reserued vnto that day When the creature shall bee deliuered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Sonnes of God and vnto Faith whereby wee see onely as in a mirrour intuitiue beholding of the face of God by vision shall succeed And this is the glory of the Father Now to gloriâ—ie him cannot bee to giue or adde glory vnto him For as we haue shewed he is absolutely Perfect and lacketh nothing and his propertie is to giue vnto all but to receiue from none It is therefore to manifest his glory to make it publikely known throughout the world as if our Sauiour had said Father vnlesse thou glorify me the brightnes of thy glory will exceedingly be eclipsed obscured but if thou glorifie me then shall the Glory bee greatly manifested by me and I shall make it knowne farre and neere among the sonnes of men This being the meaning of these tearmes let vs now examine both the Propositions of the argument aboue propounded trie the truth of them The Maior is That by which I shall glorifie thee and without which I cannot glorifie thee thou maist not deny vnto me An evident and vndoubted truth else never would Christ haue said it especially in a matter so much concerning him For if as Solomon saith the lip of vanity becommeth not a Prince much lesse would it become him who is the wisdome of the Father and very truth it selfe And if nothing can concerne him more then his owne Glorification then certainely to speake sleightly and impertinently in a matter of such moment would haue argued much weaknesse And indeed it is so apparently true that our Saviour only affirmes it without vouchsafing it any confirmation at all as if hee knewe that his Father neither would nor could deny it Neuerthelesse the truth thereof may yet further appeare First by the continuall practise of all the Saints conformable vnto this of Christ. For in all their addresses vnto God they ever vrged him with his Glory as the strongest argument to perswade when the Lord had threatned to smite the people of Israel with the pestilence and to disinherit them because of their murmuring and incredulitie Moses thought nothing would sooner moue him to commiseration and pittie of them then the impeachment otherwise of his honour For saith he the nations which haue heard the fame of thee will speake saying Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware vnto them therefore hath he slaine them in the wildernesse As if he should say thou maist not doe it because it will discredit both thy truth and power Againe Daniel when the seauenty yeares of Iudahs captivity were neere at an end entreateth the Lord to remember them in mercy and to returne theÌ„ backe againe into their owne country But what argument vseth he to perswade For thine owne sake saith he because the citty and thy people are called by thy name As if he should say least otherwise thy Glorie by failing in performance of thy promise towards thy people should bee called into question what Psalme almost is there in which the Prophet David presseth not vpon God this reason Returne O Lord deliuer my soule oh saue mee for thy mercies sake For in death there is no remembrance of thee in the graue who shall giue thee thankes Bring my soule out of prison that I may praise thee the righteous shall compasse mee about for thou shalt deale bountifully with mee Quicken me O Lord for thy names sake for thy righteousnesse sake bring my soule out of trouble It were infinite to quote particular passages In a word did not our Saviour when he taught vs to pray direct vs ever to conclude with this argument For thine is the kingdome the power and the glory And did not St Paul according to this direction end his Prayer with ascribing Glory vnto God in the Church by Christ Iesus throughout all ages If then others haue mightily prevailed with God in vrging him with his Glorie shall we thinke that the Sonne of God can be lesse prevalent with his Father pressing him with the same argument Father glorifie me for so I shall bee able else not to glorifie thee Secondly the manifestation of the Fathers Glory is the architectonicall and soueraigne end of all things This he himselfe principally intended in all his works this he set vp as a marke for all to ayme at The Lord saith Solomon made all things for himselfe even the wicked for the day of evill The predestination also of the Saints and their adoption to be children by Iesus Christ was as S. Paul testifieth to the praise of the glory of his grace yea of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory for euer Amen For to the praise of the glory of his Power all things were created To the praise of the glory of his Wisdome all things are ordered and gouerned To the praise of the glory of his Mercy are wee ransomed in Christ from the bondage of misery And to the praise of the glory of his Iustice are impenitent sinners reprobated and condemned And reason it should bee thus For as out of him all things were educed as being the fountaine and prime cause of all so vnto him it was fit all things should be reduced as vnto the last and chiefest end of all Right even as out of the sea all riuers flow and then reflow back againe vnto it Neither indeed was it possible to be otherwise For God being in himselfe blessed and all-sufficient cannot rest in any thing that is extrinsecall