in matter of doubt as euery good mans should doe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 towards the better sense Which property because I finde it so much commended in the writings of the wise and learned as an vndoubted token of a good man I could not passe ouer vnremembred Vt quisque est vir optimus ita difficillime esse alios improbos suspicatur saith the Romane Orator Tully that Father or founder of Eloquence as Pliny calls him And not much different is that saying of the Greeke Diuine Gregory Nazianzen which he oftentimes repeates in other parts of his writings with some alteration in terme and phrase of speech onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee that is least iealous of euill in others is freest from it himselfe So then as true gold is discerned from counterfet mettals by touching or rubbing of it vpon the stone as Saint Basil some-where notes and as the Elect child of God is distinguished from the bastard cast-away by his vnfained loue to the brethren as Saint Iohn speakes and the true Disciples from the false and fained by the mutuall loue they beare each to other as our Sauiour deliuers it In like manner may we conclude from this excellent and so much commended quality engrauen and stamped by the finger of God in the heart of this worthy Prelat to wit Charity the Queene of Vertues as one calls it the life of Vertues as another that he was no other then a liuely fruitfull plant in Gods Vineyard a true Disciple one that had rightly learned Christ whom God had made a great example of vertue in this declining age to be admired easier then imitated But his Piety it must not be forgotten His care of Gods true worship and zeale vnto his house which he euer loued it is and will be remembred with much honour to his Name It was his ioy to see a company of well-deuoted people to meete together to praise God and to that end did not onely continue a Lecture begunne in his Predecessors time to be read in the Cathedrall weekely on the Tuesday by the grauest Orthodox and conformable Preachers within his Dioeces from the time of his entrance into that See till he died being full twelue yeeres and vpwards but did vsually present himselfe in the Assembly at Diuine prayers and Sermons both on the Sabbath and Lecture dayes if vrgency of occasions hindred not And herein as his Piety and Zeale is set forth vnto vs so likewise his Wisedome too Priuate deuotions are good commended in the holy Scripture yea and commanded too but publike are preferred Dauid professed that he would call vpon God Euening Morning and at Noone-day and praise him alwayes but amongst the people in the house of the Lord it reioyced him much to doe it Psalme 122. and mourned in his restraint Psalme 42. Now what is it that worketh vnanimity in affection and maketh it sure and strong as death doth not vniformity in Religion Certainely there is nothing that tyes the hearts of the people so close vnto their guides and Gouernours and maketh them so faithfull each to other as a ioint harmony and consent therein It knitteth soules together as it is said of Ionathan and Dauid 1. Sam. 18. Yea and causeth one soule in a manner to beare two bodies as Gregory Nazianzen spake of himselfe and Saint Basil and before him Minutius Felix of himselfe and his Octauius This the wise Greeke Orator Isocrates well knowing doth in his Paraenesis to Demonicus earnestly exhort and perswade him to worship the Diuine Power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alwayes but chiefely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the people Publicke worship freeth from suspition when priuacy therein the other being neglected oft-times occasioneth iealousie of superstition When Xenophon would proue to the Athenians that Socrates had not brought in any strange gods or new fashions in Religion amongst them for which he was accused thâ— Argumâ—nt of defence for him was this that he did sacrifice vpon the common Altars of the Citie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. saith Xenophon Now herein I say did Piety and Prudence manifest themselues in this Worthy they met together and kissed each other as the Psalmist speakes of Righteousnesse and Peace He delighted inthe Assembly of the Saints and in the place where Gods honour dwells and would be there and thus he gained by it from men a reuerend esteeme He was honoured and beloued of all sorts And God I doubt not in Christ after whom he longed euen to his last gaspe hath giuen him to finde the fruit of his holinesse in the fruition of that blessed presence where is nothing but fulnesse of ioy for euer-more Touching the things of the world he carried himselfe as though he looked not after them nor cared for them neuer seeking for as I haue credibly heard any preferment that he had before it was by Gods Prouidence cast vpon him But this I can truly report and from his owne mouth too who was not wont to speake otherwise then became the seruant of God that the Bishopricke of Gloucester was conferred vpon him vnsought for and vnlookt for at the suit of the most Reuerend Father the Lord Archbishop of Canterburie his Grace that now is So that what Nazianzen spake of Saint Basil so long agoe may be verified of him He pursued not honour but honour pursued him And now for his sufficiency in learning as therein I suppose he was inferior to none either for knowledge in Diuinity or skill in the Easterne Tongues so ioyning to the height of his knowledge the humility of his minde for my part I must confesse that I neuer knew or heard of his match Ofhis exactnesse in those languages this may be a sufficient testimony that he was thought worthy by his Maiesty of blessed memory to be called vnto the Great worke of the last Translation of our English Bible wherin he was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one to make vp a number or to be met withall at euery turne but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a chiefe one a workeman that needed not to be ashamed as the Apostle speakes He began with the first and was the last man of the Translators in the worke For after the taske of translation was finished by the whole number set apart and designed to that businesse being some few aboue forty it was reuised by a dozen selected ones of them and at length referred to the finall examination of the learned Bishop of Winchester that then was Doctor Bilson and of this Reuerend Bishop Doctor Smith viri eximij ab initio in toto hoc opere versatissimi as the History of the Synod of Dort expresseth him who happily concluded that worthy Labour Which being so ended for perfecting of the whole worke as now it is he was commanded to write a Preface and so he did in the name of all the Translators
forward to the end of the Chapter The excellency of the Gospell aboue the Law is set downe in these three points that is God spake vnto the faithfull vnder the old Testament by Moses the Prophets worthy seruants yet seruants Now the Sonis much better than a seruant and he by whom and for whom a house is built than an vnder-workeman that worketh by the day What is Paul what is Apollos So what was Moses what were the Prophets but Ministers by whom the Church then beleeued This then is one prerogatiue of the Gospell The second is this God spake to the ancient Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is at sundry times or by sundry parts now one pi ece then another the word is indifferent for either sense they that translated this Epistle into Hebrew for it is extant in Hebrew are for the former Cammeh pegnamim but the Syriacke and Arabicke are for the latter well since as I say the word will beare both and both are consonant to the circumstances of the Text we may be bold to make vse of both So then whereas the body of the old Testament was long in compiling much about a thousand yeeres from Moses to Malachi and God spake vnto the Fathers by starts and by fiâ—â— one while raising vp one Prophet another while another now sending them one parcell of Prophesie or Story then another when Christ came all was brought to a perfection in one age the Apostles and Euangelists were aliue some of them when euery part of the new Testament was fully finished Thirdly and lastly the old Testament was deliuered by God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in diuers formes or similitudes as the Syriacke and Arabicke Paraphrasts would haue it that is if I vnderstand them sometimes in the likenesse of a man sometimes of an Angell sometimes of fire sometimes of a winde c. but this is rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or rather as it is generally taken in diuers maners of vtterance and manifestation as sometimes in a vision and by dreames and sometimes in darke words and sometimes vnder this type and that type and sometime mouth to mouth that is plainely and familiarly see Numb 12. Iob 33. c. But the deliuering of the Gospell was in more simple maner either by the tongues or by the pennes of them that held an vniforme kind of teaching such as was best for the edifying of Gods people in all succeeding ages Thus we see the excellency of the Gospell aboue the Lawe and this out of the first verse and halfe of the second Now the superexcellency of Christ aboue Moses and the Prophets is to be gathered out of the words that follow in my Text whereof euery branch containeth an Antithesis betweene Christ and the forenamed Moses and the Prophets Christ was made heire of all so were not they by Christ the world was made so was it not by them Christ was the brightnesse of Gods glory c. so were not they Christ vpholdeth all things Christ purgeth vs from our sinnes c. so did not they so can they not doe Therefore Christ beyond all comparison more excellent and more eminent Now let vs take a more particular view of these seuerall points in order as they lye and see what doctrines and exhortations conuictions and reproofes wee may extract out of them To make haste our iourney being long for doubt lest the Sunne come downe vpon vs before we come to our iourneies end as it did vpon the Leuite Iudges 19. this first note with me that if God that spake in old time to the Fathers by the Prophets did also speake to them vpon whom the ends of the world were come by his Sonne then one and the same God is Authour of both Testaments both Old and New Then the Manichees did not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but delirare that is did not trifle but were stark-mad that taught there were duo principia two principall beginnings or Gods the one Authour of the Gospell the other of the Law the one of good the other of euill What if in naturall things it be thus that out of one hole there issueth not sweet water and sowre as Saint Iames saith and that men doe not gather grapes of thornes or figges of thistles as Christ saith Yet for all that the God of Nature is not subiect to the Lawes of Nature he can doe whatsoeuer he will Psa. 115. He can make the waters of Marah that were bitter sweet to his seruants and the waters of Iericho that were vnwholesome to become wholesome to the Inhabitants yea make one and the same showre of raine to become comfortable to the Romane Army vpon the prayer and instance ofa Christian Cohort that was among them and to be pernicious vnto the enemies witnesses thereof Paynim writers not onely Christian God that hath first caused light to shine out of darknesse he still formeth the light and createth darknesse maketh peace and createth euill He the Lord doth all these things the Lord and not Lords one and no more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is In Iupiters Hall-floore there are set two barrels of gifts the one of good gifts or blessings the other of euill gifts or plagues Thus spake Homer falsely of Iupiter it may truely be spoken of the true God Iehovah that he hath in his hand two cups the one of comforts the other of crosses which hee powreth out indifferently for the good and for the bad He preserueth all them that loue him but he destroyeth all the wicked With the kind or mercifull he will shew himselfe kind and with the froward he will shew himselfe froward Now this is not to make God the Authour of euill but of Iustice which is good quorum Deus non est author eorum est iustus vltor saith Augustine God is not the authour of sinne but he punisheth the sinner iustly It is iust or a righteous thing with God as to recompence rest to them that are troubled for Christs sake so to them that trouble the Saints and obey not the Gospell of our Lord Iesus Christ to recompence to them vengeance in flaming fire I grant that the wicked of all ages haue exclaimed as they doe Ezechiel 18. The way of the Lord is not equall as it is vsuall also at this day with offenders and their friends to cry-out against the Law that it is bloody and against the Iudges that they are cruell yet for all that God will be iustified in his saying and ouercome when he is iudged And Iudas himselfe will at the length confesse that he hath sinned in betraying innocent blood and so will the theefe vpon the crosse that he and his fellow did iustly suffer for their offences Therefore let no man say when hee is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted of euill neither tempteth he
the first It is certaine that as the Father hath life in himselfe and light and wisedome and knowledge so he giueth his Son to haue the same in him nay he hath the same of himselfe as he is God No want in the God-head may be imagined nor degrees of hauing but all is perfit and at once yea and from the beginning He therefore being Iehouah and Shaddai all-being and euer-being all-sufficient and euer-sufficient may not be thought to haue asked this question to be better informed for his owne part for he knoweth all and needed not that any should testifie of man for hee knew what was in man Iohn 2. But as in the 12. of Iohn Christ saith This voyce came not for my sake but for yours So may we say of Christs words in my Text that they were not vttered for himselfe but for vs. It was good that the world should be satisfied concerning the resolution of the Apostles to follow Christ whatsoeuer came of it for their honour for our example for the glory of God in giuing such gifts vnto men Therefore doth the Lord bring forth their righteousnesse as the morning and causeth their faith to breake forth into confession They beleeued and therefore did they speake Wee also if we beleeue we will speake and will not be ashamed of him before men lest he also be ashamed of vs before his Father which is in heauen It is worth the remembring that Plutarch in his booke of Isis Osiris writeth of the Peach namely that the Egyptians of all fruit did make choise of that to consecrate it to their great Goddesse for this cause because the fruit thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is like to ones heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the leafe to the tongue Indeed when the heart and the tongue goe together then the harmony is sweete and the seruice pleasing both to God and man Euen as Saint Paul setteth downe the perfitnesse of our duty and consequently of our happinesse With the heart man beleeueth vnto righteousnesse with the mouth he confesseth vnto saluation This therefore may seeme to be a speciall cause why Christ demandeth of the twelue whether they would play the Turne-coats as some others did namely to draw forth their confession and profession of their faith As for the other doubt Whether the Elect can fall away the same will easily be cleared if we agree vpon the termes of Elect and falling away namely if we vnderstand by Elect such as are chosen according to the purpose of grace vnto an inheritance immortall vndefiled that fadeth not away reserued in heauen for them and by falling away an vtter departing from the fellowship of the Saints and an vtter renouncing of the truth reuealed The truly Elect cannot so vtterly become cast-awayes If then man and the world and the Deuill were stronger then God then the gifts and calling of God had repentance then Christ should not loue to the end whom he loueth yea then some should be able to take them out of the Fathers hand All which points and twenty more to this purpose are directly contrary to Gods Word which cannot lye Therefore we conclude that a man truly Elect cannot throughly perish I grant Saul and Iudas were Elect or chosen but it was to an office not to the Kingdome of glory Peter and others fell away but it was for a time not finally they wauered and staggered and felt some eclipse in their faith but the same was neuer extinguished nor rooted vp Christ prayed for Peter and not for him onely but for as many as should beleeue in his Name Iohn 17. that their faith should not faile And can Satan or all the power of hell preuaile against Christs prayer Praedestinatorum nemo cum Diabolo peribit nemo vsque ad mortem sub Diaboli potestate remanebit None of the predestinate shall perish with the Deuill none of them shall remaine vnder the Deuils power euen vnto death as Saint Augustine speakes And in his booke De Catechizandis rudibus Cap. 11. â—erusalem shall be deliuered and none of her shall perish for he that perished was not a Citizen of her Thus he He learned it of Saint Iohn They went out from vs but were not of vs c. Let vs end this point with another testimony of Austin more pregnant and plaine then either of them Horum he speaketh of the Elect si quisquam perit fallitur Deus sed nemo eorum fuerit quia non fallitur Deus Horum si quisquam perit vitio humano vincitur Deus sed nemo eorum fuerit quia nulla re vincitur Deus that is if any of the Elect perish God is deceiued but none of them perisheth because God is not deceiued if any of them perish God is ouercome by mans fault or naughtinesse but none of them perisheth because God is ouercome of nothing Well hauing thus vntyed the two knots or doubts that might seeme to entangle the Text let vs returne to the same againe and see what further we may learne out of it Will ye also goe away Plutarch writeth of Brutus that this was a great content and comfort to him at his end that though he had Crebra transfugia of the common sort many of them forsooke him and turned to the enemy yet none of his friends or neere ones forsooke him On the other side it must needs be a great corrasiue to Caesars heart that Labienus that had done him so worthy seruice against the Galles nine or tenne yeeres together left him in the quarrell betweene him and Pompey took Pompeys part I haue nourished brought vp children they to rebell against me this cuts my gall saith God in effect in Esay What my son that came out of mine own bowels to miniken the matter against me nay to make head against me This is such a matter as would make a man exclaime Be astonied O heauens and blush O earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What thou my sonne said one to his neere one He made resistance against others saith the story but when he saw his owne naturall to draw vpon him then he was weary of his life then he desired to liue no longer Therefore herein appeareth Christs magnanimity that he was not danted for the perfidiousnes of the run-awayes but all the while he had them that were of best note to sticke vnto him he reckoned not for the Apostasie of others Let vs be of the same minde Beloued Suppose all should cowre downe cowardly saue three hundred nay suppose that all should worship the Image that Nabuchadnezzar of Rome putteth vp saue three nay suppose that all should bowe their knees to Baal or worship the golden Calfe saue Elias and Moses should this make vs to goe away Nay greater is he that is in vs then he that is in the world saith our Sauiour And more there bee which be with vs then they
if there had beene any friendship betweene the parties they solemnly renounced the same But now in this weake old age of the world where the Lyons skin will not reach there they itch it with the Fox skin and nothing seemeth vnhonest that will serue their turne nay as children are deceiued with huckle-bones or with Puppets so many seeke to circumuent Princes vnder pretences This is the new Diuinity that our enemies haue learned and this they and we may thanke the Iesuits and the Councell of Trent for the Councell of Trent as being the broachers the Iesuits as the practizers The Councell of Trent they defined that whosoeuer would not receiue their Decrees had forfeited their Kingdomes ipso facto and might lawfully be inuaded by whomsoeuer The Iesuits they grin like a Dogge and goe about the Citie as it is in the Psalme nay like the Enemy of mankind mentioned in the 1. of Iob they compasse the earth round about and buzze into mens eares that keeping of faith out of the Church of Rome is not faithfulnesse but perfidiousnesse Thus they Howbeit as Tertullian said of one that excused his running away by Vir fugiens iterum pugnabit one said so I grant saith Tertullian but he was a cowardly runne-away himselfe So may it be said truly that he that would not haue faith or promise to be kept to a man of a contrary Religion is a man void of faith himselfe For if it be not necessary to keepe our promise made in the name of God and by swearing by him then it is not lawfull to make any such promise Otherwise in that we sweare we shew our selues to be afraid of him to whom we sweare that is of man but in violating the same oath we shew our selues not to be afraid of Him by whom we sweare that is God himselfe This by the way to their Doctrine and practice who are moued with no conscience to inuade them whom they hold to be out of their faith not onely without defiance sending but euen against a League solemnly made And let so much be noted from the example person of Sennacherib the Inuader First what a dangerous thing it is to drawe strangers into a Land Then how vnsatiable a thing Ambition is Lastly what a violent thing it is Now let vs come to the person that was inuaded Hezekiah by name and see how wee may profit by him In the foureteenth yeere of Hezekiah So my Text. This Hezekiah wel-beloued was not an ordinary man but comparable to any of the Kings of Iudah that were before him or after him If Piety be to be respected He did vprightly in the sight of the Lord according to all that Dauid his father had done verse 3. If Zeale He tooke away the high places and brake the Images and cut downe the groues c. verse 4. If Faith and assurance He trusted in the Lord God of Israel and was peerelesse in that respect verse 5. Further if Constancy and perseuerance He claue to the Lord and departed not from him c. verse 6. Finally if valiant acts and good successe in warre The Lord was with him in all that he tooke in hand and he got a famous victory of the Philistims his bordering enemies verse 7 8. This manner of Prince was Hezekiah so religious so zealous so faithfull so vertuous so constant so valiant so successefull And who would haue thought that he being so precious in Gods eyes should haue beene so much honoured in the world and hauing deserued so well of his owne subiects should for the same haue beene no lesse beloued and regarded of his neighbour Princes Indeed it pleaseth God many times to reward vertue and specially piety with such reuerence from men that either for feare or for loue they are suffered to enioy their owne quietly So Salomon had peace forty yeeres together almost round about him on euery side and Iudah and Israel dwelt without feare euery man vnder his Vine and vnder his Fig-tree all the dayes of Salomon 1. Reg. 4. So Abimelech King of the Philistims came to Isaak a priuate man a stranger desired to enter into a League with him Gen. 26. We saw certainely saith he that the Lord was with thee and we thought thus Let there be now an oath betweene vs thou shalt doe vs no hurt as we haue not touched thee c. So Iacob though he had greatly offended Laban his vncle and Esau his brother yet the Lord so wrought for him by mollifying the hearts of the other that they durst not not onely doe him hurt but not so much as speake a rough word vnto him This is that that Salomon saith in the Prouerbes When a maâ—s wayes please the Lord he maketh his very enemies to be his friends And which Satan enuyed to Iob Doth Iob feare God for nought Hast thou not made a hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on euery side Howbeit though it spiteth the Deuill to the heart to see the faithfull specially faithfull Princes to be guarded and protected by God and to be regarded and reuerenced in the world yet for all that the Lord vouchsafeth them that grace many times As the example of Constantine at the first stablishing of the Gospell proueth To whom the King of Persia nay most of the barbarous Kings of those dayes as Eusebius shewth sent presents and desired his friendship As the example of Fredericke surnamed the Wise and Fredericke surnamed the Confessor Dukes of Saxony in the time of restoring the Gospell in those later times that I may not name Gostaue of Sweathland and the free Cities of Germany to whom the Lord shewed such mercy that they were suffered without trouble almost to build a Temple for the Lord as it were I meane to enact Lawes for the true seruice of God for the abolishing of Superstition doe abundantly declare It is very true therefore that as God hath made many hills so high that there is no wind to be felt vpon the top of them and some stones so hard as the Adamant that they will not be broken with any hammer and some trees also so fat and so oyly as the Bay-tree that the Winter stormes haue little power on them though they make the most trees besides to let fall their leaues So there haue beene some in the world so graced and priuiledged by God that euen those things which doe vsually strike thorow other men Enuy and Malice I meane haue had no power to enter vpon them at all They haue beene placed by God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of gunneshot vnder his owne wings as it were and vnder his feathers they haue not beene confounded neither of the Pestilence that walketh in the darkenesse this is secret Enuy neither of the Plague that destroyeth at noone-day this is open and professed Malice Lo thus haue some beene blessed that feared the Lord
earth-quake as many better Cities haue beene than that so many examples of more then inhumane immanity should haue beene shewed by it To be short it putteth me in minde of the vile speech of Plautus so much detested by Lactantius Plautus had said He doth very ill that giueth an almes to a begger Nam illud quod dat perit illi producit vitam ad miseriam that is For both that which he giueth is lost and by lengthening the beggers life he doth but lengthen his misery This speech of Plautus Lactantius as I told you doth hold for detestable and so he might well for it is an enemy to charity without which no man shall see the Lord and crosseth and confronteth the purpose and prouidence of God as much as sinne may doe For God therefore causeth some to be poore some to be rich that not onely the poore might be more humble and the rich more thankefull but he by communicating the offices of giuing and receiuing Christian neighbour-hood and loue might be the better maintained and increased Therefore let this be no motiue vnto vs to shift poore soules away because they seeme to stand in our way because we must be at some three halfe-peny charge vpon them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Oh two halfe-pence what force are yee of to saue or to kill said one in the Comedie but we must remember that we are commanded to cast our bread vpon the waters Eccles. 11. euen where we thinke it cast away and that we are promised after many dayes we shall finde it Againe He that soweth sparingly shall reape sparingly and he that soweth liberally shall reape liberally Albeit it would seeme a small liberality would serue the turne if good order were taken For they that of themselues can be content to worke for their liuing in the Gaole before their tryall when they are not sure of life why should they not be much more willing after their repriuall when their life seemeth to be giuen them for a prey If the worst come to the worst they may be forced to worke for they ought not to looke for more fauour than they who are in an house of correction where he that will not labour is not suffered to eate Thus as Saint Paul saith concerning Virgins I haue no commandement of the Lord yet I giue my iudgement as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithfull So I haue beene bold euen without warrant or commission to shew what I thinke to be the more excellent way for mercifull proceeding towards them that be light offenders and I wish with the Greeke Orator 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and with the Latine Poet Viue vale si quid nouisti rectius istis Candidus imperti si non his vtere mecum Well I haue treated of Rulers and shewed first that Ciuill Rulers are here meant and not Ecclesiasticke Secondly that in the iudgement of the Syriacke and Arabicke Paraphrasts Iudges and the like Magistrates are specially pointed at Thirdly that there is no reason that they should be esteemed for terrible and that they are not of themselues terrible to any but onely to such as haue a terrified that is a guilty conscience As for good men and innocent to them they are not terrible but per accidens namely First if false forsworne witnesses haue their scope against them Secondly if they being not well able to speake for themselues such as can helpe them and giue testimony to their innocency should be repelled Thirdly if any corrupt or malicious persons that haue vowed their destruction should be suffered to passe vpon their tryall Lastly if they should not find fauour to be repriued either in a doubtfull case or for a small offence notwithstanding they cannot reade In this case in my poore opinion I know not how politicke it may be thought but sure I am it is charitable mercy should triumph against Iudgement as the Apostle speaketh Thus farre I haue proceeded already now by the tenour of my Text I am tolled-on to answere an obiection against Saint Pauls speech namely how he could say truely that Rulers were not terrible in his time when Nero that ruled the roast then was such a monstrous Tyrant euen such a one that Tertullian saith It was no discredit vnto the Christians but rather an honour that he was the first that lifted vp his hand against them hauing first beene at defiance with all vertue This for the chiefest Ruler As for his Delegates Scholers know out of Suetonius what was the Commission he gaue vnto them namely to pill and powle and ransacke and take such order or rather disorder that no man should thinke any thing he had to be his owne but that all should be brought tumbling into the Tyrants coffers And must not such Rulers High and low necessarily appeare terrible This is one point therefore that I might discourse vpon if the time were not past Secondly hauing shewed how Rulers are terrible to euill doers I might take occasion by that which followeth immediatly to shewe how by their institution they are comfortable to the pious and vertuous but one contrary may easily be vnderstood by another This for the latter point and for the former you are to vnderstand that Paul wrote not this Epistle to serue for Neroes time onely but for all succeeding ages And therefore though he were as bad as bad might be yet there might come worthy Princes after him and againe though many of his Officers were bad like their Master yet he had many good Howsoeuer their persons were bad yet their calling was sacred and venerable and therfore their faults to be winked at and their manners to be indured I forbeare to be further troublesome The Lord giue a blessing to that which hath beene spoken already Amen A SERMON VPON THE FIRST OF SAMVEL THE FOVRETEENTH SERMON 1 SAMVEL 25. verse 29. Yet a man is risen to pursue thee and to seeke thy soule but the soule of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God and the soules Hebr. soule of thine enemies them shall he sling out as out of the middle of a sling MY Text is a part of the Supplicatory Oration that Abigail the wife of Nabal made vnto Dauid when he was comming against her and her husband and their family in fury and in wrath In which Oration she sheweth so much wise eloquence and eloquent wisedome that neither Aspasia or Hortensia so much praised by the Grecians and Romanes No nor the woman of Tekoa and of Abel surnamed The wise woman 2 Sam. 14. 2 Sam. 20. may in any degree be compared to her My husband saith she that did thee wrong in not doing thee kindnesse is but a foole I am sorry and ashamed to say so much but Nuda nudè loquor It is in vaine to cast a couering vpon that which will not be hid
