse but most of all at the last cast 3. The displeasure of his heavenly Father for our sinnes which he had vndertaken to expiate I should here in a manner make a passion Sermon but to repeat only Bethlehem bathed in bloud of Innocents vpon the first rumour of his Nativity his preaching vilified by his reputed
in all holy conversation and godlinesse looking for and hasting to the comming of the day of God that wee may bee found in peace without spot and blamelesse Accompting that the long suffering of the Lord is salvation To which the Lord bring vs through his blessed Sonne CHRIST IESVS to whom with the Father and the holy Ghost bee all Honour and Glory both now and ever AMEN WISEDOMES IVSTIFICATION 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. LVC. 7.35 But wisedome is iustified of all her Children 1 THE words are our Saviours vttered vpon this occasion Iohn Baptist from his prison had sent messengers vnto him to knowe whether hee were the expected Messias V. 19. or that another was to be looked for This was done not so much as most Interpreters think to satisfie his owne doubting as to acquaint his Disciples with Christ and to turne them ouer to a better master They haue their quick but a reall dispatch Goe and tell Iohn what things yee haue seene and heard the Blinde see the Lame walke V. 22. the Leapers are cleansed the Deafe heare the Dead are raised to the poore the Gospell is preached and blessed is he whosoeuer shall not be offended in me And hence vpon the departure of these Messengers for in their presence it might haue sauored of some courtly insinuation hee takes further occasion to speake of the poore prisoner Iohn to the forgetfull and vncertaine multitude who ere-while had so admired and runne after flocked to his Baptisme What went yee out into the wildernesse to see a reed shaken with the winde I tell you hee was none of your wind-shaken reeds smooth without and hollow within thriuing better in the myre then in solid good ground winding and crouching every way as the gust sets him Was he costly in his diet or courtly in his apparell or ambitious to bee prefer'd Who retyr'd himselfe in the wildernesse to his single commons of Locusts and wild hony Having no better girdle then that of Leather to clasp his Camels course hairy Cassock about him But what went yee out to see a Prophet Yea I say vnto you much more then a Prophet And yet his roughnesse and my mildnesse his mourning my piping what good hath it wrought vpon you For Iohn truely came to you neither eating bread nor drinking wine ver 33. and yee say he hath a Divell The sonne of man is come eating and drinking in a more sociable manner and yee say Behold a gluttonous man and a wine bibber a friend of Publicans and sinners But notwithstanding all these hard and vndeserued censures of yours a wisedome in the end will be discouered that will shame all these lewd way ward calumniations This Wisedome will want no Advocates but shall bee in the issue Iustified These Advocats are no strangers or fee'd hirelings but of her owne breeding and informing her children These Children will not be distracted or set at variance among themselues but come in roundly together All to performe what belongs vnto them Howsoever therefore ignorant men mistake her the proud sleight her Politicians abuse her Prophane men snuffe at her and few or none of this world maintaine her with that respect as they ought yet tandem bona causa triumphat vpon a due hearing and examination she will be quitted to the shame and confusion of all her opposites For perverse and foolish oppositions that are plausible in the beginning in the end proue perilous and pernitious But wisedome is iustified of all her Children In the words are considerable 1 The connection in the particle But 2 A direction wherein it will bee requisite to knowe 1 What this wisdome is 2 How it may bee said to be Iustified 3 Of whom it is Iustified Of all her children Loe children and the fruit of the wombe saith the kingly Prophet are an heritage and a gift Psalm 127. that commeth from the Lord especially such children of wisedome or such wise children as my Text here treats of Like as the arrowes in the hand of the Giant so are such children alwaies in a readinesse to iustifie those that begate them Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them they shall not bee ashamed when they speake with their enemies in the gate which parallel's fully my Text. The Connection whereof by Gods assistance and your wonted patience comes first to bee onely touched on in the particle 2. KAI But Maldonate the bold Iesuite is much perplexed with the difficulty of this Text to say the truth as we finde it there is scarce one word in it that one way or other hath not bred a difference amongst Expositors The Originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we expresse by the Exceptiue But is rendred in the vulgar Latine Syriack Arabique and Munsters Hebrew translation in S. Matthew by the Copulatiue And which giues way to the sense that Castalion stands vpon and translates it accordingly Estque vel ita suis omnibus aliena est sapientia such a stranger is wisedome to her owne children Or as Luther hath it in the Dutch is condemned Lud. de Dieu made ashamed or put to silence by her owne children which some latter Critiques also allow But the words will not beare it without enforcing the sense And it is well knowne that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is oftentimes put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greeke and and for sed in the Easterne tongues as Beza and others note on this place And therefore here in reference to that which went before it intimates an opposition which casteth vs necessarily vpon this position That come which way we hold best either with Iohn's austerity or our Saviours mildnes no direction to truth and goodnesse shall want censurers and opposers Noah shall finde in his owne family and own breed a Cham that will scoffe at his nakednesse Lot hath his neighbours the Sodomites that will vex his righteous soule Isaac liues in the house with his halfe brother Ismael that will laugh at him before his tender mothers face And could Davids majestie or authority priviledge him from the like scandall with the flatterers were busie mockers Psal 35. that gnashed vpon him with their teeth They that sate in the gate spake against him and the drunkards in the Originall it is sitters vpon their Ale-benches made songs vpon him Iust as Moses was incountred with Iannes and Iambres and Balaam besides his domestike stirres to withstand his heauenly proceedings So Elias his fierie zeale met with a violent Iezabel that put him to his shifts And reverend Elish a shal not passe in peace by the vnnurtured boyes of Bethel but they will call him Bald-head What shall I speake of Ieremy of Amos of Zacharias the sonne of Barachias whose freedome in performing their