and without himselfe In himselfe therefore he must find it and what other can that be then his Glorie His Glorie therefore did he necessarily propound vnto himselfe as the soueraigne end of all his actions and vnto it here doth our Saviour subordinate his owne Glorification So that hence also the truth of our Maior plainely appeareth that vnlesse the Father will be without his Glory and without his Glory he neither will nor can be he must needs grant to his Sonne that without which hee cannot glorifie him Thirdly and lastly the glory of the Father is most deere and pretious to him It is vnto him as the apple of his eye which at no hand may be touched yea as his very selfe because it is himselfe Hence it is that hee is so iealous of his glory neither can endure that it should be giuen to any other And hence it is also that he threatens never to hold him guiltlesse whosoeuer taketh his name in vaine yea that he will most severely bee revenged of all those that any way dishonour him Because saith S. Paul when they knew God they glorified him not as God nor were thankfull c. therefore God also gaue them vp to vncleannesse through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonour their bodies
pleased haue vsed some other meanes for the appeasing of his wrath Yes doubtlesse for he had abundance of spirit wisdome But he chose this as the best course for the declaration of his iustice and mercy justice in the rigorous exacting of satisfaction for sinne yea even from his owne sonne mercy in the free pardon of sinne by the death and passion of his sonne Excellently to this purpose Cameracensis God in the beginning gaue vnto man truth to instruct him iustice to direct him mercy to preserue him and peace to delight him But he rebelling against his creator they all fled from him returned vnto God Where iustice called vpon him for satisfaction and truth required performance of his word but Peace sought mitigation of wrath and mercy sued for pardon In this difficulty wisdome interposed her selfe and found out a meanes to content all namely by the incarnation and suffering of the sonne of God Wherevnto the Father yeelding all were soone accorded and so mercy and truth met together and justice and peace kissed each other For further ratification whereof it pleased the Father solemnely and vnalterably to decree that his sonne should suffer in the flesh Wherevpon our Saviour saith it was so determined and the Scriptures as they foretell it so they affirme that thus it must be and that Christ ought to suffer And according to this determinate counsell and fore-knowledge of God when the houre appointed was come he was delivered and taken and by wicked hands crucified and slaine Of which great worke being now to speake and to enquire into the Punishment fore appointed vnto him by his Father because some extenuate it too much as if he seemed only to suffer or suffered not what indeed hee did others againe too much aggravate it as if he suffered the very paines of the damned in hell wee will as warily and as carefully as we can steere betweene that Scylla and this Charybdis And to this end wee will diligently enquire foure things the species or kinde of punishment he suffered the extention the intention and the duration thereof And of each of these briefely in a word The kind of punishment was that which was due to sin and every way equivalent for the expiation thereof howbeit so farre forth and no further then was convenient for such a person First therefore he suffered not that Punishment of sinne which is sinne for God many times and that iustly punisheth one sinne by another The reason for that then he should haue beene a sinner either by inherent or actuall sinne and so could never haue made sufficient satisfaction for the sinnes of others Neither secondly did he suffer the personall punishment of this or that man as the gout the stone the dropsie and the like For he tooke not the person but the nature of man into him and so made himselfe subiect not to Personall but to Naturall infirmities only To say nothing that those paines are many of them so contrary and repugnant one vnto another as they are incompatible in the same person Nor yet thirdly did he suffer those punishments which proceede either from the conscience of inherent sinne or the eternall continuance of sinne such as are Remorse and despaire For in him was never any sinne whether Originall or Actuall Only it was imputed vnto him inasmuch as he vndertooke to satisfy for it These foreprised and excepted all other sorts of Punishment were laid vpon him And because in Sinne there is a double act an Aversion or turning away from God the chiefest good and a Conversion or turning vnto that which is only a seeming good and consequently the desert of a double Punishment the one of losse to be depriued of the true good in regard of the Aversion the other of sence to feele smart both in body and soule in regard of the Conversion our blessed Lord and Sauiour suffered both The Punishment of Losse being in regard of present comfort and ioy left vnto himselfe and in a sort forsaken of his Father of which againe anon in the due place The punishment of Sence for he felt during the while extreame both torment and paine outwardly in the body and horror and anguish inwardly in the Soule The