is a good entrance to the Omination the later part of my diuision the which I will rather touch than handle the time being so farre spent The soule of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God and the soule of thine enemies shall he sling out as out of the middle of a sling In these words Abigail promiseth or foretelleth wisheth at the least safety and preseruation to Dauids person and estate and describeth the same safety by a Metaphor of safe bindingor safe pursing We know that eares of corne if they lie scattered vpon the ground they may easily be trod out with the foote or licked vp by a beast but if they be bound vp in a bundle and the bundle layd vp in a stacke then they are out of harmes way commonly the originall may signifie a Bundle as in that place of the Canticles that is My Beloued is as a bundle of myrrhe Tseror mor. Again we know that if a piece of money be it of gold or siluer be cast vpon the table or some odde place it may be taken vp by some thiefe or one that is light-fingered but if it be pursed then it is safe The originall may signifie a purse as inthat place of Haggai Chapter 1. He that earneth wages putteth it into a bagge or purse that hath a hole in it In like manner of Phrasing Dauid saith that his teares were put vp in Gods bottle that none of them should be spilt vpon the ground but should be remembred and accounted for And Saint Paul That our life is hid with Christ in God hid that is layed vp 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in a repository sure and safe And briefely the Prophet Esay phraseth it after the same manner that God had made him a chosen shaft and hid him in his quâ—uer that it should not be broken nor pilfered away by euery one that came in the way Now we vnderstand the meaning of the Phrase but peraduenture for the truth of the matter euery one is not satisfied for some will say How could Abigail speake so confidently that Dauid and consequently such as were faithfull like Dauid should not miscarry since so many worthy seruants of God and his Anointed ones haue dyed a violent death as namely â—osiah to speake of no more before Christs time and after Christs time Gratian and Valentinian Christian and godly Emperours and of late in our fresh memory the two Henries of France that I speake nothing of the Prince of Conde and the Prince of Orange If it be true as it is most true that these had their liues taken away by their enemies then Abigails speech cannot be true in the generall I answere first That Abigail speaketh this as a well-wishing woman but not as a Prophetesse for we doe not read any where that the name of a Prophetesse is giuen vnto her Secondly That prophesies themselues importing a blessing haue either expressed or implyed a condition namely If they will walke in the wayes of the Lord with an vpright heart and with all their heart c. euen as Samuel the Prophet expresseth the happinesse of a King and a State conditionally and not absolutely in those termes If ye will feare the Lord and serue him and heare his voyce both you and your King shall follow the Lord that is you shall prosper in following the Lord a Metonymie of the cause for the effect but if ye doe wickedly ye shall perish both you and your King O that we would consider this we that forget God so oft and so foulely what hurt we doe to our good King not onely our selues by euery worke of impiety and iniquity we doe we strike at his Estate as oft as we strike our brother with the fist of wickednesse we wound our Kings person after a sort as oft as we teare God with our false or vaine oathes we doe what we can to shorten his dayes as oft as we drawe along the cords of vnnecessary contentions of sensuality of drunkennesse of oppression of vncharitablenesse of coozenage of vsury and the like These doe more endanger a Kingdome than either forraine enemies or domestike conspirators For as while we please the Lord he maketh our very enemies to be our friends as it is in the Prouerbs yea the stones of the field to be at peace with vs and the beasts of the field to be at league with vs as it is in Iob. So on the other side if wickednesse be found in vs as Salomon said to Adoniah if an execrable thing be found in the Host as in the dayes of Iosuah then Israel cannot stand before the men of Aye nor Iosuah prosper Then the Lord will raise vp the vildest of the Nations to persecute vs they shall fanne vs and they shall empty vs till we be weeded out of the good Land that God hath giuen vs to possesse It is true the most High it is that translateth Kingdomes taking them from one Nation and giuing them to another as it is in the Prophet Daniel but it is true withall that this is done for the sinnes of the people euen as Salomon expresly setteth it downe Prouerbs 28. For the transgression of a people there be many Princes that is many changes when as on the contrary side when a people doe set their hearts to feare the Lord and to worship him with holy worship when they meddle with the thing that is equall and right and shunne the sinnes of vnfaithfulnesse of Idolatry of presumption of profanenesse and the like then behold he giueth them a good Prince in his mercy and keepeth him vnto them in his fauour preseruing his lying downe and rising vp his going forth and comming home in such sort that the enemy can doe him no violence nor the sonne of wickednesse hurt him Would we then haue our King to flourish and to prosper to liue out of danger and gun-shot Oh then let vs not onely pray for him as Tertullian did for the Emperor that God would giue him Domum tutam exercitus fortes senatum fidelem that is A safe Court valiant Armies and a faithfull Senate but also that he would giue him Populum probum that is A vertuous people a good Commonalty which is a part of Tertullians prayer in the same place and let vs endeauour our selues euery one for his part to make vp this Populum probum that is to be pious and vertuous Let vs haue nothing to doe with the stoole of wickednesse which imagineth mischiefe like a Law let vs haue nothing to doe with the bagge of deceit with false weights false measures since these be an abomination to the Lord as Salomon speaketh and since God is a reuenger of all such things as the Apostle testifieth Finally let vs haue nothing to doe with the vnfruitfull workes of darkenesse but rather reproue
this did not bring the drunkards to themselues for all that day and that night on the morrow when the Captaines of the Town hearing of the stirre and hurly-burly repaired to the house and demanded what was the matter They answered that the ship had bin in great danger and that they were enforced to cast forth all the fraught or lading into the Sea else had they bin all cast-away yea said one of them that thought himselfe to be the best in the company I was in speciall danger and therefore for feare I gate me vnder the hatches as far as I could The Captaines pardoned them but would not suffer them to haue any more wine and anon the tempest ceased To this effect Athenaeus Which Story I doe not recite to moue any to laugh or to smile but rather to mourne within our selues to consider the corruption of mans nature whereby that which God hath giuen for our good is vnto man an occasion of falling Man abideth not in honour â—specially if he drinke too much but may be compared to the beast that perisheth You know how Noah lay What Lot did What brags Benhadad and Belshazzar made What Herod promised when they were drunke and hâ—w the things turned to their shame and decay It is wickednesse to turne the Grace of God into wantonnesse and it is madnesse to lose ones-selfe vtterly to enioy the pleasures of sinne for a season The pleasure of the thrâ—â—â— is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of one line as one said it hath no breadth much lesse substance in it The breadth of the throate if Bernards measure be true is not passing two fingers and shall a man for two fingers pleasure cast away health of body health of soule and whatsoeuer is to be reckoned of Know yee not that your bodyes are the Temples of the holy Ghost and will you now take the Temple of God and make it the Temple of an Idoll and of the worst Idoll 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Know ye not that drunkards are reckoned amongst them that shall not inherit the Kingdome of God and will you be at cost and doe away that you haue to lose that Kingdome which a wise Merchant would giue all that he hath to buy and to compasse O ye Corinthians saith Saint Paul my mouth is open vnto you my heart is enlarged I vse great boldnesse of speech and am earnest in shewing the detestation of this sinne and to prooue if by any meanes I may preuaile with any for their good Basil wrought vpon Valens his conscience and mooued him as also Saint Paul did vpon Foelix his and Saint Iohn the Baptist vpon Herods but yet it fared with them as it doth with iron which though it doe glowe and be made neuer so red-hot with the fire yet remaineth iron still Thus Nazianzen But I hope of better things of some that heare me namely that they will be truly changed by the renuing of their mind and so become new creatures Why vpon a Sermon that Saint Paul made to a Gaoler he beleeued and was baptized and all his house-hold straight-wayes So in the same Chapter after he had preached a time in Ephesus many of them which vsed curious Arts brought their bookes and burned them before all men and counted the price of them I cannot tell how many thousand markes But Saint Paul was an Apostle and endued with the first fruits of Gods Spirit and besides the Lord made way to the conuersion by a miracle Let me recount therefore to you another example of one Iohannes Capistranus of whom Aeneas Syluius writeth at large and for my purpose Vrspergensis in his Chronicles This fellow comming into Germany to reforme abuses preuailed so farre with them that the women did cast away their vaine apparell and gugawes and the men gathered together their Tables Dice and Cardes and burnt them But this Fryer was not alone he had an associate True but the associate did onely interpret what the Fryer did deliuer in Latine so the speech or exhortation was but one if one But the Turke did then inuade Christendome and then very feare will make men deuout and to yeeld easily What say you then to Pythagoras It is written of him by Trogus That being alone and no body to helpe him he preuailed so farre with the men of Crotona that of dissolute men he made them sober of wretchlesse frugall and modest the women also layed aside their shining garments and attire and were nothing behind the men for all kinds of temperancy but hee tooke paines with them twenty yeeres together What say you then to the Story of Polemo in Laertius This Polemo being ouertaken with drinke as he was wont to be broke into Xenocrates his Schoole with his companions of a purpose to daunt him and to driue him out of countenance but Xenocrates treating at that time as God would haue it of Temperance so handled the matter and wrought vpon the young mans conscience that he began to be ashamed of his dissolute course and became such a Conuert and well reformed that there was not the like to him among all Xenocrates his Scholars and after his death became his successor Now could a Lecture of a Philosopher preuaile with a deplorate youth then and shall not the Sermon of a Preacher nay of many Preachers preuaile with them that either are or should be more stayed now Where is the Lord God of Eliah Where is the force of the Word that Lanctantius speaketh of Da mihi virum qui sit iracundus c. Giue me a man that is neuer so loose and vnbridled with a few of the Words of God I will bring him into good order and compasse Is the power of God shortened or is not the naughtinsse of man increased This is that which the Rabbins doe say Ba lithar mesaijegim otho When a man doth his good will and that good will is also of God God worketh in vs both the will and the deed as it is in the Philippians when I say he doth not ponere obicem as the Schoolemen speake resist the holy Ghost as the Scripture phraseth it then loe the Lord is neere vnto them that call vpon him Briefely this is that which Clemens Alexandrinus putteth vs in mind of As in the play of tossing the Ball it is not enough for one of the players to be cunning in throwing of it but the other player also must take it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 handsomely finely or else the Ball will goe downe So when the Lord shall say to vs Behold me Behold me seeke ye my face If we doe not answere Thy face Lord will we seeke we are here ready to doe thy will O God if we stop our eares against his calling harden our hearts against his knocking we can blame no body but our selues if the Word become vnprofitable to vs. The summe of all is this Beware of Drunkennesse doe ye beware
heauenly matters you leese not the earth in the meane time and your earthly possessions So some seeme to make no reckoning at all of their heauenly inheritance so that they may vphold or better their state vpon earth Call you this wisedome or policy or prouidence or the like Then Achitophel was a wise man to preferre the expectancy of honour at the traytor Absaloms hands before the present enioying of fauour and good countenance from King Dauid his anointed Soueraigne Then Esau was politike to esteeme more of a messe of potage then of the blessing which afterward he could not recouer though he sought it with teares Yea briefely then that Emperour was prouident were it Nero or whosoeuer else that fished for Menise and Gudgeons with nets of silke and hookes of gold What is the chaffe to the wheate saith the Lord by the Prophet What is the shadow to the body the body to the soule frailty to eternity What shall it aduantage a man to winne the whole world if he leese his sâ—ule or can any man saue his soule that hath God his enemy or can any man haue God to be his friend that doth double with him Be not deceiued as God is called Amen or True in the Reuelation and calleth himselfe Truth in the 14. of Iohn so he loues truth or sincerity in the inwards parts Psalme 51. and without truth he loueth nothing that he doth loue A doubling man or a man with a double heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Saint Iames is vnstable in all his wayes and can such a one looke for any thing at Gods hands Let them looke to it whosoeuer among vs play fast and loose and blow hot and cold with the Lord making bridges in the ayre as the Comicall Poet saith and making flesh their arme but in their heart depart from the Lord which the Prophet doth so much cry out against Surely such wisedome is not from aboue but is earthly sensuall and deuelish and as truely as the reproch deliuered by the Prophet Esay chapter 44. in respect of their corrupt iudgement is verified in them Hee feedeth on ashes a seduced heart hath deceiued him so that hee cannot deliuer his soule and say May not I erre So the Iudgement denounced by the same Prophet in another place in respect of their worldly policy shall take hold of them Behold saith he you all kindle a fire and are compassed about with sparkes walke in the light of your fire and in the sparkes that yee haue kindled This shall yee haue of mine hand yee shall lye downe in sorrow As if he said Your turning of deuices shall it not be as the Potters clay shall it not breake and crimble betweene your fingers Take counsell as long as you will it shall not stand make a decree it shall not prosper saith the Lord Almighty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the heathen man He that soweth the wind shall reape the whirle-wind let him be sure of it And let so much be spoken against glorying in wisedome either rightly so called or falsely so termed Let vs consider now of the second thing that we are forbidden to boast of to wit strength Nor the strong man glory in his strength There haue beene many strong men in all ages strong of arme as that Polydamas that caught a wild Bull by one of his hinder legges and held him by the force of his arme for all that the Bull could doe and that Pulio mentioned by Dio that threw stone at a Towne-wall besieged by Germanicus with such might that the battlement which he hit and he which was vpon it came tumbling downe which made them that held the Towne through wonderment at his strength to yeeld it vp strong of hand as that Marius one of the thirtie Tyrants that would turne aside a Wayne with one of his fingers and that Polonian of late in the dayes of Stephen Buthor that would knap a horse-shoo asunder were it neuer so hard betweene his hands strong of arme and hand and body and heart and all as that Aristomenes mentioned by Pliny who slew three hundred Lacedemonians in fight in one day and that Aurelian then or shortly after Emperour of whom they made this song Mille mille mille viuat qui mille mille occidit Let him liue thousands of yeeres or moneths who slew thousands of enemies These were famous men in their generations and no doubt but they were miraculously admired at by them that liued in their times yet for all that neither were others to haue gloryed in them nor they in themselues Not others to glory in them because Saint Paul saith Let no man reioyce or glory in men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Cor. 3. And againe Let him that glorieth glory in the Lord 1. Cor. 10. Not themselues to glory in themselues because strength is not to be compared to wisedome and therefore wisedome being debarred from boasting as you heard already strength ought much more That strength commeth short of wisedome Salomon sheweth both by plaine words by an example by plaine words as when he saith Ecclesiast 9. verse 16. Then said I Better is wisedome then strength By an example as in the same Chapter verse 14. A little City and few men in it and a great King came against it and compassed it about and built Forts against it and there was found therein a poore and wise man and he deliuered the City by his wisedome c. Thus Salomon Nature also hath taught as much both in plaine words and by examples In plaine words as Musaeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wisdome or sleight is alwayes better then strength By an example as Sertorius for example he caused a couple of horses to bee brought before him the one fat and fleshy the other a leane carrion Iade also a couple of Soldiers the one lusty and strong the other a silly sickly fellow to the leane horse he put the strong man and he going roughly to worke and thinking to doe the deed with dead strength haled and pulled and tired himselfe and was a laughing-stocke to the beholders but the weake fellow vsing some cunning for all his weakenesse did the feate and went away with the applause Wisedome therefore is better then strength and therefore this is one strong reason why strength should not be boasted of since wisedome is denyed Another reason may be this Strength of force bee it equall to the strength of a Lyon or Elephant yet it is but the stren gth of flesh neuerthelesse and all flesh is fraile and subiect to foyle whom one cannot ouercome many may whom sword cannot pierce shot will whom shot doth not hit sickenesse may arrest time surely and death will be sure to make an end of Now should a man be proud of frailty as of grasse of vapor of smoake of a shadow of a tale that is told c.
causa It is not the punishmeÌ„t it is the cause that maketh a true Martyr For our parts we say vnto them as Optatus doth to their like Nulli dictum est Nega Deum Nulli dictum est Incende Testamentum Nulli dictum est Aut Thus pone aut Basilicas destrue â—stae enim res solent Martyria generare That is To none of them hath it beene said Deny God To none of them hath it beene said Burne the New Testament To none hath it beene said Offer incense or throw downe Churches for these things are wont to engender Martyrdomes Thus Optatus lib. 3. And I pray you is not our cause like to Optatus his and theirs to the Parmenians When haue our Magistrates vrged any of them that haue beene sent from Rome much lesse Recusants to deny God except they make him of Rome to be their God Nay both they and we doe exhort them with all instance to turne from that vanity and to trust in the liuing God Cursed be he that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arme So When doe we vrge them to burne the Bible or any part of the Bible Nay this hath beene their fault and sticketh to them for infamy like the Leprosie of Gehezi To set fire vpon the translated Bibles wheresoeuer they could finde them and to burne them by hundreds on an heape yet the worst translation made by our men is founder and more agreeable to the Originall then the Translation of the Seuentie and yet the Apostles themselues suffered the same nay vsed the same as is euident to the Learned so farre were they from defacing it To be short When and where haue our men forced them yea or perswaded either to put Incense vpon the Altar or to throw downe Churches Nay it is their proper guise euen now in the time of the Gospell when shadowes and carnall worship should cease to perfume their Altar and their vestiments and many things that I know not nor care to learne and it hath beene their ordinary practice where they haue beene the stronger to destroy not onely Churches but also as many as haue beene assembled in them to heare Gods Word and to receiue the Sacrament euen bloudily and butcherly with a rage that reached vp to heauen Witnesse the Massacres that they made at Vassey at Merindol and Cabrias in Piemont in Calabria and where not So that we haue great cause to flee from them not onely to goe away and they no cause to flee from vs who neuer thirsted after their blood nor drew it but constrained and in our defence But to what purpose all this Since they whom it concerneth are not here and them that are here it doth not concerne yet as our Sauiour made full account that some of his Auditors would relate vnto Herod what opinion he held of him and therefore said vnto them Goe yee and tell that Fox So we are content that they take information by some of you that we maintaine and are instant that there is cruelty in their side and not in ours and a good cause with vs and not with them and therefore that there is cause why they should returne to vs and no cause in the world why we should turne to them And let so much be spoken of the Question It followeth Simon Peter therefore answered him Lord to whom shall we goe thou hast the words of euerlasting life And we haue beleeued and knowne for we doe beleeue know Heb. that thou art the Christ the Son of the liuing God In this answere Saint Peter doth two things First he denyeth flatly that hee or his fellow Apostles haue any such meaning Then he bringeth reasons of their constant adhering to him The denyall is set forth by way of Interrogation for more vehemency sake and containeth in it a reason drawne from the excellency of Christ before other teachers Lord to whom shall we goe meaning there was no Master worth the thinking of in comparison to him and therefore that they were farre from any such purpose The reasons drawne from the excellency of Christ are two The one from the excellency of his Doctrine Thou hast the words of euerlasting life the other from the excellency of his person Thou art the Christ the Son of the liuing God Our heart and conscience telleth vs so much therefore we are not men but deuils if we forsake thee To this effect is Saint Peters answer in the name of his fellowes Let vs take the words before vs in order as they lye and first speake of the Interrogation Simon Peter therefore answered him saying Lord to whom shall we goe The first thing that we are to learne out of these words is this namely That truth and a good cause hath alwayes some to maintaine it The Disciples fell away yea many of the Disciples fell away yea they fell away so that they came no more at our Sauiour as the Text hath it but yet hee was not left without witnesse he had the Apostles to beare record to him and to stand for him So the High Priests and the Elders yea and the whole multitude of the Iewes cryed out against him and would not otherwise be satisfied then with his death but Ioseph of Arimathea a Councellour a iust man and a good consented not to their plots and practices Luk. 23. So Obadiah was not carryed away with the streame of the time to kill Gods Prophets and those that worshipped the Lord with holy worship but hid them in Caues and prouided for them though it were with the jeopardy of his head So Ruben though he had sinned before a great sinne and had highly offended God thereby and his father too yet in this no question he pleased both that he dissented from his brethrens bloody designe to murder their bother Ioseph and both disswaded them and deliuered him The like example of constancy and magnanimity appeared in Caleb and Iosuah Numb 14. who opposed themselues not onely to their fellowes being tenne to two but also to the whole Congregation of the Children of Israel being an hundred thousand to one against all they stood boldly for the maintenance of Gods glory in the power of his might and the truth of his promise saying Rebell not against the Lord neither feare yee the people of the Land for they are but bread for vs their shield is departed from them and the Lord is with vs feare them not Thus they and this was counted to them for righteousnesse vnto all posterity for euer-more Yea that God that prospered the Midwiues of Egypt for not subscribing to the bloody decree of Pharaoh and his Councellors did also highly aduance these his seruants not onely bringing them into the Land of Promise the place of rest where they would be but also making one of them Generall Captaine ouer his people anâ— giuing him admirable victories and the other also a great man and a mighty and of such
resolute Peter answered and said The next note is like to it namely That we be forward yea and formost too in a good cause As Peter doth not straine courtesie nor pause to see whether any other would speake and ease him of his labour but as though the waight of it lay vpon his shoulders hee dischargeth himselfe of it valiantly and hardily The Lord loueth a cheerefull giuer saith Saint Paul and so The Lord loueth a forward Confessor say I. Thou commest to see me the last of all my friends saith Octauius to Tully in Appium And 2. Sam. 19. Dauid reproueth the Elders of Iudah for that they were behind to bring the King againe to his house he meaneth that they were hindmost and lag On the other side Shimei that had abused Dauid so villanously for words that no man was euer abused worse by any for hee called him man of blood and man of Belial yet because he was the first of the house of Ioseph that came downe to meete him after his restitution to his Kingly Estate Dauid thought himselfe bound to pardon him and so assured him of his life by an oath So much it importeth a man what he doth well to doe quickly and to doe it betimes then there is thanke with God thâ—n it is accepted of man Euen as Dauid setteth forth his forwardnesse saying I made haste and prolonged not the time to keepe thy righteous iudgements and Saint Paul his When it pleased God to reueale his Sonne in me immediatly I communicated not with flesh and blood but went about that worke And Iames and Iohn being called Math. 4. forsooke their ship and their father forthwith and followed Christ And Luke 19. Zacheus being bid to come downe from a tree came downe in haste and receiued him Now as this haste and forwardnesse is necessary and to be vsed by all so especially by them that are Ring-leaders and Captaines of the flock In their countenance there is hope and despaire in their courage there is life and death If L. Martius had not bestirred himselfe and shewed an vncontrolable quicke resolution and an vndauntable fiery courageousnesse after the ouerthrow giuen to the two Scipio's all had beene lost in Spaine the name of a Romane had beene no more in remembrance This one example for hundreds for matters of warre So if Nasica had not presently vpon the hurly-burly stirred by the Gracchi obiected himselfe as a Bulwarke against their seditious complotments the Common-weale had beene drencht in the gulph of sedition out of which it would hardly haue popped vp for the hearts of the valourous would haue failed them for feare and the hearts of the turbulent would haue been strengthened Thus one example out of hundreds for matters of peace So if Saint Peter vpon the reuolt of so many Disciples and staggering peraduenture of some of the Apostles had hanged the wing as they speake or let fall his Crest who doth know but that many by his example would haue beene drawne away to obiect cowardize or amazed distraction Therefore blessed be God that gaue such strength vnto him for by his strength many were confirmed Let vs thinke of this Beloued specially we that are or should be men in Christ let vs reproue them that cannot abide wholesome Doctrine and let vs confute such vpon occasion and modestie and in order as are contrary-minded and teach contrary to the truth that is the Scriptures For the Scriptures are true and whatsouer is repugnant to the same is false-hood Let vs not draw backe and say Why doth not such a one speake and why doth not such a one but rather as in a common fire let euery man bring his bucket of water to quench it let euery one presently put his hand to the worke and helpe to beare anothers burden and then he shall be blessed in his worke This is my second note That not onely we professe boldly but also that we doe it presently The third note shall be shorter then the second namely that we be charitable What in Gods name might one say what meanes Saint Peter to be so liberall to vndertake for others He knew what himselfe would doe but he did not know what others meant Cato refused to vndertake for Catulus his honesty and none of better note for vertue then Catulus Cato therefore was a wise man So Ieremy saith The heart is deceitfull and wicked aboue all things who can know it So Saint Paul What man knoweth the things of man but the spirit of man that is in him Paul was an Apostle as well as hee How then could Saint Peter say boldly To whom shall we goe but vnto thee Hee should rather haue said To whom shall I goe To make the matter short I answere in a word that Saint Peter sheweth hereby his great charity which thinketh none euill and his brotherly loue which conceiteth another as himselfe The better a man is the lesse euill he suspecteth to be in another the worse a man is himselfe the more naught he suspecteth to be in another It is written of Nero by Suetonius that persuasissimum habuit He was verily perswaded that there was no continent man vpon the earth What maruell he was most vicious and most abominable himselfe On the other side Solon that carryed a naturall heart to his Parents could not be induced to thinke that there was any vse of a Law to be made against murderers of Fathers Mothers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nazianzen speakes that which is free from naughtinesse is slower to suspect naughtines As it is written for example of Francis the fiâ—st that carrying a generous minde himselfe he thought he should be intreated with like generousnesse by his enemy As on the contrary side the brethren of Ioseph that had vsed cruelty themselues were no sooner brought within their brothers danger specially their father being dead but they said It may be that Ioseph will hate vs and will pay vs againe all the euill which we did vnto him Now St. Peter was not like to these later bad ones but to those former good ones or rather better then they He knew whom he beleeued and he knew that his owne heart was established and his faith built vpon the Rocke Christ and therefore thought that others would be as forward as he and as firme as he Hee neuer thought that any of the Apostles would play the Traytor or that Iudas would be other then Iudas that is a Confessor He knew peraduenture that he was a Theefe and bare the bagge c. but yet who would not looke for reformation vnder such a Censor and Master This made Peter to say not in the singular number To whom shall I goe but in the plurall To whom shall we Let vs be slow to anger slowe to iudge swift to pity swift to hope Saint Paul hoped of the whole Nation of the Iewes that in time they should be saued Rom. 11. And
principall measure thereof is for all such as are called to this waighty charge of being Gods Messengers and Interpretors vnto the people For if no man can say that Iesus is the Lord but by the holy Ghost 1. Cor. 12. then who can preach worthily of Iesus and of the doctrine of saluation but by him And if this key of the Spirit be requisite for the opening of all points of doctrine then is it thrice necessary to reueale mysteries Beloued this point of doctrine concerning the Incarnation and Office of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ is not onely a mystery but a mystery of mysteries that is a most deep and hidden mysterie which the Patriarches saw in a glasse and as it were in a darke speaking the Prophets searched after the very Angels desired to behold And therefore not onely we that take vpon vs to vnfold the same haue need to pray with the Prophet Dauid Lord open thou our lips that our mouthes may shew forth thy praise and speake worthily of this high mysterie but also you that are here present before God this day to heare words from my mouth ought to pray with all manner of prayer and with all instance that he that tooke away the scales from Pauls eyes and is called by Daniel The Reuealer of Secrets would so open the eyes of your vnderstanding that that which shall be deliuered vnto you may not be as a booke that is sealed or clozed fast but that you may know Christ and comprehend him for whose sake you are also comprehended of him This short Preface I thought good to make vnto you in respect of the excellency and diuinenesâ—e of the Argument or Theme vndertaken by me to stirre vp your godly deuotion that there may spring vp in you no root of profanenesse nor cold pang of wearinesse oppresse you to make the Word vnprofitable For if they escaped not that despised Moses his Law much lesse shall we escape if we despise the Gospell that is if wee shall not reuerently heare and religiously lay vp in our hearts this most gladsome tydings concerning Christ manifesting of himselfe in the flesh to communicate himselfe vnto vs and to draw vs vnto him But let vs come to the glad tidings it selfe Behold a Virgin shall conceiue c. Three notable things or rather wonderfull are contained in this short verse 1. A wonderfull Conception 2. A wonderfull Birth 3. A wonderfull Coniunction of the Diuine and humane nature in one person A Virgin shall conceiue This is the first of the wonders A Virgin shall beare a Sonne This is the second His name shall be called Immanuel that is Gâ—d with vs because of the assuming of our nature vnto himselfe This is the third A Virgin shall conceiue This truth is contradicted by two sorts of men especially by the wrangling Iewe and by the doubtfull Infidell The one saith It was not so the Prophet did not meane that shee should be a Virgin that should be the mother of Immanuel The other saith It could not bee how can a Virgin conceiue c These be the obiections of the vnhappy miscreants the Iewes the Gentiles the Atheisticall scorners whom I will not answer diligently or at large lest I should seeme too much to honour them but I will confute them briefly that I may furnish you with some reasons against the day of battell against the time I say that your faith shall be shaken with such kind of persons To the Iewe therefore this I say That though we take no aduantage of the Etymon of the Word vsed by the Prophet and yet as the Learned know the Hebrew tongue doth excell all other tongues in fitting the nature of things with proper fit names yet forasmuch as the word signifieth one that is kept close and secret who else but a Virgin can be meant But to omit this aduantage and to omit also the authority of the seuenty Interpreters which were Iewes and so translated it before this matter was in controuersie and therefore not excepted against for partiality Let vs consider the matter it selfe Doth not the Prophet in Gods name promise to shew them a signe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a prodigious and strange thing surpassing the course of nature Quale autem signum erat adolescentulam non Virginem parere saith Origen against Câ—lsus What signe were that what wonder were that for a young woman that lyeth with a man to conceiue This were a wonder not to be wondred at Therefore either the Prophet Esay spake absurdly and called these things which were not such as though they were such which was farre from that wisdome and eloquence that was in him or an extraordinary Conception and which exceeded the bounds of nature and the experience of the world is here signified This is enough to beat downe the Iewes enough in this place for if I should stand to refute all their canils I should seeme to forgâ—t mine Auditory To the Infidels that cry out It is impossible that a Virgin should conceiue this I answere euen as Christ did in the like case That with men indeed it is impossible but with God all things are possible Whatsoeuer God will that hee doth both in heauen and earth or speake I this after the manner of the Scripture and saith not Nature the same Yes verily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All things are easie to God c. for if any thing were too hard for God then he were not God but that which is too hard for him should be God rather since by reason hee that is strongest and aboue all hee onely deserueth the name of God It remaineth therefore that all things aâ—â— subiect to God subiect to his pleasure subiect to his motion then Nature specially then he may alter it as it pleaseth him Indeed Beloued though he hath made a Law for all his creatures yet he hath not made a Law for himselfe he will be brought vnto subiection to none He is and will remaine Liberrimum agens a most free Agent Therefore let no man say no Infidell nor any whatsoeuer This is not wont to be done therefore it cannot be done I doe not see how it may be done therefore it is impossible for surely he speakes rather madly then foolishly that speaketh so since there be infinite examples and in all ages to the contrary Why naturally we know the Lord hath made the sands for bounds to the Sea and hath appointed the same to checke the billowes thereof c. and yet many aliue haue seene the same to range ouer its bankes and to carry away with it whole Townes and Shires c. So naturally man onely hath the gift of speech and not presently after his birth but he must stay a certaine time but yet when it pleaseth God to shew a miracle euen Asses haue spoken and Oxen at the Plowe and a child in his mothers belly I doe not tell you fables but stories So
of God without the concurrence of any second cause So the true Manna which came downe from heauen and the true Water of life which whosoeuer drinketh of by faith shall neuer perish Christ Iesus I meane he was none otherwise to be conceiued but by Gods working Other Types might bee alleaged as of Aarons Rod which blossom'd without maÌ„s setting or watring of the Gate mentioned by Ezechiel whereat no man entred c. But the former be sufficient and therefore I will not trouble you with the latter A Virgin she ought to be we heare for the excellent Prophesies sake and to expresse the Types which were of it and so no â—â—ubt shee was as testifie Mathew and Luke and as we are bound by our Creed to beleeue Borne of the Virgin Mary c. But what manner of Virgin was shee the fairest the richest the noblest of all the daughters of the East Alas these things though they be much set by in the world yet with God they be but vile euen as dongue Hee is not a respecter of persons as the Apostle saith that is hee respecteth not these outward things in any hee lookes not vpon the outward appearance neither vpon the countenance neither vpon the height of ones stature as God saith to Samuel but if any feare God and worke righteousnesse he is accepted of God Act. 10. To him will I looke euen to him that is poore and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my words Esay 66. He that loueth me shall be loued of my Father and I will loue him c. Iohn 14. These and the like vertues doe please the Lord a thousand times more then either beauty or wealth or parentage or friends or the like for if he had respected these he would haue gone into the Kings Court not vnto Nazareth to one that was sued vnto and wooed by Princes not vnto such a one as was thought but a fit match for a Carpenter briefly to such a one as had Kings for her kinsmen and Queenes for her kinswomen and her familiars and withall great store of men-seruants and maid-seruants great store of gold and siluer and not to one that was destitute and vtterly voyd of all these outwards comforts and which could leaue her Sonne none inheritance no not the breadth of a foote Yet behold here the good pleasure of the Lord and his free election happy vnto the blessed Virgin most happy but to the eyes of all the world admirable This poore Maid so base in her owne eyes so little regarded in her neighbour-hood so generally obscure to all the world was called to that honour that neuer woman was called vnto nor shall be For she was made of God to kindle that Light within her which enlightneth euery one that commeth into the world to conceiue Him in her wombe that brought forth the whole world with a word of his mouth to giue him nourishmentâ— who openeth his hand and filleth all things liuing with plenteousnesse to moue and carry him about in whom we all liue moue and haue our being In a word she was made to bring him forth whose beginning was from euerlasting to swaddle and bind him who bindeth the earth together that it can neuer be remoued to giue him sucke that giueth her breath to help him that must saue her to be his Nurse Mother that was her Father Creator and Redeemer yea the Creator Redeemer of all the world And was this Beloued a small thing a small dignity preferment and had not her cousin Elizabeth cause to say vnto her Blessed art thou amoÌ„gst women and her selfe to reioyce with a spirituall reioycing for that henceforth all generatioâ—â—hoâ—â—d call her blessed And why this Because of her outward endowments No for you haue heard that these are no inducements to make God to fansie any body Or for her inward graces and vertues Indeed meekenesse gentlenesse humility chastity temperance piety c. which same were found in the blessed Virgin and did abound are such things as God did neuer despise or abhor Abhorre nay they smell more sweetly in the nostrils of the Highest then euer did the Garment of Esau vnto Isaack or then euer did the precious oyntment of the Priest that ranne vnto the beard euen vnto Aarons beard nay then euer did the same Reach nichoach the same Sacrifice the same smell of â—est wherewith the Lord shewed himselfe well pleased being offered by Noah Vertues therefore and good life be well liked in all and therefore in a person so accepted with God as was the blessed Virgin they must needs haue beene singularly well liked But was it for the worth and merit of them that she was so aduanced as she was O no for then man might boast of that which he hath receiued which yet the Apostle denies that he may 1. Cor. 4. Then flesh might reioyce in Gods sight which yet St. Paul denyeth that it may 1. Cor. 1. Then Election were of workes which yet the Apostle proueth to be of grace that is free and not of workes Rom. 11. Yea then the blessed Virginshould not haue sung My spirit reioyceth in God my Sauiour But My spirit reioyceth in God my debtor Then she should not haue said For he regarded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the low â—state 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my vertue of humilitie yea and my other vertues Thirdly then she should not haue said His mercy is ouer them that feare him but His Iustice is toward them that obey him thorowout all generations Fourthly then the Angell should not haue said Feare not Mary for thou hast found fauour with God but Triumph Mary for thou hast had thy deseruing Lastly then the Church should not sing as it doth at the end of that Canticle the rest Glory be to the Father to the Sonne and to the holy Ghost but Glory be to the blessed Virgin and Inuocation and Offering and Pilgrimage and whatsoeuer seruice may be named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too for she prepared her heart to grace and so merited Ex congruo and she vsed the grace giuen as she ought to doe and so merited Ex condigno And lastly she obserued not onely the Commandements of God but also his Counsels and so merited for her selfe and for others too euen for all â—hem that will be her Beads-men Thus should â—heir song be agreeable to their Doctrine if they would deale plainely and if of the aboundance of their heart their mouth would speake And iâ—deed so they haue sung and taught in these later corrupt times nor soundly but superstitiously not superstitiously but blasphemously They haue made her their Aduâ—cate their Spokes-woman their Patronesse and is that the worst They haue made her Gods Almner Gods Steward Gods Treasurer which containeth in her the treasures of Wisedome and Power and Mercy and dealeth the same at her pleasure was this the worst They hâ—ue
any will celebrate Christs Natiuity aright he must put off concerning the conuersationin times past the old man which is corrupt with the deceiuable lusts of error and be renued in the Spirit Verily for this cause Christ was borne that we should be borne againe he would be borne againe that we might walke in newnesse of life The conclusion is this that as Saint Peter saith It is sufficient for vs to haue spent the time past of our life after the lusts of the Gentiles walking in wantonnesse lusts drunkennesse c. And as it is in Exodus This moneth shall be vnto you the beginning of moneths so we endeauour euery one of vs euen at this present to cast away the workes of darkenesse and to make an end of those things whereof we haue cause to be ashamed and hence-forth to follow righteousnesse and holinesse and charity and brotherly kindnesse and loue towards them that call vpon the Lord with assurance of heart This is the feast of solemnity that the Lord requireth this will please the Lord better then thousands of Rammes or ten thousand riuers of oyle Let vs now come to the Third generall part concerning the wonderfull vniting of two natures in Christ and what comfort and fruit we may reape thereby And shee shall call his name Immanuel That we may speake in some order and so you remember the better what shall be spoken this course wee will take First we will speake of the party that was to giue the name because it is said here She shall call c. Secondly of the giuing of the name or calling She shall call Thirdly of the name it selfe Immanuel and what mysterie and Doctrine and comfort is contained therein The two first parts I will dispatch very briefly The last which indeed is the very kernell not onely of this Text but also of the whole Scripture I will dwell the longer on and euen spend the chiefest part of the time that is allowed me for this taske For the first it may be demanded why this honour should be atributed to the mother to giue the name to the Child since Adam gaue names vnto all creatures and not Eue if she were then made And when Rachel tooke vpon her to call her second sonne Ben-oni her husband crossed it saying His name shall be called Ben-iamin And to be short Elizabeths naming of her sonne was not yeelded vnto by her kinsfolke vntill they had knowne the fathers pleasure who called for writing tables and wrote His name is Iohn This for examples So for precepts you know what Saint Paul saith to Timothy I permit not a woman to vsurpe authority ouer the man And to the Corinthians I will that you know that Christ is the Head of euery man and the man is the womans head c. The preeminence therefore being in the man and this being accepted a matter of excellency and preeminence to giue the name it would seeme that too much was giuen to the blessed Virgin to haue this giuen her I answer That if it were a matter of preeminence indeed and so much to be reckoned of as many wise gossips with vs doe make reckoning of it striuing for the same at the Font as they would doe for the wall or for an vpper-seat If I say the matter were of importance and argued superiority and so not to be challenged by the women without the leaue of the man c. Yet for all that since the bleâ—sed Virgin was conceiued with child of the holy Ghost and of none other and so not subiect to man for her Child it is no maruell nor no wrong that the whole honour if it be any honour of naming the child be ascribed to her For the rule that is in the Decretall is true being taken out of Beda Quod non est licitum in Lege necessitas facit licitum Necessity maketh that lawfull which the Law dissalloweth as our Sauiour Christ himselfe defendeth Dauid for eating the shew-bread in the extremity of his hunger Forasmuch therefore as the blessed Virgin was mother and father too as it were for any earthly father that our Sauiour had by good reason is this honour ascribed to her being the onely earthly partie that had interest in his nature And verily for this cause especially doe I thinke it to be said in my Text She shall call and not He shall be called or the like to shew the miraculousnesse of Christs Incarnation as being to take nature of his mothâ—r without a father This point is not so waighty and therefore I wiâ—l not stand longer vpon it lest I should seeme to bestow in Lenticula vnguentum The second point was of calling or naming Shall call his name Here likewise it may be demanded why the Prophet should tell the Iewes that the promised seed the Messiâ—h should be called Immanuel that is to say God with vs and not say plainely He shall be God and man both since it is not so materiall what or how one is called but what he is I answer granting indeed that with men it is so they be not alwayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their nature or disposition doth not agree with their name neither to good nor to euill It hath been an obseruation of the Popes that none were worse then they that called themselues by the most gracious names as that Vrban whom they called Turban for his turbulent nature and for troubling the whole world That Innocent that they called Nocent Non est Innocentius imò Nocens verè That Benedict whom they called Maledict and A re nomen habe Benedic Benefac Benedicte aut rem commuta Maledic Malefac Maledicte This for Popes The like writeth Epiphanius of Noëtus the Heretike that like as we vse to call our Dog though he be but a Curre by the name of Lyon and the Furies Eumenidas that is gentle by a kind of Antiphrasis c. So saith he this Hereticke was called Noëtus that is wise when indeed he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a very foole and senselesse in matters of Faith Thus Epiphanius But indeed what should I bring you one example out of one writer when all writers in all ages do afford many They were not all white that were called Albini nor black that were called Nigri nor wise that were called Catones or Catilines nor little that were called Pauli nor faire-spoken that were called Aemylij c. Thus of Romans So they were not all honorable that were called Cleons nor the best that were called Aristophanes nor the fairest that were called Calliae c. Thus of the Grecians So for the Hebrewes Rehoboam signifieth an enlarger of the people and he you know had tenne Tribes fallen away from him at a clap So Absalon signifieth a peaceable father and was there euer any more rebellious child whom though his father would haue had to escape yet vengeance Gods vengeance would not suffer him to liue The
had not beene true God he had not ouercome death Thus Fulgentius Let this be one cause of the vniting of two natures in one Mediator as he must be man to taste of death so hee must be God withall to ouercome death A second cause is rendered by Irenaeus and is to be found in Theodorit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And he vnited man to God for if man had not ouercome the enemy of man the enemy had not beene conquered lawfully and if God had not giuen Saluation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wee had not had it safely nor surely He addeth a little after It became the Mediator of God and man by his neerenesse to both to bring both into amity and agreement as well to offer vp man vnto God as to make knowne God vnto men Thus Ireney of whom you haue learned a second reason and not onely a second but a third too For as this is one The Deuill must be ouercome by that nature that had offended and so by man the recouered state of man must not be subiect to change as was his estate in Paradise and therefore to be settled by God so this is another and a strong one too He that will take vpon him to reconcile two being so farre at oddes as God and man were must participate in the nature and disposition of them both that so he may the better haue accesse and reconcile them Thus in effect Irenaeus A fourth reason may bee this drawne likewise from the Iustice of God There must haue beene some proportion betweene the sinne of Adam and the satisfaction for the said sinne Now the sinne of Adam was of infinit guilt in asmuch as it was committed against a Person of infinite Maiesty and glory for such a one is God therefore the satisfaction must be of infinite price and value which could not be performed by bare man whose worke and meriting can be but finite As therefore he was to be man that in that nature he might yeeld obedience and suffer So hee was to be God and was God indeed that to that nature he might yeeld efficacy and estimation to his suffering and to his Sacrifice These reasons be effectuall and good There be also other reasons of this mysterie yeelded by Anselmus and others but as it is said the 2. Sam. 23. Of Benaiah that he was honourable among thirty but attained not vnto the first three So we say of those other reasons that they may haue their place and their vse but nothing comparable to the former which we haue heard therefore I will not trouble you with them Let vs consider now in the last place what vse we may make of this Doctrine that wee haue such a Mediator such an Immanuel The vse thereof is manifold but principally it setteth before vs Christ◠great loue towards vs And how great was that loue The Grecians commend Codrus highly for that he stripped himselfe of his Kingly Robes and put on ragges to deliuer his Country from danger So the Romans commend Brutus Iunius Brutus for concealing his prudence and worth and taking vpon him the gesture of an Idiot to set his Country at liberty So our Stories talke much of a certaine Countesse as I remember or a Lady that yeelded to great deformity and debasement to purchase the liberties of a certaine City And surely all these and the like for many such examples may be produced should haue wrong offered them if their loue toward their Country should not be acknowledged to haue beene exceeding great and if for the same they should not be extolled and aduanced But yet to say the truth what comparison betweene the loue of these persons and of our Immanuel For these did euen what they did for their Countries which had deserued well of them and so might challenge an interest in them but alas what had man-kind done for Christ or what could it doe to moue him to the least indignity for their sake Againe these laid downe onely such base stuffe in comparison and clothing as would haue beene fretted by the moth or worne out in short time c. But Christ laid aside as it were and shifted himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his glorious Deity wherein he might challenge an equality with his Father without sacriledge Lastly these how high soeuer they should haue held their heads for a season or what countenance soeuer of grauity or wisedome they should haue set vpon it yet by death they should haue beene brought low enough and then necessarily haue left all but now Christ might haue retained that glory which he had with his Father from the beginning vnto all Generations without impeachment and hee needed not at all to haue humbled himselfe and therefore doing it voluntarily he did it the more louingly Thus by these circumstances of the persons for whom of the thing which of the manner how the Loue of Christ towards vs is not rhetorically amplified but plainely demonstrated Now Beloued if Christ so loued vs if so exceedingly so farre beyond all vtterance or conceit of man in that hee vouchsafed to take vpon him the forme of a seruant euen our vile and contemptible nature is he not to be loued againe for the same Is not his Word to be imbraced his Commandements to be obserued his benefits to be acknowledged his sauing health to be desired and to be longed after The Prophet Ieremy is angry with the Iewes for saying they were wise and yet reiected the Word of God and therefore saith he What wisedome is in them So Saint Iohn Apocal. 3. is angry in Christs name with the Church of Laodicea for saying she was rich and increased in goods and had need of nothing when as she wanted the true riches Iesus Christ. And doe we thinke that our Sauiour will not be angry with vs if we say we loue him and yet will not doe as hee hath bidden vs if I say our Loue be in word onely and not in deed and in truth We thinke alas that we be Louers good enough if we can say Lord Lord and Christ was a good man and did many goodly matters for vs c. But as the Prophet Malachy saith Offer this vnto thy Prince and see if he will accept thy person So say I Offer this vnto thy neighbour and see whether he will be content with such Loue. I pray you was the Father in the Gospell well pleased with his Sonne that refused to labour in his Vineyard because he had said I will Father Or doth Saint Iames allow that for charitablenesse if one say to his brother Depart in peace Warme your selues and fill your bellies and yet giueth them not those things that are needfull to the body Euen so the Loue toward Christ that is in the lippes onely and not in the heart in profession onely and not in practice in a shew onely and not in true obedience it profiteth nothing at all it
to draw backe with Moses or to runne away with Ionah or to forsweare prophesying and preaching with Ieremy c. since we shall but speake in the aire we shall labour in vaine and for nothing Who will beleeue our report To whom will the Arme of the Lord be reuealed Shall horses runne vpon the rockes or will men plow there with Oxen Shall we goe about to teach them that doe glory in ignorance Amant ignorare cùm alij gaudeant cognouisse to informe them that stop their eares are ready to run vpon vs as they did vpon Stephen in a word to perswade them that protest they will not be perswaded What are wee that wee should hope to doe any good men compassed about with infirmities men of great imperfections of conceit of memory of vtterance of presence Therefore our instruments being but the instruments of a foolish Shepheard as the Prophet speaketh it were best for vs to put vp our Pipes and to hang our Harpes vpon the Willowes and to sit downe vnder our Gourds as good to sit still as to rise and fall To whom me thinkes I heare the Lord make answer as he did to Peter What God hath cleansed hath sanctified to a speciall vse doe not thou call common or as hee doth in Esay Let not the Eunuch say Behold I am a dry tree or as he doth in Ieremy Is not my Word euen like a fire and like a hammer that breaketh the stone As if he said Let them haue hearts as hard as a flint yet the hammer may breake them at the least the fire may consume them Finally as he doth by our Apostle in my Text The Gospell it is the power of God beleeue that doubt not of successe What weapon or instrument euer was too weake to effect Gods will if he tooke it in hand Was not Aarons rod sufficient to worke miracles in Egypt and to ouerthrow Pharaoh and his Host in the red Sea Did not the walles of Iericho fall downe at the blowing of Rammes hornes The Madianites murder euery one his fellow at the clinking of the Pitchers The great Gyant falls groueling to the ground by the pat of a sling-stone And surely though we haue this treasure in earthen vessels and the Gospell that we teach be as contemptible as Dauids sling-stone yet the Lord will doe his worke his strange worke And bring to passe his act his strange act He will doe I say what he hath appointed by the weakest meanes sometimes that the excellency of the power might be of God and not of man and that Israel may neuer say Mine owne hand hath saued me The same Confessor that vndertooke to dispute with the subtill Philosopher in Constantines time the Story is in Ruffinus and Sozomen was not the greatest Clerke nay he seemed to know nothing else but Iesus Christ and him crucified yet by reciting the summe of his faith being agreeable to the Gospell with great spirit and zeale he so foyled and grounded his Aduersary that he forced him to recant and become a Christian. So Simplicianus and whosoeuer else did perswade Victorinus to take Gods booke and by name the Gospell in hand were no body to him for learning and eloquence for he was most famous for the same yet in time they so preuailed with him that they gate him to Church and to be baptized in his old age So to come downe to these last times at one leape The men of Merindol and Cabrieres in Languedock Annas Burges in Paris in the dayes of Francis the first and Henry the second Walter Myll in Scotland that I trouble you with no more forraine examples and abstaine from domestique altogether were not the subtillest and acutest disputants in those times nay some of them are noted to haue bin but plaine men yet such was the goodnesse of the cause such was the power of Gods grace working with his Gospell that by these mens confessions of faith partly vttered by word of mouth partly read very many of those Doctors that were imployed against them were conuerted to the truth and by most that were in the assemblies the Lords Name was glorified Now I aske Brethren is God a God of the Iewes onely and not of the Gentiles also And he that was mighty through Peter may not he be mighty through Paul May not he giue a blessing to the Gospell preached now as well as he did in former times Truly as Saint Paul saith How knowest thou O man whether thou shalt saue thy wife and how knowest thou O woman whether thou shalt saue thy husband Nay as Dauid said to Saul I haue slaine a Lyon and a Beare already and truly this vncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them So we may perswade our selues probably nay be resolued and out of doubt that our labour shall not be in vaine in the Lord. Finally but that the Lord will make manifest the power of the Gospell and adde vnto the Congregation daily such as shall be saued Therefore let vs of the Ministery comfort our selues with these words and bestirre our selues against the day of Haruest The people also are to learne somewhat by this That the Gospell is called The power of God namely that they doe not resist this power lest they hale downe vpon themselues condemnation You know what Laban and Bethuel said in a farre meaner case then the case of Saluation This thing is proceeded of the Lord Wee cannot therefore say vnto yee either euill or good You know what Gamaliel said Act. 5. If this worke be of God yee cannot destroy it lest yee be found fighters against God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It is hard kicking against the pricke and if thou hast run with the footmen and they haue wearyed thee how canst thou match thy selfe with horses If thou smart for disobeying the Princes commandement thinkest thou to escape if thou stand out against God It was the saying of a worthy Learned man that the Orthodoxe Church is an Anuill that will rather breake the hammer that beateth vpon it then be broken by it And we may be bold to say of the Word of truth the Gospell of our Saluation that it is of such power as that same stone cut without hands Dan. 2. which brake the Image all to pieces so the siluer and the gold became like the chaffe of the Summer flowres c. And the same stone became a great mountaine and filled the earth Darkenesse may couer the earth for a time thicke darkenesse the people The true Professors also may be driuen to the wall for a season and lie among the pots as it is in the Psalme but yet in the end the day-starre will shine in mens heâ—rts yea the Sun of righteousnes will arise aboue our Horizon and then shall euery man haue praise of God yea then they shall be as the wings of the Doue
which are couered with siluer their feathers with fine gold There is no resisting the Lord or his power he is stronger then you Gods will shall be done either by you or vpon you as Augustine saith If his Gospell proue not vnto you to be the sauour of life vnto life then it will proue the sauour of death vnto death Therefore let no man any longer despise him that speaketh bringeth vnto him the Gospell for if they escaped not that despised him that spake from earth that was the Minister of the Law much lesse shall any of vs escape if wee despise him that speaketh from heauen that bringeth the more heauenly Doctrine But some man will say If the Gospell be such power euen the power of God how can it be withstood Why be there any Recusants Why doth it not inforce all to embrace it I answere with Nazianzen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and with Arnobius 2. contra Gentes Vis ergo est ista non gratia c. This were force not grace neither Princely liberalitie in God but a kind of childish and vaine emulation to get the mastery c. And with Tertullian in Apologet. Nemo se ab inuito coli vellet ne homâ— quidem There is not a man in the world but he despiseth forced seruice Indeed the Lord did not commend Zipporah for circumcising her sonne when she was thereto forced Neither yet Balaam for staying his iourney when he was therefrom letted by his Angell Thy people shall come willingly Psalme 110. This is thanke-worthy with God Et hoc ipsum quod fit rectum est si sit voluntarium Nothing is iust but that which is voluntary this is the common esteeme euen of men Therefore as Marius answered Silo Popedius when he braued him and challenged him saying If thou be a worthy Captaine Marius fight with me nay if thou be a worthy Captaine make me to fight with thee against my will So may God seeme to answer them that are so lusty with him as to say Shew the power of thy Gospell Let it make me beleeue whether I will or no Let it saue me whether I will or no Nay rather may God answer Doe thou shew that it is my honor to doe so as thou requirest Is it not enough that Gods wisedome doth reach from one end to another mightily and disposeth all things sweetly or commodiously 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wisdome 8. That hee teacheth vs more then the beasts of the field as Iob saith That hee hath made vs after his owne Image and instilled into vs a reasonable soule That he giueth his Word plenteously great is the multitude of the Preachers In a word that he standeth at the dore and knocketh Open to me my Loue my Doue my vndefiâ—ed one c. What would you haue him to burst open the dores and come vpon you by force Indeed the Kingdome of heauen suffereth violence and the violent take it by force they that are violent and striue with might and maine to get it they are commended but when did God thrust it vpon any by force No he is debtor to none and therefore will be brought into subiection to none Therefore let no man so thinke of the power of the Gospell as that he be wanting to himselfe and looke for extraordinary illuminations and incitements and thinke it is no matter how seldome he heareth it but rather let him thus thinke of it that it is a power perswasiue not compulsiue alluring not enforcing and all that it doth it doth by the power of Gods Spirit which must be begged of the Father and by most ardent prayer and well vsed also that it be not grieued and fostered that it be not quenched And let so much be spoken of the first attribute that is giuen to the Gospell in my Text and what both Preacher and hearer ought to learne thereby Now the Apostle thinketh it not enough to commend it by its attribute but setteth downe the worthy act or efficacy thereof namely that it saueth To the same purpose speaketh Saint Iames Receiue with meekenâ—sse the Word that is grâ—ffed in you which is able to saue your soule It is an Art of Arts saiâ—h Gregory to rule soules And surely it is an act of acts a worke of workes to saue soules Is not the life more worth then meate saith Christ Is it to any purpose to winne the whole world and to lose his owne soule No God knoweth yet such is our vnhappinesse that we labour least for that meat that endureth to euerlasting life and care least to learne the skill to saue our soules The Latine Orator complaineth that there being so many Professors of Philosophy in his time as they were yet the most had rather Disâ—um audire quà m Philosophum And the Greeke Orator he complaineth in his time they chose rather to heare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a most vile Comedie then most worthy Sentences But what speake I of naturall men The holy Prophet complaineth of his Country-men the people of God That they spent their mâ—ney and not for bread and their labour without being satisfied Esay 55. And so doth Ieremy That they forsooke God the Fountaine of liuing water and digged to themselues pits broken pits that would hold no water Ieremy 2. And so doth Saint Paul that some were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Louers of pleasure more then louers of God And our Sauiour Luk 12. That some did treasure vp to themselues and were rich but not in God If the Gospell had power to make vs rich or noble or mighty or to get the vpper hand of our Aduersaries or to saue preserue vs from sicknesse or misaduenturs c. then we would hearken to it a little better we would say How beneficiall are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of peace bring glad tydings of good things We would hang vpon the necke of the Preacher as they did vpon our Sauiour Yea wee would say with the woman of Samaria Sir giue mee of that water that I may not thirst Or with them in the 6. of Saint Iohn Lord giue vs eueâ— more this bread Money that is the thing that maketh a man said one while thou art poore thou art no body And Simonides by the report of Theodorit The best thing that a man can desire is health and the second thing is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be well fauoured or discended the third is to be rich So that if Piety or knowledge of God will haue any place it must be cast at the Cartes taile and come after these This is the corrupt iudgement of sinfull flesh and blood though the holy Ghost doe seriously inculcate meat for the belly and the belly for meat and God shall destroy both And againe No mans life coÌ„sisteth in the multitude of the things that he possesseth and The fashion of this world vanisheth away and to be short That