Extension whereof was also exceeding generall for he suffered from all that any way could afflict him and in all whatsoever belonged vnto him From his Father therefore he suffered who for a time abandoned him and delivered him into the hand of sinners from the powers of darknesse who laid vpon him whatsoever their malice could devise from the Iewes who stumbled at him and despised him from the Gentiles who made a game and laughing-stocke of him from Magistrates who convented and condemned him from the people who arrested and accused him from the Clergie who charged him with cozinage and blasphemy from the Laity who cryed out crucifie him crucifie him from his enimies who cruelly persecuted him from his friends who in his greatest need started aside from him from forrainers who disdainfully shooke the head at him from those of his owne houshold who most treacherously betraied him and in a word from all sorts both of men and women yea from the Heaven which denied to giue him light from the aire which refused to vouchsafe him breath from the earth which would not so much as beare him frō what not And as from all so hee suffered also in all In his goods being stript even of his raiment and lots cast thereon in his good name being esteemed a deceiuer a blasphemer a drunkard a glutton a magitian a traitor to Caesar in his friends who were scattered as soone as the shepheard was smitten in his mother through whose heart a sword was driuen in his soule by strong feare before his passion and extreame sorrow in his passion in all the parts of his body his head being crowned with thornes his face spit vpon his cheekes buffited his hands feet nailed his sides peirced his backe armes scourged and the whole vpon the crosse barbarously stretched and racked in all his sences the touch by wounds the tast with myrre and vineger the smell with the loathsome savour of Golgotha the hearing with shamefull taunts and revilings and the sight with mowes and disdainefull behaviour finally in the whole person by death the separation of the soule from the body The Intension of all which was likewise exceeding vehement even proportionable vnto the desert of sinne wherefore he sticketh not to say Behold and see if there be any sorrow like vnto my sorrow And againe the sorrowes of hell compassed me round about Not that he felt the flames of hell fire or the same kind of torment which the damned suffer in hell farre bee such impiety from our thoughts but that which is equivalent therevnto Had he suffered only the death of the crosse and no more his martyrs might seeme to haue endured more bitter paines and
blemish and staine vnto their blood So that that which God accounteth the greatest honour is accounted by man a great impeachment of honour and seldome findeth in the minde due estimation As little loue findeth it also in the affection Saint Paul earnestly chargeth all men to loue those men that are set over them in the Lord that is their Ministers yea to bestow vpon them not some small measure but abundance of loue And why for their workes sake saith he as if he had said more fully because by the paines they take for you they deserue much loue so that if you will not amorem impendere freely vouchsafe them your loue yet are you bound amorem rependere to requite their labours with loue Alexander the Great was wont to say hee was more beholding to his Master Aristotle then his Father Philip for that he had his being only from the one and his well-being from the other And surely if wee owe loue vnto our naturall parents as authors of our temporall life how much more is due vnto our spirituall parents who haue begotten vs by the immortall seed of the word vnto a blessed and eternall life Moses blessing Levi calleth him the man of Gods mercies and anciently the Ministers of the Gospell were stiled the beloued of God Doth God set his mercies and his loue vpon them and dares man deny his vnto them What dares not sinfull man doe He denied it There is one Micaiah saith Ahab the sonne of Imlah by whom wee may enquire of the Lord but I hate him for he doth not prophecie good concerning me but evill Our Sauiour Christ in the charge hee giueth his twelue Apostles foretelleth them that they shall be hated of all men for his names sake What he foretold them they by experience found true being euery where persecuted euen to the death The reason because they were the light of the world and the whole world lieth in evill every one that doth evill hateth the light because it discovereth and reproueth his deeds Verit as odium truth begets hatred according to that of St Paul Am I therefore become your enimie because I tell you the truth Vnlesse we soe pillowes vnder mens elbowes wee cannot please them if we please them not neither can wee haue their loue Et hinc illae lachrymae hence the bitter cold that nips vs every where But how little wee are either esteemed or loued will yet more appeare by the outward fruits For as is the internall honour of the minde and affection so is the externall also in Word in Gesture in Deed. Honour in Word is honourable mention whereby wee speake nothing but honour of a man And this also wee iustly chalenge to our selues for it is written Thou shalt not speake evill of the Ruler of thy people True it is Ministers are not Angels but being made of