lap Or who wil deny that God gaue the Israelites victory against the Medianites because they brought Pitchers into the field and light in the Pitchers Or that God did not feed them with bread from heauen and water out of the rocke for that they gathered the one and brought vessels at the least their mouthes to receiue the other It is one thing to be the true cause of a thing the conduit-pipe or fountaine another thing to bring a bucket nay not so much as that but to bring onely a mouth or a hand to take it Indeed i◠God should say to vs as Marius did to his Souldiers I can helpe you to water but you must buy it with blood or as Saul did to Dauid 1. Sam. 18. Thou shalt haue my daughter in marriage but shee must cost thee an hundred foreskins of the Philistims or as Caleb said to his men Ioshua 15. I will bestow my daughter vpon one of you but hee that will haue her must first win Kiriath-Sepher hee must quit himselfe like a man and fight valiantly then it were another matter then might some say The way of the Lord is righteous onely it is not liberall it is but hire for seruice wages for merit He loued vs for we loued him first doth for vs for we did for him But now when he saith vnto vs Beleeue onely and the Lord will doe great things for thy soule trust perfectly in the grace of God that is brought vnto thee in the Gospell and thou shalt become a child of Abraham an heire of God and fellow heire with Christ euen a vessell of Saluation who can impeach or blemish Gods bounty and liberality with the least note of mercinarinesse for he that saith Beleeue the Gospell and it will saue thee seemeth to say in effect no more then this He that hath an eare to heare let him heare as it is in the Gospell or Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it as it is in the Psalme or Wash thy selfe in Iordan and be cleane as it is in the holy Story Now as this maketh much against our Aduersaries that are merit-mongers So it maketh nothing at all for Gospellers that turne the grace of God into wantonnesse and thinke that because they pretend a faith that they may doe all things and be excused for all things This therefore shall be the twofold vse of this Circumstance of the quality that ought to be in the persons to be saued by the Gospell both for confutation that the Aduersaries of our free iustification by Christ preached in the Gospell be proued to be false Teachers deceitfull workemen c. And for reprehension that if any man thinkes he may vse the cloake of faith for a colour of vnrighteousnesse that he be vnmasked Which points I cannot stand now to enlarge vnto you hauing already pressed vpon your patience but will referre the handling thereof to some other time To God the Father God the Sonne and God the holy Ghost three Persons but one euerlasting and indiuisible God be ascribed all power might Maiestie and Dominion now and for euer Amen Amen A SERMON VPON THE SECOND OF KINGS· THE FIFTH SERMON 2. KINGS 18.13 Moreouer in the foureteenth yeere of King Hezekiah Sennacherib King of Asshur came vp against all the strong Cities of Iudah and tooke them THE Prophet hauing declared in the foure verses immediatly going before my Text what griefe King Hezekiah and his faithfull subiects had suffered by hearing what Gods enemies had done to their brethren those of the ten Tribes in destroying their Country burning their Cities killing a great number of them carrying away the remnant of them into captiuity all this because oftheir wickednes rebellion against God Now here at the 13. verse he beginneth to shew what and how much they suffered in themselues And what was that Surely they were not onely afflicted with present euils as of the spoiling and sacking of most of their Townes of the exhausting of their Treasures both prophane and sacred and with blasphemous reuilings of them and of the true God whom they worshipped c. but also with feare of future euils as namely that the mother-Citie it selfe the glory of that Kingdome Hierusalem should be taken their Temple destroyed their King and Nobles led away their young men slaine with the sword their women abused c. And which did most of all vexe the soule of the righteous that they that were so sawcy with God as to blaspheme him before the victory would if they should preuaile be hardned in their villanies and say of a truth that the Iewes worshipped a thing of nought This is the summe of the euils mentioned in this Chapter and in part of the next partly suffered indeed of the faithfull partly suffered in feare and expectation Now what mercy the Lord shewed them in the end and what confusion he brought vpon their enemies the same is described towards the later end of the Chapter following Let vs now take the Story in order as it lyeth hauing thus before-hand pointed at the generall heads The first thing that I note vnto you is The continuance and progresse of troubles to the Church noted in this word Moreouer Good Lord might one say what a world is this one depth calleth on another one misery in the necke of another Finis alterius mali gradus est futuri The end of one mischiefe is a step to another as Seneca saith and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Labour bringeth labour vnto labour as it is in Sophocles Why no sooner came Hezekiah to the Kingdome but hee must presently in hand with a reformation and what reformation Surely not of slight matters which might be borne with but of things which immediatly concerned the glory of God he was to purge out Idolatry which had taken deepe roote in the time of his wicked father and to settle an order for the right seruice of God which for a long time was decayed This and more hee was to doe which purchased to him great charges great jarres and great contradiction Now he was no sooner out of this but his neighbours nay his brethren according to the flesh the Israelites are inuaded by the common enemie These hee dare not helpe lest hee should bring present mischiefe vpon himselfe Againe he must see them perish before his eyes though hee knew that his owne day was comming and after that the enemy had done with them then he would haue a saying to him This was bitter euen as bitter as death but yet for all this the wrath of the Lord is not turned away but his iealousie burneth like fire and catcheth hold vpon the Iewes themselues In the foureteenth yeere of Hezekiah Sennacherib came vp against all the Cities of Iudah c. Loe not long after they had beene the beholders of a Tragedie they were made to be Actors that is sufferers in it themselues This is the image of mans life
owe Custome Now that he did not sinne therein may appeare not onely by the silence of the Prophet Esay who in all likely-hood would haue perswaded him to haue submitted himselfe to the King of Ashur as well as Ieremy afterward perswaded Sedechia to yeeld to the King of Babylon but also by the very order of the Text here in this 18. Chap. of the second of Kings For if you looke vpon the 7. verse of that Chap. there you shall see that it is reckoned amongst his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among his good deeds his worthy acts that he rebelled against the King of Ashur and serued him not Now that it is called rebellion let no man be offended thereat or thinke that hee hath warrant thereby to condemne Hezechiah For it is not called so because the Lord did so esteeme it but because Sennacherib would haue it so reputed As in the 43. of Gen. it is said The Egyptians might not eate bread wih the Hebrewes for that was an abomination to the Egyptians It was not so indeed it did not defile them at all but yet the Egyptians counted it so and therefore so it is called So then because Hezechiah will not fall downe before Sennacherib and suffer him to goe ouer him and tread vpon him because he will not enthrall his Land vnto him and lay vpon the neck of his subiects such a yoke as neither they nor their posterity should be able to beare Hinc illae lachrymae hereupon Hezechiah is a Rebell and deserueth to be persecuted with fire and sword And is not her Maiesties cause the like and the quarrell of her enemy the same What point of Tyranny because warres are commonly vndertaken by great Princes may she be charged with except this be Tyranny to cast downe Images which were perking in the Rood-lofts and to purge her Churches from Idolatry according to the Commandem%nt of God and the example of good Hezechiah And what point of wrong can shee be conuicted to haue done to the Spaniard except this be wrong to preuent his lying in wayte and to seeke to saue her owne life and the liberty of her subiects There was in Rome one called â—imbria a mad fellow and a violent if euer there were any The same man hauing a quarrell to one Scaeuola a worthy man and of speciall reckoning sought to murder him did indeed stab him into the body very dangerously Well the wound proued not to be deadly and Scaeuola escaped with his life now what doth Fimbria He maketh no more adoe but indicts Scaeuola and why Quòd totum telum corpore non exciperet Because he brayded aside and did not suffer himselfe to be slaine out-right So Caligula complained of the iniquity of the time that one doubting to be poysoned of him did take a counterpoyson or a remedy against it What sayes he Antidotum aduersus Caesarem That 's faire play indeed Except the great enemy of Spaine will lay such a thing to our charge namely that when he or his Councell had suborned desperate Ruffians to stabbe our Queene or to pistoll her she hauing intelligence thereof through Gods mercy hath auoyded the danger or when he had hyred her owne Physician to take away her life by poysoning she being warned thereof did not consent to take the fatall drugge Except I say this be her fault that she hath not yeelded wilfully to cast away her life for his pleasure I see no cause why he should complaine of wrong suffering from her But yet now I remember my selfe he hath another quarrell against her And what is that Mary the same that the Galles had to the men of Tuscan We want Land say they and you must spare vs some Againe your Land is a better Land then ours this is quarrell sufficient Howbeit as Herodotus writeth of the men of Andrus that when Themistocles would needs haue money of them and to that purpose said that he had brought two Goddesses with him Perswasion and Necessity The men of Andrus answered him that they all had two great Goddesses with them which did forbid them to giue him money and those were Pouerty and Impossibility So say we If they haue need of our Lands and of our commodities we cannot spare them and if they bring a sword against vs to enforce I hope we shall find a Buckler and a sword too to resist Well this is our comfort that Hezechiah is inuaded that is such a one as hath abolished false worshippings her Maiestie I meane for which cause the Lord seemeth to haue had a speciall care of her and so I hope He will haue vnto the end Againe this is our comfort that Ierusalem is inuaded England I meane wherin though otherwise abounding with sin yet God hath had his Sanctuary now a good while and will He now bring it that it should be destroyed and layd on ruinous heapes No surely if yet we shall repent and turne vnto him Lastly this is our comfort that Sennacherib is the Inuader that is such a one as doth not so much please himselfe in the multitude of his ships and in the expertnesse of his men and in the heapes of his treasures that is in his arme of flesh as he doth certainely offend God by his desire of ioyning Dominion to Dominion which is vnsatiable by his raising of tumults nourishing of broyles in all his neighbour Countreyes which is most malicious and specially through his wicked zeale to aduance Idolatry and to set vp the Kingdome of Antichrist which is abominable If any man thinke that I offer the Spaniard hard measure to match him with Sennacherib first one out of the Church then a Persecutor of the Church c. Let the same know that although superstition be not altogether so bad in it selfe as Atheisme albeit Nazianzene is bold and sayes that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it were as good to worship no God as to haue many in Gods sight yet for all that to the Church commonly it is no lesse hurtfull or dangerous For did any godlesse Tyrant make more hauocke of the faithfull Seruants of God then did Idolatrous Iezabel This before Christs time And after Is not the second beast which came vp out of the earth Reuel 13. by which Antichrist is meant said to doe all the first beast could that is the Romane Tyrants and to be alike enraged vpon the Saints of God Therefore to the Church you see they be alike cruell therefore no great wrong done to our enemy in this respect But now for other respects his dealing hath beene lesse honourable For Sennacherib had some colour of a cause to make warre vpon Hezechiah for denying the pension which his father paid though indeed it dyed with his father but this man by no colour can demand any such thing Sennacherib was no way beholding to the Iewes for any merit or seruice they had done him This man got Saint
presently rise vp and come among them were they deliuered as soone aâ— they groaned O no The King sent and deliuered Ioseph the Prince of the people let him goe free but when his feet were first hurt in the stockes the yron entred into his soule He was many yeeres in prison first So the Israelites were hardly dealt with in Egypt by their Taske-masters that thâ—y cryed out for the very anguish of their hearts Againe in the Land of the Chaldees they serued tenne Apprentiships before they had leaue to returne to their Countrey This for the faithfull before Christs time As for the faithfull since as God in the 15. of Gen. told Abraham Know this of a surety That thy seed shall be a stranger in a Land that is not theirs foure hundred yeeres and shall serue them and shall be euill intreated but the Nation whom they shall serue will I iudge and afterward they shall come out with great substance So you shall find that the Church had but little peace or rest for the better part of foure hundred yeeres after Christs comming in the flesh and in the later perillous times prophesied of by the Apostles Antichrist had no sooner gotten to high strength which he compassed in Gregorie the seuenths time by superstitious false-hood established in Innocent the third his time by bloody Lawes but the faithfull went to the post and wandred vp and downe hungry and naked and had no dwelling place and were counted as the filth of the world and the off-scowring of all things yea the time was that whosoeuer killed them thought he did God good seruice and this for the most space in a manner that the persecution lasted in the Primitiue time This may suffice to shew Gods patience both towards his seruants and towards his aduersaries The second thing is his Iustice. For although God make a shew as though he were asleepe and saw not what is done as also he sometimes maketh a shew as though he heard not yet for all that at the appointed time he will not faile an inch but comming he will come and will not breake and the iust shall liue by faith but woe be to the wicked it shall be euill with him the reward of his hands shall be giuen him The Lords Seate is prepared for Iudgement and the Lord ruleth ouer all if he whet his glittering sword and his hand take hold on Iudgement hee will execute vengeance on his enemies and reward them that hate him Hee will make his arrowes drunke with blood and his sword shall eate flesh c. Deut. 32. This for his Iustice in punishing the wicked as for his Iustice to right the Godly and comforting of them you know what 's written in the 12. Psalme Now for the oppression of the needy and for the sighs of the poore I will vp saith the Lord and set at liberty them whom the wicked hath snared It is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you and to you that are troubled rest with him For that the righteous should be euen as the wicked be that farre from God said Abraham Genes 18. In this world many times there seemeth to be but a small difference betweene the deuout and profane the pure and polluted him that sacrificeth and him that sacrificeth not Thus all things seeme to fall out alike to the one and to the other nay the wicked seeme to be the warmer and to haue a greater portion in this life What then is the way of the Lord vnrighteous God forbid nay let God be iust and all men sinners as it is written But this it is The Heauen of Heauens is the Lords and for them to whom it was appointed euen for them that call vpon him in truth and thinke vpon his Commandements to doe them but the earth and the commodities thereof He distributeth without respect of persons euen to them that are his children by creation onely and not by adoption But yet there is a difference betweene the prosperity of the one and the other for the ones is but with anxiety of heart euen in laughter their heart is heauy the others is with cheerefulnesse and ioy in the Spirit the ones is a pledge of the greater preferment in the world to come the others is their whole portion and as if God should say Let them take that and looke for no more the ones is with the blessing of the people who wish they had more the others with their curse and hatred who are grieued that they haue so much Briefly the one flourish but for a time and often fore-see the ruine of their house in their life-time but generally within a few Generations their name is cleane put out but now the other hauing their house built not with blood or oppression but vpon the foundation of Iustice feele no shaking or tottering of it while they liue and when they are to leaue the world they are full of hope that their house shall not be like the grasse on the house tops which withereth before it commeth forth Psalme 129. but that it shall continue for a long season euen for many generations Therefore let not the godly be discouraged because he is kept downe and troad vpon neither yet let the wicked be bragge because their imaginations prosper for God hath not forsaken the earth neither hath he forgotten to doe Iustice but his eyes are ouer the righteous and his eares are open to their prayers as for the wicked his countenance is set against them to roote out the memoriall of them from off the earth God is iust let this content the godly he telleth all their bones so that none of them are broken he hath all their teares in his bottle will right them in due time And that God is iust let this appall the wicked he shall cast vp that which he hath gotten vnlawfully the Lord will draw it out of his belly God ariseth to Iudgement This we haue considered of It followeth To saue all the meeke of the earth It is good to be zealous in a good matter alwayes sayes the Apostle to be wise to doe good and in euill to haue no skill as the Prophet doth intimate So it is good to rise betimes to serue God to doe the workes of righteousnesse of mercy and of our lawfull and honest vocation that is pleasing to God that is well reported of by men Abraham did so he rose vp early in the morning to offer a sacrifice to the Lord which he had prescribed So Iob rose betimes to offer for himselfe and his children The good Lepers blamed themselues for sitting still hauing so good newes to impart to their neighbours touching the great plenty of victuall the Lord had sent them by the running away of the Syrians So the people rose in the morning to come vnto Christ to heare him in the Temple Luke 2. And Lysias the high Captaine caused
mind to be expressed or at the least shadowed by the apparell of the body and the getting or possessing of these qualities to the attiring or adorning of the same You know what Saint Peter saith Decke your selues with lowlinesse knit it vnto yâ—u make it your girdles as it were And Saint Paul to the Galatians As many as are baptized haue put on Christ. And to the Romanes Put yee on the Lord Iesus make him your bearing-cloth as it were So to the Ephesians Cast off conceâ—ning the conuersation in times past the old man c. and put ye on the new man make him your inwaâ—d garment So to the Colossians As Elect of God holy and beloued put on the Bowels of mercies gentlenesse humblenesse of mind meekenesse long suffering make them your outward garment Many such places may be found in the new Testament For the old let one be in stead of all Let not mercy and truth forsake thee bind them on thy necke make them thy chaine and write them vpon the Table of thine hea t make them thy Tablet I will trouble you with no more Citations Now this and the like kinde of phrasing may be thought to be vsed by the holy Ghost for two causes First because wee are dull of vnderstanding and cannot conceiue of spirituall matters but by carnall descriptions secondly because he would draw vs away from that which is viler to that which is more precious from that which is pleasing to our senses to that which is profitable to our soules Further this phrasing our Sauiour and his seruants may be obserued to haue vsed in others matters besides apparell Doe you tell me that my mother and my brethren would speake with me Hee that doth the will of my Father in heauen the same is my brother sister and mother He doth not deny his carnall kindred but preferreth the Spirituall So in Saint Iohn Doe ye aske me who hath brought me meat My meate is to doe the will â—f him that sent me So againe Doe yee bragge that ye are Free-men and were neuer seruants to any If the Sonne hath set y u free then are yâ—u free indeed but if yee commit sinne then are yee the seruants of sinne So the Apostle will ye know what is the riches to be accounted of Godlinesse is great riches if a man be content with that he hath c. Would yee know what Sacrifices be best To doe good and to distribute forget not for with such Sacrifices God is well pleased So Bernard Would you know where be my merits My merit is the mercy of the Lord while hee is not voyd of mercy I am not voyd of merit So Chrysostome Would you know what 's the best fast To fast from sinne So Prosper The best keeping of Holy-dayes is to feriat from dead workes Yea out of the Church you shall find this figure and phrasing to be vsed Where are your children Epaminondas My children are my victories said he and namely that gottâ—n at Leuctra they will perpetuate my name Who is the best Patriot The best Carthaginian Hostem qui feriet mihi eâ—iâ— Carthaginiensis What 's the bâ—st Diuination 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The best Diuination is to fight fâ—r ones Country Who is the most Capitall Enemy What the Noblest Conquest To conquer ones affections that the greatest Conquest and sensuality the deadliest enemy So what 's the best Fortresse A good Conscience What true Nobility Vertue To returne to the faithfull Nazianzâ—n hath a good speech to our purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Shame-fastnesse is a faire flowre in a Maidens garland Palenesse that is a great ornament Vertues they be the brauest platting of the haire Thus he and Tertullian before him Vestite vos Serico probitatis c. Put on the Silke of honesty thâ—â—iffiny as it were of Sanctimony and the purple of Chastity Taliter pigmâ—ntatae Dâ—um habebiâ—â—s amatorâ—m If you trimme your selues thus nay if you paint your selues with this kind of painting you shall haue God himselfe your Louer By this time I know you are more then satisfied that â—ob in saying he did put on Iustice made it his garment did speake no strange thing but that which many both of the Church out of the Church haue spoken And this to drawe vs from that which is too much â—steemed to that which ought onely or chiefely to be esteemed Certainely gold and siluer and purple and scarlet and the like and garments and ornaments made of the same are not of themselues common or vncleane Euery creature of God is good saith Saint Paul And euery Ordinance of man not repugnant to the Ordinance of God is obediently to bee yelded vnto saith St. Peter Both Riches and Honour come of thee O Lord c. and it is in thy hand to make great and to giue strength 2. Chron. 29. And He that hath set some aboue their brethren in dignity for the maintenance of peace and order hath prouided for such more costly ornaments and habiliments for the better distinguishing of them from others Esau the elder brother had fairer clothes then Iaaâ—ob the younger Gen. 27. And Ioseph being promoted by Pharaoh was not scrupulous to weare a Ring of gold and a chaine of gold and Silke or fiue Linnen Gen. 41. No more was Daniel scrupulous to be clothed in purple being aduanced by Belshashar Dan. 5. No more Morâ—ecat to be brauely mounted and gorgeously apparelled by the appointment of Ahashuerus as it is in the Booke of Esther Nothing that entereth into the belâ—y defileth a man if his heart be cleane So nothing that is put on the backe if his heart be humble Howbeit as one may be a glutton and highly offend the Maiestie of God iâ— he feed aboue the measure of moderation though meates of themselues be things indifferent So let a man prate neuer so much that his heart is vpright that he is not high-minded and hath no proud lookes yet if hee weare apparell beyond the compasse of his calling or other then Law doth allow he lyeth and speaketh not the truth but maketh himselfe a grieuous transgressor Meates for the belly and the belly for meates saith the Apostle And so apparell for the backe and the backe for apparell and God shall destroy both the one and the other True yet as he that weaâ—eth should not despise him that weareth not So he that weareth not should not iudge him that weareth for God hath called vs in peace This I speake not to giue way to braueing and flaunting the speciall sinne of this age for the which the Land mourneth and fadeth and seemeth to be pressed downe with it as a Cart is pressed that is full of sheaues as the Scripture speaketh or to excuse them that offend that way By no meanes but to remoue superstition
of Sentence against the faulty but this is their comfort and exceeding great content if they can say with Pericles that they neuer caused any to weare a mourning gowne or rather if they can say with Saint Paul This is our reioycing euen the testimony of our consciences that in godly purenesse wee haue had our conuersation in the world And with Saint Paul againe That they are pure from the blood of all men I meane that they shed no innocent blood And lastly with Samuel whose Oxe haue I taken c Whom haue I hurt or of whose hand haue I receiued any bribe to blind mine eyes withall c This is a Robe that will better grace and adorne them then any Scarlet and be more cordiall to their inwards then any Bâ—zar-stone and more comfortable and warme to their stomackes then any stomacher of Swans skinne or whatsoeuer is most warme and comfortable But I haue beene too tedious The Lord make that which hath beene spoken profitable vnto vs for his Sonne Christs sake To whom with the Father and the holy Ghost be all honor and glory for euer and euer Amen A SERMON VPON THE SIXTH OF IEREMY THE EIGHTH SERMON IEREMY 6. verse 16. Thus saith the Lord Stand yee in the wayes and see and aske for the old pathes where is the good way and walke therein and yee shall find rest for your soules WERE they confounded saith Ieremy in the Verse immediatly going before when they committed abomination No they were not abashed at all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither knew they shame or to be ashamed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Hiphil taken passiuely as many times it is therefore shall they fall among them that fall in the time that I visit them they shall be made to fall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cast downe saith the Lord. In which words the Prophet sheweth both the hidiousnesse and transcendent greatnesse of the sinnes of the Iewes as also the fountaine and well-spring thereof It is a bitter thing and wicked to depart from the Lord by any kind of transgression either against the first Table or against the second But now when a man hath done euill to blesse himselfe as it were and to say in his heart that no euill shall happen vnto him for the same to harden his face like the Adamant and to be touched with no remorse or shame no remorse inwardly no shame outwardly not to blush for the matter nor to seeke as much as Figge-leaues to couer his nakednesse This argueth both the height of presumption and the depth of iniquity and villany and this is that which maketh sinne to be aboue measure sinfull and hatefull Well this was their desperate malady and the fearefull 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Paroxysm thereof What was the cause for me thinks the Prophet proceedeth after the manner of Physicians from the disease to the Symptomes from the Syptomes to the causes from the causes to the remedies They knew not shame The light of Nature that was in them they had for the greatest part extinguished by their custome of sinning And as for others that should reforme and reclaime them by setting before them the things that they had done and by thundring forth Gods Iudgements and plagues against them for holding the truth in vnrighteousnesse such I say as should doe this great worke of the Lord seriously and sincerely they wanted Thus the people perished for want of knowledge for want of knowledge of their sinne and shame and in this forlorne estate the Iewes are described to be in the verse before my Text. In my Text is set downe the last thing that Physicians doe and is most acceptable to the Patients namely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the manner and medicine for cure that should remoue the disease and bring health to the Patient in the words which I haue read vnto you Stand vpon or neere the wayes and aske for the old pathes or euerlasting pathes where is the goodway and goe therein and find rest for your soules As if he said One of the greatest causes of your shamefull and shamelesse carriage both towards God and towards man at the leastwise one of the greatest matters that you can pretend for your excuse is ignorance or want of knowledge of the will of God that you doe not know the Royall Lawe that your Leuites teach you not Gods Iudgements and Lawes that the Priests rebuke not in the gate that the Prophets sooth you in your sinnes healing the wound of the daughter of Gods people with soft words c. But how The Lord hath spoken nothing in secret neither is his Word darkenesse neither are you so blind that you need alwayes to be led by the hand Why then doe you not take Gods Booke into your hand and there search for the right way for the good will of God and acceptable and perfect Why doe you not learne at the length to be your owne caruers or if that place be so difficult that you cannot vnderstand it why doe you not consult the more learned them that haue their wits exercised and acquainted with the Word of God that so you may finde satisfaction and rest for your soules This know for a surety that the old way that which was at the first chalked out by God himselfe in Mount Sinai and after laid open by Moses the man of God and the Prophets sithence which spake and wrote as they were moued by the holy Ghost that is the Good way and the straight way neither is there straightnesse or goodnesse in any other This I take to be the true coherence of the words of my Text with the former verse and also the naturall meaning of them wherein note with me three things 1. A perswasion consisting of diuers branches Stand vpon the wayes this is one See this is another Aske for the old way this is the third 2. A correction or limitation Aske not simply for the old way for that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that may be called old in comparison which in comparison of old truth is but new but for the good old way and be bold to walke therein 3. And lastly a motiue or reason drawne ab vtili You shall find rest for your soules that is you shall be sure to find it Touching the first When the Prophet saith Stand neere the wayes or vpon the wayes he meeteth with and striketh at two vices too frequent and vsuall in all ages Epicurisme and Superstition Many there be that make no reckoning of Religion which end goeth forward nay whether they know any thing of it or no. Who is the Lord say they that we should serue him and what profit in learning his wayes doe wee not see that all things fall out alike to the ignorant and to the learned to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth n t c wherefore then should we weary our selues in vaine to search and sift what is
written in the volume of Gods Booke to runne to and fro to heare the Word of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said one Nil scire in vita iucundissimum said another Who liueth so merry as the ignorant man Mihi sex dies saâ—is sunt vitae septimum orco spondeo Better a short life and a merry then a long life and a weary Whose Iudgement long agoe was prepared and their damnation sleepeth not as Saint Peter speakes Doe they indeed prouoke the Lord to anger and not themselues to confusion of faces Who euer was fierce against him and preuailed Who euer despised the least of his Commandements and escaped vnpunished or is it not the euerlasting will of God that we should beleeue in him the onely God and whom he haâ—h sent Iesus Christ And how this but by forsaking our houses that is our naturall and imbred ignorance and by standing in the wayes that is by resorting to the Churches where Gods honour dwelleth and where he hath set his Name and where his voyce soundeth Where the dead body is thither the Eagles resort Be they Eagles or not Dawes rather that refuse to resort to Christ Iesus pointed out before our eyes in the preaching of the Gospell and among vs crucified in the breaking of the Sacrament My Sheepe heare my voyce Be they Sheepe or not rather Goates that despise them that come vnto them in Christs Name and bring his Word with them because forsooth they be not in Communion with him of Rome He that gathereth not with me scatters doth he say He that gathereth not with the Pope Where two or three are gathered together in my Name I am in the middest of them doth he say In the name of any Romish Priest yet Peter and Iâ—hn refused not to goe into the Temple at the set houre of prayer euen when Scribes Pharises did most shamefully pollute it And Saint â—aul reioyced when Christ was preached any manner of way though they that preached did it not sincerely But to whom doe we preach that they may heare Behold they stop their eares like the deafe Adder that they may not heare Behold the Word of the Lord is vnto them as a reproach they haue no delight in it Shall we say as the Prophet doth Ieremy 6. I am full of the wrath of the Lord I am weary of hâ—lding of it nay rather wee will pray yet against their obstinacy that the god of this world may no longer blind their hearts and that the partition-wall which they haue wilfully built betweene them and vs and the couering which by Gods iust Iudgement remaineth ouer their minds vntaken away may be remoued As for you Beloued which are of the day and to whom the Sunne of righteâ—usnesse hath so long shined be neuer weary of well-doing neither count ye it wearinesse to serue the Lord for surely the righteous Lord tryeth the very hearts and reines He seeth whatsoeuer is done by any in the chamber of his Imagery and noteth and billeth those that despise Rulers and speake euill of those that be in authority and that say to the Parliament as the Iewes did to Aaron Make vs gods to goe before vs Let vs haue our Imâ—ges againe in our Rood-loft and our Masses on the Altar and our god in the Pix or else we will doe so and so vnto them and worse too This is to doe that which Agesilaus did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to send a message of Intreaty vpon a Speares-point This is to deale as Cesars Conspirators dealt They fell vpon their knees before him and besought him of fauour for one of their Fauorites but withall they pluckt by force the Robe from his backe to make way for their Poniards Quid facis scelerate Casca cryed Câ—sar Thou wicked Casca what meanest thou by that And so may we aske What Deuill bewitched the hearts of our Rebellious ones sonnes of Belial to attempt things beyond all degrees of comparison enormous mischieuous bloody What King and Queene Prince and Peeres Iudge and Prophet Prudent and aged Honourable and Counsellour and Eloquent man to be destroyed and all at one blowe as it were and with one blast This would make a man cry out in Esaiahs words Who hath heard suâ—h a thing who hath seene such things Or with Ieremy O yee heauens be astonied at this be afraid and vtterly confounded saith the Lord. To end this point Note with me here the depths of Satan as Saint Iohn speaketh or rather the demonstrable Tyranny of him and his Vicar Generall with open face I meane how they worke and raigne in these Children of disobedience They that could not be moued or wonne by many yeeres perswasion by the authority of two Soueraignes to stand in the wayes of God to stand in thy Gates O Ierusalem nay to put one foote into the Church in the time of Diuine Seruice Lo at the voyce of the man of sinne or to approue their seruice and deuotion to him they are easily perswaded to blow vp with one blast and to bury in one heape both their King and their Countrey and whatsoeuer ought to be holden neere and deare and to thinke that they did God good seruice thereby But their god is he that is described 2. Thessal 2. Who is an Aduersary and exalteth himselfe aboue all that is called God who hath the key of the bottomlesse Pit not of the Kingdome of heauen and is worthily called Abaddon sonne of perdition actiuely and passiuely His contentment they sought and his will they did and therefore their root shall be as rottennesse and shall not escape the vengeance of the Lord. Simeon and Leui brethren in euill the instruments of cruelty are in their habitations In their wrath they would haue slaine a man nay a Realme of men and in their selfe-will or for their pleasure they digged downe a wall Cursed be their wrath for it was fierce and their rage for it was cruell But God be thanked that euery one here can say as it followeth in that Chapter Into their secret my soule came not my glory was not ioyned with their assembly And as many as cannot say so and as many as yet say in their hearts as Tully did to one of the Conspirators against Cesar Vellem inuitasses me ad Coenam iam nihil â—uisset reliquiarum I would I had beene acquainted with the plot I would haue dealt so surely that they should haue beene dispatched euery mothers sonne Let the Crowes or Rauens of the Valley picke out their eyes as it is in the Prouerbs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let the Vulturs deuoure them to vse the Poets Phrase If they die in the City let the Dogs deuoure them and if in the fields the Fowle And that because they sought the destruction of so many Innocents endeauoured to set vp what God had throwne downe to throwe downe what God set vp Wee haue shewed sufficiently that though it be a
commendable duty and very necessary to stand in the wayes of godlinesse and truth and to hearken after the same yet to stand in the wayes of sinners of superstitious and seditious and Idolatrous persons which weaue Spiders webbes nay which sit vpon Cockatrice egges it is not safe Therefore our Prophet doth wisely and necessarily adde in the second place That wee See or looke about vs. For as the mother of the ouer-hardy doth neuer want woe no more doth the rash hasty The blind man swalloweth many a Fly taketh hold of a Scorpion in stead of a Fish yea falleth in the ditch groapeth and stumbleth at noone-day Our eyes are therefore compared to the Sentinell or Watch-men of a City or Campe that forewarneth the body of danger approaching and biddeth it beware Now the Eye is not more needfull to the body for the direction thereof against stumbling and falls then Prudence and circumspection is to the Soule against error in iudgement and crookednesse in will and affection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vnderstanding that is the eye and the eare too as Clemens Alexandrinus citeth out of an old writer And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Vnderstanding and a good mind and much fore-cast is the high-way to happinesse said Demosthenes against Aristogiton Therefore Saint Paul chargeth vs to walke circumspectly not as vnwise but as wise And our Sauiour Be wise as Serpents The Serpent is very quicke-sighted tam cernis acutum quà m aut Aquila aut Serpens Epidaurius and therefore he is called Draco of seeing So we must beware that we be not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as cannot see a farre off as Saint Peter speaketh but must anoint our eyes with eye-salue as Saint Iohn biddeth that so we may discerne things that differ light from darkenesse truth from error the sweet bread of sincerity and truth from the leauen of the old and new Pharises yea that we may be able to ken a farre off the sleights of Satan and his cogging 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is one property that we must learne if we will be wise as Serpents we must espy the frauds of deceiuers a farre off Praesens sit longè insidias praesaga mali mens Secondly the Serpent stoppeth his eare against the charmer and will not be gotten out of his hole And so if many among vs had turned the deafe eare vnto Inchanters who laboured first to withdraw them from loue to the truth and then from loyalty to the Prince many worshipfull houses had continued vntill this day which now wee see ouerthrowne Demosthenes would needs be gazing vpon Harpalus his plate was he not corrupted thereby The sonnes of God would needs be staring vpon the daughters of men did they not beget Gyants vpon them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by looking comes liking you know the Prouerb This I speake onely for the simpler sort that they cast not their eyes vpon euery pelting Pedlers ware lest they be coozened by them lest they lay out their money and not for meat and their siluer for that which will not profit as the Prophet Esay speakes They that haue knowne the Scriptures from their youth as Timothy did and are rooted and grounded in the truth there is no danger for them to conferre with deceiuers for greater is He that is in them then he that is in the world Therefore I speake not to such as haue their Antidot or preseruatiue in their bosome A third property of the Serpent is remembred by Augustine and Ambrose too and that is this That he is wont Totum corpus pâ—o capite fertentibus obijcere To seeke to saue his head whatsoeuer becommeth of the rest of his body so wee must be sure to hold the Head Christ his Gospell to be our Loadestone his merits to be the Anker of our hope his obedience to be our satisfaction his death to be our life howsoeuer for other matters they seeke to carry vs about with euery blast of vaine doctrine This is one thing that we are admonished of in that we are called vpon to See Another thing we are put in mind of and that is this namely that we stirre vp the holy Ghost that is in vs and that we doe not despaire by the helpe thereof to distinguish betweene a right course and a wrong For surely if there were not some thing in vs I doe not say of vs that are enlightned by Gods grace haue tasted of the good gifts of God some ability of discerning I say the Prophet would neuer haue commanded vs to lift vp our eyes or to cast our eyes about to See For is a blind man called to iudge of colours or a lame man to try masteries I know I know that without Christ we can doe nothing nâ— man can say that Iesus is the Lord but by the holy Ghost And We are not sufficient of our selues to thinke a good thought as of our selues but all our sufficiency is of God But these places are not against my purpose Bel. for I speake not a word for pride that any man should say as Nabuchadnezzar said Is not this great Babel that I haue built by the might of my power and for the honâ—ur of my Maiesty Are not we wise are not we intelligent are not we sharp-sighted No but against heedlesnes imprudence that we be not wanting to our selues that we quench not the Spirit Know ye not that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you except you be Reprobates Now where the Spirit of God is there is light there is the searching of Gods secrets there the secret of the Lord is made knowne to them that feare him Who euer was enlightned by him slept in death Who euer sought him in humility and faith and was denyed him He that commeth to be cleansed God will ioyne himselfe vnto him the Iewish Doctors haue such a speech When the Eunuch vsed his eyes in reading the Prophet Isaiah Philip was commanded by the Spirit of the Lord to ioyne himselfe vnto his Chariot For albeit God worketh in vs both the will and the deed of his good pleasure as Saint Paul saith yet he will not saue a man against his will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by force as Nazianzen speakes And sure it is that hee that hath giuen vs reason and vnderstanding and the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath not giuen vs these Talents in vaine but that we should labour by all meanes by ardent inuocating of the Name of God by crauing the assistance of his Spirit by Spirituall exercises and meditations to increase them to sharpen them to direct them For to him that hath shall be giuen and he shall haue aboundance and God will not be weary of giuing till thou be weary of asking A graine of mustard-seed at the first is the least of all seeds but what groweth it vnto afterwards Into so great branches that the fowles
Plato requireth in his ingenuous Scholler that he should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And our Prophet in my Text would not haue a man to trust too much to his owne wit or perspicacy but that he should aske of others Indeed Aske and you shall haue seeke and you shall find knocke and it shall be opened vnto you doth not tie vs to Gods inspiring and touching of vs alone according to that of Saint Iames If any man want wisedome let him aske of the Father of lights but enioyneth vs to vse all lawfull meanes all possible indeauours for the purchasing and compassing of the same precious pearle the knowledge of the true way which leadeth vnto life Therefore hath the Lord so precisely and distinctly referred vs to seuerall guides and instructers as he hath done The women to aske their husbands at home the children to aske their fathers When thy children shall aske thee what this Ceremony of the Passeouer meaneth thou shalt say thus and thus All the people in generall of the Priests and the Prophets The Priests lips shall preserue knowledge and they shall seeke the Law at his lippes Therefore let no man that wanteth wisedome thinke scorne to aske counsell of them that are learned albeit euery good gift and perfect gift commeth downe from the Father of light for then he will take scorne to aske a beneuolence of him that hath more then himselfe because God it is that doth open his hand and fill all things liuing with plenteousnesse Subordinata non pugnant is a rule in the Schooles Now as we are commanded by our Prophet to aske so are we told by him what to aske Aske saith he for the old waâ— This is a very pleasing speech to some old Cinque-Caters If this be admitted once thinke they then all is Cocke-sure on their side For they haue the prescription of a thousand yeeres and more when as our faith is but of yesterday Where was it before Martin Luther c I answer first with the word of Ahab to Benhadad Let not him that girdeth on his Armour boast as he that putteth it off 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Any man may prate and talke but Counsell and strength are for the warre words will not winne the cause in a serious encounter The Athenians bragged that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spawned as it were there where they dwelt and therefore vsed to weare Grasse-hoppers on their heads for which cause they were called by Aristophanes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Arcadians boasted of their antiquity that they were more ancient then the Moone Lunâgens prior illa fuit And yet they and all the Grecians in generall are told their owne by an Egyptian Priest as Plato beareth witnesse that they were but children and that there was not an old man amongst them So the Gibâ—onites told Iosuah and the men of Israel that they were not of their cursed neighbours whom God had deuoted to destruction and whom they were forbidden to make any league with but that they came from a very farre countrey and therefore to bleare the Israelites eyes they tooke with them old sacks and old bottles and old shooes and old rayment c. But were they the more ancient or the more honest for that cause words be but wind vnlesse there be proofes correspondent Secondy I say that in the originall it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properly signifieth old but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which more properly signifieth euerlasting or perpetuall Now what are they the neerer for that was their doctrine from the beginning or shall it last euer in our Church Nay Euery plant that the heauenly Father did not plant was of later set and shall be plucked vp by the rootes If theirs be of the heauenly Fathers planting let them shew it by the Scripture For Non accipio quod extra Scripturam de tuo infers saith Tertullian I will not admit of that which they alledge out of their owne head without Scripture Thirdly because they rely much vpon the exposition of Fathers Hierome vpon this place and after him their ordinary Glosse vnderstandeth by Wayes in the first place the Prophets Stand in the way that is search the Prophets what testimony they beare of Christ. And by the Good way Christ Iesus himselfe the Way the Truth and the Life Iohn the 14. This for a taste what iudgement the Westerne Church was of touching the meaning of this place So for the Eâ—sterne Church Theodorit shall speake a very ancient writer and as learned as he was ancient who in his tenth booke of Therapeuticks hath these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The Prophet Graecè the Prophets word calleth Wayes the old Prophets and the good way our Sauiour and Lord himselfe So that you see that it is no new shiâ—t of ours to auoyd the stroake of the Argument drawne from Antiquity but an ancient and approued interpretation receiued in the time of the second and third Generall Councels in which time Hierome and Theodorit flourished Fourthly I say that our Prophet himselfe in my Text as though he had â—ore-seene how some would walke in a vaine shaddow and make a flourish with a painted scabberd lest any should mistake the point and so be seduced correcteth and explaineth himselfe in the very next words Which is the good way And so I am come to the second part of my diuision wherof I will speake but a word Aske after the old pathes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where is the same good way As if he had said Did I bid you aske after the Old way and walke therein as though that were a safe and certaine direction of your faith Alas you may be deceiued in this inquiry except you aske for the Old way which is the good way For as some of your Ancestors haue beene good and some bad some true worshippers of God and some Idolaters So by that reason some old or beaten wayes must be crooked and erronious as well as other some right and straight Decline therefore from that way seeme it neuer so old if it may be proued vnto you to be wrong and follow and hold on that onely which is good Thus the Prophet and this to be the true meaning of the place any one that will looke into the Originall may easily finde For though it be somewhat doubtfully translated as though the Prophet would haue the old way to be esteemed for the good way rule of faith yet it is a truth that the Hebrew Text doth import no such thing For if it were to be taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of expressing or defining then it would haue beene said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this is the good way not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where or where that which is euer taken Interrogatiuely Now then if this be all that the
come in Christs Vicars name so he calleth himselfe and would be called by others but indeed he is an Aduersary and you will receiue them and aduenture your neckes for them And wee come in Christs name with his message and reconcilement vnto God whom you haue offended without any working of you to offend the State and will you refuse vs Shall they be welcome with their Traditions that is with their Tales and we odious with the Gospell which was preached vnto you which ye also receiued and which you must returne to if you meane to be saued What is strong illusion what is the working of Satan what is the power of darkenesse if this be not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. You forsake the right and straight way and goe that which is full of thornes and stakes what arrogancy and phrensie are you possessed with saith Clemens Alexandrinus out of Sibylla So Cyprian Christ promiseth euerlasting life if we will follow him and he is forsaken The Deuill promiseth Gu-gawes and lyeth too in his promise and he is adored O foedam defectionem ô iniquam permutationem O filthy defection O absurd exchange saith Cyprian The like may we say to those bewitched Countrey-men of ours that preferre Rome before Sion and the doctrine thereof before the liuely Oracles of God that like children or women that haue the disease called Pica preferre Lime or dirt before white bread yea like vnwise Marchants glasse before pearle lead before gold cotton before silke that is error before truth Belial before Christ Baal before Iehouah more particularly ignorance before knowledge dumbe Images before effectuall Teachers Saints before Christ doubtfulnesse before Faith seruile feare before filiall loue horror of conscience before tranquillity of spirit There is no peace to the wicked saith the Lord. And truely there is no rest to the soule in Popery What rest can there be when they make Saints mediation the onely anker of their hope mens books the foundation of their faith mans Absolution the remission of their guilt here and mens pardons the relaxation of their punishment hence This they doe an hundred things as bad in Popery therefore it is impossible that they should be at peace with God or haue peace within themselues that thus make flesh their arme and in their heart depart from God And therfore if you desire to find rest for your soules or to haue your Election saluation made sure vnto you you must haue nothing to do with the vnfruitfull vncoÌ„fortable opinions of Popery but rather abhor them reproue them The Lord in mercy vouchsafe to bring them home that goe astray to confirme them that stand to grant vs true peace true rest through Iesus Christ our blessed Sauiour To whom with the Father the holy Ghost be praise thankesgiuing for euer and euer Amen Amen A SERMON VPON THE FIRST OF PETER THE NINTH SERMON 1. PETER 5. verse 6. Humble your selues therefore vnder the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time THE word therefore hath reference to that which went before namely to the last words of the former verse God resisteth the proud and giueth grace to the humble and inferreth strongly vpon the force of them For if God resisteth the proud if contrariwise he giueth grace to the humble then there is no cause in the world why any man should be proud and there is great cause why euery one should be humble For doe wee prouoke the Lord are we stronger then he If we walke crosse against God or hardly stifly the Chaldee hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hardly he will walke so against vs. It is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the liuing God Iacob I grant wrastled with God preuailed but how he did not make head against God neither did he thinke himselfe an equall match for God by no meanes but God vouchsafing to take him vp in his armes and bearing him in his armes that he should not dash his foot against a stone he might doe all things by him that strengthned him he might swimme easily the Lord holding him vp by the chin he might fight valiantly the Lord teaching his hands to warre and his fingers to fight But tell me how they sped against whom God bent himselfe Pharaoh and his Hoast whom the Lord looked vpon out of the fiery and cloudy Pillar for euill and not for good were they not drowned in the red Sea Those stiffe-necked and rebellious Israelites which prouoked the Lord ten times that is many and many a time against whom the Lord swore in his wrath If they shall enter into my rest that is Neuer beleeue me if they enter did not their carkasses fall in the Wildernesse and were they not vtterly consumed there till not one of them was left This before they came into the Land of promise When they were there did not the Lord take the Kingdome from Saul and his Stocke because he was angry with him and gaue it to Dauid From Dauids sonne Salomon because of his Idolatry did he not rend the Kingdome and câ—nferre tenne parts thereof vpon Ieroboam From Ieroboams Line yea from all the Kings of Israel succeeding him and caused them to be carryed away captiues into Assyria There remained the Tribes of Iudah and Beniamin for a while in honorable estate but when these also defied the Lord and prouoked the Holy one of Israel when they said that they should be deliuered because of the righteousnesse of their Fathers and the holinesse of the Temple though they hated to be reformed and had cast Gods Commandements behind them Then did the Lord cast Iudah out of his sight as he had done Israel he plowed Sion as a field as he had done Samaria he made Hierusalem the beloued City in former times which also hee called a greene Oliue-tree faire and of goodly fruite a breeding of Nettles and Salt pits and a perpetuall desolation For it is a righteous thing with God as to shew mercy to them that feare him and stoupe vnto him so also to render tribulation and anguish and shame and confusion to euery one that exalteth himselfe before him to the Iewe first and also to the Greeke Lysander a great man in Lacedemon and one that had deserued well of King Agesilaus being disgraced many wayes and suffering many indignities by the Kings conniuence falleth into expostulation with the King because he suffered him so to be contemned and abused To whom the King made answer So they deserue to be vsed that take so much vpon them as thou doest and will not reuerence and awe the King Precedent merits and good seruice will not tie Princes of a gâ—nerous spirit to such subiects of theirs as shew themselues ouer-lusty and crancke with them And can we thinke that God who is of pure eyes and incomprehensiâ—le Maiesty to whom the greatest men are as nothing and the
best merits lighter then vanity that he I say will iustifie those that say in the pride of their heart Is not this great Babel that I haue built for my selfe and for the glory of my Maiesty am I not rich and righteous and haue need of nothing He shall find none iniquity in me that were wickednesse Seest thou a man that is thus proud in his owne eyes There is as much hope of a Publican as of such a one For euery one that exalteth himselfe shall be brought low and euâ—ry one that humbleth himselfe shall be exalted So it is as God resisteth the proud or as the Originall speaketh more emphatically setteth himselfe in battell array against him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So he giueth grace to the humble he is many wayes gracious to him First in forgiuing him much as in the Gospell that seruant that hauing nothing to pay fell downe before his Lord and besought him to be good vnto him had the whole debt forgiuen him Math. 18. Then by giuing him much namely the spirit of Regeneration the spirit of Sanctification the spirit of wisedome of Counsell of Faith of Adoption of Iustification c. All these graces that I speake nothing of worldly or temporall blessings are imparted to such as are lowly in their owne eyes and condemneâ— themselues that they may be acquitted by God according to that which is written I dwell in the high heauens with him also that is lowly These therefore are speciall motiues to humility And iustly might our Apostle vpon the consideration of them inferre as he doth in my Text. Therefore But now that we haue considered of the Illatiue and of that which went before my Text immediatly let vs looke a little more narrowly into the Text it selfe euen to that which is inferred vpon this terme Therefore humble your selues vnder the mighty hand of God Two things are contained in this verse The former an Exhortation the other a Reason The Exhortation or Precept in these words Humble your selues vnder the mighty hand of God The Reason or Promise in these That hee may exalt you in good time or in fit time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Touching the first It is strange to recount how many Exhortations there be deliuered in the Scriptures perswading to humility by Moses by the Prophets by the Apostles by Christ himselfe What may this meane Peter thought himselfe much disgraced that he was called vpon the third time to feed Christs flocke So Iehu spake but halfe a word against â—esabel and straightwayes a couple of Chamberlains or Courtiers Sarisim threw her downe So once bidding did serue Zacheus and presently he came downe from the tree So Math. the 4. The two brethren that were called by our Sauiour presently forsooke thier nets and followed him But now to humility wee are exhorted in the Scriptures not three or foure times or seuen times but I thinke seâ—â—nty times seuen times Vniuâ—rsa facies ac vt ita dixerim vultus sanctarum Scripturaâ—um bene intuenâ—cs id admonere videtur vt qui gloriatur in Domino glorietur The whole face and countenance of the holy Scriptures so to speake seemeth to admonish those that looke well into them thus much That hee that reioyceth should reioyce in the Lord. Thus Austin He must reioyce or boast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Lord therefore he must be farre from boasting of himselfe except it be of his infirmities as the Apostle speaketh then he must not be high-minded he must haue no proud lookes as the Prophet hath it but hee must be as one that is weaned yea he must be in himselfe as one that is weaned Indeed that is true humility that is not so much in shew and in outward appearance as in deed and in truth There was a great Rabblement or Order of Fryers called Humiliati professing great humility who but they and crouching low and stooping low what else and yet their stomackes did so swell and were so bloody that they were intolerable to Rome it selfe and therefore cashiered and abandoned So Paul the fourth pretended so great mortification and neglect of the world and worldly things that it was a speciall motiue to the Cardinals to chuse him Pope in hope to rule him as they lusted but when this humble Fellow had found Peters Keyes then he did no longer looke downe towards the dust as it were seeking them but held vp his head as high as lofty as euer did any in that Chayre Antipater as Plutarch writeth went very meanely apparelled more like a priuat man then a Prince yet he was noted censured by them that knew him well to be intus purpureus all purple within Aut loquendum nobis est vt vestiti sumus aut vestiendum vt loquimur Quid aliud pollicemur aliud ostendimus Either we must speake sutably to our apparell or else wee must be apparelled sutably to our speech Why doe we promise one thing and shew another A Hood doth not make a Monke You know the Prouerbe Neither doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a ragged coate make an humble Philosopher said Hero by the report of Nazianzen Diogenes trampled vpon Platoes pride but with greater pride And the Gibeonites for all their humble speech and old apparell were notwithstanding very coozeners So then if humility consist neither in word nor in apparell wherein is the vertue thereof to be found and how may it be discerned Truely Beloued the heart is deceitfull aboue all who can know it The Lord he searcheth the heart and tryeth the reines to giue to euery man according to his wayes c. Ieremy 17. So our Sauiour Iohn 1. was able to giue a true verdict of Nathaniel as soone as he sawe him Behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile How this Because he was God But now man hath but a shallâ—w sound and a short reach and dealeth onely by probabilities and likely-hoods and according to outward appearance and therefore may be deceiued in that respect is not to pronounce lightly concerning other mens humility or pride Yet for all that as Christ saith of false prophets By their fruites you shall know them So the sonne of Sirach speaketh not in vaine A mans garment grenning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when a man sheweth his teeth and gate or paceing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 declare after a sort what he is and which way he doth incline The British Clergy being sent vnto by Augustine not the learned Bishop of Hippo whom you heare so often cited out of this place but an vnlearned and vnsauory Monke whom Gregory sent ouer hither reade but his questions moued to the said Gregory as they be registred by Beda and you will say he was no better to make their appearance before him consulted a graue man famous for his wisedome in those dayes what they were best to doe He aduised them to be ruled by him if he were a