the same mouldes with other men are subiect to the same infirmities Neverthelesse he playes but Chams part that laughs at his fathers nakednesse Shem and Iaphet will not see it but goe backward and couer it The exorbitancies of a Minister saith Constantine the great ought not to be knowne vnto the people hee for his part would rather couer them with his purple robe For as the Councell of Chalcedon saith Delicta Sacerdotum communis est turpitudo the sinnes of the Priests are the common shame of the Church True Charity would couer a multitude of them but to blaze and divulge them is to spread abroad the infamie of our Mother And yet this is the ordinary practise of these daies the Ministrie is the common butt against which they shoot the venomous arrowes of their tongues In all meetings at all tables the Minister vsually is the subiect of their talke and it is couâ—ted among many a speciall mark of true religion zeale with open mouth to publish the faults shall I say of inferiour Ministers Nay of the cheefest fathers of the Church Wherein also like butchers flies they lightly passe ouer the whole and sound places and seize only vpon gals and sores that is if they meete with an infirmitie that they are alwaies buzzing about as for their graces and vertues they are wrapped vp in deep silence Physitians if they doe but one good cure grow famous thereby though they kill twentie besides we how many good things soeuer be in vs yet one leane Cow swallowes vp the seauen fat and the least weaknesse is sufficient to disgrace all Weaknesse say I Nay that which is counted weaknesse in others is traduced as wickednesse in vs our frailties are furies and every mole-hill is made a mountaine So ready are they to speake the worst of vs and so loath to say any thing that may credit our Calling If they will scarce vouchsafe vs a good word is it likely they will afford vs any Reverence in Gesture Yet Obadiah the gouernour of king Ahabs house meeting with the Prophet Eliah fell on his face before him Cornelius the Centurion vpon S. Peters comming to him fell downe at his feet Euen king Saul before him whom he conceaved to be Samuel stooped with his face to the ground bowed himselfe And Alexander the great when hee saw Iaddua the high Priest alighted from his horse and humbled himselfe with much reuerence vnto him But Constantine a greater then he when he entred into the Synode of Nice bowed himselfe very low vnto the Bishops there assembled and sate not downe vntill they desired him Yea the very Gentiles themselues stood in such awe of their Priests that they durst not vtter an obscene word much lesse misbehaue theÌ„selues in their presence What thinke you Shall not these one day rise vp in iudgement against vs Christians to condemne vs For now adaies every petty Gentleman lookes for much duty from vs and takes it indignely if we stand not bare before him worship him with cap and knee If wee expect the like againe forsooth wee are growne too proud it is honour enough for vs if they doe but looke vpon vs. Precedencie is any mans rather then the Ministers euery Mammonist euery younger brother euery vpstart of the first head must haue the place from vs. To the gay cloathing euery one saith Sit here in the best roome but vnto vs Stand thou there or sit here vnder my footstoole Thus children behaue themselues proudly against the ancient and the base against the honourable The last honour we claime is bountifull and liberall maintenance For the labourer is worthy of his hire and the mouth of the Oxe that treadeth out the corne must not bee muzled No man warreth at his owne charges and hee that feedeth a flocke liueth by it Even the Egyptians and other Gentiles prouided for their Priests God himselfe appointed Triths vnto Levi the morality of which I dispute not at this time besides Citties
the limitation of this wisdome for it is not boundlesse and infinite but as vnto the sea so vnto it also terms are set which it may not passe Pone modum Prudentiae set a measure to thy wisdome saith Salomon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be not wise aboue that thou oughtest to be wise saith Saint Paul And the Philosopher makes it an extreame of Wisdome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be wise aboue measure What then is the measure what is the limit of wisdome Be Serpents saith our Saviour yet Doues be wise yet innocent Be yee wise as Serpents and innocent as Doues Bee innocent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word derived from the privatiue particle ae and the verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and signifying simple without mixture or from the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a horne signifying Harmelesse or Hurtlesse The Syrian translation turnes it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perfect entire vpright Tota innocentia saith Augustine ad vnum verbum Iustitiae redigitur innocence is nothing else but justice and elsewhere Innocentia est quae nemini nocet nec nocere velit innocence is that which neither doth nor will hurt any Be innocent then and innocent as doues Not as serpents in the winter time which though they sting nor then being benumb'd with cold yet are full of venome but as Doves which are vtterly void of malice and haue no desire to hurt