so cruelly with vs But now when the Precept of humiliation is to the Creator of all things shall flâ—sh and blood disdaine to submit it selfe to God weake flesh and blood to the mighty hand of God It was a reason that Iosephus vsed in his Oration to his Countrey-men to perswade them to submit their neckes to the yoke of the Romanes for as much as they had gotten the Dominion of the greatesâ— part of the world The same reason vsed Rabshakâ—h to them that were besieged in Ierusalem that for as much as the King of Assyria had subdued many other Nations strong and mightie therefore they might with credit enough yeeld Dignitate Domini minùs turpis est conditio seâ—uâ— By the honor of the Master the base estate of the seruant becommeth more tolerable It was some comfort to Marcus Antonius hauing wounded himselfe to death in desperation that he was ouercome not by any base coward but by a valiant Roman AEnaeae magni dextrâ cadis So Aeneas bade one comfort himselfe Salâ—em ne lixae manu cadam saith the valorous Admirall of France Slay me and spare not but yet not by the hand of a skullion Let not a boy slay vs said Zibah and Zalmumah Iudg. 8. but rise thou and fall vpon vs for as the man is so is his strength Therefore for as much as we are required to humble our selues vnder Almighty God who made the heauens and the earth by his great power and by his stretched-out Arme and nothing is hard vnto him Ieremy 32. Behold he will breake downe and it cannot be built he shutteth vp a man and he cannot be loosed Iob 12. He putteth his hand vpon the Rockes and ouerthroweth the mountaines by the roots Iob 28. For as much I say as he is the Creator of the Spirits of all flesh not onely of their bodits and doth what he will both in heauen and earth turning man to destruction and againe saying in mercy Turne againe ye children of men Shall we bridle it or bristle it against him shall we scorne to answer when he calleth obey when he commandeth sorrow and mourne when he chasticeth shall we receiue good of the Lord and then to be vnthankefull euill and then be impatient Nay rather let vs hearken to the Commandement in my Text Humble your selues vnder the mighty hand of God and to the promise annexed that he may exalt you Foelix Ecclesia saith Austin cuise Deus debitorem fecit non aliquid accipiendo sed omnia promittendo Happy is the Church to whom the Lord hath made himselfe a debtor not by receiuing any thing at her hands but by promising all things Surely though the Lord had onely commanded bade vs on our Alleageance to imbrace humility and to remoue arrogancy farre from vs we were bound euen for the Commandement sake to yeeld all obedience to it For doth not a sonne honor his Father and a seruant his Lord And are we not his workemanship created in Christ Iesus vnto good workes which he hath appointed that we should walke in them Againe if he had tendered the vertue humility vnto vs in it owne kind without any painting without any sauce as it were were it not worthy to be looked vpon nay to be tasted nay to be swallowed downe as most wholesome meate Whatsoeuer it seemeth to you of the wise it hath beene esteemed either the most excellent or the most necessary of all vertues Some call it the Rose of the Garden and the Lilly of the field Some the Queene of all vertues Some the mother Some the foundation and ground-worke Some the roote Certaine it is saith Bernard Nisi super humilitatis stabile fundamentum spiritale aedificium stare non potest A spirituall building cannot stand steady except it be placed vpon the sure foundation of humility Augustine goeth further and saith to Dioscorus that it is the first thing in Christianity and the second and the third and almost all in all for saith he except humility doe both goe before and accompany and follow after all whatsoeuer we doe well pride will wrest it out of our hands and marre all Therefore humility is to be thought vpon and by all meanes to be coueted after euen for the very worth of it though there were no promise annexed to it to drawe vs on But now when God is so good and gracious to vs as to promise vs promotion for the issue and cloze wee must needs shew our selues very dull and very vnhappy if we doe not striue for it as for siluer and digge for it as for treasure The Husband-man is content to goe forth weeping and to bestow his precious seed so that he may returne with ioy and bring his sheaues with him So euery one that proueth Masteries is content to abstaine from all things so that he may obtaine a Crowne though the same be a corruptible one So the Souldier to approue himselfe to him that hath chosen him to the Warfare The Captaine and specially the Generall to get glory what paine and hardnesse doe they sustaine or rather what doe they not sustaine It is written of Alexander I will trouble you but with one Story that being in the farther parts of Asia one while striuing against heat and thirst another while against cold and hunger another while against craggy Rockes another while against deepe and dangerous riuers c. he could not containe but burst forth in this exclamation O yee Athenians what difficulties and dangers doe I endure for your sakes to be praised and celebrated by â—our pennes and tongues Now if to be extolled by the pennes and tongues of vaine men could preuaile so much with a Prince tenderly bred and of great estate should not wee much rather submit our selues to Gods will and pleasure and prouidence and euen deny and defie whatsoeuer worth may seeme to be in vs that hee may aduance vs and bring vs to honour God surely vseth to make great ones small and smal or meane ones great as Xenophon speakes Nay the blessed Virgin being moued by the holy Ghost acknowledgeth as much He pulleth downe the mighty from their seat and exalteth the humble and meeke He maketh high and maketh low yea he maketh them high that before were low if in humility and meekenesse they possesse their soules Dauid kept his fathers sheepe and was not ashamed nay he braggeth of it in an holy kind of reioycing in the Psalme That the Lord tooke him as he followed the Ewes great with Lambe to be a Ruler in Iacob and a Gouernour in Israel So Agathocles so Willigis to trouble you with no more the one was exalted to bee King of Sicily being but a Potters sonne the other to be Archbishop of Mentz a Prince Elector in Germany being but a Wheelers sonne They acknowledged Gods prouidence and worke in their aduancement and were so farre from being ashamed of their base parentage that the one would not
be serued with other plate then with earthen to shew how Nobly he was descended The other gaue for his Armes the Wheeles and had this Motto or rather Memento written in his bed-chamber in great letters Willigis Willigis recole vnde veneâ—is O Willigis remember whence thou camest This indeed is the way to become high to be exalted before God and before wise men to be lowly in our owne eyes to confesse that we are wormes and not men that we are sinfull men and not Saints that we are vnworthy the least of Gods mercies and that it is of his mercy onely that we are not consumed For what haue we that we haue not receiued what haue we receiued but we haue corrupted and made worse what haue we corrupted but for the same we deserue to be called to account yea to be cast forth of Gods house asvnprofitable seruants And is it a time then for vs to be high-minded or to feare to be lofty or to be humble This is certaine Christ came not to call the righteous those that in the pride of their heart thinke themselues to be such much lesse to reward them much lesse to crowne them but sinners penitent and humble sinners to faithfull repentance and consequently to saluation They that are whole need not the Physician care not for the Physician but they that are sicke and are heauy laden and bowed downe with the burden of their sinnes they cry out in great humility God be mercifull to me a sinner Those the Lord receiueth into grace and maketh them to sit at his right hand and giueth them a name in his house better then of sonnes and daughters as the Prophet speaketh Now as we are to thinke meanely of our selues in respect of Sanctity if we will be found in Christ not hauing our owne righteousnesse which is of the Law but that which is by the faith of Iesus Christ by which onely we can attaine vnto Gods Kingdome So we must beware that we take not too much vpon vs in respect of knowledge you know that knowledge puffeth vp 1. Cor. 8. And Iob Let men feare God for he will not regard any that are wise in their owne conceits And Nazianzen Whatsoeuer I know by my selfe I know nothing better 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wiselyer then others except some thinke this to be my wisedome to know that I am not wise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither doe I come neere true wisedome Thus Nazianzen And he had it from Saint Paul 1. Cor. 3. If any man among you seeme to be wise in this world let him be a foole that he may be wise Neither did Saint Paul make a rule for others onely and not for himselfe as the manner of the world is to lay heauy imputations vpon others and to exempt themselues no but as he strippeth himselfe of all opinion of righteousnesse 1. Timoth. 1. saying there that of sinners he was chiefe So to the Corinthians he disclaimeth all credit for knowledge for humane knowledge saying I esteeme to know nothing among you saue Iesus Christ and him crucified Thus Saint Paul iudged himselfe that he might not be iudged of the Lord to be arrogant And who would not propose to himselfe his example to follow rather then those proud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as Sir Thomas Moore writeth of in an Epistle to Dorpius who take vpon them to be ripe in those things which they neuer heard nor read Doubtlesse many there bee that might haue attained to knowledge but that they thought they had attained it already as Seneca saith And therefore modesty and humility are good meanes through Gods blessing to aduance men to learning But to recount what we haue done in this later part and to proceed to that which remaines You haue heard Saint Peter promise on Gods behalfe that he will exalt those that humble themselues whether it be in matter of piety and vertue before God or in learning or skill before men Now some will say peraduenture we see not the accomplishment of these promises for how many modest and humble men be there and euer haue beene that haue wanted preferment nay that haue wrestled with great extremities Were not the Christians in the Primitiue time vnder Heathen Princes and in the later perillous times vnder Antichrist kept vnder the hatches for hundreds of yeeres Did not they hunger and thirst and were naked wandred vp and downe in sheep-skins goat-skins as it were and had no dwelling place and were counted as the filth of the world and the off-scouring of all things Call you this exaltation or aduancement Hic pietatis honos sic nos in Sceptra reponis I answere or rather Saint Peter answered for me in the one word of my Text which is as yet vntouched 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in due time they shall be exalted The Kingdome of God commeth not with obseruation saith our Sauiour Luke 17. And it is not for men to know the times and seasons which the Father hath put in his owne power said he againe Though it stay yet wait thou for it shall surely come and not stay as the Prophet speakes Knowne to God from the beginning are all his workes and best knowne vnto him are the best times of working Peraduenture wee shall not enioy our selues the Land or preferment that is promised to vs As Abraham got not himselfe in the Land of Canaan the breadth of a foot yet our posterity may haue it Peraduenture we shall be in trouble and heauinesse till our old age as Iacob was the greatest part of his time and then we may be prouided for to our content as Iacob was in the Land of Gosen Peraduenture we shall be oppressed by Tyrants diffamed by slanderers held in bands and imprisonment by vnrighteous Iudges yet when the time appointed shall come the Lord will cause their truth to appeare as the light and their righteousnesse as the Noone-day The King will send and deliuer them the Prince of the people will let them goe free He dealt so with Ioseph And did he not deale so with Daniel Also with Paul and Silas in the 16. of the Acts Well be it that you should be in continuall trouble and anxiety all your life long that you should be clapt vp in a Dungeon fast bound in fetters and iron and that you had none to comfort you and that none cared for your soule yet if Christ shall cause his heauenly light to shine into your habitation the light of the Gospell I meane If hee shall reueile himselfe vnto you and cause the scales of ignorance to fall from your eyes and especially the shackles of impiety and iniquity to fall from your hands and hearts you are no longer losers but gainers no longer of low and base condition but highly preferred and exalted Let the brother of low degree reioyce in that he is exalted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Saint
Iames in that he is exalted to the knowledge of God to the faith of Christ to the Adoption of sons to be a Citizen with the Saints and of the house-hold of Gods He is not a bond-man that is set free by Christ nor poore that is rich in faith nor contemptible that is enrolled in the booke of life nor base-borne that hath God to his Father and Christ to his brother If the King would bestow an Office vpon you you would not onely be glad but be proud but now if a great man would adopt thee to be his sonne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Arrianus vpon Epictetus your superstitiousnesse and arrogancy would be intolerable Now see saith Saint Iohn how great loue the Father hath shewed vs that we should be called the sonnes of God If sonnes then heires saith Saint Paul heires of God and fellow-heires with Christ. And yet doe we complaine of our hard fortune as though God had done nothing for vs And yet doe we demand impatiently Where is the promise of his comming Where is the exalting preferment the Apostle speaketh of Beloued if we haue murmuring within our selues and grudging at the good-man of the house because he setteth vs below and not aboue because he doth not cast vs vp our Indentures before we haue serued our yeeres then doe we walke and talke vnorderly after the fleâ—h and not after Christ We doe not humble our selues vnder the mighty hand of God And so there is no promise made vnto vs. The Husbandman must first labour before he receiue of the fruite Iacob must serue seuen yeeres before he haue his hearts desire in one thing and seuen more before he haue it in another and seuen to that before he haue it inthe third Vnderstand what I say the Lord giue you vnderstanding in all things Blessed the man that endureth temptation for when he is tryed he shall receiue the Crowne of life if he faint not But take heed that you doe not mistake the case and make that to be a temptation or a crosse that is not You haue not so much as you would haue but haue you not more then you deserue You are made the taile and not the head as Moses speaketh Peraduenture it is good for the Common-weale that you be so yea and good for your selues too Many being set on horse-backe haue roade so madly that they haue broken their horses necke and their owne also Therefore let euery one be content with the estate that God hath giuen him and let him not enuy him that is greater or higher then himselfe For the promise of exalting which is in my Text if you referre it to the blessings of this life hath a secret condition implyed namely if it be good for vs. And shall we be so vnwise or vnhappy to wish for that which will doe vs no good God forbid children indeed will be medling with kniues with edge-tooles also they will not feare to take a Snake or Adder by the taile in stead of an Eele But wee must not be children in vnderstanding but in wit be perfit As concerning maliciousnes and ambition and greedinesse it were good to conuert and become as children but for knowledge and discerning betweene good and euill we must be of a ripe age we must not be deiected for euery light affliction neither must we be puffed vp for any good successe or aduantage We must reioyce as though we reioyced not and mourne as though we mourned not vsing the world as though we vsed it not and humble our selues vnder the mighty hand of God and take all things in good part saying alwayes The Lord be praised This is true riches to be content and this is true honor not to be ambitious and this is true preferrement nay happinesse to be in the fauour of God which none sooner getteth then the humble man if his humility proceed from a pure heart and a good conscience and faith vnfained The Lords Name be euer blessed Amen Amen A SERMON VPON THE SECOND PSALME THE TENTH SERMON PSALME 2. verse 10. Now therefore be wise O Kings be instructed O Iudges of the earth SOME of the Iewish Doctors would haue these words to be an Apostrophe to those Kings and Princes which plotted against the Crowne and dignity of Dauid first to keepe him from his right then to disrobe him being inuested The Psalmist therefore doth aduise them to bethinke themselues better and not to make head any longer against Dauid lest they be found to fight against God himselfe This exposition is good but it is not good enough if that which is not good enough may be truly called good For as Tertullian saith Ratio Diuina non in superficie sed in medullâ plerumque aemula manifestis That is The sence pith of the Word of God is not in the vttermost skinne but in the marrow and commonly crosseth the apparancy of the letter And as Hierome to Paulinus Whatsoeuer we reade in the Scripture it shineth truely and glistereth euen in the rinde but is sweeter in the marrow Therefore to rest vpon the Type or Figure and not to proceed so farre as the thing figured is to deale as weakely as if a man searching in minerals for gold or siluer should content himselfe with the first rubble and giue ouer before he come to the precious Oare It is truth that Dauid did not onely speâ—ke and prophesie of our Sauiour as is euery-where to be seene in the Psalmes and euery-where vouched in the New Testament but also was a Figure of him so expresse a one and liuely that Christ might seeme to haue beene borne in Dauid euen long before He came in the flesh and Dauid to haue reuiued and beene borne againe in Christ euen long after he was dead and rotten This is not to make Iesum Typicum with the Franciscans nor yet to bring In Somnia Pythagoraea that is the passing of soules from bodies from one body to another with those phantastikes but this is to teach as the truth is in Iâ—sus that Christ not onely is now painted out before our eyes and among vs crucified in the preaching of the Gospell but also was shadowed and fore-described in the Old Testament by certaine personall Types as it were Verbo visibili as Augustine speaketh To such an effect as Iustine Martyr toucheth when he saith The G spell what is it but the Law fulfilled The Law what was it but the Gâ—spell foretold This I would say that as Dauid did and suffered many things which were not to haue an end and consummation in Dauid but were to fore-shew the doings and sufferings of Christ the true Dauid He is called Dauid by Hieremy Ezechiel and Hosea to speake of no more and the glory that should follow after so we are to thinke that the Psalmist requiring the Kings of those dayes to be wise and to stoope to Dauids command doth by good consequent
shift for themselues by flight before they had put their Generall Sertorius in safety So the Galles had their Soldurios that is deuoted men which vowed to liue and dye with their Lord as Bodin out of antiquity doth gather So the French Protestants are much commended by the equall for that they bâ—stowed the young Princes of Nauarre and Condie in a strong Castle out of gun-shot before they hazarded the great battell of Moncounter The King is so to the Common-weale as the helme is to the shippe or rather as the shippe is to the passengers while the shippe is safe there is hope to recouer the land be we neuer so farre from it though the Sea and winds doe neuer so much swell and rage but if the Shippe sinke or be dashed on the rockes there remaineth nothing but a fearefull looking for of drowning and destruction Therefore the safety of the King being the safety of all what maruell if the Prophet begin with Kings and aduise them to looke about them This may be one cause Another this We know that there is no cloth that doth so kindely take the colour that the Dyer would staine it with as the people are apt to imitate the guize and carriage of their Prince the similitude is not mine but Nazianzens therefore because the conuerting of him is the conuerting of hundreds at a clap and his auersenesse or stiffenesse the auersenesse or standing out of multitudes this also may be thought to be a cause why he beginneth with Kings When was there a good King in Iuda for there were but few in Israel after that Ephraim departed from the house of Dauid that sought the Lord with all his heart but he drew the people to be well-giuen at the least-wise in comparison On the other side when was there a wicked King that did set set vp Idols in his heart or worshipped the Hoast of heauen or burnt incense vnto Baal but the people were as forward and as sharpely set vpon Idolatry as he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The subiect is wont to emulate and imitate the life of his Gouernour or Prince saith one Historiographer and another Princeps quum Imperio maximus sit exemplo maior est that is Be the Prince neuer so great for command yet he commandeth most by his example It is somewhat strange Circumcision is a painefull thing specially in them that are out of their Infancy it may be gathered hereby for that the Turkes vsing it at this day vpon their children being of sâ—me yeeres doe vse such dissembling towards them for the circumstance of the time when they doe it and yet when the King of Sichem had yeelded thereunto the whole City followed So Diodorus writeth of the Aethiopians that when their King had caught some mayme or marke in any part ofhis body the manner was for all his Fauorites to maime or marke themselues in the same part Is it not written of Rehoboam expressely that when he forsooke the Lord all Israel did so with him Also is it not to be obserued in the Ecclesiasticall Story that when Iulian fell from Christ vnto Paganisme Valens in stead of the truth imbraced a lye the vile Heresie of the Arians a great part of the Empire did so likewise On the other side when Iosiah serued the Lord with all his heart all Iuda did so all his dayes And when Constantine the great and Theodosius the great gaue themselues to aduance the faith of Christ and to purge out the old leauen of Heathenisme there was such a change in the Empire on the sudden that Zosimus and Eunapius being Pagans doe much complaine thereof in their writings therefore me thinkes Fulgensius speaketh to good purpose and agreeable to true experience that although Christ dyed indifferently for all the faithfull yet the conuerting of the mighty Ones of the world is of speciall seruice to winne soules vnto Christ. Hee doth symbolize with that learned Writer that allegorizng vpon those words of Saint Iohn touching the taking of so many great Fishes doth congratulate vnto the Church the happy conuerting of Princes because by their conuetsion many were brought vnto Christs Fold Yea Plutarch a Heathen man saw in a manner as much touching the great force that is in the example of Princes for he in the life of Dio speaking of Plato his sayling into Sicily to doe some good vpon King Dionysius maketh this to be the speciall motiue for that the reforming of the King would be the reforming of the whole Iland So then the Kings piety and sound perswasion being as effectuall for the winning of the soules of his subiects as his bodily safety is auaileable for the conseruing of their worldly estates Our Psalmist without doubt had great reasâ—on to doe as he doth to begin with Kings This may suffice for the naturall placing of the words and withall touching the incomparable good that redoundeth to the common Estate by the Kings piety and safety I come now more closely to the Duty of Kings for of that onely and of the touch of the time Now which shall be for application I shall speake at this time Be wise now therefore O Kings Two kindes of wisedome are required in Kings and Princes wisedome or knowledge in Gods matters otherwise called Diuinity and wisedome or knowledge in matters of the world otherwise called Prudence or Policy Both are contained in the Originall word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It signifieth also good successe to note that God many times crowneth pious prudence prudent piousnes with many a temporall blessing Both are not onely for ornament like the two Pillars that Salomon put in the Porch of the Temple but also for speciall vse like the hands of Aaron Hur which did support the armes of Moses for the discomfiture of the Amalekites For if they be pious only in Gods matters be not otherwise prudent then they are fitter for the Common-weale of Plato then for the corrupt estate of Romulus for the Cloister then for the Court Againe if they be prudent or politicke onely be not pious then they are fitter to be Kings of Babel where dwelleth confusion then of Hierusalem where Gods glory is seene and more rightly to be called the children of this world which goeth to nought and perisheth then the children of God who loue truth in the inwards and caâ—e for none but for such as worship him from a pure heart with a good conscience Well they must bee Diuines as it were this is first required I say not in profession but in knowledge they must know God the onely Lord and whom he hath sent Iesus Christ they must know Christ and him crucified and the power of his Crosse and vertue of his resurrection and the fellowship of his afflictions that they may be conformable vnto his death they must separate and distinguish truth from error cleane from vncleane right from
controuersie betweene vs and the Romanists seeking out of the woodden Crosse worshipping of the Crosse yea of the counterfeit of it fighting for the Crosse seeking to the Sepulcher fighting for the Sepulcher worshipping of the Sepulcher setting vp Images in Churches worshipping of Images and of some of them with latria Inuocating of Saints woâ—shipping of their Relikes yea of the Relikes of Theeues and Murderers yea of the bones of Apes and Foxes yea of the Pictures of Adonis and Venus these things were not done in a corner neither were they reueiled in the twy-light but in the sight of the Sunne To be short eleuating of the Sacrament adoring of the Sacrament inuocating of the Sacrament and calling it Lord and God yea dedicating of bookes vnto it Saunders doth so these and a hundred more such abominations had neuer beene so admitted nor so long allowed in the Church of God if they that sate at the Sterne had beene wise and intelligent in Gods matters For when the Emperour or King was wise then the streame of Idolatry and superstition was greatly stopped and stayed though not dryed vp As by Leo Isaurus and his sonne and his sonnes sonne in the East By Charles the great and his sonnes sonne in the West These partly gathered Synods for the crossing of certaine superstitious worshippings partly they either wrote bookes themselues or caused bookes to be written by others in the cause of truth So when either the Empire had such a head as Otho the great or Henâ—y the second and fourth or the two first Frederickes or France such a King as Philip the faire To speake nothing of our late English Worâ—hies then they did not suffer themselues to be out-faced with counterfeit Titles neither could they indure to heare either that the Imperiall Crowne was beneficium Papale as Pope Alexander the third would haue it or that the Crowne of France was at the Popes disposing as Boniface the eighth vanted Much lesse such swelling words of vanity nay of intolerable insolency as Innocent the fourth deliuered to the Embassadors of King Henry the thâ—rd Nonne Rex Angliae vassallus meus est vt plus dicam Mancipium that is Is not the King of England my vassale nay I will say more bond-man or bond-slaue witnesse Mathew Paris They did not onely dispute the case with him as Michael did with Nicholas the first and a successor of Michael with Innocent the third Their Epistles some of them answering and crossing one another are to be seene in the Decretals but also went more roundly and roughly to worke with them taking them downe a pinne or two lower and sometimes putting them besides the Cushion and placing others in their roome It importeth therefore the cause of Religion mightily that Kings be wise and skilfull in Gods Booke that they be able to discerne what is Gods right what their owne yea that they can distinguish wisely betweene the Vicars of Christ and the angels of Satan betweene the Keyes of the Church and counterfet Pick-lockes as Doctor Fulke calls them For where wisedome is not and doth not abound there there is much going out of the way there there is often fâ—lling into the ditch Inscitia mater omnium errâ—rum saith Fulgentius that is Ignorance is the mother of all errors So Bernard calleth Ignorance the mother of all vices So Iustin Martyr Let knowledge be thy heart and truth thy life And Clement Alexandrinus seuen Stromate Knowledge is the food of the soule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Ignorance is the staruing of the soule or the disease called Atrophia to eate and to be neuer the neere or better for the eating Thus we are to hold in Thesi of the singular vse that is of wisedome as necessary as the ayre we drawe in as faire as the morning starre nay as the Sunne when hee riseth in his might So of Folly or Ignorance that the same is as darke as the night as foule and as vgly as the face of hell This I say in Thesi. Now for application a word or two I doubt not but as in the Romane Common-weale vnder Marcus Antoninus when that saying of Plato was considered of It goeth well with Common-wealths when either Philosophers be made Kings or Kings addict themselues to Philosophy There was a generall applying of it to their State vnder that Marcus and as in Athens when a speech out of a Poet was recited touching the sweet-singing Grassehopper all with one consent applyed it to Socrates And as in the fourth of Luke when that sentence was read out of Esay The Spirit of the Lord is vpon me wherefore he anointed me he hath sent me to preach the Gospell to the poore c The eyes of all in the Synagogue werâ— fastned vpon our Sauiour and all bare him witnesâ—e and he said that that day that Scripture was fulfilled in their eares So as many as doe heare me this day doe reioyce in themselues and congratulate to their Countrey that his Maiestie is not as many other Princes are that haue need to be called vpon with the words of the Prophet Ieremy 31. Chapter Know the Lord or that hath need to aske after the old way which is the good way c. as it is Ieremy the 6 but that hath knowne the Scriptures from his youth as Saint Paul speaketh to Timothie and is able both Preacher-like to exhort by wholesome doctrine and Doctor-like to conuince them that are contrarie-minded Flesh blood hath not reuealed the same it came not either by education or by Institution or by reading or by Conference though these be excellent helps and happy they be that finde them or vse them but by the Spirit of our Father which is in heauen euen as it is also said Zach. 4. Neither by an Army nor by strength but by my Spirit saith the Lord Almighty Therefore as Christ saith Blessed are your eyes for they see and your eares for they heare for verily I say vnto you that many Prophets and righteous men haue desired to see those things which you see and haue not seene them and to heare those things which you heare and haue not heard them So we of this Land are to hold our selues happy and thrice happy that the Lord hath giuen vs a King after his heart and our owne heart that can gouerne with Counsaile and rule with Wisedome that hath the Spirit of the liuing God resiâ—â—t in him and his senses exercised in the knowledge feare of the Lord that needs not to be taught but that can teach nor to be exhorted but onely câ—ngratulated This is not to flatter to giue the King his due specially when the giuing of due doth giue encouragement and implyeth exhortation to perseuere in well-doing Did not our Sauiour praise Nathaniel to his face And who such a patterne of veracity and plaine dealing as he Did not the Queene of Sheba praise Salomon to his
face And what Queene more renowned in the Booke of God then shee Therefore that which I haue done I might doe and others may doe much more abundantly all the while we doe not stretch our selues aboue the line nor speake any thing but the truth as the Apostle speaketh I insist no longer vpon this poynt touching godly wisedome I proceed now to the other touching Prudence and I will but touch it For who am I that I should take vpon me to informe so high and so incomparable-wise a Presence vt si caecus monstret iter as the Poet saith and as if a man should light a candle in the Sunne as said the Oratour Yet as Augustine some-where hath Meum dicere sit verba doctoris exponere Let me be allowed to speake my speech shall be but the expounding of the words of the true Teacher And as Hierome to Demetrius Pugilum fortitudo clamoribus incitatur that is Though Champions fight neuer so stoutly yet their courage is much inflamed by the showtings acclamations of the standers by So if I taking the view practice of the present estate for the Idaea and patterne of mine aduice doe pray and exhort and beseech and with all humility that that which is done may be continually done and sincerely and zealously I shall doe but that which standeth with duty and good fashion Vela damus quamuis remige nauis eat Bargemen vse many times to hoise vp the sayles though the Boate goe fast enough otherwise Prudence if I haue obserued ought hath three speciall parts or properties that is A good insight in matters Secondly A good fore-sight of dangers to preuent or diuert them Thirdly A good ouersight I meane it ouerseeth and ouerlooketh them that are trusted Dauid had a good insight into matters he was as an Angell of God seeing good and euill as the wise woman of Tecoa told him So had Salomon he discerned which was the true mother and which was the counterfet It was not strange that Elisha did see in Hazael a traiterous bloody mind traiterous towards her Lord and bloody towards the people of God for Elisha was a Prophet neither was it very strange that Iustin Martyr espyed in Crescens to wit an implacable hatred that would not be satisfied but with his death for as yet some relicts of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit remained in the Church as Eusebius writeth But it was most strange that Sâ—lla saw in Cesar being but a boy multos Marios and that Cato and Catulus espied in him being but young an aspiring spirit to oppresse the common Liberty This insight is necessary in some measure for Kings and Gouernours for if they haue but a tender heart and shallow reach like Reâ—oboam in the holy Story like Romanus Iunioâ— in Zonaras if they haue not a laâ—ge heart like Salomon like I say I doe not say equall then it fareth with the Common-weale as it doth with a head-strong horse that wanteth a good rider or a shippe of great burden that hath not a good Pilote or Mastâ—r they are easily fâ—yled or wracked There haue beene Kings that haue bin witty some to paint well like Adrian some to sing well like Nero some to driue the Wagon well like the said Nero some to throw the Dart well and shoote well like Domitian Commodus c. What did this help them for the better ordering of the Common weale Nothing A gâ—od King differeth little from a Shepheard which knoweth his sheepe and knoweth what grounds be wholesome for them and what not From a good house-holder that prouideth that his seruants haue their due and looketh that they doe their duty Lastly from a good father which marketh the disposition of his children some he draweth on by fayre meanes â—thers he holdeth short by feare Thus wisedome hath an eye-siâ—ht to the present estate and to the present humours of them it dealeth with So secondly it doth fore-see dangers vigilantly and carefully Babylon was taken certaine dayes before many were ware of it It is true it was a very vast City but yet the estate cannot bee excused for their security So Honorius the Emperour lying at Rauenna had so little care of his chiefe City Rome the glory of the West and the Chamber of the Empire that when word was brought him of the taking of it by the Gothes he thouâ—ht his Fencer called Roma had beene taken that that had bin all the losse So Saul was not so wise as he might haue beene in that he had so bad watch and ward about him that Dauid his enemy could approach to the place where he lay and take what he listed in somuch that he escaped by the mercy of his Enemy and not by his ownâ— prouidence On the other side Lucullus was happy that had so faithfull a Chamberlaine as he had that repelled Captaine Olthacus from entring his chamber though he pretended most earnest businesse and indeed his businesse was but the same that Baanah and Rechab in the 2. of Sam. had to Ishbosheth namely to kill him If these Princes Saul and Lucullus had foreseene danger they had not in likely-hood falne into such danger Iâ—suah had his Espies in Iericho so had Dauid his Hushai in Absalons Court Iehoram needed not any for Elisha the Prophet was vnto him in stead of all Intelligencers he could tell him what was done in the King of Syria his Chamber So the Romanes had their politicke Agents in Antiochus and Prusias and other Kinâ—s their Courts and so no doubt these had theirs likewise in Rome A King of this Land is censured by a stranger Bellaius for being prodigall of his Treasure to get intelligence Well be it that he did cast away some hundreds of his Crowns vpon Cheaters and coozeners yet it cannot be denyed but that he fished out so much as made for his safety and safety is bought good cheape though a man pay deare for it So our State was traduced in our late Queenes time of famous memory by certaine blacke-mouthed Priests and Iesuites men of corrupt minds and reprobate concerning all truth of faith and truth of Story for dyuing to deepe into the secrets of other Common-weales for setting them together by the eares forsooth to secure themselues A slander a vile slander our State did blowe the coles any-where nor stirre them neither but finding them flaming on a light fire not being able to quench the flame they were carefull to prouide that the sparkles might not flee-ouer into our Land to set things in a combustion here and this was wisely done this was necessary to be done Foresight breedeth preuention preuention of scattering dangers bringeth home safety this is the second point of Prudence The third and last that I will speake of there be more but I can handle no more at this time is the ouer-seeing and ouerlooking of them that are trusted Putifar looked to nothing he had in
good his doctrine by miracles being a new doctrine and therefore the miracles which were wrought by the Apostles and Prophets could not serue to strenghten it but onely by the sword and an arme of flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they be the words of the Alcoran that is he came not to giue the Law by miracles but by the sword and how then can such a doctrine be embraced by any saue such as are plainely bewitched or out of their wits for to vse onely naturall reason to naturall men how can God be thought to be of one mind for twenty or fiue and twenty ages together for so long he gouerned the Church by Propheticall and Apostolicall doctrine then vpon the suddaine change his minde vpon the starting vp of a Start-vp neither learned nor wise nor vertuous onely he had a great Army and had some successe against the Emperour Scilicet illum expectabat liberanda veritas a likely matter that the truth should be held captiue till Mahomet set it at liberty No no the strength of Israel the God of the whole earth is no changeling neither is there with him any shadow of change He is Amen that is true and stable and though heauen and earth perish yet no tittle of the Law or Gospell shall fall to the ground till all be fulfilled God hath spoken in these last dayes by his Sonne He hath spoken by him it is not said that he will speake by any after him that will oppugne him or correct him Therefore away with Mahometisme It is enough to say of it as the foresaid Tertullian said vpon the like occasion Nobis curiositate non est opus post Christum Iesum nec inquisitione post Euangelium that is Hauing Christ Iesus we need not be further curious and hauing the Gospell we need not be further inquisitiue thus he The same reason doth militate against the Romanists who although they seeme to attribute much to the Gospell in words yet in effect they deny it For they are not content with the written Word but they stand vpon vnwritten supposed verities which they may multiply at their pleasure as well as they doe magnifie them making them to be of equall authority with the written Word so doe they of Trent speake insomuch as if we will beleeue them we shall not know what to beleeue nor what to affirme For whatsoeuer is questioned betweene them and vs touching either Purgatory or prayer for the dead or praying to Saints or praying in an vnknowne tongue or touching the Masse or Chrisme or the Ceremonies of Baptisme c. All these points and an hundred more which they can no more finde in the written Word than they can finde water in fire fire in a poole of water they poast ouer vnto Tradition appealing vnto it which is as much as if they should turne vs to seeke them vpon the backe-side of the booke For what is Tradition else but the report of men and what are men all men sauing they which were priuiledged with the priuiledge of infallibility the Apostles and Prophets I meane which neither were deceiued in matters of faith neither could deceiue but deceitfull vpon the weights and in plaine English lyers I meane subiect to error and mistaking We must take their credit for doctrines affirmed by them to haue beene preached by Christ and his Apostles fifteene or sixteene hundred yeeres agone when they cannot be beleeued touching that which themselues or their confellowes preached two or three yeeres since except there be notes kept of it nay he hath a good memory that can repeat in the after-noone as much as he heard in the fore-noone Behold we count them for no better than mad-men that will make claime to a piece of land for the which they haue nothing to shew but bare words as I heard my neighbour say this or that or mine vncle or my father c. whereas the party that they would get it from hath Euidences and Records ancient and faire without any shew of rasure without any suspition of forgery And can we thinke our Aduersaries to be well in their wits that would wrest from the Laity the Cuppe of the Lord against so faire a Record as this As oft as yet shalt â—ate of this bread and drinke of this Cuppe c Thus Saint Paul writing to the Church of Corinth consisting of Laickes as well as Ecclesiastickes also from the Cleargy they would wrest marriage against this Record Marriage is honorable in all in all persons not in all things onely as it appeareth by the Anâ—uhesis Adulterers and Fornicators he doth not say Adulteries and Fornications And againe To auoide fornication let euery man haue his wife and euery woman her husband if Ministers be men then they may be married So further from the vnâ—earneâ— they would wrest the vse of the Scriptures they will not suffer them to vse them in their mother-tongue vnlesse they haue a Licence by as good reason they might forbid them to looke vpon the Sunne or to drawe in the ayre without a Licence contrary to the Commandement Deut. 3â— When aâ—l Israel shalt come to appeare before the Lord thy God c. thou shalt read this Law before all Israel that they may heare it c. He was to read the Law therefore it was written he was to read it before all Israel therefore it was written for all Israel So in the Gospell When a young man would know what he might doe to attaine eternall life our Sauiour answered him saying What is written in the Law 〈◊〉 readest thou Behold he doth not send him to the â—radition of the Fathers but to the written Word that he should beleeue and liue according to that rule But now forâ—ouâ— Aduersaries iâ— ye hap to conferre with them or shall haue a desire to looke into their bookes you shall find that the claimâ— that they make by the Scriptures for any thing of moment in Controuersie betweene them and vs either touching the head of the Church or the visibility of the Church or the keyes of the Church c. is but dicis causâ for fashion-sake their sure-hold and fortresse they fly vnto is Tradition Now what is this else but to bring all things to their owne Consistory as they say and to make themselues Iudges in their owne cause and to measure themselues by themselues as the Apostle speaketh yea and to symbolize with those Heretickes whom Ticonius allowed by Augustine for this speech noteth thus to speake Quod volumus sanctum est that It is holy because we would haue it so and so it is true because they say it is a Tradition But well speaketh the same Augustine Contra insidiosos errores Deus voluit ponere firmamentum in Scripturis c. Against deceitfull errors God thought it good to place a sure foundation in the Scriptures against which no man dares to speake that would be counted a
sword hath made women childlesse so shall thy mother be childelesse among women This then is one meane to make Rulers euen good Rulers to be fearefull euen to well-doers because they may be carryed away by false oaâ—hes Another way to make them fearefull is when he that is accused is a plaine simple man and cannot speake for himselfe and his accuser hath a shrewd head and an vngracious tongue wherewith he is so potent that he is able to make that which is false probable and that which is probable necessary and consequently beare downe his aduersary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is An eloquent man will make one that is faultlesse seeme to be faulty Now what is to be done in this case I know that the Law doth not allow him that is questioned for his life either Aduocate or Counsellor for it is presumed that innocency euen alone is hard enough for a hundred oppugners And indeed Plutarch affirmeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is That which is iust cannot be ouercome but yet he addeth in the same place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is if it be well pleaded Now then if a man standing by should step forth and say I saw this man so many score miles off from the place whâ—re and when the deed should be done therefore he cannot be the offender If I say he should alleage this or the like circumstance being grounded vpon truth should this man be challenged as speaking against the King I trow no. He doth not speake against the King that speaketh for his true subiect but he speaketh against the King that would haue his true subiect to be hanged Tully auerreth that he that was seuen hundred miles off two dayes before the thing was done in Rome could not possibly be present at the doing of it This went for a good plea then carried And truely if any man at any time shall know so much or to the like effect for the iustifying of him that standeth at the Barre as he is bound in conscience to reueale it for this is to open the mouth for the dumbe as Salomon speaketh so I make no doubt but the Reuerend Iudges would gladly heare him and allow him Thirdly there is another meane to make Iudges terrible euen to good men when one either corrupted by money or bearing a secret malice vnto a prisoner findeth meanes to be one of the Iury and the prisoner suspecting nothing doth not challenge him now this is Ouem Lupo as they say for the Iuror craftily crept in maketh a vow with himselfe either to hang the prisoner or to starue his fellow Iurors at leastwise to weary them and to make them dance attendance after the Iudges into another County This is hard but I thinke it is not rare for my selfe haue heard one confesse that being vnequally yoked with a tugger he was faine full sore against his will to bring in an innocent man guilty for feare of some mischiefe towards himselfe It was weakely done by him to yeeld at last for where is fortitude and the patience of Saints but to stand for Truth and Iustice euen vnto death Blessed are the dead that die so for no question they die in the Lord. But yet this sheweth what men be if the Iudge doe not carry an eye and a hand ouer them It is certainely the extremity of iniquity to vowe the destruction of the guiltlesse and who can promise himselfe security if such kind of persons be not looked vnto and weeded out By such Bonus cautus optâ—mus venditur Imperator the Iudge though he be pious and prudent is bought and sold and made partaker of other mens sinnes nay the executioner of the malice of the wicked vpon the the innocent except he repriue them And so I make no doubt but you my Lord doe vpon the least suspicion of foule play and this is your honour before all men that you are not swift to shead blood Plutarch writeth of Marius of whom I spake before that when he heard his aduersary Anthony was taken he clapt his hands for ioy and could hardly be restrained from leaping from the table where he sate at supper to see execution done in his owne sight The like is written of Nero that he shewed himselfe ioyfull when he heard of the breaking of his Lawes because then he had both matter for his cruelty to worke vpon and meanes to fill his coffers by confiscation To be short the like is written of Caligula that other monster that because he would haue his Edicts violated he caused them to be set vp in darke by-corners where they could hardly be seene and to be written minutissimis literis in the smallest glosing hand that they could hardly be read that so men might be insnared at vnawares Blâ—ody men which were desirous to haue that done which if tâ—ey had had ought of humanity in them they would haue studied to haue preuented that it might not haue beene done But they haue receiued the wages of their cruelty euen in this world for their name is become a wonderment and a Prouerbe and an hissing euen vnto all generations On the other side they that haue beene mercifull haue left a good memory behind them and all men speake of their praise yea though they were otherwise defectiue and faulty Claudius was a weake man More foolish than my sonne Claudius his mother vsed it as a Prouerbe when he was a priuate man and afterwards his inconsideration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is much taxed yet how is the clemency he shewed to one Titus Iunius remembred This Titus Iunius belike some decayed Nobleman being amongst the guests that the Emperour had as he vsually had many and supping at his Table either at or after supper slily conueyes away a peece of plate the Emperour obserued it or was made acquainted with it yet would haue nothing said vnto him then but the next time when he came when all thâ— other guests were serued in plate he caused him to be serued in earthen-ware and thus he was iudged of all and rebuked of all and this was all the punishment he suffered So they that know Story know that Gallienus was a bad man and a worse Gouernour yet an act of clemency that he did gat him much loue and couered many of his vices The act of clemency was this There was one that sold vnto his Lady a counterfeit iewell instead of a iewell of great price and so coozened her of much money she complaineth to the Emperour will haue the Law executed in all rigour to make the matter short he seemeth to giue way and commands the offendor to be carryed towards the Lions denne and when he looked for nothing but death and that a cruell one by the teeth of a Lion Behold in stead of a Lion rampant there was let forth a Capon and all men maruelling at it the Cryer was ready to proclaime Impostur am fecit passus est
Behold the reward of a coozener he coozened others and now he is coozened himselfe he was made to beleeue that he should die the death and now he is suffered to liue and hath a Capon for his supper This one fact of Gallienus purchased vnto him exceeding much good will and great honour and this sheweth that nothing is better pleasing vnto men if they be not turned sauage than clemency On the other side let a man haue neuer so many vertues yet if he be seuere too seuere he may be feared but he will neuer be loued no nor much honoured neither Aurelian may be an example hereof who for all his valour and prowesse wherein he did excell all the men of his time got in the end but this dry cold commendation that he was a Prince rather necessary than good What then doe I speake against Iustice which is the strength and Bulwarcke of a Common-weale No nor against seuerity neither that is to say straight Iustice which is sometimes necessary but against whom against them that are frozen in their dregs and seeme to say in their hearts the Lord will doe neither good nor euill that is against Atheists against them that enter into houses and carry away captiue men and women laden with sinne and reconcile them to a Forraine Power whereby they ouerthrow not onely the faith of many but also their Allegeance that is against treacherous seducers Thirdly against them that haue beene before you twice or thrice before and haue proceeded from bad to worse from pilfering to robbing from robbing to killing c. against these there is no Law too sharp and concerning them you may say as Hieronyme writeth to Amandus Non parcimus vt parcamus saeuimus vt misereamur that is We doe not spare these that wee may spare the Common-weale we shew no mercy vnto these that we may shew mercy vnto the Common-weale And as Salomon said of Ioab who had killed two men one after another and both of them better than himselfe His blood be vpon his owne head I and my fathers house are guiltlesse Or as the same Salomon said vnto Shemei in effect Thou knowest I pardoned thee once before when thou didst villanously abuse my father this because my father would haue it so Thou knowest that I did straightly charge thee that thou shouldest not goe out of Ierusalem Why then didst thou not take warning Why hast thou not kept the oath of the Lord and the commandement which I laid vpon thee Goâ— Officer fall vpon him kill him Who can deny but the condemnation of these men was iust So was also Adoniah his who hauing beene pardoned for his ambitious and seditious practices before fell into the like offence againe and so receiued the wages of his iniquity But now when a man is ouertaken with a fault as the Apostle speaketh and offendeth by infirmity not with a high hand as Moses speaketh that is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arrogantly presumptuously as Shelomoh expoundeth it not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with an vncouered face that is impudently as Onkelâ—s taketh it I say when a poore Dauid as it were would borrow a sheep of carlish Nabal that would be loth to giue him a sheepes-head to saue his life and the liues of his hunger-bitten children I graunt theft is theft by whomsoeuer it is committed and euery one should eate his owne bread and they that cannot digge should not be ashamed to beg and if one will not giue another will peraduenture but yet the belly is an vnruly euill as Saint Iames saith of the tongue and it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a pernicious euill that forceth a man to remember it whether he will or no as Homer saith And skinne for skinne and all that a man hath will he giue for his life the Deuill himselfe confessed Now in this case of necessity Saul was cruel that would haue Ionathan put to death for taking a little honey vpon the point of his Speare when he was ready to faint 1 Sam. 14. and men doe not despise a Thiefe that stealeth to satisfie his soule because he is hungry as Salomon saith Prouerbs 6. In my conscience I am perswaded that whomsoeuer your Honours forgiue vpon these termes the King forgiueth and whomsoeuer the King forgiueth God forgiueth yea and God will forgiue you the rather for forgiuing O but the Law is against it and Iudges are but the mouthes and interpreters of the Law and as the great Warriour writeth Aliae sunt partes Imperatoris aliae Legati that is The Generall may doe that which the greatest Officer vnder him cannot So Iudges are tyed to the prescript of the Law and mercy they must leaue to the Soueraigne I answere that if the King hath prescribed them a straight obseruing of the letter and haue left nothing to their godly discretion and conscionable consideration than I haue no more to say they are tyed by their Allegeance to yeeld absolute obedience Obedience in this case is better then sacrifice yea better than mercy it selfe which is the best sacrifice Otherwise if the King say thus vnto you I haue appointed you in my place to minister Iustice vnto my people and you may meet with many circumstances which the Law that is generall cannot prouide for looke what your heart tells you that my selfe would doe if I were there in person that sticke not to doe I will allow you or excuse you then me thinkes you haue your Dormant-warrant as it were and then you shall please better in losing a point of the Law than in straining it too hard This is true that as the Magistrate must be very vnwilling to draw blood like as the Physician proceedeth vnwillingly ad vrendum secandum that is To vse the hot-iron or the knife so he must alwayes beware lest the complaint of Lucan be taken vp against him Excessit medicina modum The purgation was too strong he drew too many ounces of blood from the patient Oh that it might be many times said of a Circuit which was once said of Archidamus his victory yea of Alexander Seuerus his Raigne that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without shedding of blood The cause hereof is not want of bowels in the Iudges who I perswade my selfe desire to be mercifull as their heauenly Father is mercifull and doe bleed inwardly when they are to giue Sentence with such commiseration as God shewes himselfe to haue Hos. 11. How shall I giue thee vp Ephraim how shall I deliuer thee Israel how shall I make thee as Admah And in Esay 27. Who will set the bryers and thornes against me in battell So the Iudges speake Oh that our Sentence tended to the destruction of things without life or at the most of dumbe creatures and not of reasonable creatures made of the same blood that we are and partakers with vs of the
and anxiety and all to be brought to a combustion But what was the issue of all this The Emperour had successe in most battels and he fought 52. more than euer did any before or since and saw the end and confusion of all his foes saue of his sonne whom God suffered to suruiue to make him a subiect and spectacle of his wrath After the dayes of Henry the fourth the succeeding Emperours had much adoe with their disloyall subiects being set on by them of Rome who would be counted Fathers and yet incense their children one against the other that themselues might deuoure them being weakened with open mouth How did they deale with Fredericke the second to remember him onely They worke a conscience in him to make warre vpon the Infidels as though Christ would haue his Kingdome aduanced by the materiall sword But that was euen their houre and the power of darkenesse and while he is beyond the Seas they inueigle his subiects at home to rebell against him yea to shew that they hated the Christian Emperour more than the Mahometan they send vnto the Souldan the Emperours picture that he might the more easily destroy him But the Souldan dealt generously with him and acquaints him with the plot and aduiseth him to looke to himselfe To make the matter short he maketh peace in the East to the aduantage of the Christians there and hasteth home with all speed and by his valour and prudence soone recouereth what was lost in his absence Thus in Italy But was he suffered to be quiet in the Empire in Germany No there the Popes set vp against him Anti-Emperours two or three one after another presuming that if one did misse the other would hit But the deceitfull man rosteth not that that he taketh in hunting Prouerb 12. And this gift is giuen to such persons of the Lord that they lie downe in sorrow all of them that admitted of their election and tooke vpon them the name of Emperour the true Emperour being aliue did in a manner suddenly perish and come to a fearefull end one of them was slaine with an arrow another in the marishes of Frizeland the third otherwise all by a violent and vntimely death If I had not promised the contrary I might tell you of Henâ—y the seuenth poysoned by a Monke in the Sacrament Of Lodowicke of Bauaria vexed with all the stormes that perfidious malice could bring vpon a Prince both of these Emperours So of our King Iohn deuested of his Regalitie and bereaued of his life by vnpriestly practices So of Philip surnamed the Faire the French King brought in danger to haue suffered as much And truly by the hands or heads of such as Aeneas Syluius that was afterwards Pope speaketh of in his Story of Austrich Non fuit vllum insigniter grande malum in Ecclesia quod non exeat originem sumat à Presbyteris that is Whatsoeuer great mischiefe hath befallen the Church the same was caused or occasioned by some Shauelings But as all misery hath its determined period and as the Psalmist saith The rod of the wicked shall not lie vpon the lot of the righteous for euer So when the fulnesse of time came that the mysterie of iniquity should be reuealed it pleased our good God that stirred vp the spirit of Cyrus to send them that were in captiuity vnder old Babylon vnto their owne Country Land of promise to stirre vp the spirits also of many Kings in our later times to slip out their neckes and the neckes of their subiects I say to quit themselues and their subiects from the yoke of new Babylon that is Rome These hauing the Booke of God layd open which had beene for a long time hid like as the Booke of the Law had beene vnder Iosiah more plainely and explicatly than for many hundred yeeres before did easily by the light thereof discerne vsurpation from right and superstition from true worship They dared also to examine the validity and authority of the Bulls that came from Rome and were ashamed that they were so long gulled and affrighted by Scarre-crowes Hereupon it came to passe that our King Henry the eighth a magnanimous Prince pluckt his necke out of the collar and feared not to put in the Letany from the Bishop of Rome and his detestable enormities Good Lord deliuer vs. By his example or not long before Gustauus King of Swethland a Prince likewise of great valour and wisedome he banished the Pope and his authority out of his Kingdomes So did also Christian King of Denmarke a Prince not much inferiour to either of the former in vertue that I speake nothing of the Princes and Free Estates of Germany which fell from the Pope by heapes yea and Henry the second King of France yea and Charles the fifth Emperour though both of them most superstitious protested against the Councell of Trent summoned by the Pope thereby not a little questioning and shaking his absolute authority neither had this declining and sinking stayed here but as it is written in the Reuelation Babylon is fallen it is fallen So surely it had beene vtterly ruined if it had not beene strengthened or vnderlayed by new props or Buttraces They fable of Innocent the third that he forsooth should haue a vision or dreame that Saint Peters Church in Rome tottered and had fallen if those worthy Fryers Dominicke and Francis had not offered their shoulders And surely it had gone hard with the Romish cause ere this if the Iesuits the last vomit of Satan and the last hope of Antichrist had not stayed it from ouerthrow These are they that comming out of the smoke of the bottomelesse pit Reuelation 9. haue power giuen them as the Scorpions of the earth haue power and though their faces be like the faces of men and their haire like the haire of women that is though they vse great Hypocrisie and Flattery and insinuation as great as Harlots doe to entertaine and retaine their Louers yet their teeth are as the teeth of Lions and will deuoure their soules that doe beleeue them and their bodies that doe oppose them nay that doe trust them too farre They write of Paris the Troian that what time his mother went with him she dreamed she was with childe of a fire-brand and so he proued to his Country being the authour of the vtter desolation thereof They write also of Dominicke the Fryer of whom I spake euen now that his mother being with child of him she dreamed she had a whelpe in her wombe that had a fire-brand in his mouth and so he proued barking against the truth reuealed in Gods word being the cause of the burning and butchering of those good and faithfull men the Albigenses by hundreds and by thousands Briefely it is written of Caligula that Tiberius presaged of him that he would proue a very poysonous Serpent to the people of Rome and a
Phaâ—ton to the whole earth and so he proued shewing himselfe not onely an enemy to vertue but also to all that that sauoured of it And truly he that had the skill to cast the Iesuites their natiuity or rather that will by the fruite iudge of the tree will confesse that of all the Spawne that Satan or his Vicar haue cast out or allowed in these later hundred yeeres none haue wrought either more dishonour to God or hurt to his Church or danger to Common-weales than these Plutarch maruelleth how a man could be compounded of so many contraries as Alcibiades was iocund with the merry sad with the graue babblatiue with praters of few words with the silent a rioter with boone-companions abstinent with the abstenious c. in a word a very Cameleon changing himselfe into all colours saue white for these be Plutarch words The like writeth Tully of Catiline in Oration pro Caelio The like we may say of the Iesuites as also some of themselues at the least of their friends giue forth Iesuita est omnis homo that is A Iesuite is an euery-ody fellow for all companies he can blow hot and cold with one breath play fast and loose with one hand hold with the Hare and runne with the Hound goe to the Kings of the earth and incense them against their subiects specially if they smell of Heresie as they call Heresie repaire to the subiects and blowe the coales of mutiny against the Prince specially if he giue the least cause of Iealousie to him of Rome with the iouiall they will not sticke to quaffe and carouse yea to dance and game Ordine ad Deum to winne them forsooth the Apostles were wont to vse that method in preaching no doubt with the austere they will bend the browe and put such a face of grauity vpon it as though the Quintessence of vertue might be extracted out of their fore-heads intus Nero foris Cato totus ambiguus that is A Nero inwardly a Cato outwardly euery way an Hypocrite or doubler Thus as the Apostle became all things to all men to winne some so they become all things to all men to ouerthrowe the faith of many Volo virtutes eorum proferre c. that is I will acquaint you with their vertues saith Tertullian of some Heretickes but this I acknowledge to be the greatest vertue in them that they doe emulate the Apostles peruersely for the Apostles raised such as were dead to life and these make such as were aliue dead Aeneas Syluius compareth Monks and old witches together saying Non audet Stygius Pluto tentare quod audet Infelix Monachus plenaque fraudis anus that is The Deuill himselfe is not so venturous as wretched Monks and charming old women be And the like complaint might be taken vp and might haue beene taken vp this many and many yeeres past concerning the Iesuites that their attempts are desperate and their executions bloody for the most part They will not play small play nor busie their refined wits about trifles as Domitian is reported to haue spent certaine houres in the day in catching flies O no but as one said to Antonius the Triumvir Thy fishing is to take vp Townes and Fortresses and Kingdomes and the lik so their fishing is to hale vp at one draught a whole Seignory or Principality Is any man great with a Prince or a State him they seeke by all meanes by promises by gifts by threats to winne him to their side if they cannot make him to be for them then they will doe their best or worst to make him away Nay they are not content to strike at a seruant and to seeke to vnhorse him but no worse than Dauid will serue their turne Dauid the Anointed of the Lord him they persecute his life they seeke to take away as it is in my Text Fight not against small nor great but against the King of Israel onely said the King of Syria So these strike onely at the fairest So did they in Queene Elizabeths time What doe you speake of killing of Leicester said one of the foureteene Traitors that were En-Iesuited the Queene is the onely marke Thus in England So in France Let King Henry the third a counterfeit Monke be killed by a true Monke Iames Clement doe thou vpon the remission of thy sins and to be made a Saint strike him and one blow for all that thou needest not strike him againe Thus they dispatched Henry the third for feare lest he would wholy reuolt from them So did they deale against Henry the fourth though he had turned to them yet because he had stood out long and the holy Father was not wholy reconciled to him therefore they proclaime that it was a meritorious deed to kill him Hereupon one Iohn Castile a Nouice of theirs attempts vpon his person and strikes out one of his teeth he meant to haue striken him to the heart but the King stooping downe vpon occasion receiued the blow into his mouth My mouth said the King afterwards conuinceth the Iesuites And Barrier a disciple of theirs came with a resolution from Meloun to stabbe him Barrier missed then but Rauillacke afterwards did the deed being poysoned by the Iesuites their doctrine that for as much as the Pope is Christs Vicar or Vice-gerent whosoeuer fighteth against any of his creatures or fauorites he fighteth against Christ himselfe and therefore may lawfully be murthered Before that euen about this time twelue yeeres they attempted against our now Soueraigne whom God in his mercy preserue and as though it had beene a small thing to kill a King and no body besides they conspired to destroy the whole State with him head and tayle branch and rush as the Prophet speaketh The King Queene and their Children they were as it were the head the Counsellors and Honorable men they as it were the brest the Commons assembled in Parliament they as it were the feet Vpon all these and vpon thousands more that dwelt or lay neere the Parliament-house they thought to bring a Panolethry an vniuersall destruction We read of twenty thousand slaine in a Towne of Italy called Fidenae in the dayes of Tiberius by the fall of a Theater but this was by casualty the finger of God was in it but men call it casualty So we read of many hundreds yea thousands blowne vp into the ayre and torne in pieces by gun-powder bestowed in mines vnder the earth for such mischiefe but this was in time of hostility and by enemies So we read of Mithridates conspiracy against the Romanes in Asia of Hamans conspiracy against the Iewes in Persia to haue them massacred all in one day as one man but these were Pagans and knew nothing of God or godlinesse So we read of Vesperae Siculae matutinae Parisienses that is Sicilian Euen-song and Paris-Mattens also of Danish and Normandish Washals in which there was an horrible slaughter made of