For the nature of the Doue is described in this one Distich Est sine felle gemit rostro non laedit vngues Possidet innocuos puraque grana legit shee is without gall mourneth hurteth not with her bill hath harmelesse clawes and feeds on pure graine So that all these things considered Doue-like innocencie consisteth in these three things first to doe no hurt secondly to doe all good thirdly to doe both with all sincerity To doe no hurt that we be not vitious to doe all good or else we are not vertuous and to season all with sincerity or else it is counterfeit vertue and so double iniquity And these duties are to be performed not only to those that are of the house-hold of faith by reason of that mysticall vnion that is betwixt vs and them in Christ but generally also vnto all men being made of the same moulds and vnited into the brotherhood of the same bloud So then Innocency is vnto Wisdome as Hercules pillars beyond which it may not passe and our Saviour alloweth men to be wise with Innocence and for Innocence but not against it But what if by Innocence I cannot escape the danger must I still persist in mine Innocence If Iobs wife may be judge she will say Doest thou still continue in thine vprightnesse Blaspheame God and dye But Iob telleth her in so saying shee is but a foolish woman For the law of God is eternall immutable inflexible and the breach thereof is sinne and the least sinne is greater then the greatest of other evills as being most repugnant vnto the nature of God and therefore most odious vnto him In regard whereof the true Saints of God would not for a million of liues forgoe their Innocencie David though he had both opportunity and power yet would he not to secure himselfe lay hands on Saul according to the ancient proverbe saith he let wickednesse proceede from the wicked but my hand shall not be vpon him Though he kill me yet will I trust in him saith Iob. If I perish I perish saith Hester when shee was to doe a necessary but dangerous duty Wee are not carefull to answere thee in this matter neither will wee worship thy Idolls say the three children though threatned otherwise to be cast into a fiery furnace And the prince of Conde being commanded of three things to chuse one either perpetuall imprisonment or death or to goe to Masse Masse quoth he I never will the other two I leaue to the Princes pleasure But what speake I of Saints Even heathen men acknowledge that Innocencie is to be held notwithstanding all outward evills It is better saith Socrates to suffer then to doe wrong There are some things saith Aristotle to which a good man must never suffer himselfe to be constrained but rather endure all extremities yea death it selfe Wherevpon Socrates I would rather dye a thousand times then forsake my station And another the veriest coward in the world am I to doe evill and yet another it is not the part of a vertuous man to say this I will not suffer but this I will not doe And Fabritius obtained that honourable testimony of his enimy Pyrrhus that the Sunne would sooner goe out of his course then hee stray out of the way of honesty So that by the testimony both of nature and grace the law of innocencie is no Lesbian rule flexible to all occasions but according to the old saying Fiat justitia ruant caeli justice must be done though vpon doing the same heaven and earth come together If this be so will some men say how then can wee be both wise and innocent at once Very well for as Ambrose saith individuum justitiae prudentiae contubernium wisdome and innocence are inseparable companions For first a man cannot be truly innocent except hee be wise For in all vertuous actions Prudence of necessity must be the director seeing it is the eye of the soule without which nothing can be done cum electione modo vpon choice and in measure Wherevpon saith Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is impossible to bee good without wisdome Secondly neither can a man bee wise without innocence For although there be a wisdome equivocally so called by reason of the resemblance it hath with the true wisdome being able both to finde out and to menage convenient meanes vnto worldly and evill ends yet this Saint Paul calleth the wisdome of the flesh and Saint Iames an earthly sensuall and divelish wisdome But the true wisdome is from aboue therefore pure peaceable easy to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without judging and without hypocrisie that is in one word innocent Hence is it that the Scripture tearmeth Sinners Fooles because they are not innocent and the feare of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the top of wisdome because it is Innocent Hence also it is that Moses telleth the Israelites their wisdome consisted in obseruing the commandements of God and that David saith by them hee became wiser then his teachers wiser then the ancients And the same David hauing advised Princes and Iudges to bee wise and learned addeth presently kisse the sonne intimating thereby that wisdome cannot be without religious innocence So that as innocence cannot bee without wisdome so neither can a man bee wise without innocence And here in the very light of nature accordeth also with scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Aristotle it is impossible for a man to be wise and not good