them as the same Apostle admonisheth So shall the Lord make vnto our King a sure house and his son shall sit vpon his Throne after him his sonne after him Et nati natorum qui nascentur ab illis that is their sons after them to many and many generations Briefly so shall not we be powred out from vessell to vessell but shall be settled vpon our lees as it is in the Prophet The Lord shall speake peace to vs to our Land that we be not led into captiuity and that the enemy beneuer able to shoot an arrow amongst vs. Lastly so shall our enemies be found lyers and they shall looke till their eyes faile them for our subuersion but they shall not see it but on our Kings head shall his Crowne flourish and be more and more greene in his age In a word so shall his life and the life of the Queene and the life of the Prince and the liues of the whole Royall Issue be long and long bound vp in the bundle of life with the Lord their God and our God and the soules of their and our enemies be slung out as out of the midst of a sling which God the Father grant for Iesus Christ his sake to whom with the holy Spirit three persons and one immortall inuisible and onely wise God be all Praise Power Dominion and Maiesty ascribed for euer and euer Amen Amen A SERMON VPON THE FIFTH TO THE EPHESIANS THE FIFTEENTH SERMON EPHESIANS 5. verse 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be not drunke with Wine wherein is excesse IN these words we haue First a speciall charge not to be drunke Secondly a speciall designation or Caueat with wine Thirdly a speciall reason wherein is excesse To be drunke is a foule sinne to be drunke with wine is a sinne soone committed to doe that which containeth and carrieth with it so much mischiefe and inconuenience as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importeth is very fearefull and dangerous Touching the first It may seeme a strange course to discourse against drunkennesse before sober men and at the Assize-time too when men vse to heare of righteousnesse and Iudgement and the greater things of the Law For as Christ saith They that are whole need not the Physician but they that are sicke And as St. Paul Our vncomely parts haue more honesty on for our comely parts need it not So they that are here in the Church they are well aduised and they that are misaduised come not hither therefore both wayes you shall labour in vaine and for nothing as the Prophet speaketh and speake in the aire as the Apostle hath it or cast your seed vpon the Sea as the Poet speaketh Thus some hastily and peraduenture ouer-hastily For what if most of them that heare me this day are soberly-minded yet as Saint Iohn saith to another purpose It is not made manifest what we shall be And as the same Saint Iohn saith He that is iust let him be more iust So it is no disgrace for any man to be called vpon with these words He that thinketh he standeth now at the second or third houre of the day let him take heed lest he fall before the eleuenth or twelfth And againe Hold what thou hast lest another take away thy Crowne There was a time when Saint Paul could deliuer this obseruation for a truth They that are drunke are drunke in the night And Saint Peter might be bold to Apologize for himselfe and his fellowes These are not drunke as ye suppose since it is but the third houre of the day that is about nine of the clocke But now the case is altered if you will finde some sober you must take them in their beds for they rise vp early to follow drunkennesse Nay as Saint Hierome telleth of one that sware by her Ioue that she was very betime and before any would imagine â—ewd or naught So there be some that with the Sun and before the Sunne will be at the cup and as though Satan could expell Satan so they thinke that one cup will driue away another O earth earth earth heare the Word of the Lord saith the Prophet Ieremy in one place In another To whom shall I speake admonish that they may heare If a man will prophesie to them of wine strong drink for it is not against it he shall euen be the Prophet of this people a Prophet for the nonce He that will goe to the Tauerne to them and carowse with them him they will welcome and heare Indeed as I finde in Aelian that a certaine politicke Captaine Leonides by name finding the security the beastly security of them of Byzantium whom he tooke vpon him to defend that they would not be reclaimed from their tippling no not when the enemy was ready to scale the walls deuised to haue the Vintners and Ale-wiues remoue their hogs-heads and barrels out of their houses and Tauernes to the walls that the people thither resorting to swill might at the least make a shew of resistance So if you will haue some to heare you you must either remoue the Pulpit to the Tauerne or the Tauerne the wine and strong drinke of the Tauerne to the Church for it they will follow that is their god The Prophet Moses reproueth the Iewes from offering vnto new gods which newly came vp whom their fathers feared not Surely Bacchus is a new Idoll whom few of our Ancestors serued Comus Addephâ—gia that is Gluttony or full-â—eeding those they are were acquainted with and for the same reproached by their neighbours that had not so good stomakes but as for drunkennesse they tooke little pleasure therein at the least-wise they did not glory in it The world is changed now Iamdudum Syrus in Tiberim defluxit Orontes We are full of the manners of the East and as the haire-siue suffereth the good liquor to run thorow it and retaineth onely the graines so our neighbours excelling in many kindes of vertues we learne none of those but their quaffing and drinking that we take vp nay we labour to out-strip them in The saying of the Prophet is verified in too many They passe the deeds of the wicked And therefore we can expect none other fauour but that which is added in the same place and prefixed aboue in the Chapter Shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord shall I not be auenged vpon such a Nation as this Well the matter falling out so foule and being brought to the extremity that it is time both for all to pray as it is in the Psalme It is time O Lord that thou put to thine hand yea the time is come And for Preachers to lift vp their voyces like Trumpets and to cry aloud and not to cease crying against this sinne of drunkennesse Alas this sinne of Drunkennesse is a crying sinne and as it is said Genes 6. That all flesh
to vnhonest embracings with the Macedonian Gentlewomen and that they paid full dearely for itcost them their liues though they were Embassadors This is to be seene at large in Herodotus and what Writer doth not afford many such examples Therefore if you will haue incontinency banished out of your City doe your best to banish drunkennesse first of all for that is the mother of fornication so Chrysostome calleth it vpon the 13. to the Romanes yea it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mother City of all mischiefe so saith Athenaeus there was an Oracle giuen to them of Lacedemon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Couetousnesse will be the ouerthrow of Sparta and nothing else This was a Prophesie for the time to come There is a complaint in Plinie for the time present and past Latifundiâ perdiderunt Italiam Italy is vndone by large seuerals We may take vp the like complaint against drinking that Multifundia I meane multum infundendo the powring in of much liquor is the shame of this Kingdome already and will be it is to be feared the vtter vndoing of it How can it choose when it doth so much hurt publikely and priuately Publikely for whence are quarrels blading wounds without cause and many times vntimely death bee they not hence euen of Choler that boyleth in their gall inflamed by wine whence breaking of houses and Robberies but to supply wants occasioned for the most part by lauish spending If it were not for drunkennesse or too much drinking neither needed Iustices of the Peace so much to be troubled for granting of Warrants of Peace nor their Clarkes with Recognizances nor the Honorable Iudges themselues against their clement nature be forcedto sentence so many to death as many times they doe For drunkennes causeth foule behauiour and foule behauiour bringeth on a foule end To be short it maketh many vnprofitable which otherwise might be seruiceable both in Church Common-weale Priuately it starueth many a family if the goodman of an house be so giuen yea causeth much brabbling betweene man and wife if either of them be so giuen yea causeth many a parent to breake his heart or her heart if their child be so giuen What a griefe was it to Nouellus Torquatus his father if he liued that his sonne was such a quaffer as he was and that he got thereby the name of Tricongius What a shame to Bonosus that he should be called after his death Amphora To Diotimus of Athens that he was called being yet aliue Infundibulum Some man will say To what purpose is this inuectiue against drunkennesse except you know and would tell vs what is good against it as if a Physician should tell his patient in what danger he stood and in the meane time should administer nothing vnto him I answere that there is Balme in Gilead there is helpe for it if yet euery man will doe his best for the remouing of it The best thing that I know is first to lay to our hearts the commandement that is in my Text Be not drunke The Apostle commandeth this in his Name that hath power to giue life and to destroy Secondly that we take heed vnto the exhortation that speaketh to vs as vnto children Take heed to your selues lest at any time your hearts be oppressed with â—urfetting and drunkennes Thirdly that you sit not too long at the table but that you follow the counsell of the wise Grecian and to rise vp 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fourthly that you thinke that the Law that Minos made for Creete whereof Plato maketh mention in his Dialogue called Minos is very necessary for them of this Land 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to drinke one to another His Maiesty hath beene graciously pleased to set forth his Proclamation against Combatants it may please God also to moue his Royall heart to proclaime against Compotants against such as drinke healths thereby to ouerthrow their owne health and while they drink healths to the great Ones they may shew some small affection but they doe them no good for the very prayer of a drinker is abominable Tephillash shotheh tognabah so saith Baal Turim and it is not contradicted by Christians how much more then is their drinking Lastly in my iudgement it were very profitable yea necessary that in euery City and Towne there should be certaine persons appointed in Cities some of the chiefest Aldermen that are of speciall reputation for piety grauity in Towns also and Villages some of the most substantiall Parishioners and these Censors should haue power not onely to enter into tippling houses to take forth such as they finde drunke or to haue lyen soking any long time and to commit them to Ward till they be sober and doe edormiscere villum but also such as are scandalous in the streets reeling to and fro not like a drunken man as it is in the Psalme but starke drunke and swinishly â—umbling in the gutter these also would be especially punished by Censors because they sinne openly that the euill being taken away God may be intreated toward the Land Why should the name or office of a Censor be odious vnto vs albeit I stand not vpon the name let such be appointed that will proceed as farre-forth as the common Law or locall ordinance will warrant and I haue my desire It was not refused by the Romanes when they were at the proudest but being free they subiected themselues to the yoke of discipline euen the most noble of them did So I could tell you that a great politician and a very wise man findeth this fault with the Venetians that hauing such a world of Officers as they had yet they had neuer a one that looked to mens behauiour to see the publicke peace were not violated on the other side the same authour commendeth a City that shall be namelesse at this time though he were not of the same sound Religion that is practised in that City that by their discipline they kept men in such awe and order that seldome whiles any grosse offencâ— is committed and sinne seemeth there rather to be preuented than punished But what is the Common-wealth the better if one City be reformed for one sinne of drunkennesse when the whole head is sicke and the whole heart is heauy when from Dan to Beersheba from one end of the Land to the other all the foundations of the earth be out of course Shall the righteousnes of a few diuert a common destruction or shall it deliuer the righteous themselues in the euill day what good then will it doe Much verily First a booke of remembrance shall be written before the Lord for them that feare the Lord and thinke on his Name and in the day of death they shall haue enough and in the day of publike calamity they shall either be deliuered as Rahab in Iericho Ieremy in Hierusalem in Nebuchadnezzars time the Iewes that were turned Christians in
Pella who by Gods prouidence were maruellously saued when a Panolothry or vniuersall destruction was brought vpon the Iewes by Titus or else their punishment shall be so mitigated that they may be well able to beare it Secondly as Saint Paul saith How knowest thou O man whether thou shalt saue thy wife c So how knowest thou O man what good a few pious neighbours may doe for the conuerting of a whole street and what good one street reformed may doe for the reforming of a whole City and so of a whole shire and so of a whole Realme Who are you that despise the day of the small things Zeâ—haâ—y 4 An handfull of corne shall be â—owne on the top of the mountaines and the fruit thereof shall be like Lebanon Psalme 72. The waters in Ezechiel Chapter 47. that at the first were but ancle deepe and then knee deepe and then vp to the Loynes did afterwards so rise and flow that they were as a riuer that could not be passed ouer Briefely Elias seruant at the first and a great while saw noâ—hing at the length a little clowde as bigge as a mans hand and by and by the heauens were blacke with clowdes and wind and there was a great raine 1 Kings 18. They write strange things of Naphtha that it will catch fire a farre off and being once on fire it will hardly be quenched so of the Load-stone that being put neere a chaine of iron it doth not onely draw the linke that is next vnto it but also causeth that linke to draw its fellowe and the next to it its fellow againe and so the rest till all be drawne So let euery man mend one and doe his best to reforme his owne house doe his best I say for the best man cannot doe what he will and we are in hope that our example shall not be in vaine in the Lord for the conuerting of others Let so much be spoken of the charge Be not drunke I proceede now to the Designation with wine Marke Well beloued he doth not command vs to abhorre wine as an vncleane thing as Plutarch in his booke of Isis and Osiris doth report of the Egyptians that they vsed it not no not in their Sacrifices or drinke offerings vntill the time of Psammeticus but abhorred the same vpon a conceit that it was the blood of those Giants that they had heard did once make warre against God Thus Plutarch The like doth Augustine in his booke De haeresibus write of the Manichees that they also could not abide wine Why For that it was the gall of the Prince of darkenesse blasphemous conceits bending to the dishonour of Almighty God who bringeth forth bread out of the earth and wine that maketh glad the heart of man c. Not onely euery good giuing commeth downe from the Father of lights Iames 1. but also whatsoeuer is giuen of God is good nothing ought to be refused if it be receiued with thankesgiuing c. 1 Timothie 4. Therefore though God will not allow vs to be drunke with wine yet he doth not forbid vs to drinke wine Vse a little wine for thy stomacks sake and thine often infirmities Giue strong drinke to him that is ready to perish and wine to them that haue griefe of heart But a little proofe will serue the turne to perswade vs concerning the lawfulnesse of wine all the matter is to vse it lawfully They doe not vse it well if they be Ministers that spend more vpon wine than vpon oyle vpon candles at their book as a wise man said If they be rich men if they spend vpon themselues more than their almes to the poore coÌ„meth to If they be Tradesmen specially poore Tradesmen if they spend any thing at all There was an Emperour that said to his Soldiers when they murmured for want of wine What need you wine that haue the riuer Nilus to drinke of It is true that the water of Nilus is better than our water for that will feed apace therefore they would not suffer their Caluish-god Apis to drinke of it but yet we haue mixed water brued water that is farre better and wholesomer also than any water in Nilus and that should content â—ll at the least the meaner sort But may not one lawfully be drunkâ— with it with malt-drinke I meane that is out of the tenor of our Text which mentioneth onely drunkennes by wine Beloued you may not be drunke with wine nor with any thing that hath operation of wine for here is a Synecdoche As bread in the Scripture signifieth all kind of strong nourishment so wine also is taken for euery kind of strong drinke whether it be made of grapes or of graine or of fruit or the like and therefore you shall haue many times Sicera ioyned with it to explicate the meaning of the word more fully to wit a drinke that hath the power to inebriate for so the word signifieth So then though you be not drunke with wine because peraduenture you haue no wine to be drunke with yet if you be ouer-come with strong drinke of what kind soeuer it be you are found trespassers against Saint Paul in this place and consequently against God himselfe To satisfie you farther you shall vnderstand that Aristotle certaine hundred yeeres before Saint Paul maketh mention of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wine made of barley and setteth downe the difference that whereas wine will make a man fall vpon his nose barley-broth will make him fall backeward vpon his nole I could make a demonstration of artificiall wines as of Dates and Cherries and twenty other things What say you the West-Indians as Benzo writeth make a strange kind of mash in the mouthes of their women that is their Vate which they boile and drinke the same and will be as drunke with it as some beasts will be when they haue swilled in sweet whay or strong wort and doe not you thinke they offend highly against Saint Pauls precept Be not drunke with wine I make no doubt for in this matter it is not respected what you call the thing that doth the hurt but what hurt it doth if it maketh the head heauy the heart outragious the eyes to stare the tongue to stammer the feete to stagger the stomacke to worke like a barrell of new ale c· then it may be called Sicera and goe for wine and so come within the compasse of my Text. For this cause also you are forbidden to be drunke with Tobacco which howsoeuer some dote vpon and thinke they cannot take enough of as though it were some Panace that was good against all diseases or some Moly that was good against all sorcery yet I beleeue the Prouerb is fulfilled in most takers Thesaurus carbones we looked for treasure and beheld coales I list not to sift or examine curiously the worth of it I leaue that to another profession
die he must Shut the doores of the wombe and then no entrance into this world but being here so many are the passages hence that they cannot bâ— stopped So that a liuing man is but an Embleme of that liuelesse Anatomy where the Ram pusheth at the head the Bull at the Necke the Lion at the Heart the Scorpion at the Priuy parts c. One dyes of an Apoplexie in the head another of a Struma in the necke a third of a Squinancie in the throate a fourth of the Cough and Consumption of the Lungs others of Obstructions Inflammations Pleurisies Gowts Dropsies c. And him that escapeth the sword of Hazael him doth Iebu slay and him that escapeth the sword of Iebu him doth Elisha slay Let God arme any of the least of all his creatures against the strongest man it is present death Our glasse is so britle that euery thing that can knocke it can cracke it nay what is more brittle than glasse yet it may be laid vp and preserued for many ages for though subiect to knocks which it may escape yet not to agues to diseases But with man-kind mortality dwelleth Intus est hoc malum in visceribus ipsis haeret where euer life is there is death it stickes in our very bowels The Comparison is Saint Augusâ—ines We walke among casualties saith he Si vitrei essemus If we were glasse c. Falls for these brittle vessels we feare but age or sickenesse we feare not in respect of them But man besides the many casualties that haue continuall intercourse with his life lyes open to the enfeerbling of age and sickenesse The holy Scriptures call our Tabernacles earthly houses and very rightly for either they fall by outward violence or moulder away of their owne accord Man dwelleth in houses of clay whose foundation is in the dust which are crushed before the moth Thus fraile are we and all the world cannot helpe it But God can helpe all If that were a good argument Could not he that opened the eyes of the blind haue caused that euen this man should not haue dyed Then this is good He that restored him to life being dead could much more haue kept him in life being yet aliue He can translate Enoch to depart without the sense of death or if He please that he shall not die at all He can if it seemed Him best graunt vnto all men their common desire not to vncloath them at all but cloath them vpon with theiâ— house which is from Heauen that mortality may be swallowed vp of life And he can for he will take order that all those that are aliue at the comming of the Lord shall not sleepe but be changed in a moment But where he decreeth the faithfull to death there also he can he will with the Vipers flesh cure the Vipers sting and out of darkenesse fetch light and out of death life filling the dying man with liuing comfort First through his future Hope that though the sap sinke into the roote yet it shall reuiue For Heauens dew is as the dew of hearbes and the earth shall giue vp her dead and he after he hath slept a while in his bed the graue shall arise refreshed euen when this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortall shall put on immortality Secondly Through his present expectation he shall defie death saying as great Saint Basil to the Tyrant Quomodo mortem formidabo quae me meo Creatori sit redditura How shal I feare death which will giue me backe vnto my Maker Nay with our Apostle Saint Paul like a prisoner that would be enlarged I desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ which is best of all And as thus the beleeuer comforts himselfe in the Power of God so likewise in the Wisedome of God who afflicts him onely when he needs affliction as Saint Peter hath it though now for a season if need be ye are in heauinesse c. These corroding medicines need be applyed to eate out proud flesh these bitter potions to purge out peccant humours these dusts to smoake vs out of the high-way of the world these vnpleasant things to acquaint vs with the bitter fruit of sinne and what that wrath-full cup was which Christ our Sauiour dranke of for our sins these to try our faith our patience and the naturalnesse of our loue whether it will beare the rod laid on not so much for the Fathers pleasure as for the childrens profit And in the Loue of God he can take comfort who when he giues a bitter potion stands by to see the working of his Physicke And when the Physicians of our bodies are not touched with the sicke fits of their patients God Almighty the Physician of Israel can condole with vs. To this purpose Isaiah In all their affliction he was afflicted and Ioel he is such a one as is sorry for our afflictions Finally he can comfort himselfe in the faithfulnesse of the Lord. For God is faithfull who will not suffer vs to be tempted aboue our strength but will giue the issue with the temptation saith our Apostle God will not suffer the smarting playster longer on than needs must but will be a refuge in due time as Dauid tells vs and speake comfortable things to our hearts euen in the wildernesse as he promiseth by another Prophet Thus he that hath faith in his heart cheareth vp himselfe in the midst of discomforts by the Power Wisedome Loue Faithfulnesse of his God which sets him downe with the Churches soliloquies in her Lamentations The Lord is my portion saith my soule therefore will I hope in him The Lord is good to them that wait for him to the soule â—hat seeketh him It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the saluation of the Lord. Foolish therefore and impious is the practice of those to make some vse of this matter who in times of feare of care of sorrow or of distresse of conscience seeke to allay or forget their heart-pangs by ioyning to merry riotous and profane company As if a man ranne from a Lion and a Beare met him or leaned his hand on a wall and a Serpent bit him this is to put more on the â—core where is too much already and to make two reall euils of one seeming one Forsaking the fountaine of liuing waters to dig to themselues pits broken pits that can hold no water Ionas the Prophet would be an example to such for euer who flying from the preâ—ence of the Lord toward Tarshish there to hide from God and to solace and forget himselfe if possible among the Learned of that Vniuersity was pursued by vengeance throwne into the bottome of the sea filled with feare lest the Whale should deuoure his body and hell his soule for as a man already in the state of the dead he said
fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable vnto his death if by any meanes I might attaine vnto the resurrection of the dead Thus he and all tend to this that he may be sure of a blessed Resurrection at the last day The discretion of a man maketh him to prouide in Summer for Winter in youth for age But if the soule be better than the body heauen than earth God than the world things eternall than things transitory it shall be our Wisedome in the sight of God and men to lay vp a good foundation against that Day when the Lord shall appeare to Iudgement For first It is a dreadfull time for then the Lord Iesus shall be reuealed from Heauen with his mighty Angels in flaming fire 2 Thess. 1.8 By the dread of that Day is described some time of fearefull punishment on sinners in this life as some learned iudge or if that Day it selfe be there meant as others conceite marke the astonishment thereof Reuel 6.12 And loe there was for it is as sure as if already acted a great Earthquake and the Sunne became blacke as a sackeâ—loth of haire and the Moone became as blood and the Starres of heauen fell vnto the earth euen as a figge tree casteth her vntimely figs when shee is shaken of a mighty wind and the heauen departed as a scrole when it is rolled together and euery Mountaine and Iland were moued out of their places Should we see such things now What would our feare and amazement be How would not our hearts within vs melt with perplexity Surely that Day that shall end all times and the course of all things in this world must be to man a hideous time For the Kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men c. hid themselues saith the Spirit of prophesie making things present that are to come in dennes and in rocks of the mountaines and said to the mountaines and rocks Fall on vs and hide vs c. from the suffering perhaps of momentany things And what will they do at this Day As it was said of the last end of Ierusalem so of this time and most truely Then shall be great tribulation such as was not from the beginning of the world till then 2. T is the time of tryall and of the great Assize If a man be to be tryed for life how doth he prouide against the time to cleare his innocency or to plead his pardon Then it comports euery man to be ready with his plea that he be not condemned Magistrates Ministers people For we must all appeare before the Iudgement Seat of Christ that euery man may receiue according to that he hath done in the body whether it be good or euill Thirdly As it fareth with vs then so must it stand with vs for euer No reuersing that Sentence by a writ of error no appeale from thence to a Court of Chancery Mercy accepted in this our Day shall be shewed then refused here shall be denyed there And the execution shall follow To them on the left hand it shall be said Goe ye cursed To the on the right hand Come ye blessed And so long as eternity lasteth and the immortall soule liueth yea so long as God is God the reprobate shall be in the torments of hell and the righteous in the ioyes of heauen Now it would make a mans heart to shiuer and his flesh to tremble to see how in other matters men carefull of euery trifle and of euery complement obseruant neglect this matter of greatest consequence Would you thinke that a man that trots from Lawyer to Lawyer to secure and assure lands would not be a better husbandin greater matters When Parents be so carefull to get an estate to leaue to posterity would they be imagined to be vnprouided of a place for themselues at need If euill be towards another we can pity him if an Oxe be in a pit we can helpe him out we can euen pity a Dog in his hurt yet not be touched towards our selues in the extremest danger of extremest misery as if nothing were cheape with vs but our selues nothing vile but our owne soules If a man had the keeping of the blood of Christ in a violl how chary would he be of it We haue the custody of our soules committed to our selues dearer to Christ as Saint Bernard obserueth than his owne blood and shall we not be most tender of them Trifles in themselues are trifles and some things that beare some shew in comparison with others of more weight are trifles Now to the soule of man and his welfare at the Day of Christ all the Kingdomes of the world are but trifles for what shall it profit a man to win the whole world and to lose his owne soule or what recompence shall a man giue for his soule Be intreated therefore Brethren in conclusion be intreated by the sweet mercies of God by all the sufferings and intercessions of Christ by all the ioyes of heauen by the great charge which God and Nature haue committed vnto you of your owne soules oh by the glory and dread of that Day be intreated to prepare that it may goe well with you then and that ye may be numbred among the blessed Here to liue and lye with swine is abhorred and it is much more to be abhorred to liue with Deuils and damned spirits in hell Might those who now suffer the scorching of those hellish flames haue offer how readily would they apprehend it to be deliuered thence And how should we beware and vse all possible meanes that wee come not there They had their time and they lost it our time is now Behold now is the accepted time behold now is the Day of saluation 2 Cor. 6.2 Heauen may be had oh deare Christians lose it not cast vp your account mourne for your sinnes make your peace with God through the blood of Christ bring forth fruits of Regeneration Offer your selues sacrifices to God holy and acceptable and if ye finde these things hard if to you impossible call in Christ to your helpe Christ will informe your minds mollifie your hearts regenerate your wits subdue your affections purge your consciences rebuke Satan and giue the victorie the Crowne Assure your selues as the Church doth her selfe saying His left hand shall be vnder mine head and his right hand shall embrace me he will stay me with apples and comfort me with flagons And as our Saint Paul himselfe I am able to doe all things through the helpe of Christ that strengthneth me Idle not out your time with the foolish Virgins lest the gate be shut against you but with the wise Virgins get oyle into your Lampes the oyle of knowledge the oyle of faith the oyle of holinesse the oyle of praises let your Lampes be trimmed and your lights flaming that ye may enter with the Bridegroome into the bridechamber